winter words

by Robbie

As you well know, the Boulder Bike Rides blog has been quite inactive lately--my apologies. With the weather getting colder and schoolwork piling up, I’ve neglected the organization of group rides. To tell the truth I haven’t been on a “bike ride” in over a month (but I do ride my bike every single day to and fro whilst commuting Boulder). Even though organized riding has been off the radar, it’s a great time of year for snow assaults and fixed-gear flats.

We began the cold season with weekly fixed-gear rides—everyone riding with the same gear ratio so as to “level the playing field.” I suppose Mike and Kevin are still keeping those rides up, I’ve been somewhat out of the loop. The idea is to slowly increase the gear ratio through the winter season and finishing strong in the spring. It’s a good way to get a feel for truly high cadence, and eventually adapting to it.

Riding in the snow has turned out to be quite an adventure. When it’s 15 degrees at 8am and I’m just trying to get to school, I usually want minimal obstacles, but riding in deep snow is a hell-of-a fun way to start the day, and it really jumpstarts your heart and lungs. Bad road conditions are a good way to slow the pace and distance while still putting out the same effort, which can be nice when you have to worry about the possibility of frostbite.

Stay warm.
Have fun.
The blog will be up and rolling soon after the New Year.
Season's greetings.

the spontaneous ride

Regrouping

Flying Scotsman @ Boulder Theater!

VeloNews presents:
THE FLYING SCOTSMAN
Experience the inspirational and true story of an unlikely cycling champion who battled the odds to reach the pinnacle of his sport in The Flying Scotsman.
Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting, Melinda and Melinda) stars as Obree, an amateur cyclist and homegrown hero who became Scotland’s two-time world one-hour cycling record holder while also struggling and learning to cope with debilitating bouts of depression and anxiety. A true testament to the human spirit, the film spans the period of Obree’s life that saw him take, lose, and then retake the cycling title as he races to victory on a bicycle he built himself from scraps of metal and washing machine parts. Featuring a remarkable supporting cast including Laura Fraser (Vanilla Sky, A Knights Tale), Billy Boyd (The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, Master and Commander), and Brian Cox (Zodiac, Running With Scissors), The Flying Scotsman is a triumphant tale about a defiant outsider who’s perseverance, undying commitment and ambition allowed him to ride victorious against well-financed, professionally trained competitors on the international cycling scene.
Free admission.
Date/Time: September 14, 2007, 7:30 pm
Door Time: 7:00 pm
Audience: All Ages
[borrowed from the Boulder Theater website]

Santa Fe Trail Stage Race

by Robbie

Friday:
Late start, long drive, and a short scare that we would not be able to race the Santa Fe Trail Stage Race. Chris and I missed the registration for this three-day event consisting of a time trial, road race, and criterium. There was no phone number on the event website so I sent an email to “racedirector@...” asking them to call me if we should turn around and head back to Boulder. I did in fact get a call from race director-Kathy and she said it would be fine if we raced, little did she know that we were a troublesome pair.
Arrived in Lamar (Lame-ar) around 7pm. Checked in and paid our dues. Road our bikes up and down the main strip for about 20 minutes to loosen up. While putting our bikes back in (yes in, not on because Chrissy doesn't have a bike rack, but then again, I don't have a car so I can't complain) the car a friend from Boulder stopped by in her car said that she saw us on the road. How random--of all places to see someone you know, it had to be in the vastness of southeastern Colorado. We ate Thai food for dinner, not the best drunken noodle I’ve ever had. We then found an RV park to pitch our tent for the night. This RV park was pretty rad: pool, showers, laundry, frogs, and wireless internet! It was pretty awesome to be in the middle of nowhere, laying in the grass, and still be “connected.” I tried to sleep outside but that turned out to be a bad idea. Within minutes I was covered in mosquito bites, so I jumped into the tent with Chris. Pretty hot and steamy in there. Did I forget to mention that I forgot my thermarest? Not much of a problem because the grass was thick.

Saturday:
Early awakening to the sun. Breakfast at the truck stop: all you can eat buffet of pancakes, eggs, bacon, French toast sticks, and cholesterol. Drove to the time trial course and inspected it from the car. The TT course ran from south to north and was 20 miles with the turnaround at 10 miles. My start time was 12:35 or so. Really fast on the way out, had a guy in my sights the whole way and caught him at the turnaround. So I had made fun of the straightness of the course while driving it and even suggested that it should be allowed to race without a helmet. I took back my words when I went off the road on my way out. I started moving to the right a little and then I thought I heard someone passing on my left so I swerved a little and headed straight into the ditch. Fortunately I didn’t crash, but I had to pedal pretty slowly out of the ditch and it took quite a bit of energy. Don’t tell anyone. Amazing what can happen when the lactic acid from your legs leaks into your brain... Really bad headwind on the way back. No one in sight. Could barely spin my legs. Finally saw some guy struggling and passed him. Saw another rider struggling and passed him. Finished strong, and then almost vomited before almost passing out. Chris came through after me with his Speedplay cleat ripped off and still stuck to the pedal. It came off when he accelerated to the finish. Fortunately I had a spare Speedplay platform and screws.
Old guy with oxygen tank gave us cantaloupe.
Finished 4th with a time of 49:20.

Sunday:
Woke up at 6:50am for a 9:45am start time. Day ahead of us consisted of a 75 mile road race on flat roads, hot sun, and no wind. Ate breakfast at the truck stop again (coincidentally the site of the race finish and start). Warmed up, stretched, did everything perfect. Rode to the start line and someone from the Pro,1,2 category yelled over that our group had already started. We were about 5 or 10 minutes late because of a change in the start time. I was still using the original race flyer for the start times, meanwhile an updated version was circulating. Chris and I chased. I made him sit on my wheel. We averaged 26mph or so. Thought we made a wrong turn so we stopped and turned around. Turns out we didn’t make a wrong turn. Waited at an intersection that they would soon be crossing for about 20 minutes. The plan was to disqualify ourselves, but race with the group anyway. When they came through I told the motorcycle official the plan, he said that we couldn’t ride with the group and that we had to ride out to the turnaround. So we rode back out the way we had been going, did the turnaround, and spent the whole day by ourselves. Knowing that this was Chris’ first road race and perhaps his longest ride yet this year I told him to sit on my wheel and not to take any pulls. Our average speed at the end of the 75 miles was 21.1mph. Really rough day, mentally and physically. Hot as hell. Chris’ jersey and shorts were completely white with salt. Fast roads though. Went swimming afterward.
Really bored at campsite so we drove out to Las Animas, pretty boring town. Drove back to Lamar and ate a nasty Sonic egg sandwich for dinner. Passed out pretty early, totally exhausted.

Monday:
Up early for 12:10pm crit. Felt horrible in the morning. Swollen eyes, stuffy nose, and clogged lungs. Good breakfast at Hickory restaurant. Hard time getting dressed in my riding clothes and warming up. Felt pretty wasted. Thorn in my front tire right before race, but I was able to change the tube in time. Really slow race. I think everyone was tired. The average speed of the group from the day before was only 23mph, so I figured my solo 21.1 average was comparable for exhaustiveness. A few guys tried to form breakaways in order to improve their GC standing, no successful attempts. Pace picked up on the last five laps. I stayed in position 2 or 3. I sat on front for a good lap or two and then finally a guy tried to make a move but I sat on his wheel until the second to last lap. He tired coming through with one lap to go. I jumped from the field at the line and accelerated until I knew I was clear. Was able to ease up on the gas with 20 meters to go. Finished first for the day, 44 minutes back on the GC from our fiasco the day before.
Pro race was called off after pretty much every rider was in the wheel pit. Three to eight riders were stopping for new wheels during every lap. Aparently the wind, or maybe an ambulance from a nearby field had spread thorns onto the course. I checked out Kevin Suhr’s tire after I helped him swap it out and it had 9 thorns in it… yeah. Kiel and Kevin got both of the primes, word.
Long tired drive home, thanks to Chris for driving.
Looking forward to a real bed.

Weekend Close

by Robbie

Friday:
Early morning ride for about a half hour, and then a 30 min. commute. Chris and I drove up to Dillon. Arrived in the dark, ate tasty, expensive Indian food.
Drove around looking for a campsite, all full or closed. Resorted to parking overnight at a trailhead and sleeping in the back of his truck. Should have been fine, but I couldn’t sleep at all. Heard a car roll up around 12:30am, and then footsteps, and then a flashlight tapping against the window. Police guy said we couldn’t sleep there, but we could stay for the night… Then he asked us about the race in the morning. Still couldn’t sleep.

Saturday:
Got out of the truck at 6:30am, but had been awake as far as I knew since 5:30 or so. Really cold at 9000ft when camped next to a lake. Put all of my clothes on and rode to the racecourse, Chris met me there in his truck. Ate a day old PB&J, a banana, a few handfuls of cereal, and a ClifBar for breakfast. By the time I finished pumping my tires, pinning my number, undressing, etc. the race was about to begin. I did two laps around a .58 mile course for my warm up (which I actually got cold doing—how ironic). Really tight, bumpy course. Let some air out of my tires so that the bumpy corners would feel smooth. Started at back of the pack and moved up to the front by lap two. Felt really strong and sat on the front to avoid precarious situations. Someone else got the first prime as I was still moving up in position. I sat at the very front for something like 20 laps, got a prime in there somewhere. Started to get tired so I moved back 5 guys, which turned into 15. Then a crash ensued ahead of me but I had enough room to avoid it. Came into the finish straight-away in position 13 or something. No chance at the overall win.
Stood in Dillon Lake up to my waist for 30 minutes to relieve the knees. Ate a huge hamburger and chugged a Guinness for lunch, yum. Sat in the sun all day watching the other categories race, got the sunburn to prove it.

Sunday:
On the road by 7:30am. Ate a bowl of cereal. Stopped at a bagel store and ate part of an egg, cheese, and ham sandwich + Americano. Plenty of warming up before the race. Really awesome course that wound through the Copper Mountain Village. Totally awesome cobblestone section with a tight S-turn. Felt really good the whole race. Won the first prime pretty easily, pulled the ol’ cut ‘n’ sprint technique, worked pretty well. Pulled back to 5th position or so for the rest of the race. Felt antsy, anxious, energetic, ready to go when I needed to. With 15 minutes remaining I felt a little bounce in my pedal stroke. Looked down and my rear tire was low, then flat, then rolling on rim. Ran about a quarter of a lap (400m, my old running race). Got to the wheel pit, where I didn’t have a wheel because I had loaned it out earlier in the week. Begged someone from the crowd to let me use a wheel. Meanwhile, the pack rolled through and my free lap was up, but some guy still gave me his rear wheel. Chased really hard for the rest of the race. Never caught on but I got a really good workout. Pretty frustrated about the whole flat tire thing… Next weekend, Niwot crit… No accidents, no mistakes. First things first, trash this Vittoria Diamante Pro. Part of the tire's marketing scheme is that you can race at 150psi. That’s total B.S. For example, at the Longmont crit I pumped my tires up to 135psi, knowing that 150 is just crazy. As soon as I got on my bike and rolled two blocks the back tire just went flat. Two weeks ago, out on a TT ride I had my tires at 120psi and the rear tire (again) went flat. Then this race (120psi)... 150psi my ass.
Before I got this tire I had never had a flat tire on my racing wheels, in all of my CU races; on my 210 mile 21st birthday ride; shit, I didn’t even get a flat (on my training wheels) during my whole bike ride down the west coast with a loaded trailer. Grrr. Next weekend…

Weekend Close

by Robbie
A week(end) to go down in the books... despite being totally exhausted.

Tuesday:
Not really the best week ever, some bad lows and good highs. Tuesday’s Bus Stop ride was horrible. The wind was blowing from the northwest pretty hard, and I was on the west side of the pack while heading north, which means I was catching a lot of wind, especially because I’m ten-feet tall. Wait wait wait… let me start over. As you may remember from the last Weekend Close, I had just finished up a long week and weekend of riding. However, I didn’t give myself much rest afterward. I went to bed pretty late on Sunday night for numerous reasons, one of them being that I was anxious about my stolen bike. Monday night, I stayed up late working on a Road Ragin’ piece for VeloNews. I wouldn’t have stayed up that late if I had finished gathering sources over the weekend, but I was too busy riding, and besides, the rider I interviewed (which I will keep disclosed for now) didn’t come back to town until Monday anyway. On Tuesday, I woke up early and went straight to the couch, where I sat working on another VN piece until 4:30pm, at which point I fried up some eggs, threw on the chamois, and raced up to the Bus Stop for some hardcore, shaved, spandex action.

Back to the wind. So… it was really windy, I couldn’t get a good draft (which shouldn’t have mattered) but I got totally blown before we even got to Lyons. I tried to catch on when they came out of the Fruit Loops but I failed. Regardless, I went into TT mode and chased anyway. They didn’t gain much on me until I cracked heading south on 75th, at which point I caught Tom (ex-Full Cycle dude) and Alex Howes (sp?) of Slipstream-Chipotle. Alex had a very good excuse for falling off the back, he had a bruise the size of a watermelon on the inside of his leg from smashing into a car at 40 mph. He had been pedaling pretty much entirely with his left leg, not bad. That night, I stayed up until 6:45am the next morning working on a VN piece.

Thursday:
Ugh. The plan was to do 1:30 x 15-20 sprints. The reality: me soft-pedaling for two hours while I struggled to make it to Jamestown. Meanwhile, Spencer and Garrick were really bored and doing circles around me. After descending back to 36, and after I refused to climb Olde Stage, I really hit a low in my energy. I wasn’t bonked, hungry, or dehydrated (maybe a little dehydrated actually), I just couldn’t ride my bike. After we got up that little dip by the Neva Rd exit I just wanted to get off my bike and sit down, or walk. I couldn’t get my heart rate up, or my breathing. I tried on the way up to Jamestown and I tried heading back to Boulder, but no matter how hard I tried the result was burning in my legs and frustration.
I asked Mr. Neal Rogers about my riding performance, which I was beginning to make a habit of, and he attributed low energy to three main things: 1. Lack of sleep, 2. Lack of food, 3. Dehydration. It made me feel better to hear this because all three applied to my case. I had been eating old bagels that I got for free off the street for three days; I hadn’t been sleeping; and my lips were super chapped from dehydration. Not to mention two full days on the couch after a long weekend of riding, surprised I didn’t get a blood clot.

Friday:
Rode my Waltworks fixed gear after getting it back the night before, beautiful.

Saturday:
Same old ride up to Raymond on over to Brainard Lake. New addition to the ride was Nick. He did very well for his first time up to the Peak-to-peak, as far as I know. He seemed to be doing fine on the last tough climb after Raymond when Spencer and I decided to go on to Brainard, while Mike, Heather, and Nick went down through Jamestown. I still felt exhausted, pretty worthless. I had a couple good strong efforts, but I couldn’t recover and was fully bonked by the time we reached the base of the road up to Brainard. Spencer is 10 times stronger than he was two weeks ago. He was dragging me along for the ride all the way up to the gate and beyond. Eventually we pulled over to look for mushrooms, no luck—just a lost cleat cover, wet socks, and cold knees. Spencer continued to drag me through the Brainard Lake loop, down through Ward and up the backside of Olde Stage. I felt extremely weak, despite eating two of my own Clifbars and one of Spencers. Calories weren’t the problem, maybe it was the heat? I did drink five water bottles during the span of our ride. Who knows… getting sick of being weak. Thanks to Spencer and Jen for an awesome dinner at Pupusas (sp?), first real dinner in a few days.

Sunday:
Last long ride before the criterium in Dillon (9000ft) coming up on Saturday, Aug. 18th. In an effort to acclimate, I’ve been spending as much time as possible at high altitude. Today’s adventure involved towing a B.O.B. trailer up to Ward on up to Brainard Lake. Finally feeling stronger. Kept a good pace all the way up. Passed people, actually, wasn’t really expecting to. Will and I hid our bikes in the woods up at Brainard, changed into hiking clothes and shoes and hiked up to the tree line in search of mushrooms. I bonked somewhere around 11 or 12,000ft. In my dizzy, oxygen-deprived stumble up some mountain I managed to collect a basket full of boletes and scaly tooths (Teeth?). Between the two of us, I think we gathered somewhere around 20-25 pounds of fungus. I dragged my feet down a really steep mountain, tripping and kicking rocks and roots, and eventually made it back to my bike where a Clifbar awaited my consumption. Ran out of water completely, no big deal though, all downhill to the spring in Ward. Beautiful day in general. Feel good about my ride up to Brainard with the trailer, and satisfied with the mushroom hunting. Oh, and by the way, no wonder people hunt pheasants, they have no sense of “fight or flight;” they’re like domestic cats. This pheasant today actually walked with us for a couple hundred meters. The only reason we parted ways was because we made a sharp turn uphill. After the pheasant led us to one of our first boletes of the day, we decided that it was lucky, and that to hunt it would be extremely unlucky. I’d like to go back up to Brainard before September with a tent, fishing pole, and woven basket, and eat sautéed fish and mushrooms for dinner every night.
As I sit here, I’ve got a face full of sunburn, a stomach full of freshly cooked mushrooms and pasta, and maybe a hint of hope that my energy will return for Saturday’s race at 9000 feet.

Reclaimed!

by Robbie

Tom LeCarner, a fellow VeloNews employee spotted my bike on Pearl Street tonight. The bike was leaned against a bathroom entrance while a guy stood next to it.
Tom asked, "Is this your bike?"
and the guy said, "no."
And then Tom said, "Well I know who it belongs to." At that moment he took it from the wall and rolled it back to his car.
Once he started driving he gave me a call, best damn call this year.
He dropped it off shortly after. The seat was dropped all the way down to the frame. There are a few new scratches in the paint and through the stickers, but that is trivial in comparison to the joy I felt upon seeing my bike again.

Lesson learned: Don't leave your bike unlocked anywhere, ever. And, if it still manages to get stolen, spread the word to as many people as you can, because maybe, just maybe, it might be spotted as mine was.

Weekend Close

by Robbie

Saturday:
Long day in a new chamois, and a long day in the saddle in general. To begin, we did the Lyons-Raymond-Peak to Peak-Brainard Lake-Ward... ride. The ride started out with Will Stewart, Spencer Sator, Kevin Selker, and Heather Unger. I had my usual pre-ride meal of Spruce Confections' granola bowl with yogurt (and sometimes soy milk) and a cup of coffee, which totally rocks!

The clouds were looking pretty darn ominous considering we were headed up to the peak to peak hwy. Somehow it is always cold up there and often raining, hailing, or snowing. I felt really crappy for the first part of the ride. My new bib was too tight all over the place. It felt like my legs were tied in tourniquets and for some reason the spandex was squeaking around on my seat. This new chamois also professes a “denser chamois” which felt a little too dense at first; I felt like I had a brick between my legs. My right knee was aching and it felt like I was slipping off of my seat so I compensated by pedaling funny. Ugh.

On the way North on 36 Phil Zajicek passed us riding with another Navigator's rider and Mara Abbott--just another day in Boulder...

Kevin and I sprinted to a purple sign and he totally blew me away. We caught up to Phil and Mara after they were stopped at the stoplight coming into Lyons. They were out on a relaxed ride, as were we, but their relaxed pace is a little faster so they disappeared again. Spencer was feeling stronger than he did last week so he took off on the climb up to Raymond. Eventually Will decided to chase, and then much later Kevin decided to chase. The way that Spencer recapped the events was that Will and Spencer were taking turns pulling just to be gentlemanly, but when Kevin caught up and pulled away they had to draft each other to keep from falling off the back. Eventually we reconvened at the Raymond general store. Phil, Mara, and Fred Dreier were also hanging out up there. They went their way and we followed suit shortly after.

I put in an effort heading up the final pitch up to the peak to peak. My legs felt pretty dead though, I wasn’t experiencing any of that “weightlessness” I mentioned last week. It was another one of those rides (which I keep having) where I swear my brakes are rubbing or my tires are flat; neither of which have been true yet. Another ugh. We continued on the peak to peak until the Brainard Lake turn-off, at which Kevin and Heather headed down through Ward and Will, Spencer, and I headed upward.

Spencer, though much stronger already than last week was suffering on the way up to Brainard. The way I look at training is that it improves your ability to continuously burn matches through out the day. Without training we all have a match or two to burn, it usually goes out after any big effort. Spencer had about twice as many matches than last week, but they ran out somewhere on the road to Brainard. He eventually told us that he’d wait at the spring in Ward. Will and I continued riding and paid $1 to do the Brainard Lake loop.

Then we rode downhill for like 40 minutes and my back hurt. The End.

Sunday:
Rode 5 hours with VeloNews crew and Mr. Zajicek. Flatted coming down from Gold Hill to Lefthand, pinched tube with tire iron, Fred had to lend me another one. Had to chase group up the Ward Wall. Ate a Clifbar. Rode fast up to Brainard. Phil sprinted past at like 25mph uphill and taunted Fred, I tried to catch on but failed. Rode solo up to the pay station. Rode the Brainard Lake loop. I suck at descending so I had to ride really hard to catch Fred and Phil down on Lefthand. Then Phil did another crazy sprint up the backside of Lee Hill and disappeared. Meanwhile I had already bonked and was zigzagging. I ran out of water and ate a goo, but it got all stuck in my mouth. When I could breathe again I pushed my pedals harder until I caught up to Fred and Phil, who had been soft-pedaling for a mile to let me catch up. Then they went really fast on the downhill and I was back to chasing. Then I got a mocha at the downtown Spruce Confections. Then I rode up Flagstaff to go to the Zinn 25th anniversary party, where I proceeded to drink beer and stumble around like a zombie. I think I actually descended much faster after putting down a few beers. Long day of ouch.

I found out my Waltworks track bike was stolen when I got home so I rode around for another two hours on the mountain bike, in search of the criminal. I think I started to develop a saddle sore by 8pm or so.

Hope I'll be recovered in time for Tuesday's Bus Stop ride.

Bike Thieves Beware!

Bike theft is morally wrong on all too many levels. I got back from a five hour ride today and noticed that my custom steel Waltworks track bike was missing. Actually, I noticed this morning that the side-yard gate was open, and I was glad that my dog hadn't been killed by a car, but I didn't notice my missing bike because I was racing to be on time to a ride.

I loved that bike. It has been my longest-lasting bike to date. I'm pretty sure it was the only track frame built by Walt, so it cannot be mistaken. I just put Campy Record cranks onto it, as well as a new Fizik saddle and Profile bull horns.

Pretty upset about it. It was one-of-a-kind. Built specifically for me and my long legs and long arms. The top tube is longer than anything sold on the market, so whoever rides it, expecting a normal 63cm frame, will find that they have to reach further than usual. I hope they develop permanent back problems.

Please keep a lookout for it. Black frame, Waltworks (yellow font), Campy cranks, Mavic cyclo-cross rims, Ritchey stem, Profile Design TT drop bars, MKS road flats and steel cages, Soma double leather straps, Tekro front brake, wine corks stuffed into the handlebar ends.

Saturday's Ride

by Robbie

Saturday:
Long day in a new chamois, and a long day in the saddle in general. To begin, we did the Lyons-Raymond-Peak to Peak-Brainard Lake-Ward... ride. The ride started out with Will Stewart, Spencer Sator, Kevin Selker, and Heather Unger. I had my usual pre-ride meal of Spruce Confections' granola bowl with yogurt (and sometimes soy milk) and a cup of coffee, which totally rocks! The clouds were looking pretty darn ominous considering we were headed up to the peak to peak hwy. Somehow it is always cold up there and often raining, hailing, or snowing. On the way North on 36 Phil Zajicek passed us riding with another Navigator's rider and Mara Abbott--just another day in Boulder... Kevin and I sprinted to a purple sign and he totally blew me away. We caught up to Phil and Mara after they were stopped at the stoplight coming into Lyons. They were out on a relaxed ride, as were we, but their relaxed pace is a little faster so they disappeared again. Spencer was feeling stronger than he did last week so he took off on the climb up to Raymond. Eventually Will decided to chase

Weekend Close

by Robbie

Thursday (Ward-Nederland):
I know, Thursday isn't the weekend... but it is if you live in Boulder, it's like having two Fridays. Anyway, I went for a ride by myself up Lefthand Canyon to Ward, to the Peak to Peak highway, to Nederland, and then back down Boulder Canyon. Usually this ride can be done without wiping you out for two days, but I intended on it being difficult. As soon as I got onto hwy 36 I picked up the pace considerably and gradually increased my effort up to the peak to peak highway. I can feel some amount of form coming back after now almost two years of no training. I finally started to feel a little bit of that weightless feeling you get while climbing with good fitness. I only saw two other riders on my way up, I suppose there was an aversion to climbing straight towards billowing black clouds. I stopped at the spring to fill a bottle and made my way to Nederland. When I got onto the P2P hwy I started feeling pretty drained. I'm thinking it was due to the altitude. A cold rain sprinkled for about 20 minutes and then cleared up. The roads were soaked and there were a few puddles as I made my way, which made me think that I missed the worst of it. As soon as I got to Nederland I got a second wind that carried me all the way down Boulder Canyon. Soreness of note: my back. I haven't spent much time huddled in my drop bars, but I pedaled my guts out in them all the way to Boulder. My back was sore until Saturday or so. Good ride, good views, ominous yet comfortable weather, one of those rides that reminded me why I do all this in the first place.

Friday (Dirt Roads-Hygiene):
I was feeling pretty drained in the morning, but I met Jon Turner for a short ride anyway. We headed North on 36 and then turned east onto Nelson. Nelson is one of my favorite roads for riding fast. The wind seems to always be favorable and it varies between slightly downhill to downhill the whole way with two power climbs (if that, more like mole hills). We turned left onto 50-something st, that dirt road on that one sweeping corner. We took the dirt to St. Vrain and then headed east and turned left onto that other dirt road that winds down to Hygiene Rd. It was a good recovery ride especially because Jon was riding a 52-17 single speed, which kept me from gearing up until my legs hurt. On the way south on 75th Jon's left crank began to feel funny, and yes, it was definitely acting funny. His cranks are from the 70's or so and require a socket wrench for tightening, I think my mini-tool only goes up to an 8mm hex. We took it easy and stopped occasionally to tighten his crank by hand until we got to the Niwot bike shop. I was just there about two weeks ago when Chris' rear wheel, also from the 70's or 80's, exploded going over some railroad tracks. The mechanics must think I purposefully take people out on bikes that are rigged to explode. Anyway, we made it back to Boulder... I still felt pretty wasted from the ride on Thursday.

Saturday (Jamestown-Oxford Rd):
This ride was intended to be fairly moderate, still recovering from Thursday and trying to stay loose for Sunday's ride. Spencer and I rode up to Jamestown at conversation-pace. We road back down to 36, headed towards Boulder and then turned east onto Oxford Road, which is a nice long dirt road. It was still damp from an overnight rain which was perfect for traction. After not seeing any cars or really anything for a long time we saw a supermodel stretching in the middle of the road. I'd say that it was a mirage but our stories are the same. Then we road back to Boulder on 63rd. A good moderately difficult ride.

Sunday (Lyons-Raymond-Brainard Lake-Ward):
A good day of suffering. As I'm sitting here typing I still feel pretty messed up, my hands are actually kind of shaky. I met Sean Van Horn, Erez Falkenstein, Mike Cubison, and Spencer Sator at N. Spruce Confections at 9am. We headed north on 36 at a faster pace than I was expecting to begin with. For example, we made it to Lyons in 31 minutes, with a headwind, according to Mike's watch. Then we headed over to hwy 7/N. St. Vrain. The pace remained high and only got faster with time and altitude. Not before long Spencer moved to the back and told us to go ahead, we were going to wait at the top. Then Sean and Erez took off at a pretty freakish speed. By the time I decided to respond to their acceleration it was too late, but I tried anyway. I'm pretty sure Mike just wasn't in the mood for this racing crap so he hung back. In the meantime I pedaled until I got the chills. I even moved up to my big ring but my distance between the Sean and Erez didn't seem to be closing, it just stayed the same. Tired of being in chase-mode, instead of hang-mode, I stood up and tried to close the gap all at once. Bad idea, instead of closing the gap I just blew up. It took a long time to recover. I threw it back into a reasonable gear, like 39-23 and spun lightly until Mike caught back up. We turned left onto Riverside Dr, my first time ever, and certainly not my last. It is now one of my favorite roads of all time. No traffic, Euro-narrow, wooden bridges, a creek, log cabins, and old cracked wood signs. Raspberries are in season and were growing along the roads. I didn't really have any desire to ride hard, I just wanted to look around at all the pretty things--no wonder they call it Peaceful Valley. We caught up at the Raymond general store, where Sean was sprawled out on the ground, trying to cope with the pain of a huge effort. We filled our water bottles and ate a snack and then got back on the road. We were hoping to meet up with Spencer again but he missed the turn to Raymond and turned around when he got to the peak to peak hwy, which means he came back down before we rejoined with hwy 7, or he was still behind as we thought we were chasing him up the peak to peak. The pace remained really, really fast. I was definitely in the hurt but still hanging. We rode to the top of Ward, where Mike and Erez headed down and Sean and I headed up to Brainard lake. I ate my second and last Clif Bar on the way up. Sean and I agreed to keep it in the 39-25 but inevitably we picked up the pace a bit. We got to the Brainard Lake park entrance and they wanted a dollar from each of us, but neither of us had any money. We asked if they would just let us pass through, "pretty please," but they wouldn't budge. Bastards. So we turned around feeling slightly impotenterated by our lack of money. The descent was cold and black clouds were overhead. We passed through Ward and continued to pedal our guts out down Lefthand. I made a big effort to catch a car but it was my last; I didn't catch the car and my legs stopped working. We turned up Olde Stage and put in one more effort. Sean pedaled away in what was his dozenth huge effort of the day. I tried to hang but had no chance. I slipped back and struggled in my 39-25. We reconvened at the top and made no effort to descend quickly. I was feeling pretty toasted by the end of the ride, burnt toast. On a final note: why the hell is there a stop sign for the decent down to Lee Hill Rd, and not one coming up? This makes no damn sense, it makes no sense for drivers and cyclists to slam their brakes on down a 10% grade when people coming up will come to a stop if they just ease up on the gas, or pedals for a couple seconds. whatever.

Weekend Close

by Robbie

Friday (Ward-Old Stage):
Wilton, Matt Hayes and I rode up to Ward at a good pace. It was the most ascending I have done this summer and I'd say it went pretty well. I was able to keep pace without any significant problems. Actually... scratch that. I did have significant problems: Last weekend I took my second road crash ever at a crit in Longmont and in doing so I destroyed my favorite bib. What I am now left with is two chamois', one is a bib and the other is bibless. I have been trading off my two bibs for the past year and have not worn the shorts. But for this ride I had to wear my shorts because my remaining bib was not so clean. As soon as the ride got started I knew that the elastic around my waist was going to be a problem. By the time we were halfway to Ward I started feeling ill and I attributed it all to the shorts. Fortunately Matt had a knife on his mini-tool. While riding I cut the shorts down the front about 3-inches. From then on it was smooth sailing. We filled our bottles up at a natural spring in Ward that the locals claimed is the "fourth best tasting water in the world." They said it was because of the gold in the water... that's because gold not only looks good, but it tastes like candy. Good ride.

Saturday (Eldorado Springs-Niwot-Oxford):
Rode with Connor and Daniel. We rode out to Eldorado Springs and then took Cherryvale to baseline to 75th to Niwot. On the climb heading north on 75th to Lookout Rd. Daniel began to lose energy. He was able to regenerate after eating a gooey brownie. We stopped in Niwot to refill our bottles with ice water. From there we headed west on Niwot road. We decided that riding dirt roads would be nice so we headed north on 63rd and took a left onto Oxford. Oxford was nice because we only had one car pass us. Oxford met hwy 36, which we took back to Boulder. When we got back to town we headed to the creek to cool off. I'm pretty sure the temperature was somewhere in the high 90's. Sitting in the creek was perfect, minus the sand that filled my chamois.

Sunday (Hygiene TT):
I put my racing wheels and my new TT bars on and went out for a fast TT ride. I started my watch at the stop sign in North Boulder and then put my head down and pedaled my guts out. There was no wind this morning which made the new pavement feel even faster. I headed North on 36 and then turned onto Hygiene. I used feel good when I got to Hygiene in less than 50 minutes or so, but when I looked at my watch today it said either 22 or 32 minutes... I'd like to think that it took 22 minutes, but that doesn't seem very likely... The distance was 13.95 miles, and at 22 minutes my avg. speed would have to have been 36 mph.... I doubt that, although it is slightly downhill. 32 minutes would make my average speed 26 mph, a lot more reasonable I suppose. Anyway, at an hour into the ride I flatted, stopped my watch and then tried to fix my tire. Unfortunately spare tube was flat too. I tried to patch the hole with electrical tape from my handlebars (which has worked for me in the past) but to no avail. I ended up hitchhiking home. Avg. speed for the day was 23.1. Still need to work on my position... and everything else... I don't suppose my V02 max is very high after being a couch potato for 8 months. Moral of the story, make sure your spare tube will actually serve its purpose.

Adductor Death Machine

by Robbie

This summer has been an attempt at a comeback from two years of chronic knee pain, a 6-month broken humerus, chronic adductor pain, and two torn hamstrings. In an effort to avoid more chronic injuries I have been trying to take every precaution, even if it means going to the gym. A common piece of advice given to sufferers of tendinitis (which I don't think I was ever inflicted with) is to do moderate weight training to prepare and strengthen the tendons. Another reason that I have been "pumping iron" is to help balance the muscles in my legs so that my patellas (knee caps) will track properly (because they haven't been, and now I have chondromalacia).

However, two days ago, on Tuesday, I went at it for the first time on the adductor machine, and it probably wasn't such a good idea. I haven't been able to walk since then, and it is beginning to negatively affect my riding. The reason I chose to work that movement was to balance my adductors with my abductors, and to strengthen the injury I had to my right proximal adductor attachment back in 2003. The right side is obviously weaker, and is now the one that is giving me all the trouble. I thought that maybe the pain I have been getting in my right knee might be related to a weak adductor so I thought I'd take a gander at strengthening it. It seemed like a good idea at first, and probably still is, but perhaps I should have taken a more gradual approach to this exercise.

The lesson: be careful with those damned adductor machines.

Ride Difficulty

by Robbie

Level 1: These rides are meant for riders of all levels to attend. Avoids any major climbs, or any exceedingly steep pitches. The pace will be easy, with perhaps a few accelerations. You can expect the ride distance to be somewhere between 20 and 30 miles.

Level 2: These rides will not be much more difficult than the level 1 ride. We may ride at a slightly faster pace. You can expect any amount of climbing under 1,200 ft. The ride distance will be somewhere between 25 and 35 miles.

Level 3: These rides will be relatively challenging, although not impossible if you have been riding fairly consistently. For a very strong rider, level 3 rides won't be very challenging. You can expect either more climbing, or further distance, or both. Max ascent for a level 3 ride will be around 2,500ft. Max distance will be about 45 miles. Bring food and mixed drinks (non-alcoholic, unless you're Matt Hayes or Bama), because bonks can be expected for calorie free riders.

Level 4: Please, no beginners. You can expect these rides to last more than three hours, covering distances up to 60 miles, and maximum ascents of about 3,900ft. Bring at least two water bottles and some form(s) of carbohydrate replacement (drink mix, bar, dried fruit, gu, cookies). Make sure you are fairly well rested and not too hung over. Try to avoid burning up your matches early in the ride because you're going to need them on the way home. If the ride isn't exactly "epic," it will be fast, with several intense, or sustained efforts.

Level 5: These rides don't have any maximum distances, times, or ascents... These rides have minimums: In the least, we'll be ascending more than 4,000 ft, and/or covering distances over 75 miles, and/or riding for four hours, and/or riding at a simulated race pace, sprinting to country lines and bike jousting, with nothing but spandex, and maybe a heart rate monitor to protect piercing our hearts. Preparation on these rides is essential, we may be riding up at high elevations (peak to peak hwy, Brainard Lake, Estes, etc.), so even if it is 90 degrees in Boulder, bring a light vest in case it starts to rain, hail, or snow. Bring plenty of food, I'd bring at least two Clif Bars and a couple Goo's (Power Gel, Honey Stinger, whatever...), and definitely some money, or a credit card, just in case you need to buy a hamburger, or a bowl of pasta. Make sure you take a good look at the route before we depart so that you can designate a couple direct routes home in-case of unexpected bonks, and know when and where to pace yourself or when to hammer.

Post Niwot Loop

by Robbie

Today was the first scheduled ride and it turned out very well. We had a group of seven riders including me. At first we were pretty disorganized, in Garrick's words "It's like herding cats." By the time we got to Neva Road the group began to take form; we were single file and rotating the front rider to the back pretty smoothly, kind of like a seven-man TTT. No flat tires, no crashes, but maybe a bonk or two. I'll be working more with Google's Pedometer application for future rides because it can generate an elevation profile, pretty neat, and totally free (however, for some reason it has been freezing on me just as I get close to plotting all of the points, but I guess beggars can't be... you know the rest).
ps. We saw a pelican, in CO?

First Ride

Time: Saturday, June 30th @ 9:30am
Meeting place: North Boulder Spruce Confections (I know, it's not Amante...)
Route: Niwot Loop
distance: +/- 21 mi.

Boulder Bike Rides

Welcome Boulder cyclists! The purpose of this blogspot is to post information about future and past bike rides originating in Boulder. I will be posting a few rides per week on here, including meeting place, time, route, expected distance, and expected weather. I'll also post a map with planned routes, and perhaps suggested turn-around points for the folks that aren't looking for an epic ride. In the meantime...
-Robbie