Kaysville loop today with some of the old guard, and one hanger-on. Some rides are comfortable, like old shoes, and the northern route through Bountiful, Farmington, Kaysville, and then back along the west side is certainly one of those. A few more houses along the Western route than "back in the day", but still pretty quiet on a Sunday.
We let Chase tag along with us even though he showed up with carbon wheels and sew-ups. The rest of the group averaged about 25 years of race experience, so made for a pretty business-like ride. With Barry, Humbert, Bonacci, and Vroom making up the group, there was as much conversation about nordic skiing as cycling. The ride never got real hard, and never slowed down much, a perfect 3 hours of tempo.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Cross Clinic
The Sugarhouse Cross Clinic is back for a third year. Here is the link.
Full Description
Registration is online only. Sportsbase Link
First practice is Sept 24.
Full Description
Registration is online only. Sportsbase Link
First practice is Sept 24.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Snowbird
Like a lot of other folks, I've never been a real big fan of the Snowbird MTB course. Maybe because it beat me up this year, I'm now seeing it more as a challenge than an annoyance. The sketchy downhill is really a non issue, with all the new single track it makes up a small fraction of the course. Good job to Snowbird and to Ed. I'll be back.
I took some pretty good lumps in the warmup. I was watching some people stopped in the trail, got a little low and went for a tumble over the bars into the bushes. Big black eye, bumps, bruises, and scrapes on the left side, couple of jammed fingers, etc. Lined up anyway and then rode like crap until I punctured a side wall on the second lap and walked it back to the car. Not a very impressive display.
I thought Sam might have a good day since he's been riding strong during during the week. I'm hoping if I keep punishing myself at the crits I'll find some fitness by the time the real season rolls around.
I took some pretty good lumps in the warmup. I was watching some people stopped in the trail, got a little low and went for a tumble over the bars into the bushes. Big black eye, bumps, bruises, and scrapes on the left side, couple of jammed fingers, etc. Lined up anyway and then rode like crap until I punctured a side wall on the second lap and walked it back to the car. Not a very impressive display.
I thought Sam might have a good day since he's been riding strong during during the week. I'm hoping if I keep punishing myself at the crits I'll find some fitness by the time the real season rolls around.
Monday, June 15, 2009
DV Photos
The stars misaligned on Saturday, so I wound up spectating at DV instead of racing. A little hard to take, but I had fun nonetheless, and saw some good performances. I bounced back Saturday evening to get in a nice little road ride. Hopefully I'll get my confidence back with a couple of races this week if the weather cooperates.
Took a few photos, here is the slideshow of some of the best, full size images on picassa.
Took a few photos, here is the slideshow of some of the best, full size images on picassa.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Mmmm, Road
Conquered my fear of the getting trapped on the wrong side of a big ass hill and completed the SLC-Henefer-SLC road ride Saturday. 5 hours, 80 miles, 7000 ft of up. Would post the output from mapmyride, but the edit function was maddeningly slow today. Needed to edit since the iphone crapped out at mile 60 because I forgot to flip the switch on my Mophie juice pack. Doh!
No HR data download for Bobby and his fans either, but kept it below 150. Don't think it means I'm fit however, just that I had a big gear on the back, and wasn't afraid to use it. Legs are still fairly happy today, and I will pack the rain cape in my jersey and head out to Saltair for a spin. The Littlefield (tm) training plan (race, rest, repeat) seems to be working out much as it did back in the day. Two good outings on the crit bike this week did my confidence some good too, especially a solid DMV the day after a pretty fast day on the oval (average speed 29.0 mph for 50 minutes according to Hardwood).
I'm hoping that the DV race fits my skill set a bit better than Sundance. Sadly, I'm a crappy bike handler on the dirt compared to the guys who do it full time, but for some reason keep lining up for a beating.
No HR data download for Bobby and his fans either, but kept it below 150. Don't think it means I'm fit however, just that I had a big gear on the back, and wasn't afraid to use it. Legs are still fairly happy today, and I will pack the rain cape in my jersey and head out to Saltair for a spin. The Littlefield (tm) training plan (race, rest, repeat) seems to be working out much as it did back in the day. Two good outings on the crit bike this week did my confidence some good too, especially a solid DMV the day after a pretty fast day on the oval (average speed 29.0 mph for 50 minutes according to Hardwood).
I'm hoping that the DV race fits my skill set a bit better than Sundance. Sadly, I'm a crappy bike handler on the dirt compared to the guys who do it full time, but for some reason keep lining up for a beating.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Perspective
Proved again on Saturday that I'm not superman. I had some encouraging outings on the bike the last couple of weeks, finished a couple of 1/2 crits, and generally started to feel like a bike racer. However, I really piled up the intensity without the kind of base you need to handle it. That became pretty clear at the Soldier Hollow MTB race as I came completely unglued at the top of the second lap. I fell apart at the seams to the point where I was struggling to keep it between the ditches on the DH. Hopefully if I take it easy I can have another go at the DMV on Wednesday, and if that goes alright then I'll try to tee it up with the big dogs on Saturday at Sugarhouse.
Theresa helped with my recovery plan by leading me on a 1.5 hour tour of the Heber valley this morning. She's coming off 3 weeks at sea level, so there was a limited amount of pain she could dish out. I kept it in the small ring except when I used my girth to drop her on the one long descent. She needs to bulk up if she's going to ride with the guys.
On a more serious/joyful note, our long time cross hero and all around good dude, Dangerboy, has evidently gotten back to bike racing. That's him on the left of the photo racing in CA in the FFKR jersey. Notice the glassy-eyed, suffering like an animal stare. Come to think of it, he always looked like that.
He's had two fairly horrific crashes on speedway motorcyles in the last few years. The most recent one almost killed him, and put him in the corner with other potted plants for a few months. I didn't think he would ever ride a bike again, so was stunned to get an email from him with some race pics. Hopefully he's settled on crit racing as a nice safe hobby.
Theresa helped with my recovery plan by leading me on a 1.5 hour tour of the Heber valley this morning. She's coming off 3 weeks at sea level, so there was a limited amount of pain she could dish out. I kept it in the small ring except when I used my girth to drop her on the one long descent. She needs to bulk up if she's going to ride with the guys.
On a more serious/joyful note, our long time cross hero and all around good dude, Dangerboy, has evidently gotten back to bike racing. That's him on the left of the photo racing in CA in the FFKR jersey. Notice the glassy-eyed, suffering like an animal stare. Come to think of it, he always looked like that.
He's had two fairly horrific crashes on speedway motorcyles in the last few years. The most recent one almost killed him, and put him in the corner with other potted plants for a few months. I didn't think he would ever ride a bike again, so was stunned to get an email from him with some race pics. Hopefully he's settled on crit racing as a nice safe hobby.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Three and a Half Crits
Came close to executing the 4 crits in 5 days plan today. My legs felt like poo this morning after riding to the top of Pinecrest yesterday for my "pre-race day spin". The things you do for love. I did look at a cool house, but it was not the ideal prep for 2 high speed races on the flats today. Doubt that it really mattered, just a little psychological bump in the race prep pavement.
The 35/45 race was uneventful for me. There were a couple crashes, although I didn't see them. Sounds like Freebairn got the worst of one of them, probably a collarbone. That sucks.
We had a nice large field and the pace was pretty steady and fast. The old guys were doing a much better job through the second corner than the 1/2 riders later in the day. With the 35+ guys thrown in the talent level was reasonably high, McKone and Harward were both in the break later in the 1/2 race and Todd H. decided he too needed a warmup for the 1/2 race. Add in the usual suspects, and it turned out steady and fast. The race ended in a field sprint and I cruised in for a top 10 with everything intact.
The 1/2 race was a slightly different challenge. Probably about 60-70 guys at the start, raring to go for 90 minutes. Long and short of it was that at 50 minutes I realized that I was just barely half-way done, that my back hurt, and that I was getting really, really tired. 50 minutes at full gas turned out to be more than plenty, and I pulled the plug. Actually, the field had pretty much worked it all the way loose, and it finally fell out and got run over, but that's just semantics, right? Props to the other old guys who hung in there. McKone, that bastard, was in the break for a top 10, and Dirkles, who pointed out that he was the oldest in both the masters and the 1/2 race, lasted a little longer than I did.
Tomorrow I'm going to spin for 3 hours, Monday an easy 1.5 hours, then more big ring work on Tuesday. I think it was Ali G who reminded me today that "crits suck", but they are pretty good for both testing and building fitness. Socks made the break today too, he's going to be flying for 'cross.
The 35/45 race was uneventful for me. There were a couple crashes, although I didn't see them. Sounds like Freebairn got the worst of one of them, probably a collarbone. That sucks.
We had a nice large field and the pace was pretty steady and fast. The old guys were doing a much better job through the second corner than the 1/2 riders later in the day. With the 35+ guys thrown in the talent level was reasonably high, McKone and Harward were both in the break later in the 1/2 race and Todd H. decided he too needed a warmup for the 1/2 race. Add in the usual suspects, and it turned out steady and fast. The race ended in a field sprint and I cruised in for a top 10 with everything intact.
The 1/2 race was a slightly different challenge. Probably about 60-70 guys at the start, raring to go for 90 minutes. Long and short of it was that at 50 minutes I realized that I was just barely half-way done, that my back hurt, and that I was getting really, really tired. 50 minutes at full gas turned out to be more than plenty, and I pulled the plug. Actually, the field had pretty much worked it all the way loose, and it finally fell out and got run over, but that's just semantics, right? Props to the other old guys who hung in there. McKone, that bastard, was in the break for a top 10, and Dirkles, who pointed out that he was the oldest in both the masters and the 1/2 race, lasted a little longer than I did.
Tomorrow I'm going to spin for 3 hours, Monday an easy 1.5 hours, then more big ring work on Tuesday. I think it was Ali G who reminded me today that "crits suck", but they are pretty good for both testing and building fitness. Socks made the break today too, he's going to be flying for 'cross.
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