My first cycling trophy ever

First place loser trophy

On the way to the bike show. To look at the bicycles.

Spindly legs

My legs have gotten more of a "biker shape" this year than they ever have before. I've been feeling good about that today. On the mountain bike, I felt like they were good and tough. Not tree trunk tough, but tough for what I'm used to seeing. Today I went and did 90 second intervals with Dan up by the Provo temple, and that feeling disappeared. The first half of our interval was maybe a 3% grade, and then a crosswalk, and then it kicked up to, I don't know, maybe 5%. Dan kicked it at the crosswalk every time. He blew me away, and blew my mind. As I struggled to stay within 15 yards of him, I'd look down at my legs, and only one word came to mind. Spindly. (Long and skinny, often denoting weakness). Yeah. Spindly.

Race Update

I haven't talked about racing for a while. At the Canyons ICUP race I double flatted out on the 2nd lap, which was okay because it meant I didn't have to do a 3rd. At the Sundance race last week I flatted on the 1st lap which stunk because it meant I didn't get to to the 2nd, and I was climbing and descending dreamily.

Anyway, two DNF's was frustrating because I've felt like I've really got my fitness back where it should be, and much closer to where I want it to be.

At Soldier Hollow this week, it became evident that a group of the riders had strategized to ride the first two laps slow(er). I knew that if we all just dilly-dallied around for two laps it'd be a brutal next two and I wouldn't be able to hang with hardly anyone in the top 8-10. So I tried to push the pace the first lap and foil their plot. It seemed to work, as the lead group dwindled and Wolfe wheelied in front of me. I knew pushing the pace wouldn't drop everyone, but I knew that for me to get a good finish it's what I needed to do. Wolfe and another guy decided to take off on the 2nd lap and Matt and I had a battle for 3rd that lasted until the 4th lap when Matt dropped me. Derrick caught me on the final descent and tried to outsprint me before the pavement - so I dropped some 4x moves and blocked the inside line, forcing him to take the outer, slower line, and allowing me to get back in front for the sprint for 4th, which I took. (see, watching all those DH/4x movies pays off!) It was great to have to put some thought into a race, ever since I moved up to expert I've just been riding as hard as I can to finish the race, it was fun to finally have some tactics. Makes me miss being a cat 4/5 and racing the crits at TP (Thanksgiving Point).

I also got in trouble by a few of the racers (Jay), for running an "illegal" bike. Apparently there is a unwritten rule that limits bike weight to 24 lbs or more for the Wed. night series. Oops. I've been cheating by 2+ lbs. all year. Apparently the gold chain is a no-no as well...

Funny Time

Downtube Guards

Here are some pics of the prototype. It weighed 29 grams including mounting tape. Pretty light insurance if you ask me. It mounted really flush and looks really clean on the bike.I've currently got a few in cue with more layers of fiberglass. We'll see how stiffness and strength compare, although I personally think that a light barrier with the foam mounting tape will be enough to disperse the impact enough to prevent frame damage. Stay tuned...

Superfly downtube guards

Custom molded downtube guards for the 2008-09 Gary Fisher Superfly are in the works. We're just finishing our first prototype. Expect to see them on a few bikes at the Canyons ICUP race. They should be available for purchase soon afterwards! Initial price will be around $40. This is a great preventative product to help eliminate rock damage to downtubes.

Breck

Breckenridge is a small little ski town in Colorado. It sits at about 9,300 ft. elevation-wise. It was the setting of the Breckenridge B-68 and B100 that Dan, Calvin, and I participated in last week.

We rode some of the course, about 4 miles, on Friday, and it was scary. The elevation and the fact that we were riding cliff-like singletrack definitely worked out lungs over in just a few short miles. The descent, although rocky and rooty, was pure sweetness. The trail was really well built, with rocks laid out before every switchback to eliminate brake bumps, and some fat berms at the bottom that required almost no brakes at all. The descent erased all of my fears regarding elevation and climbing (coz going downhill on sweet trails makes going up easier, right?).

Saturday morning Dan got up early, I remember trying to say good luck but already being back asleep when he left. He had a 6 AM start. Calvin and I rolled over to the start at around 8, setup an ezup, and hung out. Dan rolled through starting his 2nd lap around 9, and our race started around 10AM.

We had a neutral start that went uphill on the road for maybe 2 miles. By then everyone was so spread out it wouldn't have mattered to have a neutral start. Soon after, we jumped onto one of the nicest singletrack climbs I've ever ridden. The quality of singletrack must have got me excited coz I started picking riders off one by one. I passing 100 mile racers quite constantly throughout the day which was so nice as it gave me a target to chase down all afternoon. The uphill climb lasted for about 12-14 miles and got more steep and technical the higher we got up. We were all walking the last 100 meters of the climb. After a bit of level singletrack we hit a fireroad that was built like a 4x or Dual Slalom course, with sick 'jumps' every 50 yards or so. Since it was a race, I pumped through about half of them, and just launched off of the other ones. As troublemaker says, "on a long ride, you've got to look for stuff to keep it fun." I was having fun, and not looking far to find it. Next we got on the Colorado Trail which involved a bit more climbing. I was riding with two others on 29ers who were spinning their 22/34s the whole time. I was a bit jealous since my low gear was a 32/34. The next 10 miles or so was more amazing singletrack.
Soon after, we hit a road followed by a dirt road with a gradual climb back into town. After pushing the singletrack sections I was getting tired, and the climb almost took me out. I was worn out and considering quitting. Once I (finally) rolled into the finish area though, I got all adrenalized and forgot about quitting or even taking a rest until I was 5 minutes into my next lap, which quickly took us to a the most technical, steep road I've seen. After pushing, walking, remounting, riding and repeating several times, I just started walking up the dang road. One rider caught me and gained about 10 feet over the course of a half mile, so I wasn't losing much time by walking.
More up and down singletrack, a 12 mile grind on a dirt road, and some (by this time, miserable) singletrack, and I finished.
All I could down was gels and water the entire 7.5 hours. Gross. I couldn't eat for another hour afterward. My stomach was not happy, but not wanting to do anything about it either.
My back hurt so bad, as well as my wrists, shoulders, and buttocks, that the only somewhat comfortable position was standing over the pedals. Walking was quite nice too... Now I understand how being stuck in a room too low to stand up in and too short to lay down in is torture.
I did not enjoy thinking about anything bike related for a full 24 hours afterward. I hated bikes and what I had punished myself through.
And yet, by evening the next day, I couldn't wait to do another one.

Struck

Last tuesday, Ash and I took a 2.5 block bike ride to the church on our single speeds.

We only made it two blocks.

At the intersection two blocks away, I got hit by a car turning right as we were crossing on the left side of the road in the crosswalk. I could see that the guy wasn't looking at me and going to turn anyway in time to 'set up' for the impact.

I tried to jump over the front of my bike onto his hood as my bike smashed into the front of his car. I landed on the hood and rolled off onto the road.

I was okay. My bike was hurt. The fork is bent, the rims are mostly oval.

The most disappointing thing is that I've spent the last year swapping parts to make my bike just how I want it and really, really, really good looking. All silver components, nice cranks, etc. The wheels were less than a month old, and already compromised for life. I was trying to build a nice, durable bike that would be good for life. Ha, jokes on me.

New rims and a fork should do it. But I'm really gonna miss having the matching frame and fork.

Anybody know a good frame painter?

Wednesday night

Lessons learned:

1. 30 PSI. No matter what. Any less is too little. This lesson I seem to have to learn over and over again. Maybe I haven't learned it yet.
2. Ride mountain bikes more. My descending was off, and I totally blew through a few corners.
3. 1 AM bike builds are sure to have at least one problem. (a very noisy rubbing front rotor)
4. Be the first winner of the raffle. P712 gift certificates are the greatest prize.
5. Riding regularly reaps results. Check out that alliteration.
6. Breckenridge will be a blast. (not really a lesson learned, but I'm still super stoked)

Everybody Wants One

The downhill finish-playing it safe

It's no secret that downhill finishes are dangerous. High speeds become higher, bikes become less stable, and crashes become uglier (as well as the people in the crashes...).

On second thought, maybe it is a secret. I'm not sure if the average cat 4/5 rider knows this, although I'm sure that the 4/5 field at the Whitewater Road Race (actually circuit race), knows this now, and at least 8 people have first hand experience in becoming uglier.

It's also no secret that cat 4/5 fields have a stereotype of being full of sketchy riders (note: to that cat 4/5 who is constantly talking about how sketch the other riders in their race were, you need to know here and now that you were part of that sketch and not just a witness to it.) The stereotype is true.

After just the first lap of seven into this race, I knew that if the group stayed together on the last climb, I wouldn't be contesting the sprint. The course was sketchy, the riders were sketchy, and a finish in that situation was sure to get ugly.

That's exactly what happened. As we crested the hill and the finish line came into view, everyone went nuts, and mass carnage ensued. I stayed to the side and cyclocrossed through the gravel shoulder around the biggest road racing accident I've ever seen. I rolled in at 16th place, which meant there were only 16 of us who didn't go down. I know I was the last person to finish who didn't crash. 8 people finished after me, and I'm thinking that 4-7 people never made it across the finish line who were involved.

And let me tell you, at least two of the people involved got very uglied.

Some times it's smart to sit out on a sprint. I can think of a few good reasons:

My face isn't any uglier than it was before.
All of the pain is on the inside, ya know, like lactic acid stuff.
I don't have to take time off the bike to let my body heel.
I didn't shave my legs, so any and all road rash would have been painful.
Breckenridge 68 - two weeks.
12 hours of sundance.
The ever important 3 gun biathlon next month.

The best 16th place finish ever just happened.

Mud, Flats, and Rock'n'Roll

The ho-down at 5 mile pass was last weekend. It rained all night and morning before the race. They shortened the race from an 11 mile loop to a 4 mile loop. My category did 3 laps.

2 miles into the race I was all excited coz Dan, Racer, and I were all in a row, like ducks. Then my rear tire started going flat. Then my front tire started going flat. Then I thought the rear one sealed up so I kept riding. It didn't. So I stopped and fixed it. Which pretty much put me out of contention for anything but last place in a race this short. Then I thought the front one sealed up so I kept riding. it didn't. So I walked/rolled into the start area where I got some air in my tires. I though the front one sealed up so I started lap 2. It didn't, and slowly leaked as I rode with the leader of my category, who was starting his last lap. Then I had to start being really careful coz the tire was so low. Then the bead popped off and I lost all pressure. So I walked through the mud to the start line. Where I stole Chad's wheel (Thanks, Chad). Then I rode my last lap. Without incident. Too bad everyone else was already finished.

That makes 4 or 5 flats in three races, and at least one mechanical in every ICup race this year. No worries, we'll figure this tire crap out and get a good finish soon.

The race pics Ash took are funny. Here are a few of other racers:


Here are a few "action" shots of me:Yup those are mid race photos. Sweet. Racer flatted too.

The Graudation "Walk"

Graduations are awesome. Ya know, you like get to listen to some cool speeches, walk across the stage, shake your dean's hand, etc. Wear the cool hat and robe 'n stuff. Awesome, right?

Well, I decided to try something a little different for my graduation. Save the $30 tassle fee, or rather, trade it for a tank of gas, and go to Moab.

Every year, Kenny puts on a group ride called RAWROD, which means for Ride Around White Rim in One Day in bike acronym language.

White Rim is a 103 mile road in Canyonlands National Park outside of Moab, where "you ride down into a hole, you ride around another hole, and then you ride out of the hole." Most people tackle the ride in 3-4 days, and the N.P.S. recommends that jeepers do it in at least two days.

But since bikers are crazy (or stupid), we all got together to do it in just one.

So my graudation "walk" was a ride. Sweet.

Sweet, especially the descent (Shafer's) into the hole, where Craig and I took turns turning little bumps in the road into jumps. Sweet, except for the 25+ mph headwinds we battled for at least 20 miles. Sweet, except for the 1500 meter climb out of the hole, where I went from feeling like a decent climber to becoming a believer in the 22-34 combo. Sweet, especially the ice cold Cherry Coke Craig promised was waiting for me at the finish.

I had a good time out there in that hole. But it only took me about 30 miles before I started asking myself why I was doing this. I still don't have an answer. Is that what endurance riding is about? Doing things but not knowing why you are doing them? Well, I'm new at this endurance stuff. Kinda like a freshman. Doing stuff coz its good for ya even though you have no clue why.

P.S.
Thanks Craig for keeping me in the game mentally.
Thanks Fish for letting me know how crappy you felt, it helped me know I wasn't the only one feeling like that.
Thanks Jon for keeping the humor up, and for showing me just how much better discs are than V's. And for not noticing that my shorts were white when you were making fun of everyone else's white shorts.
And thanks Craig for that killer Cherry Coke.
(Yeah that's my RAWROD thank you list, not my college one, in case you couldn't tell.)

Lambert Park

I've never ridden here before. It was totally dry, even after the huge snowstorm Thrusday. Got in a couple of hours with Ash, then ride home. 60 and sunny...nice. A good break from finals.

What the heck is NOIR?

So in the middle of my ride today I started wondering what the name of my handlebar noir meant (I didn't name my handlebar, the manufacturer, Truvativ, did(It's also the name of their carbon cranks, duh)). In the middle of writing my last undergrad paper ever I started wondering again. This is when you know you're no longer being productive and should go to bed is. So I started looking it up. Here's what I came up with, in a convenient list format:

• There is a film genre called film noir, which you can read about here. Sounds boring compared to movies made today. No chance they named it after old movies.
  
• In english the word noir can have several definitions, which all seem to have roots from film noir. My favorite definition is "suggestive of danger or violence." This could be the meaning, however, I'm not sure that they'd name their lightweight XC carbon components that.
• In French, German, Cajun German (?), Provencal, and not Scottish noir means black. That's probably it because crabon fiber is, well, black.
  
• My favorite definition, although the one I'd least likely to see come true, is the Spanish defintion. NO in Spanish means no, and ir in Spanish is the infinitive of the verb "to go" So basically it means no go. Kind of like the Chevy No-Va (which didn't sell well in Mexico!). I don't want this to come true because that will likely involve my bars breaking which sounds bad.
  

So, now I (and you) no longer will have to worry about what noir could possibly mean. I just have to worry that my bars don't "no ir" me. We've all been educated here. Too bad this won't help me any with that last paper. Maybe I can just turn this in. It kinda involves economic growth, right? No? Well, looks like I justed wasted another twenty minutes of precious paper writing time. Definitely time to put the computer down and stop working on that paper.

Cholla

Just came back from a great weekend in St. George racing at ICUP #2, the Cholla Challenge down in Hurricane. Here are some notes.

1. It's amazing how fast the dirt dries out down there. Our Friday evening pre-ride was a mudfest, by Saturday at noon the course was dry. There was only one puddle on the entire course, and the dirt was dry everywhere else.

2. Bad luck. 3 years ago I DNF'd at Cholla less than a mile into the race. My chain snapped. Last year, I rode without incident. Last month I DNF'd with two flat at the Desert Rampage. This weekend, my left shoe's lacing system broke halfway through the race. I was able to finish, and ride well, but imagine running with no shoelaces. That's what this was like. My southern Utah racing stats are one out of four races without a mechanical and finishing two out of four. And...I've had four mechanicals in four races. Dude.

3. Dan, those socks have got to go.

4. The first two times I raced at Cholla I ran a 29/44 2x9 setup. First on a 26" bike, which, I only raced about a mile. Then on a 29er. This year I ran a normal triple, but really wanted to run a single 32 ring upfront. That was the perfect gear. I never left my middle ring.

Rampage

Last weekend was the first Icup race down in San Jorge. Ash and I pulled in late Friday night and set up camp and went to bed. It was a windy night and we used the car to hold down our tarp while we set up the tent. The wind woke me up once around two and I had to get up and take a walk. Besides that I slept well as I usually do when camping. It was nice staying at the course because it gave us a lot of free time before the race. Ash raced first and did well, while I chatted with teammates and prepped for my race.


I had a good first lap and stayed in contention with the top 5. Stuart Goodwin showed up and he and I were passing each other for the first lap and a half. That was cool, Stuart's old bike (by now really old bike) was my first race bike about 8 years ago. I ran with his brothers in high school and they were fast, just like Stuart is on a bike. Racer passed me during the second lap and I grabbed his wheel. Racer's wheel is a good one to be on coz he always takes great lines. Kenny passed me on one of the river wash climbs.Kenny's bike has a belt drive that makes a slight humming noise, kind of like a UFO. Very cool. Probably the coolest sound I heard all race, and definitely the most distracting one. Bikes usually don't sound lik UFOs.

From here on it all went downhill. I flatted on the downhill portion of the second lap, Stan's spraying all over and then drenching my rear wheel after I put a tube in. I lost a bunch of places but passed a ton of people on the first half of the third lap. But then I flatted again, the front this time. With no tube I started hiking in. I took a short cut and just went back to the tent. I crossed the finish line walking the wrong way at about two hours.

I felt really good when I was riding. It was a lot of fun despite the mechanicals and now I'm super excited for the rest the season. Afterwards we went for a ride and Ash took these funny pictures that look like team photo profile shots. They totally belong on a rider profile page.

Good times in San Jorge. Can't wait for dry trails up here and more riding.

Classy

Maybe because it's the most observable part when riding a bike, but I think top-caps are one of the ugliest pieces on a bike. Finally, someone made it look good, by getting rid of it: Photo

Chris King Inset Headset

Chris King just announced that they're coming out with a headset for semi-integrated frames, which I believe means for the Cane Creek ZS standard. That means everyone with a G2 29er will be able to run a King headset, including me in my superfly!

The only question now is what color to get?

Good thing we'll have to June to decide!

Bikes I've owned since High School

A few years ago my dad made a list of car's he's owned since high school. It was about 80 cars long, and about 20 of them were various years of mustangs. Here's my shorter list of bikes (but in 1/5 the time)! Ash's too.

DBR Zetec Pro - Later the "Cramer Special", and even later the "Cramer SS"
Giant TCR2-lots of mods piece by piece.
Giant Trance 1 - I owned this for two years-a record
Diamond Back Response -Ash's
Felt F1X-stock
Felt Nine Pro-SRAM X9 and Formula Brakes, etc.
Felt Nine Pro - stock -Ash's
Felt F1x-SRAM force/rival, bontrager cockpit, Easton EC90 Aero wheels
Lemond Fillmore
Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe -Ash's
Felt Curbside -Ash's
Gary Fisher Superfly
Specialized P2 - built up with leftover Trance parts.

Saddles

Apparently, as shown above, stock saddles are not comfortable. And why should they be? You go spend too much money on a bike, ride it for a month, and decide it's unrideable unless you buy a new saddle. So, you drop another load of cash on a new saddle. And sometimes, that one is the 'right' one. But most of the time, you have to buy another one a month later.

A Letter from John Burke about IMBA

I need your help. The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is facing the biggest policy battle they have taken on in their 21-year history—an effort to increase opportunities for cycling in our National Parks. I need your help to make sure IMBA wins this fight.

National Parks represent the most treasured, iconic places in America, and IMBA stands ready to help build and open trails in these epic, breathtaking lands. From a policy perspective, our National Parks set the bar; it's therefore critical that they embrace mountain biking, as their policies shape those of state, county, and city parks. 

We only have until Feb. 18 (a week from Wednesday) to submit comments in support of this policy change, and five national organizations have waged an all-out battle to defeat this proposed rule. I know many of you have already written in support of IMBA, but we need your employees, your customers, and your riding buddies to weigh in as well. This is big.

What am I asking you to do?

take 60 seconds to provide comments and TAKE ACTION:http://www.imba.com/news/action_alerts/12_08/12_18_nps.html

New Ride

Easton Cracks

tremensly

"This could help me tremensly."

I miss riding in California

When your downtube, cables, and face all freeze up with road water, maybe it's too cold to ride. I miss the wet, greasy mud I had in Cali last week.

Biking in the Rain

Monday was different. Riding in the rain at 50 degrees. Lots of mud. Seems like we missed that season in Utah. Good times getting lost at UCSC. The downhills were super technical thanks to mud and 6" deep puddles. Tuesday was a day trip to Boreal in Tahoe for skiing. Geez us Utah folk are lucky to have so many resorts within an hours drive. It was a 5 hour drive there and a 4 hour drive back. But we did get to eat In-n-out burgers. We're planning a 40+ mile "Hellride" for Friday. Too bad we couldn't get Mark Weir to come nip at our heels and bite our calfs off.

2.5 Hours in 16.0 miles = 6.4mph

I knew we were going slow. But at least we rode. Outside. In 20 degree weather. While it was snowing. But at least we rode. Did you ride???

Chain Length

I've been a competent bike mechanic for a few years. And yet, sometimes I make really dumb mistakes. Fortunately, (or unfortunatly, depending how you look at it) most of the time they occur on my own bike. Long story short, Aaron, Art and I went riding this morning. Less than 50 yards into the ride, I shifted into my big cog. No big deal right? Right, unless you are running a 1x9 and put a bigger chainring on your bike the day before, and spaced checking chain length. If that doesn't make sense, here's the simple explanation. My chain was to short and this happened:
When that happens, your bike doesn't work. Which is the pits when you're only 50 yards into a ride. (Especially when you've already spent 15 minutes nursing wounds- right Aaron?, and another half hour fixing tubeless setups, -right Arthur?) Oh well I ran back to the shop and snagged the demo Nine Solo and we got our ride in. And it was a good one.

Squaw Peak

I did Squaw Peak yesterday. Like rode up then down, on the road. For the first time in FOREVER. The cool thing was is that from mile 2 up, there was a trace of snow on the road. Luckily, it wasn't icy underneath, and if I pedaled really smooth I wouldn't spin out on the snow. It was pretty rad. I threw road tires on my cross bike, which may have not been the best choice for the day. Coming down was pretty scary, especially with my weak-sauce 'cross brakes. 'Cross brakes were designed to control speed in the mud, not to stop your bike. 'Cross races are usually pretty flat, Squaw is an 8-10% grade the entire way down. So a simple equation is 'cross brakes = not stopping on snowy road descents. Once I got below the snow line the descent was awesome, I remember why I road biking is (still) cool. I counted six sets of road bike tracks in the snow. That means there were two other people crazy enough to ride it. Here's some crappy cell phone pics:

Less than spectacular view of hazy Orem for a reward.


Couldn't stop on this.

I could rally...as long as the road was straight at least.

175s

So...Threw some 175mm cranks on the 'cross bike. I've wanted to try this setup all year, and even longer than that. The good: They are awesome. So much better for me than 172.5s I didn't think it would make a big difference but I could totally feel it. Especially on the climbs. Cool. The bad: I get a bit of toe overlap with the front wheel. I guess I'll have to deal with it. I've had to deal with it running fenders on my Fillmore, so I think I can handle it. It's a bigger issue on the commuter anyway. These are some pics from the SS race, thanks again Ash for taking such awesome pictures all year! (And there wasn't as much running as the pictures show, there were just a lot of good pics of the runup this time.)

It's Over

The UTCX cross series ended today. Bittersweet. Good but bad. We were at Draper again, the course with the killer hill. In the B race the first climb up the hill was an all out sprint, it was nuts. The SS race was a lot funnier, we were all spun out by the time we hit the bottom of the hill. I went down twice in the B's. Here's a hint for racing 'cross: Don't do practice laps and then add 15psi to your front tire. You lose a lot of traction, and your tire will wash out on turns guaranteed. It's kind of embarrasing when you go down on what should be an easy turn. Anyway, I dropped my pressure back down for the SS race and did better. It was a good race day and I was really finished when I was finished. I couldn't have made it up the hill one more time. Thanks to everyone who cheered for me and especially to Ashleigh for coming to all my races and supporting me without a single complaint all season.