17 August 2010

My Kinda Race

The Slow RaceI'm such a turtle, they named the Slow Race after me!

Actually, my first real climb on The Lizard's retired Green Queen was a little faster than what I've been doing on my mountain bike. He even remarked that I seemed to be climbing at the same speed I climb on my road bike.

If that didn't cause the adrenaline to surge, I don't know what would!

I do have to get a little lighter on the fingers, though. I got the chain stuck twice because I'm putting too much pressure on the gears. Gee, I wonder how I developed that bad habit?!?

After watching the Leadville Legends literally race by in eight minutes just eight minutes after the race began, we did a training ride around aptly named Turquoise Lake, of which a short portion is a segment of the official Leadville 100 route. Another adrenaline rush — literally following in the Big Guns' tire tracks. Seeing all the water bottles, gel containers and bar wraps the riders discarded alongside the road. Geez, I don't think Ride the Rockies made that big a mess!

After our ride, we returned to the same spot where we shot predawn Leadville 100 pictures and waited about an hour before the first rider shot by like a bullet. Levi Leipheimer shattered last year’s record. Most impressive to me, however, was Ned Overend’s 27th-place finish after giving his wheel to crashed teammate Todd Wells. Deadly Nedly is 54! Living proof you’re never too old to ride.

Living proof I’ll never be too old to ride!
Turquoise Turquoise

7 comments :

  1. Awesome! I hope I can continue to ride for some time, ride for fun, not race, I'm just not a racer, lol. Although, maybe I could be part of your slow race. :)

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  2. Hey, you are lookin' good. One of my dearest friends was still riding his bicycle regularly when he was in his late 70's and caught some sand on a curve and went down. He fractured his hip and was peeved because he had to stay off his bike for about 6 months. He is now 83 and still rides although he admits that he has slowed down. He is one of these ageless skinny old guys that seems to go on forever.

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  3. "slow!" race sounds perfect (for me, too) :). I`m allways doing something, should slow down a bit.

    I think it would be scary to race among cars...

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  4. Hm, i think it is hard to bike with the backpack. Tried it but I don´t like it. Have to use that bikebags or baskets. Don´t know what you call it in english. But the way you ride I guess you need to use backpacks.

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  5. You made it to Leadville! Very cool to see such a great race. We drove part of the course on the Monday after the race, and it was cleaned up (I'm a little surprised that US riders would litter...).

    We're thinking of a camping trip up near the Columbine mine this September to ride the roughest part of the course and enjoy the aspens.

    Love the photos!

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  6. me too! back in the day I once rode a century and came in well into the second half of the pack. You and several other folk are inspiring me to dust off my bike, we will see.

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  7. Looks like it was a gorgeous day for riding! Love your "Slow" sign. =)

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