Taking July by the Horns

It seems as if July disappeared as fast as June. I'm still sort of shaking my head about the whole thing. Kate and I enjoyed our 4th of July in Boise though we both had some subtle setbacks on missing our families. Everyone was doing something and we really didn't have much for plans since Kater had an epic week of school starting that Monday. We got to see some great fireworks from our backyard and seeing it doesn't get dark-dark in early July until about 11pm everyone tends to start late and end late w/ the firecrackers. Such as life, it's once a year. I had a big ride planned that next day so I was hoping for some good sleep, but once 12:30am hit I don't think a blackcat Atom bomb could have woken me.

My brother was arriving the week after the 4th for some good family time and training. I had a 95-mile route planned out so I decided to ride it before we tackled it together. It started w/ some short killer hills after 10-miles then off to some longer climbs of around 2+ miles after 30-miles, then off to climb the Bogus Basin Summit starting at mile 40. You've probably heard me talk about Bogus in the past, but it's a great 16-mile climb and since it's very close by it's very convenient to get big training in without having to go forever to get there. I ended up hitting the route well and even tooks splits on the bogus climb. Knocking 22-mins off my previous attempt made for a very smiley descent back down the mountain. I think the legs are starting to enjoy the tilting-up roads of Idaho.


Having my brother arrive was exciting and I couldn't wait to show him around in the car, but mostly on the bike. Besides the mentioned route I also planned to take him up to the Mores Creek Summit, which crests about 13-miles past Idaho City and is around a 108-mile route. This route has three summit climbs since it's a down and back. Once again, it starts all innocent for about 11-miles then on to a 4+ mile climb up over Highland Valley Summit or Hilltop as the locals call it. From mile-23 you slowly gain elevation for 30-miles w/ the last 10 getting pretty steep. With about three miles left the road begins the switchbacks. The pic to the right shows the first switchback. It's an absolutely beautiful ride. I knew Flipper had his own demons to conquer going up so I went ahead and tackled my own. Reaching the top is always a kickass experience.

When I got to the top I waited for Flipper to arrive. It wasn't long before I could hear his grunts up the switchbacks. I got a good laugh out of it, but I knew he put in a hard effort to get to the top of that beast. We snapped some shots then turned around and enjoyed a very fast 13-miles back to Idaho City. Other than the Highland Summit being an absolute beeotch after 90-miles in the saddle we felt like life was once again fantastic. The beer that night tasted quite good.

It was great having my brother here and I can't wait until he comes back. He even managed to design up and build a huge shelving unit in my garage. He was the mastermind and I played the grunt dude. We had a blast and the house now has a ton more storage space. Something it was running a bit short on.

The day after Flipper left I had to fly out to Columbia, MO for work. I'm a geek who supports a lot of other geeks at State Farm so we had to present a bunch of the new technology coming their way. It was great to see everyone I work with again face-2-face. Being a teleworker you lose some of the that personal 1-on-1 contact. The conversations and more importantly, jokes!, that come up when we're all together is priceless. You just can't get that on the phone and email. Anyways, the presentations all went pretty well and I managed to get one good run in on Columbia's Katy Trail. Columbia is a very green, woodsy city so the run on the trail and along the river was quite nice. It also reminded me how dry Boise is and how humid the midwest is. Sheesh, my workout clothes never dried the entire time I was there. It was a nice reminder though since there's always a good chance that Ironman Moo is going to be nasty.

Other than that, training has gone exceptionally well in July despite not having my tri-bike for nearly the entire month (I've got the new frame now). These last six weeks will be nailing the longer runs and hitting my FTP efforts on the bike. I have an Olympic distance race on August 9th so that'll be my last FTP effort. Then it's one last big weekend and off to the psychotic taper. Whooya!

Take'r easy,
Drew.