colorado trail

things have a way of working-out sometimes.

last fall andy mentioned doing the 535m Colorado Trail self-supported "race." it was too long of a trip to realisticly ask jenn to watch seneca for w ith work and all. then recently andy, tim, & glen cook decided they weren't going to race, but tour. andy dropped this change of plans on jenn the other night and she says, "you should do it, the ride with andy." and that was that. now i'm hurriedly ordering components, racks, panniers, maps, plus making plans, pick-ups, drop-offs, flights, all that. when andy told me about the CTR, i was stoked, but knew it would take a miracle to get-away from reality. i guess, this is my reality. jenn is calling it a 'vision quest.' maybe it is. it's been almost 10yrs since the last one w/zoof.

Boulder Pass, August 1999

xc races are being scratched for dirt epics, 7wks till we hit the trailhead outside denver en-route to durango. figure i can squeeze-in more miles (and cut-down on fuel) by doing all errands by bike. seems like i should have been doing that all along!

if anyone lives up vt-north way and wants to do a dirt epic this sunday, lemme know.

a cool wind was howling the other day under a warm sun, clouds formed off the mtn tops, but sunny in the valleys. a great day for a gap-attack.

Coyote Hill Short Track / Hill Climb / XC - Race Report

This was my first wknd of mtnbike racing since last labor day. i “missed” the stress and anxiety that builds days before a race, the poor sleeping, the weird eating habits and concerns, last minute bike repairs, but then the feeling of achievement upon completion, and maybe the most - the camaraderie of race day. since this was my first in a while, and two days of racing vs one, prepare for a long read (or enjoy your usual brief skim).

Saturday. Jenn and Seneca joined me for the trip out to coyote hill, where the trails are sometimes buttery smooth, but mostly challenging rolling NE singletrack. The kind of stuff that you can get on top of and feel great riding, or fall apart on and suffer horribly! If you’re like me, usually you get to do both during a 2hr race!

short track:

saturday. my first time doing short, figured it was like cx - and it was. great weather for racing, 60 degrees, windy, warm sun mostly hiding. put on layers. take-off layers. repeat. thom, greg, and i pre-rode most of the xc course, did a cpl laps of the short-track course, then a lap up the hill climb before staging. nice and warmed-up, we lined-up with a 15? 20? pro/semi-pros/experts. from the gun it was on! full-out or close to it, my breath came in deep ragged breaths, heaving desperately for air. i was surprised to find myself in 4th or 5^th into the first cpl laps.

the course wound-up a short climb, through a series of turns, including a nice high banked S, across a short technical bridge, through the start/finish, then back-up the hill. Again. And again. I focused on riding fast smooth lines through the turns, being clean and smooth on the short technical, then hitting the hill in biggest gear possible, sometimes standing, other times pulling-up from the saddle through the bars.

10mins into the race it was clear the short climb was the deciding factor. i was able to "break" free w/Jenn and Seneca cheering on the climb, but I was too anerobic to smile or say anything other than “ouch” as I went by. Seneca cheered me on in her little cute voice with chants of “go dog go!” (a favorite night-time read). it was super great to have them out there, a cpl long days for jenn while i messed around. jenn's optimism and joy are reflected in seneca, they brighten every moment and give meaning.

i knew it wouldn't be long before i saw thom parsons (ibc), and sure enough he slowly ground-up, swooping around me w/3 to go. As he closed-in, I gasped “go aaawaaay” as I thought I was in 1^st, having forgotten about the strong greg carpenter (maxxis) way out in front. literally never saw the guy. thom can get on top of whatever gear he's running and he held me off on each of my pitiful seeming attacks, placing me in 3^rd for the event. i crossed the line a happy guy, pleased to have survived my first effort in respectable fashion. Go dog go!

hill climb:

we waited for 30mins or so before going-off every 30secs up the hill climb. it was about a mile long w/2 short descents, a mini reverse Super D course. i started 4th or 5th and tried to keep the lead weights masquerading as my legs cranking-up the hill. I don’t think they ever felt so heavy, but I figure everyone’s legs felt equally as shitty! i made-up time on the short fireroad descent, tucking no-brakes back into the climb, now on brent's heels. we soon passed thom who was crazy over-geared for the steeps on his ss, but he was a good sport about it, grinding away at about 20-30RPM. ouch! the small field size worked to my advantage and i took the event w/my 5min effort. a 1st and a 3rd, not a bad way to kick-off the '08 season. oh wait, i've still got the xc tomorrow! Crap!

XC:

sunday dawned picture-perfect. deep blue skies w/fluffy white clouds floating on a breeze just gusty enough to keep the black flies from attacking in droves. instead they dive-bombed your eyes and ears luke skywalker style, going for the weak spots. I love spring in NE. seriously. Black flies and all. Spring = dirt. Spring = racing w/good chaps (and gals!). Good stuff. Linnea, colin, greg, and thom crashed at our place sat night, we had a great breakfast, then split-up for the trip back to coyote hill for the main event. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Big field for a regional race, over 20. i went-off a “bit” (aka, stupid fast) strong, really hammering the climb, fighting for 3rd into the singletrack. i was a bit deeper into the pain cave than i'd have liked, and hoped a stiff back would loosen-up w/the legs. the first section of singletrack was dreamy, fast flowing stuff, a fantastic reward for the initial climb. too soon it was over and the real mtnbiking began in a section of lumpy fresh cut which lead into section after section of good 'ole fashion technical mtnbiking. very few breaks on this course, you had to be on your game and at first, I was, albeit riding a bit wild due to going-out too hard.

the anerobic riding makes me go kinda trail blind, i can't look too far ahead, and soon went down hard on a sharp sandy 90 degree downhill corner, ripping the ust Hutchinson bulldog off the rim. I re-inflated it, but in haste didn't remove leaves which hindered it from fully sealing. found myself w/a flabby tire pretty quick. a group of 4 bridged-up to me; i stayed in front through the start/finish, jenn/seneca cheering w/btl, up to the fireroad climb reaching for the co2 and nozzle, jumped-off for quick repair, hoping to get on the back of the train rollin’ by. good re-inflation this time, ride hard to get back-on, knowing i could rest a bit on the swoopy stuff, even let-out an occasional "yippee!"

A big part of mtnbiking is not loosing your head when stuff goes wrong… and remembering that stuff goes wrong not because the course jumps out and grabs your bike, throwing you to the earth unceremoniously, but because of how you're riding, then changing your riding style accordingly. i slowed-up a bit, regained my "vision", and was soon riding just as fast, but cleaner smoother lines.

i found myself riding w/ sean c, always looking over our shoulders for thom; and soon enough he appeared, looking strong, blasting past us after the 2nd lap on his march up the field to a very solid 3rd. nice racing thom!

i fell back a bit on the 3rd lap, musing too much on the monkey knife fight happening deep in my back, twangs down the back of my legs, why didn't i stretch and cool-down yesterday!? then i clicked, snapped. If I’m already in pain, why not go all the way? duh. had to re-remember this after 8months off. i buried myself and slowly ground back-up to sean and a cpl others, but was riding sloppy lines to do it. on the same 90 degree downhill sandy corner i had ripped the tire off the rim on on the 1^st lap, I did it again on the 4th! so much for that desperate rally.

i had no more air and proceeded to run. a co2 happened to fall out of a racer's pocket about a mile later and i thankfully scooped it up and got the tire aired-up for the ride to the finish. i was glad to have fought-off the pain demons and finished as strong as possible.

i was completely shot at the end of the race, it's been awhile since i've felt quite that awful. if you believe you should be riding up front'ish, you do it until you blow, or at least i do. and blow up i did. jenn loaded me into the car and hauled me off, but my day wasn't quite done yet. i had one more stop to make; throw-up on the side of the road 20mins into the drive, which brought cheers from a cpl passing cars w/bikes and number plates on them. Later, I rewarded myself w/some general tsao’s chicken, a cpl long trails, and a screening of star wars.

thank you jenn for doing btl hand-ups for me and 6 others ! and seneca for a 2nd day of "goooo dog go!" seeing them there makes me a happy guy.

thom, colin, and greg looking tough after sat's hill climb...

finally -

- a race! coyote hill this wknd. short track and hill climb sat, xc on sun. my first race since labor day of last yr. crazy. i wonder how the legs and lungs will do...

unfortunately, no ss for me this wknd, gonna go at it w/some borrowed gears, thnks shawn. my new IF ti deluxe ss 29'er frame is so mocking me right now. no fork, no wheels, no cranks, kinda tough to race it like that. to get rollin', i need to sell my steel deluxe, but i need my steel deluxe to train and race on. or at least i think i do.

i had a political/life short soapbox in here earlier today, about how lucky i am to live here, politics. but have done a rare blog revision... wasn't into it. i'm not usually into doing revisions here, this is first-draft country.

finally got my ass out for some trail work w/john atkinson last night. that guy is a trail building / maintaining machine (i'm tired today). w/o folks like that in the valley, it would be way less super-awesome. so, wed night trail sessions are in the calendar for twice a month, with catamount races the other 2 wed /month. better to be doing some trail work than none, am glad to be doing it.

i hadn't put words to it before. couldn't agree more. good stuff on that there blog of thom's.

singletrack

stay steady, go fast, speed conquers all obstacles. the singletrack here ranges from challenging rocky-rooty lines to the smoothest buffed-out banked turn rippers you can imagine. one thing all this great riding has in common is the dedicated folks who build and maintain the trails. thank you, thank you, thank you. but that is not enough. the more i ride, the more i realize i need to take time to work on these trails beyond moving dead fall off the lines when riding. trail work is the price of isolation, only so many of us here and so many quiet lines to be maintained. in 3hrs of riding today i saw one person (which is rare) and 1 set of tracks - and was maybe 10m from home at the farthest point. if i ever complain about living here, slap the stupid off me.


tough to get the groceries home in winter on the class IV roads, unless you own...

Two great IF Raffles!

From Mark Elsasser of Team Green:

"I’m hoping you can help spread the word about an Ovarian Cancer fundraiser my girlfriend Samantha and I have organized in conjunction with the Escape from Granouge MTB race on May 24th. Part of the fundraiser is a raffle with the grand prize being a custom IF fork. We are selling raffle tickets in advance via BikeReg. Here’s the link. The raffle benefits the Hera Foundation."

Samantha is a cancer survivor and this is a great way to win an amazing fork, while doing good. A win-win. Can't beat that.

Here's another one:

Click here and buy a raffle ticket to win an IF frameset and support IF Racing. Wicked! This is a raffle for an Independent Fabrication STEEL frame. The winner will get a custom steel frame from Independent Fabrication, with the option to upgrade to Titanium, SSR or XS for additional cost. The proceeds of this raffle go to IF Racing and benefit our racing teams and the charities we support.

righteous

beautiful wknd to ride.
had 3hrs this morning, so kicked the App/Lincoln Gap loop. it's a real nice ride w/2 righteous climbs.


bumped into this guy (below) on my way down the App Gap. in person, i thought he was a giant bull moose, but looking at the pics, he doesn't seem so giant... standing so close to such a large animal tends to affect one's (my) judgement! i kept telling myself as i fiddled w/my phone(camera) that i could out-ride him... yeah right.

training

with the start of my racing season fast approaching, and a "promise" that i'd write a bit more about what i do for training, i decided to babble-on about it this morning in an effort to delay studying for my Final Pysch exam.

in jan-feb i started gearing-up for daily riding, putting-in 25hrs in jan, mostly on the indoor, w/plenty of snowboarding mixed in, and some big clothes outdoor rides w/the studs. then 35hrs in feb w/some hill and snow rides; 40 solid hrs in march including plenty of hills and at least 15-20hrs of indoor spinning. 50 quality hrs in april w/the indoor rides as rest days, then 60+hrs this may. during race season 50hr wks are the norm, unless there is a lot of racing to be done, then more taper days. my base is still shakey and i'd really like to get 60+hrs this may before my season begins in earnest...

one missing element from my non-program program is rest wks. i'm terrible at taking time off. if i'm not hobbling around the house w/tired legs i feel like i didn't do enough, so i ride harder. time is always tight so my training has evolved into almost constant medium to medium-high intensity (ie., climbing hills), but never includes rest... i just don't enjoy it. for me, training is an organic experience. i ride how i feel... training is ingrained into my being. i started swim racing at age 7, messed around w/baseball for a cpl yrs (i was terrible), got back into swimming, then into competitive running for 6yrs, then competitive partying before finding cycling in my mid 20's. since then, i've simply felt my way through training, leaning upon yrs of experience to guide me naturally... i wonder if i could be doing more w/my time if i followed a plan based around HR zones, blah, blah, blah, but i dread that. i dread removing the natural flow of my training process; removing this need to work myself into the ground, then rest-up before a race and have the golden legs emerge in an almost mystical fashion. but it's not mystical, it's what works for me, however backwards and against standard methodology it may be...

i have to miss a cpl big races this yr due to family stuff, weddings, visits, etc (and i'm not complaining, i look fwd to those events), which makes me think my "organic" training method is perfect. if i can't dedicate myself to racing the way some others can, why take the "fun" out of training?

and of course, there's the part of me that wonders why i keep doing this at all? why not just buy a 6" travel bike, use my free lift serve pass and ride the downhill/xc at sugarbush all summer!? 'cause i'm a freak, i suppose, like all the other bike racin' freaks out there, from beginner to pro...

dirt!

there sure is a lot of epic dirt routes up this way. headed-out for a few hrs with shawn on sunday. rainy weather broke near the end and this crazy yellow orb appeared above our heads, warming our backs. shawn's knowledge of dirt routes coupled with what i know have massive epic dirt routes developing. i'm stoked to have found someone to train with locally (when schedules allow) - it's a heck of a lot more fun and will push us both harder.

with the snow disappearing fast on the mtns, many valley residents appear to be hanging-up their skis and getting in the saddle. a month ago i may have seen one other person when riding, now folks are everywhere!

i've mentioned to almost anyone who'd listen that the mad river valley could be an amazing destination spot for mtnbikers, which could potentially help the summer economy here. Sugarbush is kicking the lift assist under the guidance of john atkinson, but there's so much xc to be had here too! the biggest issue is no trail markers. but that's about to change. john is also mrv's trail guru and is gearing-up to mark a bunch of trails - and heads-up the charge on trail maintenance as well. i need to help him and the other dedicated valley residents who do all the hard work on the trails. training can be a selfish act, any "free" time i have, i'm looking to use to ride... but if you don't give back, you're kinda lame. i do my best to do basic maintenance when out training, moving obstacles from the trail, etc, but it's time to step-up for a cpl wknd sessions...

enough of this typing nonsense, time to crank-out some work so i can go ride this afternoon!