Happy Anniversary

Crash or not, I had Monday off of work for our 3rd wedding anniversary so I rested up on Sunday and packed our gear for the trip. We watch a movie with Mr.Nice and then post-dinner we napped until just after midnight. After some Eggo waffles I drove us out to Alma and we suited up for our hike. Marni and I had come to tackle the "DeCaLiBron", aka a hike of 4 14,000ft peaks. Mt.Democrat, Mt.Cameron, Mt.Lincoln and Mt.Bross.

The weather was iffy but we were starting around 4am with the hope of catching a weather window and also spending some time on the summits alone, hard to do on the 14ers near Denver, even on a weekday. After walking through an overflowed Kite Lake 20 feet from the car and then bushwacking a bit to find the trail in the dark we were finally on our way.
Going up Democrat we made the first saddle quickly and then ended up hiking a bit on the other side of the main ridge. It was cold and windy on the ridge but warm just a few yards below it. Near the top we encountered snow.
It was easy to hike though it though as there were already well worn tracks.
We hiked, Turbo glissaded. He loves the snow and rolled around in it until we had finished getting through ourselves.
Clouds lingered and daylight came before our summit at just after 6am.
Turbo enjoyed his first of many summit bones and we sat down to eat some bagels.
And just like that the clouds moved in. I saw them coming but Marni was quite surprised.
No thunder or lightning was apparent but we moved off the summit quickly.
One direction it was clear but the clouds were quickly moving in everywhere.
After our picture we hiked down fast and as the rain and sleet picked up we both were talking about bagging the rest of the trip. We already got one summit and neither one of us wanted to get caught in storms all day just to stand on the summits with no views.
We headed down to the Democrat-Cameron saddle defeated but as luck would have it the weather began to clear. Bouyed by the turn of events we dashed up Cameron, ready to turn right back around if we had to. The weather stayed decent though. It rained on and off but we were warm and dry so we continued on. After wandering all over the summit of Cameron looking for any markers we settled on the high point, took our picture, ate another bite of bagel and moved on. Another couple of hikers were following us now so we moved quickly to keep our summits all to ourselves.
The hike up Lincoln was the most fun. It's as "airy" as this group of 4 gets and it was also the highpoint of the day at 14, 286 feet. Marni and I both enjoyed the rocks and the climb up it, lingering until company arrived and then headed for Mt. Bross.
Turbo was more interested in checking everything out than posing for pictures but he made it too and got his 3rd summit bone of the day.
Bross was another easy hike up and didn't take long. The weather remained good but not wanting to risk harder rain or thunderstorms we kept moving.
We hiked across and down Bross's flat summit to the scree below. Turbo and I skied down and Marni followed close behind. Eventually we came to a main ridge and movement required more care.


We followed the ridge for a while before I decided we'd do better bailing into the gulley below us. Turbo marched ahead and waited for his humans every time we were too slow for him.
Across the ridge the pace picked back up and we slowly got closer to the Element in the valley below us.
Turbo kept leading the way.
He loves hiking with Marni and I.
Rock turned to grass and mud and we both landed on our asses a few times. Trekking poles were a life saver though and the descent was much nicer than Quandary.
Flower were still in bloom everywhere and the camera doesn't really capture it.
It finally got warm enough to ditch all the hoods but the temperature was warm enough all day that I never got out my Skaha Plus but Marni got some use out of the Cocoon Hoody. We both wore Smartwool hoodies all day.

This waterfall was really cool.
Kite lake below us getting larger and larger.
Lots of rain made for a fun water crossing. This was interesting in the dark not knowing it was there.
Pretty deep for overflow
Now we have 1 tired pup.
Another happy anniversary in the books. This was 14ers 4 though 7 for us with more to come! It's so much fun to do them as a project together.

WP #5 and the latest crash

Lots of good things coming out of the last race, we'll get to those first. Marni kicked major ass and got 3rd place again on a really hard course. From the hill climb to now she's made quite a transformation. King of the Rockies is coming up next to cap her season and it appears a spot on the series podium as well.The Clyde podium was a thing of destiny. I'd been waiting all season for this and almost got it last race. This time Bill stepped up to the top of the box as I predicted and Brady and Jason rounded out the group. Way to go all of you!
Everyone else rode really great races as well. Erik and Mike battled it out, Dan hung tough despite missing his start and John kicked ass as well. I made the finish, that's about all I can say. Take a close look at this picture courtesy of Ray. Here's the back story. Looking to move up from 3rd place I was going to lay it on the line for this race. The pace off the bat was easier than normal in the group but we still laid waste to 2/3 of the field. Onto the first real climb the group split and I set my own pace, biding my time and moving up slowly. Onto upper elk I was in 5th and waiting for the downhill. My preride paid dividends and I rocked down, picking up time on the 4 ahead of me. I got some Perpetuem down on the road to Zoom and set my sights on 4th next. Onto Zoom I attacked and quickly caught 4th moving by uncontested. I kept the pressure on, hitting a max speed of 34.5 mph on my GPS somewhere along the way. Not long before the road, my pace was on the edge...in fact it was over. A corner came, I slid more than I desired and in seconds I was tumbling on the ground. I hit so hard that I knew I was in trouble and I didn't even try to get right back on the bike. I waved the other racers on since I was not in serious trouble and collected my belongings, bottle, GPS, and bike and moved off the trail. The initial damage wasn't good. Broke the GPS mount, messed up my brake lever, gloves and had some nasty looking gouges down my leg. All body parts seemed to work though so I coasted down to the road. I hurt a lot, especially my right leg and my first thought was to drop. The race director didn't have a medic right here though and it wasn't past Marni's start time yet so I decided to continue. The spectators cheered me on so I picked it back up and thought about salvaging the race. There was still a lot of climbing to go so I could at least claw back a few places. I hit elk meadow slowing picking up the tempo, finally wheeling over the water crossings before D2. I pulled up on the bars to charge up D2 and my race was over. My left handlebar came off in my hand from the shifter outward. I cussed and then laughed. I joked to the riders around me that it was time for my pro move, throwing the bike into the woods. The rest of the race became a comical parade. I climbed well cheering on my friends and teammates as they passed and even paced a few of them for a bit. But the downhills were worthless. With half a bar and no front brake I couldn't control my speed. I crashed again in front of women's winner Heather but she was nice enough to make sure I was okay and I was. I crashed again into a tree on Long trail when the rear brake wasn't enough to slow me down a steep section. But I limped it in 2:50 after I started and waited to cheer Marni across the line. When she saw me she asked "how did it go?" All I said was "let's get to the finish."
Everyone had fun checking out my bike and injuries before I headed off to Fraiser to grab the car. I coasted most of the way and just when I was ready to leave Marni called me to say she got 3rd! I hurried back but I wasn't fast enough and missed her award. I'm still so proud of her though!The scrapes came from my stem bolts. I also have an impression from something else on my right knee. Left knee is bruised and scraped and right elbow is cut. The worst is my right calf and ankle. Swollen and bruised but it doesn't appear anything is broken so that's very good.
The bruise doesn't show up on camera so well but it definitely doesn't feel good.
Onto the bike damage. Yea that's busted good.
Light or not, hitting the ground at 30mph is not good for your bars.
Or your brake lever. This needs to be replaced as well.

Yea that's how I feel about that.
Oh well, that's racing. Hopefully I'll heal up soon. No one likes to go down but I really do enjoy attacking in these short races since it's something I never do on the endurance ones.

Chimney

Last week's ride was Chimney Gulch and the return on Monocog to serious action. I don't know why I waited so long. I mean I like gears and the Fuel but I had a blast riding the SS and didn't once wish I had the other bike. I tweeked the position a bit more and I'm liking it. Slack angles just don't work for me. Steep and steeper could describe my preferred major angles. Onto the pictures!
The group getting ready.
Blustery and stormy but we missed the majority of it.
Marni looking like she is in a Fox ad.
Bill cleaning up.
Can you see them?
More to come, I'm trying to get caught up while sitting on the couch with my leg up.

A little taste of what's to come

Yay Marni! Yay me not toooo broken. What looks bad isn't what hurts though.

I am lame

Man I need to update this blog. Tomorrow perhaps. Oh I've been riding. I've rode short and far, reignited some SS passion, crashed hard, broke stuff (on the bike) and even hiked 4 14er's today with Marni for our 3rd wedding anniversary. Get ready for a lot of pictures soon but I've been having too much fun to come up for air almost.

Fail down

There are some days when you can triumph over the weather and other days when you are better off tucking tail and letting the weather kick your ass all the way home. Yesterday was the latter. In an attempt not to end up like this poor fellow I kept a very close eye on the storms as I headed off last night. By the time I crossed hwy 93 I was getting rained on steadily but I was avoiding all instances of natural electrical activity. I made it to Rollinsville in good time but another big black band was queued up in front of me and I had another 3,000 feet in elevation to gain to go over the pass. Not where I really wanted to be in an electrical storm so I called Marni and turned around. All in all it was still a good ride. My rain gear worked great and other than my gloves and leather Sidi's I was only slightly damp and never cold. My gear stayed dry in the new pack and I did have a good climb, knocking out almost 5k feet elevation in 43 miles with my full multi-day setup. My GPS even kept working despite filling with water. Note to self, must bring rubberband and baggie for GPS protection. Rollins Pass isn't going anywhere and all the rain actually made us bump our pre-ride to tomorrow anyway so it all worked out. I'll post the pictures I did get shortly. I'm going to get over that pass this summer!

Ass over the pass

Well I'm off. I'm meeting Marni and Bill tomorrow morning in Winter Park to preride next weekend's race course. Tonight I'm headed up to Winter Park over Rollins Pass. It's a ride that's been on the list for a while and tonight was finally a decent time to slot it in. The new pack is all set and I've got the PerpetuBrick in my frame bag along with a couple other essentials. I'll sleep somewhere near the top and finish off the climb and descent in the morning before breakfast and the preride. More to report when I'm back!

Little known facts

You can put way more Perpetuem into a 1L Platypus than either Marni or I would have guessed and there is still room for more. Experiments continue. Looks like the S-Lab pack may get a test tomorrow night. It's overweight by the way, at 15.4oz, but still not a bad weight for what it is. Plus there is room for modifications but not until I test it first. I'm not going to start hacking up a $125 pack right off the bat. Yes Jill the pockets seem to be useable for bear spray if one so desires.I'm staying out of the current discussions as an attempt not to argue over the internet. Right now I'm in the mood to do what strikes me and maybe talk about it later. Reading about these badasses was certainly motivation of the day.