A Di Day – Mountain Style

I did a bit of a Di day, today.

The plan was to ride to the Tech Trails from my house, do a couple of loops, and head back home. I had to detour to The Bike Shop to get something done, so that was destination one. It took me about 35 minutes to make the journey from home to The Bike Shop. I brought the bike in and had a seat on another bike and chatted with Caleb while he put together a $4,000 tri bike. Wow. The conversation was great, as usual, and the The Bike Shop was like I haven’t seen it in months: packed full of boxes, bikes, and mechanics. They were buzzing.

My next stop was the MTU Recreational Forest – the Tech Trails. I rode from The Bike Shop, through Michigan Tech’s campus, up to the Student Development Complex, and I rode onto Outer Loop from there.

The trails were great! They were packed and fast. I rode down the hillside on Outer Loop. I hit the little dirt jumps and launched off of one, caught what felt like some pretty respectable air, and landed a little heavier on the front wheel. It felt a little strange, especially since I hadn’t done this since October. I had a rather audible reaction upon landing, “OOOH!” followed by a bit of a laugh – a nervous laugh.

I continued down Outer Loop and made the climb back up the hill. I had a decision to make: do I go back down the hill on Inner Loop and abuse myself with harder climbing, or do I go to the top and check out those trails? I chose Inner Loop. It wasn’t easy. I am a little rusty and need to work on my skills. I didn’t rush through the technical aspects of the trail because I just didn’t feel on top of my game, yet. I think that is what made it so exciting though. I felt a tiny bit of fear, which is really quite desirable while mountain biking. It adds excitement. You might disagree, but fear lets me know that I have more work to do, and the trails remain interesting and exciting as a result.

I finished the exciting descent down the hill and made the sharp turn to begin the ascent back towards the main trailhead. The beginning of the ascent is a steep hill with roots placed in not-so-advantageous spots. I usually make it to the top of that hill and stop for a breather. Today, I made it to the top of the hill and kept going, and going, and going. It felt a little easier than it ever had, before. I continued the climb back to the trail head and decided to ride the Time Trial loop.

Time Trial is a nice little loop that is excellent for beginners who want to develop their technical skills, those who want to start riding stunts, and those more experienced riders who just want a little spice. It is a great loop! Since my technical skills are a little rusty, I didn’t race through the loop, and I didn’t do the stunts that I started doing toward the end of last year.

I rode the rest of Outer Loop back down the hill to the point where I originally cut into the trail. I backtracked through Michigan Tech’s campus and headed for The Library. I had just spent two hours on the bike, 15-20 minutes at The Bike Shop, and at least three hours passed since I last ate. My stomach was rumbling and I had about an hour-long uphill ride back to my house. I needed nourishment. I sat at the bar, sucked down a lot of iced tea (apparently I was thirsty), and ate a tasty club sandwich. That got me ready for the difficult ride home. I think another reason why the food was so important wasn’t just because I needed energy and fluid, but I needed to psyche myself up to ride up for such a sustained period of time.

My total ride time was three hours at an estimated distance of just over 16 miles.