Wednesday, February 24, 2016

GMR Wednesday

I should have a video later.

Feeling that I should take advantage of the day off I planned to do GMR to the village or Cow Canyon Saddle depending on how much water I had left at the end of the climb.Well I wake up this morning lay in bed and wonder if I really feel like doing GMR ha ha! I talk myself out of being a lazy bastard to so I get up and eat oatmeal for breakfast. But I'm loafing around. I had planned on 8 am but my lazy butt didn't make it out there till about 11 am ha ha!

OK so I am here! Well I will do the shack and if I feel good maybe I'll do a shack repeat. I really wanted a good workout so maybe the saddle if I could talk myself into it ha ha! I did go prepared with 3 bottles so deep inside I knew what I had to do.

But as I was unloading my bike Ron rolls by. He looks at me as he is rolling by and nods. I thought he would keep going but then he does the double take, the ol "oh hey that's Mr. Beanz!" look ha ha! So he stops but I really didn't think he would ride along with me knowing hes' a fast climber. He says his plan is to ride up an hour then head back down. Well I usually ride up to the gate 3 times from the dirt lot to get a warm up as I'm a slow starter. But since Ron was there, we just headed up, no warm up. I actually didn't feel that bad though, other than having to go pee ha ha!

We cruised up and chatted most of the way so it made the climb go by a little faster. I really wasn't sure what Ron would do once we got to the shack but by then I knew I could do CC Saddle or the village. Ron said it was fun riding up together so he said he'd continue along if I didn't mind. Nah, we were having fun! Ron planned to head down Baldy Rd once we got there. I wan't exactly sure as it depended on my water. Though Ron did say I could have his water so I didn't have to descend down to the village. But to my surprise once I hit the saddle, I still had a full bottle. That was enough to get me back. We chatted a bit then took a few pics before we split.

Ron headed down and I over to the rocks for a pic and a mix of Gatorade into my remaining bottle. Then I headed back alone. My plan was to just ride on through without stopping as it was mostly downhill with a few climbs. But once I hit the steep little climb I started to feel a cramp in my calf. OUCH! I tried to back off a bit but it wouldn't go away. But I wanted to go nonstop! I got close to the top of the short steep climb but the cramp came back. DARNIT! I have about 30 yard to the top and it keeps knotting up. Screw it! I;m not stopping so I clip my left leg out and do a single leg workout to the top. Who would have thought I could do a one legged stroke to the top ha ha? I didn't but somehow I made it and the cramp went away.

My goal was to get 5000 ft but since I didn't descend down to the village, I was 50 feet short when I got back to the gate. DARNIT AGAIN! I was tired at this point but I want that 5000 ha ha! So after the gate I turned around and headed back up. I need 50 but I took it to 70 cause you never know what Garmin or Strava will do with your numbers.

Well it was a cool ride with good company. Thanks Ron for the motivation cause I probably would have wussed on the 5000 ft had you not been there ha ha!



                                      An image of Ron racing a motorcycle up GMR. :-P


Still burning rubber cresting the high point.



                                             From the lens of Mr. Ron. The art of selfies!




                                                        Short break at the shack


Ron before descending down to Baldy Rd



Ya know, those big guy jerseys are not me! :-P


Kind of more like a maternity top ha ha!



OK I' not stopping so "the ol one hand reach back, pull out the camera case, remove it from the case and take a selfie while climbing this little hill somebody put on the descent with one hand trick!




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