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Saturday made day 6, bike 6, and route home 6 for the week. Great to work an extra day this week to make it happen. And six days in a row up the shelf road is a full week...

Picked up some new wheels on Friday, old blue King hubs off the Bianchi Martini have found new life with some Stan's 29er rims and Stans Raven cx tires. Peeled off most of the stickers and the wheels are pretty stealth looking. Reminds me of the looks of BBBB's set up with his dark blue travel mtn / cx bike.


Speaking of Bob Brown, he told me that the Stan's wheels would be great, but not to go and beat them off road and... or I would destroy them. So I headed home with plans for an unmarked connector from Mag to Flagstaff. Made a wrong turn and ended up going down some crazy rock ledges and 4x4 rutted out steep rocky roads. Then had to carry the TC over a ridge or two to get back on track, more crazy nasty 4x4 roads and I made it home in three and a half hours. The new wheel tire combo is great, and I didn't ruin them yet Bob.

Do I look lost here? I thought I was unlost, but then after I took this I figured out that I was still lost.


Sunday was up at work again to send out some TPS reports

Snowmaking was on and on! Tic toc...


Got a little superfan action in with the G pup on Sunday aft out at the Boulder Res. Great battle in the mens open race between Danny Summerhill, Jon Baker, Mat Pacocho, Brandon 'Dubba' Dwight, and Pete 'The Pilot' Webber. Summerhill pushed it from the gun, spent the most time on the front attacking, and had the most in the tank in the end. Great racing by all 5 guys, all tough as nails in the cold, wet snowy conditions.

Sat night in the 612

Already viewed it at their HQ, good, but not their best.

Snow

It is coming out of the sky, both the real stuff and the other stuff. Eldo snowmaking dept fired up for the first night of the season last night.... Tic Toc

Commutathon is still on.

Made it home Wed night down a sloppy Sugarloaf rd on the LHT. Cold and damp, the whole world was frosted white. Had to hop in the shower the second I got home to warm up.

Thurs was a clear cold day and the Hwood Jav got the call. Blasted it right down Boulder Canyon. Almost like a rest day, but still a good 45 minute big ring ride.

Soulcraft brought me up this morning, making it day five for the week on bike number five. Planning to head down Gold Hill rd, or maybe down some Forest Service roads to make it route number five for the week as well.

With winter getting ready to slam to door on some of my great rides, there is no time to waste.

Only picutre I took this week was Monday morning. This is the Gun before I destroyed the rear wheel in a pothole. It is resting for the winter now since I down't have any Campy rear wheels that work...

Don't you have anything better to do!

That is the quote of the day, or words of wisdom, depending on how you interpret them.

And here is the context.

I took the bus from Boulder to Ned, with the LHT on the front rack getting glazed over with ice and snow. Made a stop at Happy Trails to get coffee, juice, and a pecan roll. Back out the door, on the LHT, and thru the old town section of Ned, inch or two of snow/slush on the ground. Past the HS and heading to Eldo, snow/ sleet coming down, but no wind and really a pretty nice morning. Quarter mile past the school, I hear the words.

"Don't you have anything better to do"

Sort of odd, since it is not the type of morning that someone would be hanging out outside.

I look to the left, in the driveway that goes behind the Ned HS football field, 8 or so dirtbag kids are standing in a circle in the snow/ slush / sleet. They are smoking, something.

My response was a blank stare.

The follow up words from the circle jerk were good, but he was losing steam "You are riding your bike in a snowstorm".

My response was a smile.

Then, I went on with the business of getting a mile down the road to start the climb up the shelf road.

About the only other response that might have been spot on would have been "Fuckin A". I think that would have made sense, it really is an answer to everything.

During my slog up the shelf I thought about the evil looking smile that Chris Horner gets on his face while he is flying up climbs during races. It is as if he is suffering, but really enjoying the suffering. And in the smile there is also some sort of pleasure that while he is making himself suffer, he is making anyone who wants to stay with him suffer even more.

Hopefully my smile was an evil one this morning. Even if the only person suffering was me.

Today is day seven in a row on the bike. Hat trick for the week on commutes. All on different bikes. Monday was like summer and the KW Gunnar took me up and then the long way home thru Ward. Tues was like summer in the morning and Seattle in the afternoon. The Spot took my down from Eldo to Boulder via Mag, the entire ride was in a fog / cloud of drizzle and rain. Today the LHT got called into duty. With a couple inches of snow on the shelf road the granny gear is nice for sitting to get traction and spinning up up up.

I wonder what season it will be when I roll out this afternoon. Anything is better than Seattle.

Jan

Looks like Jan is enjoying brats and beer all year long now, not just from Aug thru Feb.

I wonder if he is still able to lure models into his Porsche when he is out clubbing??

Was great watching him dial up his big diesel when he was racing, even if it ran on some banned fuel every now and then.

Claw

Saw this tree near Bear lake on Saturday. Based on the name of the lake... probably from a bear clawing the tree. It seemed more like the size of a mountain lion, but maybe it was a small bear?? Either way, I wouldn't want a back scratch from it!

Weekend

Rode thru Gold Hill on Friday night on the Spot. After making it up the wall just east of town, the view back west never gets old.


Stopped out at the Valmont bike park on Saturday to watch a bit of cx racing. Great crowd, tons of racers. Super lame that all the Cat 3 and others were out warming up on the course during the junior race. I guess, they are just kids, and the people out there are professional weekend warriors, so they have that right to ride the course whenever they want. I mean the kids don't even have deep v carbon tubular wheels so they can't really be that serious about it...


Went up to RMNP with some family that was in town and watched the Elk being Elk.


Makes me think of this.