Winter.

27Jan12

Nice group ride today. Let’s are feeling good! Nothing like being off the front the whole ride!

Shot taken with GoPro

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Fastest road bike ever?

25Jan12

I’m pretty sure this is a concept bike, but I bet it’s not that far off from our near future. Can’t wait…

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Yosemite

24Jan12

Amazing and beautiful…

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

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Inside View of Cyclocross

17Jan12

If you ever wondered what it looks like to race cross, here is a great example from the Lievin World Cup. Great footage:

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2012

16Jan12

After 3 weeks of rest and recovery following the Cyclocross season, I’m back at it and training. I feel like I’ve retained some great fitness from the fall racing cross and I’ve quickly switched gears to road.

Usually, I get in a good amount of snowboarding in the winter, but the snow has been nearly non existent in the high country. It has been snowing down on the front range though, which has made training interesting at times.

To help with my training even more, my girl has been coming out with me and braving the cold. She is a trooper, logging 4+ hour days in the cold without complaint. It’s been a lot of fun! Check her out crushing this dirt climb in he middle of nowhere!

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2011 Cyclocross season is done!

30Dec11

The cross season is over! For me anyway.

Here is a quick re-cap of the last two Colorado Cup races in 2012:

Lyons CX:
With temps warming up, but fairly fresh snow on the ground, this was sure to be another sloppy, slick, cold mess. With our category being the last race of the day and the winter solstice near, the sun was sure to start going down during our race. When the sun goes down in Colorado in the winter, the temperature plummets like you wouldn’t believe, so dressing for the anticipated cold was sure to be a factor in success.

I had a fairly good start, rolling off the front in second position. I was following my teammate Jesse Swift’s wheel and feeling good. Within the first lap, Jesse, Joe Saperstein and I had a good gap on the next chasers. I was still feeling good, but there was a very icy section where I lost my nerve, that’s where Joe passed me and the two rolled off the front with me chasing in 3rd.

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With hard charging teammates behind me and guys from other teams behind me, I pinned it and kept on the pedals in the hunt for a podium. After the previous week’s 4th place, I wasn’t going to be happy unless I was on the podium, so I chased hard and stayed on it as the sun started to go down!

On the last lap, I let up a little in the final quarter mile thinking I had 3rd in the bag, but then I saw a rider closing in on me fast! Turns out, quietly a rider from Durango who I hadn’t seen much this year had been chipping at my heels without me knowing it. I drilled it in the last 1000 meters, but with 500 to go, he was on my wheel. In the slick, cold conditions, I drilled it and threw my bike in a photo finish to finish a close 3rd!

After a few weeks away, I was back on the podium! Even better, I was putting a stronghold on 4th place overall in the Colorado Cross Cup and even positioning myself for 3rd overall if I had a good ride at State Championships the following weekend.

Colorado State Cyclocross Championships:
After another week of good snow and a last minute venue change to the Castlerock course from a few weeks back, it was sure to be a tough one. In addition, this is arguably the best attended singlespeed cross race of the year. Pros Colby Pearce and Brady Kappius were on the line along with a few other top riders, in addition to the normal crew of 40-50 singlespeed regulars.

The course was WAY different from the course in the same location from a few weeks back. Next to Boulder Cup, it was the most demanding course of the year. Lots of mud, lots of technical sections, hard run ups, a difficult fly-over and LOTS of climbing!

While I was feeling confident from the week before, my legs weren’t feeling so hot. Additionally, I knew my tires weren’t aggressive enough for the deep, sloppy mud. Even though I was a little worried, I hadn’t lost any hope and was still in the hunt for a podium. I certainly wanted to be in the top 3 overall in the Colorado Cross Cup. Today was the last chance to move up! After avoiding my teammate who nearly went down in a bad start, I was able to crest the start hill in 3rd and proceeded to follow Brady Kappius and my teammate Jesse Swift into the singletrack and we rolled off the front. Just like last week! I was pumped, things were going well!

My legs weren’t there and after a few laps of holding onto the back of the top two riders, my teammate Chad Melis came up and made a pass. I was still in 4th and was in need of just a little recovery. On a steep run up, I got caught behind Chad who tried to ride it and we got tangled a bit. Some valuable time was lost here and instead of working together, our tangle caused the riders behind to catch up and a few more riders passed us.

I was pretty shattered mentally and just couldn’t seem to keep things smooth. Just as I started to stop the bleeding and move up again to get back in the top 5, I had a nasty spill on a slick turn. Loosing a few 30 second chunks in a competitive cyclocross race can pretty much take you out of the hunt. In the end I had my worst race of the year finishing 12th. I was super bummed. I was started the day with dreams of the podium and a top 3 finish this year, but instead, I was just lucky to hold onto my 4th overall.

On the bright side, my Gates Centertrack Carbon Drive worked flawless, even despite layers of mud! Other than a poor tire choice, my gear was dialed and there was no reason for my crappy day than my legs and inability to get some good momentum during the race.

Check it my bike after the race!

 

In the end, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out this year. I ended up 4th overall in the Colorado Cup Single Speed. My team Gates Carbon Drive took the top 5 spots in Colorado and the team competition. I would have liked to have won at least one race, but I made it on the podium a few times, so that’s cool. Last year, my cross season ended in the ER with a serious injury, so I can’t complain!

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Best Sign Ever.

27Dec11

There should be more signs like this.

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That’s a Wrap!

21Dec11

I’ll write more detailed recaps soon, but the Cyclocross season is over! My team, Gates Carbon Drive swept the top 5 spots of the Colorado Cross Cup in the single speed category. I was happy to be 4th overall. It was a great year! Check out it out:

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SSCXWC “wieners”

08Dec11

While I think Rapha is pretty cool (mostly) and I even like their riders, it’s super weak they both won Single Speed Worlds, but both declined the customary winners tattoo.

Well, the Single Speed world spoke and the SSCXWC gods listened.

New rules for future events:

1) you must ride a single speed.

2) if you win, you get the tattoo

Also, this years winners can’t ever race again until they get inked. Love it.

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Late Season Update.

06Dec11

Castle Cross

My first race back since Boulder Cup went fairly well. With most of the team at SSCXWC in San Francisco, it was just Carlos, Tim and I for Gates Carbon Drive. With a long drag up a hill for the start, it was a tough start. Carlos, Steven Oliver and myself rolled off the front and had a gap on the first lap. One of the defining features of the course was a monster mud pit. To clear it without getting off your bike, it took some aggression and speed. The problem was, it was about 38 degrees and the mud pit was full of water, so it was a cold ride every lap.

About to take the plunge into the freezing water:

On the second lap, my teammate Carlos blew past me and made his move going into the mud pit. That was it, he never looked  back. I chased, but he hung at about 30 seconds. Steven Oliver was with me for a while, but then I was off on my own, chasing Carlos holding steady in second.

I was feeling great, although with the sun starting to go down, I was cold. The single speed category goes off at 4 pm, which is tricky since the sun goes down before 5 these days. It’s tough to gauge how to dress and I was COLD! Mostly my hands. I had too light of gloves on and was having a hard time controlling my bike and braking since my fingers were frozen from the repeated moisture from the mud pit.

Final lap through the mud pit!

Photo courtesy of Mountain Flyer Magazine

With about a half lap to go, the third place rider made contact with me. I went into a corner too aggressively and washed out my front wheel. There went second place. Bummer. I was still pumped to be back on the podium for the first time since Frisco!

Next stop on the Colorado Cross Cup was the Westminster City Park CX. A tough mostly grass course with an enormous staircase to climb multiple times. I had a GREAT start taking the holeshot with my teammate Jesse Swift. There was some sort of crash behind us.

Rolling off the front with Steven Oliver and Jesse Swift ahead on the first lap:

With Steven Oliver in tow, we rolled it and had 3 off the front for the first lap. On the second lap, the blistering pace started to get to me. It was even colder than the previous week and my lungs weren’t having it. I dropped back a bit and was sitting fairly comfortably in 4th when I slipped out in a sandy corner and lost contact with the 3 chasers. I was no in no mans land. Luckily, I was able to slog it out for 6th, but it was kind of a rough day. Too fast of a start and a sloppy race resulted in a not so hot ride. I was still happy to be climbing up the Colorado Cross Cup points ladder and was now sitting in 5th overall in the Single Speed Category.

Next up was Cyclo X Louisville. With snow most of the week and very cold temps, I knew it was going to be a memorable race. I wasn’t wrong.

With at least 6 inches of snow on the ground, it was a tough one from the gun. Quite a few of the Gates Carbon Drive riders have mountain bikes with Gates Centertrack, so many of us brought out mountain bikes. I did a warmup lap on mine, but I knew it what I would gain in traction would be lost in weight, so I opted for my Raleigh Hodala single speed cross bike.

The start. It was messy:

The start was tough because instead of having some open area to let the group settle, we went straight into a single lane. The instant bottle neck caused some issues and for the first time this year, I wasn’t in the top 3 for the holeshot, I was more like 8th. I knew with the conditions would take some people out, so I figured I would stay at the front and let it shake out. It was mostly a good tactic. I think had I been in the top 3 or 5 on the first lap, I would have faired better, but my tactic still worked. Without much work, I went from 10th to 5th just by guys crashing themselves out of the race with the icy conditions.

I was feeling good sitting behind Carlos and Jesse when another racer blew past us and cut us off on one of the single track sections. His aggressive move caused me to loose some time. I knew I should have given him an elbow as he tried to pass, but the damage was done. Around the same time, Carlos was overheating, so he dropped out. I was now in 4th chasing Jesse Swift and Joe Saperstein while Scott Upton extended his lead off the front.

Most of the descents were ‘controlled’ chaos:

While I was in striking distance for 2nd or 3rd, the battle for second between Joe and Jesse caused their speed to go up making it tough for me to claw my way to the podium.

I was happy to stay in a solid 4th place throughout the race and finish second on the team and 4th overall.

It was so brutally cold and nasty out there!

Photo courtesy of Moots Cycles

On the run-up toward the end of the race:

This result helped push me up from 5th to 4th overall in the Colorado Cross Cup. With 2 races to go and one of them being State Championships, I’m still feeling confident that I have a win in me this season!

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