Old Reliable - R.I.P. 1988-2007

This was the last living photo taken of Old Reliable. I took this on Friday evening after I had found my camp site for the night outside of Vail. I was sooo proud that I scored this sweet little secluded campsite that I felt it necessary to take a picture of my car, with my Maverick (which is literally worth about 10 times what my car is worth).

I raced the Teva Mtn. Games this weekend, and put the smack down on Tour de France Champ, Floyd Landis, I don't care what his excuses are... it's still pretty cool. The race was incredibly hard. I think that when there's a lot of money on the line ($3000 for 1st), the pace is turned up a few notches. This was definitely the hardest start of the year for me. I wasn't feeling very strong, but I tried to suffer and still compete, and I ended up doing alright. I raced Angel Fire the weekend before, feeling about the same, maybe a tad stronger, but it was the same thing, I just suffered and tried not to get down on my self for not being up with the top guys... which is where I feel I should be. I'm definitely not at the same level that I've been in the past, and that's a tough pill to swallow, even though I know all the reasons why I'm not riding as fast as I know I can. I'm just hoping that suffering through these races (it's still early season for me) will give me some good fitness later this season.

Anyway, about my car, it broke down on the way home from Vail. The oil light came on and my engine basically shut down as I was descending down into Silver Plume/Georgetown. I was able to coast into silver plume. My phone was dying so I tried to find an outdoor outlet so that I could call for help. In Silver Plume there is only a General Store and a Garage. At about 10:00 I found a working outlet outside of the entrance to the Garage and plugged in my phone. About 5 seconds later, this guy who was about twice my size came through the entrance, staring silently at me, looking very pissed off. I tried to explain that my car broke down and I needed to charge my phone so that I could call for help. He didn't care what I had to say and claimed that I was "sneaking around, which was no different that being a thief". I tried to explain myself some more and justify that I wasn't a thief. This only aggravated him further at which point he started threatening to "pound me into the ground" and "kick my ass". I was getting pretty scared for my life at that point; I've never really been threatened like that before. I was able to back out of that situation without any harm being done, and made it back to my car. A few minutes later, the Jung showed up in his Ass-Finder with the Grinch and McCalmon. Those guys helped push my car back onto I-70 and I was able to roll down to Georgetown... where my car sits right now. I'm going back up there today with a good friend (with AAA) to get it towed back to Boulder. I may try to resurrect it, but there's a good chance it may end up at the junkyard.