Bailey's 6th Birthday

Halloween Costumes

Jonathan and Julia (and Miles) came up with some pretty good costumes this year. Jonathan had a few options to choose from for Student Council...

Grassroots Gravel

Final race of 2025 down in Pueblo today. Grassroots Gravel is always a great event and has sort of become one of our local mainstays on the racing calendar.

I was feeling pretty good after The Rad and having won the short course at Grassroots last year. But you just never know how things are going to play out and who is going to show up.

This year was definitely more competitive than each of the previous two years. We got a good group of several riders that got into the lead group after the first hill. There was a minor crash on the dreaded S-turn heading out, and as a result of that and the long, gradual climb up to the turnaround, that quickly became four riders which eventually became three.

Jess from Rust Cycling did a long attack going out, but Micah and I stayed together and caught him on the long downhills before the S-turn coming back. Jess is more of a steady state rider, and small, so he tried to attack up the last hill on the highway (which Micah and I knew he would do).

Coming down to the finish Micah attacked very early, but I covered his attack and we dropped Jess temporarily. Micah and I stayed side by side and started the sprint about the same time before the final right turn. He had the inside line, so we was slightly ahead for awhile, but I gave it one final push at the very end, including a bike throw across the line, for the win!

Reflecting on this race and 2025, I think this year is going to be hard to beat. In this race I set my highest 60 minute power ever (in Colorado). I won five of the seven races I entered, and all of those were overall victories except the first race of the year where I won the overall Masters category. This is possibly when I peaked, but only time will tell. It's like a combination of experience and continued hard work, bike upgrades, and nutritional changes I've made over the years (eating enough, taking the right supplements during the season) all coming together. I don't know where things will go from here, or what I'll want to do next, but for now, I'm just enjoying it all.

Fire Sky

The Rad

This might have been a perfect race. Year three of doing The Rad in Trinidad was probably my best one of the year, and the most memorable.

A few weeks ago I got a flat tire in Canon City, so I finally ditched the trusty rusty slicks for some real gravel tires. They definitely paid off. I felt great all race and I couldn't have written the script better for my strengths. In summary, three or four us immediately found ourselves at the front of the race after the crazy steep hills out of town right after the start. Quickly that became three of us and we were all interested in working together to keep our lead out front.

The three of us rode together through the double track and up to the top of the hill where we turned around. Ty started getting cramps on the way back up the hill to the double track, and Arnie and I dropped him on that hill. I think we both knew that the double track and hills back into town were going to be hard, so we just stuck together without any attacks.

Arnie, in from Bend Oregon, showed off his mountain bike background on the steep downhills of the roller coaster finish back into town. I knew that all I needed to do was follow him close and out-sprint him on the long straightaway to the finish. We were flying down the last hill before the last left turn about as fast as we could take the corners. Arnie was in front and started his sprint first, but I quickly passed him in the final sprint. My power meter said 1,150 max watts, which is probably one of my best efforts ever. I even took a brief second at the end to post up for the victory. I was really happy all around with how the day went.

Homecoming 2025

Dad's 75th Birthday

Glad we could all come together and celebrate Dad/Grandpa's 75th birthday today. Bailey was especially happy to join!

Senior Parking Spot

This senior tradition was a fun project that Julia and I got to do together. I estimated that it took us about 12 hours total time and a few hundred dollars over the course of two days.

We had to space it out over two different days due to the weather. It was really hot and then also rainy for many days in between. Julia and Miles bought parking spaces next to each other and coordinated matching paint schemes from the movie Cars.

A valuable trick that Julia discovered when researching this online was to dilute the paint with water. This allowed it to flow into all the cracks and rocks on the asphalt. The first day we painted the base coat and on the second day the details were painted. Miles' Dad showed up also to help him finish his spot.

We worked for a while until Julia had to leave for work and Cold Stone. I finished up some small details and cleaned things up after she left. The designs turned out really well!

Senior Sunrise

Tarryall Reservoir Road

I decided to head up to the cabin for a quick overnight and ride. Tarryall Reservoir is a nice, quiet stretch of road that I try and do every year. It's probably best in the fall when the leaves are changing colors, but I knew that I would be pretty busy with racing in September and didn't want to miss out on this ride on a beautiful late summer day.