Soon

Turned a corner

Wednesday Night SH race, I really did feel slow, nothing in the tank. Last lap blow ups in last 3 races are not fun. But I kept telling myself that a breakout ride was right around the corner. I had no idea that it would happen today. I went to sleep and woke up telling myself that i was going to do an easy lap 1. Well, I just don't have it in me. Lap 1 I was off the front with Jack and Fred chasing and my time was at least 3 minutes faster than Wednesday night, but i felt good. Lap 2, Fred had dropped off and Jack was yoyoing closer to me, I still felt good, Jack and I came through the feed zone together into lap 3. I gapped him a bit on the first Singletrack climb and a bit more on the next, but he was still right there. I was forcing myself to not panic and not expend too many matches to stay in front.  I made it over the top with about 30 seconds on him. The rutted, loose DH was my friend today, I flowed like butter, i felt good, That last steep climb was always on my mind and I was caught off guard a few times by the interim climbs, but held it together. I kept seeing Chris Bingham, Fred and occasionally BK, but that dang course wraps all over itself, so I had no idea of the gap. I ended up winning by abut 30-45 seconds. Lap times were good.

41:40, 43, 45

First ICUP win since Bordertown 2006, 2nd ever Icup expert win. I won my first sport race at SH in 03.

Today was a good day for me on the bike.  Led from Giddy-Up to whoa. 

Cribs

While the PRO and her man are out of town, Bobby Fresh takes it upon himself to check out their CRIB.

Not much food in the Kitchen

Pepe says that this is where the magic happens, I am not sure what that means.

Oh Yeah, did the SH race tonight. I feel slow.

Mooooosssshhhhhyyyyyyy

Not really sure how else to explain it. Driving into the race venue at 10ish, I had to carry speed into the field to keep from bogging down. The kids racers bikes were covered in mud, the soil smelled like Kentucky soil. I knew it was going to firm up and dry out though. Hung out with Ryan and Jody and Bart for the pre race BS and got dressed and went out for a pre ride lap at around 12:30. I got caught up in how fast and tacky and fun the old DH sections were. Ignored the new stuff, as I was trying to ride it slow. Only 5 of us at the start line. Fred, Daren, Karl, Mark Skarpohl and I. Those 4 others are enough to know that it was not going to be easy. I of course took off from the gate, Daren and I think Fred got around be on the long soft climb about a mile in, but I jumped them into the single track and got around Jen to give myself some breathing room. For thee rest of the 1st lap and all of the Second Skarpohl would surge to almost my wheel and then drop off on the technical sections, or maybe I dropped off on the smooth and surged in the technical, who knows. about 1/3 of the way through lap 3 Fred charges out of nowhere and gets around me, but I stick with him till almost the end of lap 3. Caveman was riding with us for a while then too. I heckled him, but i believe it made him smile. Fred was 20 yards ahead of me going through the feed zone into lap 4, once we hit the soft traverse and Climb my llegs were done. Daren then passed me 1/3 of the way into lap 4. I was almost to the point of getting off the bike and walking, the legs were fried. I was holding on for dear life. Literally .25 miles from the finish, right before the hike a bike, well I hiked it, Skarpohl got around me and Karl was right there, I jogged pas the hike a bike and tried to stay in 4th, successfully. 3 minutes separated 1-4. I lost 3-4 minutes on lap 4. Lap 2 and most of lap 3 I felt awesome, flowing and riding fast, I hit a brick wall though. Part of the course was like riding on a long line of pillowtop mattresses, Bart explains the reasons better than i could.

Lap times (approximate)
1-27
2-28
3-28
4-31

Lyna, Scott and I went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall Saturday night, I thought it was damn funny.

Sunday Lyna and I went down to Corner canyon to ride, an out and back on Shoreline, Up to ghost falls up clarks and down for a few hours, somewhere on the shoreline i looked down at my garmin, and it looked very different.
REI owes me a new one. Lyna found the GPS inards, but the face plate and the rest were gone.

Really

7+ Hour conference call today, really, let me count the absurdities. When I was begining my Masters Degree in Library Science in 1996 I dreamed of wearing Birkestocks to work and going 'SHHHHHHH' for years, not outsourcing 40 jobs and 7+ hour teleconferences. But, really, I did take the call from the comfort of my living room. The job is flexible and lucrative, and it did move Lyna and I to Utah. So I can't complain too much. I still plan on, some day, in oh 10 years or so, 'retiring' to a job that am surrounded by books and get to go 'shhhhhhhhh' all day.

Ramblings and 5 mile

First Things First.

On to trivialities...

5 mile is evil, dusty, double-track. But usually a good gauge of fitness for me, It is good to race close to home. Eat at home, sleep at home.

We had a few more than 10 in our group at the start. Including a former DH World medalist. The Good Doctor was there, Daren, BK Fred and some others. The start was rather calmish, I like to be closer to the front, In case things get animated. I won the race to the first Hike A Bike, where Fred and BK got around me, I kept them in sigh for the rest of lap one and actually got around Brad before the lap was over, Fred was not too far ahead of us and Brad and I went back and for a bit on lap 2 until he dropped off a bit on the long downhill. About a mile or 2 from the finish of Lap 2 Glen and Chris caught me and I had t ramp it up a bit to stay with them, Brad was coming as well, after we went through the feed zone the 4 of us were together, right after you lose site of the feed zone, I lost contact. I had 2 really good laps, consistent, pushed hard where it was good to and spun where it was good to (for me). From this point on I was in damage control mode. Daren finally caught me almost exactly where his teamates did a lap earlier. I think I actually asked him what took him so long. :) 6th place was good, time was 10 minutes faster than last year in slower conditions.

check the HR negative drift....
Sunday was to be a 2 hour recovery spin, cept Bart emailed me to meet up for a 2pm Shoreline ride, hmm, why not? Jared, Matt, Alex and Ty yep lots of recovery potential there.

Bart took us up some death climb just n the southern edge of Red Butte, straight up, some 15-20% climbs with rocks and water bars to make it even more fun, I knew it was rough when Alex asked early ' Who picked this route?' and we were all grunting and moaning except for Bart. The DH was fun, and all the elevation we gained in 1/2 mile (@500 feet) we lost in 1/4. Then we still had to climb up dry creek and all to hit bobsled, luckily the pace went down. It was a good ride and with the DH and Pavement to and from my house my average HR was low, I likely will be out for MTB Monday fer sure now.

Team Ride

Well, since I mostly on purpose 'missed' the East Canyon registration, I decided to hit the Team ride in Draper this morning. Daren, I am a climber, but, there is a lot of flats on that road race.

We had a good showing. Lucy, Jennie, Alison, Rhonda, Andy, Steve, Jim, Jason, then later we met up with Shannon and Joe.

We went from the pool over to Corner Canyon, Up to Jacobs Ladder and Down Ghost Falls, then I split off on the return to get in another hour, funny how a group ride can be 3.5 hours out, but only 2 riding. I headed o the airpark and then up till the trail ended, on the way down ran into Rich, Erika and Jamie all riding separately.

Much better than getting dropped at a road race, I actually did a bit of yard work post ride and then went over to the Knapps for dinner

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As Always

The weather gods are assuring a non-dusty 5 mile ass.

In other news, Tuesday Nights are on again, 7 this year, more money, so show up, unless you are a pro, I want money again.

Sunshine and Wind

Weekend update.

Thursday; nice spin on Cotton Bottom loop with a side trip up Mill Creek to almost the gate. Pick up Rod and Chris at airport at 11pm.

Friday; 60 degree knuckle drag session at Brighton. Friday night was Dinner with Ty and Chad, to see them off on their European road trip. Team Shannifer showed up as did Fist o' Fury and a few others.

Saturday; we did the obligatory PC shopping trip.

Sunday; hung out ate Einsteins and dropped them off t the airport, it is always good to reconnect with old friends, they have been in our life for 17 or 18 years, never lose touch. Later that afternoon I took the hard tail out on the shoreline, I felt slow, maybe it was the cold and wind.

Monday I met up with Kday, Skid, Tolbert, Dave Welsh and Vito for a session on the shoreline. Went a bit hard a few times, hit bobsled and came home right when it was getting dark.

No photos, sorry.

Err, ouch

Made it down to Hurricane around 1:30 Friday, super heavy southbound wind, um, pre ride was dumb. 7 miles in 30 minutes, no effort, 3 miles 35 minutes a close to race pace, due to headwind, sand and washes. Dumb.

I got the Princess Bedroom I am sooo lucky.

The race went well enough. About 8 of us at the start. SAm takes off from the gun, after the slickrock Daren and I are with him, at the hike a bike Fred comes up, as does Dork Bike. Soon after Sam falls off. We all go into the was to the long climb together, Daren bogged down a bit, I got around him an opened up a bit on him. Fred, Dork and I come into the lap together. Dork is leading going into the sick rock and drops a bottle, I get around Fred right behind, Fred gets around me and I almost eat a bush, we started to gap Dork a bit. Fred makes a push at the top of the hike a bike and I try to stay calm, Going up the long climb I see Fred up ahead and Daren closing, Daren gets past me right before the lap, but i see no one coming behind, I keep Daren and Fred in sight for a while, till right before the hike a bike, I am really suffering, I hit the wash before the long climb for the last time and feel secure in 3rd, cause i don't see anyone, Starting the climb I pass 2 sport women and turn a round and Dork yells 'What are you lookin at" I yell back, "If you pass me, I'm stopping to pee" He did, I did, I got 4th, about a minute behind dork, maybe if i hadn't of stopped, 3rd may of happened, I doubt it. Dang that hurt.

(Late Edit) The Pee stop took 42 Seconds, dang, maybe i should of waited.

Sunday we hit Gooseberry with Ryan, Jody, Ohran, Steve, Gus, Erika, Doug, Joel for a bit and a few others, Ohran got it all on video, I got zero photos. Too busy having giggly fun.

Good job everyone for doing the most pedally course of the series, add to that the longest day in the saddle in the series, Ouch.

In Passing

Well, On Monday, for the second time in about 12 months I slept for about 20 hours of a 24 hour period (not straight thru mind you) Woke up refreshed an raring to go. Just weird. Maybe I was stressed, depressed, sick or tired or some combination, either way, it is gone and I feel better and move on.

Things that have made me think too much recently.

Why Do I like shows like Quantum Leap, The Drew Carey Show and think that most everything (Except Battlestar Galactica) that is on TV now is trash (Besides being over the hill and all)?

Why to elite MTB racers insist on running silly, thin side-walled, low tread count light tires on Race courses with Cacti, Thorns and sharp rocks, especially when there is little or no hills involved? I mean the weight savings is negligible and the risks too high.

Why don't I listen to the Cross Doctor in terms of equipment choices?

Why do people say 'I haven't trained' when they have ridden there bike for over 10 hours a week for months?

Why do people say 'I haven't ridden' when they mean. I have put hundreds of hours on the road bike, but the MTB has gathered dust?

Are not the previous 2 entries the true definition of SANDBAGGING?

Sandbagging is the practice of purposely placing oneself in a weaker position so as to give the deceptive impression that one is less skilled than one truly is.

Why do people use a lack of using a training tool (HRM, Powertap, etc..) as a badge of honor. I mean, Eddy didn't use a powertap (I betcha that if they existed he would of) I haven't always used one, but really enjoy having one. Training on perceived effort is good, but can you really tell the difference between 180 watts and 210 watts, cause that difference means something to me?

Why do people say they only race for fun, but get hyper competitive during the race, so focussed on the local weekend race that they can't even converse with the rest of the merry fools at the start line?

(Late Edit)
Why does Versus, UsaCyling, cyclists in America et al still have the hots for Lance?He is retired, has dated one of the anorexia twins and spent too much time with movie stars. He used a well made (doped?) team to help him win one race, multiple times, which is impressive, but move on. Go ride yer bike, look at the new heroes. The Burke S's. the Bart G's. Give me a break, it is like the tour is the end all be all of bike racing. Uh, did you see the Ronde coverage on Sunday, that is bike racing. Lance, Schmanze. done.

Why is Trek really breaking contact (watch out, parental advisory there) with Lemond? My thought is is a left over of CZAR Lance and his minions not wanting anyone to soil his 'good' name. Jerkoffs.

Maybe Cannondale, or Pacific or whatever they are called, will jump on.

Why do I even care?

One step forward

Friday after work, could not help myself, mounted up the scalpel and rode to the zoo, ran into superfly at the trail head, rode with him to dry creek, where dropped off to home. Saw Rico up there too.

Lyna and Aaron were doing some major re-org at the house, he was willing, she was wanting to do it, so i said see ya. Bachelor Knapp and Scott came over for pizza and some Battlestar Galactica action. Up late diddling around the house. Hoping for rain, cause then i could either have fun in the mud or have a good excuse.

Woke up to clear skies and dry ground, oh well. Decide not to bring spare wheels (foreshadow) Out to the race, a 30 minute warm up, barely make the start line and we are off. Pretty tame till we headed west the first time, well except for B-Horn and Mitch, who took off from the gun. I was keeping my nose out of the wind, except for the last part of the dirt on lap one, where i thought i had a good line.

I got gapped a bit on the first turn left, cause i think I was the only one who did not go over the yellow line to make the turn, so really, rules are rules and i won. Not really.

All types of little accelerations put me at the limit. 100 watts to 1000 watts to sustained 300+ watts. off the dirt at the end of lap 2 my strategy of "accelerating 2 seconds after the group did then catching back on when they let up", caught up to me, got gapped with reverend lewis, soon there after on the south bound at @27mph I notice, literally, in passing, that my front tire is flat. Well that did it, wheel car comes around and asks if i need a wheel, I say No, cause i follow rules, like the yellow line one.

Around 30 minutes of wattage info.

So good thing was, that besides being a bit behind in my attack reaction, I was able to stick with the group on a dead flat, windy course (both of which are the polar opposite of my strengths) till my inability to react caught up to me. If i would not of flatted I likely would of picked off a few of the group and finished decent enough. So, besides doing crits, which I won't, how do i learn to react? Really, I will likely do 2 or 3 more road races this year, and they will have hills, so it really doesn't matter too much.

Good job Utrider, for staying with the pack.

Dr X. I can't see me buyin that tubeless set up, for 1 race, heck, i have run airlock tubes in my road bike before, cause they were all i had. I did have a stupid light tube in there though, not so smart.
Oh yeah, then Lyna and I went to Ikea to buy a dresser and eat some swedish meatballs, mmm good.

wow

BTW, Jennie,  I did HON 3 or so years ago. The CX bike with road tires would be good to use.

WooHooo

Snow, then melt, then cold etc.... etc....

Debating an early AM trip to Moab for some sunny warm dirt. Or bundle up and ride in the snow.

Either way this afternoon will be a 15 minute interval, yup, that'll be loads of fun.

Next week looks to put me in back in the, 'let's try not to get dropped in the first 5 miles' Road race mindset.

Hell of the North, with the 35+ group. Flat, straight, windy, well nothing like doing what you don't excel at to make yourself better. At least there is dirt/gravel and maybe mud. Who knows, the power may come out to play and stay.

Keep nose out of wind, yet be towards the front going into the dirt, hmmmmmmmmmmm

Got lots of extra hits due to CarboRockets launch, since I am an addict, and Fatties contest. Now if i could only turn that into some sort of revenue string hmmmmmmmmm.

Nope, I got nothing.

In other NEWS. MtbRacenews.com scooped ve(s)lonews and cyclingnews on the Cape Epic prologue results.

Must be the high tech office.

Well Ok

Today was Lyna's B-Day, we had lunch and boy were the servings huge, ridiculous what the American culture has created in regards to portion size.

Bleh :P

Today was to be an off day, but I thought I might do an easy recovery spin on the road. Then I stopped by the shop after work and Melissa handed me my new pedals. So, yeah, I came home cleaned the scalpel and put em on, talked to a neighbor who wanted to check the bike out and decided to hit the trail. Sorry K-day, didn't leave the house till 5 till 6 anywho, therefore I took the stalker photo of yer element.

Lyna was up there somewhere with Superfly's wife. I ran into Mark and Kris and the aforementioned Superfly. Then I finally ran into Lyna and Rhonda and decided to chase Drew and Lucy up Dry Creek as Lyna and Rhonda saw them. I never did, as they took a game trail down, but i did catch up to them at the roundabout above the football stadium.

Well the main reason I rode was to see how the new Q factor of a shorter spindle felt, uh, didn't feel a thing. So maybe my hips will be happier in the long run and maybe I'll clip less rocks on turns, who knows, at least the dang things do not yet emanate a nasty grinding sound like my 3 year old twin ti's did.

Lyna and I then went to Tsunami for some sushi, well, I had seared Ahi, cause I really do not like sushi anymore, don't know why, used to love it.
Dang, I have a 7am meeting tomorrow, what am I doing up?

nothing...

much to say.

I rode bikes over the weekend, Friday 3 x 5 minute intervals, hurt, yep hurt, Saturday a few hours of dirt with Jerry and Lyna. Sunday early to the gym to pump iron and then met Kathy, Fox and Ali for a recovery ride, not so much recovery pace, but lots of stops meeting an greeting to help out.

There were literally hundreds of cyclists out on Sunday, road and mtb, crazy.

spring? Mayhaps?

Anna Checking my work, Tuesday night

Well, good 3 days of riding after work, Monday the shoreline fromt he zoo to dry creek was drier than it was on Friday before the latest snow, Tuesday was early meeting day, logged off at noon and went out for 2.5 on the road, Cottonbottom to Porcupine across Wasatch and up a lot of emmigration, U0fU traverse then home, Today was a shoreline dry dirt explore. At the top of the Zoo climb, ran into Brad M and rode with him to his tuurn around point, Lyna rode up while we were conversing, then we ran into Superfly. Lyna and I then headed from teh mouth of dry creek through popperton park, west down 11th ave to City creek and climbed a few miles up the single track towards the radio towers, wow, dry as a bone, the switch backs back down to city creek were nice and tacky for the descent. mmm dirt.
Kathy, Saturday and Sunday are looking good, come on down, jealous???

Why I asked

The following a line and overlap wheel question.

First, yep people wreck on dirt, i have had and seen some good ones 2004'ish, Nova Desert Classic expensive shoulder dislocating otb. Ended up having a great season after that. 2005 Solitude, Cannondale low bottom bracket, trying to catch up with Sly on the DH, nose wheelie, lucky scrub oak landing, bent pedal axle, no major wounds.

But, unless you are T2 on the DH, you generally are not going 30mph, in a tight pack, where the slightest miscalculation can take you and many others out. Risk vs reward for me. I will say the RMR was excellent training, when i had the cahones to do it.

But i like dirt. Cause even if I am Off The Back, I can still have fun. Not so much when I have been dropped in a crit, which was often, cause I am dumb, impatient and scared.

But my point is, that shit happens in Crits, yeah Fox will say we attract it to us, or some shit like that, but shit happens. I know pack etiquette is to follow a line, point shit out and don't overlap the wheel of the person in front of you, but, to me, in a dynamic, high mph Crit, those things seem a bit more fluid, but i could be wrong, that is why i asked for veteran opinion.

I still don't understand how the RMR can be someone's focus, have large numbers and some of the weekend road races don't. But that is another discussion, well worn out one at that.

But, the Solitude Tuesday night series is back this year, with an even larger payout than last year, good raffle swag and hell i got 3rd in the series and won a couple hundred bucks.

Rico, Turbo come on out, get yer climb on, and listen to Alex carry on a conversation, behind you while you are dizzy from Hypoxia

Figures

I always was more drawn to Mary Ann

More Dirt

Home from work, log in, did sum more work, log out, gear up and go ride some more shoreline, getting drier.

Before I had to drop off one of these to Drewcifer. I tried to figure out how to do so, then i remembered, uh, yeah, it is a back pack, amazing problem solving skills i have.

Question for veteran roadies or why I don't do Crits;

Define Holding a line and all of its parameters.
Define Overlapping a wheel and all of its parameters.

Heal up all those who tasted tarmac.

Race DIRT

Nice Weekend

Friday was home from work early and an hours ride before i met up with Mark, Kris and Ed for an emigration assault. I did 3 5 minute intervals and felt pretty good.

Saturday I went to the gym and pumped iron and never got on the bike, as i was worried about rain, which never came. Also, i did not want to be tempted to ride out to RMR and get some good pavement burn.

Today i went out for 4 hours on the MTB, up and over Little mountain, by the way, the gate to Big mountain has snow right after it, it'll be a while. Then met Lyna at the zoo trail head (After i sampled some trail first) and we rode to the base of Dry Creek and back, trail is in good shape with only a few mud patches, The high road up above Red Butte is a mess, and best avoided.

Lyna and I split off at 13th south and I headed out for another 45-60 minutes. Nice ride and warm. Spring is a coming.

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Low Expectations

(photo borrowed from ZAZOOSH)

Friday after the day from hell, i picked up Ty and Jim Wedge and we headed down to SG for the 2008 season kick off. We had good conversation on the way down, ran into the Pilling family in Filmore. We dropped Jim off at the Hemmingway-Hales compound and headed over to the Condo the Swatch provided for us.

Went to bed, woke up and headed to albertsons for pancake fixins, ate, brought jerseys to race site for new team members and came back to condo, changed, ate some more and headed to warm up.  I got in a decent warm up, but as always the socializing-catching up, kind of delayed it, but still, a good 50 minutes were had. 

We had a decent sized group in my new 40+ cat, the start was pretty tight, as Alex L. said, like a cat five road race, but once we hit the 'single track' it began to break up. 6 of us got off the front, Hileman from Vegas, One Speed Kenny and Fred P went off and Darren, Mad Dog Karl and I were together with a huge gap growing behind us.  Karl was in front on the last DH of the first lap, Darren right on my wheel, right in the alst dip before the double track to the start finish, Karl got caught up in a shrub and wet down in the middle of the trail, Darren got around on the left, but i had to dismount and run on the right, I got back onto Darren after getting my feed from Toni P and drafted till right before the 10 foot hill, I then put some space between us, but he caught back on by the end of the first climb, we played cat and mouse for a while, passing lots of 30-39 and 19-29 riders and I just could not bring him back, still a record time for me on that course @ 1:38:30. 

The 2008 Team Replica Scalpel is the fastest bike on the planet.

So stress at work, did not destroy me, hmmm.

Cafe Rio with Sherwins, BZ, Shannifer, Ty and Kely E.  Then lter to Nielsens for custard and Danny and Kim C's for annual post race festivities, sorry Kathy, no jello shots.

Sunday the gang met up for Breakfast at Fairway and decided to bag Goulds/Jem/Hurricane in favor of less wind (HA).

Newby and Shannifer joined BZ, Kelly, Ty, Sherwins, Erika, Dusty and I for a Bear Paw-Stucki-Barrel Roll- Race course- Bear Paw ride. Good times all around. 

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Newby and I had a blast on Bear paw descent, heavy tailwind on the descent and tacky soil helped me make it down in record time, with some sweet air and railed corners. 

Drove home, bleh:P

PS, I gotta give props to BK for giving me a sample Carbo Rocket can, i did a race day no-no and put it in my first bottle, and was happy with the results, I put it in all 3 bottles for the Sunday ride, I'll be ordering more.

Heading away from the sunset

Almost 10 years with these people, ups, downs, joy, anger, amazement, dismay. Tomorrow they all head one way, I head another, both directions full of uncertainty and open to boundless opportunity. Monday I will walk in the building and they won't, kind of strange really. Educational as well. I know that it will all be ok for those few of us remaining and those leaving, but just the same it is sad.

I rode outside after work for the 4th day in a row, very liberating and centering for my worrisome mind. Part the way up emmigration, a few 5 minute efforts to see where i am at, well they went well enough, but who knows.

Desert Rampage here we come.

Just not right

wow my 'over the hill' moment turned into quite a comment generator, totally unexpected. Oh well, life goes on.

I got home from work and pondered 60 minutes on the trainer, well there were broken clouds outside and i determined to put on my knee warmers and cowboy up to ride outside, it was like 47 degrees, I was heading south on 20th east and it was spitting a bit of rain, nothing to worry about. I turned around at 45th south and started home, sun was brighter. Got to 33rd south and a beautiful rainbow was up on the foothills, about 1 minute past 33rd the deluge started, a bit of sleet followed by a downpour. I made it to 27th and house of bread, got a cup of joe and a slice of wheat bread and waited 10 minutes and it cleared up. Rode the puddles and runoff home. needless to say kneewarmers were not enough. The old REI neoprene gloves were good.

So with that in mind, i thought I would juxtapose Motorhead with;

For the anonymous comment

If you would furthered your research a bit more, you would see that the ICUP info is in error.

Check Here

I can show you my ID as well:)

yep, it happened

I registered for the first Icup today, which really means I signed up for my first 40+ race. Got my haircut today, it was getting out of control, noticed 2 things. 1. a 1 guard helps the baldness look less um, bald, 2. There was a shitload of grey hair on the barbers cape i was wearing.

Well my legs are stronger than this time last year, so i got that going for me. We will see how it translates on race day. I won't be getting to SG till around 9pm friday at the earliest and plan on a night lap of the course to spin out the legs.

The work week ahead will prove to be challenging and melancholy ending bittersweet on Friday. Well then it will be onto a new chapter in my career.

Goulds/Jem/Hurricane Rim Option

Up early with positive dry trail energy. We had heard all the mud reports, but thought we would be good to go, we met up with Shannifer and headed out, parts of Goulds were muddy, parts dusty, but overall ok, we bypassed upper goulds past the Corral and headed down the dirt road, across Highway59, which let us bypass upper Jem and the mud, the remainder of Jem had a few low, soft spots, but nothing horrible, ended the day at @ 2:15. Good day, headed home tot he smog, no photos, forgot camera.

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So Ut So NV

Saturday @ 4 hours, attempt on BCP, too much mud. Head over to do Zen and race course, run into Rico, Caveman, EatSLeep, Linde and others, no photos.

Sat evening Hung out with Team Shannifer, Kday and Sday.

Woke up to day, went to Cracker Barrell (Ty Below)

then headed to Vegas,(For Sly)

rode @ 3 hours at Blue Diamond-Cottonwood area. Dang GPS battery died. Saw Moose and Vegas Brad briefly. (in the middle is Vegas)

Dinner with the Days bedtime, tomorrow we attempt Goulds/Jem/Hurricane Rim.

uneventful

Yep, that there was my VDay present to my better half, she is in Vegas, with my sibling selling active wear at this show. They ate here last night and had some Klingon try and pick them up for like 20 minutes.

I went and ate at Slipstreams restaurant with my buddy Scott. After I tried, I repeat, Tried, to do 4 30 second power intervals on the trainer in the basement.

This evening BZ, Ty and I head to Southern Ut for 3 days of dirt, sleeping on floors and eating energy food.

3.5

Was gone from the house for something like 5.5 hours, but only got @ 3.5 ride time in, good times just the same. 

Rode down to the shop to meet Mike, Ohran and Yengin(?) at the shop for some south bound fun.  Made it there first Climb-Um and Sue where there shopping. Finally everyone shows up and we start to head out, but Mikey was havin some issues, seems like he was running one of these with one of these, no bueno, so we had to get a new cassette for him. Team shannifer showed up but we couldn't wait for Jen to check out her new ride.

We headed south to Draper, then on the frontage road (where we saw the Canyon/Procupine peloton, including Rico, heading north)over the point of the mountain, decided to climb traverse ridge/ suncrest, what ever you call it from the South side. I took it slow, MK rode with me, Ohran and Yengin raced it. 

 

this foto stolen

The spin up was good, i stopped at the store at the top for a big ole Cinnamon Roll, mmmmmm calories.  Ohran and Yengin  were putting on the arctic gear for the descent. The ride down the hill was, um chilly, but come on, not that cold, MK and I stopped at the shop, I hung out abit,

then headed home. @ 55 Miles and some good warm fun.

The Postman needs to HTFU

Seriously, we got a note in our mail, photocopied, semi pamphlet,  threatening no mail delivery if we don't shovel our walk. Uh, What, that has got to be against some law, I shoveled it though, cause it is the nice thing to do, but come on. You gotta be kidding me, right.

Saturday and Sunday look prime for some 3+ hour rides, oh Yeah.

Rain out

Woke up at 9am and it was raining in St George, the weather.com radar map said it wasn't though, liars, so we went and got coffee, packed up and drove home in on again off again snow, I think it is still raining in St George, stupid weather.com

Day 2

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3:45 today @33 miles, toured the less ridden trails around town. We thought we were going to get rained on, so we bagged Barrell Roll and Headed straight for Zen after 1:45 of riding. Met at Red Rock, Danny, Jerry, Eddie, Gary, Kathy and I, Kim and Friend met us as we went into City Creek, Jamie met us at Chuckwalla.

Kathy eatin Christmas Candy

Danny eatin 'Snackables' true endurance food.

Relief

Made it to ST George with Crooked Rib in time for a nice 1 hour spin. Nice relief from work week. The weather cooperated for an easy ride down, seemed like it may have snowed this morning as there was remnants on bear paw and stucki, ran into Alex G out on stucki, will be meeting up with some red rock boys tomorrow for a few hours of fun.

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Saturday in the SLC

Slept in, really in. like almost 11am in, nice, needed that for sure.

Lyna and I rode down to Ty's in Sandy and rode up toward the mouth of LCC, around and down and up from Dimple Dell and then back to Ty's where he went home, Lyna and I then stopped for some 7-11 snacks and spun home. 3 hours outside on a January weekend, overheated a few times. Very Nice.  Pilling called me about 10am or so, uh, I was still asleep. S Bo was out ridin when I called him to see when he was goin out, damn nurse wakes up too early.  Ty made me chase him up a short climb, really he did, my Power spiked at almost 1100, wow, ouch.

I have no idea how to show the axis numbers, dang I-MAC poweragent software.

The Church of the Big Ring is attracting lots of potential capri wearing fixies. Wonder what the Rev really thinks of that?

Bandit, you're reckless and you live much too hard....

Yep, ST George looks sweet tomorrow, but rainy Sunday, looks like i am stayin home, next weekend. Road's might be ridable on Saturday though. With decision made, I am sure that the weather will be better than forecasted in Dixie, oh well.

Jerry asked me late last night if I wanted to do Temecula 12 hr race duo with him Saturday. I would love too, IF, there a a private jet to take me and my shit the 700 miles there and back. Alas, the team 757 is booked for the weekend.

woooooo

Sunday was still not so cold

So another 1.5 on the road on sunday. Good times, actually warmer than Saturday, yet Monday morning I wake up and it is nuking snow, crazy, made it to work and realized many would choose not to, oh well, lots to do anyways.

EatSleep I can tell you that  Saturdays ride consisted of 45 minutes above 180 watts average, was gong to try and hit 60 minutes, but then the ride gradually went Downhill, literally. Plus I am notorious in my winter effort to go extremely slow and not put out too many watts.

I will say that last weekends effort on Sunday. 5.5 hours I was likely at @ 140-150 watt average. My buddy has a pt on his mtb and we road most of the day together, but he weighs a bit less than me.

St George Friday after work for 2 days of fun in the sun.  EDIT: Well damn, forecasting rain and snow in South Utah as well as Vegas, so maybe a Moab trip instead? Dang, have to keep an eye on the weather this week for sure.

Not so cold

Hit the gym today, then talked myself into a bit over an hour outside on the road bike. Felt good to be on my normal training routes, not too cold either.

Work took an extremely unexpected turn this week. My job just became significantly more complex, but that pales in comparison to what happens to my coworkers,  The 2008 race season is going to have a new focus, for sure.

I never did a 2007 review...

Maybe later, but i do have a few 2008 goals.

1. Don't let Brad K or Jamie P beat me too often, on their Luddite machines.
2. Don't let Rich bully me into even considering racing anything other than expert
3. Bring in 2009 not doing this or this I mean, i am a wuss in January, and various other times during the year as well. BK said he wouldn't post the one photo, I told him to go ahead, cause I like to advertise my wussiness.

ALl in all I wanna have fun, stay healthy, ride fast and win a race or 2 or 25.

5 hours 20 minutes.....

50+ miles, 5000 plus feet of climbing, 143 average HR, shitload of wind, a little mud, a couple thousand calories eaten, sore back, sore, well, that place that contacts the saddle, longest single day mtb ride in a few years. Close to 12 hours in 3 days, largest training block ever, this early. Low motivation for ride longer than an hour tomorrow, but I am glad I did it, maybe.


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St Jorge Day 1 and 2

Made it down Friday around 1:30 or so, Jerry and I went out for about 2:45, old tortoise trail to Paradise, burned two laps at paradise then took road back to cars, drove over to church rocks and did a quick lap there with Kim C.

Indohran made it down and we went to dinner at Outback, mmm steak.

I decided to bag to 9 am camp Linda ride and instead rode with Jerry and Danny, 3.5 hours.

Zen trail, then down Bear Paw to Stucki, over to Barrel Roll and down towards race course, I was blown 1 hour in. I will ride with all the enduro freaks Sunday.

The New Scalpel is Rockin, still need to dial some things in.

The straight line down from ZEN is cause i accidentally turned the Garmin off.


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The Photos Below show the Bear Paw and Stucki trails from up top on the Zen trail

my race attire was far better than the party attire

The race was 'fun?' really kind of cold and short, I decided to give up about 1/3 of the way into the first lap, then just rode around the course for 45 minutes, luckily Bart lapped me for the second time right before the finish, he took the sprint over me as well, bastard. Blaze, DNF'd, after making sure everyone else either flatted or got balled up on the off camber section, he actually sat down, pulled out a bong made out of a truck transmission and took a few hits while throwing rocks at us, that guy needs some friends.

Trust Me, it looks much better live.


photos stolen from Wasmund

Good Posts

on the other hand....

Looks like Wellen's wishes Blaze's father woul of put a helmet on his,ahem, well you know.....

5 things

This feels like some sort of pyramid scheme, form letter forwarding, I was going to NOT do it, but i am bored this morning and avoiding doing annual reviews. Lyna is sick, the dog is sick, the cat is indifferent and work slows down between Christmas and New Years.

1. I Collect (or did collect) Teddy Bears. I know how it started, in the 80's, in High School I was trying to get a date any way I could, a sensitive story about a teddy bear did the trick, some how it grew and still, to this day, every year at Christmas my sister send s Lyna and I teddy bears. SHe gave us Teddy bears as part of our wedding gift 10 years ago as well. We have a critical mass of teddy bears, but we give them away occasionally. Crazy I tell ya, it all started with a bear I got from a bank account opening in the early 80's and grew out of control.

2. Some what related to the above, up until around 1992 I was very involved in Catholic Youth Ministry, as a teenager I went to retreats, leadership conferences, etc.. very often. As a young adult I moved into helping run these things, It was a nice spiritual outlet. I was rather inclined to let the teenagers find their own way, I usually had the presentation at the end of the weekend/ week and i tried to use what happened during the event build what my presentation was. I remember where it all ended for me. We were planning an upcoming event, the Director said we needed to review my presentation, I reminded her that it would not be ready until right before the time I was to give it. She told me that we needed to make sure the kids 'Got a specific message' I walked out and never returned. My parents still don't understand why I don't go to church. Religious does not equate righteous or spiritually sound.

3. In 2nd grade I went into the hospital on Christmas day with Pneumonia. Ever since I have chewed my nails, except recently since I started racing, while training, I have no nervous energy, although during the off season (now) I fight to NOT chew them.

4. I don't drink alcohol and I live in Utah. Yet I am not OF Utah, strange.

5. My Favorite High School teacher, due to my angry young man, anti establishment questioning, told me I was born 20 years too late. I would retort, If I was born 20 years earlier, I would of been a causality in Vietnam. She would walk away shaking her head.


Kracht, Kathy, Warren, Mark N and Brad Keyes

out.

Lotta Snow

Took the ski bus up to Solitude, everyone else did to, the kid (10 years old) puking on the snow right before we got on the bus kind of had me scared, but he held it in for the ride up. It took me almost 2 hours to get board on snow from leaving the house, but I did a bit of inversion saving, maybe. I'm tired.

Umm, i am not sure if this is correct, but hey, I'l take it.

Amazing

Dang UT rocked CX nationals

Lew brining home the stars and stripes
Kathy and Bart and Ali killin the fields with last row starts. Good times

Sunday i went and dragged my knuckles at Solitude. It was good to be out, 1st time in a few years. Ate shit on my first toe side turn, then remembered how to do it. Maybe lots of snow this weekend and some pow in Honeycomb.

Quick Stolen Photo Post

Krachty took 26th in B men today, i expect conditions to be UtCX#9 like on Saturday for his next race.

Just found these, from USGP #1 in Ky
If you look at this first picture carefully, you can pick out 2 Utah CX racers in different poses.

Me early in lap one

Me a bit later in lap oneBarriers at the beginning of lap 2

Me after the fall
EVen later, rippin a corner

End of season

Photo stolen from the Husla.

Yep, 9 months of racing, kind of does a body and mind in, It was a great year many highs and exciting times. The CX season was my first 'full' cx season, my form lasted until the Hawaii trip, missed 2 races and had fun afterwards. Not sure what this means fo the 2008 mtb season, hopefully it means more FAST. Bart seems to think that it will make me faster in March, we will see.

Saturdays race was another epic condition race, peanut butter mud and wet and cold. Krachty had a good ride for 3rd place, DW and GF were on fire, It was fun listening to Bart and Ali's battle. 2 laps in, I had no rear brake, disc brakes are great, except when it is sandy muddy. 3 laps in I was having a good battle with Fearick, except my fingers were frozen, my upper body was getting colder and my legs were not hurting, so i decided to man up and go harder, I lost fearick and was unable to pull Racer back. The thing is tha the last 3 races saw me just easing in at the start, you can't do that in Cross, at least i can't, there is no 3-8 mile hill coming up that I can bring it back on.

It was fun though, and I truly believe it makes me stronger. Now is a brief respite from the bike, rest, relax, snowboard, etc....