Almost Christmas....

My kids are so excited for Christmas they can hardly contain themselves.  As they wait for the day it must seem to them that time is standing still.  That's how I remember it when I was a kid.  Now, for me it's the opposite.  It seems time is going so fast that I haven't had a chance to savor the season at all.  I just want to be able to take it in and enjoy it all, but I can't.  It comes and goes too quickly.

The last chance I've had to ride outside was over 2 weeks ago and that was the day I had my little crash.  I've been surprised at how long it has taken for my hip to feel better.  I must have bruised it pretty good good because It's been over 2 weeks and I still can feel a little tinge of pain in there once in a while.  But that's not what's kept me from riding outside.  It's been the miserably cold weather.  It's been highs in the 20's for as long as I can remember.  Too cold to ride. (for me anyway)  That, along with the terribly smoggy air.  So, I've been stuck indoors riding the rollers.  Have I said how much I hate riding indoors?  I'm sick of it already.  I want to ride outside.  It looks like temps might get into the 40's tomorrow so I might try to sneak in a short ride at lunch.

We've been able to get out of the smog and ski the past couple of weekends.  It's amazing how beautiful it is up there when its so ugly down here.  And it's warmer too.  Last week they opened the new Gad II lift at Snowbird and we rode it as a family.  I know a lot of purist hated the idea of replacing the old lift but I think it's a major improvement.

Random pics of Jen and the Boy just off the new Gad II lift.

I look forward to skiing this weekend and Christmas Eve but the snow is still scarce.  I pray for big storms but none are coming it seems.

Thanksgiving and a Crash....

We stayed at Snowbird the night before Thanksgiving and though the snow was sparse on the lower mountain,  it was fun as usual.  This has become a family tradition for us and we never expect too much as far as snow conditions go.  So long as the resort is open for skiing, we happily take it.

The kids rip it from the Tram.  Conditions were much better up there.

My sister was gracious enough to invite us, and the whole family, to Thanksgiving at their house this year.  The food was exceptional and I ate way too much, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Final prep being made on Thanksgiving.

On Friday and Saturday I was able to get out and ride my bike in an attempt to burn off some of the Thanksgiving excess.  The weather was warm and it made for nice riding.  On Saturday I went with a good group from the Infinite Team.  While heading up Rose Canyon there was some excitement on the front of our group because of a family of deer crossing the road.  I'm fairly used to the deer up Rose Canyon so I didn't think much of it when I saw them crossing but it caused some hard slowing by others in front of me.  When riding in a pack like we were there's always a chain reaction to what happens up front.  I wasn't able to slow in time and touched the wheel of the person in front of me and I immediately went down hard on my side right side.  I got up quickly and didn't feel any pain so after checking my bike and putting my chain back on I climbed up the rest of the way to the top.  Once at the there we stopped for the usual group photo and it was then that I started to feel slight pain in my hip.  Also, while riding to the top I noticed my bike had trouble shifting and realized that my back derailer got a bit messed up, but other than that my bike is fine.   My body, on the other hand, has been sore for the past 3 days.  Both in my hip and my shoulder.  It's amazing how I didn't feel any pain for the first 10 minutes after the crash but then was I've been sore for this long after.  Still, I feel lucky to have escaped with such minor stuff after my first real crash.  I'm also glad it happened while going up the canyon at low speeds vs. going down.

At the top of Rose after my crash.  (credit: Steve Parry)

(I forgot to mention how nice the guys on this team are.  They've always been fun to ride with but they were especially helpful to me after I crashed.  I was impressed by their thoughtfulness.)

It's snowing hard today so it's back to the rollers for a while.  It gives me some time to heal up for the next ski day, which should be better (although colder) conditions.

New Album Release....

So our band released our latest project this week.  Collin had come up with a concept album that he wanted to record.  He recorded the first 5 songs of this album on his own and he release it as an EP.  We recorded the next 5 songs together as a band and now we've released it as a full album.  Please, take a listen.

 

It was a fun project to work on and I'm glad to have been a part of it.  Live shows are soon to follow.

Opening Day, 2013-14 Season....

Just a quick post about opening day at Snowbird.  I kept the kids from school so that we could go up early and enjoy the snow.  Jen had some meetings at work that she couldn't miss so we sadly went without her. I was amazed at how many people were up there just for the one lift (Gazdzoom) that was open.  And off of that lift there was literally just one run open.  Only on the first day will you find people desperate enough to ski these conditions and just be grateful to be back on snow.  Everybody seemed really happy to be out there.  The snow was surprisingly good being mostly man made and my kids ripped up the hill despite the crowded slope.  I had fun trying to keep up.  I love to ski.  Hopefully the snow falls hard soon.  Note:  I forgot to mention that today was the first time we tried out the new parking pass that Snowbird offers now.  It worked great.  The lower lot was about full when we got there but our reserved parking spots were empty and as close to the lift as you could get.  I felt spoiled, and a little sheepish pulling in but I'll take it.

Kids on the lower slopes.  We all had fun.

The mountains need more snow.  Very early season.

A view of the lift line.  At least it moved fast.

The Riding Continues....

We've had a warm, dry first half of November and as a result I've been able to savor the riding while it lasts.  Nothing too epic, just a few late season climbs up Butterfield while the road is now closed to traffic (love it!) and a few group rides with the Infinite team.  We had a storm over the weekend and that should help conditions up at the resorts but we need more.  Snowbird opens in 2 days and I'll take my kids up for our first turns of the year.  For the first time I think they are actually excited to do this but it could be they're just excited to get checked out of school.  Meanwhile, here in the valley we're in between storms and today looks okay to get ride in outside.  Below are some pics of the past few weeks:

Group Ride with Infinite Racing Team

November 7th, 2013 - Butterfield Climb.  It got too snowy for my road bike just after the real steep section about 4.5 miles up.  So I turned around and did it again.  It was so nice without cars.

By Saturday, November 9th, the snow had melted on the road and I was able to go to the top.  

My bike at the top of Butterfield Canyon.  They have it all barricaded at the top and bottom so vehicles can't go up.  Makes for lovely riding. 

Trip to Cali for Some Sun.

We promised our kids to take them to Disneyland this year and October is the traditional time we like to go so we loaded the kids into the car and made the trip south for the week.  My wife reluctantly agreed to let me take my bike just in case I found a chance to ride.  It wasn't the most convenient thing to bring but in the end I was glad to get what riding I did.

I hate the drive.  It's so long and such a waste of a full day but it was my idea to save the money vs. flying so I tried not to complain.  We enjoyed a couple days in the Disney and California Adventure parks and hit all the main rides.  My kids are at a good age to enjoy the "older" version of the parks so we didn't have to do all the little kid rides.

After we were parked-out we headed a bit further south to Carlsbad, CA and stayed in a hotel right on the beach.  The weather was beautiful and the water was fun.  I think I would spend the entire vacation on the beach if it were up to me.  Unfortunately, it wasn't all up to me.   My kids wanted to hit Lego Land, which was part of our original plan, but I hoped that the beach would trump all and they'd agree with me to skip Lego Land and just relax.  No good.  It didn't work.  Though my kids liked Lego Land, I hated it.  It's a total rip.  $15 to park, $290 to get the 4 of us in and food was crazy expensive.  All for very poor quality rides and food.  Not to mention the over priced souvenirs that you have to buy as well.  I'm hoping to never have to go there ever again.

Though I didn't get to ride my bike in Anaheim I was able to get out a couple of times in Carlsbad.   Beautiful riding right along the coast.  I didn't do much climbing but that was okay.  I felt lucky just to be riding.  While speaking to some locals they mentioned the brand of my bike and I realized that I bought(online) my bike from a shop here in Carlsbad, CA.  I was in the birth place of my bike.  I had totally forgotten this.  Actually, the bike was made in Taiwan (I guess the true birthplace) but the shop that I bought it from was here.  I looked it up and the shop was only a block away from where we were staying.  I went to go see it but I didn't make it before they closed for the night so I never got a chance to go inside but still, I was happy to see the place.

View from our hotel balcony in Carlsbad, CA

Almost at Torrey Pines on my ride.

                  

                         Sunset

Hotel we stayed at in Carlsbad, CA

Loading the car for the long drive home.

I Love Autumn in Utah...

We rented a motor home and took the kids camping in the High Uinta mountains a couple of weekends ago.  Though I say "camping" it's not quite the traditional tent experience that I grew up knowing.  It was a rainy and cold weekend so having a dry place to retreat was very nice.  I felt bad for those around us toughing it out in tents.  Though it rained, we were able to find plenty of time to hike and fish.  Such a beautiful place.  It seemed everywhere we hiked we would find small, picturesque ponds like these.

Beautiful pond with lily's in it.

The Boy and Girl very much enjoyed the trip.

  The great thing about the weather was the lack of bugs.  The Uinta's can be notorious for bugs but because of the cool temps there were none.  I thought it was perfect.  Maybe we'll do it again next year.

Last week I was able to ride up Little Cottonwood from my office in Draper.  It was windy but otherwise perfect.

Alta waiting for more snow.

I've also been able to go on a few Infinite Team rides since Lotoja.  These are always fun for me as I don't get the chance to do many group rides.

Saturday, October 5th 2013.  Picture by Steven Perry.

I'm enjoying being on my bike and I'm trying to get in as much riding as I can before the weather turns.  But, this is the time of year that I start getting excited for skiing.  I convinced my wife and kids to go with me to the Teton Gravity Research's movie premier in downtown Salt Lake.  I really enjoyed it and I think my kids did too, at least until it got a little cold for them.  Still, they toughed it out and it had  me all excited for the snow.  We've had a couple of early snow storms in the mountains already but I don't put any stock into these as I know they will surely melt but come the end of this month, I will be praying for snow continually.

Waiting for the TRG film to start.

Lotoja 2013 Report Part II

I was worried riding out of Montpelier.  I didn't feel very good and I knew how far I had to still go.  I knew I'd burned a lot of energy trying to catch on the group after my unfortunate stop approaching the Strawberry climb and I knew that last years "dark place" for me was still to come on the Salt River climb.  But I did what I knew I had to do when the doubts enter my mind.  I just kept pedaling.  Soon I was feeling better.  In between the Strawberry Climb and the Salt River climb there is the smaller Geneva Summit climb.  I remember secretly hoping as I was climbing this hill that maybe this was actually the Salt River climb and that somehow I had already done Geneva and this would be my last major climb of the day.  But deep down I knew I was fooling myself and I laughed at myself because I remember thinking the same thing the year before.  Soon enough Geneva was done and I remarked to the guy riding next to me that we only have one more major climb left.  I said this more for myself but the guy did not look amused.

I tried to keep my fear of the next climb in check as I approached it.  It wasn't like it was that hard or long of a climb, it was just the fact that last year this was the hardest point for me.  I remember hitting a major wall both figuratively and literally.  I had to really will myself up last year.  With my struggles up Strawberry already this year I was worried that it would be all the worse on this last climb.  But as I continued up I noticed that I had my strength and I felt okay.  I was also passing people and I wasn't being passed too much.  This was a good sign for me.  I found a good rhythm and worked myself up to the top without too much trouble.  I was grateful at this point not to have a repeat of last year.

I found myself in a good group as we worked our way into Afton.  It took much longer than I expected to finally arrive.  Once there I was grateful to see Jen there waiting.  My arms and shoulders were hurting pretty good and up til then I didn't have to take any Advil but I remember thinking on my way in that I probably ought to get some from Jen at this stop.  But once in Afton I had totally forgotten this until Jen suggested I take some.  I was grateful she did because this made me feel so much better as far as the aches and pains in the shoulders and neck.

I rode by myself for the first part out of Afton until I was caught by 2 riders from another race group.  This was the first I'd seen of this group but I didn't even think that perhaps they were the leaders in their group.  I didn't hesitate latching on and they seemed more than happy that I work with them.   The 3 of us rode hard through Star Valley.  Once in a while we'd get some others in our group that would work with us but soon they'd disappear.  As we raced through the valley I'd often think to myself that I need to eat and drink but it always seemed an inopportune time to do so.  The three of us were working so well I didn't dare interrupt the rhythm of the thing.  I hardly drank and I don't think I ate at all, all the way to Alpine.  Once there I met up with Jen as I watched the other 2 guys ride through grabbing bags of food as they rode on.  I remember thinking they must be the really serious, not even stopping.   I found Jen waiting for me and I began apologizing when she found all of the food in my pockets uneaten.  I think she found this funny that I would apologize but somehow I felt at the time that I let her down buy not doing so.  Still, she cleared my pockets and put in the minimal amount of food for the last stretch.

Rolling into Alpine, the last feedzone for me.

Again I was by myself leaving Alpine until I was caught by a group of about 7 guys.  I began working with them and taking pulls when, after just getting done with one of my pulls, I noticed the guys in the group looked a little uneasy.  A guy at the back then informed me that the others in the group had asked him not to help because they were going for the win in their category and didn't want to get in trouble with race officials accepting help from others outside of their category.   This made me laugh a bit and I told the guy that they weren't in the lead.  In fact, I just rode with a couple of guys who are in their category and they were way ahead by now.  I wondered if I should tell them or not, or maybe they already knew?  Either way, I was happy to let them do all the work through Snake Creek Canyon.  Eventually, other mixed groups caught us and were faster and I latched onto them.  I wondered if the group that asked us not to help would hold to their morals and not latch on to this bigger, faster group.  Sure enough, they latched on.  Maybe by then they realized they weren't in the lead of their category.

We rolled through Hoback Junction and I skipped the neutral  feed zone there.  I still hadn't eaten much but I was feeling better and better and I knew I had enough energy to make it to the end.  Once out of Snake Creek we made the turn towards Jackson I could feel myself getting really happy.  This was my favorite part of the ride and seemed to come quicker then I expected.  As we continued toward the finish the speeds steadily picked up.  There were quite a few from my category in the group I was in and I was still feeling pretty good so I made plans in my head to try to take the sprint out of at least my group.  This would be different from last year as I didn't even attempt a sprint at the end.  I could have but  I think I felt stupid doing so when I was finishing so far behind the leaders.  This time I didn't care.  I knew I would regret if I didn't.

The finish line came faster than I was expecting.  I was surprised to see the 1 km to go sign so soon.  I was further back in the pack than I wanted and guys began sprinting in the front.  I followed a guy who started sprinting just in front of me and used him as a lead-out.  I was able to round him and caught who I thought were the lead guys in our little group at the line.  As I stopped at the finish I realized there was one guy from our category who must of got off the front and finished solo.  Must not have seen that.  Oh, well.  I was happy to be done.

Jen's photo of the finish line.  I didn't see her as I came in this time due to the sprint.

It's a strange feeling to finally stop.  As they make you stand to take off your timing strap I remember feeling that I should be hurrying and that I should get back on the bike and go.  But I was done.  No more hurrying.  I still felt pretty good too.  Better than I did the year before.  And last year I finished strong as well.  Upon reflection I wonder if this means I'm not leaving it all on the road like I should.  But it sure felt like I was going as hard as I could throughout.  It's just that for 2 years running I did much better, especially in the overall standings, in the last 30 to 40 miles of the race.   And I hadn't really eaten particularly well since Afton.  I will have to ponder this some more as I prepare for next year.

Glad to be done.  Perfect riding weather all day.

In the excitement of the finish line I completely forgot to get my finishing medal.  Oh well, I guess they'll mail it to me.

There will be a next year.  I'll have higher goals and hopefully bigger plans.  I've got plenty of time to prepare, right?  As I write this I laugh because I had a dream the night after Lotoja that it was race day 2014.   I thought "wholly crap, didn't I just do this."  I know this dream has some truth to it.

Lotoja 2013 Race Report - Part I

To give you the short version of the race report I'll tell you that I met my goal of beating last year's time of 11 hours and 5 minutes by almost an hour, finishing this year in 10 hours and 9 minutes. (9:58 ride time, 11 minutes stoppage).  This was nowhere near the top riders in my category but I'm happy to have bested my previous year.  The weather was good and I had perfect support from my wife and my bike road without any problems.  That's all you need to know I guess for the short version.





Now for the long version.....

This is my second year doing this.  The second year of training with this race looming in the back of my mind.  The crazy thing is that I'm only 2 days away from finishing but I already know I'll try again next year.  But this year was different from last year.  This year's lotoja race seemed to be just that, a race.  It wasn't a mere effort to just finish like it was last year.(though, at the time I felt like I was going as fast as I could)  This year felt like more of a serious race.  It made it all the more fun, if the word fun could be used in a suffer-fest like this.  In this case, the word is being used loosely.

Jen and I arrived in Logan about 5:30 pm Friday night and went straight to packet pickup.  Lines were short and pick-up was easy and Jen snapped a quick photo of me in front of the start line.

I'm feeling pretty excited.

After pick-up we went to dinner at Gia's Italian Restaurant.  The food was really good but it took forever.  Good thing we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere, but the food was worth it.  After dinner we checked into the Crystal Inn and did final prep on the bike.

I slept well and woke up at 4:30 am to shower and get ready for breakfast.  My start time was 6:15 am so I figured this gave me plenty of time.  Jen slept while I went down to eat.  Breakfast was more crowded than I thought it would be and it took a bit longer than I expected.  Still, I thought I had plenty of time.  I still had to fill water bottles but as long as I left at around 5:55 am I thought I'd be good.

We were out the door at exactly 5:55 am with everything ready to go.  It was still dark and I had a couple of conversations with fellow cyclists in the parking lot about whether or not to use lights on the bike.  I opted to go without and risk the danger of riding in the dark until the sun came up.  Somehow the risk seemed worth the weight savings.  Crazy I know, but it turned out okay.

I unloaded the bike and pumped the tires and by this time it was getting pretty close to starting time.

I think I over-inflated because I couldn't see in the dark.  Good thing I was running tubular's.

 We hurried over to the start line to find hundreds of people there getting ready to go.  I figured I better try to use the bathroom before we left so I left the bike with Jen near the back of the crowd.  The line for the porta-potty's was crazy long and I could hear the announcer saying that my starting group was up next to leave.  I bailed on trying to use the bathroom and hurried back to find Jen.  As I neared the place I left her I realized that it was really dark and that there were a lot of people standing around with bikes and I would be really lucky to find Jen in the next 10 minutes let alone the next 50 seconds as the announcer had just announced.  A feeling of panic came over me.  It reminded me of the feeling I would get as a kid in middle school on the first day and I couldn't find my class.  It actually made me chuckle a little being reminded of that feeling.  I started calling Jen's name in desperation.  The announcer said 30 seconds to start.  I wandered toward the start pack not thinking maybe Jen had brought my bike up there but sure enough in the distance I see her with the same panicked look that I had.  She saw me and with crazy speed she put my helmet on my head and I got on my bike to click-in just as the announcer said go.  Jen was able to snap this photo as I was trying to click in.

That's me.  Number 212.

I laughed with relief all the way out of Logan and couldn't help thinking over and over, "next year I'm getting to the start line earlier."  We cut it way too close.

Rolling out of Logan we had a police escort which is always a novelty that I enjoy.  We get to ride straight through town in the middle of traffic.  It's a neutral start but you can tell everyone is anxious, excited or nervous.  It was dark too.  Especially when not on main roads.  We had a near crash right in the middle of the pack right from the start.  I remember hearing someone comment on how bad of a start that would have been.  I agreed.

Once out of Logan the police pulled off and went one direction while we went another.  The race was officially on.  It was a pretty uneventful first 20 miles.  I wore arm warmers thinking that it might get cold outside of Logan but that wasn't the case.  In fact, it was a very warm morning.  Much warmer than last year and we didn't need anything as far as warm gear the entire ride.  I pulled down my arm warmers early on and never needed them again.  It was lovely riding weather.

There must of been a bit of a head wind into Preston as I remember thinking that our pack was going pretty slow.  I stayed in the middle conserving my energy as I planned but I heard there was a couple of guys off the front and in a small breakaway.  I thought to myself that it was a long ways out from the finish to be in a breakaway but to each their own.

There is a small climb just outside of Preston and then the road gets hilly.  I had no problem staying with the main group as was my plan to stay with them as long as possible.  I knew things would break-up on the Strawberry climb.  A number of riders decided to pull off the side and pee.  I didn't really have to go that bad myself but I thought with the number of people going off to the side this may be my only chance.  So after some hesitation on my part I pulled off to the side as well.  The only problem was I couldn't go.  I sat there and waited for something to happen all the while the main pack was regrouping and riding off into the distance.  The longer I stood there the more I thought I better keep waiting because I've already waited this long and I better make it count.  Still, nothing happened.  Finally, I gave up and got back on my bike cursing myself and my stupid stage fright.  By that time my riding pack was far in the distance and they seemed to be picking up speed.

I dug deep trying to catch back on.  I knew I was burning a lot of energy early in the race because of my stupidity but I thought I better try.  Just as I was giving up I saw another Infinite Team member coming up from behind me.  I guess he stopped as well and we commented to each other on how stupid that was.  We worked together with him doing most of the work to catch back on.  We were catching what I though was a split in our group but as we got closer I realized that is was actually the Pro-1-2-3 group.  That was a surprise to me but we latched onto them while our main group was still further up the road.  After riding with the Pro-123's for a few miles a race referee asked that we back off and not mix in with them.  This was a bummer as I knew it would be very hard to bridge to our main pack at this point.  The Pro-123 group seemed to accelerate shortly after this and I'm not sure we could have stayed with them anyway for very long.

The Strawberry climb came shortly after this and by this point I stopped worrying about who I was riding with and just tried to get into my climbing rhythm.  I'm not a fast climber but for some reason I still enjoy it.  I climb an amazing amount throughout the year so I actually long for the feeling of going uphill.  Strawberry is a pretty canyon as well so I figured I would enjoy the ride up but my legs had other ideas.  They seemed to hurt more than usual almost as if they were cramping without full-on cramping.  This got me worried as we were still considered early in the ride.  I had been eating and drinking according to plan but I thought maybe the effort of trying to catch my group may have hurt me more than I thought.  After reaching the summit I continued to worry as my legs seemed stiff and dead.  There is neutral support at the top of the climb but I didn't stop like I did last year.  I rolled on through and grabbed new water bottles that were being handed out.  That was a first for me.  To grab a bottle without stopping.  It worked easy enough and I was grateful for the cold drinks.

I found a group to ride with on the way down and we began taking turns with pulls as we made our way to Montpelier.  We kept a fast pace and I still wasn't feeling very good but I've learned that on long races like this things change.  If for the better or worse, you keep on riding, eventually, the way you feel will change.

We finally rolled into Montpelier about 76 miles into the race.  I was happy to see Jen at our meet-up point as she called my name.  She asked me how I was doing and I tried to act like I was doing okay but I think it was obvious that I was hurting.  She unloaded by pockets and restocked them according to plan and I was off.  I remember thinking that my stop was way too short.  Even though we planned on making as quick as stops as possible I was shocked at how quick it was and how little I was able to recover.  Oh well, on to Afton.....

Final Prep for Lotoja 2013

So it's officially the week of the big event, and with that, it's officially taper week.  This is the week that training for Lotoja is over and now it's a matter of tapering just right so that the day of the big ride the legs feel fresh and ready to go.  I always enjoy taper week.  I know that whatever I do this week won't help my fitness in any way for Lotoja.  I've already done all I can and in that way it lowers my stress.  I know now that it's basically a "ready or not" type of thing.

Though it's still about 5 days away I can already feel the nerves starting to surface.  I'm doing my best to just relax and soak it in.  I felt last year that it all went by so fast and though it was exciting and fun it was over before I knew it.  This being my second year I hope to enjoy things a bit more.  As for my goals this time around I only have one, to beat last years time.  I'm about 5lb lighter and I feel I'm climbing a bit better but I actually have ridden a little bit less in preparation.  I hope that doesn't come back to bite me.  Also, I realize that the weather was about as perfect as it has ever been at Lotoja last year, hence all the records that were set, so I can't expect it to be the same this year.  Plus, my support was perfect last year so I know it will be a miracle if that is repeated as well.  Still, I have hope that I can do better than my first year.  I mean, you should always do better than year first year, right?

But I've done all I can do at this point.  The bike has new tires and I have a new chain and cassette on as well, (it just needed the new chain and cassette anyway).  Everything else on the bike looks good and it seems to be riding quiet.  I now can only hope for a smooth ride overall.

On an unrelated topic, we bought new skis and binding and boots for the kids yesterday at one of the big Labor Day sales they have every year.  We felt that it was time for them.  Time to get off of their crappy rental gear and onto some nice stuff.  They are at the point were they want to ski powder and have fun in it so we felt it was right.  I think we'll be able to use it for 2 seasons and then sell what can't be reused at that time.  I tried to convince the kids that this was their only Christmas present but they weren't buying it.(spoiled kids) I think I am more excited about the new gear then they are.

2013 Tour of Utah Ultimate Challenge Report....

This was a difficult ride for sure.  The new course nearly killed me.  As far as routes go I think this was the most difficult that I've done so far.  More difficult than Lotoja in my opinion.  Lotoja has more mileage but the climbing is about the same.  That would make you think that Lotoja would surely be more difficult but you have to take into account the fact that you gain that elevation in Lotoja over a much more spread out distance.  The Ultimate Challenge climb's were amazingly steep making it an overall harder route.  Though the route is harder, Lotoja still gets my nod as being the most intense day on a bike for me.  This is because Lotoja is a race while Ultimate Challenge is a ride.  A race will always be more intense.  Plus, I guess Lotoja IS a longer day on the bike.  Last years Lotoja = 11 hours vs. this years Ultimate Challenge at 7 1/2 hours.

So for the report... it was a very early start to the day as I got up at 3:30 a.m. to meet some Infinite teammates at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon at 4:45 a.m. My original plan was to stay in Ogden at a hotel with my family and have my wife drive me up but she was very grateful not to have to do that once I found a ride with the team.

Once we arrived at Snowbasin the ride had already started about 10 minutes previous but since it's not a race it didn't matter and we unloaded and got ourselves ready to roll out.  Temps were really nice at the start.  I was thinking it would've been much colder but it was comfortable at the beginning.  Snowbasin was beautiful in the early morning.  It's funny that I ski so much yet I've never been to Snowbasin til Saturday.  I was impressed.  The ride out of the resort was uphill at first then plunged down.  It was a fast and gorgeous decent down into the Morgan Valley.  I rode with a small group most of the way through Morgan until we came to the first feed stop.  I wasn't hungry but it looked like the group that I was with needed to stop so I thought it was best to stop along with them.  As I did, a large group came flying past which I noticed several teammates in.  They saw me and waved to me to hurry and catch on which I did after jumping on my bike in a hurry and riding hard for a couple of miles.  After riding for a while the group ended up splitting, as I knew it would as we approached the Hogback climb.  This was at about 35 miles into the ride.  From there is was a long, slow climb to the base of Brown's Canyon some of which was with a group and some alone.  The Brown's Canyon climb went well enough but the wind began to really pick up.  I also noticed that I was getting really hungry.  I knew there was another feed station once we hit Park City but that was still a ways out so I knew it was going to be a problem.  To be hungry with the biggest climbs still to come was a bad sign.  It meant that I wasn't getting enough calories and I would be in danger of bonking later on.  The Brown's climbs was a bit longer than I expected but I was relieved to roll into Park City.  The food station there was poorly stocked.  I'm pretty sure I got the last (warm)bottle of water before they ran out.  The only food they had that was worth eating in my mind were rice crispy treats and oranges.  What I longed for was bananas and peanut butter sandwiches.  They had those last year but not this year.

I filled up on what I could and then set off to what I knew was going to be a monster climb.  I've never ridden my bike up Guardman's Pass to that point but I've driven it many times when I used to work in Park City.  Still, it surprised me how long and steep it was.  It was so demoralizing to come off the top onto the false summit only to see the true summit far in the distance.  The road turned bad once on the final long push to the true summit which made things worse.  I willed my legs to keep pedaling as the incline went steadily up.  Several riders were pulling off the road to rest while several others decided to walk their bikes up.  I fought the temptation to do likewise and just kept pedaling.

Finally, reaching the summit the wind was really blowing and it had gotten pretty cold.  It was amazing the temperature difference between even Park City and the top of Guardsman.   I don't think that could be good for the system to feel such changes.  After a brief water stop on the summit I quickly plunged down into Big Cottonwood Canyon.  I wasn't feeling the greatest by this point and I began having worries about finishing with Little Cottonwood still to come.  The decent was long and the wind was blowing directly up canyon which slowed me down some.  I thought maybe this was good because maybe the wind would be blowing up Little Cottonwood, meaning it would be and my back.

After hitting the valley I began the climb to the mouth of the Canyon.  I had serious thoughts about quitting at this point.  The only thing that kept me from not doing so was the thought that Jen had probably already made the drive up to Snowbird and would be waiting for me with the kids.  I thought they would be mad if they had to drive down after already going up and waiting.  So I kept going.  The wind was coming from the south like it usually did in the valley so now it was in my face again which didn't help the moral.  At this point I also started to worry about not getting to the end before the pro peloton did.  That's always the goal after all, besides finishing.

Upon arriving at the mouth of the canyon I noticed that Infinite Cycles had set up a tent.  A teammate who didn't ride that day rushed out with his kids to give me the first cold water I'd have all day.  He also gave me an ice pack to put on my neck.  It was so relieving and welcome sight.  It gave me just what I needed to keep going.  Talking to him I asked about what time they were expecting the pro's to come through and he said in about an hour.  This made me worried thinking that they'd catch me but first things first, I had to try to concentrate on just finishing.

So up the last canyon I went knowing that I was undernourished and weak and that this climb was hard even when you are fresh but I just told myself I'd keep pedaling as long as my legs would do it.  It was really warm again by this point but the ice pack helped.  Several people were again pulling off the side of the road to rest but I knew if I did it would be really hard to start up again.  I began marking points up the road to try to concentrate on and then once there marking another point in a way to break up the ride mentally.  It was a dark time.  As I went further up crowds of people began to form waiting for the pros and by doing so made it impossible for me to stop anyway as this would've looked so bad in my mind.  So then it became my pride that kept me going.

After passing Tanner's Flat and getting all sorts of encouragement and the occasional push I knew the worst was over and I'd make it to the finish.  The grade gets less intense by then and with 3k to go I began counting down to the finish.  I crossed the finish line to see Jen and the kids cheering and ringing bells along with the crowd.  Riding with a crowd cheering you on is a very cool feeling and probably the best part of the Ultimate Challenge.  Though I know it's not me they are really there to cheer, it's the closet thing I can imagine to being in a real "tour" race.

I ended up getting to the finish before the pros.  After getting a bite to eat and sitting in the tent I watched on the big t.v. as they were just going over the top of Guardsman and into Big Cottonwood.  Still, I am amazed at how fast they did the race.  Over 2 1/2 hours quicker than myself.  Compared to last year, this year's was definitely harder but on the up side, I didn't feel like throwing up at the end like I did last year.  I very much had an appetite at the end.  I should have eating more during the race.  A good thing to note for Lotoja.  As for how I'm feeling now?  I feel great.  Not terribly sore and I did a little recovery ride this morning.  I'll take this as a good sign.  Anyway, the stats:

Not the best video but you get the idea.

The team at the starting line at Snowbasin (photo by Ken Dawson)

I was looking rough after the ride.

Butterfield, Snowbird and A Quick Trip.

Eventful past week.  Very busy, but good busy.  I was able to do a long ride on Saturday up Rose Canyon, Butterfield Canyon and then again Rose.  Butterfield's road was finally clear enough to make it to the top, but only just.  It took some cyclocross skills to get over many spots but at least is was doable again.

Butterfield on a pretty day.

That afternoon we took the kids up to Snowbird to purchase the coming season's passes and to play a little.  It's become a yearly tradition and we had fun hiking and doing the various activities.

Little Cloud Bowl looking down the canyon.

Hiking down Road to Provo

A few months ago we scored some Phish concert tickets at the Hollywood Bowl so Monday morning we flew to LA, spent the day wandering around and then watched the concert that night only to fly back the next morning.  I seats were okay but not the best.  Still made for a fun date night.  We were able to hang out with Collin and Emily that night as well which made it all the more fun.

The famous Hollywood Bowl.

Phish played great.  Lots of energy.

The Ultimate Challenge ride is tomorrow.  I'm excited and nervous at the same time but I feel good.  They've added both distance (112 miles) and climbing (12,000 ft.) this year which seems crazy to me thinking about how hard last year was.  But I will trust in my training and hope that its enough to get me to the finish.  Wish me luck.

Bear Lake Bike Camp

Every year we take a week to go to Bear Lake for a long family reunion on my wife's side.   Though this is meant to be a relaxing vacation it's common knowledge in my immediate family that I will be taking full advantage of the off time to ride my bike.  Jen affectionately calls it Bike Camp instead of a vacation.  So, even with the time off we'll be the first ones up in the rented house for our early morning rides.  Jen will go with me on the days she doesn't run but otherwise they are long mornings alone on the bike, riding along the lake or up Logan canyon.  It's beautiful and fun for the first couple of days but by day 5 I long for the roads back home.  There's just not a lot of variation in terrain and the traffic is terrible for being in such a small town environment.  We had our fun but I was glad to get home.  I'm learning that were we live is really ideal for road biking.  It may just be that I know the area so well but the roads I ride have hardly zero traffic and the terrain is always going up or down with a few areas where you can ride on flat roads if you want too.


The above is an example of my typical morning ride ad Bear Lake.  This one was done on the day the Tour de France climbed Alpe d'huez twice on stage 18, so I climbed Logan Canyon twice in tribute.  Like the title suggests, it was a sad tribute.

Headed around the lake.  They had a large section with loose gravel that made for miserable riding.  Still, the scenery is amazing. 

I took a few days rest after Bear Lake and I've been working my way into another training block since.  Ultimate Challenge is less than 2 weeks away now and Lotoja is less than 6.  I'm getting excited and I plan on doing some longer training rides in the coming week.  Nothing too crazy.  Just some good climbing up Alpine and Little Cottonwood Canyons.

Quick Post About the Weekend

We've had some afternoon showers the past few days and it's the first rain we've got for a least a month around here.  The result has been mud/rock slides in most of the nearby canyons.  Little Cottonwood was closed several times over the weekend and I know Big Cottonwood and Millcreek Canyons have had slides as well.  I new Butterfield would be ugly but I gave it a try on Saturday anyway.  I only got past the steep part before the road disappeared under the rocks and mud.  I already had to be very careful up to that point because of the rocks washed across the road but now it was unrideable.  So instead of going to the top I decided the do repeats of the the steep section in order to get my monies worth out of Butterfield Canyon.  

Butterfield Canyon Road after the steepest section.  As you can see, unrideable on a road bike.

Ultimate Challenge and Lotoja

It's been some time since I last posted so I'll give a quick update.  The next big rides/races on my calendar are the Ultimate Challenge and Lotoja.  They're both a ways away but they're on what I'm focusing my training.  I guess that's really what I've been focusing on all season but with B4K stage race done and not much more time for any other Saturday races they'll be my focus.  I plan on doing the ULCER again with my wife in early August but that's really just a warm-up for the next weekend's Ultimate Challenge ride.  They've added another 2,000 ft of climbing to that ride from what it was last year making it over 12,000 ft total over 112 miles.   It was brutal last year so it's a bit worrying that they've added more.  Still should be fun.

As for training, I've enjoyed some long solo rides with a bunch of climbing with the rare group ride with the infinite cycling team last Saturday.  I haven't been able to go to many group rides so it was nice to meet many of the riders that I see competing on Strava around here.  Speaking of Strava, I've been looking at my climbing ratio per mile and for the current year, with over 2,000 miles ridden I've averaged about 71 ft of climbing per mile.  See below...

YEAR-TO-DATE
Distance	2,324.0mi
Time	143hr 54m
Elev Gain	166,102ft
Rides	106

That's pretty high.  I'm hard pressed to find anyone around here who has a higher ratio.  I sometimes worry that maybe I climb too much given that I'm obviously not the fastest rider nor does it seem that I'm getting much faster.  The gains I've made in my fitness are very small and incremental vs. the first year of riding my bike.  Can you climb too much?  I do love the canyons around my home.  They are convenient and beautiful and it just makes cycling much more interesting for me.


With the worry of climbing too much comes the worry of over training.  Mentally it's the hardest thing to do for me but I've decided to be strict about taking a full rest period after a training block.  In the past I've taken one or two days and counted that as my rest week but I'm certain now that it was not enough.  Last week I came off of a full four days of rest after the block and it was very noticeable physically the bump I got.  My desire to ride was at a high as well.  The hardest part of the rest day is the mental game it plays on me.  Logic would say that after the pain of riding hard I should welcome a rest, but I had to literally force myself not to ride. (Even though the beautiful morning weather seemed to call for me each day.)  It's such a mental game but I've got to be strict with it to let my body recover.

4th of July this week and the weather is overly hot but I plan to enjoy it as much as possible with the family, and with my bike too.  As a side note, traditionally, 4th of July week is the week we go pick up our season passes for next season at Snowbird. I've found myself missing snow the past couple of days.  I'm excited about that and pray for a monster snow year!

Up Butterfield....

Saturday felt good with a ride up Rose Canyon and Butterfield Canyon.  I did the first half with Jen up Rose and then headed for Butterfield solo.  Upon arrival at the bottom of the canyon I noticed that the gate was now open allowing cars up.  This gave me hope that they'd cleared the road of the winter debris so I decided to go to the top if time allowed.

The scenery was beautiful as usual and it must be snake season once again as I saw several slithering across the road.  I even saw a large one being clutched by a hawk while flying about 50 feet over my head.  That was cool.  The road was good until about the half-way point.  Though it was much better than in the previous weeks it still had tones of loose gravel and large rocks scattered over the road.  It made standing on the pedals impossible at times as your back wheel would just slip on the loose stuff.  If I hadn't committed to going to the top I would've turned around right there but I kept saying to myself that I'd go just a little further to see how it was.  It got a little better nearer the top but still not good by any sense of the word.  

I'm excited about the upcoming stage race this weekend.  It's located here in my backyard of Herriman and I hope to redeem myself from the last race.  I'll give a full report.  Meanwhile, I thought I'd post a couple more  pics from our recent D.C. trip.

Waiting for the Preakness to start.

One of my favorite Monet's at the National Gallery of Art.

Waiting for the Trey concert at the Kennedy Center.

Preakness and a Concert

This past week Jen and I went to Washington D.C. with the original intent to see a concert we've always wanted to see but we realized as the trip drew closer that the running of the Preakness Derby was the same weekend that we left and was only about an hour away in Baltimore, and yes, that's also something I've always wanted to see so we bought tickets to that as well.  I'm glad we did because it was awesome.  We loved seeing the horses up close.  They were unbelievably beautiful.  I became a fan of horse racing when I was a kid and I watched the Preakness on TV one year in what became an epic race between two of the most beautiful horses I'd seen, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.  Since that race I've always tried to catch all of the Triple Crown races in hopes to someday see a Triple Crown winner. (It hasn't happened yet.)  With this in mind I was obviously cheering for the winner of the Kentucky Derby, Orb, to win the Preakness as well with the hopes of him going on to win the Belmont.  Sadly, it didn't happen.  That was really the only disappointment of the day.  We watched all the races leading up to the main event and we were entertained to watch the crowd slowly get more and more smashed.  I believe free beer came with a purchase of the ticket so it was incredible to watch how drunk people were getting.  I really hope some of them made it home.  Anyway, here is a clip of the horses loading into the starting gate at the top of the stretch where we
were seated....

As I mentioned, the second reason we were there was for a concert.  It was the lead singer of the band Phish, Trey Anastasio, playing with the National Symphony Orchestra.  Trey has done these types of concerts before and a recording of one that he played a few years ago has been one of our favorite albums so we said that if he ever did it again and we could get tickets, we'd go.  We got tickets.

It was a strange sight to see mostly hard core phish fans in the Kennedy Center dressed in sport jackets and trying to behave themselves while a such a fancy place.  I've been to plenty of phish concerts in the past and there is always plenty of cheering and dancing and singing along with every song.  At this concert; which granted, isn't a phish concert everyone sat quietly in there seats listening to every note.  You really could hear a pin drop.  I shot a small clip with my phone.  They were really strict about no photography so I had to shoot it from my lap and I had to turn it off when the usher came to tell me to knock it off.  We had great seats.  9th row.  The video doesn't do it justice but here it is anyway...

We also planned on some riding around the D.C. area a couple of the free mornings.  We did the Mt. Vernon trail that was beautiful but slow going due to it being a trail small, heavily used trail.  I've always disliked having to ride a road bike on biking trail.  Sure, you're away from traffic but you can never get real serious about your ride.  But it was better than nothing.  Here is the strava report from one of the days.

Some Early Season Climbs...

I've been able to ride some of my favorite climbs the last few days.  Only problem, Butterfield still has lots of debris on the second half of the climb.  So much so, I wasn't able to get to the top.  See video below:


On Tuesday I did Little Cottonwood.  I rode from my office which totals well over 4000 ft of climbing to the top.  It was way too hot for this time of year.  Almost 90 degrees at the start. The rivers were really high and fast as the snow melts in the heat.  It was probably 20 to 30 degrees cooler at the top but still I ran out of water and they didn't have the fountain setup at Alta yet.  I was able to get some at the bottom though before I was too dehydrated.  I snapped a couple of photo's at the top.

Alta still covered in snow.

It was much colder up top but still the snow was melting fast.

On another note, I got my front wheel back from Zipp yesterday.  I'm still seething at the fact they wouldn't warranty it.  I had to pay for them to repair it.  I am never going to buy another product from them again.  I'll do a full account of the episode later.