Last Saturday, I was in the final hours of an odyssey that - for more than a couple of years - was usually at least in the back of my mind, and at other times, just a little too close to the front of my mind. And then, just like that, it all evaporated and suddenly there is no big bike race, no showdown of any kind looming in my future, not even one a year away. Felt a little different; felt a little like something was missing; felt pretty darn good!
Western State College men's Cross Country runners coming through after one lap at the innner squad time time.
I started my week by chipping away at the piles of neglect in my domains around the house. The shop in the basement? Disaster. My office? Train wreck. The garage? Turned upside down and shaken. My side of the bed? A chaotic cocktail of books, magazines, newspapers, and pages of training logs, past and present. Through the week I made excellent progress everywhere except the garage. I’ve got to save something for the coming week, I guess.
I did do some bike riding. Suzee and I rode our mountain bikes up Alex’s Climb east of town Tuesday afternoon, we both felt like slugs on bikes but it was good to get out. Wednesday was the first Gunnison group road ride I’ve been on since the one with the big pileup in ‘06 when, among other things, Yari’s road bike got straightup crushed by a Dodge Ram pickup going 70mph. I’ll never forget that hideous sound; carbon fiber Trek and assorted components reduced to fragments and splinters in a millisecond! Luckily, she went straight down onto the shoulder while her bike got kicked out into the middle of the adjacent lane of Highway 50. The ride died quickly after that but has been resurrected this summer. It’s back as a kinder and gentler group ride, a “no drop” group ride. For the most part. Group road rides are fun but they can be sketchballs!
32 degrees; early morning at Hartman Rocks.
Thursday and Friday it was a couple of short, but quintessential rides on my mountain bike. Back on the fully, IPod Shuffle, too, I rode ’til after the sun went down on Thursday evening - a killer jaunt on the relatively unknown trails northeast of Gunnison - the whole valley glowing, the shadows long, as the sun went from low to gone below the horizon; didn’t see a soul. Then, before it could rise again - and only because I was an early riser - I was back on the next morning, rolling out of town toward Hartman’s. 32 degrees but dressed for it, my riding partners 16 Horsepower, Petty, Nine Inch Nails and Vivaldi, among others, and a handful of top-shelf trails to start the day.
Those two rides were great reminders of why I love to ride bikes, especially mountain bikes. Let’s see, physical fitness, mental fitness, increased motivation, fun, challenge, excitement, amazing views, amazing places, all in the outdoors. Doesn’t take long, even 30 minutes will do you right. You don’t need a bike; you can walk, jog or run. Before work, at lunch, after work. Great trails close by help but certainly are not required. Me? It would be tough to live anywhere that wasn’t pretty close to a trailhead. I was home by 8am, did a little bit of this and that and had my tool belt on and I was loaded for bear by ten.
One of the obscure trails northeast of Gunnison. Suzee in '08.
I’m a great carpenter. I’m not, actually. We’ve had this unfinished sort of Sanford and Son garage in the alley behind our house for nearly ten years. Good friend and Grand Traverse partner, Jason “Woodrow” Stubbe, has been chipping away this summer, at bringing it up to snuff. Typically, my friends who are carpenters and craftsman will pay me $5 an hour not come onto a job site where they are working, but I convinced Woody to let me help with this one. I nearly knocked him off the ladder once; repeatedly handed him the nail gun while aiming it right at him (he does not like this); and measured wrong and ruined more than a couple of boards. But I’m getting the hang of it and will back out there on Monday!
This morning after breakfast, Coop and I pedaled our mountain bikes to an outlying subdivision which is the venue for the annual inter squad time trial for the Western State College Cross Country running team. For years and years, Western has dueled it out with Adams State College for the National Championship in Cross Country in NCAA Division II. Our next door neighbor, Jen Michaels, is the head coach and she invited us to check it out. Coop is just starting middle school Cross Country (6th grade or for you Canadians, Grade 6) and while not wildly into it yet, he was excited to see the collegiate athletes in their element.
Coop, wearing some sweet new hand-me-downs from Christian Kloser, drops his old dad on the final turn.
We watched the ladies run first; the circuit was a little over a mile and, depending on health and age, they ran 4 or 5 laps. Then the men were up. We lined up behind them, along with many time Olympian and world class person and runner, Elva Dryer. We ran one lap and Coop smoked me by a good 30 seconds. I needed this to jumpstart my running as flag football season starts in about two weeks. If I keep it up, I should be ready to go! The Western runners are gunning for another National title. Coop just wants to survive his first race. How about you? What are you getting ready for?
