Winter blues cured by NEW BIKE!

Ah yes....The glorious feeling of a new bike. Its not easily matched, and it can sure go a long way towards curing the winter doldrums. I decided I wanted to build up a "budget" bike that would serve a couple of purposes:

1. Ride on the lower trails, less technical trails like Boulder Res., Rabbit Mountain, and Heil Ranch.
2. A bike with no pivots or suspension to worry about during the early season when you find the muddy patches
3. A "townie" bike that wasn't so "blingy" and I could ride to a restaurant instead of driving and not have to worry about it locked up outside.
4. Something that would split the difference between my 30lb 6" travel bike and my 18lb carbon road bike

So given those parameters, I decided I wanted a 29er SS bike. From there I narrowed it down to a steel frame, and wanted an Eccentric Bottom Bracket (EBB) for ease. That left a couple of choices, which ultimately led to the Niner SIR9 frame.

So without further ado I present the currently unnamed Niner SIR9...




Words of encouragement right on the top tube.

Another bike with a cool metal head badge

The 29" wheels are definitely a noticeable difference.


Obviously with all the snow, the trails are a mucky mess right now so I can't get in any real rides. I pounded out a couple laps around the neighborhood path smashing through the snow and hopping off curbs and the like. The bike is surprisingly smooth for a rigid frame and fork. I did catch myself pushing for the phantom thumb lever once or twice, but I'm sure I'll get over that. The 32/20 gearing feels pretty good with the big wheels, but I definitely pedal out of it pretty quick on the flats.

I'm struggling with a name, but I feel this bike should be named since I've got Betty the Yeti and Ruby the Roubaix. I've tossed around Nancy to Niner, but didn't really like that. There's Sally the Singlespeed, but that didn't stick. I even thought about Eddie, as a tribute to Eddie Sutton since this bike is old school, rigid and bleeds orange but Jill told me that was a bit of a stretch. So feel free to toss out some names if you've got them.

What a day for a ride

The rumor started getting around yesterday that the powers that be might let all the worker bees head off for their Thanksgiving a bit early. Nothing real solid, but hope was all the motivation I needed to be prepared. So last night I loaded up my bike bag with all my gear and pulled Betty up from the basement bullpen.

It didn't take long after getting to work to get the official word, noon would be the end of the work day for us. Score. I had an inside lead on a group ride on a new trail between Golden and Idaho Springs above Clear Creek Canyon. A 12 mile loop with a hearty 2000 or so feet of elevation gain sounded right up my alley. Today would be my first chance to "measure up" to the pain that John "The Punisher" Perry would undoubtedly dish out in abundance. I've been steadfastly training for 4 or 5 weeks, but that is but a drop in the bucket compared to The Punisher's base training.

Under blue skies and 70 degree temps, a group of 4 of us met up in Golden to pound out some miles of singletrack. The normal routine of everyone jockeying for being the slow guy played out as normal with all of us telling the rest that they were without a doubt faster than we were.

Unload and hit the trail, and just as fast as that happened the race was on. The Punisher pushed the pace and quickly he and I were off the front. Since it was a downhill it wasn't that shocking that I was up front, but the ride quickly turned to a climb and it was time to see how things were going to go. This was my 5th straight day to ride, and 3rd "hard" day in that span. The Punisher doesn't care, and neither do the climbs. Much to my surprise, I'm middle-ringing it up the climb behind the Punisher and hanging tough.



The trail is fast and flowy with nothing really technical, but its fun and you can't argue with being out on such a great day. The downhills went quick and the climbs came suddenly, but as the miles clicked off I still had The Punisher in my sights. I'm sure he had a lot left in the tank, and I surely didn't, but it was encouraging nonetheless.

The Punisher and I had separated ourselves off the front, and the battle was just between us. About 1/2 way through the 12 mile route, I had to abandon my hopes of not needing the granny gear, and dropped into the 22 tooth for some recovery as I chase down The Punisher. The bad news is that my heart rate is sky high, but the good news is that I am recovering while spinning away but I'm keeping in contact with him.

John smiling that the climbing is almost over. For now...

As the ride pushed through the final stages, The Punisher put some time into me but nothing nearly as significant as our previous rides. Huh....Training does work. Its a good feeling to know I'm progressing with my fitness, but its a long winter and I've got a lot of work to do.

The first of many, many switchbacks

The group poses as the sun sets on our ride

The ups and downs

What are you up against?

It seems that all the Boulder County cyclists have gone from competition mode to rest and now are ramping back up. While I haven't been in competition mode by any stretch, but 3 weeks deep into my base work for the 2007 season I feel like its an uphill battle trying to manage my time. I commented on Pivvay's Blog recently about how I couldn't imagine how he had enough time/energy/etc to do all the training he does. I think it comes down to perspective, and that we all play the hand we are dealt the best we can.

This week my friend and ex-coworker Jake lost his father suddenly, and I have been impressed and amazed at how he has handled the situation. I wondered if I could be as strong and collected, but I think we all rise to the occasion when we are required to do so.

Reading about Boulder Pro Nick Martin embarking on the early stages of 400 Hours of base preparation sounded impossible to me. But then at the end of the post, I clicked through on a link that puts everything into perspective. Real perspective about what the human spirit is really capable of when it needs to be.

So take the time and click through to this link and read an article about a father's love and dedication to his son.
Read the story and watch the video

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross - Round 4

The Grand Prix of Cyclocross moved down the Diagonal Highway overnight to Boulder, but despite the location change the gorgeous weather continued. I had thought I might ride with John "The Punisher" Perry on our road bikes to the Boulder event, but despite his super hero powers on the bike John was nursing a back injury and thought it best if he didn't ride. I gave thought to going solo, but then thought better of it so I wouldn't be riding home in the dark. So I just hopped in with John & Amy and we went to see what would be the most exciting bike race I've ever seen.

We showed up to watch the Elite Women and then the Elite Men's races, both of which would have some heroic performances. The women's race was a two woman show, with the US National cyclocross champ battling it out with the Canadian National cyclocross champ. These two would trade shots, each making moves with the other reacting to each move. The gorgeous sunny day briefly got uncharacteristically windy in the Boulder valley, so catching a draft was a big issue.



Late in the race Katie Compton put the hammer down and snapped Lyne Bessette off her wheel once and for all. Compton (pictured below) had put in a big effort yesterday in winning the previous round, but found something left in the tank today.



Bessette (pictured below) settled into a comfortable second place with Georgia Gould rounding out the podium.

The Elite Men's race was the big event, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Round 3 saw Ryan Trebon ride off the front and destroy the field, but today was a different day. Round 3's course was wide with lots of passing room, but the Boulder course was a much tighter venue. Getting off the line in a good position would be crucial.

The gun goes off, and the big dogs get out front. Trebon, Todd Wells, Jonathan Baker, and Trebon's Kona teammate Barry Wicks all got off quickly and the race was on. Wells and Baker got out front and started putting some distance into Trebon while they could. Wicks was doing team duty and sitting on the wheel until Trebon could bridge the gap, which wouldn't take long.

Todd Wells leads Jonathan Baker through the sand pit


It didn't take Trebon long to get up to the leaders, and the race was on from that point. Despite his solo break yesterday, Trebon looked strong, storming up the hills and making up ground on the flats.

Ryan Trebon leads Todd Wells through the treacherous sand


Wells leads with Trebon chasing


Wells pushed the pace with Trebon and Tim Johnson coming up through the pack to get on as Wicks fell off the big pace on the front after helping Trebon bridge up to the lead pack. The trio pounded out fast laps up front, before the first big development as Trebon hit the pits with a mechanical problem. Even though the bike switch was very fast, Trebon had lost contact with the leaders.

Wells and Johnson attack with Trebon having mechanical problems


This was the break that Wells and Johnson needed and the upped the pace. Wells and Baker hammered as they put time into Trebon. Trebon's teammate, Wicks, took team orders and started hammering to try and mark the lead duo. Wicks made quick work of the gap and in true team ordered fashion sat on the wheel of the two leaders, marking their movements.

Trebon's troubles weren't over yet, as he hit the pits again swapping bikes yet again. After the 2nd bike switch, he was nearly 45 seconds behind the charging trio up front. Trebon looked dejected and at times ragged, a side that he had not shown up to this point. In fact, I had a close encounter with Trebon (as seen in the pic below) as he pushed wide in a corner and nearly made contact with me.

Nice to meet you Mr. Trebon


Inexplicably, after the 2nd bike change and with the laps winding down, Trebon started charging. Being 45 seconds down with just a handful of laps to go, his attempts looked futile but I assumed he was just trying to do damage control. Quickly dropping Geoff Kabush, Trebon charged towards the front noticeably bringing the gap down each lap.

With 1 lap to go, Trebon had cut the gap down to 10 seconds and he was closing fast. Up front, Wells was pacing the group with Johnson struggling to hang on and Wicks just sitting on the wheel. As the group entered the sand pit area for the final time, Wicks charged in front of Wells undoubtedly to try and slow up the group to allow the hard charging Trebon to make up the 5 seconds he now found himself down.

Wicks jumps ahead of Wells, but Wells gets him back


Wells responded back, and pushed to the lead. Johnson, while still in contact, was clearly just hanging on at this point. Trebon frantically hammered, getting out of the saddle but still sitting 3-4 seconds back. As the leader trio hit the final 200m pavement stretch, Wicks jumped out of the saddle with a quick and hard acceleration broke the other two as Trebon realized his all out efforts would fall just a bit short. Wicks sprinted to the win as Wells and Johnson rounded out the podium. Trebon rolled across the line seconds later, his win streak snapped, but still leads the overall series.

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross - Round 3

The big show hit Longmont on Saturday, as the national championship series of cyclocross hit Longmont on the Xilinx campus. I figured I should go check it out, as Boulder County alone has enough pro talent to make for an entertaining race. Rumors had been swirling about the various pro riders that would be showing up, and the rumors all turned out to be true.

The two most notable names were American Tour de France riders Chris Horner and "Fast" Freddy Rodriguez. These two guys are Elite roadies who have both put in impressive showings in le Tour, so when I tell you they were not factors in the race that should give you some idea about the level of competition yesterday.

For you non-cyclist readers of the blog, cyclocross is a combination of road biking and mountain biking. The bikes look like burly road bikes with skinny tires that have tread on them. The courses are usually a combination of pavement and dirt with mandatory obstacles where riders dismount and carry their bikes over before remounting and continuing on.





Ryan Trebon (pictured below) came into this round having the #1 plate and has won the first two rounds. As the gun went off, he was with the lead group and wasted no time in riding off the front. A pack of riders grouped up to run him down, but it wasn't going to happen today as he was just too strong. He was putting big time into the chase group in the 3-6 laps and then cruised for the last couple.



I was very impressed with the turnout, crowd support and how professional everything was run. This was the big show, and I was glad to have been able to catch it so close to home. The other impressive thing was how fast these guys move. They were at a near all out sprint for an hour straight, on a difficult course that saw a lot of crashes. In fact, I was shooting pics and almost got taken out but a fatigued racer who lost the front wheel and started sliding towards me. Luckily for me, my reflexes were faster than his at that point and I managed to escape unscathed.

Here are a couple more pics from Saturday's event...

Geoff Kabush on his incredibly sweet Van Dessel cross bike



A Giant rider pushes hard to get back in contact with the leaders



3 riders battling it out in the late stages of the race

I have seen the Crest

...and it was good. Very, very good.

I took a needed day off work and headed to Poncha Springs with two other Boulder locals for a day on the Monarch Crest trail. The ride is a 35+ mile adventure, with few bail out points and a significant amount of climbing above the 10,000 feet elevation mark. When people talk about high country epic rides, this one is at the top of the list. Mountain bikers live for rides like this, and after two years of desperately wanting to ride this trail, I got the opportunity.

I had my doubts if I was really ready for this, but even lugging a Camelbak that had to weigh over 30lbs, I finished and didn't feel like I was 100% tapped out like some other long, hard rides I've done.

Letting the Yeti pose at the touristy spot before the start of the ride


You start out climbing immediately, which hurts under normal circumstances, and hurts that much more when you are starting above 11,000 feet. Blue lips are in this year right?

Even though your mind is oxygen deprived, the views still register as incredible. I can take all the pictures in the world, but they'll never match what my eyes saw. The green alpine tundra contrasting with the blue skies provide scenic views uncomparable to anything I've seen on a bike ride before.



As you break through the tree line, you spy "the Crest" that you will soon be upon. I can't explain the feeling I had when I was spinning my way up the trail towards the apex, but "giddy like a school girl" is probably close. Pain was quickly forgotten as we neared the top.




After our first big descent of the day, we stopped and had some much needed lunch. We still had about 2/3rds of the mileage in front of us, but I knew the last section, The Rainbow Trail, would require some energy that wouldn't be there unless I got some food.

The bad part was shortly after consuming a big roast beef & swiss sandwich with a couple of GU packets as chasers, we started climbing again. The food was weighing on me and the elevation (11,300 feet at that point) was making me wonder if I was going to be able to finish what I had started.

Luckily, that climb was pretty shortlived and we then were treated to a high speed, brake burning descent towards Silver Creek. This descent was fast and loose with the trail barely wide enough for your tire. As we ripped through the alpine meadows I thought "it doesn't get much better".



The ride flattened out a bit at the bottom of the Silver Creek trail, and we made our way to the Rainbow Trail, a 9 mile long, up and down trail that would be the final leg of our journey.

As it wound its way slowly down, we had lots of steep but short climbs that would pop up unexpectedly from around a corner. Grinding out these steep climbs wasn't easy on tired legs, but I kept turning the pedals and only had to walk one or two of the steepest sections on the ride.



The one problem we had on the ride happened just about the middle of the Rainbow Trail. As I rode along on a thin, gravely track I heard a huge bang that made my already tired heart jump about 15 beats per minute. As I checked myself for gunshot wounds, I realized that it was just a blow out on my tire. No big deal, I've got two extra tubes.

"Well this is interesing..."

Under closer inspection I realized it wasn't just a tube that had blown out, but I had actually blown out the sidewall of my tire. Not so good. With a little help from Sean, we managed to use some duct tape on the inside of the tire to improvise a boot that would hopefully keep the sidewall from separating anymore and keep the tube from pushing out the sidewall.

We threw in a new tube, pumped it up and gave it the thumbs up. Not sure that it would hold for the next 6 miles, but willing to try to make it as far as we could, we set off down the trail again.

I had Sean go in front of me so I could "take it easy through the rocks" and try to save my tire. Well that lasted about 50 yards before I let go of the brakes and started ripping the downhill like I normally would. Hey if I'm going to have to walk, I might as well have fun up to that point right?

The next 5 miles is pretty much a blur as we descended quickly towards Highway 285, with the final section being very steep and loose. Before we knew it, we hit the highway which signified the end of our ride. A quick couple miles of downhill on 285 back in Poncha and we were at the car again.

Such a great ride, and perfect weather and trail conditions really made this a tremendous experience. No blood, no serious mechanical problems, and no torrential downpours or lighting on the high ridges. You really can't ask for a better day to get out and ride what a lot of people consider to be the best ride in Colorado. What a ride...

Sundays with "The Punisher"

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Benjamin Franklin.

Well I am officially insane. Last Sunday, John "The Punisher" Perry called me up and said he was going out for "an easy, laid back road ride". So I decided, against better judgement and Jill's warnings, that I was going to go out for an "easy" ride with John. The late start, temps over 100 degrees and not eating anything on the ride all added up to me cracking badly on the way back home of the 60 mile ride. After getting some food in my body, I recovered quickly but I was still cooked when I got done.

So yesterday I'm sitting around the house, being a lazy slug watching the X-Games when the phone rings. The phone says "John Perry - Home".

Uh oh.

I answer, and John again tells me he is going for an "easy ride" but this time on the mountain bike. Well this is exactly the kick I need to get off my rear and do something, so I hop to it and head towards John's place for a spin around Hall Ranch. Upon arrival John tells me he's already done a 50+ mile route with over 4k feet of climbing that morning, but he needs some mountain bike miles. Surely I can keep pace with him on his "easy" ride after he's put in a big effort already today, right? Yeah just like last week....

John is always strong, but he's 6 days away from the Leadville Trail 100 race (a 100 mile race at over 9k feet elevation and having somewhere around 15k feet of climbing) and is in ridiculous form right now, but for some reason I keep thinking its a good idea to ride with him. He does take it easy on me and I enjoy riding with John, so I guess that is why I keep showing up.

As I am standing in John's garage while we are loading up, I am looking around at his various bikes hanging neatly in his garage. I start to notice a common theme, they are all in the big ring. I don't even have a big ring, literally and figuratively. "The Punisher" is all about the big ring.

So we head to Lyons, where we park in town, and head towards Hall Ranch from town. The first real climb it was evident that I am clearly insane. Somehow I thought my form would have magically transformed in the couhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add Imagerse of the week and I'd be able to hang on to The Punisher's rear wheel on a climb. No such luck. And Ben Franklin might as well just put my picture next to his definition.

John left me standing still as he rocketed up the climb. I settled into a comfortable pace (i.e. I was suffereing like crazy but was out of gears), and kept climbing. We regrouped at the first junction, and again The Punisher rode me right off his wheel. We hit the loop, and repeated that process again where John quickly disappeared into the distance in front of my sweat drenched eyes.



The one highlight of the day was the fact that I was able to absolutely close in or reel out John on the downhill sections. So at least if nothing else, I've got the gravity aspect on my side. I felt great on the downhill portions, really never riding the edge but just flowing and having a good time. I did have one section where I tried to double uphill (clear two jumps at once going uphill), and cased it pretty good using up about 95% of my 5.75 inches of travel. The good part was that will all that travel, it was a pretty cushy landing regardless. I think I can make that double with a little more speed and pop off the jump. Of course, I also thought I could hang on to The Punisher's speedy wheel for 2 straight Sunday rides and that didn't exactly work out either...

More Winter Park

100 degrees on the Front Range meant another pilgrimage to Winter Park for some relief from the heat in the form off lift-assisted downhilling. Some of trails I wanted to try out were closed, but we took some new and different routes to mix things up. We ended up doing some climbing at times, much to the angst of Jill, but found some cool trails. Here are some of the pics:


Jill focused on the corner
 

Sarah out in front of random rider
 

Jill rails a corner
 

A happy couple
  

Here I am driving into a rough corner

Morning rides are good for the soul

Hit up West Mag in Nederland this morning before work. These trails aren't overly technical by any means, but something about them really makes for a great ride. Even though I rode pretty poorly, my legs and lungs burned, and it was early when I was at work I kept thinking about how good that ride was for my mental health.

And for today, more pics, less words:

Still Learning

Even at 30 years old, I still have lessons to learn, sometimes I learn the hard way. Everyone who lives here knows the golden rule of high elevation recreation:
"Get off the peaks in the afternoon, storms brew up fast and lightning is a real concern."

Well after the big hike yesterday, I was lazy getting around this morning and didn't get up and get in a bike ride. So finally I decided after lunch that I would go check out Sourdough Trail, which sits just east of the Continental Divide. Yeah I know that storms brew up on the Divide in the afternoon, but it can't rain everyday up there can it? Today surely wouldn't have any storms, the skies are as blue as they can be up there. I'll get this ride in for sure.

So I drive up to Sourdough (about 25-30 miles), and as I approach I start seeing some lightning. No big deal, its way north of where I'm going. I'll just keep an eye on it and make sure it isn't getting too close. I continue on.

I think to myself, "Looking a bit dark over there". I pull up into the parking area and a flash of lightning rips across the sky, followed by an immediate boom of thunder that makes me jump. That was close. I think I'll stay in my truck and let this thing blow through, then I'll get in my bike ride.

And then the heavens unleased. The rain came so sudden and so furiously that even with my wipers moving at their maximum (and the truck not moving) I couldn't see out of the window. It was incredible, I've never seen rain like this before. I look over at the trail kiosk to see a group of 3 bikers scrambling for cover, looking quite surprised and soaked by this so at least I'm not the only one.

I decide I'll wait it out and maybe go if it blows through, but after a gaze up the trail to see the huge amount of water rushing down it I realized today is a bust. So I put my truck in drive and started making my way out, as quickly as I could given the circumstances.

On the way back I got stuck behind a very large man riding a motorcycle at a very, very slow rate of speed. With no opportunity to pass for miles, I just decided to pull over and enjoy the rushing creek and let him get ahead of me so I could enjoy my drive back home a little more. I pulled out the Yeti and the camera and snapped a couple pics just to have gotten something done instead of driving all the way up there for nothing. I considered stopping and riding at Hall Ranch or Rabbit Mountain, but then I just decided to head home and try this again tomorrow.

But on the bright side, I got a free bike wash out of the deal...

What goes up (the lift), must come down. Fast.

Jill & I hit Winter Park again yesterday for some more lift-aided downhill runs. Crowds were light and conditions were much more bearable at 9k feet than they were on the Front Range where temps hit 103 yesterday. Still a warm day for being at a ski resort, but quite pleasant zipping down the mountains.

The unfortunate part of the day is that I think Jill is going to have to fire her bike mechanic. First off this guy didn't get her quick release sufficiently tight and her wheel started to come loose on the first run down. Geez, this guy is a joke. Then I realized he has her front brake poorly mounted. Ugh. I've got some words for this guy.

So the second run down Jill's front brake went out, and we had to take the easy roads down. Luckily I was able to buy a new brake cable and some housing at the bike shop at the base and get it fixed up while we ate some lunch. After a couple tweaks, we were back in business with functioning brakes, which is typically a good thing to have when riding downhill.



We ended up making 5 runs up & down. We thought about trying some new trails out but we were both having a good time on the old standby of Cheyenne to Long Trail that we just did that run each time. Its a good, fast run that had little traffic. Nothing real technical on it, but its just fun to rip down the twisty singletrack and buzz through the trees.