Too Fast Too Hilarious.

You got to love the summer. It's now when bikes are the most free to be what they can be. These are some of my co-workers and friends on a after hours excursion. Cyclist always make the best well rounded friends. Can I get a witness?

Deer Valley MTB National championships.

It was great to line up at a large mountain bike race. I crossed the finish line in the cross country and was congratulated by the winner on my second place finish. But when the results showed up I was marked " DNF " ( did not finish ). After some slack calculations they gave me 5th. Whatever, I was just happy to be there.

RUN & GUN

The " Super D" was full of surprises. First you needed more suspension than I brought and we had to do a running start. After the initial gravel road start you where lucky to be able to see the trail because of the huge hits through out. When the smoked cleared I had 2nd at a National championship. I was pleased, both not to be hurt and to make it on the podium for the second time this weekend.

Props and shouts

Got to give a shout to my old school neighborhood friends Tony G. Kurt K and Doug C. Miss you guys and hope to ride together again. Steel sharpened steel in those days and the rest of the cycling world been paying for it ever since. Watch out where I swing this thing.... Many untold miles ?

I ride so I am to be found

After last weeks " State road race " which had a decisive climb that kept me from being in the hunt at the finish, so I was glad to bring the pendulum back the other way and entered the " Super D " mountain bike downhill race at Sundance ski resort. A unique style of racing that must have a finish line lower in elevation than the start. There's still climbing it's just closer to 50-50 climbing versus descending. With beautiful scenery and weather to watch over me I was the first out of the starting gate. It just so happens that the caterpillars are massively hanging in the trail until I cleared them all out with my face. As usual there was no time to test ride because the Ski lift opened at 8:30am and we started going off in one minute intervals at 9am ( me first ). I let gravity and flow mix and focused on control more than risk. It paid off.
This weekend coming up is the national championships at Deer Valley ski resort. Last time I raced this national I finished 7th in the XC and the " Super D ".I would like to do well and maybe get on the podium. My lower back continues to tingle, go numb and stab me with pain. Forcing me to pay attention to my form resulting in improved performance. Same thing happened to me in 1997 when I broke my collar bone and had to learn to pedal without my upper body resulting once again in better performance. It's funny how cycling turns lemons into lemonade!

Bikes for Kids 2008

On May 31st it was my privilege to give away a 1000 bicycles to under privileged children. The bikesforkidsutah.com/ is in it's 3rd success year and I was glad to play my part. After safety checking several hundred bicycles I was put to work entertaining tour bus after tour bus from 8am to 4pm. Braking out old school flatland freestyle tricks, so long since forgotten there new again. I rudely awakened dormant muscles and traumatized them for the following days to come. It was worth it!

Back in the day

I designed this bike ( frame, fork, stem and drive train ) in 1985. Keep in mind MTB bikes where hardly on the functional radar. Most MTB resembled heavy duty " ten speeds ". Specialized was introducing the first mass production mtb bike ( Rockhopper ). Shocks didn't exist or clip in shoes and aluminum was extremely exotic material. I needed something that could clear 18" medians, curbs and multiple steps on the fly all day, week, month and year long as a bike messenger. A year later I had the drivetrain ( see right hand column.. 18yrs old ) Ya 1985... what where you doing in 1985.

Pain vs. Passion

June is finally here. My back surgery looms in the future. It's hard to pick a season to be paralized. I've stayed on my bike and the results hide the severity of my herniated disc's.

On May 17th I raced masters 35+ at the Bear Lake classic road race. With a smashingly strong masters team we blew the field a part in the first few miles resulting in a 5 man brake away. 4 of us where on the same team, leaving one odd rider out. 15 miles into the break we began to attack the odd rider. My main concern was to protect my teammates yellow state points leaders jersey. In the end we let one team member ride away for the win as I remained to lead out our points leader. Everything worked perfectly with our team finishing 1st, 2nd,4th, 5th and 6th.

I'm currently 2nd overall in the Tuesday night worlds training series. From now on it gets significantly hotter and for me faster!

June 1st I entered the Stan Crane Memorial XC expert 40+ hoping to finish. Getting to the main climb in first I went from leader to last in one train of riders. Picking off a few in some single track climbs we entered the main gravel road climb with a mixture of different age groups. Passing or being passed for the next 20 minutes until the single track descent. Hoping for top 10 I was going back and forth with previous race winners. Crossing the finish line I knew I was in front of good racers and in the end I went from from first to last and back to third before finishing 4th. I don't think anyone has occupied every position in the field...twice