October 6th (Afternoon)

Not a great ride today. I had considered the idea of doing some exploring, but even before I left the office I knew my legs were feeling a bit more tired than usual. Sure enough, I didn’t feel as optimum as I have felt the last couple of rides. It wasn’t horrible, as I was still able to get a decent pace going and did a couple of sprinting/standing efforts. But my knee was bothering me from the start, and my legs just didn’t have the reserves of energy today!

Going down into Peterson’s Creek was OK. The brakes were noisy, squishy and losing their power. I made it through the creek and over the root, but again failed at the climb up the east bank. Again, I turned around and tried again. Only this time, I did NOT make it on the 2nd attempt… Nor the 3rd… 4th… Or even the 5th!!! Finally, my knee was killing me so I had to stop and just walk up… VERY maddening… I then decided to take the bypass trail (my knee I didn’t think would handle the long, straight, steep climb) but again I lost my line and couldn’t make the distance that I should be able to consistently do here. I had to stop, catch my breath and just relax because now I was actually getting mad and this biking is supposed to be fun!!! Once I was settled down, I continued on. I made the rest of the climb and the rock “wall” at the top again (2 lady hikers were watching, of course I was going to make it!!!)

With my legs feeling a few notches below normal, I decided to cut down to my single-track trails before the gulley trail I usually take. It was fun, but my brakes SUCKED… Very little control, and noisy as heck! I then decided to try my new gulley trail down (when my brakes were this bad I’m not sure why this made sense at the time). It was a bit hair raising, as I had very little control and went through a couple of the sections way too fast. But, alas, I made it to the bottom intact and still with the “rubber side down” so that was a bonus I guess!

Just before the last corner of Frolek’s lower road I caught up with Brian again and so we rode into Juniper together. He said the DH Specialized rig did OK, but it was quite heavy and he was feeling it! I had some really fast speeds through the pipeline section at Rose Hill, and even thought maybe today I was going to make the last climb (yes, even though I was feeling worse today than normal). However, as I got to my usual spot where I tend to wander right, I guess I tried so hard to NOT go right, that I just ended up going LEFT… Oh MY GOODNESS SCOTT!!!! When??? WHEN??? Oh well, I WILL get this hill some day…

When I got home, thank goodness my new brake pads from eBay had finally arrived! I swapped both the front and the back ones out and broke them in, so hopefully the rest of the week will be good for braking! Oh, and I won’t be buying Jagwire pads again. Great power, sure, but they lasted me ONE month! Waaay too short for $30 a pair! I can’t afford another $30 a month to be spending on brake pads. These ones I got are supposed to be still good for power, but longer lasting. I’m not sure how long, though, because they did break in mighty fast… At the shipping speed (or lack thereof), I might have to order 2 more pairs right away!!! Hah!!!