Doing the Dual

Tanner and I did the Salt Lake City dual again yesterday. We got out of the early morning clouds and fog to make some turns at Alta. It was much better than expected with some new snow. We had a good time hiking to get some fresh powder. Too bad there were hundreds of others hiking with us.

After skiing we hooked up with Dave for a couple hours on the road bikes. Dave pulled us around, especially me, in relatively warm temperatures. I was pretty worked so Dave was nice to me and didn't go too hard. However, he and Tanner still worked me over on the hills.

All in all, a really good day. Probably nicer than Doug's Saturday in Laramie.



Daren getting some good stuff.
Tanner is the tree tops.

This Friday and Saturday, we'll be in St. George for the first MTB race of the year. The weather forecast looks really nice. I hope it's correct. My only expectation is to have some fun and to go hard. See you there if you're going down.

FYI

We got a couple of comments on the blog from Ivan and Malebai that are viruses. If you see one that says, "Please see here" DON'T click on it.

Not much here -really!

"Dad, you got snow on you!" That is what Liam said as I came home from my 2 and a half hour ride on Monday. It was nice to get out, but very cold. I road with a friend of mine to his work, then came back. It was great, but the mist and fog caused everything to freeze. Training here hasn't been as long, because of the cold/wet winter and 3 kids. I am still riding, but not as intense. Hopefully, it will pick up soon. My first race will be when I come to visit in March. Can't wait to see everyone. Daren are you racing with us?

Enjoy the riding!

Attitude Adjustment

I needed a break from winter, so Tanner and I did a day trip to Moab today. Life is now much better. It was a beautiful day with few people. Here's some pics from a great day for a dad and his son.

Weeks review (or is it weak review) ?

Gordy's favorite HAT!

Out somewhere west of Plain City.

What a place to live and ride! BL peak.

The famous last turn to the summit.

Nothing but fun up there!

Hello all. It has been an interesting week of life and riding. Last sat. Daren, Tanner and I rode with a mob. The bad part for me was my 1 hour spin classes did nothing to help me up hills with the 50 best riders in the state. I was spit out the back so fast I thought I had two flats only to realize that the tires were fine it was my legs that were flat. Daren recovered me and we were happy to wave goodbye and enjoy the beautiful day, only to find the two best riders in the state waiting for us to pull us back to the group. I think we made it back to the group, I was so far in the cave it was all a blur. Our return trip was very enjoyable and it ended up being a great day. 4 hours in the saddle made my Sunday sitting not quite as enjoyable.

Monday I was feeling so good with the great weather day and since I have no work, I just started riding away, then I saw it: I thought I'll just go climb up a ways on the N. Ogden divide. I was on my cross bike so I start up and then decided to keep going. Coming down is always a blast just alittle chilly after a sweaty climb. As I rode west I looked north to see: Ben Lomond in all her splender. When I got way out west I looked back at the mountains. It was a great 3 hour ride, with another one on tuesday, but the weather put me back on the spinner. I echo Rico's melt, melt chant.

I have been up grading my bike room with paint and pictures of races and rides, but for all you who know the origin of GC Connection my favorite item is Gordon's Atlanta hat I put hanging over the door so I always see it when I enter. Take care all and ride safe.

Big Group

Saturday we joined the biggest group ride I've ever seen. There were a legitimate 50+ on the ride. I counted 30 that started with the Porcupine Crew and we picked up nearly that many at Canyon in Draper. A whole bunch of red whit and blue jerserys. The ride had everything thing from cross bikes to high end TT bikes. We pretty much had our own rolling road closure that took up an entire lane. Surprisingly, no confrontation with cars that I saw. In fact, most were actually tollerant as it took some time to get us all through intersections.

Doug and I spend some quality time together on and off the back, but it was a good ride and great to be outside. Tanner is getting much more comfortable in a group and easily rode in the front 1/3 of the group. When it got racey a few times, we was able to stay with the first couple of groups. He's even thinking about racing the road some this year.

This weekend, I won't be at the team camp in St. George. Ashley will be home from school so I want to spend some time with her. In addition, I have to save most of my travel time and money for races. Doug, Tanner and I will be in St. George on March 1st for the first ICUP race. I'm sure I'll be going slow, but it will be fun. I look forward to seeing the MTB race crowd.

Depending on the weather this weekend, we may try to get a MTB ride in somewhere. If you're interested, let me know. Monday is the most likely and we'd leave early and drive somewhere dry.

The rest of the story

The part of the pictures from Sutt's basketball game that you don't see. Is the dry erase marker that went flying and hit the wall. Or the dent in the locker room door. But no he is not intense. Your skiing picture kind of got me pumped up. We should plan a day were we can all go. I begun the tedious task of the never ending winter spinning. Luckily for and MP3 that plays videos, making it some what bearable. Peace out.

Spring Break

Sutt - intense? Well, he is a Cottle. Sorry to hear about the season, it sounds like ours. It was good to see that Ryan came out of the wood-work. Maybe someday we could get him on a bike. I don't know about you, but it appears that Doug is really enjoying his retirement. Skiing, going to b-ball games, and riding his bike. Sounds pretty good!

My family will be coming to visit for spring break. So as you plan your long ride schedule maybe we could get one in at that time. Also, Sutt I don't know if you heard, but that is the time of the BL alumni basketball tournament. I have been trying to get a hold of the who is playing for my year, but haven't found out much yet. But I plan on playing. Enjoy the snowy rides!

Let me know if you have any links you would like me to add to the blog. It needs some updates.

Schedule

I was wondering if we "GC Connection" are having a pre-ride planning meeting for longer rides? I know it's early, but it works.
Thanks to the pic by Doug you can tell I really get into coaching.
My Jr. high team wasn't able to get into the playoffs this year so there will be no 4-peat. It didn't help that in our four losses we were 30-77 from the foul line. The painfull thing was our first loss was by 1, our second by 2, the third by 4, and the last one by 7.

In other news the pain cave needs more time, but the weight room is going strong.

TENSION

Adam you just have to get into your work more!
Sorry for the interesting picture position. I still can't figure how to post the picture and write. Anyway, winter time has given me some time to go watch Coach Sutt. Adam is a pretty laid back coach, not. If the game is bad, Adam will keep you entertained, in a good way, nothing neg.

Ryan and I went skiing yesterday and it was the first time since hele skiing in Canada that there was too much snow. It was chest deep and if the pitch wasn't super steep you just couldn't go. We only had one face that was fun in the back country, so what we thought was going to be epic ski day turned out to be an anerobic workout minus wheels. I've had enough, and am anxious to be outside and riding. Hope you are well and looking forward to some good weather.
Doug

Look at the relaxed Sutt.

Look who I dug up! He can still slide!

You think your life is tough?

More fun in the snow

Tanner ripping it at Alta

A few of our good friends in line for the traverse to Devils Castle.

We had a good day at Alta inspite of the crowds. We did some hiking and got some good powder shots. Can't let all the new snow go to waste. Tanner and I did the winter dualathlon. We road the trainer early in the morning then made it to Alta as the lifts opened. After riding, hiking and skiing, I was pretty worked by the end of the day.

I was sad at President Hinckley's passing this week. More than anyother top LDS leader, he made sincere efforts to narrow the religous divide in Utah. Hopefully, we can all strive to be more tollerant and accepting of each other. I've found in the cycling community, we have far more in common than we think.

Living Up To Its Name

Powder Mountain 1/29/098.


Tanner

Doug

Daren

Doug and Tanner

Daren

Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Snow in Eugene?

Snow in Eugene? Actually there is. It has been snowing on and off since Saturday night out here. When it snows here everything shuts down. We had half the ward show up on Sunday, no school on Monday, 2 hour delays on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is pretty entertaining. People don't know how to drive in snow out here. They go way to fast and slide all over the place. Granted, there is a lot of black ice from the moisture.

With all the snow it has made commuting nearly impossible. I have been trying to spend as much time as possible in the "pain cave." But we all know how that goes, it gets pretty boring after a while.

I know this isn't the same as Doug's picture, but it's the best we can do.

Snowshoes

I spent most of this week working at the Outdoor Retail show. Easton launched our new showsnow called Easton Artica. The shoe was really well received and Chrispy's year of hard work paid off. I had a good time and enjoy going to the show. It's good they let the finance guy out of the office every once in a while.

This is our booth as we set up at the on snow demo at Snowbasin. It was a spectacular day in the mountains

I made the front page of the Trib Money section showing our new shoe.

The weather was nice yesterday and Doug, Tanner and I made it out after the OR show (Doug and Tanner got to wander the show and see all the new toys they want. Tanner has about 3 new pairs of skis he wants). Tanner was manning the camera.

Doug and me.

We had a great time riding together and saw a few fellow cross riders out and about. Overall, a really nice day.

Not Much

Not much interesting happening the last week. Work has been busy and the new year of training is going well. I have a long list of bike repair and building projects (between me and Tanner, I have one new frame to build and 5 other bikes with various repairs or upgrades to install). My normal life is busy, so most days its a choice of working out of working on bikes. Not much happened with the bikes this week. The bike I want to get going most is my 1989 Bridgestone RB-1. I realized I have enough parts to make it into a single speed. Should be a pretty sweet bike with a mid-80's Campy crank and American Classic wheels.

I'm happy to be back training. I actually like structured workouts and enjoy the effort. I don't like getting up early or going to the gym to lift weights. However, both are necessities for me, so I do it. Tanner and I got in 3.5 hours on the road with the team yesterday and it was fun. The weather wasn't too cold and the company was really good. I haven't gone on a true group road ride for months and I realized I missed it. I certainly go harder with a group than if I go alone and I'm worked today. It was great to have Tanner on the ride and he was taking his turns on the front and rolling through when we pacelined. He's slowly getting more comfortable in groups and even considering racing some crits this year.

Wednesday night I took 10 14 - 18 year old scouts and leaders on a snowshoe hike on Guardsman. We had a good time and with a 2/3's moon and snow, no headlights were required. It was beautiful in the pines and deep snow. The only downside was it was COLD!! When we got out of the vehicles, it was -8. It took about 2 days for me to warm up.

Redneck Show

I spent last week in Indianapolis at the Archery Trade Association annual trade show. It's the archery version of Interbike, just with lots of bows, arrows, hunting equipment and rednecks instead of bikes. Similar to Interbike, it is a dealer show where manufactures are trying to write orders. It is actual remarkable how similar the archery and cycling industries are. Both are driven by the independent dealer with box stores growing rapidly. The dealers are generally enthusiasts who love the sport. One bid difference is cycling dealers are usually fit riders while archery dealers are bubba bowhunters. Here's a look at the show:


This is our booths. We had seven brands at the show. Easton (in the forefront), Hoyt (in the background), Reflex and Fuse (not seen).

This is Delta and McKenzie targets with Easton in the background. Our other arrow brand Beman is not pictured. We're probably the largest combine archery company and have a large footprint at the show.

One of our competitors had a Swat Team stand around their booth to promote how tuff their arrows are. Yea, we thought it was pretty lame too.

We had all of our sponsored TV hunting personalities signing pictures in our booth throughout the day (If you don't think hunting shows are big on TV, just scan ESPN2, Versus, the Outdoor Channel or The Men's Channel next weekend. The TV hunting show personalities make far more money than any Olympic level archer.). Lee (in the blue vest) and Tiffiny (in the Camo shirt) Lakoski seemed to be the most popular for some reason. The bubba's stood in line for 30 minutes to get a signature and a picture.

Somehow, I don't think the Bubba's were in line to see Lee. Check out all the fit guys in line and how far it goes back.

Of course you can get your Harley in Camo if you want.

Cycling did make an appearance at the show. Pacific Sports (Schwinn, GT and Mongoose) had a camo bike they were pitching with a custom rack for your bow. It is a Schwinn frame dipped in camo just like a bow. Pretty sweet. I'm thinking I might need one of those racks. I have to check with Hoyt to see if a frame will fit in their dip tank. If it does, a camo MTB might be in my future.

This beauty is nice. Green paint, camo stickers and a nice rack system. I tried to pick it up but I wasn't strong enough. It's like a road motorcycle. If it falls over, it takes three guys to get it back up.

Now that I'm back, I'm officially on the training again. I wish I had the time flexibility to skate ski or snowshoe everyday to get my endurance time in. However, I'm stuck in the dark valley so I get out at lunch sometimes on the bike and the rest of the time I'm at the gym or on the trainer. Good times. There is some good news. Tanner is full-on this year, so he shares the pain with me in our basement pain cave most of the time. Also, I just got three new Cross DVD's yesterday so the entertainment factor just went up dramatically. Almost makes me WANT to ride the trainer just to watch. Less than 10 months to Cross season and only 11 to Nationals! I wish I were in Belgim for Masters World's this weekend. Good luck to the Utah boys that made the trip. Maybe one year..........

Snow anyone?/New baby

We got dumped on here is Ogden! 18 inches. I have snow blown for two days straight. Good thing I have retired. I had a great time at Brady's, if he hadn't dumped me over a cliff in the dark. The Cottle GI track. Be safe.

Congratulations Alissa and Robby. This is Madeline, 6lbs 13 oz and 19 inches. Mom and baby are doing great. Emily is doing good with her new sister.

Last Chance Cross

It's been a couple of days, but the "Last Chance Cross" or "First Chance of the Year" race was a good time Saturday. We were only racing for fun, but it was still hard. I haven't figured out how to race and not go to my limit. I think it is a genetic flaw. In any case, I guess I beat all the old guys and didn't get lapped by Bart, so I'd call that a success. I hadn't really done anything on the bike since Nationals, so it was a shock to my system the first 15 minutes. The conditions were wet, muddy, snowy, slick and cold. In other words, a pretty good day for a cross race.

Tanner moved up and raced with the fast B men. He was a stud. He was in the top ten the entire race up to the last lap. While in 8th or so, he went down on a slick corner and lost his chain on the outside. He was pasted by 4 or 5 guys while getting it back on. He pasted a few back before the finish and was pleased with his effort. T is going to race with the B's next year and should be very competitive. (Mike W also moved up to the B's and was in the top 3 all day on his single speed. I think he and Tanner will be battling in the B's next year. They'll both be beating up on the A's in no time.)



Tanner with the race promoter, Matt O'hran.

Up the muddy hill then..

remount at the top.

The awards party that night was fun. It was an 80's theme party with a live band. The band was 12 year olds from a Performance High School featuring O'hran's daughter on vocals. They rocked! We were all blown away how good they were.

Here's Tanner getting his Junior overall series winner award.

I actually was a finalist with Bart and Art for the best costume. The 80's preppie look was spot on. Art won the prize on a sympathy vote. Bart always wins, so Art got the prize. My lack of dance moves held me back from the win.

However, if Blaze would have made the party, he would have won easily. Blaze, aka MK, rocked the race on a single speed sporting long hair, a mechanic's jump suit, unfiltered smokes and Miller High Life hand-ups each lap. Impressive! He's off to Belgium this week to be with his people. There's a group of UT old-guy crossers in the Old Country to race Master's World's and watch a couple of Pro races. Good luck guys!

"PRE"

The immortal Steve Prefontaine. When Doug comes into town there are a few things we always have to do, go to Nike (the first one ever), go to Hayward Field (track town U.S.A.), and go to Pre's rock. Pre was one of the greatest middle distance runners during the early 70's. At one time he held all three U.S. records in the middle distances. Pre was killed while driving home drunk one night at the age of 24. He was the first paid athlete that Nike sponsored and help put them on the map. These are the pictures we took of his memorial rock. Many people like to leave personal items, such as, medals, numbers, shoes, or hats. One of the hats is from 1975. All to show their respect to the "rebel with a cause."

Doug's foot

Doug has been hobbling around for the last few days. It is pretty swollen, purple, and painful. We have had to wait on him hand and foot, like a little baby. Doug was telling me a funny story about his trip with Daren and Tanner to the cyclocross nationals. He said that he and Daren were laying there watching TV and noticed that both of their toes were crossed. Quite unique. Notice the toes being crossed in this picture.