Building a Pueblo

The 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is two months away...holy crap! I think my foundation is solid but I definitely have a lot of work to do in order to pull off a solid solo effort.

My Pueblo will be open all night

Feb 13th is the move-in date and I am ready to put in some overtime.

Fat Bikes emerge from hibernation

After a summer spent sleeping in the barn, the Fat Bikes came out of hibernation at the end of last week in time for a quick tune and were ready to go this weekend. The first snow bike ride of the year usually involves more stop-and-go than usual as you fiddle with your layers, thaw out your Camelbak hose because you forgot to blow back, and re-learn all your little tricks to stay comfortable on the bike in the cold.

Saturday's ride in the Big Holes was a great shakedown as the temps were cold enough to keep us honest. Even though the snowmobile trail grooming hasn't started yet, the riding was great on packed snow covered roads.

Somebody has a new Ti toy this year, and it is badass

Our friend Dave Saurman is the latest Fat Bike convert and joined us for Saturday's ride

We headed north on Sunday to scout the Mesa Falls area. JayP, riding his new Ti 9 Zero 7 (907 is the area code in Anchorage) was game for a longer ride so we left the group at Mesa Falls and continued north on 47 towards Harriman State Park for an out-and-back. JayP and I plan to explore this area a lot more this year.

Once you get past the two-hour point of a ride the chinks in your armor really show themselves. Temps were in the single digits and a stiff wind meant the windchill was well below zero. Neither of us wore our warmest shoe systems and suffered cold feet as a result. It was a great ride with a dash of discomfort thrown in to remind us to be better prepared.

Sorry for the crappy pic...notice the verbiage on the sign

My lack of photo skillz don't do Upper Mesa Falls justice



The potential for big snow bike rides up here is endless

My cyclocross season is over

Stick a fork in it. It is done.


This Saturday was to be my final cx race and I was ready to head to Ogden, UT to race in a bigger field and finish off the season in grand style...but my cross racin' mo' has fizzled and my brain wants to ride longer...much longer. The trip to Ogden would mean 7 hours in the car on Sat for a one hour warmup plus 50 minutes of racing.

Instead, the FatBack is getting dialed in after a long summer hibernation and will see its first action this weekend! Big Ride Sat followed by Big Ride Sun. I like the sound of that.

Upper Mesa Falls is on the radar for one ride this weekend

The winter riding season has officially begun

At 8am Sunday morning the temp on our back deck was 11F and the previous day’s snow showed no sign of melting off anytime soon…in fact, the NWS was calling for more snow to begin falling before noon.

The Niner has been winterized

Sunday’s 4.5+ hour ride in cold temps and blowing snow was a good refresher course in winter riding and I was reminded how important it is to keep your core warm in order to keep your extremities warm. I even had to practice the “warmup walk” a couple of times…when your feet get so cold that you have to get off the bike and walk a bit to get the blood flowing back to the feet.

And so the season of pogies, vapor barrier socks, chemical hand warmers, and ride food that is edible when frozen has officially begun. There will be a mix of riding snow packed back roads with studded tires as well as a healthy dose of riding groomed snowmobile trails on the FatBack. Oh, and a little backcountry skiing too. :) The Niner Air9 has been converted to “winter mode” and will probably stay this way until Camp Lynda 3.0.

Its very wintry at the end of Darby Canyon

Helena, MT double-cross weekend - Day 2

Sunday’s Montana Velo CX course was designed by Helena’s Geoff Proctor who is also the Director of Euro Cross Camp and U-23 and Junior National Cyclocross Coach. We were guaranteed a taste of authentic Euro cross.


We arrived early and walked our hounds around one lap of the course before riding it and the general theme was “steep & off-camber”. Every corner, descent, and rideable climb was off-camber and there were two sets of concrete stairs to run up as well as one set of double barriers.

A modest field lined up for the combined Masters B, Cat 4, and Women’s race including my teammate Mike who was fueled by his first-place-robbing mechanical yesterday. Also in the race was Mike’s good friend and stage race partner, Tim from O-Canada, who also suffered a mechanical Saturday which took him out of contention for the win.

A key part of racing cross is the hole shot and I didn’t have it on Sunday. Going into the first technical section I got stuck behind a group who piled it up in the tight left-hander while the leaders sped off and put 20 seconds on us within half a lap. Doh! But the day’s battle was unfolding just in front of me.

A rider from the Gallatin Alpine Sports Team, who will from this point forward be known as Mr. GAS, was a few wheel lengths in front of me and appeared to be a very worthy opponent. We were only a half lap into the race but it was clear that he would be the main protagonist in my personal “race within the race”. Once out of the first bottleneck, Mr. GAS displayed some serious power on the pavement section leading into the barriers. He quickly opened a 10+ yard gap on me but a strategic error cost Mr. GAS his lead in an instant. The devilish course featured a concrete curb immediately after the double barriers which caused many riders trouble: Do you remount and try to bunny hop the curb or simply keep running? I chose to run past the curb every time and passed Mr. GAS while he was indecisive. Mr. GAS responded with a furious acceleration on the next piece of pavement and passed me again leading into the twisty grass section. An excellent battle this was. Only seconds later, I was able pass Mr. GAS by diving inside on an off-camber 180 degree turn and I could feel Mr. GAS settle in for a ride on my wheel.


Did I mention that Mr. GAS was much taller than me? Yeah, well, when we hit the first set of stairs Mr. GAS was clearing every other stair like Bo Jackson in his prime while I had to touch every stair and just like that he had another 10+ yard gap on me. Note to self: Practice the dismount-to-shoulder technique…lots.

Again, Mr. GAS was powerful on the pavement but I ran the barriers well and closed the gap down to 5 yards heading into the twisty grass. I continued to chase the orange jersey around the course for what seemed like an eternity until the defining moment: Mr. GAS came into a downhill right-hander too hot, went into the barrier tape, and I scooted by on the inside to pass him for the final time. He never quit chasing but would not recover and I would finish the race riding in “no man’s land” and take 5th.


I have a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.