I likey the desert in March

It was only like 75 degrees, but it felt like 100. Arrived on Thursday, 1st bike box experience went well, BP and i pre rode the XC and TT course, I hit a tire burping, air escaping hole on a DH went over the bars and landed on my feet, good times.

Hung out with Fox and Kathy S on Thursday evening. Slept well and got ready for the TT this am.

Had a good time, got some pro podium pics, but my craptop won't upload them. Fox took 10th semi-pro, BP won expert 35-39 I took 7th, had fun, didn't crash and was happy with my time on a course that absolutely does not suite my skills, HR average was high.

So already twice this weekend I have had some pro chick come up to me a be all like, 'Hey, how's it going?' 1st, Mary M on Thursday and Georgia today right before the awards. Kathy, Fox and I assume it is because they think I am Pepe. Nope, I don't have a blowout valve.

Here is the elevation vs. heartrate prfile, mmmm good times

PLAYA

What will lefty do now?

Big Hours

Yep, great weather means big hours. First off big props to Sluribslyhusla for his win at the off the grid race with rules, he probably made it look easy.

Today was 5.5 for me down to draper, shred some trails with team revo eat some hotdogs and then ride back home. The elevation profile as about 2 miles of descending missing, forgot to turn the Garmin on. There were about 20 of us total, nice turnout.

Leaving for Phoenix on Thursday. Hope to have fun and do well, unfortunately Thumbs McGee hurt himself shredding the shoreline and will be a spectator.

Got over 13 hours in for the week, the powertap i installed on the road bike and now I have way more info than i will ever need at my disposal. It may not make me faster, but it will tell me lots of stuff.

Beware the Ides of March

BZ is supposed to meet me at 5:10, to ride the shoreline, I run into Sahwn and Blake lets us know he will be late, Shawn and I decide to head up City Creek, we had some full on Sluribhuslafox Kismit action. Blake lets us know he is out, then we run into Rich A. who was headed down City Creek on his post work shred, then at the top of city creek we run into Contender Reed and Jerry (formerly of St. George) B. We then go down and back up Dry creek, I turn around again at the top of Bob Sled, Almost get killed by some big guy on a Santa Cruz, then I see Krachty and gang at the top of dry creek, Santa Cruz guy comes huffing and puffing up to is at full speed. I head down and see Karen I. who tells me Santa Cruz guy almost killed her, but she held her ground and sent him into the creek bed, Et tu Brute?

So much for the emigration recovery ride. Another 2.75 on dirt, after work, in March, sweet.

Stop Yer Bitchin and Take action

So, Monday was supposed to be a 'day off' weather was way too good, so i went to ride emigration, nothing like the big ring up emigration for recovery. Must be feeling stronger. Afterwards I watched Emmanuel's Gift. What a story that is, give until it hurts and then give some more. This guy is an inspiration. You think you have something to complain about, to sit at home and whine and pine away that life is treating you poorly. Stop bitching, start moving in a positive direction. Life is what YOU make of it.

So, Tuesday was mad weight at the gym, while BZ was reuniting with Climbum. Slept really good that night, Wednesday night was close to 3 hours on the shoreline, with some efforts thrown in for fun. Tonight i will do the big ring emigration recovery ride.

2 weeks till NMBS #1 in Fountains Hills, I will be flying with bike for the first time, luckily it is a non stop, and I know mechanics that will be at the race, in case i foul things up on the rebuild.

Dry Dirt Found

Rich, Brad and I had big plans to hit 5 mile for some good riding, the early morning rain I woke up had me believing I would be doing a road ride and hoping for motivation to go more than 2 hours, went to the shop to get some arm warmers, Brad was there and convinced me (easily) that there would be dry trails in corner canyon and on south mountain. We met at the rodeo grounds and headed up, we did an out and back on some singletrack, followed by an out and back on a double track climb, we pretty much repeated that 3 or 4 times, we lost count, we headed back down to my car at around 3 hours to get my camelback, i left it in the car, cause I never wear one. we then headed west on the south mountain trails. Very little mud, a bit of snow, my average HR was not a problem, although i did spend some time in zone 5. 4 hours of riding and some good times.

I took a few pictures, but the lense was fogged up from the climbing, no bueno on the pics.

My garmin took a nap for a few miles halfway through and claims i climbed 2700 feet instantaneously. I think that couldn't happen.

I'm blow and going to bed.

I really do not understand some things in life

Like how local race team politics can get out of hand so much. So an unnamed racer wants to ride for the best MTB team in the state, for the oh so few dirt races said racer will do. Great, the more the merrier, since this is a glorified hobby for most of us, even the fast locals pay to race, pay for bikes and if they are lucky get a jersey for free, I'm thinking, no problem.

Not so fast, seems like a ruckus has kicked up, different teams, different sponsors and a few people who want to take life and this glorified hobby, way too seriously.

As a leader on a large, successful team, if one of that team said, Bob, we don't have many road racers on our team, so I am going to ride for X on the road, I'd say great, just don't forget how much more fun and laid back MTB racing is. And oh yeah, don't forget to wear your mtb shoes and visor.

There are less than 5 riders in Utah who get paid to do this, the rest are quite deep into their own pockets to do it.

As Sargent Hulka Says,














Team Revolution-Peak Fasteners is not a Prison, it is a place for like minded people come together to go fast on the dirt. So if your team is bringing you down, maybe it is time for a change.

Wednesday sureality

Left the house, locked the door walked to the car and realized I did not have my keys, climbed up on the trash can, opened the Kitchen sink window, looked around, crawled in, bounced over the dying dishes and bumped into the pots on the pot rack hanging from the ceiling, some how made it through without getting my pressed shirt wrinkled or dirty. Or as my boss said, even though I put myself in the position to break any number of bones, get knocked out by falling pots and get arrested, I came through unscathed, oh yeah, I locked the window behind me.

Came home kitted up and went for a ride, surprised i didn't see utrider, cause i headed up emigration oaks for some efforts. Not only does Bart do that every day, he does it with a backpack.

After dinner, i went to Wild Oats for some expensive groceries and while there i saw they were selling my sister. I am not sure how she would like it if she knew that while she was sunning herself in Italy, she was being undersold in Utah.

First race weekend 2007

Lyna and I left Thursday after work for saint george. We got there around 10:30 unpacked and went to bed, woke up lat morning and prepped for a noon 30 pre ride.Lyna was riding her new bike on dirt for the first time, which meant it was going to be her first dirt ride.














I did 1 and a half laps and ran into some riff-raff while out there.

























That evening Swatch's boy made a bunch of us some homemade sketti sauce dinner, he said that since he wasn't racin he would be our cook, nice.

The race day came and i was not nervous at all, lined up with a rather large group, including pro women and we were off, last year i blew up like a mail order doll. This year i tried to stay smooth and not implode, ended up in 10th place and satisfied, Abbot and Pilling killed it. Lyna took 5th in Sport women, 25 minutes faster than she thought we would go.

That evening we went and hung out with the Sherwins, Fox, Sager, Swatch and Craig, we witnessed Fox's dare, here is a photo from the start line of the Mesa he road to and climbed up in 19 minutes for 160 bucks.














Afterwards was Dinner at Don Pedro's with 15 of us, followed by a Red Rock party at Danny's

Sunday we all hit Gould, Jem, Hurricane rim and had a good time before driving home.














Below are some more photos.

There were a lot of Kids Racing, awesome














Speaking of Kids, Keating's were restless















Keating tells 1/2 of thin and thinner how to rip the DH














I like to call this one- 'Flatulent Sherwin'














The gang watches Fox scale a Mesa



















Chris Sherwin looking for his innocence

Its warm, no its cold, its warm , no thbbbbtttt!

Yet I still rode outside, Saturday was a ride out to the international center, disappointment at the frontage road being torn up, ride around empty warehouses for a while, then head home. Good times

Sunday Lyna and I actually had the same day off work together, so we headed out for brunch at Oasis, then she disappeared into Golden Braid. Shannon B called me and said that he was going to ride with Ty. I found Lyna and we went home to go our separate work out ways. I met up with Jen, Shannon and Ty on my road bike, they were on their MTB's, I felt like the fat kid nobody wanted on their team, but we had a good ride anyway.

This weekend, I am going to Saint George to ride my bike, I think I am lining up for a race as well.

Looking forward to trails again.

It warmed up, I ditched work and went in search of dry dirt

Just needed to get out today, got 2 hours on the HT, it was awesome, I am lucky to be able to do that. Went and rode from the Zoo to Red Butte, up the dirt road and then diced around the trail above the U and Med Center., No mud on me or my bike, mostly dry trails, a few damp spots. That will only last a few more days till the next storm.

10 days to the desert rampage, yeah. Uh or Nah. I will be there, with number on bike racing my heart out, literally, well maybe my legs off.

First photo is above the zoo, second is seldom used single-track above the U

Warm February Herding Cattle

Went up to Bountiful to ride with BZ and Kathy. Took off from the Northern Elite Training Center and rode almost to the Antelope island causeway. 3.25 hours with some good steady riding, ending up with a 1500 foot climb in the last couple of miles. Almost 60 miles in total, Kathy was bundled up for a blizzard, 3 more hours tomorrow. On our return from the causeway, I took a nature break and when trying to catch up I got stuck with a huge herd of cattle in the road between me, Kathy and BZ. Luckily a truck was stuck as well and I hid behind it as the mass of beef came my way, kind of freaky, lots of cattle be herded straight towards my skinny ass on a bike.

Newby sent a few pictures from Old Pueblo


















2 weeks to suffrage.

Yeah, I went to southern Utah again, my back is sore

Friday morning packed up the Element, picked up Jerry and headed down to warmer digs. Friday consisted of a nice 2 hour ride up and back Stucki with Newby, while I was riding back up bear Claw Poppy, Fox and Sager came up on me, tried to follow them up and down the Barrel Trail to their condo. That hurt. Evening went to Bajio with Jerry, Swatch and Fox then hung out with Danny, Kim and kids.

Saturday was a Goulds, Jem, Hurricane rm ride, Fox, Swatch, Jerry, newby, BartmanG, Roge and Sager. I didn't bonk this time and we had some good blood and later stitches for Roge. Very nice ride, luckily the fasties waited for us several times. That evening I dined alone at the condo and watched UK almost come back to take Fla.

Sunday was a trailblazing ride from the race course to the Barrel Roll and back, lots of shotgun shells, redneck campfires and barely ridden washes. Ran into Sager and Fox again, shortly after they were in the line of fire.

Good long hours, having fun, the back is sore from all the rocky sections on Hurricane rim and Barrel Roll.

Maybe next year the Pilling's and Abbott's will take the Saffell's on there Phoenix training camp, I may be able to keep up.

Surreal World

Heading to St. George Friday AM, maybe hook up with Bart, Fox and who knows who else.

So life is full of wonders and oddities, I like it that way though. Fox is selling his life, in order to give part of it away, what if you just give away jerseys, shorts, drive trains and handlebars downtown, that would be interesting.

Groenendaal is getting lots of play for his salute to a teammate last week. I gotta tell you the World Cup Belgium Cross Scene is like some sort of Reality Show gone bad. Last night I watched to Mens World Champs race in its entirety here. Page was sooooo close to winning that thing, one bobble on a steep up and that was it, he had a 3 to 4 second gap on most of the last lap, crazy. Oh yeah, Bart Wellens is still a wuss.

Booked my travel for NMBS 1 in Phoenix, exercise the demons of the dislocated shoulder I will. I did not do the frozen hog, I was sawing logs at start time. I don't need any excuse to try too hard in February, plus I woulda had to race against Bart, Sager and Fox among others.

Looking into getting a set of these built up for the hardtail with Stans rims, should be sweet.

I have successfully lost my digital camera, so no pictures, but who wants to see pictures of me riding a trainer, I mean, if you are that interested, I'll give you my address and you can join me in the basement, however it has been warm enough in SLC to ride outside.

I have noticed a proliferation of Blogs discussing how cold it is, Not that I am an award winning scribe, but, um, yeah, it is winter, it gets cold sometimes.

3.5 weeks to the first race. There is a south wind, the smog has kind of lifted, but eff it, I'm heading south, cause, you know, it is cold out.

The Knapp got hitched

So,

Thursday was boys night out, Sushi followed by FastCart, tame bachelor party for sure. Friday, Nathan and Cami got hitched. Went to dinner with them afterwards, it was nice, I am so happy for them. Wonder when the first kid will arrive?

Lyna got the stomach flu, had a rough night, went to work then turned around and came home and slept all day.

I hit the gym and then went for a nice 1.5 hour ride, outside, it was over 40, nice.

John Page and his entourage certainly have some scuffles don't they? I think at either the Worlds or a world cup before that his wife was knocked in the head.

Crazy euro's

Southern Utah, Again

Headed down to Dixie early Friday, Chris and Kathy, Ty and Meg. We made it down in time for a oce 2 hour out and back on Stucki, Saturday we slept in, and Chris, Kathy and I met up with Fox and Sarah for a Goulds, Jem Hurricane rim loop. I hit the wall around 2:15 in so the last 45 minutes was a bit slow. Otherwise it was a great ride and as Fox says, I was ripping the DH. Well most of it.

Sunday we all went out and hit Gooseberry, a nice 2 hour joyride. So close to 7 hours in 3 days, sun, warmth and good friends, although those Sherwins need some Beano.

Awesome USA results at CX worlds. Wellens is a puss though. First he says

"The jersey went to the wrong person, he shouldn't have won it even though he's a teammate. He deserves to be on the podium but the other guys don't," Wellens said.

Now he is suing the organizers of the race and his team is lodging a complaint with the UCI.

Yep, I'm going to sue Ohran, cause the mud at UTCX #2 in Ogden kept me from winning, yep those guys in front of me didn't deserve to win, yep thats it. Victory by litigation, what a puss.

Guilt Sets in

Sunday night made it to PC for X-Dance's screening of Klunkerz. Met up with the Sherwin's, The Chad and his coworker. Took extra long to get to PC as there was a NASTY wreck on I-80. The documentary was pretty cool, lots of herbage smoked in those days, some local DH'ers I know would be psyched. In the small world of the WWW somehow Charlie Kelly found my blog and posted a comment, one of the originals, Marin County Repack'ers, pretty interesting. He 'promoted' the races, put up prozes (smokables) and helped create MTB racing as we know it, Charlie, it could use some help today, there are promoters out there ruining it, while there are promoters out there pushing it forward. USA Cycling has given too much power to a select group of promoters, whio in turn have too much influence on the sport. But I digress. Gary Fisher was at the show, full on Leather suit, ooh, that's gross. I mean, Leather? Come on. I think the rest of the guys, Breeze, Cunningham, Ritchey, etc.. would be wearing jeans and flannel, more my speed, Leather suit, nasty.

So onto the guilt. Monday night i hit the rainer for like an hour, easy spin, trying to get my legs unsore. Afterwards I watch absolutely the worst movie ever on pay per view and binge on Hot tamales, I have been so good about my Hot Tamale problem, I just had a moment of weekness. Then last night after Lyna and I beat ourselves into oblivion at the gym, I came home after a Noodles and Co. dinner and binged on a whole box of Fiddle Faddle.

Well maybe, just maybe my body is lacking in preservatives and sugar, so I have been binging on what I need, yeah, thats it.

Off the St. G this weekend for some ridin with Ty, Meg, Kathy and maybe Chris. Good times.

Should I get a computrainer??

So, this weekend was kind of interesting. First, I felt human again and was able to hit the gym, boy am I sore, also I hit the trainer for some good hours.

Friday night I went to the Revolution/Wasatch Running Tri team fit event. BP, Toni, Kim and eventually Rich were there. I don't run, don't swim, but I was recruiting MTB'ers, not much luck, but Swatch is in. So Dave H was there, had a good time talking to him about racing, results and training. I have some interest in Training with Power, using power zones as apposed to HR zones. I have been reading this book and it has much power focus. Now the cost of this thing is kind of scary. The least amount of cash you can lay down for a useful power tool is around 1500. The Computrainer is a great tool, gives you lots of options and entertainment on a screen for you winter basement blues, but then when it gets warm out, you will want something for the training bike as well, that means another 1000 for a powertap hub. Getting expensive now. You could just get the power tap on the trainer but then you don't get the entertainment and such. Or maybe I should just stick with HR. Ah toys, they are fun.

Saturday night I went to the RMCC team meeting. They are being sponsored by Revolution this year, so I thought I would go make some connections, we are working out a swap of riders who crossover from road to mtb or mtb to road. should be good.

Probably heading to PC tonight for a screening of Klunkerz tonight. Maybe I will heckle GF.

Coming out of the fog

First, thanks to Reed, I got a better format for the blog, K-Day, I will work with you for something more complex soon. Fox, i stole the pic from you, i tried using Bart's template for mine, and maybe it was cause i was sick, but man i fouled it up good.

I have been sicker than I can ever remember. Went to the Doc on Friday and found out it is Bronchitis, got a script, but she said not to fill it unless i did not feel progressively better over the weekend, which I have, still got a wicked cough though, absolutely no training going on during this time. Lots of TV, Mucinex, water and soup. Food has been a chore, I think I have by default hit some sort of Soup, juice fast, like all the other freaky cyclist diets people are trying out there. I may have stones, tapeworm, or a mile of crap built up in my system, but I gotta tell ya, food is good, cyclist need energy, if it works for you, great, I am not gonna even step into that world.

Team Revolution sponsors have all lined up for 2007, looks to be another break out year. The Elite team will contain some of the State and Countries fastest pro's, 3 pro men, 2 pro women, 1 semi pro and 4 of us 'Master' racers.

Hope everyone avoids the gack i got.

I have so fouled up my blog

So anyone who cares to help a brother out with this, I swear I got something in it for you.

Old revolution jerseys, used icup t-shirts/socks

I want the blog to be in team revolution colors. Light blue dark blue and orange.

I would like this photo as my header. can some one help a brother out?????