{"id":56,"date":"2008-04-14T11:21:12","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T19:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2010-07-16T15:25:26","modified_gmt":"2010-07-16T23:25:26","slug":"this-would-be-so-easy-without-the-cramping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"Gutting It Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quote of the Day: “This would be so easy without the cramping”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I was going to be climbing Nate Harrison Grade<\/a>\u00a0up to the top of Palomar Mountain for my weekend ride as I was\u00a0to met with a lady who owns to chunk of property up on the mountain.\u00a0 This is no small ride as it is an 11.1 mile climb with 4,700 feet of climbing.\u00a0\u00a0Will heard me talking about it\u00a0on Saturday afternoon\u00a0and said he wanted to go.\u00a0 He\u00a0remembered this from\u00a0a drive we had done in the truck a few times.\u00a0\u00a0 I stressed to him that this was a serious ride with an 11 mile climb.\u00a0\u00a0 In true young mind fashion that never\u00a0ceases to amaze me he replies with “That means we get to go down the mountain for\u00a011 miles…COOL!”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I warned multiple of times about the size and effort required for this ride.\u00a0 I also reminded him that I was not going to let him weasel out of hockey practice that night.\u00a0\u00a0 He was undaunted, so I woke him up bright and early Sunday morning and we headed out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

On the drive out, I talked to him about pacing yourself and how Nate Harrison Grade is a great teacher of pace and rythm\u00a0climbing.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u00a0were climbing by 7:30AM\u00a0with a nice temp of only 60 degrees.\u00a0 I knew it was going to be a roaster today, so\u00a0the plan was to get up in elevation before the valley turned into a large scale brick oven.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Will started out all charged up zipping ahead and talking some smack.\u00a0\u00a0 I snickered as I knew that would not last long.\u00a0 Fifteen minutes later, the tables had turned and my boy was suddenly more interested in the “wisdom” I had to offer vice the “babble” I was spouting a little further back down the road.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So while acutely listening this time, I noticed he had grown enough as of late to warrant a few tweaks to the seatpost and saddle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While I did not take a picture of it, his seatpost looks a lot like our dated height marks on the closet door back home.\u00a0 Geez they grow quick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Stopping<\/p>\n

There were plenty of wildflowers in bloom along the climb and we took\u00a0plenty of breaks along the way.\u00a0 He was really finding “his” pace and a good rhythm.\u00a0\u00a0 The temps were climbing faster than we were and\u00a0just about when I was going to declare it hot, we reached an elevation where\u00a0things started cooling off.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/p>\n

At around the seven mile mark, Will started getting the first twinges of cramps in his quads.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u00a0was not interested in\u00a0turning around.\u00a0\u00a0We did take breaks more often,\u00a0and he was more open to the mocha flavored Clif shots, banannas, and electrolytes\u00a0that he was turning down earlier.<\/p>\n

Around the\u00a0nine-mile mark the boy was suffering\u00a0and the “This would be so easy without the cramping” statement came out, which I could only reply with (with a bit of laughter in my voice) “Yep, been there done that”.\u00a0\u00a0 At this point the thought of turning around did come up.\u00a0\u00a0 I told him we could turn around if he wanted to, but we were really close and getting to the top would be quite an accomplishment.\u00a0\u00a0 After a long break, he decided to keep climbing.\u00a0\u00a0 I was impressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Near<\/p>\n

Most of Nate Harrison Grade is a fairly smooth dirt road,\u00a0 with the last mile or so at the top being pavement.\u00a0\u00a0 Just before reaching the pavement is the rockiest section of the whole road.\u00a0 While normally it would be no big deal, when your fighting off cramps it can be a real pain.\u00a0\u00a0 He soldiered through it and once on the pavement he spun along nicely with the cramps mostly subsided.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed ourselves at the top,\u00a0 grubbing down on the remainder of our trail food.\u00a0\u00a0 I could tell that he was stoked to have pulled off the climb.\u00a0\u00a0Will spent little time actually looking around and when I called him over to check out some particular\u00a0sights he reminded me of our “mission” for the day, “Dad, I did not pedal up this mountain to see the view.\u00a0 I came up here to ride down.\u00a0 Lets Go!<\/strong>”\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Weeeeeee\"<\/p>\n

So down we went.\u00a0\u00a0 Gleeful giggles were heard many times.\u00a0\u00a0 The Dad in me was scared a few times at his speed, but at the same time the mountain biker in me was going “HELL YEAH!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\"Down<\/p>\n

What took hours to climb took somewhere around 20 minutes or so to descend.\u00a0 It was a stupidly hot 99 degrees at the bottom.\u00a0\u00a0 No big deal, when you have a 30+ mph breeze in your face.\u00a0 After some Mexican food on the way home and a dip in the pool, he was ready to head out for hockey practice.\u00a0\u00a0 He did look a little flat on the rink, but I was pretty freaking impressed with how he gutted things out over the course of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah, he had no issues going to be bed early that night. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\u00a0-Bill<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t More ATT playtime<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Summer is Here \u2013 Midweek Stoke<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t 2009 Opener \u2013 The Los Pinos Trail<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Idyllwild \u2013 Pine Cove<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>