Gold, baby, solid gold

The magic has returned. After feeling pretty flat, i'd reduced this week's saddle hours down to about 10, sticking to the road bike and a mix of non-standing intervals and easy riding to get some life breathed-back into my legs. But i couldn't take the road anymore! The sizzling-hot asphalt, lack of freedom and flow - and the endless angry Boston drivers honking at me for no reason other to express their dismay at being trapped "against their will" in traffic thick as molasses - was killing me on the inside. With every senseless honk it's like they're yelling-out for help, for freedom! Viva la empty highway!

Point is, I had to get into some quiet greenery and yesterday went for a mtbike ride with Mike Jordan... and BAM! There they were again - the CRAZY legs! You know what i'm talking about. Insane power while scrambling. We didn't hammer-through anything, it was more of a converstion pace as I hadn't chatted with that brother in a long time - but when we'd get to a technical climb or whatnot, the legs just felt terrific. What's impressive was how well Mike rode considering he'd ridden 78miles the day before and just got back into cycling 6-8 weeks ago after a mult-year hiatus. His skills are really solid too, as he led me down a couple of descents that had me let-out an involuntary yelp...

Tomorrow, Nathan, Harry, Jason and I head to a small 24hr race - Pat's Peak 24 - for some team riding. It looks like our major competition will come from Nathan and Harry's NAV teammates on a 5-person team. Nice! I like those odds. I'm really hoping, though, that the race has grown a bit and we get a few teams in the Expert category to go up against - as a race isn't a race if you're just cruising in the lead - then it becomes "training." And we all train plenty enough.

Ahhh, in other news, i contacted an old xc runner teammate from college - Ian Torrence - who's a real force on the ultra running scene - to ask for advice on fueling as my stomach turned on me at Dalton. He had some great tips - and pointed me away from using protein/carb rich drinks (Perpetum) to the same stuff i started using originally - sugar - with a mix of good solid foods. Interesting... Anyway, he took 13th in the Hardrock 100 last weekend - an ultra regarded as one of the toughest in the world. That guy is a fucking animal. I don't know how many ultra's he's done - but it's got to be near 100. He finished in 34hrs, with 30,000ft of elevation gain under his belt - and a top elevation of 14,000 feet! I don't even want to think about the suffering. I love it! There's a guy who followed his heart after college and it's done him right.