The Spirit Award goes to . . .

This has been a long time comin'. Josh and I have had many tough battles in the game of 'Foot Down' over the last two years. The game is simple: From the very beginning of the ride to the very end, the rider who touches their foot to the ground the most times loses. Well, anyone who lives and/or rides on the Colorado front range knows that there are several opportunities to either make mistakes and fall from grace, or triumph over the large rocks, loose climbs, and obstacle-filled trails.

I have lived (literally) on these trails and have figured out every single line on most of them. This isn't to say that I don't mess up - I do all the time! However, When Josh lived in Boulder, he would commute to Golden to be my training partner and the game of foot down got real. To this day (and I'm lucky I can say this) I have not been beat. (Great, now I'm done for...) The thing is, Josh lived in Boulder. In a way it's not really fair, BUT this doesn't take Josh off the hook. The man is unbelievably talented and judging by our last few games, It's a matter of a couple rides before my streak is over.

Ex: Josh and I rode for 3 hours one day on pretty technical trails. The score at the end of the ride was 1 to 0... Needless to say, that's close.

This brings me to the reason for this post. The last ride Josh and I did, we were locked in a close one. We approached a section where Josh has been making it through - and I have not. (I know this game sounds less entertaining than I'm making it sound, but it gets really interesting when you're sometimes riding as hard as you can - and then you have to ride harder to make it over a section of rocks!) Josh proceeds to get about halfway over the crux and he stalls out. At this point he's about 6-7 feet up on a pile of rocks.

The man is committed. He keeps going for it. Well, he couldn't quite get the wheels rolling again and he plunges 6-7 feet down, arm stretched out. I'll save the details of the rest of our ride/hike out of White Ranch, but in summary he broke his wrist.

Josh has been an incredible and beneficial training partner. Because of the time on the trails with him, I'm stronger and better at riding technical sections than I was before.

Well, I just got a report from 'Mantana' (as one race promoter calls the state) where Josh currently resides. He's back to riding and racing and training to beat me at foot down. It's only a matter of time.