two weeks

I just got back last night from a mini family reunion outside of Aberdeen, SD. The get-together was great, if short, but the drive was painful. Because of flooding on the Missouri River in Iowa and Missouri, I-29 was closed in two different places! Which meant two detours, several miles out of the way, adding about an hour and a half to a nine hour drive. Brutal.

But, in two weeks I'll be in the middle of another CRMBT. I'm looking forward to cooler weather, seeing old friends, and enjoying some fantastic scenery. I'm also excited that some of the routes we'll ride this year will be featured a couple weeks later as part of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

 We'll ride over Cottonwood Pass, climbing the unpaved side before descending into Buena Vista. The next day we'll head north and west and climb over Independence Pass, down into Aspen, and on the bike path to Glenwood Springs.

 Before those high-altitude days we'll ride through the beautiful Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, and the end of the week will feature McClure Pass and the Grand Mesa.

 I'm aiming for several 20-30 mile rides over the next 10 days, and maybe a longer ride on the weekend. I've also begun drinking more water to help acclimate to the higher altitude. All that's left is to organize and pack, and finalize my itinerary. I'm hoping to ride Hoosier Pass on Friday before heading to Grand Junction. And as long as we'll be so close to the Colorado National Monument at our starting point, several folks are planning to ride Rim Rock Drive and Monument Road on Saturday morning before checking in with the tour.

I hope to have several pictures and some good stories to share by the time I return home. Stay tuned.

keep turning the pedals

I was out the door by 6:00am today. I stopped back for a snack at 8:30. When I got home for good at 2:00pm, this is what my computer read:

I wanted to get a long ride in. I didn't plan for a century, but the weather was cool for the first few hours, and not too miserable after that. I reached a convenience store where I refilled water and ate some ice cream, and figured out that if I headed straight home I would have 76 miles in, or if I put in 12 miles south to Louisburg and back, it would get me to 100 miles. While I had the time, the weather was cooperating, and I felt pretty good, I thought I would go for it. I was sure glad to see home when it was over, but I was also glad to show that I'm not so far off being ready for Colorado next month.

Being on the road so early let me see this:

I saw a balloon floating through the cool morning  air.

I took this picture to show that not all parts of Kansas are flat.

 And I took some pictures of  livestock I passed along the way, but I didn't get one of the donkey that brayed at me so loudly that I was convinced the farmer had an air-horn to blow at passing cyclists.

Notice the shy one hiding behind the tail in the last shot.

ride the rockies recap

My buddy Clay, who has done several Colorado tours, including several CRMBT rides, completed the Ride The Rockies bike tour recently. He's blogging about the tour and sharing some great pictures of some amazing scenery. If you'd like to see what Ride The Rockies is all about, check out Clay's Cyling Blog. He's new to the world of blogging so I'm sure he would like to see some comments on his recap. Enjoy!

where's the weather?

My ride was cut short today due to rain, thunder and the threat of lightning. I almost used what my buddy Paul calls the SRS (spousal retrieval system). But I ducked under the overhang of an office building and waited for the rain to let up a little. I made it home on wet roads, but avoided any further heavy rain.

I suffered a flat, but as luck would have it, I was right in front of my neighbor's house. I pulled a small piece of glass out of the tire which left a nice little hole in a Michelin Krylion Carbon road tire. I was thinking I should get a new set before my Colorado trip anyway.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July, and I hope you get to enjoy some time outside.

jurassic ride

I was out the door by 6:30 this morning to get some riding in while the temperatures were still in the 70's. That didn't last long, but I managed 51 miles and made it home to catch the last half hour of live Tour de France coverage. I didn't see anything amazing today, but I saw lots of people on lots of different kinds of bikes. And I stopped to take some pictures of these "rusted dinosaurs".