All Day Elegance

It was a fun 3 Day Training Camp with Mr. Softy (hard earned nickname, that) Newton. He was fresh off his personal vision quest journey down South. Apparently we need to get down to Solvang to ride Mt. Figueroa.

Day 1 saw a mixed bag of Monterey Peninsula riding- singletrack and road. As good as it gets down here. No poison oak, though...Mileage? High 40s.

Day 2 had us in Santa Cruz for the pave. Mr. Sr. D____ G___ joined us, though he really should know better. I promptly got us lost up Trout Gulch- an uphill 7.5 mile detour to a dead end. Then we got back on it to ride the funnest road anywhere, ever. I shall no longer refer to this road in anything but a spoken whisper. Done.
I will say that we saw a group of ladies on the lower section of said road, and they chased us for a while. We had stopped for a nature break, and a group of 5 ladies rolled up. Needless to say, we hurried it up. As we rolled out I told them "We'll see you when you catch us", which I actually meant, and they actually took as a gauntlet. They clipped in so hard and fast behind us I thought a tool had fallen out of my pocket! (Yes, we shelled them.)
I experienced the most exquisite cramping I have ever known near the top. This is quite distinct from the worst or longest lived, etc.; this cramping was special. It started in my adductor, and then wrapped around the lower half of my hamstrings. It felt like a web of constricting fire. I have never felt anything like it.
In true to the route form, we finished zipping down Eureka Canyon in the cooooooold dank dark. Super Fun road ride. Mileage? Low 60s.

Day 3 showed sooner than I'd have liked, bringing with it a return to SC, but for dirt. "Serious riding"- some fire road up, some narrow singletrack across and down, all good. The one ride to go on if you can only do one? Mileage? High 20s?


Good times with Good Friends. Parts of me hurt.