Heading Down the Road

Well after a long day of flipping back and forth between going to St. Louis or going to Grand Junction, it looks like I'll be headed to GJ. However, I will have to represent solo at the state championships since the rest of the team is going to SL, I would have gone with them, but one of us has to lay down the hammer in GJ.

Sorry no pics for today, I was too lazy to take my camera with me this morning and the rest of the day wasn't that exciting, except for the massage, that is always a plus to a day.

Time to pack.

These Are The Days Of Our Lives

Its photoblog time!

Last night was out team night out. We started with a little dinner then hit the town.

Everyone says Frey and I look like brothers.

Garcia likes to double fist the frozen margaritas at the Rio.
Frey does some awesome Karaoke, but last night was some of the best I've ever heard out of him.
And then theres Hamity, the picture says it all.
This morning came way too soon as Blake came knocking. I took him for his first time up Flagstaff, great views and some steep climbing.

Here are the Flatirons from the top.

We finished the ride by heading up four mile then hit the dirt to cross over to Sunshine. Blake at 115lbs doesn't have much traction on the dirt with slicks.

I need to do some recovering this afternoon so I think a good book is in order, gotta run to B & N to find one. Then I have to figure out where I am racing this weekend. Do I go to the State Road Championships, or do I go with the rest of the team to St. Louis for the Gateway Cup crit series. Either way, I have to decide by tonight.

Like Sand Through The Hour Glass......

Yesterday was one of my favorite days, a Monday (or in the cycling world, an off day). Randy and I hit Denver and the bike shop then made a stop by his cuz who is the proud new mother of a baby girl. We then made the trek back in to the bubble at just the right photographic moment. Gotta love the CO.
Today was another of many climbing days, but this pic is one from Randy's ride. I guess the bus took a wrong turn then tried to turn around. Lets just hope they actually made it down, getting stuck at 11,000ft wouldn't be fun.
Yesterday I put together a sky chair and today I put it to the test to see if the bolt I put up would actually hold up a person. I'd say it works just fine.
Not much else to report, time to get ready for a team dinner tonight, its all you can eat pasta downtown. I think I might need my stretch pants tonight.

Weekend

What a weekend. Saturday was a party and get together day with the boys.
Then after the party Frey and I headed out to the bars to shoot some pool. Frey ended up on our couch again for the second time this week. We woke early today to spin a little and ended up at the coffee shop for some breakfast.
Then we ended the day with a crit in Longmont, just a fun fast race. Hopefully it is giving me some extra intensity to kick ass next weekend and win State Championships.

The Life

Yesterday was a recovery day, not really for riding, but at least for the night before. It was good though. We met up with a good buddy of mine Blake who just moved up here to attend CU. Yeah, thats him next to Randy. Its not that Randy is huge, but B is small, or it could just be that Randy is big.
Fast forward 24 hours and the weather really changed. Its 50 degrees outside with light drizzle and a chance of heavy rain this afternoon.
We faced the weather and headed up four mile, it really wasn't too bad except for the slippery decent.
And of course it just isn't a good day until we get our daily fix from Spruce.
So it Saturday night and if you know whats good for you, you'll be at our "gathering" tonight for some refreshments to celebrate the nearing of the end of the season.

F'n A Cotten, F'n A

For those of you who didn't know, yesterday was Thursday, and if you live in Boulder you know what that means.......Cruiser Night.

The theme this week was a Cruiser Christmas. We're all about conforming to the themes, but we just didn't feel like putting on the X-Mas sweaters in August. Frey and me getting it going.

The number of people out was unbelievable, people on bikes everywhere taking over the streets, the best part is, the cops don't care, anywhere else and we would all be in jail.The ride made a stop at North Boulder park for a little dancing, felt more like a miniature rave.
After all that pedaling we were pretty thirsty, so we quenched our thirst with a few drinks, and of course bought a round for the lovely ladies sitting next to us.

The night came to a closure forcefully when the bar announced that you don't have to go home, but ya can't stay here, so we just went home. However, not without Frey crashing in to me on the bike path and falling over. Good times, F'n A.

Yep

No we're not rednecks, even if we are starting to look that way. Trucker cap, check. Open flame on a grill, check. Beer, check. Crappy plastic patio chairs, check. No shirt, check. Randy seems to be a little closer than me to meeting all the requirements.
Just another post ride recovery, and after almost 6 hours in the mountains today, I am totally spent and looking forward to climbing into that hot tub.

Some Sights

Today was a pretty intense day of training which has lead to the frying of my legs. Its was beautiful day though, it was really the only thing keeping me mentally in focus.

This is lefthand up towards Ward.

This is the view from the back side of Lee hill.
Tomorrow is a long epic day, gotta finish the year out strong.

What To Do

Its a Monday and the return of my off days. So its just me and the couch, I feel just about as lazy and the guy who did this.

There then Here

What a day.

The group ride out of Lubbock rolled at 8 this morning. The Saturday ride is a no drop cruise, so we went out for a short 40 mile spin; it gave me a good chance to catch up on old times with some more friends I hadn't seen in a while.
There wasn't much scenery, just the cattle feed lot; too bad this isn't cratch'n sniff.
I have to give Aaron, Derek, and Keith props on the new shop, check it out here.
I found my new bike there, something for everybody.

After the ride and having lunch with Follis, I hit the road. The drive wasn't bad until NM where the rain came down hard, and it stayed that way all the way to Denver; lets just say it made for a long drive. I had about 6 tall cups of coffee along the way, this was one of my wired moments followed shortly by a caffeine crash.

Must Watch

I first saw a story on this a while back on sports center but just came across this video online today. I have to say that it got to me, its very inspirational, and makes you think that if there were more people like this in the world it would be a better place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

Rides

For those of you who now know that I am in Lubbock, and for those who don't, and want to go for a ride, I will be at the Thursday night group ride from the travel center at 6 and will also be doing the Saturday morning ride from Velocity at 8. The ride from the shop will be short for me (40 miles) since I will be leaving after it to head back to Boulder. Hope to see everyone out there.

The LBK

Welcome back to Lubbock.......welcome back to flatness.

I started a ride this morning in some light rain looking forward to a fun 2hr ride around the old stomping grounds, but what I got was three flats within an hour. I got to thinking when the last time I got a flat was.....oh yeah, 8 months ago when I lived in Lubbock.

After getting a tube to finally not flat I was able to get the ride back under way. I went by the Windmill museum and they were erecting a wind generator. When you see them up and spinning they look big, but I bet you didn't know that the blades are longer than a semi.
I decided to spin by MLK park and take a look at the mountain bike trail that got me started in cycling, its hard to believe that the first mtb trail that I ever rode was the one here in Lubbock just four years ago.
Its good to come back and hang out with friends and see how much things have changed in 8 months. When I left there was a vacant dirt lot at the corner of Q and 4th, now there's a Super Walmart; not just a building up, but completely open. For a town of 200,000 people I thought 2 Super Walmarts was enough, but I guess not, they needed three.

Weekend

This weekend was pretty chill, just relaxing rides. On Sunday I headed out with the HART guys who were going to Carter Lake, but I pulled off to go up hill as they went flat-landing.
It sucks, the last two weeks I've been training getting amped to kick some ass and win the state chamionships this coming weekend, but last night, they canceled the race. They say safety reasons, which I can see. The race was going to be in a part of CO that is very unbiker friendly and it is around a lake in full season of boating, so I am not too upset, I would rather live.

For those of you from Lubbock that read this, keep you eyes peeled for me, you never know when I might show up.......

Cruiser Ride

Last night was Thursday night, and that can only mean its cruiser night. This week's theme was Pajamas and Lingerie, and had about 250 people attending.

And of course of those attending, there was me.

In all there were four of us out creating havoc in the masses: Randy, me, Hutch, and Pam. Randy looks all ready to rip someone's head off...then there's Hutch and me. Lets just say we're climbers while Randy's a sprinter, that helps explain it.
The night ended early as usual, the season might be almost over, but it isn't over till its actually over. I still have the state championships to win next week.

Beer Me

Its been back to the grind the last few days, hitting the climbs and having them hit back harder. In our spare time we've been putting the hot tub to good use.
The only problem was that we hadn't used it in a while so the water level was a little low. We don't have a hose, so we improvised by filling up a storage container, lets just say it took a while, either due to the amount of water we needed to get or the distraction of the beer that needed to be drank while completing the task at hand.

Stuff

Yesterday was a lazy Sunday. Woke up and headed to the coffee shop with Randy. Sat around until 2 then headed into Denver and hung out before the crit. Raced a crit, well, really just rode a crit, I just sat in mostly. Then hit a bar on the crit course after the race to have a beer with the friends.
Today was a recovery day, just gettin the little stuff taken care of. Not much else to report. Later.

Another Mag Appearance

My 15 minutes of fame seems to have a few extra minutes added to it. In the newest issue of ROAD mag. with Levi on the front, I've got a few good pics in the Tour de Nez section. One of them (the second one) is the winning break that I drove to a 7 minute gap. Sadly no recognition with my name.

Copper Mtn.

Well the week is over, for the most part. It was mostly a recover week, but yesterday I headed to Copper Mtn. near Vail to meet up with Stephen (college buddy) and ride the Copper Triangle ride. Its a 80 mile three summit ride that had 2,500 people out on the roads.
The ride was fun and full of scenery.
The ride was a laid back cruise, well at least for me, Stephen was a little taxed and cracked in the last 15 miles, but for his first long mountain ride, he did great.

Other than that my life has been lazy, just taking care of small errands, and doing the Bannock crit tomorrow.