Muse back!
July 13, 2007 / Friday
Saratoga Gap Plus
My coworker Kirk suggested we go for an after work ride today and gave me a choice of Fremont Older or Saratoga Gap. I jumped at the opportunity to ride someplace new, and off we went.
Well, not really. I got stuck behind a bunch of slow cars on the way there, and, upon arrival, discovered that I'd left my HRM/speedometer/odometer/altimeter/cadence sensor doohickey at the office. Fortunately, Kirk has something similar on his bike, so I was at least able to get some data for today's ride. What a bummer, though, to hit a new park (two, actually, since we rode Long Ridge also) and not be able to graph it. We ended up riding 8 miles in an hour and five minutes with 1350 feet of climbing, although that number sounds a bit high to me. (No pun intended, at least originally.)
The first half of the ride out highlighted how pampered I've been. I'm used to relatively smooth hardpack, and the rockiness and rootiness of the trails at Saratoga Gap made me a little uneasy. It was a nice challenge, though, and by the end of the ride I was feeling much more comfortable with the trail conditions. I was enjoying it, even. I like having more to think about and keep track of. Plus, it'll make me a better rider.
It was also a nice to be following Kirk on this ride. He's a better rider than I am, but just enough that I want to push a little extra to keep up. On downhills, he's more cautious than I am, so having him in front keeps me from killing myself on tricky parts of new trails. On that note, I think my propensity for trying to do more than I'm able has some of my coworkers a little worried. One of our fellow work riders told Kirk before the ride that he was to return me in one piece, which meant specifically that he was to ride in front of me and keep me in check. Hah!
I'm learning/working on a couple other things out there, too. I'm finally over the whole "should I lean my bike or my body" thing and just leaning my bike through higher speed turns. It's been hard to make myself do that since it's the opposite on my motorcycle. (But maybe that's because I don't own a dirtbike? Ooh, does that qualify as an excuse to own a dirtbike?) Really, I just need to stop trying to compare the two. In any case, turning, maintaining traction while turning, and not thinking that I'll die while turning, have all improved. I'm also standing and mashing on my pedals more to climb. It sure makes those moderately steep short hills a lot less boring!
I took a few pictures, too, and posted the two most interesting ones on Flickr. Enjoy.
Going home was great fun; there wasn't a single car in front of me the entire drive back to downtown Saratoga. What a great way to wrap up a great ride. :)
July 13, 2007 09:31 PM | Mountain
Comments
I totally thought this was going to be a blog post about a clothing store.
(Yeah, I grew up in Del Amo Mall, why do you ask?)
Posted by: Jennie at July 20, 2007 04:46 PM