Work proved to be elusive on Monday and with temps still stuck in the mid-50’s, I decided to head south to Hot Springs and ride at Cedar Glades.

Cedar Glades will be hosting the first marathon race of the year, the Spa City 6-HR on March 10th. Basically you have 6 hours to log as many laps as possible on a ten mile course, with the winner logging the most laps and if more than one person log the same number of lap then fastest time is entered for the tie breaker. This will be my first time to do this race but I’ve raced many XC events on the same course. Monday gave me the opportunity to do a little pre-ride and to see how the winter has effected the course. Conditions were pretty good, with a little bit of water in the creeks and some standing water in some of the low spots. We’ve had some intermittent rain over the past few weeks and one of the big draws of the ‘Glades is that it drains really well and quickly to boot (it’s a former landfill.)

I was alone for my first lap and only saw a couple of other people and they were enjoying the day at the adjacent frisbee golf course. I stopped at the jeep after the first lap for a quick true on the rear wheel and to fill up the camel bak. On laps two and three, I had the pleasure of two different gravity checks. One muddy corner had my front tire slide out and throw me into the tree’s. No damage was done and all I could do was laugh at myself for a rookie mistake. Slam dance number two had my rear wheel slide down the length of an exposed root and had me high-side onto my left hip. That one left a mark or two but I laughed it off and continued on my way. I ended up with 33 miles in a bit over 3 hours. Record setting by no means but a beautiful day to get in some saddle time for a recon of an upcoming race.

Today had me finishing work earlier than usual and being that the weather was rather dreary, high 40’s and some misty rain, I drove down to Big Dam and rode across to hit up Pfieffer Loop. Pfieffer Loop is an easy, 1.8 mile cut of single track that is virtually dead flat. It’s twisty and windy and a nice close, loop to ride a little recovery on. Do to the weather, no one was there. I saw a few runners out on the bridge but no one on a bike. I did a quick ten miles and called it a day since the rain had picked up. I didn’t want to push it much after Monday and I’ll have a rather strenuous trainer work out on Wednesday, so this little ride gave me the time to stretch my legs and let my mind wander for a bit. So far a great week of training and I’m getting psyched for the upcoming season!