Time to Catch Up

It's definitely been awhile since the last time I sat down to lay down a post and since my last one so much has happened that I am going to have to put in brief bullet points to get you all caught up. So here they are:

• Went to Phoenix, AZ for some family time with the grandparents, parents, brother, aunts and uncles. Brought my mountain bike and tires, ripped some desert singletrack and found my shoulder is doing pretty well on the recovery process. Still not tearing up the descents though.
• Carbon bike is fully built and raging. Since I still don't have a road bike I am training on this and loving every minute of it, soooo.... smooth
• Been riding the trails in the Front Range of Colorado a lot recently and getting lost. Here is a list of places I got myself lost this week:

1. Dirt Roads above Boulder around Gold Hill and the many unmarked singletrack offshoots that go straight up the sides of mountains
2. White Ranch Open Space - dear lord the climbs there are tough and the descents are ripping, want to work on tech riding skills ride here!
3. Buffalo Creek Open Space - this is by far one of the best places to go mountain biking in the front range. So much singletrack, I was out there for 4 hours and still have not hit every trail. Plus you can dip into the Colorado Trail, super big bonus!

• Lucas got sick this weekend with pneumonia, have been taking him back and forth to the vet for the past two days and sleeping on the coach while he sleeps on the other coach to make sure he is hanging in there. He is such a trooper!
• Working hard to find a job for the summer and beyond. It is definitely time I become a working stiff so I can afford to live, eat, and race my bike until one day when I get paid to race my bike (definitely a long shot but you never know!)
• On spring break this week, so I get to chill at home all week and get work done without the hassle of having to go into Boulder or do anything else. So very relaxing!

That seems to be about it, I can imagine other things have been happening, but I they are either not that exciting or really not that important cause I can't seem to remember what they are.

Til next time....

Been Awhile, but Man I've been keeping busy

So things have essentially gone crazy since I last posted. Let me lay it down nice and simple for you. Have had super amounts of work to do with school, bikes belong, insurance companies, and just everyday stuff around the house. To top that all off last weekend and this weekend are travel weekends. Normally I am game to travel, if there is a race involved, but sometimes you gotta do the family thing and make trips that don't involve races. So this past weekend Shannon and I loaded up and flew down to Houston for a rather somber trip, but fun in that we got to see the whole family (her side). In order to do this it requires packing clothes, bike, and sending the dog away to the kennel. So we arrived, I unpacked my bike, put in a total of 3 hours of ride time, and then packed it back up to fly home only to unpack it again the next day. Now because I am going to Phoenix this weekend for my side of the families function tomorrow after my training ride I have to pack the bike back up, put in 2 rides, and then pack it again, fly home and unpack it. Normally just to train I wouldn't have to pack the bike so much, but unfortunately I am still down to 1 bike, which means I am constantly packing and unpacking.

But in other awesome news all my componentry and my new frame for racing showed up at the end of last week, which meant, yesterday I had an intense build going on and now it is done save for the last minute fitting motions. Here she is:She is just about 23 lbs, maybe a little under as my scale is a bathroom floor scale and I had my hands on it to hold it steady, so... But that is far lighter than anything I've ever ridden in the past, so it should be fun. If you are wondering why only one bottle cage, well the answer is quite simple, there is only one set of bottle cage mounts, which may sound a little fishy to many of you out there, but I only use one bottle cage during a race and I've been riding full suspensions for at least 3 years with only one bottle cage, so it is no different in that respect. Additionally I just bought myself (yeah REI dividends) an rocking camelback for those long rides in the woods, that is also big enough to keep me going for an over night trip to say... Winter Park from Boulder this August!

That's the news for now, cheers all!

Back at it!

I know this is not a very good picture, but this is my training bike for a bit as I don't have another bike right now. The road bike = totalled, the cross bike = recently sold and shipped on ebay so now it is only the mountain bike. That would not be so bad if my shoulder was not up to the demands of mountain biking, which is why you see the skinny slicks on this baby. But all in all they work great and keep me rolling and not going nuts while out on training rides.

Today was my first real day back and it turned out well. I got the greenlight from the orthopedist yesterday to resume training as long as it wasn't hurting my shoulder and the coaches said to head out and get some time in outside after two consecutive short days on the trainer. So I went out rode the St. Vrain Greenway from my house cruised from one end of town to the other without dealing with traffic and then rode the Left Hand Creek Greenway back across town till I got to some roads I recognized and cruised on home. Man it felt good to be back outside and pedaling while moving. Standing up on the pedals to crest little climbs and just not be stuck staring at the tv spinning for 30 minutes.

so all in all I am moving back to the normal world of training again. Only if my new bikes would just show up soon so I can really enjoy it! Actually I will just enjoy being outside again.

Now to get ready for a consecutive two weekends of travel. This weekend: Houston. Next Weekend: Phoenix!

Till then....

Recovering = Sitting on my bum getting fat

Since the accident my role in life has been pretty sad. I wake up, make coffee and oatmeal, sit on the coach in the living room and stay there pretty much all day except to get more water, food, and to go to the bathroom. The past two days I've been pounding Advil during the day to keep the pain at bay and the swelling down and Vicatin at night to allow me to sleep through the night and get ample rest. Otherwise I sit on my bum, watch TV and stare at the internet getting fat or fast!?!

In good news I feel as though my recovery is coming along well. Yesterday I was able to walk much more comfortably and my shoulder started to hurt considerably less. As I woke up this morning I found that my stiff left leg limp is almost gone, in fact I have near normal walking motion now, not normal walking speed, but at least the motion is coming back. Hoping to take the mountain bike out tomorrow for some easy bike path spinning and trying to see if I can get the legs back to at least moving properly again!

I've also recently ordered a new road bike, check it out:


I was originally going to go for the full carbon Sram Red Felt F3, however, realized that I am not a road racer in any sense of the form and what I use my road bike for is training through crud conditions in the winter and maybe a few early season races, though the Gateway ride may replace that in the future as I get race pace riding without paying to be there! So, aluminum and carbon it is. As it looks like my brake levers/shifters from my folded in half bike are still good I will also be pruchasing a new rear derailleur and switching back to Sram Rival for it's amazing function and awesome comfort!

I am still waiting on my new mountain bike that was ordered only a week ago, full carbon beauty, no labels so I will be decalling it up as soon as it arrives. However, I have set up my basket on the build for it and it is going to be pretty sweet the build spec/frame photo are as follows:

-Full Carbon 12k frame 1250 g
-Rock Shox Reba (Thanks Macky!)
-Cane Creek IS3 Inetegrated Headset
-FSA 110 mm stem (not sure which model)
-Race Face Evolve Flat XC Bars!
-Avid Juicy 7 brakes
-Stan's Olympic Rims with Sun Ringle Hubs (man these are awesome and light)
-Truvativ Stylo OCT crankset (will be setting up as a true 2x9 in the coming future!!!)
-WTB shadow V saddle to repalce my well worn Devo saddle!
-Hutchinso Python tires (thought about going for some Maxxis Ridgelines, but I have had such good experiences with Hutchinson's and I know them very well thought they would be best)
-Ergon GX1 grips (man these are sick uber comfy, definitely help descending, and Long term comfort)
-Carbon Post (came free with bike)
-Sram X-9 drive train with Shimano XT front derailleur
-crankbrothers Eggbeaters SL pedals (nicest eggbeaters I've ever owned!!!!)

Unfortunately I don't have pics of the destroyed bike, but will soon, so keep checking back!
Until next time....