Yesterday I faced my arch nemesis, Burnt Mountain, for the first time of 2009 with 8 of my cycling friends. The participants on this rather cool and very breezy (understatement at times) morning were Nancy, Gary, Mike, Rick, Peter, Keith Kudlac, Keith Bolton, Jack and me.
It was a rough day for me as it always seems to be when Burnt Mountain is concerned. Most of my crashes have been when doing this route and one was pretty severe. Today was no exception with some issues. Right off the start as I was leading the group out I got into a rough section of pavement and my bike got all squirrely on me and I got very close to crashing, but was able get stopped in time.
Climbing the west side of the mountain wasn't too bad even though I was at the back. My goal was just to keep an eye on the power meter and keep my wattage in a certain range for this time of the season. Half way up the climb we all got hit by some very heavy headwinds that just made it just that much harder. Winds that would make one cringe even on flat roads much less a nine mile climb. On the way down the east side I was extra cautious and was the last down, but I found out that I am still really struggling to regain some confidence on descending, which honestly makes things worse. It is also an uncomfortable time with being cold in the start and then getting over heated later from being overdressed. I am looking forward to the warmer weather and I am sure most of my friends are as well.
From Steve Tate Road until we got to Afton we were in some stinging rollers that just kept taking little bits out of us. I knew by then that this was not a good day for me. I started thinking about how much overtime I have been working that is hurting my training time. I was actually training more hours back in January than now and the decrease time in the saddle is now starting to show on the rides. I can't complain about work with the economy like it is so we deal with what we are given and keep moving forward.
We stopped again at a little church on Juno Road and the point where Rick Neilson needed to head back so he broke off the group and we kept pushing forward. Earlier my Garmin 705 stops showing the route, but we have done this route enough times that we could just keep going by memory.
Darn gadgets!!!
Climbing the east side of Burnt Mountain is where I encountered some odd troubles so I fell way off the back of the group. I stopped to take off my vest to help stay a little cooler on the climb and I also unzipped my jersey. When I did this the headphone cord dropped and guess where it went? Straight into the spoke of my front wheel. I had to stop again to get that cord unraveled and it was trashed.
Darn gadgets!!!
By the time I did the climb, descended and got back to the parking area everyone had changed their clothing as if they had been there for quite a while.
Today I feel very rundown, sore and as if I am fighting an illness. With the sick people in my office and the work stress I have had lately maybe my poor performance was due to this. This past week with my indoor training was also lackluster so today I think I may do a short recovery spin on the trainer and take a short walk with Cindi at the park.
What was cool was that Keith Bolton and Nancy Alexander had their first time on Burnt Mountain and seemed to do quite well.
Burnt Mountain continues to be my arch nemesis, but I will keep coming back until it no longer is.
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