IMBCS Finale by Cam Kirkpatrick

Stage racing. What a cool way to celebrate the end of another season in Iowa! Add to that, a stage race at the best mountain bike trail in the state. IMBCS #9 consisted of a three stages, a time trial, a short track cross country and the traditional cross country race.
I arrived at Seven Oaks about 90 minutes before the scheduled start of the first stage, the time trial. The weather was cool, probably somewhere in the upper 40’s. As the start approached, I remember looking at the parking lot and feeling a little disappointed at the small turnout. We have a lot of mountain bikers in Iowa, close to 200 people are registered users on the IORCA group on Yahoo. I think a lot about how to get more people to attend our races and can speculate on a number of possible reasons, but I can’t come up with anything definitive. Any ideas out there?
I suited up and went out for my pre-ride. This was especially important because the time trial was the cross country course run in the reverse direction. I started riding and could immediately tell that something wasn’t quite right. My legs felt flat and I felt pretty clumsy through some of the technical sections.
We were started at one minute intervals and I started somewhere in the middle of the pack. My one minute man was Fig Nooner, he likes to spar with the trees. This is especially dangerous for him because he has no formal martial arts training. I think it’s kind of funny when he rides in tight singletrack behind me when we are going hard because he makes a bunch of strange grunting noises whenever he gets into an altercation with a tree. My start time had arrived and I took off up the hill. My legs began to burn almost instantly as I wound my way up the hill. I didn’t really feel all that strong. It shouldn’t be that way when you are nearing the end of the season and should be in peak form.
I caught up to Nooner about ten minutes in and when I got close to him he cleared out of the way, more so than I would have expected him to. Thanks dude. I could hear him behind me for a short while trying to hang on. I was disappointed however, because I was expecting to hear the familiar grunting sounds of Nooner bouncing off of some trees but it didn’t happen. Not within my hearing range anyway. This was probably a good thing though because it would have been a little distracting. At Seven Oaks, I need to focus 100% on the trail because there are too many easy opportunities to have my own altercations with trees, roots, rocks and dropoffs.
I caught my two minute man, Sean Meyers about five or ten minutes after I passed Nooner. I pressed on and finished with a time of 28:39, about 75 seconds ahead of second place WWJ. My fastest lap at Seven Oaks, forward or backwards. Talk about a big surprise! I did expect to do well despite my legs feeling like a couple wet noodles. Even though my legs felt like they were full of lead, my bike handling was pretty good and that helped quite a bit. Mountain biking is just as much a mental game as it is physical. It is impossible to be 100% on top of your game in every aspect at every race. I’ve also had races where my bike handling was a little off, but my legs felt great. In this case, I knew that my legs weren’t quite there, so I had to compensate by focusing a little harder on faster lines and being smooth through the corners, carving rather than sliding. I didn’t push as hard going up the climbs, which made it a lot easier to concentrate on the descents and other technical areas.
The short track race followed about two hours later. The best thing to do in this situation is to hydrate, eat a little to stave off hunger and keep the legs spinning as much as possible. My plan going in was to sit in and observe. I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint because I don’t think of myself as much of a sprinter. The race started and things began to unfold exactly as I had expected. Nooner and DQ were the main antagonists over the first half of the race, constantly attacking. This worked out great for myself and Grand Master Lou. We both sat in near the front doing as little work as possible. I had to reel in a couple of attacks to prevent any substantial gaps from forming. About midway through the race, Nooner put in a hard attack that pretty much shelled everybody but myself and Nathan Kline. I was very surprised not to see Grand Master Lou there. I found out later that his knee was flaring up on him again and that he had to pull out. That’s too bad because I think that he could have probably had his way with us today.
Nooner was able to establish a small gap and when I realized that nobody else was going to try to bridge, I took off after him. I caught up to him and brought Nathan with me. I had covered an earlier attack and was able to separate myself from the group earlier in the race. That gave me a lot of confidence in that when I chose to attack near the end, that I could create a gap and maintain it to the end. I sat on Nooners wheel, with Nathan on my wheel, for a couple of laps and made him do all of the work to maintain our gap on the field. It was at this point that I decided when there was about ten minutes left, I was going to attack and try and separate myself from Nooner and Nathan.
Nooner kept looking back, trying to persuade me to pull through to help maintain our gap. I looked back a couple of times and could tell that nobody was going to catch up to us any time soon, so I continued to sit in. With about ten minutes left I uncorked a pretty strong attack going into the headwind and immediately established a gap. I was able to hold the gap for a lap or two until Nathan clawed his way back up to me without Nooner. I pulled Nathan around for about a lap or two. I looked back at him with about two laps to go and told him to help out a little. He wasn’t obligated to, but he did anyway. I made him pull for the remainder of the race and I kept waiting for my legs to recover from my attack to attack him again. They never recovered to the point where I felt that I could have attacked and held on. So it came down to a sprint. We rounded the final corner with Nathan in the lead. As soon as we exited the corner Nathan accelerated into a sprint. I responded almost immediately and found the extra gear to come around him right at the finish. I ended up winning the sprint by about the width of a fat tire. I definitely didn’t expect to be in a sprint with Nathan. I thought of him more as a pure mountain biker rather than a rider with enough power to challenge in a sprint. I’ve known Nathan for a couple of years now and he has made some tremendous improvements as a mountain bike racer. If he does the series next season, he will be one of the guys that I will need to watch out for.
Shortly after the race, I headed home. One of the keys to successful stage racing is recovery. This is mainly accomplished through diet and very light exercise. On the way home I drank a bottle of R4 and ate a Power Bar protein bar. I got home, changed clothes and went to the gym for about 90 minutes of light stretching. My legs always feel a lot better after stretching, especially after a race.
Sunday morning arrived and the weather conditions were once again ideal. I went out for my pre-ride and could tell that my legs felt a little better than yesterday. The race started and after a little resistance from Nathan, I was able to get in front and lead the way into the singletrack. Nathan was on my wheel all of the way up the hill. Once we hit the descent I was able to drop him on the fast, but technical roller coaster section of trail that has become one of my all time favorite sections of singletrack anywhere. I continued to establish my gap throughout and once I knew that I had a solid gap I backed off on the throttle a little and enjoyed my last race of the Iowa season at Seven Oaks. I ended up winning the race by about three minutes, with WWJ coming in second and Nathan Kline coming in third about 30 seconds behind WWJ.
So needless to say, I won the stage race and nailed down my second IMBCS overall points title in a row. I was very thankful to have done as well as I did over the weekend because I was definitely not on top of my game all weekend. It was all about mind over matter this time around.
I’ve been asked a couple of times who I think will step up next year as my main competition. I had mentioned Nathan earlier. If Brian Eppen and Cully Todd decide to do the series next year than they will definitely present a huge challenge. Brian is, hands down, the fastest guy in Iowa. I will be very surprised if he doesn’t upgrade from semi pro to pro for next season. He had a great season doing to WORS series, finishing third overall for the series. I would be pretty surprised if did the IMBCS next year, other than a couple of races that fit into his schedule. Chia Chad is another possibility if I can get him to change his focus from the road to the dirt. Come on Chia, you’re really a mountain biking greaser like the rest of us that is slipping into denial by continuing with your persistence of racing on the road. WWJ improved throughout the season and had a strong finish. I think this will carry into next season for him. If Fig Nooner can shed a few more pounds, man boobs included, he’ll be a lot stronger next season. He’ll be stronger regardless, but it always helps if you can shed any unnecessary ballast. All kidding aside, he’ll be out there in the dead of winter pounding out the base miles just like a select few others, myself included. That will eventually pay huge dividends for him and others that do the same. There are a few others that I could mention, but I’m tired of writing.
My last race of the season is the Psycowpath finale at Platte River State Park on October 29th. Rumor has it that pro’s Travis Brown, Steve Tilford and Cameron Chambers will be there. I hope they race and don’t kick my arse too bad. Even if they do, it will still be a great experience toein’ the line with them.

Thanks for reading,

Cosmo

SWEET COSTUME!!!

Don't forget about the Halloween Party at Rasmussen's this coming Saturday.

Info below!

Halloween Party

HALLOWEEN PARTY!

Rasmussen Bike Shop would like to invite you to our Halloween Party!

Saturday, October 29th 4:30 - 7:30pm

301 Grand Ave. West Des Moines

We will bring plenty of food and (adult) beverages

We will also be GIVING AWAY a ton of stuff.
Special Rasmussen Bike Shop Halloween stickers and t-shirts!
Door prizes.
Best costume prizes.
Hey-I-think-you're-pretty-funny-lookin prizes.
Plus whatever other prizes we can think up.
Plus if you want ot buy anything we'll discount it greatly!

6:30 BIKE LIMBO CONTEST!!!
6:45 BUNNY HOP CONTEST!!!

COUCHES WILL BE OUT
POOL TABLE OPEN
& THE FRIDGE FULL

So swing by our party on your way to another one or stick around for THE SPOOKY WOODS RIDE which starts from our shop at 7:30. That is a nighttime mountain bike ride culminating in camp fires, scary stories and no doubt even more (adult) beverages.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!
(Insert evil and demonic laugh here)
Call 515.277.2636 for Qs

Pics of the IMBCS Stage Race at Boone

The Dirty Double, Part Two by Cam Kirkpatrick

Day One - Psycowpath #5, NORBA Nebraska State Championship, Indian Cave State Park, Nebraska

If you like to climb hills that reduce you to your granny gear than you will love Indian Cave State Park. Located near the Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska border, Indian Cave State Park is right on the Missouri River. The trail system there receives a lot of horse traffic, which consequently, makes the trails pretty rough. I brought both of my bikes thinking that I might want to bust out the full suspension because last year I remember feeling like I had the back of a 90 year old after the race.
During the pre-ride my legs felt really good. I always make this assessment with a little apprehension, because I never seem to know for sure exactly how my legs are going to respond to the violence that I subject them to in a mountain bike race. Especially a course like Indian Cave. I was also struggling with which bike to use. I rode my hardtail during the pre-ride thinking that would most likely be my choice. On the flats and descents, I was thinking full suspension. In a lot areas, the trails were pretty rough from the horse traffic. The descents were going to be very fast and contained a lot of water bars that would guarantee some air time if you wanted it. However when the terrain turned upward, I had a lot of difficulty getting myself excited about carrying five extra pounds of weight uphill. After the pre-ride I thought about where the race might be won or lost. Typically it is a lot easier to create large gaps when the hills are long and/or steep. It’s usually pretty easy to hang with somebody on the flats and descents. The hardtail became the obvious choice.
As we were lining for the start, I saw a few faces that I didn’t recognize. The usual contenders were there along with Tony Wilhelm, who made the drive from Kansas City. Tony is a cyclo-cross specialist and likes to take off like a bat out of hell at the start of races. The race started and sure enough, Tony was off the front and immediately began to create a gap. We hit a narrow section of the start loop and Greg Shimonek slotted in between Tony and myself. The gap grew larger and I knew that if I was going to try and stick with Tony, I needed to get past Greg before it was too late.
As soon as we exited to short start loop, I passed Greg and caught up to Tony. The first climb was very long and gradual. It can easily be done in the middle ring, however the very end of the climb crescendo’s into a granny gear climb that brings the lactic acid in your legs into a full boil.
I managed to hang onto to Tony until about halfway up the climb. I could feel myself starting to dip into the red zone and thought that it was way too early to be getting myself cross-eyed so I let him go. I got to the top of the climb and Tony already had a small gap on me. I looked behind me and much to my surprise, saw nobody. We had gone out so hard that we managed to drop the entire field within the first two miles! Cool. I decided to try and keep the pressure on and recover at the same time. Irrational thoughts like this are a common symptom with the onset of getting cross-eyed. Thankfully my legs were still feeling somewhat rational and wouldn’t allow me to keep the pressure on.
I settled into a comfortable pace and about halfway through the first lap I could see Darin Schlake coming up from behind. He was closing the gap up on the hills and I managed to keep him at bay on the flats and descents.
Near the end of the first lap, a spectator told me that Tony was about 40 seconds up. Darin was still hovering behind me about 20 seconds back. During one of the climbs on the second lap, I started feeling a lot better. I knocked it down a couple of cogs and started hammering up the hill. I never heard nor did I see Darin again until after the race. About halfway through the second lap, another spectator said the gap to Tony was around 30 seconds. Hearing this did nothing but fuel my fire. I started going even harder up the climbs, knowing the climbs would be my best opportunity to gain ground.
Near the end of the second lap, I could see Tony up the trail as I started up the long climb near the start of the lap. I knocked it down a cog and punched it. As I hit the granny gear part at the end of the climb I had almost completely closed the gap. Tony jumped off his bike cyclo-cross style and ran up the hill. I rode up the hill and by the time I had gotten to the top I had exerted so much energy that I felt dizzy, it was a pretty creepy feeling. As we started going downhill I managed to completely close the gap. At this point I knew the race was mine to loose. I rode Tony’s wheel until we hit the start/finish area. I passed him and he rode my wheel for a couple of miles. I kept the pressure on hoping that I could drop him sooner rather than later.
As we began the first long climb of the third (and last) lap I turned the screws a little more. I could tell without looking behind that he was struggling to hang on. At the top of the climb, I looked back and was very happy to see that I had established a pretty good gap. I buried my head and kept the pressure on. I never looked back again and just maintained my focus. I was hitting my lines on the descents and catching some sweet air off the water bars. On the climbs I focused on pushing as big of a gear as possible while still maintaining my high cadence that I seemed to have become notorious for.
I crossed the finish line in 1st with about 40 seconds to spare on Tony. Darin Schlake came across the line in third, about five minutes back as the repeat Nebraska State Champion. Two wins in a row in the Nebraska Psycowpath Series. If somebody would have told me a couple of years ago that I would win a couple of these, I would have looked at that person and asked what they had been smokin’. I’m in the drivers seat for the series overall now. If I win the last race then I win the expert open title for the series. Cool. I’m not sure how things will shake out if I don’t win and I’m not going to worry too much about it. I’ll be gunning for nothing less than my third Psycowpath win a row. The last race is October 29 at Platte River State Park. I’ve never really had a good race there, I hope to change that.

Day Two - IMBCS #8, Kendall Young Park, Webster City, IA

I woke up this morning and laid in bed for about 30 minutes, wondering how my legs were going to feel once I finally got the energy to drag my sorry carcass out of bed. I managed to struggle out of bed and much to my surprise, the legs felt OK. I went downstairs, got my stuff together and loaded the car up. I stopped by Starbucks for a cup of Joe, filled another cup with Mueslix and hit the road for Webster City.
The course at Kendall Young Park in Webster City is a mixed bag. It has a lot of everything, except the epic climb. Damn!!! I suited up and went out for my pre-ride. The course basically consists of two halves, an open park area in which the course winds throughout an open grassy area. The other half consists of some of the sweetest singletrack I’ve ever rolled my tires on in Iowa. I rode the singletrack half first and did two complete circuits of the singletrack section to get some good lines dialed in. I rode the grassy field only once to try and minimize the accumulation of sand in my drive train.
The race started in the grassy park area and my only real concern with the start being in this area was Grand Master Lou. I knew that he could fly in this area due to it’s non-technical nature and I wanted to make sure that I was the first person into the singletrack. Grand Master Lou is a roadie and can actually handle a bike pretty damn good for a roadie. However whenever he enters wooded singletrack, he can’t seem to curb his insatiable desire to spar with the trees. Grand Master Lou, the trees will always win….
Thad issued the go command and we were off. I led the way and rode through the smaller sandy sections, being careful to hit as little sand as possible. I dismounted and ran through the longer sandy section. This would prove to be a good choice as the sand, combined with the water crossing, would stake it’s claim on several drive trains. I looked back and saw that Grand Master Lou was leading the remainder of the field. This inspired me to push the pace a little harder to secure my gap going into the singletrack..
My wish was granted, I entered the singletrack first and actually had a pretty good gap. My legs were actually feeling OK and felt pretty confident that I could maintain my current pace throughout the race. I rode through the tight sections with smooth lines and chose to run over the biggest log crossing cyclo-cross style rather than try to ride over it. Having the skills to ride over big logs is cool, however I will always opt for the fastest way over obstacles rather than the coolest.
The remainder of the race was pretty uneventful and my gap steadily increased throughout the race. I did have a lot of chain suck going on and it always seemed to occur while I was going uphill. I would have to back peddle just enough to break my chain loose and simultaneously lose my climbing impetus. Thankfully the uphill sections were short. The laps were also short and I consequently had to deal with a lot of lapped traffic. As usual, the lapped riders were very accommodating when I passed and it was greatly appreciated. Iowa racers kick ass, many thanks!
I ended up winning the race by about 5 minutes and nailed down my first double win weekend ever. Cool! I was really surprised at how good my legs felt after the abuse that I subjected them to yesterday. I know that it had a lot to do with what I ate throughout the weekend. I don’t remember exactly what I did eat, but I can tell you that it didn’t include beer, pizza, hamburgers or French fries. I plan to consume a lot of those items shortly after October 29. Anybody care to join me during my one or two day binge?

A couple of random thoughts. Squirrel is the man when it comes to handling a bike. Anybody that thinks they can take him down in Denman’s is kidding themselves. The only way that anybody will ever take him down is if he crashes…. Several times. Thanks for kicking my ass in Denman’s dude, I’m a better bike handler because of it. I’m looking forward to having greasey tacos and a beer with you. Jeremy Venable still looks like Davy Crockett. Tracy Thompson asked me for my autograph at the Webster City race and I said no. So instead he had to settle for fondling my sweaty, skanky saddle. That’s gross dude. I have a question for all of the sport guys that raced at Webster. Did Q*bert beat you because of his fitness? Or was it because he got the holeshot at the start and nobody wanted to risk tainting themselves by getting to close to his highly visible butt crack? That is also very gross. Lastly, I’d like to offer a big thank you to Thad, Nick the Wooley mammoth and the rest of the Team 14 crew for putting on the race. It was first class as always. This may not make sense, but I hate the sand and water but that is also one of the things that I love about mountain biking. Great job with the course.

Next up on the dirt is the IMBCS finale, a stage race at Seven Oaks. Anybody that has ever raced a mountain bike better be there. It will be another first class event run by a bunch of first class people, contested by a bunch of first class racers. Hope to see you there. I plan to fill the gaps between now and Seven Oaks with a few cross races.

Thanks for reading,

Cosmo Napoleon

Cyclo-Cross Country Race at Kendall Young Park

By: Pete Basso

Sunday marked the second to last race of the year for our Iowa Series. It was a perfect day to race, originally there was a threat of rain but no-go on the rain, all we had was sun and mild heat in the 80's.The day started out with Lou, Donny, Andi W., Brian, Terri, John C, Andy L, Bill and Dennis all meeting at Anni and I's house. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what was going on out there so early in the AM.

After a quick stop at Kum & Go we hit the highway towards Webster City. As we passed Hickman Rd. I saw one of the bikes on Brian and Terri's jeep fall off at 60+ mph. "Look out, a bike just fell off the rack", I yelled at Bill. Strangely nothing ever hit the ground. We were two cars back so we couldn't see everything, but Donny and Lou were right behind them. We pulled over and thankfully JC's bike was holding on by a thread from the rack. Miracuously, no damage to the car or the bike other than some very minor scratches. We readjusted the bikes and we on our way.

Arriving at Kendall Young Park we could see the ground was very dry as the cars in front of us kicked up enough dust that none of us could even see the other cars. After changing into our riding gear and throwing insults at one another we all hit the trail to see what the day's mission was going to be. The first part of the course was a "Cyclo-Cross" course that consisted of riding in grass, sand, more grass, more sand and two creek crossings. After you spun your guts out here then you had to ride over an 80 foot spill way with about 6 - 8 inches of water on it and finally the sweet stuff...nice twisty, turny, single-track. Kendall Young surprised the few of us that had not ridden there before. These trails, although short in mileage, we awesome. They offered a nice variety of everything, even some downhills and serious log obstacles to go a little crazy on.

We gathered for the start of the race and watched the experts take off first. Cam, no doubt, led the way with a host of others following close behind. We launched two minutes after they did. The initial launch started on a gravel road then up around the north shelter and back down to the grassy / sandy loop at the front of the park. We were scheduled to do 4. 5 laps today. Each lap was about 3.5 miles in length. This would be a short race in comparision to the last two cross country races we've done.

Thad shouted, "on your marks, get set" then he paused for what felt like an eternity. I false started causing a hesitation on my start then he yelled, "GO". I was off kilter at this point and didn't get a good start. I saw Donny in the corner of my eye come screaming out front. My plan was to either get in front of him or stay right behind him through the field. Donny has been training hard and losing a lot of weight. He has been getting stronger by the day and I knew he wanted to win this race.I tried to stay with Donny through the front part of the course but "Whitey" was spinning his guts out. Just before heading up to the north shelter again, Tracy and Andy passed me with Bill right behind me. Everything stayed pretty much the same going through the single track until we passed the spill way and headed into the sand. Conlan came out of nowhere to pass everyone and take second place. As rode through this deep sand I started to get "chain suck" causing me to have to back pedal about 10 times to keep the chain from breaking. The same thing was happening to Tracy. Tracy and I were now riding together with Bill, John, and Andy in front of us by about 20 seconds. Tracy and I went back into the single track with both of us screaming at our bikes. Tracy's chain suck was a little worse then mine causing him not to be able to shift into his middle ring on front. We talked about the points standings and how this would affect us if we stopped but we both decided to keep going. Tracy had to slow down because of the problems so I sped up ahead of him. Now I was riding on my own, periodically seeing Donny, Bill, JC or Andy. The smallest gap I could calculate was about 30 seconds away. As I was riding the course I saw Chris Maharry with a flat, the Jay Chesterman, then I saw Lou standing by his car, then Brian P. I kept wondering what was going on. Should be riding more cautiously? Why is everyone having so many troubles...

I was coming around on my third lap when I started feeling stronger and my cadence was much smoother until I hit the deep sand again. Taking a hard right turn, down a 4 ft. ravine, my tire dug in, spun to the right and I was on my back sliding down the trail in what felt like a flash of a second. I have no idea what happened. I jumped back up, covered in sand and dirt, got on my bike and rode another 90 ft when I fell again. "What is going on?" I yelled. Madder than hell, I jumped back on my bike and rode through the two creeks with a vengenence. I felt like I was punishing my bike for bucking me off twice. Although, my bike was punishing me for taking it through water, then through sand, back through water, back through sand. This is not what these bikes are made to tackle in a race. Sand and water are the arch enemies of these aluminum / titanium horses.

Starting my fourth and final lap I was riding better than I had all day, however, with every hard crank, my chain would suck up into my frame preventing me from really attacking the hills and flats. In a moments notice, a light bulb appeared above my balding scalp with the idea of using my water bottle to clean my chain while I'm riding. BRILLIANT!! More like...duh, why didn' t you think of that two laps ago idiot! I could see Andy up ahead what seemed to be 30 seconds ahead. I felt like I could catch him on the sprint to the finish so I really pushed it the last half a lap. I could see him up ahead and I was gaining on him, but he could see me too so he was pushing harder as well. He ended up finishing a few seconds ahead of me to take a fourth place finish and me a fifth place finish.

Overall the race was a lot of fun. I could've done without the sand and would've loved to ride the single track more, but everyone course has it's characteristics. That's just how mountain biking is. Congrats to Donny for his focus on training and losing weight, it is paying off huge. I made a remark to Donny earlier in the season that if he ever beat me in a mtb race on a single speed I quit mountain biking. Now he is making me eat my words. Although I won't give up mountain biking, (sorry Ann, I'm sure you were smiling for a second there), I do have to bow to Donny and offer my apologies for being such an idiot. Great job my friend.

Also, congrats to John Conlan and Bill Fanter for what I think was their best race of the year. My brother John threw down the gaunlet to let everyone know that he is the real deal!! John has really stepped up his fitness lately and now he is a marked man. We all knew Bill had it in him, he has finished in the top three to five all year. Yesterday, Bill finished second and JC finished third. They both rode strong and displayed great technical handling skills. I could hear JC yelling behind me as we leaped over the double log jump section, then hit the downhill. I love to hear people having fun when they ride. That got my blood pumping too!!

Congrats to Cam Kirkpatrick for taking first place in this race after he put a beating on the expert field in Nebraska on Saturday. Cam won his second Nebraska race on a course that is about 80% climbs. Indian Caves is one of the toughest courses I've ridden in the entire Midwest. Cam won that race on Sat, then turns around and puts a lashing on the expert field Sunday. I think it's time to get Cam into the Norba Series to show them how tough the Iowa boys are.

I want to say thanks to Thad & Bruce Neil, Nick Wolley and the rest of the crew for setting up the course, giving away some very sweet swag, and dialing us in with an incredible dinner after the race. That was a great touch!! Thad, you always do a great job putting on the races, we all appreciate your hard work and efforts!!

Next race is on Oct 8th & 9th at Seven Oaks. This is the final race of the year. We are scheduled to do three races on that weekend; short track, criterium, and cross country. This will be a tough weekend, but a lot of fun at the same time. After that...it's going to be a fun fall with lots of long, epic rides at slow paces and lots of coffee!! Can't wait!!

Double the Gimp - Double the FUN!

WOW! If you haven't been in to the bike shop lately be sure to swing down to see an awesome sight! Both Greg and Sterling are wearing arm slings.

Greg had surgery done on his shoulder after a freak accident while impersonating Tiger Woods and Sterling broke his collar bone on the flatest, smoothest section of Denmans. Greg's right arm is immobilized, and Sterling's left.

Separate, Greg and Sterling are only capable of very simple tasks such as opening doors and waving. But together, they are as one... capable of counting to ten and applauding.

Get well soon guys!

Targhetto Action

IMBCS #7 – Ridin’ On Rails by Cam Kirkpatrick

It’s really unfortunate when unjustified, bad press adversely affects great events. Such was the case with the Sycamore/Targhetto Time Trial. In the weeks prior to the event, I’d heard nothing but bad things about the Sycamore Trail and I think it had somewhat of a negative impact on the number of participants. On the Thursday before the event, I went out to recon the course and much to my surprise the trail was in about the same condition as it had been in previous years. There seemed to be more trash strewn about and an abundance of burned out cars. There was also a lot of standing water in the ruts that had accumulated from the rain that we had received a couple of days prior.
I rode the course again on Friday with WWJ and it had dried up considerably, though there was still some standing water in the ruts. As we were riding along the road that parallels the river, we can across some knucklehead driving his Ford F150 along the road. The driver looked at me as I passed and said that he was going to drag a car out of the area. I would have loved to have said something like ‘I don’t care what you think you are doing you jackass, get the hell off of our trail!’. I exercised a little restraint and only said ‘Thanks for screwing up our trail’. We rode a couple of laps of what we thought was going to be the course and as we were leaving the brick yard area the same knucklehead and his knucklehead friends were dragging an upside down minivan into the area. The hood was propped open on the pickup and apparently the idiots blew the motor up trying to drag the minivan across the rutted out dirt road. When we rode by them they looked pissed, so I looked at them and laughed. As we headed back down the access road we could see spots of red paint from the roof of the van all along the road. Stupid people suck. To add to the ghetto atmosphere, Chia was riding the trail later that day and said he saw two dudes ‘pleasuring’ each other. Referring to them as dudes is probably about as appropriate as their choice of venue for their activities.
On race day I got to the course about an hour early and went out for a pre-ride. Pre-riding and knowing a course like this is huge. It’s such a short race that it becomes even more important to know the trail. I went out on my ride solo so that I could focus on picking the best lines and not have to worry about carrying on a conversation with someone. I got back to the start area and checked out the starting order. I saw that I was about halfway down the list, so after Chris gave the pre-race announcements, I went out for another lap at a pretty moderate pace. I wanted to hit a few areas at race pace and get my lines dialed in. After doing the second lap I felt a lot more confident with how things were going to go, not to mention that my legs felt great.
As I was getting ready to go, I noticed that Cully Todd had made the trip from Iowa City. Cully put me in the hurt box twice this year and I was hoping to get a chance to return the favor. As I had mentioned in a previous journal, I like it when Cully shows up because he’s a very strong rider, he’s fun to race against and he always brings a bunch of hot chicks with him.
My start time had arrived and I was off like a ball of fire. I took a wide, sweeping line out of the parking lot and onto the trail. About halfway across the levee I settled into a good pace with my HR hovering around 185. I caught up to my minute man at the initial climb just before the brickyard. This portion of the trail is lined with trash on both sides and makes for a ghetto style gateway into the brickyard.
As I was making my way through the singletrack of the brickyard, I was hitting my lines and railing the corners. As I approached the first steep climb I could see my two minute man struggling at the bottom. I yelled out ‘on your right’ and he moved to the right side of the trail. Doh!!! I never bothered trying to ride the left side of the hill during my recon laps and I guess now was my chance…. Great! I made it up the hill without any difficulty and hit the second steep climb that followed shortly thereafter. I managed to scramble up the second climb with very little trouble also.
I hit the upper field and punched it wide open. I hit the descending portion of the course, flew down the hillside and into the bermed section of the course. This is my favorite part of the Sycamore trail. If you hit the berms just right, you can fly around the corners. I felt like I was riding on rails through the berms and lost very little speed. I hit the sandy Ford LTD portion of the course and launched myself off of the Ford LTD hood jump. As I hit the power line road, I could see my three, four and five minute dudes. I caught one of them on the road and the other two in the second bermed section of the trail. I hit the parking lot again and sprinted with everything that I had towards the finish line.
I finished with a time of 16:54, which was good enough for first overall and put me 30 seconds ahead of the second place finisher Cully Todd. Sweet. My average heart rate throughout the race was around 183 with a max of 188. Up until this race, my heart rate never got much above 180 for any substantial amount of time. I can take this as a good indication that the sharp end of my fitness is finally coming around.
After the race, myself, DQ, Dennis Grelk (Frankenbike man) and Grandmaster Lou headed over to the Science Center for more mountain biking bliss. My legs still felt good so I rode at about 80-85% effort. We did one lap and called it a day. If you’ve never ridden the Science Center, do yourself a favor and do it. It has to be one of the best urban mountain biking trail systems anywhere.
Before the race, Hairy (Jeremy Venable) came up to me and showed me that he had gotten a haircut. Dude, you still look like Davy Crockett. Nice job in setting up the course and good luck at Nationals.
Later that day I went over to Maharry’s to watch him and some others drink beer. It was a lot of fun watching them make asses out of themselves. It was so entertaining that I stuck around a lot longer than I had planned and even had a beer. Some of the more comical moments were the Steve Fry stories and everybody using his car as a urinal.

Next up is another dirty double weekend. I’ll be doing the Psycowpath suffer fest at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska on Saturday and IMBCS #8 at Kendall Young Park on Sunday. I’ll be looking for wins on both occasions. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

I’m out,

Napoleon Cosmo

Rassy Squad Busting Fart Lockers!

Here are some interesting numbers to ponder. As of the Sycamore Time Trial (stage 7 of the IMBCS sries)... the Rasmussen Bike Shop Race Team has dominated the IMBCS. Check it!

There are 11 different categories to compete in. Expert, Sport, Masters, yadda yadda. Of the 11, 6 of them are being led by a Rassy rider. Including the top-gun Expert category which, as we all know, is being freakin demolished by Cam Kirkpatrick.

Also... in those 11 categories. 4 other Rassy riders have landed top 3 spots in the series and 8 others are holding strong in the top ten. These numbers are absolutely pimptastic.

To the entire Rassy crew... keep it up and work your fart locker at the last two IMBCS races! Yeahzer!

DQ

24 of Seven Oaks – Does a Wookie Sh*t in the Woods? - by Cam Kirkpatrick

24 hour racing. There is nothing else quite like it. Actually, in some ways it kind of reminded me of my college days when I was working towards my degree in Architecture. We would stay up all night working on our projects, only instead of drinking a lot of water and eating healthy food, we would drink a lot of beer and eat pizza.
I teamed up with my three of my bro’s from Rassy’s, Squirrel, Chia Chad and Jason, who are all experts. We had a very strong team and anything other than a win in the four man race would be a disappointment.
I caravanned up to Seven Oaks with tPod and we got there about three hours before the start. When we got to the venue, I could tell that this was going to be a good time. The grassy field at the bottom of the ski hill was a tent city. There aren’t too many things cooler than getting a whole shit pot of mountain bikers together for an all night race. I found the Team Rasmussen camp, parked the car and got set up. Team Rasmussen had the coolest set up by far. We had two power generators, a couple of canopies with a ton of lights, super cool people and a lot of great conversation.
We came up with our starting order and a basic plan for how we were going to do the race. Squirrel would be our lead out man, I would go second, Jason went third and Chia was last. During daylight hours, we planned to do one lap rotations. During the night rides we did two lap rotations to allow for extra time to get some sleep. Our plan was simple, we wanted to lead the first lap and build upon that lead throughout the race. About 30 minutes before the start I rode the beginning of the course to check out the new stuff. The trail system at Seven Oaks gets better and better every time I ride it. Troy, Kyle, Ron and everybody else do an incredible job with the trail work and race organization. I look forward to doing any kind of mountain bike race, no matter what the venue is like. But I especially look forward to all of the races at Seven Oaks.
I decided to wait at the top of the initial climb to see how things were going for Squirrel. I heard the gun go off and a few minutes later I could see the first rider, Squirrel, scurrying up the hill. I knew he would be the best man to lead out. I have yet to see another dude that can handle a mountain bike as well as he can. I figured that he would have a pretty easy time getting to the front and staying there through the tight and twisty section that started each lap.
After the last rider struggled through, I rode back down the hill to the transition area to wait for Squirrel. The first rider came down the hill and he was not wearing Rasy colors. The second and third rider came down, they were wearing Rasy colors, but neither of them was Squirrel. I asked one of them what happened and they said that Squirrel had flatted. Shit! He finally came in around eighth place, riding with a rear flat tire, he didn’t even think about walking his bike in. He’s the man!
I took the baton and headed out for my turn. I passed four people before I got to the top of the hill. I passed another two before I got to the bottom. I passed a few more later on and about midway through the first lap, I passed the marathon man himself, Jeff Kerkove. I didn’t see anybody else after him. I got to the transition area and was told that I was the first guy in from the group of second lap riders. So I managed to pass everybody and help our team regain the lead.
I was a little surprised that I was able to catch everyone because I felt like I was riding like a bull in a china shop. It was my first time on my full suspension bike in race conditions and it was a far cry from what I was used to with the feather light Mongoose. My first lap time was somewhere around 31 minutes. My fastest lap time was around 29:30 in the daylight and my fastest night time lap was around 31:30. I was surprised with my night time laps because I had never ridden in the dark before. I suppose that I can mostly attribute that to knowing the course really well with the assistance of Fig Nooners helmet light that he loaned me. I didn’t even need my handlebar lights because the helmet light was so bright. Thanks Nooner.
We managed to hold off the competition and take the win. I’m not sure what the margin of victory was, but it was large enough that we were able to take it easy on our final laps.
My laps were pretty uneventful, a crap load of fun and no crashes. I never had any trouble with lapped traffic, which is very typical of any mountain bike race in Iowa. It is very rare that I ever have trouble getting around lapped traffic in our races. Add to that the words of encouragement that I get when I do pass other riders. I owe a huge thank you to all that allow me to pass quickly and for the words of encouragement as I pass. I don’t always get a chance to say thanks and/or return the kind words, mostly because my heart is jumping out of my throat and obstructing my vocal chords. I’m kind of freaky that way.
I did have one close call however. If, prior to the 24 hours of Seven Oaks, you were not familiar with my friend/bodyguard Chewbacca, you probably are now. He was a part of DQ’s pit crew along with a couple of beautiful women that didn’t spend near enough time at the race. Chewie is not a cyclist, however I think that he gained a newfound appreciation for us greasy mountain bikers. He truly got into the ‘spirit’ of the event and was very ‘active’ throughout the night. Then again, it shouldn’t surprise me because Wookies are known to be creatures of the night. So I’m riding along the trail under the cover of darkness, when all of a sudden I smell the pungent odor of fresh animal feces. I ride a little further and there squats Chewbacca in the middle of the trail unloading a Cleveland steamer (a DQ term). I yelled at him, ‘not on the trail Chewie!’. He let out a howl that echoed across the face of the ski hill and disappeared into the woods. Apparently he was looking for DQ, who had decided to take in a short siesta on the side of the trail. Nature was calling and he answered.
And now it’s time again for a couple of side notes and observations.
Props to DQ for his valiant effort in hanging with Kerkove. I’m sure that he surprised a lot of people with how well he was hanging. The man also knows how to recruit a pit crew. At one point he was lying on the ground in his pit with one hottie feeding him grapes and another massaging his legs. He sort of looked like Attila the Hun in the midst of one of his grand feasts.
If you’re ever hanging around Chewbacca and Fig Nooner and Nooners mouth begins to get on your nerves, I have a solution for you. Simply tell Chewbacca to beat him up. Shortly thereafter Chewie will give chase and you can watch Nooner run away like a little girl. It’s funny watching Nooner run because his man boobs start flopping up and down. If he isn’t careful, someday one of his breasts will flop up, hit him in the face and give himself a black eye. I give Nooner a lot of crap, but he is a good guy and he takes it well. For all of the crap that I give him, he doubles it up on me. Good luck at school dawg.
Thanks to Grandmaster Lou and Jan for hanging out and cheering everybody on. Lou and Jan are a lot of fun to hang out with, especially when Lou tanks so much wine that his lips turn a dark shade of purple.

Next up is the Sycamore/Targhetto Time Trial. I won last year and I will be looking to defend. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

I’m out,

Napoleon Cosmo

IMBCS #6 – Hairy and the Dude with the Man Boobs by Cam Kirkpatrick

I came to Camp Ingawanis with two things on my mind. To redeem myself from my lackluster performance at Sugarbottom and to bag my first win at Camp Ingawanis. I’ve done all of the races at Ingawanis and had yet to pull off a win there. I knew that my chances were a little better for winning because the Eppenator was racing in Wisconsin that weekend. My hope was that everybody else that beat me at Sugarbottom would show up.
I arrived at Camp Ingawanis with about two hours to spare. I said hi to everyone, then hopped on the bike and went for a pre-ride with Petey Basso. The course was in the best condition that I have ever seen. Some of the newer sections from the previous race had worn in nicely. Throughout the ride I could tell that my legs were good and that I was going to have a good race.
As we were lining up for the start I took a look around to see what the competition would be. Nathan Moenck, who had beaten me at Sugarbottom, and Caleb Bonnett were both there and would be the two to look out for. After the playing of the National Anthem, the gun went off and we charged onto the course. Caleb took off like a scalded dog and set a very fast early pace that dropped everyone but me by the time we hit the first water crossing.
I was feeling really good despite the fast pace and my plan was to pass Caleb at the first opportunity which was a small open field, right before the first big climb. We got to the field and were greeted by several horse back riders. We screeched to a halt and the people on the horses gave us this look like ‘what the hell are you doing here?’. The rest of the field caught up to us while we were waiting for the horses to clear out, as they did not appear to be in any hurry to get out of the way. Once they cleared out we continued on in the same order as when we arrived, so my plan to pass Caleb in the field went down the crapper.
We got to the first big climb and we were all still together in the same order. The trail was wide enough to pass so I punched it and accelerated past Caleb. I had established a pretty decent gap by the top of the climb so I kept the pressure on hoping to demoralize anyone who thought they might have a chance to win. Once the gap was big enough that I couldn’t see anybody behind, I settled into a comfortable pace.
About midway through the first lap, I was flying through an open, grassy field. About midway through the field, there was a line of railroad ties that ran across the course. As I bunny hopped over them my back tire slammed into them. Apparently I was still somewhat cross eyed from my acceleration up the first climb because I mistimed my hop and jumped a little too early. I didn’t think much of it and continued on. Fast forward to the following weekend, I’m cleaning my bike and notice a huge dent in my rear rim. The dent is so large that it actually formed a crack on my braking surface. I pretty much had ridden the entire race with my wheel like that. I must have been crapping out some four leaf covers that morning because I couldn’t believe that I didn’t pinch flat.
I was able to maintain my gap for the remainder of the race and hold on for the win. Nathan Moenck rode a very strong race on his rigid single speed and finished in second, about two minutes back. I could see him occasionally on parts of the course, I knew that he was close and that forced me to push the pace occasionally. Caleb Bonnett came in third place about six minutes behind. A big atta boy goes out to Fig Nooner for nailing down fourth place in a pretty tough field of riders. That’s a pretty impressive result for a man (boy?) with big enough breasts that he can breast feed himself. This raises an interesting question, why does he bother to carry water bottles?
A couple of other side notes / observations:
Props go out to my Bro Petey for finishing fifth in the sport race despite double flatting.
Has anybody noticed the size of the pelt that Jeremy Venable has on his melon? I laugh at him whenever I see him anymore because he looks like he’s wearing a coon skin hat. His nickname is Hairy.
WWJ (aka ‘Sky’ Chesterman) seems to be reverting back to his old ways, sort of. I haven’t heard of any recent ‘wrong / missed turns’ on road trips. However, the mechanical woes seem to be making another appearance. Do they make solid rubber tires for bikes?
Dennis Grelk came rolling in on his ‘Franken-bike’. This thing had more funky looking gadgets on it than James Bonds’ Lotus. I tried to pick it up, but as I began to hoist it off of the ground I could tell that I was on the ragged edge of throwing my back out. So I put it down.

Next up is the 24 Hours of Seven Oaks where I’ll be teaming up with Chia Chad, Squirrel and Jason Alread for the 4-man team race. We will be looking to defend our home turf and bring home the win. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

I’m out,

Napoleon Cosmo

IMBCS #5 – Living In The Hurt Bag by Cam Kirkpatrick

Sugarbottom is one of the better, and most popular venues on the Iowa mountain biking circuit. I was talking with the race director prior to the race and he said that 2,000 users in one week is not uncommon at Sugarbottom. If you’ve ever ridden the course you’ll believe him. The course at Sugarbottom is around 10 miles long and contains a lot of high speed braking areas that I would liken to riding my bike over a very large washboard. To add to the physical abuse are the infamous Iowa roots, a lot of them. Every time I ride at Sugarbottom my upper body gets the worst end of the deal. My legs also hurt, but my upper body is so beat up that I hardly notice my legs.
Saturday morning rain postponed this years edition of the Scramble to Sunday, which probably had some effect on the lack of riders in the expert field. However all of the fast guys were there looking to pocket the $500 first place money that was up for grabs. All of the fast guys from Iowa City were there. I knew that it was going to be a tough day in the saddle, fighting against a bunch of dudes that were pretty much riding in their backyard.
The weekend prior to Sugarbottom was supposed to be an IMBCS race, however the event was cancelled. I decided that would likely be my last chance to get some good base mileage in for my second half of the season base/build period. So I did a couple of centuries on Saturday and Sunday. I felt great on Saturday and really suffered on Sunday. I didn’t eat enough during my ride on Sunday and I really suffered over the last couple of hours. I really paid for it throughout last week. It takes a long time to recover from a big bonk like that and it had a pretty significant effect on my performance at Sugarbottom, a week later. A hard lesson learned.
I did an easy recovery ride the day before the race and punched it a couple of times to get the blood flowing in my legs. The legs felt like crap. In retrospect, I should have known that things weren’t quite right. Of course, you don’t want to think that way the day before a big race and I figured that about 30 minutes of stretching and a good nights rest would help flush all of the garbage out of my legs.
I arrived at Sugarbottom about two hours before the scheduled start time, paid my sky high $37 entry fee (it must have something to do with the rising price of gas), suited up and went for a pre-ride. I didn’t get to pre-ride the entire course because it was so long. We lined up for the start and off we went. I had a great hole shot and led the way up the gravel road. By the time we got to the top, I could feel that crappy, lactic acid feeling in my legs that I felt yesterday. I knew then and there that it wasn’t going to be my day. Tom Sulentic passed me at the top of the hill and led the way into the singletrack.
As the lap progressed, Tom gradually pulled away and I had three or four guys on my wheel. About midway through the lap I got passed by Brian Eppen, Cully Todd and Nathan Kline. I held onto them for a short while until the pinball effect started kicking in. I hit a root or something in the trail and got rerouted into the path of a tree. I stuck my forearm out and tried to stiff-arm the tree… It won. I lost all of my momentum and Nathan Moenck passed me, putting me into 6th place.
I finally found my legs and rhythm about midway through the race and was able to maintain a decent, steady pace. This was good because I was having more altercations with trees and roots than normal and it kind of sucked. I ended up finishing the race in 6th overall. I took a look at the results that were posted on the ICORR website and they kind of dropped the ball with their timing. My finish time was actually around 2:33, not 2:46 as the results indicated. So it wasn’t as bad of an ass whoopin’ as the post results had shown.
I’ve raced Sugarbottom several times now, and even though I’ve had good results in the past, I don’t remember ever feeling the same satisfaction that I do at other races. Probably because I’ve never won there. I’ve only come close one time and that was when Cully had his body shut down on him (last year I think).
Next up is IMBCS #6 at Camp Ingawanis, another one of my favorite courses. I’ll be looking for a win there so stay tuned.

I’m out,

Napoleon Cosmo

It was a perfect day to race, the weather was in the 70's and the sun was shining. Fig Nooner met me at my house at 7:15am for the ride up to Waverly, IA. I drove, Sean slept. (If you're looking for a road trip companion Sean is great, you won't even know he's there). As a matter of fact, Sean slept the entire way home too!

We got to Waverly in great time which prompted me to do a pre-lap on the 10 mile course. We got to the course just in time to see Jeff Kerkove who rode up from Cedar Falls. Jeff is training for the 24 Hours of Iowa next week and is the odds on favorite to take it again this year.
Cam and I set up to do the warm up lap at very slow speeds, due to the length of this course it took over an hour to complete the lap. Before I got up to Waverly, I told myself I wouldn't ride the whole lap in an attempt to save energy for the race, but that theory went out the door when I realized that I didn't know any short cuts back and would probably get lost and miss the start.
Anyway, we got back to the start line with about 20 minutes to spare. Just enough time to take care of some pre-race rituals, (thanks for your contributions Paul and Jeremy).

Camp Igwanis is a great course with lots of tight twisty single track, a few short climbs and lots of horse dung. I've never ridden a course that had horse dung the size of log jumps in the middle of the trail, but today it was an obstacle that you had to ride around, over or through.

This was not an IMBCS race so a couple of the big hitters didn't show up for the race, but in our class my usual top competitors were there. Tracy Thompson, Paul Veneable, Andy Leuke and Chris Reed. Regardless of the course these guys are always tough riders, each with their own strengths and capabilities. I knew Tracy would come out strong with Paul attacking at every opportunity. I had just ridden for an hour prior to the start so my strategy was to stay on Tracy's wheel and help reel in Paul when needed. The start of the race was awesome. After pledging allegence to our flag, (this race was put on by the Boyscouts and this is mandatory before any event. I love this idea and feel we should always do this). Tracy let out his inaugural deep throated belch and the race was off. Donny Quixote, (single speed), got the hole shot, just has he did last race, with Tracy and I directly behind him and Paul behind me. Somehow Paully jumped in front of me going into the single track. As we were heading to the first creek crossing, Tracy, Paul and I passed Donny. It was obvious Paul made the wrong tire selection cause he was all over the course. As we hit the creek we all jumped on the bridge ran across and up the hill. By this time we had put a little gap on the field, being a teacher Tracy wanted a role call of who was still with us, (Me, You and Paully), I said to him. The three of us rode together through the first loop and down to the second creek crossing. I was feeling stronger and stronger as we got deeper into the ride. My heart rate was right where I needed it to be and I was riding the course very efficiently. Today could be a great result I told myself, just keep patient and ride smart. Through the second loop, Paul kept having trouble staying on the course but would catch up each time he stalled. As we approached the second creek crossing, Paul and Tracy jumped off their bikes, I decided to ride over the bridge and onto the planks. We all regrouped at the top of the hill and continued our ride. Paul jumped in front of Tracy and began his attack. We weren't 200 yards past the creek when all of a sudden, "POP", my tire blew! Realizing what had happened I screamed in frustration. I quickly dismounted my bike and pulled my spare tube, levers and CO2 out. This was the first flat I've had in a race since the Heartland Series in 2002. I pulled the tube out and pushed the replacement in the tire, beaded the tire back in place and pulled the CO2 from jersey. I threaded the CO2 and screwed it into the presta valve. It has been so long since I used one of these I forgot that you have to thread it then back it off to get the air out. I stood there amazed that I had the wrong valve or the CO2 was bad. 30 seconds went by and so did more and more riders. I was getting frustrated. I decided to pull the CO2 off the valve and use another one when all of the sudden the tire inflated...sweet!! I'm back in business. I had lost about 10 to 11 places. I had a lot of work to do.

As I jumped back on my bike I had to re-strategize. My back tire had about 30 psi in it and was very soft. I could feel it bottom out when I hit the roots, but had to make the most of it while I had air. Each biker that I'd ride up to is another goal, and everytime I pass one I have to ride faster to get to the other, keeping my back tire from slamming into anything causing a pinch flat...It was working. As I rode up to the riders they would let me by and I was off. (By the way, thanks to Thad, Krenz, Brian, Sean, Dennis, Brian Benson, Ken Sherman and many others for letting me by and encouraging me to keep going hard. That was really cool of you guys).
The first lap was in the books and lap two was still in front of me. I had passed 5 guys already with a full lap to go. Maybe I could catch Andy and Chris, we'll see. As I came to the creek crossing again, Brian, Dave Krenz and I slammed across it. I warned them not to hit the first plank, it was pretty flexy. I had to laugh at Krenz though...as we were heading down the bumpy single track and his bike was crying in pain. It was making noises that I've never heard a bike make before. I could here it weeping and praying that Dave would go easy on it on lap two and three.

Getting across the creek and hammering through the flats, I was feeling great. I hadn't switched water bottles at the lap break but had 3/4 of a bottle left. I knew I better start drinking more fluids and slam a Hammer Gel. I was feeling good but worried about cramping towards the end of the race. Getting into the cow patty field I couldn't see anyone, this made me attack the field and the pine forest area. I figured most riders were recovering in the field and on the downhills. This would be a prime area to make up time. Coming up through the cabin area I caught Dennis Grelk again on his "mutant ninja single speed hybrid contraption". I don't know what you call this thing but it is cool....and heavy. This bike looks like a monster truck with pedals.

Anyway, through the cabin area I noticed another rider just up ahead but couldn't see who it was. They had on a Rassy's jersey. I quietly rode up the gravel rode and could see pink socks...to my surprise it was Andy Leuke. Andy won this race last time and is an incredibly strong rider who possess many skills. One of those skills is gapping the competition. I didn't want Andy to know it was me until I was on his wheel. As we entered the roller coaster section I knew I could catch his wheel here and turned on the gas. At the bottom we were together and Andy figured out it was me. He asked me if I needed to pass but I opted to stay with him to see what he was riding like. Andy turned up the intensity and he and I rode hard through the next 5 miles together. I couldn't pass him if I tried. He was pulling me right up the the next person and past. Finally we were in the last section of trail. This section was newly built before the May race and pretty much sucked at that point. From May until now this part of the course settled in well and became a lot more fun to ride. Andy pulled us all the way up to the fourth and fifth postion. Steve Bullerman, (4th), and Chris Reed, (5th), were riding together up ahead. As we caught them Chris seemd to slow down, not letting us pass him, and Steve sped up. I told Andy to get around him but it was tight and Chris was not giving an inch. Chris is a strong, young rider, but his technical skills leave a lot to be desired. He was having problems negotiating the turns and roots, plus I'm sure he was battling some fatigue at this piont. Finally Chris pulled to the left and Andy and I busted past him. Now we have to catch Steve. He was 15 seconds up on us. We had about another 1.5 miles to go when Andy washed out on a sweeping right hand turn. He was inches from getting run over by me when I slammed on the XT's and pushed my foot to the ground. Andy was doing a type of break dance, with his bike tangled up on top of him, to try to get out of my way. As soon as my leg hit the ground instantly my quad cramped hard. I knew I had to push through this and catch Bullerman. I politely asked Andy if he was allright? He said yes, now go, go go....I was off again and mentally trying to battle this damn cramp.

I could see Bullerman up ahead but he was riding strong. As we crossed the fire road with only 1/4 mile to go I realized I was not going to catch him. Now I had to just ride the finish out and take whatever place I was in. As I rode up the final gravel rode before turning right back into the single track for the last 200 yards, I heard, "POP" and "ssssssssssss". Unbelievable, another flat! I had to ride this baby to the finish regardless. I knew Andy wasn't too far behind me. Finally....I made it to the finish. To my surprise I had caught 8 racers and finished 5th overall.
At the front of the pack was Tracy in first, Paully in second, and Donny in third. If I had to give a most improved rider award today, it would go to Donny Quixote. Donny has improved leaps and bounds this year with his mountain bike skills. Donny is a strong rider to begin with but lacked in the technical handling department...that is no more my friends. Donny finished third in sport overall with a rigid, heavy single speed. That tells me he is fast!. I also want to make sure I thank Andy for pulling me through the second half of lap two. Dude, you rode strong and fast. I appreciated and enjoyed riding with you in this race. I'm hoping I can return the favor sometime in the future. I don't think I would've ridden as fast by myself. Again, thanks for the strong effort.

Congrats to Tracy again and Paul for getting second. I only wish I had kept with the pack today because I really felt strong. I'm not saying I would've won but my chances were pretty good today.

Also, congrats to Cam Kirkpatrick for kicking tail in the Expert race and revenging last weeks Sugarbottom performance. Cam put a beating on the field and smoked one of the guys that who beat him last week. I knew he would do well today, all he kept saying for an hour on the pre-lap was, "Petey, I feel strong today. My legs are feeling great and I feel great". Also, congrats to Sean Noonan for a strong 4th place finish. Sean hates technical courses with no climbs, today he did well on a course that he didn't like. Congrats to Sally Logan for hammering the course today. She gave it her all and finished a very tough course. It wasn't long ago Sally had a bulging disc that was operated on. She rode well today.

Also, I have to give a shout out to another rider...Master Lou. Lou competed in Saturday's State Crit Championship series in Pella, IA. Lou not only showed guys he's a strong rider, but he also put on a martial arts clinic while on his bike on a mouthy rider. My friend, I know your an easy guy to get along with so it must have taken some serious taunting to get you riled up. I'm hoping you taught Mr. Mouth that this is a gentleman's sport.

Thank you to Paul Meyermann for putting on another great race at Camp Ingawanis. You and your people are first class and we all want you to know how thankful we are to be able to race at your venue.

Next week is the 24 hours of Iowa followed by the Sycamore Time Trial. I'm taking next week off but am looking forward to the Time Trial race that Maharry puts on. This will be a ton of fun. Good luck to everyone riding next week, I wish I could be there with you but I have a wedding to attend in Sioux Falls, SD.

Local TT Gets Big Quixote Cycling Thumbs Up !

What does an email and a quarter get ya? In Des Moines it gets you a ton of fun and an entry fee to one of the most fun mtb time trials around. Heck, I didn't even have to drive to this race, I rode my bike! (What a novel concept).

Donny Quixote of Quixote Coaching and Rasmussen Bikes threw together a time trial event at Denman Woods last night. Donny has a very unique ability to promote, manage and score races. The $0.25 entry fee made it possible for everyone to participate that wanted to and allowed those of us who took loans out to race Sugarbottom this weekend not to have to dig any further into debt.

The course contains a lot of technical single track with tight turns and log jumps. It plays to the rider who has solid technical skills and no fear of big log jumps. In the past, time trials have mostly favored a course with open trails and climbing allowing for the faster roadie types to dominate. Riding this course you have to be on the brakes and explode through the turns otherwise riding it at 100% will roll you through a corner and off the trail.

Twenty seven riders, of all levels, showed up on an overcast Wednesday night. Some guys rode with a Hawaiian shirt, others with a cut offs and flanel shirts, while most of us went the convention route and stuck to the regular bike fashioned garb.

The race started at 6:30pm on the dot with Troy Tellinghusen starting us off followed by Chad Vandelune and Chris Maharry. Sterling was in the front mix as well followed by Brian Pottorff and myself. As Brian took off down the 1/4 mile bike path it took him a full minute to drop into the single track. As soon as he went over the first log jump, Donny sent me off. Brian was riding a single speed and had some adult beverages prior to the TT, but if you know Brian like I do, that only fuels his fire more. I certainly had no expectations of catching him...even on the single speed. I've ridden with Brian for years and understand that he could be on a uni-cycle and still beat almost everyone. The way I describe Brian is this, "He never surprises me, but always amazes me".

As I slammed over the first log jump I was on the gas as hard as I could go. The night before, we had run 2.5 hours of gravel hill climbs in Booneville, so I knew the pain would set in momentarily. Denman's is kind of split into two sections, the first and second section are seperated by a 40 yard stretch of field before diving back into the woods again. Through the first section I was maintaining a strong pace with a heart rate close to 180, (much higher than the average mtb race). Coming into the section two I began to get a little sloppy and knew I had better slow it down a little bit, but I was reluctant to slow the pace. I still couldn't see Brian anywhere. I kept thinking to myself, "am I riding this slow or what?" Where is everyone? In a time trial effort a good strategy is to try to catch the guy in front of you, it provides momentum to ride faster and harder than normal. Anyway, as I pushed through the lactic acid burn from Tuesday nights ride I slid right through one turn and then got washed out on another. Crap! I'm losing time, now I've got to push it even harder!!

Finally, there's light at the end of the tunnel, but still no Brian in sight. Man that dude is fast, where the heck is he? As I rounded the exit of Denman's and headed down the "connector trail" I figured it was time to pour it on to make up lost time for washing out in the turns. A last right turn and there is the finish line with Donny and the clip board...."start rolling harder, don't be so soft", I kept telling myself. Finally I hit the end of the TT with my heart rate jumping out out of my jersey. I looked to see where Brian was on his warm down, and he was at the end of the bike path. Oh well, guess I sucked on that ride.

Many more racers had shown up after my start, so I was amazed to see a lot more people at the start/finish line when I came across. There's John Conlan, Bill Fanter, Terri Pottorff and Bianchi, even Craig Decker showed up on his commuter bike. All the racers slowly began to cross the line before it got too dark. A couple of riders had technicals and had to DNF.

Overall, this race was a total success for Donny and everyone who took part. What a great way to train mid-week. I want to thank Donny for taking the time to get this event together and putting others ahead of himself. Donny didn't even get a chance to race because of his responsibilities to score the times. Hopefully this event will spawn Chris Maharry to relocate his highly successful TT event to Wes Des Moines from the rutted out pits of hell at Targhetto.

Congrats to Brian Pottorff for laying it down last night, brother you are one fast stud. Great job to Chad Vandelune who just got back from Puerto Rico on a three day stage race with some seriously tough competition. Chad didn't even get a chance to rest his legs before competing last night and still threw down a third place finish. And lastly, thanks again to Donny for putting this "ride" on. We are all looking forward to the next one on Sept 7th. See you there!

Results from the Event:
Brian Pottorff: 18:22
Pete Basso: 18:26
Chad Vandelune: 19:22
Lee Johnson: 19:26
Bill Fanter: 19:32
Kyle Sedore: 19:33
Chris Maharry: 19:44
Jeff Anker: 19:58
Jason Alread: 20:11
Sean Noonan: 20:15
Jason Plunkett: 20:48
Jacob Nauman: 21:25
Craig Decker: 21:37
Taylor Webb: 21:38
Sterling Heise: 21:40
Chuck Hilsenbeck: 21:42
Troy Tellinghuisen: 22:22
Mike Lebeda: 22:46
Rick Cheevers: 22:46
John Pugh: 23:47
Mike Baker: 24:22
Jim Thomann: 25:29
Andrew Pospisaz: 25:30
Kobi Voshill: 25:57
Lance Chase: 26:20
Kyle Robinson: DNF
Mark West: DNF

No Love at Sugar Bottom

No Love at Sugar Bottom !!
by Pete Basso

No love at Sugar Bottom; rain postponments, cramps, mechanicals, big entry fees, pitiful swag and no free food at the best race of the year??? Nope, no love here today.

How do I begin to explain this race? For starters, it is the mountain bike race of the year for all Iowans who ride in the dirt. It seems the toughest riders show up for this race year after year and the course has no mercy on anyone. The loop is about 9.5 miles of pure single track, of which the Sport Class rides twice and the experts ride three times. But this isn't just any single track, this is a bumpy, rooted, rolling with short explosive uphills and long windy downhills. Each lap takes just under an hour for most riders. The trail is a little deceiving in that it seems to be mostly flat so you push it a little harder then normal when really you are climbing a lot more than you think. You get lost in the huge pine trees that carpet the forest with pine needles that make your wheels whisper as you carve the turns. The dense trees have grown into a natural canopy which shields you from the sun most of the ride. This course also offers some great decents that scramble your brain as you hammer the roots, rocks and erosion. (The suspension came in handy today).

I didn't get a count of how many riders were in the sport class, but it appeared to be around 50 or 60 when I looked back just before the start of the race. Tracy Thompson busts off his usual beginning of the race belch...that's when I know it was time to roll. The whole morning my legs had been unusually tight and achey. I wasn't sure how I'd feel until I got into the woods.

The race started with a 3/4 mile sprint up a gravel road then into the woods. When the gun went off, two big dudes jumped out front like someone was holding T-bone steaks on a stick just inches from their mouths. I was impressed by their sheer power off the start which immediately dissappeard as we began the climb. Now it was Paul Veneable, Chris Reed, myself , Tracy and Bill Fanter making up the front pack. As we dashed into the woods, Paul attacked and gapped the main group. I almost knew immediately that I didn't have the legs I usually do but kept telling myself it's still early, I'll stretch out and gain my strength.

Chris was leading our pack with me in the middle and Tracy yelling at Chris from behind. Tracy is non-stop comedy, just talking up a storm and mouthing off at every opportunity. He always keeps me laughing during a race. We made it through most of the first section of trail when Tracy passed us and gapped the field. He was riding strong and looked good. Chris, myself, and Bill Fanter were all hanging together in a small pack. We rode this way through the entire first lap. As we hit the Rock Garden area of the trail, (my favorite part), I rode up on Donny Quixote who was riding a rigid single speed bike. Poor Donny, I could see frustration vibrating out of his ears in this section. As I came up to him, yelled to pass but didn't tell him a side. Donny, being a seasoned veteran of racing moved to the left as I passed on the right. Then I hear him yell, "dude you've got to tell me what side", "come on". Knowing Donny like I do, I knew he was pissed more at the trail then he was at me passing him without calling a side. This is no place to ride without suspension.

As we finished the first lap, Bill had yelled at me from behind asking if I had any more liquids at the starting line that he could have. Seems Bill had run out. I had a little less than half a bottle left with an new bottle coming up. I handed Bill off the rest of my bottle as Pam Heise handed me my new bottle, (thanks Pam, you are the coolest).

We hit the long gravel rode up the hill again where I preceeded to really start my physical decline. Bill could sense the anguish and asked if I'd like to ride his wheel for awhile? Bill is the consument nice, polite guy who always is looking out for the other guy. I decided I was hurting and I'd better let him by so I could let him pull or chase Chris Reed down. It didn't take Bill long before he rode away from me about 1/3 way through lap #2. As we exited the first section of the trail and began a short climb to the most technical part of the trail I could feel the cramps slowly and intrevenously making their way through my legs. I popped a couple more Enduralyte tabs and a Hammer Gel. As I hit the toughest switchback I cranked on the pedals to make it through, but my legs screamed back sending three or four jolts of muscle cramps. I screamed in pain and jumped off the bike. I could see my legs slowly deforming before my eyes. I sat down for a minute and stretched the muscles where the cramps were. I must have stayed there for three minutes when Donny and Kyle Sedore caught up to me. I told Kyle as he passed, "Dude, I'm done". I had made up my mind to DNF the race. As I slowly walked my bike up the path I realized it is just as far to the finish riding as it would be to just stay on the trail and finish, plus, I was not going to let Sugar Bottom get me again.

Within 2 seconds I had changed my mind again and jumped on my bike and started riding. I knew I had to keep my legs spinning with as little effort as possible. This was going to be hard considering this is the toughest part of the course. I had to jump off two more times to stretch as I watched 3rd place slowly fall to 5th, then 10th and beyond. This sucks, I said to myself, but it could be worse....I could be in the hospital getting back surgery or missing a leg or worse yet, fighting in Iraq. These thoughts fueled my finish. I made it through the rest of the course and came in 15th overall.

As I made my way into the finish line, the race judges stop you to peel the number from your jersey. As soon as my legs hit the ground the muscles seized on me and I could barely walk. Brother Logan, (Jim Logan), had passed me in the woods, riding a single speed hard tail and tearing the trail up, saw my pain and elected to run to my car to get my recovery drink. Racing with friends definitely has it's perks. Thanks Jim you saved my life Sunday and great job by the way. As I lay there in my pity I watched numerous other riders of all levels cross the finish line writhing in pain with severe cramping as well. One of the worst was my buddy John Conlan. Johnny C is a strong technical rider who has seriously improved his fitness this year. However, Sugarbottom got the best of him as it did me. As JC came across the finish you could see bumps forming in his legs followed by explitives spewing from his mouth. When I say, "I feel your pain", today I really mean it.

Tracy ended up catching Paul who made a couple of attacks but couldn't withstand the consistency of the Atlas Stud. Tracy gets his first Sugarbottom win and a bunch of publicity. Great job Tracy. Also, congrats goes out to Bill Fanter who rode strong and finished 4th overall. Bill rode a great race and continues to improve tremendously every week.

In the Expert Class Brain Eppen and Cully Todd duked it out for first. Brian pulled away for the win and $500 cash. Cully got second followed by another Atlas rider, then a single speed freak on a fully rigid frame and finally our beloved Cam Kirkpatrick. Cam said he didn't feel too great today but still finished strong. Great job to everyone who made the trek, paid the ridiculous entry fee and walked away sore!!

Ponca Prey by Cam Kirkpatrick

Well, we are about halfway through the season and it has been a great season for me thus far. I’m probably the most fit that I have ever been and my bike handling has improved immensely. And just when I thought that things couldn’t go any better for me a couple more milestones had occurred recently. About a week after I got back from Colorado, I received my upgrade from expert to semi-pro. When I started mountain biking back in 1999, I never imagined that I would reach the level that I have. This is a pretty huge deal for me, partly because I am at the ripe old age of 39. I’ve always thought that it would be really cool to be referred to as a ‘pro’, even if it is preceded by the word ‘semi’.
So my first race as a semi-pro would appropriately enough be a Nebraska series race. I say appropriate because the competition over there is what I would consider to be at the semi-pro level. I arrived at the race venue, Ponca State Park in the northeast corner of Nebraska, at about the same time as WWJ and Nooner. We got ourselves registered and headed out for a pre-ride lap on the course. Ponca is one of my favorite venues. The trails there are first rate, a lot of smooth, tight, fast singletrack with a lot of climbing. It is definitely one of those types of courses that suits my riding style really well.
After our pre-ride we noodled around some more, took care of the usual pre-race ‘business’ and lined up for the start. The race started on a black top road for about ¼ of a mile and then dumped us into some singletrack. I was sitting third wheel when we hit the dirt, behind Darin Schlake and Jesse Peterson. About midway through the first lap I could tell that I was going to have a great day. I felt like I was floating effortlessly up the climbs and I was riding very smooth lines with minimal braking. Darin began to gap Jesse and I about five minutes into the first lap. I eventually passed Jesse for 2nd place about midway through the first lap going up a pretty steep climb. I had no idea what was going on behind me, I couldn’t hear anybody behind me, so the three of us must have established a pretty good gap early on.
Throughout the first two laps (of four total), I could see Darin ahead of me but I had difficulty reeling him in. I would close the gap a little on the climbs and he would open it back up on the technical descents. I finally closed the gap about midway through the third lap and we rode together for about ten minutes, until we hit a pretty tough climb. He let me by and I pretty much checked out from there. I took off up the climb and it wasn’t long before I could no longer hear or see him.
I ended up winning the race by about two minutes, which was another major milestone for me. It had been a goal of mine for a long time, to win a Psycowpath race. It wasn’t too long ago that the top finishers were laying the wood to me by five or more minutes. This is definitely the biggest win that I have ever had and it was incredibly satisfying! The win launched me from fourth overall in the points to second. I feel like I have a pretty good shot at the overall and I definitely plan to shoot for it. Nebraskacycling.org did a pretty nice little write up on the race. Check it out if your interested.
Next up is the next IMBCS race at Sugarbottom. Cully Todd usually puts everybody in the hurt bag there, but I’m flying right now so it should be interesting.

I’m out,

Cosmo

Colorado Training Camp – by Cam Kirkpatrick

This trip is always one of the highlights of the year for me. A change of scenery, climate and riding schedule is always very refreshing. The drive was pretty uneventful until I got into the beautiful mountains of Colorado. It usually takes about 7 or 8 hours to get from Denver to Durango, but the time goes by very quickly because I love the drive. My Dad drove up from Austin, TX, it’s kind of fitting that he join me on this epic trip every year as he is the one that got me into mountain biking.

Day 1 – July 14

I arrived in good ole Durango, CO around 2:30pm. I looked at my Dad and said hi, then I suited up for a ride at the Telegraph Trails. My Dad opted to chill in the room while I rode. I think he was probably pretty tired from his long drive from Austin, TX. The Telegraph Trails include the areas first wagon road in addition to some old communication lines that are still in place, a lot of history there. There is over 30 miles of wooded, hilly singletrack. You are either going up or down so you better have a set of good lungs otherwise the altitude will kick the crap out of you.
About 30 minutes into my ride I heard a rattling sound that I’ve only ever heard on TV. My first instinct was to look around to see where it was coming from. As I was rounding a corner, I saw out of the corner of my eye a brown rattlesnake coiled up and ready to whoop some ass. I thought about stopping to say hi, but he looked pretty pissed off so I kept riding. I hate snakes anyway, slimy, sneaky, shifty, @$^&!%$ little reptiles.
I got about three hours in at a fairly moderate effort and never rode the same trail twice, sweet! I was suffering a little from the altitude, but I always adjust pretty quickly.

Day 2 – July 15

I woke up at about 7:30, ate a box of cereal, drank a pot of coffee (from The Steaming Bean of course), shot the shit with my Dad and then suited up for my first epic of the camp. I did one of my all time favorite rides, on or off road. The road ride from Durango to Silverton is a tick over 50 miles and goes over two mountain passes. I do this ride out and back for a little over 100 miles of riding. The views are absolutely unreal, the roads can be pretty narrow, the climbs are epic with a seven mile climb (7% average gradient) out of Silverton, and the descents are screaming fast.
I could still feel the effects of the thin air a little, but it was better than yesterday. I was also a little dehydrated and didn’t feel that great during the latter half of the ride. I suffered throughout the ride but it was still a blast. I ended up climbing a total of 8200 feet, with a peak elevation of 11,000 feet. I did the ride in 5:40 at about a 17.7 mph average, my fastest on this ride so far. I guess that means that I am more fit than last year. Cool...

Day 3 – July 16

Woke up and went through the same routine as yesterday morning, as I will pretty much everyday while I’m out here. I did another one of my all-time favorite rides, this time on the dirt. One of the great things about Durango is that I never have to actually drive to any of the rides that I do. I left from the hotel and rode about 18 miles on pavement until the road turned to gravel and eventually into jeep road. The gravel/jeep road portion of the ride is about 12 miles. Portions of this road are incredibly steep reducing me to my ‘granniest’ of granny gears. Normally you wouldn’t think of a gravel road as being technical, however some of the steeper portions of this road are very technical due to large, loose rocks that are strewn about. The first 30 miles of the ride is pretty much a constant climb up to Kennebec Pass, which sits at about 11,600 feet. One of the fun parts about this climb is that I usually encounter a couple of ‘cattle cars’ full of tourists. They always look at me with about the same expression as a bunch of cows in a ….. cattle car. Apparently they’ve never seen a cyclist ride uphill. It took me about 2 ½ hours to get to Kennebec Pass, pretty much all climbing, only in Colorado…
Next is where the real fun begins, 21 miles of some of the most amazing singletrack in existence known as the Colorado Trail. There is a ton of bench cut track, if you happen to wonder off the trail you will end up at the bottom of Junction Creek canyon. That would pretty much suck so I would recommend keeping your tread on the trail. I could write for hours describing various parts if the Colorado Trail, I’ll spare you the boredom and instead refer you to a link on the web that contains a bunch of pictures. I didn’t take the pictures nor do I know who the knuckleheads are in the pictures. http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/brippe/kennebec/index.htm
Total ride time for the day was about 6:30, including some diversions up near Kennebec Pass.

Day 4 – July 17

I did a 3 hour recovery ride with my Dad today and rode on some roads that I had never ridden before. I always enjoy the rides with my old man, it’s usually at a fairly easy pace for me. He’s got about 20 years on me and has consequently slowed down a little. However, he used to be an expert master racer back in the day. After about two hours of riding we stopped at the best bakery in the U.S. simply called ‘Bread’. If you ever get to Durango, look this place up and go. You will not regret it, just ask Nathan Bartels. He goes to college in Durango and Bread is responsible for the 30 extra pounds of body mass that he brings back to Des Moines every summer.

Day 5 – July 18

I did the Durango to Silverton ride again, I couldn’t resist. I usually never do the same ride twice when I’m out here, but this ride is way too much fun to pass up. I felt great the entire ride, I was adequately hydrated, acclimated and fed. I ran into some cat from Albuquerque, NM that goes by the name of Cliff. He’s a semi retired physician that frequents Durango often. It was nice to have someone to talk to on such a long ride. I finished the ride in 5:32 at about 18.2 mph for an average, my fastest time yet. Did I mention that the descents are screaming fast? I love passing cars…

Day 6 – July 19

The Hermosa Creek Trail is one of the more popular trails in the Durango area. The trailhead is located about 15 miles north of Durango. The trail itself is nearly 20 miles of ascending and descending smooth-running singletrack beside the beautiful Hermosa Creek. While not overly technical, there are some off-camber sections of trail that look precipitously down to the creek. Complicated with roots and rocks, these sections lend an element of technicality not otherwise encountered. There are a number of creek crossings and the water is cold enough that you definitely want to keep your nether regions out of it. Both trailheads see enough use from ATV’s and horses that they can be pretty rough at times and made me wish that I had my full suspension bike with me. I think the entire ride was about 5 ½ hours long, including the 20 miles of pavement and gravel I rode to get to the trailhead and back to town. I got about 20 miles of pavement in addition to 40 miles of out and back singletrack, another epic ride…

Day 7 – July 20

Today was my last day in Durango, always a sad moment. I would kill to live out here, however the average household income in La Plata County is around $40,000 and the average home costs about $300,000. You do the math. My plan was to do the Kennebec Pass loop again and get back to the hotel and shower up before check out time. It took some persuasion, but I talked the desk clerk into extending my check out to 2pm. I took off around 7:30 and did the same ride up to Kennebec Pass and rode the Colorado Trail back to Durango. Words cannot describe how amazing this ride is. The epic climb, the singletrack, the scenery and the fragrant scent of the pines of the high mountains…. Totally unreal.
I got back to the hotel about 5 ½ hours later and found that the maids has already cleaned the room. Oh well, I took a shower anyway. Whoever had the room reserved is going to have to deal with a dirt coated bathtub, a dirty towel on the floor and a tainted toilet seat.
I packed the rest of my crap, made a few stops in town and headed out for Aspen where I hooked up with Nooner. There is a NORBA National at Snowmass this coming weekend. I’m looking forward to watching some pro’s put the hurt on each other.

Day 8 – July 21

Got up in the morning and went down to the hotel restaurant for the complimentary continental breakfast with Nooner. The hotel we stayed at was the type of place that the rich folk frequent. The employees are bona-fide professional ass-kissers. They serve on you hand and foot, it can get a little over bearing at times. I’m thankful that Nooner, his brother (Chewbacca), and expecially his mom let me crash in their room for free.
Nooner was planning to do the NORBA marathon this morning so we packed up the car and headed for Snowmass. His race started at 9 so about 20 minutes after they started I headed out for an easy lap on the same course. As expected, the course was amazing. It was a 25 mile lap and the racers were doing two laps. The course had an epic climb, sweet singletrack, some technical rocky sections and some amazing views of the valley.
After I finished my ride I wandered around the expo area and checked out some of the pro’s bikes. I began to drool uncontrollably, so I went down the hill to Snowmass village to try and regain my composure and wait for Nooner to finish his race. About 4:45 after the start, I finally found Nooner wandering around the finish area. He had one shoe on and the other was still clipped into his pedal. This guy gets about as many bad breaks as WWJ. He reminded me of a character from the Peanuts comic, ‘Pigpen Pete’. He had dirt all up and down his sides, his shorts were halfway down his crack with dirt/mud stuffed down his pants as well as underneath his jersey. After I fed him some water and Fig Noonans, I took him to the bike wash area and hosed him down.

Day 9 – July 22

Nooner and I broke out the road bikes and took off from the hotel to ride up Independence Pass. It is about a 19 mile climb to the top with slopes that kick up to about 8% in some areas. Nooner and I swapped pulls all the way to the top. I paced him as much as I could because he was still a little cooked from yesterday’s race. We got to the top in about 105 minutes and went straight down the back side, passing cars left and right, how sweet is that! We stopped about 38 miles into the ride for water. Nooner wasn’t feeling up to doing 100 today so he turned back. I continued on and turned around at 50 miles and headed back. I got to the top of Independence once again and saw Nooner crawling out from behind a big rock. He got to the top and decided to take a nap until I caught back up to him. We headed back down into Aspen, passing cars once again. My maximum speed, while coasting, was a little over 50 mph. What a rush! I had to bunny hop over a chipmunk at about 45 mph. The little shit probably saw me coming and wanted to kamikaze me into an endo.

Day 10 – July 23 – An epic day in Aspen

Nooner and I woke and inhaled some breakfast and got back to the room in time to watch Lance crush everybody on the final time trial of his career. After the TT, we headed out on our mountain bikes to do some exploring of the area. We headed up a gravel road that led to the top of Aspen Mountain. It was a 5 1/5 mile ride that climbed a total of about 3200 feet. It averaged out to about an 11% gradient. A lot of spots were so steep that I was once again reduced to my ‘granniest’ of granny gears. It was a tough climb and took about 80 minutes to get to the summit. Once again we were treated to some amazing views at the top. It was among the most beautiful views that I had ever been privy to viewing. The ride back down was pretty crazy, I spent a lot time on my brakes and had to reduce my speed considerably. I was afraid that my rims would accumulate so much heat from the friction that my tires might blow. While riding down some of the road, I remember looking at the steepness of some parts in a state of disbelief. I couldn’t believe that I was able to ride my bike up some of them. Once we got to the bottom we tooled around town on some of the city trails. We ended up riding for about 3 ½ hours then hit the showers. The NORBA pro’s were racing at 3 bells and we didn’t want to miss any of it.
Nooner, myself and Chewbacca got to Snowmass with about 15 minutes to spare. We found a prime viewing spot about midway up the initial climb and watched the start of the pro men’s and women’s races. As they went by, it was pretty obvious that there was some major suffering going on due to the steepness of the climb and the altitude. We then started our long hike to the top of the hill and got about halfway up and realized that we had no idea where the hell we were going. We wandered over to an area where a bunch of other people were and found out that one of the ski lifts to the top of the course was free. Chewbacca about ripped our arms out of our sockets when he heard this. So we tumbled back down the mountain to the start of the lift. We got to the top of the mountain and had to backtrack downward a little to get to the course. On our way down Chewbacca had a little too much momentum going and did an endo onto one of the gravel roads (we were on foot). He got pissed off again. I remember hearing somewhere that it is never a good idea to piss off a wookie…
We finally found a portion of the race course and it happened to be one of the more technical portions. It was really cool watching the pros fly over some pretty gnarly stuff. One dude broke his chain and stopped to fix it. I helped him out because I felt pretty bad for him, he was having a good race.
As the race progressed, we followed along the trail with the intent of following it to the finish. It started to cloud up and sprinkle a little and we didn’t think much of it. At one point while we were walking along the trail, the race leader (Geoff Kabush) about ran over Chewbacca. Chewie wailed out a primal scream and scurried up a tree and out of harms way. We were about 3 miles from the finish and all hell broke loose with the weather. The temperature had dropped from about the upper 80’s to the lower 60’s in a matter of minutes. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was hailing marble size hail. Shortly thereafter lightning started striking everywhere. We found the nearest shelter, the underside of some rich dudes deck, to wait the storm out. We could see the course from where we were and the trail had become a river. As racers would go by we would yell encouragement to them. One dude stopped dead in his tracks when he heard us yelling and bee-lined it for our shelter. We ended up waiting underneath the deck for about 90 minutes before Nooner ran out to get the van. He hitched a ride to the bottom and came back to pick us up. He had the furnace blasting when we got into the van and it felt so good. We were cold and wet, but in retrospect it was still a lot of fun.
It was an epic day, the last of many epic days this time around. Then I drove home, so sad…

Thanks for reading my long winded account of my training camp. I know it was a little on the lengthy side, but those that have ever experienced cycling in Colorado can understand that you cannot adequately describe in words the amazing experience of riding out there.

Next up is round 3 of the Psycowpath series at Ponca State Park in Nebraska and the Iowa state RR.

I’m out

Cosmo/Napoleon