State of the Union

March is over, which means the year is 25% over as well. I thought it would be a good time for a State of the (MTB) Union address to look back at how I'm doing on my 2008 Goals List and 2008 Ride List.

2008 RIDE LIST

I've ridden 9 of the 17 trails on my 2008 Ride List. (Technically, I've ridden one additional one and done trailwork another, but Daley didn't count and though I've done trailwork on Black Mountain, I haven't ridden it, so it doesn't count either.) The trails I have actually ridden and their respective Ride Reviews are available by clicking the links on my sidebar.

By way of projection, I know I'll get to BLT during the Skyline MTB weekend in Laguna in April. And I can do Black Mountain whenever I want because its so close, but have been waiting until my fitness and climbing improve to a point where I might actually enjoy it before going there. Daley and Elfin are in North County, so it shouldn't be too hard to get to those. Also, I know people who ride Sweetwater and MTRP pretty often, so those are likely easily attainable rides as well.

The ones I'm a little worried about are Lake Morena and Santa Margarita River Trail. For Morena, maybe the guys from the Rock will do it again sometime this year like they did last year and I can join them. And for SMaRT, maybe Doug will be willing to show me around there, because its in his old stomping grounds. (Consider this a request, Doug! We'll finally get to ride together.)

I'm glad that I'm more than halfway through my ride list at this point in the year, and I am relatively confident that I'll be able to get all of them before 2009. I also have at least two rides that I would like to do that aren't on the list: La Costa and Ted Williams. I hear amazing things about La Costa, and TW is pretty close, so I will probably make it out to both of them as well. We'll see.

2008 GOALS LIST

As for my more general 2008 Goal List, the results are less impressive. For a full description of the goals themselves, check out that entry. Below is the list, with comments on my progress thus far (or lack thereof) and prognosis for completion by the end of the year on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being unlikely and 10 being already done):

1. Ride Noble Canyon: (10)

I have accomplished this goal, though I did set the bar fairly low from the outset. All I wanted to do was experience this ride, and I wasn't concerned with whether I'd shuttle it or ride the whole thing. Well, I shuttled it, and even bailed out on the last section, so while I did ride it, I don't think I qualify for the full merit badge. I'll be back up there again in April, and will probably do the full BLT/Noble downhill ride since we're staying right at the BLT campground. On that ride, I'll be sure to finish the entire Noble trail, all the way down to the bottom.

2. Do a ~50 mile/all day-type ride: (5)

This one I haven't done, and haven't even really gotten close. In fact, at this point, I probably couldn't ride 50 miles in a day, unless it was pretty flat and I had all day to finish. I heard rumors of an Archipelago/Islands ride in early April, where they'll ride La Costa --> Elfin --> Hodges --> San Dieguito River Park --> Santa Luz --> Black Mountain --> LPQ, which should be about 50 miles. It would be awesome to be a part of that, but its not gonna happen for me this time. Hopefully they'll do it again later in the year and I can join that one.

3. Do a Multi-Day ride: (8)

I'll likely meet this goal in April during the Laguna weekend. I'll either ride Friday afternoon and Saturday, or Saturday all day and Sunday. Either way it'll be a multi-day ride like I wanted. If I don't for some reason meet this goal in at the Laguna trip, I'll likely be able to do it on another weekend later this year.

4. Do an Out of Town Ride: (8)

I haven't done this yet, but it will happen. For me, Laguna doesn't count even though its an hour and 45 minutes away. There are enough STR rides and Rock MTB rides that take place outside of SD that this goal should be no problem.

5. Do a Ride in the OC: (8)

I obviously haven't done this yet either, but I am interested in shuttling San Juan, riding Aliso, or maybe even doing San Clemente Single Tracks. Again, with the sheer volume of STR rides in those places, it shouldn't be a problem doing one of them.

6. Do a Night Ride (w/Light): (6)

Craig has offered to let me use his light, so may get to do a night ride at Calavera at some point. I had a chance to buy light in March from someone on Craigslist, but I hesitated and missed out. I want to night ride, but it is often harder to schedule night activities than weekend daytime activities, so this one may be an issue. Hopefully this summer there will be a lot of group night rides to beat the heat, and I'll be able to borrow a light and do one then.

7. Clear all of Martha's: (9)

I'm so close on this one, and I already basically did hard part with the downhill, so I just need to clean climbs and one tiny part. Its close to home and I ride there pretty often, so I'm pretty confident about meeting this goal.

8. Clear all of "the ****": (9)

I actually haven't tried this yet in 2008 because that section is not part of my regular LPQ route now. But I need to just get out there and do it, so I can cross this off my list. With the downhill technical riding I've done at ATT, Noble, and even Calavera, this one is no longer as daunting as it once was.

9. Climb Bernardo Mountain: (10?)

This one's a little tricky. Technically I did it, though it was about 80% HAB for me. I'll likely never be able to ride 100% of it, but would like to at least have a better showing than my first effort at some point this year...

10. Improve my climbing skills/general fitness:

This one is hit and miss. I've been getting better, but its hard to stick with riding the stationary bike consistently. It's boring and difficult. I need to keep at it, and continue to eat well and avoid soda and sweets in order to really make some strides fitness-wise. The good news is that since January 27, when we bought the stationary bike, I've ridden 306.5 miles on it. The bad news is that I've been slacking off in the last few weeks, and have not been riding it as consistently as I should be. So I need to get better with that.

I'm glad I set goals at the beginning of this year, they give me something to shoot for in terms of accomplishment and progress. I generally feel pretty good about where I am at the quarter pole, but don't want to lost the momentum I've built in the first three months of the year. I'll check back in at the end of June to see what progress has been made since then...