duck

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Nice day

Plus LSU is up 31-0 at half

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Backyard fun

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Perhaps one of the last nice August evenings... sent via Treo by AT&T

to: Gustav

please stay away from New Orleans. we've had enough.

Good morning

Game day in 48hrs

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Utah

I lovee going out to Utah, esp. the desert trips we make in the winter and spring. However, the state really was riding the OLD bandwagon by keeping up their Olympic signs at the state lines...for 6 years after the 2002 winter olympics there. I was very happy to see the paper running a story saying they're finally taking the signs down.

changes

summer, I HATE to say, is waning. Sure it still warms up some in the day, provided there's no cloud cover. But it has been getting in the upper 30s at night now. That happened into late May/early June too. Some aspens are showing the color change already, albeit ever so slightly.

Can you believe I just turned down an opportunity on the telephone to buy high-altitude cook books for all of our Breckenridge rental properties here? Funny, and she told me they won international awards. I might believe that. After all, how competitive is the field of international high-altitude cook books?

Alina and her baby dolls

i think last night we counted 9 baby dolls. that's a lot.

 
 
 
 

Mts. Guyot & Baldy

And...my fresh new XTR cassette and SRAM chain thankfully mated nicely to my older XTR rings.

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Mineral Hill

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Twilight house shoot

Better cam pic coming later

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Park meadows mall

Mmmm...orange julius

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race #14 re-cap

last night wasn't to be, I suppose you can say, if you believe in that thinking. Breck Brawl is a pretty fun course, well-suited to a slightly-above-average all-arounder like myself. A few sustained climbs early, but none too steep, a lot of middle ring fireroad climbing, peppered with some rolling singletrack down to the finish. Off the start Thompson and Richard had an instant 50yd gap. They rode away from me initially, then I saw Richard broke his chain. That was some motivation, as my start wasn't super strong. I needed 40 points to overtake him for the overall series win. I thought he would win, and I wouldn't have the point differential. After seeing his mechanical, I thought it might work out. I was climbing well, riding with Zeke and staying just about 200m in front of the Marshall brothers. The descents were fine, though I did almost endo at 25mph after not seeing an abrupt water bar while flying down the service road below the Super Connect lift. I could definitely maintain my position, probably riding in for 4th, which would be enough if Richard DNFd. Then on the end of lap 2 while descending the Lehman Trail, I saw Zeke off the side of the trail with a broken chain. That was even more motivation. I rode strong through the finish, then really poured it on for the last 3 miles of fireroad climbing before hopping on the Southside Trail and descending the last half of the course. I was riding strong in 2nd place, though Steve and Joe Marshall were only about 20-30 seconds back. Then as I was really psyched on my riding and the upcoming downhill section...I flatted. Almost the same damn spot as 2 years back....another season that I lost the overall title and event win due to a flat tire. Uggh. The fact that I flatted in and of itself isn't the reason for my disappointment. Flats happen, they're part of racing. And I hadn't had a flat in over 2 seasons of competition. The REAL reason I lost was my VERY POOR DECISION to try and ride my flat to the finish, and maintain enough finishing point to still overtake Richard. Well, that might have worked, had Richard DNFd. But he toughed it out to get just enough points to beat me. Hats off, and perhaps the proper season finale, as he was indeed the stronger rider these last few weeks. But it really bums me out to lose the overall title due to a VERY POOR DECISION. I could have thrown a tube in there with a cartridge, and only lost 2min tops. As I rode on my rim (the Crossmax is still true now) to the finish, I passed Thompson on the side of the trail, he was cussing due to his misfortune as well, as he had the win in the bag. So without my flat, I would have been riding happily in 2nd, and would have passed Mark to take the lead and win. Ah well, next year. I do take away some positives, I have to. 2nd place in that category isn't terrible. My fitness is right where it needs to be for the upcoming cross season. I look forward to the early races, then racing every weekend in October, then hopefully a good showing at the Boulder Cup wknd races in early November.

race 13 re-cap

last week's Penn Gulch grind. 4th place. thought i was in 2nd, but I never saw Richard and the other guy off the front early. Felt pretty good. great backcountry course. climbed the entire grind in my 34x30-34. the blue river trail is a high-speed video game. what a great descent.

props to Helen

an article below from the Leadville Chronicle appeared in our local paper today.

Leadville pics

what a great moment. Big win for Helen. Only a 38% finishing rate this year due to the weather. All of Helen's blizzard running this winter surely helped.

Great proud moment for Alina and I too.

 
 
 
 

Leadville pics

 
 
 
 

more

At least trails aren't too wet

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frosting

Snow in Leadville, snow in Breck. Gross.

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Victory for Helen

Helen wins Leadville 100 with her course PR of 23hr21min (unofficial time). Now...some sleep.

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Leadville 100, mile 86.5 update

Well, things look awesome! Diana just came back to the hotel room. She said Helen arrived at the last aid station, Mayqueen at mile 86.5, at approx. 11:30p. That projects Helen to finish the 100mi at around 2:45a. Race officials say that she has a lead of over an hour on the 2nd place woman. Not sure, but the 2nd place woman is prob. Steph Ehret. The other gal who was within striking distance was apparently pulled at Winfield for medical reasons. Wow, i'm excited. Will prob sleep for an hour, then head over to the finish!

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Leadville 100 update

skies dried up some, sporadic rain and hail, but not as wet as this morning. but temps only in the high 40s. feels like October. nonetheless, Helen was into Winfield aid station, mile 50, in 8th place overall (out of over 550 racers), and 1st woman. We dropped off Kate Lapides there and they ran over Hope Pass for the 2nd time, down into Twin Lakes and then over to Halfmoon and Treeline. Diana's taking a nap now, Alina's watching an Elmo movie. we had a quick lunch in town and now we're soon off to Treeline to let Diana pace Helen over to Mayqueen where Katie will run with Helen to the end. Hopefully Helen hasn't gone out too fast. She looked awesome at Winfield, but she usually has trouble at the 63-75mi mark. Not physical trouble, but mental trouble. We'll see.

 
 
 

11a Leadville 100 update

Diana just arrived. Alina's loving jumping on the bed! skies cloudy, but not any rain or snow here. snow frosted on the mountains.

 
 
 
 

early hours of :L100

at 4a this morning for the race start, it was 39 degrees with a steady drizzle. it's about 8:30a now, and the skies are socked in gray, and it's been raining steadily with thunder all morning. Probably about the worst weather day all summer, and it coincides with the big race. I hope Helen has enough clothes; I'm pretty sure she does. We won't see her until about 2p this afternoon, when we drive Kate out to Winfield at the 50mi mark.

Helen's big one - Leadville 100

Here we are again in Leadville for Helen's big race. Start time is only about 7hrs away. Pretty violent storms over Breck and the mountains today, including large hail and lightning. The mountains west and south of Leadville, including the course's highpoint, intimidating Hope Pass at 12,600', all were cloaked in thick dark clouds as we drove through town earlier during a light rain. Hopefully the worst of it was today and tomorrow brings better weather. If not, no worries. Helen is proven in bad weather, and she logs more miles in blizzard conditions than anyone else I know in the entire ultrarunning community. Rain and/or snow will just make it worse for those who aren't prepared, but that certainly won't be Helen.

Anyone reading this over the weekend, wish Helen lots of great thoughts and positive energy. She is aiming for 22hr30min time, about an hour off of last year's 4th place time of 23hr35min. Diana, Kate & Katie are all coming up to help pace Helen during the last 50 miles. Pretty much from 3p onward, leaving from Winfield up and over Hope Pass for the 2nd time of the day.

T- 7hr14min

Sitting in the Leadville Super 8. More pics from the road over the next marathon 24hrs.

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Sugar Daddy

i saw one on display at the supermarket, and ALMOST broke down and bought one. Then I remembered how they stuck to my teeth, but mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, caramel.

Dennis descending Westridge

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Dyersville

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Colorado Trail

got up at 4:30 this morning so I could get out the door at 5a, and over at the dredge by twilight for a long ride on some more classic trails. Dennis, Scott and I rode from Horseshoe Gulch and then up Blair Witch to Hayes to the Soda Creek loop. Scott continues on home while Dennis and I climbed up the switchbacks on the way up Westridge. 24 great miles of singletrack, in just under 3 hrs of riding. Passing through the Keystone Ranch area, we saw a big herd of elk, over 23 total. Easily my wildlife highlight of the summer. Hearing their breath and steps across the meadow is quite impressive.

Wheeler Trail

a few pics from the Copper side.

 
 
 

Wheeler Trail

last Saturday I got out at the crack of dawn to ride up to Wheeler Trail and over the pass. epic high alpine ride. a true summit county classic.

 
 
 
 

backpack

Alina says she's going for a run...