Last Princess Post

We have finished our week long Ride the Rockies adventure. I would not call it a relaxing vacation because it seemed like we were all in motion constantly and exhausted a lot of the time. We also were living in the present (for the most part - was there news going on outside of our immediate surroundings this week?), laughing, challenging ourselves and each other, and living at a speed that seemed to be 100 miles per hour. I am so proud of Team Bizzo in what they accomplished! The write up of the daily successes is informative and interesting but after seeing in person what these guys did...let me just say that they are AWESOME! At one point when we were driving over Independence Pass, as I watched other riders struggling to peddle and climb another 10 feet at a time, I told Da Boys, I just don't get it. That looks miserable to me. They informed me that although they could understand my point of view, they had a completely different one and they couldn't explain their point of view either. It was just something they did, and they enjoyed doing it...even looked forward to it! Of course, it helped all of us to be in the gorgous mountain surroundings that we were in. We also met a lot of wonderful people in our journey!

The rest of my time since my last post started in Glenwood Springs. My first night there I had a wonderful relief with a night to myself. I could actually unpack my bags (somewhat), drink some wine without thoughts to the repercussions the following day, and had a LDHH (long distance happy hour) with my good friend Ellen! The innkeepers at the B&B I stayed at were a wonderful couple. The husband had just arrived back from Iraq 2 weeks ago. He had been working there in construction for 2 years and the company he worked for had just dissolved. You can imagine they had a lot of interesting stories. He was also special forces - retired.

Fast forward to Aspen. After driving the death pass of Independence Pass twice, I hiked an enjoyable time through Maroon Bells. I started out at 8,800 feet and ended up at around 10,000 feet at Crater Lake.


Here is a picture of the Maroon Bells mountain peaks and the beginning of the hiking trail.

Here is a picture of the wooded areas during the hike. I loved these areas on the way down because I was challenged with some rain. I know, I know, you are not supposed to be under trees during storms but I WILL melt under extreme rainstorms and I figured that there were a lot of other things around me that lightening was bound to hit instead of me. I thought of my mom quite a bit during this time because she is a great lover of woodland areas.

Here is Maroon Lake. See the reflections of the mountains on the lake? Hammer isn't the only master photographer!

Here is the end of the hike, Crater Lake. I met up with some ladies here. One lady I talked to told me about her 35 year old daughter who runs this hike from where I started, over the mountains in the background into Crested Butte on the other side of the mountains in the distance (in the middle) in 80 minutes. I just stood there with my jaw hanging open. This extreme runner is also a mother of 4, the youngest being a 1 year old. WOW!

Another shot of Crater Lake with some Boy Scouts here. This, of course, made me think of my nephew, Jace and how much he would love doing something like this.

After this last hike, the rest of the trip was about "Da Boys." I tried to strike a balance between support vehicle and doing things on my own. I think I did a fairly good job and over all enjoyed the trip a lot!

Things I have learned from this trip?

* There can be such a thing as too much testosterone

* Bike knerds LOVE waking up BEFORE the butt crack of dawn

* Some people in the world like to punish, push, and test their bodies for fun

* I will never be one of those persons

* I love meeting new people and experiencing new places

* "Da Boys" can make me laugh even when I am cranky

* A reinforcement that I love being in Colorado...it is an absolutely heavenly state!

Thanks for being a part of our trip as you read about it! We've loved having your support and comments during it! Congrats to JP and Kerry on their fast coming nuptials! Good luck to Hammer in his future rides, runs and swims coming up. Also, I would like to add that Chuck (the Coach) is a STUD with a birthday coming up on Tuesday, the 26th, and he will be 49! I'm 14 years younger and not in near the same condition. What about you?

XOXO,

Lisa

RTR '07 'sealed and delivered'

You can call my efforts either heroic or stupid but either way after injuring my knee the first day I couldn't throw in the flag just yet. To much training had been involved to get to where I was at. There was not a lot of rest and recovery time between each day, so ice packs were on my knee each day immediately after a ride and I was taking ibuprofen religiously. Day 6 Independence Pass was my toughest day, but at this point if the knee blew, it blew.

My hat is off to Hammer (Scott Reagan) and Coach (Chuck Taylor) they are both strong riders and could stand toe to toe with any of the riders I saw this week. Princess (Lisa) was awesome, her support was appreciated and I enjoyed her company.

I'm excited about getting back to San Antonio, I'll be getting married in the near future, a new house is being built and of course I'll be back in the weight room. Kerry if you are reading this 'ma'ma I'm coming home'.

Team Bizzo
The king of kings went on their throne

Signing off
Cubby

427 Miles Later...

Ride the Rockies 2007 is in the books but it was an adventure I will never forget. Mother Nature threw everything she had at us. Temps were in the mid thirties every morning and in the high nineties and sometimes peaking over one hundred by mid day. We rode in the rain and even the sleet (A first for me)coming down Independence Pass. I want to express my gratitude to the Coach and the Princess, without which this trip would not have been possible. To the Cubster, who would belt out the lyrics to a Motorhead song or a Conan movie when the going got rough. (if you don't think it ever got rough, refer to the elevation & mileage charts on the Ride the Rockies website). I will always be impressed by his ability to reach down deep and ride through the pain and join us at the finish line. I would also like to thank the Academy...OK moving on.

Most folks will not understand why some of us are driven to want attempt events like these... a quote comes to mind, "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it and from the inside looking out, you can't explain it!" We have some great photos from this trip but even greater memories.

"Your never gonna play me, because I am the game!"

The Hammer
Team Bizzo

Day 7 - Leadville to Frisco

Well....we're down to the last day. Team Bizzo has done a great job! In looking back at the ride, I'm stunned at how well I felt at this point. I'm quite sure that comraderie has made this ride easier than my earlier solo ventures. The training for this year was solid, but quite a bit of it was done at sea level in Pensacola, FL. I had to rely on climbing overpasses and interval training. Special thank you to Hammer and Cubby. It was great fun and I especially enjoyed the comraderie. Kudos to Princess. Your patience in dealing with the Bizzos was more than most anyone would offer. I love you for it.

Today's ride was straight forward. Cubby was still experiencing some knee pain, so Hammer did the normal route and Cubby and I opted out of the Turquoise lake route which shortened the route by about 20 miles and eliminated almost +2,500 feet of climbing. The plan was simple. I paced Cubby up Fremont Pass and we did a screaming descent of 22 miles down to Copper Mountain and on to Frisco. We laid back, enjoyed the Colorado sun and a nice cool breeze and drank some ice cold beer!

Here are the final totals for Ride the Rockies 2007:

• Mileage - 400.3
• Ride Time - 30:23:15, i.e., 30 Hours, 23 Minutes and 15 Seconds
• Total Calories Expended - 24,679
• Average Speed - 13.1 mph
• Average Heart Rate - 119 bpm
• Total Elevation Climbed (Official) - 24,200 ft.
• Total Elevation Climbed (Coach & Cubby - per Garmin) - 21,305 ft.

I still need to get the pics from Hammer for the post, so please check back in the next day or so. Thanks for reading and sharing our adventure. I look forward to seeing all of you and telling you the boring stories of Team Bizzo!

The Coach

Day 6 – Aspen to Leadville (the mother of all, or, excuse me, the Queen Stage)

We had a lot to think about in anticipation of today’s ride. After leaving Aspen (we didn’t spend the night there – no rooms under $400/night), we drove to Leadville. The way to Leadville is to follow CO-82 up over Independence Pass. We had to cross it yesterday afternoon on the way to Leadville and this morning on the way back to Aspen. This is where we give serious Kudo’s to the princess. This morning’s wake-up call was at 4:30a with a 5:15a departure.

Normally you say, “Come on Coach – suck it up. Get ‘er done”. Let’s go over the daily morning routine within team Bizzo. Granted, the order and some of the steps may change depending on the team member, but I can tell you that this gets close:

• Get up and brush teeth.
• Take Ibuprofen.
• Scavenge around and get breakfast (and hopefully coffee) ready. Eat/drink it.
• Take the morning constitution (optional).
• Gather up cycling clothes which were laid out the night before.
• Apply Chamois Crème aka Chammy or Butt Butter to the lining of the cycling shorts.
• Strip down. Apply sunscreen to legs, arms, neck, ears, nose and face.
• Put on heart rate monitor.
• Put on cycling shorts (BTW – this step takes your breath away (see step above with Chammy Crème), socks, jersey, arm warmers, tights, bandana, jacket, and shoes.
• Stuff jersey or backpack with money, Gu, Clif Bars, bananas, PB&J on whole wheat bagel, sunglasses, cycling gloves and wallet. Don’t forget water bottles.
• If we were camping, you pack up all your crap and haul it over to the baggage truck.If we need to be driven to start point (as was the case this morning), we load the bicycles. Of course, you have to take off some of the stuff, i.e., jacket, backpack to be comfortable in the car, that you just put on. If you head out on the ride, you jump on the bike. In either case, you hope like hell that you didn’t forget anything.
  
  

OK, back to the story, we left at 5:15a for the 1-1/2 hour ride back to Aspen. Independence Pass is a stunning pass. Firstly, it tops the Continental Divide @ 12,095 ft. in elevation. Let me assure you that breathing at this altitude is work. There are no trees at this altitude. Treeline in this part of Colorado is about 11,500 ft. Secondly, it has a number of switchbacks which define exposure, i.e., steep drop-offs with no guard rails. Given that a decent portion of the ride was above treeline, there are no trees to stop your careening body/bicycle from going downhill. Our good old teammate Cubby said it best, “I don’t like this very much” on the drive up and down the pass. You can imagine where the pit in everyone’s stomach came from?!

I parked the car just outside of the Aspen city limit sign. There were already plenty of bikers beginning the slog up the Pass. Here’s Team Bizzo just before setting off:

One of the things that I’ve learned over the last 15 years or so of riding bicycles is that riding high mountain passes requires patience. This is true in both terms of the time that it takes and the pacing effort (measured in heart rate) required to get you to the top. The boys of Team Bizzo did an extremely good/disciplined job at both. It took almost 3 hours (actually, 2 hours and 50 minutes) to climb the 4,027 vertical feet from 8,068 ft. in elevation @ Aspen to the 12,095 ft. summit. My average heart rate was just shy of 120 bpm. Cubby’s was in the 145 bpm range and Hammer’s was around 130 bpm. While these wouldn’t be considered extremely high by cycling standards, the maximum heart rate (the ability for your heart to beat fast and support aerobic effort) was seriously reduced by the fatigue of the previous five days of riding. I estimate that at Dallas, TX elevation with no overtraining, these would be 20 to 25 bpm higher (which is relatively high by cycling standards). On some of the steeper slopes, we did good to ride @ 4.5 mph.

Still….what a cool ride. Team Bizzo came, saw and conquered. Here’s some pics from the approach:

Cubby and Coach on the way up:



The upper reaches of Independence Pass from about 2,000 below. Can you see the road? It's the horizontal line about 1/3 down in the picture:

View from the road in the previous picture; looking back down:

Same view with camera panned right to the massive switchback:

Looking straight down the climb:

Team Bizzo @ the top and playing in the snow:

The Biz @ 12,095 Feet:

The day’s ride was really broken down into three segments, the first was an 18 mile grunt up the pass, followed by a 17 mile dash down to Twin Lakes, and 22 mile slog into Leadville. The dash down to Twin Lakes was fun, although, it did have some challenges. First, just as we were coming off the pass it started raining /or/ rather, it was sleeting. The sleet was about the size of a green pea. When they hit our jerseys or arm warmers, they just flattened out to about the size of a dime. Thank goodness the sleet lasted only about five minutes.

The last part of the ride went into Leadville. Let’s count up the issues, headwind of about 20 mph, uphill for about 1,500 of elevation gain, and lastly rain. It’s been the first time in two years of riding Ride the Rockies that I’ve run up against rain. The first sign of impending rain was three fairly large bolts of lightning about 1 mile in the distance which brought Team Bizzo to a screeching halt on the side of the road. We were hoping that the storm would pass ahead of us. Sorry, no go. The rain cloud started moving towards us, but the lightning subsided. So, we charged ahead only to stop about 300 yards ahead to put on our vests in a downpour. The only option at this point was to circle back and go the other way. I had seen a condo complex during the 300 yard jaunt and decided to sprint for the safety of their porches, which we did. It rained for about 30 minutes. Just waited it out.

After the rain, we resumed the slog into Leadville. I have to admit that I’ve ridden this stretch of US-24 three times over the last six (6) years and I’ve never enjoyed it. Leadville always seems to be at the end of a long day where you want to shower, get warm and grab some grub. Lisa met us at the local high school. Team Bizzo did share some luxurious quarters (two bedroom condos with a loft) in Leadville at the Grand West Resort. Here’s some shots of the dealio:

Also, here’s a pic of yours truly updating the blog:



Here’s the stats on today:

• Mileage – 54.98 miles
• Time to Complete (Ride Time) – 5:28:30
• Average Speed – 10 mph
• Maximum Speed – 43.3 mph
• Calories Consumed – 4,040 Calories
• Elevation Gained – 5,700 ft.

Sweet. Glad that one’s in the books.

The Coach

Day 5 – Glenwood Springs to Aspen

Talk about a wonderful ride. This one was close to or topped yesterday’s ride for scenery and beauty. The ride headed out of Glenwood Springs up Highway 82 along the White River. The good news is that we turned off the four-lane road (with incessantly cars buzzing you at 70mph) in favor of a high quality paved county road. This road took us into Carbondale which is a nice little town about a third of the way to Aspen. There were lots of green fields and conifers in the valley. The big Rocky Mountains were starting to show up. You could see the Maroon Bells on the horizon.

After leaving the rest area at Carbondale, we headed to one of the nicest bike paths my tires have every graced. It was newly paved and spinning the roughly 2% uphill grade was almost effortless. There was a nice little stream which ran down the side of the path (of course it was going the other way – water flows downhill! ). We went through another cool little town of Basalt. Here’s a picture of the rest stop @ Basalt:







The ride started to get a little more serious after this point. We did have one stretch of roughly a mile that was between 8 and 12% grade; talk about *ut buster?! Here’s a little breathless (actually it’s me breathing quite heavily after the climb) video:



Then…..the piece de restistance…..Aspen. The views are simply stunning. The following are a compendium of views heading into Aspen courtesy of the Hammer:









I can tell you one thing. These views don’t suck. But, you better bring a wad of cash if you want to stay here.

Here are the stats for today’s ride (per my Garmin cyclecomputer):
• 42.33 miles
• Total Elevation Climbed – 2,902 ft.
• Maximum Grade – 12%
• Calories burned – 2,972

All in all; it was well worth it!

The Coach

Day 4 - Pictorial

As I promised, here are some of the pics from the last couple of days.

This is the view from Rifle, CO:



Here is the ride up to Harvey Gap State Park.



There were waterfalls:



and, a wonderful lake at the top:



The fire @ New Castle, CO (just outside Glenwood Springs). I like the interesting dichotomy of the sprinklers in the foreground and the fire in the background:



The internet connection here in Leadville is a little slow. The cell service is non-existant. I'll do an update on today either later today or tomorrow. We did ride over Independence Pass. It was awe-inspiring. We are in for brutal ride tomorrow.

It inspired Cubby's Quote of the day:

"Tomorrow's ride is going to take all of team Bizzo. We're going to need to get together and pray." - Cubby.

Day 4 - Rifle to Glenwood Springs

Today was supposed to be an easy day. Well…..for the most part it was at . However, they put a roughly 1,000 ft. climb at the beginning. The route map shows the climb, but I just didn’t expect it to bite like it did. There were some grades that approached 12%. Today’s elevation gain was 2,200 ft. Taking a look at the route book, this looks like a precursor of things to come. Tomorrow’s ride is “only” 43 miles, but we’ll go from about 5,700 ft. of elevation to almost 8,000 ft. in Aspen with an elevation gain of 2,800. The day after is the “queen’s stage” – Aspen to Leadville, which is 61 miles, an elevation gain of 5,700 and tops Independence Pass @ 12,095 ft. In fact, there is a stretch of about 15 miles @ 5-1/2% “average grade”. These are not as long as the first couple of days, but their elevation gain and steepness will exact a serious toll on the legs.

Despite the climb on the front-end, Team Bizzo had a comfortable day in the saddle. Cubby was able to rehab his knee last night to the point of being able to ride. It turns out that Mr. Cubby had his bicycle maintained at a local shop in San Antonio. As part of their maintenance, they cleaned and lubed the seatpost. However….they set the seatpost about +1” too low. Guess what happens? Answer – your knees hurt. Cubby adjusted his seat back up and voila…the knee pain was severely reduced. He’s still tender from the first three days of damage, but a little ice and ibuprofen will solve this in time for Independence Pass.

Lecture Time - Even for you novice cyclists out there, once you get your bicycle seat adjusted properly, measure the distance from the top of the pedal (on the downstroke – along the seat tube) to the top of the seat. Write this number down or commit it to memory. Always check this measurement when you have the bike serviced. Mechanics are notoriously slack at this detail. You’ll avoid the knee pain and the time off the bike rehab’ing your injury. BTW – you can get knee pain from the seat being too high or too low. Get properly fitted for the bike. There should be a slight bend to your knee at the bottom of the downstroke. End of lecture.

The ride was very beautiful. We climbed into Harvey Gap State Park. There is a reservoir in the park that was a stunning emerald green. Because of logistical issues with Hammer’s camera, we’ll have those and a number of pictures from today’s ride. After the climb, we had a moderate descent (22 – 28 mph) into the value that heads towards Glenwood Springs. It was quite a bucolic setting with farms, barns and lots of grazing horses and cows along with shimmering hayfields.

As we headed out towards Glenwood Springs, Team Bizzo came face to face with the forest fire that Lisa had written about. The fire was started by a lightning strike. As we headed down US Highway 6, the sky was filled with billowing smoke and firefighting choppers and airplanes. The fire had gotten within almost ¼ mile of the highway. I’ve attached a video clip that I took with my cell phone. After we got past the fire, we spent about 5 miles on lovely Interstate 70. The pucker factor was unbelievably high with 18-wheelers passing you at 75 mph. We’ll have more photos, stats and stuff with tomorrow’s post.



Quote of the Day - "We'll be done when we're done" - the Hammer.

The Coach

Day 2 and 3 - Steamboat Springs to Craig to Rifle

The Coach is back on-line. I apologize for the lack of participation in posting. I have to tell you that I'm doing well to get showered, fed and to bed. Lisa has done an admirable job in bringing you at least some of the details. Granted, it lacks the testosterone infused commentary that comes from yours truly.

Day 2 was a relatively quiet one. We did have rickety start with a flat tire on the Cervelo. Here is a picture of Cubby and Coach during the fix. We did end up with a blow-out on the first tube. Talk about scare the hell out of you. I set the tire down after pumping it up and BANG!

Team Bizzo spent quite a bit of time riding at a comfortable aerobic heart-rate. Roughly translated, we tried to ride at 50-60% of the maximum heart rate. Overall, it was roughly down hill for the 45 mile trek from the hotel in Steamboat Springs to Moffat County High School in Craig. You've seen some of the shots of tent city and the bicycle security area.

We did have a little sprint/finish competition between the Bizzos. Cubby was not able to contest the sprint because of his knee problem although he did have the first go which Coach was able to cover. Immediately after Cubby's go, Hammer immediately went on the attack. Again the Coach had to cover the attack. At this point the road was relatively flat, we went into a high speed right hand turn and the road took a menacing turn uphill. Coach and Hammer immediately went to guns up the hill. As for the winner, let's just say that the guy with the University of Michigan jersey finished about two (2) minutes up.

After the ride, we hung out and waited for the Princess to drop off the camping supplies. We immediately went to work at setting up the Taj, short for Taj Mahal, in the tent city. Thanks to Mr. Hammer, we had the chateau among chateaus. Lisa promptly bailed on the test-fest and headed out to Glenwood Springs. Team Bizzo went in search of grub. First try was at the city park where the city was hosting a dinner. The problem was that they ran out of food. We walked around looking for a good place to eat in Craig. Needless to say, we had very limited choices. Team Bizzo ended up dining at JWs on cheeseburgers and fries. Not the best dinner in advance of a 90 mile ride. After dinner, we caught the local bus back to the campground. Ended up having a very good night's sleep.

Day 3 started with a beautiful sunrise:

We were on the road @ 6:30am. I haven't done the official poll of the Bizzos, but I'm voting for today's ride as being the most difficult so far. Here's some interesting facts about the ride:

• Distance - 89.52 miles
• Ride Duration - 6:06:12
• Temperature @ Start - 35 degrees
• High Temperature for ride - 103.7 degrees
• Coach's Calorie Consumption - 5,950

The ride ended up being an endurance ride into the fires of hell known as Rifle, CO. All three of the Bizzos suffered at some point during the day. The road, CO-13, was mostly chip and seal with an unbelievably narrow shoulder. Big oil field trucks were continuously buzzing the riders. Pucker factor was unbelievably high. I'll poll the boys tomorrow and let you know the results.

Well....it's time to shut 'er down for the night. Please keep posting your comments.

The Coach

June 19th - Princess Corner

First off I would like to send 1,000 pardons to my husband. I did not give him or his bike the proper respect by calling it a Cervezo. Let's set the record straight that it is a Cervelo. ;)

Thanks to all of you that have sent us comments (posts and through e-mail). We love hearing from everyone and it gives Da Boys extra encouragement. It is the next best thing to all of you being out here cheering them on from the sides of the road. Also, Kelly asked if there were any pictures of the mass shaving Da Boys did. The shaving was done separately in the privacy of each bike knerd's home. I do want to get all of their legs together in a shot though. I'll work on that.

The riders had a tough day today. The Hammer said his monitor (I'm guessing heart rate monitor??) showed the temperature being 103.7 degrees. Of course, that also takes into account the heat coming off of the road but whatever, that's da#& hot! I'll let Chuck do the specifics of the ride. He loves those facts and statistics...

JP (Cubby) is looking at a possible sagging tomorrow. He started having problems with his knee yesterday but he still rode today. It seems to be worse today as it is swelling now. This ride is certainly not worth blowing out his knee to keep riding but I know he is bummed. He may take a rest day and announce "game on."

I have observed a lot of white salt stains and trails all over Da Boys Halloween costumes. Some very unique sunburns too from the bike knerd crowds. Here are some funny pictures the Hammer got of the traveling bike city:

Bike Cemetary

Bike City

So I went on another hike yesterday at the Rabbit Ears base. I feel I can call this a true hike instead of a nature walk because I was breathing challenged, I did 5 miles, and went from 9,600 to 10,600 feet. Anthing more then that and I would have passed glistening and gone into the dark side...sweating. This altitude would be considered a sub alpine climate with some interesting plants. One of the plants covering the area was the glacier lily which is in the picture below. That takes care of flora. Also saw a chipmunk, squirrel, and deer. Keep in mind that each time I saw one of these cute critters, I jumped a mile. Okay, I'm a little on edge for vacation but I kept thinking it was a bear or mountain lion coming to get me. I finally found a good hiking stick and felt a little bit more in control although I know that should anything really attack me, that stick would have been toast. It's all about mind games, right?

By the way, did anyone catch the alignment of Saturn, the moon and Venus last night? This is not a very good picture but check it out tonight if you can for yourself.

There is a big wild fire a few miles from here in Glenwood Springs. The forestry and fire departments are working 24 hours to get it contained but it is dry and hot in this area. So far the riders route tomorrow has not been changed but I'm sure it will depend on if the fire spreads and where it spreads to. It is being called the New Castle fire if you see it in the news. The wild fire fighters out here are AMAZING and whatever they are paid, it is not nearly enough.

That's all for now...will update soon!

XOXO, Lisa

June 18th - From the Princess Corner

Well we arrived to Breckenridge/Frisco area Saturday afternoon. Da boys were anxious to get registered so we went there directly. After the life being sucked out of them with lines and waiting, we went to the Pearl Izumi outlet store for more male shopping. :) Some major carbing up with dinner and back to our condo for the night. The picture above is the view of Breckenridge from our balconey. We had a really nice two bedroom condo but unfortunately the room was really hot and we all had a tough night sleeping. Who needs sleep though when the adrenaline and testosterone are running at an all time high....Day 1 of RTR WOOOHOOOO

We took a few starting shots but I like this one the best. We got Cubby and Hammer (JP and Scott) in the background in poses that I like to think say "No girly men. We are going to conquer the little mountains," in the your best Hanz and Franz immitation. Chuck's caption would be "I have my new Cervezo bike, my strong tree trunk legs, and miles in the saddle...I laugh at the challenges the RTR route brings this year." Lake Dillon is in the background.

Of course, they later said the immediate climbing without a kiss or warm fuzzy hug to start off with from the route was a *&^^ buster.

Meanwhile, as they are conquering mountains, I went off to rejuice on some more estrogen and nature. The above picture is from a short hike (although hike is a strong word for what I did) above Lake Dillon. Notice the Lupines in the foreground, a cousin of our beloved Bluebonnet wildflower in Texas. Then it was onto Steamboat Springs to catch up with Da Boys. The RTR encourages support vehicles (me) to take alternative routes to cut down on traffic. My alternative route that was said to be an hour shorter then the rider's route turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour drive. Somehow I think someone's lying.

I arrived to pick Da Boys up and Chuck was pretty cranky but otherwise Da Boys seemed to be in good spirits...no flats, broken spokes, falls, etc. Chuck did say that a bee and a grasshopper flew into his helmet and he had to stop to fish them out. Ahhhh, nature. Here are a few more pictures from Scott's camera that I loved that Chuck didn't post earlier. I think this 1st one is of the first rest stop... the next is the line to the bathroom :)

Day 1 - Frisco to Steamboat Springs, Jun 17 2007

Talk about just getting down to business....today's ride was 98.86 miles /or/ 101.3 depending on whom you believe. There is tremendous discussion and dissension within Team Bizzo about whether the ride qualifies as a Century. Cubby is firmly on the side of Century and Hammer is firmly on the side No-Century.

Suffice it to say that we were in that neighborhood. Nothing gets your attention like a 100-mile ride. Here are today's stats:

• ~ 100 Miles
• 4,700 ft. Elevation Gain, Maximum Gradient - 9%
• Ride Time: 6:29:42, yes, 6 hours, 29 minutes and 42 seconds for Coach.
• Cubby and Hammer finished about 2 minutes earlier. So much for no man left behind.
• Total Calories Consumed - 6,032

The ride started out with an "in your face" climb up Swan Mountain Road, 600 feet. There was about a 1000' of warmup flats and then straight up hill. The grades were at 8 - 9% most of the way. Welcome to RTR.

This is a part of Colorado that I've never visited. The scenery from Frisco to Rabbit Ears Pass was mostly high desert, i.e., not a lot of trees and lots of sage. What few trees were Cottonwoods located around the Blue River. Here's a picture of yours truly on the approach to Rabbit Ears:

See if you can find the Rabbit Ears. Also, note the state of the local vegetation.

BTW - Would your rather kiss a frog between the legs or a rabbit between the ears? Post a response. If you're not sure how to answer, ask me about this the next time that you see me.

Here's more close-up view of Rabbit Ears Pass. Notice the increase in trees, flora and fauna. I learned these big hort words from our local hort knerd, Princess. Also, there were some wonder streams and lakes on top as well.

The downhill ride to Steamboat was beautiful. It was a broad valley surrounded by mountains with lots of trees, horse ranches, and streams. This is what a typical person thinks about when they think Colorado. This is absolutely God's country.

Today we're going to start a new feature, called quote of the day. Today's nugget is:

"The longest day is the hardest day. - the Coach".

For some reason, my compadres enjoy the simple overstatement contained within. For this ride, I'm not sure that this will hold true. Tuesday's ride promises to be a humdinger. Go the the RTR web site and look at the profile and description for Day 3 - Craig to Rifle. The ride for today is a short (44 mile) downhill ride to Craig. More mountains, more scenery. Weather forecast is for sunny and 75 to 80 degrees.

More to come this evening.....the Coach.

June 15, 2007 Princess Corner

Here are da boys heading out from our lovely stay at the Quality Inn. This gives you an idea of the luggage/bike situation. There is a lot of attention given to the "babies" aka bikes. The loading of the bikes, the security of the bikes, the lack of protection for the bikes from the elements. Luckily, praise God, the bikes all made it without any more harm then some dust, a few dead bugs, and a pressing need for a thorough washing and lubing. The drive was carefree and easy for me. I watched a few movies, slept, laughed with the boys, and finally when I couldn't take the heavy metal vomit music going on, I checked out with some headphones and my IPOD.

After a long two days of driving we arrived in Colorado Springs to promptly go to the Mecca...Colorado Cyclist. Now I had no idea that this was such a big deal although I do recall getting mail order catalogues at our house weekly. I lasted about 5 minutes inside to see what all of the talk was about and then outside to sit by some type of olive tree that was blooming. Lovely scent. Beautiful day. It was probably in the mid 70's in the Springs. I fueled up on nature/estrogen time as it had been lacking up to that point. The boys all came out with purchases and it struck me that men really do like to shop contrary to popular opinion. They just don't like to shop at "girl" stores. I mentioned that they hadn't purchased a whole lot and they informed me that they had to pace themselves. There was the big RTR registration with boothes, etc. not to mention the Pearl Izumi outlet in the nearby town of Silverthorne from the start of the RTR. For those of you that are non-bike knerds, this is the big label for the Halloween costumes they wear while riding.

When we finally got to the cabin da boys went to their separate corners to work on their "babies." They were licked clean while we listened to JP's very eclectic mix of heavy metal vomit music, 80's music, and Genesis. WOW!

A toast to da boys! Team Bizzo will be doing a short training ride in the morning. I'll let them tell you the specifics and statistics. I can't be bothered by those numbers.

More to come over the next few days...did I mention there has been more shaving for this ride by da boys then what I did in my normal female rituals?

XOXO, Lisa