El Diablo Ride

It's Sunday morning, and just over 12 hours since my ride through hell yesterday afternoon. Yea, I am being a little dramatic but really I'm not. The ride was awesome in every aspect except for the fact that my legs did not want to cooperate on the way back.

Yep of all things, the most important things on a ride did not want to "play" anymore. The obvious guess is that it was because I was running on fumes as far as the fluids and snack situation went and I had a pretty strong headwind pushing against me. On top of this I did not have any Advil to try and knock out a headache that was coming on strong before it had the chance to start thumping. It was bound to get worse due to the fact that water and snacks were depleted.

Today I plan to write the post again that I wrote yesterday only to save, add a photo on the Blogger iPhone application - save again, return to my Firefox browser and the web based version of Blogger on my MacBook Pro, hit refresh and find that the entire hour+ I spent writing was gone, washed away by a simple refresh or sync mishap by Blogger, nowhere to be found or recovered. Because of that I said "fuck it" and went on with my night - can you blame me?

If you have anything other to say than "I feel your pain man" then you have never experienced losing a file you have spent a lot of time on. Not to mention the position I was typing in made my wrists & slight carpel tunnel start aching - yea - boo-hoo I know! But dammit I was done and it was all written while I was still mostly "in the moment". OK enough already, I am over it.

About The Ride

The ride that I went on yesterday was the longest ride I have ever taken my mountain bike on. In all honesty I don't even take the road bike on 20 mile rides that often because its really hard to map out a good route that goes far enough without needed to weave through subdivisions which introduces its own set of issues. Mostly the fact that I am unable to focus 100% on the road, my riding and pedal strokes because I have to pay attention to what the next turn will be.

That said, the seat on my mountain bike, while comfortable for the occasional 3-5 mile ride does just fine, it was killing my ass yesterday on this ride. I think part of it was that my seat was a little low for the majority of the ride so my hips were bobbing a little when pedaling harder uphill while sitting and so on. I have a dropper post so I can raise and lower the seat on a whim, but when it's all the way up and still feels too low you are stuck. I could have easily adjusted it up a tad, and considered it but honestly I did not want any issues and be without a seat if I screwed something up.

To prepare for the ride I made sure that I had eaten a small breakfast before heading out. I made sure that I drank water before leaving and on the way to the trailhead as I always do. I even ate a snack on the way to the trailhead to help with hunger. All of this seemed like it would be more than enough based on previous adventures, most of which I hiked a ton as well as rode so they should have been much more difficult in theory - that was not the case, and yes - only a poor theory.

I gobbed on the sunscreen because I was wearing a tank top to get some sun on my upper arms. My lower arms were looking tan but with a hard line where my bike jerseys sleeves end. I thankfully brought an extra shirt with short sleeves because 3/4 way through my ride it was time to change into that, my shoulders seemed to be getting red already and I was not going to risk a sunburn to deal with for the rest of my weekend.

Heading East

The trailhead was not very easy to find. I had directions and it was still difficult to know exactly where to go and what exit to get off at from the interstate. I actually passed the exit the first time, thinking it was it, but knowing that it was not the name I saw online. Well later I would find out that this was because the road name was different from the exit name - lame! You would think that if a group puts so much money and time into a special trail they would make it easy to get to so people would use it. Overall the trail did not look as though it was used "that" much because of the overgrown grass in some areas and the amount of tumbleweed in certain areas.

No matter the entire trail is EXTREMELY well marked and I wish more trails in the area were. I know most feel that its more of an "elite" thing to know where the trails are - I think that is cool and all, but it's stupid at the same time if you want the sport / hobby to grow. To put some plastic markers out there like this trail has can not be that expensive and is not that difficult either. I would even accept some of that environmentally safe paint that goes in the dirt or on rocks that landscapers use. I have been lost pretty much every ride when I journey out to one of the "hot spots" in the area. There are only 2 that are well marked and obvious that I have found - and they tend to be the most fun simply because of that little extra value added information.

OK, so from the parking lot you have to go through one of those gates that have a pole in the middle so only people will fit through. The bike usually fits if you rock the handlebars through and walk through with it. Well that is not the case with this first one, I think someone measured incorrectly for that third pole because unless you have a child's bike, you have to lift your bike up and over the thing as you walk through. Easy on the way out, well mostly, because you are full of energy. On the way back that is not going to be the case. All I could think is that I hope if there are more they are not like this otherwise that will make the ride a pain in the ass.

As I headed east, following the GPS as to where to go I started seeing the well marked trail that I was referring to a minute ago. I did not really need the GPS for the most part although it was a nice double check at times. There was only one spot about 1/2 way along the trail that I missed a turn and ended up in some pretty rough single-track that was full of old brittle logs and sagebrush. I was doing pretty good through it and following a trail until one spot I did not have the momentum and had to jump off the bike and regroup.

That was when I realized my GPS was showing me off the trail to the left and sure enough when I looked around it was now obvious that I was supposed to climb this steep hill to continue on the marked trail I was following.

Thankfully I realized this fairly quickly and turned around, only wasting 5 minutes. I have a feeling that a lot of other riders must have had the exact same problem because the "wrong path" I was on was easy to make out where it went.

Back on the trail and heading down what was more of a dirt road I realized it was the part of the trail where you have to ride on one of the local streets. This allows you to cross the Truckee river again and get back on the trail headed east. I forgot to mention that there was this other really cool bridge I crossed early on in the ride. It's small like it's made for bike traffic but I guess cars go over it as well as it leads to a house and has a 5 Ton Max warning sign as you approach.

Anyway once down the street I made a right (again following the great trail location signs) and continues east. Off in the distance I saw some cars parked and was actually a little nervous about it. You never know what people are up to out in the middle of nowhere. Once up to them I realized it was just 2 couples down by the nasty pond hanging out on a Saturday afternoon. Getting sun and probably swimming in that nasty water that I think is used for the big cement plant or whatever it is against the mountain in that area. Some sort of plant or factory either way.

I passed them and headed on my way pedaling towards the end of the trail, closer and closer. By now I was drenched with sweat and it was not getting cooler anytime soon. According to the weather it was between 97 and 106 degrees out while I was riding. I don't think it was above 100 but it very well could have been.

A few more miles and I noticed that I was near the end of the trail on the GPS. Through some deep grass and tumble weeds I ride up the final hill and took a left with the last walk through area in sight, woot! I rode up to it and was happy to be there and ready to have a snack and some water.

It was a really fun ride and I was happy that I decided to take it. Took a couple photos and lathered on more of the high strength sunscreen, now for the 3rd or 5th time to try and avoid getting a sunburn on my less-than-tan skin I'm sporting this year. Threw on my helmet, gloves and jumped back in the saddle and started pedaling back.

Heading West

Back on the bike with a snack in my stomach I was feeling pretty good but also feeling the weakness in my legs from the journey to where I was now. I turned the first corner and it hit me - the crazy wind that I would have to deal with for the next 10 miles. I pressed on, what other choice did I have?

A couple miles up the road I was back to the pond where I had seen the people playing in the nasty water. This time I saw more people down there and was still surprised they would think that was a good place to hang out for the weekend or even just the day.

I went through the walk through gate and walked up a little because I had some twigs in my brake rotors. While getting them out I heard some jingling sounds. Looked up and here come 3 dogs running my way, barking and not so sure about who I was. I was worried I was going to get bit by one of them but thankfully they were all good dogs and just came by to say hi. Their owner came up and apologized to me and me to him for getting the dogs excited and him having to run up the hill after them.

I got the twigs out and was again on my way, wind in the face and hot as hell, legs tired and thirsty. By now my head was starting to develop a headache as well. From a combination of my heavy Camelbak, the bumpy road and slightly from not enough fluids. I decided to take a sip because I had been pacing myself really good to make sure I had enough for the entire ride.

As I took my drink there was some air in the line and a slurping sound through the drinking tube. Must have a little air in the line because there is no way I could be low on water. A mile or so down the road I decided to take a break, put on more sunscreen, Chapstick and have my last snack and some water. Again the water stuttered and now I was worried - 2 times was not a good sign that it was just air in the tube. I opened up the zipper and checked the Camelbak bladder and yep it was low - maybe 6 - 8 ounces left at the most. The worst part was that I still had about 4 or 5 miles to go. It was hot even in the shade so I had to get going again and keep my mind off of my headache and thirst.

By now I was getting weaker and weaker with every hill climb and gust of wind blowing against. I just pressed on, not hard enough to make my head pound or legs burn but to continue making progress. I tried to get a sip of water, just a drop was all I wanted but no luck. I think trying to get some and knowing it was gone made it that much worse.

It sounds crazy I know but I was now starting to get light headed and dizzy. My legs were simply going through the motions of pedaling. What the heck, it has ONLY been 20 miles I can't be that tired - but I was, I really was that tired and thirsty.

I came up around the next hill and hoped like hell that I would see the car off in the distance - no luck, no car. I was about ready to get off and walk just to relax a little. But I figured I better not so I could keep a faster pace. I went onward, wind pounding me from the right and occasionally swapping to the front.

I looked down at the Garmin Edge 1000 and it appeared that the road (colored line) only went so far - was I nearing the end? Was I finally going to be at the car, getting a drink and have icy cold AC blowing on me?!?! Man I hope so!

The Car

Down the next little dip and threw the trees, back up and left. Heading down the trail I see the sun reflecting off I my car windshield. Woo-hoo, it was so close yet so far away. I kept pedaling and the wind was even stronger. I was pooped and done, completely exhausted.

Back to the parking area I still had to lift the bike up and over the walk through gate - what a pain in the ass this was but I did it and pushed the bike to the car.

Opened the car door up, got in and sat down for a moment and started the engine with the AC blasting. My plan was to cool it down big time while I loaded the bike, drank some water and changed into my street clothes. At this point I was even more dizzy than before, had the chills for some reason and was ready to get home and eat. Wait, there is no food at home because we have not went to the grocery store yet - well then McDonald's it will be. Don't judge me!

Food

So I sat in the car for a good 15 minutes sipping the water and cooling down some more while texting back and forth with Cicely to see what she wanted from McDonald's, if anything. Yep, she was interested and wanted a fillet-o-fish, small fry and a small 4 piece chicken nuggets with ketchup for the dipping sauce.

I on the other hand ordered a vanilla milk shake, size small. A small fry and 2 basic hamburgers. I ate a bunch of the fries as I was shaking by this point and sipping on the vanilla milkshake was helping me feel better as well. All high calorie stuff but I was not too concerned at this point. I ate one of my burgers and by this time I was back home, pulling into the driveway. I first unloaded everything and put everything away in the garage before heading into the house.

Cicely ended up eating my other hamburger, it was too many calories for me to pack on after eating all of the energy and nutrition bars through the day. You would think I would be way ahead of my calorie count for the day but I was not as well off as I thought / hoped so I had to be mindful of what I was putting in my gut. Plus I did not want to over eat and end up puking it all back up.

Home

So after being home for an hour or so, I started to feel a lot better. I was no longer shaking and my legs were starting to feel better although still weak feeling and a little bit of the same today. I took a nice long shower and that felt great to cool down, get some heat on the muscles and scrub all of the dirt off from the day.

To say the least I was VERY HAPPY to be home safe and sound. I realize that the above probably does not sound as bad as it truly was yesterday. Overall it was a great ride, a lot of fun and other than the heat and lack of water it was a lot of fun and I would like to do it again, although in the morning or when the weather is not so hot.

Today's Ride

I planned to take a ride today on the road bike. Anywhere from a quick 4 or 5 mile ride to a 20 mile ride with a lot of climbing mixed in. In the long run I decided that the best thing to do would be to stay home and chill so that is what I did. Plus I figured that there might be a lot of traffic on the roads because of people coming back from their 4th of July holiday.

Hydrated

As of now, I am plenty hydrated once again and am already thinking about the next time I go out and do the trail. I know for sure I will take more water next time and something else for food to make my energy level perk up more. I also now have Advil in my Camelbak in case a headache decides to come up out of nowhere and try to ruin the day.

For today that is all I have to rabble about and I think I have pretty much rabbled off enough for one "quick entry". If you have made it this far you are a trooper that's for sure! You deserve a little something for the effort - so go grab it, and what ever it is - enjoy it to the fullest.

Until tomorrow, have a great Sunday! Get a good nights sleep if you are heading back to the Popsicle stand tomorrow. I thankfully have the day off so I will probably go for a road bike ride. Gotta use up some of that vacation time after-all - summer is only a little bit longer!

Photo: A sign that I had to take a photo of along the trail. I like to take photos of signs for some reason. I only have a very small collection which is odd because they are everywhere! I think its more of a laziness issue. Yea I know "really difficult"; pull out the iPhone, open the camera app and aim it at something - touch the screen - done!

Anyway, there is another sign that warns riders of "soft sand" ahead but I did not stop to take a photo of that one. I was doing my best to get through the soft sand! I will have to do that next time, and that will be my motivation for getting back out there for another ride.

Before you ask, yes of course I made the photo look much more dramatic that it actually was in that area. The area was very green and nice looking actually, but because I felt as though I was traveling through hell on the way back, I found this to be much more fitting.