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So decided to let things cool a bit and you can all enjoy know that my facebook photo albums are right there in my blog site.  So if you’re not on the ‘book, you can still check out everything I post… right here

Well finally bust off a big one this year, just a super fun ride up and over Rollins pass with Scott Upton.  Read about it on the mtbr boards and decided hell yes, lets go…

Rolled out at about 7 am from Eldora Ski resort and made the trek up the Jenny Creek/Guinn Mt Trail.  We rolled up and over the pass down to Fraser, rolled into Winter Park for some lunch and then rolled out of town taking the Corona Pass Road back up.  at least we thought so  Only got off track once and had to bushwhack through and find the roads!!

Rolling out from Eldora

Group ride?

The rocks on Jenny Creek

Is this the Guinn Mt Hut?

Ah nope this is the Guinn Mt. Hut

Well, if we get stuck can crash here!

First views of the high peaks

Yankee Doodle Lake

Gorgeous day and having fun

Rolling the trestles

Awesome views and sheer drops

Crossing over Rollins Pass and the Continental Divide

Rolling down to Winter Park

Climbing back out of Winter Park via the long road

I swear the road is over here

We finally found the road

Rolling back to the trestles

…And back to the trestles for more view

One last look to take it all in

This past week there was lotsa bike riding, I’ll do a another post to catch up.  Lots pictures to enjoy today

Made it to and back home from Upstate New York and had an awesome time

Met My Niece/God-daughter Reagan

Hung with my favorite Buddy Peyton

Raced my bike Tuesday night at the Park Ave Arrowhead race; the whole family came out and I walked away with the W.  Thick air felt good, slip sliding around on the muddy trails with no rear brakes did not, but happy to have a good race.

Rolled out with the GBC crew for a Naples SoGnar Ride

Yup I remember these muddy, wet, rocky, steep (3 garmins confirmed 51% grades) super fun trails

Went out on the boat on Seneca Lake

Played some more with Peyton in the Pool (yeah yeah I know take the t-shirt off!)

More to come later…. Including a full write-up on the race and what it’s like to go back to wet muddy trails.

 Temps were cool to roll out but plenty comfortable, been up Sunshine Canyon a bunch this year, but typically roll down Poormans. Forgot how tough that road gets after you pass Poormans, some steep sections in there. I was actually looking forward to the dirt section of the climb.

The legs felt a lil bit sluggish and took some time to bring them around. Just worked on putting down a solid tempo pace without blowing myself up. 9 miles of climbing, 2,900ft elevation at an avg grade of 6.2% to open the gates of the ride

Rolled up to Gold Hill, albeit slowly and comfortably. Grabbed some food and made my way down Lickskillet road, even on a mountain bike that thing was uber steep & almost ran it off the road at 45 mph on the dirt. 

Once off of Lickskillet, just rolled the pavement over to Heil Ranch. Must’ve passed at least 100 riders making their way up Lefthand, had to be some kind of group ride going on or something, it was just a long steady flow of riders making their way up. Heil Ranch was in great shape, I felt really good climbing up Wapiti and just ripped it coming down Wild Turkey and Picture Rock

Ripping Picture Rock was loads of fun and I was feeling great coming off that descent. Rolled over to Hall Ranch and climbed up via Antelope trail and hit the Nelson Loop, just outright shredded that descent and down the front side of Hall Ranch. I promptly flatted coming down it and I think for the record, that was my 3rd straight flat and they all occurred in the exact same spot? Just broke the bead on the tire and was able to hand pump it up and get rolling out 

Once out of Hall Ranch, made my way back up and over Picture Rock. Was feeling great, had been really staying on top of eating and hydrating nicely. Pushed it at a nice ‘Sweet Spot’ up the climb, was really just chasing a singlespeeder up the thing, but it was a nice motivator and caught him a few minutes up and just kept pushing the pace all the way up & through Wild Turkey and ready for the descent. No matter how tired I am, a ripper of a descent always seems to bring my legs back and fire up some added motivation

Once off the Wapiti descent it was onto the road, 2 miles up Lefthand and then up and over Olde Stage. It became just a fun game to chase down all the roadies on the climb with 60 miles in my legs. Was chuckling too myself as I passed each one & kinda made it fun, was feeling great and hit it hard at the end

 All in all was an awesome ride, definitely one my favorites and might have to head back and see if I can squash my time on the route. Felt great to finish strong for once!

Dbb-Blue Sky Sunday

Sunday, I rolled out to Devil’s Backbone & Blue Sky for some more mtb action. Put the right off till the afternoon to give the legs some more time to recover and to be able to spend some time with Bridget & Lake. Give the legs a little more time to recover, plus it had rained just a tad saturday eve. We ended up heading into Boulder and riding the Boulder Creek path together and had some fun.

Got home and headed over to Devil’s Backbone and just rolled it up the first steep climbs. Legs felt plenty stiff & just rolled up the climb to open the legs up. I put some gas down on the Indian summer climb as I knew it was short and wanted to open the legs up and see what I could do. I felt fairly good, but could tell I was super tired. Heart rate barely climbed into tempo and that really told me just needed to take it easy. I headed over to Blue sky and just wanted to rip that trail at speed. Dirt was so perfect. ‘Hero dirt’ is a bit of a cliche, but literally never needed to touch my brakes on the out and back. Tons of fun just to rip the trail. Back up and over Indian Summer Trail and just as I was nearing the top of the climb, quick little descent and flatted. Ended up having to tube it up, but was kinda pleasant to sit there in the late afternoon sun, quite, peaceful, no riders on the trails and just enjoy the time to myself.

The flat tire kinda took the wind out of my sails and frankly I was just pretty tired. Ended up just rolling it easy on the chunky rock and making may way out.

All together was a pretty fun weekend. I think I’ll do another one again this coming weekend as the Bailey Hundo is on the horizon!

We ended up driving through Big Thompson Canyon into Estes Park.  Along the way we stopped for some lunch along the river.  Decided it would be fun as hell to play in the stream, throw some rocks, climb on the Boulders and basically just be 6 year old boys.  It was a blast and we both had tons of fun.

Immediately as we rolled into Estes Park, there was a whole herd of Elk that crossed the road.  So it was super cool to see!

Once we got inside the Park, both of us were really awed by the vistas and the surrounding landscape.  I think Lake wanted to play on the rocks a bit more.  Don’t tell mom, but a few feet back is a big drop off!

My favorite picture from the day.  We played on this rock for a long time.  Even got to pretend it was the surface of the moon and bounce around and jump on it like were astronauts.

At the day’s end we went to the museum where Lake earned his Junior Ranger badge.  He was pretty dang excited for this and I was super proud of him for earning it and answering the Rangers questions.  I think now we have to go to a few more parks for him to earn more.

Nothing is better than hearing him say “Best Day Ever” when we got home.  Full pics here on facebook .  All in All, super fun day and glad that got to spend the day with Lake!

Saturday-FoCo Fun

Managed to get out Saturday with Sonya and Jeff of Team Green (Ergon)  Go there, they have some cool pictures too!.  They are both prepping for the Julian Death March next weekend in Cali and needed a good ride with some climbing.  Temps were up near 80 for the day and I made a mistake opting for just bottles.  I really loathe carrying a pack, especially when wanting to ride at a solid clip.  The Superfly only has 1 bottle mount and I guess I just need to suck it up and carry it.  It ended up costing me big time.  I played it conservative with the water bottles as I wasn’t totally sure where/when we would get water and by the time I needed it, I had barely drank half a bottle 2 hours into the ride and was already in the whole.  We scored some before the climb up Horsetooth, but damage was done.  I started to cramp a little bit coming up the long climb, hamstrings were just not happy at that point.

Rolling out along HorseTooth Reservoir

Climbing up the big Climb to the Towers

I’m on top of the World!!

Trails were in Primo conditions

We came off the Towers climb on a pretty crazy fast wide-open descent (was really fun and felt like descending the ol Bristol Mt. Ski Slopes).  Grabbed some more water and headed over to Blue Sky/Indian Summer.  Climbing up Indian summer was total suckage for me.  Legs had no go and just had to back off a bit and let the 2 go in hopes I’d have some thing to finish the ride off with.  Started to come around a bit rolling back home on Blue Sky and back out, but there wasn’t any need to go after that.  All together though was a great day of riding and had some awesome fun with the Green Gang and got to ride some new trails that haven’t ridden before.

Don’t want to sound like a downer on the ride, cause it was hellacious fun and we ripped the trails.  Had some good times and now I’m looking forward to pinning on my first number plate this coming weekend at the first Mountain States Cup of the season down in Colorado Springs at the Cheyenne Mt. Explosion.  Will be a good chance to get some high intensity work and just toe the line after a long off-season.  Still have tons of fitness to build and looking forward to a long race season!

Lesson learned this weekend though, in that heat and dryness need to drink alot more!  I slammed 2 x 32 oz of Cola on the way home and grabbed a full meal and was still 4 lbs under my morning starting weight!  Ouch, I know better than to do that for sure

Started off Saturday with a gorgeous morning ride with Lake at Eagle Trail.  We spun the dirt road to the trail head and then did a nice lil out and back.  Nice and easy hour ride with him and we covered 5 solid miles of terrain.  Having fun jumping off the rocks and learning to ride the bike

Using his new bar-ends to climb the road

Rolling across the Mesa

After the ride with Lake, I head over to Heil Ranch to pull off the Heil/Hall Double.  While rolling in the lot, hooked up with Matt-o, Batey & Weber and we ripped the trails.  Good to hook up with a group & rail some trails.  With the exception of Weber who was on an Epic 29er, we were all on Superfly 100′s and there’s a good reason for that, they are damn fast bikes! Trail were in primo condition and we rolled up and over to Hall, up Antelope, where Weber turned the screws to us before he departed.  Around the loop and back down the frontside.  Back up and over Picture Rock and ripped it coming down to the lot.  All in all a great day of riding.

Sunday

Sunday decided to go big & go up. Took a route I’ve not been up before. Headed out past Carter Lake, then up Big Thompson Canyon.  I was super hosed from Saturday’s ride.  But Sunday was mostly to just log some time in the saddle.  Rolled it as easy as I could as the next 30 miles was pretty much all climbing up to Estes and beyond (6200ft total on the ride).

Entering Big Thompson Canyon- The Cliff Walls were insane

The Switchbacks going up Devils Gulch

Dropping into Estes Park

Looking back at Estes Park as I Climb out

Climbing out on South St. Vrain

Rolling Past Long’s Peak

All together it was a great route.  I was completely blown and just used it as an experience to take in the sights.  All the pics are up on facebook here.  It was predominately a gorgeous day of riding, but damn it was freezing rolling up on the Peak to Peak.  I didn’t pack any gloves and my hands went numb more than once.  Thankfully was able to get off the road without going hypothermic.  Though descending for 22 miles didn’t do me any favors.  Thankfully it got warmer as I got down lower.  Rolled it to Lyons and limped it home.  Nicely wiped out and ready to reset and rest up for another great week of riding….

Girl Talk- All Day

We ventured up Sunshine Canyon, down Poorman rd and 4 mile making our way up Magnolia road.  It was a climb that I’d never done before, but kinda always wanted to do.  Definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Great view of the Valley Below

It definitely didn’t disappoint.  It was uber steep in the beginning, loaded with switchbacks (enough so that some silly texan ended up in the guardrail.  Sorry buddy but 3 chicks and a skinny dude aren’t gonna push you out!).  At that point Lindsay and Caitlyn turned around and headed back while Sonya and I trudged on to Peak to Peak.

It was about here that I lost all feeling in my digits, but the views of the High Peaks were worth it!

We hit the dirt section where it was nice and rolling over the top.  Temps started to drop a bit and the winds were apocalyptic.  I was a little under prepared and had some thing gloves on, thus when we stopped to flip it at Peak to Peak, I suffered from the dreaded ‘fire-hands’.  I was kinda actually thankful though, as I knew as soon as got them my hands would be warm.  But it was a bit painful and gut wrenching, I survived though and had warm hands for the descent back to town.

All Smiles with the Tailwinds!

We hit town and I dropped Looney off and rolled it for another hour home to Longmont.  In the sunshine with the gloves off!!

Magnolia 7% for over an hour…. like to hit it in the summer with the road bike, at least for a kick ass descent

Sunday

Sunday was gorgeously warm day.  But the winds were insane.  I couldn’t get out till later and they were at 20+ mph sustained and 45 mph gusts.  Made me feel the prior days fatigue twice as much.  Grinding away into the headwind.  I had planned to go up again.  Headed up Lefthand Canyon, but when I was doing 1.5mph as hard as I could go uphill due to the insane gusts, I flipped it.  Headed up over Olde Stage and Lee Hill.  I promptly broke my chain climbing up Lee Hill on the switchback.  I managed not to crash as I was up and out of the saddle pushing it pretty hard.  I think it’s all the mtb chains I’ve snapped, but this was my first road chain.  Something has been ingrained in my head to que on that sound and let off the gas so I don’t crush my knee or nuts on the stem.  I spent some time on the side of the road fixing the chain and let’s just say it definitely wasn’t PG-13.  Finally got it rolling, made it up over Lee Hill and rolled it back to Longmont.  Short a lil bit of time, but glad to have escaped the wind and not have ended up in a ditch!

Gonna be a killer week of warm riding, hoping the trails are rideable by the end of the week!

If you’ve not seen on twitter/facebook, found a nice home in Longmont!!  Super excited

Nice Lil duplex, 4 bedrooms, huge kitchen, fenced in backyard and a big ol park next door!  Can’t wait to start the move in process here in a few weeks.

I have been training and riding a bunch.  I’ve been in the gym a bunch gettting pumped up.  But it’s not your typical gym, it’s the Boulder rec center.  No meatheads, but there is older dudes and the issue with older dudes is…. well see the graphics below

Young guys keep to themselves, get in and get out…

It’s pretty much exactly like above in the locker room with the older dudes……  I wear blinders in the locker room.

Been doing a bunch of mountain biking.  Lots of miles on the dirt.  It’s perfect out there right now.  Bone freakin dry and rippingly fast.  I love the new Superfly 100 and keeping on tearing up the trails is the only thing to do.  I have hit the road a bit, but riding the road bike right now is like mowing the lawn.  You can’t really skip it, just something you have to do.

Saturday and Sunday I was at Heil & Hall Ranch.  Saturday was a nice short one and felt good.  Sunday I decided to pull off the Heil/Hall double.  I was vastly underprepared!!  Ran out of water and ran out of food and just massively bonked so freakin hard.  I pretty much crawled it back up and over Heil and the only reason I was moving fast was cause it was dusk and I was afraid of being eaten by a mountain lion!  No joke, that time of dusk is mountain lion eating time!

The fun part definitely was ripping down Wapiti Trail in the dark, nothing like dodging wheel exploding/bust a shin if you hit em big-ass rocks in the dark!  Maybe next time I’ll do it in the daylight, maybe again this weekend!

With the chance to hit some trails and have some fun and the nice weather, August/September is some of the best time to ride in Naples. I headed down this past Thursday night, but forgot my lights, DOH! Managed to rip up Parish Hill, rip through Hi-Tor and down the DEC in about 50 minutes, plenty of daylight. But not enough to do it all again. So I did some hill repeats on Parish Hill in the dark. Want to really sharpen your skills? Descend a dirt road at 35mph in the pitch black, that will give you some confidence

This past Saturday, headed back down to get what I was really looking for. A good 4 hour tear with some good climbing. Felt great to rip the trails and have some fun

All in all was a great day of riding. Going to head back out there tonight (with my lights and get some more ripping in! Then this weekend, gonna take the Lake monster down to Windham to see the World Cup Finals!! First time World Cup in the US in 5 years, and it looks like they have the finals for 3 more years. He’s super pumped (as am I) to see Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter mix it up Live! It’s been super cool to watch the races on Freecaster.tv with him in the am, but will be even cooler to watch in person!

Now for the short and pissed off version.
Managed 5th overall and 3rd age at the Singletrack stampede. Broke my chain on the 1st lap & then next lap, busted up my front derailleur. After a few adjustments, was forced to stay in the small ring. So congrats to J Bixby who won by a few minutes, while I spent triple his advantage on the side of the trail.

Saturday was 126 miles on the road bike with Brendan, Staffo and Barney. Hosed completely after that ride. Brendan broke a shift cable in Italy Valley and drove it 18+ miles in the 53×12. I was gassed a bit from the race still and when we got to CDGA decided to roll the last 30 miles home. Frick, my legs were cooked after that ride.

Last night was Farmall #2. Was sitting pretty till I burped a tire at the end of the 2nd lap. Was dumfounded for a second, the realized there was a floor pump in the trailer as I was right near the finish line. Rolled over and pumped it up. Had fallen into about 6/7th place. Lost pretty close to a full minute on that. Damn near impossible to make up on that course. Drilled it the next few laps and brought the gap down to under 30 secs (EDIT: gap to 2nd place not 1st) and made my way up into 3rd. I wasn’t gonna close 30 secs on the final lap, so kinda sat up a bit. Was a little frustrated at my luck again, but oh well that will happen. All part of racing.

Next week is Farmall #3. Gonna be a shootout for the overall! Then no races till Shenandoah 100!

Back to bike racing:

After the 24 hour, decided to don my Minerva Design kit and head over and hit up the GVCC Crit.  Legs were still a bit cooked, but managed to jump in and stay in the main break for 30 minutes or so out of 40.  Pack pulled us back in, was able to work my way to the front and challenge for the sprint.  Coming up the hill, had a solid jump, 2nd place was starting to move up.  Dropped another gear and still had some in the tank, and then ‘schlecked’ it as the chain jumped on the cassette.  Sat up as I saw Zito had 2nd wrapped up, then realized I still had a bit to go and raced to the line for 3rd, but was nipped and will settle for 4th.  Been a while since I earned some GVCC points but was super fun to race.

This past weekend went out and did a pretty good size ride from home around Canadaigua Lake.

Great View around that lake for sure. I slogged and suffered like hell on the ride as I didn’t get much sleep the night before, but still managed a pretty solid ride.

Farmall XC Summer Series #1

Farmall Summer series kicked off this past tuesday night.  Good to get back in the flow and get back to some hard racing again.  Managed to botch my start and mis my pedal and dropped into 4th, gasp!  I pushed my way up to 3rd and then followed Staffo into the woods in 2nd place.  He was ripping it up the climbs, but I fought the good fight, and even though he got a slight gap out of the woods, I managed to pull him back in before the end of the lap.  A hard charging Tim Pilato was hot on my heels and we managed to both get past Staffo around the start of the 3rd lap.  Got some separation from Tim after a few laps and held a steady gap to the line for the W!

But enough about the racing!  It’s about the post-ride I did with Lake!

Right after this, we were ripping down the grass, and at high speed, just before the 180 turn, it gets a bit choppy. Well, he grapped a wee bit too much front brake and did a massive high speed endo. Hit the ground face first, and the bike slammed him hard in the back of the head. I think if he did have any teeth he would have lost em in this crash! After a few minutes of tears (I think I would have cried had I crashed that hard), he was back on the bike and ripping it

Up this weekend is Sprague Brook: Singletrack Stampede! Looking forward to this one, gonna be a ton of fun!