Saturday was supposed to be a regular day: swim in the morning with a ride/run after that, food, nap, and the afternoon free to do stuff around the house, see people, etc. However, the day started as follows: swim, and ride up cypress for a run with the LETC squad in the XC trails. Half way up the mountain the unexpected: snow. The 5 of us in the car thought that was pretty, and it was, but that was not part of the plan. Once at the top the snow was about 20cm deep in the trails, hence, there was no trail. The plan was to do 4min up, 3min down ez until we got to the top (~40min total). The workout was hard, it was definitely cold, stepped into a paddle 25min into the workout (you could never know what was under the fresh snow), but we had a blast! (which includes digging for 5 minutes to find a lost shoe)
After that I was dropped off at the pool again, and rode back home with sort of wet clothes, cold and pretty hungry. Arrived home, hot shower, lunch and might 2hr nap! Me, nap? Yes, pretty tired… When I woke up I ate again (nothing out of the ordinary) and then headed to Speed Theory to chat with the guys and drop off my bike. When I arrived at the store I saw 4 downhill bikes and 1 cross bike all ready to go and the guys were playing with the very cool NiteRider lights. So first questions was: whats up with all this? The answer was cooler than I expected, they were planning to ride in the UBC Endownment Lands Trails from 6pm (when the store closes) until whenever, probably around 2 hrs. It was 5pm and they offered me to come along; I have a full suspension bike, but I don’t have a kick ass light so I turned it down. At 5:15 I left the store walking and before I made it home (3 blocks away) I was jogging back to get all ready to go.
I set up my commuter light, filled bottles, pumped the tires, checked the brakes, greased the suspension and got rolling. At 6 I showed up in the store; it was now 7 of us, awesome! We rode all the way to UBC (and in the hill the 2 cross bikes kicked the full suspension bikes). We got into the trails and quickly realized that my light was the same as walking with a match in the forest... My options at this point were to either turn around and go back home and come back another time with a better light, or literally draft one of the other 6 guys (no more than 2 meters behind) to be able to see rocks, turns and trees in real time. I went for the second option and I don’t regret it at all! I told Murray that this was 80% his fault, just to make sure he knew it… It was a blast once again, that is provided that the person ahead or behind me did not go more than 2m away. Otherwise I had to stop and wait for the following guy behind because I could not see anything at all, not 2 meters, nada (trees will cover moonlight, pitch black). Towards the end I found a pretty sweet spot with Jeremy in front and Murray on my right shoulder that made things wayyyy better, thanks guys.
After 2 hours of fun I was once again wet, hungry, and tired, but this time I was also completely covered in mud =) What a crazy/different Saturday than usual! I think I got a pretty good “outdoors” dose for the week and recharged the batteries for training by doing something very different. Looking forward to repeating both experiences in the near future, especially if I end up putting cyclocross tires to my Trek.
Here are some pictures after the ride, hopefully I can get the ones in the forest and before from Jeremy.
After that I was dropped off at the pool again, and rode back home with sort of wet clothes, cold and pretty hungry. Arrived home, hot shower, lunch and might 2hr nap! Me, nap? Yes, pretty tired… When I woke up I ate again (nothing out of the ordinary) and then headed to Speed Theory to chat with the guys and drop off my bike. When I arrived at the store I saw 4 downhill bikes and 1 cross bike all ready to go and the guys were playing with the very cool NiteRider lights. So first questions was: whats up with all this? The answer was cooler than I expected, they were planning to ride in the UBC Endownment Lands Trails from 6pm (when the store closes) until whenever, probably around 2 hrs. It was 5pm and they offered me to come along; I have a full suspension bike, but I don’t have a kick ass light so I turned it down. At 5:15 I left the store walking and before I made it home (3 blocks away) I was jogging back to get all ready to go.
I set up my commuter light, filled bottles, pumped the tires, checked the brakes, greased the suspension and got rolling. At 6 I showed up in the store; it was now 7 of us, awesome! We rode all the way to UBC (and in the hill the 2 cross bikes kicked the full suspension bikes). We got into the trails and quickly realized that my light was the same as walking with a match in the forest... My options at this point were to either turn around and go back home and come back another time with a better light, or literally draft one of the other 6 guys (no more than 2 meters behind) to be able to see rocks, turns and trees in real time. I went for the second option and I don’t regret it at all! I told Murray that this was 80% his fault, just to make sure he knew it… It was a blast once again, that is provided that the person ahead or behind me did not go more than 2m away. Otherwise I had to stop and wait for the following guy behind because I could not see anything at all, not 2 meters, nada (trees will cover moonlight, pitch black). Towards the end I found a pretty sweet spot with Jeremy in front and Murray on my right shoulder that made things wayyyy better, thanks guys.
After 2 hours of fun I was once again wet, hungry, and tired, but this time I was also completely covered in mud =) What a crazy/different Saturday than usual! I think I got a pretty good “outdoors” dose for the week and recharged the batteries for training by doing something very different. Looking forward to repeating both experiences in the near future, especially if I end up putting cyclocross tires to my Trek.
Here are some pictures after the ride, hopefully I can get the ones in the forest and before from Jeremy.
What a day!
Muddy face
Muddy Bike and Shoes
xcuse me, may I get an overhaul please?
Wipe it down or just hose it...
Shower or food first?
mmm... I think shower. I dont want mud in the fridge...
NiteRider 200 light (Available at Speed Theory)
NiteRider Helmet mount, way better than in the handlebars...
Facundo
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