Man, I'm glad this week is over... 16 hours at work on Saturday to put in a Lawson upgrade. A couple hours on Sunday to fix a small issue... Thought it was going good until another team brought us down all day Monday. Got that fixed and we were plagued with problems of collateral damage all week. Today I was asked why I hadn't had a meltdown yet, I think I'm too fried and exhausted to get worked up.
Had a sweet sweet ride up Colorado Trail 1776 to Lenny's Rest on Wednesday though after just missing
Brett,
Chris, and
Marni doing Chimnapex, upon getting out of work late again. I debated hitting the Roxborough loop as I had a light along, but decided against it. Even with the short route it was dark by the time I got back to the car, so it was probably a good decision. For such a normally busy trail I saw about 3-4 people all night, which was stellar. It always blows my mind how much flatter I notice that trail is every time I ride it, not to say it gets any easier because I just get fatter. Did see fresh bear crap on the way down that wasn't there on the way up. My downhill skills have definitely gone to crap this year not racing, I need to return to the dirt a good deal more before
Chequamegon so I don't feel like a sissy Mary going downhill.
Speaking of Cheq, rode with Brett last night, man that boy is fast... I mentioned I was a little fried from riding harder Wednesday and that we could ride as long as it was an easy ride. Most of the time I sat in his draft hanging on, I wasn't breathing hard but my legs felt flat and lifeless. That didn't stop us from doing probably way too many sprints and attacks though, which were way more fun than they should have been. :) On one of the non-sprints I just queried as to how fast we were going, "around 21 or 22" was the response. So much for riding easy, but that's what whey protein is for and I had a tremendous blueberry-acai-flax-whey-orange juice smoothie when I got home. We did see
Nelson Vales in the res, that boy is huge and still incredibly fit!
Paid for last night's fun riding to work today though... But a funny thing happened as I was just done climbing Peakview and turning on to Havana... Feeling cooked, out of water, just wanting to get home and have a beer, a kid on a BMX pops out of nowhere, red as a tomato, sweat pouring off him and says to me, "how do you ride so fast?'... I laughed as I struggled to turn the pedals, "gears man gears"... I let up and rode with him for about 3 blocks just talking away until he turned off to go play at his school.
Reminds me of when I went to help Craig and Carol load up a trailer with some hay bales for their horses a few weeks ago. The guy's wife mentioned Craig would need to bring some help as the guy is 80+ and wouldn't be able to help. Pulled up, got the gloves on, walked over, and the 80+ yr. old cowboy said, "You look like a good HUSKY fella"... We both laughed and he clarified, "good and strong to throw bales is what I meant"... Oh man, the horror the horror, I remember having Wrangler HUSKY jeans as a kid...
