Random photos

I've been riding quite a bit lately and yesterday I built up to 5 hours. My ass hurts today. While I intend to keep things fun this year, I do have something big in mind and it's right around the corner so I don't have too much time to prep. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by this route. It's long and dry and long. Should be a really good time. I'm excited though too because I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders since finally completing the Colorado Trail. For the CT, a 100 mile day is pretty big. This next ride will need to be done in one effort so the mileage is considerably more. 

These are some images from the last few weeks. The other day Scott Dobbins said this blog was leaving a lot to be desired here lately. My feelings were feeling like ass. Hurt. So here ya go. This is one of my favorite roads because it's right out the back door. For the last few years my standing record from the garage to the top of a tough little climb out of town to this very road has routinely taken me 32 minutes. The last few times I've ridden up it I've been feeling really great but didn't time it. Eventually I did and I was 29:36. This road runs (relatively flat) all 40 miles to Sedalia. I was planning on shooting for being able to comfortably ride 100 miles (maybe a touch more) right before leaving for this next trip and probably doing it right here.  

If you ride south on the road above, it takes you right above town and eventually hooks up with a great 13 mile loop of singletrack around a beautiful reservoir. That area was hit really hard during the Waldo Canyon fire and it's still closed but I wanted to see how far I could go. It's good to see the elk are still up there.

Maybe a half mille further is a gate across the road where it closes. The trail is just beyond the gate. This was a major fire break that probably saved my house. You can just see the line in the background.

This is from a ride. I have no idea when this was taken but I was just on the same mountain looking at the same view yesterday. That's Kenosha Pass way off in the distance. I do an out and back ride from Deckers to Buffalo Creek quite a bit. There's a little side U that you can throw in to make things a bit tougher. If you hit it on the way out, it's a 4 mile climb with a gentle grade. If you hit it on the return trip (like I did yesterday) it's a 6 mile climb that hits 15% in several spots early on in the climb.

This is just down the road from the Sprucewood Bar. I've often thought about stopping in for a beer during my ride. Next time I'm gonna do just that. Sometimes the logging companies work up this road but they go up from the other side. This gets really tight. 

This is the first gut check. Pisses me off that the picture makes it look so tame. I had a Douglas County Sheriff follow me most of the way up this and it sucked because I felt obligated to push harder. Cruel and unusual.

That's about it. Back to the salt mines tomorrow. The weekend flew by. Another spring storm is supposed to hit this week. I'm ready for some warm weather. Hope you got out and did something cool over the weekend. Thanks for checking in.