Is This A Problem?

Hmmm...looks like it needs trued.  Got a slight wobble in it.

Put wheel in wheelfork on roof of car before heading to BV this weekend, but didn't tighten the quick-release enough.  Sho'nuff, hit 80mph on the interstate, and the wheel goes flying off behind me.  So I stop to run back and pick it up - half of the cars in Colorado managed to drive around it - and as soon as I get to the side of the road adjacent to the wheel, a semi comes haulin' ass through and BLAMMO!

Spokes go flying.

So I hustled out to pick up the wreckage.

Don't worry folks - the tire's OK.  And if you want to see the carnage firsthand, it'll be hanging on the Wall o' Destruction at the Mountain Pedaler in Eagle.

Anybody got a Ksyrium front wheel they want to sell cheap?  Anybody?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Weekend Update

OK, so I know it's almost Tuesday.  Well, more or less, anyway.  Went out for a easy spin-down road ride up to Adam's Rib Ranch and back...only about 15 miles or so, but did a good job getting the legs stretched out.  Fun little jaunt with Elgee (Squirt Lube/A2B), Nate Picklo (Yeti's Grind) and Jon Efurd (Yeti's Grind) - a couple of the usual pedal-pushin' crew.

Cross at the River in Buena Vista on Sunday.  Took the skinsuit and the regular kit - at race time, it was better than 82F out, so regular kit it was.  Gawd it was hot.  It's one thing to be road or mountain bike racing in heat, but it's a total other to 'cross race in it.  Having the heart rate pegged for 45 minutes in any kind of heat makes me feel sick to my stomach.

First time the guys from BV and Salida put on a cross race.  Course was at the River Park, if any of you know the layout of Buena Vista.  Beautiful venue (to the right), ridiculously technical course.  Course layout:

• Start line straight into a loose tight right hander
• Sweeping left into a steep, loose run-up (dismount #1)
  
• Loose, sandy singletrack winding around through sagebrush, with a little burst climb in the middle
• Loose gravel parking lot straight into a wooden stair run-up (dismount #2)
  
• Couple short straights across a soccer field
• Left hander to right hander to gravelly trail straight (slight downhill with tailwind)
• Super deep/loose steep techy left 180 to right 180
• More gravelly straight, with burst climb right 180 at end
• Even more gravelly straight (slight uphill against headwind)
• Sweeping left hander to right hander loose run-up (dismount #3)
• MORE gravelly straight (slight uphill against headwind), with a couple minor corners and a little burst climb at end
• Right hander into soccer field into 2x 15" barriers (dismount #4)
• Fifty yards of straight to right 180
• Sand run through volleyball pit, across 30 feet of asphalt, back through volleyball pit (dismount #5)
• Right almost 180 to impossibly difficult left 180 on loose gravel parking lot
• Lap-thru/loose right hander onto the sweeping left above

Holy crap.  Made me tired just explaining the race.  If it looks like the laps were long, they were.  If it looks like the laps were difficult, they were.  Most CX races have 2 or 3 dismounts - this one had 5.  Yep, 5.  Speaking of 5 - that's all the more laps we got complete in a 45 minute race.  Did a good job of pegging the ol' ticker - I was floating between 185 and 197 bpm the entire race.

So, I learned a lot about myself with regards to cyclocross on this day:

First, I don't really care much for running through sand.  Especially with a bike on my shoulder.

Second, I have a lot more consistent power than last year.  Legs actually felt good the entire race; it was the rest of my body that wasn't diggin' it by minute 30.

Third, I'm not competitive with the guys at the front of Cat 4, but I'm not at the back, either.  I finished 8th out of 16 racers or something like that; 30 seconds behind 7th, and 1:01 up on 9th.  Which sucks, because it means I was basically racing by myself the entire effing race.  Let me tell you how much fun THAT wasn't.

Finally, I need to work on bike handling (I was all OVER the place in the sand), but I felt pretty good on the "technique" aspects of 'cross - shouldering, barrier sections, remounts, etc.

So, overall, not bad.  Got some good experience, put up a good effort.  Beat who I was supposed to, lost to those who were supposed to beat me.  And got a decent chunk of BCR (Best Cyclocross Rider) competition points for the ACA CX season.  Now if they'd have counted my finish at Breckenridge (it's BS they aren't counting it), I'd be pretty high in the rankings, believe it or not.  Honestly, I don't care if I end up vying for the Cat 4 BCR lead - frankly, I'll upgrade before I get there - but BCR points are how you're called up at the beginning of the races.  So, more points, closer to the front, better position in the race, more points, so on and so forth.

Couple of locals - Courtney Gregory (Mafia) and Damien Fraser (Mafia) raced the Cat 3 race right after us.  Courtney got a terrible start, but worked his way up to the front quickly.  Led for most of the race, to get caught and passed on the last lap, finishing 2nd on the day.  Damien steadily picked his way up through the field, coming from 9th or so up to a 4th place finish.  Here's Courtney on the first run-up action:

Didn't make it to K's.  Flying solo into BV, and I didn't really feel like hanging out in that town any more than I already had.  So I just grabbed a dragonfruit Vitamin Water, a Rockstar + Juice, and a bag of jalapeno Kettle Cooked potato chips.  Absolute staples in the junk food diet of yours truly - the Fuel of Champions.

BTW - if you're a "leafer", go make the trip between Minturn and Leadville this weekend at the latest.  The aspens are absolutely going off up there (as they are all over Eagle County right now).  Or, better yet, get on the mountain bike and hit Village-To-Village at Beaver Creek.  Damn, winter's coming for real.

The Fighting Willie's, a.k.a. K-State Wildcats, got their second win of the season, beating up on Tennessee Tech 49-7, improving to 2-2 heading into Big 12 play.  Two amazing facts about that game - First, Brandon Banks (KSU) set a Big 12 record as the first person to return two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game (12th person in NCAA history to accomplish this feat).  Second, KSU never punted the football.


OK, that's enough for now.  I'll save the misfortune for later...

In Honor...

...of RR&M's 500th hit.  Keep showing the support, kiddos!













Gameday!  KSU in Snyder-ville taking on Tennessee Tech...gawd we need a win before we start into Big 12 play.  GO STATE!

The Snowstorm Subsides

Well, you can take me off suicide watch, because the snow has moved on through, and looks like the mountains are being granted a reprieve with a couple more weeks of "spautumn".  Wednesday evening was a little chilly, but the recent moisture made the local mountain bike trails mmmmm tasty.

That evening treated me with good ol' faithful - a  ride up the Boneyard, stopped for the views at the top, and back down Redneck Ridge.  A seven-plus-mile singletrack loop, starting and finishing at my garage.  Trails around Eagle are in phenomenal shape right now - git sum!

Here's a couple of pics for your enjoyment - a beautiful sunset, and the pink hue of the sunset bouncing off the freshly deposited snow on the New York range.

This weekend will be 'cross race #2 of the season for me this year - Cross at the River in Buena Vista, CO.  Looking forward to it, and building on that 9th place finish from last week.

As with any trip to BV, gonna hit up K's on the way out - some of the best burgers and shakes around.

It also means that it will be the official debut of the TeamDRV skinsuit.  Eff yeah!

Looking to be a gorgeous weekend.  I'm gonna go get my bikes ready.

GO RIDE!

CrossVegas, Baby!

Local Jake Wells (Mafia Racing) THREW DOWN at CrossVegas earlier this week, posting a 12th place finish in a field of 114 deep in the UCI C1 race, only 1:15 off the pace after an hour of 'crossing.  Way to go, Jake!  Here's a pic of the dude sayin' "What's up?" to Barry Wicks (Kona) and Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis).

Another one of the local bro's, Larry Grossman (or Elgee, from Squirt Lube & Addicted to Bicycles fame), posted a fantastic 5th place finish amongst distributors in the "Wheelers & Dealers" race beforehand.

Are You #$%*!&^ Kidding Me!?!

September 21, 2009.

Last "official" day of summer.

First "unofficial" day of winter.

Not funny.

Snow accumulated down to 10,000 feet or below, with it actively precipitating snow as low as 6,500 feet today.  I like the mountains, but 8 months with snow is starting to get a little oppressive.

We were discussing at work the seasons in Colorado:  Winter, and Not Winter.  Or as someone called it, "Spautumn".

Please don't tell me its time for down parkas, fireplaces and sweatpants already.  Where is my fleece-lined skinsuit already?

On a lighter note, my homeowner's association board, of which I am a part of, made me take down my enormous installation of one string of Christmas lights, which I had lazily left up since last Christmas.  Comical, because no one noticed until two weeks ago (when I received the notice that I would be fined if they weren't removed), the person who noticed is a "code enforcement official" the HOA hires to literally walk around and find instances of people breaking the rules and regulations (note: doesn't live here), and besides, they're going right back up in 8 weeks.  Which begs the question:  Who really gives a shit about 50 little bulbs that haven't been turned on since last January?  Besides, it's winter now!

Remember When You Were 5 Years Old...

...and you got to go play in the mud?

Sunday marked the day of the first official cyclocross race of the season (for me, at least) - Brecktobercross.  A 'cross race at 9900 feet.  Always a good time.  And the weather is usually beautiful...until this year.

Let's say the weather took a turn for the worse as soon as we (wife Erin and I) pulled into the parking lot.  What was sunny skies and 60F earlier in the day turned to 43F and rain.  Then sheets of rain.  Then some sleet/hail/ice/who knows.  Then a light sprinkle.  Then more steady rain.

Course was typical Brecktobercross fare:

• a long straight covered in wood chips right out of the gate
• some quasi-techy pavement
• a slippery dirt section with barrier #1 and a run-up
• another uphill pavement section
• some winding trail through trees with barrier #2 and a run-up
• fast winding trail through trees
  
• a 180 hairpin with barrier #3 immediately following
• a burst climb, downhill through tunnel, and burst climb out
• long straight covered in wood chips
• lap-through (back to first wood chip straight)

The rain turned everything to mud.  In the trees it stayed a little drier (clumpy mud), but the run-ups were super slimy, and the exposed areas were nice and splattery.  Rooty sections were downright treacherous.  Corners were all greasy, and were getting worse throughout the race.  Our Cat 4 group did 6 laps in 45 minutes, which was the same pace the Cat 3 guys were rolling at.

Race Recap:  Pretty simple, really.  Terrible start, fell back to around 27th out of 35, and spent the entire race playing catchup.  It was a tight starting area (only about 4 wide), so those that had the call-up were definitely at an advantage.  I didn't get a great position in the starting gate, probably 2/3 of the way back.  The official says 3 minutes to start, we're all chatting, then all of a sudden "GO!"  WTF?  Didn't get any sort of a countdown or 30 second or 15 second warning.  So, caught by surprise and spit out the back.  Many of the straights were single-file, so you had to pick and choose your spots smartly.  The mud also didn't allow you to come into corners hot for a pass, at least not if you wanted to stay upright.  The technique practice I've put in recently helped significantly, as I had zero problems with bike handling, dismounting/remounting, etc.  Had some issues with muddy cleats that cost me probably 15 seconds throughout the race.  In fact, I passed a number of people on the first two laps on the run-ups.  I think I've got a lot more power this year, too, as I was passing/pulling away on all the burst climbs.  Worked my way back through the field to a 9th place finish, with a pretty big gap back to 10th.  So, all in all, a stellar race for me.  Honestly, I just wanted to stay upright and finish at the start of the day.

Let the videos buffer - they're a little big...(my bad)

Burst climb out of the tunnel at the end of the lap:


Erin did a great job snapping pictures, taking some vij, and cheering me on in the rain.  Actually, there were a large number of spectators for a Cat 4 race in the rain and mud.  Great racing, nobody went uber-aggro, and we all had a frickin' BLAST in the mud.  My washing machine, on the other hand...

U-Turn on the pave, hopping into some sloppy mud: