Mountain Bikes, Bass Guitar, and other stuff I like

Went with Renee to the 10.2 River Gorge trail race at Prentice Cooper State Forest near Signal Mtn, Tennessee.  Renee had done the race last year and loved it so this year I decided to jump in.  We were promised a rainy race but luckily the rain had moved out by the time the race started.  Trail conditions were muddy however and treacherous in places.  For some reason, I decided to wear my new Merrell shoes, which are more suitable for less technical trails and road running.  I wish I had brought my Roclites today since they would've served me better on an extremely technical trail.  The only trail I can liken it to is Snake Creek Gap near Dalton,GA.  There was so much slick, leafy downhill that I felt like the trail was all downhill I was actually looking forward to the climbs because that is where I could make most of my time.  I rolled my ankle 2 weeks ago and am still treating it gingerly. I am not the strongest downhiller and today really emphasized that aspect of my running.

I ramped up to Pine Mtn. over about 5 weeks. For the prior 3 months I had done a strength training routine.   While this had its benefits, I wish I had ramped up about 8 weeks to the race instead with more running.   I felt a little sluggish starting out the race.  I had rested 3 days leading up to the race. Maybe only 2 days rest next time. My knees and feet were really tweaky during race week so I figured more rest was better. My attitude about this race was "I'm just training through" and I had it listed as a B priority.   I could've been more excited. I wanted to podium again but I didn't think I could top my 1:20 time last year since I was putting in 1:30 times during training.  I had a real goober drafting me at last year's race so that gave me an extra boost.  I did a lot more hill work before last year's race during my lunch breaks so that was missing this year.  The 5-week ramp just wasn't enough. I remember having a somewhat positive menta