Seeing it ALL

Those three words sum up tonight's mountain bike ride. First I saw this leg. It was a big leg but I couldn't find any other parts to this elk. It seemed like someone had dressed it because of how clean the cut was but it was also right next to a road. I looked around but didn't see anything else until I got a little further up. Then I found the hide. Critters had picked it pretty clean but it was definitely dressed. Again, right next to a road and maybe 100 yards up from the leg. Then a bit further up I found another leg. Then the head. I hate to be negative but I think this was a poaching incident. I sure hope not but I'm gonna call the DOW tomorrow and report it.

Then I continued on my merry way on a fire road. I came across this. What idiot actually takes the time and goes through the trouble to load up an unwanted hot tub and then drive it into the National Forest and dump it? Sometimes I get irritated when our trash service won't take certain things but the solution is to take whatever it is (as long as it's not bad for the environment like paint or motor oil) up to the next town and pay a small fee to dump it. That's what I had to do with our dryer. This infuriates me that someone would be so friggin' rude and have such a complete lack of respect for the outdoors. What's worse is that no more than 100 yards before this I saw a refrigerator on the side of the road. End of rant.

This is the singletrack that I eventually hooked up with and took back down to town.

It forks eventually and I've always gone right but tonight I went left and found this.

From the chimney was a great view of Pikes Peak. Our house is down there somewhere.

Killin' me

Heather's Jeep is crying out for one on one attention. I've had huge issues with the steering components. Now that I've replaced almost all of them I have a new issue in that same area. Apparently the parts that I got from Quadratec are NOT oem replacement stuff like they said. I feel confident that it's safe to drive now but I'm very annoyed with it. I took it to a guy that is in a Jeep club that I used to be involved with when I had my Jeep so that he could check it out. We were able to narrow the issue down to 2 of the 4 new tie rod ends that I just installed. They are loose and, thus, garbage.

Frank just started his own business called Serious Offroad Products. Right now he's working out of his garage but I could see this business going somewhere. He's very well informed about all Jeep models (and many other vehicles as well) and he's got great attention to detail. He had recently built a 1 ton steering setup for a Cherokee (stupid strong) and had the stock system laying in the garage. The tie rod ends felt pretty good so he let me have it so I can swap out those bad ones and send them back. If you need something for your offroad rig or you wanna put a cage in your drop top Mustang at least check him out.

Criterium

After I got done riding, Heather and I decided to go down to the Air Force Academy and watch a criterium. My buddy Dan who lives up in Brighton had come down to do the race and I hadn't seen him in a while. We saw this car on the way to the race. I wasn't sure what to think.

Crits are really fun to watch but this one could have used more racers and more corners. This was just after the start of the 60 minute Pro/1/2 race.

Maybe 4 laps into it, Dan got off in a 3 man break and I really thought it was gonna stick.

That's my buddy Dan with the cream cheez white legs at the front.

The break wasn't meant to be though and things came back together before another 4 man break went up the road. Dan missed that move but he hung in there for 5th place. It was good to see him again and super fun to hang out with his wife and 2 boys while he was sweating.

Recon

For today's ride I wanted to check out a location for an important workout that I'll have to do as soon as I start training. I drove out to Decker's which is not far out of town. I parked at the fly shop right on the river and road north on 67 for 10 miles and then turned around and came back. After I was warmed up I then headed back the other way on 67 towards Woodland Park. After about 5 minutes, the road starts to gradually climb as it winds through a small canyon and parallels a nice creek. This is where I road a 20 minute time trial. My heart stayed between 180 and 183 for the entire time. I didn't think I'd be able to keep it that high. After I was done I road back to the car and headed home. I'll do this workout one more time to determine my heart rate zones. I think it was pretty accurate but next time I'll start to monitor things as soon as I hit 180 instead of when I leave from the car. My average will probably go up a few beats but I want to be as accurate as I can this year.

This is actually heading back to Deckers after getting warmed up. The Platte looked to be in great shape and there was no shortage of people fishing.

More horrible views.

Arizona update

Things are heating up in Arizona. Quite literally. The forecast was calling for temps of 95 for today. I believe this is much hotter than in years past for this event. I'm bummed for Marshal who decided to pull the plug due to the heat. He really enjoys riding in the desert so I know it was a tough decision for him but he knows what that trail is like and it is not something to get into if anything is questionable. Let's get in a fun ride together once you're back here in Woodland.

I was happy to see the Salsa crew of Kurt Refsnider and Joe Meiser out front this morning. Those 2 are absolutely killing it right now. I think Kurt is gonna do amazing things on a bike this year. Behind those two is Lynda Wallenfells and Dave Harris (both of LW Coaching fame). It's reassuring for me to have them helping me prep for this years race and see them both with their shit together in Arizona. Makes me believe that I made a good decision.

Arizona Trail Race

This race started this morning at 9. This is one that I would really like to do but I don't know that I'll ever be able to. Some teachers in my district take off during the year to go places but I have enough trouble calling in sick. I always feel like I owe it to my students to be there unless I'm puking. There are 2 options for this event. You can do the 300 miler or you can do the whole enchilada. That's 750 miles with a 25ish mile hike with a bike on your back. I think this year there are 3 people doing the 750 and one of them is my friend Marshal. My other buddy Kurt is doing the 300 miler. Kurt holds the record for both the 300 and the 750. He's in super bad shape and I'm sure he's just using this as a bit of training for another assault on the Tour Divide in June. You can follow everyone's blue dot here.

I've decided to just spend time riding how I want to until I start officially training. Sometimes I ride hard. Sometimes I ride easy. Sometimes I fish. It's been a few weeks since I looked over my training plan but I thought I'd go for a road ride tonight and run a test to see what my max heart rate was. Right after doing it, and just before the lights were getting ready to go out, I realized that my heart zones are going to be calculated from the results of a 20 minute time trial and NOT from a max test. I realized this as I was dry heaving on the side of the road.