Lesson #1 from race four in the Ascent Cycling Series - ignore the crazy guy hollering at you to do wheelies and other crazy stunts during your pre-ride... Oh yeah, can't! Enthusiastic spectator turned course tear down volunteer was my husband and I wouldn't want to disappoint him - so I did the wheelie at the top of the hill and promptly fell off my bike. Oh well - that's what I get for trying to show off! And at least it was during the pre-ride.... A great start to the evening! Anyways...…

     In my circle of friends, it's a common occurence for inanimate, yet cherished objects to warrant a name. And before you start judging, this phenomemon is apparently fairly rampant in our culture. Ships have been named for presidents from the U.S.S. Washington to the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush. Herby and Kitt were both beloved automobiles. Even a healthy dose of the entertainment I enjoyed as a kid including The Brave Little Toaster, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Winnie the Pooh were all…

Throughout the day yesterday I looked outside to see rain, sunshine, wind and heard a few rolls of thunder through the afternoon. I was not sure what we would be in for at race time but it is always a bad to think or plan on anything but going to the start line ready. A couple of times I have been in races that were rained out at or just after the start. That is a head trip, you are mentally turned on to race mode, tapered back in your training, fueled ready for high octane performance, and…

Another successful Hardrock is in the books.  For those unaware of this event, here’s the story in picture form:

Due to some property issues near Telluride, the course was a whopping 102.5 miles long this year, the farthest I’ve ever ran, and hopefully the farthest I ever have to run.  The fastest guy ran just under 25 hours.  The slowest runner showed up about…

If there is something that makes life more fun than Wednesday night Mountain Bike races, it is not coming to mind right now. I am just coming down off the high from the weekend’s adventure at the 12 hours of Snowmass race. On Sunday I was so tired all I could do was sleep and eat. Monday the legs came around and I was able to ride hard for a few hours in the Canyon. Tuesday I had to back it off because I was getting carried away going too hard. Yup it is time to race again.

This was…

Quick! Name the one thing that really makes a race stand out. Okay, a swag bag filled with goodies is nice. It's always fun to dig through a bag, drooling over the race fkyers and nibbling on the samples. I'll freely admit to having a warerbottle covered in race stickers and I really love all the waterbottles. But I have a cupboard full of waterbottles now and can only use so many at a time. Fancy t-shirts or socks? Always good to replace shirts that have gotten all stained up and socks get…

So I’ve had an idea in mind for a different workout and finally gave it a try on Thursday, July 19. Monument Preserve has long been a favorite place to run. It offers varied terrain, some up and down but certainly not killer hills and scenic trails that weave in aall over U.S. Forest Service land. There is a main parking lot for the preserve, right along Mt. Herman Road but I usually park at a pull-off area another half-mile or less up the road, almost directly across from a Forest Service…

Boulder's Sean Quigley needed to make a fast decision: start out quicker than planned or wait for the early pace-setter to fall back to the pack.

Quigley, 27, and four other runners, including runner-up Sean Brown, 24, of Colorado Springs and third-place finisher Matt Tebo, 23, of Boulder, chose to attack during the Classic 10K and Circle of Hope Run on Saturday morning.

“I was hoping to pick up the pace a little later but one guy went out ahead after one mile,” Quigley said of…

Some days people put ideas in your head. One day, someone told me that a lot of people have done the incline 3 times in one day. Thursday afternoon I set off to accomplish this. I also wanted to make each trip up the Incline and down the Barr Trail under an hour each. Three sub 40 minute incline trips up. I also was able to average well under 8 minutes per mile on the trip down. I don't count the section between the top of the Incline and the Barr Trail. It's only about a quarter of a mile…

I wasn't sure how the legs were going to feel when I pedaled over to Bear Creek Terrace on Wednesday for the third race in the Ascent Cycling Series. A long weekend with some hard miles (Breck 100) had left me feeling more than a little beat up. Even though I was tired, I still wanted to race - something about throwing down hot laps on the fun trails! I got on the course and did two laps easy after the 5:00 race started. It was definitely an easier course with fewer rock gardens and…

I’ve always enjoyed running hills and with one exception I’ve always lived in states where there were ample opportunities to to roll up and down a running course. I seem to recall, many moons ago, reading in some magazine about a runner who said races are won on hills, that hills were the place to exert some effort, to pass and maybe even demoralize your competition. Well, if you’ve been reading any of the previous blogs here you know that I am not really out to win anything but still…

Sand Creek Race #3 in the books. Back at Bear Creek for the action this go around. I am still amazed how fun it is to wrap around the little trails of Bear Creek. I always discount the fun factor for that venue but every time I end up having a riot. Last night was no different. Andy claimed this was “his course” meaning he laid it out, and I think it was the best loop yet. Well done Andy!…

ROLL 2012 will feature a variety of

hands-on activities for young and old

alike. Bring your peloton to 219 W.

Colorado to catch one or all these

events:

5:30 - 6:30 PM Kat Tudor teaches a

FREE Bike Yoga Class. Bicycling

and Yoga go hand-in-hand to build

flexibility and balance. Cross-training

will improve your maneuvering skills

and your post-ride recovery. Kat

teaches positions which

counterbalance…

Upward! Upper Barr Trail, July 15

It has been an eventful few weeks. I've got to get back in the rhythm of writing here; since the fire, the words don't flow like they used to. It put things in perspective. Nature doesn't care about human life. (Actually, anyone who has hiked the upper reaches of Barr Trail knows that nature doesn't care about…

   Well, I just haven't  felt like talking about running much with all the fire's in Colorado, but it seems to be getting better.  I was often asked if we were busy during the Waldo Fire and I am happy to say that we did not transport anyone from the fire, great Job to the all the people who helped put out the fires.  It was incredible to see how the Springs came together and helped each other out.  

 …

Wow, from the last time I wrote up a blog piece a lot has happened. A lot of it has been bad but certainly some has been good. Racing last month at Palmer Park no one could have foreseen what the coming weeks would hold for Colorado Springs. Personally I have never been so close to such widespread devastation and fear. I have never known what it is like to live day after day glued to the media coverage listening for every shred of news with rapt intension. I hope I never have to do it again.…

Wow - a month since the last Ascent Cycling race. It's been a crazy, busy month too, with lots of things going on. I know plenty of people have said this already, but we should all be very thankful for the hard work of the Forest Service crews, the CSFP and everyone else involved in the Waldo Canyon Fire. We may have lost some of the best trails in the area, but it's a small loss comparatively. We still have…

     Sometime during a 6.5 hour Leadville scouting run Saturday, I convinced myself that taking care of the monthly Pikes trip the following day was a good idea. With the goal of more time on feet and Charlie Brown by my side, in actuality, it wasn't bad at all.  There were a handful of moments early on though that I began thinking about my training plans (or lack thereof) that got me into situations like this, oftentimes with little forewarning or…

IMG-20120626-00007.jpg  IMG-20120625-00003.jpg        My latest Blog I spoke of the fire, mostly, which devastated my part of town on the last day of what was a perfect 5 day vacation to tracktown USA, Eugene, Oregon.  Now comes time to talk of this little getaway we…