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October 2002
10/25/02 - Fasso, Basso and Cross
By Adriel Dealy
I love riding my bike. Just got back from a group ride (road) with some coworkers, other locals, and a few famous folks... Ivan Basso
(from Fassa Bortolo) Tara Llanes (from Yeti) and DeDe Demet
(T Mobile). It was a blast! Started in downtown Boulder and rode for a couple hours - beautiful afternoon and a very fun ride! I love riding my bike. Ivan and Tara were in town for a Pearl photoshoot and decided to do an honorary ride since they were both here. Tara is recovering from her nasty fall but is healing up and was able to ride, because she is such a studly gal. Ivan and his wife are expecting a baby, and I helped to get a "baby Basso" jersey made up for their bundle of joy, so I got a pic taken with him. He was quite a sport to ride with the measely likes of me. Very fun.
My lungs are slowly getting initiated to this whole race-pace business. It started with 24Hrs of Moab with relentless coughing through the night (TRYING to sleep between laps in 22-degree weather on an air mattress that leaked!!). The blood-sweat-and-gears race was the toughest course I've ever ridden, between the sand, rock, and hairy dropp-offs, and it's the hardest I've ever pushed myself. It was beautiful - even at night when my lights bombed 1/2 way through the course (I had to catch other riders lamp light, and walk when I was solo) The desert is a eerie place in the middle of the night. Did you know that the moon sets behind the mountains? The morning lap, as I know you know, was incredible - even though I was exhausted. I have to say, the riders that whizzed passed me with comments of "keep it up", "good job", oh and my favorite "yeah! a hard core betty!" (the latter prompted by my sassy jersey) do so much for the morale when I was cold/tired/frustrated etc. I advise that everyone pass these words on to anyone struggling!! Although it was hard, I'm glad I did it and hope to do either 24 HRs of Winter Park or Monterey next year.
Did I mention that I love to ride my bike?
So, the last week has been recovery from that adventure, and I did my 2nd cross race yesterday. It was promoted by my Red Rocks Velo (a local shop/team/club) and was reminiscent of the SLV course - only with tons of thorns and cactus spines, and needless to say a million flats. It was at an elementary school, and had a lot of curvy ups and downs with run ups, through sand boxes, and had a fun little downhill that I took too slow for fear of wiping out (my strongest weakness!). Dean flatted 3 x's in his first 2 laps and was out (which he was very bummed about because he "could have won that one"). I managed to stay flat-free, but didn't place very well. I think I finished 7th - not sure. and was just pooped until the last 2 laps when I finally caught my wind, and passed 2 gals - so I know I wasn't last. But afterwards my lungs were so tired that I was having a pretty rough time.
After today's ride, I am feeling much better. I guess the more you push yourself the better you get. Imagine that.
I am off to Italy on Friday to fit the new Fassa team members, drink a little wine, eat a little pasta... maybe buy a nifty pair of shoes... I'll send you a pic of this Velo Bella in Italy instead.
Keep on peddling. Cause it's so much fun!!!
Ciao bella!!!
(See Ivan and Adriel at Interbike in Cyclingnews.)
10/05/02 - Grizzly Century, North Fork-South Yosemite
by Suenago
Sue-O-Meter rating of 5 stars out of a possible 5 stars.
Sunshine. Bring sunshine. Now, that is a sight that has been lacking in the centuries that I have participated in this year. It seems like I have been cold and damp for most of the cycling season this year, but this century put my faith in Mother Nature again.
In order to fall in love with this century, either you love to climb or you love to descend. Now, if you have been reading any of my other ride reports, you know I am a wimpy descender. In other words, I love to climb. That is why I love this century. There are no flats. That's right, no flats to draft or pace line in. There is 10,000 feet of climbing in the first 70 miles with rollies along Bass Lake to get back to the starting area. One of the descents alone was 13 miles long.
The other great selling point on this century is that the scenery is so spectacular (south Yosemite area) that you don't want to go fast. This is a cruiser paced century. No trying to get under 6 hours for the 100 miles in this one. This is a ride that you don't want to end, so you go as slow as you can and look at the scenery.
The icing on the cake is that the roads have very little motor traffic on them. So, it is you and Mother Nature in all its glory.
There was the normal after ride meal bbq'd that was anything but normal. Imagine North Forks best Firefighters out cooking for the locals and all the cyclists in town. The best darn BBQ you have ever eaten. Of course, I left room for ice-cream afterward in Oakhurst.
If you haven't caught on by now, I really liked this ride. I am going to give this ride a 5-star rating ***** for the support, scenery, food and lack of traffic.
The local riders who participated in this ride were: Gordon, Martin, Phil, Harry, Big Dave, Elizabeth, Mathew and Suenago.
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