Tough Ride!

Made up for last weeks DNF with a 34.5 mile ride with over 5k feet of climbing.  Actually felt good going up the last two miles of climbing toward the end.  Maybe I am finally starting to get my Auburn legs. :)

Lesson(s) Learned

 Joined a group of riders for what was to be a monster ride last weekend.  A guy (Paul) was having his 50th birthday, so he wanted to ride 50k (not here to argue, why not 50 miles? Sure, it can be done, but with the beer this guy was putting down pre, during an post ride, and with the climbs around here, 50k was going to be a feat).  At least a dozen riders set out for this monster ride that was going to consist of up Stagecoach, through Auburn, back down to the confluence via Manzanita, up Clementine, Connector, FHDL, Connector, Culvert, Confluence and then beer.  I was pumped.  I knew there would be riders I could hang with, so I was looking forward to this one.  Then it happened.  ~10 miles into the ride I flatted.  Tore a sidewall on my Maxxis Ikon.  I had been meaning to replace this tire for the last month...waited too long.  No problem, I will throw in my spare.  Oops, no boot and nothing to use as a boot.  Plus my spare (that slightly bulged out of the tear)...the same spare that I always cinch tight to my seatpost with an awesome strap, well it had a slow leak. Doh!  Attaching the tube to the seat may be a good idea for races, but when on training rides, put it in the pocket or pack. So I was done...well, I was done after a long walk back to the car. Lesson(s) learned.

Ouch!

Out for another awesome Wednesday night ride with the Bicycle Emporium crew...a new guy to the group ride shows up on his brand new bike...le'ts call him Jason.  Jason is a cool guy who is working hard keeping up on the climbs like a champ.  All is going well until we get to a steep gorge that required hiking down, crossing a rocky stream and hiking up. the other side.  A number of us had already crossed, and some were in the process of crossing when we heard a yell, combined with the sound of falling rocks, snapping branches and rustling leaves...followed buy a thud.  Jason had fallen down the steep ravine to the river bed nearly 40 feet below.  Rather than go into too much detail, lets just say we got to him quick as we could and were relieved to find he was not too badly hurt.  A ton of sticker bush scratches, a bruised leg, and a bad headache (and likely a concussion).  We helped him up to the trail and a few people stayed with him the 2 miles out to a road where a truck was waiting to get him up the hill.  So all is well it would seem, then to top it off, I got a 2nd wind going up Stagecoach (2 mile doubletrack climb) and surged ahead of a bunch of guys that are clearly better riders than I.  I never am one to try and show anyone up, but I could not believe my pace on the SS as I had fallen back, then caught everyone...so I just kept it going to the top of the trail and the extra 2.5 miles back to the shop.  It was cool to get some props from the other riders for my climb...good guys, strong riders...I just had a good climb (honestly did not know I had it in me).
Anyway, the lesson learned here is to ALWAYS wear your helmet, and you even when tired, just keep pedaling and good things may happen (that is kinda my riding mantra).

The outer view of Jason's helmet...yeah, it saved his skull for sure.

You can see where his helmet broke in four places from the impact.

Nothing to do with riding, but here is the honey I was hanging with this weekend.  Wood never looked so good!