Ooooo......Creepy.....

What do you get when you mix a bunch of mountain bikers, coupla Rock Shox goons, a Fox rep, a few drinks, and let them all lose?

.......................Insert your own thousand words here...........................

I'm 32 yrs old. I still carve pumpkins. Still dye Easter eggs, too. Tip of the day: embrace your inner child. Never grow up - life's funner this way.................(still say "funner'" too.)

The Choices We Make...

Well, fall is rolling right along...



The days are getting shorter and the temps are starting to fall. And as my systems booted up Saturday morning I was reminded of that fact by dreary skies and temps hovering around 40. Choosing the singlespeed from the quiver of bikes in the garage and feeling the wrath of the night before (every year about this time it's my birthday- but more on that later...) I clicked off a coupla hours worth of miles...


Walking the fine line between fall and winter...

The Long Road...

ProCycling and the Team is doing a lot of things this off season to promote the shop , including some night rides, Saturday morning "nobody gets dropped" rides, and my personal labor of love: roller classes. Quite literally, this is the ol' hamster on the wheel routine.

Riding the rollers indoors is about as stimulating as counting the ceiling tiles above my cubicle, so hopefully with a group session motivation will come from those around me. Oh well...the life of a cross country mountain bike racer.

Tip of the day: unless you're a time trialist, time trial positions on the rollers are not a good idea.

Yes, it's early in the off season, but maintainance is key right now. The long road to spring fitness begins here...

Doing My Best...

I found myself smack dab in the middle of another "it must be the off-season" moment on Friday afternoon. It's been no less than 365 days since my last tee-time and let me be the first to inform you: just like mountain bike racing, it's the TRAINING that makes you better.



So, armed with about a dozen brand new golf balls, and doing my best Tiger Woods imitation after every triple bogey, I made my 2007 golf debut and finale at the same time.

Woodmoor Pines Country Club: 1
Me: 0



Want to know one thing about the Colorado weather? You could experience a 40 degree difference in less than 18 hours. One day you're in shorts with nary a cloud in the sky and then, well...




Aahh well, it was bound to happen. So what's a semi-professional mountain bike racer do when the snow hits and before the winter training season really starts? He heads to the fridge for another and then on down to the family room for a little couch surfin. Surfs' up -- it's high tide~

On Borrowed Time...

I'll let you all in on a little secret: I love summer. So with the descention of yet another Colorado winter nearing I've felt an instinctive urgency to forage for as much singletrack as possible these days. Chasing Mountain States Cup races all over the state has given way to chasing Yogi Bear into hibernation.

The thing that's always had me so addicted to mountain biking is the freedom it provides me with. It's a lot more than just an escape from the 9-to-5; or an escape from what we might deem as a "normal life," but time and time again it shows me how much fun life should be.

Cause we only get one trip around this big blue marble...

And so as a chilly October rain began to fall late in this ride, a thousand; nay, a million fallen leaves began to blow on the dampened forest floor, and it occured to me again, just as it has a million times before: my life's a damn kick in the ass....

Indian Summer...

After last year's winter I'd like to hold on to summer as long as I can. With weather like we've been having, that's easily accomplished. Cause piling on heavy winter weather gear to flog through frozen trails is just around the corner. Click on the pics below and you should get a full-size shot. The long steady climb up Gold Camp Road. An old gold-mining-era railroad serving as the main route to and from Cripple Creek in the late 1800's. Now, the rails are gone, the road is closed, and it's nothing but sheer Front Range beauty. 2.5 hours of steady climbing and views like these.
Who said the gold rush is over?
Tunnel #3. The longest and creepiest of the tunnels- it's probably 200 yards long and pitch fawking black in the middle. You get a vertigo sense a'la' Alfred Hitchcock- you know, when they zoom the camera out but stay focused on the object.

Coming up later in the week, we take a mid-fall trip to Buffalo Creek before the seasons really start to change. We just got back....they're changing fast....

Summer's Grand Finale...

One weekend a year. One perfect weekend a year to soak up summer's grand finale. And for me, this was that weekend.

Blink, and you'll miss it. The weather must be perfect. The skies must be a deep blue. The temperatures must be brisk, the trails must be, well, the trails are pretty much always good. Time to forget about heart rates, forget about tire pressures, forget about brake bleeds and DOT 4. Time to absorb.........

Look out at the mountains right now and you'll see a band of intermittent gold stretching from north to south. One snowfall, one freeze, one more windstorm and it's all over...

See? Told ya it was quick...