From Eugene

I am glad to hear the mountain bike race went well for you and T-man. I felt like I missed out on the family ride. That is a fun loop - hope the head wind wasn't to bad up the canyon, because that is s lousy way to end the ride. It has been a busy week for me and I haven't been able to update the blog. Last Saturday I got the chance to go ride mountain bikes on the Mckenzie River trail. It was fun, but a nightmare at the same time. It is a pretty long story, but let it be known the trail was technical took a lot longer and the group got split up -- leading to me missing Avery's ballet recital :( Some of the guys looked like they were out riding on their P-day on a mission, it was pretty funny. It was nice to be out on a ride in the mountains. This Saturday I rode some pretty mean hills and fought the wind. I was pretty tired after my week on the roof and felt it today.

I raced the crit again last Tues. and finished 6th. I was the lead out for a new team I am riding for - The Chain Agents. They are a pretty strong group of guys. We finished 5 out of the top 7. I lead out with 2 kilometers to go and picked the pace up pretty good. I helped our team to a win, but left me empty for the final sprint. Overall I had a good month finishing 2nd for the month of June. We shall see what July brings.

I will have my picks soon! Viva la tour!

Game Time

Well I hope everyone has recovered from our ride last Sat. It was great to be with everyone and put in a hard effort in the heat. Good luck to Daren and Tanner tomorrow at the MTB race in Solitude. It's a hard climbing course so I'm sitting this one out. We will be having a ride tomorrow so if anyone is interested let me know.

It is time for our GC Connection tour de france contest. Rules are simple: Pick top five GC finishers, Green Jersey winner, KOM jersy winner. Entry's are to be e-mailed to me by next friday, July 6th, at dcottle6@comcast.net. Entry's will be posted on the blogg for all to make fun of, or marvel at. One point for each correct answer. In case of a tie there will be a race up the Col de Chase Lane. The winner gets a dinner out with his spouse on me.

Ride safe.

Little Big

Saturday was a good ride with the family group. We did Centerville to Emigration to Little Mountain to East Canyon to Big Mountain and back. 80 miles, 4,500 vertical in under 5 hours. Not bad for old guys, a tandem and young guys. It was Tanner's first long rode ride and he did great. He beat the old guys up the climbs and hung in tough the last half hour. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride.



Mindi and Adam on the tandem. They motored up the climbs well and pulled us home on the flats.

Starting up the climb to Big Mountain.

Tanner and I near the top. He looks happier than me at thiis point.

Doug at the top.

Kim happy to have made it. The climb is lots of up for a big guy.

Watch the State Crit race this weekend as well. It's always fun to watch the fast guys work hard. Our team did well with a 4th and 5th. Dave made the winning break but got teamed up on again. Lapped riders also effected the final outcome which is too bad. A State Championship should be decided straight up. RB, Hoffman, Bryson and Dave were very impressive in the break and earned their places. Equally impressive was AJ's strong solo efforts for 5th.

This Saturday is the State MTB Championships at Solitude. I'm hoping for a good day so I can compete with the fast guys. The course is built for climbers and has kicked my tail in the past. However, I have good feelings about it this year, so maybe my luck will change. T and I are going to ride the course tomorrow to get the positive vibe going. Wish me luck.

Daren

Solo

Mindy says she's out on sat. I'm trying to talk her back in, but no luck so far. Which means I'll be solo, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Daren, do you want me to bring the tandem on sat morning or that afternoon at the family BBQ?

As for the tri. I'm doing it under a different name. Mindy's brother is in the ARMY and had planned to do the tri with her, but then couldn't get leave. So that's how I'm going to do the spudman. Other wise you have to reg. on the day it opens or you have no shot at getting in.

Sick Bug

You guys sound like you are getting old or something - getting tired playing golf? We went camping on Friday night with our ward. That evening when we were all sleeping Brooke started frowing up and it continued all night long. I felt fine all weekend, until Monday. Avery and I got the sick bug from Brooke. Little Liam was the only one who didn't get it - go figure. So I only had a few pieces of toast on Monday. Tuesday I went to work and didn't eat much. I figured I would try to race anyway. I felt ok, but didn't have the legs in the end and finished 6th. No break aways this week. Hopefully next week I will have my legs back.

Bubba

Ridin' and Golfn'

Saturday, it was the Eaton Golf Outing rather than racing. Doug, Ryan, Chris Peitrzak and I played the 4 man scramble and won. Not bad for a bunch of bike racers that don't play golf anymore. It helps to have Ryan hitting it about 350 off the tee. It was a fun time. However, we got really tired by the end. How do you get tired playing golf? I don't get it. But we all felt like we'd ridden 50 miles hard.

Doug still has a solid golf swing.

Ryan always gets his money's worth on each swing.

In the evening, Tanner and I rode a couple of hours in American Fork Canyon. The ride is spectatular. We saw maybe 3 other people on the trail and had an enjoyable ride. The trailhead is about a mile from where the kid was killed by a black bear the next day. Glad we didn't run into the bear. After days like Saturday, I wonder why anyone moves away from Utah (Budda?).

Tonight I raced the RMR crit. It was fast, hot and hard. I was agressive early and tired to get away a couple of times. I was recovering a bit when they had a Prim lap and I couldn't go for the sprint. Unfortunately, the guys that did sprint ended up staying away for the win. I tired to bridge solo, but no go. There was another field Prim near the end that I tired for but was 2nd. After that, I limped in at the back. However, it was a great workout and I'm hammed tonight. When I race RMR, I ride over from work and then back, so it makes it about a 2 hour 15 minutes night.

I saw the Deer Valley NORBA results today. I'm bummed I didn't get to race it (it was Sunday morning at 7:30). My time from the week before would have put me in 2nd in my age group and only a minute 30 off the win. Oh well.

Looking forward to Saturday's ride. Tanner's first attempt at a really long one. Should be good.

Daren

Tandem

Good news, the tandem is back in action.
Darren, are you and tanner going to ride the tandom for the 100? If not Mindy might come along if your ridding solo.

Highlight of the week- Mindy and myself climbed chase lane on sat. on the tandem (we averaged 22 mph for 40 miles). I think we could climb the divide (Yey, right). Mindy is training for the spudman tri. and has got me thinking I can do it. I've been swimming (one week in and I swam one mile non-stop) and riding, but I'm not going to run until the day of the tri. wish me luck.

Tanner, I don't have any photos. Sorry.
I heard we are leaving at 7am next sat., but what if we went at 6 or 6:30.

Tanner's request to all the family

This is Tanner writing today with a request. I would like to lessen my bordum this summer by creating a movie clip/slide show of all the cycling events that the family has done. If you have any pictures that you are willing to let me or want me to use in this please e-mail them to me at tannercottle@comcast.net or just post them on the blog so I can copy them to my computer. I also would encourage everyone to either film or take pictures of every ride or race you do. I would also like to anounce that I am planning to do the 100 mile ride on Saturday, and thank my dad for being the coolest dad in the world for spoiling me with his old Tarmac frame. Please send or post pictures, when I am done I will put it on DVD's and pass them out.

Eugene Twilight

Daren, sounds like the racing is going well. I wish I could be there to ride the 100 milers and race mountain bikes. I don't do that much here. Not many road races left for me here - all on Sunday.

Well, it was another fun day at the Eugene Twilight crit. I was watching a guy from Wheel Works, because he took off last week and got a good break away. Yet again he took off and tried to go by himself. He got about 35 yards up when three guys bridged the gap. I saw them go, but wasn't in a position to go with them. I didn't want what happened to me last week to happen again, so I sprinted to bridge the gap. Just as I was catching up a boy (around 16 years old) started swirving and crashed causing the guy in front of me to crash right into him. I was able to move around him just in time.

After that the race got really fast. I was just trying to hang on! The Wheel Works guy was strong and the other guy was comparable to me, but I was definitely the lesser of the three. My average heart rate for the 25 km race was 179! Yes, you read that correctly - 179. I was on red light the whole race. The Wheel Works guy tried to ditch us twice, but the other guy and I worked together to catch him. In the end I was able to hang on and beat the one guy for second place. I felt pretty good about hanging with them. We ended up beating the main pack by about 2/3 of a lap.

Day at the races

Saturday was a day at the races. First the Deer Valley ICUP, then spectating at the Sugarhouse Crit. Here's some pictures from the crit.


Dave attacking the group on the hill.













Mike Solm in the mix.

Dave doing what he did most of the day, leading the chase with no help.

Jeff Louder doing what he did all day, driving the break with 4 passengers.

Dave on one of the last times up the hill.

Dave putting the hurt on the chasers that wouldn't work on the final sprint up the hill.

Deer Valley was a decent race for me. I rode hard and did 3 even laps to finish 5th. 2nd through 6th were pretty close, so I was satisfied with the effort. I had a little crash that cost some time, but it was fun to be competitive again. I'm not 100% yet, but getting close.

Tanner and Doug both raced and gave it a good effort. I'm impressed with the willingness of both of them to race mountain bikes. Not many 14 year olds or 57 year olds give something this difficult a try. We are looking forward to a few weeks of no MTB racing to do some fun rides. However, the conditions at Deer Valley were perfect. I've never raced on better conditioned trails with the snow and rain we received earlier in the week. I wish it could be like that every race.

Have a good week,

Daren

Random Pictures

Here's some ramdon picutres. Most were taken on the same day.



Here's me and Tanner ending the day in Millcreek on some lush single track. Other than getting yelled at by cranky old people, it was great.

At lunch time that day, Jeremy and I shot at little archery. We shot at the Olympic distance of 70 meters (77 yards, second target from the left). Jeremy is one of the top shooters in Utah, I am not.

Here's one of my typcial groups of 6 arrows at 70 meters.

Here's what it should look like at 70 meters if your a very good pro shooter.

Every office needs toys hanging on the wall.

However, most of my work time is looking at this view.

Here's one of my favorite times of the day. Breakfast with Oatmeal, toast, e-mail and the newspaper.

Memorial Day at the grave site of the two best people I've ever know. Lucky for me they are my parents.

JoAnn and I checking out the view from our plots next to Mom and Dad. One more easy payment and we offically own our final resting place.

Tanner and I did some work a few weeks ago at the happy hunting grounds. This is the endless fence we repaired.

Here's one of our Redneck buddies on top of the mountain. Notice the holster, handgun and goggles. I know I felt safer with him around.

More photo's

Here are some more photo's of our Wolf Creek trip. Some didn't turn out to well (I know that's what happens when you drop your camera).

Riding Photos

Last Tues. I got to ride the uphill TT again. Doug was able to get some photos as I was finishing. You can tell by the look on my face that I was having some serious fun. I was able to beat my previous time by about 25 seconds, but didn't quite go as fast as I wanted too (on account that I was feeling pretty hammered from Doug and I's ride the day before). My average heart rate was 172! I was feeling it after the second pedal stroke.

Today I raced the first weekly crit. One guy took off pretty quick and nobody went with him. I wasn't to worried. We held him to a 25 yard lead. Then two guys took off to catch him. I had just been pulling and didn't feel the need to go catch them. One of the guys was riding a Bike Friday that has wheels that are maybe 18 inches high, it looks like a midget bike. I didn't think the other big club teams would let them get to far away. So I watched as their lead spread over the next two laps. I decided to hammer it and try to bridge the gap. But with no one helping I didn't get to far and I was starting to feel tired and the gap was getting bigger.

Then my friend and a guy on his team took off. Luckily, I was able to catch on to them and the three of us worked together to build a gap from the pack and try to close in on the lead. We weren't able to catch the lead group, they had gotten to far away from us. The three of us sprinted for fourth place. I felt really good coming into the sprint and barely beat the one guy for fourth place. As it turns out - the guy with the midget bike won! Go figure. Maybe next time I won't let them get away so quickly.

Sounds like your racing is going well Tanner and Daren. I wish I could have been there for the 100 miler.

Bub

The Greenhill Monster

This is a hill that is about 5-10 minutes from my house. It is a beast! I call it the Greenhill (the actual name of the road) Monster. It is almost two miles up. It has 5 humps and after each hump it levels out for about 20-30 yards then goes back up. The first up is 8%, flat, 10%, flat, 10%, flat, 12%, flat, 12%, flat, and finally 15%. It definitely gets me going in the morning. Many times I will finish a long ride by going up this. Once you make it to the top the view is pretty amazing.

Great Week!

It is great to read every one's thoughts on life and their riding adventures. I have been stalling to write as I hoped to have pictures, but I'm still working out how to do it on my lap top. Betty and I had a great week with Brady, Brooke , and kids. It was the most ideal I have ever seen it on all my trips to Oregon. Clear sky's and warm temps made for some great times. Brady and I road our legs off in some unbelievable territory. I just wish the family group could ride the 70 milers we rode. It is by far the best ride for beauty, challenge and fun. 40 miles of it up and down and up with only one car passing us on the road, newly paved and wild animals. It did end with 25 miles of head wind, but thanks to a loving son I got to set in, but worked my butt off to do that. Brady is strong!

We went to two days of great ncaa track and field and saw some amazing events. Eugene is the track mecca of the world. The Weber State athletes did great.

Saturday we had a great family ride. 100 miles is still a long ways, but we worked well together and had great ride. It is always fun to know you have the col d' le Chase lane waiting for you at the end. Our next 100 is on the 23rd of June. Daren and I hopefully and going to ride the Deer Valley course on Wed, if the weather permits.

Robby Garrett ran the Casper marathon this weekend and ran it in 3hr 12min 23 sec. That is an amazing time. He missed qualifying for Boston by 23 sec. What a great effort. He took 8th over all. Now its time to park on the saddle and hit the roads, lotoja draws near.

Ride Safe, Doug

Sundance Pain

Well, not the best day of racing today. Tanner had a pretty good day going on a difficult course but had a high speed dismount on the descent on lap 2. Fortunately, he's not seriously injured but has some good scraps and bumps. He's got some good bandages on now and will have fun with scabs soon. To Tanner's credit, he got up and finished 8th in a competitive group. I'm really pleased with the effort he's been putting into racing and the progress he's making. It's great having a race buddy.

I started strong and was 1st up the road climb to the single track. Unfortunately, I soon blew and was then in for a long day. I had no power on the climbs and settled for a 5th place finish. I seriously thought about bailing out at the end of 2 laps. However, I stuck it out for 3 and finished the race. I think with the 2 + weeks of sickness I had, I just am not recovered. I felt OK racing Monday, but was then tired all week. I paid for it today. My focus is now to recover fully before next week's race at Deer Valley. That course will destory you if you're not on your game. After that, there's a break from MTB racing for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to the break.

Glad to here the family group had a good 100 mile road ride today. LoToJa will be here before you know it.

Daren