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Never been at 14,000 feet before... Rode the first three miles of the Barr Trail which leads to the summit of Pikes Peak. Looks like a doozy, I climbed 2000 of the 7300 vertical feet and didn't feel too bad, of course these were the easy ones. It levels off for a bit and the next steep portion is all between 12,000 and 14,000 feet. I bet that isn't very fun.. I could also lock the bike halfway up and do the rest of the climbing on foot. It's possible to ride to the top, but the last 3 or so miles is pretty much carrying the bike up and then walking it down. Seems like it would be easier to just hike that part.. We'll see.

Ok, where were we? Oh yeah, heading to Dupont State Forest. Dupont was a weird place, the entire forest was on top of what appeared to be pretty much sollid granite. Most of the riding was on nice grippy dirt, but where there was water and on top of some of the mountains it was strangely bare. There were several waterfalls, this one (bridal veil) was really wide, and if one was inclined (and wanted to risk a ticket from the man) they could ride right up the left side to a more traditional falls towards the top.. Instead I continued on around one mountain, and eventually to a cool climb up an exposed slickrock mountainside. I had a brief glimpse of the climb to come: You can actually find this on google maps too, if you are so nerdly inclined... After some more fantastic trails it was time to head back to the car. Packed up and drove to Lake Powotan recreation area for a nice cool swim in the lake surrounded by fireflies, and a slightly more restful sleep (benadryl and less locusts)...

This year was harder then last. I placed better but took hours longer to finish the course. Stage 1: We started racing at 6 am in the dark at the bottom of Park City Mountain Resort. The first mile or so of the climb was on a steep dirt road, which was designed to string the riders out enough that it wouldn't be a big traffic jam when we hit the singletrack. It kind of worked, although I ended up behind some people who were going slower then I wanted to. The singletrack climb was pretty tricky, I gained four places as the people in front of me failed to manuever themselves up the roots and switchbacks of the climb. The climb ended with a 12 or so mile section of trail that was relatively level. I rode and chatted with 2 different people on this section. Then I got a flat on the descent down to The Canyons and fell behind a few minutes. Stage 2: Stage 2 started with a long climb vack up to the same relatively level section of trail then a descent back down to Park City. I p...

Went into North Cheyenne Canyon and a couple of hikes. First up to a series of falls, and the second up an old mining road (led into cripple creek).. Good stuff, acclimating to the altitude (8000 ish feet at the trailhead).. Gold in the rock! I'm rich, rich!!! Steller's jay, seems like the grackel type birds are more blue around here (magpies, blackbirds, etc)

Friday started with wating for the mailman to deliver a desperately needed bike part, then fixing my brakes. I spent some extra time making sure they are working properly since I'm going on a lot of faster descents than back in CT. Then I went to Red Rock Canyon open space. It used to be a quarry and almost became a subdivision, but it was saved by the city, and a bunch of trails were put in. Definitely in the desert here, sandy red rocks, yuccas, and some scrubby pine trees. There has been an unusual amount of rain recently too, so the wildflowers were out and blooming again. I like it here: Not quite southern Utah desert, but pretty dry: Used to be a quarry: After the ride, I went into Manitou Springs to meet up with kara and her work friends at a wine/beer bar slash bookstore. I also got some water out of one of the many soda spring wells dispersed throughout the town.. Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs are rare because they were not originally mining towns, they were d...

Ok , since I locked myself out of my house and have nothing else to do but hang around town I might as well get some of this done: Day one: Left Connecticut after a hectic 6 or so hours of final packing and bidding farewell to my roomates Chris, Andrew, and Pete for (maybe) the last time I'll see them. Left around 6 PM which make for a pretty smooth drive to Jersey, 4 ish hours for a drive that has taken me 6 before due to traffic. Arrived, said hi to grandpaw and went to bed. Day two: Spent the day with the grandparents and dad, who arrived after a slightly hellish overnight trip from MT to Philly via Denver and San Fransisco (don't ask).. My dad and his mom: Grandpa Zeke: Went on a bike ride, went to Lowes and looked at sheds, had dinner with fantastic corn and ribs with uncle Tom aunt Donna , and cousins Sarah and Laura .. Overall a nice relaxing day in Jersey. Day Three: This day involved the longest drive of the whole trip: 760 miles and 7 states. The drive went...