Fuck the Leadville 100

Lifetime Fitness and everyone else associated with the race. Almost get hit by a car twice on my way to watch the start of the BIKE race which was a whole mile away from my house. Then to beat that you go out to get a bite to eat and all of the prices of been hugely marked up. Anyway, all was good despite the fact. Go to clinic for a few hours and on the way home I figured I would ride up 6th street and watch some finishers come in as I pedaled the few blocks up. This is where shit got stupid. Pedaling up the course, which is a two lane road by the way and i start getting yelled out for being on the course. Seriously, I can't ride on the road? Go to turn around while on my bike and continue to get screamed at to get off of the course when a cop on a bike is yelling and trying to get me off of my bike. What the fuck? Fuck it, I'm going to the house and refuse to go back to town today. Absolutely absurd.

Never been a fan of the race, but figured I would do the leadman series since I live in town. Not now. I've never been so disrespected on a bicycle, ever. Fuck the Leadville 100 and all the douche bags putting it on!

Day of the passes!

Six of them to be exact. A day during the week popped up free and with no rain in the forecast I thought it was time for a nice big-ish loop. Had thought I would leave before sunrise from the house and head towards the CT for a jaunt to Copper than back to pb via the main road.

It didn't take long for the schedule to change. Decided to sleep in so didn't leave the house 'till a little after 7. Wasn't hungry so I skipped b-fast, grabbed a handful of mike-n-ices and a handful of peanut m&m's and threw them in the bag. Was only planning on a 50-ish mile ride so that should be plenty of food, right.

Hit 24 over to waltz ditch road and picked up the ct.for the trek over to copper Mtn. Smooth and fast until the climb out of camp hale up to kokamo pass. Four miles and a little over 3000' of climbing. It finally got easy once I got above tree line. A little after the pass I hit the high point of the day, around 12200' then easy sailing over to searle pass, the dropped down towards copper. Saw a few female riders rocking it so struck up a conversation and I said I wasn't looking forward to the road ride back to pb, when they chimed in you should do this loop of up the bike path to right below vail pass, hit a trail on the left, then up to ptarmigan road, over the pass and back down to camp hale. This was definitely more than I had anticipated but I liked the idea of lots more trail and no main road. We parted ways and away I went. The riding was fairly easy until I got to ptarmigan road and had to walk a bit. The down side was long and fast and did I say long. Was feeling good until I started climbing back up to Tennessee pass. Stopped and ate the rest of my snacks and knew as long as I could make it to the top the trail fairies had a tote full of goodies waiting for me. Slow movig until I hit the food cache where I had a nice cold coca-cola. Five minutes later I was rolling on at a nice little clip. Quick spin down the road and back at the house in 9 hours after 70 miles and somewhere between 8000 and 9000' of climbing and crossing six Mtn passes. All on about 500 calories, maybe 50 mike-n-ices and 20 m&m's. The biggest ride I have had in quite a while and it felt awesome. Can't wAit to get out and do it again.

Such a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky for any of it. Started out around 37 degrees when I left the house and got hot. Probably in the mid 60's when I got home. One of the most beautiful days we have had in weeks. So glad I got to pedal my bicycle all day in it.

Oh yeah, the Leadville 100 is tomorrow and it's cool and all, but doesn't have anything compared to what I did today. peace

Fall is in the air

and I am luvin' it. High's in the 50's for the last several days. Absolutely beautiful! I recently found out that if you don't ride your bike you get slow. Not crazy slow but slower than I can remember being, in quite a while. Arms all healed up, pedaling as much as I feel like and enjoying the coastie bits of my shiny I-9's. No real plan, just coasting along and enjoying every minute of it.

Gonna meet up with csakany in two weeks to do the last few miles of the CT. Will start outside of Salida and finish in Durango. Should take us 4-ish days and should be a blast. Been on very little of the trail in that part of the state, the views and riding are supposed to be phenomenal!

Postponed the build date on the wolfie, had some unexpected expenses come up so put it on hold. The cool thing about that is Fred, of wolfhound, told me to give him a shout when I am ready and will be next in line. So rad!!! That should allow me to get some winter gear, ski stuff, before the white stuff starts falling and have a bike ready to roll for the spring time. This should help with the timing associated with the seasonal changes.

The Leadville 100 is Saturday, so plan on watching lots of people at the start line take off and maybe head to to power line for the climb or may just go for a sweet ride instead. Oh yeah, Lance bailed on it this year according to velo news, but there should still be a pretty strong group of riders showing up. Good times. Peace

Officially On Deck!

Got a good after work pedal in today and the arm felt fantastic. Rippin' it on the old Vicious, felt so good. It feels good to just pedal as fast as you can. Sometimes I forget how nice and soothing it really is. Should be able to get in a few more rides in over the next few days. Lookin' forward to it.

Got home to some good news, Fred, of Wolfhound Cycles, let me know that the dude in front of me is dragging his feet and I may be able to take his spot in the build line. May be starting on the new wolfie in about two weeks. Can't wait. I suppose that is my reason to pedal, knowing that I WILL have a new bike before the riding season is over. Will find out for sure in the next week. My new I-9's should be here the first of the week. It's about time..

Summer Daze!!!

All kinds of shit has been going on, with emphasis on shit. Only had 3 BIG rides planned for the summer and I missed all of them. Good times, for sure. Weather knocked one out, fatigue curtailed the second and a broken radius took out the third. Broke my left arm the day before spikefesst, but 11 days out and the arm is doing awesome. Daily acu tx's and lots of herbs and I am back at it. Been on the bike the last few days with no real discomfort, just have to wear a brace when doing any activity. Been doing lots of stuff that doesn't involve the bike. It's been pretty nice.

Finally got a coastie device on the vicious and just got the word that my new wheels are finally ready to ship, three months after ordering them. Better late than never I suppose. Hopefully next week those sexy bits will be on the vicious and rolling smoothely.

The wolfie's build time should be coming up in August or September and I just had the last freakout about how she'll be built up. Had switched from the original plan, rigid, to go with a 5" fork option, but just found out the fork I wanted doesn't really exist, yet. So back to the original plan of a non-suspension adjusted rigid front end. Light, fast and bombproof will be the name of the game. And yes, she's gonna be sexy. Sorry to bring this subject back up, it's just that the time is getting near and I am ready.

My new i-pad should be here today so post will be more frequent again and I may even have a camera soon. Crazy, I know. But it's time to share some of the sights that I have been experiencing. Until next time, peace.

Slackin'

The last month kicked my ass! Worked almost the whole month without a day off between doing fire mitigation in Evergreen and rocking the clinic here at home creates one tired little man. Yesterday was my first day off in almost 30 days and I had plans to head to Salida for Don's ride. Been trying to get down there for this ride for the last few years, but alas I did not make it, again! After getting out for a spin at dusk on sat., I realized that my legs were not up to a fast 100 miles. So I opted to stay in town, go for a hike and relax for most of the day. Hiked up to 13,000'+ and enjoyed the views. No trails, just walking through the forest 'til topping out well above treeline. Sitting there enjoying the morning sun when along the ridge comes a runner. Again, no trails and no easy way to get where I was and a dude is just running along. I love this aspect of Leadville. People are always out and about, no matter where you are. So sweet.

Spikefest! is coming along this weekend. Had planned on doing the 110 miler, but that's not gonna happen. May do the 85 miler or may not. I may not even ride, just camp for friday night then head back home to dig some trail. I love riding bikes, it's just that my body is beat down and I'm not real motivated to pedal when I could spend my free time sleeping.

All will work itself out, riding wise. Still riding strong, just ready to be riding the new steed. Hopefully one day that will happen and preferably sooner rather than later. peace

Spring has Sprung

in the high country! The aspens are blooming, the trails are dry and the days are long. I absolutely love this time of year. Cool in the morning and getting up in the upper 60's during the day. Great days for playing in the mountains. Another week or so and everything will be green and summer will have arrived. Good times! Now, go ride and enjoy the sunshine. peace.