K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70’s weekend just keeps on truckin’

If I had to pick my favorite time of year for mountain biking, it would have to be fall. Fall in Aspen is pretty amazing as far as I'm concerned. The air is crisp, the colors are amazing, the weather is usually perfect for riding, and the trails are sprinkled with gold colored aspen leaves. On my last couple of rides, I have literally felt like I'm riding through a painting. I've enjoyed stopping on occasion to take it all in, and as I do I'm reminded of one of the reasons I ride my bike...to have fun! It's easy to lose track of the basics sometimes, especially when training for a 24 hour solo race. It's important to keep it all in perspective. Sure there are days when I really don't want to get on my bike but I honestly can't remeber a time that I haven't been happy about doing it. I've yet to get off of my bike after a ride and say "I wish I didn't just do that ride". There have been days though where I didn't ride and I wish I had...you get my point.

Last weekend was my last big weekend of riding before Moab. I feel like I literally spent my entire weekend in the saddle. Now it's time to start tapering. I'll spend a few days off the bike completely and then I'll ease back in to it. I want to make sure that I'm well rested going in to Moab. 3 weeks and counting. I'm feeling strong and healthy. Anxious for race day!

12 Hours of Snowmass

A few pics from the 12 Hours of Snowmass.

What a week....

Wow, has it been a month since my last post? Yes. Well, honestly I haven't had too much to write about. I've been training, but it's been relatively uneventful. Ive been doing big rides, beautiful rides, fun rides, some not-so-fun rides...a lot of rides.

Last week though was far from uneventful. It was a pretty epic week on the bike. It started on Wed. night when Lance Armstrong showed up to the last Aspen Cycling Club race of the season, a mountain bike race up Smuggler, down to Hunter Creek, up to Four Corners, around Hobbit, and down Plunge to finish back in Hunter Creek Valley. It was pretty surreal to line up next to him at the start and to hammer up Smuggler with him for about 5 minutes before he decided to twist the throttle. Lance won the race, Len Zanni gave him a run for his money and finished 14 seconds back. I finished 5th, about 3 minutes back.

Then on Sunday I had my second opportunity in less than a week to race against Lance. It was the 12 Hours of Snowmass and he partnered up with two of my friends, Max Taam and Len Zanni, to race in the men's trio division. I partnered up with Mike Scanlon and Jason Anderson in the same division. The men's trio division was stacked. Word got out quick about Lance racing and some of the top professional riders came out to race against a legend. Lance, Len, and Max won the race with Weins, Kloser, and Henry close behind. My team finished in 5th place with a very respectable showing. It was one of those Epic days! The course was tough (1500 feet of climbing/7 mile lap), but fun! The weather was absolutely amazing, and the competition was second to none. It was great training for Moab and I'm coming in to it feeling strong!