Bike Your Life Green (BYLG)

Well… I had written up a long post about our ride on the Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville, and when I went to hit “publish”, it vanished.  Without a trace.  I have no idea where it went, but it’s gone.  That’s 15 minutes and fabulous wording I will never get back.  It was the best post I’d ever written.  Pulitzer prizes would have been awarded for it.  OK, not really, but it was much better than what follows.

I don’t feel like writing it all up again.  So here is the (somewhat) abbreviated and much lazier version:

• The trail is 12 miles long.  From our campground, it was a 3 mile ride.  The trail has neat mining relics and history about Leadville along the way.
• Upon leaving the campground, we were riding on a road that was part of a 3 day charity ride benefiting the Children’s Hospital in Denver.  We got to ride a few miles with and get passed by some very fit mountain cyclists.  Here’s Rian on the road with the studly cyclists who had climbed Independence Pass earlier that morning.
• We got conflicting information on which way to travel the trail.  The cute campground store clerk said to go clockwise because the climb to the top was easier.  Some random hippy dude that Rian met said to go counter clockwise because the descent was better.  Rian took hippy dude’s advice and we rode it counter clockwise.  Big mistake.  Normally I would defer to a hippy dude (after all, I’m a hippy chick), but this time the hippy had it all wrong.  After riding the trail and realizing that EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE TRAIL was traveling the opposite direction- I wanted to get off my bike, run back to camp, and strangle hippy dude.  The urge to strangle occured many times, but most often on the 4 times I had to get off and walk my bike up some crazy ass steep sections of the trail.  Grrr… bad hippy!!!
• We had great views of the mountains and of Leadville from the trail (gave me a great excuse to stop and take breathers on all that difficult climbing.  Not that I really need excuses to stop.
  Here’s a view of Leadville from one point on the trail:Here’s me smiling, trying to pretend that I’m good at climbingHere’s Rian pedaling along like it’s no big deal
• The views from the trail were truly spectacular, and trust me- I really got to look at them while hike-a-biking my way up parts of the trail.  In all honesty, the surroundings were incredible and simply overwhelmed your senses (the sights, the smells of the pine trees,  the taste of sweat in my mouth).  We saw some angry clouds building and heard some thunder up ahead at Weston Pass.  Although it never did rain, I was doing the rain dance hoping some would fall because it would have felt wonderful.Hey look up above- there’s Mt. Elbert on the left with his cute little pointy top, and there’s Mt. Massive on the right with his GIGANTIC massive summit that extends for miles and miles.  I mean, Elbert is cute and tiny, but Massive is just… well,… Massive!!!
• Upon reaching the summit, we were slightly discouraged that we had only climbed about 500 feet.  I was pretty sure it was closer to 5,000, but I’m not very good with numbers.  We took about 10 self-timer pictures until we got one that was decent enough to share.
• The backside (downside) of the trail was nice and gradual.  It explains why literally everyone else on the trail went this way up the hill.  It was nice for descending, tho, and the urge to strangle hippy dude subsided.  I enjoyed the descent, although stopping to look at artifacts and learn things was out of the question at those speeds. Who’s that I see in the picture above?  Why it’s none other than  Turquoise Lake there in the distance.  It really was super clear and beautiful water.  The lake is about 30 feet low due to the very mild winter and pitiful amount of snowfall they had. Here is yet another pretty view coming down the trail as we head back into town.
• We ended up with about 20 miles total for the day.  It took us about 3 hours.  I think 20 miles on knobby tires on a heavy mountain bike on the road is equal to about 200 miles on the road bike, so that’s what I’m going to call it.  We did a 200 mile ride in 3 hours.  That sounds reasonable, right?

It really was a WONDERFUL adventure.  We ran out of water about halfway through our trip, so we were really pushing to get back to the campground.  We highly underestimated the dryness of the air and the length/difficulty of the trail.  D’oh!  Rookie mistakes from two veteran bikers.    Thankfully the ride all the way back to the campground from the summit of the trail was downhill.  I even clocked myself going 20 MPH down the road at one of those speed clocker things that the police put out.  20 MPH on a mtn bike?  That’s never happened before (and never will again).
I wish I had that kind of terrain to ride all the time.  Imagine how strong of a biker I would be (and hiker, and runner and etc, etc).  It’s nice to visit, but I sure would love to live there sometime!!
Later that afternoon when we were wandering around in town, we saw a store front property for rent.  We imagined all the different shops we could open and how we could manage to make a living and live in this utopia.  All of our ideas were pretty stupid, tho, so we abandonded the thought.  Perhaps we will just finish out our final 17 years on the job and spend our summers in retirement up there.

Pedal On!

During our recent Colorado vacation, we made plans to conquer the state highpoint: Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.
About 4 years ago we decided that we would like to conquer as many state highpoints as we could.  We bought a book, and take it with us on every vacation in hopes of conquering new state highpoints.  Some are drive-ups, some are easy hikes and some are massive undertakings.  Colorado was to be state #14 (and a 14er no less).  Perfection!

We started our hike at first light- which was about 5:30 am.  The light was just starting to hit the sky, so we took off and headed up.  The trail was 4.5 miles long (although our Garmin clocked it at 5), and we would gain 4,000 feet of elevation in that short distance.
The trail immediately started upward from the first step.  At first we thought it was crazy steep, but we had NO idea what lie ahead of us in terms of steepness (thank goodness).  The trail was very well-defined and quite nice.

Tanya and Sasquatch on the trail

We stopped after an hour on the trail for a snack and electrolyte break.  A little trail mix, a little gatorade, a little rest and then we were headed back up.  Almost immediately we hit the beginning of the really, really steep sections.  Giant stair-like steps that climbed up.  It doesn’t look like much here, but it was quite steep.  It was daunting to look up ahead and see the mountain taking off straight for the sky, so I put my  head down and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Right before we left treeline, we stopped to take another snack/gatorade/electrolyte break.  This time we re-applied some layers that we had previously shed, in anticipation of the coolness that we knew awaited us above treeline.  It was a quick break, but much-needed.
We hit treeline right around 7:30 am. We paused to take in the scenery and look around. It’s difficult on a mountain like this because you soooo want to stop and savor the view, but you sooooo need to keep moving to hit the summit before the afternoon thunderstoms start to move in.  It’s a hurried game of stop and go.

 Above you can see the first of TWO false summits glowing yellow in the distance.  Although I had been warned there were 2 of these little bastards on the mountain, I still have to admit that when I turned the corner and saw the second one, I felt a little disheartened.  More about that later.
So we began our climb above treeline shortly after 7:40.  The wind picked up significantly, as did the steepness and intensity of the mountain.  There are no pictures from this point to the top, because all the energy I had was put towards making forward progress.  The little game I played to keep my mind occupied (and off the pounding in my chest) was to walk 70 steps, then stop and take 10 deep exhales.  Rinse.  Repeat.
We kept that up for the next 2 miles to the summit.  There were times toward the end that it was more like take 20 or 30 steps and stop to breathe.  The closer we go to the summit, the steeper the terrain became, and the looser the mountain.  There was a section of scree that was loose and difficult to navigate.  We had hiking poles, so it wasn’t hard to get a good, firm grip on the mountain, but it was in the back of my mind that when coming down- gravity would be against me and that falling/slipping was certainly an option.  It was about this point on the way up that I saw the 2nd false summit.  The wind was whipping, it was cold, and I began to cry.  Rian was behind me saying “don’t have a meltdown right now- just keep moving and everything will be OK.”  I remember crying and moving forward mumbling something about the rain clouds and the slick rock and how stupid mountains were and that people who climbed them deserved to fall to their deaths.
Not my finest moment.
I seem to have one of those moments on every difficult climb we’ve done.  I just have that mental breakdown moment, and then a couple minutes later I’m over it and moving on to tackling the task at hand.
Past the scree breakdown moment, the trail seemed to ease up a little bit.  I don’t think it actually did, but it seemed like it did (where the brain goes, so does the body).  We climbed the 2nd false summit, then caught our first glimpse of the actual summit.  It was glorious.  We picked up the pace significantly and scurried to the top.
With about 30 feet to climb, another trail met up with the trail we had taken, and a flood of people climbed to the highpoint.
Glorious victory at last!!
Here are the plethora of our summit pics:

The picture above shows Twin Lakes from the top (we mountain biked around that the day before).
The summit was wonderful, if a little crowded.  We took pictures, ate a snack, talked to others on top, drank a little water, and then packed up to head back down. 
It was nearing 10:15 and we really wanted to be off the summit and back down below treeline by noon.  We took off and headed back down in a hurry.  Well, we weren’t really in too big of a hurry, but gravity has a way of helping you move down the mountain a whole lot faster than you moved up.  That can be both a nice and a horrible thing.  Nice: you move quickly.  Horrible: your joints and tendons really take a beating on the way down.  It was controlled chaos heading back down.  Again, there were no pictures above treeline as we scurried down, being pushed along by gravity and adrenaline.

The trail coming back down looked so much different than it had on the way up.  I suppose part of that was the fact that I was looking ahead instead of just looking down at my feet and moving forward.  The descent affords you some time to look around and see the beauty that was behind you on the way up.
We hit the Elbert Trail and took a left to the Continental Divide/Colorado Trail to head back down to the trailhead.

We made it back to the trailhead at a little over 8 hours from the time we started off.  We never stopped the timer on the Garmin, so those 8 hours included all of the stops and breaks along the way.  It felt SO gratifying to see the trailhead sign and know that we had made it.  I said a little prayer of thanks for the successful adventure, we took a high-five victory picture, then drove back into town for some well-deserved lunch.

First 14er:  success!
Will there be another?  Probably so!

Pedal On!

Last week we took a little vacation to the mountains of Colorado to escape the Oklahoma heat for a week.  The mercury was rising and we needed a break from the draining heat and humidty.  We headed far up into the mountains to Leadville to do a little riding and hiking.
We took our mountain bikes with us on this trip.  They’ve never been allowed to travel outside of OK, so they were VERY excited when we announced we would be taking them to the actual mountains to ride.   “Yes, bikes, you are going to go riding in the mountains for which you were designed.”  Everyone was looking forward to an outdoor adventure and for putting the rubber down on some real, live mountain trails.
Before we left, I researched trails and decided on this one because it was listed as an intermediate level trail.  While the hubs is a much better mountain biker than me, we both know we are no expert bikers- especially in actual mountains.  This trail seemed like a great way to spend an afternoon.  The trail is 12.5 miles long and only had about 600 feet of elevation gain.  Seemed pretty doable and a great way to spend a few hours.

The trail started out a little rough (for me, anyway).  I had to walk a couple descents right off the bat, and was a little nervous while riding on the narrow singletrack that was on the edge of a drop-off to the lake.  The sharp rocks were something I’ve never ridden on, so it took a little bit to get a feel for them before I stared feeling comfortable enough to try some of the more technical parts.  My back wheel kept hitting rocks and kicking my backside to the right (the drop-off side).  It took a little while to learn how to ride and hit the rocks so I wouldn’t go careening down a hill into the water.
We hit a really neat, really rocky, really technical and really Aspen-y section that was just gorgeous.  It required a couple of dismounts going down and back up, but it was so beautiful I didn’t even mind getting off and walking.Look through the Aspens and you can see Mt. Elbert off to the right there in the picture.  We would be climing that the next day.

Back on the trail we wound our way around to a an old resort from the 1800′s.  Interlaken was once one of the most attractive tourist resorts in Colorado. The hotel complex was started in 1879 and enlarged after James V. Dexter bought the lakeside resort and grounds in 1883. The resort became a popular summer retreat for those that rode the train to a stop nearby and then took a short ride by stage or carriage to the south side of Twin Lakes. The resort was a popular stop for those on the way over Independence pass or nearby mining communities.  It was a very neat stop on the way, and really cool to see the old buildings so well preserved. After Interlaken, we rode in an open field, losing and finding the trail a few different times.  There was no signage, so we just wound up following the lake and trying to navigate the best we could.  We eventually wound up back on the trail and into some really great forested area.  I found myself doing thismore than I liked, but less than I thought I would (that’s me hike-a-biking it up a steep slope…although it doesn’t really look very steep in this picture).  After a couple miles of some really neat trail, we came down a sweet hill and out into the open.  I always *ALWAYS* take pictures on my road bike, so I tried to take one as we entered the open field.  Ummm… I wouldn’t recommend that.  This is the picture I snapped accidentally as I tried desperately to keep from doing an endo while hitting a bump in the field.  Stupid, stupid, stupid…When I finally came to a stop, I decided that still pictures were a much less bone-breaking idea, so I stopped to snap a few.

At mile 7 we hit a river.  The trail description said that it was possible to ford the river if it was a light snow-melt year.  If it was running high, however, you would have to turn around and ride back the way you came- making it an out and back trip.  We arrived at the river and found it to be passable, but pretty deep in places.  We rode the shallow section, then had to get off the bikes and walk them across the deepest part (it came up over my knee in the deepest section).  We made our way across, then looked for carins to point us in the right direction back to the trail.   Shortly after the river, the trail came to an end and we found ourselves on the highway.  We didn’t expect the last 4.5 miles to be all on the road, and were kinda disappointed that we had to finish up the ride on a busy, two-lane highway.  It had a shoulder, which was nice, but the boring nature of a steady climb on pavement in the sun on a mountain bike with knobby tires was soooo not appealing.We rode on the shoulder for about a mile until we noticed there was a trail down below.  We jumped off the road, and headed to the trail.  Turns out it was the Continental Divide/Colorado Trail and it led all the way back to the car.  Score!  The trail was exposed, but it was undulating and had some really fast descents and really tough climbs.  I didn’t have to dismount the bike at all on this part (wait- except for that one really steep incline), and really enjoyed the terrain here.We made it back to the car in about 2:45 and stopped to enjoy a snack and take a look at the beautiful scenery around us.  It was such a great ride, and we REALLY loved every minute (even the huffing and puffing uphill and biting my nails downhill moments).  I think I heard my mountain bike letting out a little “yippee” every now and then.  We all enjoyed the trail immensely.  Can’t wait to bring the bikes back for more mountain riding!!

Today I went out with someone I hadn’t been with in 4 years.  We had a date at Bluff Creek.  It was a little awkward, since we’ve seen each other a lot over the years, but never for longer than just a passing glance.  A quick nod as I walked by.  Sometimes a lingering look or a gentle touch, but never anything meaningful.
But today we reconnected…and it felt wonderful.

Don’t worry, my husband knew all about it.

Today I took Big Red out for our first ride together in 4 years.  Yes, it’s been 4 long years since we’ve ridden together.  We hadn’t spoken since the last time we were out together and he got all pissy and threw me off like a bucking bronco and left me tattered and bruised.
I put him in the bike room as punishment and then was too afraid to get back on him.  Too afraid to get hurt again.  And so he sat.  And sat. And sat (and that’s really no way for a bike to live).

So he’s been sitting alone, untouched all these years,  and I finally decided to sell him to a triathlon friend.  Before I let him go, I thought that I should give him one last ride before he left me forever.  I wanted to know for certain that I didn’t want him around anymore… and I got my answer.  I found out that I really miss him and our time together on the trail.  We rolled over roots and rocks and smooth trail for 30 minutes, just giggling and laughing (and bracing and clenching and bumping into a tree once).

Truth be told, I can blame this ALL on Jill Homer.   Jill has written two amazing books about her incredible mountain bike adventures.  I read them recently and have been itching to see if maybe (just maybe) I wouldn’t want to ride my mtn bike again and have some fun in the dirt.  I know I’ll never be as wicked adventurous as her, but I wanted to see if I could try.
So I’ve been reading about mtn biking skills and how to ride.  I put some of them to practice today, such as: looking 20 feet ahead of me instead of right in front of my tire at that thing I don’t want to hit (but always do), resisting the urge to brake and instead using my weight to slow down, not steering but using body weight shifts to move the bike, and keeping my elbows bent and relaxed with my body in “ready” position.  That seemed to help a lot.

Bluff Creek trails are really pretty.  Really rooty in spots (which always throws me off), but quiet and nice and shaded.

I rode with him for 30 minutes, and am going to get some skill help from a friend on Wednesday to help me feel just a little more comfortable out there.  I can’t wait until our next ride.

Welcome back to the rotation, Big Red!

Pedal On!

I’m going to call it the May Blues.

Or better yet:  I barely survive the month of May, so I didn’t even have time to think about posting on my blog because school was almost out and I had so much to do I couldn’t even think straight.

Does that suffice?

Now that summer is here, I will be posting again regularly and updating my site much more frequently.  I’ve really been trying to think about what direction I want to take my blog in.  I still want to emphasize the “green” thing, but I also want to have more of a story-line, not just random stuff.  I’m having a bit of a bloggers brain-freeze at the moment.

Hang with me, and we’ll see where this all goes.  In the meantime- hope you’re pedaling, walking, and moving your way around town.

Pedal On!

First of all:
Happy Earth Day!!  Not only do I love everything that Earth Day stands for, I love what the kids get out of it.  They all get excited about cleaning up and doing their part.  It lights a fire in them, that sometimes never flickers out.  On Wednesday,  with the 5th grade, we are participating in Litter Blitz- a neighborhood clean-up day.  We’ll walk around the block picking up trash and beautifying our block.  They seem excited about it, and I’m excited they’ll get to do something nice for their school and its surroundings.
Tomorrow I’m doing the 3rd annual Book Swap in the library at school.  Kids bring gently used books from home and trade with other kids to get new books.  Bring a book- take a book.  It’s always a big hit, and the kids get new things to read.  Recycling and kids reading: does it get any better than that??  (the answer is no).

Love your mother, kids!

As for the challenge, the first week was GREAT!!  I biked 5 out of 5 days!   That’s the first time I’ve done that in months.  I feel so accomplished.   Only 4 more weeks of school, so I plan to ride every day that I’m able.

I rode to work Friday, and rode home.  Then I had to be back up at school for a function with the kids from 5:45-9:15  pm.  I rode there, and had planned on riding home after dark, but one of my co-workers refused to let me ride home.  She was very sweet about her intentions of driving me (worried it was after dark and that it was Friday and people had probably been at Happy Hour), but she wouldn’t let me ride home.  So I got a ride from her.  I did 1.5 commutes on Friday. Ha!
The silver lining of riding home with her is that I found out that she’s a liberal democrat just like I am (it’s not something you mention in our VERY red, VERY conservative, VERY judgemental state we live in).  I’ve found that if I mention my political affiliation, people see me differently.  Not so much my friends- they love me no matter what (how could they NOT, right? ), but strangers will immediately place a label on you.  It’s okay if you’re in the majority (Republican), but you don’t really say anthing if you’re not.  It’s just the way it is, sadly.  Of course, now that I know she’s “one of us” it makes me like her even more than I did before.  So I guess if I had to get a ride home, it was nice finding an even deeper connection with her.  Dems/libs unite!

This week looks promising for commuting.  I will have to drive Wednesday because I have another chiro appointment, but that’s OK.  I have a half-marathon to run on Sunday, so I’ll be glad to give my legs a little teeny rest.

Have a great week on the road everyone!

Pedal On!

So far I’ve done… OK.  I will admit that I’ve driven the car once this week when I could have ridden.  I went to Ladies Night at Backwoods, and I thought the route would involve too many busy streets and weird crossings, but I probably could have done it easily.  Drats!
Tonight I’m going to a friend’s house to help her move.  She lives 2 miles away, and I would ride, except that I need to bring her about 6 moving boxes and I can’t fit them in my front basket.

Aside from that, I’ve ridden to work every day this week.  I even rode on Monday (day 1) when I should have driven.  I thought my dr. appt was on Friday, so I rode to work, only to have to ride home at lunch and get the car since the appt was directly after work and I needed to drive the 8 miles there.  Sigh.  At least I rode, right?

So anyway- challenge going well.  It’s supposed to rain/storm in the morning (70% chance in the a.m.) and I’m really hoping it’s not raining when I leave.  I haven’t made it a full week commuting in months, I *really* would like to actually make it 5 for 5.

Pedal On!

For the next 30 days I’m going to vow to ride my bike to work every single day, and to do ALL errands within 2 miles of home by bike. No excuses.  No exceptions*.  If I need to drive, I will ONLY do it on a Saturday.
*except when I have a chiro appt. across town right after school- which I do this Friday

I will truly use my bike as transportation.  I just bought a new (to me) mixte, so I can’t wait o bring it out on the town and put it to good use!!
Want to join me in my 30 Day Challenge?  Give it a shot- you never know, maybe at the end of the 30 days you’ll be listing that car for sale in the Auto Trader.

I’m inspired by my recent trip to Boston, where cycling abounds and nobody even thinks twice about getting on their bike to get places.
Here are some of my bike photos from Bahston:

Below is Hubway- Boston’s bike sharing program.  Bikes are free for the first 30 min and there are stations all over the city.  Great idea!

love this bike rack below (it’s a bike):

I was so inspired by the thousands of bikes around the city (on the roads, locked up, outside offices and grocery stores, etc).  It was very uplifting and made me feel so proud to see all the beautiful steeds that were out  there.  Saw a Surly Big Dummy outside the Trader Joes, but didn’t get a pic.
I hope someday someone will take pictures of OKC and swoon like I did in Boston.

Pedal On!