Boulder Bike & Brew Festival

I got to go for a ride today and decided to end it at the Boulder Bikes & Brews Festival. I dreamed of guiding a peloton of riders around my favorite route through North Boulder and Niwot. As the afternoon came upon me, I found I was once again riding alone. A blistering, hot, Colorado afternoon. Out on the open road with little to no shade nor cloud cover. Perfect conditions for heat exhaustion/heat stroke. So I packed up plenty of water, exercise hydration mix, portable rice cake, and a few Jelly Belly Sport Beans.

Haystack Mountain from US 36

On paper, this may look like a failure. No one left with me on my ride, my ride lasted less than 90 minutes, and I only got to spend 15 minutes at the Festival. But I had three big victories this afternoon.

The first success is that I went out on a ride and finished my ride with a cold, refreshing beer. I’m positive that is a job well done in anyone’s book. I traveled along one of my favorite routes, Neva Road, in North Boulder. Riding along Dakota Ridge, you turn on to Neva Road and see Haystack Mountain in the near distance. While the production facility has left many years ago, I still imagine stopping for delicious fresh goat cheese. I finished my ride at Valmont Park, and met up with one of my coworkers, Kristen. We talk of the impending success of the Brew Festival and she pours me a delicious and refreshing Howdy Beer. While my bicycle ride effort was short lasted, I deserve this 12 oz pour of an exceptional beer. Success number one.

Kristen enjoying a Howdy

In the tent adjacent to The Post Brewing Company is The Feed. I got the opportunity to meet and chat with Michael. I let him know that I am a manager at the Post and he invited me down to The Feed to pick up my order and chat about food. I am really excited about this connection. The Feed has a great company culture and understands that there are as many thoughts about nutrition and exercise as there are people. I would like for people to enjoy delicious food that just may happen to fuel their next ride. Many exercise bars and dietetic prescriptions look great on paper, but for us every day athletes who work 50 hours a week, take care of our families, and, oh yes, ride when we have a spare moment, there has got to be something that tastes better. The Feed get’s this. Success number two.

Michael from The Feed

While there was a lot of delicious food (Ohhh, pizza!) at the festival, one in particular caught my eye. The Zeal Food Truck was on hand serving delicious alternatives to quick service food. While Zeal caters to all that is Boulder (raw, vegan, paleo) they strike a balance with food that actually tastes good and a comprehensive cocktail menu. I know edamame is great for you, but sometimes all you need is a fish sandwich paired with a pilsner from Avery Brewing. Oh, or how about a Zeal Bloody Mary for “lunch”? It’s all about balance and what a wide variety of people will really eat. While I know I can punch my three day cleanse ticket at Zeal, and I know we can also get some striped bass and a beer. Delicious food for athletes done well.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

I’m excited about that this week will bring. Old relationships, new friendships, and work at a brewery that inspires a lot of people. Are you inspired to go out and ride? Are you inspired to make a delicious meal that fuels your ride and fuels your family? When in doubt, get out on your bike and figure it out.

The Drop

Woke up this morning a little tired as the alarm sounded off. I broke one of my rules and checked that alert from my bank. Got to get up and out of bed so I can enjoy my ride, or it will never happen. I’m not sure if you are a morning person or a night person, but I know my personal time has to happen first thing in the morning, before the day takes over.

Longs Peak in the distance

I have been on a bit of a streak lately and I have been riding six days a week for the past three weeks. I feel great. At 6AM, there are never too many people out on the road, even in Boulder. Today, I happened to latch on behind a guy who looked a few years older than me. I caught him on the incline as I took a swig of water. As we went up the hill, I found another gear and passed him.

Just as I was patting myself on the back and marveling at my new level of fitness, the same guy passes me, for good. As I crested the hill, I could see that he was widening the gap between us.

Our natural instinct is to rationalize all of it. He had a fancy carbon fiber bike with carbon wheels. I didn’t eat breakfast. He probably has more time to do hills than me. It’s got to be the bike. Wait, his bike or my bike?

Top of the col

There is always someone faster than you out there. There is always someone who is willing to work harder than you. You are not always at your best. And that is what this human experience is all about. I gave it all I had on that hill this morning. So what can you do about it? I’m going to eat a dinner that is delicious and nutritious for me so I can recover. Tomorrow, I will wake up, get back on my bike, and push myself further than the day before. Challenge accepted!

Ready for what is important. Ready to present for my family, ready to go out and earn a day’s pay. Looking for that next ride up the hill.

Ironman Boulder 2015

I love to ride most every chance I get. And rides can become habit forming. Every now and again, I will get the opportunity to go out on a completely new ride. Explore. Not sure how many miles it will be or how long it will take.  This pure sense of freedom is what draws all of us to ride. Road or no road, you are limited only by your imagination.

Most days there is a schedule. And if I am going to get in a ride, I have to make it fit in to the schedule. Depending on how early I get out of bed, I have one or two predetermined routes that I know will fit into the schedule.

This past Sunday, my morning was totally free. It was also Boulder Ironman Sunday. And there was a spot not far from the house where I could sit and watch the bike leg. Instead of using my imagination, I went into habit mode. I had two hours to get to the one spot on course where I wanted to watch the first few leaders come through. There were just a few routes I knew I could take to get to that one spot on the 112 mile course.

But I could not get out of my own way. I just had to travel along, what I knew in the back of my mind was, the race route. I rode along side the rest of the triathletes for my fitness ride, while there were in the race of their life. As an athlete, I should of understood that. And I was being a complete dick.

I ducked in and out of the race along my ride, trying to get to the one spot to watch. I finally tried to continue along my route when a police officer stopped me from entering the race route. While trying to figure out which route to take, (a simple left or right) he almost knocked me over because I could not imagine taking another well traveled road. I could not get out of my own way.

There are so many times in life where we get caught up in our usual routes, what we usually drink, what we usually eat, what we see to be fact. We just need to get out of our way and go for a ride. With that pure sense of freedom. So that we can discover something new for ourselves.

Where can you ride tomorrow? What can you eat tomorrow that will nourish you? I am going to make some bacon & cashew rice cakes that will nourish me on my ride, wherever it takes me.