Blue Sky Velo

Sourdough Single Track Bliss

2011-06-27T15:48:00.008-06:00

Thursday night was off to a slow start. I knew one person was going to meet me at least so lets do it. Weather was nice, trails were ready, no excuses. Decided to head to Beaver Res road off Peak to peak. The usual pre ride compare your bling. Those 20 inch rims beat everyone out though....
We were off heading West towards Coney Flats TH.

Sun came out for a bit and Geoff, Toby and Kyle do some catching up.

Spillway at Beaver Res was about 9 inches deep crossing it. Plenty of water to go around this year.
We dropped into the Coney TH and Beaver Cutoff trail down to Peaceful Valley. Connected with the Sourdough and headed South towards Brainard. Not to far in the old burn area, there is a nice build up that has been here forever. Its steep on the front side so that is the crux. Geoff going for it.
Kyle letting it go and the bash guard was not such a bad thing here to have!

Some more single track climbing. Trail ranges from rooty, loose rock to smooth pine needled bliss.
Pond up near South end of Wapiti trail junction. Plenty of water here and the frogs were alive. Sun was setting and looked great through my orange lenses. Not as great in the pic.
Yes, I actually was there.

Geoff enjoying the fun trail.

The Saint Vrain River was just gushing.
Anyone want a quick trip down low? We snapped a few pics and then Turned North East on South Saint Vrain Trail.

Kyle riding some the log turn in South Saint Vrain Trail.
Jeff making it happen. That tree had fallen across the switch back so you had to cut it a bit short.

Light was fading fast. Here we are bombing down the lower SSV trail back to beaver Res road. Super fun figure eight we did. Trails were in perfect shape and the we had an awesome cool night to ride in.

Ride specs were 12 miles and 1400 feet of climbing. Till next time!

Easy but useful jersey mod

2011-06-20T20:52:00.000-06:00

I'm a big fan of the Voler jerseys the club started using two years ago (thanks again clothing coordinators!). The fit is good, but most importantly for an MTBer, the durability and color fastness is good too, better than previous years. However, one thing has always bugged me and that's the zipper pull. First of all, it's not easy to grab especially with winter gloves on, but most importantly, it rattles annoyingly on the buckle of a pack's sternum strap (only an MTBer would have this complaint, I guess).

So, I thought of the following after seeing how the zipper pulls on my Sierra Designs tent worked. For the record, while I was initially excited that I was the first to think of this, John P. beat me to it. When I told him the idea, he said he'd already done it. So, John gets original credit, I think.

The idea is simple - just cut off the old zipper pull with wire cutters and replace it with a short length of paracord. I used what I had on hand, some white 325 paraline, but black might be better.

Before:

In progress:

And finally:

The knot makes it easier to grab with gloves, and no more rattling! And it's lighter too, that metal zipper pull probably weighed a good 2 grams or so. I probably gain some few hundredths of a second in an hour with this change, perhaps I'll podium in my next race now too. :)

Snow Biking! Well, that was not my intent Sunday...

2011-04-25T11:08:00.013-06:00

An idea was placed in my head. It all started at the Pumphouse Saturday night over some beer (stout was beer of the night) and an long island ice tea. I met Joel and David S up around 8pm there to chat bikes, summer plans, and the usually fish stories. I was bummed for not making the voodoo race and from seeing everyone's comments, I really missed out. (GO PHIL!) Oh well, we at least got down there a month ago and had a great day and nice tour of the race course. I was able to sneak out for a 25 mile bike path ride around Longmont on the 1 by 9 just before the pump house. At the end of the night the topic of riding Sunday came up. David said he would like to do some climbing so that heading up James Canyon to Peak to Peak and looping back to Ward would fill that void and could be done quickly if we parked at Plateau road and 36. Sounded good to me although I mentioned that there could be a bit of snow up there right now!!! We all wanted to go about midday, so discussions would continue then.

I start painting in the morning finishing up our stair well cut in using the 16 foot ladder. Had to get a little creative to reach everything around the stairs, but it all worked out. 10:40am text from David--family day, no riding. Okay...keep painting.

1:00pm: text from Joel--possible bike buyer coming at 2pm, he was out. I finished cleaning up the brushes and started packing--why not do the ride up to Peak to peak anyway? I checked the CDOT Ward web cam for SH72...yep, snow everywhere, but not much on the road. Looked okay to me. Parked at Plateau and started climbing.
Conditions were dry, a few drops of rain here and there but nothing to worry about....yet. I did decide to do this ride on my MTB because of the weather and gravel on the road...little did I know this would be a wonderful survival decision.
Look at that pretty face!

Post office at Jamestown. A few drops still--you can see them on the handle bars. Ate some food here and headed on up the real climb. I did see three road riders coming down the canyon, but that was all from here on out.
Starting to see Snow on the trees. And, I was not exactly keeping great pace. Up till Jamestown I was able to keep the pace around 11.5 mph...no more. For those that have done this climb though, you know how steep it is. Now imagine doing it with big knobbies on it only pumped up to 50 psi. Yeah, that is the ticket now!

Switch backs begin--a little few down valley to the East.
Whew! The top of James canyon, at least the pavement top. Overland drive is almost a great sight when you climb up that beast of a hill.

Happy to have made it. Glasses fogged up so I had to abandon them. I only wore light layers for the climb: lightweight long sleeve synthetic shirt, Adidas NFL football beanie (awesome and they keep the sweat out of your eyes---good for nordic too!), OR wind stopper gloves, knee warmers with Voler 2011 BSV bib shorts, Pearl Baggie shorts, and BMA wool tall boy socks. I stayed plenty warm.

I went only another 1/2 mile, almost to the dirt and it started snowing hard. I started to turn around, and then I was like, how about an adventure today? Lets see what happens. I found a nice pine to stop under and layer up.

I changed hats--put on my Adidas wind stopper cap, Montbell rain jacket (for visibility too!), my smart wool calve length ski socks, trash bags on my feet (my neoprene booties were in my office), and the glasses had to go back on from the snow in my eyes! I also pulled off my lightweight syn shirt and replaced that with my Virginia Tech Thermal Jersey from Hincapie--that thing is really warm.
I also put the camera in a small zip lock as you can see here in my hand. The snow built up quickly on the gloves.

Then I paused...the dirt looked really mucky which goes for several miles to the peak to peak highway. No fenders...mmmm. NO booties to keep my feet dry and my Pearl AmFib tights were also at work staying nice and dry/warm! Lets try it for a few hundred feet and see how mucky I get....
Before I knew it I made it peak to peak--it was slimy in places, soupy and wet, but overall I kept the wheel straight and kept most of the much off me. Now the bike on the other hand....
I left this picture this angle as I thought the perspective was cool.

Those feet were a bit wet at this point.

Bike was covered in a nice thin film of dirt, muck, water, and snow.

My faithful blue sky water bottle.

OH, my drive train hates me now! Wonder how long my shifting will last? I had issues with it freezing up on the dirt road--had a single speed for at least two miles and gave every thing a swift kick, and was able to shift again.

Pedaled South towards Ward. First good landmark is the beaver Reservoir road which is also the local Boy scout camp access. South Saint Vrain trail starts here too--plenty of snow still on it!

The next big land mark is Brainard Lake Road--woohoo! Almost to ward. The snow picked up a bit though just before here and it was starting to cover the roads--time to get down quick or its going to be a long night back to the car!

Dirty saddle overlooks the fresh tracks on the peak to peak. Crazy...why yes I am.

I dropped into Ward, very slowly and found another pine tree to layer up again--time for round 2 of the clothes before the big descent. It was dumping now too, which looked daunting. I put on a heavy weight fleece shirt, wind stopper vest, tights--not wind blocking though, a heavy weight fleece balaclava, and my Marmot AT ski gloves--super warm and nice to cold weather! Ahhh, life was good again.

As I changed and ate some more food, my bike started to blend in with the road....okay, need to get moving now! A truck pulled up and the two guys asked if I needed a ride down--I smiled and said, no, I am good, just put on some more clothes and going to be fine. Thanks though...the two guys looked at each other for a few seconds and shook their heads. I wondered if I was thinking clearly at this point? Or, was that just one of those master card priceless moments? ;)

Fresh Tracks on descent from Ward...now that actually is priceless.
I took it real slow down--until I hit Lick Skillet road and the roads cleared up a bit--just some slush and lot of water. It was COLD and WET. But, the temps warmed up as I descended. Once I got to the Lee Hill Road turn off, I kicked the drive train again (snow build up) and cranked it out to the car. Mainly at that point the pedaling was to warm my feet back up and get the blood flowing. Whew, made it! Bike was filthy but was reliable and faithful as it has been. Rider wanted a hot tub though!
Look at that mug!

Sunday's adventure. 35 miles of goodness over 4 hours. I had almost an hour of stopped time while I played with changing layers/eating/cleaning bike.

3800 feet of climbing...never realized how much more there still is between top of James Canyon and Ward.

Grade percentage for those interested. James Canyon is steep and when dry/clean, a great ride on the cross/road bike. Till the next adventure!

BSV Fruita MTB training camp 2011 Day 3: Tour De Book Cliffs

2011-04-06T11:35:00.020-06:00

The sun came up and no one was moving very fast. Rabbit Valley had done a number on all of us. Realized that I need to go to the grocery store for bfast food but had forgotten being so tired last night. Yep, I can see we are not going to ride until at least 10:30am again. The goal today was to hit the book cliffs and ride as a group. Some random guy in a red jersey decided to join us today.

The BSV nation packed up and descended upon the 18 road TH and unloaded 11 bikes/riders for as many loops as the legs can muster, or till the team dinner at Hot Tomato called! Who is the guy in the red jersey?
BSV group heading up Prime Cut trail.
Our goal was Chutes and Ladders. Just above Cindy here you can see the trail climbing up the steep slopes. My legs were tired today and I was curious if I was even going to make 10 feet of that climb.
Top of first climb on Chutes with prime cut just down to the left. BSV folks making their way up. I made the first climb, but burned the entire book of matches, or at least it felt!

Happy riders enjoying the view and the fish stories were already being spewed.
Red jersey guy somehow sneaks in again.
Enjoying more of Chutes as it heads East along the foot hills.
Last shot of Chutes as you open it up. Here its game on and super fun downhill back to the car. Decided to take on Vegetarian trail which reminded me of the road conditions in Fallujah. Bombed to hell. So many cow hoof holes.

Here we are on Frontside trail on our second lap from the parking lot. Came back up Prime Cut to Frontside and then off to Joe's ridge. Trails are steller, as always.
Joel showing how its done with big travel and wide tires.

Joe's Ridge--super fun and one roller coaster of a trail!
Some riders on the ridge

We headed down Joe's and then over to meet Kestle run half way down. That takes you on this 25 foot wide wash that the trail pumps back and forth down all the way to the car.

Climbing back up Prime Cut for yet another lap!

Mystery red jersey rider connecting Frontside to the top of 18road where we get on Joe's. Who is this guy again? How did he get in all the pics? ;)

Group shot at the 18road turn around. Smiles all around.
Joe's Ridge from another view.
Joel grabbed a nice pic here also!

Super fun group today and great hanging with everyone. We hit Joe's Ridge again and this time came back to this spot to get the entire Kestle Run in.
BSV peloton making their way up 18 road to let it all loose on Kestle.

Our little lap session on the Book Cliffs. 18.5 miles and 2000ft of climbing.

Here were the loops--great day with everyone. We all went to the Hot Tomato for a team dinner. Chip and Nancy from the Boulder Bike patrol also joined us for a pizza and beer. Great times all around and lots of stories shared. They do a great job there and I highly recommend stopping in. During high season, its a good wait, but well worth it. I have been eating there since 2004 I think. They are back on the side street to the North across main from OTE bike shop. Plan tomorrow is to hit the Lunch Loops in Grand Junction and see what the weather does. Lots of wind tonight and we had to re stake some tents.

BSV Fruita MTB training camp 2011 Day 2: Rabbit Valley Epic

2011-04-05T16:05:00.031-06:00

Over night a few more BSV'rs rolled in. Woke up and cooked up a pound of bacon and a huge egg skillet with tortillas to share amongst the roaming BSV folks in camp. Bacon was quite the hit. Nine of us Friday morning heading out to Rabbit Valley to ride the Epic Zion curtain to Westwater Mesa (overlook trail) to Western Rim loop. We had David S, David K, Phil, Cindy, Michelle, Sue, Bob, John P, and Kevin VP going for it! This loop has it all, rock benches above the river, techy drops and steeps, swooping single track, and a small part of the Kokopeli.
Oh yeah, I made it.
Riders ready? Or are we playing with the dog all day?
Ride starts out on the dirt road and you cross the high way heading North.
A climb up the service road gives you a nice view of rabbit valley and the 3,4,and 5 trails.
First stint of single track and then a steep climb--nothing like this to get us all warmed up!
Very unique features here in the Zion Curtain area...

Crazy rock steps to ride up.....

Pump track for a while...

And we were joined by a sheik for the ride. About here half the group turned back and went to ride some other trails. We were down to five at this point, Cindy, David S, Phil M, Kevin VP and myself.

Riding the line--the Utah/Colorado border fence.

Rewarded with the top of the Zion Curtain--views of the Rabbit Valley and river below. Good lunch spot from out 10:30am start.
Here Phil finds some goodies in his pack.
Off along the rim with some small trees and more views--hard to focus as you look at the La Sals in the distance.
Kevin checking the view.
Dave S and Kevin VP riding up a wash

A few more tech spots. I walked it too. Cindy gave it her all and decided to sit down on the job. Cindy repeatedly schooled me on this trail with the techy moves--I was motivated by that and cheered her on.

Big Smiles after the descent on the Zion Curtain--its super fun and fast with a mix of clean trail and slick rock type moves with a few surprises thrown in.

A quick water check as we enter the Kokopeli trail and climb up the hill to West water Mesa to join up with the Over Look trail. Everyone riding strong here after 15 miles so far.
The short steep climb ahead (600feet)--David hit it hard and you can see him ahead.

Once up top, we hit the Overlook trail and is pump track for about 4.5 miles till you reach the pass and lollipop loop. Here Kevin Vp, David S and myself made a fast effort on the loop while the rest of the group hung out at the pass to descend to Western Rim. We did eat well here, and I offered my usual can of tuna, V-8, and salted almonds to those that would take.
Kevin coming down a rock wash.
Dave S doing the same.
Top of the lollipop loop--excellent views again the whole time. The loop is about 7.25 miles. I had though it was only about 2 miles...whoops! Made the rest of the group worry a bit though since it took us about an hour to complete versus the 20 minutes I was thinking. Will do better next time on that.

When we joined back up with the group, we descend the 600 feet down a steep double track and meet up with some single track that leads us to the Western Rim proper. Here we are riding a rib like Joe's Ridge on the book cliffs.

A little sand and loose but nice trail for sure.

Then we joined the Western Rim and the flowers were out a bit.
The rim starts out as a nice single track and then turns into this white stone bench that rides along the cliff for several miles--we had the place to ourselves--not one other MTB rider the whole day!
The sun was starting to set....day light was running out on us.

Playing the white sand stone. Here we were all starting to run out of water.
Back on the double track after climbing out of the Rim. The sand was well compacted and very rideable for those that actually gave it a whirl!
Light was good at this point.
More cows playing on the trails. I think they followed us from the book cliffs.

Cindy and Dave S take a quick pose for the camera here looking South East.
We booked it for the car as the sun went down, skipping the normal 2 trail route back and settled for the road in the wash. It is the Kokopeli proper and was fun to take everyone on for a tour. Got back to the car and Joel had left a note on the window--he had tried to meet us, using our SPOT tracker from his phone to see where we were on the loop but since we had moved slow, it never worked. Joel was able to grab a nice Western Rim and Kokopeli loop though out of the day regardless.
Our Elevation profile from the day. Came out to 5500ft I think climbing/descending.
The route from the sky. This is a wonderful loop and mostly single track the whole way or shared ATV/MTB trails--very nice combo of three loops out there. Its about 44 miles. In the past when I have done this with just two of us, it takes about 6 to 6.5 hours. We did this time in 9 hours even and had a great time, enjoying the day and taking photos. A slight breeze made the temps even better and kept us cool. We headed straight back to camp for some much needed showers and then a chow down at the Hot Tomato in town for some salad and pizza. Joel joined us for a bit to have a beer and hear about the epic day. I do not remember hitting the pillow! Tomorrow tour de Book Cliffs with the whole BSV team!

NOTE: What did I carry on this ride besides my bottomless dueter bag?
Food:
0) 5.5 serving Gel Flask with Carb Boom Apple Pie Gel
1) 3 handfuls of Blue Diamond salted Smoke House Almonds
2) Mini can of V-8
3) 4 Power Bars (chocolate and caramel)
4) 2 Mint Cliff Bars
5) 1 can of Tuna in water
6) 6 Newton brand Fig Newtons
7) Apple
8) Camel Back 100oz bladder full of water
9) 24oz bottle of water
10) 24oz bottle of water mixed with grape low calorie Gatorade
11) A whole lot of faith.
12) David S. carried everything else for me!
I ate everything except the Tuna. I drank all of the water and since we were out for a bit, I should have had one more bottle with me. I meant to bring it anyway, but forgot it at the camp. My cycle computer said I burned 2750calories. Not sure how accurate that is. I chowed that night after and also had a 24oz bottle of Recovery drink in the car on the way back to camp.

BSV Fruita MTB training camp 2011 Day 1!!

2011-04-05T15:36:00.008-06:00

Everyone okay? We were sitting in the dark at the Glenwood Springs Brewery while they figured out why the power had gone out. A large group of 20 young folks just left and I think only gave the waitress about $5 in tip--she was blown, then the power goes. And we thought getting stuck in a little snow on the way back to Boulder was a rough day.

It all started Thursday morning when David S picked me up, we loaded all our "much needed" stuff in the car and headed out to Fruita, Colorado. The drive was smooth until about Bakerville where the sign said "Road closed due to vehicle fire". Yeah, this is I-70, what else do you expect? We site, Phil M calls. He is sitting too with Kevin VP. Check email, Kevin K is out. Weather is mentioned, the chatter starts on the BSV board...oh no, they are dropping like flies. Either way, we were going and we were going to ride! Traffic started up again and sure enough, a huge black Dodge pickup had caught on fire and was being towed out of the way. A quick service stop just after the tunnel and we hit Fruita in good time overall. As we passed the bare peach trees, Phil called again and they were headed to Mack to ride Mary's. David and I opted for the group site so I could do all the necessary coordination with the state park and make sure the group site was set up. David and I got the group checked in and camp setup.

David cooked up some mean fajitas.
Worked on the bike a bit-new rear brake pads, chain lube, and well, I decided to skip the rear King hub overhaul...being lazy.

Fixed the loose screws on my night lights--yep--lights, we were preparing for a Kestle run night ride under the stars!

David K, Michelle, Kevin VP, David S, and myself all headed out to the Book Cliffs which was shaping up to be a fabulous night for a ride. Michelle's first night and ride and first time at the BC!
David K proceeded to show us how deep gravel does not get along with slow speed turns--it was nice to have a little learning session before we hit the trails. ;)
David riding and doing something here....
A quick stop--the cows were all out in force jockeying for pole position on the trails.

Easy trail to do at night--we rode up it first to get everyone acquainted and then bombed it down--had the place to our selves!

Quick run back to camp and we were all in bed. Epic ride in Rabbit Valley for Day 2 and more BSV folks coming too!

Fruita Training Camp

2011-04-03T21:24:00.001-06:00

Great time, superb riding, cool people and some damn good pizza....

A quick teaser shot, plenty more to follow as the rest of the crew trickles back from the Western Slope.

KBK's Spring Checklist for Bikes

2011-03-21T14:43:00.003-06:00

Howdy,

I realized that I didn't ever get around to giving folks my checklist for bike maintenance yesterday at the Knife Sharpening, so I thought I would pass it out here so everyone can enjoy! This is supposed to be a checklist for major tuneup Feel free to comment on things I forgot to include.

1) Start with cleaning

- Degrease all greasiness (clean chain, cassette, chainrings, derailleur pulleys etc)

- Clean your dirty dirty bike (really scrub everything else down with some good soap (not degreaser).

- Pay close attention to underside of bike, moving parts, and between the seat and chainstays

- Note anything funky/wrong/busted/dinged/dented

2) Inspection (check and note each - fix later)

- Check tires for wear (tread, sidewalls, weird bumps)

- Check chain for wear (use chain checker tool if you can)

- Check cassette and chainrings for wear (look for something like this only probably not as bad: this picture is of a ring about 2 years too far gone)

- Check brake cables/hoses/housings (looking for fraying, wear, holes)

- Check shifter cables/housing

- Check to make sure nothing is loose (handlebar, stem, seatpost, saddle, various levers and shifters)

- Wiggle wheels from side to side - you shouldn't get more than 1/8 inch of play with a light touch of your hand

- Check for clunking in cranks (bad bottom braket?)

- Check for trueness of wheel (spin the wheel while holding up the bike. Hold your finger tip near the side of the rim as close as possible without touching it. If you see the wheel getting closer then farther then closer, it's out of true - this can screw up braking a lot (unless you have disc brakes).

- Check rims for pitting, dents or other damage

- Check frame for cracks or dings.

- Check hand grips/bar tape (worn? tight? bar ends still on?)

- Check your fork/shocks for wear, scratches, dings, oil seeping, evil monsters

- If you have a drop seatpost do the same inspection as above and make sure it's actuating properly.

3) Fix problems

- Anything identified above.

4) Put on any new, fancy parts

- If you have any new stuff you're putting on for this season, now's a great time to do it!

- Also good time to put on new chains, brake pads, tires, etc that aren't quite so exciting

5) Adjustment and tune

- once chain is clean and dry (make sure degreaser has been removed before adding lube), lube up the chain carefully

- Adjust front and rear derailleur to shift properly through entire range

- Adjust seat height and angle

- Adjust brakes

- True you wheels

- Air up your tires

- Air up your shocks and set all the deelie bobs to the right place

- If you run tubeless, clean out the old sealant and put in fresh stuff

6) Ride test

- Ride your bike around the block

- Clunks, noises, funny feelings?

- Suspension feel good?

Good times at annual knife sharpening (bike tuneup) day!

2011-03-21T14:18:00.010-06:00

It's amazing what a group of people, snacks, grease and a club dog can accomplish in an afternoon! This is the second year that I've gotten BSV involved in my annual bike tuneup day and we had a blast!

Working with a team of around 10 people who came in and out during the afternoon, we had all kinds of silly fun fixing bikes. Among the oddities were a road brake that was bent about 1/4 back (how did that happen?), putting in a Chris King BB, bleeding brakes (told ya we'd do it!), stripping down a couple of bikes, walking one of our sponsor (Jeff Linroth) through some basic tuneup tips, some hefty belly rubs for Izzy the designated club dog for the day and I managed to loosen one bolt on one of my own bikes when not helping other people!

Here's a photo of the spread. I need to have people over to my garage more often!

Izzy ready for her next round of cuteness!

The peak of the work flow! Wow, my neighbors are really nice to let us take over the whole

back alley this way (or at least they don't complain!)

Patrick's new unicycle - he's such a good rider he thought that going without a front wheel would be more of a challenge (actually sending his fork and shock to Push for rebuild before upcoming epic MTB trips!)

Paul and Jeff engage in some bench racing while Paul strips down a bike to donate.

Bob and Sue Prieto stepped up and said that they were going to host next year (well, not really, but Bob kept asking, "Do you have an augmented punch with a 30 degree twist tool for extracting micro ball bearings?" When I'd say "What the hell is that?" He'd tell me he had three of them in his garage only creating a sense of great envy on my part, so now they're elected for next year!

In all seriousness, it was a blast! I can't recommend doing more events like this folks! Feel free to throw one yourself! A bunch of people came, we ate some good snacks, we fixed bikes and everyone had fun together!

Here are a few more pics that Becca took from the event!

Lake Pueblo Voodoo Fire Race Loop

2011-03-21T10:21:00.015-06:00

Sunday morning David showed up at 7:30am to pick me up for a day of riding down in Pueblo, just a bit south of Colorado Springs. We loaded the car and noticed the wind was blowing a bit...ummm. Then I decided to throw a wrench into everything and mention that we could just save the drive time and go to the DBB to Lory loop from Loveland. We changed our minds, even drove out 17th from Longmont on our way, but then changed again back to Pueblo. Almost returned to the Loveland detour when a gas line (or something of the sorts) had CR1 shut down and blocked our access to 119. Seemed like someone was trying to tell us to head North. But we carried on and in a few hours arrived in Lake Pueblo State Park. Parking lot was pretty much empty and there was a little wind, but the sun was nice and warm! Goal today was to follow the Voodoo Fire Race course which occurs in April. Neither of us are racing it, but thought it would be fun none the less. Sunscreen was in order.

And then we were off. It was a short sleeve and shorts day for sure. The wind just mysteriously died down to a nice 3 mph--enough to keep you cool while riding and the bugs away--yes bugs--they are out there already! We started out off of Conduit trail up to Duke-->Rodeo-->Rodeo Ridge-->Cuatro Cinco to South Shore.

The riding there is through rolling prairie circling around the South West side of the Res. Here David and I are on Conduit

Nice tight single track for miles and miles--in and out of small gullies and washes--up and down all day. Lots of small sharp flint rock which chews up light weight tires--would not go super light on the race day here--not worth the punctures on your tires. This is the Cuatro Cinco Trail. There is a tight rocky short section on Rodeo that will be a bottle neck for sure on the race start--most folks will not clean it and will be walking/piling up--once up this short wash, the Rodeo ridge trial is wide open and fast all the way down to Southern Shore. Corners are a bit loose with the flint rock so check yourself to keep from washing out the front wheel.

David approaching the log piles on log drop trail off of Pedro's Point.

Log Drop rises up a bit on this rib which is surrounded on three sides by the Res. If you continue to the East, you run into the Outer Limits loop and waterfall trails which is later in the race.

A quick little log ride--nothing to think about, just fun! Video here! After Log drop you are on a double track until the Voodoo Detour trail--a couple miles and a nice time to pass, eat, recover etc.

David climbing up the Voodoo Detour trail to the Voodoo proper loop.

Here we are on the Voodoo loop still and it weaves in and out of the washes/ribs looping another finger surrounded the res. Nice scenery with snow capped mountains in the distance. Swoopy and fun, but constantly up and down like East Coast rollers!

Very Content riders! ;)

Here is a better picture on the trail and small sharp rocks--there is cactus everywhere too so watch on the passing. Plenty of sections with short double track to pass/relax throughout the loop so take advantage there--otherwise on these narrow trails with the sharp rock and spines, I do not recommend venturing too far off trail. We are on the Outer Limits loop now here--trail looks and feels just the same.

Cliff bike diving? Could be fun but with the Moots...maybe not.

David cruising the trail ahead. Once you get out to the point on Outer Limits the trail turns to double track until you get to the waterfall trail to the left. Here you can fly and use to eat/recover/pass.
Bottom of waterfall trail--short water section and nice bridge. There is a split coming down the waterfall trail at the bottom (about 400 feet before the above bridge) when you see the water--take the high road to the right or you will be swimming as I almost did. David got it right--I had to climb up steep slope about 15 feet to join him!

After the bridge at Waterfall you take a left, then a right at the next junction until you hit the bottom of Rock Canyon. Here David is cranking up a small rock section. There are a few and require a little power so make sure you have hydrated well and keep breathing to keep from cramping. This a nice long climb up tot he top of Arkansas Point and then you descend back down-- a little kicker at the end of the 35 mile loop.

Coming up Rock Canyon

Near Roller Coaster looping the mesa.

End of Roller Coaster and near start of Edge trail. You can see the canyons have some super cool stuff to play on--the race avoids these and only takes the easier canyons with the log bridges and big rock drops. I highly recommend coming back some time to play on them though--very nicely built.

Descending Stone Henge--appropriately named. You come around the corner and its surreal with these rock cairns built up.

Picture window!

Here we are just after finishing the Stonehenge trail and riding the South Shore trail back to Conduit and the car. A nice loop for sure they put together and great mix of the trails. For sure save the energy to climb back up the Rock Canyon/Stonehenge loop at the end and for the short steep climbs up and down on South Shore back to the start/finish. This loop is going to be tough twice and with the up/down all day on the trials, it wears at you so be ready--no real long climbs or long descents--all just short and steady. Trails rock though and remind me of riding 35 miles of Kestle run at 18road in Fruita--forever pump track.

(Click on images for larger one)
The loop was 33.5 miles and we had 1900ft of climbing per lap from my bike computer. Lap time was 3.5 hours at our slack pace plus a bit more for some picture taking/chatting with other riders and picking up tools/tubes--by the end of the ride, we had almost a new tool kit from the items dropped on the trail that day! A super fun day and worth the effort. Hope to head back in late April.

Gettin that single track fix...

2011-03-15T14:11:00.010-06:00

Clock goes off at 5:30am...its Sunday, and what is this, the ground is all wet, its socked in, and kind of chilly. The husky dog wants out, so much for sleeping in on the weekend. It is not that bad I tell my self walking around the neighborhood, we can still ride (I think?). I make some waffles, eat a banana and get dressed anyway. Toby calls at 7am--he is out front ready to go, so yes, we are going riding.....

And an awesome ride it was! Could not believe the conditions on the trail Sunday. We headed up to Devil's Backbone in Loveland--a place I have spent some serious time playing on and even building trail over the years. Pulled up in the parking lot and there are only a few cars and it looks like rain any second. We both completely over pack clothing not knowing what will happen and head off down the trail to see how things are.

The trail starts out with a nice few short climbs and then a gradual climb for about a mile. You turn a corner and bam, you climb 300 feet in 0.7 miles--nice warm up! Several serious switch backs to boot, with rocks, and more than the eyes want to look at while climbing.

Toby almost at the top
Cresting the top of the first big climb. Clouds still looked a bit iffy here.

One thing DBB has--techy as can be, plus swoopy buffed out single track you could pave.
Yep, techy for sure, but all very doable...with the right set of gymnastics crash pads appropriately places! We both gawked at this and decided to move on. ;)

Here Toby and I are just after the North side of the DBB park entering the Blue Sky trail.

This is looking North to Horestooth Mountain park. The Blue Sky trail follows this valley all the way there for about 7 miles.

Some great trail work was done here to sustain this great connector!
We opted for the Indian Summer loop about half way between the DBB and Horsetooth which climbs to the west on a nice Mesa and then drops back down. Toby topped out here--all smiles.
Crazy blue birds on the trail--neither one of us can identify them.

Then sun came out! We dropped into Horsetooth and the camp ground and stopped for some food. Chatted it up with a runner and then headed back to DBB. There are sections of the Blue Sky trail that have these large boulders the trail weaves in and out of. Great terrain, both directions and super fun.

Hero dirt today--best I have ever ridden up this way--not one bit of dust, amazing traction on the steeps and just perfectly tacky--plus again, no one on the trails! The rocks were a little slippery here and there, but again, amazing conditions!

Toby railing through some more rocks. It was hard to stop smiling and laughing here.

A few nice water bars and drops to climb back up and over on the way to the car. That chain ring is mighty close!

Just after the above section, there is another little tricky spot.....keep cranking...keep cranking

Well..almost, half crank more and it was all there--maybe I will clean it next time!

Yeah, that was fun!

Our ride from the sky, Blue Sky that is.

20 miles later, 2K of climbing, and 3+ hours, bikes and riders were all content all before 1pm! We ended the day with a short visit to Larry at Mountain High Cyclery in Loveland before trekking back to Longmont. Single track fix, CHECK!!

2011-01-09T12:21:00.003-07:00

I've just started my third year as a BSV member and I have yet to contribute to the blog. I have been included in other blog postings, thanks to John P, and I'm trying to emulate his discipline here in the New Year, not just by contributing to the team blog but also by having my own as well (which has a lot more about this patricular ride at http://nohosing.blogspot.com/).

So here's my first contribution, a fun solo ride I did this Saturday just before we got hit by another blast of winter weather. Speaking of John P I tried to coerce him into joining in but he had ski plans. I would have of course extended an invitation to all of BSV but this route was a last minute decision. I really need to get better about planning things more in advance...

A winter day with highs in the 40s is a good day for a canyon climb. It's always good to get some climbing in occasionally throughout the winter, so it's not such a shock when you make that annual spring trip to Fruita. So with Saturday's great weather, it was just a question of "which canyon to climb"?

Four Mile canyon and Sunshine canyons were the choice for today. Starting and ending in Boulder with Gold Hill as the mid-point, this is a great ride with good views, little traffic, and some reasonably steep sections. I call this ride the "super Poorman", borrowing from the colloquial phrase "super Walker" (another awesome ride) which involves riding Walker ranch starting from Boulder, climbing Flagstaff to get there. In this case, climbing Four Mile, connecting to Sunshine by way of Poorman Road, and dropping back to town is a popular loop, but Gold Hill is a much longer alternative to the same basic concept.

The ride started with a gradual climb west up Boulder creek trail, dodging peds, dogs, and patches of ice. Here's the end of city maintenance, things get more fun from this point:

Finally, something more interesting than pavement and crusher fine:

Then begins the long climb up Four Mile canyon. This climb is all asphalt though the end of Salina, then it changes to dirt which is typically snow packed this time of year, and fun to ride. I had forgotten about the fire that happened in this area last year until I started seeing the damage. I realized I hadn't been this way since this happened. Here's just one small sample:

Just below Salina, here's where we turn off onto Gold Rim road:

Passing through Salina:

Except perhaps for "Cold Beer" this is the best sign you can ever see. But where's the snow pack typical for this time of year?? Guess it really has been dry here on the Front Range lately:

Just past Gold Hill, near the high point of the day looking backwards to a nice view of the Indian Peaks. A great view is all the sweeter when earned:

At the top, a good place to pee, put on a coat, balaclava, and dry gloves. Oh, and double check that my quick releases are on tight and take a gratuitous shot of the rider and bike. Perhaps I should pick a more level rock next time for the camera:

I was too busy enjoying the downhill and avoiding sand to take many more pictures, but here's one. The fire damage appears to have been the worst here at the top of Sunshine canyon. My thoughts go out to all those who lost their homes, and the heroic efforts of the fire fighters who saved so many others:

Done! Time to scare up some food:

Here's a map of the route and some ride stats:

Distance = 25.7 miles
Total ascent - 3380 ft.
Max elevation = 8492 ft.
Moving time = 2 hr. 41 min.
Total snot rockets blown = 27 (what, your GPS doesn't measure this?)

Weld County Tour!

2010-11-14T18:53:00.002-07:00

A group of us from the MTB group headed out to Weld County for some dirt road riding today under the leadership of David S.
Phil M. and myself met up at David's house first and then off to a nearby park to meet some others. It was a little cool but the sun was attempting to peak through the clouds and warm our souls. We headed out just after 9am.
A few last minute checks before we left...
Phil warm and ready to go the distance.
Michael B. was waiting for us at the park nearby and shortly after Cindy cruised on in. Nice group of 5 of us to head out North/East a bit and be social.
Just a few miles later Cindy's seat started giving trouble. The binder bolt would not tighten enough due to a new cable support bracket that had been installed so she had the true low rider! Not very fun for 40 plus miles!
And then there were four....
The dirt was spectacular and tacky. No mud at all.
A few short road sections pieced the loop together. Not much traffic either which was nice.
A large dairy North of Longmont. Cows found us interesting.
Then Michael B. broke off from us and then there were 3.....
Pickett Dairy--David made good on the smells of Weld County for sure!
Heading Easy towards Milliken. David and Phil leading the way.

Phil still happy and enjoying a day off from cross racing.
Local Motor Cross track and a youth race going on--Phil and I recalled our younger days on 80's and 250's.
Heading South on the way back home. Then there was 2...well just kidding, Phil was still here, just did not make the picture. The three of us finished back at David's house happy riders. What a great day!
Elevation profile--only about 500 feet of total climbing today but mostly all dirt riding.
Our big loop. Ended up about 42.5 miles and we averaged about 10mph with our total time. Great day out and had fun hanging out with everyone. See you next time. Thanks David for putting it together!

Sourdough South MTB Ride 11072010

2010-11-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

Toby and myself headed out Sunday am to ride a loop on the North Sourdough trail out of Peaceful Valley and the Hwy 72.

The cool part about the Sourdough trail is it goes through some very diverse terrain.

Summer like weather and perfect trail conditions. (TF)
Aspen trees with pine (TF)
(TF)
(TF)

Gropple starting to fall here a bit. You can see it on my bag.

Toby topping out on the Wapiti loop
This one was off camber, icy, and snowy, decided to walk it for sure to keep rubber side down.
Started Snowing on us out of no where. Wind picked up. We were way back on the Wapiti Baptiste loop, no where to run, no where to hide.

Descending in Snow...there is an art to it! (TF)

Fresh tracks too. (TF)
Fresh deadfall that has been cleared--the trail crews have done a lot of chainsaw work to keep this trail clear (for now!). (TF)

WHEEEEEEE Around the switchback. (TF)

DOUBLE WHEEEEEEEEE! We only rode about 12 miles I think but had a blast. This week could be it for a while up there. Have not loaded the GPS track yet. Most the trail is at 9500 to 9800 feet I think though.

Marshall Dirty Biz Loop 10282010

2010-11-09T10:52:00.001-07:00

Headed out for a nice night ride in the Marshall Mesa area. Sun was starting to set nicely over the peaks.
Sun setting just after Mayhoffer/Singletree
Dirty Biz loop plus trails on west side of 93. 2:26 and just under 22 miles.
About 1200 feet of climbing on the loop. Not much at all which means faster speeds and ability to push a little on the short climbs. Back side of Spring Brook loop is highest point.

Longmont to Heil MTB ride 10312010!

2010-11-09T10:46:00.002-07:00

A nice sunrise off the greenway in Longmont. Good start to a stellar day.

edit

Golden hills.
Some where on Oxford between 49th and 41st maybe?
Back at the Ponderosa/Wapiti loop junction on our way back home.

edit

Oh, and then had tea again at the picnic bench off of Picture Rock! Did I say relaxed? Yep, the sun felt good here although the day never got very warm.
Trusty steeds
Here was the ride. Started in Longmont and rode to Heil via Lefthand which ended up at just under 41 miles for me and I was back home by 12:57pm!! Steve rode from Boulder so may have been a bit longer for him. Hit the wapiti, ponderosa, wild turkey and Picture Rock trails. Super fun with great company. Thanks Steve for joining!
Days climbing. About 2500 feet total. Stellar.

Buffalo Creek Ride 10242010

2010-11-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

Rode the newer Buffalo Burn trail. David taking in the scenery while trying to not have *too* much fun.

David recovering his water after a bladder mishap, all in good spirits!

Decision on the CT. There is such a spider web of trails that and they are all so fun, its hard to decide where to go!

Ready for the Baldy Descent! Pure Goodness.

Lots of up and down, but very nice climbs.
Here was our loop today. Just about 24 miles and about 2500ft of elevation.

edit

Trail network of BC. We parked off of 126 and 550 TH. Rode the CT down to Redskin Creek, Gashouse up to Baldy, down Baldy, FSR543 to Morrison Creek and up to Shinglemill, then across 550 to CT again and back to car.

Did they say free?

2010-11-09T08:20:00.004-07:00

Introduce "The Nation" Bluesky Velo tall boy socks! Thanks for making this happen at the meeting everyone. Look forward to meeting everyone and riding together this up coming 2011 Season.

Come night ride this week! ;) John

Not Going To Stop

2010-10-01T08:49:00.003-06:00

Be sure to read KBK's post below this one, if you live in Boulder county, I believe it is important.

--------------

Heart slamming in my chest, sight greyed out beyond 50ft with pin hole vision starting to creep in, legs and lungs were searing but now are silent – I think the nerves signaling pain overheated and had to shut down for a bit. Pick myself up off the ground and start to run with my bike, ditch coming up, jump the ditch, get back on my bike, pedal like heck, dart around flailing guy in front of me as he slips off his pedal. Look up to see next guy ~20ft ahead, head down and focus on getting more power out of legs that long ago realized complaining was fruitless, head up, hard corner to the left in soft dirt feeling the tires bite, start to slide, and bite again; put in more power. Sand section – shift weight back and hit the gas; feel the tires hop up on the surface and whole bike accelerate. Slight left hand turn on soft dirt off-camber section, ride lightly to not slip down into ditch. Exit soft dirt with 90 degree turn and back to the sand drag strip – I swear I need a turbo or something to get more air in my lungs; hang a hard right and keep accelerating. Log barriers coming up, line up to the left where the logs are a bit lower. Bam!!, dust everywhere, bike tires in the air, legs above heads – crash! Oh boy, I’m going way too fast and way too close; oooph, hit the dirt and see my bike careening off to the side. Get legs back up under me and look for bike; crack – sproing, oh man someone just broke some spokes! Find my bike……….. those were my spokes! barely done with the first lap and now my race is over?!!….

Yep, cyclocross season is here!

Backing up a bit to start closer to the beginning – I decided to start off my cyclocross racing season last Saturday at the first of the Boulder CX series races. I was pretty psyched all week for this race as it was at one of my favorite venues in Colorado, Xilinx! This course has lots of possibilities for technical riding with a lot of single track, sand, off-camber, dirt, grass, ditches, logs , stairs, pavement, and if it’s snowing or raining some great mud! Yesterday however was a dry sunny early fall day, luckily at the start of my race it was ~65F so it was comfortable without being too hot.

For once I actually got in a good warm-up! I found quite a few surprises on a warm-up lap as the promoter found some ditches and other areas that we hadn’t raced on before, providing numerous areas for miscalculations and crashes (or seen from the other view point, many areas to pass other riders that aren’t ready). After previewing the course; I knew that I needed to be toward the front early in the race as the masses would get tied up behind crashes, causing some major splits in the group. I was also given some tips by a teammate as to where some of the major log jams would be and some tactics to help out (thank you Blue Sky!). Since I wasn’t likely to get a call up, this meant I needed to redline it with a full out sprint as much as possible from the start to get up the field.

At the lineup before the start, we all got a pleasant surprise in that most of those with a call up had upgraded (or not shown up) so instead of 7 -9 rows of racers called up, there are only 2.5 rows. Those that helped setup were next and then we filled in by race number. I lucked out and made it into row 4 of the start! I lined up to the right as the start was an uphill section of pavement that made a sweeping turn to the right before heading into the woods (had to have good position before here).

As the whistle was blown, the guy in front of me barely went anywhere, so I was watching guy after guy going ahead on the left side, finally the road opened up and I took off with all I had. Made it from ~40th position into ~20th by the hop into the woods. The curbing there had a section of sandbags allowing an easier transition over a curb, however that was clogged with racers, so I took a line to the right and bunny hopped the curb, gaining a few places. Next was a short uphill of dirt to the left and then a right turn around a tree – the course narrowed a good bit here and three of us all locked shoulders to squeeze through, barely missing the tree; luckily no one panicked and we all stayed upright. Then hammer down to move up some more through a slight depression and come to a hard right dirt corner that leads downhill around another tree with a barrier at the exit of the turn. Lots of people were sketchy in their balance here and further down the hill; so I picked my bike up and shouldered it over the barrier, keeping the bike on the shoulder all the way down the hill and around the next corner to the bridge (Thanks for the tip John!). By doing that, I passed at least another 6 people. As I went to get back on my bike, I was hit right as I committed for the remount causing me to hit the back of my seat and land on my tire; oh boy, not a good way to start the first lap! As I extricated myself, I’m passed by at least 6 other racers, dangit!

Ok, time to gather myself and stay in the race. As I got back on my bike there was a group of six of us all vying for a line through the trees in a nice s-turn single track section that barely fits two – I decided to let the guy right next to me go ahead and then followed his wheel, ensuring my position through the slot between two aspen trees. The course then darted out of the trees with a hard left turn that required us to hug the last tree to hit a path of grass, or fly out on a concrete sidewalk and be forced to slow down. As the turn exited, we were faced with an uphill climb of ~50ft that is ~8ft tall, then another left turn in loose dirt and then an uphill right hand turn in the Aspens with a barrier in the middle of the climb requiring another carry of the bike. Once we got over the barrier and topped the hill, there was a loose dirt ditch that the course went diagonally though; its rideable, but if you miss the line, then you are going down. I chose to ride it and made the line, allowing me to pass some more. I was starting to feel the effects of my effort here as the pain in my lungs and legs was starting to go numb.

The course made a slight right onto a ridgeline with course tape to the left and a soft dirt embankment to the right; all of a sudden dust was everywhere and the people in front of me were stopping, so I decided to try my luck on the off camber embankment. Turns out the side is too loose of dirt and I tumbled off my bike quickly, then barely scrambled back up to the course at the end of the ridgeline. The course then exited the forested area with a slight left-hander down a grassy, bumpy hill and onto a driveway. Somehow after all this, I was still around the top 20!

Rather than providing a break, the driveway and following parking lot were really a drag race to go absolutely all out (like we haven’t been doing that already!) and get good position for the run onto a quasi grassy dirt lot . The bumps here were of the magical variety – hit them with speed and you skip across the top of the bumps and are able to accelerate; hit them slowly and all of your speed is sucked out of you worse than hitting quicksand. After the lot was a small bridge over a ditch and then a sweet downhill path of crushed red rock that flows back and forth beautifully; this part rips! On the exit of the path is dirt single track that flows nicely down a small hill and then across a rise and around a tree to the left (hug the tree tight as there is a concrete culvert if you swing wide), then a hard right and down into the sage grass. All of this section was a dream! I had ridden this section many time before and knew it well, allowing me to rest a bit while sticking to the wheel of those working much harder in front of me.

The course then did a couple nearly 160degree turns in the field grass with an exit across a ditch, another great place to gain position as one line was very ride-able and that line was open for me! After a couple more corners we hit a double ditch section that was evil – fast run up then corner to the right to a ditch that looks ride able, but rarely was for me and then a second ditch that could swallow an entire bike; I chose the conservative way and ran both of them. Then there was a hill in about 20feet, so you had to get on the bike quickly, power up the hill, down to the left and then come to the double ditches again. For some reason I tried to ride the first one and superman’d over the handlebars – huh, didn’t really feel the impact; gotta love hypoxia! As I got back up and grab my bike – that’s where I was at the point of the intro to this post..

….circling back to where we left off..

Dangit – I have a wheel that is non-ride able, a mouth full of dirt, my eyes are still crossed from the effort (which way does the course go again?) and I’m about three quarters a mile of a soft dirt and heavily weeded course from the pit where my spare wheel is. No chance of wining for sure, heck chances of top 20 much less top 50% are gone, is anything other than a DFL (dead fracken last) possible? Son of a monkey; my race is over…..

Wait – I entered this race to race and I’m going to race! I raced duathlons this spring and summer and have been wishing for a bike -run-bike version; guess I got my wish – just didn’t really envision it in soft dirt, carrying a bike with spokes that occasionally stick my thigh and carbon cycling shoes that aren’t really the best for running in. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers – So I picked up my bike, put it on my shoulder, and started to run. For some extra motivation, I had some Ozzy Osborne playing in my head; “I don’t want to stop” and “never going to stop”, I’ve used those before during hard sections of duathlons, so it fit here. Metal goes well with cyclocross, especially hard stuff with a lot of distortion, it kinda mimics the brain with hypoxia…ok, well, enough of that tangent, and back to the race..

I had to do some cross country running to stay out of the way of those that were actually still riding their bikes in this bike race. After what seemed like 20 minutes, I came to the final switchback before the pavement stretch to the pits – here a course marshal took pity on me and instructed me to cut the last switchback and head straight to the pit. Small victory, though the last guy in the race was already close to a quarter mile ahead of me.

After getting my spare front wheel on, I head back out on the course; riding my bike (novel idea, I know)! As I’m going up the pavement, I see the back end of the race heading down the hill on that sweet red crushed path; that makes me roughly a half lap behind. Oh well, head down and race my race – bad situation as I don’t have others to push me, great situation as I get to pick my own lines and don’t have to deal with other’s bobbles. Several other racers are on the course warming up and all pull over nicely allowing me to continue my solo flogging session.

Another pass by the pits and I hear three to go called out right as I spot another racer from my wave in front of me. I used that as more incentive to accelerate and am able to pick off a couple more by the time I head into the woods. At the back of the pack, the racers are pretty well spread out and with some heads up racing , I time it so I come on each next racer as I’m able to pass so I can take all my lines through the technical sessions and not worry about another crash.

The lead racer passes me right before the logs where I crashed and had to start my run. I had hoped to hold them off, but considering how long I had to run, I’m ok with being a lap down. For the next lap, two more from the lead group pass me, but I hold it at that and hang with them all the way around. I finished the race in 84th out of 96th. (official results showed 86, but chip showed 84??)

I’m actually pretty dang happy with my placing; by all rights, I had every reason to call it a race and quit, but I decided that I wasn’t going to stop and fought my way back to the field and even up the field some; none of the terrible D's (DNS, DNF, DFL) for me!

As I sat in the grass eating a Belgian waffle covered in Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter (umm, recovery food), my body started regaining sensation. Oh, ouch – apparently I had cuts and scrapes all over, some bloody and some not; a couple good bruises forming; dirt still in my mouth, sand in my hair, and one heck of a dirt tan making some of the still trickling blood a very dark shade of reddish brown. Just about every muscle is sore and a few joints are getting stiff as I sit here with a big ol’ dumb grin on my face. I realize how much fun it was and ride the exercise induced high that is flowing pretty good by now.

Yup, it’s cyclocross season, and I love it!

-Ben S.

Fighting the Good Fight...

2010-09-29T15:38:00.003-06:00

It's been far too long since I last posted on the Blue Sky Blog. It's been a really crazy busy time for me (and I'm guessing for many of you cyclists out there spinning your wheels). I guess better than creating a lousy summary statement of what's been going on in my not too terribly thrilling, broken bone prone life, I thought I would bring up something important to me about cycling here in Boulder County.

In my secret life, when I'm not sporting the red, white, blue and black attack of my BSV kit, I live a dark underlife of suspense and intrigue as a board member for BMA (Boulder Mountainbike Alliance - yes, I know "Mountainbike" should be two words, and yes, I have tried to change it, but the forces that be have thwarted my attempts many a time until I caved).

This part really isn't that important. It's what I learned in my book "how to write humorous blogs and what to do when you're just not funny" is called "background". Ahem, as I was, I am serving on the board of BMA. What is BMA? Well, if you weren't aware, it's the mountain bike advocacy organization for Boulder County. That means that people who are members of BMA build trails (when the government (from here forward, know as "the Man") says they can) and talk to all of the people who make the decisions about where trails are and what they are used for to try to get more riding trails.

Okay, I promise, we're almost to the important stuff here... crack another cold one, or if you are riding your bike and reading this on your iPhone (oh please say it ain't so), shift into a really high gear and grunt for a second.

This year has been personally tough for me. I have had a lot of setbacks and I have had to challenge myself some days just to get up and get going. I have worked my booty off trying to start a civilized conversation with some people who simply do not wish to discuss what the future of cycling in Boulder is going to be like.

My background is in both ecology (MA in Biogeography, BS in Ecology) and Business (MBA in Sustainable Business). I feel strongly that if we are going to move into a future that is free of fossil fuel (most people now seem to think that this is an inevitable as the smell of Greely on a warm day) we need to plan on a lot more people on bikes. Also, I see kids these days riding the wii instead of a BMX bike. Needless to say their increasing backsides still don't cushion well against those boxy controllers when they try to mount them and that people who don't get out into nature don't really appreciate it.

My work this summer has been trying to get trails that allow people to ride from town to out of town, but still be in open space. It's been really hard. I had to wear dress pants and a nice shirt a few times - that's how hard was (although I did wear spandex underneath to stay in touch with my true nature - and for some extra support which is always nice on a rough day). I spoke a bunch of times to people who would listen and even more times to people who wouldn't listen.

Here is the important part... really...

There are several issues coming to a head right now in the Boulder area that deal directly or indirectly with biking and I really could use the support of our "Nation".

First, the County Ballot Issue 1B. You've probably heard something about this already unless you don't read the Daily Camera or Longmont Times-Call (have to say I can't blame you if you don't - man, the public comments make me cry).

Basically, the County has used up it's money to buy and do cool stuff with open space. If you're like me, you're probably thinking stuff along the lines of, "Dang, I lost my job this year and I haven't been able to find more than a few hours of tutoring to pay for a new set of tubular wheels. Why the heck do I want to pay more money for open space?" Well, you might not be quite as underemployed as me, but I'm sure you get the idea.

But, here's the deal: I talked with the head honcho at County Open Space (aka "the Man" Open Space) - Ron Stewart, and he said that one of the main targets of this dough would be to purchase a place called Gold Hill Open Space. You might recognize the name as it's been damaged by the Fourmile Fire. They have to get this land from another government agency and as part of the deal THEY HAVE TO PUT IN TRAIL ACCESS. This area would be like another Hall Ranch only further up in the mountains and it would be open for hiking, biking, bird watching and probably lolligagging.

The other big thing that they want to get ahold of us a property along Hwy 36. The current owners can't afford to keep it and it's zoned so that it could be more than 250 homes. If you ride 36 and look off to the east between Nelson and St. Vrain Rds., you are looking at "the Leukonen Property". The County is trying to pick this place up. If they get it, several things are going to happen. 1) There won't be a huge bunch of homes, 2) The Man has said that putting in a "regional connector path" is a possibility, and 3) the land will stay in agricultural or ecological use in perpetuity (sorry if you were hoping for a new Wendy's on your riding route). Also, if you live in Longmont, this is an area that would change your view from rolling hills in front of the foothills into homes in front of the foothills.

Wonder where this is? Click on this link: http://goo.gl/maps/YX9s

Here is a view of the area looking from Hwy 36. http://goo.gl/maps/qAeu

I am reaching out to you, the Blue Sky Nation, and asking you to support cycling through this ballot initiative. If you spend $100, you only pay a tax of 15 cents (that means that if you spend $10 on a burrito and a beer you could plunk down one penny and then with your massive strength, cut another one in half and leave that behind and it's what you'd pay for this tax). Heck, if you threw down some massive cash and got a shiny new Yugo for $10,000, you'd only be paying $15 for open space.

I do feel strongly that Boulder County has become so beautiful because we have done well in preserving our land. Our quality of life an property values reflect that (for reference, feel free to drive to Brighton to our east and check it out). Seeing the Leukonen Property turned into homes, I feel, would be a blight on an otherwise wonderful scenic ride along 36 (especially now that they've covered the chip seal with tar).

Also, if you vote for it and come tell me, I'll give you a beer. No joking. No kidding. I'll give you a beer (or a soda pop or fruit drink beverage bag with a straw if you are a teetotaler). Really, you could even lie if you want to and I'd drink a beverage with you and I'd be cool with it. Believe me, I really need to relax after this summer. Just come tell me next time you see me and I'll get you a cold one. Honest. Think of the economics! One beer is about $1.50. That means that I just covered all the tax you would have to cough up for $1,000 worth of purchases!

If you don't believe in this proposition, I understand. My only request is that we can all be in a state of Fonziness* and not be mean to each other!

* Fonziness - being like or of the Fonz. Cool. See Arthur Fonzarelli. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonzie

Oh, and if you've read this far and just wanted something that didn't have to do with local politics, here is a video clip I took of a Bull Snake doing an impression of a Rattlesnake. Bull Snakes aren't poisonous, but their way of scaring of predators (or skittish hikers) is to imitate a Rattler - complete with shaking tail. But, unlike their poisonous cousins, the rattle noise comes from some tricky breathing, not rattles on the tail.

Oh, and here is a picture of some of the rangers and staff from around the state of Colorado at a an open space conference I went to a couple weeks ago. We all went out and rode the Centennial Cone (in Jeffco). Most of them really kicked butt - even in their silly ranger duds! So, one bit of advice - if you are on the trail, unlikely you could outrun the Man! :)

Seriously though, they were really nice and had lots of great things to say about riding around the Front Range!

Hup Hup everyone!

KBK

CX Clinic 2 - Amy Dombroski rocks!

2010-09-11T15:39:00.016-06:00

First off, let me just get this out there ..... Amy Dombroski (no 'W'!!) is our new BFF.

Once again Amy offered up a great cyclocross clinic today, as only she can. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky. Mad props also to Paul McCarthy for getting the gang together and organizing.

Come on people, wake up! Its time to get crossy ! Here Paul has his hand up because Amy asked who's a brown-noser.

It was a great turn out today ....... and a new location out at Redstone Park in east Longmont. It was off the hook at the park with football games and soccer, but we found some un-used nooks and crannies to get our game on.

It was great.... young and old, first timers and old hats... Amy dished up something for us all.
It was great to see some old friends .... love how CX will bring us all out of the woodwork.

Amy's great with working with people at all levels.
Skillz, skillz, and more skillz. Practice makes perfect people!! "Your skills don't thrill, need to do drills!" Lots of drills. On the bike, off the bike. Pick up the bike, put down the bike. Pedal fast, stop and turn around stuff. Ride your bike, lay down in the shade ... oops that last one wasn't one of them.

"Find something that works for you - then perfect it!" She makes it sound so easy.

In this picture you can almost see the cloud of knowledge flowing out of her head into ours.

Here's she's saying "I saw Dave dancing with his bike like this.."

Its great to get the full knowledge of someone who's raced at the highest level, all over the world. And its great because she's so down to earth and grounded.
Anyone else see the theme in these shots that she's the only one tough enough to hang out in the sun while we all cower in the shade ?
The CrossPropz portable barriers put the icing on the cake!! Thanks to Paul for bring an entire gaggle of them!! It helps so much to have those sweet break-aways (or we'd all have cut shins!). Doing tons of mounts and dismounts sure got my heart rate up, and showed I still have a few off-season cobwebs.

So after lunch, after too many chocolate chip cookies, it was GAME ON! Relay fast starts happened. Then "last man standing". Then ... the dreaded ... hot laps. All riders mano a mano. Each lap the slowest one heads to the shade to chill and heckle, while everyone else keeps going until there's only 3 people left. Oh my I guess I have some work to do on my fitness!!!!

Unfortunately, she forgot to go over the "don't make contact with the ground with your head" rule early enough, and we had one small casualty. I won't name names but luckily the skull in question is a thick one :-) Feel better ________!!!!

"Remember People, don't be a SQUARE! Cyclocross Rulz! Get crossy!" **
** Not actual quote from Amy, she's not that dorky

To follow Amy D. or find out more about her, go to her website!!

ps. quick shout out to Steve Capstick who could not attend, .... we were going to have him on the jumbo-tron via satellite uplink to monitor us ... we couldn't get a live feed :-)

Steamboat Stage Race - Race Report

2010-09-07T10:42:00.008-06:00

First, I would like to thank all of you that were giving me words of encouragement over the last week for this race. It meant a lot and I really appreciate it.

I used to live in Steamboat, so this was a special race for me. I have never done a stage race before, so I was a bit nervous going into this. I didn't know how I would hold up over the 4 days of racing. I have been feeling pretty good lately, so I had set some high expectations for myself which added to my nervousness.

My Goals:

1) Put as much time into the skinny guys in the TT as I could.

2) Don't get dropped

Prologue-

The opening prologue was a fairly short rolling 10k that did an out and back along the Yampa river and then finished with a short climb up Mt. Werner Circle. I was fairly confident going into this one as I can usually do well in a TT. I went as hard as I could and ended up 6th overall (22 seconds down). Not a bad way to start the weekend.

Marabou Circuit Race-

Marabou Ranch is a private community and is not open to the public except for this race and one of the town challenge mountain bike races. I had never been there before and there was no elevation profile posted, so I had no idea what to expect. I knew there was a climb, but I had no idea how steep or long it was. I was able to park pretty close to the course and I was watching other racers laboring up the hill to the start/finish. I don't pretend to be a climber, so at the last minute ditched the 11-25 for the 11-28 I bought for the Centurion. Good call there as I would later find out. On tap was 6 and a half laps of a 4.5 mile loop. The first lap was fairly mellow while the group scouted the course. With each lap, the pace seemed to increase a bit. The first few laps hurt and I found myself really having to dig to stay in contact over the climb and then descend like a banshee to catch back on again. The descent was really fun. The roads were perfect and you could really hang it out if you wanted to. The last few laps felt a bit better and I was still in the front on the final lap. On the final climb, all hell broke loose though and I lost a few seconds. 14th on the day and I dropped from 6th to 9th on the G.C. Still pretty happy that I was able to hang with the leaders though.

Here is a short video from the local paper. You can get a bit of a feel for the course.

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/videos/2010/sep/04/2073/

Road Race-

When I used to live here, I did have a road bike, but it got limited use due to the world class Mountain Biking Steamboat has. My knowledge of the Road course was pretty limited, so I didn't really know what I was in for. Ignorance is bliss as they say. On race morning, I felt okay. A little stiff from the circuit race, but not too bad. The weather report said it was going to be windy, but I had no idea what was in store. It is never windy in Steamboat, so I didn't pay much heed. My race time was at 12:20 and as the morning progressed it was starting to get "Boulder Windy". At the start, the wind was blowing really hard. It was going to be a long day. A big thanks to Eric Scroger for wishing me luck at the start! The pace started out like all cat 4 road races. Pretty manageable for the first half of the race. The biggest issue was the wind. Guys that were rolling the deep dish wheels were all over the road. There was no where to hide either. You would get in a good spot and then the road would turn and you would be taking the brunt of it. It seemed like we had been riding a long time already when I looked at my computer an we had only done 15 miles. uh oh. Finally, we approached the turnaround/feedzone area and it was chaos with everyone trying to get more water. One guy in the pack asked if negative humidity was possible. The moisture was literally being sucked from us! As I fumbled around trying to get a bottle in my jersey pocket, the pack was not slowing down. I had to bury myself to try and catch back on and then there was a big acceleration climbing out of there (see profile below) that spit me out. I had a bit of company though and 4 of us worked together all the way back in. We kept picking off guys that were getting spit out along the way, so we were going at a good pace. Still, 4 can't keep pace with the main group in that wind. I was just happy I had some guys to work with. The last 2 climbs were brutal. I just wanted to be done. I ended up losing 11 minutes and change. My G.C. hopes were done.

Downtown Criterium-

My start time was at 8 am on Monday and the temps were supposed to be near freezing. When I woke up, it was in the low 40s but still a bit breezy. No problem though. Downtown, you are sheltered from the wind and I like it when it is cool. A little embrocation and I was good to go. The group was a bit smaller today. Either some guys decided to get a jump on traffic or the buzzards got them in the Road Race. The Crit was really fun. There was a bit of a power climb up 4th Street and then a long decent all the way down Pine. For the whole race, I felt pretty comfortable at the front. It was going to be about position at the end. On the last lap, I thought I was in a good spot coming into the last corner. However, someone cut the corner in front of me and I had to hit the brakes or be taken out. It was now a drag race all the way up Oak street. I passed quite a few guys, but the gap that opened coming around the corner was too much to make up. I ended up 9th on the day and 20th on G.C.

Here is another video with some crit footage.

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/videos/2010/sep/06/2074/

Overall, it was a great event and I would for sure do it again. Hopefully, next year we can get the crew up there for a strong BSV showing.

If gazelles could talk

2010-08-25T15:31:00.000-06:00

Tuesday evening, 4 intrepid soles and I joined Kirk and Eric of TriKirk Coaching (www.trikirkcoaching.com) for a running clinic at Skyline High School in Longmont. They started us out by describing the various stages we go through as we progress from walking to jogging to running and how those different activities ingrain bad mechanics in our running style that make us slow and injury prone. On the track infield they led us through a progression of 5 simple drills to help us learn various aspects of good form. After that, while we practiced as a group running around the track, they met with us one-on-one for personal coaching. We ran a little ways, received tips on things to focus on, and ran again until we got it dialed in. The drills were simple to do and easy to remember so we can incorporate them into our workouts as needed to focus on various aspects of our form.

During various points in the clinic, Kirk and Eric would demonstrate good style to give us concrete examples of what to shoot for. We often use the term ‘buttuh’ to describe something super smooth but that doesn’t even begin to describe how these two guys run. Absolutely fluid and effortless. What was most inspiring, was that they both got to this point after earlier points in their careers where they had the same running flaws we all go through like over striding, heel striking, and the injuries those create.

Later that night, after riding home from the clinic, my whole body from my hips down was absolutely screaming at me. I knew I had asked my muscles to operate in a mode it wasn’t used to but I wasn’t prepared for how sore and out of sorts I felt. But then the most amazing thing happened, next morning I woke up absolutely pain free. My body was initially traumatized by the new motions, but everything we did in the clinic emphasized good style such that I had none of the normal next day soreness. Sorry Advil, I won’t be needing you today.

So to our initial premise, yes gazelles can not only talk, they can be very gifted coaches and instructors as well. If you are not 100% happy with your running form, give these guys a call, they can get you on a path to the best running you’ve ever done.

Kevin Graboski
Blue Sky Velo

Stellar Cross Clinic August 7th, 2010

2010-08-08T19:40:00.012-06:00

It felt like summer to most folks this past Saturday in the 100 degree weather. But, to those crossers attending the 1st BSV cross clinic of 2010, we dreamed of fall breezes, cold rain, winter snow and knee deep mud. Let the cross training begin!

Luna's Amy Dombroski shared experience and tips for all kinds of cross riders whether a beginner or expert. Drs. Jen & Andy Harmon (yes they are married!) provided secret training stretching tips and Paul McCarthy brought the great barriers on behalf of CrossPropz for everyone to fly over during drills. If you missed it, definitely come to the next one! Here are a few pictures to wet your appeitite.

'Bumpin' was Michelle's favorite Drill

The entire crew (including our youngest cross racer - Derrick; excluding the photographer - Michelle)

Amy tellin' it like it is after stretching
Who doesn't love a single speed with pink handlebar tape?

More of the crew

Paul & Amy kicking off the clinic with an AD/CD bang

Capstick holding back his excitement before jumping on the bikes
Some of the cross ladies

- Posted by Michelle Vercellino

Get off the couch, you're stronger than you think.

2010-08-05T20:29:00.000-06:00

Its been a rough year for my fitness. A mountain bike crash last November left me facing surgery in February and a lengthy recovery. No biking makes me quite cranky, so I decided I'd find myself a carrot to put at the end of a stick. That carrot turned out to be the 111k Laramie Enduro endurance mountain bike race. This race has been discovered now, as evident by it selling out within 7 minutes this year.

Luckily, my website refreshing skills were still good and I secured a spot. This is a race I've eyed for 3 or 4 years, but have had some sort of conflict every single year, like the birth of my first child. Finally this year I had a spot with my name on it, now I just had to find some fitness. Finally cleared to ride a bike on June 1st, I was looking at zero (possibly negative) fitness. I had no base miles in my legs. I had no tempo rides under my belt. 8 weeks to get myself some sort of fitness....

I had it all planned out. Using TrainingPeaks.com, I developed a perfect schedule to develop some fitness and finish the Enduro. And then life happened....

Instead of being in beautiful Colorado every day, I found myself traveling for work to Houston, TX sans bike and with an expense account and a weakness for Mexican food and margaritas. No problem, I'll do big rides on the weekend. Well that didn't really work either for lots of reasons (family, weather, a day with 3 flats, etc). Sure I was getting in some rides, but not the 4 and 5 hour rides I wanted. It just seemed the cards were stacked against me.

I sat down with my wife at dinner one night and told her that I had zero chance at finishing the Laramie Enduro, and thought I'd just save time and resources by not even starting. I was resigned to the fact it was again going to get away from me. Talking with a buddy of mine about my failed attempts to train routinely and how I was pretty sure I just wouldn't start, he gave me wisdom for the ages...

"Did not start < Did not finish < Dead freaking last"

That was just what I needed. Maybe I had no business doing a 70+ mile race, but I'd paid and made the arrangements so I might as well go ride and have some fun. If I was blown up after mile 30, then I'd pull the plug and go drink some beer (something I've gotten lots of training in lately).

I'm no racer. My team kit has obviously shrunk in the drier as its tighter than it used to be, and my bike will never be mistaken for some XC weight weenie's bike. Despite all these facts, I've drug myself up and over some big climbs around the area and had huge fun doing it.

Race day came and I found myself lined up on the start line at 7am. I knew I couldn't go out hard on a 70 mile race, so I lined up at the back and slowly made my way up the first climb. It didn't take long for the packs of riders to sort themselves out and I was riding out by myself before too long.

I was taking it 5 miles at a time. Before I knew it I was 30 miles in and feeling pretty good. Now I wasn't up with the leaders, I was pretty much running trail sweep but I was having a good time and riding some fantastic trails. Knowing I would be out for a LONG day, I kept eating and drinking as much as possible.

The weather gurus had called for low 80s and clouds, but what we were treated to was low 90s and a blazing sun. The course itself is pretty exposed, and I was starting to bake out there. Another problem with my training I found is that I had done all my big rides either starting at 6am or up above 9,000 feet. I quickly realized I had not trained my body for the heat. The heat and direct sun was really melting me, many times I had to stop under a shady tree to cool down. I was suffering and my legs were cramping but I was grinding my way through the course.

As the hours ticked by, I found myself on the hardest portion of the course and I felt like I was in reverse. On the bike the off to let the cramps subside, then back on the bike. Rinse and repeat. As I slowly rolled into Aid Station 5 (the last one at mile 60), I was done. I starting openly talking to the volunteers, which were fantastic, about my options for getting a ride back to the start / finish. As I sat in the shade discussing these options, my legs were completely depleted and cramped but I just couldn't bear the thought of living with quitting for an entire year. With some encouragement and course beta from the volunteers, I got back on the bike and off I went.

I don't know if it was the knowledge of only a few finite miles left or if the temps had cooled, but my legs that were completely cramped for the last 20 miles had started to come back. I crested the last big climb, and finally my big pig of a 6" travel bike was in its element, a downhill to the finish. I'd left the start hour nearly 10 hours earlier, but as I made the left turn off the final piece of singletrack onto the dirt road to the finish I felt like I had won the race. I was high fiving everyone on the road, and despite being filthy and covered from head to toe in salt I had finished the race.

I had missed my completely irrational goal of 9 hours, but I had finished which was something that looked like a very distant possibility even 3 hours earlier in the day. Had my buddy not given me that advice, I'm pretty sure I'd have taken the easy way. You never know what is possible unless you try...

My Centerion 2010 "ride"

2010-07-29T23:06:00.002-06:00

It was early June when I started really thinking about training plans for CycloCross season: What training and races should I do that would get me competitive in the 45-open CX group this year? The weekly Boulder Time Trial series came to mind immediately, as there is nothing like exploring the depths your own pain cave for 25 minutes every week: I ended up having time to do two. And maybe a few crits: I did two of those too and it felt great to win in the first but was not nearly so confident or competitive in the second.

Hum... what else besides solo intervals and training rides? Core/Yoga classes offered by our own Andy and Jen! Last year this helped immensely and I do want to continue the strengthening and flexibility this year. So I gotta do the core/yoga classes (highly recommended)!

All the while, the occasional email would pass through the BSV email groups about the Centurion. "Who's riding?" "What category?" "What's the club password." Another Hum... It's been 20 years since I had done something that long and intense and then it was just a organized and supported ride, not billed as a race. Then again, it looked like there were ~10 other BSV riders so I guess I'll do it as it should be another good training ride...

I emailed a simple question: "Who's riding and who's racing? I'm riding this one just to finish"...
I did say it was going to be a good training ride, right?

It's a bright and beautiful Colorado Sunday morning, and by ~6:45 we're all congregating in the back of the front coral (the "race" group). The announcer is blathering on about the weather, talking about the contenders, and starting to get us pumped up for the start of the "ride". KevinA wants to know why we're in the race corral and not the ride corral. I say "we're REALLY near the ride corral" and after a brief discussion we all turn our attention back up front. Then the adrenaline starts to pump as the PA is cranked and someone starts singing the Star Spangled Banner which silences the rider. About that time a helicopter comes into view and hovers high overhead.

That’s the moment it suddenly strikes me: This Centurion "ride" is going to be really something!

The announcer tells us right before the start that the red flag in the pace car means we’re still in the neutral zone and when it disappears the race begins! We start a riding shoulder to shoulder for few hundred yards till a guy locks up his front wheel with his timing chip, which caused a bit of jostling and swerving to avoid hitting him, but then it’s smooth sailing through Lions. Somewhere after we get out and take the turn onto HW36, the red flag must have been pulled cuz the pace finally quickened and the race was on. Er, I mean RIDE…

So I’m riding behind Kevin Abraham purposely, cuz I know he’s probably one of the most seasoned pack riders in our club and I was hoping to learn from the master. Learn I did! That Kevin guy was so smooth in the pack it was truly a marvel. Keeping gaps closed, moving in front of this guy and around that one. Staying out of trouble when a few riders got way too far into the brakes. Smooth as butter!! I ended up tailing Kevin for ~30 miles. Thanks for the lessons, Kevin!

Did I say the pace picked up? BOY, what a ride! I've never been in a pack that size at the speeds before. As long as the gaps were small, the efforts were too. Ok, so there was the little dip and climb coming back up Nelson to 36 that sent the heart rate up, but quick recovery cuz the draft of 80 or so riders was incredible. Then it was the drop down 36 to turn up Left Hand Canyon and the King of the Hill climb was on. The group quickly begins to thin as the effort continues to increase. Ok, for the record, the effort shot my heart rate well over my intended limit, but then I knew it should drop a bit as thing settle down as long as I really stick in the draft. The draft was truly a dream as we continued at 20+mph up the canyon for a while, but I realized the heart rate wasn't dropping back down. One more bend, another corner and it kept ticker kept climbing. Somewhere between the turn-off and the steep section (mile marker 13?) I finally had to admit that I was not just “riding” but truly in race mode cuz I never push myself that hard except in a race…

Race or ride, we hadn’t even gotten through the first hard climb and I knew if I didn’t say goodbye to the train I’d never make it up SuperJames on the next climb. The time had come to find my own pace, I dropped quietly off the lead group and gradually fell into my own rhythm. Then I discovered a very important thing: There were quite a few other riders that had the same rhythm. Probably 8 or 10 of us took even pulls all the way to steep section with a great rotating pace line. Then the last few miles to Ward was another solo event as the grade of the road crept up, but I got to the top without burning too many matches and felt really good. Grabbed the outstretched bottle of water and sports drink and headed down the highway.

Descending was another treat in that all the riders I was with had riding skills and manners that helped me feel much more at ease, and they were all cooperating by taking pulls when the speed slowed and we had a safe but very fast ride all the way back to Lyons. Then it was back up 36 to Left Hand Canyon and a much needed water station. I stopped just long enough to fill the water bottles, and grab some extras to stuff in my jersey. I quickly downed part of the first one and dumped the rest over my head to cool off. Then same with the second. The third bottle helped me get some more gel energy stuff down and I was set for the second King of the Mountains climb up to Jamestown.

So what I didn’t realize is that while I was drinking a lot, it was soon 95+ degrees climbing up SuperJames and as you may know, that climb is really a killer without the heat. Have you ever had a leg cramp so bad you fell off your bike? I had last year, so when the little cramping twinges started shooting down my leg I knew I would be in very serious trouble if I didn’t do something quick. I backed off the pace and kept drinking, and the legs started feeling better but that was about the time when the pitch was so steep I was out of gears to spin in. Ended up standing for the last few miles to be greeted in one turn by a small kid with a squirt gun asking “want some?” and I got a cool stream and a smile from the ~4 year old. Fun and refreshing!

Finally after trying every climbing position imaginable, I found the top of the hill above Jamestown and started to descend dirt section. Having ridden up the dirt only a few weeks before, it's funny how I didn’t remember how much more climbing there was in the dirt! This brought on more standing efforts cuz the legs were mostly spent. Then more standing, and even more. By the time I got to the feed zone my lower back was killing me! No energy left and major back spasms. Great, well at least it was mostly downhill from there. Fueled up and ended up coasting the better part of 10 miles down before the legs started to turn over again. Got passed by a big group of guys and I couldn’t make the jump, but a few moments later I was able to jump on a small group of riders and pace line the rest of the way to the finish line in Lyons. And I finished the Centurion 2010 ride under my 6 hour goal (5:33:12.09 to be exact)!

So what did I learn on this ride?

1)When there is a timing chip and a start gun, for me it’s a race whether I want to admit it or not.

2) Would I do it again? MOST DEFINITELY!

3) Will it help for my cyclocross season? Don’t know and don’t really care.

It was a blast and a great way to celebrate turning 50! Even if you’re not into racing or feel more comfortable doing 100 miles, try the 50 or 25 mile route! I’d encourage you all to “Just Do It” in 2011!

PS: Our most wonderful Blue Sky Velo sponsors down at Peak Sports Chiropractic did a wonderful job to relax those back muscles that were still very tight next day...

Regards,
C. Doug Richards

Your Sports Chiropractic Sponsor has a NEW NAME...

2010-07-27T09:05:00.003-06:00

You heard it here first. Your official BSV Chiropractic Sponsor has a new name. Please read our announcement below...

Dear Patients & Friends,

Drs. Andy & Jen are excited to announce that Clouds Rest Chiropractic is now officially operating as Peak Sports Chiropractic. We will continue to offer the same professional services, however we feel that our new name is more harmonious with our goal of providing quality sports chiropractic and rehab to the Front Range Community.

Visit our new website to read more about Drs. Andy & Jen, treatments we offer, patient testimonials, and to follow our blog:

www.peaksportschiropractic.com

August is Patient Appreciation Month

As a special gift to our existing patients, receive 1 treatment at 1/2 price ($25) during the month of August.

New Patient Special

Exam + 1st Treatment $50 ($75 savings)
If you know someone who may benefit from our care, tell them about us.

We look forward to helping you reach your goals!

In Health,

Drs. Andy and Jen Harmon

Leaving It Better, LLC has a Facebook page!

2010-07-13T04:38:00.002-06:00

Folks:

Our Facebook page has been up for a couple of months now. I hope you'll drop by to take a look: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leaving-It-Better/254114395879?ref=sgm
If you like what you see just click the thumbs-up "like" button. The purpose of the page is to provide information, commentary, and discussion on matters of personal finance, small-business, investing, and economic and world affairs. Come by and take a peek. Weigh in on an existing post or jump right in and start your own topic if you like.

I also provide "economic humor for today" on my personal page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leaving-It-Better/254114395879?ref=sgm#!/jlinroth if you'd like to have fun or make fun of "the dismal science" of economics. I hope you'll decide to click "add as friend" if you want to see the daily humor.

Don't forget our website at www.leavingitbetter.com It'll be getting a complete makeover later this summer.

Best,
Jeff

BSV Ambassador award coming up again this fall!

2010-07-13T03:58:00.004-06:00

I really enjoyed seeing so many blue sky folks and munching on the great food last night at Abbondanza Pizzeria! Thanks to Bob Goff and his great staff.

For those who missed it, I made a short "reminder" speech about the Blue Sky Velo "Ambassador Award" that Leaving It Better, LLC sponsors. Last year's winner, Dan Kapsak, recently entered the Buffalo Classic for free as part of his prize package.

As the summer rolls on please contemplate which BSV member(s) is/are demonstrating "Building Community Through Cycling" in 2010. I'm sure the selection committee for this award will be accepting nominations sometime before November so please help them decide who should receive this recognition this year. I very much look forward to November when I'll get the winner's name etched on the traveling trophy and present another prize package!

Enthusiastically,
Jeff

Sunday June 27 B-Z ride

2010-06-28T18:32:00.005-06:00

Eighteen riders turned out at the Corner Coffee Bar on Sunday for the first Blue Sky B-Z ride.

A short rest stop in Lyons. Some went on to Jamestown from here, the rest returned to Longmont.

Home stretch around McIntosh Lake:

Most of us were back in just under two hours for a distance of about 28 miles. Next B-Z ride will go a little longer and will likely be on the last Sunday in the month of July. C'mon out.

Thanks to Paul McCarthy for putting this together!

T'was a B-ride Kind of Day!

2010-04-19T19:32:00.005-06:00

T’was a B-ride kind of day

I knew this day would come. I just didn’t know when. At 9 a.m. yesterday, I realized “. yes today is it. Today is the day I will head out for my first BSV group ride of the season!”

Okay, in reality it played out a little more like this: Like a lot of other cyclists, I spent much of the winter inside on a trainer. With the recent warm weather, it has been great to get out on the roads again. However, I’ve still been putting in the miles by myself and I was getting more than a little tired of it. Then I had a foggy revelation that hey…I belong to a cycling club,…..we have group rides on the weekends……where people….uh…ride with other people (what a concept)…..hmmmmm, …maybe I should consider joining the B group ride!.

Turns out that a few other BSV members were thinking the same thing (kinda, sort of). Melissa C. sent out an email to the club announcing that she was coming out for her 2^nd ride of the season and would love to have some company. "I was really psyched to go for a group ride. It has been harder to go on group rides or to ride as much as I used to since Connor was born. I was really looking forward to a great workout, beautiful weather and socializing with my club-mates.”

Melissa’s email put me from “maybe I should”….to “yeah, I really should”.

Michelle V. and Kayla T. were at the Corner Coffee Bar as well. Michelle said she “came out for the B-ride with the goal of a long, slow ride to keep building up some base miles. Kayla and I agreed to meet at the coffee shop at 10 so we could do what we love (ride) and catch-up. Weekend group rides allow me to bike with friends I don't usually get to see during the week.”

Turned out we all had a fabulous time. We rode up to Lyons, hit the fruit loops, had great conversation, nice easy pace and were super glad to be out there!

Michelle said that she “ loved that we all (the A and B riders) started out together and I got to chat with folks like Kevin, Bill, Steve, Brad, Jose.”.

Melissa, ever the optimist added “ ….as I anticipated, it was awesome! I came home with a 'riding high' that lasted for most of the day, until I got tired from the sun and exercise. :) I am definitely looking forward to my next B ride."

Me too, Melissa. ….me too!

Bobcat Ridge and Blue Sky Trail

2010-04-04T21:40:00.000-06:00

Kevin VP was heading up North to ride the Bobcat Ridge and Bluesky trails Saturday and graciously let me tag along. Once I got the bleeding stopped after craking my head open on the chop saw in the garage, we were off for a fabulous day of riding. Cool part was that there was no wind really up there, even though at my house it was howling, making it difficult just to put the bikes on the roof. Some pics of the day...

Kevin tearin up the hill on the valley loop just before the climbing starts on the Ginny Trail

Here we are about a 1/3 of the way up the main climb on the Ginny Trail. Nice view to the South and great temps. The fence keeps folks from short cutting an old road bed.

A quick cleat adjustment and we were back to riding. You can see the nice tight single track and the best thing is that its mixed up with challenging rock sections and log bridges--in many places two options to take, one tough, one easier. Some narrow, some wider. some drops, some tight places where as I say it, you play pinball with the bike and your pedals! The trail was build very well and is extremely well maintained. Keep that Fruita style lean yielding going and we will keep this trail single! This trail is only about 2 years old now and I recommend pads if you want to try some of the features with all of the rock stuff!

Headed over to Bluesky Trail out of Horsetooth area after Bobcat to meet up with Kevin's brother. Again, sweet single track and nice n dry! We rode out to Coyote Ridge and Indian summer area.
Looking back to Horsetooth here as we soaked up the singletrack. Overall we got a nice 1700 feet of climbing in and about 16 miles of fun and play! Thanks again Kevin! I love that place.

Freaky Full Suspension Flagstaff Friday

2010-04-02T20:32:00.004-06:00

Say that five times fast. Yep, the wind was blowing but I decided to break out the Maverick and head up Flagstaff anyway just before I left Boulder. We had a great Night last night, so figured might as well see how far my luck would go! The light was nice again but my little p/s camera did not do as well as the Night Ride pics.

I turned the corner past the Flag Staff Restaurant and this guy was up ahead on his slicks. He saw me on the next turn and it lit a fire under him--he stayed ahead of me until just around this corner as the road steepens to the amphitheater turn off and I was able to pass him...he was shocked to see the mountain bike in tow! To his credit I turned to head up to the amphitheater (still gated) and he went on up towards the green mtn TH. I am not quite ready for that next super steep section yet!

You can see the road is still not thawed completely!

Real happy to be just at the top! Bundled up real good and then dropped the hammer back down to Cu campus. Its nice to get 12.5 miles, 1500 feet of climbing on your MTB all in 1:12. Not dirt, but still fun with excellent views and fun twisty descending. I like doing this climb Friday because the road is empty. Plenty of sand still so watch your tracks! I got off into the shoulder on the climb and almost went down even with the knobbies. Maybe we can get a regular group together for this each week?

Teller Farm Thursday Ride 4.1.10

2010-04-01T22:30:00.001-06:00

Headed out again for yet another Thursday evening. Four of us tonight (Toby, David H, Justin, and myself) and super weird weather. Snowing in Longmont, Snowing in South Boulder, building shaking winds off of Araphoe, but we had the big blue hole and almost no wind! The light was amazing too, even my broken little camera captured a bit of the action.
Headed out to the Cottonwood trail to start the adventure out.

The sky was ominous towards Longmont....we did all throw in the parka just in case!

But then you turn South and it looked a lot better!
Justin rockin the cross bike on the ride. That cloud on the left hand side sure was strange looking!

The light got real nice and I kept wishing for my bigger camera.

Toby with that "you paying attention to the trail look?"

David heading East again just after we reached the out and back. The fields were just lit up here.

Plenty of different colors all ride. Kept the views amazing.

Here Justin and David hammering out the last climb to the water tower. We put on some warmer clothes and then dropped back to the King Soopers with a short adventure through the neighborhood instead of the trails back...the lights had to come out for the last 2 miles and we ended up with just about 20 miles again. Not long now before we can leave the lights at home. Next week Heil Ranch and then Left Hand Trail--see you then.

Mountain Biking in Pueblo State Park!

2010-03-14T09:29:00.003-06:00

Headed down to Pueblo State Park Saturday with fellow Patrollers Jason and Andria to avoid Rock fall on Hwy 70 heading to Fruita or Moab..... Spectacular day out with great temps and weather. We ran into Art out there too just randomly who joined up with us a for a few miles on Voodoo. A map of the trails can be found here which is maintained by the Southern Colorado Trail Builders who built most of the trails there. I highly recommend this place for spring and fall for a great day trip or they have campsites so you can come the night before. There are about 33 miles of trails, but many loops are easily done several times to add it up to 50 or 60. There is a mix of super smooth and sweetFruita 18 road type trails mixed with great narrow rocky canyons with as hard as you want it techy rocky drops/buildups/ramps/and wooden ladders. Its not North Shore, but sure tough and fun. You can ride 40 miles without hitting atechy sections, or of course you can hit all the techy you want--there are about 15 gullies I think that have short tech sections but unlike most technical we ever see here in Colorado. Not much tree cover so the exposure in the middle of the summer would make this place a bit warmer, yet you can always jump in therez after! Here are a few pics.

Getting all unloaded and dialed in for the ride...

Happy to be out on the bike and in one of the narrow canyons playing on the rocks. I had a rough day since my legs felt like Lead but the trail was so sweet, there was no way not to have a good time!

Andria taking a quick brake--the trail is 12 to 15 inches wide pretty much the entire network except for some double track here and there. I will say that all the folks from up North were not yielding at all and just riding off the trail all day making things wider....some day they may get a clue!

This is Stonehenge trail--named for the cairns folks have built up.

Here are the patrollers at work helping out a guy for the second time on the trail. Art from the patrol had already helped this guy once on the Voodoo Loop as he had rolled his tubeless and after attempting to fix it with two CO2's and no luck. He passed at Voodoo and Outer limits junction and headed out OL to Pedro's for a little more trail like we were going to do. A few miles into that loop he was on the side of the trail asking for more assistance due to a slow leak. After inspection, he had a large hole torn in the tread of the tires (super urber lightweight racers--not recommend for the sharp rocks there). So we booted his tire with a piece of an OJ container (more robust than the soda pop bottles and can take a rock hit--highly recommend always carrying one with you versus the power bar wrapper), got him a new tube and he was off...hopefully back to his car! You will notice that we are on the trail working--there are many cactus and goat heads so you want to stay on the trail as much as you can. No crowds, so its easy to move quick for the occasional rider.

Here is a good idea of the trail network--on the right side there are trails up and down all those small canyons--we just did not hit them all. You will see below theelevation--lots of short up and down, but only about a 1000 feet over 30 miles. Great day overall and worth the drive!

North Boulder Night Ride 3/11/10

2010-03-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Out for a quick spin right before the time change. Had 5 riders and four from the Blue Sky Club come along. Great group again and despite the start with high winds, it was worth waiting it out. Trails were super dry and perfect for riding on!

Here Toby, Kevin, David and Russ to the right waiting to get going.

My point and shoot is on the fritz and with the lighting, this was hard to get focused right while riding but the sky was nice, despite the wind!

David making is look easy

Quick water break for Russ. We all had cold hands at this point because of the wind but we pressed on!

An idea of why we night ride--look into the unknown.

Hello from your official BSV Sports Chiropractic Sponsors

2010-02-26T21:24:00.003-07:00

Hi BSV Nation,

Andy and Jen Harmon here. Although we've ridden and raced with many of you, we wanted to formally introduce ourselves as the owners of Clouds Rest Chiropractic, the official Sports Chiropractic and Rehab sponsor for BSV.

We've been riding with Blue Sky for 3 years now and we love it all- group rides, road racing, mountain biking, and cyclocross. We're excited for the opportunity to support the team that we love. And we're proud to offer professional sports chiropractic and rehab to help you achieve your goals this season.

What we do:

- Biomechanical/orthopedic examination
- Myofascial release
- Advanced stretching and mobilization
- Therapeutic exercise and core rehab
- Kinesio-taping
- Flexion/distraction disc decompression technique
- Blue Sky members receive a 20% discount on all services

Want to know more about who we are and what we offer?

visit our website: www.cloudsrestchiro.com
email us directly: andycharmon@yahoo.com , jennyhettich@yahoo.com
call us: (303) 652-9200

Wishing you all a healthy and successful season,

Dr. Andy Harmon, DC
Dr. Jen Harmon, DC
Clouds Rest Chiropractic
263 2nd Ave, Suite 100A
Niwot, CO 80544

Got your Cross Propz on?

2010-02-09T16:30:00.004-07:00

Check it our folks. Cold, bored, and nothing to do on a snowy day? Don't fret. Put on some of your new warm BSV kit, find you some grass or dirt, get out your Cross Propz and have some fun.

These bad boyz, which are made by our very own Paul McCarthy, set up in 15 second and your ready to roll. No matching parts, no fuss, just take 'em out of their carrying bag and bam! they're set up.

Great for some off-season practice and road bikes are so 2008 anyway. As an added bonus, if you trip all over them and hurt yourself like I do, you can go see our beloved sponsors Dr. Jenny and Dr. Andy at Cloud Rest Chiro. They'll snap you back into place faster than the Cross Propz can fold back up.

Now what are you waiting for? Get off the couch and get you Cross Propz on!

First day out on dirt in the new BSV diggs!

2010-01-30T21:05:00.004-07:00

So, D. Stokes and my self headed up North on the dirt roads out of Longmont this afternoon for a nice relaxing spin. Such a change from the night rides!

David working hard on that new Salsa. Yeah right--look at those big wheels move.

David dropped me here on this small climb, almost lost him trying to grab the camera for a quick shot!

This church was catching the light real well at sunset. Wish I had my big camera....

Super fun ride and we got back just in time for darkness. About 3 hours and we put in 32.5 miles on dirt, well mostly dirt on our way up to Loveland! Guess I need to pick up my jersey now....

Some how I turned off my computer at the clothing/food stop and had to split the route...cannot miss Carter lake there on the left.

Marshall MTB Night Ride 012810

2010-01-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

So for everyone that is curious what it can be like on one of our Night Rides I put a few pics together from this past Thursday night. Turned out to be one of our best rides yet and only by a fluke incident! I pulled up to the Saver's parking lot in Boulder already running late to find my rear brake completely flat, I mean lever all the way to the bar with no chance of even a little friction on the rotor. Since there was snow and ice out, I had to do a quick bleed right there in the dark. Luckily I carry my tools....35 minutes later, we had a rear brake!

David showed up ready to ride.....Me happy to have a rear brake again...front brake only in snow/ice = many wrecks and bruised hips!
Best thing was we decided to ride over to Marshall Mesa TH since we were almost an hour behind at that point and guess what we found--first tracks on perfect snow and frozen ground! We saw a lot of animal tracks too which always adds to the entertainment of the ride...no big kitty tracks though!

Had to walk the steps....and well, the snow packed up real good in the cleats. We both had to use my flat head screw driver to clean our shoes out!

We call this the "Shifter" gate. One thing that is really interesting on the Marshall trails is that no two gates are alike, so some you can get through without a dismount, others, has to happen.

Here David is heading over to Hwy 93 to check out the Dowdy Draw area--fresh tracks all the way! Kind of amazing for this area so close to Boulder.
The climb up Prarie Vista trail was mixed snow and frozen dirt--you could not even see the tire marks after we rode over it.

We hit up Dowdy Draw and here is a little crude video from my point and shoot.

From Marshall and Dowdy 012830

Here is a shot on Spring Brook Loop--you can see the Hoar Frost on the grasses. Right after this we turned the lights off and rode through the meadow area with just the light from the snow and low cloud ceiling.
Some more on the trees up on the back of the loop--the spikes of frost were almost an inch long.

Here is a map of what we did and an Elevation profile. We ended up riding about 22 miles that night. We added on the Springbrook loop due to my recommendation and then missed the Kitchen at Southern Sun after picking out what we were going to eat on the ride back along Broadway! We enjoyed a stout anyway and then off to IHOP to grab a monster late night breakfast to refuel. Can it get any better? :) Hope to see more of you come out soon!

Ft. Fun Cyclocross

2010-01-18T18:53:00.005-07:00

Hey kids:

Well, its Monday night and I still have cowbell ringing in my ears, my legs are kinda sore, and the laundry is full of muddy skinsuits. And its January. If I didn't know better I would think I was in Belgium racin' cross for a living. But I do know better, since I sat at a desk all day today.

There was only one place to pin a number on yesterday, and Marty and I were there. The race took place up in Ft. Collins at the New Belgium Brewery, and all proceeds from the race and the silent auction that followed went to help Skyler Truillo get himself and his unruly mop of hair over to Tabor Czech.

The day dawned cloudy, but warm, as Marty and I packed the rice-wagon and cranked the tunes on the drive up. We arrived to find Brian Dallas fully locked and loaded with the Focus Bikes tent, car, demos, tools, banners, flagging. He even had his mechanic-in-training Charlie along for the ride. I don't have any pics, nor do I know his @twitter-thingie... so I guess you gotta take my word for it that it was rad.

I slotted in next to Brian's camp and set up my own. A little warm-up oil, the trainer, and the headphones, and I started to remember that bike racing is kinda fun. Most, but not all, of the usual Blue Sky suspects were there.... @billteasdale, @ryanlewandowski, @ryanlewandowskiswifechristine, @andyharmon, @somedudewhoworksforschwalbe, @bobandsusanandizzeprieto, @kaylathomason, and of course who can forget @somedudewinningthemensCraceinRolandGreens2002kit?

even i cannot believe how really real Dr. Harmon can rock the tall blackSox

with the help of susan, i got belgie-as-hell and began the race with a swig of some gawd-aful beer

the gun went off and blue sky completely swarmed on some dolt in a green afro

The race quickly settled in and i found myself on @billteasdale's wheel, which i believe was an @tufoflexus, being ridden @6psi. However, he did indeed have the power to pull away after a lap or so. I later thanked him for the kind gesture, as i was getting much less mud flung in my face after he put a little distance on me.

At this point the race turned into a time-trial effort, with @billteasdale running off the front of the @bikerace, yours truly enjoying a sweet little course that was set up, and some random dude about a minute behind me. I enjoyed the good natured heckling of all of my friends, but did catch a glimpse of @ryanlewandowski absolutely turn himself into a human missile for the last 2 laps to catch @somerandomNonBlueSky and set us up for that ever-elusive sweep of the Mens B podium. Badass.

Also of note, the Harmonizer fell on hard times early in the race, like right on the start, when he flatted his front tire. Someone handed up a wheel and he charged for a solid showing. Nice work, the man.

The punchy little rises out on course kept things interesting

A few slippy snow+mud areas were no match for my RacingRalph tires, which will be called RacingRob in '10

Working-class hero Bill Teasdale with a suspiciously-deep tan on his legs for a January

Immediately following the Mens B shenanigans, Marty lined up for the Womens race. Kayla was also in effect on her custom Primus Mootry. The ladies took off onto a course that was getting muddier by the lap. Cross Weather! Anyways, Marty did not actually take the holeshot, but she also managed not to blow-up on the first lap either. Sweet! I got out the camera and tried to capture the radness as it unfolded, but mostly I just cheered her on as she put distance on second place and the rest of the girls.

By mid race the course was definitely turning into a much more technical affair, and Marty piloted the Ridley with ease as we watched other riders getting hung up in mud sections.

Not the muddiest, raddest part of the course, but Marty was still keeping it classy, San Diego.

At the end of the race, Marty hung on for the W. Pretty solid work for coming right off the couch. Sure there werent 100 women out at the race. But you can also look at it as 90 of those women were sitting at home getting slower.

Blue Sky CX Nation started off the 2010 campaign with a bang.

Marty and Kayla were all smiles after a great race

Marty getting a little interview time with Mountain Flyer. Look for the web-report!

The mens A race was pretty rad to watch all the punx tear it up. No Blue Sky in the mix, so we all got a chance to heckle with impunity as many fast bike racers with twitter accounts, from @mudandcowbells to @somesponsoredguyonaStevensWhoGotBeatByWardBaker.

Then we all used the carbon-neutral bike wash station, put our bikes on our Toyota Prius' and headed into the eco-brewery for some good old fashioned beer drinking and money-spendin'. We wished Skyler well at worlds, got some cool schwag, and burned fossil fuels all the way back to Longmont. The end.

(Photos of Rob by Marty, Photos of Marty by Rob, Photos of other people by whoever had the camera)

Winter Cyclocross Race Fundraiser

2010-01-08T14:48:00.003-07:00

He everyone, check it out! Get your cross fix on in Fort Collins next weeked and help support a good cause.

Fort Collins Cross wants to raise funds to send local junior Skyler Trujillo to represent the USA at the World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic

WHAT: Winter CX race fundraiser for local Junior CX World Championship contender Skyler Trujillo
WHEN: Sunday, January 17, 2010
WHERE: New Belgium Brewery, back field

No Parking In the Neighborhood!!!!
Parking at New Belgium, overflow parking at the Matrix parking lot West of New Belgium.

HOW MUCH: Adults $15.00/Juniors free (no modified course)
WHO and WHAT TIME:

9:00 - 9:40 AM Men C
9:55 - 10:35 AM Men B
10:50 - 11:30 AM Women
11:45 - 12:25 AM Juniors
12:40 - 1:30 PM Open

AFTER PARTY: 2:30-5:00 PM (Doors close at 3:45 or 200 people max) ----
HOW MUCH: $20.00 to get in or $5.00 with your race number (Fundraiser for Skyler going to Cyclocross World Championships).

WHAT YOU GET:
· in the door and a raffle Ticket
· Ongoing slide show of Skyler’s entire cycling career to this point
· Food and drinks (sandwiches)--- Thanks to Backcountry Provisions
· Silent Auction !!!All items to start at $25.00!!! (Cannondale Mtb, DT Swiss wheel sets, Rock Shox Sid, a Med. Niner MTB Frame(parts provided by The Cycologist at cost one time purchase) and a 2008 New Belgium Commuter Bike).
· Raffle----> at 4:30 and you must be present to win.
· WHATS INCLUDED IN THE RAFFLE:
· Great stuff from sponsors such as ----> A cycling painting by Amanda Acheson, Gift Certificates to La Luz Mexican Restaurant, Texas Road House, The Rio, 2 sets of Stan's Tubeless Rims, Schwalbe tires, Bike Tune from Peloton Cycles, Backcountry Provisions, Cane Creek headset, Rotor rings/BB, Velo News Subscription, Target optical free eye exam, Fizik saddles and more).

Raffle Grand Prize:
2009 New Belgium Cruiser

Contact: Fort Collins Cross
Jason Trujillo
Email: fortcollinscross@gmail.com

New Year's Cross Fondo

2010-01-05T18:39:00.007-07:00

First Annual New Year's 'Cross Fondo

Dan F, known to some as Pale Power, uses the now patented JPow start to holeshot the first race of the year.

Well, the new year is officially off the ground. I figured it was high-time for an update, seeing as how this blog has been in deep-space cryogenic sleep since the Blue Sky Cup.

My buddy Greg organized a great ride, and all sorts of different people showed up. We met up on the shady side of Amante and it seemed like everyone but me showed up with some sort of new-zoot helmet cam, HD flip-thingie, or some other hi-tech Christmas present. I showed up with my single-speed and my horn. Damn, it felt good to get back out on the bike after taking way too many weeks off.

We rolled out and over to the BPOE elks lodge and dove into the snowpack. The venue was short lived, though, as I followed people directly eastward into the network of bike paths connecting to Gunbarrell. Somehow we showed up at Eaton Park, and Boups, Spencer, and I hit the dirt jumps on our cross bikes. The jumps were covered in snow, but it was pretty rad anyways. Someone somewhere has a video, but damn if they have shared it with me. So, i give you this:

Hollywood getting his Tokyo-drift on, BoulderCX style. Take that, guy who is somehow not Paul Walker!

I see a lotta people watchin' & not too many people dirt jumpin'

So, we lit outta there and made our way through some of the other paths and trails out almost into Niwot before getting separated with a slight touch of the floor on an icy patch. Once we got the affected parties back on their bikes and exchanged insurance cards, we were off. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up to far out into the Longmont/Niwot constellation. Spencer had cell coverage and dialed up the crew, who had since noticed our absence and were performing one of the most difficult moves in all of amateur racing--adhering to the "no drop" rule instituted at the beginning of the ride.

Heading east of the tracks, into the great white yonder.

All back in the fold, we crossed over into open-space trails at Coot Lake and ripped over past the Res, the sun shining down and the Flatirons laid out in front of us. Everyone must have been feeling good, because we strung it out and rallied full-tilt across the crunchy snow to the next parking lot.

Marty and I in a cheezy albeit genuine photo. Hey, we're just psyched to be riding!

The final push back into Boulder was a bit of a struggle on the single, I must admit. While there is a saying about gears being for people who prefer the personal company of the same sex, I sure do wish I had a couple of gears on my bike. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Anyways, we walked, rode, and slogged through some deep drifts on the open space off of Neva road, and decided to cash it in and opted for 36 into North Boulder. The horses could smell the barn, and the pace lit up like Chinese new year (because we might just be celebrating that more widely over here soon, but i digress). Yours truly was not too proud to get spit out, and Marty, Brandon, and I fought for Lantern Rouge. I think I won, but we'll have to consult the video. We all rolled in together to Gregs house, where his sons were kind enough to feed me pistachios and beer for a couple of hours. How sweet it is.

Not too shabby for the first day of the year.

All told, Marty and I had a great day, and if you're like me (and i know i am) you're glad to have someone along on the ride to take the pics, enjoy the something something something DARK SIDE humour, and dream of podiums in 9 short months.

over&out

Rob Love

My Blue Sky Cup - KBK Style

2009-11-10T21:08:00.002-07:00

If you are reading this, good chance you are probably a cyclocross racer and you are most likely a stronger racer than I will ever be. I’ve never been on the podium. I'm not even sure where the podium is. So,with that in mind, here is my report:

I’m a 35 year old guy who races somewhere in the bottom half of my Cat 4 35+ group. I’m just slow, but I love to race. If you ever wondered what it’s like to do a cyclorcross race, or what goes through the mind of that guy who comes in a half lap behind the leader or if today is a day to put plastic bags over your toes to keep them from freezing, this article may be for you.

For those of you who missed “the Cup”, Blue Sky threw our very own race this year. It’s what, the second year of the race? Also, if you are not familiar with Colorado ‘cross, you probably don’t know that we live in a world of racing on bumpy, dried out grass and dirt (bag feet if temp is near freezing, race with booties on if below about 25 - coldest race I’ve done: 14 degrees). Sometimes, for an exciting change, we get snow and ice (definitely bag the feet those days, use booties, toe warmers, sit in car before race as warmup). I’m sure this sounds very “exciting” to you summer roadies, but trust me, it’s heaps of fun.

For this race, however, Norse Gods smiled upon our weary town and blessed us with about 15 inches of snow early in the week before the race and sunny weather on the weekend. This created “once-in-a-decade conditions”! It was truly as if Belgium or Portland rained mud on us for the race! By the time the pros went on, it was easy peasy - hardpack. But for my race, it was time to get out the bikinis and oil for some good mud wrestling in the 4 inches of thick, sloppy goodness covering most of the course.

My race:

I come from a world of mountain biking. I like my personal space. All those bikes and handlebars and people who I’m not quite sure are in control can get kinda freaky when you stack up 100 riders at the start. I watch the pro riders; they are straight and fast. My class is much more exciting! People are weaving, bobbing and sliding. I wish I could say this was all tactics, but I think for a good portion of the riders it’s a fair bit of white-knuckling as we try not to get trampled like a drunken 14 year old at the Running of the Bulls. The paved holeshot was about 1/4 mile long at the Blue Sky Cup this year. It lead into some grassy muddy goop where everyone started stacking up and squeaking brakes to weave through pine trees and an off camber traverse over a drainage ditch (you really don’t want to go into a freezing drainage ditch. Trust me from experience). From this point on, it was just alternating mud, muddier and muddy swamp with occasional sand volleyball court or pavement thrown in for added insult. I rode through the sand on the first lap, because, “Hey, I’m cool and I have mad skills”. Okay, it did look cool, but then having a good layer of sand mixed in with the mud in my drivetrain was like switching the sticky mud in my drivetrain for sandpaper and maybe a metal file or two.

If you are Katie Compton (who won the women’s elite at the race), you have three bikes and a bike monkey to clean them, and you change bikes every lap. If you are me, and not only are really slow but look horrible in a skinsuit, you cannot garner bike monkeys to wash your bike nor sponsors to give you bikes and thus ride your bike in increasingly limited gear ratios during the race. I started on 18 and by the end had about 4, and the bike was in automatic shift mode constantly choosing the gear I least wanted to be in.

The best part for me was the heaps of mud. Yes, it made all of those moving parts not so great, but it really put a challenge into every turn. People were wiping out everywhere. Even the pro racers had to do some serious ballet to keep from going down (and many failed). I spent a lot of time in my lowest gear, weight all the way back on that rear wheel cranking past people who were sunk to their waist in mud pleading for someone to throw them a rope. Once, I nearly went in, but I lay flat on my stomach, distributing my body weight evenly and pulled myself on a tree branch to safety. I forgot my knee warmers the day of the race and borrowed a teammate’s (Señor Dan Farrell). The best cheer I got for the race was “I didn’t say you could get the warmers muddy!” Sorry Dan.

My race was about passing “that guy” or being passed by “that other guy”. I passed and was passed by the same dude five or six times in the race. He’s got some great hill strength. I dismounted and ran better there. He distracted me by shouting “Look a flying saucer.” I frightened him by nearly falling in front of him so he backed off. These are the tactics in the back of the pack. When I pass the announcers, they are shouting their heads off... about the leaders of the pack on the back side of the track.

Coming into the sand pits on the last lap, I hear the announcers saying, “Here are the winners! Think, there are still riders out there, minutes behind these leaders.” Talk about a morale builder. But, with a whining like a jet engine in my brain, I put the hammer down into the muddy stairs of doom and ran my way past “that guy”! Then, he took me as my foot slipped trying to clip in and I ran it into my rear wheel. Then I got him again as we hit the pavement and by luck of the Irish my bike chose to shift into a gear I could spin out up the hill and to the finish line. I won the race! ... for 50th place!

I wouldn’t trade this race for anything! It was a great day for a ride and the mud was epic. We had a cadre of some of the best riders in the US show up and make it look easy (well they are professionals after all). Everyone I talked to said that this race was really fun and that the atmosphere around it was great. If you want to come to Colorado for a ‘cross race next year, come to this one. If you find me, I’ll be happy to tell you where the free beer is hidden and to loan you some muddy knee warmers.

Good times,

KBK

Blue Sky Nation Rockin' Boulder Cup

2009-11-01T21:40:00.007-07:00

Just want to mention a few Blue Sky riders that stepped it up for some good ole' fashion cross suffering in the UCI elite races today. So great to see such a strong showing in these races. Hats off to you guys.

Kristal powering her way to her first UCI points.

Lauren looking smooth through the turns as always.

Susan setting up to cut through the sand pit.

Bryan Harwood slicing through the beach.

As expected, Katie Compton threw it down again.

Jeremy Powers and Tim Johnson put on another great show, again finishing Johnson-1, Powers-2. Driscoll again finished 3rd, giving Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com 1-2-3 sweeps on both Saturday's and Sunday's races.

Only 363 more days till next year's Blue Sky Cup/Boulder cup weekend. . .

Back on the Chain Gang

2009-10-30T17:29:00.004-06:00

Under blue skies, the Friday noon setup crew packs down the Xilinx course, in preparation for tomorrow's Blue Sky Velo Cup:

And the finish line goes up:

Conditions look perfect for tomorrow. Expect the bike wash to be busy!

-- Peter Schow

Blue Sky Velo Cup Technical Guide

2009-10-10T19:41:00.005-06:00

Hey cross fans. The technical guide for the October 31st Blue Sky Velo Cup has been posted to the race website at http://www.blueskyvelocup.com/.

Please note that the UCI categories are pre-registration only. ACA categories can register on the day of the race, but there will be a $10 late fee.

Save you $10 for a tasty Belgium beer and pre-register online at bikereg.com.

A big shout out to Jeff at Leaving It Better for being a supporter of cyclocross racing. Make sure you stop by and say hi to him in the vendor area on race day and tell him thanks!

MORE COWBELL: Frisco - Day 2

2009-10-06T20:33:00.036-06:00

For some of those BSV members who didn't get enough cowbell on Frisco Day 1, they came back for some seconds on Frisco Day 2. It was 40-50 degrees, fall-like weather and the beer was still flowing strong. The VELO represented, again, in the SM 35+, SM 35+ Cat 4, SW Open, SW 35+, SW 4, SM 55+, & SM Cat 4's. Here are some pics of all the crew.

Kevin & Derrick; Ready to Race!

Nola, enjoying cheering for 'Daddy' (aka Kevin Abraham) during the 35+ OpenBilly T. manhandling the gravel - Makin' it look easy

Dan Farrell picking his line

Carl Boni showing everyone a lil' bit of how CX is done

Kevin A. using his ox-like road legs to kick-up some dust

Bill T. - Like a Knife Thru Butter

Dan F. yelled to the crowd, 'Check out these skillz in the sand'

Carl Boni: Yes, that is a smile on his face!

Kevin A. comin' in hot

Billy T - 'Eat my Dust'

Dan F. - 'Better than a Gazzelle'

Kevin A. & Carl B. - 'This is how it's done'

Kids CX Practice: Over the barrier and Derrick's elbow is looking good on the left side of the bike

SM 35+ Cat 4 Race

Dave K. putting the hammer down at the start

Dave Kilmoyer - mashin' thru the sand

Lee G. off the front on a hammer sesh

Lee showin' the fellas how the hill is done

Doug R. "This is seriously so fun"

Bob P. - Killin' It

Dave Kilmoyer

SW Open Racer

Kristal Boni Warming Up

Susan P. Warming Up

Lee G. in 2nd place

Bob P.

Dave K.

Lee G. - Barriers

Bob P. - Barriers, still lookin' strong

Wes - Barriers

Dave K - 'That's all the barriers you got for us?'

SW 35+ & SW Cat 4

Michelle V. riding down the 1st area of wood chips - "Gettin' the weight behind the seat"

Kayla T. showing mad skillz thru the corner

Michelle V. - Roll on man, Roll on

Michelle V. kept the legs moving due to Bob & Susan's Chants: Thanks you GUYS! You totally earned super racer/fan status!

Kayla T - Kickin' Rump Over the Barriers

Michelle V - 'Coming On Thru'

Frisco Day 2 ROCKED. Fun was had by each and every one of us! See you all next week gang.

HUP HUP: Frisco - Day 1

2009-10-05T21:12:00.033-06:00

Cross was definitely in the THIN air for the BSV clan on Day 1 in Frisco. The compound was established early in the day and the brats were grillin' on Merle for all who attended. Here are some pics from the epic adventure:

35+ Open Brian H. showing his mad skills downhill

Erica and Roxy cheering for Toby35+ Cat 4's Rockin' it

Dave - really? Only 1 gear?Bob cornering like a sports car
Kayla and SW 35+SW Cat 4 Racers
Steve Kahn in 55+Michelle over the barriers
Andy & Cat 4's race!

Youngest riding BSV member - Derrick in his BSV jersey during the kids race.

Registration Now Open for Blue Sky Velo Cup

2009-10-02T19:34:00.006-06:00

Time to get your cyclocross on Blue Sky Nation style at the Blue Sky Velo Cup. Online registration is now open at bikereg.com. Register now and register often for some sweet UCI cyclocross action.

Check out full race details at http://www.blueskyvelocup.com/.

Thanks to great sponsors like Clouds Rest Chiropractic for supporting our event. It wouldn't be possible without them.

worth 15 minutes of your time

2009-10-01T13:31:00.003-06:00

hey kids:

check out this video--it really discusses the bike culture in Boulder and gives a good overview of how other cities can benefit from increasing the importance of bike culture.

now, who knows someone in Longmont City government who will tackle this type of progress?

Boulder Bike Story from Bikes Belong on Vimeo.

rob

My day in Hell...Boulder CX #1

2009-09-27T20:41:00.013-06:00

I decide mid Friday (day before Louisville CX) that I am ready to voluntarily upgrade from the 4's to 3's. I am not totally sure of my decision so I email the BSV CX group for advice. In the end, I decide to upgrade. I complete the upgrade form and send it off to Jon Tarkington and Yvonne at the ACA. I receive an email Friday night with my temporary license and I am super stoked. One thing I should mention is that I have not been on the bike for almost 6 weeks. I wake up Saturday morning and am already thinking of my strategy for the race. I decide to ride from Boulder to the race for a good warm-up. I do a quick once over on the bike, add some stans to the tubes, and off I go. I feel really good on the way to Louisville and am thinking about the race the entire ride. I miss the turn for 76th and end up riding to Lafayette and back track to the rec center. I arrive at 1:45, just in time to see the women start and chill out for a bit. I do a few laps on the course and am quickly reminded how demanding this sport is. The bike feels good, air pressure seems about right, and the shifting feels smooth. I speak to Dani Wanner (New BSV CX Racer) and her family about her first cross race for a bit after the womens race. Her brother mentions to me how today was his first race and that he dropped his chain a few times. I show him how I am running a single up front with a third eye and have never dropped a chain with my setup. I even go so far as to say that the setup is bomber. Little did I know that I would soon be eating my words. Fast forward to the start because I am starting to ramble....I line up at the start line and am ready to roll. I am pretty nervous, but this is typical of me every time I race. I see some familiar faces from last year and some BSV riders, Bill Teasdale, Peter Shaffer, and Matt Lohrentz. I feel at home now and am ready to suffer. The gun goes off and the racers are ripping down the long stretch of gravel. I am mid pack and start to pull my way up. I am feeling good and am ready for the sand pit. Run the sand on the first lap and roll up the hill and pull away. I manage to complete two laps before things start falling apart. I pass two guys as I start to descend down the rough and bumpy section after the finish. I make it through the corner almost to the flat grass when I lose my chain. I am shocked am remember commenting on my bomber setup. Not so bomber today, oh well. I quickly fix my chain and am off trying to make up time. I don't lose too much time. Less than 5 minutes later, I lose my chain again. I am starting to worry now and lose more time. It's funny how quickly people pass you when you pull over to fix a chain. I still tell myself not to worry as it won't happen again. I blast through the sand and am heading down hill on the off camber section right before the steep, short climb. I lose all traction as I turn into the hill and go down pretty hard. As I go down, I manage to land on my brake caliper and push it under the wheel as well as tangle my chain beyond belief. I get up and quickly try to fix everything as fast as I can. At this point I know I am doomed. Quitting crosses my mind and I think about it for a moment...I am ok with quitting today. My mind scans back to my first cross race and I remind myself that I have never dropped out of a race. Then I remember the quote: "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." I get back on the bike and go for it. I can't quit, it's not me. I will battle until I am a bloody mess. I say this to myself as I pass the lap counter and think to myself..."are you kidding me????????" I finish the race. Not what I anticipated for my debut Cat 3 race, but still a ton of fun. Better luck next time eh???? I guess it's good to have all the bad stuff happen in one race. Until next time...hup hup!!!!!

Thanks to all who came out to cheer at the race and hand out water.....it means a ton!!! Also, props to Jim Heuck for taking and posting all of the excellent pics from the race. Please check out his site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixdegreestoslush/sets/72157622337307855/

Brecktober Cross - 2nd Shift !!!!

2009-09-23T08:03:00.011-06:00

Hey Gang! Turkey Dave reporting in from the field.
Now Bill's already posted some of the cyclocross goodness had on Sunday up in Breckenridge. Mad props to Blue Sky Velo for being the highest represented team up there by the way !!!!
So with the new schedule this year, there's a wide range of times for people to race.
This is a report of the 2nd shift.

My ribs were sore so I was there to support Michelle who was racing pretty late in the day. Just by pure accident I put my singlespeed on the car - you know - to pre-ride the course with M., to help her out. Its not like there was also a singlespeed class going off with the 3's late in the afternoon or anything.

I know, most of you are saying, "come on Dave cut to the "Harden the #!@!# up" part already!"
So, no sooner had we been debriefed by some of the some 1st shift gang, with battle stories told.... when the skies opened up and it started dumping rain! The temp dropped immediately.
Its funny, at times like those, looking around we saw two types of people, those scattering for cover ........ and those with big sh*t eating grins on their faces. I have to admit I fall into the latter category.
Game on !!

First up was Michelle. She may have had a quick bout of being a 'run and hider', but that soon melted away into perma-grin, she got her share of the sweet mud action. It rained hard at times, and the course started getting slick!~ I'm super proud of her, she rocked today and was loving it... her mad skillz helped out in the slick conditions.

(it may not look like it, but this hill is slick!)

Ryan was there Representin' the 4's
What better way to break in a brand-spankin new bike hmmmm?

Needless to say. After standing in the rain, smiling, taking pix, and generally getting good and soaked and cold.... I just couldn't head home... Ribs be damned, I embrocated and went for it. It was a blast, the kind of mud that reminded me of why riding bikes is so cool. There werent many of us 1X's, so they just started us with the 3's. My competition was some uber racing dude, some "mountain bike guy" who was fresh in from the SS WC in Durango, and "flannel-wearing-I have a hang over guy". "Things are looking up".
I was dying a slow death up the long hill and subsequent return to the warming hut, but in true fashion the 'party hill' had a nice selection of loud-mouths (who seemed to be in 'good spirits' and 'well-lubricated' )- they kept me motivated. The more they yelled the more I grinded up that hill. Awesome!!

Kid in a candy store

Welp, thats it for now. It was nice to experience a little bit of fall, get good and cold, and generally revel in the CX aura again. (We didn't know it would follow us down the front -range, I promise)

Brecktobercross - A Wood Chippers Delight

2009-09-21T21:04:00.015-06:00

It that time of year again. Time to get your cross on Brecktobercross style. We set our alarm clocks for pain-thirty, and got up early for the drive to Breckenridge and the 9:45am 35+ Open start time. It's bad enough getting up at 5am, but getting up that early to race against some of the fastest guys in the state is just plain crazy.

When we arrived in Breck the temps were in the 40's. That meant two things -- embrocation and long-sleeve skinsuits. After getting suited up, we headed out for some warm up time on the course, and then over to the start area. Pale Power got his front row call up, Kevin A. turned his down, Hollywood stuffed himself in the middle, and I set up in the back. Now being in the back is certainly not ideal, but on a positive note, you're most likely going to go forward in the race, which is preferred to the alternative.

The start of the race took us through a section of about four inches deep of wood chips with barely one rideable line. Apparently wood chips are the new sand traps. This would typically be a good place to move up, but it was risky to got off the main line. Thankfully we got through it without incident and it was game on.

Here's the start. Nope, can't see me.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Weber

Hollywood missed a turn early on and was in chase mode for most of the race. I was able to move up and latched onto a group with Pale Power and Dave Weber from Rocky Mounts. After about a lap, we were starting to get some company from behind, so I went to the front and upped the pace.

Dave and I sucking Pale's wheel.
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Weber

Laying down the savage "attack" Photo courtesy of Susan Prietro

I was able to create a nice gap between myself and the rest of the group, but eventually Dave Weber made his move and started to bridge up to me.

Dave making his charge.

Photo courtesy of Susan Prietro

Dave finally caught me and we rode together for a lap or so, but he was able to create a small gap with his superior technical riding skills that I could not close back down. Meanwhile the rest of the boys were settled into their own group battles.

Hollywood getting it done.

Photo courtesy of Susan Prietro

Crit Master getting a draft.Photo courtesy of Susan Prietro

All and all the Blue Sky Nation did a good job representing. Full results are posted here.

I did a century ride - and you should, too!

2009-09-17T21:13:00.005-06:00

I also did the Buffalo Classic last Sunday and it was my first century. I really want to encourage anyone who has ever thought about doing a century ride to go for it! I am not a particularly strong or fast rider, so I wasn't 100% sure I would be able to ride 100 miles in a day, but I set a goal to do and it really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy for me, but I honestly think anyone who sets this as a goal can do it. Especially with the great support from fellow BSVers!

Start of the ride:

My Top 3 Reasons to Ride a Century:
1. You can say "Yeah, I've done a century" and feel cool
2. It makes most other regular training rides you do feel easy and short in comparison
3. Free food all day!!

For me, training involved doing several much shorter rides (20-30 miles) as well as 60 miles as part of the Venus de Miles ride two weeks before. I did a combination of relatively flat rides and rides with hills (I live in North Boulder, so did lots of rides up to Jamestown and up Old Stage Road). But I was probably never doing more than 2-3 rides a week. And never more than an average of about 15 miles per hour.

So, I figured the century was doable, but would probably take me about 8 hours, and it did. That included stops at the many rest stops along the way -- I started just after 7am and finished just after 3pm. As someone doing a century for the first time, it helped to just think of it as four 25-mile rides. I knew I could do a 25-mile ride and feel fine, so I just told myself it was like stringing a few of those together. And the rest stops really do make a difference - it's not like you are getting on your bike and not getting off for 100 miles/8 hours. Also, riding with so many other people and having all the rest stops helps to distract you from the fact that you are riding for so many hours - it's not like just going out and riding 100 miles all by yourself.

It was also fun to ride with other people from Blue Sky. A group of us met up at the start (all people I just met that morning, except for my husband Kevin) and rode together sporting our spiffy matching kits. It was fun to ride as part of a pack. Of course, when I say "rode together," for me that meant starting out with everyone for the first several miles, and then falling behind because a) I am not good at drafting because it makes me nervous to be so close to someone else and b) I really am pretty slow. At one point a fellow BSVer (Brad, I think) came up behind me and put a hand on my back and pushed me along for a bit to help me keep up. That was awesome, but unfortunately he wasn't ready to commit to that level of support for the remaining 90 miles. So I rode alone for most of the ride, but when I'd get to each rest stop there would be BSVers waving me in with smiles and encouraging words, which helped a lot.

The other funny thing about doing a century is that somehow you feel totally justified to eat a ton of random food all day. I'm a little embarrassed to write this all down, but here's at least some of what I ate at the various rest stops: bagel with Nutella, bagel with cheese, banana with Nutella, Ritz crackers, Wheat Thins, Oreos, a Rice Krispie treat, chocolate cake, brownie, chocolate chip cookie, and last but not least, pizza and BBQ chicken (seriously). Hmmm...maybe that is why I was so slow.... ;)

I'm really glad I did it and encourage anyone else out there who is more of a beginner rider like I am to give it a shot. You'll be glad you did!

After the ride - wearing my newly earned century hat and eating some pasta, because clearly I did not get enough calories on the ride itself:

Part of Team Blue Sky enjoying the free food (and beer) after the ride:

There was also a lot of standing in line for port-a-potties - the not so glamourous side of riding a century:

- Becca Bracy Knight

7th Annual Buffalo Bicycle Classic

2009-09-14T17:17:00.015-06:00

I had heard many good things about CU's Buffalo Bicycle Classic Century ride (including a Blue Sky Velo report last year), so I decided to give it a try.

I did the ride with some co-workers but caught up with some of the Blue Sky Velo crew at the start, and a few times during the ride:

I'm the one in this picture who is ill-prepared for the 50 degree temperature at the 7 AM start!

I think Eric and team must have passed me ten times during the ride but they always cheerfully offered me the chance to latch on!

The weather was chilly and overcast at the beginning but the sun did come out, and the event mostly lucked out in dodging the rain on Saturday, and some more on Sunday evening.

I thought the race was well-organized, especially at the busy intersections of CO-66 and US-34 in Loveland. And, medical crews quickly got to the scene of an accident early in the ride near the intersection of St. Vrain Road and 75th Street, where a rider went off the road.

The rest stops were well-equipped with volunteers, food and drink including my favorite - Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches! The one complaint commonly heard was with the shortage of porta-potties (and long lines) on the outgoing Hygiene stop but hopefully they can address that next year.

The post-race ceremony offered more food, beer, and sunshine:

I'd recommend this ride for anyone thinking about a century, especially since it's in our backyard and it's easy to train on the course.

The route:

-- Peter Schow