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

GC Connection

GC Connection
Are we planning on the St. George century (Feb.24)?
We also need to plan our long rides for the rest of the year soon.
Adam

St. George Day 2

Another beautiful day down south. It is amazing the difference a short 4 hour drive makes. I had a hard time getting excited about coming back to the mess in the SLC valley. Doug's sickness got worse last night and he was unable to ride today. I felt really bad for him because he would have loved today. As it was, Doug, Betty and JoAnn patiently waited for me to get my ride in before we headed north.

Eric, Steve, Mike and I hooked up with the Canyon crew today. They had a big group of 20+ and it was fun to get out with them. I road with them to the top of Utah hill then turned back with Steve and Mike to keep the ride to 4 hours. The plan was to ride up the climb as a group at an easy pace. Of course that meant that the group exploded a couple minutes up the climb and I was just below AT most of the way. Eric and Norm B. were out of sight quickly but I managed to hang around the next couple small groups to the top. I'm pretty happy how I felt this weekend considering I'm really early in my training build up. Eric is lean, mean and flying. I'm excited to see how he will do in the early Cat II races.

I'm now home and trying to hold my breath all week until the inversion is gone. Wish me luck.

Daren

St. George Day 1

Well we escaped the unbeathable air for a couple of days by going to St. George. JoAnn and Betty have joined Doug and me for some fun in the sun. Today it was almost 60 and bight blue skies. Pretty tough to take. The only bad thing is that Doug is really sick. He stuck it out for over 2 hours today but his throat, head and lungs are not cooperating. We'll see how he feels tomorrow, but it doesn't look good.

The MTB ride today was great. We ended up meeting Steve Wilcox and Meldrum and then later TeamRico. We road a couple of laps on the race course and then pretended to be teenagers getting huge (OK, maybe not huge) air on the Stucci trail and Green Valley loop. Four hours of fun.

Tomorrow is a group rode ride. Life is good.

Cold & Rednecks

We are all tired of the cold and thick air. Tanner and I have been spending some quality time in the basement pain cave. Actually, it's a pretty nice setup and not too bad most of the time. I just borrowed the '07 Vuelta and Tour DVD's from AJ, so we'll have something to watch this week. Watching bike races is the only way to make the time go sort of fast.

I'm finally feeling better and had a good training week. I managed 3 days lifting and lots of riding. The air is so bad, I didn't make it outside during the week. However, most of us on the team couldn't take it anymore and decided to ride in Park City Saturday. The air was nice and clean, but very cold. We did 2 and 1/2 hours and the max temp was about 15. I think that's the coldest ride I've ever done.

I must admit that I'm suffering a bad case of bike-envy. I know this is hard to believe from a guy with many highend bikes. However, we had most of our team out Saturday and I'm the ONLY one on the team without a Tarmac SL. I told Erin before she left that I'm making a huge sacrifice to pay for her mission, no new bike for me this year. I am getting my road bike back together and Glen gave me his old S-Works carbon crank to try, so all is not lost.


I sent 3 days this week working in the Easton booth at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo at the Salt Palace. It was an interesting time. It's always entertaining to talk with our customers, the rednecks. They are good people and keep us in business. In this picture is Phil Phillips. He's on a TV hunting show and a celebrety in the hunting world. We're one of his sponsors so he spent time in our booth signing autographs. It was fun to hear his hunting stories. It's a pretty good gig to make good money hunting around the world.

The purpose of the show was to raise money for hunting conservation groups. Even if you don't like hunting, you should appreciate what the rednecks do for wildlife and open space preservation. Over $10 million dollars was raised this weekend that will be used to puchase open space, restore habitat, and re-introduce animals. A good example is Bighorn Sheep in Utah. 30 years ago there were no Bighorns in Utah. Working with the division of wildlife resources, sportsman have funded the re-introduction of Bighorns in Utah and there are now close to 5,000 animals. There are only 70 hunting tags issued each year and the herds are now very healthy.

At the aution last night, hunting tags went for as much as $170,000 for a sheep hunt in Canada. The Utah Governer's Mule Deer tag (you can hunt any unit in Utah) went for $137,500. Karl Malone bought a sheep tag and a mule deer tag that totaled $125,000. It would be nice to have that kind of cash.

Have a good week,

Daren

Hello to all: Nice looking ride Tanner-man. How would have been to start racing at 15 years old. I can't remember back 15 years let alone when I was 15. Brady just use so PVC pipe for your aero bars your engine will handle it.
Just in case your looking for a bulldog, we have two left. they have become pooping machines. Daren I'm sure Ashley would love on.
Happy riding to all, it would be nice to have some air to breathe and a temperature that would allow it. Love and Kisses Doug

Aerobars?

I have been thinking about doing some time trial races, but don't have aerobars. I was looking in to the two different types: attach to my handle bars or the whole new bars. I don't know how hard they are to take on and off (because I only have the one bike) or is it better to get the attached kind? Any suggestions?

Bubba

Bye Bye Erin

Here she is at the MTC this morning. All things considered, it was a really good experience at the MTC. There were very few tears and lots of excitement. Erin is so ready to be a missionary. She couldn't stop smiling and pretty much skipped out the door when the missionaries left. I'm sure the reality of her departure will sink in soon, but for now it is all good.

Here's her address at the MTC. Sister Erin Nicole Cottle; MTC Mailbox #174; URU-MON 0312; 2005 N. 900 E.; Provo, Utah 84604-1793.

This is Tanner's new ride for the coming race seaon. It's pretty sweet for an entry level race bike. He's a happy boy and actually doing some winter training on the spinner. Here's to warmer weather!

My sinus infection is still with me in full force. However, I did go out for a ride this afternoon with the warmer weather. We'll see if it helped me or put me further under. I'm 10 days into the sickness and I've had enough.

Happy New Year

Glad to see Doug has figured out how to use the blog. I look forward to more updates.

I just got back from skiing and it was OK. Kind of windy and no powder, but still fun with Tanner. We need a lot more snow.

I have my annual winter cold. It has put the training plan on hold. I was supposed to start in earnest this week, but my body said otherwise. I've been in the gym lifting for a couple of weeks now and my legs have no go on the bike. It's kind of a strange situation. For the next 2 months, I'll work to increase my strength for racing with a weight program. However, while I'm on the program I will get really SLOW on the bike. It's the old "you have to get slow to go fast".

I'm feeling like a slacker because I'm sick and not riding today. Dave Harward is doing 6 hours today with an expected high temp below 30. The guy is dedicated, I'll give him that.

Here's a couple additional pictures.

This is my first offical blog entry. It was a great day today as we had a great sunday with Erin and all the family. It always amazes me what a great group we are! Saturdays ride was about as good as it gets. The whole family troup together, good job guys, even though the sprint started just abit early. We hope this year is a great year for all. Doug

Doug's test

I am writing to test out the blog. I am having a hard time doing it, so bubba is doing it for me.

Doug (actually bub)

Eugene Cyclocross Race

Well, it feels like I just competed in my first cyclocross race. The weather here has been pretty rainy and windy. A lot of the city lost power because of the wind last night. When I woke up this morning to ride I wasn't feeling very well, my throat hurt and my nose was running. But I ventured on my bike anyway.

My ride started out normal, rain and darkness. Putting these two together makes it difficult to see objects (specifically fallen tree branches). I was riding along the road when I came around a small bend. Up ahead I thought I saw a puddle, but it turned out to be a big branch. I swerved into the road quickly to avoid it. I quickly turned back into the designated bike section. Between the ashpalt and the cement there was a two inch rise. As I turned my front tire rail slided along the higher section. I lost control and slammed into the curb sending me over the handle bars and landing on my shoulder. Luckily, I was ok and so was my bike. So I picked it up and headed on my way.

I continued and made my way to the bike path. The bike path was covered with tree limbs and debris. I was feeling a little sore, but alright. I even did a dismount to go over a tree limb in the path and hopped back on. I looked down to see what time in was on my computer and noticed it wasn't working. I did a quick glance down to see if my speedometer was not aligned, and again was catapulted from my bike. Again I slammed on my left shoulder, but this time I hit my knee pretty hard. As it turns out a small tree branch came up and got stuck in my fender causing me to endo. I had to break my fender back in to position, but made the last five miles on the journey safely.

Aside from being sore it was pretty fun. I can see how addicting cyclocross could be. Even though it wasn't a sanctioned race I finished my first cyclocross race. See you all soon.

Bubba

Tanner's the Man

The final cross race of the season brought mixed results for the Cottle crew. Tanner had a great day and I got up close and personal with the ground. Tanner won the junior race against a good junior field. The course was a mixture of mud and frozen ground that resulted in many crashes. Tanner road very well and kept the crashing to a minimum to score a solid win. It was his best race of the year, by far. I was really proud of him and he also won the overall points in the Utah Cyclocross Series for the junior class. There was an awards party afterward and Tanner recieved a medal for his 3rd place at the State Championships as well as an award for winning the overall series. What a great year for the T-man. He has developed into a solid bike handler and is very competitive. He pushes himself to the limit at each race. He's already looking forward to next season.

I had a good start in my race and was leading for most of the 1st lap. I was a close 3rd when I went down hard in some ice on the second lap. I chased back to 4th and was closing a bit on 3rd when I went down again. This pattern repeated itself the entire race. In the end, I crashed 5 times and lost any hope of catching the leaders. I finished 4th about a 1/2 lap down. I was disappointed with my result, but happy to know I can compete with the fast guys in my group when I keep it upright and have good legs. The best crash was missing the re-mount after the barriers right in front of the announcers and crowd. It was impressive and I have the scars to prove it.

I'm off the bike for a week or two now as I take a break before beginning the build for next season. I have 3 months of lots of hours indoors and out ahead of me. However, I had my best year ever on the bike and I'm motivated to get faster.

I forgot the camera Saturday so I don't have pictures. However, utahcyclocross.com should have links to some pictures up in a day or two. Brady, I'll post pictures of skiing this winter just to pressure you to consider moving back!

More Pictures

Pictures

I think I've figured out how to post pictures, finally.

1 More Cross Race to Go

Pretty good time at the cross race yesterday. It was in the 20's, snow on the ground and ice in the corners. In other words, a great day for cross. Tanner had a solid race against a very good junior field. He kept it upright and finished 3rd. With a good finish next week, he should win the overall point series. He has come a long way in a short time and I'm really proud of him. He doesn't have the natural engine like some of the juniors (he's like his Dad in that regard), but he is a grinder and doesn't give up. He's having a lot of fun and gaining valuable experience and fitness.

My race was very good for 45 minutes. For the first time in my cross racing career, I was with the big boys. The course was great for me because bike handling really mattered. It wasn't like Wheeler Farm where the guys who can go fast in a straight line dominate. I was 2nd out of the 1st corner and rode with another guy for a number of laps. I moved into 2nd and stayed there for 30 minutes. I could see the leader and I began to close on him. He had about 30 seconds and I cut it down to less than 5 seconds with 4 laps to go. I had closed the gap to 10 yards and was confident I'd pass him. I was thinking "wow, I'm going to win this thing". With the snow and ice, we were on the edge of crashing all day. Well, coming into a corner near the start / finish area I went down without warning. I wasn't hurt and was up quickly. However, my carbon handle bar broke right behind the front brake/shifter. I couldn't believe it. While I was figuring out what to do, 2 guys passed me. I got back on and tired to ride it. I decided to give it a go and raced the last three laps (15 minutes) with half a bar, no front brakes and stuck in the big ring. Even though I couldn't go fast in the technical sections, I manged to close on the 3rd place guy and almost got him. I was really bummed because everything was falling in line for a big win for me.

Even though I didn't get the win, this was a breakthough race for me. I now know I can race with the fastest guys in the masters group, particularly in technical conditions. I can't wait for the final race next Saturday. I'm praying for snow this week!

Rainy days continue

Daren and Tanner I am glad to hear that your racing is going well. That is great that you get to ride with Tanner, maybe Liam will start riding in a few years. Our family will be visiting Dec. 24 to January 1, so hopefully we will get to see the crew and maybe do a ride or go skiing. I think Doug wants to go skiing on Dec. 26 or 27. Let us know if anyone is available and wants to go.

A funny thing happened here in Eugene - it snowed. So I pulled out my mountain bike and rode that to work. It was kind of fun, slow but fun.

I had to ride my trainer for the first time in about a year. Liam thought that it was pretty cool! He wanted to get drinks and put his drink in the holder. I am trying to put in as much time as I can riding. I got to go on the group ride on Saturday. Someone forgot to tell them to go easy in the winter. It was a hard ride. But things are going well here.

Another Cross Update

Here's another quick cyclocross update (Go to utahcyclocross.com for results and links to pictures). Tanner is the man. He has raced 5 races now and has two wins a couple of 2nds and a 3rd. He was 3rd in the State championships two weeks ago with a flat and a wheel change. We would have been contending for the win without the flat. Yesterday, he had a solid win and is getting better each week. We set up some barriers on the grass next to our garage and he has been practicing a day or two a week in the dark. Pretty impressive. I was able to put together a road bike for the T man and he did his first group road rides this week. He road with the Porcupine Team for 2 hours on Thanksgiving and then with the family group for 3 on Friday. He did well and made through 85 miles in two days and then won the cross race on Saturday! It is great to have him riding but a little stressful for Dad as I worry about him crashing or getting hit by a car. Tanner also got a ski day in last week, so he's a happy 14 year old.

My racing has been up and down. I had two good races at Rocky Mountain Raceway and was really excited about the state championships. However, I caught a low-level cold a few days before the race and it did me in. Doug, JoAnn, Erin and other friends were there to watch my explosion and suffering. I was with the two leaders the 1st 9 minute lap then I blew up in a bad way. I then suffered for 45 minutes and watched guys ride away from me all race. I'm not sure I've suffered like that in a race before. I limped home in 9th place. I was sure my season was over. However, after a week of doing very little, I started to feel better this week. I wasn't at my best yesterday, but road a smart race and managed to finish 4th. That is my best cross result to date and I'm now excited to race the last 2 races.

Doug was going to give the racing a go, but crashed on the cross bike and fractured his hand. Hopefully, it will be good enough to let him race the final race in 2 weeks.

I now have an official coach. My teammate Dave Harward (the #1 ranked amateur in Utah) has started a coaching business and I'm now a client. I decided rather than spending some money on a new bike this year, I'd spend some on engine. We are both excited and curious to see how is goes. My focus for next week will be MTB races, Crits and Cyclocross. These three go together well and will allow me to use my limited training time more effectively. It also means no LoToJa again for me. I'll be taking a late summer break and then working specifically on cyclocross in August and September. I think cross could be my most competitive race discipline. I'd really like to do a Nation level race next year in the 45+ masters.

Hope all is well for the Holidays!

Rainy days in Eugene

It has been a while since I was able to post an update, but with my new YM calling my time has been a little more spent. My season is over so there isn't much going on. The rain is starting here and I have REALLY enjoyed riding in the rain.

I don't think I am going to get to race cyclocross this year, but maybe next year. Daren it is good to hear yours is going well. I am glad to hear everyone is still riding and doing well.

Bub

Cross-Eyed

It's time for a Cottle cyclocross update. We're 3 races into the Utah Cyclocross series and there is already a win in the family. Tanner watched my first race and decided he should give it a go. He raced in the Ogden mud-fest two weeks ago and at RMR yesterday. After a strong 2nd at Ogden, Tanner won the junior division at RMR. It was fun to watch and he rode hard.

Tanner raced the his first cross race on his MTB bike. However, we finished putting my old cross bike together a couple of days before RMR. T got a little practice time at the school and in our backyard and gave the new rig a go. He's not completely comfy on it yet, but it was faster than his MTB. The RMR course was hard and surprisingly technical with one barrier secttion, a fast staircase and a grass run-up. His group (the C's, Women's and JR's) went 45 minutes. If you've never done cross, 45 minutes in pretty long. I call cross racing a trip to the pain cave. Tanner call's it a trip to the pain abysis. However, he' pleased to have won and excited to do it again. Next week's race is at RMR again. He goes off at 10 am.

I've had mixed results so far. There is a new 35+ masters class that races with the A's (the pro's, cat 1/2). It has been fun mixing it up with the big boys. The first race was at the Olypmic Park in Park City and included a pretty big climb. I felt really bad at the start and didn't get better. The only good news was that it was on a Friday night and we could only race 30 minutes due to darkness. I manged to not finish last.

The next stop was at Fort Buenaventura in Ogden. It rain all week and most of the race. The course is about 90% dirt or grass and was very muddy. However, the course is the best we race on and the mud was actually kind of fun (other than the 3 hours of bike cleaning after the race). I had a much better race and finished 5th in the 35+ and 19th overall. I was less intimidated by the fast A's but still got a very poor start. In cross racing, the start is very important. There is usually some obsticle in the first minute or so that make the riders go single-file. If you're at the back, you lose big time to the leaders. Did I mention cross racing is hard? My AT is 160 peats per minute. I averaged 159 for an hour and 5 minutes. I was pretty much at my limit the entire race.

As I mentioned above, yesterday's race was at RMR. I didn't think the course would be too great, but it was fun. It was about 60% pavement, but pretty technical. I actually did well on the pavement. I was agressive on the start and was in 2nd in my class into the first corner (in the top 15 overall). I was on my teammate Steve's wheel (Steve has won all 3 35+ races this year) and hanging. Our teammate Aaron Jordin came by and we got on his wheel and he pulled through the first long pavement section. The three of us stayed together the 1st lap and were just off the overall leaders. The next time up the grass section, I could feel my rear tire rolling. I looked back and it was going flat. I had to back off on the grass or crash. I managed to get around to the pits and changed my wheel. By this time, I was about in dead last and only 10 minutes into the race. However, I got going again and rode hard the rest of the race. I slowly pulled some guys back and had 3rd&4th place in my class about a 100 yards ahead. However, I ran out of time and couldn't get to them before the finish. I ended up 5th again, but with losing a couple of minutes due to the flat, I was pretty happy. I should have / could have been 2nd or 3rd.

Did I mention cross is hard? My average HR was again 159 and I was cross-eyed for about 30 minutes after the race. I was cramping the last 15 minutes and could hardly walk last night. Not sure why we do this, but I can't wait for next week.

Daren