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Skye

2011-07-16T20:37:00.003-06:00

On the morning of June 23rd when we entered the hospital we were ready to meet our new little Jem. We did not have a name yet but had been kicking around a few ideas. After she was wrapped in the signature new born burrito roll we went back to the 3rd floor room which had a large West facing window. It was 10:30am and sitting in the corner chair I had a never ending view of the cloudless summer sky. The depth of it's color really caught my eye and that was it we had a name. Skye Suzanne Gillespie. Skye, with an e is a Scottish spelling and goes well with the Scottish Gillespie. Suzanne is my wonderful mother-in-law and if Skye can grow up to be half as kind as Rosie's mom we will have done a good job. It also just so happens we know many other wonderful Susie's!

It's been a hectic 3 weeks and in all honesty a fairly challenging year. But our family is doing very well and we could not be happier about our new addition. With the Bells Palsy and weird health stuff going on, a new business venture, and a big change for our family I have put my return to training and bike racing on hold for a while.

There is a time for everything and my time for the bike will come again.

Another Bell's Palsy Update

2011-06-20T14:29:00.002-06:00

Coming up on 4 months now with Bells Palsy and I can finally see the end. It's amazing how much energy it takes for nerves to regenerate. My left eye is starting blink without massive conscious brain function, although I continue to have overactive tears in both eyes at times and they get tired easy. Face is getting back to normal except during massive smile or rowdy laughing. I can deal with that. Still have a little pain at my forehead, cheek bone, and chin but it is not bad and really only when I press on it. Hope no one else has to deal with this, or at least I hope they are tougher than I am.

I started riding again starting in June and now have a few solid weeks of riding. We did a Southern Utah mini vacation in early June before the baby comes and I treated it like a little training camp. Sleep, eat, ride, play in the pool, read, play in the pool, eat, and sleep a hike hear and there and more pool time with the girls. I built a little base of desert singletrack and seemed to respond fairly well. Still need a little more recovery than normal. I have since been commuting to work and doing a couple hours of riding on the weekend. Introduced a little intensity as well and seem to be feeling better all the time. Just need stay up on lots of sleep and not push the hours much. Slow road but I'll be back.

If you like technical climbing and descending I have a new favorite trail for you. Grandeur Peak. Now that all the rocks are being removed from the trails around here including Shoreline and Rattlesnake gulch I have to get my fix somewhere. Saturday I rode the Jekyll up Grandeur from Millcreek. Around 3600' climb from my house most of it on super technical singletrack. The top has a couple short cliff/rock sections on the ridge you have to hike but otherwise it was 99% rideable. I wanted to descend back the same way but with so many hikers I decided to take the West Face trail down, that one is pretty steep on a bike but still fun and a good test for controlled descending. I wish we had races over terrain like this. maybe I will start a Grandeur Peak uphill TT? I will have to go on and on about the Jekyll another time, but in short that bike rules. Weighs 23.9 lbs, has 6" travel front and rear, and pedals and climbs like a small travel bike. Game changer!

New baby coming this week so hopefully I can keep the recovery rolling and the fitness rising. May even line up for a race here soon to really see where I am at???

8 weeks- documenting progress

2011-04-26T09:54:00.000-06:00

So considering I only have half a face and have had to abstain from most of the outdoor recreation I enjoy the past 8 weeks have gone by fast. I am pumped about the progress I have seen with the Bell's Palsy and now have hope for a full recovery in the future. I still have trouble with my eye as I am unable to spontaneously blink but I can now close it. My smile is coming around, although when I laugh I can feel my face contorting. Energy is coming around a little and seems parralel with my facial improvement. I am still struggling with sound sleep but it is getting better. Still dealing with some swollen lymph nodes as well, so I know something is still up.

All the extra time I've had has been spent playing with the girls, giving Rosie massages, tinkering around the house, fiddling with the gripitz (hope to have production models ready by May??), working on new bikes (pics soon), and generally trying to send good vibes through my facial nerve. I have also been to acupuncture which was pretty cool and have been tinkering with my diet which is hard to do when your training and racing. Hopefuly these little tweaks will help me reach my full potential, isn't that what it's all about? It's good for me to learn to live without training, racing, and recreation. Not really fun, but good for me.

I have riden to work a couple times and did some mellow dirt riding over the weekend but am just physicaly not ready for any real training yet. I am super motivated right now but have to really be careful and reign myself in, hopefuly by mid May I can be training again. On a positive note, at least weather wise it's been a good spring to be on the sidelines.

Oh yea, I have a 2010 medium team scalpel and a 2009 52cm cannondale cross bike I need to move. Hit me up if your looking...

Update: bell's palsy, gripitz...

2011-03-21T16:31:00.001-06:00

Bells:
So two and half weeks with Bells Palsy now. Some good and some bad so far. I am getting more and more left side facial movement but it is very subtle and does not really warrant a picture. The skull pain has been the real stick in the eye, sleeping has been rough to say the least. Although, in the last couple days it seems the pain is calming down a little. The weirdest part is the burning on the top of my ear. I have heard from a number of people who have been through the same thing which is kind of nice, some of it encouraging and some of it not. A common theme seems to be general fatigue, eye irritation, pain, and difficulty eating. Everyone has stressed how important it is to rest and I have noticed the pain and the improvement are worse when I get tired. I have tried a couple mellow rides including commuting to work but it does not seem to be helping my cause right now. So, any kind of physical activity above and beyond walking has been put on hold. At the rate I am improving it seems another couple weeks and I should be able to start some easy exercise, that's encouraging for sure. The Doc does not seem to think it is related to the EBV from last Summer but I am not so sure, patience is needed on my part.

At the moment my plan is to start some base type training beginning in April. Normally I rely on a fairly solid supply of fitness to get me going into the cycling season. This year with nearly 2 months off from any real exercise and no real cycling, I am going to try a more structured approach much like I did in my build up to last years cross season. I also plan to record it all here as I really struggle with any kind of training log. My hope is by starting from scratch I can continue to build right on into the summer. Writing this out here is helping me stay positive, which is half the battle!

Gripitz:
After two of my working prototypes were stolen I got working on a some new ones with a couple small changes. I really like how the new design is coming together. It is more comfortable and ergonomic and will be easier to build. For now I am not going to use a CNC in an attempt to keep cost down and make it easy to make changes, most importantly the inside diameter of the tubing so it can be used on all different poles. Once I have the final design down some templates will be made to help in the production process. Excited to get these out into the field...

If I have not heard from you and you want the Gripitz, let me know.

I am finding the Bell's Palsy and grinding aluminum don't mix but full ski goggles make it possible.

Hells Bells

2011-03-14T20:23:00.001-06:00

To avoid all awkwardness if we run into each other, I did not have a stroke. I have facial nerve paralysis otherwise known as Bells Palsy. It seems like a pretty classic case with the symptoms coming on suddenly after having a bad cold. No solid evidence exists for treatment other than time and facial exercise but fortunately most cases resolve on there own in 1-3 months. I am going on 10 days now and just started to see a flicker of movement today which is super encouraging. It is mega painful and I can feel every nerve in the left side of my face pulsing if I am not drug up. Sleeping is the biggest hassle, the pain comes on the worst and I have to tape my eye shut.

Rest is key as the body requires a ton of energy to rebuild the damaged nerves and allow full recovery. It has put a damper on the late ski and early bike season but if I am patient it looks like it won't foul things up completely. After getting back into shape last fall for cyclocross I have a whole new respect for the bodies ability to recover and resume high level activity, this gives me confidence that rest now will only pay off later in the year.

If you see me snarling, drooling, pirate patched, or leaking food out the side of my mouth don't worry, I am aware of it and it is likely not a permanent.

Oh yea, my prototype Gripitz were stolen out of the Brighton parking lot on Saturday after I finished watching the PowderKeg rando race. So, if you see someone out on the skin track with some one of a kind self arrest ski poles, "arrest" them.
Thanks

Gripitz- refining

2011-03-10T19:26:00.001-07:00

Here's a new pre-production wing design I am playing with.

After additional self arrest testing and feedback from Brian, who is an experienced mountain traveler. I have moved to a little smaller wing design. I think this is a better compromise between enough wing to bite into hard snow and so much wing that the forces rip the pole out of your hands. This is still quite rough and classic garage work. The CNC machine should really clean this up.

It also provides a nice little finger notch that was inspired by various ice tools and gives a much better grip for dry tooling. I have a large rock wall on my home that is great bouldering practice and I have no problem making all the moves with 2 inspector gadget Gripitz hands.

The wing also fits nicely in your palm now if skining with hands on the top of poles like I know some people like to do. Less material equals less weight is only a bonus. Don't worry about my finger that bandaide is doing a good job at holding it together...

Gripitz- self arresting ski pole grips

2011-03-07T14:02:00.006-07:00

So it all started last year in preparation for the WURLOS. Putting together a backcountry ski kit that minimizes total weight in order to maximize efficiency is a key part of any ski traverse where speed and time are a focus. It also is becoming more and more apparent to a lot of ski tourers that minimizing weight and maximizing efficiency also can aid in increasing the enjoyment of an everyday outing. Flat out, you can cover more terrain and make more turns at the same energy cost.

Clothing, packs, skis, bindings, boots, crampons, helmets, safety gear, food, hydration, stoves, etc have all been addressed by various manufactures for the "light is right" crowd. Plenty of options in multiple price ranges exist in the current marketplace and one could go on for days about gear selection.

The one category we found lacking in options was the self arrest ski pole. The only real player is the Black Diamond Whippet. Everyone know's the Whippet. It works great and makes you feel tough when using. My only complaints are that it is heavy and pinned to a heavy flip lock pole. Does anyone ever change pole length?

(I have seen pictures of the Grivel Condor but never one for purchase or in person. It also looks even heavier than the Whippet. I have also seen some other home made options including a full ice axe attached to the top of a ski pole.)

A ski traverse such as the WURLOS requires navigating some technical terrain up and down in less than ideal snow conditions. I did not like the idea of carrying an extra 1/2lb in each hand for 21 hrs but I wanted the security of a self arrest pole for booting, skinning, and skiing. They are also quite handy for aided skinning, dry tooling, scrapping, and any number of uses which have been discussed at length here and here. Many times I have found myself wanting my Whippets after leaving them in the car because I did not want the extra weight. If you don't have them with you they don't do any good. I think for the WURLOS Jared decided on one nordic pole and one Whippet as a compromise while Andy and I settled on 2 heavy Whippets. In the end I am glad I had them as I ended up self arresting while rallying some ice on skinny skis off Dromedary, but the weight was surely noticed.

A Whippet weighs 410 grams which is just shy of 1 lb per pole. A normal ski pole weighs anywhere from 100-300 grams depending on the material, design, handle, length, and basket. So by carrying a Whippet you are looking at somewhere around 200 grams or about a 1/2 lb extra per hand. 1/2 lb extra per foot surely has already been addressed...

So I decided to see if I could come up with some kind of alternative.

Here some early models made of aluminum and designed to fit on a regular aluminum nordic pole. Around 75 grams per head but found to be a little small when arresting in anything but the hardest snow. Also very crude materials, welding, and finish but worked well for a prototype.

The Whippet, being made out of steel has some advantages in hard ice. But I have found that the wider wing of the Gripitz is much better in softer snow and it only takes one heft to notice the significant weight difference.

Here is a couple of other options currently in testing. These have a longer blade and wider wing and weigh under 100 grams each.

This is my current favorite, although it needs a little longer blade tip. Under 100 grams and easily glued to any pole. This one is attached using hot glue to an aluminum nordic pole I bought for $5/pair at a demo sale. It weighs 250 grams total. I have dry tooled vertical rock, knocked out 20 pull ups while hanging on it, swung from trees, and self arrested in ice and snow without even a wiggle. Epoxy could also be used for attachment. The cool thing is it can be made to fit any size pole so a split-boarder who wants self arresting poles can place them on his 4 piece fold ups that can go in his pack for powder runs.

I have been using road bike bar tape for my grip so I can customize not only the diameter but also the length as well as the color. I have been experimenting with different straps but have found that 5mm accessory cord is my favorite. It is comfortable, stiff enough to get into easily, does not stretch, and could be removed and used for something else in a pinch.

Testing an early model while booting up the lower section of the Triangle Couloir. I have also dry tooled in the rock on top of Olympus, sunk into some ice on the Great White Icicle, and skied plenty of powder with them in hand.

Fabrication wise I think I am starting to dial in the right techniques and materials. Including CNC machined blade, wing, and handle which can be made to custom inside diameters. As well as a top secret aircraft epoxy in place of welding. I am also looking at anodizing. Pink might be cool? As for price it all depends on demand. I am hoping to be able to get them to others for around $100 each which is similar in cost to the Whippet. Will see what kind of demand I can drum up and hopefully get costs down with volume.

Kind of a fun project. And If no one else sees the value of lighter weight removable self arresting ski pole grips, I at least will have no excuse for leaving mine in the car.

Triangle Couloir

2011-02-05T19:49:00.007-07:00

I needed an outing bad. Not something that was to physically taxing but something out in the woods with a little adventure to it. With high winds and poor visibility up high, I suggested the Triangle Couloir for some mixed climbing and chute skiing. The Samurai was game for anything he could sink an ice tool in.

Not used to being loaded down. We were prepared with a full rock and ice rack because we weren't quit sure what we would find.

Mix of skinning and booting up the 1st 1000ft or so.

The lower ramp of ice was mellow and we were able to side by climb. Kinda fun!

Looking down from the little snow shelf I cut for a belay station. From here up we put in a half dozen ice screws and a couple cams. I did not get any good shots looking up as the spin drift was steady.

Once at the top of the Triangle Wall we skinned and booted the rest of the chute. Topping out required some rock moves up this fun little chimney. The gripitz (patented pending) ripped up it, more on that later...

The skiing was variable with plenty of wind blown. The upper head wall was some steep tree skiing that funneled into the chute proper, kinda felt of like the Y Couloir.

Last few guarded turns before the rappel.

Rapping ski descents in the past I've either never had them with me or never bothered to put my crampons back on. Today I did and it was much nicer. We had 2 ropes tied together and were able to do the rappel in 2 pitches. We found an old rap anchor off the top tied into a couple saplings growing out of the cliffs. Further down we were able to rap off another anchor of webbing around a rock horn.

The lower chute had the best ski turns as it had accumulated a fair bit of sluff. Last foto robbed from Fritzrips.

Fun little adventure right off the road.

easy skizy through the treezy

2011-01-22T20:43:00.002-07:00

At some point during the last couple weeks a switch was flipped. I don't know what happened but the excitement and confidence are flowing strong. Eva has become a skier. In the past she had fun but only for a run or two and always had to right by my side. Now at the end of the day she begs for one more run.

We skied at Solitude on Monday with the Samurai's crew and she could not get enough. The nuking wind had not effect on her morale. Every day this week as I was leaving for work she asked if we could ski today? I had to explain the harsh realities of life. I have to work and you have to go to school but "yes we will get out again soon". Friday we towed up Neffs which is one of our mid week ski stomps. The snow was boilerplate ice and she thought it was great. Can't get enough of the water bar "jumps".

Today after a morning tour on Kessler and a surprisingly good run on the Lawnmower, the girls met me at Solitude for another date on the hill. Again, it was nuking snow and wind but the rosy red cheeks were out in full force. She has discovered the "trees" and we can't do a run without her leading us down a tree trail. "Easy Skizy through the Treezey". We have created a monster!

She has developed a pretty good arsenal of turn diameters. Generally tighter as the slope gets steeper. I love watching her semi snow plow parallel GS turn. I think being timid early on helped as she was so afraid of going fast she really learned to turn. Now the fear is melting away she can us her turning skills to check speed rather than just snowplow. She tells me the next step is poles...

We had Stella in boots as well but once she got in skis on snow she decided otherwise. "I want to sled until I am 3"

Wonder if I can tow both of them...

memorial couloir #5

2011-01-15T19:21:00.003-07:00

Headed out for a mellow solo walk and of course ended up doing something fun. A quality adventure for only being out for couple hours including drive time.

Memorials had not been touched. Warm and wet below about 7500', nice consolidated powder in the upper 1500'.

Black and White from Wasatch Tours.

Classic double fall line. First turn is steep with the bottom falling out while the next is mellow in the gut. Over and over and over!

Crows feet in the distance.

There's my car, and my house.

Exit was classic North Fork with just enough snow to get you in trouble. Survival skiing at it's best.

A little more recon for a link up...

where's whipple?

2011-01-11T17:22:00.003-07:00

I only make the effort to post on new or unusual adventures, something that I may want to look back at or may be interesting to someone else. I wish everyday was worthy but that's not realistic. Despite starting only 4 minutes from home, this morning was post-able.

Olympus

Cool ribs looking down into the Whipple Couloir

Enter.

Half way down with the Twins standing gaurd.

I don't know why everyone says the Whipple is so hard to find? We walked right up to the entrance and skied. Easy peasy lemon squeeze!

Andy enjoying frozen avy debri partially hidden by 4" of nothing.

Nice 1500' shot.

We flipped it at the bottom of the main chute and skinned and booted back out so we could hit a delightful little Northish facing chute off Wild Cat ridge.

2 new lines and 6k of skiing within view of home and then to work...

Skimo Nationals

2011-01-09T11:41:00.005-07:00

Quick trip to Jackson Hole for the USSMA Ski Mountaineering National Championships. Check out Powder magazines write up here and catch a glimpse of our own Samurai taking the whole shot cyclocross style.

Jared and I drove up Friday and got a quick ski out on the mountain. Much better snow coverage that last year but again no actual backcountry skiing on course. The route consisted of 8000 feet of groomers and moguls, 2 long boot packs, up Corbets with the ladder at the top, and tons of steep skiing. Unfortunately it all had that resort skiing feel. I have also wondered why the National championship does not change venues. Same place every year???
They have the same validity problem as the Utah State Mountain Bike Championships.

Cool picture by Powder mag.

The turn out for the race was impressive and surely was the deepest strongest field ever in North America. Also cool to see our Canadian National Team friends from our trip in December. Reiner took the well deserved win!

Quick recap of my race: Started well and felt pretty good on the first and longest climb, roughly 45-50 minutes. Settled into a steady pace in the early teens with Jared (recovering from illness and not his samurai self) roughly 20 seconds ahead at the 1st transition. Skied a bunch of huge steep bumps down a chute. My bottle fell out at the top and shot straight to the bottom where I was able to pick it up. Flat light and light snow made the skiing tough. Smooth bottom transition straight into a mogul ascent. Passed a guy or two guy and basically followed just behind Jared with him making time on the DH and me catching back up on the climbs. Up the first boot back it was windy and I was getting cold, very cold. Across the ridge was frigid but the Coombs couloir made it worth it and was surely the most interesting skiing on the course. An event free transition led me towards the Corbets boot pack where my day completely fell apart. While going up Corbets my ski holder strap on my pack broke off and I lost my skis off my back. I retrieved one quickly but the other required a little post holing off the booter to retrieve. After digging around in the snow I found my strap and reattached it only for it to fail again another 20 feet up the chute. I noticed a couple Canadians and Andy passed me while I was wrangling in the snow with my skis and pack. Finally I just tied it onto my shoulder strap to get me to the top. The damage was done and I was now hypothermic. I booted to the top, up the ladder, and walked up the ridge in a whiteout gale in full survival mode. I could not speak and my hands where quickly dying. I was nauseated and ready to vomit from the cold. Nate passed me on the top and I could not even speak to him. I ducked into the hut on top and saw my white fingertips, I quickly decided to descended straight to the bottom of the mountain and to a hot shower to salvage my hands. Bummer, I missed the last short climb and was officially a DNF. Jared, Andy, Tim, and Lane all finished up strong, although maybe not the results they were looking for either.

During these races you walk a very fine line. It's like a cyclocross race in the cold bad weather. Your dressed in your underwear and if you are not on the limit you can't stay warm. Futzing around in Corbets for 5-10 minutes was all it took to put we over the edge and in dangerous territory. It didn't help that lower on the mountain was warm with no wind and I had worked up a good sweat, then I had to stop in the worst possible spot. My finger tips are still a little numb but I think they will heal and I hope to not have any permanent damage, I'm' all to familiar with the lasting effects of frostbite.

Once again I learned a lot and came away feeling good about the race despite not getting the result I was looking for. No I was not in the lead group, but time wise I was running much closer to the top guys and for the first 3/4's of the race I was in the mix.

I also learned that I may not be in a position to pursue skimo racing. Living in Utah requires to much travel for competitive racing and takes away from the adventurous part of ski mountaineering. Just think of all the cool things I could do in 2 full days. Instead I was driving, hiking groomers, and skiing moguls at a resort. If I had unlimited time, then yes I could do it all but I have ridden around in circles for 20 years on bikes and need the exploration aspect of skiing to sooth my soul.

Box Elder

2010-12-29T20:29:00.001-07:00

Tuesday Jason and I traded Tom for Zack and continued the Utah Valley theme. We made use of the good snow stability and the fleeting weather window to get up on Box Elder. It is the shortest drive of all the Grand UC peaks and happened to be one that Jason and Zach had yet to stand on. We got a late 10:30ish start but that played into our favor as an earlier party was able t0 put a skinner in most of the way up. In the UC breaking trail is the norm. We got lucky.

Up the red, down the green. We skied the North Cirque first in some nice variable chalky windblown. No sign of the sticky wind pockets we found on Timp. Skied right to the skin track for another ascent up the ridge so we could enjoy a run down a barrel of the shotgun chutes. Fast settled Wasatch powder skiing and not another track to be seen. Exit out Dry Creek was also kind of fun if your into survival type skiing.

First time I have ever been able to skin right from the Dry Creek trail head.

Timp always inspires,!Where was that visibility yesterday up there?

ER doc, tele skier, and a rad mustache!

Now for another storm...

Timpanogos

2010-12-27T19:44:00.003-07:00

Christmas Eve was a great tour of some Wasatch Classics including Silver Fork, Days Fork, Holy Toledo, High Ivory, and South Black Nob exit. Christmas weekend was enjoyed with family including a MTB ride in Provo and Hike up Rock Canyon.

By Monday I was ready for some more skiing. While in Provo, I figured it was a good opportunity to take advantage of the huge snow and stable conditions. Timp was looking good!

Picture taken on Christmas from the Farm. South Summit is the 2nd high point from the far lookers Left. Wish we had that blue sky!

Set a track up Primrose Cirque and got to inspect the mighty power of the Avalanche. 3-6" of new snow had fallen over the piles and bed surfaces to soften things up. Multiple large slides were inspected from nearly all aspects. This debris pile was huge and looked to have initiated up in the "Hilary Step" area of the Cirque which in this picture is at the top of the Saddle. This is surely a place you don't want to be picnicking during a natural cycle.

Up at the lake looking for the sun up through the Summer snow field. Unfortunately the sun was never really found and we had to make do with clouds and limited visibility.

Looking from the South Summit down the South ridge. We did not partake in the incredibly fun sport of cornice cutting but there was a few bus size prizes to be had for the adventurous cutter.

Tom and Jason both laid some nice tracks that I was hoping to catch with my new camera but the visibility did not cooperate very well. We did get a little practice vertigo skiing which is always kind of fun. Here's Tom enjoying the new wind blown Snow on the SW face of Timp.

After skiing the West face from the South Summit we flipped a U and went back to the top rather than exit out the dirt into Pleasant Grove. Climbing up the West Face and Ridge is nearly as cool as skiing it. This allowed us to get back to our car at Aspen Grove and enjoy another nearly 5k descent.

We did run into a couple rouge wind pockets in Primrose Cirque that could give you a scare. Although they were small and not burial material, in the complicated cliff strewn terrain they could easily get you off your feet and heading in a wrong direction. As expected they were stubborn wind slabs about 8-10" deep that would run maybe 50-100'. Although the danger rating is low, these unpredictable slabs need to be watched for.

NW Coulior Pfeffierhorn

2010-12-13T14:17:00.009-07:00

Nice way to start the week!

Andy, Jason, and Lars above Red Pine Lake

Lars and Jason on the East ridge of the Pfeffierhorn

Looking into the NW Coulior which is lacking snow on the upper section. Could have rapped in but chose to down climb the ridge and duck in from lookers right.

Good steep full concentration skiing in the upper section before the rappel.

Andy rigging up.

Down he goes...

Lars checking out his line about 1/2 way down the lower section. You can ski with reckless abandon down here.

Hogum into Maybird.

Beautiful morning, wanted to ski some other nice lines back there but had to get back to the real world. I am continually amazed at the amount of ground that can be covered on skis before brunch!

Now to figure out how to post all this great video I have been getting with my new camera.

Selkirk Classic

2010-12-10T19:10:00.002-07:00

Cyclocross nationals are in full swing right now and I am at home and perfectly happy. I have been asked;"why are you not at nationals" maybe a dozen times this week and have not had much of an answer other than it was time for something new. I have been riding the cross bike as good as ever this year and maybe enjoyed it more than ever following such a rough summer. I would love to racing up in Bend with the whole Utah crew but with limited time to be away I had to make a choice between cross racing and skimo/Canada, new experiences won out.

Because I am slow to get to a trip report I can now rely on Jared and Andy, they both do a better job anyway. Here are a few shots and some commentary.

Andy and Jason skinning through the burn in Glacier National Park, Montana. Montana has a lot of trees and if you don't have a sled, access can be kind of slow. Good thing we don't mind 10 miles round trip of flat skining/skating to get to the vertical, If it was not for slide paths there may not be anywhere to ski up there. I think we are a little spoiled by Wasatch access!

The big 212 chopper was impressive. Smooth ride with not all that much vibration. View of the Esplanade range of the Slekirks was impressive.

Mt Cupola, the highest point in the Esplanade range. The hut sat down in the clouds at the base of the shady North face. The 3rd climb of the race skinned up the South ridge and booted to the tip.

Touring options are endless and the snow stays cold so much longer. Sun effect seems to have much less play on the South faces this far North at this time of year. I guess daylight from 8-4 may have something to do with that.

Sir Donald maybe the most impressive peak in the Rogers Pass area. From what I understand, attempts have been made but it has yet to be skied.

Jared booting out of a couloir on Mt Cheops shoulder that we found did not quite go. From the other side of the valley on Video Peak and 8812 it looked like it went.

Sir Donald again. That ridge looks like a fun ascent?

Hermit drainage on the way to Little Sifton. I love feeling small in big mountains, humbling for sure!

Best trip of December 201o, so far.

Saturday Morning Tour...

2010-11-20T20:30:00.005-07:00

Until today every Saturday for the past 2 months has been enjoyed at a different cyclocross venue along the Wasatch Front. We have a great series here in Utah and every year UTCX raises the bar on organization, courses, competition, spectators, cash zones, waffles, and costumes. Although I have not traveled to any out of town races this year, CX season has been a success and much better than I ever would have predicted after such a rough summer. I am pleased with how I have ridden and maybe even a little disappointed to not be going to nationals this year. So now with only a couple CX races left my attention has been turning to the ski season. The mountains have a solid base and I have been out maybe 8-9 times during the last few weeks. A mix of general fun tours and time on race skis. Yes I am going to race another couple CX races, hopefully in the snow. But I am also planning to do a little skimo racing this year and don't want to look like a complete hack at the first couple events.

Today was the 1st Saturday tour of the year.

I think the high winds must have scared everyone away because I would expect to see more than 2 people in the "over crowded Wasatch" on a Saturday morning.

Jared and I met Chad, Samurai Sam, and Uncle Roman at Grizzly. We skied 3 great runs into Silver Fork before everyone had to bail except Jared and I. We ran a favorite Chute into Days, burned up to Benson and Hedges ridge, dropped into the Hallway only to find it was not filled in enough, Booted back out, down main Days, Up to Flagstaff and out the South face in surprisingly creamy easterly ridges and gullies. What a bunch of great skiing.

While cruising the Days ridge before our exit some pretty impressive cornices cracked out sympathetically from walking the ridge. A great example of the impressive power of the wind to transport snow and rapidly change conditions. The few days should get interesting.

Today I was on a new pair of Surface skis. Yea Surface, you know, huckin skis, jibbin skis, where's the park Brah skis? Do they have a place in the backcountry? Extended tours covering terrain fast and efficient? I am finding they do. Mounted with Dynafit ST binders and my trusty Dynafit DyNA boots this seems to be a great Wasatch combination. I was also pushing around with some new custom made (by me) nordic poles turned touring poles, but that's a story for another day. Add in some tights and you have a ground covering combination.

When I am not going out to chase Jared on race skis I want to ride something fun on the DH but it can't be sluggish on the climb. So yea, I am trying out the Surface Next Life kids ski. If Jared can wear women's underwear then I can ski on kids skis. It's a 160 cm with an early rise tip, low rise tail, and a little traditional camber in the middle. This little guy ate up all sorts of snow today from wind blown to crusted to creamy. Moving fast is all about strength to weight and although I am always trying to improve my strength, gains come in very slow increments so weight must always be controlled. This ski comes in around 6.5lbs/pair which is pretty good for 100 under foot. Give me some more time on it and I will give you the full scoop but so far I am digging it. Surface has an arsenal of cool looking skis and they are committed to fine tuning things to excel in the world on self propelled skiing. This season I plan to put some of them through the light and fast test. I will keep you posted. Today's 7000' morning was a good start.

Gear Sale...

2010-10-28T19:32:00.002-06:00

The week of skiing and cyclocross got me sorting through piles of gear, some of which I don't need right now. Let me know if there is anything you want and I will get you a price. Bartering and offers are always welcome and enjoyed.
The list will likely be growing.

-Hagan Carbon Skis, 170cm, 111-71-101, 16.2 m, 1480g/ski. Light and fast touring ski. NEW
-Bluehouse District, 176cm, 134-108-122, 2035g/ski. Used maybe 5 times, drilled for dynfits.
-Scarpa F1 AT boots size 25.5 (8 men) good shape, only 1 heat mold
-Scarpa Spirit 3 25.5 great shape, only 1 heat mold.
-FIZIK Tundra 2 black/green 194g NEW
-FSA Carbon SLK post 27.2 220g NEW
-FSA SLK Stem 100mm 160g NEW
-FSA New ergo Bar 42cm 31.8 NEW
-Vittoria Cross Evo XM 32 cyclocross tubulars NEW
-Dugast Rhino 34mm cycl0cross tubulars 1 set, NEW
-Egg beater pedals:
- Ti with Ti spindles 189g NEW
- 2Ti with Ti spindles 176g NEW
-3 pair SL's with Ti spindles (light use) 220g
-4 ti 175g Used with cleats.
-3 ti 200g used
-2 pair 1ti with stainless spindles 220g, very light use.
-2 pair candys 298g used
-2 pair egg beater c 290g new and used.

cheers

some observations

2010-10-17T09:13:00.003-06:00

I don't claim to be an expert on cyclocross. In the big scheme of world cross I don't even claim to be that good. But, I have done a lot of races and have learned how to maximize some meager talent.

Yesterday at UTCX #3 I had the opportunity to watch some racing. Rosie raced earlier in the day which got us to the venue in the morning. I got to spectate the C men, 35+ B, 45 +, and the Women. UTCX is a growing concern and all of these fields were packed with racers that are relatively new to the sport. The one thing I noticed most racers struggling with was simply shifting the bike and being in the right gear at the right time. Racer after racer was attempting to come out of a corner way over geared. By the time they got on top of the gear it was time to set up for another turn. You get little acceleration when over geared and lots of muscular damage/back pain.

What if we learned to use a smaller gear and used changes in cadence to change our speed and accelerate. Then shift to progressively bigger gears as our speed and cadence allow. Sounds simple but requires practice and forethought. Im not saying we need to spin violently thrashing about on the bike but finding the sweet spot gear that alows us to change speed with changes in cadenece. We spend hours practicing dismount/remount technique only to use it once or twice per lap when really the bigger bang for our buck might be practicing leg speed and cornering, which would be useful throughout the entire lap. How many corners were there yesterday?

If you get a chance to watch video of yourself racing, study it. Look at your position on the bike, are you balanced? Are you relaxed? Can you accelerate while seated without pulling violently on the bars? When are you shifting, before the turn or after the turn? What do you look like coming out of a turn? Seated or standing? What kind of cadence? Are you on top of the gear in every situation? Where can you be using less energy? Where can you be putting down more power? Watch the other races, watch those with more experience, how are they setting up for a corner? Follow others during warm up. Watch video of other races on the same course you race. Watch world cup video, look at there cadence through a sand pit and out of corners. Learn to feel the ground through you pedals. It's all about maintaining velocity while conserving energy.

The cool thing about cross racing is you get to attack the same sections multiple times during a race while also watching others do the same. You get the chance to dial in a corner, find the perfect line, be in the right gear, keep the body balanced and be back up to speed before you realized you slowed down. If you don't nail it the first lap then you get another chance the next lap. And at the end of the race there may even be a corner or section that still got the best of you. Give it a go next week.

Yesterday I nailed some of the corners out at the Utah State Fair Park, but I also botched quite a few. I had maybe 10 tries and still could not nail a couple. If you raced you know what I mean. How about the tight L hander with the 6 inch ledge coming out of the corral onto the gravel drifting left under the bleachers. That corner had a ton of varibles. I tried it slow and tight, which forced a strong acceleration to get up to speed. I tried it wide and loose and just could not keep the drift under control. I tried going inside out and outside in both of which never felt fast. That baby had my number for sure. If you nailed it, let me know what you did.

Cross is a magical sport, you don't necisarily have to improve fitness to become faster.

the hammer and the nail

2010-10-07T08:46:00.006-06:00

So maybe it's time for an update?

Sometimes your the hammer and sometimes your the nail.

I have spent some days as a hammer over the years but from May through August I was the nail, a smashed nail!

The summer was a rough one. I have a new appreciation for health and a whole new empathy for those that suffer from any chronic illness, including depression. I was in denial during the early part of the summer and surely prolonged my physical and mental anguish. Mono or EBV is nothing to mess around with, it is impossible to beat without complete and total rest. I would go to work and was just a zombie, sometimes I would just go sit in the restroom so I could rest without having to think or do anything. It was a different kind of tired than I had ever experienced, and I have felt my share of tired. It kind of felt like the Sunday afternoon following 24hrs of Moab after crushing the Duo category, except I just got 12 hrs of sleep and have not exercised in weeks.

I was lucky to find a professional that knew what they were doing as far as testing goes and was able to help me get on the right track. At the end of August I took another 3 weeks off from any physical activity and slept a minimum of 10hrs/night and sometimes 12. It was rough, not only did I feel lousy but my means of coping was gone, no outlet. I am sure I was rough to live with.

By the start of September I was starting to see the light. I was feeling more and more like myself. Granted I still need 10+ hrs/sleep at night but the haze was going away and I could feel the weight lifting. I takes a lot of descipline to hold back when you start to feel better but that's exactly what you have to do. Keep resting once you feel good!

I was always nervous about feeling crappy again so I moved slow. I went backpacking and did some hiking. Awesome, and good for the morale. I got back on the bike and followed a strict plan, very slowly building my conditioning. I even installed a power meter to help me reign in the intensity and build slowly while tracking my progress. I felt better and better all the time but one thing continued, I need a ton of sleep. It felt so good to be able to ride without being demolished the next day. Following 3 solid weeks of training I had built some fatigue, the good kind of fatigue that sheds easily with rest and is the result of some consistent work. Following an easy week, the legs seemed to come around. I could push hard again and recover! The body is amazing. But, I still needed tons of sleep.

Maybe the worst part about not racing all summer was the lack of socialization. I missed the scene, racing and training with friends. The one positive from the whole deal was I got to spend a bunch of Saturdays with the family, we did a bunch of new stuff with the kids and I don't even think the girls knew I was dragging.

So now we're in the middle of cross season and I have had a couple pretty good races. Cyclocross is nice as a come back sport because it's short, requires skill, and is very social. Everything I needed! Hopefully I can continue to build throughout the fall season and maybe at some point, require a little less sleep. I will always remember the UTCX #1 2010, I was so excited to finally race and I think Rosie was even more excited than me! I felt like the hammer again, at least for an hour.

A huge thanks to my family and friends who provided support even though it was one of those intangible illnesses where everything looks fine from the outside. That's the worst part, everyone thinks you should be out having fun in the summer sun, trust me I wanted to. I also appreciate the Revolution Team for sticking with me, what a great crew of people!

So I'm not out of the woods yet. I need extra sleep for sure and need to continue monitoring my energy levels. Some people say it can take over a year before your completely back to normal. Will see, at least I know what to do now.

I hope I learned something about myself through all this. Something that will make me better, better as an athlete and better as a person.

Now I just need to shake up this blog a little...

Hammer on!

blown rib?

2010-06-16T10:14:00.003-06:00

Not sure, but it feels pretty familiar. Can't Sleep!

Years ago I spent a couple weeks with Eric and Sue Jones in there trailer racing on the East coast in the mud. The week before I crashed and broke some ribs while tooling around in Millcreek. I went anyway and endured a couple of very pain full weeks. Right up there with racing last years BC Bike race with an abscessed molar.

We started the racing in West Virgina at Snowshoe Mtn Resort on one of the gnarlier race course around.I had good legs but nearly gnawed through my own tongue due to the rib pain. At night I reportedly moaned in my sleep and needed help getting up and down and rolling over. Surely EJ's results would have been even better if he could have got some sleep. On the way up to Mt Snow we rode part of the Shenandoah trail, holy rocky! The drive to Vermont was rough. I had good legs again at Mt Snow and was in the top 20 after the 1st climb only to find that I could not hold onto the bike on the DH. I finally hit a rock and flatted my front wheel. Good thing, I would have never made it to the bottom alive. The flat that saved my life!

Well rough season so far, but it will likely play into some late season form...

smarter, but not smart enough

2010-06-08T07:50:00.001-06:00

I am no stranger to being blown out. It's happened many times throughout my days trying to juggle bike racing with life and other interests. I have never been fast enough to justify giving all my time to cycling, but have never been slow enough to be purely recreational. And then there is the addiction...

So after a spring of rando races, ski traversing, playing catch up on the bike, and a lot of moving and house work I found myself in a physical pickle. Only this time I was just about smart enough to recognize it early and back off. I say just about smart enough because, ever the optimist I kept thinking a few days rest would do it and I would be back to racing. No dice. I even pulled the plug on a couple local races and am proud of myself for swallowing my pride and not digging the hole deeper. In hindsight it was obvious or from an outsider it was obvious, but for an addict it's never obvious.

Anyway, after some more substantial rest and a couple weeks of going to bed by 9pm I am back to training and feeling pretty good. Rosie did the Little Red 100 miler over the weekend so the girls and I went to Provo to hang out on the farm. Friday Rog and I ripped an hour of trail in the late evening and enjoyed some old and new terrain that took me back to the start of my cycling addictions. Saturday we rode the Alpine loop up the Sundance side where I put in 3 threshold efforts of 10, 8, and 6 minutes. This is one of my favorite tester workouts. Felt pretty good. After getting a Moonpie at the Alpine Chevron I headed back up the AF side for a steady just below threshold climb. 47:32 from the guard shack to the top. Felt solid in my third hour of riding. Recovered well and rode a bunch of Millcreek 1 track solo on Sunday evening including, up and down pipeline, Mt Aire (steep), and the pavement above elbow fork to the top. (snow just before the parking lot at Big/Little Water trail head)

I am learning that as I get older and life gets busier I need to scale back the quantity of racing and focus more on the quality. Pick some key events and prepare for them. Save some weekends for training and life catch up. Plan some cool events and coordinate them with family vacations. This recent bout of adrenal overload seems to have been just what I needed to help me keep the addiction in check.

I'm not out of the woods yet and any one that has dealt with fatigue knows it is easy to slip back into it's grasp. I need to take it easy for a while remembering I only have so many matches to burn. This week should help as I am in Florida for work without a bike which should provide a good recovery block after reintroducing some training stress last weekend. Will see...

heros

2010-05-30T07:23:00.000-06:00

Working at the VA hospital I have the opportunity to meet some real characters on a daily basis. I also get the chance to be humbled by stories of courage, suffering, and tragedy unlike anything I can imagine in my own life. The last few weeks I have been nursing some injuries and illness including a bruised left foot, right big toe frostbite, L patellar tendon bruise, and some serious general fatigue from just trying to do to much. Things have been improving, but a little slow for my liking. It does not help that I am addicted to racing and keep coming back even though I know I am not ready for it.

I can always count on the vets for helping me put things in perspective. The other day a chipper little 88 year old gentlemen shared some of his life story with me.

Picture this:

I joined the military when I was 18 because we had no money. My father was killed while working as an electrician when I was a baby and my mother did everything she could to care for my brothers and I. My younger brother was born with some physical and mental disabilities and back then you were on your own raising kids. My mom did a fantastic job with what she had and gave my brother a real life that he otherwise would not have had.

In the Military I ended up in the Philippines. Soon after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor they attacked us. There strike was quick and they soon controlled all of the Philippines including thousands of American troops. The lucky ones died during the strike.

As POW's we were forced to walk across the island. It took 65 days through the jungle and we were given no food or water. We were allowed to scavenge the jungle for our needs and if we were not good at survival we died. If we moved to slow we were shot or beheaded. Once we got the unmarked boats we were shipped to Japan in the famous "Hell Ships." I don't tell people about the atrocities of this voyage because no one would believe it anyway. Once in Japan I was sent to Osaka where I worked in a "work camp" steel mill for 4 years. Again I don't tell people about the working conditions here because it can't be imagined or believed.

I am 90 years old now and have lived a great life. I have forgiven the Japanese and am at peace with what happened, But as hard as I try, I just can't forget.

I hope I won't forget!

hopscotch

2010-05-23T09:59:00.002-06:00

For the last few weeks I have been training on the bike, no skiing despite the winter like weather. Did a few races with mixed results but I have yet to find the cycling legs. So going into the Soldier Hollow race I was hoping that things would come around a little. No such luck.

Earlier in the week I was volunteered to paint hopscotch on the school playground, simple enough huh? So with a gallon of fluorescent green paint, brushes, and all the measurements for regulation hopscotch I went at it. In an effort to save my knees I painted everything while standing, good for the knees, bad for the hamstrings. For the next few days I was barely able to walk. On Saturday morning they were feeling a little better and I was able to spin the bike with only the slightest stretch. So being an eager beaver and wanting to support the new Revolution squad, I decided to race. 3 minutes in and I knew I was in trouble. After about 5 minutes I stopped to stretch, no dice. I could pedal easily but anything near race pace was not possible. I was bummed, but mostly because I should know better. At least the hopscotch turned out well.

Now maybe for a little R&R.

WURLOS- cottonwood peaks traverse

2010-04-29T19:12:00.000-06:00

As I walk down the driveway of our new home, Lone Peak seems to be looking down at me mockingly. I mutter something about "it was a good effort" but my heart sinks when I think about how close we got to the goal. The WURLOS, or some interpretation of it has been in on my mind for the last few weeks and will now consume some share of my memory.

I am a little slow to report on our efforts compared to Andy and Jared but I have been swamped with the move, work, being a dad, and recovering from the 21+ hour effort. I know this is not the Himalayas or some far off land of historical mountaineering significance but this is what we have and we can make challenging adventure out of it. I have fallen in love the long ski mountaineering traverse and the variables and creativity it allows. I am hoping that by sharing pictures and stories of our route more enthusiasm and passion will be generated for this kind of "traverse" in the Wasatch.

In years past I have ridden RAWROD on the 3rd weekend in April with a good chunk of the Utah mountain biking community and understand the excitement that can be generated by a good challenge, good views, and good people. So the WURLOS is similar. It's a good challenge for sure and for comparison I would say it is similar to doing 3 laps on the White Rim Trail. The Views are awesome, and although the number of participants were small, they were quality.

So we started about 5:30 at the S Curves in Big Cottonwood. We were on dirt for about 30 min before we got into the skinning rhythm. We decided to go up bonkers and traverse above the diving board to the North ridge, not really because it promised to be a better route but because it was different from last time.

Jared and Andy heading for the 1st of many objectives

We made quick work of Bonkers and I think this was the only time I have been up it without having to put in any switchbacks, the 4-5 inches of new snow provided some good grip.

Traversing over to the ridge was a little more involved that we thought and included some down climbing which is never good in the early hours of a long day. Once on the North ridge it didn't take long to summit, just under 3 hrs after leaving the car.

Unlike the NE face, Lisa Falls, and the NW col, the East ridge is not one of the classic lines off the Twins, however it is a great line and in the light of day we were able to piece together a steep South facing mini chute that helped us avoid any down climbing by traversing under the rock ramp.

From here you boot up the SW of a mini peak known as Jepsen's Folly. This little false summit is quite sharp and I am not sure the 3 of us could stand on top together. O'Sullivan and Drom offer some great booting along with some cool knife edge skinning and skiing.

We made good time through this section which is one of my favorites as it requires a fair bit of attention!

DH off Sully might be one of my favorites.

By the time we had got to the top of Drom we had transitioned more times than I can remember. From skiing to booting to skinning back to booting, constantly changing. It's all about anticipating what mode will be the most efficient given the snow conditions and terrain. I have yet to procure a lightweight traverse style pack so I was left with either my CAMP race pack or my BD Outlaw. I went with the Outlaw for comfort and the solid waist belt despite the extra weight, but modified it with a bungee cord that allows me to donn skis without taking the pack off. I don't know why any pack manufacturer would ever build a pack without including this option. It's so simple but saves so much time and energy. If BD or anyone else wants some feedback I would be happy to help.

The NE face of Drom is a great little line and even offered a little powder skiing. Rather than traverse all the way around the Sundial we opted for a more direct aggressive route that turned about to be loads of fun including the opportunity to ski this little Jewel of a shot. Not sure if it has a name but I like "Short Cut Chute."

From the base of new chute we skinned up into the cirque where the Heart of Darkness dumps. Andy and Jared busted out the jet boil and melted 4 bottles of water while I put a booter in up the heart. Once at the top I got to relax in the sun and enjoy the views off the Monte Cristo N ridge.

The boys racing up the Heart of Darkness to bring me a bottle of water. I quickly dumped a little packet of lemon lime Carbo Rocket in the warm water and enjoyed a great moment. Over the course of the day I consumed around 150-200 oz of Lemon Lime and Mango Carbo Rocket and can once again say it is the simplest and most effective sports drink I have used in my 20 years of endurance sports. If your a cyclist you likely already know this and if your a skier you need to try it!

I like the contrast of the old and new bolts!

So the true WURL route stays on the ridge, that's great if your a runner but if you are on skis why would you ever pass up South Superior to cruise the Flagstaff ridge. We wanted to incorporate some of classic Wasatch descents in our route and Superior could not be missed. Although it was a little late in the day considering the warm temps and fresh snow, our 1 pm descent was nice and creamy and allowed us to ski in the earlier wet slide paths. Didn't feel dilly- dallying on this monster path and skied it top to bottom non-stop.

From here we took a little break on the Tram Deck to secure my broken boot buckle with a voile strap, change socks, and eat some soup. In hind sight we should have spent less time resting here as it surely compromised our daylight and travel in good weather. Andy and I got back into a good rhythm up Chips and enjoyed all the "original" comments by the Snowbird skiers. "Your going the wrong way!" "Did they take your pass?" "They built a Tram!"

We got separated from Jared and once again ended up having to stop much longer than we needed to on Hidden peak to regroup. All our precious time seems to get sucked away in and around the resorts, we seem to be much less distracted in BC. Once again huge props to Snowbird for being a true "Skiers" mountain and embracing uphill traffic and the culture of ski touring. Although we missed Sugerloaf, I am very pleased we stuck to our guns and skipped Alta.

We put in another booter up the AF twins. From the top we enjoyed some easy skinning and skiing on firm refreeze as we headed towards Red Stack, Red Baldy, White Baldy, and beyond...

Earlier in the year while on Red baldy I had spied this little ridge ramp off Red Stack that looked like a fun ski. A little down climb through the cliffs at the top put me right into position to enjoy some not yet refrozen soft snow.

We had a couple options for ascending Red Baldy and ended up booting up one of the North chutes rather than gamble on traversing the ridge. I think this was a good call.

This was my first time up White Baldy and in contrast to Red Baldy we decided to stick to the ridge scramble rather than the exposed North Face. Again, another good call as the boot/scramble up the NE ridge was one of my favorites.

From the top of White Baldy we enjoyed a nice Wasatch sunset over the Pheif, North Thunder, and the distant Lone Peak. The ski down was also some of the best "powder" snow we encountered.

That ridge in the picture at the top of White Pine drainage is a serious knife edge and for a chunk of it I was on all 4's. Jared missed out as he dropped a skin down off the South side and just stayed down there on skins until things mellowed. This is just another good example of how multiple routes and modes can lead to the same destination. I love it!

It's pretty easy for morale to go down with the sun and temperatures but as I have experienced in 24 hr MTB races you just have to push through the dusk and then you start to enjoy the night. Booting up the pheif was awesome, finally a hard frozen pre-set booter!

On top of the Pheif Jared took his pants off.

The steep dark hard snow DH of the SW side was also super fun. I don't have any more pics that turned out, it was dark and I wanted to keep moving, faster the better.

We dropped into the top of Hogum Fork and booted back up to the Chipman Saddle. The snow was falling pretty hard by now and after the out and back on Chipman our visibility was nearly gone. We traversed over to access the East ridge of Bighorn but had a hard time finding our way in the white/black out conditions. We made the conservative decision to abandon Bighorn and Lone and descend out upper Bells. In hind sight we should have found cover, fired up the jet boil, enjoyed some soup, skipped the spicy Bighorn ridge, and ascended a more conservative route up Lone Peak. Then rather than skiing the NE face we could have followed our ascent route back down and out Bells. But that's hind sight and there is always next time.

The roughest part of the whole deal was probably the hike out Bells, save some energy because the 90 minute slog downhill is a killer.

I got all sorts of plans for other traverses now and hope to do this one again next year. Maybe mid-winter and backwards, to avoid the dirt walk out Bells.

If you have your own traverse plans in mind I would love to hear about them but don't be surprised if I invite myself along.

progress

2010-04-22T09:20:00.003-06:00

So the last time I suited up for a dedicated bike ride was the first of March at the Rampage. This may be the longest I have ever gone. Of course I have been riding in street clothes for transportation and enjoying our Sunday morning family trailer ride but otherwise have not been out on the trails or road for the sake of training or pleasure. I am missing it and about ready to start getting in some miles in preperation for some big summer races. I am not realy sure where my fitness lies at the moment but know for sure that it can improve for here. I have continued to get out on the skis a little and if conditions warrant may get another stab at the Traverse, will see?

Yesterday we started the move into the new house and more importantly ending the drain of disposable time and energy. I have very much enjoyed the process but it has run it's course and I am ready to get back to some stability and the fitness that comes with it. I also hope to get a little more consistent and creative with my posting as I have missed this outlet.

Now we just have a garage full of furniture and stuff that we don't need or want, lets organize.

Cottonwood Peaks Traverse, or whatever you want to call it.

2010-04-18T18:30:00.003-06:00

So it was a good effort, just not good enough. In hindsight we left to many variables out of our control in regards to the route coursing through Alta and Snowbird. I never would have guessed we would have such poor luck. I called Snowbird snow safety the day before but could not get a hold of them. Guess I should have tried harder.

Anyway, Jared and Andy have posted some good reports so I am just going to throw in a few highs and lows.

Highs:
-View from Salt Lake Twins at 4:58am.
-Skiing technical terrain in the dark.
-Fun rock moves.

-Skiing East ridge of O'sullivan. Possibly one of the coolest lines around. Steep technical ridge line bouncing back and forth from soft to hard snow. Exposure keeps the speed in check.

-Watching Andy's gear debacle-broken boot cable,lost pole basket, torn pack, and missing lens. And I am probably missing something. He had been wearing these glasses for 2 hours before anyone noticed, including him. Jared and I were almost peeing on top of Monte Cristo.

-Skiing South Superior on the race skis.
-Free cookies at Gold Miners Daughter, only thing good about Alta.
-Although we were defeated, we were the talk of the tram deck as we strutted across in tights, euro helmets with car lights strapped on top, and carrying kids skis. The Bro-Brah's didn't know what to think.

Lows:
My sore big toe from the frost bite episode on Nebo.
Slow snow- unsupportable up and down.
Not getting to use crampons.
Power hungry mountain host at Alta.
Everyone at Alta.
The big shut down on Hidden Peak.

We learned a ton and got in a great training day. I am actually surprised how quickly I recovered, if it wasn't so warm we could have tried it again today. Will be watching the weather...

Nebo

2010-04-04T21:21:00.002-06:00

I always struggle with decisions. There are just to many good options for what seems like not enough time. Having won the Cholla Challenge multiple times in the past, I really wanted to go down and race. Test out the house work/ski training plan on the bike fitness. I rode the MTB to work on Friday and felt great, making the decision even harder. But being Easter weekend and with my long lost brother Kyle and his family coming to town for the annual family weenie roast/egg hunt/fight I would have had to drive down Saturday morning by myself, race, and then drive straight home. Not a great way to spend a weekend.

Adding additional layers to the decision conundrum was the "brothers" plan to ski Nebo in the new snow.

I don't always make the right decision, but I did this time.

At 11,928 feet Mt Nebo is the highest peak on the Wasatch Front and is home to possibly the longest sustained ski decent in Utah. With the low elevation starting point on the West side just above Mona you have the potential for a 6000 ft continuous ski run, depending on snow conditions. The recent cold spring storm would only help our chances of a 6k descent.

The brothers, Jared, Sam, and Arron met Andy and I in Mona at 5:30am. It was cloudy but calm and we were concerned about the storm scheduled to push through in the late morning. Who knows maybe Nebo is far enough South to avoid the brunt of it.

We found the dirt road to get under the freeway and headed to the mouth of Pole Canyon. We had to park at about 6100 ft due to snow on the road and started skinning right from the car.
As we climbed up the canyon the snow and wind increased to the point that even though it was now daylight it was not much lighter, and visibility was actually worse. We hit a sub ridge that would take us up to the main Nebo ridge but at about 10,500' the NW winds were pushing the front through and we could barely stand up. We ducked off the ridge to regroup and found some trees to hunker down behind. We were getting cold despite going uphill and I had at least 5 layers on including short sleeve base, long sleeve base, my home made wind stopper vest, winter shell, and down puffy. The guys wearing tights today were really hating it.

So what do you do when you get cold, off course you start a fire! Its always good to practice your survival skills and what better place than while perched on he side of a mountain in a blizzard.

We had a lighter and about 30 regular matches. We also had a little paper but refused to use it. 1st we dug a large shelf into the snow, as much to stay warm as to have some shelter and a place to build a fire. Time is critical in emergency situations, and although we could just ski down to the car at anytime we treated this like a do or die situation. Everyone had there responsibilities in building the bivy site. We all took turns digging to stay warm, Voile shovels really are the best if you actually have to do some real digging. Andy and I were the fire starters, Sam kept his skis on so he could hunt for dry pine needles and gather wood, Jared climbed trees to test the agility of his ski boots, and Arron was officially in charge of Klondike derby jokes.

Somehow we managed to start a raging fire and all warmed up with hopes that the front would pass and things would calm down. Things cleared for a minute and we made our summit bid. Once on the main ridge the winds started nukin again and the visibility soured, but at least we were on the ridge and new all we had to do as follow it to the top.

For the route down we chose the NW Coulior which starts just North of the summit and allowed us to ski the steep upper ramp right into its opening. The top 3rd was wind blasted but once in the protection of the rock walls it was full to the brim with soft snow. All the wind blown snow made us a little leery of such a big line but multiple ski cuts produced nothing and we carefully leap froged down the chute into one of the largest apron's I have ever seen. Once off the apron we enjoyed miles of great tree skiing that dumped us out on the road which skied like a steep powder cat track.

By the time we hit the cars we had enjoyed 5900' of continuous turns and possibly the best pitch in the Wasatch!

the time will come...

2010-03-28T21:41:00.003-06:00

Things are changing around here.

The house is coming together and I think I am safe to say we will move in some time in April!

In years past I have been full bore mountian bike racing by this time. Not this year, I am taking it a little slower and trying something different. This last weekend is the first time I have missed the Fontana National in years, watching the videos and talking to Alex made me really hungry from some dirt racing, but hungry is a good thing.

The skimo racing thing is a crazy new challenge and after 2 races in the last few weeks I have only learned how much I have to learn. Fitness and skill combined to move fast in the mountains, oh so similar to mountain bike racing.

Also have some big ski traverses in the works, Saturday's tour was only a warm up...

Plan to go back for this ramp...

racing again already?

2010-03-10T11:38:00.007-07:00

The weekend mountain bike racing provided a nice little break from skiing and gave everyone a chance to size up there winter training. The field was deep and the time gaps were the smallest I have ever seen in St George.

I felt pretty good in the race but just did not have the speed to go the distance and made a tactile error that put Alex and I out of the running for the win. Burke put in a great attack at the perfect time and sealed the deal, I think we will be seeing more and more of that...On top of that I made a serious rookie mistake following Alex up the wash on the last lap and crashed straight into a ledge, a perfect slow motion flip over! Got in a nice 4 hour trail ride the next day.

Anyway, back to skiing this week. Tuesday I got out with the Andy and the rest of the "slacker medical student crew with the entire month of march off to ski." We went up the North ridge of Lake peak which provides some fun scrambling. Skied the East chute to White Pine lake and then flipped it went back up. Skied the West face onto Red Pine Lake and ascended the Red Pine headwall to the Pfief ridge. Started snowing hard and visibility went to pot so we skied a nice little shot down the Maybird headwall. Over toward the Oblisk shoulder and out the Maybird apron finished things up. Even got across the stream without incident. Pretty much good snow everywhere including at least 10" new in upper Maybird.

Maybe another 4-6 weeks of solid skiing then it will be perfect time to ramp it up on the bike...

weekday morning treat

2010-02-23T20:43:00.003-07:00

Nice morning for a tour. Wake up and have breakfast with the girls and then off to the mountains before more work on the house. Days off mid week rule!

High elevation is where it's at stability wise right now so once again hit up Little Cottonwood.
Up Flagstaff-->down upper Days--> up upper Days--> Down Holly Toledo--> up East Cardif ridge--> down NW Cardiff --> up to Cardiac ridge--> down from Cardiac ridge --> up Cardiac bowl and "scramble" up N ridge of Superior--Down into upper Mill B South-->back up to Cardiac bowl ridge--> down Cardiac bowl--> Up Cardiff peak--> down East Cardiff chutlets--> back to Alta.

Cool temps and full sun. Snow was stable and predictable with ski cuts. NW wind from yesterday had moved a little snow around but everything was still soft. South faces warmed and rolling a little by noon. Wanted to ski North Superior Chute but it was fairly wind loaded and seemed like a good way to wreck a great morning tour. Also wanted to exit South Superior but would have needed an earlier start. Took some good pics but now my camera battery is dead.

Ran a little low on food near the end which is not surprising since Rosie talked me into this 21 day clense. That's another story itself...

The more I tour the more I am convinced that "light is right." F1/dynafit/manaslu set up was great today and I was able to rack up a fair bit of skiing in half a day at a steady pace. A little stiffer boot with the same articulation and weight would be ideal. Hopefully soon...

Learning to be fast and efficient in the mountains is addicting, skis or bike.

saturday morning route...

2010-02-07T11:02:00.002-07:00

Little Pine-Birthday Chutes-Red Baldy-Scotties Bowl

winter

2010-01-31T20:32:00.004-07:00

For some reason I was inspired to post some random pictures of winter...

looking down the Yellow Jacket slide path (mid slope)

after work on Gobblers

crown in Neffs

Primrose Cirque

dawn

up track

samurai

Cabin Run

almost fit

old growth

long live winter...

Human Rope Tow

2010-01-08T20:21:00.003-07:00

Eva and I have been running some laps together on skis lately. I riged up some webing and a couple caribeners that I clip to her wedgie for the up track. At first she had a hard time with leg fatigue requiring some up hill stops but now we can burn em. We unclip and ski back down together Eva calls it the practice hill for the real thing at the ski resort, I tell her it's just the opposite! The Neffs and Porter Fork road are both good long runs at a good grade for a 4-year old, not much room to turn but who needs to turn when your rockin the pizza!

Been touring the Wasatch a ton lately and can't believe how much good snow is to be found even with the miserable snow pack. Sure hope I don't forget how to ride a bike.

have you seen my???

2009-12-23T13:42:00.003-07:00

So don't think that just because I have not updated this blog that I am lazy. It's actually just the opposite and I have been pouring all my mental and physical energy into growing this damn beard. Well, I guess selling a house, moving, adjusting to life at the in laws, buying a house, organizing contractors, skiing, working, and looking for all the things that I must have packed away in the POD is taking a little energy, but not much in comparison to the beard project.

Now that the beard is doing pretty good and even may need a little trimming over the upper lip, I may be able to get back to regular posting.

I am excited about our new house and hope to provide some pics and updates while we remodel. My last day at the house in emigration was a sad day as has just dumped 2 feet of snow and was a bluebird snowblower morning. I am going to miss that place but it's just a house and ultimately the move will be better for the family. Kind of wierd for a bike racer to do something so unselfish, I am proud of myself.

Sorry no pics from this mornings dawn patrol. I still need to locate my camera charger, hope it's not burried in the POD!

minus

2009-12-09T18:13:00.002-07:00

Although I have been busy with this whole house change thing, Jared and I managed to get out after the storm. It was bloody cold up above Cathrine's but good to start working the kinks out of the skinning legs. After 30+ days on snow so far this year, the samurai was smooth as glass. I have some work to do before I can cruise along at a steady fast pace. My achilles were killing me.
The turns were pretty good and if I could have felt any part of my body and it was not pitch black when we got down I would have wanted to go back up for more.

photo by The Samurai

If anyone is interested in some winter cross training, we have a crew together at my house tomorrow afternoon/evening to load a million boxes and some furniture into a POD!
Post training food and Monavie provided! Come get strong...

that's it!

2009-12-05T20:26:00.003-07:00

Fun cross race today to close out the season for me. Felt ok out there but just got beat at my own game. Ali was rallying the corners in the snow and ice and I was having to play catch up, to much air in the tires, rookie move. "Mellow" 2nd for me but I was able to cinch up another "mellow" series win. It was fun to set up the course even if it made for a long cold day. I liked seeing some new elements to the Fort course.

I am a little bummed to be missing the show in Bend but I have had a busy year and need a break, my heart just has not been in cross like years past although I have had as much fun as ever. To many other cool racing opportunities I guess. I really enjoyed the local series, seeing Rosie race was a highlight. Also great to see so many people catching the bug, inspiring!

Since I got back from La Ruta I have been under the gun. Between work, teaching at the U, Monavie-Cannondale stuff, selling our house, buying another house, and packing I have had to put the bike on holiday.Great timing I guess but it's tough to shut the training down before the racing.

More on the big move later, hopefully we can get it done before the skiing gets to good.

Oh yea I have a bunch of stuff for sale including a Team Scalpel. Shoot me an email if your looking: bartmang@hotmail.com

more la ruta

2009-11-13T20:11:00.002-07:00

Up the volcano today. It's like riding up little cottonwood twice without a a break. Down a rocky DH in the rain. Legs are not great but I plugged along out the back of the lead group. Again mostly alone today but I did pass Heras a few km before the finish, although for some reason the results have him ahead of me today.

Tomorrow to the carribean...

La Ruta

2009-11-12T17:44:00.002-07:00

Day 2 in the books. I have had little time for updates so you might want to check Monavie-cannondale.com and cyclingdirt.org for the full race scoop.

For me personally I have been having a good time despite not riding all that great. Day 1 was the hardest day I have had on the bike. Oppressive heat, over an hour of walking in ankle deep peanut butter, and as expected long climbs. I am currently not very prepared for any of the three. But for whatever reason it was kind of fun.

Today was a little cooler but the climbs were even steeper. The 1st climb of the day was 3500ft in about 3 miles. In the 22-34 I could barely turn over the gear even while weaving. Maybe only 10 guys rode the whole thing and it was concrete. My big delemia for both days has been riding alone. I am not strong enough to make the initial selection and the few Ticos that are climbing around my pace get shelled on the DH so I spend the entire stage by myself. It's not even like I am racing at times. Today was about 50km of up and down pavement, mostly up and I had no one to work with. I guess I either need to get faster or slower, non of this no man's land business.

I could write a novel about this race as each stage includes countless stories that are not normally associated with racing. No time now though as I got to be up at 3am.
Volcano tomrrow and it has been raining for the past 3 hrs, does it snow in Costa Rica at 10k feet?

round and round

2009-11-04T19:09:00.003-07:00

After a few weeks of cross racing it felt good to get out on the MTB today. Alex and I rode up Parley's this afternoon and hooked up with Ohran to burn around Round Valley. The dirt was great but the afternoon sun was low in the sky and killing our visibility, tough to stay on the trails at times.

All the explosive sprinting over the weekend has left the legs a little sore, taxing different systems is what cross racing is all about. Its good to see the Utah Cross scene getting so competitive. It used to be that I would ride off the front on the first lap and just ride around by myself. Those days are gone and now you have to be riding well to make the front group and then be willing to take chances if you want to win, at least at wheeler and the other flat and less selective courses. Maybe I'm just getting slower but I don't think so, everyone else is pretty focused and raising the overall level.

Leaving for La Ruta on Sunday, the last adventure of the year. Not sure if I am ready but I am not sure you can ever be ready. I guess if over the last few weeks I had been riding 30% grades for hours on end in the heat I would be a little more confident. Will see what happens...

best yet

2009-10-28T21:29:00.003-06:00

Sweet Potato Minestrone!

dark thirty

2009-10-23T05:52:00.003-06:00

One nice thing about coming home from Brazil is waking up an hour before I need to at a cold dark 5:30, a good time to get some things done.

Home for a day now and trying to catch up before it all starts over again for La Ruta. Kind of hard to stay in shape with all these adventures so I hope to get some riding in as well. I learned a lot in Brazil and plan to share a bunch of pics when I get a chance.

On the flight home I was thinking about all the places I have had the opportunity to race my bike over the years. Cycling has provided me with more cool opportunities than I could have ever imagined.

Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
Montana
Colorado
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
California
Oregon
Washington
Texas
Kansas
Missouri
Illinois
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan
Ohio
Indiana
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
South Carolina
North Carolina
Maryland
Virginia
West Virginia
New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Vermont
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Hawaii

Canada
Mexico
Puerto Rico
England
Australia
Fiji
Costa Rica
Panama
Peru
Brazil

Hopefully more exploration in the future, it seems the bike is the true form of freedom.

beating deserved

2009-10-10T22:12:00.002-06:00

I got waxed today at the cross race and deserved it. My heart was not in it for some reason, I was content to just ride around with Ali and then race it out in the last few hundred meters, lazy man's racing. My mind was wondering, I was thinking about Monday's trip to Brazil, wondering if Stella's was napping yet (she has been sick with the croup and not sleeping well), and curious about Alex's flat. It's actually a good thing we did not get a chance to sprint due to some lapped traffic because then I might have had a chance to win and I did not deserve it. I had the fitness, the equipment, and the skills but the motivation was missing and motivation is as important as anything. Ali wanted the win more that I did and it showed as he punched it out the corners, took risks at the barriers, and forced the pace during the lulls. Now I did not have great legs or energy today but they were good enough, it was just a matter of focus. I am a little embarrassed about my effort today and congratulate Ali for his aggressive racing, he was a good example to me today. It's to bad we don't race again tomorrow because I would like to redeem myself.

Rosie on the other hand killed it in her 2nd race, she was motivated and more aggressive and even went out a little hard and faded at the end, that's adding to the bank of experience.

Guys were given it at the start today which forced a few crashes, Utah racing has really stepped up in the past couple years. With 2 big MTB stages races coming up I am not focusing on cross so much this year and plan to do mostly local racing which looks to be more competitive than ever.

So cross clinic tomorrow and then off to Brazil, should be an amazing trip and some tough racing.

If anyone is looking for a complete cyclocross bike or just a frame and fork with some parts, let me know. I have some cannondale's from last year that I need to part with.

clarks tt cx

2009-10-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

I have been meaning to get down to Draper and ride the clarks TT on the cross bike for a while. Tanner told me it was in a good shape and prime for CXing. This afternoon I had to ride out to Sandy anyway so I just kept going down to Corner Canyon. The recent moisture has really helped the trails down there and they were all fun even on the CX bike.

I rode up to the bridge, took my LS jersey off and stashed it in the bushes, put some gloves on, and hurried to start so I would not run into the traffic I passed on the way up. Because I don't have a watch or HR monitor with a functioning battery, my new/old cell phone does not have a stop watch, and I don't have a computer on my cross bike I had to rob the one off my road bike and stash it in my Jersey pocket. Worked well other than the futzing around to get it out.

I started slow compared to what you would expect for a TT, just a steady fast tempo for the first few minutes. Because the grade is mellower at the bottom you can't gain much time by starting to fast and you can sure lose some. I never let my legs load up and just slowly let the terrain up the pace for me. Everything went well except about 3/4 of the way up I had that unmistakable feeling that I need to use the restroom, yup #2. Ohran always says that's a good sign of form when you need to poo while on a ride. Anyway, I made it to the top without incident but hit the John as soon as I got back to the parking lot.

My time was 8:24. I knew I was going faster than the last time I did it but unfortunately it's not because I am stronger. Gearing a 34 up front and a 12-27 rear cassette. I used 3 and 4 down for most of it and may have got into the 2 on the steepest part.

Why it was faster:
-The cross bike is better for standing up and pushing a big gear, in a short TT you don't need to spin like I did before. The cross bike is also a little lighter, although I was on my B bike with heavier wheels and tires. I should bust out the carbon tubulars. A rigid MTB single speed set up super light would also be really fast or even better would be a 16.5lb Cannondale Flash. Maybe next spring I will try it on a Flash! A little bigger volume tire would be better, I was worried about pinching in a couple high speed rough sections in the middle and actually had to slow down.

-Negative split pacing is faster. Look at the world record run times, negative split pacing probably accounts for 75% of all the world records, maybe more. Marathon, 10,000 meter, 5K does not matter. Faster in the 2nd half is faster overall. Last time I went out to hard and the legs loaded up early. This time I cruised into it and was never hurting all that bad, I could have gone harder for sure.

-Good dirt, not sticky but not dusty. Smooth with no horse marks, this is critical for the cross bike. When I did it before in June it was rougher and dusty. The MTB may have been as good at that time.

-Cool temps, maybe even a little to cool. My legs got that cold stiff feeling in the shade but it surely is faster than burning energy cooling the engine like in summer months.

It's to bad I live so far away because I would like to do it more often, it's a fun gauge and for a guy that does not do intervals it is a good way to get some intensity in without burning up the CNS.

The ride back on the road was nice and made for about a 3hr ride with a 8 minute effort in the middle.

finally some racing and skiing

2009-10-05T19:52:00.008-06:00

My posts have been spotty at best lately and I don't know why. I enjoy posting as it helps clarify my thoughts and ideas and it really does not take that much time. I think I might start posting a little more regular.

Utah Cyclocross is finally underway and if you did not make it, for whatever reason you missed out big! Rosie knocked out her first cross race ever and had a great time. The girls loved cheering for mom!

Sam did another great job with the video!

Every Category was bigger and faster than last year and looks like we will see alot of tight racing this year. The A race had a solid field and with a fast flat course the racing mostly stayed together in groups. I was happy with how I felt during the race but when I gassed it around 30 minutes in I was limited by muscular strength to push the big gear and snap out of the corners, a few more races and time on the cross bike should help that.

The Cross Clinic was postponed until Oct. 11th so you can still sign up and refine your technique, bike fit, training, and overall race readiness. I know everyone thinks they have it all dialed but cross is skill intensive like nordic skiing or swimming and you can always learn more and refine. $50 is a bargin for 1 on 1 feedback, instruction, and forced practice plus you get lunch. That's less than we can spend on one tire. Ask anyone that has done it in the past, well worth it. And don't worry, no one is making any money I only pump it because you will improve and the more people that come the better race simulations we can have.

Anyway, the new bike ripped and after the race I made a few small position adjustments that should refine my balance and power on the bike.

So today I was treated to some rest day ski touring, yup first turns of the year for me. Jared and I burned up to Alta about after work this afternoon and got in an hour and half. Nothing crazy just good to be out hiking and making turns. Plenty of rocks to dodge but surprisingly fun. This weeks warm up should put and end to skiing and with the Brazil trip planned for next week (assuming we get our visas) I likely won't be skiing again for a while.

Check the damage? Rock skis...

treasure island

2009-09-23T18:28:00.002-06:00

Hanging out in Vegas today. Stella gave me a head cold so the two of us have been kind a grumpy. Eva and Rosie have been playing around town and had a great time at circus circus and the TI pool. For a little kid the lights and action in Vegas have got to be pretty intense.
I did a spin out to the crossvegas venue and burned around the course. It's a shame that the biggest cross race in the US is in a grass field, I wonder what the euros think of it. I guess in this situation it is the competition that makes it fun and not the course.
I don't have great expectations for the race and am not feeling very peppy, although I am excited to work out the kinks on the cross bike.

Summer Blowout

2009-09-20T21:49:00.002-06:00

Saturday's ride was everything you could ask for after a great season of mountain biking. It was like gooey icing on top of a perfectly moist chocolate cake, not necessary but oh so nice!

The nature of the ride allowed many opportunities for people to come and go as they needed so our group size fluctuated between 4 and 10-12, I am not sure! The route was very PCPPish in that it was nearly all singletrack and probably fairly similar stats, I don't have any technology for the numbers.

Up Emigration-Killyons-Aflec Park-Big Mountain-Old Mormon Trail (by the dead moose and one of the best DH's in the Wasatch)-East Canyon Dirt Road-Gorgoza Park-Pinebrooke Perimeter North-Pinebrooke Perimeter West-Pinebrooke Perimeter South-Mid Mountain-Pole Line-Shadow Lake-Puke Hill- Crest-Mid Mountain Connector-Mid Mountain North-Sick Connector Trail-Pinebrooke Perimeter East- Pinebrooke-Gargoza Park.

The temps and dirt were perfect, you could rage the DH 8th wheel with absolutely perfect vision, no dust! With all the stops and BSing we were out for 8 hours and just rode a steady pace the whole time. Thanks for everyone that joined in the fun, it would be a great ride alone but just not the same!

Everyone keeps asking me, are you training for cross? Why are you doing all these big MTB rides? Yea I am training for cross, this is just how I do it. I ride my bike. Big MTB rides are fun and I can build fitness without using an ounce of focus. I am not a believer in super structured training, it takes to much metal energy. When you have a life full of structure why add more. The last thing I want to be doing is downloading some wattage numbers or riding in the basement. Numbers and trainers may help build fitness but they will never teach you how to go fast. I want to save all my matches for the race, you only have so many and I don't want to burn them up staring at the back of scooter. I am not saying this is for everyone, but it works for me.

Doing crossvegas for the first time, I normally go up to the starcrossed but thought I would mix it up a little this year. Not chasing the UCI thing with the South American races coming up so might as well trey something new. Not real excited about the vegas course but the scene should be fun and I will get a chance to ride hard. Also should help me prepare for the big time Utah Cross Series! And don't forget the Cross Clinic this year is the day after the 1st race, to bad it's not before that's where I dial in my technique!

So get out there and start training for cross...

lunch date

2009-09-18T14:33:00.006-06:00

My wife meets her girlfriends for lunch or dinner on a weekly basis. I on the other hand never go out to lunch, I pack the same thing everyday, and seldom go out to dinner unless I am on the road or going out with Rosie.

So today I go to lunch with my boyfriends and I get heckled? What's the deal, I meet up with JI, AG, and EJ for some sushi and it's a laughing matter.

Then I come back to work after enjoying a nice meal with friends wearing a new bracelet and people notice. It's a cool bracelet. I explain that one of my boyfriend's (AG), who I just met for lunch made it for me. Things start to get weird. People get uncomfortable. I don't understand?

Anyway, on to the improtant stuff. Tomorrow's ride should be a good one and has multiple drop in and drop out points along the way for those with other commitments. I had no takers on my last post for riding partners so this time I am puting out more info so people won't be so "scared" and can join in the fun where and when they like.

Here is the general plan:

My house at 8:30. A few of us will be riding up EC at 8:45-then to- killyons-BM-OMT-EC dirt road-meeting a 2nd group including JI and BF at Gargoza park around 11am. Pinecrest-MM-PL-Crest-with multiple options out including MD, Lambs, back to Gorgoza. Tons of fun singletrack. The pace will be steady, if someone wants to go fast cool, if someone wants to go slow cool. If you want a smaller loop meet at Gorgoza, if you want an out and back Gorgoza is an awsome spot. The whole ride will be pretty big but the weather and dirt will be good and we are going to hit a couple new sections of trail.

good weather, good dirt, good friends

yeaaa!

once a year

2009-09-17T11:20:00.003-06:00

Got out for a cross bike shakeout at the DMV crit last night, got to do at least 1/year. Good thing I did because I had the bar slip on me, not good if you are jumping stuff. Felt ok but legs not used to the position or sprinting out of corners. What's up with 30 minutes? It's hardly worth riding through traffic. Utah cyclocross schedule is up as well and it looks to be a great season. The race schedule is perfect with all the women racing together. Rosie got her new cross bike yesterday and is excited to get out on the dirt. Yesterday got me excited for some cross racing even though my goals for the Fall are all on the MTB, Brazil and Costa Rica. Was not planning on Crossvegas but I will be down there and I guess I am racing now.

No one took me up on a ride last Saturday, to bad you missed out. It's probably because no one reads blogs anymore, it's all about facebook now. Good thing I have a webmaster for that!

The rain this week will be perfect for the trails, another epic ride this Saturday but no one is reading anyway!

time to explore

2009-09-11T09:39:00.002-06:00

Anyone up for a Fall adventure ride tomorrow?

bartmang@hotmail.com

pcpp

2009-09-08T19:17:00.006-06:00

It's nice to have an serious endurance mountain bike race in the Wasatch. We have one of the best trail systems in the world and it is nice to race on some of it rather than riding around in circles on the scrappy trails.

I put together a good race but made a few fueling mistakes that took me out of the contest. I did not have great legs from the get go but rode real steady. It probably would not have mattered anyway as I can't match Alex on the long climbs. We had a great time riding together for the first 50 miles and enjoyed some good conversation, the rainbow going onto 4 points was a highlight. We would switch off the lead when the guy in front blew a turn which was fairly often. Next year we should know the course a little better. I think going under 7 hrs will be possible if we get cool temps and good dirt again. We will have to be more aggressive with the pace early on and particularly focus on making time on the mellow sections like Lost Prospector, Flagstaff, and Mid Mountain over to Tour de Suds. Also need to shave some time in the feed zones. Great legs and perfect fueling will also help. Alex should be able to do it no problem, I will have to have a good day.

I should have ate more working our way over to Park City before the big climb up to Shadow Lake. I just had a drop in energy for a bit and could not keep the pace, fueling helped a little but once you get behind you are never the same so I took it easy up Spiro and then had fun ripping Mid Mountain, if you can call it ripping.

Here is a little list of the my gear and nutrition in case I want to reference it for next year.

Cannondale Scalpel- Rules!
Kenda 1.9 small block 8, a little more air than normal but I should have went with normal.

29-40 double chainrings with 12-34 cassette- perfect setup
Packed 2 tubes, 1 big air, 1CO2, 1 crank brothers multi tool 17, and quick link.

Friday night dinner: Steak Burrito at Chubbies in PC. Bowl of Bryers Cookies and Cream. Slept in Chris P's bed while Alex was on his air mattress on the floor. Thanks Chris!

Up at 5:30, Big glass of water, 2 monavie active gels, oatmeal with blueberries and peanut butter, and a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie before riding to the start from Chris P's house. Arrived about 5 minutes before the gun goes off. Got to love racing locally!

Multiple trips to the John including one right before the start in the Sage Brush (packed some paper anticipating such an event, that was a life saver considering the week I had.

6 bottles carborocket- mix of flavors but mostly mango

1 bottle Emv (2 cans) at feed zone 3

2 packs blocks

1 pack honey stinger chews- maybe my new favorite

1/2 pack chomps

1/2 pack sharkies

1 chocolate gel

1 little debbie snack at feed 3- to little to late

After having the stomach flu earlier in the week and having a sketchy stomach all week I was very nervous about eating on the bike but in hindsight I should have done some more food just after feed zone 2. Anyway, always learning.

Favorite trails: bow hunter to flagstaff, TG1-2, Johns. Actually everything from Guardsman to bottom of Johns was awesome! Low point: getting around Shadow Lake with hunger knock and nausea while Alex cruised on.
Got off my bike twice, once to remove weeds from the cassette and once to lube my chain at feed zone 3. Pee stop at bottom of Johns and on Mid Mountain while straddling the bike.
No crashes.

Looking forward for another go next year!

post peru

2009-08-31T16:03:00.002-06:00

So I am home with the flu so I have time to update.

While we were in Peru our little girls got a violent 24-hour stomach flu, and then everyone that was helping to care for them while we were out of town got the bug, we felt terrible but could do nothing from the Southern Hemisphere. When Rosie and I got home we figured everyone was recovered and we would be in the clear. Not so, Rosie was down Friday night and Saturday and I enjoyed my turn Sunday night into Today. How do those little bugs live so long. Anyway, I guess it's only fitting we sampled some of the torture of our dear family and friends. It was rough, thanks. Hopefully I can pull it together for the PCPP.

Peru was worth it, and you ought to think about going next year...

Hawaii pics

2009-08-15T20:25:00.007-06:00

Got the kids to bed and now I am alone while Rosie is at a high school reunion thing. I should post some Hawaii pics in random order without captions.

This afternoon I hit up the Crest from BC and out Pinebrooke. Did not see another rider the entire time, 1st time ever. Best dirt of the year with some snow on Scotts bypass, high peaks are covered!

August

2009-08-04T11:57:00.003-06:00

I have been racing bikes from March to December for many years, and although I love it I have wanted to scale back a bit and not feel like I have to race every weekend. Ultimately this will be better for the family and the form. So I took the opportunity after BC to get healthy again and then not race. I am feeling good now and have 2 solid weeks of training in. I wanted to race the final I-cup but decided to withstand the temptation and try to break myself for good.

I had a great weekend of training and then spent some time with the kids at the pool, kind of nice not to drag the family to a race for an all day deal. In the coming years I hope to do less racing overall but more quality events that I can prepare for. This will be more flexible for the family life and ultimately better racing.

August is going to busy as we are heading to Hawaii this afternoon and then Peru at the end of the month for some stage racing. Also hope to put together a good PCPP race in early September.

Going to ride some volcanoes!

a big find...

2009-07-31T21:42:00.002-06:00

I have been back riding this week and have got some good rides in on the MTB and road bike. Today I went up to PC and rode over to the Canyons to ride the new I-Cup Course. After 1 lap I was bored with all the side hill trail so went and rode mid mountain. On the way back I just kept going North past the Canyons and down into Pinebrooke, this is where things got good.

I found a new trail that splits of the perimeter that is possibly my new favorite Wasatch trail, for a while I thought I was in BC again. Tight and twisty, fun to go up or down. Very well built and not used much!
Nothing beats finding a new trail in your own backyard!

Don't know if I'll make it to the race now, I may just go back and ride that trail a few more times...

complete overhaul

2009-07-28T09:34:00.003-06:00

I have always been into biomechanics, maybe that's what got me into physical therapy.

At work I look closely at the biomechanics of the diabetic foot and how musculoskeletal deformities along with peripheral neuropathy lead to non-healing foot ulcers. It can be quite a challenge to heal a planter surface ulcer while keeping someone mobile.

Over the last few weeks I have been recovering from my BC/wisdom tooth/infection debacle and am just starting to get back to riding regularly. I have used this break to overhaul my personal cycling biomechamics including bike fit and pedaling technique. Over the years I have slowly altered my mechanics in response to injury, bike changes, and compensation to the point that I was not as efficient as I could be and actually more prone to injury.

With the help of Tom at Wobblenaught I am now starting at ground zero with a position on the bike that allows me a more efficient pedal stroke and recruits more of the lower extremity musculature including the hip flexors and hamstrings and a pedaling technique that takes advantage of the better position. More muscles driving the bike = less load on any one muscle group (quads). It has been a challenge and I have never had to focus so much while riding on a flat straight road but after about 1 week of consistent riding I am starting to see the benefits. This invest now will pay huge dividends in the future.

If anyone else is interested in working with Tom for a Wobblenaught bike fit and technique evaluation he will coming to my house in the near future. We plan to do some more Dartfish video feedback and I can schedule some time for him to do some fits/consultation. They take about 2 hours each.

Shoot me an email at bartmang@hotmail.com and I can provide you with some details.

masters

2009-07-17T20:58:00.002-06:00

It's Official, as of today I can run for president! Big thanks to my girls for some celebration. Eva's turning into a planner just like her mom.

With the National Championships going on this weekend in Colorado, I am a little bummed to not be with the team contesting the big show. The last couple weeks I have been laying pretty low trying to recover from my BC debacle. The mouth is now healed up and my energy is hopefully coming back. Although 2 weeks without training has left me a little low on fitness and without any time to adapt to my position changes, but I think I am ready to start riding again.

Tomorrow is the Solitude Icup race otherwise known as the Utah State championships with no credibility because they are at the same location every year and conflict with Nationals. Depending on how I feel in the morning I may jump start my training with a little racing, the uphill may pose some serious challenge but that DH is one of the best we race on locally.

#32 just won't go away

2009-07-10T10:19:00.002-06:00

Been busy being a dad since I have been home, nice to be back to my girls! My constitutional energy has been low all week and my body is still dealing with this crazy tooth garbage. Last year after BC it took a full week before I felt ok, this year it will take longer as I am still fighting this tooth thing and not able to recover, also had to dig into my reserves just to function during the race.

Was at the dentist again on Wed and looks like a little piece of bone seems to be punching through my gum which is causing the continued infection and pain. I am back on antibiotics and hopefully it will smooth over without having to have an incision, grinding, and stitches. Crazy that a tooth can cause so much havoc!

Also good to be back at work. Bike racing is a fairly selfish endevour and it feels good to be in the trenches treating patients. Also puts my little bum tooth in persepective when I am working with someone who has not walked in months due to a non-healing ulceration on an amputated limb.

So my bike racing will be put on hold for a bit while I get healthy. Looking forward to building up to some later season events, maybe Leadville, a stage race in Peru, Point to Point in September, Pisgah in October, will see...

Did you check out the video we made in BC?

day 6

2009-07-03T19:00:00.003-06:00

Well I made it through day 6. Not that fast but I trudged along at one speed. Body still aches but I slept better last night. I have had to swollow some pride and ride pretty slow out there, I guess it builds character.
Talked with Eva on the phone this morning about started crying. I miss my girls, 2 weeks is along time and I am soft.
Happy 4th of July tomorrow, I will be ripping some knar trail in Whistler. Day 7 can't wait!

more BC

2009-07-02T21:01:00.002-06:00

Having a tough go. Extracted wisdom tooth seems to be rearing up again. A couple nights with a fever. Yesterday was possibly the hardest day I have ever had on a bike, 4 hrs of agony. Every pedal stroke hurt, soft pedaling hurt, it took everything just to finish.

Today I sent Alex up with the leaders so he could get a workout why I drug along to the finish. I am going to finish but it won't be pretty. Singletrack today has to be some of the best in the world.

later

BC

2009-06-30T18:14:00.002-06:00

Quick update...
Having a good time here in BC. Weather is good and the trails are great. More single track than last year. Been suffering on the climbs a bit but keep pushing on. I keep telling Alex he knows what it's like to race coed. Infected wisdom tooth has now cleared, eating solid food without trouble which is great. Still keeping it packed! Bike is working great, new 40T ring rules!
Yesterday was the full gamit of emotions as we got in a good rythmn only to get lost for 10 minutes. Got the vibe back later in the race. Attitude is everything here!

Early morning tomorrow (4:30) with 2 ferry transfers before race start! Not even half done yet and feeling the beat down, got to love it!
no time for pics

Seattle's Wed night Worlds

2009-06-25T11:01:00.005-06:00

After finding a local dentist to help out with my dry socket and re-stock my packing supplies before heading to BC, I caught a ride with Russell Stevenson to the local Wednesday night MTB race at South Sea Tac.

twisty fast 1 track!

burgers after, thanks Russ (2nd at Test of Metal last weekend)

The Local MTB scene is thriving in every corner !

Emv blue and skillz practice

2009-06-23T21:23:00.006-06:00

The wisdom tooth thing was a disaster, it's funny how a little tooth can cause such big problems. Anyway,it seems to be getting better just in time, only a few more days of antibiotics.

The monavie convention was a mad house over the weekend and with the team in town I barely had time to breath.

Highlights include:

-Green/purple--> blue/grey transformation

-Pyrotechnics

-Rosie's bbq food

-Eva playing mom to her new house guest Conrad (JB's 5 month old)

-All day photos shoot for a couple hours of photo's

-Fine tuning bike fit with Tom from Wobblenaught, that's a lengthy post itself.

-Hangin with the crew!

Now I am in Seattle for a work conference on the Amputee System of Care before making my way to BC this weekend for the stage race.

I checked out the Urban MTB park under the I-5 freeway this evening, you won't believe this thing...

BC prep

switchback practice!

Stan's testing?

Bike position tweaks are feeling pretty good and my teeter-totter skills are dialed!

#32 is gone

2009-06-18T19:36:00.002-06:00

Emergency wisdom tooth extraction today capped of a fine week in the pain cave. I have never been so happy to go to the dentist. He could have charged me anything and I would have gladly paid. Surely the worst is behind me now, I just got to heal up the crater in my mouth.

After having monavie and yogurt for lunch I needed something a little heartier for dinner, Ice Cream did the trick!

Team's in town for the Monavie convention so hopefully my jaw heals up and I can shred some trails. Also watch for the new bikes and kits this weekend, looking good!

freedom starts here...

2009-06-15T21:25:00.004-06:00

She doesn't know it yet but today was a life altering milestone.

more pics here

the roadrunner

2009-06-10T21:55:00.003-06:00

This morning while I was riding down the hill out of my neighborhood to work I came across a large coyote walking down the left side of the road. This is not unusual fo rthe neighborhood and slowed down as I passed. I was surprised he did not bolt into the scrub oak as I got close and was excited to get a closer look. About 50 ft after passing him I slowed down and turned around just in time to watch him wind up his sprint in my direction. Being on a steep grade it was easy for me quickly accelerate down the road only to watch him accelerate into a full speed chase.

I have encountered dozens of coyotes in my neighborhood and have never known them to be aggressive so I was a little shocked by this guys attitude.

After a couple hundred feet of high speed down hill I decided to take a left turn onto another road to see how committed he was, sure enough he made the turn and kept on coming. This road levels out and I noticed he was slowing down a little so I slowed down, came to a stop about 100 feet from where he stopped and we stared each other down. As our eyes met I could tell he meant business and noticed he was fairly mangy and looked like he had gone a few rounds with some big local dogs. I decided to see how bold he was and sprinted the cannondale scalpel straight at him, for a minute I got a little worried as he did not budge until I was maybe 20 feet from T-boning him. He then flipped around and ran up the road another couple hundred feet before stopping.

This guy was holding his ground and I had no choice but to turn and head for work.
He's still out there roaming emigration oaks...

soaked

2009-06-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

Rain is not that cold when your sitting in a river of melted snow!

Mohican 100

2009-06-02T09:18:00.004-06:00

Who would have guessed such cool trails exist in Ohio.

The dynamics of a 100 mile race are tons of fun, everything from equipment, nutrition, tactics, pacing, route, and fitness need careful consideration. I was generally pleased with how I managed all the variables and only botched up the route for about a 10 minute loss. I think I am most excited about how I didn't let it get to me to bad, a positive attitude is critical for such an event and getting off course is the easiest way to loose focus.

Nutrition wise I was dialed. 2 (80 oz) hydration packs full of mango carborocket requiring only one feed zone stop. Nibbled on chomps and blocks every 15-30 minutes and had a bottle of water on the bike for cleansing the palate. In the end some Little Debbie oatmeal creme pies would have been nice but by then I was turning the big ring on fatty acids.

My Left hip gave me some trouble at the end but it always does, that's what happens when it has been ripped out of socket.

I would have liked to go under 7 hours but the detour foiled my hopes, at least the endurance seems to be good.

The 4 am wake up travel day after the race was by far the hardest part of the weekend!

hamock time!

2009-05-20T20:27:00.003-06:00

"It's easy to forget, but the only way to get stronger is laying around"

"freeze" creek

2009-05-17T21:44:00.002-06:00

30 minutes in Freeze Creek seemed to do the trick after the hammerfest. Another 30 minutes today in Mill Creek after Mueller Grueller.

"something to look forward to"

2009-05-15T19:59:00.004-06:00

I have a patient right now that is recovering from his 2nd amputation and just learning to walk using two lower extremity prosthetics. He is a Vietnam era veteran and a very animated story teller.

About 5 years ago, just after his first above knee amputation he was frustrated and depressed about not being able to ride his motorcycle and having "nothing to look forward to". At that time he told a friend that if he ever needs another amputation or serious medical procedure he wanted "something to look forward to" and requested a post-operative stripper be hired for his hospital room. Being a chain smoker with terrible peripheral vascular disease he knew another amputation was in his future and was now laying the early ground work for"something to look forward to".

About 6 months ago he found himself with a non-healing infected foot ulcer that required a below knee amputation on the other leg. 3 days after surgery he called his friend inquiring about the where abouts of his stripper?". The friend had obviously forgot the conversation from 5 years ago. That evening a young blonde who was located under "escort" in the local yellow pages made her way up to the VA hospital and found room 3W05A. The friend welcomed her to the shared hospital room, pulled the curtain separating him from his roommate, and stepped out to guard the door. Sometime during the next hour a nurse needed to enter the room and check on her patient. She was warned at the door by a the friend that he needed some privacy but proceeded to enter anyway. Not 3 seconds later she exited the room with a a face as white as ghost, she never said a word.
$120/hour + a $60 tip provided "something to look forward to".

We all need "something to look forward to", it's what gets us up in the morning, keeps us motivated, pushes us to the next level. For bike racers it's the next event. The local week night race gets us through the work day, the weekend mountain bike race gives a focus through the long work week, and the big stage race or epic event provides a carrot for pushing ourselves through the weekly ups and downs.

This spring I have used the BC Bike Race as my "something to look forward to" and thus have been trying to prepare for extended mountain bike stage racing. But now I am doing the Mohican 100 mountain bike race in Ohio at the end of May and have a new more immediate "something to look forward to".

Don't get me wrong, I look forward to every opportunity I get on my bike and am excited to burn some laps tomorrow morning at Soldier Hollow. But these "something to look forward to events" are the ones I always remember, the ones that keep me up at night, the ones that sharpen my focus, and ultimately push me to find my potential!

If you are a bike racer and don't have a "something to look forward to" event in your future, find one now, look forward, and prepare.

real smooth!

2009-05-01T21:52:00.003-06:00

So yea, I just sliced my knuckle open with a razor blade down to glistening white extensor tendon and had to sew it up at the kitchen table. A hobbie a prefer not to practice!

real smooth!

moab weekend

2009-04-27T21:02:00.004-06:00

No racing last weekend so we set out on a 3 night family trip to Moab.

Friday I rode the White Rim counter clockwise with Kenny, Jared, Adam, and Adam. It was windy but a good time. Jared had some chicken and rice balls for us at about 50 miles. I felt pretty sluggish early on but got feeling better all day. I think this Fall I am going to TT the White Rim in place of 24 hours of Moab. 6 hours will be my plan but I don't know which direction yet.

last climb

Long ride food of choice, 300 calories of goodness for 79 cents.

Saturday Adam H and I hooked up with Chris Peters and rode the Upper Porcupine Singletrack from town. Possibly the best stretch of trail in Moab and a good 50ish mile loop for back to back big days. Adam took a core shot out of his thigh with a handle bar but managed to roll in one legged. This year I am trying to prepare for epic racing a little better, I guess sometimes you need more than riding to a from work.

Sunday was a shorter ride out Amasa back from town. No wind and lots of Sun.

Also spent a lot of time with the kids at various parks, Moab has some nice ones.

Car show in town and everyone is taking pictures so I joined the fun.

You think you have a low rider?

Sometimes those last minute spontaneous trips are the best!

tri mom

2009-04-18T23:06:00.001-06:00

go girls!

2009-04-18T11:07:00.001-06:00

Good luck to Rosie and the girls at the Lake Mead Triathalon Today!

stella's one!

2009-04-13T21:35:00.002-06:00

smooth is in order

2009-04-07T09:38:00.004-06:00

After getting back from Team Camp and the Cholla race I got out for a short ski tour. The broken ribs left over from Fontana did not enjoy the skiing so it looks like the new road bike might get in a little workout.

camp out

2009-04-03T20:34:00.002-06:00

Team camp is wrapping up tomorrow with the chola race. It's been a good batch of bike riding and itis no wonder the "real" pros are as fast as they are. I am tired now and ready for a little skiing rest break.

team camp

2009-03-31T08:29:00.003-06:00

Living like a real pro for the week in Vegas at team camp. Hours of training in the sun and dirt including mechanical clinics, JB's yoga, and team bonding! Oh yea, I also rode a horse bareback in the desert.

Check for updates at Monavie-cannondale.com

racin Fontana

2009-03-29T11:30:00.002-06:00

92nd call up today, might be some dusty single track!

Who's going to eat the cheeseburger?

open window

2009-03-25T20:27:00.004-06:00

I am going to California to race the 1st ProXCT race in 80 degree temps this weekend so I got out touring the last couple days in preparation. If you want to call it that.

Yesterday afternoon:

Little Pine slide path- You got to hit this South facing beauty just right to get perfect conditions. Yesterday was was just right. Well bonded snow given enough time to settle and sluff out, the morning howitzers helped with that. Mostly protected from the wind, no sun or thermal damage, and not a track in it. The one drawback is you have to break trail the entire way but considering this is normally a booter, skin track bottom to top is worth it. 3300 ft of 2ft soft.

art of the kick turn

steep skin track= more DH

Mike breathing

looking up the apron/debris pile

3000 down 300 to go

Bart's stubbies submerged

eye on the prize

Mike pointing the way down

This afternoon:

Jared and I got out for a leisurely walk up Lookout peak this afternoon. No one out today and lots of new snow. Jared was kind enough to do most of the trail breaking. He was trying to save my legs for bike racing this weekend.

It was really more of the same deep creamy snow. The stability was not quite as good as yesterday. The most recent snow was a little slabby but it just did not seem to have anything to run on. Visibilty was marginal. We kept it pretty mellow and ran a nice little run off the West shoulder of Lookout.

Although I am excited for some dirt racing and training camp next week in summer like temps, the skiing is still pretty fun!

Mr Mom @ the powderkeg

2009-03-15T08:52:00.005-06:00

Rosie has been in AZ now for a couple days enjoying a vacation in the sun so I have humbly been placed in charge of the household. Once again I am reminded of the skill and efficiency it takes to be a mom, wow!

I was also reminded of the skill and efficiency it takes to be a good rando racer. I recruited my mom to watch the girls while I suited up for the 7th annual Wasatch Powder Keg. Being my first attempt at randonee racing I was a little nervous which was quite fun. Having raced bikes for so long I don't get that "can't sleep the night before feeling anymore" and this was a refreshing rush. Although, "the can't sleep the night before" might have something to do with the girls missing mom! Because I don't have the cool one piece suit I rocked the monavie-cannondale jersey.

So here are 10 random things I learned from my 1st rando race:

1. You can't just tour and ski powder all the time and expect to do well. Rando racing is a very specific skill set which requires practice and training.
2. Skinning fast on flat sections is critical, I need to improve my hamstring flexibility, stride length, and skin glide to do well.
3. There is something fun about rallying lightweight skis down steep backcountry breakable crust, although I am a slow conservative skier.
4. My musculoskeletal system is my limiting factor at this point. My back and hamstrings were so balled up from all the flat skinning on the first leg that I could not go very hard when it got steeper.
5. The real rando racers are smooth and fast, efficiency is everything. Sounds like bike racing.
6. Rando racing is fun but feels kind of slow motion compared to bike racing. If a gap opens it is very hard to close.
7. I need longer poles.
8. Don't use a hydration bladder even with hot water, it will freeze. I should have had better insulation. I did not drink or eat anything the whole race, rookie!
9. The people are the best part of the racing experience, quality, fun, mountain people just like the MTB races.
10. It is a great compliment to bike racing in the winter but I would never want it to replace the long tour for exploration and fun new lines.

early start

1st down-up transition between gunsight and patsey marley/boot pack

Now back to Mr Mom!

yeeeeaaaa!

2009-03-10T21:51:00.002-06:00

daylight savings + powder day = weekday bliss

bummer if you missed the snow today!

rampage

2009-03-09T22:26:00.004-06:00

I can't find my camera cable so no pics from the weekend yet.

Friday: Stressful day at work including CPR on a patient. Drive down to St. George with the girls in a raging snow storm. After getting the little ones to bed I finally got on my bike for a 15 minute ride in the dark around the ritzy Cliffs neighborhood. Bike seemed to working well and I was excited to test out the legs.

Saturday: Red Rock Desert Rampage at high noon. Everyone loves this race, it's hard not to after a winter without trails. The course is a good early season test, fast without any steep or sustained climbs and nothing real hairy on the DH, just pedal. Momentum goes along away on this course. Notice the helmet borrowed from Keating after I pulled a rookie and left mine in my locker at work, it's a little big!

Photo by Jared Ferguson

Little Robbie squire was killing it on the climbs with AG and myself happy to be in tow. I have done this race enough to know how to win it, although I don't think I was the strongest. Alex and Robbie will both turn some heads this year, guaranteed!

My ski tour training experiment seemed to work well as I felt physically strong. I did not have the high end race speed that I hope comes around once I get on the bike more. Endurance was good and the race seemed short although the cycling specific muscles faded a little. Seem to have a good base to build on for the rest of the cycling season.

BBQ, hot tub, and good company for the evening at the Snow Canyon mansion.

Sunday: 4 hours of onetrack including- Barrell roll, Rim Rock (new), Stucki springs, Zen trail, and back to Snow canyon mansion. Felt pretty good on the bike but could tell the biking muscles are not used to back to back days yet. Back and legs a little sore.

Panni sandwich press and more swimming with the kiddos while mom rips some trail of her own. In & Out burger and the drive back to SLC.

Great weekend!

Now for some more skiing....

bitter sweet wasatch traverse

2009-03-01T19:21:00.006-07:00

So yesterdays tour was a little bitter sweet. Jared and I had a great time skiing some amazing lines but were ultimately denied the full meal deal due to time constraints and some gear glitches.

The plan was to summit and ski the high point/premier peak in each drainage including Box Elder--> Pheiferhorn --> Mt Superior--> Gobblers Nob--> Mt Aire. We made pretty good time and enjoyed great weather but Jared was testing some new race gear before his trip to France for the grand daddy of all ski races and learned that new boots can be trouble on an all day tour. On the other hand they should be well broken in now!

We made it to BCC road by 3:30 and were faced with the decision to hitch down the canyon or continue on to Gobblers Nob which would cause me to miss Eva's first time ice skating and possibly destroy Jared's heels beyond repair. As bad as we wanted to keep going, we are responsible family guys and bailed down the canyon. In hindsight it was the right decision as Eva ice skating was priceless and Jared's has some big races coming up.

Box Elder- Up west ridge, skied North face and cirque

On top we can't keep are eyes off Timp....

Pheiferhorn- up South face, skied East face and North face through Maybird and out Red Pine

Heel repair and boot modifications on top

Traverse onto North face

Mt Superior- up pole line to East ridge, skied North face via West chute and out Cardiff

Camera died!

The skinning was good, the booting was good, the weather was good, the snacks good, good company,good form, good skiing, good terrain, good equipment,good views, and good decisions. But I am left with a slight void as the traverse was not completed. On the bright side we will get to do it again...

Oh yea, dynafit ST 7.0 skis rip! More on gear later...

Now it's March and I get to test my new ski tour training plan at the bike races...

tornak hut

2009-02-26T19:26:00.009-07:00

It's tough to beat waking up in the mountains, eating a good breakfast, slipping into the ski boots, exploring until dark, finding new lines, day after day, all with your buds.

Pain train leaving the hut early. Who's off the back?

Skied Norton peak after a long approach. It's the high point of the big cirque on the far left.

Wood fired sauna's can be hot

Solitary solider

Orange down booties rule!

Snowed hard 2/4 days

Wonder if Adam is enjoying his first backcountry hut trip?

Bluebird following a dump

I should be riding my bike

48 egg scramble

No caption needed

Soft

The ditch master digs out a spring with a havoc

Eyeing more lines off Norton Peak

Just another reason why Alex is the best splitboarder in the Wasatch and possibly the world.

Thanks guys, I am already planning next years hut adventure!

insane

2009-02-16T20:02:00.009-07:00

Because Jared does such a fine job with trip reports he has been designated as group historian. Today was a solo mission so I am now forced to recount my own events.

First some foot notes from Saturday:

boarder on the bus

a ninja

a samurai

rockin the double hood

alexander basin and "cluster ridge I"

porter fork and "cluster ridge II"

Excited to get back up there in something other than a blizzard.

Today's solo tour saw nothing but fast skining and perfect skiing. Only had to break trail up to the west peak yet did not see another person.

Skied:

NW face of Mtn Aire

NE face of peak to the West

NE face of Mtn Aire

NE face of Peak to the East

NE Ridge into lambs

Had these 3 for company on the skin track!

Garage Sale

2009-02-08T11:00:00.005-07:00

Cleaning out the shop for spring. Email me for prices/trades/questions. I will add stuff as I dig deeper. Ebay gets the leftovers. Score some deals!
bartmang@hotmail.com

Bike Stuff:

-Cannondale optimo team frame size med black/silver, new

-SI hollogram set 175mm 29/44, new

-Lefty carbon SL 110, light use

-SI stems, new and used multiple sizes

-Cannondale furio dual/assault frame medium black, new

-Lefty Carbon Fox RLC, new

-Sun/Ringle/Lefty wheelset DT swiss xr4.20, new

-Mavic SLR lefty wheelset, new

-Avid carbon Juicy disk brakes, new

-Control Tech carbon flat bar, new

-Maxxis 2.1 monorail exception series, pair new

-Continental race king 2.0 supersonic, pair new

-Truvatic stylus set/BB with rings 170mm, new

-Reynolds carbon clincher road wheels

-SRAM x-9 rear Der, new

-SRAM x-9 front Der, new

-SI carbon Mtn set 175mm 22/32/44 rings, new

-SI carbon rd set 170mm 39/53, new

-SI carbon rd sets 175 with rings, used

-System six stem 100/-5, new

-Sram 11-34 pg990 cassette, new

-WTB inner peace internal 1 1/8 headset

-Egg Beater c pedals, new

-Shimano 5600 11-25 10spd cassette, new

-Magura Marta SL disk brake set, used

-Reynolds ouzo pro carbon road seat posts 27.2, 1 used, 1 new

-e. thirteen SRS/STS/32 special chain ring gaurd, new

-XCR dry 2 MTB tires 26x2.0

-Carbon Alien road post 31.6, used

-Kenda Nevegal 2.1 tires, new

-Kenda small block eight,2.0 tires, new

-SRAM XO shifters, new

-Avid Juicy ultimate disk brakes, used

-FSA carbon flat bar 31.7, new

-Reynolds carbon topo C lefty wheelset, new

-Cannondale system six SRAM force 54cm road bike

Plenty of choices for a complete bike with all the odds and ends needed for complete builds.

Ski stuff:

-Alpina NNN BC touring boots, mens size 8

-Karhu catamount waxless/NNN BC touring skis/bindings 174

-Touring poles

-Salomon Race skate pilot boots 40 2/3

-Madshus hypersonix 3x3 skate skis 190 with Salomon pilot bindings. 130-170lb

Clothes:

-The North Face mountain light goretex jacket womens med blue black, new

-Patagonia primo ski pants, size 30 black, used 1x

-Mountain Hardwear Down jacket med black

-Cannondale sliver plus cycling jacket small black/white, new

-Cannondale womens Heavy Weight Jersey small black/white, new

the base mile experiment

2009-02-08T10:42:00.003-07:00

"It's like when your going up a long climb on the rivet and the grade gets steeper and you know you should shift to the middle ring but instead you keep the power down and somehow get over the top in the big ring"

Indohran in the big ring!

access

2009-02-05T20:36:00.003-07:00

One minute I am at major metropolitan hospital on the computer finishing up some documentation for the day and the next minute I am here.

The Wasatch rules!

Lookout Peak

2009-02-03T19:47:00.003-07:00

Quick after work ski on Lookout Peak. I was alone and able to move quick, I forget how fast the F1's roll!

Up the South face while it was soft and enjoyed recrystallized powder on a firm base on the North side all the way into the City Creek drainage.

Back up the North side through the trees and then East on the ridge
chasing the setting sun in hopes of skiing the South Face just before it crusted over. The top was soft but the bottom was survival skiing in breakable crust.

Is the set up to euro for exploring the Wasatch? Something about tights make me go faster.

3 sides of Kessler

2009-02-01T11:33:00.008-07:00

The Kessler Trifeca as named by the Samurai was somewhat inspired by the our quick trip up and down Argenta on Wednesday, Alex surely will be disappointed to have missed the follow up. Jared provided such a nice write up I figured I would just share a few pictures, after all he is a wordy attorney.

Jared booting up the East ridge of Kessler

Gods lawnmower looks small from below

East couloir of Kessler is a jem of jems!

Jared a couple turns in after we cut the cornice

looking back up the apron before enjoying some fine powder skiing

beta for a future tour

more beta

Wasatch powder skiing at it's finest

Jared enjoys a trip through bonkersville on the 3rd time to the top of Kessler in a 5 hr period

Enjoying a well earned breather!

a new convert?

2009-01-30T20:33:00.001-07:00

Out training

snorkel snow

2009-01-28T20:57:00.004-07:00

Face blower on Argenta after work with Alex and Jared.

photo by Alex

From the car up 3000ft to the ridge in 1 hour makes for good after work exercise. The skiing also happened to be the deepest of the year! Stopped a few hundred feet from the top of Kessler where the wind had picked up and was loading snow all over.

dusk patrol

2009-01-26T20:27:00.002-07:00

After a few days on the MTB in St George I was excited to get back on the boards, after all it is only January.

The new snow refreshed my Freeze Creek run so I burned a lap just before dark.

Cutting trail was soft, no pics of the DH but you can imagine..... face shots!

I am feeling generous tonight after enjoying a warm bowl of Rosie's top secret Mulligatawny soup. You know the one that Elaine Benes got a hold of from the soup Nazi. I am going to share the recipe for this curried treasure with you!

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

1 celery stalk chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 apple, cored, peeled, and chopped

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped. Vegetarians can replace with firm tofu.

1/2 cup flour

2 to 3 tablespoons curry powder

5 cups chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups hot cooked rice

-Saute' vegetables, apple, and chicken in olive oil for 15 Min's

-Mix flour and curry powder and add to the pot and stir and cook for 3-5 min.

-Add chicken broth and tomatoes to the pot and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

-Add salt and pepper to taste

-To serve place 1/4 cup of rice in bowl and ladle soup over rice..

Makes about 8 cups

Possible my new favorite!

camp lynda 1&2

2009-01-24T19:43:00.003-07:00

4 hrs of sandy trails in the rain for day 1

Split from the group for some pavement climbs, hit zen, and then rode with Rosie for a long day 2.

Day 3 looks to be better weather and the Wasatch is getting refilled!

Lisa Falls

2009-01-20T20:34:00.006-07:00

Finished off my pre-Camp Linda skiing binge with the queen of the Wasatch classics: Lisa Falls Couloir.

A mix of skinning and booting up Tanners

Andrew and Jared in the wind on the notch. And yes they both use the "fly" for venting!

Creamy untouched skiing from the notch into upper Broads

Andrew finding a mixed traverse route on the ridge up to Twin Peaks

Noah about to summit the Twins

View of Hogum fork, The Y, and Coalpit

Looking North across BCC- Note the Whipple and Bannana Couloir off the top of Thomas Fork

Looking East at the Notch we just skied from

Top of Lisa Falls was very firm with some frozen chunks to negotiate, things corned up as we descended and the skiing got good.

Andrew placing the back up snow anchor above Lisa Falls

Testing the anchor for a better view. Primary anchor is the bush at his feet.

Last man down the arm rap

the line

Another great loop, although this one I would not want to tackle without Andrew's expertise and experience. Thanks man!

Now for a little time in the dirt.

hypodermic needle

2009-01-19T20:44:00.006-07:00

Another gorgeous morning in the mountains!

Cameron and Andrew up...

Noah up...

Andrew up...

Midway down the needle: Noah making it look easy

The camera does it no justice

the line

coalpit

2009-01-17T21:14:00.005-07:00

More training on skis this morning. This time out with a new crew led by Andy Mclean. If your going to learn some new lines you might as well learn from the best and someone that has ski mountaineer on their business card.

3500" booter up the Y

Jared at the top of the Y with LCC road at the bottom

Andy and Fred skinning up the apron of the coalpit headwall

booting to the top of Thunder mtn with the twins and lisa falls beyond

view of the Phieff and the NW couloir

view of Lone Peaks NE face- big lines

Jared sizing up the coalpit headwall

Andy Jump turning the 50ish degree slope

roping over the waterfall on the exit

heading back to the road...

a nice loop!

During these long stretches of high pressure when I start to see packs of roadies venturing out of the basement for some "base miles", I start to wonder about my own bike fitness. Next weekend I am heading South for a binge of dirt riding and I will surely will find out.

hump day DP

2009-01-14T20:50:00.002-07:00

The Samurai and current leader of the US Ski Mountaineering Association race series checking out the morning views......

down on Mt Olympus

mountain shadow

Lookout Peak- skied yesterday!

good (jump) turn...

even the suicide bobsled exit is fun in a twisted way