Close But No Cigar

I was not sure if today's ride was going to happen or not. First, we got some pretty steady storms here in the W.O. last night, but a quick look at weather.com showed that the bulk of the storms should miss the Seven Springs area. Then of course I sort of, maybe, kinda enjoyed a couple too many Bell's Two Hearted Ales last night. On top of that I slept like shit due to being all hopped up on Claritin trying to ease up a kick ass allergy/head cold thing I got going on. I'm pretty sure it's allergies since my eyes are itchy, watery, and I feel fine otherwise. Annnnyway thanks to some kick ass java beans roasted up by Bikeman.com teammate Chris Cyr, I was functioning damn fine this morning and ready to roll some miles in the mountains. (Thanks Chris!).

So after the coffee hit bottom and I made three to four weight cuts, it was time to gear up, load up and head to the mountains... Buschhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (sorry!) It was freaking GRAY here! But as I drove it started to improved and the sun came out. By the time I made it up to Seven Springs it was freaking Fffff-ah-ah-ah-ogy!!

Nice! This was at 10:30 A.M.!!

Soon I was kitting up and getting the Dos Niner ready to hopefully roll 3 laps. As I was getting ready there were a few other riders milling about. One dude I sort of recognized, or I should say I recognized his green Garry Fisher Two-Niner. He sees me and says "You back for another round? You're up here about every weekend!" I just smiled and said "Yep, seems that way." What I wanted to say was "Haven't you realized I'm out to make this course my bitch!". But that of course would have been a little to "cock sure" for me.

The temps were nice, in the high 60s, low 70s at the start but damn humid for the mountain. If you stopped for even a second to drain the main vein, the glasses would fog up like the windows of a Camaro with a couple of horned up teens in the back.

The first half of lap 1 was cool. There was fog, tacky trails and cool temps. I felt like I was like riding in the P.N.W.!

I was feeling pretty good and pretty much knew that I would have no problem cranking out 3 laps again. Even though I've now ridden this same loop about 10 times in the past 3 weeks, I have not tired of it. I think this year's course is the best yet. I really hope they get a good turn out this year, because I would hate to see the race go away. Labor Day weekend is a tough weekend though, because a TON of the endurance crowd will be at the SM100 (who can blame them??). Maybe the Springs folks should look at moving this race to July or early August? Just my 2¢. Which with today's economy is work about negative $3.00.

The climb shown above finishes off the first 3/4 of the course. Once you reach the top you are about 30 minutes from the end of a lap. I averaged about 3.5 MPH on this climb. This photo is one of the first times that I took a pic of a climb that ACTUALLY looked as steep as it was. For me it's sit, lodge the nose of the saddle about 1/4" up my anus, and spin to the top. The best lines are on the far right almost in the grass. Of course if you are reading this and racing Solo the best line is in the middle and far left. Loose rock is your friend. Go ahead and stand up too. There's NO way you'll spin out! ;)

When I was finishing up my 2nd lap, I though I heard thunder. But really couldn't see any clouds, so I headed back out for lap 3. By the time I made it to the climb up to the lodge and Soob, I was DEFINITELY hearing thunder and could see some dark clouds rolling in. I just maintained my borderline standing still pace and kept going. I wanted to at least make it to the car to ditch my camera so it didn't get soaked.

By the time I made it up to the Soob, it was looking pretty dark. I wanted to get that last 1/4 of the lap finished though, so I could drive home knowing I did what I set out to do today. I ditched the Kodak, and headed out to finish. I made it to the D.H. lifts when it started to rain. It was that cold as hell, nipple erect type mountain rain. Soooo, I did a U-turn, headed back to the Soob and loaded up before it got too bad. Had I had a rain jacket I would have kept going, but at this point I had 4:25 in the saddle, rocking some snot serious in my head, and riding in "witch tit" rain just to get another 30 minutes of riding in was not at the top of my "to do" list. Eph it.

As I was pulling out I notice a note on my car from my friend Ian. He had been up there to ride, but had to bail due to some mechanical issues. I missed him. Drat. And no Ian, I did not get eaten by any bears. Thankfully I saw none! See you soon I hope!

By the time I got out the soiled chamois and into some shorts, the rain had picked up. By the time I made it down to the Six Pack shop for two helpings of Pepperoni Roll goodness it was putting down some real "wrath of God" type rain. Just coming down in friggin' buckets! So I think I made the right choice. F.Y.I.- the pepperoni rolls were ephing orgasmic! They were still warm from the oven and filled with pepperoni, cheese and hot banana peppers. I even went so far as to tell the lady at the counter how much I friggin' LOVE their rolls. They made riding 4:25 sooooo sweet.

I'm happy with the way I'm feeling on these training pre-rides, but truth be told, I know I can hang for 3 or 4 laps. It's when I hit about lap 6 that I can sometimes see breakfast on my top tube. I am feeling damn good about my hydration, nutrition, etc., I won't now for sure until August 30th. Which in case you're wondering is 28 days away. JOY!/OH MY GOD!!! ;)

Time for more Two Hearted Ales, since they seem to an incredible recovery/pre ride drink. And then some pizza. Yeah, yeah, I know, I just had pepperoni rolls! But hey, it's freaking Saturday night baby!!!

Now go watch the real time result at Solo Nats and back your fave!

Later.