In the past, I've done the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb as a high priority race. This year it's a little interesting to be doing it as just a test of power. I didn't really care where I placed and I didn't have a goal time in mind. I just wanted to put in a good effort for 20+ minutes.
The weather was amazing. Better than any other time I've done this race. I underestimated how cool it was though, and had to run back to the car last minute to swap out some stuff. That put me a few rows back on the starting line, but no big deal since I wasn't gunning for places.
The usual start line chaos ensued. A couple guys next to me were clipped in and holding on to the rail at the start (not legal, FYI). Somebody in the second row couldn't get clipped in and ended up crashing as he stared at his feet. Some other dude nearly guttered me on the initial corner as he dove to the inside.
The pack seemed like it started off slower than usual. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to hit if from the get-go, but I couldn't get through/around enough people. Eventually things thinned out and I was just able to go at my pace. I felt pretty good. Occasionally I'd look down at my power numbers and I liked what I saw.
There's a point about 400m from the finish where the road levels off and it's a good place to get in your big ring and attack. I misjudged it this year. I thought it was still one corner up the road, so when a couple dudes flew by my I briefly let them go until I realized we were almost at the finish. Bummer, but at least it gave me a good reason to sprint to the line. I didn't pass them, but I did get right on their tail and finished with the same time.
I finished in a time of 21:13. I think that's my best ever up Lookout, which is great news. Especially because I wasn't rested up for this like I have been in the past when it was an 'A' race for me. I was also carrying a lot of extra weight uphill this time compared to usual. I wouldn't normally do a hill climb with my heavy PowerTap wheel, and I was also carrying some extra clothing for the descent.
All things considered, I'm happy with this result. I'm looking forward to my first road race of the year in a couple weeks.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Groove Subaru Spring Crit
Man, another 8AM start. I guess I'm getting used to it. At least it means I don't tie up the whole day racing.
The course was on a very wide loop through an office park in Golden and it's pretty non-technical. Just one actual corner. My legs, sore from some Saturday intervals in the wind, felt immediately tired. A small group escaped from the front early in the race, and I thought they would quickly get swallowed back up. It started to look like nobody was interested in pulling them back in, so I made the decision to bridge up to them. I made it up, but the main field wasn't far behind. I guess that group was growing big enough to worry about.
Various other attacks went down in the first 20-30 minutes of racing. It was surprising, and cool, because I don't recall seeing that kind of activity in a cat 4 race often. I went off the front once hoping to get some other people interested forming a breakaway, but when I looked back I was all alone. With 20 minutes left in the race, there was no way I could go solo, so I sat up and reintegrated.
As usual, the finish came down to a bunch sprint. It was a pretty hot last lap, and I was too far near the back at the start of it to make much of a difference. I hung on for the finish in 16th place.
The course was on a very wide loop through an office park in Golden and it's pretty non-technical. Just one actual corner. My legs, sore from some Saturday intervals in the wind, felt immediately tired. A small group escaped from the front early in the race, and I thought they would quickly get swallowed back up. It started to look like nobody was interested in pulling them back in, so I made the decision to bridge up to them. I made it up, but the main field wasn't far behind. I guess that group was growing big enough to worry about.
Various other attacks went down in the first 20-30 minutes of racing. It was surprising, and cool, because I don't recall seeing that kind of activity in a cat 4 race often. I went off the front once hoping to get some other people interested forming a breakaway, but when I looked back I was all alone. With 20 minutes left in the race, there was no way I could go solo, so I sat up and reintegrated.
As usual, the finish came down to a bunch sprint. It was a pretty hot last lap, and I was too far near the back at the start of it to make much of a difference. I hung on for the finish in 16th place.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Christine's iPad
The best way to really surprise someone with a birthday gift is to give it to them over a month early. Christine has been thinking about getting an e-reader so she could read some books when she travels, and the iPad is a good choice for her since she can also watch movies and do some other stuff on it too. I would have waited to get one for her, but she's gone for the next few weeks (except on the weekends) and has an east coast flight in there too. Seemed like now was a better time to have a new toy than next month.
I'd been working on getting an iPad all week, but they're a little scarce. Not as scarce as iPhones tend to be at first release, but they generally don't last too long at the stores. I called one of Apple stores after my race this morning and they said they had a couple left. They weren't open yet, so I cruised over and waited for them to open and I grabbed the last one in the store.
Apple has the in-store experience dialed. After someone brought out the iPad, the sales person can just complete the transaction from a handheld device. And when I told him I wanted the printed receipt, he reached under the table and grabbed the freshly printed one from what I can only guess is a receipt printing fairy.
So far, it's a pretty cool toy. Christine already took off to Austin with it so I haven't gotten to fool with it too much. A couple BSG discs are coming this week, so I should be able to load them on it for her next trip. I think she's most excited about playing Scrabble though.
I'd been working on getting an iPad all week, but they're a little scarce. Not as scarce as iPhones tend to be at first release, but they generally don't last too long at the stores. I called one of Apple stores after my race this morning and they said they had a couple left. They weren't open yet, so I cruised over and waited for them to open and I grabbed the last one in the store.
Apple has the in-store experience dialed. After someone brought out the iPad, the sales person can just complete the transaction from a handheld device. And when I told him I wanted the printed receipt, he reached under the table and grabbed the freshly printed one from what I can only guess is a receipt printing fairy.
So far, it's a pretty cool toy. Christine already took off to Austin with it so I haven't gotten to fool with it too much. A couple BSG discs are coming this week, so I should be able to load them on it for her next trip. I think she's most excited about playing Scrabble though.
Louisville Crit
I feel like race season has started. Today I lined up for my first "real" crit of the year.
8AM Start. Ouch. That means I needed to leave Fort Collins by 6AM and get up with enough time to get some food in me. As far as I can tell, there are really only a couple good things about being the first race of the day: You can warm up on the course, and the port-o-potties aren't completely dominated by nervous racers.
I got on the trainer and warmed up for a bit before I decided that my long sleeved jersey was going to be an overkill. After I swapped my number to a new jersey, I just decided to take some laps on the course. I did this race last year, so I was already familiar with hit. It's a really simple course. Wide and safe, and there's a hill. I love it when there's a hill in a crit.
The first 15 minutes of the race felt pretty hard but then it predictably slowed down to something more reasonable. I didn't make too much of an effort to be at or near the front of the race in general. I wanted to chill out and see how my knee was feeling after the ski crash last week. Turns out, it's feeling okay, so that's nice.
I finished the race safely in the lead group. Rubber side down, all skin intact, knee is functional. Success.
8AM Start. Ouch. That means I needed to leave Fort Collins by 6AM and get up with enough time to get some food in me. As far as I can tell, there are really only a couple good things about being the first race of the day: You can warm up on the course, and the port-o-potties aren't completely dominated by nervous racers.
I got on the trainer and warmed up for a bit before I decided that my long sleeved jersey was going to be an overkill. After I swapped my number to a new jersey, I just decided to take some laps on the course. I did this race last year, so I was already familiar with hit. It's a really simple course. Wide and safe, and there's a hill. I love it when there's a hill in a crit.
The first 15 minutes of the race felt pretty hard but then it predictably slowed down to something more reasonable. I didn't make too much of an effort to be at or near the front of the race in general. I wanted to chill out and see how my knee was feeling after the ski crash last week. Turns out, it's feeling okay, so that's nice.
I finished the race safely in the lead group. Rubber side down, all skin intact, knee is functional. Success.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Injury update
The fall I took on Saturday at the end of The Five Peaks race was pretty bad. I wasn't going particularly fast, but a ski is a long lever and when your binding doesn't release, it's a great way to f up a knee.
My knee was sore Saturday evening, but I was able to walk around and I applied some ice and ibuprofen to the situation. (And some beer and hottubbing of course.) Sunday morning, my knee was a little puffy and walking was considerably more difficult. I started to fear the worst and I was annoyed at myself for taking a dumb fall on an easy section of mountain. I took some more vitamin-I, did some more icing, and by the evening it was feeling better.
This morning, it was still feeling fairly decent but I wanted to get it checked out anyway. Mostly, I was afraid that there was some damage, and I'd be able to hurt it even more if I wasn't careful. I figured I'd have to wait until later in the week to get an appointment, but they had an opening at 10:50 that I took.
They took some X-rays, and the doctor did a fair amount of tugging and twisting on my knee. I kept waiting for him to find the right combination of moves that would suddenly bring the pain. Thankfully, that never happened. All of my ligaments are intact and strong. I probably strained something, but it should heal up over the next couple weeks.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the doc gave me that news. As much pain and twisting as I felt when I crashed, I don't really understand how I didn't destroy something. I'm extremely thankful (and lucky).
(In minor "injury" news: My lips got sunburned. That's kind of annoying.)
My knee was sore Saturday evening, but I was able to walk around and I applied some ice and ibuprofen to the situation. (And some beer and hottubbing of course.) Sunday morning, my knee was a little puffy and walking was considerably more difficult. I started to fear the worst and I was annoyed at myself for taking a dumb fall on an easy section of mountain. I took some more vitamin-I, did some more icing, and by the evening it was feeling better.
This morning, it was still feeling fairly decent but I wanted to get it checked out anyway. Mostly, I was afraid that there was some damage, and I'd be able to hurt it even more if I wasn't careful. I figured I'd have to wait until later in the week to get an appointment, but they had an opening at 10:50 that I took.
They took some X-rays, and the doctor did a fair amount of tugging and twisting on my knee. I kept waiting for him to find the right combination of moves that would suddenly bring the pain. Thankfully, that never happened. All of my ligaments are intact and strong. I probably strained something, but it should heal up over the next couple weeks.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the doc gave me that news. As much pain and twisting as I felt when I crashed, I don't really understand how I didn't destroy something. I'm extremely thankful (and lucky).
(In minor "injury" news: My lips got sunburned. That's kind of annoying.)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Five Peaks ski mountaineering race
Wow. That was easily the hardest day I've ever had on skis.
The Five Peaks is North America's longest ski mountaineering race with 10,000 feet of vertical and five separate ascents in the Ten Mile Range behind and in Breckenridge Ski Resort. I first heard about this several months ago, and I knew I just had to do it. I emailed a few friends, and thankfully Taylor shared the same sentiment as me and we were quickly registered for this foolish race. I didn't know for sure if we could do it, but it was sure as hell worth a try. My only goal was to finish the whole thing before the time cutoff. (After a certain time, they wouldn't let you go up the mountain any more.)
Bright and early, we were at the start line for a 6AM start. Ouch! The race starts with a 4.5 mile climb from the base of peak 9 at about 9600' above sea level to the top of peak 10 at over 13,600' above sea level. That's as hard as it sounds. I tweaked a knee kind of funny early and I also started feeling some rubbing on my heel. Uh-oh. I thought I was screwed. But I changed my steps a little bit and amazingly it all worked itself out by the time we hit the first descent.
The skiing off of peak 10 was actually pretty good. The initial decent was a dicey side slip through a narrow chute, but after that it was pretty good. After a short bit of equipment messing in the transition area, we were on our way up to the top of peak 9. It was a much shorter climb this time, but I wouldn't call it easy. Taylor is a machine and there was no way I could keep up with him. Again, the skiing off of peak 9 was surprisingly good.
From there, it was off to the first of 2 ascents up peak 8. This ascent included a special bonus: a boot-pack section where we had to put our skis on our backs and hike up. It was actually a nice change of pace because it used some different muscles. By this point my hip flexors were cooked. Skiing down from peak 8 was a little demoralizing because I knew that I would have to climb every one of those vertical feet again on my second ascent up peak 8. I don't know why they decided to have us ascend peak 8 twice, but that was rough.
The second ascent up peak 8 followed the T-bar for a while. Some people riding the T-bar up were confused at why we were skinning up, others shouted welcome words of encouragement. The T-Bar route was steep and near the top of it I took a little spill. I knew I was right at the friction level of my climbing skins, and then a nice gust of wind came and made me look like a fool. Harumph! At the top of peak 8 for the second time, the ski patroller offered us an Italian sausage. Sounded tasty, but I had no confidence that I'd be able to keep that down.
I should mention that the routes down from the tops of the peaks are double black diamonds. Double black diamonds are generally above my level of expertise. Double black bump runs are almost surely above my skill level. After several thousand feet of climbing, double black bump runs are well above my skill level. I crashed pretty good near the bottom the bottom of the peak 8 descent. My backcountry are considerably harder to drive than my alpine gear so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
We reached the base of the peak 7 climb and the end was in sight. We were there well within the time cutoff, and I said to Taylor: "Well, we have the opportunity to do this whole thing." I must have looked like I was in pretty bad shape, because he asked if I wanted to go up to the top or ski down from there. We both agreed that we had come way to far to quit early and up we went.
The ascent up 7 was terrible. There were a ton of switchbacks, but what made it most difficult was the hard packed, wind-blown snow. We were constantly slipping and had to side step for long sections at a time. I was so relieved to get to the top. Taylor had made it there well ahead of me and was enjoying a well deserved sit in the snow. I took a short break too and then we were on our way to the finish line.
The ski down was really dicey, and I rode pretty conservatively. My legs were completely cooked. Towards the bottom, I took another good spill. I think the snow had softened up or something and I just didn't do a good time of paying attention. It was a pretty rough crash and my bindings didn't release. I torqued my right knee pretty good and I just decided that I needed to get up and finish before any pain or swelling caught up with me. There was no way I wasn't crossing that finish line.
We finished the race in around 7.5 hours. For comparison, the superhuman winners finished in just over 4 hours. Amazing. When I entered, I had no idea if I could do it. I'm glad Taylor joined me, and I'm glad we conquered the first ever Five Peaks race.
Getting ready to start
At the finish
The Five Peaks is North America's longest ski mountaineering race with 10,000 feet of vertical and five separate ascents in the Ten Mile Range behind and in Breckenridge Ski Resort. I first heard about this several months ago, and I knew I just had to do it. I emailed a few friends, and thankfully Taylor shared the same sentiment as me and we were quickly registered for this foolish race. I didn't know for sure if we could do it, but it was sure as hell worth a try. My only goal was to finish the whole thing before the time cutoff. (After a certain time, they wouldn't let you go up the mountain any more.)
Bright and early, we were at the start line for a 6AM start. Ouch! The race starts with a 4.5 mile climb from the base of peak 9 at about 9600' above sea level to the top of peak 10 at over 13,600' above sea level. That's as hard as it sounds. I tweaked a knee kind of funny early and I also started feeling some rubbing on my heel. Uh-oh. I thought I was screwed. But I changed my steps a little bit and amazingly it all worked itself out by the time we hit the first descent.
The skiing off of peak 10 was actually pretty good. The initial decent was a dicey side slip through a narrow chute, but after that it was pretty good. After a short bit of equipment messing in the transition area, we were on our way up to the top of peak 9. It was a much shorter climb this time, but I wouldn't call it easy. Taylor is a machine and there was no way I could keep up with him. Again, the skiing off of peak 9 was surprisingly good.
From there, it was off to the first of 2 ascents up peak 8. This ascent included a special bonus: a boot-pack section where we had to put our skis on our backs and hike up. It was actually a nice change of pace because it used some different muscles. By this point my hip flexors were cooked. Skiing down from peak 8 was a little demoralizing because I knew that I would have to climb every one of those vertical feet again on my second ascent up peak 8. I don't know why they decided to have us ascend peak 8 twice, but that was rough.
The second ascent up peak 8 followed the T-bar for a while. Some people riding the T-bar up were confused at why we were skinning up, others shouted welcome words of encouragement. The T-Bar route was steep and near the top of it I took a little spill. I knew I was right at the friction level of my climbing skins, and then a nice gust of wind came and made me look like a fool. Harumph! At the top of peak 8 for the second time, the ski patroller offered us an Italian sausage. Sounded tasty, but I had no confidence that I'd be able to keep that down.
I should mention that the routes down from the tops of the peaks are double black diamonds. Double black diamonds are generally above my level of expertise. Double black bump runs are almost surely above my skill level. After several thousand feet of climbing, double black bump runs are well above my skill level. I crashed pretty good near the bottom the bottom of the peak 8 descent. My backcountry are considerably harder to drive than my alpine gear so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
We reached the base of the peak 7 climb and the end was in sight. We were there well within the time cutoff, and I said to Taylor: "Well, we have the opportunity to do this whole thing." I must have looked like I was in pretty bad shape, because he asked if I wanted to go up to the top or ski down from there. We both agreed that we had come way to far to quit early and up we went.
The ascent up 7 was terrible. There were a ton of switchbacks, but what made it most difficult was the hard packed, wind-blown snow. We were constantly slipping and had to side step for long sections at a time. I was so relieved to get to the top. Taylor had made it there well ahead of me and was enjoying a well deserved sit in the snow. I took a short break too and then we were on our way to the finish line.
The ski down was really dicey, and I rode pretty conservatively. My legs were completely cooked. Towards the bottom, I took another good spill. I think the snow had softened up or something and I just didn't do a good time of paying attention. It was a pretty rough crash and my bindings didn't release. I torqued my right knee pretty good and I just decided that I needed to get up and finish before any pain or swelling caught up with me. There was no way I wasn't crossing that finish line.
We finished the race in around 7.5 hours. For comparison, the superhuman winners finished in just over 4 hours. Amazing. When I entered, I had no idea if I could do it. I'm glad Taylor joined me, and I'm glad we conquered the first ever Five Peaks race.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Kuzca's Lion
One of the first toys that my dog played with was a stuffed lion. I took it out of the toy rotation when my roommate's dog was going to tear it apart. Normally I'm all for some toy destruction, but I kind of wanted to keep this one around and it's been sitting on our entertainment center ever since.
Somehow it got pulled off of the entertainment center recently. I didn't know it until Kuzca brought it upstairs and hopped on the bed with it. She's very cute with it on the bed right now.
Somehow it got pulled off of the entertainment center recently. I didn't know it until Kuzca brought it upstairs and hopped on the bed with it. She's very cute with it on the bed right now.
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