Weekday training has been packed full of the usual; intervals, suffering, fatigue, chasing strava KOM’s.  But the weekend is a good chance to get out and explore via bike, bust my ass still and have a ton of fun doing so.

I decided I wanted a good long uphill ride, and no better place to go than to Nederland.  I figured I would check out Tin Shed Sports and see how skilled The Powers was at making some coffee.  The plan was to roll up 4 mile Canyon to Switzerland trail and then stop for coffee/lunch and then Shred the DOTs on the way back down.  Below is the story in pictures

Rolling the gentle grade of 4 mile/Wall Street

Wall Street-While this was used back in the gold mining days, I’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones and only could see knights and warriors fighting and scaling the walls  

The Switzerland Trail, a long gentle railroad grade climb with great view  

Getting higher and looking across to the Switz on the East Side 

I was feeling great climbing, had a super fun rhythm and just pushing myself at Sweet Spot, I smiled and was psyched when I turned the bend and there was so much more to climb and keep going  

I made it up to Ned, but the temps up high were really cold!  I was having a bit too much fun riding and enjoying the views and had pushed myself pretty hard and skimped on the food intake.  So I gingerly rolled into Tin Shed for some soup and sandwich (It was delicious!) to accompany my expertly made Mocha.  I was pretty frigid and it took me some time to warm up and fuel up.  In fact, so much time that I didn’t realize how long I had been there and had to back out of most of my ride on the single wide trails…..

I did pop in for a short bit and they were magnificent.  

It was rain-snowing and the dirt was just the best kind you could imagine, so much moisture in the soil, but hard packed.  The tires felt like they had velcro on them the whole time.  If it wasn’t Mother’s Day, I would have spent the whole day up there!  The rest of the ride, I dropped straight down Magnolia and back home.  

 It was a great ride, had loads of fun.  And now onward to the race season with Battle of the Bear 1/2 & Curt Gowdy XC this weekend!

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached

Like the title implies, training has been going well.  That good feeling that you have from being exhausted from long rides, but can feel the efforts area working in your favor is starting to appear.  The longer harder rides aren’t as long and as hard anymore.  The little sprints still hurt but not as much.  The spring time hack at the top of the climbs is still there, but at least its not there too much when I’m heading down.

Friday afternoon spin on the dirt roads

The weekend was full of awesomeness. Got out Saturday with my Epic Pro teammmates again (except for Alders who was slaying it at Mellow Johnny’s PRO XCT) and hooked up with the CU team and just went big on the climbing.  Up and over everything we could squeeze in.  Haven’t climbed that much in forever, but it was good sensations to get those into the legs.

Rolling out to Carter Lake with the Epic Crew on Sunday

Sunday was a ‘Sam Morrison Zone 2′ ride out to Carter Lake.  Had a good size group to roll with and I surprisingly felt really really good.  The plan for the day was to go big and get some time in on the bike.

Great views of Carter

Did manage to get in a great ride with Carson, rolled up South St. Vrain Canyon to Raymond and back down.  The legs felt really really good with all the mileage in them and it was a nice day to finally crack 100 miles on the road.  Can’t believe I never broke that number 1x last season on the road!

Flipping around at Raymond

Today, as I type this is just gorgeous outside.  70+ and just had fun on the bike.  I got myself a new Quarq and loving it.  No more weight penalty and I finally have a solid road bike that I really really like to ride.  While the Cannondale Flash is here, it’s a few weeks out on the SRAM XX parts.  I miss the dirt, I miss the dirt, I miss the dirt.  But…. I’m really having fun on the road bike and hell, I think I may even sign up for Boulder Roubaix next month!!

Lee Hill-How many ProTour riders will hit the deck in the next switchbacks this summer?

Warm in the shade climbing up Bow Mountain

Snow maybe coming tomorrow after 70 today, but I plan on keeping my momentum up.

Enthusiasm is the energy and force that build literal momentum of the human soul and mind -Bryant H. McGill

Rossetti Vertigo

Now, I realize, it’s not quite all that in the road cycling world, I mean look at it, where’s the carbon deep dish wheels?!  But it’s new to me and it’s been about 3 years since I’ve had a new road bike.  My road bikes tend to stick around on average about 3 years and are more workhorses than anything for me.  It would take me a while to list all the mountain bikes I’ve had but only a few lines to list the road bikes.

The bike isn’t anything special, open-mold Taiwanese frame, but it does have an integrated seat post.  Built up with SRAM Rival and currently some crappy shimano wheels (hopefully to be replaced with NoTubes soon).  I’ve also got a Quarq on it’s way, so for first time in a while I’m without power for a bit.  But with the low end gruppo, it comes in about 16.8 lbs  I’ll drop some weight swapping to the Quarq & also lose about a pound swapping wheels.

Not that the parts, name brand, etc are the big deal.  The fact is it just makes me excited to ride my bike again and get out there and train.  Now, this might be common place, but after riding a 7 model years old trek 5200; this thing just jumps when I pedal.  It actually feels like it goes forward and 1 out of every 3 pedal strokes aren’t wasted just pushing through the drivetrain.  So it makes me excited to climb hills, go on group rides, go for long MEGA* rides (*trademark/copyright of HeyoBH).

In fact got out this weekend with my Epic Teammates for the Gateway ride.  It was pretty much a regular NRC race this past weekend on the front group.  All the famous colors of teams and riders you see at the front of the big races were on the front of the group ride.  With the warmer weather it brought out loads of riders to test themselves against them up the infamous Carter Lake climb.

Regrouping at the top

It was good fun hard race to the top and I straggled in not too far behind, at least better than I have been.  So fitness is slowly climbing.  Aftereward turned around with Chris, Sam & Bryan and headed out on our own.  Our small group fought the wind to Lefthhand Canyon, then fought our fatigue and selves up to the top of Jamestown.

Bryan, Sam & Chris

I was dispatched about mile 7 of 9 and just couldn’t hold the pace any longer uphill.  By the time we rode up Lee Hill, I considered walking as it seemed a bit faster.  But all together it was a good ride with teamies.  The bad news is I found out why I was struggling and came down with a full blown cold.  Thought I had salvaged myself and fought it off, but ah well.  Nothing to do now but pop pills and try to recover in time to do it all over again this weekend.

Hopefully can get out today before the 80 mph gusts come and keep logging some new miles on the Newness!

We fielded 2 teams, a 4 person open and a 5 person mixed.  With some awesome support by The Gear Movement, Cannondale, NoTubes, Schwalbe, Lazer, Mix 1, Honey Stinger & CarboRocket we were by far the best set up team around.  Huge Thanks to our Support crew: Jim Fu, Nancy Feagans, James Keller for keeping us running and dialed all night long.

Camp Setup

We flew into town Thursday evening and arrived at the course Friday morning.  A few had come down earlier to set up and all we had to do was pre-ride the course and rip some laps and get things dialed in.  Was my first experience riding in the desert.  Things are not friendly in the desert by any means.  Everything has thorns, spikes, prickers.  It will eat you alive if you go off trail.

Don’t let them fool you, they aren’t friendly when a number plate is on the front of those bars

The affectionately titled “Bitches” Section

Sunshine and cactus, both are dangerous in February

Dangerous Deidre? Nah, she was just happy to rip trail and pull cholla out of my armpit

Race day came along and our 5 person team was dialed.  Brian Sells went out and burned a super fast first lap and I went out in second.  I was fortunate enough to borrow his 18lb 26″ Scalpel for the race.  So speed was on my side.  Though getting used to such small tires at high speeds took some adjusting to for sure.  I burned a first lap just over an hour 1:00:47 (few seconds faster than Brian) and our team was off.  Deidre pulled a super fast lap, then Bill & Kelly.  By the time things wheeled around for my turn it was time for a night lap.

Traffic on the course was horrendous, but managed to rip out a solid dusk lap and we were fighting for 2nd the entirety of the race.  Midnight lap came around and fatigue was setting in for everyone.  Though the course got slightly damp and was more fun to ride.  I had some lighting issues due to improper assembly and had to stop a few times to fix, but otherwise we were still ripping things open.

Felt pretty good, but definitely fatigued for my dawn lap and lap times were creeping upwards for us.  We were in a tough fight to hold second place.  Bill decided to forego his turn and send Brian out to not lose anymore time.  It was decided that I would ride again another lap and possibly ride 2 in a row if it came down to the wire.

Sam Ripping up his 1st lap

Cholla, it hurts

I was dialed to ride a super fast 5th lap on the course & I did.  I ripped it nearly as fast as my first lap, but lost a bit of time when I made contact with a cholla cactus.  I had to stop and find something to help me pull ti out of me.  It was embedded in my shoulder, arms, leg, etc.  I had not choice but to stop for a bit and work on puling it out.

I did manage to get back up to pace and rolling and when I realized I was turning a pretty good lap time, I pulled it back on the final climb to conserve some energy for the next lap.  After being awake all night, I knew it was useless to charge the climb and better to rythmn it and pull a good 2nd lap.  I finished at 1:05:00 and headed out for my 2nd lap.  It was tough to race an xc race at the end of 24 hours, but I was fueled up, pumped and motivated.  I did not want to get passed.  Once I realized I wasn’t going to get passed I settled in and held onto our 2nd place for the event.

Podium Party in February

The 4 person went on to spank Kona Factory on their home turf.  They lapped them, which was huge.  Congrats to them for an excellent race.

It was an awesome event.  Super pumped to get out on the dirt and ride my bike hard in February.  I still have loads of work to do for this upcoming season for sure.  But this was an awesome way to kick it off with some fun and good friends.  I’m super excited for the future and can’t wait for more.  Now, need to keep catching up on that sleep.

I’ve been hitting the rollers steadily this past week.  Steady diet of Sweet Spot Bursts, Tempo work.  Even a few Sufferfest videos to mix in some intensity to prep of the upcoming race.  Coupla days here and there on the skate skis & even ran into Mr. Baddick on Saturday at South Boulder park turning some laps.  I ‘attempted’ to follow on the skinny skis as much as I could, but don’t let him fool you he’s pretty quick on them.  I only managed to catch up to him when he took a tumble down the big hill , but naturally I fell flat on my face on the flats when I was trying to put some time into him.  It was all in good fun and is still hard as shit no matter how many times I try to get out there and practice.  I still need to get up to Eldora and take a lesson from Peter.

After a week on the rollers and the only outside time on the skis, today I’d had enough.  Dry Roads was all that was needed to motivate me.  20 degree temps, dealt with them plenty.  I’ve got all the gear, didn’t even have to really HTFU.  It was just due time to get outside and ride.  I mean if I didn’t know how can I justify myself when B-House is pulling off 6 hour rides in those temps and laughing his way to the top of the podium.  Gotten a little soft out here in the 45 degree winter temps.  Manned up, layered up, sent out the texts and was joined by Carson and fellow Epic teammate Brian Sells.

21 degrees, been a while

In a way it was kinda nice and exhilarating.  It was peaceful for sure.  My legs were blown from the skiing and hitting the rollers hard the past few.  But it was all damn worthwhile. …..And I figured out why I was struggling so hard to catch up and go forward > my damn bottom bracket is hosed/was frozen.  Would barely turn 1/12 of a stroke when I pushed it forward.  200 watts felt like 400 as all my energy was being wasted pushing through.  Whoopsie, should’ve fixed that a bit ago, but no need a new road bike is en route (tomorrow/tuesday??).

It was as cold as it looks

In the end, was far better to be outside than inside.  Here’s to 70 degree temps, dodging cacti and kicking some ass next weekend at OP!

I’ve downhilled a few times & classic skied tons, but never have I ever skate skied.  Met the crew at the gate for my first foray.  AP, MT, Tupa, Bob & Josh were there to ‘help’ me learn.  They showed me a few things and then just went really really fast and I was forced to bust my ass with everything I had to keep up.

This is what I felt like out there skiing

I could go fine on the flats, better than I though on the down and totally sucked going uphill.  And there was lots and lots of uphill.  I can’t remember the last time I went that hard.  Legs were burning, arms were burning, it was dark, 9000ft elevation and I simply fell over a few times going uphill as I was just going so hard trying to keep up.

I’m pretty certain this is what my technique looked like to everyone else

Needless to say it was both the most fun and hardest thing I’ve ever done exercise wise.  HUGE thanks to Powers for lending me the skate skis and boots.  I’m super hooked on the sport and I need to get up to Ned and get a good lesson from the Brit.

Well the snow came down in bunches Thursday/Friday night and made for a good fun day this past Saturday.  I elected for my first Winter Triathlon.

Rolled out to North Boulder Park for some am skate skiing

Then jumped on the trainer for 90 minutes of Sufferfest videos with Bill & Kelly

Then home for 90 minutes of Snowshoe time with Bridget & Lake

I was pretty crushed when I finished up all 3 workouts, but damn it was a ton of fun.

I didn’t get to bust out the skis on Sunday, but instead took Bridget and Lake and the pups for some more snowshoeing up in Nederland

This tells you how deep the snow is when Lizzy was swimming in it

It was a gorgeous day out there and far warmer than you can imagine

And of course the dogs had so much fun!

Training is rolling along nicely and I’ll work on bringing everyone up to speed quite a bit more on this blog and getting some more updates up much much quicker than I have been in the past few months.  New Bikes are coming and racing is less than 2 weeks away!!

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!

Peak to Peak Highway

South St. Vrain… Raced the river on the way down

Strava Route

Afterwards grabbed the whole family and rolled out to the Eagle Trail in Boulder.  Even got Bridget out there on her Giant 29er.  Still learning the ropes and would be a good chance to run the dogs.  It’s one of the few trails that dogs & bikes can both be on in Boulder.  We just rolled down to the reservoir, let the dogs get in and rolled back.  Too warm to go fast for the dogs and a little too much uphill on the way back for Lake.  Poor Lulu was so cooked by the end she was running zig-zags and I don’t think she knew where she was.  Lizzy was barely panting and asking for more!

Lizzy and Lake heading out on the Eagle Trail

Wrapped up the day with some steaks on the grill and beers in the backyard,

West Magnolia

Sunday, headed out to the West Magnolia trails with Frank and Von.  Had heard about these, but never had ridden them.  Drove up to get some extra time on the dirt.  Rolled into the lot, hooked up with Scott Upton & Randall.  They were both sporting some singlespeeds and wanted to romp around a bit on the dirt and check out the SSUSA course that had occurred on the trails the prior day.

Frank was on the gas from the go

Frank took off like a rocket and we chased him around for a bit on the super dry and super fun trails and decided to make our way up to the “Toilet Bowl’, no idea what it was, but I was just following

Wonder if Chris is home?

Went up the trail known as ‘schoolbus’ and soon found out why.  So we decided to explore a bit and check things out.

Boarding the bus

Well, if it got dark we’d have shelter

Seem like we’re on the right bus

We kept chugging upwards and onwards and found some even cooler stuff.  An old abandoned mine & equipment.  I could’ve spent hours checking this stuff out and.  Was super cool to see

Frank the Tank

Built to Last, well over 100 years old I’m thinking..

No thanks, good with plain old dirt

As we went up higher, started running into snow

We kept creeping upwards and were continually running into snow drifts that were a few feet deep.  This was a first for me.  75+ degrees and deep snow on the trail.  We made a bunch of crossings and then reached a point around 9500′ ft where the snow just made the trail unpassable.  We jumped up to the road and tried to make our way up via alternate routes, but the road was just wet and muddy.  Got up a ways to where we needed to access the trails and I believe the quote was ‘There’s a waterfall on the trail there!’ so that turned us around and we just ripped around the trails down lower.  We lost Scott and Randy to a whole bunch of flat tires and rolled on for some more over to the DOT trails.

Gorgeous view of the high country were abound

Strava Route

Ended up with just shy of 3 hours of bike time.  Trails were awesome and by far some of my favorite trails I’ve ridden around locally.  I’ll definitely have to head back.  It’s a pretty intricate network and gonna have to learn those for sure!  All together was a great way to finish of a nice solid block of training and prepare for the Bailey Hundo!

We ended up driving through Big Thompson Canyon into Estes Park.  Along the way we stopped for some lunch along the river.  Decided it would be fun as hell to play in the stream, throw some rocks, climb on the Boulders and basically just be 6 year old boys.  It was a blast and we both had tons of fun.

Immediately as we rolled into Estes Park, there was a whole herd of Elk that crossed the road.  So it was super cool to see!

Once we got inside the Park, both of us were really awed by the vistas and the surrounding landscape.  I think Lake wanted to play on the rocks a bit more.  Don’t tell mom, but a few feet back is a big drop off!

My favorite picture from the day.  We played on this rock for a long time.  Even got to pretend it was the surface of the moon and bounce around and jump on it like were astronauts.

At the day’s end we went to the museum where Lake earned his Junior Ranger badge.  He was pretty dang excited for this and I was super proud of him for earning it and answering the Rangers questions.  I think now we have to go to a few more parks for him to earn more.

Nothing is better than hearing him say “Best Day Ever” when we got home.  Full pics here on facebook .  All in All, super fun day and glad that got to spend the day with Lake!

Saturday-FoCo Fun

Managed to get out Saturday with Sonya and Jeff of Team Green (Ergon)  Go there, they have some cool pictures too!.  They are both prepping for the Julian Death March next weekend in Cali and needed a good ride with some climbing.  Temps were up near 80 for the day and I made a mistake opting for just bottles.  I really loathe carrying a pack, especially when wanting to ride at a solid clip.  The Superfly only has 1 bottle mount and I guess I just need to suck it up and carry it.  It ended up costing me big time.  I played it conservative with the water bottles as I wasn’t totally sure where/when we would get water and by the time I needed it, I had barely drank half a bottle 2 hours into the ride and was already in the whole.  We scored some before the climb up Horsetooth, but damage was done.  I started to cramp a little bit coming up the long climb, hamstrings were just not happy at that point.

Rolling out along HorseTooth Reservoir

Climbing up the big Climb to the Towers

I’m on top of the World!!

Trails were in Primo conditions

We came off the Towers climb on a pretty crazy fast wide-open descent (was really fun and felt like descending the ol Bristol Mt. Ski Slopes).  Grabbed some more water and headed over to Blue Sky/Indian Summer.  Climbing up Indian summer was total suckage for me.  Legs had no go and just had to back off a bit and let the 2 go in hopes I’d have some thing to finish the ride off with.  Started to come around a bit rolling back home on Blue Sky and back out, but there wasn’t any need to go after that.  All together though was a great day of riding and had some awesome fun with the Green Gang and got to ride some new trails that haven’t ridden before.

Don’t want to sound like a downer on the ride, cause it was hellacious fun and we ripped the trails.  Had some good times and now I’m looking forward to pinning on my first number plate this coming weekend at the first Mountain States Cup of the season down in Colorado Springs at the Cheyenne Mt. Explosion.  Will be a good chance to get some high intensity work and just toe the line after a long off-season.  Still have tons of fitness to build and looking forward to a long race season!

Lesson learned this weekend though, in that heat and dryness need to drink alot more!  I slammed 2 x 32 oz of Cola on the way home and grabbed a full meal and was still 4 lbs under my morning starting weight!  Ouch, I know better than to do that for sure