Mike Says Meh|The blog of Mike Kauspedas | Hosting by www.gearhost.com

As I clipped my foot into my right pedal at the beginning of my mid week training ride, I had a meh-like epiphany. It’s not something as dramatic as learning the meaning of life, more like the meaning of Mike. What I realized was, I’m happy. More than happy actually, I’m content. After saying this to myself I did what any normal man in my position would do, avoided the dog and person walking it, and questioned whether or not I was truly content.

First things first, what is “content”? I think it’s different for each person. Some people might be content with all the material possessions they could want, some might be content never working again, some might be content being alone. For me, it’s a little of everything. A culmination of all the small things in life that make one big happy Mike pie.

Being a man, or maybe it doesn’t matter, the first thing I thought of was my wife Grace. Grace is beautiful, thoughtful, likes many of the same things I like, and we get along. As with any relationship, it isn’t perfect. But content isn’t perfect. When I became really enthusiastic about cycling, so did she. She watched my favorite sci fi shows and loves them with the same passion I do. Grace even plays video games with me. There are some limits, she doesn’t ride with me, nor does she like road bikes in general, except on TV. Hell, she even got into baseball. Basically, Grace enjoys all my passions, which come and go like the weather. I am also very fickle. Point being, it isn’t perfect, but it’s enough to make satisfied. Content must also be satisfaction. Satisfaction, is as simple as drinking a good glass of scotch or eating a good dinner. It won’t be perfect, there will be some small thing left to desire, but you will feel good or full or both.

Knowing I had a great wife was the first small step towards proving my contentment to myself. Cycling was the next thing I thought of, after all, I was doing all my thinking while riding. At first I thought, how does cycling fit into my contentment? Which I quickly answered, it is my passion, and every man should have a passion to fill the moments in life where boredom and doldrums would normally take over. Passion also provides those needed accomplishments, however small and meaningless, to make a man feel truly happy with himself. Men are prideful creatures and we need to do and accomplish things. For me, losing weight, then getting in shape, and now becoming a faster and better cyclist became my accomplishments. There are others in the workplace, or with school, but these are the accomplishments that are meaningful diretly to me.

Wife and passion are all fine and dandy, but what about stuff? Material possessions I mean. Ah, I have those as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Mr. Money Bags with everything a man could possibly desire, but I have everything that would make me content. Two good bikes, HDTV, Xbox, PC, Macbook, so tech is taken care of, a comfortable couch, food that I like eating, and cars I enjoy driving. Could I have better and nicer things? Certainly. Like I said, none of this “stuff” is great or the best. Contentment doesn’t have to be the best, because contentment has nothing to do with perfection. Content is a little of compromise, or fitting your needs.

I also have no major financial issues. There are definitely some things I am working on, but I make enough money to live comfortably and afford the things I want or need. My job has a good median between stress and more relaxed days. I’m not pushing 80 hours a week every week, nor am I sliding by with just 40. I also happen to really enjoy what I do.

Grace and I can afford to, and do, vacation where we want. We both have jobs that provide us with good PTO, and we make enough money to save and spend it each year on trips. Anyway, I’m starting to ramble on about too many little things.

Oh, and to top it all off I have a great dog.

Content is simply being happy, and being happy consistently. I have no real complaints, only annoyances. There are no major issues with my life, just some outside factors that I can chose how they will effect me. If I died tomorrow, I would enter the after life with few regrets. Perhaps this is simply growing up. Maybe now I’m old enough to realize I have a good a life, and I have nothing to complain about. Everything else is just jealousy. A nicer car passes me or a cyclist drops me. Ultimately those are things I can strive for anyway. But for now, I am content with what I have and who I am.

In ten years, I think I will look back, and claim these as my golden years. Within the next ten years, I’ll probably have a kid, have to buy a house, and relinquish some of the stuff I cherish, and cut back on my passions. But for now, as I realize it, I can truly enjoy this time I have, and move onto the next phase of life.

And, love, using, commas.

This year I am registered for 3 rides … so far. My one regret was not paying attention to the Triple Bypass registration. Registration opened in January and filled all 3500 spots in one hour. The triple bypass is the hardest ride here in Colorado and people come from out of state for it. I’ve been dropped by so many cyclists with triple bypass jerseys too. Not to say the lesser rides aren’t challenging or fun. Here they are -

Denver Century
June 20th 2010 | 100 miles
First up, the Denver Century. I’m pretty sure this is a new one, but this is the first year I am doing any of these rides so they’re all new to me. The course is the most familiar for me. I can’t remember how many times I’ve ridden the trails here in Denver and that’s what this is. Starts at Invesco field and heads out west to the 470 trail then east to cherry creek and back. A nice big 100 mile loop. Should be easy and a blast.

CO Bike MS
June 26-27 2010 | 150 miles
DONATE!!
The very next weekend after the Denver Century is the Colorado Bike MS. This is the only big ride I’ve done. I did this last year and it was unbelievably fun. Very well supported with stops every 10 miles. I mean this when I say ANYONE can do this ride, and EVERYONE should. Its fun, its for a great cause, and a great way to get into cycling. There are plenty of SAG wagons to pick you up if you don’t want to pedal all the way up a hill. (The horse-head reservoir had some good ones.) Free cliff bars and bike mechanics. I got my bike adjusted both days for free!
DONATE!!!

Copper Triangle
August 7 2010 | 5,981′ Elevation | 80 miles
This one is easily the hardest of the three without mentioning Pikes Peak (see below). Lots of climbing = lots of fun. Its the one I am most excited about and will be training for. Climbing is my favorite thing to do on the bike. Its steady, slow enough to take in the views, and challenging.

On the table are two more rides. Subaru Elephant Rock and Assault on the Peak.

Subaru Elephant Rock
June 6 2010 | 100 miles
Very popular and I don’t think they even have a cap on riders. They also have a mountain bike course and a lot of family friendly and shorter courses. This one sounds a lot like the Denver Century. I’m just not sure about 3 huge rides in June, but hey, they do that daily in the TDF for 3 weeks soooo … maybe I shouldn’t be such a pussy. (Even though I’m 1/33 a TDF level cyclist) Money is also a factor though. Which leads me to the next one on the table because this is where the money goes.

Assault on the Peak
August 29 2010 | 6,360′ Elevation | 18 miles
Fuck yeah. That’s what comes to mind when I think about riding up Pikes Peak. Or ZOMFG ru serious!1!!?! the price tag does a good job of calming me down, $180. Wow. Copper triangle is longer, with 2 more peaks, and pretty close in elevation. Both the Denver Century and Copper triangle were $200 together and I got jerseys for each. The allure of Pikes Peak is that it hasn’t been done before, and its fucking Pikes Peak. I can see Pikes Peak from my apartment here in Denver – so can my bike – we’re both thinking the same thing. So yeah, I’m going to register for this and shell out the $180. Registration in fact, is tomorrow or else this would be in the list up top. The other major difference is that cyclists cannot ride up Pikes Peak any other day. This is it. As I’m passing Pikes Peak in my car I’ll be able to look to the west and say, “Yes, I rode that.” My wife can say the same thing if we’re traveling north and I’m driving.

My commuter bike taged

Click on the image for a full size view. Thought I would take a quick pic of my commuter bike in its current state.

Bike: 2007 Giant OCR3
Pedals: Shimano PD-M505
Coffee Cup: Starbucks indestructible always hot amazing best coffee cup ever.
Coffee: Coffee Mate vanilla creamer with a hint of Folgers coffee.

I took a ride on Saturday morning. When I got up that morning I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. Should I go for distance with some rollers but not too difficult like a southern denver loop? (Cherry creek trail – platte river trail – 470 trail going east – cherry creek – home). Or should I just do the quick spin to Golden and back? I decided on Golden since I’ve ridden on those trails so many times and I can ride faster on the roads. Not to mention there’s a lot more to look at.

After making sure my tires were full of air and eating some corn chex I headed out. I caught up with someone sporting an epic climbing jersey that said Mt Evans on it. He was a lot stronger than me so I just kept up. I only passed him on a decent and that’s because I got off my saddle and tucked onto my top tube. By the way, f’n awesome, everyone should try it.

At the end of 32nd street and the beginning of Golden is the coors brewery. Which stinks, a lot. But after you get past the stink you’re at a stop light in Golden and straight ahead is down town and a tiny hill past that. I noticed some other cyclist spinning up the hill and curiosity took over. The light changed and I took off to see what was beyond the hill.

It took me a few turns, some more small hills, and a short tour of the school of mines to realize where everyone was going. Lookout mountain.

Climbing has become my new favorite thing to do. I don’t really know why. Maybe its the ambitious man in me yearning to conquer something. Or maybe I just a challenge. Instead of racing some random guy on a fixed gear on my way to work I can race myself up to the top of something, on my bike. And while I do it people drive by int heir cars and think about how awesome cyclists are because we pick a mountain and say to ourselves, I’m going to ride my bike up that.

Now, off on a tangent … That’s part of the allure of cycling I think. Its accessible to anyone and there is no one that can’t at least try to spin up a mountain. It doesn’t matter how fast you go, you’ll feel on top of the world no matter who you are in just that you made it to the top. Then you descend fearlessly back down with your chin on the handle bars ducking down for that aerodynamic profile.

Back to lookout mountain …

Here is the route from my place up to the mountain.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/co/denver/705124934856016983

I texted my wife once I got to the start of the climb and told her I found alpe de huez. My wife doesn’t cycle but knows that is. And the mont vetoux but I think I’ll save that title for a more challenging climb. She said as I could climb it as long as I was back by 3 so we could make it to the Aerosmith concert. It was 12:45. I decided if I wasn’t on top by 1:30 I’d turn around no matter what. Then I began the climb.

The first few turns I used my middle chain ring on my triple and the second and third cog. I like to spin with a high cadence up mountains. Its just more comfortable and easier. Spin fast in an easy gear, makes sense. Anyway the grade picked up and I was down into the bottom chain ring spinning the granny gear. I refused to mash and I didn’t care what the other guys thought. Especially as I passed them spinning away pleasantly like an old lady on a cruiser for her Sunday afternoon ride. Obviously they all just thought I was a Lance wanabe.

I ended up making it to the top in about 30 minutes. It was a lot shorter than I thought. It makes me realize just how long the climb in Boise up to bogus basin is that I’ve done.

At the top I looked around and got some fresh water. The Buffalo Bill memorial is up there and they give out free ice cold water. I filled my bottles like the rest of the cyclist there and then took a few pics of the scenery on my iphone.

Giant OCR1

Lookout Mountain rode or loop or something

scenery

Golden

One of the people at the top started asking me questions about the ride up and I got a lot of smiles, nods, and a few comments. All of them good.

The descent down was pretty slow. The turns are too sharp to do anything more than 35 before you have to hit the brakes. Then I was caught behind some motorcyclists and ended up doing 20-25 most of the way down. The ride from Golden to Denver is mostly flat with just a few short hills. I didn’t have any issues.

All in all this was a fantastic ride. One of my better ones and one I will do a lot more and hopefully with improved time and results. I recommend it for anyone who’s looking for something more than a simple cruise along cherry creek trail.

Scroll to 3:40 and watch as Theo Bos of Rabobank grabs the leader of the race (yellow jersey) Darril Impey and throws him into the barrier. The camera catches him near the bottom left of the screen and you can see the rider reach up, grab the guy by the jersey and throw him in. The announcer is absolutely correct, this should be a life time ban from the sport. This is the worst thing I have ever seen in sports, let alone cycling. Unbelievable.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube/?title=tot-09-st8-finish-crashes&id=aoEd0w-BmfI&w=560

If you think this was an accident. Watch Bos (in red), he grabs the jersey at the left shoulder and pulls the guy towards him. He wasn’t tapping him, he literally pulls him. It could “possibly” be that he was trying to drag him out of the way and the rider is just a complete moron and rookie but I find that hard to believe. Watch his arms, in HQ you can see him pulling. There’s some comments on the youtube video saying otherwise but I don’t think those guys have ever ridden a bike before. It is really easy to pull someone down. Most of these guys weigh between 160-175 and the bike weighs 15-16lbs. You’re clipped in to the pedals meaning attached. At this point the bike is part of you. Anyone that has ridden a road bike before knows this feeling. And if you’ve ridden a nice bike you know it even more.

This guy deserves a life time ban, period.

Update, Theo Bos defends himself.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/5200731/Theo-Bos-defends-himself-after-Daryl-Impey-pile-up.html

Even if it was not intentional by Bos its still a ban IMO. You don’t want someone that inexperienced in major races. There was a pile up into the barries at the end of Flanders. No one pulled anyone there. I understand its easy for me to talk, like I even know what its liek to be in that situation. I wouldn’t want to eat barrier. But when you cause a crash like that and basically put someone out of racing for a long time if not life its a ban. Intentional or note.

“Imprey suffered cracked vertebrae in his lower back and neck, chipped teeth and facial lacerations. He will miss next month’s Giro and could even miss the rest of the season.”

The giro is huge, its a big blow to his career. Especially after getting yellow.

This is one of those sporting incidents like Tyson biting that guy’s ear. You don’t have to watch cycling to understand how wrong this is.

Awesome, Google continues to impress me, most because they create new technology and then display it using common techniques. Not to mention most of it is easy to use. Anyway, Le Tour de France up close and personal using Google maps.

http://www.google.com/landing/tourdefrance2008/

BikeDenver has recognized GearHost Inc. as a bicycle-friendly business here in Denver Colorado. This is awesome news and we were all thrilled to see the evnelope this morning containing our certificate and sticker.

I’m the only one that bikes into work, but it doesn’t mean GearHost isn’t accomodating. In fact this was taken into consideration for our new office location downtown. In the new office we’ll have our own private shower and its still ok for me to wear cycling shorts in the morning and keep my bike in the new office. I’ve really taken for granted how convenient that is. This is especially important as I plan on never driving into work. Another reason its a good idea to be bike friendly. GH doesn’t need to get me a parking pass or light rail pass.The guys here are very supportive as well of my cycling. Ryan (our infamous CEO) has even come to me trying to sponsor a team.

I won’t be the only one that bikes in for long either. With our new digs downtown I think we’ll be even more bicycle friendly and I’m going to push the guys here to give it a shot. They all live pretty far but if you combine light rail and a nice commuter bike it will make the commute all the more easier. We’ll see how many times they curse looking for a parking spot before they’re all sporting skin tight shorts and chain stains.

Oh … my … God. Absolutely the hardest ride I have done so far, the hardest physical activity I have ever done. I have never once in my life felt like turning back, I always keep pushing forward. There were spots when I hit the steeper grades where I started considering it. Then after when it just kept going up. There was nothing pleasant about pleasant park rd and its endless incline.

At the beginning of the ride i actually felt pretty bad, my cadence was hovering between 75-80 and I wasn’t going very fast. Then my rear derailleur busted and I had to pull over for 15 minutes working on it. Thankfully it was just a loose cable. I made my left past the highgrade road sign. It was pretty mellow for a bit, my cadence was up between 90-100 and I was moving along. I felt pretty good and figured something I ate had just broken down into energy or something.

Then I took a turn for the worst, literally. I turned and the grade steepened by a couple percent. I switched into the lowest gear I had and struggled to keep my cadence up. Near the worst of it I was dragging at 5mph with a cadence as low as 40. This was my do or die moment, and I did.

At points I was dripping sweat, so bad I thought it started to rain then realized it was sweat dripping from my head onto my knees. One of the worst parts about the climb is how slow it is, no wind to cool and dry sweat. It just leaks out of you.

I hit pleasant view road and got a break in the incline. My cadence went back up and I started feeling better. But I had spent most of my energy and hit that dreaded wall. I was running on fumes and I felt it. Gatorade was no help and I didn’t feel like munching on a granola bar I had. I just wanted to get to the damn summit. Lesson learned, eat more before I ride.

At the summit there’s a nice cyclist rest area. Equipped with a porta potty, coolers full of gatorade and water, a picnic table, and a big steel trap to put donations in. I squeezed in a $10 bill and took a gatorade and water, filling up one of the water bottles I had finished off on the way up. I was going to use my camel back but its a big military issue my best friend gave me. Awesome, but large and bulky and I didn’t feel like carrying the extra weight. So I took two water bottles instead. I would have been fine even without the pit stop, but I would have cut it close.

I hopped back on the bike and began my descent. 30 seconds into the descent at 30mph I realized my bike wasn’t made to go that fast. I hit the brakes to slow down and almost nothing happened. I squeezed harder and they hissed back at me. I took turns squeezing the front and rear to try and keep them cool. I don’t even know if it was the issue, but I knew it wouldn’t hurt. I’m bringing my bike in for a tune up and to get those replaced within the next few days. I got so scared riding down trying to miss gravel I started hoping for more incline.

I got my wish, after turning onto Oelhman Park rd I cruised down an incline for a bit and then hit several small very steep hills. One after the other, short 2 minute break hoping I didn’t hit a rock while flying down, to mashing up another short steep incline.

Once I hit city view it was smooth sailing. Well, not really. I spent most of my time squeezing my brake handles hoping they wouldn’t give out. I was also thankful I wasn’t going up, because the down was really steep. And twisty. So here I am trying to slow a bike with little to no braking power and cornering like I have never done before all while trying to avoiding cars and gravel.

It finally ended at turkey creek road and I got more of a normal incline and a straighter road. Since I didn’t have to brake as much on corners I felt a lot safer and cruised along at 30mph. I got to the right hand turn back onto deer creek in no time and came to yet another hill. Once I crested this one though it was all down back to the car. At one point my speedometer said 40mph which prompted me to squeeze the brakes a little. I brought it down to 30 and sat around there the rest of the way down.

It wasn’t as bad as I think it was though. I should have ate more, and I should have gone out in the morning when it was cooler. I spent the night before upgrading a server and I couldn’t get to sleep till 4am. I started climbing at 1pm. I’m thrilled I did it and I’m thinking about the next one. I guess I’ll give lookout mountain a shot, once I’ve got brakes that can handle the descent. I’ll try and bring a camera next time too.

My elevation data and the route are below.