El Diablo a.k.a. The Tour de France Devil

The Tour has entered the Pyrenees and so to has the Tour de France Devil. It seems as long as I can remember reading and watching the Tour, I would see pictures of El Diablo on the side of the most grueling roads in the race.

Honestly, I thought it was a great costume and an obvious way to be recognized in the crowd, but in the back of my head I thought the guy was a bit cuckoo. That is until recently when I heard Bob Roll speak of him.

According to Bob, the devil will appear, jeer, and cheer the riders at the toughest point of the hardest climb. Brilliant!

I'm hoping that is true, because if it is, this guy just gained a whole lot of respect from me. He does have a method to his madness.

If you look in the picture, you'll notice he also has a hell of a vertical for an old guy!

Great Start... So, So, Finish

Yesterday was the the fourth race of the Winter Park series. The Valley Point to Point was the longest so far at 18.8 miles of racing. The great news for me was that the start line was in Winter Park and the finish line was downhill near Frasier, which meant more descending than climbing. I liked that!

Having had some time to think about it, this wasn't the best course I've ridden for the series. I loved course #2 a.k.a The Mountain Circuit. However, race #4 was the most fun I had while racing this year.

Let me tell you a story. Imagine if you will...

Pre-Race Day
I hadn't done a lot of riding in the past two weeks. After my bonk in race number 3, I had a rough time getting motivated to get back on the bike. I took a full week off the bike and then hopped onto the bike to summit Mount Evans with my brother. Once that was ridden I got another surge of energy to ride. However, work didn't play nice and I ended up not riding again until Wednesday.

The week and a half off the bike wasn't a waste. In fact, it was very helpful. During that time I focused on my diet. I asked people on my team and people I trust about diets that they have had success with before a big effort or race. I told them of my bonk during the previous race and I got one reaction that stuck with me a bit.

While I was at the Boulder Short Track I spoke with a Teammate about his diet. When I told him I bonked, he started to laugh and said, "It was only an hour and a half..." He wasn't being mean, or a jerk, but he made a good point. My body shouldn't bonk in a race that is only an hour and a half unless I really screwed up my nutrition. After that discussion, I started to think about my diet a bit more.

Friday
Evening
Pre-Race Dinner time! That means BBQ chicken. I'd been on good behavior the last couple days by not drinking any soda and tonight I opted not to have any beer either. I ate a healthy meal that included a green salad, corn on the cob, and BBQ chicken. It was delicious!

Saturday
Morning - At Home
I went to bed a bit earlier than usual last night, which made it all the easier to wake up and start the morning. I walked downstairs and started up the coffee. While the coffee brewed, I flipped on the TV, and starting to hydrate myself by drinking two full glasses of water. I eat a couple hard boiled eggs and fix myself a bagel with peanut butter for the road.

I hop into the car with my bagel and a cup of coffee and start the long drive to WP

Saturday
Morning - At Winter Park - Pre Race
I show up at the parking area about 40 minutes before my start time. I, of course, park next to a guy that is showing off his car's audio system by playing it very loud. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded that much, but the music he was playing was like a techno dance mix that just looped through the same beats over and over and over and over..... MAKE IT STOP!!!!!

I finish getting ready as quickly as I can so I can avoid getting that horrible beat/song stuck in my head.

As I start to warm-up my legs feel like lead. I take this as a good sign. When I was in high school I ran cross country. Every race that I did really well in started with my legs feeling like lead weights.

After a bit of a warm-up my legs still feel heavy, but I make a mental checklist of things I have going for me. I ate well, slept great, the sky is overcast, the race is on time, and I was able to sneak in a warm-up before my race.

The only question in my head is if I should push the pace from the beginning or sit on a wheel and let the other set the pace.

I line up to start my race...

Saturday Morning
Morning - At Winter Park - Race
The race begins I decide to let the other rides set the pace. My legs are still feeling heavy and I don't want to push any harder than I have to.

I'm the last in a group of four riders that climb the first ascent to the single track. A bit of a gap forms between me and the others, but I know that the dirt road is about to end and the single track begin. The single track brings with it a long descent. I'm not a very good climber, but I like to think that I do have some skills on the descent. The fast guy, Nigel, and I leap towards the single track and start the descent in spots one and two.

The two of us tear down the descent and Nigel even starts to gap me a bit as I get caught in some narrow spots behind riders in previous heats. I won't let him get out of sight because at this point my legs are no longer weighted and I feel damn good! When we are about to come out of the descent and start another climb, Nigel pulls to the side of the trail and waves me on. He had a flat tire, which put me in the lead!

I continue hammering away, passing people in previous heats as fast as I can when I come to what I thought was the river crossing. It wasn't! In fact, it was about a 30 foot, waist deep puddle. I high gear into the puddle and get stopped in my tracks. Waist deep in muddy water, I try not to think about what is growing in there as it would have made me stop in the river crossing - actually 100 yards ahead - and bath myself.

I try to push my way through the river crossing without dismounting, but I fail and I have to pull my bike through the water. As I get back on the bike, I notice the chain has fallen off. I quickly get off and yank the chain in place. I jump on again only to have the chain fall off a second time. This time it isn't so easy to put it back on and I waste about 1 minute messing with the chain.

A few obscenities, a couple riders in my heat passing me, and a minute later, I'm back on my bike riding as fast as I can to make up the time. I manage to catch up with one of the riders that passed me and I thought I was in luck because we are about to start another descent. However, my gloves are wet from the water, which makes my grip on the handle bar very slick. I hold back because I don't want to have an accident due to loosing my grip. I watch him ride away on the descent.

During the next several miles, my gloves dry, and I try like hell catch up. I'm slowly able to catch the lead group. Once I catch them on a dirt road descent I ride past them as quickly as I can. This is where it starts to get really fun. The final portion of the race is rolling terrain. Some of the terrain is uphill, which they do very well and some of it is downhill, which I do very well. So the battle starts. So many times in mountain bike racing you will start the race and then you will time trial as you try to keep your position. Not today. For several miles we play cat and mouse. Each of us taking turns as the mouse. I love it! That is racing!

As we reach the last couple miles, the roots and rocks on the trail really start to take their toll on me and I'm no longer able to play mouse. In fact, I'm no longer able to play the cat either, and I slowly watch the lead 3 riders pedal away from me. In the next two miles the three riders are able to put a minute on my time.

I finished the race and found it necessary to congratulate the other riders. They did a great race and really enjoyed it! I found the leaders and said my congratulations. I then bumped into several other riders from my heat and we struck up a great conversation, which I truly enjoyed. The day really encompass the spirit of racing.

Sunday
Evening - Post Race
Yesterday was a great day of racing, which I really enjoyed. I'm proud of myself for working on a better diet pre-race. I'm also happy to have challenge the other racers up to the point that I couldn't challenge them any longer. Truth be told, I felt great, well within my limits the entire ride. I didn't come in 4th because I bonked. I came in 4th because there were three guys that were faster than me. That makes me feel good and makes the race totally worth it.

Tire Confusion

Riddle me this, Batman.

what weighs only 4.4 lbs, feels like a ton, rides like a cadilac, and is able to make a 200+ pound man stand in a bike shop looking like idiot?

If you said the new Continental Traffic tires that I put on my mountain bike yesterday, you would be correct!

So let me explain a bit. The evening before last was spent at the local bike shop. I needed a new set of tires and was going to get a pair of slicks for my mountain bike. I've been riding a lot of roads lately and I'm sick of having to replace the tire due to worn tread. So, I walked into my local shop and right away a friendly sales person came to me and asked "How can I help you?" I simply said that I'm looking for tires and tubes and elaborated on my situation. He quickly took me to the back and pointed out the tubes that were on sale and a set of semi-slicks that were also on sale. The story could of finished there and everything would have been just fine, but I had to see what other tires I could choose from.

I started to browse the tire section and I came across a continental brand tire called Traffic. It is designed for on and off road. Basically, there is a lot of tread, really close together, which allows a smooth roll on the pavement and a bit of traction off road. The trade off is that these tires weighed a frigg'n ton at 800+ grams.

The semi-slicks that the salesman offered weighed in at a much slimmer 400 grams and they were about 5 bucks cheaper. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Not so.

For about 15 min. I went into a trance in the middle of the bike store. Trying to figure out the physics of rotating weight... And I don't know squat about physics!

As I stood there with the semi-slick in one hand and the Continentals in the other I had an internal battle going on. Cheaper and lighter vs. more expensive, heavier, but going to last a long time.

What to do? What to do?

Several times the salesman snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, obviously concerned that I was going to suddenly collapse. Several times he asked if there was anything he could help with. There wasn't, so I continued to stand there in confusion.

So you may be wondering what I decided to do.

Well, the more expensive tire that weighs more ended up being my choice. I came to the conclustion that these tires are for training and I shouldn't be concerned with the extra weight (4.4 lbs tubes + tires). If anything, it will make me appreciate my racing tires that much more. Plus, This tread is going to last a long time and I have no concerns about riding this tread on the road.

Finally, it gave me a great goal. I plan to put so many miles on these tires that I'll wear the tread down and with it the weight to sub 400 grams.

Wish me luck!

The Will To Suffer

Post Inspired By:
There Will Be A Light
from Ride with Nick Martin by Martini

Quote:
This past weekend's Firecracker 50 was a quick reminder that I need dig deep within myself to find my "will to suffer". Some call it a "broken motivator" others call it "the pain cave" some even refer to it as the "check engine soon light". Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back.

It isn't easy when your passion is a sport that can literally bring you to your knees week in and week out.... you would think after 10 years of racing I would have it figured out?

This past weekend I was in the hurt locker when I bonked during the third race of the Winter Park Race Series. The story is pretty simple. A simplest change in diet made for a bad race.

For the last several years I've found that I need protein and lots of it the night before a tough ride. The morning of a hard ride, I'll again have some protein, but will also work in some carbs. I find this works for my body. This also means I get to eat a lot of BBQ chicken the night before a tough race. I'm not saying this is right, but it works for me.

This past Friday I went out to eat with the family and my In-Laws. Instead of the traditional BBQ chicken, I instead opted for a couple beers and a calzone from CB & Pots (I'm a big fan of their porter). Holy Carbs, Batman!

So in a feable attempt to regain some of the protein I needed, I ate some chicken the morning of the race and like an idiot, some of the left over calzone...

My race was at 11:20 and the carbs from the calzone were burned by 10:00, leaving me hungry by my start time. To make matters worse, the race was post-poned a half-hour, which made my starting time at noon (a.k.a. lunch time).

I had a good start and was able to use my race day adrenaline as a motivator for the first 7 miles. By mile 8 I was hot, hungry, and had no energy left... I BONKED!!!

At that point I was no longer racing. I was trying to survive. Looking back at it, the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't have the "will to suffer" or the "check engine soon light" as Nick refers to in his post. I was spent and didn't have it in me to fight. I just wanted to finish the race. I never use to be that way. In addition, somewhere on the course I left a piece of me that I haven't been able to recover; my motivation to ride.

I figured with the Tour de France on TV, I'd watch a couple stages and be totally psyched to ride my bike, but even though I'm enjoying the Tour a lot, I still haven't got the itch to even ride, never mind train.

As Nick says, "Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back"

So, it is soul searching time...

This week will be spent resting and this weekend I'll plan on a nice long bike ride. The perfect opportunity to search the soul.

Mud Covered Water bottles

Post Inspired By:
Wipe off that water bottle: 200 mountain bikers vomit
from Singletracks Mountain Bike Blog by jeff

I was really intested in the article that Jeff refers ( 200 mountain bike racers fall ill ). No, not because I'm a lover of gastrointestinal symptoms. More because I've always loved water bottles and have never even considered purchasing a camel back. Ok, I owned a camel back when they first came out (It was given to me). I'm sure they have improved since then, but I hated it. There is nothing like a blast of water that a water bottle can deliver on a hot, hot day. Granted, I'm not a distance rider and the most I ever need is three water bottles, which is very easy to carry between the bike (2 holders) and the jersey (center rear pocket). But I digress...

The reason I found the article so interesting is because I've wrapped my lips around the nipple of a water bottle to open it more times than I can possibly count. Many of those times I felt the grit, mud, and dirt on my teeth from the mud covered nipple. I never thought that was a problem. Pretty interesting to think about all the bacteria that could potentially be in that dirt.

Is it enough to make me convert to a camel back? Hell no, I still love my water bottles and I will continue to risk the chance of a gastrointestinal meltdown as a result.

Determination

"Confidence is the result of hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."
~Roger Staubach

06/20 Boulder Short Track

"All human power is a compound of time and patience."
~ Honore de Balzac

Great Blogs on TrailCentral

The blog referral system has been operating for a couple weeks on TrailCentral. I gotta say, I don't know if anyone else is enjoying them, but I sure have enjoyed reading the posts by bloggers and visitors of TrailCentral.com. It has given me a chance to get to know a few of the sites frequent visitors.

I encourage you, if you have a blog, to please add it to the TrailCentral Blog directory. I sure will enjoy reading them!

View All Blogs on TrailCentral
Add Your Blog To TrailCentral

Five blogs currently on TrailCentral.com:

Redstone Underground
Author: Redstone
Multi-authored blog that has great info for bikers interested in Lyons, CO.
Visit Blog

Stories From The Front Range
Author: Joel White
Stories and tales of my various biking/hiking/skiing/etc activities.
Visit Blog

bIKE cLUB
Author: Beer Drinking Robot
Misadventures of a score of bike/ski addicts in Boulder/Ned
Visit Blog

Slip Angle
Author: Chris
Life is short, get out and do anything with it. Be creative, push your limits and take risks because otherwise, what's the point? This blog is about what I'm doing with the time I have and covers pretty much any topic imaginable. Don't be "meh!"
Visit Blog

Racing Green
Author: dmc
This year I'm focusing my cycling goal on raising awareness about Global Warming, so I'm writing about Riding, Global Warming, work and family.
Visit Blog

View All Blogs on TrailCentral
Add Your Blog To TrailCentral

What's next???
I've done some more work and I will be allowing visitors to add their own trails (Anywhere in the US) to the Trails Directory on TrailCentral. More details soon to follow!

Walking For My Dad In Cheyenne

Friday evening I called my mother. She had extended an invitation to attend the MS Walk in Cheyenne at least a month earlier to show support for my father who has been living with MS for years.

It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and while talking to my mother I had a least a hundred reasons in my head as to why I couldn't come; I'm renovating my bathroom, the yard needs a lot of work, 9:30 am is really early and Cheyenne is really far away, etc, etc...

I finished the conversation with my mother with the understanding that I most likely wouldn't be attending. However, if by the off chance I'm awake and motivated to travel, I'll give her a call and let her know to expect me.

I handed the phone off to my wife who then talked to my mother for another hour. I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to sleep in the following morning.

When she was done with her conversation we sat down to chat about the day. She mentioned that my mother told her that my father was really starting to show obvious signs of MS.

My father has had MS for years. It started with a numb feeling in the tips of his fingers and it has slowly started to take over his body. I saw him several weeks ago, the first time in quite a while and noticed that his walking was a bit labored.

My mother told my wife about a recent episode at work, when he lost feeling in his legs and was unable to stand for about a half hour. When my wife told me that it hit home pretty hard. He really does have a disease...

I always thought of my dad as a strong man and I started thinking about how this disease is slowly starting to strip every bit of that strength away from him.

I started thinking that maybe I could do a local walk in his honor, a walk that is closer to home, still being a bit selfish in my thinking. That didn't seem right.

Before going to bed I went into my sons room to check on him. At that moment I totally knew what I had to do. If I were in my fathers condition, I would hope that my son would be willing to come walk with me for a short mile.

The next morning I woke up bright and early, packed up my son and headed to Wyoming.

Once there I quickly registered and found my dad and the other family members that were able to attend. We started the walk around the park, which was approximately a mile in length. My dad started out strong, needing little help from his cane, by the end of the walk he really starting to rely it. He finished and he did a great job! I couldn't have been more proud and I couldn't have been happier that I came to the walk in support of him.

Admittedly, this walk made me see my father in a different way. Not a bad way, but different. It made me realize that MS is more than just a diagnosis. It is a disease.

Today, as I write this, the hustle and bustle of life is really insignificant compared to the life altering disease that my father has. A disease that I plan to learn more about so I can continue to support my father even when we aren't walking.

No Golden Ticket Here...

I forgot that I haven't given an update about the techstars application. The short of it is that the answer was pretty much what I expected... "NO!"

OK, they didn't use an exclamation mark. They were in fact very polite with the rejection letter. You know what? It is probably for the best. If I had been selected I would have had to change my blog summary from:

Random thoughts and observations by the creator, owner, and webmaster of TrailCentral.com. A website that makes no money and is all about mountain biking in Colorado. So what is this blog about? It's not about the bike... OK, most the time it is, but sometimes it will be about random stuff I think about or am working on...

to

Random thoughts and observations by the creator, owner, and webmaster of TrailCentral.com. A Colorado mountain biking website that had a bunch of money given to it and now has to prove its worth. So what is this blog about? It's not about the bike... OK, most the time it is, but sometimes it will be about random stuff I think about or am working on...

Which would have been a huge pain in my ass anyways... So it is just as well I didn't get selected. It actually saved me some site maintenance. ;)

In all seriousness, it would have been a great opportunity and I hope those that did get selected take every bit of advantage that the mentors and the network offers.

13th State Added to GPS Maps Directory

Pennsylvania is in the house! Blackjack Trail was recently added by Private Jackson. This is currently the only trail listed in the state, but that is all that is need for Pennsylvania to be the 13th state represented on TrailCentral.com!

13 down.... 37 to go!

States Represented on TrailCentral.com:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Maryland
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia

What good is having a tree if it doesn't offer shade...

This past week the neighborhood sidewalks have been worked on by teams of workers. Teams ripping out old sidewalk and making new sidewalk. Our sidewalk isn't the only one being replaced. It appears the winter has been hard on a lot of the neighborhood sidewalks and I'd guess that about 10% of the neighborhood sidewalks are being replaced. That means that a lot of houses have teams of workers in front of their house.

Interestingly, at lunch time, the teams come to our front yard to eat. I know some of my neighbors and I know they would throw their nose in the air and ask why those dirty workers were eating in their front yard. However, I have a different outlook. I'm of the thinking that a tree that is only looked at is a lonely tree.

We have a great big tree in our front yard, surrounded by red mulch, and trimmed with sandstone. It looks great! Maybe it is the rock trim that offers them a nice place to sit. Maybe it is the large tree that offers them some shade from the sun. Maybe the hours of work I've put into the yard has made it look nicer and more inviting.

I'm not sure what the motivation is for them, but I'm proud that they have chosen my front yard to hang out in. For some reason my front yard is comfortable. And making others feel comfortable, whether inside or out, is what makes a great home.

Techstars Application... Done at last.

It seems like a lifetime ago that I posted about Techstars. Well, today we finally submitted the application...

We'll see how it goes. If nothing else, I'll be sure to post some of the answers to the 28 questions that were asked on the application. This will give readers an idea of the direction TrailCentral will be taking in the future ...

Love is Work

Love is work. No seriously, Love = Work.

I was speaking with my wife yesterday and I started giving her some greif about not wanting to work on a project for her because I was too tired. She quickly said,

"Sometimes love means doing something that you don't necessarily want to do for someone else"

I didn't say anything at the time, but in my head I started thinking about my defenition of work:

Work: Doing something that you don't necessarily want to do for someone else.

I slept on it and this morning I told my wife that "Love" sounds a lot like "Work." She laughed and appended "without compensation" to the end of her last statement.

ah... good point.

haha

What are the odds?

I've recently undertaken the large project of updating the headers on TrailCentral.com. The old headers were not only out dated, but I added a new blogging feature that required I update the headers.

While I was brainstorming ideas about what to do with the header I simply asked my wife...
"What do you think about this? You know how the shopping area in Caesar's Palace changes from day to night every 1/2 hour? What if I did that with my website header?"

If you have ever been to Caesar's Palace you know what I'm talking about. The shopping area in the building looks like a real outdoor street and the ceiling has a sky painted on it. In the course of 1/2 hour to 1 hour the lighting changes to make it appear as though it is daytime or night. It is a really neat effect and worth stepping away from the gaming tables to check it out.

So, I wanted to implement that on my website. For the header, I wanted a photo to display that would correspond to the time of day.

Well, apparently I wasn't the only one that thought that was a cool idea. When I logged into my work station yesterday I started reading current tech news and I saw this headline: "Google adds decorative themes to home page." It goes on to read "Sprucing up its famously plain Web site, Google Inc. is offering a new option that plants its Internet search box in panoramic settings that change with the time of day and the outside weather."

Ok, Google trumped me by adding outside weather to the idea. I wasn't thinking that detailed, but I'll be damned if I was beaten to the punch by the time of day.

Well, I'll be branded a copy cat, but I'm still going to implement the time of day photo into my header. I think it will be really cool on TrailCentral!

Lookout Mountain Hill Repeats...

I have a whole new respect for you if in your head you said "Bullshit!" I didn't do repeats. Lets forget the fact that it is a Tuesday after work ride. Lets focus on the fact that I rode it only once and that one time was more than enough for me. It wasn't my best ride. In fact it was probably one of my least "best" rides. Lets diagnose the problem, shall we?

1. Last week my road bike kicked the dust and I can't afford to get it fixed. That is the problem with having multiple bikes, one of them always needs work!
2. Since my road bike kicked it, I've spent my evenings working on the new blogging referral tool at TrailCentral, rather than putting in a couple extra hours of riding.
3. Today was the Big Ring group ride. It started two weeks ago and my team (Feedback Sports) is the team that leads the ride. Basically, this means until word gets around a bit about the ride, and more than just the Feedback team shows, the ride is going to be ridden by mostly expert riders. A great bunch of guys, but punishers on the bike.
4. Previously said point 1 left me without a road bike to ride on Lookout, which means the DEAN Ti MTB was the steed of the day for me.
5. The previously said point 2 left another 5 lbs on my ass because I was working on the computer, rather than putting time in on the bike. I'll be doing a happy dance once I get below 200 lbs again. This has been a long winter and I got super lazy and packed on some serious poundage. My first race is in June and I have until then to get back down to the 180s. We'll see if I can do it.
6. Previously said point 3 left me, the fatty, riding my fat tire ride up lookout with a group of expert riders on road bikes. It was a recipe for disaster...

Would I do it again. Yes. In fact, I plan to next Tuesday at Big Ring.

My ride is bad ass!

While riding today I started to take inventory of my ride...

Today I was riding the Surly 1x1. The bike is a bitch. I say that knowing that a bike is the only thing you can call a bitch and still expect a great ride from it, but that is for another post...

Truly, the bike has attitude. Her frame is jet black (yes, my bikes are female). Black as in outlaw. Hell, even the name, Surly, throws out attitude. On the downtube there is a sticker that reads "One Gear, More Beer." Move the eyes to the top tube and you get to see my enthusiasm for single speeding with a sticker that reads "Fuck That Shift." An awesome sticker that my bike wears like a medal of honor. On the paint is a fine layer of red dust. Dust that got picked up while riding in Moab last month. I refuse to wash my bike because I don't want it to loose the look of being ridden hard. It suits the bike and all the attitude it emits.

Now if you move the eyes to the rear triangle you'll see a clamp. On that clamp is a trailer hitch that leads to a bright yellow and blue rumble seat where my son sits . The trailer comes complete with an orange warning flag and reflectors. My son is so proud of his ride! Under his red helmet is a grin from ear to ear as we cruise along the local bike paths... me on my bad ass ride, and he in his...

Single Speeding Amasa Back Trail in Moab, Utah

Amasa Back Trail

Trail Information

Photo Gallery

GPS Map

I didn't have any idea how the trails would be in Moab when I started packing for my trip to Utah. It has been a particularly snowy winter on the Front Range so I had prepared for the worst.

The bicycle of choice was a Surly 1x1. I chose this bike because I could ride it in any weather condition.

There was one risk, however. It was too early in the season for me to be hammering some of the more difficult trails on the 1x1, which meant I wouldn't be able to choose any trail I wanted to ride. Instead, I had to limit my riding to those trails I could comfortably ride on my 1x1.

In all honestly, that didn't limit me much. I only had 5 days of riding in Moab and there is plenty of good dirt that can be ridden with a single speed. The first trail I opted to ride was Amasa Back.

Amasa Back is a short distance from main street in Moab. I stayed at the Holiday Inn just north of town and rode my bike to the trail. This gave me a nice warm-up as I rode the paved streets outside of Moab and along side the Colorado River.

I knew I was getting close when the paved street ended and dirt road began. The dirt road hugged the north side of a canyon wall and it was slick! And I don't mean slick in terms of "Slick Rock." I mean hard packed snow that had an icy sheen. This was a little unnerving.

Although a lot of Amasa Back is well exposed, there is a short canyon dip where there could have been similar conditions. I split away from the icy road and as I rode down to the canyon valley I was pleasantly surprised that there was no snow or ice on the trail. In fact, the trail was in great condition!

From the valley bottom I continued to hammer my way up the trail with my single gear. Amasa Back has a perfect combination of dirt and slickrock and is quite possibly my favorite trail to ride in Moab.

My early season form didn't slow me down at all as I churned the single speed up the hills towards the end point of the trail. Once at the end I forced myself to look over the edge of the cliff. I'm a big chicken when it comes to heights and this little challenge was a way for me to fight back a bit. I may have been nervous, but like hell I was going to let it get the best of me!

When I've ridden Amasa Back in the past I've absolutely loved the descent. However, on my rigid single speed it wasn't as enjoyable. At this point I was wishing my upper body had a couple more months of training. Single speeding on a rigid frame requires a lot of strength in the upper body. The constant jarring on my early season form made for a much slower descent than usual.

The slow descent didn't really didn't bother me. I used it as an excuse to really enjoy the perfect weather (mid 60s), the scenery, and the fact that I wasn't on the snowy Front Range!

Enjoy!

Snap, Crackle, Pop! I Visit a Chiropractor.

I've been bitching an moaning to my wife lately about feeling like a 90 year old man. The bitching doesn't fall on deaf ears. In fact, she too does her share of bitching about aches and pains and can sympathise.

We are both relatively young (No where near 90), yet we both feel like the aches and pains have really started to take a toll on our energy levels and general health.

For a while we were thinking that "maybe this is the way people our age feel." I don't think either of us bought into it, but it was the only excuse we could come up with. So lately both my wife and I have said "Bullshit, there is no way I'm going to feel like this. I'm still young!"

Today I took a baby step on the road to feeling normal and visited a local chiropractor. I've never been to a chiropractor so I honestly didn't know what to expect.

It started with a series of questions about my health. Then it time was spent evaluating my back. The Dr. seemed please and said I had a rather healthy back. However, I had some misalignment in my mid back and there seemed to be a small hip shift that she was curious about.

Apparently the hips only shift if there is a large impact. She asked if I had fallen hard enough to remember in the last couple years. I was quickly able to rattle off about a dozen different times my hips and seat bone would have had pretty hard impacts; hit by a car while riding my bike, crashing on my mountain bike about a dozen times, etc. Don't get me wrong, I think of myself as a pretty good cyclist, but as anyone who rides can tell you, the more your ride the more likely you will be to have an accident or crash on your bike.

The last ten minutes of the appointment is where the Snap, Crackle, and Pop happened. She started with my neck. A simple twist of her wrists while holding my head and I heard the loudest cracks I've ever heard, without any pain. In fact, suddenly when I got up my head felt like it was on a well greased bearing. It was wonderful.

She did some work on my mid back in hopes to realign the rotated vertebrae, but time ran out before she could adjust the lower back.

It has been about 10 hours since my visit and at first I didn't really notice a difference. However, as the day has progressed, I've really noticed small things have been a bit easier, such as being able to bend over to pick something up.

The Dr. told me that I wasn't cured, but with some minor tweaks hear and there I should really start feeling more my age. That was music to my ears!

24 of Big Bear and other 24 Hour Races

Recently, one of the community members uploaded the 24 Hours of Big Bear course to the GPS Mapping section of TrailCentral.

While taking a look at the course in Google Earth (Pictured at left), I started thinking of all the the other 24 hour races promoted by Granny Gear Productions.

Well, that started the snowball rolling and I spent some time this afternoon adding all the 24 hour races to the TrailCentral events page.

You can view details about all seven races - promoted by Granny Gear Productions - by going to the events page and searching by "24 Hour Event." Alternatively, you can go right to the source using the links below.

So if endurance racing is your bag, you better get into gear because the first race is the 24 Hours of Temecula, which is only 49 days away from the time I'm posting this... Good Luck!

Granny Gear Production Races:
24 Hours of Temecula
24 Hours of Conyers
24 Hours of Big Bear
24 Hours of Killington
24 Hours of Landahl
24 Hours of Moab