goings on

So, what happened was that my chain broke.  That makes two chains on two bikes in as many weeks.  The "trusty" 3D was starting to show some age.  Or starting to show some signs of neglect really.  Im just pedaling along, on a nice flat section of trail when the chain snaps.  I do the usual fix, of make it a single speed.   The bike doesnt like this very much, the chain tightens up and shears the bolts off the small chainring.  I walked home.  The week before this problem, the front fork shoots craps so i was already pedaling around on a rigid bike.  I got to thinking that the problem is that the bike is 5 years old and has had all the good parts robbed off it and the rest have been seriously neglected.  The XTR cranks are swapped for cheapies from ebay, the Easton post is on the cross bike, the Selle Italia saddle is on the other cross bike, the pedals are mismatched and junk, fork is laying against the wall in the garage, tires are 3 years old and cracking, its a custom bike, and the correct stem is on my 26 hardtail, etc...  So I decided to fix it.

Pics are upcoming, but it now rolls around as a sweet 19lb geared aluminum 29er with full on XX,  trued wheels, new tires, 4ti eggbeaters, and then only problem is that after tearing apart the fork I learned that it is shot.  I dont know if Aluminum bikes can still be ridden offroad quickly but I think it might be the Chequamegon bike.

In case I forgot this race. Its not until October, but probably should be added to the calender so that your legs dont forget what mtb racing is about before the btepic.

Supersecret training plan

Fast guys on skinny tires and epic loops on the mtb makes for a pretty swell weekend. 

3 great hours on the colorado trail followed by....

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More Fun

I used to race against Rad Ross when we were just little kids racing BMX bikes in Colorado. He has a really good point about XC racers at the end of the video. In that spirit, im headed to Breck to ride the mtb, watch a little road racing, and generally have some fun. I think UCI XC racing has burned me out that style of racing for a little while, guess its a good thing that season is over.

Dirty Kanza Video

The Dirt Rag Dirt Kanza Video contest is going on right now here.  Watching these videos makes the race seem pretty cool.  Ive been pretty against doing it the past few years, for fear it would leave me exhausted for a month of summer racing.  2012 could be the year to give it a shot.

Spoke Poney

Racing at Swope is fun.  Ive only ridden a grand total of 6.5 laps there in my life and its easily the best trail system around.  4 at last years xc race, where I rolled a tire off the rim, and then finished on a flat front.  2.5 at this years race when I flatted a rear tire and found the valve stem to be completely unremovable due to a huge build up of dried CaffeLatex.  If only someone had a pair of pliers on the trail i would have been good to go. So my solid 10 minute lead after an hour of racing was all for not, yes I know Travis Donn was only a minute and some change behind, but he was a 6 hour racer.  It was a pretty big bummer because I was having a blast cruising through the rocks and had just gotten through a bit of an upset stomach and was planning on trying to up my fastest lap of the day as the trails were drying out nicely.  That will happen when you take down 3 gels and two bottles of EFS in an hour with the idea of feeling awesome the entire 3 hours.  It took about an hour to walk back to the feed zone where I packed up and headed for home. 

Did I mention the race started at the bottom of a paved climb, which was fun and sorted the race out nicely except for the fact I did get warned "if you want the spot you better not screw up" or something like that when I jumped past 2 or 3 guys right before the singletrack to find G-Wiz's wheel.  From now on I wont screw around at the starts so I wont make people nervous about my riding abilities.  I dont know how many flats that is this year, but its a lot...Ouachita, Sea Otter, BumpNGrind, Missoula, Swope, just to name a few. 

Results are here.

Im going out to ride my trusty 3D that has had the same Hutchinson Pythons on it for 3 years, how could this be??  I gotta go do a load of start intervals, Then its time to get this blog caught up.  Whens the next localish race???? 

Colorado Trail Race

Every year I watch this race online. Its pretty cool to watch the riders progress. There are tons of interesting stats on this site as well. Seems like it would be a fun adventure.  Being that the race is free, its a great value for something like 350 miles of singletrack riding through Colorado.  Its 112 degrees out right now, so I might have to charge up my lights and ride in the middle of the night when it cools off to a chilly 90.