This was the test weekend - would the eye survive a camping trip and some real riding? Better to find out sooner then later. After last week's return on an eaiser ride in Pueblo, I was a little nervous about the trip. What would happen if it flared again? As discussed, I was using the two drops per day, and my vision was clearing up - even with some riding outside on trails. It was still fuzzy, like I was trying to read without my glasses, but even worse. I'm sure that what people who need glasses for regular vision deal with on a daily basis!
I also wanted to get away from Colorado Springs. Maybe a little bad of me - after all, I had athletes running in the Rattler Trail and should have gone to support them. But after pulling out of the 25k, with still having really strong fitness and no real "injury" I didn't want to hang around and start feeling sorry for myself. I love running and Palmer Park is one of my faviorite places to run. To miss the Rattler 25k was really hard for me since it's also a great course with a great group of people. Getting out of town and off social media for a while would be the best medicine for missing the event. At least that's what the hope was...
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| Bikes and sunsets - two of my favorite things. |
The goal was a few easy, fun rides down at Oil Well Flats outside Canon City. I got off work early, did my workout and off we went - leaving just early enough to get to get down and get set up before dark. Then it was just hang out around the fire! And what a fire it was - Nick brought down some of the wood from the tree branch he'd sawed up. One of the logs just happened to be hollow, which provided much entertainment as it turned into a volcano after just a few minutes of burning. I missed most of the party - I was tired and decided to go to bed just as things were heating up.
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| I didn't get the demonic shot like Amy did - but the hollow log was a hit! |
The real test would be Saturday. While the pace wasn't planned to be hard - there's nothing smooth about Oil Well. That's part of the fun and the challenge. Even better, we were camped right off Anticline, right at the start of the super fun section. We had five people and two dogs, ready for some trail action. On the first loop I took a mix of A and B lines - hitting some of the bigger drops and rolling around some of the other ones. I could tell I hadn't been riding outside in a bit - I was a little hesitant on some of the ledgy climbs. More so then usual. But the vision was fine. No loss of acuity while we were riding, just the blurry from the dilation in the bright sun. Ugh - bright sun was the worst. I've never been a visor person on my helmets, but I was super happy to have one on my new helmet. We did a short loop, then headed back to camp to collect the rest of the group. And chill for a bit. The second loop would come a little later. Some of the same trails, some different ones and a little easier pace. No dogs this time around either - they were all getting worn out for another long ride. The trails were surprisingly quiet for a nice Saturday, but since the front range was also nice most riders weren't going to make the drive. Which was fine by us!
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| Waiting for the sun to warm things up before riding |
After an afternoon seista for both humans and dogs, it was time for a sunset lap. Without the bright glare of the sun, my vision was a little better. At least it didn't feel like the sun was drilling a hole into the back of my head! I think I'm gonna need a little darker glasses...
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| These feet look like a great spot for a snooze.. |
Sunday morning, the rest of the gang packed up and headed out. Nick and I were going to do one more ride, this time really looking for the rocky, jarry trails - aka Island in the Sky. I will admit to not being a huge fan of that trail on a normal day, but I really wasn't liking it then. I just wasn't ready for that kind of bumpy after avoiding all rocks for nearly a week. But as a test trail to see what would happen with real riding under real conditions, it served it's purpose. And no issues. Other then not feeling smooth and being able to flow over the trail like I normally do! The eye stayed clear the entire time, even with the rocky trails and trying to ride as normally as possible. We rode most of the trails in the park during that ride, and while I shied away from some of the things I would have done, I didn't take it too easy. The eye was fine - at least as fine as it can be right now.
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