The blog posts are becoming less frequent. Guess it’s too nice out to sit at the computer posting on the site. 
Lots of stuff has been going on these days, so how about a recap? Sorry, no pics!
Last weekend–Gunnison Growler
Dave Wiens and crew put on an awesome, humbling race. I wasn’t DFL, but I was pretty close to it. The stats are now up on the website, but there are some missing pages. I was totally prepared for a DNF. I registered for the 64 mile version on the singlespeed, but only completed 32. Guess there were enough of us doing this that Dave was nice and created a new category…the Growler Lite.
This was a difficult, but fun course. Definitely would do next year…on gears.
Breckenridge 100–training
Lyn and I are planning to do this one as a 3-person team. Our 3rd person is “iffy” right now, but we should be good to go. Now we just gotta get in shape! To kick off the “get in shape” goal, we started riding the road bikes (high intensity intervals) in the AM. We’ll see how that goes.
Anyone want to fill in as backup for the 3rd slot?!? You need to be a woman!
This weekend–Fun Riding
Leave it to Tom Mayer to have some great pics of this area. The above pic is one he took. At the VERY last minutes (Saturday morning), I read an email from Katri wondering if I was interested in riding this weekend. I call her cell and she’s already at the trail head!! The plan? Jones Creek to Pinkerton-Flagstaff, to Dutch Creek, to Hermosa, and back to the car.
This ride had CLIMBING and then a little more climbing thrown in for good measure. Damn great singletrack with trail almost completely to ourselves. There’s some mud on Pinkerton-Flagstaff (Sue, if you’re reading this…there is LOTS of mud/creek crossings–no way to get around it either). The first few times, I was hesitant, not wanting to get the bike dirty or my shorts wet. However, after one really deep pit of mud that completely coated my rims (I have v-brakes on the Moots–doh!), I gave in and just got wet and dirty on the trail. It was actually relieving to soak the feet (everything below knee deep) in the creeks as we crossed over to trail sections. At the last creek crossing, we did a quick rinse off on the legs, which were coated by lots of mud and fresh cow poo which was inevitable on the trail today. Yeck!
This was an awesome ride, very challenging. I was thrilled Katri gave me a ring to do this one.
I was tired and took a rest day on Sunday, chilling with my best friend and chowing down on BBQ for dinner. Life is good.
I was wondering if you were taking a sabbatical! That Growler sounds like it was a lot tougher race than what I thought. Way to go giving it a whirl on one gear!
Definitely a blog sabbatical! I was glad I tried the singlespeed, and I had a great time riding the course! Oddly enough, I don’t feel too bad about coming in so close to the end.
Mountain goat
[...] 21, 2009 by ojulius Getting ready for the 1/2 Gunnison Growler this year. Last year was my first show at the race, where I attempted the 64-mile double loop, but didn’t make the [...]