Muffin top...

I got this one before Dejay....

Beaver Fever(maybe) and the Firecracker

While I have been having a great time riding and exploring Colorado, I haven’t been writing about it. So here is a little report of the Firecracker 50, but first I need to tell you a little about the preride. Sunday, A little bit of a late start but we got going about the same time the race starts. Steve, Jake and I rolled up the first climb at a pretty mellow pace, I did a few surges to see how the altitude felt and it wasn’t too bad. There were a ton of people out riding the course and we took our time and chatted with a few of them. The course was a lot of fire road climbing the steep loose rocky fall line descents. Not the best designed course but what do expect for a USA cycling National Championship event. At the bottom of the first descent I realized I had a slow leak in my rear tire so we stopped again to fix it. More climbing and fire roads and decided I should adjust the angle of my stem so we took a few minutes to do that while we caught our breath at the top of the course. After that we managed to stop only 3 or 4 more times to talk, wait or tighten the centerloc adapter on Jakes rear rotor which came completely off. So with all those stops it took us a total of 2 hours and 53 minutes. Considering the pace we took I though I would be able to pull off a first lap of about 2:00 to 2:05.
The week before the race I did all my priming the legs rides and I had the bike dialed. Unfortunately there were a few things I couldn’t control, I had horrible allergies which was interfering with the little sleep that I was getting and got some kind of intestinal tract issue which to put it politely, left me dehydrated. Nun the less I was still motivated.

Race day came and the Firecracker went off with a neutral start following a guy on a bike caring a flag or something similar… after a couple hundred yards the dude went down hard and took out a few riders behind him. He ended up being a pretty strong rider and came sprinting past us to get to the point where the neutral start ended and it was on. The pace was high from the start and I soon realized that it wasn’t my day, and soon after that a bunch of people I have beaten very easily this year were passing me after making up the gap from the different categories. Some made up the 7-8 minute head-start I had with in the first half hour. I wanted to have some fun so I made it through the first lap and called it a day.

So I guess my Firecracker 50 was a dud.

At least USA cycling is fair to all it’s members and I won’t have to worry about the unfair advantage of the altitude for a third year in a row at the Marathon National Championships, as I’m sure they will move the venue some where else ; )

Eating right on the road.

Dejay, Juda(the dog) and I are on the road by ourselves, just the boys as Kristina and Ian have flown the coop ahead of us. They left yesterday for some RnR in NYC with my Sister family and my parents. I know what your thinking, but your wrong!!!

Now that it is just the boys we are eating crap and staying up half the night. Well, that’s part true. We are driving halfway through the night but we are eating great!!! While we are a little shy on the green vegetables we are loading up on the meat and potatoes, and feeling great.

An update from the road....

Truly from the road. My first time using the computer while moving in the car.

A quick conversation between Dejay and Fuzzy:

Dejay: "I think my shoulder hair is getting crazy, I need to pluck it out"

Fuzzy: " Your really worried about the hair on you shoulders?"

Can't go a week without a little Flight of the Conchords

Incase you haven't seen the TV show Flight of the Conchords, you really need to check it out...

Here is a clip from one of their live performances, the TV show is even better.

Loving the riding!

Still in Colorado and doing some great rides, both trails and road. I could definitely find myself living here in the future.  Day before yesterday Jake, Steve and I prerode the course for the Firecracker 50, the Marathon National Championships, it is a pretty good one lots of climbing and some fast, loose and rocky descents. Overall I think it is a great course for me, however the elevation will be a little bit of an issue, as most of the course is over 10,000'. 

No pictures from the ride but it is a beautiful area, there is still snow along the course, they actually plowed part of the course 4 days ago, and across the valley.