RIDE to LIFE

Warmth

2005-12-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

wellnessWeather finally broke today and temperatures slipped out of the teens and up into the low 40s; now if I can sneak out of work while there's still a tiny bit of daylight I can get on the bike OUTSIDE! YESSSSsssss.

What is it???

2005-12-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

wellness What is it about "global warming" that makes Denver so doggone cold these days. It's not even the shortest day of the year yet and that spin bike in front of the TV is already getting that grungy used look to it already. The bikes in the garage are BEGGING to go outside and play, but snow, ice and daytime temperatures in the teens are saying NO.

Oh well, all the more time to pull out the bike magazines, brochures, go on web sites and check out possible rides and races for next Spring, Summer and Fall. Road? Mountain? Races? Non-racing Events? ...it's the biker's version of browsing through the seed catalogs, day-dreaming about next summer's garden.

I'm BAAAaaaack!

2005-12-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

wellness
Been a while since I blogged. But now I'm back; cleaned out the spam (grrrrr) and will start getting back ointo the swing of things.
Been a busy fall; plenty of travel, some biking and best of all, my fractured knee is all healed and pretty much back to normal. Now I drop the eight pounds that crept up during my reduced activity, pump the cardio back up to normal and define a few leg muscles once again, and HEY it'll be SPRING. Birds singin', trees blooming, hormones moaning... all that kind of good stuff.
Plenty of news on the bike front to share also.

Happy and best Holidays ever to everyone.

JJJ

Sittin' There

2005-09-17T17:19:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking
Saturday late afternoon; golden light spinning down onto the suburbs of Denver, kids happily playing outside the window. Air carrying that clear haziness of fall, temperature in the 70s. In short, a perfect biking day...
...and I'm feeling OK about myself because I did a good hard upper body workout before noon at the athletic club.
But... that was then; this is now. And I'm feeling like a slug, sitting there on the couch, my knee propped up. I'm reading a couple of books, one about biking and training of course, and the other the latest in the Dune follow-up series. Fine.
But soon I'm feeling restless; should go start a project of one sort or another. Jeez, what a loser... sittin' here on a day like this.
Only one answer; sorry, knee... but we're at least going to go down to the trainer and spin a bit.
"Spin?"
Oh, yeah, "Spin."
Sweat a little bit. Get in touch with what's real; feed our motion addiction. Get the butt back on the bike, even if it's just tethered to the trainer instead of cruising up Deer Creek Canyon.
Hey, it beats ice cream, or a cup of coffee or whatever.
"So that's where we're headed; Mr. Knee; you and me, our sinews and joints, muscles and fat, brain and soul, the whole enchilada.
"Come on."
Everybody else; catch ya later.
We'll all feel better then.

Healing

2005-09-16T21:27:00.000-06:00

wellness
I heal.
Bone knits back together.
Pain becomes less; the limp is less gimpy. Every day there is gain.
Last night I slept through the night, not awakened once by that deep, throbbing ache that seems to permeate my whole leg, radiating both up and down from the fractured knee.
And on the bike, spinning the trainer, motion comes easier; peddling becomes more sure. The linear motion feels good and the effort lets me know that I can still sweat, that my heart still beats, and that my capillaries still dilate with effort, moving blood to where it is most needed.
I am fortunate; I'm healthy and healing fast.
Tomorrow will be three weeks since splatting on Monarch Crest.
No torn ligaments, no lasting damage to tendons or muscles. Just a bit of contusion and fractured bone. In healthy humans, it grows back together, good as new.
So now I repair.
Soon I will rebuild.
Then I will ride again.
The sun shines; the beauty of autumn surrounds me.
Maybe there will still be a few aspen leaves left in the mountain groves when I am once again able to ride joyfully through them.
Thank you, God.

Wrestling

2005-09-07T11:15:00.000-06:00

wellness
OK, I'm having the wrestle with a couple of things right now, all under the header of, "Reappraising my Year." I made it to the Leadville Silver Rush 50-miler, but was sick as a dog... but still pulled an age-class win (all the fast Old Guys stayed home.)Then came the Leadville 100, one of my two major goal events for 2005 and I was so stricken with giardia that I couldn't even compete. Then comes...
...feeling better and getting my strength back in late August, followed by: "Ten Days Ago's mountain bike splat and broken knee. Next comes the 24 Hours of Moab in mid-October and the possibility that I may miss it for the first time in four years.

A definite downer of a possibility.

Question: should I just flatly rule it out at this point, allow my knee to heal well, and begin transitioning into early periodization for next year... Or should I keep Moab open as a possibility, try to train as hard as possible for the next 40 days and 'Go for it?'

One background fact to keep in mind: the Moab course has some nasty sand and rock technical sections that are pretty easy to splat on, particularly in the middle of the night when fatigue begins to grind away at you. So, skip it, or accept at least some probability of reinjuring a still tender knee?

Help!!! Please tell me what you think.

Am I just being a weeney here to even worry about this??

What's the right plan?

Right now I'm taking a wait and see approach; wait and see what healing progress my next X-rays show in a week.

Healing

2005-09-06T19:33:00.000-06:00

wellness
OK, here's the deal. I went the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, got some more X-rays, talked to the 'Pros from Dover' and learned the following:
If you're going to fracture your knee cap, the best way to have it happen is vertically, not horizontally. YEA! I have two vertical fractures and no floating chunks of bone; bottom line, knee is in good shape other than the fractures; no torn ligaments, tendons, etc. So should be good to go, fully healed in six to eight weeks. Of course, I'm interpreting that to mean...

...That I can be back on my bike (road bike, at least)in three weeks if I'm careful; and 9 days have already passed. (and, yes, Katherine is looking a little askance at my math on all this!)

And for right now, spinning is OK; in fact is good therapy, as long as I don't push big loads. So at least I'll be able to do high cadence spins and get my heart rate pumpin'!

Yes, I'm a lucky guy in all this. Now what does this scenario means for my hoped-for solo attempt at Moab in mid-Oct? Haven't determined that yet; I'll get another exam and X-rays next week; see how the healing is coming.

Still haven't figured out how I slid out in the first place to set all this carnage in place though. Just tired late in day and going a wee bit fast I guess.

Sigh.

Monarch Crest Trail

2005-09-04T12:54:00.000-06:00

nature

Monarch Crest Trail is a Colorado Classic...
...one of the best one-day mountain bike rides, period. It starts at the visitor center at the top of Monarch Pass. There are several bailout points to roads that hook back to civilization, but the best ride is the full one -- 30-some miles that drops down off the mountain ridges in a sometimes puckering descent to Rainbow Trail. Rainbow is a beauty; narrow cruiser singletrack with sudden thrusting uphills that give you true interval training at the end of the day, spiking heartrates and making legs wobbly. An awesome ride, available only limited months of the year when the snows are off the high ridges.

Labor Day

2005-09-04T12:26:00.000-06:00

wellness
Life is funny. I finally got over the summer's bout with giardia, had an awesome 35 mile ride along the Continental Divide last Sunday... feeling strong, enjoying good health, looking forward to 24 Hours of Moab... and, then...
... seven miles from the finish of the ride, on a level, gently twisty trail I go a bit too fast. Net result: fractured kneecap.

Sigh!

Oh well.

All in all, not too bad; no twists or torn ligaments. I'm gimping around pretty well, and on Tuesday I gather up my X-rays and go to sports medicine specialists in Boulder to get the real scoop. I'm thinkin' it isn't gonna be too bad. And that maybe, MAYBE, the 24 Hours of Moab (Oct. 15 & 16) will still be possible, just at a bit diminished pace and distance.

And after watching all the folks in New Orleans, I'm feeling mighty fortunate; I have no problems at all.

Though watching the painful, costly bumbling of our federal government (for whom I work) brings me pain, rage, embarrassment and frustration. The folks on the ground are doing great, heroic work while the "show horses" in Washington spout meaningless bullshit about how hard it all is.

I think of that old adage: LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.

'nuff said for now.

Great Rides

2005-08-22T13:29:00.000-06:00

wellness
Had two great rides over the weekend, and what really made them great was: No stomach pains, No nausea, No cramping, No aftermath!

Truly a breakthrough; first such occurances since the end of July and the beginnings of giardia infection. What a blessed relief. Leg pain, general fatigue: hey, great; it felt so good to simply experience THAT type of "healthy" pain! And none of the other nastiness...

...Two easy hours on the roadbike on Friday, followed by a rest day on Saturday, then two hours of HARD, technical mountain biking on Sunday, with both rides being undertaken within beautiful weather conditions. Made me feel soooo alive again.

Thank you, Thank you, Mr./Ms. Universe.

On the Colorado Trail at 11,600 feet

2005-08-19T01:16:00.000-06:00

spirit

Echo Lake, Colorado

2005-08-19T01:11:00.000-06:00

spirit

Return of the Blogger

2005-08-19T00:38:00.000-06:00

spirit
It's true; I've been a bad blogger recently. Bad in the sense that I haven't been blogging much. Seems like I've had only so much energy, so have had to parcel it out. Still feeling somewhat puny, but am back on the bike on a daily basis trying to spin my way out of this whatever-it-is physical affliction that's been pounding me for the last six weeks. Giardia still seems the most likely culprit, but COME ON... a month and a half is enough! Time to put this crap behind me (pun intended.)

The Leadville 100 has come and gone (last weekend) and after a year of training, it done went without me...
...I've accepted that, albeit with much knashing of teeth and wailing of sound. Now, I'm focusing on the 24 Hours of Moab which will come up in mid-October. Got in a couple of good sound rides last week. Out and back, Kinosha Pass to Georgia Pass, on the mountain bike, and Evergreen to Echo Lake, out and back, on the road bike. Both are good rides in their own right, plenty of climbing and altitude, and both went well, though at a slower pace than normal. And the ride to Georgia Pass is some of my favorite singletrack, the Colorado Trail through massive groves of aspen that absoutely take your breath away with their beauty. Ride through those groves, twisting in and out through the shadows and their shimmering leaves and tall white trunks, and it will definitely take you somewhere else, out of the ordinary and into the realm of God and something higher. Good for the soul, good for the body. I'm a lucky man; rides like that remind me over and over of that fact. And I give thanks... and know that the trees and rocks are listening. The trail takes me there, and that, at its essence is what mountain biking is all about.

Waiting

2005-08-09T06:52:00.000-06:00

wellness
Big morning: 6:45 a.m. Waiting for a buddy to show up and then take off to Kenosha Pass to do a four hour mountain bike ride, my longest since the Silver Rush a month ago, after getting puny. I did a good road ride on Sunday with about an hour of moderate climbing in it and felt great, like I had my energy back. Climbed from my house in Lakewood up the the Mother Cabrini Shrine overlooking all of Denver and the mountains to the west. Arrived at the top feeling really, really good... and i was so happy; like life was returning to my muscles once again.

Now, I have high hopes and expectations for today; it should be a beautiful ride, Kenosha to Georgia Pass, out and back. Glorious singletrack with a few rocks and roots in it, up to about 11,600 feet.

Let ya know later how I did.

Into the Light

2005-08-03T12:57:00.000-06:00

wellness

Ever notice how during times leading to change that life seems to slowly close in on you, then suddenly opens to a new light as you make whatever decision is required?

That's how I feel right now. After a month of fighting giardia and losing training time and stamina, as my goal event of the year moves ever closer (Saturday, August 13) I have finally decided to abandon my attempt of the Leadville 100 this year.
[Wow, I can hardly write those words; it just feels so weird and disappointing to actually admit it.]

I'm having to face the fact that even if I start the race, I may not be able to finish in the required 12 hours (last year my time was 10:56.) And even if I did make it, it's very likely that I'd be setting back my health and training from overstressing my immune system once again...

...This race is simply too grueling to be good for me at this time. My coach agrees with this, my accupuncturist agrees, and most importantly (to me) my wife, Katherine tells me the same thing. Guess it's time to listen.

What a bummer.

BUT, the good news is that I have decided to go ahead and take the time off from work that I had already scheduled. I will use it to rest, eat well and train as my body tells me to. I'll push, but only with my next goal in mind: to be READY for my first solo attempt at the 24 Hours of Moab in mid-October.

Leadville, you'll just have to wait until next year.

There's definitely light at the end of this tunnel, BUT...

DAMNED!

Tic Toc

2005-08-01T20:41:00.000-06:00

bike racing
Here it is, Monday night, August 1, 2005 and the gun goes off for the Leadville 100 mtb race at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, August 13. I still don't know whether I will make it to the starting line. I still have hopes, but the stomach upset and weakness left from giardia lingers. I did a 45 minute endurance spin tonight and felt pretty good... but that is a FAR cry from 11 hours on the bike at high altitude and racing speed. Still hard to tell...
...I haven't given up hope. Will still continue to keep options open until later this week. Stay tuned.

Takin' it Easy

2005-07-30T17:52:00.000-06:00

wellness
Well, I made it back onto the bike
Thursday evening after work for first time in a week! Easy mountain bike ride. My leg strength felt OK, but my stamina sucked. Several little short, anaerobic climbs; heart rate popped right up to rooftop! I only rode for 41 minutes, but that was about all I wanted...

...After the ride I had that heavy feeling in my lungs that mountain bikers get when they've pushed a little over their limit, particularly after some time off the bike. Felt good the rest of the evening, but then on Thursday, was tired once again during the day time, so skipped riding Friday night.(Coach said to take it EASY; wife said take it EASY, Acupuncturist said take it EASY. ...so it slowly dawned on me, particularly since I didn't feel that hot, that MAYBE I should take it easy.

DUH.

Today, Saturday, I got up, ate a little oatmeal, then broke out the road bike for a quick easy ride to REI, where my visiting granddaughters wanted to rock climb before heading back to Tahoe tomorrow and later in the month back to Hong Kong where their current real home is. It was heating up pretty early today, but was only in low 80s as I put my 20-mile, 1:04-minute easy ride in. It's pretty level with a few little dips in it; just enough to get up out of the saddle for a few spins to keep up momentum, then sit back down again to keep haulin'. I rode easy, but kept it spinning. Felt really good. Heart rate up above where it would have been a couple of weeks ago, but watts also up good, and perceived exertion down. So maybe the enforced rest hasn't been ALL bad.

I'll see how I'll feel tomorrow a.m.; if I feel good, maybe a short mtb ride.

Bottom line: I'm definitely getting better, though energy reduced and stomach still doing its occasional flip flops, just for my personal entertaining and a REMINDER to Take it EASY.

Don't know yet about Leadville 100 on the 13th; we'll see. (I sure would like to do it, though!)

Wierd

2005-07-27T11:52:00.000-06:00

wellness
Life is pretty weird when you're sick; my heart goes out to those folks who have chronic illnesses and have to learn to cope with them. I've been battling this giardia thing for about four weeks now and I'm DAMNED SICK OF IT. Havn't been on my bike for a week. YIKES!!

One day good, next day not so good... the antibiotics seem about as gruesome as the parasites. Whine, whine...whine.

I think that, overall, I'm gaining on it though; at least I now get short spurts of normal energy, rather than totally dragging all the time.

Leadville is looming...
...and I still don't know whether I will make it or not. By the first part of next week I'll make a go/no-go on it.

Progress

2005-07-22T17:00:00.000-06:00

wellness
Aha! Some rest and 24 hours back on antibiotics (hate to admit it, but they help) and while I still feel crappy, I can at least visualize Showing UP for the Leadville 100 and actually trying to ride it -- something I could not even remotely consider as a possibility yesterday. Little by little. Tiny, tiny; the good guys must have used the new weapons to kick the heck out of at least a few of the bad guys. Hurray for our side! Thank you, guys; thank you! Keep pressing the offensive!

Regrouping

2005-07-21T15:36:00.000-06:00

wellness
OK, I guess the universe is telling me that I need a dose of humility. I woke up this morning feeling like crap; no energy and stomach churning. Now, not to sprial into a downer with all this, but...

...today has been pretty much a loss. I've been pretty well incapacitated most of the day, sleeping, eating a little, spending unmentionable times doing unmentionable personal acts, resting, etc. You get the picture. And, training... forget it, at least for the next 24 hours. Ain't gonna happen.

Good day for introspection though, and realizing that what will be will be; my job is simply to roll with it, keep a positive attitude. Rest and get well, then get ready to hit it again when I can. And if that doesn't happen soon, then the Leadville 100 is going to look kind of iffy. Maybe I can just go do what I can of it; push the limits a little and accept what fate spins out (while giving it a good twist in the tail as much as I can! And, HEY, there's always NEXT YEAR!

So those are the nasty thoughts going through my puny little head today, as I work toward a return to health. My body feels is a battleground right now; nasty little critters trying to overwhelm the good guys. Well, guess what... the good guys are gonna win, and I'm gonna help them. Be warned, bad guys... you're _ _cking days are NUMBERED! And, don't worry, legs... I'll have you back on the bike soon enough. Red blood cells, keep multiplying, you'll be back at altitude soon enough. Lung, keep pumping; stay clear. Heart, take a brief spin around the park, you're gonna be hitting FULL VOLUME, FULL THROTTLE, all steam ahead here again realll soon, so rest while you can and get ready. Meanwhile, all of you; get the hell to work and start BLASTING those bad guys, everywhere they are hiding. Chase them from the shadows and clear them from the nooks and crannys; BLAST them; give the white blood cells a boost. Time to SPRINT, boys and girls; screw the bad guys. Reject and eject them; control room standing by.

Repair Week

2005-07-20T15:56:00.000-06:00

wellness
Like it or not, it seems like this is "major repair" week. My mountain bike's in the shop, and my stomach has still not returned to its normal happy self.

Seems like the rear cassette on my bike didn't get changed when I had the front chain rings and chain replaced before the Silver Rush. Mistake at the bike shop, but I should have caught it too; I just didn't inspect the repair job closely enough. Instead, I "ASSUMED" that the rear cassette had been changed because it's pretty common knowledge that a new chain on an old (worn out) cassette just will not shift nor work well. So the bike shop's error...
...and my inattention to detail caused me to fight with a malfunctioning drive chain all during the race -- and, it screwed up the new chain as well.

Then,unrelated they found that the rear suspension pivot bearings are shot and that also one major linkage is totally screwed... Guess that great gonzo ride I had down over the last 10 miles of rocks and potholes caused a wee bit of damage... sigh. (sure was a FUN ride while it lasted, though.)

Meanwhile, my intestinal problems continue (giardia, whatever) and my doc's trying to decide what to do next. And all the while the clock ticks closer to the Leadville 100 on August 13th. Hmmmmmm. should be an interesting three weeks.

YIKES!

Silver Rush Survival

2005-07-18T15:37:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking
Well, Silver Rush Saturday has come and gone and I have SURVIVED.

There's no getting around it, that is just one brutal course: 50 miles with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain, but the killer is that the average altitude for the course is 11,300 feet. There is almost no level ground; it is either UP or DOWWWNNNNN.

My time was six hours and 21 minutes, which was good enough to put me in in first place in my age group (60-69,)and fifth for everybody over 50. The bad news is that my time was almost identical to last year. Of course my buddies tell me that I should feel awesome because I'm coming off almost three weeks of what appears to be a nasty infection with giardia...I finally went on antibiotics (or more correctly, anti-parisitics, last Tuesday, after beginning to panic that I might not be able to do the race at all.

During the first hour's climb I really felt sick; nauseous, etc.; then I backed off my pace and just kept going, figuring, 'well I can make it this particular climb, then I'll see...' then I'd get some downhill and recover a bit and try the next one. Fortunately, I seemed to reach an equilibrium after the first 90 minutes and although I couldn't take in any nutrient other than four gels and a bottle of gatorade during the ride, that was enough to keep me at least moving. All in all, though, it felt like a longggg day in the saddle.

At the 25-mile turn-around point, it was starting to get pretty hot and at altitude like that, it can fry and dehydrate you pretty quickly, so I was glad that about the time I got back up on top of the 12,000 foot saddle over the pass, it started to spit some rain and a few marble-sized hailstones. They stung a bit, but there weren't too many and it cooled things down... saving my tired butt in the process. Then it was down, down, down, and UP one more long slog before turning back onto rocky double-track.

The last ten miles or so were almost all downhill, though a tad rocky and hairy at times, so that helped me. I decided at that point to just 'go for it.' I love downhill, particularly if it's rocky, rough and fast, so that helped my pick up a few places. Over all I came in 114th (vs 93rd last year)out of about 200 finishers, so pretty much in the middle of the pack.

Now, try to get some strength back... and get ready for the 100 on August 13th! Bike's back in the shop today getting some well desrved nurturing, so it's the road bike for me today after work.

Bottom line: I feel VERY ALIVE and happy today; this stuff is hard but it absolutely awesome for the body and the spirit. I'm a very lucky guy to get to mountain bike race in the Rocky Mountains!

Into the Zone

2005-07-11T16:29:00.000-06:00

bike racing
Monday, July 11: It's that time; time when the last ten months of training will come into play and I'll learn how much it has helped me. In short, it's five days until the shotgun blast into the air that signals the start of the infamous Leadville Silver Rush, a 50-mile mountain bike race at an average elevation of just over 11,000 feet...

...and already my mind is drifting off to altitude; it's becoming my reality. I came to work today, am doing the "stuff" I need to be doing, but my brain keeps flicking to chain lube, checking tire casings and suspension joints, remembering the good sun screen. And my body, not to be kept out of the loop, keeps saying, "OK, time for some more carbs; let's get that glycogen up, muscles need more, let's PACK them!"

My nighttime dreams and daytime reveries are of twists in the trail, the repeated grunts up to 12,000 feet followed by hair-raising 1,500 foot plunges back down the the rocky jeep tracks, only to climb back up again. The sweet brutality of the twenty-five mile turn around point, quickly chased by a mile or so hike-a-bike up the singletrack to the top of the pass. Ground so steep it's hard to push a bike up it while keeping your footing.

Reality: this is my reality. Will I do well? Will I even finish as well as last year? Can I pick up 20 minutes to drop to a sub-six-hour ride? Leg cramps; what about them? Remember to pack in the electrolytes... and for God's Sake, discipline myself enough to stop now and then and actually wolf the things down BEFORE I need them, instead of after, when it's already too late.

On and on... the thoughts flick and rattle through my brain pan and my very deepest being, while folks around me look and me and wonder whether I'm really here with them.

No. No, not really.

And then in August comes the Leadville Trail 100, the REALLY big challenge of the summer; the one my training has all really been about.

And, OH MY GOD, I've also actually sent my $330 in for a solo attempt as the 24 Hours of Moab in mid-October. But I can't even think about that right now, scary as it might be. Now, now there is only the Silver Rush. Pack the rain coat; it poured last year. Make sure the tool kit is really ready...

It's going to be a grand summer and fall.

A Little More Training

2005-07-08T08:18:00.000-06:00

fitness
training
Weekend: time for a little more training before July 16th's Silver Rush 50 Mountain Bike Race in the mountains above Leadville.

LEADVILLE: STORMY, BROODING, WAITING
For today, I'll do a mid-effort, two-hour mountain bike ride up near Evergreen at Three Sisters. It's a fun place to ride; some good three mile singletrack climb, some technical, some rollers, and a set of good tight twisties down to the valley below...

...Tomorrow it will back to the road bike. Mateo, Steve and I will do an endurance pace road ride with a good long climb; put some sustained pressure on the legs.

Steve's just back from a four-month detail in D.C. and Mateo and I just want to keep the legs and lungs working while we rest up for the Silver Rush. Our conditioning, at this point, is pretty well set; now we want to just arrive at the race sharp and rested. It should be fun, some sweat but nothing too lung-bustin'.

Ride the Rockies, Day 5

2005-07-06T14:54:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking
Go to Days three and Four's Ride
Go to Day Two's Ride
Go to Day One's Ride
Go to Pre-Ride

Day Five looked to be a hard day; a 30-mile slightly up-hill warmup, followed by a steady, unrelenting 10-mile grunt up the mountain to 11,300 foot Monarch Pass and the Contentintal Divide. The early morning proved chilly, so the uphill part of the ride felt good, an excellent way to stay warm until the sun could do its work. I stopped at the foot of the climb up to Monarch, fueled up with Gatorade and a PBJ, met Art and briefly talked with a young French guy he had been riding with, then we took off. As usual, Art pulled slowly but steadily away from me. I didn't mind though as I had already reconciled myself to the fact that he is stronger than I am (the BUM!)I got in my rhythm, set my pace at a steady six to seven miles an hour and just climbed away. A few guys passed me and I passed plenty of others. A steady diet of seated climbing punctuated by some spells standing. Up and up we went. It felt good; not really that hard, just steady. I guess the last five days on the road had done me some good. My heart rate while climbing settled to a steady 126-128 beats a minute. I smiled; that's about twelve to fifteen beats slower than a year ago. Guess there's something to this steady regimen of training and road-riding. Tough for a mountain-biker to admit :)

Finally, at last, up around one more cut and THERE IT IS, a sign that says, "Summit, 1/2 mile. Being of sound mind (well, reasonably sound) I waited for a couple of hundred meters past that sign then stood up and started to sprint. Once I got it wound up, I sat back down and went for it. Right as I pulled even with the summit parking lot, I was hitting 470 watts, a lot for me at the end of a long climb.

Swinging in the lot, I tried not to step on my tongue as I got off the bike, a little wobbly. Once I got my lungs stuffed back down into my chest, my ego couldn't resist: I posed for a summit photo.

From there it was grab a couple of green, very cold bananas, wolf down four or five orange quarters, throw on arm warmers and a jacket, and get ready to descend before the chill seeped into my bones.

I hit the road, which turned out to be straight and fast. I tried to keep things under 45 mph because my bike gets a little squirrely above that. It may be the wheels, I don't know, but I sure get tired of the high speed head-shake it often gets if the road surface is less than perfect... scares the hell out of me.

By the bottom of the grade, the road turned into a slightly downhill ten or twelve mile cruise into Salida. I kept clipping along at about 32 - 34 miles per hour, so it went be pretty quickly. Art had arrived just ahead of me, so we joined up and went looking for what would be our last motel of the trip. And it was a TRIP in itself; a bunch of sleezy, seedy cabins that had seen better days probably by about 1960. Fortunately for Art, his company has an office in Salida where he had dropped off his pickup before the ride started; he was bailing at this point. We ate lunch, sat around the river bank and watched some kayakers practicing their rolls and stunts, then in early evening he made his escape, leaving me to the NO-TELL Motel, mosquitos and stray dogs. A particularly nice chocolate lab wandered into my room (I had left the door open to capture some cool evening air,) sniffed around, ate some sort of God-Knows, Invisible-to-Humans goodies off the ratty carpet, then gave me a look of sympathy and left presumably for nicer digs.

2005 Ride the Rockies, Days 3 & 4

2005-07-05T15:06:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking
Go to Day Two's Ride
Go to Day One's Ride
Go to Pre-Ride

One of the cool things about the end of day two was that the motel had screwed up our reservations in Delta, Colorado.

Wait; this is cool?

Yep, because the manager said, "Well, you don't have a room for tonight and we are filled, BUT we have a house next door and you can rent it for only $25 more.

Now it's hot, 98 degrees, we're tired and I'm envisioning a sleazy old house with more dirt than substance, but, hey, there's little choice. I say, "OK," we gather our stuff and trudge to the little house next the motel, open the door... and it's all been redone inside, light wood, full kitchen, living room, two bedrooms; neat, clean, cooled with central air, bright new bathroom, tub and shower, pleasant deor. YEAH!

So I get a great night's sleep and get up early the next morning ready to ride. It's a short day through the countryside, through farms and ranches.

The day's ride was a short one: about 35 miles, sort of a quasi-rest day, but to me it turned out to be one of great beauty. I spent my youth in the Snake River country, on a wheat and cattle ranch in eastern Washington state, so have a soft spot for farms and nature. This ride put us right through irrigated alfalfa fields, wheat, sweet corn, pastures, cows, grass and pastures -- and all the smells, sights and sounds that go along with it. The fragrance of fresh cut alfalfa permeated me with memories of long, LONG, hot, HOT summer days baling hay, hauling and stacking it. Good memories, but better from a bike, I think, 35 years later and riding by somebody else's fields without all the worries and financial pressures that go hand in hand with trying to make a living farming.

At one point along the road, a bunch of bikers were standing, watching some horses; I blew by them wondering what they were looking at, then later learned that a mare had just delivered a foal who was up and struggling to get his first meal. Cool; wish I had stopped, but sometimes you just gotta make some miles, and I missed this one.

Art and I rode together this day and needless to say, we got into our destination, Montrose, pretty early in the day. Hung around the finish area, shot the breeze with some folks, laid on the grass and watched the riders come in. Then we went and found our motel for the day, a nice place with a little hidden courtyard and pool behind it. But the "hungers" were building we went in search of fuel at the nearby Quarter Circle Diner, one of those great little cafes found in every small town in rural America. The locals: workers for the country road crew, farmers, a local agricultural banker, the hardware store guy and couple of others, sat at their usual tables at the back of the cafe. Really nice folks, so we shared lies and tall tales with them as they marveled at all the lycra-clad strangeness pedaling up Main Street.

By one o'clock we had pedaled back to the finish area and caught one of two un-air-conditioned school buses to go out to see The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, a spectacular, extremely narrow, extremely DEEP gouge cut out of the high plains over the eons by the Gunnison River.

This will be a side trip emblazoned into my memory by a lightning encounter a wee bit too close. While standing, listening to a Ranger talk about the canyon view from Pulpit Point, thunder storms were building five or six miles away, a little lightning far away, nothing too dramatic, when "BAM!" What sounded like being in the middle of a dynamite blasted all around us just as I was holding my camera out to take a pic of the canyon. The electrical flash, the explosion, hit absolutely at the SAME TIME. YIKES! And, my camera seemed to spark, giving my hand, particularly on the back side a sharp, painful shock. Art and several others who were wearing baseball caps said they felt small shocks of the lightning through the metal grommets in their caps.

Too Close, Dude!

Needless to say, we all quickly scurried back to the buses without anybody having to tell us to do so. Glad I hadn't been sitting on a metal bike when it happened.

After that excitement, the rest of the day went quietly, and the next morning, Day 4, saw us out on the road again by seven a.m.

We headed up the road directly into a 15-mmph head wind, on a morning that saw two long climbs, gaining about 3,500 feet of altitude in about 70-some miles. It was a tough day, but my legs had strengthened over the past four days, so it was simply a matter of maintaining patience and good spirit. The wind sort of grinds at you on a road bike; you feel like you should be making better time for the effort involved and the mileposts go by very slowly. On a climb, at least, you can look back and see the grade below you and know you are gaining on it. Wind, on the other hand, just beats you.

One cool thing was that one of the downhill grades was under construction. The asphalt had been torn up and we went zooming down it on rough dirt and graveled, well oiled to keep the dust down for about four or five miles. I whipped through it at a good clip, 20 to 30 mph. It was easy to tell who was really a mountain biker; we were grinning from ear to ear and letting the tar fly where it might; others were slightly more tentative. I passed one guy on a hand cycle (they sit right down on the ground,) and he was also boogying; his head, back and shoulders (massive) were splattered with so much tar and oil he looked tattooed. I'll bet they had to dip him and his machine in solvent for 12 hours to clean him off. Awesome.

We rolled into Gunnison in about five hours total time. My last 20 miles I hooked up with another old dude and we pulled together to make the miles go by more quickly and easily. The wind had died down, but thunder clouds were building behind us in the mountains, so we were glad to have arrived early. Later that evening and night nature presented us with an overwelming fury of lightning storms in the surrounding mountains. Made me very glad to be snug and safe in town. Another great day of riding. Tomorrow would be tough: Monarch Pass at 11,300 feet.

Ride the Rockies, Day 2

2005-06-30T09:04:00.000-06:00

biking
photos
Day Two, Monday, June 20th, loomed big. 92 miles; 6,000 feet of climbing, almost all of it in one steady six percent grade that goes on for 20 miles with absolutely no break.

But first, a beautiful early morning spin through Colorado's wine and orchard country just east of Grand Junction. A little head wind, but nothing too bad.

Sunshine, blue skies, a well-tuned bike and a day in which to enjoy it all; what could be better?

My main objective at this point was keeping enthusiam in check well enough to pace myself for what lie ahead. It was soooo easy to just want to hammer and keep on passing people. Stopping to take this photograph of these beautiful sweetpeas helped my regain perspective. I got off the bike, took a deep breath of the fresh dry air, let the Gods of Nature into my being and was rewarded with a fresh "new day" "SEEing" of all that was around me, and a KNOWING of how Blessed I was just to be here; to be healthy and to have the means and the spousal support to put me here.

From here, and after a brief 5-mile interlude along I-70E, we entered the quiet and gentle climb along the Plateau River you see below.

As we rode along, headed east into the sun, the road piched up a bit, just enough to let us know what was coming. About five miles in, just outside the little town of Mesa, the road suddenly pitched UP, . And we began to climb. And Climb. And Climb. I was grateful that I had cooled my jets a little; there was a long way to go before reaching the top of the mesa at about 10,600 feet.

The grade was not bad, just relentless. It never leveled out or let up, so the pressure on your legs was constant. The only way to handle it was to just settle into your "zone" and be patient; any sudden sprints or accelerations just upped the pain equation.

Halfway up, the view opened up and we could see the entire Grand Valley below and to the West.

It was due to be 98 degrees in the valley during the afternoon, so it was good to be gaining at least some of the altitude before it got any hotter. Still, the sweat was pouring and the thirst was building.

Suddenly! A VISION.

Two ranch kids selling cold Gatorade!

Strictly out of the overwhelming goodness of my heart and human generosity, I stopped and bought not ONE bottle from them, but TWO; The first of which I chugged and the second I poured into my now empty water bottle.[sometimes I'm such a good human being, supportive of small children, thinking only of them, that I amaze myself!]

Getting back on my bike, the climb continued. I was making between six and seven miles an hour most of the time. Finally I started getting up into the aspen and evergreen forests. Patches of snow started appearing in shaded areas.

My altimeter slowly climbed above 9,500 feet and headed for 10,000. My legs felt good. Time for another picture break as others climbed toward me.

Only a few more miles and "Up Around the Bend" and the climb would begin to mellow for a mile or two before swooping up the the broad, flat-top summit of Grand Mesa, billed locally as "the largest flattop mountain in the world."

One more steep section, then a rolling mile or so and: THE SUMMIT. All survivors at this point stopped in the chilled air, celebrated however briefly, scarfed down some food and drink, then pulled on jackets for the long descent into the valley and heat below. The Denver Post reported the next day the over 500 riders, out of 2,000 were "sagged" to the top, having pulled off the road and stopped somewhere along the climb.

After a quick PBJ and a drink, I pulled on my windbreaker, got on the bike and headed down the grade. Within a mile, I was glad to be wearing the jacket as the wind at 40 mph was freezing. That didn't last long though, and less than half way down the mesa I was getting hot, so pulled over to peel off the extra layer. The heat hit me even at this elevation. The valley and plains below looked hazy and hot.

Coming down off the downhill, the heat smacked me in earnest; it was going to be a long 15 miles into Delta, a hot headwind and the end of the day's ride. Fortunately a rider pulled by me about then. Within a quarter mile it became obvious we were well-matched. I pulled up along side him and asked him, "How 'bout working together for a while?" He agreed, so we took turns pulling, upping our pace a bit in the process and making the ride much more fun. It's amazing how much better you can go when you have somebody to alternate in front, fighting the wind while you take a quick breather sheltered behind. I have a power meter on my bike that measures the wattage I am putting out, and when I was pulling, it was hitting between 225 and 300 watts. I'd duck back behind and get to cruise along at the same speed at about 150 to 210 watts. We pulled this way for about 10 miles, then slowed and rode side by side the last four miles into Delta. He was from New Jersey and we had a good chat, the perfect end to an excellent day of varied and challenging riding.

My buddy, Art, being Art, had arrived about 1/2 hour before me, with great tales of passing 90 gazillion people on the climb. All told, from the time we had left our hotel in the morning until we were settled at the finish area in Delta took me seven hours and Art six and a half. So we both felt pretty good about our day's ride and looked forward to a shorter day the following morning. Time to kick back, sweat and eat pasta.

2005 Ride the Rockies, Day 1

2005-06-28T15:59:00.000-06:00

biking
Day One of the ride opened Sunday morning. I started the ride through the lowlands out of Grand Junction about seven a.m.; cool high desert air and beautiful sunshine. Just west of the downtown the road began to lift. Art and I kept a high cadence, riding our super demo bikes and passing gobs of people with more brains than we hed. But, 'Hey,' it's a short ride today, 45 miles and our legs are fresh; plus the Trek Madone begs to be pedaled! We started the climb into the Colorado National Monument and I was dumbfounded about 1/2 mile into it to pass a man on a hand cycle, legs truncated at mid-thigh and an IV drip into his arm. He was churning up the steep climb full bore. Wow! Talk about courage and the human will. Plenty of his other fellow hand-cyclists were also attacking the climb just as well....
...Made me fully realize that my climbing with a super-light bike and strong, healthy legs is truly a blessing. One to be praised and thankful for each day. And it also made me nod my head to the wonders of the human heart and spirit.

The loop through the monument is about 20 miles of curves, climbs, descents and spiraling hairpins edged by moon rock cliffs. Right as we started the descent I had the further good fortune to hook on with three very fast, skilled riders and we plummeted down, down, down to the bottom, sweeping through long turns at high speeds and puckering up on the tighter hairpins. These guys were pushing it, but still within the limits of sanity. They rode fast, but in a highly predictable manner that made it safe to ride with them. At the bottom we high-fived, then took off for the 20 miles or so back into town, rolling through farmland, housing developments and into an aid station offering cold water and water melon. I grabbed a sample of both, as it was starting to get hot. Wolfed it down, then grimaced as my stomach did a quick flip-flop of protest making me wonder for a second if that icy combo would stay down. Fortunately it did, and the ride back to the the starting point was fun but uneventful. Day one was done, and an afternoon of goofing around and rest stood at hand. Time to begin thinking about Day Two to come. 92 miles and a ball-buster, twenty mile climb of about 6,000 feet.

Ride the Rockies 2005, sign-up

2005-06-28T09:17:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking
photos
On Saturday, June 18, Katherine drove Art and I over to Grand Junction, CO, to sign in and get ready for Ride the Rockies. It's about a 3.5 hour drive and we arrived, relaxed, late in the afternoon and after registering, noticed a Van and Tent with a big sign out front: "Ride Lance's Bike here."
Now how could any self-respecting bike geek resist a sign like that?" We sauntered over, met Eric & Josh, two very cool guys working for Trek who told us, sure enough, we could demo for free a Trek Madone [Trek's Tour de France bike] any day we wanted. Katherine looked at me and said, "Hey, no time like the present." [I love that woman!] So Art and I hustled to the pickup truck, got our "old" bikes and like the bike sluts we are, immediately turned them over in exchange for two shiny, 16-pound trek racing bikes. Ahhhhhhhh. And, of course, being of sound mind, promptly threw them in the back of the truck and headed for the red rocks of the Colorado Monument right before sundown.
We stripped down at roadside, climbed into our biking gear at the bottom of the climb up into the Monument [it's about 20 miles one-way through the whole monument.] Katherine said she'd see us at the top, where she'd take a hike out through the rocks as the sun went down. I jumped on the Trek, started to climb and promptly fell in love...

...The Madone proved quick, light, solid. It rode like it was on rails and we laughed and shouted all the way up the six mile climb. Too awesome! Then we turned around to fly back down to the bottom. Way, WAY too cool! Lean low into the corners at high speed, then peddle out of them while still turning, lining up for the next switchback. Arriving at the bottom way, way too quickly, we stopped at a pullout and waited for Katherine to come back down from her hike. I snapped a photo of the cliffs and moon. We stood around for a few more minutes, looked at each other, grinned and said, "What the heck," hopped back on the bikes and began to climb once again, this time slower and standing. Again, the bike felt great, every ounce of power going right down into the road. Katherine came by us about 1/3 of the way up, so we turned around and raced her to the bottom, loaded the bikes in the pickup and drove back to town in search of pasta. We were indeed ready for the next morning's official start of Ride the Rockies.

Ride the Rockies hits Finish Line

2005-06-26T20:59:00.000-06:00

biking
Ride the Rockies for 2005 hit the finish line on Saturday after 405 miles through the high plains, three high mountain passes and slogs through some wind. I rolled into Breckenridge at 10 a.m., so in the next few days I'll sort photos and post a blow by blow. I can tell you right now, though, that it was an awesome ride and I think I've got a bit more muscle mass than a week ago. I feel healthy and good. And today, Sunday, I got my mountain bike out of the shop, brand new drive, rear shock and front fork rebuilt... so I'm ready to roll with the summer and fall endurance races. Should be fun.

Ride the Rockies

2005-06-21T19:45:00.000-06:00

Into day 3 of 7. Good but hot weather. Today was an easy day: 35 miles with
only 1500 feet of climbing, compared to 92 miles and 6400 feet yesterday
and about 3000 the first day.

Tomorrow will be longer and harder once again, heading into the mountains,
including a windy ridge.

Awesome, great stuff -- and hard to write on a Blackberry. Bye for now.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Ready for the Road

2005-06-17T16:54:00.000-06:00

biking
OK, the bags are packed, the bike is ready. The carbs are eaten, the chain is lubed and the brake pads are new. It's Friday night and tomorrow morning Katherine drives Art and I to Grand Junction for the start of the 2005 Ride the Rockies. Sunday morning we wheel out through the Colorado National Monument, a short 45 mile loop through some incredible red rock country and the beginning of the journey. I'll be out of touch except for maybe a couple of quick email blogs from a blackberry (whereever it works,) but promise a full report including pix when I get back a week from Sunday.

Weather looks hot with scattered thunderstorms in the mountains. Oh Yeah; this should be GOOD. Thank you, God!

This mountain biker is now officially "Roadie" for a week and then I will be back to my beloved fat tire bike, hopefully stronger and ready for the summer/fall racing season.

Let's pedal. Got some MILES to put on!

Mallard Rising

2005-06-16T03:35:00.000-06:00

spirit

Spring Life takes Flight on Prairie Pond.

Beauty and Freedom
Rise

On Prairie Pond

2005-06-16T03:14:00.000-06:00

spirit
Last Sunday, Katherine and I returned in late afternoon from an outdoor concert and took a walk around one of the three ponds near our home. The wind was blowing, sun reaching low in the sky and life spoke clearly all around. It was "one of those moments."

2005 Ride the Rockies

2005-06-14T11:20:00.000-06:00

road biking

Next Sunday it begins: the 2005 edition of Ride the Rockies a 405 mile bike ride through Colorado. Last year I did part of the ride; this year I'm doing the whole shot. A first for me; I've never done a week long bike trip before. I figure it will be great training for...

... the upcoming Leadville mountain bike races. Get up every day, regardless of weather, physical condition and plug away for another day. This year's ride encompasses one mountain pass of over 10,000 feet and two over 11,000. Since the Leadville Silver Rush (a 50-miler) averages over 11,000 feet, and the One-Hundred tops out at 12,600 feet, Ride the Rockies will at least get me up high enough on three days to get the lungs and blood pumping a wee bit.

I'll be out of touch while riding, but will keep a journal and post it after the ride is completed. And I will, of course, be carrying my trusty digital camera

Stay tuned. Should be great fun.

Sucking Wind at Altitude

2005-06-11T19:53:00.000-06:00

physical training
mountain biking
Friday was a day of darkness, thunder clouds, gusting winds and, for me, a resulting 'two more hours on the indoor trainer' (groan.) At one point, pea-size hail stones began falling and bouncing around, bringing my neighbor, wide-eyed, out of his house, fearful that his less than a year old car soon would be dimpled as a Tiger Woods golf ball. Fortunately, we were only on the fringes of the storm and no giant hail stones followed -- which is always a huge threat in Colorado.

Today, in contrast to yesterday, has been a day of threatening thunderheads, but no storms. My biking pal, Megan, and I headed out to Golden Gate Canyon Park, about 45 minutes NW of Denver to do a little semi-high-altitude mountain biking at around 8,500 feet...

...By 10:00 a.m. we were on our bikes, a little chilly as the mountain air hit us, but soon sweating like pigs as we climbed. In typcial front range fashion, today's trail was out of the parking lot, 200 meters of gradual grade, then BAM; here comes "the CLIMB." We wound up through the aspen and pines on moist, slightly tacky single track. My legs felt fine, but my lungs and cardio system exploded into protest mode real quick, "WHOA... Whoa... HOLD ON here, Dude! We are NOT liking THIS! This ain't right! Stop! STOP!"

Me: "Yeah, yeah. Well, pals; just a little bit further (like about two miles) and you'll get some relief. Not to worry. I'll take care of you; honest."

I'm not sure what happens when you first start start hard excercise at altitude, but it's like your lungs and cardio just don't want to accept what they have to do. They almost temporarily shut down or something. And all you can do is just ride through it and know that within 15 or 20 minutes it's going to get better. I think maybe your capillaries dilate, your lungs finally 'open up.' Your body reaches a point of equilibrium wherein it finally accepts the task before it and begins to transport enough oxygen to muscle tissue to perform and keep going.

I've want to learn more about this. It seems to be universal to everyone I know who rides or runs at high altitude.

Anybody know anything about this?

At any rate, Megan and I spent three grand hours of grinding up talus slopes, over roots and floundering over rocks. First one of us would be in front, then the other. A good ride, mountain biking that demanded the very best of us, using every bit of body muscle, balance, brain power and timing we could muster.

So we sweated and puffed on the climbs, froze on the fast downhills, and enjoyed it all, getting back to the truck within three hours and before any storms hit -- though we sure saw plenty of them welling up all around.

The one big thing I got out of today is that I need to get up to altitude a lot more -- soon!

We've had a wet spring and the snow up high has been a long time going. Even today, at under 10,000 feet it was pretty boggy and muddy in any low places and the snow line was not all that far above where we were.

My lungs and heart worked today... but not well enough to be comfortable at this summer's up-coming Leadville races, the 50-miler on July 16, and the hundred on August 13.

These are two of my three big goal-events of the year (the other being the 24 Hours of Moab), so, I guess I'd better get back on the road bike in order to spend as much time as possible at 10,000 and above doing the next few weeks -- until the high trails clear some more.

Gotta do it. Though days like today tell me over and over that mountain biking is just always going to be where my true bliss lies.

And that's just how it is... even when I'm 'sucking a bit of wind on those high climbs.' It's a grand sport. It gives life.

Eat, Ride, Rest

2005-06-10T09:33:00.000-06:00

physical training
diet

As my summer biking events draw closer I have entered the more intense period of my year long training... And it's interesting how it seems to be working. The always tight, important linkage between exercise, diet and rest has become ever more critical; the room for error narrows. This week is a case in point...

...One week ago today, Friday, we got home from our trip to North Carolina which has caused a [self-chosen] break in my training.

Saturday was a rest and get organized day with only a light, short spin just to get the heart pumping.

Sunday was the Elephant Rock 100 mile road ride, a rolling, non-mountainous ride with 5,200 feet of climbing. My legs were strong because they were well rested; my cardio sucked, average heart rate 10 to 12 beats higher than pre-sea level no stress beach week. I finished in a total time, car-in-parking lot to car-in-parking lot in six hours, 31 minutes; ride time was 6:07. Not race pace, but respectable and all I could handle without totally wiping myself out. Still, my legs ached on the drive home and I crashed early Sunday night and slept like the proverbial rock all night.

Monday, I woke up tired and drained and was a day-long carbohydrate eating machine. I did a light upper body and core workout at noon, took a short steam and felt much better. After work, I did an easy 45 minute spin on the trainer; endurance pace, no high heart rate, no pushing sore muscles. I felt really energized after finishing. Not normal, but much much better.

Tuesday morning, most of the leg soreness was gone, but I was still dragging a bit. After work, Jamey and I did a tough, 90 minute mountain bike ride with lots of technical singletrack climbing, semi-nasty rocks and exhilarating downhill. My legs and power felt great climbing and my heart rate range was sliding back toward normal, though still a little elevated. My eating had normalized. I was careful not to overeat.

Wednesday: I woke up feeling great; ate light and though slightly hungry through the day, kept the calorie intake down below what I would be burning for the day. After work, I went out by myself to one of the nastiest singletrack foothills around and put in a hard two hours of technical climbing and rock crawling ugliness. Legs strong, cardio OK. The ride and the challenge felt great and though I stressed myself pretty far, I got back the car really pumped.

Yeahh! Back to normal.

Thursday: good high energy, no soreness, but a little drag in the legs climbing up stairs. HUNGRY. Ate oatmeal for breakfast, bagel with tiny bit of honey for mid morning snack, veggie burrito for lunch. Did moderate level upper body/core workout at noon; felt good doing it. No fatigue. All was on track. Did high endurance pace 45 minute spin on trainer after work. Started feeling hungry again, so Katherine and I went out to our favorite local Indian Restaurant [THE DANGER ZONE] and I had tandori chicken (no skin, low fat), which was great. BUT... Ate too much rice and flatbread, had a glass of wine; in short, I over ate, in spite of best intentions and being "on diet" all week... Which led to: not sleeping well... Which led to feeling still stuffed this morning and dragging in general.

Not a major disaster, but I could have done better; taken better care of myself.

Point is: at a less intense time of training, this small error in eating really wouldn't have had much effect.

But right now, working this close to the edge, it definitely was NOT optimal, and my performance on the bike today will be off because of it. And that's one less training day that reaches its full potential.

Sound like I'm obsessing?

Maybe so, but that's really what endurance training is all about; taking best possible care of our physical and mental health.

The beauty of it is, endurance training leads us to take better care of ourselves... Which leads us, in turn, to a better, healthier life.

Specifically, in this instance, my enjoyment of THIS morning, THIS moment, is less than optimum. It is less than it would have been, had I more carefully watched my diet last night. In short, through my own choice and action last night, I stole a bit of today from myself.

And so goes the balancing act that is endurance training.

So goes the balancing act that is LIFE.

I love it.

Interesting Site of Pennsylvania Off Road Riding

2005-06-09T07:44:00.000-06:00

biking
travel
Here's an interesting site about a mountain biker's off road adventures in Pennsylvania. Well done site sponsored by the state tourism board, but no hard sell... just cool "adventures" that anyone can experience.

Sent to me by an anonymous blogger, and worth a look

Elephant Rock Massage

2005-06-07T14:25:00.000-06:00

Bike bodies need love too.

Horses in Pasture

2005-06-07T14:24:00.000-06:00

If you're going to be a horse,
no better place nor time than this!

[Hey, Verne; what the heck are all
those bikes going by today??]

Elephant Rock bikers

2005-06-07T14:22:00.000-06:00

Open Road,
Blue Skies,
Steady Cadence
Miles gone,
Miles to go.
Don't git noo bettah!

Spring Rocky Mountain Day

2005-06-07T14:20:00.000-06:00

7 a.m. and all is well.
Glorious day and the Elephant
Rock Ride is underway

Re-entry and the 100 Mile Ride

2005-06-07T10:44:00.000-06:00

wellness
It's been four days since returning from North Carolina: one day of unpacking and rest, one day on the bike, and two days at work. In short: the oft-dreaded "re-entry" period. And re-entry implies an exit in the first place. Here's how it's gone...

...When I lifted off from Denver International Airport to begin the trip, squished in with my fellow passengers at the start of Memorial Day Weekend, I had the definite feeling of being a stranger in a strange land. What are all these people doing here, eating McDonald's burgers, slurping big drinks and looking generally frazzled? I'm form-fitted into a window seat, wondering how big people even get into these seats, when "the guy who will be sitting next to me" arrives: Harley jacket with a skull on the back, leather vest underneath, and a HUGE box of freshly hot-greased Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now the plane is packed, the air is close, the ventilation system isn't really working all that well and the grease is literally oozing out of the box seams. He smashes himself into the middle seat, pops the box and the full hot-grease effect rolls into my nostrils as he proceeds to eat, lip-smackin' hot chicken.

My stomach's nausea buttons SCREAM, "This is not a good thing."

Fortunately the guy is not also an "arm rest grabber," even though he could sure use the space. I determine that I am going to make friends with this guy, while at the same time confirming to myself that I must actually be from Mars, cuz this whole scene sure seems foreign. I think of my skinny bike geek friends, while looking around me and thinking, "Damned, if this is normal, I sure live in a weird subculture backwater. I mean, there's not a person around me wearing a heart rate monitor or sporting lycra.

My seat-neighbor turns out to be a pretty decent fellow, once we have got our penis measuring out of the way and talk to one another as human beings. He's going to Chicago for the weekend to see his kids, and I'm on the way to NC to meet up with my wife, who has gone a few days earlier, my son, who's joining us from Texas, and some friends and family.

So that was the exit; I rejoined the mainstream, didn't bike for a week, ate too much (but not crazily,) spent too much time in a car, watched the rain on the salt marsh and was inspired and cared for by some really great people for a week.

Fast forward to Friday, June 3, and we arrive home in Denver to accompaniment of torrential rain mixed with hail, a Saturday of rest and getting my bike stuff ready for Sunday's "century" ride.

Sunday morning dawned clear and crisp. Art picked me up at five and by 6:20 a.m. I was punching the start button on my cyclometer and pedaling out of the parking lot at the beginning of the Elephant Rock ride. It was nippy, but with the first big climb, I unzipped the windbreaker pretty quickly. And after a week of rest, the legs felt great, but my cardio was going right through the roof, about 10 to 15 beats higher than usual. Ahh, that sea level, good living. Payback time.

The day turned out to be stunningly beautiful; I backed off a bit and set a pace I could maintain. My nutrition (hammer gel and perpetuam) was working well and there was almost NO wind. Yesssss! Skipped most of the rest stops, but hit one at about sixty miles; scarfed down a full bottle of sports drink, half bagel with peanut butter and jelly, five cookies and another half bottle of water. Hmmmmmm, guess the old body was hungrier/thirstier than I thought! Didn't feel heavy or bloated, pulled back out on the road and got a nice sustained peak of renewed energy. Six hours and 30 minutes (6:07 ride time) and I had put my 102 miles in, before it really got too warm. Legs definitely knew they had been worked, though.

By the time I got home, a hot bath and nap felt great. Then to bed early, slept soundly, and yesterday (Monday) I did feel pretty tired. Did a short upper body/core workout at lunch and an easy 45 minute spin at end of day; felt OK. Today I'm less tired and the leg soreness is about gone. My friend, Jamey, and I will do a two hour mountain bike ride with some good technical climbing in it after work, and by tomorrow morning I expect/hope to be normal again.

Re-entry accomplished.

It's great to be back in the saddle.

Stepping back into Bike Life

2005-06-04T20:30:00.000-06:00

cycling
Tomorrow morning I get up at 4 a.m., Art comes by at five, and we go to ride Elephant Rock, an annual Denver cycling event. I've never done it before, but figured a 100-mile road ride would be good training, plus fun to do with a large group of cyclists. I had planned on doing the 40 mile mtb ride, but heard from friends who know the route that it is kind of lame, mostly just gravel roads, so chose to do the road ride instead...

...After my week off, it will be good to be getting back on the road again. I did a brief spin this afternoon on trainer since it was raining cats and dogs outside. I had taken my road bike to the shop while we were in North Carolina, getting the wheels re-trued, since it had been developing a nasty, head-shaking wobble at about 45 mph; not exactly the most confidence inspiring thing when winding down a mountain road. Hopefully the wheel truing will take care of the problem, and I don't think tomorrow has any roads that will test that premise. Instead of heading up into the mountains, the ride cruises out to the plains. Rolling hills and wind are likely to be the biggest challenges. And hopefully the skies will clear and the storms stay away while we are on the road.

So, off to bed and a good nights snooze. I have some trepidations about my "out of prime shape," so tomorrow's ride will be the perfect re-entry; far enough to be challenging to butt and legs, but no race pressures. Should clear out the lungs and dilate the cardio vascular system. [Art's gonna bury me!]

In Touch

2005-06-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

Whereever we go, there we are.

On a Clear Day...

2005-06-04T09:22:00.000-06:00

Chicago has to be one of the world's great cities. And on a clear day it shows itself in all its strength.

Land of Water & Trees

2005-06-03T19:45:00.000-06:00

Back home from North Carolina! I am now officially the "Man Who Grew A GREAAT BIG BELLY in One Week!" I chose to spend time with family and friends and not on a bike. Good stuff... but this weekend's upcoming rides back here in CO are apt to be a weeeee bit painful. :)

All in all, a great trip, great people, great travels within the state. Sea shores, sea food, beautiful lakes and trees. Spent lots of hours...

...in a car going from place to place, and had lots of rain every day. But the "all day" rains were peaceful for somebody from Colorado our rainstorms tend to be quick downpours and thunderstorms in summer, snows in winter.

And now, a good night's sleep, and tomorrow: On the Bike.

Plenty of pictures to come!

Don't Miss This One!

2005-05-26T18:07:00.000-06:00

health
spirit
Here's a "Must Check it Out." Dave and Maxine are a middle-aged Canadian couple enroute right now, biking across Canada to help build support for the Canadian Lung Association.

Here, in their own words, are Dave and Maxine's compelling stories and reasons for embarking on this hero's journey:

"Maxine was born and raised in and around Edmonton where she was married and eventually became the proud mother of three boys, all of whom are now grown up and making their own lives away from home. The young family learned early about cancer and the suffering it brings when their father was struck down with this disease. After the loss of her husband, Maxine packed her three boys into their car and brought them out west to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island where Maxine had to find a home for her family, a new job and a new life. Here, the boys finished their education, and Maxine now works as a Teachers Aid for a school that caters to youth at risk. One day some years ago - and to the surprise of her family - she took up cycling...

"...Dave was born in England, but within a few months of qualifying as an Engineer, he emigrated to Canada, where he began work in Montreal, then by way of a stint in Manitoba, found his way to Kitimat in BC. He has always been interested in sport, and whilst there was able, along with a friend, to make the first ascent of one of the Coastal Range peaks. From Kitimat, he eventually found his way to Africa. He got married in Cape Town, and then with his young wife, returned to Montreal where their daughter was born. Next was a move to a very undeveloped Dubai in the Persian Gulf and the arrival of their son. Both children grew up in Dubai, but returned to Canada to finish high school and attend universities. It was while in Dubai that they also learned about cancer when their mother was diagnosed, and although she appeared to be in remission and the family returned to Canada, she did not recover and soon passed away at home.

"...An interesting footnote to these bios is that Maxine had long cherished the thought of a ride across Canada, and Dave had wanted to do it since early childhood. Both however, had not told anyone of these dreams for fear of being thought a bit crazy. Imagine their surprise one day when they confided in each other: so the trip was on!"

Maxine's daughter, Corri brought the couple's adventure to my attention. Drop Corri an email if you want and let her know you care.

As athletes, cyclists and human beings, let's all jump in and support Maxine and Dave, tracking their journey on their website and giving them some encouragement as they roll along across Canada in the next couple of months.

Please share this with all who you think might also be interested; this couple deserves some recognition for their heartfelt effort and adventuresome spirit.

Thanks!

Travel

2005-05-26T09:55:00.000-06:00

travel
Today is an "in between" day. Tomorrow I travel to North Carolina to visit the beach, touch base with family and relax; so right now part of my mind is already crawling on the airplane while my body and the remaining part of my mind still wrap things up here. To help shake things into order, Art and I are mountain biking the Mesa over lunch hour...

...A quick spin, a few rocks and twisties, a couple of cactus dodges and I will come together again; the split will be healed.

The big debate in my head right now is: to take the computer or not. I want to blog, but on the other hand (wasn't it Harry Truman who said, "What I need are more one handed economists; these fellows just can't seem to make up their minds,") I think it would be far healthier to just leave all accoutrements behind and go forth clean, uncluttered to enjoy the family time, beach and a new environment.

Yep, there; I have decided, no computer on the trip.

Of course I'll still take along the digital camera, plenty of books and the Blackberry...

Music for the Soul

2005-05-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

wellness
spirit
Molly Holzsclag of molly.com has posted a soulful soothing bit of music great for the after workout wind down. The free MP3,"Love's Immortal Fountain," is performed in an Arizona Kiva, a round, Native American structure of wood, stone and adobe. You can hear the resonance of the building materials and shape in the song's tones. Give it a try.

You Decide

2005-05-24T16:49:00.000-06:00

space aliens

I don't think these people are LOCAL!

No Edges

2005-05-24T11:11:00.000-06:00

nature
I was looking at a North Carolina State magazine this morning because we're getting ready to go there at the end of the week. My wife lived in NC for much of her adult life and I too have lived on the east coast and midwest for extended periods, but was not totally comfortable there. I am at heart, a westerner, and I don't seem to be able to change it.

As I studied the North Carolina magazine with its beautiful photos, waterfalls, trees, mountain meadow sunsets; it struck me that there are NO EDGES...

...and that is, in a nutshell, what makes me uncomfortable.

The east is too settled, too comfortable, too civilized for my dryland Coyote ways. The hills are rounded, the mountains are aged and distinguished, the waterfalls flow down over rocks that are smoothed and moss-covered. Even the air, the sky, is softened by the faint haze of ever present humidity.

The Blue Ridge, the Appalachians and the Smokies all have that wonderful dreamy quality that finds its basis in the softening mist. Lighting contrast is low and smooth. Soft.

The west, by contrast, is bare bones. Dry, unforgiving. The air is sharp. The Rockies, Bitterroots, Winds stand boldly out, exhibiting their innards and bones for all to see. On an early morning or late evening, every sound that dares split their sheer cliffs and high mountain meadows rings out like a rifle crack.

In the summer, whenever the sun ducks behind a cloud, you feel the instant chill of the air, minus direct radiation. A thunderhead boils up behind the next peak, and within minutes a howling storm hits and your pleasant summer day is vanquished by threat of hypothermia and exposure.

Or fall on the rocks and get an instant jagged cut from the razorlike exposed edges; no pleasantly rounded features.

Try to grow some flowers or a garden, but you had better to pick short season varieties, species that don't mind sudden jolting shift in ambient air temperature.

I'm not saying west or east is better; both have their beauty and benefits. Some people fit better in one place or the other. Me, I'm just destined to be a scrufty old Coyote, apt at any minute to be bitten by a scorpion, or frozen on a high mountain cliff. I just like it that way.

The Real Stuff

2005-05-23T11:34:00.000-06:00

physical training
It's good to be humble, cuz if you ain't, it's going catch up with you sooner or later. My "sooner" came on Saturday...

...The stage was set by an overdose of mountain bike riding last week as our weather and trails finally cleared. Then on Friday, I did a Carmichael Training Ststems (CTS) field test.

The field test itself is simple; about every six to eight weeks you go out, warm up for 20 or 30 minutes, then ride two three-mile time trials, back to back at maximum pace, with about 10 minutes between them. Because the distance is short and you have the recovery time between the two TTs, you really go all out. What happens with elapsed time, max and average heart rate, speed, power and cadence between the two TTs gives a very good indicator and baseline for where you are in your training.

But with weather, travel and one thing or another,I hadn't done a field test since January, so was apprehensive about this one. When it was over, I had improved to some degree, but not as much as I had hoped. Still, I felt OK about it because, 1) it is what it is, 2)my endurance has definitely increased over the winter and spring, and 3) on the group rides this last week I was feeling and performing very well.

But after the field test, I was wiped; did a half-hour wind-down, went home and, yes, took a short nap.

Then along came Saturday morning; the second half of my humility lesson. Art, Mateo and I headed down to the Buffalo Creek area southwest of Denver, a great place for fun endurance rides. You head right out of the parking lot with a good, steep 40 minute climb on sandy soil; a grunt. I knew within the first 1/2 mile that it was likely to be a long day; my body was going, "WHOA! Hold on; enough already."

All told, we rode about four hours and had great fun, but I was "tail wheel charley" most of the day. It was, shall we say, real work keeping those yahooos in sight.

By the end of the ride, though, I felt reasonably good, having reached that steady state of pain and fatigue that allows you to keep pedaling, just not with any real vigor. In fact, I was feeling just fine until Mateo said, "Just think; do that six or seven more hours without stopping and it'll be JUST LIKE the Leadville 100 -- only of course the Leadville race is at 10,000 feet, not 7,500."

And there's 12,000 feet of climbing, not 3,000.

Sigh.

I gotta buy me some bowling shoes.

Trail Monkies

2005-05-21T18:54:00.000-06:00

Monkies spotted on Colorado Trail

A Fine Evening Ride

2005-05-19T13:20:00.000-06:00

mountain biking
The truth has come crushing down upon me today as I face my coworkers. This inevitable reality has come about through a strange confluence of events, timing and weather.

Fact One: we had a wonderful, hard mountain bike ride up rocky, nasty single track last evening; Fact Two: today is the first day on which it is warm enough to comfortably wear a short-sleeved shirt, and; oh, yes, Fact Three: some skin is missing from both my forearms (with matching ouchies on both knees; fortunately I'm wearing pants, so the knee phenomenon is hidden)...

...So there I was last night, ridin' along minding my own business, climbing up over the water bars spanning the trail; one, two, three; no sweat... easy, four, five; one to go... SPLAT!

As the old song says, "Ya gotta having TIMING!"

I smashed my front wheel into the downside of the water bar, weight forward, and slammed down straight over my handlebars so fast that both feet were still clipped in the pedals even as the bike waved spectacularly over my head. Then the bike and I just slumped the rest of the way onto the trail, both wondering what on earth had just happened to us. We had been so smooth, so polished, so together; so, soo... in the groove!

Mateo, who was riding in front of me said it sounded like somebody suddenly slammed a big old fat pancake onto the trail. (I thought the 'old fat' part was a bit harsh.) Art, who was behind me, actually became concerned enough to ask, after a second of stunned silence, "Are you all right?" He then, of course, maneuvered by my writhing body and headed on up the trail (can't break your pace, ya know) suggesting that perhaps I "needed to work on my power" a bit.

As the laughter subsided into the distance in front of me, and once I had stopped whining, rocking back and forth moaning something about pain, I wiped the tears from my face, threaded the chain back onto my middle chain ring, mounted up and vowed, for the Umteenth Time, to never, Ever, EVER daydream while riding a mountain bike up an obstacle-laden trail.

[Elemental Lesson # 356, Week One: Repeat as Necessary]

So, Ladies and Gentlemen; today you gather here in the presence of someone who has once again [yes, it's happened before] performed the difficult, amusing and always SURPRISING Up-Hill ENDO!]

Thank you! Thank you! Please hold the applause until after everyone has had an opportunity to exclaim.

And recognize, given all this, that I have spent my day having pleasant conversations with my coworkers right up the point where they glimpse my trail-trashed forearms, exclaim, "Echhk, what happened to you?" then try to change the subject as I poetically wax on about the beauty and the glory of technical trail riding.

Ah, it is difficult to be so misunderstood.

But, one more point I must add; later in last evening's pleasant ride, our buddy, Chris, added cosmic balance to my brilliant maneuver... while attempting a steep, rock-strewn switchback that I would not on my best day attempt, he did a DOWNHILL ENDO!

Yeahhhh. It was Beautiful!! Thank you, my good friend. It's a great sport. And thanks to Jamey who provided the chow and Guiness at trail's end.

We ARE what we eat.

And, even more than that,
I think.

We ARE what we ride.

Spring Rites

2005-05-17T13:00:00.000-06:00

mountain biking
Ahhhh, spring must at last be here. Even as the fluffy clouds sail in from the west and threaten to turn into late afternoon thunderheads, the phones ring and emails fly. After-work Mountain Biking is about to begin for real. For the first time this spring, the clan is gathering...

...There's Art, who's training for triathlons (but then, Art NEVER stops training.) Mateo, who likes nothing better than to ride gnarley trails 50-or-more miles at a pop without stopping. Our good buddy, Steve, who has been detailed to Washington, D.C. for the last four months, while the rest of us have been praying that his red blood cells were dying off in droves; even as he trained like a maniac, so he's probably still strong as an ox. My good training buddy, Megan; expert class mountain bike racer who loves nothing better than to grind we mortal males into granite dust (which she does regularly) and myself; an innocent, benevolent, aging bystander who just peddles for peace and love.

So, tonight, when we arrive in the parking lot at the foot of one our favorite local hills (mountain) the smack will start for sure. Art will "be tired from the 90-kazillion road miles' he put on over the weekend. Mateo will still be recovering from the knee problem he developed about a month ago. Steve will prattle one about how this is just a training ride that he's really not up for. Megan will be taking her first ride on her brand new Yeti team mountain bike with the special carbon fiber rear triangle -- plus still have a 'bit of a weak knee' from last autumn's ACL reconstruction. And ME; well, we KNOW how tired I still am from all that desert mountain biking over the weekend, PLUS this is my "Easy" week; gotta watch the heart rate and all that.

And then we'll tear out of the parking lot, head up the trail... cranking like banshees, dodging rocks and trying to keep from flying off the singletrack, which will be difficult cuz we'll ALL be going too darned fast whenever we can! We'll be pretending not to be breathing hard whenever we get close to our associates, all the while being just about ready to hurl, or pass out from the black spots bouncing before our eyes, lungs on fire and legs heavy as stumps.

And in the end we'll glide back down into the parking lot, laughing like maniacs. It will be all about the joy, the freedom and the incredible great good fortune we have to be alive and healthy enough to do this. Oh, and, yes, and in celebration of the wee bit of competitiveness that just MIGHT have come forth.

I love this sport!

Miles and Miles

2005-05-16T19:21:00.000-06:00

spiritual wellness
biking

Miles and miles of singletrack, a smattering of doubletrack. Welcome to Fruita; a mountain biker's Mecca. Not as expansive as Moab, but with more singletrack and less sand. Plenty of technical challenges and all of the exposed cliffsides you will want; slightly less insane than Moab, but with all the challenge of variety you can handle. Fewer big drops, but nastier tight, rock strewn singletrack. This was my playground over the weekend, starting with a drive from Denver late Friday morning...

...getting the Colorado National Monument campground in mid afternoon. As the sun dropped into evening I rode my bike slowly up the road through this unworldly land of sandstone canyons, sculpted by winds and waters through the ages. I say, ages, but really in a geologic sense, only moments, the most recent of moments; the soft stone being shaped with a geologic rapidity that is almost breathtaking in its immediacy.

And as I rode, slowly, just feeling the land and wind around me, the dross that had been my week, that had tired my heart, began to slip away. Not that I really noticed as it was happening, but the emotional load was lifting, gradually lifting, drawn off by dry evening breeze. Life and the environment around me, nature, was reshaping me and sculpting me, even as it had the rocks on all sides. I was coming home to the desert and peace. To reality, to my Self, to that thing that all people in all lands call, one way or another, God.

I slept well that Friday night, under chilled sky and the natural cloak of night. A good beginning to a restorative journey.

Adversity

2005-05-16T11:16:00.000-06:00

nature photography

Within Adversity,
Beauty

Desert speaks softly,
Harshly.

Rocks, heat.

Come play.

Do as you will,

Make a mistake.
Pay.

Respite

2005-05-13T02:28:00.000-06:00

wellness
biking

After a week in which it was announced at my workplace that our organization will be cut from six regional offices down to two, I'm escaping in a few hours to Fruita, CO for a 2-1/2 day orgy of mountain biking and camping! Out to the desert rocks and singletrack. Out to the sky and earth, where I will regain...

...perspective and be put back together again. Out where 'the big picture' will sink in and permeate my soul, where peace will kiss and caress me as sweat pours from my body and my muscles scream with exertion. Where my breath will come in searing, deep pumps and my nose will run while my mouth dries. Out where the blessed climbs will be followed by dangerous and exciting downhill plunges during which my eyes will water and my sunglasses bounce so violently that I get triple vision. Out where the gel paks and sports drink will taste sweet, at least at first, until when fatigue sets in and they taste like dull plastic and wet slime that neither nourishes nor quenches the deep, deep thirst, when food just won't go down and the world turns hateful and brown and the stomach churnings become full blown nausea screaming, "Stop!" Out to the point where my legs keep peddling like the stirring of a dying roach, lying on its back with its legs kicking spasmodically and meaninglessly.

But... THEN... Then... from somewhere within, comes at first almost unnoticed, the first inklings of the RETURN OF ENERGY, the displacement of the nauseating fatigue, the riding through the pain to a strange, other worldly STEADY STATE in which you can just keep going and going. And after a few hours of that, some rehydration and refueling, I pull back into the roadside parking lot, back to where normal people assemble for short hikes or reasonable, recreational bike rides, where I ride up to the back of my truck, stop, step off my bike and FEEL LIKE A GOD... Happy, grinning, content, and whole; peaceful and in love with the world and everyone around me, strangers and friend alike.

Yep, it's going to be a fine couple of days.

See ya when I get back.

More on Tyler

2005-05-11T09:05:00.000-06:00

sports
wellness

Several people have asked where they can learn more about Tyler Hamilton's situation. Best place to start is at Tyler's own web page. It gives a good, open history of events as they have occurred. Read it and judge for yourself.

I also encourage you to dig deeper into this whole area of blood testing and learn for yourself what the deal is. To me...

Tyler's situation is a case much larger than just one athlete; it's the nightmare that could befall any competitor as we move to tighten illegal drug use in sports. All of us, for our own good, need to increase our awareness the vulnerabilities to which we can be subjected.

True, we need to be as hard on dopers as we can, but at the same time we need to make certain that athletes gain access to due process BEFORE public accusation, not after, and that drug testing procedures are rigorously accurate and not open to subjective manipulation nor personal interpretation.

To me, Tyler Hamilton's situation is an example of a highly suspect process, riddled with politics, gone amuck. There are just too many unanswered questions about both the testing method and the politics surrounding it.

In the end, it comes down to one guy sitting alone under a funnel of public charges and allegations made with little or no consequences to the accusers, regardless of whether those charges ultimately prove inaccurate.

The burden of proof is all on the athlete, not on the accusers.

Strange way to run an anti-drug campaign if you really want to clean up drug use in sports by getting the cooperation and respect of athletes.

For an athlete to respect and work within the enforcing system, that system must reciprocate with respect for the athlete, regardless of who he or she is, or where they come from, or what their sport.

More Tyler Hamilton Developments

2005-05-10T08:19:00.000-06:00

cycling

A New York Times article adds credence to Tyler Hamilton's claim to be innocent of blood doping. In what has been an unusual case from the beginning, Tyler's innocence may indeed lie in the fact that he was once an embryonic twin.

Skeptics have pooh-poohed this defense, but as far-fetchd as it may first sound, good scientific evidence points to the fact that such a state may be much more comon than previously believed. It is only now, as blood testing gets increasingly sophisticated in its ability to pick out ever finer details, that situations such as Hamilton's can arise. More athletes, in the near future, could face similar nightmares, suddenly seeing their careers slammed shut overnight through suspect testing....

So take a look at this article; if nothing else it is fascinating reading for anyone interested in athletic performance, human health or the state of anti-dope testing.

And if you feel so inclined, drop Tyler a word of support at his website, Tyler Hamilton.com.

This is a guy whose career is being ruined by a presumption of guilt before due process has even played out. That seems wrong to me.

So keep ridin' that bike up through the canyons of Boulder, Tyler.

And keep fighting. This too shall pass.

Couple of Truths

2005-05-09T15:59:00.000-06:00

training
My friend, Jamey, just walked into my office and we got lost for a few minutes studying an all-important booklet I just received in the mail: The full results and split times of last year's Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race.

So the official 2005 strategizing and pucker factor begins...

...I start looking at all the guys over 60 and seeing their times from last year; one guy in particular, since I came in second in my age group last year and he beat me by 40 minutes. The rascal also won the year before.

And now ya know the ugly truth: why Jack's been training his butt off this winter!

Of course, then, Jamey pointed out another guy who will be 59 this year and had he been 60 last year would have won our class 25 minutes ahead of the guy who beat me.

Damned. As Jamey just said, "there's never any finish line; there's just another year."

Or as Greg Lemond once so succinctly put it, "It never gets any easier; you just keep getting faster."

And in that lies the charm and the attraction.

Gathering Spring Storms

2005-05-08T09:35:00.000-06:00

biking
nature photo

Saturday's ride was a doozy. I mountain biked White Ranch, between Denver and Boulder, one of my favorite rides near my home. Things quickly got more interesting when the clouds in this picture shifted and thickened,...

...blowing in from the north and west, turning into a brief, but raging snow, sleet, and hail storm. Fortunately by the time it hit, I was over the high point of the two hour ride and had only to descend like a banshee five miles down to the parking lot 1,200 feet below. Of course, in great spring fashion, by the time I hit halfway down, a two-wheeled purple ice-sickle, the clouds had parted and riders were struggling upward on the trail, oblivious to what had just taken place on top.

Spring; it is absolutely great!

What a fantastic day to be alive,
and a divine privilege to be out in it.

Time to Hit the Rocks Again!

2005-05-06T13:59:00.000-06:00

biking
It's a Zipeddy-Do-Dah kind of a day. The sun and moon are in heaven, birds are singing, flowers are blooming and, somewhere, Bambi's Mother is all right!

The reason for all of this is that I just got back from my first local SPRING Noontime Mountain Bike Ride!!! YEAAAA!

We have flat top mesa near my office that dries out early and is crisscrossed with nice rocky, fast narrow singletrack; a few good short little steep climbs, some whoop-de-doos and, did I mention, more ROCKS. In short: paradise. And...

Art and I just bombed down off of it right in front of a spring thunderstorm. One thing about Colorado; when you see the thunderclouds and rain coming you want to zip off the high places ASAP. Lightning bolts zip right down to the ground and they love tasty, dirty wet mountain bikers.

So down we came, laughing and flying all the way, grooving on the singletrack laid in along the steep side of the mesa. Ohhhh Yeahhhh!

Why, right now I don't even hate my trainer sitting in the basement,because, surprise, all that winter spinning seems to have improved my power to weight ratio a bit; the steep poppers didn't seem quite as steep as last fall!

Heck, there might be something to this intense training stuff!

...but DON'T tell my coach; she'll immediately up those intervals!

Raven, be wary not

2005-05-03T08:28:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by bikejake.
wellness
nature
Sometimes I act just like this raven, spending too much time messing around with crumbs and nibbles, while life goes flyin' right on by! Yesterday was one of those days.

A wet, cold Monday in May in Denver, cruelest day of all. Our friendly sun had long since disappeared somewhere back in the middle of last week....

Earlier blossoms put forth by shrubs and trees had been beaten back by wind-driven waves of sleet, rain, and snow; raw daytime cold and freezing nights. For me, the weekend had fled with no noticible outside activities, only some household chores and two endless sessions on the indoor trainer, sweating to keep up a good cadence and decent power.

And today, people around me in the office walk around in a fulltime funk, waiting for appointment of a new director to replace the old one four months gone.

We float; we drift, in the Sargasso Sea of leaderless apathy.

So I, like a dummy, succumb. I buy into the malaise, twiddling away the day doing meaningless little tasks requiring minimum effort. And in the process, I keep myself from actually gathering any personal power that will allow me to focus on something important.

My own fault.

Fortunately, right before lunch, my workout schedule carries me to the health club, where I work out, coming back briefly energized. Then, later in the day, right after work, I get another good jolt of energy by doing a 45-minute endurance spin. After that, while eating and talking to Katherine, it dawns on me how much I've let this gray May day suck the life out of me, coaxing myself into letting other peoples' negative agendas rule my own thoughts and actions.

Whoa.

So I do a brief stint on the computer, make a couple of changes on this blog, and go to bed determined to make tomorrow (today) a better day.

Ah Ha! I get up this morning at six a.m. The SUN is SHINING! I eat, go out to the pickup to drive to work. The air is cold and crisp, not wet and raw like it has been. And all around me, those spring blossoms and leaves that were so beaten down and curled into submissive nonexistence for the past week are OPENING once again, and smiling. One and all, nature's glories are shaking off the doldrums, sparking up their reinvigorated colors, breathing deeply and declaring to one and all: LIFE; Life is good. Life is fine. And it can't be stopped.

So once again, I shake it off, boosted by nature's glory. I move past the darkness.

I live; all I have to do is tap into the positive energy around me, In the rocks, flowers and trees. In the rocks, the sun, the moon.

Oh, sure, we will each grind to a halt one day. But even as we do, the process -- the GRAND PROCESS -- goes on and on. It has done so for millions of years, maybe more, here on earth. And elsewhere -- who knows about elsewhere -- but its a good bet that the universe is teeming with this thing we call life., and WE are an integral part of it all. We are a bubble, a blip, a few coordinated electrons buzzing together for an brief instant. As we live, and, yes, as we die; we become a part of this grand process. We shout out our existence by our very BEing. We BECOME this lightning bolt we call, "Life."

So, shy Mr. Raven, and Mr. Jack, be not afraid.

Grasp not only the nearest, smallest crumbs, but open up and reach out to embrace and share this LIFE FORCE that surrounds us all, every day, regardless of how dark it may sometimes seem.

Morning Warmth

2005-04-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by bikejake.
mountain biking
adventure
photography

One of the joys of a mountain biking trip; waiting for the sun to warm the rocks and canyons and the day's adventure to begin.

Building the Blog

2005-04-30T05:02:00.001-06:00

spirit
web design
Starting this blog has renewed my interest in website design, something I used to do more of in the early days of the web. This link to CSS ZEN GARDEN takes you to one of the most helpful and beautiful sites I have found during my quest to rekindle my knowledge...

On this site, different designers have come up with over 100 varying designs for the same page, based on the same HTML coding. It's all done using only CSS-based design; the HTML never changes. The variations are astonishing.

The CSS ZEN GARDEN site fully demonstrates the power of using Cascading Style Sheets to build websites that will last and be fully accessible to all sorts of browsers and readers. The site fully demonstrates that adherence to open standards will not only reduce the tower of babble that website design had become by the late 1990s, but also free designers to do even more flexible, original work.

This is great news, bringing to an end that period in which we were trapped into cobbling together web pages using contorted, nested tables, GIF-spacers and lord knows what all else just to build a website that would work in more than one browser at a time. It was a time when Netscape and Microsoft battled it out to gain browser dominance by throwing out standards and offering narrow, proprietary tools that wouldn't work with the other guy's browser.

A nightmare, unless you were a full time web designer with somebody paying you the big bucks to keep messing around with this stuff.

So when I came back to all this, and started this blog, I began by just trying to learn what the heck was going on with the Blogger Template. A simple enough task, though I still haven't quite got it all clear in my brain.

But I am gaining on it.

At least I've learned enough to begin to manipulate the templates more to my individual design taste (minimal and graphically clean.) Thanks to Blogger for making this possible; these templates are awesome for someone who mainly just wants to write a blog and not be bothered by HTML and all the rest of it. I think that includes most of us.

Still, the allure of the web medium, and really learning and understanding the possibilities of using it are, to me, the sirens call. The beauty and learning value of a site such as CSS ZEN GARDEN is a real treat. Spend some time with it; fascinating and fun to look at if nothing else.

The World is Flat

2005-04-29T06:25:00.000-06:00

Thomas L. Friedman
globalization
A couple of years ago my wife introduced me the writings of Thomas L Friedman, of whom I had previously been only vaguely aware. I was quickly hooked. Now Friedman has written another book,The World is Flat and it's a must-read for anybody wondering what the world will be like for their kids twenty years from now, or what forces really drive the events we all see on TV everyday...

Friedman's book elucidates what my own lifetime of working in policy and international business has taught me. The world is not just "getting smaller;" it's "getting flatter."

Knowledge, motivation and skills have always been present around the globe. But now, new affordable communication and transportation technologies work hand in hand with increasingly widespread education and political democratization to level the playing field. More players enter the game, every hour. We should welcome them, for the richness and diversity they bring.

Innovation and genius pop up everywhere, daily, to influence markets, products and culture.

The U.S., Japan and a few countries in Europe no longer sit together, alone, sharing the driver's seat.

People in China, India, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, emerging nations that we Americans have hardly heard of now influence events and lifestyle.

New products, services, and ideas regularly merge into the flow of commerce and politics around the globe.

The new tunes on our iPods come from everywhere. Our rice cookers have shipped from the interior of Asia. And who used to eat hummus or cous cous?

New thinkers and producers speak out from a rapidly expanding number of nations, adding increasingly relevant voices. New ideas flow from streets and villages of every nation, to challenge our old leader-nations' thinking and priorities.

Thank goodness.

And as all this "flattening" occurs, the possibilities for improved lives for more people, for better care of our physical environment, have actually come upon us.

Everyone can win.

And many are doing so, every day, as the new players step onto the playing field, entering the game from outside the traditional gates of wealth.

But on the potential downside of all this, for Americans, is that we have choices to make; how we live our lives, how we compete and cooperate, how we face our fears.

We snooze or ignore what other folks around the globe are doing, or get lazy or complacent, we lose.

We must step into the broadened flow of global ideas, products and services with renewed vigor and openness.

And now, I gotta go ride my bike.

I've got a bunch of stuff to think about.

And, oh yeah.

The parts on that bike.

They come from a whole bunch of different countries.

And they all work flawlessly together to give me the greatest ride possible.

Hmmmmm.

News Flash! Pain Sucks

2005-04-28T05:33:00.000-06:00

wellness
humor
Talk about being a whiner and a baby. Last week my dentist did a crappy job of fitting a temporary crown for me. The thing constantly falls off, adding surprising crunchiness to my sandwich or whatever I happen to be eating at the time. So, after an unsuccessful trip back to the dentist yesterday morning to get the silly thing glued back on YET ONCE AGAIN, I found myself... sitting in a King Sooper's parking lot prying open an emergency "dental repair kit". A roll of hastily torn gauze drooled from my mouth as I used an old kitchen knife (with a broken point, I might add) to scrape old, dried cement out of my lovely silver crown.

All the while, my exposed tooth is throbbing and I'm thinkin', 'this day ain't going so well.'

One last jab of the knife, wipe the whole thing on my jeans, dump some listerine ($3.49 - small bottle) over everything, yank the gauze out of my mouth -- managing to scare the bejesus out of a nice young couple walking by, just wanting to buy their groceries and be left alone, not to be visually assaulted by some old spitting weirdo wielding a kitchen knife.

I smiled, not a particularly pretty sight, and that scared them even more.

Smooth some new dental cement down into the awaiting crown, stick it roughly back up into somewhere near the gaping vicinity of where it's supposed to be, bite down, feel it squish into place, and I'm back in business.

Hey; no worse than fixing a bent derailleur!

Only problem is, the whole affair hurts like hell. At least for a while.

Motrin, here I come.

Pain: it sucks. I had a bad attitude for at least a couple of hours.

My hat's off to those who suffer and live with chronic pain and disability.

They are the truly courageous.

The rest of us; we're weenies.

Wild Plums on Red Rock

2005-04-27T19:29:00.000-06:00

spirtual wellness
nature photography

Originally uploaded by bikejake.

Remember those wild plums
I wrote about in"Ride to the Sky" The ones that
smelled so heavenly as we rode up
through Red Rocks amphitheater?
Well, here they are;
Enjoy.

Morning's Gift

2005-04-27T08:19:00.000-06:00

Angel of Patience

I was flipping through some blogs this morning and and came upon a fine gift: Rebekah, who lives in Italy, writes with real feeling about those things of value and wonder that lie within us all. A site worth visiting. Here's a sample...

Rebekah writes:

"I was talking about self-discovery. Who am I really? Is what I write really and truly a manifestation of the real me? And is it really that important to search out one’s self? But forgive me, my eloquence is becoming not so very eloquent.

Another of my interests is to understand others. All these people around me, my family, my friends—even my fellow bloggers. I seek to understand what makes them tick so to speak. What causes their actions and reactions, their emotions, their values? What is important to each individual? To become acquainted with this myriad of characters, and hearts is not un-useful to such a predominantly intuitive person such as I. I am concerned that I will offend, will be the cause of grief or discomfort, and so I work to know how I may avoid such blunders. I don’t know if you would call this a science or an art form, but it certainly is somewhere along those lines.

But too much ado about my interests. This blog has provided a means of self-discovery, and others-discovery in a very nice manner, and I can only hope that my ramblings will have really meant something and not have been just a bunch of words on a page somewhere in cyber-space."

...inner thoughts well put, that I think most of us share, even though we may not articulate them so well.

Spring Buds

2005-04-26T09:17:00.001-06:00

spirit
nature

Originally uploaded by bikejake.

Spring,
What more is
To say?

Ride to the Sky

2005-04-24T12:15:00.000-06:00

bicycling
Sunday; still recovering from yesterday's ride. It went great; road up into the mountains was dry with not too much sand and gunk on it. A little chilly at the top, just over 11,000 feet, but the weather held and it felt good to get in my first real altitude for the spring. I didn't really start feeling it until about 9,000 feet, then started breathing a bit more rapidly. Heart rate stayed in normal range all the way, though, so I guess... those hours and HOURS on the trainer over the winter paid off.
I met my friend, Art, at about 10:30 a.m., after it warmed up to somewhere in the 50s, then we headed up through Red Rocks Ampitheatre for a warmup, but mainly just because it is so darned beautiful. Sunshine on our backs, and as we wove up through those massive red sandstone rocks, the wild plums along the road were in full bloom, with a fragrance that made you just want to stop and lie down in the new grass and inhale it forever.
But then it was down into Morrison and up the canyon to Evergreen, about a 12 mile gentle climb. Art left me there, bike nazi that he is, to head back to Denver for a mountain biking date with his latest infatuation. Me, I continued upward, wondering how far the road would be good, and if the somewhat cloudy weather and good day would hold. Reaching the turn off for Mount Evans, I kept on climbing, keeping, most of the time, in that 190 - 240 watt power range that I wanted to be working in for the day. Miracle of miracles, the road was fairly clear of the winter's road sand and the surface was dry. I began to realize that it was still cold enough at altitude that the serious snow melt wasn't really occuring, even though tall snow banks lined the road. I peaked Juniper Pass, feeling good, but definitely weakening; I had been riding, 95 percent of it, climbing for about three hours and 45 minutes.
Stopping to put on a wind breaker (no, I'm not skilled enough to do it on the go,) I dropped the remaing three miles or so down into Echo Lake at about 10,000 feet. The road entrace to Mt. Evans was closed, with about 4 feet of snow weighing down the road barrier. It usually doesn't open until about the first of June, so nature looked to be right about on course. The lodge, where I usually get water, a cup of hot chocolate and return of feeling to my legs was closed and the lake surface was solid ice, covered with snow; pretty, but not too conducive to standing around lolligagging. What breeze there was, was stiff and chilly. So I turned around after a couple of bites on a Cliff Bar, and headed back up to the summit, having reached my turn-around for the day.
And then the legs started to protest in ernest, and the power meter just didn't seem nearly as willing to climb over 200. Oh, well. Only one way home, and that was to keep on peddlin'. Besides, it was great training for the summer's Leadville Trail 100.
Pain, learn to deal with it.

The backs of my legs started reminding me more and more that it had been less than two weeks since my major bike fit and new position. OUCH.

Long story short; by the time I got back home my ride time had been six hours, five minutes, 80 miles and 7,300 feet of climbing.

Did the hot soak in the tub feel good?
Ohhhhh yeahhh.

Today's Ride

2005-04-23T06:23:00.000-06:00

wellness

Six:fifteen a.m.: weaather's supposed to be good today, highs in the 60s. Right now, dawn has broken and the first real light of day is gathering in the east's salmon-bellied sky. I'm waking up, waiting for the house to warm and my tea water to heat and even as I'm feeling still not quite functional, I'm looking forward to getting on the bike and on the road.... Today's mission: long, slow, and high. Still slightly too wet for good mountain biking up even in Denver's foothills, some trails OK and other's too muddy and fragile. No use messing up good singletrack when there's plenty of road around.

So it's back to the skinny tires today. Probably start out from my house in Lakewood (5660 feet), climb up to Evergreen (at about 7600 feet,) then head up toward Squaw and Juniper Pass, letting road conditions and snow melt determine how far I go. I'm anxious to begin getting some miles and time in at altitude; less than three months to the Leadville Silver Rush, a 50 mile mountain bike race at an average altitude of almost 11,000 feet... so time to get the lungs a'pumpin'!

More later, after ride. Have an excellent day, where ever you are

USDA Gets it Right!

2005-04-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

wellness
fitness
nutrition

Wow. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a new "Food Pyramid" based on two AMAZING FACTS: 1) daily excercise helps keep us healthy, and 2) everybody is different.

And I am not being cynical when I point this out; in fact I'm really happy that a U.S. government agency is finally recognizing... that you can't just concentrate on nutrition and eating habits to stay healthy, without also considering the other side of the equation: Excercise.

And in fairness, most diet books and media coverage about nutrition have traditionally given excercise too little attention as well when talking about nutrition; it hasn't been just the feds who came up short in this regard.

In addition to looking at excercise as a component of a healthy lifestyle, the MyPyramid web site is interactive, so that when you go to it you can enter some simple data about your own exercise lifestyle and instantly get back a pretty darned good set of guidelines on what you might want to be eating.

Awesome.

Sure, there'll be people critisizing this or that aspect of the whole deal for one reason or another (or one special interest of their own) but, by and large, folks, you have to give USDA credit for a very positive step on this one.

Take a look at it; it's well worth the time.

Tyler Hamilton Slammed by anti-drug agency

2005-04-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

bicycling
bike racing
Two days ago, in a split decision, Olympic Gold Medalist and Tour de France hero Tyler Hamilton was slammed by the American Arbitration/North America Court of Arbitration for Sport for homologous doping - transfusing another person's blood.

The question of whether Tyler is a heroic cyclist or a blood doper has raged in the cycling community ever since last fall when allegations first surfaced. Like most cycling fans I have followed the case with extreme interest because... I have greatly admired Hamilton's incredible career and "can do" attitude for years.

So when the blood doping allegations popped up following the 2004 Olympics, I was devastated to think that they might be true. Then, reading more about the case, and following it over the winter, I still could not believe in my heart that Tyler was guilty.

I still don't. Call me stupid; call me naive. Call me Polly Anna. Call me believing someone is innocent until proven guilty. Though things are not beginning to stack up. If Tyler's innocent, which I believe he is, then this thing has all the aspects of a BAD B-grade movie, complete with villains, extortion, international bureaucrats, and an incredible athlete being ground up by the system.

Tyler still has one more appeal, to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and he has said that will be his next stop in fighting this case.

Good luck, Tyler, fight the good fight; we're still hangin' in there with you. You are awesome, man; know that there are a bunch of us out here who care about you, your family and your career.

Fruita Spring

2005-04-20T23:37:00.000-06:00

photography
bicycling

Fruita Spring
Originally uploaded by bikejake.

Sweet Colorado Singletrack Beckons
Winter is done and it's time to
ride in the sun. Life begins once
more anew...

I always enjoyed this photo which was taken several years ago in the middle of a long high desert mountain bike ride near Fruita, Colorado's Book Cliffs. It was mid-morning on one of the first beautiful warm days of spring, with new grass just beginning to poke through the ground. I look at it and can even now feel the sun upon my skin and the smell of the soil, earth and new life.

Answer to a Poet

2005-04-19T08:27:00.000-06:00

poems.2 @ insomniantics.bravehost.com
spriritual wellness and poetry
Your poems carry much power and sorrow.

And beyond that -- Strong life and hope.
Depth and Meaning.

This, I read,
and quickly find...

Each day, to me it seems,

we all seek. Even beyond and
behind, out where none may find.

All that is out there, is
only that which we bring and give.

But -- but -- even as we despair,
there IS more, and
somewhere within, somehow -- this we
know, this we seek. To touch.
And this is what really
we are, the seeking and the touching.

This I feel, out upon the bike; I feel it in
the wind and the downhill swoops
and the uphill climbs. I feel it in
the sweat and laughter, the tears
and joy, the breathing and pounding of my heart.

So buy a bike and ride it, far or fast, short or
slow. But
Ride it.
Ride it.
Ride it, beyond and out,
out into the stars.
Out into your heart.

Ride it.

Out beyond the sun and out to where we
really are. Out to where we truly exist. Out
to where We are one. All of us. Earth
and moon, Jack and rocks, soil
and thee. Out there, Out there
we are all. And in here, here
deep within. We are.
Within and without --
lies
the meaning we
call, "God."

This I find,
as I ride. This, my
bike, the spinning wheels
and the chafing seat,
tells me.
So as I ride, I
listen and I
hear.

The wind, the birds, the freedom -- tell me.

Let these things also speak to you. Let
it tell you too.

Be All.

Ride.

Yesterday's Ride

2005-04-17T07:04:00.000-06:00

wellness
My friend Megan and I headed out yesterday, Saturday, on our road bikes to do one of our favorite "medium" climbing rides. We left my house in Lakewood, headed through the Bear Creek bike path, south along C470, and then up Deer Creek Canyon, cutting off half way up onto the High Grade climb. For those of you who don't live in the Denver area, High Grade is a beautiful winding road up a canyon, topping out at... somewhere around 8,000 feet, with good steep sections in the middle.

Megan is getting into good form once again, after spending the fall and winter rehabing from ACL surgery on her knee, which she ripped apart playing ultimate frisby last August. Yeah, she's a jock; but most of all she's a highly competitive mountain biker who won the 30-34 year old age group, sports class, last year in the Mountain Cup Series of races. Never is she more charming than wiping whatever off her nose and onto the back of her glove while eating a power bar on a climb. And Saturday she was girded for bear and eating my 63-year old butt on the way up High Grade. This became apparent as soon as the road tipped seriously upward, right as my legs starting screaming. She beat me to the top of the seven mile climb by a good three minutes (she says four -- and it was probably more like five.)

After a quick drink, we headed down for about a mile, took a quick (almost too quick) corner onto the sand swept road the locals call City View loop. It's a stretch of great steep climbs, most less than a mile, quick rollers and some great sweeping descents. Always tricky this time of year, with snow still stacked on the roadside banks, snow melt running across the switchbacks and lots of good, nasty winter sand and road debris just to keep you alert on the downhill sweeps. I was feeling strong at this point and having a good time leading Megan up the climbs. She'd blasted her legs a bit with her long, race pace climb. Hee hee!

But I was soon to pay. On Monday I had gone up to the Center for Sports Medicine (an awesome facility) in Boulder to get checked out and a new bike fit, hoping to do away with some chronic left hip pain on long rides. My new seating position felt intuitively correct and my spin felt much smoother. BUT... (there's always a, "but"; my BUTT was really beginning to hurt at this point, as well as what seemed to be every muscle and tendon in the back of both legs, as my body screamed, "What the HELL is THIS all about!"

Yeah, I know: don't go out and do a bunch of really hard climbing right after a radical change in bike fit, but, hey, the sun was shining, the air temperature was way about freezing, and spring was in the air. So, here I was (oh, yeah, did I mention the hard intervals on Wednesday; another not so smart move.)

By the time we got down Turkey Creek and across to Kittridge, I was a hurting puppy -- and backing WAY off on the climbs. Megan (she is a Friend) took pity on me and pulled, coming down the grade into Morrison, so we could keep up a good pace on the way home. At about 50 miles we reached my garage door, and I went inside the house to whine to Katherine, my wife. Of course I had a grin from ear to ear as I did so! Split a recovery drink with Megan; she went home to her significant other and I hit a tub full of soothing hot water.

Wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow?

P.A.D. Peripheral Artery Disease... Please!

2005-04-15T13:21:00.000-06:00

wellness
I'm busy spinning and watching TV when yet another pharmaceutical ad comes on, telling me in dulcet tones about how their product will help save me from Peripheral Artery disease (P.A.D.)

P.A.D? ...Please! The message is: I sit on my butt; I eat fatty foods; I watch TV, and if I'll just buy... yet another company's over-priced DRUGS, it will all be bliss. I will be perfectly healthy, live longer, have greater sex and never have to lift a finger! ...And certainly not break a sweat.

Where did we get off, adding more and more "disease" labels to conditions that are largely self-inflicted, as if this somehow suddenly makes them a labeled "problem" that can then be "magically treated" by just buying "one more pharmaceutical product which, by the way, may cause 'lung failure, intestinal bleeding, stroke, capillary bleeding, stuffy noses, disturbed sleep, and God knows what else -- all rapidly cataloged and spewed forth by a monotone, boring, auctioneer-fast speaker as we simultaneously watch fresh blooming flowers, handsome couples gazing into each other's eyes, dying to make mad passionate love. Ahhhh, the land of marketing, sales, and commercial messages.

Whew! ...more later, after I've thought about it.

What about you; how do YOU feel about these drug sales messages?

Pride before the Fall

2005-04-14T10:49:00.000-06:00

physical training
So I recovered this last week from my five day mountain biking trip and have been feeling good... uhm, you might even say, 'proud.' On Monday night, I did a good endurance spin. I followed up last night with a hard spin with climbing repeat intervals, with 4 repetitions of high-power stomps (CTS-talk) thrown in. Finished tired but feeling good; told my coach that all was well. Then came last night. Still melting snow outside, so I head back downstairs to the trainer. My legs feel a little heavy, but not too bad...

I climb on and start out with an easy 30 minute warm-up. Then I crank it up to do a 45 minute Tempo interval... and 25 minutes into it I am so tired I can't keep the pace. Heart rate's up 15 beats over where it should be, and wattage is steadily dropping. I push and grunt and get the power back up. Then it slides down again and my cadence drops off.

I'm finished. I wouldn't call it a full-fledged bonk, but whatever, it sure isn't working. I wind down with easy spinning for another 15 minutes and call it finished.

And so it goes with training; two or three steps forward, and one back; or so it sometimes seems. Overall I know I'm making progress; I can feel it when I ride. But, man, oh man, I thing I have to continually learn is that age does seem to affect recovery; it just flat takes longer than when you are younger.

Oh, well; enough whining. I'm off to take my lunch break at the health club; do some upper body, core, work; but not too hard, and, yes, I'm gonna give them legs a rest today (but not too much.)

Red on Brown

2005-04-12T13:37:00.000-06:00

nature photography

Canyonlands_2
Originally uploaded by bikejake.

When in a desert of brown,
a splash of RED stops the eye
and arrests the soul

It's always amazing to experience the diversity and beauty of life's mryiad forms in what first seems a monotonous, drab landscape. But the more time you spend in the desert and the more intimately you experience it, the more there is to see. Edward Abbey, who wrote about the Moab and Utah desert country was the master of this particular art of seeing and reporting.

What's a Week?

2005-04-12T08:41:00.000-06:00

metaphysics
I woke up this morning thinking about the fact that is has been one week tonight since I returned from my Utah biking trip and it popped into my mind that a week, seven days, is a weird unit of time. Why is a week seven days? What if it were ten or four; what if this major repeating pattern that so dictates our lives and how we do things, all over the world, were to change?

Whoa. Who in the heck starts these things in the first place?

So I went on the week, googled "origin of week," and the first website I came up with told me some interesting stuff:

WEEK [formerly in the Web's Global Encyclopedia, now defunct]

Next to the day, the week is the most important calendric unit in our life. And yet, there is no astronomical significance to the week. Nothing cosmic happens in the heavens in seven days.* How, then, did the week come to assume such importance?

The first thing to understand is that a week is not necessarily seven days. In pre-literate societies weeks of 4 to 10 days were observed; those weeks were typically the interval from one market day to the next. Four to 10 days gave farmers enough time to accumulate and transport goods to sell. (The one week that was almost always avoided was the 7-day week -- it was considered unlucky!) The 7-day week was introduced in Rome (where ides, nones, and calends were the vogue) in the first century A.D. by Persian astrology fanatics, not by Christians or Jews. The idea was that there would be a day for the five known planets, plus the sun and the moon, making seven; this was an ancient West Asian idea. However, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire in the time of Constantine (c. 325 A.D.), the familiar Hebrew-Christian week of 7 days, beginning on Sunday, became conflated with the pagan week and took its place in the Julian calendar. Thereafter, it seemed to Christians that the week Rome now observed was seamless with the 7-day week of the Bible -- even though its pagan roots were obvious in the names of the days: Saturn's day, Sun's day, Moon's day. The other days take their equally pagan names in English from a detour into Norse mythology: Tiw's day, Woden's day, Thor's day, and Fria's day.

The amazing thing is that today the 7-day week, which is widely viewed as being Judeo-Christian, even Bible-based, holds sway for civil purposes over the entire world, including countries where Judaism and Christianity are anathema. Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Africans, Japanese, and a hundred others sit down at the U.N. to the tune of a 7-day week, in perfect peace (at least calendrically!). So dear is this succession of 7 days that when the calendar changed from Julian to Gregorian the week was preserved, though not the days of the month: in 1752, in England, Sept. 14 followed Sept. 2 -- but Thursday followed Wednesday, as always. Eleven days disappeared from the calendar -- but not from the week!

Good old Denver

2005-04-10T19:17:00.000-06:00

physical training
Good old Denver; yesterday it was in the 60s and today we're getting over a foot of snow. Been snowing all day, but, hey, guess what; by Wednesday...
people will be playing golf again and I'll be out on my road bike after work! Gotta love this place. And the skiers will be HAPPY because the mountains are getting a dump as well, extending the season for a bit longer.

I haven't skied for two years because I woke up one morning and thought, "Hmmm, if I rip a knee up skiing so that I can't bike, I'll really be angry at myself, but if I hurt myself biking so that I couldn't ski, it won't bother me nearly as much.

And this from a guy who had previously been skiing 25 to 35 days a year!

Plus, this was about the time that I really started to get into endurance mountain bike racing, so year-around training began to take over more and more of my "sports recreation" time. I don't know what it is, but I really like riding my bikes, on the road or the singletrack, and it feels so good to keep getting better at it and stronger. So the incentive and inner drive is really there for me to concentrate more on the biking. It's just like today; snowing like mad out, so I spent two hours on the trainer, listening to music (it really helps keep up the cadence) and then watching part of a movie to round out the time. And the indoor trainer seems better to me in some ways because it's so much easier to control the intensity of the workout and intervals than it sometimes is out on the road.

Still, there's nothing like putting on those long road miles, or intensely insane mountain bike miles, and living in Denver we are blessed with miles and miles of singletrack and long, long climbs. It's great... and soon, as the weather clears and the snow and ice begins to melt and go away, we'll be able to begin getting up to altitude again, at least on the road. Those long climbs at 10,000 to 11,000 feet clear out the winter lungs and get the red blood cells multiplying again!

But one of these years, I'll get those boards out again.

Normalizing -- and some Realizations

2005-04-09T06:24:00.000-06:00

blogging
Saturday morning about 6 a.m. and I woke up this morning realizing that I am finally normalizing following last week's Utah mountain biking trip. Physical signs: blood pressure and heart rate steadily settling down into normal range; both had been elevated from fatigue, severe exercise over five days. Sleep: returning to normal patterns. Eating: the ravenous hunger that always follows severe intense biking days is finally moderating; digestion returning to normal. Training: the soreness and and "heavy muscles" diminishing. Thought Process and Concentration: returning to normal; my mind is finally joining my body in being back in Denver and at work.

Now, here's the "Realizations" part.I realized that as I get started with this blog site, I have been slowly, over days, constipating myself, as I strove to "focus" what I write about and put it into some kind of orderly structure or thought-category.

Am I writing about mountain biking? Am I writing about biking in general? Or is this blog about excercise and fitness? Or is is about meeting life square-on and dealing with it? Who is my audience? What am I trying to communicate to them? "Etc., etc., etc.," as Yul Brenner playing the King of Siam would say.

The point is that, nah, this blog is about NONE of those things, and All of those things.

If it is to work at all, it has to be a free flow of who and what I am, and what I see and feel, and how this might relate to what you see, feel and live.

And if I do this, then we build a little bit of connectiveness, and a reminder of who and what we really are: a spindle of thread in the glory of life; a blip on the radar screen, the vapor of the buffalo's breath on the winter morning. I think of the explosive power of a Mount Saint Helan's and the silkiness of a cumulous cloud, both of these at the same time. These things, events; and much, much more: we are all of these. And just as importantly, we are, each one of us, each day, undeveloped Potential. Potential for good, for bad; for laughter, joy; health and fitness. Alive or dead. We are all this and more, and we are a continuam of life and natural process.

Me, I am a visual person; so the sights around me, the clicks of a camera, the whir of the digital video cam; these too are a big part of me, as well as the bikes and the riding. So shall they also be pieces of what I write about and share.

Visions that please and inspire. Colors, rocks, shadows and shapes that represent life in the visible spectrum. The thrill of the bike flowing down and through a mountain pass, the fatigue of the climb, and the triumph of the mountain top; the shift of the grade at the summit of the pass from up to down.

It's a great journey. It's ours, all of ours.

Morning Prep Day 3 (photo)

2005-04-08T11:02:00.000-06:00

adventure photography

Morning Prep Day 3
Originally uploaded by bikejake.

Getting ready to ride from White Rim's Shaeffer
Campground to top of Murphy Hogback

Lasalle Mountains from White Rim 1 (photo)

2005-04-08T10:58:00.000-06:00

photography

Lasalle Mountains from White Rim 1
Originally uploaded by bikejake.

April, 2005: The Lasalle Mountains have more
snow on them than for many yearss

Home from the Desert

2005-04-06T21:15:00.000-06:00

adventure

Arrived home early last evening from our five days of our desert; tired, happy, dirty, smelly and fully alive. Today, has been, of course, a real "re-entry" day, back at work staring uncomprehendingly at whomever came into my office with the latest "crisis" or office scuttlebutt, wondering what on earth they were talking about or were so incensed about.

As one of my two buddies who was in Canyonlands with me when we entered back into daylight savings time, "Hey, the ravens and the kangaroo mice don't even seem to particularly notice; they're still going to work at the same time."

And the biking was spectacular: Slickrock Trail, Porcupine Rim, two days on the 80 miles of the White Rim Trail, and one follow-up play day out on the semi-desserted slickrock of Bartlett Wash; then the 5 hour ride back to Denver. Three days of great weather and two days of "winds from Hell" on White Rim. It's all good.

Rocks. Sand, Sweat and Gears

2005-04-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

adventure
...6:30 a.m.
Off to the land of sand and rocks. Rocks so old that they talk to you; sand that is so persistant that I'll be blowing it out of my nose for days, and sweeping it from camping gear and car for months.

Ah, it's a magical place... and when I return to the world, I shall write you about it. Until then, adieu and peace upon you.

MOAB WAYS (photo)

2005-03-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

nature photography

Ancient song.
Rock. River.
Eternal
ONE.
Whispered breeze.
Kindly speak.
Heart tune. Old wind.
Energy flow.
All is
ONE.

WHAT... ME, Competitive?

2005-03-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

fitness
Well, it begins; four days before leaving for the Moab mountain biking trip and I'm talking to my buddies, and already it's "Wow, my knee's really hurting; I'm going to the doc tomorrow." Or, "Oh, man; something gave me food poisoning on Sunday; I've been home really sick all day." Or, "Yeah, I'm getting bike fit as soon as I get back from this trip; my left hip is really holding me back."

The excuses begin; the infirmaties intensify. Now, of course, this is to be just a friendly ride; no competition. Peace and love all the way; it doesn't matter who gets to the top of the hill fastest.

Pleeeasssse! ...

Of course one of those excuses is my own.

But, hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

:)

Red Rock Resurrection coming Soon

2005-03-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

biking
Easter Sunday and the weather, after snow and ice yesterday is sunny and gorgeous here in Denver. And like usual, the magic of... dry air, high altitude and lots and lots of sunshine has chased away almost every trace of winter. Just like that. And I'm getting the mountain bike ready for four days in Moab, Utah next weekend. Ahhhh....

Porcupine Rim
Slick Rock
White Rim & Canyonlands

Yesss.

Life does begin anew.

After a winter of spinning countless hours on the trainer, punctuated by some good, long COLD road rides, I will at last be back on the mountain bike, spinning through the red rock and sand. Getting the season's first sunburn, er, Tan.

Oh, Yeah.

What was THAT about?

2005-03-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

fitness
I just looked at what I posted yesterday about fat, and went, "Whoa, what was that about," because the whole thing sounded negative. And I don't like being negative. Yet at the same time... I get frustrated when I look around me and see what we do to our bodies and our lives. And, yes, that includes me. I've gotten much better in recent years about taking care of what's important and health-giving, but I still backslide from time to time, and I was so clueless for so many years.

It's just that I now fully recognize that if I make the right choices in diet, rest and excercise, moment to moment, based on reality, not wishful thinking, my life becomes better, happier and more energetic and fulfilling.

Pretty simple, huh.

But like many simple concepts, this one is much harder and more difficult to put into practice than it is to just read it.

To reiterate: it IS true; we ARE what we eat.

The real awareness of this came for me once I started really training hard for bike racing, which began at the grand age of 60.

Yes, I'm a slow learner!

I started getting ready for my first "24 Hours of Moab" round-the-clock bike race three years ago.

Once into that process and PARTICULARLY once I hit the 15-mile race course; the direct relationship between what I eat and how I feel and how I can perform quickly became VERY clear! All that stuff I had read for years and intellectually accepted, about diet and excercise, came into a whole new focus.

And it became blazingly REAL the first time I started the steep climb away from the starting area through the red rocks and sand of Moab on my mountain bike.

'Ugh! this is nasty; I need some more fuel, some more endurance, some more strength, some more food, some more ANYTHING! For God's sake, GET ME THROUGH THIS and I'll change my ways!'

And the only answer that came back, came from from within myself, the quiet voice saying, "Jack, you wanta go better, ya gotta eat better, train better -- and get rid of the lard gut!"

So. I've been in that process of weight reduction and eating better for a while now. (Actually the process started several years before the racing, but the racing certainly intensified and clarified what I needed to do.)

And if my piece yesterday sounded negative; well, it was because I desparately want to make this point about diet, rest and excercise -- stuff that I've learned the hard way.

I want to say to people - young and old - short, tall - fat, skinny - male, female - that we HAVE TO do somehing about this national trend toward obesity and being couch potatos - particularly for our young people - before we get any further into the hole. And we have to do it as individuals, within ourselves and about our own choices and actions. We can't just complain and exclaim about it. We have to, each of us, ACT. This is not something for government to do, fast food joints to do, bars or health clubs to do. It's for US to do; one step at a time, everyday.

We have choices here, folks... and we have to make them, each of us, individually.

We are thinking animals; we are sentient beings. We are not vegetables or minerals. We CAN make those necessary CHOICES; in fact, doing so is our job, our duty, our BEing here on earth. We CAN get better. We CAN eat better and excercise better. And our gain is not only in better health and longevity, but in our individual quality of life and our mental well-being; in our ability to live with, to reach out to and help others.

Each of us carries within us the energy source that God gives us when we are conceived, and when we consciously work to strengthen that energy and to consciously exhibit it, when we have built it up to brightly burn, then we become a clear visible light to guide and help others -- and the world becomes a better and more comassionate place for all - animals, minerals, vegetables, souls and environment.

The analogy is Springtime. We can, right now, reach out of our winter of sluggishness, our darkness, and embrace all that CAN BE. We can accept the sun and help fuel the light that brings the new growth of human Spring.

This starts with first recognizing and fully accepting where we are now, then choosing to eat, drink, excercise and rest in a new way - with joy and hope - with cognizant striving to make best choices, second to second, minute to minute, day to day.

Let's work together to choose reality-based living; that way we can all become more alive, open, and loving.

BIG FAT Not a Friend

2005-03-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

health
Good old Adipose Tissue, the fat barn of our body. Look it up and Encarta tells you, "fat found in tissue just below the skin and surrounding major organs, acting as an energy reserve and providing insulation and protection." Good stuff if you're forced into going without food for a few days, but not so cool if you happen to be a stuffed piggy... like most of us Americans these days.

A better description than adipose tissue, for most of us, "rolls of greasy chicken fat." Excess yellow fat squeezing around our organs, heart, kidneys, liver, what have you. Bend over to tie our shoes, and most of us come up wheezing and blowing and exclaiming, "Whoa, I gotta do something about this."

But not right now; I'm late for dinner.

With every little bit of excercise or bending, excess fat squashes our contorted bodies so hard that our working parts up almost give up the ghost. Spots jump before our eyes and our over-stressed hearts go POUNDY, POUNDY, POUND.

So, regardless of how we arrived at this condition, how can we get rid of this damned stuff, this obnoxious excess FAT?

Last time we had this much fat in the country was in the 1970s and it was piled up in warehouses in the form of subsidized CHEESE. The government helped support milk prices which brought about excess production which brought about the school lunch program and various other "aid" programs and we gave away all our cheese to school children, poor folks, and sculptors looking for a new medium.

I digress.

The question today is how can we now empty out those cow-barns of adipose tissue waiting all throughout our bodies to round up and hold greasy yellow fat everywhere we don't really need it, like smeared all over what would be otherwise healthy, attractive buns, thighs, bellies, places like that? How can we make our kids stop looking like 1950s Porky Pigs and Dumbo the Elephant?

Diet?

Good Luck.

Excercise?

It's gonna make you hungry.

Will Power?

Yeah, sure.

A combination of all of the above?

Yep, that's what it's going to take.
Applied in sustained fashion over time.

We're talking MAJOR LIFE CHANGE HERE.

Wheww! Big task. But doable.

The alternatives?

Poor health, shortened life spans, less fun, less vitality, less sex; less EVERYTHING except prescription drugs, depression, old reruns and cans and cans of Pringles. Oh, and more time to play video games, declare that life sucks, nobody understands me, and produce hateful song lyrics supporting the perpetuation of "victimology."

Puleaseee.

Our lard-butts ain't nobody's else's fault. Not McDonald's not God's, not Dubya's.

Love it or hate it; we're all responsible for our own well-being and enjoyment here on this delightful little rock of a planet we're traveling on. And EXCESS FAT, Excess LARD, is starting to get in our way of enjoying the good stuff.

ENOUGH...

... I'm working up an appitite.

On the Podium (photo)

2005-03-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

biking and health

Winning takes Training -- there are NO shortcuts

A Long Road -- be patient

2005-03-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

wellness
Tyrone, a 50-year old co-worker walks into my office this morning. He's a big guy, weighs 250, and maybe should weigh 200. Much to his credit, he's been religiously working out for the past three months; hired a personal trainer and working hard at switching his life around; wants to live healthily enough to see his kids graduate from college -- and knows he's got a ways to go.

So two days ago Tyrone's working out on a rowing machine at the health club, under the supervision of his 30s-something personal trainer. The trainer's working him hard and Tyrone has good muscular strength, even though he's overweight. As he says, "ya gotta be strong to carry all this blubber around for 30 years."

Suddenly as he's straining away, he gets a flash of a headache climbing up the back of his skull.... His heart rate is around 150, about as high as its been during 15 years of sloshing around inside a fat-crowded, couth potato chest cavity. Tyrone slumps to a halt to catch his breath. Obviously he looks kind of scary because the trainer says, "Ahmm, let's just call it a day; I won't charge you anything, come back on Thursday."

So, today, when he walks into my office, Tyrone's obviously a little discouraged about what he perceives as his poor performance, and a little frightened; in fact, he's going to see his doc tomorrow to see if maybe there's something wrong.

"I've gained a lot of muscle strength, but I guess my cardio just hasn't caught up," he says.

Yeah, I guess so.

But it doesn't mean Tyrone should be discouraged or that something is drastically wrong with his body. It probably just means that he pushed too darned far, too fast; something we all do when we first start working out, and for some of us something we continue to do all throughout our lives, both in and out of the gym.

The point is, just like the family sedan can't go from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds; you can't just suddenly jump up, start working out and leap from unfit to fit in three months.

This is too often the major discouragement for those of us who suddenly decide to "get in shape," and start on a major excercise program. Progress just doesn't seem to come fast enough, and to accomplish it is taking a lot more hard, SUSTAINED work than we expected.

In our instant gratification world of cell phones, overnight-internet orders, and drive-through Starbucks, we want it ALL and we want it NOW. Three months of steady excercise should be enough to get us well down the path to fitness, right?

Wrong.

Three months of working out is a good start, and for many of us it provides a foundation upon which we can actually begin to develop real change and improvement in our physical lifestyle. After 90 days, we can definitely feel benefits from regular disciplined excercise. In fact, we're probably starting to feel pretty darned good about ourselves. But we also need to be prepared for those unexpected setbacks such as Tyrone suffered yesterday -- and deal with them as normal. The body needs recovery time as well as prescribed physical stress time. Not enough rest, or pushing too hard, and the next workout performance IS going to suffer. And this disciplined cycle of work, rest and recovery has to be on-going. Equally important, it has to be fine-tuned to each individual. We are all different and our ability to recover can be influenced by what seem to be endless nuances: age, weight, sleep, nutrition, work-related stress, wives, husbands, kids, overdue bills, when we got up, when we went to sleep.

Reaching a high level of physical fitness, with a strong heart, cardio vascular system and enhanced strength and endurance is not a one-shot deal. It's not a six month deal. It's an on-going cycle of over-stressing our systems, then allowing the body time for recovery, repair, and adaptation.

This is a lifetime deal. And it's a process in which we learn as we go along. I can eat turkey sandwiches while during an endurance ride, but my riding buddy turns a nasty shade of pale green just thinking about them. Of course she can eat hot Tex Mex chow and it turns my stomach inside out, even though I love it. Go figure.

But learning about all these factors and how to handle them, how they fit into the over-stress/rest & recovery cycle is something we all have to do -- for ourselves. A coach or trainer can teach us many things, but the real burden of training right is on us, the individuaal athelete. My buddy Tyrone is right when he tells me he's going to ask his trainer to back off a bit; Joe isn't training to join the Marine Corps and travel to the Middle East, he's just trying to get healthier so he can enjoy his life and family more.

Bottom line: training to get physically fit is really about chosing a new way of life. It's about living in a way that you can truly enjoy and sustain. It's about living an active lifestyle in which you get rewards everyday from feeling good and being healthy. It's about having fun and enjoying whatever physical activity you chose to pursue. It is about becoming a truly different person who lives a different set of patterns and habits than you did in the old non-fit days.

So, should Tyrone be discouraged? No. But the only way from keeping that from happening as we begin to regularly train is to fully recognize and ACCEPT our current state of physical being at each and every moment. We have to fully ACCEPT where we actually are in our strength and cardio system development. And not letting wishful thinking make us believe we are more advanced than we are. And accepting this is hard to do.

When working out most of us always want to push a little bit further, and to believe that we should be just a little stronger or more fit than we actually are at any given moment. And that if we just strain and suffer a bit more it will be "good" for us.

This attitude, which is almost universal among beginning fitness advocates, can lead to big trouble or to failure and giving up. Training too hard without enough rest between sessions, overworking our system to the point where chronic fatigue sets in, means the quality of our workouts deteriorates to the point where we are just pushing overly tired muscles through the motions, rather than slightly over-stressing healthy, well rested muscles to the point where the body can adapt, over time, leading to lasting improvement and improved health.

~~~
I could go on and on, but now I come to TIME OUT; save some rant for another day.
~~~

Just like in working out, it's time to take a break in writing this, to start fresh later, or on another day with another idea. the piece will be better and more useful.

"WHOA," it just struck me...

Hey! wait a minute. Maybe writing is just like training. Maybe training is just like LIFE. Maybe no matter what we do, we gotta stop, pause and give ourselves a little break now and then; to come back fresh. Or we will just going to get stale, become a 'grind,' and not really accomplish all that we want.

Wow, is THIS what all these people around me whom I love have been trying to tell me all these years?

Autumn comes to Colorado Bike Country (photo)

2005-03-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

nature

Autumn comes to Colorado Bike Country
Originally uploaded by bikejake.

Life at 10,000 feet can be beautiful. Crisp aspen leaves crunch their song under miles of sun-warmed high country trails

First Spring, First Light

2005-03-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

spriritual wellness
So it's the first day of Spring, 2005 and life begins anew. It makes me think of life on the ranch when I was growing up and even into young manhood. After a dark, frigid winter punctuated by cold, clear days that made your nostrils stick together when you breathed, Spring meant calving time. And within a few weeks, nests and nests of bright red and virginal white Hereford calves lying around on the first newly emerging grass, pristine and wonderful as the first day's light after the long dark. "Morning has broken." And at about the same time, the Pussy-Willows began bursting forth with all their silly furriness, and the very first smells of Spring, new life, the earth's fecundancy filled the air, wafting upward between remaining patches of shaded snow. And soon there would be even more grass, and then during the late April showers, the Palouse Prairie wildflowers would begin peeping forth and, oh my God, what blessed luxuriness and spotty waves of color.

Out the Door

2005-03-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

heart
Our Life is a choice. It happens every day. Over and over, we get opportunities to LIVE. We have plenty of opportunities to study, reflect and enjoy the best that is before us -- regardless of our circumstances.

On the other hand...

...we have Death.

Death, it seems, is not an option. I happens only once. And the reporting back from those kazillions who are already there is spotty at best.

RIDE to LIFE

2005-03-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

wellness and aging
Whoa, so it's time to start. So few days and such a large universe.

Where to begin.

I guess the best place for me, at least, is back with my 55th birthday, celebrated alone in rural Virginia. I rolled out of bed, ate pancakes, and drive into Leesburg to buy a mountain bike. And so starts the tale.

Or, I could start by backing up a few month, maybe a year, to bending over to pick up that fifty pound sack of dog food from a Giant Supermarket cart and throwing it into the back of my little Toyota pickup. Damned, I noticed; that seemed HEAVY!

That's not RIGHT! Oh, my God; I'm aging.

Now is a funny way to start a major life change, or what?

So now it's eight years later; my weight is 151 rather than 190, my resting heart rate is 45 rather than 80, my total cholesterol is 123 instead of 270. And I feel great.

My current goal is to finish a 100 mile mountain bike race, the Leadville Trail 100, in less than ten hours.

Oh, and the LT100 as it's called is almost all above 10,000 feet, low point 9200 feet and high point 12,600 feet. Last year, my first time attempting it, I finished it in 10 hours, 56 minutes. I got second place for men over 60. A guy from Michigan came in first, a rider from California was third, and a fellow from Iowa was fourth in our class. I hope to meet them all again, for this year's race, come August. I've been training hard all year; I know they have too, and regardless of the 2005 race outcome I know that we will all have one heck of a day, as will the 600 other riders from all across the U.S. and a scattering of other countries. We will all be alive and the pain, sweat and comradery of mountain bike silliness will make winners of us all, each and every one.