Sore and alive

Well looking back on my accident I can be thankfull that it wasn't worse. My body would have been draged off the trail by a mtn lion and no one would have found my body.

I'm looking forward to the Ortho/MRI visit to make sure all is well for a speedy recovery.

in the meantime here are a couple of pics pre accident

for those of you wondering, the Stumpy got off with a chewed up grip and brake lever, no other apparent damages.

Lucky bastard.

Dirt Weekend

2 days of riding the Stumpjumper on parts of the Enduro course in preparation for the pain to come. 70 miles and tons of climbing over 2 days have left me feeling strangely... stronger. after day one I was really tired and sore. but after day 2 I felt great, just a little tired. I even took a sprint around the A loop of single track at Curt Gowdy state park on a S-Works Epic compliments of Specialized bikes demo unit. That bike performed like a true race horse and even though I was tired, I easily rode my fastest lap ever for the 5 mile loop. I usually never rave about a bike much as I generally think of them as tools to reach the finish line. Some are stiffer, some are lighter, and some ride smoother than others. I really don't think it matters much as long as you are properly sized to the bike and you like the ride. I think this is the first bike I ever rode in which I was raving for minutes after getting off of it. I am so stoked that I have a job that allows me to get the best equipment in the sport I love at cost or below. I can't wait til January so I can get an '09 S-Works Epic. Time to start selling all the other bikes in preparation.

Memorial day weekend

Loaded up the Bambi Thursday for an early Friday afternoon departure from work. I ended up working an hour longer than I wanted and got on the road at 2pm head for Buffalo Creek (en route thru Denver traffic). Stopping for gas at the Flying J before crossing into Colorado I was stuck behind some yahoo that must have been filling 100 gal side tanks of diesel before having to pay by cash at the register causing a longer delay.

This was my view for 20 minutes

Nice view huh?

150 miles later I arrived at the group campground. Not a bad drive after the gas line wait.

Being early I was able to setup near Chuck, the organizer of the weekend's camper. This put me near the keg.

Setting up the Stream I had endless encounters with the others already there on wanting to tour the living quarters. I left the door open intentionally for the rest of the arrivals to check out Bambi. I felt like an Airstream rep showing off all the features. Everyone loved it.

There where plenty of other dogs and dog lovers to keep Nikki and Axel occupied. They also got to run the trails as we did parts of the Colorado Trail and Gashouse trail to keep them in energetic check.

Saturday, after the girls group ride, Matt (a Skins teammate and my inviter in this shindig) and I took off for a ride on the Colorado trail. We went from the camp to the wilderness boundary, back to camp, to the parking area at the highway, and back to camp. Somewhere around 30 miles of single track and lots (LOTS) of climbing.

Matt is a climbing phenom. He came close to a stage win at the Tour of the Gila this year and was the highest placed Skins rider at the Dead Dog road race last year.

I don't try to compete with him when the road turns up. For the most part this is what I saw.

It was usually on singletrack but you get the picture.

\On Sunday, Matt, his wife Kat, friends Joe and ?, and I headed out and rode the course for next weeks mountain bike time trial race that would be held there.

It will be a fairly entertaining (and hard) course and I would love to do it if I wasn't committed to a friends B-Day party that day.

Here is a pic of Kat and friend behind Matt, Joe and I.

Fun stuff came to an end when I had to pack up and head back home.

Work was calling for Monday.

Matt's family accomodations