The Boys in Red

Pictures from Saturday's RMR. Good job to Kim and Doug on their 1st RMR adventure. They both did well. Russ also made it to the finish without a flat. Good job to all three. AT rode well and learned that a big effort in the middle of the race might come back to bite you later. I didn't make it out in time to race, but had fun watching the family race. I was talking with Sam Moore from the Porcupine Club and my cross rival and he was amazed how many of our family was racing. When I told him this was only some of the family crew, he couldn't believe it. It is cool stuff.

JoAnn gets to come home in the morning so it will be 3 nights in the hospital. She's had enough and is ready to feel better. The surgery went well, but the recovery is no fun. We heard from Erin yesterday and she's already participated in a few baptisms. She's doing really well.

Later,

Daren

Who's In?

So I hear rummers of Special K racing the C's at RMR tomorrow. Is this true? Is Doug considering? I'm 50/50. It all depends on JoAnn's recovery from surgury. If things go well and she gets to come home in the morning, I'm out. We'll see. Good luck to all you racers. If Kim races with Russ, I want pictures of the 180 corner. Kim could give one heck of a lead out if he's near the front at the end.

With the help of a coach, I now have many new ways to enter the pain cave. This week's new ventures included "Fast Starts" and "Alternating Threshold" intervals. The Fast Starts are to help with MTB and Cross racing starts. If you've ever seen either of these races, you know you don't exactly ease into the race. So here's the workout. Warm up then do of 6 minutes all out effort followed by 10 minutes of just below threshold. Recover for 10 minutes, then repeat. Alternating Threshold intervals yesterday were 4 x 6 min Threshold intervals (highest effort you can maintain) alternating low cadence, big gear and high cadence, smaller gear every other minute. Pain is my friend.

We haven't heard from Erin in over a week and we're not too happy about it. The e-mail thing is supposed to eliminate these problems. Apparently not.

Finally, is there a GC connection meeting Sunday? AT was talking about a get together to coordinate training and racing schedules. Let me know.

Also, I bought AJ's old Computrainer and finally got it all set up last night using our old computer. It's a pretty cool toy. It will make the indoor workouts more interesting and useful. If any of you are interested in doing a threshold test, I now have the set up to do easily.

DC

Go Ducks!

How about the Ducks! They looked pretty good against Winthrop, maybe they will make it to the 8. It was nice to see the pictures of you all racing. It sounds like it was a great time. Sorry to hear about your flat Russ. Maybe you can talk Doug into racing some time.

I went riding with the group here on Saturday. There was a race on Sunday, so they didn't go as far. Out in the boonies there are some trailer homes where people create meth and use it. So we are coming along a country road and a big old rottweiler comes running out at us and hits a guy up in front of me. He flips and we were able to move around him. No one else hit the dog. The guys bike is messed up and he is laying there on his back. The owner comes out and is freaking out. He kept saying that he wanted to pay for the bike, then they tell him its a $5,000 bike. He starts crying and saying he'll pay for, but after he pays for it he is going to kill himself. The guy was nuts, definitely on something. I wish I had a video camera, so I could show my kids what drugs can do to you. Other than that it was a good ride. The weather was great. Can't wait until the races start here.

Bubba

RMR Racing

Russ is in the white and red with the S.





Daren in the blue with a red helment and Adam at my side with the big S.





Well, we survived the first RMR race. Adam and I raced in the B group (Cat 3 /4) and stayed out of trouble. The race was fairly uneventful the first three quarters. I covered a few attacks early, but my legs were still sore from this week's workouts, so Adam and I just sat in. The last 15 minutes is always a bit crazy. There wasn't much wind, so it was going to come down to a sprint. The last 3 laps it's a battle for the front 20 spots. I made it to the last corner in about 15th or so with Adam on my wheel. I started the sprint early and got up to about 5th, but blew with 100 meters to go and sat up. Adam got pushed off my wheel in the last corner and finished further back. However, he had no trouble staying in the group and will do well. In fact, our team needs another B rider so Adam is now officially a Porcupine / Specialized guy.


Russ raced the C group (Cat 4 /5) and was doing well sitting in the middle of the group. However, he flatted on the back straight and by the time he made it to the start / finish, it wasn't worth the effort to try to get back on. He was a bit disappointed, but did well in his first crit. It is a very different experience and he learned there are many unstable riders trying to take you out.

Doug checked it all out and decided the risk of injury is greater than the potential fun at this point in life. However, he could hang with the C's. I think he's up for the next MTB race though. The risk of crashing is much less and if you do, it's all your fault.

On the Erin front, she's good. She has a companion from Argentina that speaks no English (yes Russ, she'll now learn proper Spanish). She's in Florida Uruguay, just North of the Capital.

Erin's Off

Erin made it off to Uruguay OK on Monday. Here's a couple of pics.

Her Mission President sent a picture today to give us evidence of a safe arrival.

She was very excited to be going and looked great. It wasn't even difficult to send her off because she's so ready to be gone. It was great to talk with her for a few minutes.

I'm finally feeling a little better. I was sicker than a dog for 3 days last week. I spent most of those days barely able to lift my head above the John. I think I got some bad Mexican food. I did manage to make it out on the Family ride on Saturday. It was pretty cool. We had Doug, Kim, Adam, Russ, the Robbies (both), Tanner, me and Dan Richie. We did a nice 2 and 1/2 loop and everyone did well. Bub, we need you here!

The weather has been super nice and the riding good. We may not have any water this summer, but it's all good now. I got my new Tarmac SL built and I've ridden it a couple of times. I like it. I put Robbie's new Tarmac E5 together last night and he gave it a test ride today. It looks good. Now, all I have to do is convert my old Tarmac into a TT bike and build up the Zebra bike to go on the Computrainer I just got from AJ. Only about 4 more hours of bike building.

Saturday is the opening of the RMR crit series. The weather looks great, so should be big fields. It's a bit like an airplane landing. If you can walk away, it was a good one. Adam and Russ are planning to race and Doug is on the fence. I'm excited and a bit nervous. I wish I felt better, but we'll see. I plan to stay up front out of trouble. If I don't have the legs to do that, I'll just hang out at the back and avoid the crashes. Hopefully, we'll get some pictures of the boys in action. The Porcupine cat 1/2 team is ready to rock and should do some damage. Anything less than a win will be disappointing.

Update

Thanks for all the pictures an updates. It is good to hear that GC Connection is doing well. Daren, congratulations on winning the race. That is pretty cool! You definitely deserve it after all your hard work. Tanner that is an awesome picture of you in the powder. It makes me want to ski/board again soon. Sutt, sorry to hear that you are hurt. I didn't even know you still ski/board.

The last four days have been unbelievable here. It wasn't raining and temp got around 65. Saturday I got to ride with the group. They said they were going easy, but they always say that. It is always a good work out to try and keep up with them. Things are going well here.

Bubba

This photo isn't as cool as T-man cutting up the powder, but it's the best photo I could find.

The bad side to this photo is I overshot the landing and tweaked my back and maybe broke a rib. Thus, I only rode three hours last week.

Great job Doug, Darren, and Tanner Saturday. I hope to join in on the Mountain bike action this year. Although I don't think I'll even get close to a podium finish.

As a side note, I liked seeing Doug sport the GC connection gear (Go TEAM).

Racing in the Sun

This is not MTB racing, but it's a good picture of Tanner ripping the steep powder.

Here's the MTB. This on our pre-ride on Friday. Doug is working hard up a tricky ledge. He got it figured out and nailed it during the race.

This is a cool wash on the 1st climb of the race course. It's a drag race to get to this narrow opening first. No passing in this section. Doug's in front of T-man in this picture.

Here's Tanner coming down one of the steeper decents. The new bike made it back home with no marks. Better than Dad.

Here I am just after coming up a foot and half ledge. I managed to scratch my frame when I laid my bike down to take some pictures just after this.

Tanner on the podium for 3rd in the 13 - 15 sport / expert. Tanner had a great 1st lap, but paid for it later. This was his first mulitple lap race and he's now learning about pacing. He rode hard and really battled the last lap when he was struggling. I was proud of his effort and willingness to try difficult things.

To my surprise, I won the 40+ Expert race. I have been doing base and strength work and expected to get hammered on the climbs. However, I won the drag race to the first single track, opened a gap and held it up the 1st climb. I then opened the gap on the decent and started to get confident. I was able to ride really steady laps (all 3 lap times within 45 seconds of each other) and increased my lead to a 2 and 1/2 minute win. It was my best MTB race result ever. I won 2 races last year, but they were against small fields. This was a good field with some strong guys. It's good to see the hard work from the last couple of years starting to pay-off. The Cross season was a bit of a break-through, so hopefully, this is the start of something good.

Here's Doug in the GC Connection shirt just off the podium with a 4th place finish in the 57+ group. Doug did great in his 1st MTB race and had a really good exprience. He rode very hard and gave it his all. He avoided any serious crashes and is on his way to becoming a true mountain biker. I was really proud of him.

All in all, we had a great time in very nice weather. For years, I would go to MTB races alone and have a good time with my race buddies. However, to race with Doug and T and for all of us to have some success was so much better. I look forward to a really fun year on the bike.

Daren

It's not snowing in ST. G.

Doug, Tanner and I made it to St. George today. There was plenty of snow the first half of the drive, but St. G. is nice. Is was windy and in the high 50's when we got here. We rode the race course and had a blast. There were a bunch of people out riding in preparation for tomorrow's race. Doug and Tanner figured out the tricky parts and should be ready to go. We took a bunch of pictures and I'll post some when we get home.

Tonight, we met Eric R. for dinner and had a nice time. Tomorrow should be a good day. We all are looking forward to a good time and are not too worried about results. I don't think I have the climbing legs at this point of the year to hang with the top guys, but we'll see. Tanner did well today on the first ride on his new bike. He looks good and has made huge progress since last year.

I let you know how things go tomorrow.

Daren

Pic's

Here are some pic's of the bike path that I go along every day to work. I took them a little bit ago when it wasn't raining. The bike path goes along the Willamette River and it goes to the Duck's football stadium. The last picture is of the hill where Steve Prefontaine was killed by a drunk drive when he was out running. There is a little memorial on the hill for him.

Life in Eugene

It sounds like you are trying to make me jealous about your Saturday ride - well it worked. My ride was about 40 miles in the rain, and I got a flat. If you have ever tried to fix a flat in a down poor it isn't very fun. I didn't go ride with the group, because Avery had a basketball game. But while I was fixing my flat they all ride by and it was a little embarrassing.

Sutt congrats on winning the basketball championship. That is pretty cool. Daren the pictures look great - thanks for the updates. I will try to get some when it stops raining. Sutt you will never believe who moved into my ward and about 4 blocks away - J.D. Wimmer. He moved in about a week and a half ago. It is a small world sometimes. I haven't seen him in years.

My training has been limited by rain. I am spending some time on the trainers at school. It has been raining a lot. I found out some bad news about my cyclocross bike. The crank has been getting really loose and I have to tighten it every ride. I finally took it into the shop to have them look at it. They said that it needs a new bracket in the crank, so I am going to be without my bike for a few days. I don't really want to ride my good bike in the rain, it gets to mucky. But all and all it is going well here. Wish I could be out there for a ride.

Bubba

Monday February 26, 2006

I just thought I would recount from my reflection about our great ride on Saturday. We just needed Bub and we would have had the whole crew. Weather was OK for Feb but when the sun went behind the clouds it definitely got cold. We had Dan Ritchie with us and our pace was a moderate rate going from Russ's to Kim's. We had a few jump-on-ers, and they were nice guys. As we got towards Kim's, Daren put the hammer down and we left Ritch and some tag aligns waving good bye. We all decided the col de Chaselane was not top propriety so we headed north back to Russ's. We had the sprint ending with some bad judgement by most of us we all went to soon. Daren played it correctly and had no trouble with us all. Ritchie tried to stay on but waved good-bye. Daren and I wanted to go longer so we rode back to my place in Ogden and Dan drove my car in, we got about 70 miles in. We had a great time and I feel so lucky to be riding with such a great group. Dan got a Specialized hat from Kim, he couldn't stop talking about it on Sunday.

Daren, Tanner and I are heading south this weekend to get worked over on the first mtb race of the season. I have no expectations, except to hopefully get to some place warmer.

Happy riding to you all.

Doug

Pictures

Today was an outstanding Utah day. No clouds, little wind and unseaonably warm. I took advantage in a big way. I started the day out with a 3 hour team ride. Here's one picture of the crew rolling out and another one of me suffering big time about half way up the steep 3 mile South Mountain climb. So much for keeping the heart rate down today.

Next came skiing Alta in the afternoon with Tanner. No powder, but with temps in the 40's and bright blue sky, it was a very good time. Here's Tanner in green and me in Red. Also pictured is the view from the top of High Rustler (2,500 vertical feet of steep fun) and Tanner in the tree tops.

Finally, here's a couple of shots from the last weekend's World Archery Festival in Vegas. The little kid was my favorite shooter. He's about 7 years old and could really shoot. The other picture gives you an idea of what it looks like shooting 20 yard in a hotel ballroom. The guy 4th from the left in the white shirt was the eventual Pro winner. He made off with close to $30,000 in prize money and sponsor contingent winnings. He makes more money than nearly all the U.S. based pro bike racers. Go figure.

Have a good week!

Back in the Saddle

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Here's a quick update. I had an easy bike week last week and spent the weekend in Vegas at the World Archery Festival. Easton has a booth at the tournament and I did some work. I shot the tournament and was disappointed with my score that tied last year. I ended up middle of the 650 stong pack in my division. I guess I should practice next year.

JoAnn had a lousy weekend as I was gone and had to go to the hospital Sunday. I took her back in Monday morning and they kept her for an emergency D&C. Her hemocrit count got down to 22 and they had to give her 2 units of blood after the surgery. She's now feeling better, but is still has no energy. It will take a few weeks for you blood levels to come back. As the doctor described it, she was down to 1/2 a tank.

Things have been very busy at work and somewhat stressful. We are finishing up our year end audit with some difficult accounting issues. It is hopefully coming to an end next week and things should calm down. I've been back at the training this week and plan to do the ski / ride double tomorrow. I'll try to get some pictures up.

Erin is doing great. She loves being a missionary and the MTC. She continues to be the wonder-child even now that she is an adult.

The first MTB race is only a couple of weeks away. I'm going down with Doug and Tanner. However, I'm still in my base period and lifting weights, so I have no expectations for a good result. 4 of the Porcupine boys are racing in AZ this weekend at the Valley of the Sun. Dave has a good chance for a high placing in the Pro / Cat 1. Eric is racing his 1st Cat 2 race and is a bit worried.

Hopefully, Doug will make it back from the arctic in one piece. Bubba, good luck on the wet riding and racing. AT, come ride with me on a Saturday and come race on 3/3. We have room in our hotel for you.

I am writing from the artic tundra of Laramie Wyo. The wind is blowing 50 mpr and the snow is moving by in a horizontal pattern. I thought snow was supposed to fall vertical, no telling where this snow will end up, watch out Chicago! I had some silling hope that I could ride out side here, no chance. I went to a spinning class last night, pretty lame. We're coming back on Sunday night so we can get a ride in on Monday. Do we have a start place or time? Last Sat's ride was great, the new bike is unbelievable! I wish I was half as good as it. I got to watch Sutt's team play in the semi-finals, great game, to much stress just to watch. Sutt's such a passive coach, you just have to get into it a little more. Hope everyone is well and riding. I have been unable to post pictures yet with the new Google deal, so I will keep trying. Doug

Test

This is a test post.
If it does work then you should all know that Rocky Mountain Jr. High is now the three time distric champs. It was a great b-ball year with some crazy wins.
I have had my butt in the saddle more hours on a bike in Jan. and Feb. than I have ever done before. I'm really looking foward to riding and racing this season.

Wind Tunnel

I was thinking of trying this instead of going to a wind tunnel.

The Rain is Back!

I just wanted to add a quick blog to tell you how things are going out here. It was so nice to have about a week and a half without any rain. Last Saturday I did my "Hill of a Ride!" It is about 2 and a half hours of going from one hill to the other (people out here call them mountains, but I think there hills). It rained on and off the whole time, which can make for a long ride. The Saturday before that was one of the nicest rides I have had in a while. I got to ride for about 5 hours. I was able to ride most of it with a local group. It was very fast and intense. I was definitely feeling it.

I wish I could go ride with everyone in the races this year. The first non-Sunday race is March 31, so that is what I am shooting for as my first race. I have been trying to keep up my training as best time will permit. I bought some clip-on aero bars for my birthday and can't wait to try them out.

Bubba

Big Week

Just a quick note. I'm finally heathy and enjoying training. This last week I logged the most training hours I've ever done in one week. I'm pretty tired today, but feel satisfied. I have a recovery week this week and I'll be in Vegas for the World Archery Festival this weekend. I'll shoot the tournament, but I'm definately pack fill in the archery world.

The team got in 4 hours yesterday and it was decent weather. I ended up with the "fast" group and paid for it late in the ride. Dave and Chris were nice enough to wait for me when I got dropped. With weight training, my legs had no go.

Erin's doing really well. She's learning spanish quickly and is looking forward getting out of the country in a month or so.

The first MTB race is March 3rd in St. George. You should all come do it. The week after, the crits start at RMR. Let's get racing. Bub, wish you were here!

Blogger!

Sutt, I wish I could come and ride it would be pretty fun. My Saturday's have been pretty busy with ym. It is amazing the things I took for granted back home. We did a temple trip two Saturday's ago and it is an all day event. It isn't the quick ride to the temple, it's just over 2 hours one way to Portland. Last Saturday we went to the mountains (I call them hills) to go for our tubing activity. Unfortunately, this has left my outside riding on Saturday's to a minimal. My schedule starts to slow down now, maybe I will get some better Saturday rides in.

D.C. sorry to hear you are still sick. Sounds like a fun trip! I am jealous that you guys got to get out and ride in warm weather. The weather here hasn't been raining, but it has been cold. This morning my waterbottle was frozen almost solid. Hope it warms up soon. I did have a great realization in my training - when leaving the other day I noticed that the sun was out for about half my ride home (the sun does come out here once in a while). It only gets better from here. I got my bike all put together and can't wait to start riding it.

If you get an email or try to log in and you have to get a Google account it is because they are updating and won't let us do it the old way. Just go to Google and open an account with them. But I don't know if they will make you do that?

Bubba