Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Building An Appetite...



The snow in the high country is beginning to pile up...











Which can only mean one thing. The skiing is about to get good, and it must be the season for eatin.'











Me and the Stunt Double 'been working hard at our appetites for the ensuing caloric onslaught over the past few days, and let me tell you, building an appetite is as much fun as the eating part...
















And it must be winter - a great time to take a glorified road bike across two inches of solid ice. Makes for great bike handling skills training...










Well, I'm off to Southern Cali for a few days. Eat as if your life depended on it, all you little turkeys...




Friday, November 20, 2009

Inflation...

So I'm walkin' around the block yesterday on a break from my cubicle, you know, practicing what unemployment is gonna feel like, when this guy walks up next to me.




He's dressed in a camo jacket, among other things, and is obviously about to ask me for spare change.



He tells me his story of how he's a desabled vet, he's gonna start managing a 17-lane bowling alley in two weeks and has an open-ended bus ticket to Seattle...



As he nears the punchline, we near the end of the block. Eager to move on to the next potential investor his speaking speed increases and he hits me with: "so, could you spare like seventeen or eighteen bucks?"


Silence.............. sure pal, I'll spot ya a twenty.



Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sorry Boss, But I Need Seasons...



As yet another corporation reels into consolidation I was recently given an offer to continue working and move to Houston, or get laid off.








It was not a hard decision to make, and I turned the offer down. And so in a few short months I will be another notch adding to this country's unemployement rate. "WHAAAAAAT?" You may ask? In this most unprecedented time for joblessness in America, why would I turn down a job, even if it required a move?









The threat of such a drastic lifestyle change was just too much to bear...











Let's be frank: this is about as close to a memoir as I'll ever come and unless I can find a way to cash in on my stories and photos here, I'll continue to have to work for "The Man."






But to be true to myself and to the Mrs.: I live, I work (for now), and I play in Colorado...












Life is not entirely about careers, nor is it entirely about playing. Life is about balance. To work and to play...









For every Monday there is a Friday. For every winter...











There is a spring...











For every action...




There is an equal, and opposite reaction...








To balance is to truly succeed. Now I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't worried - and it sure is easy for me to say all this now. Five months from now I could be begging for a job in Anywhere, USA.
But as much as I need a steady paycheck...










I need a place to spend it, first...













Sunday, November 8, 2009

Apex...




Have you ever sat on your roof? Think about that - have you ever really taken time up there to really sit down and ponder life for a few minutes?






I have. Not just once, like a few times a year. Usually, I'm up there cleaning out the gutters or just "making sure everything is alright up there" and I just stop and sit down for a while...









I'm not sure if it's the fact that all of my worldy possessions are underneath my feet that makes me feel so macho when I'm up there or what....








Or whether it's the view that's so drastically different from the view out of my living room window and I just like the variety....







But I can't get over it. Nor can I imagine what the neighbors must think when they see some creepy guy at the top of a roof, looking towards the horizon like Paul frickin Bunyan or something...






November: a time to dream of 2010.... and a time to dream about capturing the ski season with my helmetcam....






Sunday, November 1, 2009

Taking The High Road...



You know you have a good Halloween constume when you stop traffic. Literally - when you actually stop traffic....




















And once a year (twice a year for me) we all get to dress up like idiots and ignore the consequences. But seldom have I had this much fun dressing up in women's lingerie...















Dear God, help us all........But go ahead, laugh all you want - this little diddy got me and the Mrs. top 3 in the "Best Couple's Costume" at the Women's Mtn Bike Association of Colorado Springs's Halloween Party and Costume Criterium, with our rendition of "Little Bo Peep and One Of Her Sheep." How fitting...







Photo courtesy of www.wmbacos.org


I don't know what was scarier - the whipped cream and jello shots on each lap or doing the limbo while riding a 55 year old cruiser named "Beulah."


Photo courtesy of www.wmbacos.org


Feelin' the revelry. What a way to ring in November....









Baaaa baaaa black sheep, yall, baaaaa baaaa black sheep....




Friday, October 30, 2009

Social Blogworking...

I know you've seen this already, but since velonews.com's new website posted it no more than 24 hours ago for me, it's been watched over 150 times.

http://singletrack.competitor.com/2009/10/features/phat-phat-tire-photos_3940


Tomorrow: Halloween. And what you are going to see is here is going to scare you to death. I promise...

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Workbench...



Think you can't relate to a wall full of bike tools? Think again...









A good workbench should get more comfortable over time. Like the perfect baseball mit we all had as kids would contour to the hand over the years.... so does the well-used workbench...










Each tool with a specific purpose. Each nick in the wood of the workbench the scar from some specific mission. Some of these tools purchased, some handed down, and a few of these tools I even built to deal with grimy old bike parts full of grease, grit, and ground up biomass from forests near and far...











When new wood and pegboard becomes stained by paint, solvents, and bike grease. It gets sawed on, clamped to, and wailed on with a hammer. It gets cursed at while trying to loosen seized bolts from seasons' past...












It opens beers, holds skis, it helps with plumbing projects and faucet repairs. Occassionally, it hits back, tearing the skin from my knuckles. It gets climbed on, grinded on, leaned upon, and drilled into...











Like the tools that hang on it, the workbench only gets better with time. We all have the right tools - it's a matter of finding the creativity to put those tools to use that make us unique...



In other news, my quest to infiltrate the local media continues....one month at a time. I give you: Mr. July...



www.AboutTheShot.com

Fulfilling pin-up dreams everywhere...

Monday, October 19, 2009

Still, You Play The Game...

You know you're mentally in the offseason when your pre-race breakfast is comprised of an apple fritter...








Saturday's Sand Creek Fall Classic at Palmer Park was made up of an eclectic blend of trails precisely chosen to deliver a perilous and demanding finish to 2009's racing season. And I wasn't the only one on a non-conventional bike. When Dougie Fresh showed up on his '89 Marin, I knew it'd be a fun one...










Mountain bike races shouldn't be this fun. And to put it quite bluntly, I was glad to be on a bike with only one gear - there's something so pure about a singlespeed on vintage metal, particularly during a race...







photo credit www.ultrarob.com




But the legs came around for just one more time this season and netted me 4th place. Granted, the pro field size was a very "intimate" 7 guys; but it was a fitting field of local boys for a finale.' We train together, we race together...









My nineteenth season on mountain bikes is officially in the books.... So what are the secrets to this longevity?


I swear I'll never tell...


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

One More Dance...



This Saturday marks theee final mountain bike race in all of Colorado for 2009. And with my race bike up on the auction block I'll be racing the Sand Creek Fall Classic aboard my 17 year old titanium singlespeed this weekend. Yup, I still have, and regularly ride, a bike that is 17 years old.









Honestly, by today's standards, this bike's ride quality sucks. Its' friction cable actuated rim brakes squeal and skid around every corner, despite my best efforts to control it. It's a harsh, creaky ride built up with second-rate, leftover parts from the workbench...















A mish-mash of leftover sponsorship schwag from the mid-90's combined with a few modern-day comforts...















And right now, it's only got one gear. (But that's a whole 'nuther post...)






But this old bike is a pretty big part of me, nonetheless. From Junior National Championships in Michigan in '93 to the 24 Hours of Moab in '04 this bike and I have done some serious time...












Its' design is, well, antiquated. A little like skiing on your old 205 straight skis. Sure, back then you skied the hardest stuff on the mountain, but looking back on it you have no idea how you survived. It's had everything from a rigid fork to 5" of suspension. It's gone through 20 or so chains, been to the top of 13,000ft mountains, countless river crossings and worn out countless sets of tires...












But whenever I'm "in between race bikes," this sturdy backup has seen me through snow & ice, dirt & mud, day & night.














And so I'm looking forward to this weekend. Quite frankly, I don't expect to be, nor really care to be, at the front of the pack on Saturday: instead, I expect to enjoy another season's end, with my old friend...







Wednesday, October 7, 2009

MySpaceBook.com...







You know, life's funny. When you're 16 and in your gangly phase* (*Note: I never had a gangly phase - that required a height of at least 6 ft) you're vying for tough guy points as a sophomore in high school - getting wedgies from some kid named "Spittler" and hanging pics of Kelly McGillis in your locker...









Fastforward 18 years, add a little internet technology and you're reconnecting with the same people who made you push a penny down the hallway.........how we all grow up...











And I need to stay a step ahead on my social networking game. I'm thinking about RSS feeding my mobile device. That way, every time someone is trying to contact me my cell phone will ring.






In other news.........Use 'em, abuse 'em, and sell 'em - that's my moto. The Superfly undergoes the SuperPro treatment. I've got one heck of a deal lined up if you want to buy this gorgeous steed. Interested? I'll make it easy. Drop me a note for the details...








Monday, October 5, 2009

Welcome, Hunters...

Should have known when the hummingbirds stopped showing up in late August. Somehow, they knew...









I'm not unlike the bears this time of year - foraging the forest for enough nourishment to get me through a cold, dark winter...











Seems fall is just about as active a time for the animal kingdom as any. And out here, it might be a good idea to start wearing more orange...













On another note, I got all geared up for 2 minutes worth of riding today. By the time I opened the garage door a sprinkle of rain had started and a fall gust whipped leaves across the street. See I was all fired up about my newest acquisition...













And while the lightest of all sprinkles is typically nowhere near enough to scare me back inside, I remembered something the Stunt Double said to me the other day: "My next big race isn't 'till next July..." And with that I headed to the fridge for a cold one...






Tuesday, September 29, 2009

10 Days Near 10,000Ft...






A funny thing happens this time of year...











A time when the dusk of summer...








Will turn to the dawn of winter...












And in an effort to grab the heels of summer and wring it out...














I spent the apex of fall in the high country up at the Mountain Command Post. 10 days in an aspen leaf haze. And let me tell ya....













Labor Days have come and gone and winter made a stubborn preview...











As winter makes its advance we realize the dog days of summer are distant memories...











A memory for some, anyway. For others, life is always good no matter the season....






Yup, for you and me both...










A time to relax a bit, a time to let to mind change gears...










...










All the while, whisking the carpet of yellow leaves as I passed...






Friday, September 18, 2009

Free Speech...

While my Out Of Office Reply is turned on I'll leave you with this...

Turn up the sound for this one and get down with your dance clubbin' self......
Heck........ watch it twice...



Dig it.

Everfighting... from TwoWheeledWorld on Vimeo.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Interview With The Bike...

As you may, or may not know, I sold my road bike the other day so I could get a new one that fits me better. But more on that later... In preparation for this, I completely tore it down to the frame and rebuilt it - to the very last bolt.




Hint: I typically do this with every bike I sell.




While I was in the garage last week working on the road bike, my XC race bike was casually, if not arrogantly, leaning up against the wall glaring at my every move.





This bike......I tell ya.... it's like one of those totally nuerotic service dogs you see in training. Never takes its piercing eyes of its owner, ears perked up, enough energy to part the seas.....




Anyway, I had my portable voice recorder with me and I recorded our conversation, related to the 2009 racing season. The following is that conversation (apparently The Bike has a German accent):

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TwoWheeledWorld: ..........Sup...........




The Bike:








TWW: So how'd this season go for you?

The Bike: Well, it went ok, but sheeezuz if you go out too hard one more time, I swear......berechtigte beshcwerde!





TWW: ............................What race was your favorite?

The Bike: I liked all ze races where you didn't crash..........zo.......Nationals.....


TWW: C'mon.. I didn't crash that much on you this year.


The Bike: Please..... you give new meaning to ze word "gravity." .........Achtung!






TWW: Were you pretty happy with how you were built? I mean, would a different parts mix have made any differences?


The Bike: Ze only sing that would have made any differences is if you'd have trained harder. I mean honestly, what kind of pro mountain bike racer has mayonnaise on his zandwich? Do you think Absalon has mayaonnaise on his sandwich? Hmmmmm?





TWW: Dude I gave up that dream long ago. I'm no Absalon and I never will be....


The Bike: Tell me about it...................wischer drecksau....das ist aber schade....

TWW: This season sure was a wet one, huh? I mean, what did you think about all the rainy and muddy races we had?



The Bike: I think you need to learn how to ride on ze wet roots! Zat's what I think!







TWW: ........So what's next for you?

The Bike: I don't know - aren't you going to whore me out and zell me like the rest of your bikes? I have ze internet, you know....

TWW: .........................Every bike that I race becomes a part of me. You are a part of me and I will never ever forget that.


The Bike: Oh! Zo you aaaare! You! I carry you through mud and rain, through heat and wind zince Maaarch and zis is what I get? You insenzitive lout...



TWW: Ya but let me put it this way: You revealed a whole new set of technologies to me this year - you changed the way I think as a racer.


The Bike: Yes, and you changed ze way I think, too - I know never to trust you vis a map.......hosenscheisser....




Monday, September 14, 2009

Monarch Crest...

It's official: the mountain bike racing season is over, in earnest. For some, cyclocross season has started. But for me, fall is theeeeeeeeeeee favorite time to ride. And here in the Rockies, fall has begun...









So we ushered in the official fall season by making the annual pilgrimmage to one of the most fabled, most famous, most epic rides in all of North America:




Monarch Crest Trail...










A trail that begins its easterly meanderings from the summit of Monarch Pass, at 11,300ft elevation....












Ribbon-thin singletrack eases its way across alpine tundra for the first 7 or so miles of this 3 hour heaven-on-earth before plunging 2500ft to the town of Poncha Springs, far below....















Single file, we rode these miles wherever the trail would go. A thin layer of wet snow hiding in the shadows from the night before would reveal the onset of fall most deliberately...















This ride would mark another pivotal event for me. As I commonly do around September: I'd do it on a bike with one gear...













To say I have a love-hate relationship with my singlespeed is an understatement. But on a ride such as this it was absolute bliss...












It's just something you gotta do. There's just nothing like gazing down upon planet Earth from these heights to generate such a rosy glow...


















So let me ask you what would you rather do? Spend a Saturday bleeding out your eyeballs while riding around in circles for 60 minutes? Or this...............













Fall's here, people...........grab it.............







Tuesday, September 8, 2009

I Saw The Light...






As a mental break me and the Mrs. headed over and took in a lil' Grand County rodeo action....












And it was there we met a cowboy. But he wasn't one of those hipster, wannabe cowboy's. This guy was the real deal. A genuine, Front Range rancher who'd spent the last 51 years of his life ranching west of Ft Collins and riding local rodeos...









...Hank Williams-type cowboy. The kind who uses the word 'now' quite liberally. "Glad to meetchew, now." One of those real deep voice, quiet, wrinkled cowboys who sits in the very corner of the back row of the bleachers...







It was there that I got a view of a whole different competition with a whole different group of people. And I get to thinkin.'









Here's another group of people, hell-bent on doing the very best that they can to try and beat one another; a vastly different methodology.
It's easy to live in your own mind and create this "bubble" of a world. When you enter into another array of competition it puts your own successes into perspective. But at the end of the day no matter how we do it we all share a laugh, we shake hands.............we relive a moment........








So listen to people - everyone has their own stories to tell...






Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Last Stop...





2009 Winter Park Series Finale
Tipperary Creek Classic
26 miles, 4000ft climbing
1:45:53


One of the things I like most about racing mountain bikes is the genuine camraderie. Kind of like that movie, Fight Club. The scene where the 2 guys are beating the living hell out of each other but when the fight's over, they're all hugs and high-5's. It's like a drug - like a euphoric, life-changing experience....








Racing in my realm is a little like that, but without the violence. We do our best to drag each other through the dirt and mud, occassionally breaking bikes and bones, burying ourselves to unfathomable exhaustion, but we're the best of friends afterwards. There's an unwritten law about the quality person a mountain bike racer must be...









We're the lucky ones - we do it because we love it.

In preparing for this final series race I'd mocked up every points scenario imaginable on paper in the final race for the podium...







It's so easy to sit up and just "get through" a final race, thinking, "I did well enough this season." But when you see your podium chances pass you by halfway through, man, you better get up and fight for it.






From it's beginnings in mid-April until nearly Labor Day we've fought for each place, through several race series'; fought for for each point. The overall series is something I strive for all year long - from January to July.










I took a so-so 14th place at the final Tipperary Creek Classic amidst the who's-who of regional Colorado pro's, but there's a lot to be said for season-long consistency. I dug deep enough to earn 3rd place in Winter Park's 2009 series competition. ................Solid...









To be in the top 3 on the Pro podium is rare enough as it is, for me. But when it does happen, for those fleeting moments you're up there with your arms raised, you do your best to slow down time and emblazen your mind with the view...............now you can sit up and take it easy...




Memories of these moments serve as the motivation during those cold, dark winter months...








..............................................................................




..............Think I'm done and you'll have nothing left to read all year? Naahhh - I've got a coupla' more races here and there, a fall vacation comin' up, and the bike has been begging me to do an interview. Soooo needy.....



Sunday, August 30, 2009

Rock Shox Suspension Cam...

You know, a lot of times I wonder what it's like to be a suspension fork on a mountain bike. Really, I do.



What with all the bumps and rocks; and twists in the trail.....well, now we all know. (Push play and turn up your speakers...



RockShox Cam from TwoWheeledWorld on Vimeo.




Kinda gives you confidence in Rock Shox and their engineering, eh?


Coming up: Winter Park Mountain Bike Series Finale: The points are tallied. Stay tuned....

Monday, August 24, 2009

Out And Back...

I've spent the past 4 days up at Mountain Command with a few of the fellas readying myself for the few remaining races of the season.




Here, Mr. Espy tries to identify some of the local subalpine flora...










And believe me - he's just as dangerous riding home in the dark after a few beers. And he'd prove it by wadding it up in the parking lot on the way home one night........


.............................



......You know you've lost your way when you start to use the sun as a navigation tool.

It all seemed so simple on paper...










We'd ride north on a known route towards Lake Granby, then connect to "High Lonesome" trail and skirt the Indian Peaks Wilderness, and make our way south through Arapahoe Nat'l Recreation Area; all on a trail network very clearly marked on my free map...



Things started off so well....










But by mid-afternoon we'd be 4 hours in, hiking through thick willows with a thousand feet of forest above us on either side. Barely the shred of a discernable trail would deteriorate to what your mind tells you is still a barely discernable trail; which then deteriorated to nothing but forest. Yet we continued...













I hesitate to use the phrase "trudging aimlessly," but it was mighty close. You gotta understand the guys I was with, though; and I've mentioned them here before. They get put in motion towards a certain location and they'll stop at nothing, except to stop and put on their space blanket...












My mind, brimming with nervous uncertainty was desperately trying to distinguish the difference between being lost and losing your way. We'd test that edge a half-dozen times as the sun began its downward trend......












In the end we'd never find the route but would stumble upon an obscure, but cut-in trail, followed by a 10 mile slog back to Winter Park. Then, it was all carnitas, tequila, and yet another story added to the ever expanding quiver.


....................Every so often we need to lose our way - to get out of our comfort zone enough to flirt with the fringes of panic. Cause if you can emerge, it makes telling the story later that much more meaningful...





And to cap off the weekend I'd FINALLY make it to the podium by taking 2nd place in the weekend's Pro Men Super-D; despite crashing in the last quarter of the descent. This means one of two things:

  1. Me and the guy in front were fast enough to gap the field, for me to crash, and still take 2nd, or;
  2. The rest of the field was slow enough to allow us to get sooo far ahead where I could crash, and still take 2nd.

I like to think it's number 1, but we'll never know...





Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Not Your Average, Everyday Swim...





You know, a lot of people ask me what a typical training ride is like, out there all by myself. "Don't you get nervous about animals?" They might say. Or, "I'd be afraid of getting lost or hurting myself!" Well, it's really not scary at all. I mean, sure, studies show that 1 out of every 13 times you head into the forest you're seen by something that can kill you, but seriously.




Typically, it all starts with trail access.......and then, well.....








































































So you be the judge - does this look at all scary? (Push play and turn on your speakers)



Puffy Hands Go Trail Riding from TwoWheeledWorld on Vimeo.