Philidelphia and Detroit

In mid-June Jeff and I spent a little over a week on the East Coast and Michigan visiting friends and family. We had a great time in both locations.

Philadelphia seemed a bit of a blur until I reviewed the pictures...

We spend much of our time quenching our thirst with local brews.



A late night in a shady bar playing the naked game... always the same winner. ;)


Waiting for the train to take us home.


Late night beer pong on the walk/sprint home from the train.


Time on the beach until the fog rolled in. The beers were good though.


Thank you to Kerry and Spencer for yet another wonderful vacation. You guys rock!

Day off the bike

Since both of us were a little banged up we decided we both needed a day off the bike.

Elk Park to Jones and 666

Mary guided us on a ride down Elk Park on Saturday. We left really late which was a bit stressful since Mary had to work in the evening, but she worked it all out.

We didn't stop often for pictures since we were trying to make up time for my crash and Mary's mechanical, but pictures don't communicate the sheer joy of riding bikes on great trails.

I'm looking forward to heading up there again after my elbow heals.

Pikes Peak

Txts --
Courtney: "Want to hike Pikes Peak with me on Friday?"
Me: "Are you trying to kill me?"
Courtz: "No, just up. We can start with the incline. You're in good shape. You go on hard core ride all day long."
Me: "Start with the incline? That's hard enough.... adding the peak?"
Courtz: "we would have to get up really early though."
Me: "How early... I don't do early."
Courtz: "Doing the incline makes it shorter. No later than 6."
Me: "geeze... ok I'm in, but I don't want to slow you down."
Courtz: "Bringing hard boiled eggs for a snack. Unless you think they are gross."
Courtz: "will you bring the caviar, steak, and champagne?"
Me: "You're getting all high class on me. I'll bring PBandJ and PBR."

The last time I climbed Pikes Peak I was 12 and I haven't done it sense for many reasons, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to spend with time with a great friend and it was.

Highlights:
Climbing the incline at 5:15 in the am.
The snake that we saw at the perfect moment
The trail at a .5 grade or -2 grade.
Coffee at Barr camp
Snacks that Courtney shared with me
Climbing up rocks at the top to avoid the snow
Heightened senses
The views
French fries and dips at the top
Following it up with an evening ride on the Overlook
Spending qt with an amazing friend



Thanks for taking me on another adventure Courtney!

Sand Creek

Last week I rode in another Sand Creek Series Wednesday night race and placed 9th out of 9 racers. I'd like to share that there weren't any females on the line with me, but that wouldn't be true. Kelli Emmett raced in the ss category, so I had the pleasure of lining up with a pro.



The races are quite fun and I wish there were more riders who came out to race. It's totally low key and a great spectator event. Each week they change up the course a little bit, which helps make it exciting. I love the aspect of racing with friends and getting to encouraging them on switch backs.

Hopefully my swellbow will heal for this Wednesday night so I can ride. Otherwise I will be cheering on the racers with beer in hand.

icoloradosprings

Check out this link for local change.

Let it ---

inspire you
challenge you
ignite creativity
empower you
encourage you
wake you up!

icoloradosprings

perfect long weekend

We thought about heading down to New Mexico this weekend, but we needed some home and together time instead, and I haven't regretted it one bit.


Early last week I started planning our ride and menu. I knew I wanted to ride a ton and eat tasty food. Although I didn't cook the items I wanted so badly, I am satisfied and I know the waffle mix will hold until next weekend (along with the bacon...shhh).



Jeff and I rode the Whiskey Loop on Saturday, which totally kicked my a*$. I ended up walking up one of the tough climbs on Columbine, and at the bottom of Buckhorn I decided to split with Jeff head back home. The lightning scared the heck out of me, but as I passed CC I figured if they were willing to keep a bunch of 8 year old soccer players on the field, I must be okay.




Saturday we rode up Rampart Range Road to meet friends for a loop at the reservoir. I wanted to do that ride some time this summer, but I didn't know it would come so soon. I made it, though, and in good time. We were planning on heading down the Overlook trail, but I was scared of the rain and lightning so we hitched a ride with Shaun.


To make-up for the previous day we met MikeX2, Jane, and JJ at Balanced Rock to ride up to the Overlook. I lost the arm to my sunglasses, so if you see it on the road up there please pick it up. The climb was well worth it. I think what we experienced today was, "hero dirt." Whatever it was, it was amazing. I felt like I was stuck like glue to the trail and the group was perfect! Thank you for an awesome ride guys/gal!

D and D from Wasson

Sweet sweet project

Betty's advice

"Sometimes you have to just let things or people go." I am trying, but it's hard.

Riding with the boys

I registered for the single speed category in the 1st Sand Creek race of the season thinking I might be the only female in the category. Prior to looking at the start time I had no idea that the single speeders are co-ed and hit the trail with Pro and Cat. 1 males and females. I felt totally out of my league especially when the Pro males came roaring past me not once, but twice. At least the majority of the racers on coarse didn't pass me... I feel pretty good about that. I also finished 8th in a category of 10 all male racers. Pretty snazzy!

The best part was hearing all my friends cheering for me. At times I wanted to stop and give them all hugs for coming out on a Sunday afternoon to ring cow bells and yell, "GO HURDY!" I appreciated it so much. It kept me spinning my pedals when all I wanted to do was slow my roll.

Since the course was 2.3 miles long and we rode for 90 minutes plus a lap it was a great spectator event. I lost count of my laps on the second one, but I feel like I passed certain geographical/human features a crap-ton of times. I will have to ask Matt how many laps he did and subtract 2 since he is defiantly one person who passed me twice.

Hopefully the Sand Creek series advances its record keeping methods... there were a couple of mistakes on the results and it would be nice to compare myself with the Category 1 women. Until next next time...