DV National

We had a good day at Deer Valley yesterday. JoAnn took the day off and joined us for the fun. We raced at 8 am and we hung around to watch the Pro Women and Pro Men race. I was nice just hanging out in the mountains and sun all day.

The race went pretty good for me and not so good for Tanner. I finished 5th against a small field of fast out of towners. I rode as hard as I could and was faster than last year and was satisfied with my effort. I just can't climb with the super fast guys. I had kind of a strange crash. I was overtaking a slower guy on a fast single track section. He moved to the right to let me go, but got off the trail too far and endo'ed. His bike flipped up and my right hand and arm went into his rear wheel. I got a few cuts and was knocked to the ground. It took a few minutes to recover, but I was OK.

Tanner raced in a big field of juniors and had a good start. He was 4th, leading a chase group after the 1st long climb and descent. However, he washed out in a corner and went down pretty hard. Most of the field got around him and it took a while to get it back together. He came back to finish 9th. 5th through 9th was pretty close, so he likely would have made the podium without the crash.

The locals did well. Eric easily won the 30-34 class, Bob won the 40-45, Henniman won the 50-55 (he passed me even though I started 2 minutes ahead), ageless Noeker won the expert single speed and others had wins and podiums as well. In the pro's Alex Grant was a solid 11th.

It's always fun to watch the pro's go. They are just so much faster than us average Joe's. I did 3 laps in 2 hours and 3 minutes. Not super fast, but somewhere in the back-middle of the Expert times. Ryan Trebon won the pro XC in a tight race with Jeremiah Bishop and Kobush by doing FOUR laps in 2 hours and 8 minutes. Pretty cool. It's also fun to see the Pro's on the same course we race on.

A Crazy Win

The paper problem: (Not what your thinking)
Today was an odd day form start to finish. This morning I lost my 18 page term paper twice. The computer shut down on me and erased it. Without a back up file I was about to cry. Luckily I had a hard copy for editing purposes and was able to scan it page by page. I thought I was good to go and it happened again. Only this time I had it saved in three different locations. Did I tell ya it's due tomorrow. So the idea of racing the crit wasn't high on my list, but I made it.

The starting line:
As the B flight was lining up the I overheard two guys ahead of me asking each other why they weren't racing the A's this week. So in my head I was thinking of Bub's sandbagger and I thought different race, same problem. After hearing that I new it was going to be a crazy race.

The Race:
Right from the start it was all out. I knew I couldn't win a sprint finish so tried to go with every break in an effort to get away (I thought the A boys would try to go early, but they sat in the pack until the prims). In the first break the group stayed off for about a lap until we were caught on the prim lap. About two laps later we went again and even got a good lead, but only two of us would work. The other three just sat in. So once again we were caught on the prim lap. The race to this point was fast. Which is good but this week brought out all the billy's. So I made decision at that point to go with 1 1/2 laps. I was thinking of at least trying to breakup the pack.

Somebody see a stop sign:
Then the race hit the breaks and nobody would go. So for two laps we were only going about 23 mph (I guess everybody wanted to win the sprint). So in my head I'm getting ready, because I'm thinking there is only about 2 laps. Then as we approach the start/finish line they yell "last lap" which gets all the boys going and my plan are destroyed. Now the plan is get close to the front and go. Only problem is with all the Billy's in the pack I can't. Then on the back stretch two guys jump (Last weeks winner and some other guy). So I swing all the way out into the wind and go. I'm thinking what the heck and go for it. They had me by about 30 yards because they came for the back inside quick. Then on the last stretch before the final turn they started to slowdown (right by the old finish line) right as I was catching them. I went for it. I slammed it headed into the final turn (I was in first not where I wanted to be), but I knew it was my only shot. I went way to early and just hammered.

The crash:
Then it happened. I heard somebody a few yards behind hit a pedal and go down. As I glanced back to see the wreck I realized that two others were also clear. I just kept going and got the win by a 3 or 4 bike lengths. Kind of a crapy way to win, but I just glad I went early. Luckily, for the pack everybody was able to get around him with no other serious injuries. Unfortunately, I think he broke his wrist and maybe his leg. It was ugly, but thanks to him I got the win.

Racing the Boy

I'm pretty jealous Doug and Budda will be at the US Track and Field Olympic Trials this weekend and next week. The Trials are nearly as dramatic as the Olympics. Having one shot to make the big show makes for high drama. A former neighbor and friend of mine was 4th in the '84 3,000 meter steeple chase trials after leading with 200 meters to go. He still hadn't gotten over it years later.

I love the Olympics. I've been to both a Winter (SLC) and Summer games (Atlanta) as well as the Olympic Marathon trials in Columbus in 92. All were great experiences and very emotional. I watched the cycling RR in Atlanta and it was a blast. Watching Frankie A almost win a medal after working for the LA Doper all day was very cool. I scored an official Gold Medal winning Swiss team water bottle that I still have today. Olympic archery is very important to Easton as well. Our arrows have won all the medals in the last 9 games (in Athens, 131 of 132 archers shot our arrows) and we'll do the same this time.

Tanner and I have been officially racing against each other recently. We did the Salt Aire TT last week and plan to do the PC Hillclimb TT in a couple of weeks. We'll combine the times to determine the winner. I have a one minute lead after the flat 6.75 mile TT. We'll see if it's enough to hold off the skinny climber. We've yet to determine the prize for the winner, but I'll come up with something good. Last night Tanner and I raced in the A group at the Solitude Midweek MTB race (a 7 week series). Turns out the A group is Pro, Semi-Pro and "Fast" Experts so we battled for last. I managed to put enough time on the T-Man on the descents to pull off the win. I even managed to beat all the Expert B's were I should be racing. Too bad there's cash prizes at the end of the series and I could have won some coin in the B's. Oh well, you get faster racing faster guys.

Even with getting worked by the big boys, the Solitude race was a blast. It's three, 4 mile laps and was an hour 10 minutes for me. The setting is spectacular, the course is really fun and drilling it for just an hour is great. Being somewhat functional after an MTB race was a different experience. I can't wait to do it again. So much better and doing circles at RMR in 100 degree heat and wind. We'll see if I can hold off Tanner next time. It could be epic.

yet again

I have been suffering from a lack of motivation lately. I don't know if it was due to the crash, knee pains and stingers, or lack of riding time. I have other priorities right know: family (3 is a big difference), church (still ym prez), work, and starting school yet again (1 year intensive program to become a school administrator). I am still riding, but was lacking that drive. But even with all this I was feeling well and decided to go out and try again the Eugene crit. Two weeks ago I went out and got pinned in and cut off on the sprint and sat up and got 14. I was never really comfortable, and had many flashbacks to the crash.

This Tues. I ventured out again with the hopes of doing better. I was a little conservative the first half of the race, staying close to the front of the group. The second half I had a few attacks, but spent most of the time countering attacks. With three laps to go an attack was made and I jumped on and a gap was created with five riders. with two laps to go we dropped two riders. One guy pulled hard and moved over with 3/4 of a lap left. I was in good position, third, but the guy before me wasn't going to pull through. I guy that just pulled yelled, "*%$# pull through!"

"%^*$ you" was the reply.

I didn't want to waste my time while they argued and get caught by the group. I don't do well in mad finishes, so I took my chance and attacked. I fresh legs guy caught on my tail and sat protected through the extremely windy section. In the sprint he beat me by half a bike length. Come to find out that the guy is a sand bagger. He used to be a cat 1 rider. What he was doing in our race I don't know. But I took me usual place at 2nd. It was good to finally find that drive. Pretty excited to watch the Olympics trials with Doug this weekend.

RAGNAR 09 ANYONE?

This past weekend Katy and Mindy (on different teams) completed the RAGNAR Wasatch Back Relay Race. In an effort to support my sister and Wife I had a Doug moment as I watched the different legs of the race, and now I have to try it. I know it's not a bike race, but GC connection is all about epic family building difficult life altering racing (which this is). The only problem is teams consist of 12 runners to complete the Logan (A place GC connection already likes to start epic adventures from) to Park City via the back country. The race is a non-stop team relay which takes about 24 hours to finish the 180 miles. I know it's no 206, but I think it would be a great challenge. Each runner runs three different legs from about 4-6 miles each. Mindy said,"it's awesome", but she has yet to complete LotoJa. Even Awesomer!!!!!! I know I could field a team outside of GC Connection, but I want it to be a GC Connection team. Katy, Mindy and myself are in, but I still need another 9 runners. So who's in? If your AWESOME enough to want in respond by posting it in the comments, sending me an e-mail, or calling and let me know. It's Epic, Crazy, once in life time event with a race bible (Means it has to be cool), Longest running race in the USA, Cool decals, Great cross-training for mountain biking (plug for Daren and Tanner), Amazing views, An Adrenaline rush, and it looked AWESOME. I know these spots will fill up quick so let me know ASAP.

My Duathelon Win

I competed in a duathelon Saturday. I won my age group and took second overall. With the relay teams mixed in it was difficult to tell if there were any individual competitors ahead of me. First in my age group was the best because mine was the biggest group with the best prizes. I won a barbecue grill. Not bad.

My First Crit

On our recent trip to Utah I was able to ride my first crit with Doug, Tanner, Adam, Daren, and Ritchie. I am thinking about driving over to Ogden every Thursday to compete. It was a good time. I rode with the C's. Tanner and I had a great time up in the front. Adam showed up and said he wished I hadn't have blown all my energy with the C's so I could have ridden with him in the B's. I felt great, so Doug hurried and registered me and I jumped on the starting line just as the race started. It was a blast.
















The C pack.
















Me jumping on the starting line of the B's.















Here we are at the end of the B race. Poor Doug was pretty sick and we didn't get to put his breakaway plan into action. There's always next time.

Out of shape

The Ogden crit was the hardest crit so far for me. We averaged 25 mph for the crit which isn't that fast, but it was attack after attack and I haven't ridden for a week. Trouble was the three main teams kept attacking and blocking the whole time. It makes it fun, but difficult when your out there by yourself. Luckily I made the jump on the second to last turn on the first prim lap and road the "Bikers Edge" break (three of them and me) which set me up perfect for the first prim. I won it by about two bike lengths. On the second prim I tried to bridged solo up to a break away group (about 50 yards ahead), but I went late after the third turn and ended up taking third by about two bike lengths. I should have went with them on the bell, but I was waiting for someone else to go, but nobody went so I pulled the group around until I went on my own. To little to late. Then with two laps to go a rider went and the pack let him go. He got about a 250 yards ahead of us before we realized his team was blocking us. He had on a different jersey. We realized it when they started putting on the breaks with about a lap to go. By then he had a bigger lead. The pack jumped but we couldn't catch him. He won by about 3 bike lengths after a 32 mph chase lap. I was in 6th going into the last turn, and I thought I had a chance to get in the top three, but could only pass 2 after a hard chase to finish fourth. At least I won two new tubes with the first prim win.

After reading Daren's post on how much he's been riding I thought I should add up my year to date mileage. This year I've ridden a grand total of 1,257 miles (The least amount I've done in the past four years). I've got to get my butt in gear. Only 45 days to the Tour de Park City (170 fun ride on Aug 2). Mindy thought it would be a great training ride for LotoJa which is about 80 or so day away .
I'm out...

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day in PC. Here's the boys heading up the trail.

What a difference a week makes in Park City. Yesterday it was warm and nice. Last week, it
was 38 and snowing. Ran into Bob and about 100 others on the trail in PC yesterday.

Today is Father's Day and I'm a bit more reflective than usual. Life is pretty good for me. I have a great wife, kids, friends and job. I get to ride my bike daily and play in the mountains often. I'm healthy, can meet my financial needs and have a comfortable home. In short, I have it better than 99.9% of the people on the earth. I'm aware of this fact and try to not take my good fortune for granted. I try to be grateful and try to teach my kids to be grateful as well.

All that being said, today I miss my Dad and I'm feeling a little sorry for myself. It's been 2 and a half years since he died and each Father's Day gets harder. He lived a long, successful life and needed to move on when his quality of life declined greatly at 90. However, I just would like to sit and talk with him again. He was 47 years old when I was born so I had "only" 43 years with him. I wish it could have been 20 years more. My Dad, Doug and I are like clones. With him gone, part of me is missing. Anything good I do is a direct result of the goodness of my parents. Too bad mountain bike weren't around when my Dad was young. He would have kicked some serious butt.

I must say being a husband and father is the best thing in my life. Cycling is a big part of my life but way down on the list of important things. JoAnn's the greatest and Erin, Ashley and Tanner bring me more joy than I deserve. So to all you father's, I hope you've had a good day.

Last week, I only rode Thursday in the Ogden Crit and in PC yesterday. I needed the rest and I'm still a ways from being completely recovered. The Ogden crit was fun and I tried to help AT get the win. We did pull off one prim, but I pulled most of the lap with 2 to go to close a big gap and AT closed the rest. We were pretty much blown for the last lap. Tanner and Robbie were strong in the C group and had a good time. It was good to see Doug and Dan there as well.

This week, I'm still taking it a bit easy and plan to spend some time at the happy hunting grounds Friday and Saturday. Should be a nice time in the mountains pretending to be ranch hands.

THE LADIES OF GC CONNECTION

It is a great day for the GC Connection with the ladies taking center stage. Congrats to the ladies who got to enjoy the great weather that Cache valley offered Sat. They got a taste of LOTOJA 2005. Cold, rain, hail, strong winds. The ladies endured and did a great job. It is exciting to see so many of the Connection riding away. The kits looked great, and Bonnie said many asked about the Connection and loved the jerseys. Props to the OLD lady, Bonnie for leading the ladies on. Beth gutted it on with a cramping hammy, Michelle got the pull into the head wind (strong gal), Marlea did great and looked great on her new bike. Tyra and Camie went a little diffect route but did great to hang in. Props to you all and we are very proud of your efforts. Our other strong lady, Mindy was out on the tandem with us working on prep for LOTOJA.
Ride Safe
Doug


The united team at the end.

Ladies races know how to treat you. The finish

The rest stop smiles

The GC ladies as they prepare for the start of the Little Red Riding Horse. Nice socks Beth.

Snow in June

As we pulled into Deer Valley yesterday morning, you could tell it was going to be an interesting day. It was misty with the snow line nearly down to the start line. With temps in the high 30's warming up on a trainer under the covered drop off area, it felt just like a cross race in November. The good news was the trails were in pretty good shape, a little mud but mostly damp and fast. The race was shortened by one lap so it was going to be not much longer than a cross race as well. Truth be told, I'll take these conditions over 90 degrees and dusty.

Just like last week, the course was very good, the conditions interesting and I had fun. Just like last week, the legs decided to stay home. I struggled on the climbs and couldn't give Bob any competition. I managed to hang on for 5th, but had to dig deep just to do that. It is now officially time for a break. I may race the crit in Ogden Thursday, but otherwise, I'm completely off the bike this week. I've ridden 6 days a week for the last 24 weeks. My fitness is good, but I'm out of gas. Hopefully, I'll get recharged and be ready to go fast again at the Deer Valley National in 3 weeks. After that, it's a few more MTB races, a road race or two, some fun MTB rides then cross prep. I'm very motivated and looking forward to the rest of the year.

Tanner was outstanding at Deer Valley. He was second to Keegan (a crazy fast junior) in a strong junior field. Tanner climbed very well and held his own on the descents. He started about 4 minutes behind me and I'm just glad he didn't catch me as Keegan did. The more climbing, the better for T and he's having a blast. Just a year ago, we was struggling at the back of the juniors and now he's putting the hurt on everyone but Keegan. Good stuff. He's doing the old man proud.

The hardtail experiment is going well. The 3 courses I've raced with it have been great for HT's and it's felt very good. I love the light, quick feel and the ability to throw it around. I went to some higher air-volume tires this week and Glen helped over-haul my fork. The result was nice and I think I'm committed to the HT for the remainder of the year. Maybe next year I'll go back to the Epic, but I'm having fun with the HT for now.

TQ

It finally stopped raining and cleared up enough for a quick spin up Temple Quarry in Little Cottonwood. T-man and I rode from our house for a fun 1.5 hour ride. This was our first time up this year and it was great. The trail was damp but not muddy and the scenery spectacular. When you haven't ridden the trail for a while, you forget how much fun it is. What a kick. We smiled all the way home on the pavement. Hard to find another city where you can do a ride like that after work from your house. I'll take it.

T-Man's prespective on riding and racing in Utah

I am finally jumping on the Blog bandwagon with my recollection of the weekly vacation to the pain-cave known as the Intermountain cup. Yesterday the Fun-enabler (The Throttle) and me made the epic journey to race in the Sundance Spin. The conditions could not have been better for dirt induced suffering. The temperatures were in the mid 60's at the start line, the trails were neither muddy or dusty but they were tacky. Besides the perfect trail conditions the scenery around Sundance makes it one of my favorite rides and my favorite race course by far.

Yesterday's race had the largest field of competitors in the 16-18 sport/expert division. As the race started all nine of us charged up the hell like first climb toward the first single track. I had great legs and was sitting in third place going into the single track, unfortunately the two ahead of me are a little faster in the technical stuff which led them to get a little gap entail they caught the expert and pro women that started just before us. When they caught the women I was able to catch them on the climb, unfortunately they made a good move and got ahead of the women while me and Danny were forced to tap brakes on the climbs and wave at them as they sprinted away. They were able to increase there gap on the downhill on the first lap. On the second lap I had great legs and attacked the climb and came within 10yards of Logan in second place at the top of the climb, then he got about a minuet on the decent. I had the most fun at a most fun yesterday even though it was my worst finish of the season at 3rd place. I guess I can't complain when my worst finish is still on the podium. I have really enjoyed racing this year because I am actually racing competitively instead of being happy to not finish last.

Since I am writing on a blog I feel obligated to gripe about something. I choose to gripe about cars, I HATE CARS!!!!!!!!!!! When I ride my bike to school I am often yelled at by my fellow students. Often it is incomprehensible cursing and gesturing at the sidewalk. I have also been honked at suddenly forcing me into the curb and crashing in the parking lot and clipping the rear bumper of the car ahead of me. When I rode my bike on the road to the Draper I-cup and was yelled at by a guy in a Porshe that looked like he couldn't even mount a bike. Anyway thanks for listing to my bloging rant.

Tomorrow is the last day that I have to actually go to school. Summer vacation will usher in unobstructed riding time. I currently ride everyday, but can only get in about a hour or 20 something miles a day, now I can finally start riding longer and more importantly I can start riding the dirt at least a couple times a week hopefully increasing my DH abilities.

Here are some race pics, enjoy:

Don't we look similar