The Reason I Love to Ride

So once again we saddle up and head for the mountains from downtown Denver. Just me, Seth, and Joey.

At Seth's request, this picture is titled, "Mmmmm, Fatty hungry."
I believe that this ride today can be called Epic. Maybe not full blown Epic, but registered on the lower end of the Epic scale. Denver to Golden, up Golden Gate Canyon, Up Robinson Hill Road, then dirt back to Golden Gate and up and over the two summits to Golden and on back to Denver.

The Colorado backcountry as seen by dirt.

It can't even register as any type of Epic unless it has dirt. This ride wasn't too long, just 4 hrs, but the terrain was steep. Gotta love when you are granny gearing it on dirt and almost stall due to the steepness and lack of traction.

It feels like its time for a nap, but really off to dinner and a night out. Yes, I will be sleeping in tomorrow.

Food

Its too early on a Saturday morning to be up, but Seth, Joey, and I are doing a long ride today, pics to come later.

Best thing to get me out of bed early is homemade pancakes, and coffee of course.
I also got my first round of holiday cookies from my mom, Thanks Mom!

I have to say almost half of them are gone already, what can I say, I love cookies.

Ride and Cleaning

Yesterday morning it was cold. How cold was it, you ask. Well you know its cold outside when the pile of clothes you have to put on to stay warm looks more like a dirty clothes pile.

Yes of course the sun finally came out at 2pm right after my ride. This morning its pretty cold too but the the sun is out already and is starting to warm up some.

I've decided to stay in my same apartment for another year, and even though I've kept it really clean, the carpets looked like they needed some attention. I hit the Home Depot and picked up this beauty.

After a few hours of work the whole place had been gone over twice really well. You know it needed to be cleaned when the clear water that went in more resembles my morning coffee. I'll go over the place one more time this afternoon before I return it, but the place is looking just as new as the first day I moved in.

Turkey Day Dinner

Thanksgiving Day Dinner

November 22nd @ 3pm

The Kendall Place

Come one, Come all

RSVP by November 20th

Leave a comment if you don't have my phone#

Bring a side, Turkey and stuffing provided

There will even be some of this magic

Pics

Its fun being a model, but instead of a runway, we had Lookout Mtn.

Group Ride

Its November 10th and the weather is still holding out for some really good days of riding. Today we got some of the guys together to roll up into the high country for a 4hr ride.

Brad, Taylor, Allen, Jared, and Ryan cruising up St. Vrain on our way to Peak to Peak.

At the top the skies started giving us the look of something bad on the horizon so we cut down Super James into Jamestown and back home over Old Stage.
It was a great day, half of the guys are still on the relax and do nothing schedule while the others of us are back to the grind of getting ready for next year.

What does suck about these days is you get off bike after 4 hrs at 3pm and the sun is already about to set behind the mountains, makes the days feel kind of empty but I guess I can't complain as long as I am abe to keep getting this nice rides in outside.

Catch Up

Again, I am slacking, but I swear I have some good excuses.

Lately I've been swamped with training, cyclocross watching (Pic below from this weekends UCI race here in Boulder), reading/studying, working on the website, searching for clients, and a few other million things. But now the website is to the point that I have it the way I want it, and am getting used to the training schedule again.
Next up is advertising for the coaching (so if anyone out there is looking or knows of someone looking, send them my way), and looking for a new place to live once my lease is up here at the start of the new year.

The Website

www.CoachKendall.com

Pics

Time to catch up on the pictures.

The pumpkin carvings..

A close up..

The only thing better about carving pumpkins is making pumpkin pies.

Found this photo from a Halloween party on Wednesday. The funny part is the guy dressed as Cher, is none other than Scott "The IceMan" Moninger.

Last weekend my old college roommate was in town to hangout. Bobby, Chelsea, and Me.

Sorry, Yet Again....

.....for the lack of updates.

Its pumpkin pickin time!
This last weekend my old college roommate came up to hangout. It was great to see him again after three years, and all of the old times of getting into trouble were relived.

But now it is back to the training. I am officially calling it.....it is now training time, next year will be here before you know it.

Also I am getting certified as a USA Cycling Coach and going to begin coaching as a job to hopefully sustain myself in cycling next year while doing NRC's with Rio Grande. I should have a website up by the end of the week, but if anyone whats to go ahead and give me a shout let me know (720-771-5198). I am trying to stay within TX and maybe some CO, but talk to me and we can see what we can work out no matter where you are at. Most of the philosophy will follow the training practices of Michael Carter and Max Testa, so you know you can't go wrong.

Oh yeah, and I can't believe the Rockies got swept, it was a sad night last night.

Winter Weather

The average date for the first snow fall down here in the foothills is Oct 18th. Last year we got it bad in Sept already but this year we held out for Oct 21st.
Nothing goes better with a morning like this.

Yesterday I hit up a long ride and some cross watching at Interlocken. Another cross race today but I think I might spend most of my day inside, but probably not on the trainer.

I Like Espresso

Best invention ever. If you don't have a Moka Pot I recommend the Mukka Express. Espressos and Cappuccinos just minutes away.
I've using the PowerTap the last few days and have realized how much I have shorted myself on the training the last few years. The workouts should have been a lot harder, but now I know and time to step it up. Man I can't wait to see what it will do for me this next season.

Also, if anyone is looking for a roommate, I have an extra bedroom I am trying to fill. Let me know.

Time to check the weather for tomorrow.

Snow!

Yesterday afternoon's picking up of the Powertap turned into a pumpkin carving, pie baking, and seed roasting party. It was awesome, some very original designs. Allen's being the best, but he did put a total of 5.5hrs into it from concept to fully carved. (More pics to come)

Today I got the Powertap all set up and rolled it around up Lookout to see how things worked on it. Over analyzing of numbers here I come!

And yes, after yesterday's nasty weather, there is finally some snow close to home.

1/65th

I tried to upload a picture to show how the day was going, but words can draw a better picture. Dark, rainy, foggy, and cold. They say that the Denver area averages 300 days of sunshine every year, leaving just 65 for these types of days. But I guess when you really think about it, that is still two months worth of dark and rainy.

What I was hoping it would be the first snowfall down here on the frontrange but it is what I am guess to be the last rain of the year. Seems weird hearing that A-Basin already opened the ski slopes on Oct 10th making it the earliest opening ever, and we still haven't seen a flake here. Still the feel of winter is all around, such as the first Christmas commercial I saw yesterday, before you know it it will be 365days of advertising for every holiday.

Well today will be a boring, inside watching football day. But this next week is looking good for some more days of rolling the new bike.

New Stuff is Great

The ride was great today; nice, warm and sunny.

I got my new Orbea this afternoon and had to put in another ride after getting it, I think thats a law.

New kit too.

Goooooooood Morning

Getting back into training again has been fun, feeling good and ready to get the strength up to a new high for next year, but then I stop and think. Wait, we still haven't been through winter yet, damn. How nice its been up here you would think that it is spring and its time to be racing, not time to be dusting off the trainer for the upcoming snowed in days. One thing that made me think of it again this morning was that A-Basin just opened its ski lifts today, making it the earliest opening for them. I thought Nov 1 was early last year but Oct 11, geez.

Well, I only have a few minutes left to suck down the rest of the pot of coffee and head out the door to meet Allen for a 3hr ride. Hey, who knows, maybe I'll go skiing after that.

Another Blog

bkendall.wordpress.com

bkendall.blogspot.com

I've got another blog. This one, plus the one linked above, will both have the same posts, but the wordpress.com will be linked in with the team's homepage once things get more underway.

Well.....

Next year is really looking good and I can't wait. I will be racing for Team Rio Grande Cycling on their 6 man traveling NRC team. But I am still looking for a job cause cycling (no matter where in the world right now) just doesn't pay the bills. A lot on the plate for next year, but it will be bigger and better than ever before.

Weekend

The golfer was back last night, watched him a little more this time, and man he sucks. He really should practice more.
The last few days have been pretty good up here. Friday had a good job interview, should know by next Monday at the latest if I got it or not. Then Sat and Sun went on a ride with Allen and Hamity. Mostly rolled over some climbs then hit the flats and the symbol of winter training, the dirt road. More news to come, possibly something on the cycling front? I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Hiking in Fall

I had to get out of the apartment today, and I hit the trainer yesterday so a hike sounded good today.

The colors of fall in Colorado.
Finally after over an hour of nothing but up the views showed themselves.

There is this cool guide at the summit that shows all the peaks (total of 24 of them) that you can see. The panorama is bookended by two 14ers (Mt. Evans and Longs Peak).
The hike up was fun, hard, and fast. The hike down hurt.