Blake Harlan

Living the High Life in the 91001

2008-05-15T12:04:00.003-06:00

With all the money we've been winning, Lyle and I decided to go 50/50 on a Maybach.

Although it was a tough decision.

The riding here is awesome although we hit some trail yesterday that got under my skin. Nothing like doing a hard effort in smog, getting a headache, then going through completely overgrown trail with death weads made of real metal spikes which are covered in flying insects, some of which bite... sweating your balls off, cussing like a sailor, then tipping over cause your eggbeater gets caught....ok get the picture? The rest of the day was good. After the ride it was time to eat. The local greek place kicks ass and I'm considering flying out to LA to get more every once in awhile. After greek, it was time to hit up the local brewery. I swear I got rufied (sp?) because after two beers I was on my ass. Dehydration of something but I felt so out of it. With only a few days until the Santa Ynez national, It's time to buckle down and get prepared. Getting prepared today consisted of going to the store and getting Nutella....Oh yea! Not much else to report. Here are some pics.

Life in the Fast Lane

2008-05-11T15:34:00.002-06:00

For one reason or another I have always associated LA with a nonstop type lifestyle, always doing something and having a hard time finding additional time to sleep and rest. Well, it seems like that description isn't too far off... but in a good way. As soon as Finals were over I was on a plane to LA to stay with my homeboy Lyle for almost two weeks. The plan was somewhat abrupt and thrown together in a whirlwind of emails, phone calls and texts, but I'm thinking some of the best trips are thrown together this way. Since I got here the pace has been fast and the fun factor bar set high. In the first 3 days Lyle and I put in roughly 12 hrs of riding containing a 6.5 hr ride, 10,000+ft of climbing, a 32 mile XC race and a shit ton of single track fun. The riding here is pretty amazing. You rarely see anyone and if you do they're are just as happy to be out riding their bike as you are. The views are amazing. The weather is shorts and short sleeves. And the best part is 80% of what you ride is super rad 1 track.

Epic Day. 6.5 hrs, 10,001 ft Climbing, 51 miles (probably 40 single track).

Fueled with the toxic substance above, poor (or great) decisions were made. We knew we were going to do the XC race on Saturday.....so we decided heh? What the heck, why not, Let's do IT. IT being the ride Lyle has been trying to get his friends to go on but none of them will. Well I was game, and so the plan was set into motion. The ride starts with a 4,000ft climb meandering up single track and into the clouds, ending at the ruins of a "mountain resort".

After that, its more rolling along the saddle of the mountains. It was really sweet since we were constantly going in and out of the clouds.

From the top we shredded a half hour of single track descending through the trees. By the time we hit the bottom I couldn't stop smiling. At our first water refill we had an encounter with an ice cream guy. He made fun of Lyle's hair.....not so wise. Lets just say Lyle gave Ice cream homeboy a reality check. After that, homeboy decided to give us some ice cream since he felt bad, or because Lyle was going to kick his ass.

380 calories later, Lyle and I were ripping more single track. The higher we got, the better the trail got and the more fun we had.

Of course being a 6.5 hr ride I was bound to crack once right?

After rebounding we continued with doing what we enjoy most, more single track.

The ride was a blast and after stuffing our faces with food and beer we went to bed, only to wake up 6 hrs later for the XC race. The race was fun. It was a rolling super fast course put on by a local race promotor. Lyle and I rode together the whole race. Being a really small race, I decided to document.

The previous days efforts soon caught up to Lyle and I and suddenly walking sounded good.

Despite feeling tired and mentally drained form the day before, Lyle rode pretty well, finishing 2nd and 3rd, in the money with enough to cover the entry fees back. The race was 32 miles, and I would like to see the split times, something probably along the lines of 23mins, 28 mins, 35 mins, 50 mins. It was funny to say the least.

Today has been a day of catching up and sleeping in. 10hrs of sleep, washing bikes, doing laundry. The rest of the week will be spent preparing for Santa Ynez, I really hope to do well. Hope everyone else's summer is going as well as mine. Good luck to everyone racing as well. Collegiate Nats, Mara kicking ass in Boulder, Jason and Brian in Hood, kick ass and take names.

Sea Otter

2008-04-28T21:09:00.003-06:00

This years otter was awesome. For once it was dry all weekend, relatively warm and the Mona Vie tent was the hit of the venue. Opting out of the short track, I decided to heckle on my teammate Bryan as he blasted his way from the back row into the teens on the first lap. Between serving Mona Vie shots, pre riding the course, checking out the venue and doing photo shoots, I don’t really know where all the time went……..wait a second……now I do.

The Semi Pro XC race was in the morning on Sunday. Brisk with calm winds, it was the lesser of two evils since the winds in the afternoons must have been at mach 10 speeds. At 8:00am Matt Ohran and I lined up at the start line. I caught up with some old friends and got ready to take off. The field was pretty big, roughly 70 starters. As the gun went off I got pinched off next to the fencing and got stuck back in about 15th or so. As we rounded the Leguna Seca Speedway I followed wheels and worked my way up to the front. As we neared the start of the jeep road I attacked. Soon enough I was in a train of about 15 or so and the field splintered. As the race progressed, some people caught on the train and others popped off. Somewhere in the middle of first lap I decided that the pace was slightly too high and another lap of this would not be tolerated by my legs. As I backed off, a few guys passed me, panting as if it was the beginning of the race. I came into the Start/Finish area in no mans land, all by my lonesome. As I got my feed I was told I was in 13th. Considering I had never busted the top 15 until the previous week in Colorado I was stoked to be feeling good and riding well. As I came off the racetrack and onto the dirt road for the second time I could see a train of about 10 guys working together trying to catch me. I gave her everything I had on the jeep road hoping the “out of sight, out of mind” theory would kick in. The next thing I knew I was catching people who were completely blown from the pace set earlier in the race. At this point I wasn’t sure if I was running from the competition or hunting them down. Completely motivated to be where I was, I rode with conviction, taking risks and going for broke. Whether it was one footing it as my bike broke loose going 25mph through loose sand or pushing my legs on the climbs to the point to where I could almost feel them cramping I gave it everything I had. Knowing that I only had about 3 miles to go, I threw caution to wind, put my head down and hammered. As I crossed the line, I knew I had achieved something special. Comes out I got 8th, only 7 mins down from the winner in a 2:45hr race.

While the race result might not be a podium, or winning a huge race it was a completely new experience for me. For the first time in awhile I really raced from start to finish and was in the mix. I don’t think I recall a moment like this since racing expert a couple of years ago. This race was a breath of fresh air and a reminder that the time and dedication we athletes put into this sport actually does pay off sometimes. While progression seemed rather stagnant the past couple years, this year seems to bring something new, something worth working for and something to keep chasing.
With my race in mind, I watched attentively to the Pro race hoping someone else could have a breakthrough like I did. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Jason battled health problems but others were more fortunate. Tinker Juarez, being an endurance specialist raced a great race coming in 11th in a sprint for the top 10. That was cool, but the real excitement came from the flying tomato, Mitchell Peterson. At 21 years young Mitchell came through the first lap of the pro race with the lead train. Everyone turned their heads thinking, “oh, he’ll pop”. However Mitchell dominated the course and came in 4th, enough to score a spot of the box, along with winner and former Olympian gold medalist Miguel Martinez. Watching Mitchell only added to my regained enthusiasm for racing.

I couldn’t think of a better team and group of people to race with. The encouragement and support is an inseparable package with the MonaVie/Cannondale Team and I can’t wait for the next one

In worse news. This week I got hit by a car, who drove off and Kiel had to drop out of Vuelta de Bisbee due to a crash, he was going to win too!

Picture courtesy of Velonews, check out the article as well.

Everyone is recovering and on the mend, I just hope the crashes are done for the year. Finals are right around the corner and things are about to get hectic. Good luck to everyone, especially teammates Mitchell and Sue racing in the world cups, thats big time!

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2008-04-23T21:58:00.000-06:00

MSC#1

2008-04-16T17:44:00.002-06:00

So this weekend was the first Mountain States Cup of the season, held in Fruita, CO. I was pretty excited to race and felt pretty good. Unfortunately, the 4.5 hr drive really took us 10 because the Eisenhower Tunnel was closed as well as Vail Pass. But being the mountain bikers that we are, we found plenty of things to keep us busy....including a bet with Peter that he couldn't consume the 5430 calories that came in two huge hershey bars, a whole pack of vanilla oreos and nutella. He tapped out.

As for the races, Sat was a pro/semi-pro TT something like 5 miles. I had a good time that put me in 22nd and 8th in semi's. Sunday was a short XC race which felt like a super long STXC. It was just over an hour long and was really fun. I had another good race and finished 13th. Last year my best was 19th, so i think this year is promising. Thanks a ton to Kelly and her mom for letting all 4 of us racers stay at their place. Not only were we pampered and taken care of but it was really one of the most relaxing weekends in recent memory.

This week in boulder has been awesome. It feels like it's been 80 degrees and sunny, but it's probably only in the 70's. However campus is a wonderful place when the temps rise and the sun shows itself, especially on Farrand Field, you know what im talking about.

Kiel and I decided to take advantage of the weather this morning before it got shitty. 3.5 hrs in the mountains did the trick.

however we got the memo a little late that Boulder was getting hit and weren't even on our way home yet.

Oh well, we took the dirt roads home.

It's been a few hours since then and this is my front porch.

This weekend is Sea Otter and I'm looking forward to it. Get away form the snow at least. The MonaVie/Cannondale team is being showcased and stuff so it should be a pretty eventful weekend, oh yea Tinker is my teammate, how cool is that!

Kind of a Big Deal

2008-04-09T18:57:00.001-06:00

If all else fails, I have a backup career modeling for Puerto Rican magazines.

Back Home

2008-04-07T17:42:00.002-06:00

A few days ago i took the new ride on some dirt roads and trails. It rips no doubt, although my skills are definitely lacking still. I raced twice this weekend. Saturday was a hill climb. It went ok, didn't know the climb but had good legs, finished with too much left but nonetheless it was nice feeling good. Sunday was the Koppenberg. Thinking Redlands was going on and all the big tymers in the PRB were gone racing, I thought it might be a hard, but relatively laid back race.....NOT TO BE. In typical Boulder fashion we had some real pros show up. J Donald, T Phinney, Phill Z, ivan stevic....of course he's only B world champion....please. So it ended up being roughly 75 starters. It was really hard, way harder than i wanted it to be. I got a good workout in and thats about all i needed. I'll say this much though, roadies cannot ride dirt roads to save their life, crashes everywhere...of course i wear no gloves cause thats just how i roll. The season is starting to ramp up regardless of whether im ready or not. From here on out its racing every weekend until june. Fruita next weekend for the first MSC then to monterey to get my fix of freezing rain and mud...YAY.

Hopefully i get some more of this before next race. Although it snowed all this morning......SUCKS!

Puerto Rico Wrap Up

2008-04-03T14:16:00.002-06:00

So the race went well. As Usual it was hot and sunny during the race, but at least they made our start earlier this time. From a racing perspective, this was one of the best races I've done in awhile. While there was 6 people in the U23 race, there were 19 in the Pro field. I led the U23 race for the first 2.5 laps of 6. Then a Puerto Rican came up on me and attacked, like a road race. I tried to stay with him but then realized that going that hard on the flats was just going to burn my matches. As I recovered he put 40 seconds into me. for the next 2 laps I got time checks and found where I was making and losing time to him. The time gaps stayed consistently at 30sec, 20sec, 30sec. 20 sec. Until I finally bridged to him with a big effort. With 1 lap to go he attacked as soon as I bridged. The gap stayed at 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 20 seconds. With a half lap to go I could see him on the long straightaway’s, but he saw me too. Going as hard as I could, fighting muscle cramps and going anaerobic for 2 hrs i made a few fatigue related errors in the trees. When the gap went up to 40 seconds I pretty much knew I wasn't going to catch him, damn. I ended up cramping bad on the last mini steep climb. I rode hard to the finish, 2 mins behind but finished 8th in Pro field, nice. It wasn't the placing's that had me happy, it was the feeling of really racing for the full 2hrs. So many times I have had to race my race, and essentially by myself for 2+ hrs in races but this time it was true racing, the way it should be. Leading, chasing, bridging back with huge efforts, chasing again, almost bringing it back, fighting the whole time...it was really awesome. Racing at sea level is also another great thing. Full muscle engagement for 2hrs with max efforts pushing huge gears and flying. Its always better the have muscular limits than aerobic i think. Bryan also got a top 10 in pro field despite mechanical problems while $ager won it! YAAAAA! The course was a blast, like riding a roller coaster for 2 hrs.

Running from the competition...

Chasing the competition....

Sager rocking it!

After racing it was time to be heros.

Sign some autographs...

I'm going to miss this place!

Thanks again to everyone who helped and made our trip so enjoyable. Doel Kicks ass at putting on races, Greg and Val are the most badass people ever, being the best hosts to a pair of college students on spring break, Aldy and Yano for hanging out, making apple crisp and being great friends, Haji for building and having our bikes dialed for the race, Jason and the team for the support and everyone else, so many names..... Anyone who does Fontana instead of this race next year is, just like they were this year...DUMB but x2. ya ULTIMATE DURT CHALLENGE!

There's some new girls in town

2008-03-28T09:25:00.002-06:00

Went to San Juan to pick up Jason yesterday. nothing like 5+ hrs in the car to San Juan and back. However the pain of sitting in the car was offset by getting my new bike, just in time.

Got to ride it this morning, it rocks.

Time to hit the beach.

The 00677

2008-03-27T08:16:00.003-06:00

Puerto Rico. What’s not to like. The people are nice, the beaches kick ass, drinks are cheap, the riding is amazing and you can wear shorts and short sleeves all day and night. I’ve come here several times now and it only seems to get better.

The hospitality here is really something else. Greg and Val, our hosts, are a sweet couple from Rhode Island. Their hospitality and generosity ranges in the EXTREME range on the scale and if I was anywhere else I might take caution, as if I was being set up for a trap. However, we’re in Puerto Rico and I guess the H word just kind of rubs off on people. Greg and Val live in a beautiful home on the top of a hill, minutes from the beach. Bryan and I are living in the downstairs apartment of the house which is fully equipped so that if needed, and it might be, I could live here for months. Greg and Val have done more than the average host to make us feel comfortable. Everything from taking us out for drinks, showing us the local hot spots on the beach, cooking meals for us and even going on rides, the fun just doesn’t seem to stop. But I don’t feel guilty, everything done here is genuine without any hidden agenda.

Greg, Val and friends.

Greg.

The backyard. It sure isn't Hwy 36.

The praises don’t stop with Greg and Val either. Doel, and Paolla, are some of the greatest people out here. Doel does so much behind the scenes work that nobody ever realizes how much it takes to put on a race of this caliber all while maintaining the level of professionalism it has. The race promoters in the states could learn a lot from these guys. The truth is, the amount of good things said about this place and the people who live here can’t be said enough and those who don’t believe me should come here for themselves.

Bryan and I have spent the majority of our time either riding bikes, playing darts or on the beach. The roads here are insanely steep, so steep, that I didn’t think Bryan would believe me so I took him on some of the steepest roads around.

He did pretty good.

But having to shed a little winter weight, he had to walk a little.

After riding the course:

Bryan decided that he needed a new ride. The scalpel just wasn't shredding enough.

After riding to the highest point around, the Channel 12 news tower, twice we were pretty tired.

Yesterday Greg, Bryan and I got up early to hit up some local routes. Greg crushed us as we deaded up towards the radio tower for the third time in two days. Don't let his demeaner throw you off. On the last hill I thought I was home free to just cruise up to the house but Greg had other plans, ATTACK!

And as usual the views suck.

The rest of the gang gets here today, along with my new bike...yaaaaaa, time to shred.

Bryan also posted a mini book on his site, check it out.

Murphy's Law?

2008-03-21T04:07:00.003-06:00

It's 4am on friday morning. Yes.... Spring Break has started. I am currently in my living room sitting in front of the TV surrounded by energy drinks, double stuff oreos, beer, trail mix, black tea, an empty bowl that used to contain cookies and cream ice cream and some glasses of milk. However, as fun as this sounds it's not as fun as it sounds.....I'll start from the beginning.

I went to sleep the other night at 12:30am only to wake this morning (yesterday morning?) at 8:30am to meet a friend for breakfast. As I scrambled to shower and catch the bus i forgot to print my paper due for my last class, oh well. I catch the bus and make it to breakfast right on time, however my friend was a no show. "phone died", "alarm didn't go off", "I'm sorry I'm sorry!" yea whatever......it was a no show. So i cruis around the hill to find some breakfast not wanting to do the awkward sit down by yourself type thing. I end up getting breakfast and hanging out with a friend till class. Great, school is out and spring break for me has officially started thanks to friday's classes being canceled. I hurry home to ride.

After being on campus for nearly 5 hrs i was ready to do bike practice. With Puerto Rico right around the corner i have been doing my first hard efforts of the season. A large group of us headed up to Sunshine canyon. Bryan and I went hard, me chasing him the whole way up to the top, good effort but I'm tired. For some reason, despite going hard up the climb, the general consensus was to go hard down as well. Today I went down Sunshine faster than I ever have, railing corners hard with minimal breaks and hitting speeds over 52mph's. We get to the bottom, everyone tired and continue with our ride. Content with the efforts just exerted we continued to cruise the local bike path. As we meandered around boulder Kiel and I were in front going a normal speed as we came around the same corner I have gone around at least 100 times. however this time the turn was booby trapped with a thin layer of sand and grit. Before i knew it i was on the pavement with my helmet cracked in two places. I immediately got up and stumbled around, severely pissed off that i had just eaten shit on the F@#*kingbike path... amateur hour! I then proceeded to notice my brand new lenses were scratched, major bummer. At this point I told the guys i just wanted to go home. They asked me if i was ok and I just nodded my head and said yes. As they left I got on my bike and proceeded down the bike path toward home. However I made it about 30 yards down the path to where there was a split in the path. At this point I didn't have a clue where I was or where home was. Completely discombobulated I called Bryan...."uh...I don't know where I am or how to get home". Within a few minutes the guys were back with me checking my status. Kiel continued to play the Remember This Word ______ Game. He gave me the word...Pencil, and I continually forgot what the word was. I also kept rediscovering that I had scratched my glasses. At this point the guys were worried about me and we rode to Boulder Community Hospital. By the time we got there I was remembering things that had happened and could answer almost every question asked. After speaking to doctors and nurses we decided the banana boat tour at the hospital wasn't worth it and I got a ride home.

Now feeling much better I am still taking the precautions for a concussion. No sleepy all night. Thank god I have good friends. Thanks for everyone who has called, come bye to say hi or has hung out with me all night watching movies and eating junk food, those people being Peter, Kiel, Kelly and a little Shep. So as you can tell, it's not a normal start to a spring break. The fact that I have a strawberry on my chin doesn't help and all the road rash (which is minimal) isn't going to feel good in the ocean. So needless to say, its been a ling day, and I haven't done an all nighter since high school. OH well Shit happens.

For your viewing pleasure.

In other news, some of us have our Xmas in december while others (shep) have theirs after the Trek team camp.

I think Shep has more cool clothes than he knows what to do with.

Thats all i got. I'm going to try to not fall asleep now.

Bodily Evilness

2008-03-08T09:45:00.002-07:00

Well Last weekend I went down to New Mexico for the first collegiate race of the season. It consisted of a 15K ITT, 15K TTT and a crit. The weekend started out good with the team including myself having good results in the ITT. We then won the TTT, no surprise there. However that night I began to get sick so I opted not to race the crit, so i took pictures. We crushed, again. Brad an Kiel attacked form the gun.

They got a pretty good gap but got caught by another group. Eventually Kiel another of our guys got in a break that stayed away. With that being the case, I had a feeling who was going to win and decided to get a victory shot, it paid off.

So this weekend the CU team did pretty well.

Mens A ITT: 1st,2nd,9th,14th, and chris peterson brought up the rear in 38th, however he was riding a 1 by 9 cross bike!
Mens B ITT: 2nd, 3rd,4th. yaaa (really first due to some sandbagging.)
Mens A TTT: 1st
Mens B TTT: 1st
Mens A Crit: 1st,5th,9th
Mens B Crit: 1st

So overall not too shabby.

The Ride home was brutal. Pulling the trailer in this for 9 hours, not ideal...oh yea i was sick too! SUPER LAME.

So it is now Saturday and I am still sick with something nasty. I think it's coming to an end however. I think this because the last two days my cough is actually getting stuff out of me as is my every 5 minute nose blowing. I have never had anything that has put so much crap in my head and chest before. The amount of congestion is unreal. I can't wait until it is over. I haven't ridden my bike at all in 6 days. I might go on a spin today just to keep my sanity. I can't be in the house any longer. Well that's all i got. Until next time.

08

2008-02-26T10:58:00.004-07:00

I don't have writers block, i just get too lazy to post anymore these days. However, for those of you in my house who like to read my blog I'll try to catch you up on what you already know, and if someone has accidentally stumbled onto my blog feel free to read to.

So a few weeks ago Eric and I went to see The Mars Volta at the the Fox. To see a band of their caliber in that very small, intimate theatre was really an awesome experience, especially considering they would easily sell out at the Pepsi center or some place like that.

Also a few weeks ago I put in some big miles. I haven't done a 28hr week in, well i can't remember when. It took a lot out of me and I rode like a small girl the following week. It was a combo of getting my ass kicked by riding so much and school, allowing me only to put in 1 hr, yes the number one. It wasn't expected but it just happened that way. It was however unfortunate since my first race of the season was the following weekend. I flew down to Texas for the 2008 Mas O Menos marathon. I met Jason in El Paso and they had lost my bag, i mean my bike. Jason didn't even lose his coming from Puerto Rico on three flights! WTF! Anyway Southwest put us up in a hotel right across the street. After badgering the lady every 10 minutes my box magically appeared without a flight even coming in.....awesome. So after getting real breakfast burritos and coffee we made the drive down to Terlingua. Once there we did half of the loop as the sun was setting and crashed in the RV. I say the RV because my parents made it down there to race and watch. Nothing makes it much better than seeing the parents for a weekend here and there.

The morning of the race called for a early wake up call. We were at the start line at 7:30 and the gun went off at 8. The start was a chock to the legs to say the least. However I was ok just sitting in the train on the big jeep road. As soon as we hit the single track my race began to disintegrate. I got a bloody nose. Bleeding all over myself and possibly over i pulled over and plugged my nose with some tissue paper from the portapoty i coincidentally grabbed at the start line. However, being a mass start race by the time I was back on my bike i was behind the women. Unfortunately for me the first 3/4 of the race is spent mostly on single track with cactus everywhere, this made for some somewhat hostile passing since nobody wanted to move over and let me pass in fear of getting a flat. Well it turns out i used up most, if not all my matches in the first hour, trying to pass people and get back in the race. I ended up having a few more mishaps which caused me to lose even more time. The theme of this story is I had some bad luck, rode like a small child but dug up every ounce of anything i had in my body to finish the race, which I did. I didn't get last either, nice. So with the first race and hopefully the bad luck of the 08 season out of the way I'm am excited to race this year and improve.

Here is El Paso from the air.

Collegiate Season road season starts this weekend, I won't be attending b/c i don't want to drive to new mexico for a TT,TTT and crit. However besides collegiate the first big race of the season will be the Ultimate Dirt Challenge in Puerto Rico. I'll be heading down there with my associate Bryan for spring break...I mean racing. It should be a blast. The race is always well run, well organized and the people there are overly generous and welcoming.

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2008-02-05T16:22:00.001-07:00

school isn't that bad.

Jump Start

2008-01-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

So this season's training has had a slow start. I came out of last season rather burnt out and tired of being on the bike. The progression of things wasn't what I had hoped and that seemed to carry over into 2008. However lately I have been finding myself enjoying the hell out of getting out and riding my bike. Even though the majority of my rides have been in the 2hr range, minus the 5hr century I did a few days ago, I am excited again. to be quite honest it's been awhile since i enjoyed riding my bike. Lately I have been entertaining myself with my new liberties of being 21 as well as other forms of cross training such running but I think I am finally ready to get back into the swing of things..

Today I rode up north with future CU Cycling president Peter. We rode up north on some hike and bike trails which were either primo and dry or shitty with the nastiest mud ever. Nonetheless, its January and it was about 55 degrees and sunny so im not complaining.

Other than that, there's not much else to report. Yea, i'm happy with just about everything going on, nuff said. I'm doing a long ride tomorrow out to ft. Collins, should be fun as long as the hurricane force winds decide not to show themselves.

Dias dos, tres y quatro

2008-01-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Two days ago J and I rode 2 hrs in the rain. It rained the entire time we were out. I came to the conclusion that 2 hours marks the point at which I stop having fun if my toes and hands are cold. The ride however was fun. Its surprising how once you get used to riding in the rain, as long as you dress appropriately, its really not bad at all. There are, however, several key tricks I have learned.

1) bring multiple pairs of gloves
2) even though you're cold, eat and drink.
3) use fenders (a must)
4) rain-x on the glasses
5) start drying your clothes immediately after you get back if you plan on using them the next day
6) If for some reason your riding partner double flats and is still doing 20mph, your blown, don't even think about drafting behind him, even if there is a car coming....you will never hear the end of it.

#1 gloves!

Yesterday was a longer (3hrs) ride out on the flats. Once again we rode roads where we didn't see cars for half hours at a time. And while the weather was pretty shitty, colder than usual and the roads didn't provide spectacular scenery, for some reason I seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Today looks like it will either be a rest day or a running day, we'll see where my motivation takes me. We'll hopefully head downtown today, should be fun.

Sunny & Warm 78737 to Cold & Rainy 97229

2008-01-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

My last few days in ATX were a blast. Clear blue skies with temps in the 70's. I spent the remainder of my time hanging out with friends and family. The riding in Austin was good because of the weather but the traffic seems to get worse every time I come back. I did the Johnson City loop 4 times while I was home along with a hand full of other rides. The Rio Grande team was in town for their training camp.

My second to last day in town I decided to go on the dam loop. It amazed me how much of lakeway is developed now. When I lived out there there was hardly anything and now there are shopping centers and housing developments everywhere, it was a good ride nonetheless.

Some pics from 360, this road sucks even worse than it did before.

After the ride everyone decided to meet up downtown. I'm still learning the little nuances of the bar scene but I've come to the conclusion that with the right group of people its a guaranteed good time.

Thanks to Scott, everyone besides him had a relatively inexpensive night. Thanks man.

My last day in town I went for a ride with dad. We revisited my childhood training ground at the Veloway.

This place on the weekends is packed! both with families and the most extreme weekend warriors. This guy passed us and gave us the look back at least ten times.

The best new thing about home came a few days before I left. Little Sophie, nickname 3G is a little hair ball of energy.

So now I'm in Portland visiting the ragin cajun.. I have never been here before but I like it a lot, minus the temps and rain. I seemed to have started the trip off right though. I got here with my bike case making it, but not my bag. It took the airline over 24hrs to get me my bag even though it was at the airport 10 hrs after I had got there. So with that being the case I borrowed some clothes and set out on our first ride.

The ride started out with some of the best weather Jason had seen in weeks. the sun was out and it was relatively warm. However by the time we started our 2nd climb the weather was clouding up.

At the midway point, AKA furthest point from home I flatted on the 1 mile stretch of road with significant traffic on it. And of course according to murphy's law it started to dump on us. As soon as we were riding again we were being pelted by ice chunks that stung really bad. It was one of those things where you didn't get mad, you just laughed really hard.

At the top of the third climb the scenery had changed significantly, from green and cloudy/rain to this.

At the top J flatted making the flat count 2.

Then on the way home we hit a road that used to be smooth but was now covered with sharp golf ball sized gravel. Thats when the shit started to hit the fan. Out of tubes now, J flatted again, (flat count 3) I think it might be a weight issue. Anyways he decided to try to ride home on the rim. Well after we got off the road he realized his front was going flat too, (flat count 4). Awesome! oh and for the record I'm blown from riding, and J is still doing 20mph on 1, then 2 flats. We eventually made it home, J riding 15 miles on flats.... yea, I feel slow. Today is day 2 of the Jason Sager training camp.....its 100% chance of rain and I can verify that with a look out the window. Today I'll probably die since yesterday I rode like a complete rookie riding hard up every climb. Oh well, it will be a character building experience.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having as good of a time as I am during the holidays. Seeing friends and family is always one of the best refreshers. So when I last blogged I was about to turn 21. Well it actually happened, I'm 21.

Fast forward and I am in Austin now. I left clear skies and frigid temps for clear skies and warm temps. Nothing like having 60 and 70 degree weather on Xmas. Major props go out to mom who works her ass off on the holidays. Everything was great, the food, the house, everything had a xmas theme to it, and I think she enjoys doing it every year, I know I do!

The destruction left by everyone opening presents was like a grenade went off.

One of my favorite things about being home is seeing Mavric. The third day i was home i went for an hour run and took mavric with me. By the end of the run he was hurting way worse than me, i think im going to take him every time, cause a dog should be better at running than me.

I took a significant amount of time off the bike the last few months and it felt really good. Recently i started riding again, retracing all those old routes I used to do.

Yesterday I rode to Johnson City, hands down my favorite ride. I rode there with Scott, Anuttee and some other gubers. How and why they were on the ride, besides for our comic enjoyment, is beyond me.

Q: What do you do when your leg warmers get too hot?
A: Duh, you pull them down....right?

This same guy was wearing ripped shorts and was holding onto people wheels like we were about to attack or something. Speed wobbles down the descents and constant questions along the lines of "what are you eating?", "Whats your cleat position on those?" You know the type. But it was a great ride, my first long one in awhile.

And its nice to see this sign again.

Two days ago I went to meet Robbie, and while waiting played with baby calves. He's getting big!

A lot more has been going on but I haven't been taking pictures so I will try to do a better job and make the next post a little more entertaining.

Going to go eat on the water tonight, should be nice.

Multimedia message

2007-12-14T14:36:00.001-07:00

the five steps to going big.

So Much to Report

2007-12-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well I left everyone hanging at Thanksgiving. The meal and the rest of my time in Austin was awesome. Lately a lot of things have changed. The first was that I am now doing some pretty intense cross training. Weights, swimming, Yogging, and two new additions, yoga and Skate skiing are now in the mix. Cross training is becoming my new favorite training time, talking about mixing it up. Yoga was interesting and left me slightly sore, but the overall experience was positive and i see myself going again. Running made me ultra sore the first few times but I am now over that and doing just sub 1 hr runs, not too bad. Swimming is awkward. I feel humans were not meant to swim, oh well it's a nice change of pace. Weights always suck and i dread them. Now skate skiing is damn hard but fun as hell.

Since the latest winter storm hit Boulder the roads are icy and snowy. With all the snow on the ground riding isn't an option. So Abby took me for my first time skate skiing.

Abby: Pro Skier, had a scholarship to any college she wanted for skiing and can drink you under the table while smoking you on the trails.

The Skate Ski single track is a little different than mtn biking.

It also took me awhile to get used to these.

Skate skiing is hard as hell but at the same time very rewarding. I think my enjoyment will exponentially increase as i improve my technique.

Today I went out and bought my own Skate setup and I am really excited to go now. I wasn't able to use my skis today but my new boots and poles were in the mix. I went with Abby and Bryan. Bryan is damn good too. I can't wait to be as fast as he and Abby.

The location was North Boulder Park due to time constraints.

While this picture doesn't capture the circus feel that NBP had today, I can tell you it was packed. I also noticed that the bike geeks were out in force. All (like me) wearing their cycling stuff instead of ski stuff since it works just as good. However it was pretty funny, I think every team in boulder was represented.

While there has been a lot going on I will spare you and share only what is relevant. At this point in time the only important thing on my mind is me turning 21 tonight. Looks like we will have a good group out and it should be a blast. You can count on a post after tonight. After that its crack down time for finals. Until then..... wish me luck?

FW:

2007-12-06T09:42:00.001-07:00

ATX

2007-11-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

For the first time in months I'm back in Austin. Since saturday when i landed I have been running ragged seeing all my friends and family. I already rode to JC twice in shorts and short sleeves, not to mention with my jersey unzipped because I'm sweating ballz. When i left Boulder it was like this.

And now....well, its like this.

But enough about Boulder. On sunday Scott, Ben and I rode out to JC.

Scott tried to impress everyone with his skillz.I have to say i was impressed.

On the first ride out to JC we started what i didn't realize would become a theme, roadkill jumping. We jumped probably 4 or 5 carcasses on the ride. While observing the landscape we spotted this guy. So guys, when you think it hurts really bad to get nailed in the goods remember this guy. I think we found a way to get people in the olympics to jump higher. Raise the stakes! literally...

After the ride we went out to a very special place.

D>E>L>I>C>I>O>U>S

On Tuesday it was out to JC again, this time sunnier and warmer.

I always forget how much the combo of sea level and flatter riding hurts the legs. I don't know how longs it been since i went virtually 3,4 or 5 hours with no coasting. Tuesdays ride consisted of more roadkill hopping and more hours....of course the more hours was to be assumed considering who my company was.

While in JC we saw some pretty funny things. Check out the gun shot sticker to put on your car, or the other sticker....

And dont forget about the fine cuisine of JC.

After leaving JC Tyler took me toward Marble Falls.

Then we took a new road i had never been on. Turned out to be one of the coolest road i know and i now have a way better way to ride to JC. Forget that last 8 miles of cars passing you at 85 on chip and seal, im taking the cart path.

This road was small, no traffic, and fully equipped with LIVE animals.

And being in Texas we had a headwind about 85% of the time. However i got this picture that captured the tailwind.

We stopped at the creek by Hamilton pool.

I threw i rock I could barely pick up into the water when Tyler was washing his face, "high, im right here"

The big pickup trucks are multiplying in the lone star and so is the hate. Once we got back onto main roads, we got passed on blind corners, honked at and brake checked.

Yea! AMERICAN POWER!

Anyways, the remainder of my time in Austin has been spent running around seeing friends, eating either home cooked meals or at my favorite restaurants. Now I'm in Houston visiting with family. I drive back today and who knows what will happen after that. It got a little chilly today as a "cold front" moved in. Funny how I'm scared of that word in CO but in texas that just means you have to put on a long sleeve. Since my life revolves around dorky sports like cycling, I'm thinking about trying skate skiing. Seems pretty hard, but also sounds right up my alley. I'll post some turkey day pics up later. Hope everyone has a happy Turkey day.

Almost There

2007-11-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the first significant break for school is just around the corner and i cant wait. I haven't really been home in a long time and i couldn't be more excited for this upcoming weekend. Most of school is tapering off now and I am finally able to catch my breath. This past week was the first weekend in months that i haven't raced, and it was nice. On Saturday Kiel, Phill, Kelly and I headed out with the CU group ride.

It was nice to see people i hadn't seen in awhile but the enjoyment was cut short as the ride went from being able to talk to friends to being quite while we tried to figure out why someone attacked off the front. I didn't get the memo that we had something to prove on the ride and so the four of us broke off and headed up towards Jamestown. Kelly managed to put too much power on the pedals and broke her chain. Fortunately, for some unknown reason i brought my multi-tool and we were able to fix it. We were all having a great time, the weather was awesome and the temps were warm.

For some reason i don't do the jamestown climb very much, that will have to change this winter.

All was well and then we hit the beautiful dirt section of the climb.

and thats when things took a turn for the worst. Little Kelly's mirror put her off balance and she took a little tumble on the dirt.

She was pretty banged up but Kelly gets huge props for being a trooper. I think i would have cried and asked for a ride home if it had happened to me.

Battle Wounds!

So once we got back it was time to take kelly to get stitched up.

They went in with the good stuff. Kelly even passed on drugs!

But Kelly was all smiles even after they bandaged her up like spiderwomen.

I fly home on saturday, who knows what ill do when I'm there, probably do some J city rides. If you in A town when im home give me a shout.

Getting Your A$$ Kicked is a Learning Experience

2007-11-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been full of ass kickings, either me kicking some ass or me getting my ass kicked, usually the latter. The first event to cover is Collegiate Nats two weeks ago. Coming into it i was racing well and knew that if i played my cards right and didnt have any bad luck i could have a great race. When we got to Banner Elk, NC it was raining. The race resembled the Waco course a lot in the sense it was technical and either straight up or straight down. It was muddy as hell and had some real nasty parts. I was beyond excited during the pre ride and couldn't wait to race. Come race day i got my call up around 4th row.

The start was hard but i managed to avoid the crashes and bottlenecks alright. Sure enough i continually battled and moved up into around 20th. The course got worse lap after lap as the mud turned to clay and the ridable sections became run ups. However i found myself in 15th at the end of the 4th lap with guys right in front of me. I hit a really bad muddy section, stood up to give'r and wham, the rear derailleur wrapped into my spokes, locked up the rear wheel and that was all she wrote with 2 miles to go. After cussing like a sailor trying to fix it for 5 minutes, at least trying to get it to free wheel i picked up the mud covered 50lb bike and ran. Some A-Hole sprinted me at the line and i crossed in 28th i think. So much for having the race of my life. So that was a combo of me kicking ass and me getting my ass kicked. The second day was time to go for revenge. Again the start was insane, people stacking it left and right. The race bottlenecked really bad but i was able to follow schneider all the way into the teens. But once again mother nature had her way with me and on the third lap i knew something wasn't right. I soft pedaled the climbs in hope i would break anything but in the creek crossing everything went to hell and my chain broke, snagged my derailleur and wrapped it around my frame. I ran for another lap and a half and got pulled. So two races i could have had really good results were spoiled, i guess thats just the way things work out. On the other hand our girls kicked major ass, Ezster taking #1 in STXC and 2nd in the omnium. Neven won dual slalom Way to go!

So last week was me getting my ass kicked by school while at the same time me trying to return the favor and do good on my tests. I think i did pretty good, i guess ill find out this week. But onto more exciting things, the two UCI races came to boulder this weekend. Yesterday i managed to get my ass kicked by the top dawgs in cyclocross. It was the first time i had raced my new rig, the first time i had raced at that level and the first time i had raced cross at all without being burnt out. I had a blast and managed to keep the rubber side down.
Me in no mans land
Today was more of the same. Less running which was nice but still managed to get smoked. Still i had fun. THE BEST thing of the whole day was seeing the members of the CAF dressed up in scottish kilts giving the braveheart speech infront of everyone during staging. Apparently the skit won over Trebon, because on the last lap He grabbed their sword and crossed the finish line with it.

Picture Taken from Clintonphoto.com

Anyway, like i say every time I'll try to update more. In the meantime check out Sager's adventures from Portland.

NATS

2007-10-24T12:59:00.000-06:00

Well its that time of year again. Collegiate Nationals. This year it will be in Banner Elk, NC. The xc race wont be on the nationals course, thank god? At least i hope its better than going straight up driveway size roads and descending fun 1 track for 5 mins then back up. I'm feeling pretty good and am 150% motivated so hopefully i can pull of a good result. I leave for the airport in a few mins. Me and Ross are flying into atlanta and driving. If we get our hands on a rental, i feel bad for car and that e brake. Anywayz, i have a shit tone of homework to do while im gone which pretty much sucks. I guess i'll have two plane flights and two 5hr drives to get some done though. Alright well maybe ill update maybe i wont. Cross season is almost here, should be fun.