64° F up at 8400' today!

Here's Maricel as a midi on a picture postcard day in November!

Awesome kids. After I took Maricel to her soccer game, I got in one of my favorite climbing loops up here. Speaking of her soccer, her team is soooo studly and the score was a little lopsided, that her coach in order to not run up the score, told her girls they had to kick the goal shots with their left foot. Maricel had three, non-offsides breakaways but couldn't close the deal because the opposing goalie could defend her left-foot kicks. My other daughter, supposedly scored multiple goals too (I'll take her word for it!), during her match and rematch due to the blizzard. As a poppa, I'm so proud of my chilluns!

The weather is nutty. One week it's a blizzard and the following week it's in the sixties. I'll take whatever I can take. Yesterday, I off-roaded with my teammates for a night ride at Green Mountain. We figured it's one of the quickest places to dry out but boy there was some pretty stout, muddy places out there. Still, it was an hour of decent riding at night. I was last on the choo-choo of teammates climbing up the steep fireroad, breathing like steam engine (and going just as slow I'm sure). I love my lighting system...

Today though was outstanding. Blue skies and a slight, pesky south wind but really I couldn't complain. Okay I can, here's the stuff that just made it a little tricky: the shady areas on the road when I'm blasting a downhill made for some wet, icy spots; and the sand from CDOT putting some traction on once melted snow. If you hit it as if you were hitting a railroad crossing in the rain, usually you roll right over it. The switchbacks kept me honest. I did a mental inventory on the gears I used to climb this stuff in and I was pretty much in my granny and couldn't punch through the rollers but it is the off-season so I just settled back to an intensity just below tempo on the climbs. One guy passed me on the first climb and that's cool but when they look back it's game on sucka. I hunkered down in a gear I could sustain but it was burning my lungs just enough for me to weather the short, steep climb. He had about a 20-car length on me at the start of the descent but usually my throttle's wide-open on the downhills. It took about 3 minutes for me to pass him and I could tell he was doing some heavy breaking in the icy spots. Plus I passed him in my preying mantis tuck (knees hugging the top tube, feet at the three and nine o'clock position, and hands on the tops of the handlebars with my chin resting just behind the stem) saying non-verbally, "Take that you fraidy cat of descending you and I'm not even pedaling." Curses to you testosterone!

Well the pictures do my ride justice. It was pretty difficult because I'm pretty much in the off-season meaning I don't ride regularly. In fact, it's been two months since I've ridden with any intensity. Running's not so bad I guess; riding the rollers absolutely suck!
In order, highgrade...

...pleasant park...

...more pleasant park...

...city view (we're getting higher kids)...

...altimeter check (2590.8 meters for my metric buds)...

...city view, finale...

My biggest goal in the off-season is to not balloon up in weight and I was pleased with myself that when I was flying the team colors I didn't feel like a stuffed sausage.

To finish up a lovely day, I did manly things before the sun went down. My perception is that of contributing to the familia. I changed my sweet Melissa's oil in her 4Runner with Mobile1 synthetic, washed her car, and changed out the kitty litter boxes (I hate that). As I'm making dinner--a manly dinner of quiche may I add--I'm drinking a lovely Spaten Optimator and have the LPs queued up on the record player. Listening to the Stray Cat's Built for Speed. Next up, David Gilmour's first solo LP-about face. Children, life is pretty sweet right now...