Ute Better Ute Better Ute Bet

So, where have I been? All over! Things have been pretty busy the last week or so, and, I've so vehemently rejected/neglected the blog. So, I'm gonna go ahead an update it.

Work has been ridiculous...which has been keeping me from getting a good post in. Luckily it's starting to simmer down a bit. I've been ridng my ass off, and, if you've seen any of my motionbased history above, I've done some big miles/days the last few weeks. It's been great. Typically I've been riding with the Westside crew (Stefan, Rick, Justin, Darriano), and, we've been hitting it hard. Grapevine, City view, Shadow Mountain to name a few. Sundays are great cuz I ride with Mike & Amy (and others), and, it's way more of a non-competitive ride (Except for someone to remain nameless), but, that's mainly from a jawing perspective. I have fun both days, and, really enjoy them.

This past weekend we helped Mike complete his mission of riding every paved pass in Colorado. He's pretty crazy when it comes to high-mileage rides, and, can ride the legs out of anybody cuz he's so strong. We headed up to Hwy 9 & Ute Pass Road ~8 miles outside of Silverthorne towards Kremmling and rolled quickly thanks to the delicious tailwind. We rode Hwy 9 for about 25 miles, then, took a hard left up CR-33, which, was dirt. We were a bit hesitant about the condition of the road becuase nobody from our crew had ever ridden it. Lucky for use, it wound itself through some campgrounds and whatnot, so, besides being pretty pancake flat, it was also in GREAT condition for riding. The road dipped down into some beautiful meadows, and offered some great vistas. There was very little cloud cover, so, I got torched pretty bad. Apparently my sunscreen was rubbed off by the jacket I was wearing for the first little bit of the ride (twas chilly up in them mountains!). After another 25 or so miles, we hit the end of the dirt, and, climbed the final few pitches of "Ute Pass" proper. They were both about a mile or less, and, steep at 7%. Nothing too crazy, but, after 4hrs in the sun on the flats, it gets hard to go up! We arrived at the top of the pass, took some great photos, and, proceeded to descend down to the car on Ute pass Road. We let Mike summit first and, proceeded to present him with a summit cookie that he well deserved! Once we hit the car, we changed, headed into Silverthorne for lunch & shopping, and, then sat in traffic on I-70. That road truley sucks.

I'll be an uncle for the 2nd time any minute now (literally), and, we'll make the visit northto say hello!

Back to Basics

Acoonamatada my friends. Yes...the circle of life...or whatever that means. The past year has taught me many things about life, but, also an important lesson about my body...I don't dig on compact/semi compact geometry on a bike.

Yes

I am back on the Primus Mootry. (Consequently I am selling the Van Dessel, so, if you're interested email me. $800 for Frame/Fork/headset. Exactly 1 year old. Used under extremely low wattage.) I tried and I tried through no fault of my genetic make up to conform and get this bike to fit me. I failed. No matter how many times I adjusted this, lowered that, did this...did that....and got fit probably 5 times on it, it just doesn't work. So, I've come full circle, or, as Amy said...back to square one. Quite frankly, I'm happy. This bike is built for me based on my body, and, it subsequently fits like a glove. I've taken it out 2 days in a row now, and this thing just flys like a mofo. It's a really great ride. Thanks to Jason @ PPC for the insane service on the bike. As meticulous as possible, he has made me one helluva satisfied customer...and...if you read this blog, you know I am picky.

Before I go, I want to give a shout out to City View drive. Holy shit you are a tough mofo. I rode this weekend with the Westside Boys again, and we did Deer Creek & City View (obviously from the DC side). Yeouch. Prob one of the harder rides around here. I was shelled as expected on the climbs, but, still had a blast bullshitting with Rick and talking smack to everyone as the rode away from me. I was so knackered from this ride, I'm still feeling it. Sunday we rode to Masonville from Erie, but, damn...I was worthless. So...here's to you City View!

Ciao for now

Picky

Well, no doubt about it...I am picky. I just took a yoga class at Vital Yoga in Cherry Creek. I was going to ride over, but, was running late, and, my mat carrying device (backpack) was not holding up to the necessary task. So, much to the dismay of my lovely wife (whom incidentally better be wearing her helmet as I write this, or, will find her front wheel gone)I drove over. I was worried that the class would be too hard, too easy, too crowded, and just plain ole what I ain't lookin' fer. I was kinda right. I really went into this with a (semi) open mind because, let's face it, I need a new yoga place since Corepower bought Urban Flow.

The studio is located in the heart of hoity toity ville (Cherry Creek), as well as, up in Highlands & Golden. I picked a 1/2 class as that's what I did in my previous studies, and, sometimes even did the 2/3. I ain't there yet though. The studio was tucked in the back of an office building on the main strip of downtown Cherry Creek, and, I couldn't find it at first. Parking wasn't too bad, but, I can also see how it will potentially be ridiculous only because I lucked out big time and got a spot right in front. ugh I thought...already I'm not into it. Shitty parking can throw your shakras way outta line before you even try to realign them.

Next, the check in process was pretty simple once I found the place. It seemed like it had a "yogish" sorta vibe to it, and, could very well be legit. Despite the locals talking on their cell phones (omg!) in the "lobby", most of the people seemed pretty normal looking, although, I did pass some fabulous ones on the way in.

The room itself was a complete let down. First, I love tall ceilings in yoga...makes you feel like you have no boundaries as you reach up up up. Second, either decent natural light, or, decent fake light is nice when it's warm. This was just plain inconsistent (granted a bulb or 2 were out), but, I dunno. Finally, and this is a HUGE no no for me (at least)...mirrors. They lined the entire front of the room,a nd, there was no escaping how awkward I look doing yoga. Yes, I know the pracitce is about focus, and, letting go, but, I have some competitive bones in my body, and, often times cannot let go. I hate looking at myself in the mirror when I'm doing yoga. i focus too much on where my knee should be visually...or...are my arms high enough. I use my judgemental brain, rather than the natural "hey this feels good". Something about the room seemed really "contrived". \

Participants of the class trickled in late one by one, and, we had to start the whole intro thing over and over. However, once we got started, I began to enjoy the class. I'm used to something a little slower and looser, but, the poses we did were nice. I never felt rushed, but, I felt like the poses were never "broken up" like I've had in the past. We'd throw a down dog in here and there, or, in between this and that. We went from one pose to another without much of a breather or rest, but, again, that's part of the challenge. We did some inversions which I haven't done in about 3 years, and, I did pretty good considering. I was, and, still am definitely worked from the class, but, hey...I'm picky. I like my studio the way I like it, and, I like my class the way I like it. NO offense to Vital, or, anyone that goes, but, I'll use my free week while I evaluate other places.

I'm picky. what can I say.

Tired

This week and weekend kinda put me over the top for the tired-meter. I've been "training" kinda freestyle just to stay in shape, and, build fitness so I can start doing some decent group rides, and solo performance type stuff like trying to climb by myself really fast. It's coming along, and I feel good when I'm not overdoing it, and, well rested. Unfortunately, the week was stressful, and, I didn't really rest myself very well. We've been putting in some really great hours on the weekends, which necessitates both rest and yoga. I've been pretty absent in the yoga area, but, that's only because Corepower recently bought Urban Flow, and, as such, has converted a small little yoga studio into yet again another Starbuck's Yoga. Ugh. So, now, of course, the hunt is on for a new studio. How annoying! Anyway, Tuesday's weather put the kibosh on a lunch time spin out, so, I waited until I got home. The path and surrounding roads were in absolute aquatic chaos, so I just rode around my neighborhood about 5 times. yes. I did. I did NOT want to take 2 consecutive days off because I always feel like shit the entire next week. I had to do something!

I then met up with Stefan, Dcrowe, and one of Stefan's friends Art to jam out to some music later in the eve. I'd had a bad day...a REALLY bad day as far as emotions go, simply because our contract had been pulled again, and, it was wearing on my BIG time. I was pretty depressed, and, hadn't really felt as sad as I did in a VERY long time. It was miserable. However, once I sat behind the drumkit and started to play, I felt a little better. As soon as the guys showed up, plugged in, and we started to play a few songs, I was completely snapped out of it. We did covers, namely It Ain't Me by Frank Black, Outta Site (Outta Mind) by Wilco, and, Long Cut by Uncle Tupelo. It was super fun. It's great to get together with talented musicians that can just play, and it really put me in a better place.

Wednesday I woke up to a much better state of mind, and, semi-tired/unrecovered legs. Of course, I decided to push it at lunch and do some interval training. Sure, they were pretty short, but, I've mainly been doing sweet spot style workouts and/or tempo-ish stuff to get the aerobic engine back up to snuff. I worked really hard on the intervals, and, felt really good. However, I chose to sweet spot the next day, rather than just spinning out, and, man did I struggle. Big mistake.

When Friday rolled around, I did all I could just to spin out at the res. That night, we hit El Noa
Noa for some pre-First Friday eats. The food is pretty good, and, the patio was rocking. Erika & Matt brought their new addition Jude to dinner, and, it's hard to believe he's already a month old! He looks just like Matthew, and, was very well behaved. He's a lil cutie. Anyway, there were some people there I hadn't seen in a while (Pisto, Dawn), some more frequent faces (George & The Librarian, and, the Crowes), and, then some new faces in the bunch! Amy's co-worker Julie (very pregnant Julie) and her husband Rich showed up. They were extremely nice, and, very creative people. We got a bit soaked by the rain, but, it quickly blew over. We walked up and down Santa Fe, and, my back was starting to get a bit tight as the night wore on. The more walking, and, my feet got really sore, and eventually, my legs got tight and yucky when I hit the bed. I'd had aspirations for a good Saturday ride, but, was wondering what I'd feel like when I woke up. I set the bread machine up that night to make some homemade "Prenderbread" (Mike's signature) for when we woke up. Success! Here's the recipe. It's delish. Now, for those of you that have a bread machine, follow your machine's directions. Mine always says to put the dry ingredients in first....

Put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed:


3 T nonfat dry milk
1/3 C Honey
1 3/4 C Room Temp. Water
2 T butter
1 1/2 t salt
3 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C unbleached white flour
1/2 C Flax seed meal (you can grind seeds in a coffee grinder if needed but safeway sells the meal)
1/2 C cornmeal
2 T Gluten
2 t yeast

Optional: 1 C cashews or other nuts, and\or 1 C dried fruit

The smell in the house was amazing at 6am for us when I woke up! I was originally headed south to hit High Grade, but, during my travels, my legs felt worse and worse. I balked, and, decided to head up to Kerr Gulch, which, conveniently put me at PPC for the Grand Opening party. I struggled the whole time to stay positive and keep my legs spinning. I couldn't get them to open up at all. The only positive thing about the ride was that everything was so green across every valley I saw. It was unreal.

I didn't win the 29er or the Redline Townie he was giving away at the raffle, but, the support for the shop was outstanding. Hopefully Jason can continue to grow his customer base. After, we hit Sushi Hai with Jason & Katie (his wife), as well as some new faces for us, Jeremy & Jody. They're all so damn nice, it was super enjoyable, and delicious to boot.

Sunday, we woke up, and headed out to PPC to start our ride. The initial plan was Golden Gate over to Coal Creek, but, you know that when something goes wrong, or, someone doesn't feel good before the ride even starts, it's gonna be one of those days. I felt like shit, Amy forgot her sunglasses, Jason was sick, and we all had much bigger ambitions the night before at dinner. First, let me start by saying my wife is a mountain goat. Plain & simple. She puts the hurt on every weekend. I love it! I love her!! Mike & I have come up with her Italian climbing name Amerini Welleratti. Molto Italiano! She'll tell us, "Hey, go ahead. I'm going to go at my own pace". So, Mike & I will push it, then, when we're spent and about to sit up, we look back, and, who's there...right on our wheel, or smiling while she passes us. Yep. Welleratti. La Principessa di Colli! Anyway, as we climbed up the canyon, the sun burned off the chilly fog, and, it got plain old HOT! Anyway, as we climbed, I couldn't do anything. I was hurting and unmotivated. (My legs were so heavy, and, I had some serious mental activity flowing throw my skull about how I don't really want to be riding right now anyway!)Unfortunately, that lasted for about 10 minutes, the sky closed up, and, it started to lightly rain on us. As we crested the first "peak", we looked at the sky, and, decided it was a smart move to descend before any other weather rolled in. We're lucky (and my wife is the smartest woman alive) because it started to rain when we hit the cars in the lot, and, eventually hailed like a mofo. We came home, skyped with our east coast (Weller Kaminski) contingent, and, are now bound for the couch.

Enjoy the week y'all. Here's a smaller photo dump.

Epic Part Deux

Wow. ~10K feet of vertical climbing in 2 days. hell yeah!

To start the weekend, Amy & I met George & The Librarian at Jonesy's for a bite to eat for dinner. The place prides itself on being a "gastropub", which I believe translates into food that is more than food. Complex flavors, flavors that become more/different as you eat it, and, strategic use of ingredients that just usually don't go together. To me, it's shit that just plain is friggin super tasty and more than a meal. According to their menu, butter & whiskey cure everything, and, their food has no shortage of the former. HOWEVER, it's worth ever droplet! We started the meal with some mid-easternish cauliflower with dipping sauces, and, split a palte of samosas that were so damn spicey (i'm a sissy though), but, the taste and textures were just amazing. I got the Braised Lamb & Green Onion Gnocchi which was unbe-real, while Amy got the Shrimp Po' Boy Sliders. George got some Ahi Tuna Sliders which I've sampled before and are mighty tasty, while Shelley ended up with some insane mac and cheese and some fries with truffle oil. Holy shit what a meal! We rounded it all out with tasters of their 3 desserts...Peach Cobbler Bread Pudding (OMG), Brownie Sundae (OMFG), and Butterscotch Dulce da leche with sea salt (OMFGIITMFM!!!!)*. As you can see, the dulce was the best (for me).

I woke up and met Stefan, Rick, and Dariano at REI, and, we rolled out to hit some punchy hills so Stefan could get his jollies. Grrreat. My front brake ended up getting jacked up somehow, so, lucky for me, Jason was in over at PPC and provided the cure (as usual). Damn that boy can wrench. We decided to head up Heritage, over to Morrison, and, up Grapevine. I was feeling pretty good, despite feeling like shit earlier in the week. Granted, everyone that was going to race on Sunday was riding a bit easier, I still felt like we were putting in some good efforts. I was climbing really well, and, felt like my fitness was good. Heritage was great, and, I felt like I hwas in a good groove. The descent over to Morrison greeted us with some much needed water and Clif break. Up Highway 74, Stefan was trucking like a diesel, while, Darren, Clay, & myself let him dangle. I was going to sprint around Darren and jump Stefan as we approached the post office, but, hunger set in, and, I knew I'd get completely schooled. Once we hit Grapevine, Stefan was gone like a doped up German, and, Darren, Rick, Clay, and myself, made our way up the climb. We climbed steadily and had a great time. On the way home, I ran some errands and had to de-creakify both mine & Amy's bike. I succeeded on Amy's, but, Jason, if you are reading this...you'll see me soon. DAMN THAT HEADSET!!!!

Sunday, myself, Amy & Mike (Kelly had mech issues on her bike.) headed up to tackle Super James. We'd done part of it last year, but, did not go all the way through to the Peak to Peak...we just turned around at the top. This time, I wanted to go all the way, so, that was the plan. As we rolled out, I was feeling the effects of the day before. I was very sore and very tired, and, knew that Amy & Mike were feeling good...so, I was nervous of course to be able to finish the whole ride. We made it up to Jamestown pretty good, and, my legs were opening up the whole way up. However, once you cross that mailbox in Jamestown (the usps one at the post-office), it's do or die. You've committed to going to the top. There IS no turning around until you summit. The climb isn't long...maybe 3-4 miles, but, hott damn it's a 10-13% average the whole way up. It winds incessantly and there are some crazy switchbacks that you think are never ending. I think I did 4mph at one point, and, was about to fall over (even in a 36-25!). Granted, I was super fatigued at that point, but, damn, it was so steep. I still felt ok, and, was just making sure I did NOT stop pedaling. Amy, of course, was dancing on the pedals, and Mike, well, he took off...that guy can do it all! Once we summited, we descended a bit to the dirt, and had some AMAZING vistas. You have about 3-4 more miles to the peak to peak, and, there are hills scattered throughout. They get increasingly steep, and, I topped out one hill at 17%. OUCH. We reached Ward and downed our cookies with pride. As we descended, some Columbia High Road guy was climbing into Ward. Not sure who it was, cuz I think only Michael Barry lives in Boulder. Anyone have any idea who it might have been? Meh. We hit some very very light rain on the descent, but, we could see the clouds building menacingly behind us. If we were any later, we would have been caught in what looked to be a horrendus storm. I can't imagine how much further up the people we passed coming up while descending were able to go. We polished the ride off with a delicious meal at M & K's house, and, a visit to Riley whom we hadn't seen in a while.

I love weekends like this...awesome rides with awesome people. It just doesn't get any better than this!




*Oh My F*cking God Insane In The Mother F*cking Membrane

Epic

Wow. This weekend has been a whirlwind of epic-ocity.

First off, I spent a quiet night home on Friday night in lieu of getting home kinda late from work. I had a few things to do around the house, and, pretty much decided that I didn't want to do much else. So, with bored/idle hands, I established my "to-do list" of rides that I want to complete by the end of the summer. Granted, some of them are just basic training rides/routes and not really too epic, but, just rides I've never done, and, have been really itching to do. In no particular order:

1. Mt Evans
2. Gross Resevoir Loop
3. Trail Ridge Road (did it already, but, this time w/ Amy!)
4. Big Thompson w/ Wind River option
5. Golden Gate Canyon allllll the way to the top with Coal Creek/etc descent
6. Rist Canyon/Stove Prairie/etc
7. Ride to M&K's cabin
8. Copper Triangle
9. High Grade, Conifer, and Shadow all in one ride
10. Erie to Ward via Lyons/Raymond.

Saturday was pretty nasty when we woke up, but, I opted for a nice light 2 hr ride to prep the legs for Sunday's epic. I took a great route Jamie and the boys showed me a few weeks ago, but, got a bit lost (yes, I do have a GPS!). Later in the day, we went house shopping again with Dcrowe and saw a BUNCH of winners. We're very excited. Not putting the cart before the horse, as we have to pass inspection/etc too on our place.

Sunday, was just plain epic. We headed out from Erie about 8:45 or so, and headed towards Lyons to tackle the climb up to Ward. This ride solidified one thing we already knew...Mike is the all-time strongman, along with his partner in riding-crime. Check this out...Dudes rolled out of Erie at 5am, climbed to Jamestown, then, returned to Erie to pick us up, then, hit the climb up to Ward and back home. 130 or so miles round trip...10K of climbing. UNREAL! At the beginning of the ride too, he was super uber Euro eating a danish in tinfoil like the pros have in their mussettes. I tried to get a picture, but, just couldn't. The weather was stellar. A beautiful colorado blue sky, and, the thought of the cookies waiting for us up in Ward was nothing but motivation. We had a long way to go though. We rolled into Lyons to meet Katie Coble, and, started climbing up to Raymond. The smack talk wasn't flying too much, and, no matter what I'd say, it didn't matter only cuz these guys were so much tougher than I since they'd already climbed up to Jamestown & back. Sheesh! I was feeling pretty good compared to a week or two before when we headed up towards Raymond, and I bailed. I took off for a bit and was turning the pedals over nicely. I stopped a few times to stretch and wait for everyone since we splintered pretty good. We all caught up in Raymond, and, refilled our bottles. Kelly (unfortunately) turned around, and, headed home. The rest of us continued the slog. The upper half of this climb is just as beautiful as the lower, and, the views and roads are just amazing. I really love this ride, and, the scenery and serenity just are endless. We hit Ward and dove into the insanely stellar chocolate chip cookies that are sold at the general store up there. YUMMMMMMM! On the descent, we opted for Lee Hill Road, since, it cuts about 7 miles off of the trip home. This road is super steep though...15% in parts...and Mike hit the hill at about mile 110 in his ride. OUCH! On our descent, poor Katie crashed, but seemed to be in good spirits on her arrival at the bottom. We rolled into Erie 5h21m later, and, I was feeling really good in the legs & back. I was surprised only because that's my longest ride so far, and, at the end of the week. That's great news though!

This week is going to have lots of new developments, so, stay tuned. I realize I didn't go too much into the ride itself, but, here's a photo dump. My words just can't do it justice!

Congrats to Chris on an 11th place at the N Boulder Crit. Nice work.

Awesome stage today...

The first difficulty of the day, the Croce d'Aune, saw the demise of first Stannard, then Vigano, and finally Martinez, while the remaining three went on to contest the final climb to San Martino di Castrozza. Voigt, as expected, was the last man standing when the peloton finally closed down the last of the gap with 2.5km to go.

Friggin Jens. Gotta love him.

Awesome finish by Danilio. He can't TT out of a paper bag, so, he's not going to win it all, but, if this is a preview of waht's to come tomorrow, and, the final week with the mountains...the Giro will not disappoint. It never does!

Bellisima!!!