Saturday, a great day for LSD

Thats Long, Slow Distance riding.  Todays forecast in Denver was supposed to be 59 with maybe 11mph winds.  Well, weather.com was a bit off.  We probably faced winds that were greater than 30mph.  At times, we were blown off of the road.  Anyway, Chris P, Erik, Jeremy and I rode road bikes from Chris P's house to Carter lake for a JANUARY century.  101 miles and something like 6,000 ft of climbing.  It was Jeremy's first century ever, and way sooner than he thought he could ride that far.  I felt pretty good, as I did a fair share of climbing, and even attacked on some of the hills.  After todays ride, I shattered my previous PR.    474 miles of bike riding in January.  Denver winters are harsh, ha ha.

Winter is back

Today I set a new PR on my commute to work.  -5 was the windchill when I left for work today.  We also got an inch or so of snow.  I saw someone using a full size snowblower.  1 inch of snow, wow.  I recently bought a pair of REI Ridgecrest mittens.  They are great mittens for the price.  My hands were warm when I got to work, and warm when I got home.  

New couch!

After living in my place for seven months, I finally got a second couch.  I measured to make sure it would fit through the door, and it would have.  Unfortunately, I did not factor in the narrow hallway.  Crap.  My friends and I had to hoist it up on to my 2nd story balcony.  In the process, Chris D. got in a little bit of climbing practice in.  Once we balanced in on the first floor fence, he climbed up to my balcony, and Jeremy and I pushed it up.  Good thing I don't live on the third floor!  Maybe now it is time to start hanging things on the walls, who knows.

1st Leadville mountain bike race, its January, right?

Today was the first Leadville mountain bike race.  Chris, Marni, and I drove up, with Bill H following us in his car.  Because of ridiculous ski traffic, we arrived late, but Chris called his friend to hold the race for us.  29 crazy mountain  bikers started.  I was towards the back of the lead pack for the first 1/2 mile or so.  Then we hit a gradual 3.5 mile climb on a snow packed road.  I struggled to turn the gear that I had on my Rig (single speed).  The climbs today took a lot out of me, and the snow packed snowmobile trails were pretty much impossible to ride.  There were also quite a few downhills, a couple being quite long.  I probably crashed more than 10 times in the 10.4 mile coarse.  It was a lot of fun, and probably more fun to watch.  It took me 1:38 to finish the race.  Upon finishing, Chris asked me what kind of gearing I used, and I said 32:18, which is all I have.  Chris races on a SS normally, and he even stated that was WAY to tall.  This is something my legs would agree with after the first 4 miles.  Also, a 2.25 tire in the front is way to tall.  Feb 7th is the next winter MTB race, and we will see if the lessons of today change things.

Three days, three different activities

Saturday, Chris D, Jeremy and I went up to Brainard lake, not to far from Ward for some XC skiing.  It was the second time out for Chris and I, and this was quite a leap.  We went from wide open terrain to dodging rock and having very close encounters with trees.  The wind was brutal, and it was very cold, but we were out for about 3.5 to 4 hours.  We will need a bit more practice before we go back as I got my right ski pinned between two trees while still on my feet.  I also managed to fall and somehow launch one of my skis into Chris's calf, which was pretty funny.  Somehow, at the end, we ended up on the snowshoe trail, and Chris stopped about one inch from hitting a tree, as the end came up pretty suddenly without us knowing.  

Sunday in Denver, the weather was pretty nice.  Chris P, Jeremy, and I put 3:20 hrs on the road bike.  We rode the S Platte out to Deer Creek Canyon, and then went up a bit.  We did 1,000 ft in 4 miles at a pretty steady clip and headed up to Rei and back down the CC trail.  58 miles and some canyon riding makes for a good training day in January.  

Monday, Chris P, Marni, Chris D, and I went climbing.  I felt OK at first, but then cleaned a couple 5:10s in a row, which was a nice step for me.  I even tried slacklining, but that is pretty tough, and I fell a lot.  

2009 bike season

Well, it is 2009, offseason maintenance is about done on the fuel, and it is time to plan the new racing season.  Last year, I did not do many races, as I was new to the Colorado bike scene.  This year, I have a new team, and a much longer schedule.  Some of the races are lottery based, and some have a cap, so I will be lucky if I get to race in everyone listed below.  Today, I sent off my Leadville Trail 100 application, which I have never done.  I even plan on doing some road races, another first for me.

Leadville Winter Mountain bike race series 

1/17

2/7

2/21

3/7

3/28

Cherry Creek Time Trail

Dates yet to be released, but I think it is every Wednesday in April and May

Lookout Mountain Hill Climb

Date yet to be released 

4 Miles 1,400 ft, lots of zig zagging in early May

Winter Park Mountain bike series

6/13

6/27

7/11

7/12

8/1

8/2

8/15 If I don't get into the LT100

8/29

Leadville Trail 100

8/15

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival

9/19

XC skiing on New Years day

On Jan 1, Chris D and I went cross country skiing.  It was something I kind of wanted to do for a long time as a way of cross training.  Chris is from Florida, and it was his first time on skis.  I don't know how to ski either.  We decided that the Peak to Peak trailhead in Frisco would be a great place to start.  It is mostly double track with gradual ups and downs.   It is mostly up the way out, which means down on the way back to the car.  We first tried a gradual downhill, and we seemed ok with it, as we thought we would test ourselves on progressively larger hills.  Our next test was to find a hill with a turn.  Chris made it after one try, but it took me about 5 times to clear it.  My natural instinct as a mountain biker is to get my body back, but when you do that on skis, you eat it.  Once I got past this, and lowered myself for balancing, I was good.  Eventually, we got to a point where we decided to turn around.  Since neither of us know how to stop on skis, we thought we should leave a fair gap for the decent back to the car.  Chris went first, got to a mound after a short distance, and came to a stop.  Then we both took off at the same time.  After a moment, I was gaining speed quickly.  Next thing I knew, I blew by the mound, and was skiing side by side with Chris on a trail that is about 8 feet wide.  This made both of us a bit nervous, especially since crashing was the story of the day.  I wiped out first, and Chris followed suit so he wouldn't hit me.  It is amazing how something that looks so easy can be pretty tough.  Skiing was fun, and a good workout, and the next trip is right around the corner.