Ride the Line

First ride on the Epic this afternoon. Just a quick spin on Mary's and Horsethief Bench. Hero dirt was abundant... The "pack" abides...

This photo was taken at the turn-out just before the locked gate, about two miles from where the pavement ends. After competing in the Grand Valley Cyclocross race and then doing some riding out at Lunch Loops on Saturday I decided to do something... well, unconventional for this time of the year. I loaded up the hard-tail along with my "pacers" Neko and Sparky and headed to Lands End Road. During warmer months Lands End is a popular way to access the Grand Mesa from Grand Junction.  It is also an excellent ascent to test and train your climbing legs. From where I parked today, the top of the Grand Mesa is approximately 14.5 miles and numerous switchbacks up the road. I like to think of it as Colorado's own unpaved (and longer) version of the famous L'Alpe d'Huez. I reasoned that having my dogs with me would help to keep the pace from getting out of hand and that it would give me a good reason to head back when it looked like they were about done for the day....

This is certainly not the late fall/early winter of my discontent! I keep waiting to use some bad weather as an excuse to take my two week break from riding this year but... the sun keeps shining and the trails are in such great shape. I rode Lunch Loops yesterday for about three hours and then spent three hours out at 18 road today. The 18 road trails are in amazing shape making it difficult to take it easy and stay in base miles mode!  

First ride on the new S-Works Stumpy Hard-tail 29er! Decided to hit Trail #2, Western Rim and Westwater Mesa today. This thing is a weapon! A razor-sharp, single-track slayer! I am still feeling a bit "off" since the Frog Hollow Race (I will be posting a report on that soon) but the bike still felt so damn fast... and light! Great day to be riding even though the temperature was a bit cool at first. The sun did manage to come out for the last part of the ride and warm things up a bit. I had to give myself a little pat on the back for stepping out of my Type-A rider mode and snapping a couple of photos. Hell, I felt weird just putting the camera in my Osprey pack! Tomorrow morning I am riding straight from the house to Lunch Loops to get a ride in before the precipitation begins to fall.

What follows is a report from my experience at the Crested Butte Classic on October 1st of this year. I felt like starting with this race report since it was the first race I did after launching this blog. Crested Butte is a destination that is on every mountain bikers list of places to ride before they die... The Crested Butte Classic 100 should be on every endurance mountain bike racer's list of events to do before they die. I admit, I was nervous just reading about this one; nearly 100 miles long and over 13, 000 vertical feet of elevation gained... and all of that taking place at over 9, 000 feet in elevation. The course is not marked (more on that in a bit) and there are no aid stations. For me, that was the appeal... something that was the polar opposite of a huge field of racers and all the madness and chaos that ensues in those sort of events. That is not to  say that this race is tame or mild mannered... quite the contrary, this race has its own special blend of madness ...

Welcome everyone to my first ever blog. This is a work in progress, as I tweak the lay-out and learn how to do whatever it is one does to make a spiffy blog. I have done a ton of training this year and there is still much more to do before the CB Classic and the 25 Hours in the Frog Hollow... Stay tuned!