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It's Saturday morning, the weather is perfect outside and the local trail is only 5 minutes away. Sounds like a great day for a grind.
What is a Grind? For me, it's one of those days that you hit the trail with every intention of working your heart rate to death. These are those rides that really help your fitness out in the long run, and make your destination rides that much better.
The Components of a Grind
- Fast Paced Riding
- Minimal Breaks
- Long Mileage
Even if you have smaller local trails like we do here in Atlanta, it just means you will be doing more laps at a faster, constant pace than your typical social ride.
Yesterday, I headed out to Blankets Creek to get in a grind before the summer heat hits at about noon. Normally I would take the 38 pound bike for a ride like this to add to the heart rate extravaganza, but the Moots that I still haven't given back was begging to go. Starting from the parking lot, I got my pace going pretty quick and heading straight into the Dwelling Loop. The entire loop is only about 3.5 miles long and is pretty easy to navigate. This equals fast paced tree dodging for the more experienced riders. At the end of the first Dwelling Lap, I headed straight into South Loop without stopping. South Loop is a hand cut 4 mile loop that is done at a much slower pace by design (rocks and elevation change).
After that loop was done, I bombed down a connector and met up with Kevin. Kevin, even at his "advanced" age, whipped me into shape for another 2 Dwellings and another South. Overall mileage at the end of the ride came out to around 22 miles in a very short amount of time. I was home before the real heat set in for the day.
With gas at 4 dollars a gallon and time constraints from family duties, it is great to get a really rewarding ride in at the local trailhead. Days like this keep my fitness level where it needs to be without having to travel to the mountains for entire day and a tank of gas.
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June 1st, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Glad to see your getting out RS. We got in a little over 30 miles this weekend. Plan on heading to rocket city soon!
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 am
@SS: The rock infested AL trails have been on my list for awhile. Now I just need to get out there.