the wheel in the sky keeps on turning.

The weather has been pretty up and down here in PC. We are on about a 5 day cycle, alternating between February and July. Today snow is falling, three days ago it was 75 degrees. Regardless of the weather, motivation has been high to get out and turn the pedals. Bike racing is a lot of fun. The days and races are anything but routine, it is all so new and exciting. Competing with fresh eyes and mind is really refreshing.

Last weekend was an off weekend, no races on the calendar. Myself and four other teammates made the trek to Moab for some warmer weather and a change of scenery. The first day we road through Canyonlands out to Dead Horse Point. The ride out was mellow and enjoyable. After a short break to check out DHP we headed home, straight into the wind. Wind means paceline and paceline seems to, more often than not, mean the hammer is about to fall. and it did. We crushed the ride back for probably 40 minutes. I don't think any of us could have ridden any faster. fortunately i flatted, one of the few times in my life i will be 'fortunate' to flat. we had to stop to change tubes quickly and that meant an end to hammering. we sailed in the last 5 miles to the car, total time around 3 hours. it was awesome to ride with friends in such a sweet place.

the next day we road the famed la sal loop, an epic climb that takes close to an hour and a half to the top. again, the hammer fell when we hit the uphill. it was brutal but at the top, the sights were worth it. the snow on the mountain tops constrasting with the red sandstone of canyonlands below is really something. from the top of the loop there is a long fast decent to castle valley. the ride out from castle valley is long and rolling, and into the wind. wind=paceline=hammer down. another 45 minutes of crushing it and we were all toast but the day was still young. we rode a few short spurs out of moab and headed home for a near 5 hour ride.

the last day we started out with a few spurs and some light spinning, we met the rest of our group at the entry to Arches National Park and road in. more wind, more paceline, more hammer falling. and on a climb out of the park, the joy ride turned into a full on race. i wasn't too psyched about it but it was a good push to get the group back together and spin back home. another 5 hour day in the books.

I was super tired after the weekend so i took a couple days easy. tuesday was two rides totalling 4 hours but easy the whole time with a few accelerations. wednesday i did some uphill intervals at threshold to get my legs ready for the weekends race. i took thursday off and friday a few intervals with world wide superstar, nordic combined world champion and now cat 1 road racer, bill demong. we hammered for about 12 minutes in total to open all systems up.

Saturday, yesterday was the East Canyon Road Race. a 60 mile race for everyone. its basically 45 miles of riding to get to the where the race really happens. then a 15 minute uphill grind, a 10 minute flat in the wind and brutal 300m steep uphill sprint finish.

i felt really comfortable in the pack this time. i just chilled the whole time. i had to bring back a few breaks but it didn't require much effort, but it was neccessary to make sure we hit the big hill together. when we got there, i moved up the side quickly. got to the front and started the click down one and spin, cycle. by that, i mean i shift down one gear (harder) and work up to the point where i can spin it, spin for 10 seconds and drop one more. its a good way to build speed up a hill and not over amp it. the changing cadence is also nice on the legs. after about 30 seconds of work, i had the field down to 7 and after another 30 it was 3 of us. i had it in me to go away from the last two but with a 10 minute, wide open flat afterwards, there wasn't much incentive. at that point i just dragged us up the hill, building time over the pack and keeping the other two on my wheel. when we hit the flats we started a good paceline and kept the speed high past the lake. by the time we got to the uphill, i could tell the other two were done. i slapped it into the big ring and let it all out. i crushed myself. i haven't hurt like that in a while but it was worth the win.

this week: more riding. next weekend: more racing. rinse and repeat as neccessary.

below are some pics from moab that i took with an old school 35mm film camera and a couple from the race that my buddy Jeremy took.

note the grin on my brother. I was not grinning.
leading the charge uphill.




la sal loop road, top of the climb.
canyonlands.

team.