Pre-ride report from McDowell Mountain Park

Two weekends in a row and two pre-rides in a row. Man, it must almost be race season. :D

Today's pre-ride wasn't as big of a deal as last week's. No four hour drive was involved, I actually rode my bike to the trail head. How cool is that? I can ride my bike four miles to the trail head of the series opener for the Norba National Mountain Bike Series marathon race.

The ride was uneventful. I've ridden this course before, though I did some new singletrack as I don't normally ride so I could see the course the way they've got mapped out. I was on my big bike (which needs a name, by the way), so my time was slower than it will be on race day. I was definitely pleased with the time though. I had guessed it within 2 minutes.

I felt good the whole ride, and had a ton of stuff on my back since I was prepped for about 3 hours of riding. If I would have had some water stashed away at the trailhead, I would have gone out for another lap to see how it felt. I think I'll be ready for this race. I'm still not counting on being in contention, but I feel I can put in a good effort.

I normally ride with just plain water and use my own custom blend of e-Fuel with some other goodies as a recovery drink right after I get off of the bike. The last two rides I've been on I've been trying something new, using e-Fuel the way it was meant to be used - during the ride. Today I took a water bottle filled with it in addition to my Camelbak. Given how my preparation for the raceride wasn't the best yesterday, I was impressed that I was able to ride today for almost three hours any complaints from my body. I'll probably try to work that in to my race routine. Maybe I'll do one with water, one lap with e-Fuel and switch off.

I had my Forerunner with me. Once I get the ride info into the computer, I'll post a profile of the course for any out-of-towners that are curious as to what it looks like.