The Stazio Group Ride and Climbing

Climbing has been the first order of business lately (as of yesterday). Got over 11,000 feet in this weekend & it was outstanding, mostly because it meant riding outside (still a novelty) and lots of sunshine. (When in Sunshine Canyon, expect sunshine.)

I did the Stazio crit today...the field was a whopping 12 or so people big. Pretty sad, really. It was also a sad race. Only 2 girls there actually raced (Kori, Lipton and Carol, Excel. Go Carol!!!) I know I didn't. The group I was with wasn't working much and it wasn't clear as to anyone's strengths or intentions. I tried to attack a couple of times, but with the wind, I didn't have enough to pull away. The "race" could be described more as a group ride, a really, really boring group ride that went around and around in circles.
This is almost the whole field (top 2 pictures). Everyone must be in a warmer place. What a brutal winter we've had! The first Stazio crit last year had much better attendance--maybe 30 women.
Rebekah and I after the crit. (Note the sparkling clean bike.)


This is how gunked-up the bike was after yesterday's Coal Creek to Ned ride.

From where the mud got too deep to ride in, almost the top of Sunshine Canyon. Time to clean the bike again. And, I finally got a flat tire (luckily, it wasn't noticeable on the ride today). Considering I picked ~30 pieces of embedded debris out of the tire this morning, it's suprising this is the first flat of the year. (Okay, today is the third outdoor ride in Colorado this year.)