Shebonkan

Gooooooooooooo!

I honestly cannot remember the last time that I bonked. My pre-race food consumption has always been a little on the side of excess to ensure that the bonk doesn’t make an appearance. So why did I only consume 1/3 of a box of cereal and a sandwich prior to last Sunday’s race when I would normally consume an entire box of cereal, maybe an egg or two along with a sandwich if it is a late afternoon race? My only explanation would be the proverbial brain fart.
Julie and I arrived in Milwaukee and stayed with our good friends, Tyrine. We drove up to Sheboygan on Saturday to do a course recon, and as they do every year, the Fat Kats did a great job in putting together an outstanding race course. The course had a nice 50/50-ish mix of singletrack and open sections, the type of course that can suit just about any racers strengths. As we were getting ready to ride, the misty, light rain that was falling had turned into light snow flurries while the temps seemingly plummeted to below freezing. During the ride, the clouds cleared away to reveal warm sunshine that raised the temps up into the 40’s.
Race day greeted us with lot’s of sunshine, however when I stepped outside to load up the car, it felt like it was January. Apparently Mother Nature decided to completely bypass the fall and head straight into winter! Throughout the morning, I had to keep reminding myself that at least it wasn’t raining/snowing on us.
Julie’s race was at 11:30 and 29 hearty souls toed the line for the Category 2 women’s race. Julie got off to her usual mid to rear pack start and managed to pick her way through the field throughout the race. I was only able to see the first lap of her race because I had to get ready for my race. By the finish, she managed to work her way up to 6th overall, good enough for 4th in her age group. I am extremely proud of how well her season went. In looking at all of her results from the bigger races in Minnesota and Wisconsin, she’s made steady progress throughout the season, especially in terms of bike handling. With another winter of base fitness building rides on El Diablo in the TMC Trucking house of pain / sweat shop, I am very confident that she will be even faster next year!


Julie has her angry racin' face on.



Picking her way through the Equalizer carnage.



Rippin' it up in the corners...just like I taught her.


My race had the usual fast cats that take part in the WORS series, including Chequamegon bridesmaid, Cole House. Don said ‘Goooooooooooooo’ and the 36 strong Men’s Elite field shot up the road. I had a decent start and rolled into the singletrack somewhere in the top 15 or so. Once the course opened up, I tried to open it up and quickly realized that, even though I felt fully recovered, I didn’t have the power that I had at this time last year. Last year I had gotten off to about the same start and was able to pick my way through the field to a 5th place overall finish. I knew early on that I didn’t have that kind of finish in me, so I made the best of what I had.
As lap one progressed, I found myself in a pretty good battle with Ryan Krayer and a few others. At one point Ryan asked to get by while we were going through a section of singletrack and with me being in race mode, I was not so willing to oblige. I kicked up the effort to prevent the pass and he mildly expressed his displeasure. He eventually got by when the trail opened up and I managed to stick with him throughout lap one. As we began lap two, I passed him back and apologized as I went by. He replied by saying it was no big deal and that it was a racing thing. So it was all good. Ryan and I have had a lot of great battles throughout the past few years, and I’ve always enjoyed racing against him and I look forward to more of it in the future. Cat’s like Ryan are one of the many reasons that I enjoy racing in the great white north…


Ray Nelson putting me in the pain cave.


As lap two and three progressed, I had no real issues other than the lack of horsepower. I had managed to pass a few others and had caught up to Ray Nelson. Ray and I rode together for most of lap two and three and we eventually figured out that he was quicker in the singletrack, while I was quicker in the faster open sections. So we worked together a little with the intent of trying the catch the guy ahead of us and not get caught from behind. During lap four, I had managed to open up a gap on Ray and I kept the pressure on to make it stick.
As I approached the end of lap four, I began to feel the effort taking its toll on me. Ray eventually caught back up to me and passed. It was all that I could do to hang on once he got by. As I rolled through the start finish area, I could feel the early stages of the bonk working its way into my body. Shortly thereafter, I was in full on bonk mode. I felt really cold, hungry and completely out of gas. On one of the easier short climbs after the water crossing, I had slipped on a root that I normally would have gotten over with ease, and stalled out. I dismounted and quickly discovered the extent of my bonk as I couldn’t move past a slow walk up the hill. I tried to run, however my legs had no response. It was like that throughout the remainder of lap five and as I approached the Equalizer near the end of the lap, I knew that I was going to be in serious trouble. I dismounted at the bottom and was barely able to simply walk my bike up the hill. As I approached the top of the hill, Ron Stawicki went flying by me like I was standing still. I finally made it to the top and managed to limp my way to the finish line.


The Equalizer before the bonk.



The Equalizer after the bonk. The Ronsta passed me like I was goin' backwards.


I am still amazed that I was only passed by two peeps during my lap five meltdown and even more surprised that I was able to salvage an 11th place overall finish. It was by far the hardest that I’ve ever bonked, though I could probably count the amount of times that I’ve bonked on one hand, maybe even on three or four fingers. I am also pretty amazed at how debilitating a full on bonk can be. To get myself to the point where I can just barely walk up a hill….
Cole House rode away from the stacked field to take the win and a large cardboard check for $800. Tristan Schouten held on for 2nd and my bro Mikey Phillips brought home 3rd. Back when I first got into mountain bike racing, Cole’s family was one of the first families that I had met and we quickly became good friends. I have a lot of great memories with them, especially when I could actually finish ahead of Cole. I knew that would be short lived because as a preteen, he had a burning desire to make a career out of cycling and now it appears that he is well on his way.


Tristan and Mikey beating the crap out of each other on the Equalizer.


So I had a pretty mediocre end to the season, especially at the bigger races. Going into this season, I knew that it was going to be extremely difficult to top last season. I’ve managed to improve my results every season over the last four or five years, so a lack of improvement was bound to happen one of these years. It was still a good season and I did have some results that I’m really happy with. I’m even happy with most of the lesser results. Twelve years ago, when I zip tied a number to my mountain bike for the first time, I never envisioned that I would have taken this as far as I have. So with that in mind, I had a pretty awesome year.

So what’s next? Beer, pizza, burgers, french fries…I’m pretty much gonna be on the Mike Phillips diet for a couple of months…sans cigars. Maybe it’ll make me as fast as he is. The Dirty Du is on October 24 and my annual women’s mountain biking clinic is on October 25. I might throw in a cross race here and there. So even though my season is over, we’re still going to be as busy as ever, places to go, people to see…

Thanks for reading,

CK

Cross Dressing with Pat

Taking my turn on Pat.


Cyclocross weather came to Iowa early this year, forcing the ICORR folks to postpone IMBCS #11 to the weekend of October 11. So that opened last weekend up to two different options for Julie and I. Option 1 – drive 3 ½ hours to Platteville, WI for the Blockhouse mountain bike race. Option 2 – drive one hour to Pella for a cyclocross race. I was on the fence until the night before and the weather ultimately made the decision for us. We didn’t really feel like spending seven hours in the car, going to a race that was going to be cold, wet and muddy. So we opted for the hour long drive to Pella, for a race that would be cold, with the only real wetness coming from the sweat produced by an hour long, cross-eyed, tongue hangin’ outta yer mouth, LT effort that only cyclocross can produce.
Doing an hour long cross race is also probably better for me the weekend before my last ‘A’ race of the season. It’ll be a lot easier for my old body to fully recover from an hour long cross race than a 2+ hour long mountain bike race. I do try to stay away from cross racing prior to the end of the mountain bike racing season, mainly because I am very prone to injury when it comes to running, even if it is just a short stumble over a couple of barriers. However, it’s tough to beat the quality of the hour long workout that I end up getting from a cross race. So when I do a cross race, I err on the side of caution to mitigate any chance of having some kind of a blowout when crashing through the barriers.
When we arrived at the course, I had a lot of people telling me how I would have a huge advantage due to the technical nature of the course. I never expect to win a cross race on a mountain bike. I’ve not done enough cross racing to be able to quantify how much of a disadvantage one has on a mountain bike. I can however, tell you that a mountain bike is inferior to a cross bike as a cross bike is the overwhelming weapon of choice for anybody who races cross. So, my goal for the day was primarily to get a good, high intensity workout in. What better way to accomplish that then to chase tPod, JJ and whoever else around in a city park?
Julie raced first and lined up with all of the other women. She doesn’t handle the cold very well, so I was pretty surprised at her enthusiasm for toeing the line. The chica’s took off and after a few laps, Julie had managed to spread a nice coating of mud all over the ‘goose. She ended up having a good race and ended up 2nd in the Cat 4 class. After her race, she handed off the ‘goose which probably had about 10 extra pounds of mud all over it. I’m actually considering a name change for the ‘goose. When it comes to racing cross, Julie and I both race on the ‘goose, so maybe the name ‘Pat’ might be a more appropriate moniker?


Julie puttin' the power down.



Julie running Pat through the sand. Check out Kurt B in the background, kinda looks creepy sitting on a swing with a bottle of booze. He looks like he's thinking about asking Julie if she wants some candy.



Chia Chad thinks he's a mountain biker because he's riding through the sand.


I got in a pretty good warm up despite the cold temps and lined up for the start. The race started and tPod took off like a shot out of a cannon, followed by JJ and myself. At some point during the first lap, Gummy jumped in front of me and eventually allowed a gap to open up between myself and JJ while tPod rode off into the sunset. I eventually re-passed Gummy and closed the gap to JJ. As the race progressed, JJ was able to open a gap on both of the barrier sections, and I was able to gradually close it back up between the sets of barriers. My lack of competence in running the barriers eventually got the best of me. JJ was able to gradually open up enough of a gap that was too much for me to overcome. I felt like a total pud on the barrier sections, it felt like I was going in more of a vertical direction then horizontal. Towards the latter half of the race, the wheels of my bike were banging into the barrier. I was kinda surprised that it didn’t yank the bike out of my hands. I did run the barriers this year better than I did last year as documented on You Tube.


Sweet form.



Racing in small circles around a city park, thinking about singletrack.


About midway through the race, Nate Kullborn had managed to reel me in and sat on my wheel for a lap or two. As we made our way through the sand, I kinda backed off on the effort a little to force him ahead of me. I sat on his wheel for a lap and as we hit the blacktop, he motioned for me to take over. I passed him and as we were going through the sand at the end of the lap, I could here him having somewhat of a physical meltdown and that was the last the I saw of him.
In the end, tPod ran away with the W, JJ came in 2nd and I followed in 3rd place, very satisfied with another great workout and no injuries. My average HR for the race was 177, by far the highest average HR for a race this season. I finally feel like I am getting myself into a decent state of recovery, just in time for the last race of the season.

So with Sugarbottom being rescheduled for this weekend, I am once again faced with another tough decision. Sugarbottom or Sheboygan? I have the IMBCS points title wrapped up, so missing Sugarbottom would be of no consequence to me. So Sheboygan it is. The WORS race Sheboygan has been a key ‘A’ race for me all along, right up there with Chequamegon, so I doubt that I would have opted out of Sheboygan regardless. Last year I had one of my best races ever, finishing 5th overall in a field stacked with some of the best mountain bike racers in the Midwest. I’d be pretty happy if I could equal that, or maybe even top it. I am also really looking forward to drinking a few beers afterwards in lieu of my usual R4 smoothie….

Thanks for reading,

CK

Manawa

Kent and Shim tag teamin' me.


This years edition of Lake Manawa Mayhem marks the end of the 2009 Psycowpath season as well as the penultimate race for the 2009 IMBCS. I’m not 100% on this, but I think a decent finish will pretty much lock up both the Psycowpath and IMBCS series overall, good enough for another season of free entry fees for both series in 2010…a great way to reward all of the division winners in each series.
Lake Manawa is the type of course where it is less about fitness and a little more about bike handling. With a total of 121 feet of climbing (according to my trusty Polar 725) and only a handful of short, fast, open sections for passing, the only form of natural selection was how well you could handle your bike through the many serpentine sections of tight singletrack. With the previous days rain making the course conditions about as close to perfect as they could be for optimal traction, it made bike handling a little less of an issue. It was the type of ‘close to perfect’ conditions such that my bike had no dust or mud on it when I had finished.
At last years race, it was pretty much a follow the leader race. It seemed that whenever somebody got dropped from the train, it was most likely because they either had a mechanical issue or they wrapped their bike around one of the many man eating trees that the trail weaved its’ way through. This year was no different and as the gun went off, holeshot Limpach took the lead, followed closely by Kent, Shim and myself. Shortly after Kevin took the lead, he had minor bike handling issue that knocked him off line and narrowly missed taking out the lead train. Kent and Shim got by and he nearly took me out again when he shot back in line in front of me. The mishap enabled Kent and Shim to open a small gap on Kevin and myself. As the lap progressed, the gap gradually increased and I had to patiently wait until the next passing opportunity to get by Kevin.
We finally hit the next open section and I went by Kevin. At Manawa, a small gap is pretty difficult to close down because you can only go so fast through the tight, technical sections. It took the remainder of the lap to close the gap. I took an occasional look back and saw that I was pulling away from the rest of the field and it looked like it was going to come down to Kent, myself and Shim.
We started lap two and I was pretty content to let Kent and Shim, who happen to be teammates, lead the way. I sat on while they swapped the lead, however I knew that I was going to have to assert myself pretty soon. The longer I waited, the more difficult it would be pass Kent or Shim. As we neared the end of lap two, I made a few attempts to get into the lead, however Kent had other ideas. I could tell that he was keeping on eye on what was going on behind him and whenever I hit the throttle he was very quick to respond and made it close to impossible for me to get by.
As we began lap three, I was finally able to get by Kent. The only problem was that I had to work so hard to get by, that I was temporarily out of gas and had a hard time maintaining enough effort to keep myself ahead of him. He passed me back shortly after I got by and I began to realize that it was going to take some creativity to get by and make it stick. As we rolled through the singletrack, I kept looking for short stretches of openness that might allow a small chance of making a pass.
About halfway through lap three, Shim had indicated that he thought he was going flat. Shortly thereafter, I heard the sound of knobbies grinding against a rim…game over. With Shim out of the picture it was shaping up to become another one of those epic battles between Kent and myself that we’ve had so many of over the past few years. Most of my favorite and most memorable racing experiences have been against Kent. I love all of the many tight battles that we’ve had and always find myself looking forward to racing in Nebraska in anticipation this very situation.
As lap three and four progressed, I continued my search for ‘small sections of openness’ and I also tried to pass on a few of the open sections again, all to no avail. As we approached the end of ‘lap four’, Kent put in a monster effort to keep me behind him and I was content to remain behind him with the idea of balking passes throughout the remainder of the race, enough to make him stand up and exert himself in an attempt to keep me behind. My hope was that this would wear him down a little and make it easier for me to make a pass…and make it stick.
As we crossed the finish line at the end of ‘lap four’, Kent sat up and motioned to high five me. I was kind of perplexed by this, however being the high five kind of person that I am, I returned the high five. He then said ‘nice race’ and I thought to myself, and told him that we had one more lap to do. He said ‘no, I’m pretty sure that we did four laps’ and I again thought to myself that we had only done three. I rode over to the officials table to get the official count and as I rode towards the table, some dude in the crowd said, ‘you guys still have another lap’. I spun around and headed back onto the course, hoping that Kent wasn’t long gone.
I continued on in pursuit mode and couldn’t see anybody ahead of me. There were a few sections where the course doubled back on itself and I couldn’t see him anywhere. At that point, I began to think that maybe he was behind me because he couldn’t have gotten that far ahead of me. I looked behind me and saw nobody, so I backed off the effort and waited for him. The last thing that I wanted was to win the race with an asterisk. I would rather risk him being ahead of me while I waited, then win the race under these circumstances.
I kept noodling along at a medium pace, not really sure where he was and as I crossed the road, there were no road crossing marshals. That should have been my first strong clue that something was amiss. Despite my uncertainty, I continued on and as I neared the end of the lap, I saw a dude riding the trail ahead of me with two kids riding in front of him. As soon as I caught up, I quickly realized that it as Kent riding with his kids! We had a pretty entertaining chat about my oversight and about the race. We did, in fact do four laps. Even though I thought we still had a lap to go when we officially finished, I seriously doubt that I would have been able to get by Kent. He rode a smart race, he was incredibly strong when he needed to be and he was very attentive to what I was doing behind him. I tried everything to get by him and couldn’t get it done. The funny thing is, this happened to me at this race two years ago with Shim. I blame it on my age. Despite finishing in 2nd, this ranks right up there with the rest of my favorites. It’s tough to beat close, clean competition!
So with a 2nd place finish, I’m pretty sure that I locked up the series title for both the IMBCS and Psycowpath. There are a lot of good folks to thank and more appropiate thank you’s will come in a later post. For now, the short list…God, Julie, my family, the folks at Rassy’s, Phil Godkin with Orbea/Garneau/Probar/Sock Guy/Gu (I’m probably missing a few other products) and Rob Versteegh with Oakley. Each of these friends provided some means of support that made this crazy road that I’m traveling possible. Simply put, they are all the best of the best! Julie also rode a pretty solid race and locked up the Psycowpath series womens Category 2 title.

Next up is the season finale for the IMBCS at Sugarbottom. It seems appropriate that Sugarbottom be the final race of the series, as it is the oldest of all of the IMBCS races. Last year, after many years of trying, I was finally able to bag the win…thanks to Brian Eppen making a rare mistake that slowed him down a little. Despite that, I happily accepted the win as that’s a part of mountain bike racing. I’ve made errors in the past that had cost me race wins, so it works both ways!

Thanks for reading,

CK

Chequamegon

Photos courtesy of Skinnyski


Fire Tower Hill...pictures do it no justice.


Another Chequamegon has come and gone. For the last couple of years, I’ve really tried to make this race one of my key races for the year. I’ve really grown to love the event even though it’s not your typical mountain bike race. There are a lot of things to love about the event, the beautiful north woods of Wisconsin, 2,500 mountain bikers from all over the nation, a lakeside cabin and some of my good mountain biking buddies from Des Moines among many other places.
My goal was to better my 10th overall finish from last year, and even though I was pretty adamant that a lesser finish would not be a disappointment, I was a little disappointed with my finish this year. I actually began to feel the disappointment setting in shortly after I hit the transition from Rosie’s Field to the first section of the Birkie. Yep, five miles into the 40 mile race, I knew that it was going to be a struggle.
Back to the start. I rolled up to the start line about 5 minutes before the cannon sounded and slotted myself next to my bro Mikey Phillips. My first major goal of the day was to make the lead break, and the best way to do that is to stay on the wheel of somebody that is always in it. After the cannon went off, Mikey and I were rolling along next to one of the lead ATV’s. There was a tandem next to us with a couple of dudes. The guy in front was pretty chatty with everybody else, which is OK if you can do it and ride in a straight line. This guy could not hold a straight line to save his life. Mikey and I looked at each other with same expression on our faces, just waiting for the tandem to cause the first pile up of the day.


1700 mountain bikers en masse.


As we rolled out of town, the ATV’s took off and I found myself on Jeff Halls wheel. A good place to be, so I did everything that I could to hold it, including shoving a few elbows into a few cats that tried to butt in. As we hit the rise in the road on the approach to Rosie’s, all kinds of hell started to break loose as all kinds of people started to crowd towards the front. I made it into Rosie’s without too much trouble and rode as hard as my legs would allow.
As we approached the Birkie, I could see the lead group starting to form and it was actually within reach…if I’d had good legs. However it became apparent that I had brought the wrong pair of legs with me this year. I tried to go, but my legs said no…no way, not today. I settled into a pace and tried to get myself a little recovered from the effort through Rosie’s Field. I could tell that I had a long line of others behind me as we wound our way through the first section of the Birkie. As we hit a long, super fast downhill, I saw Doug Swanson running across the trail with his bike. I went off line to miss him and as soon I went by him, I heard the metallic sound of bikes clashing behind me. As I started rolling up the next hill, I took a quick look back and saw nobody.
I continued on, pushing the effort thinking that maybe I could bridge my way up to somebody ahead of me. A short while later I took another look back and saw Jesse Lalonde closing in on me. Sweet! My chances of bridging up to the lead group took a huge turn for the better. We rode together for a couple of miles and swapped a few pulls. He asked me if I was good on the flats and I told him that my legs weren’t good for anything today. As we hit the next hill, he swung out from behind me and carried is momentum up the hill and left me for the buzzards. There is a reason that he does so well on singlespeed and I saw one of the many reasons firsthand…momentum.
So I rode alone in no man’s land, with Jesse disappearing into the distance ahead of me, and nobody in sight behind me. I buried my head and did my best to keep the effort going, hoping that I could catch somebody ahead of me rather than be caught from behind. After about five miles of no man’s land, the latter happened as I glanced back to see a long line of what turned out to be about 40 riders bridging up to me. I backed off the effort and about a mile later I was passed by the first guy in line. I quickly jumped on his wheel with intent of staying at the sharp end of the group.


Despite minimal training, Kent Carlson tore it up, placing 6th in the singlespeed class and 83rd overall.



The Eppenators, before they broke a chain and bent a chain ring.



Not having the greatest of days but making the best of it.


Despite the crappy legs, I found it pretty easy to hang near the front of the group. However whenever I took a pull, I was quickly reminded that my good legs were on vacation. So I kept myself in the top five of the group and tried to save myself as much as possible for the climb up Fire Tower Hill. As we approached Fire Tower, I kept hearing the grinding noise of knobby against knobby. One more reason to keep myself near the front of the group. Shortly thereafter, I heard the sound of a skewer rattling into some spokes. It never ceases to amaze me, I can almost understand things like that at the start. However when we’re single file this far into the race, there’s no reason to continually get into somebody’s wheel, and even less of a reason to plow your skewer into the spokes of the wheel ahead of you.
So we hit Fire Tower and I was sitting probably 5th wheel. I locked out both ends of the bike and motored up in my middle ring as hard as my legs would allow. I hit the top without incident, took a quick look back and to my surprise saw nobody near me. So hit the throttle and quickly closed the gap on the group of five ahead of me.
Our group consisted of myself, Michael Simonson, Adam Swank, Ted Hanes, Kelly Magelky and possibly Joe Brzuchanski. We worked together fairly well until we hit the last few miles of the Birkie, which consists of a lot of steep rollers that usually do a pretty good job of breaking up small groups like ours. I had nothing on the short hills and found myself constantly having to bury myself to bridge back up to the group.


I actually felt OK going up Fire Tower.


On the last couple of hills, I gradually lost contact with our group. As we descended onto the finish at Telemark, I closed back up, however it was too late to do anything. I came pretty close to passing Ted, however he saw me coming and held me off.
I ended up finishing 19th overall, good enough for a reserved entry into next years race and 2nd in my age group. Dewey Dickey once again got the best of me and took first place in our age group by a crushing 6+ minute margin. Brian Matter crushed the course record by over 5 minutes and furthered my argument that he is the fastest guy in the Midwest right now. Cole House and Steve Tilford rounded out the top three overall. I did manage to beat my fastest time with a time of 2:10:35, however things like that are pretty meaningless in a mountain bike race as course conditions cause a lot of variance in how fast you can go.


Brian Matter outkicking Cole for the W.



The Eppenators after they broke their chain and bent a chain ring.



Deep in the bowels of the pain cave...


Julie had a pretty epic race, finishing one place behind her goals of a top 50 overall and a top ten in her age group, good for 51st overall and 11th in her age. If she hadn’t hit the deck at mile ten, she would have easily achieved all three of her goals, including a sub three hour finish time. When I caught up to her right after she finished, she had dried up blood running down her arm and a dirt covered face. Despite the blood and dirt, I could still see the smile through all of the dirt and a wonderful smile it was! It was that kind of smile you see when somebody just had a lot fun on their mountain bike.
I could go on and on with other stories about the weekend, and a great weekend it was. In the end, I’m happy with my finish. I can’t complain about a top 20 overall and placing in my age group in a race this big. Julie and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of our cabin mates, Jim and Sally Logan, Ken and Kristin Sherman, Lang Wightman, Brian (Potato Cannon) Benson and John Newell. Good peeps!

Next up is the final race of the Psycowpath series and race #10 of the IMBCS at Lake Manawa State Park in Council Bluffs. The tight, twisty nature of the course lends itself to only a few passing opportunities. Kent McNeill beat me by the width of a tire last year, so I’m hoping that I can return the favor this time around.

Thanks for reading,

CK

Science Center / Branched Oak

Photos courtesy of Angy Snoop



What was supposed to have been a dirty double, turned into something a little more demanding. The Psycowpath race at Branched Oak was rained out on Saturday and rescheduled to the following Sunday. So Julie and I had a decision to make, do we make the trip to Nebraska and skip the IMBCS races, or vice versa? We both needed the points for both series, so we mulled it over for a while and finally figured out that we could do the morning TT at the Science Center, provided we were able to be the first two starters. If we could get on the road by 10, we could make it to Branched Oak by 1, with an hour to spare for the 2 o’clock start of the Psycowpath race…Game on brutha!
So the day started off with the TT, which used the Hillside and Rollercoaster trails of the Science Center. As I was getting ready for my start, the race director, Ryan Hanser, threw a couple of curve balls in my direction. They were running the course backwards and we were doing two laps. I was expecting a short 15-ish minute effort, which turned into a 35-ish minute effort. I had myself dialed into doing a lap in what is traditionally the ‘right’ direction whenever we race on the Hillside. I also wanted to try and pace myself so that I could have as much in the tank as possible for the afternoon pain fest.
I was given the go ahead and I took off like I stole somethin’. I hit the trails and felt like I was riding well and within myself. With nobody in front of me, I was able to focus on the trail and nothing else. I completed my first lap and as I rolled through, Padawan Gammel was sitting at the start line getting to roll out. As I was cruising through the Hillside, I kept hearing something a short distance behind me. I couldn’t tell who it was, but I suspected it was the young Padawan attempting to bridge up to his Jedi Master teacher. This forced me to go a little harder than I wanted because I couldn’t allow my pupil to overtake me.


Julie using her skisszzllss that she learned at my women's mtb clinic.



I think that I had a Dio tune goin' through my head when this picture was taken...got that look on my face.


Throughout the 2nd lap, I encountered some slower traffic, however it was never really an issue. As I exited the Hillside and rolled towards the Rollercoaster, I could tell that the Padawan had slowed a little. I backed off on the throttle a scosh, and rolled to the finish. Julie and I had to take off as soon as we finished, so I’m not 100% sure of the results yet, however I heard that I nipped Jed by a scant 5 seconds. He accused me of sandbagging, however it wasn’t nearly as much as he thought. I worked pretty hard, harder than I wanted to. The Padawan’s form is coming along nicely this year and he’s riding stronger than I’ve ever seen. It’s really too bad that he got snubbed for Chequamegon this year because I think that he’d tear it up. I’m pretty sure that Julie had a good race too, though neither of us have any idea how she did. I knew that she’d have a good race, she rode everything the day before without much trouble. There are a few sections that can be pretty tricky and she handled them like a champ.


Padawan Gammell...close but no cigar.



Seabiscuit got drunk after his race and decided to give out Mad Dog handups at the creek crossing.


We loaded our crapage back into the car and high tailed it to Nebraska. As the drive progressed, we could both feel the post race rigor mortise setting into our legs. I had no idea what to expect once we arrived at Branched Oak.
We made it with an hour to spare, got ourselves registered and suited up for a recon lap. The course was pretty straight forward with no real technical sections to worry about. There were several sections that were very bumpy, bumpy enough that I feared I it might knock a few of my fillings loose.
The race started and JP took the hole shot, followed closely by Kent and myself. Whenever we hit a hill, JP would punch it and it eventually wore on everybody but myself, Kent, Darin Schlake and John Rokke. As we began lap two, Darin took over the lead, followed by JP, Kent, myself and Rokke. I was pretty content to sit in as I didn’t have to work that hard and I still wasn’t really sure which pair of legs came with me to Nebraska, the same pair that I used this morning, or the other pair that usually sends me to the hurt locker.
As we approached the end of lap three, the inevitable happened, Kent took over the lead and immediately upped the pace. Small gaps began to form between Darin and JP while I was still sitting in 4th. At the first opportunity, I passed both of them and latched onto Kent’s wheel. We gradually gapped ourselves from the three locals and it was shaping up to be another epic battle between myself and Kent.
Kent led throughout lap 4 and I was surprisingly able to hang onto his wheel without too much trouble. As we rolled through the feed zone, Kent slowed to take another bottle from his soigner, I think that’s why he brought his kids along. At the end of the race, I thought that I saw his son giving him a post race massage like the European professional cyclists get, while his daughter was loading up the car for the trip back to Omaha. Maybe I need to get myself a couple of kids…While Kent took his hand up, I rolled by and took over the lead.
I actually felt pretty good and thought I was maintaining pretty close to the same pace that we had done the previous lap. As the lap progressed, I could tell that I was creating a little separation between us every once in a while. So I decided to up the pace a little to see if I could gap him off and make it stick. Over the latter half of lap 5 the gap increased and I started to feel pretty good about how things were shaking out. There were a couple of spots on the course where it doubled back on itself where, for a short while, I was able to see him and track my progress. When I could no longer see him, I put into cruise control and kept my good eye on what was going on behind me.
As I began the final lap, my legs decided that it was getting close to Miller time. Despite my legs rebellion, I kept the pressure on and survived to take the win. Shortly after I rolled across the line, I quickly began to realize the extent of my fatigue. My body felt like I had gotten run over by a train. The bumpiness of the course took its toll on me, my arms were just as trashed as my legs…a full body beat down. Even though it wasn’t a very technical course, it was still a pretty physically demanding course and I enjoy courses like that.
Julie also survived the day, when Kent and I rolled passed her during the race, I felt her pain as she was riding the ‘goose. A 1998 ti frame with a vintage 2000 Rock Shox fork. I remember back when I used to race on that bike. On a course like this, I used to get the crud knocked out of me, it felt like I was riding a fully rigid bike with solid rubber tires. She was not a happy camper when she finished her race. However she did manage to lock up the Cat 2 women’s points for the series, so that made the visit to the pain cave worth it for her.

Next up is a big one, Chequamegon. Hopefully I can get myself recovered enough to top my effort from last year. Two races in one day was probably not the most ideal thing to do the weekend before one of my ‘A’ races. However it had to be done in order to defend my series titles for Iowa and Nebraska. That’s my crazy lifestyle and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Thanks for reading,

CK

Mapelag SR

Photos courtesy of Skinnyski and Julie.



As a ‘professional’ mountain bike racer wannabe, most people would not believe that DSM is actually a great place to live. We have access to some of the best mountain bike racing in the nation. Just about every surrounding state has a mountain bike racing series and we’ve been able to race somewhere every weekend, all within a days drive.
So last weekend, Julie and I packed up the Jeep and made the long drive up to Mapelag Resort in the western part of Minnesota. The stage race was the 9th installment of the MNSCS and it has a pretty solid reputation as a racer favorite. After 9 hours of sitting in the car, we had finally arrived at the resort. We drove straight to the main lodge where dinner was being served. We were both pretty strung out from the long drive, however we were quickly revived upon entering the enormous dining area. Every table was full of mountain bike racers, stuffing their faces with some of the best home cooking that I’ve ever had. This was pretty much the norm over the entire weekend with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also should mention the 5 or 6 bottomless cookie bars available to all of the folks staying at the resort, homemade of course.
After dinner, we registered and headed over to our cabin. The cabin consisted of about 6 rooms, all connected by one central room complete with a refrigerator, comfy couches and an impressive collection of National Geographic magazines, some of which probably predate the existence of man. When we were kids, my brother and I used to get a charge out of looking through National Geographic and seeing the aborigine women with their big ‘ole boobs hangin’ out. Yeah, we were a couple of weird kids…all kids are kinda weird though, so whatever.
We unloaded all of our junk and settled into the common area for some good conversation with our cabin mates, the Hinkens family, TJ Woodruff, his dad (Woody) and Doug Swanson. All good peeps that have given me many a beat down. It was nice to finally get to know some of the folks from the great white north.
Saturday morning kicked things off with a short, 3-ish mile time trial. As I was warming up, it quickly became clear that my legs were still pretty cooked from the previous weeks workouts. This has pretty much been the norm for the season however, I race almost every weekend and I have to train through most of the races if I want to be in peak form towards the end of the season.
I started my TT and my legs instantly rejected the violent effort that I was asking of them. I persisted and they eventually came around. My goal for the race was to put in as little effort as possible while still keeping myself in contention for a strong finish in the overall general classification. Much to my surprise, my time was good enough for 4th place on the day, about 20 seconds behind winner Brendan Moore, TJ Woodruff and Doug Swanson. The TT course consisted on mostly open cross country ski trail sections connected by 3 or 4 sections of singletrack. My bike handling was a little off, so I knew that the singletrack would slow me down a little. It’s pretty easy to get off line during a short, anaerobic effort like a TT. So I took it a little easy in the techy sections of singletrack, knowing that any mishap would cost me a lot more than slowing it down a little.


Cruising down one of the ski trails with some pretty unhappy legs!



Julie bringing home a nice finish in the TT.


Next up was the short track criterium and my goal was once again to maintain a solid position in the GC and not get dropped from the lead group. I got a front row call up and we took off like a pack of scalded dogs. I tried to get myself settled in to a position near the sharp end of the field. As the race progressed, a front group of 13 formed. I was dangling around 6th or 7th about midway through the race. A short while later, the group eventually whittled itself down to 7. We hit the 20 minute mark and had 2 laps left. There were a few attacks, however nothing really stuck. On the last lap, Doug Swanson took a flier and managed to create a little separation between himself and the group. Doug ended up winning, followed by TJ, Brendan and myself.


TJ asserting himself while leading the train of pain about midway through the STXC.



Riding in the shadow of Minnesota mtb legend Hollywood Henderson.



Doug Swanson taking his turn at the front. I decided to skip all of my turns at the front.




Julie chasing down the lead in the STXC.



Julie ripping it up through a corner on the STXC course.



Julie took the sprint for the 'W' in the STXC.


So at the end of the day, I had a pretty solid hold on 4th in the GC with a little over a minute cushion on 5th. Julie also had a great day and was sitting in 2nd in the women’s Cat 2 race. She finished 2nd in the TT and won the women’s STXC race. She had gotten off to a pretty decent start and picked off racers throughout the race until the penultimate lap when she finally took the lead. I was pretty beside myself in excitement for her.
Sunday was the traditional cross country race on a course that I would liken to a slightly flatter version of the Seven Oaks course. Only maybe a little more technical with several lakeside drops, some small but tricky rock gardens and a lot of roots. I knew that it was going to be a pretty rough race, so I softened the tires and the suspension to minimize the battering of my body.
I got off to a pretty good start and settled into the top ten with the hopes of a top ten finish on a course that I typically would not do very well on. Throughout the first lap, I worked my way up to 7th and as I approached Suicide Hill, I could see Doug Swanson about halfway up, kinda weaving back and forth like a drunken sow. He was having one of those days that I thankfully rarely have. As I passed, I asked if he was OK, and he offered some encouragement to keep on keepin’ on. Later on in the lap, I saw Eric O and Jack Hinkens up the trail.


Waiting....



Cruisin' down one of the many lakeside drops.


I eventually caught up to them and we rode together in 4th, 5th and 6th for the majority of lap 2 and 3. We worked well together throughout and as we hit a steep, barely rideable climb chock full of loose gravel, I stalled out and they didn’t. I had to hike-a-bike to the top while Eric and Jack rode off into the sunset. They opened a pretty good gap on me, however I could still see them. I buried myself in an attempt to bring them back. In doing so, I found myself getting a little sloppy through some of the techy sections of trail. This continued until I wrapped my handlebars around a small tree. I wasn’t going that fast and was able to keep myself upright, however it stalled me out and took away all of my impetus.


Jack, Eric O and I shadow boxing up Suicide Hill.



Jack showing me the lines through the lakeside drop section.



Jack is still in front of me here, you just can't see him.


I rode by myself throughout the last lap and as the lap progressed, I could see that I was slowly closing in on Eric O. Instant motivation set in and I pushed myself pretty hard to reel him back in. I could tell that I wasn’t making any progress in the singletrack, however I was quickly closing the gap on the ski trails. We hit the last kilometer of the race and it was all ski trail, so I put my head down and pushed the pedals as hard as my legs would allow. I eventually caught him with about 400 meters to go, sat in for a couple of pedal strokes and then passed him right before the finish to snag 5th overall. For a course that doesn’t necessarily suit my strengths, I was extremely happy with my finish. TJ won the race, followed closely by Brendan Moore. Sam O came in 3rd a couple of minutes back, followed by Jack.
My finish today dropped me down one spot to 5th place in the GC. TJ took the overall, followed by Brendan, Sam O and Jack. Jack rode a great race and was lightning quick in the singletrack. When he, Eric and I were riding together, he sometimes had me bouncing off of the trees like a pinball while trying to stay on his wheel in the singletrack. He, along with Jake Richards are two guys that will be the men to beat if they stick with it. They’re both still in their late teens and are producing some impressive results in the men’s elite fields.


Jake using his home course knowledge to bring it home in 8th place.


Julie had another great race, despite one of her cleats coming loose early in the race. She pulled off a 4th in the XC race and managed to hang onto the 3rd overall in the women’s Cat 2 GC. I was able to watch most of her race and she rode the lakeside drops like a pro. The drops are techy enough, that a lot of people either dismounted and ran down, or tried to ride them and ended up in a pile of dust at the bottom.


Julie knows what she's doing.



Lake Ahquabi point man Bruce Brown made the trip from DSM.



Negotiating her way through the lakeside drops.



If you want to learn to ride steep drops like Julie, attend our women's mtb clinic this fall and she'll teach you all that you need to know.


What can I say about this event? It was one of the best races that I’ve ever done and has become one of my favorites. Jay Richards, his family and the staff at Mapelag put together a great event. Jay has an enthusiasm for the sport that is very apparent in so many ways and the entire weekend at Mapelag made that even more apparent. The atmosphere, the hospitality, the race courses, the beautiful landscape surrounding the venue were all unmatched. Thumbs up baby!

Next up is another dirty double, with the Psycowpath race at Branched Oak on Saturday, followed by the Des Moines Dirty Time Trial weekend on Sunday. Not exactly what I need the weekend before one of my ‘A’ races at Chequamegon, however it is what it is and I’ll make the best of it.

Thanks for reading,

CK

Lake Maskenthine

Not really sure who took all of the pix...


Word on the street was that I had my angry face on...I'm never angry on my bike, even if I get spit on or when someone threatens to beat me up.


This past weekend was a big weekend in Central Iowa for bike racing with the All Nine Yards diva’s hosting the Big Creek Road Race on Saturday and my homie’s at Rassy’s hosting the East Village Criterium. With all of the rain that we had throughout the fall, some postponements were bound to happen on planet dirt and the Maskenthine Classic was one of the casualties. With the rain date rescheduled for last weekend, I unfortunately had to miss out on all of the road raging in DSM. I hate missing out on weekends like this, lot’s of good peeps, lot’s of bikes, etc. However my passion lies on the dirt and if there’s a mountain bike race within a 1,023 mile radius, I’m gonna opt for the dirt.
At the last Psycowpath race, Kevin Limpach was the most successful survivor in the battle of attrition in the extreme heat at Tranquility and he put the hurt on me. I felt a slight sense of obligation to return the favor at Lake Maskenthine.
The usual suspects, sans Kent McNeil were all present and accounted for at the start. I didn’t really feel like leading the way into the woods this time, however when the race started, I found myself leading the way to the top of the gravel climb heading into the singletrack. I know, I know, at the bigger races, my starts almost always suck. And one of the best ways to get better at them, is to practice by going like a bat out of hell at the start of the smaller races. Maybe someday I’ll remember that at the smaller races…
Anyway, just before we hit the singletrack, Kev snaked me going into the woods and I rolled in 2nd wheel. Nate Woodman followed and the three of us were able to establish a small gap on the rest of the field during the early stages of the first lap. I settled in on Kev’s wheel with Nate in tow and we rode in this order throughout the first two laps. At some point during the first lap, Kev got off line and came close to layin’ it down. He pulled off a good save and thankfully, I wasn’t right on his wheel when it happened. A short while later he dug a pedal and almost bought it again. At that point I decided that it was probably a pretty good idea to give him a little cushion so that I didn’t get myself caught up in a yard sale. We all have days like that, where you feel like you’re riding with two left hands. Thankfully they are far and few between for me!


Monkeywrench pointman Nate and I. If you're ever in Lincoln, stop by his shop and buy a new bike.


Shimanonek wants a PRC t-shirt.




My bro JP just wants a beer.



During the 2nd lap, he dug another pedal and at that point, I decided that it was getting close to go time for me. We started lap three and as we hit a short uphill section, there was a small window of opportunity for me to get by. I took it and was able to establish a gap pretty quickly. I kept the pressure on throughout the lap and settled into a pretty good pace. I held the pace throughout laps four and five and was successful in reciprocating the beat down that Kevin gave me a couple of weeks ago. Kevin barely held on to 2nd by one second over Darin Schlake after Darin put in a impressive effort from a mid pack start to bring home 3rd. Shim finished up in 4th and Jesse Peterson rounded out the top five.
Julie raced in the Category 2 Women’s Open class and continued her impressive debut season with another 1st place finish. She is doing so well this season that I’m going to promote her from trainee to expert advisor when I hold my 3rd annual women’s only mtb clinic again this fall (Sunday, October 25). It’ll be nice to have a woman’s perspective at the clinic from now on. With her newly acquired off road skizzllizlzz as well as her experience as a professional coach, she’ll be a great addition to my ‘staff’!
A couple of interesting things to note for this race. I’ve been experimenting with various tire pressures, daring myself to go with a lower tire pressure. I just started using tubeless tires last year and I’m still trying to get a good handle on them. I usually have to go by the squeeze method because I don’t really trust the accuracy of my floor pump. I think that I ran pretty close to 23 pounds this time around. That seemed like a pretty good number as I seemed to hook up a little better in most of the corners without burping the bead. I also dropped the pressure in Julie’s tires a little, probably down to around 27, which is well below anything that I would have run when I used tubed tires for fear of the dreaded pinch flat. However, knowing her riding style pretty well, I felt pretty safe in dropping her pressure down a little. She said that it felt a little spongy in some areas, however she felt a little better when cornering. I think the sponginess was probably more to do with some of the loamy tread being pretty soft and spongy in a lot of areas.

So this coming weekend is the annual 24 Hours of Iowa race at Seven Oaks. I always feel myself getting pulled in several different directions on Labor Day weekend, with several different big races to choose from throughout the Midwest. I’ve always opted for the 24 because it’s a great time on some awesome trails and it’s always a well run event. This year was no different and we’ve made the tough decision to bypass the 24 and try something different. I’ve always wanted to do the Dakota 50 and the MNSCS race up at Mapelag Resort. With Chequamegon happening just two weeks after this weekend, a 50 mile mountain bike race is too close and I don’t think that I’ll recover in time for a race that I’ve historically had a difficult time getting myself fully recovered for. So MNSCS it is. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the MNSCS race, Julie and I are pretty stoked to check it out.

Thanks for reading,

CK

Seven Oaks

Somebody had tacos for lunch even though it’s not taco Tuesday.


We’ve had some pretty strange weather throughout the week leading up to last weekend. I’d look out of the window of my office and see a beautiful, mostly sunny sky. Fifteen minutes later I would hear a torrential downpour beating down on the metal roof of our building. I’d look out the window, see partially blue sky with rain beating against my window. I could feel a slight bit of frustration building within me as it looked like all of the rain would dampen everybody’s enthusiasm for racing at Seven Oaks. It’s no secret that racing in the mud at Seven Oaks isn’t a whole lot of fun, unless you enjoy riding your bike through peanut butter.
Julie and I decided to check the course out the day before the race and it was more or less what I had expected as the Boone area didn’t receive as much rain as Des Moines. The first lap had quite a few greasy spots and a couple of mud puddles to ride through. Seven Oaks is arguably the most technical mountain bike trail in Iowa, so I rode the first lap with Julie to show her the lines. She bailed after one lap and I went out for a second lap at close to race pace. The trail had dried considerably and most of the grease had turned to damp and tacky. After that, I knew the course would be close to perfect for the race.
We woke up the next day to a beautiful, cloudless day and race time temps were in the upper 70’s. We lined up for the start, Ron said go and I took the lead going into the singletrack with Padawan Gammell firmly attached to my wheel. I had no idea what the order was behind the young Padawan. Normally, I would use the Force to figure that out, however I needed to devote all of my attention to the tread. Any lapse in focus will most likely result in a tuck ‘n roll down a steep hill or doing the tango with a tree. I’ve done both here before and it’s not as fun as it sounds.
After about a half a lap, I could tell that Jed was beginning to sag a little, so I kept the pressure on until I could no longer see him where the course doubled back on itself. After that I settled into my own comfortable pace and was able to clip off all three laps at pretty close to the same 35+ minute per lap pace. After shaking Jed, the remainder of the race was pretty uneventful. I started picking up lapped traffic from the Cat 2 race about midway through my second lap and had no trouble getting by as they all made plenty of room for me. I passed Julie on one of the many tricky switchbacks and it looked as though she was leading the Category 2 women’s race.


I rode my bike over a large piece of stick.



Kevin jumped his bike over a large piece of stick.


I ended up with another win, followed by Padawan Gammell, who’s having a pretty good season despite minimal racing. Kevin McConnell brought home third, followed closely by Aaron Robinett. Ben Shockey rounded out the top five. Julie also had another stellar race brining home the win in the women’s Category 2 race. On a course where there are an endless amount of good opportunities to hit the deck, she only kissed the dirt once. Thankfully there was little to no damage to her or the Goose.
Things came together nicely for this race and there are a few folks that need to be recognized for stepping up big time to make it another successful event. Ron DeGeest is pretty much a one man wrecking crew for Singletrack Promotions this year. With a little help from a few friends, he was able to get a lot of the trail at Seven Oaks into race ready condition. The trails at Seven Oaks require more work than most other places, so a big thank you to Singletrack Promotions. WWJ (Jay Chesterman) supplied several cases of Chippewa Springs Water, Jason’s Deli provided several free gift cards and Greg Rasmussen of Rasmussen Bike Shop provided most of the awards that were given away. All of these generous folks that support our great sport of mountain bike racing are very deserving of your patronage, so please show all of them your appreciation by giving them your business. And lastly, to all 68 of the people that came out and had a great time on their mountain bikes! I think this might have been the best turn out for a cross country race at Seven Oaks!


Kevin and Aaron were gangin' up on me after the race and threatened to break my knees if I ever beat them again.


Next up is the rain date for the Psycowpath race at Maskenthine. Kevin Limpach did a number on me at the last Psycowpath race, so I’ll be looking for a little redemption this time around!

Thanks for reading,

CK

Border Battle

Photos courtesy of Jay Richards and Julie


Mountain bike racing in the Midwest simply doesn’t get any better than WORS or MNSCS races. Both series do a top notch job of creating a fun, electric atmosphere at all of their races. What could possibly be better? How about combining both series into one race! That’s what the Border Battle is all about. You get the best of both series, especially when it comes to the competition. Even though I routinely get my butt kicked by the top dogs in both series, I love coming up.
Julie and I headed up Saturday morning to get a good recon in of the course and were greeted with close to perfect course conditions. Last year the course was very dry and dusty, which made for some pretty slippery corners. This year, even though it had been dry, recent rain had made all of the shaded areas very fast. After our recon we hit the grocery store for some grub. Last year, we’ve kinda gotten ourselves into a bad habit of making sure that we eat some ice cream the night before a race…who am I kidding, we eat ice cream every night. We like the pricey stuff, Haagen Dazs baby! There was slim pickens’ at the local Econofoods, so we had to settle for some Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked.
We stayed at the same cabin with Tyrine and the Scanley’s as last year, and after a nice dinner, I gave Ty a good butt kickin’ in a game of cribbage. While we were playing, it started to rain and it continued on and off throughout the night. We woke up the next morning and I could hear cars driving by on wet pavement. We had no idea what to expect with course conditions, however WORS and MNSCS run rain or shine, so it was go time regardless of the weather or course conditions. As the morning progressed, the skies began to clear and it ended up being a beautiful day for bike racing!
We headed over to the course and watched some of the Cat 3 race and noticed that there was little to no mud on any of the bikes or racers. The only exception was a few dirt skid marks up and down several of the racers bodies from hitting the deck.
Julie’s race was scheduled two hours before mine, so I was able to watch the first part of her race before I had to get ready for mine. She got off to her usual slow start and hit the bottom of the first climb in dead last. By the time she got to the top, she was sitting about mid pack of the 24 strong women’s Category 2 field. After she passed, I rolled over to another section of the course near the end of the lap and she was still sitting in about 12th place overall. She looked like she was riding really well, she looked strong, however I was surprised not to see her higher up in the order. She ended up in 10th overall, good enough for 2nd in her age. I thought that she might have finished a little higher, however she was happy with her result and said she had a great time. So it was all good and as always, I am very proud of well she’s been doing this year!


If you attend my all women’s mtb clinic this fall, you too will learn to fly around corners just like Julie.



Julie got to stand on a box. Check out her shirt, she’s giving the Dirty Du some love.


My race was pretty stacked with the best that the Midwest has to offer and I was very fortunate to get a 2nd row call up in the 70 strong Elite men’s field. I got off to my usual slow start and ended up in around 30th going up the initial climb. By the time I hit the top of the climb, I felt like I was completely gassed. I made a pretty quick recovery and began my pursuit towards the sharp end of the field. I was able to get by several riders after we hit the top of the climb and settled into a good pace as we hit the first section of singletrack. There were a few places where the pace slowed to a crawl due to the usual bottlenecking that takes place at the beginning of big races. Maybe someday I’ll get off to a good start and I’ll be able to avoid the bottlenecks. I’m old and start slowly, so I guess that’s how its’ gonna be for me until I decide to better prepare myself, if that ever happens!


The Don of WORS was kind enough to give me a 2nd row call up. I suck at starts and need all of the help that I can get.



Gooooooooooooo!!!!


The train of pain flying up the climb at the start of the race. I’m in there somewhere, suffering like an animal.



Check me out, I think that I was still in my happy place despite the severe pain.


I kept passing other competitors throughout the race and I could tell that I was riding pretty well through all of the techie sections. The dirt, for the most part was damp, tacky and very fast. The course was better than yesterday in some places, and a little worse in others. However there was little to no mud. When we hit the open sections, I hit the throttle and was almost always able to pick off at least one rider. When we hit the tight sections where there were no opportunities to pass, I’d settle in on the wheel in front of me and try to recover so that I could open the throttle again in the next open section.


TJ dishin’ out a little pain early in the race.


Towards the end of the race, the lapped traffic from the Comp class and the Elite women was pretty heavy and I had some difficulties in getting by some, however that’s the way that it goes on a course like this. When there was room, I was able to get by without getting held up too much. This happens at almost every WORS and MNSCS race, and those that get passed know what’s going on and do their best to make room, so it’s all good.


Mike Phillips is finding his form quickly after recovering from a knee blowout last spring.



Flying through one of the many fast corners, check out the tread...damp and tacky = mtb goodness.




Cruising down a sweet bridge.



A couple of dirty old men. 40+ fast guy Jeff Melcher and I giving each other a good ole’ fashioned beat down.


To my surprise, I managed to pull off an 8th place overall finish. If you’d have told me during my warm up that I would crack the top ten today, I would have laughed at you. My legs felt like crap during my warm up and it was all that I could do to get my HR over 160. My average HR for the race was 170, which was also a big surprise based on how my warm up went. I had just finished two pretty heavy build weeks of training and my legs were heavy from the efforts. At the same race last year, it was the same deal, tired legs which resulted in 15th overall, about 8:30 behind the winner. Today I was only 4:30 behind the winner, so I might be able to take that as a sign that I might be a little faster this year.


Race winner Marko Lalonde made the switch from the Dark Side riding a geared bike.



Despite having a good race, I didn’t get to stand on a box this time.


Marko Lalonde continued his stellar season with another win over a strong field, followed closely by TJ Woodruff. Mikey Phillips is continuing his recovery from and early season injury and making some great progress as he finished in 3rd, followed by Brendan Moore with Jesse Lalonde rounding out the top five. Full results can be found here.
While we were standing on the podium, some dude called me the ninja racer. I suppose it was because I kinda snuck up on him in the singletrack, then passed him in one of the open sections. Maybe it was also because of the all black Rassy kit and the mostly black Orbea Oiz. Whatever the reason, several of us got a good laugh out of it…


Next up is the 8th race of the IMBCS at Seven Oaks Ski Area near Boone, IA. Race director Ron DeGeest of Singletrack Promotions is pretty much a one man band and doing it all himself this year. Reports from last weekend are that the trails are in great shape and good to go for this weekend. I’m hoping for a good turn out as Ron has been working his butt off to put together a great event for this weekend!

Thanks for reading,

CK

The Tranquility / Ahquabi Double

Day one,

Fifty pounds of pasta in a five pound bowl… that’s how I would describe the trails at Tranquility Park in Omaha. Actually, a better description might fifty pounds of pasta in a five pound bowl fresh out of the oven. As Julie and I were driving to the course, a bank thermometerin Omaha had indicated that it was 100 degrees out. I’ve raced in hot weather before, but never this hot.
My legs were a little sore all day yesterday from another hard week of training, so I didn’t really know what to expect from them today. The other unknown was how my body would respond to the searing heat. The race started and the field seemed to more or less concede the hole shot to me as I didn’t really have to work that hard to take it. I lead the way into the woods and it seemed like I was going to do OK with the heat.


Leading the train on spaghetti hill.



Fresh out of the oven! It's so hot that everybodies skin is red.


About midway through the first lap I dropped my chain. As I was struggling to get it back on, Kevin shot by me and gained an immediate gap. I finally got my chain back on and began my pursuit. I finally reeled him back in shortly after the beginning of the second lap and once we hit the myriad of switchbacks he was able to reestablish a gap on me. We hit the open field on a hill and as I began to close the gap my body began to reject the effort. The heat was starting to catch up to me and as a result, I had no significant power when going uphill.
We hit some of the shaded sections of the course and I began to feel a little better. However whenever we hit the sunny sections, my body began to balk at any significant efforts. Throughout the second lap and the beginning of the third lap I kept persisting with effort in an attempt to pull Kevin back, however my body would have none of it. Sometime during the beginning of lap three, I finally began to realize that it wasn’t gonna happen today. So I put myself in survival mode and did what I could to finish and hang onto 2nd overall.
Kevin ended up finishing pretty strong and earned his first, much deserved Psycowpath win. He did his homework in course recon and had little to no trouble with the heat and that’s pretty much what it took to pull off the W. I managed to hold on for 2nd, followed by Jim Winklepeck, Jesse Peterson and Mark Savery. Just finishing was a significant accomplishment today as only 10 of the 17 that started the Pro / Cat 1 race finished.
Julie had another great race and managed to bring home the W in the women’s Cat 2 race. She said that she was able to back the pace off a little once she took the lead in order to save herself a little for tomorrow’s race.


Julie had no trouble with the heat or the spaghetti.



The 'goose was a fast bike for me...and she's a fast bike for Julie.


Day two,

The weather was much better for racing today with temps ranging anywhere from around 80 at the start, to around 90 at the finish. There were even a few moments when there were light sprinkles during the race.
The course at Lake Ahquabi State Park has been likened to the course for the Chequamegon 40, with it being mostly fast, flowing double track. I love racing there because it is very fast for a mountain bike race and makes for excellent Chequamegon preparation.
The race started and I was again given the hole shot. We hit the first climb and about halfway up, Kent Carlson pulled up next to me. I wasn’t really keen on giving up the lead, mostly because he was on a singlespeed and I knew that once we hit the flats, I’d get by him. He was about a wheel ahead of me at the top when he took a wrong turn. He pre-rode the course so he should have known where to go. I think that he’d gotten himself so cross-eyed that he kind of lost his mind at the top of the climb.


Cruisin' into the woods...I love hangin' out in the woods.


For the first half of a lap, I knew that Aaron was on my wheel, however I had no idea what was going on behind him. Shortly after that, I couldn’t hear anybody behind me. I took a look back and my suspicions were confirmed. I had already gapped the field and we still had 4 ½ laps to go. I kept the pressure on as I had no interest in giving anybody a free ride on this draft friendly course.
The remainder of the race was without incident and I managed to grab another win. Padawan Gammell and Aaron ended up duking it out to the bitter end and on the final climb, they managed to crash each other. Aaron managed to gather himself a little more quickly than Jed and took the ‘sprint’ for 2nd with Jed bringing home 3rd. Nate Kullborn brought home 4th and Kent made a nice recovery from his off course excursion to round out the top 5.
Bruce Brown and the MOB crew did another fine job in creating another great IMBCS race. This one is quickly becoming one of my favorites as it is close to home and suits a lot of my strengths really well.
Julie capped off another great weekend with another Cat 2 overall win. I am really anxious to see how she does in the Chequamegon 40, maybe a sub 3 hour race? We’ll find out in a little over a month!


Julie loves hangin' out in the woods too.


Next up is the race coined as the ‘Border Battle’. It’s a joint venture between the WORS and MNSCS series. I got my butt handed to me last year, mostly due to tired legs. I guess I’m kind of expecting the same thing this year as I’m in the middle of a pretty heavy build period. In races up north, the competition is so tight, that I can be a little off my game and I could loose 10 - 15 positions because of it. It’s all good though, if anything, it’ll be a great workout and a lot of fun!

Thanks for reading,

CK

Camp Ingawanis

After nearly a month off from racing, it was time to blow the cobwebs off of the race bike. I really had no idea what to expect from my legs, though I wasn’t really all that concerned about it. I was pretty excited to get back into race mode and all of my other concerns fell to the wayside.
I drove up to Ames to hang out with Julie for the weekend and we got some good rides in and around town on Friday and Saturday before the race. Sunday morning, we loaded up the Jeep and made the 2 hour drive up to Camp Ingawanis. I had talked to the race director, Rob Walters, earlier in the week and he had indicated that they had temporarily lost access to the northern section of trails due to some logging operation that was going on. This got me a little concerned about the course, as the majority of the trails were on the northern part of the property. They did manage to squeeze about 4 ½ miles of trail out of the southern section and when I did my recon lap, my concerns about the coursed quickly disappeared. They put together a pretty sweet course that made the 2 hour drive well worth it.
We lined up for the start and I bagged the holeshot, though I kinda sensed that the remainder of the Pro / Cat 1 field kinda conceded the holeshot to me. I didn’t get clipped in right away and had gotten off to a mediocre start. I should have gotten blown away at the start, however that didn’t happen.
I lead the way into the singletrack and knew that I would have a long train of riders behind me for a while. The nature of the trails were such that there were little to no sections that provided that ‘natural selection’ element that I always look for as a means of creating a gap between myself and the competition.
About midway through lap 1 I had managed to gap everybody less one person. That one person was glued to my wheel and I could tell by the way that he was riding that he was going to turn himself inside out to stay there. I had no idea who it was over the first couple of laps, however it didn’t really matter. I could only go so fast through the tight, twisty sections. So my only other option was to drill it on the open sections and short power climbs in hopes of wearing him down. All of the fast, open sections were short enough that by the time I had gotten myself unwound, it was already time to slow down so that I didn’t overcook the tight corner at the end. All of the climbs were also short enough, that by the time I got my momentum working for me, the trail would begin to level out.
It was probably around the beginning of lap three that I finally figured out that it was Aaron Robinett who was shadowing me. It was also at that same time that I found myself wondering if I was ever going to be able to shake him. I stuck to the plan and continued pushing the pace whenever possible. It wasn’t until we got part way into lap 3 that I sensed he was beginning to tire a little. Even though I couldn’t see, I could tell that there were moments when a small gap would open up between us. For a while, he would close it back up, however about midway through lap 3 the elastic had finally reached its’ breaking point. I kept the pressure on hoping that the gap would stick.
I kept the screws nice and tight throughout the last lap and a half and managed to hold him off by around 30 seconds. Kevin McConnell, Sean Noonan and Trevor Rockwell rounded out the top five. Aaron rode a great race and clearly had a plan of sticking with me, either waiting for me to tire or make a mistake. I rode a pretty good race too, good enough that Aaron’s plan didn’t quite work out this time. However, I don’t think that it will be long before he turns the table on me. I had a great time racing against him, and when he does get the best of me, I’ll be the first to congratulate him. I love good competition and would rather have a closely contested race rather than a blowout.
Julie also had a great race and took her first overall win in the Category 2 class. If she keeps it up, it won’t be long before she’s bangin’ bar ends with Robin Williams and Kim Eppen! Right now she’s riding my old Mongoose hardtail and she’s getting the snot knocked out of her on most of the bumpy sections of trail. Next year she’ll be on a full suspension and she’s only going to get faster!

Next up is another dirty double weekend. On Saturday we’ll be heading to Omaha for next installment of the Psycowpath series. It’s supposed to be 100 degrees with 25 mph winds with 45 mph gusts….my kind of race! On Sunday we’ll be at Lake Ahquabi State Park for IMBCS #7.

Thanks for reading,

CK

Another epic on pavement

If you’ve ever driven along I-70 between Frisco and Grand Junction, you’ve probably noticed a bike path that parallels the interstate. I’ve always been kind curious about the path and thought that it’d be kinda cool to check it out. So today, Andy and I hit the path towards Vail. Andy had to turn around after about 45 minutes because he had to catch a plane to Iowa. He’ll be working like a dog all of next week wrenching bikes for the Rassy camp at RAGBRAI. I continued on the bike path to Vail, and in the process, had a few close calls with other riders on the path. It seems to be really popular with slow moving retired folk. It also contained a few people that seemed to enjoy nipping the apex of some of the blind corners at high speeds on the wrong side of the path, despite warnings from signs. I actually felt safer on the highway! I rode through Vail and then hit highway 24 for Leadville. Highway 24 took me over two mountain passes, Battle Mountain Pass and Tennessee Pass. I noticed a set of railroad tracks that ran along the highway. At one time, they were supposed to be the highest mainline mountain pass tracks in the nation. My computer told me that the last train to use the tracks was back in 1997.


A sweet bridge on the south side of Battle Mountain Pass with train tracks running below.


I continued on to Leadville and then headed north on Highway 91 back towards Copper Mountain. Highway 91 took me by several mining operations, most of which are defunct, and one in particular, Climax Mine that is temporarily out of operation due to the low value of the mineral being mined. They mine something up there called molybdenum, an alloy that is used in the production of very hard steel. If you live downstream, I wouldn’t drink the water.
After passing over Fremont Pass, the real fun began. Part of Highway 91 is so steep, that my coasting speed got up 55 mph. It was a pretty windy day and the wind was pushing me from one side of the shoulder to the other. I’m really glad that I didn’t crash as it probably would have hurt worse than my crash in Durango.
At the end of the day, I logged about 108 miles and around 6,600 feet of vertical. All in all, a pretty sweet ride!


Fremont Pass and Climax Mine off to the right.



This sign means that you're fixin' to haul some serious booty.

Summit County Epic

Andy and I hit the local greasy spoon for some vittles and black gold to fuel up for one of those types of rides where we had no real plan other than riding all day and exploring. We started out on the West Aqueduct Trail, a trail that he actually did some trail work on as part of his job with Keystone. We connected onto the Red Trail and eventually hit the Colorado Trail. While on the Colorado, we hit a smooth section of trail that contained several screamin’ fast downhills coupled together with switchbacks. It was definitely one of my most fun, memorable moments on a mountain bike. I think that I have another new favorite section of trail! We dropped down into Breckenridge and Andy started talking about Daylight Donuts. I rarely eat donuts, however I love a good donut. As luck would have it, we rolled by the donut shop at about the same time as our midday break. We stopped, I bought a donut, I ate it and I enjoyed it.


Mmmmmm...donuts.


Part two consisted of the long trek up Boreas Pass Road, which was also a part of the Firecracker race course. We hit a few sections of singletrack that went along side the road until we hit the Bakers Tank Trailhead. We took the BT to Bakers Tank and discovered that we could either go up on what appeared to be a trail, ride back down Boreas Pass Road, or turn around. We decided on the ‘trail’ that went up and a short while later, we decided to turn around as we saw no evidence that it was actually a mountain bike trail. We headed back on Bakers Tank until we hit the Iowa Mill. The trail at Iowa Mill either went straight up, or straight down. We could see that trail heading up lead to a jeep road that appeared to go to the top of Mt. Baldy. The natural choice was to go up.
I kept riding upwards until the road got so steep, that it was virtually unrideable without tipping over backwards on my bike. My HR monitor told me that I was suckin’ wind, and that I was at about 12,200 feet in elevation. It was creepy and pretty amazing, very desolate, no trees and had some spectacular views of the Breckenridge Ski Resort and the surrounding mountains. Andy was somewhere below me, so I figured that I’d better head back down before we found ourselves on different trails.


Some crazy lookin' mining ruins above the tree line.



A sweet view of Breck from above the tree line.



Flyin' down the mountain back into the trees. Glad that I didn't crash there.


We reconnected part of the way down and eventually reconnected onto the Firecracker race course on the appropriately named Pinball Alley Trail. A tight, twisty section of singletrack that threads its’ way through unforgiving pine trees. We eventually hit Sally Barber road and took the screamin’ fast descent down to a section of trail called the B-Line. Squirrel would call this place heaven. I’ve never seen a larger collection of elevated bridges, all over the place. They were all nicely crafted and looked like a lot of fun. Andy took the high road on some, whereas I took the low road and stuck to the dirt as I was still a little psyched out from my intimate moment with the dirt in Durango.
We reconnected with the last section of the Firecracker course that went down into Breck. We took the bike path north and hit a little ditty that went around Lake Dillon before we decided to call it a day. We were out for a total of around 8 hours and covered something like 40 miles of singletrack. I’d call that a great day in the office…

401

So I had a major decision to make last night. My Dad met up with Julie and I last week and we were able to stay in his RV / tour bus. This thing is huge, plenty of room for all three of us and his varmint. He skipped town today and Julie flew back to DSM last Saturday. So I had to choose between staying in Durango by myself, or maybe drive up to Silverthorne and hang with Andy. I didn’t really feel like hangin’ out by myself and I hadn’t seen Andy in quite a while. We were long overdue for a beat down ride, so I hooked up with him in Crested Butte with the goal of riding the legendary 401 trail.
I made it to CB shortly after 11 and Andy rolled up on his bike about five minutes after I got there. There were a lot of heavy looking clouds hanging around and as we pondered the weather a lightning bolt flashed near the top of Mt. Crested Butte. Shortly thereafter, were heard the sound of thunder echoing off of the surrounding mountains…pretty cool, unless you’re looking to get a ride in. We sat around and shot the shyte for about an hour and finally decided to drive up to the trailhead. We made it up to the trailhead, got out of our cars, looked up to the heavens and saw that God was smiling upon us with several patches of blue sky within the clouds.
We unloaded the bikes, suited up and made our way up to the upper trailhead at Schofield Pass. No sooner did we start our ride and Andy decided that he wanted to cross swords with me. I heard Phil Ligget say that during the TDF coverage when Lance was talking to another rider during the race. I thought it was funny and thought I’d give it a try on the Rassy Blog, however I don’t think it worked out as well. Anyway, he was warm, I was cold. He went forward and it seemed as though I was going backwards…punk kids. About halfway up to Schofield Pass, I finally felt as though I was ready for a little more effort and returned the favor by applying my own brand of heat.
We made it to the upper trailhead and continued our quest for mountain biking bliss. We still had to do quite a bit more climbing, however it was all on singletrack, so it was all good. When the trail pointed downward, the big smile on my face became even bigger as we rocketed down the trail. I can see why the 401 gets so much press. If you like fast, flowy, serpentine singletrack that threads its’ way through Aspen groves, high altitude meadows full of beautiful, handle bar high flowers complete with spectacular views from top to bottom, this trail has your name all over it. The only problem with the trail…the entire loop only took us 90 minutes…way too short!


This is what the big dawgs look like when they win a big UCI race. Yep, I'm a poser.



This is what the big dawgs look like when they don't win a big UCI race.

Durango – Day 5

Animas City Mountain.


Decided to hit the dirt today and rode up Junction Creek Road to the Colorado Trailhead. Put in some good efforts because it is mostly uphill all of the way to a part of the trail that the locals call ‘High Point’. My guess is that it is a popular turn around point for most, even though the Colorado continues all of way to Denver. I rode up to Hoffheins, took Hoffheins to Dry Fork, then back up to the Colorado. Took the Colorado up to Highpoint, took a breather, ate a Probar and decided to continue up the trail. I could tell that there had been a lot of rain as the foliage was such that it became difficult to see the trail. I was still smarting in some areas from my wipeout, so I decided to turn around and head back into town.
Once back in town, I decided to swing by the Animas City Mountain for a lap. One lap up and around Animas nets about 1,600 feet of climbing and some pretty amazing views of Durango to the south, and the Animas River valley to the north. I got yelled at by some old people dawdling along the trail near the top. I gave warning twice and even rolled up to them at a walking pace. They finally noticed me and I apparently scared the crap out of them. The lady told me that I needed to say ‘bike back’, or something along those lines. I said that I did…twice and then told her that she needed pull her head out of her arse and pay better attention to her surroundings. I could have been a mean, hungry, big ole’ black bear for cryin’ out loud…I really didn’t say that. Instead, I rode thru and politely told them that I did say something.


The Animas River Valley to the north.



D-Town to the south.



It's kinda like eating ice cream, I'm always happy when I am eating ice cream or riding singletrack.

Durango – Day 4

The road up to Lemon Reservoir.


I left from the campground and rode through Durango with the intent of doing a big loop that included stops by Lemon and Vallecito Reservoirs. Then I headed south to Bayfield. I took highway 160 back towards Durango, which I will never do again, too much traffic and little to no shoulder. I took 160 until I hit highway 172. I rode on that until I hit the Ute Indian Reservation, where I had planned to turn around and head back. I rode into the parking lot of some casino, ate a little food, drank a little water and had this huge urge to relieve myself…so I did. Hope nobody saw me watering the grass. I ended up with right at 100 miles for the day and around 5,000 feet of vertical. Another great day of riding in the books!


The road up to Vallecito Reservoir.



The road around Vallecito crosses over the Pine River. I saw some dude fly fishing up stream. I watched him pull a boot out of the river.

Durango – Day 3

Decided to do an easy ride with Julie today. We left D-town on our bikes and took 160 up to the Dry Fork trailhead. We took Dry Fork up to the Colorado Trail and then took the Colorado down into Durango for a nice three hour ride. The ride contained some of the sweetest singletrack that I’ve ever laid tracks on. Words cannot do it justice, so if you’d like a better description than what is here, you’re gonna have to come out and experience it yourself. I cannot believe how quickly Julie is picking up this whole mountain biking thing. She successfully rode through some very technical, uphill and downhill rock gardens that I wouldn’t have done if I’d only been riding for a year. She will most likely be taking on a more active role in my annual women’s mountain biking clinic this fall!


You can tell from Julie's smile that she loves buff singletrack just as much as I do.



This little varment wandered over to the cliff at Gudy's Rest while Julie and I were hanging out. I think he was scoping out the trail below (in background), he was probably trying to figure out what lines he was going to take once he got down there.



I think that's the cow that tried to hump Shim a few years ago.



Love the Aspen groves.

Durango – Day 2

Decided to let my body heal a little and hit the road for a hundy. I rode west to Mesa Verde, paid the $8 admission into the park and did another 16 or so miles until I hit the highest point on the road. I stopped for about 10, ate some Pop Tarts, enjoyed the view of the mesa’s off in the distance, then turned around for the ride home. The park was a nice break from the heavy traffic on highway 160, it kinda felt like I was in de-tox from all of the diesel fumes that I had inhaled on 160. I ended up with about 5 hours of ride time and just over 7,000 feet of net verticality on the day.


Mesa Verde is a pretty cool national park. I think the Pueblo Indians decided to split in search of new digs in the 1200's. Good ole' Teddy Roosevelt decided to establish the land as a national park in an effort to preserve what was left of the ruins.



There has to be some sweet singletrack down there somewhere...



This is where I ate my Pop Tarts.

Durango – Day 1 – Crash and Burn.

Sweet trail maps at almost every intersection.


Julie and I rode over to the Telegraph Trails. I wanted to get a good, hard workout in and because the Telegraph Trails have trail maps at almost every intersection, I figured that it would be a great place for Julie to ride on her own while I go out and beat myself to a pulp. I told her that if she needed to stop to take a load off, to make sure that she stopped in an open space and not to converse with any strange snakes, especially if they have a rattle.
So, I rode the Telegraph Trail to the top and started ripping it up down the descent on Crites Connect. I’ve ridden the trail probably 30 times before and was familiar enough with it that I felt comfortable letting it all hang out. As I was rounding a fast corner, I saw a very large rock sitting in the middle of the trail that I’d never seen before. As soon as I saw the rock, I knew that I was screwed. I tried to go around it, however my front tire clipped it enough that it sent me flying OTB. The next thing I know, I’m sliding down the trail head first on my back. I had a Camelback on and I remember waiting for it to burst from my body bouncing on and off of it while I was sliding down the trail. When I finally stopped, I kinda laid there and waited for the cloud of dust to settle. I moved my arms and legs, nothing seemed to be broken, so I got up, picked my bike up and gave it a once over. Everything seemed to be fine. From what I could tell, I only had a few small cuts on my legs and some scrapes on my elbows and shoulders. I dusted myself off and motored on.
About an hour into the ride, I noticed that my front wheel was a little out of whack, though it wasn’t enough to prevent me from continuing on. I rode for another hour or so and headed back to the car where Julie was waiting for me. I got off the bike and almost fell over. I didn’t really realize just how beat up I was.


If it wasn't for the Camelback, my back would look like raw hamburger...stop looking at my underwear.



Technical, rocky uphill.



Technical, rocky downhill.



The Anasazi Descent in the distance. If you crash there, it's not going to feel very good.



Durango goodness. It would suck to crash here too.


When I replay the incident in my head, I really can’t believe just how lucky I was. As fast as I was going, I should have broken something on my body. The bike actually came through it all pretty good too. A partially taco’d front wheel and a cracked stem. I had another wheelset with me and I found a stem at a local bike shop for $40. Two hours later she was as good as new!

Avon

I’ve been not so good with the daily posts, lot’s of stuff going on since we got here. We stayed at Julie’s brothers’ house in Avon until Tuesday. The day after the Firecracker, Julie and I rode to the farmers market in Vail. What a zoo! Elbow to elbow people, lot’s of food stands, trinket stands with the usual tourist junk. We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant away from all of the chaos of the market, then headed back to the ranch. Good ride, beautiful scenery and some good quality time with my female!


Sweet view from Steve's pad. He and his wife were kind enough to put us up and put up with us for a few days.


The next day Julie’s brother, Steve and I headed out for a couple of sweet mountain bike rides. We started off by doing part of a loop called the ‘A-10’ loop that threads its’ way through Beaver Creek. At some point we left the A-10 loop onto a trail that pointed skyward. Steve had mentioned that part of the trail had a lengthy hike-a-bike section. Whenever somebody mentions that, my enthusiasm perks up and I take it as a challenge. So we hit the bottom of the hike-a-bike and I took off determined to clean it. I made it about 20 feet before I began to quickly realize that riding up was not going to be an option. Hike-a-bike sections can kinda suck at times, however as Blood, Sweat and Tears used to sing, ‘What Goes Up, Must Come Down’! The descent was pretty sweet. I took the lead and continued downward and lost myself in mountain biking bliss.
A lot of the tread was pretty greasy, which made for some sketchy sections. Some parts of the trail were difficult to see with some of the vegetation covering parts of the trail. Whenever I encounter sections like this, I usually assume that the trail is clear and I just blow through it. While doing this, I sometimes think about how it would suck if there were to be a root or rock waiting to grab a hold of my front tire. As this thought was passing through the void between my ears, something reached out and grabbed my front tire. Next thing I know, I’m lying in the weeds. I took a look back up the trail and sure enough, there was a wet root, glistening in the sunlight tucked underneath some vegetation. No harm done thankfully, no lost skin, the bike was still intact. I picked myself up and continued on with the same level of reckless abandon. We finished the ride, loaded the bikes up and headed down the highway to Eagle for some more singletrack goodness. We did a 90 minute loop on trails that were very similar to the Telegraph Trails in Durango. The first half of the ride was all uphill. The second half of the ride was some of the best downhill trail that I’ve ever ridden. Very fast, swooping trails with a lot of opportunities to catch some good air.
Steve and Tina had scored four dukes to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra playing at the Vail Amphitheater. They were doing a tribute to the music of John Williams. They played the Star Wars theme song and it was very cool, kinda like being at the movie. There were a lot of older people there, yes, older than me and it smelled a lot like old lady perfume everywhere. Other than that, it was a pretty sweet show.
The next day, I dusted off the road bike and hit the road with the intention of riding to Frisco on what is mostly bike path. As I was rolling through Avon, I found myself following another cyclist on the road. We passed under I-70 and I saw a sign that said 36 miles to Leadville. I realized that I had missed my turn, however the road had a nice shoulder, so I continued on. Highway 24 to Leadville rolled over two mountain passes, Tennessee Pass and another, can’t remember the name. Leadville sits at a thin 10,400 feet, however the altitude didn’t really seem to bother me much. Once I hit Leadville, I stopped at a gas station, drank some water, ate some Fig Newtons and bs’d with another cyclist from Dallas. After about 10 minutes, I turned around and headed back. Sweet ride! After the ride, Julie and I loaded the Jeep up and hit the road for Durango.