Interesting Commute

I had to make an appearance at a customers today. The issue was that Meg was already driving out that way to go to her office but not at a time that was convenient for me. So the plan developed into her driving and me riding with some lunch and car sharing mixed in.

It's weird how cliches are so... cliche, such as 'when it rain's it pours'. I was all set to ride out to meet Meg for lunch prior to my meeting. But it seems like when someone puts an event on your calendar its like blood in the water for all the other sharks. So I booked a 1 o'clock, had to stop mid ride to attend a short meeting at 11 and pushed people off until I got home at 3. Aye carumba, it's hard to fit in a ride when I'm so busy.

Route: Interview Commute 1/26/12
Activity: Mountain Bike
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-MountainCycle-20120126-1042.kml
Started: Jan 26, 2012 10:42:37 AM
Ride Time: 1:50:17
Stopped Time: 3:12:17
Distance: 21.17 miles
Average Speed: 11.52 mph
Fastest Speed: 45.73 mph
http://www.cyclemeter.com

It snowed yesterday?

It seems lame to ride the same circle 3 times a week but thats what's dry these days and mountain biking beats road biking every time! It was 29 with 80% relative humidity and snow yesterday. Today? Nice and dry!

Route: Dirty Bismark 1/25/12
Activity: Mountain Bike
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-MountainCycle-20120125-1428.kml
Started: Jan 25, 2012 2:28:23 PM
Ride Time: 1:45:29
Stopped Time: 3:49
Distance: 20.87 miles
Average Speed: 11.87 mph
Fastest Speed: 48.87 mph (what? no way!)
Ascent: 913 feet
Descent: 731 feet
http://www.cyclemeter.com

Awesome to be getting such quality time on my mountain bike.

High (and dry) Plains.

Nice and Dry

It was a balmy 45 this afternoon, no wind to speak of. The weather forecast says snow tomorrow so I better get out and take advantage of the dry conditions while I can:

Route: Dirty Bismark 1/23/12
Activity: Mountain Bike
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-MountainCycle-20120123-1406.kml
Started: Jan 23, 2012 2:06:40 PM
Ride Time: 1:51:59
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 20.54 miles
Average Speed: 11.00 mph
Fastest Speed: 35.70 mph
Ascent: 802 feet
Descent: 795 feet
http://www.cyclemeter.com

More Snowboarding (barely)

You'd think 2 days in a row would be a boon. But not when it's 20 degrees with 40mph winds. We did 2 runs and went home.

Multi Sport Adventures

The day started with a bike ride!

Route: Dirty Bismark 1/21
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120121-0853.kml
Started: Jan 21, 2012 8:53:08 AM
Ride Time: 1:51:00
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 20.02 miles
Average Speed: 10.82 mph
Fastest Speed: 34.16 mph
Ascent: 981 feet
Descent: 1020 feet
Calories: 1081
http://www.cyclemeter.com

From there it was off to Eldora!

Um... one minor problem, Megan forgot her coat (it was easy to forget it was 60 when we left Boulder). No problem, her shell is in the back and she could borrow my vest for extra insulation if she needed it. I'll just get my ski coat. Um... two minor problems. The only gear of mine that made it in the car was my ski's and boots? No gloves, no pants, no coat, no pass? What the???

The short version is Megan borrowed a jacket from the Runk's. Megan and Luke rode with the Runk's and Jack and I hung out in the lodge.

They were having fun and Jack and I were bored so they all piled in the Runk's van for the ride down.

Rob's Mormon family!

Holiday? Sort of...

School holiday, and having missed the sign up for Y camp, equals what are we gonna do? I didn't have the day off so I signed Luke up for a snowboard lesson and Jack had another ski lesson. It seems everyone had a good time, Luke learned to ride switch from his favorite snowboard instructor and Jack is making major progress. I see riding blue chairs in Steamboat for spring break, no problem!

That's the post lesson hot chocolate 'toast'.

And me? I got some turns in!

The Canyon's of Boulder County

I have only ridden up Left Hand Canyon one time, a few years ago, on a road bike. It was brutal, something like 19 miles of climbing up to Ward. Lots of traffic on a steep, winding road. Not an experience I cherished. I have started up Sunshine Canyon several times and routinely I ride to the end of the pavement. It's a nice, steep climb, and a 2 hour trip out and back. Four Mile Canyon involves riding up Boulder Canyon part way to get to Four Mile Canyon road. The bike path isn't maintained all the way to Four Mile Canyon Drive so it can be spotty in the winter time (like last week it was horrible when I did the Poorman loop).

I finally closed the Four Mile to Sunshine Canyon loop through Gold Hill:

Route: Four Mile To Sunshine 1/14/12
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120114-1128.kml
Started: Jan 14, 2012 11:28:24 AM
Ride Time: 2:56:37
Stopped Time: 5:40
Distance: 25.42 miles
Average Speed: 8.64 mph
Fastest Speed: 49.35 mph
http://www.cyclemeter.com

It looks like there was a GPS issue with my phone. I'm sure it struggled since an iPhone depends on a cell signal to help with GPS accuracy. There has to be more than 3 miles missing from that data. I have a Garmin 205. Maybe I need to dig it out and charge it up for riding up canyons without cell coverage.

The weather was warm. Everything around me said 'It's March!' Except my leg's reminded me it's still January.

While I was riding up Four Mile Canyon the only comparison I could come up with was this brutal hill in the Bailey Hundo. It's about the same length, in the 8 mile range, has similar elevation, roughly 2800 feet of climbing, but in the Hundo it comes at mile 80 (D'oh!). I was trying to think of a ride combo that would come close to approximating that agony and I think I found a route. Super Walker (ride up Flagstaff to Walker Ranch and do a lap or 2) back down to Four Mile Canyon up and through Gold Hill and Down Sunshine Canyon home. That should be in the 60+ mile range with 6000+ feet of climbing. Maybe my leg's will be in shape by May when Walker Ranch will be rideable again. Stay tuned!

Group Ski Lessons

Turns out a group lesson on a Thursday is much more like a private lesson... Well actually it turns out it was a private lesson since Jack was the only student.

It was cold! And windy! Jack is a trooper! You can tell in the above photo by the lack of exposed skin that it was really cold. How cold?

Thats right. The high was 14 around noon.

Thats why I was happy to spend some quality time in my Eldora office. I did get out of the van to do some skiing but lets say I was not troubled by the call from the project manager to help solve a problem after I dropped Jack off.

We all had a good day, I got my work done, I got some good runs in, and Jack had to be cut off wanting to do one more run when the day was done. That's how it's supposed to work... Always leave them wanting more.

Snowbike

Yesterday I commented that I wished it would dry out or get cold. I guess I got 1/2 my wish. The high temperature today was just after midnight at about 30F. I don't know when the snow started but at 7, when we were all up this morning, it started really coming down. We met Megan at the South Side Walnut Cafe after her workout for a 'late start' breakfast. While we were in the Cafe more than an inch of snow piled up on our bikes.

It was big fluffy flakes of the best Colorado powder and it was starting to accumulate.

I checked the snow report to see that Eldora was reporting 5 inches overnight and Still snowing! Too bad Jack and I already had plans for a ski day Thursday.

No skiing? I guess I'll go mountain biking:

Route: Snowbike 1/11/12
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120111-1412.kml
Started: Jan 11, 2012 2:12:15 PM
Ride Time: 1:36:51
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 13.78 miles
Average Speed: 8.54 mph
Fastest Speed: 21.81 mph
Ascent: 544 feet
Descent: 413 feet
http://www.cyclemeter.com

It was fun and very challenging. I crashed a couple of times but it was like wiping out on a snowboard or ski's, all fluffy and cold.

It was quiet and still. It was really nice. It is not that often you can go to a place like the Marshall Mesa Trailhead and be all alone on the trail. Most of the way there weren't any footprints (other than the cows and coyotes).

--
Posted By dave to Boulder on the fly at 1/11/2012 08:30:00 PM

Recovery ride

An hour of mellow spinning. It was another nice day:

Route: Recovery Ride 1/10
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120110-1440.kml
Started: Jan 10, 2012 2:40:50 PM
Ride Time: 57:28
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 14.13 miles
Average Speed: 14.76 mph
Fastest Speed: 38.70 mph
http://www.cyclemeter.com

So an hour of spinning is a pretty good way to stretch your legs. Especially after a day of muddy, snowy, crappy condition, climbing like yesterday. It was all dry pavement today which made it possible to hear every creak and squeak from the riding in the snow, mud, and wet the last couple of rides. Now I think all of my bikes need mechanical attention.

And lets not forget the additional 45 minutes to an hour of daily commuting, errand running, kid fetching etc. We're getting some time in the saddle for sure.

Hopefully it will either freeze or dry out so I can have more bike options than Xtracycle and road bike.

A Reason to Ride

I got away this afternoon for a ride:

Route: Poormans Loop 1/9/12
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120109-1355.kml
Started: Jan 9, 2012 1:55:10 PM
Ride Time: 1:49:21
Stopped Time: 1:39
Distance: 17.44 miles
Average Speed: 9.57 mph
Fastest Speed: 40.06 mph
http://www.cyclemeter.com

It's still winter! Stay away from the Boulder Creek Path up the canyon from the "End of City Maintenance" sign unless you're on foot, wearing really warm foot wear, and have some sort of track spikes for the really frozen parts.

Now we all know riding bikes is fun, but why on a day when everything is still melting?

We love French Fries! And, I got a Paula Deen 4qt Stovetop Deep Fryer for Christmas... So, there is bound to be lots of bike riding, I suppose.

It snowed!

The weather report was for snow. Up slope storm! Well... we got a trace in Boulder but Eldora was reporting 6 inches. All the Runk's and all the Elph's today. Luke and Meg had their chance on Challenge in the a.m. while Jack and I rode EZ.

That is a better picture of Jack.

And that's a better picture of me! Next time I'll work on getting us into the same frame :)

And for sure Meg and Luke were having fun the whole time (but Luke isn't really showing it is he?)!

Apres ski was a bike ride to the Runk's for dinner and the Bronco's playoff victory over the Steelers on the Tivo. It was a pretty good day!

Road Riding

From my iPhone GPS:

Route: Sunshine Canyon To The End Of The Pavement
Activity: Cycle
Google Maps URL:
http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/76b1/9a3d/4f08/d9bb/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120107-1228.kml
Started: Jan 7, 2012 12:28:21 PM
Ride Time: 1:54:06
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 20.51 miles
Average Speed: 10.79 mph
Fastest Speed: 31.51 mph
Ascent: 9180 feet
Descent: 9291 feet
http://www.cyclemeter.com

9000 feet of climbing? How about 2000 feet of climbing, thats more likely. I guess I need to dig my altimeter out to be more accurate with elevation gained.

That picture was intended to show the snow flakes but... Maybe I need a better camera than my iPhone camera?

Ski School

When we were skiing at Loveland for Meg's birthday we saw a lot of ski school groups. Jack and I discussed it at length and he decided it would be fun to go to ski school. Friday is Jack's day off from Homestar so I signed him up for a full day lesson.

It was a nice day, a little breezy but a high near 40. That was a relief. I was nervous about the little boy's full day lesson because a full day for us is typically about 2 hours of riding EZ. He really liked his instructor, Ryan, and had a good time with the one other student in his class. They never got off the Sun kid Magic Carpet but he didn't even care. He said he had 5 cups of hot chocolate and chicken nuggets and pizza for lunch. I told Ryan we'd request him next week for a green lesson so Jack can learn to ride a lift without daddy.

I worked for a couple hours in the morning and again for a couple of hours in the afternoon. It was a semi productive work day and I did a dozen runs on my snowboard. I was all set to pay for wireless access for the day but my cell phone doesn't work in the lodge (WTF?). So I worked in the car on the iPad and it was all good. Next time I'll take the van so I can have a more spacious 'office'.

The little boy was tuckered out from his full day of skiing. He had a great time. I was persuaded into buying a 6 pack of lessons... so we'll be there next Friday.

January? The fish think so...

Wow... Calm... Sunny... 64!

It was an awesome day to get out. A little bike riding and some fly fishing was in order. The water was cold and there is still a lot of ice which made getting in and out of the water interesting.

The fish must be hungry? I guess they didn't like what I had to offer. Good thing I got an early start this month, it might be tough to get a fish in January! But any day you can wade in the creek and fish is better than being snowed in.

Done with IFOX!

Rode out to the IFOX office to drop off a laptop. It was a beautiful day. I set out on my mountain bike but quickly returned to swap it for my 'road bike'. It was 60 and sunny and unusually calm. You can see my route here. I hit some dirt and dealt with a little mud and a little snow. Full fenders and a layer of sticky clay is no good.

Vacations over :(

Back to work, it was super windy once again but it calmed down by the end of the day so I picked the boys up on the Xtracycle.

Happy Birthday Megan!

We headed for Loveland for Meg's birthday. Her good friend Laura came over at 8a.m.ish and we piled in the Fit and headed for Summit County.

It was gorgeous! Sunny! Warm! Perfect day!

When we got home I picked up dinner at the Tandoori grill on the Xtracycle.

Happy New Year!

We rode our bikes to the Youngren's for New Year's\Max's birthday dinner. 

I'm going to catch a fish every month of 2012!

I'm going to ride a dozen century+ rides in 2012!

I'm going to have at least one 'car free' month!

I'm going to ride a bike at least 200 days this year!

New Year's Eve

We had planned on a family ski day. The weather forecast was not so good, more wind and blowing snow with temps in the teens. We checked the ski report and the Eldora website indicated both backside lifts were on weather hold. Not a good sign. We checked again and about 10:30 all the lifts were open. Usually we won't go unless all the lifts are running. Today that wasn't enough. Meg and Jack opted to stay home.

We were sort of committed. It was Max's birthday!

But no one would have blamed us for skipping it, it was so cold and sooooo windy!