Oi…the illness continues…and now with random sharp pains in my stomach that come on every minute or so. Again no breakfast but I muscled up to head out on the day’s ride which would take us up thru a local ski hill and a huge plateau. We loaded up the truck & drove a few minutes over to the ski cabin & had to get the gate unlocked to go up. This ski area has 2 lifts, a 2-person & a t-bar with just a couple runs off them. We traversed our way up the cat-trails & finally shot straight up the last run to the top. Then the “fun” began…long uphill push of our bikes to the plateau which is a vast, rock-strewn expanse covering hundreds of acres. The views are amazing as you will see in my pics…but the riding is the exact opposite…as a matter of fact during the many hours we spent up there, probably 15 minutes were spent actually riding. We crossed a cool little mountain stream, hit a spot of snow & took in the views. Ultimately, we pushed across to a great spot to have lunch at the top of a little rock outcropping…I could manage a couple crackers & cheese & a little ham.
Then we began a long traverse that was mainly uphill to go to another ridge…again it was all covered with large rocks & mostly unrideable…there was zero trail. So in my misery of no energy, constant headache, lack of nutrition, pushing my bike everywhere, trying to walk thru rocks, I was at the No Fun Zone. It was taking forever so we finally decided to head back down..which still took us forever to get back to the ride-able trail. At one point I was looking for the nearest canyon to throw my bike off…Esteban had a few laughs as he knew I was at the breaking point. I was cursing Hoolie for bringing us to the moon, Steve for bringing me on this trip, Johanna for being our Sacred Ride guide, Robert for just being there & anyone else I could think of just to be fair. At one point I was thinking, I could be chillin’ in Barcelona, sipping on some sangria & catching a few Barca & Real Madrid games…but we move on.
So we hit the steep, narrow downhill dirt part which is fine & arrived back at the truck. Hoolie asked if I wanted a ride in the truck back down…my retort, “if I managed to push my f’ing bike all over the top of a rock-covered mountain I’m at least gonna enjoy the fun downhill part”. He laughed & said “hit it”. So we traversed down the narrow trail, headed straight down some of the wide ski run & made our way back down to the cabin. Now that was at least fun…everyone got some laughs in at me & we headed back to the lodge.
ski lift & cabin
how can you ride on this? but at least beautiful view
dont let him fool you...he wasnt riding
We got to the lodge & Hoolie wanted to do a quick intro down on the river of paddling a ducky…which is an inflated kayak that sits up higher & is easier to manage. So we carried 2 down the 276 stairs & took a couple paddles around the river, getting it down pretty easily. As I got out I really got hit with extreme dizziness & felt like I had to puke. So I hung off to the side while they finished & then we walked back up the 847 stairs to the lodge & I continued up to my room to crash in my bed. Esteban & I had massages scheduled for 6 & 7pm…so I got up for mine & headed to the yoga room. We had an Austrian lady with what I thought was moderate English but she obviously lost some of my requests in translation…she asked any trouble spots…I pointed to my calves, hamstrings & back…then said “no feet”. An hour went by and she didnt touch any parts of my legs…I guess “feet” in German means “legs”??? Esteban said she really didnt do much of his legs either…kinda weird to be on a bike riding trip, get a massage & to NOT have the legs massaged…isnt that the most important part?!? But it still felt good on my sore back, aching neck & throbbing head.
Dinner was mexican food of which I had about 3 grains of rice & a few nacho chips. The chips I could handle & just nibbled on them with guac for a while. I was still too exhausted to even update this blog for the day so I read some of my book & crashed out.
