Congratulations to Urs Koenig

Just got back from crewing for my client and friend, Urs, at the Hoodoo 500. Awesome race and Urs did really well. Just exactly one hour behind first place, Kennith Philbrick.

If was really a blast to help out with Ken and DJ. Ken has crewed for Urs many times, so DJ and I followed instruction from the main man, Ken. Well, if you don't count some direction from Urs.

It pays to have a really organized racer and crew. I learned that from so many years of racing. If you don't have a great crew too many things can go wrong. Organization is where it's at! Well, and of course, a strong rider. A very strong rider.

I flew in on Thursday before the race and met the gang at the Las Vegas airport. From there, Urs rented a van and off we went to St George to check into the hotel. We arrived at the hotel with enough time to get a meal and get some needed sleep. It's always best to get extra sleep two nights before you race because most racers never sleep well the night before the race.

Friday we had a great hotel breakfast and then it was off to shop for supplies needed in order to get a really organized support van and to find last minute food for Urs and the crew.

During the set up I met up with a friend and client, Larry. He lives in Vegas and came over to St. George to help another client, Leslie, race. She was using this race as a way to gain experience and see if she likes ultra riding. She is the current Double Ironman Chanpion. Crazy girl likes ultra running and swimming, too. She did learn a lot and is ready to come back for more.

By mid afternoon all was good with the race support van and we were off to get the car, bikes, and Urs inspected. All good.

By dinner time, 5:30 Utah time, we were able to repeat the dinner from the night before and we were all fueled and ready for the race on Saturday.

Race morning we were up at 5:00 AM and ready to rock and roll. We all met at the entrance to the hotel and start line. All the racers waited for the start call to go off and away they all rode in a neutral 8 mile section of the race course- support cars not allowed. We, the crew made sure we had everything and off we went to meet up at about the 15 mile point to connect with the racers, and our main man, Urs.

At our very first encounter with Urs, he told us he had already changed a flat tire. (Leslie, too, as it turns out, also flatted in the same place). We changed out wheels in order to make sure there would be no other flat issues and later changed that wheel back during one of our quick Indy pit stops. The rest of the day was spent leap frogging Urs and asking him what he'd like to eat or drink. We would occasionally tell him map directions, so that he wouldn't have to look at his own maps.

I was really impressed with Urs' speed on the climbs. I'd not seen Urs ride before this race and although, from his past record setting races, I knew he was fast, I was happy to see him in action. Awesome strength to weight ration is what sets many racers apart in ultra distance racing. All racing for that matter. And he's got it.

Several times throughout the race, the racers had to go above 7,000 feet. I think the highest point just about 10,500. Could be a little higher.



On the first day of the race the temperature was not too bad. I think in the high 80s low 90s. Much better than expected and the temp for Sunday and Monday was 100. Yikes.

As night came we placed lights onto the bike and made sure Urs was warm enough. I was a little surprised that it got as cold as it actually did. I live at 7,000 feet in Colorado and I'm used to cool nights by this time of the year but during this race it got really cold.

By mid morning Urs had moved himself into 2nd place and did so with strength and conviction. I asked him to pull away from another racer, previously in second, knowing I was pushing him a little harder than he may have wanted to go. I wanted to see if the other racer could hold Urs' pace. He didn't and Urs pulled away eventually getting a 21 minute lead. Although a good lead, not a lot in ultra distance racing. That means we didn't allow him much coasting or breaks so as to not have anoy other racers sneak up on us.


By late morning, about 27 hours into the race, we told Urs he still only had the 21 minutes over third place (staying consistently 1 hour and some change behind first place) and we told him to keep kicking it up a notch. As more hills and the temperature kept rising, I'm sure that was easy to do!

With about 15 miles to the finish the racers had to leave their crews and go through a canyon park. The racers were to finish the race on their own without support. We supplied Urs with plenty of fluids and spare tubes and we went onto the finish line and anxiously awaited his arrival.

BY the finish line, we were so excited to see he made up a few more minutes on first place and came in exactly one hour behind first place Kennith Philbrick. Very impressive and way to keep the fire lit until the very end.



I look forward to crewing with this great team (crew and racer) in the future.

House and fitness do not go together

Have to laugh. Someone ran into me yesterday and said I look really fit. HHHmmmmmm. No way, I say.

It's been a whole summer of fixing fixing and then more fixing. Not much riding, still getting the Girls out on hikes, and very little of anything but the house and work.

Foaming up the joint for winter warmth.

New drywall to replace the 60 year old stuff with water damage.


The house is looking really good but we're tired and only as fit as someone that's been picking up debris, wood, tiling materials, grout, and everything else that goes along with sprucing up a 140 year old house.

Finding all sorts of stuff like doors where walls should be. Locks and all.

Tile the kitchen to look all spiffy.

New floors, new roof, new drywall, new insulation, new tile and new heat. Should be awesome when it's done. Almost. Then, back on the bike and back into fitness mode.

I tell my clients there's no excuse for not staying in shape. Sure hope demo work and building counts.

Bests parts of summer were:
Lynnie Twinnie came to visit.

Went on some good long mountain hikes.

Summer of house fixing, Lynnie Twinnie and friends galore

Lynnie Twinnie and me.

Well, I'm finally not so busy I can actually see the end of the tunnel.
We've had great visits from friends and from Lynnie Twinnie, my twin sis.

We've also been fixing drywall, roof leaks, and more at the home pad. Lots still to do. Just had to get to it.

Not much riding these days. Maybe 1-2 x per week a commute to work and back and another mt bike ride somewhere in the week. Am very out of shape.



The summer has been a little hot the past week so it's been nice to be up here at 7,000 feet.

Yes, we have still been hiking the Girls. On one of our hikes a neighbor's Dalmation mix actually tried to attack Kayla Wiggins and then turned on Lucie the Newbie and she never saw it coming. People should have better behaved dogs and maybe take them to obedience classes for aggressive behavior.

I got the Newbie to our awesome vet within the hour (thanks Dr. Bob) and he got it all cleaned out and got her on antibiotics. That did the trick and now it'd be nice if the owner would pay the bill. Actually it'd be nice if they acted at all sorry. Oh well. Can't teach manners but I can avoid that dog in the future.


Maybe the Girls should be more like this sign???

So in a couple of weeks my work will close for renovations and I'll be forced to take vacation time. Not a bad thing. I can do some painting on the house, roof repairs and finally get in some consistent riding. Maybe even get in shape again.

Sorry it took a while to write in the blog. Will try to do better.

The search for Clay Rubano is over

Thanks to so many people. To so many friends, family and just people that wanted to help. Thanks you for finding Clay.

I cannot seem to stop thinking about Clay. Could it be that I've not even started on my book. The book he said would help so many people? Could it be that we're in the middle of ripping our house apart and the last time we did that, he was here sleeping in all of the mess and helping us get through the chaos? Or is it that I just plain miss his laugh and funny ways?

Here is the latest news about Clay Rubano. He has been found but that doesn't mean it's any easier or that I have closure. I feel a little selfish that I feel this way and I know how hard this must be for Rachael and his family.

I know that if you take the time to read all of the blogs about him you will find out just how many people he shared his time and life with. I know I am so lucky to have known him and all of the people that knew him back. Aaahhhh, the pain it is to know someone so special is the pain to know that we may not have them forever.

Here is the update and you can read more at this web site. http://clayrubanosearch.com
"Spring search update 6/9/08
On June 8th, 2008 Clay Rubano was found in Sinks Canyon, outside of Lander, WY. A team of searchers discovered Clay approximately ¾ of a mile east of Sheep Bridge, which is on the Middle Fork trail of the Popo Agie River. Initial indications point to Clay falling from some height (perhaps 75 feet) north of the trail in this area. He was not on the trail. The area that Clay was found in was part of the search area that was drawn up last November. It was an area that had been searched with both people and dog teams. He was found in an area that was obscured from the air and required luck and persistence from ground searchers. The site had attracted two different dog teams last November but did not reveal any clues at the time.

The recent search event was comprised of volunteers from multiple states and agencies. The team that discovered Clay was made up of friends from Glacier National Park. Charlie Logan, the Incident Commander of this recent search, shared his appreciation of the search efforts that the Fremont County Search and Rescue team made last November. Without their thorough and well executed search efforts, Clay would likely not have been discovered so early in this recent search.

The Fremont Country Coroner’s Office is handling further investigation of the site where Clay was found. All requests for information should be directed to the Fremont County Coroner’s Office.

It's summer, sort of.

Well, it's June and I hardly ever write in the blog. At least it's been sooner than a month. Oh well, that means I have time to play and work. Just as busy as this little bird making a nest. Think they abandoned this one, though, because it's right near our front gate and very busy and noisy. Three other bird houses are full so there will be plenty of little birds flying about soon.

Rode my mt bike twice last weekend, about 3 1/2 hours each day. Dirt roads, double track, and some single track. I'm kind of slow on the really rocky descents. Haven't even tried any jumps or drops. Don't have my technical skills honed in right now but that'll come quickly.

When I think what I used to be able to ride (technical) I'm basically a wimp now. The races in Italy ( 24 Hours of Finale) were so technical and I loved them. The first year I went to race in Italy I was so scared on my first pre-rides of the race course that I wanted to walk everything. ON the second loop of the same course I was able to clear almost everything and by race day I could ride with the guys. What a long time ago that seems to be.

I've been riding up near Peak To Peak and there's still a lot of snow on the mountains. Reminds me of the first year I raced in Montezuma's Revenge. Steve and I would drive up to pre-ride the loops and have to walk about 30 % of the highest course area. Too funny. We thought the snow would never melt. Of course it did and then the next few seasons it was a drought summer. Glad it looks more normal this year.
I'd like to start taking the Girls up to the mountains to hike 13 and 14-neers. of course we'll hike Audubon. Lucie's favorite. One hike I'd love to do is to take the Girls over Arapahoe Peaks to Tabernash area, have someone pick us up, spend the night and hike back the next day.

We've also have about a day a week of misty cool weather. Reminds me of the summers 10 years ago. I like days like this because I tend to get more done around the house.

Getting ready to fix the leaky roof and fix the drywall that the leaky roof wrecked. Uuuhhhggg! Home-oweing is hard sometimes.

Also trying to figure out if we can get away for several days to go to another search for Clay. I'm actually not sure I can handle it. I've realized that I've been ignoring how much his disappearance has affected me.

Time for the mt bike

Two mt bike rides over the weekend. No technical trails, just time on the mt bike. Rode up to 9,000. Still have some snow piles here and there.

There's also a lot of snow on the trails up from here. Think it may be awhile to get up high. No worries here as the weather is not very hot right now. Seems spring is late this year. Memorial Day is supposed to have rain which will be good for all of the runners but not so good for the festival. I'm working all day, so OK by me. Means the campers can't set the woods on fire.

Hail in the mountains, worse for the people of the plains

This was nothing compared to what we encountered on our walk with the Girls and what the people on the plains of Colorado got.

As we walked the Girls, it was hailing little pea sized hail throughout the hike. Special K didn't mind so much, as not much ever bothers her. L-Newbie, however, didn't like the hail one bit but we made her go on the hike anyway.

As we headed for the Red Shack the Girls kept picking up a scent of what Steve and I figured was the local bear. Kinda smelly and kept the Girls on their toes. So we decided to turn back and take a different route. No point in following something much bigger, much meaner, and much more adept to the woods.

As we got about an hour into the hike and close to home the hail got much worse. Much worse.

All of a sudden the sky got very dark and hail the size of large grapes began to dump. That's when the Girls decided they'd had enough. They both took off like bats outa h#$% and no amount of calling and whistling mattered. It's also when a huge chunk of hail hit me in the eye. No I wasn't looking up.

Special K came running back but L was nowhere in sight. So I ran down the trail calling and calling.

Only after the hail dropped more normal sizes did she come back, and not looking very good. She hates rain, let alone hail. This was the end of the hike and as it turned out, the beginning of the worst weather to hit the Greely, Ft. Collins, and Windsor.

Working on getting some goods together for these folks and will deliver it later this week.

Three 50 mile loops up, around and past Ward, Colorado

Last weekend Steve and I met a group of people on the Peak To Peak Hwy to go for a little ride. A little 150 mile ride that had about 16-18,000 feet of climbing. Just a little ride.

Last year I did the "group ride" with Catherine and Steve was able to do one loop, only a few months after his knee surgery.

We all met north of Ward at 6 AM, yes, I can get up early, if I have to. From Ward we rode past the beautiful snow covered mountains, about 25 miles to Lyons.

From Lyons we rode south (mostly up) on Hwy 36 to the turn off of Lefthand Canyon. Once on Lefthand, we headed (up) back to ward.
Lefthand Canyon is so beautiful and you follow the rider for most of the ride up. This year I noticed that the Beaver dams were bigger than ever.

The first loop around was pretty quick and a nice cool temperature. Most of the riders stay together for the first. Most people/riders come to do 1 or 2 loops. Most aren't crazy to do all three. About 4 of us did the entire three loops. It takes all day.

By the second loop we were going pretty slowly. This is the loop I remembered last year as being the hardest loop. It just seems to take forever and it's usually when my knees seem to hurt. And right on schedule, they felt sore this year.

the good thing about going slow is you see more. Like the river depth, the waterfalls, the flowes and all of the other riders.
by about 10:00 or 11:00 Am you see so many cyclists out riding. Today we saw and extra amount as there was a fund raising cycling event hosted by Davis Phinney's foundation for Parkinson's Disease. It was great to see so many people out riding.

By the time loop three rolled around, we were going about the same pace as loop two. Not fast but consistent. we were also about the only riders still out. It's late afternoon and most riders were home drinking coffee, beer, or Chai. We were still riding.

As you get close to ward you begin to notice the things in people's yards.
And you remember why you do things like this. Because we can. And we like it.

We also remember the people that came here before us. The people that didnt't have the time to ride their bikes 150 crazy miles. But people that came here to have better lives and to seek adventure. Hhhhmmmm.

240 Miles in 24 hours. Our Fleche.

We started on Sat AM in Louisville. From there went into the wind for the next 120 miles. All the while wishing we were the group from Wyoming coming south the whole ride (little did we know that that group had only one rider that was willing to ride into a snow storm-and well, we also all know that you cannot go as a group of one).

So, off we go towards Ft Collins, meandering our way through the rollers of Boulder County and Larimer, and some of Weld County. Every time we hit a section of road that heads east, we all wonder about the direction of the first half of our Fleche. At least there were these short 1/4 and 1/2 mile sections of no pedaling tailwind riding. At least.... Isn't that what you say as a hopeful rider about to ride 240 miles?


Into the headwinds and off we go past Carter Lake and onto the small farming roads towards Masonville. From there up we go to Stove Prairie.
Never been there before. Absolutely beautiful.
Here is where I finally realized that having a compact crank set would be a good thing. So much for saying "never"! Steve said he'd trade his compact for a triple. hhhmmmm. At the top we waited for our tandem team. Got too cold, though.



From the top of Stove Prairie we headed down to the Poudre River. That canyon is also very beautiful and I had never been there before this ride.
Here is where the weather decided to turn even worse.
A blizzard began and we had to stop and put on every bit of clothing we had. Good thing we brought all but the kitchen sink. I put on full length nylon rain pants, three jackets (one with a hood), and thankfully I already had my panty hose knee high on to keep my feet warm.

Once out of the canyon we headed to out control at Vern's in Laporte.
I had the best breakfast burrito I've ever had.
From Laporte we headed into more headwinds to get to Wellington. That would be our most northern point and thankfully allow us to get away from the headwind. Well, that's what we thought.

We zig zagged south and east and back west and then south again. Mostly the wind was quieting down and we only had slight headwinds and side winds from time to time. We rode past towns called Severence, Windsor, and Milliken.



When we got to our "dinner" spot, Johnsons Corner, we all decided that we would rather keep riding while we had another hour and a bit of daylight instead of sitting down for dinner. We all grabbed sandwiches, stashed them on the bike for later, and headed for Plattville. On the way to Plattville we turned on lights, put all vests on and changed sunglasses to clear lenses.



After the Plattville control we were happily riding in calmer winds and then all of a sudden one of the tandems pedal flew off. Luckily we found the pedal and ace mechanic Steve was able to piece it back together and secure it onto the spindle. Not sure how long it would hold up but maybe until the hotel room/control.

We made our way to Longmont, the southern end of town, only to realize the hotel was at the north end of town. Oh well, a few more miles. the hotel was a welcome relief, if only for a couple of hours.

At about 3 am we headed for Lafayette to our next control. We were approached by some pretty "high" teenagers that wondered if we were bike cops. Hee hee.

After Lafayette we headed back around Longmont and out to Lyons. The sky was starting to light up now and we could see that it had snowed quite a bit in the mountains. A great backdrop but also a memory of the cold day before.

After the quick breakfast of egg sandwiches in Lyons we were on the last 28 miles or so of our Fleche and we headed around Boulder and over to the Superior/our finish. We arrived with about 8 minutes to spare and waited in the parking lot to cross the "finish line" a 8:00 AM.

A great 240 mile "day" and many thanks to Catherine for a great route and to RMCC for sanctioning our ride.
Cannot wait to do it again next year.

Way to go James Hatch! Onward to the Olympic trials!

James Hatch is an Olympic hopeful. He runs the 800 meter and also the 1500. His goal is to go to the Olympic Trials in June and then on to the Beijing Olympics.

I train James in the gym and also give him nutritional advice. His coach, Joanne, is a good friend of mine and has been working with him on his goal of making it into the Olympics. If you want to watch James’s 1500 meter race from the Oregon Twilight Meet, there’s a great video at this link:
http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&member_id=6&video_id=3833


If the link doesn’t work, go to runnerspace.com and click on the featured video of Wheating winning the 1500 meters at the Oregon Twilight meet.

He got 3rd in this race and did a PR. Go James!

Better photo of the black bear

My neighbor saw the bear before it got to my house. She took a far better photo of the bear, than the one I posted yesterday.
No tag in the ear of this one. Let's hope it stays that way.

Never forget those that have walked with us and no longer can

Clay Rubano
Hhhmmmm.
Today I've been thinking a lot about two people that I loved very much and that are no longer with us any more. It's easy to keep moving on through life without much thought to the things that hurt our hearts. But that's not fair to the memories of others.

Dawne Lowery.
When we think about life it's easy to think about what the future holds, what things to worry about tomorrow and what plans we need to make. It's not so easy to think about today. To think about now and to enjoy it. To enjoy the people in our lives and to live in the present.

My life is really awesome. I don't want to forget how wonderful it is. It is the people that I've known and the people and family in it now that make my life wonderful.

Here's to many and all of the people that shared and enriched our lives. Thank you David, Jean, Scott, Dawne, Chloe, Dawne, Clay, Melissa, and many more.

Bears are back from winter vacation

Took the Girls hiking today and did the 2 miles loop out to the Red shack, up to the high trail and back down past the Antelope Trail. It was Kayla's first day off the leash in a very long time. Her foot is finally better and although she still wears a bootie, the cut is looking quite good.

So we're all coming down off of the trail to the house and I see this rather large footprint. It wasn't there on the way up. Usually I point it out and Steve makes fun of me and says I have mountain lion or bears on the brain. I usually say something like, no it looks much different from a dog footprint. Well, I didn't say anything this time.

We get back to the house and were looking at our bikes and Lucie starts to bark her deep bark like a warning. I kept looking to the driveway to see if someone had stopped by. Then I realize that she is looking into the woods. I ask her what she sees and "good protect"-out command for doing just that.

I look to where her attention is and low and behold there's a huge black bear. It's the same black bear we saw many times last summer.

So I grab the camera and go to the street to take a photo. He's so un-phased by me, my yelling and the dogs barking that he gives me a look and just walks along.

Guess he's pretty hungry and even though it was garbage day, I think he missed all of the trash cans.

Pre ride for the Fleche

So yesterday I rode to Boulder to work (commuted) and rode a long way home. Had to re-test out how my nice 15 pound bike would hold up to a 5 pound rear trunk bag, and 3 pound handle bar bag, 2 full water bottles, three front lights (thanks Cat Eye), three rear red lights (again, thanks Cat Eye), and a few other changes to turn a racing bike in to a temporary Brevet bike.

Well. All went well except my T-bar that holds the front lights wouldn't stay tight. Have to work on that. If I have to get the duct tape out, I will.
ALl in all the bike handled so well. I love it.

Dry run with loaded bike

Today was the dry run ride in preparation for the Fleche. We loaded up our bikes and headed to Boulder. Steve on his Seven Brevet bike-built to carry a load and me on my KHS Flite Team racing bike. Normally 15 pounds and very fast-now about 8-9 pounds heavier and still pretty darn fast. Man, I love this bike. I just hope it doesn't hate me for loading it down.
First stop on the ride was to watch our friend race in a triathlon. She was faster than we thought but got to see her on her run.

Next stop was a place called Resource 2000. We were looking for doors, windows, and cabinets. No luck but we did run into our good friend John and his wife. They too were taking advantage of the nice warm weather and taking a bike ride.
From Resource 200 we headed through town and over to another friend's house to get him out riding. We brought him along for the last leg of the ride-the ride back home.

We learned a lot from the ride today. My seat had been slipping backward for the last couple of months. I knew it didn't seem right but thought maybe I was mistaken. We fixed that. The bike proved to be a champ. We also added all of the lights and finished the minor bag adjustments.

I think it will be great ride next weekend. Fun, adventurous and a great learning experience. Who knows, maybe we'll do a lot of these and I'll look for my own Brevet bike.

Family day with the Girls

No ride on Saturday for this weekend. Had to write plans in the morning and get more done for the Fleche. But that didn't mean it was a total wash of a day. I got in 2 hikes with The Girls, a play date with their friend Greta and Kayla's brother, Kiptu, and a great dinner to finish off the day.

Day off on Wednesday and an awesome century

Heading out of town, past Lyons gives us an awesome view. We're heading for Cater Lake, Big Thompson Canyon, and up to Estes Park. We took the day off and planned an easy day to Estes for the last big ride before the Fleche.

We got to Big Thompson in a little under two hours and refueled at the RV park. Good place to get water and food and use the very clean bathrooms. They don't seem to mind and we always buy something to support their kindness.
When you see this, you know you're about to get onto the Big Thompson Canyon road.
Big Thompson is my favorite way to Estes Park. An easy grade and always something to look at. It also has a great shoulder to ride the whole way up. I never seem to notice the traffic, although it can have a lot of it on the summer weekends.


A quick stop top take a photo along the way. Great places to fish, too.

When you get to Estes you have your pick of several places to sit down eat or grab a bite at the local Safeway. If I'm in a hurry, I stop at the first gas station I see. This day, I was in a hurry to keep moving. I wanted to see how fast we could do the ride in.

The only tailwind of the day was out of Estes on 36. The 2 mile hill was so easy it just didn't seem right. Without pedaling too much our average on the climb was about 14/15 without effort. Then we only had a mild headwind back down to Lyons.

Once in Lyons I asked Steve what are avg pace was and he told me it was about 17.8. Well, I always like a challenge. Sorry Steve. I know I said it'd be an easy day but, well, let's get the avg over 18.

So ride hard we did for the last 25 miles. Every time we got the avg up on more 10th, I'd say, "Ok, now we have to go faster. Again, lucky the headwind back to Boulder was only mild. We kept upping the ante. The closer we got the less distance we'd have to creep the avg higher.

A few times my quads started to cramp and I'd have to let up a bit.
Finally into Boulder and just as we pulled into the end of the ride, Steve yelled we had 18.5. Yeah!

We did a 5.5 hour century. Actually 102 miles. Not bad for all of the time I had to take off over the winter. Now I know we'll be ready for the Fleche.

Almost May and the Fleche is only 2 weeks away

We are so lucky to live here!

Last Sunday Steve and I decided to ride up to Ward and ride some of the Ward 150 Loop. That event is the weekend after the Fleche and we will not have another chance to ride the route. Not really sure how many loops I'll be able to do but will plan for all three. 150 miles is a lot to do after doing 225 miles. Aaahhhh, whatever.

So, riding out of town I knew my legs felt good. A couple of riders caught onto our wheel and in true road riding etiquette, they stayed behind us instead of what some, not so cool, riders do. That is, they stayed behind us, not because they couldn't ride faster, but because it's not cool to ride around people and then ride the same pace. I hate that back and forth game, unless you are with friends and trying to out do each other. Anyway, I knew I felt good and it'd be a good riding day.

We turned onto Lefthand and up we went. The pace wasn't really super fast but a really comfortable high tempo pace. My HR stuck around 150 and occasionally popped to 160. That's moderately high for me as my HR tends to stay pretty low, even with a hard effort. Still, my legs felt awesome. Not like any effort. We also had a headwind. We took turns pulling and whenever the wind let up we rode side by side.

It was a great ride to Ward. I feared having to traverse at the very top because I have lower gearing but I stayed on Steve's wheel to the top. Once we got to the top, we put on more clothes and rode Peak To Peak to Raymond and down to Lyons. I got so cold I couldn't feel my hands.

The temp to Ward had been a very comfortable sunny 62/3 degrees but on the top (about 9,000 feet) it was only about 50 degrees. Too cold for the amount (or lack of) clothes I had on.
Once in Lyons it was warmer and more comfortable.

By the time we got back to Boulder, we were thoroughly trashed.

End of April and lots of work and riding.

Thank you BMA and all the folks that help making mountain bike trails.

First time on the new trail. Well, old trail just open to us.

My good friend Jenn does a great "move" climbing the stairs near Marshall Mesa.

After returning from Desert Camp, I jumped right back into work and getting ready for the upcoming Fleche, now only one week away.

I've been commuting as much as possible. It's a 30 min (all out time trial) to work and about a 50-60 minute ride back home. About 25 miles round trip. A very good workout, especially when I'm late heading to work. I call it my TT or interval training. It keeps me in really good shape.

I like commuting because it's my own little "green" part of life and I also like to save on gas-it's about 47 dollars to fill my take now. Steve has been commuting a lot, too. He gets better gas mileage in his little Honda. We only drive the 88 van on road trips when we can sleep/camp in it and cramming the recycling materials in it. Trying to not be one of the people who say they do all they can to help with Global Warming and then they drive big huge trucks to and from work. I guess you can't just sell one of those trucks right now so maybe it's the only way to get around. I feel guilty enough even owning the van but it is functional and there are a lot of things I can't cram into the wagon. It's pretty tight at times when two bikes are on it, two dogs are in it, and then all of the other stuff brought to town in order not to make more then one trip into town. I guess every little bit helps. So I'll keep trying o commute at least twice a week and not drive on days off.

Two weekends ago Steve and I rode to Boulder to meet up with Eugene for a mountain bike ride. Time to ride some trails we've not been on in a long time. It was also my second mt bike ride of the year. I already have about 2500 miles and all on the road. Time to ride the mt bike.

That Sunday we headed out to Marshall Mesa and a trail I think is called Sparrow, or Something. I can't remember the name. Also to go ride on a trail just opened to mountain bikers near Eldorado Springs. Absolutely awesome!

The open space and expansive views were incredible. We saw a lot of friends out riding and had nice chats about how great our lives are. We truly are very lucky. Lucky to have the places to ride, the views to look at and also the fitness to ride it all.

Showing Jenn how to make the moves up the stairs with out making it take too much energy.

The great single track riding near Boulder Colorado.

I'mmmmmm baaaccckkkkk... from PacTour Women's Cycling Camp

Sierra Vista, Arizona. Home for a week.


Pact Tour Women's Week in Arizona.



Just got back from Arizona. Went as a coach for Pac Tour's Women's Week. A week long, awesome cycling get together for women to learn more about riding their bikes. The week begins and ends in Tucson Arizona, with 4 days of riding around Sierra Vistas, Bisbee, and Tombstone, in between. The ride lengths can vary for all levels of riders. Most women rode around 450 miles.


The first day we all arrive the tour leaders, Lon and Susan, have tools out ready for us to put the bikes together and ready to ride. day number one is optional as women are arriving at all times during the day. Several of us elected to ride a 40 mile ride to and around The Monument.


One of the best things about this ride was to see so many different kinds of vegitation all in one area. Many different kinds of cacti.

Day 2 is the first "real" day of camp and we head out around 7 AM to ride to Sierra Vista. It's not a hard day but is one of the longer days of riding. It's about 84 miles. There are some hills and for some the first hills they've been riding on since last year.

We were very lucky on the first day and, actually, all week. We never had very hot temperatures and one day never made it past 65 degrees.

Pac Tour camps are so well organized and the staff is always there to help us all. it's always nice to see the vans up ahead and have food and drink ready to go.

Day 3 was a ride from Sierra Vista to Bisbee, from the south, and then back to the hotel. After lunch we took groups of women and taught them the basics of a pace line and double pace line riding. All of the women did such a great job.

Bisbee soda shop. Yummy pie and shakes.

One of the women that came to camp this year, Karla, had just started to ride last year. For someone that is this new to the sport, she is an incredibly strong rider.
The other coaches that were on hand to offer support and riding techniques, were Terri and George. They put on a race event in Oregon every year called Race Across Oregon. Terri, pictured above, has a 17 month old, and I don't know how she has time to do everything she does. Still, she was out there riding with everyone ,as if she never had any time off her bike.

Most afternoons and evenings we all got together and talked about coaching topics like how to descend and climb on the bikes, how to prepare for training events, nutrition, and mechanical skills.

We also saw a great movie about Graeme Obree; The Flying Scotsman: Cycling to Triumph Through My Darkest Hours. What an incredible story.
Day 4 was a day of riding through the wine country of Elgin and back to our hotel. Not quite Napa Valley but beautiful rolling hills and a few wine vineyards here and there. This day was quite cold.

Day 5 was a ride to the top of Mule Pass and around to Tombstone. many of the women walked around the historic town of Tombstone.

Day 6 was a ride up to Coronado and a good day for the women to get coaching drills from George with his video camera.

we were very lucky on our last day, the ride from Sierra Vista back to Tucson. We had a very strong tail wind and a rolling descent the whole day. IN fact, our average speeds were around 19 mph and my HR was in the low 100s. Now that' a great way to end a long week of riding.
Once we arrived back to the Tucson Hotel, we all put our bikes together and ready to ship home (or take on the plane).


A special thanks goes out to all of the camp women, the staff, Lon and Susan of Pac Tour http://www.pactour.com/desert.
Also I would like to thank Justin's Nut Butter (www.justinsnutbutter.com)
They sent us packets of Peeanut Butter to sample and eat during the rides. They rock! Also, a company called nubutte http://www.nubutte.com/.
They sent us samples of the best chamois cream I've ever used.

Look on the Pac Tour web site for more information on other great camps and riding tours.