Another Race

The ICUP at Sundance was last weekend, in case anyone that reads this wasn't there. Jamie and Brennen decided to stay home. Not that I blame her for not wanting to come. Would you want to stand around for hours occasionally seeing your significant other ride by? Didn't think so. Besides, Grandma and Grandma (grandpa) came out. So Brennen had way more fun with them.

I did better than last year. So guess I'm still improving? Maybe it's the coaching? Maybe the fast guys didn't show up? I passed a couple of spent riders on Archies on the first lap and caught up with Chad. He and I spent the rest of the race working together to pick off anyone we could see in our category. If you call it a strategy it worked. I brought us onto forth places wheel on the final climb of the last lap. The three of us hit the bottom of the road together, shared a glance to make sure we were all ready. Then no more team work. I made about twenty yards before my quads both cramped. Hours of riding only to blow the race in the last minutes. I knew it was coming. The pace we were pushing combined with the limited refueling opportunities, it was only a matter of time before I ran out of gas.

Unfortunately you can't call timeout take a drink and rest for a few minutes. Wouldn't that be an interesting twist? Everyone stop where ever you are and take five. I like it the way it is.

Karl snapped this at the finish line.

I couldn't decide if I should laugh or cry. But doesn't the new kit look good?

How do you measure a workout?

I used to measure my workout by how difficult it was to climb the three flights of stairs back to my desk. Today's ride was nothing out the ordinary. Except the sun was shining, it wasn't windy and I had really good time!

I brought my mountain bike and headed up Squaw Peak, pealed off on to the dirt by the paintball range then up to the BST. The trail conditions were perfect, I even had a couple of "puker" moments descending the BST toward the park. I had so much fun going down I turned around at the bottom and went back up and down to the paintball range. I was having shifting issues that couldn't be resolve bouncing around on the single track and thought the rest of Squaw Peak would be a great opportunity to fix the problem. As I approached the gate the Forest Service was there taking it down. I asked if they would leave it up for a couple more weeks. They didn't respond. Just before the big turn, about half way, two cars came flying by... I opted for the dirt again and took the sketchy single track down to the BST and over to the cemetery. Great ride!

The stairs weren't a bad climb at all. I was feeling like I should have gone harder or longer. I went downstairs to meeting about 45 minutes later and almost fell. I think I did all right.

May is looking much better than April.

New Month

I'm so glad to have April over. Nothing against that month, just the consecutive strings of shity weather. I was supposed to be training for the heck-tick May races. I probably only road my bike a dozen times. I did time-trail the White Rim, but one long ride doesn't make up for a month of consecutive riding. My yard is a disaster, except the grass. With the extra rain my lawn is thick and green. Good thing I bought a riding mower and trailer to take care of the waste. Jamie and I decided to put cement curbing around the back yard. Now I need to bring in a few tons of playground bark and gravel. Not mention killing the grass I worked so hard to get to grow. It really makes me feel bad! Because we put the curbing in after the lawn they had to cut out a path which left small sections of grass in the rocks and bark. All attempts at spraying the leftovers and other weeds have failed. Funny thing, weeds germinate and thrive in colder temperatures, yet sprays don't work unless the it's warm. Damn weeds!

Enough complaining. It's May, a new month with more opportunities to ride my bike and play in the yard. Maybe Brennen and I can finally ride our bikes to the park.