Back in the Saddle

We've already mentioned on here ad nauseum how the house derailed us. For me in particular, it meant that after Tucson, I didn't get on my bike for almost a month. For someone who wants to ride 5000 miles this year, it meant lots of lost time and mileage.

However, I've been attempting to get on my bike, and on it a lot. The below is a smattering of the rides I've done recently.

Friday, May 29:



We rode the Cherry Creek Trail from the house to Confluence Park. Brandon tried out his Team TriSports tri shorts on the ride.


All the rain lately means Confluence is flooded. You can kind of see this behind me.


Being silly back at the house.

Saturday, May 30:

I picked up a short shift Saturday evening at work and since I don't live all that far away, I decided to bike in.


Work and back: a nice 12, 12.5 miles round trip.

Monday, June 1:

Hopped on the trainer and decided to try out my TriSports kit.


(You can also kind of see our new basement pain cave here!)

Wednesday, June 3:

Mark, a work friend of Brandon's who is doing his first triathlon this summer (Boulder Peak), came over for a quick ride - also down to Confluence/REI and back.


Mark doesn't have a helmet yet, so he borrowed Brandon's and Brandon was that nerd on the trail in an aero helmet. I sprinted ahead so I could get this photo.

Thursday, June 4:

On Thursday, we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park (to get use out of the yearly pass we bought) to ride. I think, like Mt. Lemmon, it was a little ambitious. We parked at Rainbow Curve (above 10,000 feet) and hoped to make it to the top of Trail Ridge Road. However, as I'd only had about a week and a half of bike legs back under me (and not a lot of cardio in general) ... the ride started taking longer than I thought. My legs actually weren't bad; however, I had to stop about every half-mile to catch my breath and calm my racing heart.


Despite the lungs, my legs are still stronger than Brandon's.



Stupid lungs.

But, we made it well up over 11,000 feet and had to ride the brakes on the way down (ostensibly to not speed - speed limit was 35 mph and I hit at least 40) ... on probably the first descent that I felt more comfortable than Brandon on.






Brandon thought this would make a funny shot.

When we got back down to the parking lot, we were messing around taking photos, so clearly I needed to do tree pose.



With a little bit of trainer time and outside time, I'm happy my legs are bouncing back pretty well. The downside to such a long time off from activity is my lungs go to hell and it'll take forever to get them back. Hopefully soon ...

*****

On the way back down from RMNP, we stopped in Boulder to see our friend Nic who works at Skratch and also stock up on lots more tasty hydration goodness (and also to try their new fruit chews!). If you see me at a race, ask me for a sample packet of Skratch (and a TriSports discount code). 


Outside their offices. Storefront is in Boulder, right near Boulder Beer.


Logo made from old license plates. LOVE the Colorado centennial plates for the S!