Picking up the pace. I was scanning Matt's blog last week to glean some wisdom from this endurance machine, and realized that my summer riding has lacked intensity. So, this week I picked up the pace and threw two high intensity rides into my schedule, and you know what, I'm feeling better already. Look for Matt to have a strong showing at the Leadville 100 this weekend.

Monday, I got out on the roadie along the bosque trail and rode seven hard intervals. Funny, but at only 55 minutes total time on the bike, I burned far more calories than a steady paced 3 hour ride with 1,500 feet of climbing. Tuesday was a recovery ride on the road bike, and I just focused on keeping my heart rate at about 130 to 135 bpm, which for me means about 19 to 21 mph on the flats on a not windy day. I've definitely got room for improvement on the cardio and really am trying to beef up my endurance.

Thursday I was able to flex my work schedule, so I got a really intense singlespeed ride in up at Cedro which included an all out climb up Poker Chip (south to north), then a gnarly decent on a new trail I'd spotted (unsustainable so I'll avoid in the future) onto the Meadow 2-track where I picked up Lone Pine to Pinyon 2-track, then an all out nasty climb up the mutant back to the north end of Poker Chip. The trails are reasonably dry and in decent shape, with a few exceptions along Lone Pine. A crust has developed on most of the trails up there and it really increases the rolling resistance and fatigue on the legs, but it was just an outstanding morning up there. Rode 20 miles in less than 2 hours, so happy with that. Not sure about the total climbing, but I'd guess around 2K given the route I took. Stay tuned for more dirt miles this weekend.......

Ever listen to Chris Thile play mandolin? He's the best on the planet and still a youngster to boot. I was listening to his "Stealing Second" CD this week and realized that when he made it in 1997, he didn't even have a drivers license yet. Amazing talent.