I can ride again :-) I can't ride fast yet but if I keep the power down I can ride all day. I rode for 6 hours yesterday and my average power was 98 watts! Those 98 watts propelled me and my bike 51 miles tho! Riding in whatever format makes me happy :-)
It was snowing on me as I pedalled along West Mesa (on the east side of Seegmillar mountain). It was windy and wild feeling. I hear a rumbling sound behind me and turn my head to see five wild horses galloping up towards me. Still moving, I whip my camera out of its holster like the Sundance Kid.
DH and I watched the original True Grit then Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last week! I was so there with the sound of the galloping hoofs thundering on the dirt and the wild feel of the mesa!
They galloped ahead of me, rounded around in front of me then slowed up.
I stopped and they stopped too. The dark faced horse was clearly the boss and in charge. The other horses followed Boss Hoss.
After a moment checking me out from a distance they walked towards me led by Boss Hoss. At this point I wasn't sure if they were curious, wanted a snack or wanted to eat me. I was by myself.
They stopped about 30 feet from me and we stared at each other for a while. Then Boss Hoss started pawing the ground and snorting at me! I don't speak horsey language but got the vibe that boss hoss wasn't feeling friendly today! Google search later at home said:
Dominance - A horse will often paw when showing dominance. This is different from striking out. The horse will strike the ground with his front hoof. The leg will usually be straight and the neck will usually be arched. Sometimes they may vocalize or snort while exhibiting this behavior.
We had a bit of a stand off until the white faced horse moved out of the road to stand behind the other horses and I pedaled on past with them watching and Boss Hoss snorting and pawing.
Then they started galloping beside me again and ran beside me for a few minutes before veering away and thundering off with their hoofs rumbling on the dirt.
After hiking out of the Grand Canyon and a juicy Portobello mushroom burger at Jacob Lake Lodge I headed down to Stateline campground arriving after dark. This also happens to be the end of the Arizona Trail.
Lucky #6: I got the last campsite at Stateline campground. I was surprised it was nearly full. I have never seen more than one other group there!
Lucky #7: My neighbor camper invited me over to his camp fire already roaring away! Many people reached out to me on this trip, maybe because I was solo. He had driven all the way from Texas to hike The Wave but had not been able to . He told me 10 permits to hike The Wave are given out online 4 months in advance and are scooped up immediately. 10 walk in permits are given out each morning in a lottery!
The lottery draw for The Wave sounded like something to witness so the next morning I attended! There were 101 people there for 10 slots!!
Lucky #8: My name was pulled and I got TWO permits for The Wave the following day!!
Lucky #9: I had plans to meet DH that day. We went to Grovesnor Arch. Another place I have seen on magazine covers and never been.
The next day we hiked to The Wave and it was everything hyped up to be and then a bit more amazing than that. Lucky me.
I had a kinder free week last week and some vacation time on the schedule. Originally I was going to race but unfortunately the knee I thought I had rehabbed had different ideas and said no thanks. Pedaling drives my knee crazy but walking is fine.So I went on a lil walkabout in Northern Arizona/Southern Utah. There are many magnificent places I do not often visit near here because bikes are not allowed.
Due to my last minute change of plans I had no permits or reservations anywhere. I threw a bunch of maps and a variety of gear in my car and rolled solo with my fingers crossed.
Grand Canyon National Park North Rim was the first place I aimed for. There was an inch of snow on the ground, the sign on the entrance station said "north rim campground full" and the entrance station ranger was Mr Grumpy! Not a great start.
Lucky #1: 4pm at the back-country office I got the last back country permit for the following night at Cottonwood and the night after at Phantom Ranch. Super lucky to walk up and get those!! The ranger in the back-country office was Mrs Jolly.
Lucky #2: Mrs Jolly ranger at the back-country office called over to her buddy ranger at the "full" campground and hooked me up with a spot in the group site - score!! That saved me about 50 miles of driving.
Lucky #3: I was invited to join a roaring fire at the group site and had a great evening chatting with the group.
North Kaibab Trail down into the Grand Canyon is pretty much a highway. I think I will have a bicycle with me (if I am lucky enough).
Lucky #4: I hiked into the inner canyon. It has been a long time since I have done that. I love the Grand Canyon. It is perhaps my most favorite place in the whole world. Lucky me to be there.
Lucky #5: No wind, beautiful day. In fact weather was absent from my entire trip.
Cottonwood campground. The tarp was mostly to keep the full moonlight out of my eyes! Beautiful night.
Ribbon Falls is a side trip off the main Kaibab trail and worth it. I got wet taking this pic.
Cute cabins at Phantom Ranch. To sleep in a cabin here you need to apply 13 months in advance on the 1st of the month and be really lucky. Sounds like getting in to some bike races...
Black suspension bridge on Kaibab Trail crossing the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Self portrait pic to prove I was there!
I loved the hike out of the canyon the next day. Stowed my camera and motored up in a sweat. That felt great. My knee has hurt too much on a bike this year to build up much of a sweat but hiking seems fine for it - frustrating as riding my bike is really what I want to do most days and all day. I really like to ride my bike.
Lots more lucky ensued the rest of my week - more picslater.
I've never been a fan of racing into shape but that is exactly what I am doing this fall after my normal summer hiatus from training - and I'm having the time of my life doing it too!! Which is kinda surprising me and making me giggle. I like to giggle ;-)
My tag line for 11 years now (Wesley is 11) has been mom, coach, racer - not always in that order. Summertime mom and coach have had top billing and racer takes a back seat. With my in their peak races I prefer to spend June and July focusing on their peaks and successes. Summer is kids out of school time and I prefer playing with them rather than spending my time out training. The final nail in the summer fitness here in St George is the fact it is too darn hot to pedal hard in July and August, effectively shelving quality training right there. I really enjoy my coach/mom mode in the summer except that I land in late August pretty much out of race shape when the really cool fall races are scheduled.
This year a new race series, The was established in Utah. It was a 4 race series and I missed the first 3 races while I was in mom/coach mode. I wanted to show and support at least one of their races as I think it is a really great new series. The final race was on August 20th. Yep I was not in race shape but August 20th is my birthday and I decided for my birthday I wanted to race, so I did :-) Not only was I out of race shape I had never ridden the course or the trails before - totally unprepared :-) No pressure, just a birthday race. A small but fast pro women field had me off the back, sucking wind immediately - gosh these ladies are fast!!! On lap 2 I was in last place!! Last place...and I was still giggling and having a good time :-) I was also pedaling as hard as I could! I managed to pull back one place by the end and finish not quite last.
I was psyched to support the last race of the USCS series. I experienced clock work registration, a fun course so well marked I was able to ride it at race speed sight unseen.
I was surprised how much fun I had racing. I had missed racing. I hadn't raced since April. It felt good to ride fast even though my fast was not as fast as most everybody else's. I looked at the calendar and next weekend was -ooooohhh. Another course I had not ridden and another race I would like to experience. I hooked up a ride with Bill and a place to stay with Sarah, entered and it was a go!!
It was hot and dusty
My legs were a little happier at race pace at Mt Ogden 100k and race pace was a little slower being a longer race. I don't have race speed but I still have my diesel engine. I finished in 6:55, 3rd place,clocking 62 miles, 9100ft of elev gain and 400 TSS. Climby!! Also descendy!! ALL of the descending was on singletrack and there were some fun trails out there. Super awesome fun course. I deffo will go back and do that race again.
Great organization, really fun course and good vibes. The aid station volunteers were full of energy rushing to fill my camelback and getting everything I needed. Other stations I didn't stop at I was cheered on or had shirtless cute guys running alongside me pouring icy water on my back. That made me giggle :-) Bill won his category in the 100k (congrats Bill!) so success for us!
...and then last week unfortunately one of my athletes pulled out of which was disappointing for Coach Lynda BUT not quite so disappointing for racer Lynda cause I got her slot (thanks MB ;-) !! There are for Park City Point to Point!! I squeaked in on the last day to transfer. It is the biggest pro women field I have ever seen at an endurance race and it is also deep. I'm very excited to toe the line with these ladies continuing my surprise unplanned race into shape binge.
If you know me, you know I am (an over?) planner and ending up on a spontaneous race binge of this size is, well....making me giggle. The unplanned and unpreparedness of it all seems to have released any sort of performance expectations I had and allowed me just to relax and experience all the things I really enjoy about racing...and I do really like racing my mountain bike, tee hee hee :-)
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