• Weekend update from 10,200 ft

    Another weekly recap! Visa application is in the mail for Nepal and the Yak-Attack. Had to send off my passport and some $$ to New York to get approved. Now, only thing to do is get in the training. This past weekend, Sonya and I headed up to the mountains to get in some hike-a-bike training and breathe in the thin air. With snow still very low in the high country it's pretty easy to get to the high terrain without any skis or snowshoes.

    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, CORoad trip Leadville!

    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, COIt may look cold, but it wasn't. Temps were about 40F, plus take in the intense Colorado sun. Made it feel like 50F at 11,000ft. The plan was to ride and hike as far up Mosquito Pass east of Leadville as far as we could within the 3 hour training window we had.

    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, COHiking soon set in. Snow wasn't too deep, but deep enough to where our tires would break through and break traction. So, Yak-Attack oriented hike-a-bike training went into full force!

    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, COGoing up! This was a fantastic time to test carrying techniques as well as footwear.

    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, COThis is as far as we would go. Sonya pushed a little bit further to break the 12,000 ft mark for the day. The pass proper is still 1,100 ft above us!

    Here is a quick video of our time on Mosquito Pass, filmed with the Epic Cam HD 1080



    Mosquito Pass - Leadville, CO2 thumbs up for a post-training ride espresso in Leadville!

    En Fuego Snow Bike Race - Copper Mountain Ski ResortThe reason we only had a 3 hour training window in Leadville is because we were both signed up for the snow mountain bike race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort. The race was a 2 lap format on groomed snow trails around the resort...at night. Cold you ask?  Yep.  Race temp of about 20F.

    En Fuego Snow Bike Race - Copper Mountain Ski ResortGuess you could call this the first race of the year :)

    En Fuego Snow Bike Race - Copper Mountain Ski Resort162 people would race! Some on regular mountain bikes, like myself. Others on proper snow bikes with big old fat tires!  The fat tires would reign supreme at this race.

    En Fuego Snow Bike Race - Copper Mountain Ski ResortSonya and Leslie ready to do battle! Rawrrrr!

    I got everything out of the Copper Race I wanted. The training and the social aspect of it. The snow was so soft for a lot of the further reaches of the course that myself and others on normal mtbs were forced to run. Hey, it's all training, right? Yep. Even managed to go off course. Yeah, don't ask. There was a course marking mishap. Few of us got in some good extra climbing :)  Overall, the snow bike race was a riot!  So fun....so hard!  GPS file here on Strava.

    En Fuego Snow Bike Race - Copper Mountain Ski ResortWorst part of the Copper Race? Changing out of sweaty wet cycling clothes in a tin van where the air temp sits at about 15 F. Brrrrrr!

    Great Saturday!

    As I type this, I am 2 days into a nice little cold.  Head cold....tired.  Always happens at least once over the winter.  Now is the time for out with the bad...in with the good.

    All the weekend photos are posted here.