End of year

I am a sheep I will follow, well maybe I am more like cattle. I am keeping it bike related though. my life is surrounded by bikes and bike people. It helps keep me sane after crappy days/weeks at work. It keeps me healthy and fit, it keeps me smiling, and crap, somehow I have gotten kind of good at it. Before the best of, I want to thank some people.

Lyna- She has put up with me and my 'hobby' for years, she has embraced it, only to have school remove it from her, without her I could not do it., thank goodness school is over and she can ride/race again.

Brad P and Rich A. - Teammates and competitors, we end up pushing each other to our limits race in and race out, only making us faster, Here is to many more years of it (except in 2008 ill be jumping to 40+, hurry up)

Happe - For giving the team what it needed to grow

Pilling and Larson - For continuing that.

Keating, Twitchie, and the rest of the shop - For keeping the bikes running, the dirty jokes flowing and the joy that this lifestyle is alive.

Ty - You bastard, I blame this obsession on you. Like 4 years ago you said, Bob, you should get a coach. Well I paid you back with a job in hell.

BZ - for letting us witness the Courtship of the Ford Cycling Team (at least a small part of it), for riding, rapping, texting, bbqing, etc...

Chad W.- For letting me pass you, occasionally.

Jen and Shannon - for waving every day as I rode past on 17th east and the bloodied knee warmer.

Warren - for assuring that the rest of us would never have a mechanical in 2006

Chad H. - for some awesome close battles in a few races. I especially like the uphill, switchback endo at Solitude.

Ed C. - Awesome MTB race series

Matt O - Awesome CX race series

Mark/Kip et al - Awesome weekday series

Team Revolution - another year of greatness

The Sherwin's - For taking me to the ER, for making me laugh, for giving us the inside view of a top pro and her bitch.

Too many others to mention, i could go on and on, but on the the best of 2006,

Best MTB Race of 2006:
Have to go with Solitude, I took third behind Zenger and Fox. I love that course.

Best CX Race of the year:
UtahCX race #2 Ogden, the first race was a climbers course, so my result there was good, but 3rd on a flat course was awesome.

Best Race I Didn't race in:
Utah CX #8, Watching Lyna take 2nd and Kracht take 3rd was a blast.

Best Race Road trip:
Jackson Hole, without a doubt, BZ, Jones, Sue, Chad, Warren, nice condo, 2 days, 3 races, Wind cave hike, all around good times (except for Sue's collarbone)

Best non-race, non-bike trip:
Toss up between dad's 70th B-day ad Todd's wedding in Gig Harbor, Wa.

Best Overall moment with Lyna:
Toss up between her finish at thee100 50 miler/ Her finish at the Deer Valley Marathon or her face when she saw her Xmas present.
How awesome is it that she is as painfully obsessed with the same 'hobby' that I am?

Saddest moment:
When BP called and let me know about Stan's passing, so young, so full of life. It is with me almost every day.

Best Race Venue:
I'm going to have to say that Brian Head is my favorite, at this point 2007 looks to be a void in the Brian Head fun I have had for the last 6 years, a shame, i love that place.

Worst Race Venue:
I have to admit that the Thanksgiving Point Race course was evil, flat, horribly flat, windy, dusty, ouch. Thank goodness the 2007 Stan Crane Memorial race is in corner Canyon.

Heading to Saint George this weekend to ride dirt and stay dry, have a Gluckliche Neue Jahr.

He is Back

How lovely

Merry New Year

Yet, if i google my name

Books on hydroponics

FAA reports

Dog show results (ok thats my mom and dad, and yes, even though they say it doesn't the movie hits the nail on the head, i am sure there are far more freaks in cycling though)

Ooh, previous life news story,
scroll down to Libraries available to staff in a snap' oh my life was easy then.

So Cycling, Dogs, Hydroponics, Aviation and Library stuff, that is the bulk of my returns in Google.

OK winter sucks, maybe i should go get a split board and hit the back country with Rich.

I think i may buy it just for shits and giggles

This is pure Sly Fox'ish . I mean it has to be worth at least twice as much as my signature.

Sister makes it big

But really how many people in the world can type their name in ebay and get hits? I can't, oh let me see, nope nothing.

I should go hoome now. Some one has to work though, Rich???

Final CX race

Utah CX series ended yesterday in Ogden. I was a spectator again. Lyna had a good race going in a group of 4 women a few seconds behind the leader, she was looking strong and then halfway through the race she had a little tree introduction, took her awhile to get back in the party, but she ended up 5th in the race and 3rd overall in the series. Team Revolution took the team championship for the 2nd year.

Spent the rest of the evening playing monopoly. I think we all cheated when we were younger, as we played for 3 hours, some had lots of properties, some had less, in the end it was only clear that Knapp had more money. I think we could of played for 12 hours and got nowhere. Muc better than video games.

Today went out for a nice 20 mile ride before the rain came. I have determined it is better to be a bit too warm on these easy rides than it is to be too cold.

Photo stolen from Wasmund













There was some shootin goin on at the venue (stolen from Wasmund)













Team Revolution took the team trophy for the second year straight. (stolen from Wasmund)












Team revolution gathered quite a large amount of hardware at the awards.

Training, finally

Training starts this week, i was about to grow roots into the couch, plus the boredom lack of exercise brings is deadly.

Saturdays UtahCX #8 was a good time, didn't race, but cheered on every race and helped set up a little bit.

This is an awesome picture (stolen from Steve Wasmund)














Lyna ripped it up for 2nd place, the first lap traffic jam at the run up let the winner get away.

Team Revolution is killing the team points, several people close to the top in their categories as well. 1 CX race to go.

This picture (Again stolen from Wasmund) is pretty sweet. (not to mention the symbolic nature of the whole thing)

It makes perfect sense

Gatlin
Jeanson
Gillespie
Sager, et al

Here is USADA's Christmas present to the U.S. sports community and power brokers and insider association boards.

We at USADA are proud of several accomplishments in 2006. It has been a growth year for cleaning up sports (trans. We made a shit load of money and connections for future jobs)

We have sanctioned large number of athletes for violations of rules (trans. we have be confusing, screwing and other wise shock and awing athletes who pay to be pro's, who work full time, raise families and DNF races or ask USADA reps if they need to pee in a cup)

We have righted many wrongs as well (Trans. we have bowed to power brokers and those who promise us jobs in the future by working around rules and procedure to make positive tests backed up by sworn testimony disappear under a cloud of smoke)

We have given a lifetime ban to a repeat offender in a sport he could make a few million in so he has to slum into a sport he can make tens of millions in. (Trans. Your kidding me, right)

That sport has some tough rules to according to Chris Collingsworth;

- The NFL has taken a much tougher stance here. On the first positive, a player is suspended for four games. He is suspended for six games following a second positive, and a third positive will result in at least a one-year suspension.

This is a travesty, but likely to go on and on until we TAKE IT BACK

And then there is this, the owner said that is he was targeting inner city youth he would of called it CRACK.

Nice

4 day weekends

Still off the bike, the weather is going to turn for the worse when i get back on, oh well.

Lyna's Grand father passed away Wednesday, she flew to New York Yesterday for the funeral. He was a WWII veteran, Only met him twice, at our wedding and when we were moving her mom into an assisted care facility. Not the best times to meet someone.

Went and watched UtahCX #7. Good times, Kracht tore it up in his first masters race for 3rd. Good thing i didn't race, he would of beat me soundly.

Went and saw Bobby last night, it affected me strongly, a very well done film, who new Emilio had it in him. I was born a few weeks later, I wonder how different the world would be today if that never happened? Would it be better ?(I'd like to think so) Would it be worse? (improbable) would it be the same? (likely)

I'd like to think America would of turned a corner With RFK that it ran from with Nixon and Ford, but maybe I am just fantasizing.

Off Season

So, not much going on, no bike, no gym, TV and sleep, and work. I have to say that I am bored to death, Lyna is working at Solitude so she works the days I have off, At least she can snowboard every day.

God Bless America, I don't know what is worse, the airline not letting them on the plane or the person who slipped a note to the airline employees cause they were scared of people praying.

All I know is that Fauxnews and Rush 'Pain Pills' Limbaugh are doing a great job, lucky for us the House and Senate have gone another way.

So, Chad H has thrown out the 5 best moments on the bike challenge, hmmm, I will have to think about that for a bit.

Lyna's Cross bike is built up and she likes it, hopefully she will be able to hit the cross race soon.

Not a poem, but kind of poetic

My Friend Charles

Memories flooded back this week. Lyna, a week off work, cleaning the basement.

3 Pictures found from the early 90’s. My friend Charles. I miss him.

Winter 1990, Trying to put my life back together, Charles shows up at the place I am living.

Our first meeting consists of me staring at his shoes. He gets defensive, I explain that his fluorescent green laces match those on shoes I have. The friendship begins.

Hanging out, learning to live again, laughing, crying, breakfasts at Alfalfa's, simpler times.

Sometime in around 1991, I remember the exact location. Charles tells me 'Bob, The test came back positive.'

Charles was positive, Charles was happy, his illness advanced quickly, his love of life and friends and fun grew each and every day.

Fast forward a year or 2. Charles in and out of the hospital, still happy, still joyous. No longer my house mate, but still see him regularly. Then the call comes, I go to the hospital. With Meredith and Lyna (who was still just a friend later to be my wife) Charles is not doing so well, He still jokes, he still flirts with everyone, he still asks me which one of these lovely women I am dating.

6 hours later his pain ends, 6 hours later my friend goes to the great unknown.

His memorial service was beautiful, his light shines on, I will never forget the joy he brought to the world, his piece in getting my life back on track, his love.

I miss my friend Charles. Never forget.

Pictures

Since I had no camera, I drew this to commemorate Mike Kracht's State Championship

Done

Yesterdays State CX race pushed it one week too many for me and my legs. I did like 2.5 hours on bike during the lead up week and had Thursday and Friday off the bike. Friday night was a Sushi orgy at Akasashi for Aron's b-day. My legs were feeling really sore, kind of strange. woke up Saturday a.m. and was feeling unfocused.

Lyna's race started with a first lap digger, she then fought on for 6th place out of 10. Kracht killed it for 1st in the B en, Ryan A finally dropped the Kid for 2nd B men.

I got a call up to the line, as I was sitting in 2nd overall for 35+. Had a decent start, and then almost immediately my chain started ghost shifting. I flailed all over the place on the first lap, Dirk got around me on like the 3rd lap after brake troubles and I then just went backwards after that.

It was nice having people cheer me on during the race, even though I was doing so bad. I think I saw Heather, several teammates, the Sherwin's, Shannon, Jen, Krachty, Ryan and Jenelle. Twitchy even gave me a few pushes up the sidewalk.

I ended up 10th place, after finally switching to the MTB. Looking forward to the off season now, need a break. Hopefully Lyna will be able to do the remaining races on here new LandShark CX bike.

Friday 11/10/06

USADA focusing here, here, here and here
While Basso gets a contract, Saiz gets a license and NFL players get a slap for Steroid use.

Bisceglia is suing USA Cyling
Related to Ochowicz's Abuse.

Money and Power
Money and Power
Money and Power

Wins everytime

Straight Party Ticket and No on Judges

Yeah, contrarian.

So Fox has somethin to say about elections.

Actually, we live in a Republic, as in 'I pledge allegeance to the Republic' our founding fathers, right or wrong, didn't trust the masses. Electoral college is the most visible lasting piece of this lack of trust.

A true democracy would mean that each of us would have a direct say in every piece of legislation, having attended a few council, senate, house etc... meetings in my day, I can tell you that we would never get anything done. It is a nice thought.

Then again true communism is kind of nice sounding. I'm not talking Stalin/Lenin/Mao/Castro etc.'s ideas, I'm talking the true form.

I do not condone at all the corrupt, blind views of the current powers that be.

A parking garage is SO much more important than Dental care for the Disabled. A soccer stadium is more important than affordable housing. Tax breaks for large families are more important to improving our education system.

Come on people it is simple.

It is our right and responsibility to vote, not voting lessens the voice of the people and allows those in the seat of power to continue to do wrong. Stand up, be heard, it is the only way change will happen.

Site hits should go up

The Mop linked me, me thinks hits to my assinine site will go up, briefly. What a tangled world we live in.

Vote tomorrow, doesn't matter who for, just vote.

SO I find out today that 2 people I had going to my Boston office for training were turned back by Border Patrol, (apologies to Men at Work) because the agent didn't believe they were going to be trained for 6 months. Great, those 2 got to sit in an airplane for like 60 hours out of a 72 hour period. They had their visas, they went through a U.S. embassy interview, immigration lawyers were all over it. Some agent in the airport decides to make a arbitrary decsion that ends up advrsly affecting not only 2 lives, but the lives of those who they were being trained to relieve, which in the end affects the bottom line, which will end up pissing off customers and investors throughout the world. Unless of course I can pull something out of my ass to cover for it.

So some Agent gets in an argument with there spouse, didn't get cream in their coffee or whatever. The decide that these 2, well documented individuals are some sort of threat and sends them home. I can't believe it. I should believe it though. God Bless the home of the free, so long as you were born here and don't dissent and aren't poor.

Out.

Ouch

Well UtahCX #5 hurt, alot, average HR of 178 for 63 minutes. I didn't get lapped by the fasties, of course the lap was over 2.25 miles in length, it was a blast, next week the course is in reverse, which means it will likely hurt more. I think I was 6th or 7th, should still hold on to 2nd over all.

Lap Times, Declining again
8:54
8:55
9:04
9:02
9:07
9:15
9:21

Sheesh that was painful, but the weather was nice and the course was in awesome shape.

Lyna took 4th in the B women, Her Cross frame should be here this week, hopefully we can build it up for her by next race.

Is it....

All falling apart????

Rumsfeld
NeoCons
Evangelicals
Pryce
Georgie Boy

Could there be a change comin?

I saw my man Ashdown on the corner of 7th and 21st this a.m. waving with volunteers (He has a really interesting hair cut), couldn't picture Orrin doing that, hmmm, well I can always hope the change would hit Utah, but alas, it likely won't.

Maybe Cannon will blame it all on the meth dealers, the silly liberals and the evils on not believing what he does.

Oops too much politics.

Trying to hook the wife up with a sweet CX frame and fork, so she doesn't have to use the MTB.

Will know tomorrow.
















Orrin, Donnie and John rockin it little richard style











The 2008 Republican Ticket (Barry! Barry! Barry!)

What the????

So I was heading to tjhe University of Kentuckys web page a bit ago, to find an e-mail of an old colleague, when this photo greeted Me. Sorry bout the quality.


















It is the Judds and Desmond Tutu, oh how the mighty have fallen, Ashley is a UK alumn, but damn, that is a scary picture. Back in the early 90's I was in a wedding with Ashley, well before she made it big in Hollywood. My brush with fame. Colliding worlds, Country music, High dollar actress and a Nobel peace prize winner.Ahhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhh.

So last night was Ali's throwdown in Farmington, good times, blurry vision, snot running 30 minute effort, Jake Pantone and I battled it out the whole time, he got the best of me at the line.

Record of oddness; Halloween weekend

So, Saturday night was the throw down at BZ's, Chris Sherwin (he who takes care of pro MTBer kathy) and I decided to go in matching costumes. Good times. Kid Rock was there, EJ was some hussy, Sue the Ninja was stylin, the tin man fell apart early as his wife the IPOD was freakin out about porous face paint. Jones and Sue were outa control, ARock was slidin the stairs on the boogie board, Fox arrived, saw the madness and promptly left.

Good times all around, some photo evidence below.

EJ is shown his weapon



















Jones and Sherwin in Battle














DOwn goes Jones! Down Goes Jones!














Kid Rock and the 'Ninja'














Miss UK post Teeth surgery














The 'Girls' Kelli and Kathi



















Sunday Jen, Shannon, Kathy Chris and I hit the Shoreline for 3 hours of fun, good ride, the DH from the antennas was mostly empty of hikers and bikers so we got to go fast.

Sunday Night I headed up to wathc Ali G's Cross Cifix in Farmington, when i got there i wished i brought my bike, but it was fun to watch. I think I'll head up Wednesday night.

Kids Race














A and 35+ men Start















Really Bad Videos of
1: Thomas and Jon dicing it up
2: Brandon Chasing

UTCX #4

So back out to the RMR for more psycho-cross. They started us a bit after the A men, which threw a wrench into my evil plans of getting lost in the other group. Oh well. I did not have a great start, was a bit timid dropping into the Grass, immediatley my rear D was skipping, great.

I think I went through the barriers on the first lap in 8th place. Got into a small group for a while and then lost them about 4 laps in. I really need to learn how to hold a wheel on straight aways. Later in the race i was trying to hold Clawson off, I was gapping him a bit in the dirt and gravel and he was gaining in the pavement. Eventully I rode away from him. I caught up with Jrad and we battled back and forth in the closing laps of the race. I screwed up the last corner and could not hold his wheel in the end, I am not sure my placing but I raced smarter this time. Last week, good start, bad strategy, this week, bad start, lost wheels and then decent strategy, hopefully i can build it all together at wheeler the next 2 races, similar to how i raced at Ogden.

Lap times were more consistent this time. First lap was slowest, last lap was fastest. Average HR of close to 175 maxed at 188.
4:55
4:31
4:28
4:30
4:30
4:38
4:38
4:42
4:35
4:34
4:32
4:40
4:37
4:22

14 laps today, only lapped once by the top 5 or so in the A's.

8th place 35+ today, still in top 3 over all as Warsocki DNF'd, so i am in 2nd now.

good times.

Kentucky won today in a defensive battle, against Miss State 34-31, they were scoring at will in the second half, man UK football blows.

Playin Hookie

So, took the day off work, slept in, got the baldness shaved, went and found a rippin deal on some ne Snowboard boots at REI, I better use em this year. Did a quick mtb ride on part of the shoeline and then napped a bit, boy I think i could live this way every day.

Last night I made up a big old batch of chicken soup, I add noodles or rice after the fact, man I could eat that for every meal, until it is gone. Lyna is feeling under the weather, there in lies the reason i made it.

The poliitcal season is in full swing, watched my man Ashdown debate Hatch the other night and all i can say is why is it so easy to say someting that sounds great and meaningful until you look at it further and see it is a bunch of crap. Hatch kept going on with the "Top 1% income earners pay the top 5% of taxes, the lower 50% pay little or nothing." What is stuck behind that is the fact that the discrepancy between the incomes of those levels is severe. Billionaires vs. those close to or below th epoverty level. I mean it is an equal playing field isn't it??

Then this guy, LaVar a few weeks ago he said in his commercial ' If I am elected. I will not vote to allow the Democrats to take over Washington' What the hell does that mean? I think he or his writers missed some Social Studies classes.

I know it goes on on both sides, but I am a pinko, so there.

CX Hurts - The Journey

So, out to the RMR this A.M. for UtahCX #3. Got there at like 9 so Lyna could warm up for her 10A.M. race. As I didn't race till 12:30 I was getting kind of bored. Ran the battery down in the element, that was nice.

Lyna was leading her race for about half of it, she was gapping the field through the technical sections, I told her to go hard after them, well she did, and blew up, oh well, live and learn.athy Sherwin told her afterwards that it is good to do that.

So I get a good start spot for the A and 35+ start, come out of the grassy start section in the top 10, 2nd place 35+. Styed there for a few laps. the run up and subsequent off camber section killed me, Cowley, Jrad and Clawson bridged at different points, one lap on teh oval they were in front of me and i hit it hard to get in front before the 180, i skid the turn and little did i know that they were on my wheel the whole time, I was blown. After that I was tryin gto hold on, I rode the run up pretty much every lap after the 20 minute mark. Got caugh up in course tape by the stairs and was feeing OK. On the last run-up, i was half way up and my chain broke, as far away from the pit as possible. I ended up going from 6th in 35+ to 8th or 9th, maybe worse as a result.

I did 12 laps, which meant BartMang did 14. Below are my lap times, a nice steady decline.

4:16 - I'm in the lead group, Yeah
4:24
4:30
4:31
4:34
4:40
4:34
4:34
4:45 - COurse Tape
4:34
4:38
7:40 - Yeah Broken Chain

2 races out of 3 I have been able to hang up there the whole time. Stressful week at work and life in general, the evil run Tuesday night may of worked against me.

If you would of asked me 3 years ago if I thought I could hang in one of the front groups of A riders in a local cross race for half a lap,i would just laughed. It is amazing what focus can do. 6 years of racing. 4 years of focussed training and a bit of fearlessness adds up.

I just wish, sometimes, that I didn't spend my formative years jacked up on illicit subtances. Followed by 8 years of living a Peter Pan lifestyle in Kentucky. Would of Should of Could of, Didn't. Everything I did, got me to where I am today. And most of the time I am good with that. The gratitude I have for today is without parallel. I have a wonderful life, A wonderful Wife, friends, a hobby that while it consumes me at times, it truly makes me happy.

It is not the destination, it 's the journey.

I feel as if I am in some freaky repetitive nightmare

So up late building a PPT presentation for work, for next week, for new 'consultants' to look at what we do and how maybe they can help us do it better. Nevermind that in less than 3 years we have increased efficiency 800%. Nevermind that we have gone from a 75% failure rate to sub 5%. Nevermind that we have gone from 70% currency to 97% currency. Nevermind that we have multiple times doen Cost Benefit Analysis on the current system and came to the same conclusion, IT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. I am all for revisiting plans and ideas on a regular basis. But this is getting out of hand.

That felt good.

So tonight i went for a trail 'run' 30 minutes on the shoreline with some steep hill 15 second CX run up workouts. Wow, I hurt really, really bad from that. I ran Cross COuntry and track in highschool, 10 miles a day for like 4 or 5 years. Um, I HATE running. I do believe it will be a good CX workout, but damn, that hurts.

Ok back to Power Point fun.

MMMMMM Mud Samich

Photo Courtesy of MK.

Sunday, Lovely weather

Ty, Jen, Shannon and I headed up to the shoreline, Lyna left erlier than us, we met her at the top of Bobsled and then ripped it down.














Lyna, loving the Carbon Rush Team Demo Bike














Ty, Lamenting not riding for like 2 months














Shannon, showing off the 2007 team Scalpel














Ty, Lyna and I heading home.

Rain and rain and Rain

So lots and lots of rain over the week, Wednesday i geot a 1 hour dry ride in, Friday I got another rain ride in. I am ready to hit some trails.

Saturday a.m. I headed up to O-Town for the 2nd UtahCX race. It was a great race. It rained a lot before hand, stopped mostly rigth before we went off at 12:30, Had a huge group of over 35 A and 35+ men, I got a good start and kept steady for the whole hour, 3rd place in 35+ 13th overall, i think. It was a mud fest and a flat course, had consistent power throughout the whole race. Kept chasers off my wheel and stayed in contact with a small group in front of me.

Thanks the Chris Eldevick for letting me use his sweet Reynolds CX disc wheelset. The tread pattern on the tires helped in the mud, and the carbon rims railed the corners.

I had a few nice power slide passes on a slimy 180 turn, sweet.

Probably head down to the 24 hours of Moab to heckle peole next weekend.

Sheesh

So early to work and early home, the weather looked as if it had cleared enough to hit out for 1.5 hour ride. I headed up emigration and the skies were looking nice ahead of me. AHEAD OF ME.

So I stop at this house, which has been for sale for a while, price has dropped like 30k. I was trying to see why it was still for sale, other than being right on the road, no luck. So i put on my arm warmers and vest. ABout a mile down the canyon the wind starts kiciking up bad, I get to the construction light and sit and wait for it to turn green, a few minutes before it did, the rain came. It was pretty heavy from the start, by the tim eI got down to the post office on Sunny Side the rain was heavy as it gets, so i pull into the P.O. and wait it out, after about 15 minutes of waiting, i am getting chilly, go inside, reach for my cell phone, well it was not there, damn.

So finally 30 minte after I stopped, it cleared up a bit and I took off for the final 4-5 miles home, all downhill btw, there was some serious water running down every street, when I got close to home some 'neck in a pick up gunned it through a puddle next to me, little did he know that i was already soaked to the bone and numbed, I was so cold, jack ass.

Lyna headed out to find me, drove all the way to the top of the canyon till she saw my message saying i was home safe.

Cell phone do no good unless you got em with ya.

Parental Visit

So the 'Rents showed up Thursday afternoon, spent the weekend eating and relaxing, it has been a great visit, they head east again in the A.M. It was a good excuse to clean the house, something we are not so good at.

Friday night Lyna and I headed up to Oly Park for the 1st Utah Cyclocross series race. Lyna Took second in the women's B's. She had a last lap battle with 3rd place. I lined up with the 35+ and A men, had a good start and after a bit of dicing on the first lap, setled into the pace. Ended up 2nd 35+ and around top 10 or 11 overall. The race was cut short due to the failing light, as a result the pace was pretty high and I hit the blood tasting level of effort. It was like a STXC that was 15 minutes longer. Good times.














I should explain the Nikki thing, a few years ago, while I was registering for Wolverin Ridge XC, BZ put this picture on my top tube. I had a good race, later that year at the Durango NMBS, Kathy Sherwin kept tellin Niki about the picture and kept trying to get me to show it to her, never happened, but it was fun. Now every time some one sees or hears about her, they gotta give me crap.

knew a girl named Nikki I guess you could say she was a ...

So, while waiting for my 'rents to arrive via I-80, my buddy the Newby sends me these 2 pics from Vegas, just plain mean I tell ya.




























Last night was an hour of Tannr Park CX action, Tomorrow night the Oly Park CX race, bring it on.

Ligthen Up Francis

So, Saturday was a 3 pm meet up at Mueller, Lyna and I headed up expecting masses of orage clad Revolution Riders for the pre BBQ ride. Well BZ and I had Orange, Climb-Um and Sue had Raleigh Red/Yellow and Blew and Lyna had her incognito black. SO it was The Pro's and Lyna and I.

BZ, Climb-Um and I headed up to the ROck, hung out, Sue wasright behind, then Lyn. BZ bailed as the trail was a bit damp, The rest of us headed up to the top, the trail got snowier and the air colder, by the time we got to Rudy's flat I was chilly. We decided to go down North Canyon, hoping for less liquid, wrong. It was wet and freezing. Climb-um went down hard on a root, maybe cracked a rib, Lyna and I got to the car, drove up to BZ's showered and then had the team BBQ. Good time, small turn out, but still fun.

Sunday, Kracht picked me up at 7:30 and we headed to Pocatello for the Poki Cross. Hoping for a nice hard effort. We both decided to race A's, the B's had some Utah riders as well as a bounch of local first timers. Well the comp was fierce. Bartman showed, Richard Feldman showed, Ali G and others. Well I for sure was gonna suffer.

I had a good start, top 10, good 30 minutes for that matter, then it just stopped, i went backwards very quickly, barely hung onto to finish, like 18th out of 20 maybe. My HR graph shows the implosion quite well,









it hurt, the course was slow, all grass, lots of hills, the first 30 minutes were fun though.

The CX season may be shorter for me than I thought.

Billy Ray Valentine, Capricorn.

Lyna and I had plans to wake up early Saturday and head to Park City for the 26th annual Tour Des Suds, end of summer race/party. A fun 7 mile hill climb starting at the City Park. The wetaher was supposed to clear up for it, so i was excited, having missed it the last couple of years. Woke up Saturday a.m. to clouds and cold in Salt Lake. Lyna bowed out, choosing to hit the shoreline for 3 hours in the afternoon, so I headed up solo. I-80 up Parleys was nasty, like a pond covered in ice, once I got to the summit i got better, but the snow on the Mountains looked a bit troubling. I decided to go on and see if the race was on. I got to the city park and saw that people had number plates, so i went and registered. I wanted an hour warm up at least, but chose to sit in the heated car instead, just like everyone else. The turn out was low, due to the snowy weather, the costumes were not as exciting as years past, but at 10am about 70 of us headed up the mountain.

Wanting to warm up quick, I took a flyer up the road, turned left towards Main Street and about halfway up looked back to see a sizable gap, i was not maxed but let off a little. Some unknown came by e first, then Sager, then Kenny Jones. Shannon made it up to me by Daly's then dropped his chain. Sager, kenny and Unknown took a bit of a wrong turn so I caught back on right before we crossed the Gyuardsmans road heading towards the Mid Mtn trail. The unknown guy dropped off the pace at this point.

At this point the Cyclocross workout began. Most of the trail was ridable, even though it had upwards of 6 inches of snow on it, however some of the switchbacks were too tight and you would just slide out, so dismount, jog, remount. After a few of these my cleats just had blocks of ice on them, expended energy trying to get back in the pedals, then gave up. We popped out onto the Guardmans road, which was covered in slush and ice, I was in 4th at this point, while stopped trying to de-ice my cleats, Shannon cme by me, i gave up again and remounted, on the last straight away I went hard and passed shannon for 4th place. Ouch.

The worse part of the day was the cold, wet ride back to the car.

Sunday am had a nice early CX workout at Wheeler Farm.

It is what it is

That has been the statement for the month. Work has been full of ups and lots of downs, but climbing out of it again, we will see how it all works out. For the good of all, I hope.

Tuesday night easy spin out to the Racers Make Rasberries, ran into to Rich, hung out for a while took a few pics on the way home. Nice to spin the legs out. Have been hitting dirt a lot lately so the ease of a road ride was welcomed.














Wednesday hit up Glenwild and Drop Out. Nice ride.

Cross starts on a Friday night and it looks like they have changed up the categories, no more A and A+ but they will likely have a 35+ cat every race. Single speed as well for the sick bastards. The first race is at the olympic park. The cross bike is in disrepair, i have had trouble finding good tires and the first course has a rough DH and a nice grinder climb, so looks like the hardtail will be working it.

Oh joy, at least i didn't sit on a bike for 11 hours last saturday. May as well beat your self in the narns with a ball peen hammer.

Weekend Fun

Friday, Lyna and I headed to the Greek festival with Peter Pan and the lost boys.

Saturday, bought a new range, installed a new facuet, fixed the toilet. Ate Este pizza, well that was it.

Sunday, slept in, then rode Up Spiro to almost the Crest, down around Jupiter Bowl, Down Apex, then shortcutted down Eagle and Spiro. Fun ride, fo sho.

Recovering

So 9 days since injury, 4 bike rides, 1 race and one overnight backpacking trip. I am ready to start riding regular again. Today I did a nice Spiro to Mid mountain and down Rob's Trail loop. Just under 25 miles, nice easy cruiser day. Ran into Cyndi Schwandt somewhere around Red Pine lodge, Other than that saw like 2 or 3 other bikes the whole time. Yesterday I did the Emmigration up and down. Saturday and Sunday Lyna, Meg, Ty, Chad and I did an over night in Grandaddy Basin in the Uintahs, Anna went with us, she did great for a short legged dog, she was a bit freaked out by the campfire and in the tent.

3 weeks till the 1st cross race, mmmm goody, also, mom and dad will be here that weekend, it should be fun.

Back to work tomorrow, 4 day weekends are great.

It could always be worse

Been hitting the dirt a lot lately, no races till cross and cooler temps make it so easy. Missed the last Sundance race and double points, so Kenny overtook me easily for 3^rd in the series, I now have 4^th place in 3 series. Icup, NMBS and Wednesday nighter. Consistency is the key.

Thursday night Lyna and I rode up big water to great western to the Crest over look of the Canyon’s, I big ringed the whole thing, why not? Friday I did an easy spin up to the shoreline and back.

Saturday was the E100, my job was to support Lyna for the 50 milerand be at Aid stations 1 and 2. I got all her food and things ready Friday night, she woke up at like 3:45 to get coffee, granola and head up, I made it up to the first aid station a bit before 8 am, I tried to help out whoever I knew needed it while waiting for Lyna to come through. She made it through at about 2:41, she had emptied her camelback and her gel flask, as I suggested she do, the first couple of hours are key. This bode well for the rest of the race. I put a new bladder in her c-back, put a new flask in her pocket, kissed her and she was off. I hung around a bit more to see if anyone I knew came through, a few did, I then headed to Silver Lake and Deer Valley for the second aid station. BP, Fox and a few other 50 milers and 100kers came through, got BP carbed up and help Adam and Fred and KC and Chris with things, Lyna came through at right under 6.5 hours (the second stage was the toughest climbing wise) She looked pretty good, gave her a bottle with coke in it and a new flak and sent her on her way. More support for those coming through the same feed zone again (it was #2 and 3) and Lyna came through the finish line at 7 hours 50 minutes, good enough for 5^th overall and 3^rd in women 30-39, awesome job.

Sunday the Bull Elk was hosting a BBQ and ride on the bench creek horse trails. BZ and I headed up met up with the Bull Elk, Jen, Shannon and Sherwin (male version). The trail was sweet, lots of rocks, stream crossings, some brutal climbs and hike a bikes, we then hit the DH, sweet, fast, fun and long, somewhere around the 11 mile mark of the 18 mile ride it all went wrong.

I was following Chad and we were getting ready to go into another rocky section. I decided that I wanted more speed to clear the rocks easily, so I started pedaling on the smoother trail section, well this trail has limited bike travel, lots of horses, as a result the trail is thin and slightly SUNKEN, naturally at some point my pedal made contact with something, I am not sure the speed I was carrying, probably over 20 mph, but I went over quicker than Robert Downey Jr. in a pharmacy. It was so quick that next thing I knew I was on the ground. Jen was a bit behind and saw my rear tire jump up and heard the impact, Chad heard the impact and stopped. Well first thing I did was check for broken, Dislocated bones, None, thank god, I was then about to jump up and get back on the bike when I saw my right leg. I was Covered, I mean COVERED with blood, I then looked for the source and then I really freaked out. I saw a gash about an inch and a hlf long, with fat and muscle visible and blood continuing to flow out. –that all occurred within seconds of the crash--- I yelled, screamed, whimpered ‘OH MY GOD’ in such a manner that Chad started running towards me and Jen wondered if she wanted to see why I yelled (she was worried she was going to see my femur sticking out of my leg). I told Chad that I had a really bad cut, I was at that point pinching it together, I truly though I had cut an artery. None of us had any first aid stuff so I pinched it and elevated it, Chad started to go get Shannon (who is a nurse, used to be a trauma nurse). Shannon came back just then. He looked at it and said it was gonna need stitches, but it was going to be ok. Thank god, we were as remote on the trail as we could be. So we fashioned wound dressing out of Jens knee warmer and my arm warmer. We then rode the rest of the way out, to say the least I was a bit tentative on the technical DH after that, and there was a lot of it. We got back to Chad’s condo, Lyna just got there with Ty and Meg, Sherwin took Lyna and I to the Heber ER and 30 minutes later I was all better.

Bz, Bull Elk, Jen and me (going to a bush) a few minutes before the OTB.

I am sore today, wrist, chest and of course knee, but grateful it wasn’t worse, it could have been really bad. Good to have friends there when you need them, and thye didn’t give me too much crap for it.

Below is a picture from Shannon, BZ's will be higher resolution,
BZ's account of the day is far more poetic, read it. take the time for it to load.

Training????

So ripped the Shoreline loop today, door to door is about 19 miles and maybe 3500 feet or so of climbing. To carry on Sly style I big ringed it up dry creek and then had to go one better and stay big ringed all the way to city creek. Feeing good, but wait, racing is over, exceot a few wednesday nighters, wait one is tomorrow, now i am hosed, oh well, it was fun.

Part way up the climb I call big Berth (in the big ring) Lyna and my song came on the Ipod, Bright Eye's First Day of My Life. I love the line;

But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery

I like it. I do.

Onto doping news, looks like the Euro MTB'ers are gonna start worrying. Hermida Goes Home

Focus shifts off cycling???

For a moment, maybe.

20 years ago, sheesh

So, this week i have been pondering the 20 year high school reunion, we llponder done, i am not going. Same weekend as a double psycho-cross race and 24 hours of Moab, so i will gladly miss it. However, reading Kerry Litkas recent entry reminded me of something. SOmething rather scary.

In 1986 tates creek high school in Lexington Kentucky decided to have a MR. and Ms. Commodore pageant. The kicker was that it was to be a parody. I of course, being a 'non-conformist' at least 50% of the time couldn't pass it up. So somehow I talked my buddy Jeff Schreiffer into doing it with me, he was a riot, and a 75% 'non conformist' so it was set, except we had to come up with some skit to do, i had no idea what we should do, more on this later.

We had to practice, as there were group performances, let in be known that Jeff and I were surrounded by jocks and class officers and those who were the top of the food chain, we were slightly out of place, because we were none of those things. Well we practiced, stumbled and the day of the 'pageant' arrived.

Jeff and I obtained some liquid courage for the evening (it was the 80's, it was easy) We took off after school with a few others, i forget the girls name, but the Soccer start Stuart was with us as well, we got a bit sloppy. Came back in time for the pageant.

One of the silliest moments in my high school career was the one group 'skit' the below picture says enough. But i was silly drunk, so it didn't matter.















Later Jeff and I did our skit, we worked long and hard coming up with something that would wow them, while not be stupid, in our infinite wisdom, late one night as we drank beers in the G.D. Ritzy's parking lot, we decided.












Jeff played a sort of morph of Frank-N-Furter and Magenta, while i played Riff Raff

The strangest thing was that all the Jocks, Food Chain toppers and all the feaks in the audience who knew what we were up to, came on stage and did the dance with us, it was almost a John Hughes moment. Not quite, but almost.

Jeff won the male competition, he also did a small stand up comedy bit, it was a weird, weird night.

Weekend Update

So Saturday was the big IntermountainCup finals in the Uintahs. It is funny that we call it the Evanston, Wy race when it is actually in Utah.

I didn't do it last year due to burn out and was really looking forward to it, the race and the awards party afterward are always fun. Lyna and I got there with time to warm up. I realized about halfway there that I forgot to bring the team competion trophy, crap. Ed was ok with it, so it was not too much of an issue.

The start of the race is relatively flat, I led for a while, I hear it was a lead group of 5 of us, 4 of which were Revolution riders. In order to meet my last goal for the year, I needed to come in at least 2 to 3 places ahead of Chad Harris. 1/4 of the way through the first lap, Rich yelled that we had a gap, Pilling was already off the front, so I was feeling good about it. We had already passed all but the 1st 19-29 expert and i was feeling steady. Going up the long fire road climb, i turned around and saw Chad with Rich, I bobbled in the first part of the steep single track and Chad was on my wheel, I bobbled again halfway up and he got around me, a mile or so later Rich got by me, i was super timid on the DH the first lap, Rich was tearing the DH up. Mad Dog Tim caught and passed me efore the dead mans drop section, i got around him on the climb and held him up on the DH. Coming into the feed zone, Chad, Tim and I were all together. On the second time up the fire road climb I was leading the 3 of us, big ringing it in the hopes of putting a gap. CHad got around me on the steep single track again and I convinced my self to man up on the DH. I kept Chad in sight, I was hoping Tim would come back on and we could get in front of Chad, coming into the feed zone again, about 2 miles from the finish we were all together, I put in an attack, bad timing, chad got a few seconds on me on the return route, we started catching lots of lappers, dicing around them, i kept the pressure on, but finished 7 seconds back, Tim lost 1.5 mnutes in that last section. I ended up 4th in the series and 4th in the race. I really enjoy races that are close, a battle to the end.

So the MTB season is mostly over. Time to review the goals, in December 2005 it set them, below is the goal and the result

1. Consistent top 5's in Intermountaincup Races
Did this towards the middle of the season on. Complete
2. Top 3 overall in Intermountaincup
So close, so close
3. An Intermountaincup win, Chad 'The Bull Elk' Wassmer is moving up to Pro, so I may have a chance.
Bordertown Challenge, Win, this is actually the goal i thought would be the hardest to meet. Complete
4. Top 5 at National Championships - this is a crap shoot, cuse you never know who is going o show up, likely some cat 1 roadie whose time would put him in the top 5 of Semi Pro or Pro
2 nationals and 2 top 5 placings as well as 4th oerall in expert 35-39 NMBS standings. Complete
5. At least one 5 to 6 hour ride a week . It is all about the base
Met or beat all my prescribed hours this year. Complete

4 out of 5 is excellent, and being so close to the 5th is not bad. I have 3 more Wednesday night races to do, currently in 3rd place in that series, then it is all about Cyclocross.

Lyna and I will also be doing some weekend Backpacking trips into the Uintas and Wind Rivers soon. Cross training baby.

More stuff

Added the Brian Head NMBS elevation profile, MotionBased claims 5900 feet, ouch. 1 more big race, Saturday, good times, looking for another good result, maybe I'll catch Fox, show him how us old guys do it.

Starting to get worried about Cross, is Ohran gonna do it? 1.5 months left till it is supposed to start.

Brian Head NMBS

Quick crackberry post, I love riding here, the pre-ride of half the course friday was epic, rain, mud, big rocks. The semi pros had some mud om friday afternoon. Saturday was excellent weather. I had a good race, finishing 4th, pilling was 5th a few minutes behind.Lyna took 2nd sport women 30-39. EJ was 15th pro men, Ty 16th semipro, Chad 18th semi pro. BZ double flatted, Kathy Sherwin was 11th pro women. I don't know Shannon and Jens placings. I'll try a longer race report when we get home.

Crits are stupid

Occasionally on a tuesday evening I'll do a noce recovery ride out to the RMR to watch the local heroes dice it out in the 'Training' crit. Reality is that most of the riders there put more effort/risk etc.. into these races than the weekend ones. I used to do them as they were great training, but i witnessed wy to many accidents, tonight while watching the b-flite, in a big group, wind it up in the 1/4 mile straight away, I witnessed more carnage, several riders went down, lookd like one frame was a victim and who knows how much skin and bloofd was donated, I hope everyone was alright, but I got my bi-annual reminder of why crits are dumb

Bordertown Challenge, a rare one.

Early this morning Lyna and I packed up and headed west to Oasis Nevada for the Bordertown Chalenge. Having never ridden out there and the fact that it was a 25 mile loop format meant going in cold. I got in a short warmup on teh first mile or so, nice flat desert singletrack. So off the start, Sam has a weed in his drive train and i go to the front, i hammered the first 3 miles on singletrack and opened a gap on the field. At about mile 5 the 2300 foot 5.5 mile climb started, I just kept it clean here, spinning on the steeps, hammering the flatter sections. I passed one of the pro's a short way up and by the top of the climb I was on the wheels of the next 2 pro's. The 2.5 mile descent of the top was sketch and I made it down still in the lead and safe, At about mile 17 I cracked on a steep exposed climb, I saw Rich and someone else in the distance and tried to hold it together, luckily only about 2.25 miles of the remaining 8 were climbs. I was railing the DH and accelerating on the flats. 5200 feet of climbing later, I came into the finish with the win, my first ever ICUP expert win, I am super psyched as it is a rare occurence. I led from the giddy'up to whoa. Rich was a minute and a half behind me for second, Chad H was a further 2.5 behind him. I am gonna savor this sweet day for a while, well at least till Brian Head NMBS next week.

Lyna came in 4th sport women after a dropped/stuck chain in the first 2 miles and stopping to help a delirious racer 5 miles from the finish. A good day for both of us.

Here is the elevation profile, about 900 feet short of the claimed 9000 foot summit, I tell you, we climbed enough.

Whatever.

Roid/Floyd, midnight delivery per chance, what a surprise :)

Well in drug free racing news, I took 4th at sundance. Good times, man that new course hurts a lot.
That hairy chest could be a sign of increased testosterone.

The Wind Cave

On Monday, Blake, Chad, Warren and i met up with a few other PC boys outside of Victor Idaho, we hiked 1.5 hours up steep switchbacks to the wind cave, put on our cool weather gear and spelunked about 45 minutes in. We had to belly crawl 3 times and traverse a ledge, it was chily and eery and fun.

Then we drove home. Tuesday evening went out for a short recovery ride. My legs (well my glutes) and my wings are sore. The glutes from the hill climbs and the wings from crawling through a cave.

Tonight I hit Sundance, yeehaw.

Jackson Weekend

So 4 days in Jackson, 2 of them include racing. Saturdays ICUP race was on the most brutal, hardest course of the season. Pilling and I were dicing it up the whole race till halfway through the last lap, i bobbled and lost time. Ended up 4th. Pilling 3rd, 2 Jackson locals were ahead of us.

Sunday was the teton pass double hilll climb. 1 up on the road bike up the main pass road, 2 up the old pass road then singletrack to about 800 feet above the road pass. The road climb was about 2400 feet in 5.75 miles. The mtb was about 2800 feet in 6.25 miles, so 12 miles, 5200 feet of climbing, with 1 hour in between the day after a hard tb race, sweet.

I should also mention, EJ, 1st Pro Taming the Tetons, 1st in the road hill climb, 1st in the mountain hillclimb, BZ, 2nd pro in taming the tetons, top 5 overall in the combined hill climbs. Sue, unfortunatley a probable broken collarbone in the Saturday xc, Chad, 4th pro man taming tetons, Warren dnf in taming the tetons, and finished both hill climbs.

I got top ten overall in the hillclimbs, 3rd 35 plus.

I'm blown, tomorrow we hike and drive home, below is the elevation profile of todays races, they were both all up hill, so the flat and downhill were warm up, cool down, etc..

Snowbird Mountainbout

Friday after work i went to get an hour in on the road, easy spin for the day before racing. It was almost 105 degrees the whole ride. Man, that is way too hot. Came home made dinner, watched a bit of 'Cable Guy' and went to bed.

Woke up Saturday a.m. anticipating pain and suffering at Snowbird. This course is evil, the always low racer turn out proves the point. 3.5 mile laps, close to 1000 feet of true climbing per lap, sketchy, loose, dangerous downhill. We started right after the pro's again. Only about 10 of us i think. Sam got the hole shot into the singletrack and i was on his wheel. Rich was dangling behind us and caugh on halfway through the singletrack, then we popped out onto the Dick Bass Highway climb, exposed, rocky, steep. I got around Sam and opened up a small gap by the top. Sam and Rich got by me on the descent, i got ontheir wheels though and by the time we pulled through the statrt/finish (at 22 minutes, which boded ill for later), we where all together,then Rich dropped his chain, Sam made it over the top first on the 2nd lap, me second, Rich got by mme on the DH again. The next 2 laps i was just trying to survive and not loose a podium place. I DH'd better on the last 2 laps, as I figured out the lines. Ended up 3rd. With the heat nd the shorter punchy climbs, i was happy about that.



















Lyna took 5th in sport women.

















Here is the elevation profile for 4 laps.









Saturday night we went up Big Cottonwood canyon for Drew and Lucy's wedding celebration, it was a nice evening in the cool mountain air. They are off to Peru to mountain bike at some serious elevation.

Sunday, Ty, Shannon, Jen, Lyna and I headed up for 3 hours on the upper DV trails. Midmountain to Team Big Bear to Flagstaff loop (around it 1.5 time) Down Deer Camp to Naildriver to twist and shout, to some Black Diamond DH run. We dropped Ty off there then the rest of us headed to PCMR via mid mountain and back via John's 99 and little chief. Nice day, I was way shot afterwards.

Race/Recover/Race/Recover

That is what it is all about these days. Last night was another battle at Sundance. Two 5 or so mile laps. The first lap i was cross eyed, way outside the comfort zone. Way better than trying to get that kind of work in on my own.

What? I have to race against them? Is there Broccoli in my teeth?

It has been nice having the form come on, Every year i try not to get down on my early season results, then in June/July I remember.

I DH'd a bit better last night, no one caught me at least.

DV NORBA XC report

Saturday 5 am came quite early on my alarm clock. I really wish the race was later, but the cool mountain air made it much nicer. Made the waffles, then Lyna and Iheaded up to DV. Got ready and warmed up for about 45 minutes. They lined us up and it looked to be less than 15 of us in the 35-39 expert class. The only ones I knew were Pilling, Sam Moore and series leader, Dave Wilson. I wanted to be towards the fron going p Little Stick, as not to get behnd any slower DH'ers on the down hill. The switchbacks had turned into rutted messes, so I knew people would be going slower.

Well off the start, past the feed zone, i found myself up front, and not pushing it too hard, I went into the first singletrack section in front and settled into my pace. Once we popped onto the little stick doubletrack 5 got around me, I let them go. Going down the first long descent we start catching lots of earlier starters, most let me around easy enough. At the bottom, I catch up with one of my cat riders, i get around him on the ski run climb and just keep it steady. I continue to catch and pass other cat riders. 1st lap time, about 38:30.

Second lap, I continue to pass other cat riders and see no one closing on me. Well, except for Scott Fifield a 40-44 rider, who crushed it. I railed the dh on the second lap, no brakes through braking bumps is much smoother. 2nd lap time around 39:15.

3rd lap i was a bit more careful on the DH, got stuck behind a slow rider on deer crest for a bit, HR dropped. Going up the ski run climb i saw Henneman coming, he is in an older cat, but i wanted to hold him off. I went hard on the climb up to the road and up snow top and had a clear path on the DH. On the slight up to the guard house I was really suffering, but in the end i held him off. Finish time was 1:59:14. the course conditions were slow, the course had a bit extra added to it and my time was only 21 seconds slower than the pedal fest, which had super fast conditions.

I ended up 5th place, which will get me an invite to be on team USA for Master Worlds again (I got this in 2004 as well) I won't go, but it is kind of cool.

Seems like the form is coming, staying and getting better. I wish nationals were in Mammoth, i am building to that date and that terrain with only Jackson Hole Icup to race. What a shame.

What is up with Velonews not giving much coverage to the DV race? Usacyling.com has nthing either. They are kowtowing to the tour and a select few riders, what crock.

We need to take it back, really, we do.

Prep Week

Only worked on Wednesday this week, took the rest off, very nice vacation time. Prepping for the Norba at Deer Valley.

Wednesday I went up and did the Soldier Hollow race, nice one hour effort chasing the D2 Euro Pro on his cross bike. I took second. Got home, helped finish Lyna's prep for the Marathon on Thursday. She was super nervous. We got the DV early and she picked up her number and everything and headed to the start. The non pro's did 2 laps, brutal course. Lyna was looking good coming through the feed zone after her first lap. She did a consistent lap time to finish at about 5:42 for first in Womens 30-39. She was the only starter, but hey, she did it. I am super proud of her. More of this to come for her.

Eric Jones rpped for 3rd in open men and Sue Abenne took 2nd in open women. We spoke with Monique Sawicki and her husband Ron after the awards, wow she is commited and focussed as well as super down to earth. She had a horrible crash at a world cup a few weeks ago, wow.

On a sad note, toards the finish of the marathon they rushed someone down off the course and were working on him for 15-20 minutes before life flight came, I hear they never loaded him on the copter, sad. Not sure what happened. Maybe a heart attack, sad.

Tomorrow p early for the XC, I feel like ripping it up, we will see.

Solitude Race Report

The build to Saturdays race was pretty good, I did think i may have gone too hard Tuesday riding with Bart and Wednesday on the course with Ty and Rob, Fridays 1.5 hour Cottonbottom jaunt was not boding well, my legs were tired, i was not wanting to ride and it was hot. after Friday evening i felt better as i discovered the race started at 11 and i could sleep in. Woke up after a good nights sleep, made waffles and headed up to the Tude.

Solitude is one of my favorite courses, it is mostly singletrack, technical up and down, nowhere to hide most of the course, my buddy Scott is a patroller there winter and summer and puts hours into the trails. I won a beginner race there years ago, did well as a Sport classer and have done decent enough as an expert. The climbing helps me as well.

We got to line up directly behind the pro's as we generally pass most of the 19-29 year olds. There were 23 pro's, huge field. We left one minute after for the 900 foot climb, the first lap we go up the pavement, I'd prefer the singletrack, as it is not as steep. A few people go off the front, mostly those i don't worry about, some cause i know they will pop, a few others cause, well they are fast. Jarom Zenger was gone by the time we hit the round house, Fox was mixing it up there as well. By the time we got to the top of the climb we ha already passed the slower pro's, i was running in 4th at this point behind Chad Harris, he had a bit of a gap on me and Mark Wimmer was a bit behind me, other than that it was all strung out, on the descent i pulled Chad back a bit and by the time we started climbing Serenity singletrack i had a good feeling. Wimmer disappeared (later he was cheering me in the feed zone) Once we popped out of the single track to the round house i was very close to Chad, I kept it together and just tailed him all the way up the climb and on the descent i was braking a lot as he seemed tentative. Through the feed zone going into the 3rd lap i was on his wheel. he took a digger on an uphill switchback and i let him get back in front. Ty was coming behind us, guess he flatted. Saw Fox just ahead of us, feeling even better. Once we got to the pavement i made my mind up, got a bottle from Shannon and spun up the steep pavement, passed Lyna, then on the not so steep pavement before it its doubletrack, I attacked, hard, got a good gap and it was on. I made it over the top of the limb with a comfortable lead, started ripping the DH, keeping it smooth, made it about to the creek crossing, going through a rock garden, hit something, rode a front wheelie for a while, saw the possible injuries in my head, when, thank goodness, my momentum pushed me into the scrub oak, i hopped back on the trail and started going, uh oh, there is something wrong with my left pedal, shoe or crank, keep going Bob, The Bull Elk comes up behind me, i passed him on the steep doubletrack, and helps me realize i gotta a race to ride, so I start going a bit faster. get to the feed zone, and had caught back up to Ty, only 1/2 a lap to go, started to lose it part way in the singletrack, but kept going. Finished it out and discovered my left pedal axle had taken a hit and bent a few degrees off center.

3rd place is my best result in the Icup since evanston a few years ago. Even better was the way it was done, tactically and including a spectacular wreck and slight mechanical issues. I will never know if i could of caught Fox, I'd like to think so, but too late for that now.

I am ecstatic with this result, can you tell?

Today I headed up to DV to do more Norba recon, I think i have ridden that loop about 15 times in the last month, i hope the form stays with me.

Props to Fox on his 2nd place.

Tuesday Night

Left work early to go to the SL County Council meeting and the public meeting on the Emigration Trails Master plan. There was a lot of support there for the Counties preffered plan, which includes a mid north slope trail. There were trail experts, residents and users all there to speak on behalf of this plan. Those apposed to that one trail only had to say that it was hot and long and shaley as a argument against. Kind of weak. It will be a long process to design and build, but the future looks bright. Chek out this site. http://www.friendsofemigration.org/


Afterwards BartG and I rode from my house to his. He lives up in that canyon and it was a nice grind, We hit the Training Compound East stealth single track on our road bikes afterwards. Then I limped home.

Solitude tonight, gonna see if the Scalpel still works.

This is funny

Maybe Rush is in training to win the tour. Cause Viagra could be performance enhancing.

That is it for today.

Weekend Sans race

Decided to not do the 12 hr race, solo,duo or quad, last year Chad, Rich, Reed and I threw down 15 laps and won the overall. Instead Saturday, Ty and I went up to Deer Valley to ride the Pedalfest course, we got a goo 2:45 in with a few good race pace climbs.

Saturday Evening went up to BZ's for a nice BBQ, Fox has some photos. Eric Jones was putting the hurt on everyone laying 5 up in the back yard, he was on the ground more than an Italian soccer player, pushing peopleout of the way, elbows flynig, It is funny watching a bunch of skinny cyclists fight to catch a football.

Sunday, lyna and I rode at deer valley, the Bull Elk gave me a possible Norba DV Marathon route, so we tried it out.

Snow Park up tour des homes to silver lake, on mid-mountain up tour de suds connect to team big bear then on the flagstaff loop, on to deer camp then down naildriver back to silverlake, up and over 4 points to deer crest and finally hook up with the pedal fest course. 3.5 hours later we determined that...

Halfway up tourde suds the trail turns into a big dead fall bulldozed slope. When you get close to where suds meets teambig bear it is all construction zone, I'm thinking this is not the course.
Flagstaff and deer camp where fun. At the top of nail driver we helped a Chicago girl who ate it hard on a little jump. Lift accessed dh is dangerous. We then hit a few of the bridge and ladder tricks towards the bottom of Naildriver.

Good and tired.

Round Valley

While Fox was fighting Chevron employees on his hike a bike, Lyna and I went up and rode th eround valley loop with Lucy, Karen, Drew, Todd and Joel, nice easy pace and fun big ringing the whole thing.

I am amazed at how a little bit of effort can get you over anything in the big ring, race pace is a different story, but it is fun when just riding.

I was asked to test Reynolds new carbon mtb wheels, but seems they have no lefty compats left, Ohran must have all of them, oh well, not a fan of semi-slicks anyways.

Saturday looks to be painful, either chasing Ty and Blake or chasing Fox, Bart, Sager, EJ and god knows who else.

Good times, good times.

More Wednesday Night silliness

So Wednesday night at Soldier Hollow included a Biathlon format. 5 one mile laps with shooting after each. I di several warm up laps, determined it was a big ringer. Then i went and tested the gun thing, got 5 of 5, so fet good.

The start was kind of all of a sudden. I went off the front, for a bit, then went into the single track in about 4th. ENded the first lap in 4 minutes in 4th. Got to the shooting range, grabbed my cartridge and proceeded to take a minute or 2 to figure out how to put the darn thing in the gun, a this point, I was about, umm, last. Got 3 of 5, did 2 penalty loops and went out on the lap, 2nd time in the range I got a whopping 1 of 5, 4 penalty loops, loosing ground. The next 3 laps I pull people backa nd get 5 of 5 on the targets, One guy decided to finish without shooting the last time, I may of gotten beat at the line by another guy, kind of chaotic and fun.

Big hours this week, no racing till Solitude next weekend, except the hammer fest at DV Saturday am with Ty and BZ.

So last week the race had a beer chugging option, this week guns, can't wait to see what they come up with next week, maybe a mullet contest.