Recovery

Thank goodness for Monday's off after a long weekend of riding. There are always other activities to take part in, if only I could think of them and motivate . . .

Squaw Pass

What better to do after a long road race than to go on a long climb over Squaw Pass? The weather was pretty good for a ride into the hills although there was some significant snowfall earlier in the week. I'm pretty sure the first effort of the day had me seeing things . . .



Although when out on a good Sunday death march, images can be confusing, disconcerting, and sometimes wrong.



As soon as Joey and I got past Idaho Spring and around the first switch backs up the hill, I was starting the question the idea of riding up and over Squaw. The last snow fall was pretty significant up here and we have plenty of reminders of that on the way up.



We probably could have brought the ice skates for Echo Lake.



You'll have to zoom in on this one to get the point, but it started snowing, yes, snowing going over the top of the pass.




All in all, it was a good ride. I really wasn't so sure about making it home after all the climbing and freezing coming back down into Bergen Park. I declined Joey's offer to ride back to his new house off of City View and instead rode directly home, keeping additional climbing to a minimum.

Deer Trail

While I didn't get stuck in the mud myself on the bike, there was a slight feedzone mishap . . . Keely very kindly followed the instruction of the race marshal to pull off the road to make some space. Uh, thanks buddy.



Every year I have done this race it seems like the weather was absolutely miserable. Last year we heard tornado sirens prior to the race, standing in the sleet and freezing rain. It turned out ok that go round. I wasn't sure what would happen with perfect weather, sunshine, and no wind. Kevin and I discussed strategy a bit before the race, but we comfortable knowing who to keep an eye out for and who to follow.

After a delayed start, an early break got up the rosd on the first out and back. It was actually a solid move with almost all the bigger teams represented. The only team putting in a concerted effort to chase was HART, even though Carlos (HART) was in the break. He did just have a kid (congrats) and has had a rough time at Deer Trail the past couple years. The break its gap through the second out and back, but things picked up as the race headed through town towards the rollers. Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly), Tarkington (VC), and others started animating the race just beyond the feed zone. Just after the turn around on the third out and back Kevin and the Baj got off the front of the main group alone. After a bit, Tarkington made a move with a few to try to bridge and I jumped on for the ride, having no obligation to pull through with Kevin up the road. Our group got close to making the catch with the main group coming up behind. Instead of letting everything come back together, I countered Kevin's move and hung on for dear life when a small group came up past me. We got a good gap on the field, everybody working smoothly and caught the original break by the last turn around. Some of the original break stuck with us, some got spit out the back after a long effort off the front. With about 5 rollers to go the attacks started coming. Tarkington got clear with nobody really willing to chase. His Vitamin Cottage teammate, Christian McCarthy bridged to him solo leaving the rest of us looking around at eachother. Nate Buyon (HART), Jon Mullen (Einstein's) and I were the only ones working to try to bring them back. They stayed away, the group started the sprint, I went to the get up and go well and came up dry, finishing 10th out of a 10 up break.

Lessons learned . . . skip some of the early efforts, they don't do much. With two Vitamin Cottage teammates in the break, sit on for the ride and stick it to them at the end. I think 10th is a good result, I learned some things and Kevin and I did what we could. Hats off to Los for a great finish, obviously none of us thought he had it in him especially given his new responsibilities.

The car got pulled out of the mud and we made it home for a cookout and a much needed shower.

Here Comes the Sun

At long last, the sun is shining, there is no threat of storms on the horizon!

I get to see Keely tonight, which is going to be great since I haven't really seen her much with her nights rotation and with me being out of town last weekend. Having a part-time girlfriend isn't very fun. She heads to work when I am getting home and she is done after I have left for work for the day. The only good part is that she only has five weeks of said rotation.

The plan is to make the rounds this evening. I am meeting my friend Rus who I used to ride with and play lacrosse with when I first moved out to Colorado at Mike Carter's house. We are riding up High Grade at a nice easy pace, Keely is hitting Chatfield, and then we taking part in cocktail hour. Margaritas are good fuel, good for tomorrow's race.

Meridian

There is something very satisfying about going out to a practice, bandit crit with a completly mixed bag of goons, and just blowing out the legs completely. I saw a guy riding around on a bike with clip on aero bars, clad in a sleeveless jersey, but wearing arm warmers. Keep that guy far, far away! I hate to sound like an elitist roadie snob, but yikes, dude might as well have had a tinfoil helmet on too.

I kept it in a big gear from the start and found myself with a gap after going up one of the "hills" with Joey Brenner, dug out from the snow, sitting on my wheel. He said, "just keep going." I said, "ok." We stayed away for a while, then let up, then we started attacking again. He rolled off with a group of four and I watched as the gap got to the big enough point. I drifted back and then attacked from mid-pack and worked my butt off to bridge. I made in about half a lap with one other rider and happy to find out that recovery from such efforts doesn't take as long as it used to.

I get to take it easy tomorrow and then Saturday I get to race in scenic Deer Trail, CO.

CCTT - The Flood's a Coming!

Due to rain, the CCTT course had to be shortened. I am not sure what would happen if you hit this flying, do bikes hydroplane?



I had to walk back to take pictures because I would have eventually blocked out the memories of what this winter and spring have been like. I passed this sign and stated out loud to nobody in particular, "no shit . . ."



Today's TT went a little better. I'm hoping the whole Nebraska experience will help out on the fitness front. Though still not as fast as I'd like to be, the abreviated course was amusing and a little more challenging than the regular course.

Back to Reality . . .

Are you kidding me with this weather? I haven't seen rain like this in my 8 years in Colorado. After this winter, nothing should surprise me, but will somebody please give it a rest! I hear Joey got stuck at his new residence up in the hills without heat, power, water, entertainment, possibility of escape. At least the risk of fire during the early forest fire season will be low. Too bad the risk will be higher later in the season with so much new growth to potentially burn.

The National Weather Service is telling me that Cherry Creek is flooding in the Metro Denver area. I can only imagine what it is doing out at the reservoir.