What Crazy Weather

man, yesterday was nuts. A huge morning dust storm followed by a crazy snow storm, followed by mid-50 degree temperatures. I just wish we would get like 4 feet of snow... Seriously. Just get it over with so it doesn't start cancelling races later in the season. So, right now, it's approaching 60 degrees, and we might see more snow after the almost 70s this weekend.
NORBA season opener was this weekend in Texas. It looked more like West Virginia with all the mud. That stuff sucks. Or state cross championships. I quiver thinking about that. Gosh, mud racing sucks. My fork on my mountain bike is jacked up. It probably has need to be rebuilt 3 times since it was last, but I keep neglecting it. That's always a good ideal, right? I am jonesing for some new bikes. Our team road bikes are starting to arrive. Man, do they look good. I decided to hold out for the cross bike this fall, so I'll still have to ride the good ole Cannondale this season. Not that it isn't a sub-16 lb sweet bike, but new stuff is always nice. Infact, I decided to 86 the Cinelli Ram, cause I know it will shatter if it ever hits the ground. I went with an Easton setup that eneded up being lighter and significantly cheaper. EA70 bar and stem. I was ready to go the Deda route, but the 215 shallows don't suite me and Newton bars are outrageous. So, I ended up paying the same as I would have for a Newton stem for the bar and stem, plus it weights the same. Plus, the big deciding factor is that Easton is a sponsor for us this year...

I have been getting a lot of emails from Jo-Jo from Belgium. She is currently studying in Peru and man does that place look cool. She is tall and complains that the shower head hits her about shoulder height. I also emailed Kate today. She is in Spain and actually is planning a trip to Belgium for her spring break. Man, I am glad I have moountain here, cause I would go nuts in the midwest with everyone else in cool places...

Ok, enough rambling. I'll save some for later.

Warm and Windy...

Man, what a great weekend. 85 miles on Saturday. Rode to the Fed Center race yesterday. It hit 64 degrees, with a mighty wind and some hot beating sun. I put in a mountain bike ride this week that was nuts. It was supposed to be in the 50's. So I calculated in the mountain effect and dropped it 10 degrees. Then, when I added in that none of my clothes were clean with the exception of a long sleeve skinsuit, I figured I was golden. Grabbed an undershirt and I was off. I knew I was flirting with daylight from the start. I had about an hour and a half to ride. The weather was still moderately warm. The trail conditions were minimally icy from the spots the sun don't shine. The first 30 minutes were uneventful. Hard -rip you cold legs off- short jeep road climb, some fantastic techincal decending, rocks, the whole nine yards. I get on the back side and it starts to look like snow. It's still in the 40's, I am confortable, and I climb. And climb. And the snow begins. It was spotty, so I wouldn'd call it white out conditions, but it was snowing hard. The climb started to get a bit remote and the wildlife around me increased. At one point, I was approaching a herd (I swear it was atleast 30) of mule dear. As I climbed the rocky, switchback-ridden trail to them, they showed no fear. Perhaps it was my cunning tailless-sloth swiftness as I climbed up the technical terrain which by this time had a nice layer of mud building up in the dust from the snow...

In other news, every cyclist in the world needs an iPod Shuffle. It's small. It's perfect. And I officially think that Apple has most of the population convinced that they in fact NEED an iPod simple for their own survival. What a brilliant company. Back to the Shuffle. It's cool. I highly recommend it. Just don't lose it. It's that small.

In even better news, next weekend is calling for almost-70 degree temperatures. Time for some big miles, as I'll be refreshed coming off my recovery week!

Cheers!

i love colorado

Forecast for Denver, CO (80227)

10-Day Forecast
High /Low (°F) Precip. %
Today
Mar 01 Mostly Cloudy 54°/30° 20 %
Wed Mar 02 Mostly Sunny 52°/29° 0 %
Thu Mar 03 Partly Cloudy 54°/32° 20 %
Fri Mar 04 Partly Cloudy 56°/36° 20 %
Sat Mar 05 Mostly Sunny 58°/37° 20 %
Sun Mar 06 Mostly Sunny 59°/40° 10 %
Mon Mar 07 Partly Cloudy 59°/36° 0 %
Tue Mar 08 Partly Cloudy 59°/35° 20 %
Wed Mar 09 Partly Cloudy 58°/34° 10 %
Thu Mar 10 Partly Cloudy 56°/37° 10 %

Man, can't complain about that!

nothing exciting to post...

Well, as usual, there isn't anything super exciting going on. I am too lazy to ride. My bodyfat has been hovering around the double digits, so I am sitting fat and sassy. I lift maybe twice a week. Ride maybe twice a week. I think it's about time to get the ball rolling. Gosheff from high school was here this weekend. We had some fun. Anyplace called Atomic Cowboy is bound to be fun. Then, off the the Gooseville Inn, which was incredibly skeezy, but had like borderline gourmet fantastic pizza. I somehow managed to convince Stephanie to go to Moab for Valentines Day. We are staying there Saturday and Sunday Night. Yay. And then a spring training trip is in the works for Moab in March. Rumor has it that there may be a 97 mile drought, I mean, mtb ride. That'll be fun. There's nothing quite like polishing up on your survival skills with first hand dehydration and exhaustion experience. Well, the snow on the ground doesn't really motivate me to hurry up and get my work done, but I need to.

too lazy to post...

Man, the weather has been so nice. Almost 70's. I certainly can't complain about that... I put in 5 hours on Saturday, although it was cold to start. Yesterday, I only did about an hour and a half, but I did it on the best bike ever. It is such a mut. It's my first real bike. An old Gary Fisher steel frame with horizontal dropouts welded on it. I usually run a 34x17, but not right now. I turned it into a ghetto fixie. 34x13. Drop bars (like 44 cm Ritcheys), a front cantilever brake, 2.3 tires. So ugly. But functional. And it climbs like Petacchi. What a bike. Stephanie almost refused to ride with me because it is so ugly. Function, not fashion. And I'll be pedalling smooth circles in no time (or my knees will blow up on the climbs or descents). Warm weather and an ugly bike, does it get any better? I guess I'll just sit here in my office, look out the window ant the mountains, and wish I was riding on this 60 degree day.

Oh, the Snow...

I have been excited to get snow lately. I am not sure why. I went Snowshoeing Monday. We hiked up a mile long glacier -St Marys-. It was fun, aside from the cold, 40 mph snowy headwind we hiked into the whole way up. There was tons of powder off the glacier in the woods. Atleast a couple feet. And to further my cross training, I went bowling that night with Stephanie. Considering I bowl like 8 times of year, I was rockin... I bowled a 15x, 18x, 17x (not sure of the exact scores, but this is the ball park). Today, we got 6 inches. I am going to take my single speed out and trash around in the park trails by my house. It's fun and a great work out. I can just see the ice forming from the melted snow today. Tonight should be interesting. We had our team meeting last night and there are a lot of cyclists motivated to do some riding. I can't imagine 60-80 miles this time of year. I am fat and out of shape, but I don't look to be racing for atleast 4 months. Everyone is motivated and kills themselves in the spring, then I am left racing alone in July & August in preparations for cyclocross... I guess thats the way the cookie crumbles...

Back Home Again, In Colorado

Well, it's good to be home! Far from family and friends, close to the great outdoors. Not necessarily a good compromise, but somehow I make it work in my head. So, I let my plane ticket go and drove home with Stephanie. We left Monday morning around 8 am with the intention to stop in KCMO and stay with some of her old friends (She went to the Kansas City Art Institute before transferring to RMCAD). With an ETA of about 2 hours, we were both feeling energetic and more than wanting to be home, so we decided to go for the gusto. Sure, I had made the non-stop trip from Indiana to Colorado many times before, but I had also planned on it when I left. I had slept poorly the night before, but that didn't keep me down. We did it. Just over 18 hours. Almost 1300 miles. She got a new Passat Wagon and that thing drives like a dream. I got into my 8 year old SUV and it drives like a friggin tank, but one with tires instead of tracks, and the tires feel like they are almost flat. You get the point. A car review? Exterior: Cool, plenty of room for bikes on top. Interior: Spacious. Plenty of room for spare wheels, trainer, equipment bags, a couple dogs, Norwiegan Massuese, etc... Seats: Good. Cold weather and heated seats is a sensation I had yet to enjoy. ::Boy my hands are freezing cause it is 12 degrees outside and I just got done pumping gas. But, man, my butt is toastie:: Lumbar is also good for miles and miles in the captains throne. Tiptronic: I am a five speed fan, but the tiptronic with the manuals is pretty cool. It works better than I remember it working in stuff I had driven before. Anyways, its nice and it made the trip even better. I have babbled enough. Stay tuned for a review of the 2005 Three Rivers Velosport Clubs "Chilly Challenge". I wonder when all the snow is going to melt...