My family and I went to Boulder CO last week to visit my sister-in-law and her family. I did some riding, but not as much as I had hoped. As all of you know, it’s always hard to balance family and riding. Here’s a little chronicle of our week for your enjoyment.

Sat June 2 - Arrived late morning in Denver. Supposedly, the luggage handlers were over-worked and under-staffed, so it was over an hour before we got our stuff. No biggie….except for the fact that I needed to entertain Ian for that time in the airport. There’s not much to do except for running up and down the escalator. After we got our luggage, my sister-in-law drove us to her place in Boulder. Unfortunately, my bike, which was shipped via UPS, had not arrived. It had something to do with the Monday holiday. Since they don’t deliver on the weekend, I was doomed until Monday. I should have taken it on the plane since Frontier only charges $50, but that would have been a pain since Victoria would have given me grief and it would have been impossible to carry Ian and all my stuff!!!

Sun June 3 - Still no bike, so I didn’t do much. We tried to go for a hike in the mountains, but my niece and nephew pretty much doomed that. Oh well, at least we were able to enjoy the views.

Mon June 4 - The bike finally arrived at mid-day. I put it together and went for a spin to loosen the legs and save my sanity. Being stuck with three screaming kids for two days can make you a little crazy. I did not venture into the mountains and decided to stick to the roads east and north of Boulder. Great place to ride once you get away from the city.  I may have gone a little too hard because I paid for it the next day. I just couldn’t control myself since I was so psyched to get on the bike. Ride stats: 2:18 - 137 avg hr - 1750 kcals - 1440 feet of climbing - 47.8 miles

Tue June 5 - This ride turned in the “golden stage” of the week. I started north and rode through the towns of Hygiene and Lyons. In Lyons I decided to go up route 7 towards the peak-to-peak highway. I was on this climb for about 12 miles before I hit the peak-to-peak. I didn’t want to go down the other side since this would become a 5+ hour ride. I didn’t want to make anyone angry for being gone all day, so I turned around and bombed down the way I came up. After a 20+ minute descent, I hit route 36 for the ride back to Boulder. I once read that someone claims that this stretch of road is the most traveled by cyclists in the whole country. After a couple miles into that stretch, I hit something in the road and shreaded my rear tire. Fortunately, I had a cliff bar wrapper to hold the tube in the tire. By the end, I was pretty shot. I haven’t done too many 3+ hour rides this year and the climb didn’t help. Ride stats: 3:36 - 137 avg hr - 2739 kcals - 3400 feet of climbing - 67.8 miles

Wed June 6 - In the morning, Ian, Victoria, and I went to this place called “Tiny Town” south of Golden. It was this miniture town that was a great tourist trap for the kids. Ian got a kick out of it and loved the train ride. I went out for a short ride in the afternoon. By then, the winds were getting a little crazy. There were gusts of around 50-60 mph!!! I almost got blown off the bike a few times. I was hoping to do a few hours, but I ended up only doing a little more than one. This was the first time in my life that I’ve either cancelled or shortened a ride because of the wind. Ride stats: 1:09 - 130 avg hr - 799 kcals - 900 feet of climbing - 21.9 miles

Thu June 7 - Thanks to the strong winds, we woke to no power. One of the trees in the back was split in half and took down some power lines. The winds decreased as the day went on, so I went out in the afternoon. They were still bad, but at least bearable. I had to get back ealier than I wanted because we were going out for dinner, so the ride was somewhat short. Ride stats: 1:38 - 132 avg hr - 1173 kcals - 1060 feet of climbing - 31.6 miles

Fri June 8 - Finally, the winds were somewhat calm and I was able to get back to normal. Unfortunately, it was really cold, so I had to dig out the leg warmers. I believe Denver had a record low that day. Again, I went north of Boulder and found this climb on this road called “Left Hand Canyon”. It must be a popular climb for the locals since, even though it was Friday, there were still plenty of people on this road. This climb, which was about 14 - 15 miles, takes you to the town of Ward, which is located on the peak-to-peak highway. After riding this climb, I turned around and headed back home. Ride stats: 3:05 - 140 avg hr - 2434 kcals - 3220 feet of climbing - 60.4 miles

Sat June 9 - Last day in Colorado!!! I tried to get my sister-in-law’s husband to join me, but he was fighting a cold, so I had to go solo, which was no biggie since I was solo all week. I did a similar loop as Friday, except that I turned off Left Hand Canyon about half way up and onto this road called “Lee Hill”. It was one of the steepest climbs I have ever done. Thankfully, I had my low cross gearing (36×23) to get up this thing. The descent was a blast and brought me back into the outskirts of Boulder. So I tooled home and called it a day. Ride stats: 2:14 - 138 avg hr - 1721 kcals - 2560 feet of climbing - 43.7 miles

Saturday night we took the red-eye back to CT, so we were basically useless for Sunday. One suggestion - never take a toddler on the red-eye. He basically didn’t sleep, so we had to face his wrath on Sunday.

Overall, we had a good time and, with the exception of the strong winds, the weather was great. Total ride stats for the week: 14:00 - 137 avg hr - 10616 kcals - 12580 feet of climbing - 273.2 miles. Clearly my biggest week of the year!!!