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

Another Classic in the Books!

Blue Sky Velo club riders and racers gathered starting at 7:00am on Sunday, September 8th for the annual BUFFALO CLASSIC CU event! Some of us came for glory and others experienced some leg pain, but all participated in the largest Blue Sky Velo club event turnout to date (25+ members)!

No Bikes??? It is the Buffalo Classic!

Let the group gathering begin!

Some of the Motley Crew

Max makes it with a severe cold and is dedicated to ride 70 miles!

Cindy is at the start right on time!

Are we ready to roll?

Angie picks up her pre-registration packet and makes her way to the start line.
We all chatted at the start line and drank some free coffee until the entire group was ready to start the ride at approximately 745am. With a slight morning chill in the air, the group rode from the CU campus down Folsom and the leg muscles began to warm as we turned onto 36. The group zoomed past the first rest stop and continued to St. Vrain. While everyone caught up on the latest cycling gossip, we turned onto Hygenine and stopped at the second rest stop. We used the restrooms, ate some fruit and cake and rode on our way. By this point the day was warming up and most shed their arm warmers/leg warmers and vests. The majority of the group rode up to Carter Lake and then on to Horsetooth where the Buffalo Classic route turned around to head back into Boulder. The century riders arrived between 2-4pm on Sunday afternoon. Those who were straving at the finish made their way to Ho's house for a nice dip in the pool and a great BBQ in the afternoon. Thanks to everyone who came out and made the club event a declared success!

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

A Great Weekend for BlueSkyVelo Colors

I met a guy out on the road on Saturday who jokingly asked, "is everyone on your team Polish? what is this 'blooski velo" anyways?

Well, with how many 'blooski's' there are in the races, on the roads, on the trails and even just hanging out in the stylish new Felpe Trainers (get yourself one today at the shop - they rock!) the Colorado Frontrange will never be the same... Here's a few of the weekend's Blue Sky Velo exploits - many reports I'm sure I'm missing (what mountain bikers, triathletes, group rides, etc happened).

It seems Isaac Dancy and his SHWIT (Steep Hills With Isaac) group ride on Sunday was a serious endeavor leaving everyone 2,000 - 3,000 calories empty. And I know there was at least one mountain biker out in the hills (check out Mike Bernhardt's blog). I'm sure there were a lot of other BSV colors flying. I can't repeat them all (not for censorship reasons, just because they are too many and I was only in 1 place. But there've been lots of good reports on the Blue Sky Velo Yahoo group. If you are a BSV'er, make sure you read your email to hear what's going on and if you're not, well, there's always room to join the club!

Whether you're on the team or not, keep on eye on the Recent Top 10 Results box on the www.blueskyvelo.com homepage. Even though this is only the 2nd week of April, Blue Sky Velo is really flying the colors on the race scene!: Kirk Nelson got 1st at the Lake Havasu Triathlon, Ryan Lewandowski got 5th at the Mad Cow Classic, Max Arias got 8th at Koppenberg, Leanne McAllister got 3rd at the Running of the Lucky Green 7k, Horatio got 3rd at the Frostbite TT and I got a 2nd in a MTB race. And now for this weekend:

Haystack TT and TTT:

• Great Blue Sky Velo presence - both cheering on the side of the road and racing.
• The SM4 TTT and the SM3 TTT both got 3rd in their respective categories.
• In the SM4, 35+, Kyle Fredin got 2nd, Horatio got 4th and Chad Elmendorf got 8th
• In the SM3's, Barry Schmidt got 8th and I got 10th
• Greg Hall got 2nd place in the Citizen's category
• Max Arias got 9th in the Juniors 15-16 category
• John Schimpf got 8th in the SM4
• whew! that's a lot of top 10's
• check out a couple pictures of the SM3 TTT squad here
• And for the geeks in the group, here's a TT power file to digest:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=c5ii2Gj%2FKuQp1im9tc%2Bfo%2F7e8u1zg05B

• feel free to dowload into WKO+ to analyze further
• I was able to keep the recommended 49/51 split both by time and by distance and by power which made me very happy and honestly with where my fitness is at right now I don't think I could have done much better (course that still only netted me 10th place :(
• Comparing my Normalized Power to Barry's however its quickly obvious how important to a TT aero equipment and position are - he recorded a faster time and used less energy (15 NP watts) to do so. arrrgh!
• Regardless, I posted my peak 5 minutes of 334 watts and peak 20 & 30 minutes at 324 watts

AST/Tokyo Joe's Criterium:

• Mike Dancel deserves serious props cause he raced and quickly got pulled in the early morning SM4 crit, but decided to "just keep trying" and he came back for a 2nd race later in the day and not only finished, but got a top 25 out of 75 guys.... lesson to us all - the only way to get better is to keep trying.
• Speaking of getting better - Jose just moved up to the SM3 field and raced his first Criterium in the new pack yesterday. Here's a picture of him right in the mix - great work Jose!
• 
• Barry Schmidt and I also raced with Jose and had great fun trading breakaways back and forth or just hiding 5 back from the front.
• Here's a picture of Barry in a break
• 
• I managed to get 4th in the race which I've got say feels pretty damn good being the best I've placed yet in a SM3 race of any sort. And although it was a 30 mph sprint, it just wasn't quite fast enough. Kind of entertaining to see us going in circles - check out the file: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=c5ii2Gj%2FKuR%2FHwLmkRMnDAy0%2FrxSrEz8. Hoping that this points to what will be a good season. And with the great SM3 teammates I've got this year, I guarantee it will be a good season for all of us.
• 

Group Rides:

• Besides all the other groups rides I heard about, a few of us (Suzanne, Barry, Rob, Jose and myself) took off from Golden after the AST crit and explored a new canyon up towards Golden Gate State Park. If you haven't been to Golden Gate State Park or riden/driven up that road, you've missed an incredible part of Colorado's front range. With steep pitches up to 16% and sustained climbs at around 10% its not just the scenery or the view of Denver that makes your heart skip a beat....
• For those of you who have Garmin Edge or Forerunners, you've got to try this: create a course in MapMyRide, export as a .tcx, import to your device as a Course, then start the course. So much fun to
• watch the elevation profile and know exactly where you are on the hill and how far you have to still climb before the top
• very helpful to switch to the course map view to make sure you're taking the same route at the Y in the road as the riders who are up the road out of sight
• entertaining to watch the % grade and realize that what feels steep... really IS steep. Today's climb had up to 16% grades and a lot of 8-10% grades
• topped out at 8,738 feet with 4,040 feet of elevation gain over the 23.6 mile ride.
• Finally check out the post ride file here: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=c5ii2Gj%2FKuQPvjVqVh9fB18%2FBHi9867d
• And wow! don't those new kits look HOT! not to mention functional - the wind vest wasn't too hot, even with the gallons of sweat that poured out of my helmet at the top of the climb, but zipped up it kept me warm descending back from 9,000 feet and out of the snow and ice.
• 

Easter Team Training Ride

With so much impressive training going on, it was only a matter of time until my number was called. The day started at 10am in sub-30-degree temperatures at Ziggi's with a merry troupe of 8 Blue Sky'ers.

We made our away across town over mostly dry roads, but as we ventured north of 66 we had to abort as there was simply too much snow! We continued our moderate pace west on Rt66, and then there was an absolute throw-down on Rt36. As one of our designated "good luck to you" parts of the ride, everyone was doing a bit of free-form interval work. I was going 100%, with a bit of variation in the tempo. Kevin started at the rear of the group and practiced closing gaps as they opened up. Eric was in "go hard until they crack, or I do" mode, and a few others like the 'Stick and Brad were just enjoying the day atop their Cannondale steeds. After 15 minutes of work we all met up at Nelson.

At Nelson we decided it was too damn cold, and instead of putting a halt to the ride I suggested we head to Amante's and wait for the day to warm (or for our spouses to pick us up). This suggestion was met with overwhelming acclaim. And so you have it, 2 hours into my "training" ride I was warming at Amante's with a cappuccino and a chocolate-infused croissant.

After some prodding by Kevin, we were awaken from our caffeine stupor and back on our bikes after about 30 minutes. Our moderate, conversational pace continued to Jay Rd and the Diagonal to 75th. By now it had warmed up and we rode north on roads that only a few hours earlier were treacherous. At Woodland and 83rd we all parted ways.

I decided it was time to put the new rocketship bike through its paces, so I put the needle at "tempo", put my hands in the drops, and "got on it" to Carter Lake. I pushed it on the dam and hoped to find the bathrooms open at the marina (I didn't), then I hit an unimpressive 47mph on the back side and continued a hard pace back to Longmont via all the rolling hills in between. I put in a few bursts of speed along Mountain View to see what was possible after 5 hours of riding (873W for 5s), and then cruised home thinking about how I'd spent most of the day on my bike, but it wasn't so bad because I had:

1. Swung a deal to buy a car.
2. Learned that the secret to bicycle hygiene is lemon-scented Pledge.
3. Heard way too much about Kevin's over-sized bottom, umm, bracket.
4. Burned 2900 calories which would allow me to eat approximately 2 pounds of beef upon my arrival home, and still weigh in the next morning minus 3 pounds.
5. Heard various cycling soliloquies addressing balm, bike tires, politics, next of kin, et cetera.

Winter Group Rides in Colorado - ahh the crazy fun!

What's the first thing you do before heading out on a group ride in Colorado in January? Check the weather! But based on the weather, do you decide if you should stay inside or ride? No! (well, I don't, can't speak for all of you).... You check the weather to see how many layers you must wear and if toe Hot Packs are needed or if plastic baggies will get you by.

Last weekend, I left my house and it was 13 degrees! Met up with Bill and Barry (pictured) and we rode up to Carter Lake, then up again to Pinewood topping out at around 6,600 feet (started at a little over 5,000 feet). 80 miles and 4 hours later I don't think my toes or fingers ever quite warmed up (and it was still sub-20 degrees) - both my insulated bottles w/ Accelerade froze!


Yesterday, the weather was 30 degrees warmer - close to 50F, the only problem was the wind! Check out my two power files (blue line is speed, yellow line is watts/power. both are roughly 20 minutes long) - the one on the left shows riding into the headwind (11.6 avg speed/236 avg watts/156 bpm) the one on the right shows riding with the tailwind (24.3 avg speed/207 avg watts/145 bpm). Given, I was still pushing rather hard with the tailwind, but the difference in speed is quite stunning.



You think, oh, what fun! Well... not when a 50 mph gust blows you (me) off the road, front wheels hits the sand, bars twist, back wheel summersaults over the front of the bike and I've got Goat Head Rash all up my left side. At least 2 of us where literally thrown from our bikes due to the wind... hmmm. maybe should have stayed inside! After the 'tornado', we booked it back down the road to Amante. Big cappacino's... now that's a 'group ride'!















Today was a whole nuther story - it was calm, warm and beautiful. Aside from the snow drifts in the gulleys, I seriously thought it was April! We had 20 or so people show up and split into an A and B group with the A group running a paceline for 15 or 20 miles. The B group probably just had more fun... Of course even a perfect day has to have some drama if you're on a group ride in the middle of the Colorado winter: 4 of us were pulled over by the Larimer County Sheriff for turning right (running) a stop sign. He basically said he was just practicing for summertime when there's thousands of us Boulderites running ragged through Larimer County.

So, this post ends with a moral, two actually:

1. Don't run stop signs (seriously folks, cyclists have no right to complain about cars if we're bending the rules of the road) and

2. When you look at the weather, make sure you know where the coffee shops are along the route.

- Jeremy

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??