Stage 1

So, that was hard. The stage ended up being only 37 miles instead of the 45 they told us last night. Thank you, Jesus. 8 more miles would've been very not good. The opening climb was, at least in my hazy memory, about 25 minutes long. That created quite a bit of separation. We ended up getting shelled from the lead group but stayed towards the front of the race. Long climbs were the name of the game. Then came the descent down the Colorado trail. Wow! It was soooo fast! Then it would go directly into a blind switchback and on to more of the same for about 15 minutes. Then back to climbing. We came out into this amazing open area on the side of a couple mountains and the tops were so far above us and the valley so far below us it made me dizzy to look. So I didn't. I really wanted to but I didn't want to end up down in the valley. I came close once early in the race. We were flying down this doubletrack and the trail decided to go hard right. I made it and Jerry is screaming at me to turn. It was pretty steep of to the left. Jerry even commented that I was really moving down that trail. That made me feel good.
Anyway, I digress. So we ended up down 7:31 to the father/son team. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for us. No matter what, the riding is phenomenal and we're having a blast. Maybe riding with Jerry will help improve my skills so I can salvage my WORS season. So it's off to the nightly meeting to see whats in store for tomorrow. Ciao.

The Prologue

So the Prologue is over. There ended up being 7 teams for us to race against. We ended up 25 seconds behind the leading team which happens to be a father/son team. That's pretty cool. It was supposed to be quite a bit longer but there was some prettty serious weather that rolled in and they shortened it up by about 2 miles. A horrible 2 miles. So it was nice that it was shorter and the stage is over. Tomorrow is a "real" stage of about 45 miles with a lot of singletrack.
Jeremiah Bishop is the overall leader and about 6 minutes up on us. I'm sure we'll make that up tomorrow. That was supposed to be funny. Travis Brown is 19 seconds back from him. Should be a good battle between them.
Hopefully tonight involves sleep for me. 4 hours a night just isn't enough.

Addendum

I'm not sure how I forgot but I did. We got to hang out at the GT tent all day at the Firecracker. Lucky for us as it rained on and off a lot. Plus we got to meet Louis, Paco, Mick and the Gold Diggers. The girls had a blast entertaining and got branded with GT stickers. The GT crew were all really nice and very accomodating. I wish that they were at all the WORS races, that would be so "pro".
Lisa rose from the dead and went back to Carter Park and got her free beer, pint glass and BBQ chicken samwich. I guess it was delicioso but she didn't share. Something about 6 hours of suffering and hating me for making her do the race and I didn't deserve any among other reasons. Oh well.
I also saw some people I knew. Cam Kirkpatrick and Landon Lueck and a few random people that recognized the Moosejaw Brew Pub logo. The beer is legendary. Well, it's off to get registered and find out how this race is gonna' go.

T minus 1 day

So Lisa did the Firecracker 50 today. She swears she'll never do this race again. Well, she says that now but I'll have to talk her into doing it again. She ended up 4th in her age group, 1 place from a medal with no real long rides or training for this race. She finished in under 6 hours, and she hadn't done a ride of more than 4 hours yet this year so I think there's plenty of time to be made up if she focused on this race. Anyway, JHK and his wife won their respective races, him by 12 minutes, her by 16. A good weekend for them for sure.
Jerry and I rode a little singletrack after the rain finished up. Tomorrow is the day for us. It'll be nice to have the prologue out of the way. Hopefully I get more than 4 1/2 hours of sleep tonight. Not sleeping really blows. Lots of answers to a lot of questions tomorrow. Please send all your extra legs.

Groupo compatto

A rather low key day. We got to see Babe the Sheep Pig today at the Breck Theatre. We even met Babe's parents. Then Lisa rode the last part of the course she hadn't seen yet while I took the girl's back to the condo to try and nap. That didn't work. The Long's showed up and Jerry and I rode most of the Prologue. It's still difficult even with Jerry there. A little post ride hot tubbin' and then supper at the Long's place. The Meier's show up tomorrow and Lisa gets her shot at the National Champions jersey. Then it's game on for me and Jerry. 6 days of some sweet singletrack action. Stay tuned, kids.
IMPORTANT!!!!!


Remember to do your monthly breast cancer self exam. It could save your life and it looks cool, too.

Filler

Yep. Didn't do much today. Tried to ride the alpine slide at Breck but the weather came in and they shut 'er down. A little shopping. A nap. TV. Then we went to this little bakery in town called Clint's, I think, and had a piece of chocolate cake. Started talking with the girls behind the counter and they are just getting into biking. Then they started trying to talk us into moving out here. It keeps getting harder to find reasons not to. Then I think of what it takes to actually move all the crap I own. Yeah, that's a deal breaker right there. That and they don't have a bar you can buy guns at in town.
On another note, I've been meaning to mention my experience with directions while riding trails out here. I've been on the receiving and giving side of them with about the same result. Everyone means well but most of the directions I've been given must make sense to who tells them, much as they do when I give them, but the end result is the same. Not getting where I(they) wanted to go. It's crazy. The bad part is that it's not like were in Wisconsin where a wrong turn may cost you 15 minutes or so out on the trail. Here it may cost you an hour or more of some serious suffering. The saving grace is as long as you can go downhill you'll eventually end up at or near Breck but it's still a little unnerving if a storm is brewing, or if the last drink of water was an hour ago.
Well, we get to see Babe the Sheep Pig tomorrow. Should be interesting. I think we get free bacon with paid admission.

It finally happened

Today was the day the altitude set in, I guess. I felt horrible! I was working so hard up the hills and my heart rate was really low. I tried to ride the Firecracker course but messed up the start and only rode half of it. It is gnarly. If Lisa even finishes it will be a pretty huge accomplishment. Seriously. 2 laps of wicked climbs and there is one super loose, fast and crazy rocky descent that is tough with no other riders. Throw in a couple hundred friends and it will be even better. I did manage to not flat today coming down Barney Ford. Hopefully the legs perk up over the next couple days. If not, Jerry will have to switch to solo.