Century Saturday

Today was the 13th month in a row with at least one 100 mile bike ride. We rode around the Denver metro area. Attached is a map of the ride. I felt pretty good today. Eric, Erik, Jeremy, and I did the ride in a little over 6 hrs. Its nice to be able to ride in upper 40s and sun in January!!

Leadville Mountain bike race 1

Start of the first mountain bike race of the year!

Warm up in snow, starting temp, 14 degrees

Ben breaking trail after bike race

Mountains in the distance on the way home from race photographed while snowshoeing

Today Bill, Ben, Chris and I along with a host of other characters, 47 total, kicked off the Leadville winter mountain bike race series. Starting temps were in the low teens with threats of snow. It actually snowed until the start, then magically the sun peaked out for much of the next hour. Due to fresh snow, the course had to be re routed. The race was fun. I was able to bike a lot, but still had to run in some of the snow. My finishing time was 1 hr 1 minute. I had an average heart rate of 159 and got in about 800 ft of climbing. I won a $20 gift certificate which I turned into Geology of Colorado Illustrated thanks to the Rock Hut, which donated the gift certificate to the bike race.

Ben and I did not have enough. After the race we stopped at a random trail. The place we stopped was Clinton Gulch Dam Reservoir. It was at a dam high elevation of 11,000 plus feet. We hiked around for about 1.5 hours or so. Some areas of our hike we were post holing in mid waist deep or more deep snow.

Franktown

63 miles 2000 ft elevation gain. 3.5hrs

Deer Creek canyon and edge 705 data practice

Todays route home to Deer Creek canyon and back

Today I started with structured riding for 2010. I met Ben near Deer Creek and went up the canyon. I felt kind of sluggish as I have not really done structured riding since September. I did do a ton of riding to end the season, but there weren't regular sustained efforts. Todays ride was about 57 miles, 3031 feet of climbing, and 3:24 ride time.

Cardinals vs. Packers

Andrew, Brett, Saguaro

Packers about to score

Andrew, Brett, Andy

University of Phoenix stadium

Andy and Brett cooking

Andy, Andrew, and I have the idea that we want to see a Packer game in every stadium. We've been to Tampa twice. Since our last visit, the Packers were on quite a run, which they needed to to make the playoffs. We got three pretty decent tickets to the Packers Cardinals game, 16 rows off of the field to be exact. Andrew and Andy flew in, and I drove 900 miles to Phoenix. I brought all of the necessary tailgating gear that I had, which included 2 cases of Fat Tire beer since glass is not allowed at the stadium. They also don't allow grilling with charcoal. WTF? I picked up a grill as soon as I got to Phoenix so that we would not miss out on traditional tailgating of brats and burgers. Our tickets even came with a blue lot parking pass. We got to the game a little before 11, and it is a good thing. My grill had WAY more parts that needed to be assembled then I would have ever guessed. There were quite a few Packer fans near where we parked, which was pretty sweet. About an hour before game time we went into the stadium to check it out. The University of Pheonix is a really nice stadium. I've never been in a dome before, and I would say the ratio of Packers fans to Cardinals fans was 80/20. I could not believe how loud the stadium was. Didn't help that the Pack got off to a terrible start. They did turn it around and it ended up being a really fun game to watch. The final score in OT was 51-45, but the outcome was not as we hoped. The Packers season is now done.

End of the year beginning of the year ramblings

I thought about doing a year in review, but thought otherwise. If you have been reading this regularly (and you should be), then whats the point. The author of besadventures (me) does not believe in blog cliff notes. It has been a while since my last post though. I went back to Wisconsin for Christmas. It was a short stay and I did not have an major traveling issues. It was good to see some friends and family, but wish I could have seen more people. It was really fun going to see the Packers whoop the Seahawks to a tune of 48 to 10, and I did survive the frigid weather of Green Bay in December. My trip to WI consisted of a lot of just hanging out, which was kind of good. When I got back to Denver I felt physically refreshed, which is something I had not been able to say for a while.

New Years was nice and pretty low key. Chris P and I got up to head south quite early on the 1st to go ride some dirt in Pueblo. It is less than 2 hours south of Denver and is typically quite a bit warmer. The trails were 99% free of snow and ice. Wow was it fun to get on the mountain bike again. The riding was quite a bit like Fruita. Cruising trails in the desert, and there were even some nice technical stuff too.

Next weekend it is off to Phoenix Arizona to watch the Packers play the Cardinals. I've never been to Arizona, so am looking forward to seeing the state. It is going to be quite a long drive by myself to meet Andrew and Andy, but am excited for the adventure. We have pretty good seats which are 16 rows off the field in the end zone. I hope the Packers can come away with a win. Check back for stories and pictures soon of the trip!!