Are You Living It?

Wow - what a weekend. Yesterday topped it off with blue skies and still some powder to be found on Vail’s back bowls. I tallied 4 face plants but Ryan took the cake with a two flip end-o as he attempted to jump a cliff for the 4th time that day. Camille and I had gone the super speedy groomer route - waiting for the boys down at the lift. Only to see Ryan come around the corner disheveled and covered in snow. Hopefully Josh caught it all on camera - we’ll find out after a quick download.

Suited up for my first ever go at Valley of the Sun yesterday.  It is a great story and I will save it, but we almost didn’t make it to the race.  Cody actually missed his start time, but Neil and I made it with about 4 minutes to spare.  We suited up in the van and registered, threw the number on, GO!  I can now say that warming up is definitely a necessity.  I ran 20th Neil just a close 3rd on team G.C.  The new guy, Ben Kneller stole the show with his fast time trialing skills and also his fashion.

Even as I sit here, my legs are slightly throbbing and I can’t drink enough liquids to adequately recover.

I had forgotten this portion of the season. Where the anticipation for the rapidly approaching racing begins and every interval seems to count toward gaining as much fitness as humanly possible. Fatigue from pushing your limits starts to settle into the muscles and you begin eating like a horse. Gone are the days of lazily getting on the bike and just putting time in the saddle. Now days are filled with meaningful purpose and missions to accomplish with each stroke!

I woke up this morning with a long list of to-do’s patiently waiting for me.   First order of business everyday, without exception, is to start the Tea Kettle.  Nothing gets done before I brew up a fresh batch of the Yerb.  I think if my house was on fire I would probably brew up a freshy before I actually exited the building. 

The snow is pretty big here on Colorado’s Western Slope–bigger than it’s been in a long time–so it goes without saying that on a Saturday without a cloud anywhere, the order of the day was laying down tracks.  Backcountry, Purg, skate skiing, snowshoe-ing, sledding on an orange piece of plastic–whatever your flavor, yesterday was the day.

What happens when you put 5 hours in the saddle with tempo and interval work thrown in the mix? One tired puppy, I tell you what.

As of this morning I was indecisive about what ride to do. I contemplated heading up
North to meet with the Broadmark fellas for their fixie ride, meeting up with my friend Peter, or heading south to Leschi to meet up with the Avanti ladies. I left the house bright and early at 8 and made my decision on the trail - ladies it is!

I pinned the numbers on for the first time in the 08 season yesterday and ripped into a two hour crit in Imperial, California.  The field was strong but small.  I rolled over there with a my teammates Neil and Cody after logging in a couple hours of good training that morning.  My goal was to just hang on.  Afte Neil and Cody made the first break that lasted an hour it got brought back with about 40 minutes to go.  I attacked and went solo for a lap when Carl Bourdine (Spelling) came accross. He was stong and killed me at the line.  I honestly went the fastest in a sprint I have ever gone and he still got me.  I ended up getting second, Cody 3rd, Neil 4th.  More later, I am off to a time trial this morning.  Off to a fun start of 08 season.

It was a long week–yes, even the Live Your Passion crew has to deal with Quickbooks, Sales Tax Returns, filing, and data entry–and I needed to let off a little steam.  While I was staring at the wall above my computer monitor, trying to decide what to do, my black Lab, Theo, sauntered in from the hallway.  He didn’t do his typical dramatic flop on the floor, but instead walked right up to me, stared at me for a second, and then rested his head on my leg.

It’s been interesting the last couple of years, watching the sport of professional cycling come unraveled and lose almost all credibility due to performance enhancing drugs. It’s actually quite sad!! When you peruse through the cycling websites such as www.cyclingnews.com or www.velonews.com you are almost overwhelmed with article after article about the latest of the latest doping scandals.