No racing report.

Sorry Rabid, racing, for me at least, is on hold until Cyclocross starts. Well, except for one last race at the Solitude.

Speaking of Solitude, last week, I lined up with the 'Pro's' proceeded to get popped off the back on lap one, almost, quit, decided just to ride for fun, had fun, dropped my HR to 130 for lap 2 and 3 and finished '6th' (out of 7 starters, with one DNF (the DNF'er is the guy with the steak)) I did win 3 pro bars and a pair of sexy black Cannondale gloves in the raffle, so Yay me!!. I will attempt to not come in last tomorrow night, but if I do, oh well. Every year I say I am downgrading to the Expert group in the midweek, then I remember that, um, yeah, I'd rather be at the back of the fast guys group than in the front of the almost fast guys group. Not everyone feels this way apparently.

Last week I got an email from a local sports association, it went out to their whole list, which i'm on, since at one time i did a few of their events, seems like they want to help another group of organizers out, which sounds great, except, um, nevermind, I then got into a back and forth email discussion with the leader of said association. I may not have come across clearly, but i was only trying to warn them that they would get a negative response due to how they messaged the announcement. I was then called close minded and other things. I gave up.

Grizzly would have a blast with this, but he is busy eating carbs and wearing compassion socks.

So, i actually road my dirt bicycle 3 times this weekend. Friday evening Mill creek up to Canyons overlook and back with Ty, Twitchie, Carl, Lucy and Drew. Lights needed on the way down giggly fun. Repeat the lights needed on the way down Saturday with Ty and Drew on the Mill D loop. Sunday was a solo flyer up PC way, hooking up The new armstrong climb with many well used trails in a counter clockwise loop of giggles.

I did not pre ride any of the Point To Point course cause;

1. I am not racing it this year

b. I have never pre ridden any endurance course.

I will, however, be filling bottles with piss and vinegar at the silver lake feed zone saturday.

Conflict

I was dreading August 6th, the race was to be hard and Amanda made it sound even harder. I was feeling fit and ready though and Lyna returned from Kentucky Wednesday, so Friday we packed up and headed to Grand Targhee. Drew and Ty both bailed, for separate reasons, so it was Boffeli and I doing the 100, Lyna doing the 50 and Jen playing photographer and support.

Friday even the 4 of us rode the Ricks Basin section and had giggly fun. Ate, talked, prepped bikes and fuel, and went to bed.

We stayed at the Sioux Lodge, which was about 100 yards from the start line, which was nice, Lyna and I got the bunk beds, she was on top.

4:30 am came and Shannon and I awoke and ate and headed to the start. The race was 4 25 mile laps (23ish actually) and started with a few mile service road climb, (succesive laps skipped this for single track. I went medium up this and was in the top 2oish, The Mill Creek descent followed and was a blast, I got by a few people on this and hooked up with the eventual 40+ winner. HE put a little gap on me on the pavement climbs, but i would bring him back on the single track descents. Bustle Creek climb was a brute, @4 miles of 18-20% climbing. I came through lap 1 in 2:10, feeling fresh and ahead of pace. I was in the top 20 and excited.

The pavement climbs on lap 2 started the descent of left knee pain and bustle creek on lap 2 put the nail in the coffin. The pain was too great.

Leg muscles - Check

Fuel - Check

Will - Check

Left Knee - fail

I adjusted the saddle, it helped for a bit, but no bueno.

So I bagged it, i had enough time to watch Lyna start the 50, and then watched all those I was racing close to come in to start lap 3. Showered, ate, lay down for a bit, and then went back out to cheer, support others.

Lyna had a great race and finished strong.

Great results for Team Revolution - Peak Fasteners.

Jenelle, 2nd Pro Women. Ellen 6th

Ryan 13th Pro Men.

Brandon (evil) Banks and Gordon Rust both finished at @ 15 hours, we had a large group of fans out their cheering them on and hugging and the like. That made my day. They had the races of the day for the team. That is burley. I am so happy for them.

My knee, i need to see an ortho and get it figured out. Is it overuse or is there damage? I need to know. Under 3 hours and it is fine. XC racing, no problem. I like XC racing, but. I love endurance racing.

I am kinda in a funk about it, or maybe it is the fact that i have no more goal races for the year, except Cyclocross, which is well under 3 hours a race.

I expect i will also be jettig across oceans for work again soon too, so that's great.

Well, that was 'fun'

I spent most of the week in NYC, which means, not much sleep, overeating and no exercise. Ooh, I also got to go to the MLS All Star Game vs. Manchester United, that was good fun. It also meant less sleep, since it was in Jersey.

It could have meant even less sleep, since I was invited to the after party at the Highline Ballroom by my adidas eyewear contact (they sponsor RaceUSCS) This party included all the players. I made it to teh WTC Path station at midnight and decided to go to the hotel instead of the party, cause I'm lame, and old, and tired)

I got back to SLC late Thursday night, ironically, Lyna left SLC for Kentucky, early Thursday morning.

Anywho, Saturday was the ICUP finals at Snowbasin. I have only ridden the trails there once, 3 years ago for the 50k and did not get a chance to pre-ride. Waking up at 6am to drive up was brutal as well, cause I like to sleep till noon.

I planned on riding a lap to warm up, but, alas, I rode the first 2 miles of the course and turned around. Did a few efforts on the pavement and lined up for the start. Luckily, S-Day was there and accepted my offer of being my bottle handler, otherwise I was going to carry 3 bottles.

There were only 6 of us in Expert old guys (40+). I was happy the Chris B. lined up with us, always enjoy racing with him. Jason, Mark, Mikey and Alex joined the fun as well. We took off, wit Chris and I doing a literal Parade wave, then Alex took off, so I had to go to the front. Built my normal, it is just the start Bob gap and made it into the one track first, i ramped it back a bit and about 1 - 2 miles in Jason and Chris were closing on me. Right before Jason got on my wheel and we got stuck for a bit behind one of his team mates, my seat twisted to the left and then down, I rode it for a while, but it was bothersome, so about halfway into lap one, I pull over, catch my breath and raise and tighten my seat, Jason, Chris and several other category racers who i had passed earlier, get around me. As far as I can tell, i was stopped for about 90 seconds.

Here is where the mental game starts in a race. Feeling good, not red lined, at the front, something goes wrong, get it fixed, get going, one can easily give up and accept their current position. Immediatley upon restarting, i told my self "I am still going to win." I had 22 miles left, on a course I hadn't pre-ridden. I calmed myself and kept it steady on the remainder of lap 1. The descent to the lap zone was a bit brutal on lap one for me, I felt like my front suspension was blown, it wasn't, that DH was just rough, full of braking bumps and rocks.

Heading into lap 2 I could see Chris and Jason ahead, likely 1 minute or so up, so i kept pushing. Lap 2 the descent was a bit better, as I knew it and I was flowing a bit better.

Starting lap 3 I was a bit under a minute behind Jason and Chris. So, I started burying myself on the climbs and flats. Not yet taking risks on the descents. Towards the top I was about 5 seconds behind Chris, So on the descent, I started taking some risks, a bit into the descent he let me by and I tried to get him to get on my wheel, he said later he was not feeling it on the descent, I was. Getting close to the bottom, I could see Jason, 2 switchbacks ahead, then one ahead, on the run out to the beginning of the finish climb he was just about 5 seconds ahead, I completely went into and above the red to close the distance and about halfway up the finish climb I passed him and kept going, my legs were on the verge of cramping and if he would have had any surge left I would of been let in the dust, alas, he didn't and I crossed the line for the win about 3 seconds up on him. I have never buried my self like that at the end of a race before, likely cause i don't try hard enough, on Saturday I did and it paid off. My Heart Rate spiked above 190 on the finish. Scary.

Anything can happen in a race, just keep pushing. I tell people this all the time, amazing what you can do when you don't check out mentally.

The picture below is between the time Chris let me by abnd the bottom of the descent, i look kinda determined. At this point I had a repeating mantra in my head, 'Ima catch him, I'm gonna win!!!"