Almost to the top.



Colorado Springs is down there somewhere.


It was chilly and the wind was howlin' like the wolf.


1 hour and 45 minutes to get here. Round trip was just under 12 miles with nearly 4500' of gain. It was fun but I won't do it again. The hike a bike was unreal.

I hate that you're having to pretty much view this stuff in reverse order but I always forget about this.





Looking towards the Divide.


Cool rocks just before the Devil's Playground.


This is the trail. It was stupid carrying the bike on my bike and I got a lot of strange looks. I must have passed 30 hikers today. These rocks are the size of a decent recliner and pretty much finished off the soles of my shoes. I knew I was close at this point though (within 300-400 feet) and there was no way I was giving up.

Pikes Peak

Last night I was dorking around on 14ers.com and found upwards of 40ish trail write ups for the northwest appraoch to Pikes Peak from the Crags area. I had 2 beers in me and I said to myself, self...none of these write ups were from riders. There were loads of hikers and some skiers but no one had ridden it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. So i crawled outta my warm bed and was at the trailhead at 8 a.m. sharp. This is pretty much what the trail looks like for the first mile:







I quickly got to treeline.

Super excited

For the last few days all I can think about at work (besides educating the children of the future of course) is riding my bike. I am so happy to be riding that silly thing again. I got in a super fun mountain bike ride on Thursday night and I was chompin' at the bit to ride tonight but my afternoon nap went into the early evening and I missed out. I was going to go down and check out the group ride tomorrow and ride at 30+ mph again but I think I wanna do a longer mtb ride and take in some scenery. I've got what should be a pretty killer ride planned and I'm hoping it wont take me any longer than 6 hours but it's totally unchartered water so I'm bringing plenty of gear in case I get stuck and have to finish up in the dark. Photo opportunities should be endless so I'll definitely bring the camera.

I'm also considering doing the 12 hour solo race next weekend at Snowmass. I've never done anything like that and I worry about getting bored burning laps for that long and the entry fee of 100 bones sure isn't helping but I still might go. There was talk of TK, Dan Schmatz and me teaming up for a 12 hour race in Missouri but I don't know where those guys are with that right now after their rather quick Gateway Cup. TK just got done building the ugliest Cannondale cross bike I've ever seen. Personally...I'd pack up that thing and send it express to the nearest knucklehead living out in Woodland Park, Colorado. Too bad it's not a 56. I got half a mind to drive to St. Louis and bring it home with me.

My old crib

This is the house that Neumann built. It is located on the south side of St. Louis in the Bevo area. Believe it or not I bought this diamond in the rough for $59,000. It was my first house. It was a wreck when I bought it. I did the siding, built the deck, gutted the bath, re-did the kitchen, installed carpet upstairs, and of course...painted everything. I was in such a hurry to sell it so I could relocate to Colorado that I got no pictures of the finished product. It was so nice when it was done but I bet I was moved out a week after the paint dried. The garage was the best part of the house. It was an oversized 2 car with a ceiling mounted heater. I used to wash my Golf and Audi in it during the coldest winter days in shorts and no shirt...sweating.

The new owner has let things go a lot. I was meticulous about the lawn and almost cried when I pulled up to it. Ever hear of a trimmer buddy?

How we roll

I forgot to mention that we had a real short layover in Dallas on the way to St. Louis last weekend. Here we are kickin' it with Fat Joe.



True....true....

the latest

For the first time, I'm back at work and actually quite happy about it. I have a super group of students to work with each day and it's them that makes me want to climb out of bed each morning. I just got back from Gateway Cup in St. Louis. It was 4 days of criteriums. The laps were fast and the temps were high. Thanks to Adam and his family for letting Heather and I stay there.

As soon as we got to their house I found out the unfortunate news that Morgan (their 3 year old) was mad at me. Apparently she thought I was laughing at her when they visited in Colorado over the summer. She was not happy about me being there. So I spent the first 15 minutes in her room trying to get her to speak to me while she sulked and flipped through a magazine. She is such a doll and, luckily, she forgave me and we went for pizza.

It was great to see my friend TK and his family and spend some time with another old friend...Dan. Dan's son Samuel and his wife Myriam made the flight to St. Louis and it was super to meet them. I think Samuel looks exactly like Dan. I remember doing sprints with Dan one night on the road into Castlewood. His sprint was insane back then and it's even more stupid now. It's pretty darn impressive what the guy has done in his cycling career. He's a good guy and just another person that I'm proud to call my friend.

Training for the CTR is completely different than training for crits or even xc mtb races. Right now I have no clue what I want to do next year. I don't think I can do both disciplines well. All I know is that, for the first time in a long time, I smile when riding my bikes again. That's a good thing.