North, South, East and West

My crazy last two week in summary.

8/27 After work loaded up the Kern Cruiser and John, Charlie and I headed west.

8/28 We drove until 1 am then got a room and crashed for 5 hours. Had the worst continental breakfast ever then hit the road again. Got to Fraser Colorado at 3:30, met up with Mike, loaded up on groceries, checked into our condo, went for a hour ride and went out for some pasta.

8/29 After our morning rituals we went to the race HQ for King of the Rockies at Winter park got checked in for the race, went back to the condo, got suited up and rode to the start line. John had a great race beating Charlie by only seconds. I felt good all race and shaved almost 40 min off last year’s time. Mike had chain trouble on the first climb and crashed on a decent but still finished and even took second in the “Road Rash” competition. My Sister Angela and her husband Brock, were at the finish so we made plans and met the for a Crazy Donkey burrito and margaritas at Azteca after the awards and a short and fast ride back to Frazier. Then on to the Crooked Creek for Jack Daniels and pool.

8/30 Met Brock at the bike shop as he and Mike, whose bike suffered some damage the day before, were going to rent rides. We then drove up to the Devils Thumb trailhead and rode the High Lonesome trail up to Junco lake. A tough technical trail littered with rocks, roots and short steep climbs. During our 20 mile ride (10 out and 10 back) we saw a few hikers and no other bikes. After a late lunch we checked out the pool/hot tub, went for an hour ride, saw two moose not 10 yards off the trail, ordered two pizzas and crashed.

8/31 Had a plan to ride up to Rogers pass from the condo, about a 14 mile ride starting out at 8,700 feet and climbing up to just shy of 12,000. Charlie, Brock and I rode it last year but started about 1/3 of the way up. I really struggled to keep going but made it to the top after about 3 hours. Way too much work for the fun down-hill that followed. We took a different route back to hit the Broken Thumb trail and extend the ride to over 30 miles. Then after Mike left for the airport to head home John, Charlie and I went to Winter Park’s Trestle bike park for some chair lift assisted down-hill runs. Way easier! Then the Cheeky Monk for some 9% AC Belgium brews and an encore at Azteca followed by Hot Tub and Steam Room.

9/1 Moring ride out on Creekside, Broken Spade, Chainsaw, D2 and Upper Elk Creek trails. The latter of which has a Way too Hard climb followed by a very scary steep descent. Then Bombed the Forest roads back to town for lunch and to pack up. My sister had us over for dinner then we headed eat toward home.

9/2 Still driving. Fortunately Charlie had too much coffee (2 cups?) and drove all night so when I woke up we were in Iowa already. I drove to the cities and JK got us home tired but happy.

9/3 & 9/4 A blur of work, trying to catch up on sleep and fighting off some kind of Flu.

9/5 Madelyn’s 9^th birthday after taking her, her sister and two friends bowling the night before and the friends sleeping over I made them breakfast, went for a ride (thought I was going to die), had lunch and headed north to some friends cabin in Hackensack. Then after Beer, BBQ Ribs and Birthday cake we drove to my parents house in Walker.

9/6 Managed to sleep in until 9:00 and would have slept longer but had to get ready for Church and brunch. Then we went for a bike ride, sailing and tubing. Ate more Ribs and Birthday cake.

9/7 I got up early and went for a couple hour MTB ride in the Chippewa National Forest by Walker, then another bike ride with the family, lunch at the “502” and more tubing for Madelyn. Then packed up and headed South home.

Yes that was the summary.