At Long Last, An Ascent

Whenever I hear use the word "ascent", I think of Zorro. (I know that's not how he pronounces it, but it still evokes the image. Go ahead, click the link. I'll wait.)

Ah yes. The parameters finally came together to permit me to climb Highgrade Road this weekend. It had been frustrating--with Mother Nature's psychopathic behavior, various scheduling conflicts, and my own rampant slothfulness, the irregularities of life had prevented me from doing any kind of mountain training yet this year. But on Saturday, I finally got my tail onto the saddle and my feet in the pedal clips. I know it's too late to train adequately for the Triple Bypass, but at least I'll have one climb under my belt before the event.

I'm pleased to report that I made it, and they had cookies at the schoolhouse. Yea! At one point I was emphatically passed by a guy on a mountain bike, but otherwise, I have to say that I enjoyed the ride.



The rest of the weekend was good, too. As previously mentioned, I attended the Pluto-palooza event on Wednesday, and then got up Thursday morning to swim a hard 3K loop around Boulder Reservoir. We all got out of the water just a few minutes before they closed the lake due to high bacteria levels. I'm pleased to say that I didn't swallow any of the water, and made it through the weekend with no more than my normal flatulence.

Sunday's exercise included a bike ride out at Chatfield...which was made interesting by the fact that parts of the road were completely submerged. I was able to drive through the standing water by the official swim beach, but the road was closed down by gravel pond. We rode our bikes past the barricades and saw that the Kingfisher parking lot was under about 3 feet of water. It was obvious that my volunteer gravel-pond monitor gig on Monday was not going to happen, because the water levels would ensure that COMSA activities would continue to be canceled for at least several days.

But with the road closed, there was a nice little stretch for bike riding without having to worry about automobile traffic. We took advantage of that, and just rode back and forth between the barricades and the flood. It was fun!

After that, it was off to swim practice, where the sadistic coach made everyone do a stack of 400s to start the workout. I started out slowly, but recovered to an almost-acceptable pace by the end of the set.

While I was slogging through a truly average swim practice performance, my friend and Triple Bypass team captain (Kim Clemens) was winning multiple gold medals at the Colorado Senior Games. He smoked his competition with a couple of PRs -- and then got on his bike and rode Highgrade and several other mountain roads for a total that was more than twice as much as I rode. I just hope he doesn't get too bored waiting for me after he finishes the Triple while I'm still cruising through Georgetown or whatever. He's my ride home.

Oh well, at least I got to attend the Foothills Masters swim team party and gorge myself on Leif's melt-in-your-mouth BBQ. (I also partook of more than my share of the scrumdiddlyumptous desserts, but I'm not disclosing any caloric details, thank you.) As all of our swim team parties are, the entire event was delightful and entertaining. We are blessed to have a team full of smart, funny, and just-plain-nice people who continuously support and encourage each other. I love it!

As for the Pluto lecture follow-up discussion, I'm going to save that for later. But yes, it was Bruce Lee who got all philosophical about pointing fingers and heavenly glory. The other folks on my list are also great philosophers. Oh sure, they're all known for survival skills and for their prowess in keeping evil at bay, but if you listen to what they have to say about life, you'll find uncounted pearls of logic and wisdom.

With that thought, I shall sign off for today. Thanks for dropping by, and have a great day!