Anyways the gist of this blog post was meant to be about my focus & motivation for 2012 & outline my goals.  Sometimes making things public can force you to never back down & push yourself to new levels.  As I posted earlier, going to be racing with Epic Pro cycling team p/b The Gear Movement.  New team, new teammates & some awesome new sponsors for 2012.  I’m excited to be back on Cannondale bikes, been a long time since I’ve ridden one, but I truly loved those bikes.  From my F2000SL (that I worked my ass off in college at Pizza Hut to pay for > Hell yes I rocked the blue Volvo logo’d frame & those crappy CODA discs, but got those swapped.  I think I only broke 2 of these frames!) to the Scalpel that took home off the demo truck, they were fast bikes.  2012, hoping to be on a Flash 29.

Flash 29

Serious team & serious goals for 2012

• PRO XCT Racing!! Texas, Colorado Springs & Missoula (will miss Wisco though as I’ll be back home for my mother’s wedding)
• Nationals!! XCO Nationals in Idaho
• Winter Park Series as I can hit them
• Steamboat Stinger (need some redemption from last years finish)

My goals are for some good finishes at the front of the pack  (race how I know I can race).  Perhaps crack the top 10 for the big races or pull some podiums up high at Winter Park/Steamboat.  Big time, hugest goal, holy crap maybe?  Get into the World Cup at Windham.  That’s not as easy as one thinks.  Need some solid UCI points for the season & not too many races will I get to hit to chase down those points, but if you’re going to dream, better dream big.  I’ll have the bike, the support & the team to do it.  I just need to bring the training into the right spots.

Yes, it’s completely true.  I’m actually training this season with a purpose & goal (see above).  The last 2-3 years have seen me mostly focused on family (getting married, moving, etc), making other people fast, & plain old having fun.  I got fit, but never truly race fit.  Did some intervals sparingly, rode my bike tons but lapsed when it came to the true dedication.  What most people call ‘soft’, didn’t push myself beyond the normal comforts of general riding.  It showed in my race results & my power numbers & even my mentality (at least according to my wife).  I would do just enough to get by & it worked for me then. It no longer will.

Not so this season, I’ve been cracking the whip at the gym.  Late evening or early morning gym sessions, crushing the core work.  Going the extra bit to get myself fit.  Riding is slowly up-ticking as well as my overall strength & general fitness.  I’m leaps & bounds ahead of the past few seasons in January & truly ready to get it on.  I’m feeling strong & it’s a great time to be alive & training hard.

Rolling with Coach Carson

First racing of the season kicks off with the Team at 24 hours of Old Pueblo.  Racing as part of a 5 person mixed team & looking to mix it up a bit. Obviously won’t be anywhere near mid-season race form, but will be nice to get some intensity in, particularly with Mellow Johnny PRO XCT only 2 weeks after.  Good chance to really integrate myself with the team & hopefully give Sam & Chris a run for their money on lap times

Clear roads & Mild temps have made for good training

That’s it for now.  Temps are looking great to load up the miles for this weekend & hopefully the snow melts.  #getsome, set some goals & get yourself focused for this season.  I am!

In case you didn’t know we got dumped on with snow this past Thursday. Not your typical w inches, but more like a foot or more.

As such have had to think outside the box when it comes to training. Road cycling was out for a bit as they really suck at plowing around here.

Thus, put some extra time in at the gym. Legs are getting sore from the hypertrophy phase, but definitely feeling strong. Friday with the day off for work, pulled out the classic skis & hit the local trail down the road. Was quite fun & peaceful. Will make for a great place to do recovery rides this summer.

Since I had already been skiing the day prior, busted out the snowshoes, grabbed the dogs & headed in the opposite direction on Saturday. Ended up being super warm & was crazily overdressed. The dogs sure enjoyed it, but had Lake along & he hated every minute of it. But we did have fun throwing snow balls at each other.

Finally was able to get out on the road bike today. Was enjoyable & nice to get out for some fun, but my legs were jacked from doing everything but cycling. Was a crazy temperature fluctuating day. Was 45 when I left, then would hit cold pockets and dip to 30, then back to 45-50 a few miles later.

And they still suck at taking care of the roads around here. Seriously with these temps, one thing I can say is every upstate road would be clear of snow. Around here the plows rarely come out & as such loads of drifts & icy sections on a few roads. Don’t even try to ride a side road… but alas, I’ve got mad skills from many a days of negotiating upstate roads & ice (while we had plenty of plows, colder temps made it tougher). Always fun to dive in to snow/ ice at 20+ & see if you’re gonna hit the deck or make it through.

Solidly warm temps are here for a bit & hopefully can get in some more great time playing this week & weekend!

Last year I spent thanksgiving on the trails at Heil Ranch. Great day on the bike and some Clif bars to feast on. Thankfully this year, in had the family here and would at least get some turkey in my belly.

sunshine, sunshine

Still, was nice to be back out on the same trails and was a gorgeous morning for a ride. Leaving home it was 21 degrees, but when I hit the trails it was 45/50 and would warm up to 65/70 ish. As quick as I hit the trails I was stripping down to shorts and a jersey.

this years thanksgiving trail food was much tastier

Managed to tack off a few hours on the dirt and get back home in time to catch some football and enjoy the day with the family. Couldn’t be thankful for more.

Black Friday, wtf is that? A big group of us decided to brave the cooler temps and the (un)crowded trails around Golden. No need to pepper spray anyone to get what you were after. It was found in the pain and suffering up the long climb to kick off White Ranch.

up, up, up

It was nice to meet some of the Epic teammates & ride some trails that I’ve never been on before. Long climb up to the top & then some fun swoopy stuff. Kept it easy and never fired the pistons, knew I still had plenty more days of riding ahead.

great views from up top

All together was a super fun few hours on the bike. We rolled back to the parking lot and a few brave soldiers decided to keep rolling and hit up some more trail. I peeled it back and went home to put some more time in with the ol ball and chain.

After some time on the dirt, pulled out the road bike for some easy base miles. Wsnted to just keep on trucking & racking up the weekend hours both saturday and Sunday. Managed to spill over. On the road bike making u turn on the road. Could only laugh at myself for that one. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve crashed on the roadie. Included countless races where seemingly everyone played a game of “pockets full of rosy, ashes, ashes we all fall down” except me. I always found it funny that everyone would crash when someone breathed on them on the pavement…something to be said for all those days spent flying through the woods.

naturally went looking for dirt

Wrapped up a great weekend of riding & rolling forward with the training plan. Bit of snow out there, especially up high and looking to bust out the snowshoes & have some fun.

how I felt after the long weekend

That made for some fun riding on the trail Saturday at Hall Ranch. I had to get out for a ride, been dying for a few weeks to test out the new Quarq quatro. Trails were dry and it was fairly warm, so a little blowing of the leaves wasn’t going to keep me at home. Though it almost put me on the ground a few times. Never did have to resort to any walking, but definitely was blown off trail more than once.

Sunday, I rolled over to Picture Rock for some more time on the dirt. Just a quick climb up to the top, around the loop and down. I’m easing back into the training with some shorter and easier rides. Plenty of time to lay down the miles soon enough.

Lots of stuff already out there on How everyone finished (2nd Place Overall-Team Omnium!)

-FasCat Blog

-303 Cycling

-Singletrack.com

CU Cycling mountain bike team kicked some ass at Nationals and I’m super proud of every single persons effort.  Whether they podium’d or not they were an integral part of the support team.  Also, all of the support crew were incredible.  Cooking dinners, maintaining bikes, helping set up and tear down the pits.  We rocked the house and Ft. Loosing is scared next year that we are coming for them and going topple their reign at the top.

I’m super excited for the Seniors (Peter/Claire) that had incredible races & pumped for all the riders that will be coming back next season!

Far and away we rock on the bike as a team, but we MOST DEFINITELY have the most fun.  When Sam was lined up for the short track and the official were counting down, it was awesome to have the whole CU team standing there shouting GO CU!! And singing the team fight song!  No one else even came close in school spirit!  You’ve seen the race pictures, here’s some fun pictures from the weekend!

Pre-riding the XC course in the snow and mud

Joey is all mud, blood and smiles on course

Sam is a bit dirty after the XC Race

Joey takes a moment to concentrate before his run

Was Successful enough for a 4th National Title in DH

I’m sure Baddick doesn’t want me to post this, those Brits are so shy, but we had fun at the costume party

Hunter S. Thompson came along with team for some reporting

You pretty much had to be there to understand this one

Raddest, fastest team around!

There’s a bunch more pictures, but they are not fit for the interwebs!!

Looking forward to returning with the team for 2012 mountain bike season and unleashing it on the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Conference & nationals again!

Side note: Training for me personally for 2012 has begun, will get a report up this weekend as I hit the trails with the new Quarq quatro and bring everyone up to speed…

It has been a good year out here and I’m more than happy to be here and having fun.  I’ve had an ok race season and I’m ready to prepare for next season and really step up my game for 2012.

Let’s play catchup for the last few weeks….

I went to Grand Junction with the CU Cycling Team.  Had a ton of fun and even got to do some extra riding afterwards in Fruita!  No complaints there as it was tons of fun!

Brian rolls through and takes an Oreo feed during the XC race

Post Race shred session on 18 mile rd

Weekly CU team practices at Valmont, Spandex & Baggies mixing it up

Mom, Grammy & Wheels (Dave) came to visit us in Colorado!!

This past week has been awesome, been filled with tons of fun stuff as my mom, her fiancé Wheels (Dave) & Grammy came to visit us in Colorado. It was awesome to have them here.

We started things off with some time on Pearl St doing some shopping and then took our travels up to Rocky Mountain National Park, tough first we kicked things off with Lake’s cross race at Xilinx

Lake shredding it at Xilinx CX

We spent the day taking a nice long drive up to Estes and enjoyed every bit of it.  Leaves were in bloom in a few spots, going up high was pretty sweet and even got to see some Elk in the meadow

Lake and Mom

Elk Meadow…. The Elk are off to the left, but I just like this picture

Lake made some friends

Wheels and our family on Trail Ridge, mom and grammy were too freaked out to get out of the car!

I just dig this view

Elk. Chilling.

The Church at the base of Longs Peak

We got had some great adventures, I even took them up to Gold Hill, but for some reason the camera didn’t work properly up there…  Family dinners, laughs and great times.  It was super nice to have them out here and having a great time and relaxing.  So nice to see my mom so happy after all the stuff she’s been through and it was even better to see Grammy out on vacation!

Riding has been mostly on the down low and will be till I return from the Collegiate Mountain Bike National Champs in Angel Fire, New Mexico.  Super excited to head out with the CU Cycling team, watch them kick some ass and support them.  After that, time to change the oil in the engine, swap some spark plugs and revv it up for 2012 Mountain Bike Season!

This past weekend the race was at Hartman Rocks in Gunnison, CO hosted by Western.  Good chance to really get in with the team, meet everybody and have some fun.  We chose to camp and found a pretty dang sweet camping spot.  Although it was behind the rocks and it got brutally cold at night.

Sunrise in Gunnison

Our team pretty much kicked some ass!  We won the Women’s B Short Track, then went 1,2,4,5 in the Women’s A Short Track.  Our Men went 1,2 in the Men’s A Short track.  The next day in XC we won the Men’s A in a sprint at the Line and in Women’s A went 2,3,5 and 2nd in Women’s B.  Gravity team rocked the house with a W in both DH and Air DH.  Super pumped for the team and looking forward to this coming weekend in Grand Junction

Women’s B Rider Ashlee Wilson shredding the field in the Short Track

The DH Crew

Women’s A Riders Abbey, Katie, Claire & Deidre ready to decimate the field

Abbey Mickey dropping the descent

The Men start the short track led by Kevin Kane

Kevin Kane working hard for Sam Morrison

Everyone was out cheering and doing the wave

Michael Larsen drops through the upper section of DH

Post race activities were load of fun.  2 nights of camping and camp fires.  There was no kumbaya singing, but we definitely had some fun and I’m looking forward to the upcoming races

But the big deal is I started working with the University of Colorado mountain bike race team!!  GO BUFFS!!  Super excited to dive in and work with an awesome group of speedy kids.  The team is packed with some superstars and I look forward to heading off this weekend to the Conference champs at Western State and then gearing up for Nationals at Angel Fire in New Mexico.  Been busy leading some group rides, attending meetings and working on getting things organized so we can wins some stars and bars this year.

Yesterday, rolled out for the group ride, though we had some high participation last week, I think this week was down due to everyone prepping for the weekend and/or couldn’t make it up to the trails.  But nonetheless Donny from CU and I had a blast riding Walker Ranch.  Even though been here all summer and lived here a few years ago, I haven’t ridden Walker Ranch since I first visited Colorado waaay back in 2004!!!  It was the very first trail I rode out here in the Red State, so it’s held a special place in my book of cool trails.  But for some odd reason, never seemed to make it back.  I remembered a few bits and pieces of it and even some of the technical features.  All together though it’s actually super fun and I need to get back there and ride it some more!  Side bonus it was 85 degrees out and felt like mid-summer!

Great High Country Views

Rolling with Donny

That’s CU down there!

I kinda remembered this hike-a-bike

Waterfalls on the way up

At least good views of the South Boulder Creek

Frig, this got long.  Hey Scheske, it’s good prep for El Reto though!

Buffed out and Rolling Singletrack

Cool view of the dam

Cross has been up and down this season.  Podium’d at Valmont then moved up to race the Open class and promptly burped my tire riding off the curb at the start (got a gracious wheel change) & then rolled the rear on the first lap.  Doh!  That’s after taking a mega digger at Wednesday Worlds on the pavement at Elks.  Hopefully things look up.  At least they are starting too for next season already. Got some big plans and will shortly have some stuff finalized and can share it all…

Here’s a cross picture thrown in just to change things up

Uploaded with Skitch!

So decided to let things cool a bit and you can all enjoy know that my facebook photo albums are right there in my blog site.  So if you’re not on the ‘book, you can still check out everything I post… right here

Well finally bust off a big one this year, just a super fun ride up and over Rollins pass with Scott Upton.  Read about it on the mtbr boards and decided hell yes, lets go…

Rolled out at about 7 am from Eldora Ski resort and made the trek up the Jenny Creek/Guinn Mt Trail.  We rolled up and over the pass down to Fraser, rolled into Winter Park for some lunch and then rolled out of town taking the Corona Pass Road back up.  at least we thought so  Only got off track once and had to bushwhack through and find the roads!!

Rolling out from Eldora

Group ride?

The rocks on Jenny Creek

Is this the Guinn Mt Hut?

Ah nope this is the Guinn Mt. Hut

Well, if we get stuck can crash here!

First views of the high peaks

Yankee Doodle Lake

Gorgeous day and having fun

Rolling the trestles

Awesome views and sheer drops

Crossing over Rollins Pass and the Continental Divide

Rolling down to Winter Park

Climbing back out of Winter Park via the long road

I swear the road is over here

We finally found the road

Rolling back to the trestles

…And back to the trestles for more view

One last look to take it all in

This past week there was lotsa bike riding, I’ll do a another post to catch up.  Lots pictures to enjoy today

Saturday in Nederland, not quite the Nederland in Europe as Lake believes, but it does feel like a different country compared to most of the riding on the front range.  Rolled up there with Von to do some exploring and have some fun.  As usual he ripped my legs off on the climbs.  We found some new trails, did some hike a biking, got semi-lost but not really.  All together was a great day on the bike

Rolling out on the singletrack

Getting up high and enjoying the view

Gets a little narrow in here

Tipperary Creek

Sunday I decided to head back to Winter Park and re-ride last weeks King of the Rockies course.  Since I raced it with my head down and didn’t really get to look around, wanted to re scout the trails, check out the sights and see what I missed.

I had better legs than saturday, but didn’t want to overcook myself for monday’s mega so I took it pretty easy and just rolled everything and had some fun bombing the descents.  The highlight of the ride was descending off the 1st descent and overtaking a few people.  Was working on passing this young kid and before I got to let him know I was there and, he slowed dramatically and moved into my line.  Really didn’t expect that and I’m sure he didn’t expect my handlebars in his hip.  He let out one hell of a scream as we were cooking it pretty fast.  I apologized as I was trying to let him know I was there, but wasn’t much I could do.  Luckily neither one of us went down and all seemed well, so I hope he had a good ride!

Rolling over to the ‘race start’ on the roads

Rolling up theTipperary Creek climb

Still climbing up, but getting a bit easier and quicker after 20+ minutes

There was a lot of people at this spot and I stopped to find out why, wasn’t disappointed!

Rolling up the singletrack climb, peeked out to see the views

The green was so bright surrounding the singletrack.  Photo barely does it justice

Tomorrow I’ll wrap it up with the Ned>WP>Ned photos and write up!