They Gave Me 1st & 2nd

Technically, this is a long overdue post and it's only going to consist of pictures really. And the pics are from the race in Golden where I did so well they gave me first and second......together. I suppose that really means I got 12th but who's counting?

L to R is I don't know, Frank, Samer, Me, Brad, Adam, Eric, I Don't Know.

Adam over the lone-standing speedkiller.

Samer charging to 3rd.

Praying to be done after 3 crashes.

One of these things is not like the other. Tim (blue) - 1st, Adam - 2d, Samer - 3d. Me...

Lenora Grace (Adam & Yvonne's daughter). We like to start 'em early!

Lookout Mountain in the back (Buffalo Bill's grave at the top). Also home of the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb every May. It hurts.

I got the wheels, now I need (another) bike to put them on.

That DID Hurt. A Little.

After a mixed but mostly good return from my one-week cycling hiatus last week, I was anxious to see what kind of legs I'd have at Green Mountain Cross and Boulder CycleSport Series #4. I think we're on 4. After last Sunday I feel like I have pretty good form and am hopeful I can hang on to it for just a little longer. With that in mind, it was off to the races.

Green Mountain was apparently opposite day since we rode the course in reverse from last year. It was also opposite day since I spent more time riding the ground with my bike on top of me. Turns out you don't go as fast that way. From the start I was at the front with Adam and after the second turn, was in the lead. And then? Crash #1. Front wheel slipped out right before the stair run-up and a few guys went by me. I was fortunate in that I was able to get back on quickly and keep fighting. Somehow I got into second position and the guy that I was following forgot to turn. Anyone know what happened to him? He was last seen heading for Lookout Mtn. Maybe he's hangin with Buffalo Bill. Anyway, the rest of the lap was uneventful except Eric passed me and in what I'm sure was an effort to help me feel better about myself, he slid out of the first corner after the start/finish. Back near the front I wanted to show everyone who didn't see it the first time exactly how to fall while going through a corner and dumped it into a right hand turn. This time a bunch of guys got by me and I was a little slower to get back on my bike. I tried fighting for a lap or two to see if I could make up any ground but it quickly became clear that the good legs I had were only going to be wasted. I hung out somewhere around 14th for a little bit and was able to move up to 12th but not before seeing what the dirt felt like one more time. Three times down, all three on my right side. Once I got home and cleaned up my leg looked like I got into a fight with a cat and the cat won. Lots of scratches that drew blood and a couple cherries on the knee. Same with my right elbow. The problem, though, is that there's a lot of bruising underneath that and the combination was pretty sore for the rest of the night. I literally spent the rest of the night on the couch since any movement hurt my leg, even if it was just my pants brushing against it when I walked. Oh yeah, I finished in 12th which I was happy with considering I forgot how to ride a bike.

Race day 2. As painful as it can be, I really love racing both days of the weekend. Even though I was sore when I got out of bed, I got to the race with enough time to chat with a lot of the guys I end up racing shoulder to shoulder with. And even if I curse their names as they're passing me, it's still a good bunch of guys that makes the racing fun. After a few warm-up laps I knew this wasn't a great course for me and I'd end up hurting from the effort. Uphill start to a grass section that led to a staircase with about 30 steps (seriously) to more grass that slowly goes uphill to, yes, another staircase with 30 more steps. Fortunately there was a huge downhill from there and the lower part of the course was fast and a little more technical. I got the hole shot I wanted, only because I didn't want to be caught up with anyone going through the first two 180s before the steps. It wasn't too long after that that people started going by me. Eric first, then Tony. The passes were happening in the same place - the grass section. I just didn't have the power to keep up despite the encouragement as they passed. With a couple more laps to go, Frank came by me, again with encouragement. I hung on to his wheel until the final sprint and then watched as the black and red blur that was Brad sped by me and I hung on for 7th. An improvement from the day before with the added bonus of not crashing.

One more week and I'll probably hang up the bikes (literally - they hang in my garage) for the season. If I do race after that it will be purely for fun. First, though, we have to get through States this weekend. No idea what the course will be like but I'm already looking forward to it!

Needing A Break

My plan for the season was to not race the Ft. Collins New Belgium Cup races despite the fanfare and fun atmosphere that accompanied it. Lucky for me, I stayed true to form and was able to see what normal people do on weekends. That obviously assumes that racing your bike almost every Saturday and Sunday throughout the Fall isn't normal. Personally, I still think that's up for debate. Anyway, that was the plan going in and I knew it had to happen since I was starting to feel a bit crispy and annoyed. During both days of warm-ups the week before I seriously considered dropping out of the race before it started. I didn't, but it was contemplated and feeling like that was all the confirmation I needed. So what did I do instead? I stayed away from my bike for all but one evening, went to a Broncos game, and slept in. It was nice.

My little hiatus may have been too nice since Saturday came and I was having a hard time getting going at AlphaCross during warm-ups. The course wasn't overly tricky with the exception of a few off camber sections, but it was almost all grass and required a lot of power. Let's just say that if this were a two, maybe three lap race, I would have been great! I was near the front and feeling........empty. I was pushing hard but couldn't do anything to sustain the effort and sure enough, nobody felt sorry for me (other than me) and I watched guys go right by unable to hang on to them. When the race mercifully ended I got 7th and Adam had a great race with a duel for 1st that he won in a sprint. We celebrated at Park Burger with one of the tastiest damn burgers I've had in a while - beef, ham, and fried egg (over easy to the snottiness gets on everything).

Fast forward to Sunday and everything felt better. Except the weather. The weather sucked. It was 45* in Denver when I was at Einstein's at 7:30 and 28* and windy in Longmont when we got there. Everything about the warm-up (and related rituals) was planned around staying in the car as long as possible. Registration, back to the car. Bathrooms, back to the car. Change....in the car. If I could have set up a trainer in the car and pre-rode the course from my front seat, you can bet I would have done that too. The warm-up was a quick 2 laps of what was a relatively shorter and fast course. The tricks were the loooong starting sprint to the hole shot, a looooong sandy section that we were running since it wasn't packed down enough to ride yet, and the bmx bike section. Once the whistle blew I somehow managed to come into the hole shot in second and held the wheel of first place. That lasted until the down/up section when first place......well, I have no idea what happened, but the guy in first didn't make it up the hill and I think he crashed. It pushed me to the side and into the course tape. I rode through and was lucky enough to not have it wrap around any part of my bike. Crisis averted, I went from 2d to 5th, and from 5th to 4th/3d. There were three of us in 2d - 4th and we worked to pull back the lead that 1st had. And then took the lead ourselves. Adam and I rode together and opened up a small gap. I was riding the back side better, he was riding the front better. As we got down to the last two laps, we were side by side when it was Adam's turn to pull and when he went, I didn't have the legs to go with. It was a small enough gap that I lost the draft and had to re-assess. Realizing that two guys were right behind me, and knowing who they were, I also knew that if I wanted 2d I had to keep pushing. Hard. While that worked, it didn't work well enough and I got passed in the last section but was able to roll in for 3d. It was a great feeling after how terrible I felt the day before. And even if I would have been passed by more people, it was as much fun as I can remember having in a race in a long time. Good tactics and charging hard the whole time changing roles from being the hunter to the hunted. There are definitely no gifts out there which made 3d all the better for me.

Apparently that's what the podium looks like. I can't say for sure since I'm not all that familiar with it, but it's nice up there. And the prizes were good too. Aside from being warm, the two things you generally need after a cross race are beer and a massage and we received a 6-pack of beer, gift certificates for massage, granola and a coffee mug. Nice way to wrap up another weekend!

It's Alive!

The blog that is. It enjoyed taking a nice nap for the last 4 months or so, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened. I think the last one I did was 'My First Second.' Well, the week after that I got my first first in the mountain bike short track series. And then I quit. Yep, got my first place and hung up the bike. Or at least kind of. We headed up to Aspen for a few days over the 4th of July, then to Driggs, ID for a few days, and then I took a week long trip to Brazil to go to my friend Jamie's wedding where I had a blast. Meanwhile, the temps outside were getting ridiculous and even though mountain biking in the trees helps, there were a lot of days where it was simply too hot to ride. So I didn't and it resulted in a bit of a hiatus from consistent riding, and I'm sure a loss of some of the power I had accumulated. That's not that big of a deal but going into cyclocross season, aka, the best time of the year, it had me a little bit concerned. Last year was my second year (first full season) racing 'cross and was a consistent middle of the pack guy in the Cat 4s. This year I was bumping up to the 35+4s and was mentally prepared to be a good, solid, middle of the pack guy.

In my first race I finished 29th and followed it up with a 28th the next day. Knowing I'd made a few dumb mistakes that were correctable with a little more experience and a few more races, I thought that if I could sneak out a top 20 finish somewhere in the season it would be a success. My best case scenario was a top 15 finish. After a few races I was starting to think that I couldn't finish in a place that wasn't a multiple of 7. The 29th notwithstanding, I was 28, 28, 7, 21, 14. And no, the 7 isn't a typo. I was really happy with that finish despite a lot of the other riders not being there. But since I can't control who shows up to race, it was my 7th and the start of a little bit of confidence. The next day where I finished 21 at AspenLodge was another confidence builder. Prior to then I'd been worried about how everyone around me was riding. Not at this course. It was so bumpy, technical, and just flat out hard that I could only concern myself with my ride and focus on riding clean lines. People would come around me, and just as quickly they'd go backwards. I did have a little trip over the top of my handlebars on one section, but hey, it's all part of the game. Knowing that I could ride well helped push my confidence for the few weeks.

I've gotta say that the rest of my results were a combination of some guys catting up to 3s and clearing out some space on the top of the 4s, but if they're that good then they probably belong there. Either way I was getting stronger and have since gone 14, 9, 10, 13, 6, 3. I was ecstatic with the 14 since it was a solid and legitimate field. Again with the 9. And the 3, well, it was unexpected for sure, but every bit as good as I could have expected and I was able to go by some guys that had been beating me all year.

So what do you when the legs start coming around? Take a break of course. Or at least that's what I did this summer. This time, though, I'm not planning on 2 months of inconsistent riding. Rather, my legs were getting heavy, it was taking longer to recover, and my attitude toward racing was starting to get a bit pissy. With the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross in Ft. Collins this weekend, it would have been easy to race. I love the big events and from what I heard, they did it right and it was a great weekend of racing. However, they helped make my decision by putting the 4s at 8:30 on both Saturday and Sunday, and shortening the race from 45 minutes to 30. Tack on an hour and a half drive to get there and it meant about a 5 a.m. wake up call. If you know anything about me, it's that I don't mix well with mornings. Never have and don't expect that I ever will. Growing up grandma would have to come in to my room a few times to wake me up and after that failed, she'd resort to either a cold, wet washcloth on my face or banging pots and pans together. That's just mean! Anyway, I took a pass on this week, got a massage, and started feeling like a normal human again on Thursday. Of course, the Taco Bell I had last night may have set me back a few days but I digress.

With a bit of life back in my legs the plan is to get a few trainer rides in this week, race twice this weekend, twice next weekend, and then see what I can do at States on the first weekend in December. Hoping for good results at all of the races but nothing's ever guaranteed. With the temps finally starting to drop, the courses are starting to change from grass/dirt crits to sloppy, technical battlegrounds. I don't have as much experience in the latter but there's only one way to get it, and everybody has to race in the same conditions.

Race Day #5 - My First Second

Race Day #5 was another CU Short Track Mountain Bike Race. But before we get there, maybe the Tuesday ride before is worth telling. I rode Bergen Peak/Elk Meadows with Adam, Brant, and Nate. Good ride on the way up, and descending is always a blast. Trying to move trees with your face, however, is not. Yep. Man meets tree, man loses to tree, man bleeds from ear with scratches on face, neck, shoulder, elbows and legs. It was a slow motion crash but my last thought before impact was, "I'm going to wake up in the hospital." Brant's thought was that I had broken my collar bone. Fortunately, neither of these was true and I walked away (actually rode) with only some blood. Even though I ultimately lost, I'll still take it as a win!

Fast forward to the next day and I was a little sketchy on if I wanted to race but decided I would. After heading up to Boulder with Brant I didn't know what to expect. It was a tight and technical course given all the hard turns. I was able to line up in the front and was in 5th out of the hole shot. Some guy crashed in front of me and I thought I was going down too but was able to move, which meant I was in fourth. Around the first lap I bounced up to second and since the leader wasn't going that fast, and I was afraid of others catching back on, made my pass and didn't look back. That's only because I could see people after doing switchbacks so I didn't need to look back. I led the race for a couple laps but knew there was one guy gaining on me, and sure enough, he caught and passed me. Two laps later he crossed the line in first and despite my best efforts, I was about 10 seconds behind him.......in second! I realized that I really don't know how to race from the front, mainly since this is the first time I've ever had to, but I'm willing to learn and figure it out! I was also pretty pumped that I was on the (virtual) podium for the first time in 6 years of racing. Not bad considering I tried chopping down a tree with my face the day before!

Race Day #4 - CU Short Track Mountain Bike

Short race, short post. Pretty easy formula. Every Wednesday there's a short track mountain bike race in Boulder. And by short, I mean it only lasts 20 minutes. What it lacks in time it makes up for in pain. Brant talked me into going up so we left, got registered, and pre-rode the course a handful of times, which proved to be invaluable.

We raced Class C and for 5:40 on a Wednesday night, there were 30 guys that showed up and made it a good crowd. My hole shots typically suck. Or at least they did during cyclocross season and I'm working on improving that (and my handling abilities). Something worked. I wasn't in the lead, but I was in about 10th from the start. Not too many places to pass made it frustrating at times so you had to make each chance count. After two laps I got in a good rhythm and had picked off a few people. Coming into the last lap I wasn't sure what position I was in and tried to pass a guy but was denied. So instead of going harder, I went smarter. It's an odd occurrence, yes, but I do have my moments. I slowed on an upcoming corner that swung us out wide, and it allowed me to cut through closer and get in front. I bridged to the group of three I saw ahead and rode with them. Once I looked around I realized..........holy shit, this was the lead group! I tried everything I could to pass but have to give credit to the guys that were riding since they were simply stronger. With the finish line in sight I rolled through in fourth place and was very happy with that result. Hopefully it's a good indicator for things to come for CX season. And since I got something like 75 points for the series, it also means I should probably go try and get some more on the next few Wednesdays if I can.

Okay, so I lied. Maybe it wasn't that short of a post.

Race Day #3 - Battle of the Bear

So technically race day #3 happened about a month ago on 5.8.10. And my very good reason for not having posted about it since then is, well......, I'm lazy. Makes sense, right? Good.

Pdoo decided to come down and play official race photographer for the YOA crew which was being represented by Brant, Adam, Matt, and me. Since Brant had a cold he was all pepped up on goofballs and couldn't see straight, which led to him crashing a few times and not having the race he wanted. And in true, tell the ending before the story type fashion, Matty rode well (until he came unclipped from his pedals and racked his boys on the top tube) and got 2nd. Adam was strong as usual for a 9th place finish and I was 2'27" behind him for 12th. All of this in the M30-39 AG of the Sport division (20 miles).

Aside from the morning being pretty crisp and not knowing how to dress, the race unfolded as expected. I rode pretty clean and had a good start. In fact, I actually led the race for a bit. Too bad that 'bit' was only for a quarter mile out of the hole shot and then people passed me as we crested the hill. There weren't any tricks to this course other than not getting stuck behind people, and that's exactly what happened. First through some winding singletrack, and then catching up to some of the groups in front of us. The latter happened as we were doing a big climb and instead of being able to use this area as a strength and work my way up, I was stuck soft-pedaling and actually recovering. On a climb. It sucked. In fact, it happened both times, but both times I found the same spot to get around a handful of people that had been staying with me.

The race was really about timing when and where you could make a jump on people so they'd get stuck behind someone slower. Sometimes it worked, other times notsomuch. Regardless, when I came around the last turn to the straight away there were 4 of us together and I was able to power down and beat them to the line. A top 10 would have been nice but I can't complain about 12th either. It was only the second mountain bike race I've done and still early in the season.

Next up is some short track races and then we'll see what else makes its way on to my schedule.
Making my way through the first lap:

Getting ready for the final sprint:

Guess which of the four wasn't happy with his performance (hint: it's not a trick question):

Waiting for someone to bring me a beer:

Race Day #2 - Lookout Mountain

Second race in two weeks and it was time to get off the dirt and on to the road for the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. It's held annually and is basically about as much as you can suffer on a bike. I say that often, and I'm sure it will be repeated again, but it's an all out effort up Lookout Mountain which is 4.25 miles and gains 1200 feet of elevation. If it makes any difference, Buffalo Bill's grave is at the top. I can tell you that it makes no difference at all because it doesn't help you take in any more oxygen which is the only thing you're thinking about!



I got to the race and it was perfect weather. About 50 degrees and sunny with only a small wind. I hopped on the trainer for a 30-minute warm-up and then Brant and I went to the start line. We were at the back and when the gun went off it was a mess of people trying to get clipped in. Once that cleared out, I was able to move up and ride with the lead group for about the first mile. My legs felt good and I was surprised I was able to hang on. Of course, this race is notorious for sandbaggers and it was just a matter of time before the group split. That time happened about a mile in and when the leaders laid it down, it separated the contenders from the pretenders. I have to say that a lot of the contenders don't belong racing in Cat 4 but that's a different post.



I got spit out the back but wasn't alone. Different packs came and went and I did a decent amount of pulling along the way, grabbing drafts for the brief amount of time (and benefit) as I passed people. Close to the top there's a series of switchbacks and I was in a group of four that I needed to split from. I geared down, hopped out of the saddle and surged through, blowing open the group, and almost blowing the contents of my stomach over the front of my handlebars. I didn't have much capacity at that point to go even more hypoxic than I was! One of the guys caught me and he was clearly a stronger rider so no problem with that. I was able to follow him to another group though, and it was near the top. Knowing the course was helpful since as I was passing another guy, I was concerned he'd sit in and then swing around me at the finish after taking advantage of my draft. So when I knew a false flat was coming up, I shifted to the big ring and was ready to take advantage of it before him which paid off. I lowered my head and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish, only to follow it up with barely having enough energy left to get off my bike and cough violently from the effort. It was well worth it though since when I looked at my time it was 23:09 with average watts of 277. I was super stoked since last year when I did it my time was 25:39 and average watts of 261. Chopping off 2:30 was HUGE and it made my day. Brant did great too and came in at 26:47 (a personal best) despite having a head cold.



After the race we had a beer, lunch, and then off to a party for a friend's birthday/housewarming/Kentucky Derby. A beer or two, a couple red bull/vodkas, and of course mint julep were taken down. I was much smarter about my consumption this year though, since last year left me as a puddle that wrapped around the toilet courtesy of Maker's Mark's mint julep flavored bourbon. One or two? Good. Ten? Uhhh, not so good. I only had one this time. And since it was the Derby, the seersucker got to come out for a showing:



My strategy of drinking less paid off since I felt pretty good when I woke up today so I called Brant and we tried to beat the weather by heading out to Lair of the Bear for a mountain bike ride. Crisp air, fun and flowey singletrack, and minimal crowds made the ride a huge success. It's about as much fun as you can have on the bike and we stopped a few times to enjoy it. No pics, but lots of fun. Now, though, after basically being gone for two days I have two dogs (one with her head on my arm right now) with lots of energy that need to be walked so it's out the door for us!

Race Day #1 - Lake Pueblo

Racing in April? Already? I'd like to think it was a warm-up race but I don't think such a thing exists since the effort never feels like a warm-up effort. If anything, it feels worse when it's early season! Knowing that that would be the case, Brant and I woke up bright and early on Sunday to head down to Pueblo for the Lake Pueblo Arkansas Point Challenge. Since we were making the two-hour drive it only made sense to race in the Sport category, which was 20 miles rather than 11 for the Beginner or 30 for the Expert. Rolling into the parking lot, it was evident it was a pretty relaxed vibe which was perfect. People were friendly and the typical chatter than masks pre-race nerves was abundant. Unfortunately, small races don't mean the nerves are any less. While roaming around the parking lot Brant came back and had asked if I saw the girl on the Stevens bike with quads bigger than my waist. I hadn't but was certainly curious and asked if it was Katie Compton, or KfC as she's otherwise referred to and the "f" isn't conveniently placed to tie her to Colonel Sanders. It's also not for her middle name unless her middle name is f'in (and that's being kid-friendly of course!). She's enough of a badass on a bike that she's definitely earned it. Arguably the best female cyclocross racer in the world right now and her palmares on a mountain bike and/or cyclocross bike are too long to list. My keen eye for attractive women on bikes (2 of my favorite things) had also spotted Kelli Emmett who's no slouch on a bike herself. She's an excellent mountain bike and cyclocross racer, and member of Team Giant. While she has her own remarkable palmares, one of my favorite things is her tattoo from winning the singlespeed championships in 2007. Have a look - I think you'll like it too! So here we are at an otherwise relaxed, early season race in the middle of nowhere with two of the best women that ride mountain bikes in the United States lining up with us. Pretty awesome!

Given the small overall field everyone lined up together. Expert/Pros first, then Sport, then Beginner, rightly assuming that the categories would get sorted out on the ride based on rider strength. The first 1-1.5 miles was on the road going uphill. The peloton pulled out hurriedly then slowed a touch. As it did the Expert field made it's way up the road. I was able to latch on to a guy and let him pull me up to that field and Brant followed my lead as we weaved through riders. Unfortunately for us, once we got to the back of that group they decided it was time to go and dropped the hammer. I was apparently part of the hammer since I, too, was dropped. Once at the top though, it switched to a sidewalk and the pace quickened since the hole shot to singletrack was quickly approaching and it's imperative to get in the right position. I was able to make my way by a handful of riders but got stuck trying to make my last move. This ended up costing me a little bit since I was faster than this guy early on but couldn't get by. There were little cacti on the outside the path making passing there an unattractive option. I had bumped tires with him a couple times to let him know I was there, and also verbally asked to be let by a few times. This lasted maybe 2 miles. At one point we were going uphill and he stalled. I bumped his tire again and lost all momentum so I got off my bike, pushed it uphill and hopped back on. I still didn't get by and the group I wanted to make contact with went farther up the trail. Finally he pulled over and I went off to the races pushing pretty hard trying to make contact. I figured that if I could bridge the gap, I'd be in good position to sit in and take advantage of the draft for a lot of the remaining miles. Part of the downside of early season racing is that I just didn't have the legs to fly up there on my own. A headwind didn't help. And that's not to take anything away from the guys in that group being strong riders. After all, that's why I wanted to be up there with them!

After pedaling in no-man's land I knew I had two options. Option 1 was to put out more energy than necessary working by myself and seeing if I could hold off the chase group. Option 2 was to ease up and get in that group and have people to work together. We still had more than half the race to go so I chose option 2. I led the group for a bit, then got passed by the same guy that wouldn't let me by earlier. He ended up being a strong rider at this point but we were out of tune with our abilities. I'd go up faster than him and stall, he'd descend faster than me. It made me expend more energy in/out of turns that necessary but that's part of racing. It's also solved by me having better descending abilities! Another few miles passed and one guy came through and went away, then the guy leading our pack pulled away just enough to make bridging difficult alone. We got to doubletrack and Brant pulled by me determined to get up to the other guys. Since he's 6'4", 195lbs, it's like drafting a bulldozer which worked well for me! Or so I thought it would. I went to take a drink and in the time I relaxed to do that, I fell out of his draft and didn't have the legs to get back on. No-man's land again.

I knew the race was getting close to the finish and another guy came by me. That was frustrating since I didn't want to give up any more positions. I don't know what his strategy was but since I knew we only had about 3-4 miles left, I wasn't letting him get away. I bridged the gap and hung on for 2 miles. Then it was back to the sidewalk and when I looked back there was another group working well together that was gaining ground. I told the guy I was with we needed to work together but he looked disinterested. I assumed he was playing games since he slowed down so much he was forcing me to take the lead while he would sit in for 1.5 miles and then outsprint me at the end. That kind of pissed me off so with 1.5 miles to go I did my own individual time trial. I started with a little surge and looked back to see if he was hanging in my draft. He was a little bit, but there was a bigger gap than I expected to see and that was all I needed. I shifted up to the big ring, put my head down and hammered the pedals. The effort was enough that every position caused me discomfort with each pedal stroke, but when I peaked back, my strateg was working and the gap was growing. I finally got to the bottom and knew I was safe. I was able to let up on the pedals a little bit but was still draped over the handlebars with my tongue hanging out. For 20 miles on a mountain bike, I covered it in 1hr 26min 20sec. That was good enough for 13th place out of 51 riders in the Sport category. Brant had a great race as well and finished 12th, exactly one minute ahead of me.

The normal post-race deconstruction/analyzing went on as normal, and that's part of the fun. As we were talking, I heard Brant yell and looked over my shoulder just in time to see Katie and Kelli duel it out in a sprint finish. After 30 miles (for the Pros), it came down to less than a second for these two. Goes to show that everything race counts no matter how big or small. Kelli had the inside line which propelled her to victory as she was able to keep Katie on the outside.

Since I've only been on my mountain bike about 7 times this year and have never really ridden a mountain bike seriously, I'm really happy with how this unfolded. My technical abilities need to be developed but that will come with more t.i.t.s. (time in the saddle). I said after the race that I felt like I had 45 minute legs for a race that was 1:30 and as my strength bumps up, I'll hope my results do too. Oh, and I won a sweet backpack from Specialized at the raffle which was worth about $100! Considering it only cost $25 to race, it added to the day being a success.

Fruita/Moab

Last Thursday, as part of YearOfAwesome (aka, YOA), I headed down to Fruita and Moab with Brant, Matt, Adam, and Nate. It's amazing that I've somehow lived here for 10 years and have never been there. What the hell have I been doing?! Fortunately I made up for lost time with this trip.

On Thursday we drove about 4 hours to Fruita where we stopped and warmed up with some loops at 18 Mile Road. The "warm-up" laps were much needed since I've only been on my mountain bike once this year and there's very little to be desired with my technical abilities. The trails were good, open, flowy singletrack which was exactly what I needed. What I didn't need, or could have done without is some of the ridges we were riding along and steep, tight descents. Brant and Matt made them look easy. Adam almost fell off the Earth on one of them but made it down safely. I made walking down a couple of them look as graceful as could be. It was still a blast though and after about 2.5 hours of riding we got some food and went the rest of the way into Moab.

We took a backroad into Moab which proved to be the better choice since we were in no real hurry. While driving through the canyon we took a quick pit stop so the boys could have a beer and just stretch out the legs (I was driving and didn't drink).

The next day we went to ride Slickrock and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had more pre-ride anxiety in my life. It's basically like riding on sandpaper which is great because your tires hook up and get incredible traction. It's also terrible because if you fall, you're leaving a good chunk of skin right there. Fortunately, I made it through without any really bad crashes. Uhh, or at least until I got to the parking lot. I was so excited that I started riding a wheelie and took it a bit too far. The result? Me flipping my bike and ending up on my ass with a bloodied up elbow and bruised butt. Very smooth, I know.

After Slickrock my confidence got a lot better and the rest of the week was a blast. We rode Sovereign Trail, Porcupine Rim (which has a bit of riding that's a few feet from a 400 foot ledge), and Amasa Back Trail. Here's some of the pics from those rides:

It's Over

It's over. Ski season. Unfortunately it's gone now. Technically I think that A-Basin closes this weekend but I won't be around for it since the end of ski season means the weather's getting nicer and it's time to ride bikes. But before we get there, here's a few pics from the season. Okay, they're all actually from the same day but who's really keeping count. A couple weeks ago I took a Friday off work and Brant and I went up to Beaver Creek for the day. As luck would have it, it was snowing pretty good. As *my* luck would have it, we almost didn't get out of Denver. Once we did it was mostly smooth sailing. In fact, the sailing was so smooth that we drove right by the exit and kept going for an extra 15 miles or so. How two people don't even notice the freakin mountain out the left window is beyond me but it happened. A quick turn around later and we were on the hill which we almost had to ourselves. From the first run we knew it was gonna be a good day. Actually, it was probably the best day of skiing I had all year. Nice, soft powder and no lines whatsoever. We got a solid 4 hours of skiing in and could've kept going. But since we knew we were heading up to Aspen for the rest of the weekend, we didn't kill ourselves. Still, every run was as good as the last.






I started the season intent on getting 20 days in. Since that requires driving up at least once a weekend and a couple/few weekend trips, I didn't quite make it and fell about a week short. I got a total of 14 days which still isn't bad considering the snow wasn't always great. There's also the added nuisance of dealing with crowds and the cost of parking at the Vail Resorts mountains, but that's a different story. The good news is that I made some pretty good strides on my teles and am much more confident getting down the mountain on them now. It's a fun switch from the alpine skis when the conditions aren't as good. Turns out it's also fun on them on good days like when Matt and I skied at A-Basin. Perfect bluebird sky day.

MMMmmmmm...That Looks Good

Wanna learn how boring things are? Write a blog! I can't believe it's been since 2/7 since I've updated it last but it has. The good and bad news are I've seemingly fallen into a routine that I've been enjoying. It's not completely set, but I've been in the weight room Tuesday and Thursday nights, yoga Wednesday nights, skiing on the weekends, and fitting other workouts in around those. That includes the resurrection of two-a-days (they're not just for football players any more!).

My eating has cleaned up a lot in the last few weeks and I've been mostly good about sticking to it. The weekends present a challenge but since I'm not dead, I'm still going to enjoy things sometimes (like taco pizza and biscuits and gravy maybe?!). I'm also no expert on nutrition but doing 5 meals a day with about 400 calories each, and of the right foods, has really helped out with my stomach issues. If I had to put the top 3 things out there it would be these in no particular order: 1) Pay attention to, and abide by, serving size! A serving size is hardly ever the entire container. Hell, a bowl of cereal is most likely 1.5 - 2 servings. And if you pay attention to the sugar content, well that's just a lot of sugar. Segue? I think so.... 2) Cut back on the....wait for it......sugar! Processed sugar has no nutrtitive value. None. Zero. Yet a can of pop has about 41 grams of sugar in it. And all the shitty sugar substitutes aren't a legitimate excuse or replacement. Just start looking at labels and you'll see it adds up really really quickly. And guess what sugar turns into? If you said "fat" you were correct. 3) Unless you suffer from celiac disease, switch from white flour to wheat. Simply put, the first ingredient would read whole wheat flour. White flour, aka the other sugar, turns into fat. If you are allergic to wheat, then lucky you, it turns out they have almost everything you can think of available in a gluten free offering. Even restaurants are now offering gluten free dishes so there's really no excuse.

Now I'm sure that anyone who knows more about nutrition than me (which is almost anyone) could poke several holes in those, but they're a good start to re-vamping a diet. In the last 3.5 weeks, by following that and working out I've lost about 6 lbs (mostly fat) and have gained muscle. I'm expecting my weight will start moving back up as I put on more muscle so no one needs to get too alarmed.

As for my guilty pleasures, just to prove that I'm not completely obsessed about my diet, I offer you the following:

Exhibit A happens to be the most delicious breakfast burrito in the west that can only be found at Pete's Kitchen (home of waitresses that have bra snapping wars while the other is holding full trays of food). A breakfast burrito with bacon, covered in red chili and cheese would look a lot like this:

And since you need something good to wash it down with, why not do it with a Wisconsin Lunchbox? I know what you're thinking and you're right. The Sconny Lunchbox usually comes before the late night food, and this night was no exception. The breakfast burrito is like a sham-wow with how well it soaks up the alcohol!



For anyone still scratching their heads while looking at that picture that's trying to figure out if I'm drinking for breakfast, or just maybe gazing upon that picture with competing thoughts of "wow, that really looks delicious" and "just what in the hell is that," let me help you out. First, you're right. It does look delicious, and it is. For anyone trying to make this at home the recipe to delicious is simple. It's a half pint of beer (usually a good domestic beer like Miller Lite, Coors Light, etc. will do - PBR has been known to be very effective as well), top it off with a splash of orange juice and drop, yes drop, a shot of amaretto. Then chug. All at once. There will be a second during mid-chug where you're waiting for what you're certain is an impending doom of grossness. While your brain is processing that, your next thought will be 'holy shit I'm done and holy shit x2, that was delicious!' You're right. And you're welcome.

Lookout

With no new snow in the mountains, or at least not enough to make a significant difference in ski conditions on Saturday, Brant, Adam and I went out for a bike ride. From REI out to Lookout Mountain and back. Nice little ride, about 2.5 hours in total, gently rolling uphill on the way out and a slight decline on the second half of the way back. Oh yeah, there's also a 4.25 mile hill (Lookout Mtn) that sparked an impromptu TT/FTP test. Adam had been planning on it; Brant and I had not. Or at least I hadn't. Legs felt on and off on the ride out and when we got there I told Adam I'd carry his water bottle to make his bike lighter. Since it's always helpful to have rabbits up the road to chase, Brant went first. I waited about 3 minutes and then took off, followed by Adam about 2 minutes behind me. The first 100 yards I wasn't committed to the effort required and then......well I clearly just quit thinking otherwise I wouldn't have committed to the effort.

Tom Danielson holds the record up the hill at 16:02. On this day I was really almost right there with him, killing it with a time of around 26:00. Yes, you read that correctly. Tom Danielson can go up that hill 10 whole minutes faster than me. That's why he's a Pro Tour rider and I'm.....not. My best time up it was 24:48 on 8.31.09 and I held 273 watts (avg). The first time I ever timed it was in an annual race last year where I went up it in 25:34 with avg watts of 261. The good news is I have 3 months to add 10 watts to be on par with where my cycling was last year. Or I can add 20 watts to be where I was at the end of last season. I think it's do-able.

Changes Update

So part of the changes I've made include my diet. I joined a new gym recently and with it get two free sessions with a trainer/nutritionist I can use how I want. We talked about nutrition mainly and made the decision to cut down to 2000 calories/day based on 5 meals of 400 calories each. Since I'm adding muscle now that I'll shed once my endurance activites pick up more, we're looking at 160-170g or protein per day and each meal generally not having more than 10g of fat. Keeping sugars low which means no pop or Starbucks; no white breads (not a real problem for me), not much of things like orange juice, etc.

My initial thoughts? So far I've been able to stick to it but I had a follow-up discussion and asked how the hell they expect people to stick to a diet of water and whey protein shakes. I understand the science of it but disagree with the practicality of it. That said, I'll stick to it for a bit, see if I get some results and re-evaluate.

One other thing I've realized is that with only 400 calories/meal, I'm always hungry. There may be a 30 minute window after a workout that I'm satisfied, but otherwise I'm hungry. To be fair, I was probably over-eating before and my body needs to adjust, but I also think what I've been told is more of a gym rat approach and less of an endurance approach. I owe a visit to my old coach who is very "up" on all things nutrition so I'm gonna run it by him sometime soon.

Other updates? Well, I went to yoga the day after a really hard workout (with weights) and my arms were shaking doing the simplest things. Needless to say it made for a long session. It was also a pretty hard session, but I enjoyed that aspect of it. New things I hadn't done before, including a headstand. That was going well until my arms gave out and I came tumbling down. Good thing it wasn't a crowded class!

Spent the day today up at Keystone skiing on my teles. Doing a thousand lunges down the side of the mountain two days removed from a solid legs workout isn't the smartest thing, but I felt as good on the teles as I ever had. Pretty happy with the day.

Some Changes Comin'

After going back and forth for the first half of January I've finally decided to make some changes in how I train. Since this is kind of an experimental season I can do pretty much whatever the hell I want. That could mean my new plan with either be a good idea or a bust but either way I'm going to stick it out.

Let me set the stage first. At the end of last tri season when I was riding my MTB a lot more and then throughout CX season I realized I don't have a lot of explosive power on the bike. Being able to make sudden bursts with a lot of power is fairly important in those races, particularly in cyclocross since they say how you get off the line at the start is about 25% of the race. Guess where my position was coming off the line? Ready? Yep, close to last. I'd go hard but there wasn't enough power there to make a difference. That's gonna change.

I've decided to start a dedicated weight program that incorporates plyometrics, building up my core strength, and gaining some explosive power. It doesn't need to last long, but it needs to be there when I need it. I'm not getting overly carried away as I'm going to do it twice each week through March. And of course I'll still be swimming, cycling and running on every other day. I have no idea what the end result will be but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens just the same.

Along the same lines I'm making some changes to my diet. Better foods, less sugars and crap. I'm also going to start with aiming for 2,000 calories/day and adjust from there. I have a feeling that's going to leave me feeling hungry and weak but I'd rather start under than over. I'm certain this plan will by no means be executed with perfection but I'm still going to give it a real shot. Hopefully I'll have some good results to show for it once the season gets underway.

Tentative Schedule

Here we go. I'm not committed to any of these races yet since I haven't registered for any of them, but it's a good idea of how my racing season will shape up. There are a couple races out there right now that aren't sure if they're able to be held this year or not so they may get added. At the same time, life happens and if something needs to get scratched I'm not going to worry about it.

Like I've said before, this season has a heavy concentration on mountain bike racing and I'm currently working on building up my new mountain bike which I'm pretty excited about. More on that some other time, but it's a Yeti ASR (alloy) with SRAM X.O. It'll be a good deal lighter than my Yeti 575, but again, more on that later.

Tentative Schedule:

• 5/2/10 - Lookout Mountain Hill Climb (road bike)
• 5/29/10 - Pelicanfest Sprint Tri (road)
• 6/12/10 - Winter Park Hill Climb Kick-Off (MTB)
• 6/26/10 - XC Super Loop (MTB)
• 7/4/10 - Firecracker 50 (50-mile MTB race)
• 7/17/10 - Xterra Mountain Cup - Beaver Creek
• 7/31/10 - Crankworx CO XC (MTB)
• 8/8/10 - Xterra Indian Peaks
• 8/29/10 - Xterra Lory

And oh yeah, just for the hell of it I threw my name in the lottery for Leadville 100. I'm sure they'll have record entries this year and I won't get in but it's worth a shot. If I do get in you can bet your ass I'll do everything I can to come in under 12 hours and get that belt buckle!

I like this schedule since it's a little more rear-end loaded which means I'll be starting out a little slower and starting to come around somewhere in mid-June. I'm hoping it will also set me up nicely for a solid cyclocross season and I'll post that schedule later on in the Fall.

YOA Weekend Kickoff

What is YOA? Year Of Awesome. It's been so long since I've updated this that I don't remember if I've mentioned this or not. Not my idea, but one of my friends, Brant. It sounds pretty self-explanatory but that just may be because we've been repeating it for a while now. Anyway, to celebrate we headed up to Breckenridge and got a condo for the weekend. I'm sure there were plenty of highlights to go around, but in a nutshell, I still suck at beerpong. Both nights. Fortunately for me Brant does not and that's what saved us on the first night, and kept us in the running the second night. However, there is something I am good at and apparently it's choking out someone that weighs about 40 pounds more than me. Being the mature people we are, sometimes we wrestle when we drink and OG (Nate) was the instigator. Having not learned his lesson when Brant (a much more fair weight class match-up) almost choked him out earlier, I sunk it in and forced the tap. However, I think he got his revenge when we got back to the beerpong table.....

We did ski as well and were able to hit up Vail. Aside from seeing my friends Ben and Jamie who I went to Marquette with, the actual skiing was uneventful since the snow wasn't that good. Still, it was good to see them.

Workouts are still chugging along. I have a tentative schedule for my races that I'll probably firm up sometime this week. In preparation for it I'll keep sticking with yoga and the cross-training class that I do. I've mentioned it before but I really think that even though I may give up some speed by kicking out a swim/bike/run a couple times a week, I'll gain some valuable strength that will make my body more durable. I've already done a good job of neglecting the swim so maybe it's time I get in there a bit more consistently. I was hoping that the pool at my new gym would be opening up soon but it looks like that will be delayed for a few months unfortunately. It will be much easier to get in a quick swim over lunch than it is before work!

So Far So Good

So far the year's started off pretty good on the workout front. Slowly working on getting back into it and getting into a rhythm again. It's a bit different without a set plan to follow but I also kind of like that. Even though I probably have a good running base from the December challenge, I've kept my runs short and around the half hour mark. One of the reasons is that I hate running on the treadmill and a half hour is about my limit on there. On the bike I've hit a couple sessions on the trainer doing some repeats of watt-based workouts I did last year. I haven't done a test just yet to see what my FTP is so I used the same zones I started with last year. The good news is it's felt easier than I remembered. Hopefully some of the CX season paying off. Also, with the weather being pretty nice this weekend I was able to get outside on my bike both days. The cross bike was perfect for those rides with some snow patches still on the sidewalks. Finally, I'm not sure which is more shocking - that I went to yoga for the first time or that I got back in the pool.

The pool was pretty uneventful. Since I haven't been in the water since August I started nice and easy. Actually, Chad and Rick probably both have more yards in one swim session than I've done in two but I'm completely fine with that. I figured I'd go until my form was really starting to suck and not surprisingly, it wore me out. I was more tired than I should have been the next day but it felt good to be that tired from a workout even if it was pretty damn short.

On the yoga front, it wasn't all that bad. I went to a place that started out with a one-on-one which was perfect since I didn't know anything. A few days later I went to a class and it went well. I can see why people get into it since, if nothing else, it makes you focus on yourself for an hour. With that in mind I'll probably go back. Besides, I'm 100% convinced that yoga pants make all girls butts look fantastic.

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year! New year, new job, new beginnings, new outlook. And somewhere in there is new goals but I haven't quite gotten around to figuring out what those might be just yet. The new job I'm excited about. It's interesting and there's a lot of information there that can complement and build on the foundation I have right now, and hopefully set me up for more in the future.

I ended December on an decent note, getting sick notwithstanding. The running challenge went okay, though I missed more days than I intended. I'm not sure of my final mileage but I think it's fair to say it was somewhere around 90 miles. To put it in perspective, that's closer to the mileage I was running when I was peaking last year, and right around the same as what I was running when I was training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. From a pace perspective, depending on the day, I'm somewhere in the low 8s or high 7s which is more of an April/May pace from 2009. Point being, my running has a good start for 2010 and now it's time to get my swimming and cycling in gear too.

So what's in store for 2010? Good question. My outlook is a little different. I'm not really making any resolutions or anything like that, and at this point I don't have any concrete goals. What I'm going on right now is 1) to be open to new things in all facets; and 2) enjoy myself more. I'm sure #1 can take on a lot of forms, but for starters, since Rick (Lapinski, not my dad), and likely Susan as well, have talked about how much they like yoga for so long I finally decided to give it a try. Haven't gone yet but it's on the way. All I'm hoping for is some help in tuning up some core strength and seeing what it's all about. As for #2, it's really about having less structure in training. I'm still planning on training hard but if something comes up and friends want to go ride on a day I was planning on running/swimming, or go fly-fishing instead, I'm not going to stress about a missed workout here and there so I can enjoy myself more.

The real change will be that I'm racing off-road tris more this year and only expect to be on my tri-bike in a couple races. I'll also be racing my mountain bike and am looking forward to that. I think in the long term it will add some good strength to my cycling and set me up better for cyclocross season and future seasons with road tris.

In the two quick runs I've done so far this year I've done the same route. Yesterday was at an 8:11 pace and today was at a 7:51 pace. No idea what the difference was but I definitely felt better today and could've kept going for a while. I like that feeling.