Friday was just a long day in general..just one of those that was dragging on and on. Kind of like when you look at your clock, hoping it's lunchtime, but it's not even 10am yet. Ugh. I snuck out of the office at about 11:15 for a lunch break, and was able to run a few errands. I forgot my lunch and realized that I needed to pick something up while I was out, just before the point of no return to the office. I stopped into Subway, ordered a sandwich, and, of course, got the wrong one. My gut told me that since the bag was "warm" it was the guy in line in front of me's sub. I initially started chasing him down, but, then I thought to myself "Maybe the bread is warm from coming out of the oven? Who knows. Either way, ALWAYS trust your guy. I got back to my chair, opened up the pack, and yep...wrong sandwich! I picked all the crap off of it, and basically ate bread. Oh well.
That night, we headed up to Bacaro in Boulder for a sampling of our rehearsal dinner menu. We'd eatend there previously, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so we knew we'd want this as part of our event schedule. We talked to the owner, Corrado, for a bit, and, I was able to speak a tiny bit of Italian with him. Kinda cool how naturally it flowed for me. I was nervous as hell though! The food was DELISH, and, we're going to have a hard time picking our menu. We rolled over to Mike & Kelly's afterwards to spend the night so we didn't have to get up too early to go ride the next day.
Saturday, we hopped outta bed about 5:30, ate, and headed to Lyons for an EPIC ROMPin the mountains. Basically we rolled out towards Carter Lake from Lyons, up Big Thompson Canyon, Devil's Gulch (ouch!), down into Estes, back to Lyons. The original route was to include the Peak to Peak/Wind River Pass, but, the nastiest weather began to roll in, so, we descended 36 like a group of scalded cats! The climb up Big Thompson is pretty mellow. It's MAYBE 2% max, with a great shoulder, and TONS of gorgeous scenery. Really a nice climb. At one point, one of my riding partners drifted back either too quickly, or, I just didn't see them, and BOOM. Their rear derallieur ogt stuck in my spokes, and, the next thing I knew I was picking rocks out of my elbow. I hit the ground pretty hard, but, luckily, kinda knew how to fall. It all happened so fast, that I was shaking and my blood sugar went through the roof! My bike is ok, except for the Record shift levers. DAMN! I really wanted to keep those lookin' good, especially for the trip to Italy. Oh well. I'll pick up some replacements at Vecchio's or something. After we picked me up, We headed right once the road forked, and made our way up to Estes via Devil's Gulch. This is where it got interesting! The road was windy and not too steep for a little while longer, and then, boom. You started to hit the climb. It kicked up to about 5-7% for a mile or two, then eased back down to the earlier grade of about 2-3%. You wind through gorgeous little forests & meadows, completely surrounded by huge peaks/faces and the views are amazing! We hit the small town of Glen Haven and stopped for a world famous Cinnamon Roll. I did not partake in the sweet sweetness, simply because I know I'd have a sugar crash about 10 minutes later! As we left Glen Haven, the road kicks up almost immediately to 12-14%. It's an awesome road, really, but, damn was it steep! Those switchbacks were the toughest I'd ever done, simply because the were so steep, and, to make it even more difficult, off piste. After we ascended, there was an amazing view, then descent into Estes. The thunder started rumbling, so we had to cut the extra loop up Wind River Pass, down Hwy 7, out. We hit Lyons staying dry, with only about 66 or so miles under our belts vs the 90-95 we'd originally planned. I was pretty wiped, and, my body was beginning to ache from that crash (finally!). Afterwards, we went to my sister's house to babysit Riley while they headed out. a 60+ mile ride + a HIGH ENERGY almost 2 year old boy = OUCH!
Sunday's commentating at the race (as mentioned above) was a hoot! I'd never stayed the whole day at a race, and now I kinda know why. It's a loooong day. It was a 14.5 hr day for me, and the sun drained me of all of my energy. I'm still feeling it today, but, I had a great time working as Jordan's partner.
Here are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy
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