walking the bike

Today’s Thursday and I’m tired. I opted for a day off of riding today. I figured w/ a hard race this weekend and being most of the way burned out anyway, it is a good idea to get a little extra rest.
Tuesday RS and I went on this 2 hour cross bike ride that was just over 30miles and I’m guessing probably 10-12 of those were on gravel roads. This one road in particular called McGowan rd (off of Kent rd, which is just east of town for the g-mappers out there) had this one hill on it. Oh man. This sucker is twice as long as Boltinghouse and climbs a little over 100’ more (.8miles and climbs ~275’). (for those who don’t know, Boltinghouse is considered to be the biggest hill around here, reaching like 21% or something). Oh and this one’s gravel. Basically the only person who’s made it up it riding is a local pro MTBer, on his MTB in his granny gear and he was going the same speed as the people who were walking their cx bikes up it. We got to it and RS said "just shift into your easiest gear and see how far you can make it knowing you won’t make it all the way." I made it about 3 pedal strokes further than he did, but that’s it; then it’s a walk the rest of the way. This is, no doubt, the biggest hill I’ve seen AND IT’S GRAVEL! This ride, which there are a bunch of around here, is awesome. It so cool to have all the great town things that B-Town offers, but then be able to go out and ride cx bikes for miles on unpaved forest roads. Most towns that have the good aspects of b-town are too big city-ish to have all the forest roads we do here. It is awesome.
Yesterday I rode the Paragon loop solo. It’s about 43miles and it was cold when I started. The sun was out, but it wasn’t much warmer when I finished. I know they’re saying it’s "unseasonably cool," but man it sucks. Plus there’s "a warm up on the way," but still. And lately riding I’m coming home super hungry. I’m not used to my body having to 1)acclimate to weather 2)work to stay warm and 3)work out and it’s whacking my system. Oh well, my training will take a dive next week anyway. I’m going to start some runs and try to ride cx a couple days a week and road a day or two. Just whatever for a month or so. Gotta wind down.