The year that was..... Bike racin....

The defining characteristic of my 2010 race campaign was a red ribbon. Well, at least theoretically. I went into the season with different expectations and motivations, the ICup races were to be training opportunities to help prepare me for endurance races, I only finished 1 mid week race, with DNF's in a few others due to flat tires or legs. I did no prescribed intervals at all riding hard a few times a week and having fun the rest of the time. I did no road bike rides from early April until the day after Christmas. I did close to 10 rides of 4 hours + mostly from my front door to dirt. I completed my first 12 hour solo race. Most of all I had fun.

I won a single race in 2010 - Snowbird, it came 2 weeks post 12 hour race, my body was in prime fitness. I took 7 2nd places.

Draper - BK tried hard to push me to third on the last lap, but my practices of attacking on the silica pit helped give me a gap to the finish line. I need to win this race some day.

Deer Valley - I wanted this one bad, I led for 3/4th's of the race, halfway through the last lap, Kevin came by and I could not hold on. Good fun on cold evening in June. Plus I got to Stay up most of the night cleaning and boxing my bike for an early morning flight to Kentucky for....

12 hours of Capital View - SUnday racing, no expectations, fun 8 mile lap, high temps, high humidity, unknown to me till the end, I was in the lead for 6 hours, had a bit of a melt down at 9-10 hours, regrouped and pulled out a strong 2nd.

Jackson Hole - Chris Bingham decided to come out of retirement for the last TEton race, we had god fun beating up on each other for the first lap, then my legs remembered the beating they had take 6 days earlier.

The Park City Point To Point - I had the perfect race, less than 5 minutes off the bike, perfect fueling, a spot of bother from John's to Steps, but great otherwise. Only 50 minutes behind first, hah.

UTCX #9 - Got the hole shot, led for half a lap, Sager comes around then i work hard to keep it upright on the ice and snow, holding off Wasmund..

UTCX #10 - Bad start, Rico gets a gap, Christian and I have a nice battle for a few laps, then I gap him and finish in the old familiar spot.

Had a blast this year, with some personal records, shaved 20 minutes+ off my Laramie enduro time, hit my goal time for the Whiskey off road, proved I had the mental cahones to ride for 12+hours. Had fun, spent time with friends and made new friends.

Happy New Year everyone.

lets try that again

i am not anti masters racing, Hell I am a masters racer, master racers are the bulk of the participants, they pay the bills, so to speak.

I am anti masters racing taking the sport in the wrong direction, I am anti masters racing taking away attention and funding for the future, I am anti masters racers complaining about entry fees and the like.

I am not a fan of USAC, for personal and professional reasons. I believe local does better and a loosely organized grassroots structure can strive and grow and keep the control in the local promoters/racers hands.

I am anti no qualifying to CX nationals (where fields reach 3 digits) and anti qualifying for MTB nationals (where fields are lucky to go above 20)

But in the end, I am a fan of dialogue, whether we agree or not, dialogue is good.

Adam, you are wrong, always, sorry.

I am a fan of snowy, icy cx races and hole shots and volunteers and people donating their time and resources for little to no recognition or reward.

thanks everyone, except you Adam. Sorry.

Masters Racers are Ruining the Future of Cycling

This is not pretty, not only the topic, but my attempt to get the thoughts down on 'paper' but i wanted to get these thoughts out there.

1. What have I done to help grow the sport?

2. What have I done to deserve deals?

3. What have I done that helps those who have a future and need assistance?

4. If i receive something from a business or sponsor, do I honestly give something back in return (sorry gang, a logo on a kit doesn't mean shit, nor does a podium at a local race)

I believe we should be spending our time and effort on building the sport for the future and I see many things that cause me great concern.

We live in a selfish society, people generally want to know what is in it for them, they want the ‘bro’ deal at a shop, they want free kits and entry fees covered all because they had a few decent results in some local weekend warrior event. Most of the people I see asking for these freebies DON’T need them, let alone, deserve them.

I see 30+ racers asking for and sometimes getting free bikes (I got one myself in 2009) I see shops recruiting 30+ racers by promising to pay entry fees and give away kits. I see teams reimbursing riders entry fees at the end of seasons. I see riders taking advantage of local businesses.

Most of this makes me uncomfortable and sometimes downright sickens me. Most of the people asking for and/or receiving these deals and dollars do not need them or in some cases don’t even deserve them.

Every single one of those dollars should be channeled into a junior program, building the future of the sport. As adults, we can afford a 30 dollar entry fee and a couple hundred bucks for a team kit

----Every time I hear someone complain about entry fees, while they ride off on a several thousand dollar bike, I want to throw up. ----

With very few exceptions, any racer, over 30, does not have a pro contract in their future. if these racers pooled their energy and time, just a small amount into building a sustainable Junior/U23 program, imagine the possibilities.

People are selfish, everyone is a legend in their own mind, because they win a sport race, a B race or a cat3 race, meanwhile, the next potential National Champion is sitting at home, because some jackass 40 year old, who drives a $40k SUV and lives in a $500K house got a 'Bro' Deal on a bike and entry fees reimbursed, leaving a business or teams budget empty.

What are you going to do about it?

10 years gone.

Somewhere in a jet-lagged, dusty, camp fire smokey, generator hum haze early Sunday morning I realized that almost exactly 10 years before I started this silly bike racin journey on that lame ass 14+ mile loop of the devil in Moab.

10 years countless races, probably 3-400. maybe 15 wins. 3 Series Championships. A few dabbles in road racin and crits, that lasted like 2 seasons. Team management, endurance racing, about 7 race bikes, Cyclocross starting 4 years in, and now race promotion.

Obsession? Of course.

Really, it is about the community, small circle of friends, to medium sized team to like minded others on other teams.

We are here for the same reasons, mostly, and as Jay Burke says. "Don't be a dick"

Heres to many more years, with maybe a few more wins, cause those are fun, and rare.

Are you that guy?

When on a descent or a climb and someone comes up on your wheel, cause they are faster than you and kindly requests to get by you when convenient, are you that guy who when you see it is a female who chooses not to let her by? You then speed up and either blow up, wreck or put others at risk?

Are you that guy? I ask cause there seems to be a shit ton of those guys in Utah. Seriously, so sorry about your lack of manhood and low self esteem, let the effin rider by.

that is all....

A wee bit of info fer ya.

Currently half way to Philly, for a Philly, Philly, Baltimore, NYC, NYC week. Followed soon thereafter by a SLC-DEN-EWR-Delhi-Bangalore-Manila-Dumaguete-Manila-NAR-SLC trip, Yay! Work travels somehow bookeneded thje MTB race season for me.

Meanwhile, if you have not already heard, there is a new game coming to town. S-Bo, Ty-Bo, Drew (born) Free and I will be promoting a 3-4 race XC series in 2011. We are meeting with land agencies and working out dates and venues and courses. More details to come, and we will not conflict with the I-Cup.

Cause we are not busy enough. And it is time. We are also looking for series/race sponsors, so if you have any contacts, let me know and i will get a sponsorship package out to them.

1 very important detail, 5 bucks per race entry will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, along with product raffle proceeds.

FB info here to keep up to date.

well, thats how you are supposed to feel

A few weeks prior to the PCP2P, Team Revolution-Peak Fasteners had an endurance racing clinic. A few of the teams veterans were on hand to answer questions and discuss planning, feeding, pacing, etc... These types of session are always good for everyone to learn something new. One thing I try and always tell people about racing is that planning is great, goals are great, squiggly lines are 'ok' but once the tires hit the dirt all of that is thrown out the door and it is just you and the moment.

Bart mentioned at the clinic a few things that stuck with me.

1. If you are not hurting, you are not racing, you are riding. (simple, well known but brilliant and easy to forget)

2. For a race the the P2P you should attack the climbs, cause there is as much DH to follow

my 'prep' for the race was pretty good, long hard ride with Ty and Drew 2 weeks out. less volume as the race got closer, with a good hard effort Tuesday night on part of the course. Friday, I took off work and headed up with the dogs to check into our condo, this checkin got delayed and I was on my feet a whole lot more than i wanted to be, I finally got a short spin in on the bike when the sun was going down. Ate dinner, slept fitfully for 6 hours, had a small breakfast, some coffee and headed to the start.

I started with the Non open 7-8 hour group. I think this was the correct place for me, as I figured that if everything went perfect, I could hit it. At the start of the singletrack I got around Jenelle, Jen and a few other open racers, later Holmes and Sarah K let me by. I finished the round valley section in under 52 minutes, feeling good and hit skid row/Prospector with a small group, Stuart, me and a few others held a good pace here onto DV proper. I hit aide 1 and aide 2 at the expected times. Then I headed out onto mid mountain for the Big Bear, Moose Bones, T&G, Empire Link, John's 99, Johns, Steps pit of despair.

The climb up Big Bear/Moose Bones wasn't horrible, but it was foreboding. It only took me like 25 minutes, but I suffered. The Downhill on T&G, while one of my favorite rides, started to beat up my bird like upper body, I also tagged the same tree I tagged riding Tuesday, this time instead of just hitting my right shoulder, I decided to punch it with my right hand. Johns trail beat the hell out of me, had me thinking of quitting. Followed by climbing up the payday road and then steps, damn, i was in serious pain. But as mentioned by me and others at the clinic, if you push through the pain light is right there.

After the yurt, I soft middle ringed the road to the Apex climb, taking on some fuel, shaking out the arms and legs, then on Apex, up to above Shadow lake, I felt new again and fast. Finally saw EPOW and her cowbell on the sketch road down to the lake. The Crescent mine descent went well and here I was at mile 55 at the PCMR aide station. Brooke, Mike and Gigi loaded me up with fuel, Wedge got me some chips and Ryan lubed me up (it was THAT sexy).

Spiro went surprisingly well, I passed at least 3 riders and made it up to the mid mountain turn at 35 minutes. The mid mountain re route was painful and slow. It was nice to see Monique on the trail near the colony. Later I passed a few other riders and rode up on Kelly K Boniface on Rob's, got around her on the traverse after turning off of Rob's and then made my way to the 1.4 mile climb of sorrow and then down the short descent t the finish.

Numbers

8:33:54

2nd Men 40-49

@29th overall

5 minutes total stoppage time

Zone 4 - 63% of race

Zone 5 - 7% of race

9 Bottles of Carborocket with Elete

3 Gel flasks with Honeystinger

2 Cups of water and a few chips.

I hit my 8 hour split from the start to Aide 2 and from PCMR to finish. From Aide 2 to Aide 3 I lost those precious 33 minutes.

8 hours is just a number, I am super stoked with my finish. I suffered, but that is why my finish was what it was.

Lots of myths and misdirection in the endurance advice world. I would like to think, one of the best pieces of advice available, is one I have heard in relation to the race of life;

What works for me. may kill you, what worked or me today, may kill me next week. It is all about the moment.

Shannon and Jay did a masterful job, but, they could not have done it without the help of friends and family. Volunteers made the day, and I believe they were all taken care with awesome swag. Slyfox Moonwillow, you are my Shaman.

Lyna was there sun up to past sundown doing food transport, aide station management and Jay Burke focus assistance post race.

Lucy, Anna, Alison, Lolly, Karen, Hillary and many others did excellent work to.

Lucy, thanks for the hug at the finish, I'm sure I smelled great.

Thanks to everyone for all the cheers and smiles. Good job to all the racers who lined up, regardless of whether or not you finished. The journey is critical and you won!

Last Icup for 2010 a review of the season

Was very disappointed with Ed's Saturday am tweet stating that the 2 way of the devil was removed from the race and that laps would remain the same, in my estimation this changed it from a 2:15+ race to below 1:45. Plus, 2 evil climbs per lap, play to my odd abilities.

So, I went hard on lap one, got passed by Wunder Master Kevin in the feed zone (as he almost took out his feed handler). Later on the service road Sam got by me, and stopped for several seconds t let the other mad dg 40+ expert past me on the one track climb.

Lap 2, as people know was a dark place, where I almost trhew in the towel, luckily, Adam and Aaron caught back up to me at the end of lap 2, so I had new found motivation.

Ended up 4th, first Tweety chair of the year and 3rd overall in the series.

I madea decision in the winter that results didn't matter, having fun did, Then I spent about 1/2 of December-March traveling for work, so not as much ride time in South Utah was had. THe Rampage was a Debacle, Cholla and 5 mile slightly better, Then Lyna and I decided to go to Hawaii in May with Gigi and Ty, unheard of. Missed Sundance (1 day post return) Ended up having an exceptional race the follwing week at Soldier Hollow. Then 2nd places at Stan Crane and Deer Valley, missed Sherwood, 2nd at Jackson (soley due to Chris B's lining up).

Snowbird was an unexpected win, enjoyed it, Solitude was a mistake of preparation, zero stans in front tire leads to flat, bad tube leads to inability to fix flat, DNF, I feel I was on my way to the win. Missed Snowbasin and faked The Canyons.

This year my focus has been on endurance races and my results at them have shown that my preparation has been dialed.

Whiskey Off Road in April, uncharacteristic early season positive result.
12 Hours of Capital View in June, my engine and will proved resilient for 12.5 hours in high heat and humidity.
Laramie Enduro - Even with a few strategy mishaps, improved my time by 18 minutes.
THE PCP2P - TBD

The ICUP is a good training stimulus for endurance, but the same Icup has, with few exceptions, been the only hard efforts I have done in 2010. I have only lind up for 2 Mid week races, DNF'ing one of those. I have had several Saturdays and Sundays that included 5+ hour epics (not conducive to Tuesday night worlds fastness).

Still, with all that lack of speed work, I end up 3rd overall in the series.

The moral of the story is, Years of riding makes a difference, the pian needs less tuning, but specificity, for me, chooses the path I excel in.

I'll likely do even less Icups in 2011, searching for more endurance fixes, they are for more satisfying and trying.

2010 Laramie Enduro

The 2nd time at a given race is usually a dangerous attempt. The lasting memory of the 2009 Laramie Enduro was my aching knees. Well, that and cow shit.

Only 6 of the 'team' got into Laramie this year. I say 'team' since Shannon, Brad and I are not officially on Team Revolution-Peak Fasteners and don't wear the same kit, my schizophrenic team tendencies are stuff for another long, revealing post......

There were several differences leading up to this years version.

1. I have done several Endurance races since the last version

1/2 of3the 2009 PCP2P

Whiskey Off Road

12 Hours of Capital View

2. My knee has not hurt

3. I have done several 4+ hour rides

4. I have done less mid week races

5. I have eaten less vanilla wafers

6. I weigh more

All have relevance, I'm sure.

So onto the race.

We line up at like 6:45, somehow Boffeli gets me to line up on the front row, next to the guys who end up being the top 3. Not that is matters, at least I stayed upright at the start. On the start up the short FS road to the one track, Kris Arnott was in3 the lead, I was hoping he would get the hole shot, but alas, he didn't. The first 6-7 miles were uneventful, and fun on some single track and some fire road. The promised Hawk attack at mile 6.25 never surfaced, sadly. And at about mile 7, on the legendary, shirt, loose dh of Doom, I realized I was in trouble, no I made it down alright, with no idiots around me to take me out. Therein lies the problem, I had no one around me, which meant........

The next 10-12 miles of open, fast FS road riding were going to be done alone, or spent waiting for a slower group. So, I chased, hard, like XC pace hard, never gaining, but never really losing much ground, the group behind me disappeared quickly, and an hour after that fun, I started passing others who were shelled out of the front groups.

I only stopped at aid station 3 this time to switch out hydration packs, but i got there 3 minutes faster than 2009 when I was in a pace line on the FS road section, strange. So began to wonder how much that chase was going to effect my overall time, plus the temperatures were rising.

Knowing the course can be damaging for a long race, cause sections seemed to be in different places during my race stupor, I was trying to do the math in my head of whether or not I was going to beat my 2009 time or meet my lofty goal. In the last 25 miles this year instead of being passed by a lot of riders like 2009, I passed several, including 5 on the last climb aka, Headquarters, which I cleared this year, and walked most of last year, due to sore knees.

I will say that at mile 45-55 i was figuring out how to transfer my PCP2P entry. Alas, I'll keep it.

In the end, I beat my 2009 time by almost 20 minutes, missed my lofty goal by 00:4:27 and only stopped to pee twice. There was less cow poop bogs and lots of FS bridges over mud and streams to help keep the giardia and e-coli at bay. The race was excellently organized, the volunteers awesome and the post race buffet, spectacular.

I'll likely be back in 2011.

Unfinished Business.

Solitude is one of my favorite venues, that and it is hard, really hard, relentless climbs and punishing descents.

Lyna and I arrived early for her race, like 4 hours prior to my race. Lyna had a good race, coming in 2nd. She is well on her way to recovery.

Last years race, while I took 2nd, was a debacle for me, I wanted to be sure that I did not implode. So I took off, from the start, but once we came around off the gravel to the short pavement section, I let off a bit and Sam came around me. I stayed on his wheel until just a bit into the honeycomb climb. I Kept a steady pace over the top and made it to the round house service road in front. I then put in a little effort at the top of the pavement.

On the initial descent, I worked mt way around a lot of SS/19-29 and 30-39ers. Came into the lap zone with a decent gap. By the feed zone on honeycomb, the gap had opened a bit, about 2/3rds up that service road, I felt my front tire very soft, so I stopped put some air in it and Sam and Kevin passed me. I got back on, and made it maybe half way up the single track before the tire went dead again, So I started working on getting a tube in it. No dice, in hindsight, I'm certain the Big Air Froze and then broke the tube valve stem, Ken C threw me his big air too, no bueno, so I hoofed back to the base.

Unfinished Business. I won at Solitude as a beginner in 2001, since then it has been a series of close calls, Paz, Sly, Chris B. and Sam all taking me to the cleaner. I felt comfortable and strong before the flat, later in the race, while leading, Sam had a race ending flat as well. It is a part of racing and the worst part of it was the lethargic, too many calories in my system feeling I had the rest of the day.

All cylinders see to be firing for Laramie however, 18 days away.

Unexpected

Saturday morning temps were nice, in the 60's in the valley when I woke up. I like that. Earlier in the week, I had pre ridden the SnowTurd, erm, Snowbird course. The Felt Team Nine worked much better on the new Singletrack climb than the Zaskar last year. The DH of Sketch, well it was extra sketch this year, looser, baby head rocks and wash out ruts everywhere.

Friday evening, i waited to do a spin post dinner, got home at 9:30 after an hour, nice a cool by then.

Sam has always done well on this course and Kevin has been super strong this year, almost untouchable even.

We had about 10 at the start, Sam took off and I got on his wheel, once into the onetrack he let up a bit. But 4 of us, Kevin and Dennis included were building a gap. Sam and I had a bout 3-5 seconds on Kevin and Dennis halfway through the first one track. Just a bit before the drop down Dick bass, I got a thick stick stuck between my frame and rear tire, I had to stop to remove it, almost taking Kevin and Dennis out when they came around me. So i tried to calm myself and slowly came back to Kevin and Dennis' wheel by the top of the climb. I lost a bit ground on the DH of Sketch but was back with them on the bottom traverse. I went around them right before the start/finish and had Sam in my sites.

By the top of the Lap 2 climb, I had come around Sam and had a small gap. Halfway down the DH of Sketch, he came blowing by. I caught back on to him on the service road below the gad lifts. By the top of the 3rd lap climb, i had a bit larger gap on Sam, but again, he caught and passed me right at the bottom of the DH of sketch, Again, I passed him on the service road below the gad lifts.

On the lap 4 climb I just pushed it as much as I could, trying to build a sticking gap for the DH of sketch, which I did, I'm pretty sure on some of the switchbacks that lap, I was almost sitting still, I just wanted to stay upright.

Ended up with the win, about 50 seconds in front of Sam, Kevin was running 3rd when he flatted with a mile or so left, which dropped him to 5th, Dennis ended up 3rd about 6.5 minutes back. Had to bring the bike on the podium, I mean, wouldn't you?

Felt great the whole race, lap times;

@26:10

@26:40

@27:20

@27:40

Fairly consistent.

I had the 2nd fastest expert time on the day (First fastest actually woulda won pro, dang 15 year olds)

Hope the form holds for Solitude.

Jackson

I love the Jackson Hole Icup weekend, sadly it will never be again, at least most likely it will never be again. Sad, really.

This being the case led mr Chris B to come out of retirement for one last race there, we had a blast riding together on lap one. Lap 2, he just rode away from me. I'm thinking i was not too well recovered from the 12.5 hour race. Lap one was 32:30 lap 2 and 3 were around 34:30 each.

2nd place is good, and consistent. The Hostel was interesting. The ride on Sunday was awesome. Arrow to Phillips Canyon to Phillips Ridge. Good fun trail, with some amazing engineering on switch backs. The New 'MLC' Vehicle traveled well, good gas mileage too.

Meanwhile, i have a complaint about complainers. Seriously, Bruce over at UTMTB.com has had to write a revisionist trail description of the new Rush rail in Draper. Seems as if some out there feel it is not a downhill trail at all, because there are sections that go up and you can't carry speed through some of them.

To me this is a microcosm of all that is wrong in society. The whole I don't want to work for anything and if it does not meet my requirements, I'm not going to like it.

What people need to realize is that this is exactly what the initial vision of the trail was, to go downhill, but with twists/turns/climbs in the middle, Um, different is good, and fun, and extending your ride time is even better.

My hope is that Bruce (who is awesome btw) will edit out his disclaimers, don't kowtow to the wet blankets.......

or maybe 'm just sensitive...

Getting Lucky in Kentucky

Way back when in April or so I went ahead and registered for the 12 Hours of Capital view, promoted by Troy Hearn (whom I worked with at Applebees in Lexington, Ky in the early 90's) Troy owns Capital City Cycles in Frankfort as well. Lyna and I planned on making it to Ky to visit family around that time anyways. I really didn't do too much specific training for a race of this length, although 2 weeks prior I had close to 18 hours on the bike, including 10 hours in 3 days.

So We made it to Kentucky on Thursday night, Friday, I put the bike together and went to Troys shop to seat my tires and get a trail map, the course was not marked, so I just rode around the trails for an hour, I got dizzy with all the twists and turns.

Saturday AM included a huge thunderstorm, lasting till around noon, the rest of the day was clear though.

Sunday, race day, not Utah. Woke up at 4:30 am to eat and pack and drive to the race course, race start was delayed for 30 minutes, not a problem though.

The lemans run was longish, for me, so I jogged to my bike and took off at the back of the pack, the first lap had several corners not marked, and at least the people in front of me figured it out, by the end of Lap one I had made my way past a lot of riders. I had no idea where I was, but I just kept a steady sub xc pace. there were several mud holes, in corners, I watched several rides go down in them, as they were trying to go too fast. There were 3 or 4 steep, sudden climbs, that i was able to climb all but one every lap. There was one root/tree section that ate my lunch for the first half of the race, till i found the line. Great course though.

At the end of lap 3 I came to my pit area and saw 2 riders I knew were racing solo at theirs, I chomped down half a pb&j and took off, Lap 4 I did at an XC pace, to get in front of them. I had a blast, one of them got around me on the next lap.

Lyna showed up about 7 hours in and found out I was in the top 3 and that we were separated by 5 minutes max, I kept my pace, cause anything can happen. I started to memorize the 8ish mile course and all its tight fun onetrack, and had a lot of fun each lap. Lap 10 and 11, I hit a dark spot and lost 15 minutes and was ready to stop, but then I came around again for 12 and 13. At the end of 13 it was just before 7pm and the cut off was 7:29. I asked how close the rider behind me was, to be sure I held onto 3rd, I was informed that the guy in 2nd, left after completing 13 laps, upset for some reason, Lyna tried to get him back on his bike, bu the packed up and went home, so if I went out for 14, I would jump to 2nd. I debated for a few minutes, and took off, the lap was fun, and faster than the previous 2. The guy ahead of me, finished 14 before 7:30 and thought he was in 2nd, so he took off for a 15th lap, which he didn't need to do.

In the end, I ended up 2nd, which is more than I expected. I had fun, and was not overly worked. I spent 30 minutes in the pit zone total, but that was worth it, as I stayed fueled, hydrated and cool as a result. The 90 degree heat and super high humidity did not hurt me too bad and the long time on the bike, while I was sore, did not hurt my knee, which after last years knee issues, was a blessing.

Again, the race was great, low key, great volunteers, 25 dollar entry (I won 30) although the delta bike fees crushed me. The course was great, reminded me a lot of the Jackson Hole course, without as much climbing, but the same tight one track, much buffer trail though.

Troy did a great job and if the stars align, we will be back in 2011, oh and I made the news.

Stan Crane Memorial 2010

*First off, let me apologize to the Expert 30-39 racer that i bumped into about 6 minutes into my race, I was leading and was on the first BST section above the bridge, I thought I had enough room, a split second before my handle bar clipped his, BK say's something along the lines of 'Bob? you're gonna pass here?!?!' I am terribly sorry, n i thought i had enough room.

Ok, so, onto the day. Since it's inception, at the ever so lovely Thanksgiving Point location. Map courtesy of K-Day. Team Revolution/Peak fasteners has joined with the shops race sponsorship to have a Team BBQ post race, every year the weather has not cooperated, rain, wind etc... Postponed races to mid week night time and delayed starts. Add to that, every CX race BBQ we planned at the Equestrian Center ended the same, with rain. This year we were blessed with great weather.

Lyna and I got there early to help set up the team base camp, Doug set his camper up the night before, thanks a million. I went and warmed up with Ty and Drew, the three of us beat each other up on the course several times in the week before the race.

I lined up at the start line and turned around to see a mass of humanity. close to 400 racers. Ed put us off at 3 second intervals to help with congestion when lapping, this was a great idea and it paid off for those of us in the front groups and those in the back groups, in the long run. In the short run, the front runners in each category, caught up with the tail-enders in previous categories very quickly. (hence my apology above).

Sam got the hole shot, with Trent W in 2nd, me in 3rd. Just a bit past the tunnel, I came around Trent. Once we hit the short double track climb, a few of us went back and forth on the front, I put in an effort to go into the one track first, then I knocked some one over (see above). On the 1 mile double track downhill, Kevin surged ahead with an Infinite rider, I latched onto them. I surged ahead on the first part of the 1 mile climb, a bit up it, Kevin came around me and i held on to him as best as I could, he put a few 19-29'rs and 30-39'rs between us before hitting the singletrack. I was still within 10 seconds of him down steps and up lower ghost. On the Canyon Hollow descent, I was behind Dan H. who kept apologizing about being a roadie, I did a spectacular nose wheelie, sitting on my top tube around the switchback before heading down to silica. Kevin was putting good time on me on the descents. First lap was done and I headed out for lap 2. I could see Kevin on the road, but just used other category racers as rabbits. And couldn't see anyone in my category behind me. BK was gaining on me though. He motored up the long double track climb on lap 3 to pass me right at the top, I jumped on his wheel and stayed there. There was a 19-29 contender rider setting a descent pace for us, not too fast, nor too slow.

On many of the rides I did with Drew and Ty early in the week, we ''practiced' attacking each other on the Silica Pit climb. This proved useful.

So Contender, BK and I head into the Silica Pit climb, Halfway up the lower approach to the first slot, I get outta the saddle and hammer up the left, passing both of them, with inches to spare before the trail cut me off. I had a clumsy dismount n the chewed up section up top, but the damage was done. I rolled in for 2nd place, BK was about 20 seconds behind for 3rd. My HR hit 189 on that surge, my legs barely made up the last short climbs to the finish. Good race, good fun, consistent lap times again.

Lap 1 with start loop 40:05 ish

Lap 2 39:45 ish

Lap 3 with finish 40:50 ish

Lyna made a return to racing and came away with her first ever win. She started conservatively, surged in the early phase and kept pushing till the end, where she ha to sprint for the win. Congratulations out to her!!!!

Post race was a stuporful BBQ.

Hammerfest at the Hollow

Once again the ICUP dodged a bullet, the heavy rain/snow let up a few hours prior to the race and with a few reroutes the race went off, not so much reroutes but sections cut out. Prior to the race I told BK and BP that is wasn't gonna be the one to go off the front hard. I really meant it.

We had at least 12 at the start. I went off the front and by the top of the pavement I had quite a gap, I wasn't going really hard, just pushing a bit. BP caught and passed me a mile or so in and I stayed with him for a bit. We had a gap on, I think Kevin, BK and Sam. We started catching the 19-29 and 30-39 groups halfway in the 1st lap. Towards the end of lap 1, I got around BP again and he and I went back and forth for a bit till the lap zone. Lap 2 went on with BP growing his gap and me picking off more other cat riders, I also dropped my Gel flask. Lap 3 started wih Kevin closing on me, about halfway through he passed me and i could not stay with him. I ended in 3rd about 25 seconds behind Kevin and a bit over 2 minutes behind BP.

The course started muddy and by lap 2 was firming up for some fast fun descents. I was happily surprised with my results and I rode very consistent lap times (could be related to improving course conditions, but the HR average was good at 174)

Lap 1 - 31:42

Lap 2 - 32:05

Lap 3 - 32:03

5 mile ass, 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, Sundance

Really, I was gonna update weekly, I swear.

5 Mile was interesting this year, snow squalls and torrential rain the whole drive there, yet a few miles from the start area, the weather cleared. We had a bit over 10 at the start, and had a relaxed start. Fred and I were together with Daren up until the flume DH, where Fred flatted, Daren and I leap frogged until the end of Lap 2, when I dropped off of him and Adam. I made it to the finish, in 6th place. With a decent time compared to years past, even though I lost 4 minutes each lap.

Next up was 12 hours of Mesa Verde with Lyna as team 'Try Harder' and Sundance. Well Team 'Shoulda Gone to Hawaii' actually ended up going to Hawaii and we joined them, we hiked, body boarded, rented MTB's and rode Kauai single track and Kayaked. Witnessed a wedding on the beach near Tunnels and relaxed and over indulged in Skinny Cows and Tacos. Made it home about 24 hours before Sundance started, Therefore I rode the Shoreline trail instead of racing. Still taking donations for the Saffell Kauai homestead.....

Whiskey Off-Road, lessons

Early in January, Jen Hanks sentout an email to team revolution peak fasteners, informing us of registration for the Whiskey Off-Road race in Prescott (pronounced, Preskitt, for the locals) Az. Having just registered for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, which is 2 weeks later (Duo with Lyna) i was wary, but a 70 dollar entry fee would be easy to walk away from if stars did not align. Well Ty helped with aligning stars, as he convinced (ok, it wasn't that hard) Lyna and I to join him and She who likes Cake and Waffles, on at 8 day jaunt to Kauai, which will place us on some beach while the 12 hour race was occurring, (they signed up to, under the name, 'Shoulda Gone to Hawaii,' well, we are)

So, more stars aligned and Thursday Afternoon We loaded up the Boffeli-Hanks VW and headed South. We stopped at Grandma Tina's in Kanab for Dinner, it was good, and they like butter there. alot, which is a good thing. We then proceeded to Page, Az for the night. The Best Western was new, comfortable and they had an awesome free breakfast, I proceeded to eatEggs, sausage (which became a theme for the weekend, for me, not Jen and Shannon, which was their DOOM). We then drove the rest of the way to Presskit. We got there around Noon local time, and went and had lunch, I had a turkey sammy, Then we went and picked up our packets (While dropping off 2 canned goods per person for the local food bank, take note leadville) We ran into Sarah K, setting up her Elete tent (my new secret race sauce is a bottle of Carbo Rocket, with 1 serving of elete added in). Sarah was kind enough to volunteer to show us how we could shuttle to the last 12 miles or so of the course, which also included driving much of the first 10 miles of the race. That 12 mile ride was a blast, but chilly, actual snow on the trail. That evening we went to a local Italian restaurant, right next to our hotel, I had Sketti with Italian sausage. MMMM good.

Early wake up call on race day. 5:15, ate a bit of Oatmeal, a bit of poptarts and a bit of apple sauce. At 6:45 we rode the 1.25 miles to the start line (7:30 start). And rode a bit more until start line up, At 7:15, there was no one lined up, at 7:20 there was 12 rows lined up, crazy. They had some sort of wild west shoot out show that created a mass of anxiety as everyone thought it was the start, then about 20 seconds later, we did start, I was almost take out y riders on either side of me, but made it out ok. I then made my way further to the front, well closer to the front. The first 9.5 miles climbs, oh about 2000 feet, half of it on pavement, i kept my pace mine, passing some, being passed by others, every time the terrain flattened a bit, I was able to turn on the gas. About 6 or 7 miles in we hit single track, that went mostly up, with some rocks and water bars to ride over. HOLY CRAP, I was amazed at the amount technically challenged, tunnel visioned riders out there, it was a conga line of riders dismounting due to the smallest obstacle in the trail which created a domino effect of dismounts and grumbles. I did a few cyclocross dismounts and sprints around others, not good for keeping HR down. Finally we topoed out for a ripping 3 mile DH, including a steep loose descent with several water bar drops, which upon the guy in front kept putting afoot down, I stayed on the bike, doing ski turns to slow down and finally got around him towards the bottom of the steep section. I then DH'd for a bit more on some atv DH, which allowed me to get around others easily. At this point I started my back and forth battle with 2 Vassago racers, which made me feel like I was chasing Brad (which is crazy, since he is a roadie now). At the bottom of the DH We were at 12.5 miles, which I though was where the first feed zone was, which demarcated the beginning of the out and back road, I was wrong (i carried all my food and drink with me, so didn't need the aid station, plus my hydration pack had a malfunctioning nozzle, which was difficult to open and close, awesome), there was a painful 2 mile climb first. So, feed zone hit (1.5 hours gone, this is how long Sarah K said it would take) Next, 9 mile downhill, yay, except it wasn't all downhill, and it was into a headwind and I was on my own. Still, 26 minutes later I was at the turn around, right under 2 hours, after seeing all the leaders heading up. It took me an hour to climb what took me 26 minutes to descend, plus there was more climbing after the feed zone, on the first 9 miles of the climb I got to see, encourage, be encouraged by all those behind me in the race, At one point I was at mile 32 in my race and a large group of people were descending the opposite direction, at that point I realized they were 20 miles behind me, crap, they are gonna be out there a while. SO, the climb had me going through all types of emotions;

1. Thank god there are some Downhills to break tis up
2. Ooh, I feel strong
3. Ooh I feel weak
4. Ooh I feel overheated
5. Holy Crap look at the size of that house, on that mountain, in the middle of nowhere
6. that person almost head on'd me.
7. There is no way in hell I am riding
8. I won't walk
9. I won't make the whole race under 4.5
10. Ooh, feed zone
11. Ooh, I may just make sub 4 hours.

Ok, there were more, but 1 hour 20 minutes can't really be condensed here.

I made it to the top and was ready to shred the Final 12.5 miles, Which I did, super fun sections, I knew there was that last 1 mile climb before the final 7.5 miles, so I spun up half of it and pushed a harder gear up the rest, passing 3 people. Then in the technical rock sections I passed several more, popped out on the pavement for the 4 miles to the finish, just Making it in at 4 hours 1 minute and 11 seconds. I felt strong in that last 12.5 miles, which is awesome. Finished 40th in Open men 19-44. I like that category structure. My ave HR was 166, I was able to maintain 170+ on all the climbs. Crazy for me, for this time of year.

Sarah came in 3 or so minutes behind me for 2nd in Open women, Jen was 5th, Shannon had a great race, 3 hours 37 minutes for 17th.

Later that day, since we finished by noon, we had Cheeseburgers, and Ice cream, Then we went to a pizza joint for dinner, I had Chicken wings and a personal Sausage and Pepperoni pizza, Jen and Shannon had a chicken veggie pizza DOOOOOOOMMMMMMM. Short story, Jen was up all night, sick, Shannon was sick all the next day on the way home, I drove most of the way. Sausage is gooooooooood.

repetitive

Check out MTBRacenews.com, new look website, sweet.

I have ridden my MTB for 6 straight days (plus 1 day on the road bike, it gets lonely), pure blissieness, yep, that is a WORD. Split between corner canyon and SLC Shoreline. I love the Corner Canyon trails, I love riding from my house to the SLC Shoreline. It's rough in the SLC. See people you know every ride, saw Dugs new Orange ride, Cavey got a hall pass, Gigi was giggling, Indohran went to dinner, Hooptedoodles seat post was holding up, Rich was resplendent in his plaid skinsuit. And on and on and on...... Spring has sprung. For now.

This weekend I head to Prescott, Az with the Boffeli-Hanks for the Whiskey Off-Road. Should be fun.

The below path is one I do so many times, I lose count, small variations make it a 19-25 mile ride, right around 2-2.5 hours depending on pace, lots o climbing and giggly descending. Rough I tell ya.

Thoughts of the day

Nice warm one track day on the shoreline. A few trips up Dry Creek with a side trip up south Dry Creek. THAT WAS CREEPY. Not doing that again alone. Kept hearing things off the side, then a about 1/4 mile up there were two Deer rib cages + hair all over.

Rode with the Potentate and COsta for a bit.

Went and stopped in JV's son's 1 year celebration.

Use your power and energy for good.

(I have remind myself of this at times)

Cholla 2010

Thanks to Karl for the photo

First race for the new scooter. Cholla is a great course for big wheels, sandy, lots of flat sections and no real technical stuff.

I maybe should have switched out to the race king tires instead I went with the Mountain Kings, including the monster 2.4 up front, the weight is not a problem at Cholla, but the rolling resistance probably didn't help.

I lined up on the right side of the start, thinking it would help me avoid the pinch on the hard left not 10 yards from the start, of course it put me right into a boulder strewn rut on that short DH, which shot me to the back of the pack immediately. This made for some interesting riding/passing in the first 1/4 mile, due to the Dust cloud/ zero visibility, I was riding in. Onto the slickrock I was in about 10th or so, and just kept a steady pace, had fun and opened it up a bit on the DH sections.

Into the rock of doom section I saw 4 people already on the side of the trail with flats, then over the next rise a few more, including Trent W. Later, Bobby Lincoln was off the side of the double track with some mechanical. I think I was then in 7th. Lynda W. passed me a bit later, she was motoring. I came through the lap zone alone and went out for lap 2. about halfway into lap 2 Kathy was closing on me, I just kept steady again and a few miles from the lap zone caught up with Ken, pulled him for a bit and Kathy came around me, we came into the feed at the same time and Dusty flawlessly got us both bottles. Then Kathy proceeded to pull away as the 3rd lap went on.

At almost exactly the same spot he went by me it 2009, I passed Tim W, but he had an exploded seat instead of exploded legs. He held on for a while, but I built a gap, Trent W was a bit behind him, I had one speed left, I knew if I tried an attack, to widen the gap, that I would blow, so I just kept it steady, I also knew that when the short steep rise came, I would not be able to do anything but spin up it, Trent got by me here, I then soft peddled into the finish, 7th place.

Happy with the result, because I raced smart and consistent, Laps 1 and 2 were both right at 32.5minutes and lap 3 was just over 34.

Right on track.....

Post race I meandered over to Over the Edge for Coffee, then dinner with E-Pow, Dusty, Shannifer, Kathy, Lucy, Quentin, DJ and Dave.

Sunday we did the Goulds, Jem, Hurricane Rim loop, Kathy crushed me.

I'm goin for a weekly update.

Happy to see that my March time on bike has gone above Jan and Feb combined. Time on airplane/hotel has gone down a bit, that helps.

I got 6 hours in on lots of dirt today and yesterday total, Today was 4 hours, 33 miles, 23 on dirt, lots of climbing, lots of hiker/doggie dodging (Lyna had an OTB on her ride due to a dog, her hip hurts pretty bad)

I met E-Pow at the zoo and we headed to city creek, 4 very short wet sections the whole way, we then climbed up west City Creek and ran into BZ who rode up to the Antenna road with us, I turned around solo there and climbed back up east City Creek to past bobsled and took my new secret DH down to the mouth of Dry Creek and bailed to the road there, cause I was blown.

Thanks to all who came and squeezed in our little house for Lyna's b-day celebration, we had fun, hope you did too.

Longest Ride of the year

3 Felt Nine Teams and a Tomac (Rider awaiting Felt Nine Team build) Set out from Team Shannifers house.

@53 miles in 4 hours, 10 or so miles on dirt in corner canyon. EQ up to shoreline, Steps trail-Creek View loop a few times. Awesome shape.

Sun burned and fried legs.

Small Bike

My new bike looks kinda small.

29ers are stupid.......

Rockin the Hotel bike

This pre season training plan has rocked. The high temp/humidity week was a success, 5 hours of sweet excercise bike work outs,3followed by fitful 4 hour block sleep, pool time and site visits.

On either end of this training block was some imposed rest periods, luckily i got an upgrade on this rest plan.



This week, pre first 'Race' of the year will include a final short Hotel Exercise block, NYC version. This will include a required rest of 5+ hours Thursday Night.

I should really be ready to rock in St George.

Don't you get bored????

I have probably ridden from my house, to the zoo, on the shoreline, to Red Butte, To Dry creek and beyond close to a 1000 times. No exaggeration either. It is just that convenient, There are countless different options to ride in multiple places on the trail, I can get in 2-5k of climbing in 2 hours and 20 miles if I choose to, I have the trails so dialed in I can fly on them and not break a sweat. I do tend to get bored with it in say May, when other trails start to open, but they are too convenient.

Today, due to an early start, I got off work early, I was kitted up and out the door by 4:30 (Head to toe in SaltCycling gear I might add, MASHer Jersey, New bibs and Fly socks) Didn't notice that till I was on the trail.

I headed towards the Zoo and Emmigration, hoping to have at least a few minutes on the trail before I had to turn around due to mud, riding up the canyon was the plan, Well I never had to turn around. Total HERO DIRT from the Zoo to Dry Creek (Which, of course is a slushy mess) I had a shit eating grin on my face the whole time, even as the SUn went behind the clouds and the temps dropped. Exhilarating, really.

Nope, I don't get bored.

Dirt-Afternoon-Salt Lake County

Made my way down to Draper to find some dry dirt riding, Mission Accomplished, retraced my route a few times, lapped on the double track with some one-track thrown in. Nice evening ride, the sun was behind the Oquirrh's by the time I got back to the car, a bit chilly.

Better than a 4 hour drive.

Pickin Up the Trash Talk

So, Not his real name has already tried to get me to wear his shorts on the podium, well I gotta get on the podium first, and since I am once again returning from a week on the east coast for work, followed by, in 2 weeks heading to Asia for 7 days, and then being home for 5 before the first "Race".

On top of that, I ran into She, who is being most affected by 'The Mistress" aka Rush at JFK as we were getting ready to board this flight home, seems her and Daughter 1 spent the week in NYC for some birthday fun. Well, she decided to give me a cupcake, and I can only imagine it is part of her husbands, and Ricks, and BK's and hell others evil plan to make this season more 'interesting'

Tweety Chair, here I come!!!!

Winter's not so bad

While others were doing the BK 'stimulus' plan, I was playing desk jockey, lamenting a future of hotel excercise bikes on the east coast and Asia. So I bailed from work a bit early, kitted up and headed to the Zoo trail head, the steep sections were rough early, needed to be a bit colder. Actually road some moist dirt. Good fun ride overall.

Tomorrow (1/30) at 11 at the Glenwild trailhead, 3 hours of riding, a bit of pavement, a bit of snowy onetrack and who knows what else. MTB's a must...

There, I said it...

I just don't like snowsports. not really. Oh, I'll go snowboard a few times a year, I'll even try skate skiing occasionally, but I don't really like it. It is partially about economics of time and cash. I get bored on the lifts, after 2 runs, I get bored on the runs. Skate skiing, well it is like learning to walk everytime I do it, I want to go fast and just can't, until I do, then I fall.

Oh, then people tell me to go AT/Split Board. Cash, like 2k to get into it, add that to a busy work schedule, travel for work, weekend trips to Southern Utah for dirt and the like, well, just not economic enough. Plus you know, death. Yeah death, yeah so I'm scared of dying, so what. I'm sure it is fun, I know it is a good work out, but really, I don't want to, for all the reasons above and more. The most recent reason to top it off is that it has turned into a ME TOO sort of thing, That in and of itself could be enough to keep me away.

I'm like that, contrarian, I can't help it.

CONGRATS

Are due for Bumpin Bahrke, on yet another Olympic berth, get the gold this time.

For those who don't know, she used to race for Revolution and is the S.O. of the former shop owner.

Oh yeah, help her out by getting your coffee here.

New place to ride in the Sun

Headed up to Jeremy ranch around 11am and took the road to east canyon, headed up east canyon for about a mile past the gate, snow was firm enough to ride. Probably coulda made it to the top, but was getting rather sweaty and decided to turn around, only icy in spots and fun to do power slides at slow speeds.

lots of funny looks from cars and hikers.

I tried to ride up the 24-7 trail, made it about 1/2 mile, the climbing was easy on the firm packed snow, but any downhill became sketchy, but fun. Need to hit that ride up more, @ 2 hours and 18 miles total.

Our bikes are covered with a fine reddish dust,

Lyna and I just got back from 3 days in St. George. Our first trip there together in a few years, her injuries and jobs have kept her away. We had a blast. Friday was a quick hour on prospector after a leisurely SLC departure. We rode a small section of the Church Rocks loop as well before heading back to the car. Saturday we did Barrel Roll, Sidewinder out and back and much of the Rim trail systems, 2 hours of fun. Sunday we rode with the Hypio's doing a never before done by me Bear Claw/Stucki/Wash/Bear Claw lollipop. Good fun and smiles all around.

The sun was shining, temps were in the mid 50's, trails were in great shape and EMPTY. We Saw Chuck and Greggy G Sat and Sun, but very few others, Rico was down there, but never saw him, he blew us off on Sunday.

This winter/spring should be interesting for training. Travel for work is ramped up again, Philly in a week, Phillipines in Feb. Hotel exercise bikes here I come!!.

Signed up for the Whiskey 50 and the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde (Duo with Lyna) spreading our race experience wings this year, grass roots, out of state is where it is at.