Don't Get a massage

and then go immediately for a bike ride. I had a massage early this morning, and was going to ride later this afternoon, but the weather was not going to cooperate, so we rode right after my massage.

When we arrived at 5 mile pass it was raining, not hard but more than a sprinkle. We waited about 5 to 10 minutes and the rain stopped. We got out and got our bikes ready. The mud around the car was thick and stuck to our shoes. I was crossing my fingers the trail was not as bad as the mud around the car.

Mud stuck to my shoes while getting my bike ready.

We took off up the trail, and as luck would have it conditions were pretty good. The trail was well drained and tacky. I struggled to keep up with the group as we rode. My legs did not want to work and pedaling was much more difficult than it should have been. My body was very angry at me for any physical exertion after having such a relaxing massage. It could not figure out how to function. The worse part was when we came to the hike a bike. Two things happened here my body could hardly tredge up the hill, and the second was it was muddy. I had mud caked on my shoes, and at the steepest part I started to slide down the hill backwards. I actually had to go off the trail to stop from sliding. At the top I had to clean off my shoes and a little bit of my bike, and then we took off.

The single track turned out to me a little bit muddy, going down rocks and mud flipped onto my face. Then on the flat more rocks and mud flipping, but it was so much fun to go so fast. The flat towards the wash nice and tacky, but right before the wash we were surprised by a mud bog. I was riding fine one minute and the next I was slipping and sliding all over the place. I came to a spot where I had to walk my bike and by the time I go to the good stopping point my rear tire had so much mud on it, it would not roll. I stopped and took the mud off--there had to be at least 20 pounds of mud on my bike. After clearing the mud I took off and then was stopped quickly by sliding and mud bog again. This time it did not take as long to clean my bike. Then down the wash I went.

Normally down the wash I would take the best line, but this time the best line was whatever rocks I could find. Riding over the rocks helped with getting the mud off my bike. The was was so much fun, I can't wait for race day to ride it again. At the bottom of the wash we cleaned our bikes and waited for Tim. He had decided to ride the wash again. Which was fine, since I passed him going up as I was going down. I was quite the lagger today.

Tim at the bottom of the wash after his second run. Apparently the second run got rid of all the mud on his bike.

The rest of the ride was great and there were no more mud bogs. I still went slow and my body felt fairly trashed by the time we got to the car. I am hoping it is due to the massage and not being out of shape. At the car we waited for the rest of our group who arrived about 20 minute later. Right after they got there it started to rain. We lucked out, we only got one lap in but we stayed dry.

Dave checking out the storm coming in.

Getting the bike cleaned off.

When I got home it took a while to get the mud off my bike, apparently the mud at 5 mile is more clay than mud. I am crossing my fingers conditions for the race are better than today or I may end up needing to invest in a high pressure washer.

The mud mess I had to clean up.