Monday, June 11, 2007

Lumberjack Pre-ride

Wow.

It's easy to forget how hard that course can be. Dan, Nate, Barry and I drove up to Big M yesterday. A storm last week left several trees down and much debris on the trail. The promoter asked us (and a bunch of other folks) if we could lend a hand by raking the trail. We were happy to pitch in, and decided to ride a lap when the raking was finished.

The trail is in good condition, by the way.

Anyway, Barry has an injury, so it was just Dan, Nate and I doing the lap. The weather was warm, but not as warm as last years race. The course is being run backwards this year, so that is the direction we followed.

I'm not gonna lie to you; that trail can kick your butt. The race hits a long climb right out of the box. SS'ers will be walking. The rest of the inner loop will be fine. The outer loop has some tricky stuff as well; sandy climbs and Road Monkey will lots of false flats and more speed-sucking sand.

My advice: start hydrating now; put an easier gear on your SS; pack a love of suffering.

3 comments:

Super Bon Bon said...

Hey - Where are your Italy/Croatia pics?

Joe Partridge said...

I've been too lazy/busy to upload them yet. Soon.

Endurosnob said...

I guess it's time to put the espresso down and grab a water. At least the love of suffering isn't much of a problem.

I'll ditto super bon bon on the trip pics.