Training Log Archive: ebuckley

CC Lake via the Powerline. Felt a bit off and the trail was greasy, so I didn't push things. Very fine day to be out. Spent the remainder of the day at a park with Yaya.

2 control picking courses of around half an hour each run at competition pace. Time includes 15-minute warmup, jogging between the courses and back to the car.

Decent flow. A few small bobbles, but nothing to be too bent about. Certainly good enough to peg last weekend as just one of those horrible things that happens from time to time and I can now put it behind me.

Then the obligatory laps on the Dogwood trail. Second one was hot so I set a defacto PR (I've never hammered that trail before) or 16:08, but I don't think I'll have much trouble improving on that because I came up on some horseback riders who ignored me when I yelled from 50m, again at 30m and again at 20m. At 10m one of their horses jumped and the guy finally turns around and says, "Hold on, buddy, you're scaring the horses." No shit, dude, that's why I've been yelling at you to get the hell off the trail. Probably only 30 seconds and of course the time doesn't really count, so there's nothing to be pissed about except the attitude. First off, there's no reason why a horse needs to be spooked by a bike. A horse can be trained like just about any other large mammal. If you're not going to do that, maybe you could stick to the 40K of horseback trail in Greensfelder/Rockwoods and leave the 20K of mountain bike trail to the mountain bikers.

My body is back, but my mind definitely is not. Decided to take another day off and went to the Zoo with Yaya. Hopefully will feel more motivated tomorrow.

To TKD and back. The powerline was muck after this morning's rain so I took the road route.

Family class, but no Yaya.

The bike is here! Conveniently delivered on a day that I had to work from 6AM until midnight running the test cycles. I snuck out in the evening while one of the longer jobs was running to try it out at Lost Valley.

Pretty much what I was expecting, which is to say I'm pretty pleased. A bit of a hit in handling from the GT; had to 3-point most of the switchbacks. More than compensates in how it handles the rocks. I wouldn't call it effortless, but it was certainly less effort than any 26" bike (including the full-suspension Epic) that I've ever ridden.

When Brad dropped off the bike this afternoon, he took the GT to return it to Doug. While this bike is better, I will miss the GT just a bit. Even though it was a loaner (albeit, a 3-year loan), all my best MTB results came on that bike. Hope Doug's nephew (the next caretaker) appreciates what a fine piece of hardware he's getting.

C • nice! 4

Fall is here! First tights run of the year on a wonderfully crisp morning. Legs are soft, but really pretty good. Should be able to do some real workouts later in the week.

Walked Yaya to school and also walked to the massage place. That seemed like plenty enough activity for the day.