HR: 36
HR Return: 60
HR 10 Min: 44
Miles: 13
Moving Average: 5.4mph
Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
This was a fun, half-exploring sort of ride at Hollenbeck canyon. I have been doing some looking around and have decided there are more trails than immediately obvious. I knew I could get considerably more miles than I have been if I did it right. Of course, I've known all along that I could just do "laps" if it came to that, but that's a little boring. My goal was to cover as many miles as I could without going over the same section of trail in the same direction twice. I was okay with doing a section again if it was the other way; that at least makes it feel different.
The dogs were, of course, terribly happy to get out for a ride. It did become apparent that they were still somewhat pooped from all the riding we've been doing lately!
We struck out on the trail. After the first half mile "warm up," we turned right and started on our way through the rocky dips. Hoss was having a good time, but he wanted to get away from me. I had to check him back several times. He did eventually settle in to work.
At the junction where we usually turn right, I turned to the left and down the section of old ranch road. At the bottom, we turned right and up the single track/washed out ranch road we usually use the other direction. We got some good trotting in on a lot of this, learning to get over technical trail smoothly. At the top of the hill, we turned right onto the wide trail and trotted as much as we could until we got to the long downhill.
When we reached the bottom of the downhill, we were back where we had turned left at the junction. There is a trail that cuts across the top of the ridge here that I decided to include in our ride. I directed Hoss to this trail. He tried to turn left instead. After a bit of a discussion, he finally headed up the ridge trail. This trail turns off to the left and rejoins a trail that acts as a short cut. When we got to the short cut, we turned right, back toward the flat area on the "back" side.
We got to the flat area and I gave Hoss his head for a nice canter back to the first junction. Back at this point, we turned up the hill we had previously come down. When we made the turn onto the second part of the hill, we again cantered nicely up the hill. I didn't really let up on this ride. I expected him to trot every step he could! We turned back down the single track and rejoined the flat area, where we once again picked up the canter.
Hoss was happy to canter past the old cattle pens. I slowed him down, not really wanting to take the nearly 90 degree left hand turn at a canter. After we made the turn, and were back on reasonably straight trail, I let him canter some more. At the top of this section, he was happy to drop back down to a walk for a breather. This made the dogs happy, as they were all hot and very tired by this time. They'd run ahead and find spots in the shade to lie down and pant and rest until I caught up and passed them.
We headed on down through the last mile or so of the trails. On the downhill section, I let Hoss trot out, but when we turned the corner, he wanted to canter, so I once again gave him his head and let him go. When we reached the turn back toward the trailer, I slowed him back down and made him walk back to the trailer.
I was very happy with Hoss's recovery today. He came in with a good heart rate and came down further very quickly. I feel that his cardiac fitness level is improving very well.
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