Sunday, January 23, 2011

Week 2....MUCH BETTAH!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

So this is the 2nd blog for me and it’s been a much less emotional week for me. My first blog was so personal and tough to write…However since I ended this week with such amazing experiences, let’s focus on that shall we? BIKING & FRIENDS!

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a club ride. With all the drama, harsh reality and negativity that has been going on in my life…I just didn’t want to be around a big group of people, so I stayed close to just a couple of my friends and only shared with them, what was going on. Sharing your troubles with your friends puts an enormous amount of burden on them too…So I have tried for once to keep things to myself but at the same time ask for help and direction from the people I have known the longest and who know me the best. I will leave their names out of it, but they know who they are and I love you and I am so very grateful you all are in my life. Thank you.

SATURDAY CLUB RIDE! The night before, I got a phone call that upset me a lot about the gym I teach at now requiring all instructors to use THEIR music to teach classes. I really let it get to me and it kept me up all night. Sometimes I struggle just to “shut it off”, and I didn’t handle this well at all because I know I will have to quit and try and find a boutique gym to teach at. So I am guessing I got maybe 2 hours of sleep but there was no way I was missing the club ride! I knew a ton of people I wanted to see would be riding AND parts of this ride were a new trail for me so I WAS NOT going to miss this ride!

Before I even got to the trail head I was pulled over for speeding…Not a good way to start off the morning. I was grateful that the officer just gave me a warning and even told me to have a great time on my ride.

Well…we started at a new section off of Mulholland. It started with a bit of a fire road climb to some ups and downs then dropping into the single track. This new single track was AWESOME! It was almost like someone had just groomed it for us! It was flowey, smooth and tons of fun! Then as soon as we hit the bridge…I recognized the next part of the trail. Uggg….here comes the climbing! This was brutal and not very forgiving. My chain got wrenched a few times and came off as well. I tend to double shift and that’s what happens. Not very finesse I am! So I had to stop a few times, put my bike upside down…get the chain unwedged to put back on. Really didn’t take that long. Well after the 4th time the chain came off…I started to lose my patience with myself and get a wee bit winey. I bit off more than I could chew FO SHO! I was EXHAUSTED! My heart rate had already passed its max at 182 at least 3 or 4 times and I knew it was gonna be a LONG ride. But damn if I wasn’t gonna get er done!

So I get to the 1st parking lot and the ride leader and another buddy are waiting for me to make sure I’m ok. Thanks luvs…..Then the next 5 miles or so were absolute torture. I was bonking and just not riding well because at this point I was just feeling sorry for myself and trying to suck it up and work through it. My seat post was giving me problems too…I noticed the cables were fraid…so that meant asking my buddy for YET ANOTHER favor. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

So I get to the next parking lot and already see some of the riders climbing up the next sick single track and half way to the top, so……. I had to catch up! I decided to take a shorter, easier route up and try and catch them. At this point I was riding on pure determination and nothing else. Well I got to the saddle/drop in point and saw a few of my buddies and they said I missed the group by seconds! Damn! So I got a little excited thinking I just may catch up with them! Well after some fun, descents and sick water crossings…I was thinking about the climb back and getting concerned how rough it was going to be. I really wanted to finish the ride with everyone. I kept going and I got 5 minutes from the top and I tell you I had NOTHING left. I saw 2 of my girlfriends who I ride with a lot coming back and I just about cried when I saw them since I had been riding by myself for the entire ride and playing catch up. They saw the look on my face and immediately insisted I come back with them. (these 2 know me SOOO well and know when it’s time to take control of Wendy because at this point I had no control left!). I was quite grateful! Well…it was really rough at spots climbing back out, but there were also a lot of amazing long descents too! We finally got back to the 2nd parking lot and my girlfriend was nice enough to drive me back to my car so I wouldn’t have yet another 1000 feet of climbing to ride to get back to my car.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!! DOH! Well………… I then had a wonderful lunch with some of the riders…then went to my friend’s house to pick up my Downhill bike and gossip. Even though the day was pure torture…it was a good kind of torture and I sure was happy!

SUNDAY DOWN HILLING! So I woke up this morning and saw it was REALLY windy out! Not good for mountain biking! The plan today was to downhill with da boys. I called one of them up and discussed my concerns with the wind so we changed our routes up a bit as to what would be most protected in the wind. Now a lot of this area I cannot mention the names of the trails…it’s the Down Hillers and Free Riders “sacred” area…so no trail names mentioned here today.

Soooooo, I can tell you I am lucky enough to have a few male friends who are not only some of the best riders around….but they are patient enough to let me tag along for the ride, wait for me and EVEN help me session some spots.

We started off with a short, fast, flowey single track that was just a hoot and blast to ride! I def need a warm up like that, so grateful I got it! No wind at all! Then we decide to make the push up to one of the more gnarly trails…at least for me. The push up was nasty because of the wind…but once we dropped into the trail…we were well protected. I got to film a lot on this trail since I am not able to ride some of it so that is always fun too! This trail has everything from slick rock, drops, boulders, lots of off camber stuff, you name it!
The 1st drop in was minimal compared to the other sick stuff they did! We came to a split where I normally go one way and the free riders go the other way. Today I went with them for part of it and filmed. They started this section with an enormous boulder huck then onto a small, fun jump. THEN…it got REALLY nasty! Big, huge slabs of boulders, tight corners, drops, loose dirt and more. I just watched in awe and very proud of my buddies…they are VERY talented! A wee bit crazy…but they have a tremendous amount of skill & confidence in themselves so I sure admire that!

So I talked them into going to another part where they had never been and I was comfy riding one of the routes…but NOT the route THEY chose! We walked it…discussed it….once we talked about the line I would ride…I thought…I can do this! So they positioned themselves along certain spots where I was a wee bit scared and they talked me through it. I rode the entire section without dabbing. (If you ride with me you know this is a HUGE accomplishment for me because I dab EVERYTHING!). I think I grabbed my heart at the bottom! Then I realized…what on earth was I so afraid of? That wasn’t bad at all! Sometimes biking for me is a complete mind #@#$%*&^!

So ALL THAT was my weekend! It was the BEST part of my week and WHAT a way to end it! Riding and teaching spin classes have been what are getting me through the entire BS of my life. It’s what truly makes me happy. I am also so very grateful for my friends and I can’t thank them enough. They fix my bikes, wash my bikes, make sure I’m not depressed, yell at me when I need it, see that I am focused on doing the right things and not wasting my time…and on and on and on……..mmmmmwwwwaaaaaaa!!!

Please check out each of the links on my page. These are all special to me. This week I want to feature 1 amazing biker and what she is doing. Jen Roop. Please go to her link and support her fight against cancer! http://1dollar1mile.com/

Thanks for listening luvs! Have an amazing week…keep your chin up, we are all going through tough times and please remember to not only be good to yourselves…but be even better to the people who love and care about you!

Until next week…………BE FABULOUS DAWLINGS!

WE!

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