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!

Squirrels and Carbon Forks Don't Mix

A friend of Doug's was on a road ride with someone who sucked a squirrel into his front fork resulting in the fork arm shearing off and causing him to crash catastrophically.

Here's the story posed in a question (I believe) to a carbon fork manufacturer:

"Two weekends ago a riding buddy's brother was eight miles in to a century when he sucked a squirrel in to his front wheel while traveling at a good 25-30 mph. He fractured his #10 thoracic vertebrae, but there was no spinal cord damage, so he will recover, albeit with some new and permanent internal hardware.

From what we can surmise, the squirrel got in the wheel and sheared the fork in half. The big chainring is bent, so it appears he came down on on the ring and then on to his right side, hard enough to damage the shifter, but not bend the bars.

We were all just surprised that a squirrel could shear a fork in half like that. Have you ever seen something like that happen before? I would have expected the wheel to just lock up, but I guess at 25-30 mph the force must be a lot more than I would have guessed, and as I understand it, carbon fiber does not do well under compression/impact. And the squirrel does appear to have hit the fork dead center — at the point of highest leverage.Any thoughts?"

Here's the response:

"I have seen this before — not in person but in photos people have sent me of dead squirrels and sheared-off carbon forks. The rider would be just as injured even if the fork had not failed — just the front wheel stopping so abruptly would have put him on his face. Watch out for those squirrels!"

I feel horrible for the cyclist and the squirrel. I have a carbon fork on my road bike and a carbon mountain bike frame. Jo has carbon forks on both her road and mountain bikes. I'm well aware of the physics behind how carbon works in different applications and agree that this would have resulted in a bad crash regardless of the material, but it is interesting to see how it failed. Next time I'm doing 50 mph down left hand canyon I'll be scanning the road for anything that could pose a hazard!

Here are some pics:

Thanks Carlos

Carlos Rizo left me this comment last week and I thought it was touching enough that I should write a post about it.

"Hi Alex,I read your blog almost daily and though I am a hang glider pilot, your posts about cycling are very interesting. Please keep writing despite not a lot of us leave messages. Anyway, I found this article in the NYT in case you have not seen it and I thought of your recent experience packing your baby. Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/fashion/12physical.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

Cheers from Canada

Carlos Rizo"

Thanks Carlos for your thoughts and support. That article has some sweet bike boxes in it. Unfortunately, I haven't got mine back from Maryland even thought it's been almost 2 months! Tomorrow might be the lucky day. If so, expect a short post to follow. I appologize for my lack of posts lately. Training has taken up huge chunks of time and I seem to be running about a week behind. I'll get caught up soon. Once again thanks for reading my blog and for your support...

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.

Jo Races Winter Park Hill Climb

The Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series kicked off Saturday with the Hill Climb race. The Hill Climb is a 5.3 mile racing, climbing 2,062 feet from an elevation of 9,080 to 11,142 feet. Jo rode her Spot Single speed to a second place finish!

I had to work an overnight shift on Friday night and planned on meeting Jo in Winter Park on Saturday morning. I would be too tired to race, but it would fun to support Jo, James who was racing expert, and Ramine who was doing his first race as a pro. I drove the M Coupe to work Friday so I could make good time to Winter Park in the morning. Driving up Berthed Pass on the way to Winter Park was one of the best drives I've done in the car, it was almost more fun than biking - almost!

Jo's single speed class started with the Pro and Expert women. I got there in time to see her off the start. Jo swapped her air suspension fork out for a rigid carbon fiber fork and on the first descent had a bit of a crash breaking her sunglasses. I just happened to have picked up a warrentied pair the night before and gave them to her. After that I pedaled hard up the start hill to get in a good photo position about a half mile up the course. As the pack came by, Jo was in the leading the single speeders and not far behind the first couple pro women. I continued to the top of the mountain and did my best to stay out of the way of all the following racers on their way up. I cheered everyone that went by, but wearing my kit most people thought I was racing and snickered at me!

Jo at the Start

Pro, Expert, and Single Speed Women

Jo in the Pack

My teamate Molly leading Expert Women

6 Feet of Snow Borders the Race Course

HDR View from Halfway Up

(Note the Pine Beetle Damage)

Jo missed first place by less than a minute and putting almost 4 minutes on the girl behind her. My teamate Molly won the Expert Women class. James finished a strong second, 11 seconds behind the leader in Men's expert. Although he didn't finish as well as he would have liked, Ramine held his own in Pro easily hanging with some of the best riders in the area.

Jo Wearing her Medal

Ramine on the Way Down

James on the Podium

Tornados in Lincoln

I spent Wednesday night in Lincoln Nebraska. We got in around 5pm and I was super tired and ready for bed. Thursday I had to be up at 4:30am local time, which is 3:30am mountain time. I settled in to my normal routine of heating up dinner, stretching and organizing my stuff for the morning. Between Denver and Lincoln there was a huge line of thunderstorms headed East towards Lincoln. I expected the storms to hit that night, but did not think it would be much worse than a gentle spring thunderstorm. As I hit laied down to go to bed a tornado warning was broadcast over the TV using the Emergency Broadcast system you always see tested. It warned of tornado's on the ground headed for central Lincoln. I was on the 13th floor of the Holiday Inn in room 1313 of all rooms!


Annoyed, I decided I would head downstairs and take a look myself to see how bad it was. Outside the haunting cries of tornado sirens filled the back ground and after walking around for a while I spotted a small funnel cloud. Between the visual obstructions of city buildings I watched it dance about, skip off the ground and stir up a bunch on paper and garbage, and then recede upwards. I lost sight of it behind the train station. Shortly after it started raining so I found some cover under a large concrete awning. There was a parking garage nearby that I planned on using for shelter if a tornado headed directly towards me.


Funnel Cloud
(excuse the poor cell phone quality)





I enjoyed the lighting show and thunder as I sat under the awning. I felt safe, taking in the storm, until I was literally blown out of my seat by what sounded like a sonic boom. I didn't even see the flash. It sounded like I was right below the blast of a 4th of July firework finale. Ears ringing and body shaken I decided it was time to head the half block back to the hotel. As I left the cover of the awning it happened again, every bit as bad as the first time accept this time it wasn't just sound. I could feel electricity come off the top of my head. It felt I was suddenly overwhelmed with static electricity, but it never sparked. It was a feeling that I have never felt before, then it disappeared as quickly as it came. It was by far the closest lightning strike of my life. My body surged with adrenalin and I broke into a full sprint towards the hotel. When I looked back I saw that it struck a high tension line pole right above me that was obscured by the awning. Mental note: When observing lightning storms under concrete awnings check for high tension lines overhead first!


Approaching Storm from the 13th Floor




I headed back to my hotel room tired but thinking that the worst was over. When I turned the TV on for an update it warned of more tornado's and a tornado watch until as late as midnight. I looked out my 13th story window to confirm the reports and saw wall of darkness approaching from the West. Needing to go to bed I considered just hanging out, but the local news station weather man was pleading through the screen for anyone who was watching in central Lincoln to take cover immediately. Needing a second opinion I turned to the weather channel which also warned of tornado's on the ground near Lincoln, Nebraska. There was a stark contrast between the two meteorologists. The weather channel guy was calm, collect, and professional while the local guy was anxious, panicked, and over animated. Maybe the proximity of tornado's to their respective studios had something to do with it. I decided not to chance it and headed back down stairs. Avoiding the claustrophobic basement conference room the hotel was pushing guests to ride out the storm in I headed for the parking garage. It had a concrete staircase that I could bail into of a tornado came. Safe from lighting I was awed by the power of the storm. After the initial wall the sky turned black even though it was only 7:30pm. Gail force winds carrying water and golf ball size hail pelted the parking garage. After an hour the worst of it was over and I really had to go to bed. Just as I was about to turn the TV off a sad story came on the air. Four Boy Scouts were killed in a camp about 60 miles away in Western Iowa by the same line of storms. For the article click Here.

The Storm from the Parking Garage

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.

Cheat River Rafting Trip 08

I've rafted the Cheat River with a group of friends on and off for the past 12 years. This year was a very special trip for two reasons. It would be the first year for Jo to go on the trip and also a fitting memorial for Bob, my good friend who passed away this winter (Remembering Bob). Bob, Lee and the other Bob have made the rafting trip happen every year for 14 years. This year with Bob absent everyone stepped in to fill his shoes and the trip went off without a hitch. This was Jo's first trip and she did great on the water. It was very special to make something that has always been my trip, our trip. Like most things in life it's the people that make it special. We could have floated around a kiddie pool in arm floats and it still would have been an a amazing time!

The Cheat River Canyon is a 13 mile stretch of white water in Northern West Virginia featuring over 30 class IV and V rapids. Our trip took place in early May so the river was flowing 7 feet above normal, right at the limit for commercial trips. The water was huge! It was so huge we were able to "sneak" around the most violent sections of the worst class V's with names like Big Nasty and Tear Drop. Although, we did go straight down the center of High Falls and up a 10 foot wave on the other side. The wall of water filled with white veins reminded me of cover of the book A Perfect Storm. I'll confes sitting in the front of the raft when I saw it I let out an involuntary scream of terror. The trip was great and although a couple rafts were dumped and people had to swim everyone in our group made it out okay. Sadly on a later trip a woman from New York drowned due to unknown circumstances (see press release Here). Her name was Vicki and our collective thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends.

I'll let the pictures expand on more of the trip.

A and J (or PB& Blueberry J)

Chris, Alex, John

Lee, Robert, Bob, Aleah

Above plus Jen, Sylvia, Rick, and Amy

My Elf Look

Our Boat On the River

Port Side (front to back) Alex, Jo, Amy, Matt (our "Hot Guide" according to Jo!),

Starboard side John, Robert, Chris, Sylvia.

Skirting Big Nasty

While we were on the River Matt, Rick Aleah, Bob, Jen and Lee honored Bob B. by throwing his chip for this year into the River. It was a fitting tribute to his life.

Our boat after rescuing a couple swimmers from other rafts.

Chris Holding the Boat

Jo riding the "Bronco"

I love this next photo. Robert took it of Jo and I while were on a flat section of the river. The scene is typical of us. I'm probably talking too much or telling a crazy story while Jo is looking at me skeptically through her glasses as we float gently down the river with another raft in the background. It's pure journalism!

Post Trip Group Photo

Chris Cooking Dinner

Spending a day wet, cold and scared drives a hunger few meals can quench. Luckily everyone pitched in for a huge meal!

Spring Appalachian Rain

Super Walker Video Log

As promised yesterday, here is my video log of the Super Walker ride. It's too long, too choppy, very boring, of poor quality and will probably make you vomit. Watch at your own risk. The descent footage (about 2:12 in) is interesting before the nausea sets in. If you've ever wondered what a day in the like of my front fork is like then this video is for you! One last warning, hit the mute button or turn the volume way down...

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.