Since moving to Colorado in 2003, as a cyclist and on again off again racer, climbing Mt Evans from Idaho Springs has been on my “bucket list.” The window to ride this route is small, late June through August, and no matter what day or the weather on the Front Range, it can be dicey. It has alluded me or I have alluded it via procrastination, excuses and prioritization. Last Saturday I made last minute decision to change my current plans and knock this one off the list.

The route is 28 miles, all up hill with two brief exceptions with ~6,750ft of elevation gain from 7,550ft in Idaho Springs to 14,264 at the top of Mt Evans, the highest paved road in North America. There is an annual race along this route called the Bob Cook Memorial / Mt Evans Hill Climb. Tom Danielson holds the record at 1:41:20!

I didn’t know how I would feel at elevations greater than 12,000ft so I road the 1st 3/4 of the route conservatively, but I felt surprisingly good at the top, finishing with a time of 3:14. Though the temperatures in Denver were in the 90Fs, the summit temperature was hovering around 50F and as I turned to head back down, the time being just before noon, the clouds were steadily starting to build. Aside from several very tight banked switch backs that you could carry a lot of speed through, the downhill was actually quite mundane and very choppy at times.

The views from the top are breathtaking. I can’t wait to do it again… hopefully under 3hrs next time.

Here are a few snapshots I took along the way with my phone:

I hooked up the old VCR to the computer today and started going through some old tapes. This clip is from around 1991 and was part of a video that Marc and I created. Man those glasses were huuuugh!

Good luck to Chris and Dave as they depart at noon local time from Banff for the Great Divide Race! Dave is trying to be the first to finish on a fixed gear mountain bike and Chris is shooting to break the single speed record (22 days and 3hrs). Now most times when it comes to events like this I figure if I was focused and could dedicate the time to prepare, I’d have a shot. Not so much with the GDR. 2,490 miles and over 200,000 ft of climbing all self supported… this sort of thing ain’t my bag, baby.

You can follow Chris’ progress here and the coolest is you can track his near-live location!

Anyone still looking for a Father’s day gift, may I suggest a donation and an e-card from St Jude Children’s Research Hospital?

God speed Chris and Dave…

Getting settled in the new house. I got out for a lunch time ride today. This is a view from the new trail at the Ryolite Park across from my house; Pikes Peak in the background. Beautiful day…

Twenty years ago, carving the bowl at the abandoned old Joppatown Skatepark (aka Edgewood) off Rt 40 in Maryland. Left over from the 1970′s, it was demolished less than a year later. Amazing memories at this place…

Somehow I though the winter race in Leadville was going to be my last race in the snow this year… afraid not. Tonight was Cherry Creek Time Trial #2. Attendance was lite and I welcomed the rock star parking as we enjoyed temperatures in the mid 30′s, a strong wind and persistent snow. I wish I had pictures to share. Maybe some will surface from Erik or Shawn. My time was a few seconds slower than last week and both were short of stellar. I can’t wait until we have some decent weather.

Last Saturday I did my first team time trial with Chris, Shawn and Erik at Haystack TT near boulder. I suffered like a dog and was dragged around the course by Chris and Erik. Shawn meanwhile was busy trying to stick the old dropped chain to cart wheel maneuver.

Approaching the line… ouch

Congrats to Marc V for his win at Fairhill last weekend! And good luck to Chris who just headed down to AZ for the Arizona Trail 300 “race”. If all goes well, Chris will be the first single speed (rigid no less) finisher of the AZT.

I’d love to see stats on what percentage of all blog posts are an apology for not posting often enough. I have to assume the number is lower than I may expect since all the apologizing slackers (myself included), well, don’t post often enough. Anyway, that’s my passive aggressive apology.

I’ve been incredibly busy and have since transitioned back into consulting, taking a full time position with Avalon Consulting. I’m excited about my new role at Avalon, and the impact I’ll have there. I’ve recently had the opportunity to do some more work with Jira and set up a new Subversion environment. I should have some stuff to share there soon as well as pick back up on Grails.

On the cycling front, the first Cherry Creek time trial is Wednesday. I’m excited to see where my fitness is compared to last year at the same time. I’m about 13 lbs lighter if that’s any indication…

Hopefully more soon.

Saturday night marked my return to mountain bike racing or rather mountain biking period, as it was my first time back on a mountain bike since the crash. Bill, Dave, Chris, Marni and I headed up to Ski Cooper, just outside of Leadville for the Tennessee Pass Night Jam. It was soooo much fun. Temperatures were in the mid teens for the 7PM start and Chris loaned me an awesome light that I named “White Heat”.

The new team had a good showing with Chris winning overall, Dave finishing 3rd in Single Speed and I landed a 2nd place in Single Speed!

Here are a few pictures from the night, when my camera was warm enough to operate that is.

The Nordic Center

Getting Ready

Marni at the Finish

Bill, Chris and I “cooling” down

The Food

I got out on the bike again yesterday for the second time since my accident; this time for 1hr on the road. I have a doctor’s appointment on 12/6 where hopefully I get the green light to start training again. I’m feeling much better but one false move at this point could change that…

More posts this week, I promise!

Wow.

Sunday I was back on the bike for the first time since that faithful day of August 25th. My 40 minute road spin proved two things. First, I’m as out as shape as ever. Second, I’m skating on thin ice. At least I stayed up on two wheels though, right?

I met Lee Lefever back in June at the Online Community Unconference and I’ve been following his “In Plain English” video shorts since. I’m not exactly Johnny on the spot here but better late then never! Check out the new Common Craft video on Zombies:

You can find more Common Craft Videos here.

Around the same time I met Lee, Marc began blogging about Zombies as well. Coincidence? A Google search on zombies and end times eschatology turns up nothing significant… for now.

Finally, in the living vicariously through a friend area, congratulations to Katie for winning the World Cup event in Pinjacker, Netherlands this weekend! “The 29 year-old totally dominated the women’s race in Pinjacker, Netherlands, where local Dutch riders had hoped to continue their domination… ”