Another Saturday night and I wasn't sure what I was going to do on Sunday.  I was thinking about doing a RR when I checked my email 10:00 PM and saw that Kent was doing a MTB ride with some friends and invited me along.  Well this was just the ticked, cause I was a bit tired and the thought of getting punished on the group ride wasn't all that exciting..

So, hmm,  oh yeah I need to rebuild the rear hub of the bike before I go out since last ride it was making all kinds of noises.   I Google for the instructions and find a nice video which detailed the whole thing!  Nice and in 1/2 hour or so I was good to go for the morning jaunt.

I arrive a bit early at Soderburg and rode a bit of the trail with this guy I met on a 29'r and a T-shirt.  He was really fast so I only did 1/4 mike with him before I turned around to go back to the parkling lot.  There I met Rory who was also waiting for Kent and Dave to arrive.

Soon we are off and running and heading up the  fire road!  Dave was flying and Kent was ahead of me and I didn't have the legs or the motivation to ride that hard that early. Rory was behind me so I knew I could ride my own pace and not feel like the group was waiting for me too much.    We went up and turned onto the Stout Trail.  This was good clean fun.   I haven't done this trail before of at least I didn't remember it.   It was pretty sweet with lots of  technical stuff.  

Kent and Dave were cleaning a lot of the stuff and made so much of it look easy.  Rory and I were able to clean some of it but I wasn't a comfortable on some of the sections.

Some where on the way up Dave snapped his chain and we spent some time fixing that.   We road some more and stopped a few times to do some do-overs.  I like this kind of riding because it gives me a chance to practice some stuff instead of going on, cause "I or the group is training" which most time doesn't fit with the plan

Finally we make it to the  Whathum (sp?) trail and this is a lot of fun to try and climb.  Lots of technical stuff that the 4:50 boys do in the dark with no problem but I needed a bunch of do-overs for some of it and didn't clean a couple of things after much trying.   

I wasn't long until Dave snapped his chain again.  This time it was the SRAM master link again but we coudln't find the whole thing or maybe Dave just chose to use the chain break tool and be done with it.   I don't know what the deal is with these links.   This was the same problem I had at Leadville a while ago when one of them came apart on me too.

We are riding again and life is good until Rory snaps a spoke on the rear of his bike.  He's got one of those paired spoke wheels and it was seriously compromised!  Oh well Game over and . we  decide to head back to the cars. Dave and Rory went one direction and Kent and I went the other.  The plan was to get the Cars and go fetch Rory.  

On the way down we come to the fire road but the single trak is just too tempting so we decide to do that one which will take a bit more time.  

When we get back to the cars,  Rory and Dave are waiting there for us.  Turns out that it wasn't too bad to ride the bike down and they made some good time. 

Time to call it a day for Kent, Dave and Rory, but I wanted to go over to the Pump track and do some playing.  After about a 1/4 mile of riding I see I have a leak in the tire so I decide to call it a day also and head back to the truck. 

Not sure how many miles we did but it was fun! 

Time to get back on the MTB again and I am looking forward to seeing Kent again.  I didn't post the ride to Velocal  cause I didn't have to have 2 BC rides but I guess I could have anyway. 

I arrive a bit early and so does Kent!  We make ready or mounts and off we go.  Kent is looking really fit and the pace that he sets is one that I wouldn't be doing unless in the company of others.   It's good to be pushed a bit and it wasn't so fast that I was suffering, but it was fast enough that I didn't have enough left over to clean some of the technical stuff.  It's all good though and I was feeling kinda rusty on the up hill stuff anyway so I walked a lot of the stuff that I had ridden in the past.

Up Up Up we go and this is much longer than I had remembered.  Seems that there are a lot more exposed rocks or perhaps I my memory has failed me here.  On the way up we see some of the 4:50 boys coming down.  They were pretty strung out and it looked like one of them had some blood on his knee. Hmm this cold be a bad omen!

We make the summit and it looks like we have taken 2 hours just to make the climb!  Hmm,  I don't remember what it normally takes but this just seems long.  We arrive at the top and get some food and then head towards the fire road.  We almost get there, but Kent needs to head back so we turn around.

It's fun time now and we are ready to head down.  I need to reset the lever travel for the front disc and after a few squeezes without the wheel on, I am good to go and the left brake is factory sweet again!   I opt to follow Kent on this one cause I don't want to get myself into trouble.  Oh I should mention that I brought my Fox Knee-shin guards to try out and they are actually pretty comfy.

We ride most of the stuff but there were a few sections that we just walked.  I am rusty and there is no need to crash today. Half way down I do take the lead, but I am conservative and just happy to be out riding again.. Kent had fallen over and it turns out his cleat was loose and he could not un-clip and boom, he fell over. We make it too the bottom and life is good.  Kent needs to leave but I am thinking about going up the power line trail and doing the Ginny trail descent again.

Here we go again and I decide to head up the power line trail.  I haven't done this one in a while and I was curious to see how much it has changed.   Funny how time dulls the memory cause it was pretty challenging and being a bit tired, I had to walk some of the rocky sections.  I don't think I could have cleaned those sections anyway.

About 2/3 of the way up I hear a bike behind me and it's a young woman on a hard tail old school bike.  We chat for a few seconds.  She has dropped her husband and is waiting for him.   We end up swapping positions on the hill a couple of times.   I get to the end of the fire road and I am hungry.  I stop to get some food and sit on a nice comfy rock.

After a bit the young woman  Valerie and her Husband Justin come along and we chat for a bit about cycling.   We ride together for a while.   They are pretty strong and better than decent skill wise.  

We come upon a rider who had a flat "Phil" and we chat with him for a bit while he works on his tire.  He decides to join us after the tire is fixed.  It's Phil's 1st time here and I had chatted with him earlier as he was going and Kent and I were almost done..

Anyway it's time to descend and I don't want to push it cause I am tires and getting sloppy.  I hang back and just chill for a while.   Val is really stoked to be cleaning so much stuff and I am impressed that she's that good on a hard tail.   She was faster than the gentleman who I was riding with earlier in the day.. sorry Kent!    Justin and Phil were pretty fast and I just let them go.

We regrouped a couple of times and I decide that I need to see if I can stay with Justin.  I am surprised at how good he is on that hardtail and I am glad he doesn't have a FS bike.   He would walk away from me anytime the trail went abit up but .  I could bring him back when we were descending, but it wasn't a cake walk.

So now we are near the bottom on one of my favorite sections.   I go to hop this rock but the front tire hit it kinda hard.  No problem, I'll just ride it out.  Ohhhhhh sh&t the front tire is washing out  and I am going to crash! Oh man and I am on the ground.   I hear this loud hissing and I realize that the front tire went flat when I hit the rock and that cause the front to wash.  I was going pretty fast and that fall hurt.   I do a parts check and I have a few scrapes and my leg and back are pretty sore.   I think I cracked or bruised a rib and my right quad was pretty sore.   Oh well,  guess the leg armor helped!     Val and Phil find me a bit later and I fix the flat and we ride back down.  I am taking it easy cause well I am sore.

Finally back at the car and a good time was had by all.   I am pretty sure the rib is bruised cause it hurts when I sneeze or stand on the bike, but it's not a bad pain it's just annoying.. Oh well, guess I will take it easy for a while.Bummer my camera got hosed and I lost a few shots...

Gale hosted a ride even though she was volunteering.   A bunch of folks showed up on time and a few others caught us on the road.  Those I can remember include,  Dave N, Dave M, Ron, Ross, Rudy, Barb, Belinda, Chris, Todd, Sledge, Peter, (Tri Guy name). Kevin, Ryan, Bruce, (Guy with Beard).  I am sure there were some more... 

The ride started out pretty mellow with Dave  N  leading up to the 1st Hogback.  This civility was soon broken by Rudy threw the 1st log on the fire.   Others follows, but I choose not to even attempt to play since this was only the warmup.   There is a race next weekend on this course and I know that Peter and Rudy and Bruce are planning to do it so it makes sense for them to test the waters in the group.

Everyone makes this climb and it's onto Centennial.   I am not concerned about getting dropped so I do what I need to maintain contact with the last few riders since I know they will regroup at the park rest area if history is to be repeated.   Yes, and we all head to Bellevue to get more water before the big climb.  I have noticed that Gale's ride has become kinder and gentler with respect to regrouping, or maybe the Big Men have figured out it's more fun to drop folks more than once. .

We get our water in Bellevue and it's on to the Big Climb.  No way am I going to contest this one, so I just settle into a rhythm.  l  don't want to take it too easy and since I have no training plan I push the muscles a bit harder than I would normally do.   I am standing a lot with the grade changes, and this seems much easier and I think this is due to riding the SS.

The BigMen have checked out and it's just as well I don't see the speed differential.   Wonder if any of them had a Power meter as it would be interesting to see what that profile looked like.    I any case I am feeling OK, but my legs have had that "dead" feeling, probably cause I am not riding  enough lately.   At least they are doing  my asking so it's all good.

Near the top or Rist I see some folks I know.  Stephen and his fiance Julie and they are looking pretty strong.  I chill out with them for several minutes until the grade changes to the point where my gearing wants me to go a bit faster.  Yeah, the legs  are pretty tired now and I had been riding as if the top of the climb was the end of the ride.  I should note that I ditched the camebak for 3 water bottles and stuffed my pockets full of stuff.    I like the way the feels but I miss the ability to drink with both hands on the bars. Wish I had more food too.  I only had a few power gels and I was wanting for something more substantial ...

A bunch of folks are waiting at the top of the climb and we wait until everyone is up.  We descend to Stove Prairie where some folks get water at that school house.  Kevin, Rudy and Dave M  didn't want to cool down too much so they took off before everyone had gotten water.

Finally it's rock and roll time and we enjoy the descent into Masonville.  There is some sparing between the BigMen but I am able to stay in contact.   My legs were OK, but I knew I couldn't push too much as I could feel the beginnings of some cramping in my right leg so I tried to keep my efforts in check. 

Everyone was working quite well together as we went into Masonvile. (Soapbox time)  The only hiccup I saw was the rider in front of me flicked his left arm to indicate that he was pulling off, but I took this to mean that he wanted me to come through on that side.  I hesitated for a second and pulled through on the right cause that's the direction we has been doing.    We chatted about this later and I guess this is how some folks signal.   I don't like the idea of folks using different signaling cause it will cause problems.   I almost crashed a couple of years ago on a ride with the guy in front of me did this and he moved over into me as I was passing on the side where he flicked his elbow and he moved over in that direction!   We hadn't started rotating yet, so I read this my way.. In chatting with some of the riders today,  they said I was maybe over thinking this.....  Anyway I just let it go and figured I would mention it here so that folks are aware of these kind of issues.....  Imagine I have a car and I am going to make a turn, well,  I have 2 turn signals, I;ll just pick one!   Racers (Car Motorcycle, Kart etc.) all have hand signals that have a well defined meaning, I am just saying, that without this, we have a recipe for disaster.  (Here's a Link to the Breakfast clubs Paceline Rules also Breakfast Club Etiquette)... Ok nuff on that.

Now we are in Masonville and folks are going their separate ways.   Most are low on water and since Kevin lives < mile away he was kind enough to offer water to those in need.    Ron, Bruce, Dave and I decided to take the hogbacks home.   I was pretty spent so I was way back when I finished that climb.

The last hog back was finally on the horizon, and to my surprise, Chris and Peter came flying by us.  I decided to try and play with these guys, but I was no match for them on that one.  I think I was close enough to maybe have caught them on the descent, but I sat up and waited for my group.

The last hogback was fun with Bruce way up the road "Taking it Easy".  Ron pulled Dave and I as we enjoyed the shelter.   Ron peels off for home as does Bruce.  Dave and I head over to the Peleton to check out the last day of the Sale and to get some food.

A good time was had by all.   Everyone has gotten so fast so I need to do more riding or something to be able to be closer to the front.    Wish I had remembered to take more pictures

Another year has passed and it's Leadville time again.  This year my brother Paul is coming up again and we are primary crew for Nancy Gray and Secondary for Dave Newman and Scott Giffen.

One of the good things about crewing, is that you don't have to ride the bike.  Yeah, I know, riding a bike is fun, but riding for 12 hours, in the rain and cold, well, that might not be so fun.  Another good thing about crewing is that you get a front row seat at the event!   I love getting to meet new folks and hearing tales of victory, suffering or whatever.

We get up at about 5:30 in the A.M.  I actually woke up earlier, but there was nothing to do so I just laid there trying to get some rest, but that didn't work.  Scott and Dave were already up and were eating and making last minute preparations.   Nancy was somewhere a foot and was ready to rock and roll. 

We made plans and we were ready.  It was pretty cold in the A.M and Paul was to go with Nancy to get take the pile of clothes from her before the Start.   I was going to miss the start this year to go over to Twin Lakes with Dave's father Pete and help setup the tent and bring all the supplies up.   Shannon and Jackie were Scott's primary crew and they were going to meet him at Pipe Line, and we would take care of Scott at Twin Lakes.

Pete arrives at the house and we disassemble the wagon and stuff it in the truck.   Paul has gone to the Start to see Nancy off.   Pete and I make it over to Twin Lakes with the 1st Wagon load.  As luck would have it, the TV crew was moving their tent and offered us a prime spot!.   We help the TV folks take down their tent and we promptly put ours up.   During this there was this beautiful rainbow, that was the finest one I think I have ever seen.   We made a couple of wagon trips but we got all the stuff up without a hitch.

That rainbow of course mean rain and before long it's raining a bit and it's only 7:00 or so.   Pete and I saw another crew struggling with a broken Tent and Pete was quick to offer up some Duct tape to them.  They were grateful.   This gave us a chance to meet one of our 1st neighbors,  Miguel,  Pat and Christine.   They were very nice. Miguel and Pat each had guys they were crewing for.   We chatted with them for a bit.  Those were good folks.

After a bit my brother Paul shows up.  He had no problem finding us due the pink flamingo, but he did have a problem finding Nancy, so he never did get her stuff.  Oh Well,  Nancy is pretty resourceful so it's all good.

We hangout chatting etc. waiting for our folks to come through.   We could see that it was raining where the racers were  and with the cloud cover we knew it was cold!   Lance came through with a few other riders about 1 minute ahead of Dave Weins.

 I don't remember which order our folks came in at but I think it was  Scott, Dave and Nancy.  (Yeah I know I could just check the website, but you can too!).   Pete and his friend (Don't remember the name) were all over Dave's bike.   Pete borrowed some chain lube from Miguel and took care of the chain.   Dave was having ghost shifting issues and we figured this would help.  Dave got food etc. and was off and running.

Scott had new water bottles ready, but I suggested that he only take one due to the cold etc.   He agreed, but I was thinking afterward I hope I made the right decision to suggest that, cause if he ran out I would feel bad.  I figured that he didn't need much cause both his bottles were almost full since he had them filled at Pipe Line.   He got the chain lube treatment too and was off and running.

Nancy was next to come in.  She was cold and explained, that due to as she put it,  "A blond Moment"  forgot to put her gloves on coming down pipe line and they were on her bike so she lost them.  She did realize this, but she wasn't going back up the hill to get them.   She was glad that my camera's battery was dead and that Paul's didn't have his either cause she didn't  want any pics.  Truth be told, she didn't look so good, so I just as soon not take any pics. Well I say that now, but if I had a working camera I would have....  We get Nancy fresh food etc.  I check her hands and they were warm now.  She exclaimed that they were so cold she had to ride the brakes down Powerline, cause if she let go they probably wouldn't have been able to respond in time.   I remember the previous years when she came in all chipper and all.  This was a different Nancy, one who would be tested today!
With some talk of Klingon Honor and all we send her off,  up the mountain to bring honor to herself, family and crew!

With the outbound duties over it's time to relax.  Did I mention that the TV crew had a helicopter! Anyway when it flew over everyone was waving and shouting.  Great fun!  Hope I can see myself on TV, or at least the pink flamingo tent marker.   With a couple of hours Paul and I walked around the Twin Lakes area checking out all of the sites.  We went back to my truck to get some food etc to keep us going.   We walked up the trail a bit to see some of the action.   Lance was coming, Lance was coming.   We could hear the cheering as he was coming down the mountain.  Coming down the mountain like a man possessed!  He was flying!  faster than anyone I have ever seen on that section.  He's got mad MTB skills, and the way he drifted that last corner, totally unreal.  He needs to be racing Downhill! Seriously. 11 minutes later Dave Weins would appear.   He was fast, but no where near as fast a Lance!

 I ended up going up the trail a bit to the summit of the last little hill.  I tried to cheer on and give encouragement to the riders.  "Good Job" and all that kinda stuff.   Most of the riders were responsive.   I got to see a bunch of folks I knew.  Gale and Scott were making some serious time,  Tim (SS) and his wife Barb were making good time too. A few folks recognized me from previous years and 1 said,  "Shouldn't you be out here?".   I liked the guy with the Helmet cam and I asked if that was a cam he turned to me and said  "Yeah say something", to which I replied "Peace" while giving the hand sign.

Scot, Dave, Nancy in that order came by.  They looked pretty good  and  with the weather getting better I figured this would be a good day for all.   I walk down the mountain and find my brother coming to greet me.  He wants to get over to Pipeline to meet Nancy.   She was hurting and he wanted to make sure that she was gonna be OK. He also mentions that Dave has abandoned!  He said his back was hurting.   Paul tells me that Pete asked him if he was sure and that he replied something to the affect of "yeah I'm done".   Paul suggested that he sit for 10 minutes and then decide just to make sure.   Nancy also offered some words of encouragement to "come on" but the decision was made.  By the time I got to the tent, I was pretty much too late for me to say anything ....

We pack up our stuff and head over to Pipeline to see Nancy.  We get a good seat and before long she comes in. We shout, "Nancy, Nancy over here" and she comes over.  She needs water as it's so dusty her contacts are bothering her.  As luck would have it, the folks across the way had saline and offered some to Nancy.  To top that off they gave here some to take with her!  Gotta love all the crew camaraderie.     We give Nancy some more fuel and she is good to go.  While she is there, Paul and I over hear another rider throwing in the towel.   We give Nancy some more Klingon motivation. Her spirits are good.  She says, "This is so hard, but I guess this is what we are here from".  Spoken like a true Klingon.  The Duras Sisters got nothing on Nancy.     Anyway, she takes off and our job is done here.

We take the long way back to town so Paul can see some more of the suffering.  That climb by Turquoise Lake was brutal looking.   After seeing this and knowing Powerline, we feared for Nancy.  Today she would certainly be weighed and measured!

We make it back to town and we go to the subway.  The woman behind the counter tells us how Lance came in with his posse a bit earlier!  She said that Lance was so nice earlier in the week as her kids saw him while playing in the yard and he stopped by to say hi to them!  Way cool.  We finish our meal and go to the finish line to wait and see.

We wait on the boulevard and watch rider after rider.  We see Tim and  Barb and many others.  Folks are cheering on their people and this is as big a crowd as I have ever seen here.  Finally we see Nancy and she is way ahead of where we though she would be!  Nancy waits at the finish line to greet Scott as he comes in a bit later! 

Long day and I am tired.  A day well spent though!   Yeah,  Spent that's how I am sure most felt that day. 

So I signed up for the Laramie Enduro MTB race this year.  I have never done it before and it sounded like a reasonable goal to motivate me be strong enough to enjoy riding with my fiends that were training for the Leadville 100.  Well,  that sorta worked, but I was never able to really enjoy riding with folks that were doing  250 - 300+ miles per weak.  Yeah, I could do most of the group rides, but I ended up being the Whipping boy for most of them.. but I digress....

So I go to bed the night before at about 11:30, cause I was working on the bike and getting my stuff together.  I wakeup at 3:30 in the A.M so I could make the drive to Wyoming so as to meet Bob Binckes and get my race # that he was kind enough to pickup the night before.   It's dark driving up there,, but the sun came out before I had to park the car.

I get the bike ready, head down to the start where I see Janet (Leadville buddy).   I also meet some folks who thought they knew me.  How many black guys named Steve's who race mtbs and have dreads can there be in this world....

Time for the race and I am pretty relaxed, but a bit cold.  The gun goes off and I am way back in the back.  I don't care cause this is a long long race and it won't be won in the 1st few minutes.   I settle in with the folks around me and the legs are feeling pretty good.  My HR is much higher than I thought it should be given the perceived effort, but  I figure this won't last too long.

This 1st few mile were pretty easy,   I hadn't ridden in 10 days prior so I was sure that I was well rested.   I wasn't sure what tires to run on this one, but at the lat minute I had decided to ditch the Pythons and go for the CrossMarks.   I don't think these things rolled as well as the Pythons but I was hoping they would make up for this in some sketchy areas...

A few miles pass and I am holding my own with the group I am with.  The legs are still feeling good, and I am trying to meter my efforts so as to be strong the whole way through.   There are some really fun sections of East Coast type riding, and I am realizing that the suspension might be a bit too stiff for some of this course.   Early on this is not a problem, but later I might be cursing this choice as well as the choice of bike.  I had chosen the old YSL vs the Yeti 575, mainly to due to weight...

I come to the 1st big water crossing and the course volunteer says it was OK earlier but the dirt bike escorts had ripped it up pretty good.    So I tried to ride it, cause it didn't look too bad.  Well that was a mistake as the front tire just stuck and over the bars I went, tweaking my left hand in the process.  Ouch!  That sucks!  Oh well,   So I get up and get going, only after a bunch of folks that I just passed went by me again. Oh well, it's still early...

Mile after mile pass and there is some sweet terrain.    I  see a bunch of folks that knew me from town,  Jim from the 450 crew, and Libby from the Full Cycle Shop ride,  Dave from HP, Kevin from TTH etc.   Everyone along the way is really friendly and I am having a really good time.   

I really didn't know how far I had gone as that Polar unit doesn't have distance in the display.    I had to ask folks how far we had gone and before I knew it  we were about 1/2  way.  I began to recognize the terrain from last years pre-ride of the course with Ron.   I am really really glad I knew what was in store because that could have broken my will, not knowing the horrors to come.

It had rained a lot recently and there were some really swampy mucky, black soil, ugly stuff to ride through and these were areas one did not want to get stuck in.  This is when I realized I had made the correct tire choices.  Luckily I was able to ride all of this and not get my shoes too muddy.   I suppose that wouldn't have mattered too much as that wasted deep stream crossing would have cleaned all of that mud off anyway.  When I 1st say that wasted deep water and the guy in front of me go through it, I was thinking to myself, "You gotta be kidding".   Deep water is bad, but not knowing what's in there allows the imagination to go wild.   If this wasn't a race there's know way I would have been going through all of that.

Some this the terrain was not even freshly bush whacked, and  I was getting weeds kissing my legs a lot.   On one descent a stick got stuck in my rear rear, but I realized this quickly enough and was able to stop and pull in out before any real damage was done.    I kept leap frogging Kevin as he was a much stronger rider, but didn't have the skills to match....    It was after passing him that I lost my bite valve on my camel back!   This sucks,  but luckily I had a shutoff valve, but it was a pain to open and close that thing.

At about the 45 mile point or so,  I started to cramp and figured I would just do some more Sport Legs.  Too bad I left them in the car! Argh.   My legs felt strong excerpt the right leg hamstring was trying to cramp every chance it got.   I did some PowerGels and Hammer Gels which helped some but I didn't want to push too hard, so I just settled into a comfy pace, knowing the worst was yet to come.   As some luck would have it,  Kevin came by me and offered me some Endura lights!  Yeah, Thanks Kevin.   I did 5 or so of those and that helped quite a bit, but I still didn't want to risk pushing it too much.

I was starting to get passed by folks I had done so to earlier.  That was OK, since all I wanted to do was just finish this thing.   The terrain was much tougher now and being tired, it was too easy just to get sloppy.   My hand still hurt, so I couldn't really bomb the sections like I wanted to.   

Finally it' only 20 miles to go, but there are tough.    Shortly after the 2nd to last rest stop I saw these arrows saying to make a right turn.   This didn't look right but I went on for about 89 yards before having some brush snag the front tire and send me over the bars again!  Ouch as I landed on the hand that was already tweaked!.  Now it's really hurting , but it's not broken.  I  chat with the guy behind me about where the course goes.   We should have just stayed on the fire road!   Those arrows were really misleading and the only bad thing I can say.  Wouldn't have bee so bad but I crashed, which also bent my right brake lever.

OK, all I want to do now is finish and be done with this.    Some guy reels me in but I pass him when the grade steepens.   My legs still felt pretty good and I was able to stand and climb some tough stuff without much trouble.  I was using much more hamstrings for most of the earlier climbing, so my quads were pretty strong at this point.  

The terrain now is really rocky and rooted.  With my stiff suspension and tweaked hand the ride pretty much sucks.   There are a few sections that I would normally ride, but I just walked due to fatigue and not having full control of the bike and I really didn't want to crash again.

Finally I am close to the end and it' all down hill from now.    I see the finish and folks are doing the supporting cheering thing.    I was so happy to get some food and sit down. 

Will I do this one again!   I don't know, but I will think about it.  I might take the Yeti next time.   I have no chance of being competitive, as these old guyz are scary fast!    Anyway a good time was had! 

You can see the pic of my polar data.  It lost about 15 mile somewhere in there but you get the idea. Avg HR 1 was 162 which was about 10 beats higher that for Leadville for me. Oh,  here are the race results.   I finished
in about 8 hours 30 minutes.  Next time, if there is a next time I would take the Yeti 575 just to be able to enjoy the descents! 

  So, as many of you know I  sometimes lead the Sunday "Breakfast Club Group ride".   I also attend a few other rides on occasion.  Recently there have been some discussions among the of the riders about Rules.  The Breakfast Club ride does have a set of rules.  Most of the are based on cycling history,  safety and the BC group culture of smooth, safe group riding.  Here are the Links to the BC  Paceline and Group etiquette information. These are pretty much universal in usage, but surprisingly many strong cyclists have never seen such!

Too often, riders will often follow the strongest riders in an attempt to emulate their behavior, right wrong, or just stupid.   You may have noticed that there is nothing in the links about attacking or sprinting.   These actions are determined by each groups ride policies, but within these policies the above rules are still applicable.

One thing that riders who a new to a group need to remember is to think of themselves are guests on the ride and should be following suit, so as to get an idea about the culture of the group that they are joining.  Not all groups do things the way I would do them, but when I am on that groups ride, unless I feel it compromises safety or I am not having fun, I will go with the flow.

A well disciplined group knows the paceline rules and they won't follow bad behavior like Sheep!  Once the Sheep thing starts to happen a ride can break down quickly. 

Being the ride leader it's a fine line to walk in correcting  behaviors that are not safe.   Too often riders feel alienated no matter how the information is conveyed.  Riders who know me have found out that I just pretty much just tell  it like I see it.  Sure this has upset a few riders, and they have sworn never to ride with me again.  That's OK with me because I would rather err on the side of speaking up rather than wait for an accident to happen, knowing that I may have been able to prevent that.  The ride leader has the  right and responsibility to speak out, and  that's something that may be new to some, ( having a ride leader who takes on that responsibility). "Better Safe Than Sorry"

 I just hope that some riders read the links posted above and think about their actions before going out on their next group ride.  After all it's about having good clean, safe group fun.

I wake in the A.M and I am not sure what I want to ride.  I am thinking MTB, but there were some mechanical issues that I didn't feel like dealing with, so I opted to join Gale's Crew for  Rist.  Now Gale was out of town so I think Ron and Ed were hosting this one on here behalf.

I arrive at JJ's and folks begin to roll in.   Ed, Peter, Diana, Dean, Rick, Kate, Kevin, JZ, Bruce, Sledge, Dustin and Ron were among those who showed up.   The early pace was pretty civil with folks regrouping at many points!   At Horsetooth park, folks got their last water stop and then we were off an running.    We were mixed in with the MS-150 crowd as we shared part of the route with them.

After Masonville we were out of the crowds.  The pace was extremely gentle and the group was just chatting etc.  Dustin decided to see what he could do and went off the front.   After a bit  I decided to give chases, shortly followed by Ron, Peter and Kevin.    We brought him back but he Dustin went again.    Out of nowhere Chris comes blowing by and I think was able to catch Dustin.   Peter was a bit back of the leaders followed by Ron and myself further back.

OK,  I have had enough fun for the day so I wait up for some others.     Ed and Rick come by and I join them.   Bruce come by too, but I don't want to go that hard.

Everyone pretty much waited at Stove Prairie to regroup.  Diana and Dean were a bit back to do some physical stuff.  JZ and and I went back for her.  She said not to wait up so after escorting her back to Stove prairie we just kept going up Rist while she waited up for Dean.

Another regrouping at the  summit of Rist and then a rocket ride down.  I was a bit back chasing  but it was fun.   I stopped on the way down to see if this woman needed some help since she was shouldering her bike.   Bent hanger, trashed derailleur and there was nothing I could do, but she has a ride coming.  Turns out that I had met her a few years ago at Tennessee Pass on a ride Dave Newman organized to do the Copper Triangle.   I didn't recognize her but she recognized me... funny how that seems to be the case a lot...

We regrouped again in Bellevue at this little firehouse or something where we got more water.   We then took  the hard way back up Centennial all the way to Harmony and JJ's.

A good time was had by all.  I didn't take any pictures, sorry.

It's Sunday, the 14th, and we had scheduled the Mt. Evans ride for a while now.   It's rare for us to do such and  there were a bunch of folks initially interested.    As the day grew closers only a few  brave souls committed.   There were some concerns about the weather which is what scared off most folks.   The  Brave few that did show up were,  Dave M,  Chris J, and Ron.

 Ron drove us down there and  I was pretty sure it would be "game on" for this one.  Chris stated that he was going for a PR and  Dave had a new bike,  Scot CR1 all tricked out! and well, Ron is Ron .... 

We get down to Idaho Springs, park and there are quite a few  riders heading up the road.    We make ready and off we go!   Chris checks out immediately and  Ron and Dave hang back for a mile or 2 until they are warmed up.  I don't even entertain the though of going with them as my legs are OK, but not good enough to  be  hammering for  3 hours!

Before long I can't see  Chris, Ron or Dave.    Ron and Dave were together and were evenly matched.    I settle into a rhythm and am enjoying the scenery and solitude.  It's nice not to be chasing.   Mile after mile pass and I see a few riders coming down.   I didn't see any until I got to Echo Lake where,  Ron, Dave and Chris were waiting.

We pay the $3 fee and off we go.  Chris checks out again and I try and stay with Dave and Ron for a bit.  I fumble to get some gels and  get dropped.   I am able to claw my way back for a bit, but  I can't recover from that effort so I just settle in again.

The weather was great at the bottom  but looking up it's getting worse.   I am sure I will summit before anything hits.  Those switch backs are mentally draining, and as I look up I realize  the summit is always further than I thought.  I am about 8 minutes away or so, when I see Chris, Ron, Dave coming down.  Chris was getting too cold to wait for me any longer...

At last I am at the top and time to get some more rabbit food and prepare for the descent.  Some folks ask me to take their pics and I chat with some others whom are very impressed that someone would ride there bike up there.    Time's a wasting and I need to get down.

I head down and  the wind chill is fierce.  It's about 41 degrees, but it feels colder when moving.   I would have enjoyed the early  switchbacks but the frost heave has made the descent really quite unpleasant.   Hmmm,  I might want to do this on a FS MTB next time and see if that's any better.... like how could it not be...

I stop a few times on the way down to get some pics.  I can see the weather moving in!.  I get caught in a tiny bit of hail which turns to rain as I get closer to Echo Lake.  The roads are quite wet and I and  concerned about any road oil!    I stop to put on the rain pants which really helped.  When I reach Echo Lake,  Ron, Dave and Chris are waiting.

We take off and it' raining.    I an starting to get chilled a bit since I haven't really pedaled hard in a while.  With the high speeds and slick roads I am concerned about my steering inputs as I am shivering every so often.   Nothing worse than destabilizing the bike at 30+ mph while in a high speed turn.   Ron and Dave, check out as  Chris and I were a bit more cautious.  A few miles into this the roads dry up and  it's only the gusty winds that are of a concern.

Finally we make it to the car.   A good time was had by all.   I think Chris did set a PR. 

Well, I have signed up to do the E-Rock century again.   I did this one 2 years ago and I really didn't have that great of a time.  On these tours I prefer to just enjoy my fitness and talk to folks and enjoy the ride.  2 years ago, it just seemed  like the crew I went with was all about going fast.   For me, if I really want to go fast with folks I do one of the local hammer fest rides, or enter a race.... but I digress.

We met at 4:30 A.M for the ride down there, and most of us didn't get a ton of sleep before hand. Ouch!

This year the pace was a bit more mellow to start with, but our group of 4,  Ron, Dave, Ilka and myself broke up on the 1st climb.   Sure I could have gone with them, but I have played that game before and lost big time later in the ride.   Dave and I took it more/less easy on the 1st climb...  Eventually we would regroup with Ron and Ilka a bit later.

We did have some good group efforts going but for one reason or another,   we would get split up again.  I was OK with all that, cause those were the expectations that I went there with.   I was good to just chill and chat with folks instead of chasing ghosts all of the time.   As luck would have it  I got a chance to meet and ride with Nelson Vails for a bit, after my posse was going faster than I wanted to....

We also met a woman  Leila(sp?) who rode with us from the  1/2 way point to the end.  She was really nice, and it turned out she had gotten separated from her crew too.    We did run into some others that we knew,  Janet from Evergreen club, and Steve  and his crew from the 450 Club.

I was able to hold my own more or less but I was no match for  Ron,  Super Dave, and Ilka all of whom probably have more than double the miles I have put in so far.      There were some bright spots where we worked well together and it reminded me of the old dayz...

Of note,  Jim one of Steve's boyz got hit by a car when we lost control in some sand while trying  to catch up!  He was OK, but his bike was toast!   Also,  Ilka had a minor crash when she collided with another rider.   Minor damage to both bikes, but they were ridable, and everyone was OK!

The end of the ride was different than last year and it added a couple of miles.   Dave was doing the Lions share of the work on the way back.  Ron had "checked out"  on the last climb, not to be seen again until the finish.

After the provided meal we got a chance to wander the fair grounds and was able to chat with Dave Weins who was manning the Ergon both.   Doesn't get any better than that!

A good time was had by all.  ~ 100 miles, with a moving avg at 18.3! which was the slowest in the group.

Photo's courtesy of Dave Newman.

Another long ride ride planned and I am really not up for riding too hard.  I decide to drive down to Gales instead of riding cause I wasn't sure the legs would be good for the extra miles.

There is a good turn out today with, Ron, Ilka, Gale, Scott, Bill, Ed. Martin and Chris etc.   I could see that many of the folks weren't carrying too much but with rain as a possibility, better a bit slower, than sorry.

The pace on the way down was brisk, but  the "Big Men & Women" were more than happy to do all of the work.  I didn't see the front of the pace line at all on the way to Lyons.    Bill and Chris took some crazy long pulls which lasted for over 10 miles I am sure.   Chris was feigning that we would be weak considering his 100 miler the day before with  6000+ feet of  vertical, but I couldn't tell by the way he was riding.   I am wondering if Bill and Chris were doing the macho thing up front to see who would crack 1st?..

So we make it to Lyons and get some food at the local store.  At this point I am really glad that I didn't ride over to Gales.  The legs were OK, but the were complaining when they shouldn't have been. 

It's Go time and everyone is ready for the ascent.   The pace is brisk and life is good for the 1st mile or so and then it's time for the GC contenders to come to the front.  Now I am really suffering as Bill, Chris, Ron, Ed, Scott begin to work at the front.   My HR was pretty high, but not crazy, but I my legs were not fresh enough to hold the effort and I had to drop off the pace.    I  thought about trying to hold Gale's wheel but I would fry myself so I had to settle into a reasonable pace.   Ed was on the opposite end of the spectrum, and put the hurt on everyone!

Miles passed and to my surprise a bunch of the folks had stopped to regroup.  This was a chance to get in some food.   Before long it's more of the same.   All was OK until it started to rain and rain hard.   I put on the rain gear and I was OK.  Ilka and Martin turned back at this point.   I was really really warm o on the way down  to Estes.  Even the descent was OK,  but I am sure others weren't as comfy.

I meet the crew in Estes at the Notchtop Cafe.   I went to Micky D's cause I earned myself those fries. .

The ride down the canyon was unusually not very fast.  Ron took some monster pulls, but one man can only do so much.  Ron got a flat on the way down, and then it was my turn.   Good thing I was with  Gale and Scott cause I realized that I left my pump at home!!

Glad to be done.  About 90 miles total.   A good time was had by most.  Hopefully next weekend I'll be taking it easy on the MTB.    Just need to clean the road bike now.  Sorry no pics, but I am sure my camera is glad I left it in the car...