Rockin' the Gnar

I've barely been riding my bike this summer, mostly because of the heat and crowded trails and Tess.  I have to go during the week to avoid the crowds and biking takes a lot of time.  I've not had the motivation to schedule a big block of time to go riding by myself during the week plus the distraction from work and Other Things I should be doing.  And I've enjoyed spending the time with Tess.  They're puppies for such a short period of time, I want to soak up every moment.  She's fine being left in her crate, it's not that I can't leave her, but I'm enjoying watching her grow up and spending time with her.  Except this morning.  She's discovered her lungs and she barks at everything.  Couldn't even play with her in the yard because she dropped the toy right away and started barking at my neighbor next door going about her business in her driveway.  A lot of the time I can't even figure out what she's barking at.  This morning was wearing on my very last nerve so I broke down and decided to start teaching a 'Quiet' cue.  In general I think it's a bad idea because they quickly learn to bark to get your attention to play the 'Quiet' game.  At least Cody did.  But the barking is incessant so what do I have to lose?  First session went well and now she's settled a bit.

Anyway, back to the bike.  Ann Trombley, a local mountain bike coach and former Olympic Mountain Biker and sometimes riding buddy for Jonny (no way I can keep up with those guys) was offering a free mountain bike skills clinic at the Valmont Bike Park and it sounded too good to pass up.  I've had a couple private lessons with Ann and she's a great teacher, very patient, explains everything clearly, big on breaking things down just like in dog training.  So even though I haven't been riding, I greased up the chain and decided to suck it up and go.  Thanks to Facebook I knew there was a good chance Melissa would be there and Melissa is kind of crazy.  Maybe not 'kind of'.  She's a former pro mountain biker and raced Xterra as a pro coming in 4th at Worlds one year.  Plus Fearless.  She's super nice but I was intimidated by this prospect so I told Jonny that if Melissa was there and wanted to do Scary Things that I would slink off and come home.  I wasn't sure of the skill level of the other folks who would show up but I figured I'd work my way in somewhere.  As it turned out only Ann and I showed up.  So we rode for a bit on some stuff at the park and then there was Melissa and I was already out there so no way to slink off.  But as it turned out Melissa was super helpful as was Ann and they taught me how to catch some air on a drop-off rather than just rolling down the drop-off.  The advantage of this is that it's smoother because you're landing with both wheels on the ground at once rather than thumping down with one wheel and then the other.  Plus FUN.  Way more FUN.  Something I've never done before.  I kept to some small drop-offs that you can roll down, no need to jump, but a good place to start.  Very fun and so much smoother and faster because you can keep your speed up.  In fact you have to keep your speed up.

We worked this a bit on the flat, ie a flat grassy area with a short gentle slope next to it.  We practiced lifting the wheel and it turns out this requires a lot of strength in your lats/shoulder muscles.  Ann also showed me how to get up a ledge which requires lifting the bike up from a sitting position, even harder for me, I could barely do it.  Plus you have to pedal down hard while the bike is in the air so the pedaling force opposes the uplift force.  I struggled with this though I think it would be easier on a steeper hill.  Pushing down on the suspension fork then lifting up from a standing position for the drop was way easier, especially when going down the little slope.  We did lots and lots of reps.  A guy watched on the sidelines for a bit then joined us.  Melissa and Ann know their stuff and the guy knew it.

Next we moved over to the Slopestyle downhill track, something I've never been on nor would ever consider going on.  Ann was trying to get up the nerve to jump off of a particular ramp so we watched Melissa do it a few times and Ann did a few reps on a ramp with a smaller drop.  They were both encouraging me to try the smaller ramp but I thought, 'Oh no WAY!'  Crazy talk.  So I took the cheater line down that avoided all the ramps and jumps but was curvy and hilly and fun anyway.  Melissa went on the advanced stuff, crazy crazy stuff, big gap jumps, it was amazing.  She was flying through the air and landing so smoothly, made it look so easy.  Then I saw a 10 year old kid go down the little ramp they were trying to get me to jump off.  The kid didn't even have to jump it, you could roll right down if you wanted.  So I decided to try it.  And it was fun!  No problem at all, not even scary.

Photo from Valmont  Bike Park's Facebook page, don't know how else to credit it.  It's hard to see the drop but I didn't take any photos myself.  Here's another one from their website.  Also kinda hard to see the drop.

This is the one Ann was wanting to do.

In the end she didn't despite Melissa's persistent encouragement that she could do it, that it looked scarier than it was, etc.  In the end she didn't try it and I don't blame her.  I didn't even try to help talk her into it.

When we got back to the parking lot, there was a guy there with an off-road TAB trailer and Ann went to check it out so I tagged along.  Turns out the guy had sold his house and been living in the TAB and touring the country for the past year or so with his 13 year old son.  While we chatted with him, a cop pulled into the parking lot, lights flashing, and parked so that he was blocking me in.  Next to my car was a super scary looking guy in a car with the windshield and whole driver's side of the car smashed in.  I wanted to leave but didn't want to go over there.  Another cop showed up and the first cop got back in his car for a very long time.  Finally I decided I'd risk getting in my car and I heard the cop saying, 'Your car is unsafe and you were driving crazy like you stole it, tail gating dangerously, swerving, etc.  But I know your girlfriend here and she's a nice lady so I'll let you off with a warning'.  My tax dollars at work.  What's the point of having cops if they're going to let the dangerous people go just because they don't want to deal with them?  And the scary guy was getting belligerent with the cop even though he was getting off with a warning.  I was pretty mad but unwilling to get involved with that scary guy around.  And I was trapped by the cop, the lot was huge, plenty of places he could have parked and not blocked me in.  He could have even parking where he was but just a few feet back and not blocked me in.

Anyway, a fun time at the bike park and I'll have to go back and play on the jumps and rock drops some more.  But wow my lats are sore.  Went swimming yesterday and today which didn't help.  Can barely lift my arms, time for some upper body rest.

Pre - Xterra Worlds

I'll write up a race report but it's so rare that I make a trip like this anymore that I thought I'd write a bit about the build-up to the race.  Also to remind myself in case I ever get a crazy notion that I want to do this again and to give others an idea of what's involved in case they're on the fence.

I don't travel much anymore outside of Colorado and the states surrounding it, lost my wanderlust years ago.  Plus I love it so much here, why go through the hassle when everything I want is no more than a day's drive?  Hot humid tropical places don't appeal to me to visit let alone race in.  And I've been struggling with heat regulation this race season even in the dry cool mountains.  But I qualified for Xterra Worlds again this year and I had a notion that I should give it a go, have the experience of a World Championship.  I knew it would be a hard race, my coach warned me of that but I was feeling like I wanted a challenge and this race would be a challenge in so many ways.  Plus the losing of Strummer so suddenly and unexpectedly, I'm feeling a sense of urgency about things I might want to do in the future.  No more waiting for stuff, the time is now.  Though I have to admit that this is a helluva way to have a mid-life crisis.

Travel is extremely irritating for me, especially on planes.  I knew adding the hassle of traveling with my bike would only make it worse and I was right.  As I wrote in my previous post I arrived in Maui and my bike did not.  Plus the Maui airport is one of the dirtiest, grimiest most unpleasant public places I've ever been.  Mold everywhere on the walls and ceilings, the floor seemed sticky with who knows what.  No air conditioning which is probably why everything was so moldy and sticky.  Not a great place to wait and wait and wait for your bike that never comes.  There was another guy on my flight with the same issue, a guy who'd come with his family and his teenage son was racing.  Like me he'd come on the Tuesday so that his son could pre-ride the challenging 20 mile course on Wednesday in enough time to recover for Sunday's race.  Thanks no thanks to Hawaiian Airlines.  And they weren't the least apologetic about it nor would they deliver the bikes the hour drive to West Maui where we were staying.

But as I wrote below I had a beautiful view from my condo and my coach helped me scramble to arrange a reasonable rental so at least I could experience the course.

I woke up to spectacular rainbows from my balcony almost every morning.

As well as spectacular sunsets as shown in the post below.

But I couldn't spend too much time on rainbows and unicorns because I had a race to prepare for.  Had to get to the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua first thing in the morning to get my race packet and number because you had to have your race number to access the big upper loop of the bike course.  Not only that but you had to check in at a checkpoint before 2:00 at the latest and check out again by 3:00.  Because I had to deal with renting a bike I didn't get on the course until 10:30 (11:30 at the checkpoint).  I stopped at the checkpoint, about 3 1/2 miles into the 20 mile course, to adjust the bike seat because I felt like I was starting to get a saddle sore and the saddle creaked and squeaked for the entire rest of the ride.  I stopped numerous times to try to fix it to no avail.  I did my best to avoid letting it annoy me.

Part of the reason I was so hell bent on riding the course ahead of time was so that I could experience it and enjoy it at my leisure.  Stop and take some pictures.  Make friends with the natives.

On one of the numerous times that I stopped to futz with the saddle, a guy with long purple and grey hair and a parrot on his shoulder stopped to help me.  He concluded that I needed some grease which neither of us had but I figured all was not lost if he'd let me take a picture of his parrot.  He responded to my request by insisting I give the parrot a ride and he'd take some photos.  He was a very nice, sociable parrot and happy enough to hop on my shoulder and hang on by gripping my helmet with his beak.

There had been some showers over the bike course for the past couple few days, I'm not sure exactly how many days or how much rain and you can see that the trail looks a bit muddy.  This was a particularly wet area right after a big mud/water bog.  But for the most part the trail was dry and ride-able.

I stopped many times along the way to soak up the sights, sounds and smells.  I kept thinking I smelled cocoa powder, especially when I saw these flowery bushes (trees?).

Strangely enough I saw what appeared to pods of cocoa beans, or what I imagine them to look like, and I stopped to smell them.  Sure enough they smelled like cocoa but were on different trees than these flowering shrubs.  So I dunno.  Probably should have done my homework a little better regarding the flora on West Maui.

Everything so green and rich and lush.  This is in stark contrast to the dry, brown, drought conditions we're having in Colorado right now.

For the first 8 miles or so there was a lot of riding through the woods without any views of anything.  And climbing.  Lots of climbing.

But finally you come out on Razor Ridge and you have a nice view of the hills and the ocean.  Pretty sure this is the view from Razor Ridge anyway.  It's easy to see it from the helicopter views of the race, in fact it looks like a scary knife edge situation with lots of exposure but I never noticed anything like that while I was riding.  There's still another steep climb before the big descent where you get lots of views of the ocean.

Finally the nice views on the way down after all the steep climbing.  There's a nice descent so that you can recover and then you meander through the pineapple fields for a bit before more climbing.

And this was when I started feeling the heat of the day.  It's around 8-9 miles to the top of the big climb and by the final climb I was so hot and sweating.  I drank plenty of water, even took some electrolytes and food but by mile 16 I was ready to be done.  And there's still plenty of climbing left in those last 4 miles.  The miles seemed interminable and I spent them getting more and more dizzy and nauseous, similar to the way I felt in the last miles of Xterra Nationals, Mountain Champs and Buff Creek.  By around Mile 18-19 I turned a corner to see yet another steep punchy climb and I pulled off the trail to let my core temp. go down a bit and the dizziness subside and my stomach settle and I was close to tears.  This did not bode well for race day.

Fortunately this was the last steep climb.  Unfortunately with about 5-6 minutes of downhill trail left the skies opened up with a sudden downpour.  Someone else on the course warned me to be careful but there's only so much you can do when the trail turns slick and greasy.  It was like nothing I've ever ridden on and I took a few minor slips on some switchbacks even with being very careful.  It was like driving on black ice in winter, nothing you can do to gain traction.  Thankfully I was quickly out of the woods and on to the last paved part of the course but yikes, what if it's like this on race day?

That was one of the more humbling pre-rides I've ever done and for the first time in forever I doubted whether I would finish a race or not.  At the  Race Expo they were selling nice bike jerseys that said 'Xterra Worlds' on them and I wanted to buy one but they were spendy and I figured it would only be salt in the wound if I didn't finish.

But I realized a few things about the ride.  First of all, I'd forgotten my ice cube packs.  I would have those for sure on race day provided they stayed frozen in the little soft sided cooler I had.  Also I was out on the course in the heat for much longer than I would be on race day.  In the end I was out there 5 1/2 hours with only 3 1/2 hours of it being riding time.  I'd lost a lot of time with stopping to fix the seat post and to take photos and to cool off.  And of course parrot photo ops.  In fact I was a bit worried about making the 3:00 cut off for being off the big loop.  Wasn't sure what they did if you didn't make it.  There were dire warnings about being arrested and disqualified from the race if you strayed from the official course on that big loop.  But I made it through the checkpoint with about 15 minutes to spare, phew.  Still, it had added some pressure and stress to those last few miles.  I figured I'd probably only be out on the bike 3 1/2 hours or less on race day depending on the heat.  Also I was hopeful that I'd be better acclimated to the heat and humidity with 3 more days in Maui.  Plus the jet lag, lack of sleep, travel fatigue, etc.  I had many reasons to be a bit more hopeful about race day.  But I realized I'd have to pace myself well for the swim and bike in order to be able to make it through the run.  And there was a cut-off for the bike.  When I signed up for the race the cut-off seemed super generous but after riding that course I worried more about it, especially if I had another bout of dizziness in the heat.

The one other big advantage I would have on race day was my bike.  The rental was a nice light weight hard tail which means it has front suspension but not rear suspension.  My bike is a bit heavier but has full suspension and is much more comfortable.  I didn't feel great on the descents on the rental but reasoned that I could make up some time with more confident (ie speedier) descents on my own bike.  Which did eventually arrive but thanks to TSA who had let all the air out of one tire allowing the Stans to leak everywhere I had to make another trip to the Expo to have the bike shop fill the tube with Stan's (sealant for tubeless tires) and use the air compressor to re-inflate it (it would not re-inflate with a regular stand pump).  $29 for just a few minutes of work and a splurt of Stan's but I was grateful I was able to have it done.

I spent the next 2 days practicing swimming in the ocean.  There was some big surf the first day and even bigger surf the second but both days paled to actual race day (more about that in the race report) so I was very very thankful I'd practiced.  My coach's husband was an avid body surfer and knew how to swim in waves so he gave me some instruction on the first day and the second day Xterra had a clinic with some of the pros.

Some photos from the clinic

This looks super intimidating to someone who has only ever swum in reservoirs.  Mostly nice, calm, smooth as glass with maybe one rough day of almost whitecaps reservoirs.  I forgot all about the sharks and realized I had more imminent things to worry about.  But I practiced both days, getting in, getting out, getting in, getting out, diving into the correct part of the wave, swimming all different directions in the current.  I got some good mouthfuls of water and some inelegant exits onto the beach but no major problems of getting severely tossed or my hip slammed into the sand like a lady I met during the swim.  I felt like I had the hang of how to dive into the wave, at least enough to get me through the race.  Sorta.  Kinda.  I felt o.k. about it.  Little did I know what race day had in store.

Day of Speed Weekend

Had a whirlwind weekend of mountain biking down in Castle Rock on Friday then a USDAA trial the opposite direction in Greeley.  Somehow my knees survived all of this.

Met an Xterra friend down in Castle Rock to ride the Ridgeline Rampage bike race course.  Thankfully she'd been on the trails a few times and knew most of the course.  We did have to do some navigating but in the end only missed one turn near the end of a 16 mile course that wasn't signed very well.

Since I was riding with someone else and I was lagging behind a bit I only took one picture.  She was already having to wait for me, didn't want to make her wait for photos.

A nice view of the Continental Divide.

What was I saying the other day about feeling Fit and Feisty on the bike?  Rusty and winded was maybe a better description for the day but I had a great time riding some new to me trails.  And it's nice to ride with someone.  I'm slower but we're not too far apart, not like when I ride with Jonny.

The trails were nice, not technical.  But at times bordering on Front Range Sprawl of McMansions.  Every time I go to Castle Rock I become ever more thankful for Boulder.  It's crowded here but not that crowded.

I'm hoping to be able to do the race in a week and a half.  All depends on the weather.  Right now it's not looking good, rain predicted for all of next week including the weekend.  Of course it can and probably will change by next week.  We'll see what develops.

A 2 1/2 hour mountain bike ride is not the best way to kick of an agility weekend of way more runs per day then I normally enter but oh well.  Saturday was 5 runs, Sunday a whopping 6 runs.  Oddly my knees felt the best they've felt in a long time, no pain to speak of.  I could feel some mild throbbing in my quads when I sat for a while but for the most part my legs felt great and I was moving well during my runs.

Some very challenging course, especially Grand Prix.  Only 2 Q's in all of Performance and I think 3 Q's or so in Championship.  All the 22" dogs were eliminated except one who had 10 faults.  In fact there were only maybe 4 dogs total in the whole class with faults and the rest E'd.  Can't recall ever seeing anything like it.  Lots of people disappointed as they were hoping for a Grand Prix Q to be able to compete at Regionals next month.  I was hoping for one too but no big deal.  I'm not going to Nat's. and I have plenty to enter.  I'll have one last try at the local GP at Regionals but it's no big deal, so expensive to enter anyway but I entered provisionally if we get it.

As for the Grand Prix course I think the biggest issue was that there were so many traps and challenges, one right after the other, if one didn't get you the other did.

Most people ate it at the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination.  The worst option was to wrap the dog to the right.  That set a line straight into the tunnel.  There may have been some who tried a front or blind between 11 and 12 after turning to the right and maybe that worked for a precious few, I can't remember.  I did a reverse spin at 11, got a tight turn and Strum went right up the dogwalk no problem.  I fell victim between Jumps 5 and 6.  I was behind because I had to babysit the teeter a bit so I couldn't cue the tight line between 5 and 6 and got a back jump at 6.  Lots of off courses at the #9 Tunnel as well.  I did front after Jump 8 and it wasted some time but I got the correct tunnel entrance no problem.  Lots of people kept their dog on their right and tried to pull and that mostly didn't work, especially for the fast dogs.  There were a couple few dogs who refused the tunnel at the end including Strummer.  Weird, I don't know what was up there.  The #15 tunnel to Jump #16 was also a challenge.  I ended up further behind than I was hoping there but we pulled it off sort of.  The judge was sympathetic and told us she wouldn't be super strict about the run out plane at 16.

Despite the low Q rate I was happy I entered and got to try the course.  There were many challenging courses this weekend, I'm guessing a very low Q rate in general and we had more E's than normal.  But I'm at a point in my agility career that I'm happy for the challenging courses, don't care that much about Q's, love to have a challenging puzzle to solve.

I'm also at a point where I wish I had my own practice field.  It's frustrating to drive out to the practice field and there are other people already there.  It's especially hard on Strummer because he knows where we're going and starts whining/wailing in anticipation.  It's heartbreaking to have to turn around and deny him.  Or nobody is there when I get there and I spend 20 minutes setting something up and then other people arrive.  I love practicing with my training partner at her place but she doesn't have enough room for a full course and likes to set up courses with small distances between the jumps.  It's just not the same as running a full, real course.  And she doesn't have a dogwalk.  I'm not complaining, so happy to have people to practice with and her yard is great.  But moving forward it will be frustrating for me to train a new dog without having regular access to equipment.  Will have to get going on that move to Cortez though I admit the thought of taking care of acreage is sounding more and more exhausting.

Anyway, I had a great weekend with the challenging courses.  And we did have some success - 1st place in Steeplechase Finals and Strum did both sets of weaves with no bobbles!  Over the moon about that.  I'm feeling ready for Regionals, excited about it too!  My training partner has decided to enter her older dog in Performance so I have a great low pressure teammate.  She's not going to Nat's. and doesn't do that much USDAA so doesn't need or care about a Q.  And there will be Steeplechase and Biathlon, my favorite classes.  Looking forward to it next month.

 Here's a video of Sunday's runs.



I only got Saturday's Steeplechase run somehow, had some technical difficulties that were probably due to an old, dying battery.  At least I hope that's all it is.  Camera kept turning off even though the battery reading had plenty of juice.

Saturday's Steeplechase Round 1



Strummy had a great time.

He loves to watch, though I don't let him get too overstimulated.

Springtime in the Rockies

Bike ride in shorts and t-shirt in the mountains yesterday.

View from Poorman Road

And today?

The forecast started out at less than an inch yesterday then went up to 1-3" last night, this a.m. it was 3-5" and at around 11:15 a.m. I measured a foot.  And it's still coming down fast and furious.  Jonny left work just before 11:00 and said there were cars stranded all over the road, in ditches, crazy out there.  Glad I didn't try to go to the pool today.  Looks like a day for Scooby Doo slippers, a cup of cocoa and a good book.  And my weight workout later. 

I was finally feeling mostly recovered from my neck and knee injuries brought on 5-6 weeks ago from too much snow shoveling and skiing.  I'm not even going to try to shovel.  The snow is that heavy, wet back breaking midwestern type snow and it's supposed to be 50 degrees and sunny tomorrow so hopefully enough will melt that I can get out of the driveway.  I may try for some skiing at North Boulder Park if I can get out of the driveway tomorrow but I suspect it'll be too wet and heavy and they might not even groom it.  If so I'll shoot for 45 minutes at the most.  Just yesterday I was telling myself I was done with skiing, it's not worth the injuries and my knee was still a little sore from it on my bike ride.

Was hoping to sign up for a couple of mountain bike races in April and May but I guess we'll see how the weather goes.  Was feeling fit and feisty on the bike yesterday but the trails maybe even the dirt roads are going to be shut down for a good long while.  And I'm so not into the bike trainer.  Maybe once the roads clear I'll head up to the high country for some snow shoeing.  Because clearly I haven't learned my lesson about injuries from snow sports that I almost never do.

Went down a rabbit hole yesterday of holy crap it looks like I'm going to have to go to a race in Arkansas on May 1st if I want to qualify for USAT's offroad world championships in Canada in 2017 which has been my long term goal.  Because USAT thinks it's a great idea to have their off-road nationals at a poorly attended race in an obscure location in May before triathlon season kicks off for most people.  Hello USAT, do you see the snow?  Plus no place to get in open water before May 1st.  Maybe if you live in California or Arkansas you can be ready for this but for most of the country not so much.  It's easy to qualify for Worlds if you go to this race, you only have to finish in the top 18 or something in your age group and I doubt many if any age groups will have this many so pretty much just have to show up and finish.  With 5 weeks until the race there are only 115 people signed up, about 30 women and only 1 woman in my age group.  Not a lot of people going to be going to Canada next year.  The other way to qualify is to be ranked in the top 20 in your age group but they only take 2 people based on rankings and the slots roll down.  So if you're ranked 20 you have to hope that the 18 people ahead of you don't want to go.  And who knows how their rankings work.  I was ranked 8th out of 74 women overall in my age group and 3rd out of 14 in the Mountain Region in 2015 according to Xterra's rankings.  But USAT has me at 17 out of 23 (what happened to the other 51 women?).  And some of the women ahead of me only did one race or didn't even go to Nationals and some I had beaten at races and Xterra had me ranked ahead of them so I don't know how it works.  And I'm not interested enough to try to figure it out.  My coach told me she knows someone who went by petitioning USAT and so few people wanted to go that they allowed her.  Said it was super easy.  So if it comes down to it and I still want to go next year then that's what I'll do.  Because it's a 16 hour drive to freakin' Arkansas and while the race looks appealing, 4 days total of driving does not.  To go to Arkansas.  No offense to Arkansas but I have plenty of super nice places within 2 hours.  All for a race that is a year and half away.  So USAT Worlds in 2017 is on the back burner for now.  Not sure what my goals will be for the year now but I'll come up with something.

No Rest for the Wicked

And I must be wicked because my 'rest day' for the week is tomorrow which is also a day of 5 runs at a USDAA trial which does not sound very restful to me.  But this is the last big week of training before Xterra Nationals so the only way to squeeze in a trial day is to pretend it's a rest day.  I wasn't planning on going but signed up last second in order to have some more runs on international style courses so I can decide if I want to endure 6 days of driving to go to UKI Nationals.  It sounds crazy and unnecessary, I know where we are competition-wise, but I'm trying to work up some enthusiasm for 6 days of driving.  For maybe 8 minutes total in the ring.  Maybe.  That seems crazy stupid.  But I was watching some videos from last year's UKI Nat's. and it looks very fun.  And we'd for sure be in the finals.  But SIX DAYS of stupid making I hate driving.  48 hours.  Stupid.  Anyway, we'll see how tomorrow goes.  I have until sometime in October to make up my mind.

And on the driving front, I've had 2 trips in the past week up to Winter Park/Fraser after not going for about a million years.  Because of stupid driving.  It's about 1 3/4 hours but you have to go over twisty, wind-ey, steep Berthoud Pass which is very beautiful and I have some very cool video of driving through low cloud cover up there from last week but yeah, I'll get right on with processing that.  In the meantime, a nice view from the Flume Trail.

Seems like there should be a moose standing right there.  I always feel ripped off when there isn't one.  We did see a moose and her baby on this trail a zillion years ago but it was at a different place.

Fall colors are starting to kick into gear.  Northwest Passage Trail.

The Northwest Passage trail used to be heavy forest then the Pine Beetle came and wiped it out and for many years we didn't come back because it was depressing to see all the dead brown trees.  But as you can see from the photos, the forest is springing back and this time with some aspens.  So nice to see some life again on this trail and in some other areas that were effected.

I love the trails in Winter Park/Fraser, wish they were closer.  The Tipperary Creek Trail was the main attraction because it's very similar in grade and terrain to the course at Nationals.  So I endured the drive to do some sustained hill climbs.  I'm not the fastest racer but going up and down and back up Tipperary gets some remarks from folks struggling to get up it just the once. 

Jonny took these pix on Tipperary.  I was on a mission and didn't stop, even for some grouse photos.  I have some GoPro video but it's too bumpy and barf making to watch.

There was a group of guys that we kept running into and at one point one of them let me try his super light 23 pound Fat Bike.  SO fun.  But I can't have more bikes right now.  I accumulate bikes like some people accumulate Border Collies.  I have to get rid of some bikes before more can come live with me.  But wow, very fun.  But NO MORE BIKES.  I don't care how fun.  Same goes for Border Collies.

All my big workouts before Nat's. are done, now I just have to get through tomorrow's trial and it's taper time.  I'm very excited for this year's race, much more so than last year's, probably because the warm summer weather has persisted and it still feels like triathlon season whereas last year fall blew in 2 weeks before Nat's. and I was suddenly over triathlon season.  Today's open water swim felt like mid-summer.  Hopefully the good weather will persist until Nat's.  The forecast looks perfect, if only it'll come true.

And just because, a freaky rainbow settled into the mountains in Nederland before our ride last week.

And more fall colors starting up, also in Ned.

There will be more fall colors to come and of course reports from Utah.  Complete with buffaloes.    Can't wait!

Boulder Valley Fun in the Sun

Another day in the 70's and the Boulder Valley Trails are finally dry except for a wee bit of ice on Ice Hill.  So I dusted off the bike and hit the dirt.  I feel lucky to have these trails so close by.

I always love this view, so bucolic.

It's hard to see the prairie dogs in this photo but the trail goes right through a dog town and it makes me happy to hear their chirping.  City of Boulder got rid of the dog town by my house because the prairie dogs were getting down into the park next to the open space and hell hath no fury like a soccer mom worried that her prodigy will twist an ankle.  Never mind that the park was never meant to be used for soccer, it was supposed to be a buffer between the open space and the neighborhoods.  But in the land of rich people and politics the prairie dogs don't stand a chance.

Though one of the crazy buggers nearly took both of us out by running across the trail practically under my wheel.  Still not sure how I missed him.

Boulder Rez

Felt so good to be out on the trails on my bike.  I was even overheating at one point, I'm not acclimated to 70 degrees but it felt good to be sweating in the sun in nearly February.  One other bonus was that I was able to ride some of the little singletrack trails that are off the main path.  I don't go on those in the summer because of rattlesnakes.  I couldn't help watching out for snakes, had to keep reminding myself that they're enjoying their winter slumber.

Got home to a sassy Miss Lola.  She had some words for me.

And then she had a quick power nap.  Because that's how it goes when you're old.

She sprang back to life quickly enough when I busted out the goat leg bones from the farmer's market.  Love to see happy, peaceful dogs gnawing away in the sun.

Snow is supposed to return on Friday but this little break has been a special treat.  Love those little windows of warmth that we get in Colorado in winter.

Mountain Photos, We Gots Em, and Wow I Have a Race This Weekend

Summer is in full swing and this means lots of time in the mountains.

Buffalo Creek

Red Tail Hawk barely batted an eye at us.

Gashouse Gulch Trail, part of the Xterra course

The one super technical part of the Xterra course that everyone has to walk.

But it's mostly stuff like this.

Then Saturday was Jonny's birthday hike up near Indian Peaks Wilderness though on a fairly remote, quiet stretch of trail so we saw only a handful of people.

Beaver Reservoir, our starting point

Pretty meadow.  Sometimes there's a moose but not today.

I know you're all jealous of my groovy purple shorts.

Then Sunday started off with my master's group's Bare Bones swim race.

SO many people.  Ironman Boulder is in 2 weeks so people flocked to the race to get some swim practice in at the Rez where the swim will take place.  These are the 2-milers.  I only did the 1-mile race because that's closest to the swim portion of the triathlons I do and I wanted to practice going FAST without having to worry about a bike or run afterwards.  I ended up with a time of 32:16 mins. or 1:50/100 yards, not exactly the zippy pace I was hoping for but it felt like I was moving.  I did drift off course a bit but not too drastically.  I was 15/44 people overall (men and women, all ages) and 9/32 of the women.  The top 3 spots went to women and 2nd and 3rd went to women in their 50's.

Compare to a Stroke-n-Stride I did a little over a week ago:  14:53 for 750 m/820 yards or 1:49/100 yards then 28:47 for a 5k or 9:17 min/mile (2/5 age group, 15/30 women, 33/72 overall).  I guess about a 1:50 pace is what I can expect these days.  A little frustrating considering how much time and effort I've put into swimming but I guess we're still only at mid-season and Nationals isn't until September.

Then a trail run with hill repeats at Walker Ranch.  Sure beats the track.

Walker Ranch was my last hard effort before Xterra Aspen Valley this coming Saturday though today's swim/bike workout and tomorrow's swim/run workout are keeping me busy.  I'm feeling good for the race, fit and feisty and excited and ready to go.  Should be feeling even better after this taper week.  And how awesome does this course look?



I can't pre-ride the course until Friday and I was a little curious about what the wooden bridges/features would be like for the bike but they look o.k.  And how cool to run on the funky wooden bridges over all the ponds and marshes?  A very unique race.

It's the first year of the race and I won't be able to pre-ride until Friday since it's on private land so I have no idea of goals.  It's a relatively short race so my plan is to go hard.  Challenge myself.  Have fun.  Soak up every last bit of summer in the mountains.

Fun with My New Bike at the Valmont Bike Park

I treated myself to a new bike 2 weeks ago.  A 6 month early Happy 50th Birthday to Me present.  My old bike is over 11 years old replacing some of the old equipment was going to be a project and maybe not cost effective so I decided it was time.  I thought I would test ride different types of bikes and sizes (hard tail vs full suspension, 27.5" wheels vs 29er and all combinations thereof) and wait for the shop to get demo versions so I could try them on trails, probably in April.  But after renting a Trek Lush 29er full suspension in Sedona I became convinced that I wanted another full suspension bike and that I could handle a 29er therefore a 27.5er would also be fine.  So when the Scott Spark 27.5er arrived in the shop I test rode it around the block to be sure of fit and bought it without worrying about trails or demo bikes or anything.  I reasoned that the bike was lighter and would be easier to handle than the 29" Specialized I was considering plus the added benefit of being able to lock out both front and rear suspension from a lever on the handlebars.  And you can either lock it all the way out or part of the way out.  This is turning out to be a HUGE performance advantage on the smoother trails and especially on climbs.  A much bigger advantage than a 29er.  I've taken it on a couple of trails rides (Dirty Bismark and Left Hand Trail/Boulder Valley trails), nothing very technical but still I have a good idea that the bike will be awesome for me.

Meet Sparky.  Lola is unimpressed but I'm very excited.

After 11 years of having a girl bike (women's specific design) I now have a boy bike.  Because the women's version of this bike is puke green and there was just no way.

And it turns out this is the only difference between the men's and women's version except maybe the saddle.  It has no women's specific geometry at all.  Nonetheless the bike fits me great, no problems with my back.  The guy at Boulder Cycle Sports spent a bunch of time making sure the geometry and suspension was set up just right for me.  And he told me to come back for more adjustments if I need them.  And they gave me a gift card to the shop so I was able to buy a better saddle for me, pedals, bottle cage  (SO excited to have a bottle cage!  There was no room on my old frame), new tires and a bunch of other stuff at 20% off and I still have $50 left. 

Had some fun with the new bike and the GoPro at Valmont Bike Park yesterday.

2014-2-28-Boulder Bike Park from colliebrains on Vimeo.

One of the Xterra's I entered this summer has some man-made features like woods bridges I guess, I don't know exactly what I've gotten myself into and the course is on private land so I can't pre-ride it until the day before the race.  So Valmont Bike Park is the next best thing.

Now if only the rest of the trails would dry out so we can get on with some spring riding.

Wordless Wednesday