A change of mindset...

Hoping to meet one cycling goal this year, 10 cross' races. I am at 9 for the season with two weeks remaining. No sweat you might think. Enter snowboarding and the fall of snow on the rockies. My wife already has two days in the snow. Today on the first of December I got my first day in the white stuff, Carey got her third. She is really getting good and is very excited for this year, super cool for our family. My son had a great lesson today at Loveland witch culminated in his venture to the "big"side of the ski area and made it down on his own in near white out conditions. Needless to say, I was very proud of both my wife and my son today. Not to mention I had a ton fun. So what about cross' season? Will I meet my goal of ten races or will sirens' call to white mountains capture my attention. Tough choices in Colorado. I am greatful for my blessings.

Highlands Ranch (Denver) Race Report

Rolled the Vanilla SS Saturday in the 35 4's. Going in I had two goals I wanted to accomplish in this race. First, commit to the start. Secondly, I wanted to attack all dismount areas. Mission accomplished. In the end, I felt good about my effort. I dug deep and kept closing. In this race, one gentlemen in particular had my attention. He happened to be the other singlespeed, rolling a classic Surly. He took it to me a couple of weeks ago, so when I passed him I felt good. He was not going to have that and stomped on by. I had him marked, but he had about 15 seconds on me. I hung in there til' the last lap and I made a move. He was pushing a larger gear than me and I sensed his legs were getting tired. I attacked hard on a small climb with a 180 turn at the top. As I passed he was kind enough to throw me a shoulder. I went down and lost several spots. That's racing, lesson learned. I try hard to be a nice guy out there, I will just have to make sure when I make a move I am more prepared. We chatted quick after the race and he apologized. Good race. Thanks to those who put on the race. ICCC held a great event.

Great Saturday Ride

Saturday was beautiful. After a stressful week of vet bills and dog concerns I needed to log some time on the bike. Not a race. Not a training ride. Just the kind of ride where I am able to connect to my bike, my friends and the environment. Mission accomplished with my good friend Lars (pictured) at Indian Creek just outside of Sedalia. Lars hooked me up as a newbie to this trail with a damn fine ride of 2+ hours, perfect fall weather and a total connection. Thank you.

Speaking of great friends, my dog Simon got hit by car this last Monday. He got pretty dinged, including a collapsed lung and the current use of only three legs. This may change, but it may not. We sure are happy to have the little Jack Russel Terrier because it was touch and go for a while. Needless to say, we are looking hard at dog insurance, cause this stuff does get expensive. Not to mention the latest member of the family Oliver (pictured), the Old English Sheep dog. Yes, we do like a certain amount of chaos in our lives. This upcoming weekend is the third annual Chili Cook-off. I will race Saturday, enjoy friends Saturday night and try and keep it simple.

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Great weekend...

Quinn's last soccer game was Saturday morning. Soccer has been alot fun and we have been so fortunate to have great coaches and a good group of parents. Next, Marky B rolled by and we got a fly-line wet. Wrapped up the evening with a Pork Chop and a Buckeye victory. Sunday rolled in, and I rolled out to Boulder res for the race. The race went real well with a field of 95 riders. As my old coach used to say...assholes and elbows. The results were not great, but it was my best race of the year. Definitely need to commit to my starts. Looking forward to a good weekend of riding, but there will be no racing for me this weekend. UCI races will be rolling in Boulder. Should be fun to watch and support friends. Finally caved and sold my vw camper van. Now I am sportin'the element. I do like.

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Getting Fired Up...

For the race this Sunday at Boulder Res. I will be rolloing at 10:35 with 35+ crew. Starting to have develop some fun rivals, the kind that make you dig a little deeper during the week. This week was real good with two commuting days, a day of yoga and a day for spinning out the legs.

I was cleaning up the desk top and found this great picture of Carey on her summit of Mt. Massive near Leadville. It was awesome for her. There is something special about making it to the top and reaching your goal. She is the best.

Cross'-Fully Exposed

Each race I get fully exposed...my fitness, mental toughness and my willingness to suffer.

Fully exposed...with each layer coming off like a rotten onion, each lap the battle continues inside my head, can I continue to suffer? Can I catch that guys wheel? Who is that on my ass, can I get a gap?

Fully exposed...only two battles really exist, the one with myself, and the one with the guy ahead of me. Through in some run-ups, barriers, and mud and I have plenty of distractions. Each and every race I check my pride and ego, mount my Vanilla single speed steel rig and get fully exposed. So why, what is left? Some small form of cycling purity. I can not explain it, but through that process,that purity, I learn a little more about myself and the type of person really I am.

Mid-season of cross' and I have completed 6 races. My performance has been all over the board, so goes cross. I continue to try and keep it simple, with my season, my bike and myself.

2 Phrases I did not utter...

in the Winter Park Race on Saturday, July 21. 1. Race Leader and 2. On your left. Anyways my first race this year and I had a blast. Why the hell did I wait so long to get in the mix? Life, kids, work all equal excuses. At any rate, I feel highly motivated and excited about racing with plenty of room for improvement. I am planning on doing the last two races at WP and hopefully the Dakota 5-O. These should be a nice springboard into beer drinking season, sorry I mean cyclocross. Hope all is well in your world.

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Great Wednesday night ride

I am going to try again with this blog thing. Been trying to make some adjusrments in the computer equipment to make this an easier process. I have installed a wifi network and switched to the Apple computer. The Airport extreme has been addictive and little frustrating. Be back soon.

Please pass the "catch-up"

I have been practicing for my favorite holiday. Got Guinness?






One item I have been totally impressed with has been my Bailey Works mesenger bag. A true messenger bag makes a big difference for commuting. I have not been able to locate a feature that goes unappreciated. The more I use it, the more I like it. The bag and I have about forty hours together riding, so I have had a little time to evaluate. www.baileyworks.com

After all these years, I own my first Surly, a Pacer. The Noto one helped me with the build and put the finishing touches on it. Thanks Noto. I only have a couple hours on the new frame, but I can already tell that I will climb better, and be much faster. OK, not really, but she is rock steady and that is something I really value.





Quick note: Rumblings of a possible Pork Chop reunion for the Dakota 50. Are you in? Grab your wheels and a thirty pack and head for the Hills...the Black Hills.
www.dakota5o.com

Finally made it to church...

The Notorious and myself rolled it to Loveland Sunday morning and the runs off of chair 8 were a religious experience. I do not intend to be disrespectful to the church, but rather demonstrate the power of being in the mountains with some fine snow. Thanks to all those that contribute, and thanks to to the Notorious for a great day. Some fresh flakes always make for an interesting drive up 70, and although you cannot see his hands, I suspect he may be suffering from some white knuckles. The other two pics show the Nototious on a drop-in, and me and my Arbor mixing it up in the trees. Sorry the pics are in reverse order.

Have a goodie,

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Got my board on...

Had a great and cold day at Keystone. Arrived and the tempature read minus 14 degrees. Brrrr. Anyways, we sucked it up and got some great runs in on the backside. Thanks for the tour T. Bluebird skies with the 10 mile range as the back drop added to a great day.

This is how depression hurts...

Those of you who know me, know that the Buckeyes loss to Florida has been very tough. It is amazing how fast one can deteriorate in a state of depression.