What a difference….

3 months can make!

Today I headed up to Curt Gowdy State Park with one of Matt’s friends from high school.  My chance to show a Kansas flatlander what real mountain bike trails are like!  I hadn’t been to CG since June, so I was excited to see how the trails seemed now.

Well, let’s just say this.  On Stone Temple Circuit, it took me over 1 hour 30 minutes to ride it in June.

Fast forward to September 16…

A little over 29 minutes!!!

Sure, I still had to get off the bike a fair amount to clear stuff.  But wow, the trail didn’t even seem the same!  I had the biggest smile, I couldn’t believe how much has changed in the past few months and how much my skills/endurance have grown.  I was so happy that after we rode Shoreline out and back (Stone Temple proved to be a bit too much for flatlander friend, who is not use to real mountain trails or the altitude – he still had a blast, however!), I rode Stone Temple AGAIN, except I exited off to Ignoramus to Rock ‘N Roller (and proceeded to get lost… thank goodness for 3G cell service and being able to bring up a trail map).  Ended the day with 14.68 miles, the most I’ve ridden my mountain bike on real trails (I don’t count the rails-to-trails George S. Mickelson Trail I rode in May as a “real” trail).

My knee is killing me and I’m dead tired.  And I’m going to do it all over again tomorrow.

Why?  Strava, freakin’ Strava.  I had about 14 minutes of paused time while my friend was struggling with the starting climb on Stone Temple before he turned around.  And freakin’ Strava included that in my overall time.  29 minutes became 43 minutes for the leaderboard.  Le sigh.  I wasn’t even pushing all out trying to “Strava” the trail, but I want the true time to show.  GRRRR.

And well, I’m still giddy over the fact Stone Temple is no longer a “big deal” to ride. 

Ended the week just sigh of 70 miles on the bikes.  Which might be a little bit of over doing it, as my knee is telling me right now.  I went from about 6-8 miles a week the past few weeks (due to a busy life), to 70   But it feels good to be back out cycling a lot.  I’ve found some good road routes from my house, and am learning how to navigate through Cheyenne’s crazy drivers.  What gets me is the wind here.  Don’t get me wrong, Laramie is plenty windy… but nothing like Cheyenne is!  If I see those windmills on Happy Jack spinnin’ away, I know it’s going to be a tough ride.

I start my new job later this week on Wednesday, so miles on the bike will get dramatically cut again.  So will a lot of free time, too.  I’m nervous but excited, and happy to get a paycheck coming in.  I NEED a cyclocross bike, and I’m only going to get one if I get some money, right?