Long Ride

Yesterday, I set out for a long, interval-heavy ride on my mountain bike. I rode my Titus Fireline (my hardtail) the 10 miles to Peaked Sports and traded it for my full-suspension Racer-X. Super-hubby had just finished putting it together, so I had a great new toy to distract me from the pain that lay ahead.
I tested a different xc warm-up from Eric on the road ride out to Horseshoe. After my slow start at the Deer Valley NMBS we put our heads together and figured that my warmups haven't been long enough for my tree-trunk like thighs. He upped it to 1:20min from 50 min and added more intense efforts. Ouch. It went as well as those kinds of efforts can go. After 2 hrs of riding I was ready wail on some hill repeats. For all you training nerds, I did 4 x 10min efforts, switching between max effort and Z5a. Double ouch.

Thankfully, I had this great view to distract me. It's hard to hurt too badly when you're in a field of gorgeous wildflowers up to your hips with the Grand Teton looming in the background. I was rewarded with some ripping singletrack to test the new Racer-X. Oh my, this ride is so sweet - it will soon get an entry in which I will profess my love for all its abilities. I pedaled home on the road via the Cedron Loop basking in how incredibly green the valley is right now. This road is such a gem. Hardly any cars and fields and fields of green, green, green.

Speaking of green, my garden is actually growing! Who knew?