2009 Recap

I have been remiss in posting for sometime, busy getting Team Revolution Peak Fasteners 2010 stuff in order, Helping build the MTBRacenews.com team and traveling for work. Lots of FF Miles recently.

2009 ended up being a better than expected year. The local 40+ expert group just got faster. I actually had a few wins (5-Mile, Jackson) and returned to Endurance racing again. Below is the best of list.

1. best off season trip - January in St George with Fitty Watt and Boffeli has a Posse. Didn't think I would ever see someone get cut off at Olive Garden in St. George, brilliant!!!!
2. best race trip - Laramie Enduro - Team Rev Peak Fasteners was full on in effect, plus got to see BP and actually raced with him for about 1/3 of the course.
3. The 2009 Paz Ortiz Nemesis Award goes to Sam Moore who discovered his climbing legs in 2009, this along with his madness on the downhill makes him a threat to win every race.
4. Perfect Race of 2009 - My favorite Icup venue - Jackson Hole, led from the beginning, kept it smart and easily won, very nice day on the bike, full of Zing and joy.
5. Best Race of 2009 - The Park City Point to Point. The crew did an amazing job, I only did the Duo category as my knee was acting up post Laramie and Mt. Ogden 50k
6. Best training ride of the year - the Flying dog to Deer Valley to PCMR epic done with Shannifer, Hypio, Ken, Pasternak and others.
7. Worst Training ride of the year - Meeting Bart, Alex et al and gorgoza and riding straight up for an hour 2 days after returning from Asia, ouch.
8. CX season - I fully planned NOT to race any CX, but I can't stay away, I ended up racing Single Speed of all things, had a few good results, beat Boffeli more often than not and had a blast, seems I do better at CX when I don't plan on it or train for it.
9. Most exciting part of the year - Being chosen to be on the GT Dirt Coalition, I applied at literally the last minute (a few hours to spare) was picked, got a sweet carbon Zaskar and I hope I was a good ambassador for them.

As always the best part of the season was the community, old and new friends, laughter, grumbles, suffering, smiling = FUN, looking forward to what 2010 brings.

Peace

Excellent Message

The State of MTB Racing in America.

a response to This

UTCX #4

Lots of pics of SInglespeed and Men'sB and a few Men's & 35+ A HERE

Courtesy of Lyna, I didn't come in last

To or not

CX that is, leaning towards not, as not much bike time in 1.5 months, lots of travel and low motivation, Who knows, maybe I'll be ready to rip it in a few weeks, probably not.

Kauai was great, as always, still wanted to stay, of course, I may even ride the shoreline this evening after work, should be fun.

My legs are hairy even. Crazy.

The Season, She is dun

Well, except maybe for a chance at the 24(5) hours of Frog Hollow Halloween weekend. I have been busy with work and life.

Seen a lot of this view for 2 weeks.

Siberia

China

So, they are all cartoon like there.


Phillipines

I have chosen to not race Cyclocross this year, needing a rest. Saturday I rode about 3 hours of Shoreline with Kathy and Shannon while everyone else was suffering, i didn't miss it.

Starting to make Team/Sponsorship plans for 2010. Never too early, always too late.

Have you done trail work yet? Let me know and I will get you on Jamie's list.

4 more days

PC Point2Point race 2009

Nothing but rave reviews of super organization, sweet one track and pain, glorious pain.

Post Laramie I had doubts of being able to make it the complete 75 miles without severe knee problems. The Mt Ogden 50k sealed the deal. So when Ty asked if I wanted to do it Duo, I said, yes. I did waffle back and forth on whether I wanted to do the first or second leg, I settled on teh second, so I could sleep in.

Lyna was the volunteer extraordinaire, giving up most of 2 days to help the registration/race/awards went off without a hitch. To her and all the other volunteers, THANK YOU!!!

Bart and Alex got to Silver Lake in like 2:15, which ramped up my prep timeline, after I helped set up part of the Feed Zone I got dressed, waffled on thermal or regular jersey, as it was raining off and on and cheered on racers and helped feed a few, Chad, who was out checking course markings ahead of the race convinced me to go with just a jersey which was the right move.

Ty and Tanner came in to the transition together and Keegan took off while I was putting the number plate on my bike (It was the 'baton'). I said at that point that there was no way I was catching him, as i am almost 3 times his age.

I caught a Solo guy on the first section of one track and as we crossed the service road I went around him and washed out, oops. No problem, kept going and started up Tour De Suds, this went faster than expected and then on the Guardsman road I came upon Kenny Paper Boying up the road on his belt drive one speed. TG was a blast, Mid Mtn then the brief portion of John's 99 was a blast, Johns trail was hard, but I survived. Up Steps hurt a lot and I tried to conserve for APex and Keystone up above Jupiter, I thought this was going to be the hardest part of my race, alas, it was tame, I was surprised and happy to be to the top so soon, where Erika heckled me. The 6+ Mile downhill was ahead of me, that 6 miles, while fun and fast and only taking 23 or so minutes was the hardest part of the race, my upper body was taking a beating. Fox shoved a dollar at me at the feed station, Ryan and Ty helped me switch bottles and I took off up Spiro, it went pretty well, had one bathroom break and then hit mid mountain 35 minutes later, The gradual rise to the look out went by in about 10 minutes and the next 5 miles went by in 23 minutes, that 23 minutes, I think, was the most fun I had all day, I was flying and grinning and hoping that none of those rocks split a tire, it didn't.

At the Colony aid station, I thought I was going to have to do the whole bibs take down to dissipate discomfort, but it passed, whew, thanks to Hillary for cheering me on.

The climb from Red Pine to Rob's descent was painful, I knew there was one more climb to do, so while Rob's was fun, my mind was reeling for how far down I was going to ride before I had to climb back up. Alas it was 'only' 1.5 miles up and then Holly's down.

I finished my leg just a bit over 4.5 hours. Our total time was 8:01 good for second place, 32 minutes behind the kids.


6 bottles of CarboRocket, 5 Roctanes and a few chomps fueled the day, that a Lyna's waffles.

I won a ton of stuff in the raffles, 2 Canyon's passes, One PCMR pass, 2 fleeces, Winter bib tights, sunglasses, Skullcandy headphones and more.

Shannon, Jay, Brian etc.. did a great job. Free food post race, great prizes for all categories and the Lantern Rouge prize to AL was awesome.

I am tired and sore and do not think I would of finished if I would of gone solo.
P.S. I think TC has some sort of weird obsession with my calves, Dr. X, you need to work this out with her.

The Robbie Project

CLICKY THE SCROLLING IMAGE ABOVE TO GET TO PURCHASE PAGE

Robbie Squire is one of the top U23 Mountain Bike Racers in the USA, he is the former Junior National Champion and took 2nd in this years U23 championship, he is a nice kid and the future of the sport in the USA. As a result of his excellent results, USA Cycling has Named him the the World Championship team. This year the world championships are in Canberra, Australia September 1-6.

However, USA Cycling does not pay his way, as a result, this makes it difficult for a 19 year old to afford.

The Tour De Park City has generously donated some nice swag to raffle off to get Robbie to Australia without gong into debt.

Reynolds Solitude Wheelset
Garmin 605
Rudy Project Helmet/glasses combo
3 energy packages including hammer heed, pro bars, sportslegs, and gels

5 dollars a ticket and the raffle will be held in 2 weeks

Mt. Ogden 50k weekend

Lyna and I took the puppies up to Huntsville for the weekend, I was signed up for the Mt. Ogden 50k race and wanted to have a relaxing weekend as well. The condo was comfy and clean and about 15 minutes from Snowbasin.

I headed up early Saturday morning to pick up my packet and set up the Dirt Coalition Pop Up tent. Went back to the condo to get Lyna and the pups and headed back up, Discovered soon after arrival tha my GPS had no battery charge, oh well, no problem, I warmed up with BZ and headed to the start. I originally signed up as Pro, but then was going to downgrade to amateur, but then realized that with 2 categories, I should race the upper one, only fair.

I think there were around 25 'Pro' men at the start, I was in the top ten at first, and surrendered a few spots on the first DH, as I had not pre-ridden the course. There were several spots on the DH that I had "OH $hit!" moments, but all in all i did well enough, Nate Stowers got around me towards the bottom of the first long DH and I stayed with him as much as I could till the long pavement climb to the lap area. I motored up this climb, putting distance on several riders and grabbed my bottles from Lyna. On the exposed start area climbs I was feeling a bit dizzy, luckily that went away, about 5 minutes later on the rough climb my left knee started to ache, drat, I maybe should have thrown in the towel there, but I kept pushing.

I did better on the DH and then any climb would come and I wanted to go hard, as my legs had it in them, but the knees did not. I was getting passed left and right and was very hot and frustrated, still I pushed on. Finally I made it to the long paved climb to the finish, KC, Adam and a few others passed me here and I was wanting to go with them, the legs said yes, but the knees said no. So I finished, 3 hours 3 minutes 34 seconds. 19th 'Pro' men 24th Male over all, 27th over all male and female.

1st lap 1:25:20

2nd lap 1:38:14

I believe I may have Patellar Tendonitis, need to go see a PT to be sure. The legs, lungs and heart wanna go, but the knees say no.

The rest of the weekend was grand, post race BBQ and awards were fun, I am sure I was one of the few that did not win a raffle prize:). Lyna and I ate dinner on 25th street in Ogden and then hot tubbed it, woke up Sunday and had breakfast at the Jackson Fork Inn, then drove home and hung out at the Tour of Utah crit with the Day's.

Back

Been out having fun, not riding much to speak of, Lyna is back on the bike and hitting dirt regular like, which is awesome. We hit up the Tour of Utah Prologue Tuesday, that was a scary DH finish and corner, missed the Pie feed as a result, which I am bummed about. Wednesday I was gonna attempt the Clarks TT but decided racing in PC would be more fun, we started at Silver Lake down Mid Mountain, up Team Big Bear, Counter Clockwise on Flagstaff, up Deer Camp and Down Nail Driver. 6.5 miles of fun in the cool mountain temps. I took the W in a small field and got a 12 pack of Pro-Bars, mmmmmmm good. Several people took wrong turns, but fun was had by all.

Lyna finished spray painting all the PCPP arrow signs yesterday, even though Ellie chewed up the stencil.

This weekend I head up to Snowbasin to race the Mt. Ogden 50k, which seems to be only slightly longer than a XC race, so should be fun, I have heard great things bout the trails up there.

2009 Laramie Enduro

I have not done anything but XC races since 2005, and that was the Brian Head 50, taking less than 4 hours, I registered for Laramie in February, since it was only 60 bucks and would be easy to walk away from if I decided to pass on it. Well Team Revolution had about 25 register, then we got a block of rooms at the Fairfield, so I became more committed. Having done that, I was convinced that I would have no chance of an overall Expert series win, however, circumstances proved other wise.

Friday morning after breakfast at Eggs in the CIy with Lyna, We loaded up the Wedge mobile with Jim, Steve, Alison and my self and headed to Laramie. We registered and as we were getting ready to go spin on the wild roads of town, the storm started, so we went to feed on pasta with 15 of us, The rain kept up and we hit the sack early.

We woke up at 5:00, headed down for the free breakfast fixins and headed out to the race site. I think I got about a 10 minute warm up in, not that it mattered. My goal was to stick with Brad Pilling as long as possible, We lined up on the 2nd row and when he start went, I took off at a sub XC start pace, there was less than 1/2 mile of service road to one track and I wanted to avoid as much craziness as possible, Brad says 'That was unnecessary!' A quote that would bug me for a while. So for the first 10 miles or so I was in the first chase group, I think about 5 or so were off the front. Brad catches me at about mile 8 and I ask him if I cut him off, he says no, whew. I then get on his wheel, he motors ahead on some flats and I catch back on on the rises. Then he gets a 20 second gap and we hit the Mile 10-20ish headwind fire road section, I get in with a group of 15 or so, Brad is 20 seconds up in a group of 4, In my group it is me and 2 Chipotle Titus riders doing all the work, finally I Jump across to Brads group and we get more people doing work. I felt like I was going a bit too hard, but knew being in this group was pushing me down the road a whole lot faster and would pay off in the end. We broke up as we hit the Singletrack when we looped back to the start singletrack area, I still had Brad about 10-20 seconds up and we were keeping a steady pace. Right before aid station 2 I saw SHannon on the side finishing up a flat fix, I stopped at the aid station to fill up a bottle and Got back on as Shannon went by, I held onto his wheel on doubletrack, rough cow trail and one track for about 4 miles or so, Miles 36-47 or so were the hardest part of my day. I dropped off of Shannon, and started feeding, I wanted to back down because I knew the last 20-25 miles were the hardest. I passed Ryan Ashbridge right before Aid 3 fixing a flat and he blew by me a bit later, as I came into aid 3 he was still there, Aid 3 was where our drop bags were, so I swapped bottles, grabbed my food, grabbed a handful of animal crackers and headed out, Ryan came up on me and I said I was in recovery mode and to get around me, he did, and took off (for a top 10 overall finish). I got passed by probably 15 people in this 11 mile section. I just let them go. Finally, hitting a doubletrack climb at mile 48, my legs came around and I stepped it up, my HR track shows about a 10 BPM drop in those 11 miles, the rest off the race, before and after was right around the same average. Of course, this started the last 20 miles of the race, which was the hardest. The doubletrack climbing was great, I was able to sustain power and go steady, not getting passed by anyone, but, my knees were aching, quads, fine, knees burning, so single track climbing was bad, technical singletrack climbing, worse. Aid stations 4 and 5 included me grabbing boiled potatoes and chips, filled up with water and heading out, at aid 5 I asked when the next downhill was, there was nervous laughter, well there was like 2 screaming fast downhills on service roads, about a miles worth, top speed 40mph, followed by, oh 800 feet of technical, rocky, rooty one track climbing in 2.5 miles, My legs felt great, but my knees were not feeling great, I walked a lot of this section, The decent off the top was a blast and took less than 9 minutes, done, race time 6:02:59. 34th place in the overall Open-Pro. Only 20 minutes behind Ryan who finished 10th, Brad finished 12th and Shannon 15th. The Mile 35-48 lull likely cost me a top 20, but that is how endurance racing goes, good spots and bad spots. My actual moving time was 5:52. I stopped for 4 pee breaks and stopped at 4 aid stations for a total of 11 minutes. But, I never bonked, was well fed and hydrated and had no issues, the Carbo Rocket made the day, 6 bottles of it plus 2 of water. My Fly socks kept me warm in the early am temps and kept my feet happy regardless of mud, water and cowpie. The Zaskar was fast, smooth and flawless.

The course was fun and challenging, countless un-rideable mud (cow poo) bogs, flowy one track, fast fire road, cow trails, waist deep creek crossings. The course was very well marked, if you kept eyes forward, volunteers were awesome, filling my bottles for me, cheering me on. Fellow riders were kind and encouraging, even if they wheel sucked :) The Registration took seconds, the food post race was awesome and they even had industrial strength action wipes for post race cleaning. Jen took second in her group and won 200 bucks, Brad took 2nd Open 40-49 and also won 200. I guess my name was called for a sweet raffle prize, but we had already left.

Everyone on Team Revolution finished and we only had a few flats, the weather was good, sunny skies and the post race dinner at the Chop house successfully put us in a Coma. I'll be back next year.

Now to decide whether or not my knees are willing to do the PCPP race.

2009 I-Cup 40+ Overalll Champ

2009 Icup Expert 40+ Series podium

Thanks Erika!

Meanwhile, I was sufferin with 400 others in the Laramie Enduro, hung with Brad Pilling and recently flat tire sufferers Shannon B and Ryan A till mile 40, when I remembered the last 25 miles of the 67 mile race were the hardest. Ended up finishing at 6:03 34th overall.

More later.....

Jackson Zing

E-Pow picked me up Friday am and we headed out to Teton Village via Evanston-Cokesville-Afton etc... When we arrived, the condo was empty and the skies were opening up rain. I took a nap, it felt good, The rain let up and E-Pow went out for a pre-ride around 3:30, I waited for Ty and Ted and we went out around 4:30 or so, the course was not muddy, actually dusty for the most part, it seemed they had smothed out some of the tech sections while leaving others in place. Friday evening the gang was all there and we fed our faces and settled in for a restless night of sleep (except for Ron, Chad and the other Bobby who stumbled in around midnight or so).

This may very well be my favorite XC course

Woke up around 6:30, ate, embrocated (it was 55 degrees) and headed out to register. I then had 45 minutes to warm up, I did about 1/4 of a lap, came back to the feed zone, took off my jacket and arm warmers and then went and rode up this super steep-loose hill which put me on the final DH of the course, came down and we were staging-perfect. Ed held the start for 10 or so minutes as a pro had to cut the cable lock to get his bike off his rack, no one i know of complained about it.
We had over 10 at the start, including several locals. The start went off and I went to the front and hit the one track first, i then backed off a little, to not go to far into the red and just steadily moved forward. The good Dr. was in second at this point and I knew he could climb away from me, so on the short steep stuff in the first mile or so I put in hard bursts. Then when we broke out to the short Down on the double track to the short double track rise, I put in a hard effort and kept it steady in the first long single track, after that I just alternated between pushing hard and conserving, usually pushing hard on the flats and low grade rises and conserving on the steep stuff, including the dreaded steep service road of the devil. Starting the DH on lap one, I saw Tim heading off course down a service road, he yelled that his drive train was shot(later to be a twisted chain) a bit later I spied the single speeder in our cat about a minute or so behind, so I tured up the speed a slight bit more on the DH and out of the saddled the start finish climb, slowing to get my bottle from Kim Abbott(Thanks) and then proceeded to do it all over again.

I was worried about Arantix Doc surging so I kept pushing after anyone in front of me. a bit into lap 2 we started coming up on the 12 and unders, in the far north woods section I came up on one and warned 'rider' and she proceeded to fall over, I did a combo cross dismount, are you ok? and through the brush and back on the bike, the rest of the passes went well. Then on the steep climb of the devil my rear tire popped off a rock and felt flat all of a sudden, about 1/3 a way up the steep part, I jumped off, dumb, grabbed it, not flat, re-mounted and somehow kept going up the hill.

Lap 3 was uneventful, just kept pushing and trying to catch the guy with the most base miles of anyone I know, who started 2 minutes ahead. Didn't catch him though.

So in the end I came away with W #2 of 2009, about 4 minutes up on 2nd. I spoke of zing last year. Saturday at Teton Village, I had Zing. It was so diametrically apposed to my 2nd place at Solitude the week before, which was the furthest from Zing I have been ever.

Some race stats.
3rd best expert time
Passed all other experts but 1st 19-29 and 1st and 2nd 30-39
Lap 1 - 35:20
Lap 2 - 35:57
Lap 3 - 37:02

Sad part, got a 25 dollar gift cert to Fitzgeralds Bikes, which closed before we got there and was not open Sunday, sold it to the Other Bobby for 15 bucks.

Post race we took a tram ride to the top, hiked around, came back, went to mexican for Ty, went to mangy moose for a bit and crashed out.

Got up and headed home pretty early.

I guess the final race is NOT double points, which I did not know till Saturday, which means I sealed up the series with my win. E-Pow will be my stand in on the Podium next week, as I will be in Laramie racing the Enduro. Can't believe another Icup season is done.

Seriously, I think that was the hardest XC race I have ever done.

Late Edit--Lotsa Race Photos here, courtesy of Lyna

I rode the course quite a bit during the week, including Friday with Newby, afterward I soaked in the creek for 30 minutes (I hear that is a no no though).
Lyna and I got there early enough so I could meander my way to getting kitted up for the warm up. Before the race Chris B said he was retired. I hope that isn't true, I like chasing him. Ty and I headed out up the pavement for a small lap warm up, plus some other openers. I got a good warm up, well it was warm too.

Sam and I had a gap going up the short dirt road/paved road section, I let off the gas as he came around me into the singletrack, not wanting to blow up. Honeycomb and Quenn Bess are painful and I did not want to blow up with the upper service road climbs ahead. BK got around me on Queen Bess. I just setted in, it was gonna be a long day. I made it over the top and headed down Kruzr, BK was on the side of the trail with a flat tire, I told him to get moving and kept going.

I never saw Sam again and never saw anyone behind me either, I just kept trying to pass people in other categories to keep motivated. The curse was brutal, about 4400 feet of climbing in under 22 miles. The DH was rough and my arms were pretty pumped halfway through the race, then my quads got pumped on the DH, on the last 1/2 (really 3/4's) lap I was actually DH'ing alot in teh saddle, The Zaskar absored it well, my quads needed the rest. We had over 10 at the start and only 5 finishers, rough day at the office.

I ended up in 2nd, 3rd year in a row, this time though I was 9 minutes out of 1st, crazy, Sam is on fire right now. The new course is a Brute, not going up the road on the first lap changes the race strategy, the road, while painful, exposed and not fun, did play into my strengths, oh well, it will make me stronger.

Sunday met up with Shannifer, Ryan, Jenelle, Carl and Ty for an extended Mill D loop (3400 feet of climb in 17.7 miles), new Onetrack off the top of Guardsman was a blast, then up Puke hill. Part way up, Ty passes me and grabs my rear brake HARD, well I did it to him earlier on the road. Shannons front wheel then plows into my Rear D and my chain pops behind the cassette, we get it out, adjust the shifting and keep going, then on the last little up before the Spine I shift behind the cassette again, By that time Ty had left us 'to go work on a school paper' whatever, he was scared. Payback is gonna be hell.

Good Weekend

Snowbird is always under appreciated, due to it being hard and the DH f Sketch (BTW, Brad Newby has the copyright to that name) Well for 2009, SNowbird added some new one track, rumor has it it was a requirement for Specialized to do its 2010 roll out to the Press Corps 2 weeks ago and to dealerss this week, so new One track on the climb to replace the steep, head down and suffer climb. Sadly, that climb was good for me, cause I like to suffer, well, not really.

We had about 12 at the start, including a guy in a Specialized kit who ended up being the SPecialized Rep from China, he was all smiles and taking picures while we were staged, There is a mere 400 yards before teh single track and I wanted to get in early, I knew Sam would go first, so I had to gas it a bit to get around BK. The new onetrack started with a big ring speed section, and I didn't want to be 'held' up by his single gear, you know, small victories matter, to me.

Here I am thinking, I gotta get around this luddite NOW!!!!

BK then got around me halfway or so up the new one track, Chris B came around towards the topthe DH was the DH, didn't lose a spot and mostly held onto Chris B. When I had passed the Gad base and was headed up teh steep road before the onetrack traverse to the finish, I could saee Karl and Tim about 30 or so seconds back. I went through the Start/finish line for lap one of 4 at 26:18, Uh Oh.

Lap 2, it rained, luckily I had embracted during the prerace rain, so my legs were warm. Karl was not too far behind once we hit the one track climb to the top, and again at the same place I saw him on Lap one at the bottom, he was still 30 seconds or so back, on the one track traverse, Chris B had a mechanical, his day was over. I WAS NOT IN THE TWETY CHAIR, for the time being. Lap 2 was 27:52, more reasonable.

LAp 3, still raining, Karl was still right there, I could catch glimpses of Sam and BK way up on the climb, nd again at the same place I saw him on Lap one at the bottom, he was now about 45 seconds back. Lap 3 was 28:43, please don't blow up.

Lap 4, rain stopped, legs on fire from embrocation now. I rode the 4th lap as smart as I could, passing people as much as I could and 'attacking' steep climbs, where prior laps I spun them, I then spun the rough one track climb sections and DH'd the DH of sketch carefully, at the appointed bottom, Karl was nowhere in sight, part of me said, whew, but another part hoped he was ok, cause that DH takes victims regulary. I atttacked the One track traverse like someone was on my wheel, for training purposes as well as knowing that anything can happen, I had lost my C02 and quick stick earlier in the race, so a flat would of had me running (walking) my bike. Came across in 3rd. Last lap 28:39. whew.  Sam is right next to certifiably nuts in the way he hits the DH and BK, well, mutant.

No tweety chair, Karl didn't even show to the awards to claim the tweety chair, I hope he is ok. The Cross Doc had a few meetings with the dirt as well, one pre-race. Hope he is ok. 

Lyna took some phots of the 2nd wave races, but was also passing bottles. Check em here. Search by name or number.

Saturday evening I met Mark at Rio Tinto to watch Real Salt Lake play Club America, 1st half we sat in the sun, and my legs were quite post embrocation hot, 0-0 at the half, e head to the other side where a co-workers of Mark's sits and had 2 empty seats next to him, end of game RSL1- CA0, totally unexpected, chippy game, lots of fouls and the like. Thanks Mark, that was fun.

Sunday, E-Pow and Ken Costavich go ride without me, early (I like sleeping in post race, sue me, I'm old). SO Lyna and I head to Eggs in the City for Brunch, I come home, take a nap, mm nap, then at 4 I get motivated and mount up the Zaskar and head towards Mill Creek, I kept climbing, hit the pipeline up at Church Fork, dang I forgot how steep that was, I have to bail to the road at the next access point to re fll water bottles, then head back up the Piepline to elbow fork, then up the road to the Big Water parking area, I decided that if I was already there I may as well go up to dog lake, so I did, at this point I was 2.5 in and was tired, but the DH made that all go away, until Rattlesnake Gulch, which is not friendly 3+ hours into a post race day ride, with losse rocks, and dust, but I made it down without any falls or blood. Ran into the Oilcan walking his pups on my way down from dog lake.

Nice ride profile.
I may slee well tonight.

chain mail, but you will actually get something

First, check this out.

Second,

Raced the new Mid Week course at Solitude last night, came in 5th, due to
attrition mostly, but that is part of it. Felt good, maybe like even my fast is back.

Third, I like this idea, plus i like free stuff.

Here’s how it works. The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something handmade from me. But in return, you have to make this same offer on your blog and make something for five other people.

If you want to play, copy the text below onto your blog and leave me a post:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.

I reserve the right to make you whatever I want. It will not be virtual, it will be an actual object.

No racin' No Bloggin'

Been a while since the DV Icup. Took a trip to the mother land, nice 5 days, relaxing off the bike with the family.

Raced a few Wednesday nighters at Solitude, 1 not last place and one DNF in the 'Pro' group.

Last Saturday was a nice 3 hour tour of DV with Kathy, a few road rides thrown in between.

On Jul 4 I hit 2 laps of the new Snowbird Course, the new climb and the new 1/2 mile mini loop at the bottom will change the race dynamics completely, GO pre-ride, maybe more people will sack up and race it now:)

Today Kathy, E-Pow and I did about 3.5 in DV again, meeting at the Jordanelle exit, climbing village-heinous hill- Deer Crest- 4 points to SIlver Lake lodge, Mid Mtn to Team Big Bear, Flagstaff loop with a short Homeward bound spur, down Team Big Bear, across Mid Mtn to PCMR and bak to silver lake, down Deer crest out outlook and down spin cycle to the cars. Great day on the bike. Fun and cool at the top, about 5k of climbing and around 27 miles.

DV PEDALFEST 2009

Deer Valley is always a good course for me, lots of climbing, broken up in 2 pieces per lap. I had 2 W's here in 2008, the ICUP and the National. Again, like last year, everyone was worried about the weathers effect on the course. Like last year, I kept telling them, the course holds up well in the rain. Like last yea, it did and it was in great, fast shape. As Dana H said post race, we did little or no damage to the trails, in the dry, moondust years, the switchbacks became canyons.
We had a good group of close to 20 at the start, I had no intentions of blowing up on the first climb. At the top, I was in 4th, the first DH had some greasy wide corners, which wanted to take the front wheel out from you, by the time all the expert groups went through it, they dried a bit and were fast on laps 2 and 3. Chris, BK and Sam were not to far ahead of me climbing up little stick on lap 2, Dr X mentioned Sam seemed to be fading. So i just kept it steady, passing 19-29ers and 30-39's often. I also wanted to be sure Todd H didn't catch me on the DH, so i get myself loose and smooth and maybe a bit fast.

Heading into lap 3 I see Chris and BK halfway up the climb and Sam halfway between them and I. At the top portion of the climb I get out of the saddle and ramp it up a bit. Going up the gravel road part of Heinous Hill I see Sam about 50 yards ahead with A Lis and another 30-39 in between. We hit the top of Heinous and Sam was about 15 yards ahead, I yell to A Lis 'I gotta Catch that Guy. On the North heading false flat traverse we were pretty much all together, Sam, A Lis, other 30-39, me, goin about 15 mph, on a wide right turn the other 30-39 racer passes A Lis on the inside, taking A Lis out. I pretty much have to stop and creep aroun A Lis, the other rider slows and apologizes to A Lis, and lets me around him, Sam is gone, a few DH switchbalcs then the long south heading traverse. My plan, was to be on Sam's wheel going into this and accelerating when it pitched up for about 1/3 mile. I would likely be able to get a big enough gap to hold him off for the last podium spot. Alas, he had about 15 seconds on me, so once the incline started I ramped it up, got on his wheel about 20 yards from the top and sprinted around him, I got a small lead, then on the steep rutty DH he comes flying past me in the grass, I tried to latch back on, but couldn't. He blew a spoke in the rough stuff too, I'm just glad, for his sake, that the wheel held up, that coulda been ugly.

4th again, tweety chair and pink ribbon. I blame A Lis. Ok, not really, It is much more fun to race till the end than be out in no mans land.

(here i am pointing out where my plan SHOULD of come into fruition)

Lap times look good.

36:25

36:52

37:53

Now it is almost a month till Snowbird.

Lots and lots of Lyna's photos are here seriously, if you raced, there has to be at least 1 photo of you there.

Opportunity

Life is all about seizing the moment.

The ride this evening was amazing and beautiful.

This Evening your host will be ridin a CX bike

HTFU

Late Edit:

For full disclosure, by the time I found a set of CX wheels that would hold air, embrocated, and dressed, the rain had ceased, so I got to berate my fellow riders, act hard and stay dry, WIN WIN WIN.

Rico, PC is better than Mill Creek

MMMMMMM Dirt.

Wow

The Wasatch has 2, count em, 2 Weekly Wednesday Night MTB series. I was worried about one or both being adversely affected by this. Word is though that each one, last night had close to 100 participants. Awesome. MTB racing is alive and well in the Wasatch.

My race went as expected in the expert A's (Pro as the promoter called it, ha) DFL. Consistent lap times, and Chris Peters assured my low self esteem, by dropping out when I was hoping for 2nd to last. I did win the 'stay in the big ring for the whole race' battle, so there is that. I also won another water bottle, which is good. Oh and I didn't crash, although I hit the downhill very conservatively.

Park City Point2Point

I'm guessing it is official now.

Sundance Spinners

Was not sure how my hand was going to hold up race day. Took a 45 minute spin with a few 10 second efforts on Friday night, no problem, pavement is different.

I picked Caveman up around 7:30 and we headed south. We were engrossed in conversation and missed the exit, so we had to backtrack a bit. Registered about oh, 9 am, parked it and got a sweet 10 minute warm up in.

We had about 20 at the start, close to 350 overall racers, so much for participation flagging when we hit the ski resort courses.

Ed started us after the single speeders, drat. Chris B took off from the start, I got on his wheel, hoping to get past as many SSers as possible before we hit single track, alas we did not get past many, I think Jack was in 3rd at this point. We had little trouble getting around a bunch of SSers on one track and we crested the top, Chris 1, me 2, Jack 3, I think. I was descending poorly, due to my crash Wednesday and halfway down Brad and Sam were on my wheel, Sam got around me and Brad stayed back there till we started climbing the Pavement, I settled in a bit on lap 2, Jack got around me towards the top and put a gap on me, Halfway down the descent on lap 2 I let Henneman around me and I tried to follow his wheel, this seemed to snap me out of my bad descending for the day. When we hit pavement I motored past him. Halfway up the climb, I could see I was pulling Jack back, we were dealing with lapped traffic though. On the double track towards the top, I went around him and tried a small acceleration, small was right.  The last descent we had some traffic issues, mostly no problem, but one guy would not let us past, Racer, me,Jack and Paz were piled up behind him, all having a gap between us until we came upon him, finally he let us by, I was glad Jack made it by as well, cause I did not want that to be our race. 

I motored on up the pavement and came in with a 14 second advantage over Jack, for 4th, again, 3 weeks in a row on the tweety chair and a pink ribbon.

Lap times

34:27

36:18

35:27

consistency is good, I wish I woulda got a decent warm up in though.

Sunday was 2 hours on Flying Dog with Fred P and Brian H, who I ran into in the parking lot, we got hammered in a cold lighting full down pour in the last 15 minutes of our ride, other than that it was awesome, wait, that was awesome as well.

Rewind to yesterday

Break Room Dialogue

Alisa (co worker) : So Bob, how often do you crash?
Bob: Rarely, I try not to over do the downhills, most of my crashes are stupid and slow speed, like last Tuesday pre-riding the Draper race course.
Alisa: Hmm

Fast Forward to about 6:45'ish, Round Valley, Top of the race loop, in about 2nd to last place in expert A group, first lap, starting the DH, Right Hand sweeping, rocky loose turn.

Front wheel disappears, left hand crunches on something, handlebar jabs into my hip, right leg grinds up on rocks, bike goes into brush. I jump up, to get outta anyone's way, start trying to relax and check tio see if hand is broken, i hang out about 5-10 minutes, then ride down and DNF and clean up.

Today my hand is sore, I feel like someone punched me in the hip and i got some good trail rash.

I blame Alisa.

Stan Crane Memorial 2009

I spent a lot of time in the 2 weeks prior to the race riding the course, mostly to dial in the Ghost Falls DH. Also because the trails are so dang fun. I actually almost went 3 weeks off the road bike. Boffeli said something like, welcome to the right way.

So first I want to thank Ed, Sue all the volunteers for their long day of smiles and good attitude. Then I want to thank Ken Murdoch, he is one of the reasons the trail system in Draper is what it is and will be what it is for years to come, He was out there at 4am checking conditions and rallying his troops to remark and man the course when it needed to be changed to protect the trails.

So Lyna and I show up to the venue at 6:45, Keating tells us 1 hour delay, I'm like, well, ok, no problem, then I send out a team email and a txt message for as many as I could. Then the course changed once and then twice and I was glad, cause we gotta protect the trails. Then the new course was all sandy soil and would hold up even if it rained again. Ed also decided to do 2 waves, which was a great thing, but meant Experts and Pro's would not go off till after 1, 5 hours after the planned start. Of well Whitney Pogue made some awesome oatmeal rasberry snacks, which helped keep me Carbed up. I got in a 2nd warm up 2 hours after the first and we started a bit after 1. 3 seven mile laps were on tap.

Ribonucleic got the hole shot with me on his wheel under the tunnel, I then went the front and got passed by Chris B and BK on the first short double track. I got to the rolling single track and let up a bit to recover from the start effort and Sam got by me, the 1 mile double track down hill seemed to take and eternity, into a head wind, Tim W got by me here, the 1 mile double track climb with a tail wind was a god send, and my best race section all 3 laps. Ribonucleic was on my wheel a bit up the first time, but I kicked in a small attack and separated myself. Tim was still close ahead but we were already catching other categories, making it difficult to close the gap n singletrack.

On lap 2 up the double track climb I was right on Tim's wheel going into the singletrack and we got separated a bit here. Finally on lap 3, on the first doubletrack section, I was passing utmtb.com Mikey and he said Go Bob!! This foiled my evil, sit on Tim's wheel unannounced plan' and I had to attack, I put in a bout a 30 second big ring effort and passed as many other categories as I could, hoping to pull back the top 3, alas, I came in 4th. Good news was that I charged on the last lap, instead of fading.

The course was fun, although I want to race the planned course. The post race BBQ was good and fellowship as always was good.

Congrats to cavey on his second win.

Everytime I was climbing, I ws thinking of Stan. I wish the Pillings coulda been there, stupid immigration laws.

Hammerfest at the Holler

I love this race course, it is hard, real hard, dizzy hypoxia inducing hard.


Ooh, I am sure that everyone knows my race strategy now that they will all start beating me. (kidding)

We had about 15+ at the start, I went hard, uh, yeah, really, and went into the short singletrack first.

Chris B passed me and Jack D was on my wheel. We started opening up a gap on the group with Chris about 10 seconds up and Tim WHite about 10 secs behind Jack and I, Chris had a skipped gear and Jack and I went around him, soon after he caught us again. Jack and I dropped off the top together and I saw Tim W go down on a hi speed corner while he was trying to catch us, at the lap Chris was 20 seconds up and Jack was 5 or so up on me. We had a very large gap at this point on the group. Chris and Jack started extending their gap on me, so I settled in and hped for the best. I started passing lots of 19-29'ers and 30-39'ers and just kept chugging, the course makes it easy to see well behind you and I saw no one in my group coming. I held it together on the 3rd lap with very little let down compared to previous races, I was cathcing Ryan K from Kuhll and used that as a carrot, he was using it as a rabbit. A bit before the single track climb at the top a Kuhl rider on a single speed motored past me and I noticed his tag showed he was in my category, crazy, I could not hold his wheel and in the end I finished 4th, still happy, the corner has been turned as expected.

I hit the Draper course again today, met up with team Shannifer and Brian in the middle of their 5.5 hour ride to show them around, that course is a blast!

'Group RIde'

We handed out Team Revolution Peak Fastener Kits at the shop last night, plan was to then do a jaunt up to the Temple Quarry trail and back. Ty and Ryan were planning on riding corner canyon and no one besides BZ and I showed up to ride so BZ and I decide to go with the corner canyon option. Ryan was going to meet us at the EQ center at 7, Ty went home to get changed and get his Scalpel. He shows back up at the shop at 6:35. I estimated around 45 minutes easy pace to teh EQ, well Ty had other plans, it took us about 21 minutes to get to the eq. Ty led from the shop to 123000 south on 700 east, we averaged about 29mph in that stretch. Then we climbed clarks (heckled some teamates building the beginings of a new trail) Then climbed halfway up Jacobs ladder and descened that and ghost falls, checking out, but not riding the wall (part of the Icup course) We then made it back to the EQ and BZ< Ty and I had to ride back to the shop, BZ started the attacks on 1300 east, and Ty followed, I just tried to hang on, then I made an attack on Pioneer road and just prayed to get caught soon. Ty and BZ then just pulled my old ass in the rest of the way.

I was gonna hit the mid week race tonight, but not now, got a good enough workout in last night.

stealing from the rich

Sherwood Hills was on the old course, as the snow had melted away, good times.  I showed up at 9 am to support Revolutions lone beginner and to hang out with Ryan et al.

Ty, Kelly, Greg, Jeremy, Justin and I went out and did a lap of the course for a warmup. It was in good shape. And the weather was in the mid 50's to 60's perfect for racing.

I think there were around 12 or so expert 40+ at the start line, we hit the start loop at a good clip and I am on the front, Tim comes around me a bit later then halfway through the first lap BK is with us, we have a gap on the group, at least I think we did.  BK comes around me on the last short up before the single track DH, Tim comes around me on the dirt road dh and we put a gap on BK, he then just motors past us on the start of the climb, I try to keep Tim in site. On lap 2 I let off the gas a bit as I wanted to hold some reserves (ha) Tim was about 30-45 seconds ahead of me here. Halfway through lap 3 I see the under armor wearing guy, but I gap him in the single track, He motors past me on the climb to the lap spot, I am now in survival mode. Halfway through lap 4 DC catches and passes me pretty much exactly where he did last year, I am in the 22-32 and suffering.  Several of the 30-39 racers I passed passed me back like I was standing still.

Lap times (main lap not including start loop or finish twisties)

23

24:30

26

28+

The lap has no place to hide or recover. Around 500 feet of climbing in  less than 2 miles, then most of the descending is broken up between short hi speed double track and pedally twisty single track and the false flat down hill.  I was good until about 1:10 into the race, that is when my HR and speed took a dive and I was in survival mode.

Right on track.

BK is a mutant, I won't even mention what he ate not 45 minutes before our start.

I did a 3 hour ride from home to shoreline from zoo to city creek, up to the antennas and home, got a real good sunburn, worked in the yard and now I am blown, oh and 1-800flowers failed, my mom did not get her flowers, crap.

In other news the Solitude Mid week series will be back, Wednesdays this year, first 4 races at Round Valley area starting May 27th, last 6 at the 'Tude.  The website will be updated soon.

I still don't have any more news on the Labor Day weekend endurance race, as soon as I do, I'll let ya know.

Ouch

Intervals, the doctor says they are boring and dumb, he may be right, did two 10 minute pushes tonight and tasted blood, got dizzy and overheated, ran into Mikey as he was heading down from Big Mt.

Tailgated a group of Ski/Utah and Visit Salt Lake riders up most of EMi before I hit the first effort.

My power tap hub is loose, way to loose to be riding for 2+ hours.

All the while Lyna and Nathan were building a fence in my backyard, guess I should go make dinner.

And Go.........

Woke up this am, checked the doppler and saw the big green blob covering most of Utah. Told my self, it will be ok and laid down for another 30 minutes. @ 7:45 BZ calls and asks if i am still in, I say of course, he asks what I am doing, I say making waffles, he asks where, I say at home, he asks when I plan on leaving, I say oh @ 8:30. He says, um the race is at 10, I say I know..... oh shit. 50 minute drive and not quite ready, well Lyna helps me rally and I am out the door by 8:05.

It was raining, driving past Draper on I-15 was dry, Keating texts me to say Wet and Sloppy, heading west of Lehi it is dumping rain, like tropical island down pour, The car in front of me is close to hydroplaning, I see Ty headed the other direction, he calls and said they may delay, shorten or postpone till Sunday(unlikely). I keep going, about a mile from the venue the clouds are higher, and lighter, but still raining. About 9:30 word comes down that we will do one lap on a 5ish mile course starting at 11, then it stops raining, at 10:30 it changes to same lap counts as regular race but on the 4-5 mile course. I warm up a bit on the trainer and just chill a bit, cause who knows what will happen in these conditions.

We start ON time, heck half the expert 30-39 group misses their start. There are about 10 of us 40+ experts. I line up on the second row, to stay on a good line, off the start the guy in front can't get in his pedal and then spins out in mud, so i am in last, I find a line on the right side and motor to the front halfway up the first short climb. A bit later I understand Sam and Dr X are on my wheel and we have a large gap on the field. Sam gets past me around halfway through the first lap, I just keep going at my pace, The first 2/3rds of the course were fine, climb@ 300 feet in 1.5 miles then descend. Most of the descent was fast, flowy and tacky, but there were 2 sections at the end that were bad, a flat 1/8 mile bog down and a puddle ridden slick 1/4 mile. I cleaned all of it though. first lap 3.16 miles, @14 minutes. Rich C was about 20-30 seconds back from me, Sam was about 20-30 ahead. Halfway through lap 2 we are already catching beginners, sam is on the side of the trail with a flat. I have caught all but the top 3 30-39'rs. Second time through the bog was brutal, lappers walking in the middle, but I cleaned it again. Lap 3 may have been my fastest, i burned all my matches on the climb and cleaned the bog easily (it had firmed some) the puddly section was rough, Blaney was taking lappers out in front of me and I was laughing so hard I almost ate it.

Came through with my first 2009 win in about 45:30. I need more 45 minute races this time of year.

Lots of flat tires today, weird, then post race, the sun came out, and it warmed up, figures. Lots of regulars where scared away by the weather. Don't really blame em, except for all the CX'ers, chickens.

Pictures when I get em, they should be good.

What a difference a day makes

About 20 of us lined up for the XC race Sunday. As KC and Karl say, Ed spoils us with his organization, entry fees and customer service. From the start I had nothing to give, just stayed towards the back and hoped that I would surge towards the end if the race. Yeah, that did not happen. Rot gut and in turn rot legs made for a long day. I thought that I would just have fun, but that did not happen. I finished 19th, pretty sure that was dead last, packed up and headed home. I had to stop in Price and take a nap, then when I got home I went straight to bed and stayed there for about 16 hours. Not sure if it was something I ate or a touch of a flu.

Oh well, next time.

Wabbitt Vallweee Time Twial

18 minutes and some change of fun. Was trying to go sub 18 but too short of a warm-up, bad line on a ledge step up and, oh, yeah, my legs and lungs kept me from it. Good enough for 2nd. I am amazed at how hard it is for my mind to get itself wrapped around that short of a solo effort. Am I going too hard? too easy?? Crazy. We went off in 1 minute intervals and I caught my minute man about 1/3 of the way in, then no one, cause there were 3 ghosts between him and the next guy, who won. It should be said that all the ghosts were likely due to the fact that many front rangers got stuck on the wrong side of the I-70 closure. Fun 4.11 miles.

Tomorrow is a one big loop 30 mile XC race, I have ridden about 3 miles of it, so yeah, I'm ready.

This is what I know

1. Zoo to Red Butte was sweet this evening, damp and tacky and empty. I am sure it is the same all the way to Dry Creek.

2. There will be Pain in Fruita Saturday and Sunday, I will get to meet a few of my GT Dirt Coalition teammates there.

    I will be chasing wabbit's in the valley Saturday and sunday 

3. For all the endurance junkies, more info

    a. Race date is planned for September 5th.

   b. Point to Point race in Park City 

   c. 70-100 miles TBD

    d. All of this is 99% for sure, will be 100 in a week or so

JZ, that should work for ya.

5:30 ride was good

Had to get in a few hours pre storm, ended up going medium hard since it was 50 watt, Fred and I. Fred was bringing the heat. We rode to the top of Bobsled and reversed course back to the zoo, for about 15 miles of dirt. Lots of people out there, the ride had its share of carnage,  Iwas trying to grind up the mini spine above red butte and bounced out of my pedal or on a rock or something. at a dead stop my left leg collapsed under me and the bike with a 45%+ slope dropping 100 feet next in my day, luckily Fred helped me right my self before i did any damage. I did get some nice Crank Bro's scrapes on my calf, no worry.

Then on teh top of Bobsled some guy was running up the banned bikes trail, Fred asked him how it was, he said Bikes are banned, Fred said, ok, so did you come over from the other trail, he said yes, bikes are banned, Fred said, ok, so how is it? The guy goes into some tirade and runs off?????? So much for small talk.

We then decided maybe we should of called him an a-hole or something. Then we burned it back to the zoo. Good Times,

Monday Evening Dirt

5:30 at the Zoo trail head.

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Fitty Watt may grace us with his presence. GO as far as we can before hitting mud. Hopefully all the way to City Creek.

Broke Down Automobile

So on Sunday Erika, Ken, Billy, Ryan K, Doug, Erich and I met in Bloomington on the bottom of Bearclaw Poppy. We headed out to Stucki Springs, Doug spent the day on Bear Paw. At the Top of Stucki we turned Erich around to go find his dad. The rest of us made our way via double track over to Barrell Roll. We then turned around and made it back to the cars in 3 hours of good, fun riding. The Bottom of Beaclaw is choppy from impatient mud riders, a bit rough on the descent.

We headed to In & Out for Lunch and while leaving saw Mr. Hales going in who told us he rode Gooseberry and the road was dry. Oh well.

Somewhere around mile marker 35 heading up towards Cedar City the engine just gave out, came back, gave out, So Erika and I were burning up the breakdown lane at 45mph till the Ranch Exit and MM36.

I called Steve Hales to see if he could pick Erika up, he did. I then called Danny, good friend, rider, racer, and boarding house for pro's who also happens to be a mechanic. He told me to try and make it back to St G and otherwise he would come get me. I made it to right before the Leeds exit before it started acting up again, so I took the frontage road to Quail Creek and then Telegraph to Danny and Kim's house. We went for a drive to show Danny what was up and then rode our bikes to a neighbors house for dinner.

We woke up early on Monday and headed over to Danny's work and hooked the computer up to the car and figured out the problem. VTEC has a screen, that was clogged and when the cam was trying to switch, the oil pressure didn't change so the computer shut the engine down.
So he cleaned it out, changed the oil and put in a good oil filter and new air filter, we tested it all again and it was all good to go (Element and other VTEC engine owners, use good Oil Filters)

So I went to get some lunch and headed over to Prospector and Church Rocks for a bonus desert ride.

The Zaskar on Church Rocks

Bad self portrait

I then drove home, this view in Utah county about 45 miles from home always seems unreal to me.
So, really, the whole experience further illustrates what Bike racing REALLY means to me. Community. The Community that is there for each other, has fun and helps each other when needed. Yes, we all want to go faster and win, but the question I have for you is whether or not the community is more important?

Cholla Challenge

This years version of the Cholla Challenge was built to bit a bit shorter than years past. 7.1 mile laps instead of 11-12 mile laps. The promoter linked up familiar trails and double track to make a very fun course. I must say, I have never considered this race fun. Today I did. The all day rainstorm on Friday made the course firm and fast, all the sandy sections were rideable and not energy sucking. The course still required pedaling 95% of the time, very little recovery available

We had around 15 people in the Expert 40+ group and it was going to be fast. I took off in 3rd position and made it to the initial slick rock climb still in 3rd. BK got around me here and Tim and Karl were with me. Chris B got by me a bit later. I rode the rough baby head double track smooth and Was sure I flatted in the dip the claimed many a rider today. I caught a Red Rock rider soon and Tim, Karl and I rode to gether to the lap zone, I put in a little gap on them and Tim crawled his way back to me. Tim and I were never more than 30 feet apart, surging and slowing on different sections we where stronger on. I had a plan to hold him off in the end.

3rd lap started and I was still feeling good, Tolbert, racing 19-29 gave me a pull for a bit and Tim was still right there. About 2 iles left in the race I was feeling a bit worked, but still able to turn the pedals well. Tim joked about holding hands over the finish line. About a mile left in the race and my legs were done, immediatley Lynda came blowing by me, she was flying, as the race was about 8 hours shorter than she is used to. I tried to hold her wheel, couldn't. Another 40+ rider passed me and I ended up in 6th. Only about 5 minutes down on the winner though, better than the 10 minutes at the Rampage. The heart rate track dives in the last mile of the race, better than the last 5 miles though.

Still look to be on track for the season fitness wise, the course does not play to my strengths, with it's short climbs and no recovery. Very happy with the result regardless of the last mile melt down.

Congrats to BK for the win on his rigid single speed no less.

The Zaskar ran flawlessly, fast and zippy and the carbon smoothed out the rough stuff. Very please with the machine. Having run a full squishy for the last year I was worried about the affect in the rough stuff, barely noticeable really, and so responsive when accelerating.

(photos coming)

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Dis whether, she maka me no happie

Well at least it should be sunny and warm all weekend in hurricane for the race and ridin.

Did 3 minute intervals up emigration today, got a rear flat on the roadie after the first, made the final 2 lessons in low motivation, at least the first one was good,

I keep trying to do intervals up emi, I keep remembering why I don't after the first try, too many flat and downhills on the way up makes it hard to keep the power up. Mill Creek is next.

Dr. X and Cavey (holy crap he actually updated his site) are bailing on the MTB race so they can race in circles, at least it should be entertaining, cold and wet this year.

Daren  and Rico (cause he is afraid to get cold) are at least trying to make it to the MTB race.

Kathy had a good race at the Pro XCT opener. She will be drinking the blood of her rivals within a month, guaranteed, I'm calling a Sea Otter podium for sure.

Everyone, repeat after me

'CRITS ARE STUPID'

Thank You.

Zaskar in

I got the bike built up with some lighter-personal preference parts. Had a rear de issue yesterday, today got her out for the maiden voyage. 2+ hours on Pavement, The ride was good, the remote lockout for the fork is sweet, the frame is zippy out of the saddle. Me likey.

I did a 20 minute effort up millcreek and froze my behind off on the way down. Saw Samurai, Jz, Tayler, Dave and many others out there (apparantley I saw S-BO as well, he said so when he came by to borrow the official MTBRACENEWS camera for the Fontana Pro XCT). Also check out MTBRACENEWS brand new, sweet race calendar. If you don't see your race or series on there, contact shannon at shannon@mtbracenews.com

A week away is the next entry in the intermountaincup, the ever lovely Cholla Challenge, supposed to be a bit shorter thi year, so maybe I won't have to pee 5 miles from the finish like last year. I just want to laugh at Brad.

Come hang out with me at the Dirt Coalition Tent post race. Please, I need friends.   

(that's not me in the photo)