Reese Erryn White

From Reese Erryn White

We got our second kiddo in the White clan in a span of about a year today. Sarah delivered Reese Erryn White into the world at 10:33 AM this morning. Topping the scale at 6lbs 14oz and measuring out at 19.25" and just a hint of some red hair.

A couple of pics from today, many more to come in the next several days. Kids under 18 (what?) aren't allowed in the delivery area so we had to alternate watching Super Cooper and visiting with Sarah and Reese so our stay was pretty brief today.

Mother and baby both are doing well, and we all are very excited to have Reese and super thrilled for Sarah.

From Reese Erryn White

From Reese Erryn White

Mark another one off.

Climb that is. I'll never be a great climber, but I'd like to believe that I can at least be acceptable enough to drag my rear up things when needed. Monday morning I got up at 6AM to head out on a ride, not really knowing where I was headed.

After a couple of "I'm tired of that ride" moments, I headed due West across Longmont towards the foothills. I initially thought I would tackle the moderate climb up to Jamestown, CO but as I went I opted to audible and go for the full pull up to Ward, CO right on the Peak to Peak Highway near Brainard Lake.

I've only even attempted this climb one other time, about 14 months ago. The Punisher and I headed up this climb last June, but ultimately turned around after 12 miles so I could get to Jill's baby shower at Hunter Douglas. I felt fine that day and I am sure I could have made the apex had time allowed, but last summer I was riding a compact crankset and a 12-27 cassette which allowed me the easy gear of 34/27 to get myself up the hills. This summer I'm trying to get by with the standard crankset on Elle (my white Tarmac SL), but out of laziness I haven't switched the rear cassette out with my existing one. What this all boils down to is my current lowest gear ratio is 39/25, which is substantially harder to push up a 16.5 mile climb.

Up. And up. I kept going up passing small landmarks that brought back some memories of the climb last year. I would stand and crank for a bit, then sit and push as long as I could before my legs needed a change. I'd knock off mile markers one at a time, and finally I hit "the right turn" that I had been warned about.

While the climb up is a manageable grade (averages 4.5%), the last 1.5 miles into town are a swift reminder that this climb won't give up easily. The last 1.5 miles are measured to be a 10% grade. So after dragging yourself up a 15 mile 4.5% grade, you get the reward of doing a mile and a half at twice the gradient. Seems fair. Oh but there is a sweet oasis that awaits cyclists in Ward, in the form of a natural spring that has potable water that you can refill your surely depleted bottles.

I wanted to take a picture at the top of the climb with my trusty steed, but when I realized that it took me 1:45 just in climbing and I still had 30 miles to get back home I turned and promptly headed back home.

Descending 16.5 miles on a curvy, mountain road is an interesting event in itself. Not sure I'd call it fun like descending on a mountain bike is, as you are constantly checking the road and behind you for obstacles or cars. I learned quickly that road bike brakes pretty much suck. You're just not going to get stopped suddenly from 40+ mph with them, so you've got to be proactive. When I ultimately got out of the canyon and back to Highway 36, I called Jill to let her know I was OK and just behind schedule and then I pounded out the generally downhill route back home.

So now I'll start looking at this list for my next goal and ultimately start looking to best my personal records (once set) up these climbs. The really good news is that with my suffer fest came weight loss, and I shattered the 190 mark I was hoping to achieve. Admittedly still a bit lacking in fluids, I stood on the scale at 187.

Hell yeah.

Full stats here:
MotionBased Ride Stats

Cooper turns 1!

Can't believe the kid is already one, but its here and gone. We had our first (of several) birthday celebrations for Cooper yesterday. Auntie Sarah, who is 9 months pregnant herself and scheduled for a C Section on Thursday, cooked Cooper his very own strawberry cake lined with his favorite blueberries. Sarah, Jill, Cooper and I went to Boulder and had a nice dinner at the West End, then headed back to let Cooper tear into his cake.

Presenting one sweet cake

From Cooper Turns 1

Where do I start?

From Cooper Turns 1

He was very tentative at first, eating one blueberry at a time

From Cooper Turns 1

Then he figured out the icing was pretty good

From Cooper Turns 1

From Cooper Turns 1

From Cooper Turns 1

That's more like it

From Cooper Turns 1

From Cooper Turns 1

From Cooper Turns 1

Carnage ensues

From Cooper Turns 1

Stop briefly to pose

From Cooper Turns 1

Let out a sugar induced scream

From Cooper Turns 1

Then its all clean and some pjs with Mom

From Cooper Turns 1

And a bedtime story with the Super Aunt.

From Cooper Turns 1

And a couple of other photos from the last couple days....

Getting old is tough

From Cooper Turns 1

Auntie Sarah lets me do whatever I want!

From Cooper Turns 1

Its easy to see where he gets his good looks...from his Mother.

From Cooper Turns 1

And the two palest kids in the pool...

From Cooper Turns 1

Chasing 190

Traveling. Ruptured Achilles. New baby. Tired. Stressed. Winter in Calgary.

All excuses for why I have been carrying extra pounds for the last year, and frankly none of them very good. Last July I was a trim 185lbs and feeling better than I had in a long time. Jill had given me a huge amount of freedom to "get it out of my system" and ride as much as I could before Cooper arrived, and I did just that. The Punisher and I were putting in big rides on a consistent basis and I was climbing better than ever.

Cooper showed up and exercise and sleep diminished as expected. The real curve ball was rupturing my Achilles in November, effectively limiting my ability to exercise and increasing my pity eating. On the verge of wondering if my fat pants were still going to fit, I decided no more. I got a road bike up in Calgary and started putting in hard days on the bike at least 2 of my 3 nights in Calgary each week.

While that certainly helped, 2 or 3 days per week just was getting it done. So after we got back from Alaska I decided to quit using the excuses, suck it up and get it done. Every pound you can lose makes climbing easier, and climbing is just a way of life in the front range.

My big push started about 2 weeks ago in Calgary, and here are some of the details about what I've been doing to drop the last couple of pounds...

July 15 - Got Ruby out and did a 2 hour, 30 mile loop out to the Olympic Village site including a big climb up to the bobsled run.

July 17 - Did a 9 - 10 mile mountain bike ride with Tony B. in Oklahoma City.

July 19 - After driving back from OK the day before , got up and did a 50 mile, 2.5 hour ride to Carter Lake



July 20 - Singlespeed mountain bike ride at Teller Farm - 12+ miles and 1:15

July 22 - Hall Ranch ride with Marc from Ohio - 13+ miles and 1:40 ride time


July 24 - Hall Ranch ride and added on part of Picture Rock - 14.5 miles and 1:37 ride time


July 25 - Road ride to Berthoud and back. First 20mph avg ride ever, 26 miles 1:18 ride time

July 26 - Ride at Ned with Jill on the singlespeed for 5 miles before getting rained out, then 12 more miles in South Boulder after that


So in that 10 or 11 day stretch the totals add up something like this:
Mountain biking - 65 miles, 8 hours ride time and 7,000 feet of climbing
Road biking - 104 miles, 6 hours ride time and 4,500 feet of climbing

And today after skipping my trainer session last night so I could go catch "The Hangover", I drug myself up out of bed at 6am for 1:15 on the trainer with another hard session planned for tonight when I get done with work. I've found that if I force myself to just get up and go ride that I am always happy that I did so, but I certainly question that decision when the alarm goes off at 5:45.

Part of the newly found motivation is that this weekend is (first and foremost) Cooper's 1 year birthday, but secondly the Laramie Enduro which was to be my season goal. Unfortunately it filled up very quickly this year and I didn't get in from the wait list. So I'm left to look to other goals for the year. Last Sunday, despite having lots and lots of miles in my legs that week, I felt absolutely incredible on the singlespeed.

Time to up the ante. I will break 190.

Wrapping up Alaska

Here is a video I threw together of our Alaska adventure. Wanted to show our (mainly my) travels across North America and all the fun we had in Alaska. Got some pics from Dr. LK that hadn't been posted up as well.

Unfortunately the quality is greatly reduced when you upload via Blogger, but YouTube didn't like me "borrowing" the music.