Blankets Creek

I have a special place in my heart for Blankets Creek. That trail was the first real trail I rode my Karate Monkey on. I went out there in May of 2008 on a balmy spring morning ready to rip up some dirt on my new bike. I hadn't been on a mountain bike in probably 2 years, much less had I ever ridden more than 5 miles offroad. So I was totally amped. I had invested all this money in this awesome single speed bike and was planning on upgrading it as the money came in and it was going to be great.

I get on the trail and the first thing I notice is everything hurts. My arms are rattling around, my back is sore, my shoulders are getting a serious shake and I can barely keep pedaling. I don't go more than 1 mile before I get too overconfident and I try to go over a poorly stacked log pile in the trail and endo, hard. I went over the handlebars in less than 10 minutes of breaking in that bike. My knee caught the threads from my brake screw and got cut wide open. It wasn't a deep cut, but one of those that paints your leg a different hue of red. I was hot, hungover as shit, tired and I had just spent a sizable sum on an activity I knew I would enjoy, but HATED at that moment. I wanted to throw my bike into the lake. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to cry. I was so spun and dehydrated I didn't even know what to do. Luckily my friend gave me a Pro-Bar and forced me to sit down and drink some water. This calmed me down. I couldn't shake that nagging sensation that I had just wasted a lot of my money and time into something I despise.

This was my first exposure to mountain biking. After approximately 1 hour of slogging, heavy braking, 0-mph clipless fall overs, I emerged from Dwelling loop. ~4 miles of mountain bike hell. I looked like hell, was wearing a crappy old polyester cycling jersey, old navy nylon shorts with no chamois and was covered in sweat in the 85 degree sun. I hated life. So after I gathered my thoughts was pumped full of water we decided to tackle South Loop. How hard could it be on a rigid 32x18 SS with no previous experience. 1.5 hours later and a lot of walking, hiking, pushing we emerged from there and felt victorious. I had not fallen over the handlebars and I called that a victory. I then realized mountain biking isn't about how fast you go or how well you do its just about completing a challenge. Who cares if it took you an hour to do something some people do sub 20 minutes? No one. I felt better. I felt like I had made a step in the right direction with this decision. I felt rewarded and man was I high on endorphins. Runners high? Psh... Mountain biking high is better.

So I pondered all of this yesterday as I tore through Blankets Creek nailing Dwelling loop in just under 26 minutes without hardly losing my breathe. Sure now I have gears and a fancy fork, but those don't make me much faster. I'm sure most people who have ridden with me on both say I'm about even going SS or geared. I get lazy with gears on climbs, but it makes me faster on flats and downhills where I'd normally spin out. Whereas on a SS I tear up climbs so they are over sooner and try to manage every bit of momentum out of downhills and flats after I spin out. I probably could have gone much faster but it wasn't really my goal. I just wanted to see where an moderate pace ride would land me.

Blankets trails were recently pretty wrecked by all the rain we've had. Most of the trails were underwater. So a few spots looked and felt different, which was nice. They aren't the best trails around, but they are what they are a great place to get introduced into mountain biking.

So as I progress into the realm of pushing myself a little further this week I will be taking on Snake Gap Time Trial. I am opting for the 34 mile option this year. Hoping that I will finish. Slow and steady wins the race? If by winning you mean finishes, then yes. My only goal is to finish. I think it's very doable, I just have to pace myself. Last year I went into the first race with the mentality of push as hard as I can for as long as I can and deal with it. I started the first climb and began to hammer up it for about 3/4 mile before my legs were screaming with pain. I still had 16 more miles to go and I was already hurting. I would walk it off a bit and carry on. On the donwhills I was very sloppy and could not keep the bike in good contact with the trail. A lot of that had to do with the mist that coated my glasses/gloves/face which made visibility difficult. The 3rd attempt though I had a different strategy. Rather than race the race, just ride for fun and take my time. Don't kill myself on the climbs, just roll up em and get off and walk if need be. I was only racing a clock and knew I was in no contention to get top 3 or 5 or even 10. I took my time and even shouldered my bike through a lot of the technical rocky parts but smiled the whole way and would even jog a bit when I felt my HR slip. I knocked 25 minutes off my first time by adopting this new strategy. My mantra then became "race your race." It all goes back to "who cares?" No one is gonna give you shit if it took you 15 minutes longer than the guy in front of you. You did it and they can't take that away from you.

So I plan on "racing my race" come January 2nd. See you guys at the finish line with a bowl of chili and a tasty brew.