Intertia.

Last week was uneventful from the riding perspective. It was a recovery week after last weekends long efforts, so rides were short and easy. Most were rather windy, as well. Such is the way of things here in late winter it seems. I also spent a lot of time in the lab heating HF solutions to 2000 deg F, lecturing about the response of glaciers/permafrost/sea ice to climate change, and hiking around with the field geology class. On Saturday Maggie and I rode up to Longmont to pick up her new slackline, but the guy she bought it from forgot to leave it on his porch before he headed for the hills to go backpacking. Nuts to him. Maggie's longest ride yet (42 mi) and no slackline to show for it.

On Sunday morning I joined Stefan for his ambitious 10-hr dirty century plan. It turned out that the trails at Heil, Hall, and the Lefthand Circus just won't permit that. We had a phenominal ride from Heil to Hall and back - 10:30 am descending Picture Rock and didn't have to stop a single time. No one was coming up! And the same thing happened coming down the rock garden section of Hall - the only riders were stopped along the trail, so we could ease up on the brakes and let the bikes go. After a loop through the meniachal motorized circus course, we headed back to town. I bid farewell to Stefan after ~80 miles and 9 hours, and he headed south to try to round out the century. The route was something like this...


And some new thoughts have crept into my head over the past few days. There's a full moon just prior to the middle of May - a month before the Tour Divide start and a month removed from the AZT 300. I'm not liking where this train of thought is heading, but at the same time I can't help myself from ruminating over it. Apparently deep down, part of me is interested in a second date with the Uncompaghre Plateau.

For now I'll just keep an eye on the Columbine Pass SNOTEL data: