We're not going Mountain Biking?

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

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

Bullwinkel effect

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

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

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

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.