Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town...

I love Thanksgiving dinner, a time to eat and embrace the fact your pants no longer fit. In the last 7 days I've had 3 turkey and dressing filled meals, including two on Saturday evening. We had a huge feed at John & Amy Perry's place on Saturday around 5:30pm, then headed down the Diagonal for another feed at Scott & Kim Turner's place in Boulder. Granted the second meal was more of a sampling since we were completely stuffed from our last meal just 2 hours ago, but I still managed to have some turkey regardless. The real coo was getting lots of turkey from the Perry Thanksgiving and then scoring a huge dish of stuffing from the Turner's dinner. Now if only I had scheduled another on Sunday where I could have grabbed some mashed potatoes...

Despite my efforts to propel my weight into uncharted territory, I actually dropped a couple pounds this week. I've been very regimented in my training schedule, only breaking the routine once in the last couple weeks and that was to try Jill's "core" excercise routine that she does. Well lets just say that wasn't so pretty...I looked like a 5th grader trying to play in the NBA. While I never really got short of breath from the excercise, my brain started overheating from trying to keep up and follow the overly cheery instructor. We'll just say that the core training wasn't exactly for me.

With the great weather this weekend, I broke the monotony of the trainer and headed out onto the open road both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I took Ruby (the name Jill & I have given to my Specialized Roubaix) out on a 25 mile ride towards Lyons. A nice easy loop with a few rolling hills, but nothing too taxing. An easy Zone 2 spin for 1.5 hours through the countryside between Longmont and Lyons.

Heart Rate And Elevation for Saturday's Ride



Sunday I jumped at the chance to get Betty the Yeti (both my bikes were recently anointed with names) out of hibernation for a easy spin on the Teller Lake trails between Longmont and Boulder.

One of my Dad's favorite expressions is "Never bring a knife to a gun fight". Well bringing my 6" travel Yeti to Teller Lake was like bringing a bazooka to that knife fight. Teller Lake has nothing at all even remotely technical, and we saw more cyclocross bikes than full suspensions, but with the fork in 110mm mode and the RP3 in firm mode Betty rockets through the smooth stuff pretty well for a chunky girl.

Of course not satisfied with the ridiculous physical advantage or 50 less pounds, The Punisher broke out his Stumpjumper hardtail instead of his dual suspension Maverick just to make me hurt a little more. We actually took it very easy, never really pushing above 60% till the final climb to the car. We actually had a woman gap up to us then proceed to hammer by us on the climb, but we just let her go. I doubt John has the experience to get passed on climbs much, let alone by a woman, so I was glad to allow him to experience life as a slow climber.

Heart Rate & Elevation from Sunday's Ride


Short week at work, and great weather. I'm guessing that for the next three days my body will be at 1515 Arapahoe, but my mind might be somewhere in the foothills ripping down some singletrack. Rumor has it we might be outta here early on Wednesday, and if that happens I'll definitely be finding my way to a dirt trail somewhere.

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross - Round 4

The Grand Prix of Cyclocross moved down the Diagonal Highway overnight to Boulder, but despite the location change the gorgeous weather continued. I had thought I might ride with John "The Punisher" Perry on our road bikes to the Boulder event, but despite his super hero powers on the bike John was nursing a back injury and thought it best if he didn't ride. I gave thought to going solo, but then thought better of it so I wouldn't be riding home in the dark. So I just hopped in with John & Amy and we went to see what would be the most exciting bike race I've ever seen.

We showed up to watch the Elite Women and then the Elite Men's races, both of which would have some heroic performances. The women's race was a two woman show, with the US National cyclocross champ battling it out with the Canadian National cyclocross champ. These two would trade shots, each making moves with the other reacting to each move. The gorgeous sunny day briefly got uncharacteristically windy in the Boulder valley, so catching a draft was a big issue.



Late in the race Katie Compton put the hammer down and snapped Lyne Bessette off her wheel once and for all. Compton (pictured below) had put in a big effort yesterday in winning the previous round, but found something left in the tank today.



Bessette (pictured below) settled into a comfortable second place with Georgia Gould rounding out the podium.

The Elite Men's race was the big event, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Round 3 saw Ryan Trebon ride off the front and destroy the field, but today was a different day. Round 3's course was wide with lots of passing room, but the Boulder course was a much tighter venue. Getting off the line in a good position would be crucial.

The gun goes off, and the big dogs get out front. Trebon, Todd Wells, Jonathan Baker, and Trebon's Kona teammate Barry Wicks all got off quickly and the race was on. Wells and Baker got out front and started putting some distance into Trebon while they could. Wicks was doing team duty and sitting on the wheel until Trebon could bridge the gap, which wouldn't take long.

Todd Wells leads Jonathan Baker through the sand pit


It didn't take Trebon long to get up to the leaders, and the race was on from that point. Despite his solo break yesterday, Trebon looked strong, storming up the hills and making up ground on the flats.

Ryan Trebon leads Todd Wells through the treacherous sand


Wells leads with Trebon chasing


Wells pushed the pace with Trebon and Tim Johnson coming up through the pack to get on as Wicks fell off the big pace on the front after helping Trebon bridge up to the lead pack. The trio pounded out fast laps up front, before the first big development as Trebon hit the pits with a mechanical problem. Even though the bike switch was very fast, Trebon had lost contact with the leaders.

Wells and Johnson attack with Trebon having mechanical problems


This was the break that Wells and Johnson needed and the upped the pace. Wells and Baker hammered as they put time into Trebon. Trebon's teammate, Wicks, took team orders and started hammering to try and mark the lead duo. Wicks made quick work of the gap and in true team ordered fashion sat on the wheel of the two leaders, marking their movements.

Trebon's troubles weren't over yet, as he hit the pits again swapping bikes yet again. After the 2nd bike switch, he was nearly 45 seconds behind the charging trio up front. Trebon looked dejected and at times ragged, a side that he had not shown up to this point. In fact, I had a close encounter with Trebon (as seen in the pic below) as he pushed wide in a corner and nearly made contact with me.

Nice to meet you Mr. Trebon


Inexplicably, after the 2nd bike change and with the laps winding down, Trebon started charging. Being 45 seconds down with just a handful of laps to go, his attempts looked futile but I assumed he was just trying to do damage control. Quickly dropping Geoff Kabush, Trebon charged towards the front noticeably bringing the gap down each lap.

With 1 lap to go, Trebon had cut the gap down to 10 seconds and he was closing fast. Up front, Wells was pacing the group with Johnson struggling to hang on and Wicks just sitting on the wheel. As the group entered the sand pit area for the final time, Wicks charged in front of Wells undoubtedly to try and slow up the group to allow the hard charging Trebon to make up the 5 seconds he now found himself down.

Wicks jumps ahead of Wells, but Wells gets him back


Wells responded back, and pushed to the lead. Johnson, while still in contact, was clearly just hanging on at this point. Trebon frantically hammered, getting out of the saddle but still sitting 3-4 seconds back. As the leader trio hit the final 200m pavement stretch, Wicks jumped out of the saddle with a quick and hard acceleration broke the other two as Trebon realized his all out efforts would fall just a bit short. Wicks sprinted to the win as Wells and Johnson rounded out the podium. Trebon rolled across the line seconds later, his win streak snapped, but still leads the overall series.

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross - Round 3

The big show hit Longmont on Saturday, as the national championship series of cyclocross hit Longmont on the Xilinx campus. I figured I should go check it out, as Boulder County alone has enough pro talent to make for an entertaining race. Rumors had been swirling about the various pro riders that would be showing up, and the rumors all turned out to be true.

The two most notable names were American Tour de France riders Chris Horner and "Fast" Freddy Rodriguez. These two guys are Elite roadies who have both put in impressive showings in le Tour, so when I tell you they were not factors in the race that should give you some idea about the level of competition yesterday.

For you non-cyclist readers of the blog, cyclocross is a combination of road biking and mountain biking. The bikes look like burly road bikes with skinny tires that have tread on them. The courses are usually a combination of pavement and dirt with mandatory obstacles where riders dismount and carry their bikes over before remounting and continuing on.





Ryan Trebon (pictured below) came into this round having the #1 plate and has won the first two rounds. As the gun went off, he was with the lead group and wasted no time in riding off the front. A pack of riders grouped up to run him down, but it wasn't going to happen today as he was just too strong. He was putting big time into the chase group in the 3-6 laps and then cruised for the last couple.



I was very impressed with the turnout, crowd support and how professional everything was run. This was the big show, and I was glad to have been able to catch it so close to home. The other impressive thing was how fast these guys move. They were at a near all out sprint for an hour straight, on a difficult course that saw a lot of crashes. In fact, I was shooting pics and almost got taken out but a fatigued racer who lost the front wheel and started sliding towards me. Luckily for me, my reflexes were faster than his at that point and I managed to escape unscathed.

Here are a couple more pics from Saturday's event...

Geoff Kabush on his incredibly sweet Van Dessel cross bike



A Giant rider pushes hard to get back in contact with the leaders



3 riders battling it out in the late stages of the race

The MonSoon 150 - Day 1

Who signed up for this thing? Getting up at 4:45 a.m.? Where am I? A bit disoriented, and very tired I stumbled out of bed and started getting dressed for the two days that loomed in front of me. Sarah & I had to be on the course by 7:30, but wanted to be on the course closer to 6, so we were off and on our way very early.

We arrived, checked our luggage and shuttled to the start. The skies looked dark but were so far holding off. The weather forecast had gone from 90 deg and chance of afternoon T-Storms to 70 deg and rain all day in 24 hours. Luckily I had a brand new rain jacket I picked up that should keep me dry in the event of showers. So I thought.

We took off on our way from Highlands Ranch south towards Castle Rock. No warm up here, lots of rolling climbs to get wake you up in a rude manner. I had put my rain jacket on at the start, but quickly had to ditch it as I was burning up in it due to the climbs. We skipped the first rest stop to get ahead of the masses and cruised along to the 2nd where we stopped long enough to turn our noses up at the PB&J sandwiches and rice cakes.

As we left the 2nd rest stop Sarah tells me she thinks its the same road (i.e. big climb) we did on the Elephant Rock. No way I think. This is clearly a different road. Well about 5 miles down the road when I see the asphalt leading towards the heavens I realized she may have been more correct than me here....

So we do Elephant Rock part deux, with me going ahead on the climbs then regrouping at rest stop #3. I've got a time gap on Sarah so I phone back to Jill to give her and update and check on Baloo, our black lab who had just had surgery on Friday. Jill tells me Baloo is doing much better and everything is looking good. I go on to boast to her about how we've knocked out 30 miles, I feel good and even though the skies look really dark it only rained on us briefly.

Open mouth, insert foot.

No sooner than we took off from rest stop #3 did the skies open up on us creating a torrential downpour. No problem, I've got a trusty rain jacket that should keep me dry right? Well sure, it keeps you dry for a little bit but at some point it just gets saturated and does no good. The roads were so wet, the splash back and roost from riders in front was brutal. You couldn't be anywhere in a 20 foot area behind someone in front without getting pelted in the face. To make matters worse, the rains had washed tons of sand into the road, which was creating a brutal sandy water/road grime gunk that was getting pasted all over you. Not pleasant riding conditions.

Gritting my teeth, hunkering down and just trying to stay focused mentally to keep from ending up on the ground like so many other people I had seen I kept going with the promise of lunch ahead. Lunch would be at the 50 mile mark, and it couldn't come soon enough. He had just climbed for the majority of 50 miles, 30 of it in pouring rain, and I was soaked to the bone. My front tire was throwing up so much water that it was hitting the down tube and spraying huge amounts of water directly into my shoes. I kept the idea of lunch in a covered pavilion type area would be my refuge. Well I was partially right at least.

We finally arrived at lunch only to have our fears recognized. There would be no pavilion. It was eat in the rain, which was still coming down hard although it had let up some. Morally defeated I sat down at an exposed picnic table where I had probably the best turkey and cheese wrap of my life.
You can see from the pic, my rain jacket was totally saturated and I was starting to get really cold since I wasn't climbing anymore.

We took our time and ate some lunch, as we talked about the miserable conditions. I went back and scored a second box lunch, as I needed the calories to keep going. I was wasting so much energy shivering that I wasn't sure I could do 30 more miles in these conditions. I was still going forward, but I had mentally checked out a couple times on the ride. So to entertain ourselves, we did things like take pictures of Sarah's prune feet and her ringing water out of her soaked socks. This is what you do when you are delirious from the rain...




I was sporting a super sweet helmet Mohawk that we had to document...


I took some shelter in the bathroom at the lunch area, where I found temporary relief in the form of a hand drier. The warm air was enough to help me dry out my rain soaked jacket and get some internal warmth back. After the quick reheating we started to head back to our bikes.

As we approached our bikes I saw a volunteer guy with a bullhorn starting to make an announcement, so we stopped and listened. He announced:

"We are closing the course due to a large outbreak of hypothermia. If you are on your bike right now, you can go ahead and ride with support but everyone else who is here will be shuttled to the finish line."

Well I didn't like the thought of more riding in the rain, but I also didn't ride this far in the rain to take a shuttle the rest of the way so we hurried to our bikes and took off before they could close the course down. Of course, the first 10 miles after lunch would be you guessed it....MORE CLIMBING!. Ugh. You know you're in for a long day of climbing when the road you are riding on is name "Roller Coaster Rd.". Seriously, Roller Coaster Road. Oh how I longed for a road in west Texas. Flat roads are good.

We did the 10 miles after lunch in workman-like fashion and regrouped at the rest stop at 60 miles. After some Gatorade, we took off for what would prove to be nearly all downhill for 20 miles and finally without the rain. The splash back was still really bad, so there was to be no drafting on this day, but at least we could cruise downhill at a good rate of speed.

We hit the outskirts of Colorado Springs and knew the end (for today at least) was near. We made our way across the city, and as we neared the finish the number of spectators and people cheering grew continuously. It was a cool experience to have everyone cheering you on as you approached the finish, a very celebratory experience.

Upon getting to CO Springs, we were filthy, still soaked and very tired. We tossed around the idea of calling Jill and ending our journey right there, but then decided against it. Our next decision would be one the best decision we made all weekend, we decided to get a hotel room instead of camp like we had previously planned. Once at the hotel, we showered, ate and were both asleep by 8:30.

The hotel was a godsend for sure. It poured rain most of the evening and stormed hard overnight. The thought of sleeping in a tent that would have surely been leaky, wet and loud all night in the rain was too much, and I am so glad that we procured a hotel room. A shower, a hot meal, and a good nights sleep were the only cure for our tired bodies.

Day 1 totals:
81.1 Miles
6,201 feet of climbing

MotionBased.com GPS Analysis for Day 1

The elevation graph:



This photo of Sarah pretty much sums up how we felt upon arrival in CO Springs:


Pistol Pete took some serious abuse as the figurehead, but still came out looking pretty good:


My legs were covered with sand, dirt and road grime that took three tries to get it all washed off:

The MS 150 - Day 2

Getting a hotel instead of camping in the continuous rain overnight was the best thing we could have ever done. Awaking at 5:00 a.m. and seeing the huge puddles in the parking lot, but blue skies to the west and some much needed sunshine was a welcome experience. We gathered our stuff up and took the shuttle back to the starting line, hoping today's ride would be better than yesterday.

We got started about 6:30 and climbed up and out of Colorado Springs heading towards Canon City. The legs felt decent, but my shoulders and neck were pretty sore from the death grip I had on the bars trying to stay upright the day before. We breezed past the first rest stop and worked our way up to the 2nd rest stop in pretty good time. I had gapped Sarah out a bit on the climbs so I hopped off and took a quick pic of here speeding down the road.

We grouped back up and for the first time in two days, we were able to sit in the draft of each other. Working together we made good time heading towards lunch, and the weather continued to hold.


We hit the lunch stop around 10 a.m., which normally would be a really early lunch but we were quite ready for it. As we sat eating lunch we talked about what was ahead. We had knocked out 40 of the 50 miles before the optional Royal Gorge route, so in just another 10 miles we'd be in Canon City and we were in no risk of missing the 1 p.m. Royal Gorge route cutoff time. So after consuming some sandwiches, we did a quick tire check and headed off.

The 10 miles out of Florence into Canon City were a slog. The food was good going down, but combined with the amount we had just eaten and the steady climb out of Florence, it was sitting pretty heavy on us. We just turned the cranks at a steady, easy pace as we worked our way to Canon City. I jumped off the front and motored into Canon City a little ahead of Sarah, needing to find a rest stop in a hurry. I had forced myself to take in a lot of fluids at lunch, and my bladder was feeling the effects. We regrouped on the edge of Canon City, where we contemplated what we had left in the tank versus what was left of the course.

I felt good enough that I was sure that I wanted to try the Gorge loop, after all that was what I came to see. Sarah took a little time to regroup and then decided we'd continue on. As we were resting up, the volunteer group posted a warning that a T-Storm was being forecasted in the Gorge area around 1 p.m., which would be about the time we should arrive. I really, really didn't want to ride in the soaking rain again, but thought maybe we'd get lucky and beat the storm today. So I asked some people around about what the road ahead was like and got the following response:

"About 6 miles of flat, then some climbing"

Well that person was a huge liar. I'm not sure we had 6 miles of flat on the entire course, and especially not heading from Canon City to the Royal Gorge. We did a steady, grinding 4-5% grade climb out of Canon City. The climb went on and on with no end in sight. A steady stream of bikers in front and behind us kept us going, and it seemed everyone was suffering quite a bit.

Finally we reached the apex of the long grinder out of Canon City, and saw the Royal Gorge signage on the roadside. Perfect pic opportunity.





A huge downhill followed the picture taking, then another rest stop. Mumblings of "The Wall" climb were heard and I thought to myself "Finally, we get to climb this 'Wall' and get to the Gorge." but alas there was still more to ride before the infamous "Wall" section would present itself. After another 4% grinding climb for about 5 or 6 miles, we hit the last rest stop. I was assured at this rest stop that the final climb, The Wall (a 10% grade for 1.5 miles) was just ahead. Finally I would get to this notorious climb....

Sarah took off in front on the downhill as I called Jill to try and give her an update. Shortly after the road went from down to up, I realized I was finally at the penultimate climb of the ride. The Wall was certainly steep, and the initial section may be the steepest part of it all. I stood and turned the pedals and felt surprisingly good as I ascended. I was bound and determined to ride this climb without stopping or walking, even though the majority of the people I passed had resorted to pushing their bikes up.

One by one I would focus on the next person up the road and reel them in. I probably passed 50 people on this climb alone, but as I neared the top I could hear the volunteers cheering and ringing their cowbells. I had a fever and the only cure was more cowbell. I came around the corner and heard a spectator yell "its the top of The Wall". Those are the sweetest words I've ever heard in my life, and I jumped up out of the saddle and hammered the final 100 yards out in fine style. I even got a "now that's a strong finish" from someone in the crowd. Finally cresting the apex, I cruised down to the gates of the Royal Gorge where I waited for Sarah.



Sarah came down the road, seemingly very thankful to be done with The Wall for good. We took a bit of a breather, snapped a couple pics and then headed on to see what we'd ridden all this way to see. Finally the Royal Gorge was upon us.

Just before the bridge:


Sarah riding across the Royal Gorge:



Its a long way down...


Of course with the pleasure came more pain, as the climb out of the Royal Gorge wasn't easy. I took off on the climb, hoping to make it to Highway 50 where I could call Jill and get her headed our way. We were pushing our luck as a violent looking storm was chasing us down and making good time. We could heard the thunder and see the rain, so I pushed on leaving Sarah behind to ride her own pace.

My attempt to be the hero and have Jill & the dogs waiting for us at Highway 50 was ultimately foiled by a dead cellphone battery. I had just enough juice to get connected with Jill before my phone died. Well so much for that. Thankfully Sarah managed to make her way up to the Highway 50 intersection pretty quickly and her phone actually had charge. We called up Jill and told her to come get us. We still had 10 miles to go, almost all of which was downhill but the thought of being soaked in the rain just before the ride home was too much. So yeah I guess we did sag the final section, but considering it was all downhill in the rain I feel very good about that decision. We had ridden every mile up to that point, and had seen the big payout so I was very comfortable calling in the sag wagon and skipping a rainy downhill ride back into Canon City.

The hero of the day, Jill arrived just in time. The storm was right on top of us, but we got loaded up and on our way just in time. We actually took 3 other riders with us as they were worried about the storm as well, so 6 people, 2 dogs, and 5 bikes in my truck as we raced into Canon City as the rainstorm unleashed itself on us.

So Day 2 ended with 77 miles with over 5,200 feet in climbing. Another brutal day on the bike, but so much more manageable due to the good weather.

Totals for the 2 day ride:
158.15 miles
11,447 feet climbed

MotionBased.com GPS Analysis Link

The Elevation Graph (Where did that 15 mile downhill come from? It sure didn't feel like 15 miles of downhill)...