The weather (and the schedule) finally allowed me to get outside and ride. Knowing the Luton TT is coming up, I snuck out of work early and headed to Rockford. Traffic was already starting to fill in, so I am grateful I could get out early.
When I got to Luton the park was pretty empty. There was only a handful of cars. My plan was to ride a double loop of the race course to get an idea of what my time would look like. The race course is pretty much the entire loop with a few modifications. The first one is bypassing a short section of Yellow. You don't miss much there, just a few twists and turns. Instead you go straight and find the first climb. I was feeling pretty good, but the legs were barely getting warm at this section. Its not a terrible climb, but one of the longer ones here.
On the orange loop I rolled up on a hiker and scared the bejeezus out of her. She seemed to be in tune with nature and oblivious to anything else. She jumped and moved over as I rolled up and announced my presence. lol. Unintentional, but kind of funny none the less. I am not sure she realized she was on an active trail. Kind of "out there"....if you follow.
I continued on, just riding a comfortable pace. I wasn't pushing, but my legs did start to feel a bit heavy. Not riding much and then a hard trainer ride a few days prior added up to sluggish legs. They did open up eventually. I did my two laps without anything spectacular to report. It was a decent ride overall. However, it does make me pause when thinking about the TT in a few weeks. I honestly felt like I would be faster than I was. Granted this was not race pace, but I was hoping for a bit quicker pace than I achieved.
Still, good day to be out on the bike on one of my favorite trails. I will dig more into the TT in a few weeks.
On Sunday I got up and headed to Owasippe. This is a trail I have not ridden in nearly 10 years. Hard to believe it has been that long. There have been some additions and I know this is a great place to train. I drove up on quiet highways and arrived to an empty parking lot.
I headed out and was welcomed by old school singletrack. Narrow and deep channels in some sections. The first few miles went pretty good, and then the climbing started.
There is a reroute that was entirely new to me. I believe it was done in 2024, but it was ridden in fairly well. It was pretty long, and it felt like it added a ton of climbing. I knew there was hills out here, but it felt like they squeezed even more elevation gain into an already challenging loop.
I was doing ok, but the relentless climbing was starting to wear on my. It was dragging my mental state down with every pedal stroke. I was starting to ride sloppy and nearly crashed a few times. Not a great time when things feel like they are falling apart.
I welcomed the sight of the sign pointing towards the parking lot. I got back to the car and was really ready to go home. What I planned as a 2 lap day turned into surviving a single lap and then heading home. Understanding my limits is important. I was wiped out, both physically and mentally. It was good to ride here again, but a humble reminder that I am still a work in progress. :)
On Memorial Day I had planned a group ride on Kal-Haven. After my ride at the O, my mood just wasn't there for company. I decided to sleep in and just recover a bit more. In the afternoon I did decide to head out for an easy ride. I wanted to just spin the legs and check out mentally. I headed out on the TCX to some flat gravel.
There was a stretch that I thought was gravel, that turned out to be an old gnarly two track. Otherwise I just kept my heart rate low and just spun the cranks without pushing too hard. It was a beautiful day and it was a nice recovery ride. This recovery was good for my body and my mind.
Not entirely sure why, but the last couple of weeks have been a struggle mentally. Sometimes things sneak in and chip away. Sometimes multiple things all pile in and just make your mind chaotic. That is how I have felt. Like my mind pinballs between family, riding, work, finances, and the future. Most of time I can keep everything in its own lane, but the last few weeks everything has been mixing together. I am working on untangling the whole thing and understanding where everything should be. Some days are better than others, but I keep forging ahead.
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