Rides

8/25

After taking about 5 days to rest, riding only recumbent, I geared up for some challenging mountain biking. If I can’t get quantity, I’ll at least go for quality.

The easiest trail to jack my heart rate up on has got to be Agua Caliente. Paula and I headed out there late in the evening on the 25th. It was hot and humid, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the riding.

Monsoon storms have ravaged the trail. Apparently no one had ridden (and very few have hiked) since the last major storm. All of the rocks were lying just where the water placed them. And that’s usually not in a good place for climbing steep, technical trails.

I had one of my worst runs ever on the climb. Just couldn’t find good lines. Or, I found the lines, but I could never hold them. I’d constantly find myself thrown off whatever line I was hoping for. At least the trail isn’t getting easier, unlike most of the other trails that people are sanitizing around the valley.

The solid rock sections were fine, so I did get some high quality riding in, and there was no problem getting my heart to beat. I was getting killed out there, actually. Then I saw this little guy walking up the trail, and thanked him for the excuse to stop, take a photo and quietly walk my bike far around him.

Beautifully calm evening out there. No cars in the lot (not even ours) and no one on the trail, except for my tortoise friend. The downhill was correspondingly hard, but the fact that I can ride up almost all of the trail (on a good day) means the downhill isn’t that hard. My hands didn’t much appreciate the ledges and rocks. I realized that while off road riding is ever so tempting, if I want to heal quickly I need to stay off rough trails.

8/27

Climbed A mountain a few times just to feel how my hands delt with the climbing and descending positions on my MTB. The plan is to ride Mt. Lemmon tomorrow.

I was going to stick with the pavement but I couldn’t resist climbing the Sentinel Ridge trail at least once…

8/28

Monsoon rains = green hills in the Catalinas.

I didn’t notice much on the way up though. I was too busy suffering.

I left my house at 5:30a. I was soon joined by a roadie who was riding to Windy Point. He and I kept the pace moderately high, riding up Bear Canyon to access the Catalina Highway. But we were still chatting and he hoped I’d turn off so as not to ’embarass him by pulling away on my mountain bike.’

Not going to happen. I had a plan. And it was as follows: pass and hold off roadies until I crack. Once cracked, crawl up to Palisades (8,000 ft), refill water, then limp back home through town. I hoped to crack hard enough to hurt, but not so bad that I couldn’t make it back home across the valley. I knew it would be a delicate balance.

Finding roadies to ‘race’ was not a problem. I started out fast enough–at 10-11mph to Molino Basin. One guy did pass me, commenting that I must have it a lot harder on the MTB. I turned off at Molino to ride the AZT for a couple miles. I’ve said it before and will continue to say it: who can say no to switchbacks and 190 BPM? Not I, say I.

I found I could barely climb, though. Maybe it was the monsoons (weak excuse), maybe it was the sticky humidity and blazing sun, maybe it was that I was starting to crack. Who knows, but the top switchback section was brilliant. I did have the smarts to stop for 30 seconds to eat a cliff bar before bonk set in.

Back on the highway I resumed passing people, some for the second time. Before Windy Point I saw a group behind that was riding faster than me. I tried to hold them off, but eventually one of them took a flyer to reel me in. The rest of the group followed, then one of them cracked and fell back. At least I made them hurt a little more than they would have. I stayed within spitting distance for almost a mile (ok they sat up for a while after windy point…) before letting them drift away. I kept the pace high, thinking I might at least catch a glimpse of them again. But I was ignoring how hard I was bonking. I got to about 7500 ft before realizing how far I’d pushed. I got off my bike and could hardly pull my camelbak off. I couldn’t really eat anything and was very dehydrated. I sat on a rock and cheered a few riders I had passed lower down up. One couple surprised me — I thought they’d be a lot further back. I think they didn’t want to let me get too far ahead.

I rode broken at 7 mph into Palisades to a large group of roadies hanging out. The team I had fought off and chased was there, but quickly left to go down the mountain. I filled up on water and began my own descent.

Descending a paved road doesn’t require much — basically just holding yourself up on the bike. But I was so far gone that I couldn’t even do that. I wondered how I was going to get back home. All I could think is, as soon as I drop 4000 more feet it’s going to be hot, there’s no shade and I’m toast.

So I stopped at General Hitchcock CG to rest a while. Might as well enjoy the trees and cool temps anyway. I felt pretty sick for a minute, but forced down bars, gel and tons of water. In five minutes I was reborn.

I rode with strength back through town, following the ‘high road’ through the foothills, crossing Sabino Creek where ‘El tour’ goes through. One of the hills to get over to Sabino was a shocker. Steep enough to send me to a craaawl, in blazing mid-day sunlight. But, like I said, I was reborn, so I pedaled hard once again.

I was really happy with how well I got myself out of the hole I dug myself into. At the end I wished it wasn’t so hot — I would have continued riding. But the humidity was almost unbearable and I was sweating at a rate I couldn’t replace with drinking.

I spent the rest of the day hiding inside with AC blasting.

71 miles
7300 ft of climbing
5:15 moving time