riding in the morning during the work week is wicked brutal hard for me. I just f’ing hate it. Commuting is my best compromise. But now that i don’t work next to Somo anymore, i take advantage of trips to the Autoplex for work on the car. My Service Advisor and most of the staff always look at me like a loon when I’m strapping on my gear in the fancy Acura parking lot along with my much-scarred Heckler, except for one mechanic today who was admiring my bike and telling war stories of his own.
When I started gearing up, i thought about my gashed arm and my pads, my stinky stinky dirty sweaty gatoradey sunscreen-soaked pads. I actually wash my pads somewhat regularly, but i’m still sure there are cures for cancer hidden within their depths. I thought wistfully about the script for antibiotics i turned down when i got my arm sewn up, and wondered why i didn’t bring the Blur and ride Desert Classic instead. Um…cause Classic sucks, and if i’m getting in the car to goto Somo, i’m riding National.
I was feeling jittery and unsure what to ride. Go hard to get over my crash, or go easy and just work myself into things and protect my tender paw? I’ve ridden National hundreds of times and i still get butterflies when i launch a ride. I had 20 minutes of warm up to chug a V8 (thanks Acura Service Advisor) and think it over. It was time to go up National after the last 3 rides going up Mormon, its always like this when I get back on Somo and need to elevate my tech game. But with the crash and my dainty arm and the heat and my shitty new 2.2 ungrippy rear tire and all other excuses dangling over me, i vowed to not try very hard. It would be the best way to restore my riding mojo. When all else fails, lower your expectations.
So i stunk my way up the hill. There are always things to be proud of riding National, when you try them all 5 times. I was going so slow it was only the laws of physics that prevented me from going back in time, and i eventually arrived at the saddle above BV. I just wasn’t feeling it to go down 24th or National, i needed the sucking to have a positive spin, and riding things timidly that i knew i had ridden better sounded depressing; riding something new poorly would be exciting and come with its own pre-formulated excuse for failure (see above paragraph). I opted to try Corona Loma for the first time down the south face, which would dump me onto Desert Classic and out Elliot Road back to the dealership. I knew almost where it started and where it ended, but not the trail head. A very friendly hiker in a yellow shirt got me on course, somewhat disbelieving that anyone would ride Corona Loma.
It started with a short fun descent, then a deep shitty wash, then a loose shitty hike, then a rugged exposed shitty cliff. I kinda wondered if I was still on the right trail after walking most of the aforementioned shittiness, til I came up on a drop I’ve seen Durtgurl post in photos. Great – the hardest drop on the descent, cold. No problem – it looked harder than it was if you could sneak your derailleur through the slot. From there, it was 10-15 minutes of steady uninterupted rock-surfing. It was neat – the pitch was steep but steady, the rocks loose but mostly uniform, it was hard but nothing got much harder, and there were really no breaks. Just flow down for 1 mile and 900 feet.
I rode smooth and conservative and got it all woohoo! It dumped me out on the Double Secret option off Desert Classic, where I promptly ran into the same hiker who gave me directions. He was impressed I made it down, I was impressed he beat me down. A quick sprint back on Classic to the watertank, and I dumped out onto Elliot and back to the dealership. My car was cleaned inside and out, and I grabbed all the free cookies i could handle before heading into work just after 10. Next week the parts will be in, and I will do it all again, including the free cookies.
Confidence restored.