Hut-to-Hut: September 6 (Day 2)

Day 2:  Last Dollar Pass to Spring Creek Hut, 27 miles

The day began high on Last Dollar Pass under gray skies. The forecast was overcast with possible rain later in the day. On paper, the days route was downhill, but as we soon discovered "downhill day" simply means you end lower than you start. It doesn't mean you won't be doing any climbing! Even with a few uphills, this was probably the easiest day of the trip.

The start was a fairly long descent from Last Dollar through aspen groves to a high desert plateau. Here we rode by the old ranch where the original True Grit movie with John Wayne was filmed. We rolled up and down on this plateau until a sustained downhill to Highway 62. The roads on the plateau had more traffic than most due to the number of ranches in the area and the close proximity to the highway, but is was still tolerable. As we took a brief rest at Highway 62 (about the halfway point for the day), we talked with a couple guys who were riding across the country, east to west. They were nice guys and looked to be having a good time, despite getting wet and a little cold.

From Highway 62, we climbed up a couple miles to another high plateau populated with expansive ranches. Here we rode over nice gravel roads that zig-zagged through the ranch properties towards a darkening sky. Although we had sprinkles at various points during the day, I thought we might get lucky and avoid any hard rain. It was not to be, within 10 miles of the end the rain started to fall in earnest. The roads got progressively wetter and muddier as we approached the endpoint for the day. Although we were kicking up some muddy spray, thankfully, the roads never got boggy.

Today was Gina's longest ride ever! But, then again, so are the next 5 days! I for one couldn't imagine tackling this ride with as little preparation as she had going in. Nonetheless, today she was riding strong and in good spirits most of the day. Things started to unravel a little in the last few miles. Unfortunately, we ended with a climb and although Gina was still doing well physically, she was mentally ready to be DONE for the day. Although we never had any significant problems locating the hut at the end of any leg, it still can be a minor mind-f*** to not know exactly where the finish line is.

We arrived at the hut in the rain and partially covered in mud. Getting gear and clothing clean and strung up on the clothes lines was a little messy. Before getting cleaned up, I got the handsaw out and got my Paul Bunyan on. Luckily the wood at the hut was under the cover of trees so we had dry wood for a fire in the stove. This made it possible to get our clothes dry for the next day, yay!

In this picture you can see the "crapper" in the background. Apparently, these composting toilets have been pretty nasty in the past, but they were totally clean and non-nasty. They appeared to be relatively new and the design really works well.

Hut-to-Hut: Telluride to Moab

Early in September, Gina and I did a backcountry MTB tour with San Juan Hut Systems. It was 7 days, 215 miles from Telluride to Moab. For those who might be considering such a outing, here's my review. For booking info see, San Juan Hut Systems.

Intro

First off, San Juan offers 2 routes: Telluride-Moab and Durango-Moab. Telluride is supposedly the easier of the two, but I think this refers mostly to technical difficulty. There are two days that have significant climbing, and the route is by no means a walk-in-the-park. The route could be done on a CX bike, but there would be some rough sections and the steep climbing could be pretty tough (probably depends how lightly you pack). If you want singletrack, the Telluride is NOT the way to go. It has very limited singletrack options off the main route. The Durango route is apparently much better in this regard.

The huts are great. Some are nicer than others, but all are comfortable and get the job done. The food choices are necessarily limited, but its no problem to put together tasty meals and chase them down with some well-deserved beers. Each hut has room for 8 people, so you can put together 8 friends and fill up the hut, or go with fewer and either end up by yourself or make new friends if others book the same start date.

Day 1:  Telluride to Last Dollar Pass

This was a short day--only about 15 miles--but it has some good climbing. The first few miles are flat-to-downhill out of town on a paved bike path. From there you turn north and make a decent 2 mile road climb up to the airport. The dirt/gravel begins from the airport and takes you up to the pass. It is basically uphill from here with the exception of a section of downhill early on (losing whatever altitude you had gained from the airport). The early parts of the climb are in an area with some housing so the road is smooth, maintained gravel. After a few miles, the maintenance ends and the road becomes rougher dirt. Close to the top there is a 1 mile section where the gradient kicks up dramatically. On a regular MTB ride the grade might not be too bad, but carrying or pulling gear (I had a trailer and probably 40-50 lbs of extra gear) makes it pretty challenging. And there is the 11,000ft of altitude item too! The day ends with a 1/4 mile hike-a-bike that, for me at least, was the hardest part of the day. Pushing 75 pounds of bike and gear up a loose gravel pitch was a bitch. Nonetheless, it is all worth it when you finally get to the hut. It sits on a ridge line looking down the way you came up. It is amazingly scenic and probably the best vista of the whole trip.

More to come...

360 Cup & Boulevard Cup

Got to dip my feet back in the proverbial pool this weekend. While I have been getting some riding in over the past 7 months, I haven't done any racing, training or hard efforts. Nonetheless I can't complain about my results. I was mostly able to ride steady, but had no punch or ability to ride in the red zone. The bottom line is you cannot effectively race CX unless you are doing lots of short very hard efforts in training.

First off, it was awesome to see everyone from the local CX scene. I don't think I've seen nearly anyone for about a year. Thanks to all those cheering me on during the races.

360 Cup - Saturday

This race was at Stump Park, on the hilly, north side of the park. The main feature of the course was a moderate uphill stretch probably 300-500 meters long. My initial strategy was to try to pace my effort out for the whole race because I figured going too hard in the early part of the race would mean running out of gas at the end.

I got off the line okay, but I didn't get right into my pedal (no practice). I was in a pretty decent spot, 5th to 10th, until the first gully turn. Shadd rolled a front tire in this corner and there was some chaos as everyone tried to get around. I didn't get by cleanly and found myself back a number of spots. I didn't panic and just tried to figure out a rhythm for the course. I resolved to push the hill hard and cruise the curvy section across the top of the course. Later on in the race I found it easiest to push the flat sections hard, ride the hill steady, and cruise the technical parts.

At first I battled with Nate Woodman and then caught Adam Mills wheel. I couldn't really hold his punchy pace and had to settle into my own rhythm. After a couple laps the race was more or less laid out, Joe was leading and riding away, followed by Andrew, Mark Savery, Adam, me, and Nate. Through the mid-part of the race, the gaps between the chasers started to grow. At some point it looked like Shadd was going to make it back up to me, but then I didn't see him anymore.

I felt like I was holding my pace fairly well because I was more or less holding steady with the guys in front of me and seemed to be riding away from those behind. In fact, with 2 or 3 to go the gaps to Andrew, Mark and Adam had gotten pretty small. Mark and Adam were dueling for third and ultimately Adam won out. The battle must have blown Mark, because I caught him and basically just went by him without a fight. He later told me he was having an off day from a skills standpoint and more or less resolved to ride it in.

That was pretty much it. I rolled in for 4th. Not a tactically interesting race, basically just man vs. course. Thanks to 360 Racing for putting it on and all the officials and volunteers!

Boulevard Cup - Sunday

Good course---had a little bit of everything. All good course have some sand and some tricky corners. Even better with a steep downhill, into a turn, into a run up! Props to the course designers. Based on Saturday, I figured today would be a good course for me. I ended up being weaker on the hill and stronger on the flats yesterday, today was all flat.

I started from the second row and was pretty far back after the start. Over the first lap I moved a up some spots, but tried to do it without blowing a gasket. I rode a bit with JP Brocket and finally moved my way up to Adam Mills. We were sitting 4th and 5th, with Joe out front and Mark Savery and Colton Jarisch together battling for 2nd/3rd.

Yesterday Adam rode away from me without much of a fight. Today, given the flatter course I figured I'd have to be a little clever to get away from him. I hoped that if I was able to get a small gap I'd be able to maintain it. We traded off work for a lap or two while I figured out my best plan of attack. I was thinking this duel was my "race" because Colton and Mark seemed to be out of reach. Adam had been leading in the curvy section and I found myself soft-pedaling a little bit, so I resolved to lead through and see if I could get my gap. I did and I hit the flats hard to make him work hard to close it up. In talking with him afterwards, he thought the gap was so small he'd have no trouble closing it up. Needless to say, small gaps in 'cross are like big gaps on the road. That small gap meant he was getting no rest and it turned into a drag race. I got the better of it today and gradually stretched it out and locked down 4th. The rest of the way was man vs. course again. I did keep Mark and Colton honest and kept the gap in the 12-15 sec range the rest of the way. Just didn't have juice to punch across that gap.

Two 4ths, no complaints.

Don't know when I'll be back in town, but who knows maybe I'll get another race in before the end of the year.

Headed out Tuesday for a whirlwind tour of the east coast: Columbus, Philly, DC, Durham, Orlando, San Juan, back through town on the way to Boulder for a week, and back before Christmas.


A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Coaching Services

I am now offering coaching services related to many aspects of road, MTB and cyclocross training and racing. If you'd like some help with your CX training and racing, or are wondering what the best thing to do this off-season, I'd love to help.

Advice available in the following areas:

• training plan development
• evaluation of existing training plan
• evaluation of performance testing results
• strength/weakness identification
• goal setting
• race season planning
• race tactics and strategy
• bike fit/positioning
• injury prevention/recovery
• off-bike/cross training
• diet, nutrition and on-bike fueling

Consultations can be conducted in-person or by telephone, email, or skype. Depending on availability, we can "meet" on the bike or at a race, too.

Coaching is available on an hourly basis at a rate of $60.00/hour. For ease of use, I am using PayPal for transactions. Other payment plans can be worked out if you'd prefer to not use PayPal.

Please contact me at 816-200-2188.