Don't Stay Here! Go Outside!

After a long week of work, I decided that I needed to take the long way home from work on Friday, so went north for about 10 minutes and hit up Lefthand Canyon, and up to Brainard Lake.

It was good to get out and clear the mind out of all that work crap. And for once the moto-gods were cooperating and I had ZERO cars in front of me, the entire way up the canyon. Beyond clearing the mind, it was also a good reminder of how lucky we can be to ride around here. I mean, 10 minutes north, and then I had 45 unbroken miles of twisty canyon and mountain roads, with a mere two stop signs along the way. And of course great views!

Continued on the mind cleanse, by going for a run when I got home, and eventually some dinner with Jessica and Alex.

Saturday morning I was up early, trying to sneak in a long ride, before my body figured out what was happening. I left the house and headed down Coal Creek with the thought of meeting up with Seth and some others at the base of Golden Gate Canyon.

Randy, Mike and Leonard also joined us from the team as we slogged our way up. Randy, Seth and I peeled off to take the road less traveled - and by that I mean steeper and loose dirt. We did take the time to stop and enjoy the sites though, and when we rolled past an opening covered in wild-flowers, Seth couldn't resist, and frolicked off to roll in the beauty;

before coming back to Golden Gate to finish the climb. Randy turned, but Seth and I went on, actually catching Mike and Leonard on Peak-To-Peak.

On we went, back to Coal Creek, before I peeled off to hit Magnolia again, on my way back to dropping into Boulder. We only did 85 miles in those 5 hours, but it was a pretty solid amount of climbing. All in all a good ride, and I felt solid the whole time which made it even better. Afterwards, needing a good recovery dinner, I even had French Toast.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day, coffee and hippie muffins in Ned, in the morning, a mostly boring Tour stage on tv, and then snuck out for a quick ride. I did a shorter two hours in the hills, but felt much better than I expected (must have been the French Toast) so I hammered away on the climbs. Spent the evening making dinner with the Wifey, and doing chores around the house, and before I knew it... it was time to head back to work. I woke up this morning (barely) hoping the radio would tell me that work was closed for a snow day...