Frisco Cross

It's going down this weekend at the Nordic Center in Frisco, CO.

Frisco Cross is in the air.

Two days of 'crossing on some of the best (and most technical) courses in Colorado.  Woodchips, rocks, and the Log Run.  At 9000 feet above sea level.  Weather looks to be low 50's, with sun on Saturday and a rain/snow mix on Sunday...so it's shaping up to be a great weekend for cyclocross.

Got a replacement for the wheel that got all blowed up last weekend - an older Mavic Ksyrium wheelset for $250 (cha-ching!), so I'm ready to go.  I also got the Jake all purty-ed up, and tatted up with a Squirt Lube logo on the seat post.  Everyone I know that races 'cross is planning to be there, so it looks like it's going to be a big event.  And Elgee got the call-up to do the announcing for the event the whole weekend, so it should be a very entertaining time.  He flat-out brings it, so if you're not on your 'A' game, he'll be on you.

That means you, o great White Knight.

Come on out, drink some beers and bang some cowbells.  Hup hup!

Catching Up

As I'm textualizing (is that a word?) my thoughts to you, my wife is listening to some alt-rock cover of The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus"...what a travesty.  Please change the song.

OK - let's get caught up.  Spent all day getting my car "maintained" - 55k mile service (that's right...Audi can't wait until 60k, they make you come in at 55k), new tires, and an alignment.  I can think of a number of things I'd rather spend $1500 on (down payment on a Kona Hei Hei 29, maybe?), but whatever.  Gotta keep the ride in good shape.  It's the best car I've ever had, so I'll treat it as such.

So I park at Mountain Sports Outlet in Glenwood Springs to pick up a thermal skullcap for cold-weather cycling, and apparently got the front of my driver's side door hammered by the truck next to me.  While I'm eating lunch later that morning, Erin sees a mark on the door and asks "Is that a dent?".  Fugh me.  It's a small dent, but it's deep, and lots of white paint (my car is navy blue).  It wasn't there this morning when I left the Audi dealer, so that's the only place it could have happened.  Oh well, the entire thing is due for a refinish/paint/3M clear bra next spring.

Oh, yeah - went to Denver for the Graybar Showcase - a telecom infrastructure trade show and seminar program.  4 inches of snow at the top of Vail Pass on my way down that morning, and it was still snowing.  The 'seal' was 'broken' last week, though, so it didn't have the shock value of the first snowstorm we saw a little while ago.  Took some pictures on the way back home that afternoon...snowy peaks with the aspens still in their fall plumage - very scenic.  Too bad the iPhone has a crappy camera.  Cool picture of the Ten Mile Range from Copper Mountain:

Went on the Mountain Pedaler shop ride on Wednesday...nothing too eventful.  Went up Rose Garden to Hardscrabble Road, and climbed to Firebox Park.  About 1h15m of steady but not stressful climbing.  We could tell that the aforementioned snowstorm was brewing, as the cloud silhouettes were very ominous over Hardscrabble Mountain and out over the Flat Tops to the north.  And it was starting to get damn cold.  35 degrees, nighttime, and Lycra doesn't exactly mix.  I already put on all the clothes I had with me, and was starting to get cold again.  Even put on the winter gloves, which didn't help much; my hands were already past the point of no return.  Everybody was pretty much in the same boat, so we bailed on the Wolverton Spring loop and went down Pipeline.

Now Pipeline, for those of you that haven't been on it, is absolutely my favorite ride during the fall.  It's a relatively moderate pitch, so it can be ridden as a 1h45m out-n-back, or like we did this night for less technical climbing, more mileage (about 15 miles roundtrip), and ride it just as a downhill.  Regardless, it's one of those trails that is lined with aspens on both sides, has a couple of rocks to watch out for, two creek crossings (one bridge, one ford), and lots of fun.  This time of year, the trail is covered with the yellow aspen leaves...just beautiful.  But we did it at night in the cold, so it just kinda sucked, to be honest with you.  Between my fingers getting so cold I couldn't tell if I was braking or not, to Hank's crankarm falling off at 25mph at night, to the 40mph winds we encountered when we got back to Eagle Ranch, I was over it.  But it was a mountain bike ride with friends, so it wasn't all bad.


Finally got my ACA license in the mail today.  Whoo hoo, I guess.  Sure would be nice if I could have my BCR points from Brecktobercross - I'd be in 7th instead of tied for 20th in the standings if they would count them.

I also found out that, amidst the supposed "economic recovery" over the past month or so, my 401(k) has actually righted the ship, and I've had a 1.97% GROWTH over the past 12 months.  Which is pretty sweet.  My retirement fund is ahead of where I was 12 months ago?  Whodathunkit?

Frisco Cross this weekend - two-day event.  More cowbell.

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.