I get by with a little help from my friends...AKA...the mental game

Karen and I had a great ride out at the Pig yesterday. Of late I've been hanging out on one side of the trail, mostly just getting miles and long steady climbs in. It's become obvious that my skills have deteriorated and that my puss-factor has grown a bit too much during my base time. Karen wanted to do the entire trail, so we did.

The morning started off right with some hilarious Turkey Trot shenanigans.

TT playing in my sweat pants

I went out early to get in a trail run. Had a good hard 45 minutes of running, with only a few trekking intervals (one part of the run was very offcamber, and when my left leg was on the high side my knee started some serious complaints). I stretched while I waited for Karen and we did a little recovery spin lap through the pines to get me loose, but I still got the jelly legs when we got to the first steep climb in the "advanced" side of the trail.

Now, as background, Karen and I both had mental issues with different spots on this part of the trail. Mine were a little dip and left hand turn into a climb (I've wrecked spectacularly there in the past) and a loose rock downhill. Karen was a bit wigged out by a short, but steep whoops with a large root in the middle and one downhill with a difficult entrance.

With the jelly legs in tow, Karen led off and I followed. First off, Karen's made huge strides in her climbing endurance...she looked like a little mountain goat. Way to go Karen! My two "obstacles" are very early in the trail, and with jelly legs giving me a hard time getting up out of the saddle, I did the smart thing and walked them after watching Karen handle them like a pro. I knew I'd be doing a second lap and clearing them just fine after watching her do them effortlessly (and I did, Karen, WOO HOO). We had your typical, haven't been on this part of the trail foibles...but we soon came to Karen's first weak spot, the whoops with the root. So she got to the side to watch and I backed up to show her it wasn't so bad. The root sticks up quite far, and she needed to see that even when your wheel hit it, you weren't going to buck off into an endo. I went for the meaty part of the root, let her see my slight bounce and went down fine. She immediately backed her bike up and did it like a pro, being smart and choosing not to follow my "teaching" line and tackling the root in a more benign spot.

We completed the advanced section with no other real problems. Karen had trouble on a few rutted climbs, but I know she'll get most of them dialed the next time she gets out because we discussed lines and she's so determined. (Karen all the lines we discussed worked like a charm the second lap for me...sailed up even that one with the big rut).

Back in the more familiar pines side of the trail Karen had one more fear to conquer. Descending Chandler's Challenge. It looks steeper than it really is when you're looking down or looking up. And it's got some ruts and small drops caused by erosion and riding it downhill when it was designed as a climb. The entrance is the hard part. A tangle of roots between some trees is the most direct route, but again...the roots look scarier than they really are. The other approach is to swing out around a tree and make a pretty tight turn to the actual descent. I showed Karen this way, thinking we could tackle the roots another time. In typical Murphy's law fashion I futzed up the turn on my first attempt and scraped my arm on the tree, but finally got my shiz together and showed her the move and the made the descent. Following the left line which has more bounces and bumps so she could see she wasn't going to slingshot over her bars. We realized that Karen could park her back tire in some grass and pine needles so she could clip in and not have to negotiate the full turn...and there she went, around the tree and down Chandler's. Down I went as she hiked her bike back up so we could get photo evidence.

Karen tackling Chandler's

Over the rooty drop

just about down...WOO HOO

Good friends and riding partners are patient when they need to be and realize that everyone has their own little phobias. Karen had already left, but I know when I went down the rocky downhill that gives me the heebies, in spirit she was woo-hooing me just like I did for her as she came roaring down Chandler's. I hit the whole section better than I ever have before on my second lap...bar one tree hugging moment when I hit some loose pine straw between two trees I was trying to navigate. Good friends instill the boost of confidence you need to tackle those mental fears. Karen and I will enjoy our rides all the more knowing we've tackled those last few obstacles.

Off-topic note: Technical rides need to be a bigger part of my last month of training before BD. Neither BD nor Ft. Yargo are technical, but I need to build my tech skills back up after long months of endurance building. Posts on this coming soon.