Leaky-Boat

Above is a picture of a pleasant 100 mile ride through unmarked trails that Bill talked me into doing last summer.

Bill called me Thursday and asked if I wanted to ride on Sunday. He said he was calling me three days early so I would have time to come up with an excuse not to ride. Last year Bill gave me the nick name "Leaky-Boat" because he says I am always “bailing” on him. My nick name is spreading with alarming speed. What people don’t realize is that Bill is nuts. No riding conditions bother him. Rain, snow, ice, nothing. Bill talked me into doing these rides before work last summer, not nice recovery rides, full-out 4 am crits through down town Brighton.

Saturday, in between picking up kids from sleepovers and getting flowers for the Daddy Daughter dance and a hundred other errands, I went to the Brighton trail head to check on the condition of the trail. I couldn’t tell from the side of the road so I hiked through a foot of snow in my Doc Martins to look at the trail. I was hoping snowmobiles packed down the snow but the only sign of life was one set of cross country ski tracks. Not perfect but I wasn’t going to bail this time.

Sunday, after 24 hours of unseasonably warm weather, the trails were a muddy, slushy mess. Even the roads were wet which would make a road ride less than enjoyable since my chamois would get soaked, making it feel like a wet, salty diaper. I was still determined to ride outside. I was busy doing family things when I realized I ran out of time to ride. I had to make the call of shame: I told Bill I wasn’t going to ride.

This weekend I realized I am not the only bicycle racer to document their training plan in a blog; in fact, I think they all do. Go figure. Looking at the blogs from the racers that win Expert races, I see they are all as nuts as Bill.

Niel Scharphorn: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Single_track_mind

Matt Juth: http://used2bhard.blogspot.com/

They ride in unrideable conditions and they don’t whine. I will need to toughen up this year and ride outside more than I normally do. That is the point of having a training partner like Bill.

Incidentally, I don’t think anyone actually reads my blog but if you do, please consider going to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2fSyN8trcRItHWo9YXQBfjg_3d_3d and vote for Matt Juth from Evergreen CO for the Blog of the Year. Matt is a hard core racer, with a coach from Michigan, and has a chance of winning the contest. This will get him a free entry into the Breck-Epic in July. Racing at his level without a full sponsorship is an expensive endeavor and I think he deserves for someone else to pay his fees for this race.