turns out that there was a wrong way driver and he wiped out 10 cars. He wa the only one killed, but lots were injured.
last night on the ride home I noticed that ther was a big accident on the interstate. The bike path I ride is right next to the interstate but seperated by I very tall fence with tight pickets. There seemed to be a bunch of activity on the path itself. the weird thing was people were just rushing over toward the inter. Families, kids on bikes, dogs come one come all…
i felt the need to race so badly after i missed the race in aspen. the only thing going on was the boulder short track on wednesday. no early registration so i just drove down early and signed up. if you’ve never done the boulder short track make sure you do it sometime before you get too old and die. i started doing them about 7 years ago and they haven’t changed one bit. always some young people at the registration table, 10 dollar entry fee, super casual. the race itself is something special as well. the categories are fast faster, and fastest. i used to race the faster category a few years ago, but this day i chose the “fast”.
i was a little caution and under-confident when i started, so i sat in the back at the start. since this is basically the beginners/sport category most of the guys are not particularly strong with the technical skills. because i was on a single speed i had two concerns; one, i needed momentum for the little hills, and two i would really have to spin to pass anyone on the flats. i was getting kind of frustrated at first because these guys in front of me were braking all the time and putting me further and further in back of the race. this course was like a roller coaster single track, short steep descents followed by short climbs. if you went all out on the descents you could make it to the top of the other side with hardly even pedaling. unfortunately the guys in front of me were always breaking on the descent and killing everyone’s momentum.
i eventually learned how to race and soon found myself passing at will. not exactly at will, but good enough that i could slowly move up in the race. i learned to back off just a bit on the descent so i didn’t have to break on the way down, and once or twice i timed it so well i passed right at the top of the climb. i passed a couple of guys on the flats, while spinning about 150 rpms (that was tough to recover from). i ended up about 10th out of 22, which is not horrible. i felt great and not one person passed me.
why is the ex-cyclist racing?
i started following lance armstrong’s tweets this year mostly because he was going to race the tour and i wanted the have the heads up on everything that was going on before and after the stages. i was not disappointed. lance is one of the most prolific tweeters around. he tweets first thing in the morning… right before bed, he retweets articles, pictures, videos. i’m never bored. anyway right after the tour he went on vacation in the bahamas, then returned to aspen colorado to train for the leadville 100.
he had been doing the usual posts telling what ride he did, who he’s having beers with, then on a thursday [not remember the date] he posted that he was going to do a mountain states cup race at snowmass in aspen! i thought about it for a little bit, then decided that i would take the family and drive up to aspen race in the same race as lance armstrong, and have my family take a bunch of pictures of lance while i was at the back of the race making sure there was no one behind me. the family was on board and agreed to the 3and a half hour drive to aspen on saturday morning.
to make a long story short it took almost 4 and a half hours to get there. i was 30 minutes late for the start of the race, and wasn’t about to try to jump in. it’s kind of funny, because that morning i was really nervous about racing. i hadn’t raced for years and i wasn’t in shape…yadda yadda, yadda. as we got closer and closer to aspen i started to realize that i was not going to make it. when it became official that i was not going to make it, i started to really want to race. i started to think in my mind that i was ready and i was going to do well…danm it! when i got the race, 30 minutes late, and got to take a look at the area between laps. it was really long steep uphill fire road that went right through the base of the skii area. there was no place to hide no where to back out, and no where for me to look good. i was so happy i didn’t race. my whole attitude changed, i went from grumpy asshole, to mr. sunshine in a blink of an eye.
so i got some pictures of lance:
lance after the first lap
lance finishing or winning.
lance's people escorting him somewhere.
so it was an awesome day for me. i didn’t even mind driving 4+ hours each way to stay for 2hours in aspen.
note: this is an older post i just reposted it because it was in the wrong spot.
spent friday and saturday in breckenridge. not the best place for a single speed.
it is so fucken cold this morning. I sit here in my car writing this hoping that the sun will show up, but I don’t think so. I’m usually not such a whimp, but I am severly underprepard for such a day. I usually carry a wind breaker or leggens but last week I emptied my car to get better milage. well I’d better go I’m going to be late…. Plus I have to find a restroom.
so i was riding along the bike path from denver to northglen …minding my own business, when suddenly this spandex wearing human billboard passed me. i don’t usually care about people passing me but for some reason i don’t like the way this guy did it. i had a long way to go and i was just getting started. it had been a long day at work and had my laptop on my backpack and my two panniers filled with work cloths and rain gear. my legs were still a little cold and i was planning a nice quiet 17.4 mile ride back to my car in northglen. i’m not in really good shape right now, but lately i’ve been feeling really good on my bike. so when cyclist pass each other, there is usually some etiquette that one must show when passing. 1. pass slowly, 2. give a slight wave or head gesture, and 3. if your gonna pass make sure you are faster than the person you are passing. this guy broke all three.
this guy didn’t know who he was passing. at least he wasn’t aware of the mental state of the person [me]. i do not like people passing me, no matter what. i don’t care if this guy is wearing a team uniform and on a triathlon bike complete with aero bars and seat post water bottles [which he was]. as soon as he passed me i was kind of surprised because i had looked back a while ago and didn’t see anyone. there he was out of nowhere, in all his gear, no “hi” no “on your left”…nothing!
huh…i had two choices at that point, just ignore him, or just shift over to my big ring. with little debate the big ring won. i hadn’t been in my big ring that much this season, because it’s kind of early. tip: it’s really not good to go big early in the season, especially if you are over 40. it’s bad for your knees. “click” i was into my big ring with hardly a noise. it was like my bike knew ahead of time what was about to take place and shifted for me. spandex man had a pretty good lead by now since he caught me off guard, but i could still see him on the straights. with my head down and into my tuck, my hands in the drops, i slowly dropped the hammer. as i looked down i could see my 45psi 700×32 cross tires digging into each corner. i was a little worried that they would pop out of the rim. i was also worried about my panniers falling off on some of these bumps. i was getting a little tired and i could feel myself breathing pretty hard at this point, but everything was still under control. then as i got a little closer, i saw him look back! that was all i needed…. fear. he was now worried about me, i could tell he tried to pick it up a bit. he was now fully into his tuck. it took me a couple of miles to get back on his wheel [i wasn’t actually on his wheel, because i didn’t want him to think he was pulling me]. he tried to keep it up for longer, but i was prepared to race all the way back to my car. i was actually waiting for a good spot to pass him. at this point i could tell that he was tired and starting to rest. he would stop pedaling on occasion and that’s a sign of someone relaxing. i didn’t want to pass him while he relaxed, even though that’s what he did to me, four miles ago. so i just stayed behind him. finally he got so slow that i was now getting bored. i was just getting ready to pass him, when he slowed way down and pulled off. that’s it, he put himself out of competition. i gave him a wave and hammered on down the trail. i was actually going faster than before because i didn’t want him to get any ideas of passing me again. i went on at this pace for a few more miles and by the end…my legs were shot. i didn’t think i could make it back to the car, i still had about five miles to go. …but i won.. and taught this guy a lesson: be careful of who you pass :)
first of all, the beagle diet is probably not what you think. i am not eating beagles, or anything resembling beagles. in case your second guess was that i am eating the same food as my beagle; you are wrong again.
not too long ago we added a beagle [ziggy] to our family. he has been an awesome dog so far. he lives in the house with us. since we got him in the winter it seemed kind of cruel to keep him out side, besides he was only 6 weeks old. we keep in this little play pen near the kitchen. from there he can see almost everything that is going on around the house. when ever someone wakes up, goes to sleep, comes home, leaves…ziggy is right there. he can see me right now when i am typing this post. actually he is not watching me right at the moment, because i guess he got bored some time ago and now he’s sleeping. so basically ziggy is in the “watch tower” type position in the house.
another cool thing about ziggy is that he has this beautiful howl that he got from his ancestors. the howl can be heard from across a field, it’s meant to let someone know that he is “on to” something. the thing that is not so cool about his howl is that when he’s in his “watch tower” he’s “on to” everything! when he howls in the house you can’t hear anything. in fact you can see the glass on the windows vibrating, even our fish act a little weird during the howling episodes.
ziggy always seems hungry. at least he always wants to eat. back in the old days when ever he saw someone eating he would stare at you until you got uncomfortable and left. me however, i didn’t like to leave and besides, what’s a little corn chip going to hurt? now, whenever someone eats around him he stares at them as usual… but when i eat he’s “on to” it. i can no longer eat in peace. i try to eat when he’s sleeping, or when someone has him outside. everybody yells at him to “shut up” but he knows that if he gets inside my head i will break down and give him some of my food.
so i guess by now you have a pretty good idea of what the beagle diet is. i hardly snack anymore when i am at home. saturdays and sundays used to be my big grazing days and also the one day a week when i would work from home. now i hardly eat anything, i only eat when he eats. and as a result i have lost 8 pounds!
i owe it all to ziggy :)
Distance: 4.59 miles
Elapsed Time: 37:32.2
Avg Speed: 7.3 mph
Max Speed: 21.7 mph
Avg Pace: 08′ 11″ per mile
Min Altitude: 5,667 ft
Max Altitude: 7,556 ft
Start Location:
Latitude: 39.999325º N
Longitude: 105.290671º W
End Location:
Latitude: 39.983357º N
Longitude: 105.323465º W
Elapsed Time: 37:32.2
Avg Speed: 7.3 mph
Max Speed: 21.7 mph
Avg Pace: 08′ 11″ per mile
Min Altitude: 5,667 ft
Max Altitude: 7,556 ft
Start Location:
Latitude: 39.999325º N
Longitude: 105.290671º W
End Location:
Latitude: 39.983357º N
Longitude: 105.323465º W
this time i have a map… don’t pay attention to how long it took…. we stopped a lot!
Date: Mar 22, 2009 1:21 pm
Distance: 16.7 miles
Elapsed Time: 2:53:32
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Min Altitude: 5,266 ft
Max Altitude: 6,699 ft
Start Time: 2009-03-22T19:21:03Z
Start Location:
Latitude: 40.210457º N
Longitude: 105.287840º W
End Time: 2009-03-22T22:14:35Z
End Location:
Latitude: 40.210435º N
Longitude: 105.287870º W
so my ride to work yesterday went pretty “well” i got in a ton of exercise. i rode from 120th in northglen to denver. if you have ever ridden in that area you know that there are a lot of bike paths but absolutely no bike lanes. commingling with traffic is not an option. the problem with the bike paths is that they don’t easily connect. you can ride one for a few miles then it will just end. there will be no map of where you are and no bike lanes to lead you out to the cold cruel world of cars. i’ve been doing a lot of trial and error… and yesterday was my “error” day. i’ve tried to embed the rout i took, so you can see that i turned a 12 mile ride into 17miles!!
…..
View Larger Map
here are my stats for the day.
| Date: | Mar 25, 2009 6:08 pm |
| Distance: | 17.2 miles |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:29:52 |
| Avg Speed: | 11.5 mph |
| Min Altitude: | 5,022 ft |
| Max Altitude: | 5,363 ft |
| Start Time: | 2009-03-26T00:08:27Z |
| Start Location: | |
| Latitude: | 39.772192º N |
| Longitude: | 104.982240º W |
| End Time: | 2009-03-26T01:38:20Z |
| End Location: | |
| Latitude: | 39.913293º N |
| Longitude: | 104.981660º W |
pretty slow i know, but in my defense there was a lot of stopping! and did you notice the big unnecessary loops that i did?
btw, this map was from my ride home. the ride to work was not much better..in fact it might have been worse, but there was no up hill. my iphone crashed 3/4 of the way through my tracking and i lost my data…
:)