1/2 iron man minus 6?

This Sunday Karyn participated in a 1/2 iron man rehearsal. (Minuz 6) The route was set up to have two laps on the bike and two laps on the run.

Karyn only did 1 lap on the run, I don't blame her it was quite hot yesterday.

I'll get her to post some info on her experience, but in the mean time, I rode from Boulder Res up to Jamestown, Ward, and back. I totaled 52 miles. This time I decided to post the elevation profile instead of the google earth.

I got my but handed back to me after pulling out of Jamestown. That got quite steep. You can see it at mile 20. A few miles out, I hit gravel road. (I should do a little more planning next time... I ended up in some washboard at one point where I thought the bike was falling apart. I stopped regrouped and picked up someone's water bottle, and continued on.

I logged almost 5000 vertical feet. The last bump at the end was the ride over Old Stage.

Do you recognize this guy?

Do you recognize this guy?



The "Tour de Cure" brought in Greg Lemond. We met him had him sign a tire, and ate some appetizers with him.

Conquer Vail Pass

Ahh.. You think you know how this story is going to end don't you!?!?!!!

yeah, a few weeks ago, we headed up Vail Pass from the East. It took 2 tries, and almost 2 days (after we regrouped for the second round).

This time.... From the West----!!!!

We dropped the bikes from the car at the Minturn exit on I-70. Who's been there?

They have done a nice job of resurfacing the trail from there to Vail, We started out crossing a nice bridge toward Vail. The trail runs through town, up the main road in town, right past two very big new hotels, up the creek behind the library, and eventually pops out on the frontage road east Vail.

From there we followed the road for several miles and back onto trail to the Summit of the Pass. I arrived first. As you might guess since I only have 12 gears, and can't ride slower than 8 miles per hour, Karyn has 27 I think, and she can ride up hills at 3.5 miles an hour.

After a snack, we headed back to the car, stopping for some doggy poop bags at the park. As we arrived, we were just over the 40 mile mark, Karyn wanted 60, so we headed down valley.

We ended up all the way out in Edwards. Then back to the car. We both rode a couple extra miles to make up the 60, and Success!

Nothing to worry about for the Copper Triangle...

July 19 already?

Ooops. somehow we missed blogging last weekend.

...


Karyn is going to have to post about Clovis, NM.

I was home. I did some work on the landscaping. You know fix all the things the landscapers screwed up. Didn't take much more than 1.5 tons of dirt and 14 hours of my time...

Sunday I got to visit Carter on his first birthday! I've got a couple pix:

I had a great time, as usual, I met some very interesting people!

As you know we signed up for the Copper triangle... http://www.coppertriangle.com... Take a look!

So we're off in training for this ride. 78 miles 6000 vertical feet. Most of this on the west side of Vail pass. A guy I met after some prodding gave me the lowdown. I'm not just talking play by plan, I'm talking meter by meter....

As I'm getting psyched for the ride, the afternoon rainstorm arrives... then the hail... after a respectable wait time. I headed out for the pass.

All I did was catch up to the rain, and chasing the clock as my lovely wife was arriving home, I ditched the ride.

Ahhh, Not defeated...

getting ready for the copper triangle

This weekend, we got in a long ride.

The west side of vail pass. The hard part of the copper triangle.

We started at the Minturn exit of I-70, and headed up. This is about 3500 feet and only 20 miles from the summit.

When we got back to the car, we decided to extend the ride. we ended up riding to Eagle, and got a total round trip of 60 miles.

What a ride!

As we are tuning ourselves up for the tour de cure, and Karyn is moving along after to the Branson MO 1/2 iron man with WILD. We took a ride this weekend.

We were guessing at a route, targeting 50-55 miles. And of course we wanted to get in a little mountain climb because it's only 4 until the Copper Triangle.

After the failed trip on Sunday, we were all geared up with tubes and patch kits, and tires full of air!

We headed out of keystone on the road to Summit Cove. We followed the bike path up (they have opened a new section) to the top of Swan Mt. A quick cruise down passing a crew of other riders training... A regroup at the bottom then past Frisco, Copper, and up Vail pass.

I need more gears! I'm riding an old 12 speed from the 80s. You know it has it's quirks... Down tube shifters, and I have to tighten the headset three times on a ride like this. But it's hanging in there.

The ride back to Keystone was pretty fun, almost all down hill until Dillon... But we made it back (with a quick ride up to the base of the Swan Mt Road for some extra miles). The sum total was 52 miles. Not bad. Next week we should be riding 65.

The PLAN????

The plan today was sleep in after a late night arrival of a friend of Tucker's from Halifax (midnight) and then up to the mountains to ride up to the top of Vail Pass in preparation for 1/2 Ironman races, Tour de Cure and Copper Triangle.

After 2 chain problems and 2 blown tires - before we even got out onto the trail - we gave up.

And went to Tucker's parent's condo to cook the gift our Canadian friend brought us in the middle of the night - fresh, live lobster!!! Tonight Becky is going to try lobster for the first time ever! So excited to get to share with her and Russ!!!

Something's getting hot in here!!!!

So, these Browns REALLY like our hot sauce... This is our 'normal' hot sauce collection at dinner time.... the 6-pack holder is FULL!

Then something new snuck in..... cause....


apparently people notice. One of the gals I work with got me some hot sauce while she was on vacation. I think the plastic wrap is for my protection! (but the skull keychain isn't a good sign!)



Next, the backyard has a new addition.....


Look closer.......