Mt Evans, Breckenridge 100, and riding the Front Range

The past 5 days have found me venturing throughout the greater Denver area for road riding, dirt riding, and relaxing. This past Saturday was the Mt Evans hill climb, and event which Luisa was signed up for and I was planning on just riding along. My plan was cut short at about the halfway point when a race official stopped me about a mile past the fee station for Mt Evans, informing me that the road was closed to non-racers and that I'd be ticketed if I continued to the summit. I was pretty pissed off. I had my mind set on climbing that damn hill and this jackass in a Subaru just burst my bubble completely.

I rode down for a little while and caught up with Luisa, who was racing the climb and started about 20min after I took off. I told her that I'd just meet her back in Idaho Springs where the car was. I continued riding for a little while up and down Squaw pass, but not down the whole pass. Then headed back to Idaho Spring to wait for L. I was really bummed, but at least I can head back and ride the country's highest paved road some other day.

After the hill climb we went up to Breck to support two of our friends, Mike Melley and Kimo Seymour, who were competing the the Breckenridge 100 MTB race. This race is crazy with something like 15,000 vertical feet of climbing. I was amazed, but had no desire to compete in such an event. 10+ hours on a mountain bike is my idea of a sore ass, not my idea of fun. Mountain bike races have such a cool vibe to them, with a completely laid back feel, lots of people hanging out, and not the hyper stressed out environment of triathlon. Speaking of triathlon, two of Kimo and Mike's Boulder friends were there hanging out: superstar triathletes Tim and Nicole DeBoom. It was a fun day.

To cap off the weekend, Luisa and I met up with our friends Nate and Erin for a scorching hot Rockies game. The pre-game meal found us hanging out at Falling Rock Tap House for a few pints and some grub. Then the Rockies pulled off a nice run about halfway through the game. Fun Times.

As for training, this week is going well. Mountain biked yesterday for 4 hours then bricked a 30min run. Both the bike and run found me struggling to keep my heart rate low. The bike was steady in the 160s throughout with stints in the upper 170s and peaking around 186. I typically don't see a heart rate above 185 unless I'm really pushing myself through my pain threshold (I race Ironman around 145-150 bpm). Then on my run I just couldn't go slow enough to stay in a controlled zone, so I just went hard; problem solved.

Today was suppose to be a 5+hour ride, so I mapped out a little ride through the front range, covering all of the climbs and routes that I know of. I fell about an hour short of my predicted saddle time; the ride only took 4.5 hours. I wasn't too bummed though since my legs where pretty well fatigued from yesterdays threshold fest. I just maintained a nice steady tempo throughout all of the flats and the climbs, then spun easy on the downhills. I spent the whole ride being chased by rain, but escaped with just a few sprinkles and one really close lightning strike just off the Evergreen exit of I-70. That strike made me climb that exposed climb a lot faster.

As I looped around a sub-division just south of Morrison I spotted a lawn decoration that looked quite tacky in front of this million dollar home. Who decorates their lawn with deer decor? As I get closer I start to think that some people really don't know what to do with their money, but wow, that lawn ornament looks pretty life-like. Wait, that ornament's mouth is moving, and there's two. Those things are real! Well, that's a first for me. Riding through a subdivision with countless cars passing by and two doe are just chilin', eating some finely manicured grass. Crazy. Then, as I continue riding and thinking just how strange seeing a deer in the front lawn of someone's house, I see three more, bucks this time. I slow down and pull out my phone and snap a few pics, as I was pretty amazed.

The strange thing about the deer sighting is that I just finished riding through the mountain wilderness and all I saw up there were some birds, a few squirrels, and road kill. Then, I see 5 deer as I'm cruising through this remote southwestern suburb of Denver. Crazy.