Out in the Cold Rain and Snow

If I could describe the past 7 days in one word it would be FRUSTRATION!

Last Sunday I was scheduled to ride 3:30 minutes. The problem was that a low pressure system had closed in on the Front Range bringing cold rain and snow. Jo and I missioned, all-weather style, out to the mouth of Boulder Canyon to ride the Switzerland loop (description here). Equipped with base, insulation, and shell layers, hand warmers, snowboarding gloves, 3 pairs of socks, and neoprene booties we headed out in light rain showers. It was an epic ride as the showers turned to rain, snow, and heavy snow; then back to rain as we descended. The descent downhill was a matter of pure survival, requiring a max speed of 15mph to keep our body core temps up and pedaling backwards at a high cadence to keep the blood flowing to our toes. After the ride I went straight to work for an all-nighter that was beset by weather delays and no sleep.

Riding up in the Rain

Town of Sunset

In the Snow

Glad that week and its storm system was over I looked forward to this week. Here was my training schedule:

Monday: 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Tuesday: Rest Day.
Wednesday: 2 hours, 30 minutes.
Thursday: 2 hours.
Friday: 3 hours.
Saturday: 4 hours, 30 minutes.

Of the 13 hours and 45 minutes I was scheduled to ride this week, I only got 2 hours and 47 minutes in, all of it due to bad weather. After only 4 hours of weather-delayed sleep on Sunday night, I was too tired to ride Monday. Tuesday was a beautiful day, but I had to go back to work all day.

Wednesday, another beautiful day, I rallied home from work to ride, but didn't get on my bike until the beautiful weather had given way to cold wind and rain from another approaching storm system. The Superfly was too dirty to ride from the last storm and I didn't have time to clean it. I pulled the HiFi down off it's rack and headed to Heil Ranch. The workout required multiple climbs of varying steepness so I decided to ride some proper singletrack. White Ranch, my first option, was literally engulfed in flames by a controlled burn which had the whole trail system shut down. Heil Ranch was the only other place I could make it to before dark that offered a long enough network of trails to accomplish my training assignment.

In fading sunlight, I clipped in and I headed out from the Heil Ranch parking lot. The moderate rocky climb leads to the Picture Rock trailhead. Last year the Boulder Mountain Biking Alliance opened the Picture Rock Trail which connects Heil and Hall Ranches. I applaud their efforts, but I absolutely hate the Picture Rock Trail. Its constant rocky surface is more annoying than technical, not requiring any real skill to negotiate. Which, combined with constant 90 degree turns, serves the indented purpose of keeping cyclist's speed down. There are wonderfully constructed flagstone berms, but they are completely unnecessary because you never get fast enough to need them. It's a quintessential example of the new style of politically correct trail building. Designed with intentional speed deterrents which cater to hikers at the expense of a good ride. Riding aggressively with 4 inches of full travel and 29er wheels I never was able to get much above 28 mph. Maybe it's just the rider, but I digress...

Glad to have Picture Rock behind me I pushed on to the Hall Ranch Trail head. The sun had peaked out underneath turbulent storm clouds and lit up Hall's sculptured rock formations in brilliant shades of red and orange. It was a wonderful show! On the climb to the upper loop I passed waves of riders finishing their after-work rides. In the technical rock garden part of the climb I had to put a foot down twice, which was surprising on the HiFi, because on the right day I can clear it no problem on the Superfly. As I started climbing up the top loop I was challenged by another rider. It being an intensity day I allowed myself to defend his attack and took off. After an impressive push by both of us I opened up a nice gab, bu the 27.5lb HiFi forced me to work hard for it. As I neared the bottom of the loop the sun had long set so I decided to bail out on the Antelope Trail. From there I rode through Lyons and back to the truck on the shoulder of Hwy 36 in the dark. Totals, 30.3 miles, in 2:47.

Heil / Hall Ranch Loop

I'm slightly out of fit on the HiFi and 2:47 was too long for my aggravated knee to take. I reserve long rides for the Superfly. Thursday I woke up in massive pain. Conveniently, I had a physical therapy session scheduled at noon and decided to take the day off to allow the anti-inflammatory treatment time to work. That night the full brunt of the storm hit dropping 12" of snow at my house by mid-day Friday. Having lost 2 big days of training I put together plan B. If I left at 6:00am today I could be in Fruita by 10:00am with plenty of time to do a 5 hour ride and mission home in time for work Sunday. Last night a report from Doug, who got stranded on a closed interstate 70 below Loveland Pass, quickly decimated any hope I had of making it to Fruita. It took them 10 hours to travel 3 miles after being turned around before the tunnel. Outside as I write this persistent rain is doing a good job of transforming 12" of snow into 12" of slush.

I guess the lesson in all of my ranting is that instead of being frustrated by circumstances outside of my control I must adapt. Although I feel like I'm wasting away and not building much needed base fitness I could probably use the rest. Perhaps I should talk to my coach about turning this week into a rest week. Life is good and not getting out to ride because of snow is a wonderful problem to have. I guess I should just go out enjoy the snow while its here, the dogs are always in need of a good hike...

Snow on the Switzerland Trail

With the warmer weather, I've shifted the majority of my training rides from Marshall Mesa to the Foothills. Yes, I've been continuing to train through my knee issues and will post a knee pain update soon. The February thaw melted most of the snow below 10,000 feet, but April's blizzards have offered persistent replenishment. The base rides I've been doing are variations of a Sunshine Canyon, Poor Man's Road, and 4 Mile Canyon loop. The Switzerland Trail crosses the top of 4 Mile Canyon and offers more routes both to the North and South. Wednesday, Jean-Paul and I did a 28 mile, Sunshine, Poor Man, 4 Mile, Switzerland loop to Sugarloaf Road, ending on Canyon Blvd. It had been about 5 days since the last snow, but there was still about 6" of semi-frozen wet snow on most of the Switzerland Trail.





I had managed to forget all of my nutrition that morning and was near cracking when we hit the first snow. There were two compacted ruts, one featuring a motorcycle track that offered the best line. Jean-Paul took off while I trudged along, slipping and sliding. The problem was that I was too cracked to middle ring the climb and maintain my momentum. On deep snow, or any loose surface for that matter, momentum is your friend. I rode steadily, but slowly, having to expend more energy on balancing and not slipping. Seeing my sad state of affairs Jean-Paul offered me a Gu, which eventually gave me enough juice to downshift and maintain a little more speed. As I rode faster it got remarkably easier and soon were we on the back side of Sugarloaf Mountain and out of the snow.

This loop is a great base loop with a 100 different variants from short 1 hour rides to all day 80 milers. As the snow continues to melt more options will open up. The sustained moderate climbing will be a good segway into climbing-focused rides like Super Walker, if my knee allows. Riding in the snow was good fun and a great work out. It will be good training for my last race of the season, The Iceman, held on Michigan's upper peninsula in November. More on that later...

First 100 Miles of 2009

With the warm spell we've had in Colorado this past week I've finally managed to put down the bon-bons and get on the bike. I'll post more about my goals for the 2009 season, for now it's just about getting in the saddle and logging base miles. Last week I rode 4 times totaling just over 100 miles. They consisted of one short 13 mile out and back on road, a 20 mile Marshall Mesa loop on dirt, and one 40 and one 30 mile road ride with Jo. I feel much stronger this year than I did last year at this time which is good news because I have big plans for 2009. I have some new gagets and other surprises I'll post about soon.

Training Update 9-1-08 Running on Empty

Between night shifts, I only managed one ride last week not including The King of the Rockies race. It was a 25 mile easy ride from my house around the Marshall Mesa trail system with Ramine. I finished the ride by following him into Boulder and back to get the mileage above 20.

The other day I was running some errands and trying to stay awake on the drive between stops when "Running on Empty", by Jackson Browne came on KBCO. It was a fitting sound track for how I've felt the last couple weeks. I couldn't help but flash back to the scene in Forest Gump where Tom Hanks finally stopped running in the middle of Monument Valley. Some other interesting Running on Empty trivia. It was first recorded on August 27, 1977, 10 minutes from my Mom's house in Columbia, Maryland at Merriweather Post Pavillion. [1] I was 371 days old. On August 14 of this year Jackson Browne sued John McCain and the Republican National Committee for copy-right infringement for using "Running on Empty" in an add mocking Barack Obama. The Ohio Republican Party who generated the add with John McCain's approval did not get permission or pay any royalties. [1] [2]

Here's the orignial performance in 1977 at Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Back on topic, I've been running on empty too long and it's catching up to me. I have always been able to dig into my well and use my high misery tolerance to get through whatever the adventure demanded, be it riding, road tripping, or work without ideal sleep. I vastly underestimated the toll a prolonged night shift work schedule combined with adding a couple races in August would take on me. I can still rally, just not as much as when I worked nights last as a stagehand in my early 20's. My riding has vastly improved this year and while it's great to be able to utilize more of my potential I need to respect the rest required to do so. Today I woke up from my morning nap at noon and started the 10 foot walk to the bathroom. About 5 feet into the trek I encountered Molly laying in the hall. I bent down to give her some love and woke up on the floor 3 hours later. I guess I wasn't ready to get up yet!

My 2008 race season ended on Saturday. I plan on doing the 24 Hours of Moab in October, but I'm not sure what class. If I can recover from this and get some form back I'll do it on a Duo-Pro team, if not I'll try to find a 4 person team. Until then it will be refreshing to get out and enjoy some fun rides that aren't exclusively training. Fall is around the corner and I'm looking forward to some epic fall trail rides in the mountains and locally riding the new connector trail between Heil and Hall Ranches.

Training Update 8-18-08 - Looking Forward

After the steamboat race I wanted to use last week to recover and let my body heal a little. I covered 89 miles in 5 hours and 13 minutes over 3 rides all on the road bike. Wednesday, Doug and I rode 48 miles from Boulder out to lefthand canyon up to Ward and back over Old Stage. Lefthand is a great climbing ride that doesn't hurt my knee too bad. Saturday I rode 4 miles before a wall of water forced me to turn around. Sunday I rode 37 miles to work. I was running a little late, but determined to ride my bike so I time trialed the entire way. I made incredible time and would have easily shaved 10 minutes off my previous best time when 6 miles from the airport my left cleat shattered. I had to pedal the last 6 miles using only my right leg. I found if I shifted into a hard gear I could use the resistance from the pedal to keep my left food planted, but I couldn't put any power into it. I still set a personal record covering the 37 miles in 1:58 minutes in light traffic and only a few red lights.

Looking Forward

I think I peaked in perfect time for the Laramie Enduro and now that it's been a couple weeks I definitely feel like I have de-trained a little. Two races in the two weeks after the Laramie has probably contributed to that feeling. All three have taken a toll on my body and some recovery is in order. Looking forward for the rest of the year I have two goals. I'd really like to do well in the last Winter Park Race over Labor Day weekend. It will be my last race in Sport Class and the podium will be much harder to earn a spot on in Expert next year. I have just under two weeks to recover and train for that one, and with a hectic work schedule it's not looking good. After Winter Park I will shift my focus to the 24 Hours of Moab. Brandon and I are planning on doing a Duo Pro team. I'll be the slower rider, but I'll have experience and intimate course knowledge on my side.

The Colorado Trail, Park County

Training Update 8-11-08 - GYM PEOPLE

I rode twice last week. Once for an hour on the road bike and then again for 5 and half hours at the Rio Stampede race in Steamboat. I should have the that post done soon. In the mean time you should have a good laugh at this picture I plucked out of an "Only in America Email". I'm embarrased for them!

GYM PEOPLE
(Need I say more)

Training Update 8-04-2008

Since the Laramie Enduro, 2 Saturdays ago, I only managed 4 rides for a total of 98 miles in just over 8 hours. The Sunday after the race I rode 10 miles on the road just to keep my legs open. Wednesday, I slogged myself up Flagstaff to ride Superwalker from my house, but was hurting too bad to ride Walker. I changed plans and rode Meirs Gulch instead - Super Meirs Gulch. Ha!! Saturday was the Crankworx Colorado race posted below. Today I did a recovery/climbing ride from Boulder up the link trail with two laps around Betasso and back. I felt pretty good and managed to ride a 15 minute lap on my second lap. I feel like I should be riding more, but with races in two weeks I don't want to over do things. My form is solid so I think I'm balancing rest and training well. I potentially have two more races the next two weekends which would make 4 races in 4 weeks. I'll post more about those soon.

This picture is a good metaphor for how I feel this month.
Lots of wear and tear, but still going strong!

Training Update 7-21-08

I'm a little behind on keeping the Lee-Side up to date. This is Monday's training update.

Last week I rode 14 hours covering 138 miles over 5 rides. All were mountain rides except for a short Morgal Bismark loop on the road bike last Monday. Wednesday Jean Paul and I did another Laramie Recon mission which I'll post about next (I'm still editing pictures). Friday I rode Kenosha Pass with Doug and John (posted below). Sunday, I rode Sourdough on the Superfly with Jo. Sourdough is filled with rock gardens and is very similar to the singletrack sections of the Laramie, it was pure training. Monday, I rode the blue dot trails in Nederland with Jean Paul, Doug, and Ramine. Jean Paul led the way pushing us all to ride fast. It was great intensity training, that really opened up my legs. All 4 mountain bike rides were about 8000' and 2 took me above 10,000'.

Training Update 7-14-08 - It's all about the Bearings

Last week was a taper week for the Triple Bypass. It's a good thing I wasn't trying to ride because all 3 of my bikes were down for some type of maintenance. It took me 3 days to get them all caught up. I test rode the Superfly Friday up the Link Trail followed by 2 short laps around Betasso for a total time of 1:30. Saturday I rode 125 miles in 8:49 riding time on the Triple Bypass. Even though I only rode 2 days, I think I got a weeks worth of riding in! I should have the post done soon, sorry for the delay.

Of all the bike maintenance I did last week the road bike needed the most. It got a complete tear down and cleaning, rear wheel free hub body overhaul, the chain and cassette got a dip in de-greaser, new brake pads, new tires, new bar tape, and a rear derailer adjustment.



As I was rebuilding the bike I couldn't help but notice how smooth my bottom bracket bearings and rear wheel bearings were. In human powered sports, it really is all about efficiency and bearings are a huge part of that. The crankset is an old Shimano Dura Ace with a ton of miles on it, I wouldn't be surprised if it has over 5000. The bearings are still smooth as glass, check out the video below.




The rear wheel is a Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL. It's one of Mavic's highest end wheel sets and ridden by a few different teams on the Tour De France. How did I end up with such a nice wheel set you ask? Craigslist! I got them for 1/4 of the retail price - Brand New! They came off a professional triathlete's bike because he was sponsored by different wheel company. He hooked me up with an amazing deal.

Here the wheel is just spinning on the axle along with the cassette, there is no drag from the hub paws. It is a true representation of good bearings. It spun for 2 minutes and 32 seconds off a light pull.




Here it is spinning with the cassette being held by the chain so the hub paws are creating some drag, but it still spun for 1 minute and 28 seconds.

It was all ready for the Triple Bypass, too bad I rode the Superfly!

Training Update 7-07-08, Triple Bypass

Last week I had a solid training block consisting of 6 rides covering 250 miles in just under 16 hours, 4 road and 2 mountain. The road rides were commutes to work which I'll expand upon in another post soon. The mountain rides were the Laramie Enduro Recon Mission 1 posted below and an expansion of Super Walker from my house. I named it Uber Walker in my training log. It was a brutal 46 mile ride, taking Marshall road to Flagstaff and then Super Walker. Next week I'm going to extend it a little by adding some of the Marshall Mesa trails on the front and back.

Tomorrow and possibly Wednesday will be rest days tapering ahead of The Triple Bypass ride on Saturday. Doug gave Jo and I Triple Bypass entries for our birthdays. The Triple Bypass is a road cycling tour covering 120 miles and climbing 10000 feet over Juniper Pass (11,140 feet elevation), Loveland Pass (11,900'), and Vail Pass (10,560'), He's also going to lend me some slick tires so I can ride it on the Superfly. I'll probably be one of only a few doing the ride on a mountain bike, but it will be perfect conditioning for the Laramie Enduro. There is a school of thought that recommends always training on the bike you plan on racing on. In my experience this becomes more important with endurance events. It allows conditioning of saddle pressure points and the secondary muscles that vary with the subtle geometries between different bikes. Plus, the lower gearing will allow me to spare my knee.

Triple Bypass Route and Elevation

Training Update 6-30-08

I pretty much covered last week's training in the first paragraph on the post below. In addition to that I rode 18 miles at the race yesterday and am late for a recovery ride with Ramine today. I'll have my race post done soon, stay tuned...

Training Update 6-23-08 - The Cross Country Super Loop

Last week I rode 11 hours and 45 minutes over 5 rides. They included my normal weekly Super Walker along with a couple long mountain dirt road rides for base. I tried to increase my ride times and lower my intensity slightly to improve my base for the Laramie Enduro. It's really too close to the race for me to make any significant impact on where I should be, but it shouldn't hurt either. This coming week I'll do the opposite in order to taper for Winter Park Race 2, The Cross Country Super Loop, which takes place on Sunday the 29th.

The exact course and distance have yet to be announced, but they are similar to last year's. Here's last year's course maps:





The course should have about 2,670 feet of climbing most of it above 9000' elevation. Here's the profile:

Now that the season is in full swing, it seems like I never have enough time to get things done (including blogging). It's going to be a challenge to get my fitness level where it needs to be, spend time with Jo and the dogs, work enough to pay the bills and not burn out. I think I can do it if I'm super pro-active!

Training Update 6-16-08

Last week I rode 7.5 hours over 5 days with 2 road rides, and 3 mountain rides. I rode Super Walker on Friday and my time was consistent with last week, although the backside climb didn't hurt as bad. I also worked an 8 day stretch, of mostly night shifts with one 30 hour break. I'm pretty fatigued, but the Laramie Enduro is only 5 weeks away and I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to be in shape for it. Jo did the hill climb race as posted below and I rode the course at a leisurely pace. If I had done the race I think I would have finished between 3rd and 6th. I'm going to do the next one in two weeks as a training event, I'll talk more about it in my next Training Update.

Training Update 6-9-08 First Rides

Last week was a light training week, but I did get to go along for a couple first rides with friends and family. The first was my first time riding with Chris (pictured in the rafting trip post below). He recently picked up a 2006 Trek Madone road bike. I headed to Maryland Friday morning and Chris picked me up at BWI. My mountain bike was still there from when it didn't make it to the Greenbrier Race in April. Chris and I blasted a 20 mile road ride on some country roads West of my old home town. It was good fun even though my chain broke about halfway through. It was a catastrophic break, snapping right as I was loaded up my pedals at the beginning of a short climb. I managed to stay on the bike, but it got me thinking. If my bike had made to MD in time for the race and my chain broke at the very best it would have cost me the race, but more likely I would have had a horrible crash on the super technical course. Maybe there was a reason it didn't make it??

The second ride was with my younger, 14 year old brother John. My other younger brother Andrew and I built him up an old Gary Fisher Big Sur that was Andrew's first bike. I donated a fork, pedals, rear tire, a shifter, and cables. We took him up to the Frederick County Watershed and rode a 5 mile loop on some pretty technical trails for his first mountain bike ride ever. They were good trails for a first ride, but John did amazing. He took his time on the technical sections and didn't crash once, even clearing an uphill rock garden. Andrew on the other hand was the victim of bad luck. He got hung up on an innocuous log across the trail and endoed hitting his shoulder on a hockey puck size rock. We found out later he separated the AC joint in his shoulder and will be out for a couple months. It was the only rock on the trail and completely random that he hit it. The worst part is he just got a brand new mountain bike sitting in his garage begging to be ridden. Argh!!! I got to give him credit, he's got a positive attitude and is taking it in stride, much better than I would have.

Training Update 6-2-08 - SUPERWALKER

I increased my intensity and distance this week. I'll save a long winded paragraph, it went like this:

I've already blogged about THE BURN. In the last Training Update I mentioned my next major race, The Laramie Enduro. It takes place on July 26th, a mere 55 days from now. It's a 72 mile course with a moderate level of climbing. If I'm going to be competitive I'm going to have to seriously increase my distance and climbing. The distance will come in the form of long road rides and mountain rides once or twice a week depending on my work schedule. The climbing will come from riding SUPER WALKER once a week.

If your not from Boulder, your probably wondering what the hell SUPER WALKER is. It's a local training ride from downtown Boulder up Flagstaff road to Walker Ranch and back. Walker Ranch consists of an semi-technical 8 mile loop with 2 long descents and climbs. There is also a short hike-a-bike section. It finishes with a climb up the back side of Flagstaff road and a fun twisty road descent down the front. From the base of the climb it is 23.6 miles with 4500 feet of climbing. Here are Doug's stats from Wednesday's Ride. We finished in 2:22, but it was more like 2:30 because I stopped a couple times to stretch.








Judging from the local mountain bike forums, our time was slightly above average. Considering that every single person who touches a bike in Boulder is at least above average that doesn't mean much. Ramine and Brian both broke the sub-2hour mark and will surely widdle that time down as the summer progresses. I'm going to follow Ramine's advice and ride it once a week to improve my climbing. In a month to 6 weeks I try a race effort and see how short I can get it.

I took some video today, but it is choppy and poor. I'll post a video log of the ride soon.

Training Update 5-26-08

I tried to get back on track last week riding every day but Friday. I rode both Road and Mountain, balancing increased knee pain with the need to maintain some fitness. The highlight of the week was another Buffalo Creek Ride with Jo on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we had a great ride, although we were both pretty fatigued and I forgot my camera like an idiot. Argh!! We rode a 25 mile loop covering about half of the course of a race called The Burn. The Burn is a time trial type race covering two loops on Buffalo Creeks epic smooth single track. It takes place this Saturday and I'm very tempted to race it. I think the course suits my strengths and on the Superfly I could do well. The problem is I'm poor right now and am supposed to work Saturday. I could easily drop my trip and do the race, but I might have to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the next 10 days as a result. My next scheduled race is the Laramie Enduro, an 80 mile race in Laramie, WY, that takes place in late July. I'd like to do a race or two before the Laramie Enduro and The Burn would be super fun. Hmm decisions...

Sunday Jo and I did a quick road ride up Lefthand Canyon and this time I didn't forget my camera.

Here's a choppy YouTube video of our descent.

Training Update 5-19-09

I rode twice last week (including today). A 2.5 hour road ride Wednesday and a 3 hour mountain bike ride today. Work and heading to West Virginia to go rafting kept me off the saddle. My knee is hurting in new and different ways so only riding twice was a good break for it. I'm going to get a bike fit on the Superfly soon, hopefully that will yield some answers. Here are a couple Greenbrier Race shots Chad sent me.

Off the Line



Muddy Descent



Andrew Handing me Water at the Feed Zone (Stitched)

Training Update 5-12-08 - SUPERFLY

If your suffering "cycling fatigue" from too many cycling posts on the Lee-Side, never fear. I'm in the middle of a set of non-cycling posts. Monday is always a Training Update post, so please forgive this one. In the last Training Update I promised to reveal how I was able to ride on dirt in Colorado with my mountain bike still 8 states away in Maryland. The answer is:

A Gary Fisher Superfly that is!

The Superfly is a carbon fiber 29er hardtail mountain bike with a race level component build weighing in at 22lbs. Three weeks ago I had no idea what a Superfly was. Ramine recently bought a Gary Fisher 29er hard tail and has been extolling its virtues to me ever since. Doug mentioned the how light the carbon Superfly was and the wheels were set in motion. When my bike was stuck in Cleveland for the Greenbrier Race I bought a Superfly thinking I'd have a bike to race. The plan was to buy the bike through a store in Boulder but pick it up from a store in MD the morning of the race. This would work because even though the Superfly in MD was already sold the buyer wasn't going to pick it up until later in the week giving the Boulder store time to ship out a replacement. The Superfly is an immensely popular limited production mountain bike and when I got off the plane in MD the buyer had got word of the plan and changed his mind. It worked out because I would have trashed it during the Greenbrier Race. When I made it back to Boulder after the Superfly was waiting.

I've ridden the same Santa Cruz frame for the past 8 years and in that time had many heated discussions on how a carbon fiber hardtail wouldn't be the bike for me and how much I dislike Bontrager components which the Superfly is riddled with. All of those discussions evaporated into dust from my wheels the first time I rode up the Poor Man climb with Ramine just outside of Boulder. The light weight carbon and 29" wheel literally allowed me to climb a full class higher than on the Santa Cruz. Usually Ramine and his "helium in the veins" climbing leave me in the dust, but I was able to hang with him the entire climb. I humbly take back all my self righteous Bontrager bashing as the Superfly owes much of its anorexic 22 pounds and I owe my new climbing ability to Bontrager RaceLite components.

Back to last week, it was a good one! I was able to ride the Superfly on a variety of trails and learn it's traits. Monday was an short, but intense technical ride at White Ranch. Tuesday was a 20 mile carve on the smooth single track of Buffalo Creek with Doug (blog post to follow). Wednesday was a 2 hour road ride. Thursday was a rest day due to knee pain. Friday was a morning Marshall loop from the house with Jo. I ended the week Sunday with a Betasso Loop from downtown Boulder with Ramine. For the first time in my life I was able to clear the entire link trail without stopping. At the top of the loose and steep lower climb I usually crack and have to put a foot down. Sleep deprivation and too much caffeine gave me a minor heart attack, but I managed to clear it all at a good pace without putting a foot down, a small personal best.

I'll post more about my carbon hard tail 29er impressions soon, but not so soon to cause more "cycling fatigue" on the Lee-Side.

Training Update 5-5-08

It's been a hectic week since the Greenbrier Race. Until today I've spent about 36 hours at home. I spent all last week working followed by a "speed run" to Utah to hang with Jeff and Adam, who was in town from Capetown, South Africa. We had a blast, expect a couple posts soon. Jo has been a great sport with my vacancy the past couple weeks, she deserves a medal for putting up with my crazy schemes. Back to cycling - my mountain bike is still in Maryland and I've been super busy so last week was pretty much a wash. I did manage 3 short recovery rides, 2 of which were on dirt. How did I ride on dirt if my mountain bike is still in Maryland you ask. Stay tuned...

Training Update 4-21-08

It's been a good week. With 7 days left until my race I've been able to stay on track and get consistent riding in. I normally would have been tapering last week, but due to my late start this year I needed it to bump up my fitness and intensity in addition to getting used to the mountain bike. Tuesday was a beautiful 70 degree day, the warmest of the year. I had my bike built up by mid-afternoon and loaded it up on the Midget using a makeshift rack clamped to the convertible top frame.

For my first ride on the dirt I headed to nearby Marshal Mesa. The riding is short and leaves much to be desired, but it's good training and newly opened trails were calling my name. More importantly I wanted to be able to stop by the Midget on each lap to tune my the new Fox F100 fork and make other adjustments. It was monotonous, but I got the bike dialed and enjoyed the new trails and warm top down weather.

Wed, Thurs, Friday and today were all high intensity mountain bike rides. Five rides isn't ideal for getting race-ready on the mountain bike after a winter of road riding, but it's all I have. My tech skills are still being awakened, but for the circumstances I feel good. I'm digging the F100 fork, but am still finding the edge of my new tire. I'm at a complete loss as to how I'll stack up against the competition in Greenbrier next weekend. In the grand scheme of things, this race is really nothing more than an exaggerated training event, but I am having trouble not caring about my results. The many unknowns including my own fitness level, inflamed knee, and competition have been haunting me.