5430 Boulder Peak Old Stage vs Me - Rnd 2

On the two week anniversary until the 2008 Boulder Peak race I tackled Old Stage for round 2. This week I decided that after conquering "just" Old Stage that I'd add the full 5430 Boulder Peak bike course in for a training ride. My neighbor Chris decided to join me this week, as she's been battling through some injuries this season and testing the water as to whether she'll be able to do the Boulder Peak this year. The plan was to start at the base of Old Stage, ride the entire Boulder Peak course and then do Old Stage again at the end.

We arrived in Boulder at a open space trail head on Lee Hill road, about a mile from the base of Old Stage. Mounted up, quick loop around the neighborhood to get the blood flowing and we were off to Old Stage. It was just as I remember it from last week, the beginning is slow and annoying. It doesn't look like much, but I was already feeling it. Much like last week I was in granny gear in no time keeping a steady 10 mph until I hit the intersection of Lee Hill Road and Old Stage, which is where the fun starts. My pace was quickly cut in half, down to about 5 mph but still moving steady, keep the pedals moving.

Once you get past the steepest part of the hill, it's still uphill, but it's all downhill so to speak. There's still some climbing to be done, but the worst is behind once you make it over the first peak. There's actually a relatively flat spot after the first climb that I've fumbled my water bottle both times. Can't seem to get the bottle back in the cage. Another thing I'll say about both climbs so far, my butt has not left the seat one time. I think before getting some pointers on the attacking old stage, I would have thought that I would need to stand up, out of the saddle to make it. I've been told that burns a lot of unnecessary energy and that I can get up just as fast in the saddle as out and to my surprise I can definitely make it sitting down.

Chris was right behind me the entire ride and for someone who's been on the shelf with injury, she kicked some butt. The ride down the backside of the hill was fast and fun. I tried to keep it around 35 mph, but did notice I crept up to about 39 mph a couple of times. It was a nice reward after a steep climb up. In fact, one of these days I'll probably have to ride the opposite direction. It's not as steep, but it's a longer climb. Pretty much from there on out it was a relatively flat, with some rolling hills back to the open space trail, however by this time it was starting to rain and weather was moving in on the mountains pretty quick. That was fine with me because I was tired, wasn't really motivated to do Old Stage again.

Chris and I had planned to do a short 10 minute run after getting off the bikes to get our legs and we stuck to the plan. The legs were a bit wobbly, but after 5 minutes or so, no lingering affects. On the way back to the car we ran into Nicole and Tim DeBoom, which was AWESOME. Chris works for SkirtSports, so we got to stop and chat. The great thing about living in Boulder is that you never know who or where you'll run into. Maybe you'll run into arguably the Michael Jordan of Triathlon (2x Triathlon World Champion - Tim), IronMan Wisconsin winner (Nicole) and owner of arguably the most chic, often imitated by never duplicated Skirt Sports skirts. That was really cool.

So, another old stage climb for the notch in my belt and rubbing elbows with who's who of Triathlon, another great day in Boulder County.

Next week, I'll be doing Old Stage again, just haven't figured out exactly what/how yet.