Red Rock Loop Ride..

Now that Hump Day if over it seems like training this week has been next to none and I wonder WTF! The weather this past weekend was totally shitty here, with winds 30mph+ and who knows what the guts were clocked at but Sunday-Tuesday was just not fun weather.

On Saturday I was able to meet up with Formulaic and Stef and get in a good lake swim, cold though but didn't seem to be as cool as Coeur d'Alene last year, but it was close. I remember the burning feeling and once my feet and body got used to the water it was my hands that took longer than normal to adjust but once they did I was off and swimming. It was nice coached workout with Swim Las Vegas and as we stayed together as group it was comforting feeling of swimming with others just as a race plays out once people string out in lines. We practiced drafting, short sprints and long continuous swimming. After we went to spectate at our local clubs mini-Duathlon which turned out to be a good number of participants.

Sunday as I said the wind rolled in and I ended up going to the gym for a good long workout and was satisfied. Monday did some more gym work but no cardio stuff. Tuesday, umm.. not sure what happened.. but Wednesday!!

Wednesday is the famous Red Rock Loop ride which leaves at 6pm from one of the look out points. Form has been asking me to do this ride since I got back to Vegas and since I know Red Rock I have been reluctant to do it, ok, SCARED! Why? Because in the first 4 miles you climb like 2000 ft.! So he finally talked me into it and we plan to ride. Oh, and it gets a little dark or can be totally dark by the time you make the come back down so Head Lights of some sort are highly recommended. Form says, No worries.. I have one for you. Great I said.

So we get there get ready to go and Form gives me the little head light to clamp to my bike with the batteries. I open to put them in and go hey, Form..! Wrong size batteries, you needed to steal the other size from the office. As he proceeds to die in laughter I am wondering nervously how I will be able to see coming down the mountain at excess speeds blindly! just then the group of cyclists start pulling out and now there is no one really to ask for a lamp, batteries or anything so JT just goes without.

The warm up to the park loop entrance is nice and fast with the help of the wind pushing. Once at the park its an immediate start of climbing for about a mile then a short false down hill and somewhat levelness for about 1/2 mile with the immediate return of uphill. We catch a couple of the other rides, ok, so they were on Mountain Bikes, but we still caught them and they left before us, that counts. Then about mile 3 is a nice 2 or 3 minute down hill recovery which is well needed for due to the next 1.5 miles of continuous climbing at a nice steep grade. I found my rhythm and started to grind away. A few times I worked on climbing out of saddle but my HR went through the roof, not like it wasn't on the top of the ceiling to begin with but it pushed it over board so I sat back down to steady it out. At one point I heard Form yell and I only heard something about a crash, So I briefly looked back and as I did I drifted farther to the right side of the road where the dirt gravel was and Yup, guess what? My tire snuck into the gravel and down I went. Good thing I was going so freakn slow it actually felt like I laid down! LMAO. Now this has a couple of good things really. 1) I was going so slow uphill that I didn't get hurt or even scratch. 2) I was able to get a recovery rest in and being my HR down and 3) I got to take a drink of water. Once back in the saddle its the final 1/4 mile climb to the top where the rest of the group is wait and brings on another nice recovery rest. Form and I don't hang too long b/c it is still light and I don't have a head lamp so we take off knowing the rest of the group will eventually catch us.

The down hill trip was fast and fun. As I said the Pelaton caught us and we jumped in but talk about trusting other rides to lead the way. I stayed with them for quite some time and at one point the first rider to catch me said Hey, jump in! So I got in behind him and we worked together going down the hill but then on one of the flats the rest of the main group caught us and then it was about 6 of us all freakn` haul ass at 40mph in almost darkness! CRAZY!! then we had a good uphill climb and I got dropped! Crap. Now I was the guy in between the lead riders and the main pack, the Lone Guy with NO HEADLAMP any only a blinking red tail light to follow from the ride about 1/4 mile ahead of me. I worked as best I could to catch back up and I finally did but I really think they slowed down. Once back at the car I began to feel like I was going to puke! Not really sure why but there for about an hour after the ride I did not feel well.

Overall a super fun ride and I think I really should have gone sooner when Form suggested it. Light or no Light you can do the ride and be safe. But Form.. Bring the right batteries next time! LMAO!..

rockon`