Draper ICUP

I stayed in bed until 8am and watched the Twitter updates come in for the ICUP race.  Sent off a few texts to the guys trying to figure out who was racing . A lot of rain fell the night before and it was raining in the morning.  I wasn't sure the race was a go but after a 1 hour delay, the race kicked off at 10am.

We had 12 in the single speed class and they finally got the line up right.  Pro Men, Exper Ment, SS, etc...

Ed has us doing 2.5 laps (30 miles).  I knew this one was going to hurt.  I had heard about the nasty, loose, steep switchbacks that were new to the course this year but never pre-rode them.  I had no idea what to expect and decided to leave my 32x18 gearing on. 

B. Tolbert lead it out from the start and I managed to get into 2nd position.  We quickly got a nice gap on lap one until the upper switchbacks when Rico and J. Steele caught up.  Tolbert was able to climb away from me.  I had to walk/run parts of this section.  Too much gearing I guess.  For the rest of the race, it was me and Rico trading places trying to reel in Tolbert. Rico and I stayed together until the final half lap where Rico dropped me on the CreekSide descent.  I was more cautious.  I'm tired of crashing on my bad hip.  I hit some lap traffic and wached him pedal away.  It was a good move and he was riding super strong.

Tolbert 1st, Rico 2nd, me 3rd, J. Steele 4th.

It's days like today when I really like my single speed.  A lot of puddles and a few mud sections.  The bike got pretty dirty but I didn't have to worry No shifting problems.

Now I need to get revenge and try to move up a spot or two on that box.  Still looking for a win this year.

Oh and that secret powder I was bragging about in my last post.....C4.  Good stuff.  Keeps the legs feeling fresh.  Now I just need to find a powder to get my downhill confidence back.

Magic Powder

Let me be clear.  CarboRocket is still my #1 choice of drink during a ride; however, I recently found a magic powder that I take before a ride/race. 

Magic powder:

I will not disclose what this magic powder is until after the Draper ICUP race.  Nor will I disclose my gear ratio. 

I expect Draper to attract some very fast SS guys who don't normally race the ICUPs.  Getting a spot on that box won't be easy.  I need all the advantage I can get.

First Words

"C" cup (or "C" for short) has been with me for 12 days now.  Not an eternity but a certainly a while now considering this thing was conceived from a very hard impact to my hip.  So you can imagine my surprise when I heard his first words today.  I was sitting in my cubical at work when I heard it speak for the first time.  You wanna know what it said?  "rain".  Rain was his first word.  C is learning english he's been with me so long.  I'm so proud.  But this weather....this weather has to change.

 

Pre-work Ride w/ Bagley

I met Bagley for a 2 hour pre-work ride in Corner Canyon on Monday.  Canyon Hollow to Rush, Ghost, Canyon Hollow, Jacobs, Ghost, Canyon Hollow, Coffee Grinder, home.  I intentially didn't ride Clarks out of respect for Bob S. amd his anti-Clarkness.  I was, however, riding a 29er SS which is the perfect bike for CC.  Mark did you hear me?

Check out my "C" cup at the 28 sec mark.  I swear this thing is about 2 lbs.  No big deal.  It's like training with ankle weights.  Makes me stronger, right?

And now for the video Dave made:

Corner Canyon May from Dave Bagley on Vimeo.

Move Along....

Move along folks....Nothing to see here.  I'm taking a week off the bike after a nasty crash at the 5 Mile Pass ICUP race. 

3 days post crash and I now have what feels, and looks like a bag of fluid hanging off my right hip about the size of a C cup. 

I don't know how you ladies walk around with those things.

P.S.  I woke up this morning and tried to poke a hole in my hip sack with a pin (to drain it).  Nuthing....Too deep.

Fancy Man

We've all done it.  Shown up to the lunch ride with everything except the MTB shoes. It sucks. Most people would bail and go back to work.  Not Brandon.  You see, Brandon is a former Night Ride World Champion and World Champions find a way to make things happen.  Brandon threw on his business casual shoes and took it in stride.   He even "smoked the pipe" on the Dry loop.  Much respect.

But his new name is "Fancy Man".  I think it will stick.