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.

Where have you been?

So long time no posting. Last Wednesday i did the Sundance race. I got 4th, but that is a bit slippery. Chucky and the Wonder Pony put a bucket of beer and soda at the top of the climb and most everyone chugged one or the other at the top, not me, i kept riding on by. That was some funny shit. Shannon B took 3rd ahead of me, he chugged some soda. Said he was a bit bloated afterwards.

Thursday flew to SeaTac and drove to Gig Harbor, I swear i always feel lethargic at sea level. Friday we just hung out and went out for an awesome dinner overlooking the harbor. Saturday we went to Brunch with the Groom (who was our best man) and his buddies from Anchorage. Then we went kayaking in Gig Harbor for a few hours, very relaxing. The wedding was Saturday evening and was very nice and low key.

Sunday we went to brunch and the brides parents house and then headed to Seattle to check out the Public Market, Throwing Fish etc... Monday we went to the EMP and flew home. Ready to ride again, ready to ride.

Mondays, blah

It was like 100 degrees tonight, took an easy one hour spin, ran into Big Boned Todd and his 8 foot tall friend.

Then I saw the pink guy at 7:15 on 900 south and 1600 east, no camera, so this will have to do.

I think this week will be dedicated to drinking lots of fluids, water mostly. Man it was hot out there.

Spiro-Mid Mtn, John's, Town loop lost

Lyna and I head up to PC to shred some seet Single Track, headed up Spiro to the Mid Mountain trail, over past PCMR on teh way to DV, we turned around and headed down John's Trail, lots of construction on the mountain has created a few clear cut roads, Lyna and I took the wrong turn on one and ended up on some dirt road, we found single track again heading back toward PCMR and ended up on Sweeneys, then down to the car, nice ride, warm and sunny.

Spent rest of the day on the couch.

Deer Valley report

photo stolen from here

The weather finally broke sometime in the night, woke up at 5am well before my alarm, oh well.

Headed up to DV and got a shorter warm up in. The race was delayed a bit for the grommets. The start was not really too hard, i got a good spot, probably about 5th going up little stick, got into the first descent and felt great, it flowed and was really grippy due to the rain. At this point we had already caught all but the top 3 19-29's. Got around Adam on a doubletrack descent and we all got a bit slippery in a short tight singletrack spot. At this point I was still in around 5th. Mad Dog Tim had some sort of technical, put me in 4th. We were all pretty close together. There was quite a gap behind us. 1st lap time was around 39.5 minutes.

Caught on to Chad H. somewhere up the 2nd little stick climb, got around him going up snow top, I could see BP and Wimmer comin. I pushed it a bit and came through the second lap in about 38.5 minutes.

3rd lap i was just focussing on keeping the pedals turning smoothly, getting up the climbs and railing the DH, well railing for me. Chad H was dropped but BP and Wimmer were closing on me. 1/2 way up Snow Top, BP got me, I stayed on his wheel up and over and down most of the DH towards the Gap cut-off, a bit before the guardhouse, Wimmer comes blowing past me, man he was going fast, It kind of shocked and awed me and i slowed a bit, but not wanting to drop back further than 5th, I regrouped and put as much into the cranks as I could on the Gap cut off, Bartmang came off the 12 and under right in front of me, that made only 2 pros who finished before me (they did do an extra few miles).

I ended up 5th for my best result this year. 3 races ago i was 17 minutes off the winner and 12 off BP. Today i was a bit over 2 minutes of 1st and 30 seconds behind BP, today was a good day. Preparation met opportunity at the right time.

On a shitty note, strong man, power master, defending national champ (expert 45-49) Dr. Rob Westerman broke his leg in the race today, heal up brother.

Tonight, sushi.

The thing about me

I spend 40 hours a week trying to figure out how to fix and make better very complex systems, so when it comes to play time, the bike, the blog, life in general, i tend to ramble on in a very inarticulate and non-sensical manner, just ask those who have spent any time with me, Ty, good choice, cause he works with me as well, Blake, Warren, Chad, etc... I'd say my wife, but she seems to understand my madness.

Keep that in mind when you read this site. And realize that i am as harmful as a gnat smoking dope.

Anonymous, man you are harsh, yet you seem to keep coming back. Like crack isn't it.

Rode up and over Little mountain tonight, the temp was very nice up there. Saw BartmanG and his family hiking down canyon. Glad to see him moving around after his scare on Saturday. That freaks me out, I dont think I'll ever do the Nova Dessert Classic again, my shoulder will thank me, high speed digger, alone in the desert for 2 hours before they came, got me and made me walk out. Ty going by me 3 times, wondering what i was doing, finally throws a bigair and tube at me. I always pictured that big air exploding from heat while someone was riding by.

So i am a little slow on the DH, well, yeah, so. I know my limits and the risk vs reward most days just ain't worth it.

Looking forward to DV on Saturday, that course is always a good lung/leg burnin time.

Sundance SPin race report.

Woke up Saturday morning, not feeling so well, churning stomach, no hunger and dreading the race. It was going to be the first climbing race of the year and that usually bodes well for me. I met Newby for breakfast and came home to grab a few thins. On the way to Sundance my belly was not feeling right, I parked it and got dressed, warmed up for about 40 minutes and lined up. We had a pretty good size category a bit over 20 including the pro women.

The start was not to bad, we climbed and I was in the top10, Racer took a flyer and got in front for the single track. He set the pace in the section that I had hoped to hammer through, my HR was probably at about 70% at this point, lots of people were grumbling, slowly a few of us started to get around him and gaps started opening up. Somewhere close to the top I got around Rich, who seemed to be struggling, we then star going on the DH. I let Rich around me about halfway down, then a bit later I let Newby and Sam around. 1^st lap was under 40 minutes, faster than the Wednesday nighter 1 lap, even with the slow down at the start.

Lap 2 I get to the singletrack section and plan to put the hammer down again. Jack gets around me (40+ expert) then slows down, I eventually get around him but lost some of my push, passed Newby and Sam again, they pass me on a short DH as does Mark. I get pass Sam again and leave him behind. Brad and Mark DH right in front of me and I catch back on on the climb going into the 3^rd lap.

I was feeling pretty good and wanted to get by both of them and put some distance on them, as they DH better, I got around them, but could not hold them off too much, started catching some of the slower sports on their 2^nd lap and this helped keep them on me. The get around me on the short DH again and I can’t get back on on the last part of the climb, I am blown.

On the last DH I blow a corner and lose some time, and come in a minute or down on both of them for 9^th. Pilling got 3^rd, Rich got 4^th.

The winner and 2^nd place may have been in the wrong category, as both of them have raced pro on the mountain in the last 3 or 4 years and done well. I’m just saying.

I was only 5 minutes behind Pilling, which is better than the 20+ a few races ago. I care more about that than placing, time from the winners means more to me. And yes Fox, I didn’t win, but I felt great about my race and finish.

Today was a ‘rest’ day, house and yardwork and general sitting around.