Thursday Eve MTB

14.3 miles (2139 ft of gain) Ha! First time I did the double loop, Gamin gave me 2,000+ ft of gain. Last time it only gave me 1,75 or so. This time I threw in an extra quarter loop to get the 2,000. Seemed a bit tougher than last time. I'd say that had to to with the soft ground. Every now and then I would hit a soft patch and oh my! The tires would just stick to the ground, felt like twice as much work. But I was just doing it trying to get back into shape.

Funny though, most riders say that MTB'er don't try to compete like the roadies on the trail. Heck if they don't. On the last ride this one dude went blowing by me. As he rolled by I shouted, "great job!". He seemed kind of stunned by my comment. Kind of like, "what? somebody said something nice?" ha ha! This time I saw some dude coming up from behind me near the start of the climb. Heck, I'm doing 2 loops so I;m keeping my pace and not racing anyone.

So he passes me and I say hi. He says, "you're doing good!". Thanks! He rolls by and I can tell he is giving it everything he's got. I'm still holding my pace but he keeps looking back at me like we're racing. I even thought about trying to pass him once I warmed up but heck no. The ground is soft and this is only my first loop.

So after he passes me he is standing, bopping side to side doing everything he can to stay ahead. Finally near the top I'm warmed up and I gain ground on him. Next thing I know I'm catching  up and what does he do? He pulls over to answer his cell ha ha ha ha ha!

I didn't hear a ring and I know I don't get reception up there.  That's the oldest roadie trick in the book ha ha!:-P

So anyway I go down then head back up for my second loop. After I finish my second loop I notice I still don't have 2000 ft of gain so I head up a third time. Whew, got it after about 1/2 of the way up so I head back down. When I'm in good shape I can do 3 loops. This time I felt it was possible knowing the soft ground was taking its toll.

I sure was glad the sound started going down so I didn't have to think about completing the 3rd loop ha ha!

One thing I did do was adjust the air pressure in my fork. I had it too high set to mfg'ers spec of 190 psi per rider weight. Seems I could never get good control so I lowered it after watching some instructional videos. Wow what a difference. I set it to 120 psi and it felt much much better. I even broke the down hill PR's on this ride.





I finally put on the front tire I had laying around for about a year so the tires finally match, Well they will once I get it a bit dirtier ha ha!