Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of updating. I headed to TX last Wednesday and spent some time with my parents at the ranch. Did a little riding and some stuff around the ranch for my dad. Then went to Austin to see Sheila. Saturday helped with an adventure race and rode around and went to the movies on Sunday. Now I'm back home and getting ready to get back on the training schedule to finish of the season here in August.

Looks like cycling is heading down the tube faster than anyone can imagine with Mayo testing positive too now.

Well check back later for a better update, just a quick post. Hope everyone is doing well.

A Sad Day

Vino, say it ain't so.

The Day After Evans

Some one asked in the comments on My thought of the Day, "So if your english speaking and the person you want to interview is not how do you have a conversation?"

Simple, a translator. I doubt its that hard to find someone who speaks both English and Spanish to do the translating.

I did a little 3hr ride around Boulder this morning to rest the legs from Evans but the heat is just taking it right out of me. I've got the AC cranked all the way down, but I think it might be a pool day.

Thought for the Day

Phil made an interesting comment this morning on Contador after his stage win (hope you all knew the ending today, if not oops). He said "He (Contador) is really a nice guy to talk to, and once he learns to speak English fluently we will have a great conversation with him." Uh, yeah. English isn't the only language spoke in the Tour, some don't know English and one of them is Contador; so what. That doesn't mean you can't interview him and talk to him. He won the freakin stage today and moved into second overall. How bad has it gotten if we won't even talk to someone who has done something unbelievable unless they speak English.

Mt. Evans Hillclimb

You know when you are driving around and you check your gas level and its at 1/4 tank so you keep on trucking, then all of the sudden the car stops just a short while later and you are stranded in the middle of no where. Well that was kind of what it was like today.

The Mt. Evans hill climb is 28 miles of climbing 7,oooft ending at 14,500 at the top of Mt. Evans (The highest paved road in America). Why do they do this race? In my opinion after today, its to see who can race the hardest climbing in a no oxygen environment.

It started out with the line up and five minutes to the start and the one and only Tom Danielson rolls to the front of the pack, yeah. Oh $%&#* ran through my mind too. The gun went off and the pack was drilled already shattering riders before we reached the 2 mile mark. I lost contact with Tarkington and a few others and set a good tempo and it split some more. All this while Tommy D. and Moninger are going off the front. I was moving pretty good till the tank all of the sudden went empty with 10k to go. Lets say I lost some time in the last 10k. I went from the big chain ring in a tail wind section to the small chain ring to the granny gear (23 cassette, not so granny). At about 12 - 13,000ft I began to feel light headed with a screaming headache. I finished it as strong as I could, 10-20th place, not sure exactly. After that, the descent was not short enough and I drove home and fell on the floor where I stayed for a while. I still have a huge headache, and feel a little disappointed. I mean, I am a climber but not today so much.

Near the top.
Summit Lake still about 10miles from the top.

I think I can see Texas from here.

Well, I feel like an old man tonight. Yeah its only 7:30pm but I'm tired, and I'm still not recovered even from Cascade yet.

The Zirbeast

I just got some news about Tom Zirbel, Boulder racer on Priority Health. He is having some problems with a clot found back in March that moved to towards his lungs two nights ago landing him in the hospital. Everybody please keep him in your thoughts.

Back Home

Well I've already got settled back in again here at home and started the ramp up for Mt. Evans HC. Sould be fun..........right. I hope to atleast be able to hang on with the true climbers like Tommy D.

I have to say that we all have been in races where something goes wrong and the emotion takes over and comes spilling out in words or actions. I got an email from Chris Baldwin today about what happened at Cascade. I have to say it takes a real man to say sorry. I replyed to say that I am sorry too, for a move that may have been taken as abrupt when I tried to miss another racer cutting in front of me sharply. But we all played a part in what happened, and it is all in the past. Time to move on the the next race. Thanks Chris, I am sorry too for my actions.

After Evans next week since I didn't get into Toona I plan on heading back home to TX and spend a few days with the parents and then head to A-Town to see Sheila for a few days. It should be good to have some fun and just ride before coming back to finish the year off.

PDX

First off you have got to check out the story on Blake's page about getting his stolen bikes back.

Just sitting in the Portland airport heading back to CO when this bike cop came riding by. In the airport, really. Come on now you don't need to be riding a bike around here to catch someone.
Just a update on my injuires. They are getting a little better, but as they loosen up the more I find new pains, like my lower back. All in all I think I will some out physically okay.

Portland, OR

Well since my Cascade Classic ended yesterday I just woke up and headed out to strech my still sore hip. I found some sweet dirt roads up towards Mt. Bachelor in Bend.
After finishing packing I headed into Portland and toured around some. Then I headed across the river to Washington to check another state off my list of places been. After that it took a couple of hours to try and find a non-fast food placed to eat and a gas station. Did I mention that in OR you can't pump your own gas, they have pump jockies that do it for you, what a pain in the a$$.

Tomorrow its back to home sweet home and recover and rest the hip some more before Mt. Evans hillclimb next weekend. Rumor is that Tommy D. is going to show up.

Plus I just checked the Cascade final overall results and only 50 people finished out of the 130 starters on Wednesday, I would have to say that puts this stage race as the hardest I have ever seen.

Cascade Classic Stages 3, 4, and 5

Well yesterday started off with the TT. 7.5 miles up hill, then 7.5 miles downhill. I followed the coach's orders of going only 80% and lost a few minutes but not too bad for a 15 mile TT. After that everyone was mentioning how it was harder than the Gila TT, and I would have to agree.

The crit was last night at 7. It was a curvy .7 mile loop and again I followed the marching orders of surfing and the back and conserving. It worked great until crashfest began. There had to be a total of 10 crashes and one on almost every corner. So the odds were against me when I came flying around the corner and was met by a pile of bikes in the corner in which I went into. I came out relatively un-marked but very sore. Then again later in the race I slid into a group but managed only to put a foot down. The officials decided to put me one lap down for some reason so that didn't make me too happy, when I actually finished with everyone on the same lap.

Today I woke up sore from the crash, especially in my hip, which isn't a good sign for the hardest day. On the start of the race and the first climb a rider cut in front of me making me stop pedaling and Baldwin was behind me not paying attention. He rammed his shifter into my thigh causing him to swerve and take out a few people behind him. That pissed him off and he took it out on me by flipping out on me. Cussing at me and hitting me in the ribs on the right side that was sore already from the crash in the crit. Some of the riders told him to back off since it really was his fault but he felt differently. He continued to cuss me out for quite a while. Once the pace picked up again my hip decided it was going to make my life miserable and unable to put the power to the pedals and I slipped off the back. So unfortunately, I am not able to finish the Cascade Classic, and I am not happy about it since I started out so well.

Tomorrow I will cruise a bit to try and loosen my hip up then head to Portland to catch my flight on Monday.

Cascade Classic Stage 2

Another fast hard day done, another cold ice bath.
Today was very, very fast covering 80 miles in 3hrs. The lead into the final climb was on the rivet and I moved up in anticipation for the separation of the field. I held onto the front group of around 15 guys till the 4k to go mark and slipped off the back. The 23 tooth cassette was a little too much for me, especially since everyone else was pushing a 25 or 27. I may have lost a little time, but moved up in GC. Tomorrow is a 15 mile TT and an hour and a half crit in the evening. I plan on doing a little recovering in prep for the last two hard stages.

Till tomorrow

Cascade Classic Stage 1

The gift bag. Normally contains $50,000 worth of merchandise for people to sit in a seat for a couple of hours and walking a red carpet. We get gift bags too. But ours probably tops out at about $7.
Some golf tees, just in case I decide to switch sports, enough sunscreen for one day, car air freshener, and some mini bite size lara bars. I guess its better than nothing.

I saw this leaving the grocery store today. I wonder how far they got before they started to loose stuff.

Well the race today was super tough for a first stage. I made the front group up the first climb and about half of the pack regrouped. The pace never really let up and got strung out a lot. I made it with the front group up the last climb to the finish and should be somewhere around 20-30th. Tomorrow is another hard day with a long climb to the finish (below). Time for rest, catch up tomorrow.

Bend, OR

Today was a good day, so far. Slept in a little, got a nice easy ride in. Saw everyone out from T-Mobile to BMC.It is really nice around here, getting hot out, but still a great place. Outside Mag just published Bend as being the best place to live in the US, and one person moves here every 2 hrs. I'd live here.

Apparently I own a car dealership here in town, I should stop in see if they have my cut of the revenues.

Stage one starts tomorrow, with a 90 mile road race. Remembering last year it should all go down after the climb at mile 60 with some wicked crosswinds. I'll let you know tomorrow how it all goes.

Oregon

Another travel day and another day where I thought things couldn't get any worse.

First off sitting in the airport I checked out a passenger's luggage, just a couple of mini cars heading to Munich.
My flight was an hour late, but that was okay cause the security check at DIA was the longest I have ever seen it. Made it to Portland late and just wanted to get on the road for Bend, but I guess with a certain company to be un-named doesn't understand what a reservation means. I try to pick up my car but they don't have any, and I mean any. There is a line of people waiting for cars to be returned then turned around and sent right back out. I sat in front of this un-named company for an hour and a half before finally getting a vehicle, but it was a little bigger than the one I originally reserved. So my under 25 years old extra charge per day was more, like $40 a day more. So I argued with them but they said I could wait for what I originally wanted, could be hours or not today at all, so I took it. They should be expecting a letter from me when I get back.

Once that was all done I started the 3 hr drive to Bend. It is an awesome drive right past Mt. Hood.

So I am finally in Bend, OR and the bikes are unpacked. I am exhausted and ready for some rest before it all starts to go down Wednesday. More tomorrow, sleep time now.

Happy 4th

The bad thing is I woke up this morning watched some news and headed out on my ride and totally forgot it was the 4th until I turned right into a parade.
But no day off today for me. It was a repeat day up Flagstaff and on the last time up I just wanted to get off the bike and lay down, but I guess thats the pain of repeats. No pain, no gain, I hope this is true.

Nothing really happening on my end for celebrating today. Just resting up from today before I have another day of intensity tomorrow.

Check out Blake's page and be on the look out around Boulder, Ebay, or wherever for his bikes, someone stole them right out of his house. Some people just suck who do crap like this.

Update

Time flies when you're having fun. I didn't even realize how long it had been since I last updated.

Well last week was just training as usual, well except for having to deal with the high 90's and some triple digit days. This last weekend Sheila came up from the great state of TX for a visit.

We hit up Rocky Mountain National park.

I've been there about four times this year and finally got a year pass this time. Its $20 each entry and only $35 for a year pass, I guess I'm not the smartest sometimes.

Next was Pearl St. for some dinner and the local street performers. This guy is down there all the time and we tried to sneak away for our dinner reservations but he hounded us all the way down the block for leaving. They get pushy when you don't watch them, but more importantly when you don't pay them.

The visit was way too short but it was great.

Now I am just back to the training all the way up to Cascade. Its been hard the last two days have been 4+ hours of climbing and the heat hasn't made it very pleasurable, but what can you do.