Slick Rock

The next day we woke up and headed out to the famed Slick Rock Trail. I was pumped! the weather was great (70F sunny) the wind was picking up but ok in the lower protected canyons.

We hit the trail and right away I was amazed at the traction this rock had... You could ride on a 30deg off camber section no issues, go up something you normally wouldn't even try and walk up...

It was fast and it was anaerobic! Steeeeep ups, flowy fast downs, up, down, up, down, up, down.... Derek showed us why training in Lynn Woods had big advantages. He was a power monster! I swear he cleaned every climb!

We headed out the long route and past Shrimp Rock with sick views of the Colorado river snaking thru the canyons.

We then turned east and over to the main ridge that looked down on Moab. We did a little extra credit to go out to Panorama view point. At that point the wind was crazy! had to be blowing 30Mph+ and on some of the exposed steep climbs it was hard to keep on line.
At one point the wind almost blew Jp right off the rock and into a pretty deep bryer thach.... We got off the ridge and back down into the Cyn and lots more ups and downs all the way back to the car :)


WOW! what a ride! someday I'll get back there and do more of that as it was amazing! crazy stats for a pre-race warm up :)

10.5 miles
vert?
3:28:32
2356 calories
avg HR 147
Max HR 187

Moab practice lap

Well after landing in Denver Wedesday night we headed back to Jp's and biult bikes and cooked food!
The next am we packed up the rental mini van and the 4runner and headed off on our 6 hr drive to Utah.

The drive east on I-70 is always nice est the drive thru Glenwood Cyn (which was my 2nd time driving thru there in 2 months :)

We booked it on the last section (route 125) thru the Coloroado River gorge to get to Moab before the biek shop closed to get the last 2 bikes
We needed:)

Hit the campsite just before sundown and setup camp just in time for the sun to disspear. We got the bikes all ready and set off on a chill pace night lap.

First impression was cool, tight twisty single track start, hit a couple sand pits (It's Moab sand is expected) then we turned North and started the climb.

In the beginning I was like cool little rock mixed with loose interesting climb.... After mile 4 I was like WTF this is a slow going climb! While it wasn't that steep the climb was slow and rough and esp on a hardtail!
There were a couple sections where the only term that came to mind was stairway to HELL (even though we were going up...) the rock was ramped up at angles making stairs of sorts and it was ramped at you, so it was like pedal, surge up, pedal, surge up, pedal.
Making it very hard to get into a rhyme like I'm used to.

We got behind the rocks and at mile 5 we hit some fun decending, though it was a bit sandy. Then it was rolling up and down a bit and a couple hike a bikes up Sandy hills.

We hit the 2nd decent and that was a fun section down the "nose dive" and had some fun tech rockie down sections.

We then hit the second climb, much better! less sand, smooth rock I could set a tempo on this one! though it ended with a run up sandy hill.

Then we had 2-3 miles of fast fire road with sandy washes here and there.

That lap had some scray stats

Distance: 14.91 Miles | Climbing Dist: 7.85 mi. |Climb Elevation: 1,360 ft. | Avg Grade: 3%
2:25:56 mins
2025 calories
avg HR 162
Max HR 191







The altitude was hurting me and a 2.5hr night lap had me on the ropes as to how fast I could really do this course.....

Moab

Moab was killer so much to say but I'm tired....

For now just pics :)

So one more ride for the books going lighter on the climbing as my legs are def no responding like they were last week. But considering I'm in a bit of uncharted territory as far as this much riding I feel pretty good. Met up with Newb to SD Ryan and hit up the Cobles loop. Down then up the powerlines and over to Rocking Horse. Felt pretty smooth thru the tunnels today, bike skills were feeling good. We headed out the water crossings then back down rocking horse again. This time it was dark and man that area is crazy at night but again I felt pretty good def slower but good. But the tunnel climb and back to the car. Last ride before the week off and Moab tomorrow! PS Sept Biggest month of '08 despite (and ever!) mostly MTB riding 354.18 miles (232.04 MTB miles) 34,490 feet of climbing (26,143 MTB feet) Activity Route: Cobles loop Elev. Avg: 336 ft Location: Rancho Santa Fe, California Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 09/30/08 Up/Downhill: [+866/-866] Time: 06:00 PM Difficulty: 3.3 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 10.51 miles Time: 1:15:58 Speed: 8.3 mph Pace: 7' 14 /mi Heart Rate: 145 bpm (Avg) Calories: 835 175 bpm (Peak) Map Rancho Santa Fe, California   Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com

Much better ride home... Well ride back to the car dealer to get the Element.... Middle ring up all the climbs (my granny is becoming more and more useless :) ) then pushed big gears all the way (except on tyhe climb back up to Miramar middle ring) But big ring all thru Miramar even at the turn west after the 52 where I usually drop it to middle for a short uphill I came out of the saddle and killed it! Can't believe the legs are holding up ok (not the best) but that was my 11th ride in 8 days...... do work! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 467 ft Location: Poway, CA Elev. Gain: -98 ft Date: 09/29/08 Up/Downhill: [+935/-1033] Time: 06:00 PM Difficulty: 4.0 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   76 F temp; 53% humidity   78 F heat index; winds NW 7 Performance Distance: 12.51 miles Time: 0:48:54 Speed: 15.4 mph Pace: 3' 54 /mi Heart Rate: 149 bpm (Avg) Calories: 607 175 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com

Wierd am.... I left the house to drop the element off at the dealer for a little work and there was thunder and lightening flashing in the sky.... It was to the east but not that far as I drove up balboa it started to rain good thing I had my rain gear in the bike bag. Dropped the car off and hit the road. By now it was only a drizzle but the new LG jacket was working well! I was SLOW today! 1.) I was tired... 2.) I'm on ride #9 in 7 days.... Over the 163 headed north at a snails pace my Max HR never even broke 157 :) chill ride :) We'll see how chill my ride is back as the dealer closes at 6:30 PM and I maybe have to fly to get there in time :( Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 465 ft Location: Mission Beach, CA Elev. Gain: +89 ft Date: 09/29/08 Up/Downhill: [+1033/-944] Time: 07:00 AM Difficulty: 3.5 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   65 F temp; 78% humidity   65 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 12.50 miles Time: 0:54:03 Speed: 13.9 mph Pace: 4' 19 /mi Heart Rate: 137 bpm (Avg) Calories: 547 157 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com

Ride #2 of the day I was a bit tired but looking forward to seeing how tired I really was. Off from the visitor center I cruised down into the gorge and started up the main climb... 15% for a mile.... Bumped into a Newb to the area and he agreed to try and hang (he could have smoked me for all I knew) so we headed up to the top of the Mesa (Dan was close behind). Across the top (I was chatting with him like an 'Ol lady and almost ran over a rattler....thanks for the heads up Dan) we took the long was and headed west at the mesa split rocked the decent down to into the 52 gorge and hit a bit of construction after bushwacking a bit and trespassing probably we were back heading east and climbing up the side of N. Fortuna. I dabbed on the really steep section getting back on the main trail the legs were ok but the conditions of the trail were 3' deep silt.... Then it was up the 4 steeps 1st was easy, 2nd, fine, 3rd, ok, 4th I killed it and cleared it for the 2nd day in a ROW! that is the 2nd time ever! Down the side and over the woops down E-ticket and fly thru the canyon! hit the picknic tables and it was time to get up S-turns. I was feeling good and I thought I had a better chance then the day before as I wasn't hammering quite so hard. I cleared it with authority! I had a quick feeling like I was gonna puke at the top but it pasted quickly :) Down the Fire road and I cooked myself heading back to the car. Great ride... only 8.76 mile? with 1700+' of climbing made that feel a HELL of a lot longer :) Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 552 ft Location: La Mesa, CA Elev. Gain: -16 ft Date: 09/28/08 Up/Downhill: [+1755/-1771] Time: 05:05 PM Difficulty: 3.9 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   73 F temp; 59% humidity   73 F heat index; winds N 8 Performance Distance: 8.76 miles Time: 1:27:04 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 00 /mi Heart Rate: 162 bpm (Avg) Calories: 506 186 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)

Posted from bimactive.com