Day at the races

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


Dave attacking the group on the hill.













Mike Solm in the mix.

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

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

Dave on one of the last times up the hill.

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

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

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

Have a good week,

Daren

Random Pictures

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



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

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

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

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

Every office needs toys hanging on the wall.

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

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

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

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

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

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

More photo's

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

Riding Photos

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

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

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

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

Bub

The Greenhill Monster

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

Great Week!

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

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

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

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

Ride Safe, Doug

Sundance Pain

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

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

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

Daren

Wolf Creek

Doug and I have been enjoying the non-rainy weather in Eugene. It has been nice having them here. Doug got in on Wednesday and we went for a birthday ride that evening (57 years - the old man can still ride well). Thursday we road for a while in the morning. Friday we went on a ride with a friend of mine. He is a runner and doesn't ride very often. It is pretty amazing that he can still keep up and push me without riding. Friday and Saturday we spent watching the NCAA western division track meet. It was fun to see the events.

On Monday Doug and I had a great 68 mile ride. A couple of months ago in the Bicycling magazine they had a highlighted ride from each state. A DZ mountain bike ride was highlighted in Utah. In OR it was Wolf Creek in Eugene. It is an amazing ride. I will pass on explaining it and let Doug do it when he writes in. Needless to say it is beautiful! There was some pretty strong winds on the way back, but it is was still fun. Tonight is the uphill TT and Doug and I are going to go over to them. My legs are pretty hammered from yesterday, but will let you know how it goes. I did take my camera, but when I was pulling it out I dropped it and it broke. Sorry there were some pretty amazing shots that I tried to get. Doug is going to bring his camera tonight.

Bub

Draper Flats

T Man and I raced the Draper Intermountain Cup today. It was hard. I know that sounds unusual for a mountain bike race, but what can I say. The course was one long climb and then a long single track descent with some rollers thrown in for good measure. The bottom half of the descent was near the Draper Temple and in the million dollar homes and South Mountain Golf Course. I never worried about getting hit by a golf ball on a mountain bike before. It was kind of strange ripping down a grassy alley between big house. However, it was really nice to race close to home and to have a big turnout.

First Tanner. He's been working on his climbing and rode really strong up the big hill. His group did one big lap (10 miles with 1500 feet of verticle) and one small lap (about a mile or so). He was in 3rd or 4th at the top of the climb, but close to the leaders. Unfortunately, he had a few issues on the descent and hit the dirt 3 times. He wasn't hurt too bad and finished in 8th place. I'm proud of his efforts, but I've failed him in the descending department. We have practice planned this week.

I finally felt physically good today. My group did 3 big laps for a LONG race with lots of up. Glen Adams came, so we were all racing for 2nd. I hung with Glen and Dana for 1/2 of the first climb, but had to back off a little. I was about 30 seconds down at the top. Glen dropped Dana and I was working hard to get to Dana. Unfortunately, on the single track descent on the 2nd lap, I flatted. I didn't exactly have the fastest tube change in the world and got passed by a lot of guys as I floundered with my wheel. I rode hard once I got going again and passed everyone in my group other than Glen and Dana by the start of the 3rd lap. I didn't know if anyone else was a head of me in my group, so it was go hard the rest of the way. In the end, I'm not sure I would have gotten Dana for 2nd without the flat, so 3rd with a flat isn't too bad. My race time was something like 2 hours 47 minutes, so it was a spanker.

I rode a friend's hardtail for this race. I've been toying with the idea of putting together a light HT for racing. After today, I'm not sure. The bike was really good on the climbs and fast on the descents. Where I struggled was on the relatively flat, bumpy sections. I just couldn't get going. I think I went just about as fast as I do on the Epic going downhill. However, the ride is MUCH rougher. On the 3rd lap, I felt very beat-up and I'm much more sore in my shoulders, arms and back than normal. On some courses, a HT would be the way to go. However, on most of what we race, FS is the call.

Happy Memorial Day,

Daren

Back in the Game

Well, I felt good enough last night to give the RMR Crit a go. I ventured off the front with a couple of moves early, but I was starting to get worked. Therefore, I just sat in the middle of the group the rest of the race. It was nice to feel heathly enough to finish a race and feel decent the next day. Hopefully, I'll be fully recovered from my sickness by Monday's MTB race.

The best news last night was Eric Rasmussen of the Porc Special team won his first RMR A race last night. Eric beat up on the B's last year and moved to the A's late in the year. He's worked very hard to improve and it paid off last night. Go to teamrico.blogspot.com to see the picture of his winning sprint.

Doug and Bubba, have fun in the great Northwest. Let us know how things are going.

D

Daren the Spectator

Well, I've been sick for nearly 2 weeks now and I'm tired of it. I tried to race the crit Wed. night lasted about 12 minutes before getting dropped and then felt terrible Thurs. I was hoping for a great recovery for the MTB race Saturday, but no such luck. Remarkably, I did the right thing and watched the race instead of suffering for 2 1/2 hours.

Even though it was difficult to watch my group go by without me, it was fun to watch Doug and Tanner race hard. They both did very well and I got some good pictures around the course. Tanner had a bit of a machanical and fell back early. However, he battled back and finished a close 4th out of a big group of juniors. If the race would have been longer, he would have been at least 2nd. Doung is getting more comfortable on the MTB and was competitive with the old guys. He finished 4th as well but was only 4 minutes off the winner. I was proud of both of them.

Doug had a bike issue while warming up and had to ride my bike. I guess it was good I didn't race. The down side is now Doug wants another new bike!

Here's Doug on the opening climb. That's a really cool bike he's on.

Tanner ripping in down hill (Doug's in the distance. Doug's group started a minute ahead of Tanner's group. However, the T-man ended up finishing about 8 minutes in front of Doug.)

Tanner beginning a long single track climb.

Doug not far behind on the same climb.

Tanner coming off the difficult single track descent.

Doug survives the descent. If you look closely, you can see the blood on this right arm.

Every time I do a MTB race, I know it is a big effort and that I'm suffering on the climbs. Some times, I think I'm the only one suffering. However, after watching about 150 riders go by me yesterday on a difficult climbing section I can confidently say ALL 150 were in the pain cave. Some were in a little deeper than others, but they were all there. It's kind of comforting to know that racing is communal suffering.

It was also interesting to notice all the different body types of the races. The pro's were very lean and just look fast. The experts are lean and fit looking, the sport class riders are a little less fit looking and the beginers look pretty average. However, I have a great deal of respect for anyone willing to put in the effor to race on the dirt. The effort level is about the same for all groups. The speed and time just goes up with the higher level groups.

Wish me luck this week. I'd like to be a bike racer again!

Daren

Soap Opera- As the Drugs Turn

What a great time for professional cycling! The pot got stirred big time yesterday. Landis's expressions have been an interesting as he has gone from smug to I wish I had a knife to slit you throat looks. You need to read on cyclingnews.com the daily inputs. It is interesting to note that Lance beat up on dopers Ulli-Basso-Bele-Hamil, but he didn't, what a joke.

On the home front, Robby Garrett was here with Jill and kids and we got some great rides, Hot and fast. I'm really excited to be going to Brady's next week. I shipped my bike up, it was hard to see it in a box, may the force be with it. Daren, Tanner and I are racing mountain bikes tomorrow at the hollow, hopefully it will be fun. Hope your feeling some better Daren. Sutt's big Fremont Baseballers are doing great, it must be the coaching.

Have great weekends to all. Kim's in Denver, something about a witch? We are hoping farmer Russ can find his way to a bike, LOTOJA is looming. Be safe
Doug

Landis! Uh-OH!

Landis is in TROUBLE! He thought he was going to get away with it, until Greg showed up.

Bubba

No racing in Eugene

Daren, thanks for the updates on nutrition. It was very helpful, especially after my last race. There aren't any races for the rest of the month, other than the uphill TT. I am hoping to get to do atleast one more of them. I did a group ride on Saturday and road about 80 total miles. The group was small - 8 of us. There were some strong riders and they were going at it. I was trying hard to pull through in the 5 man rotation. I am looking forward to a little visit from Doug. He is going to send his bike up and we are going to do some rides.

Hope all is well.

Bubba

Training Tips

I went to a seminar at The Orthopedic Speciality Hospital (TOSH) in Murray Thursday night called the Science of Cycling. TOSH is a new practice established last year by Dr. Eric Hieden (yes, that Eric Hieden) and Dr. Max Testa. Dr. Testa is a legendary cycling coach who has worked with top European teams for 30 years. They came to Utah when USA Speed Skating moved it's headquarters to SLC. They have a staff of doctors and Phd's specializing in endurance sports that is as good as any in the world. The clinic is open to anyone.

Here's some of the highlights of 2.5 hours of interesting information.

1. Your physcial makeup pretty much determines how good you will be. The good news is that you can improve your abilities with training. The bad news is you can improve only so much. Tests like VO2max don't predict winners (eg. the highest VO2max doesn't necessarily win the race), but they are prerequisits. In other words, to be a Pro Tour rider, you need a VO2max of at least 70. However, just because you have an 80 doesn't mean you will win.

2. Lance Armstrong's physical make up is something like 1 in 7 million. By contrast, an NBA player's physical make up is something like 1 in 500,000. There are about 13 attributes they can test to determine your cycling ability. LA is off the chart on all 13. He won the cycling body lottery.

3. Dr. Testa outlined the basic concepts of a good training plan. These are the things we all know, should be specific, include periodization, consistancy, etc, but he stressed it needs to be individual. He said no one program will work for everyone. As an example, he described the "Oscar Friere Paradox". Testa started to work with Friere after he had won his first world championship. He met with Friere in Spain in November. Friere is a super nice guy and showed Testa all the sights of his town for a couple of days. By the 3rd day, Friere had not mentioned the bike or training once. Finally, Testa brought it up and wanted to build a traingin plan. Friere said it is much too early in the season to train and he would start later. Testa built what he thought was an easy plan beginning in the end of November. Friere was concerned it was way too much. Friere ended up gettin back pain in December and was not able to ride more than 2 - 4 times per week for an hour or so. By the time the 1st stage race in Spain rolled around, the longest ride Friere had done was 3 hours. This race is hard and they didn't want to put Friere in. However the promoter demanded he ride and so he started. Friere went on the win 3 stages and finish 2nd overall. Dr. Testa bascially said, "go figure". Some guys just don't need or can't handle huge hours. Others can and do.

4. Nutrition plays a big part in performance. Dr. Meyer, a Nutritionist, gave some really good advice. Carbs are the engine that fuel us. Eat a high carb, low fat diet. Avoid all sodas. The fewer the ingrediants on the label, the better. Don't eat out very often. Prepare from whole foods. Eat small amounts often, not a few big meals.

5. Hydration. You need to stay hydrated but not over-hydrated. The only good way to know if you are drinking enough is to weigh before and after a ride. Measure your weight loss and had the weight of anything you drank. You will then know how much volume you lost. If you lose more than 2% of your body weight, performance will suffer.

6. Eating on the bike. You need to get 60-70 grams of carb per hour on the bike. This can come in solid form or liquid. Liquid is easier to take and is usable faster. Gels are also good. Too much is as bad as not enough. Sports drinks can be very helpful and should be used on rides longer than 1.5 hours.

7. Recovery eating. Eating immediately after a ride is very important. You need to eat a little carb and light protein. A recovery drink is very good for this. You should repeat this grazing every hour or 2 and then have a full meal 3 to 4 hours post ride.

8. You should eat a good meal high in carbs 3 to 4 hours prior to a race or big workout. If you eat a full meal close to a race or workout (less than 2 hours prior), your body will still be using energy from your blood to digest the food. This will take away from your performance. If you can't eat that early (an early race or workout), you are better off not eating a meal, but start eating on the bike early in the ride. Use gels, sports drinks etc.

9. Carbo loading really works. For a big event, like LoToJa, it should start 3 days prior to the event and should taper each day.

10. Eric Hieden talked about common cycling injuries. He said cycling is great on your body (for example, running puts up to 11 times your body weight on your knees, but cycling puts only up to 1.3 times) but it is very easy to get repetitive motion injuries. In a 6 hour ride, you'll do something like 320,000 pedal revolutions. Therefore, any slight problem gets magnified. He and Dr. Testa repeatedly stressed proper bike fit. They said that most riders are not fit correctly and suffer pain and poor performance as a result. The cost of a good fit is worth it.

11. Hieden stressed most cycling injuries can be treated with rest, position alteration, stretching and increased strength. He said if a doctor recommends surgery to repair over-use injuries, you should run away as fast as you can. He said in 11 years of practice, he has rarely operated to solve these issues.

12. If you break your collar bone, it can heal without surgery most of the time. In fact, Dr. Hieden has only surgically repaired about 1 in 10 collar bones he's treated in his life and he's treated a bunch.

13. Stretching and weight training. Both Dr. Testa and Dr. Hieden stressed streching and core strengthening. However, when Dr. Testa was asked about weight training he said, "the only guys who don't lift weights are the ones who win races". He said he may have guys lift in the winter to slow them down so they don't peak too early. Otherwise, he's not a fan. However, he did say if you are a recreational cyclist over 40, weight training will help your overall health and fitness.

TOSH will likely do more seminars. I'll let you know if I hear about them. Testing at TOSH is pretty reasonably priced

Daren

Joys of Biking

I think I have got this sign in OK now. Adam and I worked at it at Russ's on Sat. It helps if you have the right password. Adam you can find the results at cycleutah.com. You took 22nd and about 31 finished some 30 didn't finish.

My faith is bike racing has been shaken with the reality we all knew but hoped against. Ivan Basso admits today that he did use EPO. It just lets you know that all the group was doping. It will hit the big hitters in the sport with ValVerde going down as well.

I sure am looking forward to felling better this week and the weather looks so much better. I've come to find my place in the biking world. I love to ride and what I like the most is riding with our group. It is free and no pressure, we enjoy the experience. No solo into the wind.

Happy riding to you all
Doug

Racing Solo

Saturday turned out to be a death ride out on the island. It was cold and the wind chill made it bitter cold, but no rain. Unlike what Daren said I’d take the heat any day over riding in those crappy conditions. Wind on the island is always bad, but Saturday was brutal. I had a miserable solo ride. I felt OK and raced hard the entire first 2 and 1/2 laps in the group. The next thing I know, I’m positioned about 20th and the first 13-16 riders attack up hill into the wind. 3 of us try and counter the attack in hopes of jumping on, but the three of us just end up suffering in the middle for another 2 laps until they drop me (I was killing myself to help the three of us bridge) and I ended up soloing the last 5 and ½ laps. In the wind with no recovery I thought about quitting every lap. To my surprise I wasn't caught by any other cat 4, but I think most of them quit. The top 6 cat 5 riders caught me on the 2nd to last lap. I wanted to jump in the the group, but didn't. I road next to them until the last lap, but with no help they slowly peddled away.

It felt great not to quit, but it would have been fun to complete the entire race with the group. I’m not in the saddle enough during the week to hang with the top cat 4 group. I’m going to do a few more crits, but I might be done racing cat 4 until I can get more time in the saddle.
I have no idea what place I was in, but I would guess around middle of the field (just like last week). I would love to know how to find the results. I’ve tried to find them for East canyon and Antelope, but have no idea where they post them. Not that 20th -30th place is that great, but it could tell me where I stand in the group.

Almost

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day for MTB racing. It was cold (low to mid 40's) and the wind was blowing hard, but no rain and the trails were perfect. I'll take yesterday's conditions over sunny 90 degrees anytime. Hydration and over-heating were not issues and we were protected from the wind most of the course.

I had a good race and almost won. I felt OK and raced hard the entire 2.5 hours. There is next to no recovery at 5-mile and it seems you are never going downhill. Rob Westerman and I battled the whole race. I lead most of the 1st 11 mile lap and the he got a pretty good gap on the 2nd lap. I slowly started to come back and closed the gap to less than a minute at the start of the 3rd lap. I was closing and trying to measure the effort so that I wouldn't be blown when I caught him. I finally did get to him on the hike-a-bike about 1/3 of the way into the 3rd lap (see Chris Fox's blog for some good pictures of the hike section http://www.bikehusla.blogspot.com/ Fox is the only guy I know that can take pictures WHILE racing.) and we raced together for most of the rest of the race. I tired to drop Rob on the one real decent of the race but couldn't open a big enough gap. On the last steep roller coming in, he attacked and I couldn't respond so I ended up about 20 seconds back.

It was fun to complete the entire race. It's unusal to ride together for any length of time in an MTB race. Most of the time, gaps open and you are on your own. Rob and I talked a fair amount and on the last lap, I knew I was in trouble when I could hardly speak and he's talking easily. Rob's a great guy and won the XC National Championship in the 45-49 class two years ago. Anytime I can be close to him, I'm happy.

Racing for the lead covers much of the suffering. It didn't seem all the hard when I was passing guys that started ahead of me and closing on Rob. Funny how it works that way. However, last night and today, my legs have let me know I did some work.

Tanner had another solid race. He was 3rd in the 13 - 15 Sport/Expert class. He continues to improve and took 10 or 15 minutes off last year's pace. He was only about 10 minutes off the winner of his group. Tanner showed me this kid after the race and he looked like a Pro. I couldn't believe he was Tanner's age. He had a great cycling build and looked very fit. I'm proud of Tanner's willingness to do difficult things and compete hard. Most kids his age just want to play video games and have everything handed to them.

Adam, good job at Antelope in very difficult conditions. If you miss the move with that kind of wind, it's over. I'm impressed you hung in as well as you did. We need to hear the details.

Only one race with this week, RMR. I'm off to do some work at my neighbor's mountain ranch this Friday and Saturday. This is part of my dues to hunt there this fall.

Daren

Uphill TT

I did one of my first uphill TT yesterday. It was pretty fun to do, but very painful. The course is 5 km long and pretty steep. The weather wasn't the best for racing, it was raining (of course). It had been nice all day long, then started raining right at race time. They sent people off at 30 second intervals. I felt pretty good and passed five people on the way up (Yes, one of them was a girl, but who's counting). I finished with a time of 13:06. I got 2nd in my cat and 4th overall fastest time. The top time was 11:25, which is pretty amazing.

I did find out more about what happened on Saturday's race. I guess it was a girl that was being lapped and didn't get out of the way. As we passed her she crashed and that was who came in front of me and caused me to swerve. But such is racing. No more races here for a while. I don't know if I am going to be doing the TT next week, because it took a long time for 13 minutes of riding. I will keep you posted.

Bubba

Don't ever turn down support

I finish 19th which was ok (I think cat 4 had over 40 riders), but I know I should have placed higher than I did. Following in the outlined format for this week, I learned 3 key things about my riding abilities.

No matter how good I feel I don’t need to take a turn upfront. On the last big climb I went to the front and set the tempo up the hill. I felt great until about a mile and a half to the summit then I popped. I thought the top was closer than it really was and as my tempo slowed down, around 10-13 guys attacked and I did not have the legs to go with them.
Don’t tell those who want to give support that they can’t (sorry Doug), only to see other riders getting needed food and water right before the big climb. I ran out of water and food around mile 44 in a 60 mile race with a 5 mile climb starting at mile 48. Not good.
A lot of riders can climb a lot better than I can. I road hard up the hill, but not hard enough. I was defiantly humbled.

I’m thinking about racing the island next week (40 mile Crit) and with the new knowledge I gained this week I hope to do a lot better next week.

Eugene Roubaix

Daren you were definitely busy last week. Three races in one week is pretty extreme. But sounds like you fared really well. Sutt how did you do on Saturday? I ended up finishing around 13th (I haven't checked the final results yet). I decided to follow Daren's format of things I learned this week.

1. Positioning is everything! I felt much more confident in the group this week, which helped as the pace was a lot more intense. The course was a 13 mile loop, with the final 3 or 4 km's of dirt and gravel. After the dirt it took you right up a steep hill, which was pretty tiring. Coming into the last dirt and gravel section I was in a great position, about 7 or 8th place. We caught down three riders who had a break away with 300 m to go. One of the guys tried to move into our group as we passed, causing me to have to swerve around him and fish-tail in the loose gravel. I tried hard to catch back up, but that quick side-step caused enough of a gap that I couldn't catch back up. I finished right behind the first group. Like I said positioning is everything!

2. Eat after a race. I didn't get the chance to eat for a while after the race and am still paying for it. My stomach is still in knots as I write this on Monday morning.

3. Some people are genetically gifted. Some people just have a motor that allows them to accelerate a lot faster than I could ever dream of.

4. Cat 4/5 usually have a huge group with people who don't know what they are doing. Again our group was huge. It wasn't as big as the King's Valley, but we still had around 60 riders. Some guy started in front of me and was all over trying to get to the front, he even had a commuter light on his helmet. We had a few flats and crashes on the gravel section, but I was fortunate enough to stay at the front and avoid any of those incidents.

5. Uphill TT start this week and I hope to be able to do a few of them. It is 5 km of torture. I will let you know how it goes.

3 in a Week

Here' some observations from three races in one week, a lot for me. I had my ups and downs and I'm pretty tired.

1. In my mind, I'm only as good as my last race. I was fairly happy after Tuesday's crit, ready to give up bike racing after Thursady's TT and satisfied with a good effort on Saturday. My mood swings would make a tennaged girl proud.

2. I'm not sure how the final RMR results get determined. My last two races at RMR, I left thinking I was 7th and then I don't show up on the official results. I double checked with the official before I left because I fought hard for my 7th and I wanted to get the points. Apparently, something changed. I e-mailed Marek and he's looking into it, so hopefully, it will get corrected.

3. Majority doesn't always rule. In the B RMR race, a guy attacked half through the 3rd to last lap just as the A's were lapping us. Many of us yelled at him to sit up, but he didn't and ended up riding with the A's to the finish. The rest of the B's went netural for half a lap to allow a gap to open and then we raced the last 2 laps. At the finish, the guy who was up the road claimed to have gotten no help from the A's. He said he rode outside on his own. Even if this was the case, he didn't sit up for half a lap like the rest of us. In any case, there was a lot of protesting at the finish and the official agreed to let the group decided. The vote to DQ him was overwhelming. However, on the official results, he got the win. Too bad because the real winning was a 15 year kid who soloed the last lap for the win.

4. TT'ing is a learned skill. TT'ing is a whole different ball game. You have to be really strong, but you also have to be aero, have the right mindset, know how to measure your effort and be willing to suffer. The only thing I got right was the suffering. I was only 6 seconds faster than my 1st TT last year and near the bottom of the B's. I barely managed to average 24 mph for 7 miles. I was really bummed out and questioning why I was doing a TT at all.

5. There are many real fast guys on TT bikes. I was very impressed with how many fast guys there are at the TT's. There were a bunch of guys averaging in the 27 to 30 mph rage. I was one of the few without a disk wheel and aero helmet. These guys can fly.

6. Old guys are fast. I race the East Canyon road race in the 45+ group. This was my first race with this group and it was great. There were 30 of us and the race was much harder than the Cat. 3 race I did there last year. I would sit there and watch the guys in front of me and think, these guys look really fit and fast. I would then look at the face next to me and be surprised by the gray hair and wrinkles. I you don't look at the faces and hair, you'd think it was a Cat 2 field. The best part was that there are no bad riders and I never worried about crashing.

7. Ken Louder is my new hero. The man is 59 years old and he put a minute on me on the last climb. Pretty cool. On top of that, he's a pleasure to talk to in the race. I managed to finish 14th in the 45+ group and was pretty pleased. I was right there until the climb out of Henefer and gave it my all. I checked my time in the Cat 3's last year and I was about 3 minutes faster this year.

8. I can't wait for the next MTB at 5-mile pass Saturday. I'm ready for some dirt.

Utah Dual

This is the TT bike all set up. I've been working on the position a bit and I'm going to give the TT a try on Thursday. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday was a good Utah Dual for me. I missed the family ride but did a 4+ hour ride with the team up Emigration and big mountain. I felt not so good, but I needed another long one. When I got home, Tanner and I went skiing for the last time this year. The skiing was not too bad and we had a good time together. Tanner pretty much worked me over. My legs were letting me know I'd done a little work and the T-man took advantage. He won the "final run of the year race" from the top of the mountain to the bottom. He now thinks he's the best skier in our household. I'm still not sold.

This week has 3 races on tap. First up is RMR tomorrow followed by the Salt Aire TT on Thursday and then the East Canyon Road Race on Saturday. JoAnn just reminded me that she is a Saint. AT will be at the East Canyon Road Race putting the hurt on the cat 4's. I'm given the 45+ group a go and we start a few minutes in front of Adam. The goal is not to get dropped and caught by Adam.

Bubba, you're a stud for riding in the rain. There is a simple solution to your problem, move to Utah!

Race reports later in the week.

Jealous?

I decided to give you a glimpse of what it is like to ride in Eugene. Avery took a picture of me after my 2 and a half hour ride in the rain. It rained the whole ride. Actually it was a fun ride. I went and rode the course for the Eugene Roubaix race this coming Saturday. It is a flat course with some rolling hills. There is one section that is about 4 km long and it is a gravel road. That will make the course pretty challenging. The rocks are pretty big and the mud made it pretty slick. I will let you know how it goes next week.

Hope you all had fun on your ride. Take care.

Bubba

We are a bunch of stars!

When I went to the Lotoja website to look and check the dates I decided to take a look at the event photos. The picture of us going over the bridge is one of the photos. We are pretty cool! Wish I could ride with you all.

Bubba

April 17, 2007

I have been tracking start times and route for Sat. ride. We are going to meet at Kim's at 9:00 AM. Our route will be 89 north to N.Ogden Divide road then west and south looping back to end at Kim's. We will make stops and my place and then at Adam's. So far it looks like Me, Kim, Adam, Daren and Tanner and Robbie Parker, Ritchie may ride from Kim's to Ogden. Russ has to guard the SLC marathoners so he won't be with us.

I was inspired after Adam's post on the divide ride. I was going to do it last night and started up into a hurricane head wind, I made it to the first corner and I decided divide 1 me 0.

Be safe, see most of you Sat. Bub drop down we need you.

Doug

Kings Valley Race

Daren I am glad to hear you are recovering after your race. Sutt have fun with that one. The divide is a brutal climb. If I did what I did in my race on Saturday I would barely be making it up the hill.

I wanted to give you an update on the race in Kings Valley. I got a little nervous on Friday because it was pouring rain. But race time it stopped raining, but was a little chilly. The guy giving the rules before the race said that we had the maximum number of riders allowed to race on the road in the state of Oregon - I think just over 80 riders. Needless to say it was a huge group. A lot of the race felt like we were sardines packed together in a small single lane road.

The course is a 19.1 mile loop and the cat 4/5's did 2 and 3/4 of a lap for a total of 56 miles. The course has many hills, none to long, but still steep. The first lap had some people trying to break-off. I got in with a group of 8, but two of the guys didn't know what they were doing and slowed us down. The second lap we just cruised along with not much action. In the final lap we took off and started pounding it. It was pretty fast! I was trying to hang out in the front, but with so many people it was hard to move around in the group. We did drop about half the group on the windy flats. The finish is an uphill steep climb, which we dropped another large amount of riders. Before the final climb someone in front of me slipped a peddle and I had to stand up and move quickly to keep up with the pace. Right after this my quad's cramped up and my left calf. It hurt pretty bad, I have never hurt that bad before. But I tried to gut out the final hill and finished 15th. The race took 2:26 with all the hills that was a pretty quick pace. I felt that I tried my best and I had fun doing it. There isn't another race for two weeks, so I will keep you posted.

Good luck on the riding!

Bubba

North Ogden Divide

Divide 0, Adam 1
This will be an on going tally to see how many times I can climb the divide this year. I hope to climb it at least once a month (No hill points out west). I'm going to try and beat my time to the top every time and post my results. My goal is to make it to the top by 18 min. Might not happen, but its worth a shot. My first official time up the divide this year (4/14/o7) was an ok time of 20:53. I know it's not the fastest time up the divide, but it's a start. Robby and myself went up the mountain faster last year (Robby 20:20 I think and my best was 20:50) and I know Bub wil post some crazy time around 17 min this summer, but it was nice time to post this early in the year.

We need to set a time for the 100 mile ride next week (21st).

Good & Bad

I think I've recovered enough to write. First the good. As Doug mentioned, Tanner had a great race in the Hotter than Hell Hurricane MTB race. It was a long race for juniors (25 miles) and he finished 2nd. He beat the kid that won the 1st race of the year, so he was happy. He was within 4 minutes of Doug's time as well. Doug was tough. For a new mountain biker, he's doing really well. It is a very difficult sport and I'm pleased he's giving it a go. Not many people are willing to try challenging new things at 56. He's my hero in many ways.

I had a near death experience in the race. A guy from Vegas threw down early and I had to let him go. I then rode in 2nd for 2 hours. However, even though I carried as much water as I could, I ran out. I went from 2nd to 6th on the last lap and really didn't care. I was cramping in my feet and just wanted it to end. I lost something like 18 minutes on the last lap so it was good I had a big lead on the rest or I would have been 15th. I pretty much passed out trying to get to the truck after the race and had to lay there for 30 minutes and not move or I'd cramp. I don't want to be like that again anytime soon. During the last 30 minutes of the race, I vowed to sell all my bikes and take up golf again. Fortunately, I've over-come that tempation.

There was some redemption last night. I raced the RMR crit in 25+ mile an hour winds. It was very hard and guys were getting dropped all over the place. I got away for a lap early, but got realed in. I rode with the lead guys the rest of the way and helped put the hammer down. In the end, I was not positioned well, but finished 7th, my best finish in the Cat 3 group. It was nice to not just be hanging on when conditions were tough. In the A group, Dave Z. Burke Swindlehurst and Jeff Louder were all there. Needless to say, it was carnage in the group. It's always cool to see DZ go by you very fast.

I'm off to ride the TT bike today. I finally got it set up. I plan to do some TT's this year, so I need to get comfy on it. I'll post a picture of it soon.

What's the plan Saturday? The Porcupine team is riding at 8am and I'm also considering an MTB ride. No race, so we should ride together.

Daren

Nothing New

Sorry for the delay in the update. There is no news from Eugene. They start the local Tues. TT for this month, but I can't do it tonight, because we have training from the stake. Maybe next week? I got some clip-on TT bars and haven't even used them yet. I am hoping to do the Kings Valley Road Race on Sat. It is a 56 mile road race with 3 laps around a 19 mile course. I will let you know how it goes.

Bub

Weekend Review

Hello to family bloggers. I don't do this enough to remember how to get access, so needless to say I am glad I finally got in. Daren (Sutt one r) Tanner and I went down to the southern desert and made like sand lizards on wheels. It was quite the race course. We went down on Friday and pre-road the course. It is like riding through a sand pile with an occasional rock to climb or a raven to dive in or climb out of. The course was about 13 miles long and Tan I did two laps and Daren did 3. We made a few mistakes like not anticipating it being 92 degrees. I was out of water after one lap and was really feeling it by time I ended. Daren was doing great in 2nd place when the dehydration sent him into the LOTOJA tunnel of pain and incohersion. A few guys passed him for a hard earned 6th Place. Tanner had a great race and took 2nd. I kept my record going and took 4th, it sounds better than it is as only 4 finished in my age group. If you are my age and racing MTB you had to be good when you were younger, and the winner in my age group is last years national XC champion. I tried to stay with them the first lap but realized I was going to kill myself crashing or blow so I settle into a pace I could live with and smiled as all the ladies passed me. As you come to the finish there is a very steep short climb about 50 ft and I was sure I wasn't going to make it up but then all the people are yelling encouragement so I was to embarrassed not to make it up , I did. After 10 hours in the Tahoe and hours in the pain cave we all questioned our sanity.

We got in LOTOJA and it was none to soon as it is full already. We planned out our long rides a few weeks ago and I will post them so any of you out of townees can plan your trips. Be safe in your riding and props to Tyra and Bonnie for being able to get back out on the bikes. Ty got a Roub/pro and is doing a tri. Bonnie is going to ride the bike part in a relay at the same Tri in St George. Good luck ladies. Alissa got her first clipped in ride the other day and did very well. She has lost a lot of weight and is going to do a Tri as well. I'm going to Brady's in May so were anxious to get in a lot of rides.

Doug

RMR

Darren, just wanted you to know that until baseball is over I'm out. I was originally thinking I could get out of varsity games(Every Tue and Thur), but I was moved from the dugout to first. Now that I have a little responsibility I can't just leave in the middle innings. I'll be back at the RMR around mid May.
How was the mountain bike race on Sat(Darren, Doug, Tanner)? Bub, no race this last week? First thing I check every morning is the blog. I need your results. It keeps me motivated.

Think Blue

Sutt in Lights

I was checking out the Utah Cycling website when what to my wondering eyes should appear - Sutt's name! Sutt your a local celebrity.

Bub

Dave Z

Well, big Dave Zabriski is in town for a few weeks so he showed up at RMR last night. It was pretty cool watching him power a break around the track. When the main group would get close to the break, DZ would pull for a full lap at about 33 and open the gap. Dave Harward of our team was in the break and on DZ's wheel most of the time. DZ pulled off a few hundred meters from the finish and DH was nipped at the line for the win.

My race was fun but no result, I missed the split when some of the B's integrated with the A's and were gone. The highlight was DZ pulling the break past us as we got lapped. We were going about 28 or so and he went by really fast. I just kept thinking "don't do something stupid and crash him!"

Daren

White Rim Trail

For those interested in doing the White Rim Trail, I got a campground reserved for Friday October 5th. We plan to leave Thursday the 4th after work and stay in Green River or Moab. We'll ride Friday and Saturday and return Saturday night or Sunday morning. We need to recruit a vehicle drive (Larry?) to haul our camping gear. The only campground I could get is about 2/3's of the way in, so the first day will be a long one, about 70 miles.

Plan your schedules accordingly. Bubba, I'm sure you need another trip to Utah about that time.

Daren

Eugene Ice Breaker

It was my first race of the year on Saturday - the Eugene Ice Breaker. It was a 25 k crit. My race sounds very familiar to yours Daren. There were about 50+ people racing in the 4/5 group, it was huge. It had been raining the night before and rained after the race, but we got a lucky break. The wind was blowing very hard on the back stretch, so it made it hard for anyone to break off. I managed to stay up close most of the race. My friend was starting right next to me and as we took off he noticed his chain had fallen off. He spent to laps trying to catch-up, but finally stopped and waited a lap for us. He has beat after that.

Going into the final lap a guy didn't hold his line very well and moved me way out on a risky corner. Then I got stuck behind him and watched as the group moved passed me and I couldn't get in. I turned into the head wind trying to get back up to the front, but they had strung out the group pretty far. I sprinted as hard as I could, but only managed 11th. I was pretty disappointed, but that is the life of racing. I felt really good going into the final lap, but I didn't have much luck.

Let me know what you want to do with LOTOJA. Also, I will let you know when we will be there this summer so we can get a ride in together.

Bubba

Not a sprinter

Well, I proved once again that I'm not a sprinter yet. The RMR crit was fairly uneventful until the last few laps. There was a head wind on the drap strip, so it was pretty clear no break was going to stick in the B's. I tried to get across to one early, but everyone came with me. After that, I just sat in. I moved up to the top 10 without much difficultly with about 4 laps to go and stayed there until the last lap. I managed to come out of the last corner 4th and was set up great for the sprint. Unfortunately, I had no speed and finished about 12th a few bike lengths from the winner. I'm getting better at positioning, now I just need to finish it off.

Doug and Tanner rode out and back with me and the team. It was great to have them with me. Tanner did well riding with the big boys. The A race didn't go very well, but we managed a 6th and 7th. Our A team is not happy with anything other than a win.

Good luck with the LoToJa registration. I'll be thinking of you. We're heading down South this weekend to race the mountain bikes. Hopefully, another win is in the legs. I'll be taking it easy this week to prepare.

Daren

LOTOJA

How are we going to register?
Are we going to indivdually register, or try to register as a group?
Let me know.
Are we going to post all of our monthly ride plans as well from last sudays meeting?
SUTT

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).