Kelly and Grantham

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	61.95 miles	3365 miles
Elevation Gain	4205 feet	37.12 miles
Average Moving Speed	15.05 mph	14.88 mph
Dog Bites	close but no cigar!	1

I wasn't going to blog about this ride since it is local and relatively short, but what the hey, why not spam my family on a Monday?

It was short for a couple reasons. My back has been out since Thursday, and that threw a big wrench into our weekend plans. Stayed home and took it easy Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Discovered mentholatum deep heating rub (like Icy Hot or Ben Gay) and that did wonders for my back muscle Saturday and Sunday, so much so that I decided to do some riding today.

We learned a couple things on today's ride. Due to my back problems and the subsequent I-have-no-idea-when-I-will-be-ready-to-ride state of things Amy went to spin class at the local gym on both Saturday and Sunday. She rides hard in those classes. Really hard.

So what we had today is one person that basically took three days off, and the other person who has been hitting it hard the previous two days.

You know how when you are in the middle of the situation it doesn't seem all that clear, but when you look back on it you have the assessment of "well, DUH!"?

So it was like some kind of alternate universe today. I was strong (in spite of my tender back) and Amy's legs were fried from the get go.

At one point she said "I finally understand what you mean when you say your legs simply don't have any power".

So the first lesson, which we've learned before but was confirmed in spades today, was that you shouldn't fry your legs in spin class the day (or two days) before a big ride. And the same lesson from another angle, you will "feel the powwah" if you take a little time off the bike before a big ride.

The other lesson, which I have sadly learned many times, is that it is good to allow your back to heal. It is also good to exercise, carefully, before it is fully healed. Get that blood pumping! Today after our ride my back feels great. I can still tell it is tender, so I won't be doing anything crazy, but the sharp stabbing knives are all back in the kitchen where they belong, and not stuck in my back like they were earlier.

Oh, if you are wondering this ride is named for the two climbs. They are nothing like Larch Mountain or even any of the 3 climbs in the Mt. Shasta ride, but they are the best long climbs we have found that are reasonably close to our house. Still not sure if we'll do the Ring of Fire, but if we do we need to be training on long grades, so we're keeping our options open.

Almost forgot about the Dog Bite teaser! (See the table at the top.) We had a close call, again with a Blue Heeler, but a different location (and presumably dog) from the actual bite incident earlier this season. We were coming down Gerber-McKee road and all the neighborhood dogs started barking. My Spidey-like dog senses started tingling. I slowed down for Aim to catch up (we were on a downhill, afterall). I didn't want to yell out any instructions to Aim (like "speed up!") or the biting dogs would be further alerted to the tasty treats before them. So of course she slowed down with me. There were several dogs barking, but from what I could tell all were behind fences. But I knew from one of the many rides through this stretch that there was at least one "free" dog here. And sure enough, as I was looking at the barking dogs on the left a Blue Heeler snuck out toward Aim from the right. She was still behind me, but she was close enough by now that the dog paid clear attention to my very loud yell. By this time Amy started speeding up and the situation was averted.

I really don't like Blue Heelers... But it isn't their fault. Really I should say I don't like it when Blue Heeler owners don't keep their dogs fenced or chained! We've been watching too much Shark Week...

Maps showing all rides: 2010 Rides • 2009 Rides • All Rides