Utahhh!

It’s been just over 2 weeks now and I’ve finally cone to grips with the fact that I pedaled the PCP2P 2 hours slower than last year. 2 freaking hours!  Yeah it was hard but last year was even harder.  Enough about the race you already know it’s a bitch.

On to the PCP2P ride.  The first 3 hours were complete single track bliss.  I spent the whole time riding with Dave Harris and Fatty.  Just tooling along having a good time singing songs and possibly irritating fellow racers.  What could be better than Utah single track with friends for 3 hours? Pretty much nothing and certainly not the next 7 hours.

This is what I do in a feed zone, get on my bike and ride.

This is what Elden does, looks for sympathy.  For what? His hands hurt. Whatever, sac up!

I really wish I would have felt better at the finish so I could mingle and schmooze with everyone that I haven’t seen for several months but I was too busy curled up in a ball trying to recover.  It took me almost 10 and one half hours to finish.  I’ve become a soft and pale city boy.  It is what it is.

The weekend came and went too fast.  I did manage to squeeze in some Corner Canyon dirt, Bayou and a visit to the lab.

Mountain bike racing is OVER! I am pretty excited about that since no matter how hard I look there just aren’t any mountains to be found in Chicago.  I am hereby declaring my official new cycling discipline to be cyclocross.  I even have the first race of the Chicago Cross Cup under my belt and I couldn’t be more pleased.  More on that tomorrow.

Chicago Aint So Bad

It’s actually pretty awesome.

Several people enjoying the beach. I had no idea Chicago had a beach.

Luckily you can get away from everyone without even leaving the city.

I like to think we traded mountain views for city views.

Living in the city has its perks, you can go from this.

To this, all in one afternoon.

I’m digging it.

Tomorrow or maybe Tuesday Midwest race report #2 Palos Meltdown.  Is it  harder and more fun than an ICUP race?

Draper ICUP

There’s nothing quite like racing on your own backyard trails except for maybe just riding them. I had my best race of the year, as in I felt great for the entire 2+ hours and finished 3rd, Bob I’m coming for you. I really thought this was one I could win but my theory that everyone is getting faster as I get slower is becoming reality.

Some people use computers and GPS but I like to taste the air on my tongue during the race to gauge my speed, doing about 12.5mph here.

The race in the backyard is also good if you’re local. I’m sure I gained an extra minute or two on the out of neighborhood competition just from the cheering section, better than any amount of caffeine. Thanks to Kendra my 14 yr old for the action photos, she may have a future after all. Kendra, If you read this I’m joking you have a very bright future.

Here’s CarborRocket, er, I mean Bryson Perry on the Men’s Pro-Class podium with a huge win. The former Leadville Trail 100 winner has his sights set on Lance this year.

KC Holley with a 2nd place in the Women’s Pro-Class. She is moving up the podium at every race, I expect the big W to be this month.

I somehow managed to crash not one but 2 BBQ’s after the race. First was for Team Revolution at the venue.

2nd was at Dot and Karl’s house. Tasha and I live up the hill from Dot an Karl and have some binoculars trained on their backyard for weekend festivities. I think they are getting used to us as they even offered us food this time. Any progress is notable in party crashing.

Number 0

OK, I’ve been a little preoccupied lately with the move to Chicago so posts are rolling in a little late but better than never. Maybe.

I hate night riding, I’ d much rather be sitting on my butt at home drinking a cold one.   Just thinking about night riding is usually enough to keep me at home.   However, I’d be hard pressed to think of a single night ride where I got home and thought, gee, I really wish I hadn’t done that. I’ve never had any regrets about night riding but I can still hate it, can’t I?

The inaugural Thursday night race went off last week or was it the week before thanks to RickS.  Racing from Equestrian Center in Draper up Clarks then around back side of and down Jacobs Ladder, Ghost Falls and Creek View back to the EQC.

Pretty sure there were 25-30 dudes, where were all the women racers anyway? I led the climb up Clarks, Clarks is my bitch btw, and got passed at the top of Jacobs by the eventual winner Brandon and eventual 5th? Greggy.  Loads of fun and can’t wait til the next one but I am NOT driving to Utah County for it, I am a snob.

The wusses went to eat somewhere after the race and the real mountain bikers went out for another lap. I was not a wuss.

Tomorrow I’ve got a Draper ICUP report and Tuesday maybe a Chicago update.

Clarks TT And Draper ICUP Preview

I bailed on the Soldier Hollow weekly race and decided to TT Clarks and scope out the Draper ICUP course instead.

Clarks has been re-routed at the top so I wasn’t sure how much that would add to the times from last year.  Based on the few times that have been posted I was guessing it would take longer.  At 10:50 I would be correct, that is almost a minute slower than my best time from last year.  Do I think the trail is a minute longer than last year? No, it’s more like 30 seconds longer It’s just that I’m a little slower this year.  I predict someone will break the 10 min mark but not by much and not without some ear blood.

The top of Clarks is conveniently located right at the top of Jamie’s trail, Rush. How you could choose any other way down is beyond me, Rush is my favorite trail in Corner Canyon, very much a working downhill that can be as tiring as climbing Clarks. Totally dig it.

At the bottom Canyon Hollow I found the pink flags marking the ICUP course and checked out few sections.  Given all the trail that has been built in CC I am pretty surprised that they incorporated a bunch of deer trail/bush whacking sections.  I’m not complaining, just saying.  Also, watch out for all the super steep grunts, I predict I’ll be doing some hiking. The newer sections could definitely use some traffic so get out there and give it a spin but only after TT’ing Clarks.

May Mashup

I’m working May backwards.  Today I’m looking for a ride to Soldier Hollow, if you’re leaving from the Sandy, Draper area and want to carpool let me know.

Monday was Gooseberry LLC planning day at the Bayou.  It’s amazing what can be accomplished after a good bike ride and over sweet potato fries and Epics.

I’ve also been working hard all month on getting the Raspberrylemonade CR back in stock and it looks like it should be available next week. Let’s just say somebody is hording raspberries or there was a Spring freeze.

May has been so busy I had to choose between the Sundance ICUP Saturday or the Cycle Salt Lake Century.  I chose peddling over pedaling.  I’ve never seen so many wrinkly old men in lycra in one place in my life.  Tasha has no idea that 2,000 cyclists are about to descend upon us and drain nearly 100 gallons of CR:

I had to start doing the weekly mountain bike races to get my racing fix.  The weekly races hurt at level that is almost indescribable.  Way higher intensity than an ICUP XC race but a lot more fun than doing intervals or some other stupid workout.

At the Sundance weekly I broke my chain towards the top of the first climb and for a brief moment was really happy because I was on the verge of vomit and caught a nice break. Race over, vomit avoided.  The weekly race series rock for a number of reasons not the least of which is the raffle.  Had you been there you to could have won some biscuits:

I also paid a visit to BikeFix a new shop that is opening this weekend in beautiful downtown Bountiful.  Not only is BikeFix shaping up to be the coolest shop in Bountiful it will also be the only place in bountiful to get your CR fix.  Mr. Day wondering how many more 18 hour days he’s going to have to put in to be ready:

And what is May without our annual Mother’s Day picnic at Red Butte Gardens?  Hands down my favorite day of the year, chillin on the grass with a variety of dried meats, stinky cheeses, red wine and Tasha and  the girls.

Last and least of all, 5-Mile Pass.  It sucked.

I’m A Mountain Biker Now

I haven’t been on my road bike since Hell of the North but have been on my mountain bike nearly every day since so it’s safe to say I’m back to being a full time mountain biker.

It feels good to be a mountain biker. I rode Frank N Betty in the UC this week and can’t believe I’ve never ridden Betty. Wow! Thanks Ricky and Miles for showing me the way, the truth, the light that is Utah County trail. That shit is steep and nasty! Just the way I like it.

OK, It’s that 100 miles of RAWROD time of year and unfortunately I wont’ be able to ride with the big group on Saturday so the Friday TT is the next best (better? Nah.) thing.

It’s now been 2 years since I did a TT of the White Rim and my goal for Friday is to do it under 7:30. That will make me a mountain biker for sure, no?  Check back Sunday or Monday or Tuesday for a White Rim update.  Should be fun or at least completely miserable.

Moab Rim Ride Sucks

I know I said I’d have a report up by Monday or Tuesday but Saturday was a much bigger effin day than I thought it would be.  I’ve now recovered enough to type.

When I say the Rim Ride sucks I really mean it sucks for you if you haven’t done it before and that it really  sucked for me at the 5 hour mark and the suckage lasted for what seemed forever.

The Rim Ride has been on my bucket list for several years but it has always scared me because it’s so early in the season and it’s so effin hard.  I figured if I don’t get it done this year before we move out of state who knows when or if it will ever happen.

For the uninitiated the Moab Rim Ride is an unofficial, unsupported (pack everything you think you’ll need for 12 hours in the desert) race that takes place every year in the Spring and links together some of the best, nastiest trails in Moab, all done in one day. Names like Metal Masher, Deal Breaker, Gold Bar Rim, Posion Spider Mesa, Blue Dot and Sovereign. So many trails I lost track, maybe a dozen.

I drove down Friday night and camped it in the back of the Volvo 240 at Moab City Park. Scary place. I wouldn’t recommend the city park to anyone, safer to camp out in the boonies. What is it about small towns?

This is the last happy picture you’ll ever see of the 240, me camping out with my bike in 76 posh cubic feet of space.

We started at 5:30 a.m. with 2 hours of some really technical trail in the dark with lights. I think it was Bar M and Circle O trails followed by Sovereign. I hate night riding so it was nice to get that out of the way. 4 of us broke away fairly early and spent the next couple of hours together finishing Sovereign and 7-Mile Mesa area. I started to fade a bit as soon as we hit Deal Breaker, I think it was the name that did it for me.  I soon entered that awful dark place with no windows, bed or toilet. I was so close to pulling the plug on the whole thing that I swore to myself that once we hit the Gemini Bridges road I was just heading back to town.

With thoughts of quitting in my head I somehow made it to the Gemini Bridges road and got to coast for a mile or so and regroup and think things over. No way could I go home and tell everyone that I quit. I turned onto Metal Masher and was mentally more in the race but still hurting pretty bad. I figured I’ll just do Metal masher, reassess and decide what to do.

After Metal Masher I was still wanting to drop out but as I headed towards Bull Canyon I started seeing all these crazy adventure racers, some were even bungee corded together, running up out of the canyon on their way to Gemini Bridges, they looked like hell. I’m thinking, damn, they are suffering way more than me and are still moving forward one step at a time. I also started thinking about the Team and there was no way I was going to tell them I quit.  That gave me a jolt of inspiration, better than a Red Bull. I started feeling like Superman and pounded out Gold Bar Rim and Blue Dot, yes, pounded them out.

If you haven’t done Blue Dot you’ve missed the most technical, challenging trail in Moab, I’m not sure it was meant for bikes, especially after 9 hours of biking, it went on and on and on. At least the views helped pass the time.  All that was left was descending Poison Spider and 6 miles of pavement to the finish.

I’m pretty sure this pic is from Blue Dot, things were a bit fuzzy at this point in the ride.

I ended up finishing 3rd in 10hrs 29min and feeling like I had something left in the tank, enough that I thought I should drive home, turns out that was a bad idea.

Here’s race winner Kurt Refsnider basking in the admiration of his minions, myself included.  Side note: Kurt took 2nd at the Tour Divide Race last year, from Canada to Mexico in 18 days and change!

I ended up eating about 2000 calories worth of salted nut rolls and gels and drinking 220 oz of CarboRocket carried in 2 bladders in one Camelback Mule. Wouldn’t change a thing with nutrition.  I was really surprised by how good I felt at the finish line.  The Rim Ride is one of, if not the roughest most technical day long races that I’ve ever done and It’s only March.  Either this will be a great year or I’ll be burned out by June.

Huge thanks to Fred Wilkinson for putting this together and Jamie Pogue for the suspension fork, I’m sure I woulda died without it.

What’s a good road trip/race report without a little carnage? Coming down Spanish Fork Canyon I T-boned a deer and totaled the 240. Way bummed about it but glad I’m Ok. I’ve relived that moment over and over a hundred times, it was so surreal. I actually looked the deer right in the eyes in that split second before impact and then watched it die instantly and cartwheel across the other lane and off the road. It happened so fast there was no time to brake or swerve. In hindsight things could have been a lot worse had I had more time to react.

No new car in the near future, gonna try and make it with just one. Sounds like more bike time.

A Big Effin Day

It’s been too long. I don’t remember the last really big effin day I had on a bike. Saturday will be that day. What makes a big effin day? For me it means the following things will be different from, say, a small effin day.

• Suspension, It’s been a few years but I think I remember how to use it
• GPS, don’t want to get lost
• 260 oz. of CR, never carried that much before
• 4800 calories, never ate that much before
• Space blanket, just in case
• Almost forgot, 22t cog

Check back Monday or Tuesday for details. I hope I’m able to post details. I’m so excite, high five!

2010 And Beyond

I tried really hard to take a month off from posting anything on the interweb.   I guess I cheated if you count tweeting and facebook.  I thought it would be cleansing and renewing but its left me feeling slightly constipated instead.

2009 is over and all I have to say about that is if you haven’t seen District 9 well, then, you really haven’t finished your 2009. Seriously, you need to see that movie before 2010 can officially start.

Twenty Ten has a nice ring to it so I’d like to make it extra special. I’m still trying to figure out the details but have a few things on my mind. For one, I plan on becoming a triathlete in 2010. Not your normal triathlete mind you. I think there are a few too many geeks in triathlon *edit-none that I know of course* and pretty much zero dorks so I am committing to becoming a triathlon dork in 2010. I addition to racing triathlons on a single speed I plan on bringing back the Speedo. Triathlon just hasn’t been the same since men stopped wearing the Speedo. And really, who needs goggles for the swim?

Back to my real passion, mountain biking. I plan on doing a handful of ICUP’s and I’ll throw in as many 12 hour and 100 milers as possible. 12 Hours of Mesa Verde sounds cool as well as the 12 hous of Temecula.  My focus for 2010 will be the Butte 100 with my final push of the season being the Park City Point 2 Point, 2 of the best races anywhere! If I’m flush and feeling good I may try to do La Ruta, I’ve dreamt about that one for years.

You’ll notice I didn’t mention anything about 24 hour races or Leadville.  Until they figure out how to get rid of the riding between 12 am and 6 am I am protesting 24 hour races and I can pay for most of the years entry fees for what they want at Leadville this year.

Yes, 2010 will be a good year.  See you on the trails and on the road and maybe in the pool…nah, not the pool.