Koppenberg Recon Ride
This Saturday is the famous Koppenberg RR just outside of Boulder. I happen to be the defending champion and I also won the event in 2003. Will Frishkorn won it in 2004.

So today was th recon day as we only ride this road twice a year-- race day and recon day. This is a nasty road and no one needs to ever train on it. But this year it does seem to be about 10 times better than year's past. The dirt is very hard pack and there are no ruts which is very unusual. This will make for a much faster race and less of a cyclocross event this year.

This photo above was taken on the approach to the Koppenberg climb on the dirt run-in. From left to right is Coyle, Frishkorn, Tyler, Baldwin (2n din redlands last week), Stockburger of team Toyota, and Pat Brown. After one lap of the course we headed back to Boulder and rode up Flagstaff. Great fun ride on a super warm March day.

I also had to include a photo taken last night at Jake Rosenbarger's and Kim Budde's place. Jake is a past teammate of mine at Jittery Joe's and now races for the Rio/Sports Garage. From left to right: Kim, Jake, Deb, me and my daughter Keara.

Kim and Deb are soigneurs for Health Net and they just got back from a 5-week trip. Their hands are still sore from doing the hundreds of hours of massage. Thanks for dinner last night guys!