Horsetooth Mountain Park on the west edge of Ft. Collins has been the trail that always breaks me. The first time I rode their on a group ride with the Mountain High Cyclery crew, I promptly threw up after the ride. Last year I went over the bars chasing Jamie, and that was after getting punished on the climbs. The climbs are steep and seemingly never ending, the downhills are rocky and technical and there really is no flat pedaling at all. Its either straight up or straight down, and I usually struggle on both there.
Well today, I got a bit of revenge. I settled into a nice groove on the climbs, never really getting outside my comfort level and pulling away from the rest of the group. I forgot the heart rate monitor, but I'd guesstimate my HR numbers being 165ish. Hard effort (them hills is steep!), but certainly a sustainable pace. Hills that have typically blown me up to never recover, I was making it up and then able to push the pace when the steepness subsided a bit. The Yeti performed remarkably well, despite being a 30lb bike, it climbed incredibly well.
Still somewhat tentative on the technical downhills, just too cautious as to not crash and hurt the shoulder and be miserable all summer, especially now that my fitness is coming around.
Horsetooth 3, Joel 1.
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