So you're saying there is a chance....

My July hasn't gotten exactly to plan. My one bike race / goal for the year, the Laramie Enduro, is July 31st and preparations haven't gone so well. I thought I had it arranged where I would be home for the month of July, allowing me to get up and ride early in the mornings before work. Well that didn't work....I got an assignment in Houston...in July. Ouch.

Even when I was home things didn't go according to plan. A couple weeks back I set out to do a long road bike ride with some bigger climbs. After about 25 miles in, I suffered my third flat, a blowout that destroyed the sidewall. That ride ended with Jill and Cooper picking me up.

Several other rides I had hoped to be longer hours and big miles just never really materialized for various reasons. All these things coupled with the fact that I had no real aerobic base this year due to being off the bike from February to June with the shoulder operation, and my chances at actually finishing the 111km Laramie course looked pretty slim. So slim that two weeks ago I was pretty sure I was just going to pull the plug and not even go. During a conversation about it with Jason Brandt, he gave me some immortal words of wisdom...

"DNS < DNF < DFL"

Which is Brandt's way of telling me that not starting is worse than not finishing, and that is worse than finishing dead freaking last.

Without giving it a shot, I'd never know if I could have mustered up enough out of my legs to finish the course. So I refocused myself and decided I needed to at least give it a shot, and if things were miserable or I just couldn't finish then I'd just pull the plug at that point.

Looking for one last tune up, or perhaps just a gauge to see where I currently am fitness-wise, I decided to get up early and head out for a 50+ miler on the singlespeed this morning. Up at 6am, wheels rolling by 6:30 and off towards Boulder on Nancy. A picturesque morning in Boulder County, things were starting to look up. I had pieced together a mix of trail, dirt roads, bike paths and pavement to make a nice, big loop.

Starting out I was measuring my output in a very calculated manner, and things were going really well. I felt great, bike was fast and the trails were in great shape. On my first section of trail I kept hearing a strange creak, which is odd given that Nancy never creaks. I shifted my weight around on the saddle and the creak would either get better or worse. While I was riding along and thinking about stopping to adjust the position to eliminate the creak, that damn Murphy and his law got me again...

I snapped the seat rail on my seat. Ugh.

Today I was not to be defeated though. I found that if I was "on the rivet" (as they say in cycling, which means on the nose of the saddle) that it seemed to be OK. I was 18 miles from home, but only 10 or so from Boulder and its abundance of bike shops, so I pedaled my way to Boulder. Problem solved, at least temporarily, as long as the saddle would hold up for another 10 miles of road riding.

I quickly hit another snag though as I rolled through Boulder to my chosen bike shop, but alas I was way too early. Given my early start it was still 1.5 hours before the shop opened. Well I'd come this far, so I just pointed my bike north towards the trails at Boulder Valley Ranch. Strangely enough, the seat was holding up OK despite being twisted into a pretzel from my weight and the broken seat rail.

I altered my planned route a bit for a little quicker way home with some more pavement, but made pretty quick work of the last 15 miles home after leaving the trails behind. I had a great moment of glory as I reeled in a roadie on a long, grinding climb despite my one gear and knobby tires. Some might say "yeah but he was 90" but I would counter with the fact that he was a very fit 90 years old....

I got back home without any more incidents, just in time to get cleaned up and take Jill and Cooper to lunch.Ended up putting in a bit over 55 miles in 4 hours of riding. I was surprised to see I somehow amassed over 3,400 feet of elevation gain too. While these numbers include quite a bit of road to connect, it was also on a singlespeed too. After this ride, I feel a lot more positive about where I stand and my chances (albeit still probably small) of finishing the Laramie Enduro. Next week will be some light spinning, but mostly rest before heading up Friday to Wyoming.

Random items from my Timbuk2 Bag

Two things that I carry with me in all my travels...

1. A rock Cooper gave me
2. The service card from my Grandma's funeral

Contrasting items, one representing the end of the journey and the other showing discovery of a new adventurous life just getting underway.

I found the service card in my suit pocket one day on my way to a job interview. My Grandma traveled the world over, so I thought it would be great to keep her travel wisdom with me as I navigate the airports of the world.

The rock just helps me remember the only really important thing I have to do is get back home safely.

Hey look! A new post....and a new design

Yeah "Stories" has been a bit stale for the last month or so. Honestly, I've just been running on empty for a month and have not felt like doing much updating. I thought I was finished in Calgary, but then I ended up in Houston only to find out I wasn't done in Calgary plus I've got an understudy to train in Denver. Add into that a rambunctious (almost) two year old, wife and a 70 mile bike race I've been meaning to train for and you can see how the time has gotten away from me.

We have definitely not been letting the grass grow under our feet, we've been out and about and have lots going on. As noted, I spent three or four weeks in Houston (in June - ugh) and have been getting some time at home as well. While in Houston I did get to meet up with some Solarc friends and the Kerr family for some good food. Believe me when I tell you that I have been eating my fair share of Lupe Tortillas beef fajitas while in Houston.

We had a great time up in Breckenridge for the 4th of July. Yack & MJ flew up and rented us a really nice house in the mountains near Breck, which was a really welcome retreat. I could hop on my bike, ride up a dirt road for 1.5 miles and be on some really great singletrack trails. 5 adults, 2 kids under two and 4 dogs - good thing we had an enormous house!

So for today, I leave you with one of our best pics from our visit up to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper at the end of May.

And now the rest of the story....

So as I promised, here is the story from our adventure to Jasper this weekend. Cooper had been a superstar all day long, but he has hated the rental car seat we've had. Normally at home, he likes to "Go!", but he cried for a few seconds just about every time we put him in the car seat in Canada. Consequently, he was also a little fussier while in said car seat as we made our way across Alberta.

After being on the road for a couple hours Sunday morning, walking all over Jasper and then hiking and riding for 3 hours that afternoon with no nap he was getting a little antsy in the seat as we made our way back to Lake Louise.

Jill has a great method of telling Cooper very calmly about what is going to happen and her expectations for him during these events. So we're rolling down the gorgeous highway and Cooper is fidgeting with books, blankets and other distractions all over the back seat. He would read a book for a bit, then he'd grow tired of it and toss it to the ground.

He was even throwing his Cookie Monster stuffed animal. The first time it went flying, we thought maybe he dropped it so we gave it back to him. 5 minutes later it went flying across the car again.

Jill grabbed it and calmly said "Cooper you threw that on purpose so Cookie Monster is staying with me. When you tell me it was an accident, then you can have it back."

We cruised down the road, Jill and I oohing at the various things. A couple of minutes after Jill's exchange with Cooper, we hear "Acc-e-dent!" yelled out of the back of the car. We both just stopped and looked back at the little smiling face in disbelief. I wouldn't have believed it had I not been there myself. The kid already has us beaten.

The funniest part was that he obviously had been sitting back there with his little brain churning trying to figure out how to muster up that big word. We had pretty much forgotten about the exchange until he spouted it out.

And then Jill promptly gave him Cookie Monster back....

Jasper? I hardly know her.

We continued our mini-vacation with a day trip up to Jasper today. We woke up to a dusting of snow in Lake Louise, but had high hopes from the forecast things would improve as we moved towards Jasper. The drive is a couple hours, but there are lots of things to see and do on the way so Jill lined up our itinerary and we headed out.

Weather wasn't looking great, with low clouds and dark skies but we kept going. We made our first stop to hike down to a secluded lake off the highway. Cooper was glad to be out of the car, and skipped most of the way down to the lake.


Little boy, big mountains

From Jasper

Flurries starting to fly

From Jasper

A make-shift golf club

From Jasper

Then it was time to throw some rocks in the lake

From Jasper

The weather kept getting worse, so we just made fast tracks up to Jasper as it was getting close to lunch time. We grabbed some good pizza, then walked up and down the tourist trap area with Cooper darting into every open store door he could find. As we walked around town, the weather starting to break so we were optimistic that our afternoon might be saved.

We headed out to a "must hike" according to the guide book and thus our adventure started. This was to be a pretty simple hike, at least so the guide book thought, but the guide book doesn't know our propensity to bite off more than we expected to.


Cooper getting some more tee time

From Jasper

From Jasper

Cooper following Jill down the trail

From Jasper

Cooper running across the bridge

From Jasper

Then he had to get a closer look at the water below

From Jasper

From Jasper

Cooper got tired and decided it was time for a ride

From Jasper

It all happened innocently enough. I misread the map and went left when we should have gone straight. What was supposed to be a 2km hike to a lake suddenly seemed long. When I asked Jill about it she told me I had messed up, but she thought that was my intention. Already somewhat committed to our route, we pressed on.


All you have to do is press the key

From Jasper

Finally, we reached the end of the "big" lake out of the 5 lakes and started our way back around. Thankfully, we were treated to some incredible views of a lake with that beautiful turquoise hue that just doesn't seem real. We hiked along the ridge towards the next lake, and the weather held.


This picture in no way does justice to the gorgeous color of this lake

From Jasper

Just a couple kids out for a hike

From Jasper

It wasn't too long before we hit the fourth and fifth lakes, which again had a color that looks like a special effect. We took some pics, and kept pressing on. Wasn't far from this next picture that it went downhill. We missed a trail junction and ended up bushwacking on a tiny trail that went straight up several fall lines. I can't even count the numbers of fallen trees we had to get over or around.

From Jasper

We pressed on as the skies threatened. Thankfully Cooper had a great time and just giggled as we made our way around the last of the lakes. When we got back to the real trail, we realized there wasn't even a "real" trail that went around the lake we had just made our way around. Tired, but glad to have gotten out especially given the fact we were under weather watch all day.


No worse for the wear, Cooper tries his pacifier the other way

From Jasper

Back in the car, we made a couple more stops along our way home. The first was another gorgeous blue lake that once again didn't really show up in the pics due to the angle and wind. The next was Athabasca Falls, which was really cool. You could just feel the force of the water as you stood near it.

From Jasper

Athabasca Falls

From Jasper

Cooper and Jill posing at the Falls

From Jasper

Other side of the Falls

From Jasper

The run-off below the falls. This canyon had such incredible shape from the water's erosive force of thousands of years.

From Jasper

From Jasper

Then on the way home, we started seeing the wildlife. Jill had been disappointed at the lack of "critters", but then the parade started. We saw a big pack of mountain goats (or bighorn sheep). Then slightly down the road we saw our first bear. A beautiful black bear munching on some grass. Then another 30km down the road we got to see another, and the finally a third bear close to home.


The first bear

From Jasper

The second bear

From Jasper

We had another big highlight of the trip courtesy of a very sleep Super Cooper on the ride home. I'll save that for another post, but it had Jill and I both jaw dropped then in stitches for quite some time.