Single Tracks and Golf

Being on an American payroll and living in France is just about the most depressing thing in the world.  Here, it seems, everyone is always on vacation, while I am stuck with my four miserable weeks per year!  … but there is hope, in 66 more months I will have enough seniority to get an extra week off.  Of course, now-a-days, one shouldn’t complain too much about his job, but rather, be happy to have one!!

Anyhow, I got to our beloved departing spot at 9:00 just to be reminded that it is “les vacances” and that I would be on my own.  Tampis, off I go.

I figured that since I was alone I should try and do stuff that we can’t do in a big group.  Today’s outing would be a training session!  Usually, when we are riding, if we go by a single track I mark it on the GPS, so on my way to the forest I scoured the GPS for all the little waypoints.  I connected the little dots and managed to join a bunch of single tracks together to form a 2 km hell ride!  I went up and down  a couple of times to practice tricky climbs and improve my downhill skills.  On the climbs I tried to be really mindfull of where I was placing my center of gravity and how it affected traction, on the descents I tried to refrain from braking focused on trying to go over obstacles rather than around.  It is really amazing how quickly you can progress with a little focused training.  In the summer we should dedicate a little 1/2 hour during each outing to practicing a particular hill, jump or other.

Once I was done with my little single track bonanza I looked at the GPS and realized that I was close to “La Cedricoise” so I followed the tracks from last week.  On the way I stopped at the monument for the air disaster

of March 3rd 1974.  I had never seen it (I didn’t know it even existed).  I had seen a documentary on the catastrophy on TV, but never thought much of it.  Seeing all the names engraved on marble really made the whole thing real.  Each person had a story and a future, and it all ended there.

The two minutes spent in front of the obeslic were the only time I ever stopped for the whole ride.  The little break must have been really good for me because after that it was full speed ahead!!  I tackled the golf course keeping a 165bmp average, I felt like I was going to puke my heart out.  I started to climb the big hill between the rocks and I could see a group of bikers having “breakfast” all the way at the top. I was pouring sweat, my eyes were completely red and I must have been pretty pale too.  They watched me climb from the top of the hill and from the smirk on their face I could tell that there wasn’t a single one of them that thought I would have made it up the tricky hill, but I did.  As I went past them they all got quiet and looked at me as if I was a ghost. You could “feel” their disbelief.  A small satisfaction, but it did make me feel pretty good.

From there on it was the usual ride back home along the highway.

I don’t really like to ride alone, but today was a lot of fun.  I was able to explore, improve my skills and still perform at a pretty good level.

Distance: 33km

Time: 2:05

Avg: 16.4km/hr

Ascent: 398m

Fred