“Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else.”
- George Halas
I had a really bad day at work yesterday; I may get frustrated frequently, but it usually passes pretty quickly and isn't a big deal. Yesterday I was just really angry. I had planned to go ride at Stony after work, since I'm racing there next weekend, but I wasn't very excited about it, which didn't help my mood.
As the day was winding down, I decided to ride at Bald Mountain instead. I rode Bald Mountain a bunch last year, but I hadn't been there at all this year. The trail is much less technical than Stony, but, if you ride hard, you can definitely still get a good workout there.
It turned out that the trails at Bald Mountain were in great shape; sometimes they take a while to dry out after the rain. I didn't see anyone else there on a bike, and just two small groups of hikers. After about 15 minutes of riding, my work stress was basically gone. (This is, incidently, a big advantage of mountain biking over road biking. I can ride on the road for hours and still be thinking about work, but when I ride the mountain bike, I have to focus on the trail, so everything else gets pushed aside.) I felt really good both from a fitness standpoint and a technical standpoint.
I think I'm getting more comfortable letting the tires slide a little, which I think is a key for me to go faster. I'm not talking about big, trail-ripping sliding here, just the little drift that happens when you're near the limit. Someone watching from the side probably wouldn't even see it.
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