BVBF

This weekend Bill, Mel, Scott and I went down to Buena Vista to participate in the Buena Vista Bike Fest. Mel and Scott stayed down there Friday night, and lucky Bill and I got up at 3:45 Saturday morning to head down. Due to some miscommunication, Mel and Scott weren’t planning on heading out until 8ish, and Bill and I were pumped and ready to go at 7. (well, kinda) So unfortunately we did not all ride together. Bill and I took off from the park a little after 7. The course started out with 30 miles along highway 24 from Buena Vista to Leadville. Only about 3 miles into the ride I was already feeling sore! I haven’t ridden this bike very much, so was not at all used to the seat! I was worried thinking that I still had 97 miles to go! I wasn’t so sure I could do it at that time. We kept pedaling, though.

The first rest stop was 17 miles in. We did it in about 1.5 hours, so a slow pace, but we wanted to make sure we had enough energy to finish. (or at least I did…) They stocked the rest stop very well with anything from fruit to bagels to M&M’s to Goldfish. They treated us well. After a nice long rest, we headed out again. Lucky me, Bill was willing to let me draft behind him. I thought it was nice, but he must have had one too many M&M’s because he just took off. It was hard to keep on his back tire let alone just keep up with him at all! But we made really good time to the next stop, only 45 minutes or so to mile 30. Another rest stop fully stocked, including a poop deck! Yes, a poop deck. The theme of the ride was pirates, or something, so many of the volunteers were dressed as pirates, and they made the row of port-a-potties into the back of a ship, hence the poop deck. Kinda funny.

We are about to head out for the long stretch up to Tennessee pass when I heard someone calling my name. After much confused looks around me, I saw that it was a good family friend, Susan! It was so exciting to see her, she is such a good person and has a way of making people laugh with her goofiness, so it was a nice surprise.

After some hugs, pictures and a brief catch-up, they took off and we shortly followed (although we never caught up to them). The next stretch was fairly long, and had the most climbing up to Tennessee pass. I love climbing, and Bill loves it even more, so we jammed up it, passing people left and right. Even though it wasn’t a race, it still felt good. The summit was beautiful, right on the Continental Divide. We took some pictures, chatted with some strange guy, and headed down. I am not a fan of downhill, especially on this bike, but the road was well maintained, and we cruised down getting up to a speed of 35ish, which is really fast for me!!

This part of the road did not have a shoulder, or not much of one. We had a fairly scary encounter with a semi. Bill and I are just cruising along, when we see a semi trying to pass someone in front of us. So no shoulder, with a huge semi coming right at us. I slowed down, thinking of what to do if it does come down to chicken with the semi, while all I hear is Bill bitching at the driver. The semi gets passed the car, going probably 80mph, and does some nice fishtailing getting back into the lane. He looked out of control, and it definitely got my heart racing, but I could not stop laughing. Bill bitched at the guy the whole time this was happening, and it just made me laugh at how riled up he got. If you know Bill, this doesn’t happen very often. It was awesome. Another good laugh.

We continued into Leadville where lunch was served. More food. Sweet. I told Bill that I could totally live like this. Ride all day, and make stops where people feed you. Perfect. We made it a relaxing stop, not to worried about the time. Once we got back on the bikes, though, I regretted it! I swear I felt every joint in my body. It was getting hard to pedal! And of course, it went right into a decent uphill. Oh well, we like climbing, right? It actually wasn’t too bad, we just took it slow, and a steady pace that was great for me, probably unbearably slow for Bill. We cut off onto the Mineral Belt trail, which was probably my favorite part of the ride. Mostly downhill on this paved bike path that went by old mines and wound through trees. Also had a great view of the Collegiate peaks. The trail came back into Leadville before we turned off onto another road that lead back to the second rest stop. At this point it was 2:30, and our “goal” was to be back by 4. So that meant 30 miles in 90 minutes. At first we thought it could be challenging, but when we took off, we realized it was very much downhill! Averaging over 30mph fast downhill. Top speed at 43.3, another record for me! It was fun, and a great way to blast out the last 30 miles. We got to the park by 3:35, all ending with a spectacular move from Bill…

I am in front of Bill heading toward the park. It is a right turn into the dirt lot, and right after I turned I heard some commotion and turned around just in time to see Bill go flying over his bike, landing on his feet and running about 20 feet to finally come to a stop. Very graceful, especially since it was in front of a bunch of people!! I guess he was wanting to get a picture of me “crossing the finish line,” when he hit the gravel. Of course, one of the first things anyone said to him was “Did you get the picture?” Which he didn’t, but got a good one of me laughing at him. What a great way to end my first Century, Bill’s first road Century. The picture proves how much fun it was, from start to finish.

We hung out at the after party with Mel and Scott, they did 62 miles, which for having not ridden much at all this year is pretty amazing! They treated us good afterwards, with glasses, beer and dinner. As well as quite a few other free drink coupons from all the non-drinkers… Great time, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Other than some wind on the ride, it was gorgeous.

Thankfully, we did not have to drive home after the ride. Bill was so nice to get us a B&B. It was so nice, overlooking the Collegiate Peaks, a really nice home, and great owners. We didn’t do much that night, I think we were both beat! It was a great way to end a great day. Couldn’t have written it any better.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Family!

 

After the third day in a row of going down to Salvagetti to drool over this bike, it is finally mine! I purchased the beautiful Jamis Exile single speed 29er. I am so excited about it, and can’t wait to take it on the trails!! Other than the fact than many people classify female SSers as she-beasts, or something of the sort, I am really looking forward to it, and would love to eventually race it! Oh, and he gets a shark.

 

Falcon

Last night I met up with Bill and Cori and Mt. Falcon for a ride. It had started to rain a while before I got there, so I was pretty sure it was going to be a wet ride. We met up around 6:30, Bill had already been up and back, so he was warmed up already. It was one of the best rides I have had on Falcon. We passed a few people that were coming down while we were heading up, but eventually we passed them all and had the trail to ourselves. It was raining steadily the whole time, and every now and then we would hear long rumbles of distant thunder. It was so quite heading up, with just the sound of the rain and my breath. We didn’t spend too much time at the top, we were all soaked and starting to get cold. The fog really rolled in while we were heading down. It was beautiful. Such a different experience.

We were all numb by the time we got back to the cars, and decided to warm up over dinner and drinks at the Morrison Inn. I was so glad that we all decided to go for that ride. Will always be in my memory of one of the best. Thanks guys.

Moab

This weekend my friend, David, and I went out to Moab. It has become a tradition for me to make a Spring and Fall trip out there. It was Dave’s first time, and he loved it. I have gone to Moab with many people, and I will say not one of them seems to appreciate it as much as I do. It truly feels like home to me. It feels like I belong there. I love it, and don’t think I will ever get tired of it.

We left Denver around 6 on Friday, and got into Moab around midnight. We went to the Slickrock campground to find it was full! We were ready to stop driving, and weren’t in the mood to drive around to find a camp spot else where, so we pulled off into a dirt lot where cars park for the walk in camping, had a couple beers, then crashed in the back of my car. I will say, that was not the most comfortable thing in the world. It was only a few hours, though, since we were up and moving a little after 6. We had breakfast at the Moab Diner, which, even though the food isn’t spectacular, is another tradition of mine.

It was up to me to find a descent trail for the day since Dave has never been there, and it was a challenge! He just bought his bike Wednesday, as well as clipless pedals that he has never used before in his life. He got this grand idea that he would only put the cleat on one shoe for the first ride and practice on that foot, and then switch on the next ride… Whatever floats your boat!

I decided on Poison Spider, which is by no means an easy trail, but doable. I had done it a few years ago with some friends and wasn’t able to finish, so I wanted to give it another try. It was overall a descent trail, although I don’t think I will do it again. There were soooo many Jeeps and dirt bikes, and very few mountain bikers. We played cat and mouse with the jeeps all ride, and the sound of the dirt bikes really killed the serenity off it all. I haven’t been to Moab this late in the season, and was surprised by all the beautiful flowers in bloom! I had to stop and take a bunch of pictures of them, which led to getting crap from Dave. Sometimes I have a tendency to pay more attention to the flowers than the trail…

When we got to the arch there had to have been 30 Jeeps and tons of dirt bikes. Not really my cup of tea, riding up a beautiful mountain to see a parking lot of cars, so we didn’t hang out, just continued on the trail. There was a lot steeper climbing after that, and David was starting to fade. We got to the intersection where you can either take the Portal trail back down to the car, or continue on the loop. He was beat, so he decided to walk down the Portal Trail, and I continued on the loop. It was really pretty, and there were no Jeeps or dirt bikes… but there was A LOT of sand. I had to walk probably a mile in sand that went past my ankles every time I stepped. As I was enjoying the quite away from all the Jeeps, I was able to notice the smaller, less noticeable sounds. Not sure if this was a good thing, because I ended up seeing three rattlesnakes due to it! And even more snake tracks across the trail. I was ready to get back to a trail that I could actually ride!

It didn’t take too long to get back to where the loop met up with the main trail, and sure enough, I was back in the cluster of Jeeps. I was done dealing with them, so I did my best to get around them and stay ahead of them for the rest of the ride. I got back to the car, thinking I would see Dave chilling in a lounge chair with a beer. No lounge chair, no beer, no Dave. I figured he definitely would have been back by now, and kinda got worried! I had no idea where this trail came out, so I couldn’t exactly go looking for him. I didn’t have my car keys, either, so I couldn’t drive to look for him. So I was stuck waiting by my car hoping he would show up. He did, about 30 minutes later, and I thought he was going to die. He dropped his bike before he even got to the car, and rushed for water. I felt pretty bad for him. He was done for the day, to say the least.

Which, in a way was disappointing to me, until I realized this is a perfect time to take advantage of one of the trails that needs a shuttle. So I decided to do part of the Kokopelli Trail. David dropped me off on the side of the LaSalle Mts and I was off on my own. It was a fast downhill for a while, and really fun! I decided to take part of Porcupine Rim and some of Fins and Things down to Slickrock where David met up with me around 7. It was great riding, and I didn’t see another mountain biker, jeep or dirt bike the whole ride. It worked out great (for me at least) because while I was riding, Dave got a campsite and set up camp, so I didn’t have to do anything! It was perfect, because by then we were starving and ready for a beer. So we headed into town to Eddie McStiffs for dinner. Got back to the tent around 10:30, and I was ready to crash. Good day.

The next day we slept in till about 7:30, then packed up and headed into town for breakfast. The Moab Diner was closed for some reason, so we ended up at the Jailhouse café. I had never been there before and it was really good! We hung out in town for a while, and then headed out of Moab to get some riding in Fruita. On the way out we stopped at the Dewey Bridge that burnt down a few weeks ago. I guess some kid was playing with matches at his campsite and started the fire. It was really sad to see, and you could still really smell the smoke.

We got into Fruita and did Mary’s Loop. It is always a fun trail to do, and I thought it would be a good trail to redeem myself from the decision I made the day before on trails. David enjoyed himself a lot on this trail. It was fun and fast. At one point, I was cruising up this hill when I saw something I thought was a weird looking stick on the side of the trail, so I stopped. Oh, it was no stick. It was a 5 foot long snake! I have never seen a snake that big in the wild before. Gave me the creeps! It was yellow with black lines, and I have no idea what kind it was. It slid across the trail in front of us, and then up the rocks on the other side. I have had enough snakes the last few months to last me a lifetime!

Well, we finished the ride and made one more stop in Grand Junction for lunch. It was a good weekend, although too short! I am already planning on the next trip out there…

Huh…

“Think about this: A street must be 12 lanes wide to accommodate 40,000 car commuters per hour, but only one lane wide to handle the same number of cyclists.” (Bicycling Magazine)

 

Zen

Thinking neither of good nor of evil, at this very moment, what is your Original Nature?

Nice day for a ride

Today I met up with Mel, Scott, Ayshia and Brett at Lair o’ the Bear for some riding. Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the day, so it was a little chilly! Since Ayshia was with us, we took turns getting some good riding in. The first round Mel stayed back and hung out with Ayshia, while me, Scott and Brett took off up the mountain. We met Brett at the rock climbing classes we were taking, and found out he was really into biking, so Scott invited him to join RATM. He is currently on another team, but could possibly join us next season, which would be super awesome because he is a kick ass mt biker! So Bear Creek is not that difficult of a trail, but even still, Scott and I could not keep up with him! Brett led the way then Scott and then me trailing. Scott wasn’t able to catch him. He then let me go in front of him, and I stayed with Brett for a short while, and then he just took off. Gone like the wind. Pretty awesome.

We got to the top, and I decided to turn around to go meet back up with Mel. Scott and Brett continued on a few more miles. When they met us back down at the bottom, Scott then watched Ayshia, while me, Mel and Brett went up for another run. Again, we lost Brett pretty quick. He is a wicked climber! Such a bummer some of my teammates will be competing against him this year…

Was a great day, with great company and ok weather. It always feels so good to get on the bike.

…

…

I have tried to let go into what is…. you cannot force what isn’t though.

Lookout Hill Climb Race

A few people from my team and I did the Lookout race this morning. It’s 4.5 miles with about 2200 feet of elevation gain (I think…). It was super fun! My first race of the season, and my first road race ever! Marni and I were in the same class, so we warmed up and started together. It was nice to have someone at the start like that! It could have been disastrous when we took off, a women a couple bikes in front of us fell and almost started a chain reaction! Luckily Marni and I were able to manuever around her with nothing more than a few seconds off our time. Then we were off…

I felt really good on this climb. I got into my own rhythm pretty quick, feeling the breath and the pedal movement. I got passed by a couple women towards the start, but the bonked later on, so I passed them. It was amazing how many people started out too fast, and then dropped halfway through. I kept a pace I was very comfortable at, and knew I could finish at that pace. It felt really good. I came across the finish line at 28:31, which I was pretty happy with! Only good for 19th place though… Some of these women are beasts! Not sure how much time I can knock off of that, but I will try!

Marni did great, with an exciting finish that I didn’t see! Pushing herself at the very end for a last pass on one of the women and a strong sprint finish! It was exciting! Chris and Shawn did awesome on their old bikes, Chris making it in a little over 20 minutes, and enough to finish in the top 10, and Shawn with an unbelievable 18:XX minutes! He got 3rd, some cash and beer. Sweet.

The ride down was super cold, Marni and I were shivering so much we almost lost control of our bikes! It was so much fun,  though. Really makes me look forward to more races this summer!