late season epic

andy and roger rolled-up early sat to tackle the Gaps, put the finishing touches on a long season of work and play, what some would call training.

saturday. wet, cool weather, wood stove burning all day, drive andy and roger down to hancock, no easy way home, especially not when climbing mtns all day. sweating, steaming hot, then freezing cold on the descents. they ride up the road in layers and layers of clothes as i stand in the rain with Seneca, steady at first, building to torrents throughout the day, but that's andy's story... rain was heavy enough for sean and whitney to go creeking!

sunday. my wkly hrs have been slim, little worried about cutting it... but my riding has been great fun the past 8wks, big speed, big power, no work. nothing beats late season... then your buddies roll-up for a late season beat-down, the kind of wknd bike freaks dream about. rain. sleet. snow. 20k of elevation. back to the ride. with jenn away at Kripalu got a huge favor from mike and sarah on sunday, seneca was in good hands, time for me to play, thanks guys. fast forward 5 hours, best part of the day - up a steep wall of mud and running water, roger pushes hard to the top, smiles and exclaims, "that was horrible!", smiles some more, laughs, says again, "i mean, horrible!", still laughing. that's one solid dude. those who enjoy and thrive from overcoming such obstacles are always worth meeting, knowing. those who laugh it off in true, honest, earnest enjoyment, are truly unique. am lucky to know more than a cpl folks like that now...

had to steal one pic from andy's blog. he got some great pics in terrible conditions! temps rose over 40 early in the day, then sunk to the 30's by 2-3p. anticipated rain showers came as sleet and snow. crazy way to train for la ruta! super-cool day of riding with a cpl great folks. thanks for rolling and keeping me company up here. was going crazy sitting on all this great dirt w/no one to ride it with!!!!

the views alone here aren't always great, it's how the sun and clouds, the elements, play with the the views that is remarkable. difficult to describe the beauty, taken in wide and deep doses it is hard to distill to a few words. here, a snow flurry blows our way, but never reaches us...