The place: Milagrosa. The mission: climb. The venue: Gnat’s Ass.
Gnat’s Ass: A solid snake of rock and dirt.
It went better than expected. Maybe five dabs, two of which were recoverable next run. The other three I am less sure of. Further study is required.
The light was flat (overcast), so the camera was no excuse. Nothing to do but keep climbing and hope the cardiovascular system keeps up. Largely, it did, much better than last time. Recovery from that damn singlespeed race might finally be a reality.
I had hoped to record some heart rate data, including in this post a map showing off the latest additions to TF (heart rate shading and graphs). But I couldn’t get the Forerunner 305 to “find” the chest strap, so no beans. It did give me a couple excuses to stop, fiddle, and stop feeling my heart in my head.
Woulda been some fun HR values to look at.
Contemplating a drop onto moving water in Agua Caliente Canyon. Maybe next time.
I dunked both of my feet instead, crossing elsewhere.
I went for some bonus climbing, attempting to reach Whitetail tank. The old “4×4” is followable, but it’s all but swallowed by the desert. Eventually I realized that the surrounding desert was less dense than the road itself, so it was time for some Whitetail FR’ing. I found a couple things, including a 4′ with tranny that Louis or banditriders would have surely hit. But otherwise I fought my way back to Milagrosa, rejoining the trail to my best “run” ever.
The trail strokers are pretty amazing, esp. when descending the chute and lower moves (aka triple trouble). Though I’ve ridden everything before, I’ve never had the confidence to roll everything in one shot. Til now. I also rode the descent into Agua Caliente Canyon, which was a first.
Check the stats:
7.30 miles
2500′ climbing
2 hours moving time
Awesome.
Also check out Chad’s report from the last ~half of the AZT 300 route. Doing Oracle Ridge in the snow ranks as among the harder rides I’ve ever done.
You know when you are in trouble on Oracle Ridge when you get to that icy point where there is a big side drop on your left and you are standing very still on a small piece of stick that is frozen into the ice that you are standing still, barely holding onto your bike, trying not to slip, and then in a sudden act of miracle, manage to toss your bike (which was weighing you down) to a plush patch of dirt beyond the ice…. so now the bike is home free, what about you the rider? You carefully look for any type of stick or rock that is sticking out of the icy snow ahead on the trail, slowly, patiently, you manage to get clear of one more icy patch and continue on down the trail…. that is Oracle Ride in the snow.
Great climbing… I need to get a heart monitor for “training” soon….
That’s the one.
Add to my Oracle Snow experience doing the ride on the winter solstice and having the sun set while still on the ridge. I didn’t have a headlamp strapped to my helmet in those days, so it was an interesting ride into Oracle. At least I was out of the snow before it got dark, though.
But it made those dicey moments on the ice even more nerve racking as the sun dropped.