No Koppenberg for You!

I put my faith in promoters, officials, and others when it comes to holding a race or postponing it. Most of the time they make the right decision and if something seems questionable you can probably find an explanation linked to money. It was cold, wet, and relatively miserable Sunday morning when I took Dempsey out for his morning walk and I won't lie . . . I wasn't really looking forward to an "epic" race, created by conditions. I was nowhere near the course but here are a couple pictures of a bike that was.


The decision hit the ACA website at 8:07, just about the time I was on my second cup of coffee. I called the troops to get plan B into action, Dim Sum at Super Star Asian. Kevin, Matt, Pinkerton, Sara, Kendall, Neven, Deb, Doug, Trina, and Ivy met over at SSA for round after round of dumplings, buns, and other offerings we couldn't always identify, nor could the wait staff clarify in English. There were custardy things, shrimpy things, veggie things, chicken feet (which we politely declined) most of which were delicious, all of which were cheap. We were finishing up as others were just getting started and by noon, there were people hanging out the door waiting for a seat.

Post Dim Sum, Matt, Jafar, Patrick and I rode down to Chatfield to meet up with Mike, Dennis, and others for a little climbing. I figured I might as well treat it like race day still and hang on to Mike's wheel as long as possible heading up High Grade.
Sure they look calm, peaceful and friendly all smurfed up in their new kits, but Mike and Dennis are otherworldly when it comes to climbing. The pace was innocent enough as we rolled out from Mike's house. It felt fast going up Deer Creek and then even faster going up High Grade. I backed off when we hit the first of the switchbacks and tried to recover. I got them back in sight at the shop at Critchell and finally caught them when the eased up towards the top. Based on the times showing on the computer when we left the house and when we got to the top it took us about 55 minutes to get to the top, my previous best was 58 minutes.

I'm sure racing would have been tougher, but fighting to keep shrimp dumplings down and the pace up made for a good day on the bike.

Dempsey's Day

The sun was shining, it was warm enough for shorts and bench sitting in Cherry Creek North. Nothing like getting some Whole Foods snacks and kicking back at the corner of Second Ave. and Clayton St. watching a subset of the world go by. I have decided this corner is the mostly likely place to see a car accident between two expensive vehicles piloted by under qualified drivers.

Dempsey got in on the tail end of the snacking, daintily nibbling the remaining apple off of the core. He didn't catch too much hand in the process and showed an amazing amount of patience with the only reward being some apple mush.


Dude, not in public . . .


After his day on the town, he got the spa treatment at home. If you've ever wondered what he looks like with a mohawk, now you know.


The forecast for tomorrow now shows a 30-40% chance of rain, depending on what your source is. I'm not buying it and race preparation continues. After Carolina finishes dismantling Louisville, I'll finish pack the race bag with every piece of clothing I own so I can dress for whatever conditions I'm treated to tomorrow.

Mmmm . . . Nuts!

Again I fall victim to the impulse purchase and the lure of the woot-off. I hear Fiddyment Farms cranks out some quality pistachios, larger and more flavorful than what you end up with at the grocery store or other bulk venues. Admire now, they'll be gone in short order.


We hit the park yesterday after getting Pinkerton set up on my old Airborne TT bike, looking like the goon squad, all aero-geeked out, the only thing missing were some skin suits and aero helmets. Surprisingly little had to be changed on the bike to get Pinkerton comfy and aero. We moved the elbow pads in because he has no shoulders and tilted the seat up a hair, because that's just how he rolls. Time will tell, but if he doesn't do well at Tour of the Gila, it isn't my fault.

In college hoops excitement, Carolina put on another clinic in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, taking apart Washington State like a turkey on Thanksgiving day. The game tomorrow against Louisville should actually be a good game. I don't expect a blowout as reflected in their 20+ point average margin of victory in the early rounds.

Yup

They were right about it being windy yesterday afternoon. I was greeted by the wind and blowing debris as soon as I got to the not Denver, but not yet Boulder area. Hutchison and I suited up and headed out for a quick recon mission to see what the course for Sunday was looking like. The brief report says the Kopp is still there and bring the crappy wheels. While the condition of the road is ok, if it is windy I plan on riding through anything and everything while fighting to stay on the wheel in front of me. The wind has potential to shatter this race in a hurry. As we came around the first bend after getting onto the dirt road we pretty much came to a standstill in the wind. There is really nowhere to hide, fun.

I set up the bike shop in the living room last night and got the bars from the old bike switched over to the new bike and gave them a fresh wrap with some dark grey bar tape. I need to fire up the gluing operation again and glue up the remaining wheels and tires, just lying around in wait. Having fully recovered from exposure to the fumes last time, I think I am ready for another go.

If it doesn't start raining/snowing this afternoon I'm planning to go play on the TT bike again, just a nice easy spin at the park. Pinkerton is coming over to get fit on my old TT bike so he can use it for Tour of the Gila. People keep asking me if I want to go to that one . . . uh, no thanks, I'll keep it local.

Well That's Cool

Getting a new phone with a new carrier always leaves you with your old phone sitting around somewhat uselessly. There has always been the option of donating it to some charity that provides cell phones for the homeless (OK it isn't really that bad), but I'd rather have cold, hard cash. I found the link for Second Rotation on some page, I can't remember where, but I decided to check it out.

I did some reading, checked out some reviews, and found out, lo and behold, that there is a market for this stuff. Second Rotation takes in used electronics, refurbs them as necessary and resells them. When they can't release the product back out into the wild, they recycle it appropriately. Pretty cool, especially when I end up with $74 for something I would have had no idea what to do with otherwise.

Ah . . . springtime . . . even though everybody I know has recently ended a relationship or two, love is in the air, the cycle continues, at least according to the chalk arrow trail I followed with Dempsey through the park this morning. Apparently somebody wants to go to the prom with Erin, what do you say Erin? Pictures to follow if the heartless goons don't get to the message first.

I am planning to hit the Koppenberg course this afternoon with Pinkerton and Hutchison. The forecast for the weekend is getting worse, or better depending on how you look at it. Chances are improving for cold, windy, wet, muddy pain.

Sleeping In

I figured out this amazing trick for getting a extra sleep. Just forget to set your alarm, kick back, and rake in the zzz's! Sure there is added stress when you figure out you only have 30 minutes to take out the dog, shower, and get ready to work, but I got an extra hour of sleep damnit!

I got to work to find out that our server which went down a little over a week ago could not be saved and the data was lost. New job description pending but it will be something on the order of "data entry monkey" as we have to get our bids put back together from what paper copies we have and get them out the door.

Speaking of out the door, it is official, I am going to be racing Sunday come hell or high water, my registration went out in the mail this morning. Hell will likely be in the version of high wind, the kind that blows small to medium sized, untethered objects around. High water is becoming more likely as the week progresses. I figure the more adverse the conditions, the better off I'll be. Most cyclists don't weigh 180 lbs . . . advantage Seth.

The team came through yet again with another set of race wheels for the season, the arsenal will consist of the road racing wheels:




And the time trial wheels:




Between these and the wheels I have currently, I should have just about every race condition covered. All that's left is doing the gear justice!

Where's the Camera?

It is never in your pocket when you really need it. Somebody managed to hit one of the pedestrian lights on Pearl St. sometime between last night and this morning. The metal post looks to have folded over nicely without damaging the wiring within and the globe cushioned the blow leaving the bulb intact. It was a confusing site walking down the street this morning and seeing the bright glow of a sodium halide bulb at my feet.

I finally made it out to ride yesterday afternoon with Joe Brenner and his new team bike. It is shiny and really light according to the rough guess-timation on the bathroom scale (seth plus bike - seth = bike), it came in at 15.6 lbs. We headed west and up quickly before his family, Easter obligations. The ride looked a little something like this. It was nice with the holiday, there was little to no traffic on the roads even in town.

Deb and I celebrated Easter with the best that Sushi Den had to offer. They were of course still relatively crowded despite the holiday.

This week is the first lead up to racing week for me. I plan on racing this coming Sunday, should be amusing, especially if there is nothing going on out of town. Sounds like this weekend was fast like City Park was a couple weekends ago.

Scary

It is never fun seeing the aftermath of a crash, especially when it is somebody you know. Down at Chatfield Worlds on Saturday, Simon went down hard on the run in to the spot where everybody sprints. I was well off the back by that point, having done my best to get it strung out and not so bunched up. Good news is that he is OK beyond the concussion, broken collarbone, bruising, and significant amounts of road rash. Unfortunately, his existing brain damage was not reversed as he was quick to lament the fact that he'd be missing out on Koppenberg when he called me after getting released from the ER. Heal quickly!

The ride yesterday was pretty much the same as the past few Saturdays. I have an inability to leave the house on time and end up putting in a 45 minute time trial effort down to the group ride, flog myself on the group ride, and then head uphill until I decide I am ready to go home. It looks a little something like this on the map, with approximately 4207' of climbing total. I planned on riding up and over Shadow Mountain to Evergreen, but ran into some old teammates who were on their way down from the top of High Grade and said it was ridiculously cold and snowing. That would be a violation of my riding rules which state it has to be 40 degrees at least.

A few of us decided to hit the movies last night to see The Bank Job at the new Landmark Theater down in Greenwood Village. That place is my new favorite movie theater. They have a bar in the lobby, intelligent films on the big screen, and "complementary" popcorn and drinks. It is a genius idea on their part, charging in advance for the popcorn and soda. It is cheaper than the major movie theaters and they don't have to have somebody staffing a concessions counter. They pay for that person by offering VIP seating for $14 and having the concessions cater to your every snacking need.

While waiting for the temperature to come up to a comfortable riding range this morning, I decided to be a little bit handy. The switches in the bathroom for the lights and exhaust fan have been loose since the work was done originally by a bunch of hacks. They didn't bring the switch box out to the proper level so there was nothing supporting the switch. I did some carving on a plastic "mud ring" and viola, the switch is solid!

I also did some caulking, changed some light bulbs, and fixed the laptop (the video chip is on a ball grid array that comes loose about every nine months causing the monitor to flicker and fade, you can find the details of the fix on the internet, but it involves exposing the guts of the computer and a 1000 degree heat gun).

Ride time!

Tourney Time!

Sure the calendar says it is Friday, but the weekend doesn't start for another eight hours. What will I do to kill time until the end of the day? Hmmm . . . I have a vested interest in watching some of these early games because of the office pool we have going here.

Instead of the traditional bracket picking, our company goes for the random. Each person pays their entry and gets a number. Numbers are picked out of a hat and matched up with seeds for each region of the bracket. I was lucky enough to draw Wisconsin, Oral Roberts, American and Texas A&M. Hmm, an average seed of 10th, I don't think I'll be around very long for this one.

I was very excited to see Duke almost lose last night. That would have been a great first round upset. As long as Carolina wins the whole thing, I'll be happy. That shouldn't be too much to ask.

There is racing again that I will not be participating in, but next weekend it is on, I promise.

Moonset

I happened to catch this one when looking out the back window to see what it looked like outside before taking the dog for his walk. The view with the naked eye was a little more impressive as the moon turned a deeper shade of orange as it set behind the mountains. Oh yeah, the Denver International Auto Show is coming.



Yesterday was the first longer ride on the new time trial bike. I rode with Pinkerton the Elder, Pinkerton the Younger, and Kendall out to Lookout, up, down and home. You can check out the full route here (see Dad, I told you it would be "useful and enriching")

Pushing the 55x19 uphill in TT position is just about as hard as it sounds and the legs feel a little trashed this morning. Good thing today is active recovery at the park day. Too bad it is supposed to be a Colorado spring day which means warm, but windy. I'll do some wind tunnel "testing" . . . yeah, I'll be that tool at the park on the full time trial setup including the disc and tri-spoke. I need to make sure my glue job is acceptable prior to the start of the Cherry Creek Time Trial Series.

Meridian Take-1

Yesterday afternoon marked my return to the oft maligned, bandit training "race" known as Meridian. There are potholes, expansion joints, traffic lights that always seem to change as you approach, suburbanites leaving work, as well as an occasional rider who is nothing less than a threat to themselves and others.

It seems like it takes much longer to get ready to leave the house these days and I feel like I have to time trial my way to group rides in fear of getting there late. I forgot I had to switch brake pads on the new bike because it came with carbon specific pads for the new wheels and I like being able to stop when I have to. I walked the dog, switched pads as quickly as possible, got dressed, and got out the door with about an hour to get from my house to Meridian.

The new bike is great! It is pretty much the same geometry wise as the old bike so far as I can tell, but the carbon layup is slightly different resulting in the low weight previously mentioned and stiffness in all the places where stiffness is good.

I made it down to Meridian in about 45 minutes which left me enough time to dump my stuff in Kendall's car (riding with a messenger bag is cool and all) and notice how much windier it had gotten.

My MO for Meridian is to attack, recover, and repeat. I have no desire to sit in. People are sometimes squirrelly and it is a training ride, might as well get as much out of it as I can. I sat in for lap one and then rolled off the front with Kendall to another pair slightly up the road, nothing doing. I gave it another go on lap three and found myself alone with a pretty good gap but a lot of wind. I kept up the effort, trying to maintain the gap but no blow up in the hopes that somebody would bridge. After a lap or so, I was joined by two more and we got to work. I tried to make my pulls as big as possible for the sake of staying away and because you get out what you put in. By the end we had about a half a lap gap. I tried to dump the others prior to the finish, but that didn't work so much and I didn't have enough left to come around, no intergalactic cycling championship points for me.

Pinkerton and I headed out for some much needed food at Damascus Grill in Littleton with a stop at Stevenson Porsche to visit the Brenner and see what kinds of crazy cars they had sitting around. Even with the onset of darkness towards the end of the ride, it was preferable to sitting on the trainer.

If You've Got It

Since getting a new phone and what a smart phone it is, I have been poking around to see what is out there to make use of the capabilities the device has built into it. One of the features that seems like it would be very handy is the GPS receiver.

There is a piece of software out there called GPSed that makes use of the data collected by the receiver and plots routes straight to Google Maps. There are a couple of issues with the application (I'm pretty sure I never hit 65 kph this morning), but it is also a free beta right now. Check out the morning walk with the dog.

I need to read up on the photo pinning features. Apparently you can put pictures on your map with geotags so you know exactly where the photo was taken. Is any of this really necessary or useful? Sort of . . . I'll try it out today and leave the application running in the background to see how quickly the battery gets used up. If all works well, I'll probably use it to map rides for kicks, not because I should, but because I can.

In other technology . . . I read recently about an SD card that has Wi-Fi built in, on board. I know SD is "huge" compared to the MicroSD format, but the amount of stuff shoved in/on this device is incredible. Nothing like being able to get your pictures from your digital camera to your computer without having to find cables, etc.

Rumor has it a few of us are going to Meridian tonight to get in some race pace training. That should be amusing.

Ridin'

The new ride is in and ready to go, I haven't figured out how to get a bike rack on it. Probably not a good idea anyways, I could see bikes flying off the roof under heavy acceleration.

So you wonder what a car with an MSRP of $440,000 gets you? Let's take a closer look inside, ooooooh.

Everything about the vehicle is engineered to the extreme, no space is wasted and form follows function everywhere you look. The tail end sort of looks like a car, what's under the "hood"?

I think that is an engine, it sounded like a race car. I failed to get the audio recording on the phone, but it probably wouldn't do it justice anyways.

That car fits into the category of need is not a factor. Of course nobody needs a street legal race car, but when you have the money to throw around, why not treat yourself every once in a while. Now where did I put that $2.8 billion trust fund?

Sorry I got distracted, the new ride is in. It comes pretty close to levitating on its own without the hook of the scale holding it up. Look closely and notice that it is a complete bike, pedals, computer, bottle cages, etc.

The scale was calibrated and set to 0.00 prior to putting the bike up for the official weigh in.

Thanks to the team and the shop for getting me set up for the year. The new wheels are the nicest I have ever had for racing. I will probably reglue the tires since the "extreme" gluing tape still allows for significant movement of the tire laterally.

Despite the grim forecast for the weekend, I made it out for Chatfield Worlds on Saturday, with a quick, but cold trip up and down High Grade after. I brought the old Fuji out for the festivities since the Ibis was in the shop having parts swapped over. As soon as the weather clears up, I'll take the new Ibis out for its inaugural ride.

Given a horrible forecast for Sunday in town, I decided to head up the hill with Chad to make use of some free passes Sprint was nice enough to send me for Vail. Supposedly they got 20" of new snow over the past few days. The mountain was pretty crowded and new snow skied off for the most part, but it was still a good time.

We left Denver just after 6:00 (I thought of Kevin's early morning rides heading up into the hills in the dark) and made it to Vail without incident and with plenty of time to get coffee before catching the first lift up the mountain. Here's the view from the car.


"Town" went from deserted to packed in a matter of about 10 minutes as everybody poured out of cars, hotels, condos, etc. to catch the gondola.


I was impressed with Chad's skiing ability given that he started this year and has never had a lesson. When he learns about his edges and how to really use them, he'll be quite a skier. He also rides the lift pretty well.

Early in the day skies were blue and the view down the valley was pretty nice.

After lunch, the wind picked up and the clouds started rolling in making for flat light conditions and not as much fun.


We got a pretty solid day in before packing up our stuff and heading back towards Denver. Hutchison called mid afternoon and said nobody was at the cross race for the day and instead of racing against one other guy in the open "race" he packed it in and headed home as well.

Here we are again, Monday, happy St. Pat's . . . now where's my green beer?

For the Birds

There were a few brief moments this morning, before the usual background noise kicked in and drowned the natural world out, where for the first time I could hear the twittering of birds. It was much warmer this morning than mornings past, to the point where I didn't notice the cold when I took off my glove to pick up Dempsey's morning offerings.

This weekend I am going to try something different, on Sunday I'm going snowboarding instead of riding my bike. The weather in town is iffy at best with the bulk of craptacular forecasting (read that as you will) pinning the inclement tail on Sunday. The plan is to make use of as many of the free passes (four, count them four) at Vail as possible, get in a good, solid half plus day on the slopes before hitting the cross race in Eagle. Cross race?!? In March?!? You betcha, complements of the guys at Cult Cross. If these guys put the effort in, shouldn't we? This give me the perfect excuse to pack up the Miller Highlife grill, load up the cooler (ice obviously not required, just crack the lid) and squeeze in one last cyclocross hurrah before the road season takes over. Who else wants in?

Pictures to follow for sure on this one . . .

Impulse Buying

The title isn't really accurate on this one, I have had plans for a while to buy a new vacuum cleaner, oooooooooh . . . it was more just a matter of timing. As previous mentioned I check on Woot as part of my morning routine (sometimes I take a gander if I am up at 11 PM) to see what their daily offering is. Yesterday they happened to have a Dyson DC07 on sale. It's yellow, it sucks.


I am looking forward to having a bagless system known for picking up significantly more munge without spewing it out the other end. Deb offered to switch weekly cleaning tasks with me pending the arrival of the new vacuum, but scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen are part of the fine print of her lease agreement.

I managed to book a place to stay for Masters' Worlds in Austria this summer. Now all I have to do is find 3-5 other people to split it with me so I don't go completely broke between lodging costs and the lagging dollar. The details for this trip are all coming together nicely. I'll stay with Becca, Jan, and the nieces and nephew outside of Geneva for about a week before taking the train to St. Johann. This year again, I'll be spending a few days in Munich after Worlds, with nothing to do but kick around and see the sights. Then it is back to work for me with no legitimate vacation time remaining until 2009. Not too bad a price to pay for three solid weeks of vacation and travel.

SMH

Depending on your school of thought, we are the product of years of evolution with modern human being a refined version of our predecessors. This is one of the results:


How did I come up with this as a subject? Last night in flipping channels I noticed a documentary on Starz called "American Pimp" which followed and interviewed 12 self described, self employed pimps.

I have some understanding of the world of the hustler from descriptions in Gang Leader for a Day but this documentary peeled a few more layers off the onion. There are plenty of resources, easily accessible through the internet on the life and times of the modern pimp. The subject is glorified ad nauseum in pop culture (listen to your favorite Snoop Dogg album and see how many pimping references you can find), but the causal gangsta rap listener rarely goes beyond the superficial.

To support the theory that you can pick anything, and I mean anything, as your focus and still earn an advanced degree in certain academic disciplines, I give you an article from Time Magazine, circa 1971, "The Pimping Game". I thought getting college credit in a mythology class for building a temple to Dionysus out of beer cans and pizza boxes was funny.

If I had to state a preference, I'd go with the older pimps like Fillmore Slim who showed a much classier side. Take a moment to read this article from SFWeekly.com. He makes it much easier to hate the proverbial game instead of the player.

At the end of it all, all I can say is, "Uhhh, wow." If you get bored enough, rent American Pimp. You too can alternate between shaking your head, laughing, and pushing your jaw back up into its normal position from the astounding depths it will drop.

Losing Time

Whatever the rational is behind DST is, I blame it for me losing a day yesterday. I managed to make it through almost the entire day thinking that it was Tuesday instead of Monday. Time warps are confusing especially when people start throwing around "tomorrow" loosely, not knowing your altered perception of time.

I got outside to ride yesterday afternoon as planned thanks to extra daylight. Amazing how it all affects the way people act and dress. A week ago, nobody would entertain the possibility of sitting outside on a patio at a restaurant for happy hour or an early dinner. Last night the patio at Lola was in full swing and packed, creating plenty of opportunity of self induced embarrassment. It changed the atmosphere significantly, but the service still honked inside. I need to do some serious research for an alternate spot for Monday evening gatherings. Recommendations are welcome.

It is still too dark in the morning to take the camera out to document things while the rest of the world is still sleeping, but across the street the majority of the hole has been backfilled and plumbing undergrounds are in place. If I were a betting man, I'd say framing will begin by the end of the week or early next week.

In the Dark

I would have posted some pictures from the walk this morning, but it was too dark and I didn't feel like turning on the flash. Daylight savings time is beat.

Here's the race report from the weekend. I didn't race. There were a couple time trials I could have done on Saturday, but my excuse was that I had not put the 55 tooth chain ring on the TT bike yet. I could have raced at City Park on Sunday, but my excuse for that was I had just put the 55 tooth chain ring on the TT bike and wanted to roll around on it and make sure it would be ready for the next time trial and (this one is even better) my bike was at the shop so they could switch parts over to the new Ibis. I should be able to pick the bike up sometime this week. Pictures to follow . . .

Yesterday's race was surprisingly well attended. When I left to continue my ride the break included Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing), Henk Vogels (Toyota United), and some other guys who go a lot faster than I do. Looks like Pete Lopinto pulled out the win in the sprint after the officials pulled over half the field.

Come this evening, I'll be glad we are back on DST. I think I can hit my active recovery ride outside instead of in the basement.

Is This Legal?

Already a full week behind schedule, my schedule at least, there is finally some action across the street. The sub-contractors doing the work have created all sorts of opportunity for the city to fine them and put a stop work notice on the job.


The backhoe, front end loader, and bobcat were all put into action yesterday, but there were only two equipment operators for three pieces of equipment, hmmm, sounds like efficiency at its finest.


There are a few things wrong with the jobsite as pictured. First and foremost, there is no sidewalk closure for a sidewalk that is being actively worked on/over and that would be deemed "impassible" by the city. Second, there is no erosion control of any sort which creates the possibility of the sidewalk and street turning into a giant mud pit and EPA fines are steep. Third, those clowns ran over the grass in my tree lawn (mind you across the street) in maneuvering on and off the site with equipment, dump trucks, etc. I'm totally stealing your fill dirt to fill in the tire tracks.

The new time trial bike has finally emerged from the basement. I tinkered with it a little bit last night, adjusting and moving things to match the measurements determined to be "ideal" last year. After getting close to that position, I will have to make the adjustments required to fit within the confines laid out by the UCI in the hopes that they will not change the rules multiple times this year. I still need to put the 55t/42t chainrings on the bike, cut the extensions on the bars, etc., but that's what it looks like in real life.



Oooooooohhh, aaaaaaaaahhh. Yes, the TT bike will be ready for this weekend. No, I will not be racing either time trial or City Park.

Now You've Gone Too Far!!!

In a former life, I worked on a project that focused on removing impediments to pedestrians from S. Colorado Blvd. in an interest of encouraging transit use on a very congested corridor. We secured funding through our regional agencies to underground utilities, widen sidewalks, move signs, etc.

I stumbled (pun fully intended thank you very much) across this one this morning and had to shake my head. Maybe it is a sign of the time and I am just old fashioned, although I do own a "smart" phone, but I'd rather see a project that encourages people on the street to punch others staring at their phones and texting while walking. Has the world really become that banal and devoid of stimuli, that we have to kill time while outside walking around texting?

I hate text messages, but was motivated into my recent phone switch by a) what I could get for free device wise and b) the inclusion of a minimal data plan because even though it only costs $.15/text message with out a plan I get all sorts of pissed off when my friends send me texts like a 14 year old girl. What's the point of typing out a "quick" message with your thumbs when you could have an entire voice conversation in the same amount of time?



Smart phones offer many advantages over a regular cellular device. I can get directions, contact information, my precise location, messages of all kinds. I can talk to people who aren't right in front of me. I can play games and kill time in places like the airport, the waiting room. I can browse my favorite sites, share humorous findings from the web with friends, and I can even blog. I will try to be conscious about when and where I do these things. If I am doing all of this in the wrong setting (walking down the street, at dinner, in social settings), I invite you to punch me in the mouth. Don't let your own cell/smart phone become your very own electronic pacifier.

Anyone for Tennis?

What a difference a day makes . . . I decided to hit the tennis courts this morning instead of the park so Dempsey would stay somewhat clean and he wouldn't be able to lose his tennis ball. There is also nowhere for him to really go with the 16' high fence all the way around.


Sad part is I seem to be the only person who picks up the trash left on the tennis courts. Kids these days, I tell you what. We left behind nothing but a bunch of foot and paw prints.


There's more action across the street from me, at least more equipment sitting on site. They haven't really started backfilling yet, but the backhoe is sitting there ready to go. They are way behind my proposed schedule. I had them onto interior flat work by now!


I know some people who have the opposite sleep pattern as I do. I have no problem going to bed at 9:00, especially if there is nothing interesting going on. There was an interesting read in the WSJ yesterday, check it out.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Awww . . . Dempsey cleans up pretty well and he's hard to resist when he's on his best behavior.


The new game for the morning was try to figure out which part of the sky would light up next. I wasn't very good at it and only got the obvious glow on the horizon. The far side of the sky (to the west) actually lit up next with some of the clouds in the middle taking their short turns at unpredictable intervals. I need to play with my camera some more and move away from auto settings for the early morning shots.



Racing starts this weekend, in theory at least. I have little desire to practice my time trial skills on a frontage road in Fort Collins where it is guaranteed to be windy and cold! I also have no desire to race the City Park course given that it will probably be wet. Yes I am a baby, but I also have until August to get all sorts of racing done.

Into the Social Wild

I gave a taste of what was to come for this post in my last one, but as a refresher, I will be documenting the ass clown subset of the Denver social scene. For all of the attached pictures, ignore Hutchison and myself. We are in the foreground only as a cover.

The first offering from last post was a take on the ubiquitous, un-tucked, striped shirt. This phenomenon has already been documented quite well by the Phat Phree in best selling book Look At My Striped Shirt: Confessions of the People You Love to Hate. The link provides the first person account of said type. The poor soul pictured had a shirt that not only had stripes, but also circles and a blank panel.

Our second subject created much debate. We were not sure what category to put him in so I urge you to comment, no need to be kind here. With Deb manning the camera, we captured said "dude in a track suit" as he sat down to family dinner, not knowing that he was about to be disowned for being an asstard. You can see the look very clearly on Mom and Dad's faces. They know we know they know, but they have business to take care of.


As if it isn't bad enough he showed up in a track suit, looking like he just ran from something, sporting multiple "ballers", he had to take the next step.


Nothing says "I think I kick ass!" like showing a little chicken leg in a classy restaurant. Shortly after this shot was taken, "Little Brother" occupying the chair behind Brian, was sent home, secure in knowing that he would be receiving both his portion of the trust fund and his brother "Chet's" remaining $2.3 million.

We happened to walk out at the same time as this happy family after hearing Mom and Dad lay into "Chet" about what an expected disappointment he was. He walked them to their car, ending the evening with a heartfelt "Late", Mom getting in to the car as fast as possible, leaving "Chet" hanging, fist extended, no bump pending, before returning to the Land Cruiser he would soon be calling "home". He was too busy texting (his Ritalin dealer we suspected) to hear us mocking him loudly and mercilessly.

Dudley Dooright here walked in and out of the restaurant multiple times over the course of half an hour, staring at his "paci-phone" each time he walked in. I don't think we ever saw him sit down or talk to anybody, even though he had his choice of women in outfits put together seemingly blindfolded from a mixed up grab bag called "the closet".


It is possibly I am suffering the aftereffects of Saturday's ride, combined with Sunday's weather. The mind does crazy things when the body is trying to replace 4000 calories and recover from abuse. It is more likely that Denver (and many cities throughout the world) are full of goons.

In the interest of securing more wholesome entertainment, not involving ridiculing others, I gave Dempsey a bath so we could watch him run around the house like a dog possessed. He usually walks calmly around the chair to take his spot between the couch and the coffee table. As you can see below, he decided the magazine rack was his own hurdle to overcome, physically and metaphorically on the route to dryness.


His clean, fluffy, Pert Plus conditioned self got to sleep on the bed last night. I didn't sleep all that well, thanks cover stealer and brush your teeth after you get into the litter box.

Better Than Expected

The death march was much better than expected. I met Pinkerton at Confluence Park and the first words out of his mouth after "good morning" were "I propose a route change". I said, "No" since only I have the power to hijack an early season group ride and only do so when the ride will be too easy/a waste of training time. I heard his concerns about temperature and expressed a few of my own about wind speed, but stuck to a firm policy of let's get to the top of Lookout and reevaluate if necessary.

We made it to Golden on time to meet up with Hutchison, Kendall, Rob, Megan and their friends. There was a random (his name was Joe) that joined us in the parking lot, in for the day from Vail, looking for a 3 hour ride. We drank some coffee, ooohhed and aaahhed over Hutchison's new bike, marveled at the temperature and set off.

The first decision of the day was made by Pinkerton and that was to hit the front side of Lookout. We kept a nice mellow pace for most of it, keeping together until Saddle Gap, but regrouping at the top. When we got to I-70, the second decision making spot, I decided it was looking perfectly nice to continue with the route as planned. It was neither windy no cold. The only real complaint was that we were all overdressed for a balmy March 1 ride.

All together as we start up Lookout.

Pinkerton is all smiles here.

Megan and Amanda show a little March 1 leg and strip down to temperature appropriate levels.

No where to go but west . . .

You don't know how lucky you are that we passed you early in the ride.

After a brief stop in Evergreen/Bergen Park to take on some food and water, we continued on to Squaw Pass. The group was splitting up in the wind so I checked in with all to see what their thoughts were as waiting at the top of the pass sounded like a cold, bad idea. By the time we got half way up the pass, I felt sorry for those turning around at the top because the south side of the road was mostly in shadows and still covered in slush, ice and some water of questionable content.

Oooooooooooohh, aaaaaaaaaaahh.

Our ride to the top was pleasant for the most part, nobody really trying to put the hurt on anybody else, although I did pick up the pace every once in a while since I was climbing in the big ring as usual and wanted my cadence to be a little higher. It afforded me a few opportunities to take a couple pictures here and there. Everybody was climbing pretty well, even Pinkerton who claims to be "fat and out of shape" and "not a climber". It did get a hair colder up top and the wind was mildly unpleasant in the exposed areas, enough so to have to put on the gloves and get down the hill. The descent to Idaho Springs was in much better shape than the Evergreen side. We only hit a couple spots where we had to avoid slush. In town the sun was still shining and the bank thermometer display showed a temperature of 63 in the sun.

Hutchison on the attack . . .

We stopped at the Safeway for some food, water, cookie samples at the deli, some sort of slim jim like product for Pinkerton (notice it was not lumped in with "food") and enjoyed our snacks sitting in the sunshine of the parking lot, ironically enough setting up camp adjacent to the handicap parking spot.

Pinkerton responds with an attack of his own.

Pinkerton and Kendall decided to call it a day and head back to Golden via Floyd Hill. I didn't envy them, knowing the bike path from Idaho Springs to the frontage road would require hiking through snow and knowing that I have hit 60 mph descending Floyd Hill without really pedaling. Not like Hutchison and I had an easy end to the day either.

Climbing up the casino road towards Blackhawk and Central City was quite pleasant. In the sun, with an occasional tail wind, shorts and a jersey would have been sufficient. The new "parkway" makes for a really nice ride. There is very little traffic, the views are great, and the climb is broken up a little bit with a few downhills and some rollers towards the top. We made the mistake of not getting our gambling in at the smaller casinos right off the road in Central City as everything in Blackhawk was out of our way. We got a couple pictures with the natives and continued on our way to Golden Gate Canyon via Peak to Peak Highway.

Giving new definition to high rollers.

Just for proof.

If you look closely you can see the remainders of mining history in the hills.

Knowing you only have a couple climbs left at the end of a long day doesn't make them any easier on the legs. I tried to find a steady rhythm that kept my legs at the bottom end of the dull ache range, not really knowing what eight miles until the turn at Golden Gate Canyon Road implied. We made it to the turn and put all clothing back on in anticipation of a chilly descent. The canyon was probably the coldest spot of the day, with the a few warm spots that were about as comforting as the random warm spots in a public swimming pool.

Daylight slowly fading as we say goodbye to Peak to Peak Highway.

Always a good sign for the most part.

There are two shortish climbs between Peak to Peak and Golden. The longer of the two is steep at the top and hurts for good reason. The shorter one is a mere obstacle, an annoyance, insult added to injury, lemon juice in the paper cut of fatigue, I think you get the point. We made it over both, descended with added caution due to the motorcyclists who didn't know how to ride, and breathed a sigh of relief once back at the car.

The road really does disappear quickly after cresting this hill.

Uh, given that Hutchison needed to stop at my house anyways to pick up some tires, I had a perfectly valid excuse to skip the 20 miles from Golden back to my house. At 6.5 hours, 105 miles, over 8000' of climbing, I figured I got in enough for the day.

As I sit in the cozy relative warmth of my house, looking out the window at teh snow blowing sideways, I know I made the right choice to blow it out on a big, epic ride, making use of the 70 degree (in areas) March day. Today I get to spin the legs out so I don't feel like total garbage tomorrow and this week looks to be a good one for recovery.

To aid recovery Hutchison, Deb and I headed out for some sushi. The thought of grilling was quashed by the growing wind and the sheer effort involved with going to the store to buy food. Sushi Den had an hour wait already at 6:30 so we crossed the street and went to Izakaya Den where there was no wait and ample opportunity to mock the masses that make up a subspecies of urban dwellers in Denver. That will be a post of its own, but here's a taste . . .


This guy takes the untucked, striped shirt to a new low. I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul (and closet).