Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Hopefully, this weather front will move out by the weekend! It's been great - a nice steady rain almost every day this week, with clouds draped across the mountains and the sun flitting in and out. With the rain, the trails at Palmer Park should be fast, with all the sand washed away or packed down. The thin layer of sand coating the rocks will be gone, leaving awesome traction through Templeton and Little Moab. Outside of the park, in the Canyon where I normally ride, it's even better. The trees are brilliant greens and golds and there is snow on the higher mountains. Fall is here and the weather is acting accordingly. All the dust in the air from the long hot summer is gone, leaving behind the smell of fresh air and the promise of a fun winter of riding and exploring.  But one more race to finish before that can happen. One last trip between Noon and Noon with my husband. It's been a fun year, trying our hand at a few different 24 hour races and learning how well we ...

Just in time for peach season to be almost over, I finally got around to making some peach muffins. Light and airy, with plenty of peach flavor and a yummy cinnamon sugar crumb style topping. I also made a few with a dollop of raspberry jam in the center - really delicious when the muffins are warm from the oven Preheat oven to 375 and grease muffin pans. Round muffin tins will work, but I always use small loaf style pans when I make muffins. The small loaf shape fits better in jersey pockets for riding :) Mix: 2 cups flour - I used Bobs Redmill gluten free blend. You can also mix in other kinds of flours like quinoa 1/2 tsp xanthan gum 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon (I might have used more) 1 tsp ginger 1/2 tsp cardamom In separate bowl, mix: 1 egg 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 cup milk Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix until just blended. Fold in 1 cup peaches. I used fresh, you can also use defrosted frozen...

It's what Nick has been telling me on every ride we've done in Palmer Park. Ride my bike - racing doesn't matter if you can't make it over the technical sections cleanly. Drop out of race mode, ride my bike and think about shifting, timing and technique. Hard to do in the middle of a fast lap and wanting to get back to transition so Nick can head out, but faster then walking. I noticed it at Sage - in the sections that I've always struggled and the new rock climb, I was smoother when I told myself to "Ride my bike." I forgot about time, focused on getting the right lines, being in the right gear and timing the pedal strokes to clear everything. When I stayed in race mode, trying to bulldoze my way through things as fast as I could, I invariably screwed up and clanked something. Which meant I was off the bike and walking. Not the fastest way to get back to point A at all. In Palmer Park, its going to be even more important to ride my bike and not stay in ...

Nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit made for really good fuel I've had okay luck with yeast and the gluten free flours in the past - I have a feeling that user error and impatience was more to blame. This time I was more patient and allowed the yeast to rise. That made the difference in light cookies instead of heavy bricks. I also went with mixed dried fruit instead of raisins - more flavor. Yeast Cookies Preheat oven to 350 and grease cookie sheets Dissolve 2 pkgs dry yeast in 1/2 c warm water Add, stirring till smooth:                     1 c gluten free flour (I used Bobs Redmill)                   1 tsp xanthan gum                   1 c warm milk           ...

Quick - what's scarier then Grandma out driving around on some of the high mountain passes in Colorado? Grandma on a decked out mountain bike! Some one's getting an upgrade....  In 2007, Mom (who is actually a grandma - my sister has four boys) decided she wanted to get a mountain bike so she could explore some of the dirt roads and really  easy single track trails. We decided to get her the best (and smallest) bike we could at the time, the Specialized Era. It was the same bike I had, a nice race worthy bike that fit her and could handle everything she would throw at it. Which wasn't much - she would still get off the bike to walk down curbs. That took a little time for her to realize that she could ride over some of those things. In 2009, she came with me to the Xterra North West Championships in Idaho and raced on the short course. She wasn't fast, but she was having fun. Skills improving ever so slowly, she started wanted to try more and more on the bike. We to...

We headed to Palmer Park Thursday evening for a fun night lap and to double check lights. Once again, my night riding has been limited to the laps in the sage during 24 Hours in the Sage. And unlike that course, Palmer Park gets a bit tricky in the dark. Its fun to ride, with the whole park bathed in dark amid the sparkle of the city. But the technical sections sneak up on you so quickly. No room for complacency and the more light, the better! It was good to get out, but I think at least one more night lap is in order. Just to make sure I'm comfortable on the rocks and won't do anything silly come 2:00 am. I've not ridden at Palmer Park much at night, either so it's a bit of an adjustment. Racing there, at night? More then a little worried! I'm also still trying to learn the course so I don't get lost. Luckily, Tim marked the course earlier this week. I didn't know what to expect, figuring all the white flagging would be torn down within days. But no, ther...

After the fun ride on Saturday, it was time for some fun pain on Sunday. With map in hand and a good plan of where we were heading, Nick and I left for another day of new singletrack. We had a big loop planned - ride up Bear Creek road to the Rainbow trail, take Rainbow trail all the way across to Ct rd 124, drop down to Little Rainbow and ride Little Rainbow all the way back. A nice long ride with very little black top and not that much road. At least that was the plan... Working on my tan lines on Rainbow trail After less then a mile on Hy 50, we turned off onto dirt. Bear Creek road climbed up thru private property to the San Isabel National forest. We knew it was going to be a long climb, but it was pretty steady. We kept crisscrossing the creek, riding along open meadows and through forests. In one of the meadows, there was a large flock of turkeys, foraging in the tall grass. Nick couldn't get them to come any closer, so we kept riding. Up and up and up... Across a catt...