Holdridge Today

Today I took advantage of some beautiful summer weather, and did some riding at Holdridge http://www.mmba.org/trails.php?trail=13. I rode the west loop, and did 3 laps total, skipping the tech loop on the last lap. My shoulder was acting up on the log piles, and some of the drops.

Oh, my shoulder...
Last weekend I did the 12 hours of Ithaca race, as part of a 4 man team. We did 29 laps, and took first in our class (out of 2 teams). On my last lap and 2nd of my night laps, I entered a corner a bit too fast. I overcorrected and shot to the inside at the exit of the corner, right into a tree! Hit the thing square on and with a good head of steam.
Last week was an easy week for me, with a pair of runs (6 and 3 miles each), and a 28 mile ride on the road bike. My shoulder was too tender all week to do any mountain biking, and riding today was probably not the smartest thing to do. But, a week off the bike is way too long.

Back to Holdridge...
I was feeling good today... well... except for my shoulder. As I stated previously, only the logpiles and drops seemed to bother it; basically anything where the front of my bike travelled downward rapidly. The trail was in perfect condition, with very little sand, no mud, and a fresh trim job on the leg-scratchers. My riding was going very well; about as error-free as I could be.

Midway through my first lap, at the top of the old "wall" I met another rider who reminded me a bit of myself 2 years ago. He was on a brand-new Gary Fisher Marlin which he had purchased a couple of months ago. He had started riding, as he put it, for something healthy to do. This meeting came about kind of by chance. See, about a mile earlier I found a seat bag lying along the trail. I picked it up and strapped it to my pack, with the plan to post a note at the trailhead and a message on mmba.org. I noticed that this rider's bike had a clip for a bag attached to his seat, so I asked him if he had a bag mounted earlier. He said that he did, and with that the bag had found it's rightful owner.

The rest of my ride went without incident, other than some slightly painful jarring on the logpiles. Because of this, I didn't do the tech loop on my last lap.

Hmmm, temperatures around 80, sun, a great trail... things can't get much better.