I’m packing up and heading to Silverthorne Colorado this morning. Fence building expedition. 400 + feet. I’m a bit worried about digging the post holes. I think it is going to be a mini excavator job.

While I’m freezing my butt off at high altitude, I’m going to figure out what I’m doing the rest of the fall. Collecting UCI points isn’t going to enter into the mix. There are over 100 guys in the US with UCI Cyclo-X points. USAC and the UCI have to come up with a different way to score cyclo-x if they are going to keep lining the riders up by the points they randomly give out.

Sunday after Berryman, I drove up to St. Louis to do a little cyclo-x critique. The local ‘cross scene there is pretty healthy. There are lots of reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is Mike Weiss, owner of Big Shark Bicycle Company. Every city could use a guy like him. He promotes the sport for more reasons than just business. His business allows him to indulge in his passion, which is the sport of cycling. Anyway, the Bubba Cross Series is his doing. The course kind of sucked in cyclocross terms. But that didn’t matter. The participates were super into it. The woman’s field had over 30 starters. That is amazing. Most of the women I asked give the credit to Carrie Cash, Team Revolution. She puts on numerous women’s specific cycling clinics and has gotten a lot more women involved in the sport. Pretty big effort for someone that races full time herself.

I’m going to stop through Steamboat and visit Kent Eriksen. Dennis Kruse left me a message yesterday that they are grooming above Steamboat for skate skiing. I was thinking about throwing my skiis into the van, but then thought better of it. It’s still October, bike racing season.

Talking to Mike Weiss at the Bubba Cross.

The woman's start at the Bubba Cross.

Some of the C race. I love the snakey look of a cyclocross.

I saw this guy riding down the street, heading to the food bank for some free food.

Sunset coming in from the ride last night.

It turns out that Lilly is really a Larry. But, I think he is still going to be called Lilly. He is not catlike.

I was grabbing tools last night and realized I have way too many tape measures. But, it seems impossible to find one when you need one. I'm only taking 4 with me to Colorado.

I like driving. I really like to drive. I like to drive fast on the open road. There is nothing like having a full tank of fuel, good music or podcast to listen to and a good cup of coffee. The drive from Topeka to Denver is pretty scenic. I think that Kansas gets a total bum rap because it doesn’t get really boring heading West until you are in Eastern Colorado. Originally, before Kansas became a state, the territory of Kansas stretched all the way to the front range. I’m glad we gave that back to Colorado. It is ugly. I hate Limon. At least along I-70. Mainly because it is the only civilization within a hour either way and they jack you for gas. And it’s ugly in my opinion. A surprise that I hadn’t heard anything about was that there was a meteor shower going on, so there were lots of opportunities to make wishes.

It was kind of strange because once we got a few hours away from Topeka, the radio station selection was great. There was a super NPR station that broadcast with 50000 watts for hours. Plus, there was a lot of different choices of classic rock or alternative music. But, once we crossed the Eastern Colorado border it was only religious stations and country western. Kind of ass backwards.

We’re staying in Arvada tonight and getting fence materials in the morning and heading up to Silverthorne. It has been snowing up there for the past couple days. Nothing like racing a MTB race in the mid 80’s and then a couple days later going up to the high country with a current temperature of 7 degrees. Here is a live web cam shot from Frisco. It is supposed to be in the 40’s by Thursday, so I hope all the snow is gone for a couple days by then.

Alright, it’s nearly 1:30 am Kansas time. Not that late for me, but I have a lot to do tomorrow. I’d better get some more aggressive tread on my MTB bike before I venture out to ride.

Western Kansas sunset on the way out to Denver.