Ok, it's been a little while since I wrote anything here. I was waiting for inspiration and on my way home from the bike ride this afternoon, I got it. My ear was stuck to the cell phone, as it often is that time of day, talking to Michael. **Break for Public Service Announcement: I am sure you all were worried about him, but he is fine. He survived the earthquake in CA without a scratch, though he says things were shaking, rattling & rolling for a few seconds. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.**
A beep in my ear signaled a text message. After I hung up from talking to Michael, I checked my message and it was from NYC-dwelling daughter, Liz. She had news - she has been published!!! Now for you seasoned writers, I am sure that is nothing special, but this is her first time and a dream come true for her. Yay, Liz! (Please picture proud Mom, patting herself on the back as she is sure Liz got her talent from her...)
Another reason to be happy tonight - yet again, we MADcyclists dragged our unsuspecting victims (a.k.a. Mary & Aden) on a leisurely 16 mile ride - on Ruth Road...(insert evil laugh here)....and they did a spectacular job! I can't say the same for me - I was slow and my legs were screaming - but hey, it was still fun. Every ride is.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Mt Evans & Leaning Tree Crit
Mt Evans:
Been fighting a summer cold all week, and woke up to the alarm at 530 Saturday feeling like a train ran over me. Evans, with 28 miles of virtually uninterrupted climbing, is simply not a race you can fake, so pulling the plug on that one was an easy decision.
But I did ride! Sort of. After a few more hours of sleep, I got up, determined to get my climbing workout in, saddled up, and left downtown at 11 headed to Golden, intent on riding up Golden Gate canyon (18 miles up & down - 3 serious climbs to the Peak-to-Peak Hwy), north on the P2P and then back down (up) Coal Creek canyon through wundervu. It was 100 degrees in town, 98 in Golden, and I made it to the top of the first climb dizzy and unable to focus on the road. I turned around and coasted the best I could back to Denver. Too hot, too sick, too miserable.
Sunday was no cooler, but I loaded the car and headed to Boulder for the Leaning Tree crit. The sun cooked us as we lined up, and we were off. Thankfully the heat was hurting everyone, and it kept speeds down (25.5mph for the hour-long race). So what do you do when you're sick, struggling to swallow, overheating, and almost certain to have to drop out before the finish? You attack, of course!
So I did, over and over, every time the pack would mushroom I would shoot off the front. Unfortunately, my condition didn't leave me with the power to stay away, so I got reeled back in every time. A break got away early with 3 guys in it, but I don't think any of us gave it a snowball's chance in [Boulder] of staying away in that heat.
I spent the race alternately hiding from the wind, slowing the pack when a teammate would attack, attacking, and chasing my friend Richard up and down the pack while he made sound effects (vrooom vrooom and other airplane/F1 noises).
Got on the wrong side of the wind on the last lap, and was cooked by the time the real sprint started at about 200m to go. Coasted through the finish in search of shade.
Been fighting a summer cold all week, and woke up to the alarm at 530 Saturday feeling like a train ran over me. Evans, with 28 miles of virtually uninterrupted climbing, is simply not a race you can fake, so pulling the plug on that one was an easy decision.
But I did ride! Sort of. After a few more hours of sleep, I got up, determined to get my climbing workout in, saddled up, and left downtown at 11 headed to Golden, intent on riding up Golden Gate canyon (18 miles up & down - 3 serious climbs to the Peak-to-Peak Hwy), north on the P2P and then back down (up) Coal Creek canyon through wundervu. It was 100 degrees in town, 98 in Golden, and I made it to the top of the first climb dizzy and unable to focus on the road. I turned around and coasted the best I could back to Denver. Too hot, too sick, too miserable.
Sunday was no cooler, but I loaded the car and headed to Boulder for the Leaning Tree crit. The sun cooked us as we lined up, and we were off. Thankfully the heat was hurting everyone, and it kept speeds down (25.5mph for the hour-long race). So what do you do when you're sick, struggling to swallow, overheating, and almost certain to have to drop out before the finish? You attack, of course!
So I did, over and over, every time the pack would mushroom I would shoot off the front. Unfortunately, my condition didn't leave me with the power to stay away, so I got reeled back in every time. A break got away early with 3 guys in it, but I don't think any of us gave it a snowball's chance in [Boulder] of staying away in that heat.
I spent the race alternately hiding from the wind, slowing the pack when a teammate would attack, attacking, and chasing my friend Richard up and down the pack while he made sound effects (vrooom vrooom and other airplane/F1 noises).
Got on the wrong side of the wind on the last lap, and was cooked by the time the real sprint started at about 200m to go. Coasted through the finish in search of shade.
Shameless crowing....
I logged my 1300th mile of the year early this morning, while on a 15-mile ride south o'Cville. Yayyyyyyyyyy! (Just had to tell somebody!.. :-)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Tuesday & Thursday Races
Things were more on the "normal" side of insane this week.
Rode out with Jeff and Jeremy again on Tuesday in 95 degree heat, got them signed up and rode the back of their pack for a while, playing taxi whenever they looked like they needed it (if I thought they were too far back, or on the wrong side of a split, I would ride up, put them on my wheel, and ride them up into position).
The 1-2-3 race started out with a bang again, but not quite as bad as last week. Speed varied greatly, and a few times I thought I was going to get popped out, but the bruisers would slow up just in time. On the last lap I found myself near the back, and started riding up to the front through the chicane. I picked up 2 teammates, and decided I was probably better in position to lead them out than go for my own finish, so we went cruising up the inside of the pack, got pinched a bit on the last corner, and I hit the gas to get up with the front and stay with them while they started.
We were riding counter-clockwise this week, so the finish straight was flat. It's about 500m long, so I'd already done lots of work and had a long way to go. I drilled it to start my leadout and stay on the wheel of one of those aussie kids, and by about 200m to go I was cooked and wondering when the hell one of my guys was going to jump around me. I finally looked back and saw no one there, so I put my hand up and eased off the pack, and rolled in somewhere in the pack. Turns out they'd both lost my wheel in the final turn.
Per my computer, exactly 28mph for 30 miles.
Thursday's 30+ race was a bit slower. 30 guys, of whom about 8 were from the MOB team, 3 from HART, and the rest of us flying solo. Speed varied greatly from leisurely 22mph up the hill to eye-peeling accelerations, but I hung with everything. With those teams so well represented, and the series-leader on the HART team, I wasn't interested in doing any work at all on the front unless the leader (Carlos, a cat 1) got in a break.
About halfway into the race, this former Vitamin Cottage guy Chris went off the front and got a sizable gap. One of Carlos' teammates rode to the front to start reeling him back in, and I hitched a ride on his wheel. Sitting second, I still wasn't interested in doing anything - as a member of the unofficial ad-hoc "Not-Mob-or-HART" team, anyone else who went off the front was more than welcome to have at it. The HART guy chasing Chris down started flicking his elbow for me to take my pull, which, of course, I had no interest in doing, so I just sat there. I even sat up a little bit and let the HART guy ride away.
So Carlos comes up beside me, steaming, taps me on the hip and says "if you're going to sit second wheel, you have to pull!". I just laughed at him - I don't know who the idiot is here, Carlos, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. I'm not your stooge today.
Good times.
Anyway, I screwed up my positioning for the sprint and had to come from waaaaay too far back, and netted an astonishing 10th. That gets me one series point, which hopefully keeps me in 3rd overall for the finale this week.
Rode out with Jeff and Jeremy again on Tuesday in 95 degree heat, got them signed up and rode the back of their pack for a while, playing taxi whenever they looked like they needed it (if I thought they were too far back, or on the wrong side of a split, I would ride up, put them on my wheel, and ride them up into position).
The 1-2-3 race started out with a bang again, but not quite as bad as last week. Speed varied greatly, and a few times I thought I was going to get popped out, but the bruisers would slow up just in time. On the last lap I found myself near the back, and started riding up to the front through the chicane. I picked up 2 teammates, and decided I was probably better in position to lead them out than go for my own finish, so we went cruising up the inside of the pack, got pinched a bit on the last corner, and I hit the gas to get up with the front and stay with them while they started.
We were riding counter-clockwise this week, so the finish straight was flat. It's about 500m long, so I'd already done lots of work and had a long way to go. I drilled it to start my leadout and stay on the wheel of one of those aussie kids, and by about 200m to go I was cooked and wondering when the hell one of my guys was going to jump around me. I finally looked back and saw no one there, so I put my hand up and eased off the pack, and rolled in somewhere in the pack. Turns out they'd both lost my wheel in the final turn.
Per my computer, exactly 28mph for 30 miles.
Thursday's 30+ race was a bit slower. 30 guys, of whom about 8 were from the MOB team, 3 from HART, and the rest of us flying solo. Speed varied greatly from leisurely 22mph up the hill to eye-peeling accelerations, but I hung with everything. With those teams so well represented, and the series-leader on the HART team, I wasn't interested in doing any work at all on the front unless the leader (Carlos, a cat 1) got in a break.
About halfway into the race, this former Vitamin Cottage guy Chris went off the front and got a sizable gap. One of Carlos' teammates rode to the front to start reeling him back in, and I hitched a ride on his wheel. Sitting second, I still wasn't interested in doing anything - as a member of the unofficial ad-hoc "Not-Mob-or-HART" team, anyone else who went off the front was more than welcome to have at it. The HART guy chasing Chris down started flicking his elbow for me to take my pull, which, of course, I had no interest in doing, so I just sat there. I even sat up a little bit and let the HART guy ride away.
So Carlos comes up beside me, steaming, taps me on the hip and says "if you're going to sit second wheel, you have to pull!". I just laughed at him - I don't know who the idiot is here, Carlos, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. I'm not your stooge today.
Good times.
Anyway, I screwed up my positioning for the sprint and had to come from waaaaay too far back, and netted an astonishing 10th. That gets me one series point, which hopefully keeps me in 3rd overall for the finale this week.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Happy Birthday to You
Every day is someone's birthday. No, every day is many, many someones' birthdays.(Someone's? Where does that apostrophe go anyway?) There is hardly a day that goes by when I do not know of a person or a member of his family who is celebrating a birthday. But it is when that day is celebrated by a person who is one of the most important people in my life that I stop and really think: What a special day this is!
Not only is this person having a birthday, but this person is someone who makes me proud; someone who makes me laugh; someone who makes me cry - in a good way. I hurt because I cannot be there every minute to experience all the wonderful - and not-so-wonderful - things life throws at this person. Come to think of it, I have been present for many of those things, even recently. And if I was not there physically, I was a phone call away. I am glad for that. I hope I am always there in some shape or form.
I remember when you were born. It was a hot, humid July day. It took eleven hours of very, very hard work but when you arrived, all that hard work was immediately a distant memory. Thus began about 2 1/2 months of little sleep for me.....but oh, so many wonderful hours of togetherness! You were a fussy baby - no wonder you ended up cycling! You absolutely, positively hated being still! Those few months (five, to be exact) before you were independently mobile were quite frustrating for you. Once you could crawl, you were much happier. And crawl you did! Then walk, then run, then swim...
I do not have the words to express how proud you have made me, nor do I have the words to express how much I love you - but I do. I wish I could give you the world because that is what you deserve. Happy Birthday, Lee. I love you.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
All's Right with the World
What a wonderful ride tonight! Five of us met at Criglersville School for a 21 mile loop over Etlan Mountain, up F. T. Valley Rd., along the flank of Old Rag, then back through Etlan to Poor House Road & back to the school. The weather was warm, probably about 85 degrees, and the humidity was tolerable - somewhat less than 90%.
What did not happen: No one wrecked! And we didn't see bears on Etlan Mtn., doggonnit!
What did happen: Two very new cyclists made it up the steep side of Etlan Mtn.! Amazing. I think I had been road riding at least two years before the rest of my cycling buddies cajoled me into attempting the climb - and even then I needed to stop and regroup part-way up. Oh yeah, and I hated that climb for the next three years - until I learned how to master it without feeling like I was going to die.
The sun was shining, I was finally on the bike after an endless week of waiting until my Lasik surgery allowed me to ride, and I got to wear a nifty pair of NON-PRESCRIPTION sunglasses. Woo hoo!! It's the little things....
I have needed this ride for more reasons than just getting back on the bike, and today made everything (well, almost) ok again. Michael still needs to come home...
I am riding again tomorrow....and maybe Thursday, but definitely Friday and hopefully Saturday. I feel good!
What did not happen: No one wrecked! And we didn't see bears on Etlan Mtn., doggonnit!
What did happen: Two very new cyclists made it up the steep side of Etlan Mtn.! Amazing. I think I had been road riding at least two years before the rest of my cycling buddies cajoled me into attempting the climb - and even then I needed to stop and regroup part-way up. Oh yeah, and I hated that climb for the next three years - until I learned how to master it without feeling like I was going to die.
The sun was shining, I was finally on the bike after an endless week of waiting until my Lasik surgery allowed me to ride, and I got to wear a nifty pair of NON-PRESCRIPTION sunglasses. Woo hoo!! It's the little things....
I have needed this ride for more reasons than just getting back on the bike, and today made everything (well, almost) ok again. Michael still needs to come home...
I am riding again tomorrow....and maybe Thursday, but definitely Friday and hopefully Saturday. I feel good!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Tuesday Race
Holy Crap.
That would be enough for me to say if you were there, but you weren't. For the record, I wasn't even supposed to be on my bike Tuesday per my coach, but I can't turn down a race, especially mid-week.
I rode out to Golden with new teammates Jeff and Jeremy at about 4:30 on Tuesday for the regular midweek "training" race series held at the State Patrol driving track on South Table Mountain. Lined up with those guys and rode the Cat4 race with them. I just tail-gunned it, riding up through the pack and coaching them when they looked like they needed it. I pulled out for the last lap - we're not allowed to interfere with the finish sprint, or any of the points sprints.
Jeff got 4th, while Jeremy was caught behind a terrible-looking crash midway through the sprint (everyone walked away ok).
Lined up in the back of the very large (90+?) 1-2-3 field. The wind was terrible. We were racing clockwise Tuesday, which means that we went up the hill to the finish. The wind was blowing straight up the hill, which might sound good - an uphill tailwind, right? Unfortunately, that on means that the wind negates any benefit of drafting, so the hill becomes just a power-to-weight ratio hammer-fest.
The ref blew the whistle, and we were off like a rocket. I was only planning to stay in until it got hard, which I assumed would be about 9 or 10 laps into our scheduled 21. Colby Pierce had other ideas. We went up the hill the first time at 35mph. Every section was guttered against the wind, and sitting mid-pack 1.5 laps in I'd had enough.
Those guys shelled about 5-10 riders each lap, and everyone who limped in after being dropped had the 100-mile stare and was mumbling incoherently.
I don't know who ended up winning, but it wasn't me. Whenever Mike Gibson (former national crit champ) is getting shot out the back of a chase group, it's not a race I want to be in. CO's race community has been talking about Tuesday all week - apparently the fastest race anyone can remember.
A warm "welcome back", right?
That would be enough for me to say if you were there, but you weren't. For the record, I wasn't even supposed to be on my bike Tuesday per my coach, but I can't turn down a race, especially mid-week.
I rode out to Golden with new teammates Jeff and Jeremy at about 4:30 on Tuesday for the regular midweek "training" race series held at the State Patrol driving track on South Table Mountain. Lined up with those guys and rode the Cat4 race with them. I just tail-gunned it, riding up through the pack and coaching them when they looked like they needed it. I pulled out for the last lap - we're not allowed to interfere with the finish sprint, or any of the points sprints.
Jeff got 4th, while Jeremy was caught behind a terrible-looking crash midway through the sprint (everyone walked away ok).
Lined up in the back of the very large (90+?) 1-2-3 field. The wind was terrible. We were racing clockwise Tuesday, which means that we went up the hill to the finish. The wind was blowing straight up the hill, which might sound good - an uphill tailwind, right? Unfortunately, that on means that the wind negates any benefit of drafting, so the hill becomes just a power-to-weight ratio hammer-fest.
The ref blew the whistle, and we were off like a rocket. I was only planning to stay in until it got hard, which I assumed would be about 9 or 10 laps into our scheduled 21. Colby Pierce had other ideas. We went up the hill the first time at 35mph. Every section was guttered against the wind, and sitting mid-pack 1.5 laps in I'd had enough.
Those guys shelled about 5-10 riders each lap, and everyone who limped in after being dropped had the 100-mile stare and was mumbling incoherently.
I don't know who ended up winning, but it wasn't me. Whenever Mike Gibson (former national crit champ) is getting shot out the back of a chase group, it's not a race I want to be in. CO's race community has been talking about Tuesday all week - apparently the fastest race anyone can remember.
A warm "welcome back", right?
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