Toxic Weekend

Here we are back to Monday already... the weekend is already in the books. Friday was a relaxing evening at home with the Misses, with plans to head out on a ride with Mr. Rubin on Saturday. Matt M. also joined us for a little ride out of Golden. It was cold, but less windy than I expected, so we set off to see how high would could get before hitting snow-covered roads. Good to head up Lookout, since I hadn't been up the climb in awhile, but I could also tell that it was definitely cold out. Usual story of the legs feeling quite "blah", even climbing. At the top, I was already cold and not having fun, but at least we were outside riding and, even though I knew getting there was going to be an adventure, there was the promise of a stop in Evergreen at the Tin Star for donuts.

The road near the buffaloes was snow-covered and icy. But riding roads like that (at least when you're going UP) always makes you feel tough!

Funny that we saw some elk, but no buffalo along the road. Kerr Gulch wasn't bad, but climbing back up the canyon to Evergreen, the road definitely had snow. That's okay... only about 2 miles till fritter-time.

Delicious as always, and the warmth of the donut shop tried luring us into staying, but it was time to go. Evergreen Parkway always seems like a good idea, but then you quickly realize that it's all up hill... both ways... in the wind... and on Saturday the shoulder was covered most of the time in a good inch or two of snow and slush. Most of the time that was fine, except that one huge gust that got the better of me! It pushed me into the snow and ice, where I could no longer steer, and settled in for a nice ride into the snow covered bank, and down the hill a ways before it stopped. Those cyclocross handling skills come in handy more often than you think!

Sunday sure seemed colder, and definitely had more wind, so I stuck close to home. I had stuff to do around the house, especially since I never seem to be home in the daylight this time of year. So I had to check out which trees were sacrificed to The Anemoi already this year. But I also had some time to work on a trick new set of wheels, while watching one of the "finer" cinematic creations of our time... The Toxic Avenger.