Gone again

Well I'm about 30% done with my Rim Ride write up and I have about 5 minutes to finish before I leave. Not going to happen. Crap.

I'm off to Bedrock, CO this weekend in hopes of scouting the Paradox Trail for the Grand Loop race this June. I'll be joined by the Daves, Harris and Nice. We'll be bike packing the trail baring excessive snowfall. I'll try to post back again Sunday night and wrapup my Rim Ride report too.

Happy Birthday to Marni!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful and beautiful wifey. I hope you have a great birthday today!

My RR report is coming I promise. Work is being stupid at the moment...

Finished

90 miles
9000 vertical feet
12:10 total time I think?
Tied for 4th place overall
Tied for 1st place singlespeed - Finally my first W!

What an epic day. Full report later...

Gone fishing...

No sleep 'til Potash

I had a nice shakedown spin on the Fuel at lunch today, taking the gearie so I could work my legs just how I wanted. The singleshizzle was at home waiting to be pampered after work. Now it's had a bath and got a clean chain, fresh lube, full tires and a little new bling. I loaded some lithium AAA's into the GPS and moved the mount to accommodate food storage needs.While out riding I gave map case option #1 a try. Needless to say I decided it lost out to map case option #2 for this weekend:
Special cue sheets, laminated map, food, jacket and everything else I need is within arms reach while riding. The motto for Saturday is don't stop for anything until the turn for Gold Bar Rim. I've got a full load of water and fuel ready and with my chosen gearing maintaining a steady pace is of the utmost importance. Assuming I reach the point of no return at an appropriately early hour I will continue with all I've got until I hit Potash road. From there finish is merely a formality and acceptably safe by headlamp.

Tomorrow Alan will be joining Marni, Turbo and I for the trip to Moab. Stefan is out as I posted yesterday (heal up man!) and Alan needed a ride down so we were happy to help him out. We'll be heading out of town right after work tomorrow and be back sometime on Sunday. Base camp will be the Super 8 in Moab and we'll probably join DC for breakfast at Denny's early Saturday AM. Marni at least needs a real meal and I may be tempted into some eggs as is normal before long rides. Can't wait to see all you other crackheads out there. Time to relax now, goodnight!

In and Out

DH is in, joining DC, Epic Adam and me plus an unknown number of others for this weekend's Rim Ride. Lots of rumors swirling out there in the enduro community about how hard this course is, how long it's going to take to finish and how many will show at the starting line. Time to put all that behind me and focus on *my* ride at this point.

Unfortunately Stefan is out. Broke C5,C6 and C7 skiing. Heal up soon, we're thinking healing thoughts for ya.

I'm on the late shift tonight which means I already put a nice 3 hour ride in today. The weather is gorgeous and mid 60s with light wind. Just about perfect riding weather. I had the trails all to myself this morning for the majority of my 40 something miles. Well I was sharing them with some great wildlife. Mallards, Canadian Geese, a Blue Heron, lots of praire dogs and even some of the bugs are back and reveling in springtime. Now it's time to tidy up the house and finish some weekend preparations before I head off to work. The new washer/dryer combo is arriving tonight so Marni and her parents will be here while I'm working making sure it all gets installed. Definitely looking forward to having our own washer again, even if I wash about 1% of the clothes. Rob and Dave I got both your questions and I'll try to give them a good answer tonight. Working the pallet run means lots of sitting around doing nothing and then WORK REALLY FAST for an hour so I should have some time to type out a reply.Oh yea, my camera is back thanks to wifey. And I will be wearing the wrist strap or attaching it to my pack from now on Jennifer :)

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Time flies

Ummm excuse me, can I stop the world for a few minutes? I've been meaning to blog every day and then somehow it's the next morning and no blog has been written. I don't even really have time to be doing this right now but it must be done so here goes. The quick run down since Friday.

-My ribs hurt. Vitamin I every 6 hours combined with some reduced biking time is making a dent in the sharp pain. Sneezing is *not* fun though.
-Our washer kicked the bucket. Therefore Saturday was spent at Sears blowing large sums of money on a new one and the matching dryer (ours was a cheap-o used one anyway). Now we are all cool and highly efficient which is a good thing I suppose.
-While blowing large sums of money, Marni convinced me to get my own air compressor. I caved and purchased said compressor only to find out my father in law decided to let me keep his big one so he could also get a small one. Sunday I was back at Sears returning the unopened $500 compressor.
-Saturday night Marni and I went on a real date for once. Long John Silver's Disco was fun (inside joke) and we got to eat slowly and talk. Hmmm yes we should remember to do that more often.
-Sunday Marni, Scott, Mr.Nice, Bill, Melissa, Craig and I rode the CCTT course twice. The girls were worried about riding it in the race under 40 minutes. We rode it twice under 38 minutes. I think they'll be fine. In fact I predict times close to 30 minutes for both of them.
-While riding the CCTT course, the boys, under the influence of testosterone no doubt, decided to ride fast and take flyers thoughout the day. 1000watts on Scott's wheel did not feel so hot although we did scare Dave when we caught him. This year I'm definitely going to be gaining intensity during the series compared to last year but I think that's good.
-DQ after riding is good. I like Mint Oreo blizzards.
-Yesterday I spent much of my afternoon and evening working on random errands since Marni and I are both sort of on rest weeks. I finished a new quilt pattern for bikepacking trips although I'm going to add a little more length. I finished swapping the stock suspension back on the Colt. I also put a Syntace stem back on Cogsworth. I have to give props to Syntace, they handle warrenty issues better than any company I've ever worked with. Marni and I clipped Turbo's back nails which ended with a bloody paw and messy floor but it wasn't a big deal and all parties involved are fine. Marni also made an awesome dinner and cleaned the house which I really appreciate.
-Today I'm on the early shift and have some more errands to run after work. I'm short on supplies for this weekend's Rim Ride so I need to go to Safeway and the bike shop. Hopefully the fingerprint lady will call me back and make my appointment tomorrow so I can turn my application in to the state.
-Finally I hate my blogger template but I don't have time to make a better one. I did make some minor changes though. Anyone know of some good free ones that drop in without a ton of work?

DoKnit?

I found this looking for a picture of a donut this morning. It's a yarn donut and coffee Mom! Haha. Anyway the donut picture was because we had a donut collision here at work this morning. People randomly bring in donuts on Friday. There is no system or communication. Some Friday's there are no donuts, others there are. Well we haven't had them in a few weeks so 4 different people brought them in this morning. Whooops! At least it was a tasty mistake. Oh yea my camera should be back next week so no more google images after that.

Last night I had a good ride, almost 50 miles in total. I was a little frustrated on the ride to meet the gang being so spun out in my Rim Ride gearing on Cogsworth. I think it's going to be good for next Saturday but boy does it suck on the flats. It was fun having the Reba back on. I am a lot faster and more comfortable descending with a suspension fork. It's fun playing with the rigid and I can go fast with it on but it still beats me up and at the end of the day the Reba is faster. As I got to Boulder Res just before meeting everyone the sun had come back out and it was shining low on the water. That bit right there changed my mood for the better. There were two ducks who I imagined were racing, flapping their wings faster than my spun out cadence only inches above the water's surface. They were probably doing the same thing I was supposed to be doing, enjoying twilight on a crisp spring day so I got my head right and followed suit. The rest of the ride at Teller Lake was fun other than Marni's flat tire. Her Bonty's were really tight and I actually pinched tube #1 while installing it. I never use tire levers and I had to use 3 just to get this stupid tire off the rim. Grrr. Plus the tube I pinched was one of the $10 slime lite ones and I used a CO2 in (futile) hopes of getting the slime to seal the pinch. Oh well, live and learn. There are UST's in her future anyway to keep flats to a minimum without the DIY tubeless hassle.

Today I'm heading out on the road bike after work, maybe to Jamestown. I like that ride and I haven't been able to fit it into the schedule lately. It's more climbing but at least it's fun. Then Saturday I'll be doing some technical riding on the single to test the last of the Rim Ride changes and Sunday the gang will be out at Cherry Creek riding the time trial course a couple times. Time certainly flies by. I cannot believe we're halfway though March regardless of what my mileage total says. My body is certainly ready for a rest. This is the end of week three in the cycle. Add to that the sore ribs from my crash last weekend, an irritated ingrown toenail and a sore thumb and get a resulting cranky Christopher. Yes next week's rest and a couple days to sleep in (including this Sunday morning) will be well deserved to be refreshed before the race.

Booked

Well I decided to get to Iowa in April for the race by plane. I want to road trip out there but my vacation days are few and the thought of driving on the way home isn't very appealing. Plus Marni can't come to help drive this trip. $200 now gone and I've got a flight out Thursday night and I fly back Sunday night. I've still got to rent a car but that can wait until I finalize sleeping arrangements. I might get something bigger if I'm sleeping in it.

Thankfully Dave and Mike will be hauling my bike out there in the eurovan so I don't have to deal with the airlines, UPS or FedEx breaking my shit before a 320 mile ride. Well time to leave work and start today's riding. I'll be done in oh, 6 hours or so. See you tonight Joel!

Mile after Mile

Well this should be a quickie post. I tried to post the report from Moab with pictures this morning but Blogger was giving me the finger in terms of uploading images. Therefore I'll settle for the day by day update. Hopefully my camera shows back up soon so I can get some good images up.

Monday was an easy day and Marni and I took a spin around the neighborhood roads in shorts and a jersey enjoying the nice weather. Yesterday I was back at the training grind in 70 degree weather. I took the road bike out after work and put in a solid 66 miles with 5k vertical including meeting up with the Feedback guys for a bit. Koppenburg, Lookout, Red Rocks were all along the route. I also had my 4th recent flat and my 3rd one on the rear wheel (2 different tires!). I think I'm going to replace the rim strip and see if that's the problem or if I just keep getting unlucky punctures. Also Brady hosed a rear derailleur into his spokes and we had to convert his bike to a singlespeed to limp it back to Golden. Glad I had my headlight and flasher along as we ended in the dark post-repair.

This morning I got up and did my ride on the Fuel. I had to work the later shift so it was still a bit chilly but I covered over 40 miles and 2k vertical anyway. Colorado Hills was totally dry and starting to recover from the muddy trampling the dogpark'rs gave it. I spent the rest of the ride running the Big Dry Creek trail from end to end with a few side trips up some dirt and gravel climbs. Now all that sounds pretty good right?

Well I thought so but it's nothing extraordinary for where I've been this year. I'd like to give congrats to Marni and Dave however for stepping up and really training hard at their own level. They both have put in some really amazing work in March so far and are going to reap the rewards this summer. Great job guys!

Okay back to work...

Back

Moab was good training. It was fun too but this weekend was about more than that for me. I was hauling a reasonable approximation of my multi-day trip load, spent much of the time sleep deprived and got some solo middle of the night riding done. I think I'd definitely rather ride my bike tired than drive tired. Driving to Fruita on Saturday night was brutal on me and involved several highway on-ramp naps to arrive safely. More stories and pictures to come, hopefully tonight. I had the early shift at work this morning so I'll be crashing near the couch around 2pm hopefully.

I'm feeling better about the Grand Loop in June and TransIowa but a bit more nervous about the Rim Ride after seeing first hand just how hard the course is going to be. There will definitely be some recovery time afterwords. I don't think most people realize how big an ass kicker it's going to be in only 80 miles (if you ignore the road ride back to the finish). Better be fit and bring some technical skills to finish in the daylight. This is not like riding the White Rim in a day. All I can say is, I hope no one gets caught unprepared on Gold Bar after dark and there is no water out on course right now. I will be carrying 150oz minimum and am seriously considering starting with 200oz. Single or geared? Not sure yet. I was definitely missing my Reba this weekend though on the full rigid Monocog. If I run SS the 36x22 will probably make it's first race appearance. Up down up down up down up down on steep slick rock will wear on anyone. More later...

Slammed

Dave reminded me I'm slacking a bit on the blogging which is true in the most obvious way. 27 posts last March, this will make 2 for 2007 so far and we're 9 days into March. No pictures either as the camera is still somewhere in lala land.

I suppose between my wife, work, riding and packing for this weekend's trip to the desert there hasn't been time for much else. I've been running around like crazy rebuilding hubs, cleaning neglected bikes, packing for the trip, going riding where I can and trying to spend time with Marni. Today is the anniversary of the day we met and fell in love. I'm pretty sure every day of those 6 years since then have been the best days of my life despite anything else that happened because she's never left my side. Not to mention that she didn't quite know that all of this was part of the deal. However she not only accepts it but does everything in her power to help me succeed. Love you babe.

Yesterday I got to join Marni and her students at the Butterfly Pavilion for a field trip. I got to hold the tarantula and see lots of cool stuff while hanging out with 5 really cool little kids. Being back at my job was most depressing after getting to play teacher for a couple hours.

Last night I got in a great ride on the singlespeed with Joel and company in Boulder and around the res. Joel's minor chain calamity notwithstanding it was just what I needed to clear my head and legs plus my rebuilt hub worked much better than before. It will continue to suffice as a backup wheel for occasions such as this weekend. Afterwords Marni and I got some tasty Murphy's. It's a fun little non chain eatery plus they have small $0.99 brownie and ice cream desserts that are perfect. This morning Marni and I had our Friday morning Starbucks date and now I'm buzzing off a venti iced coffee and a cream cheese danish trying to remember everything that has to get done before Dave and I leave after work.

Well enough procrastination, I've got to get to work so I don't get fired. See all you boys in the desert. Work switched things up on me and we're getting a couple hour later start than I'd like but that's life. Mondo's at 7am tomorrow...

Retire

No not from riding silly! It's time to retire the Old Pueblo post from the top of the blog. It hasn't totally pushed it's way out of my mind but thoughts have moved onto positives and areas of improvement. Lots else has been happening although I don't have pictures because I'm a dumbass and I dropped my camera and broke it. These one's today are pre-dropage. It's currently on it's way to being repaired by the people at Cannon. I have been riding, a lot acutally. I'll decline to post actual figures only to say that there is a century in there and I've been trying to keep up with Mr.Nice for March. I'm not far behind as of today. If I had to bet I'd say he'll end up kicking my butt but it's fun trying to keep up. The weather has been nice here and with DST fast approaching the itch to ride outdoors is strong. Marni and I have done several rides together lately including up Lookout Mountain with Bill plus a neighborhood cruise and some actual dirt action today. Marni's Fuel and my SS are a bit dirty but happy to keep the road miles down whenever possible. She's feeling the fatigue of new steady training but it's going to pay off if she continues to push through. I keep getting faster too so I suppose that affirms things are still moving in the right direction. My lunch loop today on Cogsworth was just shy of 18mph which is definitely a new record and my legs recovered from a 150/9 weekend beating with just one day of active recovery.
Now it's time for dreams of TransIowa, KTR and mostly the Grand Loop to dance in my head thanks to Dave Harris and StephanG. Dreams of red dirt and the Rim Ride are almost reality since I'm running off to the desert this weekend with DaveC, Adam, Mr.Nice, Fred and maybe others(?) for some course scouting. Camping and technical riding oh baby! The new GoLite pack will get it's first *real* shakedown, hopefully affirming it's use in the aforementioned Grand Loop.