Monday, April 23, 2012

Weekend of Riding = (S * 4) Squared

This weekend’s riding binge was all about the S’s:

(Sunny * Six Hours * Singlespeed * Saturday)*(Sunny * Six Hours * Singlespeed * Sunday)

 Ok, I am a bit sore and I was about as sharp as a bowling ball until I had three cups of coffee today. But as I think back to the blur of the weekend, I just smile. I had a great date night with M and I rode the shit out of my singlespeed on some sweet trails in great weather.

Saturday's route is in yellow with Sunday's route in red, overlapping in many places

 Why the Singlespeed binge? We are T-minus three weeks from Mesa Verde baby! Coach LW and I traded emails mid-week and she thought it would be a good idea to spend some quality time on the Selma SS to “toughen up” the body before Mesa Verde. That LW, she is so wise. I definitely discovered some places that need a little toughening. Either my hands are soft from a lack of dirt time or my Ergon grips are out of adjustment because I have a nasty hotspot on my right hand from a million transitions between the grips and the bar ends over the weekend. This has never happened in the past but I have some time to heal up and figure it out. I had two key areas that I wanted to “test” this weekend: My lower back and my feet.

Lower Back
Before Saturday’s ride, I had M tape my lower back with SpiderTech’s Lower Back Spider. This is the first Kinesio tape that I feel has helped take the edge off of my lower back pain and the application of the pre-cut spider is simple. I am encouraged and plan to continue to experiment more with it. I had some discomfort but it never escalated as it often does when I am riding hard.
 
The Spidertech Lower Back Spider.


Feet
I am pleased with how my feet felt after twelve hours of pounding the pedals on the singlespeed. I have had some serious hot foot issues in the past, especially in warm temps, and I think I am doing as much as I possibly can to eliminate the issue.

The three keys for me to have happy feet are:
1) WIDE shoes (In my opinion, Lake makes the widest production mountain bike shoe currently offered) My shoes are not as sexy as Shimanos or Sidis but happy feet are key.
2) Specialized Body Geometry foot beds with Metatarsal pad (Red)
3) Specialized Varus Shim (Orange)

Saturday's profile with the Hard Guy climb early in the ride


Sunday's profile with the 8th St. climb early and the Rocky Canyon Rd-to-Orchard Gulch climb later


I really need to take my camera out on some rides soon but I was on a mission this weekend.  Pics and video of sweet Boise singletrack coming soon.

I am listing my routes for each day mainly for my own future reference:

Saturday’s Route:  55.5 Miles, 8,781’ of Climbing
Home
Climb Bogus Basin Rd
Corrals Trail
Climb Hard Guy (Ugly on the 32 x 21)
Descend Hard Guy
Corrals to 8th St.
Descend Moto Trail #4
Crestline
Climb Sidewinder
Fat Tire
Descend Freestone
Climb Three Bears (More ugliness on the 32 x 21)
Watchmans
Descend 5-Mile
Climb Rocky Canyon Road
Climb Orchard Gulch
Watchmans
Moto Trail #6 (I goofed and meant to take Three Bears but I improvised)
Descend Freestone
Fat Tire
Descend Sidewinder
Crestline
Climb Moto Trail #4 to 8th St. (Even more ugliness on the 32 x 21 ‘cause now I am really tired)
Corrals to Bogus Basin Rd.
Descend Bogus Basin Road
Home

Sunday’s Route:  59 Miles, 8,119’ of Climbing
Home
Climb Bogus Basin Rd
Corrals Trail to 8th St.
Climb 8th St
Descend Scottie’s (Greatness!)
Corrals to 8th St. (again)
Descend Moto Trail #4
Crestline
Climb Sidewinder
Fat Tire
Descend Freestone
Climb Three Bears
Shane’s Loop
Descend Buck’s
Descend Central Ridge
Climb Mtn Cove
Climb Military Reserve Connector
Crestline
Descend Red Cliffs
Red Fox
Home (Refill two water bottles, it was hot)
Red Fox
Golden Finch
Owl’s Roost
Kestrel
Crestline
Descend Military Reserve
Mtn Cove
Climb Three Bears
Shane’s to Rocky Canyon Rd.
Climb Rocky Canyon Rd
Climb Orchard Gulch
Descend 5-Mile to Watchmans
Watchmans
Descend Three Bears (made the correct turn today)
Shane’s
Descend Buck’s
Ridgecrest
Mtn Cove
Climb Military Reserve Connector
Crestline
Descend Hull (Woohoo!)
Red Fox
Home

3 comments:

Carey Lowery said...

Mmmmm ... single speed X 2. Hoping you drive your Mesa Verde demons back to their caves! I modified my shoes with a dremel tool in order to place the cleats 4mm further back. So far so good; happy feet.

Russp17 said...

Hmmm... shouldn't it be (s*4)*2 instead of (S*4)^2. (sorry I'm an engineer couldn't help it)

dan said...

Rad weekend Dave! Anna and I are escaping for a mini-training camp to put some long hours in the saddle this weekend. Whats your expert advice for a place to put a couple eight hour days in the legs (within 10 hours driving!).

Cheers
Dan A