Keystone

Tuesday morning began like any normal day.  I did a pretty mean home weight workout, and then received a call from my #1 riding buddy Sharon.

        “Want to ride the race course at Keystone today?”  Since I was still pretty revved by my morning workout, I readily agreed.   “Sure!  Come pick me up on your way.”  Enthusiasm should always win out over common sense, in my opinion. 

A mountain bike race would be at Keystone this weekend and I had missed riding the course with the LunaChix earlier in the week, so pre-riding the course today wouldn’t be a bad idea.  I’m still not sure if I’ll be available on race day, but just in case…

                

        We loaded my bike in the van and drove out to Keystone trail.  After riding Turkey Mountain so often, this would be a welcome change, I thought.  Plus, Sharon informed me that they were omitting the “expert” loop from the race.  Sweeeeet!

We began the first lap with Sharon setting the pace.  The first sections were not too bad, although there were several tight turns.  Sharp, slow turns are my weakest point on the mountain bike.  I will volunteer to go over, up, or down almost anything, but don’t ask me to do a tight turn, especially if sand is anywhere in sight.  I made the unfortunate mistake of confessing my weakness to the guys at the Trek store recently.    Jeff immediately offered a little trivia on the subject of turning.

        

        “Do you know that squids can’t turn?  They can only go in straight lines,” he informed me.   I still don’t know if that’s true, but Devon jumped in immediately and officially declared that I would hereby be known as “Squid”.  Great!  Remind me never to confide in those guys again.

So the first section I could use some practice on.  But the best was yet to come.  One of the first of many hurdles we encountered was a dry creek crossing, followed immediately by a technical uphill climb.  Sharon was unsuccessful on the first attempt, as was I.  So we walked our bikes back, studying the possible lines for the next attempt.

 

Sharon and I have a tried-and-true system worked out for conquering obstacles.  She carefully studies the lay of the land, assesses the angles, and tries to figure out the best line that offers even a remote chance of success.

 

“I think if you went around this, then veered quickly to the right, and then up the middle, don’t fall off the cliff on that side, and make sure you get up enough speed to get your front tire over that….”  It’s brilliantly simple.  She maps it…I ride it.  So far it has worked out well. 

In fact, after once declaring a downhill section to be impossible, I noted that it had a slim possibility of success if only a certain, annoying little tree wasn't blocking my path.  She immediately wrestled the sapling to the ground and I rode the section successfully, hence our saying when faced with a difficult obstacle.  “If you’ll just hold back that tree, please….”

She mapped this one out perfectly and we were able to ride it successfully on the subsequent attempt.  Next up was a really tough one…a very narrow gap between two large boulders which would require unclipping at least one pedal to squeeze through.  Immediately following the rocks, we were faced with a rough creek crossing, then a very sharp right turn up a steep hill.   The difficulty we encountered was not being able to get clipped back in fast enough to be ready for the loose, rocky uphill climb on the other side.  After a lot of studying, I was finally able to ride it, but only by veering off the trail on the other side and sort of straightening out the turn a bit.

Obstacle three was even tougher…crossing a difficult rock garden, followed by a downhill U-turn to the right, then another rock obstacle where one really needed to be attached to one’s bike.  I finally conquered that one after several attempts by powering through the first rock garden with breath held, fingers mentally crossed, then unclipping my right foot and using it to maintain balance on the turn.  I had to get clipped back in quickly, though, to get over the next few rocks.  Whew!  This is the course without the ‘expert’ loop?  I do not want to see the expert loop anytime soon!

One more difficult spot awaited us…a long, technical climb that required what I call, “just gutting it out”.  Concentrate on turning the pedals, staying upright, moving forward, and letting the chips fall where they may.  There was only one rock on the climb that neither of us conquered, but we figured a little adrenaline on race day would probably provide the solution.

We arrived back at the parking lot and decided to do a second loop.  This time we knew where the most difficult spots were and would try to be better prepared mentally.  We joked that we should post warning signs before each tough section.  At the most challenging spot?  Maybe just a picture of praying hands.

 

So now my goal is to find a coworker willing to switch days with me.  And that may prove more challenging than any bike ride!