So this is January...

2011 has blasted out of the gate! Two races already in the bag with heavy weeks of training- on and off the bike...indoors and outdoors.

The 5th annual Cold Bear Challenge Series put on by Rich Omdahl and the Dirtwerks Crew has been a blast. Competitive but low pressure and just fun! The CBC series consists of three races at one of my favorite courses to ride- Hillside Park in Elk River, MN...racing at or around 0 degrees in snow...in MN...ahhh the fun factor of these events. There's a certain amount of pride that comes with rolling up to the starting line at these races.

Race #1 - January 9, 2011: first ever race in snow. Initial strategy was to simply stay on the packed stuff, keep an even pace, and just have fun. This worked really really well. Went into the singletrack after the 1/3 mile road sprint in about 7th- no worries though as was feeling strong with a lot in the tank still. Stayed smooth got the 'focus'

and quickly found myself in 2nd place after the prologue and 1/2 way into the first lap! I held this until I realized my Camelback spout froze...and it was inside my final layer! (testament to how cold it was that day) The pace I was on...there was no way I'd be able to keep it without hydration so while fiddling with that (including two corner slideouts) three racers went by that I never could catch again. Had a fun final push in the last two sections of the course with Angry Catfish Bikes and Coffee rider Ben Rogowski- great 100 yard sprint to the finish. Finished 5th- first top 5 of 2011 though and fitness levels feel strong!

Race #2 of CBC was today...happy to report the fitness level feels even stronger...however, the course was not nearly as fast as before and I (and many others) was

pushing the bike through mushy snow more than riding in some sections. One of my booties kept sliding up over the toe of my shoe exposing the mesh to the snow and foot was beginning to turn into a popsicle. I wasn't feeling like two laps of this so called it after one- I had fun still- and got a GREAT high intensity workout in...heart rate was definitely bouncing off the rev limiter for most of it!

Pictures!

More posts to come later for updates...but here are some photos to show a little of whats been going on- yeah don't have too many, I'm usually riding (bike or ski's) hard and forget picture breaks....

Skiing Arapahoe Ski Basin

Can't wait to ski these trees!

Loveland Ski Area

First Tracks at Tranquility in first December snow

Skiing Breckenridge

Not sure what the F this is yet...

T-Bucket project progress...

Bandit needs a buddy while I'm away...so...coming February 1st!
My Italian Greyhound Ajax! (Named after the ski mountain in Aspen, Colorado)

Best of 2010...

Lifes been busy- busy enough to where things like trying to keep up a blog has been sort of challenging. I typed up a few entries throughout January in Word, but just never transferred them...anyway, the next few posts were written sometime in the last few weeks.

“Best … of 2010”

Its fun to reflect back on the previous year- I’m very competitive and driven in several areas so I like to see and remember what I’ve done. 2010 was a wacky year and brought lots of changes…and definitely has its own chapter in my life. Starting the year I was almost sure I was done racing competitively after losing so much fitness in the seven months off the bike after my accident in 2009! Not only the fitness loss but I had some weird “things” going on with my ankle- thankfully I just started the training anyway and when it went away I realized it was only because of the lack of use and physical therapy during recovery. There were some major peaks and some valleys last year – but here are some of the “best” of 2010:

Best Race: USA Cycling Nationals…this one is obvious- a bronze medal at this caliber of event?! Big thanks to TJ at Momentum Endurance for helping me boost my fitness as much as possible in such a short amount of time. Huge accomplishment- I still have lingering battle scars six months later to prove the effort I put into the preparation and participation in this race.

Best Event: TEVA Games in Vail. I don’t care what other events fall on this weekend- I’ll be back for this in 2011. The events, food, people, music, the whole festival was everything I love- even better being a participant in something this big..

Best Day Dream Topic: The Olympic Skeleton

Best Race Course: Kind of tough as there’s about five…but can probably narrow it down to a toss up between Sol Vista and Rabbit Valley (Fruita). Sol Vista was an awesome course for a mountain bike race- the long climbs varied from dirt road to technical and the descents varying from rocky/sandy loose singletrack to high speed banked turns. Rabbit Valley was quite simply the most scenic place I’ve ever ridden…ever- racing over flat rock, red dirt, sand, along the edge of cliffs and bluffs with amazing colors and views- racing on this terrain was seriously sweet.

Best Training Workout: LT Intervals (thanks TJ!)

Best Ride: Riding to the top of Mount Evans; ~14,260 feet above sea level

Best Lessons Learned: Pre-race hydration/preparation!! Several times in 2010 I bonked (including one DNF) or didn’t get warm-ups in due to lack of hydration, sleep, and/or not getting to the venue early enough before race start times.

Best Road Trip: Omaha to the Black Hills in SD to see two great friends get married; then two days later to Burnsville, MN for the MNMBS race at Buck Hill.

Best Addition to Traveling Entertainment: My dog Bandit

Best Equipment Purchase: PowerTap

Best Cross Training: Downhill skiing at A-Basin in Colorado

Best Motivation to Train Movies that are not Bike Movies: Rocky- all of 'em, The Cutting Edge

Best Training Tunes (well...some of 'em): Paradise City (GNR), Scream (Avenged Sevenfold), Awake and Alive (Skillet), Hell of a Time (Hell Yeah)

Best Thanks: To all of you who put up with my "I care about racing and thats it" way of thinking and living throughout the summer months in particular. AND also to anybody that at one time or another has let me take up refuge for a night or four in your basement, guest room, closet, garage, where ever...Bandit and I sincerely appreciate it.