When a recovery ride, isn't.

[STP]

It's a Monday and I am absolutely wiped out. Two days of racing XC at Rim Nordic, plus lack of sleep have made me feel like a zombie. Before the weekend, I had a recovery ride planned already for the following Monday with my riding partner Sarge.

Those of you, who have read my tales on SoCalMTB, know all about Sarge. If you don't, I'll fill you in. He doesn't race all that often, but he's more than willing to step up to the challenge on any ride. I met him, long ago back in 2002, as a somewhat heavy guy on a vintage Alpinestars hardtail.

He pulled right into the draft of our XC flog lifestyle and it wasn't long, before he got a race-worthy XC full-sus machine and was soaking everything up, that I taught him. He kept dropping weight and picking up speed and power.

Within a year, I was being challenged on every hill and often, my protege would be at my elbow. We'd be cresting the hills and I'd hear his derrailuer ramping up gears at exactly the same time as mine. He learned the downhill, just as well. I credit him with how well I've done racing XC. I made sure he had some kind of tough routine set up for himself on Sunday, so that we'd truly do a recovery ride and not the usual all-out flog. I so didn't want to ride, but went out anyway. Deb and I met him out at Ave P land at 5:30 PM.

One thing about the bike. Unless you're sick or injured, any reluctance you might have felt before the ride, will be spun away as you ease into the cranks. Suddenly, it ain't all that bad. The endorphins kick in and the spirit picks up.

As we rode up the pavement towards the trailhead, I decided that today, I'd play the guy-in-back. It'd be a mental exercise, to help me out when I race, as I have a problem with being behind whoever is in front. Lately, stress and worry have set in as I focus on how behind I am and that in turn, impacts my cardio performance. Sarge agreed to my game plan and we rolled out onto the trail. We'd scoop up Deb at regular intervals through out.

Hit the first tough hills and as we cranked into the harder, steeper climbs, I watched my stress level climb and then figured out, that I was making the mistake of fixating on the rider in front of me, instead of focusing on my performance.

It was a self-confidence thing too. I was letting my inner-demons get the best of me. The brutal honesty of what I had to face, was the overhanging lack of confidence in myself. A severely abusive upbringing left
long and dark imprints on my character, and while externally, I could maintain the outer exuding of confidence, the inner structure was lacking. The toughness of this sport does that you, revealing all that is lacking and it is the mental aspect, that is the hardest part of the suffering.

In the coolness of the late afternoon, we got onto the mile-long climb, called "The Grinder". I let him get ahead about fifty feet and then forced myself to look around, look ahead of him, look at anything else, because I'd always know where he was at, so why fixate? I began to feel better about it. Might as well, use this as a proving ground to work it out, instead of the race course. Here, I could rework the mental part. Relax the shoulders, quit tensing up, slow the breathing down.

It started to work. We got to the top of the hill, turning around to go scoop Deb up on 'The Grinder'. As she appeared on the long climb below us, Dave veered off and went up a long adjacent climb, so that we could turn around and time our descent to scoop her on the final part of the big climb.

We crested the top, buffeted by the usual winds, and then bombed back down, with me riding behind. I don't get to ride as often as I used to with my old bud, but it was good when I did. We dropped back onto the uphill at speed nearly side-by-side and suddenly, the old 'flog-fest' feeling returned.

I heard the sound of a gripshift ripping gears upwards and I started stabbing the buttons on the XO in response. Derrailuers started grabbing cogs and suddenly, it was a drag race up the hill. Sarge stood on it and started slamming cranks, I sat and spun hard. We were still, right next to each other and catching up to Deb very quickly, I veered to give him room around her and a fair chance at beating my behind to the top. We clattered over the embedded rocks and simply hauled to the top at full-throttle. That's it! That's what I was looking for!

The rest of the ride was most excellent. We jammed the uphills and it was cool, gunning it up the hill around Sarge and seeing him respond, then dropping back. I took it to the high stress level on the tougher parts, staying behind him and working the mental focus.

Heading back, I let him have the lead on the downhill descent down 'The Grinder'. I dropped in behind him as we picked up velocity and we just slammed the whole rough and rocky descent for all it was worth. With the sun dropping behind the hills, I could feel the front wheel breaking loose on the corners and savored the feeling of recovering it and not skipping a beat. It wasn't no tip-toe recovery ride, but it was all good.

[J_Sims]

You have quite a way with words... Thank you for the RR

[mp3]

Almost everyone and his/her grandma can "drop" me on my recovery days, but it's all good as that's where the gains are made after hard weeks.

Enjoy the ride on recovery days.

[OMR]

The student becomes the master... the master the student... and so it goes in a never ending cycle.

Nice RR

OMR

[ghixon]

Aren't those zen-like moments great. You're never sure when and where they might hit but, it's great when they do.

Thanks for the RR.

[bjammin]

That was quite inspiring. Thank you.

[Pain Freak]

Damn, I missed ya, Reg.

[CeeDubb]

Wow, Regis...that's a lot of words.

What was it that you wrote after "It's a Monday...?"

Great write-up. I'm gonna carry this mental picture with me on tomorrow's morning ride.

[STP]

Thank you Chris for the kudos! Maybe we will see you at the final Rim Nordic on August 26th!

[papisimo11]

Nice Work Buddy...
Gotta take it easy on the recovery days. Enjoy.
paz afuera

[STP]

Originally Posted by papisimo11

Nice Work Buddy...
Gotta take it easy on the recovery days. Enjoy.
paz afuera

Glad to see you here Papo! I hear you about taking it easy on the recovery days. The bad part, is that I've still got 'post-race-whack' (that vague stupid feeling you get after the race for a couple of days) from being short of glycogen and ATP for the brain. Four days now! I'll be riding Sycamore with the 'fuzzy' brain tommorow at this rate. Shoulda took it easy, but nooooo!

[papisimo11]

Hopefully I'll get my leash cut a bit before Labor Day. Maybe meet up for a ride. I am a bit outta shape right now.
paz afuera

[S54MCoupe]

Lately, stress and worry have set in as I focus on how behind I am and that in turn, impacts my cardio performance.

You're not the only one, and it's good to see this happens to other people. I've realized that I am able to turn in much better times on local climbs when I am either alone, or when my riding partner(s) stay behind me and let me push the pace.

Every person I ride with is fast, so I don't have a chance in the world at keeping up, but I realize that when they start riding away from me, the anxiety kicks in. I do welcome it though, because it only makes me mentaly stronger in the long run.

Rad to see I'm not the only one!

[CeeDubb]

Originally Posted by STP

Thank you Chris for the kudos! Maybe we will see you at the final Rim Nordic on August 26th!

Unfortunately, I'll be skipping the Rim Nordics this year. I'm gonna concentrate on State Finals on Sept. 9th.

[STP]

Originally Posted by CeeDubb

Unfortunately, I'll be skipping the Rim Nordics this year. I'm gonna concentrate on State Finals on Sept. 9th.

Gawd, you oughta come out, if you never raced at Rim Nordic before! But I understand too. We'll see ya at the restaurant on the 9th.