Dialing in the cargo bike

This was one of the more complicated flat tires to repair. The Madsen Cycles cargo bike weighs about 75 pounds, which makes it pretty difficult to flip over or move around to get the wheel out from underneath it.

Afterwards, I swapped out my modified Ergon GS3 grips to the Madsen. You mean you're townie doesn't have grips designed for ultra-endurance racing on it?

Breck Epic Packing

Every item has a specific purpose and has been thought about as I've packed up for Breck Epic, which starts tomorrow morning.

Aid station bags will have almost identical spare parts, including shoes, a tube, a tire, sunglasses, and clothing. Nutritional items (not pictured) will vary, with more food in the first aid station bag.

I've toiled between a saddle bag and backpack. It was not until I purchased the Ergon BX-2 pack that I've enjoyed riding/racing with a pack but due to the nature of the Breck Epic, I'm carrying a few extra items I wouldn't normally carry for a race like a rain jacket and a first aid kit so I've opted for the pack. At least today, I'm thinking when it gets to hiking up some of the passed and steep climbs I'd Thayer have a bit more weight on my back than have to be pushing stuff strapped to my bike.

Jerseys- not enough for a fresh one everyday, which means I'll be doing some laundry, but one is Boulder Cycle Sport's current year kit and then I have a slew of older jerseys as backup.

these are my more sport specific personal care items like chamois cream and SportLegs. I do have a tube of diaper rash cream as I had a few saddle sores earlier this season and it's worked well with healing. It also subs in for chamois cream well (just a very thick one).

These are my recovery tools. I've been using a foam roller since my knee surgery in 2003 left me with IT band issues and the TP Therapy Grid has taken rolling to a new level. It is much more firm than a standard foam roller and the pattern does affect how it works my muscles.

E and I got out on Sunday afternoon for a short ride down Coal Creek to Mayhoffer and Cowdrey Draw. The view isn't bad either.

Hall Ranch and St Vrain Canyon

Heart Rate Testing

My training plan, Weight loss and Base Training, by Linda Wallenfels (LW Coaching called for a Heart Rate Test today, in follow up from four weeks prior. I've chosen to use The climb up Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder as my testing grounds as it has a good steady climb and is far enough from the house I can get in a good warm up and cool down without having to kill myself to get there. I start once I pass through the stoplight at Baseline and 17th Street and go up from there. Although my average heart rate for the 20 minute test hasn't changed in the past four weeks, I perceive that my power has increased as I was able to climb a quarter mile past where I finished last month's test. This shows me there have been gains in the past month but that better diligence in training will produce even greater dividends.

Decisions...

(see full image)

(iP)

Superior Bike Park

Lee McCormack, the brain behind the pump track movement and LeeLikeBikes.com shows how to rally the new expert pump track at the Superior Bike Park, in Superior, Colorado. Working with the town of Superior, Lee gave leadership to the park design and construction of a beginner pump track and flow track as well as an expert level pump track and flow track. over the past two weeks, Lee and team have built the park and today was opening day. After a full loop on the Dirty Bismarck, I headed down into Rock Creek and caught up with Lee and gave a go at the pump track. I'm looking forward to figuring out a way to incorporate the pump track into my training for the Breck Epic as a way to build muscle endurance and technical skills.

Cooling off, Warming Up

I had today blocked off as a vacation day to make this weekend a four day weekend (we take Columbus Day as a holiday) so my ride today was a warm up for racing this weekend. I pulled the road bike off the wall, pumped up the tires and headed out.

The gray sky and cool temperatures on my way out gave way to sun and warmer temperatures as I rolled towards home. Today also marked the first ride of the fall that I rode with a base layer, jersey, vest, and arm and knee warmers.

I realized today was the first long ride in while and I've felt it the rest of the day. Hopefully this will act as more of a warm up than a jet burning ride come Sunday's inaugural Colorado Cross Cup points race.

The heart of 'cross season is here. Game on!

Wednesday Worlds

The Hogans dropped into the Bowl of Death to set up the barriers as I was setting up to shoot this picture.

Wednesday Worlds

The Hogans dropped in to set up the barriers as I was setting up to shoot this picture.

Wednesday Worlds- a growing movement within the cyclocross community to put on group training sessions on Wednesdays throughout the fall.

Zolder Photos

U23 Zolder CX World Cup

Women's Zolder CX World Cup

Men's Zolder CX World Cup

Scene at Zolder CX World Cup

Elite Women's CX World Cup Race

The Elite Women's race strung out quickly in the first lap. The first clip in this video is at the end of lap one. American Katie Compton is the fourth rider across the line and would end up in second place by the end of the day, 22 seconds behind reigning World Champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands.

U23 CX World Cup Race

Mud and muck...

I think this pretty well sums up yesterday's Boulder Racing race at Xilinx. More later...

Welcome home kg271

A few weeks ago I got a DM on Twitter from @madsencycles... And then I wrote about Urban Utility afterwards. Well, kg271 arrived yesterday, just in time for the snow to start falling.

Valmont Bike Park Ground Breaking Cross

I took a few video clips with my 7 year old digital camera. Yeah, it's not exactly the greatest quality but it sure does show the basics well.

From CX 10.17.2009 Valmont Bike Park is going to be huge when it is finished. Huge in the sense of 'lets bring out all the cyclists in the community together' type huge. I guess, size wise it will be pretty decently sized at 40 acres with a little bit of everything for everyone-- stairs, sand pits, dirt jumps, run-ups, spectating areas, STXC courses, pump tracks. Although I haven't been around since the beginning, I'm looking forward to it just as much as everyone else.

I did put in my share of time on the Boulder Cycle Sport grill heating up brats and hot dogs for hungry spectators wanting to pitch in some money to pay for the park too.

As for the racing itself, I had a good, clean start until I hit the high speed barriers on lap 1 when on the remount I laid my bike out on the non-driveside, throwing it into my left knee, dropping the chain, twisting the left brake lever inwards and losing 20 spots. That didn't bode well for the rest of the race. I was able to swap back and forth with several other racers as they would slow down on the climb just past the finish line to grab a bottle feed and I continued to motor past them. With 2.5 laps to go, I could see Zach Lee coming in to lap me so I sat in to let him pass and dug to gain a few more spots with only one lap left.

Dejan Smaic's (Sportif Images) photo from Interlocken is a great shot but is only a glimpse at the pain and pace of Sunday's race. It's one thing when you speak of yourself as pedaling backwards in a race, but it's another thing to have a teammate say that to you afterwards. I think that in and of itself is a pretty accurate statement of the race.

SSWC'09 Pictures

People have been searching for any and all Singlespeed World Championship 2009 Durango photos. Here's my collection including the pre-ride, New Belgium Party, and the Starting Line Crowds.


Friday's Group Pre-Ride of the course.

Friday night's New Belgium Party.

At the start line on Saturday morning.

All of my SSWC'09 Durango photos can be viewed and downloaded from either my MobileMe gallery or from Picasa Web gallery.

Who would have thought that searching, "how to inplug a drain full of mud and dirt," would put Rolling In the Dirt in the top 10 Google search results. It lands on my August 30th post about my toddy brewing. Thanks Lijit for keeping track of this info!

Velonews...

This might be the closest I'll ever get to being pictured on Velonews.com. Yeah, right there next to JHK, with the iPhone upside down. That's me. We're both watching Heather Irmiger get inked after claiming victory in the Singlespeed World Championships 2009 in Durango. Many thanks to Greg Keller of Mud and Cowbells for making this psuedo-dream come true!