Hello Again

It's obviously been a while since I've posted and this thing was really neat when I started it... I suppose I'll still use it and try to do it a bit more frequently.

I just returned from a phenomenal vacation in Colorado. My kids spent some time with their Grandparents and I got to spend some time with number-one-uplift-mofo-master (otherwise known as Bobby) shredding CO. singletrack, rollin' on the Denver Cruiser Wednesday night ride, nocturnal lurking in the greenbelt, building a bond with his kids, eating great food prepared by his wife, playing catch with a baseball in the park, and drinking ice cold beer from a cooler immediately following more shredding of singletrack. And I rented a mini-van to facilitate transporting bikes and goodies to the trailhead. It was an amazing trip and I was very happy to see my kids again. They're awesome kids and very fun to travel with - you don't hear that every day, do ya? Anyhow, I don't have any photos and I know that they can make an entry more complete but, oh well... there's always next time.

Fireweed

Last Saturday I caught a ride out to Sheep Mountain Lodge for the start of the Fireweed 100 road race with my old friend Tony Brugliera and his teammate Matt Novakovich. The race started fast for me and straight out of the gates we were climbing. After 10 minutes I was spit out the back of the first group and seemed to be working in vain to catch back up. Luckily for me, a few riders caught up with me and we worked together and caught back up with the lead group at the 50 mile turnaround.

On the way back we rode into a slight headwind and, along with the fact that we were tiring a bit, we had quite a bit of climbing to do. They were the kind of climb that you can see for a few miles before you get there and you have to try to not let that get you down. On the last big hill a few of the riders in our group kept a pace that split the rest of us up. There was a flat section and then it was downhill to the finish. Big Ed Sniffen was up ahead and I stood up to sprint downhill and try to close the gap but the finish line came too soon.

I ended up finishing 10th of 62 starters in the men's field with a time of 4:40:39. I was satisfied and had a good time keeping up with fellow racers. I'm only a little bummed that I was too focused to take in any of the amazing scenery.