Kick in the....

Seems as if each Spring,  I get the same subtle little kick in the butt.  Something that lets me know " hey,  you have a bike in the garage"  (OK,  OK,  maybe something more like what "normal" people would call a PILE of bikes....) and "maybe you should ride it".     Ah,  spring in Colorado.  To Dirty for powder,  and too snowy for dirt.  

Once in the deep dark past,  I would have already had my "base" miles in,  and been hitting up things like the Boulder-Roubaix for "fun" this time of year.   But that was long ago,  before I realized that riding road bikes makes baby Jesus cry.     My recent return to "competitive" cycling via the sick and twisted world that is cross had me briefly thinking I should do a dirt road race this spring.  Well,  at least up till my rational brain realized I had not turned a pedal in any kind of anger since mid-December,  and all those rodies I've been making fun of driving back from skiing in snowstorms were out "training" in that snow,  and are probably able to drop me before I could get clipped in right now.  Guess I'll stick to watching one of my old guy heros do it on the web instead.

So,  back to that "kick"......
Back earlier this week,  I signed up for an "endurance" mountain bike race.  Something made me decide that 111K of off road racing would be fun this summer.  I had heard great things about the Laramie Enduro for years from many of my friends,  and decided to join the party.  So,  since I had the required equipment for endurance racing (A VERY high speed internet connection,  and the ability to sign up for races at very specific times...),   I leveraged my training from Nationals and braved the sign up scrum at high noon an April 1st. (Hmmm,  the date alone might be a hint...).   800 people end up signing up for 400 slots in 10 minutes.  Who ever knew that extended self-torture was quite so popular?

Well,  after feeling like I was trying to get Hannah Montana tickets,  instead of signing up to race my bike,   I suddenly realized that I was on the hook for a LONG race later this summer,  and maybe it was time to start riding a bit.   That kick led me to think that if I want to ride 70+ miles in July,  maybe a 50 miler in May would be a "good Idea".  So THEN I signed up for the "Front Range Sensory Depravation,  many laps about a suburban park in the goatheds" race,  otherwise known as the Front Range 50.  I had done that race 2 years ago,  with almost no training, and as it turns out,  a load of "Bad Blood" on board.  While I vaguely remember that experience as being not really that much fun,  apparently,  it did not scar me enough to prevent my mouse finger from clicking willy-nilly away.

So,  there you have it.  Jump straight from skiing a bit,  hanging out at home or in establishments that brew & sell malted grain beverages,  right to 2 ugly races.  Seem to have messed up my spring with 2 clicks of a mouse.   What have I done?  Better start riding.  Might even have to make someone cry a bit,  what with only 34 days to get ready for 50 miles.

Sanity was saved from all that angst today by getting the tandem out.  Heil ranch was actually pretty nice.  almost tacky,  and not too muddy.  at least you can MTB in the howling wind,  without wanting to kill anyone for no reason.  ALso hear that Picture Rock is almost dry,  so maybe I can do my long rides on dirt.  hope we're done with the wet front range snow for the sake of my mental well-being.

Here we go.  should be "fun"

Sloggin

You all know "That guy".   You know,  "That guy",  the genetic mutant,  hyper-fit, aerobic machine.  Yep,  that guy.    It had been a while since I went skiing with "That guy",  but finally got back out for an "East Portal" run on Saturday with "That guy".   I remembered pretty quickly how much "fun" it is to chase those mutant types up a valley at speed.   I did mange to get my cardio ( Rule # 1  !!!)  for the week,  and then some.

We went up thinking that if the snow was not too hot for making laps,  we could "go high" there,  and get a bit alpine-ey instead of just chasing laps in the soft stuff.  Good thing we had that thought,  as the general snow condition was breakable crust with a large serving of mank on the side.  Lucked out on another stellar day,  warm,  and NO wind at all.  Skied around all day in a light top,  and with the solar oven effect on full,  mostly dripping in sweat all day.

After a goodly slog,  we ended up climbing mighty Haystack Mountain (11,800').   Hard to believe I scored another wind free front range day (at least three for this season,  a new record!!)

Snap!
     (the crown line on this thing looked to be 10+ feet deep..... you could see it from the parking lot...)

In spite of chasing mutants for 9 miles,  was a VERY nice day in the mountains.

Even had a few good turns up high,  before diving into the mank.....

Haystack - West Face from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Makes me want to do some spring ski descents on these "big" lines.  Deathtraps now,  but come spring when they settle,  sure look like fun.  Just need to remember to get off the MTB for a day or 2 come corn season.

Warm & Fluffy

Skiing on the Front range has some "rules" one needs to follow,  else you get a lot of wind in your face & mank under your skis.  The gist of these rules is "follow the storms,  young Jedi".    Going out during or right after the front range upslope storms usually gets you the good snow and no wind.   Saturday,  in a desperate attempt to make up for a lousy ski season (for me at least...),  we headed up after a runt of a storm on Friday.  Pretty much expecting mank-o-rific conditions,  went ahead & headed out anyway.  Surprise!  There was a lot more fresh snow than expected.  even ended up breaking trail through 4-6+ inches of new,  but sadly kinda wet & heavy snow.

Busted our way up the 2K feet of climbing into Meadow Mountain Bowl,  to find ourselves ALONE  in there on a sunny,  warm,  windless day.  Cover was up to snuff,  the snow heavy but decent,  and outside of a few bottomless depth hoar "holes" (Dive! Dive! Dive!) pretty darn nice conditions.

Even looked like Christmas on some of the trees,  with full on "natural" decorations

My Lack of laps this year was showing.  Only a couple of laps got done,  but we did our best to properly deal with what we had to work with,  and left things as tracked up as we could.  It was a "death cookie" day.  Silly things would be outrunning you for hundreds of yards.  Still hard to get a better feeling than launching into a glade with NO tracks,  just wide open,  unbroken snow waiting for you to draw those lines on the mountain.

 Good to be getting over the Gack in my lungs.  finally felt human again,  and got the reward of a GREAT Colorado late winter day.   No whining this week,  just good clean fun with frozen precipitation & gravity.

Lung Butter

After a solid week of gagging up green bits of lung butter (Hmm,  wonder if you could sell that at the Boulder Whole foods....  natural,  organic,  and locally produced...),  The bubbling & gurgling in my lungs started to subside enough to make me think I might be able to haul my carcass and these strange and unfamiliar things up some hill in the backcountry.

 Well,  might have been a bit premature,  as a lap and a half into the day,  I realized that I was much more interested in lying down for a nap in the snow than taking the "slow lift" back up again.  Something about not being able to breathe and trying to do a few thousand stair repeats at 11,500 feet was making me tired.   A brief day in the woods,  but very nice to get out again.  Much more scenic than the couch.

Finally got enough base,  and the turns were pretty good.  Now If I can just get fully healthy again,  maybe I can milk some of the usual March dump-age for a few more good ski days.    The foggy and snowy day gives one hope for more fluff.  It even seems like the exertion finally blew some of the goo out,  and can even breathe without bubbles today.  Whee!

Besides my mildly neurotic obsession with getting a few good ski days in,  the arrival of March does make me think about riding.  The Lung Butter episode has put a dent in the weight training "program",  and with 50+ degree temperatures on tap,  I may have to get something with 2 wheels out this week.  With a confirmed road trip coming up in April in the works,  it does seem to be time to ride.   That April trip is getting some mental bandwidth.  Made me go out and order a pile of maps & guidebooks,  both for the April trip target area of Hurricane/Gooseberry Mesa area,  

and a few other places that have popped up on the "want to go ride there" radar.    A bit of interweb looking came up with this place,  a treasure trove of Mountain Bike guidebooks and maps.  Ah,  the stuff dreams are made of.   Guidebooks for rides from Argentina to Wisconsin,  all the exotic riding destinations.   Spring is time to road trip.  Get yours.

Frustration

Frustration can take many forms.  One of those forms could be spending weeks waiting for it to start really snowing,  then,  FINALLY,  when it does decide to start snowing a bit,  you spend that weekend hacking up large quantities of Lung Butter,  rather than getting out to enjoy the new-fallen fluff.

Acute Bronchitis...  you all know it,  that lovely "fat person sitting on your chest" feeling,  along with the rasping and hacking cough.  ANYONE who has ever done a cross race is familiar with this little badge of courage,  doled out to those silly enough to push your own respiratory system so hard you fill your own lungs up with goo.  Almost fun after a race.   Not so fun for days at a time.   Lots of online medical info on this disease (Funny,  I don't see cyclocross listed as a cause anywhere in there...  seems to me participating in a cyclocross race is pretty much 100% effective cause in my research).   Best part is the "runs it's course in 1-2 weeks" line in all descriptions.   Lovely.

Maybe it will keep snowing.  Pray for me,  even beer does not sound good right now.

Year of the Tiger

One of the joys of living in a multi-cultural house is getting more cool holidays.  With half the house here of Ethnic Chinese descent,  Lunar New Year is a BIG deal around here.  A great excuse for a get-together,  lots of food,  drink,  and friends to celebrate the year of the Tiger.

Chinese New Year fever can even make usually uber-conseravtive Asians go off their rocker.  Even the super-nanny leaders of Singapore (a country that FAR more resembles a theme park than an actual state...) have lost their minds this year.

Back here in the good old U.S. our local Asian Market will now surly survive the economic downturn after the "stimulus package" we cranked out to them in order to get ready for this years little event.  Banners hung,  garage fridge restocked,  here we come little Tiger.  After a marathon,  2 day cooking binge,  The better half of the household had "about" enough food for the masses.

Friends,  neighbors,  and even some of the High Peaks boys descended on the homestead with desserts,  wine,  and beer in hand (Lots of Tsingtao...  maybe not the best brew out there but VERY appropriate....  my teammates are SO sentimental...).   A group pig out then ensued,  with much destruction to both the food and most of the teams winter weight control plans.

Even the skinny boy here is probably now up another few pounds.   Soon spring will arrive,  and I can start doing some kind of actual exercise-like activity to justify my food hoovering behavior.  Till then,  may ALL of you have a healthy,  prosperous and safe year of the Tiger.

Blues

My God this winter is a tough one....  Usually,  I don't have much "Wahh,  I miss summer,  Wahh I want to ride my bike..." going on in the winter.     In spite of such soul-emptying activities like lifting weights " to make me stronger on the bike" or other such activities,   Usually I get thru the darker season in good spirits.    Maybe it's old age working on my soul,  or a lack of GOOD skiing this year,  but for some reason,  I am getting a bit stir-crazy this winter.  First,  all I hear about is the San Juans getting puked on,  and now even Washington, D.C.  has better snow than we do.

Depressing.  Maybe it's just that I'm not getting my powder fix this year,  maybe it's been trying to catch up on "regular" chores after blowing those off most of the fall season,  maybe it's just plain cabin fever.  Lately that depression was trying to grow,  expand,  and and maybe even look for another outlet.

 Then today,  started planning for a spring MTB road trip.  Just that act seems to loosen me up a bit,  and maybe we are not going to go quite that far off the deep end just yet.   South West Utah calls again.  Some of that stuff I've not yet ridden,  memories of other trips come flooding back.

OK,  maybe winter is not really all that bad.   Might even start to snow around here again.   All is well.