Deer Valley Report

Sorry for the delay.
Three laps, seven miles apiece, two major climbs and some fun, flowing, non-technical singletrack flats and descents describes the Deer Valley cross country course. Eighteen women lined up for the 19-29 Expert category, and we were off on the first climb. On the first descent, a girl ahead of me went down hard in a switchback. I knew I wasn’t anywhere near a podium spot, so I stopped with her until a medic showed up, then hopped back on my bike. From that point on, I just tried to keep my position. A little bit of spot-swapping, and I finished in an uninspiring 12th place. I think the last few weeks of riding and racing had caught up to me; I’m looking forward to my rest week this week.
My teammate Ryan LaBar had a better race, finishing on the podium in his Expert age group, 5th place!
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Off to Deer Valley, Utah!

This weekend I'm off to Utah for the latest in the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series. I think this might be NMBS #5, I'm not sure. Anyways, I did a couple NORBA National races last summer, and I'm interested to see how I'm stacking up this year. Wish me luck!
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Rome Reborn 1.0

Yes, this is a nerdy post.

Wow.
http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/
Finally, a scholarly use of immersive 3D environments. I can't wait until we can Google Earth or NASA Worldwind the world at different historical periods. Imagine, London circa the industrial revolution, or the expansion of the American colonies. So cool.
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More riding in the Canyon

For the second weekend in a row, I didn't have a race. Instead, I rode with Will and Lumberg. Therefore my "off" weekends are tougher than my racing weekends.

Saturday, with riding to breakfast, work, and hitting the dirt jumps, before I went on the ride with the boys, I had two hours in on the bike. Then we rode from home to Chutes, up Columbine trail, onto Buckhorn, down Captain Jacks and dropped Lower Columbine, all of which is contained in Cheyenne Canyon, or just, "The Canyon". Summed up, I spent five hours on the bike.

Sunday was a little easier, with a mocha run, a jaunt up Palmer Trail into Section 16 (I love that trail....rocks!), down to Red Rocks via Intemann, a little time in the freeride park, and a stop off at the grocery store adding up to only three or so hours on the bike.

Weekend total:
Bike time: 8hrs
De-constructing my shifter: 1.5hrs
Work time: 1.5hrs
Mad cooking: 2hrs (stir fry awesomeness)
Salsa dancing: 2hrs of shaking it
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Sixth place at MSC #2

Results are in from a couple weekends ago: I got sixth place in my category (Expert 19-29) at the second Mountain States Cup race. Respectable, but for the first time ever, I'm disappointed with my performance on the last downhill. After I managed to severely loosen my grip with a poorly place loogie (see the race report), I was passed by two girls in my field. Being passed on a technical descent is not a normal event for me (though Lynn, who got 4th place, is pretty darn good at dropping it). But I shouldn't have let myself lose that 5th place spot. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? I can't stand that kind of talk. Ranks right up there with the time that some guy told me "I would have won if only my chain hadn't dropped." Yeah. Right. Sure you would have.
A very strong influence in my life liked to say "You are only as good as your next performance. " Snap.
Oh, and I'm currently 7th in the endurance cup series, not bad considering that I haven't done any Short Track races.
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Critical Mass with the Mayor

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Breakfast
Get this: Wednesday morning over 900 Colorado Springs residents rode their bikes to three separate locations (by 6:30!) and ate free breakfast. And not just gelatinous eggs; I feasted on fresh raspberries, melon, all sorts of other fruits, bagels, juice, and yes, lots and lots of coffee. Mmmmm.
I got up at 5:30 to make my way downtown. When I jumped on the bike path, I joined a full-on peloton. There must have been more than 100 riders of every sort, including the mayor. Some perks came with having the mayor alongside: A motor cavalcade led out the last half mile or so, closing the street ahead, motorcycles with lights flashing raced alongside as our group, now seriously enlarged, blew through every red light.
We rolled into the downtown breakfast sight, where hundreds of riders were already mowing down. The street had become a bike lot, the racks looking like a staging scene for the world's most ghetto Ironman.
As I left the organizers (Colorado Springs Trails and Open Space Coalition) were raffling off bike related gift certificates, clothes, and some lucky person won a commuter. But, it being Bike to Work day, I had to get to work, so I gave my raffle ticket to the woman next to me and wished her luck.
Pretty damn cool event.
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Surprise! Another weekend riding bikes!

Ready to roll

This is a familiar scene: Jeep full of bikes, ready to roll out on another weekend worth of adventure. The next few days are a welcome break from racing; I'll be getting use out of all three of my bikes this weekend, between the long trail ride, pump track action, and relaxing road ride that my friends have planned for us.

Soon the trusty (rusty) Heep will roll over 200G miles. When it does, I'm throwing a party! Who would have thought the Jeep would continue to roll this far?

Best bumper sticker ever

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