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....

What the !#$@%^*&@#$@# were you thinking?

Those were the first words that came out of my mouth as I lay on the side of the road shocked that my worst fear had just come true, I had been hit by a car.

Yesterday evening on my commute home I had good luck and made the 6:08 bus, which is a first for me. This means that I would get home 30 minutes earlier than usual and would not end up eating dinner nearly as late as the past couple of nights and weeks. Well, all that turned bust pretty fast.

I had ridden my bike to the bus stop at the Twin Peaks Mall in Longmont, CO. A strange turn of events for me, as normally I drive the 2 miles down the road, for convenience and time (often I have to stop by the supermarket on the way home and my messenger bag definitely cannot hold that much stuff and I only own racing bikes, so no panniers). My reason for riding was because I had a 12 pm lunch ride meeting with the Bikes Belong Crew, a non-profit advocacy group I am doing a research internship with and am hoping to get a job with in the future. This necessitated riding my bike to the bus.

After booking it down the bike path from CU's campus to the Boulder Bus Station and just making the bus, I settled in for the 30 minute ride back to Twin Peaks Mall and then my 10 minute ride up Sunset St. back home. Hopped off the bus, grapped my bike, secured my messenger bag, and helmet and went to the nearest intersection to wait for the light to turn green so I could ride the loop road around the mall and avoid as much traffic as possible in the dark.

Part way around the loop as I was heading North I saw to my left a Big Red Jeep Wrangler with those crazy big tires for offroading coming flying out of the parking lot area. Twin Peaks Mall parking was designed fairly well regardless of the uselessnes of this mall. There is an inner circle to drive on, parking, and then an outer circle which is two lanes each way. Not being interested in riding through the parking lot or the innner circle as I was travelling fairly briskly, about the speed limit (20 mph) I rode the outer circle. Well the Jeep came flying out of the parking lot towards an exit as I was about to enter the intersection of this exit. He neglected to slow down show any sign of looking both ways or do anything until I was lying on the ground and my bike had been dragged under his car about 10 feet away from me. No matter how hard I slammed on my brakes I was not able to stop in time. One thing that people may note is I should have stopped if it were an intersection. Well, this is a very under travelled intersection and thus the city has not put a stop sign for travellers on the outer loop of the mall but rather only on the entrance and exit ramps of this exit. Leaving me with the right of way.

Now I am laying on the ground in pain, angry, and looking at my mangled road racing and training bike on the side of the road as well as my bleeding elbow and knee. In my lack of being able to think rationally I only got the drivers name, phone #, and address and he left. Had I been thinking more clearly I would have called the police and had a report taken down then. Instead, not thinking, I had Shannon come and get me and take me to the nearest Hospital.

5 hours later I found out, thank God, that my leg was not broken nor my collar bone. These were my two biggest fears being a bike racer and being the type of person that does not sit still very well. Only injuries were some road rash, a severely bruised left calf muscle, and a partially separated AC in my left shoulder. This last injury I think is the worst, as the doctors didn't seem too concerned about my leg and were much more concerned about my shoulder overall. It is looking like it will take between 3-4 weeks to heal, which means though I will probably be back on the bike before then it is very unlikely I will be back on the mountain bike before then, hopefully on a new beautiful full carbon whip!

Bike damage, nothing is savalgeable except for maybe the shifters/brake levers a sad day as I had just rebuilt the whole drive train only a few weeks ago. Pics of the bike will be up shortly after I retrieve it from the back of Shannon's car. Unfortunately my injuries are not visibly serious so I do not look worse for the wear and thus photo's of that would be useless.

Now, time to recover, get these injuries healed as soon as possible and hopefully get back on the bike within the week, assuming I am feeling that much better, don't want to be a hero you know!

Another good weekend in the books

Weekends are the time and place for relaxation and training. Consequently they both go hand in had very well. Train a lot in the morning hours and then relax through the afternoon. Though, I was not very productive with respect to school or any other project I may have going on I was very productive with respect to training and relaxing.

After talking with my buddy Jason on friday about a possible training ride saturday and then consulting with the coaches it was determined that at 10 am Saturday morning I would meet up with the Gateway Ride in Boulder. I was also tolled that the Gateway ride heads up to Carter lake for their trip and as this is about an hour north of Me I figured if I have Shannon drive me to Boulder and drop me off at the stop point I can just bail on the group as I get close to home and then save a lot of time driving to and from the ride. Unfortunately this led to me not having any warm up in my legs at the beginning of the ride as we briskly set out from Boulder. I have not ridden a group ride in quite some time and the closest I have come in the past 2 years has been collegiate racing back east. This turned out to be very similar to racing on the road but in a more fluid and fun way with far less possibility of crashing. The pace was hard and fast, we reached a typical landmark of mine only 10 minutes past what it would take me to get there from home and I live closer to Carter Lake than Boulder is! I could tell from the very beginning that this was going to be a good day, the legs felt good, and I felt like I could definitely conquer the world. Part way through the ride I came to the front to take my turn pulling over a small roller and found I had gapped the group pretty good suddenly, which set off the day of attacks. Then as we moved towards Carter Lake and started heading up the approach before the final ascent the group became disorganized while chasing down another attack. During this disorganization I ended up on the front a lot and by the time we hit the steep switchback ascent I found my legs were pretty dead and not willing to really do there job anymore. I fell off the pace up the climb, but was not the last to crest the top, which made me feel good. By the end of the carter lake before you descend back down the group regrouped and I was able to get back and sit in for awhile, work on the front, and even felt like I had the legs to go after one of the late attacks, but mistimed my move and couldn't get it going. Then the last little short steep kicker came and I lost contact hard core. It was tough and I was definitely way in the red. Not sure what was up, but maybe on these types of rides I should get back to my use of gu's every 30 minutes, like in racing, and that might keep the legs rolling a little stronger and faster. Spun back to town with Jason and definitely felt worked over by the time I got home. By the way, the ride started out in the nastiest wet conditions possible, leading to my face looking like this when I got home:

Almost as if I'd just had a muddy mountain or cross race!

Well, after spending a nice evening with Shannon resting and relaxing and then getting up bright and early sunday morning, can't seem to sleep in all that late anymore!?! I decided that my many weeks on the road bike without hitting the dirt were getting a little old and I needed some time ripping some singletrack. With temps nearing 60 and trail reports for Devil's Backbone and Blue Sky Trail being dry I loaded up the car and cruised up there. Man it was beautiful yesterday afternoon. Warm, sunny, and the trails were definitely in perfect condition. Maybe a little crowded for the first couple of miles up the first climb but by the time I hit the technical trails I was good and things were pretty empty. I cruised down the blue sky trails and the descents and then decided that I should get in some good climbing hours, which in this area is pretty easy. As I headed around I went up the Indian Summer Trail, good rip roaring fun with a nice switchback climb to the top, and then kept heading on to Horsetooth Res. I've never ridden the trails at Horsetooth Res, but have ridden up to it and definitely heard some good things. When I arrived I headed out on the main fireroad trail and then kept cruising up the Tower Trail, which is a beast of a fire road climb. If anyone has ridden this you know what it is like, just brutal. But if you want a comparison, the second set of climbs at the Breckenridge Fall Classic, or the second to last descent of the Firecracker 50. Basically, stupid steep. After a good 10 minutes of this I figured I should hit some singletrack and crusied down some trail I don't know the name of, but it was sweet!!!! I would have to say that of all the trails I've ridden in the Front Range Horsetooth definitely has some of the best!! It was beautiful, a good mix of in the woods and open field riding, technical but a good flow and definitely challenging!!! After finishing out a little loop at Horsetooth I headed back the way I came and found myself riding like a man possessed. I was cruising up climbs in my big ring and just laying the hammer down. Even made the return ride 7 minutes faster than it took me to get out there going the exact same route in reverse! But I did stop to take a photo, as I was about to head up the final climb back towards Devil's Backbone this is the view I had through the valley:

this photo really doesn't quite do it justice as it was with my cell phone, many I need to get a digital camera for this stuff!

All in all a good weekend with some definite fitness gains. Now for a day off, and back at it for my last week of training in this 4 week block before the cycle begins again and race season really starts on March 22nd!

Weaknesses

I believe that we all have our weaknesses and that for the most part we ought not judge people for their weakness. My personal weakness is sweets. I love sweet food, whether it is a donut (I avoid those as much as possible), a muffin, cookies, pie, cake, ice cream it is tasty to me. So when I walked out of the supermarket with Shannon a few days ago and saw the little girls holding boxes of cookies, that is right girl scout cookies, I caved a little. Oh man girl scout cookies are good. So now, my kitchen has a whole bunch of yummy sweet things that I enjoy with chocolate, peanut butter, mint chocoloate, coconut, short bread, you name it I've got it. One thing I do have to say though is that I am very good about not overdoing it. When I eat sweets I tend to be good about just a few. Regardless it is probably good that I am a bike racer where training and racing allows me to burn off those extra calories.