on riding bikes and having fun

something about riding these last couple of months has started a pattern: i cannot fall to sleep at night. as in: i'm am up. i am manic. i am am wide-awake-spinning. i am crazy. this is good because riding is creating more energy than it is taking. thank goodnes. truth be told: i am ecstatic about this! i go out, ride and ride, and come home and want to ride more --- feel like i can ride more -- it's in my body and in my soul... ! this makes me happy. finally, feeling like my old self once again.

YEHAWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

so, i'm a slacker in posting, right? right. sorry. AND, MARNI, i owe you a post and some answers. I promise I'll do it this week. I really will. I swear ... you should come ride w/ me in Evergreen one night this week -- can you fit that into your week of Saturdays?

ok.

Thursday, 7/31/2008:
michelle and i rode like madwomen on one of the hottest days yet this year. it took some mutual motivational feeds, but dayum -- we not only got her done, but we did it in style, too ;-) The climb up pick 'n sledge and grubstake is no longer the techy-goat-fix it used to be. now, it's a sandy beach. ugh!!!!!! oh-well. the the shade was supremely pleasant on the north side, and the chat along the way was divine. we finished that, dropped sleux and rode to the top of enchanted. dropped that, sprinkled with a few conversations and a couple of 'sessions' (yes, hillary, i stopped to try something over and over again -- (i never do this) ...) and there was much hootin' and hollern' and noise makin'. once back onto the main-line of apex, 4 men sitting around the stream proclaimed: "we heard you two all the way down -- what, we thought there were coyotes up there?" it was a screamin' good time, that is for certain.

Friday was date night. ;-)

Saturday, 8/2/2008:
did you know it was possible to sleep in until 10am? yeah, likely a first for me ;-) well worth it!

this was the bottom of the first tricky section -- the first 'key' that you have to nail in order to gain access to the real chunk of the challenge.

saturdays ride was short, sweet, and super steep and fun ;-)!!!! i dragged ed up glitter, up tippy, and back down gold. he hates me now ;-) no really... he waited for me to session (yes, hillary, yes cyn... SESSION -- mind you, it was an UP thing!!!) the ONE chunky-tech challenge at the beginning of tippy that i have yet to clear. i threw myself up it about 7 times. ed took pix, go check his blog sometime soon. i almost cleaned it 2 times --- the second time my rear wheel was literally right over the last obstacle and my foot twisted out and got caught up in my spinn!! WTF!!!! still. i cleaned everything up until that point, and it was a good day in my billy-goat world ;-) i felt good about the effort. i felt great about having the desire to try -- to work something til' it's not only done, but done well. sigh. ahhhhhh..... cleaned 99.9% of that ... next time!!

sunday, 8/3/2008:
KIM and CYN and I headed up for a Searlee Sunday!!! Searle Pass that is, home of Wild Flowers and Elevation Gain. ;-) Pix below were of the Searlee ride. I felt lucky to be invited on their ride today, as these two have been rippin' it up all over Colorado this summer. Thanks Kim and Cyn! I had a blast!!!



we started mid-morning-late-ish. while it reached 103 degrees in boulder, it likely didn't get above 70 up where we were. add to that the thunderstorms, and i was actually riding in a wool-jersey most of the day! the ride up was delightful and spectacular. the trail seemed in good shape (despite the horsey sections), and the flowers were literally out of this world! cyn and kim kept the tempo pleasant and full of laughter and smiles! we had fun cruisin' up the big hill -- and i must say that the Colorado Trail up this hill seemed well designed to me -- the switch backs were sweeping and lovely, the pitch was even more enjoyable that imagined... i enjoyed the up quite a lot.... UNTIL: until i bashed my knee up into my right shifter and literally broke the damn thing in half. the rest of the ride was really rather funny shifting-wise ... but it all worked out well.

we hit the summit in a fit of rain and deep thunder -- and it was SO satisfying! we hauled our clumsy butts back down into tree-line and ate.

the rest of the trip down was a playful, sheer delight. Thanks again, kim and cyn --- honored to ride w/ you two. can we make it happen more often now?!?!?! ;-)

is that enough of a write up?

jj