Bike to Work Day

Bike to Work Day in the Denver metro area isn't until June 24th, but I think this year, I will be able to bike to work safely without fear of life and limb since my new commute includes absolutely zero time on the bike paths. Having done a test run a few weeks back, I finally rode in for real today, on the townie bike, and found it downright pleasant. According to the cell phone GPS, the 35 minute ride was 11.05 miles, with 135' of climbing and 138' of descending. It's going to be a tough ride home with that extra 3' of climbing.


For the purpose of sheer exaggeration, I stretched/skewed the elevation profile. You can see the ascent to Capitol Hill and then the murderous climb to the high point of the day, Park Hill. The route really wasn't bad at all traffic wise, especially before 7:00. Compared to the 13.6 miles by car (in blue) and approximately 22 minutes, but up to 35 minutes in traffic, the ride is quite OK in decent weather. If the downpour/hail/tornado pattern of yesterday is ever repeated, it will make for an ugly ride home.

I was fortunate enough to get out to City Park yesterday to watch the races. Since there was no Pro/1 race, I decided I might as well make a day out of it and did some baking and prepping the night before. We had the tent and flags set up in time to catch the majority of the first race, the 35+ Cat 3. The Vista Auto Group-Subaru tent was the place to be. We had mimosas, rosemary buttermilk biscuits with roastbeef and horseradish cheddar, pecan molasses bundt cake with a bourbon glaze, fixings for shandies . . . much better way to spend the day instead of wasting it going in circles!

In the 35+ race, a race that probably contained a very high proportion of the fast guys who race locally (again, no Pro/1 race yesterday) a few early breaks got clear, but couldn't stay away. It came down to a sprint and it looked like Chuck was sitting pretty coming out of the final corner, but he couldn't quite get around Dan Schmatz going to the line. Still an impressive showing again for the team as a whole since Chuck, Randy, Chris, Scott, Duane, and Alex all got to race together. The real bummer of the day was the Cat 2/Cat 3 race which came to an anticlimactic, neutralized finish after the final five laps were in the rain/hail/thunder/lightening. Officials are put in a tough spot having to make calls that most people will find fault with, but given the fact that people made it around the corners for the previous four laps or so, it would have been nice to see a finish. Instead, no placings were given, no prizes distributed . . . just another event in a screwy Colorado road racing season.

Saturday a lovely day for the John Stenner Memorial Colorado Time Trial Championships out by DIA. As usual, the winds were variable and seemed to come from everywhere. I found myself overwhelmed by apathy going into the event and didn't feel fast prior to my 2:08 start time. Knowing that the uphill sections of the course would be into a headwind, I went out easy and wonder if I went out too easy. The most entertaining part of the race was watching another rider throw a temper tantrum (and his bike) after suffering a tire puncture 2/3 of the way through. I maintained focus and plowed on through to the finish, taking 1:15 off my time from last year to finish the 38km in 48:46. Unfortunately, that was only good enough for 5th this year.

This picture doesn't fit in anywhere for any reason, but Dempsey makes me laugh. I let him run around the backyard yesterday morning while I was loading up to go to City Park . . .


He didn't go very far, he knows his food is inside, next to the refrigerator . . .