Bill put together a vicious training loop to do laps on today, and I headed out early to join him.
Now I’m back, showered, feet up, on the couch, snarfing baked goods at a rapid rate. I’m tired, sore, and very happy.
I rode a bit in excess of 50 miles (I’m guessing), did 11,119 feet of climbing (holyshit!) in about 6:40. More climbing than The Rim Ride in 40 less miles, and almost the same amount of climbing in a Grand Canyon double crossing in only 10 or so more miles. And the elevation gain (except maybe 300′ per lap) was all on singletrack, as the concept behind Bill’s loop can be summed up as taking the two biggest, most fun, (and in the case of climb 2) most technical descents in the lower ‘snake and doing them all the wrong way, with some stuff tacked on to the end.
(Looking at the map now, I can see I shortcut the course by accident, taking a shorter and easier way up the ridge after climb 3. Oh well. Just highlights how fast Bill is.)
I did LOTS of pushing. (I was riding the single.)
I’ve never come close to that much gain in so little time and distance on a bike.
I really did not know I had that in me right now, and the boost it gives to my optimism as regards the KMC 200 is enormous.
Happy.
I’m presuming Bill did four, and maybe five, laps to my three. Last fall, he always beat me up, down, and on the flats (save that one time he was really hungover). This year, he’s waaaay stronger. Watch out.
Bedrock & Paradox 
Leave a comment