Over the river and through the woods...

The day before Christmas Eve I returned to the MTB with a ride out at OMSP. It wasn't as nice as the day before, weather-wise, but it wasn't bad. Just overcast.

Jon joined the Beast and I once again, and we left the South trailhead, riding the trail clockwise. I love the first section of this trail, lots of twists and turns with short climbs and descents...it's a nice fast section of singletrack.

As the day before, I struggled to keep up with the clearly stronger riders (Jon and Jeff) on the climbs, especially the climb up to Peavine Falls road from the North Trailhead, but I learned long ago that when I'm riding with the Beast, I simply let him ride off the front if that's what he wants to do...if I try to match him, I'm going to kill myself sooner. So I let him go, set my own rythm and work my way along, getting a good workout that leaves me enough to survive later.

Jon impressed me by cleaning through Blood Rock, though never having seen it before. I opted to walk through rather than risk a fall, since I was effectively riding with one hand. On the plus side, I killed the downhill section before and after Blood Rock and really had a great time.

Halfway through the final section, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, there were signs pointing to a new trail, and it appeared (to me) that the old MTWR was closed for some reason. Turns out it wasn't closed, but I was going too fast to read the sign, so I made the turn onto the new trail. Soon we found ourselves in a mud bog that was both long and deep. Then a creek without a bridge. It appears we had found the new trail that is being cut around the northwest side of the lake that will eventually cross the dam and link with the South Trailhead. It wasn't too long, and we ended up back at the parking area after fooling around in the weeds for a while.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that there have been changing stalls, and a bike wash station built near the parking area. We really liked having the chance to wash the mud off the bikes before heading home. A very nice touch.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy doing the loop out there. I've got to get on the MTB more often. Last year I had ridden at Oak Mountain most Saturdays since early September, but this was my first time out this year. It's a good workout, and I need more of that.

And it was a pleasure to have Jon along, as he experienced southern mountain biking for the first time. I think he had as much fun as we did. I hope we get the chance to do this ride again when I'm more fit to keep up.

Holiday Road

Wasn't that the name of the song in "Christmas Vacation"? Anyway, it was 3 days before Christmas, and Jon was in town from Utah. The morning broke on a beautiful sunny day. The weather channel app on my iPhone said it would be 61 before the day was over, so I happily tossed my tights back into the drawer and finished putting things together for the ride.

On my way out the door, downstairs heading into the garage, I smelled a funny odor...I asked by two oldest boys to make sure they cleaned their bathroom. But then decided to go see why it smelled so badly. The floor, and the tub were filled with backed up...you know what. After putting the two teenagers in charge of clean-up and taking on "get a plumber here pronto" duties for myself, I finally headed out to pick up Jon about 30 minutes late. I wasn't too worried about it, I knew we had plenty of daylight to ride with, and a little later start meant warmer temps as well.

We finally hooked up with Doug and the Beast at our predetermined meeting spot, out at 280 and 119. Got Jon's loaner adjusted to fit, and headed out.

Because the Beast was in town, and we were only a short ride from his favorite hill, I was resigned to the fact that we would indeed be climbing Hugh Daniel drive, from the Greystone side. Words cannot express how much I loathe that hill. The pitch constantly changes, and the easiest parts are 8-9%. I just can't ever get a good rythym going on it. After that climb and down the other side, we headed southwest and down through the Narrows, which is a particularly scenic road that has no traffic and a nice little river running along next to it. Heading down 43 toward Vandiver, I found that I was having a really tough time keeping up. Months of no riding were paying off for me in exactly the way I expected. My superior Mass/Strength ratio helped me close the gap on the downhills of the rollers, only to lose it again when the road turned up.

Finally pulling into the BP station at Vandiver, I pulled out my phone and started checking to see what was happening with the plumbing disaster. I also grabbed a plastic bag, put ice in it, and iced down my nagging elbow for 15 minutes while Jon, Doug, and the Beast all did a little loop that added some mileage to their ride. I met them at the top of Coosa Mountain, where they had already descended and climbed back up the north side from Dunavant.

We headed down and I think Jon was a bit surprised with the short but steep climb after the descent back up to the "town" of Dunavant. We turned west again and after riding 41 past Shoal Creek, headed back up Hugh Daniel (the side we had descended earlier), then down the other side and back to the cars.

A good ride, that motivated me tremendously to do something about getting back in shape. Jon was strong and didn't appear to have much trouble keeping up, so I'm told he had a good time and learned a little bit about what it's like to ride in the south.

All in all, you couldn't have asked for better weather, or friends to ride with.

Holiday Riding

Okay. I'm fed up. I've finally decided to ignore whatever shape my body is in and work at doing something to improve my fitness regardless of the lack of complete functionality. To that end, this past week, I started riding my bike again, and keeping track of what I eat to better keep control of my caloric intake every day.

So far, even with holiday eating, I'm down 3500 calories from my budget this week. My goal is to lose 20 pound over the next 20 weeks. This seems reasonable...no? I'm using "Lose-It" for my iPhone...the app I used last year to lose some extra weight before our cruise so I could eat away without worry while on vacation. It worked for me then, so it should work for me now.

How am I down 3500 calories? Riding. After riding to and from work on Monday, on Tuesday I did a 35 mile road ride with the Beast, Doug, and Jon. We had a great day with spectacular weather (low 60's, sunny, light breeze), and some strong climbs, and lots of rollers. Yeah, I spent most of the day off the back, but it still felt good to be riding again. Wednesday we rode the loop out at Oak Mountain State Park...a tough mountain bike ride, technical with a long steep climb, and fun fun fun descents on twisty single-track.

I took the rest of the week away from excercise, but I'm back to it tomorrow with a lunchtime swim.

On the Road Again...

I haven't been on the bike since October 3. It's not been any fun. I find I sometimes need external motivation, and three things have conspired this week to provide that for me.

1) Jon, of Lactic Acid Threshold, is in town for a wedding, and we're going to get a couple of rides in while he's here. I've never ridden with Jon, and while on any normal day, he would kick me all over the road, I'm hoping to use the home court advantage to keep the humiliation to a tolerable degree. We'll ride MTB at Oak Mountain, and a do a road ride, both with the Beast.

2) I stepped on the scale two days ago and discovered that I was cursed with an additional 12 pounds, aquired since returning from a cruise back in March. It's got to come off. No wonder I feel so tired lately.

3) That bright round disc in the sky has returned, and I'd better take advantage of it while it's here. Who knows when we'll start getting rained upon again, and how many weeks it will last before seeing sunshine again.

So, with that in mind, I put on every layer of cold weather gear I owned this morning for my "in the 20s" commute/first ride in nearly 3 months. Turns out I didn't need all that layering as the aforementioned 12 pounds insulated me sufficiently.

In short, the ride hurt. From the first mile of 8% climbing to get away from my house, to the little rollers along 10th South, it was as if I had never ridden before.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the ride home tonight.