Living The Dream

Cyn and I headed up to the mountains with the intention of hitting A-Basin Sunday after skiing Loveland on Saturday. On the way up Loveland Pass, we decided to make some Pass runs. It turned out the wind and snow on Saturday was enough to steer most people away, and what we found Sunday morning was a beautiful basin with untouched lines as far as the eye could see. We found that there were definitely pockets of wind slab 1-2 feet, so we stuck to the lower angle terrain above tree line and did the majority of turns straight off the pass road. We did however manage one early 40-50 minute hike along the ridge above the basin, dropping in for our longest run of the day. We skied fresh lines in 1+ foot of pow all morning By 12:30 we were toast, and headed back to town. This has been an amazing ski season, its not often that storms line up for the weekends like they have this year.

Blue Bird Day! Sun, Snow, Smiles

Got Freshies all Morning Long

Little Traverse Trough Some Wind Scour

Nice Lines All Morning!

Got Snow?

April pow days rule!

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The Latest in Coffee Technology.......

The days of spilling coffee all over yourself and your car are a thing of the past.

These little b-plugs for your coffee are Super Cool!!!!

Rumor has it the rest of the country has had this technology for a while, what can I say, things move a little slower out here.

Back in Winter Mode......

My commute came to a screeching halt this morning, what typically is a 35 min drive from Cyn's turned into a 2+ hour sloppy mess. As usual its not the weather that's the problem, its the vehicle operators..........

Door slammed shut at Lincoln & I25, all hopes of getting to work on time gone!

Thank goodness my town police have H2's for just these occasions!

That's your tax dollars at work baby!

The County only has Blazers.... Poor bastards


Ah the weather bubble, its funny sometimes when its cloudy in the rest of the world, its completely sunny in Castle Rock, other times its socked in. The surveyors at my company swear there is an invisible dome above the city built and controlled by "the man", you look out the window its sunny, a 1/4 mile out of town it can be a blizzard. Today the dome effect was in reverse, kinda.

F-the bike, I think I'm gonna go skiing this weekend........

Watch Out Bubba!

Join the movement to end violence against cyclists!

YIKES!

I have never feared for my life like I did in Salt Lake City. Upon arriving in the city and our first venture out we found that simply standing off of the side walk within the crosswalks could be hazardous to your health. Apparently this has been a problem for a while as the city has painted warnings on the asphalt in the walks, and provided cute little orange flags to cross the street with. We witnessed a number drivers flying into the crosswalks to stop just before the intersections, only to back out of said cross walk when they realized there were people (us) attempting to cross the street. Maybe we were doing something wrong?

Have you ever been so happy it has rendered you speechless?
We'll its happened to me........

The Tribe

How can you not smile when you see this?

Or wake up to this?

No matter what, these li'll buggers are always happy to see me. Even when I've been a total DB! (I would have left me by now). They never hold a grudge, always forgive, and show unconditional love. That's how our Tribe do... One member has been gone for a bit, the Tribe's still here, a little wacky, but still here.

Koppenberg 08, Kinda......

Saturday Chris and I set out to find some wind! We thought what better place to look than out at the Koppenberg course. This would also give us a chance to take a couple laps around the circut before racing it Sunday. We rolled out from MOB and headed up 32nd to the outskirts of Golden, where we turned North towards the course. What an awesome day, it was in the low to mid 60's, plenty of sun, and wind for everyone to enjoy. We headed 82nd to HWY 93 then a quick jont down 93 to HWY 128 and on to the course........

Once we hit the course we were absolutely sand blasted, I have never been in a situation like that, let alone on a bike. Imagine blizzard conditions blowing snow, with zero visibility, replace the snow with sand and that's what we had. It must suck to live in the desert! We rolled a lap and said enough with that junk, and set sail for home. Going back was sweet, it seemed like it was all down hill with a tail wind. Good times!

Koppenberg on Sunday was canceled because of unsafe racing conditions. Saturday 65 and sunny, Sunday 27 and snow. Spring time in the Rockies!!!!!


Head'n back to D-Town

Plenty of Wind for Everybody! Even Bubba

The Wind Hunt, Found plenty out here too!

There's actualy a wind farm just to the west....

Look Ma, No Hands! (My Fiance Loves these Pic's)

I Miss the Girl!

This is what I wake up to these days....

Dalmation Mind Tricks!!!

You will feed me......

You will take me to the Dog Park.....

Sunday! Race On!

Its all smiles on Race Day

Fat man in a little coat...Only temporary, this dude's gonna be fast soon

Saturday! Kinda Cold

Chris is cold and we havent even gone up yet

Jordan showing the love, and Mike chill as usual

Cold ass descent!

Crispy......

Well, after a fairly easy day Friday I started off the weekend with a nice little 75 mile ride up to Conifer and around the hills of Evergreen with Chris. We hit High Grade pretty hard, then did some climbs off of N. Turkey Creek. The weather was cold with some intermittent snow showers, nothing to make the roads messy, but enough to remind us that it was still winter.

Sunday was funday. The first race of the year! I lined up in the 3/4/5's race which was a full 75 peep field. Things started off fast, or at least it seemed that way. I didn't really have much of a warm up so that could have contributed to the early on suffering. I was rolling the new wheels, and man its nice to be on something other than the bomber training wheels. A couple laps in I got caught in the seam between the edge of the asphalt and the gutter. Luckily it was my rear wheel, and not the front. I held it up, but the dude lapping my rear wheel took the brunt of my unintentional change in lines and bounced off the deck. I think he was ok, and just pissed. Not to be callus, but that's racing bro, those things happen, and I've been on the receiving end of that short stick before. Which brings me to reminder No. 1 for the day. DONT OVER-LAP WHEELS! The race went on with the occasional attack, and bring back. (3's chase everything down, even their own teammates most times) Finally the race began with the ref. giving the 8 to go signal. Seemed the pace picked up and the position jockeying began. I was sitting back pack to tail gun most of the day, racing like I didn't have fitness, conserving my energy. I started to think about moving up at this point and with 5 to go it was time to get up front. This was a good course to tail gun where there were no real corners to cause the accordion effect, and resultant sprints every lap. It took me 2 laps to get up to the front and I was finally sitting 5th wheel. Perfect position for the sprint. 3 to go and the guys up front kept the pace high, then with two to go it happened! Negative Racing!!!!!!!! first and second wheel stopped pulling all together, I swear just stopped, sat up, no, I got blocked in from the resultant surge from both sides. Spent the rest of lap 2, and last lap fighting to get back into position, only to get back to 12-15th or so. That's racing! It was nice to get the competitive juices flowing again.

Race 2 of the day P/1/2/3.......
This leads me to Lesson No. 2 on the day. Always check your gearing before the start of your race!!!!! I spent the first 2.5 laps of the race spinning my 39-12/11 trying to hang on the tail of the group. I couldn't figure out why my legs felt so dead.... I had Teton on my wheel yelling to me to quit opening gaps, and was just straight up suffering. Once I figured out what was happening, and finally got into my 53, I was toast, kaput! I rolled off after 4 laps of high cadence work and went with McDiggler to go climb Flagstaff. Apparently I didn't switch my gearing after my first race, and in the haste of getting my number switched, forgot to check. I needed that reminder.

Good times!!!!

Puke and Go's again!

Holy Crapola, it was windy last night. After two decent days of high to moderate intensity, I decided to push my luck and go for a third. I figured I would go and hang as long as I could at the M-Train for a second night this week. The intention as always is attack until you go, or blow. Tueseday, there wasnt much attacking going on, it was hold on for dear life. Apparently something happened between Tuesday and Thursday, I don't know what it is, but I was able to attack the field, and on the third try opened a nice gap. Guys must have either been on cruise control, or the wind was taking its tole on peeps. Unfortunately after holding the gap for a couple minutes, things went from go to blow. Well that's what its all about, the M-Train is the best place for doing stupid stuff like that. Ended up just hang'n for 45 minutes of the hour, at that point I had enough intensity for the day and week. The legs are starting to recover quicker from really hard efforts as fitness going up, and I start gaining some form. A little recovery ride today, some moderate climbing on Saturday, and the Second Annual Double Dip, this year its gonna be the CU Crit where I will be racing the 3/4/5's, and hanging on for dear life in the p/1/2/3's, that should leave a mark.
Keep on Keep'n on!

Deer Creek Descent~The Smiles Come Out

Deer Creek Ascent~ The Suffering

Puke and Go's

So Joey informed me that yesterday was to be Puke and Go's at meridian. The idea was to attack, attack after attacks, and attack when ever someone got reeled in, and if something stuck attack again, if that makes sense. It did to me, but puke and go turned into just straight up PUKE and PUKE. Covering the damn moves of these fast sucka's hurts in March, and to boot, it was windy as a MO-FO out there. So combine smart drafting and trying to stick with attacks and not have the wind tear you to shreds was a consistent theme. Luckily I only popped twice, haha, I guess it could have been worse, and hell it was worse last week. Looks like the legs may want to race bikes again this year, all is coming along nicely, slower than last year but nicely....

Oh yeah, and Seth just road away from the field on like the 3rd lap, solo, in the wind. Two dudes bridged up to him, and he pulled them around for the next 40 minutes. Now that dude's strong!

Toast!

Big Climbs in March Will Leave a Mark, Just Ask Lloyd

Beautiful Day in the Hills

Back on the Pain Train

With the brains of the operation on travel again in DC, I have a little more time on my hands. So I decided it might be a good time to get back into the full swing of training. I was able to squeak out 14 hrs of ride time this past week, which was a shock to the system, from the 6-8 I've been doing over the last couple winter months. I also threw in some intensity for the first time this year. I hit Meridian on Thursday, and the Spoke ride on Saturday. My legs didn't revolt all to bad, but it did leave a mark. Saturday turned into a 1 hour warm up, to 1 hour group ride followed by 3.5 hour climbathon, capped off by a 1 hour cool down slog back home. Yup, 6.5 hours, sure made the day go by quick. The Big Hadji and Lloyd were along for the GR and the climb'n. The Hadji turned back at the base of Highgrade, and Lloyd stuck with it for the remainder of the festivities, despite a near bonk in the first 7 miles of the climb. I think the highlight of the day was the chick from the gas station in Conifer, who came out and smoked a cigarette outside where we were chill'n taking in some UV's. Nothing beats some good ol carbon monoxide in the lungs after a 2+hour climb. Na, it wasn't all that bad, we were up wind and in the warmest spot around. Who could blame her for wanting to chill with Lloyd, the kids a stud!

(pic's to come)

DO THE TEST

A Very Cool Add: Do the Test
Very Good Point......

Opened up the legs......kinda

The first ride with any real intensity today, yup it hurt just like I thought it would. The legs need some more miles in them. We'll see what the next couple of weeks bring for weather and such. Days are longer which make training a little easier. Should be interesting to say the least....

Another 3 Weeks

My burrito lady just headed outta town for another 3-week adventure in the nations capital. I keep being told that separation makes the heart grow fonder. I think I might just dope slap the next person who tells me that. Its true, yes I know, but no one likes their noses being shoved in their own poo, SO PLEASE STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3-Weeks and we'll be doing this in Alta!

Ok, I'm better now. On to some fun stuff, like this little bugger. Say hi to Gus! He is the local Toll Troll at cyn's place. Always (when he's not sleeping) there to greet Zeus and I when we come over.

He doesn't say much, just snorts a lot, pay the toll and he lets you in.

He is always smiling too, what a nice happy little troll.

Hey, Hey, Hey Burito Lady!

Someone Has Been Missing Colorado!

Its Almost Spring!

.....and Love is in the air!

Its all about perspective...........

If you think you're having a bad day, it could be worse!

Bike Food! These'll make ya fast!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried these little bundles of goodness last night for the first time, and holy crap-ola they are sooooooooooo good. Picture it, a light white cake cookie topped with a foot of fudge. Ok, maybe not a whole foot, more like 1/4 to 1/2 and inch but you get my point. Thoughts that came to mind were things like, "screw veggie burgers", "damn I'm glad I didn't have lunch (this week)", and "Joey's gonna be pissed when he finds out I broke into his cookies"..... I was also thinking these would be a super on the bike food, hell they have almost as much punch as a cliff bar, and if your going for that pre-digested food thing, they are sure to be fully melted in your jersey during the summer months. If you're a super skitzo food nazi type (er athlete) worried about what you put into your system, don't fret, these baby's are made with milk (non-fat) even. For everyone else on the planet, these bad boys are packed with all types of simple sugars, hydrogenated oils, processed and bleached flower, syrups, starches, artificial flavors, and yes my personal favorites FDC yellow no. 5 and 6. Hellya, that's gonna leave a mark. ENJOY!!!!!

I have to thank www.yawkeygirl.blogspot.com for pointing me in the direction of these little bad boys.
check'm out at www.bergercookies.com

Ya I know, but the blogger links are not working right now............

Ski March!

Now that DBC Events has canceled their March races, I have an excuse to ski for another month. Like I actually need an excuse for that.......... Damn, then someone told me, the collegiate races in March have USCF categories at the end of the day. I knew this but put it in the back of my mind, a dark dusty place were not many thoughts return from once put there. Oh, well Daylight savings is in a couple weeks and the days are getting longer now, maybe I will just ride my bike hard during the week and double dip some pow, and Crits on the weekend. Ah, the best of both worlds, this stuff is too good, I wish I could bottle it and sell it to people in New York city, Kentucky or Minnesota ; )
BTW I miss you guys........

Attention Cyclists Trying to Get Skinny Quick:

"Hong Kong warns against using worms to lose weight Tue Feb 19, 12:24 PM ET

HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong health officials Tuesday warned would-be slimmers not to consume parasitic worms in an attempt to lose weight following adverts for products containing worm eggs.

A health department spokesman said there was no scientific evidence that infestation with ascaris, a parasitic worm which lives in the intestine, was a way to lose weight.

He warned that worm infestations caused pain, vomiting and diarrhoea and could prove difficult to get rid of.

"Ascaris infestation may also be fatal due to serious complications in human bodies such as intestinal, biliary tract or pancreatic duct obstruction. The worms may invade such organs as the lungs," he said.

"The infestation can be treated with medication that kills the parasite. Surgical removal of the worms may be required in case of obstruction."

The health department said it issued the warning following reports that a product containing worm eggs was being promoted as a slimming aid on a commercial website.

Ascaris is the most common worm infection in humans and is mostly found in tropical areas where sanitation and hygiene are poor. Adult worms can grow to more than 30 centimetres (one foot) long."

I think I might be sick just thinking about this..................

Putting in the Miles.............kinda

Now that daylight savings is a little under a month away, and the daylight lasts just past 5:30, I was able to get outside after work yesterday. Still not fully committed to training as of yet, its more like maintain mode still. Maybe once daylight savings rolls around and the temp is consistently above 30 deg's I will move into training mode. Hey I might even be able to get fast by August.

On a similar but different note, I was able to participate in two team rides this past weekend, Saturday I got out with my VC compadres for some miles, and pacelineing. We kept things on the mellow side given some of the fellers live up in the mountains and havent seen asphalt on the roads up there since October. On Sunday B-rent and I crashed a HART team escapade. My boy B-Huggins gave me a jingle earlier in the week, and let me know that they were planning on heading out into the plains on Sunday. The ride was a good effort, about 70 miles out to Kiowa and back over the rollie pollies and back. I don’t know which is worse, a 70 miles with a summit, or 70 miles with rollers, same amount of climbing, just no time for rhythm on dem der rolls. Super fun weekend, got my head back in the game, kinda...........

Minor Overhaul

Swapped out the chain, chainring, and cleaned the tricycle drive train this week. Had some thick grime from the MOB ride a couple weeks ago, and I hadn’t switched out the chain since August. Amazing what a little love can do. Now that that’s done, anyone wanna go skiing?

Separation Anxiety?

Now I know what the dog feels like................

Thats Gonna Leave a Mark

On my way to go watch the game, I dialed into ESPN Radio, there was an interview with Randy Moss going on. There was a lot of talk about next year, and contract, and me, me, me, me. I had a bad feeling about this game before it even started. I held out hope, and stood behind the team for the entire game, but in the end 19 was too much to ask for.........Season over 18-1, thats one hell of a record year, but no one out side of New England will remember it 10 years from now. I dont know which is worse, the loss, or the loss being to a team from New York.........

I LOVE HEAD................skis

Head Monster i.M82
Powder to piste ratio: 70/30.Lengths: 150/161/172/183Dimensions: 122-82-108Radius: 17.7m @ 172cm

Just got on a pair of these after demoing their sister at Loveland a couple of weeks ago. These things rip through every type of snow condition imaginable....pow, chop, wind slab, groom. Hard charging the wind slab with hop turns I wasnt able to fully punch through, these suckers stayed a float of everything. It took a day to get used to the shorter length (161’s as opposed to 190's ive been riding), but once I got centered, Oh man..........
I have to admit the at the 161 length they were a little more work in the deep stuff, but through the chop and slab conditions you typically find in the bowls and steeps they totally rock'd.

Happy B-Day!

I hear there are quite a few Birthdays in the next couple of days.
Here's a little sum fo ya on yo day!