the line starts behind me

if you ain't down with this, there's no hope.


AllRide Edit of Whoops Trail in Bend, Or from Kirt voreis on Vimeo.

Donut overload

official donut count for the day--42.

thanks to everyone who stopped by the shop this morning and participated in the melee. it was a ton of fun and it was cool to see so much support.














photos by the one and only Ms. Caivano... quite possibly the raddest photog this side of the mississippi.

Black Friday Sale

alright. this speaks for itself.

and now, your moment of Zen

Pike Peak Supercross - I think it's broken

Yesterday I rode down to Colorado Springs with Isaac and Kevin for cyclocross race. My first in over a month. In fact, I've only ridden my CX bike once since the Blue Sky race weekend. I've been feeling unmotivated to ride, so I thought this would at least force me to put in a good effort.

The course was decent for me. It started out with a big hilly loop, which meant that I didn't really need to fight for a position at the front. I just sat in the top 20 and picked people off as the got tired. I was around the top ten by the time we got on the actual course.

I rode pretty well and also made some mistakes. I was caught up behind a group of three that was using a smooth dirt section to recover so I decided to pass them. It made me take a really sketchy inside line through a steep downhill corner, but it worked out. Until later that lap. I went to get on my brakes in a bumpy 180 and slipped off of them. I ended up in the weeds and the people I had passed went right by me.

I stayed in the top 10 the rest of the race, and on the last lap I was in 7th. Coming out of the final barrier section, it was clear the I wasn't going to catch the guy on front of me so I just needed to take it easy into the finish. Only 3 more corners to go, and disaster struck.

On my remount, I didn't get clipped into my pedals. My right foot slipped off the pedal and got grabbed by my front tire and sucked up to the frame. My front wheel, of course, immediately stopped and the bike flipped hard. In an instant I was on the ground.

Helmets save lives. My helmet hit the ground hard and did its job by breaking. No concussion for me. The medical guy on staff came over and recommended I go to the hospital for an x-ray. While my friends were getting my stuff together I called and told Christine. Then I nearly passed out as I finally calmed down from the race. I was 40 minutes into a race working hard, and then came to a sudden and complete stop.

Mike D took me to the emergency room (which was freezing) and I didn't have to wait all that long for an xray. I'm no expert. Do you think it's broken?

(As you can see, I'm already being held together by safety pins.)

They gave me a sling, and I'll go to a doc up in Fort Collins for a follow up.

The value of this team goes beyond the race course, and they really showed it today. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have friends close by to help me out. Ron was first on the scene. He happened to be driving by and saw my spectacular new method of dismounting. Mike D was close by and ran up to help. Both of them hung with me while I recovered my senses and then helped me get my stuff together before going to the e-room. Ron stuck around and let Isaac and Kevin know the scoop because they were lining up to race as I crashed. Conveniently, Isaac and Kevin finished up their race and got to the emergency room just as I was getting out. Bob and Susan were there to take videos of me *not* crashing and offer me well wishes before the hospital. Thanks Isaac for buying me a Whopper, but in retrospect I should have gotten a kids meal so I could wear the crown.

So here I am, in some sort of sling for the next 6-8 weeks probably. I guess this is a decent time of year for this type of thing to happen. It's early enough into ski season that I should heal up in time for the really good snow. I've got lots of time for cycling season, although my training will probably have to be pushed back a bit. Christine leaves for London next weekend, so it ought to be interesting gimping around for a few weeks by myself. Hello fast food and TV dinners.

Valmont Bike Park--your new home is almost ready

hey kids:

check out the new video on valmont bike park. Many of us in the Blue Sky Nation are salivating for the opening of this park, which will include everything from national caliber cyclocross courses to pumptracks to dirt jumps to learning loops for the kids.

Huge props to all the Blue Sky Citizens who have already donated to the cause to make this park world-class. For those of you out there still yet to donate, let's make it happen, because the more groundswell we have, the better the park will be when it opens next year.

Pick up a copy of Mtn Bike Action (i can't believe i just said that)

hey kids:

normally, i think that Mtn Bike Action is outstandingly lame, but this article might be worth a browse in the king soopers. After all, Adam Craig is a pretty rad, uplifting, and salt of the earth guy.

so here are the screenshots from the Giant rep... i'm really thinking the anthem x0 is going to be a sweet mtn bike.

plus, after you read the article, you can flip through and figure out "10 ways to start being a better rider, today!" sheesh.

Indoor Velodrome update

hey kids:

thought those of you that are not on the e-mail chain might wanna see some pics of the progress on the salad bowl.

from the director:

Hello again to you all!

I am sending this latest update with a sense of complete joy! The truss’ have been placed to start the foundation for our track and the track is starting to take shape, after just a few hours the support work will really start to take on the shape of our very own velodrome! Hopefully the photographic evidence of this work will spur the same excitement in all of you that it has in us and more of you will start to come by to see this work for yourselves. That is by the way an invitation to all of you to come by anytime to see the place and get a sense of what we will become.

On the subject of stopping by we are asking anyone who might be interested in lending a helping hand to contact Paul Wells, that’s meJ and let us know when you would like to contribute to the project. We will try to reward all participants for the effort and on top of that you can say that you helped to make the dream a reality. If you are interested please feel free to contact me anytime.

Today we passed our first inspection and are really starting to look like something. There have already been many volunteers and we can not thank them enough! Our faithful volunteers have finished our carpeting projects painted and varnished all over the place and done many other less than desirable tasks. WE LOVE OUR VOLUTEERS!!!!!!!!!

Once again that you all for all the support you have already shown and we look forward to seeing everyone very, very soon!

Happy trails...

Paul Wells

Manager - Director of Cycling

Phone: 303-CYCLING

Mobile: 303-517-2213

Fax: 303-440-0306

paul@boulderindoorcycling.com

www.boulderindoorcycling.com

some pics:

from the mezzazine, looking at the east end.

from the east end, looking at the mezzazine.

Looking east along the south straight.

from the mezzazine, looking north at the mural.

mural is almost completed.

cross race awards "Most Polite Riders"

Blue Sky Nation-

Blue Sky had another great turnout of racers and spectators on Saturday in Louisville. Anywhere on the course, someone was cheering for Blue Sky racers. Thank you all for the support!

Jen did want me to mention that Rob and Lee were the "nicest" Cat 4 riders in the field. Not only did they turn themselves inside out racing hard on that bumpy, dusty course. . . but they said "thanks" each time they passed by, as Jen handed off a water bottle. (By the way guys, you could also say "water!" or "help!" or just grunt, and Jen would be happy to give you water).

I again wanted to thank Bill, Dan, Steve and the collective Blue Sky crossers for teaching technique. I entered the final hill 10 yards behind a guy that I had been chasing for the entire last lap. I used the skills we worked on to dismount faster, push up the final hill faster, and remount faster than he did, and I beat him in a sprint. It was all about skills.

(Now if you just pretend that the sprint was for 1st place, rather than 31st it would be a really exciting story)

November 16, 2008: The middle of nowhere: Cyclocross at Watkins

I've always wondered what nowhere looked like. Now I know. This being my first race at Watkins, I was told this was an improved course from last time. The course had 2 long uphills, and one high-speed, downhill corner on very loose gravel (making for the only real technical section of the course.) The details are in the pictures.


The middle of nowhere:


The massive Senior Men 3 Field (15 started only 12 finished)

I got off to a good start jumping into 4th place, which I held for 1 lap.

Still in 4th, just before crashing on a non-technical turn. (drove too hard into the corner trying to capture 3rd--oops!) After crashing, my chain proceeded to divorce my chain ring and instead give my crank-arms some love--twice.

The enormous crowd of spectators--oblivious to the inside workings of the race, although they really wanted dad to win the prize--Mr. Potato Head.

Now chasing 8th place.

8th place still in view!

8th place moving on...hello 9th. Guess travelling for the last 5 weeks does catch up with you.

Race report - TOT race at Louisville rec center (4 yr old and 3 yr & under race)

Since dad got a flat 300 meters into lap one and finished 45th, I thought I would write about the TOT's race. It was a smashing course with teeter-totters, gnarly dirt patches, and a grueling uphill. Axel (2 and on the big wheel) was trash-talking at the start of the line, telling all the big kids to watch out for his brother Boden who was really fast! Boden (4) had to make a run for the money to keep up with the tot-chick on her push bike--finally sprinting up the hill for victory. (I will be asking him for pointers later.) All-in-all, the kids had a blast. Thanks to the race/parents for putting it on. As you can see it inspired the kids to come home and spend the night in the alley practicing their cyclocross skills.


Trash-talking at the line.



The uphill sprint for the victory. (looking like Dekker with the tongue out)


The victory dance. (nice hamburger bell)




Night training on the tetter-totter/jump.



The big wheel in action.



Three dads now asking advice from their kids on how to race.

Louisville Pics, Cat4+ Cat3

alright, check it out. we had a great day today at the frame-breaking nightmare of a course that is Louisville Rec Center. I think i have arthritis now. sweet. seriously, though, the layout was sick, the weather was gorgeous, and blue sky nation rocked out. tops in my book, though, was Beck rocking the tot race to a 3rd place, and Jenna showing up with a dapper-looking Aidan in full premie-sized skinsuit. check out her photoset for details.

Also, Dan, we gotta get Beck on the team! i see that he was running incognito without his bluesky jersey, but i still think we gotta get his results up on the web.

my race went really well... i did have a slight get-off into a downhill corner while trying to pass lapped traffic that was bound up tighter than a man eating nothing but cheese. i need another horn for the geared bike! anyways, i pulled out 5th. Not sure how the other cat4 kids did, but i think Bryan Grace pulled out 7th? Chime in, fellas, let us know how it went.

Dave harber was rockin the singlespeed with me, and my friend John Bevans... who i am trying to bring over to the nation from RockyMounts. We took off after they scraped off the cat3 crash that happened 200m from the start. the course was brutal for singlespeeding, but it was fun to be out there with my friends. since we started late, we got the luxury of getting lapped by the leaders of the cat3 field, so I got in some pep-rally action on Isaac and Bill. Dan and Harwood were also in the mix, and i could hear them bearing down on me from the carbon-rim brake chatter. nice.

all the wonderous photo's below are courtesy of Marty. Not only does she take nice pics, she looks good doing it... a sight for sore eyes when i'm out there getting raked over the coals.

trying to maintain some speed in the rough stuff

Lee looking calm on the barriers

Bryan "my legs are pistons out of a 541ci Cadillac Big Block" Grace gettin' it done

Bryan "i pop juniors like varmits on my grandpappy's farm" Grace gapping a 5280 punk

Andy Harmon hammering down as lesser men dismount.

Dan Farrell, in a rare gloveless moment, feels his top tube without the aid of white cotton.

Chad taking it to the barriers, passing what may be the ugliest kit on the Front Range.

Chad rockin out with Sram cap and Shimano Drivetrain. He goes both ways.

Senior Cyclocross himself gapping fools behind him.

Bryan "Hollywood" Harwood charging back into the mix after a flat.

Dave "my mix of '08 jersey and '06 shorts gives me anti-gravity properties" Harber takes it to the pain on the single.

your's truly bringin' my new "sparklespeed" through the top barriers.

Susan Prieto rockin out like the show you should all see tonight. Seriously, Susan had an excellent technical race, aided by the fact that she has been rigorously training in a secret lair all summer somewhere deep in the United States of Whatever.

Dave Towle and Nat Ross, comparing notes on who has the most underground "hat and puffy jacket" combination.

Photos from Louisville 'Cross - Cat 3

Sorry to the other categories - I only have time to watch the Cat 3's these days!


Isaac and Bill on the run-up.


Chad on the descent.


Dan's permanent race face.


Bryan mastering the barriers.


Jocelyn and Grace cheering on Beck in the kids' cross race.


Aidan had a special Blue Sky kit!


Here it is a little more clearly!!