Fried (L)eggs

Man my legs are fried. Still not recovered from this past Sun. Tried some intervals on Wed. Went ok. Thursday rode with CP back home from abroad. I asked him to just tow me around to help me push it, and he didn't disappoint. My legs just did not want to turnover on the climbs. But on the flats once I got up to speed I could hold it a little.

Today hit the road bike and the legs just shut down on any climbs.
This boxer came running out at me right at the top of this hill. Even on a downhill with me out of the saddle yelling NO NO, trying to out sprint him, he was 10' in front of me. He just ran alongside then stopped but it was still demoralizing. Meeting a dog when you don't have any legs is never a good thing.

CP is one of my favorite people to ride with. He just epitomizes smoothness on a mountain bike. Some people just ride heavy, where you can hear them a mile away just smashing into the trail, people like Chris are silent. Following him is a lesson in lightness. Presence is the word that comes to mind, meaning knowing exactly where your pedals are where your rear wheel is. And the subtle unweights and mini hops that route that rear wheel exactly where it should be. Bunny hops that are more like dolphin arcing out of the water rather than that just straight up and down. Perfect half pedal stroke prior to a log setting the front wheel on it and set up with the strong foot forward and ready to hop the rear over.

We hit the rooty tight switchback climbing Sidewinder and he pulls up to it with one power pedal stroke, setting his strong foot forward and then trials hops around and up it. Spectacular. Another time we hit this small log that was across the trial right before a slightly sharp left hand turn and he hops the front over then the rear and flicks the rear over in a right hand arc to be pointing exactly where he needs to be for the exit.

Of course my timing was completely off. Why oh why do I always mess around with my stuff. Things were working so well, but I had to go and try and tweak it "better". Messing with brake lever position thinking to go 1 finger. Lame, didn't work, I just don't have the hand strength for 1 finger, unless I go disc. Went back to two fingers , but hands were still hurting.

Moved cleats around. Amazing how small tiny changes in cleat position change the whole platform. Ended up putting more weight onto the bars. No wonder my kids are slightly neurotic. I am so particular about little little things on the bike.

Also put my training tires back on and could feel the slight drifting in the turns. Not a confidence inspiring as the race rubber.

Hopefully I can set up more regular rides like this. To push myself harder. Cause my training rides are not as hard as my races, and I gotta turn it up in order to build my tolerance to the higher volume of high intensity. I think I've trained my ability to produce the high intensity but can't handle the large volume of it in a race.

NEW GOAL:
Ride hard enough to cramp in training.