Golden Gate Canyon

Today I rode Golden Gate Canyon by myself.  Sunday I race the Golden Gate Canyon trail run.  There was a light rain today and I hesitated starting wet but it wasn’t that hot and since I am a fat fuck anyway, and hence never a problem in cool weather, I went for it.  It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon of riding but…I got my ass kicked by the technical nature of most of the trails here.  I parked at Kriley Pond and rode up, not able to clean the whole thing but most of it was ridable.  Then I rode out into Frazer Meadow and followed the running race course up the doubletrack and down to Snowshoe Hare trail.  I fell yesterday on loose double track like this so I was proud that I had no problem today.  I took the Snowshoe Hare trail past another pond and then up some very steep loose sections which I mostly had to walk.  I did ride enough of it to know that it was possible if I could keep the momentum going.  The descent down to the road from Snowshoe Hare was faily easy but a stick got caught in my wheel which cost me a face plant and a little bruise on my face.  I rode down the road a bit cautiously pondering if I have it what it takes to stick with this sport.  The sport makes me nervous but I am less scared and less rattled after falls than I thought I would be.  I think if I am patient I can become a lot better  technical rider.

I rode over to the Mountain Lion trail and cleaned the first little section and then took it down to the road.  This involved some really fast fun downhill and I felt a great flow and control over my bike.  There was one really tricky part where a giant bern comes out of nowhere on a fast downhill.  I let off the front brake, went over it and then had to semi-crash onto my side a bit later in order to stop.  I need to fight that impulse to stop on technical downhills, and just ride them through until they get better.

I jumped out on the road and road back to my car, instead of taking a 2 hour climbing trip back.  Between this trail and 2 rides on Walker Ranch, I have been challenged recently in my skills.  I am trying to slow down enough to feel my bike and learn to maintain a connection with it so I can control it, instead of just hanging on for dear life.  

I am excited about racing this course, the first trail race I ever did in CO.  Last year I ran 1:58.  It will be interesting to see if I can beat that time this year.   The last few weeks have been more mountain bike riding than running.  I hope to make things more even soon but I am in this honeymoon phase with riding right now, where I can’t resist it.