Racing Begins at Boulder Velodrome

Just a heads up that racing started last night at the Boulder Velodrome. For those who have never been to the velodrome, and for those that have, this is a great time.................to watch. I was on hand last night for three races and it was a blast. There was a good crowd turnout and the racing was fast and furious. I highly recommend heading over and catching some races. There is some good coverage and pics at http://www.303cycling.com/ and http://www.mudandcowbells.blogspot.com/ .

Training on the High Ground

Post CX-depression season can affect us all. On top of that, I have been dealing with a nasty bit of clinically diagnosed overtraining/under beer consuming (I'm going to talk about my recovery from overtraining and hopefully my road to racing this spring in later posts). So, in an effort to move forward, I went on a hut trip with several new friends to Margy's hut (10th Mountain Division hut outside of Aspen) this last week. While I wasn't sporting the new BSV winter ski parka (my order just didn't come in time for this), I felt it was my duty to represent the team on this endevor.

As it turns out, strapping 45lbs onto your back (including a guitar) and heading up to 11,300 feet on skis is just about nothing like a CX race. Oh wait, there is that feeling of wanting to die or barf or die whilst barfing part - that's the same. That feeling just lasted about 3 hours longer on the trip up than it does during a 45 min CX race. Somewhere between hour 2 (the "Oh this is hard, but I'm going to get in the swing of things" hour) and hour 4 (the "I wish the blisters on my feet would rise up with small arms and shoot me now" hour) I got into a bit of zen though and realized that this was great exercise for about 15 minutes or so!

The point, of the uphill, I guess, was really learning that while I might be a decent cyclist this may not really play out on Alpine Touring skis. Humility is a great thing I s'pose. Luckily, I left my BSV wool beanie cap at home so the photos of me looking like Death on skis don't give props to the team. It's a funny thing about overtraining and the shape I'm in. When I was CX racing, I thought that I really hit a wall after about five minutes of racing. When I was going uphill on the skis, I felt like I hit a wall after 45 minutes. Sad thing is that in a CX race, if I hit a wall after 45 minutes, I'd have already finished and grabbed a beer.

After the uphill day, I had a great few days of skinning up hills and skiing down them. Backcountry skiing was a blast! Okay, there was the one point where the guy who knew most told me not to fall down because the snow might not be stable and then I promptly fell, but the rest was a hell of a good time. There was something great about being totally out in the middle of nowhere and getting in some wonderful powder turns without worrying about a five year old running you down on the slope. We also had a great time playing guitar and singing bad 70's music at night.

Well, next race I might just have to smuggle in a guitar for post-race bliss. I'll definitely leave the 45lb backpack at home though :)

Hallowed Ground - A visit to the Champs Elysees

At some point or another, every cyclist should visit one of cycling's hallowed grounds.  There are many and offer a truly unique experience.  In December, my wife and I had a chance to visit Paris.  On day one, after arriving and having some wine, we set out for the Champs Elysee.  I wanted to soak in the feeling and karma of the finish line and she wanted to shop.  A holiday market made it a truly crazy experience.  Using pictures and the many hours I have spent viewing Tour videos, I tried to find the finish line of Le Tour and get a pic.  Here it is, Blue Sky representing at the finish of Le Tour.  

You cannot really tell from the picture, but the road is slightly cobbled and uphill as it approaches Le Arc de Triumph.  The riders make it look easy, but a crit on this same course would likely split the field of a cat 4 or 3 race.  All the sightseeing and uphill walking created a need for some food and wine.  Thankfully, Paris is filled with many cafes and we sampled some local faire.  Not bad.  Notice the near empty wine glass.  

To add to the cycling flair, we figured out how to use the rental bikes.  This is a great system where using a prepaid debit type card (this is a total hassle to purchase and fund) to pick up bikes around the city.  We were able to find bikes all around town.  You simply ride from neighborhood to neighborhood and put the bike back on the rack.  It is locked up and you cannot get it off the rack without your debit card.  This was a wonderful way to view the city and allowed us to cover way more ground than walking and using the subway.  Also, Paris drivers were super respectful of cyclists and we never had any issues, even taking on huge roundabouts.  Imagine a roundabout on Colfax during rush hour.  All we had to do was point and cars allowed us in.  Amazing.

If you have never been to a cycling Mecca, find a way to visit one, at least once.  I know many of you have been to other hallowed locations in Belgium, Italy, etc.  Post it up.

Blue Sky Velo Nordic - ambassador outreach / CX reconnaissance?

Whats up kids?
Dave K. reporting in from the deep fringe.
Michelle and I just finished a two weekend nordic skiing adventure that turned into more of a Blue Sky Velo outreach / cx competition spy program.

(** NOTE: stock AP photo, not actual author)

It all started with Eldora last Sunday, trying to get in some leg burners when we ran into Darcy Tiglas of Cross and Ft. Collins Cycling Team fame with her husband Tim (also a masters cx racer). When the chit chat subsided, neither couple dared start up the trail to let on the "secret training" of the other .... something about that Darcy - all smiles on the outside but I know she's up to no good! :-)
I pretended to be all slow and out of shape to give them a false sense of confidence that Blue Sky may not be training. (ha!)

Cut to this past weekend. We went up to summit county to see my Dad who was visiting and skiing from out of town. We usually fly the Blue Sky colors while nordic skiing as cycling jersey's and vests with pockets lend themselves well to storing cross country skiing goodies like fudge and cookies (but I digress). I'm in the lodge and Tim? Mike? from Copper team comes up and asks how I'm doing, and talks about how he and his teammates raced against (and got spanked by a few of) the Blue Sky Nation in cross up there during breck, frisco, and some of the front range races. After assuring him that I was not one of the ones doing the spanking and having a nice chat.... I made sure to indicate that the rest of the cross team was back home, running up hills with logs, and doing squats for hours on end with rocks on top of their heads ... just waiting until next season to start.

Finally, yesterday, we're hitting up the Breckenridge nordic center, and I bump into Dave Hixson of Rocky Mounts and cross fame. He starts to sweat as Michelle and I ask where he's going to go ski.... he nervously creates about 10 excuses about why he can't join us .... and once again after some cx season small talk I make sure to let him know that the rest of the team is doing Lee Hill repeats with sand in their tires and frames - just for fun!
On to the skiing yesterday...so Dave's off on his own, Michelle and I hit the trails. The weather was sick, but the snow was a tad frozen - apre - sun-baked. Right when I was about to get hit by Michelle's ski pole for taking her out on the 'never coming back loop', we hear the groomer coming. Woot. We get in behind dude and everything is groovy.

(** NOTE: stock AP photo of sweetness, not actual trail, but pretty darn close)

So now, instead of turning around we blaze on. Well somehow I managed to guide us from "Blue" to "Black", and end up on the death hill called Hang Ten, which is directly under the gondola (gondola? holy crap breck is developed now).
Suffice it to say, instead of backing down, we welled up with Blue Sky Nation pride and turned it up a notch BAM!!!! Hang 10? pshstttt! We actually "Hung 11 !!!" - because thats how we roll.

(* Circle indicates where 11 was actually 'hung')
I believe there was applaud coming from the tourists in the gondola for Michelle's newly aquired skillz at the power wedge, but the wind was too loud in the ears.

Thats it folks, a rather short story made long.
What have we learned?
If nothing else, flying the Blue Sky nation colors remotely will at least guarantee some good conversations and run-ins.... and allow you to spy on the competitions secret training ! (and it looks like at least some of them ate as much fudge over the holidays as I did) :-)

Till next time .....
Dave K. - over and out.

new recruit

how do we get this girl for the 2009 cx team? she'd be throwin elbows and mixin' it up hardcore.

alright, goodnight cleveland. get out there and ride. quit reading... now.

Gettin' it up twice in one day!

"it" being updates regarding valmont bike park. get your mind outta the gutter, you sickos! enjoy the large format, and attention to detail, but do still keep in mind this not the final plan--changes and tweaks will have to be made as we continue to develop the park

Spotted!

boom. that just happened.