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
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