Sometimes you can go home again.

Last weekend Sarah had some meetings in SLC for Open High School of Utah, an online High School that opened up this year. Sarah hates car trips, she would rather fly 8 hrs than drive for 4 so she brings me along to A) Do the driving and B) Relieve the monotony - I am an excellent traveling companion.
So while she was occupied for 6hrs in a conference room turning the world of on line teaching upside down, I took a little time for myself.
First I met Matt and Dusty for lunch at Vino's roach truck in Bountiful. That man turns out some delicious grub, I recommend the cheese steak sandwich. We talked about old times and good times and the current state of affairs, caught up on family and generally enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Then D and I headed off to go ride the Mueller Park trail, I used to ride this trail all the time when we lived there 9 yrs ago. I did not ride as much then as I do now and my memory of suffering up the trail to Elephant Rock made me a little nervous about bringing the SS. I shouldn't have worried, what I had forgotten was how smooth that track is and my gearing was perfect. The leaves are changing and there was a layer of yellow covering the ground. Riding on leaves makes for a very quiet ride.


This could have been the ride of the year, at least top 3. It was one of those days where I felt like I could ride forever.




Special thanks to Dustin for being my photog.



D forgot his helmet but weighed the odds and decided to ride anyway. I think he was glad he did.



The view from Elephant Rock, the canyon out to the lake.



Dusty also shot a great video but Blogger is refusing to play nice. So watch for the next post, I have something special for you. (By special I mean shortbus special.)

Open letter to Rednecks

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Put a throttle in a mans hands and you lower his IQ by 80 points.

Dear 4 wheeler, Rhino riding, inbred, no helmet wearing, rules don't apply to me Redneck,

I saw a lot of your handiwork this morning first hand, but I have been experiencing it for a long time and I finally have to say something. Even if it is only on this blahg that only 2 people read, one of them being my Mom.
You seem to be of the opinion that as long as you are on your radical mosheen and you are in what feels like the middle of nowhere you can ride where ever want. Well sir, if you see this sign it means you can't go in there.





Even if you have wire cutters in your pocket it does not mean that it will be OK.






I don't care how long you and your "Pappy" have been coming to this very special spot in the desert, ramming the gate with your Poolaris 600 until you can get through is not acceptable behavior. I don't care what your blood alcohol level says.




For future reference if you see a trail that is only wide enough for 1 of your wheels, that does not mean that you put one side on the trail and the other side out crushing bushes. The Stucki Springs trail used to be a beautiful 20" wide singletrack and now I could drive my truck down it. Thanks for nothing.
If I am lucky enough to catch you on the wrong side of the fence, we are going to fight, and as you lay bleeding in the dirt I am going to puncture all 4 of your tires with my Crank Bros multitool. I want you to have to walk all the way back to your double wide so that you won't ever forget to stay on your side of the fence.

I know that I have made some disparaging remarks towards a certian class of people and maybe that is unfair because probably half of the offenders have a degree from BYU. Which proves my initial statement.

Does anyone know what the two most common elements in the galaxy are?? You guessed it, carbon and stupidity.

Everything old is new again

I broke my bike. I broke it real good.



About a month ago as I was training for the Moab 24, it was 5:30am and dark as pitch. I had my lights on but it is not the same as riding during the day. I entered a small wash going about 15mph and saw that the water course had been completely scoured by a recent rain storm. What used to be a smooth transition at the bottom was now a 12 inch high embankment.
There was a loud crack and the sudden stop threw me over the bars, the human mind is an incredible thing because while I was airborne I was fully cognizant that something on my bike was very broken and I actually contemplated how far the walk home was.



I am not telling you something new but my frame builder (Steve Garro/Coconino Cycles) is awesome. I sent him the pics and told him about my dilemma, I assured him that the breakage was due to user interface and had nothing to do with the construction of the frame. So today Fedex showed up with my frame complete with a new front triangle and fresh paint. It looks brand new.
Here is sits on what I assume is Steve's back patio. Nice flagstone.



I put it all back together this afternoon and will take a short shake down cruise Wednesday morning. Its good to have her back, some of you may have noticed in the last post that I was riding a different bike at Moab. If you didn't notice please pay more attention.

PS...... did I mention that Steve is awesome??

Moab 24 hours

This past February I got a new bike, you can read about it here if you need a refresher. After riding the Single Speed for a few weeks I knew that I was hooked, I also decided that I would like another crack at the 24 hrs of Moab. I rode it about 5 yrs ago totally under prepared, on a 35lb full suspension bike and generally did not enjoy myself.
So this year I put together an all SS team of local all stars, John, Jon, Steve and yours truly. I found a description of the course on youtube, hopefully you can make it thru the entire 6 minutes.




I would agree with most of what that guy says, it was less sandy this year but he down plays the technical parts of the trail. Here is a picture of the infamous "nose dive" section.



Here is the official map. If you have another 6 minutes you can watch another great video here. It gives you a much better idea of what the race looks and feels like.



The rest of the guys decided that they were going to use a decommissioned Oasis Resort shuttle bus as the RV/ support vehicle. As soon as I heard the description of the converted van I knew that I had better find another mode of transport. I chose wisely, it took them over 9 hrs to make the 5hr drive, apparently the bus is not fast.

Here is a shot of camp and the bus in all her glory.




First lap; Jon was our leadout man. He broke out the secret weapon, his sweet Hot Rod suit. It takes a big man to wear something like that.




It takes an even bigger man to dress like this guy. He really puts the "glad" in Gladiator.



Dressing like a goofball is a time honored tradition at the 24hr races. There was one team that had Nacho Libre type masks that they wore for most of the event.

The race has a le mans type start where the competitors have to run about 300 yards then jump on their bikes to start the first lap. It really is something to behold.



Notice the Gladiator out in front.


A shot of the tent city looking south.



The start of lap #2, the worst lap for me personally, my best lap time wise was at 3am. I was awoken after an hour of sleep by my teammates who decided they wanted to switch up the order in order to give themselves a little more rest time. I have very little memory of that lap. I know I was cold and hurrying to be done, I do remember the girl who wrecked in front of me and snapped her carbon handle bar right in half. I stopped to help and she asked me if I had any tape. Tape??



Night lap.




Here is a short clip of me rolling in on the last lap.




I really had a great time, so good in fact that I signed up this morning for the 24 hrs of Old Pueblo in Tucson, February 13th of next year. I would like to take Sarah with me so if any of you are available on Presidents Day weekend to come and watch my kids let me know.