Snow Sports

Well, as we roll into a new year, it's about time to kick off training for the upcoming mountain bike season. I started January with a new work schedule to make sure I get 2 days/work-week outside on the bike, plus whatever weekend riding I can do along with the dreaded gym on those other nights. Definitely was glad to be back at it last week though I was a little sore from lifting for the first time since I don't know when. In other adventure news, last weekend we did a little x-c skiing and winter camping in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area, followed by a great weekend of skiing this weekend. Finally got a little more snow which even allowed us to hike up into a bowl and do some great tree skiing that hadn't been touched yet. Hopefully it will just keep dumping on the mountains now.

Cruisin through the wilderness

Steph being super warm in the tent at 10,800 feet

Hiking the bowl today

Doing a little xc skiing over to the trails today!

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2012

Well, just been chillin here lately with more and more skiing, both downhill and x-c. In the past few weeks I've gotten in a few good rides but mostly just for fun. I've made up my mind not to force myself to work out until after the new year...but then, it's go-time. As for next year, it looks like I'll be riding with High Gear/Trek once again. I'm also stoked to be riding on Maxxis rubber, and be fueled by Honey Stinger for another year. I also just put in my order for the new steed.

Goin back to the big wheels for the race bike once again with the addition of some more suspension. Out here there is no way to get around the need for full suspension however with the added bonus of big wheels, it should be unstoppable on the technical downhill. As much fun as the Top Fuel was (not that it wasn't blazing fast), I'm stoked to just plow over everything again on the 29er!

Change of Seasons

Welp, after racing in Gunnison, it's on to winter here in the Rockies. The past few weeks have been rest weeks from serious training on the bike however there has still been plenty of activity. Plenty of skiing in the months ahead and even had a little time in the big city of Chicago for Thanksgiving.

Chillin on the Sears (now Willis) tower in Chicago

A little 5 mi Turkey Trot 30 min after getting out of the car from a 16 hr drive straight through

X-C skiing in Summit County

New 4 season tent ready for the winter in CO after freezing my old 3 season and ruining all of the seam tape. Yes, we HAD to set it up in my rather small living room...just to make sure it was all there and to make sure we knew how...obviously for safety reasons! In other news, I've been doing a lot of thinking about bikes/gear for next year and am pretty sure I've made up my mind finally. More on that to come once I put the order in officially!

Gunnison Trails Weekend

Ok, well its been a while, but this past weekend I probably did the final MTB race for the season. We loaded up and headed over to Gunnison to support the Gunnison Trails organization in their yearly fundraiser. This year, unlike last year, they included a running race as well from 3-5-10 miles. Unfortunately they included a duo category, 5 mi run, 18 mi MTB. Well....I couldn't take seeing Steph head out for her 10 mile race all alone, so with 10 min to spare, I signed up for the running race too. We headed out and went absolutely straight up, then straight down...back up, back down...and so on. With all of the early climbing, I found myself in 2nd place overall pretty quick which had me a little concerned. As soon as the course flattened out a bit (3 mi in or so) I got run down by about 3 of the 10 mile guys. Ended up being the first 5 mile runner to the turn off and decided to crank it up and see if I could hold the position. As it turned out, I ended up with just enough to win by 30 sec -1 min.

Steph came in not too much longer with the "W" for the women's 10 mile category. All in all, the 5 mi race had 1700' of climbing, and the 10 had 2300', not too shabby! Immediately I started stretching as things were getting tight quick...After chilling for a few hours it was time to get on the bike. Now for those who haven't ridden at Hartmans Rocks in Gunnison..well, you haven't lived. There is so much diversity and sooo much sick single track it's not even funny. Ashley and I lined up with about 30 or so other MTBers and once again, headed straight up. In typical fashion, I just hopped on the first guy's wheel and red-lined it for the 20% climb. After cresting the hill we hit some road and someone took a flyer which I decided to chase...why, I don't know. As we caught on to him, another came around and we settled in to a decent pace. Luckily it was the other guy that was doing the duo so we weren't crushing the hills too hard and I never felt like the legs were near implosion. about 1/3 of the way through I pulled through on a road section to take over the lead for a little while. One of the other local Alpine Ortho riders came by on a downhill and we began to trade pulls for the 2nd half. All of the downhills there are super flowy and fast...if you know the trails. So I would try to hold on as best I could, then catch back on during the climbs. This went on until the final technical climb where he surged into 1st position in a rock garden. I made one failed attempt at jumping over a boulder to cut him off before the last downhill but it just wasn't to be. Ended up rolling in in 2nd for the MTB race, 1st in the duo for the day. All in all, a great race. Chilled at the after party that evening and stayed in the local KOA thanks to a super cool sponsor (KOA Dave). Sunday morning we took our sweet time crawling out of bed, then went to have a little coffee, and headed up to bum around Crested Butte a little as well.

Anyway, that'll probably be about it for the racing this season, however another season has already started here.

2 weeks ago on Monarch pass.

Last weekend at Buffalo Creek

Palmer Park 50

Headed out this Sun for a romp in Palmer Park which would mark the first time I've ridden 50 miles on my mountain bike since....well, I don't know. Anyway, due to recent heavy rains, a bunch of the course had been washed out so the lap was shortened to 5 miles (10 laps). The lap was a mix of dirt road, a little rocky/technical singletrack, and some sweet smooth singletrack.Headed off the starting line at a conversational pace when one guy went around and started hammering...because why pace ourselves for 50 miles? Obviously everyone felt the same because the race was on. On the first technical downhill, I managed to lose a little connection due to a poor line but after about lap 2 I was feeling a little more in my groove. The next 5-6 laps went really well as I was able to move into 3rd and grow the gap each lap however it was not to be. Lap 8 I started feeling a little tired however was able to get enough Honey Stinger down the hatch to get the legs back around somewhat. I went at a moderate pace for lap 9, then decided to crank it up for lap 10 and make sure I could nail 3rd down....this is when things went backwards. I started hammering up the first climb when every pedal stroke I could feel my right hamstring cramping on the upstroke. I had to stand for most of the climb to keep out of too much knee flexion until I got to the top and could stand up on the pedals to stretch a little. From there, it was pretty much a soft-pedal/hammer the downhill for the last lap to hold on to 4th. Overall, not as I had hoped things would go, but not too disappointing for the amount of long distance training I've actually done to prepare. All of my equipment held up exceptionally well from the Top Fuel, to my Maxxis Ikon/Crossmark combo I couldn't have asked for better performing gear. The Top Fuel was a blast on this course with a number of huckable drops and some rough single track thrown in a few spots, my back never really felt sore like endurance races I've done in the past. Definitely may have to dabble in some more enduro races next year.

Training Wheels

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Got this new baby (Madone 6.5) a few weeks ago to start doing a little more training on the road. Not that the mountain bike isn't great training, but it was just about time to mix it up a tad. I haven't had a new road bike in a while, but let me just tell you...wow. This thing is stupid light and rides like a dream. I've never rode anything so smooth on the road, but at the same time is stiff enough that when you jump on it, the whole bike jumps. May even sign up for some more road racing again next year...we'll see.

This past weekend I threw down some good miles both on the road and on the trail with Ashley in order to prepare for the Palmer Park 50 this weekend. Not sure why I thought 50 miles was a good idea considering the most I've raced in a few years is 30...oh well, should be fun!