WOW! July...

Well, it has been a while since I last reported in.. I took a much needed nap after work today, so that is why I am up fairly late and blogging. I want to start by saying that I love my wife. She is the best! No matter how bad or tough my day is, she makes it so much better. Just seeing her when I get home improves my spirits, even if she is griping about Jeter or why I havent vacuumed! :O)
I am so very lucky to have you in my life Suzanne and I always wonder and hope that I am being a good enough husband.

Well, we did the Sunrise Century in Boulder and it went well. The ride was a little harder than I expected. After the long climb up to Ward, there is a big descent down to Nederland and then they turn you around and make you grunt back up over the pass to Ward and then down Left Hand Canyon, which was fun. The right turn south on Route 36 after Left Hand Canyon into a 25 mph headwind back towards Boulder, CO. ARRGHH!! That was not all that much fun at all. Suzanne and I rode pretty well and padded our fitness for the daunting Triple Bypass on July 12. This will be my 7th Triple Bypass and Suzanne's 1st.

I have been cross training as well by starting my 2008 climbing season and continuing my goal to climb all of Colorado's 58 fourteeners. I climbed the "technically closed" Decalibron (Lincoln, Bross, Democrat, Cameron) after patiently waiting for 1 1/2 years for the the landowners to settle their issues with the forest service, come to find out that the owner of the land around Mt. Bross may never allow access again, I decided to go for it worrying that I may never get to climb the peak. I hope that they can work something out. Lincoln and Democrat should be open again in the fall. Bross may not re-open at all. I also climbed Culebra in the Sangres with some great people from http://www.14ers.com/. What a great weekend. Thanks to Lance Enholm and Caroline Moore for organizing the trip.. You guys rock! I hope to climb 10 fourteeners this year. I will try to climb South Maroon, Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle later this summer and try to get closer to finishing the Sawatch Range. I have climbed 27 of the 58 fourteeners to date.

I have been riding my mountain bike quite a bit which has been great. Ed Berra and I have been hitting up lots of rides on the front range and we hope to continue to get some great rides in through out the summer as well. I bought a set of Industry Nine wheels with DT Swiss rims 4.2 for my Yeti ASR and they are absolutely fantastic. http://www.industrynine.net/. If you are looking for an amazing wheel that is amazingly efficient, stiff , bombproof yet still light, this is the wheel for you. As for motorcycling, I have not had a bunch of time to get out on the Ducati all that much. I am hoping to get out this weekend with some guys form work and ride the Deckers run.

2 weeks until France and Italy for Suzanne and I. Very excited to see the Tour De France on L'Alpe D'Huez and to see my company's former team TIAA-CREF nowTeam Slipstream Chipoltle. Yes, that will be me running along side them with my Colorado flag waving in the wind in the Alps! I will post lots of pictures to my blog.

On the political front, I am not really all that pysched or particularly motivated to blog on the subject yet. Stock market is not well, economy is sputtering, gas is over 4 bucks and we are still at war, despite some positive news out of IRAQ of late. More to be done in Afganistan. God Bless our troops. I am so very proud of you all. Thanks for keeping my family and I safe as well as all Americans and defending my freedom. I sincerely hope that you all can come home soon to your families. I am hoping Obama and McCain can agree on some town halls and start the show. I think Obama will agree to do them at some point. I really want to hear about his ideas and what he wants to do and what is important. John McCain I hope will articulate his vision and plan as well for the US. This is going to be fun!

My Yankees and Mets are still not showing me all that much.. This might be the first October in a long while that a team from NY will not be in the playoffs come the fall..

Good news for the New York Rangers today.. They signed one of the best defenseman in the league today in Wade Redden. I just hope that Glen Sather can get Jaromir Jagr back in the mix and perhaps Marian Hossa or Mats Sundin would be nice as well.. :O)

VT

The Latest

Suzanne and I have been training quite a bit over the last few weeks. Both of us completed the 100 mile Elephant Rock Century both in good time. What a crazy ride! Several crashes, lots of wind and threatening weather in the morning, and then lots of sunshine and a tailwind in the afternoon. I grabbed a slipstream with two other guys after Palmer Lake and we cooked on the downhill! Well over 40 miles an hour in some stretches.. Very, very fast.. Tomorrow is the Sunrise Century in Boulder. This is Suzanne and I's last 100 mile century before the Triple Bypass on July 12. We are hoping to achieve some more fitness, get some hill work in and enjoy the scenery as we climb out of Boulder to Nederland and descend back to Boulder.. http://www.bikerpelli.com/


Ed, Chip and I had a memorable weekday MTB ride at Deer Creek. The climbing isnt especially fun, as it is pretty steep and technical in sections, but the singletrack up top and the fast descent back to the parking lot certainly padded the fun factor.

Deer Creek Canyon: Photo Courtesy of Denver Trail Runners




My first 14ers climb will come next Friday as I will take the day off from work to climb. JP Houser will be joining me along with my lab Jeter who is really anxious to get out..

Jeter on his way down from the summit of Mt. Sherman, Spring 2007

I haven't started political blogging yet, as I want to see McCain and Obama really draw the lines in the sand as to where they stand on the issues.. I can tell you that McCain is a little bit more in line with what I believe in. I will certainly listen to Barack Obama as he seems to be a very smart, articulate man. I just dont agree with his position on Iraq, nor do I agree with his stance on raising taxes and doing away with the Bush tax cuts. More later.


My Yankees are starting to play a bit and sit 6 games behind the Sox in the AL East. My Mets continue to disappoint, 7.5 games back of the Phillies.

5 weeks until Europe.. Paris, the Tour de France and then a week and a half in Positano, Italy on the Amalfi Coast. I am starting to get very excited. Team Slipstream will certainly represent Colorado and the United States very well as I expect them to challenging for stage wins and some of the coveted jerseys.. We will be on L' Alpe D' Huez for Stage 17.

See You Soon.
VT

Roughing it in the Rockies..

With my Elephant Rock Century bike ride tomorrow that rides 100 miles from Castle Rock down to Colorado Springs and back, through the Black Forest, I decided to get the Ducati out today and ride up to Estes Park. I rode up through Boulder to Lyons and then hopped on Colorado 7 through the canyon up to Allens Park where I was not only treated to great roads for a motorcycle ride, but also some fantastic views of Mount Meeker and Longs Peak. I also saw some Elk in a meadow near Rocky Mtn National Park. They were grazing and watching me take their picture. It was a beautiful day here in Colorado. I am looking forward to a nice carb load dinner tonight of pasta and getting some rest before my long bike race tomorrow. I will check in tomorrow and let everyone know how my wife and I fared and what type of times we achieved in riding the 100 miles.

Longs Peak, Rocky Mtn. National Park with a view of "The Diamond"

VT

A mild Thursday night on Colorado's Front Range

Well it has been a couple of fun weeks here in Colorado. It is starting to finally get warm here in Colorado on a consistant basis. I am looking forward to continue my quest to climb all 58 fourteeners. I will climb my first 2008 fourteeners next weekend. I hopefully will have climbed 5 more by the end of June. Culebra is on the list for June.

My wife Suzanne has been training for her first century ride, getting on her road bike just about every night and mountain biking on the weekends. She will ride the Elephant Rock, Sunrise Century and the Triple Bypass within 5 weeks time. She is starting to scare me. She is getting very strong. Last weekend she did a training ride from Washington Park where we live out to 32nd Ave to Golden, climbed Lookout and rode nearly to Evergreen and back. Those training rides were exclusively for me. Not now.. My wife is quickly becoming the next Juli Furtado/Paola Pezzo. She drops many men on her rides. I myself had a great ski season, tele skiing in Colorado and Utah to my hearts content. The most epic day coming the first week of February 2008. Waist deep powder at Snowbird, Utah. What a great snow year for the Rocky Mountains.

I put my "pins" away for the year and starting training myself. The 125 mile Triple Bypass looms large on the horizon in early July . 125 miles and almost 10,500 feet of climbing..Lots of road riding and mountain biking to be had.

I just returned from the Yeti Tribe Gathering, where Yeti Bicycle fanatics from all over converge on Colorado for a weekend filled with sweet singletrack, beers, bbq's and most of all Yeti's. Joe Henderson, Anthony Sloan and Sarah Rawley of Yeti should be commended. They and the rest of the Yeti crew did a fantastic job.

The 2008 Tribe Gathering was in Fruita, Colorado. Yes.. Tasty! We rode all of the trails in Loma, like Mary's and Horsethief, but also went to Grand Junction for a day to ride the fabled Ribbon Trail. Some of the best riding I have done since I moved to Colorado.


Photo Credit: Anthony Sloan http://www.anthonysloan.com/


The Ribbon, Grand Junction, CO


Well, I guess I will sign off for today. My two struggling NY baseball teams both have small little win streaks. The Mets beat the Dodgers 8-4, while the NY Yankees were idle tonight after beating the Orioles yesterday. We will soon see if Joba Chamberlain is the new Yankees ace as he is scheduled to start his first game this weekend. As far as the Giro D'Italia is concerned, Alberto Contador of Astana has a 41 second lead going into Stage 19. Stage 19 has a huge climb over the Passo Del Vivione. Look for the two Italians, Ricco and Simoni to attack on this stage and put in one last fight to claim the GC and the Maglia Rosa.

My First Blog entry...

Photo Credit: Rob Waterman

Preamble:

I will chat about many things in my blog. My life, sports, politics, mountaineering, telemarking, cycling, Ducatisti and everything there is to know about the Rocky Mountains and the amazing lifestyle you can grow accustomed to here on the "front range" of Colorado.. The home turf it you will.

Stay Tuned..

Vince. VT. Enzo.