Epic all Mountain ride today with the local super d race stars here in Victoria, BC.
Started out nice and slow with some sick single track all the way to the top of the hill, it was super cloudy in the parking lot but the rain held off until we reached the top of the climb. As I was climbing the flowy switch back single track on the way up, we would see a huge rock face and a few of us would attempt to be the king of the climb and get up and over the top. The conditions were super slick which made sliding down after not making it to the top a little sketchy... but good fun reminded me of trials moto riders trying to complete impossible stages.
As we got half way up the climb of course we had a mechanical. Someone's rear air shock burst! After he threw his bike of the nearest cliff, and then climbed down to retrieve it, us "engineers" discovered it to be a simple fix... but we needed a shock pump. So we sent a retrieval man to get one back at the parking lot. We arranged to meet up with him at the intersection of a crossing fire road and trail networks further on up the hill, so we pumped up the rear shock as much as we could with a tire pump and kept given'er.
FEW! this allowed me to back of the pace a little and save some energy to kick these guys asses down the the decent at the top!
The trail was just on the edge of hero traction today which made climbing dirt sections a breeze... (well sorta) after shredding some loamy single track about 20 mins later we met up with the retrieval crew. Even with all this going on I never saw a smile leave the packs face.
Finally we got to the top, only to loose a soldier (the dog). After some ear screeching whistles the mangy mutt showed up, haha! And we're off! I instantly attack the trail as others follow. I can hear them behind me which only makes me want to pedal harder out of every corner and let go of the brakes more and more.
We stop for a quick break only for one of us to hop in front of me in the of chance of crushing my recovery and slowing me down on the trail.
(It seems every time im out riding with this crew it's more of a mind game when your going reallly hard and pushing the limits of the trail and your fitness but thats what makes it fun is pushing those limits)
After making it down to the bottom of the hill, I thought we were going to be taking the easy road back, WRONG! Right back up another fricking huge climb. I laughed to myself as I knew I didn't have much left in the tank, but being competitive means sucking it up and pushing past alot of those thresholds. So I stayed in the middle of the pack on the climb up just to play it safe. As we reached to peak I pushed harder to try and drop every one and pull a big lead. I definitely got ahead but its a bit of a downer when the rest of every one comes out and there barley breathing and I am spent.
We continue on as I have the same tactics in hand I continue to empty the reserve tank out only to hear them catching me on the uphills, in between the flowy loamy corners and steeps. After the final decent there was a rush of happiness coming from every one realizing that the conditions and the riding together was an amazing day!
We headed back to the parking as I quickly cut off the trail to go up one last little pitch to hit the best corner on the hill at the moment, everyone continued on.
I came into the corner and shredded mud and dirt every where! Best way to finish an epic day of riding, I think.
Getting back to the parking lot, I noticed everyone was soaked head to toe because it had been pouring down rain for the last hour, but we hadn't even noticed.
All together it was around a 3 hour ride of Ripping apart flat corner after flat corner and pushing my lactic threshold to a new level(great for training).
Andrew Mitchell Out!
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