REAL MAN of the Year

Fellow blogger Elgee calls it his "Douchebag of the Year" award (which is currently going to Martin Erzinger on his blog, by a landslide).

I'm going to call it "REAL MAN" of the Year.  And my current front runner might just be Bo Pelini, *dick*-Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.

"I said 'NO onions' on my cheeseburger!"

If any of you saw the Texas A&M v. Nebraska football game Saturday night, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

It takes a REAL MAN to be downright pugilistic to the officials of a game when they call 16 penalties on your team;

It takes a REAL MAN to show the complete lack of composure and discipline that got your team those 16 penalties in the first place;

It takes a REAL MAN to throw a tantrum on your starting quarterback; who, by the way, is playing on half a wheel because he's the only hope your team has got;

It takes a REAL MAN to take a position of great responsibility and dignity - a Division 1 head football coach - and use it to become a complete ass on national television;

It takes a REAL MAN to run after the officials when the clock hits :00, instead of congratulating the other team for shutting your ass DOWN;

Wow...starting to sound a little like a "Douchebag", huh?

Shopping List

Game's still on.  So another post.

Tomorrow nite is the Bach Builders' MTB Team Night at Sports Garage.  We're getting our 2011 Specialized orders in, and I need some new stuff.

2011 Specialized Epic 29er frameset

2011 Specialized Pro MTB shoe

2011 Specialized S-Works MT helmet

Rad.

Return of Darkness XC

Sitting here listening to the Fightin' Willies' third basketball game of the season - not on TV - so I figured I'd post a little update.

Saturday, November 8, TMP, Tyler Eaton and I loaded up Tyler's Subie and headed toward Gunnison - specifically the Hartman Rocks area - for one last "race".

Sorry, I jumped ahead.  On Friday, November 7, TMP and Tyler were Facebooking about this race.  I threw my hat into the ring.

     "Didn't think you wanted to go, or we woulda asked..."


     "I didn't know I wanted to either.  I figured what the hell.  Make it my last ride of the year."

So we went.

TMP (left) and me (center) enjoying the sage

"Return of Darkness", as the race was named, was a low-key XC race put on by the Gunnison Trails group as a fundraiser for maintenance, and officially send out the summer...aptly named since the next day signaled the time change to very early evenings.  We lined up at "high noon" (-ish), and were racing for a whopping $1.75 in cash prizes.  Yep - a bill and three quarters.  The official start line was Dave Wiens' Suburban...and we were being timed with a digital wristwatch.  Funny enough, the race was amazingly supported at the aid station, and it was the best-marked mountain bike race I've ever done.

     Take note, Mountain States Cup.  Your course markings, marshalling, aid stations, and general racer support are an effing JOKE compared to what these guys did for FUN.  Start giving us something for our 50 bucks.

The venue was pretty sweet.  This was my first trip ever to the Hartman Rocks mountain bike area.  The trails are all very fun...lots of twisty swoopy singletrack through sagebrush and desert-style rocky outcroppings.  Not much vertical gain - maybe 1500 feet for the whole 20 miles.  Warming up, I knew I was in for a real treat.  The way my heart rate was reacting, and subsequently my breathing...I could last the full 20 miles, I could last 2.  Just had no idea.

Tyler, me and TMP heading up Kill Hill

Much more the latter.

Not having seriously ridden since the middle of September, and probably still recovering from a deficit of massive fatigue, I was in no condition to 'race' a 20 mile XC race.  So I made myself a pact - that if I started suffering hard, I'd shut it down and just enjoy the ride.

Anyways, I got a pretty good start.  Up in the front third of the group.  But man, that first hill - cleverly named "Kill Hill" - was UP.  I had to back off of it and just work my way to the top; unfortunately, I also worked my way backward through the pack.  Lots of sandy and rocky singletrack would follow, but not much "racing".  Probably 8 miles in, I hit the "shut it down" point, and just enjoyed the ride for the rest of the afternoon.

And a great ride it was - 60 degrees, sunny, just loving every minute of it.  Great way to send out the 2010 season.

New Team, New Bike(?)

It snowed today.

All day.

Not too thrilled about it.  Because it means mountain biking, for all intents and purposes, is done for 2010.

Hey, I had a good run.  28 29 races good.

Here's to looking toward next year.  Drink 'em if you got 'em.

If you've been paying attention to my 'sponsor' sidebar to the right, you may have noticed that some changes have taken place.  Via great timing and a good friend, I've decided to make a switch.

I'll be racing for Bach Builders MTB team next year, and am super-psyched about it.  Bach Builders will give me an opportunity to meet new people, become more immersed in the mountain bike community, and be involved with a team that has more of a "team".  I am just looking for support, camaraderie, and the feeling of belonging to something.  A huge bonus - one of my good friends, Tim Mt. Pleasant, will also be joining the Bach Builders MTB team for next year.

Tim's got aspirations. I mean ASS-PER-AY-SHUNS.  I've personally witnessed him coming steadily up through the ranks, and he's not one to back off of a challenge.  As soon as he started putting together some solid results in Cat 2 races this year, he jumped up to Cat 1, and hung in there pretty well.  Looking forward to seeing what he can do next year.  He's just started a blog to chronicle his efforts toward becoming a licensed Pro-level endurance mountain biker.  Go get 'em, tiger...

Anyways, back to me :).

I've recently met with my coach to revisit the past season; what went right, what could be improved on.  Discussed some goals and things for next year.  Looks like the schedule is starting to come together...and it is looking pretty solid.  If it's possible, I'm already looking forward to a great 2011 season.  Only three more weeks before I start hitting the gym again.  Fuckin' stoked.  Let's do this!

Here's the new steed.  Well, it's skeleton, anyway.

Bach Builders is having the team "get-together" at Sports Garage in Boulder next Friday.  Only team members, and we're getting 'dibs' on 2011 Specialized gear at pro-pro pricing.

So I'm buying another bike - Specialized Epic 29er frameset.  And a helmet.  And new shoes.  And probably a saddle, too.

HA!  Take that, stagnant economy!

Beers and Bikes

How'd your Halloween go?

Drinking and cycling does mix...as long as you coordinate a designated pilsner.

Good Cycling Podcast

J-Dubbs, representin'.

Great cycling podcast at Bicycle Radio, weekly covering all things cycling.  Local Pro-Pro Jake Wells of the Hudz-Subaru Cyclocross team (who, by the way, just put down a 10th and 6th place finish on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in UCI C1 cylocross races this past weekend) was interviewed by the crew.

Technical difficulties (damn cell phone coverage up here in the mountains), but will be on again for interview.

Check it out!

When "Last Call" Doesn't Mean "Last Call"...

It's been awhile.  Let's get caught up.

First of all, it's been a lot of fun getting out on the mountain bike since the race season wrapped up for me.  Still go out and pound on the pedals hard, but the goal isn't to maintain or improve race conditioning - it's been because I want to go fast.  That's OK with me.  Ride frequency has dwindled down to just once a weekend, usually for little more than an hour.  Taking more time to relax; get caught up on Top Gear episodes, check in on various college football games, NBA and it's three-ring circus (The Miami Heat) has officially started.  My boys of Manhattan (and your Coaches' pick for Big 12 #1) begin their basketball season tonight with an exhibition game versus Newman College (huh?).  There's two seasons up here in the mountains:  Summer and Winter.  And it's officially Winter now.

Not much biking left to be had this year, methinks...

Two weeks ago, I went for a quick ride up Boneyard and down Redneck Ridge right behind my house, an intermediate-level 7-mile singletrack loop through the pinions, junipers, and western Colorado scrub.  Literally starts a block from my house, and finishes a half-block on the other side.  Sunny, 55F, no wind...absolutely perfect.  Well, aside from bothering the hunters up on the top of the trail...but whatever.  My trail...not theirs.  I wanted to grab one last ride, because the weather was supposed to turn ugly, and I didn't want to miss "last call".  When I pulled back into the garage at the end of the hour quickie, I was completely content with that being my last ride of 2010...because it reminded me why I ride:  FUN.

We had a gnarly snowstorm come through the area this last week, dumping as much as 20" at some of the ski resorts, and pretty much blanketing the rest of the area with several inches of the white stuff.  But that weather moved through, and by the end of the week, it was sunny and back in the 50s during the day again.

So this last weekend, I had a "oh, what the hell" moment.  After a long and stressful day, I hopped on the bike for no particular reason from a spur-of-the-moment decision and rode the Boneyard/Redneck loop again.  Boneyard is mostly on the northern side of the ridge, so snow was still hanging around in some spots, and the rest of the trail was pretty darn muddy.  Been awhile since I went out and really got sloppy.  When I pulled back into the garage at the end of the hour quickie, I was again completely content with that being my last ride of 2010...because it reminded me why I ride:  FUN.

Me and Spidey went and slogged through the mud for a while.

As a side note, I'm now convinced that God enjoys mountain biking.  Every time one of us throws a leg over our trusty steed (or one of our trusty steeds, in my case) and take off up into the hills, amongst the trees, picking lines through rocks and roots and plowing through piles of moondust - God smiles down on us.  It reintroduces perspective.  I've had a number of difficulties recently with various things - congregation at church, co-workers at the office, etc.  But when I walked back into my house that afternoon after getting all muddy and having a blast, my mind was completely serene.  None of that stuff mattered anymore.  Which led me to the epiphany above.

So here we are, the first couple days of November, and it looks like the sun is supposed to stick around and keep things on the nicer side for the rest of the week.  Planning a trip to Fruita for this coming weekend...hopefully it's not "last call".  But if it is, I'm OK with it.  After all...the bar will open again.