So it's 82 degrees and sunny outside right now. Which is so beyond awesome, I can't even describe how beyond awesome that is. Just when I thought summer would never show up, it did. And OMG summer is so amazing here.
Summer kicked off with Memorial Day weekend. Our friends, Mark and Miriam, made another appearance, this time to race the Gunnison Half-Growler, a 32-mile mountain bike race at Hartman's. They are CUH-RAZY. Though I secretly want to do it next year. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.
Brian and I did the Growler Gran Fondo instead- Gunnison to the top of Prospect at Mt. Crested Butte and back. It was us, some old guys, and some tourists. So of course it was was super fun.
Because it was a Gran Fondo, the hill climb from Crested Butte to the top of Prospect is timed. Guess who had the fastest hill climb for the women?
NO, it wasn't the fast-looking chick from Boise. But thanks for playing. It was ME! Which is kind of funny because I just spun my easiest gear and chilled. Though I didn't tell anyone that. But hey. Fitness is coming back. Woot!
Brian took 2nd for the men, an accomplishment not to scoff at, considering there were some former racers in the crowd.
This is Mark and Miriam pre-race. They look really happy here. Unfortunately, I don't have a post-race picture because they did not look at all like this.
That same weekend, we took Hazel and Tygh up to Signal Peak after dinner one night so Hazel could actually hike her first mountain. Don't tell anyone, but we may or may not have driven down the 4-wheel-drive road without: food, water, jackets, diapers, formula or anything else for that matter.
Luckily, nothing happened and we did not become a news story. And Hazel bagged her first peak under her own power so we call that a resounding success, especially since we didn't end up on the news for being idiots.
We spent some down-time hanging out at the river over the Memorial Day weekend. The was was too cold for any real wading but it was beautiful and watching Hazel play on the bank is always entertaining.
I met this girl on the Gran Fondo and she was strong. And I liked her. I invited her to ride to Crawford with me the next weekend, a good 70 miles away. She has an 8-month-old and probably assumed she would be home before 5pm and not have to listen to a screaming Tygh on the way home. Oops. Sorry, Alexandra. I owe you a lot of beers. Like maybe 30.
A couple weeks ago, I met Sarita. She's a really good mountain biker, so I knew we needed to ride together. For our first ride together, we did the Aberdeen Loop because there's nothing like jumping in feet first.
This time, we had less thunder, less lightening and less hail. Just views forever and ever and ever. And Sarita showed me how to ride through the creek, which was pretty rad.
Because I need to try harder to scare people off, Sarita actually rode with me the next day too. It was a mellow road ride up Ohio Creek, but the views, as always, were worth it.
I had a stare down with this guy on Ohio Creek Road. He won.
I have been riding on Thursday nights with a women's group ride at Hartman's. It's been fun and intimidating and inspiring and informative. Last Thursday, I actually took pictures.
Even recovery road rides are never boring around here. This was the view from Highway 50 on Friday morning, just before lightening started coming out of the sky.
Last weekend, we went to Estes Park to see Brian's parents and it was a blast. But also trafficky. Lots and lots of traffic. With lots and lots of people. Damn, those mountains close to Denver are full of people who have really big cars.
We rode Trail Ridge Road to the 11,400 foot level. We only turned around because I got two flats at the very beginning of the ride and it cut off a good 30 minute chunk of time. Brian was irritated but I think it was karma. How many times have I cut a ride short due to his flats? More than I can count on one hand, that's for sure.
One of the benefits of mountain living is rafting...3 minutes from the house, after work on an 85 degree day. This is Hazel's new rafting buddy, Kyle. Though we were sure his name was Kyo was 2 whole days because neither of them can say their "l"s.
And then bluegrass happened down the street at the I Bar Ranch. Of course, we ride our bikes there.
Proof that, despite all my time on the bike, I still have two kids to love and take care of. Fortunately, they also love each other.
So yeah. That's what summer looks like so far. Looking forward to some alpine mountain biking in Crested Butte, SUPing at the reservoir, more rafting with friends and of course, more bluegrass.
