OilcanRacer, Healthy body Sick mind

This time for sure!!!

2011-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

from an email i just got:

Send Details To Claim seven hundred and fifty thousand great british pounds in British Premier Oil Promo. Send:

from	kimqra@peak.org
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date		Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 10:29 AM
subject		Send Details To Claim seven hundred and fifty thousand great british pounds in British Premier Oil Promo. Send:
mailed-by		peak.org
		Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.

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One of my favorite songs.....

2011-09-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

watch all of it..

not so much for the words, but for everything else. although i did get repramented recently for not being a rich man anymore

Happy Birthday to Sasha....

2011-07-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

hey is that frosty paws...umm...cause i like frosty paws...

meee too!!!

aww three years old
what the humans ate
happy birthday day to you....sasha. blowing out the candles
can't wait for the frosty paws doggie ice cream
here it comes!!!
hurry hurry hurry up
oh please....
nom nom nom

this stuff is like doggie crack. they almost ate the plastic bowls

nother concert this time not in deer valley with shaun barrowes

2011-07-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

so this morning i awoke to a bunch of hot air balloons floating over our house.

tonight we went to a concert at john and mindy's lovely big beautiful house and backyard with shaun barrowes doing all the musicianshipness

here we are with smiles all around as usual
me goofy as ever, jan cute as ever

she looks like a red hot sexy Ferrari in this dress

All over Deer Valley and pics of stuff i saw on the trail

2011-07-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

first off a pic from the fire road race a couple of weekends ago.

rode across town and up to deer valley resort. up rossi hill trail. its a bit rough and has some steepish sections. not great climbing,but not too bad.
made my way across daly road and more up. wound up choosing the wrong fork and had to climb a very steep loose rock climb. should have gone right instead of left.
headed up to powerline and had to turn around as i kept getting bombarded with dh guys and too steep climbing on my 32x17 single speed. lots of 2-3 foot drop offs and big root sections.

got back down to a steep fire road and then tried gravedigger with the same problem. back up more steep fire road and finally went up empire link to mid mountain.

then up tour de suds and down team big bear. again mid mountain and up a no name steep rooty trail. this mellowed a bit and cut across with lots of switchbacks. down homeward bound to mid mountain then across for a while and up another steep trail i did see a name. this one had a snowmobile on the trail

that led me back across a trail called moose bones that dumped me out on t&g.

so i went down t&g and got to compare my new kona unit steel single speed rigid bike to my white jet9.

kona:
very efficent, fast, good pedaling and fun.

jet9:
suspension and higher speeds, spongy climbing, quick steering

both bike seemed nimble, but in different ways. the jet has a steep head angle so the front end steers fast. the kona unit has short chainstays and is whippy, but slack head tube angle.

also the kona has 710mm bars and got stuck quite a few times in the narrow trees. here is one

got all the way across to another trail and even farther this time. connected to "link" trail and that turned into a dh trail with challenging stuff for a rigid bike. eventually connected that to some of the trails i came up, so i switched to new off shoots and found these old cars on the trail. some even had good chrome still.

her is another shot of the snowmobile as i repast it again.
came down a loose rock rough trail that dumped me on prospector road and then crossed town to home. 4 1/2 hours of good steep climbing and techy downhill through some jungle in the forest.
i am tired from this one as i didn't have a lot of rest from the night before.

Sweeny trail, guardsman road, mid nountain, round valley...maybe something new

2011-07-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

friday we rode across lost prospector trail, crossed park city and up sweeny's, then connected to flat cable and cresent mine grade trail. that goes into mid mountain and then down spiro.
its a fun combo with sweeny and flat cable having some steep and rocky climbs.
jan climbing strong through the jungle that is over growing everywhere this summer

just a teaser pic of something new i just got. more on that tomorrow
got some fun laps in round valley. saw this little guy on the trail.
today went up guardsman road from p.c. city. this is my new favorite steep, constant road climb. starts at around 6,000 ft. and climbs solid to about 10,250ft.

your on pavement for the first part and it goes up, up, up. 10-14% grade with only two small 7% grade parts.

then the pavement ends and your on gravel road. its got studder brake bumps and good size loose gravel. no real ruts but the bumps makes for tough climbing up that steep grade.

ends at the parking lot just before scotts trail into puke hill. i climbed faithfully in middle chain ring until the gravel road. i slipped into little chainring as my legs are used to mashing a big single speed gear, not spinning. over the next couple of weeks i will repeat this hill and keep that middle gear as a goal.

took the same way down untill i saw this trail, "t&g". its a classic park city black diamond downhill trail. pretty tame. more like a beginner one. a few root drop offs, couple of rocks and lots of switch backs. what it had was tight tight tree sandwiches. my 580mm bars on the white jet9 just barely made it though.
that dumped me onto a fire road and then i got over to mid mountain. took that to spiro and down that again.

we went to see a band at the canyons with everybody else in town. little picnic and wine. we stayed for a while and then headed over to jordenelle lake to see the boat parade and band there

the boat parade was the exact opposite. lots of white trash and beer. woman with big beerbellies and guys with even bigger bellies. side note observation. park city=wino's and sports bodies, heber lake= beer and bellies.....

Polar bears came from Ireland

2011-07-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

Perhaps polar bears roar in Gaelic.

An international team, led by Penn state scientist Beth Shapiro, has traced the ancestry of modern polar bears to a single female who likely lived somewhere in Ireland.

And this ursine Eve was probably brown, not white.

According to the research, some 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, ancient polar-like bears opportunistically interbred with the brown bears native to the British Isles. This may have allowed the polar ancestors to survive better during especially warm or cool periods in the earth's history, when the the habitats of the two species was most likely to be pushed together.

Polar bears and brown bears are very different species in many ways — size, diet, habitat, teeth, you name it. In fact, polar bears are the largest land carnivore on earth, whereas the brown bear's subspecies can range from relatively small, like the grizzlies of North America, to as large as polar bears with Yukon browns.

But interbreeding with local subspecies can provide a competitive advantage for both groups when they are brought into contact. Each species will pick up genes from the other, providing genetic diversity.

Strictly speaking, it was already known that brown bears and polar bears have interbred several times in the distant past. What wasn't known was the comparatively precise date range of the most important interbreeding, and the location in which it occurred.

"The bottom line is that the two species bumped up against one another for extended periods of time on different occasions, sharing both habitats and genes," Shapiro said in a press release.

The team traced this ancestry using mitochondrial DNA, a simple, circular form of DNA found inside the energy-producing organelles of every animal (indeed, every eukaryotic) cell. This DNA is passed only from mothers to children, and is less likely to undergo random mutations. This makes it useful in determining accurate lineages of species over thousands of generations, but means only female lineages are looked at.

It's not that the female ancestor is the oldest of all ancestors of modern polars, only that she would have been the only female ancestor of every modern polar bear.

Shapiro said that the next step is to turn the attention of research to chromosomal DNA. The more familiar variety in the nucleus of animal cells could tell us more about the frequency of interbreeding, what environmental changes spurred it to happen, and much more.

Institutions and scientists in California, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Russia, Sweden, and of course, Ireland, also contributed to the research.

Free Slurpee today only, must read

2011-07-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 11

Happy 7-Eleven Day
Our Birthday, Your Bash Stop by for a FREE 7.11 oz Slurpee drink, general merriment and a one-man dance party should you choose to start it.

Type:
When: Monday, July 11 12:00 AM until 12:00 AM

Fire Road race in Cedar City 100k, 60k

2011-07-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

we got to cedar city a day before on friday and had a easy spin around town and up the start of the fire roads.

a small(for a race) group lined up for this race, about 200 racers. there was even one other single speeder and guess what? he was a fixie mountain biker...

i noticed when he would unclip and throw his legs back and the cranks would spin. i tried that and mine would just lay there not moving.

we started out at main street park. a nice park with lots of big trees and ample shade. tents set up for a few company's including maxxis. the event promoters got the street closed off and then we got a police motorcade on roads out to the mountain. paved road turns to gravel road, but well graded and an easy pedal.

about 9 miles of that and then we are directed to the mountain and up, up up.

the first climb is long and steady. not too steep or too easy. just the type of climb you don't want to go too fast at the bottom. if i had to compare it to something i would say little cottonwood canyon or millcreek road.

the overcast skies turned to sun and we really started to sweat on our climb. as we were on single speeds(32x20) we wound up last as we got to the climb. the geared bikes were able to go a little faster on the flat, but they were still in sight.
no worries as we all know the score here. very quickly us three SS started picking off the granny gear stragglers, but about a mile up the road it was apparent that the we were not even warmed up with the flat start.
we jumped off the bikes and walked a minute, then pedaled for a few then walked another minute, until hearate leveled out. there was really no other way to give hearate a rest on a SS and this constant hill.
we lost the fixie SS guy and he must have quit cause he never crossed the finish.
we then again we continued to slowly pass riders all the way up. a few times yo-yoing, but eventually they would fade. there were two tandem teams that did pretty good.
we both have had spotty riding this month and agreed to just ride this race to have fun, but ride at a medium pace. janet would sit down and mash pedals every chance she could to conserve strength, then would stand up and surge forward. i really had to pedal hard when she stood up and went. good strong climb on her part.

the climb was timed with timing chips and a separate KOM(king of the mountain) was in contention. although we started the climb at the end of the racers and finished with the lead pack in sight, i still think the lead guy was really moving up the hill and got that. we might have been close, didn't get the results as we had to leave after a while to check out of the hotel.

after the climb up, its long rolling graded gravel country roads that eventually get somewhat steep downhill. you really had to watch your speed as the twist and turns were very slippery on rollerbearing rocks on hardpack. you are on the brakes a lot here.

we got switched to a few double track that sported an occasional rocky section and rutty areas. just enough to wake you up. the stinging thistle encroaching on the trail as it does this time of year was ouchy, but not to much of it.

a few more turns of street and side trails and we got back to the park and the start/finish.

the park was well stocked with food, massage tables, bike washing corral and volunteer.

saw a couple of utmb team guys too

the finish was very nicely done. P.A. announcer was well informed and the chute was easy to do.
pretty janet was happy to finish. well seems that she is always smiling like this.
relaxing after the race with outdoor utah magazine. they are great people and a great mag.

somewhere here is the race winner. this team had a big turnout and seemed to be fast.

we both got first men's and woman's SS. King and Queen of single speed i heard from the announcer. well it was not going to be any other way as we were the only ones.

we got our complimentary food and drinks, had the bikes washed and hung out until the awards.

this race was an extremely well organized, well marked and fun race. i highly recommend it to anybody looking to do an endurence race. the aid stations were in good places and well stocked with plenty of volunteers. a class act all the way.

we got some gas in town for the long drive home and this big headed guy was in the car next to us. a real sweetheart as his tailed destroyed the car when i pet him though the window.

felt good the whole race, but we took it medium. recover was very quick and i could have gone for another ride after a while. defiantly in better shape than i thought. looking forward to doing this next year.

Spiro to midmountain to ironman to midmountain to hollys

2011-07-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

great ride today. rode a couple of miles of road to PCMR, then up spiro. spiro is steep, but not a grunt type of climb, nor is it too long. some switchbacks and a few less steep parts. all in all a good climb.
i kept playing leap frog back and forth with a couple other geared guys on my SS as i stopped to take pics and answer my phone.

here is the bike lane in park city

nice wooden and shady climb. also i started this ride late in the day, 6pm
one of my leap froggers

spiro puts you out on a double track dirt road for a short climb that joins mid mountain trail to the right. if you continue up it connects to powerline, a nice long stead steep climb to gurdsman pass.

the right turn onto mid mountain trail has a healthy little steam that i managed to get both my feet wet crossing it.
mid mountain is fun, fast rolling and flowy. crossing the park city mountains and more shaded wooden. there is a new reroute from last year that has a new "add on"

the reroute is still a bit rough and rocky

i found a new trail newly cut and not ready for riding yet. slick on pic for all its pano goodness

then we come to this years new stuff. apparently the reroute is called "ironman trail" and a new left version will make it a complete loop. so you have the choice of two trails now that end up back to mid mountain at the same place
the new stuff is even more rough and soft, like what the reroute was last year.
the front half of the old reroute(ironman) had two very softdirt/rocky switchbacks. lucky there will be a 50k race the bob saffel will be putting on this weekend that will divert a lot of traffic to this trail and help break it in

the back half is starting to get really fun and then it dumps you back to more mid mountain goodness.

just as i got to hollys trail, which is my descent, it started with a little drizzle. the hardpack held up great, but the roots and rocks got wet, which made it treacherous.

made it down in one piece with a few almost goodnight slips. and back home.

gonna really enjoy doing this trail going down robs/collins in the future and doing that backwards as well.

4th of july shenanigans in Park Silly

2011-07-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

hangin out at the canyons for 4th of july celebrations. the soulistics played, everybody drinkin, dancin and then enjoying the fireworks.

my girl....mmmm...pretty booty shaker
lots and lots of people there

kevin from pivot cycles, dana
sitting on the blanky with the crew
then the festivities
boom, ouwwww, ahhh, owwwue, ahhh...etc

i am gonna start a "park city fat cop" picture segment. these guys are ridiculous.

parade pics. these guys are a celtic band
super big horse
a rock band in a double van

the celtic guys
xc road ski guys
luge land guys

ok so we got to the parade late and only got a few pics. fun anyways.

Finona the wonder dog needs a new home, please help in Salt Lake City area

2011-07-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

if you could repost this or help by fostering this lovely doggie.

Fiona is a great adorable jack russell, gets along with all people and dogs. House trained, petsmart obedience classes, loves to cuddle and good with kids(we have a 10 year old).

She is a typical jack russell. Lots of energy, loves to run and play, critter chasing on trails, will bark a couple times when you leave for work, then lays down. will not bark all day or at every sound. Kennel train and likes her little castle. She will inspire you to take her out so you "both" can get exercise. Loves the snow and can get through any dept of snow.
Current on all shots, super healthy. Little dogs eat very little and have little poo-poos(easy to clean)

Once she bonds to you, she will be your little buddy.

Neighbor turned us in for too many dogs, Fiona is one of the better of our dogs to find a home for.

millcreek, mirror lake, deer valley rides

2011-07-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday rode up millcreek road to check out big and little water trails. rode my single speed in a 32x17. felt surprisingly good, but i was rested from not much riding lately.

made it to the gate in 18 mins, some kind of record for me in a stiff head wind.

made the upper parking lot in 42 mins. another good time. didn't feel like i was pushing hard at all. the bike and gear was mostly to blame. half sitting and half standing effort.

the road was dry going up, with only one small creek running on the road area. the gate will open this weekend.
the parking lot empty, but snow still looming all around. little water trail had mud and snow right away so i tried big water.

big water had mud and snow as well after a little while so i rode back down via pipeline.

pipeline was very green and spring time conditions

friday i rode from park city to mirror lake on the road. its a fun long ride of hills. i need to get in some time on the saddle for the fireroad race next weekend. between allergies and a nagging lagging cold i have not had much time on the bike.

the first couple of hills out of park city to kamas are up and down. get over them quickly. riding the bigger gear on the single speed lately has really pumped up my torque as i was able to easily climb in bigger gears than in winter.

past kamas its mellow long climb up the mountain for a while. it felt almost flat until i got the the lakes area

somehow i didn't get a pic of the lakes as i was enjoying the view and pedaling away. felt again surprisingly well for the speed and effort i was doing.

ride time was five hours total. the ride down the hill and back up the last four hill was into a pretty hard headwind. i was pedaling hard just getting down the hills. going up kinda hurt a small bit.

here is matt love doing something silly. thursday morning rides are still in effect. we rode up to ensign point and then farther to the radio towers. steep climb then some fireroad

saturday jan and i rode up skid row to deer crest trail to village trail to pipeline/outlook across to deer valley and back. some fun short steep efforts, lots of shady forest single track and lots of tight switchbacks. two hours out and back, short and sweet.

I don't really know what to think about this.

2011-06-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Seagull steals camara while shooting video

2011-06-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

Lava Hot Springs Idaho was relaxing

2011-06-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

except for ruining my shins while tubing down a river we were warned not to go down. so we went down it many times.

went to the water slide pool park that had three very high platforms to jump off. very proud of jan for summing up the courage to jump off the middle one. the highest one got ya 5-6 seconds of arm waving free fall until you hit the water very hard/fast and went very deep into a seemingly bottomless blue pool. the slides were fun.
there was inevitably an older out of shape gent that leaned too far back while jumping in off the top platform, landed on his back with a loud "oooffffff", lifeguards cleared the pool and they slowly floated him to a waiting ambulance. he didn't look too good.

the hot spring pools were very nice. many pools in varying temps from way too hot to luke warm. some how after a while we always ended up in the hot pools, not the scorching hot ones.

the mineral waters sure did its job as we mucho mellow at the moment. good reset button for anybody that is looking for that.

didn't get any pics of the fun rapids we tubed/rafted down. or the good eateries or different hot spring pools. my bad. but in my defense we were having a good time and .....um..... over relaxed.

collins to robs is open

2011-06-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

decided that enough warm days have passed since the last effort and i should see if its clear up to mid mountain

darn dirty lens on the iphone
going up collins there are two tight rocky switchbacks that i am 50 for 50 in my 32x17 gear on the single speed.

problem is there is a rock just at the end of the turn and i have no speed left to get over it. today i hit the rock right as my cranks were exactly vertical. i quickly back pedaled and then mounted all efforts to get over, but in doing so i also put all weight forward.
this action lifted the front wheel and produced zero foreard momentum. and yes i did a slow motion fall over. but my shin hit another large rock and got a good size monkey bump. ya know its gonna hurt later when you start riding again, endorphins kick in and you still have pain.

this tree fell over taking most of the trail with it. the day was picture perfect, with warm temps and blue sky's.crested collins to robs and to my disbelief i made it all the way up robs to midmountain trail. of course 200 yards into it there was this river and downed tree waiting for me. after that it was river after snow patch after river...etc. so i rode back down.
still needing more saddle time for today i rode down robs to rodebud and then across and up ambush. this was a nice, hot and dry climb. made it to short swing trail and decided to take that over to hollys trail
waiting on hollys was three major rivers crossing the trail and a couple of downed trees. the trail was beat up from runoff and no traffic yet.
had to go slow as just around every turn was a washout, big loose rock or river. made it down and back home for a three hour ride. very nice.
tomorrow morning is the thursday early ride. ensign peak i believe.

The Dali Lama walks into a pizza place and asks.....

2011-06-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

"can you make me one with everything"....

the kid behind the counter just stares back with a blank face....

Flying dog is really fun

2011-06-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

got to flying dog via the cove trail and then some streets. cove is a nice fast rocky descent.

awwww look at this little guy. seeing a lot of these snakes lately.

the descent into glenwild has more embedded rocks on the trail with all the rain. i notice these things riding the rigid single speed
spring is really green on the backhalf.
made it up the switchbacks fairly fast in the 32x17. the forest was relatively dry for spring time conditions. there was about six muddy spots and four pits to walk around.
more rocks
the ride down the front part is ridiculously fun. fast twisty, flowy and on a monday almost nobody on the trail.

the few climbs went by fairly quick
a couple of creeks are still active, but well protected with rocky armor

all in all i wound up doing flying dog loop in 1:15, that's including stops for pics. i was surprised and thought i was going way slower. the climbing must have been the same, but my downhill speed was way faster due to no traffic or being slow down by other riders in front of me.

the rigid single speed is a blast to ride on this trail. big smile all around.

made my way back to the cove trail on the street and the climb up was easy this time. really liking this ride and will do it a bunch of times this summer.

Collins to robs to snow.....humphfff

2011-06-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

collins trail starts off all innocent, but within a few pedal strokes it gets steeper and the switch backs just keep on coming.

they just keep getting thrown at ya, smooth, rocky and this one. starts off smooth and then ends in a steep jutted rocky thing. you loose your speed in the turn then are forced to climb up little bumpy outcropings. in my 32x17 gear it was like doing a track stand and not being able to go forward. i made it the second time.
gotta pay attention cause the trail signs are not very helpful. they say one thing then they say another farther up
a couple of downed trees and then...
snow patches that get more close together until its all snow. gotta wait for more snow melt.....
gonna try spiro and then across tomorrow.

First 6am ride of the year done

2011-06-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

easy ride up city creek to bst. moody, matt

chad and neil

This vid made me laugh my a$$ off

2011-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

the ending is great.

Meat Glue and its legal

2011-05-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

So much for my ride today...:(

2011-05-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

and i don't mean riding on the trampoline...

ride cancelled due to snow on trails and ice on road.

2011 Sundance Spin at Soldier Hollow

2011-05-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

racing the soldier hollow course backwards was kinda brutal. all the downhills had a steep turn at the bottom so no momentum was able to be used going up the many climbs.

it was tough on a single speed. some parts of the course was fun, but not enough. add to the fact that there was a muddy grass bog at the start finish(i hate mud) really didn't tickle my fancy.

the attendance was low due to these facts understandably. we still raced on. i did two easy laps and had to walk a few of the second lap short steep hills. wound up yo-yoing with geared riders on the downhills. i would pass on the steep or rough spots(my rigid against their suspension geared) and then they would pass on the flat or slightly downhill when i ran out of gear.

there was a fun part on the first lap downhill(not knowing the course from not preriding) when erin swenson(tall nordic blonde) just got by me before the fast part and then was able to just stay ahead for most of it.
she kept asking if i wanted to pass and i kept saying "no" mostly due to i can ride faster with a rider just in front of me for the fast twisty part when i don't know what is coming up. i tend to blow thru the turns due to lacking far vision.
although i was right on her rear tire we got through, then she balked on a very steep and off camber new part of the trail. i pasted her at "mach 7" not knowing why she stopped and somehow made it though mostly hanging on by luck not skill. it was touch and go for a few seconds.
locking the brakes did nothing so i just rode it out and survived. i am sure it looked heroic, but the doo-doo in my shorts was not. once again my poor vision accidentally made me go faster.

the second lap went by quicker as i knew the uphill parts would never end and i prepared for that. was able to enjoy the second downhill without any nonsense that i was going to catch the leader ted furgeson and his big gear.

with all the relaxed last lap stuff i had some legs on the last rolling part of the course and pasted some stragglers just before getting covered in mud from the bogfest that was created 50 feet right before the finish. next time i will dismount and just walk thru the mud.

with the last race of the year done(yup early end due to mechanicals and lack of funds) i am going to concentrate on building more endurance time on the saddle and having fun riding the trails in park city. funny how half the race season is over and we still really don't have any trails to ride yet due to being covered in snow. training the year before is essential to get enough saddle time for the coming season.

i will be also using cyclocross races as boost as well. no way around it seeing how the racing season starts so early and snow keeps us off the trails to train during most of that. road training just was not cutting it for me as i hate the road and do not want to get hit by a car again. will be adding XC skiing as well next winter as i now live right by an amazing XC ski course in round valley.

If you could walk a mile in my shoes at the 5-mile pass race

2011-05-07T21:03:00.001-07:00

then you would have a blister on your heel too and i would have had to walk only 4 miles instead of five in my carbon ballet racing shoes

lets see, $40.00 bucks to race 100% on tore up jeep road in the dessert. 5-mile pass, yup....:(

short story first i flatted at five miles from the start and had to walk back due to ripping a 4 inch gash in my front tire. it was a long hot walk in non walking shoes. forget tools next race i am packing some hiking boots......

raced single speed this race. 10 of us all happy and chatting it up. single speeders are a breed apart. right from the start everybody just slowly ramped up to a comfortable pace on the slightly uphill and kept it there. it was a nice change from the sprint start that gets faster and faster.

we soon split into two groups of five. we will call them the 32x16 group and the 32x18 group. you get the idea.
i was yo-yoing in the second group, gaining on the downhill and slowing losing ground on the up. my plan was to take it easy on the first lap and then kill it on the second.
the course has many many interconnecting trails, but was marked well enough.
mostly a rolling hills start with steepish short hills. they were littered with loose rock as was the whole course. climbing on a sigle speed was challenging at times to keep traction going up.
there were quite a few rock ledges going up.
view of the distance on the front half. btw i got there early and took pics during my practice warmup lap.
in the distance you can see the very very steep hill. everybody had to dismount and walk/run this monster.
the start of the steepy

not only steep but many rocky pitfalls
ouch. why even have something like this in a race?
the back half was a long slight uphill jeep road that turns into a bobsled later
da bobsled through the wash. there was a lot of sandy and gravely areas too. very slick and dangerous at speed. slightly downhill.
one of the sandy slipperys
click on this pano. its the view from the backside.
we then get back to rolling with steep little climbs that finish up with, yes you geussed it a jeep road.

so after tearing my tire and walking back i also managed to tear up my shoes....nice!!!
i loaned a beginner guy $10.00 so he could race, sold ian some brakes for 25.00 for his trails bike and helped two old ladies across the road. karma should have been maxed.
but i still DNF....

oh well. next week is a race at soldier hollow with much steep climbing i was told.

Not Waiting for the weather to dry out

2011-05-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

rode single speeds with jan. over to cove, dropped down then some streets over to glenwild. the first switchbacks were almost ridable due to "scotts" 15-20 waterbars he hand dug into the dirt.
thanks scott.

rode across the road to descend blackhawk. nothing else was dry or ridable so we rode back the way we came. short ride, but really sunny. good to stretch the legs on almost dry dirt.

Windy Road turns into single speed

2011-04-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

got up yesterday to an absolutely fabulas day. clear skies and lots of sun. a bit nippy, but not too bad.

here is the shot from my driveway
i decided to ride out to kamas and then back via browns canyon. right from the get go the wind was huffing and puffing and blowing me down.

when i saw waves and white caps on the tiny reservoir i decided to change the ride to 10 steep hill intervals.
took a side road that looked steep(and it was). stood up and did some big gear mashing all the way up. this sheet of ice was waiting for me at the top. it was soo slick i could not even walk across it without falling. so i didn't. i went back down and found another hill.

across the street was another steep beauty that set me up for 10x3 mins. of stand up max heartrate mashing in a big gear. 50x16 i think.

got my butt home and jan wanted to go out and ride the single speeds "and" she knew of a secrete trail that was free of mud.
well it wasn't so we rode on the road to cove trail, which was mud free and did a few spins around that. a fun hour of single speeding.

oh yeah, i forgot to tell ya that i switch to a 32x18 gear and put on some 700mm long carbon bars with very thick foam grips.
i really like the gear with the wider bars. the grips were amazing on the very embedded rocky trail. before this trail was fun, but kinda hard on the hands. with these grips it was like adding suspension, but to my hands.

got back and took the dogs for an 1.5 hour hike around round valley. they got really muddy and i had to got in the shower with them. yup thats how much sticky mud there was. clutch came out of the shower gleaming super white and smelling like a rose. not that she doesn't anyways.....lol

today there was snow in the afternoon forcased so i rode the cargo bike (oh yeah i gotta get pics of that up here tomorrow) to the market and then more doggie hiking. this time without the mud.

the cargo bike really kick for hauling stuff. i got a plastic tote on one side and a small cooler on the other for meats/cheese/ice cream.

Momma said knock you out

2011-04-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

wots up doc?

2011-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

rode parts of cove trail yesterday. the first left and second left were clear and dry for a mile each. did those quite a few times. they are embedded with lots of big rocks and really fun on the rigid single speed 29er.

here is the entrance. it only gets more fun from here.

then i crossed the street to get another short jaunt up a single track. it forks and ends on both ends. the upper crosses the street.

after crossing the street you are rewarded with a very steep short fire road. i will be return here to do some intervals for sure.

today i rode from park city out to kamas via browns canyon. it was cold, windy, raining, sleeting and hailing at times. much fun. the right clothes really make the ride!!!

the bike lane is very smooth and then it gets very narrow and rough as you get near kamas.
i saw some bison and many many farms along this backroad
here i am returning on hwy 248. the sun came out briefly and made some humid fog just a few feet off of the road.

i got three hours in at zone 3-4, so it was an easy day.

Zuibaxian

2011-04-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

if you drink enough irish whiskey you can master this fighting form...

Hawaii update...finally....

2011-04-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

as many of you know we went to maui for some R&R and escape from the snow. weather was 80-85 night and day. calm in the morning and kinda windy as the day progressed. even though it was windy it was quite warm and the wind felt nice on our sunburned skin.

the humidity was a nice change as well to the dry utah climate. we opted to lying on the beach many days instead of roaming the island as we all have been here a couple of times already.

stayed at kaanapali villas, a nice resort with spectacular gardens, pool(a stones throw from the beach) and very attentive staff. i know, why have a pool right by the beach, but we did make use of the jacuzzi and then took a cool dip in the pool.

me and my little friend. some pirates have a talking parrot, i had a talking bumble bee....
the beach was the best. crystal clear waters, with clear view of about 20-30 feet underwater, warm ocean temps, hot sandy beach and tons of fishys swimming around the coral reef just 20 feet off the shoreline. in fact we went to that famous snorkeling spot just up the way and the snorkling off our resort beach was way better
as always you can clink on any of the pano's to get a bigger. better view.

this is the view off a upper patio on the back part of the resort. we were more in front.
opps this pic belongs farther down. its part of the hana trail hike.
this is the view from the pool. just beyond the trees is the beach and water.
there is a shuffle board and cafe right there next to the beach

we decided to venture out and drive the long twisty road to hana and hike the trail. the road is cut into the side of the mountain cliff and through the jungle forest

this is on the trail and one of the many many waterfalls
the trails follows this river and many waterfalls with green green overgrowth everywhere
ok maui has this over warning of dangerous everything. signs where everywhere and people constantly warning us about waves, cliffs, food, animals, etc...everywhere we went. i guess tourist are pretty dumb and need to be warned.

ummmm...da beach(i mean falls) is data way...george....
the last(on the trail) and biggest falls. it was soo tall that by the time the water hit the bottom it was just mist.
there is another banyon tree on the trail. these trees grow roots from limbs that hit the ground and eventually turn into another tree growing into the ground or supports.

there is a bamboo forest on the way to the final falls. it is quite thick and has crowded out everything else including the sun.

now "that" is a nice back.....
on the way down there was a cow i thought was stuck in the bamboo, but they go in there to eat the young bamboo shoots and can get out. you can just barely see the head of the cow.

the grounds were filled with amazing plants. i only got a few of them here. there are soo many.

iwe collected a few shells/coral and smoothed glass from the beach. had to leave them on the island to protect some kind of law...

it was a great trip. got good core workouts, but zero bike riding in. after the giardia episode and this trip i got a three week vacation from riding.
rode four days in a row in park city lately. mix of road and a few short rides on tacky dirt that i had to turn around because i would eventually run into mud. yuk, no mud.

got my fox f29 29er fork rebuilt at revolution bike shop(my sponsor) and reset from 80mm to 100mm. also they rebuilt my carbon cannondale lefty. i never opened this fork up yet and found out that i only had two spacers in there and was running at 90mm not 80mm. that must have been why i rubbed the front tire some times on bit hits. so i put the missing one in.

next weekend is the 5-mile pass race. i have pretty much givin up on any chance for point series this year and will mainly concentrate on learning the courses for next year and building up to bigger gears and endurance. gonna ride the single speed at the next race due to not riding lately.

Racing with giardia?

2011-04-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

with what i thought was food poisining on friday morning, i mustered up the courage to drive the 4 hours to hurricane for the 2011 cholla challange. the whole drive down i was wrecked with extreme gas and intestinal dicomfort. i know "TMI", but i felt really bad and i was thinking i would right as rain on saturday for the race. well i got there in the afternoon and managed a slow granny gear investigation lap to learn the course. i did a few of the tricky parts a couple of times and was secure i could race it. the first flatish section had a few moving obsticles. big ones!!! an obsticle laying down. lucky we didn't have to cx jump this one.

the trail turns into a jeep road with varing loose/hard terrain and a few soft/dusty turns

this was later in the course. its the gavel road of slow death

next is a not too steep slick rock cilmb in two parts. a few ledges here and there to flatten your rear tire if you were lazy or too fast.

they came in two's appearently

a fun twisting single track that had way too soft turns, a short rolling climb, a short loose rock downhill, more single track, then a gravel road and a jeep dirt road into the wind.

got through the night with some pleasent team revolution company and woke up to lots more intestinal pain. ate a tiny breakfest and got ready for the race. although i was drinking lots i noticed i was very thirsty. my first clue.

i brought my protable fire pit.

this is dennis's honda element camper top

ellen guthrie had her sportsmobile camper top.

carl irwin was host mechanic for the team as ryan was busy. he worked on my brakes that have been working perfect all month and they decided to lockup again as soon as i got down south.

so this problem is either a altitude or heat issue. either way we both could not figure it out and i had to race with both brakes rubbing bad enough to stop in one revolution if spun hard by hand. rick of sage cycles told me i was losing 75-150 watss on that alone.

i did a generous warm up and got in line to the start. i was eyeballing the porta-potty as my stomach was hurting and gurgling really loud by this point.

decided to let everybody by at the start and then reel them in on the second and third lap. well that never happened. i kept at the back of the first group until the seond lap where i boinked hard.

cramping in both legs, arms and back. i went through my entire water bottle and was still cramping. the giardia was the culprit. i most likely started the race dehydrated and it didn't take much to kill me.

limped the second and third lap barley pedaling and pumping all the bumps, ruts and turns i could find to keep speed. on a side note the white jet9 was sceaming fast on the slight declined single track and the two tiny rocky downhills. i could easily catch people that were in the distance there. mostly i just never touched the brakes and let the bike do its magic.

at the turn around on the thrid lap on the flat i got a rear flat. the stans sealed, but left me with a low tire. i had to pull way off the course to be out of the way. my tiny little 8 gram hand pump took forever(30 seconds) to get back up to 22psi and i was on my way. or was i?

i looked up and could not find the trail. there were a few trails to pick from and they all looked the same. i choose the most obvious one with most tire tracks and then noticed a ride in the distance coming at me. i quickly turned around and got going the other way. my legs felt rejubinated and the cramping was gone. i passed quite a few riders as we were all in a spaced out group at the end of the course.

about two miles from the end the cramps came back and i was forced to slow down to almost nothing. the passed riders passed me back all with big grins and words of encouragemnet. i must really looked cooked.

barely made it to the finish line, and when i say barely i mean if it was 10 more feet longer i would not have finished. the voluteers took my ribbon pinned to the back of my jearsey. i took three steps and stopped, not being able to take not even one more step.

my head felt like i had a million degree fever, throat extrmely dry, brain not working at all, rest of body not responding to any comands. then i noticed the promoters table with three water coolers and the middle one even said gatoraid. i so much wanted to go there, but could not.

just then a young girl that was helping with the race earlier came up and said "mister do you need some help".

i almost cryed. for most of my life it was I who pulled over at the side of the road to help others, borrowed money to friends i new couldn't pay me back, volunteered countless hours to elderly/sick/search and rescue..... my karma has always been repaid in a lucky wonderful life, not in actual assitance when i needed help.

this little angel, my savior, was the first time in a long time that someone actually asked to help me and was in a position to do so. i croak out "would you please get me a drink from the middle cooler" and managed a semi-smile. she skipped over there and carefully brought back a full to the brim dixie cup full of sugar water. it was the most increadiable tasting thing in the world to me. she offered to get me another, i nooded and even was able to take a few steps to the drink table. a few more drinks and i made it to the table and dimissed my little rescuette with a thank you.

i hovered at that table for a long time, drinking 30-40 more cupfulls and talking with other racers. a lot of my discomfort was lessening. at least i felt like i could make it the 50 feet to the porta-potty if i had to. i decided to ride the slight decline to the car and lay down for a spell.

no sooner that i sat in my lawn chair, some little nerdy guy in my catagory came up sputtering and saying something. i calmed him down and in my feverish/worn out state i got the message that he thought he passed me, but some how i finished 2 minutes ahead of him. i explained to him that i might have cut the course by a minute when i flatted and then sped up, but that i finished 26th out of 30 racers.

he totally hit the ceiling saying that i need to go "right now" to the race director and notifiy him of this tremendous illegal move. i tried to explain to him my weakened state and that i could not even make it back up the hill for a while to fix the problem. the little guy exploded with more "this and that" and how unfair it was and .....blah blah blah. i just shut him out and layed back down.

he was upset because he came in 27th, not 26th out of 30 racers.......really i thought? half hour later i managed to get to the race director and explained the situation. "really"? he said. "yes" i had to answer. he said don't worry about it. i said, "no you should fix it for the little guy, he might have a heart attack if not". so the director placed me one minute behind the last finisher to appease the little guy that was now standing aways behind us ready to explode again if nothing was done.

i really didn't care, as if i don't podium, its the same as last place. but the little guy(i think his name is bobby) was beaming with pride on his 26th place finish. really? it takes all kinds i guess. high point of his life.

i decided i was not going to feel any better, so i drove home after the awards. it was a long misrable drive. dehydrated and beatdown from the race boink. i noticed that everytime i ate or drank, that i felt worse, not better. thats when it hit me that i had giardia not food poisining.

for the next five days i was in a world of hurt, intstinal pain, gas and fever. i know, TMI again....

my saving grace is that we are going to hawaii on sunday for a week. that should make it all better. at least i can sit on a sunny beach and relax to blue ocean waves.

i am going to totally take apart my barkes and see if that fixes them. i took the winter tires and parts off my single speed and put on all the carbon fiber and new titanium parts. got it down to 17 lbs even. nice!!! may even race that for the next time. at least the brakes won't be slowing me down.

Nerf russian roulette

2011-03-30T09:05:00.001-07:00

Blast from the past, puppy pics

2011-03-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

going thru the hardrive i found some pics of clutch when she was a puppy.

this was the first day i brought clutch home and she met the other puppy that is three months older than her. yes that dog was and is big!!!

they became the best of friends. this is after a big day at the beach and on the car ride home.
clutch really likes big and hairy dogs. this guy is her favorite at 290 pounds. she is taking him for a walk.
little spunky dogs are fun too....

Fruita colorado with some pics

2011-03-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

first off i saw this cherry syncro vw van up millcreek on thursday in the parking lot. yummy. me wants one. can i has?

we started on sat. after a slightly late start(partly my fault) at the ribbon on Tabeguache area.

with all the slickrock it was a bit of a mystery as to where the trail went sometimes...
just a bunch of paved rock.
josh bikepeddler our trail organizer guru for the day.
don't ask and i won't tell. not that i even know what this is.
just some random stuff of the day. a wide range of abilities made for good entertainment.

we got some good grub that night at "tomato" something or other food house and woke up to a few light sprinkles. decided to check out Kokopelli as it was suggested to be drier.
did a few trail loops and then on to mary's trail which is a canyon rim trail, with a green river look over.
why is this pretty girl always smiling. a real trooper, taking a good "over the bars" the day before, never once complained, just shrugged it off and kept going.

there were many a good lookout on this trail. click on the pics to get a better view.
lots of slick rock everywhere.

even though the jacuzzi seemed always to be under chlorine maintenance or jammed packed with screaming kids and the lack of waffle brew to make waffles, the motel was modest, but comfortable.

it was a good weekend with mild, but nice warm semi-sunny weather, great comapny and good riding. much fun to ride dirt instead of snow for a change. spring is right around the corner and we will get our dirt back on line.

we had better luck than the racers at the "true grit 50". they got rained out after the start and had to cancel the race.

Got hammered in the wind for three hours

2011-03-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

thought i would ride over to draper to check out how the trails are drying out. seems like it snow a little bit last night.

the whole way there i was into a strong 15-17 mph head wind. i was down to 6-9 mph on a lot of the flats and struggling. good day to work on my aero form...lol

well my four hour ride turned into a three hour ride as the wind kicked my butt. you would think on the way back that i would be sailing, but no. the wind direction changed just enough to come at me from the side and worked to knock me over and slow me down. ah well, its all a workout anyways right?

got in two hours on the bike everyday for the last four days. feeling good. yesterday i rode up rattlesnake gultch on my brothers "super D" bike after working for 8 hours of core workout. i am going to take that bike to fruita this weekend so i wanted to make sure it was running.

boy i have been spoiled on 29er's cause that little wheel bike was a pita to get up that trail. its really steep, lots of loose rocks and now the tacky wet trail is slick on all the rocks showing. i managed to dab three times due to little wheel hardship on the bottom half of the trail. forget the top. its all dirty ice to the top.

rode across pipeline for a while and dropped out at midway. the nice wide 2.5 tires made good float over the snowy trail on pipeline, but i was really fighting to stay straight. 29er wheels would have been a lot easier.

today was mostly sweetspot training with a handful of uphill short LT pulls. felt good. gonna rest tomorrow, work three hours at night, then drive five hours to fruita to meet everybody at 9am for saturday ride.

Why do you want to.....

2011-03-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

A 65 year-old man goes to his doctor for a check-up…

Doctor: “You’re doing fairly well for your age.”
Patient: “You think I’ll live to be 80?”
Doctor: “Well, do you smoke tobacco or drink beer?”
Patient: “No, I’ve never done either.”
Doctor: “Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?”
Patient: “No, red meat is unhealthy!”
Doctor: “Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, such as playing golf?”
Patient: “No, I don’t.”
Doctor: “Do you gamble, drive fast cars or fool around with sexy women?”
Patient: “No, never!”
Doctor: “Then why in hell do you want to live to be 80?”

Eeeuuuuuuu!!!!

2011-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hail on a bike really really hurts

2011-03-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

wore my waterproof biking gear today as rain/snow was expected. those that know me, know that weather doesn't stop my riding. look back in time on the blog and you will see plenty of hard weather pics.

but.....hail? ouchy...

went up millcreek road once for a little standup pedaling workout. this was going to be just the first part of the ride. started snowing a bit on the way up. no problem.

on the way down, hail. ok, not just any hail, but big hail. it hurt having only a thin thin layer of nylon between me and the icy pelts. i was staying warm and dry, but the beating continued. i slowed, but it still hurt.
i stopped, but it still hurt. it was very windy and the hail was coming down sidways. i tried hiding under a tree, but then got cold. so i braved the beating and got my arse home. the hail continued for a while so i called it quits and took a nice warm shower.

Something you might not have considered

2011-03-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

i'm just saying it could work

Happy Saints Patricks day, now get out there and ride some green

2011-03-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

nash wanted to be included in my blog. don't do this on st. patricks day

or look silly wearing funny hats
or get caught doing stupid stuff

or cut your hair like this
just have some green fun.

Utahns have nuclear reactor in their own backyard

2011-03-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

With worldwide attention focused on the nuclear crisis in Japan, many Utahns probably haven't realized there is a nuclear reactor in their own state. It's not in a remote location. In fact, it's considered so safe it's allowed to run chain reactions and produce radiation in a building full of students.

Utah's only nuclear reactor is on the campus of the University of Utah, tucked away in a corner of the Merrill Engineering Building. Students passing by a nondescript door might not know that nuclear energy has been produced just a few steps away for more than three decades.

The reactor is used for teaching and research in the university's nuclear engineering program. It sits in a tank immersed in nearly 10,000 gallons of water, and is used only intermittently.

Last year, the reactor operated a total of less than 69 hours; but it employs the same physics as a big power reactor, according to Professor Emeritus Gary Sandquist. "It produces neutrons, it undergoes fission, it has instrumentation to monitor the neutrons," he said. "Students learn how to bring the reactor up, operate it safely, how to shut it down."

Compared to the utility-scale reactors at big power plants, the University of Utah's reactor is tiny. The nuclear core is barely the size of a microwave oven -- "just two feet by two feet," Sandquist said.

Its power is so low - 100 kilowatts - that it doesn't even need a pressure vessel to contain it. "It can't release any pressure because it doesn't build up any pressure," Sandquist explained, and it never gets very hot. "It's essentially a little bit hotter than room temperature. The reactor heats the water up from about 65 degrees up to maybe 80 degrees after operating for many hours. So it can't possibly melt down or pose any risk."

The reactor's energy levels are so low that students can actually stand close by while it operates -- something that would be impossible in a full-scale power reactor. "That's part of the value of the reactor, is that students can actually visually see and move and manipulate things in the reactor while it's operating," Sanquist said.

The reactor was first activated in 1975. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission shut it down for a few months in the late 1980s because of concerns about inadequate staffing and safety monitoring. It was allowed to restart after those problems were fixed.

In 2005, ABC's "20/20" program raised questions about security. Undercover researchers for the network tested security at 25 similar reactors around the country. At the University of Utah, ABC reported finding unlocked doors, no guards, and no metal detectors. At the time, university officials described the report as exaggerated and said the undercover researchers were actually taken on a public tour. They disputed ABC's conclusions and said the reactor was secure and safe.

In the N.R.C.'s latest inspection report, dated July 8, 2010, the reactor won a clean bill of health. The federal inspectors pointed out no safety or security concerns whatever.

"There's absolutely no risk," Sandquist said. "It would probably be a greater risk that we'd have a tsunami from the West Coast that would reach Salt Lake before the reactor would cause any problems."

According to Sandquist, the reactor is currently undergoing a re-licensing procedure and is expected to operate for another 20 years.

Tire pressure makes a difference

2011-03-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

i put on new brake pads front and back and they are rubbing a bit until they break in. that coupled with my rear brake doesn't return to the open position sometimes makes for slow pedaling.

i took apart the rear brake and there is some signs of corrosion where the pump meets the caliper. i cleaned it out as best as possible and hope this will solve problem.

this week i got some hiking in the deep snow out in park city with the dogs thanks to the lovely ms. janet.

monday i was supposed to do 10x3min intervals above LT. instead i got off 7x2min start intervals and 2x20min LT.
coach hates it when i change the plans, but it was a trying day with the brakes

yesterday i rode up emigration then over to big cottonwood canyon and up that. a good solid 4.5 hours of which 70% was just below LT and the rest in sweet spot.

i bumped up my tire pressure from 22psi to 32psi to compensate for new brake pads rubbing. although i could feel the pads slowing me down, the tire pressure made a "BIG" difference.

going up the hills i kept a pretty steady 165-170 heart rate. kept yo-yoing with a roadie all the way up big cottonwood. i would catch him on the steeper parts and lose him on the other parts.

here is the brighton resort at the top. i waved at moodudes condo as i passed. felt great up until then, my saddle started to bother me for the rest of the way. strength was good. legs started off a little dead, then settled in to normal.

gonna take two easy days today and tomorrow and let the legs recover.

Drinking too much coffee could shrink women's breasts

2011-03-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Too much caffeine can affect the hormones in their bodies, scientists believe, playing havoc with their bust size.

The more coffee the women drank, the smaller their breasts, the researchers also found.

Almost 300 women took part in the study, which questioned them on how many cups of coffee they drank in an average day and measured the size of their bust.

According to the results, published in the British Journal of Cancer, drinking three or more cups a day was enough to cause a smaller breast size.

The effects of the stimulant rose for every cup drunk.

Around half of the women in the study carried a gene mutation which appeared to link coffee intake and breast volume, according to the findings.

"Drinking coffee can have a major effect on breast size," said Helena Jernstrom, from Lund University in Sweden, who led the study.

"Coffee-drinking women do not have to worry their breasts will shrink to nothing overnight.

"They will get smaller, but the breasts aren't just going to disappear."

She added: "However, anyone who thinks they can tell which women are coffee drinkers just from their bra measurements will be disappointed.

"The problem is that there are two measures for a bra, the cup size and the girth, so you wouldn't be able to tell."

Women who drank more than three cups of coffee a day had breasts an average of 17 per cent smaller than those whose who drank less than three cups a day.

Women with bigger breasts are at a higher risk, the scientists also found.

But the study was unable to conclude whether drinking large amounts of caffeine every day also affected the density of the breasts.

However, the study found that a large consumption of coffee could have a positive impact on the health of the breasts.

Drinking caffeine regularly appeared to reduce the risk of breast cancer among the volunteers, who had been specifically selected from families at high risk of contacting the disease.

The scientists believe that the effects of coffee are linked to its impact on the female sex hormone, estrogen, and the fact that it can also affect levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone.

Jobs you don't want that I have done in the past

2011-03-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

My new training regime

2011-03-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

hooked a trailer up to my bike today as i heard that its all the rage pulling your kids around.
not having kids i pulled my doggie, but she likes to ride in comfort and i like to spoil so.....

then i got the idea that if adding a little weight to the bike is good, then adding lots of weight to the bike must be better. i passed a group of asians waiting at the bustop going to a tron convention and gave them a ride on my bike. you can barely see me, but i am in the middle of that stack pedaling furiously up 39th.

then i get this pic from one of my third cousins that i inspired to ride her bike more. i think she over did it a bit......

got in a two hour ride yesterday to take inventory after cramping out at the race. legs felt fine. gonna try for 2-3 hours on the road in park city today if the weather holds up. if not running the dogs through the snow.

Jokes, ralph the chicken

2011-03-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

As that eminent philosopher Forrest Gump observed, "It happens".
RALPH THE CHICKEN

Ralph came home drunk one night, slid into bed beside his sleeping wife, and fell into a deep slumber. He awoke before the Pearly Gates, where St. Peter said, 'You died in your sleep, Ralph..'

Ralph was stunned. 'I'm dead? No, I can't be! I've got too much to live for. Send me back!'
St. Peter said, 'I'm sorry, but there's only one way you can go back, and that is as a chicken.'

Ralph was devastated, but begged St. Peter to send him to a farm near his home.. The next thing he knew, he was covered with feathers, clucking, and pecking the ground.

A rooster strolled past. 'So, you're the new hen, huh? How's your first day here?'
'Not bad,' replied Ralph the hen,
'but I have this strange feeling inside. Like I'm gonna explode!'

'You're ovulating,' explained the rooster. 'Don't tell me you've never laid an egg before? '

'Never,' said Ralph. 'Well, just relax and let it happen,' says the rooster. 'It's no big deal.'

Ralph did, and a few uncomfortable seconds later, out popped an egg! Ralph was overcome with emotion as he experienced motherhood.
He soon laid another egg -- his joy was overwhelming.

As he was about to lay his third egg, he felt a smack on the back of his head, and heard his wife yell..... "Ralph, wake up. You Pooped in the bed!"

Fiasco at the dentist

2011-03-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

just trying to hold on the last couple of days

went in monday for a root canal and the dentist tried to just "numb" me instead of knocking me out. big mistake. two hours later, seven shots of novocain and a whole tank of nitros i was getting sick and not at all numb.

had to go home with a hangover that lasted for two days and no root canal. went in wednesday and they barely got me under. too much "don't remember" drugs cause my hands hurt bad, but i don't remember why. i guess i must have been gripping the armrest handles while they drilled me.

still feeling a little run over, but its getting better. at least my teeth pain will be gone. its been a hard year of teeth pain lately as all of my filling have failed or fallen out at the same time.
teeth are strong, but the warranty on the filling must have been up.

and its expensive without dental insurance. my new 29er,
whistler trip and half my new car are now invested in my teeth.

you can see by this pic that my bling smile shows my empty bank account.

Please laugh with me.

2011-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

is falling on your head ever graceful?

i just can't believe how great my life is lately...

for those of us that can't seem to keep our clothes on...

Race+"party like a rockstar"+brake lockup=DNF

2011-03-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

i am pretty sure i know what to do and what not to do right before a race, so my behavior was very surprising to me. and just to set the record straight this was one of the best weekends ever, even though i dnf on the race.

so i sprung for the jacuzzi in the room seeing as i must have been anticipating my wild side to pop up this weekend
red rock race weekend started off fairly regular. we got there friday afternoon. checked in and went for a easy spin around the race course to check it out. got back to the room. soaked in the jacuzzi and went out to dinner.........

then.......
i had all intention to hit the bed early and rest up. but no.....

some how a white box with the word "you" was shoved on my head and these guys showed up.

after a wild night this was our motel room in the morning. i have no idea where all that sand came from.

this was just outside our room.
we looked surprising fresh, so we got our butts down to the race around 1030 am.
here is janets single speed trek 69er. a nice light weight bike that gets through the trails and is a blast to ride.
the I9 wheels with pink and black spokes. nice touch.
here my jet9 and "oilcan racer" number plate.
started my warmup as usual. nothing abby normal. i didn't really feel like i had legs, but was not that worried. the night before did me in, but was much fun and defiantly worth it.

5 minutes before the race line up my rear brake locks up. i mean not a little brake rubbing, it stops the bike as i am coasting downhill.

i get it over to ryan at the revolution tent. he says its probably cause the pads are worn out and super thin. ok. i go get a new set. we throw it on. they are tight and not seated in of course, but i figure they will break in on the downhill sections of the race.

i get to the line up and i am in the fourth row of my category of 45-50 guys. i think. ok no problem. half these guys can kick my ass and the other half are fairly fast. i plan on a quick start, get out ahead and see how it goes from there.

bang, we start off and everybody surges forward. about 500 yards into the fireroad we are all still mostly in one pack, but not really going the speed i want to be going. i get to the edge of the road and take off.

instantly half the guys standup and light a fire. the speed picks up two gears and i am a few guys from the leader.
right where i want to be.
problem is the pack is still accelerating. "click", one more gear up. we are really moving now, except for one thing. heartrate is climbing fast.
no problem, we will be hitting the first up hill and i plan on dropping people left and right.

one big problem. my speed is decreasing.....huh? my legs are burning. huh?
lets see....i "did" train for this...yes.
i have a fairly light bike...yes
i am not dreaming...i think so...

WTF?

guys are starting to get around me. i am trying harder, but riders are still coming around. i start to doubt my fitness and my training. one of the guys on my team passes me saying "dude you rear brake is smoking".
i think, yes the pad must be rubbing a little.

a few more passers and i am feeling like i got leadfilled legs.
the last guy to pass right before the first hill says "your rear rotor is glowing red".

i look down and through the smoke i can see it is kinda black/purple and orangey. not good.

i double my efforts and force myself up the hill thinking this will all pass after the first downhill. i just have to suffer until then.

nope. the rear brake started locking up to the point that if i stop pedaling it would make the rear tire skid.

made it up to the downhill section and i am right in the middle of the group and still losing places. on the way down guys were coasting and speeding up. i was pedaling as hard as i could and slowing down. to test how bad it was i stopped pedaling at the bottom of the hill at full speed and the rear tire skidded as soon as i stopped.

faced with the next uphill, i jumped off and looked at the still glowing rotor. of course i touched the brake caliper and burned my finger...ouch!!!! why did i do that?

could not get it to budge or release, so i jumped back on and continued my extreme workout. at the top of the hill i was exhausted, but i trudged on pedaling downhill without a rest.

as i rounded the start finish i had my water girl give me my second bottle. in the late start i managed not to give clear directions, so i got a heavy insulated bottle of plain water instead of a electrolyte/liquid food bottle.

hammering myself further i made it some how back across the flat and started the climb. this turned into a survival match. most of my group was long gone and the other groups leaders were starting to pass me now.
i limped up and down the hills until the last downhill where my legs started cramping. lack of electro's and just way too much leg torque effort to move the pedals did me in.
i threw in the towel and just barely got back and finished two laps to stop.
i felt sick, cramped, exhausted, overheated and was not making much sense.

as i got off the bike and pushed it, the rear tire was completely lock and dragged pityful behind it.
i just put it up on the bike rack and sat in the car for a while.

we got back to the room and i jump in the jacuzzi for some recovery cause my legs were toast.

went to a friends new fancy amazing house up the hill and then out to dinner. started to feel better, but not all the way.

the next day i disconnected the rear brake and we went to ride poppy mesa bear claw area. i could feel my legs were still like marshmallows, but we had much fun riding around.

janet is great to be with and very inspirational. she made me feel like i was on top of the world.
we saw other riders from the race enjoying the same trail too. these trails kinda wind around and have many interconnectings.
got back and made the drive up to SLC.

an amazingly great trip with no regrets. in fact one trip that will live in my memories as a high point in life.

we can all learn from this guy, watch video

2011-03-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

A Hill in Spain from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Man who farts in church must sit in pew.

2011-03-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

I really need to stretch more, but this is freaking me out

2011-02-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

just a little tight from a hard days work. this guy is just too weird

the stages of yoga.
me, you, that hot girl, some show off, some freak, some one who will hurt as much as me and oh please don't do that.

Your eyeballs don't get any bigger from birth

2011-02-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

my beautiful hazel eye btw

do your eyes get bigger after birth? no they don't. they stay the same size.

Gif for Janet

2011-02-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

dem boxers sure are silly......boing, boing, boing...

Hillclimbers dream pictures of hills

2011-02-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

drool, drool, drool....i must has......

These cats are killing me...lol

2011-02-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

Frances Dilorinzo - Homemade Implants, hilarious must see

2011-02-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

2011-02-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

did two hours of LT intervals yesterday. with two five min. bursts of 185 heartrate in the middle of each. that teaches the body recovery and nets LT improvement at the same time. the wind was howling strong and pushing me around a lot. had to really shift around to keep things steady.

workout seemed too short and i still had tons of energy, so i took the doggies hiking for two hours up in the mountains through the snow.

here is the jet9 steed decked out in training gear. sitting at 33lbs with fenders, tools and training wheels/tires. i will get it down to 22lbs just before the race coming up.

today i took clutch to play with her new boxer friend sasha in park city. i got talked into shoe shoeing. and i am still going to stand by my word that shoe shoes are not needed in this area unless the snow is deeper than your hips.

we went up a steep hill, marched around and came back. it was just lovely. the weather perfect and the company as well.
such a poseur....
sasha's mom, the wonderful janet was our guide for the day. although we sunk though the snow in some areas, i don't think my regular boots would have done much different. avid snow shoe'ers will argue, but the dogs got through it without shoes......
click on this pano pic and you can see the park city mountains from our great view. doggies running around playing

BWOON

2011-02-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ramones vs Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Blitzkrieg Girl - Mashup

2011-02-22T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Beatles vs Joan Jett vs Cypress Hill vs House of Pain vs RATM - Mash Together

2011-02-22T10:56:00.001-08:00

Apearently not enough pictures of me?

2011-02-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

still getting emails that i don't take enough pics of myself. ok granted this is a blog about "my" racing, but i don't have a photographer following me around and i am not as good as allison mann taking pics while riding.

so here are some recycled pics from the past. some you have seen, some you have not. maybe.....

you can click on any of these and see a bigger pic.

my cuz's jetski. the thing is ridiculously fast and turns on a dime. just cruzing back onto shore.

my rainy day ninja hat
just chillin with my daughter, i mean doggie.
ok pinky this is how we are going to take over the world.....
family portrait
opps...a little slippery there.
i built this and it was waaaaay to fast, so i gave it to the neighbor kids who instantly called me the "koolest" guy in the world instead of the "loudest" neighbor in the world.
my pup when she was a pup. quite fearless as we are 50 feet up crossing a gap. half way thru she proceeded to run around me and double back a couple of times just to show off. i was happy just not to fall and die.
craig the movie guy took my pic with his phone and made me art. its amazing what phones can do these days

ya got have your sock garders for "just in case"
me: "i got the whole wide world in my hands"
clutch: "where i don't see anything"

Avalanche center issues warning for sunday

2011-02-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

The Utah Avalanche Center has issued an avalanche warning for Sunday, asking the public to avoid steep slopes.

The advisory was issued late Saturday and named the Western Uinta Mountains and various mountains near Logan, Provo and Salt Lake City as the most potentially dangerous.

"Natural and human triggered avalanches breaking into preexisting weak snow have occurred recently," the warning states. "With additional snow into Sunday this danger will continue."

The public has been advised to stay off steep slopes in those areas Sunday, especially those slopes that face North.

Those interested in spending time in the backcountry are asked to check in with the Utah Avalanche Center's advisory bulletin before leaving. They are also advised to carry basic rescue gear, including beacons shovels and probes.

Make Pens Work Using The Sole of Your Shoe

2011-02-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

We've all tried to get a recalcitrant pen working by scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. For a quicker and less messy solution, try using the sole of your shoe instead.

This is one of those bits of folk wisdom that's probably been circulating for years.

A quick test confirmed that it works like a charm, and my speculation is that it might work better than paper by gripping more firmly to the ballpoint. Whatever the reason, it's a neat trick.

If you want to have a baby on November 11, 2011 then tonight’s the night!

2011-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Best chances for a full term baby to arrive on 11/11/11 is for it to be conceived today or tomorrow.

Is there nothing that penguins can't do?

2011-02-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

and frogs too.

Add Mouthwash to a Load of Laundry to Help Kill Germs

2011-02-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Add Mouthwash to a Load of Laundry to Help Kill Germ— You might be surprised by all the germs lurking in your laundry, but they're there and they're disgusting. While there are plenty of ways to kill germs in laundry, DIY Life points out that antiseptic mouthwash is an effective option you probably already have at home.

All you really need is a cup of mouthwash to do the trick. That's one cup, as in 8 (U.S.) fluid ounces. Your washing machine is a bit bigger than your mouth, so it needs a bit more to work with. Just make sure the mouthwash you choose is 1) antiseptic and 2) doesn't contain artificial colors that will stain your clothing (most won't, but you should test first). Once you've chose your brand, just toss it in with the detergent and your clothing will be bacteria-free.

Bigger brain "and" bigger muscles if you train at altitude. Read on Garth.

2011-02-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Hypoxia for Muscle Growth: Get Huge or Die?

4Share

A recently accepted paper shows that working in an oxygen deprived environment can gosh darn it, build muscle when doing resistance work. WHile jokes might start about the variety of ways that one could replicate a near-asphyxiated space - from smoking to putting a plastic bag (with some holes) over one's head - i'm thinking that in the case of resistance training (as opposed to altitude/endurance where there's a definite blood/muscle adaptation), based on the findings, we're maybe seeing predictably heightened threat response brought on by 02 deprivation. Here's a look at the study in detail:

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Dec 14. [Epub ahead of print]
Effects of Acute Hypoxia on Metabolic and Hormonal Responses to Resistance Exercise.

Kon M, Ikeda T, Homma T, Akimoto T, Suzuki Y, Kawahara T.

1Department of Sports Sciences, Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, 3-15-1 Nishigaoka, Kita, Tokyo, 115-0056, Japan; 2Laboratory of Regenerative Medical Engineering, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.

INTRODUCTION:: Several recent studies have shown that resistance exercise combined with vascular occlusion effectively causes increases in muscular size and strength. Researchers speculated that the vascular occlusion-induced local hypoxia may contribute to the adaptations via promoting anabolic hormone secretions stimulated by local accumulation of metabolic subproducts. Here we examined whether acute systemic hypoxia affects metabolic and hormonal responses to resistance exercise. METHODS:: Twelve male subjects participated in two experimental trials: 1) resistance exercise while breathing normoxic air [normoxic resistance exercise (NR)], 2) resistance exercise while breathing 13 % oxygen [hypoxic resistance exercise (HR)]. The resistance exercises (bench-press and leg-press) consisted of 10 repetitions for five sets at 70 % of maximum strength with 1-min rest between sets. Blood lactate, serum growth hormone (GH), epinephrine (E), norepinephrine (NE), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), testosterone, and cortisol concentrations were measured before normoxia and hypoxia exposures, 15-min after the exposures, and at 0, 15, 30, 60 min after the exercises. RESULTS:: Lactate significantly increased after exercises in both trials (p < style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">These findings suggest that resistance exercise in hypoxic condition caused greater accumulation of metabolites, and strong anabolic hormone response.

What is it with Japanese research and oxygen deprivation? They bring us the most amazing results of occlusion training (b2d discussion here). Now, how about whole body oxygen occlusion?

Some may argue that this seems to be similar to training at altitude, where the benefits are known. Indeed, the authors use a system that's used to generate Everest-like conditions, funnily enough called an "everest generator" and for 5K you can have one, too (shown left).

Thing is, this technique is most often used for endurance athletes (and we've also seen in cycling for instance blood doping associated cases of EPO enriched/adapted blood), and apparently the usual oxygen depletion levels are 20.9% o2 - with associated increased risks of overtraining. Here, in this resistance training study, the researchers use 13ish% o2.

Another unique aspect of this hypoxia study is it's the first time (to my knowledge anyway) researchers have formally looked at effects on resistance training - anaerobic effort as opposed to aerobic effort.

The Rationale: it IS occlusion training. The authors do indeed say yup well, LOW INTENSITY resistance training and partial occlusion has great effect, so how about "systemic hypoxia" - It's the next logical step, isn't it?

Set Up. 10 reps of bench and squat at 70% of tested 1RM in either normal room air or 13% O2. I'm only able to guess that 13% is some standard definition of "acute hypoxia" conditions that are still safe.

The authors alas don't formally justify either why they were going for this percentage or why this definitely NOT low resistance level (like occlusion training uses) was used.

All sorts of Measures. The purpose of the trials were so the researchers will have

examined the effects of resistance exercise on metabolic and hormonal responses under acute systemic hypoxia. We hypothesized that the resistance exercise in hypoxic condition would cause greater accumulation of metabolic subproducts, and greater responses of anabolic hormones.

To this end, a lot of measures were taken of muscle oxidation, hormones, fuel produced (like lactate). As the abstract says, blood lactate levels were significantly higher in the hypoxia trial than in the normal air trial. This isn't much of a surprise, given that lactate tends to kick in as it gets harder for the body to oxidize fuel in the mitochondria. A goal of Vo2max training (like viking warrior conditioning, reviewed here) is to increase the lactate threshold - the level of effort and time before which bi products of lactate production (H+ ions) can no longer be buffered out of the blood.

And what all the lads love to hear: serum GH - significantly higher in the hypoxia case (potentially triggered, the researchers suppose by increased catecholamine release) Likewise IGF and of course yes the big T, testosterone. But so does cortisol.

And for those trying to burn fat? Not surprisingly to folks who see the world through the nervous system threat/no threat lense, those wonderful fight or flight catecholamines are of course elevated, too. These are the things that help fat mobilisation (discussed here in this b2d piece on HIIT). So gosh, let's see - challenge trying to breath - i'd say that's going to be perceived as a threat to one's system?

So What's Different (than occlusion training)?
The authors suggest that while occlusion training has shown greater muscle growth, they haven't really known why. They put it down to the increased levels of GH noted in occlusion training at LOW REPS. Here they're saying

In the present study, we revealed that systemic hypoxia was actually associated with greater GH response to resistance exercise for the first time. The hypoxia may play a key role in the low intensity resistance training with vascular
occlusion-induced muscular hypertrophy

Interesting that systemic hypoxia is being used to understand the mechanisms of a more local phenomena like Kaatsu cuffing.

What they say their specific results also suggest is that IGF-1 may be indedpendent of GH levels. In other words, something else is going on to get a boost in IGF-1 than the presence of GH.

Likewise, they suggest that increases in serum testosterone may have more to do with intensity and muscle mass than "metabolic stress" - like hypoxia.

As for cortisol, another fight or flight hormone, that's also a known biproduct of resistance training. The researchers say they just don't know what the mechanism is such that these levels are particularly higher in this trial. Well heck, again, threat-related hormone; gonna asphixiate. Dunno. seems predictable when seen from that vantage?

Not Normal. The threat hormones did not return to normal levels within an hour after the trials either. Is that good? Not clear, but if overtraining is related to stressing they system, threatening it more than it can handle perhaps, then it's reasonable to see why this kind of training may need to be far more closely monitored for overtraining effects.

Openning New Doors. The biggest outcome it seems right now is the possible relationship of hypoxia to GH - at least in the authors' view:

... it is necessary to investigate whether hypoxic exposure plays an important role for the expressions of genes involving muscular hypertrophy in the future...Our data suggest that hypoxia is a potent factor for the enhancements of anabolic hormone (GH) response to resistance

Why when fleeing the Tiger does GH turn on? Intriguingly, we already induce a kind of hypoxic environment in anaerobic work like resistance training - hence the term anaerobic - so it's interesting to see therefore that the hypoxic effect seems to be perhaps on the recovery - where we usually pause between sets to catch our breath and re-oxygenate. Here, in this o2 deprived envrionment, that can't happen. Hence lactate it seems to me goes up. And GH switches in.

Why, when the nervous system might be percieved to be under threat, would the nervous system/brain see this as a good time to, er, grow? (For a review of the systems that get shut down under stress, see this overview of Zebras and Baboons and Stress.)

Again, what these researchers don't seem to clue into is that growth hormone is apparently known to be triggered by stress (and here's a pdf from 76 about how kind of cool this is, where only 1/3 of the sample group was shown to have this particular stress/GH release response). It's role this work shows, is not just to grow the body, but the brain. Is that what's going on? I'm about to die; i suddenly need a bigger brain?

Ramdoc, over at the dragondoor forum (thank you), made the intriguing connexion that GH is related to insulin. Here's 2005 paper outlining the human GH/insulin homeostasis, and that bigger hits of GH lead to a hyperinsulinism - elevated levels of insulin in the bloodstream. That's gonna trigger a temporary blood glucose surge. So if increased GH relates to a rush of glucose to the bloodstream, that certainly would have a survival effect. More fast energy, that means more ATP, more muscle can be recruited, more speed, steve. Cool.

We're about to Die; Let's get Huge?
Well who'd have thought even to test the effects of cutting off circulation to see what would happen to our bodies?

I suppose it's an interesting idea - take a process like anaerobic metabolism and string it out to see if by seeing what happens in a less natural environment, we get some better view into a natural environment. And heck, some folks might turn that practice into a way to rehab and train folks.

The responses seen in this environment - a big fat rush of fight or flight related responses - seem pretty predictable. That there's a positive payoff FROM that stress after the event is interesting: survive and get faster, stronger. Recovery means anabolism: more muscle, continued performance improvement. And who knows? Maybe a bigger smarter brain?

But in terms of pushing this principle that's being expressed in the large in this oxygen deprived space? The biggie that those stress levels don't go back to normal in normal time is a reminder that hypoxia work may just be super stressful to our CNS even if we mayn't perceive that directly ourselve - and this study doesn't tell us if it collected any of the athletes' responses to the protocol.

In the meantime, for those who are curious, how would one try this at home without an Hypoxia Generator? The mind reels at the possibilities.

Millcreek road repeat and Puirt a Beul by Sileas and lemonjenny+sister

2011-02-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

did the same millcreek road workout yesterday that i pumped out last tues/thur.

funny how you do the same route and it can be soo different.
the first interval(remember now these are 30 mins, high spin and big gear) my hearate was high and it felt awkward. i don't think i was warmed up even though i did my normal warmup.

the second was breathtaking. if i could feel like this during every race i could win anything. flew up in a big gear, never downshifted on the steep parts, hearate bearly going and it wizzed by.
third and fourth although i was able to keep in the same big gear, i had to put out some "grunt" effort on the steeps.
fifth hurt me. hurt me bad. hearate was not too bad, but legs were burning on fire.
leg strength is still high just coming out of "strength" period of training, cause i was able to finish spinning in that big gear and not over shoot hearate. i could really feel this workout later in the day so this must be good building up.

although coach wants me to mix in some flat riding next week, i think i am going to repeat this workout on tue/thur again to get a solid base for the intermountain cup red rocks rampage race coming up in saint george.
its got two good climbs and two good flat areas.

no pictures, so i am going to include Puirt a Beul by Sileas and another version by lemonjenny and her sister. i learned this song from my my great grandmother while in ireland and would sing it in her garden. it always seemed to be drizzling rain and she never cared. told me it was god watering our words so they would grow.

Triona Ni Dhomhnaill Song: When I Was A Fair Maid, Claudine Langille

2011-02-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

i learned this song last night. the triona version has been a favorite for quite sometime.
traditionally this is a sailor song sung by men. recently(last 40 years) it has been popular with female voices.

Claudine Langille plays it on a four string banjo like i do.

the Triona Ni Dhomhnaill version is much better, but alas there is no you tube version of it yet. only this.

a short mp3 is here.

or here:
http://irmus.bke.hu:81/30_sec_intros/Dhomhnaill,_Triona_Ni/Triona/01_-_Triona_Ni_Dhomhnaill_-_When_I_Was_a_Fair_Maid.mp3

Happy Valentine's day from clutch and I, must see pics!!!

2011-02-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

Julie Fowlis 'Oganaich Uir a Rinn M'Fhagail

2011-02-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

O Noble Youth Who Has Left Me

Windy Valentines day.

2011-02-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

these two meet up in the deep snow for a rendezvous. the wind kicked up today and will get burly for the next three days....great!!
i hate the wind.

Tim Conway, wrong number, you will laugh

2011-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

if your a dude that is. cause this has most likely happen to you.

I can say Saskatchewan without starting to stutter.

2011-02-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

dust off your tarten and raise up your voices saps

A relaxing day with great sun.

2011-02-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

i blew off this weekends bike workouts in lew(spelling?) of a sore back. took the doggies out on pipeline for three hours leisurely. weather was fricking funtastic. super bright sun and ridable snowy trail. it got a bit slushy right near the end, but still good.

my annoying brother visiting from cali, who some of you might remember, or not. went to ride bst early this morning even though i told him it would be muddy and rutty and icy. he didn't care as he was going to test out his rebuilt up "super D" bike. whatever.

made some chocolate pudding in 5 mins, cause i can. boy this brings back memories of childhood eating. that and jello.

Night hike and strained back, must think ahead.

2011-02-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

ok someone, who will remain nameless, talked me into a hike on friday right at sunset. seemed like a good idea as the weather was sooo warm(40 degrees)

except i should have know, due to the person that we were going to do some extreme hike not the pleasant stroll i envisioned.

its hard to see, but there were a big group of deer on the side of the hill
here is a pano of the bottom of the hike. notice i say "bottom" and how high up we are already.

cause it was steep. no i mean really steep and never let up. not much mud, but after a while we got into some really slick ice, then snow.

then the sun disappeared completely and it got challenging to keep going. but keep going we did. yakking about this and that, political, philosophy, work, recent world events, etc....

finally it got cold enough to head back down and the way a trail is hard to climb up, is down right dangerous on the way down. in the dark. on icy snow.

i wrestled up a branch for a walking/leaning stick, but even that did not prevent me from landing on various(now sore) body parts. one in general, my lower back. why am i such a fragile caveman?

woke up this morning kinda sore and have postponed todays ride until tomorrow.

i know better and have the right stuff for these kinds of forays. i just wasn't thinking ahead. reminder to self, think ahead.

the original pugsley....

Laugh the day away

2011-02-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

And so it begins, the Intermountain Cup series plate

2011-02-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

as a commitment to myself i got a plate for this year. they look spiffy and i get my name on it.

rode the same workout today as tuesday with the exceptions that i felt gggrrreaaat!! first three climbs were energetic and i was spinning bigger gears. the last two intervals were almost the same.

the trick i think is that i have been getting tons of rest and recovery now that i am not working again. also sleeping in, eating tons of food, no stress and time to get all the little bugs worked out of my bike.

the last interval(and i use that term loosely as they were all 30mins exactly) i felt so good still, i upped up two gears for 3/4 of the way, but after that i had to return to the gear i used before as i burnt my legs down to almost nothing. this was right around at the 3 hour mark.
i mean i almost got tunnel vision and hearing was starting to go. 60 seconds of normal regular spinning and strength came right back(thanks you great genes for quick recovery).
i finished up with having to slow down at the end, the last 200 yards, as i was 2 mins faster than 30mins. coach doen't like it when i don't follow orders(i mean plans)

got home, forced down a recovery drink. and i mean forced as they never taste good. cooked up some toast, four eggs and four spicy sausage. the ensuing greasy breakfast anchor i put in my body caused an almost immediate food coma, but i managed to stay awake and write this post.

had some left over bike pics from the frozen hog race. just gonna throw them up here cause i need to post them somewhere else as well.
kinda hard to tell, but those are 6,000grams of wheel and tires there. thats a lot to pedal uphill.
clearly the wrong choice for that morning as it was icy and not soft slushy snow. they were of no advantage and of big disadvantage that day. also gearing was too low. more for soft snow, so i spun out on the flat.

those nokian studded extreme tires are the bomb for grip. its just at 2065g per tire they weigh as much as a bomb...lol

Millcreek road times five

2011-02-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

five intervals of 32 mins each with whatever heartrate as long as i do it in middle chainring going up millcreek road. which is perfect cause from the stop sign to the gate is just about that.

then a cold leisurely ride down and repeat.

this is a nice workout and with most workouts involving fives, the first was way too easy. the second and third made me sweat and felt like the body was being put thru its paces. the fourth hurt and questioned my sanity. the fifth proved to myself that i was insane, for i didn't think i had the legs to do.
(in a yoda voice) but surprise myself, i did. yeeeess....

for the fifth was exactly like the four in every aspect except for the sun was begining to go down and a little more chilly willy on the way down.
i contemplated a sixth, but that nagging voice(not yoda this time) was telling me not to over train like i usually do. so i left it like the books called for.

on the first two up's the road was slushy and very wet. then the snow plow came by almost knocking me down with a wave of salt and the road became a bit more friendly.
we got about a foot of new snow last night and here is the gate in all its glory for you XC skiers. now get up there and "mush"!!!

tomorrow is either a rest day or just 10 quick, steep max heartrate intervals.

Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak.

2011-02-07T21:46:00.001-08:00

Emigration canyon is cold Bikewagon, bikewagon.com is not.

2011-02-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

bikewagon was nice enough to give me some swag so go to their website and buy some stuff. bikewagon.com

rode up emigration canyon three times. the third time i went up pinecrest street instead to the windy cold top pictured below looking out onto strawberry lake.
just three hours of easy spin. i think i might have strained a glute muscle on my right leg cause its still sore from a week ago.

Added pictures and place correction from second to first!! at Frozen Hog 2011.

2011-01-31T19:23:00.000-08:00

pictures added below to the last post. seems like i miss counted and got first not second as i mentioned before at the frozen hog 2011 race.

now usual if i make a mistake its to my advantage not the other way around....lol

Second place 2011 Frozen Hog snow race in lambert park.

2011-01-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

didn't get to ride the last two weeks due to work, but i did get lots of "core" and crossover workout. i felt a cold coming on a couple of days before the race and it hit hard on race morning. stuffy head, slight fever and achy body. ehhh, i raced anyways.

high points:
very fast course, great le mans running start, racing with friends, some fitness was gained thru training....

low points:
racing with a stuffy headcold, picking a bike and tires for slushy snow conditions when it was icy hard, not enough fitness for heavy tires, gear on single speed was for soft snow not hardpack...., low turn out this year....

ok so second(correction first place) place isn't bad for not being in race shape yet, so i will hold back on the self mutilation. this whole month its been soft snow or slushy mushy conditions at lambert. so i chose to ride my single speed(32x20) with a surly pugsley front wheel.

wrong choice as the race day conditions were completely iced up and the trail was really hard and ridable. not what i was expecting. my choice was under geared and wheel weight was way too heavy compared to my fitness level.

the plan was by using the wide front tire and not wash out on the turns. instead i was washing out the front tire everywhere due to it being wide and bald on the ice.

on the steep climb i was going to run the same as everybody else. what happened there i had to jog because i was so tired from pushing so hard on the flat.

the flat fire road, was a nightmare as half the time i was spinning out and then half standing up mashing.

the singletrack left me even with the other racers, so i really wasn't able to pass a lot of guys in my field.

would like to thank noble sports for these pics.

looking hopeful at the start
greg on my left here is telling me how he just won a race in arizona in 80 degree temps and it felt way hotter to him. i am not even listening, eyes focused on my path to run through the icy road.

got a great start on the run of the le mans. the first slip!!!
the second and third slip....

the field surging forward starting to over take me because of my slipping
lighting some matches to get turbo running legs to fire.
turbo engaged, 5,4,3,2,1,....ignition.....
turbo on, check, feet firmly planted on the ice, check, arms swinging like a madman, check, heartrate climbing, check.
on the last part of the loop, it was just a little downhill and very icy. we were all bumping into each other and some guys slowed down. i didn't, but somehow didn't fall either.

so this little guys come from third row back and just runs right by us all like we are standing still. i think for sure a runner like this is gonna get on a walmart bike and fall. but noooooo!! he gets on a niner and takes off. he must be irish to be that short "and" fast.
heartrate too high, check.

got on the bike and was in third due to a slow jump on. greg gibson was right behind me on the run and right in front on the bike. second turn, my front tire went from one side of the trail to the other, washed out and i went completely off the trail. four guys got by before i got back on. same thing happened two turns later, but only two guys got by.

on the single track i started taking chances and when a guy in front of me wavered, or washed out or slowed i was able to pass four guys. i used one guys rear tire as a berm on accident to get by him. sorry brother.

then the dreaded short steep climb. i tried to ride the first part, but was forced to jog instead as heartrate went quickly through the roof. six guy got passed me there. i picked two off on the downhill and another one on the flat. but two different guys passed "me" on the flat and we all caught up to slow traffic(sport group) on the single track.

this is the end of the first loop and steve is just catching me for a pass.

at the end of the loop there is a short slightly uphill paved road and i got around a big group of sport riders and with taking many chances and lack of vision(i don't see to well) caught the tailend of the leaders by the end of the single track.

i had a small glimmer of hope until the the uphill part again. reduced to a slow jog, the leaders pulled away from me and even more so on the flat. i limped in 5 minutes behind greg in first and the leaders.
i was running just under and just over LT through the whole race, so i know that i was trying hard enough. the cold was really holding me back, but not as much as the wrong tire choice.

here i am thanking my sponsors "hammer nutrition" as josh called us up in front of the crowd.
a very happy leprechaun after the race. i would like to thank trish for taking these pics and coming down to the race.
getting my back scratched at the finish line. didn't have anybody in front or behind me, so the finish was just a roll up for me.

here is a little vid that one of the guys did of the race. you can see me at the start totally slip on the first three steps, then take off like a rocket. some little guy was cookin on the run. he led us all the way to the bikes.

all in all this was a training shakeout race for next month, the first of the 2011 intermountain cup series in red rocks, saint george. finished with strength training and will start spin/speed this next month.

added later:

here is the unedited version of the litte guys(ian beatty?) vid. the start is halirious. my slipping and just tucking in behind the lead runner. then ian comes cookin around the outside as the rest of us are sliding out of control into each other.

The 2011 Frozen Hog Race course update

2011-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

rode one easy loop of the expert course today just to get a feel of the conditions and snow amount.

most of the single track is packed down good, but its 3" to 6" thick with dirt patches showing here and there. once 50 or more riders get on it, it will turn to mushy, slushy slop.

forget about riding the uphill parts altogether.

the course is marked very well, except for the end of the loop where we would normally ride up spring and complete the loop. now it has us going across and up rodeo. big mistake. no one has walked/hiked or even ridden it. so its soft snow and adds another 2-3 miles of running uphill.
why do this? this is a bike race not a running race.

well marked
good hardpack while it lasts
somebody has been out on a pugsley, goodluck with that. big round smooth tires are not a good choice for this course.

Fork Off.

2011-01-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

just some dandies i found.

Putting on my Iron shirt today.....

2011-01-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

second week into my first strength training for the year and i really put on my iron shirt today and went to battle.

riding in the soft snow is a battle of sorts. you must muster up more strength and gusto that you would normally use. jumping on and off the bike. running sections and trying to jump back on from soft footing. a lot of muscles not normally used in the rest of the year are being strained and slammed hard.

thats why i welcome a snow race at the beginning of the year just coming at the end of base training.

so today i put the hammer down and did 30 mins just below LT, 30mins just above LT and then repeated that for a hefty two hours of what would equal LT.

its a way to actually get in two continuous hours of LT when you don't have time to rest in between sets. mind you it hurts and you won't be going too fast on your last set, but the effort and heart rate is there. progression surely will follow. that or fatigue.

pushing this hard it is easy to lose focus when riding a narrow hardpack trail. i slid off track in this corner, washed out the front tire and went down the steep hillside in soft power about 50 feet. the bike stayed up top and i went down. no injury, just cold tumble.

most of pipeline is hardpack and can be ridden. i jumped off the steep sections just to get a good runup and heartrate pump

here i am doing my flying nun impersonation. the holes drilled into the glasses are supposed to keep them from fogging,, but they still do.
wait, whats that noise......on nevermind just the dogs chasing animals off trail again.

i am spent good today. hardest workout in a long time, but it felt good to really reach down and burn all the matches. well i always seem to have one or two left over no matter how hard i go out.

tomorrow is rest day, then back out to lambert on the weekend and a long ride with trish.

Sunday at Lambert and Supa cold craptacular workout this morning.

2011-01-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

ran the dogs at lambert on the frozen hog course this sunday after a really great four hour ride in the countryside with trish on saturday.
i know not very many pics, but its hard to take them when my fingers are frozen.

the part of the course on frozen hog that is fire road is nicely packed down from people driving on them. here a jeep almost ran me and the dogs down. close call
i ran the single speed with weirwolf tires and it wasn't have bad grip. but conditions are perfect. i expect much more slush for race day.

going back this weekend with a monster bike idea. don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet.

ran the dogs hard for 1 1/2 hours and they even went off chasing deer and rabbit. here they are resting on the warm car ride home.

awwwww.......bestest of friends in the back of the car.

tuesday morning to day, BTW its 1-11-11, just thought you might want to know that.

here is the view at the wee hours of the still dark morning. just to show that its not always snowing or snow covered in the streets here.
but it is cold. it was 10 degrees F. rode up millcreek road to the gate. the plan was to go up four times at about 25 minutes each and really push the steep parts. after the second time up the temtrature dropped just enough to make me hurt.

from 5 degrees (cause i am riding in the mountains now) to zero.
yes zero F. it hurt. my hands hurt, my face hurt, my lungs hurt. and i started shivering so hard i couldn't ride straight.

lets review what i was wearing, which is what i normally been wearing when it gets below 20 degrees.

my shimano winter insulated shoes and neoprene booties. lycra tights with no chamois. medium weight leg warmers. racing shorts. long sleeve lycra top. racing jersey and thermal cycling jacket. neoprene barmitts and thin wool mittens. a lycra balaclava for the head and face.

this combination has been even too warm for me to about 7 degrees, then i feel a little cold here and there. today O degrees and windchill from riding fast, made me cold to the bone and i had to stop my workout and limp home.

once home a long hot shower still left me shivering and cold. it took another half hour of hiding under the covers in bed to finally warm up. hypothermia was defiantly beating me down.

i still feel kinda weak hours later. i know most of you are riding your trainers in your warm basements or just not riding, but i can't do either of those. i will have to figure something out.

The get colder sun up phenonmenom.

2011-01-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

so as i get up a couple of hours before the sun does and ride lately i have noticed that my wrists and hands get a little cold on the way back on my ride. i figured that i was speeding up trying to get home faster and not be late.

but no!! today i noticed it even more. its 17 degrees(yes thats Fahrenheit) when i leave my house and right when the sun comes up i get cold. my body is warm from riding hard, but the extremities get chilly. now those that know me, i run hot and this is not normal.

plus i am decked out in fancy winter riding gear and barmitts to boot. checking the thermostat today it went from 17 degrees to "7" degrees right when the sun came up.......why?

why does it need to get even colder right when the sun comes up? it should warm up, right?

well with time to think as my teeth were chattering i came up with these ideas.

as the sun comes up it changes the atmospheric pressure, thru warm rays and sunlight, thus creating a cold wind. wind chill if you will.

second thought was that the sun lowers the inversion layer and creates colder condense temperatures.

either way it sucks. cause below 10 degrees and riding fast, your nose will run and freeze to the point that it will block your breathing and hurt from cold ice in your nose.
also parts of your skin lose feeling and start to die off(cheeks, nose...etc).
then the road turns to ice. not the shiny black ice that you can see, but the dull looks like normal, but very slick ice that will make you fall in a second, kind of ice.

its much too cold to take pics this early so instead i have pics of food to tide you over.
here i am hard at work, for my fans that are requesting more pics of me.

now to the food. these lovely morsels are called empenadas. pastry filled with all kinds of meat, cheese, egg, veggies and potatoes. mmmm, mmmm, yummy.

of course these need no explanation. had a few at the beautiful trish's house the other day and bought a BIG box at costco. not a big box of "trish", a big box of chocolates, silly.

training is going well. a little slow as the early mornings lake good thrust effort, but i am getting enough push for winter time. long rides on the weekends and its all good......i hope.

Its Bicyclebungee, exactly what we all need....

2011-01-04T10:02:00.001-08:00

Perfect weather day so I took the doggies hiking

2011-01-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

sunday was my off the bike day, but the weather was just gorgeous. a winter wonderland for sure. please feel free to click on the pics for a bigger and more amazing shot.

my little one telling me that there is a deer across the ravine.
chance looking smug in his husky way

Advice for the new year from people who know.

2011-01-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

1. "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."
Benjamin Franklin

2. "The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective."
G.K. Chesterton

3. "The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!"
Edward Payson Powell

4. "Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
the year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

5. "For Last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
T.S. Eliot "Little Gidding"

6. "New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
Mark Twain

7. "Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
Oprah Winfrey

8. "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

9. "The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to."
P.J. O'Rourke

10. "Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."
Hal Borland

2011 Frozen Hog race training and tire test.

2010-12-31T11:45:00.000-08:00

we all know that its going to be some combination of slushy well traveled snow and/or muddy. the right tire will make a ton of difference.

now on the other hand this is basically a foot race in that ya have to push your bike 70-80% of the time even on the downhills.

in 2009 i thought i was being smart and brought my pugsley which can handle the soft slushy stuff quite well. just no traction on any hilly parts. well......last minute course change that year from soft trail to mostly ice fire road made the pug a big disadvantage. especially pushing it up the hills.

one choice is to run the jet9 with nokian studded tires. these tires are 1.9(narrow) but with large knobs and tons of studs. the weight is the disadvantage to these. but if there is pedaling to be done this tire will shine.
just to see how bad they are to push or even pedal through soft snow i took them out to lambart trails where the frozen hog will be raced.
conditions where 6"-12" soft powder with a hardpack underneath. pretty close to race conditions as thousands of riders ride the same snowy trail it gets soft and slushy.

brought the dogs along and glad i did. cutting first track everywhere we went i sometimes lost the trail. with their magic smelling noses they seemed to be able to pick out the trail from past hikers/riders scent.
you can see that i ran 90% of the course and rode only the fire road that was packed down good from cars. one lap took me 50 minutes at a slow jog.
the next test bike will be possible the single speed. a light weight easy to push bike that sucks in the snow.

the dogs went ballistic out there today as the deer tracks were everywhere and very close as well. if you run dogs through deep powder for an hour this is what you get on the ride home.
ahhhhh, good times.

I am riding, really I am.

2010-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

been getting up at 6am and riding before work. its hella early, hella cold and hella snowy.

this is how most morning start for me on my ride. this is not a trail but the street outside my house at 6am
the sun won't even begin to light up the overcast day until 7:18am.. by then i am warmed up(kinda) and already going. doing three two hour rides and one 3-4 hour ride a week. mix in 1-2 joggings or hiking, one day of core work and thats my week.

here we are at 7am, almost dawn going up millcreek road. i gotta run the jet9 with nokian extreme studded tires. they are awfully grippy, but heavy at 2000 grams each tire. its a workout right? the road goes from icy to 1"-2" of slush to 3-5" of snow in one ride.
people look at me like i am nuts when they pass me in their cars going up the hill or on their way to work. maybe i am....maybe i am.....lol

Exactly what this blog needs

2010-12-29T16:44:00.000-08:00

one of the best most popular pics on the internet. invisible bike cat.

It was cold for me last night.

2010-12-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

had to wrench on my car last night after work and it was soo cold i had to spend the night at work and do it later when it warmed up.

OOOOOOOOH yeeeaaahh, I've been naughty.

2010-12-22T14:13:00.001-08:00

What To Buy A Man For Christmas

2010-12-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

Buying gifts for men is not nearly as complicated as it is for women. Follow these rules and you should have no problems.

Rule #1: When in doubt, buy him a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. I have a friend who owns 17 and he has yet to complain. As a man, you can never have too many cordless drills. No one knows why.

Rule #2: If you cannot afford a cordless drill, buy him anything with the word ratchet or socket in it. Men love saying those two words. “Hey George, can I borrow your ratchet?” “OK. By-the-way, are you through with my 3/8-inch socket yet?” Again, no one knows why.

Rule #3: If you are really, really broke, buy him anything for his car: a 99 cent ice scraper, a small bottle of de-icer or something to hang from his rear view mirror. Men love gifts for their cars. No one knows why.

Rule #4: Never buy men bathrobes. Once I was told that if God had wanted men to wear bathrobes, he wouldn’t have invented Jockey shorts.

Rule #5: You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of money, buy your man a big-screen TV with the little picture in the corner. Watch him go wild as he flips, and flips, and flips.

Rule #6: Do not buy any man industrial-sized canisters of after-shave or deodorant. I’m told they do not stink — they are earthy.

Rule #7: Buy men label makers. Almost as good as cordless drills. Within a couple of weeks there will be labels absolutely everywhere. “Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink.” You get the idea. No one knows why.

Rule #8: Never buy a man anything that says “some assembly required” on the box. It will ruin his Special Day and he will always have parts left over. No one knows why.

Rule #9: Good places to shop for men include Northwest Iron Works, Parr Lumber, Home Depot, John Deere, Valley RV Center, and Les Schwab Tire. (NAPA Auto Parts and Sears Clearance Centers are also excellent men’s stores.) It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know what it is. (”From NAPA Auto, eh? Must be something I need. Hey! Isn’t this a starter for a ‘68 Ford Fairlane? Wow! Thanks.”)

Rule #10: Men enjoy danger. That’s why they never cook - but they will barbecue (No one knows why). Get him a monster barbecue with a 100-pound propane tank. Tell him the gas line leaks. “Oh the thrill! The challenge! Who wants a hamburger?”

Rule #11: Tickets to a football game are a smart gift. However, he will not appreciate tickets to “A Retrospective of 19th Century Quilts.” Everyone knows why.

Rule #12: Men love chain saws. Never, ever, buy a man you love a chain saw. If you don’t know why, please refer to Rule #7 and what happens when he gets a label maker.

Rule #13: It’s hard to beat a really good wheelbarrow or an aluminum extension ladder. Never buy a real man a stepladder. It must be an extension ladder. No one knows why.

Rule #14: Rope. Men love rope. It takes them back to their cowboy origins, or at least the Boy Scouts. Nothing says love like a hundred feet of 3/8″ manila rope. No one knows why.