Twas Another Nice Weekend

Hit the bike path north on Saturday for an easy 30 miler from McHenry to the Hebron Trail. The weather was too good not to get outside and ride through the farm country. On Sunday I decided to stay off the bike and do some trail running so I went over to Veterans Acres and ran / hiked the trails. Felt great until today, when all the running muscles decided to let me know there still there.

I should of put up the Xmas lights while it was so nice. Instead I'll be doing that in a snow storm.

My Weekend

After my arrival to Littleton I was taken over to play at Red Rocks. Here I am on stage performing in front of all my fans. Nick and Kelly managed to walk down all of the steps, Nick does it better than I do. Shortly after taking this photo I fell off the front of the stage.

This must be an awesome place to take in a concert. There were people working out here running the steps!

Then it was off to Rocky Mountain National Park where Bob and I hiked the trails around Bear Lake. There was plenty of snow on the ground and it was still coming down but thanks to the snowshoers the trails were packed down perfect. Here I am on the nice trail that circled the lake.

At 10,000 + feet of altitude we were both looking for air. We took a side trail up, and after half a mile of climbing are hearts were pounding.

On the way back to the town of Estes Park we came across this guy on the side of the road.

And then we kept seeing more Elk all along the road and valley.

Now its back to reality.

Fall Riding

Went on a nice ride up the McHenry County path today where you can ride for miles and not see another person. Drifting off deep into thought as I found that perfect pedalling rhythm I solved all of the worlds problems, but once I returned to the car I couldn't remember the solutions.

Kept going onto the Hebron trail where the farmers were out in force filling up these large rolling bins with corn.

Season Recap

Well I looked back at the goals that I set for the 2009 race season and I failed to meet any of them.

1) Still no podiums for me this year.

2) Did not finish Chequamegon in under 3 hours.

3) Never came close to loosing the weight I needed to loose.

But looking back there were some good races:

1) Rhinelander was just perfect, cool, sunny, a fun course, and Sue even came along.

2) The WORS Cup. By far the toughest race for me, as it was Africa hot, humid, and lots of climbing. But I pulled off my best finish (4th).

3) Chequamegon, as Mike and I rode together for most of the 40 miles.

4) And Treadfest where I finally started to learn to like our home course advantage.

The worst part of the race season was July. I had a miserable cold which hit me 4th of July weekend and seemed to linger all month, and then I broke the frame on my race bike.

Best equipment change came from that broken frame as I got my new Superfly. What a difference it is, almost like when I went from a cheap bike to my first race bike.

Now as Macarthur said "age wrinkles the body, but quitting wrinkles the soul" I shall return.

Back to the Gym

More regular visits to the gym where skinny guys are lifting and chubby guys are on the treadmill. (Guess where I am)

Last Race of 09

The trails at Rock Cut State Park are where I did my very first mountain bike race. I can't quite remember what year it was, but I remember alot about that race and how Mike and I were totally demoralized by our finishes. Every time I have gone back to do this event the trails have been totally different and this year was no exception. The course was the best one yet but I showed up with the wrong bike for the task (single speed) and either found myself grinding my knees to a pulp on the climbs, or spun out on the long flats.

Here's the link to the results and some photos.
http://www.rctrailcrew.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=5

The team was out in force and Ray taking second place in the 30 mile event was probably the top performer, however Ryan, Dan, Chris, and Lynn all had good placings in there events. I thought I did better as I passed a couple of the familiar 50+ WORS racers on lap 1 and thought how many old guys could there be in this small race. Turns out those were the only 50+ guys I finished ahead of in the 20 mile race and my vision of finishing first went up in smoke and I settled for 5th place.

Thats a wrap for 2009 bike races. Now its time to rebuild and refresh.

Sheboygen

Today at Sheboygen I rolled across in fifth place for my 55 - 59 age group. Not a bad result and I felt good for all 3 of the laps, in fact I think it had to be my best overall effort since Rhinelander. But Warren dropped the hammer on us again and stood atop the podium, he has had a great year, winning on both the road and the trails.