Lee McCormack at Valmont Bike Park

I caught Lee McCormack, the man behind LeeLikesBikes.com, teaching a mountain bike skills clinic today at Valmont Bike Park. They were working the drop in on the Large slopestyle line and Lee stepped it up to hit the XL line for, what he claims, his first time.

I won a series of private lessons with Lee several years ago at the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance Annual Gala and I continue to see ways to add new elements of what he was teaching.

Breck Epic Stage 1

I've sat down and started sorting out some of the video I took during the BreckEpic mountain bike stage race. Stage One took us up Boreas Pass Road and over to Pennsylvania Gulch and descending back onto Boreas Pass to ride much of the same trails as the Firecracker 50 ultra endurance mountain bike race held annually on July 4, such as Bakers Tank, the Iowa Mill climb, Nightmare on Baldy, Sally Barber Road and Little French Gulch.

You'll note that I had a second row starting position for stage one. Because I was racing in the Open Mens division, I had the opportunity to line up with riders like 2 time (now 3 time) National 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike Champion Josh Tostado, who I am directly behind in the video, and other riders like Federixo Ramirez, multiple La Ruta de Los Conquistadores mountain bike stage race winner, and Travis Brown, a long standing figure in the mountain bike community. Even though I would finish on Day Six placed 18 out of 19 riders and 10 hours off first place, it was still fun to be able to start on the first few rows each day.

The clips in this video include the start, Aspen Alley, Baker's Tank, Pinball Alley, Iowa Mill, Nightmare on Baldy (enterance), Nightmare on Baldy exit on to Sally Barber Road, Carter Park switchbacks. I have oodles more footage from this stage but I wanted to keep these videos pretty short.

And for you data junkies, here's Stage 1 from Strava, crack for competitive cyclists.

Breck Epic Stage 2: Colorado Trail

Today's course would take up into some of Breckenridge's finest singletrack riding on the Colorado Trail. After our "neutral" roll out of town, we climbed... and climbed some more including a up a service road known as "Heinous Hill." There wasn't much riding on that one. I had already seen this climb once before when I came up to Breckenridge to do some scouting and thought I was lost multiple times after how awful it was on that climb. While pushing up Heinous Hill, I saw the rider with the #3 race plate. He, like me, is in the unfortunate situation of being a Sport level racer under 30 years old. As a result, we get to race in the Open Mens' Division which is stacked with top racers like multiple La Ruta de los Conquistadores winner, a former U23 national champion and other pro racers. We are not out here to win this but to finish it.

Heinous Hill topped out and sent us racing down towards the Colorado Trail crossing multiple forks of the Swan River. I knew that from the bottom of descent I had about 2 miles to fuel up while riding on the road before hitting the Colorado Trail. We took a hard left turn and ripped a short section of the CT before hitting Aid Station 1. From Aid Station 1 it was a 5 mile climb up to the top of West Ridge with amazing views. My goal for this climb was to ride all of it, which I was able to do bouncing between my small and middle chainring. After topping out, we got to ride one of the best singletrack descents in town. After a series of fast switchbacks, we rolled out through a meadow at high speeds.

The fun ended when we hit the bottom of "Vomit Hill." This short grinding climb just sucked energy. We topped out and down the backside just to climb back over it on another section of the Colorado Trail.

After topping out on that section of the Colorado Trail, I was within 1 mile on aid station 2 and 10 miles of today's finish but with another grinder of a climb to go. I was getting a bit gassed and needed to fuel up at aid station 2 but miscalculated how much time I would have to eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich before I would need both hands to navigate some singletrack. At the top of the final climb through the Gold Run woods, I was feeling gassed and ready for the finish. I knew that once I hit X10U8 It was all downhill and once I did, I let it rip to the finish line.

I felt good with today's pacing but I was having to hold myself back as I was hoping to go up a spot in the overall rankings after the racer (bib #3) flatted on the first descent. I kept having to remind myself about not overdueing myself in an effort to win, as I most certainly won't do so.

Breck Epic Stage 1: Pennsylvania Creek

Today was the opening stage of the 2011 Breck Epic, a six day mountain bike stage race in Breckenridge, Colorado. I was familiar with much of the course at it is used as part of the Firecracker 50, a 50 mile mountain bike race on July 4th.

We started with a police escort up Boreas Pass Road and dropped into a new (to me) trail known as Aspen Alley, which flows through one of the largest Aspen tree groves here in Breckenridge. Interspersed were old mine tailings and thinking I could ride down a section my rear slid out and I hit the deck. As you can see, I managed to do a number on my knee but it's feeling pretty good to go for five more days of adventure.

Once we hit Little French Gulch, a steep and rocky climb on a good day, the evidence of a storm several weeks ago was readily apparent. The trail had been washed out and massive shifts in the rocks and soil dramatically changed the ability to ride that climb.

 After some more singletrack climbing, we shot down and out onto French Gulch Road for the day's final climb- Sallie Barber Road. I told myself to put in a sustainable 30 minute effort and that would get me to the top. From the top of Sallie Barber, it is mostly a singletrack descent to the finish with some great local trails. I hit the last aid station and motored on at a pace that I felt was just right for me. I ripped the descent and crossed the finish line in 5:17 and change. In total, my computer calculated 37.5 miles of racing and 5,600 feet of climbing.

Other than the mishap less than four miles into the race, I had a strong ride and felt that my pace was pretty spot on for what I believe is sustainable for the next five days. I have no visions of course records but certainly a strong test of my physical and mental capacity over the week.

Evening Pump Track session

Spent a little while at the Superior Bike Park after dinner getting in some laps on the pump track. Shot this video to test out some digital capabilities and uploading processes. Not the most exciting but helpful.

30 Days Update

Tuesday, April 5: An early morning mountain bike workout which included six 6 minute intervals in my zone 3 effort. This was my first set of any kind of intervals this season so even though it was a lower effort than one tends to think about for an interval training workout, I definitely could feel it later in the day. One challenge I tend to have with endurance racing is keeping my heart rate high on the descents as to prevent my body from going into too much of a recovery effort and I think that this workout and the course that I used gave me good practice at keeping my heart rate up, even while descending at other speeds. if I am able to keep my heart rate up, it makes returning to cruising and climbing pace easier (or at leat it feels that way to me).

Wednesday, April 6: 2 laps arounds the parking lot on my singlespeed. I rolled out of the garage late in the evening to grab the mail and then took a quick spin in the parking lot.

Thursday, April 7: Suspension testing on the Trek Fuel EX 8. This sounds a whole lot fancier than it really was actually. After getting home from work at almost 11pm, I twisted the rebound dials on both the front and rear suspension to try them out in a different position to try and balance out the feeling on the bike. It's a work in progress to get that bike dialed in and it will require much more time than the one lap around the parking lot I gave tonight.

Hall Ranch and St Vrain Canyon

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.

Breck Epic Training

Yesterday marked 24 weeks until the Breck Epic rolls out of town for Stage 1. That means it is also time to start getting the real training underway. I have chosen to go with Linda Wallenfels plans and today I started with her Weight Loss and Base Training plan which will finish on May 22. I am not planning any big races during this time which is good but will also allow me to focus more on the plan than being race ready. I will likely line up for the Front Range 60 and the Battle of the Bear race the first weekend of May to get some back to back racing days in but I don't see myself gunning for much more as the plan does not call for any super intensity (that I've seen yet). Here goes anything.

Singlespeed Sunday, Episode 5

(Get video play by play via my BlipSnips Channel)

Yesterday was much warmer than a week ago. As a result, we kept the Singlespeed Sunday route to mostly bike path and roads with only a minimal amount of dirt road and gravel crusher bike paths. The Koppenberg climb was an absolute mess so we hiked to the top on the side of the road.

Knowing that the South Boulder Creek Trail would be a disaster, as we were slogging our way down 66th towards Marshall Road, I asked Josh if he wanted to go do some climbing. We headed towards Gillaspie and Harlow Platts Park and climbed towards Greenbriar and Lehigh. Now, this is not a very steep climb but on a singlespeed, it'll start a good burn.

We cruised along the Broadway bike path before cutting through the CU campus towards the Boulder Creek Trail. We linked that to the Goose Creek Trail and hopped onto Baseline. After cutting through to S. Boulder Rd, there was more climbing to do-- again, not a serious issue with gears. We dropped back down towards the Louisville Rec Center and parted ways.

But Singlespeed Sunday wouldn't be done yet. Part two began as I entered the garage and moved my water bottles over to my new Gary Fisher X-Caliber, which I had picked up Saturday night. I took off for a few minutes for Super Stealth Sunday, a reference to any training Josh or I do in an attempt to gain an edge over the other. I cut it short so I would have enough time to shower before heading to a leisurely Sunday lunch at the Southside Walnut Cafe with Esther. Just as we were driving into Boulder, the snow started and I realized how glad I was that Singlespeed Sunday had started early.

My quick spin on the Fisher wasn't really all that telling of a ride. I need to work on positioning and get it dialed in before I give a good ride report on it but I will say with my WTB 29er LaserDisc Trail wheelset, the bike comes in at a respectable 26.4lbs. Watch out!

Singlespeed Sunday Vol. 1, Issue 4

Hey, what happened to Vol. 1, Episodes 1, 2, and 3? Well, they never got written up so you'll just have to deal with Singlespeed Sunday updates starting at Episode 4.

As you can tell by the numbering, singlespeed mountain biking has sort of become a Sunday afternoon thing for me to do. I've been getting out on most Sundays with Josh and rolling out to the Koppenburg climb, through the South Boulder Creek Trail and back home via Baseline Rd. Sometimes we or I will throw in a loop over towards Davidson Mesa or Harper's Lake for good measure.


Today, we headed out the Coal Creek Trail about 7 miles and turned around. With snow falling, we elected to stay off the roads and on trails for safety and the sloppy factor. Pushing through the fresh snow and balancing over the spots where the new snow was covering old ice and frozen tracks proved to be a challenging workout that we didn't need to go find any hills to abuse ourselves with... today. Maybe in March.

And for those interested: Garmin Connect -Activity Details for Singlespeed Sunday 2.21.10

2010 Sponsors Update

I made an earlier reference to my 2010 teams and sponsors in my January 14 video post but hadn't updated the rest of the blog to reflect new sponsors and all. The list this year is a good one and I am looking forward to putting it all together.

For the mountain bike season, I'll be racing with the guys from ALL MTN Racing and we've picked up Bicycle Outfitters up in Evergreen as our shop sponsor. Most of us will be riding Gary Fishers and a few will be on Niners. I'm excited to give 29'ers a go since I've been running a 69'er setup on my singlespeed for three years now and spent a season on Trek's 69'er Top Fuel. We have kept WTB for our tires, wheels, saddles and grips and added Honey Stinger for energy gels, bars, chews and other food needs and also added Rudy Project to the list as well.

For the cyclocross season, I'm planning on riding with the Boulder Cycle Sport crowd again.

Saturday Ride

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.

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!

I found this video as part of MTBR's Virtual Interbike coverage for WTB.

I'm looking forward to getting set up with some new WTB tires for next season with the Tubeless Compatible System (TCS). It takes the strong wire bead of a true UST tubeless tire and matches it with a standard casing to work with a sealant system to drop the overall weight of a tubeless set up by dropping the UST casing weight. I have been running the WTB Mutano's all year on my Bionicon and just recently put on as my rear tire on my Surly 1x1 for Single Speed World Championships. The high volume, light weight of that tire makes it a great choice for racing on the mixed conditions at Winter Park.

Entering the pain cave...

Can you guess where the hike-a-bike sections were in the SSWC'09 course?

I haven't loaded up any of my pictures yet other than the Sept. 17 post so once I do, I'll have a better report up. Let's say there was a lot of pushing, some amazing views and a festive atmosphere.

On the open road...

Kenosha Pass.

Driving through the rain somewhere between Saquache and Del Norte. Off to the east, I could see the Great Sand Dunes butted up against the Sangre De Cristos.

 These two shots do no justice to the views on Wolf Creek Pass. The golden aspen stand in stark contrast to the darkness of the moss covered granite walls on the east side of the pass and the
sharp descent off the west side in the dark red cliffs stand out from the green forests. Clouds and fog floated through the valley below in true definition of how big the mountains are here in Colorado.

My next trick...

I'm busy prepping my bike and stuff to head on down to Durango for SSWC'09 and as I'm looking at it, I've got a lot of things I want to fit into that small saddle bag.

2 tubes- a 26", a 29"
Patch kit
2 tire levers
A wrench (bolt on rear wheel)
A pocket tool, complete with chain tool
CO2 blaster and 3 cartridges
2 Clif Shots- back up to a gel flask.

I put some fresh rubber on the wheels tonight- WTB Wierwolf LT 29 2.55 version for the front and a WTB Mutano Raptor 2.4 for the back. Both are really high volume which should provide some shock absorbtion on a fully rigid bike. I like the Mutano based on my experience with it on my Golden Willow so we will see how it handles on a different set up. I just need some fresh brake pads and I should be set, at least for gear- the course reports are looking brutal.

Hotter than Hades

My SSWC 2009 official rig. It's a Surly 1x1 with a Karate Monkey fork allowing me to run it as a 69'er. I might change out the tires to run a WTB set-up but can't decide on the right tires (Mutano and a Prowler or Wierwolf 29er?). I took it out for about two hours to begin dialing it in for the SSWC in Durango. It's a bit hard to get used to having raced Bionicon Golden Willow 6" full suspension bike all summer.

Denver tied its record high temperature today at 98 degrees. That makes for one toasty ride. I still had some energy afterwards so I headed out for a 30 minute run. A two hour ride and a half hour run in this weather caused me to lose 6-7 pounds in water weight. Yeesh.

One of the more frustrating, but necessary parts of the front range trail systems. You've got to keep those cattle in line.