GAME ON

I guess this makes it pretty Dang official. My new S Works Stumpjumper showed up in the mail yesterday, and along with it I official became one of the 8 members of the Stumpjumper Trail Crew. Needless to say I am totally stoked to ride this bike and participate in all the good times that the trail crew is going to have. Picking the bike up you can not believe it has 140 mm of travel, I am positive I have NEVER had a lighter geared MTB. Freakishly light.

Along with the bike came a smattering of sweet new gear. Some much needed new shoes, a new S Works MTB helmet topped the list for me. I have been daydreaming about all the sweet adventures next season is going to hold. Ouachita, Syllamo, Big Bear, are the first three things on my mind for 2010. Beyond that I am thinking Stage Race, and maybe one really long race.

Right now I am looking forward to Coronado's Challenge in late Novemeber, and the rest of cross season. I will be out on the trails as much as I can once this mess dries a little bit. And remember to anyone that can come and join us at Riverfront Park for a tuesday cross race. We meet at 6:00 and are racing shortly after. We have had good turn outs the first two weeks. Any lurkers out there wanna give cross a shot this is a good place to come see what it's all about. We had a couple of gals show up this week on brand new MTB's and wanted to see about racing cross. Pretty cool.

We have a new site that Specialized is building to house all of the Trail Crew and I will keep you updated when that is ready. I have been getting the background tour and it looks like it will be pretty cool. It certainly is going to expand my internet skills, and you know girls only like guys with great internet skills.

Tuesday night Cross Race

If you want to do a 40 minute show and go race, meet at the west side of Berkley Riverfront Park, just below the Grand St. viaduct at 6:00 Tuesday night. We will pre-ride the course together and then do a 40 minute race. Hope to see you there.

Good Times at Bully Cup

Me and my friends went out to Wyandotte Park to ride our bikes
I rode my bike around in circles until they told me to stop

Then I was given a case of Boulevard Pale Ale

Moab 24 hours 2009

My fourth 24 hours of Moab is in the books. Being that it was the first race that I did not ride solo, it was much more comfortable than the previous outings.

Moab is all about bikes, when you drive into town and bikes are spilling out of every crack in the rock you feel pretty good about the future. Since I spent a healthy amount of time in Moab few years back it also has a nice familiar homey feeling that is nice to return to. On our way in Amber and I rode in Fruita, she conquered the Rustlers, Mary's, and one other loop I forget the name of, and we had an absolute riot. Over in Moab the next day I hooked up with my Dad and the team of misfits that he brought along for a obligatory loop of Slickrock Trail. On our way out we ran into a friend of mine who I have known since way back, who now happens to be the assistant mechanic for the Fisher team. He was there to support the mighty Chris Eatough, who very unfortunately became ill and was not able to compete. But Andrew joined us for an extremely fun ride out on the big rock. Friday morning we needed a little fun that was not the race course. Even though the course does have sections that thrill the heck out of you, it is certainly not the place you would go ride if you were coming for a riding trip to Moab. I took a crew of Scott, Craig, and Graham Aldredge (visiting form Flagstaff) out to one of the staples of the area, Soverign Trail. We made the out and back singletrack, and I was pleased to see how well the trail was holding up over the last few years. It was a little wider and a little sandier but still a great time. I would have loved to have some more energy to burn and keep on going into the Baby Steps network of trails, but we were already pushing the envelope with that ride, and we still went out to the course for a pre-ride with Aaron Elwell, when his plane arrived.

Race Day dawned beautiful, I was excited and feeling good as we got around and prepared base camp for the next 24 + hours of pushing it. We crammed onto the start line, and peered across the desert to the stubby bush that marked the turn around for the rabid herd of racers. I ran as hard as I could and very slowly. The powdery sand felt like I was pushing through cement, I thought I was never going to make it to my bike, then I karate kicked someone as I cyclocrossed onto my rig, it was chaos. I started rounding people and was soon with the lead group of about 7. Here in the story I become very embarrassed, this is perhaps the most boneheaded thing I have ever done in a race. We are climbing away and I start to recover from the initial effort, and all of a sudden it dawns on me that we have been climbing for a long time, too long. And right then Josh Tostado says, "this is wrong we have gone to far." I think to myself, "I am not wasting anymore time, turn around immediately and get on course." I U-turn and head back down the road, passed gawking riders coming the other way. I get to the 4 wheeler road that the race has always gone up one the first lap every other time I have done the race, and a volunteer says no not this way, you go around. Heart sick I turned back around and gunned it trying to pass the hordes of people that were now ahead of me. I spent a TON of energy and had a pathetic lap passing people and trying to salvage something. Of course now it I realize fully how dumb this was, but at the time it seemed to make sense. All I can say is Oh well.

Here is the deal, our team rode solid but not phenomenal, which is what it would have took to really be competitive out there. We clawed our way up to 7th overall and finished the race up still going strong. I think everyone had some dark moments out there and we all had some adrenaline spiked bliss. Because I was not feeling particularly sparky climbing, I threw caution to the wind descending, and had more than one out of control plummet down a rock fall that luckily enough always ended up on the rubber side. Good living.

I have one more MTB race planned this year at Coronado's Challenge, November 21st and 22nd in Lindsborg, Kansas. Besides that bit of fun it is just trail building time, riding the fixed gear, some cyclocross, and start thinking about next season.

I have a few announcements to make, but still getting my ducks in a row, so I got to hold off. See you all out there, way out there.

Moab quick update

Greetings from vacation. Amber and I are in Great Bend with our feet in the air, after spending time at my grandparents in Denver. The race and the trip in Moab was a blast. We did not do as well as I hoped but we certainly had fun and tried our hardest. I am working on a full report and I will get it up shortly.

Parkville Weekend

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend of racing in Kansas City. The Boss Cross crew lived up to their legend with two spectacular events in the idyllic little burg of Parkville, MO.

Day One was overcast and even a little chilly. My new bike arrived Thursday, and it truly felt like cross season pushing away from the house Saturday morning with long sleeves on and a crisp clean bike underneath me. It was a fun day of watching friends and cheering on teammates before my race rolled around at 2:00. It was perfect racing temps when we took to the line. The start as always looked pretty sketchy but my new light solid bike inspired me to a good third place out of the first corner start. I was happy with how I rode for the most part, I just needed some strength to follow some of the guys that went around. I pretty much sat glued to Chris Wallace's wheel, I went around a couple of times and tried to inject some speed, but it was not really helping anything. In the end Chris out sprinted me for 8th place and I finished 9th. Up at the Joe Schmaltz destroyed everyone, and Jeff Winkler went man style once again for a superb 2nd place finish ahead of Steve Tilford in 3rd. Kansas City is flying fast this season.

Day two was more of the same, more great weather, and the course was in reverse which felt even faster. I got a decent start but not as good as the day before, I was somewhere towards the back half of a 10-12 rider line up. The first couple of laps I was keeping in contact, but after digging up out from the river bank, I could not get it into my big chainring fast enough as the sprint down the back side began and lost those few critical lengths I needed to hold on. I was caught by Studnicki and Mills and rode behind them until Stud dropped back and Adam and I saw that Jonathon was dangling ahead of us currently in 6th place, I made a hard charge up and got onto Jonathon's wheel very briefly but the effort took a toll, I slipped away and was just beginning to regroup myself, when I decided to toss my glasses, that were completely sweat glazed, over to Travis. Well I made a little to exuberant of a throw jerking my handlebar sideways and sent myself sliding across the ground, I stood up and was just thinking, "you have got to be kidding me." That pretty much ended me riding worth a crap, I fought all I could but never really regained good speed. I think I was 10th in the end.

It was good last night, knowing I got those two great races in, and that is about 10% harder than I will be going next weekend in Moab, it is just 6 of those efforts. This is a rest and travel week. Amber and I leave tomorrow morning. The game plan is to ride in Fruita on Wednesday and then pre-rding the course Thursday and Friday. I am so excited not only to race but just to drive through the mountains and see friends that I have not seen in a long time. This trip is a very appropriate chapter marker for myself, when I get home I begin training for a new career. Tune in to the race at Granny Gear's website, I think we are in for a 24 hour dog fight.