Berryman Training Ride #2

Yesterday was stupid long. Longest time I'd been on a MTB in a long time...since last week :) But really, this was easily 15+ more miles than last week, although a lot more pavement.

Rode out to Wyandotte County Lake to hit some trail there...sweetness! Even the bridle trail wasn't horrible and had some STUPID descents and climbs. Super super rocky shit in a couple areas has my asshole puckered on the hardtail with the seat jacked up. Can't believe I didn't OTB.

Found some water out there and lo and behold DanO comes pulling up. We bs with him for a few then Clay gets a wild hair up his ass and wants to ride to the OGG Fest at Shawnee Mission Park. Uhhhhhhhh. Jump back on bridle trail going south around the lake to 91st street then somehow manage to get to SMP and ride a little sneaky and a little red trail then have a much needed re-fuel of a cheesburger, potato chips, and coca-cola. Decide to just head home since we're sitting at 47 miles already, and Clay again gets some wild hair up his ass and wants to take 67th back to antioch where it dead ends and we can pick up 71st. If you've never ridden 67th its part of the weekly KC hill ride...for a reason. Not exactly what I wanted to hit 50 miles into a ride, but damn good training. Gears are fucking awesome too I've decided. It's so nice to be in the perfect gear at all times and the biggest thing for me is recovering. It's vital that I can spin up a hill, then sit and spin for a minute before popping the gears back up and hammering some more. I had only a semi-close call to cramping and that was the last hill from 67th-71st on antioch. Last year, even if I were in a little better aerobic shape, I would have been cramping beyond belief cause I would have been on one gear the entire time. Single speed is hella fun don't get me wrong, I miss my SS MTB everyday...but I don't know what the hell I was doing trying to do 6-12 hour endurance mtb stuff on one and be competitive and/or able to walk after 7 hours.

So that being said, I'm gonna go blow my self up on 40 miles of fixie gravel this afternoon with Micah. Then rest alllllll week (other than TNU) for Berryman to get those legs in tip top shape. I'm feeling pretty damn good about a top-50 range again...still wanna podium in the age group but some fast boys finally did step up and it looks like Schott's gonna have to work for it even harder this year.

peace and riding!!!