Super-Walker!

I needed a long ride today to prepare for Laramie. So, I opted for a Super-Walker, which in the jargon means ride from Boulder up Flagstaff, over the top, down to Walker Ranch, around Walker Ranch, and back to Boulder. This is around 4,000 feet of climbing, and, for me, is a strenuous 3.5 or so hours.

Because I rode hard yesterday, I was tired. For the whole ride, I kept thinking that I was too tired to do this, and that I would turn around at the next corner. But I kept on, and pretty soon I was at the point of no return.

Going counter-clockwise on the Walker loop, the last climb out is steep and hard, and I've never cleaned it, and not many of my friends have. I always try, but always get pooped out and start getting sloppy and make a mistake in one of the hard sections. Today, I made the first hard rock step...and then the sharp off-camber left-hand turn...and then the steep stretch into the narrow rock move. Those are the three hardest moves, and I had never made all three in one ride. So, I kept going...there were a few more tricky spots, and I cleaned them all...cool! I was going to do it. Then, at the second-to-last switchback from the top, on an easy turn, I got chain-suck! I had to dab to backpedal to clear my chain. I don't know why Zeus conspired against me: I rarely get chain-suck, and it only happened once on this ride, and after I'd done all the hard stuff - maybe it was my impure thoughts about Athena...

I finished out the ride feeling surprisingly good. Door-to-door, my time was 3:23, only a few minutes off my PR...my weightlifting is serving me well, and is almost compensating for a winter's worth of ice cream...

PS - Wildlife seen included tons of deer, some at near-collision distance, and a half-dozen wild turkeys (not the yummy kind in a bottle, but the yummy kind on 2 legs with 2 wings).

PPS - EBC Green disk brake pads suck - I put on new pads...coming down Flagstaff, they faded to nothing...I had a scary moment. Anyway, don't buy 'em.