Wednesday Trash, Cream Puff Edition

I leave Friday morning bright and early for the Cream Puff with three traveling mates and a truckload of bikes and gear. Although I don't know them as well as the crew I traveled to the Puff with last year, that doesn't mean they should be spared from the usual treatment does it?

Regardless of your household sanitation schedule, the Wednesday before any BIG race is offically Trash Day

Let me start off by saying that the Puff is not Cache-to-Game, nor is it WYDAHO. So, to a certain someone (Dave S.) who beat me in both races this year, I would simply suggest that maybe you won because it was part of my meticulous planning and overall Cream Puff strategy to allow you to beat me in the "sprints" in order to lull you into a false sense of security before the BIG one. You will just have to mull that one over and wonder...especially when you are on the very last, sun exposed, merciless, never-ending gravel climb at the Puff.

To another of my traveling mates who regularly beats me handily and is probably not converned about me threatening his overall position in the race (Troy), I will say that I am prepared to unleash my total and complete fury this Sunday. If I have to reach down and tear off a piece of my quad muscle (because they are huge right now and I have extra that I can spare) and throw it into your spokes to slow you down while I pass you on a climb, I will do it.

Our remaining traveling mate, Hamilton, should have a very solid Cream Puff. You see, Hami sports the full beard and looks just like an Oregon logger. In fact, I would highly recommend that he add some flannel, and possibly a chain saw, to his race kit to complete the look.

Bring it.

Downhill Practice at the Ghee

Riding the lift up, and then ripping the downhill trails at Grand Targhee is fun! I have to admit, I felt a little guilty about riding the lift up instead of earning the vertical by grinding up the mountain. But I quickly got over it. Ha!

The new skills park is shaping up nicely

Michelle and I went up to the Ghee on Sunday to ride the buffed singletrack and after two laps and a little lunch break we decided to try out the new downhill trails. Andy Williams has done a great job up there building trails and the three new downhill trails add a whole new dimension to riding at Grand Targhee. The downhill trails are not just for 8" bikes and full-face helmets. I plan to ride Sidewinder on the xc bike a lot more to work on my skillz this summer. I have to admit that I am dying to try a "real" downhill bike and increase the speed limit a bit. Lifts run Thursday through Sunday from 10AM to 6PM.

Relaxing in the sun on the way up

Riders take the service road briefly at the top before choosing one of three downhill trails

Sidewinder is the easiest of the downhill trails and we had a blast on our xc bikes

M ripping Sidewinder

WYDAHO XC Race

My last tune-up prior to the Cream Puff was the annual WYDAHO XC Race at the Ghee on the 4th of July. Honestly, I can't imagine missing this race as it is one of best races of the year...great course, great vibe, great support, and always a good field.

I definitely had my suffer-face on

Getting some additional racing under my belt and a bit more practice at race speed was the goal and I had a solid race. I think I squeaked into the top ten in the Expert field and improved my PR in this race by a fair bit. I raced the Niner Air9 on Saturday and this race confirmed that I will race the hardtail at the Puff.

This week will be about minimizing "life stress" and getting some good sleep which hasn't been a given over the past week.

7/6/09 EDIT: Just saw the official results and I did NOT squeak into the top ten. Doh!

Date Night

Now that summer has finally decided to join us, we have a new option for date night...riding the tandem to our favorite local restaurant.

It's no Love Shack, but it is perfect for date night


Scratch has become our favorite local eatery. Jerk-Pork Gyro with sweet potatoe fries. Yum!

Building Mojo

This past weekend was all about building mojo for me as the Cream Puff is now less than two weeks away. Last year I went to Oregon with decent fitness but no singletrack mojo whatsoever and I got spanked by the 6" wide fern-lined trails that Oregon is famous for.

Sunday was all about quality, not quantity

Sunday's ride on Snow King's finest singletrack was an excellent mojo building exercise. I was able to chase a group of fast riders around their home trails for aobut 4 1/2 hours and work on my skillz as well as my fitness. I really need to ride over there more as the Snow King trails have a little bit of everything to offer.

Piker coming back from a serious injury just in time to race the Breck Epic in a week

Our group, which fluctuated in size as the ride wore on, consisted of Leadville vets, Cream Puff-ers, a Breck Epic entrant, and a Breck 100 entrant.

Fellow Cream Puff-er Dave Saurman is stong-like-bull

In other mojo building news, The Love Shack is in the home stretch and the race for 2nd Place in the Tour Divide looks like it will come down to the wire. I spoke to JayP yesterday and he sounded good and is looking forward to knocking this thing out. Go Go Go!