Summer in the mountains

I spent July and August riding in the Mountains.

Climbing up Deer Creek Canyon, which is great training for my upcoming trip through the French mountainside.

Summer Continued

I did one huge ride this summer. The Reverse Triple Bypass.

This ride is 122 miles long and has three passes to cross. Here I am going over Loveland pass (the second). I am at about 11,000-11,500 ft, so I'm not too spry. Still have 60 miles and another pass to go. Two days later everything hurt!

The last big climb of the summer. Rode from Idaho Springs at 7,500 ft to Berthod Pass at 11,307 in 22.6 miles.

The fun of training in the mountains is the descent. Here Doug "Big Guy" Squires (from old England) and I are descending deer creek canyon, which is about 10 miles from my house and is a great training hill I use a lot.

Cross Roads XC2011

Jim and Rick

Riding on XC2011 in the Arizona Mountains

Here I am riding with Rick Wardell, one of my favorite riding buddies.

He is the mechanic on the Cross Roads (XC) trips as well as being a

pharmacist who own his own pharmacy. A Great rider and a great guy as

hundreds of riders will attest. I rode with the XC2011 group through the

mountains for about 650 miles. (Wickenburg Az to Tucumcarri NM)

Spring Training

Spring training was hard this year as it was quite cold in the Denver area.

I do some Time Trialing mostly to get in better shape. I also

like the group. You have to 50 to be in the COBRAS but most

of us are in the 60's and 70's Some are excellent racers. I am

definitely second tier. I got 9th out of 26 in the state TT this year