First Sunburn of the Year

This weekend finally felt like spring in Fort Collins. With spring comes warmer weather, along with some pretty crazy winds! After my 24th birthday celebration Friday, I missed the usual Oval Ride on Saturday. Instead, I opted for an almost 4-hour mountain bike ride with my boyfriend, Zack. The nice thing about having a fast Cat 1 for a boyfriend is he'll always push me on rides when I need it and take my ride to the next level. We rode Pine Ridge and hopped on the road up Harmony Hill and over to Blue Sky, journeying all the way to Devil's Backbone. Man, Devil's Backbone is quite rocky. I have no shame: I'm a self-professed roadie. My MTBing skills, although improving, are way sub-par. My interest in Devil's Backbone quickly faded, although the views were incredible. I found a lot of success on Blue Sky this time around and finally finished a MTB ride very happy and satisfied (I often get grumpy and discouraged by the end).

Sunday was on the road. We hit a high in the 60s! That meant my pale, white legs were exposed to the sun for the first time in months. Being a pale redhead, you bet I got a pretty awful sunburn! The journey was incredible. Zack and I rode up Poudre Canyon to Stove Prairie, over to Carter Lake through the valleys, and back through Loveland. The first half was well into my tempo zone and had thousands of feet of climbing, so I was pretty toast by the end of the 5 hour ride. It was an amazing weekend of riding and training and makes me even more anxious for spring.

My training is now shifting to prepare for racing. "Power" strength training, shorter and more intense intervals, and some racing! I have my first local race this weekend in Boulder: the CU crit. I'm really looking forward to seeing where my fitness is. It's a bit misleading just riding with the guys all the time!