"shut up legs"

The title of this post is a famous quote by popular, jovial and to-date drug-free professional cyclist, Jens Voight (who was recently featured in this blog), referring to what he tells his body during particularly grueling races.  When we went MTBing on Sunday, we discovered that the Mt. Raymond hike was quite a bit steeper than we'd thought it was when we were doing it - it was my legs telling me to shut up the whole time.

Leaning into the corner (sort of)

We went back to Round Valley and did our favorite loop and instantly realized that we were fatigued and sore from yesterday's exertions.  H still managed to ride all the way up Hammerhead Hill but I learned that I ride much, much better when I am not fatigued.  I went down pretty hard on a corner that I've successfully navigated twice before, scratching my shin, bruising my knee and scraping my elbow up pretty dang good.  That made me more cautious for the remainder of the ride and although I rode up at least one more Rambler switchback than last time, I kept yelping and flinching at the sagebrush branches brushed my wounds.

I did manage to get most of the dirt out

It was still a good ride (17.78 miles; average speed: 9.2 m.p.h.; 23.9 m.p.h. top speed (that would be H's top speed); total climbing: 1,430 feet; time: 1:55) and a pretty day.  But from here on out, we're going to try to MTB first and then hike the next day as it's easier (and safer for me) to hike tired than to bike tired.  Lesson learned!