It's Almost Here

Only a few more days and we get to do this:

I'm a little jealous of the locals who have been racing the GP's in Washington and Wisconsin. Congrats to Ali and the others on some solid results.

The training's been going well and I should be able to go hard. Maybe not fast, but hard. Chrispy's been helping me get ready and for the first time all year, I feel good.

I'm thinking of doing a few doubles early in the season. With the new schedule, I can race 45+ early then the 35+ A later. Sounds like some serious suffering but fun in a twisted way. Could pay off in the long run. I'll like give it a try this week and see how it goes. Is that completely crazy?

Might even be some rain with weekend. At least cooler temps will be nice.

September

I haven't exactly been a blogging machine lately. Just can't seem to channel my energy to the keyboard in the evening after working with one all day. Apparently, a few friends continue to check for updates, so I'll continue to put something up from time to time.

September is a great time of year. The weather is nice and hardly any racing for me so there's time for fun rides and hikes. It's also time for most of my thoughts to turn to this:

And this:

The "Pit of Despair" as Tanner likes to call the basement is up and running. After finally putting together a few weeks of solid riding without getting sick, threshold intervals are once again on the agenda. As much as I complain to Chrispy about the computrainer, it is the most efficient way to get some quality work in. However, I learned a trick from TeamRico to make the Pit a little less desperate. Do your warm up and cool down outside and only the intervals inside. With my mediocre engine, I have to put in some quality training time to keep the fast guys in sight. As usual, my goal each race this year will be to avoid getting lapped by Bart or Ali. With Tanner racing the A's this year, I'll have watch for him as well.

Speaking of fast guys, the Cross bar will continue to go up in the 801 (or 435) this year. The old guys will be growing in numbers and quality this season. Guys like Sam, John Iltis, Rich C, Kelly Glen, Ohran, Greg and especially the good Cross Doctor have stepped it up this summer and will be flying. McKone is also planning on a full cross schedule along with the rest of regular crew. Should be a good time getting beat up by all these guys each week.

Porcupine / Specialized will be back with a solid crew this cross season. We've already made reservations for Nationals in Bend and will likely have a couple of trailers to transport Utah bikes for paying customers. We've been waiting all year to break out the skinsuits we designed with cross in mind (OK, the guys have been using them in TT's all year so they won't be a surprise but they are still cool).

I watched a bunch of the Tour of Utah this year. I sat by the start house for the TT and watched all the riders roll out. All the local riders seemed to appreciate the word of encouragement from a familiar face. Captain America got the loudest cheer as he rolled out. I enjoyed watching him do some intervals in the final crit in preparation for his National Championship TT ride.

Tanner and Keegan won the Park City Point to Point relay yesterday. I got to support rather than ride (I'm still permanently scared from my solo E100 a few years ago). I enjoyed the day and watching lots of friends put in impressive rides. Maybe I'll get inspired next year to give it a go.

The race seem to go off well and was a big step up from the E100, even in the first year. The event was low-key, but well organized with lots of prizes and actual cash for the open divisions. The division winners each received this nice 3 season tent:

Tanner and Keegan were impressive as usual. Bod and I were lamenting that their combined age was not even close to his age and 14 years less than mine. They are both probably thought of as strange, skinny kids in High School when in reality they are better at their sport than anyone in their school. If they had the same talent in football, they'd be BMOC for sure.

Small guys who go really fast.

Off to hike in Big Cottonwood with my daughters tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. They are home from Utah State for the Holiday and it makes the family complete. As the kids get older, I treasure the times we're all together. It's the payoff for all the years of parenting.

Finally, the backcountry ski gear is complete. The skins came in this week. All I need now is to cut them to size, get my boots thermoformed and wait for the snow. Maybe a little cross racing in between.

Good luck to the family GCConnection crew at LotoJa this week. I've done it a couple of times but it never quite took hold of me. Family is the most important thing in my life so if it's important to them, it's important to me. I'll be thinking of you all day.