Colorado Springs

This is going to be a long one. It amuses me how I will sit around for weeks with very little to write about, then in one day I do enough to justify a few more weeks of sitting around.

Thursday, April 23 2009 AD. I did it all today. At least I did all that could be hoped for, short of falling in love, and I am not sure I didn't do that as well. It all started with the most important part... sleeping in. I could not find a campground in the Colorado springs area so I got a cheap hotel. The Colorado welcome center even gave me a nice coupon for it. I am not complaining. I have not slept in a real bed since Virgina, nearly a month ago. Thus I slept in.

The next item on my agenda was to come to a screeching rubber laying halt at a stop light. I needed to test the break job I did before leaving home. What actually happened is that I was trying to find the Garden of the Gods. You try driving an unfamiliar road in the mountians while trying to filter out tourist trap signs. I can hardly be expected to see every red light with all that foolishness assaulting my senses.

Well the good news is that I did see every red light, if perhaps a bit late, and my breaks work splendidly. Highway 24 does have a nice new set of 40 ft matching black rubber marks now.

I did find the park. It was, and I presume still is, awesome. It is a big naturally formed play ground. It features endless Daniel sized climbing opportunities. That simply means rock formations that if fallen from would result in serious injury but remain short of death. It also sports numerous larger formations that are good for other, crazier people to climb, and me to look at.

The "Garden" is enclosed by three giant stone walls sticking sever hundred feet out of the ground. In the center there are perfect juniper trees (at least I think they were some sort of juniper) placed artfully about as it by some wild genious. It really does look like a garden. It just has a bit of a wild feel to it.

I hiked all about and around the park and played on all the rocks. I took every trail, a few things that were decidedly not trails, and a few other places that were not, strictly speaking, sanctioned visitor areas. I probably put 6-7 miles of hiking, wandering, and bouldering. I some times (not often) wonder what all the other genteel tourists think of the tall skinny guy skipping about like a mountain goat.

The afternoon found me driving up Pikes Peak. They charge $8.00 for the chance to test the first 2-3 gears on your car. The top of the mountain is over a mile and a half above the city. Quite the rock. At about 8,000 ft I stopped a turn off and noticed a horrible boiling sound from my hood area. A check revealed that coolant was bubbling into my resevoir and some was flowing out the over flow vent. A few calls to a coworker, my dad, and my mechanic verified that since my fluids were topped off at 600 ft they were over flowing at 8,000ft. Other than that one panic moment my little car performed beautifully. I did not even get blown off the mountain when the wind picked up. Man that was a bit freaky.

I had to stop a few miles short of the summit. They recently had 19ft of snow dump on the peak and were blasting through it with TNT. I did however get above the tree line. Which is more than some people I know can say. I am looking at you Mr. Otto. The trip down was quite exciting. Basically you just put your car in first gear and coast. Using the breaks too much will cause them to over heat and fail. I am sure the guy that found that out must have had a lovely trip.

Back in town I treated myself to dinner, watched an episode of Cold Case, and prepared for one mare adventure before the sun set. What I did not mention about the Garden of the Gods before is that they have a lovely road weaving in and about the park. That road has a ten foot wide bike lane.

I won't go into much detail, but suffice to say that I biked it... twice.. It was the first time that I had ridden since I burned my breaks on Roanoke mountian in VA. I noticed that my breaks had way too much play in them this time. I really did smoke them in the mountians. I used them liberally again this time. I really need to get some beefy breaks if I am going to continue on like this.

If you made it this far you are a champ. Thanks for reading. Next up, Fort Collins CO.

Sam's Summary

• I am really and truly out of Texas
• I left rubber on highway 24
• I had heap good time at Garden of the Gods yah!
• I drove my li'l car from 6,000 ft to 13,000 ft
  
• my coolent expanded
• I got above the treeline
  
• I feared for my life
  
• Gaurd rails are apparently for sissies
• I road my bike. Yeah!
• I have mixed feelings about continental breakfasts.
• Pictures to follow, since I have to check out now.
  

Cycling Roanoke, Va

Was that my ears popping!!? or just my aorta rupturing? A nice guy (for the sake of anonymity we will just call him "Adam") mapped out a bit of a ride for me yesterday. I wanted to do a bit of climbing while in the mountains. Climbing, I got. The first little hill was in all actuality an 1,800 ft tall mountain rising a thousand feet above Roanoke, VA.

I did NOT feel like I was going to die, or vomit, or any other such weak feelings. I did however have very fond thoughts of going the other direction and for taking 'picture breaks'. Did you know that it is nigh on impossible to clip back into your pedals while trying to start out going up hill. For that reason I ended up only using the photo excuse for one picture on the way up. For my success on this climb I would like to thank my mother, father, and the really little chain ring on my bike.

I have provided, for your enjoyment, a nice picture of my trusty steed against a stunning valley backdrop which you can hardly see and a trash receptacle that you can. The top of Mill mountain boasts a park, an overlook, a vending machine, a zoo, and really big illuminated star that is just to the right of the picture. I did not go to the zoo, eat at the park, use the vending machine and will not post a picture of the star. For all Roanoke is very proud of their star, it is a rather ugly and unimpressive structure that we could happily ignore if it were not a 100 ft tall heap of metal and neon lights.

With temperatures soaring nearly to the upper fifties, I about froze my hands to the handle bars descending the backside of the mountain. I should probably say something about the flora and fauna and whotnot. Well, I won't; it is just a beautiful ride on a nice road with light traffic. I would like to see it in summer sometime.

Next up? Roanoke mountain.

Roanoke mountain drive off the Blue Ridge park way is by far the most superlative laden ride I have ever taken.



Can you say granny gear? I can't, I am trying to catch my breath.



Yeah that little hill down there? that's the first mountain I climbed today.


2,000 ft and barely breaking a sweat. Never mind that I was averaging about 7mph up this thing. I felt much better by this point in the ride and enjoying myself more than strictly necessary. What you can't tell from the picture is that I am about to partake of a tasty powerbar snack.

The top of Roanoke Mountain is about 2,200 ft above sea level and 1,400 ft above the city where I started. The new blog banner is a photo from the summit. If you ever get a chance to spin a bike up this mountain, do it. If no chances come up, make one.

For every climb there is a decent. I considered trying to video tape the road down but am glad I did not. It would probably have found it's way on to YouTube among the famous last videos category. The first drop was a long, steep, pothole hosting, straight away. I could have probably coasted to over 50 mph down it. That would have been great fun right up until the 180 degree hair pin turn at the bottom. Did I mention that I now might need new break pads? The whole 1000 or so foot drop was like that; steep inclines, sharp turns, and smoking hot breaks. Ok so I have injected a little hyperbole throughout this post.

The ride back into town, over the shoulder of Mill mountain, was just plain awesome. Back on open roads I could finnaly just let go on the decents. This was the kind of decent that I have dreamed of for years. My legs were actually feeling better and stronger as teh ride went on, so I was able to drag my average speed up from an embarrasing 7 or so mph to above 10 for the whole trip.

Once back into town I chased cars all the back to my friends house and took a delightful nap. For now this stands as the ride of my life. I terms of shear awesome anyway. The 109 miler my cousin and I did last year still stands as biking triumph #1.

Sam's Summary

• This was a longe entry
• I rode up a mountian
• I made fun of what I found there
• I froze down the mountain
• I road up a bigger mountain
• I liked it... alot.
• I ate a power bar
• I scared my self silly going down the mountain.
• The local bikers are nice and give helpful directions.

Breaking out the Bike

I let my bike out of the trunk today. The cycling coach at my brother-in-law's school gave me a nice map with some good rides highlighted on it. Today was perfect for biking; 65 degrees, sunny, and not too windy. As this was my first ride of the season, I took the 19 mile route. There are a few noticeable differences between the roads here and the roads back home. At home we regularly ride hills with a 300 ft elevation gain. I don't think I saw a hill much over 100 ft here.

However, they don't bother to make much of a road bed here either. That makes for roads that hug the contours of the land much more faithfully. They are on the whole; rougher, narrower, and the hills steeper. The homes I passed were also more interesting. Take the house with doberman's staked out in chains around the perimeter for instance. A fruitful imagination can play all day with a man who needs that kind of security. He probably owes his brother-in-law five bucks.

In other, yet related, news I totally yoinked my cousin's blue riding jersey. I borrowed it last summer and some how failed to return it. It will be happier visiting all the roads America can offer anyway.

I have discovered the defining difference between my two older sister's offspring. Whereas Laura's progeny will use you as a trampoline, should you attempt a nap, Ruth's will tuck you in and comb your hair.

Sam's Summary

• I rode my bike.
• It was warm out.
• I wore Alex's jersey.
• Ruth's kids are not Laura's kids
• I am teaching my niece to ride a bike.