I feel like a rock star!

[bounceswoosh]

So, after all the agonizing about shifting in the front ring, I managed to sneak out of work early to ride. There's a cold front moving in; today the high according to my car was above 80; tomorrow it's supposed to be 40 and snowing. I wasn't the only person hustling to get some tracks in before the weather turned.

I went to a familiar trail (Heil) and ....

Well. I don't know if it's the indoor soccer all winter (but just once a week), the rock climbing, or eliminating gluten from my diet -- but -- wow. Uphill for me is usually a baby-granny struggle, complete with sandpaper throat from the rasping breathing. Half my biffs are usually because I'm so tired that I just kind of ... stop pedaling for an obstacle, and then I take advantage of the biff to take a break and breathe.

Today, though, today -- wow. Sure, I was working, but I wasn't dying. I wasn't in my baby granny the whole time, and when I was, it actually felt easier. I did an extended uphill stretch with lots of loose rock in my middle ring. Sure, I biffed a few obstacles, but very often I just upped the pedaling, changed my body position, and kept on going. (Yay full suspension.)

Not only do I love my Ellsworth again -- I love mountain biking in a whole new way! Climbing doesn't have to be torture -- film at 11!

[rocknrollgirl]

It is the best feeling !!!! I love when all of the juju is working and you are having biking bliss.

Glad you had a good ride.

[sundial]

Don't you just love when it all comes together?

[atombessy]

bounces, what kind of rock climbing do you do? I just started climbing indoors this winter, and after about 6 months of that I actually felt a pretty big difference on my mountain bike. I think the extra upper body strength is helping my control over technical stuff a LOT. I don't know if I'll ever get into outdoor rock climbing (because if it's nice out my bike's out!) but I've really enjoyed it as an indoor sport!

[bounceswoosh]

Atombessy --

I'm just doing indoor. There's a pretty big climbing community in Boulder, and a lot my co-workers climb, so it's pretty common for us to go to the climbing gym over lunch.

It's been a struggle -- I've had an issue with my right wrist for years. I finally thought it was healed last year, started climbing, and it flared up bad again. I found a great hand therapist; she made me stop doing *anything* active with my wrist. So all last summer, I couldn't ride bikes or my motorcycle, let alone climb. On the plus side, that's when I got back into soccer.

Right now I'm doing the hardest stuff I've ever done, up to some gym 5.10s. I'm definitely better at "technical" climbing where footwork really matters than at overhangs or other stuff where you really have to do some dyno moves. I like to take my time and really think about each move. But 5.10s are still really hard; some 5.9s are! The rating is just the beginning ...

The good news is that now, rock climbing is considered physical therapy for me. It allows me to build strength in a neutral wrist position. If I don't climb for more than a week, my wrist starts tweaking.

You may be right -- the upper body strength may be giving me better control. Do you do things like lifting your front wheel or bunny hops? That's not something I've ever done on a trail, and given my wrist's history I have a feeling I need to stick to technical stuff I can manage with body english only. Also, my new mountain bike is actually *five pounds* lighter than my old one, which makes it way easier (sometimes too easy!) to manhandle. That's a combo of higher-end parts and frame, and the fact that it's an XS instead of a M.

There was one point when I approached the lip of a bridge, something I could easily ride over, and decided to pull up the handle bars. Being used to the heavier bike, I fully expected nothing to happen, maybe just a slight unweighting. I actually yanked this bike up hard enough that the front wheel twisted a bit, eep! That's probably a combo of the rock climbing strength and the lighter bike / shorter wheelbase.

[MALcontent]

Glad to hear you had such a fabulous ride! I hope you don't mind if I glom onto your thread, but I had a great experience today when I made it up a hill I've never made it up before. Weight loss and my new bike seem to have done the trick!