but wait, there's more...

Back For More - the ridge revisited

So continuing the previous post... at the gas line after a nice long hike. the next day, i discovered a plethora of animal crackers left at my doorstep upon arriving home from the am's adventure in the woods surveying trees. 1-tree, 2-trees, 3-trees, 5-trees. Oops. my bad. 8- trees. No really I can count. Actually the greatest challenge of tree ID is figuring out the really tall ones - they are 300yrs+ old around sunset park! Bark ID is a challenge with many, and the crowns appear to consist of multiple species - um yes that's one of those ash / hickory hybrids.

class let out around 10:45 and i rushed home to get ready for a ride. this was the first saturday in weeks that I was free early enough to actually enjoy part of the day on my own clock! (this work / school thing is EXHAUSTING! that's another blog altogether). I met up with a friend who i hadn't seen in months to ride. We took mtn bikes out bear meadows and explored around detweiler and thickhead (which is sketchy now given the intense construction but ridable... coming back treaster I was itching for more time on the bike after a long week so i made a very silly decision.

i decided to tackle the ridge.

i'm not sure why i thought after riding and climbing for a few hours that this was a good idea given the fact that:

1. my legs were sore from power yoga friday AM
2. and sore from a few hours of hiking friday
3. AND sore from a really intense cross ride wed
4. and i was generally exhausted from a hellish work week / school including a 16+hr work day thursday
   

the only thoughts in my mind were:

a. i'm out in the woods and on my bike and not working- YAY
b. I have an ample supply of animal crackers. (most important!)
c. i have shiny pink new sunglasses (not polarized but they're still sweet!) :)

afterall, what else does a girl really need besides her thoughts, animal crackers, pink shades and a bike?

i had never ridden this trail before, and wasn't sure what to expect given my novice mtn skills but up camp road i went. i road through my first "stream" (cough i swear i leaped over the stream - sorry to insult the leave no tracers whome i generally support)...and onward i went. the trail up the powerline to the ridge is now pipeline territory - completely torn up... so a trampled path through dense blueberry thickets was that of least resistance. i made it to the top and felt OK so onward I went.

expectations

The ridge is not only a beautiful place to ride and hike... It's also damn technical - atleast compared to anything else i've done before. I was tired but energized by the views, cool breeze, bright blue sky and red tails kiting over the valley searching for food.

I generally get frustrated with myself on trails. Given I spent most of my teen and college years training at an intense, high level, I expect a lot of myself and am my own hardest critic. While climbing is purely aerobic conditioning that i can easily build upon, trails require a particular recipe of strength (no problem) and technique (challenge) with a little bit of courage and a lot of confidence whisked into the pot; i find the confidence and courage most difficult and slow to acquire. that's just me.

The bottom line is I really enjoy being on trails; I love being on the bike. It's all for me. So I decided to take my time, accept defeat when the obstacle was too overwhelming, take full props when something was cleared and enjoy the ride.

I taught myself how to ride over some rocks! I jumped off the bike - a lot - and was OK with that. I scratched up my already bruised left leg some more adding some nice RED skin to the purple and green swelling that was already there (ouch!).

This ride with a group may have resulted in serious frustration for me. But solo - yesterday - after working on a saturday morning - i felt i earned it. I had all of the time in the world in the afternoon; I was on an amazingly beautiful trail in the forest; AND I was on my bike - alone - and loving it.

i finished the trail deliriously tired and content - with an empty baggy of animal crackers. The bottom line of riding the bike for me is - it just is damn fun. AND I enjoy the challenge it presents. And the fitness that it brings without "training" as i once did.

the reality of that bike is that it's the one thing I can always count on to lift spirits and alleviate tension.

i woke up this morning - tired and sore. hungover from a really long week. but i was still content with yesterday's ride... and thus able to spend the day reading - focused on the bigger goal ahead - this damn degree. and of course in the short term, getting through yet another week filled with - school - work - another 16 hr (hopefully shorter) teaching day - and more rides and hikes to make it all seem manageable and worth it.