A Lil' Taste of Tucson BSV in Colorado

For those of us Blue Sky Velo members who were unable to make it down to the Tucson training camp this weekend (Michelle sadly wipes the rolling tear from her eye), Saturday-3/14 proved to be a great 'next best thing'. BSV cyclists galore gathered around the shop beginning at 9:45 with the urge to ride the Boulder County pavement. Some came for the friendships, some for the Raymond climb and still others for the dream of stopping in Lyons to drink another morning latte. No matter what the intent, all of us gathered in our BSV gear to checkout the newly posted 'A' and 'B' rides.Mike O. - checkout that arm strength

Brad - keeping the legs warmed up

Michelle & Jenny - chattin' up the members before the ride

Self Portrait - Angie was a good sport

The crew prior to departure

The group left promptly at 10am and rode towards Lyons. Members took their turn pulling and sitting in the pack. When Jenny and I dropped back from the front, the group along side us seemed to go on forever! It was great to see such a big crowd out representing. When the ride arrived in Lyons we all turned left to do a 'nana fruit loop. Some of us continued to Raymond and others rode back thru Lyons. This ride definitely had something for everyone.

Topics of Conversation:

Spring Classics

Downturn in Economy :(

Awesome Bike Fits from Rob :)

Compact Cranks

Training Plans

Sushi - Yummy

Kids/Family

Sprint Speeds on the Track (38 miles per hour; really Rob, bikes can go that fast?)

Double Century Goals

Cindy Sailing the Ocean Blue

Can't wait to see all of you again soon! With 70 degree weather, can anyone believe it is still the end of winter? -Michelle Vercellino

Sunrise Century Club Sponsored Event!

We all train in different ways for upcoming events, but I chose the Sunrise Century to see how ready I'd be for the Triple Bypass, and what food works or doesn't for long, hard rides.

Wheels down before 7AM at the sunrise Century for many of us gave plenty of time to meet our goals. The weather on the most part (what is it about the wind in Boulder?) was amazing. The start/finish line was supplied with mechanics, food and lots of tunes to send us off.

The first 20 miles were relatively fast with rollers wandering through the outskirts of Boulder. The aid stations were supplied with a variety of fruit and carbs. The atmosphere was one of excitement with jokes and easy-going rivalry - at least at the first 2. :) The camaraderie was always encouraging, making the ride seem shorter and easier than it was. The climbing on hwy 7 seemed endless and hot with some reprieve on the Peak to Peak highway. People on the road became quieter as they dug deeper to keep their pace or just to survive. Ward was decision time for those going 75 or 100 miles. Thankfully I had a choice. I've heard the road up to Ward from Nederland was challenging, and this day I wasn't up for it, but the rest of the group was. They had reached this point at least 45 minutes ahead of me, and had already started to Nederland.

The ride back to Boulder was fast. yippee...

From the group, Cindy got stuck cleaning dog poo out of her cleats, and John had contact issues, but otherwise it was a good ride. I was disappointed I didn't do the 100, but this was certainly the hardest ride I'd done this year so far, and has encouraged me to do more. Wearing the Blue Sky jersey was great. Having people cheer for us specifically making me feel like part of a team.

Thanks to the BSV friends and sponsors who cheered us along the way. See you on the road!

PS. I did finish the Triple

- Annette Dyer

Team Photos, BBQ & VeloMoto

Over 100 Blue Sky Velo jerseys lined up on the bleachers wearing random cyclists. Mark Woolcott, Blue Sky Velo sponsor did an amazing job organizing everyone - keep an eye out for pictures, posters.... maybe you'll even want to make a mouse pad or coffee cup with your team photo emblazoned on it.

The party moved over to Blue Sky Cycles where Dan Farrell and Bill Teasdale had two BBQ's going full steam with beers from the Pumphouse flowing. The burgers were tasty. Hanging out with everyone was great. And VeloMoto was the best! Thanks to all who came - we've obviously got an awesome club thanks to each of you!

Now here's a quick taste of VeloMoto...

3/27 Team Meeting Report

Excellent team meeting last Thursday! Thank you to everyone who gave up their evening's training for a couple hours to hang out, drink some Pumphouse beer (and Ziggi's coffee), meet 80 of your teammates, learn what's going on with Blue Sky Velo and get Race Day Nutrition tips from sponsor Dr. Rodgers of Colorado Sports Chiropractic. That's the quick overview of the evening... Not enough to convince you to pencil in the next team meeting?

Well then here are a few more details.

A few snapshots from the meeting: 

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

One of Blue Sky Velo's new for 2008 sponsors, Dr. Jeremy Rodgers, accomplished adventure athlete, doctor of sports medicine, radiology and chiropractic presented: Race Day Nutrition tips.

But first each member of the Blue Sky Velo Board of Directors presented a short report of what their sub-team (MTB, 'Cross, Road, Club and Triathlon) is planning for the season. Lots of exciting plans for 2008 including racing, great deals, rides, parties, etc etc. To find out more, contact your Captain if you're not already in the 'loop'.

Find your team captain here (select "Directors/Team Captains" from the pull-down menu).

Finally, framed jerseys were presented to a few of our esteemed 2007 Blue Sky Velo sponsors - make sure you look for them hanging on the walls of Ziggis Coffee, The Optical Centre, The Pumphouse Brewery, Edward Jones, Blue Sky Cycles and the Longmont Athletic Club.

Skinny Skis At Devils Thumb

"It's much more interesting to change your life to suit the temperature than to change the temperature to suit your life. Life isn't meant to be lived year round at 70 degrees." - Mary Schmich. When the temperature dropped to 30 degrees and 'Old Man Winter' came to visit mid-February 2008, the Blue Sky Velo members broke out their skinny skis with dreams of Devils Thumb dancing in their heads.

It all began at 7:15am at Blue Sky Cycles. The Blue Sky Velo gang met with much excitement and anticipation. Rob Love and Tim Johns quickly threw the freshly waxed thin skis in the 'lead car' and the group was off to Fraser, Colorado. With a quick stop in Boulder for some morning lattes and a beautiful drive up the canyon, we drove to I-70 on our way towards Winter Park. There was a feeling in the air that the day would be epic.

The train of Blue Sky cars pulled into Devils Thumb Ranch, the day's destination around 930am. The 5000 acre playground was callin' for some action. The group dropped their stuff off in the day lodge and ran to the ski shop to pick up some more skis and the instructor...Igor. Igor rallied the club at 10:30am for a 'learn to skate' lesson. With so many different levels of skiers, one wondered how Igor could possibly teach such a diverse group. Igor stepped up to the challenge and had advice for every skier from Blue Sky. Michelle, Angie, Michael and Darrin began to feel the glide for the very first time. Dave K., Chris, T.J. and Rob raced around the course perfecting skill and impressing all the folks surrounding the area.

Rob and T.J. bought the group some of the best sandwiches made in Winter Park after the lesson and everyone took a quick break before going back out and practicing the techniques learned from the first 1/2 of the day. As Michelle, Angie and T.J. made their way around the 'Ranch Loop' focusing on weighting each ski and extending their glides; Rob, Dave K. and Chris raced to 'Blue Extra' for a double pole showdown.

At 3:30pm when everyone was completely out of breath and the quads were burning red hot, the group decided to head down the mountain. Michelle said goodbye while moonwalking back to carpool vehicle number 2 and the caravan pulled away heading to Longmont. Everyone chatted about the epic weather (35 degrees/clear skies/sunburned faces) and incredible experience had by all.

I'd have to say this was one of the best Blue Sky Velo/Cycles events EVER. When the weather doesn't allow for cycling, break out the skis and get gliding!
-Michelle

Moonlight Snowshoe

Tuesday night. Brainard Lake Parking Lot. Full Moon. Light Snow. 20 +/- degrees. It was perfect Blue Sky weather for a snowshoe!















15 or 16 or maybe it was 17 (hope we didn't leave anyone!) Blue Sky'ers lit their headlamps around 8:30 pm and started trudging up the one of the forested trails. Jeremy & Suzanne's dogs had lit red collars and jingle bells and all four were running circles around the group. So there was no worry of running into bears or mountain lions! (I'd show you a picture of the dogs, but they all turned out looking like fireflys or fireworks buzzing around in the dark). Unfortunately, the dogs also scared away any possible sightings of Sasquatches.










Of course we started at the Pumphouse Brewery to get some good nourishment of the 'hops & wheat' variety before braving the outdoors.



Despite the fact that it looks cold, dark and snowy, snowshoeing with a bunch of people through the woods is a lot of fun ;)















Especially when there's lots of little pow wows... "what path are we on?" "anybody bring a compass" "anybody have a headlamp I can borrow? I didn't know it was going to be dark out here!" etc.















When we got to the actual Brainard Lake, it was amazing. The views were stupendous. Wait a minute, that was a different trip, the scenery wasn't actually that much different than it had been in the trees...















All joking aside, this snowshoe trip was awesome and if anyone cares about my recommendation, lets do it again! Thanks Rob and TJ for organizing!

After Turkey Day Club Ride

It was a cold fall day, approximately 40 degrees when Dave K, Steve and I left the house for Ziggi's Coffee. All bundled up in our cold weather gear, we rode up main street with dreams of lattes in our minds. Excitement was in the air...especially since many of us ate more than our share on Thanksgiving day. We rounded the corner of 4th and main and what did we spot? Approximately 15 bikes outside the coffee shop! We obviously were not the first people there! Between 930am and 10am ~20 Blue Sky club members sipped coffee and ate wonderful pastries as everyone chatted about the upcoming ride. The group left Ziggi's promptly at 10am with full bellies and caffeine running freely through the veins. 2 by 2 (no, it wasn't Noah's Arc) we rode to Blue Sky Cycles to pick-up any stragglers. The temp. began to rise to a nice 55 degrees and everyone was feeling warm. We turned on Nelson and off in the distance, what did we see? More club riders ready to rock 'n ride! As our group grew to almost 30 people, we headed out to the diagonal. At a nice leisurely pace of 14-15 miles per hour, people chatted while sharing thoughts and goo. We rounded the diagonal, hit Jay road and then 36. A bathroom break was had at the driving range off of 36 and it was Blue Sky riders as far as the eye could see. Back on the bikes the group went to 66 for some extra base miles. At this point, the club separated into 3 smaller groups with some folks riding fruit loops in Lyons, others going to Rabbit Mtn., and still others back to 75th. WHAT A FUN DAY! With 30-50 base miles had, 2 flat tires and MUCH conversation, I'd have to say it was one of the best club rides ever. Leave it to the turkey (or ham if you are Kevin and Jennifer) to motivate individuals to mount and ride their bikes in late November. I know I look forward to many more to come. ---Michelle Vercellino

Autumn Coffee & Group Ride

Picture this: cool autumn weather (approximately 50 degrees), 9 am, the aroma of Ziggi's excellently brewed coffee, Blue Sky kits and bike lovers. What do you get when you put all these things together? The fun group ride hosted by Michelle Vercellino on 10/13/2007!


Six Blue Sky riders came out on Saturday to enjoy all the fun and festivities while participating in a 2H15 minute group ride. I know what you are all thinking, 'group rides in fall???' but that is absolutely right! As long as it isn't Arctic conditions outside (and even sometimes then) we are out riding and increasing our base miles.


We all met at Ziggi's in Longmont at 930am and drank lattes/coffee. Some individuals even ate great pastries to gear up for the ride. We departed Ziggi's around 10am with warm, full bellies and swung by Blue Sky Cycles to pick up any stragglers. We then proceeded to the diagonal, to 36, to 66, and back to Ziggi's. At our moderate pace of 17 miles per hour, we rode approximately 40 miles.


Everyone had such a blast that none of us can wait until the next group ride. Look forward to seeing more of you there in the near future!

SHWIT #4

The happy SHWITers ready to embark into the Boulder hills.


Real men ride Sugarloaf in a 39x18.


First time SHWITer Dave Jones reaches Mountain Meadows Rd.


Dave Killer-moyer reaches the top of Arkansas Mtn Rd within the Rolling Dancy Enclosure.


This SHWIT peaked at the Betasso Trail Head. All downhill from here!

Today in Boulder 5 brave souls tackled SHWIT #4, a truly epic journey of pain, suffering, and the human condition -- ok, who am I kidding? -- we get strapped into our 2-wheeled dirt-mobiles and burn just enough calories to justify the post-ride burritos and beer. If there's a cross race in the fall that involves going uphill until you wheeze, then continuous attacking until someone cracks, followed by a post-hill hug and communal CLIF Bloks and Sport Beans, well then, sign me up!

SHWIT #2 -- Epic for all the wrong reasons!

The happy conquerors of SHWIT #2.

SHWITS (Steep Hills with Isaac Training Series) #2 departed Boulder in the mist at 6pm. Braving this journey were Rob (riding his single-speed), Dave "Killer" Kilmoyer (riding his road bike), then Jenna and Isaac (riding built-the-day-before cross bikes). "Killer" admitted he only showed up thinking no one else would show given the weather, then he slipped on his prescription sunglasses (more on these later) and we were off.

This jolly gang of Tuesday-night warriors made their way up the Boulder Canyon bike path to Fourmile and started cruising uphill. While making some pleasant conversation Rob noticed that Isaac's bike had some seriously hollow cantilever bolts -- oh wait a minute, Isaac's bike doesn't have any cantilever bolts. Ah, but the adventure was only beginning.

The foursome hit Gold Run and the pavement turned to dirt, then turned to some really steep dirt. Oh, did I mention Rob was powering uphill in his 39x18? This made for some serious attacks by the Love-meister forcing Isaac to reel him in his little itsy bitsy girly-man 34x23. Part way up Gold Run, Jenna's saddle was terribly loose and required some attention. Who worked on these cross bikes, anyway?

Just passed a house labeled "Summerville," Gold Run Rd kicks up yet again and leads into a groovy set of switchbacks that lets you nudge the chain down a couple cogs (provided you have more than one to choose from). The crew arrived in Gold Hill and assessed the cloud cover. With a few "Let's bail, oh wait, no let's keep going, I mean go back this way" we were decisively on our way west on Gold Hill Rd to Switzerland Trail. Lover boy exploded the group with some searing attacks once again, and before you know it we were enjoying some good weather and even better views at the top of Switzerland Trail.

It's about now where I should jump in and say that none of us could accurately gauge what time it was. We had been under the clouds for so long ... maybe it was 7:30pm, maybe it was 8pm, maybe it was later. Who's keeping track?

The top portion of Switzerland Trail was in decent enough shape, so Isaac started wondering what all the fuss was about. What was even more amazing was how Rob and "Killer" blitzed this rough downhill on their road bikes. Meanwhile Jenna and Isaac kept a firm fistfull of brake and rode the downhill like it was, well, uphill. The group was delayed when Dave's bike finally succumbed to a pinch flat in a particularly rough section of road. Once the group was rolling again, Isaac gave Rob a good demonstration of almost-eating-it. Another 10 minutes of sketch-beyond-sketch downhill and we were back to Fourmile Canyon, and oh my goodness, is it really 8:30pm? Oh, and for those keeping score at home, Isaac's rear brake did survive the descent!

With the apparent lack of daylight, Dave had a choice of either taking off the sunglasses and riding blind, or keeping the sunglasses on and riding blind. Descending blind down Fourmile was even more impressive than his road-bike descent of Switzerland Trail! The fearsome foursome cruised through Wallstreet, then Salina, and then to the pavement of lower Fourmile. By now it was really dark ... so dark that I was sure any cop going by would give us an earful. By the time we hit the bike path we were riding on pure Zen -- trying to remember the terrain and difficulties from 3 hours ago. Some how we were able to shepherd Dave most of the way -- though there were a few times when oncoming cars blinded all of us and we were all riding on faith.

Thankfully we made it back safely to our cars at 9:15pm, made our way to Illegal Pete's for some thank-god-we're-still-alive burritos and beer ... and that is the story of SHWIT #2. Do you have what it takes to conquer SHWIT #3??

Elephant Rock Ride 06.03.2007

Castle Rock here we come!!!

So Blue Sky Velo rallied down to Castle Rock to join up with 6000 of our closest friends for a mongo group ride.
Two groups had formed, one going the full 100 miles, and another strolling along for 65.

The hundo group: Katie M., Rob L., Jose C., Kristin O and her hubby, Austin, and Brad.

Rounding up the 65 mile strollers was Dave K., Michelle, Steve, and Doug H.

Michelle and I camped out the night before in the ballfields to get a little tailgating in.

It was fun, and tons of poeple around. We got to watch a raging rainstorm blow through, which basically missed us but brought out some cool vistas.

ONLY to be awoken by announcer dude seeing everyone off at like 6am.

So, we woke up and started hustling only to remember that "hey we're only doing the hundred miler" so we waltzed over to say hey to the first part of the hundred miler group.

(then we un-ashamedly went down into to town to rustle up a starbucks), as we were going to meet steve and doug a tad later.

The ride was fun. Good times were had by all. The weather was epic.

Doug and Dave took FULL advantage of ALL the food stops (gluttons on wheels baybee).

Then, to our astonishment of the luck, the two groups ran into each other where both courses merged. Jose, Rob and Katie were hammering. Brad got a flat (which i think he was HAPPY for an excuse) and he and austin basically joined up with our slower group for the fun and frolics.

Its definately a must do for anyone who's into larger group rides. Its well run and really fun for the social aspect.

(see slideshow for more pics)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17341044@N00/sets/72157601021110589/