• A six hour window

    Jeff Kerkove 2:44 PM
    Coach gave me a up to a 6 hour window to crank the mountain bike today. Of course, pace and total ride time would be dictated by how the recovery process went over the evening hours from yesterdays race effort. I managed to drag Carney back out to the dirt after his solid race effort yesterday. Legs felt good out of the gate. So, we decided to hit up Lory State Park, Horsetooth Mountain Park, and then figure out a plan of attack after that. The loop we set up had a good mix...

    4.5 hour dirt sessionBuff trail through Lory State Park....littered with horse poo. A not so welcome sight on a steamy 80 degree day.


    4.5 hour dirt session
    A long...never ending....climb up Radio Tower Road. Yesterdays race made this climb today slow going. Especially since I was trying to keep the HR in the low 140's. Going up this all I could think was: Leadville, Leadville, Leadville. Almost an internal monologue chant.


    4.5 hour dirt session
    Up and over the climb we soon were in HTMP territory. Trials in here are loose, dry, and hit and miss rocks. Not to mention a bunch of short little grunt climbs to take the toll on the legs. Speaking of hit and miss rocks...one jumped out in front of me. My new found downhilling confidence, thanks to the tubeless set up, had me into a corner a bit to fast. The result...a slow speed lay down. Add another scrape and bruise to the left leg.


    4.5 hour dirt session
    The final bit of dirt in HTMP before we topped out just below Horsetooth rock itself. The rest was all down hill fire road to the park entrance. We made a educated decision to call the ride there. We were both a little weak in the legs. Not something you want heading out to Bobcat Ridge for another 14 miles dirt loop and 2,000 ft of steep fire road climbing.


    4.5 hour dirt sessionTodays profile and a red line going up and down that lets me know my "ticker" is working well. Just about 4.5 hours of pedaling time...and a good time it was.