Naked Blobs to go with the Green Blobs.

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Nice hike with Dr. Bob, his dogs and my Girls. Then he gave a lookie-look at Nina the cat. She's getting old and I wanted to make sure she's doing well. While he was taking her blood, while I held her, she peed on me and floor. So I just finished cleaning that up and the muddy prints from all of the dog playing.

Next, work on programs for a bit and then do a Yoga video. Gotta stay flexible and fit.

After that I think I'll go pop a Dale's Pale Ale. Yummy.......

Oh ye wind of winds...... why I like thee so....

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Add ImageMan was it windy today, but... Steve and I were able to knock off another 50 something. Oh was I ever tired. It made for the 4th 50 something ride this week. Yeah, just before the cold is blowing in.
Let's see why wind is good. Well it...
1) Blows away smog and there can be a lot of it in winter around the Boulder area. I have asthma so I feel it when there's smog.
2) It blows you very fast in some directions.
3) If you drop a wrapper, you get to have lots of extra miles chasing after it.
4) You get morep owerful gluts and quads fighting it in all sorts of directions. And..
5) It makes calm days very very easy.



Did the Fruit Loops, again. I never get tired of them and when it's really windy, they keep you, sort of, out of the wind.

No takers on the ride other than Steve so off we went. After, of course, the girls got a hike. I know it must seem like out life revolves around the hikes-well, the do. Sort of. But happy dog is most certainly a good dog. Our dogs are good dogs.

Quite warm today. Got out the summer pants. Was 55 by the time we hikes and I think it hit 60 when we rode.

Go To "Training Tips" for clothing choices for cold weather.

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HOW TO DRESS FOR HIGH 30s-TO MID 40 DEGREE CYCLING, SKIING, HIKING, AND SNOWSHOE WEATHER.


I found all of these at the Performance Bike Shop web site. Bonus: I think all of them were on sale.

-Bra top-I wear whatever I grab out of the drawer.

-Base layer- Craft. I like Smartwool but you can't beat the fit of Craft.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=20961&subcategory_ID=1223

For more info go to my "Training Tips" on my web sites home page for ore info.
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Yahoo, 2009 is here and looking wonderful. Little windy but I'm not complaining! My friend Catherine was doing a century with the RMCC. http://www.rmccrides.com/. I asked her to call me with the route they were doing and she phoned at 7:50 this AM. "Yuppers", I said. "count me in to meet you all somewhere along the way".
So I hustled to Lyons (got there in 45 minutes) and met them at the Shamrock. Yup, they'd done 50 already.

Motorists may not like us on the road but man can we pack into a little market/gas station and buy a load of junk food and drinks.

I continued around Lyons with the group of about 20 and then headed back up 36 to Jay Road with them. Bit past there I peeled off and thanked them all for a great draft and talk fest. Just being polite, as I tagged on half way into their ride, and yes, I AM a member of RMCC.

From there I tooled around Boulder and decided to go say Happy New Year to my friend Alicia.Bought some milk ( I like 1% or non fat) and eggs. Yummy, eggs and Salmon. Going to be a great post meal snack. Then a little hike with Steve and the Girls. Perfect workout day.

Another ride-a 45 miler under the belt. Pretty good HR for a casual ride. Did a HR 155-160/ PE of about 6-7 ( was afraid I'd be late) the whole way to Lyons. No idea on power as the PowerTap is on another wheel. Rest of the ride it bounced around between 130 and 155.

Yesterday's ride was a little easier with about an average HR of 140. I'll make tomorrow's ride a sub tempo ride, unless the wind is really bad. That's where a good indoor ride comes in handy this time of year-easy to keep numbers low-I also can see power/watts.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Late Starts, Running Butts, Paul Bunyon, and Proper Lifting Form.

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Oh, what you can see on your rides.....

Man we live is a most awesome place. Sunday was wicked windy in the morning. Funny thing is...

OK, there is an advantage to sleeping in until 9. You get up, see that there is mega wind howling around and you have a cup of coffee. Then you hike your dogs into the woods up the hill and play around with them so they have a fun day, too. Then you come back, with the wind still howling and think, maybe a ride up Sunshine may be better. But then you get your crap together and pile into the car and head to Boulder. As you get there and stand in some random parking lot, you begin to grin... the wind is not as bad as earlier in the day. Ha ha. The late starters win. Other late starters are meeting up with you. You ride. You ride, we rode, 52 miles. We were lucky... the wind was pretty mild. Maybe consistent at 20 mph. That's nothing compared to early in the day. And.... it was hardly blowing when we hit the Diagonal. Lucky? Maybe. Happy, for sure!
Steve got the bikes and gear ready and I took the Girls for their hike on the local trails. I have to say, I'm getting in better shape taking them up the hills so much. It's great winter cross training. Now that I'm running with them so often, I can feel that my legs are more equal in strength. The running has really helped get my Quads, Hamstrings, and Gluts pretty strong. More even. That's the key to cross training. The bike is awesome, great, and my passion and it's not weight bearing, but I know it's not always the best at making the muscles even. Too easy to use only one side of your legs, your hips, your gluts. So, running and hiking (bonus bc it's with the Girls) is great cross training for me in the winter. That and soon I'd like to skate ski. That's great for balance.

So, hike we did. And, we found the "Sherpa Hat"! That's bonus points.



After our hike we hurried to town to ride. And the first stop was...

Next we were in search for Paul. We found him, in all his total 30 foot high glory.

Fruit Loops, the Small Square Loop. Hygiene, and home.



Another great day staying in shape for the upcoming Brevet season.


Goofy Sherpa Hat shadow photos.
SO many years together and still having fun.
Oh yessssssss. Must use proper lifting techniques even when moveing things off of your trails.

Oh the day was cold but so fantastic.

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Great happy holidays for all!


The holiday week started with a great dinner with H and J at the Gold Hill Inn restaurant. We don't eat out a lot but I try to get to the GHI at least 2x per year. Now they only be open for New Year's and then closed until May. We had our honeymoon at the Inn-a long long time ago. So it has a lot of meaning to us.

On Christmas day we decided not to make traditional plans and instead Steveo slept in and I ran the Girls for about 2 1/2 miles. We had a blast. We had the trails all to ourselves and it was quite peaceful.

When we got home Steveo was up and I talked him into skipping opening gifts and instead, heading to Boulder for a ride. It was great. ABout 36 degrees when we started and then up to about 42. Just perfect for a winter ride.
Again, a good plug for Rudy Project and Clif Bar-we ate Luna Moons on the ride.
We got to stop and take photos of silly little things. Like....

The furry cows.......
The snow covering the ground to prove that it is a white Christmas......
And a shadow of me riding....
After our ride we headed back home and were able to get in another hike/walk with the Girls. My legs were a little jiggly b/c of the early run, not a lot of food, other than the Moons, and then not being used to a ride (only) about 2.1/2 hours. But it was in the wind so......

The day after X-Mas we both worked but I only had to work a half day. Got to have lunch with JE and then made it home to run with the Girls (yes, again). I know, that's all I write about but it's just so much fun.

Today, Sat. was mostly picking up the house, organizing my bike bag and cleaning out my car. Then got a cold and windy run in with, you guessed it, the Girls. had to keep them moving as it was only 26 degrees.

Tomorrow a ride as it will be close to 50!

Beautiful winter day. The whole weekend was excellent.

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Mapleton Hill neighborhood with beautiful holiday lights.


Awesome hiking with Steve and the Girls.

It was a great weekend. Lots of holiday cheer, gathering of friends, and outdoor activities.

Saturday was a great day for baking cookies and making chocolates. I'm working on making chocolates that have new and interesting flavors.

Saturday I went to visit my friends Matt and Cathy and their new baby (well, 5 1/2 months old), Jack. He is quite the cuties and so happy. Fun to catch up with them.

Then I did what I call "floundering". You know, when you don't really have plans to do anything but you feel like you should be doing something productive. So I drove around for a while with not a lot of purpose. I did get some last minute holiday shopping done and then got home in time to hike with the Girls again. This hike was quite a bit colder than the earlier hike. Just the same we were able to get in a couple of miles at a quick pace. That way they could stay warm. It was only about 18 degrees. The Girls seem to like the cold weather-or they know that running around a lot keeps them warm. Still it's amazing how agile they are ducking and zipping here and there through the trees and bushes.

Saturday night we went to Nannie's holiday party. She has so many amazing friends. Fun fun fun! Good food and a good time. Also, nice to drive through her new neighborhood and see the holiday lights.
Sunday we slept in very "in". Woke up at 10:00! Yikes. Felt like I had to catch up all day. Made the last of the batches of cookies and chocolate. After cleaning up the house we took the Girls out. Although the temps were a little colder from Saturday, it seemed much warmer. We got in a great hour and it was so beautiful. Lots of great colors in the sky.

Never get tired of these views. Can see almost the whole way to Boulder.




Same big white rock, different day. Never get tired of this special spot.

After the hike but before the dinner at Gold Hill Inn, we cut a Holiday tree down-from our yard, of course. It's small but needed to be cut b/c it was too close to other trees.

Sunday night we went to the Gold Hill Inn. Awesome food and a really good place to hang with friends. Jeff and Holly came up with us. Good time by all.



Steve just saw his 17th mountain lion, gggeeezzz.

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And, it snowed on Larry in Vegas. Maybe winter riding in Las Vegas isn't all it's cracked up to be.
What else is new? I've got two sisters on FB now. Yahoo! One more thing to look at and connect to the world.

I also wish I was going somewhere for the holiday. Like back East or South. I like out winters but I feel the itch to travel somewhere. I miss my family as I didn't travel this summer to see them.

Steve just told me he saw his 17th lion tonight driving home. Same place he saw one two years ago at the mouth of Canyon just at the last house. The last time he saw one there was when he was commuting home on his bike and it jumped onto the bike path in front of him. It didn't move so he picked his bike up over his head and hissed. Good going Steve. But it did eventually go back into the woods and silly Steve rode past it.

Now he's seen 17 to my 13. I don't think I want to see any more. Too many and they're no longer afraid of us.

more snow this weekend but also more very colds temps. Going to be in the teens. I fried my lungs last weekend just shoveling. They still hurt. Have to keep covered up better this weekend if I'm planning to play outside.

Tonight I'm making cookies and chocolates. I haven't done that in about 2 years. I'm also testing a new flavor of chocolate. Stay posted to see if it works.

Happy holidays.

6 degrees but not separation

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Yes, that is frost on my hair!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Man oh man. Women oh Women. Cold is putting it mildly! I had to doubel up my gloves and put in heaters to keep my hands warm today.

Got up late and started shoveling the driveway while Steve started breakfast. Good motivation to have someone making BF while you're burning off fuel.

Since that was my so called workout for the day, I decided to make each shovel stroke simulate a workout in the gym. Each time I pushed the shovel into the snow, I would bend as low as I could into a squat position. I'd make sure I was weighting my full feet in the boots. Especially placing my body weight on my heels. Then I'd hold the stance for a few seconds, lift the snow in the front of my body and they come up to a full stand. This would use core muscles and some front Deltoid muscles. Once standing, I would bend my knees very slightly, and I would twist with the snow in the shovel like a move I would do with a Medicine Ball to get my Obliques engaged. Instead of allowing the snow to slide off of my shovel I would bend my knees and as I came up into a stand, I would fling the snow up into the air.

After about 15-20 shovel strokes, I would switch hands/arms, thus getting both side of my body equally worked out. Have to say, it was a really interesting way to shovel the driveway.

After the shoveling Steve and I took the Girls for a hile. Had to keep them moving pretty fast as it was only 4 or so degrees by that time. K Girls doesn't notice the cold as much, or just plain ignores it. Newby L is a little more of a princess. Towards the end of the hike she kept lifting up her feet to have us wipe them off. All in all they had a blast running around and playing in the snow.

After the hike, did a little snow plowing (using the neighbors snow plow) and the driveway is all ready for the week ahead.

The rest of today has been spent playing on the computer. Stevie has been working on bikes. Mine, friends, and his own. A good day had by all and it's not over!

Hike, dogs, ride, and a Black Window Spider.

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Had the best day!
I'm almost done transferring stuff form the old computer to the new. Just have photos left to do.

Got up today, knowing it was the last warm (50 degrees) day for at least a week. We hiked the dogs this morning and had a blast hiking all of the trails and then running into a neighbor and his dog, Riley. The best about thing about meeting them on the local trails was that Kayla really has a good time with Riley. Lucie, too, had a blast running all over the trails after him. Since another neighbor's dog bit Lucie and attacked Kayla, the two Girls have been a little shy of other dogs. But Riley , they love to play with.

So... today/Saturday's storm was coming in really fast. Good incentive to keep riding quickly. I decided to ride my Ventana hardtail turned commuter bike.

We didn't have a lot of time so we decided to do Long Neva. Good views, easy ride and just a little over an hour. It was nice to get a ride in while the temps were still in the high 40s and low 50s. Not like Sunday temps of single digits.

I saw my first Geese of the year. They were all huddled on one side of the lake. Maybe b/c the bird of prey we saw was on the other side of the lake. I think it may have been an Eagle. Looked too big to be a Hawk. I should know the difference, but hard to tell when it was all tucked up in the tree.

From the ride it was off to grocery shop and get last minute holiday gifts for the families.

As we were driving home we called our friend Eugene and asked if he wanted to get together for a bite to eat. Since his favorite place to eat if The Med, that's where we met up. Lucky for us we were seated in about 3 minutes and had a great festive snack.

Once back home, Steve worked on getting about 15 tree logs (8-10 feet long) into an area where we'll be able to take the chainsaw and cut them up for firewood. He also worked on some bikes (favorite past time). I covered the outdoor furniture, shoveled the walkways and car areas and moved cars to areas of the driveway where we'll be able to shovel the snow more easily tomorrow. Supposed to get 20 inches here by mid day.

We also found a Black Widow in one of our window sills. It was behind the storm window. We had to find a way to get it out of that area as it is right next to the couch and we don't want to have the little killer crawling around and waiting to bite an unsuspecting pet or worse, me or Steve. I've been bitten once by a Black Widow and it was one of the worst things. My whole leg swelled up and took forever to heal. IN the end we ended up killing her (sorry) but it was next to impossible to catch her with out having her run into a crack or come out to defend herself.

Lots to do tomorrow. What a very productive and entertaining day we all had.

Ride when ya can.

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Things are awesome!
Finally with the house stuff behind us we can actually spend time working out. Yahoo! Even the Girls are happy. And, when the weather has not been snowy I've been riding and commuting to work.

I switched form my KHS racing road bike to my 12 year old Ventana mt hard tail. Still need s alittle work but it's a great commuter bike and keeps the KHS safe from the snow and mud.

Last weekend we were able to ride with the big E. Had a blast.


Got some more lights form Cateye-thanks Ellen. I love lighting up the streets. No excuses to hit me now.

I love Apple. I just got a new Powerbook Pro and had Apple transfer my stuff. They were able to do that in 5 hours. They rock! More on the new laptop later.
got a go back to the gym.

Remember-ride when you can. Tomorrow is iffy and may not come. Today is when to do "IT".

Started running this week.

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Hmmmm, does three entries in one day make up for the fact that I didn't write anything for a month?
Whatever...

I started running with the Girls. Usually, we hike for about an hour all over the trails near the house. But that has become slightly boring for the Girls. Probably not, but I wanted more than a hike and so I started running and they come by default-hanging out with me.

We can get in a good 3 mile run if we Loop around on some of the trails near the house.

We start up the Barn Trail. Then the Middle trail to the Red Shack Trail, head up The Narrows, around the top (past the kennel barking dogs), down the Church Trail to the Antler Trail, loop around to the Red Shack Trail again but double back to go down the Lower Trail and past the

fallen trees. There's another trail we lie to cut off on but I have to name it, so for now, No name Trail.

Then we head up the Gully Trail past the mine tailings, up the steep slope to the spring at the apple tree. Then back up the narrows, back up to the Upper Loop Trail, and past the kennels of the barking dogs, back down to Antler Trails, back to the Red Shack Trail, back to the barn trail, and down to the house.

Today I was pretty slow. Although todays hike had 1200 feet of elevation gain my pace was only 11.5 minute miles. My legs were pretty tired and I had to run walk a couple of the steep tailings sections.

I'll try to do the same run a few times a week to see if I can get my times better. Not easy to do, even on a good day, as I don't want to trip on a rock. I keep it posted if I can get much faster.

Warning to those hiking and riding the Church trail

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Warning: You are being videotaped if you pass this area.

Hey, just a heads up about the Church Trail. If you ride or hike it, know that you are being video taped by the owners of the Rescue Rehab Home kennel. You can't miss it. It's half way up (or down) after the very large house and around the corner is the rescue dog kennels. The dogs always bark so you'll know when you get close to it.

A mountain biker I ran into says he was bitten by one of the dogs, while they were out on the trails on the Church Trail (County public property) and he said the owner of the dogs denied it happened. The mt biker wouldn't give his name because he said it was a she said/he said event.

So, riders be very aware. Many dogs are OK with hikers but are afraid and may bike if startled by someone on a bike. The trails off of the main part of the Church Trail are privately owned, so ask for permission to ride or hike on them. Not all of the trails are owned by the kennel owners and all of the trails have been used by me and the other locals for many many years.

I have to add, I have seen the kennel owner on the trails with her dogs once. She hikes them early morning and a second time during the day. All but one of her dogs were courteous to my own dogs. She called that one back to her. Still, I wouldn't trust my dogs meeting up to all of her dogs and I hope not to be riding when I see her dogs on the trails.

Here's what their web site says:

"These lucky dogs, once deemed unadoptable or unable to live happy lives, now get to enjoy their days going on daily 2 hour hikes off leash, play time together all day, every day, holistc food and supplements and fun day trips for baths, car rides, and excitement".

Making the Manatou Springs Incline Trail Legal.

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Just returned from the Olympic Training Center where USA Cycling hosted a Coaches Summit. Lots of great information (more to come on that, later) and many great speakers. Learned a lot and had an equally good time meeting new coaches and doing some great extra curricular activities.

One afternoon a friend and I decided to go check out a hike in Manatou Springs. It wasn't until we return from this awesome hike that we found out it was not actually legal. We would never have known this, as there must have been about 30 other people running and hiking on this trail.

There is a great deal negotiations with several of the land owners and the public to get this trail open to the public. I would hope this will happen as it is the coolest hike I've ever done.

Here's a great web site for more information on the Incline.


http://www.inclineclub.com/incline/
Current state of the Incline:

The Incline is not open to the public for any use — PERIOD! That people are going up the Incline only means they are trespassing on private property! Indeed, the Incline has been clearly posted “No Trespassing” since June of 2000. Talk of the Incline being “closed” is a misnomer in that something that is not open can not be closed. However, rather extensive and ongoing efforts are taking place to work with the owners of the Incline to get it open to the public. Please see the section “Efforts to Open the Incline to the Public” below for details.

What is the Incline?
In brief, the Incline as it exists now is the roadbed to the former Mount Manitou Scenic Incline Railway — a cable car that took people up the eastern face of Rocky Mountain to about 8,600' before shutting down in 1990. The steepest section is at a grade of 68% with the average grade just over 40%. For a more complete history of the Incline, including why it was originally built, please read the story “Life on the Incline - A 3-part Story” in the section below titled “Incline in the News.”

Who owns the Incline?
The land the Incline was built on is owned by three entities. The approximate bottom 25% is owned by the City of Colorado Springs, the middle 50% is owned by the COG Railway and the top 25% is owned by the Forest Service. For a visual representation of this please see the maps at the bottom of this page.

There's much more information on the web page about the Incline. Read more.

Congratulations to Larry: 1st Pl. finish at The Texas Time Trials 24 hour race

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Larry in Utah at the Hoodoo 500, about one month before the Texas Time Trial races.

I'm so proud of Larry for his first place finish at the Texas time Trials. He did the 24 hour race and it was the longest he's ever raced before. About a month earlier, Larry helped crew for Leslie at the Hoodoo 500 race. He learned a lot about preparation and crewing. This allowed him to prepare for his own 24 hour race in Texas and to get his number one crew person, Lara, ready for the hard task of being his only support person.

His support person, also his wife, Lara, took time away from her busy schedule of teaching law and practicing Yoga and did a superb jog getting Larry to eat, ride, stay alert, and come in first with an whopping 345 miles in the 24 hour race. Actual miles were 360 in just about 25 hours. Not at all bad for his first 24 hour race. That gives him a 14.55 mph average.

Lara and Larry came to visit and ride with me last year. There's already talk of getting a permanent support van ready for more ultra distance goals next year.

Fall is here, house is almost done.

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I found a couple of late raspberries on the bushes today and showed them to Kayla. Both Girls love the fruit on the yard. fro the last few weeks we've all been eating the plums. Kayla likes to find the plums that have fallen to the ground, most likely because they are more ripe. Lucie will wait for me to take a bite on one and then spit it out and feed it to her. yup, once a princess, always.....
We had excellent fruit this year. Raspberries, apples, tomatoes, and plums. Next year I'll try more vegetables. When we first moved in there were several areas of the yard that had moderately sized onions.

I still have my head and chest cold. It's actually become a little worse since Friday. I decided that riding up and down the hill would not be a wise thing and have only taken the Girls on easy hikes. Perhaps, even that, is too much. Not like the summer was free of any stress but the house is almost done. A lot of people seem to have this sniffle thing.

We'll work on painting today and get ready to move belongings back into the upstairs on Tuesday night. We won't know what to do with all of our free time when the house is done. Get back in shape, I keep saying. Commute more, long rides, and go look at the fall colors before the leaves drop to the ground.

There's still some areas of green aspens, so that gives me hope I won't miss all of the colorful areas. Can still take the Girls up to look for the changes to fall.

A favorite thing for the Girls to do is to hike up near Ward. I ride and keep a consistent pace going while they trot along with me. They can't run too far off of the trails and jeep trail and have to keep an eye out for which direction I go. Sounds boring but really is a lot of fun.

Maybe we'll still be able to get in a hike up in the hough country if the warmer weather holds.

Picture Rock Trail Opens, Yahoo.

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6 miles of brand spanky new single track. The Picture Rock Trail.


Had to "call in sick" today. The cold I have sunk nicely into my lungs and I'm feeling like crap. So I guess the ride on Sat. may have sunk me. Or not. hard to say.

So, I figured I'd do something productive. I'd meet up with Steve and head over to Lyons and be apart of the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Picture Rock Trail. Thaks to a ton of people, MIke, and the Parks and Open Space (sometimes called "closed space", we now have a connector mountain bike trail from Heil Ranch to hall. That means about and hour less of riding on paved road and a new single track trail to ride on. Yahoo!

There was a huge turn out. I mean tons of mountain bikers, runners, and equestrians. Well, and there were some protesters. No mud slinging just signs.

After all of the hoopla about why it took so long, what was involved and government stuff, off we all rode.



It was awesome single track. Lots of good rock placement , so riders won't ride too fast and a great mix of easy to moderate technical sections. The only thing I would thing that could be added is a few more pull outs, for slower riders or other to pass in different directions.



Felt pretty good but my lungs did feel the climb. Will have to take it pretty easy the next couple of days. Who knows, maybe even another day off.

I love the mountains. And, I equally love to ride in them.

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I did one of my favorite short rides yesterday. My house to Poorman, climb, up Sunshine, climb, and keep climbing until you get to Gold Hill. A quick 1:30 (sometimes 1:20, when I'm feeling good) and never more than 1:35, which is what it took yesterday. The elevation gain is just over 3,000 feet.

Maybe shouldn't have done it as I was fighting off a cold. Then last night the cold took a huge turn for the worse and sunk into my chest. Bummer! Oh well, at least I got the ride in yesterday.

I thought the ride up Poorman was hard just because I was out of shape. Tried to keep my HR under 165. So I slowed down and kept it around 158-160. That seemed more like it for the pace I was trying to go. Still my nose keep running and running and I was happy not to have anyone around me cuz it was kind of messy. Still, I kept thinking that maybe it would get all of the bad germs out of me. Silly me.

Once I turned onto Sunshine ( grade average is 6.5-9%) I had a very hard time keeping my HR under 160. It pretty much stayed there most of the next hour. Good thing about this ride is that there are incredible views the whole way up. hat and I was listening to my Shuffle with my best techno tunes. That always is a good thing. Scenery and techno.

When you get toward the top to the climb it levels off to a pretty easy grade. Maybe about 4 %. Not bad a t all on the mountain bike.

Regardless of how I was feeling on the ride and the way I feel today, it is still one of the most awesome short rides (close to my house) that I know. Now I'll see how I feel tomorrow and see if it really was worth it. Yeah... it's worth it.