Riding the warm weather train up St Vrain and into Ward

60 degree temps in December? Yup, that only means one thing, get out the door and rack up the mileage. That’s exactly what I did today. Headed up to Ward Via St. Vrain Canyon for just over 4 hours ride time on the road.

115k total, about 1500m or so of climbing. The St. Vrain Canyon climb is nice and gradual and offers some really cool views on the way up

Roads were dry for the most part, a few parts hidden in the shade were melting, but otherwise nothing to complain about.

The climb up to Ward took me about 1.75 hours or so as I was taking it easy and just laying down some tempo and zone 2.

Once into Ward, I headed over to the General Store to refuel with some calories. Hmm, BIG sign on door says no check or debit cards! Damn, what to do? Well, just like the golden olden days of the village, the owner of the store extended me some “store credit”. Super nice of him to do so. I fueled up with a coke and a homemade chocolate chip cookie (keeping the tab low) and headed down to the spring to fill the water bottles. I’ll be sure to swing back as soon as possible and repay the favor!

Ward is a graveyard for old vehicles?

For the most part, I was doing simple z2 riding and just racking up the mileage. At the start of the climb, I laid down 15 minutes of solid tempo. Laying down some easy z2-3 time and in a few weeks I’ll be ready for the tried and true “Sweet Spot”.

It was an awesome day, even though the legs are starting to feel the effects of accumulated fatigue of the past few weeks. I’m hoping to get up bright and early tomorrow if the weather holds and push out 2 quick hours at Heil. Be nice to see how the legs and body reacts after a solid weekend of riding.

Race Calendars

are starting to slowly get posted! And someone at least utilized part of my ideas for the National MTB Series. But what about those who ride xc in the middle part of the country? ALL of the West coast are in Cali??? Sounds like just a SoCal Series, at least the East Coast has some spread.

The NUE Series schedule is up for us endurance junkies. Precursory plans are for: Cohutta, Lumberjack, Breckenridge, Wilderness 101, Shenandoah and Tahoe/Sierra. I just gotta figure out Breck/W101. Lumberjack will be easy to hit on the way home, but do I head back for Breck, skip it and stay home for the Wilderness 101, or skip W101 and head home for Breck…..or do both? Hmm, some calculating to do….

Currently playing in iTunes: Better Than Heaven by Bloc Party