Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Trail Art

Stuff I don't like to see when riding by myself. I tell myself it's the poachers who did this. But in the back of my mind, I can't help but think a mountain lion did this.



Or maybe Brad has been riding in the "UC" again. I heard he likes to kill deer.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Utah County- A Pretty Great Place To Work (And Ride)

I've been spending more time riding in the UC than in Draper so far this season. The dirt is dry, there is some cool new single track, and the UC scene is full of fast riders who are always up for a ride. But if you come down, leave your 18T cog at home. The UC is steep.

My new favorite lunch ride looks like this (I hijacked this from Miles cuz I don't have a fancy bike computer that can do this).


Start from the shooting range, up the jeep road to the cliff's, drop into the race course, do a lap, climb out to the road, back down to the shooting range, over to the BST and catch the new single track.

A lot of turns and a good pitch for a single speed.

Come on down and do some trail building the UC way- Ride it.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I Have A List

I have a list of routes I want to ski in the Wasatch before I die. Pretty high up on that list is the Coalpit Headwall in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Coalpit is described in Andrew McLean's book - The Chuting Gallery, as:

48 degrees
4,930 vertical drop

One of the biggest and most classic lines in the Wasatch...it has a bit of everything- a beautiful steep headwall, glades, a narrow roller coaster ride of a gully, an obstacle (a waterfall requiring a down climb via a fixed rope), and a convenient finish.

"Deemed best run of my life by numerous Wasatch skiers".

It was finally time to check this route off my list.

Saturday, a group of six of us - Dug, Ben, Jon, Mike, Tyler and I, met up at 4:30am for an early start. There is no easy way to get to Coalpit. All routes require a long sufferfest. We decided for the longer but more mellow, scenic approach of starting from White Pine, working our way past Red Pine, Maybird, Hogum, and up 2/3 of the Hypodermic Needle (another line on my list), where we cut right and caught the Thunder Mountain ridge (above the Y-Couloir) and up to Coalpit.

6 hours of skinning/booting and I forgot my ipod.

Here is the view of our route up the Hypodermic Needle.

Here we are racing toward the sun to get warm.

Looking back at the Pfeiferhorn


The view of the valley from the Coalpit summit
.

The Coalpit Headwall


The waterfall section towards the end


Hands down, one of the best routes in the Wasatch. Good times.

For a video of the trip. Go here.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The View From My Cubical

Yes, I am 37 and still have a cubical not an office but I'm okay with this. Why? Take a look at my view:
(click on it...I dare you)


Yep, that is the main face of Timp. I've already figured out at least 10 routes to ski off that peak. Some day I'll make it happen.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Billboard


Did I sell out? Will I look like a red/black/white corp billboard for the 2010 season? Yes and yes. I'm looking forward to the new colors this year. The new kits will look even better with some mud on them.


Thursday, March 11, 2010

A/B Test

Who's butt looks bigger? skier "A" or skier "B". be honest.

Skier A


Skier B

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Early Morning Play Date- Suicide Chute, LCC

Working for it the old fashioned way.

Photo taken by Mark (Me, Rob, Dug trying to be as light as possible)




I'm giving today's dawn patrol a 5 out of 5 stars.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

ICUP #1 - St. George

Normally I'd be really happy with my result but I got beat by a rider wearing "Daisy Dukes". To be honest, I let Kenny gap me and ride out of sight so I wouldn't have to look at those things. I was afraid something might fall out.



I counted about 20 in the singlespeed div. The most I've seen in a while. Kenny set a blistering pace from the start and pretty much pedaled away from the group on the first lap. I was in a dog fight with a few other riders for 2nd place. I managed to save a little kick for the final climb and get enough of a gap before the final downhill to keep 2nd place.

My lungs were a little seared from the effort. Probably only minor internal bleeding. Race pace is a lot different than training rides.

It was good to see all the other racers back out of hibernation with their pasty white legs. It's been a long winter

Thanks to Brandon "Touch of Evil", and Rico twin #2 for the road trip. Good times

The post race chill with Kenny and Nick (photo taken from Miles)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Start Your Engines

Intermountain Cup Race #1 is this weekend. I was hoping to have the new team kits before race day but it looks like we'll miss it by about a week.

Some day I'll learn the proper way to taper for a race but until then, I will follow the three golden rules during race week.
  • Absolutely NO SHARING my drinks with my 3 kids.
  • Washing my hands every few hours.
  • No more donut runs.
Follow these simple rules and you too can enjoy the life of a mid-pack MTB racer.