Saturday was the best riding weather I've enjoyed for quite some time. No arm warmers, vests, booties, anything. How lucky for January! I was getting sick of 8 layers every time I wanted to ride. Matt & Bill agreed to let me trail along with them around Blue Diamond. We did a nice 40 minute warmup then hit Hurl. It's the most technical/fun uphill that the Cottonwood trails have to offer. I had a blast and wondered why I don't ride it more often. My answer is this; you have to be feeling good and be in a good mood otherwise you could get frustrated pretty quickly. It's about a 3 mile climb and very consistent 8-18" rocks to ride up and plenty of tight turns. You have to be on your game and pay attention, there is no flowy part to this trail. Near the top it looks like you're riding on the moon, then once you summit you get a 360 degree view of the trails, gorgeous. Matt took us down a little trail that I'd never seen, it was rideable...for the most part.
Oh yes, I must mention that these nice fellows made sure that I could ride BFR (Big * Rock/Pyramid Rock). They'd seen me walk it, and that's just not acceptable. They stood on each side so that I'd have the confidence that if I fell they'd catch me. I'd mastered it last spring, but was nervous again this fall. So I rode it, both directions, no problem. I guess I just needed a safety there. I used my BetterRide Camp vision skills; look where you are going, don't look down. Now it's a synch, and I'll ride it every time! Thanks guys!
I needed a few more minutes of pedal time, so I rode home from the trails on the road. Luckily I ran into Marcielo from ProCyclery and he let me sit on his wheel from the entrance of RR down to Desert Foothills. It's too bad I forgot my HR monitor because it took everything I had to hang on to his wheel (reminder, I'm on a 29er with nobby tires, he's on an aero frame with skinny tires!). I haven't pushed that hard for a few months, I was completely cooked by time I got home. My face was red for the next 6 hours, a good sign that I pushed my limits.
BTW, my ride was just the middle part of John's riding sandwich. He rode from 5-9am, then got back on the bike as soon as I got home and rode from 1-3pm. Talk about cooked, he was near zombie-state by 8 pm last night!
This makes it look flat & smooth, it's anything but