Another satisfying ride at Chicopee. This place never leaves me for wanting more. There are about 30 miles worth of trails with something for everyone, featuring fast,fun, and flowy loops and also rocky/rooty loops with punishing climbs.
I rode about 2.5 hours at a relatively slow pace only covering about 22 miles. Carrying the 15 lb pack really weighs me down but it's good for strength and endurance. I also tried to stay in the middle rings on front and back, around a 2-3. At least it gets lighter as the ride goes on with the loss of fluid.
Today I was focusing more on good cornering, especially downhill cornering. Not rushing things at all and riding at a rather deliberate pace. Good thing the trails were deserted. It's difficult to keep my weight back through a downhill corner yet push down on the inside bar to give the front tire more bite. Ran the tires at about 30 PSI which seemed to be an adequate pressure for today's trail conditions, which were mostly tacky and only dry in some spots. There were even some puddles in shaded areas.
I really started to bonk about 90 minutes in and wasn't having much fun but I pushed through to a stop and drank some Perpetuem. It was mana from the gods and really revitalized me. I was also starting to cramp up in the quads around 1 hour 40 and it really hurt to climb out of the saddle. I told myself to just push through it and they subsided after 20 minutes or so. I was really pleased with that because cramps are normally debilitating. Arrived back at the parking lot and Renee called me to say she was finishing Red Tail and I was feeling better so I decided to head over to Coyote Loop for the cherry on top. I did it clockwise, which is opposite of what I normally do and I must say, it has more flow that way but there is a punch-in-the-chest set of uphill switch backs that I cleaned and was really happy.
Overall, a good,long ride at a great trail system.
I also took video which I may have posted in a few days.
-J
I rode about 2.5 hours at a relatively slow pace only covering about 22 miles. Carrying the 15 lb pack really weighs me down but it's good for strength and endurance. I also tried to stay in the middle rings on front and back, around a 2-3. At least it gets lighter as the ride goes on with the loss of fluid.
Today I was focusing more on good cornering, especially downhill cornering. Not rushing things at all and riding at a rather deliberate pace. Good thing the trails were deserted. It's difficult to keep my weight back through a downhill corner yet push down on the inside bar to give the front tire more bite. Ran the tires at about 30 PSI which seemed to be an adequate pressure for today's trail conditions, which were mostly tacky and only dry in some spots. There were even some puddles in shaded areas.
I really started to bonk about 90 minutes in and wasn't having much fun but I pushed through to a stop and drank some Perpetuem. It was mana from the gods and really revitalized me. I was also starting to cramp up in the quads around 1 hour 40 and it really hurt to climb out of the saddle. I told myself to just push through it and they subsided after 20 minutes or so. I was really pleased with that because cramps are normally debilitating. Arrived back at the parking lot and Renee called me to say she was finishing Red Tail and I was feeling better so I decided to head over to Coyote Loop for the cherry on top. I did it clockwise, which is opposite of what I normally do and I must say, it has more flow that way but there is a punch-in-the-chest set of uphill switch backs that I cleaned and was really happy.
Overall, a good,long ride at a great trail system.
I also took video which I may have posted in a few days.
-J