A Brazilian? And Other Memories of Ride The Rockies.

On Saturday 2,350 riders rolled into Breckenridge after a week of riding our bikes around the Colorado Rockies. As Mary Ellen and I pedaled side by side through the throngs of spectators (okay,maybe it was only 200 or so) lining Adams Street into the finish line, my mind inevitably travelled back to the high and low lights of the preceding week.

HIGHLIGHTS

You can eat and drink pretty much anything and it's all in the name of fueling your ride.

You can ride places you normally wouldn't for fear of being killed by traffic because most of the locals know there's a big ride going on, so they stay away. And the State Troopers do such a great job of keeping motorists under control.

Jim. He is the greatest person to ride with. He just knows when you really really need him to drag you in. I wonder if it was the sobbing.

You rarely go more than 15-20 miles without an aid station so you don't have to carry as much and you don't panic when you enter an area with no trees or shrubs. You cyclists and runners out there will understand the significance of that last bit.

There's always someone new to talk to so you meet a lot of interesting people. Well, some of them are perhaps not so much interesting as they are unusual. It helps to hang out with Kay and Deb as they are people magnets. That's how I met Jay the Brit. Jay has been an Olympic athlete, a commerical airline pilot, a race car driver (I don't know if that ties into the Olmpics in any way), a charter pilot and an amateur writer. It was the writing angle that was intriguing and why we posed butts forward for him. Who knows what Jay is planning to do with this photo but you saw it here first!

The discovery of Butt Butter. But I didn't use it on my butt exactly. A shout out to Mary the Calgarian for making the suggestion. She's a doctor so she knows what she's talking about right? The rest of the story on the Lady Tool Box is under Lowlights.

Cottonwood Pass. This pass is so achingly beautiful that you didn't even care it wasn't paved or that the local mosquito population was having dinner on your butt. This is a sad testament of how slowly I climb. The mosquitos were having no difficulty keeping up and many were passing me.

Summits. It's always a party at the summit.

And last but not least, it feels so damned good when you stop!

LOWLIGHTS

Wind. Oh my gawd, the wind between Montrose and Crested Butte. Who was the brainiac who decided to add 28 miles into a brick wall of wind at the end of a 92 mile day that started with 15 miles into a brick wall of wind. The wind was so strong in that first 15 miles that at one point I was in my granny gear, pedaling with all my might and going between 10 -12 miles per hour. The bad news is that I WAS GOING DOWNHILL!!!

On that very same day I wore the shine right off the Lady Toolbox. The Lady Toolbox has seen some long days in the saddle but this one left a mark. Mary the Calgarian was on my wheel and noticed that I was standing more and more frequently in that tell tale "oh my aching Lady Toolbox" pose. This is when she suggested butt butter to which I replied I had tried it on a previous occassion to no avail. (Stupid me had taken the name literally) After a few more knees locked, butt up, head down, groan, groan, stretches, she tried again. "Maybe you should get a Brazilian"? Being a couple IQ points smarter than the current leader of the free world, I knew we weren't talking numbers but I didn't immediately grasp her theory. My mind wandered to a long stretch of deserted beach lined with coconut palms waving gently in the warm ocean breeze. My Brazilian (bought and paid for from the proceeds of selling my once beloved Trek) emerged from the quaint beach hut clad scantily in an orange speedo carrying a small tray laden with a gigantic umbrella drink and a plate of freshly cut assorted local fruits. My hammock swayed slightly as I leaned forward to take my drink from his tray as he knelt on one knee, smiling and drinking in my flashing blue eyes. screeecccchhhhhh Oh shit, I nearly ran into Jim's wheel. Not that kind of Brazilian you idiot!!! Focus. Warm ocean breeze, my ass. This is a hurrican force wind we battling here. And as far as getting a Brazilian, well, that's not going to happen any time soon. A Lady Toolbox with no shine is no place for wax let me tell you.

People who let a tired old lady with the aforementioned affliction pull them up passes and serve as a wind break without taking their turn. Or even offering for that matter.

Rumble Strips and narrow or non existent shoulders. Death to CDOT!

OVERVIEW

All in all it was a great ride. This is our group. Front Row: Mary Ellen, Jim, Kay. Back Row: Brian, me, Joan, Deb. Unfortunately, Martha wasn't with us that night and missed the photo. Actually, she missed all the group photos.

In review, I learned the following.

Butt Butter is not necessarily for your butt.

Daydreaming on a bike can be dangerous.

The early rider gets the clean portapotty.

12 miles is a long way without breakfast.

A couple glasses of wine and a good dinner make you forget how miserable you were two hours ago.

Happy Belated Birthday Penny

So, in an effort to make up to Penny for missing her big Six Oh birthday, I made her an apron. It's a bit on the bright side but I hope she likes it. Can you see the tulle? Here's a hint, hemline and neckline. The question I was asked, was will I make one for each of the gal pals. Quick answer is NO. Way too much work.

I forgot Bob's birthday too. This is becoming a bit of a trend. Jill's birthday is June 28th and hopefully it won't slip my mind between now and then. I've got a little something planned for her that I'm thinking she'll really enjoy.

I've been doing some bike riding lately which is good because Ride the Rockies starts next week. Today we went to the Front Range and rode from Bear Creek Park to the Genesse exit using Lookout Mountain and Hwy 40. I'm not sure where we were most of the time but it was a nice ride with a steady climb. On the way back we rode up to Red Rocks. That was actually the toughest part of the ride. There was one point where you'd swear the road was flat and yet I was barely moving in granny gear. Very discouraging but thankfully didn't last long. The descent from there was beautiful but the road isn't in very good condition so you really had to stay focused and not get distracted by the fantastic scenery.

Tommorow we're going to do Ute Pass and on Wednesday we may do Loveland Pass and Montezuma. Bob and rode up to Montezuma on Sunday, then went over Swan Mountain Road. It was a tad chilly and crazy windy but the wind was behind us going up to Montezuma and we took ourselves out of it by taking Swan Mtn instead of going around the lake. Shortly after we got home it started to snow again. It was snowing earlier in the morning. The weather has just been nuts. Snow in June for crying out loud!

Well, back to the sewing room.

We Survived!

Here we are, approaching the finish line of the Steamboat Half Marathon in 2:28 and change. Our goal was just to finish, and anything under 2:30 was gravy. Well, bring on the potatoes folks, cuz we've got gravy. I have to say that is the best I've ever felt coming over the finish line of a half marathon. Jill is a good influence on me! Thanks to Diana Dettmering for the photo. Hey, we sort of look synchronized don't we?

The day before the race we drove the course to get a feel for the lay of the land. Jill was pretty nervous after doing this but I thought it gave me a much better idea of what was coming and eliminated worrying about hills that weren't there or weren't as big as I would have imagined them. All in all the race was a lot easier than I expected. They could certainly have used more porta potties but that seems to be a personal problem rather than a group problem. Suffice it to say that there are several areas along Hwy 129 where the vegetation will thrive!

So now that this is out of the way I need to start riding my bike more. I've been able to get a few rides in this week but the hardest thing I've done is Vail Pass. I'm going to suffer on Ride the Rockies as my saddle butt is not ready for a week of 70+ mileage day after day. And I certainly didn't need this bad weather break I'm taking today. The forecast is for snow over 9000 feet. So far all we're seeing is sporadic rain but it's cool and not ideal riding weather. It's always something.

With all this running and riding my sewing and draping projects have fallen by the wayside. I'm in the process of trying to create, or more accurately, recreate, an apron I saw in San Diego this spring. The thing that was unique about it was the use of tulle. I'm a big fan of tulle in any application so of course I fell hard for these aprons. However, the $100 price tag was a big buzzkill. I tried to take a photo of it without getting caught by the store owner and fell quite short of successful. You can't see a dang thing. So, now I've been reduced to creating/recreating my own masterpiece. I've got it draped so the next step is to transfer it to a paper pattern and then I can start working in the fabric and .....tulle. I love love love tulle.

I was also planning to make myself a new dress for the 180th Birthday Bash but I'm running out of time on that one. It's a week from Saturday. I don't work that fast. I'll be lucky to have one apron done by then and it's a birthday present for Penny. A small token of my regret for forgetting her 60th birthday. I'm a bad bad friend.