The Racing Experiment......

Breck 68 Race Report

2009-07-20T21:33:00.015-06:00

Good ol' Breck....

Well. It is done. Breck 68 is in the books. Though I guess it ended up being 72 something because the promotor switched the original course last minute.

I was super nervous for this race. I have done a couple of endurance races this year, but they were only around 4 hours long. This race I was hoping to finish in under 8 hours.

The night before I prepared all of my nutrition which included about 16 powergels and Accel Gels, some clif bloks, 2 camel backs with 70 ounces of Powerbar Endurance formula each, and 4 water bottles.

My race started at 10 am so luckily I didn't have to wake up too early. My stomach was in knots and I choked down some oatmeal. I slathered on 2 layers of sunscreen. I paced the condo. Finally it was time and Chuck and I left from the hotel on our bikes and headed over to the start!

Lap 1: 32+ miles (FYI the photos will be of our preride of the course the week before because of a lack of actual race photos :^)

I lined up at the mass start and made sure to make note of my female competitors. I was about 3 rows back which was perfect. The only girl in front of me was a 32 mile racer. I chatted a bit with this nice man next to me who recognized me from the Growler race. When I said I was new to this endurance thing, he offered some advice. He said to just be smooth. Brake smooth, accelerate smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth!!! I definately took note.

Ready to go!!

My start was supposed to be neutral but I'm not sure how going 20mph uphill on a mountain bike is neutral!!! I wasn't quite sure what to do because I wanted to start slow and easy and not blow up because it was going to be a long day in the saddle. (Plus I didn't warm up because, well for obvious reasons :^) I let the front group of guys go because I was sure there were no women up there. We continued our "neutral" start and sped uphill for about 3 miles.

Then I saw a girl wearing Chipotle/Titus go by me who had an "11" on her calf!!! Before the start we had our calves marked for the race so we would know who was racing what. There were a hundred miler, 68 miler, and 32 mile races all going on at once. My category was "11." I had my eye on the Chip/Titus girl and pretty much glued myself to her wheel.... Suddenly we turned and dropped into singletrack. Let the race begin!!! It began at a nice and easy pace which made me quite happy. All the riders were all backed up and there wasn't much room for passing. We hit a dirt road after a bit and I made sure to drink up and have a gel because I knew what was coming.

After a few miles the riders were more spread out and I turned up a rocky climb. A horrible rocky climb. It started out okay but quickly turned awful. I panted for air as we were at about 11,500 feet in altitude. My tires had too much air (ha!) and I bounced all over the place. Almost everyone was walking and slugging their bikes up and up and up. I rode as long as I could and passed a few riders, but eventually succombed to the stupid angular rocks. I didn't want to waste too much energy and so I decided to walk as well. I was extremely aware of the fact that I had 7 more hours of riding to go!!! Chipotle/Titus girl and I were still right together. I got rolling on my bike again and I came to a little stream crossing. No problem, right? Right? Well, were out in the middle of nowhere and there was a big golden retriever sitting right on our line!!! I have no idea where this dog came from, but I managed to squeek out a warning and tried to sound scary (low O2 up there!) but he was a happy little camper in the cool stream. Luckily I was able to slide around him and continued up the ridiculous rocky ascent.

Here is a pic of Danielle climbing from when we prerode this section. The picture definately does not show how rough and rocky and bumpy this climb was.

I was very, very excited to finally hit the top of the climb which was basically at the tree line on the mountain. Downhill time!! I headed down a super cool flume trail on the side of the mountain. Luckily I was in front of the Chip/Titus girl because I could recover, take a breather, and not have her pass me!! If she tried to pass she would fall down the steep slope of the mountain. Yikes!

Another pic from our preride: Scott Chambers starting the descent dow the flume trail.

So a few miles of singletrack and steep jeep road descents later, we turned up again. I was a little disconcerted because this was not the course we had preridden. I heard before the race that the promotors changed the course and took out a bunch of dirt roads and added singletrack. Good thing I prerode to prepare for the race! Ha. We ended up climbing singletrack for what seemed to be forever, and I ate and drank, ate and drank, and then finally headed down. This is when I lost Chipotle/Titus girl. I wasn't super comfortable descending on my hardtail and there were lots of tight switchbacks. I tried to relax and be smooth and not do anything stupid. I eventually came off the Colorado Trail singletrack and grabbed a couple of hammer gels and a bottle of water at the aid station and headed onward. I was nearing the end of the lap and we just had a steep dirt road to climb before heading down to the start. I caught Chipotle/Titus girl going up the jeep road, but she passed me on the descent.

Top of the long climb on the dirt road, almost done with the lap!

I rode through the start/finish and switched camelbacks and grabbed 6 or 7 more gels. Thanks to team Topeak/Ergon's Jeff Kerkove who was helped me out at the transition! He thought I was bleeding because I had this dark brown stream running down my leg. Actually, it was just expresso flavored hammergel.... :^) After I sucked down each gel, I didn't know where else to put my empty wrappers but to tuck them in my shorts!! My jersey pockets were packed with full gel packets, so the empties went in the shorts!!! Everything got pretty sticky, but I didn't care!

Lap 2:

I headed up Boreas Pass road and passed Chip/Titus girl for like the 8th time. I cruised along and somehow realized I had missed a turn. The promotor had mixed up this lap as well to add more singletrack and less roads. Like the race wasn't hard enough. I turned around and cursed myself for wasting energy and got back on course. After a bunch of climbing I could see the red Kenda jersey of my friend Danielle up ahead!!! I pressed on for a bit and caught up to Danielle. There is no way I would ever catch her normally, but I found out she was suffering from altitude sickness!!! She couldn't keep anything down and was puking and puking. She wasn't able to keep down any water or food. She just kept trooping along. She is so tough, its unbelievable!

At this point Danielle and I couldn't figure out where the course went. The jeep road we had been riding on turned into a stream. Then there was some singletrack off to the left..... Hmmm.... We tried the singletrack and looked for the orange ribbons that had been marking the course. No ribbons. ? By this time there was about 6 of us pushing up this horrible loose climb. This had to be the course? Danielle and I and Chip/Titus girl hike-a-biked up some unrideable stuff and I angrily decided to take out my race directions from the pack. Shouldn't a course be marked well enough for us to not have to refer to the directions???? The not so good directions said to not cross the stream and the only other way was our crazy singletrack that did not look very travelled, so we were confused. After wasting ridiculous amounts of time, we decided to turn around. Back to where we were. Somehow we found a tiny ribbon marking a hint of a trail. We were back on track after crossing wood planks over the creek (yes we did cross the creek).

Then it was another climb! Surprise! Almost at the beginning there were riders walking. I rode as much as I could and walked a few parts when I felt my heart beating out of my chest!!!!!!!! This awful climb went on forever, and was not part of the original course that we had preridden.

Danielle crossing the beaver dam on our preride.

Finally I got to Boreas Pass Road and knew some fun downill singletrack was to come. I somehow felt good after 5 1/2 hours of riding (too conservative the first lap I think) and was ready to nail it. I had shaken T/P girl on the jeep road and I didn't want to see her again!!! I headed down the GoldDust singletrack and finally felt relaxed and comfortable descending on my hardtail. Fun!!! It was a little weird, however, because it was so isolated and lonely out there. I didn't see many riders at all. Down and down, I crossed a beaver dam and rode on and on over rocks and roots. Eventually I popped out of the singletrack and turned left at the town of Como (population: 3?) for a long climb. With a nice headwind and lots of stutter bumps on the dirt road it was a bit uncomfortable. I did feel okay, though, and drank and gelled up. I was very determined to not see C/P girl sneaking up on me!! I pushed up the climb and saw a marmot on the side of the road. Cute!! Then I passed a couple of whacked out 100 mile men racers. They gave me the goofiest smiles as I rode by and offered them some encouragement. Seeing the state they were in made me scared to do the hundred miler!!!

Windy point near the top of the climb.

I knew when I reached the top of the climb it was only a few more miles of trail downhill to the finish. I could see the finish, feel the finish! I came to the last section of singletrack and bounced over rocks and roots trying to keep a good pace but not lose control. The light and shadows made it tricky to see what was coming. Then I popped out onto a paved road and headed toward the finish. A few more orange arrows to follow and then I rode on through the finish line!!!!!!!! I was pretty sure I had won but didn't want to get too excited just in case. I rode straight over to the Ergon tent and dropped my bike and plopped on the ground!!! I made it!!!! I finished. 8 hours and 34 minutes of riding.

Final section of singletrack before the finish!

I didn't know how I finished until they called us to the podium and announced that I had gotten second place. I was bummed but too tired to feel much emotion. However, when I checked out the race results online the next day, I noticed that the girl who had supposedly won had a crazy 2nd lap time of 2 1/2 hours. It had taken me 4 1/2 hours. I knew her time was impossible as this was a half hour faster than the fastest pro man's time. I emailed the promotor and they looked into it. Turns out the girl had to turn around at an aid station and skip the second half of the lap because she missed the cutoff time. They fixed the results and I moved into first place! A little anticlimactic I must say. Oh well!

So there it is. Done! I have to give super props to Danielle for finishing the 100 miler after being so sick. Most everyone in the universe would have quit, but not Danielle. I am so proud of her!!! She is a bad ass for sure :^)

Breckenridge 68 Semi Recon

2009-06-20T20:56:00.011-06:00

Chuck and I headed out to Breckenridge for a couple of days to ride the Breckenridge 68 course. We have never done a mountain bike race this long and wanted to get to know the terrain a little better. Plus, the race will take place at an altitude of between 9,500 and 11,500 feet, so we wanted to get our lungs acclimated!

Our first day we decided to ride the first loop of the Breck 68 course which is 32 miles. After heading up some rocky singletrack, we got kicked out onto a dirt road and stopped to check out this old mine. So far so good. After this, we had a little descent on the dirt road, followed by lots of climbing.

We had to take a few liberties with interpreting the race directions because none of the dirt roads had signs. Actually we just had to make a big guess as to where the heck the race could possibly be going.....

Umm...... Yeah..... Well, we ran into some snow. We, however, were definately not going to let that stop us after only 6 miles or so of riding. We were motivated!!! We were not going to let mother nature win.

We also felt very proud of ourselves because we looked to be the first cyclists up the trail this spring!!! No other tracks but huge elk hooves marked the snow.

I am trying my best to keep from walking directly through the knee to mid-thigh deep snow.

After some snow slogging we came upon a lovely stream. A lovely frigid freezing ass cold stream. But that was great news because the race directions mentioned a creek crossing! We were right on track.

After the stream our dirt two track diminished slightly. Our trail became a tiny singletrack thread up the mountain. This pic is looking down the way we just climbed.

The "trail" was not what you would call rideable at some points.

We just kept toughing it out, and somehow the trail became even more slender, a mere hint of a thread, and almost disappeared under the new spring growth. I was impressed and equally terrified that mountain bikers actually raced on this intensely challenging trail. At times there was a stream of snow melt running directly down our trail.

Looking back at the town of Breckenridge. If you look closely you can see the ski slopes way in the background.

The "trail" is now getting above the treeline.

We kinda lost the trail under the snow here. Chuck is going up ahead to see if he can find it. What he found was a nice goat path. Actually it wasn't even that nice.

It was a dead end for us.

We were at 11,800 feet in elevation and finally decided we missed our turn and headed back down the mountain for a few miles.

On the way down we found a rocky trail to the right and thought it may have been the turn we originally missed. Now, except for maybe the first 20 minutes or so of our ride, we hadn't seen a single cyclist. After a few minutes of climbing I looked up and saw a green and black jersey descending down the trail. Crazy thing, we knew who it was!!! It was Sonya Looney, a pro endurance mountain bike racer, whom I had met at my first race this season. She was in Breck preriding the race course for the weekend as well. As soon as we stopped to say hello, we ran into 3 more bikers.

So we were finally back on the correct course, but Sonya told us she had to turn around only a bit further up the trail due to snow that was 5 feet deep.

Chuck and I were not up to more hike-a-biking through snow, so we all turned around and did a nice little group ride back to Breck. Chuck and I rode for another hour on the path toward Frisco so we could get close to 5 hours of riding in for the day. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we only rode about 10 miles of the 32 mile race loop.

I was pretty happy to find out that the dreadfully challenging and not very rideable "trail" was NOT going to be in the race!!! Small victory for the day :^)

DAY 2

Our second morning in Breck we peeled our carcasses out of bed and shoved huge mouthfuls of delicious pancakes and eggs into our faces. We had another big day of riding in front of us. We joined together with Sonya Looney and Jeff Kerkove (check out their blogs for more on their Breck experience) to do some riding on the other loop of the Breckenridge 68 course. The second loop of the course is 36 miles long. Jeff turned off after a few miles because he wanted to ride some of the Breck Epic course. So Chuck, Sonya, and I were left to climb our hearts out.

We climbed for 10 miles or so. Breakfast felt like a brick in my stomach.

Storms looked to be brewing as we neared the treeline. We would occasionally feel a few sprinkles as the temperature dropped.

Sonya and I riding along.

We all decided it was best to turn around now before it was too late and we got stuck in a thunderstorm out in the middle of nowhere.

On the way back we hit some singletrack that was actually in the race course. Lots and lots of roots and rocks littered the trail. It was fun but a bit sketchy on my hardtail.

We stopped to climb on some old mining equipment in the middle of our trail.

On our way back to town we ran into a friend of Sonya's, Mike Nice, who was in the middle of riding the Great Divide race. The Great Divide is a solo, self supported race that starts in Mexico and runs all the way to Canada. Mike said he was doing the race backwards and started in Canada, and that he was 1,100 miles and 2 weeks in. Plus he was riding a fixed gear single speed with flat pedals and no front suspension. Ouch. And Wow! Humbling, for sure.

We rode for a few more miles on some sweet singletrack near town to get 4 hours in for the day. All in all we got some good riding in, but only 15 miles of the actual race course! We said goodbye to Sonya and packed up the car to head home.

Back to work tomorrow!!! Thank God for Starbucks......

Out of Retirement and into the Growler

2009-05-25T17:09:00.018-06:00

Gunnison Growler Race Report! We have a race report!!!

Well, well, well................We are back! So much for an easy retirement... No more eating pizza and drinking beer, no more eating cheese and drinking wine, and of course we can't get all sentimental and keep reliving the races we did 5 years ago.....

Why not come back out of retirement and do one of the hardest races EVER? Um, okay, we did not know it was going to be so @#*% ridiculously challenging. This race was the knarliest mountain bike races either one of us has ever done.

So I signed us up for the Gunnison Growler about 3 months ago. You would never know how easy it is to sign up for a race that far in the future when the weather is quite lovely (it was especially easy for Chuck who didn't even know I signed him up :^). It was sunny and 60-70 degrees in March when I entered us in the race. Good training weather. However, I'm pretty sure it went downhill from the moment I hit the "Submit Payment" button. Every single day that I had off from work we would get a huge blizzard or it would just alternate between rain and snow and slush and crap for a couple of days. Needless to say we did not get long training days in.

Suddenly, before you know it, May arrived!!!! The Growler was fast approaching and no longer in the distant future. I am definately someone who gets pretty nervous and worked up before races, so about 2 weeks before the race I think my stomach started eating itself. I forgot everything I knew about racing, but then again, I was a roadie and this endurance mountain biking is a whole entirely different scenario. I was at a level about 10% below panic for many days before the race. I don't know what the heck to eat before an endurance event, or what to eat during an endurance event. I only know what to eat after the race, and that of course, would be pizza and beer. Yeah, yeah, sorry, not gonna give that up!

So every racer knows to do a trial run of what you eat for breakfast on raceday and definately what you put in your bottles and eat during the race. In the past I have done a whole lot of criteriums that are no longer than 45 minutes and road races that are about 2-2 1/2 hours, how on earth am I supposed to know what to do for an insanely ridiculous stupid hard 4 hour long mountain bike race?

The answer, of course, would be to put a little bit of everything in my jersey pockets, and whatever I grabbed is what I was going to shove down my throat. Clif bloks? Check. Powergels? Check. Endurox gels? Check. And a weird concoction in the water bottles which somehow ended up with 250 or so calories a bottle? Check.

Here we are after arrriving at the KOA campground in Gunnison, Colorado. This was one of the very few sunny moments of the entire Memorial Day Weekend.

So, we established camp and headed off to preride the course at Hartman Rocks. After a two mile neutral roll out from town, the race was to start up the dirt road in the middle and center of this photo. I know, it doesn't look that bad, but believe me it is STEEP. See the tiny dot of a person before the bend in the climb? He is walking!! Slowly!! Check out the angry sky which would unleash torents of rain to make the road nice and slippery and peanut buttery for the race the next day.

Here I am preriding the course, climbing the two track through the sagebrush before we hit the first section of singletrack. My heartrate would be maxed out here during the race, but little did I know then that this was going to be the easiest part of the race by far.

We ran into Namrita and Eddie O'dea during our preride. They both did the 64 mile Growler and race for Team Ergon. And they are super cool to hang out with :^)

Here is my husband showing of some mad wheelie skills, making the nephews proud.

After the initial doubletrack climb we would drop into this singletrack.

Unfortunately we could preride only a small portion of the singletrack because we didn't want to tire ourselves out for the race the next day.

Chuck is descending the very last little section of singletrack before the race finish line. The wonderful, glorious, happy, lovely, spectacular finish line.

And back at camp.....

Camping did not turn out to be the best idea. Rain, rain, cold, hail, and more rain drove us into a hotel room after the first night of zero sleep in the tent.

This is a petty accurate depiction of the experience on raceday. This mural was painted on the building of a restaurant in downtown Gunnison. One of the awesome race volunteers that we met when we checked in and got our race numbers actually got struck by lightning at this very race the year before. Now that is hardcore! Wow. Glad I learned this fact AFTER I was done racing.

So the race recap: Huge climb, HR 185, climb some more, no recovery, singletrack, rock step up, rock drop off, rain, mud, slippery rocks, hike a bike, rotting carcass at mile 15, death drops of death, 2 second front wheelie of almost death, muddy steeeep climbs, more rain and wind, "Dismount Recommended" signs (yes, I obeyed), exhaustion, a growling stomach (I sadly only had 2 gels and 1 1/4 bottles for this 3hr, 55 minute race), and finally after 32 miles, in pouring rain.......... Done!!!!!!!

I somehow ended up with second place. I thought I got last place because I was suffering like a dog the entire race. I never felt good, except on the easy 2 mile neutral roll out, and I did perk up when I saw the finish line. Chuck handled the technical rocky sections and descents like a pro and ended up with 7th.

All that was left of our race numbers was this little scrap on Chuck's bike. The rain started about 15 miles into the race and wreaked havok upon the course and our numbers. They lay every so often on the side of the trail as they got more and more soggy and finally gave up the ghost. The first half of my poor number 238 is probably at mile 19 or so, and the second half of it hung on for a while, but blew off around mile 23.

Time to hit the road and get back to the Springs.... All in all, it was a successful weekend. We met some very awesome people, did an epic race, raced with former olympians (they all live in Colorado, I swear!), and finally got some new material for the blog.

The grey and purple skies let a tiny bit of sunshine through and highlighted the peaks of these fourteeners on our drive home back to the Springs. Sometimes I still can't believe we live here.

Tagged!!!!!!

2008-12-03T12:13:00.013-07:00

Apparently my friend Danielle (see her picture above!) knew I had absolutely nothing to do today. I don't have to work, its too cold and snowy to ride, the dog has been walked, its too early to Christmas shop (for a procrastinator) and all I have to do is stare out the window!

Danielle "tagged" me in an effort to get me to update the ol' blog. This means I have to come up with 6 random things about myself to share with you. Hopefully if you're reading this you are not digesting Thanksgiving leftovers and so my six things plus a little tryptophan don't put you to sleep!

1. When I was growing up, I wanted to become a veterinarian. I love animals and have had the following at one time or another: 2 dwarf hamsters, a ferret, a goldfish, bunnies, cats, turtles, dogs, and I dated a guy with 3 iguanas. The dwarf hamsters had babies and then ate them. Maybe that's when I decided working in the world of animals would be a little tough.

2. I grew up in Grand Haven, Michigan. It was a pretty cool place to grow up and I spent a lot of time at the beach and swimming in Lake Michigan. We also had woods behind our house where my brother and I would hang out and play in the swamp. We would catch frogs and race them and play marbles and climb trees and leave pennies to get squished on the railroad tracks that bordered the woods. My brother was very cool to hang out with me, seeing as I was 5 years younger than him! We would also sneak over to Mother Hubbard, a convenience store, and get candy. My favorites were Tangy Taffy, Nerds, Tootsie Rolls, Now and Laters, and those Jolly Rancher stick candies that cut your tongue when you sucked on them.

3. I was the very last of all my (high school/college) friends to get married. Some of them had even been divorced and remarried by the time Chuck and I met! I'm pretty sure my mom thought it was never going to happen. The thing is, I wasn't going to settle, and it took a while for the right guy to come along. A few of the guys I was dating must haved scared my family, like the super-tattoo'd-septum piercing-guy, or the crazy-military-death-like-stare-guy. There were a few normal dates in there, but they were usually boring! Thank God Chuck came along and saved me from the messy, gory world of dating.

4. I love Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Even the stupid ones. I am sad there may not be any more Arnold movies in the future, seeing as he's a governor and all. My favorites are, of course, The Terminator series, then I liked True Lies a lot, Total Recall was awesome, and Predator. Arnold better have a cameo in the Terminator Salvation (OMG, can't wait!) movie that's coming out next summer or I'm gonna be very upset!!!!!!!! Check it out--(http://rss.warnerbros.com/terminatorsalvation/motionposter.html)

If you don't think that's cool there's something wrong with you!

5. I'm a sucker for adventure. This year alone I have done many adventurous things for the first time (also detailed in our last blog):

--Wakeboarding.... And faceplanting into Reed's Lake on the wakeboard.

--Go-kart racing (the real fast 60+ mph karts!). You have to wear a jacket, neck guard, gloves and everything. Its the real deal. And I didn't crash!

--Riding a supermoto and crashing on the supermoto. Sorry about the bike, honey!

--Riding a dirt bike, and yes, crashing a dirt bike. Good thing it was a rental :^)

--Downhill skiing on real mountains and occassionally, biting it on real mountains.

--Then, of course, there's the mountain biking. Here in Colorado I have been challenged to ride on more technical terrain than I have ever ridden.

--And with an adventure rating of 9.88 on a scale of 1-10, having only 2 extremely stressed out days to decide to move to Colorado after 35 years of living in Michigan, when I didn't even have a job and we'd have a house to sell. I do now have a job, of course, but we still own house in Michigan!

A successful year, I must say. Especially because I didn't break anything with all that biting it and all. And we haven't crashed and burned yet here in Colorado Springs. And it ain't gonna happen!

6. I'm taking a ceramics class. Wheelthrowing, to be exact. I took it so I could try something new, and I haven't used the right/creative side of my brain in a loooong time. Here are some of the first few things I made. Actually, its the second batch of things because the first few were UGLY.

There you have it. I think I'll tag Chucky now. YOU'RE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Six Sweet Months

2008-09-09T10:59:00.025-06:00

We made it. We moved to Colorado in February and have now been here for 6 months already. I can't say its been easy, but every time I go outside and look up at the mountains, I feel a bit of peace.

What's so great about mountains, you ask? Well.... Mountains are not just majestic and beautiful, but can also be your stairclimber, your therapist, your playground. They call for you from your comfy place on the couch.

You can't possibly think about work when you are in the mountains. When I ride my mountain bike all I can think about is staying on the mountain bike and the 10 feet of trail in front of my wheel. It is not an option to lose control, because if you crash you could tumble right down the mountain (unless there is a strategically placed a pine tree to abruptly and painfully stop your fall). While riding, my sense of hearing is in overdrive as I listen for the tiniest rustle in the woods. Its probably just a squirrel, but I am on the lookout for bears and mountain lions.

Luckily the only bears and mountain lions we've seen were in the visitor center at Mueller State Park.

So this has been a very busy, exciting, adventurous six months. Here are some of the things we have experienced in the last half a year:

1. We went downhill skiing on REAL mountains. Since it was pretty much my first time (my one time at Cannonsburg doesn't count), luckily Chuck is a good teacher.

2. When it was too early to mountain bike, we did some hiking in the mountains (a.k.a. sucking wind and getting used to the altitude).

3. We travelled to the top of Pikes Peak, a mere 14,115 feet tall. Complete slackers that we are, we drove to the top. Pikes Peak is known as "America's Mountain" and is the most visited mountain in the U.S. This is probably due to the fact that there is a road to the top!!! The song "America the Beautiful" by Katherine Lee Bates was written about Pikes Peak. For Purple Mountain Majesties............

4. We went dirt biking, luckily Chuck is a good teacher :^) . I had the time of my life and only bit it once. It was pretty cool riding my own Monster Energy Kawasaki :^)

5. We took a road trip to Michigan, our first time home since the big move. I noticed that all the nephews kept growing without us!

Here are Noah, Simon, Sawyer, and Charlie

While in Michigan Chuck and I learned a brand new sport: wakeboarding! My good friend Angela and her boyfriend took us out on Reeds Lake. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it--I was actually a bit worn out from trying new things all summer!!! But in the end, I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by.

6. We made it up the incline. Everyone in the Springs knows of the infamous incline. Torture! It is an old railway bed that is one mile long and it goes straight up the mountain. It climbs over 2000 feet in that mile, has an average grade of 41%. The steepest grade is 68%. Being the competitive person that I am, I went for a fast time. Not smart, I could barely walk the first few days afterwards and my legs were sore for a week!

That is not the top of the incline-you can't see the top from this photo!

7. We went to Aspen to ride and visit with friends. It is incredibly beautiful there and we had an awesome time. I actually ran out of memory on my camera (2Gig card!) I took so many pictures. Oh, and on one of our rides, Chuck rescued a dog from a turbulent whitewater river. I thought for sure the poor thing was a goner. The dog got swept away by the water and all I could see was a tiny patch of black on his back, then he was gone. Thank goodness there was a growth of trees in the middle of the river which somehow he got stuck up on.

8. I made it to Fort Collins to visit my friend Jill. She moved out to Colorado 4 years ago so we got together and rode some sweet and challenging trails. To rehydrate from our ride, she took me to the New Belgium Brewery for some taste-testing. They make Fat Tire, my new favorite beer since Founders is 1250 miles away.

Here's Jill on a rocky climb in Fort Collins.

Here I am on a rocky section. There were lots of rocky sections.

9. We got a short visit from my good friend Danielle and her husband Scott. We were pretty excited to see them, our first visitors since we moved to the Springs. We showed them as many gorgeous views as we could, and took them riding at Rampart Reservoir, all part of my scheme to get her back here as soon as possible!

Here are Danielle and Scott posing by the reservoir with Pikes Peak in the background.

Here I am with Danielle on the trail.

10. We have huddled under pine trees during a mountain bike ride to try to shelter ourselves from the hailstorm that suddenly came through. Okay, I huddled and Chuck stood there and took it like a man. Its a good thing it blew over and we didn't have to do anything that I have learned from watching Man vs. Wild.

11. We rode go-karts. I know it doesn't sound any too adventurous, but was actually kind of crazy. We rode these super fast racing karts that go 60 mph+. We had to get all dressed up in safety equipment before we could go--motorcycle helmets, jackets, gloves, and this funny neck protector thingee. Chuck and I raced eachother, and he beat me. :^( He didn't beat me by that much, though!

12. We went to the Olympic Training Center to get pumped up before the Olympics. The OTC is right in Co. Springs and is where many athletes do their training and get expert coaching. It is also where visitors can live out their dreams and stand under the Olympic rings on the top step of the podium, hands raised overhead in victory!

2010?

13. We saw our first real live rattlesnake. Snakes don't usually give me the creeps, but seeing this rattler made a shiver go down my spine.

14. We went riding in the mountains and saw the beautiful fall colors. I think I'll save those awesome pics for the next blog. Which will hopefully be soon....

We're not going Mountain Biking?

2008-08-01T10:33:00.012-06:00

Chuck and I obviously have a passion for anything on two wheels. I have always, always wanted to go dirt biking. Luckily with an awesome, adrenaline junkie husband like Chuck, I got my chance. We have been hunting high and low for a place to rent bikes from since we got to Colorado and found a place in Divide, about 30 miles west of Colorado Springs.

However, as much as I wanted to go riding and imitate the ways of Ricky Carmichael, I needed to learn how to ride a motorcycle first. (Scary). My mountain bike weighs 21 pounds. Chuck's motorcycle weighs 295 pounds. (Very Scary).

Actually Chuck is a very good teacher and brought me to this empty parking lot to learn on his supermoto. I was pretty relaxed thanks to his calm and mellow demeanor. Wasn't he worried about a girl smashing up his beautiful stylin' motorcycle? Guess not.

I was wondering how on earth I would be able to master the clutch (left foot), front brake (right hand), rear brake (right foot), throttle (also right hand), and the gear shifting (left foot). That seems like a lot to get straight and I was longing for the time I would be able to ride without thinking and concentrating so hard and having my heart beat out of my chest.

So learn to ride I did. I know people do it every day, but the next day I would be doing it on trails with roots and rocks and gravel pits and hills!!! Added pressure!

Here we are with the rig all packed up and ready to head to the trail. Finally I am going dirt biking!!! I am no longer going to be a poser.

That's me on my Monster Energy Kawasaki!!! Check out my sweet new duds Chuck got me for my birthday.

I can't believe that's me!

So why did we ever retire from racing our road bikes and mountain bikes? So we could have time for this kind of fun. I cannot wait to go out again. I think the next time we go out I will be more relaxed and able to enjoy myself without being as nervous about crashing and smashing up the bike and my body.

Aspen Adventures

2008-07-07T09:05:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the blog-drought lately but we have been quite busy having the time of our lives. We had to get out there so I'd have something to write about.

We went to Aspen for a few days to visit some good friends last week. It is so gorgeous there you wouldn't believe it. Maybe the price of real estate there will convince you--it costs around 8 million dollars for 0.6 acres of property. No house, just land. And maybe a couple of trees.

Playing tourists in our own backyard. Can you tell its summertime?

Since I am wearing sandals and shorts, it is quite obviously summertime... As I was walking around enjoying the awe-inspiring views, I kept getting snow in my sandals.

Here's a little perspective on the depth of the snow up here. Notice even the graffiti in Colorado is environmentally friendly.

So while in Aspen we had to do some riding. And ride we did. Chuck and I did 3 "epic" rides in 2 days including about 18,000 feet of climbing.

So the term "epic" is an oft abused adjective when referring to mountain bike rides. I, however, am very careful to use this word wisely.

You are probably asking--what in the world made our rides step it up into the "epic" category?

Well, let me tell you.

First of all we were riding with our friends from Michigan, Laura and Craig Webb. They are the first familiar faces we have seen since we've moved to Colorado. Then there was the whitewater rivers we passed, the constant view of the snowy capped mountains, riding at an oxygen deprived altitude of 11,500 feet, and most importantly, the icy mountain streams.

The icy mountain streams were sometimes knee deep and we had to ride right through them because they were flowing over our trail. One of the giant water holes we rode through had a big pile of snow melting right into it. As we rode through and kept knocking snow into the water, it created a nice icy mountain Slurpee. Fun.

Halfway up our trail we found this old miner's cabin from the mid-1800's. Apparently miner's were not especially tall.

I would have to say this is the first time I have encountered an avalanche during a mountain bike ride. It is also the first time I have ridden on snow in June. This would definately qualify our ride as "epic." While I was hiking across I kept getting snow in my mountain bike shoes. Definately not the best day to wear shortie socks, but that's what I get for being vain and trying to avoid the dreaded biker tan lines.

Here's our friend, Laura, hiking her bike accross the wreckage.

So how many flat tires are required to add to the matrix of the "epic" ride? I'm thinking three would be about right. Well, my downhill bombing, self preservation disregarding, adrenaline junkie husband got 5 flats. FIVE. All by himself. Luckily we were riding with enough people and he totally cleaned them out of their spare tube stash.

Together the other six riders on our journey got one flat. I am left to wonder if now there will be a karmic shift and Chuck will win a lifetime supply of free tubes or perhaps have 5 good years with no flats.......

We were lucky enough to end our time in Aspen with a Disco Party. I was very fortunate to obtain a sparkly green disco outfit so I could get completely funky. Or maybe I was just buzzed enough that my fun loving co-party friends convinced me to squeeze into a stretchy green superhero suit from the 70's that just happen to be laying around.

So there you have it. It may have been a long time between blogs, but we were busy being tourists, sucking wind, fixing flats, trying not to bonk, cleaning snow out of our shoes, thawing frozen feet, getting our freak on, drinking beer, and practicing our best disco moves.

I love it here................

Out numbered

2008-07-04T17:19:00.000-06:00

Bullwinkel effect

2008-07-04T17:05:00.011-06:00

Independence day,

I wake up this morning and look out the window and see 4 deer in the open space across the street. Chewing on some fine Colorado tree bark. A coyote is playing with his breakfast near. The lead buck apparently doesn’t like the company of coyotes and chases the Wiley coyote away.

There's a Bear Up the Road

2008-06-10T10:03:00.019-06:00

Chuck and I actually had a day off together yesterday, so we planned a big mountain bike ride. We packed our jerseys with food, slathered on the sunscreen, and took off on our adventure. It only took about 30 minutes for our ride to become quite exciting. As we started our climb up Gold Camp Road, a cyclist flew by us in the opposite direction and yelled "There's a bear up the road!"

Um, okay. Wait a minute, what are we supposed to do with that information? A bear? Holy $#%*!!!!!!!!! You can't just say that and offer no more information!! I immediately reduced my pace and looked over at Chuck. This was quite a new situation for us. It wasn't "There's a crazy rabid dog up the road," or "There's a huge pothole up the road," or even "Watch out for the Jehovah's Witness up the road!"

My eyesight suddenly became very keen as I scoped out every shadow. While I recalled that bears can run up to 30 mph, I looked down at my Garmin computer to see that we were going a mere 10 mph up this climb. Chuck told me the bear wouldn't just run out and attack us, but I wasn't so sure.

Of course, being the adventurous types we are, turning around was not an option. We had our route planned out and no stinkin' bear was going to ruin our day. As we kept tentatively riding along, I wasn't sure if I should slow down or speed up. I was thinking very hard about my escape plan if we saw the bear--turn around? Sprint UP the hill? Yell at it at the top of my lungs? Of course, I reallllly wanted a picture of the bear, so I hoped he would just be relaxing in the shade eating some yummy flowers or something.

Well, after all this excitement, do you think we saw the bear? NO. No bear. I was very relieved, and yet, somewhat disappointed. So far in Colorado we have seen tons of mule deer, a fox, millions of bunnies, coyotes, and even mountain goats. I really would have liked adding a bear to our resume..........

So we rode on. The road turned to gravel and kept climbing and climbing. At the end of the day we got in almost 5,000 feet of climbing. Here's a pic of my computer at our turnaround point.

Here is a view of a very tiny Colorado Springs and in the foreground, what looks like the remains of a forest fire.

After almost 2 hours of riding and going through 4 tunnels in the rock, we came upon this collapsed tunnel. Luckily, there was some singletrack off to the left so we could get around it. I wasn't too unhappy to go around, because riding through the tunnels on a bike is creepy. You can't see a thing after you get about 20 feet in. You have to have a lot of faith that you are not riding directly into a black hole of death (I've read too many Steven King books, I know). Luckily by the 4th tunnel, Chuck recommended that I take my sunglasses off. It was much better after that :^)

Here's the final stats on the day.... Almost 4 hours on the mountain bike, 45 miles covered, a crapload of climbing, and a nice high heart rate thrown in. The green line is our elevation and the red line appropriately enough, is my heart rate. Both Chuck and I were pretty wasted by the time we made it home. Time for a recovery drink so we can do it again tomorrow!

Thunderbirds and the Falcon Trail

2008-06-04T15:19:00.008-06:00

My favorite trail here is called the Falcon Trail--its on/in the Air Force Academy. It has a little bit of everything: climbing, descending, turning, stream crossing, mule deer, turkeys, snakes, hike a bike, chicken heads, baby heads, goat heads, and roots. Wonderful views if you're not glancing at the HR monitor and staring at the 6 inclined feet in front of your wheel while on a 900 foot climb I have nicknamed “Destroyer”.

Last week here in COS the Academy had graduation and George Bush gave the commencement. The Air Force Thunderbirds were supposed to put on a show and do the fly over during the hat toss. Graduation day was cloudy and the Thunderbirds could only do the flyover for the hat toss….but we were on the Falcon Trail at 2 pm the day they were practicing the air show. As we were attempting to finish our lap a military guy was on the trail instructing us to move 400 yards “that way” because the Thunderbirds were about to begin the practice air show. Ok, fine, so we backtrack to a higher point on the trail to watch the show. We could see and hear the Thunderjets coming from Peterson Air Force base from the east. We lost them in the clouds for a minute, then out of nowhere 6 Thunder jets fly 300 feet directly above us with the smoke on. LOUD! It sounded like they were trying to rip a hole in the sky. As we watched for the next half hour they got close, 300 yards or so a couple more times. From where we were, when the jets would make their pass above the stadium, we could look straight into the cockpit and see the pilot.

Needless to say--a very cool day.

This is as fast as i could get the camera out.

Mini-Vacation

2008-05-21T09:48:00.022-06:00

Just when I thought we were getting used to the elevation here, we decide to go up even higher to Woodland Park. We mountain biked around Rampart Reservoir which is at an elevation of about 9,200 feet. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful because they weren't allowing any boating on the Reservoir. Apparently those stupid zebra mussels are a problem in Colorado and they don't want this body of water to get contaminated. Good for us, bad for boaters.
After growing up on Lake Michigan, it is a bit disconcerting to learn that Colorado Springs water source is this reservoir. I definately do not leave the water running when I brush my teeth.
I am slowly getting used to the fact that most of the trails here are made up of little slippery red gravelly rocks. You really have to control your speed going into the many blind, off camber corners, or you could find yourself with nothin' but air underneath you and your bike. Luckily I have disk brakes and an irrational fear of breaking my collarbone to keep me in check.

Even with a record high in the Springs of 86 degrees, it was at least 15 degrees cooler at the reservoir. We were still suprised to find our trail suddenly turn into ice! Chuck had to show off his bunny hopping skills over the crevasse.

It was so pretty up where we were riding that it was hard to actually get any riding in. We had to stop every 5 minutes to enjoy the view, or play in the snow, or feel how cold the icy mountain water was.

Hopefully you aren't getting sick of seeing pictures of Pikes Peak. This photo is actually the backside of the mountain, looking at it from the West.

Well, time to head out for a little ride before work. I have to go now since there is going to be 40 mph wind gusts starting at 1:00pm and that is NO fun.

5280-6450

2008-05-19T06:44:00.003-06:00

5280 is a popular number around these parts. Is the adopted pet name of Denver (mile high) 5280 feet? You can get 5280 coffee 5280 angle offers advice on living in Denver. There is a 5280-bike team also.
Here in the springs Our apartment is a 6450 feet above sea level. Coming from 814 above sea level feet in Grand Rapids that is a difference of 5538 feet elevation. Here are a few things I have observed.
1. Yes, there is less oxygen here, consequently I see more (old) people with portable oxygen tanks.
2. The high altitude directions on baking mixes are there for a reason. It takes longer to cook stuff in general.
3. The jets flying overhead seem larger and seem to move faster.
4. There are fewer opportunities for clouds to form impenetrable barriers for the sun.
5. Sunscreen and sunglasses and necessities rather than novelties.
6. A Suzuki GSXR 600 will only do 146 mph rather than a claimed 156 mph as claimed in their literature.
7. Sound travels farther, faster, louder. Thunder is LOUD Here!
8. Less moisture in the air (I think this helps #7)
9. Wild life is everywhere. I look out the window right now I see 5 mule deer in the green space across the road eating breakfast. I saw a coyote on the way to work yesterday. Juli saw some 6-foot snakes on the bike trail the other day.
10. You can go to REI, buy things like rock climbing harness thing, carabineers, rock climbing shoes and rope and a book that gives you climbing routs, and use them 5 minutes away.

Later

Happiness is........

2008-05-10T22:14:00.012-06:00

Outriding scary thunder clouds dumping rain and hail.....

Being able to admire your dog's gorgeous leg muscles.

Avoiding very prickly cacti while flying through singletrack.

Enjoying a free tour of the Air Force Academy a la road bike. Check out the B-52 Bomber--very sweet.

Trusting knobbies. Trusting them a lot.

Checking out the view as I ride by Garden of the Gods and admiring the ever-present Pikes Peak.

Riding!!! Riding here!!! Being in oxygen debt!!!

Hasta la Vista, Michigan

2008-05-05T08:57:00.021-06:00

Everything happened so fast when we decided that Chuck should accept his job offer and we were moving to Colorado. We barely had time to say goodbye to all the important people in our lives. Luckily we were able to get together and have a couple of beers with our buddies before we left. All we did was pack and party for weeks!

There's Chuck with his good friend Craig.

And here is Danielle with her greyhound, Naomi. I miss Danielle very much because she is the only girl I know who rides bikes more than me. She is also the only person that could haul me on a 6 1/2 hour road ride and make it fun. (Rock Star and smoothie stops help!) I am extremely excited for July, because Danielle is coming for a visit. I need to start training like a crazy person so I can keep up with her on my mountain bike.

Ahhhh, my teammates. We got to hang out at Founders the night before I left for Colorado. That's Amy and Mackenzie, crazy fast bike racers. After racing with us in Michigan for a few years, Mackenzie now gets to race with Tina Pic. Yes--the one and only---the National Criterium Champion--on her team. I am so happy for her, but I am pretty sure she is going to have to come to Colorado Springs to get some good training in.

Saying goodbye to the family was not easy. I am the pround Aunt of 4 of the cutest nephews in the universe: Noah, Simon, Charlie, and Sawyer. They are smart, energetic, and amazing and I miss them very much!

Goodbye house. Okay, its just a house, but it was Chuck's and my first house. I will miss grilling out on the deck. I will miss hearing the fireworks from the White Caps Stadium on Saturday nights. I will miss our favorite neighbor, Cheryl. I will miss seeing Tia sprint in the tiniest circles ever in the backyard.

Hello, Colorado! I still can't believe we live here. Its a good thing it is so amazing here, because it was really difficult leaving everything we knew and everyone we cared about behind. I feel like this blog is a bit of an advertisement to try and lure my friends out here so I can see them!

The First Blog is the Hardest

2008-04-25T18:22:00.001-06:00

Welcome to the Allaire’s Colorado adventure blog.

Is it possible to have blogger's block before you have even begun your first entry? For some reason I feel a lot of pressure (self induced) to create the most entertaining and humorous, yet gritty and real blog ever! There are so many great blogs out there and with my competitive nature and all, I must create the best blog ever!! Hence the writer's block.

I guess I will take the easy way out and insert some pictures. They probably tell the story better than I could anyhow. Plus as you can see, Colorado is gorgeous (come and visit). Any blog with a picture of Pikes Peak is a sure winner.

So, Chuck arrived safe and sound in early February with a few bikes in tow. That tiny 14,115 foot mountain in the background is Pikes Peak.

Meanwhile, I had to stay back in Michigan to tie up some loose ends.... That's just everything we own getting loaded up on the semi. I felt pretty good about handing over all of our stuff to the moving guy, especially after he told me the story about how he busted some ladies cement steps with his forklift earlier that week. Notice all the snow--it seems like a prerequisite for us to be able to move.

Tia is relaxing in the empty house the morning of my departure. By the way I have a word of warning--if you have house plants and are planning on taking them with you when you move across the country--don't bother. I think they will be fine as far as Iowa, but Nebraska pretty much will do them in. Or maybe it just had to do with being crammed between the dog and pillows and the television and all my snacks?

So blog numero uno is in the books. There is so much exploring and so many adventures to be had here in Colorado that there's no way we can run out of ideas for our blog. Plus you will want to follow my reentry back into the bike racing world after being semi-retired. I need to wake up my weak sprinting legs because there is a velodrome here. What could be more fun than learning how to ride a single speed, fixed gear bike with no brakes on a 33% embankment?

Be sure to stay tuned for the next blog when I have to say goodbye to my friends, my family, my coworkers, my teammates, my first house, my first dog, and to the place I have lived for the last 34 years of my life. Don't worry, the reading will be light and whimsical and verrrry entertaining.