It is hard to believe that 24 Hours of Rocky Hill is now less than 6 days away. I’ve trained as much as time, finances, and life have allowed. Yet, I still feel unprepared.

Earlier this week I injured my bad shoulder doing a full body plyometric workout. Up to this point, I have done some heavy lifting and hard physical labor, with my shoulder seeming to take everything just fine. However, it wasn’t ready for the intense explosive nature of this plyo workout.

The resulting pain was severe. It almost felt like the arm came out of socket again (it didn’t), but that workout was over as well as anything the day after (which was yesterday.) Today, I woke up and it felt much better. The sun was back out too after a week of rain and snow. I was very anxious to hit some trail for my last hard long workout before I begin a taper.

It just so happened that the biggest football game of the year was today though, TX vs. OU. Kickoff was a 10am, so I made it over to Carver’s for breakfast and watched the first half. That was all I needed to see. Texas was getting spanked, and I had better things to do than hang around and watch this thrashing, like ride a bike.

By the time I tweaked the bike (I upgraded the prototype 1×5 drivetrain I was testing out to a 1×6 ), and got dressed/packed, it was already close to 2pm. I wanted to ride the Colorado trail up high where the fresh powder was, but I knew this would be a 6 hour + ride and that would have me pedaling home in the dark, and cold. If something were to go wrong, I would probably be stranded too close to dark, so I decided against a long CT ride and rode up to Horse Gulch instead.

The time off the mountain bike from rain and injury gave me a boost. I was absolutely shredding the trail out there. It was barely dry enough to ride following all the precipitation earlier in the week. Some places were a tacky peanut butter that zapped your energy. Definitely slowed me down, but this wasn’t such a bad thing. More saddle time and a little bit of resistance training.

The views from Telegraph hill and Raiders Ridge looking towards Silver Mountain to the NW were amazing. The glow of snow covered peaks this close to town this early in the year was just spectacular. While dropping down into the meadow from Mike’s trail, I ran over a 4 foot snake in the middle of the trail. Scared me at first, but I went back to check it out and the snake was fine. The cold must have slowed him down, so I picked him up and carried him a few yards into the woods.

I rode for about 4 hours before deciding it was close enough to dusk that I better head back. I made it off the trail just as the temps started to dive. I had all my wool get-up this time, so I stayed nice and toasty.

This cold mountain air actually felt refreshing for the first time since my move here. I have adapted quickly to the cold and am actually beginning to embrace it. I find myself wanting to venture deep into the wilderness and near tree line where the heavy snow fall has already accumulated. I long to leave the modest comfort of the RV to spend a few nights in the snow.

I need to save up a little money to buy some nicer gear before I do this though. I don’t own any technical fabrics that make snow hiking comfortable. I only have a 3 season tent. My sleeping bag is only rated for 20d. I have some warm hunting boots, but no snow shoes or skis. In a perfect world, I would Jeremiah Johnson it up, and go hunt some animals with a thick fur coat, but this isn’t really an option, so I’ll just have to wait until I can buy a nice down jacket.

But I digress. I’m leaving Durango for Austin Tuesday evening. I’ll spend the night somewhere around Sante Fe, then finish the long arduous drive across eastern New Mexico and West Texas on Wednesday. I’ve got stuff to take care of during the day Thursday and Friday, but my evenings might be free. Get in touch if you would like to hang out. Otherwise, I’ll be at Rocky Hill Ranch Saturday morning setting up camp and getting ready to ride the race of my life.

Last year, I won, but I only did 21 laps in about 21 1/2 hours. There was still 2 1/2 hours of ride time left. This year, assuming bike nor body aren’t seriously damaged, I ain’t stopping. I’m going the distance-the full 24 hours. Not only that, I’m going harder. I think I probably said the same thing last year, and I did go harder, but after I realized it wasn’t necessary to go longer in order to secure victory, I didn’t. I wanted off that bike ASAP.

There will be no such backing down this go round. If no Solo competitor is still around to push me to the limit, then screw it, I’ll race against the teams. The fastest solo lap would be nice, but the fastest overall lap would be even nicer. The fastest LeMan’s runner would be cool too, although unlikely. These are all lofty goals that will require a level of execution and mental toughness I’ve never accomplished before. Just because I haven’t done it, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

Texas, I’m coming home. Can’t wait to see all my friends and feel that warm sunshine upon my face.