RECOVERY DAY! After a so-so day at the mountain bike race last Saturday, I took Sunday completely off the bike. I wasn’t just sitting on the couch, though. My wife was out of town so I got to spend my entire Sunday with two of my three kids. Connor is 8 and Vivian is 2, and as anyone with young children knows, spending a day with them is as challenging as it is fun.
Since I took yesterday completely off the bike, today was a day for active recovery. By going for an easy ride, I did more to improve my recovery than doing nothing for a second day in a row. And to ensure that today was really an easy ride, I took Connor along with me. We went out on the mountain bikes, for just about 45-60 minutes and it was a blast. The new Carmichael Training Systems facility is only about 5 blocks from a trailhead, so Connor and I were off pavement and onto dirt within about 3 minutes.
Once in Red Rock Canyon Open Space, we wound our way around the single- and double-track trails until we reached the place Connor wanted to go the most: the free-ride park. Like the free-ride areas at ski resorts, Red Rock Canyon Open Space has a small area packed with obstacles, jumps, and even a teeter-totter. In case you’re wondering, the teeter-totter is large enough for a mountain bike rider to ride up, wait for the beam to swing under him – or her – and then ride down and off the other side. I haven’t personally tried it, nor do I think I will anytime soon.
An hour of spinning around the park with my son, surrounded by red rock walls, scrub oak and high meadow grass, is one of the most rewarding aspects of being active. I love that my fitness – and his - provides us with the opportunity to get out into someplace quiet, away from the DVD players, computers, Blackberries, SUVs, and concrete. Active recovery may be what my muscles wanted today, but I got a whole lot more than that out of my ride today.
Chris Carmichael
Check out my new book: “The Time-Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week“
