We were up there because Trek was holding a demo, but given that I was riding a 2013 Mamba anyway, I didn't bother to try out any of the shiny bikes. I figure my bike habit is expensive enough without starting to think about swapping out bikes I've owned for less than six months. Once the rest were set up on their demo bikes we headed out to the trail. We did one big loop as a group (more or less), and then the boys went off to get themselves killed while Ann and I took another trip around the less terrifying trails.
As a naturally risk-averse person, I'm never going to be the fastest out of the gate on terrain like this, however, because of the way it was laid out, I was able to go over the same bits of trail three or four times. This was really good for me, because by the end of the day I was able to start taking stuff at speed and was clearing obstacles I had walked around before. So much of mountain biking for me is about learning to trust what my bike is capable of doing, and slowly I'm getting there. I've even started to see why people would want to be clipped in!
The only downside to this rather awesome day was my back. As mentioned in my previous post, a bit of a bad fall while running had tweaked my back, and spending a couple hours bouncing around on a hardtail didn't really help things along. In truth, I got home, took a lovely cocktail of muscle relaxants and prescription pain killers and tried to not cry every time I moved. I'm not at all certain I managed that. So, unfortunately, that means a slow start to my pre-race week. I'll be letting my body try to recover for the rest of today and do my best to get back in the groove tomorrow.
The ride
The ride
Could have demoed a full squish - it probably would have been better for your back. Just sayin'. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, 12.5 miles of mountain biking is a fair amount. After 8 at Memorial my back was voicing its displeasure with me. I don't know about Lebanon, but as popular as it is I assume it isn't easy riding.