You'd think I'd be better at this...

This is not the first time that I have dealt with the crush of trying to get the hell out of town. You'd think I would remember that EVERYTHING takes twice as long as I expect -- assignments at work, gear prep -- everything. But I always forget, and the crush always arrives.

And then there's the giant question mark looming at the end of "how will my legs hold up to 7000' of climbing?" This is probably the strongest I have ever been -- sure, I've been lighter and faster on the bike before, but it came at a cost -- and still there's that little seed of doubt. Am I ready for this? We'll find out at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday when I start booting up this:

The triangular "ridge" right of the center rock band is the Hotlum-Wintun.

If all goes well, come Monday we'll make a run at Lassen Peak. From what I can discern from online trip reports and The Internets, Lassen is a very Wasatch-like tour: rise early, climb directly up, rip down, drink beer. Perfect.

And then there's Mount McLoughlin. Can we squeeze it in? Perhaps...

Boring "training" update:

Saturday:

Assemble planter boxes. Shovel lots of topsoil. Assemble sprinkler system. Try to remove sod from front lawn. Fail.

Sunday:

Mountain bike up Dry Creek, to the top of Bobsled, back down Dry Creek, and over to the Zoo. Get a sunburn.

Monday:

Run up Memory Grove, onto the Shoreline, to the top of I-Street, and then reverse it.

40ish minutes, as hard as I could maintain.

EUREKA!! I need to spend the next couple of weeks -- the last couple before The Steeplechase -- training the downhill run. First, it's A LOT more fun. Second -- and I should've clued in to this before now -- half the frickin' course is downhill. I don't care if I limp to the top of Black Mountain; I want to finish the descent strong.

When I return from NoCal, downhill intervals are the name of the game.