Preriding Swanson

Rode Swanson Park for the first time last night. Staying smooth with quick acceleration will be key for the race on Saturday...this course is tight, pretty flat and 90-95% in the trees. I'm curious as to how much of a prelude there will be for things to iron out a bit before the mass gets to the singletrack.

Race Report: Fruita - Spectacular Riding

Colorado is just awesome. I get to Denver Friday evening, and Saturday morning Dad and I jump in the car and take off towards Fruita. About an hour down I-70 we get to the Eisenhower Tunnel and there is still a ton of snow! The lifts are still going strong...made me a little confused...am I going skiing or biking?? Haha! Vail pass had about 15-20 trucks parked off one of the exits with unloaded snowmobile trailers. Still plenty of snow for these guys to take off up the mountain right from the road.

On the way out there we stopped at a bike shop in Glenwood Springs to pick up some GU for the preride later and the race. I spied a decent selection of Maxxis tires on display and found one 29" Crossmark to match my front. However, I still planned to run the Crow on the rear. Adam Leiferman called after he pre rode the course and told me that the course was dry, kinda sandy but not bad...and fast. Lots of guys mounting up Kenda Small Blocks instead of the sand tires. I figured the Crows would be perfect ;)

We get to Fruita, passing the spectacular mesas and canyons, and then another 15 miles to Rabbit Valley - the site of the race. Never really paid much attention to this scenery here before. Pull out the bike, check in at registration, and head down the trail to preride. First I have to say that riding in Fruita had some of the most amzing canyons and terrain I've ever ridden or seen! I could spend lots of time riding around out here...a multi-day camping trip through here would be awesome. Feeling pretty good afterward, I felt ready for the race. However, the Crow was not going to cut it, too much loose over hard pack. I mounted up the Crossmark - which by chance I just happened to find on the way out there...weird!

The race: This course did not have the long climbs. CAT 2 racers had to do one 18 mile loop. It started with about 8 miles of very rough service road/double track. It was a sprint...power guys ruled this roost. The field of 33 riders quickly divided into two main groups of about 10 each with the rest following behind. I was at the front of the second group with the lead group about 60 seconds ahead. Just trying to stay smooth and pedal in perfect cicles, this was how it went for about 30 minutes - then my legs started to reveal the seven months of no riding after my little leg incident. I started to blow up bad and about 75% through the race I hit a wall. It felt like everyone was going by me...just need to build up my fitness again though, so results will come. Everything else worked great. Mounting up that Crossmark was exactly the right thing to do. I could really smoke through the sweeping turms with the perfect amount of grip and drift. I obviously would have liked to place better but I did pretty well overall - better than expected. And definitely enough to get me motivated to train train train. Racing along the cliffs of these canyons was so fun.

Interesting racing out in the open range...I'm focusing on the course and my breathing and just over the crest of a short power climb we see within about 5 feet of the course 15-20 cows. They weren't on the course...yet. Towards the end I came around a corner flat out around 30 mph and there's Ol'Bessie standing there in the middle of the course. Got on the binders pretty hard...to avoid hitting a cow!

This weekend is a race right here in Omaha at Swanson Park. I'm excited for that! New venue, new series, new competition - should be fun! Goin to preride the course tonight!

Off to Fruita!

Packed up the car...headin out in a couple hours. Stopping at Denver for the night to see my parents, then the rest of the trip tomorrow morning/afternoon. My Dad will be coming with for support so that will be nice...always good company. Skipping the TT's tomorrow and just gonna get well prepared for the race on Sunday. I don't want any excuses - I need a good baseline to start with this year. The first Mountain States Cup race should be good for that!

Last night I spent a few hours checking over the Orbea. I cleaned and then greased everything, adjusted the brakes...and I switched the rear tire back to Stan's "Crow" tire. The tire I've been using has great traction but is half a pound heavier than the Crow. Plus the bigger knobs create significantly more drag on the flats. We'll see if this was a good decision or not, but I want to be fast!

Riding the roads and Platte River State Park

I remembered this for the road ride this last weekend and on the Bianchi this stuff was awesome! For the first time I took my iPod with me...Static X can be dangerous to listen to on some of those descents! Top gear and 100+ rpm's tryin to push harder in a racing crouch....I probably pushed my legs a little harder than I should've on a training ride like this, but it was so fun! Stumbled upon the old Sunset Speedway that is only a few miles from my apartment. Always get that nostalgic feeling seeing something like this.



The mountain biking this weekend was a great (but somewhat painfull) surprise! I went to Platte River State Park. This course reminded me a lot of the Mont Du Lac course up by Duluth, MN. Some nice technical sections, leg burning climbs, the trees and the general atmosphere was so much like it. It had some steep descents but they were shorter - funstuff thought.

The Ride: The plan was to ride for 4 hours...that turned into about 3hrs 32 mins. Average bpm of 147...and thats with the last 30 minutes 'idling' around the area checking things out and cooling down. This park definitely has some of the steepest (and sandiest) climbs I've been on in the midwest...man that sand really zaps you! I pushed WAY too hard in the first 2 hours. I could feel my muscle turning and twisting into a giant mess that I knew I was going to pay for the next day...or two.

Climbing to the top of this service road (aka. more like xc ski size) to reach the singletrack was a bear. Middle ring all the way but it was sandy...like racing at Buck Hill...but having climb up it in sand. This is where I think the 29er excels - with the longer contact patch the bike doesn't want to plant itself as easily. Also, getting to this point there is a steep and technical descent/drop from the parking lot. There is a road that winds its way around to get back to the top...but...thats boring. Also 4 times...I decided to climb back up it. This required the lowest gear I had, leaning back in the saddle and making ultra smooth pedal strokes...and ignoring the raging fires burning inside the quads and hammy's.





No bike issues...no injuries...it was a great weekend!

Race Prep Rides...Races coming!

The riding two weekends ago in Minneapolis was awesome. The Saturday was only the second day that some of the trails were opem for 2010 dirt season...and it was packed! Running late as usual I met up with John, Mat and my cousin Brian. We were out riding Lebanon for ~3 hours that day. Two of the three had never ridden there before so it was fun to show them around, including the X and XX sections ;)

Last week I hit Tranquility again and also spent a couple hours on Thursday on the road on the Orbea - it was wet and I figured I might get rained on and I did. Definitely not road bike weather, but a great workout nontheless. Also, I found some great roads to ride on! Some not-so-steep, but long climbs...and vice versa, just awesome for training!

Off to Minneapolis!

Gonna check out the trails up there this weekend. According to MORC, all trails in the Metro as of 9am have officially opened and are ready to ride!

This will be great to gauge fitness level...AND smoke the group I'm riding with there ;)

Three laps going pretty hard at Tranquility last night...feeling pretty good! Fruita on April 24th and 25th. Also, starting to make plans for a bike switch...

Buildin' up the lungs

Saturday I was riding in Colorado. Stiff winds (ie. 30 mph blasts) out of the west..which of course is the direction I'm heading. I drove from Thornton to a hiking trailhead just west of Lafayette on Baseline and unloaded the Bianchi there.

It was a little chilly but I knew the cool "breeze" would be much appreciated once I started riding into it down the road. I saw a couple other roadies in a draft go by the lot so I figured if they can do it I can do it. I looked west and had my sights set on Flagstaff Mountain...somewhere on the backside of which is where I had my "accident" last year in the trees.

The climb really starts about 5 miles into the ride just after crossing the busy Broadway intersection in Boulder. The wind took a little more out of me than I would have liked at this point but whatever, I need to climb that mountain! As I got to the top of Baseline and it turns into Flagstaff road the grades become much more more significant and much longer. Having a lowest gear setting of 34x25 was barely enough for this ride...actually it wasnt enough...a few riders passed me on their way to the top (grrrrrrr....) and they definitely had some steeper gears to spin in. Getting towards the top, I had to stop twice. I started thinking about it, and I've never actually ridin to the top on the road bike. Today was not going to be it either.

It started to get real cold. There was still a good amount of snow everywhere around the road and I wasn't spinning fast enough to keep myself warmed up. I stopped briefly, walked to the edge of the road to see the amazing view overlooking Boulder and straight east over the plains leading up to the foothills. I love the Colorado!!!

I knew I wasn't too far from the top but I knew I needed to make it back down...without hypothermia. I turned and started back down, only to realize later that I was only about 1/2 mile from the top but oh well. the ride down was fun and scary...too much sand! It got better about halfway down...the I could start passing cars :D Thats always fun! I did get passed by two Subaru STi's that were having some fun on this twisting winding mountain road. I tried to keep up, and without sand I think I could've held my own ;)

Total round trip: about 22 miles, 2hrs, and 2,600ft of climbing (~2,100 ft of which is in the 5 miles constant climb up Flagstaff). Good stuff for spring training! I have to say I'm surprised with my leg strength so far.

29er or not?

Staying active (tennis and running) and awesome riding lately! With more riders on the trails, its more fun to push a little harder to catch and pass people (or keep from getting passed). Definitely keeps my pace a little higher than I would when riding alone. I need it though...still feeling a little uneasy practicing some race-pace turns. The last lap of the ride at Tranquility Park on Wednesday though I was pushing pretty hard and I really feel for the first time since I broke my leg that my fitness is coming back.

Off to Denver tonight finally! Bringing the road bike to go hammer on some long ascents. Hopefully the roads will be clear enough. Yeah...that means I'm skipping the TT at Jewell Park tomorrow which I'm not totally happy about, but its a long season with lots of racing ahead and I realy need the long fitness rides right now.

Also...thinking a lot lately about the pros and cons to racing a 29er...for someone my size, it really seems like I should be more concerned with wheel/tire weight. I really notice it when I'm rolling slow and need to jump on the pedals. this guy on an Anthem really pulled on me until we got up to speed.