Colorado Springs

Headed down to the Springs to stay with some good cycling friends--Cody, Lisa, and Chris Cox.  I've been racing against Cody for several years, and he's broken off into several different media of the sport, including Road and Cyclocross.  He still sticks with the mountain biking circuit however, and tends to have a lot of power early season... This weekend was no different.  

On Saturday, I drove down and met Cody at his house above downtown.  He was stoked to ride, and so we took off to Palmer Park--an area where I've ridden before at the National Camps--which is littered with technical nuances to practice on.  We had a blast playing around on the hundreds of trails--seriously, there were so many trails, I thought we were lost... 

After a two hour adventure in Palmer, we headed over to check out "The Incline" on Pikes Peak.  It starts at Manitou Springs, and climbs up an almost vertical railroad grade to the top.  Insane!  We were too exhausted to do the whole thing, and it was like a freezer in the canyon.  You can see the incline in the right of this picture from Manitou Springs.

That night, we ate some delicious Lasagna and watched the best cycling movie ever, The Triplets of Belleville.  Great stuff.

On Sunday, we woke up to the smell of bacon and waffles.... and SNOW!  What???  The snow seems to be following me no matter where I escape to...  Despite adverse weather conditions, we piled into the Suburban with our four bikes (Chris and Lisa were planning on riding as well) and headed out to Pueblo Reservoir, about 35 minutes South of the Springs.  We couldn't believe the weather--every time we checked the temperature, it was the same... 14 degrees.  However, Cody and I weren't about to let this little detail spoil our training.  It was a day to separate the boys from the men.  And so we headed out onto one of the coolest rides I've ever done.  It was a little chilly, but with a little help from Pearl Izumi, we kept warm enough to ride for 2 hours along the cliffs of Pueblo Reservoir and down the chutes  with North-Shore features and rock outcrops.  It was great.  This photo is of Cody from Pueblo last summer.

 

Unfortunately, I had to head home after Sunday's ride, though I made sure to get some more lasagna first.  I had a great time in the springs, and, as my trip draws ever closer, I am becoming more and more excited about the prospects of training in Europe, despite the fact that it's the same kind of weather over there as it is over here, but rainier.