Sounds like you had a bad day and are taking it pretty hard. Maybe now's a good time to step back and look at all you have, all your successes. Always look at the bright side of life! So maybe it was discouraging, but it wasn't disastrous. I mean, you didn't fall and break your butt or anything. All you really have to do is take stock a bit, maybe go easy for a while and get through this bad patch. After a while things will get back on track and you'll be focussed and pushing hard, just you wait and see! Finally, remember that when you fail, you learn. It's an opportunity to learn something, that's the way things work. That's why I say take a step back, take stock, take it easy, and move on! You can do it, Jorge!! Your friends believe in you!!
Just some bad days, Jorge. You love biking, you love racing, you love always keep improving. You may have had bad days from time to time but it will only improve your mental toughness as long as you don´t give up. You have to believe that. Cheer up. :razz:
Interaptor and I went out on our road bikes today: Madrid - La Pedriza. A good average speed too: 30.1. Look out everybody, here comes Ínter, and he's getting really good! Here's a pic of me at La Pedriza. If you want to see Angel's it's here. http://www.foromtb.com/showthread.php?t=274841&page=649
Yeah!!! Your smile says it all: Lightspeed is too slow for us. We´ll have to take it to the next level, riding right at ludicrous speed ;-) Cheers!
So Inter and I and two others rode around Soto de Viñuelas today. We kept up a pretty fast pace but found time to take some pics. So what did you think, Inter? We were going pretty fast on some of those downhill, weren't we? I know you've been off the mountain bike for a while so maybe you weren't used to it. And Carlos is a downhill specialist: hauls ass! Inter Me
You bet he is! I can barely follow you guys when you go that fast on those downhills... Then I have to wait a leveled terrain to catch up with lost time!. I do certainly feel stronger and more confident uphill where no specific technical skill is required but the use of your own power as an engine ;-) For now, if a genie were to let out of a bottle and came to me with just one cycling-desire to give away, that´s what I´d particularly choose: to go fast on uphills better than downhills ;-) Thanks 4 posting those pics! A very good ride indeed.
Inter, thanks for the account of our ride over on the other thread. It's just so busy over there right now that I've decided to comment here where things are as calm as pond water. Hey, good ride! Actually I've been thinking that XC riding is a good way to stay in shape, better than a road bike. It's a more well-rounded demanding more skills, and perhaps more strength on the steep and technical uphills. Well, I guess after a month of XC /all mountain riding around Galicia, and after today, I see the need to improve my skills, not to mention strength, and you do that more effectively doing XC than on asphalt. Don't worry! I'm not about to forsake my skinny bike, but I think I'll try to squeeze in more XC. I'd like to feel confident than I can do the version of Soto that we did today. It was really good: the Dehesa Boyal version I guess it is. Maybe I'll do it again before long and see if I can find my way on my own. By the way, when I got back I noticed that a spoke on my rear wheel was broken. I have a new one so let's see if I can replace it. But I'm wondering if I'm going to have to remove the rear disk, which I think requires a special tool. Oh well, something else to do. If the bike genie you mention ever visits me, think I'll ask for more strength and skills on technical uphills.
Well, I really don´t know if XC riding is a better way than road biking to stay in shape. For me road biking is harder, but I am under the impression that this is not a generalized sentiment, since almost everybody think that it´s not. Anyway I´ve no doubt that XC riding is an excellent thing if you´re thinking of staying in shape and more complete too compared to road biking because it involves a never ending muscle action also in the upper body. So, if you wanna be prepared for enduro as never before, you may be right by saying XC riding is a better way to stay in shape. It all depends on your objectives and needs. Squeezeing in more XC is a great idea!. I´ll be there to go along with you whenever I can. The "Castillo de Viñuelas" raid round is a really complete ride that let you have the world by the tale and get in shape at the same time. Sorry for your broken spoke, yeah, there´s always something to do. Maybe we should hire that genie to do it all for us!. ;-) Have a great enduro day today! Pd.- What do u guys think of the new Rafa´s impressive bike, one of the bikers who came along with us yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ootCapPZUWw Ver el archivo adjunto 3508720 Not bad, not bad... ;-)
What's not to like about a bike like that? It's a superlative XC bike. Only wish I had one, I tell you I'd show those Gallegos a thing or two, ha ha. But maybe you could debate the 29 inch wheels. A friend of mine was saying that he thinks that 27.5 inch tires are going to rule the roost, to the point that 26 and 29 inch ones will mostly be phased out. I find that hard to believe, but who know? Had a superb day in the Sierras today!
Hey, your technical "correctness" and enduro abilities are growing better everyday!. That´s mister rock that you are riding over and thru! Cool!. Those remote spots in the Sierras were missing you!. For the next two weeks I´ll be on a pretty tight schedule. I reckon I´ll be up for a ride on Wednesday and that´s it for the next 14 days :-( , as I´m going to Berlin on Thursday. So I´ll be off the radar here (and no biking at all) for a few days... But till then I´ve one more chance to ride along with you. Are U up for a Wednesday afternoon ride? ;-)
Doesn't look like I'll be able to join you on Wednesday. Sorry I replaced the spoke on my Conor WRC, and it went without a hitch. Had to take off both the disk and the cassette in order to fit the spoke in, but like I say, no problem with the spoke. The rear bearings were another matter. They got out of adjustment so I had to spend quite a bit of time doing trial and error adjustments until the tire turned OK with the quick release on. But happily, thanks to patient, careful work, looks like everything is in working order. So Berlin. I suppose this is a business trip. So you'll have to speak in English, right? Too bad I can't ride with you on Wednesday, you could practice with me.
Yeah, replacing a bike spoke looks like an easy task but you never know when you get down to business. Sometimes Murphy is around the corner waiting for you to fail, but bikes are easy to maintain and repair with the right spare parts. All you need is some instructions on how to do it, some wrenches and patient. It´s great that you can fix it by your own. No need to say that after replacing your spoke you have to see your wheel spining freely and evenly. That´s evidence of success ;-) Yeah, I refuse to speak German unless german people try to make the effort to speak Spanish. So I suppose we can meet in the middle: English as lingua franca for lazy communication ;-). Anyway, I´m thinking of moving around by bicycle, I mean hired bicycle Something like this: :lool
Are those electric bikes? Hey, maybe you can find the Radwanderung trail while you're over there and go for a ride. Send photos! [video=youtube;TaNBuqSuNqk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaNBuqSuNqk[/video]
I think they´re not, and of course I don´t wanna them to be. In case they are, I´d just look for another bike rental shop. Berlin is pretty flat, the kind of city in which e-bike sales might not exceed the wildest expectations. Besides we are tough and well trained cyclists, aren´t we?. No need of any extra pedal assistance system. Ops. Radwanderung is in Austria. Too far away for me to go and take a ride, except if I get an electric bike! ;-)
Hi everybody! Hey, there hasn't been much activity around here lately, so I'll blab a bit. Last Saturday rode around Soto de Viñuelas. Went alone since everybody else seemed busy, and also to see if I could find on my own the route that goes through the Dehesa Boyal. Anyway, on my way back I was going through Alcobendas and I saw ahead of me a rut crossing the road. You may know that Soto is not particularly technically challenging, and I'd been pedaling for some hours without stopping. So I said, 'No way I'm stopping'. Anyway, as I got nearer I realized I'd gotten off the main trail and there was a huge rut, like the Grand Canyon, ha ha. Anyway, I had to try to bunny hop over it. Got the front tire across, but alas the rear tire got caught and I went over the handlebars. Luckily just cuts and bruises. Now the very next day I was in Cercedilla riding with some new friends and going down a new trail for me ('El Sevillano' / 'Los Poetas'). So I see a difficult technical section ahead and I think 'How am I going to get through that?' I really didn't have a clear answer, but I was feeling 'flow', just happy going down a trail, and once again I didn't stop; and I wiped out. My helmet really saved me cos I went head first into some rocks. My chin guard is scratched, think I would've lost some teeth without it. I'm OK but with aches and pains. The funny thing is that I've been feeling more confident lately, in fact maybe overconfident. As I'm gaining experience in mountain biking, I'm also gaining experience in falling, ha ha.
Seems like lately your cycling adventures are getting dangerous!. Mine are getting into a spy scenery from the cold war time!. Sorry for not having time to comment recently. Will be back in Madrid next week. This is me with the collapsed Berlin Wall to my back. Sad history of the city.
Did a local ride today. Went to Valdeleganar, el Puente de la Marmota, el Puente Medieval, then on a technical trail to Colmenar, then through the Arroyo de Tejada, 'suicide trail' (el camino de la muerte), and then back to Madrid. That's actually a pretty satisfying ride, more so than Soto cos you have many more challenging sections (technically speaking Soto is easy). Actually, Inter, this is exactly the ride we did a some time ago, don't remember when. Happily I remembered the whole route. Like I was saying, this ride is more challenging (and fun) than Soto, but clearly takes longer too. I recently did Soto in three hours, 15 minutes. This took about five and a half hours. I only have one more free Saturday, then in October I'll be working evenings, so long rides are out of the question. In any case, here's a pic of me at the Puente de Marmota.
Sorry for the delay in replying. Yeah, the wall is just on the other bank of the river, where the longest section of the remaining wall is still standing. It´s ironically called the Berlin´s East Side Gallery: On my way to Madrid now. Miss our city a lot!. THis is the bike I rode when I had the time to: Some other shots while on getting around Berlin. I reckon we can meet in Madrid for our cycling practice this very week from Friday the 27th!!!. I´ll pm you with further details on this. Cheers!
Welcome back to Madrid! It looks like you're just in time for some autumn weather: there are some dark clouds on the horizon! (or there will be). Of course, as usual, the rain may be limited to the Sierras, which will leave us free for a local ride. We'll play things be ear. So nice pics! Looks like you did some bike commuting around Berlin, so how was that? How does it compare to Madrid as far as safety and bike lanes and all that? What was 'Casa España'?
