Today Vincent, Bill & I rode over to Vail today from Silverthorne. It was about 40 miles each way. Nothing flat. Up Vail Pass from Frisco and the back up Vail Pass from Vail. Just a couple thousand foot climb each way. We had a little under 80 miles total and nearly an 18 mph average for the ride. That is with the majority of the ride over 9500 ft. Not bad for lowlanders. I felt pretty good today finally. I can’t really surge, but steady state it was going pretty good. It is so weird coming back from a 4+ hour hot ride and not having my legs torched. I’m not sure I can do anything at this point to toast my legs. I’m too busy breathing to really wear out my legs much. I don’t think that I can come close to acclimating in just a week. I feel better than 4 days ago, but I’ve had enough experience at altitude to know that it is impossible to produce enough red cells to have that as the reason for the good riding day.

It is amazing how many people you see riding out here. In Denver. Up here in Summit County. One thing I’ve noticed is that most the guys on higher end, race bikes have a totally jacked up position. I didn’t even know that they made stems that had a 45 degree angle up. People are riding so high on their road bikes they might as well be riding straight bars. I noticed this trend starting a few years back and it seems to be the norm now. I don’t know who is fitting all these guys at the shops, but the aren’t doing their customers a service.

We’re back in Denver for the next couple days and then back to Kansas for the Tour of Kansas City Friday thru Sunday. It is going to be really hot and really humid this weekend. I haven’t been riding that well for the past month. Especially in the heat. I was hoping that leaving Kansas for this past week would get me out of the funk I’ve been in. Hopefully that is the case, but if not, I’ve really been having a great time changing up the training and doing some stuff I don’t do that often anymore.

Climbing back up from Vail.

Vincent and Lisa's kid, Pascal, doing a final tune-up on my bike while we get ready to ride.

Back in the stream again. The water is super cold. It rejuvenates you legs instantly, or just makes them numb. I'm not sure which.

Bill and I rode over to Boulder today. The ride wasn’t nearly as congested as I had anticipated. I knew most of the roads, once we got over by the old Morgul-Bismarck course. I went up to Andy Hampsten’s house, but he wasn’t around. I flatted in his front yard and had to change my tube. We then rode over to the Pearl St. Mall and got some coffee and started back. We had 30 miles over and were looking to get home as short a distance as possible. We ran into Corey Collier, Bahati, and he told us the best way. He just got finished with the Tour de Beauce and was going out for a gravel ride on his ‘cross bike. I asked him if he was coming to Tour of Lawrence in two weekends and he said he was going to Fitchburg. I told him that Lawrence was a better race.

We only have one more day out here before we have to head back for Tour of KC. Tomorrow we’re going to do an epic high altitude ride up Golden Gate Canyon and around. I’ve been riding way more than I had thought I would. I thought I was coming out here to rest some and it seems just the opposite. It doesn’t feel wrong, so it is probably alright. World Cup Soccer tomorrow morning early.

Here are some misc. photos I never got around posting.

It was a surprise seeing Raul Acala at the criterium in Dallas last Friday night. I’ve know Raul for 25 years. He once pushed me the last 5 miles to Squaw Valley in the Coor’s Classic. I never would of finished if he hadn’t. I didn’t know he was racing again. He’s just getting back into it, but is going pretty good already.

The kittens are officially adopted by the kitten sitters, The Walberg's. Their official names are Mary Ann and Ginger. Everything is a toy now. Pretty fun.

I put a new windshield in my van an hour before driving to Texas last weekend. 2 hours later I had a rock chip. I took it back and they fixed it with this thing. Today the crack ran across the whole windshield. I hate it when that happens.

Bill's B-day was on Friday in Silverthorne.