Trail Work, Hip Pain, Strava and Rock Climbing

I know it's been a few weeks since my last post, but I haven't had much worth posting about. I've been riding, but not as much as I know I should be. It hard to stay focused on training when your next race is nearly 6 months away. So I've decided to go into an off session of sorts.  This has been brought on by 3 major factors: 1. The days are getting shorter. 2. Most of my training for next year's races will take place in the coldest months of the year, so I need time to mentally and physical relax. 3. Somehow I have injured my left hip.

This week we will lose about 2 min of daylight/day here in NWA. That means I have 2 options for riding during the week. Only ride for 1.5 hr or strap on the lights. So it's time for me to slow down, ride less and get in some cross training. This will allow me to hit the training hard next year, especially in the important months of January and February.

So what type of cross training? Simple: Building trails, Rock Climbing and running. Don't worry, I'll still be riding, just not as much. One good ride during the week and 2 rides on the weekends will be enough to keep me in some sort of riding shape. The trail work I have planed has already started. My favorite local trail will double in size over the next few months. Mt. Sequoyah is less than 15 minutes (on the bike) away from my apartment, has 4 miles of trails that drops 350 ft over the first 3 miles.  They have the perfect mix of rocks, roots and flow that put a smile on everyone's faces. Then makes everyone  grimace as they climb back to the top.

Heath going full ham using the rake to clean off the newly cut trail

4 hr of work in the rain will wipe you out!

Cutting the riding tread the quick easy way!

Thanks to Heath, I've started to track my riding using Strava. I've always thought it was stupid, but now I'm hooked. It's a very simple way to quickly determine if you're getting fast over the same sections of trail. On one of our easy rides me and Heath put down the 2nd and 3rd fastest run down Mt. Sequoyah, and two days later I rode a time nearly 5 minutes faster than first! I'm sure that will quickly fall, but it was fun. Also Strava will be a good tool to get people out on the new sections of Sequoyah as they gets opened.

So on to the hip pain... I have been having issues with pain in my left hip for the past few weeks. I was out riding Sequoyah when my front wheel washed out on me. I was laughing on my way down and thought it was no big deal, until the next day. I had some very tight Hip Flexors and Gluts leading up to Skool Of Hard Nox 50. This tightness eased up when I lessened my training load, but never really dissipated. I guess as I went down something pulled/pushed/tweaked itself just right way to cause this pain. I hope it will work itself out with a lower training load and lots of stretching.

The new epics, I hope to have one soon!

As always I just need to Ride More, Ride Harder, and Get Faster.