Steamboat Gravel (SBT GRVL) Red

This was my first time racing SBT. So, we arrived a few days early to ride & drive the red course (60 miles). Let’s just say that the course was fantastic, as is well known & advertised.

I rode from the condo & was at the start line at 6:30, immediately filling in behind the black course as they left. There were about 1,000 timed finishers on the red course Sunday. 7:00 a.m. sharp & we rolled out of town with a police escort on the road for the first 3 miles. While escorted, the pace was still high when we hit the first dirt section at mile 3. Race on!

I was hiding near the front at this point, as planned, when we turned right onto 44A at mile 7. Over the following 8 miles and 20 minutes I hit numerous peak power numbers for the day, as well as my best 20-minute power of the year. These sections were climbs up thicker gravel and the familiar farmer’s double track sections.

Not surprisingly, the race completely broke up over these sections. I was gradually falling back from the leaders at this point, but they were still within reach. Not many were left behind me. I knew this was “the race” for me, so I put in a very hard effort to bridge to a smaller group up the road. As the course opened up and flattened out, the 3 of us in this smaller group were able to work together and rejoin the larger, lead group around mile 17.

I had burned a couple matches but it had worked. I made the selection & was in the lead group of 17 riders. Turns out I had made the right decision, as you’re about to find out. We all know that SBT GRVL attracts some top-level talent. I could tell our lead group was made up of really strong riders, but I didn’t know the extent until I got home and researched it.

In the lead group we had a mixture of men and women. 7 (or about half of the other riders) can be described as:

4 women – current (1) or former pros (2) or competed at last year’s CX national championships (1)

3 men – former pro, former youth national champion, or competed at last year’s CX World Championships

So let’s just say I never had a shot, but I’m really proud and satisfied to have made this lead group and stayed with them for two-thirds of the day. I don’t know if they really were trying that hard up to this point, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

At one point, we were hauling tail and came around a corner single file, just perfectly situated to catch the sun’s rays. For a few brief seconds the early morning sun illuminated each rider’s dust cloud and it looked exactly like a scene out of Strade Bianchi. Epic.

I was yo-yoing off the back of this lead group on and off with inner quad cramping until I got dropped. But that didn’t happen until mile 40 after we had crossed over highway 40. Jinx. We hit that first hill and the “real race” started at that point when some guys dropped the hammer on the switchbacks. It had been real. It had been fun. It had even been real fun, but that’s when the contenders had decided to drop the pretenders (me).

The remaining 20 miles solo was mainly just about managing my effort up the last climb of the day, being smooth down cow creek, and staying aero back into town in a slight headwind. I figured there were too many people ahead of me to have made the age group podium, but I was happy with what had happened.

Speaking of podiums and results…I would have been on the podium at SBT GVL Red had I been in any other age group! That’s not a typo. Had I been in my 20s or 30s (or older), I would have been on the podium. It so happens that my age group was stacked. If I remove the several “elite” riders mentioned above, I would have finished top 10 overall as well.

I’m happy. If I’m completely honest, I wasn’t trained for this level and length of race. I knew what would happen going into SBT GRVL. But it left me really motivated. I think it also clarified that I would prefer to be around top-level talent like this and get dropped, rather than competing for the win on short courses (e.g. like I did at FoCo).

I left a wonderful weekend at SBT GRVL asking myself a lot of “what if” questions. I’m 45 years old with two teenage kids, a wife, a dog and a cat and a mortgage. What if they had a category for that? OK, that was a joke. What if next year I got a little more serious and focus mainly on gravel racing? What if I had properly trained for this kind of race (shocker)? What if I double down and upgrade my gravel bike and gear? I still feel like I have room to improve, and that’s super encouraging and motivating.

Walden Coal Mine & Ranch

If you're going to drive all the way up to Steamboat Springs, you might as well stop by Walden (an hour away) to see the old family lands and take care of some family business. Since SBT GRVL was a week later than last year, Stacey and the kids had to stay at home for the first the week of school, but I was lucky to be part of this trip with my parents.

On Thursday morning we drove up together and met with a Realtor in Walden to talk about the 160,000 acres that are still owned by about 14 different family members. The Sudduth Coal Mine  is located on this property, but neither the mine nor the land seemed to be of much value after we were able to find them.

The Realtor led us out to the general location but had to turn around for another appointment. We were able to find the mine after a few trips up and down some paths that loosely resembled roads with the help of Google Maps on our phones. Sudduth Coal Mine, Sudduth Draw, and Sudduth Ditch 1 (the location of the old ranch) are still searchable on Google.

After finding the mine we drove a few miles over to the ranch property. We weren't able to get all of the way there since it's now private property. But we were able to take a few pictures of the larger landscape and Mom was able to zoom in with her camera lens and peek at what was left of the buildings on the property.

I'm really glad that I was able to go and see this with Mom and Dad. The setting is beautiful, like something out of a movie. We had some good discussions on the history of the ranch and family, but just being there was really great. It made me think about what life on the ranch 100 plus years ago was like, and obviously it was meaningful to see a piece of my own family history in person, with my own two eyes.

Working From Home

First Day of School

Well, that's another summer in the books, and another exciting start to a new school year. Bailey will be patiently waiting for her favorite family members to return each day!

Pride of the Rockies

This was the first tournament of the season for Jonathan's new competitive soccer team. I thought it was really cool that it was held at the Air Force Academy, since I played soccer tournaments as a kid on these same fields more than 30 years ago. It bought back a lot of good memories and I was glad that Jonathan was also getting to experience them too.

They played four games over the course of Saturday and Sunday, with the final game being the championship. Rain, lightning, and hail didn't stop the weekend from happening, it just delayed everything a little bit. Jonathan played well and almost scored a goal, but it was saved by the keeper. In the end Palmer Divide was too strong for all of the other teams in the 2010 and 2011 age group, and Jonathan's team finished in second place (and got a runner's up medal).

You can tell when Jonathan is excited about something, because when he's excited, he talks a lot. As in, non-stop all the way home. We're glad that he made the switch and also happened with the coach and team he got on (White 10B). There are a lot of good kids and families on his team, which is far from guaranteed when you start down this path.

Family Pictures

Loon Lake

An annual tradition. Loon Lake and then a pile of Zip's chicken strips and fries for dinner!

Happy 4th of July

I never knew Bailey and Freckles were so patriotic...

Cherry Picking

This is definitely one of the things we like to do every year we're in Spokane. Usually cherries are in season when we are there, but not every year. For example, last year the cherries came early and we picked strawberries. 

Green Bluff never disappoints. We picked a lot of cherries to eat, but also just enough pie cherries to make a delicious cherry pie!