August | 2016 | Steve Tilford

Yesterday I was sitting at the dining room table, talking to Vincent, and a small bird floated down to the floor behind him. He leaned over and said there was a hummingbird on the floor. It was laying there with his wings open.

Vincent picked up the bird and said he couldn’t even feel its’ weight in his hands. He took the bird outside and put him on a feeder. He just sat there, not feeding or moving.

Last night I checked on him and he was just in the same position. I got up last this morning and Lisa said the hummingbird had died. He was hanging upside down on the feeder. I went outside and he wasn’t there. I assumed he fell off.

But I went down and he wasn’t underneath the feeder either. Then I remembered something I had read about hummingbirds, that they could go into a weird trace-like state from too much sugar-water, so I was hoping that was the case.

I Googled the question and it came back that hummingbirds actually sleep upside down normally. I was very happy. You don’t want to be associated with a dead hummingbird normally.

Yesterday we turned back on a 4 hour ride. We got to 12,000 ft. and the weather looked horrible. We’d been riding an hour and a half, plus, I’d been getting rained on everyday this week, so we just descended by to Copper Mountain. I sort of fell twice. Just fell over sideways, but I’m still sore this morning.

We’re heading over to Eagle pretty soon to ride some trails that Vincent raced earlier this year. We’re picking up Karl in Vail on the way. Should be fun.

Hummingbird in the house.

Then at the feeder.

Last night.

This morning.

Now.

Vincent took this photo climbing up above treeline yesterday. I had a Shimano camera on the front, but haven’t edited it yet.

Yesterday, Karl, Vincent and I drove over to Eagle and rode some of their local trail system. It was really different from riding the Colorado Trail in Copper Mountain or some of the other local trails. It seemed more like high desert riding than mountain riding. Most of the trail we rode on were open to motorcycles, so the trails were a little more torn up.

There is a huge temperature difference at the lower elevation of 6500 feet. On Strava, it said the ride averaged 88 degrees. Most of the time I looked down on my Garmin it was in the lower 90’s. We weren’t in any rush and everyone did okay in the heat.

I had my Shimano camera running most of the tricky descents, so with some editing, I can post a short video of the riding up in Summit and Eagle counties. Funny think about filming MTB riding. It looks like it is going super fast motion, plus, for some reason, it isn’t nearly as dusty looking as in real life.

This morning I’m heading over to Leadville to do a ride with Kent and Katie Eriksen. They are competing on a tandem on Saturday. Katie won the Laramie Enduro last Saturday, which is a 68 mile race, so they should be in pretty good shape for the weekend. Kent is always just Kent, which is pretty unbelievable.

Brian Jensen moved out to Colorado, plus Matt Gilhousen, owner of our sponsor, Tradewind Energy, is out to ride Leadville, so it is a little team reunion this weekend. Brian is talking about riding up Columbine before the race gets there. I’m not sure that is alright, but if it seems to be, I’ll go with him. I need to cheer on the home team. I don’t really have a desire to race Leadville this year. Last year was a bust and I’m not doing any better this, so it is probably best just spectating.

Trudi flew back to Denver from California, finishing her duties from the Tour of Utah. She got up to Silverthorne at 1 pm and played with the dogs all afternoon, while we were out riding. She got in a little ride and I’m sure she is going to sleep a ton, which she always does after working a stage race. There isn’t much sleep to be had during those events.

Okay, I need to get going. A complicated plan today, people everywhere, then meeting back up in Vail for dinner later.

Kent and Katie ran into Floyd yesterday in Leadville. I guess he was serving Whiskney and hotdogs at his booth. I hope to see him in the next couple days. I haven't talked to him forever.

Kent and Katie ran into Floyd yesterday in Leadville. I guess he was serving whiskey and hot dogs at his booth. I hope to see him in the next couple days. I haven’t talked to him forever.