mini historic angeles ride

Rode “Mindful Mule” on a new route in and out of the outskirts of Downtown LA this evening for a little bicycle advocacy meeting at Philippe’s - the place has been here forever (since 1908) – French dip sandwiches, sawdust on the floor, and 9 cent coffee!

The route was a little mellower than I expected and mellower than the previous route I’d used to get downtown (no rabid dogs biting at my calves) and way easier and faster than the train. So now I just might go down there more frequently. Lots of burrito potential along the way, too!

I also finally located the San Antonio Winery (since 1917) along the ride. I’ve been meaning to check that place out for a long time and now it’s on my radar.

Made it back home just as it was getting dark with a sliver of moon watching over the peaceful pueblo de la reina de los Ángeles…

Mount Wilson 2009

It seemed like everything was going right on the morning of the race. As Hilary and I were driving up toward the start of the race we could see sunbeams breaking through the clouds and spotlighting the Mount Wilson trail while everything else was socked in clouds – an invitation from the mountain. The sun finally broke through just at the start of the race to provide for a beautiful day in the mountains.

Hilary wasn’t planning on racing but somehow managed to sign up about 15 minutes before the race even though it’s been full/closed for weeks. So, that was fun to have her racing again. She missed last year due to ACL. She rocked this year’s race in 1:46.

Jonah, on the other hand, (how should I put this nicely) was flat. Despite a good sleep the night before and fairly decent training I just had nothing in me. I can throw out some excuses like cramps and cherry bombs but I guess I just didn’t have it yesterday. I had no drive up the mountain. I did a lot of walking and just couldn’t get myself to push it. Perhaps I peaked in my training too early or was too relaxed. I’ve never felt so ready for a race. I had high hopes as I’ve been running faster and faster lately. However, my time fell back to 1:37 – same as two years ago. Ten minutes slower than last year! I feel sorry for future Jonah. He’s going to be punished with some serious trail training hell over this next year…

On a positive note, the new trail shoes were great. They made a huge difference in traction and ankle twisties.

Also, I got to meet Rocky! And, of course, CatrAndy! Yea!

After the race we went down the hill to our third annual post race margarita brunch at Mijares with The Reverend (2:20) and Suz which always helps to wash away the pain and or disappointment (and or arrogance in the unlikely event of a miracle time). Next year I hope Mr. Ohara can join us again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to start training for Mount Wilson 2010…

a time to race

I have no idea what kind of time I’ll be able to run in Mt Wilson tomorrow. Two years ago (the first time I ran it) I ran a 1:37. Last year a 1:27. I had a dream a few days ago that I would run 1:17 – I guess my psyche thinks in mathematical sequences. But, I haven’t been training that hard and while I’m sort of excited for the run I also kind of wish I wasn’t running it. It’s not so much the run itself that bothers me as the specific start time and crowds on the trail. And who knows if my body will want to run tomorrow morning. I’ve tried to take it easy this week to give myself the best chance of improving my time. I’ve only run two three-milers Tuesday and Thursday and have only biked about 15 miles. But this just leaves me itching for a bike ride and/or a nice long-and-easy run through the shade after a leisurely breakfast. Instead, I won’t be able to sleep well tonight. Which will make it even more difficult to get out of bed early tomorrow morning. Then force some food down. Drive off to the start to check in and warm up and get hydrated but not too much. Wait in line at the porto-johns. Try to stretch out my cherry-bomb(neck-back-shoulder knot.) Then it starts and I’ve got to get ahead of all the people that start off way to fast for their overall pace so I don’t get stuck behind them on the trail but at the same time conserve for the next four miles of grueling uphill pull. Keep pulling, keep pulling, keep pulling. I won’t have time to stop and talk with the plants on this trip – hopefully they’ll understand my hurry. Pull, pull, pull up that hill. Go inside yourself. Try to accept the agony in your legs and lungs and heart and gut. Go. Finally it will level off. Tag that big old Oak at Orachard Camp and then fly, fly, fly back down the trail trying not to bowl into anyone or trip over clumsy feet to disaster. Keep your knees up. Stay aware of the terrain. Light and solid yet fast as you can. Then you hit the road again and that’s where it really starts to hurt but you’ve got to nail it all the way down that pavement to the finish ‘cause you just might pull off a miracle time for yourself (but that will just put more pressure on your ever-aging body for next year.) And then it’s over.

last minute shoes

I finally found some trail shoes last night. I ran a fast neighborhood 3er in them this morning and they felt good. I’ll probably get one more short break-in run with them before the Mt Wilson race this Saturday. These shoes should give me a slightly more stable platform to run on compared to my road shoes. Trail specific shoes are not a necessity but I do like to have more than one pair of runners around to rotate between anyway and these were “only” $40 at Run With Us.

Brownies

I changed the tire pressure on “Metamorphosis” (the mountain bike) on yesterday’s ride on Brown. I lowered it from 60psi to 55psi. It doesn’t sound like much, but it made a huge difference. Traction was way better on the sandy sections and I could even lean the bike over in the turns with confidence as I descended. Dare I try 50psi?

Of note up on the mountain: girls are everywhere! In the last couple of months there has been a great increase in the female biker population on Brown. I think they may even out number the guys now. Interesting trend. Wouldn’t exactly mind if it continued…

Sandy Brown

Who’s Sandy Brown? Uh, don’ know… but the trails up on Brown Mountain are getting pretty sandy this time a year making the steep sections more challenging on ascent and the corners treacherous on descent. You’ve really got to take the corners slow and upright or else. I probably need to drop the air pressure in my tires to counter this. I tend to run pretty high pressures for a mountain biker. I guess this is partly because I ride to the trailhead, too, and I don’t want to be riding the pavement on 25psi and I’m certainly not going to mess with changing the pressure when I get to (and off) the trail. I usually run about 60psi. This makes for a ripping fast ride in the winter when the trails have some moisture in them. It’s pretty much all decomposed granite up there so it never gets real muddy – the rain just makes it set. But we haven’t had any significant rain down here for months, really, and we’re quickly entering into the cycle of heat, sun, smog, and fire. Maybe this is an okay thing though. Aside from it being totally natural for this area, it tends to clear the trails of people and lately I’ve encountered way too many people up there – especially those damned mountain bikers!

a few more steps up the trail (post 300!)

Managed to get a trail run in this morning before it got too hot (high of 90 today.) Biked to the trailhead (6.7 miles) then ran the shady and cool El Prieto trail up to the Brown Mountain junction (about 4 miles up and 1500 feet.) It’s not quite as steep as the Mt Wilson trail that I’m training toward in two weeks but it’s an easier trail for me to get to and it’s what I trained on last year and the year before. I’ll try to do one more run on the Mt Wilson trail before the race – maybe next weekend.

This is all very last minute training, I know, but it went well today. I was able to maintain a pretty good heart-pounding rate for most of the uphill sections. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to pump up the heart and lungs with just a few more training trail runs. It’s not like I’m starting from couch level fitness.

I was reminded today of how much easier it is on the way down - easier on the heart and lungs anyway, and totally different. This will be important to factor in for the race, as I’ll be able to push harder on the ascent knowing that everything will change at the turnaround.

I still need to find some trail shoes, though. All my shoes have died except for one pair, which are road runners that have been shredding my ankles on the trails. The running shoe place is offering 25% off on Solomon trail shoes for Mt Wilson race registrants so maybe I’ll try that…

Oh, and I saw a deer out on her own training run this morning. And a raven. And a bunny hop hop. And a version of me from a quarter century in the future (also, probably, hopefully, training for Wilson.)

And, of course, I’ve been riding a lot, too – nothing spectacularly noteworthy but it’s adding up. I keep telling myself that I can’t wait to ride again while I’m still on the bike! I find this sort of funny in a totally non-Zen kind of way – “Norman’s not funny…”

walking tour

Went for a walk on the Mt Wilson trail with Peggio (aka Mom) to break in the new hiking boots and begin our preparations for a week in Yosemite this summer. I posted about this trip a couple months ago along with a picture of some boots that some of you might remember. Then I freaked out about the boots and returned them and deleted the post/evidence – I have boot anxiety. Oh well, these things happen. But we are still doing the seven-day High Sierra Loop trip. Albeit, with a different pair of boots.

I’m afraid to post a picture of the new boots, though, because then I might jinx them and as they performed perfectly on their first real test (no blisters!) I’d like to keep them around. And besides, they’re all dusty now. Just imagine the classic burgundy all leather boots they’ve been making for decades. As I get older I seem to also be traveling backwards in time in my gear choices, leaning more and more towards steel and wool and leather.

We hiked up six miles and about 4000 feet and back down the same way over 8 hours. The trail is pretty steep with lots of changes in vegetation as you ascend. All the usual plant friends were out. Most notable was Dudleya (probably the cymosa species) – this particular colony was dark purple and star-like in shape, sipping from a seep of water in what looked like pretty much solid rock in the shade. (Similar to this.)

This is the same trail I’ll be running for the Mt Wilson Trail Race in a few weeks (although we walked up well beyond the race turnaround point.) It was nice to get a close look at the trail conditions at a slower speed than running and to mentally map out the route a little better. Maybe this will help in the race. It won’t help as much as training in the hills, though, which I’ve been neglecting. It turns out you have to do more than just write about your training intentions on the blog to make them happen – you actually have to go out and follow though in the real world – who knew?

Here’s a bit of history about Mr. Wilson and the trail. I haven’t bothered to read it yet, but maybe you will, anyway - what an endorsement…

(I’ll try not to delete this post anytime soon…)