New Years Day

I took it easy last night so I would be ready for the group ride today hosted by Chris of Highroller. You never know what you will get on these rides, sometimes there is a large group of very fast mountain bikers and then sometimes it is a mellow relaxed ride. Today only three showed, including me. The pace stayed mellow and I ended up with right at 20 miles total in 2.5 hours. Kessler will wear you out, it is a technical trail with a lot of climbing. I am feeling the effort in my entire body. I need to ride there more often.

Chris showed us the man-made cave he found while scouting a new section of trail. He thinks it was used as cold storage many years ago for a nearby resort. This thing is amazing, I can only imagine the hours of hard labor that went into building this. On top is about 4ft of dirt, so much that full grown trees have enough to anchor themselves. Both ends are open now, but you can tell that the cave used to be closed on both ends. There is also remnants of a trail that leads in the direction of the old resort.
The race is on for this weekend! It will be a quick trip, leaving Sat morning and returning on Sunday after the race. The problem with this is that the race doesn't start until 2p. Ugh! Should arrive home sometime around midnight. I haven't raced my mountain bike in a long time, I have almost forgotten what it feels like. My division will be racing 2 laps of an ~8 mile loop, the race website says 8 miles but I remember it being 9 miles. Any way, should be fun. I'm just looking to throw down a solid effort.

Happy New Year!