Scratchtastic

Saturday, 19 October 2013

Quite a deal went into the making of this Wailuna loop ride. After all the “who can/can’t go”s and “which day”s, and “what time”s were whittled down, there was only Chris, Ckucke, Root, and I out under an evil looking sky on Saturday afternoon. I got drizzled on twice while waiting for them to show up, but by the time we made the top of the road climb, the weather had cleared to the point where it looked like any further rain was unlikely.

That’s also about where I started to feel poorly. I wasn’t recovering after steeps, and I was having an even worse time than everyone else at heat management. Even the rolling resistance of the grass versus the hardpack clay made me suffer. When I found myself having to push most of the climbs past the swamp gum rest, I knew there was an issue. At the chair tree rest, my soft palate and throat were becoming sore, and I could feel the effects of the fever. I decided to turn back and wait for everyone back at the trucks, but after they rode off, I had second thoughts. I was essentially 80% done with the climbs, so I might as well finish the climb. Almost immediately after cleaning the melaleuca roots and rolling the first descent, I immediately questioned my change of mind on the next climb.

I caught up to everyone in short order, and we made our way to the top. There was one slippery section, and like it was last month when we were up here, the ferns were grabbing our handlebars and controls. It was slow, but at least I wasn’t falling behind. The descent was nice and dry, but the ferns drew blood on everyone’s legs. My memory was still fresh from the last ride up there, so I managed to line up correctly for all the drop-ins and roll them all cleanly. Even though this was the downhill leg, there were still ascents along the way, and I was still in an energy deficit situation. Those climbs always suck, just because they are climbs, but in my deteriorated state they were really giving me grief. By the time we reached the doubletrack and the fun descent lines, I just wanted to get out of there, so even with jelly-arms, dead legs, and a spinning head, I hit it as fast as the suspension and traction would let me.

When we got to the doubles at the log bench, we found that the area had been decorated for Halloween. A lady came up the trail and asked if we had seen any others. She indicated that there were more following her and there was going to be an event of some kind. We decided it would be best to get out before the trails got too clogged with people. We did see the bunch of people she mentioned, but everyone was on foot, so whatever was happening was not a bike-related event. We descended the singletrack, passing un-spooky ghosts, fake cobwebs, and the requisite giant rubber rat. As we passed close to the doubletrack, some dude kept hollering, “fly it!’, but it was dead flat, and there was nothing to “fly”. Whatever, dude.

After I managed a one-legged cornice wall-ride (I really hope Root got that on video), we dropped into the ironwoods. I kept getting a dragging feeling that wasn’t from my illness-wracked body, so at the doubletrack, I pulled my wheel to check my brake or cassette. The axle was smooth as was the freehub, so it wasn’t the bearings. It looked like there might have been a little runout in the brake rotor, but it could also have been the caliper getting bumped. All the while I was concentrating on getting rolling again, Chris had gone all giddy over a gothically black cat-eared girl sitting off to the trail to the airsoft zone. Considering the lack of interest I had, I must have been feeling really terrible!

We reached the paved road as the setting sun had gone to orange. The nice new pavement made for a quick, safe descent, but the climb up Komomai and along the park was a constant double quad twinge of impending cramping. Post-ride was at Taco Bell, but I had trouble getting my second burrito down. Luckily it was a Saturday ride, so I had all of Sunday to recover and beat the cold. I quite literally slept all Sunday. I still have to check that rear brake drag issue…

D = 12.4 km* (7.7-miles), Vavr = 7.8 km/h* (4.8-mph), Vmax = 64.0 km/h (39.8-mph), T = 1-hour, 40-minutes* (about 3.5-hours trail time), Climb/descent = 363m (1191’) (Min elevation 92m/Max elevation 455m)

*approximate – I forgot to turn on the GPS until the top of the paved road.

Pictures here