Racing, training, and general musing

Finding my Limit. Yup, It was back there...

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:20:40 -0600

I’m not exactly comfortable saying this, but I’ve been having a pretty good year, so far. I’ve been very happy with my results in nearly very race. So why mess with a good thing, right? Well, coach kind a wanted to experiment a little with this years Boulder 70.3. The idea was if you’re always trying to push to your limits, sometimes you need to go over them just to be sure where they are.

In the past, I’ve felt like I’ve never been able to bike hard enough to damage my run. Well, we’ve been working on my cycling quite a bit this year and I feel like I’ve made some significant improvements. So, it was time to see if I could do some damage...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! If the picture above were taken about four hours later you’d see a giant mushroom cloud just left of center, ‘cause thats precisely where I blew up. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming either. I just didn’t feel real great all week and it carried over to race morning. Neither my warmup jog nor swim felt good at all. It might have been a bit of a hangover from racing in Omaha the weekend prior. Or I might have been just dreading the long HOT run course that Boulder always brings.

Regardless, things got off to a fine start. I was pretty happy with my swim. It didn’t seem like there were more than 5-10 guys out of the water ahead of me. Deceiving again, because the split our age group into two waves again. Either way I didn’t get passed by many swimmers from the wave behind. And it was only one color, when I get passed by two or three colored caps from behind me, things definitely aren’t going my way.

Transition was simple and the first lap of the bike was off to an easy start. My instructions were to take it easy through the first aid station and then build to a pretty hard effort. The first lap was cloudy and still cool, but definitely crowded. I didn’t mention that I was in the 3rd to last wave and the last three waves consisted of all the men 25-39. Needless to say there was a steady stream of people to pass/navigate through.

It didn’t prove too difficult except for the downhill on St. Vrain road. I got mixed up with 3 or 4 pros on their second lap. The downhill kind of neutralized their abundance of wattage and favored those of us with an abundance of poundage. It was frustrating for everyone involved. I sat up more than a few times just to try stay out of their way. But I don’t like braking on simple descents like this one. Apparently, I should have because the official had a brief conversation with me about following ‘the rules’. He never specified which rule and I thought there were about 17 in play at the time. Anyway, it was a very calm exchange, he understood the difficulties of the situation and I appreciate his discretion. Shortly thereafter, we turned a corner, the course flattened out and they all rode off into the sunrise.

The rest of the ride was really pretty boring. I started to feel like I’d pushed too hard with about 4 miles to go. I wasn’t even thinking about the plan at this point, just trying to ignore the cloud of doubt gathering in my brain.

I normally look forward to the run, but as we were pulling into T2 it was officially getting hot. As soon as I dismounted and attempted to run my bike to my rack I knew I was in trouble. I came out of T2 very near John Lloyd, another 35-39er that I know. He’s a really strong triathlete, but I’ve been able to out run him in the past. I couldn’t shake him on the first lap and with about a mile to go he dropped me like a bad habit. John ended up finishing 4th in our AG, well done!

I knew the death march was starting. I’ve never really considered dropping out of a race, but I certainly did then. Thats the terrible thing about running right by the finish line for that second loop, ugh. My downward spiral deepened and just before mile ten I started to get a side stitch to beat all side stiches. It was the dreaded walk jog from there on in. Strangely enough there weren’t many people blazing by me, until the last mile or so.

All in all, it was a miserable experience. Finishing a race that way just leaves such a painful taste in your mouth. I was convinced my time would be pushing five hours. When I finally got up the courage to check the results, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Just less than a minute slower than two years ago. The swim was nearly the same. My bike was 14 minutes faster! and my run was 15 minutes slower. My pace slowed from 7:05 per mile on the first lap to just below 9:00 per mile on the second lap. OUCH!!

It was a pretty painful lesson to learn, but I’m pretty sure I learned a thing or two. It definitely emphasized several things about Ironman training that I needed to refocus on. Just in time too! There are lots of long days in the near future.

Home Alone

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 19:53:26 -0600

If you read my Loveland race report you got an idea of how fun it is to part of the tri community around here and how much I appreciate and enjoy it. Well, Omaha Triathlon was pretty much the bizzaro Loveland. I knew my wife and not a single other competitor, weird! It was like being a stranger in your own home town. I started thinking about it and I haven’t had that feeling in a LONG time! Since my first two tris and I even recruited my friend Kutch for the second one. It was weird not to recognize faces on the out and back run. Maybe it was a little easier to focus, but it just didn’t quite feel right without at least some of the ol’ crew. I’ll certainly be looking forward to that aspect of my next few races.

So, a month or so before Omaha my coach, Steve, encouraged me to really go after this one, as in try to actually win. Don’t get me wrong, I always give it my all and do the best I can. This was more about mentally preparing to be in the situation of racing to win. Be prepared for some racing ‘tactics’, ditch the ‘time trial’ mentality of racing the clock and actually race the people around you, but most of all just being prepared to turn myself inside out if the race required it. Sometimes it takes me a while to get my mind around things like this, so I’m glad we talked about it in advance.

First I set out to learn about the competition. Unfortunately, the RD decided not to publish a roster. So much for that idea… So about a week before the race they published the wave starts. Six waves, elites, men under 40, men 40 and over, all women, relays, aqua bike. Wait, elite wave? Did I know there was an elite category? Crap, if I think I can win, I should be racing with these guys right? Not just racing the clock. That’s the whole idea right? Well, I’ve already emailed the RD about five questions and gotten brief, if not curt, replies. I figured this would be a little too much to ask on such short notice. I’d be in the second wave and only three minutes back. If I really thought I could win, why not win from the slow heat. I’ve done it in track.

Well it turns out I’m just an idiot. At packet pickup on Saturday I found out that I had in fact registered for the elite wave. Relief! Except for the fact that I couldn’t for the life of me remember making this decision. Just another reason I’m starting to feel old. So not only am I in the elite wave, I’ve been given bib number two. This is certainly for one of two reason, they went alphabetically (I’ve benefitted from this since kindergarten) or I registered so damn early. Regardless, it felt kind of cool, a bit embarrassing, but mostly cool.

So who was bib one? The answer came early on race morning. SHE… was the only female elite competitor. She looked the part, but asked me a few pretty basic questions about setting up transition. I quickly ascertained that she was an elite runner, but first time triathlete. Did I mention this was the inaugural Omaha tri?

We were scheduled for a 6am start, it was barely light by then, so maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that we waited about 15 minutes for the EMTs to show up. Can’t start a race without EMTs! No sarcasm intended, seriously. Anyone can get kicked in the face…

So as we’re waiting, they put the elite wave in the staging coral, alone. All 11 of us, 10 guys, one girl, in a corral big enough for the next wave of 100+. Well, we all got to know one another, plenty of time to size up the competition, listen for clues, identify nervous energy, false bravado, false humility, note clothing, match people with bikes (there were a couple of menacing looking machines on our rack). Nick, my brother-in-law would remark later how we all looked the same, same body types, general dimensions, clothing. The water temp was 82.5, so no wet suits. But there were four of us wearing the same speed suit. Nick said it was almost too difficult to tell, except for the 2 on my shoulder.

The EMTs finally arrived, a quick national anthem and in we went. It was funny, we were so used to standing around talking, there were still conversations going on when they blew the horn. No warning, no 10 second call, no countdown, just hurry up a go for crying out loud! We swam a hurried 20 yards to the first buoy and took a 90-degree left. Not bad for 11 of us, but the poor waves behind us, yikes! I’m really glad I missed out on that train wreck.

The rest of the course was a simple out and back. After the turn I established a reasonably good line and tried to calm back down and find a good rhythm. It just so happened I was right behind a group of three. Cool even I can swim straight enough to draft behind three guys swimming abreast. I settled in, hit a few feet, the three parted, I followed the one closest to the buoys. I was hitting his feet a lot! Could it be this was too slow? I gave it a try on my own and left three behind pretty easily and didn’t feel anyone hitting my feet. Good call.

I swam pretty straight the rest of the way out. I guess the nice thing about an out and back swim is you can tell where everyone else is. At the 180 I’m pretty sure I was in 5th, with no one really on my feet. Okay, just don’t blow up. The way back was considerably more challenging. We were swimming straight into the sun. Thanks to the EMTs the morning sun was in fully glory. I don’t remember seeing a single buoy. In addition to swimming straight into the sun, we were swimming straight into the other 600 swimmers! I was really counting on them to sight well and swim straight. This clearly bothered the guy in front of me. I saw him stopping to sight a few times and caught up to him just after the turn. I followed him for a brief while until he abruptly stopped again. I went around. He swam on my feet intermittently for the rest of the way. It seemed obvious he kept stopping, then catching back up. I had to laugh. Somewhere in there I saw a red cap from the wave behind us go by. This isn’t unusual for me, but this time I just wanted to know who and how many.

I only had one close call. Very near the end I attempted to look for a buoy, but saw nothing but a yellow cap headed straight for me. I took one more stroke and palmed her head like a basketball. I didn’t dunk her, but just stopped her. I’m sure I scared the crap out of her, but it was my only choice. By the time she was looking up, my face was back in the water, no time to discuss who was on who’s side, blame the course.

I made it to shore with the scardy cat clobbering my feet. I had a killer spot in transition and made a relatively quick change. Did I mention it was ridiculously humid in Nebraska? The grass was so dewy that putting on socks seemed ridiculous. My sunglasses had also accumulated a full coat of dew since 5am, I just put them in my mouth and ran out for my first race on the new bike!

The bike course was one hilly sob, probably not as hilly as Quassy, but close! At the top of the first hill I heard a shift behind me, I looked down (not back) and saw a shadow. I did not want to get passed! Playing within drafting rules on a hilly course like this can drive a guys nuts, so I did everything in my power to make it his problem. This scenario would play itself out again about 8 miles later. I never saw him, his bike, or his jersey, only his shadow. I still don’t know who it was…
I couldn’t see anyone in front of me for the longest time. I had my own motorcycle to follow though, pretty cool. I had driven the course, but just following is always better than having to think about where to turn. With about 10 miles left I finally caught sight of two riders in front of me. I was pretty sure I was still in 5th, with one red cap still in front. It took a while to reel them in, but I did. The first guys was the red cap, 21 on his calf and a tri suit I hadn’t seen in the start coral. I passed the next guy a few minutes later. I could tell he wasn’t going away easily though.

Then I heard the all to familiar tick, click, scccsc sound of a tire lever skidding across asphalt. I tried to make it back to transition. Nope, two minutes later the other one fell. Guy behind me started yelling. Thankfully, he was just trying to warn me, not pissed b/c he ran over my yard sale. I looked back to see one of my spare tubes dangling in my spokes. Holy crap, grabbed it as fast as I could. Crisis averted, but passed. I rode into T2 discussing the near disaster with the 3rd/4th place guy.

T2 was quick! I opted to skip socks. I’d never run in my Fastwiches without socks, but I really wanted to loose this guy. Mission accomplished! I put a decent gap on him leaving transition.

It wouldn’t last though. This guy came steaming past me before the first mile marker. I tried to hang with him but my breathing was pretty wacked. When I start wheezing, I’m at my limit. It was only an Olympic, but it was still to early to push past that point. I managed to ask him if he knew where we were. He said there were two up ahead, he never saw them on the bike.

The next two miles weren’t much fun at all. He was pulling away, the kid behind me wasn’t falling back, it was heating up, the hills were coming fast and steep and there were two more guys so far ahead no one had seen them.

Just before the turn around one of them came into sight, and boy did he look like he was hurting, thank God. Then I saw the leader making the turn, at that point we were all within a half mile or so. I also got to check out what was going on behind me. The kid was hanging around (aligator blood?), but not gaining and there was no one else to worry about.

I caught the other two in the next mile or so, neither was enjoying the run. The last mile and a half was pretty uneventful. I felt strong, but there was no catching the leader, only trying to put more time on the young’en . The people heading out on their run were really cool, lots of compliments and encouragement. Triathletes are a pretty supportive bunch no matter where you are, but the midwesterners still shine.

I’m probably not making a big enough deal of the hills, both the bike and run were hilly MFers. The run, probably worse than Quassy. I wish I had a profile of the course to share, but the RD did publish one of those either. Probably a good call. One last hill to the finish, count the seconds and wonder. I was pretty sure I didn’t have enough time on the young guy. Turns out, neither did the first guy. He beat us both. I ended up 3rd overall, 2nd in the elite wave.

I made everyone stick around for the awards, even made sure they had their cameras ‘cause the battery crapped out on ours. (Thanks Mom and Nick for all the pictures you see here!). Did I mention it was getting hot? Shouldn’t be long thought. They gave awards for 1st overall, 1st elite, men and women and then right into the young age groups, awards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Surely they just got in a rush. We waited through 55+, relays, aqua bike, all 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Some special staff acknowledgement, thanks everybody, see you next year!

Nothing?!? I was a little miffed. I guess thats what you get when you assume. Believe me, the last thing I need is another trinket for the bookshelf. I am very happy with my race and thats certainly enough. BUT, I did need food and drink and out of the blazing sun. And so did all of our family. We could have left an hour and a half ago! I decided to have my own little awards ceremony at the bar...

Huge thanks to Michele’s parents, my parents, my sister and brother in law, and our friends Ted, Chad, and Brent for coming out and cheering us on. It was great having such awesome support.

Thanks as always to Trakkers and Saucony for at least making me look like I belonged in the top three. And to First Endurance for yet another perfect nutrition day. EFS and liquid shot worked great under some tough heat and humidity.

Weekend at home

Mon, 2 Aug 2010 15:43:12 -0600

Well, it was another pretty boring week of training. But a pretty exciting week of shopping. Certainly not Double Rainbow exciting, but what is really?

For me a new tri-bike come pretty close... Obviously, I’ve wanted one for quite a long time now. Rather than bore you with all the details, I’ll try to wow you with pictures.

I picked it up the frame Thursday night, took Friday off to put it together (huge thanks to Steve Pye of Practical Coaching for letting me help and learn a little bit), took off for Omaha as soon as we were done, and raced on it Sunday. Man is it smooth, I couldn’t be happier! Thanks to all3sports for helping me get it together on time with some sweet new pedals and saddle (trying it out soon).

So we drove back to NE friday night, pretty uneventful. Except I alway forget how ungodly humid it is. I went for a ride Sat morning this is what the humidity LOOKS like.

Oh, and in case you forgot, humidity equals bugs... Yeah, we cleaned it half way...

I had to exchange a couple pieces of my new Dunning clothing for the right sizes, so not many pics yet. But this week the company’s founder Ralph Dunning had a great profile in the inaugural issue of Lava Magazine. Congrats Mr. Dunning!

Some of my new stuff...
Dunning’s woven button down shirts are a blend of cotton and Coolmax polyester so they move moisture like your workout clothes, but look professional. Well as professional as you make them look.

The shorts are made of most of the same stuff, plus a little lycra, so they move with you esp during a golf swing.

Dunning has also announced a line of triathlon specific clothing coming this January! more coming soon...

Huge thanks to Jason and Kari for letting us invade their brand new home! It kinda felt like a pro’s ‘home-stay’, at least what I hear about them. Except they left for the weekend and we had the place to ourselves. Their place was roughly two miles from the race, couldn’t get much closer.

More thanks to our friends Ted, Chad and Brent for making the early trek out to the race to cheer on Michele and I.

Ramblings

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:11:48 -0600

Its been a pretty uneventful week of training and I don’t have any really cool pictures to share. So I thought I’d ramble a bit. I guess this just a compilation of random thoughts that have come and gone in recent weeks. In no particular order....

New Kicks - I picked up two new pairs of Sauconys. Progrid Ride 3 for training and Kinvara for racing (or training). I really like the Ride 3’s so far, super comfy. Kinvara have only been around the block (ok 6 miles) once. They felt great, but you might consider ordering up a 1/2 size.

Dunning - I’m really excited to see the mailman this week. I’m expecting my first package from my new friends at Dunning. The office has gone business casual from Memorial Day to Labor Day the last few years, so this is going to work out perfectly.

The Bike - Its been a long, bumpy, winding road. So winding in fact that I’m right back where I started. I could go on and on, but all that matters is; I’m still shopping. The only problem is that this is apparently a terrible time to shop. Its the end of the ‘model year’ and everyone under produced this year expecting a slow year. It hasn’t been a slow year, so there is very little left to choose from. I’m determined to be riding something new for IMAZ, 115 miles on ‘ol Blue today made me certain.

Its Hot - Summer finally arrived in CO this week. Temps in the mid/upper 90‘s. The AC is on for good I’m afraid. There isn’t really any way around it, it affects my training. It also has really affected my appetite, I have a hard time eating enough. So I’ve resorted to drinking more (no, not that) but lots of recovery drinks, electrolyte drinks, protein powders, etc. Thanks, First Endurance for helping me through.
Its also getting to hot to swim in a wetsuit. So, I bought a skinsuit from DeSoto. I’m expecting a couple of ‘non-wetsuit’ races coming up, so I thought it might come in handy. I’m pretty impressed so far.

LeBracle - I’ve been pretty open about my disenchantment with most of the mainstream sports in this country. Well LeBron pretty much sealed the deal for the NBA last week. ESPN’s little LeBrachelor rose ceremony was so wrong and so many levels... Not only have I sworn off the NBA (with the possible occasional exception for the Nuggets). But I’ve temporarily sworn off ESPN. Except Bill Simmons, and I haven’t really decided for how long. But I haven’t listened to any sports talk radio in almost two weeks and its been surprisingly easy.

The Boss - The only down side to my ESPN embargo so far has been that I almost missed the passing of George Steinbrenner. Yes, I’ve disliked the Yankees as much as anyone outside of Boston. But regardless, he’s led an amazing life and changed baseball for the better. The few stories I’ve heard recently have left me intrigued. I might even pick up his recent biography.

No Cable - Michele and I gave up cable a few months ago. This has made the ESPN embargo much easier. I basically just got tired of paying the ridiculous bills. The only show I really miss is ESPN’s 30 for 30 specials, but they release them so sporadically its hard to keep up. Plus, I’m sure I’ll have to get the boxed set when it comes out.

We still have the TV on for noise too often, but we don’t really miss the programming. The Sports Guy comment last week that football season is only 7 weeks away, so cable and a DVR will certainly be back in time for the Husker’s last season in the Big XII.

Following the TDF and World Cup on line have also made life without cable easier. Only people without jobs could watch live World Cup matches anyway. And there’s no way to fit in 3 hours of TDF coverage every day. So the internet snippets have been great in my book.

Omaha Tri - Michele and I are both getting pretty excited for the inaugural Omaha triathlon. Its a great excuse for a trip home. It’ll be nice for some of our friends and family to see what we spend so much of our time doing. I really hope the race is a success and triathlon gains some momentum back home.

Schlotfeld’s visit - I also heard from my buddy Chad a week or so ago. He, his wife, and son are considering a visit to CO to watch the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. I hope they decide to come (no pressure, Chad) for several reasons. It will be a great excuse to spend a weekend up in the mountains, I always seem to miss out on these great CO things right in my back yard, and I really enjoy visiting with Chad and his family. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised to find out they’d become huge cycling fans. (They know much more about it than I do) Chad is one of the smartest people I know and he always has well informed thoughts and opinions, plus I always seem to learn something intriguing every time we talk.

Tomtom - I don’t have a navigation system. And I’m pretty luke warm on Star Wars. But these friggin’ crack me up....

my first peak

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:22:39 -0600

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well this profile is all you need to say about the Boulder Peak Triathlon course. Yes, the swim is flat and the run even flatter. But Old Stage Road is anything but flat. Despite the climbing, its a pretty fast bike course and I managed to have a pretty good first Boulder Peak.

Somehow, I’ve missed this race every year. I’ve race the boulder half three times, but never the Peak. Most of my friends have done it so many times, they’re sick of it. Relative to the Lake 2 Lake turnout, it showed. It probably didn’t help that the race sold to the evil cash register that is WTC.

Michele and I drove up the morning of the race, 3:30am wake up. Arrived in time to get a great spot in transition, RDs gave us a pretty great rack. I had plenty of time to go back to the truck and close my eyes for 30 mins before starting my warm-up. I like the Boulder races because they let you warm up in the water. Obviously, I’m not a swimmer and not being able to warm-up swimming only makes matters worse. So I took full advantage and got in a solid 10 mins of paddling around.

My new age group is getting a little rediculous. We had over 250 guys registered for the race. They had to split us into two waves which really sucks when it comes to racing. Not to mention that there are some ridiculously talented guys between 35 and 39 years old living in the front range.

I spent Saturday morning at the gravel pond getting a little swim stroke touch up from my coach, Steve. I also went into the swim with a slightly different mind set. I know I swim better when I’m relaxed. So I’ve been trying to not get so caught up in chasing people on the swim, it wears me out and I hate getting out of the water feeling frazzled, spent, or panicked. So, I decided I was going to swim the entire race in my comfort zone and see how much slower I really was.

I did a pretty good job sticking to it. Every time I felt myself hurrying to pass, catch, or keep up with someone, I purposely relaxed and focused on my stroke. The bad news, I was about a minute slower than I thought I’d be. The good news, I’m pretty certain I swam straighter; I got out of the water feeling like I could have done the swim again rather than praying for shore for the last 500 meters; and the first 5 miles of the bike felt better than they had in a long time; getting out of my suit in T1 even felt easier.

The bike felt great! The climb up old stage definitely hurt, but everything else felt terrific. I suppose some of it was circumstantial. Most of the waves in front of us were older gentlemen, extremely young men and women, and women close to our age. Nothing against any of these people, but I was riding significantly faster and constantly passing people. It probably gave a false sense of how fast I was really going, but it made me feel fast. One guy (24 I believe) almost passed me back on the big climb, but he couldn’t quite pull it off (I couldn’t have done anything about it...). So no one passed me on the bike, always a good feeling.

I had a good chuckle coming into T2. If you’ve done triathlons for very long at all, you’ve certainly heard a story (possibly a wives tale) or at least been cautioned about the tremendous embarrassment of running out of T2 with your bike helmet still on. So there I was... running my bike through transition and an older gentleman runs across in front of me, with his bike helmet on! It took me a second to process what was actually happening. I didn’t want to yell anything to hastily, but yes, this was actually happening. I blurted out, “Your helmet, sir!” He stopped in his tracks. I ran by and he said something like ‘oh my gosh, thanks’. I couldn’t help but smile. We exchanged a laugh when I passed him a few yards into the run.

The Peak has a nasty reputation for being really hot. The run course is really exposed and the sun can just bake you. But it stayed surprisingly cool which helped. The run was similar to the bike, an endless line of people from previous waves to catch. No one to really run with, just people to run down. It keeps things interesting though.

The course is an out and back, so you can see how far behind/ahead you are. On the way out I kept waiting to see the guys I expected to be leading my age group, Kirk, Tim, and Wade. I was kind of surprised I didn’t see them sooner, but I quickly realized I had the wrong idea of where the turn around was, yikes. As I was making the turn I was catching up to Steve. He was the toughest person to catch all day, he was really running strong. Towards the end all I could think of was, okay that guy 5 people up looks strong, you gotta catch him. Then pick a new guy. By the time we got to the last half mile or so the long line of people had started to thin out. I ran in pretty much by myself, just chasing my shadow.

I was really happy with my race execution, especially how I felt on the bike and the run. I might have had a little too much in the tank at the end, but oh well. Once again, my FES liquid shot and sports drink did the trick. Trislide and Foggle also helped make the swim as pleasant as it can be. That evening I was wishing I’d chosen a different pair of Sauconys though. Most of the run is on a gravel/rock trail and I must have hit a number of rocks in just the wrong place. I had a pretty decent bruise just to the side of the ball of my foot. I’m glad I know now, with the Boulder half next month, I think I’ll wear my new Ride 3s instead of the Fastwitch.

Also thanks to Brian Beatte (also of Practical Coaching) for letting me play around on his new SUP - Stand Up Paddle board, on Saturday. Steve and I had a blast giving it a try. I’m pretty sure it was just the pre-race workout I needed. Now I have yet another toy on my wish list!

Happy 4th of july

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 20:19:28 -0600

So my buddy Kim and I finally made it to the top of Mt. Evans. We took a slightly shorter route this time. Leaving from Idaho Springs its only 50+ miles round trip, which amounted to roughly 3 hours up, less than one hour down.

Big thanks to Bikesourse Multisport Club! They organize this ride every 4th of July. Numbers were down a bit this year (I’m told) but it was great to have sag support. Thanks Adam for spending your holiday sagging, the extra water and warm clothes for the descent were awesome. There were a lot of familiar faces on the ride, but not many I’d actually ridden with before. Kim, Carrie and Shane, Marcus from Phidippides, Matt from Masters, L2L, and buddies with Sonja and Ford, and a new friend Mark. It was great of them to let me tag along.

On our way to Echo Lake.

Echo Lake from above...

This is pretty much the last time I took my hands off wheel to take pictures. Even if I didn’t need my hands, I was breathing too hard to take pictures. Lets just say the ride kind of picked up shortly after this.

Stopped for quick breather and some arm warmers at Summit Lake 12,800-ish. I couldn’t believe how nice it was up there.

Kim, Matt Miller, and me. Congrats! Its cold. Lets get down.