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ROAD TO LEADVILLE Part 16: “IT WAS A VERY GOOD RIDE”
Dave Wiens gives his thoughts and tips leading to this years Leadville 100 MTB Race.
Thursday July 29, 2010 – I worked all morning but my day had an opening just before noon. We are squarely in the monsoon flow right now so the later in the day you wait to ride, the more you’re rolling the dice with the weather. It was already dark to the west so I jetted onto my hardtail and headed east on Highway 50 to Alex’s climb. I had had a good morning at work so my morale and enthusiasm were high. Interesting how that and an empty stomach can really fire you up on your bike. I rode an area northeast of town in the sage country (where is it not sage country around here?) that I hadn’t been up into for a few weeks. It’s got good climbing and some nice trails. I didn’t see a soul as very few people ride up there.
I would categorize the ride as a spirited Just Ride or JR. No HR monitor but I did track my vertical, which was just over 2,000 feet in an hour and forty five minutes. As Phil Liggett might say, “It was a very good bike ride.” Back home, check the phone, Yes! I didn’t miss anything. Back to work for a couple of hours and while I was working I looked outside and it was pouring. In fact, right now as I write this it’s pouring and it’s almost 11pm. Susan and I went to the gym together right before dinner and I lifted for the fourth time. I’m not sore anymore and actually went up on weight on some of the stations, but barely. There’s a dude in there benching about a thousand pounds and then I walk up and put a 10 and a 5 plate on, each side of course, and proceed to knock out an amazing set of bench myself. I was wearing my vintage Denver Broncos t-shirt from 1997, though.
Tomorrow I plan to drive east on 50 for about 15 miles and then do 2.5 hours of AMU on 50 to the top of Monarch Pass. It’s a departure from the entire workout being on the flats but I have done this once before and I like it. Certainly, there will be a break in the HR’s as I descend the pass but I’ll just pick up where I leave off at the top. Hopefully, this will be a 3 hour ride total with a 15 minute warm up and cool down. This is a ride where I might blow so I’ll eat more than a bowl of cereal and a banana. Actually, much to my chagrin, we’re out of bananas but I chopped up four mini-bagels into tiny squares and I’ll fry them up in egg batter making kind of a funky French toast. I hope that fuels me. I’ll have a bar along just in case but only water in my two large bottles.
My goal is to throw my leg over the bike at 6am as tomorrow is a busy day and I need to get this ride in the proverbial hopper. Sorry for the rambling nature of my writing; I really don’t have a ton of time to craft this thing. I write it, proofread it once and call it good. Let’s just say it’s….authentic? Good night.
