PHATTY PATTY!!!

PCP2P Episode 1 (The attack on Mr Antsy Pants)

2010-09-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

Its been about a week since Park City Point 2 Point, and I think my forearms have finally recovered enough to be able to type without using only a single index finger. Also I have a 206 mile (stupid) race in 34 hours to do and I cant let too many races back up.

When I registered for pep2p I was the very first person to get online and mark my X. I was so excited to do it I probably hit refresh 78 times in a 1 minute time frame to make certain I got in. I spent the spring and summer putting countless (not really countless, I have a Garmin) hours riding to survive this event. The summer went by quickly and 2 weeks prior to the race I figured I better pre ride this baby.

I spent 3 days pre riding the course During one of which I was forced to take a major detour by a mamma moose and her two little ones. I came to find a lot of respect for the course and decided it was gonna eat my lunch. It did.

Race day morn I decided that it would be a good idea to jump in with the 8-9 hour group off the start and ride off the back of the group. I anticipated I would (might, could) finish near 10 hours. On paper this was a brilliant plan as I wouldn't have to deal with the inevitable line of racers that would last for the first hour of the ride. The problem with this plan is that the line was just that, inevitable. So I found myself following wheels, eating dust, and conserving energy.

My goal until the first aid station was to take it easy, keep the heart rate low, keep the hands loose, drink lots of water and don't let anything rattle me. So whenever the line was going slower than I wanted to I made up a little saying that I would tell whoever was around me.

"You know" I would say, " If it wasn't for all these slow people in front of me, Id be winning this race right now!"

No one ever even chuckled, I found it amusing though.

Anyway back to the race..... Round valley was great, flat smooth and dusty. The best part was feeling like you were being transcended to the heavens when you rode right into the sunrise. The combination of straight into the sun & glasses coated with a nice layer of dust made for some adventuresome riding that Im certain caused the single track to turn into double track. I know I made friends with a couple trees and more than a couple bushes.

As round valley progressed I passed 5 or 6 guys that clearly self sorted poorly, most of which I had to do some trail busting to get around, no big deal. I had one guy want to get by me when I was on a wider section so I moved over and let him by. Then immediately had to slow to let him merge in. I thought "That was kinda stupid". It reminded me of the jackasses during rush hour that have to be one car further ahead in the line. But I had decided nothing would get me worked up this morning as I knew the day was gonna be long long day.

A few minutes later another request came to move though, It was Eric Bright. (lets call him mr Antsy Pants) If I would have known it was AP I would have moved slightly to the right, waited until he got beside me, (lure him into a false sense of security) then promptly swerved into him causing both of us to go down, only I would come out on the better end of the deal as I would only be bleeding a little from his chainrings, while he would have multiple mechanical issues and bruises due to my enormous weight advantage.

Now thats not what actually happened, What happened was AP wanted because he saw a gap between my front wheel and the rider in front of me's rear wheel of 4 feet, grew infinitely excited for the possibility to move up one spot in the overall ranking and requested that I move off the trail so he wouldn't have to get any weeds in his spokes.

So I moved off the trail to the right (which is not my responsibility when Im following wheels, If someone wants by when your in a line they can make there own way through the brush) In hind sight this was a bad place to move to the right as there was a sage brush rapidly approaching me for a head on collision. I moved back left, AP was there and I broke his spoke, frame, and heart.

I picked myself up, shook my head in disbelief, and rode off. I did however remind Mr impatient that its a 80 mile race (ie 12 hours for him) and maybe he could wait for a better spot to go round.

Now that I'm bleeding and covered from head to toe in the dustiest dust you've ever ridden in, I had some fun descending the twisty 1 track back through the start area.

The next section of single track that climbs up to deer valley was just more of the same, Follow the wheel of the guy in front and try to get them to laugh at my "I would be winning this race if" joke. It never worked. I couldn't even get fatty to laugh and he laughs at everything.

My bride of one year (what a sweet heart to let me race all day on our Aniversery) met me at Silver Lake lodge, swapped out my camel bak, and gave me some encouragement and a bite of the most revolting breakfast sandwich I have ever bitten into. But hey, I needed calories so what the heck.

I climbed straight up Bald Mtn. and felt pretty proud of myself as I was climbing what so many others were pushing there bikes up. On the climb I finally caught back up to JDub (Jdub is always my carrot as he is a much better climber than I am). He looked like someone took his last cookie as we were riding up the mtn together. I thought that he was gonna be done for at the next aid station, so I tried to muster the best words of support I could. I think it came out like "COMON J" or maybe "UGHHH" either way it must have been earth shatteringly inspirational!

Bald mountain went by quicker than I had remembered during my training ride and I was grateful for that. On the descent I was introduced to a new section of trail named "Bow Hunter". This was one of the roughest pieces of dirt I'de ever ridden. This trail was so rough it made my stomach hurt. No wait, It was so rough and pitted it made me throw up.

Throwing up from riding is not something new to me, but forcing myself to close my mouth and swallow it because I needed the calories was.

The descent back to Silver Lake lodge was a blast and went by pretty uneventfully with one exception. I saw a guy in an Adobe kit. Not really anything worth mentioning right? Well to me in my extremely tired state of mind, reminded me of the line from Pee Wee's Big Adventure when there in the Alamo and the tour guide says A-D-O-B-E. So of course I had to let this poor chap know. Turns out we would pass each other many times over the next 40 miles.

Coming up... Leg 2 PCP2P.

Justin Terry

2010-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Today I put my brother in the ground. It was really hard and he will be missed.

Today I realized that life is a lot like riding a bike. If you go out and ride hard on the hills and the headwinds it makes you a stronger cyclist.

sadness

2010-07-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

I havent cried in 15 years, but today i spent the day with tears dripping off my face.

UVU Crits!!!

2010-07-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

UVU crits start this Monday July 5th, Two really cool things this year.

1st

We got a new way better course. It is dead flat, 1.2 mile Closed Course, Brand New Asphalt,

The course is 4 corners and two of the four are double wide roundabouts.

At first we will offer 3 races, Kids category at 5 pm, cats 4,5 at 6pm and cats 1,2,3 at 7pm. As attendance increases, so will the categories.

2nd thing thats really cool.

We dont wanna make money off this crit. We just want to promote cycling, Especially in the big UC. So we are offering a 100% payout. We have to pay usacycling for each rider, refs, and for EMT's. But after those are paid all the other monies will be put back into paying out cash purses.

Also, we believe its kinda lame to just pay the top 3 riders, so we are stretching it out 6 deep.

Finally, SBR will offer Prime lap prizes. Both races will have a Prime lap of $10 cash!!!

Crit is near Vineyard Park in Orem Approx 200 s. I will post the flyer as soon as I get it.

Bring your friends!!!!! The more people who come the more we can pay out!!!

rough day on the bike

2010-06-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

As athletes, we sometimes take for granted the simple things in life. We start to focus on much more minute details that can consume our time and our lives. Our mornings are spent hammering at the pedals trying to create a strong enough stimulus to break down muscle tissue so our bodies can rebuild our legs, but this time. rebuild them even stronger. This is done with much earnest just so we can do the same thing again tomorrow, but faster.

Our days are spent analyzing tactics, body weight, nutrition, recovery techniques, new gear, training schedules and race reports.

This morning I woke up to my usual training ride with my good friend Andy. I told my wife the night before that I was going to really put the hurt on him. Side by side we drilled it up the right fork of Hobble Creek canyon. Neither of us saying a word. Neither of us willing to concede dominance and fall behind the others wheel to take shelter from the blistering headwind.

The pace quickened and my heart rate continued to rise, faster and faster until I knew I could give no more. That is until Andy's front wheel inched ahead of mine own. Winning the final sprint up the last 7% 200 meters brought me much joy, but also a tinge of sorrow knowing that we both couldn't have the same victorious feelings.

Usually right fork offers one of the best descents around, however, it rained last night and the roads were still wet, so we rode side by side at never more than 20 mph, chatting away. When we reached the bottom we agreed to ride it again but at a more reasonable pace.

We more than made up for the lack of communication on the first trip on the ascent. The same would be said for the final trip down the canyon. We rode side by side talking while sweeping around taking the wet bends of brand new blacktop nonchalantly when out of nowhere a white full size pickup appeared.

A spike of adrenalin surged through me and I (being on the inside of the turn) cornered hard and moved as far to the inside of the turn as possible. The same adrenalin spike had different results for Andy. He made a desperate grab at his brakes. His wheels locked up and with the loss of traction, centripetal force sent him sliding across the road.

Time seemed to slow dramatically and it seemed like at least 10 seconds before I heard the crunching of the truck against what I was certain was a large tree. As I pedaled back up the road I knew I would find my friend standing on the shoulder leaning over the bike shaking his head and being grateful that he was still alive.

But Andy was not in front of the truck. Was lying down the embankment in a lot of pain. He had collided with the pickup and was thrown down the embankment on the other side of the road. Once again I underestimated the situation and believed that a few minutes later we would riding home laughing at our fortunes/misfortunes. This was not to be. An ambulance soon arrived and we were taken to the ER.

It seemed every time the trauma doc opened his mouth more bad news came out. First was the obvious, the right arm was broken, this was no shock as normally a forearm doesn't have an S shape. Then the left scaphoid bone was broken. This meant that Andy would have both arms in casts. This is actually kind of funny when you think about it as it means that his wife is gonna have to be the one to do any wiping of the posterior region.

Up until this point Andy could still get good training miles in albeit, they would have to be on his trainer, But he could still get good work outs and race LOTOJA as was his goal for the last few months. It would also be lots of fun to tease the "lobster man" because of his loss of dexterity.

The doc had one more piece of bad news. Tibial Plateau fracture. This meant no walking for at least 3 months. These three words effectively killed all aspirations for racing High Uintas, and more importantly, LOTOJA. For the last 5 months I had spent hundreds of hour training with Andy not to mention the other countless hours scheming for this specific race and it was taken away in an instant.

Death is an issue that has never bothered me. I've always seen it as simply passing from this life to another. I have listened to but never understood others sadness and morning. My reply was always that "they are in a better place now". Andy's wife was most certainly grateful that her husband & best friend was still alive. I however, am pretty torn up inside.

I find a much greater sadness haunts me when an friend trains hard for something, then has an accident and is no longer able to reach his goal. In the past these feelings came when the ailment was life long and they would never be able to compete again. Today I found that I have this same sadness.

Maybe I place to much worth on physical aspirations.

Stupid training ride #2 pcpp/lotoja

2010-05-09T07:05:00.001-07:00

Today was a big day for me on the bike. Started in Mapleton up through Woodland Hills/Elk ridge then up Payson canyon to 7900 feet (snow line) then back to my house where I ate some food changed chamois, and changed training partners with enough time left in the day to bust out the same route again.

I was heart broken when I saw the forest service opened the second gate to Payson canyon, as I really loved using the whole road for my decent. They did, however, close the third gate so there is at least 1300 or 1400 feet of closed vertical.

Despite the open roads the decent was nothing short of magical. The corners on this canyon and the smoothness of the road kept my throttling non-stop for 3,000 feet.

Todays stats:Untitled by phatspanky at Garmin Connect - Details

Time:	07:29:32
Distance:	109.24 mi
Elevation Gain:	8,990 ft
Calories:	8,096 C

After todays ride I know I can finish LOTOJA. I need to start putting some big miles in on the MTB bike to make certain Im ok with PCPP. One ride Im really excited about doing is climbing the "Dream Mine" road which starts in the valley at approx. 4700' and goes to the top of Tower Mountain, at 9,000'.

The snow is starting to melt pretty fast and I see that as a ride that will happen within the next few weeks.

Stupid training ride #1 pcpp/lotoja

2010-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well I did it. I dont think Im very bright, I got into PCPP and LOTOJA which are a week apart.

So now the training must commence so that I can actually race both of them. If I was smart I would have just registered for one of the two. That way I could be completely spent for the week after the event. By singing up for both I have to have enough riding under my belt that I can recover and race another epic a week later.

Todays ride was freekin sweet and I know you wish you had the day off to bust it out. Started in mapleton up Nebo to 8,000 feet, (which is closed to cars but bone dry to snow line) back to hobble creek up brand new asphalt up right fork then gravel road at 12% up towards diamond fork and back. total trip was 87 miles, 7,000 feet climbing and 6700 calories.Going again Saturday.Untitled by phatspanky at Garmin Connect - Details

1st UVU Crit now with Payouts!

2010-05-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

In its second year of existence, we decided the UVU Criteriums should become the most raced race around, Ideas are still in the "Idea stage" but heres what we're thinking.

Everyone likes to race for monies so the following is gonna be the pay out structure.

Category A/B

1st $30

2nd $25

3rd $20

4th $15

5th $12

6th $10

7th $5

Category C/D

1st $20

2nd $17

3rd $15

4th $12

5th $10

6th $ 5

In addition to winning money, UVU will also be reporting upgrade points to USA cycling.

Entry fees are looking like the will be $8 bucks pre registered and $12 day of.

We also want to do a prime lap for each race, awards for prime laps are unkown at this point.

This Pay structure will only be in effect the first couple of races, However, if the fields are large enough we will be able to continue doing them so tell your friends!

1st race is Thursday June 3rd

These are preliminary ideas, we need your insight to make modifications.

If this is something your interested in racing leave a comment.

Finally a Race In the UC!

2010-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Everyones welcome at this race it should be pretty sweet. Lunch will be provided for those who register both races on Saturday.

Woodland Hills Yeti

2010-03-18T16:03:00.001-07:00

My old man is taking a try at hosting races. Fitting to his personality it will be about the toughest 9.9 miles you will ever race. This guy is borderline insane! Ask anyone who has riddin/ hiked/ climbed or skied with him.

The Race is set up so you can either run a 5k then snow shoe to the top of the switch backs, or you can ride 4.9 miles then snow shoe. Teams are kosher if your too soft to do the whole thing. We had tons of sponsors so there will be prizes galore.. Awards will be 3 deep in all categories too.

Oh I think I forgot to mention that its on a slightly hilly course with a maximum gradient of 22% on the bike. Heres your chance all you weight weenies. Lunch will be provided too.

For those of you who want to preview the course maps are up at http://www.xaxdesign.com/Site/YETI.html

The switch backs will be packed down to full with to allow passing and maximum SPEED baby!

All profits will go to a couple different charities.

What is with this picture?

2010-02-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

Did a little foot action this morning, by which I mean I ran 3.5 miles. The first 2 of which all I could think about was how bad this sucked. Then I noticed something... When your running into oncoming traffic cars give you about 8-10 feet of clearance. Now I am really confused about this. Why is it that cars are so respectful of runners yet they buzz by cyclists within 2 inches? It doesnt make any sense. Im not going to trip and fall across two lanes of traffic while running, however, I could easily get a blowout or loose control of my bike in a gusty wind and swerve into the road.

During the rest of my run (which lasted another 3 or 4 hours it seemed) I contemplated this enigma. What I came up with is this. Runners run into oncoming traffic. Therefore the drivers see the runners face. This humanizes the athlete and the driver decides not to kill the person. Cyclists ride with traffic and all that the driver sees is another obstacle in his/her way to get where they are going.

Its obvious that we can't ride into traffic because we will get killed by right hand turning cars, so maybe the solution lies in putting a giant photo of your face on the back of your jersey.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

2010-02-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for Untitled

It was nice to get some mtn bike miles in after 5 days of long road rides. 25 miles of shoreline. The steep sections are super tacky right now and I climbed the toughest section like I never have before. Saw the Holleys, Chris almost fell off his bike when I said his name. I'd bet a hundred bucks he didn't know who I was.

Point 2 Point's length of 75 miles doesn't worry me. what worries me is the climbing. I gotta shed some of this doughboy. 17,829 calories burned the last 6 days on the bike and I haven't dropped a pound. Thats the equivalent of 8 large Papa Johns spinach alfredo pizza's! Luckily I did a hydrostatic body composition test 3 weeks ago so I can see what's actually goin on. Regardless packing an extra 15 lbs of fat up 14,000 feet is the same as packing 15 lbs of muscle up it. Maybe I should take up fishing

Going to the big show!

2010-02-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

Great weekend with lots of riding. Did 50 miles a day for 5 days straight. will try to get in one more day tomorrow. Lots of base miles to get me ready for Park City Point 2 Point. This race is on my first anniversary and my wife is still gonna let me do it! cool huh

There's a couple local guys who I would love to be able to hang with. You know who you are. The first should ride his full suspension scott instead of the stupid 29er, the second should not crash and pretend that he's a trauma surgeon.

Last piece of business is the coolest.

UVU will be hosting a three or four stage race on April 23-24-25. It will include a TTT (yes thats 3 T's) of 15 miles on dead flat smooth road, a road race around west mountain, a super fast crit at UVU, and possibly a individual hill climb TT up Maple Canyon (Avg. gradient is 7% and it has two sections that are 14% ). This race will be our collegiate regional championships, however, we plan to open it to the public as well. USAC license will be required and upgrade points will be issued.

The plan so far the hill climb Friday night, TTT Sat morning, big ol fat delicious lunch will be provided after the TTT, Crit Sat afternoon, and the RR on Sunday morn.

Lots of racing in a short amount of time should equal some pretty tired legs.

New kits, for me and you!

2010-01-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

First blog in three months and what do you know? Im trying to sell something.

Jerseys are 60 smackers and bibs are 70. The gray is a carbon fiber weave and the quality is BlackBottoms. The downside? You gotta order it by Sunday night. All the usuals are available if interested ie jackets, vests, long sleeve, knickers, thermal stuff.

Last thing.

Buy a kit and get half off a hydrostatic body composition test. Thats right, you come in and pay me 10 bucks and I tell you how fat you are!

Proceeds go to UVU Cycling Team so we can trash those red and blue teams again this year!

Riding and testing and riding and pizza.

2009-09-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

This week has been biker heaven. Saturday night the UvU team rode the ulcer route at night. then monday I did some lactate threshold testing. Its by far the coolest testing Ive done thus far. nothing gives you data like a little finger prick action. The down side was that my legs were still fried from the maximum effort intervals that always seem to occur whenever the team gets together.

Wednesday I took a few of the team guys up the 8 mile stretch of brand new pavement of right fork. man that makes me happy. The descent is perfect. crank as hard as you can and use the whole road because you can see when cars are coming because of their headlights. Whats the downside you ask? Well the night is black, the road is black, and the cows up there are black, so you still have to pay attention or else you may be eating some steak tartar.

The next night I took a couple different guys up the same canyon. I was struggling to hold a wheel because my legs were gone again when the guy behind me yelled out. I flipped around and saw a marble size bump in his tire grow to a golf ball size bump right before my eyes.

pretty sweet (as long as its not my tire)

Well cross is 1 week away and I still need to glue up my tires and change my gear ratios up, hopefully Jason will be my carrot this year and race B's.

Oh yeah I forgot about my other testing I did. I'm totally fed up with the whole weight issue thing, ie getting called "BIG GUY" at Walmart. its freekin walmart the home of the 300 pounder. Even the chinese call me fat. My last fortune cookie, I kid you not said "YOU SHOULD EVALUATE YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE" WTF! So I decided to really dig in and set up a diet/ excercise routine to get my revenge on the 8 year old punk in line to play the xbox at walmart. The test is: strap this to your melon

and lie down for 20 minutes. Thats right boys, you go kill yourself with that VO2 max stuff, im gonna take a nap! The test calculated my resting metabolic rate at 2374 calories per day. That is the amount I burn just to stay alive and lie in bed all day. So with all these fancy shmancy testing devices and gps enabled caloric counters, Im gonna finally be in riding shape........... maybe,............... if I dont decide pizza is better than riding......again, (sigh)

ITS MY ABSOLUTELY ALL TIME FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!

2009-09-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon post

2009-09-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well I did it. I got married on labor day weekend. It turned out a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Then to top it off my new wife got me suprise tickets to the olympic ski jumping practice pool. Its pretty fun. I spent 3 hours hiking the steps in ski boots and a wetsuit to do 3's and 7's into the pool. Initially I was a little apprehensive to go as it has been a long summer without skiis and I didnt really want to be in too much pain for fear I wouldnt be able to complete my other honeymoon duties, but the instructors make you complete baby steps until they feel your ready to hit the big ramps.

It felt like all day until we finally got to hit the mini ramp which is about 4 feet off the water. I really wanted to go up another level so on my second hit I threw down a 3 and got my upgrade.

The single ramp (named that because its built to do single flips on) was the exact same feeling as the mini, except you had quite a bit more hang time. The other difference was that the pool was aerated to break up the surface tension. That really does the trick as I came down almost completely sideways and it didn't even knock the wind out of me.

I talked to a coach up there who said he would charge 40 bucks for 6 hours. (I'm pretty sure I couldnt handle 6 hours of flips as three really tuckered me out. ) Saturday the 25th is the last day of the season and Im really itching to go back up and try some inverts. Anyone want to go?

After the pool session Mrs T and I went up to try out the Olympic bobsled run. We signed the typical if your pregnant/back pain/heart trouble/ sue happy jack ass/pussy that cant handle being outside in any type of adventurous situation waiver, and went out with motorcycle helmets to stand in line.

The line was about 15 people long and when they called for volunteers to push the sled you know I was first to respond. after mushing 5 or 6 sleds it was our turn to hop in. At that point Id heard the instructions multiple times and ignored the instructors when they said that 4th seat was a little rougher than the rest.

We were launched off the line at what felt like 100 miles per hour and hit turn one with only minimal bouncing. Now the distance between turn one and turn three was not too far, but It was far enough and rough enough for me to decide that I wasnt having fun any more! My spine felt like I was being jack hammered into the concrete and I could no longer shrug my shoulders to steady my head which now weighed a massive 80 lbs + with the g forces. I was like a freekin bobble headed doll and every corner made me want to lay down and cry. For the first time in my life I signed a waiver for something that actually NEEDED A WAIVER! This was like the boy who cried wolf.

Well the 59 seconds It took to get down couldnt last forever and It finally ended. I pulled my thumb out of my mouth, just long enough to get a picture and check the stats. 69.8 mph and 4G's. When I asked Kat what she thought she said it was a little rough and that it took an hour for her vision to stop bouncing around. I couldnt imagine doing this in the winter on Ice, its 20 mph faster.

The last blog friendly (well at least this blog friendly) event on the agenda was dinner at Flannagen's. For those of you who havent been there Flanagans is a Irish pub on Main in Park City, nothin special, but the Irish drinking music makes it way fun to eat there, you really feel like a fight could break out at any minute. When I looked at the menu nothing sounded good except the burger. I decided against it and went with the Whiskey chicken Botsky. (Grilled chicken in a whiskey sauce wrapped in an Irish potato pankake). that it wouldnt be any good and I planned on sending it back for the avocado burger.

First bite: its ok I ll have one more and send it back: I can probably take another and send it back

third bite: this is pretty good

And after the last bite I wanted to have a second one instead of desert. I highly recommend this it will blow your mind. It will become a Park City staple every time I go up there.

Landis is by far my favorite doper! whos yours?

2009-08-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Look how excited I am to talk to Floyd! its like its freakin christmas. I know he is really funny lookin but that face Im making doesn't make me look very pretty either.

My goal for 1000 warriors was to not get time cut and to not wind up in the hospital. I managed to beat both goals the first by 40 minutes. As a side bonus I was able to beat two teammates who both on paper, and on training rides destroyed me. I know there teammates but I get so competitive that once I had a gap I just wanted to finish in front of them. (I wont mention that they were both suffering from inju

ries). Dans was an overuse injury of the hip joint, and Joel happened to get taken out by the same schmuck who punched me in the face. Oh did I not mention that story. Its ok because karma took care of my small stuff on the AF canyon decent.

Luckily I wasn't on karma's bad side on the suncrest decent. I hit 60 when the cross winds down the ravines hit my 60 mm deep wheels (i know im an idiot) The death wobble had me heading across two full lanes and straight for the metal guar

d rail. All I could think of was "get it slowed down to 20 before you crash and you will probably be ok" Luckily enough I got slowed down enough to stop the violent surging just in time to avoid another 3/4 month riding hiatus.

As far as the 9700 feet of climbing, yes it hurt. But I didnt think it hurt bad enough to push my bike up little cottonwood like I saw so many others doing.

It was really fun to race with a team, lots of help on the flats and the hills, not to mention the great support. Mason hooked us up with a freakin sweet pad to crash at in PC. SBR Kyle swapped out my cassette with 10 minutes to go time so I didn't have to push a 25 all day, And my little woman really did a great job handing out musette bags to us slow UVU boys.

Deep thoughts by jack handy

2009-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

So since I havent been riding Ive had lots of time to sit around and think. The most important thing Ive been contemplating is washing your hands AFTER you go to the bathroom. Doesnt it make more sense to wash before you grab your junk with the hands that have been opening doors and shaking other peoples all day? Are you really more concerned about giving other people your coodies than getting every one elses?

This is why I'm Phat!

2009-06-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

This song sticks in your head like peanut butter on a hot bisquit

Sugar House Crit

2009-05-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

This year is my first year racing road, and many of the hours Ive spent on the trainer this winter were spent dreaming of the Sugar House Crit. This sounded like the best venue of the year with a wide, rolly course and lots of smooth fast corners.
When I woke up this morning I decided to get out on my bike and just see if I can tough it out, broken clavicle and all. Not gonna happen. Well I was so excited about this race that I drove up there just to watch. Thats really odd for me as I complain about having to drive to races that Im competing in.
Spent the majority of the time chatten with AG (yes Im a name dropper) about how I should probably stay in cat 5 forever that is at least until they come up with a cat 6 which when it happens I should go to the extent of changing my name, SS# and burn off my finger prints just to be able to get into that group.
Good to see some UVU team guys there even if they didnt race (cough cough ughh pussies cough) and some BYU guys who did race (cough pussies cough)
Got home and cranked out a massive 18.5 minutes on the trainer at 60% max heart rate....Man I should have raced with that kind of effort I would have smoked at least................well nobody. NICE
I know when I race I search high and low for some cat 5 vids on the web and never find any so I took some for everyone else who is obsessive compulsive such as my self. Enjoy

Hey you...almost a doctor!

2009-05-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

The doc says no broken bones just soft tissue damage. So for a week and a half I try to slowly start using my arm again. When the swelling went down I noticed a large bump on the clavicle. So when I went in to do some job shadowing he asked me how it was, I told him I think I broke my clavicle, he looked at the same xray and said "yes you did I guess I missed that"
Any of you doctors or "almost a doctor" (PA, PT, RN) have any advice about this sucker healing and when I can start riding again.

Back 2 Back days

2009-05-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Back to back 15 minute days on the bike. Makin a comeback. At this rate Ill be racing junior B's by cross season

I CANT ride my bike with no handlebars

2009-05-12T05:35:00.000-07:00

man I hurt! The Doc said it would be4/6 weeks before I was strong again. So In my mind that meant id be back on the bike spinning light on Saturday (two days later). Kat was with me when the diagnosis was given and all she heard was "you need to stay off the bike for at least 4/6 weeks"
Isn't it funny how you hear what you want?
Anyway 5 days later and I still don't think I could straddle a bike if I had to. Maybe she's right and I'm wrong........................................... again. sigh

Helmets Schmelmets #2

2009-05-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

UVU crit Thursday night was a blast!! We had an amazing turnout (35 racers) especially considering it was all word of mouth since we weren't able to get fliers to bike shops until Thursday day. Next week should be even bigger as we had great feedback from riders about the course with only 1 major change necessary (apparently people don't like sprinklers spraying down the high speed corner. WHO KNEW?) Anyway that shouldn't be an issue any longer.Here's a picture of the circuit, it has an incline from left to right of approximately 2.5%

We had a perfect amount of turnout to run 3 race sessions, a kids and a A/B, and a C/D flight. Next week hopefully we can get some more peeps and further split the A,B, And C,D into their own categories. We also would like to have a women's cat too but in order to do that you kind of have to have some women show up to race.
As for my race? Well I showed up 5 minutes before the race start with a lap of the 1 mile circuit as a warm up and tried desperately to stay with the main field which was a futile effort and eventually was spit out the back. I kept the leaders within 200 yards and with 2 laps to go I decided it was either time to get back in the group or time to quit. (I choose poorly) I was making good time back, and was getting a little over excited about it, when I decided to pedal through a corner to gain a few more feet. This seemed like the ideal way to make up some more ground until I buried my left pedal into the asphalt and was subsequently launched into the air and over the high side of the bike. At this point I knew my race was pretty much over so I decided it would be "FUN" to do a flip and land directly on my head destroying my second 180 dollar helmet in 6 months.Helmets are pricey but they seem to be worth the moola (at least in my case as apparently I have not learned the fundamentals of bicycle handling)

The impact knocked the wind out of me and did some kind of internal damage so that I could only take short choppy breaths in with loud moans out. I always pack some oxycotin with me for just such occasions and was very thankful that I do.
Special thanks to the UVU cycling team for taking care of me and my bike during our time of need! Team mate Dan Woodward not only decided not to run me over as he passed me whining on the tarmac, but pulled a stethoscope out of nowhere, or at least I don't want to know where he was carrying it, and checked to make sure I didn't have blood collecting in my lungs, while another EMT cleaned up some of my road rash. It took me the better part of an hour to pick myself up off the pavement and climb into another team mate's (Alex) car. What a great bunch of guys to take care of me and then Even volunteer to get me home. I'd say I'm looking forward to returning the favor, but that doesn't seem like
quite the right words.
The front flip turned out to be a great way to keep both of my shifters matching.

UVU CRITERIUM TONIGHT

2009-05-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

kids race starts at 530
a/b start at 6 pm
c/d start at 7 pm
registration opens at 5:00 and the cost is 8 dollars with a license and 10 dollars without

The race should be a real good time as it is a good combination of rmr and dmv. lots wide sweeping corners and a slight uphill sprint for the finish. The race is in the farthest north west parking lot at UVU. Exit university parkway in orem.
any questions you can reach me at 801-898-1000
or mason law at 801-891-5275

Rocky Mountain Collegiate Championships

2009-04-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Couple more days of racing in the rain for 09. Some one should really start a cyclocross series in the spring here, it would be a slop fest!
Saturday was the Dmv Crit course which has a 50 foot kicker on it every lap (thats right it doesnt change when you come back around and you still havent recovered from the last 10 times you sprinted up it)
I some how managed to stay with the lead group as it got whittled down from 50 riders to 16. Most of the race I was just tryng to hang on to the field, but I was able to make up time in some really weird spots. For instance at the bottom of the hill people seem to slow quite dramatically and I would go from last wheel to the front of the pack. I dont know why, Im 200 pounds!
I discounted my chances for the finish sprint and didnt bother to fight for a good position on the last lap because the pace was so high. The last sprint up the hill Apparently every ones legs were shot and I was able to pass a few to snag 10th. Not bad for collegiate championships in a mixed cat 4/5 race.
On Sunday we raced a dead flat course out at Larry H Miller F1 course. we raced simultaneously with the cat 2/3 guys and could monitor there progress as we passed them on the same stretches of track. The funny thing was we were actually faster than them the whole race. Every lap we would put another 50 yards into them.
I tried to break probably 6 times and could only get one guy to go with me each time. Its pretty frustrating to realize people just want to ride around for an hour and then sprint for a win. That doesnt seem like any fun, now going on a break with 2 or three other guys and having to dig for an hour to stay away for the win, that sounds exciting!
Well nothing would stick so It was a group sprint through some really nasty barrier turns and chain link fences to the finish line. at that point my legs were fried and my motivation was gone. Couldn't find a good lead out and sat up before the finish to let 5 riders pass me and pull down a 13Th spot.
In hind sight I should have finished the sprint but my head wasn't in it and I was feeling kinda soft and pink.
After the race I found out there was a pretty big crash on the last lap with a team guy breaking his wrist and another racer leaving the race in an ambulance.
So my conclusion after these two races is that Flat races BLOW!! They are way more dangerous because the group stays together. You might as well just sit back and neutralize the whole thing and sprint for the win.
Ill be interested to see how much tactics change as I move up into more experienced categories. Seems to me that in the beginner races everyone just goes full out for the entire race.

PS. If you haven't raced DMV try it out. It is way more fun as you actually have to put some serious effort into staying with the leaders as opposed to RMR where you can just sit in.

PSS If you have experience with cat 1,2,3,4 races and know any different about racing styles and tactics Id be interested to here them. thanks

Roller derby cycling 101

2009-04-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

When you cant wear the yellow jersey, kill the yellow jersey

Me a tri geek?

2009-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

So what if all the cool kids got into leadville and I didnt. I got into Spudman! ok I know its not that cool and I know that I also have to work on my swim and run instead of just enjoying life on the bike, but its a really fun race. Its also pretty much dead flat too. (good for us fat guys). Look for my run #'s to start to catch up to my bike time as I finally have to start training so I don't kill over and die.
This baby has about 15 hours of ride time on the stationary trainer, and about 1 mile on it on the road. And no I did not wear an aero helmet and a skin suit while I was on the trainer.
I guess Im gonna have to spend some more time riding this too. Maybe do a couple of the TT's Ive been hearing about out at Salt Air.
I WANNA GO FAST!

Telos tri race report

2009-04-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

Ow!

Blatant Plagerism

2009-04-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

couldnt sleep tonight so up surfing blogs when I found this on churchofthebigring:

"At the local level there is a glut of guys that can put out the watts but somewhere along the line never really learned how to handle their machine. Swerving 2 feet to miss a hole when they could swerve 2 inches, looking over their shoulder and moving in that direction, reachiing for a bottle and moving across half the road. You get the idea and I am sure have seen it first hand at your weekly world cup. In the old days you just needed to stay in the front to avoid the Fred’s. Now there are super Fred’s, with fitness honed by hours of faithfull SRM devotion. These guys are nitro burning funny cars on an F1 course.
I blame one thing. Coaches. Whenever a cat 5 says they won’t be doing the group ride because they have to do 40 minutes of L6 intervals and then send the file to coach, Jesus kills a kitten."

Jesus kills a kitten...... Nice

Lets all pretend we enjoy running!

2009-04-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Just broke 9:30 for a 1.5 mile run man Im fat and slow. Back in the day I was under 8. oh well better keep training

April showers bring May......power?

2009-04-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays riding gear.

Yesterday I went out for a 3 hour ride in the rain. The goal for the day was to go up the right fork of hobble creek canyon and do 5 sets of 5 minute intervals, then spend some more time enjoying the bike. Right fork is a 9 mile long canyon with about 1200 feet of climbing. The majority of the canyon is gentle incline with a couple of small stair steps along the way. The best thing about the canyon is that is still closed to traffic so you can push yourself tell your dizzy and not worry about crossing the center line and getting squished. Doing intervals is painful and miserable but if you have to do them I suggest doing them on a rainy cold miserable day like yesterday. Your already out there suffering and when your doing intervals it hurts so much that you don't even notice that its raining or cold.
After the pain session I had a lot of time to contemplate why I was having such a good time and why I like racing in the same kinds of miserable conditions. I think it comes down to the same reason that I like riding in the first place. Because its a challenge. Why do most riders around here flock to Squaw, Alpine loop, Nebo loop, big & little (canyon & mountain), Milcreek and suncrest instead of vast amounts of perfectly flat roads we have around us? Because its hard. Because of the challenge. Because of the sense of accomplishment from finishing a hard ride and pushing your limits.
Think about it for a second. Think about that feeling you have inside when your Almost to the top of your favorite climb. Your heart is slamming against your ribcage with the force of a jackhammer and your legs are about to explode and your eyes are burning from the sweat that has continuously poured into them. You do all this to yourself just to get that little feeling for just a couple minutes.
I get this feeling when I go ride on "bad" days, but there's another feeling that I get too. A feeling that is almost as good and sometimes even better. See I make the usual phone calls to see if any one wants to go ride. Of course the answers always come back NO (but no one admits its because of the weather) And while I'm out playing in the rain I don't ever see other riders on the roads. Now I know the majority of people who read this are much faster than me, but I go out and race in conditions like HON, and train when its cold out, and if your not careful......... I might just be catching up to you.

closed roads rock

2009-04-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today's ride is what I like to call "a character building training ride" every one knows that means it sucked. 2.5 hours in the rain/hail/sleet/snow/wind.
on the positive side both canyons I went up were still closed to traffic so it was like I owned the road. Thats the best thing about riding in utah in the spring.

Hell of the North

2009-04-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

I passed up on cholla this weekend because it kinda looked like it might be cross weather here. It didn't disappoint. I love racing in crappy conditions
I had a killer plan to jump off the front at the start of the race with my team and go "team break away" for the whole race and take the win. Well the race started and I put the hammer down, and put the hammer down, and put the hammer down, until I finally looked over my shoulder. What did I see you ask? Nothing, nobody. I sat up and let the pelaton run me over knowing that my chances for the win were pretty much shot with that big of an effort.
The section of dirt that's about 1.75 miles long got muddier and sloppier as the race went on, and got so bad that sunglasses became impossible to see through and became a safety hazard for more than one rider, they went in the jersey pocket until I hit the asphalt sections which were wet enough to have the spray off the riders wheels clean them (and my face) off.
With each lap the lead group got smaller and smaller until the final lap when I knew it was time to go again. About 1 mile to the finish I stood up and sprinted to the other side of the dirt/gravel road and forged ahead as hard as I could to put an insurmountable gap between me and the group. I flew ahead at close to 35 mph with my head down and my teeth clamped tightly down on the grime that was flying off my front wheel and into my mouth. At least that's what I pictured happening. What really happened was I got about 3 feet ahead of them and just kinda hung out there for a while until I finally realized I wasn't going anywhere and decided to drop back in and play my cards on the sprint.
It turned out that someone decided to go at about 300 yards, and I was able to grab his wheel and get a nice lead out for the sprint. All I had to do was give it the last effort for the big W. so I did.

I think I was dirtier than I ever got in Heber cross
This is how my tire was sitting after the race! Super lucky it didn't go during the sprint.
Stats for this race
distance--------------------24.59 miles
Average speed--------------20.7 mph
Max speed------------------32.1 mph
Average hr------------------172 bpm 89% of max
Max hr----------------------188 bpm= 97% of max
Time------------------------1hour 10 min
calories----------------------1942

Does any one really enjoy cyclocross?

2009-03-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through some old X pics and my Fiance walked up behind me and said "See no one looks like they are having fun" She had a point, but I wasnt going to admit it, I was gonna prove her wrong.
I went to my first cross race @ the start of the 07 season and haven't missed one since. Not even the last call races that only 15 or 20 peeps show for. So I think its fair for me to say that I Love racing X. So I set out to prove that I am happy while doing it. Well, I spent about an hour looking though pics and have come to the conclusion that NO ONE looks happy when they "racing cross".
I did find some pics with some big smiles after having a couple mechanicals and/or flats, however, at that point your no longer competing, your just out to finish and its "OK" to have a smile on or to wave and make silly faces at the camera. (click on any picture to verify facial expression)

If you look closely at this one, Im still competing (running) and hence no smile to be seen.

At the end of the day, no matter how cold, tired, and muddy you are, its always smiles

Can any one out there prove me wrong? Remember you Have to look like your having a good time, AND.... you have to be seriously competing.

And the pain continues

2009-03-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

My legs were to fried today to put out sufficient watts to satisfy my coach so I get to to it again tomorrow.
You don't fully understand what cotton mouth is until you get one of these babies strapped to your face.
On the plus side I'm finally under 20% body fat, now if I can just fine tune my diet and break away from the books and get some riding in I might actually get fit this year.
This is me @ The 1st cross race this year 20lbs heavier. I hadn't ridden all summer, and had just sold my Xbox cause I played 16 hours a day. Some say I was addicted, I say it was the best summer of all time. On the second lap I was so wasted I was about to put the bike on eBay and call it quits when I heard this schmuck yell "THE XBOX IS LOOKIN PRETTY GOOD RIGHT ABOUT NOW ISN'T IT!!" Well it kinda lit a fire in me and I started riding consistently again.
Has anybody seen Kerry lately?

Windy riding on the Sabath

2009-03-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

It doesn't look it but that's 3.5 hours and 55 miles of riding. we had a strong head/ cross all the way up to Provo canyon then a kick "A" tail wind up the canyon (where i think I hit my max speed of 248 mph) then going up s fork the wind shifted and we got a nice head wind all the way home.
Max decided it was time to refuel with a coffee in P town. I HATE COFFEE, and I even had one. I really needed some caffeine and it was way too cold to drink a red bull.
It looks like someone is making a new mtb trail along the upper part of S fork road (just above the park where the trails start) anyone have an idea whats going on there?

What are those rocks for @ RMR?

2009-03-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

there is two types of racing they do on these rocks, the first is skilled driving. Its slow and very technical. object is to get through the course the fastest without hitting any cones or having a spotter touch your rig.

The second is called "Rock Cross" and they race 3 wide through the course. Its really awesome

Its coming to Ceder City May 2nd. If any of you wanna go let me know.

My 1st Crit

2009-03-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to try out Criterium racing. The fam damn packed up and went to Rocky mountain raceway for a quick C flite race. I was extremely nervous and worried for my life as I had heard nothing but horror stories such as people being life flighted out of that race every time. The stories get worse and worse until pretty soon you here the whole Field crashes and the ones that aren't decapitated soon die when the multiple Helli's crash into each other trying to find a hospital to land at.
The race starts and I find myself near the front..(again) doing a large portion of the work. that is me and one other guy. The other rider was kinda chunky and you would never expect him to be a bike rider if you saw him on the street. But this guy had some power and could really pull the Field along, especially into the 20mph cross wind that we had all day long.
After about six laps of breaking wind and closing gaps to breaks, I hear from behind me "lets go!" sure enough a break goes with 5/6 guys and I don't have the power in my legs to make that kind of effort.
At this point I'm kinda sick of people sitting on my wheel and yelling "LETS CATCH THEM!!" and "WE CAN GET EM!!" Now don't get me wrong, I love the encouragement, but it would be a little more appreciated if along with the barrage of motivation, came some help breaking the wind.
So I started riding the gutter on the leeward side of the road, so no one else could draft of me.
After the race I had three people who I have never seen before, come up to me to critique me on my riding flaws. The first was an old guy who complained about me not riding a straight line, the other two were complaining that I was riding the gutter and they couldn't get a draft off me. I didnt have much ammunition for rebuttal because I didn't see them the whole race, I was to busy doing work on the front, and they had just spent the whole half an hour on my wheel watching what I did. Well listen up ladies, If you don't like how I break the wind for you then find someone else to do all the work for you, Or better yet. put your own wheel in the wind.
one more negative rant then I'm done,
I don't know if I have just been spoiled by Ohran doing such a good job at the X races, but the organizers of RMR crits need to make # plates mandatory ( and not charge 65 bucks thats just retarded), If everyone had a plate then they wouldn't have stupid mistakes like grouping the leading group of C's in with the lap traffic from D's. I was on the front the whole race and saw exactly who was out in front. I finished in 9Th and wasn't even put on the top 10 list.
Any way congrats to Sam for a 2nd place finish. that's pretty impressive considering he closed the gap on several breaks. Every time he did he would say "Pat hold my wheel!". Now that's a chore. He has so much power.
Then there's JDUB who had what sounds like the most fun race of all time. After getting spit out the back on the 2nd lap, had the pure joy of riding solo in the wind for half an hour. Your a better man than me J, I would have faked a mechanical to get a free lap.
All the negativity aside, I had a blast and I will be there next weekend to give it another go and see if I can do a better job pulling the whiny roadies around in circles. And if you are one of those whiny roadies, make sure you let me know how I can accommodate you better.
1st crit stats
average hr 180
max hr 193
Average speed 23.2 mph
max speed 32.2 mph
time 35 min
calories burned 1132
distance 14 m.
ascent 175
So far this year I have done a ton of base miles with some 20 minute intervals at 85-90% of max hr. During this race I could feel the strength that I have been developing by being able to maintain a fast pace for a long time. I could also feel the lack of snap in my legs that only comes from the short, high intensity intervals that are scheduled later in the season.
Its pretty cool to see how the training I have been doing relates to racing.

I dont need no stinkin Ipod

2009-03-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

Pulled Tayla around for a couple of hours and I found out she really knows how and when to motivate. maybe Ill teach her some Dio next.

Family home evening (racer style)

2009-03-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well my legs finally recovered from the pounding they took on the green fever race so I decided to go to FHE with the boys from Racers. That is monday night races at the old race track. This is a great way to humble yourself and to truly put classify your riding ability.
Prior to monday night, I knew that I was an up and coming racer that just needed some more time on the bike in order to hang with the fast guys. After monday night I found out that I am really fast compared to people who dont ride, but I might as well get off and push the thing when I compare myself to Mark Johansen, Dan Neilson, Racer, Kyle, Craig Farnsworth, and even some really old dude Ive never seen before. I think he was like 60 or 95, It really doesnt matter he still put the wood to me!
Any way It was a blast to get out and rally the single track. My bike handling skills have dropped back down to the poor/really poor level, and I spent most of the time trying to turn the single track into double track.
Old man Max spotted me a light for the ride home(apparantly it still gets dark in the evening even if your having a ton of fun) And I popped the cherry on the first night ride of the year.
cheers

Rampage race report

2009-03-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

The fam damn drove down to san jorge late Friday night through the snow storm just in time to get some good sleep and get rested for the race at noon Saturday. I got a good warm up in and lined up where I ran into Sam, and Brandon had a quick chat and spent about 10 minutes looking for another Brandon and Jason who were supposed to be racing with me. I guess they decided that this wasn't going to be good leadville training. they were missed. (Jason was supposed to be my carrott)
My plan was to sit in on the flat section at the start of the race and catch a draft to save some energy. the gun went off and I found myself in second, it wasn't where I wanted to be but I figured it would do. I could barely hang on to this guy and I knew I was in trouble, that is until I looked back and saw a 15 second gap between us and the rest of the racers. I immediately sat up and allowed myself a little breather. The leader must have seen what I did because he followed suit.
The single track into the first uphill section I caught my first rider from the class in front of us. two other guys had slowed behind him, but I knew that if I didn't make a move I would be stuck behind him through the narrow canyon ahead. so I made my own trail through the sage brush and over a small ledge to take the lead. this was the first of many really cool passes to be made during the day.
I didn't have the power to make much ground on the uphills but for some reason my descending skills were great today and I didn't touch the brakes until the steepest descents.
It feels really amazing to fly by people on the descents, especially when you have to either take the rougher line, or better yet, blaze your own trail to do it. I really wish I would have worn a helmet cam because I don't know if Ill ever have the balls to make some of those moves again.
My GPS said I hit 33 mph today! I'm really glad I didn't eat it.
The many hours of base miles I put in over the winter seemed to help tremendously, while I couldnt compete with the fast guys on the ascents, I could recover very quickly and power through the slight down hills at the top where everyone else was coasting. (that was me last year too)

Well my goal was 1:15:00 which was way faster than last years 1:29. I blew it out of the water with a 1:07:59 felt great and recovered well also. That time last year was good enough for 5Th but this year it earned me a 7Th. I think there was about 25 riders who started my class.

As for my new race bike a cannondale scalpel team, It climbs like a hard tail and descends just as good as my 4 inch epic did. I highly recommend one. The one drawback is that going up ledges is a lot easier and faster on a 29er. I felt a small slow in momentum over every one that wouldn't have been there if I was on the bigger wheels. Who knows maybe cdale will make a 29er scalpel soon and Ill have to try her out.
1st lap 33:49
2nd lap 34:09
max hr 190
average hr 180

Post race was great. I got a free massage, and got to listen to some great race stories from other racers. I also hung out with Ashley while waiting for her hubby Kyle to get done with his first Expert race. Kyle thought it would be sweet to see how many flats he could repair per lap and I do believe he won the competition.

Well the next race Is Cholla Im getting pretty excited for that. from what I hear its quite a bit flatter and thats better for us fat guys. who knows maybe Ill try to sneak my first crit in before another st george trip.

2009-03-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Tayla and I busted out 2 hours of trail-a-bike riding today. I thought it was almost as good of work out as Rampage. I can't wait to unleash her on the other kids at a race all those miles has got to make her strong.

Race report for rampage to come, but some friends were really missed at the start.

getting excited for rampage

2009-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

last year I had 2 flats and had to run the last mile in to the finish. I finished 1:29.02. this year Im shooting for 1:15.00
Heres what I got going for me:
-------------last year--------------------this year
----specialized epic 25lbs-------------scalpel 22lbs (thanks ohran)
---super dough boy at 215--------------regular dough boy 200
---major video game skills--------------0 video game skills.
-----------2 flats------------------------one can only hope
----lame yin/yang jersey----------------Full Racers Kit
________________________________________
hopefully with the amount of riding Ive been doing I have more power than last year but only time will tell.

40 M. and sore mm.

2009-03-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

40 miles today. Wind was out of the north and there was a real stiff canyon wind out of SF canyon making it feel like there was a headwind all the way around the circuit. Legs are a little tired and need some tlc.

A bill and some change

2009-03-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Started the x season @ 217 and finally under 200. Its really wired to not see a 2 something on the "health O meter" What a cool name.... health o meter
Tayla loves to paint my toes so I let her. I think this is the first time any one else has seen it so enjoy.

Long day in the saddle

2009-02-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

75 solo miles today. legs felt fine cardio was fine but my crotch and my neck are killing me. no shammy butter today, but I dont know why my neck is so tight.

burn baby burn

2009-02-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

I told you all the fixie freaks would burn in hell!

AF canyon

2009-02-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

Another af canyon ride. this time I had to find the snow line on the road. turns out its at the second gate and you wont be goin any further unless you brought your mtn bike.
mostly dry roads but it gets a little chilly when you pass the caves.

Technology geek

2009-02-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

I may be a little behind the times on technology, cause this is freakin amazing to me. I recently got a Garmin edge 705 to keep track of my workouts. I didn't really need it as my polar hr's were perfectly adequate and provided more info than a novice rider could ever need, but I got a smokin deal and here we go.
I uploaded last Saturdays west mnt ride up to google earth and found out theres 360 degree views of the whole ride. wow!!! I don't even need to go outside any more. just load up the data of my favorite ride into a computrainer and I can experience the whole thing without even getting dressed. Or better yet, without getting hit by a car.
OK so I'm probably not going to be giving up riding outside yet, but there was a point to all this rambling. Some of you may recognize this roller as the first little incline right as you turn north against the mountain. This little 20 foot ascent has kicked my trash every single spring. I mean like panting legs on fire about ready to hurl as I try to "sprint" up it. Well Sabado was a different story as I hammered up it as it didn't exist, and as I rolled over the top was able to keep my pace high. It hardly raised my heart rate. Man it feels good to get stronger.

Yesterday after my TT I needed to get out and stretch the legs and get a little recovery ride in. I made two bad decisions. The first was to call my buddy Jason and ask him if he wanted to go. He couldn't, however he did plant the bug of AF canyon in my noggin. The second was not leaving my house till 5pm.
With only an hour till sunset I decided to hammer from me casa to the first gate where I was certain it would be closed, locked and covered with about 3 feet of snow. It wasn't. And the road was even dry! Also shocking me was that my legs still felt great. But the sun had set and I was already pretty cold so it was time to head home. I'm really excited to get up there again and see how far up I can ride.
As good as my legs felt yesterday, they are sore even to the touch today.
My next power tests are on the week of the 23rd of March. It will be interesting to see what type of increases are achievable after increasing 15% p/w ratio last month. My goal is an increase of 5% and also hopefully drop enough fat get under 200lbs. If I can, maybe riding up south fork wont feel like going up squaw peak.

March Goals

2009-02-24T11:29:00.001-08:00

My coach shot me an email that it was time to run another set of tests on my fitness. when I looked at the calendar I realized I had miss judged my goals and cut myself short one week of training, so today (the day of the tests) I had mixed feelings about achieving those goals.
On the one hand I have only lost 3 pounds as opposed to my goal of six. Also I have been putting some good quality hours in but not quite as many as I had hoped for. On the other hand, during my Saturday ride around west mountain, I felt stronger than I ever have on the bike. The little undulations that have always taxed me in the early season were nothing as I sprinted over them.

The test itself was freakin brutal. I felt completely blown after only 5 of the 20 minutes, and I couldn't help from my mind wandering to what it would feel like to be a pro and go full out for a 40k. Well the test finally ended and I laid everything out on the line. I didn't puke like I had last month, but I was about as close to loosing it as I have ever been without loosing my lunch.
My goals that I had set for myself for this assessment, and what I achieved are
----------------PREVIOUS--------------GOAL -------------ACHIEVED
weight= ---206 or 93.64kg --------200 or 90.9 kg---------203 or 92kg

Avg watts
20min TT -------236-------------------250 -------------------267

Power to
wight ratio ------2.52------------------2.75--------------------2.90
I'm pretty happy with the results of using only base miles both on paper and on actual rides. this month will be very interesting to see what happens as I start to mix in a couple moderate intensity intervals into the work out.

Here's a link to power to weight ratios for average categories if your interested.

I don't quite know where to set my sites as another 15% increase in P/W ratio doesnt seem likely, so I think Ill just shoot for a 5% increase which will put me a@3.05 and right smack dab in the middle of cat 4 racers (on paper).

Good riding on the sabath

2009-02-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Sundays race was a amazing one to watch. or at least imagine, since the majority of it wasnt broadcast because of heavy rains. The story of the day was Francisco Mansabo and his 100 mile solo breakaway in a heavy down pour. Could you imagine going on a solo break with 100 miles left in mountainous terrain and a typhoon? He did just that and maniged to average 25.5 mph. what a stud. Somehow Mansabo managed to save enough energy for a sprint finish at the end and pull away from two others that managed to sneek in.
The tour organizers screwed the majority of the teams by waiting until there was only 30 miles left in the race to announce that they were gonna cut the race short. pretty much the only teams left to win it are Astana, or team Columbia. But atleast we get to see those 500 dollar bibtights of Rock Racing out front for the next couple stages.
I bet there are some pretty P.O. ed squads today about the poor decision of the atoc organizers.

Any way I went on a little tour of Utah county yesterday on my x bike starting in Af and road the back roads down and around Spanish "Fark" then up to the top of woodland hills. At the base of woodland hills drive a "masked" rider passed me like I was standing still. And while I had the disadvantage of being on fat nobbies for 2 hours already, It was obvious he was part of Operation Puerto.

School Blues

2009-02-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

My anatomy teacher gave me a open book take home multiple choice test with only 20 questions on it and 5 days to do it. Now think about this for a second. TAKE HOME----MULTIPLE CHOICE-- ONLY 20 QUESTIONS. Why even give us a test?
So I get this baby home and wind up spending 28 hours on it. Thats a freakin long time. Thats almost as much time as I have ridden a bike for year.
I got my score back and it was a 75%. This was a week ago and ever since then Ive been seriously contemplating suicide. or at very least, doing construction for the rest of my life. Today in class the good doctor announced that the class average for this test was 45% and that three people tied for the low score of 10%.
All I have to say is that if you only can guess right 10% of the time on a multiple choice question you better stay off the roulette tables.

Serious ?

2009-02-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

Most people I know spend a rather large part of their time doing something that involves bikes. Riding, fixing, reading about, building, or just thinking about them. So heres the 25 cent question of the day.
What would you do with your time if there was no such thing as bikes?

More goals

2009-01-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

I decided to join the UvU cycling team recently because they guaranteed i would be racing pro next season and that I could probably win most of the races I entered if I would just put my mark on the dotted line. So i did.
OK there were no such promises, however, they did offer me free Vo2 max as well as workouts on a computrainer, as well as free cookies. OK I lied again there are no free cookies ( but I'm gonna keep working on them)
so after two tough days of testing I have some initial numbers

v02 max = 55
average power 20 min tt 236
power to weight ratio of 2.52 watts per kg of body weight

so here are some examples of what the typical power to weight ratio is for riders in different categories.

Power to Weight Ratio

As you can see Im pretty much smack dab in the middle of Cat 5 racers

Lance Armstrongs goal # prior to the TDF each season was a pw ratio of 6.7 That blows my mind.

This information really puts cycling into perspective for me. Prior to yesterday I thought that if I just rode the bike a little more, dropped a few pounds, and had a little more desire, that I would be able to be easily cat 1.
After seeing mathematically how cycling performance is achieved I am starting to understand that there is far more time, effort and knowledge that goes into riding than I ever could have imagined.
The goals that I set for myself this year are to ride 500 hours and run 500 miles. These goals were put into place so that I would have a set # to go off and hopefully in the process drop some adipose tissue, as well as be a lot faster on the bike. I have set a couple more goals for the early part of this season one of which is to get my pw ratio into a little more respectable (at least in my mind) range. I'm a little too embarrassed to put that # down on the web so I think Ill just keep it to myself.

Crits?

2009-01-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

Im excited to try some crits out this spring so I thought I better get the old road bike out and get some miles on her. hopefully this wont be a "before picture" in a crash sequence.

I'm a little nervous, but everyone keeps telling me that if I just stay out in front then I dont have to worry about getting taken out. I guess its kinda like cyclocross that way. Except when you do go down its gonna actually hurt.

Usually I have a white saddle on her to match the tape. This year I'm thinking of pulling off the stickers and "blacking" her out. maybe ill put some red leds on her like KIT from knight rider.

Tour down under the impression there was a race today.

2009-01-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

I have been waiting for 2 months for today to come. Whats today you ask. Well Ill tell you. Today is the first day of the year that Versus covers pro bike racing on TV. Today was an extremely short coverage of the tour down under. 1/2 hour to be exact. That fine, I understand that it is relatively uninteresting for the average American (but they can broadcast bull riding 24/7/365, and strong man 4 hours a day). Here's where I have a problem. Of that precious 1/2 hour theres 12 minutes of commercials, so were down to 18 minutes of coverage right? Wrong! They blow the first 8 minutes of the coverage talking to freakin Lance Armstrong about how it feels to be back on the bike. I didn't realize I was watching the Oxygen network. I don't care about how Lances feelings are affected by this race. Sure most Americans do care but they aren't watching this show. The only ones watching this race are people who actually want to see a bike race.
So now we are down to 10 minutes of actual bike racing being covered, of which half the time the announcers are trying to point out where Cancer boy is in the pelaton instead of commentating. Then Robbie Mc'ewen wins the bunch sprint at the end without a team even to lead him out, and what do they ask him in his post race interview...... "How did Lance look in the race?"

there goes another couple hundred

2009-01-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I threw away two cases of gu that expired in 06' today I found the rest of my stash. It all is 06-07 too.

Yet another reason Im slow. I dont think I have ever let a pound of cheese expire.

St George again

2009-01-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

Another great trip down south. This time I got to go with probably the funnest group of guys Ive ridden with. Temps were really good for riding hovering right near "fity" and the sun was out warmen our bones.

Lots of climbing on this trip and Jason showed off his anti-gravity skills by dominating everysingle climb. I think that if Im going to beat him at any icup races this year it will be because he gets a couple flats.

The trip lasted two days. Day 1 we rode Zen, and barrell roll. Then played on the dropoffs of bearclaw. Every thing lower was muddy like x muddy. In hind sight, Zen was a bad choice to warm up on. None of us were used to actually mountain biking, and we spent more time carrying our bikes over obstacles than we did riding them

This is the coolest sign I have ever seen on a trail.

Day two was Jem and gould loop.

Well back to studying.... which reminds me that I have found the most boring combination ever. Riding the trainer while watching distance learning Anatomy dvd's . The only way I found it tolerable was to put the ps3 on 1.5 speed and force myself to try to understand all the concepts. Still I managed to bust out 2.5 hours. I must be outside my mind

Last call cx

2009-01-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Before reading this post please review my first post ever titled "sandbaggers piss me off" Nov 08

Today was the last call race for the 2008 x season. Lots of snow on the ground and bluebird conditions. The organizers decided to run the races in a different order than usual. They out B's first then C's second so that the more experienced riders could brake trail. I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to race two races. I would warm up during the B race and race the C race.

I got to the starting line on the front row, exactly where I didn't want to be. I was afraid that the first Icy corner there would be a big crash and I didn't want to be involved. I looked around for away out of the situation but I didn't see one. I was stuck. The race started and quickly formed a double pace line. I was in second wheel in the outside line. Sure enough the guy in front of me lost it and went over the handle bars in the first corner leaving me stopped and trying to maneuver around. When I got around I had easily lost 5 spots.

This usually would have me in a panic, however, since I was just there to warm up it was no big deal and I would just keep riding.

The next obstacle came at the end of a single track section. It was a mild incline up a snowbank. nothing that wasn't easily ride able, unless that is, every single person in front of you decides that its not. So I busted trail around the side of everyone and made a few passes. I glanced down at my Hr 186! Near my red line and way to high for the start of the race without warming up.

The following lap was the exact same situation and I was left blazing my own trail through the crusty snow.

A thought occurred to me that I was in third. What that's not right this is the B race, the fast guys! After that I made an effort to catch the last two guys. 1 down and a few minutes later the second. I'm leading with only one lap left! I FEEL GREAT.

I start pedaling faster to try to separate myself a little farther from the other two when I hear the dreaded hissing that is oh so too familiar to riding in wheeler "goathead" park. I cant believe it. Even with a foot of snow on the ground I manage to find one of those little buggers. as the tire spins round and round I keep hoping that the sealant inside will do its job, even if it is 20 degrees to cold for it to clog the hole. It doesn't, and I can see the win slipping away.

My front tires dead flat and I have 300 yards to the finish line. so I lighten the handlebars and ride as straight as I can to the finish line and win.

That's right, I won. My first win ever and it was in a faster category than I had ever raced before.

So when its time to run "c" race, I was OFFICIALLY A SANDBAGGER. My mother would be so proud. I have wanted this for soooooooo long.

The funny thing is I was so tired I only got 3rd in the c race. Not bad for the first race of the year, a win and a podium

Funny thing was that I was so tired I only place 3rd. Not bad for the first race of the year. A win and a podium.

New years day Squaw

2009-01-03T20:59:00.001-08:00

Riding up 4 miles of 3 foot deep snow is the best way to clean the st george off your tires. Another great day of off the trainer riding. There was probably 30 peps who did the annual NYD ride up squaw peak. It was a fun ride that I spent most of by myself trying to catch all the fast guys. Pretty soon I got in a groove and was able to keep my effort high. All the extra heartbeats paid off when I caught Arthur near the top and not too much farther ahead of him was racer.

I don't know what happened to those to guys that they were slow today, but I prefer to pretend as if they were going as hard as they could to stay away from me and I was still able to real them in.

Who knows maybe I am gaining a little fitness.

On the other end, Fatty dropped me like I was hot and was never to be seen again. When I asked him if he had been training hard this year, he busted out the classic answer " Ive ridden hard every single day this year" (best answer for new years day)

Riding totals for Dec

2008-12-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Last December I was putting in 40 hour weeks on the xbox. All the hard work payed off and my "clan" was top 4 in the world ( that's really impressive for all you non dorky types)
This year I worked hard on my riding and placed top 3 in a beginners cyclocross series. (That's really UNimpressive for all you dorky types)
Maybe I should go back to gaming?

Any way here's my totals for December

12 mountain bike rides totaling 19.53 longest ride was 3 hours w/ 3780' ascent

10 trainer rides totaling 17.35 longest ride was 3 hours w/ 0' ascent

2 cyclocross rides 1.28 longest ride 42 minutes w/ 680' ascent

totaling 40 hours and 34 minutes
and hit the gym 8 times for strength training

24,162 feet of ascent

24 out of 31 days on the bike @ an average heart rate of 138 (lots of base miles)

39,053 calories burned (not including gym time)

324,412 heart beats

My crotch still hasn't recovered

San Jorge at 80 MPH!

2008-12-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from St George and boy let me tell you how nice it is to ride a dirt trail with a 6 inch patch of snow as opposed to a snow trail with a 6 inch patch of dirt.

We spent our time there riding the Icup race track because bear claw poppy was muddy like racing Heber x last year muddy, and my Jetta wasn't gonna make it to gooseberry.

I guess riding the trainer everyday saps your technical riding skill or I never had any in the first place.
It took me 4 tries to finally make this stupid little 2 foot ledge. The only thing that made me feel any better was that the next day I cleaned it twice without hesitation.
Well 7 hours of driving for 3 1/2 hours of riding doesn't sound like a very fair trade but this might help a little for next time.

The road crew was just pulling away as we stopped. I wanted to be the first one to caress my new love.

Trainer Secrets

2008-12-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

So listen up ladies. Today I'm gonna tell you the secrets of spending hours on the trainer every day. I'm sorry to say that you cant just jump on your bike and enjoy it right from the get go. Your going to have to put some effort into it.
First thing and probably the most important is you have to have shammy butter. If you don't have this lubrication between you and your Velcro pad, its gonna hurt, and your gonna quit. I never use shammy butter on any rides outside but for some reason when I'm on the trainer, my loins feel like there on fire. Its pretty easy to quit when you think your burning down there

The next is the most important so far, a set of aero bars. It is crucial to have multiple positions available to you to be able to ride comfortably. One or two hand positions just isn't going to cut it. You also need to be able to take all the pressure off your upper body and leave your hands free to be able to do other more important things, which leads me to..

Third, and by far the most important step, you have to have multiple options of things you like to do available instantaneously. Yes we all love to ride bikes. No that is not good enough. Technically, you are not riding a bike. You are suffering in the darkest pits of hades. Now if you knew you were going to spend some time in hell wouldn't you take some form of entertainment with you?
Here's what works for me. Video games are excellent, however, they are hit and miss. If you play a racing game plan on your cadence hitting 150 on the straight aways and about 7.5 on the technical sections. Shooter games.... Super fun but your cadence stays very low until its time to run for your life then your cadence will be somewhere in the low 200's and your legs more than likely will ignite on fire. DO NOT PLAY THE WII WHILE RIDING ROLLERS!!! or if you do, video tape it so I can see.
Some days I can play games for 3 hours straight and not even know the time has passed, others, 40 minutes and I'm done. As an alternative you can have your favorite TV shows recorded. Now having them recorded is a must. You have no idea how long 5 minutes of commercials is until you spent them suffering through minutes 47 through 52 on your trainer, trust me on this.

Recently I found that watching old races really helps pass the time. They work pretty well because the first hour to hour and a half are pretty boring. Oh theres a break away. Oh the pelaton caught the break away, that guy got stung by a bee, another break away yada yada.
but after the first hour and a half your at the last climbs of the day. This is where you really start to hurt. your legs are tired, your crotch hurts, and your starting to get sick of being on the bike. It works out perfect because you can tell the riders feel the same way. It also works out well because you have spent the initial part of the race building a relationship with the riders. When it comes time for the attacks, you are emotionally involved and you will find yourself assisting in the efforts.

Regardless of the entertainment you provide yourself with, make certain to give yourself plenty of options, because what works one day will leave you wanting to get off your bike after 20 minutes the next.
Good luck to all of you. Except my racing competitors next year, you guys go eat some more PIE!

Tayla's workout show

2008-12-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

So here's some motivation for you. Tayla busted out 45 minutes on the trainer last night with no fan, no shorts and no water. SHE IS FIVE!

She is so amazing. Whenever we would go ride hills together she would complain that her legs hurt. After about a week of hearing her complain, I decided to try to explain to her why they hurt. I went into quite a bit of detail about muscle fibers and tearing and regrowth. The conversation continued into the house where I jumped on the net and pulled up some pictures of the human body without skin on it to show her how muscles work. I didn't know how much she understood, but sure enough the next time we climbed that hill she said "My legs hurt, but they are getting really strong"

I think I might put in a "Train Right" DVD and ride with her tonight.

Almost spring?

2008-12-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Today I decided that I am sick of winter already And that if it wasn't going to stop being winter, well then I'm just going to pretend it isn't winter. It didn't work.

It was so sweet to be off the trainer and go play in the snow.

I bet you cant tell which helmet I wore.

I have a free hotel room to blow before the 1st of the year. So I'm going to St George to ride. That is, if it freekin warms up down there! (any one want to go?)

Soft & Pink

2008-12-20T12:56:00.001-08:00

While looking through various X'ers blogs this morning I noticed one thing in common with all of them. Why is it that every time someone doesn't win a cross race they always have some excuse. "I've been sick" " I am sick" "I got 2 flats" "I haven't been training" "My back hurts" Well guess what I think your puss just hurts. When you loose be gracious and complement the winner on a good race and a good job training, or doing more sit ups, or choosing the right tire and sealant combination. Whatever it was that you failed to do. Nobody likes a whiner, so shut up.

Lance and I did it!

2008-12-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I would try out watching some bike racing while rode the trainer. So I popped in the old recording of Lance, stage 9 2001. le alpe d'huez. This was an absolutely excellent way to ride the trainer. I think it has something to do with watching others suffer even more than I am, but I was able to keep my heart rate right in the zone I needed. That is until Lance looked back at Ulrich and started laying the smack down. Sure enough I was panting hard and sweating like a dog. It took me about 5 minutes to realize that I was assisting lance in his effort to the finish line. By then It was too late and I just continued the effort.

I don't want to spoil the ending for any of you, (just in case your 8 years behind on your dvr) But we won.

The timing was phenomenal too, 2:59:02 was the time Lance crossed the line, leaving me with a 58 second cool down. ( Hey its longer than Lance's, He got right off his bike and sat in a chair) bringing my total trainer ride today to 3 hours on the dot.

I don't know how any of you stud muffins ride epic rides like LOTOJA, LEADVILLE, 24 Hours of Moab, or RAWROD.

You studs make my nipples hard. But I wont mention that I had to take the sag wagon on the Ulcer last year cause that would be to embarrassing

Holy crap its not gonna stop snowing

2008-12-18T10:51:00.001-08:00

The snow keeps coming. Ive shoveled my driveway 4 times already this morning. I figured, while I was out there I might as well do a good dead for my neighbors. When I lived in Vegas I worked with this old bag who scolded me "Your not CUTE and your not Funny!!" I think that still applies today.

I'm really gonna win this time.

2008-12-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was the end of the "easy training" as in from now on out it will be cold and snowy. I'm not certain if it was knowing that the season was over, or if it was Fleetwood Mac singing "Reana" on my Ipod, or the combination of both that made me burst into tears and weep like a baby. A baby that was stung by a bee. A giant killer bee. But only after having his leg bitten off by a Panther. Note the tears dripping off my nose.

While on my ride into what felt like infinite sadness I came up with a plan to be faster than a lot more people this racing season. I have all my winter gear lined up and ready. Weather (<--he he) it be riding in the frigid temperatures with my heated Sidi insoles, or summiting a mountain to get some super freshies, I should be ready to get back in shape.

Now I know this plan sounds very similar to everyone else's plan, but here is where its very different. For the last two winters as soon as it turned cold out, I went downstairs and hibernated with my Xbox and my stack of pizza boxes. While I plan to cut that out of my schedule this year, I know its not enough to be faster than the majority of the racers in this state. So here's whats gonna happen.

All you fast guys (you know who you are), email me your address and your favorite kind of pizza

and I will see to it that you receive a new XBOX 360 and pizza delivered to your door 2 times per day. As a side note the best kind of pizza is PAPA Johns cheese sticks, and while some of you will disagree, you are clearly WRONG! However, I will allow you to have your own (incorrect) opinion on what you like.

Dry creek wont be dry for much longer

2008-12-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Still loven this weather, but today I decided that I should really wear blinders like horses do when I ride. The problem is when I see a trail that Ive never been on, I have to ride it. This was the case again today when an innocent looking trail merged with the BST. Well of course I knew it went up dry creek, and of course I knew how steep dry creek is, but I am going to blame this one on Chris Fox for commenting that he road up DC in 19 minutes,with a hr of 190 and there by creating a challenge for all those who read it. Damn you Sly!

Ok so it wasn't too bad, however I want to watch someone ride up this section, as you are definitely a better rider than I am

Its supposed to rain/snow tomorrow morning until about noon. 30% chance.... Sounds like I might be able to sneak in a couple more rides this........ha ha winter.

The valley today was full of smog, but there must have been some extra O's in it today because I knocked almost a minute off my time up battlecreek rd to the trail head. Its either that or the off chance that riding every day for 2 months and lifting improves fitness. We all know thats not possible.

Maybe Ill get an xbox for christmas so I dont have to ride so much. sighh

My new personal trainer

2008-12-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

It the first time Ive taken her to the gym with me and shes screaming at me while doing sit ups. I did sit ups for the first time in at least a year yesterday, and I can barely move today. My abs are on fire and I cant even lay down without holding some of my body weight with my arms. She says "you have to do 31" I say theres no way. She says in a stern 5 year olds voice "JUST DO IT" so I give it a go. I can barely squeeze out 5 when she catches me not laying all the way back down "YOUR CHEATING!!!" I think I have a hernia.

If your lookin to get a few extra watts for next season, Tayla is for hire @ 45 an hour

Ha ha, thats all you got! Silly old man winter

2008-12-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

The BST is still open and ready for business between Battle Creek and Provo canyon. Most of the trail looks like this, with only a few patches of snow here and there. Today was a good ride but my ears got a little nippy on the descent.

Three weeks from now will be new year and I'm starting to think that Fattys new years Squaw peak ride wont be quite the same as last year.

New years 08' was excellent practice to learn on clipless pedals. Pedal about 10 strokes then unclip and push ten steps. If you cant get out.... Whatever.... just land face first in the 3 feet of pow. The descent was the same way. Here I am trying to get a draft off Fatty. I figured it was his idea, so he can pull ME up the hill.

Pow Pow and first tracks

2008-12-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

The ride today was sweet! Freshies on shoreline. OK like 1/4 inch. whatever its the middle o December let me have my fun. It was a great ride while I was riding uphill and with the wind. The trip home however..... 30mph headwind and freakin freezin wind chill. Is ok the little woman had some hotty chocy ready when I got home.

monorails are BAD A in the snow the clear out even at slow speeds but turn into a delicious mud donut when you ride through just a tiny bit of mud

Last nice day of the year?

2008-12-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

Sundays ride started at my house, up to shoreline, to water tower road where I saw Racer training for iditarod, up top of frank, and found a new sweet downhill section to drop into dry creek. Since my exploring already found me a fun new trail I thought i would keep exploring.

After what seemed like forever on a loose crappy horse trail I wound up right here...

while this is exactly where I was hoping to be, I didn't realize there was no way down without base jumping. (what bad luck I left my shoot at home this time) So I rode all the way back around and home. 3 hour ride and I was tired. Good thing I had the greatest riding food ever

which reminds me. This is me when I found out my mom put uncrustables in my lunchbox.

Draper x

2008-12-07T09:01:00.001-08:00

I have been dreading this day for 3 months. Not just because of that stupid giant hill that must be 500 feet of climbing and a mile long, but because it would mark the end of cyclocross season. I don't think most of you know how much I LOVE X!! It totally dominates my fall season. Its all that I can think about. Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I hammer my body to try to get it back into some kind of form. Then jump on the Internet to see if there has been any updates to utahcyclocross.com. Then go from blog to blog looking for something about Utah x. then spend the rest of the day plotting how to beat one more person. Thursdays and Fridays are spent recovering and plotting x domination.

When Saturday gets here its race day baby. I Don't think I can explain race day well enough for those of you who have not experienced it, but Ill try. Race day is a combination of every emotion you can have and all of them pretty much at the same time. on the way to the race your nervous, anxious, scared, excited, and worried. When the gun goes off there is nothing but pain. pain pain pain! until your brain finally says "why the crap am I doing this" "Ill just pull over here and stop for a while" Of course that doesn't happen so let the hurting continue. Again the thoughts creep into your head until this time you here your family screaming your name. "GO FASTER!!" (for those of you who do not have this luxury you don't know what an advantage it is) Thanks Kat.

When the race is over you feel amazing. not only are you thrilled that its over but within 5 minutes you KNOW that you could race again and probably even be faster. Confidence build inside until you decide to try standing on your pedals and your legs don't want to go. And once again your thankful the race is over.

This weeks race was different than all the rest as we have raced draper for are first race this season. The race started and I was able to hold on to peoples wheels as we sprinted up the long steep asphalt mountain. Wait... somethings different! Its not a mountain, its a hill, and its not all that steep. I was able to stay with the lead group all the way to the top and though most of the first lap.

I felt good throughout most of the race and felt bad for other racers as I passed them because they had flats. This is not entirely true. Its the same as everything else in cross. your stoked that you passed another person too.

On the last lap Ethan Nelson from Timpanogos cyclery (my competition for the year) got a flat. So I thought "one more down" On the final drive up the asphalt section I look over my shoulder and See "E" at least a hundred yards back. I feel confident I have it so I sat up and relaxed a little. As I get closer to the finish line I keep checking over my shoulder to see where he is. Sure enough he keeps coming. But I know I am still fine so I continue to relax.

50 feet from the finish and all of a sudden I hear tons of noise. I cant discern anything because its a combination of the announcers excitement, my heavy breathing and my girl Friend (who is always screaming any way) but in the midst of it I can clearly make out a derailer clicking down. It was "E"!!! and he was right on me! I stood up and sprinted side by side to the finish barely squeaking out the win!

The first time we raced Draper I placed a sorry 30th. but today I placed 6th (not bad considering how hilly it is) I guess all of my training to get back in shape have paid off. and the giant asphalt mountain onlt turned out to be .4 of a mile long with 110 feet of vertical

My awesome Girl

2008-12-05T17:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday was another great afternoon December ride. I rode from my house up to shoreline (which itself is 500 feet of climbing) then along shoreline to water tower road, then followed that to bridal veil falls. I chased a storm up Provo canyon, and finally caught the tail end of it with a touch of snow. when i say a touch I mean like 4 or 5 flakes.

who wears a pink helmet and a timpanogos cyclery jersey any ways!!

My ride was only 2 and a half hours long but I was famished when I got home. Lucky me my sweet little lady had a special surprise for me.

I think its march now

2008-12-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Got home early this afternoon and was all excited to go for a ride until I saw all the flags standing straight out. So instead I busted out my kite surfer trainer kite. Its about 4 feet wide but has some serious pull to it. In a strong wind it can pick me up off the ground. I got playing with it and didn't stop for 3 hours.

A fun day got even funner when Tayla and her Friend ran around the 50 yard line and let me "buzz them" OK it was more like slam the kite repeatedly into them. Hey no blood no foul.

October 1st....what? really its December?

2008-12-01T17:06:00.001-08:00

Freakin 60 degrees out when I left to go up the shoreline trail. I can't believe it! Look at that lake! If that doesn't make you want to go carve some turns in the mirror then you don't know what your missing. I don't think I have ever thought about hittin the lake in December. Yesterday I rode and saw this:

I should have laid a dollar by it cause this WAS a huge elk. I don't really want to end up as somethings dinner so I'm taking Ez E's advice and "never leavin the pad without packen my gun." I don't know how much good it will do, but its better than throwin rocks. Two big problems are the weight and where to keep it. You don't want to be shooting yourself when you go down (most painful crash ever) but it still has to be accessible.

Weight is a quick fix, just buy a polymer pistol. The later will take some ingenuity.

The ride today was gorgeous. and the trail was dry except for some corners that were damp just to the tacky stage. Sweet riding. If you haven't been able to ride lately then you should really make an effort to get out. Just look how happy I am.

utah cx race #10

2008-11-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

"Man this is too easy. Maybe I should upgrade. I'm gonna win this race easy! WHOOP BAM ROLL Jump up run back to my bike pick it up!!! never mind the shifters bent just pedal! ok you lost 3 spots and the announcers making fun of "the racers cycle guy" get over the barriers and then start cranken the watts again. WHERE DID MY POWER GO!!"
That's pretty much the conversation that I had with myself today. Yes I'm disappointed with 8Th spot. But at the same time I'm pretty stoked that I am disappointed, see 2 months ago I would have used cera or whatever epo I could get a hold of to get 10th place.
The seasons almost over and I'm just hoping that Ohran will run a 4 race series in January.

Special thanks to http://bikehusla.blogspot.com for making my kid this happy

helmets shmelmutz

2008-11-29T19:31:00.000-08:00

Why the crap do I have to wear a stupid helmet at a race any way! it should be my own decision. I just wasted a hundo because of a stupid rule. phhhhh like helmets ever saved anyone!

Butterflies

2008-11-28T17:35:00.000-08:00

Why the crap do I have butterflies now its 14 hours and 52 minutes until the whistle blows. usually i might get a little excited on the way to the race or during the call up, but this is rediculous. Maybe I will go fiddle with my bike, that might help. sighh...... I really miss my xbox

???

2008-11-27T11:09:00.001-08:00

Is this hairy for a stomach?

Somethin Sexy

2008-11-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

To all of you naysayers who claim (uscientifically might I add) that the bike does NOT make the rider. I submit to you my 16 lb 2008 F1x heres the stats:

Utah Cyclocross

Race # 1

stock bike

30th place

Race #2

upgrades: Egg beater sl's

26th place

Race #3

upgrades: Easton carbon fiber wheels

with swiss stop brake pads

21st place

Race # 4

upgrades: specialized toupe saddle & x lite seatpost

13th place

Race #5

No upgrades but really clean bike

12th place

Races 6 & 7

my bike was pissed that no upgrades were provided and went on strike (we took turns carrying each other)

20th place

Race #8

new cockpit xxx light bar stem and new white tape (sexy) new tufo flexus cubus tires

9th place

Race # 9

Easton ec90 crank with ceramic bb & ec90 carbon seatpost

4th place

From 30th to 4th place just by purchasing upgrades! so everyone spend your money! heres the best shop in the state: http://racerscycleservice.com/wp/index.php

There it is, indisbutible proof that the bike does make the rider!

Taylas first cross race

2008-11-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Now we all know how cool Bart is:

But he aint got nothin on Tayla:

Sand baggers piss me off!!

2008-11-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok settlle down. its not quite what you think. Yes sandbaggers piss everyone off. But they enfuriate me for different reasons than most. See I want so desperatley to be one my self, but these selfish bastards wont upgrade so that I can win all the races! You know who you are. If your in the top 5 in race points and have only raced 6 out of 8 races it might be time to upgrade so that I can win. STOP BEING SELFISH!!

Now i promise never to mention any names on this blog Ever!!! I dont want to hurt any ones feelings or make anyone uneasy. afterall this is a TEE BALL NATION.

2008 Utah Cyclocross Series
Men C

1 1242 NELSON Ethan Timpanogos Cyclery 7 out of 8 races 592
2 1260 PARRIS Joshua Happy Boy Racers 0 6 out of 8 races 591
3 1205 MILLER Eric Backcountry.com 7 out of 8 races 584
4 1281 PITCHER Kory Joyride Bikes 6 out of 8 races 583
5 1228 ROSSBERG Mike Staats Bikes 8 out of 8 races 546
6 1230 DAVIS Matthew Staats Bikes 8 out of 8 races 522
7 1233 TERRY Pat Racer's Cycle Service 8 out of 8 races 521
8 1218 BROWN Stephen 8 out of 8 races 505
9 1244 GREENLEE Graham 5 out of 8 races 453
10 1263 WHITE Jason 7 out of 8 races 440

Now the sandbaggers will tell you that I need to work harder in the off season and put more time on my bike instead of eating pizza and playing call of duty 4 for 10-14 hours a day and blah blah commitment to racing blah blah. But that would require hard work, and there just trying to take the focus off of themselves

Heres a video about cyclocross for those of you who have no idea what im talking about. and for those of you who do, pay close attention to the last minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_W8AsilPMM&feature=rec-HM-rn