slothin it

Today would have to be one of my worst rides on a bike I can remember. Mario gave me a call last night to organise a pedal through the fine trails of Smiths Gully. I was more than happy to oblige, sweet single track, good company, but I new deep down that maybe I was going to struggle. Alex also was roped in and had his new race bike to smash and test, he is no slouch on 2 wheels. His brother Ben is one fast guy on the dirt, Alex is just the same with a take no prisoners approach. So from the get go it was going to be on. I do realise I was partly psyching myself out, but the only way you get faster is to ride with the big boys.
From the first hill I was in the hurt box and that's where it stayed, I was red lining, gasping for air. Now I can blame the humid weather, the 2 beers I had with my home cooked Mexican, hell I can blame the axle I broke. Fuck it was just shit today, I could have hung it up after today. Again it was a battle between bike and human, there was no unity. The unity of bike and man were you feel connected as one (mmm weird moment here) I would have been faster on the single speed for sure.
It seems whenever I go vertical I go way backwards... it might be my set up, it might be the added weight of the geared bike, the 4 or more extra kgs I put on in the month with a back injury..... I don't know. I am just frustrated. I got to get my shit together and soon!
Hence I am opting for some quality time on the road bike. I headed up the Nongs (aka Dandenong Ranges) again yesterday via the 1:20. It is a nice climb and gives you some other options for further climbs off the back side of the mountain. Now I didn't break any land speed records, but it did give me the data I needed to partly realise where I was on the bike fitness scale (lets say I am embarrassed to state the time but it was above 20 mins) I took a different route there yesterday which was out of the ordinary for me. I decided to take the bike path up to near the base of the mountain. Now this got me away from the freight trucks, as the base of the mountain has a large industrial component, so a lot of heavy traffic. The trail got me there with out incident and I must admit it was a great ride. The only dampener was the rain on the way home but as I was on the path, I didn't have to worry about traffic and wet roads.
So the question from my brain at the moment is what to do to improve..... give it time I suppose as a month ago I was flying... I cant explain the loss of form.
In other news I received my delivery of Behold tool pouches from King Cage. I have installed one on the road bike and will post some pics. It does look a little different but I prefer it to a under seat bag, plus I dig the different factor and it suits the bike.
Happy trails