King of the Rockies

Sorry all, its been a while. Things have been really busy. I've been meaning to get my stories out but time has been against me.

This past Saturday was the final Winter Park Mountain Bike race. I wasn't really looking forward to it because... I really haven't done all that well and I've suffered like a dog. This time a real opportunity knocked that changed everything. One of my teammates offered me a chance to ride his mountain bike during the race. An Orbea 29er hard tail. MMM 29er! They are all the rage, bigger wheels making it easier to role over everything and a hard tail, no suspension to soak up your effort.

Borrowing another racers bike is a real treat. Most people I know hold them very close, never letting them out of their sight. I know my teammate does to, I tried to offer him a chance to get out of it. The bike was so dialed in, a clear sign he has spend a lot of time getting everything just perfect.

The race was great, it started out on a couple mile "flat" section. Some of the higher placed (series points leader) teams were trying to set each other up by opening gaps and trying to make others close them down. I wasn't worried about winning and it's always safer at the front so I went right to the front and shut everything down. I tried to kept the pace high(er) and keep the race together. I wanted to shutdown the teams from working everyone over. We hit the bottom of the hill in a long line, blowing past dropped riders from the group that started 3 minutes before us. Things went pretty well on the climb and I paid for my efforts on the flats. The descents.... I took it easy on. After all it was a test ride on a friends bike, he would have been pissed if I scratched it all up.

In the end, I felt great. My body felt so good after the race. Most of the hills hit during this race we had seen during previous races. I swear they were shorter this time. In previous races I've been exhausted at the finish. This time I felt good, despite not having a rear shock. It was great. While my overall placing didn't change that much, the field was very large. Typically I've finished about 22% slower than the winner, this time I was only 13%. While it sucks to be calculating like this, you have to find the improvement were you can.

As for the 29er hype... I'm showing my mountain bike to a potential buyer tomorrow. I'm making the leap!

A Good Cyclocross Workout

Someone once asked me for a good cyclocross workout. After some thought, this is what it should sound like, in your head.

“Ok, I am going to go out here and kill it. I am going to dominate this year”…..

“3,…2,….1,…. Go”…..

“This isn’t so bad”…..

“Wow, this is a little ouchy”….

“I wonder if I’m going finish the entire interval”…..

“I don’t feel so good”….

“I think I’m going to puke”….

“Should I stop if I’m going to puke?”…..

“Shut up and focus!”……

“Why am I doing this to myself?”…..

“I’m not going to dominate, I might die right here!”……

“Push, Push, 3,….2,….1,… stop”…..

“Breath, Breath, Breath…. Ouch”…..

“Wow, I made it….. That was awesome….. I killed it… I feel great.”

“How many more of these do I have to do? Oh man 5 more, but I’m hurting. Maybe this means I should only do 3 more. Sweet, I am going to be flying this year.”

A little more on the clinic

Wow, this week has flown by. Last week the family and I were on vacation. This week I needed to 1. Get back to work (you know how that can be after taking a week off) and 2. put on a cyclocross clinic. Unfortunately in 3rd place has been family time followed by getting a chance to ride my bike. So sad, that's life.

The clinic was awesome! A great bunch of very excited racers came out. I had a blast trying to unload my passion to them. Everyone that showed up was an accomplished rider but getting across all the subtleties of cross in the time we had was a challenge. By the time I made it home after the clinic I was so amp'd up I couldn't sleep. The next day I was pretty tired from pooring my effort into the event.

I have recieved a number of notes from people saying how much they enjoyed the clinic and how excited they are to tryout their new skills. Even if I just see a couple of them at the races, it would really make my season! As the cyclocross director on this team I've worked to build a group of racers. My first season had two of us regularly racing. Last year we had a typical crew of 4-5 racers. This year could be a big leap, lets hope so.

Here are a few more photos from the event:

Adam, one of my key assistants (a great guy... made this clinic easy.. thanks) ripping the practice loop.

Class is in sesion

Yes, cyclocross is hard and you might get muddy but it's a lot of fun!

The Cyclocross Clinic

Wow... that went really well. We had a great turnout! Over 20 people.. up 20 fold from last year.

Everyone got in some dismounts and remounts, carrying the bike, obstacles and even a couple of hot laps on a practice coarse.

Check out the pictures below.
From a good camera. See here.


Then from my crappy cell phone camera


Now that it's out of the way, I really need to start working on getting myself race ready. Only have a couple of weeks.

The Dead Only Know One Thing,

During the past week, while on a family vacation, I learned that one of my co-worker's husband had passed away in a climbing accident. I had never met him and as I learned during the memorial service today, he was an exceptional person. As evident by the number of people that were in attendance and the wonderful stories they told. An accomplished climber, friend to many, loving father and husband.

Sadly he leaves behind a wife and 6 year old daughter. Both beautiful and full of life.

It's a clear reminder that the only thing that matters in the end are your family and friends. The relationships you build and the people you help. These things called money and "career success" are only an illusion.

It also runs through my mind, particularly in the case of a father-daughter relationship cut so short, "The dead only know one thing, it is better to be alive." -pvt Joker

What would you do different if you knew tomorrow would never come?

Relief

Finally some improvement on the fitness side of things! Its been a little stagnant lately.

Thursday I made it to the CSP mid week crit. This is the third time I've made my way to the Thursday race and the first time I've raced it. The weather has been weird. There was a pretty good showing. I wanted to see how I would compare to other riders in my category.

Well, I think things went well. There was a core group of fast riders and a bunch of others that were getting dropped left and right. That means, stay at the front so they don't gap you off. Mission accomplished. I even got out for a couple of sprints. Taking third, just piping a guy at the line. It was nice, felt good... for me! The finish was a little tricky. We were going up hill into the wind, meaning you don't want to be on the front first. I wasn't, I was also only someplace in the top 20 (needed to be further up). But I'll take it, I felt better an that's all that mattered.

Interesting side note, there was a woman's team out there killing it! I don't know how strong each of them was individually but they were riding like a team. When they went to the front, they laid it down. Working as a team, novel. Don't see that much in a cat 4 race. It was fun to watch and I caught the express a couple of times.

Another side note on this race. Those guys sucked in the corners! They liked to grab their breaks and were too sketchy. I much prefer the Tuesday night race, clean and fast in the corners!

Today I felt good enough to go for a TT up Lookout mountain, my testing ground. I road over from the house and hit it. After a killer winter park race last Saturday, a hard Crit on Thursday I was surprised I even felt like trying this but... I did. The improvement was obvious, I dropped my average HR one beat and raised my average wattage by 7 watts! Giving me the fastest non-race assent I've done!! The new training plan and diet appear to be helping. Finally and just in time!

Crankworx Cross Country Report

This past weekend was race number 4 of the 6 race series I am "participating" in this summer. This was a race I was a little worried about. I can't say I was putting much pressure on for this race. So far, my mountain biking legs haven't been that great. My real goal was to see if I could ride within my self and not blowup. I just wanted to avoid the issues I've had in the previous races.

The entire family came up with me this time. The kids are starting to have more fun at the races. I know it's work for my wife but it is fun having them there. I am learning to be more patient and still get through my pre-race routine. Kailee likes to find other riders on my team that match my kit and Nate likes to .... throw rocks.


The race started with a rather large "hill" to lead things out. I didn't want to blow up on that baby making the rest of the race super painful. So while the race started like a shot out of a gun, I stayed at my pace. The coarse ended up being pretty muddy and slippery, especially on the exposed wet rocks and tree roots. Not too surprising based on the recent weather. I saw a lot of people stack it up, it looked like a number of them ended their season setting there holding their shoulders.


I have to say this race went much better than the last one.. at least from the perspective of how I felt. I certainly didn't finish very high up but my back did well and I finished strong. Passing a number of racers on the final climb and descent.


After the race Kailee climbed the rock wall and them the two of us hit the Alpine Slide. It was a good time. All in all, I think the entire family had a great time. No photos from the race but based on the condition of the bike you can envision how it all looked.