a look back at Boulder and the fab five
the drive
It was a beautiful day in Durango. I packed the car, drove up the mountain to work for a few hours, picked up my bike at Robbie’s Garage, bought a pretty, flower-y plant for my host family, stopped by Bread for bread, ran by Stephanie’s for Stephanie and we were on our way to Boulder. Our in-car party was jammin’ until the peek-a-boo construction stop: 80 to 0 in 15 feet. We had to pull into the other lane to avoid crashing. But, “seriously mom,” there was no warning. We had a picnic while waiting, made friends with the construction guy and moved up 8 spots as we were let out of the gate first. Smile and wave! We were back into our groove...singing, laughing, talking, missing our turn and driving over Monarch Pass. Our tip for those traveling from Durango to Boulder: when you see 4 signs in a row with Monarch in them, you’re going the wrong direction. The 64 mile detour took no time at all as I bombed down the steep grade in neutral with no brakes. Steph remained quiet with her game face on although her true thoughts were: ‘I trust your driving, but I don’t trust the deer.’ After our descent, Steph caught her breath and reenacted the weeks episodes of Sex in the City only to realize those were the last 2 episodes forever!! She became silent again. Silent until my run in with a police officer who (even after Stephanie’s text book comment: ‘we were going the speed limit’) gave me 3 warnings. About an hour later we made it to Boulder, brought in our gifts of thanks and appreciation to our host family and went to bed.
racer chicks
The next morning Stephanie and I pre-rode the TT course as our race was in the late afternoon. The course was hilly and pretty fun. I rode smart and worked on all of my ‘to do’s’ and ‘to not do’s.’ I started the TT with the first big ‘to not do’ which is go out too hard. I paid for it as my time on the first half of the course was not much faster than my pre-ride. We met up with our teammates (Marisa, Robin and Irene) at the finish and had an easy ride back home. Our Saturday race was a road race on dirt which I loved! Too bad I got caught behind a crash 3 miles into the race and chased for 2 hours finishing 4 minutes behind the group. I wasn’t much help to our team leaders (Marisa in 6th, Steph in 10th) but they held their own and finished with the lead group. Steph was gripping her bars so tight she had blisters on her hands but luckily I had my Euro Barbie Band-Aids (the coolest thing WalMart has ever carried) to give her.
country comes to town
Later that evening the chicks hit Pearl Street for some food, shopping and people watching. You’d have thought we'd never lived in or been to a city or suburb before...we were stunned by all the people, action and stores. The guy at The Body Shop must have been entertained by 4 giggly, biker chicks as we walked away with bags of free goodies.
sunshine on the hill climb
We had 2 races on Sunday. The first began with an 8am, 9 mile, steep-a** climb up the canyon. The highlight was having Tyler Hamilton there to give us a bootie push up the hill. Aw yea! Irene and Marisa threw down and both were in the top 10 going into the final race. Inbetween races the girls went to Wild Oats for lunch, the Title IX store and the $1.00 bin at SuperTarget. We love SuperTarget. That was the end of our shopping, it was off to the crit race. Another beautiful course in the historic district of Boulder on a fast course with a lot of spectators. Our mission was to keep our team leaders in the top 10 and thanks to Robin, a former national crit champ, we were successful. We celebrated with cookies courtesy of Rob from Bread, fresh strawberries from our new friend and local, Tara, and a delicious pasta primavera dinner from Chef Jim.
back to big “D”
Stephanie and I woke up early, packed the car, picked up some coffee at a little cafe on the river and headed home. On our way home, we discovered that the Buena Vista bathroom is the only game in town, Steph contemplated the difference between bison and buffalo and after 7 months of being in Colorado I realized the state is full of super crunchy granola people - off road strollers, khaki wilderness clothes and hats with way all natural hemp fibers and Chaco’s with no cute pink, glittery nail polish. About this time we both realize COPS is live in Pagosa!...76 in a 60. Game Over.
It was a beautiful day in Durango. I packed the car, drove up the mountain to work for a few hours, picked up my bike at Robbie’s Garage, bought a pretty, flower-y plant for my host family, stopped by Bread for bread, ran by Stephanie’s for Stephanie and we were on our way to Boulder. Our in-car party was jammin’ until the peek-a-boo construction stop: 80 to 0 in 15 feet. We had to pull into the other lane to avoid crashing. But, “seriously mom,” there was no warning. We had a picnic while waiting, made friends with the construction guy and moved up 8 spots as we were let out of the gate first. Smile and wave! We were back into our groove...singing, laughing, talking, missing our turn and driving over Monarch Pass. Our tip for those traveling from Durango to Boulder: when you see 4 signs in a row with Monarch in them, you’re going the wrong direction. The 64 mile detour took no time at all as I bombed down the steep grade in neutral with no brakes. Steph remained quiet with her game face on although her true thoughts were: ‘I trust your driving, but I don’t trust the deer.’ After our descent, Steph caught her breath and reenacted the weeks episodes of Sex in the City only to realize those were the last 2 episodes forever!! She became silent again. Silent until my run in with a police officer who (even after Stephanie’s text book comment: ‘we were going the speed limit’) gave me 3 warnings. About an hour later we made it to Boulder, brought in our gifts of thanks and appreciation to our host family and went to bed.
racer chicks
The next morning Stephanie and I pre-rode the TT course as our race was in the late afternoon. The course was hilly and pretty fun. I rode smart and worked on all of my ‘to do’s’ and ‘to not do’s.’ I started the TT with the first big ‘to not do’ which is go out too hard. I paid for it as my time on the first half of the course was not much faster than my pre-ride. We met up with our teammates (Marisa, Robin and Irene) at the finish and had an easy ride back home. Our Saturday race was a road race on dirt which I loved! Too bad I got caught behind a crash 3 miles into the race and chased for 2 hours finishing 4 minutes behind the group. I wasn’t much help to our team leaders (Marisa in 6th, Steph in 10th) but they held their own and finished with the lead group. Steph was gripping her bars so tight she had blisters on her hands but luckily I had my Euro Barbie Band-Aids (the coolest thing WalMart has ever carried) to give her.
country comes to town
Later that evening the chicks hit Pearl Street for some food, shopping and people watching. You’d have thought we'd never lived in or been to a city or suburb before...we were stunned by all the people, action and stores. The guy at The Body Shop must have been entertained by 4 giggly, biker chicks as we walked away with bags of free goodies.
sunshine on the hill climb
We had 2 races on Sunday. The first began with an 8am, 9 mile, steep-a** climb up the canyon. The highlight was having Tyler Hamilton there to give us a bootie push up the hill. Aw yea! Irene and Marisa threw down and both were in the top 10 going into the final race. Inbetween races the girls went to Wild Oats for lunch, the Title IX store and the $1.00 bin at SuperTarget. We love SuperTarget. That was the end of our shopping, it was off to the crit race. Another beautiful course in the historic district of Boulder on a fast course with a lot of spectators. Our mission was to keep our team leaders in the top 10 and thanks to Robin, a former national crit champ, we were successful. We celebrated with cookies courtesy of Rob from Bread, fresh strawberries from our new friend and local, Tara, and a delicious pasta primavera dinner from Chef Jim.
back to big “D”
Stephanie and I woke up early, packed the car, picked up some coffee at a little cafe on the river and headed home. On our way home, we discovered that the Buena Vista bathroom is the only game in town, Steph contemplated the difference between bison and buffalo and after 7 months of being in Colorado I realized the state is full of super crunchy granola people - off road strollers, khaki wilderness clothes and hats with way all natural hemp fibers and Chaco’s with no cute pink, glittery nail polish. About this time we both realize COPS is live in Pagosa!...76 in a 60. Game Over.
posted by kricket at 4:11 PM
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