Summer 2013

I know I'll be complaining about the heat in a week or two, but for right now, I am enjoying the fact that winter seems to have finally departed.

It's outdoor time!

The sun was shining on Sunday morning as Kim and I rode our bikes up Highgrade road. It was gorgeous, even though it was still a tiny bit chilly when riding through the shade. Kim was still recovering from doing the 100-mile Elephant Rock ride last weekend, and I'm just not in climbing shape yet...so we both were a little slower than usual as we tackled the ascent. But we enjoyed the chance to savor a lovely mountain sunrise on two wheels.



I miscalculated the time it would take to get through the CityView loop and back through South Valley, so I was taking my time snacking and drinking while stopped at the schoolhouse at the top. It wasn't until we turned from Turkey Creek back onto Deer Creek Canyon road that I realized I was at risk for being late for my coaching obligation at the swimming pool. I told Kim that I needed to crank it up the rest of the way home...and we were off!

Getting down Deer Creek quickly is more a matter of how much risk you want to take on the curves than it is about sustained pedal power. There are a few spots where you are going slowly enough to apply power -- but most of it is about streamlined coasting, careful navigation, and traffic awareness. I pedaled when I could, tucked down as appropriate, and stayed off the brakes to the maximum level my sense of self-preservation would allow. We were flying down that road!

Even so, some other guy came up from behind and passed by. I have no problem with that -- if somebody has better cornering skills than I do, I am happy to let them go. But this dingus came up on me like a shot, zipped around, and then...well, then he slowed back down once we got to the flatter section. With only a short distance to go until the turn into the Valley, I didn't see any point in trying to go back around him. I just took the draft and coasted for a bit.

I was starting to think I had made up the lost time, but then I had to wait for a long line of bike and car traffic before I could make my left turn onto the valley road. This effectively ate up any time gains I had made by Mad Maxxing it all the way down the hill. Sigh.

I made it home safely, though, and completed a pretty quick transition at my condo to jump in the car for the drive to the pool. I wasn't the first one into the water, but I was there early enough to yell at the slackers like I normally do. I don't think anyone really took notice of my tardiness.

As you can imagine after such a ride, my legs were pretty useless for the first half of swim practice. And to make it worse, the main set consisted of sprint 100s, for which I'm pretty useless under the best of circumstances. But I slogged though the practice, and finished feeling that I'd gotten a really good workout.

Kim probably had the more difficult workout, though; after the bike ride, he was going to go home and work on repairing his sprinkler system. As much as I hate 'em, I'll take sprint 100s over maintenance housework any day.

Unfortunately, even though the weather remained wonderful for the rest of the day, I felt obligated to spend my afternoon editing a veteran's interview and doing my laundry. But I kept smiling, knowing that summer is here and it's only a matter of time before I am able to zip up to Park County for a weekend of camping and hiking among the pines. Perhaps even next weekend. We'll see. In the meantime, I plan to savor the knowledge that my heater is turned off for the season, and that many more lovely weekend workouts are coming. Until then, enjoy the sunlight, and have a great day!