Salida Stage Race - A Bit of Racing, Rain and a Really Fun Time

This past weekend Ethan, Ellie and I headed to Salida for the Salida Omnium, one of our favorite races of the year. Larr was all set to go, but ended up staying home just incase there was a serious development with Toby (our cat) who had a very serious emergency. I will dedicate a posting to his trauma tomorrow. It was hard to leave Larr at home since this weekend each year is sort of like a mini-vacation, though I totally understood why he felt compelled to stay home.

Here's one of the sights that takes my breath away every time. It is the Collegiate Peaks just out side of Buena Vista. I did Outward Bound there the year before Ethan was born.


First up was the time trial. It started to pour while the kids raced. Both Ellie and Anna slipped during the race. She came in second, just nine seconds behind Anna.

Ethan opted not to do these races. Instead, he spent his time with Tom, who came along for the fun of it. They boys explored all kinds of areas just outside of town, but quickly found that being in full camo on a 98 degree day is tiresome. They spent the nights at the Salida Cafe. One night it was a Blue Grass concert. The next night it was a folk concert.

We had the Rathbun family stay with us. They were going to camp, but the sheets of rain made my offer of a dry, warm house very appealing. We had a blast hanging out for three days. Rhys just returned from a 6 week North American bike racing tour. I think getting a chance to hang out together was a nice, unexpected surprise.

We all stayed in the house that is so generously lent to us by George and Joan. It is a fun, little place to stay.


On Saturday the back yard was home to a parade of animals including five cats and a doe with her twin fawns. They did not seem to mind us at all.






Ellie and Laurel had a great and giggly time together. Laurel raced in the Women's Cat. 4, winning the road race and TT, while placing second in the criterium. Ellie won the JW 13-14 Road Race. Laurel also brought along Lola, who cries when Laurel is not there. Lola decided that my family members were reasonable substitutes when there was no Laurel to be found.




Tom loves to help the kids and work on the bikes. That was a real bonus for Ellie. Mike and I can talk forever. We even managed to make great meals. For example, Saturday night was had marinated rib eye steak, Romane, Fennel and Grapefruit Salad and a Pesto Pasta salad. We rounded it out with a second night of Klondike bars. We discovered that the Oreo is an awesome flavor.



Even though we had fun, this is always a welcome sight. It means we are on the way home. Isn't it beautiful?