I Want A New Bike

What? Yes, I feel fine. I happen to have the best mountain bike in the whole world and an adequate road bike but something is missing.

I didn’t realize I was missing anything until I saw this:

And this:

And this:

Tough call, huh?

Dirt? Got it covered. Road? Covered. Urban? I’m lacking but any of these would more than suffice. Swobo is the name and urban is the game. I had no idea I needed an urban bike til I saw these beauts. I didn’t even know what an urban bike was and now I need three.

p.s. I completely exploded 10 minutes into the Solitude race tonight. I can’t remember the last time I dropped out of a race, if ever, but I dropped out after 1 of 3 laps. I need some sleep and time off the bike, it’s messing with my head.

Product Testers Needed

I’ve got a boatload of the new recovery drink and I need some able bodied product testers. I will be at the Solitude race tomorrow night from 5:30 until after the race and most likely I will be at the Soldier Hollow race on Wednesday also from 5:30 on.

If you happen to miss the Tuesday and Wednesday product testing I plan on attending the State Championships at Solitude on Saturday.

If you were on the fence and not sure about racing I hope this post pushes you off the fence (post…off the fence, oh, I kill myself). The only requirement to become a product tester is to have raced so make sure you sign up and enjoy the suffer fest.

Of course, I will also be supplying CarboRocket free of charge so bring your empty water bottles.

Good Luck!

Heat Training

I don’t do well in the heat. I’ve suffered from heat exhaustion on more than one occasion and even ended up in the ER after the Brian Head 100 one year. So, I always try to do some training in the heat to hopefully acclimatize before a big race, I’m thinking the Park City Perfect 10. What better way than a 5 hour ride starting at Noon in the middle of summer?

The family has gone to the Grand Canyon yet again this year and I stayed home. I did however, ride to Spanish Fork Canyon with them to pick up Kendra from camp and then I bid them farewell as they motored on to St. George and I pedaled home.

I do not know my way around Utah Valley very well and wasn’t sure how to find my way to Provo. I figured if I could get to Provo I could make it home. It turns out I’m either a human GPS or Utah Valley isn’t too complicated. I prefer the former. Within 45 minutes I found myself turning down 500 N in Provo to stop for a pee break at Racer’s.

I was pleasantly surprised to find both Racer and Maren working on a Saturday. To be honest, I’m not sure if either of them was working. Racer was busy building a bike for Maren and Maren was busy picking out color coordinated grips and cages. I couldn’t help myself and offered them my valuable fashion advice.

I then made the mistake of asking Racer if he wanted to join me for a ride around the Alpine Loop. I say mistake because I wasn’t expecting him to say, “yeah, give me 15 minutes to finish Maren’s bike” and then take an hour and a half to pedal out of the shop with me.

I’ve climbed pretty much every canyon along the Wasatch Front multiple times and I have to say the Sundance side of the Alpine Loop is hands down the best. It’s steep, very steep, long, twisty, painful, scenic and has a rhythm to it that I haven’t found in any other canyon climb. I love it! Did I mention that it’s painful?

Racer went down the AF side with me and then he split off and headed back across the front of Timp where I’m sure he stopped to refuel at Fish’s house as I pedaled alone through Alpine and over Traverse back home.

I’m pretty sure I may be the only person to get Racer out on a big ride in a very long time.  I think he enjoyed it. 

Mark from up in Boise who is down on vacation recognized me limping through Alpine and stopped to see how I was doing as I was heading home. Pretty cooked and starting to melt is how I was doing.

One big heat ride down and I’m feeling good, embracing the heat.

OMG! I just typed 500 words. What’s wrong with me? Oh yeah, my family is out of town.

I Need To Work On My Transitions

In spite of the fact that I haven’t done a triathalon for several years, Saturday morning found me feeling pretty good about placing well at Fatty’s inaugural tri. I had the usual butterflies and stomach issues that I get before any race.

At the start I was eying the competition and checking out the quads of my fellow racers for any potential carrots to chase.

I marked a few and then worked on my race strategy for the remaining minutes before the start. my usual plan is take it out hard and try to demoralize the competition but Saturday was an especially hot day and I knew the race was going to be long so I practiced restraint and started out towards the back of the pack.

My strategy was working great untill I hit the first transition, sliding rock. I’m pretty sure I can blame my poor overall placing on my transition time at the slide. I must have lost half an hour or more there.

I pretty much gave up after that and limped it to the finish line.

A huge thanks to Fish and Fatty for throwing such a good a party complete with killer food, a live DJ and a raffle. The biggest thanks goes to Susan for sharing her Saturday with us. I have a feeling this will be an annual festival.

Father’s Day Tasha Style

Since my dad is in Australia, yesterday was all about me. Happy Father’s Day Pops, if you’re reading. Here are my Father’s Day top 5.

1. Breakfast. Father’s Day just sucks without a delicious breakfast of whole wheat homemade waffles and a side of sausage and eggs. I even had a piping hot cup of coffee in my hand the second my feet hit the floor when I got out of bed. Thanks, Tasha!

2. Bike Ride. I got out for a ride all by myself for about 3 hours. After cranking up to Alta I decided that one time up Little Cottonwood Canyon on Father’s Day was not enough, I had to do it twice. Check out the snow pack at Alta. Not a sliver of terra firma in sight on June 15th.

I love the view of the mouth of the canyon from up above. You can see all the way across the Salt Lake Valley.

3. Hangin with girls. They decided I need to wear something other than t-shirts.

4. Picnic at Red Butte Gardens. Tasha whipped up some tasty Asian pasta salad that went perfectly with the Pinot Noir she brought along.

5. Can you say chocolate cake? The perfect ending to a perfect day. Eggs, butter, sugar, chocolate and only 5 tablespoons of flour. Unbelievable! Seriously, the best I’ve ever had. Thanks, Tasha!

Girly Ride Deer Valley Style

While there were some other males on the ride I found myself riding with the girls, Tasha and Whitney to be exact. It turns out they are infinitely more photogenic and much better company than any of the guys. And they can shred the single track. Really, would you rather ride behind this:

and watch this:

or be stuck riding behind this:

or worse, this:

There was a small fashion war at the start as someone else happened to be wearing the exact same jersey as me. Oh, the humanity! I decided it better to go without a jersey than compete with another like jersey. I even volunteered to wear just my Speedo which, conveniently enough I had brought along, but I got voted down.

The trails in DV and PC are mostly in great shape but we couldn’t get all the way across Mid Mountain due to lots of downed trees and more than a few snow patches.

Given a choice I think I’ll pick the girly ride every time.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Time Trialist

Seriously, what are you doing wearing your aero helmets and shouting, “On your left.” on 7th East in Sandy during rush hour?

Before someone calls me an idiot I really believe that there is a time and place for an aero helmet. It will probably give you a little edge in a time trial and I’m sure its an advantage to use one during the bike leg of a triathlon. I’ve even done a few triathlons myself although, without the aid of an aero helmet or aero bars.

Tasha and I were out on our mountain bikes doing an easy spin down 7th east in Sandy this evening trying to work out the kinks from the Sundance race last night.

I was several bike lengths in front of Tasha spinning along in the massive bike lane, really, its as wide as a car lane. Why can’t every street have bike lanes like 7th east? Anyways, all of a sudden I hear, “On your left.” What? Whoosh, whoosh a couple of time trialists or triathletes go cruising by.

How did I know I they were time trialists or triathletes? The aero helmets they were sporting of course and the aero bars. My first thought was that maybe there was a race going on. Nope, it’s rush hour and we’re on 7th east and besides, they don’t have any grease paint numbers on their calves.

What are they doing wearing aero helmets? Why would anybody wear an aero helmet anytime other than during a time trial? Why do they need to say, “on your left”?

Maybe, just maybe, they are triathlon dorks. Silly me, I get it now. I should be cheering the use of aero helmets for any ride. I’m still not sure about the “on your left” with a 20 ft wide shoulder though.

Fall Winter Spring Summer

All in the same weekend on the Wasatch Front. Jackets and cold weather gear on Friday to snow flurries on Saturday and practically Speedo weather ( I do love sporting the Speedo, especially when mowing the lawn.  If you haven’t done yard work in your Speedo you haven’t lived.  It should be on everyone’s list of things to do before you die. ) on Sunday.

It was a nearly perfect weekend and I think Spring has finally arrived. Yesterday was hands down the most beautiful day of the year. The sad news is that it’ll be gone in less than a week and we’ll be in full on summer mode of near 100 degree temps.

The family pace line en route to the grocery store for Sunday fixin’s. OK, this really scared me. Tasha led the way and I rode sweep. She just flew through intersections and parking lots with kids and me in tow like she owned the place while I sat at the back thinking, “oh crap! oh crap! oh crap!”

We pre rode the Deer Valley course on Friday but missed the race on Saturday. Total bummer as we both loved the course. Tasha was on my heels on the down hill sections. I can’t believe how fast she has gotten on the DH. I think the Bandersnatch is treating her right.

We got in 4 hours on Sunday complete with riding through a swarm of bees and a time trial for Tasha up Clark’s Trail. 16:10 but I think she’ll best that tomorrow as her, Whitney and Dot will be gunning it again in the a.m.

Speed Dork

It scares me. Going fast freaks me out. OK, going fast on a road bike freaks me out, the mountain bike not so much. I’m usually the last one out of the canyon on a road ride.

I actually ended up selling a cool old motorcycle (68′ Yamaha BearCat) I had because I constantly found myself going 20 MPH on the shoulder of the road and felt like a threat to myself and those around me.

Anyway, I hadn’t been on my road bike in nearly 3 months. It just hasn’t sounded fun. As a matter of fact I’ve been doing easy spin recovery days on my mountain bike on the road. I needed to get out today after missing some days this week because of weather and the Jabberwocky had a couple goat heads from the Draper race so I hopped on my road bike.

The first thing I noticed is that I felt like a total dork. I know I look like a dork on a bike but I never feel like a dork. It wasn’t a good dorky feeling it was a dorky dork feeling. Like I was in a basketball game but wearing a wrestling singlet and headgear. Bad.

The next thing I noticed was how fast I was going. I must admit that it was thrilling at first but then I started to scare myself and had to slow down. I don’t know if its the skinny tires or the gears or what but I was haulin some ass.

Pretty soon I wasn’t feeling so dorky. I became comfortable with the speed. Speed was fun, it was cool, I embraced it. I then started to feel like a pro road racer. I imagined all the drivers around me eying me and thinking to themselves, “I wonder if that’s Lance Armstrong?”

At that very moment of perceived fame I stood up to sprint not only to get some more speed but to show the drivers that maybe I was Lance Armstrong. My right shoe somehow unclipped from my pedal. I landed awkwardly on my top tube barely able to keep from falling down but not avoiding the inevitable top tube ball crush.

Alas, I am a dork, at least on a road bike.

10:01

That’s what the stopwatch read when I looked down at it this afternoon. That is, right after I put myself back together after having my first ever head-on collision with another mountain biker. And by head on I mean not just bikes but foreheads and shoulders.

He was a little dazed and confused and I’m actually surprised he didn’t pass out as he was looking pretty wobbly. I guess that’s what he gets for colliding with my massive deltoid. I stopped long enough to make sure he was going to be OK, re-attach my brake lever, apologize (he was hurt not me although I blame him for the crash) and offer to douse him with water to snap him back to reality. I have the outline of his eye socket permanently pressed into my shoulder.

It felt like I was on my way to a record Clark’s TT. I had been punishing myself for over 10 minutes and even managed to get by two bikers and one hiker already and could feel the record within my reach. I was at the top with the finish practically in sight. I get nauseous thinking about trying it again.

I’ve tried 3 times now. I flatted once, too muddy the 2nd time and now the head-on collision. I guess there’s always next week.

On the bright side I posted a 3:27 on Jacob’s ladder and rode the new Ghost Falls trail. I predict that It will be even better than Clark’s. It’s all cut in and ridable albeit a little rough. Access is just to the left of the old Ghost Falls access off the upper Corner Canyon road.