Bicycling Challenge Dos
My roommate Kyle got a new road bike a few weeks ago. While we were checking it out on the day of arrival, his boss came over to join him on his inaugural ride. We began to chat about cycling and I let out a statement that I still consider to be a fact but that let his boss a little unsettled.
“Yeah, I can beat most people in Boulder up a mountain”, I said.
Bob, Kyle’s boss, took that as a challenge — but he didn’t say anything immediately. A few days later Kyle came home and stated that Bob wanted to race me. Long story short, I tagged along on one of their rides to better gauge his skills as a cyclist. After a jaunt up Flagstaff, I walked away feeling like I had the upper hand should a race ever materialize.
Later that week, Alex and I met Kyle over at Avery Brewing company for a little cerveza and Bob just so happened to be there. We got to talking about athletics and he admitted that I had him beat on a bike ride up a mountain. But…. Then he had the audacity to say “I could kick your ass any time in a trail running race”.
Those of you who know me can imagine any number of things that were running through my head at that point — they are all probably accurate. I replied with a few sly comments to which each time he came back way over the top.
RACE ON.
I called him a few nights later and challenged him to a mountain duathalon of sorts. First would be a road cycling race up the Flagstaff Mountain road: from the base of the mountain (by the brick wall turn) to where the amphitheater trailhead hits the road. Then we’d cruise down, catch our breath, and change into running gear. Second, we’d race up the amphitheater trail, running.
Well compared to the race against the twelve year old where I lost handily – this was a friggin’ blowout.
Bike Race – Ryan = 19:16, Bob = 25:00ish
Trail Race – Ryan = 20:02, Bob = 25:00ish
Above: At the base of flagstaff I had just made the pass. That’s Kyle back around the corner.
Above: nearing the top – no one in sight.
Bob is planning the re-match on a less mountainous course. We’ll see how that goes.
In other news – I just launched v1 of www.FrontRangeEndo.com, my site for my fathers business. He goes by such names as Dr. William Roth, Papa, and Williberto. But I think he’d answer to things like Endodontics maestro or Root Canal Master. Just some thoughts. If you have any feedback on the visual aspects of www.FrontRangeEndo.com I’d really appreciate it. I’m certainly no design wiz. And oh yeah – I’m colorblind – so if you see some colors that aren’t mixing well, please please let me know!
Filed by ryanroth at June 22nd, 2009 under Life