Cyclocross #7 Weber Fairgrounds

This was my race of mechanical problems. The first mistake was hanging with Jamie and Matt on the first lap. It was fun about 1/2 way then I knew I had over done it. I spent lap 2 and 3 trying to recover. On lap 4 I lost a chain on the barriers. I was able to get it on quick and only lost a couple places and I was able to catch back on to the 3 guys I was hanging with. As we rode the last part of lap 4 I mounted my bike after the log and unknown to me, I slipped the bead on my rear tire. I noticed what I thought was my rim rubbing on my brake. It was actually my tire rubbing on my brake. I didn't think much of it even though it was a pretty annoying noise. We had 1 full lap to go and there was 3 of together with a big gap in front and behind us. I was drafting off the back on sidewalk section when all of sudden there was a big bang and my rear the tire was flat. The pit zone was close so I tried to ride with a flat, that only lasted a few yards since my tube got tangled in my chain and seized the rear tire. I threw my bike on my shoulder and ran for the pit zone. I took a short cut across the horse track and left my bike in the middle of the track and then jumped on my 29er to finish the last part of the lap. To my surprise, no riders had passed me, one passed me as I came out of the pit area. I was able to overtake him in the barriers and finished 13th.

Lotoja 2009

We had our traditional pre-lotoja dinner at Kamin Thai restaurant, with Mike Tall and Erin. Berk and I raced the master 35+ category which left at 6:31. Mike Tall and Don went out with the fun class at about 5:50. We experienced good weather all day, with starting temps in the high 40's. I was expecting a faster pace to Preston but it was still about 4 minutes faster than last year. We touched down for about 1 min in Preston. The little hills outside of Preston were pretty easy, I remember my first few years these hills chewed me up and split me out back. We had a slight head wind(east wind) going up Strawberry. We rode our own pace and kept ahead of last yrs pace. I took a pee break in the National forest sign, we only took water hand ups at the strawberry feed zone. We had a good fast pack going to Montpelier, pace line style where we only pulled at the front for about 20 seconds. I took down a V8 and Pringles with a yogurt in my pocket. I always ate a cliff bar on the descents. We were greeted with a head wind all the way up Geneva Pass. In year's past we always had a nice tail wind, maybe Mike Tall caught a tail wind here? Luckly, we had a tail wind when we turned north on 89. I took a quick stop at the Alred feed zone. I was 5 minutes faster on the KOM over last year and I felt good all the way up the Salt river pass. Berk was suffering up the climb, I waited about 4 minutes at top for Berk. Don joined Berk and me on the decent into Star Valley. Where was Mike Tall, probably in front of us. Our pack was a fast one to Afton, we dropped Don around Smoot. We were on still on target for 10:40 pace. We had a big pack, about 30 by the time we approached Thayne. I was feeling strong and I was able to accelerate with the main pack as it was tricky passing slower riders with the rumble strips. Berk got stuck at the end of one of the pack breaks as we approached Alpine. Alpine was the first time I had seen Janie since I passed here going up Strawberry. Maybe we passed Mike Tall and didn't know it. The traffic was extra heavy this year with our later start time and Lotoja had about 1600 riders this year. I took a v8 and yogurt and decide to go without Berk. I was a few minutes ahead of my 10:40 pace.
There was the usual tail wind up the snake river canyon. I was able hook on to another pack about 1/2 mile up. Some were fresh relay riders but I was feeling good the whole way to Hoback. I had a pee urge to stop at Hoback but I decide to keep going as some of relay riders were not going to stop. I was able to hook up with a couple cat 4 riders and we kept a healthy pace to Jackson. As we crossed the snake river coming to Jackson the next 2 hills were killer. We had a pack of 6 and we all suffered up the little hills. It was beautiful sight to be coasting down the Southpark Road. As we crossed under tunnel and back on the road our pack was getting smaller. I was feeling good and knew I had to keep a strong pace to finish with 10:40. We crossed the Wilson bridge and there was me and 2 other cat 4 riders. We all wanted to get this over and we just kept the speed as each of us took our painful turns at the front. I love finishing strong and this was fun group. As the road came out of the trees and we catch our first glimpse of the finishing line. We pushed hard and I finished 10:40:13. Looking at my split times which were ranked this year, the last 30 miles my pace was 97 out of 1000. Berk finished 11:30 overall. His heart rate was 15-20 beats higher than mine the whole day.

This race I never experienced the downs like past races. The Geneva climb was the hardest part with the head wind. I reached my goal down to the minute is a pretty wild. Beating that 10:00 mark still seams a long way off. Great way to end the road cycling season. Time to CX and start training for the Ironman in May.

Triple by Pass

I'm a little late posting but better than never. We had great 2009 Triple by Pass (TBP). We had a fast group and slow group. Fast group was Me, Craig, Berk, James, and Dan (supported by Craig's dad Stan). Chase group Mike T, Matt T, and Johnny supported by Erin. Logistics were easy this year with Stan as dedicated support. We started at 6:00am and were biking by 6:15. We passed Matt right out of the chute. We ascended the first climb pretty much together. James slipped out of rest stop before we new it. Stan meet us in Idaho Springs which was new stop for us. It was nice to ditch the jackets and gloves right after the climb. Stan missed Georgetown so our next stop was Loveland. We dropped Dan early in this stage, Dan's training was minimal at best this year. Craig, Berk and me powered up to Loveland. We passed a ton of riders thanks to work of Craig and Berk. Dan caught back on at the Loveland lunch stop but no sign of James. After some tasty pickles and a V8 we started to attack the final pitch of Loveland. Craig was on fire and we didn't see him till the top. I sucked Berk's wheel for as long as could and I dropped off on the last left hand swithback. I gained some strength as I approched the last right swithback. The grade back off a bit and bridged the gap and made back to Berk. We rode together to the top. Swan mtn killed me, luckly it's only a couple miles. Peanut butter Nilla cookies were a hit at the Dillon rest stop. The copper mtn bike trail was good, with some very light rain near the end. Berk hooked on to a Tri-Chick who pulled us most of way. We were definitely in the passing mode. We put down some Ibprofins and Red Bulls at copper in preperation for 6 short miles to the Vail pass. Berk and I dropped Craig early in the climb, but not on purpose. I felt pretty good up the last climb, much better than Swan and Loveland. Craig was 2 minutes back and Dan was about 10 minutes back. Still no sign of James. We had some good rain on the lower decent to Vail.
We finished just under 10 hours with 6:22 of actual riding time. Our fastest triple in the 7 years we have been riding it. James finished 15 minutes before us. He stopped less and rode more. Mike Tall formed his own chase group which was about an hour ahead of Matt and Johnny. They finished a couple hours later and hit some big rain on the Loveland and Vail descents.

Terrain Park Fun - Brighton

Another great day at Brighton with an another foot of snow on top of Friday's foot. The kids skied the powder well. Later in the day Griffin(my 7 year old son) wanted to ski the terrain park under Majestic. He had been talking about hitting this all day. The video above is Grif hitting the table top rail. He didn't quite get the pop he needed to clear both skis. He tagged one ski on the front of box and then belly slid the whole rail. Luckily no harm done and he was ready to do it again. After the crash we hiked up and Grif wanted me to lift him up on the ramp so he could do it again. He has a little to much of his Dad in him.

Friday Powder

Friday's are so much better with powder. Janie and I were able to sneak up this morning to Brighton and enjoy 13" of new snow. Great conditions, fairly fast with a soft bottom. The new homemade skis were awesome. I had 2 virgin runs on the Olympic Shoulder in the Milly side country. This is in the first video. I also had fun 15 foot drop into Peanuts and then a fast run out through Rock Garden.


Milly's backbone provided fresh tracks until 10:30 right down back bone. Evergreen and Captains Hook were a sweet. The videos are a little raw. I taped a tripod mount to my helmet and used an older digital camera. The cold sucked all the life out of my battery. Hopefully it will still make you jealous:)

Home made skis

I have been slacken on my blog lately. I've been consumed with my latest project of making a pair of super wide powder skis. As you know, you can find out how to do just about anything on the internet. Having made several wake/kite boards a few years ago I had some of the equipment like a vacuum pump and lack of common sense. www.skibuilders.com is the place to go. I was able to buy enough materials to make 2 pairs of skis for about $180. I'm not even going talk about the cost of my labor, but let's just say I have well over 40 hours into this first pair. I patterned my skis from the Black Diamond Mega Watt(left). I have my poplar cores in the middle and my template to the left. My measurements are a plump 163-125-135. Planing the profile of the core was a bit time consuming. I build a jig where I planned the profile with a hand router. I purchased the wood core already laminated 11mm thick. I shaped it down to 9mm under the boot and down to 3mm at the tip and tail. I then cut the P-tex to the shape of my template and super clued the steel edges to the P-tex.Gluing the edges is definitely the most tedious task. In the left of the picture you can see the mold I made with particle board. Once the edges are glued I placed it on the bottom of the mold. Then I mixed up some epoxy and added a layer of 24 oz fiberglass. You can see the wood core is waiting to go on top of the bottom layers. Ihave the fiberglass wet out with resin in the mold. I placed 2 strips of carbon fiber in the skis for good luck and to increase its value. Anything with carbon is worth more. Next the wood core is laid on top of the wet fiberglass. Another layer of 20 oz fiberglass is laid on top as seen below. I placed the whole mold in a bag which is sealed and I apply a vacuum pump to suck all the air out and press the ski into the mold. I leave the vacuum pump on for 8 hours until the epoxy is cured. You can see some of the black epoxy soaked through the breather cloth, which is fine. The ski comes out of the mold with a lot with flashing around edges. A belt sander cleans up the edges pretty good. I opted not to lay in the graphic layer. I wanted to make sure the flex was good before topping of the tops.

I skied on them for the first time last Thursday at Brighton. It took me a couple runs to get used to the extra width but man, they float like a snowboard. It's so easy to ski with them. I have no use for my snowboard now. These skis are awesome.

Kiteboarding Rush Lake Mar 4th

Kiteboarding penguin session was a nice ride this morning Wednesday Mar 4th. Thanks to Kenny for talking me into this early season insanity. It was a classic Rush dawn patrol, smooth SE wind, air temp was mid 40's, water(really mud) temp was mid 40's. I had to make an exception to my 100 degree rule which is the air temp and water temp added together needed to exceed 100 degrees. We were riding by 7:00am which was few minutes before sunrise. Water is way low this year. I have not seen it this low in the March in many many years. Water depth was about 4 inches in south and pushing 6-7 inches in the middle. Kenny took a good ride to the north and was able to find 12 inches of water. The SE directions opens the lake up since its pretty small. We packed it up at 8:30 and headed to work. The wind was getting punchy when I left. According to www.utahwindriders.com forum we were the first kiters on rush for 2009. RUSH IS PLUSH

Best Powder Day of the Year

Back to back powder days. Tuesday morning was outstanding, 17 inches and it continued to dump all morning long. It was snowing at least 2 inches per hour. Powder doesn't get any better than this. The Milly bowl was closed all day for obvious reasons. I took about 8 runs and every run had untouched freshie's. Even after 6 runs backbone still was giving up untracked lines. I was riding my snowboard and you had to be very careful to keep you speed up at the bottom of the runs because the powder was so deep.

Wednesday was calling me and I talked Craig into joining me. We arrived at 8:50 and the powder addicts were already lined up. The Milly bowl was open today after being closed on Tuesday. There was 31 inches of pow waiting to be had. It was feeding frenzy and the bowl was tracked out after 2 runs. We had 2 sick runs down Scree slope as you can see below. We made into the side country and we were the 3rd set of tracks in the Mary chutes. I was riding skis today so I could get around on the traverses better. We put down 3 laps in the Mary main chute. I took a few runs with my bro Jeff. We dropped in Peanuts and then Rock Garden. The video below is Craig in the Mary Chutes. I just ordered my ski building materials. Stay tuned for my home made super fat powder skis.

Prator Canyon, Star Valley Ranch WY

This was a hike and ride I won't forget. I took my Dad's snowmobile up Prator canyon about 2 miles to my usual turn around spot. I was planning on leaving the sled and hiking for 2 hours and snowboard down. As I was getting off my sled I saw another sled coming down the narrow gully that leads up to the top. He said the trail was packed down all the way to the meadow. So I thought, let's see what my Dad's new sled can do.(Polaris 600 long track). I made it half way up the gully to the water fall. I ditched the sled and stared hiking. After about 20 minutes of hiking this this guy on a super sled (1100 Arctic Cat) asked if i wanted a ride to the top. The trail was already pretty steep and way beyond my sledding ability. I said sure, if he wanted to. He took my backpack and had me sit in front and he stood behind me. Off we went - up, Up and UP. This sled had some serious HP. Both of us weighted 400 lbs and it was climbing like a billy goat. We went as far as the top meadow. I teamed up with 4 other boarders/hikers. We blazed the trail to Prator/Green Canyon ridge which took us about an hour in knee deep powder. I still earned my turns. The run down was a true slice of heaven with 2 feet of super dry powder.

Snow caving Jan 23rd

I was invited to go snow caving with my local scout troop. I took them last year so they asked me to take them again. We went to Sky Line Drive area near Fairview UT. This a great place to go snow kiting so I thought I could kite and cave in the same trip. We arrived late Friday night around 6:00. We had 9 in our party. It took about 2 hours to dig 5 caves. We then connected all caves with a short tunnel. It was a mild night with temps in the high 20's and clear skies. We woke to several inches of snow and zero visibility. Snow kiting was out with the poor visibility. Everyone stayed warm including my 6 year old son, Griffin. After breakfast we took them down to the park and ride snow board hill.

Y Couloir-Little CC

After being totally inspired by the straight chuter blog, I have been itching to go hiking. I decided on the Y Couloir to scratch my itch. I've never hiked this chute before so I wanted to explore it before a inviting any friends.
It was super warm and it actually rained a little bit on the way up. I made it to the first Y, which took a about 70 minutes. The snow was getting pretty wet so I wasn't feeling totally comfortable with the conditions. The chute was about 40 wide so making turns was no problem. There were a few rock bands in two places which kept the decent interesting. I've be back to finish this Couloir later in the year.

Snow Kiting-New Year's Day

My long time friend talked me into starting off the new year hanging on to a kite. This was first time snow kiting this year and my first time kiting since June. Cycling has replaced a lot of my kiteboarding free time.

We rode Strawberry River which is between Daniels Summit and Strawberry Reservoir. Great place to ride. My legs were spend after two hours our solid riding. No rest like you get on a ski lift.