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!!

December

Things have been kind of slow lately. Denver and Colorado is kind of in that lull between fall, which is typically not to bad and winter. I'm still riding a fair amount, but am willing to shut it down in poor weather, or at least try to make the trip to and from work. I've already made the commute in below zero weather, which caused many people I run into to question my sanity. One of the days I even questioned my own sanity. I think its a bad thing when one questions ones own sanity. I am close to what I thought was kind of a crazy goal. 7,000 miles in 2009 on the bike. Yes, that is 7,000 miles of pedaling OUTSIDE, no "trainer miles." That is better than 1/4 way around the world, freaking crazy.

Saturday Chris and I headed out for our monthly 100 miles. The weather was supposed to be nice and reasonably warm, upper 40s. Once we started the initial climb out of Chris's subdivision, we where greeted with a strong wind. The wind helped me establish a new land bike speed record of 56 mph for me down the Wall-as seen in American Flyers. We were going to do the Carter lake loop, but as things progressed, we were not so sure about that. During a break at a convenience store in Hygiene, we ran into a few other bikers and thought it was best to battle the 20 mph plus winds back through Boulder to Westminster. To the west above 8,000 ft the mountains looked very uninviting to bikers, it was quite dark. The wind made for a pretty difficult bike ride back, though I think the wind let up a bit. We made a couple loops around Westminster to tack on some miles, and ended up with about 6,000 feet of climbing and lots of added resistance because of the wind. Both Chris and I agreed it was a very tough day in the saddle. The 100 mile bike ride was the 12th consecutive month with a century. After Monday I have 170 miles to go to 7,000. I would really like to have that wrapped up by the time I leave to WI.

Once I get 7,000, it will be time to reduce the time on the bike a little and incorporate some other activities to change it up. The best way to stay in bike shape is to bike, so I will not be completely turning it off. I recently bought some new skis, and hope to get decent using them. Snowshoeing and yoga are a couple other things I will be mixing in. Oh, and it is indoor rock wall climbing time too.

Tampa Bay year 2

Brett and Andrew on beach with beer.

Andrew, Andy, Brett, Mike

Ticket and media pass compliments of Rhonde Barber

Brett and Erik

Brett, Andy, Andrew, and Mike on the field.

Almost on the field, and on the wrong side of the yellow lines

Packers coming down the tunnel

Climbing Florida style.
A week ago today I left for Tampa Bay Florida to hang out with Andrew Huebner, Andy Wylie, and Mike Jung and go to the Packer game. Both Andrew and Andy are from Neenah, my home town. Mike is a friend of Andy's. This year we stayed Saturday through Monday, an improvement on last years 36 hour car to car whirlwind trip to Florida. Andy and I got to Florida within 10 minutes of each other, which is pretty sweet considering I flew from Denver and Andy flew from Minneapolis St. Paul. Upon arrival we headed straight to Clearwater beach for beers, football, sun, and swimming. Saturday night we had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel complex and then were off to Channelside, which the valet recommended, for a few late night cocktails. Don't trust valet, as Channelside was not where it was at.

Sundays pre game meals consisted of egg and sausage bagel sandwiches on the grill. Then we made brats and burgers. It was a tailgate setup that would have been perfect at Lambeau field. Erik Roach stopped by as we were eating. Erik is a friend of mine that I've not seen since college. Per facebook we both realized we were going to be at the same game. It was nice catching up with Erik, who now lives in Orlando and has a successful chiropractic office.

Andrew got our tickets from some guy named Rhonde Barber. I think he plays cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We also got media passes to go onto the field for an hour before the game. All I can say is kid in a candy store. It was pretty much a dream come true being on the field on game day along with both NFL teams. I was able to high five most of the Packers as they ran out onto the field. It was amazing to see how big the players are. Once that was over, we found our seats. They were in the end zone on the same side as the pirate ship. The game had its moments, but overall was quite disappointing. Two years in a row I've gone to Tampa Bay to watch the Packers play, and two years in a row they've blown the lead late in the game. This was especially disappointing as the Bucs were 0-7, and we thought the Packers were playoff contenders. After the loss, we went back to the hotel. While watching Sportscenter on ESPN, I saw the four of us in Packer lowlights. It was a fun weekend and Rhonde Barber is my new favorite Buccaneer for hooking us up with sweet tickets and Media Passes to on the field. I doubt the Packers will be in Tampa next year, so I look forward to heading off to a different warm weather city to watch them. And hopefully I will get to fly back after watching a win!

Denver has a visitor, from WI

This weekend Jesse Shoemaker visited Ben and Amy. Mountain biking was out due to the early season Blizzard Denver got. The only other choice was to torture Jesse on road bikes. Saturday we road up Deer Creek Canyon to High Grade road. For flat landers, the extended climbs of Colorado are typically pretty tough. Deer Creek is pretty well graded. It was also quite cold going up with late afternoon shade and snow on either side of the road. I've not ridden High grade before Saturday. There is a decent climb of 2.1 miles and then the switchbacks start. It does not look to be to tough to me, but it is a climb, and I can't wait to go back to try it in full. Saturdays temps at 7,500 feet were just to cold to push on. Jackets and warm clothes were needed for the ride down. When Jesse, Ben, and I stopped climbing, we could see our breath. I hit a max speed of 42 mph on the way back down, brrr.

Sundays ride was a bike path ride that consisted of the E470, Cherry Creek, some city, and the Platte trail. 67.5 miles, with some snow, a few attacks, and lots of sun that lead to some fair November sun burn. Oh well, off to Florida next weekend, so some sun should be good for me, unless I can't sleep because of it.

October started out with me feeling pretty burnt out. The first week I could barely turn the pedals, and it was mentally frustrating hitting the wall. I ended the month feeling much better setting some pretty good PRs for me. 757 miles and 51 hours of biking!!!! 7,000 is still a ways off, but I put a pretty good dent into it in October.

The Great Bonk Ride

Today Golden Bike Shop led a ride called the Great Bonk ride. It was at least 6,500 feet of elevation gain in 42 miles. Ride notes here. Todays forecast, mid 30s and 40% chance of precipitation. And this was at 6,000 feet. We climbed to over 9,000, and experienced, snow, fog, and sleet for a fair bit of the ride. About 12 riders showed up for the ride, with some notable pros (Kelly Magelky and Yuki Saito) so it was a strong group. We rode a fair amount of singletrack with some roads and double track mixed in. The singletrack at higher elevation was covered in up to 3 inches of snow. There were several long, wet, and snowy descents too. The last half of the ride was really cold and wet. It was probably the craziest mountain bike ride I've ever done. It was tough, the conditions were bad, but it was a lot of fun. The guys at Golden Bike shop organized a really fun ride and when we finished, we had pizza, cookies, brats, burgers, and a 1/4 barrel of beer waiting for us. It was a really fun ride as I've never ridden any of the trails we rode. I met a bunch of good riders and shared some good stories. Epic day, you bet so.

Moab

No Cisco Service equals a bad idea!

24 hours of Moab with the La Sal's in the background

Ben Welnak, 11th overall 24 solo 193 miles

Singletrack on Porcupine rim

View from beyond the Jackhammer

Jackhammer, yup, thats the trail

Porcupine Rim, GF Rig 32x18

Friday Ben, Amy, and I took a half day to head to Moab. Ben was going to race 24 hours of Moab solo, Amy was going to crew, and I was going to ride Porcupine Rim on my singlespeed. Once we got to Moab, we went to Paradox Pizza, and Fred took care of us. We had the Margherita pizza with sausage, and it was good. Friday night was a pretty easy night of camping at the racecourse and an early bedtime. Saturday we woke early to head to the Jailhouse cafe, which has great omeletes. Ben and Amy dropped me off just past the Slickrock trail so I could ride the Porcupine rim. It was 5 miles of climbing to the trail and then 4 more miles of climbing on ledgey rocky trail. Even with perfect temps, I was toasty and pretty beat once I got to the top. But after that, I got to descend 2,800 feet, so it was worth it. Porcupine rim is one of my favorites. The trail consists of pretty amazing views (is there one in Moab that doesn't?), lots of ledges to climb and drop, and lots of good sized rocks. It is pretty harsh for a hardtail, but I was fine except for a couple spots. I had the trail all to myself. I either beat the crowds and or no one was in town thinking the 24 hour race would draw to much of a crowd. Once I was done with the trail, I had about 20 miles to bike to the racecourse where my ride was. As I biked through Moab, I stopped at subway. The Moab Subway has to be the slowest dam Subways in the country. The last two times I went there it took at least 20 minutes to get a sub. Really?

Once I got back to the race, I sat around for a while and helped crew for Ben when needed. He started off decent, but kept riding straight through the night. There were only a few hiccups during the race. And they were quite minor. A couple flats that did not completely flat was the worst. The highs and lows of the race were amazing. Ben rode a consistent first 12 hours, but at about midnight when he lapped through seemed out of it. I am sure this is pretty typical, but he kept pedaling and fought through it. Because of his consistency, he ended up 11th overall in the mens 24 hour solo category. Awesome race. It was fun getting out of Denver, especially with a miserable forecast. In the past 6 weeks, I've been able to ride three amazing trails, Monarch Crest, Kenosha Pass, and now Porcupine Rim. FUN!