Wow

This weekend was a little bit of everything, and, it all pretty much wore me out!

Friday, Amy & I hit Patzcuaro's for dinner. It's a small Mexican resteraunt in the next neighborhood over, and, we'd been meaning to try it for some time. I've been challenigng myself to find something better than Tacos Jalisco, so, I welcomed any contender that wanted to step into the ring. We walked over, and, the weather demanded we were a heavier coat. We'd already packed most of our winter clothes away into the basement, so, it took us a bit to find the appropriate outerwear! Once we started walking, the breeze kicked up, and, hot damn it was a cold one! Anyway, we made it to the resteraunt and proceeded to grab a seat at a 6-top, since, at 6:05, it was already crowded! The place is definitely a hole, but, usually you can get good food in these sortsa places, and, there have been some recommendations to check it out. Amy ordered her traditional huevos rancheros, and I ordered up a dish called Carnitas Michocaun. As a side note, when trying a new resteraunt, I try to order something simple and traditional to see how they do "normal". If they jazz it up, or, their "basics" suck, typically the resteraunt is either trying too hard, or, they just aren't that good! For mexican, I'll usually grab a plate of Cheese Enchiladas and make sure their sauce is up to par. Then, I started thinking about whether or not these places just use a pre-made sauce in a big ole can, while others may or may not make their own. This time around however, I opted for a house speciality. Basically the dish was slow roasted pork in "smoked" in a traditional salsa ALL day. I gotta say, one of the BEST things I've ever eaten. HANDS down. The pork was so moist and soft and the flavor was so distinct. It was absolutely delicious! I made it a point to tell the waiter & the owner that it was just phenom. Afterwards, we walked back home, met our fate with the devil that is Nutella + graham crackers, and, I turned in early in lieu of a large ride in the morning.

Saturday morning, I rolled out of the house around 8:30 to greet Justin, and head down to bang! to meet the rest of the guys. Jordo, Michael Hanna, myself, Justin, and Darren all headed down to High Grade to tackle the climb. The plan was to climb HG, then, hit Conifer Mountain, a mountain I haven't climbed in about 3 years for whatever reason. My main goal that day was to get up and down Conifer. Many times already had I rolled out there, but, never made it up because I was just too tired from the ride out there (my distance to the climb has increased since moving!). The tempo heading out was lively as expected, and the conversation was pretty enjoyable. Once we started climbing, I was thankful that I'd put my 11-28 on as the High Grade pitch quickly jumps up once you hit the initial switchback! Also, from what I could remember, Conifer Mtn was pretty steep, and, while I'd be climbing recently on the 11-26, I wanted the insurance of just ooooone more gear. Darren & I made our way up High Grade at a somewhat lesiurely pace. There were times where we pushed it, and, pretty much had elevated HRs the whole wayup. Upon summitting, Jordo & Michael went down City View, while Justin, Darren and I headed to Conifer.

As we started the Confier climb, I was quickly reminded why I haven't been back in a few years tot his mountain...it is a very hard climb. The climb itself is about 5 or so miles up, upon which you meet a 5 mile loop which essentially takes you around the mountain in a lollipop fashion. The bottom 5 miles starts outwith an enormous 16% (steep but short) pitch, which then puts you on a short downhill, only to be met with YET another steep pitch which pretty much seals your fate for the next 4 miles or so. The road winds and twists with switchbacks up and around through a pretty scenic road with some great views way far east and south. As you continue to climb the road eventually splits, and, you can go either right or left (doesn't matter which way you go as this is the "loop" portion). While we chose to go to the right, our eventualy descent reminded me that the left side was no slouch either! However, the climbs to the right are a bit more twisty which gives you a sense of challenge, whereas the left side is pretty much a straight road (with a slight descent actually), and it's more of a prolonged state of denial that you're actually going to finish. Once we hit the summit of the climb, we stopped to gear up with whatever extra layers we had since at 9500 feet it was significantly colder then the lower slopes (of HG even!). The descent was pretty chilly, however, it was punctuated with gorgeous views off to the west and south on the descent, and, often times I'd yell up to Darren & Justin to slow down and at least take a look and see the view. I struggled the entire climb as I could feel my speed drop and my legs go dead. This is one area I have GOT to improve on...being able to keep a good cadence & tempo up really steep stuff. Gotta do some research on the right training approach to get it done! Once we got all the way down, we proceeded to plow through the headwind that seems to live on HWY 73 and made our way into Evergreen proper. We stopped quickly at the gas station for some water, and, I was pretty cooked. The descent was lively as it usually is, with attacks coming here and there, but, eventually Justin pipped me at the line on the town edge sprint. I definitely have ZERO super high end strength. The weight room in the off season should help this. We limped home on the final stretches of Garrison, and I immediately hit the couch with a plate of food and the 1st stage of the Giro.

That night, we made a homemade pizza which turned out delicious, and, finally caught ourselves up on Breaking Bad (greatest show ever!). I could not fall asleep Saturday night as I was just so worked that I think my body was in disbelief at how tired it was...almost as if it kept me up saying "Um...you really are THIS tired!? No way...let me check again!".

Sunday, I'd originally planned on heading up to Erie with Mike to do either the Gross Res loop, or, up to Jamestown. However, upon stepping out of bed, I could barely support myself! I was so worked. I'd resigned to not do anything and just rest, but, then remembered that spinning the legs out, even if for an hour, would be good. Something happened with my ability to recover. Not sure what it is, but, I'm still tryign to get back INTO the normal schedule of training & recovery. I think a lack of yoga has really hurt too, but, until I get my body dialed in (one more massage), I'm going to skip it. I had a massage sceheudled for Monday, and, with the crap weather outlook, and all day meetings next week, riding would be somewhat threatened. I was going to wait until later in the day, but, things got all busy later in the day, so, I quickly changed and headed out. I remembered the guys were meeting at REI for a ride, so, I headed down there. I tail-gunned the group the entire way out to Golden, and, then headed back home on my own. Amy & I decided that we were DONE with going out to eat as we'd been doing that all week. I made some tastey morsels for lunch/dinner this week, and, can't wait to dig in!

While my riding schedule is quickly dwindling with my main man showing up in about a month or so, I'm trying to keep it going for the next 2 or so weeks. There are a few races coming up that I will try to hit (Hugo & Deer Trail), but, we'll see. My plan is to hit Hugo, but, DT is already full. A lot depends on the next 2 doc appts. I want to make sure that if things look like they'll be put into motion early, I must be around and available. Otherwise, it'll be fun to get out and race since it's been like 3 years!

Have a good week.