May 26th (Afternoon)
· Fluids Intake
o Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 bottle of water
o Afternoon: 2 bottles of water, 2 glasses of Pepsi
· Food Intake
o Morning: 2 pieces of multi grain toast with butter and peanut butter, 1 banana
o Afternoon: 1 Chicken Ceasar wrap with fries
Today Taryn had soccer practice in Valleyview. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to take my morning trails in reverse and get some fun downhill trails through Kenna Cartwright park (instead of all just climbing). The wind was blowing like crazy in pretty much every and any direction (seriously, it didn’t seem to matter which direction I was riding, I was getting blasted by wind). I took the power line trail at the end of Copperhead Drive and then rode down and connected to the “Red Fox” trail and took that down to the main Reservoir trail. The ride was fun, but it was over way too quickly and then I had to contend with traffic from Home Depot all the way down Columbia and then across on Valleyview road. The stretch on Valleyview road was pretty brutal against the wind, but at least there is a bike lane so I don’t have to worry about going too fast. My time was pretty bad at 33 minutes (I think this route used to be about 25 or less, so even with the added time through KC park, 33 minutes is slow). But, the ride through the trails was a fun change up for sure. I’m getting rather bored of my typical run home! :)
May 27th (Morning)
· Fluids Intake
o Evening Before: 1 glass of Iced Tea, 1 glass of milk
o Morning Of: Nothing
· Food Intake
o Evening Before: 1 helping of macaroni and beef casserole, 2 pieces of sesame white toast with margarine and peanut butter, 1 small bowl of Life cereal
o Morning Of: Nothing
The rain came down hard all night. In the morning, however, it was only drizzling. Not wanting to be a “fair weather rider”, I hopped on the bike and headed towards my trail head. Well, the rain had made a soupy mess, and by the time I got to the two steep sections coming out of Juniper, my tires were packed with mud! I couldn’t see much, either, with my glasses getting covered in rain drops. So, I pulled them off and continued down the trails. I missed quite a few sections (steep downhill’s, the up-and-down switchback, the first and second dips), so it was a rather brutal section. But, I got onto the double track and started to pick up some speed. Unfortunately, I picked up a bit too much speed and started to slide out on a corner. Feeling like I wasn’t going to make it, I made a last minute decision and directed the bike down a piece of single-track that was conveniently there for me to bail onto! However, it quickly became apparent that this trail was not for a guy with my skill (or lack thereof) on such a wet day! The trail rode right along the edge of a clay cliff that dropped about 20 feet straight down on my right, and, and then continued to drop down about another 100 feet or so to the valley bottom below! I came up to the edge of a steep downhill that rode precariously near the edge and I said “No way” and turned around! With the trail as greasy as it was, I did not feel like challenging fate that morning. So, I turned around and made my way back sheepishly to my double-track trail. The rest of the ride was good, but with my detour and stopping to clean my glasses constantly, I was about 2-1/2 minutes longer to the bus stop than normal. Ugghhh...
Going through Kenna Cartwright park again was good. I wasted a lot of energy going up spinning in some pretty muddy sections, but I made the entire climb with no stops or breaks so that was cool. I got to work very wet and very muddy. I think I’m going to start leaving a container of Wet Ones at work for days like today!
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