Phil and Jenny’s house

Visited my bro’s house in Utah today. WOW, nice crib! I was very impressed and happy for him and his family. He said they had to haul something like 93 loads of dirt out of the back end of the lot!

RACE REPORT #15 Tour of Utah - Stage 4 CAT 4

This is what the drive to the final stage time trial looked like. RAIN, hail, tons of wind, and lightning. Pretty bad stuff.

After several delays, false starts, warm-ups, and cool-downs, they finally called the race. The final classification wouldn’t change. So much for keeping a little in reserve for today! Lesson learned, race your hardest and don’t leave anything out on the course.

Overall, I’m really happy with my weekend. I got a 9th, 11th, and finished 13th overall and managed to do so without digging too deeply. It was a lot of fun catching up with Uhl and Heather, my old friends from my previous racing life, and making a few new friends as well.

Goodbye Tour of Utah! Hope to see you next year!

RACE REPORT #14 Tour of Utah - Stage 3 CAT 4

Today’s race was one of the coolest I’ve ever done. Large pack, Highway Patrol motorcycles and cars with lights flashing escorting and following our group, brand new Subaru Outbacks full of spare wheels behind. 55 mile race with a huge climb at the end. Felt like the real deal… Let’s go!

After sitting 9th in the overall after the first stage, I dropped to 23rd because of my horrible race yesterday afternoon. They pro-rated our finish times since we got pulled and I ended up losing something like 3 1/2 minutes. My shot at a top ten finish was essentially over. Oh well, I just wanted to be able to ride well on a stage like this one.

We had to go up a canyon for the first 10-15 miles, into a wind. That kept things pretty compact as we made our way over the crest of the canyon. From there we had a very long descent (8-9 miles) before things flattened out at the turnaround. I was a little worried about the descent, so I made a move and hit the front just as we started down. I stayed there for a couple of miles, not working too hard, just making sure I was staying out of trouble. Things were great until we went bombing through the center of a little town and started hitting manhole covers that were an inch or two below the surface of the road. Not fun at 40 mph in a group of 50 riders. Bottles were launching out of their cages and skimming across the road between the wheels. Luckily we all made it through.

2 guys attacked before the turnaround, and 4 teammates of the overall leader went to the front to peg them back. I was 5th wheel and sitting pretty as the 4 riders ahead rotated amongst themselves to catch the leaders after a couple of miles. I had a front row seat and enjoyed watching them work as I was under no obligation to do so since they were defending the lead. Nice.

More climbing back up to the crest of the canyon before the turnaround, followed by a very fast and short descent, then we turned off the main road and started the final monster climb. Another 5 miler with an 8% average grade, and some steeper switchbacks thrown in for good measure (this was up the south side of the Nebo Loop - the north side was the original route, but it was still snowed in). I was sitting pretty with the lead group, which quickly shrunk to around 15 riders. I tried to ride a smart climb like I did the day before and eased into my own pace after a while. I was definitely working hard, but had plenty left in my legs whenever it came time to accellerate. I was hoping I could make up some pretty good ground in the overall standings, and then move up a few more places in tomorrow’s time trial. One guy caught me on a less-steep section before the top and seemed to be riding pretty strong. I didn’t feel good enough to work with him, but could hold on to the pace, so I yelled to him that I was going to hang on and wouldn’t contest the sprint since he was doing all the work. That was nice until the climb got a little steeper and he totally started to die. Really bad. I obviously felt fresher since I had been sitting on, but this was killing me. I had to really hold myself in check. Riders were starting to close in from behind, and I definitely wasn’t going to let them catch me. I thought I was going to have to push him the last 50 meters, but we eventually made it and he rolled over just ahead of me. Nice work, mate.

I ended up 11th and jumped back up to13th in the overall standings. It was a great day.

RACE REPORT #13 Tour of Utah - Stage 2 CAT 4

The second stage of the day was an afternoon criterium, held on a course through the parking lots at Thanksgiving Point.

A Criterium by definition is a multi-lap race on a closed course typically with a lap less than one mile. This style of racing has bred a unique athlete, which stresses speed and bike handling. Action is never more than a minute or two away, as riders cover lap after lap.

I had spent the time between races eating 3 bagels, drinking gallons of water, and laying in the shade. Also getting more than a bit nervous to race the ‘crit’. Some guys thrive on this type of race. Not me. Sure, they can be alot of fun, but can be carnage-filled as well. Especially in the category I was racing in. High on fitness, short on handling and self-preservation instincts…

I was more afraid of crashing and not being able to continue the race (tomorrow and then next day) than I was about actually crashing. I really wanted to see this thing through to the end. Sure enough, on lap two, a kid threw his chain pedaling out of a corner and slid sideways missing me by an inch. I was so mentally checked out it wasn’t even funny. I tried to surf the back for a while, but that is no place to be in a crit. The inevitable gap formed and just like that I was off the back with a few others. I wasn’t too upset, but used the time to actually ride faster through the corners and practice my lines in a little bit of a smaller group. We worked it for a while, but ended up getting pulled out of the race (due to the main group almost lapping us) with about 5 to go. That was a bummer, but considering the fact that I hadn’t ridden one of these races since 1994 that was ok. I accomplished my main goal and lived to fight another day. There was a pretty good crash about halfway through that took out 4 guys, but I think they were all able to continue on - just a little worse for wear.

RACE REPORT #12 Tour of Utah - Stage 1 CAT 4

Four One Seven - That’s what my eyeballs registered in the pitch blackness as I cracked my eyelids open for the first time in several hours. Time to get up! I had prepared extensively for this day, and I didn’t want to blow it by missing my start. I had set alarms on the clock radio, my watch, and my cell phone. I woke up more than 10 minutes before any of them went off.

We were staying with my parents for the week, and my wife would need our van to haul the kids around, so my parents offered to let me use their car to get to the races. I guarantee I was the only racer that showed up in a Cadillac with two bikes wedged into the trunk!

I arrived while it was still dark, and since I had picked up my packet a couple of days earlier, I only needed to put the bikes together and start warming up before the race. The weather was perfect and I took the opportunity to go scout the finishing climb in the car. That was a smart move as I was not familiar with it at all. It was almost 5 miles long, with a 7% average grade. The final half mile was 13% - that’s steep!

Ok, time to put up or shut up. We would be doing 3 laps of a 10 mile circuit through the fields before heading a few miles north and finishing at the top of the climb. The first lap was nervous. I rode pretty hard (HR was 172 a few times - crazy high for flat ground), but I really wanted to stay up front and keep out of trouble. That was good as there were some real man-eating potholes to be aware of. After the first lap, I dropped to the back and tried to conserve as much energy as possible before the climb. There was a high-speed corner near the end of each lap that had a 4 inch trench dug in the asphat and was filled with dirt and gravel. Problem was, the dirt and gravel was still a couple of inches below the top of the road surface. One guy flatted there, but the rest of us made successful hops at 25+ mph while leaning over to take the corner. That was fun!

There was a fairly high speed descent to get to the start of the climb, and I paid the price for not being at the front. I got gapped off the back just a tiny bit and had to ride pretty hard to maintain contact with the group. I was feeling strong, but there was no reason for me to do that much work on a descent. Maybe it worked out for the best, because when our group hit the bottom of the climb, trouble began. There were traffic cones set up the whole way along the climb to block off a lane for us - which was nice, but our group was so big we just swallowed them up. Guys would swerve in the middle of the pack to miss a cone, and it would appear right in front of you with very little time to react. I think at least 6 riders went to the ground at different times - going up hill at less than 15 mph. It was almost comical - but if you laughed, that was almost a guarantee that you were the next one to go to the ground… One guy I saw jammed a little too hard on his front brake to avoid hitting one, lifted his rear wheel off the ground, and set it down sideways - snapping his $800 carbon rim clean in half before hitting the pavement. Ouch!

I rode hard, but tried to stay within my limits. All too often I rage at the bottom of a climb only to fade at the end. This time, I kept the next day’s races in mind and tried to conserve where possible. I had started in last place at the bottom, so I had my work cut out for me. That grade was pretty tough, some guys were really suffering! My heart rate averaged 179 beats per minute for the half-hour it took to top out. I sprinted the last 100 yards to the line, and felt like I would be faster if I got off and walked. That was some steep stuff!

I was very pleased to learn that I took 9th out of 50 in my category - and still feel like I had more to give. Game on!

I said fossils, you dig?

During our trip to Utah, we took a side trip waaay of the beaten path to a place called U-DIG Fossils. It was quite a drive to get out there, including 20 miles of dirt road, but the weather was great and the kids were EXCITED.

The travel channel had done a feature on this place that we just happened to see while flipping channels one day. Seemed like a pretty cool concept. Lots of fossil-rich rock, you just need to come split it apart. It wasn’t cheap - $80 for the family to dig for 2 hours (sounds short, but was plenty of time). The memories and fun that the kids had was priceless.

The fossils are mostly trilobites (invertabrate marine animals). No T-Rex’s… The rock was limestone/shale that consisted of several layers. So it was fairly straightforward to split if you hit it just right - then peek to see if there was anything inside. Natalie found several small specimens in the parking lot right after she got out of the van. It was going to be a good day!

It turned out to be some pretty hard labor, chipping rock and hauling it around in 5 gallon buckets - and there were some stretches where it seemed like you weren’t going to find a thing. Then - jackpot! A discovery was made.

In all, we came away with around 5 shopping bags full of fossils. Lots of small, imperfect ones, and a few really nice ones. All the kids were successful in finding a bunch and were very proud of their share.

The drive home had a little bit of drama as we happened upon a Range Rover that had rolled a few times. Turns out a family was going out to dig fossils and their teenage sons were a few miles ahead in the Rover. Going waaay too fast on the dirt road (we had been doing 50-60 ourselves). The parents and rest of the kids were following in a van and had just gotten to the scene a few minutes before we arrived. Thank goodness none of them were hurt very badly. I was pretty scary looking…

Happy Birthday, Natalie!

Natalie is a lucky girl! She gets to celebrate her birthday early because we’ll be out of town. She’s a great kid and keeps us all on our toes. I can’t believe she’s seven now. This is crazy. I keep blinking and another year goes by.

Natalie is the artist in our family and I love seeing her creations.

Chicago trip

I had to go to Chicago for a few days to do some work. Luckily, I was going with a few other guys and we were able to have some fun while we were out there. We finished up a little early on the last day, and were able to head into the city. It was beatiful weather and we enjoyed kicking it out on Navy Pier. The highlight was a ride on the Sea Dog. It’s a large speedboat that had TWO turbo-charged 2,000 horsepower engines. Oh, and an EIGHT HUNDRED gallon gas tank!! Kick the tires and light the fires!!!

The feeling of speed wasn’t quite as extreme as I had anticipated, but boy, did that shoreline go by quickly…

RACE REPORT #11 Cherry Creek TT series - week 6 CAT 4

There is one more week to go, but this was my last race of the series as I will be on the road to Utah next week. It was good to go out with my best time yet - 25:25, which put me 23rd out of 46. Mr. 50% again… I had ridden pretty hard up High Grade last night, sacrificing a little bit of leg freshness tonight for extra training in advance of my big race next week. I felt pretty decent, finally getting my heart rate up over 180 like it should be. I tried a new strategy - my teammate Marco said that an average speed of 24.7mph was needed to get below 25 minutes. I set my computer to display the average speed and focused on keeping it as high as I could. With a couple miles to go, it dropped to 24.6 - I cranked as hard as I could and went faster, and faster as the line closed in. By the time I crossed it, my average was up to 25mph. I was pumped! Then I looked at my time - dang! Didn’t break 25:00, but got my best yet. Need to check Marco’s math, though…

I ended up 29th out of 62 in the series.

High Grade observations

You’ve probably noticed by now that I’m pretty obsessed with my times up a climb that I live near. High Grade is a good test of fitness and has been my measuring-stick over the last year and a half. The wind can influence times a bit, but I still like to use it as a point of reference.

On my climb today, my time was 59:54 - which wasn’t very spectacular. It just amuses me to think of how HARD I tried to break an hour last year, and never came within 3 minutes. Now, it seems like on any given day - even with a headwind and average legs like today, breaking an hour is almost a sure thing.

On the steepest part of the climb, I was in a 19 tooth cog holding just under 10mph. Last year, I would climb this section in my 25 tooth (granny-gear) and struggle to grind out 4-6mph while thrashing around all over the bike. Guess that’s called taking it to a new level.