The weekend in Boulder...

Saturday, September 22.
I expected a tough day today. JZ invited me to ride 4 hours with her and I was eager to give it another shot after my new bike fit (which has seemed to be a miracle! I have felt so much better!). I was damned determined to stay with her for longer than 11min this time! :) I got the ok from my coach to "blow myself completely" to stay with her as long as I could hold on. Excellent.

She wanted to swim first so I decided to throw my bike in her car and bike home after our swim to get in a bit more bike warmup before she and I began our ride. I think I need a bit more juice before I can go high-octane immediately, which is required of you if you ride with Joanna Zeiger. I think the biking home was a smart idea but when I got back, I wolfed down a huge egg burrito and 2 pieces of toast with PB. Man, I was a bloated pig with all that food! What was I thinking??!! It wasn't an 8-hour ride!! In retrospect, too much food, but I got back on the bike for 15min before our scheduled departure. More warmup before the Zeiger-Torture-Chamber would be wise.

We scoop up Matt Reed on Jay Road/Hwy 36 and off we go. I was ready. Psyched up and nervous... what a dork I am! The first 5 miles were pretty tough with the rollers. JZ is so much lighter (and stronger) than me so she would dust me uphill and I will kill myself trying to catch up. I was burping all kinds of egg and PB smells. Downhill I made up a ton of ground. Not much for the ego (weighing more) but I didn't care.

She and Matt rode side-by-side down 36 for about 10 miles, completely silent. This aspect of Boulder is always an eye opener. It is ALL BUSINESS. There is no chit-chat, people are working and the atmosphere is serious. Being in this environment over the last 2 years has upgraded my professionalism a great deal.

We rode another 4-5 miles and I hugged tightly to JZ's wheel, completely stoked I had made it this far. It had been an hour and, granted she was taking all the wind, but I was staying with her and it wasn't completely killing me. Then, no sooner did I scream up to JZ, "Dude, I am feeling really good" -- my nose completely exploded with blood. Yup, epic nose bleed, blood pouring out. I scream that my nose is bleeding and she looked back to yell, "HOLY CRAP! STOP!" Her sense of panic sort of scared me. She said to stand still until the bleeding stopped. Once it did, I told her it was all good. "Ok!", she said and I swear she shot off like a cannon. Not even 10 seconds for me to get clipped back in and back into the groove, she was OFF on a mission. Matt tore by me to catch her. I tried with all my might to catch them for over 30min but it was futile. I couldn't do it. On her wheel I would have been able to stay longer and I was bummed by the nose bleed that thwarted my great ride... but that hour with her did a lot for my spirit. I felt a ton better.

I went on to add a 3 hours and rode up Left Hand Cyn to climb the backside of Lee Hill Road. Oh man, that ascent was a KILLER. I was going 4mph for most of it - no lie. Good grief.
Descending was awesome, though. The homes nestled in the mountains were so beautiful... I hung on for dear life but tried to absorb some scenery and hoped my brake pads would not wear through....

When I coasted back into JZ's garage, I sat on the floor for a few min to rest and stretch my back which ached like it was broken. The new bike fit has made a HUGE, mofo difference, but I have a lot of residual effects from long-time damage done. My back will continue to be an issue for a long time, I fear. JZ came out from the house and told me I rode a lot stronger today. I absorbed her praise happily.

Sunday, September 23.
Today was a 2+ hour run holding a higher HR in the later stages. I decided to do this run at the Res and do 2 loops so I could reload fluids at the car after loop #1. After waking up with a really sore back, I was worried about this run, but it actually went ok. My pace is still pretty slow, but I am feeling better so I'll take it.

It was a chiller morning than recent ones so not too many people there so early in the morning. On loop #1 I saw a speedy Tim DeBoom running in the opposite direction, long shirt and gloves. The dude was seriously flying. He smiled and waved to me, which surprised me since he is normally tunnel-visioned during his training. I yelled out, "You look great, dude!" He did.
Loop #2 was strong for me. I was pleased. I saw Tim again and again he waved. I smiled and waved back... I have met him a few times but I think he thought I was someone else. ? Anyway, he really is such a kind soul - I hope he has the day he wants at Kona.

I saw Nicole (DeBoom) standing in the distance when I finished my run but I was so late - I wished I had a chance to say a quick hello. She's a really cool chick.

Raced back to JZ's... my friend Jon Robichaud was in her driveway 9 min after I got home so I could drop him off at the airport ... eeek! I smelled!.... quick shower.... Dropped off Jon and then met the Mayor of Boulder, Michael Stone, for some lunch (he's not really the mayor but JZ calls him that because he seemingly knows EVERYONE). After lunch and some crazy-ass banter :) Michael and I vegged at his place with ice packs on our backs watching "The Illusionist". GREAT movie with Edward Norton if you haven't seen it.

Raced back to JZ's in time to head over to Billy Edwards and Lara Cooper's place for "Motivational Film and Spaghetti Night" for the crew going to Kona. Justin Daerr, Brad Seng and Mark Van Akkeren showed and we all laughed to the hilarious Blades of Glory movie. Some stupid humor is boring to me - but this movie was surprisingly funny.

Full weekend of activity....
Somehow Boulder feels like a second home...