Life Cycle: Go Big or Go Home

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Go Big or Go Home

Recovering for six of nine days after Crankworx seems to have served me well. Ever since I finalized my race schedule early in the year, I promised myself two full weeks off the bike after Crankworx. No dice. On August 10th, I couldn't take it anymore and had to ride like a bat out of hell.

I woke up early that morning and knew I had to bag a ride I've been thinking of for quite some time. My goal was originally to ride from the apartment to Estes Park and be back before dark. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking. That would have been 185 miles with some heavy duty climbing, so I cut it short to 150 miles by doubling back on Peak to Peak Highway when I reached Peaceful Valley. Yes, the name suits the area. I headed back into the bowl where Nederland sits to make a routine stop at Buffalo Bill's Coffee, a fantastic shop in a caboose that serves great espresso and fresh mini-doughnuts, perfect fuel for the long way home. Garmin stats here.

Since then, I got a few good 50 mile rides under my belt with the road and mountain bike. Today, I bagged another ride I've been meaning to do and made it up Squaw Pass and back to the apartment. I'm super stoked about the ride since my legs finally feel like they're back and ready to race. I've never felt stronger on a road bike, despite the hours I've spent climbing and hammering this week, see below. Garmin stats of this ride here.

I'm aware I haven't visited the blogging world much lately and I'm cutting this session short to get some sleep for maybe a ride in the morning. All in all, this past week was seriously a dream come true. To get three dream rides (forgot to mention a ride from the apartment to 3 Sisters Park via Mount Falcon and LOTB) accomplished all in one week, has included plenty of justice (maybe next post), exhilaration, suffering, laughing (at pain), and exhaustion in preparation for upcoming races. But most of all, to simply do what I was born to do...have fun riding bikes.