Apostasy

As a member of The Church of The Blue Dome there are certain rules, or commandments if you will, that one is expected to obey. However, the Church allows each member to interpret the rules to a certain degree according to their circumstances.

I may have flexed my interpretation of the rules a bit. Some may even say I’m now an apostate. Maybe, maybe not. But probably not, it is my church after all.

One of the great things about religion, and mine is no different, is revision. Like all great religion’s founders I’m allowed to pretty much do as I may. So, I’m going to rewrite some of the rules to accomodate my current circumstances.

That being said, I am forsaking the Dork Bike. Blasphemous, I know. Allow me to ’splain.

I’ve found some new truth that I was lacking. I’m merely adding this new truth to my existing truth to form a more perfect religion.

Beware the Vassago Jabberwocky:

Granted, not too dork. Other than breaking rule (commandment) # 3, Rim Brakes Only, I’m still keeping 7 of the original 8 commandments. That’s much better than most religion’s founders and besides I’ll be revising those rules as to comply with all of them soon enough.

Tasha has also been enlightened with more truth and will be riding a frumious Bandersnatch to church.

These new truths would never have been known without the aid of Misty and Kris at Vassago Cycles who saw that we were heading down the wrong trail and steered us back to the twisty and narrow. Thank you!

Not apostasy after all, thankfully, but a magnification of truth leading to a fullness of the gospel of The Church of The Blue Dome heretofore unknown.

Callooh! Callay!

Win Susan

A lot of people have asked me how they can help Elden and Susan with the battle they are fighting. Thanks to Kenny Jones it’s pretty easy.

Kenny has set up a trust account at his bank that is linked to a PayPal donation account at WinSusanNelson@gmail.com

Elden and Susan can use the funds at their discretion and nobody needs to guess at what they might need.

You don’t even need a PayPal account to help out, just click on the donate button at Kenny’s Photo and use a credit card.

Elden and Susan and family, we love you! You and your family are in our thoughts and hearts. Keep fighting!

New Recovery Drink

I’ve been working on a recovery drink to complement CarboRocket. Its been a tedious process with lots of testing and a lot of overtime on my part. It’s finally ready and I couldn’t be more pleased. I think you’ll agree after trying it that there just isn’t anything like it on the market. I proudly present Bohemian Brewery’s Czech Pilsener.

CarboRocket before and during your ride or race and Bohemian Brewery’s Czech Pilsener afterward. A partnership made in heaven. You’ll be recovering so fast your head will spin. Guaranteed!

I’ll be at the premier Soldier Hollow race tomorrow as a platinum sponsor of the weekly race series passing out samples of CarboRocket and “educating” you on the new recovery drink. Look for the banners and please stop by.

5 Mile Pass Race Report

Neither Tasha nor I were too excited about racing 5 Mile Pass on Saturday. Tasha pre-rode it a few days before and proclaimed it a terrible race course. It didn’t help that she and Whitney got lost and did a hike-a-bike that was twice as long and steeper than the one they’d be hiking on Saturday.

I was questioning the wisdom of doing a long, notoriously brutal XC race only a week after the RAWROD spectacular.

Of course, we went anyway.

Tasha and Dot battled back and forth for the lead most of the race and then Tasha flatted and lost a chain. I think she did great still pulling off a 5th place finish after all that. I also take full responsibility for her bike problems. I should have known better than to Stans her wheel the day before a race. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb!

It’s amazing how calm and relaxed you can feel right before the start of a race when you have no expectations. I also had a good excuse already formulated if I did poorly.

We had a pretty good group show up which lowered my expectations even further.

I knew it would be a long day so I tried to sit in but I tend towards impatience (imagine that) and decided to jump out front. That worked for a little while until we hit some downhill sections. That would set the tone for the rest of the day. Other than Fred who put a good gap on me on the first long downhill I yoyo’ed back and forth with Bob for 2nd and 3rd position most of the race.

Bob finally dropped off (thankfully, as he was really putting the hurt on me) on the 3rd lap but then I had to contend with Chris Bingham and Glenn Adams. They kept getting by me on the downhills and I couldn’t gap them far enough on the climbs. I ended up 4th.

I’m pretty happy with how I did as the flatter courses, which I struggle with, are now behind me for the season and I can look forward to the steeper, climby courses that are more my cup of tea.

BTW, Whitney Pogue who finally moved to Sport class promised before the race that if she won she would move up to Expert. She won by over 13 minutes, how bout just jumping right to the Pro class?

Fighting for Susan

I had all kinds of things to write about today but they all seem so trivial. Don’t go check out Fatty’s post unless you have several hours to cry and wrestle with your feelings. I had no idea I was such a crybaby. I liked Bob’s idea about posting a pic of the “Pink Jersey” and letting it speak for itself.

RAWROD Day 2

As I was suffering up the switchbacks on Friday I was thinking that I just wanted to go home and that no way am I doing this again tomorrow. I don’t care what kind of heckling I have to endure. Maybe I’ll just ramble around camp all day clipping my toenails and waiting for everyone or go float down the river. Anything but getting back on that stupid damn dork bike again.

Of course, I changed my mind as soon as everyone started showing up that night bringing excitement and nervous energy to camp. Most importantly, I certainly didn’t want to miss out on being witness to any of the suffering that I knew would take place.

Here’s Mark Warner already in the fetal position at the half way point.

Surprisingly, there seemed to be very little suffering or people were just really good at hiding it.

That’s the longest tongue I’ve ever seen.

The highlight of the day for me was riding with and watching Eric complete his first RAWROD. The dude has never been on a bike for longer than 2 hours in his life and he did it on a rigid bike no less. Sorry, no props for the single speed because we all know its the easy way out but way to go bro! I also really dig the Highland Games kit you were sporting. Is that a kilt?

I don’t think I saw a single person finish who didn’t have a smile plastered on their face. Of course, how could you not smile when someone hands you a brew?

Even BotchedExperiment Dan was grinning or is he gritting his his teeth to keep the vomit in? He is looking a little pasty.

Friday was hard and not very enjoyable but it was incredibly satisfying. I ate nothing but gels and blocks. Saturday was just a total blast and I ate nothing but cookies, licorice and lots of mooched food. I loved every minute of it except for about 8 min at mile 80ish when I decided that I had had enough of sitting on a bike seat and pedaling in circles. Kenny and I had a cold brew at the top of Hardscrabble and I immediately felt better.

So much better that I began thinking that the back to back RAWROD should become a tradition. Who’s in?

I took a lot pictures of people climbing Murphy’s and at the top of Horse Thief. Help yourself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79867483@N00/sets/72157604797371145

White Rim TT

What’s better than riding around the White Rim in one day? Not many things.

Chris put the bee in my bonnet about time trialing the White Rim and Adam suggested we try it the day before Kenny’s annual RAWROD.

Somehow I found myself committed to ride the White Rim in one day on two consecutive days. This could possibly be one of the few things better than riding the White Rim in one day or it could end up being something much worse.

I got out of bed Friday morning at 3:50 a.m. I can’t believe it either. I met Kenny at his house and we headed out in the FnJ. Getting up that early apparently doesn’t agree with my stomach and I’m afraid Kenny will be reminded of that every time he gets in his car for the next week, possibly month.

We picked up Adam at the gas station by the Canyonlands exit North of Moab and headed out to the top of the Horse Thief swithcbacks. This is where everyone would camp that night for Saturdays RAWROD and the begining point of our ride on Friday.

Our plan was to ride in a clockwise direction and finish right where we started.

The three of us were together for about 35-40 miles when Kenny decided he needed to get moving. He was the mouse and I was the cat for the next 60 miles. I was stopping to pee every 5 miles or so and he would motor off, I would then try to catch him for the next 15 minutes and we would ride together until I had to pee again. Yes, I was well hydrated, so well hydrated that at mile 65 my camelback was empty.

The pace was such that I always felt like I was on the verge of a blow up. Luckily, it didn’t’ happen until the bottom of Horse Thief which came at about mile 98. The previous 10 miles I could tell that either Kenny was suffering or he was saving up for the climb up Horse Thief. I was feeling really good at the time and couldn’t wait to hit the climb.

I was just ahead of him at the bottom of the climb at mile 98 and the moment we turned to start climbing I was finished, kaput, done. I thought for sure I was going to have to walk. We were together most of the climb and I kept waiting for him to stop so I could stop too. Much to my disappointment he just kept going. I was miserable, any harder and I would have vomited.

He crested a couple bike lengths ahead of me and both of us finished in 7:39.

No way was I doing it again on Saturday.  More on that later and lots of pictures.

Who Beat Me?

Clark’s Trail is still closed but Jacob’s Ladder is wide open. If you’ve never ridden Jacob’s Ladder you’ve missed what just may be the best downhill trail in Northern Utah. It’s my fave and one of the reasons Draper City has the best mountain biking trail network of any suburban area in the State.

I’m a a little disappointed as I was really hoping to be the first one down Jacob’s this year but there was one other set of tracks up there. Who was it?

I only rode through a few patches of mud near the top and only had to get off my bike once to push through a 10 yard section of snow, other than that it was all ridable and I’m still grinning. Have fun!

Girly Ride

I went on a girly ride today. If anyone thinks that a girly ride is what I would call an “easy” ride they better think twice. I only refer to it as a girly ride because there were more girls than boys. 3:1 ratio and I was the 1.

As a matter of fact I would bet that the three girls I went with would place very high in a men’s category mountain bike race, possibly all on the podium.

Dot Verbrugge, Whitney Pogue, my wife Tasha and myself were planning on hitting the 5-mile pass course but the wind was so bad that we stayed in Corner Canyon. Nothing wrong with that. Corner Canyon in Draper could possibly have the best suburban trail network in the USA.

Dot nailing the water crossing.

Whitney sporting her “downhill” face.

Tasha having a good time.

Tasha busting the single track climb.

I think we did about 2.5-3 hours of mountain biking while everyone else stayed inside because it was too windy.

Most of the Corner Canyon trail network is open except Clark’s Trail.

To all the husbands that were out of town on a bike trip I must say that the biking was much better at home. See what you missed out on. That’s right, just me and the girls.

Freakin’ Poddies!

Sleepy got me thinking about Ipods again. He likes ‘em, I do not.

Actually, I love my Ipod. I love my Ipod at my house and in my car.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t like the way people use their Ipods.

It’s a weekly occurrence for me. I’ll be riding up or down some nice trail somewhere and I’ll catch up to a poddie. They are completely oblivious to the fact that there is a rider behind them that would like to get by or that wants to be friendly and ask them a question like, “what the hell are you doing riding my trail with that stupid freaking Ipod?”

I try making loud noises but they can’t hear me. I squeal my brakes, I wack trees with my hand, pretty much everything short of buzzing their rear tire. I’d do that but I fell over the last time I tried that move.

It drives me crazy. I once followed a poddie all the way up Clark’s Trail and he didn’t notice me until we got to the very top. I then spat on him.

It even happens on wide fire roads and with non-bikers. Just a couple weeks ago I was climbing corner canyon and there were two runners ahead of me each wearing an Ipod (don’t these people have anything to talk about?) I finally just rode between them with my handlebars practically scraping their ribs.

Really, do we need one more thing to insulate us against everybody and everything around us? WTF?

When I ride in groups on the road or mountain I’m constantly repeating myself when I talk to someone because they have to take out their earbuds and say, “what?”

Maybe its just me. Maybe my friends only wear Ipods when I’m with them because they really don’t want to talk to me. I get it now dug and Rick, freakin’ poddies!