What a Weekend!

So last Friday found me celebrating the final night of bike week with amazing friends. We hung out at Carbondale Beerworks and got our dance on from resonating sound of the "boom bike." The night ended with a ride through the rain, which is slightly an under statement considering that the streets were turned into rivers. Will and Nirad proceeded to get soaked as they skid their tires through the lakes that had formed in lower areas. We kept riding through the rain with thoughts trying to figure out what the heck we were doing but we just kept riding through the curtain of water that seemed to stay right above us the entire time. I couldn't have asked for a better night.

I could have asked for a little more sleep though. I awake the next morning after 4 hours of sleep and prepared for the local adventure race, The Oyster Run. When I had talked to people who had participated in this event in prior years, there were talks of beer pong and weird obstacles. This year the weird obstacles and challenges were still there but seemed they did away with the beer pong. I had no idea what I was in for. In short, by the end of it we had run over ten miles and biked thirty. I had a blast with team Treadz and especially getting to race with the bro. In the end we took third and I received a much needed case of beer for the races best crash(Never sprint through a corner when there is gravel involved).

Wounds are healing quickly but the soreness remains and left me barely able to walk come saturday night and into today. Doubt it will be gone tomorrow too. On the good side though is I was still able to ride my bike, so I did.

I awoke sunday morning to help out with Bike-a-palooza at Aloha Mountain Cyclery. I helped out where I could then proceeded up to Aspen for the Aspen Criterium. I could barely walk but felt good on the bike. Unfortunately I only got about 15 minutes to warm up but I tried to make the best of it. We started the race decently quick and my legs felt pretty good. So, as usual, I took a flier off the front to get a feel for the field and to ween out any potential hazards. It lasted for a couple laps but then the field brought me back. The Ajax tavern, all 10 of them, began to throw in some attacks but with some work from a couple guys and me they were brought back. In the end it came down to a sprint where I managed to take 5th. After how sore I was from all the running the day before I was pretty stoked with this. This next weekend is Iron Horse Bicycle Classic where I'll be racing my first Cat 3 race. We'll see how it goes. Cheers!

Oredigger Classic/ DU Criterium

There is this common dread towards Hill Climb Time Trials. I think it stems from the fact that you’re ripping your insides apart and you’re still only doing 2 mph (slightly exaggerated). I started out strong but my legs began to quickly cramp up for the first quarter and I struggled getting my heart rate past 160. This was probably due to lack of hydration and/or electrolytes. After I worked the legs out I was able to slowly bring my effort up and ended up finishing 8th with a time of 21:21:60.

The DU Crit started out fast and we were in charge. We lead at first with attack after attack. After a while though it felt as though I had nothing left. I held on covering what attacks I could, to protect Ryan Dorsey who was off the front, then finished in the field sprint to get 8th while Ryan took 1st and Griffin Easter took 3rd.

First Ride Orbea Alma S50 29er

Ridden:
Moab Area: Slick Rock, Amasa Back, Poison Spider.
Price: $3200
Pros: Handling, Light, Components, Price!!!
Cons: Clear coat is hard to bond to carbon fiber and Orbea hasn’t really gotten it down for this one.

This is a great way to get a carbon fiber bike underneath you. My Medium frame ended up around 23 lbs and the pricing of only $3200 for carbon fiber is tough to beat. It climbs like a goat and you can throw the bike around so easily that you can conquer technical ascents with ease. The geometry is set up with a slight more compact frame size that allows you to pop the front end around a lot. If this is a problem for you with control then I could see how that would be a con but otherwise this is a killer bike for a killer price. For those afraid of the whole carbon fiber factor, I’m pretty hard on my equipment and I slammed the seatstay on a rock and the only mark was in the clear coat.

CU and WU Crits

So we are racing road again. CU and WU Crits went really well. CU crit was kinda rough because we just couldn't hold on to any moves we made but made up for it at the WU Crit where we held back the pack allowing Fort Lewis to take 1,2,3 with Ryan Dorsey, Josh Mcnaughton, Robbie Jones(in the sprint). Men's B's are working well together and I look forward to this next weekend.

Bare with me.

So it's going to take me a while to get used to this whole blogging thing. Especially since I'm just talking about myself for now and who likes doing that? Oh wait I guess I can think of a few people in the cycling world. haha. In the future I'll be reviewing products and posting any cool stuff I find. :)

We do how we do! 24 Hrs in the Old Pueblo.

After spending so much time surrounding by pro riders who are all about the what’s new and the most expensive, It was great to get back to the roots. We hit the trail hard and fast on our Pugsleys. Our intentions of the weekend weren’t to win, although we wouldn’t reject it if we came. We were riding fat tired sleelies. It was about having fun. The Pugsleys were actually really sweet on the trail. The wheels carried so much momentum that as long you kept you’re speed up you could rip hard and fast. So you may think that we were crazy for riding the Pugz but what it comes down to is having fun and what’s more fun than challenging just yourself.

Cycling vs. a Vehicle: Cyclists always loses

In response to another tragic event where a cyclist is killed by a truck (nobody at fault) it makes you think. As a cyclist I understand that it can get annoying when we’re hogging up the road but most of us do try to move for cars and we’re not always going to be able to and for this I’m sorry. But the main thing you have to consider is that when you’re secure in a vehicle the biker will always lose and no matter how annoyed you are or feeling powerful because you’re protected. That is a persons life that you are risking. So you may think you’re proving a point by speeding by real close is it worth that person’s life to prove a point? So whether it’s a person with a stroller or a group of cyclists. Think before you get annoyed because nobody wants blood on his or her hands. RIP Carla Swart.

Training

So base started today. It's was great to be back on the road bike! Logged about 60 miles over 4 hours. It was great to see so many of the guys riding for Fort Lewis having a good ride together. I look forward to this season.