conquered U-Conn trail today

I went for a mountain bike ride early this morning.

The skies still had the usual morning fog as I rode down Hwy 9.

I made it up the U-Conn trail without stopping today - 1.85 miles of singletrack on a 6.5% grade on a singlespeed. It felt good. I think the reason I made it is that I set up my GPS to show my heart rate. The last few times I've climbed U-Conn I've noticed that the limiting factor is cardiovascular, not muscular. My legs are strong enough to make it, but I feel like my heart is going to explode. So today, I strapped on the heart rate monitor to see exactly how hard I was working as I climbed. My maximum heart rate is 183 bpm (220 minus my age). As I was climbing the lower section my heart rate topped out around 167 bpm. Then, at the technical and steeper section near the top, my heart rate maxed out at 176 bpm. I figured I couldn't stop until I was giving over 100% (and what exactly would my heart do if it went over 183 bpm, anyway?). Before I knew it I had made it to the top. Here's the entrance to the U-Conn trail, off of Hwy 9.

I explored more trails, logged more waypoints on my GPS, and was bummed to find out when I got home that I never started the GPS. So all of those points aren't saved and I won't get to see my heartrate for the climb up U-Conn.

I do know that I rode for over 2 1/2 hours, covered 22 miles, and climbed over 2,000 feet.

I'm thinking about changing the rear cog on my mountain bike to one with a few more teeth, in order to make climbing easier. Riding a singlespeed definitely makes you a better climber, but it also wears me out faster. I'd like to be able to do longer rides over time, and I think that having an easier gear ratio will conserve energy for longer rides. The downside is that on flats and downhills, I'll start spinning earlier and won't be able to go as fast. We'll see.

You can barely see the trail, but it's there:

Spiderweb:

Singletrack:

like Disneyland

Yesterday I took a step towards my goal of finishing the week strong on my bike.

I left work a couple of hours early because it was slow and we were all caught up, got home and took Greta for a long run in the woods, then jumped on my mountain bike and rode down to the Rincon parking lot to hit the trails around UCSC.

Since I didn't want to drive to the trails, I was on Hwy 9 the four miles to the trails. My legs were stiff and my heart didn't really want to keep up with what I was asking it to do. I thought about turning around, and had a great excuse lined up in my head: "Clay, you've been up since 2:50 this morning. Just go home and relax. If you're not into it on pavement, how are you going to make it on the trails? And do you really want to do that climb to get to the top of the U-Conn trail?" Actually, that's three excuses.

I think it's worth exploring how I talked myself through this.

I started with the most common rebuttal - that, like a lot of endurance sports, it often takes a few miles to "settle in." I've experienced it on long-distance paddleboard events, I've heard other cyclists say it, I've heard Adria say it about her long trail runs, and even when she goes backpacking. Once we let our bodies take over what they really want to be doing (moving), our minds stop chattering.

The other rebuttal I used with myself to stay on my bike was a reminder to myself that the more miles I put in, the more money I raise for the people at the Homeless Garden Project. I stopped by the Garden a few weekends ago and met two people who work there. I'll post about that this weekend.

My final rebuttal was sitting about 16 inches below my face - my GPS! There was no way I was going to turn around after three miles!

So by the time I made it to the bottom of the U-Conn trail, I was nice and loose and my mind wasn't chattering. I climbed to the top of U-Conn, but still had to stop two times on the way. For those readers who don't live in Santa Cruz, or don't ride bikes, or haven't ridden U-Conn trail, there a reason why I am so fascinated by this trail. First, it's beautiful - narrow singletrack on packed dirt with some moderately technical sections, all under redwood trees. That, combined with the fact that it's f'ing steep!! If my math is correct it's a 6.5% grade for 1.85 miles. That and that, combined with the fact that I ride it on a singlespeed. Last season, when I was riding trails more, I was able to easily climb this trail without stopping. I think I'll get back there soon.

After the climb I played around on a lot of the same trails that I was on last Saturday, just reinforcing the way the trails link together. Another one of my biggest challenges is learning how this trail system is laid out. There's no published trail map. Some of these trails are "unauthorized" (i.e. illegal). When I ride with my friends on the trails, I'm impressed with how they link the trails together - we can ride for hours and never be on the same trail.

After about an hour of riding the same trails as last weekend, I explored some trails that branch off of these and saw how these new ones link up. I saved the locations of new trailheads on my GPS to help visualize it. I think what I'm going to discover when I plot all these trails on my GPS is that these woods are like Disneyland - lots of smaller sections of trails linked together to form one giant network of fun.

The condition of the trails was excellent - super tacky from the recent rains, but not muddy. And the heavy winds of the storm made it look like someone took a buzzsaw to the forest.

Today I'm going to ride down to Santa Cruz to run some errands, then do another mountain bike ride on campus. That should be about 40-50 miles. I need to make sure that I eat well all day to sustain.