mullerb's musings

Just a short one to try to keep the momentum going. Was able to keep the average close to 21mph. Had a nice sprint up the incline to Baseline Res at a steady 24+mph.

Memorial Day AM ride before the storms. Woke to blue skies but by the time breakfast was done, the clouds already filled in and the threat of rain loomed. Strapped the rear fender on and stuffed the rain gear into the pack. I was really thinking that I'd head back down at mile 5 but it was still too nice out. Headed to the first switchback descent towards Walker and took off to the north on the fire road down into Meyer's Gulch. 3 or 4 miles of climbing up gets you to the end point with a bench and nice view of the Indian Peaks, Sugarloaf, and Longs. With all the rain the fields and trees are bursting with green - really nice to be up here with no one around and such a fresh feel to the place. Not the longest ride for a Sunday but it packs some decent elevation gain. At least 2400' from Broadway to the top of mile 7 on Flagstaff, then a drop of a couple hundred feet on dirt followed by another gain of 500' or so up the Meyers Gulch trail.

Afterwork ride with Dan up and over Heil and down to Lyons on the new trail. Pretty cool for the most part, a bit rocky in others. Great scenary and some sweet smooth trail on the Lyons side.

Another afternoon padling session for the girls. They spent the first half on the pond practicing strokes and control then took a run down the course. Kelly and Leah were not keen to paddle the 650cfs on their own so each got a run in the front of Chris' plastic C2. While they paddled I took a couple of runs down the course, including the upper stretch from Highway 93 down. A couple of times on moving water helps: I'm slowly getting comfy again just ferrying and hitting eddies. A few more times and I'll get myself to hit combat rolls.

Twice in 48 hours? Yep, an early Sunday escape to show Rachel that she too can hit up the single track and have fun. And again, what's not to like here? No people, great views, wild flowers popping, etc, etc...

An after work escape on the new trails in South Boulder open space. Wicked nice views on pretty mellow single track. What's not to like? Close to home, views, not too rocky, no crowds.

A quick warm up paddle out to the middle of the res and back followed with a dozen rolls. OK OK already: my strong side roll is fine not make me get the offside in gear.

Drove the girls to Golden to meet Chris for their weekly paddle instruction. The water is coming up: 330 csf today; it was around 285 over the weekend. A bit more push but still mellow. I spent around an hour on the water, mostly just getting comfy with ferries, remembering to use my knees, peeling out into the main flow, etc. Make myself do a few rolls as well but I just need to bite the fricken bullet and go play in the waves until I flip. Weenie. The girls were hooked up with Chris and another girl in a C1. They practiced ferrying and hitting the drops in good form. Kelly took a spill and pulled and that kind of killed her umph but both she and Leah are looking pretty solid.

Hills to plains. A sunny day and a day without meetings! Whew. I need more of these. I averaged just shy of 19mph. Not sure what to make of that given my inconsistent riding schedule these days. I wasn't pushing too hard on the climb or on the flats, just keeping a good and steady rhythm. I'll have to come back to this one later in June after more regular riding and see if that average improves.r

Here are some pics from a kayak competition in Golden this weekend. There were over 40 kids from 12-18 years old competing in various categories of racing. Kelly competed in the downriver and the slalom categories and Leah took on the downriver race. http://picasaweb.google.com/mullerb/2009_05ColoradoHighSchoolKayakChampionship# The girls have been out once a week practicing since late March with a really experienced coach, Chris Weigand. Chris trains the US Junior Olympic team and consults with the Chinese, Australian, and several other internationally competing junior teams. It's pretty cool to see how he instills the confidence and motivation in the girls to tackle a challenge like this! White water kayaking on race courses is very safe but it is never the less intimidating and it gets the adrenal glands flowing. It takes a really fine balance of skills, strength and grace to make a kayak go where you want it to go on moving water. And since the girls haven't fully mastered...

A clock-wise round around the Res. The wind was fricken howling and stirred up foot and half waves. It was wet and lots of work but gooooood.

An after-work ride cock-wise around the mesa. Ran into Kay in the parking lot at the end. She'll be doing regular Wed eve rides out of South Boulder. Next time, off to see the new trails; they were too muddy today.