A Weekend in the Desert

A couple weekend ago I went to Moab and Fruita with some friends and coworkers. Kendra was doing a girls weekend in Florida, so I took the opportunity to do a weekend of mountain biking in the desert. We left on Thursday and came back Sunday. It was raining like crazy in Fruita on wednesday and part of thursday so we decided to keep going to Moab. It was also supposed to be warmer in Moab than in Fruita. It was still pretty chilly in Moab on thursday and friday, but ride-able. Saturday and Sunday were beautiful though! We rode Poison Spider Mesa on Friday morning and Slickrock that afternoon. Then we did Porcupine Rim on Saturday. Sunday morning we broke camp and headed to Fruita to get some book cliff riding in on our way home. There we rode Kessel's run, Zippety-do-da, and Prime Cut. 3 of the guys were so hardcore that they stayed an extra day in Fruita and rode Mary's loop area! Here are some photos from our trip for your enjoyment. (Unfortunately my camera died before we got to Fruita.)

King of the Rockies - The Legendary Tiperary Creek

This was the sixth and final race of the 2007 winter park race. The course was on the legendary Tipperary Creek course which was the first winter park course ever raced on. The race was an epic 25.8 miles long with over 4,000 feet of climbing. The course map can be seen here (follow the dashed white line) and the course profile can be seen here.

This course was a lot of fun. It started out with a huge climb in the beginning, followed by a huge descent and then some up and downs with some pretty technical sections to the end. The overall course gained altitude, so that was good for me.

I completed this course in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 58.7 seconds which put me in 4th place, just 32 seconds off of the podium. The full results are here. I was very happy with this finish however because it gave me enough points in the series to capture 2nd place overall! I ended up with 236 points for the season whereas the 1st place finisher had 247 points and the 3rd place guy had 231 points. The complete series rankings can be viewed here.

I had a great time competing in the winter park mountain bike series this year. The courses were challenging, the scenery was beautiful, and the competitors were all very cool and friendly. I hope to take part in these races again, I guess I will have to upgrade to expert next year though. So much for podium finishes. I'd also like to try more of the Mountain States Cup series races.

Winter Park #5 - Cross Country

This was the fifth winter park race this summer. This one started near Fraser and finished at the base of Winter Park. A map of the course can be seen here and the course profile is here. This race was 24 miles long and it had a huge climb at the beginning to start of the race. The first hill was over 2,000 ft of climbing and over 6 miles long. This was to my advantage since I am a better climber than descender. It was pretty cool that morning and I wanted to be nice and warmed up by the time we started so we parked in Fraser and Kendra and I both biked the few miles out to the start line. Right before the start of my race I rode up the road a little ways to see how the incline was after the start, but I went out a little too far and almost missed my race start! At got back to the start line right before the gun went off. When it did most of us started nice and easy since we had a long day ahead of us and a huge climb right in front of us.

There was a mile or two lead out on a dirt road before we hit the singletrack and the incline wasn't too bad. On the approach I chatted with the guys that I normally race against and are about the same speed as me. Before we hit the singletrack our group moved up towards the front. Once we hit the singletrack I let Brian lead us and we kept the pace pretty steady. Half way up the climb there is another dirt road that is relatively flat and short. I decided to attack right before this road and got a small gap. On the road I caught the guy that was in second place in our category (James Mack) and asked him if we could work together. I drafted him for a minute and then we traded pulls for the rest of the flat section before we hit the "wall". This next singletrack section was extremely steep and rocky. I did my best to just hang on James' wheel for the climb and was successful until the last half mile or so when it really pitched up and was covered with loose rocks. He pulled away from me and summited about a minute before I did. Once I started the downhill, I just hung on the the incredibly fast descent. Shortly after the start of the downhill I passes James who had unfortunately crashed on a water-bar in the trail. There were already medics there so I kept on going. I crashed on one of the couple tight switch backs, but was going slow enough that I didn't get hurt too bad. This allowed Andrew to catch me though and he passed me. I worked hard to catch him and was able to by the bottom of the huge descent.

Andrew and I took turns leading each other for about half of the race, but he pulled away from me on Vasquez Road right before we had to cross Vasquez Creek again. I didn't see him again until the finish line, but ended up in 3rd place! Here's a picture of me crossing the line:


I was pretty happy with my finish and had a great time on this course. It was definitely my favorite course of the series. It took me 2:17:47.7 to finish the race and I was 133rd overall. The complete results can be seen here. Here's a picture of me on the podium :-)

Winter Park #4 - Valley Point to Point

The fourth winter park mountain bike race this summer was the Valley Point to Point. This race started at the Winter Park resort base and finished just outside the town of Fraser. It was 18.8 miles long (the longest so far), the starting elevation was 9,080 ft. and the finish elevation was 8,830 ft. with 1,950 ft of climbing along the way. Which means this race was mostly downhill. There is a map of the course here. And the course profile is here.

The night before the race we camped just outside of the town of Winter Park off of Vasquez Rd. It is national forest so you can camp there for free. Here is a picture of our campsite and our new tent! It was nice spedning the night before up there so that I didn't have to worry about getting up early and driving all the way up there the day of the race. It was a nice night, chilly; but not freezing.

The next morning we got up and brushed our teeth (Kendra came with me of course) and ate some breakfast. Then I started warming up by riding up the road to where the race would be on it and checked out the Vasquez Creek water crossing to scope out what the best strategy would be to get across it. Then I rode to the start line and prepared to start. I saw the regulars in my category and made some small talk before the race. Here's a picture right after the gun went off. I tried not to go out too hard at the beginning.This race was pretty tough for me because I am better at going uphill than I am at downhill. At least it started out going uphill so that I could get into good position before the downhill. I think I was in 2nd place by the time that we started going down. I held my place pretty well on the first serious downhill. I think I might have gotten passed by one person. Then we had another tough uphill where I was able to pass him back. Then a little downhill and the water crossing.

I was actually able to make it all the way across the water without stopping. Putting it in a really low gear was key. Then we rode down Vasquez Rd. for a little before turning off and heading up a challenging climb. Before we got to the climb I noticed that my seat was slowly sliding down lower and lower. This wasn't going to do, so I decided to stop on the uphill to raise my seat and tighten it and I was passed by two or three riders in my category! After this uphill the rest of the race was mostly downhill and I continued to get passed. The final stretch was really rocky and really beat me up. I don't think my suspension was ideally tuned. Eventually the finish line actually showed up though.


I ended up finishing in 7th place in my category, 207th overall. The race took me 1:35:04.7 which was a pace of about 5 minutes per mile. The complete results are here. This wasn't my best race ever, but I survived and I learned a lot. I'm glad that my loose seat post was the worst of my mechanical issues for the year. I got to talk to Brian Kleinman after the race and met his wife as well. He is a pretty cool guy and I would get to talk to him at other races this year, too. I enjoyed racing against him.

Winter Park #3 - Cross Country Super Loop

The third winter park race was on July 7th. The course consisted of one BIG loop at the ski resort. The map can be viewed here. I raced sport category again so my course was 14.7 miles. The race was pretty hard and I only ended up getting 8th place. I think this was largely due to the very long downhill portion of the race. The complete results can be seen here.

WP#2 - Mountain Circuit One

The second Winter Park race was on June 16th. It was a cross country circuit race which means it was a loop that you do several times. Our category did two loops for about 15 miles of racing with 900 feet of climbing per lap. I also talked my friend and coworker, Derrick, into racing with me. We were in the same category and lined up against each other at noon.

When they blew the whistle I used the same race strategy as I had last week. I fell in behind about the 5th rider and just held on to see what the pace would be. They started out a little faster this week since there was only a short climb at first and then a flat section on fire roads before we hit the singletrack.

I slowly moved up until I was sitting in second place and could see the turn onto the singletrack section. Since it is much more difficult to pass people on the singletrack I made up my mind to get in front before we were there. I was successful and started the singletrack trail in first place.

I held this position for about a mile, but was unable to shake the racers behind me. I was using a lot of energy to lead the way up the climb so when I hit a fairly technical switchback to get around, I had to put a foot down and gave up my lead to two other riders.

I kept pushing to the top and don't think I was passed again. I caught up to some of the guys in front of me by the top of the hill and then we started descending. I was passed by two guys on the descent, but stayed with one of them and passed him again on the uphill part of the next lap. This uphill section was even longer than on the first lap! It was a long hard climb to the top, then we had a very long downhill to the bottom.

When I was almost to to the very bottom, I was going around a tight switchback a little too fast and lost traction on my front wheel. My bike slipped out from under me and I went down hard, scraping up most of the left side of my body. It hurt pretty bad, but I got up right away and got back on my bike. I pushed hard for the finish line and didn't give up my spot. I ended up finishing 4th which I was happy with.

Mountian Bike Season Kicks Off!

To celebrate my birthday this year, my wife and I went to fruita for a long weekend with some friends: Derrick and Lesley. It was a blast. Unfortunately, Kendra had to work on her thesis most of the weekend and Lesley had to grade papers, so Derrick and I hit up most of the trails just the two of us. We did about 24 miles of riding on friday and 20 miles on saturday. Lesley did join us for a short part friday morning and they both did on Saturday morning. Here are some sweet pics:

Winter Park Cross-Country Super Loop

On July 8th, I participated in the 3rd race of the Winter Park series. The course was great, it was a gigantic loop on and next to the ski resort that was 15.7 miles long with lots of climbing and some fast descending. Here is a profile map of the course. All categories ran one loop, I lined up with the sport group again. It was lightly rainy the entire time and slightly chilly.

I ended up getting 3rd place this time, which I was very stoked about. I was only 3 minutes behind 2nd and 6 minutes behind 1st. I also beat the 4th place guy by less than 40 seconds! Complete results are here.

This ended up being my last mountain bike race of the year, but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to next season.

Eldora Escape

On July 1st, I participated in my first Mountain States Cup mountain bike race. They take place throughout Colorado, New Mexico and sometimes Utah. This was a nice local one just up Boulder Canyon from my house.

The course was pretty hard, probably the hardest mtn bike race I've done. There was a really steep rocky singletrack uphill section, a steep, loose downhill section with several small drops and there were lots of muddy spots with several "puddles" (read lakes) that you had to ride through or around. There was also a very short steep climb that most people had to walk/run up. And we had to do 3 laps! Here is a map:

I ended up finishing in 5th place with a time of 1:47:11.80 which I was very please with. I was in 2nd place halfway into the first lap, but came out of my pedals on the steep climb and got passed by a few people. The complete results are here.

Kendra was kind enough to act as my water support and did a fantastic job! Love you, baby!

Winter Park Mountain Circuit One

This race was the day after the first WP race, the Hill Climb. My legs were pretty dead from the hill climb, so I wasn't too sure how I would do. My friend Rob came up Saturday afternoon to pre-ride the course and race on sunday. After he heard how well I did in the hill climb in beginner category he talked me in to upgrading to sport for the next day's race.

This race was out to a loop, ride the loop twice and then another out to the finish on the opposite side we started from. Here is a map: This race was REALLY hard. I left everything I had on the course, but was unable to stay with the lead group. It was also difficult to pass people and be passed during all the tight single track sections.

I ended up finishing in tenth place, which I was pretty happy about my finish since I had just moved up a category. My full results are here.

My friend Rob raced in the expert category and finished in 3rd place only 4 minutes off of the winner. I was pretty impressed.

Here are some pics. This is my start (i think):






Here is Rob's Start. Rob is number 1053:

Here is Rob getting his medal:

This is Rob and I at the awards ceremony:

Winter Park Hill Climb

So, this year I decided to bike racing more of a try, especially mountain biking. I joined the actual race team of my cycling club, ICCC, and by being on the team I was given a good discount on a bike purchase, but also had to commit to racing 6 races. On June 17th, I participated in my first mountain bike race of the year at Winter Park Resort. It was a ‘hill climb’ that involved riding up to the top of Mary Jane from the base of Winter Park on a 5.3 mile long fire road including over 2000 vertical feet of elevation gain. I’ve been doing a lot of training, but mostly on my road bike and haven’t done a whole lot of race pace training on my mountain bike.

Kendra, Marcia and I drove up Friday night and camped near winter park at the base of Berthoud pass in a campground called Robber’s Roost. It was nice, but a little to close to the road, creating lots of noise. It was pretty cold, but we kept warm in our 4 season tent that we borrowed and nice warm sleeping bags.

We got up early and headed over to the winter park base where the start of the race was to be held. I went over and got my race number at the start line and then headed back to the car to get my bike and myself ready for the race. After my bike was all set I started warming up by riding up the road back towards Berthoud pass. I thought it was going to be a faster ride back to the resort and rode out a little to far on my warm up and had to race back to the car. I grabbed the girls and then had them hustle over to the start line with me. I was getting a little anxious though so I went on ahead. I got to the line about a minute before they started, just in time to hear the start line official give his informational speech.

At exactly 10:48 they blew the horn and we were off! I was pretty well warmed up, much better than my first ever mountain bike race last year, which is a good thing because this race starts straight up the mountain! I tried not to go out to fast so I wouldn’t burn myself out to quickly. I just wanted to try to settle in to a good rhythm, not caring too much about the other racers, but also trying not to let any of them get away.

A few guys pulled out ahead quickly, but I was able to hold back and let them have their fun. I settled in behind a few guys in about 4th or 5th place. By now, one guy was about 100 feet off the front, but we didn’t worry and just stayed at our own pace. The guy in front of me was quickly burnt out and dropped off and I jumped onto the guy’s wheel in front of him. He led me up past the guy that was dropping off in front of him and another guy and then there was only one guy left in front of us. The guy right in front of me was going at a pretty good pace, but I was able to stay on his wheel. We were slowly reeling in the guy who was off the front because he had gone out of the gates a little to fast. Before the first mile was behind us we had caught him! Now it was just me and this other guy in front of me, wearing a black jack porter jersey. He was going at a very good pace, but I was able to hold on around the first couple turns. I looked back, and we had a very good gap on the rest of our field. By this point we started passing some of the field that had started before us. I was starting to feel tired and wondering if I could keep this pace up for the rest of the race. I looked back again as we went around another switch back and could not see anyone from our field. However, this guy I was following was starting to pull away. I tried to chase back on to him, but he was going too hard and continued to pull away from me. I tried, but just could not match his effort and soon he was out of sight. I continued to work as hard as I could without blowing up and kept picking off riders from the earlier category starts. I looked back again and saw that I had second place in the bag and so just tried to push to get the best time I could without bonking. I soon saw the top of the mountain approaching and gave it all I had to the end.

I finished in 2nd place with a time of 45:53.6, just under 5 minutes behind 1st place and almost 10 minutes ahead of 3rd place. Complete results can be found here.

We decided to hang out for the awards ceremony and I received a silver medal for my efforts. J This was a great race. It was well organized, very fun, and an amazingly beautiful venue.

Fruita!

The next morning on our quest for single track on the westen slope we got up early in order to beat the heat, had a quick breakfast and headed to the trail head. It was already getting pretty warm at 8am! We started by climbing up toward the book cliffs on the Prime Cut trail. It is desigend for climbing up to the other trails that are used for descending back down to the trail head. It was a pretty mellow climb, but still had some challenges. There was one huge rock the trial went over the neither of us could clear.

After we finished the climb we traversed over to Joe's Ridge and took this trail back down. It was a screamer that rode down on top of some ridges with a few really steep parts. In one section we were descending down some hill that was too steep for our brakes to stop us completely and there was a steep drop off on both sides of the trail. It was pretty thrilling!

After we were back at the bottom we took the campsite road for an easy climb back up the the other trails and traversed over to "western zippety". It was a pretty hilly traverse though and one section had some really nasty switchbacks. Kendra gave it her best and was a great sport. I was quite impressed. Western zippety was a smooth, fast singletrack that screamed back to the bottom, past the trail, so we had to make our way back to our car on a 4wd road and a dirt road.

I had a blast riding these trails and can't wait to make it back out there soon. Kendra did an amazing job riding these trails and I know she is going to be a great biker. I can't wait to go riding with her again.

"It's your weekend, you decide."

Back in the last weekend of April I ventured to Moab for my friend Rob's bachelor party. Basically, it was a blast! We spent the whole weekend mountain biking the sweet trails of Moab! We tried to go to Fruita, CO, but all the camping spots were full by the time we got there due to the Fat Tire festival that was going on that weekend. So, we continued on down the road to Moab.
Moab is basically the mecca of mountain biking. There are an amazing amount of really sweet trails. The first day we rode the Klondike Bluffs trail which is a good intro to moab riding. It has sand and slickrock and dirt riding. It is an out and back to the border of arches national park and has several dinosaur tracks on display in the slick rock. On our way back to the car we decided to ride some of the baby steps trail as well to get some more time in the saddle. This trail had one cool climb up a slick rock slope, but that was about it.
The second day Rob, Hughes and I got up early and rode the famous "Slickrock" trail as fast as we could. This trail is amazing. It is almost entirely on slickrock (which is sandstone that gives you an insane amount of traction) with a few sand crossings. It involves many really steep climbs and decents along the way with plenty of technical riding to keep your guard up. It took us about an hour and 14 minutes to complete the ~10 mile loop and then we hopped in the car and raced home. It was a great trip!