29 May, 2008

What a week...


...and it ain't over yet! memorial day was kind of a bust weather-wise but we were still able to start a bonfire in our front yard and roast marshmallows to make some oh so delicious s'mores.

before all this nasty weather settled, billy, kev, alec & i went mountain biking at white ranch. billy, was on a downhill tear with his 5" up front and 5" in the rear. it's the mojo's mojo.
after the weather became compliant-wednesday-i went for a slammin' ride at centennial cone with billy and kevin (aka the homey trinity). first time we did it we rode one lap in two hours; when we rode it this time: 2.5 h doing two laps. yup. holy shmokes we were on a mission. we rode tempo on the first lap and we were a well-oiled machine riding pretty tight single-file formation (duh) on the narrow singletrack. one lap down and we just reversed it because there was a section of track closed due to elk migration. on the way back, kevin was possessed. he took off and i was just hanging onto his lead. i don't think billy and i could've gone any faster. it was unreal. there were portions where the trail was so narrow and we were gunning it in the big ring that if you took a smidge of bad line you were sunk-or as billy said, "f*&^ed!" to quote billy, "dude, the planets were aligned and we're not ever getting a clean downhill like that in a long time." the ehfed part of the deal was that most of the tight singletrack's on a high ridge; so, at these speeds, unnecessary launching is not favorable for quadrapedal living (and i don't want to untimely donate my organs either). and believe me, we were definitely at launch speeds 90% of the time on the return trip. there was absolutely no uphill traffic. it was as if the whole park was our playground. usually we try and be good bike representatives: yielding the uphill/pedestrian right-of-way but not this time and we weren't stopping (we wouldda though). thankfully there was no traffic. finally the last uphill grunt and it put everything back into perspective. 18 miles in 2.5h. yessir.
thursday, i rode with alec who was running super late and i had to be at my daughter's field day back in conifer so i rode for only an hour. bummer. my day was salvaged after hanging out with my daughter at her school's field day, volunteering to help her class. after i picked 'em up we went to baskin robbins and they ordered a double scooped, bubble gum ice cream. i had them hold a second bowl so that they could spit out their gum (i don't want them to swallow gum right?). before sweet melissa came home we did some artwork on the driveway welcoming her (it says hello mom!).

friday's my daughters' last day o'school. it was a nice conclusion after a busy school year under picture perfect skies. my daughters' were hanging with their friends and saying goodbye to their teachers. personally, i think i actually loved my elementary school teachers as opposed to my high school ones. here's a pic...

before their end-of-year picnic i rode a hilly, two hour ride here in conifer. i have to ride a state highway part of the time but it's quite safe actually. was a wee bit off my time of exactly two hours-did it 3 minutes longer. that's okay though. i used to be a big no ipod policy kind of guy when i ride, but when it's me, my bike, and music, there's something really comforting about it. steady state climbing with the ipod in shuffle mode is really transcendental. billy bragg, los lobos, elvis costello & the imposters, the dodos, thom yorke, and the crystal method, to name a few bands, were making me dance on the pedals (speedplay zeroes). the name of this road's called high grade road (which turns into pleasant park road). it's really beautiful (it's kinda chilly too up here 'round 9k feet). i need to take a picture one day of this road for y'all. it looks like one of the alpine passes a cyclist might encounter in the TdF (that's why i live in colorado). here's a video capturing what i cycle on my 2 or so hour loop where i live. it (my ride on this video) pretty much starts after left on high grade road (minus their center-line violations). the first part's (deer trail) what i do after the saturday crap-on-your-neighbor group ride. u.s. 285's the state highway i ride from my house to get to deer trail/high grade/pleasant park.

saturday's mason's b-day. i'ma jam some cake in me tum-tum as penance for a 5h ride on sunday kids. did i mention? kev, alec, billy, and i are on summer break suckahs!!

i believe this is how we'll spend most of our summer: on the hammock, chillin' with the physiological goal of having the heart rate equal to or less than 60 bpm (maricel's on the cell phone w/grandma).
i still don't believe my girls are going into the third and first grades! time is a'flying y'all...third grade...

2 comments:

Groover said...

That's a very early end of school term. We used to get 2 months break back when I went to school and it was usually July/August. Start of school term was always the 1st Sept.

That's a very sweet idea to write a welcome message in the driveway. Sure mum was very happy when she got home.

Enjoy your break and happy riding!

...it's me!... said...

same here. nowadays it's june/july. i actually report back to work the 31st of july! you said mum . your british vernacular's showing :) i just got my amateur license today in the mail. guess i gotta race now...