Gearing up for Sea Otter

The decision has been made, the plane tickets have been purchased, hotel and car reserved, registration done. I am going to Sea Otter to make my career debut as a professional mountain bike racer. I have a funny feeling it is going to be rough. The pro XC field, as of this morning, is at 145 racers so there will probably be another 15 to 20 added before now and Sunday which means it is going to be pure chaos.

In preparation for this trip, as far as training goes, I have been ramping up the intensity pretty hard. With my new training zones close to 20 beats per minute higher than a few weeks ago that means I am killing myself when I go climbing or sprinting or anything for that matter. Thus, making me very very tired. The other preparation piece of this puzzle was a mock race. The reason for this is primarily that I haven't raced at all since the Boulder Cup cross races in November, a very long time ago. Essentially I need to remind my body what it is like to go super hard for 2.5 hours. That hurts, especially when you don't have a carrot in the form of another racer up ahead, in front of you. Well 3 hours (warm up and cool down added to 2.5 hours of killing myself) later and 40 miles of mostly dirt roads and trails I was shot, I hurt, I was tired and all I could think about was nap time.

In other fun news Shannon and spent yesterday chilling and having a good time together before she had to head back to work for another back breaking 40 + hours in 4 days this week. We took our first trip to the Denver Zoo and looked at all the awesome animals they have. The Denver Zoo is definitely not the best Zoon I've been too, but all in all it is really good. They have some cool creatures, particularly the polar bears and brown bears, my favorites by far. They also have some cool birds, especially the penguins, Shannon loves those little guys.

After a good 4 hours walking around we hopped in the car to head back up to Longmont, taking a little detour at the new REI in Westminster. This is a pretty sick REI, not on the scale of the Seattle or even downtown Denver one, but it's pretty good. Arguably better than the one we have in Boulder. The plus side to this REI is it is in an outdoor mall with other stuff to go check out too, like a huge IMAX movie theatre and some pretty good restaurants, chains all be it, but good ones not the normal applebee's. The restaurant of choice for a late afternoon beer was the Rockbottom brewery. They have a pretty good ESB, I was fairly impressed and their Coyote Howling Pale Ale was quite hoppy, though not on the level of a Dale's or an Avery Brewing, so...

Yesterday was a great relaxing day, perfect for getting all geared up to head to California in 2 days!

Back to Northeast Style Suffering

After our long bout of amazingly warm weather where the trails were dry and I spent a solid week mountain biking exploring new places (Buffalo Creek, Colorado Trail, White Ranch Open Space, etc.) the weather turned for the worse and just doesn't seem to want to become spring here. Of all the cold days I've had while out training I would have to say that Sunday turned out to be the worst of them by far. I had a great plan though.

I was scheduled to ride for 3-4 hours, which when I have to ride for long periods of time I like to explore new places, new roads, and go see pretty things. All in all it just makes for a better experience, then the boring flat rides along the I-25 feeder, something I have never done and do not plan on doing ever, too much boredom there!

Well my plan was to drive to the base of left hand canyon and ride up the canyon with my mountain bike set up to ride the dirt, i.e. put the knobbies on. After about 10 miles of riding up Left Hand there is a well known steep dirt road that heads directly out of the canyon into Gold Hill, Lickskillet Road. I was going to head up there and once you reach Gold Hill there are numerous dirt roads for wondrous mountain exploring. There are also many trails up there, however, with the recent snows we got I knew I was not going to be able to ride them, but snow covered dirt roads are quite a challenge regardless. The amazing thing I had never expected happened. Riding up left hand, even though it was snowing, the road was not particularly wet so I stayed very dry. Even heading up LickSkillet it was snow covered keeping my bike and my body clean and dry, a nice touch. Well I got to the top of Lickskillet and lo and bhold it seemed that everything over 8,000 ft in elevation was soaking wet and muddy, UGH! After going for a bit farther west and getting very cold I decided to bail and just book it down to Left Hand Canyon and back to the car. That was the coldest descent down Left Hand I have ever gone through in my entire life and never want to repeat it again. My derailleurs were frozen in place from mud ice, my jockey wheels froze so I couldn't pedal making the 16 mile descent awful as I had to just sit there and let gravity do the work.

Upon finally reaching the car, rather than changing, putting the bike on the rack and doing my normal stuff I just got in the car turned it on, rocked the heat all the way to HI and turned the seat warmers on full blast until I could feel my fingers and toes again.

Of all the dumb ride ideas I've had in the past I think this one is by far the worst. It was definitely the coldest, most dangerous, and insanely stupid rides that I have ever done. Thank God I didn't have to ride the extra 11 miles home from Left Hand after that!

Here is a pic of the roads before they turned to nasty wet mush. When they were still fun!

Work, Work, Work

So after a great week of Spring Break where I got some good relaxation time and Shannon and I were able to catch up with Macky Franklin as he returned from Argentina and his winter down south I am back at it and finding a new sense of enthusiasm for all of the projects I am working on. The one downside is suddenly I am running out of time to get anything done. So here is what is going on:

Training - I am hitting the bike hard recently as race season is getting closer and closer. This is an extremely odd feeling for me as normally my race season starts the first week of March. Though it is definitely a welcome break from the 10 road races my body is used to putting in within in four weeks before I hit the mountain bike circuit As far as my first race goes it is either going to be the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA or I will be going to the first event of the Mountain States Cup in Fruita, CO. My decision will primarily be economical, but we will see. I would really love to test my legs out at the national level, as the main focus of the rest of my season will be the US Pro XCT and both Marathon and XC national championships. Regardless, I am just very excited about finally getting back to racing.

School- after a really low point with school the past couple of months I've had a breakthrough and am getting a little more energized about what I am studying. Maybe it is the extension for my environmental philosophy course and the changed final assignment in my case. Regardless, I am definitely not ecstatic about school. I think the past 8 years of working hard through high school and college are definitely burning me out and I am ready to focus my energy on other endeavors, hopefully a new job with a great company (Bikes Belong????)

Work - I have finished my first research project with Bikes Belong and am working hard to get my next one done at the moment. It feels good to be putting time and energy into something that matters and is for a good cause, getting more people riding bikes more often.

Home Life - Shannon and I have been having a lot of fun together recently, goofing off and laughing, watching silly movies and enjoying some new wines and beers. I found a great new local beer, that Shannon isn't as fond of as I am, but it is still good. It is from the UpSlope Brewery in North Boulder. Lucas is still on restricted activity from his bout with pneumonia recently, which has definitely been trying our patience, as he thinks he is completely better and therefore without taking him on the long walks he is accustomed to he is trying to run around all the time, which results in him spending a lot more time in his kennel than we or he would like.

Well that seems to be a pretty good update, I will give more as life progresses and continues here in Longmont, CO.

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....