On the road again.

I'm in Denver. Boom! How did I get here? Well, its been a long, twisting road here from Tiburon, but I've enjoyed pretty much every step of the way.

1) Tiburon/ Giro di San Francisco.
Tyler and Amy were incredible hosts and it was with a heavy heart that Phil and I left Tiburon. In fact, the only thing that could lure us away from that little Eden was one of the best races of the year: the Giro. Long story short, Phil and Evan went up the road in an elite group of 8 including 2 Jelly Belly riders, Eric Wohlberg, and Jared "the manimal" Barrilleaux. The guys rode their brains out, lapped the field and P Mooney and Huffy ended up 3rd and 5th. A good solid showing considering the company. The Giro was also notable because it was the last race in the California Cup. Mooney has been on a hot streak and with his final finishes managed to vault himself into the lead. We cleaned up, Mooney 1st, Parnes 2nd. Niiiice.

2) Casa de Vanacht
Lisa and Filip were nice enough to let Phil and I crash for a few nights in their guest house. Not only did they put us up, but they stuffed us full of delicious food, took us on some excellent rides and let us hang out with their uber-cute kids. Good riding, good company and lots of pool time made for another great stop, but again racing called.

3)Switters Family Funtime/Folsom Cyclebration
Adam's lease was up at the same time mine was, but instead of moving into his van he chose to post up with his folks in Folsom before he heads east, and man are we glad he did. Debbie and Mark were incredible hosts, putting up a bunch of us Yahooligans and preparing huge feasts. They also let us relax in the most incredible massage chair. But we couldn't just lounge around eating all day, so we hit up the Folsom Cyclebration, a 3 stage omnium. The first race appeared to be an innocuous little 10 mile TT. It turned out to be possibly the gnarliest 22 minutes of my season. Sweat and sunscreen were burning my eyes, my legs felt like two sacks of flaming gravel, and my brilliant pre-race burrito threatened to make a second appearance. I almost stopped and threw my bike into the canal. In the end:4th. I guess I shouldn't have talked all that trash about being perpetual 3rd. Mooney was also in the hurt box and could only manage a pathetic 2nd place, which almost broke his spirit. Huffman crushed it for 3rd. The second stage was a crit. I won. Boom. Big ups to Switters and Briggs for the leadout. The third stage was a very cool circuit race in downtown Folsom that ripped across two bridges in one of the most scenic courses of the year. Evan had a huge ride for the win. Mooney took second out of a two man chase over Daniel Ramsey. I sprinted in for 6th, which was good enough to take the overall win. Not a bad way to end my domestic season!

Speaking of good ways to end the season, Mark and Debbie threw a grand ol' send-off shindig for Adam. When I wasn't busy schooling Patrick in ping pong I was doing sit-ups... or something like them.

4) The Road
No, not a depressing post-apocalyptic nightmare by Cormac McCarthy, my 18hr epic journey from Folsom to Denver. Phil and I made pretty good time, I must say. I contribute a good deal of this to Phil's willingness to forgo hydration in order to keep us from unnecessary bathroom stops. We laughed, we cried, we went slightly crazy, but after 1200 miles, some under the hood MacGyvering and a boatload of caffeine we finally rolled in around 3am. Epic drive.
5) Colorado
I'm a cyclist. I'm not prepared to let my driving prowess outdo my cycling. Thus, we set out today to complete an epic ride. We rode out of Boulder, which means the first hour of the ride was straight up Flagstaff with zero warmup.
It ain't easy to breathe at 8300 feet and I was getting a little worried about P$ when he started weaving across the road and muttering. I think he was having symptoms of PTSD related to his Tour of Utah experience. You can't see it, but behind those glasses Phil is cross-eyed. No, no, Phil's an animal, and I had to pretend to check out the view in order to catch a breather.Yes, an hour of climbing straight out of the chute is no joke, but the next stretch of road made that climb look like a coffee cruise. It was like riding down a dried up creek bed complete with waterfalls. Don't believe me? Check this out:
Planet of the Apes ride, eat your heart out. We finally managed to get back to civilization and then rushed off to my first ever pilates class. I was expecting something like yoga. I was dead wrong. They put me on some sort of medieval rack called "The Reformer" and tortured me for an hour. I may have been dying a slow painful death, but I got in some good stretching and strength training. Probably one of the most painful and awkward experiences of my life and something I'd definitely try again.

Well, I'm cracked. I've got just enough energy to enjoy some of Devyn and Steph's delicious curry and crawl to bed.