Wow. Has it been a month already? I planned on writing again after doing section 3 of the Colorado trail but never got to it. I rode the motorcycle up to section 3 a few days after my last post and rode the trail. Another beautiful ride. Both on the moto and on the MTB.
This was my turn around point for my last ride. This section of the Colo trail is mostly rolling hills in high alpine terrain and is absolutely beautiful. I rode some of this area earlier this summer with some friends from work, the buffalo creek area. I think I saw 1 other person on the trail during my 2 hours out here. Saw some wildlife.
I am quite the photographer, aren't I. Yes that is a deers hind end. He does have a rack but the photos of that are worse than this one. One beauty of MTBing is the ability to sneak up on animals because it is a quiet way of traveling. Unfortunately when I see the wildlife its hard to dig my camera out and take a decent shot. Point and shoot... not all of the time.
The views on the trail are quite spectacular. There was some smoke in the air from fires in adjoining states so the mountains in the distance have a beautiful purple haze that pictures dont capture.
After these rides I did decide to take a try at the gunnison 24hr race solo. I rode the BMW up there with the MTB and gear in tow, everything fit perfectly. This is a picture on Monarch pass.
There were some Harley guys on Monarch taking pictures also, watching me ride in. The leader asked if the bike was in case I ran out of gas. Man, out of work lawyers are hilarious. I was feeling great when I got to Gunnison, got signed in for the race and set up camp. The KOA in Gunnison is run by Dave. He is so into this race and weekend, he told me that it was is favorite weekend of the year. They cook during the whole race to feed everybody that is racing and supporting the race. Not a bad deal for the 15$ a night during the race weekend.
Here's camp. The race started and my plan was to go slow, take plenty of breaks and fuel up after every lap. Lap 1-then some stinger waffles. Lap-2 Quesadilla. Lap-3 Stinger gel. Lap-4 rest and lasagna. Lap-5 Vomit. Yep projectile style. Stop lap 5 since I only made it about 20yards. Sit, brush teeth, feeling better, have some fig newtons, feeling lots better. OK Lap-5 about 2/3 around started feeling the bile build up in my throat. Stop and sip some water. Take it easy going back. I stopped at my tent and just had this rock like feeling in my belly. I could not eat anything. My arms and legs started cramping, numb fingers and toes, unable to regulate my body temp. I showered to see if that would help but it didn't. I crawled into my tent and took a nap, it was dark and figured when I woke up I could still meet my 10 lap goal. Nope. Felt horrible when I woke up. I decided that I would see an MD to get his/her opinion and get some blood work done.
Yesterday I got word back from the MD about my blood and everything there is normal. He did spend alot of time with me at our first meeting which impressed me. We talked alot about Africa and my training and about Gunnison. He thinks that most of my problems are caused by heat. It was hot in Gunnison, about 95 degrees. So I am not sure what to do next. I am planning an experiment, to ride for an extended period in cooler weather or at night and see how my body handles it. CX is coming up soon, so maybe I will table that experiment and just do some CX fun. Gotta get the CX converted to singlespeed. Oh, yeah.
