Not very impressive, I know, but the Garmin battery crapped out in Cotton Bottom … and since I felt like complete poop, I wondered if the GPS was telling me to stop and get a garlic burger.

I didn’t succumb to the urge, for two reasons … one, I was trying to get in something that resembled a reasonable ride, and two, with the way that my body reacts to garlic, I likely wouldn’t have made it home.

Continued climbing up to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, then dropped back down Wasatch to 6200 South, and home the same way I came … kind of a lollipop (or a cherry stem) to South Big Cottonwood Canyon to Wasatch to East Big Cottonwood Canyon.

No matter how you look at it, however, my lungs felt like they were going to burst. I doubt my heart rate ever dropped below 150. During that little 3 mile stretch that did get recorded, most of the time my HR was well above 160, and pushing 180, and it didn’t seem like it got any easier as I continued to climb up to the mouth of the canyon.

On the other hand, I tried CarboRocket today, and gotta say that the Kiwi-Lime is extremely yummy … the Mango may take a little time to get used to.

Even as bad as I felt, it was all in the lungs, not the legs … I definitely had the energy (just not the drive), and my stomach does seem to handle the Rocket better than any other carbo drink I’ve ever tried.

A little more every day I ride … slowly but surely I’ll get it back.

Passed the shrimp and beau on their way down Big Cottonwood Canyon road into the Old Mill area, while I was gasping for breath climbing up towards the Porcupine Pub & Grill. Wish I had remembered my inhaler … perhaps I wouldn’t have spent so much time 2-3 beats away from my max HR.

One thing is for sure. I need to ride more.

Up early this morning with a hangover, and headed up Big Cottonwood to Solitude … icky grey in the valley, and not much better up the canyon until about 12:30, when the sunshine finally broke through.

Today’s runs:

1. 1,500 ft — Eagle Express I - down Sunshine Bowl to Main Street
2. 1,600 ft — Powderhorn - down Diamond Lane to the Sunshine Grill, then down Hal’s Hollow
3. 1,500 ft — Eagle Express I - down Sundancer
4. 1,500 ft — Eagle Express II - down Sunshine Bowl to Same Street to Lower Tude-Dudes
5.   675 ft — Moonbeam - Straight down Main Street
6.   810 ft — Sunrise - Summit Access
7. 1,235 ft — Summit - Backdoor towards Sol/Bright, then down Corner Chute to Dynamite
8. 1,235 ft — Summit - along the traverse to either Black Bess or Voltaire (not exactly sure which, just that it was steep, it was deep, and I was hoping it didn’t break free), then down Woodlawn
9.   860 ft — Honeycomb Return - Sundancer to Post Card to Home Run and back to the car.

Just under 11,000 feet of vertical (at least on the chairs).

No photos today worth uploading.

Then into the Firm’s new building in South Jordan to make sure that everything works okay … after much frustration, it seems like all will be okay, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow when everything is under stress.

Then shopping. Then laundry. And shortly, to bed.