Sunday Century

Sunday was the third century of the year for me, as Chis P. Jeremy, Erik and I are trying for 100 miles on the bike in a day in each month of the year.  It reached the low 60s and was sunny throughout the day.  I was not sure how my legs would react based on Saturdays hike, but I turned out ok.  We rode out to Golden near the Coors brewery again and headed south to C470 out to the Cherry Creek trail and then back up to Westminster.  I was pretty tired by the halfway point.  I refueled at a gas station by eating two king size butterfingers.  It seemed to work for a while, but by mile 80 I was dragging again, so we stopped at the REI Starbucks, and this did the trick.  We all cracked 100 miles a block or so from Chris's house, then Jeremy initiated the final attack sprint!  Pizza, cookies, and recovery beers greeted us upon arrival!

Summiting of Mt. Quandary!

The goal

The trailhead

Jeremy, me, Chris D., Terence

The view from 14,265 ft

Today we summitted Mt. Quandary.  I've really wanted to do a winter 14'er for a while.  Finally, today was the day.  When we started out, it was a little cold, but not bad.  There was not a cloud in the sky, and we did not see any snow tails off of the mountain, which is a good sign.  We got lucky with great weather and NO wind, which is rare at 14,000 feet.  Quandary is an easy hike, which is why we tried it in the winter.  The first half of the trail in through a pine forest with a fair amount of elevation gain.  Once you get to tree line, the steepness of the mountain goes up.  There are two really steep pitches, and I felt strong on both.  I was able to get to the top in under 3 hours with some fair stops.  I don't know how this compares to others, but 3.4 miles with 3,400 ft of elevation gain and snow, I think it is good.  Most of the people I passed on my way to the top said it took them more than 4 hours. Everyone in my group was to the top in 3.5 hours!  The view from the top was worth the effort.  I could see Greys, Torreys, Pikes Peak, and we think Long's from the top, which are all 14'ers, and some of them a pretty far away. 

Leadville Winter mountain bike race and Ski Joring

The view of Mt Elbert from Chris and Kathy's house, where we stayed the night before the race

Some guy before a jump, notice the bigger jump in the background and the ring holders on the right of the skier, your left.

A skier eating it right in front of me!

Saturday afternoon Chris, Marni, Erik, Michelle and I went up to Leadville.  We stayed up the night before as the race was at 9AM on Sunday, DST.  Chris and Marni won a dinner that they had to ski into, and it was apparently pretty nice.  Erik, Michelle, and I went to Rosie's, a bar restaurant sort of place just off Harrison in Leadville.  I had a Chilli Jalepeno Bison burger.  There was so much chilli on it, I could barely find the burger!  It was awesome.  

Sunday we woke up to very cold weather.  I think the temperature was 15.  32 racers showed up for the race.  Shawn and Bill met us just before the start.  As much as the cold weather sucked, it made for a really fast coarse.  It started with a gradual climb, and then there was a lot of up and down.  Because of solid snow, I was able to rail corners on the snow at 17-20 mph.  I paced another SS'er, who must have been a local, as he said hi to a few runners that were going the other way on the trail.  I got gapped a bit, but kept a steady pace.  With about a mile to go, I caught up to him and flew by him. 

After the awards, we found a place to watch ski joring, which apparently is an annual tradition in Leadville.  Horses pull skiers at 50 mph over jumps, through gates that they sort of slalom through, and they have to spear rings with a stick and keep them on their arm.  If you can't imagine, it is completely crazy.  The coarse was taking 16 to 20 seconds to complete.  We saw a bunch of crashes, like the one in the photo above.  Some of the jumps were maybe 8 ft high.   

Recovery Day

Today consisted of being lazy, something I don't do much at all.  It was so nice.  Jeremy and I grilled beer brats, played super tecmo bowl (yup, Nintendo circa 1991!!!), and sat on the porch.  The weather was not as nice a predicted, but it was pretty sweet for March.

February Century

Chris, Erik, Jeremy and I are trying to ride a century every month, and Brady was the 5th rider Saturday.  We started in Westminster and rode to Golden to ride up Lookout Mountain, which is a 4 mile 1,400 ft climb.  I felt really good going up the climb even though I held back because it was only 20  miles in.  We rode beyond the peak and dropped down the back of Lookout Mountain at speeds of 35 mph or more in 35-40 degree weather.  It was a COLD descent.  We biked down the C-470 to Chatfield, over to the Cherry Creek trail and up past REI back to Westminster.  Most of the 109 miles was on bike paths and we ended up riding a few miles in the dark.  I can't wait for Daylight saving time. 

Leadville Winter mountain bike race 3

Chris, Marni, me, Michelle, Erik

Erik, my relay partner

The start, I was 3rd to go off, we departed in 30 second intervals

The scenery

Saturday morning was the third winter mountain bike race.  It was a relay race, and we went up with a group of three teams.  Marni and Michelle were one team, Chris and Shawn were another, and Erik and I were the third(singlespeed).  The race started with a time trial format, with one rider leaving every 30 seconds.  We each did two laps, a first one consisting of 2 miles of snow packed riding, and then a 6 mile ride on the road.  Erik and I were the third team, and I went first.  I had a decent start and pushed myself pretty hard.  After a little over a mile, Shawn (crazy fast) was in my rearview mirror.  I tried to pick up the tempo a bit to hold him off as long as possible, but I took a corner to tight, got into some deeper snow, and went over the handlebars.  I quickly remounted and took off.  Shawn passed me quickly, but I still had a decent time.  I started my second lap and tried to get into a good rhythm.  I knew with my 32x20 I would easily spin out on flat sections and downhills.  Two geared riders passed me within the first mile.  I used them as carrots and paced them pretty much the whole way to the finish, yo yoing a bit.  Shawn and Chris won the race overall, Erik and I finished first in the singlespeed category, and Marni and Michelle finished 2nd in the women's category.

The weekend

Saturday was kind of a cloudy, colder day, with occasional snow showers.  I ended up biking to the gym for a couple hours of lifting.  It wasn't a great day for bike riding, so I ended spending a couple hours on my single speed bike after that running some errands.  I did not really have any objectives with my ride besides going to REI to get tickets for the Banff Mountain Film Festival for friday night.  As I was pedaling away from REI, a guy flew by me on a geared cyclocross bike.  The rider brought on my competitive instincts, as I started to try to pace him.  Much to his surprise, I passed him after chasing him at speeds of 17 to 19 mph for six miles.

Sunday, Jeremy and I went for a casual hike at a trail called Ben Tyler.  It is a trail in the Lost Creek Wilderness about an hour away from my place.  It was sunny and quite nice.  We probably hiked about 5 miles with a fair amount of elevation change.  The whole trail is about 22 miles, and would be a really good overnight hike.