The bitter cold has dissipated! I got in some good training over the weekend logging two 5 hour days on the bike with friends! Warm weather in Colorado this time of year comes with a trade-off – WIND!!!!! There were multiple accounts of being blown off the road on a bike… myself included!
Saturday’s ride….
started with myself, Jason Hilimire , and some of my girlies – Caitlyn Tuel and Lindsey Bishop. I told everyone to bring your climbing legs… we did part of Sunshine Canyon, down Poorman/4mile to canyon, up Canyon and up Magnolia to the Peak to Peak. It was in the 50s in town, but the wind was blowing like crazy the higher up we got. Cait and Lindsey didn’t need to ride for that long, so they flipped it after a couple hours, but Jason and I continued up up up. Headwind on 7% grade on snowy roads is epic! I wasn’t feeling too bad either after a couple of hours. Our original plan was to head on peak to peak to Ward (the same ride I did 2 weeks ago), but the highway was a wet, slushy mess. I had a loaded pack full of clothes and water, but I knew Jason didn’t have the same clothing packrat mentality and I didn’t want to force being wet and cold on him, in addition to even more climbing! (they need an emoticon for crazy)
A few photos from the day.
It was NOT warm up on Magnolia
We rewarded ourselves later with stout month at the Mountain Sun.
Sunday! I definitely felt all the climbing from the day before… but hey! Why not do some more? I went up to Fort Collins to ride with Jeff to Estes Park. It was another 5 hour day in the saddle, 80 miles, 7000′ of elevation gain. The crazy part? I was on my road bike. Jeff rode his mountain bike… and he was dropping me on the last couple of climbs back into town! Over the duration of the ride, we weren’t exactly going slow or easy.
Those legs would crush even Godzilla’s soul.
I got blown off the road…. but it was funny.
There was a teeny bit of snow.
MUSH!
The weather was a lot warmer on Sunday for us, but again -the wind howled. We had a major headwind all the way up to Estes Park! Headwind = bonus points.
I sometimes refuel at gas stations with a meat stick and root beer. Yesterday was one of those days. Sweeeet meat! hahahaha Actually, I couldn’t eat the whole thing because I felt the roof of my mouth coat with fat… and an hour later, there may have been some churning of the gut.
I went to yoga yesterday too… I am starting to go 3-4 times a week instead of 1-2 times like in previous years. I can see a difference in my position on the bike – more “updog quality” meaning rising up out of the low back instead of collapsing and rounding, and getting the shoulders away from the ears and the chest up. I also really want to get all the inversions… handstand is coming… slowly. That’s why they call it practice. The best yoga insight in the last couple days was in Richii’s class – “It’s not about getting there, it’s about being here.” It’s so easy to focus on things that are coming up, goals you want to achieve, etc., that we sometimes can forget to appreciate right now. I do it a lot!
After my solid weekend of training, I was blown!
No bike riding today… I need my day off the bike! Tomorrow, I’ll be back at it. I’m heading to Texas at the end of the week for work and a little pleasure visiting family and friends on the weekend. Ride on people!!!
Happy V-day!
