GoReedGo!

2010 PCPP 8 Hour Garmin Course File

2010-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

If you are racing the 2010 Park City Point 2 Point, you might well know that there is some sweet booty (haha) if you can finish in under 8 hours:

I've created a Garmin course file that finishes the race in 8 hours. You can use the virtual partner to ride along with and see how your pace is compared to the 8 hour pace. It's also a single file so you don't have to flip between courses during the ride.

To download it, load up the 2010 Park City Point 2 Point course here:

http://goreedgo.com/index.php?id=1349

Then click the "Garmin Course" link under "Export Files" on the left.

One word of caution: I haven't tried this file yet, so it may/may not work. It's cobbled together from the files on the PCPP site (http://thepcpp.com/race/the-course/) with a second or two shaved off between each point to bring it down to 8 hours.

You can also create course files with any starting and stopping point along the course that you wish by following the "Courses" link at the top of the goreedgo.com site. That way, for instance, if you are only riding the second half, you can create a file that shows only the second half. If you want more instruction than that, email me (reed@goreedgo.com) or comment on the post and I'll give more detail. I know the site is 100% user friendly.

If you try the file, let me know how it goes.

My Idea to Millions

2009-09-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I had an idea to make millions this week. Millions! Only I was a century too late.

Maybe I can make a bike specific line...

"Tri Flow!"

"Moldy Waterbottle!"

"Sweaty Bike Seat!"

What To Do.

2009-09-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's bike shopping time and I've narrowed the field to two. Let's meet our competitors:

In the Red Corner, weighing in at somewhere around 23 pounds:

Gary Fisher Superfly - Light. Quick. Raw. And says "Noir" on it. It screams awesome fastness. On the Intermountain Cup Race courses, this is the club of choice.

In the Blue corner, weighing in at somewhere around 27 pounds:

Gary Fisher HiFi Pro 29 - The heavier, aluminum version of its cheeleader-dating-star-quarterback older brother, the Superfly 100. If funds were unlimited or I had the financial sensibility of a President, the Superfly 100 would be my choice. Unfortunately, I am neither wealthy nor a Community Organizer. So its bulkier, fun-loving, but-still-racy younger brother is next on my list.

Let's face it. Every racer needs both of these bikes. But which do you pick when can only have one?

Which would you pick and why? Even if you just like the color of one more than the other, I want to know.

Making Gel

2009-08-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

This isn't an answer; it's a question. I really like the Powergel, but I go through so much of this stuff and at a buck a pop, it's pretty expensive.

So the question is has anyone tried making their own refuel gel? What did you use and how did it go?

The GoReedGo T

2009-08-29T14:25:00.001-07:00

Sorry, not for sale.

Help Robbie Squire Go to Worlds

2009-08-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

Check out MTBRaceNews.com for details:

http://www.mtbracenews.com/2009/08/help-send-top-under-23-rider-robbie.html#comment-form

Help spread the word by posting a comment on your blog, if you've got one.

In my opinion...

2009-08-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

After pre-riding all of the PCPP course except the climb up Thaynes, Midmountain, and into the canyons, I have to say I think this will be a phenomenal race.

The course is spectacular. I can't imagine there are many places where a course like this could be made. Seemingly endless singletrack with essentially no overlap, as it twists through the mountains above Park City, winding through the resorts.

It's also really, really hard. Tons of climbing with some spectacular views of Park City, the ski resorts, Midway, and Mt. Timpanogos. My personal favorite was cresting the top of Bald Mountain about 25 miles into the course and looking down on Midway. You'll know what I mean when you ride it.

Get Thee Hence, Satan!

2009-08-22T14:46:00.001-07:00

My 8 hour estimate was bad on the PCPP.

8.5 hours and still unable to finish.

The Devil's Tail

2009-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed the Devilish looking tail in the PCPP course?

Coincidence or Foreshadowing?

PCPP Attempt #1 - Fail!

2009-08-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

First, let me say, I think navigation could be a pretty big part of this race. Maybe they'll be able to mark the whole course, but there will be many places to wander off course.

So I went out there with my GPS with the course on it, but my handlebar mount had broken. It didn't take me long to realize that I would have to either hold the GPS in one hand and steer with the other or take the GPS out of my pocket at every intersection. Neither option was good. So I gave it up after riding the Round Valley loop. I'll try it again this weekend.

The course is loaded on GoReedGo here.

Courses - A New GoReedGo Feature

2009-08-12T21:37:00.001-07:00

I have a new feature for GRG. It's a simple way to create courses (a list of trails) using trails uploaded to the site. These courses can then be used on your Garmin GPS to ride the trail or viewed in Google Earth. You might use this to check out new rides, see what a ride you took looks like, or scope out a new race course.

So, let's say that you're planning to ride up Rattle Snake Gulch, across the Pipeline, up the paved road to the Big Water trail to Dog Lake. You would like to know how far that is and what the altitude profile looks like. Easy.

First, go to the course creator.

In the search bar, begin typing "Rattle Snake Gulch". A drop down will show all the trails that match as you type. When you see "Rattle Snake Gulch", click it to load it in your trail list.

Now we want to add the Pipeline trail. For this, just click the red line designated "Pipeline Trail" on the map. In a few short seconds it will load. You will notice a long straight line across the top of the trail, which doesn't look right. This is because the start and stop points are backwards. Click the "Edit" icon for the pipeline trail. You will notice the start and stop flags load on the map. Click and drag the start flag to the top of Rattle Snake Gulch and the stop flag to the end of the trail. Now click "Done" in the course list.

Next we want to know how to get from the top of the Pipeline to Big Water. For this we can use the "Directions" tool. Click the button shaped like an arrow bending to the right. Click once to set the start point near the end of the Pipeline trail. You will see the green flag. Click once more near the beginning of the Big Water trail (the next set of red lines to the right). GRG will automatically figure out the way up the road and add it to your trail list.

Finally, we want to add Big Water. We could use the crosshair tool again, but for fun, let's use the "Drawing Tool". This is the picture of the pencil and paper. This allows you to draw trails freehand. Click on the map once to begin your trail. Keep clicking to add more points. Once you are finished, just double click on the last point. We now have our trail.

As you can see, the altitude profile and distance are automatically updated. A running list of trail sections shows the distance and altitude gain/loss for each section.

If you would like to see it in Google Earth in 3D, just click the Google Earth link in the GPS Files box (or if you are very adventurous, click the "Earth" button in the top right corner of the map).

To export the trail as a course to be loaded on your Garmin GPS, click the Garmin Course link in the GPS Files box.

Finally, for printable directions to get to the trailhead, just your address in the "Get Directions" box.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

The PCPP - Park City Point to Point

2009-08-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here's the goal for Friday.

I'm planning a "pre-ride" (the actual race isn't until Sep 5th) of the PCPP. No, it's not an ultra powerful version of the drug*, now with extra "P", it's the Park City Point to Point. It's 75 miles and 14,000' of Park City blissfulnessiness. As if that isn't hard enough, I'm going to up the difficulty level, spending Thursday at Lagoon eating cheap, re-re-re-refrozen ice cream and riding vomit inducing teacups.

The plan is to start riding at 6 AM and ride until:

A. My bike breaks down. Given my recent history, that will probably take between 5 and 10 minutes.

B. I become a quivering, crying mess wishing I had brought more gummy worms and they need to Helivac me away.

C. I finish!

The map for the round valley loop is a little confusing, so if anyone would like to explain it to me, I'd be happy to listen.

Assuming I am able to ride it, I should be able to get a good GPS track which will be available here on GoReedGo.com for anyone to use.

Wish me luck.

*From Wikipedia: "Phencyclidine (a complex clip of the chemical name phenylcyclohexylpiperidine, commonly initialised as PCP)". Wow. Phenylcyclohexylpiperidine. Can you imagine the Scrabble score on THAT?

Not Bike Related. What of it?

2009-08-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was trying to spin this towards bikes somehow, but I've got nothing. So enjoy it for what it is. A totally great, complete waste of time.

http://www.playauditorium.com/

How smart are you? I'm currently stuck on 2:5.

As it turns out, it only lets you play through the first 3 acts on the website. If you want to play more, you have to buy it for $11. An investment into your cycling success, for sure! (see how I snuck it in there? You didn't even notice, did you.)

Mountain Biking Contrast

2009-08-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

It's interesting how mountain biking has changed:

I switched out the 2nd video. Webequitte says no autoplaying music or videos on a website. What a faux paus. I liked the other video better, so to see the original video, you can watch it on bikemag.com here or buy it from amazon here.

PCTV : Rock the Canyons Video

2009-08-05T20:42:00.001-07:00

Work is kicking my butt this week.

Winner in my own mind

2009-08-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

This week was the final race of the Intermountain Cup for 2009 at the Canyons Mountain Resort. I had a lot of confidence going into this race after feeling so good at Solitude. But it was not to be. Today was almost an identical repeat of Solitude. The course had much the same feel as Solitude; big climbs, big, rocky, tough descents. A great course.

This week I also did my mountain bike missionary work and brought along a first time racing friend, Mike.

The pack started off with their usual jackrabbitness quickly moving me to the back, but it didn't last long. We began the race climbing a dirt road and after about 3 minutes in the saddle, the main pack slowed except for already Series Champ Brian Tolbert and Teen-Phenom Tanner Cottle who put a gap on everyone. I quickly passed the main pack and started trying to bring in the others, but by then we'd hit a singletrack climb making it very difficult, nay, impossible to pass. Series Champ slowed on the singletrack and a traffic jam of 30-39ers bunched up behind him with me in that group. Eventually, we reached a point where people could pass Series Champ, me included. But by then Teen-Phenom was long gone.

After cresting the climb and 3/4 of the way down the descent Series Champion caught and passed me in a spectacular pass through the tall weeds. But I knew he couldn't hold me off on the climb, so I wasn't too concerned.

Sure enough, we hit the climb and I passed him pretty quickly. So all that was left was Teen-Phenom. I began cranking up the hill pushing hard. With about 1/2 mile left in the climb, I could see him about 10 seconds in front of me. I knew I could catch him. I knew I could win.

Suddenly there was a 'crack' and my feet were spinning freely. Maybe my chain slipped off the rings? But no, there was my chain lying in the dust of the trail like a snake. It had broken. I didn't have a chain tool or any quick links*, so I knew I was done. I picked up the chain and looked at it. Luck! The chain had broken only one link away from the quick link, so I opened it and began to uncoil the kinks in the chain. Then when I went to put the quick link back together... I realized that in my own stupidity, I had dropped half of the quick link while uncoiling the chain. It was lost somewhere in the undergrowth of the forest. I was done.

I started walking up the trail watching everyone pass me. After about 10 minutes, I came to a course marshal and asked him if he had a chain tool I could borrow. Sure enough he did, so I began fixing the chain, but it took another 5 minutes. I started riding again, but at that point it was just for fun, and I finished in dead last.

Series Champion won again. It turned out Teen-Phenom went down pretty hard and had serious mechanical problems because of it, so he ended up in 2nd-to-dead-last.

Still, it was a good time.

Mike also had mechanical issues. His chain was skipping, probably due to a worn out cassette. But he enjoyed his first race.

It's been a good year of racing. My group has been very competitive every race making for some of the funnest racing I've ever done. I didn't do well in the overall series points even though I've been quite strong this year. I didn't get strong early enough and didn't maintain my bike well enough when I did. Next year is my last year in the 19-29 year old group, so I guess I'd better make it count.

My Garmin wouldn't stay on for a full lap during the race. If anyone has the GPS tracks, I would be most appreciative if you could email them to me at reabbotted@hotmail.com or you can upload them to goreedgo.

*A quick link is a link of chain where the two sides of it pull apart so you can put it through the ends of a chain making it into a loop.

Hitting Deers is Bad For Bikes

2009-07-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

Just ask Rich...

Inbalance

2009-07-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel out of balance? You get home from work and just feel out of whack. Askew. Misshapen. So you whip out your trusty metallic steed and begin to crank. Soon everything is corrected. Realigned. Controllable.

That is the power of the Pipeline.

Endurance

2009-07-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Adventure is discouraged in our day. Taking large risks is seen as foolish. It's hard to take on grand adventures anyway. It's expensive. It means leaving your family and your desk. And there aren't many new grand adventures anyhow. I can explore on a personal level, but I'm treading where many others have tread before.

But I can still read about great adventures from the past when there were many new things to be explored. Everything wasn't so safe. Parts of the world had yet to be mapped. Goals were very apparent and so was victory, as well as defeat. Limits could be pushed and lines brazenly tiptoed.

My latest reading is of Ernest Shackelton, a great Antarctic explorer.

His goal was to be the first to traverse Antarctica. The plan was to sail to Antarctica with his team, including tons of supplies and nearly 80 sled dogs, board the Antarctic continent, and trek to the South Pole. Meanwhile, another group would sail to the other side of the continent and plant supplies along their route from the pole to the end.

But from nearly the very moment Shackelton and his crew reached the Antarctic waters,
things begin to go awry. The team is on the verge of figurative drowning a countless number of times before surfacing for another puff of air to keep them going.

It's one of the best books I've ever read, making me feel some of the sensations of I feel when on a long bike ride. It's one of the few books I've missed reading after I was done.

You can get it from Amazon for $1.29. That's cheaper than a Powerbar.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

What is GoReedGo about?

2009-07-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking for a while about blogging about what GoReedGo is and why it's taking up space on the Interwebs. Here it is:

GoReedGo is a place to find mountain bike trails and plan rides. I know what you're saying. It's been done many, many times before (see.. UtahMountainBiking.com, Btrails.com, Redtrails.com, motionbased.com, etc.) Fine sites indeed and they have their place, but GoReedGo is taking a different approach.

There are basically three ways to find bike trails. The first is the guidebook style. You pick your general area, see the names and trails, and select them one by one until you find a trail that looks nice. It works well, but can be tedious to find what you're looking for if you don't know the trail name. For instance, if you're new to an area or visiting an area and just want to know where you can ride nearby.

The second style shows a map with a bunch of icons on it showing where trails begin (see motionbased.com, redtrails.com). You click the starting icon and it gives the information about the trail. Again, it works but you still have to click through the trails to figure out where they go.

Then there is GoReedGo, an interactive method to finding mountain bike trails the tried and true way - look at a trail map.

The goal of GoReedGo is to become the world's largest mountain bike trail map. The trails, with their names, are emblazoned in red across a map. You can see where the trail starts, where the trails goes, which trails it intersects with, the name of the trail, and (soon) the difficulty of the trail... all before you even click on it.

If you want details of what the trail is like, simply click the trail on the map. It presents an altitude profile, description, turn-by-turn directions for getting there, and the ability to load the trail on a GPS unit or Google Earth. Cool, huh?

There is a catch, though. The only way to build this huge trail network is through users. That's why anyone can upload new trails or edit the description of trails with GoReedGo.

You know that trail you've ridden a 100 times before? You know every corner. You know all the lines through that tricky rock section. You've seen the trail in all four seasons. Maybe you've even left some blood behind on that trail. No one knows that trail like you do.

I want to find a way to capture that intimate knowledge of each trail.

What about when new trails are made? Or changed? I want to make it easy to reflect those changes on the map quickly and easily.

There is still a lot of things I want to do with GoReedGo, so keep watching the site and this blog for changes, including some videos soon of how to use the site.

Reed

HOT!

2009-07-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Riding home from work I passed the Lifthouse today; The thermometer showed a cool 100 degrees. The water in my bottle was on the verge of boiling. It made me wish I had one of the Camelbak insulated bottles. I bought one for Katie for her birthday. But I'm banned from using it. I have been known to leave bottles filled with juice for months at a time. Have you ever left Gatorade in a water bottle in the trunk of a car? A delectable moss develops that requires a biohazard suit to dispose of. Even worse is when it grows in the Camelbak hose. Anyhow, the moss has appeared enough times times, she won't drink out of my own bottles.

Want to cool down? Here is a Wintery Video.

2009-07-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

It's hot in Utah. I'm sure some of you have noticed. It's Hot enough that I am longing for cooler places. So to help you and I cool off, here are two videos of someone doing something cold. It's not your usual hucking off big cliffs set to funky music only to crater like a meteor in the powder at the bottom. Nothing like this...

No. Definitely too inane.

This is more of what I had in mind.

See? Wasn't that nice? I think I'll order it from Netflix.

Solitude Race Report

2009-07-18T12:37:00.001-07:00

The Solitude race is just now ending for most people. And here I am reporting from home.

I did go. I spent my $39. I lined up. I was even doing well. But mechanical problems ruled the day in the end.

The race started off how they all do. The pack sprinted off leaving me eating their dust (literally, this week). The difference this week is this course suites my style; Big ups, big downs. So we hit the first big climb and I started passing people quickly. Within about 10 minutes, I'd passed the entire pack. UtahMountainBiking was on my heels, maybe 15 seconds back, but hit the bottom of a steep, tricky hill near the top of the climb and his tire hissed flat.

After that, for the next lap and a half, it was pretty business as normal. Just riding around the loop feeling good. My Garmin GPS is having issues where it shuts itself off in bumpy spots, so it had shut itself down. My fork still has the lockout issue and had quickly worked itself almost entirely shut, so I was working on an almost rigid fork. But neither of these was a problem. What WAS a problem was the flat on my rear near the end of the 2nd lap. I didn't have anything to fix it with, so I was done. I waited to see how long it would take for the other guys to catch up, and I was a good 2 minutes ahead of everyone. So even though I had the mechanical issues, I felt good about the race in the end.

Thanks to Brad Keyes for the free Carbo Rocket samples. It was working well for me. My stomach was calm and happy for the race and I had no hints of cramping. For some reason, when racing, taste buds become ultra-sensitive. The taste was gentle so that it tasted good but wasn't overpowering during the ride. I tried Nuun during the Wasatch Classic. It worked, but is a lot like Tums. It's tablets that you drop into your bottle, and it fizzes when it drops into the water. This leaves the water fizzy tasting. It also pressurizes the bottle. If you're not used to it, when you open your bottle to squirt it in your mouth, you'll really get a mouthful. I preferred the Carbo Rocket.

Wasatch Classic Part 2

2009-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

I know I've left you sweating about what happened in the Wasatch Classic, and I'm sorry to keep you in suspense for two weeks. Rich's account of it with some good pictures is here.

We left off at Tibble Fork Reservoir with muddy bikes. And so Rich and I began the long and arduous climb up to the top of Catherine's Pass. We cleaned off the bikes at Tibble, but the gooky muck had left our chains bone dry. This meant chain suck*. Lots of it. Mine was not bad, but Rich's would happen very regularly, especially as the road got steeper further up the canyon. Rich talked about bailing, but after talking about it, it didn't make much sense. The place we were at would have meant hiking out of the canyon whether he went to the top of Catherine's or not, so we pressed on. Soon the trail was unrideable anyway. It was too steep, too rocky, and/or too snowy. I don't know how long we hiked for, but we pushed our bikes for a couple miles up to the top of the pass. The hiking was slow going, but eventually we made it.

It was pretty exhilarating to make it to the top. This was what I had come to do and I was still feeling good. Good enough that I was pretty sure I could finish the whole course. The bikes were still a little bit of an unknown, but as we headed down the other side of the hill, we were heading towards a store near the Brighton ski resort, hoping they had some kind of lube.

Once we reached the store, we looked around for some chain lube or WD40 or something.
But the only thing they had was 10W30 motor oil. Good enough. Rich bought the oil, we used about 2 oz of the 1 quart bottle and left the rest for anyone who wanted it. The motor oil worked like a charm. The bikes were running smooth again.

So after 20 minutes or so, we headed out for Puke Hill, the Wasatch Crest, Mid Mountain Trail, Scott's Bowl, Guardsman's Pass and to the finish line. The only problem was I had sucked down my last gel pack going up Catherine's. I still had Powerbars, but didn't think I could stomach them. So I held out eating for as long as I could, but eventually I knew I needed calories to keep going. I tried the Powerbar, and sure enough, I was soon riding with an achy stomach. Slowing down. Hanging back. Watching Rich ride away and have to wait for me up the trail. He knew I was starting to suffer, so he gave me a salt tablet to suck on. Within another 20 minutes, that had cured the stomach ache, but I was still running out of energy with nothing to eat.

By the time we reached Scott's bowl, which is a 2 mile climb with maybe 1000 feet of vertical I had 0 energy. It was a feeling like I've never felt before. It wasn't like I was too tired or my legs were cramping; there just wasn't anything left in the gas tank. Nothing left.

I plunked down on the trail and asked Rich for food. He graciously gave up his last Shot Blok (my favorite trail food) and his bag of gummy worms. It wasn't much, but it was enough. We cranked out of Scott's and over Guardsmans.

Approximate Stats:
Ride Time: 14 hours
Distance: 82 Miles
Vertical Gain: 15,000 feet

Would I do it again? Of course. I think everyone should do it. It offers some of the best trails the Wasatch has available. It offers incredible challenge. And even if you can't ride the whole thing, there are many places to tuck your tail between your legs and head back to your car.

Reed

*Definition From Wikipedia: "chain suck
The tendency of a chain to stick to chain rings and be sucked up into the bike instead of coming off the chainring. Primarily caused by worn chainrings and rust on small chain rings, under high loads, and in dirty conditions."

Fox F29 RL Lockout Problem

2009-07-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

My fork is slowly locking itself out... permanantly.

The amount of rotation in the lockout dial has gone from about 270 degrees down to 90. It still locks out when I twist the lever, but I'm guessing the valve doesn't totally open up anymore.

This here is the bike with the culprit fork.

I know there are a lot of these forks out there. Anyone else seeing this problem?

Update - After a while the fork went completely locked out and the lever wouldn't turn anymore. I talked to the LBS and they said shipping it to Fox to fix it could take up to 6(!) weeks. Yuck. So I pulled off the rebound dial that sits over the lockout lever, then I pulled off the lockout lever using some small allen wrenches. I then put the lockout lever back on, only rotated about 270 degrees clockwise of what it had been. This seems to have fixed it. Or at least reset it. I suspect it will continue to rotate itself back to the locked out position. I'll email Fox and see what they have to say about it.

Update #2 - Here is the response from Fox:
This is very odd as our lockout forks do not usually have issues like this and it may indicate a more serious damper problem. I would recommend contacting us at the number below if you live in the U.S. to have your fork sent in and properly repaired so this does not continue to happen.

Fox Racing Shox
310 Anna St.
Watsonville, Ca 95076
1-800-369-7469 xt 4801

Me - How long would the repair take?

Them - Service usually takes 5 days in house not including shipping time.

2009 Wasatch Classic

2009-06-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

The Wasatch Classic is more than just a mountain bike ride. It's more of a friendly adventure race. This year's WC featured deer, pioneers, mud, snow, motor oil, and gummy worms.

8 of us started from Midway at 6 AM which meant waking up at a mind-numbing 4. The 8 (not 9) were Grizzly Adam, Rich, myself, Derek Batley, Aaron "Shammy not Chamois Time", Rob "The Engineer from Tucson" Brinkerhoff, and two guys from Steamboat, CO - Essam and Chad. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ride much with any of them except for Rich. Anyone willing to show up at 6 to try to do this thing (especially from outside the Wasatch*), are crazy tough, though.

The ride started out with an uneventful, 2 and 1/2 hour, dirt road climb up the Ant Knolls. We passed a huge group of "pioneers" out on trek. They were very nice and the children sang as they walked and walked and walked. Hauling port-a-potties across the planes would have been rough.

Then the fun began. From here we headed out on a single track section of trail that traverses the ridgeline. Much of the trail was a thin layer of goo from the rain the night before making it slick and tough/impossible to ride. Much walking ensued.

But then...!

It got worse. What should have a been a highlight downhill turned into a complete mud bog. The motorcycles had torn huge, muddy gorges into the trail. Nice. (Meanwhile, Mad Dog Cycles teammates of mine were cleaning up another section of trail in the same area that motorcycles had torn up previously. Nice.).

This brought us to Tibble Fork reservoir where we had a chance to wash our bikes off and refill our bottles.

Up to this points, I was feeling surprisingly fresh and delicious. But this brought us to the base of my nemesis from last year; the reason I came this year; the monstrous wall in front of us known as Catherine's Pass.

But it will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm tired and want to watch King of Queens. See you then.

*Especially on a single-speed. Nuts.

Victory!

2009-06-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Wasatch Classic has officially been beaten.

More details (and video (and pictures)) to come.

PC TV @ PC, of all places

2009-06-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

Cameos by some familiar faces. Way to go KC!

Did you spot Grizzley Adam?

Katherine's Pass

2009-06-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Wasatch Classic is next week. There was a comment on Adam's blog saying there was still snow up high. I wanted to check it out for myself.

I think it still might be possible to make it over, but it will be slow going. The only other concern I have is if you didn't know the route and didn't have a GPS, it might be easy to get off course since much of the trail is still covered in snow. But at this point, I'm still planning on showing up and giving it a shot.

Bikepacking Trip # 1/2

2009-06-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

Just like I said I would, I went out for a bikepacking trip last night.

It turned out that 2 weeks of rain had left the camp site cold, soggy, and muddy. Who would have thought? So I didn't spend the night. Instead I came home and watched Survivorman. But I still had my bike and my pack, so I think it counts as bikepacking.

Here is my gear list in case you're interested in doing it yourself someday:

Backpack - REI Traverse 30 - A great little 30 Liter pack for all my crap. It also claims to be ecoSensitive; I suppose because of its low CO2 emissions?
Tent - Alps Mountaineering Comet 1.5 - This thing was dirt cheap (I think around $65 paid) and dang light (claimed weight of ~3 lbs), so I hope it doesn't suck. This one is not freestanding, which was an accident.
Sleeping Bag - Lafuma Extreme 800 - Light and cheap.
Sleeping Pad - Big Agnes Air Core Mummy Pad - Also light and cheap.

Clothing
Wind Jacket
Warm Pants
Warm Hat
Light Weight Shirt

Food Related
2 Water Bottles
Stove
Fuel
Cup
Spoon
Oatmeal
Yogurt Covered Raisins
3 Powerbars (extra nasty flavor)
2 Poptarts
1 Package of Tuna Fish
1/2 Package of Ritz Crackers
Portable Aqua Chlorine Tablets

Bike Tools
Multitool
Spare Tube
Tire Lever
Patch Kit
Pump

Bike Packing

2009-06-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately about bike packing - Backpacking on a bike. It makes sense, right? In a week of backpacking, you can maybe go 50 miles. With about the same daily effort, I'm thinking I can ride 50 miles each day. The problem of course is limits in how much I can carry on a bike. A 50 lb pack is pretty reasonable backpacking, but 50 lbs on my back on a bike is nuts. But I want to test it out and see how it goes.

I've been thinking about this long enough that I've been slowly accumulating equipment for it. A backpack, a 1 man tent, an ultralight sleeping bag, ultralight pad, etc.

I think I'm getting close enough now that I can do a trial run. My plan is to take a night and ride up to Dog Lake. It's only a couple of hours away. Plus it's all downhill if I have any problems. So I think I'm going to try to give it a shot some time this week. Either Thursday or Friday.

Speaking of problems, after taking the video above, I rode down from Dog and was caught by the worst rain storm I've ever ridden in. It was so very pleasant when I took the video. It was raining gently and pleasantly. The rain from the week made everything green and lush. Plus I was listening to an album of Classical music that made it feel like I was in a movie, complete with awe inspiring soundtrack. I started down the hill and that's when the epic battle began. The rain came down in torrential, chilly sheets intermittent with hail. Wind gusts coming up the canyon blasted me. My soundtrack was replaced with the booming of thunder. By the time I reached the mouth of the canyon, I was shivering and having some trouble controlling the bike. My jaw was clenched tight from the cold. I pedaled hard to stay as warm as possible and soon made it home.

Fisher Superfly 100

2009-06-01T19:40:00.001-07:00

Good lookin new Fisher coming out next year. 29er full suspension, full carbon, and NICE looking.

Velo News has the nitty-gritty.

I should have been a doctor.

Sundance

2009-05-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Raced at Sundance yesterday. Fun, but I wasn't real fast. I hardly slept the night before and I think it hurt me quite a bit. Half way through the second of three laps, I was sort of day dreaming when I was passed by two guys in my group. It woke me up and made me realize I needed to push harder. I managed to pass both of them back pretty easily, and ended up in a decent 5th place finish. Good enough for a tangerine colored ribbon. Sweet!

This picture pretty well describes how I felt. Overy dirty, mouth gaping open like a fish, and snot running down my face. Suave.

*Editors Note: Umm, I meant Overly dirty. Not Overy dirty. Oops.

Mad Dog Big Wheel

2009-05-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Remember your first big wheel? Cruising down your parents' driveway and smashing through stacks of buckets. This is sort of like that.

PC TV

2009-05-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

Park City Television showed up to the Hammerfest.

The Youngans

2009-05-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

We've really got some up-and-comers in the Utah mountain bike racing scene.

Last week I mentioned 16 year-old phenom Tanner Cottle who edged me at the line. He led the race from front to back. Definitely someone to watch in the future.

But not to be outdone, was this week's 14 year-old Keegan Swenson of Park City. He made a splash in last year's Park City Perfect 10 (a 10 hour event) when he led the race after the first lap. He joined the 19-29 year old Expert ranks this race and had an incredible showing in 4th place, just a minute behind myself. I'm pretty sure at 14 I still hadn't lost my training wheels.

I need to get these kids' autographs.

Bike to Work Week : Day 3

2009-05-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a convenient video of tricks to help you get to work faster.

Bike To Work Week

2009-05-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

May 11-15 is bike to work week.

How are you doing?

Sherwood Hills

2009-05-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Sherwood Hills race had the highs and lows of a good drama. Standing at the start line, the other riders looked strong and confident, while my confidence waned. I chatted it up with a 16 year old kid racing in the 19-29 year old expert class that I knew was going to beat me.

The race started and I quickly fell to the back of the pack. For the first of the four laps, I felt fine - not sick or real tired - just not very strong; I just couldn't keep up. As the main group pulled away from me, I thought about how you can usually tell how the race is going to finish by the end of the first lap. By then, racers have settled into their pace and it's unusual for someone to hardcore bonk after that, so I figured I'd finish the race somewhere near the back. I was feeling discouraged. I felt I hadn't done enough long rides. I hadn't ridden enough hours. I felt too old.

But by the end of first lap, others started to fade. My endurance was good enough to keep me powering up the climbs and soon I was storming by others. One by one, I caught and dropped riders. Near the end of the third lap, I blew past the 2nd place rider. He let me know that 1st place was waaaaay ahead of him. It was the 16-year-old.

By the 4th lap, my legs were getting tired, but I knew I had enough to finish the race strong, so I kept pounding. About 2 miles from the finish, I caught sight of the 16-year-old and could see I was closing in. The trail to the finish is single track that winds through trees - almost impossible to pass - but then opens for maybe 20 yards to the finish line. Going into the single track, I was only a few yards off the 16-year-old's rear wheel. We wound through the trees. Coming into the clearing I gunned it through the finish. But there just wasn't enough distance. I finished right on his back wheel.

All-in-all, this was one of the most fun races I've ever ridden. The course was in great shape; tacky but not muddy. The weather was perfect; cool and calm. But most of all, it was personally a great race. I felt like the old guy making a comeback.

For a few minutes, I was Rocky.

Five Mile Pass

2009-04-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Five Mile Pass race is this weekend.

Hijole! El weather looks like crap. $40 for 2 1/2 hours in rain and mud won't be happening.

RAWROD 09 - White Rim Trail

2009-04-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

It turns out 100 miles is a long way. Rich breezed through RAWROD 09, and I did well for the first 60, but was having problems digesting for the last 40 which slowed me to a granny-gear crawl. Still, we finished in sub-9 hours.

Rich has his thoughts, pictures, and all of the matter-of-fact details of the ride, so I'll refer you to his blog for that.

Here is my video journal of the thing.

The mind is funny about things like this. Suffering for 40 miles on a bike while sand blows in your face isn't like eating ice cream. By the time you're done, you think, "Man. Why did I do that? That sucked." But slowly your memories get filtered. A few days later, your mind starts to think, "Man. I did THAT?! That was EPIC!" And soon you're doing it again.

SPOT

2009-04-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool. EpicRiding.com's Adam Lisonbee carries a SPOT GPS with him. SPOT lets you follow his progress in real time. He's riding the White Rim on Friday and Saturday for a 2 day, 200 mile epic, so you can follow his progress here.

This real-time monitoring is something I've always wanted to do with GRG, except instead of using satellite communication, it would use cell towers and SMS messaging. A pretty cool social networking site could be made if you could track cyclists in real time. It could do things like inform you when your friends are out riding and where they are so you could catch up with them, let other cyclists in the area know if you had a flat and forgot a tube so they could come to the rescue, or console your spouse that you were doing ok. The biggest problem, of course, is that you don't have cell access everywhere. This would be a big problem for mountain bikers, but much less of a problem for road bikers. Road bikers tend to be more socially aware anyway. Mountain bikers are social misfits. That's why they need to escape to the mountains all the time.

Ah if only I didn't have to have a real job.

RAWROD 09 : Some Pictures of What's to Come

2009-04-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yum.

RAWROD 2009

2009-04-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Let's see... weather this weekend looks...

Spectacular.

Looks like a great weekend for RAWROD (Ride Around White Rim in One Day).

What excites me about mountain biking has shifted in the last year. I used to get pretty revved up for the ICUP races. They're medium length; 1.5-3 hours. But what I look forward to now are some long distance adventures. And this one fits nicely. It's nearly 100 miles with some promised incredible scenery.

Blog's Back

2009-04-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

Got the blog back. I had been hosting goreedgo out of Katie's parents' basement and decided I needed to find a proper home for it. I've been having a problem finding a good web host, though, so thus why the blog has been down for so long. I have a Java program that has to run every so often to generate the little lines pictures that show where the trails are for Google Maps. Apparently, when you pay $3.99 / month for web hosting, nobody wants you taking their server's processing power. In the end I wrote a workaround where the pictures are generated in my apartment and uploaded to the site. It isn't pretty and I don't want to use it forever, but it'll work for now.

In the meanwhile, you get to enjoy my blog again.

Cholla Challenge Precap

2009-03-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday is race #2 of the ICUP series. Cholla (Choya) Challenge. Honestly, it's my least favorite of the ICUP courses. And not the best layout for me either. It's another one of those races I've never done well at. I'm much better at big climbing courses and this one is flat, featureless, and a long grind through the desert.

Last year, I was pulling up the caboose in my class but managed to pass Ryan Blaney near the end on one of the few climbs. I finished a full 15 minutes behind the top guy in my class. I think I'll do quite a bit better this year, but don't expect to win.

I'll get some pictures.

Alpine Air

2009-03-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Up Big Cottonwood Canyon today, towards Guardsman's Pass.

Yay

2009-03-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Here is his myspace page. Not exactly the Salt of the Earth. Seems to me like he's been watching too much of The OC.

Kind of interesting how they caught him. The Google maps part of it is interesting, but I have a hard time believing that helped them solve the case, other than helping them find directions to his house or showing that he lived near the accident. Looking at the Google Maps photo, I'd be pretty hard pressed to call that black blob on the driveway a BMW. I'm not even sure what the white boat-looking outline behind it is.

Boo

2009-03-20T13:59:00.001-07:00

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Iron Man Utah

2009-03-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool. Iron Man coming to St. George.

Iron Man Utah

Even better, it's May 1, which will probably be the same weekend as next years Desert Rampage so I'll already be down there.

I thought Utah was banned from the Iron Man? Remember in 2002 when they ran the Iron Man in Utah county during a wicked storm and a competitor died in Utah lake? I suggest that all competitors wear swim wings this time.

2009-03-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

I learned from a Californian today that when a cyclist rolls through a stop sign it's called an "Idaho Stop". Which is ironic. In Idaho we called them "California Stops".

Albertsons - If it's my store, I charge too much for Frosted Flakes

2009-03-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

I laugh every time I go to Albertsons. I'll go buy a box of cereal and swipe my preferred card, and the self-checkout machine will say...

Frosted Flakes ... $6.50
Preferred Savings ... $5.00

You Saved $5.00!

Albertsons saves me so much money. I can't even imagine buying my $6.50 Frosted Flakes anywhere else.

St. George Post Race

2009-03-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

I have a very pessimistic attitude towards my racing ability. The day leading up to the race and all the way down there, I was thinking of every reason not to race. I wasn't going to do well, it was a lot of driving for only an hour and a half of racing, I'll probably flat, the weather sucks, I'd rather sleep and play Halo, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I've learned to plow through that most of the time and just go for it anyway. And I'm glad I did. St. George was just what I needed to start my season.

I got up at 5 AM on Saturday morning armed with a five-finger bunch of bananas, a bag of bagels, and hit the road. The drive started out fine, but around Fillmore, it started to get nasty. The roads were snowy and slick and the snow was a-comin' down. I passed the time by videoing the cars off the side of the road. It stayed snowy and crummy until literally about 20 minutes outside of St. George. I thought for sure the trails would be muddy. Then suddenly on the St. George city limits, the heavens parted and there was the sun and blue sky. It ended up being perfect racing conditions.

It also ended up being a very well attended race. My category alone had 13 racers. The Expert 30-39 class had an monstrous 33 riders. Big.

So my category lined up. The start/finish was lined with my competitors standing shoulder-to-shoulder and then there was me in a row all by myself behind everyone else. I wasn't too concerned about the start. The course follows a big, wide dirt road for quite a ways and passing isn't too tough on much of the course. So we went off. By the time we hit the first wash, I was mid-pack. During the first long climb I steadily passed people until I got behind Brian Tolbert of Kuhl. At some point, I passed him but he didn't stay far behind. Then just before the first big descent, he busted past me. During the week, I wasn't able to get my tires to seat with the Stan's, so I had to run a pretty high PSI to avoid flatting. This cut down on my traction and slowed me on the downhills. So for the next lap and a half, he was a little faster than I was on the descents but I could tell I was slightly stronger than him on the climbs. By the third lap, I was able to dump him and sailed smoothly to a 3rd place finish.

I was really pleased. I felt really strong and in control the whole race. The only semi-problem I had was my calf muscles twinged and threatened to cramp for the last half of the race, but I tried to stay light on them and kept them from seizing.

St George Precap

2009-02-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

First ICUP race is next weekend. St. George Desert Rampage.

I've never done well at this race. I've never been in very good shape for this race. It is early March afterall. I didn't go there last year, but the year before that I triple flatted. You know you're doing something wrong when you flat 3 times in less than 2 hours.

This year I think I'll do a little bit better thanks to my diligence in commuting. I've done pretty well riding this month, putting something like 5-10 hours a week on the bike. Not bad. So yeah, I'll fill my tires with Stan's and kick some butt.

I tried to find some pictures from years past, but all I could find was this one of the houses falling into the river from a couple years ago. Darn you global warming!!!

Ultramarathon Man

2009-02-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever needed motivation to go exercise? Of course; we all do. Do you find stories of people running hundreds of miles at a time while carrying boxes of pizza and cheesecake motivational? Well have I got the book for you!

The truth is, I do find listening to books on tape about ultra-awesome athletic feats motivational. And this is one of the books I have listened to recently.

The author and runner is Dean Karn... Karnas... Carnasis... Karnses... I have no idea how to spell his last name, but boy can Dean run! Here is another picture of Dean running an Ultramarathon through Death Valley in the middle of the Summer. Fortunately, this is before Labor Day.

Notice how he's running on the white line? If he doesn't do that, his shoes will melt. Seriously.

So no more excuses. This guy can run 200 miles at a time. Surely you can work up to running a 5K. So go for a jog. (In case you're wondering, 200 miles is like running 64.37376 5Ks in a row). Go. Now.

First Crash

2009-02-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

Last year, over the whatever-thousands of miles I rode, I had no crashes all year long. But I've already had my first for this year.

Coming home from work yesterday, I decided to try and ride a section of curb. There is a road that drops down from Fort Union Ave, through the river bottoms and past the Old Mill. As You're sweeping down this road at around 25 mph, there is a section of curb that is about 200 feet long with the road on the left, and a garden filled with wood chips, bushes, and fist-sized, mace-shaped rocks. Who would have thought this would be a bad idea? Well, I got up on to it ok, but after only maybe 30 feet, my front wheel slid off the curb into the street. This threw me off balance, leaning to the right. I stuck my right foot out to try to keep up, which worked for a hop or two, while I tried to slow down, but eventually I went down into the mace garden. Trying to not look too much like a doofus, I quickly checked to see if anyone was watching, nobody seemed to have seen, so I hopped up back on my bike and rode away. Fortunately, everything seemed to be ok. I managed to protect my bike from the curb with the right side of my body. A few scrapes on the inside of my right leg, but no big deal and my gloves weren't torn. I rode the last 15 minutes home. When I got home, Katie busted out laughing. I was confused. Then she pointed to my shorts. I big 6" rip above the top of the padding left a revealing look at my right bum cheek. I guess I hadn't totally avoided looking like a doofus.

2009-02-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

What you are about to witness is not a reenactment. This is real crime footage. The people involved are not actors or even semi intelligent people. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Time: After Work
The Place: The Crime Embattled Streets of South Salt Lake City
The Crime: Graffiti in the 1st Degree

Who knew the Flip would turn out to be a piece of advanced crime fighting equipment?

Coming home from work, I came to the top of a hill and saw a Jr. High kid with ugly hair huddled over a green electrical box and another guy on a crappy bike covering him. As I rode by, I saw Ugly-Hair was markering the electrical box. I'm a graffiti hater. So I whipped out my Flip and rode back around to take some video. As you can see, the kids are about as distinguishable as Sasquatch or Nessy, but what would I have done with it anyway. ( Side Note about the ugly hair: when I was in Jr. High, I remember dying my hair a flaming red color that was not quite as ugly as this kids, but still very ugly, I'm sure. I wouldn't be caught dead with a bike that crappy though.)

Crappy Bike

The Ultimate Ride

2009-02-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

I finished Chris Carmichaels book, The Ultimate Ride. It was OK.

It talks about the nuts and bolts of a cycling training schedule. It talks about the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems that make a person function. It then talks about periodization. In cycling training, the types of exercises that are done are divided into different periods depending on what part of the energy system is trying to be trained. The first period, for example, is meant to build up a broad aerobic base. This means spending lots of time on the bike riding not very hard. This period lasts some 3-4 months. After that, the amount of training starts to come down, but the types of exercises become more intense. The point here is to increase power. After periodization, the book then gives a list of different types of exercises to do in each of the periods. Each of the exercises has Chris' trademarked name for the exercise, which is fine, and there is a lot of advertising for the Carmichael Training System (CTS) and his group of cycling coaches. This is all fine and good, except that one section of the book is conspicuously missing. It gives the nuts and bolts of what goes into a training schedule, but never really tells how to put one together. It gives some small example schedules, but it really needed to talk about how to organize the exercises into a complete training schedule. Because of the lack of this section, it sort of left me feeling like the book was an advertisement to buy coaching from one of the CTS coaches. It was like the book wanted to get me up to speed on what one of their coaches might tell me to do. So to me it ended up being a bit of a let down.

I'm tired this morning, so riding to work is going to be slow and leisurely.

2009-02-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

I think what I like about riding my bike to work is being able to feel the outdoors. When you're in your apartment/house/car/office, you see the weather, but you never really get to know what it's like. You never get a sense of what it's like to feel the sun coming up. Or the days getting longer. Or the warm humidity before a storm. I like feeling that change.

Ski Time

2009-02-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Got a new pair of skis. My old skis were in bad shape. Dull, rusty edges and holes in the base. But the final death blow was ripping 4 inches of edge out of one of the skis. It was time.

I have a mental dilemma whenever I buy expensive gear. I don't like spending the money. But I also don't want to be disappointed with what I buy. In the end, I almost always spend the cash for the good equipment. If I have to spend a chunk of money one time, it hurts once, like ripping off a band aid. But if my gear sucks, I have to deal with that every time I use it.

I ended up with the K2 Apache Xplorer. I'll tell you what, equipment makes all the difference sometimes. Last day I skied with my old skis, I was losing confidence in my skiing. I felt like I was being bounced around a lot and didn't have a lot of control of the skis. Yesterday I took out the new skis, and I felt like I could rip pretty well again. I could bust through the crud and float the powder like new again. It felt good.

Flip

2009-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

I bought a flip cam. It was on sale from $150 down to $60. The Flip Cam is a really simple video camera. Really I couldn't think of any good reason to buy it other than A. It was really cheap. and B. I've heard a lot of good things about them from the likes of tech-super-geek Chris Pirillo. So I bought it and here's my first video.

My first impressions are

The video quality is ok but not great. It's like a good webcam.

It's really easy and convenient to use. This is clearly why so many people like it. It's very simple, small, light weight. Easy to whip out of your pocket. It's really easy to upload videos to wherever you want them to go.

For me, the plan is to stow it in my jacket skiing or my camelbak riding and take some videos.

So far I like it more than I thought I would. I'm not sure I can even describe why I like it so much. Maybe it's because it has that Apple look to it.

Snowy

2009-02-10T17:45:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, riding in bad weather is more fun. With the right clothes, a little snow storm just makes things more interesting. That's how this morning was. The only mistake I made with my clothes was forgetting to put on my homemade booties. I rode through some standing puddles that doused my tootsies and soaked my socks. Half my foot was comfortably numb by the time I reached work.

How to bike commute to work

2009-02-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

Commuting to work on a bike is pretty daunting at first and takes some experimentation to get right. If you ever try it, don't worry if it isn't very fun the first time. I remember the first day I bike commuted to work, I rode the most direct route I could find that didn't include I-15. A long section of the ride turned into a busy street with a narrow shoulder and UTA buses buzzing my bars. Not fun. So my first recommendation would be to find the right route. Take your car and scout out some possible roads that have wide shoulders and little traffic. Even if it means taking a less direct route, it's well worth it not to end up road kill.

I made my goal of riding to work 3 days last week. I rode Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. I was tired by Thursday, but still managed to make the commute in 1:03, which is a good time for me. I snatched a Snickers bar from the break room just before I left for the ride. Katie recommended the Snickers bar over, say, a Miky Way because, "because it's the ultimate candy bar. It has the added power of the peanut to give you a boost." As I was hitting the top of my climb, I was feeling tired to the point of feeling a little light headed, so I ripped open that Snickers. It was the best tasting candy bar I've ever eaten. Peanuts, Caramel, Nouget (does it have nouget? what is nouget anyway?), Chocolate... I think it might be my new favorite Powerbar. Props to Katie, my new diet coach.

My goal for this week is another 3 days, but it'll be interesting to see if I can make it. The weather looks pretty crummy, I may be going skiing on Friday, have a funeral Saturday, excuses, excuses, excuses.

Addison

2009-02-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

She may look cute and innocent. But she's not. It's a front for something much more putrid and sinister.

You see, Addie has started eating solid foods. And you know what that means? Exactly. Solid poops. Her diaper used to be filled with cute, innocent little baby poops that smelled bad but were laughable. Like eating at Chilis. The food and service stink, but at least you can laugh about it afterwards. But now it is just utter foulness. Makes me glad I'm not a nurse. I just feel bad for Katie. Not having anyone else to help change diapers is going to be rough.

Bike Commute

2009-02-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here's what my commute to work looks like. It's just over 15 miles each way and takes a little more than an hour most days. I got a screw lodged in my tire around dimple dell so it took me an extra 5 minutes this morning. Beautiful day for riding though.

I'll talk about what I do about showering, clothes, and not stinking in the next post.

One Down

2009-02-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

Rode to work today. Good day for riding. Left at 7. Weather.com reported the temp at "18, but feels like 5". Fortunately, it wasn't quite that cold. The thermometer at the Lift House read 23 degrees, but my Recession-friendly Thermal Booties with a couple of toe warmers per foot kept my feet toasty.

And So It Begins...

2009-02-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Katie and I have decided to abstain from eating out for the month of February. We typically go out to eat one night each weekend, and I'll often grab a burger or Subway once or twice a week. It's the lazy man's way of eating. No preparation, no cleanup, no thinking about what's in the fridge, and it tastes awwwwsome. Awesome. Usually it's more expensive, but I heard the other day that McDonalds is trying to get to the point where it is as cheap to eat there as at home (I hope they don't get there for the sake of many people's tummies (although I HIGHLY recommend the sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle. Awesome.)).

When I tell people what I'm doing, I'm often asked the same question as someone about to start a perilous arctic expedition; "Why would you want to do THAT?". The answer is pretty obvious though. Save money and try to be more healthy.

So to kick off the opening ceremonies last night we went to our favorite BBQ place, The Sugar House BBQ Co. It's the best BBQ outside of Arkansas I've ever had. We thoroughly enjoyed a 1/3 rack of pork ribs, 1/4 chicken, 10 wings, oven roasted potatoes, and collared greens. On the way home, we sang the Olympic theme song to designate that the month of famine had begun.

Meanwhile I've started reading a book by Chris Carmichael on cycling training. Chris Carmichael was Lance Armstrong's coach for many years, and may still be for all I know. While I'm never going to be a Lance, I'm hoping to actually have a structured training program this year and be faster than any previous year. This book is the start of that. After reading the first couple of chapters, it has occurred to me why so many CEO's and successful business people are also pretty committed athletes. It turns out the patterns for success are the same. Develop a game plan with short, medium, and long term goals; stay committed to those goals, even when you don't want to; and have a belief that you can succeed, even when presented with setbacks and obstacles. Like athletics, if you want to be great at your job, it's not enough just to show up everyday and blunder along. If you can develop specific goals to fortify identified weaknesses in your performance, develop a plan to attack those goals, and then stay committed to them, it will take you a long ways towards success in your career or sport. Or so my theory goes. We'll see what happens this year.

So my goal for the week is to bike-commute to work at least 3 days this week.

Hiking

2009-01-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Eric's been calling for me to blog, so I'm answering the call.

Starting a blog is awkward. It's like doing anything for the first time. It feels unnatural and weird.

I think most of my posts will be short, but I'm hoping often. Just quick little blurbs about riding to work, skiing, or whatever else happens to be going on.

Last Saturday, Katie headed to Ikea and left me with Addie. I decided I needed to start brainwashing her to love the mountains, so I packed Addie into her car seat and we headed up to Neff's Canyon for some hiking in the snow. I think it helps to teach kids to tolerate discomfort when they are young. The older you get and the more comfortable you become, the harder it is to get out and do uncomfortable but exciting things.

When we left the apartment, Addie was throwing a fit, but by the time we got to the canyon, she had calmed down. When we got there, I didn't want to put her in the kangaroo style carrier we have because A. I thought she might get cold and B. it's girly. So I wrapped her in the pinkest blanket I could find and carried her in my arms. She seemed to enjoy it. She just looked around and cooed every once in a while. We weren't out very long; maybe 30 minutes. But she's hooked.

Back up

2007-08-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

The goreedgo blog is back. We'll see if I actually post to it. Hopefully I can get some nice pictures and do some deep backcountry riding this fall.