June 22nd - Crested Butte - Wild Flower Rush

This weekend was a Race weekend with the Mountain States Cup moving to Crested Butte for the Wild Flower Rush.

Amber headed out early and was in Crested Butte from Monday the 16th. (we have a few pictures to come from that from the other camera)

I took Friday off and drover out Thursday night so that we could use Friday as a practice day. We both registered for Super-D and Downhill.

The Super-D was just like riding a normal Crested Butte bike trail but with less climbing. We did a few practise runs on it on Friday and Saturday and I was really enjoying the track and was somewhat optimistic as to my prospects for the Race. Amber had a big crash on our final practise run late saturday afternoon and since she wasn't wearing a full face helmet got quite a nasty cut on her chin. She crashed as she was trying to push her speeds on the single track sections in the aspens.

We also got in a couple of runs on the Downhill track. It was a lot less technical than most downhill race tracks with lots of fast sections and two sections of pedaling. The pedaly sections were pretty brutal on a big bike, but over all the track was great fun and we were both looking forward the actual race.

As is normal, we got no photos of any riding this weekend, but we had a great time doing it!

The Super-D started with a run to your bikes and I was feeling tired by the time I got on my bike. I managed to catch a few people on the initial downhill but then settled into the back part of the "pack" once the first climb hit. I never saw anyone else on the ride except for a couple of people that had flat tires along the way. I need to get a lot stronger if I want to move up the field of the 30+ men in Super-D and since I really don't ever see myself training I am pretty content that this race will always be just a fun part of a race weekend to tell stories about after the weekend. I ended up placing 17th out of 25 and I was 5 minutes of the winning time. A good line in the sand to compare to as we ride and race more.

For the Downhill I was surprised just how nervous I was the morning before and as I waited for my starting gate. I entered the 19+ beginner men which was an interesting category as you had young guys and old guys competing against each other. I had an Ok race run but really messed up the tight switch backs after getting a good start on the first steep section. I also didn't pedal the pedaly sections very well at all either as my lazy boots kicked in a bit. I ended up placing 13th out of 17 and was 42 seconds back from the winner of the class. Had I raced in 40+ Sport men instead I would have placed 8th out of 13 and still been 46 seconds back from the winner.

Amber also raced downhill and put together a great run! She placed 3rd in her category and got a podium on her first downhill race!



Downhill racing proved to be way more fun times than the Super D race that day.

June 14th - Sol Vista, CO

Our original plan for this weekend was to head back to Angel Fire and ride downhill but the prospect of the long drive and nasty gas prices changed our plans and we decided to go check out Sol Vista Bike Park instead. We had a friend from my work that had a condo in Winter Park that was going to be there as well Saturday so we packed up the dogs and all 4 bikes and drove to Granby. Sol Vista is new to the mountain biking scene with the mountain developing 4 trails last summer and the lifts were free to ride. The reports were that for a small mountain they had done great job putting the trails down.

Sol Vista will also be hosting two MSC race weekends this year so getting some time on the trails for those was a big motivator.

Wow, for just 3 downhill trails this mountain is addictive! We got in 8 runs before close and that was with a later start than we wanted. The trails is shorter than Keystone but are exactly the length that most race tracks are. They have rocky sections, fast sections, jumps and berms. Simply great riding, I can't wait for the races and I can't wait to see the new trails they add this year.


Amber on the roll option on one of the trails.


There were a number of high speed open sections that linked the trees and the more technical riding. The combination of technical sections and speed sections was perfect!


One thing that did surprise me was how dry the trails were. The rest of the mountains are still covered in snow but the trails here were dry and sandy. Some rain will help settle things down.

Saturday night we had dinner with Mike and Kristi in Winter Park at a great Mexican restaurant and then hung out at their condo drinking a few beers. All in all a great day! It also was Amber's birthday!

June 7th - Hartman Rocks, Gunnison CO

Saturday morning we had to go to a bike shop and try and get Amber a new chain and a new granny gear on her front rings. She was getting really bad chain suck in the mud on the ride yesterday and when I had the same problem a while back replacing the smallest front rind and chain corrected the issue.

I noticed that there was a new bike shop in town and we decided to check it out. Go Big Sports is a small shop up in the ski village and Peter the owner is just one of those guys that absolutely oozes enthusiasm for mountain biking! He fixed up Amber's bike and also convinced us to go check out Hartman Rocks down in Gunnison. It was a place I had often thought about visiting but just had never made the time to do so. That was a mistake!

Hartman is just crazy good fun. The riding in single track amongst Sage Bush on a small plateau with Granite boulders and slabs everywhere. It has a lot of rock climbing and a lot of great mountain bike trails!


We pretty much have no photos that do the riding justice as it was impossible to stop on most of the sections due to the fast flowing riding you got to do.


We did Becks -> Rocky Ridge -> Broken Shovel -> Josho's -> Rattle Snake -> Becks. What a great loop, it had fun (gentle) climbing, 3 great downhill sections and so good technical sections amongst the granite.


The flow of the downhills is absolutely top notch. If you want a place that will get you leaning your bike from corner to corner this a place to visit!

June 6th - Crested Butte

After last weekend at Angel Fire we were motivated to compete in the Wild Flower Rush coming up in Crested Butte in a few weeks so we decided to head over to Crested Butte and start the mountain season. Things were not promising as we headed out with the reports saying that virtually no trails were ready because of the brutal and long winter we had this year.

We got there early on Friday so decided to see how conditions on Lower Loop were, it is a ride we had never ridden as it is just a short little loop that has a reputation for being popular.

Conditions were certainly not ideal with a lot of mud on the trails and plenty of snow still on the upper part of the loop. But the riding was fun and fast!


As always Crested Butte is just a nice place to ride mountain bikes. A late afternoon ride on single track is how everyone should be able to finish off a Friday work week.


There were a few other people on the trail but not many and as we came around a corner we surprised a porcupine. It was fun watching him climb up a tree to get out of the way, luckily I saw him before either of the dogs so I was able to grab Bishop and watch the prickly guy shuffle to safety.


It took a little gentle taps with a bike wheel on Bishops hind quarters but she quickly learned the ways of being a trail dog and when to get of trail and out of the way. She is incredibly fast and seemed happy to run forever!


The upper lower loop was still under quite a bit of snow. We had to walk across a couple of patches, but the riding in between was excellent.


Another snow patch.


Heading back to the car.

May 24th Memorial Day Weekend - Angel Fire NM

We made the big decision (for us) and head down to Angel Fire for the long weekend on Memorial and see what the Racing scene was like! This weekend was the Mountain States Cup Gravity kick-off and sounded really intimidating from a beginner racer perspective as the courses at Angel Fire all had the reputation for being the hardest (technically) on the MSC race calendar.

We figured that worst case it would be great to watch pro's racing and as the 4X and DH were national qualifiers for Worlds in August there should be some big names. It turns out that most of the big names for DH were at another race on the east coast but there was still an incrediable amount of people there racing (over 600 people registered for the downhill alone)

It was also our first road trip since we got our new dog Bishop.


The dogs were super excited to get going.


But quickly decided driving was boring and sleeping was good.

We have no photos of us riding as racing doesn't really lend itself to that. We arrived Thursday night and set up a tent in the parking lot with everyone else. Amber and I both registered for Super-D and I also registered for Downhill. The weather was pretty funky on the first day and it got really crappy as the day proceeded. Friday was a practice day and we (in hindsight wrongly) opted to start with Super-D track thinking it would be a good way to get some riding in.

Looking back what we should have done was started immediately on the Downhill practice even though the weather was dubious, that would have gotten us over the intimidation factor that haunted us all weekend.

The practice on the Super-D was excellent fun though as the course really was a perfect Super-D track. It had a couple of climbs that meant big bikes were not going to be an option and then a number of technical sections linked by high speed single track.

We practiced in some really wet conditions and decided to do one last run for the afternoon since Saturday was Race Day. The weather came in hard core as we were riding the lift up and we made the bad decision to try and ride down rather than stay on the lift and ride it back down. Conditions were full white out snow and Amber and I both got really, really cold - particularly our fingers.


Saturday was Super-D race day and both Amber and I entered and had a great time. The weather cleared up and it was beautiful and sunny, however the track was muddy and slippery which in race conditions I found to be really fun riding. I definitely had my lazy boots on and took it very easy on the climbs even taking the opportunity to watch the open Women go by me. I ended up in the rear of my classification while Amber ended up 6th in hers. She did a better time than me!


Our first race tags!

Later on Saturday was the 4X mountain cross UCI event where the winner (if they were a USA citizen) was automatically qualified to worlds. We had never seen a mountain cross event live before and it was a lot of fun!


Qualifying saw the riders race individually for seeding.


And the race proper had waves of 4 riders scrambling to get to the bottom first. This is Mike Kreger putting on a show. Mike works at The Fix Bike shop and has helped us out many a time so it was fun to see him at play - the guy can ride and is also a phenomenal announcer.


Cornering with other riders trying to take it as well seems like would be a whole different game than cornering out on the trails!


The winner was Petr Hanak, he lives and works in Sol Vista, CO but was not a USA citizen so the locals would have to wait until the 4X nationals event on Sunday.



We wimped out for the rest of the weekend having lots of good reasons but no valid ones to head home early instead of racing the Downhill. Amber had her last week of school and had a boatload of work to do, she worked all day Monday so it was a good thing we came back early. We were also exhausted from the riding we had done, but the real reason we came back is that the downhill race was simply intimidating! Looking back at the weekend I can only be reminded of times I wimped out from doing a big rock climb, it was really easy to find very valid reasons to do something else.

It was a great first race weekend, the scene was incredible and friendly, the race we did hard and challenging and we got our feet wet at racing!