Hey, a blog update

Summer's finally here and lots of good stuff going on. I have these great ideas for blog posts, but don't seem to make the time to write them. Maybe someday I'll get more dedicated. However, here's some highlights from the last week.


Tanner and I made it up the upper Millcreek with the road closed and had the place to ourselves. Pretty cool.

I made it out to Draper to help build the initial section of Jamie's trail. My abs are still sore but it was rewarding to see a trail take shape. I'll be back for more work. You should join me. This section of trail will likely be the best descent in the Corner.

Got to hang out with Brad. That's always good. The hat made it through the trail work OK.

Some of the team have been able to spend the last three days acting as tour guides for Specialized's 2010 product line global press launch. The big S brought in about 75 journalists to hear about the bikes and play on them. Here's our small group of 60 + unloading on Guardsman Pass.

The altitude made Puke Hill live up to its name.

Here's trail boss Glen giving last minute instructions to our group of 41 today. We got in about 34 miles with 2,000 up and 7,000 feet down. Good stats.

The rental box van had some pricey cargo. On Saturday, we had another level stacked on top. No bikes were hurt in the making of this picture.

Here's the MTB compound at Snowbird. There's another one just like it in the upper parking lot for road bikes. Dealers come in the next couple of weeks to do more of the same. They will be there during the Snowbird ICUP race. We make get a few out of town fast guys giving the race a go.

It was a pretty unique opportunity to ride with guys from around the world and some celebrities. I got to send some quality ride and discussion time with Ned. Also, I tried to follow Hunter and Berrecloth down Mill D and Millcreek, life threatening but fun. I realized today I was riding in between a world champion gold and bronze medalist for a time. I doubt I'll get to do that again. I also got to catch up with a couple of good guys from my time at Specialized I haven't seen for a time.

It's interesting how we just take for granted the quality of trails and scenery we have here. To a person, everyone was incredibly impressed. These are people who have ridden all over the world and could not get over the quality and quantity of our trail system. I was directing traffic near the bottom of the Desolation to Mill D trail and got to hear "This is awesome" in about 8 languages. The smiles were very large. A number of the guys said it was if not the best, one of the best trails they've ever ridden. A group of German journalists went back up today for more pictures for a feature in their magazine.

Even with all the visitors, the quote of the weekend came from a local. On our way down the closed road in upper Millcreek down to Pipeline, a guy riding up yelled at us because we were spread too far across the road and came close to him. Later, as we were gathered in the parking lot at Rattlesnake Gulch the same guy pulled his minivan over to apologize for swearing and to lecture us about how to ride. His final words were "I hate to pull rank on you, but I've been riding bikes for 16 years and have ridden all over the country so I know what I'm talking about". Too bad he didn't realize he was talking to a world champion and riders from 10 countries. We said thanks and managed to hold the laughter until he left.

One final note. While the out of towners struggled with the altitude, they had some serious skills. The Euros can descend with speed and style. I got out of my XC racing conservative DH mode and let it rip following these guys. What a blast. The 2010 S-Works Stumpy I rode today wasn't bad either.

Cold, Wet Fun

Yesterday was the Glen Adams Epic Father's Day ride. Tanner's been calling it the GLEPIC all week and was pretty excited about going. He's heard my GLEPIC stories, but has never actually been on one. It turned out to be epic, just not as long as planned.



This was the view from the Car as we started. We decided the weather would get better. It didn't.

Here I am contemplating the line I didn't ride. Leif the downhiller took this line at speed on an Enduro. It was impressive.

Here's Glen on the line I did ride.

Rather than riding the Crest (by the way, it's in good shape with only a few snow patches left) to Millcreek and dropping into Park City, we decided to drop to Desolation Lake to get off the mountain. At this point, it was about 35 and raining hard. Everyone is smiling but me. I'm the skinny old guy shivering uncontrollably. The Las Vegas Jim's were loving it, even with the adverse weather. One flew in just for the day to do the ride.

The ride down to Mill D was in running water and slick conditions. By the bottom, my fingers no longer worked. You'd think we would have been complaining and regretting doing the ride. It was just the opposite. Everyone had these big grins (the white teeth showed up great against the muddy faces) and crazed looks in their eyes.

Fortunately, Rosie (not sure if that's a real name or nickname) from Specialized had the SBCU 15 passenger van with 15 bike racks to get us warm and take us back to Guardsman.

While the ride was only an hour and a half, the conditions made it feel as epic as a 4 hour big climbing day. Good times with good guys.

Eric was coming up Millcreek to meet us on the Crest. Apparently, a kitty made him change his mind.

I couldn't help but wonder about the High Unitas road race. If the same weather system was on Baldy, it must have been ugly. Hopefully, everyone made it OK.

I seem to have turned a bit of a corner with my health. I've been able to put in some efforts this week without putting myself down for a week afterward. I was able to do a respectable time up Temple Quarry Wednesday. My fitness still has a long way to go, but there's hope.

Today has been a great Father's Day. I've had pleasant memories of my Dad and all my children around me. Life is certainly good.

Selective Memory

Depending on your point of view, bike racers are blessed or cursed with extreme selective memory. Take Saturday for example. My congestion and general fatigue was finally on the rebound so I was looking forward to racing at one of my favorite venues in nearly ideal conditions.



I started conservatively (at least as conservatively as possible on the Little Stick climb) at the back of the group with a plan to work my way up to mid-pack. Unfortunately, my body didn't sign up for this plan and I spent the entire race at the back suffering in a big way.


The last lap was not "I'm hurting but racing guys" kind of suffering. No, it was "I'm all alone, going to die before I make it back to the car" kind of suffering. I was sure my entire body was going to cramp a couple of times and I was going just fast enough to keep from tipping over on the climbs. It was the last two hours of the E100 kind of suffering. Without encouragement from my wife and the good Doctor, I would have bailed after two laps.


After a good start and a building a solid lead, Tanner and a similar last lap experience.



Near the end of the 2nd lap, he moved off the trail into the grass to pass a lapper and hit an unseen rock resulting in a hard face-plant. He moved his lower front teeth, chipped his upper front teeth, cut his lip and bruised some ribs. He gamely carried on but due to the crash effects and his lack of eating and drinking during the race, he bonked hard on the last climb. He was passed by the guy in 2nd and lost 3 minutes in a short distance but hung on to 2nd.


Needless to say, we weren't a pretty sight after the race. Me wondering around cross-eyed and incoherent and Tanner with an ice bag on his bloody lip. The entire last lap I kept thinking things like "why do I race and do this to myself?"; "this is stupid, I'm never racing again"; "I'm way too old for this kind of self-inflicted pain"; and "I actually paid money to do this".

Normal, sane people would remember these painful experiences and move on to something else. However, after a couple of hours and some food, Tanner and I were talking like this: "You know, that really wasn't so bad." "If I'd have eaten more, I could have won even with my crash." "I really suffered, but I think this is a turning point and I'll get competitive after a few solid weeks of riding." "Man, the single track descent was really fun." "Snowbird should be a good race for me."


I had decided that I'm not racing any crits until I feel better. Instead, I plan to do more bike commuting to get some base fitness back. So today, I rode to work but spent all day debating with myself if I should race RMR on the way home. I even threw my crit plate in my commuter bag. Why? It's a sickness. How can the painful memories go away so fast? I settled on taking the long way home, but it was close.


Tomorrow, I'll be lining up at Round Valley and will probably be suffering at the back again. However, I remember the good results from last year's series and I'm sure I have it in me somewhere. Why not, I'm a bike racer and that's all I'm capable of remembering.

Resting

I'm now on my 4th day off the bike in an attempt to get healthy. So far, I'm not sure of the result. I plan to take at least one more day off before I give riding a try. I guess we'll see at that point. I've also started using a Neti pot to cleanse my sinuses (a very weird feeling to say the least) and eating local honey. Seems everyone has a home remedy and I'm giving a few of them a try.

I did make it out Saturday for a ride on the moto. I went up Mineral Fork in Big Cottonwood. I was really nice. The trail is technically challenging and the scenery spectacular. I manage to keep it upright and do no damage to the bike or me. This is the kind of ride I had in mind when I purchased the dual sport bike. The ride was lots of fun and just an hour and 15 minutes door to door.



Lots of rocks and some water thrown in to keep things interesting.

Things are very green.

It will be a few more weeks before the trail's clear to the top. But I did make it to the old mine.

The view down the canyon.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the garage and making a trip to the DI and landfill. By not riding the last two Saturdays, I've gotten a normal years worth of projects done. Once I do get better, I've built up some goodwill on the honey-do list.

The other benefit of not riding is I've avoided the rash of crashes among family and buddies. I'm not sure crits sound like a good idea anymore.

Non-racer

I'm now a couple of days into my second round of antibiotics for sinus infection. I still feel about 75% of normal, so very little riding and no racing since the Draper ICUP. If seems my spring / summer racing season just isn't meant to be this year. I have an appointment with an Adult ENT Doc in a few weeks to see if I can get things figured out. In the meantime, riding and racing is a day to day thing. Today, no riding. Tomorrow, maybe. Once I do get back to racing, I'll have no fitness, so I'll be roaming the back of the pack. Worse things will happen.

Things like yard work. Since I'm totally incapable of just resting, I spent all day Saturday working in the yard. I felt much worse than if I'd raced. Tanner told me a while ago that I'm "annoyingly productive all the time". He's right. It's a sickness. I have long mental lists of things to get done and I just can't sit around. I begin to feel guilty that I'm wasting time. Since most of my free time is spent riding or racing, my current mental to do list is very long. Therefore, no rest. And I wonder why I never seem to get over being sick.

Here's some evidence that my sore back is legitimate.



All of this...

Came from trimming all the bushes..

cleaning out the overgrown flower bed...

thinning out the Honeysuckle...

and weeding the garden.

Our washer and dryer of 20+ years finally died so we went 10 days waiting for the new ones to arrive. T and I go through a lot of cycling clothes, even when I'm not riding much.

I've also been shopping end of winter closeouts hard and have accumulated this. I guess you'd say I'm now committed to backcountry skiing next winter. I was please to discover Voile is a customer of ours at Easton and located here in the valley. It's nice to pick up your skis from the factory. Backcontry.com has become a black hole that sucks all my money. I've discovered the retail storefront where you can try stuff on for size. It's also less than 15 minutes from my office. Not good.

I might be at the mid-week MTB race this week or I might not. We'll see how I feel Wednesday. Thankfully, no race this weekend. I'm not sure if I could have stayed away another Saturday, regardless of how I feel.

Draper Day

Here's the short version of my Draper race. After weeks of congestion, a trip to the doctor, a course of antibiotics and a general lack of sleep, I couldn't go fast. What a surprise. The net result was my worst ICUP showing ever. The sad part is I actually gave it a good effort the entire race and did even lap times. There's just no go in the engine right now. It doesn't seem to matter if I take most of the week off or ride everyday, I just haven't been able to kick the illness. I'm on the verge of just bagging racing for a month or so. We'll see. I'll probably convince myself to line up at Sundance.

Ed did a good job of salvaging a difficult situation with the mud. Everyone seemed to take it in stride and the modified course was actually pretty good for a race. One of the cool things about MTB racing is there are just a bunch of good people involved. The whining would continue for weeks if yesterday was a road race.




Tanner was sick all week as well. He gave it a great effort and led the first lap, but his body said "no" and he faded to 6th. Kevin won his 2nd in a row in the 19 - 29 Expert and the team win streak is at 4. Tanner's young, he'll recover quickly, unlike his old Dad.


Proof that I did at least participate.




The girls were home for the Holiday weekend, so it was a family affair.

Must be pre-race because I'm smiling.

We got to hang out in the sun for a few hours. Probably the highlight of the day.

I really wanted to race the entire Solitude mid-week series this year. However, tomorrow doesn't seem to be in the cards. Maybe next week.

I learned Tim White in my group is an avid backcountry skier and got to talk skiing with him for a while. I've been accumulating gear on year-end close out sales so I'm sure I'll be doing some touring with him come winter. He's used to beating me up the hills on a bike so it won't be a problem on skies.

Motoing

Since I bailed on racing today, Chris and I did a dual-sport ride on the Moto's. This is my first true dually ride since I got the machine last fall. I've been waiting for the snow to melt and a Saturday without racing. We headed up Skyline Drive and the Ridge trail from the "B" in Bountiful. I had a good time and I'm beginning to remember how to ride a motorcycle off road. The bike didn't disappoint. It's just what I had in mind, good gas mileage for commuting and lots of fun off road.

We made it nearly to Bountiful Peak before snow covered the road. I did about 80 miles door to door in three and a half hours. Chris did a bunch more miles by looping back to PC via Morgan. Good times.

A Losing Battle

This should be one of the best times of the year. Temperatures are nice and the trails are opening up and looking good. The race schedule is in full swing and it's time to start going fast. I've finally moved the yard from "bike racer neglected" to merely "normal neglected". In a week or two, it should less than neglected. I got the vegetable garden planted and some plants are coming up. Things have calmed down at work so I can work normal hours and feel less stress. In short, life should be good.

Unfortunately, I'm losing the allergy and sinus infection battle. I actually resorted to a doctor visit Tuesday. I came away with antibiotics and I'm feeling a little better. However, not good enough to race both Saturday and Monday. Too bad, I really like the Sugarhouse crit and will miss racing with Glen. We haven't been able to race together yet this year. I just hope I'll feel good enough Monday to not finish last.

Yet, I still don't have much to complain about. As someone told me today, it's not like the outcome of our races will change the world. Racers have a weird sense of health. For most people, the difference between being 90% healthy and 100% healthy doesn't matter much. But for a racer, it's the difference between a good race and a day of suffering. With the fitness that comes from riding, our 90% is better than most people's 100%.

I did get to pre-ride the entire Draper course on Tuesday's ARMR ride. What a fun ride. I plan to enjoy it Monday.

Boise

Tanner and I raced in Boise to get qualified for Nationals. We both accomplished that goal. However, our races were quite different.



This post-race picture pretty much sums up my day.

This one sums up Tanners.

The course was terrible for me and my allergies were in full force so I suffered like a dog for 2 hours to finish 8th in a pretty good 40+ Expert field. Tanner on the other hand crushed the Experts and a few pros to handily win. Hence my pained look and his smile.

The race was well run and it was kind of cool race where we didn't know anyone. However, the course was just plain awful. It was 85% double track / dirt road through cow-tracked, open pastures. It had no trees, long, long, steep climbs and steep short descents where you just tried to not crash. It was kind of like the "wall" on the Shoreline between Dry Creek and Bobsled, but for 23 miles. I'm not sure you could design a course that would be worse for my skill set. The only way to make it worse would be to race in 95 degree heat. Oh wait, the Knobbie Tire series final is on the same course in August so they've got that covered.

Enough complaining. On to the good stuff. The race was a mass start. They lined up the Pros on the front row, all Experts behind them, Sport next, then Beginners. There was some instruction then it was "riders ready, go". All 100 or so racers (looked like about 1/3 the turnout of an ICUP race) then battled up the first climb. The start was at the bottom of a paved 1/2 mile hill which turned into a 1.5 mile dirt road climb. Fortunately, the only single section of the course came at mile 5 so things were sorted out by then. Starting all together was kind of cool because you could race everyone. However, it just won't work on any of the venues we race here. The fields are too large and the single track too frequent (a good thing).

I was about mid-pack in the Experts on the first climb (I got to watch lots of guys pass me later) and could watch Tanner work his way up to the front (again, no trees on the course so you could see for miles). He quickly bridged to the leading 4 Pros and was actually on the leader's wheel over the top. He hung onto 2nd overall for most of the first hour and eventually faded a little to finish 5th overall and the top Expert. He was only 5 minutes off the winning Pro and had the winner concerned during the first climb. JoAnn overheard him say at the finish "I was worried the kid from Utah was going to kick my ass".

I said last week Tanner had to spot me 30 seconds per year difference in age. Therefore, he had to beat me by 15 minutes to actually "win". Well, he beat me by 15 and a half minutes. So much for that idea.

Tanner's quickly turning into one fast kid. Just 12 months ago, I could still beat him in ICUP events. Now I can stay with him for about 30 seconds. Up until about a week ago, I could always drop him on the downhill. Even that's gone now. While my ego is bruised a bit, I'm one proud Dad.

Tanner looking in control.

The mass start. We're in there somewhere.

Me coming out of the stream crossing, the only fun feature of the entire course.

JoAnn made the trip with us and the enjoyment factor went up a bunch. She patiently sat out in the sun and took pictures.

We looked at lots of this on the drive. That's pretty much what the race course looked like as well.

I've never picked up more bugs in my life.

I had to stop and do this every 100 miles or I couldn't see out.

While the course was less than ideal, the trip was worth it. I kind of like road-tripping and racing different events. Now we can start to plan our trip to Nationals in July.

Congrats to the Caveman for continuing the Porcupine / Specialized win streak in the 19 - 29 ICUP expert. Looked like there was a great turn out at Soldier Hollow. I think I was punished because I tried to skip out on the suffering.

Off to Idaho

Soldier Hollow Hammerfest is usually the Soldier Hollow Sufferfest for me. This year I'm skipping it all together and heading to Idaho to race in Boise. Maybe the Idaho guys won't be as hard on me as the Utah crew. Bob's form seems to kick in at Soldier Hollow so I think I'll just duck him rather than get beat.

The race in Boise is a qualifying race for MTB Nationals. Tanner and I decided over the weekend to give the National Championships a go since his form is so good and Nationals are in Colorado this year. In order to race a Cat 1 National Championship, you have to qualify by scoring a top ten in a qualifying race. The closest qualifying race this year is in Boise this Saturday, so we're heading North. It will be interesting to see how good the field is. I'm secretly hoping that only 10 guys show up so I'll just have to finish to qualify.

In other exciting news, I'm going to the dentist this morning for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. I get to do it again next week. Now that's what I call a good time.

That Hurt

Tanner and I raced at Sherwood Hills yesterday in ideal conditions. The temperature was cool and the trails were tacky. The turnout was the best since I've been racing at Sherwood and the racing was fast.

I haven't raced the MTB since St. George (because I'm apparently a road weenie) and I was quickly reminded how much it can hurt. Bob did a cyclocross start and we were all seeing stars a couple of minutes in. I couldn't hold the fast pace and settled into 7th. I rode consistent laps from that point and slowly worked my way 5th going into the last of 4 laps. With my allergies and congestion, I was deep in the pain cave at this point and was just going to do enough to hold my position. However, as I came out of the woods I could see Bob and that he was fading a bit, so of course I had to keep going hard. As I caught him on the twisty single track climb I think he said something like "I think I'm going to cry". If I could have formed words at that point, I would have said "me too". As it was, I could only concentrate on keeping moving and not tipping over. I managed to stay ahead of Bob to finish 4th. Given how I've felt this week, I'll take it.

Brad and Tim were long gone and a guy I don't know in tan under armor rode away from me half way through the race. He was struggling in the single track tree sections, but was flying everywhere else. He's definitely got a big engine.

About half way through the last lap, I remember thinking next week at Soldier Hollow is half hour longer and harder. It wasn't a motivating thought. I'm sure Bob will extract his revenge on the SH climbs.

Tanner had another outstanding day to win his second Expert 19 - 29 in a row. He attacked on the first hill and was gone. However, the finish ended up a lot closer than he would have liked. He was getting time checks to what he thought was 2nd and had a comfortable, nearly 2 minute lead. Accordingly, Tanner didn't push it too much on the last lap in order to avoid a big mistake. Turns out, that guy wasn't in 2nd and the actual 2nd place was gaining fast. He caught up to Tanner just as Tanner entered the finishing chute and they sprinted it out. Fortunately, Tanner was able to stay in front.

The 19 - 29 field lined up.

The Kuhl train started things off.

However, Tanner was first up the opening climb.

The finish was way too close for comfort.

The old guys lined up. Good job to sleeveless Brad on the win.

Tim had reason to smile. He was really fast yesterday.

Carl and I were able to smile early on. We had our normal battle for the first half of the race. Kelly Glen was with us as well. Good times with good guys.

Late in the race, no smiles, just the pain face.

Just when you think you are going OK, you often get a reality check. Mine came just before the start of my last lap. Alex Grant lapped me and went by like I was standing still. Next came Bart, then Burke. They were all impressively fast.

On the team front, congratulations to Dave for winning the 35+ State Crit Championship then finishing 4th in the Pro 1/2.

Others on the team were experiencing actual pain, not just effort induced suffering. Greg Freebairn went down hard in the 35+ race and broke his collarbone, a very bad thing for a chiropractor. Heal fast, buddy. At the St. George Tri, Aaron Jordin was flying along at 30 approaching an intersection when a course Marshall stepped out to tell him to turn (the turn wasn't not clearly marked). AJ braked, hit a slick piece of road and launched over the bars. Fortunately, no bones were broken, but he donated a lot of skin from his hands and back.

When I talk with non-cyclists about my racing, they nearly always say something like "oh, mountain bike racing must be really dangerous". In reality, the road is way more dangerous. In many years of riding and racing, my only significant injuries have some on the road. More reason to stick to the dirt.