AZT Deathmarch

I follow blogs from a few people that live in places I like to visit and share a similar passion for epic off-road adventures. One of these people is Scott Morris. Some months ago, Scott wrote about new sections of the Arizona Trail (AZT) being completed in between the Picketpost and Kelvin trailheads, the final sections of the AZT to be completed. Much of this segment was benchcut by trail building machinery into steep, rugged canyon country.

Cresting gap on Rt 177

I believe most riders would either bike pack or shuttle this section. Dave and I have just one car and no way to shuttle the ride by leaving a car at the Kelvin trailhead, then driving back to Picketpost to start the ride. We had to shuttle ourselves by pedal power, the only way! It meant 20+ miles of pavement with an initial 2000ft mountain pass climb starting right from the car. We parked in Kelvin, which was the far trailhead from Phoenix, so we wouldn't have to finish the ride with a 20 mile buzz killing pavement ride. In between the two trailheads were 40 miles of continuous singletrack with no bailouts, and no water (the Gila river is contaminated with heavy metals from mine run-off). It was going to be hot. There will be rattlesnakes. The trail could be quite technical. The ride would entail some risk.

Beginning of AZT at Picketpost Mtn

Dave leaving Picketpost

We got an early start to ensure we did not run out of daylight. The climb up Rt 177 went well. Already warm out, we were sweating profusely. I had stashed an extra water bottle at the Picketpost trailhead on the way to Kelvin for a jersey pocket. This with 100oz Camelbak and 28oz bottle on frame was not going to be enough in this heat for an all-day ride. We stopped briefly in Superior where we picked up some more water. In about 90 minutes time, we were off the pavement and on the AZT singletrack.

Dave on AZT

Working our way up to high point on the AZT

The trail was very well designed. Nice flow, 100% rideable. We encountered a group of older walkers on the trail near the trailhead, coming back from a Picketpost out and back hike. They were just heading out when we dropped water there 2hrs earlier.

Hill Junkie, trying to trackstand with Dave fumbles with camera

Cruising around high point on AZT

For the next 10-12 miles, we slowly gained vertical until reaching a maximum elevation of around 3800ft and rolled at that altitude for a while. Grade reversals were continuous. Many deep digs per minute were required to make it up the punchy rises. These were not only taking a toll on the body, but they also ensured high sweat rate. I became concerned about water consumption. The scenery helped take the mind off worries though. We cruised through some pretty amazing canyon country. Exposure was ever present. Not the die if you fall kind, but certainly you will be taken out by helicopter if you fall kind.  A mishap was not an option.

Canyon wall riding. The most amazing part of this ride. Can you

follow the singletrack?

Flowers and exposure in the canyon

Hard to keep eyes on trail with views like these

Canyon benchcut

Mid ride, we encountered a solo female bike packer, spending the night on the trail. She was probably not much younger than us and commented about how much hike-a-biking she'd been doing the last few hours. That meant our descent to the Gila River valley was soon to begin. We encountered only one other person on the trail, a solo male hiker. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves.

On the descent

Continuing descent to the Gila River in distance

The descent was a blast. A test of brakes and wits to be sure. Glad I put new pads on before I left. It was well into the 80's at the river. From there, we had to ride about 20 miles upstream back to the car. A small net gain, but there would be several significant climbs up the valley wall and back down to river grade along the way.

Finally, Gila River

Panic quickly set in. Much of the trail at river grade had the consistency of either talcum powder, beach sand or 6" deep pea gravel. It was barely rideable. What should have been an easy 10mph average pace turned into 4mph at very hard effort. We clearly did not have enough water for another 4hrs of riding. We were already 4-5hrs into the ride. After several miles of pretty cruddy, buzz killing riding, the trail began climbing. Up and away from the river, the typical decomposed granite surface resumed. But good riding had to be earned with significant effort. We'd climb, cruise on some nice trail for a bit, then bomb back down into sandy quagmire.

In one of these quagmires, I must have spooked a rattler. Dave heard it, riding further behind me. He stopped to look and didn't like how well it blended in with the environment, as in, you'll never see one in time just riding along. We were too far past it before he caught up to me to get a picture. Dave has girly fears of snakes.  I was hoping to see a Gila Monster on this ride, but no such luck.

We reached the train trestle. I seemed to recall that was only half way along the Gila to the car. I totally panicked. Dave was already out of water and I was finishing my last sip. We could not go another 2+ hours in 85F heat, already dehydrated, with no water. We still had a 500ft climb described as a hike-a-bike by others too. I was the most dehydrated ever, during a ride. I hadn't peed in 8hrs. We were clearly in death-march mode at this point.

We got to the 500ft climb shortly after the train trestle. Fears started to subside, as I knew the top of this climb was only 4mi out from the car and it would be mostly downhill.  The climb was not a hike-a-bike. Steep, very steep for legs with over 6hrs riding in them, but nicely graded. I did not clean a couple switchbacks though.

From the summit, the trail was wide and freshly graded. We soon encountered large heavy equipment blocking off the trail. Fortunately, the crew was done for the day, as reading the link at the beginning of this post, we would not have been allowed to pass if they had been working. They were doing the most interesting thing, something I have never seen before. They were converting a road into a singletrack. I guess this is so only human powered transport can pass through that section of the AZT and not four wheeled vehicles. Looked like 2-3 miles might be going through this conversion process, which looked quite tedious, with a very large excavator and bulldozer. Had to cost big bucks.

Seeing the car was a marvelous sight. I had two jugs of Gatorade in there, which were piss warm, but never tasted so good. I finished one in about one chug. We thought about scrambling down to the Gila river to rinse off, but it looked hard to get to. When I pulled my jersey off, a cloud of salt dust fell off it. My entire body was encrusted in lost electrolytes.



We finished the ride in 7:04 hours moving time, covering 62.8 miles, with 7000-8000ft of climbing. That was probably the hardest, non-race MTB ride I've ever done. One of the most satisfying too. The scenery and flow of the ride rivals that of my favorite Colorado rides, such as Trail 401 in Crested Butte or the Monarch Crest Trail. Very different climate, air to breath, and the views go on for hours and hours. I would easily do this ride again. Other than underestimating how much water was needed, the ride was flawlessly executed.  At nearly 50yrs old, I wonder how many more years I can do stuff like this?

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One of many things keeping me busy

Cathy and I have a little home improvement, or rather neglect abatement work going on. We bought our house while it was no more than a foundation in the ground in 1997. Nearly 15 years have passed, and it's been a great 15 years of new home ownership. We've had to do virtually nothing to maintain our house, other than fighting with squirrels in attic spaces or ants in wet wall cavities because the builder failed to seal off respective entry points for vermin and water.

We're past due on interior maintenance. Only one room has been re-done, our son's bedroom after he moved out. Let's just say he held vastly different ideas on how walls and flooring can be used than I held. Other heavily used rooms weren't far behind in need of update. Having a large black Labrador in the house for many of those 15 years didn't help the main floor out. Boris was also an outside dog and brought a lot of dirt in.

We recently pulled the berber in the dining room and installed engineered oak flooring in there. The kitchen, fourier and bathroom are ceramic tile, pretty much impervious to any kind of abuse. That left the study and family rooms. The berber was well past due being replaced.

Funny how you adapt to your surroundings. You kind of know carpet is not that nice anymore, but until you move a 300 lb cherry desk that hasn't moved in 15 years, you really don't know.

Where the desk was. Gross, eh? Carpet initially cut back around

perimeter so I could run wires.

We decided to move all the furniture and haul away the old carpet ourselves. Our transfer station does not charge for carpet.  Cost a lot of money to have the carpet installers do this, plus they do it in a day and I wouldn't have chance to pull home theater wires. It always bugged me a little having wires run over the carpet along the baseboard in our family room to reach speakers. We'll be moving the home theater system to what is supposed to be the formal living room, since the layout is more conducive to theater. My study will move to the larger family room, where Cathy's spin bike and other exercise equipment will remain. Direct TV and phone lines have been pulled through under the floor. Speaker wires are now routed along baseboard under the carpet. The new carpet will come while I'm in Arizona. Cathy will be home to sign off on the work.

Family room. It's hard to believe how much crap was in here

when moving it all to kitchen or upstairs because there was no

more room left on main floor.

Next up will be kitchen work. Counter tops, sink and painting. Carpet ain't cheap, but kitchens can sink big bucks. The tile is a keeper. Happy with the quality, texture and color. Not quite sure yet how to fit in this remodelling effort with work and training.

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Not what I had in mind

I totally mucked up this past weekend. I could have skied on what reports described as excellent conditions Saturday. But noooo, I had to head south to escape the overnight snow covering, only to bike in a snow storm on the Cape! Webcams showed clear skies and zero snow on the ground when I left the house. About the time I reached the Cape, visibility went to crap. The pictures show how things played out.

Neighborhood, Saturday morning. Roads were crusty.

Nearing Cape, it started to snow.

Coming off Bourne Bridge. I was BS by this point.

Not what I drove 1:40 for.

At least the terrain at Otis is a little more interesting than ToT.

What tires did I ride, and on which wheel?

This baby was putting out way more Watts than I did today.

Probably like 25,000x more Watts.

It snowed mightily for an hour or so. Heavy, wet shit. I was soaked in 30 minutes. When the sun came out, the snow turned to slush, and I spent the next two hours taking a slush bath. My clothes must have weighed 10 lbs and my shoes filled with water. The snow was nearly gone when I finished riding.  Yep, should've skied instead.

I finished with about 26mi in 3.1hrs. A pretty junky workout. Would have gotten much better cardio workout in on skis.

At least Sunday was a more positive riding experience. I hit local trails after hearing we pretty much skipped right over mud season this year. Hit a compilation of Chelmsford and Carlisle conservation land parcels, no less than seven named parcels I can think of off the top of my head. Bits of road link them up. Covered 32+ miles in exactly 3hrs.

Heading to Arizona on Wednesday. Dave Penney and I have a few big trail rides planned. On Thursday, we'll hit the final section of the Arizona Trail to be completed. This section of the AZT is receiving rave reviews from the MTB community. It is typically ridden as a shuttle ride from Picketpost to Kelvin trailheads, 40 miles of pure singletrack, through very remote, rugged terrain. Dave and I will be providing our own shuttle by riding pavement to close the loop, bringing the total ride to around 60 miles.

Don't want to see any snow on this trip. Looks to be very warm there this week, cooling by the weekend.

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The weekend

Another planned competitive event came and went without my participation. I really wanted to do at least one legitimate ski race this season. The Rangeley Loppet is a good one, with modest climbs, no sketchy descents, and fast finishing time. But the weather spooked me. Overnight snow turning to rain sounded like a 3-4hr slog to me. So I didn't register and planned to get my endorphin fix on wheels instead.

We got buried with new snow at our house on Thursday. By Friday morning, we had 10" of snow on our deck. The Cape got only rain. I wondered how juicy it would be. It was an off Friday for me. It was Cape or nothing, as the new snow was too dense and deep to take the fatbike out on, and roads were too dangerous for studs.

I always seem to forget how bad traffic sucks on work days. I left mid-morning, and 128 was still a parking lot. Then south of Boston I drove through a snow squall, and the snow on the ground wasn't diminishing nearly quickly enough as I approached my riding destination. But all turned out well. I hit the Trail of Tears again, same as the previous weekend with Dave. Conditions were prefect.

In addition to getting my fix, my Titus Racer-X also needed a good shakedown ride. I put much new stuff on it, and it needed to get boxed up for Arizona in two more days. This was my only chance. The Kenda Small Block 8 tires worked quite well as long as I didn't hit any roots. On the loamy surface it was hard to tell if they rolled faster than the Racing Ralph's. My shock rebuild held air.

I thoroughly pummelled myself on the moto loop. Cleaned all the hills too, except for one. Somehow I got off my GPS track on a section of trail I've not been on. It went up. Straight, almost. I wanted so badly to clean it, but a tree branch snag a helmet vent and refused to let go or break off. I about ripped my own head off pedalling against the stubborn branch going uphill.

Many large specimens of American Holly grow on the Cape.

This is about as far north as you will find it.

There were a few greasy spots, mainly on the ToT itself in the flat sections. Kept a lid on speed, lest you get intimate with a tree. I finished with 30.8mi, ~5000ft of climbing, in 3.9hrs moving time. A killer workout. The moto section is like doing 90 minutes of Tabata intervals.  I needed it, as I've yet to ride more than three times a week since the holidays, and one of those rides is usually a recovery spin.

Saturday was 35F pouring rain all day, useless for anything. I did run late in the day after the rain stopped. I figured I'd save it for a final ski outing at Waterville. Dave and I had high hopes of sugar granular, effortless speed, and hitting the full perimeter. None of this happened.

The temp never dropped below freezing overnight at Waterville. The snow was still saturated with moisture. Viscus friction is the worst, worst than sandpaper snow even. At least with sandpaper snow (the cold, abrasive kind), friction force is constant. With viscus friction, force is proportional to speed, so the faster you go, the harder the water in the snow tries to stop you. That really takes the fun out of downhills.

Waterville also hadn't groomed the south end trails when we got there. A random set of dead ends were groomed, which was very frustrating. Slow snow, poor grooming, and legs still tired from Friday's ride made for a short ski day. I pulled the plug after two hours. Dave skied for another hour. It was a rather sour note to end the ski season on. With temps into the 60's expected this week, it is unlikely skiing will be worth while next weekend. Besides, Dave and I need to get some miles in our legs, as we have 5-6hr ride days planned in Arizona next week.

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Ready for Tucson

I've always been keen on preventative maintenance on my bikes. It is pretty rare something breaks on my bike while riding. Something is far more likely to break on my body! This doesn't mean I obsess over keep my bikes clean though...

With a trip planned to Arizona in a couple weeks, it was time to address a few things on my daulie I plan to bring. First, the tires. The Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires are great for smooth hardpack, but the onion skin sidewalls are no match for sharp rocks and cactus thorns that are plentiful in Arizona. Even though the tubeless ready tires were not even halfway used up, they came off. I decided to go full UST tubeless, with real sidewalls. I've not ridden Kenda's Small Block 8 tires before. Reviews claim they are fast. They are also the heaviest tires I've bought at over 850g each. This will add over 1.5 lbs to my bike. I hope the low rolling resistance helps compensate for the extra heft.

My rear shock, a Fox RP23, holds air flawlessly. I can't remember the last time I even checked it. Maybe 6mo ago? Anyway, I'm noticing more greasiness on the shaft these days. Fox sells seal kits cheap and no tools are really needed to rebuild the shock. It seemed like a good idea. Turned out to be really easy. Other than an Allan wrench to remove the shock and a small screwdriver to pry out the seals, no other tools were needed. The shock screws apart by hand. No weight penalty here. Going on 10 days now, shock still holds pressure, so I didn't botch it.

The rear pivot bushings were picking up a hint of play. These are some type of polymer material. Also cheap and easy to replace. Took just a few minutes to pop four new ones in.

It's been a while since I replaced the shifter cables. We've all ridden with somebody that's lost one. They end up with one gear in back and two or three up front if they are lucky. Turns out my front shifter cable was badly frayed at the derailleur and I didn't know it. Disaster averted. A section of rear shift cable housing was delaminating too. It flexes with the suspension, so it will last only so long. Replaced.

Then there's the drivetrain. I subscribe to the philosophy that you let the whole works gracefully wear out as a set, then replace the whole thing as a set. Foolproof this way. I've had too many instances in the distant past where I tried replacing just the chain when it started showing signs of wear, only to find it would skip over cog teeth in hard efforts, nearly sending me over the bars. Never again. Chains aren't cheap anyway, so replacing many chains to squeeze a little more life out of cassettes and chain rings isn't worth the risk. So the small and middle rings, chain and cassette were all replaced. XTR rings are not cheap! Fortunately, the largest, most expensive ring, usually lasts 2-3 drivetrain replacements. I go with CN-7701 (Dura Ace) 9spd chains but XT cassettes. XTR cassettes are stupid expensive and seem to wear out faster than XT cassettes. I just added 700g in tire weight, I shouldn't fret over a few 10's of grams cassette weight.

A pad check showed the front brake pads were too thin to make it through a trip, so new onces went in. I noticed the rotors were getting pretty thin too, so new Shimano Centerloc rotors were ordered. I should be good for the trip, but next time I replace pads, I need to put new rotors on to be safe.

Complete overhaul

My daulie is a bit of a behemoth now with the new tires. It weighs over 27 lbs, which is a lot for a 4" travel, 26" bike. I contemplated bringing my Superfly hardtail, which weighs 4 lbs less with 29" wheels, but not sure my taint can take that much abuse in a week.

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Nuttin' but hills weekend

Trail of Tears
Continuing increased focus on the bike, it was a ride first, ski second weekend. With local heavy rain on Friday and snow at higher elevations, riding off-road locally was out of the question. A road ride didn't look very attractive either, with 40+mph winds expected, some areas potentially seeing 60mph gusts. The Cape received less rain, has no frost in the ground, and its sandy soil drains well. So on Saturday, Dave and I headed down to the Trail of Tears in West Barnstable.

I had plotted out a 30 mile loop that hit everything, including the wicked hilly 10 mile long moto loop in Sandwich and the small Otis Attwood parcel loop. Conditions were quite good. Some of the run-outs at bottoms of hills were a tad greasy under the leaves, making it very risky to let speed run out.

You have to search hard to find a flat 100 meters on this part of the Cape. My guess is the deeply corrugated land was formed by glaciers, as the gravelly ridges look a lot like eskers in other parts of New England. The moto loop in particular has many fall-line grades that are easily 30%. These require max efforts to go just fast enough to not fall over. Then it's death grip on brakes plummet to bottom, just to go up again. Repeat a couple hundred times. This is riding the ToT system. People ask how you can possible get 4000-5000ft of climbing in a 30 mile ride here. Come try it sometime. You'll swear you've done way more than that.

I came with fresh legs and didn't plan to leave anything in the tank when finished. We hit the moto loop still pretty fresh. The soil was packed and tacky, providing considerably more traction than last time I rode here with JB. I was also on my Superfly 29er hardtail this time. With the longer chain stays, that bike remains stable on crazy steep pitches. I was cleaning everything and having a blast. There was only one hill I botched on first attempt but cleaned it on a retry. I cleaned everything else on the moto loop. Never came close to that before. Dave is still running tubes with much higher pressure, so he didn't fare quite as well. He has some nice tubeless wheels on order, hopefully getting them before we head to Arizona in a couple weeks.

Bomb down fall line. Suspension bottoms out at bottom of these things.

Then grind your brains out up the other side, or...

... push your bike up if you slip traction.

It got surprisingly warm out. We both overdressed by about 30 degrees. It was almost shorts riding weather and I had AmFib tights on. A light weight base layer up top was all that was needed.

Back on the Trail of Tears, I was cruising along on a stony esker when a rock kicked loose under my front wheel, completely taking it out from under me. Without warning, I was bouncing off a bed of embedded citrus sized rocks. How I managed to not smash any bony bits on my body is beyond me. I don't think I ever crashed at ToT before. Most of the terrain is quite tame. It just requires considerable fitness and finesse to clean the climbs.



We finished with 30.7mi and 3:49hrs on the wired computer. 4200ft vert on the Garmin. Strava gives 5400ft of climbing. The Edge 500 has a barometric altimeter, which tends to under measure vertical by a lot when there are frequent grade reversals. I wonder if Strava recognizes this and adjusts for it? Regardless, nearly four hours of frequent, hard mashing left me pretty wrecked. Dave and I were both zombies on the way home. A good ride.

Waterville Valley Full Perimeter
I felt 90 years old when I got up Sunday morning. I wanted to ski. It was wicked cold and windy out. Wasn't sure if the ground refroze or not. Trail riding seemed risky still and road riding would have been a freeze fest. Then I looked up conditions for Waterville. All open? Seems they got a nice snow dump, and for the first time this season, opened up the rest of their trail system. That clinched the deal, baby!

I waxed the skies and headed up. It definitely was the most wintry looking yet as I headed up the valley. The wind was really moving snow around too. Sign off the highway said 10F.

I thought maybe I'd do a loop around the south end trails that were finally open, then see how I felt before heading over the the much bigger climbs on the north end. The snow was squeaky and abrasive. Not full-on sandpaper snow, but definitely slow. Soft in places too, since I think it was the first time some of the trails were goomed.

I went up Jennings Peak. The descent was frightful. I stopped twice to regain my composure. Ice moguls poking up, dirt, abrupt divots, not the kind of stuff a timid descender likes to see. Once on Fletchers, it was smooth climbing. I turned off on Upper Fletchers for the full treatment. Felt just like I was back on the Cape again. Grinding up at 4mph, skidding down to control speed, all fall line stuff. At least the infamous hairpin turn wasn't too terrifying. Criterion was open. That puts a good hurt into the legs too. Crazy grades up and down. By the time I finished the southern perimeter, I had over 1000ft of climbing in less than 6mi. Yep, just like the Cape.

Heading down Drakes

Cutting across the golf course wasn't too bad. Had to remove skis only once. Three of the drives had enough snow to ski right across. The extra special treatment was coming right up, skiing up Beanbender on grippy snow. And did I suffer. Snow was drifting across, as if it wasn't hard enough for shear grade alone. From the summit, I finally had 1-2km of pure descent before the next climb, Cascade. Cascade had been open part way for a while. Now the full one-way loop was open. The descent was pretty sketchy. Grooming left some pretty serious ruts around the numerous hairpin turns.

Looking back down Beanbender

I was now torn between continuing, which meant hitting the 800ft Tripoli Rd climb or heading back. I have a knack for burying myself each weekend, which takes half a week to recover from. But the conditions were just too good to quit just yet. I'd take each climb one at a time.

Tripoli was a slog. I was almost 30% slower than my PR time. I wasn't pushing the pace at all. Sometimes these things seem harder when you don't go hard. The conditions were sweet though. There was nothing sketchy at all coming down Tripoli Rd.

I figured I made it this far, I might as well head further in and hit Upper Osceola too, another few hundred foot climb. From the summit of Osceola, I figured I could manage just a bit more and head further back yet to hit Moose Run. At this point, I was so close to skiing a full perimeter, I had to do it. Had to include the Pipeline Trail climb on the way back too, of course. Not sure where the kilojoules came from, as I was past three hours moving time and running on fumes.

View from Bob's Lookout. Still can't get over that sky.

Since Lower Snows was still closed for some reason, I took connector back to the golf course, which meant a 5-10min walk on the road to close the loop. Been a long time since I did that, but there was no way I was skiing back up Snows and down Beanbender.



I finished with 43.1km, 4000ft and 3:19hrs on the Garmin. A slow day, but not unexpected with lead legs and slow snow. 7+ hours and 9000+ feet of climbing, all off-road, made for a solid weekend. Interestingly, my average speed for the two activities was almost identical. My run will be interesting on Monday...

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Rebound

Tuesdays are normally one of my hard training days. Over the last several weeks, this has been on skis at Weston. I'm about ready to give up on the ski season. With some very warm temps and rain in the forecast this week, it might not be worth any additional investment in the ski season. It will suck to have a whole season pass without a single ski marathon. Might as well shift focus to the bike. I opted for wheels instead of skis Tuesday.

I wasn't expecting much for my lunch ride. I hadn't taken a rest day since the weekend. Yet I had a window to ride and the weather was decent. I chose to do one of my frequently ridden hilly loops through Hollis and into Milford and back. It hits a series of small hills that are perfect for 2.5-5 minute VOmax efforts. This would be a good opportunity for another bike fitness benchmark.

I was surprised to break five minutes on the first climb, considering there was a headwind and I was wearing winter layers. That hurt awfully bad, but it was a good morale booster. I didn't have my Garmin setup to show average power for the interval, but I knew it had to be pretty decent. I'd find out when I got home.

There's a second climb on Pine Hill Rd I also hit hard with barely a break between the two. Even coasting, there's not much recovery time. Tyng Hill Rd comes in quick succession, a much shorter climb. Then the orchard climb on Rt 122. Recovery time was less than interval time for each hill. Masters road races are often like this, where different teams will attack on recurring hills. Either you recover quickly from VOmax efforts or you get dropped.

After a several mile break, Ponemah Hill is hit. Given I was quite ragged by this point, I was surprised to break five minutes on this one too. Riding with a power meter after several year hiatus was quite revealing. It was incredibly hard to keep the power up on the less steep parts and almost as hard to not go too hard on the steep parts.

At home, I was pleased to see I averaged 410W for nearly five minutes on the first interval. My weight is back to pre-Thanksgiving weight (73.0kg). This equates to 5.6W/kg for five minutes. In my best form, I can do about 6.0W/kg for five minutes, which is 440W at my current weight. So I've made pretty good progress in regaining bike fitness since my test up Uncanoonuc a few weeks ago.



A ride I did last Saturday didn't quite kill me, thus it must have made me stronger. I hooked up with some local strongmen, guys who've claimed national titles and even an overall win on Mt Washington. The 100km ride was chocked full of VOmax hillclimb efforts. Fifteen times during the ride, my power went over 600W. Twenty minutes from finishing, pretty much everything in my legs started seizing up. Had we gone another mile, I think I would have had an Everest Challenge incident. This is where I seized up still clipped in, toppled over and laid in the road for at least twenty minutes, unable to move. I hadn't push myself on the bike that hard in a long time. It was exactly what I needed.

You've heard of that 5 Hour Energy drink stuff, right? Well, there's a new craze now, inhalable caffeine! It is called Aeroshot and comes in a lipstick sized dispenser. All the energy, none of the calories! Kids are going to die on this stuff, and the FDA is already investigating.

Anyway, I felt like last Saturday's ride was an Aeroshot of fitness boost. I need to get kicked out of my comfort zone more often like this!

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