Racing is the best coach

A good friend of mine always tells me that racing is the best teacher. You work hard, sweat, suffer and come out a whole new person at the other end.

I mountain bike race, and I love doing it, but I can't exactly explain why. Its just something I feel compelled to do.

I did my first two races in the expert category since I got back from Moab. I have a lot of learning!

I realize how much training I have missed during my Jan and Feb recovery. That's ok. I realize that I need to work on some technical skills. Working on that too! I realize how important it is to have a goal FOR EACH RACE. I raced my first race not really knowing what to expect, and since i didn't have a true goal I really felt the lack of focus. My second race, I had some specific things I was working on, they didn't happen, (keep the guys back until my second and third lap and a 2 hour race time), but that's ok, because i felt focused the entire time, and spent a long time "in the zone".

Moab Riding

My trip to Moab was amazing. The views were breathtaking, and the riding was incredible. I pushed myself physically all week long.

So the summary:

Day 1: leave home Saturday morning at 4:00 AM to check into the airport and catch our 7:00 flight to Chicago. Wait in Chicago for a few hours and cath the early afternoon flight to Salt Lake City. In Salt Lake City we picked up our rental car and drove 4 hours to Moab. The views were wonderful so the drive felt quite short.

Day 2: Weather is in the 60's F, a little cool, so we bundle up and head for Sovereign Trail. This is a trail designed by the motor bikers for sharing with other users. A mixed terrain of rock, sand, climbing and technical descending. A nice way to start the week.

Day 3: on a recommendation, we head to Amassa Back, via a road ride from the condo we stayed at. We saw some pertroglyphs on the way and the views of Jackson Butte were awesome

Day 4: Well a little more interesting, after passing through some cattle, we parked the car and did Flat Pass. Or we thought we did, we biked to ALMOST the top of the hill, thought that there couldn't be a cattle guard at the top and turned around and headed down. After an hour of searching each cattle guard near the car we learned we were actually on the right track and had to climb BACK UP 2 miles of hill. Gah! This trail was essentially a big mountain, up one side down the other with 10 km of road riding back to the car to complete the loop. We were pretty tired after this one.

Day 5 : We took the shuttle to the top of Porcupine Rim. 22 of us on the shuttle to the top for some excellent views, some scary riding (only because it was on the edge of a cliff) and some nice compay (we grouped up with some friendly folks from Toronto)

Day 6: We tried to do Moonlight Meadow, but had to turn around due to snow! This was at about 10000 feet elevation in the La Sal Mountains. We coasted for 30 minutes in neutral in the car back to Moab and played on the Slick Rock, which for me was one of the best riding I did in Moad.

I loved riding the slick rock. While the other rides did have technical requirements, not nearly as much as the slick rock. Most people who know my riding know that I am a "technician" when it comes to mountain biking because I lack size and power, so I must use proper technique to get myself over some obstacles. I shudder to think we almost missed doing this because most people found this riding the LEAST interesting. Next time I plan on doing the big loop. We only did the short 3 mile practice loop, and on Friday we played on a few miles of the main loop but just did a short out and back because we had to return the bikes and the rental car.

Friday we drove back to Salt Lake City, and stayed in a hotel for the night. Saturday morning we took the shuttle to the air port for an early morning flight back to Chicago. Just before landing at OHare we learned that there was a second flight to Ottawa leaving EARLIER. We would have had to wait SEVEN hours for our flight, so with some begging and looking cute we asked if we can hop on the earlier flight (leaving 2 hours after landing). Thanks to Elizabeth's at American Airlines great efforts, our luggage even made it on without a problem and we were back in Ottawa before dark and we were even able to get in some loads of laundry done before bed.

So that was our trip! I loved Moab, I still can't get over the orange rocks and the beautiful scenery. We met some great people out there, and biked Porcupine Rim with some cool folks from Collingwood. We met people for San Diego, (who said we can stay with them next time we are in Calie, which i just MAY have to take them up on their offer), the tourists were super nice, and the jeepers were very cordial, letting us go by. Yes I could not end this entry without a comment on the jeepers, I still cannot believe they drive what we ride! Crazy!

This is one of my favorites of me riding the slick rock...

Stretching

When is a stretch a stretch? What's the proper way to stretch?

Most people don't realize that there actually are various ways to stretch, and proper form is required. If you stretch the same way every day, improperly, you can cause yourself injury, or even injury without realizing it.

The most common way to stretch is the static stretch. This is holding the muscle in its elongated position for a few seconds.

Its important not to "bounce" while stretching. This is considered an "explosive" like move during the stretch (as far as the muscle is concerned) and the muscle will tend to "yank back" to avoid over stretching. Combine these two forces and you can end up with a pulled muscle.

It is also important to maintain spine and hip alignment while you stretch limbs. This means, yep, engaging the core to promote stability.

Finally, when you stretch a muscle, it must be WITHOUT load. For example, hanging from a bar, might FEEL like you are stretching, but your arms are holding you on the bar...so that means, this is actually a lengthen under load. Otherwise known as the eccentric contraction, or the negative phase of a repetition. Another common example is standing up and bending over to reach for the toes. Most people don't keep proper alignment of their spine as it is, but more importantly your back is holding you up in this inverted position. So again, it isn't a stretch. (this of the eccentric phase of the dead lift exercise, this is what you are doing when reaching for your toes).

In order to stretch a muscle, the muscle needs to be relaxed. Laying positions are always good for stretching.

You should also be able to breathe through your stretches, and do them gently to feel a nice pull in the muscle.

The end result of a good stretching program, is improved flexibility, reduced back pain and better posture, improved performance, feelings of relaxation...only to name a few.