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!