ah yeauh, raise yo hand if you have spring break right now (dats right! i've been listening to too much rap music, in fact, it's the second kanye west cd late registration, very impressive but kinda on the long side)! my spring break started with at least six inches of snow friday and into saturday. on the way down from evergreen high school, it snowed so much during maricel's gymnastic practice that i took it for granted that it was another weak, spring snow. i was surprised by how much slush accumulated and i was on a downhill tear--in 4wd even!-looking like a 16 year-old driving in snow for the first time! i hit the brakes on the down, and my lame truck tires weren't even grabbing. i had to friction stop on the curb to get my lame-ass to stop, finally getting all perpendicular at the stop sign at the end of the high school. how embarrassing. but after, on our ride home, we saw half a dozen accidents. i felt pretty lucky considering all i hit was curb and not other cars or was sideways in the ditch on colorado highway 73. anyhoo, this is what i woke up to this morning. gorgeous, but not exactly what you want to see before a road ride.
sunday was high in the mid-60s and i rode with christopher, leaving from his place. some good news: his girlfriend kendra (from australia) is coming for a visit in june and he's going to reciprocate come december. he has about a year left to get his master's in m.e. as a treat to himself, upon graduation, he wants an enduro bimmer moto to do a worldwide trek. sounds cool. hope it happens for him. he's a good boy that christopher.
we invited kenny to complete our triumvirate but he was too busy getting his volvo track ready. we rode out to coors. on the way back, stopping in morrison at the break place, cruising by kenny's old house and doing a lap at wash park for some visual therapy. chris yelled at some poseurs for going way too fast on a pretty crowded loop inside wash park. took a pee in the nastiest porta potty. it was like inhaling that chinese, hot mustard wasabe thang, except it was freaking human excrement. ahhhh the olfactory treat it was...
it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride, just at three hours. it truly is an amazing feeling not worrying about having inclement gear on hand on rides. i didn't wear knee warmers but packed the arm warmers. used it near golden when the foothill winds picked up. didn't have to use my fender either. the only standing water was near an overpass on the bike trail near kenny's old joint so that we didn't have to stop at the intersection. riding is mentally relaxing. just shooting the shizzle with christopher and keeping the chain ensconced in the small ring is truly a good way to collect base miles. a mild head wind and sun, sun, sun. can't wait to start piling in the miles for the rest of the week. we were flying the vitamin cottage colors we were. friday, though, i'm helping out maricel's first grade class. should be pretty cool. called my friend alec to see if he was up to a mountain bike ride. think we're going to shoot for tuesday, later in the day
Day 1 Monday: My plan was to go chilly-chill up lookout mountain after riding around bear creek state park and the golf course just to chew up some ride time. While crossing the intersection to go up the "pillar" part of the lookout mountain hillclimb course some hillbilly in his dually gunned his truck while i passed in front of him. i told him manually he was number one, and he yelled a profanity at me, that's when i slapped my right buttcheek and reiterated to him he's still number one. the winds were picking up and it got cold once i started climbing. there was absolutely no one out there, in fact i passed a physically challenged rider doing the handcrank bike. gave her the tiger woods clenched fist cycling sign for solidarity's sake. did i say no one was out there? equation: incoming poseur dude in spandex + plus me (in spandex too, 'cept i look better) = testosterone-fest (i.e. race!) is there a recurring theme here? i beat him to the "post" but as hez-billy would say, "dude, i shot my load." holeee mackerul, mr bonks possessed me quicker than marilyn can rat out a colleague. yeah it was downhill but when i was climbing the road in front of heritage park to get back to my truck, i was dying in the granny gear. the sun was out but i needed a parka, that's how wacked my homeostasis became. i just wanted to lay in the fetal position in the shoulder (i was in front of the lafarge corporation at this point) and sleep. my eyes were so heavy and legs even heavier. it sucked. when i got back i ate my powerbar stash in the glove compartment i save for worse case winter scenarios. it didn't do a thing. i had to buy a mountain dew big gulp just so i could've registered a glycemic index. the trade-off was i now had sugar, but it lowered my body temp. c'mon homeostasis....
Day 2 Tuesday: after alec stood us up, billy and i met at white ranch. this was my first white ranch ride of the year. billy showed me a new trail called whiffletree or whippletree trail. there was absolutely nowhere for my fitness to hide on this trail. the climb was long but not as steep as mount falcon and there were some stiff technical portions on this muthuh. i haven't breathed so hard since i did the deaddog crit in wyoming. on this trail, i felt so inadequate and billy became possessed by hans rey clearing all but the most gnarliest rock abutments. my philosophy of "there's no shame in walking" was the rule today unfortunately and not the exception. once we got back on our 'regular' trail my energy parcel was halfway spent. needless to say it made the ride an exceptionally high intensity one worth noting (here's the note to self, "arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"). billy's fitness is much higher as compared to last year at this time but billy's so humble he just defers any compliment referring to his fitness. i like riding with billy. he has quite a colorful history that doesn't mirror what i think and know and relate of him just by association (professional and homey-esque episodes). he's probably one of the most unassuming, intelligent, and likable fellows i've met. in fact, since i moved to colorado i feel really lucky to have friends like him and kenny and jay (my beeyatch from tx). their intelligence matched by their sense of humor, wit, and loyalty to the inner circle of homies is really quite lethal; and, when we go on rides or skiing or just performing general acts of tomfoolery it's like the icing on the cake of humanity. before the ride i changed out my disc brake pads and replaced my bald-assed rear tire with a sweet, rear-specific kenda. didn't hep me none though, today, walking like i was doing the firecracker fiddee (50, fifty) brah...
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