Final SSAP Training Ride

My knees have been achy since my last ride three days ago.  Today they felt better and the weather was warm, in the 60's.  Expecting the trails to still be messy, I rode again at the Big Field but this time ventured out to the Hojack.  This will be my last ride before my race on Sunday.

the offending thorn

Yesterday I fixed the slow leak in my tire I got on Monday.  The hole was very hard to find and I resorted to holding the tube under water.  Then I checked the inside of my tire for any offending objects and just when I was about to assume nothing was there I found a thorn.  I had bought a new tube, but the bad tube generally looked perfect and the hole was so tiny I just patched it and rode with it today without any problem.

The sections of the Hojack that don't handle water well were muddy as expected.  Some parts were thick crazy mud.  It's a workout, but I like the challenge of making it through without a dismount.  Some parts still have a good amount of hard-packed ice-snow.  It was actually a relief to get out of the mud and ride these because they're smooth and take less effort.  Today there was a strong wind blowing from the south, but it was only annoying on a few sections of the Hojack where there were few trees and on the west side of the Big Field.

Coming back to the Big Field from the Hojack, there's a good hill climb which I was happy to have made.  It's the only significant climb I've ridden since last year, and there will be plenty of these at the race this Sunday.

I wore a new pair of padded shorts which consist of a baggy outside short and a padded liner short.  Under that I wore the "padded" chamois cycling shorts I already have.   It seemed to help for a while, but I still started to get sore.  I worked on positioning my weight back when I could.  Dismounting for a minute helps a lot, along with steep hill climbing that gets me out of the saddle.  Maybe any extra dismounting I anticipate from the passing mountain bikers will be a blessing.

I finished my ride by doing laps around the Big Field.  My left knee started to bother me a bit in the last mile which is why I stopped.  I don't want it to get too sore before the race.  During and after the race may be inevitable.

The weather looks good for race day.  Low of 55 and high of 69.  So I'd guess it will be about 60 at the start time.

At this point I'm feeling ok about the race.  I'm not a muni powerhouse like I hope to be later in the season, but at this point I don't think I can do much more other than eat, sleep, and light exercise and stretching.  I guess I'll do my best and forget the rest.