Walburg, Racing, Austin.......warm weather.....

Well today was officially the first race of the seaon and it went way better than i intended. Walburg, traditionally raining and freezing cold, today was warm and sunny...something just wasnt right. How could this race be so great......well it wasnt. Mother nature made up for the cold temps and rain by throwing 30 mph winds at us all day. Everything was going fine, a few surges here and there and then a break went up the road. I honestly dont think they could have made it the whole way but they did since at the beginning of the 3rd lap the entire field was stopped by the race official for over a minute as she told us she would stop the whole race if we wouldn't stop the yellow line violations. Well needless to say everyone was pissed and in the windy conditions the break was not going to be caught. Half or more of the remaining pack dropped out since they are little girls. The rest of us set out on our third lap determined to beat mother nature. I felt really good and dropped the hammer along with some others and managed to stretch the field out pretty good dropping a few along the way. After a few more attacks by me and some other guys the packed was dwindled down to about 20 riders. With about 1/2 miles to go i attacked and only about 15 riders came up to me. I attacked at about 600M and only a few guys had to to follow, then one guy countered i jumped on his wheel and then won the field sprint for a 7th place finish. Since i haven't really been doing super hard stuff this year yet im pretty happy with where my fitness is. We'll see how tomorrow plays out but i hope its not as windy as today was.

Wind:


Aftwer the race Big Robbie, Alex and I hit up Austin Java for some grub.


Then Ben came and picked me up in Dumb and Dumber fashion:


Dorks!


Good thing we wern't going to Aspen.


Later we went to Austin Bikes where we said hi to the shop cat Leo


...isnt she soooooo cute.

Then we took a spin out to my house so i could see my roscoe, nickname Mavric.


I miss him already......:(

Well thats it for today, wish me luck for tomorrow!

A Day to Be Remembered.

Today was truly one of the best days of the winter here in Boulder. Not because of the spectacular temps which hovered at about 60 all day, nor the clear blue skies, nor the fact that i was out of class at 10:50 and rode....no today was awesome because i got to ride my other new bike, the one with big tires and to make things even better, i rode it on mountain bike trails!!! Who could have seen this day coming last week when all there was was snow on the ground.

Shep, Bryan and I drove out to Hall Ranch, the dryest trails near Boulder. On the way Shep saw a Greatfull Dead sticker on the back of this pimped out Escalade....


Also on the way we saw a completely tipped over trailer home which had been subject to this weeks themed 60 MPH winds. (sorry for the bad pic, but you get the idea)


Once we made it to Hall Ranch it was time to take the new woman in my life for a spin.


We saw all kinds of animals.....

There we deer...


Gofers.....


And these two strange animals...


The ride wasn't the best of rides but being on trails for the first time in months was a pleasure. No traffic, no skinny wheels, not as much wind, no straight lines, no lights or stop signs....it was great!




Hope everyone had as good of a day as i had!

Not So White Anymore

Well in efforts of getting ready for this coming weekends races I put in a good 4 hr ride yesterday to carter lake. The only difference with yesterdays ride to CL and last weeks ride to CL was the fact that it was about 20 degrees warmer, and i had about 1/3 the clothes i did a week ago. Today its nearly 60 and i plan on riding with arm warmers and knee warmers. The snow is mostly gone and when it comes back (well its supposed to) ill be in Texas. Hopefully Walburg will be nice as i see thunderstorms and high winds are predicted, oh well, it wont be 20 degrees. I look forward to seeing everyone. Ok well im going to go now and hit the roads on probably the nicest day i've seen since the first snow.

Gearing up

Well, rest week is almost up. Its been a nice break but I'm ready to hit the roads full time again. I leave next week for Texas to get my first two races of the season under my belt. While the Texas crowd is most likely a step ahead of me i look forward to racing and hopefully the weekend will be kind to me. I recently got the race wheels back in shape. One had a flat and was untrue, probably from my little crash at Parker at the end of last season. Doesn't she look fast!


Well even though I'm getting antsy i still have to ride easy. That's what today was at least. My bike was spotless last night but the melting snow has led to deteriorating road conditions. It was pretty warm out today, i think it almost hit 45. Today i saw probably the biggest saddle bag i have ever seen. I mean i don't even know why i bothered taking a bob trailer on my trip this summer!


Even though it was cold, the group ride today was nice with company and nice views.


I have come to the conclusion that even if I'm suffering in the frigid temps i can still take a little joy out of blue skies and mountains always in the background....however that wears off really quick once all the extremities go numb.


I sure hope Texas warms up before i get down there. Fat chance but it could at least be dry at walburg right?......yea didn't think so. Pace Bend backwards? Sucks....but oh well i guess we'll be getting our NASCAR on with all the left turns.

ZZZZZzzzzzzz.......

With the CU Cycling's "anything but clothes" party, along with several other holiday themed get together's, i didn't get too much sleep. Last week was my last big week of a three week block. Now i am thoroughly enjoying my rest week. Yesterday, off, today...an hour...tomorrow...another hr. Its nice to catch up on rest and have some time to get chill. It actually worked out really nice considering the temps were not above freezing today and more snow hit...bummer. Putting together my race schedule for the year and its looking like racing almost every weekend with Mountain biking, road racing as well as the collegiate stuff. I'll be heading to the Lone Star for Walburg and Pace Bend. It should be good training but knowing how Texans race...early...I'll probably be behind the ball. Jason has some real hardcore fans out there. You should hit up his site and check out the snow patrol/ avalanche control guys dedicating a bomb to him, literally. In other news I'm selling my bikes, last years scalpel and two year old six 13, as well as a power tap. Hit me up if your interested. Well hope everyone elses lives are as full of excitement as mine.

2007 Ultimate Slackers Award

Well, its February and I've already won the 07's slacker award for the lamest blogging ever. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy posting my daily happenings, but this is just lame. well enough covering my ass with lame excuses. So the weather has pretty much been X tremely cold for me. I'm pretty sure but i think my first winter in Colorado has been one of the top 3 worst winters yet in Colorado history and if the pace continues will be a record winter for shitty/cold/snowy/windy days. When i first came to Boulder everyone told me the winters were mild and 4-5 days outside with bearable temps was the norm. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THAT IS SO FUNNY!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA! well, i had to think again. At least i'm not getting used to easy winters my first year. While many of the locals have been in hibernation, almost rebelling against the Xtreme el nino winter elements, I and a few others have man'd up and hit the streets.



I have had 3 pretty good weeks of training, despite the frigid temps. The hours really seem to go by fast when group rides come together.


a few weeks ago this group ride took place in which we hit trails and then decided that since our trail consisted of ground covered with snow, we would make our own. So thats what happened, we just took off cross country, litterally, accross some field only to come out by a fire station. We ended up descending a valley and needless to say Shep showed us how to bail in a safe and fasionably cool manner.


The roads cleared up pretty nicely last week and i was able to take to the roads.


Also met kiel and kevin who live in the other big bike house in town, appropriately names the Chamois Fort.

This was probably the coldest ride I ahve ever been on. Kiel had it the worst since his shoe covers were ripped along the bottom....his gloves were not warm enough either. We ended up climbing, the first time in a long time. It felt really good, better than just riding flat forever. The temp was 1 deg. F at the bottom of one of the descents, thats when everyone looked at eachother and started laughing.....oh wait, no we were laighing at Kiel trying to eat his homemade cliff bar.


Of course an epic ride like this could not end without some of this.


Last week my two new bikes came in. Scalpel
and System Six They are awesome. The mtn bike trails are just covered in crap, so i took my road bike out. However her first two rides were on the rollers. Now these were my frst two time and rollers. After a few crashes and holding onto a chair I am proud to say i can ride them on my own, although i still need the chair to get rolling. As the week went on more snow and ice kept anyone from going out. However Sunday was an ultra epic day. Kiel and I put in 6 hrs. 4 of whih were spent climbing. It was really an awesome day. Kiel and I also put in a 55 min lt interval up St. Vrain to peak to peak. It was really hard but extremely rewarding. Along the way we saw some billy goats!



great views:



and my new baby getn'r done


Two days ago Kiel, Ryan, Bryan and I rode up to Ward. Kiel and Bryan laid down the hammer while is couldnt turn over the pedals fast enough. It was an awesome climb none the less.


The people in these small towns are great. Before hitting up Bryan for money at the local Ward country store, i asked the guy if he took debit cards...his reply was no, but you take what you want, ill give you my address and you can just send me a check. Only in Ward......


Bryan was happy for his snack.


We also saw little roscoe and his friend:

Roscoe:


Friend of roscoe:


Well this weekend is the CU social... anything but clothes is the theme. I'm still figuring out my costume. I'm also heading to Texas the 24/25 for the Walburg and Pace Bend races! it will be nice to ride in warmer weather and see friends again. Well hopefully i can update more often. In the mean time, keep your fingures crossed for J in hopes that he can escape the evil clutched of USADA.

Cheers!