Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

Nordic Centre with Carbon and three former mtn bike racers gals (Maz, Marisa and Shauna). Again, rode the lower trails but some of it was the reverse of what we rode last night and some of it in directions I have never ridden. Trails were damp everywhere, several puddles, and the roots and rocks were slipperier than last night. Westbound on Orchid, down the Long Road to Ruin climb, up Blue Coal Chutes (a lot of it wasn't rideable in the wetter conditions today and would be challenging on a dry day). The racer girls were holding a decent pace, I was usually lagging just a little. It drizzled on us a couple of times but never got bad and occasionally got nice.

Finished the previous ride just in time to rendezvous with Jenna at 11:30 and ride again. Different folks on different schedules of availability, so we ended up with multiple rides. Might as well go big today, tomorrow's forecast doesn't look great. Her friend Heather joined us, and Maz was still available to keep riding. Left the Nordic Centre (phew, I don't want to burn out on that place and it gets repetitive with only about half the trails available right now) and rode up the Spray Lakes Road just a little to catch the entry to Mosquito trail off the left side of the pavement. Mosquito was in excellent shape, quite dry. I've never ridden this trail, it was fun. Some constructed wooden technical features that are all doable, I got the scare of my life when I saw Carbon riding up a jump that had more than a 1 metre drop off the end and no roll-off ramp... then the teeter-totter shifted and brought her down to the ground. She had ridden it on Thursday night and new what we was doing.
Swung by the Quarry dog park parking lot where we also met up with Brent and Mel (Team Wild Rose Alumni). Rode Lowline to Three Sisters (near Myka's house! :) ) and then showed everyone Quebexican trail. The trail was in quite good shape, just barely damp, the occasional slippery root. Weather kept improving (except for one quick sprinkle) and we rode to the second-last descent. At that point, we decided to turn around as some people had appointments to get back to Calgary for, and some of us (me) were getting a bit tired. Caught a handlebar on a tree where I shouldn't have, signaling that I was getting a little tired and lazy. No crash, just a little swerve and save. Then Jenna had a big crash where her wheel cranked sideways, stopped dead, threw her forward and she took the end of the handlebar in the lower abdomen really really hard. A massive long scrape across her lower abdomen and who knows what it might have done internally. She walked and rode back while we sometimes pushed her bike. She then went to emerg to be checked out, put through ultrasounds, etc. Looks like everything is okay and she was at the party that evening, making mouth sundaes from the whipped cream can with the rest of us.

15.8

Nordic Centre lower trails with Carbon, Annie and Chelsea. Soft Yogurt and down Devonian Drop, some good riding on the drop by Annie and Carbon. Trails were just a little damp but not bad. Orchid, EKG, Blue Coal Chutes, up Long Road to Ruin.
Then out to supper with the parents at Crazyweed (fancy reputation but it was disappointing) while it rained.

Dirtbag intervals

A really beautiful night. Summer is here!
I haven't been to a club run (of either club) in quite a while so it was fun to catch up with a lot of people.
Tonight's drill goes by many names: Greyhounds, etc. You group up with about 4-6 people that are close to your speed and run at a moderate pace in single file. The back person sprints to the front and then settles back into the group pace. When they get there, the next person at the back goes. We did this for 6 km or more, doing 3 lengths of the causeway alongside the lower Spray Lakes canal. I went with one of the middle-speed groups. My group's pace was around 5:20 per km. 5:00 per km might have been more ideal for me but when two guys broke off to chase a faster group I hesitated to join them. It was good that I didn't go - they spent the rest of the time trying to catch the other group and those two guys were already faster than I am. No problem, it's easy enough to just work even harder during your sprints if you want to increase the intensity.
We even had a couple of kayakers and SUPers alongside us, taking advantage of the beautiful evening. We also got harassed by a big group of female mountain bikers who were riding on the other side of the canal. Not sure what they were up to... Carbon's log may know...
Then a good crew of us headed over to The Wood for more socializing and appetizers/beers. A couple of the harassing mountain bikers showed up too.

C • "Carbon's log may know" 1

This felt better than I expected

Myotatic crunch with 7.5 lbs
Cat vomit
Front plank 2:15
Side planks 1:30

15.9