Sunday, August 05, 2007

Something old, something new...

I did my first fixie ride this week. On Friday I borrowed a fixed Surly Steamroller. As someone who had been riding singlespeeds for a long time, I thought it would be a pretty easy transition. Not so much. I'm not saying I didn't like it or that I won't try it again, but it definitely felt a little sketchy at times. Downhill was...interesting.

Today saw Dan Jansen and I out on SS MTB's for about four hours. Lots of hills, lots of finding hidden trails tucked away and forgot by nearly everyone. I crashed more today than in my last 10 MTB rides combined, including one impressive flip-over-and-lay-on-my-back crash and a total "Hey, where did that tree come from?" crash. Also, I got stung by a bee.

I feel like I am nearly recovered from 9 Mile. Two toes are still a little numb and my lower neck/shoulder area is still not right. The legs are flat, but starting to respond when called upon. Also, I'm dealing with a bit of lingering knee soreness from a midnight rock garden get-off.

On tap this week: Tuesday Team Road Smackdown, some recovery, Thursday MTB SS early pre-Iceman training, some recovery and some SS endurance training on Sunday. 'Bout what you'd expect for August.

2 comments:

Namrita O'Dea said...

I had this crazy idea that I wanted to do a 6 hour race on a fixed gear at Conyers, which has some pretty long descents for a local trail. I think I'm changing my mind....my biggest fear is clipping a pedal on the descent and face planting into a tree. I don't know how people do it!

EXPO Racing said...

Fixedgear riding...hmmm. All fixed when on the road. I see some off road fixed riding. I did the Cheq Fat 40 Fixed(brakeless) last year. Very tough. Conyers fixed? Death wish.

Take it SLOW. The worst part is gaining some confedence too early.