Mt. Kato

I have learned two things since deciding to get back into mountain biking after a 14 year hiatus. First, mountain is a relative term. What one would call a mountain in the Midwest is quite different when considering the mountains in CA or NM. This is a good thing as I am so out of shape I am certain I would be collecting DNFs at races such as Mammoth Lakes (CA) and the Signal Peak Challenge (NM). Second, regardless of where the track is, finishing with a respectable time is difficult (for me anyway) if you have not ridden the track prior to the race. I learned this as I was walking my bike up Mont Du Lac! With this in mind, I ventured out to Mt. Kato where this Sundays Bluff Riders Charge will be held. For $8 one could ride the seven miles of trails all day.

My day began with the realization I will be riding up a sizeable hill at the beginning of the race. Clearly, I was not ready for this as I slogged up the rocky switchback single trail for the beginning of lap one. During this rather unfortunate portion of the ride, I realized I have done nothing during my spinning sessions to prepare for this type of ride. My idea of a hill in spinning was to increase the tension enough to be moving the cranks at 75 rpms. Clearly, there will be no moments of cranking 75 rpms for this biker while negotiating the appropriately named 'Kato Climb.' Once I made it to the top of the climb I made my way through the Frog Pond Loop, Outlook Traverse and the Back Loop. The single track was hardpacked and very fast. The Gets Tight and Cedar Climb sections offered some technical areas and quick descents. There were three areas in which the climbing is enough to get the front wheel off the ground or spin the back tires. Not bad though. I then entered the Killer Toad Loop and lost my sense of direction.

After a couple of bad decisions, I decided to head down to the trail head and get a map. On my way down, a friendly gentleman noticed I was riding on the trail in the wrong direction. As I sat down to read my map, said gentleman mentioned my indiscrection so I let him know I had gotten lost. He seemed to genuinely understand my situation and headed out on his four wheeler laughing. At least I felt like I was not the only knucklehead to head out on this trail without a map. His look and actions let me know he had seen this condition (lack of intelligence) before. Armed with my trusty map and a new found sense of direction, I again took on the Kato Climb........slowly. I stopped every so often to get a sense of where I was and this time I found the Dead Horse section which is a quick little descent. This may have been the most enjoyable section of the trail. From there it was a quick ride through the Maze, Back Home, and Cabin Run to close out the "Citizen" lap.

I completed the last section and started right into another lap. I was able to negotiate the trail without incident. More importantly, I have a general idea of where I can go fast, where I need to slow down, and when to expect the top of the hill. In other words, I should do much better in this event then I did at the Dirt Spanker. In addition, I have used my past two spinning classes to practice the Kato Climb. Hopefully this will help (if only psychologically!) me to get up the hill a little quicker than I did the first three times. More importantly, I hope I learned enough to not have to walk my bike!