COMPETITIVE CYCLING GROUPS PROMISING IMPROVEMENTS FOR 2009

The great thing about being over 50 is you've probably already accomplished or are content with your life goals. Your spare time is more important to you and you like to know that you control how it is spent.

When the old school NORBA organization became pretty much useless as organizers and provided no real benefits for your license fees, I said "F@&# it"...I'm 50 and don't have to deal with it. Same attitude when the regional mountain bike racing promoters showed little interest in XC racer's complaints during the 2007 season. Now I'm being positive.

USA Cycling has come full circle since the NORBA days and promises an excellent racing season in 2009. More focused membership support, useful race scene notifications and a newly structured points system are just some of the changes.

https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=2589

USAC membership includes discounts for almost 3 dozen sponsor companies and the opportunity to follow your race results and national rankings. Check out the link and join or support USA Cycling.

Like the USA Cycling changes, I'm confident we will see a great year racing with the folks running the Mountain States Cup Series in 2009. With venues including Fruita, Nathrop, Angel Fire,NM, Crested Butte, Sol Vista, Snowmass and Breckenridge, travel will still be a big part of the challenge but hey....sometimes half the fun is getting there!

http://racemsc.com/

Visit the upcoming season schedule and mark your calendar. Rabbit Valley is less than 8 weeks away!

Training Begins to Kick In

After skipping the AM spin class Monday with Super Bowl blahs, I decided to get serious with the training program and cram everything in to Thursday.

5:30 am- 1 Hour 85-90% MHR with Kim

12:00 Noon Boulder lunch ride with close friends.

6:15pm Green Mountain night ride with Gary Peterson

Think I'll take Friday off.

Time To Get Out of the Snow Cave

Saturday's 58+ degree day spurred COMOtion team members to get out of the house and start the annual Front Range ritual of hitting the open roads and bike trails of Jefferson County. Considered by most to be "base mile building", everyone enjoyed being outside with team members after tolerating holiday relatives and hectic year end travel schedules.

About a dozen racers met at the YETI factory and assembled predictably, 10 minutes later than the scheduled 11:30 am start time. Still better than some groups I ride with.

Racers from as far away as Silverthorn traveled the Eisenhower Tunnel backwards to be in the "Low Country" on a Saturday morning in January.

The group started a warmup lap running eastward along Rooney Road, south on Alameda, up and over Hogback Ridge and back on to the Hwy. 6 bike path.

Obvious was the other competing race teams we met along the ride. Feedback Sports, Adventure Racing, Vitamin Cottage and Rocky Mountain Racing jerseys were plentiful along the routes funneling to Lookout Mountain.

The peleton split at the base of Lookout for individual training goals (glucose check and feed time for me) and knocked out the year's first group ride. Even the COMOtion Team owner and grand wizard Stephen Lechner showed for the inaugural event. It's going to be a good year.

Minor Progress on Varsity Rebuild

Finally got around to starting the Schwinn Varsity rebuild project. Easy part is tearing down....hope I can find the other 2 springs on the floor.

This is not XTR.

Series of springs and drive blocks engage each gear. Grease has pretty much turned to hard wax. Coupe of days soaking in Simple Green and a stiff brush should clean off the gunk.

Back to the minus Broncos play-off games.

Take time right now to renew your IMBA membership. http://www.imba.com/

2008 A Busy and Intentionally Un-productive Year

Wow...'08 is gone and it's on to a new year with different goals and directions.

Flipping through the calendar:

I rode semi-serious team rides in January, visited the grandson in Dallas in February, crashed the trailer and truck on the Vail Pass skating rink on the way to training camp in March, spent our 35th wedding anniversary in Italy in April, camped at the Yeti Tribal Meeting and Elephant Rock ride in May, started the Winter Park series in June, finished my first Triple By Pass with more WP races in July, rode 5 events over every weekend in August, followed the COMotion crew through the final wins in Breckenridge and visited the old homestead in Phoenix in September, rode a 5 day Fruita to Moab MTB holiday in October, tripped out to San Andreas, CA and Oklahoma to perform family duties and scoped out winnable MTB race series in November,

and gained 6 pounds in

December while feeding visiting relatives.

Along the way, logged a total of 31 nights in the Jayco motor hotel, caught zero fish and killed nothing on hooves.

Not a bad year.

Local Cyclocross With Statewide Titles

Last decent Sunday in 2008 was spent shaking cowbells and screaming at fellow COMOtion team members as they extended the racing season with cyclocross action in Boulder. The event named Colorado State Champions with our own Megan Tayor taking gold in the Cat 2 women's group.

Boulder cool guy Timmy B. shows what these tired and damaged legs will never do. The sport requires full athletic abilities including running, hurdles and upper body strength. No down hill rests. All while you pedal like hell for 45 minutes or until you drop.

Inspiring none the less. Think I'll curl the 5 pound dumbells by the fireplace tonight.

Addiction Takes Over Again....Yeti # 7

The nasty economy is forcing a lot of folks to part with the unnecessary transportation to make auto payments, buy fuel and send in insurance premiums for the necessary transports. So sad. Not normally an opportunist, a recent under valued Yeti ASX showed up on Craig's list and I had to pounce on it. Call it protection of the species.
It needs a loving home.

Besides, in my efforts to remain "cool" at 53, I figured the DH community would be more accepting if I owned a 35 pound+ bike and worn baggies with my beenie. The DH weighted Mountain States Cup series will surely be more entertaining if I throw in just one SD or 4X at the ski resorts. I promise to work on my knucke bump-handskake over the winter....bro...







The first owner was basically my height and reach so nothing drastic on the fit change yet. (Don't worry Todd, don't think fit matters much on these as long as as you can hang your arse over the rear axle)

Felt OK on the way over for a haircut today. Little creaking going on standing on the bottom bracket but I think DH rigs are suppose to creak, whine, grunt and bang like a diesel.










203mm Rotors look like the daily special at IHOP!!

Great. Four years ago I lived on Avid mechanical brakes and Rockshox forks). The stable now contains Fox (favorite), Rockshox, Manitou & 5th Element boinkers and Shimano, Avid mechanical, Avid hydraulic, Avid rim and Hayes brakes. DOT 3 or mineral oil. Keep it straight!

Look at me!! I are a free-ride, down-hiller ready to "Pin-It" what ever that means.

KOKOPELLI RIDE A PLEASURE

The 145 mile trek from Fruita to Moab was a ball. The group was 5 small and provided the perfect mental let down I was looking for. Our group was made up of a trio of business buddies from New Hampshire, a TV commercial director from London, England and myself.

A bloke, 3 Yankees and a redneck PERFECT!! All great guys.
Check out the almost 200 photo long slide show from the trip at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=8njcnx5.11h4iaw5&Uy=264l53&Ux=0

Then hit your back arrow twice to finish the blog.
We were spoiled rotten all week long by 2 experienced MTBing guides from Escape Adventures Tours. Mark was a real North Dakota born cowboy-gentleman kept busy maintaining the other 4 rent-a-bike Santa Cruz Blur phillies in the bike corral.

Anne was a twenty-something power house always positive and supportive regardless what the situation was and a darn good roadside chef.






The Dave's were quickly re-named as to not cause confusion on the the trail. I was referred to as Yeti Dave for obvious reasons, while my English counterpart had to earn his name of "Bloody Dave".

David Jones is an excellent downhill, wet, rooty, single U track rider but the un-clipped adventurer on foreign soil soon learned that the loose graveled downhill road off of the Kokopelli Trailhead before the Fruita Loops has a sharp left hand turn. Results. Broken sunglasses, numerous facial bacon spots and a burning desire to prove to the group that he is not easily deterred. Still, the name "Bloody Dave" remained throughout the week long pleasure ride.

I could spend hours trying to recreate the trip but I'll just hit on a couple of highlights.. The weather cooperated marvelously up until Friday morning. Wind not rain. That's the preferred sequence. The ride through Onion Creek Trail was maxi-awesome. The late afternoon heat was tempered by periods of cool canyon wall shaded coasting and the over 20 creek crossing splashes keep us evaporation-cooled while sucking dry chain lube off the bikes. Small price.

Everyone wanted to take time for a side trip to see dinosaur tracks in the area. Very cool.

The stinker of the trip was an uninvited abscessed tooth that drained my race kit of Vicodin and caused major concern when it ruptured on Friday morning. Thanks to reassurance by in-group Dr. Bob, I held on through the weekend and am alive to file this report. New root canal scheduled for October 26. Yeah!!

As, predicted, I WOULD crash. The promise was fulfilled less than a mile from the truck and epic 145 mile finish. On an extremely technical portion of the Porcupine Rim Trail, a triple 45 degree raised plate rock section offered the obstacle. I cleared 2 out of the 3 and as one observer noted "you executed the perfect tuck and roll on the rock slab below". Thanks. Took my mind off the toothache for a while.
The 23 pound carbon Yeti ASRc performed flawlessly all week and was a real joy on the hike-a-bike-sections. XTR tubeless rims and Maxxis Crossmark tires, Stan's Sealant and 38psi tire pressure resulted in zero downtime in the land of goat heads and pinch flats.

The finale of the trip was hanging out with COMotion teammates at the grandmother of them all, the 24 Hours of Moab endurance race the following Saturday. Given my physical condition after the ride, I did good to lube a few chains and re-gas the generator at 2;30 am.

Thanks to Cris Butler, Jen and Ryan & Autumn Schultz for the accommodations and transportation on both ends of the adventure.

Check out all the Escape Adventure opportunities at http://www.escapeadventures.com/

Fall Motivator Realized

Last blog left me wondering what I could do to get my mojo back.
Think I've got it! Browsing the net, I fell back to one of the trips I've always wanted to do since first visiting Moab in 2002. The Kokopelli trail from Fruita to Moab, Utah.
October 6th, I'll be leaving Grand Junction with Escape Adventures www.escapeadventures.com for the Do-B4-U-Die-140 mile Kokopelli Trail. Probably not the hardest cycling task I've endured, but it will surely be one of the most memorable and hard earned brain-draining ride in recent years. The 5 day, 4 night experience will be full of breathtaking views of the Colorado River, desert vegetation and no doubt, the beginning of a couple of long term friendships with folks who love the out-of -doors and cycling like me.
The week long sabbatical might have ended on Friday in Moab but.....what a coincidence.....The 24 Hours of Moab Endurance Race starts on Saturday. COMO buddy Chris Butler will pick me up on Friday afternoon in Moab and I'll continue the desert lifestyle wrenching and cheering fellow racers on through the dark desert night.
Hell, I might even slip in a ghost lap for some weary team member suffering from owlkeehaul poisoning!!
Training begins in the morning at 5:30am.
MOJO is back.

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