SEASON OPENER ...MEMORABLE

The 2009 MSC opener had some very ominous signs to say the least. Lets go over the time line:
FRIDAY
2:20pm-Me and Charlie E. sneek out early from work (Big boss riding horses in Houston or something).

2:45pm-Meet Chris Taylor at the Yeti Park & Ride to load up 3 bikes, gear, team Continental tires, Smartwool duds, Crank Bros. backorders and provisions. Off to Fruita! Snow never hurt anybody!

4:15pm-CSP's finest wave us off I-70 at Georgetown with somber options. Go back to Idaho Spring for a shelter being set up there or wait it out in Georgetown.

6:10pm-Crackberry e-mails with other COMOtion team members confirm that yeah, you're screwed! Doug D. headed back as instructed and (eventually made it back to Golden at 3am Saturday morning.) Hang out at the Visitor Center. They love travelers. Motels.....ha sold out at 3:00pm.
7:00pm- Lovely Chinese dinner within walking distance. Two employees, 37 hungry, pissed-off traveler. WHERE'S MY POTSTICKERS!!....an hour later we were served our meal. Very good (always good with a 68 glucose reading)


9:30pm- Potstickers arrived after the meal. Kelli E. shows up after learning from e-mails we were there. Stares at potstickers.......Can we have some hot tea please?


11:30pm- Bar drunks and solo waiter give us dirty looks wondering if we were going to apply for residency. Kelli's cousin (one of 6,000 in CO) rescues her from the night. There's only 7 in their motel room so far.

11:40pm-Back to the WELCOME CENTER...more brochure reading.

SATURDAY

12:00pm-WELCOME CENTER becomes the UN-WELCOME CENTER. CT is booted out while Charlie and I sip coffee at the gas station. Seems he fits the profile of a vagrant. He's called a liar by the brassy broad locking up when he explains that "the nice man at the center had told us earlier that they would be opened all night." Strong letter to follow.

1:00pm: Warm up the Silverado Hotel get ready for a cramped 5 hour on/off sleep cycle. Charlie is 6' 3" and settles in horizontally in the extended cab's rear seat....kinda. Knees bent. Chris and I lean the seats back 45 degrees and stare at the ceiling....kinda. Every half hour I crank up the engine (driving lights go on and blind poor souls trying to sleep in the Subaru in front of us. Sorry) get warm and shut it off.

6:00am: Gotta pee..off to the gas station and hot coffee. Other survivors are starting to stir and all have horror stories about car napping with puking dogs, wet babies and dead batteries. Maybe it wasn't that bad after all.

8:15am: Official word is we're still shut down but the west bound gates are up and a lot of the trucks have disappeared. We're finally off to Fruita. Time Trial starts at 10:00am. $40 donation to Darner's retirement.

12:00 Noon: Arrive in Grand Junkyard after white knuckle drive between Georgetown and Vail. Just wet through the canyon and sunshine greeted us at Rifle. That was fun....After checking in at the Super 8, a shower and lunch we headed over to Rabbit Valley to pick up number plates and honor the BLM with a $5 donation to straighten out the sand once we're through. Charlie and I salvage the day with a short ride from the Tabeguache trailhead south of town towards the Ribbon Trail. Dinner with COMOtion team and a couple of Breckenridge brews and we're out for the night. Real beds with a pillow!

Sunday

With an 8:00am Cross Country race start time we set the alarms and arranged a wake up call for 5:30am. Load em up, Continental breakfast and off to race.

Lucy keeps watch over the COMOtion pit in case unwelcome competitors want to use our tire pump.

The opener results started out just like the last season had ended. Last place. I knew I was not ready to compete but I didn't think a was going to suffer that much. The legs were there but the lungs and heart went in shut-down mode about a half mile from the finish and I seriously thought I was looking at my first DNF ever.

The cheers from the vulture crowd on the last climb surged me through 12 minutes behind ex-Team Evergreen teammate Steve Como's win.

Disaster number 3 for the weekend started on the way back with a melted transmission as we left the Colorado River valley. Nice way to finale.

Thanks to COMOtion teammate Chris Butler, we continued eastbound in his sweet ride and backed the team trailer in the driveway at 10:30pm. A weekend adventure for sure. Race turned out to be the small part. Above and beyond, Chis nursed the sick Chevy to Rifle Transmission and another teammate Ryan Schultz brought it back to the front range Friday. Do I have great teammates or what?

POP GOES THE WIESEL!!!

OK, Larry Green blew the big storm prediction again but I still had enough faith to plan a bachelor's weekend of basement bike work, Internet cruising, Turbo-tax, and wiener dog play. Factory screw just freaked me out.

For no good reason, my metallurgical and engineering education and background kicked in and I decided to do a major re-vamp of a Vaison Elite bike travel bike box I just purchase at The Pro's Closet http://www.theproscloset.com/Shop/Control/fp/SFV/32625 in Boulder. The guys there get first dibs on several of the world's fastest team's left over cycling equipment and clothing.

My bitch was that all the hardware (bolts) pointed inward and posed threats to the content. Some had become loose and generally did not meet my quality standards. Other than that, the case was perfect. Drill and pop rivet was the prescription.

The box is for an August trip planned with COMo Bro. Chris Taylor to Wales to attend the UK Yeti Tribe Meeting. More on that later.

Now I feel better. Domed aluminum rivet heads greet my carbon parts instead of a stupid loose, false cap over a menacing M2.5 bolt steel shank.

So that my bike case doesn't get mixed up with the dozens of other elephant sized bike bags, I've cleverly attached COMOtion and Yeti stickers so I can pick them out on the 87 RPM baggage claim carousel.

Ipod updated. Better go to the fitness club Sunday to burn off beer and pasta ingested from the boring day inside.

2009 COMOTION SPORTS TRAINING CAMP HUGE SUCCESS

Boasting a 90% plus attendance, the 2009 Training Camp in Fruita was a great time and stoked the folks for the upcoming Mountain States Cup quest for an unheard of 7th consecutive team category championship. The roster is at the maximum allowable 30 racers strong with nearly every category represented.

Perfect weather greeting team members the entire 6 days in Fruita. Nights were chilly (I just turned up the heater at the Super 8) but 10:00 am, the sun was shining and outer appendage warmers were discarded like empty gel packs.

Saturday night was spent with team members and friends stuffing carb-deprived bellies with delicious Mexican food at Ryan & Autumn's GJ home.

Cervezas and Margaritas were toasted high when CT revealed the purpose and spirit of BIG JIM and why this season is dedicated to him and his daughter.... star Cat 1 racer, Megan Taylor. Big Jim passed a way June 23rd 2008.

A total of 28 riders counted off mid-ride Saturday during the big Rabbit Valley loop. Almost 35 team members and support folks started the I70/Exit 2 trailhead gathering. Some got lost.

The term "Herding Cats" was repeated several times by ride leaders. Not sure what that means.

Satellite image of Sunday's Road 18 route looks more like moonscape scenery than earth. Welcome to BLM's finest. What was really cool was to watch the reaction of weekend Trek riders when they watched the COMOtion team kitted peleton cruise through the main trailhead parking lot on killer Yetis. You would have thought we were rock stars. You know, I think we ARE rock and sand stars!! We sure looked fast and organized.
Rides were organized by locals Ryan Schultz and Chris Butler with volunteer leaders Kris Lathrop and Scott Gordon offering alternate routes on the Rabbit Valley and Road 18 expeditions.

Monday presented a great morning to grunt the uphill Colorado National Monument ride from the Fruita side. No traffic, cool in the shade, hot in the sun and desert scenery Moab can't out do.

Friday's dirty dozen............................................Another one in the book and a great start to the upcoming race season. First stop. Yip, Rabbit Valley.

NOW WER'E MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!

Great ride today with friends and teammates over on Buffalo Creek. Only took me twice to figure out why they call that trail "SANDY WASH". Let the blood and the good times roll!



Devora Peterson and Charlie Ellsworth roll through the burned and open hillsides of Buffalo Creek. My first trip there after hearing about it for 3 years. I was not disappointed.

Local BC resident and tour organizer Carry Dunn, left along with Gary Peterson, Megan and Chris Taylor, Rob Sousa and the Sarge rounded out the COMotion team riders.

Where's that antibiodic gunk............

Too Much Information!!!!

Gearing up for the Sunday Boulder way road ride I once again marvel at how complicated it is to ride a bicycle. The actual riding part is pretty much like I remembered as a kid but the technology to verify,measure and record your effort is nearing ridiculous.
1. Heart Rate monitor-Polar Gizmo gives me max heart rate, average heart rate, time in zones, total time and hopefuly an alarm if my heart quits beating altogether.

2. Flight Deck cycling computer- Mr. Shimano tells me speed, mileage, cadence, highest speed, average speed and what gear I'm in. Lap and odometer stuff too.

3. Garmin GPS- Tracks route, time, speed, elevation, pace, total elevation gain and loss and more. Sunrise and sunset info also available.

4. Ipod-Lonely sections of county roads fly by jamm'n to Alicia Keyes, Eagles and Eric Clapton. Tempo quickens for hill approaches with Van Halen.

Overlaying GPS maps on Sunday's ride shows a casual 58 mile route from Broomfield to Niwot, NW to Nelson Road and Hwy 36 and back via Hwy 7.

The start and stop of the route is etched in digital history. Except I did NOT run over that car in the coul de sac on the cool down!!

Despite these gadgets...my younger team racers will brand me as "techno-retarded" because I don't use the $3,000 Cycle Ops watt-o-meters!

Not yet..

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.