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GC Connection

GC Connection
What's up for sat? Where, when, and how far?

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Not as much riding here with the rain. We had about three weeks in a row without rain. But it has come back. We had a friend from college move close by last week. He was a distance runner in college and continues to run. I took him on a ride sat. and he liked it. Maybe I will have someone close to ride with? I still haven't had time to race, but hopefully in June it will be better. I am including a photo of our house, since I can't take you on a ride to our house.

Maybe if it stops raining I will take some pictures of some of the ride views - it is pretty amazing.

Brady

TT and Near Crash

Hey guys, how are you all doing. Last week or so has been busy but good. Doug and I got in a nice ride Saturday, 50 miles and 2,500 vert. For a tired old guy, Doug climbed extremely well. In the afternoon, I took 6 of my teachers on a mountain bike ride. Not nearly as fun as the ride with Doug, but I survived.

Last Thursday, I did my second TT. Things went much better this time. I took 40 seconds off my first try and felt much stronger. I did the 7 miles in 15:57, or an average speed of 26.2 mph. I think with more experience I can get another 15 - 30 seconds off. I think I'm going to like the TT. It is extremely difficult, but fun in a strange way. During Thursday's TT, I reached my highest HR of the year, 171, and had an average of 166 for the 16 minutes. The trick is to go right to the edge of blowing up, without going over.

Last night I did RMR. They have some orange construction cones (3 inches diameter about 3 feet tall) down the drag strip marking the timing devices. Some guy about 6 or 7 riders up from me hit one of these cones and it flew into the group going about 28 mph. It took 3 guys down right in front of me (including Greg Frebrian on my team). I had both wheels fully locked up and somehow managed to miss the pile up. No one was badly hurt. By the time we got it sorted out, the group was 1/2 a lap ahead. I road for awhile until they caught me and sat on the back the rest of the race. Eric on my team easily won the sprint. The crash was in the same place I went down 3 years ago. It freaked me out more than a little. RMR has big groups, over 50 B's again, and high speeds. Not a great combination at times.

Tanner and I are both racing on the dirt Saturday. Should be another hard one. It's at Soldier Hollow, the olympic XC ski venue. It is not technical, but constantly up and down. 2 and 1/2 hours of 3.4 minute intervals. Can't wait.

Later,

Daren

Once again Sutt and I have successfully had a winning baseball season with nothing to show for it. Being the fact that we cannot win a big game. I believe that I am good to go for Saturday, if something comes up I will let you know.

Russ

5 Mile Pass MTB

Hey guys. I made it through another mountain bike race. Kind of a strange race with a good result. But first, the really cool news is that Tanner completed his first real race. He raced in the 13 - 15 beginner class and finished 5th out of 6 racers. All of the other kids had raced many times and Tanner did OK. He finished the difficult 11 mile lap in 1 hour 18 minutes. His time was better than a number of the adult beginners. He struggled on the climbs, but did well on the down (sounds like his Dad). All in all, he was pleased with his effort and excited to ride his bike more.

I ended up 2nd in the 40+ expert class. This matches my best finish. However, I really had to work hard and had a slower time than last year. I just didn't have good legs and could not punch it on the climbs. I had to back off and spin up everything. We had a small group and I dropped to last after the 1st climb. However, it is a long race and I thought if I road steady, I could probably get a few places back. Turns out I went from last to 2nd over the last half of the race. It is a real power course that doesn't let up. I was definately ready to be done after 2 and 1/2 hours.

Chris Bingham on our team easily won my class. He is impressive. He got a flat and still beat me by 6 minutes. Without the flat, he would have had a top 5 time overall, including pros. He raced with Glen back in the day on the Schwinn / Wheaties team and finished 26th in the first MTB world championships won by Ned Overand. Chris is just getting back into racing after about 6 or 7 years off. He and Glen can put the hurt on the rest of us old guys.

Our team had a good day Saturday. Chris and I were 1, 2 on the dirt. At the Antelope Island road race, we had a 3,4 finish in the Cat 1/2, a 4th in the Cat 3's, Glen won the 35+ Masters, and Cherell Jordin (Aaron's wife) won the women's Cat 4.

Tanner finished up his hunter's safety class tonight (I took it with him) at the shooting range. He's now offical. We're planning on doing some bowhunting together. There were a bunch of SLC Cops out at the range and we thought of Russ. Lots of noise on that end of the range.

I'm not racing Saturday. Doug and I talked about riding early. I need to be home by noon or so. You guys in?

Daren

I can now post.

Hey, I can post now. Thanks Bub.