State CX Race

Weather was the word for the day.

Loads of snow at Waterford, Robert and crew did a stellar job of making the course a superb one to ride. A few super fast sections mixed in with some that were almost silly slow to remain upright. Thinking the lack of heat kept a few of the regulars away today. Temp got all the way up to 18-19 degrees by the start. Solid NW wind took the windchill into single digits. The sun though came through and was shining on us for the day.

Bicilibre did a fine job representing with Andy taking home the win in the men's 45+ race today. Things came together nicely for me as the season draws to a close. Repeat of last year's place for 2nd in the elite women. Fun day of racing, lots of folks braved to cold to cheer us all on.

Thanks to Kinetic Systems and Tailwind for a stellar job!

Even got to make it to the little guy's 3rd birthday party. Racing CX and playing with the grandson all in one day. Pretty sweet.

CX State Race Tomorrow

Forecast is more of what this past week has held. Chilly and there's quite the layer of snow down already.

Here's a shot from set up today (pic is by/from here)

Roller Tricks: It's almost that season

Perhaps given the snow and cold

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End of the mtb season = start of CX!!!

What can I say? Okay, I've been missing a LOT in the blogsphere.

My final mtb race of the season was this past weekend. Woke during the night to the sound of rain. Again later. Got up and it was still raining. A quick look at the weather radar indicated I'd be following this weather across the state and racing in rain. Okay, good warm up for the CX season. Training and prep have been delayed as I've continued to struggle with some lower back and hip issues. But, I CAN ride the bike and that is a very happy thing. So it was load up the van and hustle to that race.

Fall is in the air and that means ONE THING! Boyz and Grrrrls it is time for cyclocross. Break out the cowbells and get those tubulars glued on!

Matt shot a bunch of video from the Stony race and put this together.

Been biking, not posting...

Have to say that I've been having much fun and just don't seem to get to the blog. Do you really care what I've been up to? Heck...you're all off having a good time too.

Quick summary of the spring
Marin, CA: had a great opportunity to go to Adnan's PCG camp. Awesome experience. Stellar riding, scenery and food.

Bedford, VA: what has become an annual training trek. Good for the baseline each season.

Cohutta 100: kicked off what has been a wet race season. Awesome race, fun times, endless climbing. Final twenty miles are so much fun!

Mohican 100: ended up doing the 100k. This was a training race and the way things were going, taking the shorter route seemed to be the best thing. Rare that I listen to reason in the midst of a race.

Brighton XC was in there somewhere. Legs still tired from the prior weekend, lower back normally chills out on the bike. This day....it was two hours before it finally got quiet. Race was still a bunch of fun.

Lumberjack 100: Awesome! Everything came together for this one. It all worked great. The Eriksen 29er hardtail is the bike of choice for this course. The pit crew was perfect, the trail...well there were those bog sections after all the rain. But the rest of it rocked. Even some appropriate CX 'barrier' work in there. Feeding went good until the final 90 minutes of the day. Glad the race was nearing the end there. Good folks on the trail. Mixed it up with a bunch of folk. Had crazy luck at the awards that evening too.

Since then? Taking my 'winter' break. Not riding much, kayaking some and riding easy. Soon it'll be back to "work" training. Maybe a couple XC races to keep me motivated, A couple long CX events after summer and then a late start on regular CX. Looking forward to it.

Summer is here....even if wet and loaded with mosquitoes. Get out and ride!

Meanwhile, check back. I'll get some pics added to this post.

What makes a great day on the bike?

Being on the bike makes most any day a good day.

What's it take for a great day?

Everything comes together. I get on the bike and nothing aches. In the middle of the ride the legs don't feel the effort, the breathing seems easy. The focus stays completely in the moment with all senses engaged. No wandering off thinking about the to do list. Carving, sweeping, dropping in, rising up, perfect balance. Flow.

Happy Mudder's Day

Happy mudder's day to all of you.

More posting later. I've been crazy busy but have gotten in some fun stuff the past two months.

Thanks to you who've posted comments. I will get back to you.

Women in Cycling History

Alfonsina Morini Strada was the only woman ever to participate in the Giro d'Italia along with all the guys. The year: 1924. Alfonsina was as high as 41st place in the GC, in a race where the shortest stage was 250 km. Roads were unpaved, no cushy team support vehicles for the riders so they had to do their own repairs and take care of themselves.

A crash caused her to arrive outside the time limit on one stage so she was officially out of the race. But she was bringing so much attention to the race, that the officials allowed her (and some of the guys as well) to continue. She completed the Giro 38 hours back of first. Still, she made it. Many had abandoned during the race.

A more detailed history and other cool cycling history can be found at this blog.

A more recent standout in cycling history, Audrey McElmury, was the first US female to win the World Road Championships (Aug. 1969). A more complete listing of accomplishments of this Cycling Hall of Famer can be read here. There's also a nice "At the Back" article about her in the March 10 ('08) issue of VeloNews.

Nice bit of cycling history (since I'm tired of reading about the UCI/ASO/Pro Team arguments).

A week of inside

There were a couple of sweet days out there but working the regular kinda day job doesn't often allow me to get outside during the week. I'd told myself that I was going to ride outside today regardless. Morning came, no fresh snow. Fifteen degrees, windy and overcast. The kind of day I'd head to the woods with the mtb but there is still too much snow out there. Just not the kind of day I'm ready to log long hours on the open road. At least, not right now given the past couple weeks of fighting off the winter crud. So......off to the basement for another stellar installment of quality trainer time. DONE. Good stretch of time. Knowing that I'll soon be riding outside is adding motivation to the rides.

Riding Outside

So what's the big deal? In a word: change. it was quite nice to get outside and ride some naturally varied terrain with headwinds, some sloppy pavement, hills. Bit of a change from the trainer rides of late. Though I've really enjoyed having enough winter to XC ski in. Just finding myself more and more ready for winter to head out for the year.

Knew that it wouldn't all be snow-covered roads and even this one wasn't too bad early in the day. This pic also proof that the sun does shine here (this pic is for you 'Mr. now I live in always sunny Colorado').



Though some of the views were a bit non-varied. In this sea of overcast white, there is a small out building with a flight windsock. Just reinforced that the wind was coming into my face a lot faster than the weather report had suggested it would be. Not a problem, made for a nice quick ride back.


Every ride is a good ride. Get out and ride your bike! Or run, ski, whatever it is you do. Make the most of it.

Mud up! Looking back Looking forward

Since winter is hanging on and most of the training is inside (just say ice and snow) might as well watch some action from last December. Schedule is up for next year!!

Frostbite and Whiteouts

What a great weekend of XC skiing. Though Sunday might be the coldest I've been out in. Was -4 degrees (F) when we left the trail head. Winds were steady at 20 mph with gusts. The trail we were on is mostly sheltered so the wind was only a nasty factor for short periods of time. Though windchill of -25 or so doesn't take long for it to be a factor. Even managed to overdress by a layer.

Fresh coyote tracks, a ruffled grouse taking off, opening up the drifted ski tracks. A fun time out there.

The drive was something else with the fresh snow in the wind creating near total whiteouts at times.

Ready to go again!

50 v.2 Making any sense?

For those of you following along at home....
Next 50 are shiny and bright.

Fifty Years of Birthdays

Pretty cool...

Winter or not?

The climate is made up of “weather”; whether it is nice out depends on whether it is raining or not. Well, it's raining. Seems the snow we had that was great for XC skiing is now being rained on.

Check this site out for more word fun.

Winter Riding: 50, 34 and 9 degrees??!!!

Weekend? Check
Winter? Check
Ride inside? No way.

January has sure been mixed weather. So even if it hasn't been enough snow to XC ski on, the biking has been happening.

Two weeks ago I spent Saturday inside on the trainer, pyramids and more. So I really wanted to get outside for the long ride Sunday. LJ and Ti Addiction joined in for the ride. We drove to the south until we were out of the thick fog caused by the warm temps with a foot of snow on the ground. It was about 50 degrees, raining some but we were outside. Those are some REAL flat roads but good to ride.

Last weekend Saturday was sunny, a couple degrees above freezing and dry roads. LJ and I rolled a few hours on the road. Nice day. Sunday would be more of the same, only on trail, right? Plan was to meet up with a bunch of folks for some mtb riding. Turned out to be a 'stupid fun' outing. Seems that the sunshine I left at home was the last I'd see that day. On the drive over it was into rain, then slush, then snow-covered roads. Thick, wet, heavy snow and 34 degrees. Fender? At home. Oh well, I was there and I was going to ride. It was near instant wet butt. A couple inches of slush on the trail made for a fun time, if wet and chilly (or is that silly?). Lots of fun for a couple hours.

This weekend has the state chillin' in single digits. Not to be stuck inside on the trainer for a long stretch until I'm forced there, I headed to the woods for two hours of playtime. Light blanket of snow, mostly frozen track. Made a new set of tracks in the snow and did a couple loops. Had a tire that decided it didn't need to hold air so I took that to be my sign to call it day. Sun was over the horizon and the temps were dropping farther down in the single digits and the batteries in my heated gloves were about done. Another great winter ride!

So don't be hiding inside, layer up and head out!