Boulder Cycling Group

Went out at 10:30 a.m. on my new steed (photo attached). It was supposed to be upper 50’s today and it started off pretty warm and I assumed it was going to get warmer. I met my friend Dan and we rode west into a very strong headwind. We climbed up the first part of Lee Hill and there Dan had to turn around and head to work. I continued to the top of Lee Hill and then down the back side to Lefthand Canyon. Riding down this to Old Stage was cold and getting colder. It would drop into the low 40’s here and stay that way for the rest of the ride. I climbed Old Stage back to Lee Hill and then rode up Wagon Wheel (a rode that heads west from the base of Lee Hill. I rode that to the gate (gated community up there) and turned around and then rode up Bow Mountain Road, which turned to dirt almost immediately. I joined up with a threesome of strong riders there including Bruce from the Excel team, a big Vitamin Cottage rider and another guy who wasn’t wearing gloves! We rode up this dirt section (steep and tough traction) until it hit Linden Road, which we descended and I rode back to work. The ride was just over two hours and my hands and feet were painfully cold. The last 20+ minutes was very uncomfortable.

I’m attaching my graph here and it looks fine to me, but I’m using Word as my email editor and it might not come across. The first hill you see is Lee Hill. The tiny dip on the way up is where the first part tops out and where Dan turned around. The second hill is Old Stage and the third is Wagaon Wheel and then a short descent to where I climbed up Bow Mountain road. A total of 3200 feet of climbing. And the new bike has already been on dirt! I vowed when I bought it just two hours before this ride to not race this bike on dirt. Well, I didn’t race it today. It would be fine on dirt, but it looks so good that it just doesn’t seem right to ride it on dirt…

The good news is that my new bike is SWEET! It rides so nice and looks so good. With a bike like this, you just have to ride hard and fast. Check out the carbon seat on this bike. It is paper thin – absolutely pure, hard carbon. It was fine for two hours, but I don’t know if I’d like to ride all day on a seat like this. It’s decked out with an 11-23 and that was marginal today, but won’t cut it for the big hills, at least for me. I need to get a Campy Chorus 12-27 for this baby. Hook me up, Jeff.

Bill

March 1, 2006

Okay, here's how it went down.

Rob had only agreed to the Nelson Loop instead of Stazio if there were some "surges" or something like that. Knowing that it was inevitable and preferring to go on the hills where strength is emphasized a bit more than fast twitch, I jumped hard just past the Green Briar on the last hill before Nelson. I don't think anyone came after me, but I wasn't looking back. I shot my wad and sat down to soft pedal until the others caught up. The next thing I know Rob blows by going hard. I turned to see if Dan would chase him down and pull me along with him but his response was, "I led him out."

I waited a long time, then thinking that Rob must have shut it down and he had stopped looking over his shoulder, I went after him. I went hard, but didn't get him before the turn onto Nelson. He did look back and that was all he needed.

After the turn we got held up by construction and Eric Peltier (the Cat. 4 rider that lent me his bike in last year's Boulder Stage Race) was able to get back on. We rolled east for a bit until Rob attacked again. Dan went after him and I went after Dan. We grouped up, but Eric was gone again. We rolled along and Eric caught up again. We took some turns. As we neared 63rd, Rob flicks his elbow wanting me to pull through. I had resisted, waiting to attack from the back on the hill just after the turn. Rob slowed down, forcing me to take over the lead. I went through the turn cautiously and hit it hard. Dan went after me, but I had gap from the turn and held him off until I shut it down.

Dan went to the front and after a bit of easier riding, he attacked and I went after him. I caught up and Dan kept the pace really high, stifling any thoughts of further attacks. Eric got popped off at the turn and that was it for him, as far as I saw. Rob talked with him and Eric said he'd just ride in at his pace. Then Rob ran us down and told us the situation, of which we were completely ignorant.

We rolled along at a descent pace until the rise up to the Diagonal. It's uphill and we always sprint here. I wasn't sure that Dan or Rob knew that we always sprint here, but it's logical and Rob was ready. Dan was leading and I was waiting and waiting and waiting for Rob to go, but it was still too far out. I knew that to have a chance, I had to go early and go hard and hope to break him on the hill. I shifted and punched as hard as I could. I suffered and suffered and no one was coming by. Did I drop everyone? I was nearing the top when Rob came by me. I couldn't match him, but finished just a little ways back. I have no jump and Rob was glued to my wheel from the very start.

Dan peeled off a bit later, as we continued on 63rd to the office park to Jay. On the hump on 47th, where it goes over the Diagonal, where we always sprint for the top, neither one of us went. Rob turned up the pressure, though, and I barely matched him. I don't know if he was doing that to prevent any attacks or just one last workout, but I was shot from all the other sprints and didn't want to go. If he had jumped, I'd have gone after him, but I'd never have matched him.

That was a good, tough, fun ride.

Bill