Ride #3 and a big mental error...

So ride three comes and I am mentally prepared to push my bike when need be.  I have exaggerated some of my XC techniques in the past couple rides to get over rocks and roots when I have minimal momentum on my side.  I have also carried more momentum in some areas than I am comfortable just to help with the next hill.  The past two rides... this has worked.

When I stared out on this ride, I determined I would follow the same route as last time, but got left at the second Y instead of right.  This turned out to be a better option, however I had to ride down roughly 50 wooden stairs that were unevenly spaced in every way imaginable.

All in all, it wasn't bad.  If anything, it was tough on my forearms due to the odd position I had to ride in for a while on those steps.  I was able to ride all the way to a road unlike last time where I had to Hike-a-bike.  So things were looking up a bit.

I ended up following the same "Blazed path" I did the ride before and followed the same route home.  However with no rain the prior few days, the clay was in much better condition, so I road the descent I skipped the ride before.

The bike and I were agreeing with each other a bit so I entered the downhill faster than normal.  Things were clicking as I just let the bike do its thing and eat up the drops and corners.  There is a section I have only cleared 1 time, crashed a few times, so I now just dismount.  After talking with others... it seems everyone dismounts and only a few try to ride it - unsuccessfully.  There trail is just washed out and the ground around it unstable.  So I dismount, jump over it, remount and continue...

The the bike walked up a bank a little higher than I wanted.  I have the muscle the bike back down, but was slightly crossed up, so the bike was sliding a tad sideways into the next turn... again, I let the bike roll up the bank too far and had to fight it back down... this time the little slide got bigger and the rear end snapped around... I was "ejected skyward"...  suddenly time slowed down as I was suspended over my bike...  I saw the bike continue on the same path I was on.  I reached for it, but it was just out of my range.  I saw it settle with the handlebar straight up... I reached out to catch myself, but was conscious of my fingers coming down into a spinning front tire and was fearing my knee would strike the chainset...  And then it happened.  I took the handlebar straight in the gut with my body weight behind the fall....  Immediately my right side went numb... Numb is better than piercing pain, so I hopped on the bike and road it out trying to get home before the numb wore off...  I crashed right before km 9.  So it is all uphill from here to get home...

I almost made it before the pain set in... but just as I was cresting the climb, numb went to hurt.  I basically limped the bike home hoping no real damage has been done.

Luckily, the bike is fine.  I seem to have given myself a "Hope" tattoo...

Single Speed Part Deux

May 20th, Second time out and I had a better idea what to expect, but the trail was not in ideal condition.  it had rained since my last ride and the clay sections were extremely slick...  So I just eased up on those areas and pressed on in others.  Yes, my heart still suffered a bit, but when I got that puking feeling, I backed off.  I cleared a couple hills I had not cleared the last ride and still pushed a few I pushed last time as well.  I was determined to try and enjoy this ride more than the last, so I thought taking a different turn than normal and going into explorer mode would help keep my mind occupied.

About 3.5kms in there is a Y in the trail.  Last year I went right once... but found the trail was poorly maintained.  Since left was always fun, I just made a habit of going that way.  But this day was different.  I plowed down the trail and just kept rolling as long as I could.  There was another Y I had never seen before, I went right this time.  I got a little ways further down the trail and it became un-ride-able.  The trail was over grown,fallen trees, washouts, etc... So I hiked a bike just to see where it comes out.  I eventually came out in a small community farm.  Nothing exciting, but with the mosquitoes out, I just wanted to get rolling.  I found my way to the nearest road and got moving.

Now I am in pavement explorer mode. Where is the next trail head?  No idea and the signs are in kanji... so I suppose I will just have to ride up roads and look.  Sadly almost every road was uphill.

I did a bit of wrong turns before I saw some familiar landmarks from another trail.  I just headed that way and eventually hiked my bike up a ton of steps.  At the top, I was rewarded with this....

But the trail stopped here... I had to blaze my way over to the familiar power line tower that I knew would get me to the trail I wanted.  Eventually, mission accomplished.

On the ride back, the clay sections were slick enough I decided to skip the fin descent and call it a day.  I got just over 11kms, I explored a bit and did not get hurt...  Not bad.  Still could have climbed a few hills I pushed if I had gears, but overall, I did not over do it like the last ride.

First day running 1 gear... (spoiler - It Sucked)

On May 18th - I set my bike in the 38x26 rings and refused to shift.
Push the bike when I have to and spin out when it happend...  38x26.

"Feeling" -
I felt my heart was going to explode at times.
I felt my heart was going to break through my chest plate other times.
I felt I was going to throw up my heart...

So no matter what metrics I can give... this "feeling" was overwhelming.
It was a simple 8.5km ride with little climbs and descents.  Nothing worthy of a heart attack.

I can see why some could find the struggle a single speed to be rewarding, however I was just irritated.  I did not like pushing my bike the times I had to and I did not like running out of gear on the faster sections.  But when I did plug the Garmin into strava, I was shocked to see I did one climb and one descent in my second fastest times.  Hmmm...  interesting.

I got home and cleaned the mud off the bike, took a shower and had a beer.  Because after all... beer is part of single speeding I have been told.