August | 2011 | Steve Tilford

Well, yesterday was a minor nightmare riding. Catherine skipped racing in East Village because she was being honest and thought that racing while taking prednisone wasn’t right. She is on a 10 day prescription which ends in a couple days. Jesus Christ, it is unreal. We went out, Dennis started, for a 3 hour MTB ride. Dennis made it until the first climb, then said ciao. From then on it was non stop attacking. Stupid. It was just my luck, racing the day before, lacking sleep, then getting hammered all day.

Anyway, I climbed the Seeley Fire Tower climb in my big ring pretty hard. It’s a loose, couple minute climb that is pretty hard. When I got to the top, I stopped and took my phone out of my pocket and barely had enough time to take a photo because she was only a couple bike lengths behind me. It was definitely the fastest she has ever ridden up that climb. By far.

And prednisone is a stupid drug that hardly even helps athletics. I can’t imagine what the real ones do. Okay, the next two days might be pretty hard riding. I’m only going to ride my MTB bike. I can only hope for a little pity.

The best quotes of the day were – “Isn’t it a shame that Vincent isn’t here. I’d love to pay him back for Loveland Pass.” The next one was – “I just inhaled or swallowed an butterfly.” I waited a second, thought that was kind of bad, but said, “Maybe that is good karma.” She said, “I think I needed it.” I’m not sure if she meant karma or something from swallowing the butterfly. The next was in Cable, after stopping for some chocolate milk and Gatorade. We were in the sun and I was beat and said, “I need a nap.” She said, “I think I’d like to go out for a run.” That was after 40 miles of riding off-road. Incredible.

Catherine climbing at the top of the Fire Tower.

Catherine missed the dress temperatures. She peeled off her jersey, which had a wind jacket in the pocket, plus check out the arm warmers.

Dennis has a new carbon Trek cross bike that is sweet.

The top tube of the Cronus Trek.

One of my favorite spots on the planet.

Here's Hawkeye who swam with me. Bromont just ran by like a bolt of lightening. He came back later wet, so he went for his own swim.

Yesterday I didn’t ride my MTB like I said I was going to the whole time in Cable. We rode on road bikes for 45 miles. I thought I was more beat than I actually was, but that was fine. Last night we went to eat at the original Famous Dave’s BBQ on Round Lake. We ate outside in the back, overlooking the Lake Owen and it was perfect. Not a bad way to spend a Monday night.

Today is Trudi’s birthday. I had planned to be in Utah or Colorado, but her schedule changed around, mainly because of Cadel coming to the Pro Challenge in Colorado, so we’ll have to celebrate next week. She’ll have a nice birthday in Deer Valley.

Keith Walberg’s video from the dirty Kanza is in a contest with a couple others at Dirt Rag. You can vote. Click here to go to the site and see the videos. Don’t forget to click like to vote.

The sports writers of the paper voted me 22 best athlete in there opinion. They only used file pictures they had, from way back, in the article, so there are some pretty good photos from a long time ago. One, I’m shaving my legs in my bathtub. Anyway, click here for the link.

Lots of results from this weekend. Brian Jensen, my team mater from Tradewind, won the Missouri State Criterium Championships in Jefferson City on Sunday. Brian Matter won the Ore to Shore MTB race in a sprint with Cole House. And last, but not least, Todd Wells won the Leadville 100 MTB race. Congratulations to Vincent, Sergio, Dan Huges, Drew, Lynne and all the other friends that got their belt buckles.

Today we’re going to ride the 20 miles down to the start of the Chequamegon race in Hayward and then ride the whole course and then back to Dennis’ house. That will be something in the mid-60’s range, which seems pretty far on a MTB bike. Then, of course, the after race swim in Lerche Lake.