Ramble on...

Got an e-mail from Bob Chase, a guide from the "Colorado Mountain School", he was a guide we had during a climbing trip in Boulder up the Flatirons, you could tell he loves what he does. Spends the summers in the northern hemispere in Estes Park, and the summers in the southern hemisphere in New Zealand...ENDLESS summer??? Going to have to find a way to do that too. Still riding a little on weeknights, during an interval session on Snake alley, I was attacked by these guys and did a fast trip around Boringtown, I think this is Dominics super secret training route for building power and speed, this is a FAST group, I took my usual place as the "lantern rouge" and held on. This weekend includes a couple hours of trail work in Dehns, all I need is .3 miles for an even five down there...

Back in the saddle again...

Busy weekend, Dr. Feelgood found not one but TWO nasties behind my ear, but due to the SIZE of the things he only sliced and diced one, left it OPEN, yuk, packed it with god knows what so it could drain... sweet. Going back in monday for some more cutting. On a lighter note I was jealous of everybody going to race in the Ouachita challenge I decided to have my own, did 50 miles of gravel on saturday almost a 4 hour ride, found a new route that follows the river bluff for awhile above Oakville, nothing but hills, then rode the wind home on the river bottoms, speaking of rivers spent Sunday morning "chilling" (pun intended) out on the Mississippi with the Mrs. and the Mutts, Sunny but a little cold, we sat on the sand and watched; PELICANS yup, big honking white pelicans by the hundreds, so many flying around that Mrs. Brakeville was worried they might poop on us (not the first time this sort of thing has happened). Did a couple laps down in Dehns afterwords, no mud, but REALLY spongy, made me work for every mile. Am I ready for Sylvan Island? NO...

Ouch

Getting a bit of surgery tomorrow, I might be growing a third ear, but the Dr. insists its a cyst. All I know is that its painful and has turned into an ugly(er) part of my head in the last week. I need to get a little digital camera. Photo's make the blog IMO. I'm hoping Geode is ridable this weekend, cause its either there or massive gravel miles. Wow what a medical month eh?

And now, for something completely different

Just didn't feel like riding, first day of spring, 4" of slush, too tired, i don't know. Thought, maybe do something different. How about running up and down the stairs at home while carrying my wifes "Denise Austin" padded dumbbells for an hour? Improvised some polymetrics by reducing the number of steps needed to get up the two flights of stairs from 20 to 5? Drive my two dogs absolutely friggin bonkers at the same time? Sounds great!! I was happy to outlast the mutts as they decided to lay down and watch after 20 minutes. I can still feel the effort today...I was thinking what a great downhill FREERIDE i could do from the attic to the basement but I'd catch some hell for that.

What am I DOING???

Stop the presses, Machine gun Midz has called me out and I've made my decision (gasp) I am going to (gulp) race in the EXPERT class this year. Let me tell you about the first MTB race I did. Year 2001, event Sugarbottom scramble, class SPORT. At the time I knew diddly about XC racing, it just sounded fun and never having done it before I thought, hell, I've been riding for three whole months now, I'm not really a beginner so I better sign up for the sport class (dumbass). 100 racers, 20 miles, exactly 1 lap on this course before I raced it. I finished 98th place, if I had drank any water during the race I would have puked, I had never experienced anything as difficult before (however 2004 farmdale frenzy race was a close second, buts thats another story) but the hook was in. There is ALWAYS a lot of hushed talk about who's sandbaggin or who should move up and whats fair, yada, yada, yada, thats always open to debate. But after reading some other postings around the web and being "on the fence" all winter in regards to sport/expert this year, I feel I've got to do whats right for me. And if that means I'm suckin wind behind the grand poobahs in the midwest so be it, like thats never happened before!! I've watched and compared lap times with guy's like PAMBA's Tony T. or Iowa's Cam K. and I'm giving up 4 minutes a lap in some cases, but I guess if you don't push yourself you won't improve, and when you get right down to it, when racing a MTB your "on your own", and your biggest competition is YOU. Thanks Midz, I needed something to light the fire this year.

Racing...again

Did the first DICE race of the season in the Quads sunday, its the Cody series. Mass start, which I kinda like anyway, at least I get to see the race until the first break! My burlington friends did very well, I noticed while checking my "stats" on the computer that I had finished pretty close to what I did this same race in last year, after going thru my training log, it was EXACTLY the same, same time, same ave. speed, everything.. don't know if that is good or bad. I guess I'm happy I didn't do worse this year, and once again ended up racing with my teamate and buddy $5 dollar Phil Curran. I don't know the proper roadie edicate but we worked together for a lap but on the last mile or so I kicked it up a notch on the last series of hills and pulled away...love ya Phil!! BACK to THE TRAINING SLACKER.

They're BAAAACK

Well what can I say, if at first you don't succeed...All that glitters is not...naw, at the very least i got to spend a couple of days at elevation, almost 14,000 ft. to be exact! How awesome are the Rockies? I didn't need a heart rate monitor as i figured it would pop out of my chest while hiking up Longs peak in RMP, i'm guessing I was at LT and max HR for about four hours Sunday, how 'bout that training lingo HUH. I won't use this forum to knock a state but DAMN, Nebraska is about 300 miles too wide, I think I may have the bird flu, cause the turds flew, and i'm still not feeling 100%, and that is the excuse I'll use this weekend at the races!!!!

I hate snot

STILL feeling poorly after a week, can't seem to shake this off. I don't know why we take antibiotics that don't work on viral infections, hell I'd settle for a placebo if i thought it would help MENTALLY, oh well, The MRS. and I have BIG doings this weekend, 1800 miles worth, we are both getting to that age when its time to decide if your going to work for the "man" till death or take a risk and strike out on your own, after reading Mike Howards blog, brought me back to just how much time over the course of my life I've spent in Dehn's woods doing the same type of kid stuff up to now doing the same type of "older kid" stuff. I'm not going to get into too much detail about our trip but i'll offer this "teaser", if you LOVE what your doing and your making money doing it, is it really work? I'd say its a once in a lifetime chance...nuff said. Wish us luck!!

Its Christmas in March

I'm going to buy one of these. Its basically an upgraded version of the Psylo fork I'm running now with a few new twists. The first is 32mm legs, the next is "motion control", I looked at buying a FOX F100x but after reading the reviews I am less than impressed, no need to spend almost $800.00 if there is another option available. When I have a few rides on it I'll give a review of my own...

The WEAPON

s'cuse me I'm sick

Was feelin purdy bad saturday, managed 16 miles around geode anyway, one lap with the dogs in hot pursuit and one without, trail was not "muddy" and I wasn't sinkin in but still felt like riding on sponge cake. Stayed home most of the day sunday I felt like poop, but later on I got better so i put an hour on the trainer instead of watching the oscars...