I can’t be bothered.

BOULDER – Alex Hearn has one word to describe the Sunrise Century: fun. It is not competitive and its primary purpose is to give people the chance to ride a bicycle through some of the prettiest canyons you will find anywhere.
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So imagine his surprise when he learned this year’s Sunrise Century was being targeted for civil disobedience. Hearn started to learn about it when fliers started showing up in mailboxes in the area of Left Hand Canyon north of Boulder. The flier carries a title of: “Civil Disobedience, July 25th Block Dangerous Cyclist Day, Boulder, CO.”

The Sunrise Century, which is in its third year, is expecting 1,500 riders to travel from Boulder to Lyons before turning south along the Peak to Peak Highway and descending through Left Hand Canyon. Riders have the option of riding a 75 or 100-mile course.

The flier specifically mentions the new state bicycle safety law scheduled to go into effect on Aug. 5. The law will require motorists to keep their cars three feet away from cyclists. It will also allow cyclists to ride two abreast on roads, so long as there is no traffic.

The flier goes on to say, “On July 25th in celebration of drivers’ rights many cars will use the Left Hand Canyon Road, drive slowly and many may break down unexpectedly, blocking areas to the cyclists on the return leg of the ‘Sunrise Century.’ Please use judgment during this civil disobedience.”

The Sunrise Century had already contacted the Colorado State Patrol and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to provide traffic control and support for the ride. In light of the threat to disrupt the event, law enforcement officers may have an addition role to fill.

“Are you going to have people out there that do try to cause trouble? Maybe. Are we going to be out there to deal with them? Absolutely,” Trooper David Hall with the Colorado State Patrol said.

Hall understands the frustrations that can arise between cyclists and motorists, but says both sides need to show restraint.

“This is not a new issue. I understand the frustration that motorists feel sometimes when they encounter bicycles on the road and I also understand the frustration that bicyclists feel when a motorist is belligerent to someone on a bicycle. This issue is a two way street,” Hall said.

So I don’t completely suck at riding bikes and my friend/teammate Scott was quite good at it today. In fact all my Shark teammates that were racing came to play. After 4 races of not winning I was getting a little frustrated. Even after getting on the podium he last 3 weeks we weren’t happy. For me I was happy to be able to be there at the end. 3-4 hours per week isn’t exactly the best prep for racing but I am stating to come around. The winner on the day Scott Moninger has won more races than just about anyone but retire from professional cycling like I did in 2007 and didn’t do a race until a month ago. He is 42 years old and not only can sniff out the right move better than anyone he can still seal the deal. All and all we had a great day and considering I am the youngest guy at 35 the smiles on our face makes racing worth the suffering, all 5 hours a week of it.

Please forgive any grammatical errors, spelling or punctuation. I may or may have not slapped away at these keys after a long day.

Please disregard the music, he will have a hip hop singing pitbull soon.

My wife pulled off a little tricky dinner for me. My mother was in town this week so we had a pass to out. She was taking me for dinner and didn’t mention a handful of our friends would be meeting us. I was dealing with some last minute work stuff as we walked in the door so was really excited to see everyone. THANKS to all!

Yesterday Myriam, Sam, My mother and I went up through Ward over to Estes. Its crazy how fast time goes, I can’t remember the last time I was up there. When I was living in Longmont it was almost every week. Driving yesterday I scratched my head a little at the thought of even riding up there… I may try Monday if I don’t build a big retaining wall and playground for Sam in our yard.

Up first is some bike racing. Saturday a criterium in Louisville and Sunday a road race. Last year I won the crit on Saturday and while I think I am getting a bit better every day I don’t think I will be the one to win. We will have our full crew there, we should be able tot get somebody on the top step. Sunday is a race I have never finished. Both times I flatted out of the front group. This year I will line up for a 35+ race for the first time. I would like to race with the 1/2’s but with my longest ride in 7 months has been an 1:45 so there is no way I could make the distance even if I have the speed. This should be a good one to build some more resistance and get me going better.

Have a great weekend!

I have been pretty lucky over the years with the bikes I have raced. To date the order from best to worst (my opinion):
Serotta from 2005 or 2009 Current Cannondale Super Six
2001 Custom Schwinn Fastback
2007 BMC Team Machine
2003 Cannondale Cad 7
2008 Orbea Lobular
2002 Cannondale Cad 5
2005 ParkPre

And the loser is the 2004 Giant Carbon. I really liked all the bikes but the Giant. I have heard they got much nicer the year after but the one I had in 2004 was not a good bike.

I lined up for my 1st race in Colorado this year. May….. That seems really weird, in the past I would have raced in March at the latest and by this time would already have 15-20 races in my legs. This year a had 2 races and about 450 miles in them! This was also my first race with some new teammates. I am really happy to be racing with former teammates Scott and Brent as well as new ones Kelly, Colby, Mark, Jeff plus all my STL based fellas. I was pretty nervous about going out the ass before the race since my lack of fitness but with the racing in stl a two weeks a go and a few rides in between I was hoping to fake it the best I could. Without planning for it I made life a little harder for myself by leaving my cycling shoes in the garage. I have never done this before and always say you can learn something every race so….. I looked around and spotted friend and former teammate Michael Gibson. He was heading out and rides shimano pedals and let me use his shoes without a second thought. THANKS That’s the good, the bad is they were 45.5 and I wear 42.5. We raced ok making all the moves and in the end Brent went 2nd in the bunch sprint all on his own. We didn’t really have a plan in it showed in the last lap but he bailed us out. For me I felt ok in the group and struggled if I had to hit the wind. I may have cracked the top 10 but all I was trying to do was get to Brent to help him out. I need to get in 2-3 rides during the week/lose 5-10 pounds and I should be able to get something done by next month!

Living large (and not in the 765i way):

My Man:

Words can’t describe how much I love these two:

Racing is never totally easy, no matter how much you train and how fit you are if your racing the best guys at any race you will have to work to win. Now if you choose to ride 300 miles or so in a 4 month period and try to race the suffering is the same as it takes to win but in the case my goal was to finish. I was surprising comfortable in the bunch but if I stepped off the wheel I went red straight away. We cooked it on Saturday and missed the move but got some redemption Sunday when Josh Johnson got in there and grabbed a spot on the podium. The racing was fun and it was just the motivation I needed to make time for pedaling during the week. More races to come and I am excited to get a little resistance in my legs so I can be useful to my teammates.