The storm is gone, and a LOT of snow has melted away. Woohoo! I got out on my bike for the third time since Moab. Yes, that is a once a week ride average since then. 2010 training starts very soon! I felt super strong today. NOT going for a run the day before a ride makes a huge difference in how my legs feel! I think the running fitness is also crossing over and helping a bit.
I took the mountain bike up to Gold Hill, and knew I’d get to play in the mud!
The roads were pretty good until I got to about 7500′. Then the muddy fun commenced.
There were snowy fun sections.
Moist sections.
Dropping down Lickskillet to Lefthand Canyon. I decided coming down 4 mile would be more of a wet, muddy adventure than I was up for.
Sweet views.
I ran into Jeff on top of Lee Hill(he left before me today). We were coming up the hill from different directions (I was heading home), and I turned around and went with him to finish off the duration of his ride.
Looks like we will have some nice Fall weather for at least 5 days. I’m bummed about the time change… it’s depressing. We are probably heading to Moab next weekend to ride some trails!
Here is the elevation/HR profile from my NEW Suunto T6!! I LOVE IT!
Up to Gold Hill, up Lee Hill, up Old Stage. SWEEET! I wanted to keep going, but made myself to home.
Red Suuntos are cool. I love the Suunto Lumi I got last year too!
More bike riding in the sunshine and muddy roads tomorrow. woo woo!!!! Hope everyone has a sweet Halloween! I’ll leave you with this:
Tuesday night, as promised, the snow started to fall… and it ceased this morning, Thursday. The storm dropped about 20″ of snow in various towns and cities in the Denver metro area. Some schools and businesses shut down. It’s pretty early in the year to get this much snow all at once, but at least it made things exciting. The news, of course, ate it up. Finally, something else to talk about other than the swine flu on the news!
I decided that it’s too early in the year to ride the trainer, or to suffer in the cold slop on the bike (there will be tons of time for that this winter!), so I’ve been taking it easy indoors. Pilates, physioball…and admittedly some parts of me are a little bit sore! I have snowshoes, but man, I am trying to get my hands on some AT skis. I need to somehow cough up the $$! That will be super fun later this year. Some cardio on my two feet will happen tomorrow (been going a little easier on the running this week), so that’ll be a good old time.
We walked to the store today, thinking the roads would be treacherous. I was dumbfounded to find the main roads in town wet without snowpack. I guess all that thermal energy that the pavement was hanging on to, volume of cars, and plows came in handy.
Here are a few pictures from around town. It doesn’t LOOK like 20″… hmmmm.
Some things reminded me its still fall.
A few red and orange leaves still hanging on.
Side streets still have some melting to do.
Looks like next week, my sunshine will be back and things will be looking up!
I have about a week, and then the base miles will begin for 2010. Big hours, big miles… nice and slow. I’m thinking Moab next weekend….
We didn’t get much of a fall here in CO. It’s getting to be that time where a few nice days go by, followed by a day or two of snow, and then bouncing back to nice days. Rinse, repeat. The only catch is that the later in the year it gets, the more snow that falls, and the more of a chance that the mountain bike trails will become unrideable.
Yesterday was so cold and snowy! I went out for a 7 mile run, and by the end I couldn’t use my sunglasses anymore because they were frozen. I needed defrosters on those things!
I haven’t totally forgotten about the bike. I headed out for a short 1.5 hour ride with Jeff up the canyon a little bit. The dirt roads were definitely muddy with some icy spots, but it was still fun!
Tomorrow, I’m doing a bit of photoshooting with Wes Fergusson on the bike, and maybe a short run. They are saying anywhere from 3 inches to (gasp) 12 inches of snow on Wednesday. Hope everyone is staying healthy!
Today was the first time I had ridden my bike since 24 Hours of Moab. The rear tire was almost flat, it was in dire need of chain lube, and still had Moab dust all over it. My poor little Rotwild.
Instead, I have been running and my body has been adapting much faster than expected. BONUS! Maybe it’s the Acid Zapper I’ve been taking, or maybe it’s because occasionally during my season, I headed out for a run, but I’m not too sore after these runs. I ran a quick 6 miles on Tuesday, and a slower 9 miles yesterday. The main issue I am having is with my feet… they hurt and it’s mostly due to supination putting stress on my arch. I have Arch Molds, so I guess I need to seek out some better orthotics. I am planning on running a half marathon on Dec 5 unless something better comes along. The last half marathon I ran in November 2007 yielded some surprising results because I wasn’t really prepared. This time, I’ll be a little more prepared, and hopefully not so sore afterwards. Last time, I was so sore that I could barely walk… seriously. My knees were buckling underneath me and 90 year old grannies were blowing by on the sidewalk.
Today, we headed to our backyard. Ye olde Heil Ranch/Picture Rock Trail. Always a local classic, always fun. This time, it was more than just Jeff, Yuki, and I. We were joined by a local twitter friend, Mike, and Yuki’s friend, John. Good times! Here are a few photos from the day:
Kerkove’s game face??
WEEE! You can get so much farther on a bike compared to running!
It’s ok to pose and smile, boys! Jeez!
Modest Mike rolling on through. The guy is super fit!! He did Leadville this year too.
Almost back to the trailhead.
Thanks for the ride, guys! Hopefully some more lady types show up next time.
Jeff will make a video of the ride later, which I will post on here. He is a little videographer these days!
I was asked to volunteer some of my time for an auction. Specifically, a mountain bike ride with someone who bids on me at an auction (has to be local) and all proceeds go to charity. You can bid online, or in person. It is at the Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday night, and you can check it out by clicking on the image.
Mission Statement:
The mission of Girls Education International is to expand and support educational opportunities for underserved females in remote and undeveloped regions of the world.
We envision a world where educational opportunities for women and girls are equal to those typically afforded boys and men, and thus provide the foundation for healthier and prosperous societies that reflect their unique cultural differences.
Tomorrow, I’ll be working at the Ergon booth for Veloswap. Come on by!!
I spend most of my recreational time on two wheels, so when the off-season rolls around, I like to spend time off the bike doing other things I love… like hiking. My dad has always loved hiking. When I was a kid, I didn’t like hiking quite so much… mostly because he is a hard ass and would drag us up the side of the mountain, sometimes NOT on a real trail on death marches! He also used to drag me out of bed when I was 12 at 6 AM to go running, and then drop me b/c I couldn’t keep up. I would get so frustrated, now I’m glad he made me harden the eff up.
Thanks Dad!
Anyway, that was a little bit off topic, but back to hiking. I started to love hiking again about 6 years ago, so I got over the pain and suffering I endured (hehe) as a kid. Jeff and I headed West of Fort Collins near Pingree Park and set up camp (car camping) at 9,000′. It got so cold the first night that the water in our water jugs froze. Woops!
We did two 10 mile hikes.
The first day, we strapped on our boots and stepped onto the trail to Mummy Pass, topping out near 11,400′. The trail turned to snow around 10,000′ and suddenly the footprints in the snow stopped.
Some spots were thigh deep… and some spots were deeper than that! Once we got well above the trees on the frozen, wind-blown tundra, the snow was less prominent.
Tree down!
Jeff got the pleasure of breaking new trail. The snow got deeper, and deeper.
Getting above treeline.
We ventured about half a mile into Rocky Mountain National Park.
Lunch? Almond butter and Agave sandwiches. I wish I brought the hot chocolate!
Heading back to base camp to cook some dinner.
Sun down… time for some rest.
Day 2 was a hike to Stormy Pass. I wondered why it was called “stormy.” The weather wasn’t as nice and the wind was howling at the trailhead.
After about 3 miles, we entered Rocky Mountain National Park.
The snow wasn’t quite as bad on this trail, but it definitely was there at 10,000′. As we got above treeline, the wind was raging around 50 mph. It would force me in one direction and I was glad I wasn’t on the bike. As we got to the summit, there was blowing snow.
Where is my trail mix?
Dude, sweet shades.
Coming up through the valley. Brrr!
and now I know why it says Stormy Pass… blowing snow!
Chilling at a spot out of the wind. The hardest thing about hiking for me was not that my legs got tired. It was that the balls of my feet hurt sooo bad! I think I need some softer insoles or something.
And then it was back down… and I wished I had my bike to get down.
What a great weekend!!!
I am not too sore today… mostly just my hip flexors, which is what gets sore from those first couple of runs. A couple more weeks and I can do these things, ache and pain free. I’m looking forward to getting back to doing long winter trail runs around Boulder County, but it’ll be a little while before I build back up to that point!
Jeff was super busy running around! Here is a compilation of video clips that tell a story of the race… in between laps for Yuki and I. Great video, Jeff!
Butch did a great job covering Josh Tostado’s journey during the 24 Hours of Moab that took him to the National Championship title. You can see how brutal the race really is, just by the look on Josh’s face in the morning. He ended up riding 255 miles in 24 hours. Click the image below.
Also, more photos have been added to the post below. Devon Balet took some great shots.
Speaking of solo….. 2-Epic, cleaned up. This was the first year they had a SS category at 24 Hour Nationals. Dave Harris and Lynda Wallenfels – the super hero couple… BOTH won (and spanked) their SS SOLO respective men and women’s category. In fact, Dave blew by me on my first lap… and he also CAUGHT me again on my second lap. Fortunately I was able to drop the hammer on him with my big ring and a downhill road. haha You guys rock!
Yuki, Eddie, and I got out to Moab on Friday. Jeff got there a day early to set up camp and get things ready (thanks for the support, Mr. Kerkove!) Upon getting to the venue, we headed out on a pre-ride. I was really glad we did, because there were a couple of spots where I actually stopped to scout out the best line. I have heard mixed reviews of the Moab course, but I actually thought it was really fun! There was a good mixture of technical riding, and fast sections to keep your head sane.
Here is a video of the pre-ride. You can see me stop a couple times to “look over the edge.” I am happy to say I cleared most of the technical sections on every lap (of course, minus nose dive). They tech sections were super fun at night, and didn’t seem quite so bad because you couldn’t really see all of it! Just stay loose, speed up a little bit, and shred!!!
There was one hike-a-bike section called “nose-dive” where I was less than graceful. Semi-slippery bike shoes and having shorter legs made things difficult… but funny for spectator.
Check out the sequence Ultra Rob took!
Insert funny sound effects
Yuki started for us, and I’m glad he did! Instead, I tried to hang from the running boards of the FJ taking video.
This is called a “Lemans” start for those of you who have never been to a 24 Hour race. Everyone has to run a short distance, then get their bike and go. It splits up the field.
Very soon, it was my turn to head out on lap 1. I told myself, “Don’t go out too hard.”
I wore an assortment of fun socks for the day laps on Saturday.
I, of course, went out too hard on the first lap. Not having much high end fitness this year, I blew up and was trying to just turn it over to get back! I was snappier on the pre-ride compared to the first lap.
Coming in from lap 1. Thanks for the photos, Devon!
We made the swipe/baton exchange, and off Yuki went.
People were coming in with the baton in THEIR MOUTH, would give it to the official who would hold it in their hand, to their teammate’s hand, and eventually to their teammate’s mouth to do the exchange again. I am amazed more people didn’t get sick. Do you know where that baton has been?! I saw one guy who had his bike shorts rolled to look like underwear, and he was storing them in there. That poor official had to handle batons from all sorts of dark places.
Eddie was racing a solo.
Yuki out on course
We settled into third place and remained there for the remainder of the race. For my second lap, I rode at a comfortable, hard pace and had the same lap time as my first lap. It was much more enjoyable!
The sun started going down on lap 3 for me. I brought my lights (I was running a handlebar and helmet light). My handlebar light didn’t work… the battery fell off and the mount wouldn’t stay still. I felt really great on lap 3, but unfortunately got kinda lost. I followed someone off course and before I realized what was going on, I was way off course, and had to hike back through the desert, looking for a light in the distance to find the trail again. After that, I only trusted myself and looked way ahead for reflective arrows. I pinned it the rest of that lap in order to make it back in time.
Lap 4,5, and 6 were also night laps… there are more hours of darkness in October! I was happy that my night lap times were pretty consistent. When I was about to come into the exchange area at the end of Lap 6, Jeff was on the trail. He said, “Don’t cross the line! Wait. Stop!” I knew something was up. Jeff said, “Yuki is sick.” I immediately remembered how sick Yuki was at Park City from bonking and dehydration, so I was glad that he stopped. Lap 6 was a tough one for me. I was actually bonking pretty badly, and I hadn’t slept all night (which is what I expected). During that lap, my eyes weren’t focusing, I was having difficulty riding – I felt like I was going to collapse. I ate 3 gels, and a nice guy gave me Clif Blocks. I held myself up on my bike walking back to the tent. Been there more times than I like to admit… I just needed food. I said, “Ok. I just need to maybe sleep for 30 min -1 hr, eat food to get my blood sugar stable again, and then I will go out and ride the rest of the race (It was like 5:20 AM at this point). We were down by about 20 minutes from 2nd, and it was the men in the two teams ahead of us making headway. All of us ladies were turning over very close lap times. I knew I wouldn’t catch 2nd, but I did not want to get caught by 4th.
Jeff went to the timing tent, and discovered that 4th place was having a tough time and was 5 laps back from us. When the sun came up, he checked again and it was the same thing. There was no way they would turn over 5 laps in the remaining 5 hours of the race, so we were set for 3rd place. I didn’t have to go out for 5 hours alone (although now I am wishing I had, just so there was a more climatic end to the race for us!) I simply went to the exchange area, and finally clocked in from lap 6.
This is going to sound sick and wrong, but this is the most fun I have had at a 24 Hour race! I love racing duo!!!! Yuki and I traded off every lap. The hard part about 4 person teams for me is that you get like an hour or two of sleep, and have to drag yourself out of bed to get on your bike. That is more painful to me than riding more laps and not sleeping.
Then came the next hardest part – waiting for the awards! Granny Gear does it so you can leave on your last lap at noon whereas other promoters do it so you have to be in BY noon (so the race is noon Sat to noon Sunday). This ended up pushing the awards to 3 PM. By the time I got to bed on Sunday night, I had been awake for 40 hours straight with a 1 hour nap. I was falling asleep for a split second standing up!
Rebecca Tomaszewski and Dax Massey took the win for the mixed duo. Eszter won the solo women’s race!!!!! Tostado took the men’s win! Troy Barry (Promoter of Pierre’s Hole 100) and Cary won the men’s duo.
Podium. Heide Volpe and Mario of Sho-Air were 2nd, but not pictured here.
More photos and videos to come from this race… I will post them as they come in!
Thanks to Yuki for being an awesome teammate, and thank you to Jeff for supporting Eddie, Yuki, myself, AND running the Ergon booth. That is no easy task… probably harder than doing the race!
The event was awesome. Granny Gear did a good job, and the volunteers were hard core (especially the midnight to 7 AM shift).
This closes the book to the 2009 season. Time for a few weeks of doing whatever I want, and then training for 2010 will commence. It’s been a great year! Thank you so much to everyone who helped make it happen, and to you, my blog readers, for the continued support!
I think the running fitness is also crossing over and helping a bit.
