Skiing and Cycling One Weekend

I love living in Colorado. The fact that you can have two different seasons within a hour drive is awesome. Let me give you an example.

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, Cory and I met Barrett and his friend James at Beaver Creek for a nice day of skiing. We left the house a little late, 8 am, and made our way in to the hills via the I-70 frontage road. We took the frontage road so we can get as familiar as possible with the road because it this the same route we will be riding during the Triple Bypass in July. We got on the hill a little before 11am and met up with Barrett and James on Birds of Pray, the world renowned GS course. We hit the Royal Elk Glades and Black Bear Glades ate some lunch then found some really great steep stuff on the Stone Creek Chutes. We skied until the lifts started to close, which Cory and I never do, and made our way down to bottom ensuring that we produce as much lactate acid as humanly possible on the cruisin' blues. It was a great winter day.

By contrast, on Sunday, February 24, 2008, Denver was mostly sunny and a high pushing 65. Life is good when you can ski one day and go for a nice road ride the next. Cory and I led our first ride with http://www.definedfitnesstraining.com/, which is the club that Cory and I have started riding with. Cory, Barrett, and I met up with RaNae, who has a most incredible life story, and her friend Norah at http://greenmountainsports.com/. We went down to Bear Creek Lake Park and jumped on the bike trail which leads to the C-470 bike trail (the same trail that was covered with snow last Monday.) We made our way down to Chatfield State Park and the South Platte River. Our plan was to ride the South Platte Trail to REI and get a couple of treats from Starbucks. For about 10 miles Barrett, Cory, RaNae, and I had a train going. We were averaging about 20 mph with everybody doing a great job of drafting and taking their turn pulling. There is something about being a few inches off the wheel in front of you and going 20+ that is really very exhilarating. With a little more practice, I think that we will be able to blast through the Triple Bypass. We stopped at a detour right before REI to regroup. Soon we would have a close encounter with a fly fisherman fly.

I will tell this next story for the rest of my life.

Scene: Bike path along the South Platte River under a bridge

People: Fly Fisherman w/ fly, oncoming biker, myself, RaNae, Cory and Barrett.

We were cruisin' along when I saw a guy fly fishing on the side of the trail. I could see the fly line crossing the trail on every back cast he made and thought that he would stop casting. As we got closer, I WAS WRONG. Just as we got close, I saw the fly cross the trail on his back cast hit an oncoming cyclist in the head. At this point we were probably about 15ft from the fisherman and I realized he has no idea that he was trying catch the passing riders. I slammed on my brakes making RaNae skid sideways and a near collision with Cory. Barrett just observed the whole thing happening from a safe distance. Luckily, we all survived with no blood or injury, just a great story.

Until next time,

Happy Trails

Presidents Day Ride 2008

Cory and I went our first annual Presidents Day Ride. We left our house at 10:00am under beautiful sunny skies, temps in the upper 30’s and a light breeze. Our plan was to take the C-470 bike path to Deer Creek Canyon Road, climb west into the foothill to North Turkey Creek, cross Hwy 285, climb Parmalee Gulch to Hwy 74, then cruise back home.

We stopped at Green Mountain Sports to replace my rear tire, which was destroyed from riding on the flat during the Dualthon on Saturday. We finally got on the road at about 10:30 and headed for the bike path. About 2 miles down the bike path we found it to covered with snow. We jumped off the bike path and made our way to Kipling and then south to Deer Creek Canyon. It took us about an hour to get down Kipling because of the stop lights and snow covering the bike path. The trip from our house down to Deer Creek should have taken about 35 minutes. We finally got to Deer Creek Canyon and had a Hammer Gel.

Cory at the top of Deer Creek Canyon.

It was starting to warm up a little, so we peeled off some layer and started our climb. The road conditions were great with the exception of a few snow covered shady sections. After about 40 minuets and about 1,700 vertical feet (that is just a rough guess) we reached the top. We had a quick peanut butter fold-over and bundled up for the descent down to North Turkey Creek and Hwy 285. On the way down, something did not feel quite right with my bike and sure enough when we stopped at 285-flat tire. Yes, this was my brand spanking new tire that had a flat. Out came the tools and about 20 minuets we are on our way climbing up Parmalee Gulch.

Parmalee is a great climb that is about five miles long through wooded curvy roads. By this time the clouds were moving in and we kept all of our layers on during our climb. This meant that we were in store for a long cold ride down hill to get home. We got to the top of Parmalee Gulch, right after the small town of Indian Hills, had a couple of Thin Mints and got ready, mentally more the physically, for the cold ride home. Temps were about 30 maybe 35 at this point and windy. We got down to Kitteridge on Hwy 74, stopped in a little restaurant to warm up before the remaining 10 miles or so miles down hill to our nice warm home.

In total we road 41.5 miles with about 3,000 vertical feet of climbing. It was a cold day, but a good day. We hope to make the Presidents Day Ride a yearly tradition.

Happy Trails,

Kelsey

My Bike

I bought my bike from Cory's uncle 3 years ago for $100. It has all original parts (expect for tires, saddle, and handle bar tap) in good condition. The above picture is from the 1990 Cannondale product catalog. This is the bike that I plan to ride the Triple Bypass on although I am looking to upgrade the drive train. I don't think that it will be able to handle 800ish training miles. Cannondale was doing some really amazing things with aluminum bikes in the mid-80's and early 90's.

Chilly Cheeks Duathlon

On Saturday, February 16, 2008, Cory, Barrett, and I raced in the 3rd and final race of the Chilly Cheeks Winter Duathlon Series. The race consisted of a 10.8 mile road ride and a 4 mile run. Temps were in the mid 40's to 50's with clear roads and only minor mud on the run. The previous two races, one in December and one in January, were much colder with a ton of snow and no sun.

This race series very low key and just for fun. I think that Cory and I went on a total of 3 or 4 training runs between the first race in December and yesterdays race, although we have been riding a lot. Since, I really had done no real training for the run, my strategy was to waste myself on the ride and just plod through the run. This was working well until mile 8ish. I was having a very strong ride until I got a flat tire about 2.5 miles from the bike finish. I rode the last 2.5 miles with a flat, which took my speed from about 22mph to 10-12mph. I had to run the last 100yds with my bike on my shoulder. After a good transition I did the run and finished hard. I got 47 (time of 1:12:00) of 60 in the 39 and under age group.

Cory was pleased with her ride. She was hoping to have an average speed of 20 mph but averaged a very respectful 18.9mph. Her ride was uneventful, which is the best kind of ride to have. Cory also had a quick transition which included taking off a couple of layers for the run. As usual Cory was disappointed with her run, especially when Barrett passed her (he started in a wave 12 min after Cory). Cory was 26 (time of 1:19:01) of 43 in the 39 and younger age group. Her 1:19:01 was five minutes faster the race #1 in December. This is even more impressive because the run in race #1 was 3.5 miles instead of 4.

Then there is Barrett. We love him to death but hate his natural athletic abilities. This was his first mutli-sport event. He had a very strong ride and run with an over time of 1:00:50 which placed him 19 of 60 in the 39 and under group and 29 of 193 in the entire field.

Happy Trails

The Start

Well I thought that I would give this blogging thing a try so our friends and family can follow the training that Cory and I will be doing in preparation for the Triple Bypass. My hope is to post stories, with pictures, of our training rides and other fun stuff that we encounter along the way.

Oh yes, I think that I get brownie points in my technical writing class for starting a blog.