Wild Weekend

After completing two more fourteeners on Thursday and finding a much needed Starbucks in Pueblo, we headed down to La Veta (waaaaaaaay down south in Colorado) for our friend Scott's wedding.

We originally planned to camp in the Hotelement with Turbo, but after finding a half-open cabin that allowed dogs (with our friends Craig and Emily who own their own golden retriever named Turbo), we gladly settled in to this wee little cabin:

The cabin itself was a nice little size, but our closet that housed our twin bed for the weekend was a bit cramped between two adults and a full sized Golden. It was cozy enough though but we won't take our queen sized bed for granted again any time soon!

The cabin had this awesome rock climbing area right behind it. We brought the gear and had a really fun afternoon of setting up a new route. Chris did some great route finding and we weaseled our way up this rock and over a difficult roof to the top. Finding a way down through the trees and bushes was another adventure in itself!

After rock climbing, we threw on some clean clothes and hustled over to the rehearsal BBQ.
The next day, Chris and I kept it pretty low key and hung out on the porch reading books most of the day. Before we knew it, he was all spiffed up in his tux and we were ready to watch a beautiful wedding!
I'd say we clean up pretty well!
The wedding was a lot of fun -- hopefully there will be more pictures to come from a friend's camera (including a few photos that document what happens when you take a few engineers, a fire fighter, a kindergarten teacher, and put them alone with some little silicon balls from the center pieces... Let's just say it was quite amusing...)

On Sunday, we went to see the Great Sand Dunes with Erik and Michelle. Chris had never been to this crazy national park and I hadn't been there since my fifth grade trip -- over 18 years ago). The normally HOT tourist attraction was actually quite pleasant with some heavy cloud cover. We were on the lookout for lightning, but never saw any and instead just enjoyed the cooler weather.
The Great Sand Dunes sit at the foot of the San Juan mountains. The contrast between high peaks and endless miles of sand is stunning. Go there if you've never been.
Disclaimer: Chris is really good at backflips. Surprisingly good. At least on a slope. So he immediately found us a good dune and started hucking backflips off of it. He made it look pretty and easy, just as he does everything else, so I decided to give it a try.

Not so easy.

Not so pretty.
Chris essentially had to toss me over backwards. I completed the flip -- more like a back handspring since I put my hands down somewhat -- but then couldn't stop the rotation and ended up on my back in the sand. The good thing about sand is that it is quite forgiving.
I have a great husband who would even break from his hysterical laughing to come help me up. The sand would just pour out of my shorts!
Chris is an acrobat. Very impressive!
Chris and Erik hiked over to a far away dune and wrote us a message. The two ladies on top of the dune with Michelle and I swooned too!
There are so many great pictures from this trip that I'd love to show. I need to put them in a slideshow and then I'll post it. We had an amazing time at the wedding and at the dunes. Many many laughs were had over the weekend and it was great spending time with friends who we only usually get to see on bike rides (which don't really allow for much conversation!).

Congratulations to Scott and Melissa on a beautiful wedding!

Remember these??

I forgot all about them until a recent trip to Target.

Yes, they are as outstanding as you remember them to be.

Pizzeria Pretzel is my latest obsession.

Yum.

Get some.

You won't regret it.

Summer should never end

I have many excuses for not blogging.

Although none of them really matter, so I won't go into it.

Instead, here's a bit of what has happened lately...

*I picked up Chris from Antelope Wells, NM shortly into his 19th day of riding the Divide on July 1st. The road he had to finish on was really boring -- even in a car -- I can't even imagine how he did it on a very spun out singlespeed. He ended up finishing the race in 19 days and 21 minutes, setting a new singlespeed course record. I could not be more proud of him.

Having him gone for that long was really hard. I had a lot of things on my intended 'to-do list' that never got anywhere near touched. One might think that having hubby gone for nearly three weeks and no job to keep me busy would open up a lot of time. But, as Chris says, Divide racers are high maintenance -- even in a self-supported race. Any time he'd get anywhere near a town that might possibly have a phone, I would wait like a teenager next to the phone waiting for it to ring. And yes, a few times I picked it up just to make sure it was working and yes, a few times I gave sales calls a few choice words before rudely hanging up. Luckily my friends and family were unbelievably patient with my mood swings -- happy as can be if I just talked to Chris recently, crabby and stressed if I hadn't. But, in the end, it was all 100% completely worth it. What an amazing accomplishment. I think we're both still in shock. The news even came to our house and did a story!

*After bringing Chris home, we essentially ate, slept, and enjoyed each other's company for a while. The hardest part of having a husband home freshly off 19 days of living off candy and gas station food is not falling into his same eating habits. He would eat every hour or two -- usually full meals -- and then snack on anything he could find. He dropped nearly 10 pounds racing the divide, while I gained a few eating junk while he was gone. The napping, however, was good. Really, really good. I love naps. It was fun to bring him to the dark side, even if it was just for a week.

*I went to Eldorado Canyon for the first time to go rock climbing. It was a lot of fun. Different than most stuff I've done, but fun!

*I had my first mountain bike race of the season last weekend -- and my first race as an EXPERT. Yeah, doesn't seem right to me either. It was eh. I felt okay overall, but ended up helping a hurt teammate an hour in and subsequently giving up the race and turning the rest into a chill ride. I wasn't really prepared for 3.5 hours out on the bike though (food/water wise) and ended up puking a few times back at the car from a supposed mega-bonk. That was not awesome. The Winter Park series isn't appealing to me this year for some reason, but I expect to do another race or two to see if I get into it. I am really looking forward to the Chequamegon 40 in September in Wisconsin with some friends, so I should get myself in good enough shape so I don't just keel over and die in that one!

*We hosted a really fun party at the house to celebrate Chris's race. Nearly 30 friends were able to make it. It was fun getting together friends from all sorts of aspects of life in one place. My dad's cousin made an UNBELIEVABLE cake for Chris and Kurt. If you are in the Denver area and need a wedding/other celebration cake (or cookies or pastries or cupcakes apparently), find The Cakehouse. So tasty and beautiful to boot!

*Chris and I had an excellent overnight camping trip to hike Mount Yale this week. Chris has a great write-up about it, complete with lots of pictures! We hope to do another one early this week, and perhaps a twofer early the following week. The wildflowers are out of this world on the 14ers right now because of all of the rain that we've had. We want to squeeze in as many peaks as we can before they remember that this is not normally a rainy state!

*Last night Chris and I went to a great dinner at The Fort. We promised his mom we'd go to a special celebration dinner for the Divide race and we both finally felt up to it last night. Previously, I'm sure one of us would've fallen asleep mid-dinner (ahem... Chris). We've always wanted to go to The Fort in Morrison and it was pretty darn tasty. Thanks for the dinner TMom!!

*Tonight Chris is at a bachelor party, so as the weather finally cooled, I headed out for a little mountain bike ride. I tried the two nearest neighborhood stand-bys and both were closed! The dogpark was closed because of fleas that had been found to have the plague! Who knew a "The Plague" even existed anymore? I thought the closure probably mostly applied to the dogs, but I didn't really want to take the chance that I'd cross the closed sign only to be attacked by rabid plague ridden fleas. So I went over to Standley Lake and tried there, but the trail was closed there also -- not sure why. I would normally have just taken the mountain bike on one of our good 'ol road bike routes since I was already out, but my rear tire was quickly losing air and I really didn't want to mess with a flat. So, I pedaled carefully home, willing to admit when the world doesn't want me out on my bike. Instead, I ate some tasty food and ice cream and I can blog while watching Shrek. Not a terrible backup plan!

My summer break is quickly dwindling down. I have a school training on Tuesday, which seems to mark the beginning of the end. It makes me sad, this has truly be a great summer so far. I'm not ready to go back to the stress and routine of work and grad school (two classes in the fall!) as I feel I have just started to recover from last year. It'll be fun once it gets started, but I'm certainly going to enjoy every second I have left of not working or doing homework. Maybe that'll involve blogging once in a while!

Me, Myself, and I

Picture from Buffalo Creek ride with Dave Nice, Ed, Spike, and Chris

I've seriously slacked on the blog since school got out. My intention was to start up blogging again once I wasn't so stressed and crabby about school. Turns out, it took a few weeks of decompression to get there (much longer than any previous year of teaching).

My first week off involved sleep, more sleep, and even more sleep. I would sleep in until 11:00 am, eat breakfast, read for an hour, then take a two hour nap, only to go to sleep for the night around 9:00 pm. I was really hoping that wouldn't last the entire summer, causing me to sleep away my precious time off, and luckily a week of that seemed to do the trick. Chris, in an attempt to taper before the Divide, was remarkably understanding and even cashed on a few naps with me.

Last Monday, the 8th, Chris, Jill from Juneau, and I left Denver with the car packed up and pointed toward Montana. We had a nice day of driving and ended up staying for the night in rockin' Great Falls, Montana (which holds some unfavorable memories for me). The next day, we zoomed across the border and were in Banff, Alberta before we knew it. We dropped Jill off where she was staying and Chris and I checked into the same apartment hotel that we stayed in last year. We stocked up on some groceries for the week and settled in for a nice vacation. Over the week in Banff, we visited some unbelievably beautiful places such as Lake Louise:

The Crowfoot Glacier:

and the hot springs (no pictures because our Colorado whiteness in bathing suits could only harm the camera).

We even managed to spot some elk, a porcupine, and a moose-butt. That was exciting!
We also got to have an outstanding dinner on Thursday night, at The Maple Leaf with Joel. Joel lives near Boulder, and despite living so close, it apparently takes us to all be up in Canada to get together! It was fun catching up with him and eating some really good steak!

Before we knew it, Friday was upon us and Chris and I were driving to the YMCA in Banff for the start of Tour Divide 2009! Chris was calm, cool, and collected and ready to head out for his big adventure.

After I kissed him off at the trailhead, I found myself on this seemingly annual trek of driving 18.5 hours from Banff to Denver by myself. This year was a bit easier to drive away from the race start, although not much. As I got going though, I fell into a groove and enjoyed the drive (despite ANOTHER night's stay in Great Falls).

Since I've been home, I've been trying to resist the urge to obsessively refresh the Tour Divide Leaderboard. My ability to track Chris's progress via the internet is both a blessing and a curse. He certainly would not be "encouraged" to do such crazy adventures without my ability to check in on him in the wild west. On the other hand, I find myself getting sucked into the Leaderboard, refreshing it even when I know there's nothing new to see. I did pretty well on Sunday at getting out and riding my bike, thinking I may have actually matured past the obsessive SPOT-tracking. Monday, however, found me unmotivated to do anything, huddled on the couch, depressed and lonely and SPOT-refreshing like a mad woman. Luckily for me, Chris got the opportunity to call, and his enthusiasm and excitement about the race got me off my butt. I eventually visited a friend's new baby and had a great dinner with some out-of-town aunts.

Today I was determined to not get sucked into the computer and I'm happy to say that it's 3:30 and I've only loaded up the Leaderboard four or five times. I managed to get myself out of bed in a reasonable time, make an awesome breakfast, then set out for a great ride at Marshal Mesa with my most reliable training partners: me, myself, and I. I went out expecting to ride some easy but big miles, but ended up only riding about 12. In that 12, however, I sessioned the one technical section of the trail for nearly an hour. I could get the lower part, get the top part, but never seem to link them together in one solid run. I hope to go back at least a few more times before Chris gets home and try to perfect it. Then, when he gets home, I can show off my new mad skillz! Just as I was cruising back to the car, Chris called from Helena! He sounded good and was grabbing some food before heading out. I was happy to get to talk to him!

Buffalo Creek with Mr. Nice

When I got home, I showered, packed up a picnic lunch, and took Turbo out to the park for a bally-playing-picnic. It was really nice. Finally Colorado seems to have found its sun today, while the last month has looked a bit like Seattle. The sun does wonderful things for my mood at least!

If you want to follow Chris along his Divide journey, check here, here, or here.

Now? Apple pie, lemonade, Cash Cab, and maybe even a nap!!

P.S -- ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY NEW BIKE!!!!!!!

Adios, Blooby...

Hola, FRANKENDOO!!!

Back in October 2006, Chris bought me my very first "new to me" mountain bike.  We had searched and searched for a WSD Fuel and found one at Veloswap that seemed perfect.  Going from a hand-me-down Cannondale from my brother to my very own girl bike was awesome.  I learned to really "ride" on that bike.  I bashed into stuff, dropped it on the ground, and slowly learned to let go of the brakes on downhills.  I raced my first cross country races, my first downhill race, rode the Kokopelli unsupported in three days, and rode the White Rim for the first time in 1.5 days (which was, in the end, its farewell ride).  The bike rode countless times in Colorado, Utah, and Missouri.  It really was a great bike.  However, over time, I came to realize that it was slightly too small.  I also came to realize that it was slightly too heavy.  When introduced to the world of 29ers, I also realized that its wheels were just too small.  

After posting it up for sale this winter, then again this spring, Blooby was finally sold to a new owner a few weeks ago.  By the time it was sold, it hardly looked like my bike anymore, with its long stem, skinny handlebars, aero-bunny, and blue SLR stripped off.  I didn't meet its new owner, and I'm glad I don't know what the new rider looks like.  I know, I know, it's a bike.  But still.  It was MY bike.  

As a good replacement, Chris had been looking at several different 29er hardtail options. Today we went to pick up a "surprise" and look what I got!! 

Oooh lah lah!!!!

I had no idea he had ordered me a frame (or even narrowed down the options), so it was an awesome surprise.  Chris, knowing me quite well, added to the excitement and fun of getting a new bike by eliminating the necessity of me actually choosing which bike to get.  I hate decisions.  I especially hate BIG decisions.  

I absolutely love the frame he chose... a VooDoo Aizan in Silver.  Our friend Jeny has one in gold and she seems to love it!  

Currently, Chris is stripping the headset out of my first Cannondale, my new Reba from the singlespeed, the brakes from the Monocog, my handlebars from my Fuel pile, the derailleur from Chris's old Fuel, the SLR from my road bike, and an old seatpost from something so old we can't remember :) (oh yeah, it will also be borrowing wheels from the singlespeed and getting a "new" wheel made from the parts from Chris's JabberWocky blown wheel and parts from a Monocog wheel!)  It has some good love in its parts, which to me, makes it even better.  Eventually some of these parts will be upgraded, but I like knowing it is a bit of a Frankenstein. 

Can't wait to take Frankendoo out on its maiden voyage!  

Contrast

I suck at blogging lately.

School is just far too crazy and stressful to get anything else done when I'm home.

Ever.

Even fun things.

In the meantime, here is an interesting contrast between last Saturday and this past Saturday.

Saturday night in Utah:

Saturday night in Alton, Illinois:

From Saturday to Saturday we spent the week in five different states, including working here in Colorado for three of the seven days.  We drove nearly 2500 miles.  

No wonder I am sleepy and cranky.

One day my White Rim write-up will get finished...

(EDIT:  okay, I'm not crazy, my new White Rim post posted after this one for some reason...)

White Rim in a Day

(So, I just posted that "one day" I'd finish my White Rim report.  Turns out, if you leave me alone with the computer, hungry, smelling brats soaking in beer waiting for the hubby to return, I can actually get a lot done!)

I officially survived (and enjoyed!) my first White Rim in a Day.

While Chris has ridden the White Rim around a dozen times in the last few years, as a couple the White Rim has been a bit of an illusive and tricky place.  

The White Rim has found us stranded on a snowy cliff, swerving around a giant tan cow at 70 mph, and pedaling around in a day and a half with knee pain that was out of this world.  When Chris suggested that we try it in a day this month, our first planned trip was thwarted by high winds and rain.  Last weekend we finally made it there.  Safely.  With nice weather.

On Saturday, Chris, Brett, Erik, Jeremy, and I headed out in the wee morning hours for my first white rim in a day attempt.  It was also Jeremy's first time, as well as Brett's first time on a single speed.  

As we shivered in the morning cold, Chris and I decided to head out a few minutes early while the other guys finished getting ready.  We cruised down the dirt road, enjoying riding this road in the morning instead of at the end of the loop as we did last time.  

The sunrise was beautiful, as it always is in the desert.
Yes, the knee-warmer/tall wool sock combo is a super sexy one.  Desert mornings are cold, and that's all I had, okay?  Lay off.  


After making our way down the (far too long) dirt road, we hit the pavement for another solid section of easy, but monotonous, riding.  With the wind at our backs and the legs fresh and happy, this part was almost giggle-worthy.  I remembered, in 08, just churning down this "mostly downhill" road, crying to Chris every time it would pitch upwards.  
After turning off the pavement, we cruised down the Shaffer Road, enjoying the cool breeze and I, in particular, was really enjoying my new Reba!  At the bottom, we regrouped to shed more layers.



The many many miles between Shaffer and Murphy's seem to blur in my mind.  

These miles included me taking a nap in the parking area for Musselman's Arch (apparently while Chris did a kickass handstand on the arch):
a regroup at the lookout where I broke down crying last year -- this year feeling fresh and optimistic: and the icky hot hike up Murphy's Hogback: At the top of Murphy's, we found an itsy bit of shade to eat lunch beneath. 
 

It was freaking hot.  No, not just hot.  Hot hot.  

The rest of the miles that passed between lunch and dinner were mostly consumed with this thought:  It's hot.  

At one point I even hallucinated that a bunch of white rocks were the river.  I got really excited. Then realized I was wrong.  They were just rocks.  Here's where the iPod came in handy.  Chris was lucky enough to get second-hand iPod from me rockin' out-loud.  Good thing the boys were ahead of us at this point -- we do make a good duet, but we prefer to stay undiscovered.

Did I mention that it was hot?  

At one point we stopped and Jeremy pulled out his little thermometer.  The "low 80s" forecast had reached 90 degrees.  With no shade, and dwindling water supplies.

Nice.

I didn't freak out though.  I must pat myself on the back for that one.

Hiking up Hardscrabble (yes, referred to in my '08 post as "not-fun-or-easy-scrabble"), was as un-fun as I remember it being.  As Erik, Chris, and Brett zoomed up the hill, Jeremy and I soaked up every inch of shade that we could find.  

I knew that Hardscrabble to the end was not too far, and the rolling top was not as painful and irritating as it was last time.  Some encouragement and pushing from Erik was helpful in keeping me moving forward.  I stopped at some point and asked some campers for a water refill.  Jeremy had been out for many miles and was, undoubtedly, not feeling great because of it.  At first I resisted asking, but then I realized that torturing myself further was simply stupid. I was down to a half of a bottle and knew I'd need more to make it up the final climb.  The campers looked like they were having a great time and were happy to spare a bit of water.

Eventually we got back down to the river and made it to our Canyonlands sign.  I'm pretty sure I was much perkier at this sign last year... granted last year this sign was a few short miles into our second day and this year it was 96ish miles into our day.

2008

2009

At the climb up out of the canyon to the car, Chris and I parted ways.  He had suffered in a HUGE gear the whole way with my slow butt, and it was his time to blast the climb and leave me to suffer through on my own.  I watched him start to climb, intended to get a picture of him, and then I didn't even see him again.  He must've flown.

I, on the other hand, pedaled in my easiest gear (which, granted, was no granny) now and then, and walked the majority.  My front wheel had a really annoying squeal, so I drown it out with my iPod.  As I rocked out in my own little world, I looked around and admired the sunset and my new accomplishment.  

Doing the White Rim in a day is a hard challenge, no matter who you are.  Sure, Chris can hammer it out in less than 8 hours, while it took me something like 14, but either way, you've got to pedal yourself in and out of a pretty remote feeling canyon.

When I got to the top, the boys were waiting, Chris was juice and dinner in hand.   

Before I knew it, I was contentedly passed out in the tent.

My favorite picture of the entire trip?

Thanks for the trip boys.