What to do when it's windy in the mountains...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last Sunday, I had a bigger ride on my schedule. We had planned on hitting the Big Classic (Shop > Boulder > Shop) loop, but I got a Facemessage from JD at about 05:30 hrs saying that his house was shaking from the wind and that I probably shouldn't make the drive up; riding would not be fun. Instead, I headed up to Boulder and did a big dirt road loop with some teammates on CX bikes. While the ride was not quite as hilly as I had planned, it was good nonetheless.

Flat dirt roads

I was accompanying Shane D. and Mike B, and since there were only three of us we moved along at a decent clip. We never had any paceline going because all of us were mountain bikers and two of us didn't know how to paceline properly. I found myself, as the youngest and apparently the most "roadie," teaching the other two how to paceline. I tried to channel my inner Fatmarc, or Tom McD while doing this, as those are the people who taught me how to ride in a group.

A small riser, only Long's Peak in the background.

Still riding towards Long's Peak.

Obligatory dirt road selfie.

On the climbs, like I was going to do on the longer climbs in the mountains, I rode a solid tempo pace. We ended up putting in just under four hours and just over sixty miles. It was definitely one of my better days on the bike in a long time. By the end of the ride, my legs felt snappier than they have felt in maybe a year. Then we went to Twisted Pine Brewing Company and ate pizzas and beers.

Monday was a planned rest day, so I took the opportunity to clean both my mountain bike and my cross bike (see mud on jersey in previous). I used the chain cleaning technique espoused by Matt on Just Riding Along (a Mountain Bike Radio podcast... if you don't listen to it, you should). So now my chains are extra clean.

Yesterday I had an easy ride scheduled, so I went exploring. I ended up taking a trip up and over Dinosaur Ridge, back down through Golden, and back to the office. This was definitely a fun ride, and definitely one I'll be repeating soon.

The climb is short, but the road is completely closed to traffic.

Ripple marks!

Dinosaur tracks!

Ash layers (glasses for scale)!

Red Rocks!

The weather is starting to take a turn back to winter, so this weekend might be a bust for riding around here. A few 92Fifty folks are looking into some more southern options for riding this weekend; hopefully that pans out.

Laters!