SEASON ENDS....WHAT TO DO NOW....

The summer race wrap up is over with COMOtion Sports dealing out another 1st place win in the Mountain States Cup Championship climaxing in Breckenridge.

Although I did not contribute points to the team this year, I rallied for the the last 3 events to provide liquid courage, wrenches and support for the team. A mear 28 points separated COMO and Feedback Sports after the Sunday finale. Good jobs guys and gals.

The Winter Park Series ended for me with a tie for 6th place in the over 50 Expert class. I'll have to remember '08 as the year of last places and just trying to finish. See the final tally at
http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp?page=/Results2008/Points/M2F.html

Maybe a trip to Moab or an epic Colorado Trail weekend will wake me up and get me in gear again.

Tour de Cure Efforts Rewarded

The time spent begging and efforts expended preparing for the American Diabetes Association's 2008 Tour de Cure was well worth it. Many of my best friends and supporters chipped in to let me exceed my fund-raising goal of $750. They contributed a total of $850 to diabetes research in my name. Thank you guys...you're great!!

Chris Butler

Josh Strouse

Stacey Dominguez
Doug Dupuie

Andy Gordon
Gary and Meg Littlepage
Zach Littlepage
Anonymous
Gary Petersen
Cal Rickard
Doug Roberts & Family
Cindy Routon
Boni Sandoval
Teresa Strouse
Bethany and Chris Wilson

Terry and Kathy Wilson

Camping at the Boulder County Fairgrounds was an experience in it's self. Between mooing cattle, barking dogs, whinnying horses, and a motorcycle short track race 200 yards away, sleeping was a challenge.

Having breakfast and a post ride shower 150 yards from the Start/Finish line was nice and worth the minor irritations.

Time to get ready for this Saturday's Winter Park Series finale..Tipperary Creek race. Profile hurts just looking at it. UGHHH...

WHY YOU LOVE COLORADO !!

August 16th and snow atop Mary Jane....Raining cats and dogs in Broomfield. No racing today. Postponed date of next Saturday's not going to work either.....Last chance sounds like Tipperary Creek course August 30th. Wonder if there's a spin class today.

Summer Race Wrap Up Can Begin Now..Grandpa's Done

Weiner power provided by Cinnamon and Sugar help Kaitlyn, 5 , negotiate uphills at

Garden of The Gods Campground.

Last 2 weeks have been consumed doing the annual "grandpa" thing entertaining 3 granddaughters and 1 inseparable cousin.
Yea it's been fun spending money at all the Colorado Springs tourist traps and time with the kids in the woods. BUT...serious training and race prep became non-existent at a time when we need to accumulate as many Winter Park Series points as possible.

Bailing on the August 2nd Crankworks XC dropped my standing from second to fourth. With only two races remaining and 2 drops to deduct, I'm thinking that finishing last in 5 of 7 events is not worthy of an end of series podium stand even if the numbers remain weird.


Not totally off the bikes, Tori, Baley and I tore up the trails behind Peaceful Valley Campground and had fun watching an un-named riders get dunked in the mud boggs like a chocolate covered Dairy Queen cone.

August 16th brings the 6th Winter Park XC Loop followed by the long awaited Tour de Cure century ride on the 23rd

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=5190&px=4233240 and then the August 30th King of the Rockies series finale. Better do a ton of work during the weekdays just to guarantee a finish of the remining trio of calendar commitments.

Shyala accepts congratulation on a

NO-CRASH week in Colorado Springs

Double Duty Weekends Good for the Cycling Soul

The 2008 Triple Bypass was not what I would call a piece of cake but it was very manageable utilizing one of my only two cycling skills. Pacing myself. (the other one would be the tried and true tuck-n-roll over the handlebars without breaking bones maneuver). Weather was perfect, wind manageable and no need for the rain gear.

The roughest part of the ride was the 7:00am Squaw Peak descent through the frigid, bumpy turns of Hwy 103 leading into Idaho Springs past the Mt. Evans turnoff. No feeling in the fingers, wrists, arms and shoulders were numb after about 30 minutes of tense squeeze time.. PLEASE don't do that speed wobble thing...No real good place to pull off and surely this will be over soon!

The rest of the cruise was a short but noisy trek after Silver Plume up I-70 to the Loveland Ski Area rest stop, a steady crank-crank up and over Loveland Pass, enjoyable descent past Arapahoe and Keystone ski resorts and on into Dillion and Frisco.

Then the -you've-seen-it-from-the-interstate paved bike trail ride through Copper and the final climb up Vail Pass. I don't believe this is the steepest part of the ride, but by now, the 6:00am start, 90 miles in the saddle and distaste for rest stop give-away food is starting to wear.

Still another 30 miles down the scenic south backside, through Vail complete with an escort by their Saab mounted police snobs then on into Avon where the really cool cops stopped all vehicle traffic to let cyclist swoop through the round-a-bouts like Lance through the Champs-Élysées.

Nearly 10 hours from start to finish with 81/2 hours pedaling time confirmed by both the Yeti Road Project's Flight Deck and Garmin GPS. --Total mileage 119.7 miles, 14.3 average MPH and a max descent speed of 41.2 MPH. Check the Triple Bypass off the Bucket List. Thanks Team Evergreen!

Following weekend was just as memorable with dual races at Winter Park. Saturday's XC was the typical "I hate this f%$^&%$@$%ing start road, watch the pelleton disappear and then enjoy a 10% above my head ride through the single track and mountain roads to the Frasier campground finish. Yep dead last again. Still a lot of fun no mechanicals only one near disaster off the surprising creek to your right and small wooden bridge hairpin. Talkative cruise back to the base and maybe I'll win a door prize.

The hoot of the weekend wound up being the first ever Winter Park Super Downhill race on Sunday. COMotion teammate Gary Peterson wound up sharing accomodations Saturday night and talking me into a pre-ride which I would normally blow off. Your going down hill right?

We both did it and were giggling like freshmen girls at the base. What fun. The bike choice was critical here. Some showed up with full blown 40+ pounder DH rigs, most were straddling "all mountain 6-7"travel bikes.

My not-thinking clear Craig's List effort to come up with an ASX Friday night did not pan out so I plucked the 2002 ASR from the wall and started rebuilding an abused Rock Shox Psylo 125mm fork for the umpteenth time. Thank god Fox has stepped in as the premiere MTB fork supplier. But for the night, the Psylo would have to do. Where's those rebuild kits?

60+ Competitors Gary Peterson and

Pete Rockwood..both good friends of mine and cycling competitors finished 1 & 2 all weekend long.

Here's how the numbers go.

I've competed in 4 of 4- 50+ Expert races this year. I've finished dead last every race.

Check out who's #2 in the Series ranking below. Quick, it will all dissapear with my miss next race and when we start dropping points.

http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp?page=/Results2008/Points/M2F.html

DAMN I'M HAVING FUN!!

Triple By-Pass .......Next Hurdle

While the Winter Park results have been disappointing,

TOP 1 REASON this week...I SUCK!!

I used the 4 day long holiday weekend to spend some big time on the Road Project preparing for the 10,000 ft. plus Triple By-Pass ride sponsored by Team Evergreen http://www.teamevergreen.org/.

Having missed out on the 3,500 rider capped registration deadline, I did as all PC savvy users do and answered a Craig's List posting offering the missed opportunity for $125 including an XL jersey and coveted armband. Might benefit the MTB performance or kill me.

Thursday's 7 hour ride included a Broomfield start, on to Lefthand Canyon, up to Ward, burger and beer atop Hwy 74, long descent into Lyons, back to Hwy 36, Niwot, Erie, Louisville and back to B'field for 105 miles and a ridiculous number of vertical feet climbing. I won't repeat the Garmin report until some other confirmation.

After 48 hours recovery, Sunday's ride was a moderate sprint up to Boulder, on up to circle the Flagstaff mountain amphitheater, wicked descent behind a slow Hummer H2, over to 3 bike shops hunting down hydraulic hose parts and back up South Boulder Road for 53 miles and 4K vert gain. Charlie and I will do Mt. Falcon/Lair O'the Bear jaunt Tuesday and I'm ready for a 6:00am start Saturday in Evergreen.

The TBP will celebrate 20 years on the 12th and I'm glad to be a part of it.
Read about how it went here or in my obituary next week.

ASRc Comes in Small Package

Friday I stop in to see the Bubster at Yeti and pick up my new Optic Nerve team glasses. After a couple of minutes of "cardboard alley" games, we stroll back through the racks of Yeti frames and stop at a single team turquoise ASRc hanging like a diamond necklace. "Any word on when my medium will be in? Nope.

I had previously solicited the team's bike fit guru Todd Carver to review my dimensions from the ARCx and Road Project data and make a size recommendation for the new '08 carbon racer. NO doubt , you need a medium. According to the Yeti height stats I was right at the top of the small and bottom of the medium chart.

Like an 8 year old on Christmas eve, I really was tired of waiting and made a quick call and plead to Todd to help me make the small frame fit. He agreed and Bubba started writing. Quick trip to the LBS for a 120mm stem and I was ready to get started.

Leaving an extra measure of cables, hoses and steerer length, I christened the beast Tuesday at Mt. Falcon complete with a waterbar dismount. The bike felt good going up and great coming down.

The next day Todd fine tuned the seatmast length by discarding the 10mm spacer, flipped the stem over, shuffled some fork tube spacers and rotated the bars and controls. A huge improvement in comfort, weight distribution and getting the legs squarely over the pedals.

I always have fun building a bike and try to capture the delightful task with a few funky photos. take a look at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=8njcnx5.17nzziwh&x=0&y=-qkh1i5&localeid=en_US

Remove excuse #12 from the list.

Top 12 Reasons-Way More Than You Wanted To Know

Holly crap!! Moving to the expert class for the 2008 Winter Park Series, I did not expect to be doing the grip-and-grin podium photos with my little gold, silver or copper medallion.

But what I got Saturday was an old fashion "spanking" from the 50+ coot clan.

It's not my fault so I thought I'd list the top 12 reasons I placed 12th out of 12 racers.

#12-I'm still waiting on my ASRc uphill racer

#11- I didn't train at 11,000 ft. elevation enough (at all)

#10-They don't like cocky racers who have their names on their bikes.

#9-I thought since I'm on COMotion's 5X winning team I didn't have to really train

#8-Teresa left the lid off the margarita server Friday night

#7-Gas prices are too high to take Silverado and required 200 pounds of tools and extra bike parts

#6-I fell down Wednesday and went boom on the CX bike. Bruised my elbow. It kept making me veer left then I over-corrected. Actually logged 8.3 miles on the 5 mile course

#5-Tim Watkins threw sand my face at the start line

#4- I fell down Wednesday and went boom on the CX bike. Created bacon strips down my left leg and knee would not bend

#3- Train coming out of the Moffat Tunnel made too much noise to hear the start announcement and I started late

#2-Vicodin reacted with Starbucks caffeine and caused brain and muscle cramps.

#1- I fell down Wednesday and went boom on the CX bike. Boy was my hip slow and butt sore! Now, better start a new list for the next race.

Never Get Tired of THE ROCK

If you don't like crowds and wheel-suckers, don't bother with Colorado's largest organized ride -The Elephant Rock Cycling Festival in Castle Rock. This year's cap of 7,000 riders was met well before the event was held June 1st.

One of the first organized rides I ever attended was the Elephant Rock Ride back in 2000. I pedaled a Trek 7000 hardtail pulling an Adam's Trail-a-bike with granddaughter Tori in tow. She threw a screaming fit when I told her to get off and help push until we were at the top of the hill. We were attempting the 8 mile mountain bike family ride. Except for one year since, we've participated annually moving up to the century road ride in 2004.

Take the profile above and tilt it another 3% grade to account for the never silent winds that buffet the open prairies. Despite not having trained specifically for the 100 miler, I was pleased with a slightly under 6 hour ride time and an average speed of 16.1 mph.

Choice of weapon this year was the 2007 Yeti ARC-X cyclocross bike. A fresh set of Continental GP4000 S skins converted the newest member of the Yeti stable into a decent open road cruiser. True, a lot of the descents had me red-lining the CX gearing but the +110 rpm spinning sections serve well as an efficient lactic acid purge following big ring climbs.

Veterans of the game, we arrived early Saturday afternoon with the travel trailer and act dumb about the 3:00pm check-in time. Results are always a prime camping location on precious flat ground and a dawn Sunday morning view of the hordes of cyclist arriving like warriors from a scene in Braveheart.

The early season event serves as a good reality check for fitness and as a reminder that the race season is nearly here. Details of the event can be found at http://www.elephantrockride.com/.

ANNUAL TRIBE MEETING IS ALL ABOUT YETI'S HISTORY & FUTURE

"We're responsible for our own direction," said Brett Hahn, the general manager of Yeti, to the Boulder Daily Camera in 1995. "Schwinn has no desire to blend images."
For true Yeti brand enthusiasts, there is no better place to walk among the company leaders and movers, both past and present, than at the annual Yeti tribe gathering.

Former Yeti General Manager Brett Hahn, (right), yours truly and "Big" Joe Henderson enjoy going through decades of Yeti memorabilia collected by Hahn. Hahn is ever active in the cycling world as Continental Tire's North American Brand Manager for cycling. The lucky dude also lives in Durango, home of some of the world's best known cycling and cyclist.

Henderson was one of only two employees kept when the Durango site was closed in 1999 by new owner Schwinn. True to Brett's statement in 1995, the company has kept it's own image and remains one of the industry's strongest "nitch" brands. For a glimpse into the company's fascinating history check out http://yetifan.com/the_history_of_yeti.html .

Current Yeti "Bossman" Cris Conroy drops his ride in dirt with the rest of the tribe after a full day's ride on legendary Fruita singletracks.

Tribe gathering bring out the common 575 Enduros and collector items such as one of Yeti's first generation rear suspension mountain bikes.

Poor souls knotted up from the kidney jarring desert descents were treated to a massage before applying Oskar Blue's general pain relief medication..

Yeti's future looks bright with the free ride and downhill bunch. Although pretty much ignored in the '08 company brochure, the XC crowd is buzzing over the introduction of the first all carbon ASR. Yep, still waiting for mine.

See you next year!!!

See, I Told You We Were Eating Too Much Pasta!!

What does Dave Strouse, Floyd Landis and Bronco's QB Jay Cutler have in common? We all inject HORMONES!!

Wait a minute, Floyd had a different reason.

Annual trip to endocrinologist Dr. Higgins in Boulder confirms that I have been mis-behav'n, am over weight, have a higher than 7% A1C, elevated cholesterol and don't keep track of my blood glucose levels like I should. The treatment now goes to the next level of pre-meal injections.

Motivation for racing and exercising comes from the fact that "Sarge" has been a Type 2 diabetic since 1991. I don't play on that fact or seek pity but instead join the millions of folks world wide including Jay Cutler, who lives daily with a lazy pancreas.

I'm lucky-Type 2 diabetes means I do produce some insulin- necessary for converting sugar to energy. Previous management consisted of 2 oral medications and 1 long acting insulin injection at night.

Jay's pancreas has shut down all together (Type 1) meaning all of his insulin must be provided by injections.

The handy Humalog pens will accompany both of us to insure we are able to keep a balanced carbohydrate intake and circulating insulin level. It's a complicated chemistry equation you can learn more about at: http://www.diabetes.org/ and http://www.diabetes-excercise.org/ .

While most folks with diabetes are overweight and lead a sedimentary lifestyle, I was atypical and first diagnosed after a sudden weight loss, typical frequent urination, constant thirst and fatigue. Family history of diabetes included only one paternal aunt that developed Type 1 in her 50's.

During extended XC racing, I consciously take on Powerbar gel packs every 45 minutes. The stream of carbs at these intervals insures that the insulin I injected and the daily oral medications I take don't do their job too well and cause a "bonk" serious enough to prevent "vital functions" to proceed.

Sheri Colberg's "The Diabetic Athlete" has provided tons of useful training information and guided me through the complicated process of balancing diet, medication and extreme exercise. What I have learned is exercise is 75% of the equation. I love a challenge!

If you're looking for a fun group ride, join me August 23 at the Boulder County fairground for the 2008 Tour de Cure fundraiser benefiting diabetes research. For more info visit: http://tour.diabetes.org/site/PageServer?pagename=TC_homepage

As for Floyd, I don't understand what his problem is.

BACK FROM EUROPE AND NEED TO LOOSE SOME WEIGHT...

Maintaining the dignity and respect for US tourist was my first priority. Eating everything in sight by utilizing the 5 course meal system was a downfall.

Choosing to visit northern Italy in early April was based around our 35th wedding anniversary date of April 6th (Happy 53rd B'day also). Going early in the year protects you from the high cost of flights, motels and attraction bookings during the traditional tourist season of June through August.

It does however, leave the spring weather to the roulette table and except for the planned day of mountain biking in Cinque Terre we beat the odds. Trails were partially closed due to rain and rock slides not unheard of in Colorado high country this time of year.

The trip was incredible and has provided the perfect "brain drain" to re-group and train in the high intensity mode till the first race in mid June.. a mear 45 minute hill climb at Winter Park. Having now seen the real statue of "David", I need to protect my namesake by do some major "glute" development in the next 30 days! Check out our fun trip slide show at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=8njcnx5.tv4jv09&Uy=sn7bq8&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=737484133444_10552846313&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

TIME OUT WITH THE BIKE STUFF !!!!!

Time to give back to my junior high sweetheart Teresa (Quantz). We will leave Friday to spend April 6th, our 35th wedding anniversary in Venice, Italy. She's put up with decades of my selfish hunting, fishing, motorcycle racing, RVing and now mountain biking so hey.....it's the least I could do.

We'll visit Amsterdam, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre and Milan.

Should be a good time together enjoying all the romantic settings of the European cities. We've been training for the trip by sampling red wines from the different regions each night at dinner. Since my first race isn't until June, I figure I'll come back strong in May to work off the pounds gained in April.

Proud products of the union are daughter Bethany, 33 an RN in Oklahoma City and Joshua, 28 an investment advisor in Dallas. Their contributions are three granddaughters and one grandson.

Life is good........

And for those who think I've gone soft....Following Friday I'm set up for a full day of mountain bike riding above Riomaggiore overlooking the Mediterranean coastline. Don't tell the bride.

COMotion Team Crushes Training Camp

TC's 2008 team training camp had to be one of best attended in recent years. Although the process-of-elimination-date ended up on Easter weekend, 18 members plus a few significant others topped the attendance at around 24 campers. The conclave took shape on Bureau Of Land Mis-management's Road 18 North of Fruita. Lots of MTB miles and elevation gained over the 5 day event but just as important was the time spent around camp meeting new members and sharing goals for the upcoming race season.

Speed coach Todd Carver was impressed with new team member's skills and fitness levels. He's a butt man and always quick to suggest raising or lowering you saddle with a glance...

With the exception of a Thursday afternoon snow and ice packed Vail pass descent, (details of the jack-knifed trailer withheld until the cops loose the blood trail) weather was as good as it gets the entire weekend.

Friday's ride was easy Kokopelli Trailhead loops letting everyone get their singletrack rhythm back and trail tuning a few new bikes .

Saturday was filled with an epic trek up the infamous Ribbon Trail just outside Grand Junction. The view from the top of The Ribbon reveals views of the Book Cliffs, Colorado National Monument, and Grand Mesa. Published stats state 3.6 miles on singletrack; 4.8 miles on doubletrack with a short road side connector jaunt. What they don't tell you is the upper body work out you'll get hoisting bikes over impassable boulders, cliffs and stair-stepped passage ways. There's a thru-cave to explore on the way up. Pay dirt or rock is a series of 20% grade slickrock avenues disappearing in the sky ahead of you. Crank..crank...crank.

Sunday most racers rode the abundant trails right out of camp or headed over to Rabbit Valley to pre-ride the 1st MSC course of the year. I played camp bum most of the day enjoying the scenery and geriatric induced "recovery" time.
The bean based Taco Soup was ready by afternoon and disappeared in about 15 minutes. By Sunday evening, the group had pretty well disbursed and headed east. Probably best for the ozone layer above Fruita as the bean soup conversion really kicks in about dark.

Monday was mine wrapping up camp details and heading in to town to begin the road ride up Colorado Monument at 9:00 am. Beginning at the Fruita end, the 40 mile out and back was pure climbing for the first hour and twenty minutes. Screw the TT bar critics. Laying nearly flat, chest open with a slight up-pull on the bars, the cranking was steady and worked the gluts well. The original plan was to head straight to the high point of the rim road at 6,640 ft. and head back. As I later discovered, that point is clearly marked on the map but not evident on the road. By the time I descended into Cold Shivers Point, it was obvious the top was behind me so I hooked a u-turn and headed back to Fruita. Devorah Peterson had started about a 1/2 hour behind me and we passes each other somewhere around Upper Ute Canyon.

The day was cool but beautiful and a total of 4 or 5 cars passed on the 2 1/2 hour ride. Ending to a super weekend.

Special thanks to Chris Butler and Ryan Schultz for doing the camp scout and food prep. Autumn Schultz and Holly for the awesome pasta feed Saturday night and Kelly Emich (Pearl Izumi) and Scott Gordon (IMBA) for their generous donations to the team "goodie bags". Chris Taylor for the photos.

Training Camp Prep

Twenty-Nine Goodie Bags loaded with SWAG from Topeak, Yeti, Pearl Izumi, Smartwool, IMBA, Powerbar and others ready to deliver to COMotion Sports Team members during the upcoming training camp.

THANK GOD ! the 5:30 am spinning classes are going to get relief from me next week. The COMotion team training camp is March 20th-24th in Fruita and it will feel good to get back on the ASR and bounce down some redrock ledges and grunt climb steep, sandy singletracks.

First task is to get bikes ready. Teamies poked fun at me last year for having a clean "brand new bike" every race. Fact is I love to work on them and spend hours each week in the fully equipped basement work shop checking every detail. Not a single DNF in 5 years racing is the pay off.

I'll be hauling the ASR, Road Project and the ARC CX. No one believes we'll get 4 good weather days to mountain bike so the road bike will probably see most of the saddle time.

Team member Ryan Schultz sends the following info about conditions in the Grand Junction area weekend prior:"Riding in GJ was pretty good this weekend. TheKokopelli was great, little muddy in spots, but overall it was excellent riding, and a majority of theKokopelli loops were open. Rabbit Valley was VERY muddy still. We rode the time trial course and a lot of it was unridable due to mud. The kids ORV training loop however, was fun. It had some pretty sweet jumps!"

That's good news as I look out my window Sunday night and see snow piling up in the Broomfield backyard. Plans are to haul the family travel trailer across the continental divide, through Glenwood Canyon and past Grand Junkyard to Fruita. That could change on Thursday with bad news from Larry Green and a call to the Fruita Motel 6...

Yeti trio ready to lock in the Silverado rack. Yes Boulder, friends, those are dead animals on the wall in the background...

We'll see and keep our fingers crossed for great weather!!