Sufferfest

The 2nd Annual BMA Sufferfest took place Saturday 9.12.09

The usual suspects were there with new faces among them. Sufferfest is BMA's end of season ride for members. It involves 35 -45 + miles of rocky Boulder county trails and fire roads. The ride ended up being a mini epic with snow, rain, hail, grappel, and chilly temperatures. Numb toes and numb nonfunctioning hands were the order of the day. Lets just say nobody did the Buchanan pass option this year.

Beer and burgers and story telling took place by a nice fire.

Walt

I love water fountains!

Today I rode the San Jose Awesome Bike from home onward to Boulder. Coal Creek path to Marshall Mesa to Boulder Creek path, up Four Mile Canyon making a left onto Wall Street. Riding down this road I came across a water fountain at somebody's driveway. Almost rode right past it but turned around to read the sign. "filtered water , help yourself". Nice. Filled up the camelback and continued on to Sunset and up Switzerland trail to Sugarloaf and back to Lafayette.

Thanks Johnsons for the water.

Walt

Third times a charm...

Took the San Jose version 2.0 out for a couple hour spin today. In an effort to get to know her better before cross season. This afternoon switched out old tires for new. The heavy but durable wire beaded WTB terrainasaurus tires for some lighter Maxxis Raze tires. Inflated to the minimum recommended PSI of 50, I set out from Lafayette to Marshall Mesa. With me I brought a tube, pump, 15mm wrench, 1 gel, and 2 bottles water with a little gatorade.
Nice ride out to the mesa via Coal creek path then up the koppenburg hill and onto the mesa trails. Scooted out across 93 and over to springbrook trail. Headed back via community ditch and backtracked the trails on the east side. Ran into some oncoming bike traffic and pulled off trail abruptly. As soon as I got going again, I heard and felt the air leaving my front tire.
I promptly began the task of chaging the tube. No evidence of any goatheads or punctures from the outside. Took tube out and filled with some air and saw the tell tale sign of "snakebite". Grabbed my new tube and inserted that and pumped up the tire and rebolted the wheel back in place. Ready to go right? Thats what I thought. I started rolling the bike and realized that the rear tire was flat too.
Unfortunately I did not have another tube, nor a patch kit,or a bus pass, or money ,or my cell phone. WTF. I started walking getting ready for a long walk home, when along came a mountain biker. He asked and offered some help. Then another rider came by, he had a patch kit and I was back in business. 5-10 minutes later , patch applied and tube installed I was ready to roll. I thanked both guys and took off back home.
3rd flat in 2 days. Flatted the day before on commute home from Boulder. Quite amazing is the fact that these three flats are what I have had this season.
Knock knock knock on wood.

Walt

Reality

I have never written very much in this blog. Today though is the first day I have posted anything since Febuary. Some who read this may be aware that my wife Sarah and I lost our son in April of this year after 13days of his life. Others may not know this. Johan had complications during his birth. The end result was Johan did not have ability to control blood pressure and respirations. We ended life support on the 13th day.
The past months have been trying to say the least. Support from friends, family, and those we didn't even know has been amazing. It has really given me a strong belief in the power of human connection.
Thanks

Walter

Breckenridge is wonderful!

What a great place Breckenridge is. I had ridden in the Breck 100 last year so I am familar with some of the trails. Some friends and I drove up and rode for 4-5 hours yesterday. Coming up from Lafayette, it is always nice to be up in the high mountains. We started our ride at about 900am from the CO trailhead near Swan Mtn rd. We headed west(always a good plan) on the CO tr and picked up the Peaks tr to Breckenridge. The friends I was with were having a good time and we were all breathing pretty hard on the uphills. Some minor mechanicals and issues with anger control brought us to ski hill rd.
We dropped down into town and took Boreas pass rd up to the top of the Bakers tank tr. Here we refueled a little and then took the trail down. Very nice loose rocky descent, we had one flat, the bane of the clincher tire. Once at the TH we took the Aspen Grove tr down ( very nice ), then we picked up the Blue river tr the rest of the way down to the ice rink. You folks got it made in Breck, every trail is great. Headed across the street and rode trail to and past Carter Park. A small amount of neighborhood street riding brought us to the Flume TH. we caught Upper Flume and rode that smiling all the way to the intersection of Mike's trail. This was a nice short descent that rode to middle flume and north to the end. Rode down to Hwy 9 and onto the Frisco/Breck bike path back to the car.
Beers were then consumed.
Any mountain biker who lives in Breck and can pay the bills has got it made in my opinion.

Walt

Great Timing

Started "super secret" bicycle training today. Did so just as I promised. Rode in the sunshine till I could not ride any longer; a whopping 40 minutes. Hell ya. Right on track for that 24 hour race in 2025. Feel of the sun on my face was nice today.

Also since I am "unattached" I sent in my application to be on the dirt coalition of GT. Could a sweet GT Zaskar be in my future? Where is that Doritos crystal ball?

Push ups!

This year I will do at least 36,500 push ups! I have been doing 100 push ups a day since Nov 4th, 2008. I was going to do them for 100 days but now I have resolved to do them for as long as I can . I will attempt a year. I know it does not seem like much in the grand scheme of things but it gets tough to do 2 minutes of work ever day.
Tommorrow I will start bicycle training.

Walt