ThinAir Boy

White Rim - March 20 - Self Supported

2010-03-21T19:51:00.013-06:00

This was my first self supported White Rim trip in one day. Jamie Kent and Matt Davis invited me on this crazy adventure. I've raced cyclocross with these guys for the last 2 years. We camped at the bottom of Mineral Bottom road. It was a frosty morning around 25 degrees. We started riding at 7:30am and climbed out of the canyon in a clockwise direction. It was sunny but still cold. We had on full winter gear: Tights, booties, gloves, double jersey's, cap.The Mineral Bottom was a long ride. Luckly the road was dry, I bet it was muddy a few days ago. The was still snow on the road going to the park. At 10:30 it was only 34 degree at the ranger station. Ouch!!I had icicles on my water bottles for 3 hours. We took a 1/2 hour stop at the visitor center to let Jamie get some feeling back into in his frozen toes. We stashed a bunch of bladders filled with water the night before at the top of the Shafer trail. We were sure the bladders were going to be frozen solid but the morning sun warmed them up just fine. The Shafer trail was closed to 4x4's because of snow. As you can see it was no problem for our bikes.
Temps warmed up on the actual White Rim. We were able to shed some layers and get moving. I had my bonk early in this trip. I guess it's good to get that out of the way. Matt put the hammer down in route to the Potash Camp site. My back was getting sore and I could never seem to bridge the gap. I wanted to stop for some Advil but I didn't dare stop. I thought he would never stop. When Matt did stop, we enjoyed some delicious cold Barbacoa burritos for lunch. The cool temps kept our water consumption low. 3 water bottles in 5 hours of riding. We only passed 5 cars the whole day. Winds gods must have really liked us with the calm winds all day long.

Matt and Jamie road with two 100 oz bladders on their backs. I chose to carry the water on my bike and save my lower back. I mounted some aero bars on the my handle bars and strapped on a hip pack and my camel back on the front bars. I had 100 oz bladder, 5 water bottles, 3lb burrito, 10 Cliff bars, tights, and jacket all on my handle bars. It must have added 25 pounds to my bike but it sure beat having it my back. Steering took some time to get used to.
Jamie was hitting his bonk just before White Crack. Murphy's kicked my butt. I gave it a good shot but after having 8+ hours on the legs and the extra weight there was no way. I walked most of it. We took a 1/2 hour break at the top and enjoyed some warm sun.
We were glad to see Matt hit the wall on the descent from Murphy's to Potato Bottom. Sunset was at 7:15 and were approaching our last climb at Hard Scrabble. We past a camp site at Potato bottom with everyone cheering us on. "Bring on the night riders." It was an interesting descent from the top with our lights. The temperature differences were dramatic as we followed the small dips in the road following the Green River back to the car. We finished just before 9pm. 13:23 was our total trip time covering 102 miles.

The last thing I wanted to do was camp. I talked everyone into taking a short drive to Moab and we found a nice warm bed at the new La Quinta. What a ride!

Cyclocross #7 Weber Fairgrounds

2009-11-08T22:09:00.002-07:00

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

2009-10-04T15:26:00.006-06:00

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

2009-07-26T19:30:00.006-06:00

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

2009-04-04T22:13:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-03T14:48:00.007-06:00

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

2009-03-29T19:54:00.017-06:00

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

2009-03-05T16:36:00.007-07:00

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

2009-02-18T22:36:00.005-07:00

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

2009-01-31T19:30:00.008-07:00

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

2009-01-25T20:34:00.006-07:00

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

2009-01-23T15:21:00.005-07:00

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

2009-01-02T20:11:00.003-07:00

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.

Bear Trap 12-27

2008-12-30T22:15:00.004-07:00

I finally made to the back country. The avalanche danger has been high for last 2 weeks. The rain crust from Thanksgiving is really making a mess of the snow pack. Bear Trap canyon on the north side of Big Cottonwood is my safe bet when the snow pack is sketchy. I climbed the south facing slope up to the ridge line. Desolation lake is just off the ridge. You can see the "spine" of the Wasatch Crest trail in the background.

Snow Biking

2008-12-20T21:24:00.010-07:00

My day started off with some freezing ski runs at Brighton this morning. It was around 0 degrees . Janie and I came home early so I called Berk to see if he wanted to go riding. Berk is always up for a ride. We started riding about 3:00 and I had the brainy idea of climbing up to Sun Crest on the road and descending the new Maple Hollow DH trail. This was my first time back on the bike in 10 days and I could feel it. Riding up the Sun Crest road with a 28 lb. mtn bike was a lot work.

There was more snow than I expected at the trail head. It was was axle deep and the drifts were pushing 18 inches. We weren't going any where at the top. I thought that if we could get of the ridge and avoid the drifts we navigate the snow. We rode down Elk Glen drive to the north and entered the trail on the double track road that intersects the upper portion of the trail. We actually were able to ride the road and about 800 yards of the single track. It was a wild ride with 12 inches of powder and disc brakes that didn't do much except squeal.

We pretty much had to hike our bikes down from the first ladder bridge to the paved road. Hiking down kept our heart rates up so it was warmer than riding the road down the road.

It was a beautiful view of the valley on the slow descent. There were some snow squalls coming off the Great Salt Lake highlighted with a pink glow of the setting sun. It was worth a good laugh. We either need a warm spell to melt some snow or have a group skin up the trail on skis to pack down a trail.

Nite Ride Dec 11

2008-12-12T15:11:00.003-07:00

We have kept up our weekly night rides for the last 3 months. Our light purchases have paid off. This was by far the coldest and snowiest night yet. Craig and me were the regulars and Jamie joined us for his first ride in Corner Canyon(CC). We meet a guy, Scott at the trail head and we decided to try Clark's trail. The gate was locked at the bridge so we went down and tried Ghost falls via the CC Road. Clark's would have been challenging if the gate was open. The snow was about 3-4 inches near the gate. The lower section of the shore line trail was 90% snow free. The CC road was 70% snow free and had car tracks all the way up to the top of Ghost Falls(GF) Trailhead. The above picture is at the top with only about 3 inches of snow. The gate at the top of GF was open and we had fresh tracks all the way down. The upper trail was a blast with 3 inches of dry snow. I was bringing up rear and I had more control making a fresh line rather then follow the other tracks. Our lights seemed to double their light output with reflection from the snow. We took a right at the fork and descented the north lower section of Ghost falls. Since this is south facing most of it was snow free. Great ride eventhough our feet were cold. I'm bidding on used pair MTN shoes that are a size larger so I can wear extra socks.

Maple Hollow DH Trail

2008-12-10T21:21:00.011-07:00

After hearing all the hype from some fellow cross racers I had to try out this new trail. I had my wife shuttle me to the top on Dec 1st. The top part was cut through some tight oak trees. Similar to the new section of the lower part of Jacob's Ladder. The trail was surprisingly wet and sticky. Clarks just a few days early was firm and dry but it still remained wet on the shady parts of the trail. I suppose since the trail is new the ground has not been compacted like Clark's. The trail crosses a double track road and then descents rapidly over some very loose rocks. Then trail starts to take life as I goes over a small ladder bridge and leads to the "hole". I walked this section since I was alone and I didn't want to screw myself up for the last CX race. With a low seat and some practice this will be sweet. The trail has A and B lines marked with a Black Diamond or a Blue Square. The conditions were pretty sloppy so it was too difficult to carry enough speed to take the jumps and make the transistions. If we get a good freeze the trail should be firm enough to get familiar with the speed needed for the ramps. Nothing is super big that a DH bike is needed. The trail then follows the natural gully features of the canyon with some steep and bermed quick drops and rises. Keeping your speed up is key to make it up the other side on these. The trail ends with a series of nicely bermed turns and like eye candy, bike porn at its best.

CX Draper #11

2008-12-08T23:02:00.005-07:00

Last race of the season and only 24 points separate the 5th through 10th overall places and I'm holding steady at 8th. This race is double points so any of us could take the lead. I wanted to keep Matt and Jamie close. I know on most races they are usually a few places ahead of me.

The start was at the bottom of the hill near the bridge. I kept a good pace up the hill and when we crested the hill I'd say about 15 riders were ahead of me, Matt and Jamie were a couple places ahead. The run up was long but I was feeling good and held my position through out most of the lap. At the top of lap 2 I notice Eric M was is in the pit area with a flat. Ouch, that hurts. The crowds were loud at the top and someone yelling "Go mike" which turned out to be Mark. Thanks for the cheer.

I kept Matt close but Jamie must have got a lead on Matt. Jason W was close on my tail in the 2nd and 3rd laps. 4th lap I sucked Matt's wheel all the way to the top and Pat was in reach about 200 yards ahead. We gained some time coming down to the rodeo turns and up the hill by the bathrooms. I made an attack towards Pat in the parking lot and yelled at Matt as I passed him that we can catch Pat. I had a lot speed coming around the paved turn down to the dirt parking area. I almost caught Pat as we approached the single track. I knew this part well and I just flew down the trail. As I chased Pat on the NW corner of the track I was thinking I just had to keep him in reach until the run up and then I would attack on the run up.

I hit the loose sand corner and my bike slid out from under me and whole race just went in slow motion for a few seconds. It felt like I had just fallen skiing and was sliding down a mountain. It was a pretty graceful slide. The slow motion button was abruptly changed to fast forward. I jumped back on my bike and peddled as fast I could to catch Pat. My fall and remount was so quick that Matt didn't have time pass me. My heart was red-lined and the adrenaline was pumping. I almost crashed on the next turn and went wide to avoid another fall. Matt passed me on the turn and told me to shake it off, and we could still catch Pat. Jason had caught me too as we climbed up the single track to the bridge. He asked if I was ok, I couldn't talk, I was trying to recover but I knew I had nothing in the gas tank. Jason passed me on the run up like I was standing still. I was walking up the hill giving it everything I had to get my bike over the last barrier. As I descended the hill to the first obstacle turn I could see that Matt and fallen but recovered quickly. There was a big gap in front and behind me as I descended to the bridge. There was no way I could catch Matt. I took a steady pace up the hill thinking there is no use in killing myself, just keep a good gap between the kid behind me. As I passed the last barricade I heard some spectators cheering on the kid behind me. I had a good 100 yards on him before he stood up and was attacking me, I answered his attack and gave it everything I had. Which was enough to get across the line with about 30 yards to spare. What a race, I finished 10th, 8th overall.

CX Wheeler #10 Nov 30th

2008-12-01T22:21:00.008-07:00

Turned out to be cold and cloudy morning for cross. To make matters worse I forgot my toasty Craft gloves. Similar course as #8 with some added slalom turns in the main run up area. I was #6 in the call ups. I started out strong and fast and took lead just in front of Eric Miller. It was great to have the lead going into the hole shot (the course had sharp right turn then narrow off camber section for 100 yards then a 180 turn). We went down the gully and then circled back to a nasty large off camber hill. I kept the pace and kept the pole position in the "belly" woods. I really like this narrow single track section and thought I would try and put some some distance on the pack. I came out of trees with about 100 yard gap and charged towards center slalom course. The crowds were cheering as my name came over the PA, "Mike Rossberg #1228 is in first place". Eric and 3 others closed the gap as we approached the run up barriers. I kept the lead down the hill by the river as we circled back north to ponds I could feel myself losing steam. I gave up the lead on the back straight away. As we ended the first lap I was in 3rd after 10 minutes of glory I was spent. I struggled to keep a decent pace in the second lap as it felt like everyone was passing me, but in reality I only lost about 10 positions. Matt Davis and Jamie Kent passed me.

The lead group was not far ahead, as I could clearly see them only one turn ahead in the slalom section. The 3rd lap I got back a rhythm and to my surprise Eric went down in the rooty leaf covered slalom turns which allowed me to ride on his wheel out to the north of the lap. I could tell Eric didn't have head back in the game from the fall, he was taking turns wide and going of the track. I sucked his wheel for 1/2 of the east straight away which nice to have little recovery from my insane max heart rate first lap. I fast rider passed both of us and chased hoping Eric wouldn't have the gas to follow. It worked, I stuck on the fast guy's wheel and never saw Eric again. I was in small group of 3 in the 4 th and final lap. I stayed back and the let the group of 2 set pace. We dropped one by the pond and I stayed about bike length behind Stephen B. He seemed like a young rider, he accelerated in north end trees which I matched. I drafted off him on the east straights, he attacked again on the south single track section, I matched. I put the hammer down on the road going north to the finish. We sprinted side by side for 200 yards but I had more left in the tank. I had a good gap going into the final "hole shot" where the finish line was. Finished 14th, 3 behind Matt. VERY VERY FUN!

CX Wheeler #8

2008-11-21T16:49:00.005-07:00

Wheeler was a great race. I finished 8th out of a huge field of 60 Men's C riders. It was nice to be part of the call ups because the start was sketchy. They shot us down a dirt road heading south then we turned right to an off camber slope. I was cut off and my front wheel almost caught in this guys derailure. I had to put my foot down but I kept my position. Next we had hard U turn then we were off in the woods.
I kept good position the first lap around 10th. I try to keep count but my brain gets starved for oxygen. The laps were very long, 10 minutes which meant we only did 4.

CX Heber Mud Fest

2008-11-09T22:19:00.006-07:00

This is my first post of my blog. Thank goes out to Mark N. for encouraging me to blog. Cyclocross race #7 was a butt kicker. I'm not sure what happened but I was not running on all cylinders. I was in 3rd place for 1/2 of the first lap and then the mud just seem to get deeper and everyone around me was getting faster. My buddy, Craig, who has been finishing like 30th, passed me on the 2nd lap and took 15th. I felt good before the race, I even put down Red Bull an hour before the race, which I haven't done before. Even with a pathetic finish I think I moved up a spot to 2nd overall. It helps when the number one rider was a no show for the last 2 races.

The Heber Valley was foggy for the start of Men's C flight at 9:30.