CDR is on & racers are rolling through our way. I figured te one place I could get in a pedal & catch any of them would be to roll Como-Breck. So Wednesday morning saw me getting outta bed early & cruising to the mountains again. I saw that Matthew Lee had passed through Tuesday evening, but I thought I might have a chance to encounter either Blaine or Erik on Boreas Pass Rd. Unloaded in Como & dragged ass up Gold Dust, feeling the past week of riding in my legs, & the lower content of oxygen in my blood.
Spikefest 2010, here we come! Real nice dirt for the most part, with some little puddles in the flumey middle section, then a few more sections of running water on the top 1/3.
Popped out on the road & chilled on top for a few minutes looking at my map to figure out what I wanted to hit on the other side. Decided on just popping into Baker's Tank & following it down to the lower parking, then taking the easy back, grinding up the road. Had my plan, so started the 4 mile coast to the tank. Just a bit before I got there, I saw a loaded down rider & knew it was a CDR-er, so I turned it around & rolled back to find it was Erik Lobeck. Chatted with him as we headed back up to the pass. He had both derailleurs blow & 1 other mechanical that cost him a lot of time, else he would still be rolling with M. Lee way out front. He was enjoying the weather in CO after dealing with nasty conditions in MO & WY, & hoping he wouldn't hit any monsoons in NM.
A Pixburgher wheels his way north-south.
I wished him good luck & turned around just before the pass & rolled back down again & popped into Baker's Tank trail.
Great fun & great conditions! At the bottom trailhead, I met a group that had about 25 bikes hanging out - found out they had a hockey camp going on & were taking the kids on a bike ride up the road to the pass. Nice cross-training!! Left them & did the grind back up, really feeling the weight in my legs this time.
Used this spot as a good excuse to stop & snap a pic of Goose Pasture Tarn.
Took another needed breather at the pass before bombing Gold Dust - which was soooo much fun now that I had an enormous 80mm of front-end cush. The high-country trails are ready & willing!!
After a nice lunch & searching flights in order to get mom a long w/end out here (Yeah!), I hopped on the beater to meet up w/Steve & attend the MileHigh All Colorado Tasting event @ Lucky Strikes lanes. All the usual suspects were there - GCB, Wynkoop, Upslope, Avery - as well as some others I hadn't seen. Guy Drew Vineyards & Garfield Estates both had some tasty reds...and since they were on super sale at the store, I swung by to grab a few bottles on the way home. Making some stuffed manicotti tonight, so one of those will go well with dinner.
