Soul Sucking

Some bike shops have no soul. I've been to two that are part of a 5-store chain in the last 4 days. The whole thing has this 'corporate' feel to it, and it's obvious when talking to the staffers that the owners and buyer have lost the plot. It all makes my job much, much harder. To make matters worse, chatting after my event tonight meant I didn't make it home until 10, which is when I was hoping to be in bed in order to get up early and do a 'beat the heat' ride. Now I'm tired and want to go to bed, but need to wait just a bit for my very late dinner to digest some.

I managed to get out on the bike today, although it was a later start than I wanted and because of the heat, an embarassingly short 25 miles with one big climb. Oh well, the worst day riding is still better than the best day working, right?

The summary post

Oy. May 23 was my last post. I'm so very slack. It's not for lack of things to write about. It's been a very busy couple of months for me, as is usually the case when summer rolls around. So, here's a little summary of what I've been up to:

-I spent some time around LA in early June. Really not a big fan of that place. I did some riding, though.
-Got to hang out in Santa Cruz for a couple of days of R&R. Did some riding there.
-Worked my way up to Bend, Oregon. Fantastic place with great mountain biking. I did a long mtb ride there.
-Spent a couple of days in Park City visiting my friend Thane and having him drag me around the great trails and roads there. That was a workout. Four rides in two days. Then my right IT band in my knee blew up. I blame Thane for making me have so much fun riding.
-Worked the week-long Ride the Rockies road tour and got to spend some more quality time with my ace pal Q from Shimano. I did no riding because of said knee.
-Flew to Manchester, NH to visit with my sister and her kids for a couple of days before we all headed down to my parents' house in New Jersey. Did no riding because of the knee, but did get it massaged a few times.
-Got a tattoo
-Flew back to Colorado on the 4th of July and drove to Winter Park to set up for Crankworks. No ride that day.
-Finally got back on the bike on July 5th.
-Went to Steamboat for an event and have wound up staying here despite a plan to go home on Tuesday.

I've now ridden 6 days in a row with no real issues with the knee. Woop!

That's the long and short. Regular programming (slackness) will now resume.

Tall Blondes

So I got to make a trip to the San Diego Zoo today. It's world famoose, don'tcha know. My friend Kathy works there, so I got to do some behind the scenes stuff, like pet a giraffe and visit the koala barn.

After my trip to the zoo (no, they didn't try to keep me) I went to a little guitar shop and got to look at a 1958 Fender Esquire. It's worth somewhere around 50 large. Whoa.

No riding for the last couple of days, but I did a nice long ride the other day. Not sure what my distance was, but I was in the saddle for 5 hours. I rode to the coast and back. Maybe 50 miles. I was really more in it for the time than distance.

I'm off to Paso Robles tomorrow for a weekend event. I should get some riding done around wine country.

Chamied Up Like A Pro

How do you spell that, anyway? Chamoised? Chammy'd? Chammied?

Regardless of the spelling, I approached tri-geek levels the other day by staying in my riding clothes for more hours than I care to admit. Only about 20 minutes of it was actual bike time. Gross!

I'm back in Utah again. It's time to be back on the road for another long trip for work. It's the SoCal leg, so that means stopping in Fruita and St. George for rides. I may have discovered the best kept secret in Fruita: Rustler's Loop is more fun when ridden backwards. I was so excited to get on my bike today and the laps I took felt great. I could have ridden for another hour if it weren't for the constant pressure to be back behind the wheel and passing the miles. 'Course I only went as far as Green River in the end, which is only about 70 miles from Fruita.

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I saw Keane on Monday night. It was an absolutely fantastic show. It partially made up for the now FOUR concerts I'm going to miss this summer as a result of being on the road. The list is now Bloc Party, Snow Patrol at FREAKIN' RED ROCKS!, Daft Punk, and Matisyahu. Stoopid job...

Recent rides:
Friday-Allison's recovery ride/my pegged heartrate ride for an hour and a half. Followed by a mountain bike ride up the canyon and back. I was amped to be on the bike that day. Despite the pain of the road ride, I couldn't resist doing some more.

Sunday-Ride to the Sport's Garage demo. One way is all of about 10 minutes. That was the all-day in the chamois. I got so disgusted with myself that I took some turns on the dirt demo loop. Then I rode home and went straight into the shower.

Monday-Road ride with Thane. His computer logged 33.2 miles. It's essential to include the .2. Fun ride. Nice to have Thane along for company. We rode to Longmont airport and watched planes take off and land for a bit.

Yesterday consisted of riding the bike path to shuttle old Touaregs to the dealership.

St. George tomorrow!

Over-reactions and Gitfiddle lessons

In my recent posts I've been terribly remiss in not mentioning my sheep sightings. I know, I know...Unbelievable and nearly unforgivable.

So let me back up.

There's a farm along I-80 just east of Park City. There are many sheep on that farm. Woo!
At Sea Otter the trail I rode goes through a small holding that contains sheep. I saw them on the opposite hillside. Yay!
In Fruita there are numerous farms between town and the Bookcliffs (18 Road, home of Joe's Ridge) riding area. It's lamb season and I got to see a huckin' lamb. Yeehaaw!

Sheepspotting helps restore balance as once again I woke up to news of the 'end of the world', this time right here at home. A couple of guys in camo walked into Boulder High School early this morning and were spotted by a cafeteria worker. She yelled at them and they took off running. That caused a media/police frenzy that lasted all day. It even made The Beeb.

Now the University of Colorado graduation ceremony is all extra high security because of this, and there's banter about whether or not things have been blown out of proportion.

I forced myself to stay off the bike today, but I've got to go ride tomorrow to get some positive endorphins going after a day sat in front of the 'This Just In!' news briefs. My other roommate Allison has arrived home from her month-long racing trip to Europe, so I'm going to go get my ass kicked by her on her 'easy, recovery ride'.

Congrats to Chrissy and Judd, who welcomed another cyclist into the world this morning.

The World Is On Fire

Sheesh...I woke up this morning and turned on the news to learn that there are fires in Florida and California, towns that have been wiped out by tornadoesin Kansas and Oklahoma, floods where I used to live around Kansas City, and a named storm off the coast of Florida well in advance of hurricane season.

Mother Nature is pretty pissed off right now.

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I did a women's mtb ride last night at Walker Ranch, a trail above Boulder I've never ridden before. I came across this group on MTBR but had never met any of them. It was a mixed group, meaning that there were really nice people, and some of the people that typify the attitude here in Boulder that I loathe. The trail itself was fun and hard. Lots of long climbing with some techy bits, an amazing section of downhill singletrack, and an unrideable and nearly unwalkable hike down to the Boulder Creek.

I was chatting with SimonDB yesterday and he mentioned how defeating it is when you feel your legs go and you are only halfway through a ride. That happened to me last night (you jinxed me, Simon!!). It was my third day of hard riding in a row, and my gams decided that they really didn't want to work any more on the way up the first big climb.

I really need a recovery day. I've ridden all but one of the last 15 days. My one day off was a demo day so I was on my feet for many hours. I should really stay off the bike tonight but I've committed to another ride with some friends so I can't really back out. Oh well, I can rest when I'm dead!

Shitstorms and Rainy Day Rides

Long time, no type.

So it was Fruita time again last weekend. The Fat Tire Festival brought Photo Man Dan down from North Van to hang out for the weekend for some riding and picture taking. We had a smashing time, that was until we had an unfortunate run in with some fresh cow flop that managed to splash it's way into every nook and cranny of the bikes, and Dan's eye. Not good times.

Things are in the normal 'season on the road' swing here. I got back from a month-long trip last week and am currently enjoying a couple of weeks at home before yet another month on the road. My riding frequency has been quite high of late. I've been spending longer hours in the saddle in an effort to get fit. It seems to be working.

I started guitar lessons yesterday. I've been playing on my own for about a month. As of right now, I can't feel the end of my middle finger on my left hand.

Not much else to report, although sheep are still great.