There have been a number of times that I've wanted to give you quick tips. For example, put chain lube in an old eyedropper bottle to carry a very small container of lube in your hydration pack on the mountain bike.

Other times, I've wanted to connect you to a cool site such as http://www.velocal.org/. This is a website dedicated to helping people schedule group rides, though you could use it for group runs as well. I've used it for at least a couple of years now. It's a free site, that takes donations to keep rolling. You can make your group ride public or private.

My group ride is public, anyone can join the group without my permission. When I post a ride to the calendar, everyone gets a notice. Then 24 hours before the ride, a reminder notice is sent. Any member of the group can post a ride as well. People can reply to the ride posting and you can see a list of people that intend to join in on the ride. The settings are customizable so you can have as much or as little control over the information as you please. Check it out to see if it might fit your group needs.

Often, it is the quick-hitting tip I want to give you that ends up slipping through the cracks. Current items end up on the blog and more in depth features end up becoming columns. Most of you know I regularly write at least three columns for the Active Network newsletters - usually cycling and triathlon; but often others as well.

So I can give you those quick tips, I've established a Twitter account. Those of you that regularly use Twitter already know how to follow my postings. Those of you new to Twitter (it's free), can easily set up an account and begin "following" me. On my Twitter you will not find more than a couple of posts per day and you NOT will see me posting items such as "I've had lunch, yum!" I know people use it for this type of chatter, but not me.

Twitter: Short tips relating to all endurance athletes, my personal workouts (Some people have inquired about my training for the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, which includes swimming and running. I will post my workout routine and any pertinent details for those that are interested.) and stuff I find to be interesting or fun. My dog Meeka is currently featured on the main page. She's a Rhodesian Ridgeback that believes she is human. In the photo, she is sitting on a high countertop bar stool, helping me work on a chapter of my book.

This blog: Photos, adventures and current events that require more than 140 words.

Columns: Information that is good for training purposes and my goal is to have the columns written so that you want to reference them more than once, as well as send them to your friends. Many clubs ask if they can post my columns as part of their web page or in a newsletter and I'm happy to have you do that - just two requests, please: 1) Include a link back to the original Active Network column and 2) include my bio as it appears at the bottom of the column.

My goal, as always, is to give athletes information to help them get the most from training and racing. I want you to "win", to help you be the best endurance athlete you can be. With the three tools mentioned in this blog, my intention is to improve the delivery of that information.

Feedback is welcome and the best place to post is right here ~

Continuing from the post yesterday, the first day that the five of us were together, we didn't do a great job of taking photos. We don't have a single photo of the Sovereign Trail and that's too bad because it's a cool trail. On the Sovereign day, we ended up riding 4:00 hours, but we were out 6:20. There were NUMEROUS occasions of map checking.

The second ride day was the Flat Pass loop. This trail includes several large and small ledge sections. (Photo 1 I am on the left and Dennis Andersen on the right.) In addition to the ledges, there is loose sand and rocks. Maintaining a certain, relatively high, speed is critical so you can float over the terrain. Going too slow leads to augering the front wheel in the sand. The LOOK full suspension bike just floated over the rock gardens. Fun! To see how deep the sand is on these sections, double-click on the second photo.

One of the nice things about the trail/jeep road is there are usually options to ride an easy side or a more difficult side of most sections. This helps minimize walking by tired or less-skilled riders.

Back to the ledges, double click on the third photo of Todd Singiser. Look at how compressed his front tire and shock are. Though not easy to see in the third photo, this was a good-sized ledge he climbed.

The fourth shot is a view of the La Salle mountains from Flat Pass.

The final shot in this post is a timer-shot taken on the overlook of the last big rocky drop on Flat Pass. Left to right is Dennis, Bill Frielingsdorf, Todd, me and Scott Ellis.

More photos in the next post.

A group of us are heading to Moab, Utah for some spring mountain bike riding. For the last two years, we have timed the trip perfectly with a spring storm. Last year we had snow from Frisco to Eagle Colorado. The worst part of the drive was from Frisco to Copper Mountain. Just outside of Copper, it seemed to get better.

Predicting weather in Colorado is, apparently, tricky business. For as long as I've lived here (forever), forecasters can try to use various weather models to predict how the storm will set up, but in some cases (like this storm) how much snow we get or don't get is a matter of degrees, literally.

Just a few degrees colder combined with the proper centering of the storm and we will have a doozey of a spring storm. This means up to a foot of snow for the eastern Front Range, where I live, and two or more feet of snow in the mountains. We drive from Northern Colorado via I-25 to I-70 westbound.

You can take a look at the current conditions via the Colorado Department of Transportation camera system. The northern most camera at I25 and Del Camino is closest to my home. As of 9:22 am today, it showed rain. Simultaneously, the camera at I-70 and the Eisenhower Tunnel (move your curser along the westbound I-70 to see the camera titles) shows several inches of snow on the ground, but the road appears to be just wet and not snow-covered. This camera is about a 1:45 drive from where I live.

Just a few miles west of the Eisenhower Tunnel is Copper Mountain and then Vail. Copper is looking good now, but both sides of Vail Pass are snowy.

Watch what happens with the weather system in the next 24 hours and I'll keep you posted...

UPDATE: Friday, April 17

Here's a pic of the view just outside of Denver!

Yet looking toward Beaver Creek there are dry roads. As usual, the show is east of the Continental Divide:

As a coach, it is normal for me to look ahead three to six months. I am planning workouts for now, today and next week, that will help athletes be successful some 12, or more, weeks from now.

Looking ahead to looming fun gives me butterflies. I’m excited for the process of building fitness and I recognize that summer riding and racing is not that far away.

For me personally, it is going to be a riding kind of summer. I have two big events this summer. First, is one of those life-list items – seeing the Tour de France live. The ride is a mix of some Tour stages and some away from the Tour riding the roads of France. This trip has been in the planning since last October.

Just three short weeks after being in France, I will ride my fifth Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race. While I normally include a big block of cycling before the mountain bike race, the week is normally in Colorado and some six weeks before Leadville. It will be interesting to see how the change in training format will affect this year’s race.

With the heart of summer just two to four months away, what are you doing now to be ready for your looming fun?