Dave

The revolution has come

Dave — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:33:00 GMT

...and without further ado, you'll find it here: http://2-epic.com/. This is where Lynda and I will be sharing our journeys, ramblings, thoughts, stumblings...like all sites it's a work in progress. We'll fill it out in time.

In the words of EdE, crackheads unite!

(R)evolution

Dave — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Since 2001 there's this core group of guys I've been loosely training and racing with. We've bundled our interests together, shared the enthusiasm, and made a team of it. The name has changed over the years - Gojus, 505 Trek, HFX - but the core group has been the constant theme. That core group is undergoing major change once again, and will be known as http://www.teamdirectoryplus.com/.

As this year of the pig comes to a close (look out campers - the Chinese calendar says YOTP goes till Feb 6 on our calendar!) there is no shortage of change. For one, Team HealthFX has come to it's end. The HFX years of the core group have by far been the best. Special thanks to Shane and Ken for your support and guidance. Your efforts have been appreciated throughout and took the team to new heights.

Another big change: Lynda and I will not be part of the new team. We are riding for Desert Cyclery of St. George this year, far removed from the gang in Durango. We'll be moving our inspirations & aspirations elsewhere...still working on the overhaul but we are full of ideas ;)

You can expect plenty from this gal:

And this guy

Going on about

and

Some of this

and most definitely a lot more of this

But probably not a lot of chatter about multiple gears. At least not more than one at a time ;)

OK, back to my revolution planning and scheming.

Togwotee

Dave — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:55:00 GMT

Tomorrow is the start of a race of a different ilk: the Togwotee Winter Classic. This is a bike race in the mountains of Wyoming. In January.

Dave Byers has the GPX up on the race site. Here's what I get for the profile in TopoFusion. 107 miles and ~15k vert for the hundy!!! Have I mentioned this race takes place on snow? And they've been getting plenty.

All I can say is wow. Anyone that starts this race I want to buy a beer. Anyone that finishes get's an all you can drink hot chocolate pass. It's an intimidating concept and route. You'd really have to like snow.

Of course, this would be a mere snack for Jill or MC...wonder why they aren't there?

I look forward to seeing how this one plays out. Good luck and be safe out there snowbikers!

Camp Lynda done, over and out

Dave — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:06:00 GMT

It sure was nice to have ~25 folks join us for a long weekend of training. We got to show off some of the lesser known great rides in the area along with some of the more popular ones.

Today was the finale. The route had optional sections - one to Gooseberry mesa for a bit of technical riding, and the other a 25 mile lap around the Jem/Goulds/Hurricane Rim loop singletrack. It was all linked via a main 45 mile loop. As it turned out the route was hard enough nobody did it all. I like that ;)

The evening before had us at a Chinese buffet, followed by an impromptu trip to the Iceberg - a shake shop. Meredith had everyone excited about the magical shakes of this place...I learned that Utah has the highest ice cream consumption per capita in the nation. No surprise there, gotta keep things in balance.

I rode gears today. Let me tell ya, it was sweet. Being able to choose a cadence today was golden and I wouldn't have wanted to be on a SS. The Fuel is back in favor, thanks to Dave Nice's cool hangar straightening trick. Turns out my PT axle is threaded the same as a derailur hangar bolt, just thread it in, lock in place with the skewer, and wala you've got a straightening tool - trailside friendly too.

Early riding with Bart, Matt and Lynda.

Did I mention the scenery today? Views of Zion all day.

Edge of the known world.

Marshal modeling his big ride food of choice.

So it's done. Impressions post event...

- Dave Nice riding the crap out of SW Utah on a fixed gear for 3 days...with big smiles and loving it all the while. Word. Day 3 we rolled up on him while he was changing a flat acquired on the road thanks to some glass. First thing out of his mouth: "Anybody want a shot of whiskey?" Ummmm....you know this is Utah, right Dave? LOL...

- Funniest moment had to be day 2. At the end of the Barrel roll trail there were maybe 20 riders eating and chatting when Adam Lisonbee comes in hot, locks up his back wheel in what would have been an impressive powerslide only to have his stansed wheel burp its load and roll off the rim. Thanks Adam!

- There are some strong riders in N. Utah and it was darn cool to meet and ride with y'all.

- Lynda's idea for the camp was brilliant. Self-supported, GPSed routes meant anyone could come, do the route on their own terms and timeline, and still enjoy the cameraderie. It worked a charm, riders of a wide range of abilities came and made the most of it.

Stats? Today turned out to be 67 miles in 5:25 and about 4000 kj. Thats some pizza I gotta get eaten.

Camp Lynda day 1 in the books

Dave — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:36:00 GMT

A great group of riders showed for the first annual Camp Lynda. Great conditions, sunny skies, good times were on the menu. Not everyone rode the exact same route, but my stats were

56 miles
6319' vert
4:52 ride time
338 TSS (yikes!)

You've had enough of my words lately, here's some pics.

1st day done, 2 more to go. Eat well campers, tomorrow has plenty of challenges awaiting.

Recursive bootstrapping to form

Dave — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Extreme geek alert!

More than I can recall there have been suggestions that I just toss the gears away once and forall. Finit. Single is simple. Liberating. But...it ain't gonna happen. Here's why.

Like all of us spokeheads, I often learn via the sensations that come with training on a bike. The difference between pedaling a road bike and a mountain bike are actually quite minor...and that's about all I know - until the SS obsession struck. I'm in the midst of a big tasty 2 wheeled single geared education.

At first, the SS never got old. I'd just grab it every time I rode aside from the long weekend exploratories. There came a point when it lost it's charm tho. Something was missing. I craved putting down steady power and that is plain ol impossible on a SS.

In another timeframe I was pretty smoked. Something like 1300 SS TSS inside of a week had me not too excited to do anything on a SS or geary for a bit - yet that is a load that isn't that big (by my standards) on a geared bike. This told me that TSS doesn't track well for SS - at least not nearly as well as for geared riding.

So what's all the rambling about? Two major systems we work when cycling are neuromuscular and metabolic. The latter is all about efficient fuel delivery to working muscles. Due to the high force demands of SS riding and the highly erratic nature of force applications, SS riding is disproportionally stressful to the neuromuscular side. The frequents "rest" periods - when being spun out or coasting - makes it much easier on the metabolic side. The catch here is that TSS was modeled after metabolic strain, not neuromuscular strain. So monitoring EweTSS metrics (PMC stuff in WKO+) while awesome for geared riding is somewhat limited for SS riding. I can have positive TSB and still feel smoked!

In retrospect this is no surprise. The focus of my training the past few years has been the long stuff - increasingly long. Metabolic fitness has been goal #1. Trying to mix SS with my current physiology is a challenge for sure.

Bootstrapping is something you prolly do every day: booting your computer. Starting a process which in turn fires up another process. Recursion is doing something repeatedly...this is the basics of how my training is evolving. The SS is the best neuromuscular training for cycling that I have ever encountered - far better! Geared riding is super for steady efforts. For the past month I've been doing blocks of SS riding, followed by blocks of geared riding. Hit yourself at the musular level, then hit at the fuel delivery side, rinse, repeat.

It's working. My method for testing FT is the average power for 3x20 min intervals. Tuesday's session put power 25 W higher than what I thought FT was at...that is somewhat shocking. It's also something I would have no clue about without the benefit of my power meter.

I haven't been on the SS in awhile - since last week anyway. It looks like there is always going to remain a spot in my garage for gears. For now tho it's time to diss them gears and dance on those pedals in Camp Lynda.

Speaking of which...here's the requisite picture for those that found the above waaay too tech/longwinded/boring/understimulating. Camp Lynda hostess or trail bandit? Could be a tough call on Tuesday morning ;)

Gears: a love/hate relationship

Dave — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:04:00 GMT

So there I am yesterday, cruising along and feeling the gear love all the way. Testing out the conditions for Camp Lynda day 1 things start to get a bit mucky. Then it happened, that crunchy grinding sound every geary fears. I stop, look at my rear derailleur, cuss, then laugh and pull out the camera. Oh the irony.

25 or 30 miles from home this was not a pretty sight. No phone, long walk. Or make it a SS? It took some field service that'd make the boyz at Desert Cyclery cringe, but I got her running again.

In any case, I was so unimpressed with them gears at this point. Is this how it all begins? The unavoidable fall into retro-grouchiness? Not quite yet, but if I had to walk it'd be all over.

How about a roll call for Camp Lynda? Me first - I'll be there ;) What to ride is the question. SS days 1 and 2, gears day 3 is the likely call. Small gears like 32.18 on the 26er may get the nod, we'll see. For sure on day 1. Day 2 may see the 17. If I was gonna SS day 3 I'd prolly go with the 16 and plan on doing a bit of walking on the steep Smithsonian climb. It's all downhill except that climb ;)

The weather forecast last time I looked is mid 50s and sunny for the extended weekend. Can you handle that?

Here's a descent we'll hit day 1. This is about as close as we'll get to snow. Snow is pretty when miles away.

LOL I just realized this is my first post of '08. A fitting title to frame the season methinks.

Training camp #1

Dave — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:53:00 GMT

Day 1 of 08's first training camp: Yuri cruising the secret singletrack. St George will never become the MTB destination that Moab is cause the real gems are hidden from view. Unmapped, unpublished. Local knowledge required. That's where I come in. LOL there was still some headscratching as the real local guide is in Scotland, but we still got'r done. A Zen experience you could say.

Yuri is sporting a new Marin 5" travel XC ready rig with the new XTR. Sweeeeeet bike, it's like what everyone rides out here minus 10 pounds.

3 more days. Trails are drying out nicely and a warming trend is coming. Give a holler if you feel the need to join in the fun.

Something old, something new

Dave — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 03:00:00 GMT

Here's a view I never tire of.

Christmas morning the family was fast asleep so I snuck out for a joyride in familiar terrain. Not having been here for nearly 2 years, it was waaay better than expected. On the SS, it was so new and fresh even though the trails are so familiar. After the ride it just didn't matter how the rest of the day went, it was already a success. But it got so much better.

So that's about it for the obligatory cycling stuff. The real Christmas gem this year came from Dixie. Remember Dixie, the gal who announced her wedding a few days before the Moab 24 hour race? Yes, that Dixie. Really, how many Dixies could there be anyway?

To make a long and personal story short, she put together a set of 8 stories about our childhood together, complete with pictures and all wrapped in a handmade leather booklet. The stories are great, and what's even better I don't recall most of the details but she tells it like it was yesterday. Things like "With you I learned that if you skip school enough the truant officer will come" and "if you toss a match on a mattress the house will burn down" jump right off the page. And then there was the trick or treating session she just had to be part of, but unbeknownst to her I had mapped out the entire town and we went waaaay beyond the borders of our neighborhood and didn't stop until we had mountains of candy.

And all this time I'd been thinking my manic nature on the bike came on recently. She taught me I've had it all along. Cycling isn't the constant, manic is...

Here's the lucky guy. Boyd, I hope you understand what a great gal you've got. All you gotta do is be her best friend. Get that right and the rest is easy.

The path to enlightenment: manic or nibbling away?

Dave — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:46:00 GMT

Ah, holiday time. I always get a bit retrospective this time of year...

Using all sorts of resources I've been trying to piece together that optimal picture of the perfect training and racing year. No matter how many studies, theories, or blogs I read, it always comes back to my own training data. There just isn't anything more convincing, powerful, enlightening that my own store of power file data over 3 years of ultra endurance training and racing.

Hopefully I can say CTL without causing too much forehead wrinkling amongst y'all (got that, Rick?). CTL = chronic training load, an analytical measure based on the daily TSS (training stress scores) calculated from power meter data. I've actually got 7 years of the stuff, but the last 3 have been the enduro focus. Here's how they've progressed. Click for the big'n.

It's hard to make sense of this picture for a few reasons, but there are some things that jump right out. Such as:

a CTL of 120-130 seems to be the comfy zone for racing and training.
coupled with power meter data I know that the fastest power gains occurred with the slowest CTL ramp rate - early '05
in the fall of '06 I apparently developed the ability to dig enormous holes from a training stress standpoint
the only 2 major cycling injuries in this lifetime have both come on the heels of PB CTL peaks, both in terms of absolute volume and ramp rates.

The observations above that are most affecting my thoughts for '08 are the 2nd and 4th...

There's been some talk on wattage about what sort of programs lead to better power gains - and would you know it? The Cog presented a lot of data showing similar stuff as above for his wife who is a national champ pursuitist. I've come to realize I have the ability to do massive training and get away with it most of the time (except when I don't) but that doesn't lead to power gains per se...it does lead to enormous endurance. It was perfect for Grand Loop. For anything shorter and more technical though, not the optimal plan by any standard. So this year the plan is to "nibble away" and avoid huge training stress spikes for the most part, and spend more time doing quality work. That pic above is proof positive of a massive 3 year base that is pretty much unshakable - no need for more.

The corollary to the above point is what I refer to as "headroom." You only have so much capacity for training adaptation, and if your CTL is too high there just isn't any room to do the quality work that increases power and improve from it. To put the above values in perspective, it's been estimated that Le Tour cyclists hit a CTL in the 150s by the end of the race. My peak this year was 173. That's friggin manic!

That 4th point...yep, no question, long deep builds are expensive. They are now so alluring because I can get stronger as they progress, seemingly adapting just fine. At some point the bottom drops out - but not until I rest. I never know during the build how much is too much cause the body (or ma head?) says "more please."

What does it all mean? Slower ramp rates (or even flat ramp rates) for '08. More quality. More SS. More power. More fun. Save the big manic builds for the end of the season - which in StG means June and Nov. It's all coming together.

Goat trail exorcised!

Dave — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:34:00 GMT

If you've done any amount of technical mountain biking you've experienced the goat trail. No, not that winding skinny high mountain trail that heads up to where the air is rare. Those trails are for goats, yes... but I'm talking about the trail that *gets* your goat. You know, the one that forces you to push beyond some mental or physical barrier or subject you to the dreaded walk of shame. Or worse.

There's this short loop near StG that has provided more than enough challenge since first putting tread to it. LW was telling me about a trail that was smooth and buff so I had to check it out. When I got there...geez I thought, this is no place like home. Smooth in spots, sure - for 20 feet. Other than that, plenty of rocky terrain and a few spots that required some scouting to find rideable lines (well for me anyway).

I'm not a great technical rider. Too much time with a NORBA license and not enough time with an EPIC license. I'm working on it...and add to that the hesitancy that comes from not being able to clip out on demand cause of the July injury, and well I'm a trainwreck when it gets tech these days. I'm far from Ed's consumate bike handling abilities...

This trail has been my benchmark for a few months now, and it has had a strangehold on my goat for the duration. Sept: spd crash (which I've begun to call "tipovers", an important semantic difference), left side a mess and a quarter sized hematoma - volcanic rock is sharp. Then the next round: right in the same spot I get a flat. Rythm gone, walking ensues. And so it went. I hadn't cleaned this trail yet as of 2 days ago.

Then comes the magic. Yesterday, for the first time since July 6, I clipped out intinctively, unplanned, with that left foot. Pain free. Unfettered. Confidence soars. With 3.5 hours and 5k' already done, I hit that goat trail up for a rematch. Just as we got to "the spot", LWs chain comes off both the front and rear rings. What is it with this trail? Well, I just said I had a score to settle and kept on going. Maybe it was the confidence of a working foot, the 3.5 hour warmup, the damp ground...but the trail seemed *easy*. Those tech pitches just cruised under my wheels like butter. There was hooting like those folks I used to guide down rivers in another life...embarrasing but no regrets :)

Yesterday's goat trail becomes today's best friend, just like that, and on the 32.17 no less.

Wanna ride it? It'll be on the menu at camp Lynda, only I don't think she's gonna make you do that forever Blakes climb beforehand. But I gotta warn you: this trail is a lot like chocolate chip cookies. one is never enough.

SS adaptations in QA

Dave — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:26:00 GMT

A few weeks back I posted a this QA scatter plot. I'd been riding the SS about 2-3 weeks at this point.

Here's the latest. Both rides were on the 2:1. The "Blakes" data is from a ~ 2500' climb with sustained grades well over 10% while the other ride was just rippin around faster singletrack with a grin.

See any differences? The legs are changing. Here's what I see in QA:

- the left "edge" of the data points in the first file is at a cadence of about 50 while it's upper 30's in the second.
- there are no cadence/force "holes" in the data.
- power is up despite no structured training. Free power? Yea baby!
- somewhat hidden in the second file...but there are several points popping up above the max AEPF/CPV line established by the standing start testing - this means max force at low cadence is increasing.

Note to Ed: see how the points on that left edge start to go straight up? That's where it's getting really tough to maintain that minimal cadence and I'll go as hard as I have to to maintain it. To hold a given power, force has to rise rapidly at low cadences, and that's the physics part I was tallking about in the comments. It's power that gets us up a hill, not force. Dangit.

I promise at some point there will be non-technical backway meanderings again...there would be today if I'd have had a camera yesterday!!! Big rain event and mountain snowfall, flash floods rising 30 feet over bridges in slot canyons...just picture that in the most scenic spot on earth and you'd have the picture :)

SS training plan

Dave — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:25:00 GMT

This SS thing is darn fun and it's tough to contain my excitement for it. Not that I'm trying ;) I promised I'd share my thoughts on actually training to be a better SS rider and that's the meat of this post...but some other interesting & related things are worthy of mention first.

It's taken about a month to adapt to the SS. I have limited gearing options (too lazy to buy more?) which are 32x (18/17/16). For a long time I futzed around on the 18. First time on the 16 I thought "holy crap this is hard." Last weekend I did (among other things) a 25 mile singetrack loop twice on the SS, first lap on the 18, then a lap with the 16 and gave it some gas (not that there was any choice!). To my huge surprise, I loved it on the 16 - and biggest shock to me - that was the fastest I'd ever done that loop and I've hit it hard on gears before.

Must be a fluke. As part of the new training plan I did 1.5 hour climb yesterday on the 32.16 - a climb I recently got spanked on in the 18. Pure folly, right? Well, I didn't think I was drilling it but another PR fell by the wayside.

Yet another observation: I don't seem to get tired on a SS like I'd expect to. It actually feels like I'm super energized like when in a power lifting program - weird! Hormones are fired up or somesuch...

Yet another: bike handling is getting better by necessity.

Yet another: my favorite of all, it's so stressful to the lower leg that it has forced my crappy foot to step up it's healing. I can run on it!

Yet another: SS for a few rides has been much more efficient than a geared bike. For the same routes - one a rolling singletrack loop, the other a long climb - the SS was faster and average power and hence energy requirements lower (normalized powers spot on identical). Higher variability index (normalized power/average power), less energy used, and less time pedalling by far. Hard when you're pedalling with lots of rest. The gist of this? Get your gearing right for a given course and maybe - just maybe - it's a better choice for endurance racing than a geared bike (OK I still don't know if I can climb all day on the SS). Did I just put that in black and white???

SS a disadvantage? Right...I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of Travis Brown's secret.

This whole experience rounds out my thinking on the demands of MTB racing. You see, I've used quadrant analysis in the past to determine demands of MTB racing and adjust training accordingly. The problem with this method, tho, is it tells you what you actually *did*, not what would have been best to *do*. The bottom line is I think the metabolic demands must be balanced with the neuromuscular demands when devising a good plan. The past few years I've been focusing a lot more on the metabolic demands. This is great for the long haul - but sure made the first 2 weeks of SS riding painful ;)

In a nutshell, the neuromuscular demands IMO don't get enough "attention" in most MTB training plans - at least the way I've tackled it. So whether training for 2 hour XC or 15 day races, a certain amount of on the bike strength work is called for in the right proportion at the right time. I don't think weights make the cut - not specific enough. Trail running, low cadence/big gear work, standing starts - these all make the cut. Of course you gotta be good at high cadence too so a little higher cadence work (at power otherwise it's wasted time) just before the racing begins is in the plan.

My first early season race goal is Vision Quest in Orange County. Whether SS or geared I haven't yet decided, but SS will play a large role in my training for the event since it's all uphill anyway. It falls on March 1...so without further ado here's the plan overview. If I get a lot of questions I'll do a follow up post explaining what the nutty professor is thinking. Click for the big pic.

SS analysis: strength or power?

Dave — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:30:00 GMT

Pure single speeders are a passionate bunch. After doing a bit of lurking on the mtbr SS forum and observing the SS related comments here it's obvious the top reasons SSers do what they do come from the heart. As it should be.

Perhaps I will find that happy SS nirvana in time, but right now I'm a geared rider having fun on a SS. It's my analytical nature that has me analyzing the demands of SS right now so that I can make a better plan to train for a SS event or two (or three or... ;). Nirvana is directly proportional to speed, 'tis a proven fact - so this quest is worthwhile.

There are two obvious paths to go when considering how to train for SS: target specific aspects of SSing (on the road or MTB), or just go ride your SS. On the geary, my long-standing paradox has been that to really improve, I have to do specific work - intervals and the like - usually on the road but not always. So, I'm going to choose the former cause it's worked best for me in the past. SSing 6 days/week might not be sustainable for me, it's hard stuff!

So then, what are the aspects of SSing that need special attention? Power Tap to the rescue....the first step is to install the PT on the SS, go ride, then take a look at the ride data through the various tools available. The most valuable of these has been Quadrant Analysis developed by Andrew Coggan. Chances are that if you train with power you know the good Doc.

QA simplified: every data point in a file represents a power output and cadence. Knowing this in addition to the crank length the data is further broken down to the constituents of power - pedal speed (CPV) and average effective pedal force (AEPF). In lay terms, how hard you are pushing on the pedals and how fast your feet are moving. Crosshairs are then drawn with the intersection at the pedal force and cadence that represent what is normally done at threshold power. This divides the plot into 4 quadrants with these relative characteristics.

I: high power, high cadence
II: high power, low cadence
III: low power, low cadence
IV: low power, high cadence

Obviously, SS requires one to push darn hard at low cadences and really fast when spun out. But where are the limits? And are they trainable?? Key questions in my quest. I'll be sharing my random thoughts along the way of this process. They evolve daily ;) But first, let's look at that QA plot again and see what it can tell us. Note: 57 is not my preferred cadence so the QA crosshairs are misaligned in this plot...preferred cadence is about 96 so just about all points are in QII in reality.

There is a lot going on here. Yea, it'd make a nice tattoo M but I'm not sure I have the bicep to pull it off so I'll stick to the geeky stuff ;) The points here are from two different rides, one on a 32x18, the other on a 32x16. The route is rolling, some steep short climbs, some fast descents. Overgeared and undergeard, like every SS ride I've done. The pace was moderate (not hard), but where it tilt's up I went hard enough so as not to walk. IOW, L6 power levels.

There is also some test data from 2 types of efforts: maximal standing starts, one set is done seated, the other done standing. It turns out the maximal AEPF-CPV relationship is linear, so getting some good points along this line allows one to extrapolate the maximal curve out to max force and max pedal speed. That's what the 2 straight lines represent. Those lines are the highest pedal forces I can achieve for any given pedal speed - I wanted to establish these lines to see how close SS low cadence stuff came to maximal.

That's enough background. Here are some things I see:

normal cadence range for SSing is 45-130.
typical pedal forces go up 550 N. In geared riding they rarely go over 275 N (I'll post a comparison geared QA at some point) and for the most part are below 225!
pedal forces occasionally bump right up against that maximal force/cadence line
pedal forces routinely go to (and above) 75% of max AEPF in a moderately paced SS ride. This is in comparison to ~ 25-30% in a geared ride.
the ability to put out power at low and high cadences are equally important (but have very different demands!)

Finally, note the 3 iso-power curves - red, yellow, and orange. In particular, note how they tilt rapidly upward on the left side. Where they are horizontal on the right, small changes in pedal force have big effects on power output. But on the left, it takes huge changes in pedal force to alter power output, or from another angle, at very low cadences it takes huge AEPF to put out any sort of power. In theory, at a cadence of 20ish I can do no better than threshold power no matter how hard I try. So for anyone, no matter how "strong" you are, being overgeared beyond some point is going to reduce your power on the climbs. Physics in action.

Did I miss anything? Requirements of the soul perhaps?? They don't show up in QA ;)

This weekend I'll be doing some longer rides with the SS. I'm curious to see what those data sets will say about sustainability of these higher pedal forces over the long haul.

Happy Thanksgiving! Stuff yourself silly as is our custom...gives cyclists a reason to ride more.

Square Top denial

Dave — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:59:00 GMT

North and a bit west of St George is a range of mountains snuggled up against the Nevada border. They haven't hit my radar at all yet 'cause they don't lie between here and St George, not even by way of my jagged thinking. I've put the trans utah obsession on temporary hold and saddled up with the crackhead for some "local" explorations this weekend.

Looking north from Gunlock Res there are two side-by-side prominent peaks - Square Top and Jackson. They lie in BLM land...the surface maps show a trail going between them. That was the destination, to explore the trail in that pass between these peaks. From this view NE of the peaks they looked huge, gaining that pass would be no easy affair - probably hike a bike - if the trail does indeed exist. We didn't find out...

The early part of the route heads up Veyo Shoal Creek road. It proved to be a wonderful backcountry route, lots of climbing, sometimes in canyons, sometimes in wide open desert terrain, it climbed roughly 4k' before we left it.

Then was the rancher encounter. This place is back o beyond...we surprised half a dozen cowboys and ranchers, one with his pants literally down ;) It was initially a barage of questions "where'd you come from" "where ya goin" and when this one grizzled old leather faced guy had processed our responses he proceeded to tell us where we were going, tossing out at least 15 place names that of course didn't even ring a bell. Good ol boyz for sure.

Surprise finds along the way. Slickrock where I least expected it!

These granite pinnacles sparked a fire in the old climber in me...looked just like Joshua Tree rock!

Then the hike a bike began. The really fun part of exploration using GPS, maps, and inquisitiveness is that you just don't know what conditions are going to be like until you get there. There is a trail on the Dixie National Forest boundary with BLM land called the South Boundary Trail. Well, it didn't exist at all. We got a good solid dose of Scott-a-bike. Following random horse tracks sometimes took the best route through, but those tall critters put the rider above the endless scratchy brush. It was never ending...turns out the only thing worse than hike a bike is hike a bike where you can't actually hike ;) And there's more than a little guilt to dragging someone else through it. I had to keep reminding myself that I was with Lynda, toughest non-complaining mountain biker I know.

So that hike-a-bike took the wind out our sails for further exploration...not to mention sunset was getting ever closer but the truck wasn't.

But of course, it isn't about the destination, it's about the journey.

All was wonderful in the end.

Ahhhhhhh......

SS upgrades

Dave — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:18:00 GMT

The SS learning process continues. Thanks to Dave Nice's advise (SID isn't squishy enough or rigid - ditch) I put a Reba U-turn on it. At about 105 MM it handles great, and along with a stiff gate setting it has no out of the saddle bob. Noice.

And then there's the Power Tap. Oh yea, baby, full on data collection mode.

So what would happen if instead of sinking time and energy into drinking and tatoo acquisition a guy was to look into the demands of single speeding and how to improve those aspects of fitness?

You'd come up with charts like this...for starters. Welcome to quadrant analysis.

More details here but you'll have to join the club to see them. The club is free tho with many benefits. One of them is you can download a copy of an excel spreadsheet used to make this QA analysis.

Smoky Mountain 'sploratory

Dave — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:56:00 GMT

The Smoky Mountain road between Big Water and Escalante covers huge expanse of remote, lonely, beautiful country. The road surface is actually quite good for the most part. Water availability is not bad either. It's been dry for a good long while yet we found plenty. The area lends itself nicely to an ambitious 2 day or ambling 3 day bike trip - I highly recommend it so I'll post a few more details than normal for this one.

A lot of these pics ya gotta click for the big version...

Near the start of the route (starting at Big Water) this sign looks so new and official. Not to worry, the man was nowhere to be seen and every other sign was bullet riddled, old and illegible ;)

After a bit the climbing comes on in earnest taking you up to the southern end of the Kaiparowits plateau. Initially steep, it rolls a lot through drainages and contours in other spots.

Lake Powell in the distance, Smoky Mountain road contouring below.

Ion working it up the final grunt to the plateau.

Other signs of life. This was the first (but not last) time I would hear yee-haw! this trip. Cowboys are grumpy.

We took a diversion. At Collet Top we headed over the Left Hand Collet canyon to descend to Hole in the Rock road. The Grand Staircase site said the road conditions were "unknown." In the future I'll know unknown means non-existant. The conditions were unknown cause this rockslide prevented vehicle traffic and the road was later abandoned.

For the most part we traveled a stream/canyon bottom for 11 miles. Most of it was rideable but very slow. Sand, water, big rocks and boulders, a bit of slickrock - a real cornucopia of conditions. Slow going, but it really put a smile on our face anyway. It's not everyday you get to ride something like that.

A cruise on HitR road took us to Escalante. It'd be easy to get lodging there and not take the overnight gear...

But you'd miss out on this.

You'd also miss out on the redneck locals. For future reference don't ever camp in the open near towns on a Sat night. Holy crap...repeated high powered rifle shots overhead scared me beyond belief. And here I thought I was afraid of nothing in the woods....drunk johny reb and his 12 half brothers were playing all sorts of antics. Big spotlights looking for gawd knows what, they spotted us in our sleeping bags. Shit. Nothing like being the evening's entertainment for local drunken idiots.

Yea, nice sunrise pic but note the atv track in the lower right corner. This shot was taken from where I was camped. They came by within inches in the middle of the night spewing rocks and hoots and hollers. The episode lasted at least 2 hours...

Heading south from Escalante on the Smoky Mtn road takes a nice climb to the ride's high point.

Beyond this point there is a wonderful section of rolling road. It skirts several canyons, crosses others, big views abound. You'll have to ride it to see it, I was too enthralled to stop ;)

I took a spur to the SW on Heads of the Canyons road. It goes in and out of several drainages. Plenty of up and down and road conditions similar to the Kokopelli trail. I kept having deja vu...then I realized riding this was remarkably similar to the White Rim - except much less traveled, more tech and more climby.

It drops through canyons on it's way to Big Water. This looked old and abandoned but there was food in the cupboards - oops!

Everywhere to the north is wilderness study area - no motorized vehicles allowed. Nice ATV tracks here, not one of them turning around at the signs. What is about ATVs that requires disrespect for land and your fellow man plus mass stupidity to ride them? My disgust is complete.

Strange black hearted canyons on the way into Big Water.

So there you have it. This may be the off-season and all...and I think I'm chilling out but I've got quite the string of 25 hour weeks going here. It's just too much fun to stop!

So that's how this works...

Dave — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:33:00 GMT

So many of my posts come across I'm sure as some desert whacko's ruminations. Not too many folks can identify with that.

But...if I want some feedback all I have to do is look for common ground, right? Like single speeding?

Yesterday's ride was pure bliss. There's this climb I really like, takes well over an hour on the geary. Plenty of steep spots on it and 2 months ago I'd have said it was an impossible SS route. Yesterday I rode it in a 32x18 and it was purfect. It all came together. There are massive views off to Zion NP from this climb and I was seeing it all through rose colored glasses.

Tomatoe you are right, I'm hooked now. I've been looking at all manner of squiggly lines and scatter plots of old data thinking on how best to improve this game. But I'll try the beer drinking too.

This weekend it's off to check out a great big chunk of wilderness between Big Water (N end of Lake Powell) and Escalante. Ion & I will have pics and stories next week. Ya know those blog writeups that sound like the desert version of "Into the Wild."

So many pursuits, so little time.

KISS principal

Dave — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:30:00 GMT

Mon-Fri the past month this is the only bike I've touched.

Darn ghetto, eh? I've had this 9.8 frame for maybe 5 years now and it's seen all sorts of use, but has never been set up for long at any one time. It's current lifeform is w/ the Surly singleator + SS conversion kit. About 3 days after Moab I knew I had to get this thing singled out...had the parts since '05 just hadn't done it yet. The surly instructions start out with "1. Take off all that gear crap and toss it in the trash..."

SS riding is so...different. Maybe it's the crappy old SID noodle I'm running, but it really seems to make me pay attention to lines more. Momentum is your friend, and losing it is costly. Then there's the matter of torque. Cadences range from near zero to as high as you can go. When cadences are super low, it takes a lot of torque to get over that next obstacle. This is unlike geared bikes where you can spin on up and keep torque fairly low. In other words, it just might be possible that strength can be a real limiter for SS climbing - and some strength training could be in order if I was to get serious about SS riding.

Which, BTW, I am. I'll do a Kokopelli trail ride on the SS in '08 - underground race style. I'm considering some other big events too on the SS but we'll see how a few small ones go first ;)

So that means the powertap is going on the SS. Some quadrant analysis will give good ideas about the amount of strength required ... once I see some of that data I'll thinker on whether or not time in the gym is going to get the nod. It's hard to imagine as when I stopped lifting in the winter I started to get a lot faster.

What's the consensus in the SS crowd? Y'all do any strength training? Looking at Dicky I'd guess not, but hey looking at Kenny Jones maybe so. 2 fast SS guys with opposite builds.

What started as a whim is sparking new interest - and that is a ton of fun. Something new to deconstruct/reconstruct.

Just hope the knees and elbows hold out.

The Journey

Dave — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:17:00 GMT

The older I get the more I like to take my time with things, it leaves more time for savoring. Destinations often have a finality attached to them; everything that happens before then is the purpose. I don't seek the payout, I seek the experience.

You can draw a ton of analogies to this...racing is certainly among them. How often have you done a big event, full of excitement for it only to hit the post-race blues?

So this past weekend I continued on with my journey, explorations of new surroundings. It's cloaked in the guise of course research, but it's fullfilling other needs beautifully.

The previous week's outing gave glimpses of this huge plateau. I simply had to find a way to it's summit.

There are easier ways up than I chose.

But the easy ways don't have these views - and the summit would come and go too quickly. More savoring.

It was one of those all day climbs, filled with wonder around every turn.

With 4k' elevation over the surrounding region most of southern Utah is in view. It's a powerful chunk of turf up there.

And, wouldn't ya know it - from the top more new terrain comes into view, picquing my curiosity for another adventure.

The journey continues.

Challenges

Dave — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:05:00 GMT

To quote Curiak, "a challenge is something I'm not quite sure I can do." This Trans Utah concept is becoming a challenge in many ways.

The original concept was to have something that would make a good shakedown roughly 2 months prior to GDR. Big problems with that though: it limits elevation to ~ 7k' (april snow up high), and an April race date will force riders to choose between Scott's AZT race and Trans Utah. But the real deal killer: there's a massive chunk of real estate between StG and Moab that is made up entirely of sand. Unrideable sand. Improved/paved roads are the only way through by bike.

Creative redirection this weekend yielded some pleasant surprise finds - and ideas. The fall is crispy dry in southern Utah; the deserts and the mountains are rideable and pleasant. So why not shoot for an October date, remove the elevation restriction and AZT conflict?

'xactly.

It's an evolving process, but I'm leaning heavily towards an early - mid Oct '08 start. Level of effort along the lines of GLR, perhaps a bit more. First half in '08, StG to Escalante, 2nd half in '09, full route in '10. Start training now.

Not many viewpoints will go untouched by this route.

Powerless

Dave — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:55:00 GMT

...as in no control. And no power meter. Ain't the "off season" grand?

This weekend there's a big group doing the White Rim. I was going to join them but when I realized it would mean 15 hours of driving and 8 hours of riding that just seemed out of balance. Besides that, I'm gripped by an increasing passion for designing the perfect MTB route traversing southern Utah. So...I've got a ~ 120 mile route through the outback planned for the weekend. 3 hours driving and 16 on the bike, much better balance, eh?

After last weekends sand exploits I've got 2 of the widest tires I could find for 29ers on the way, the WTB Weirwolf 2.55s, and I'm not afraid to run < 10 psi either on my swanky MC built stans rims.. Didn't figure that one out last weekend until the last few miles when some 4x passed me with super soft tires. Duh!

Where am I going? I'll be checking out the Grand Staircase (and no, not one of those routes. Those are far too civilized.). Right now it's just mesmerizing names on a map - White Cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs, Skutumpah Terrace, Pink Cliffs, Bryce Canyon - sounds colorful and vertical. I think I'm seeing why it's called a staircase.

Have you checked out Camp Lynda? Big desert rides on tap, be sure to toss your suggestions up on her blog if interested. I've got a monster loop planned to cap the camp. It's the first part of this route I'm cooking up. If you're nice and not stinky you might even find floorspace in my house during the camp;)

My 24 Hours of Adrenaline experience

Dave — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:14:00 GMT

This may be taken as a rant. It will almost certainly result in a ban from 24 hours of adrenaline events. So be it, this story must escape...

Last December I registered for their 24 hour worlds solo event. In recovery mode from the first injury, I was looking for a solid goal. Perfect.

Fast forward to July and the BC bike race. Day 7 shattered heelbone means no worlds for me. Dangit. LW and I decide to trade support/race roles for worlds and Moab.

Not having read the cancellation policy but reasonably certain Stuart would have no allowances for such misfortune, I shot him an email anyway. My request was simple: first, to postpone my registration a year, and if that was impossible to transfer all or part to LW. That email garnered no response. So then I gave up on that and simply asked for my pit (since I was already registered I should get a pit, no?) to be located next to LW and Bernice Pierson as they were sharing a mechanic. We could use the extra space.

This time I got a response. It was from Stuart (the race promoter), and to paraphrase I was denied on all counts. The no refund policy was copied and pasted into the email; and no, I could not have my pit next to LW or Bernice cause that would give them an unfair advantage.

Right. Well feck that.

So, it cost me $450 to learn this lesson (I leave it up to the reader to draw conclusions). I've heard so many stories about this series it's hard to keep track. 24 worlds was devoid of the passion and festival atmosphere of Moab - why was that?

Anyway, had to let this out but didn't do so before the event so as not to cast a cloud over any of the racers I was associated with...

Off the grid

Dave — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:49:00 GMT

What a constrast. Last weekend was a struggle within; this weekend was a purely, deliciously, physical struggle.

Post Moab recovery took about 2 days. I built a SS out of my old Trek 9.8 hardtail - I had the parts in the garage to get it done and within 2 hours of motivating I had a SS bike. It has got to be the fastest thing I've pedaled....so after a couple days of hammering SS style, the weekend was ripe for some Trans-Utah explorations.

The setup I was using on the Yeti earlier this year, this time on the Lev. On front is the sleeping kit, misc food/maps, note water bottles on fork legs. This proved much too heavy on the front end of the Lev, repacking day 2 I learned that the sleeping kit fits nicely under the saddle and the bike handles oh so much better.

As I was cruising through Warner Valley towards the Hurricane cliffs all that joy and excitement of the spring came flooding back. The realization of a night away from civilization was a breath of fresh air.

The first sign is a nice try by the BLM, but I'm fairly convinced all Utah OHVers are illiterate. The second sign came out of freaking nowhere, posted about 30 ft off trail as I was cruising along beneath Little Creek mesa.

Gould spring. Yum.

The view from the top of Little Creek is endless. That "small" ridgeline is Gooseberry mesa.

Little Creek mesa was named for the creek, not the mesa. It's huge, higher than Goose and pinyon/juniper covered.

The timing couldn't have been better for this as I decided to pass on the Gould Spring oil slick.

This is an interesting slice of americana. Hilldale and Colorado city are adjoining towns on the AZ/UT stateline where polygamy is the norm. The homes are massive 10+ bedroom affairs. This is the site of Warren Jeffs that Krakauer had so much to say about in "Under the Banner of Heaven." Awesome read.

As I was rolling through the area my proposed route had me bumping into several locked gates. No signs, just locks. Usually I might go past such obstructions...but not here. Something about potentially trespassing on folks property who's way of life is against the laws of the land is most unsettling.

Shortly past Hilldale the hiking began. I spent the better part of the next 9 hours on foot. Steep & sand was the rule. The only place there was no sand was where the terrain was too steep for it to settle - and even the slickrock areas were sandy.

But, it was over the top gorgeous.

Sand.

Rock.

Sand and rock.

Views.

Just as I was thinking the trail couldn't be any harder (5 labored steps, bike on back and 3 points of contact, rest...repeat) reality showed it could be worse. Choose your horse carefully. Two laser like holes in the eye socket told the full story.

Just past this point I ran into a polygomous hiking group (or so I was informed by the next crowd I met): 40ish year old guy and 4 gals in their teens wearing long dresses. We chatted for a good long while, mostly about the area. They told me the route I had come up was nothing compared to what I had planned...I should have listened....one of the gals asked me why I didn't just toss my bike into the bushes since it was only slowing me down.

Plenty more happened beyond that point but it gets on towards a painful blur...

The first 64 miles took about 6 hours. The last 16...well let's just say that won't be part of the southern trans utah route. But if you need some beta on a good hike in the area let me know!

Ah, and looks like the blogosphere is about to explode. We've been joined by Laughs at Licraphobes.

Diversity

Dave — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:55:00 GMT

A buddy recently told me I'm too intelligent for lap racing. Dunno bout that. Maybe. Perhaps everything pales in light of the intense stimulus of the dual Grand Loop experience this spring. For now I'm going with Shane's assessment more or less - brain and body need new stimulus. That's the beauty of cycling, there are soooo many ways to get your spin on.

Yesterday I went out for a rolly singletrack ride on the Lev, but with a twist. I picked a roughly 2:1 gear and stopped shifting. That was an hour of fun that was so sorely missing last weekend. I've never had a SS bike and have spent a grand total of 10 minutes on one.

See where I'm going with this?

Out with adversity, in with diversity.

Existential delimnas in the desert

Dave — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:18:00 GMT

There comes a point in every 24 hour race I've done where I'm beat, and unfortunately it happens before the race is done. For these occasions I've learned to bring apple pie. So about 1:30 AM I came into the pit and said "pie!" and Lynda was so on top of the situation (I was 10 min later than expected) that pie was in my mouth before I could sit down...

In every other race, this has been a period of great torment. The body says no, the head says get up you wuss. This time, the body did all the talking. The head was quiet. Quite frankly, I didn't care. I knew I could carry on and chug out enough laps to hold 2nd place, and knew what it would take in terms of effort and recovery - and at that point it seemed stupid, pointless.

This is the defining moment of 24s for me. It is easy to pedal along up to this point. After this point the race requires a certain depth of fitness, hunger, motivation, mojo. This is when the real race begins. For the first time in my experience, I had the fitness but not the hunger, motivation. Fitness is not enough.

In a nutshell, that's what happened. There are lots of details, plenty of highs and lows of what actually went down out there and I'll post some of that shortly. Many have asked about bones...none are currently broken that I'm aware of, maybe a crack or two but that's nuthin...

What is waaaaay more than nuthin though is the absence of motivation mid-race. That's new for me and has never been an issue. Naturally that was a topic of discussion with LW on the drive home. She recognizes it as burnout, thought it was similar to the end of her pro glory days. It's really hard for me to wrap my head around that one - that I could be burned out when not racing for 3 months. I guess I could be burned out on fighting for the comeback as that has been the theme for the past year. Tom Danielson has had a rough year, check out his interview on VN. Our seasons have been strikingly similar.

Terminal burnout? Yea, right - I give it a snoball's chance in hell. I got a little care package from Curiak yesterday - Leviathon seatstays with brake posts on them. This means I can use the power meter on the 29er MTB. I was excited like a kid in a candy store about that one. Does that tell ya where my heart is?

One thing is certain. I'm relaxed. For the first time in a year there isn't some event that requires immediate training or rehab. I'm excited to get out and explore my new surroundings, and excited to get out and find that perfect route from St George to Moab. This fall is going to be about exploration. Not forced, just natural.

I'll go with the flow I have.

Off to the Moab Circus

Dave — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:15:00 GMT

OK bike racers, imagine this: about 2 weeks into summer you sustain a season ending injury and while all your bro's are out there givin it every weekend you are in serious rehab mode. This of course comes on the heels of another injury...about 5 months of rehab in the previous year.

So with a healthy mix of anticipation and trepidation I'm heading to Moab tomorrow morning. Racing for 24 hours solo, of course. With nary a race in 3 months, I'm hungry. Very hungry. With the fresh memories of being laid up in my mind, coming back whole from these things isn't something I take for granted anymore. With a foot at maybe 75% the plan has required a bit of massaging.

How it will play out is anybodies guess. Fox will surely be turning some fast night laps if he can keep his skinny tires out of the sand and inflated. The Coed-Pro Am field is bigger than I've ever seen with some fast teams in the mix. Sager's brainchild MonaVie looks super tough - if they can keep their 20 lb bikes running (and with Bart's experience in Moab they will) it could be a runaway. That will be fun so watch! The Jack Mormon Militia is back. The overall is going to be a stretch given the Pro-am field, but ya never know. They sure rocked it last year.

The solo men's field is huge - over 60 riders last time I checked. What's interesting so far is who isn't registered. Nat Ross and Josh Tostado aren't in yet, but I'm sure they will be there - has Nat ever missed this race? In '05 the conditions were good and I was able to get in 17 laps - more I think than had ever been done previously by a solo rider - but 2 other gents went faster with Anthony Colby doing an astounding 18 laps in his first solo 24. Word on the street is the course is slow...so maybe nobody will be doing 18 this year. I don't generally set a lap count as a goal - that isn't how races are scored in the end. I'll dig as deep as I can/have to in order to achieve my goals tho. What are my goals? Well, it is a bike race now isn't it? OK, one goal is to be able to ride the White rim 2 weeks post race and not spend this fall rehabing race injuries, there is some serious socializing on the horizon ;)

Of course solo is a misnomer for this endeavor. I'll have a team helping the cause. Lynda is the mastermind in the pit. If you've ridden with us you know the mojo advantage that will bring. I'll be debuting the Siren Song, a svelt 26/29 softail. The bike's godfather Brendan will be there to keep it running smoothly. The other bike is a Leviathon 29er with that new top secret shock courtesy of MC (thanks Mike). Desert Cyclery has helped to dial in all the mech bits and pieces to keep the show going.

The 29er theme is no accident - though I've done a good bit of power testing and in most situations find my 26ers faster, that doesn't hold true on the Moab course. There will be 29" wheels (at least one) under each podium rider this year - or I'll eat a whole apple pie!

Speaking of pie...this is a social circus. I'll be somewhere in solo row with a big bbq grill. Come on over Fri afternoon/eve, bring something for the grill and we'll catch up and relieve the tension building in advance of what we're about to put ourselves through.

Focus

Dave — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 12:57:00 GMT

It's detail week. Must...have...focus...

Change has been the recent theme. Change is not such a good thing for my focus, so today I'm reigning it in.

Speaking of change, St George may lie in the desert but that doesn't mean we can't have a taste of autumn here. This is just up the trail from my house on the way up Pine Valley mtn. It's quite the ride. The tail end of a 4,000' climb finishes with 26% grade pitches. Reliable Vertigo, maybe that's what this climb should be called.

Water is everywhere on this ride. Water spigots in the boonies, tough to beat that.

The focus of yesterday's ride was to dial in a new rear shock on the Lev. Thanks to this gent on a big white horse I am now testing a new shock that kills the Lev bob issue, is quiet and smooth. It has no branding and I don't know what it is so don't ask! So far though I gotta say it works well. It looks to be in for Moab.

Not to be outdone by the white horseman, Brendan was dropping stuff last weekend fully rigid.

Next up: tuning the rear shock for the new Song. The Cane Creek valve kit is here, time to make this girl sing her finest tune.

A'ight. Off to make that plan.

Certainties

Dave — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:29:00 GMT

Death, taxes, swallows to Capistrano and DH to 24HoM...what do these things have in common? Right. Like there was ever any other possibility. I've been to that race every year in this century, ain't about to stop that trend now. It's a circus, a spectacle, a bitch, a lover, a supreme challenge yet so simple. It has left me whimpering more than any other course and left me with month long highs. To me, it is the very definition of the high risk game of 24 hour racing.

Life is short so I'm making it count. The road to Moab is in my windshield, scorch marks in my rear view mirror.

Sorry sis, enjoy Paris. Love ya.

Uncertainties Pt. II

Dave — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:34:00 GMT

30 minutes ago I wrote: "One thing is certain. Come hell or high water I'm going to the 24 hours of Moab and will ride until I can't."

5 minutes ago my sister told me I have to be in Phoenix Oct 13th - for her wedding! Apparently beyond age 40 you can dispense with that courtship part and skip to the wedding.

What would you do?

This fucking pig has got to go.

Uncertainties

Dave — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:12:00 GMT

Somebody shoot that golden pig already. Please. The only certainty is uncertainty.

Warning: geeky training talk and squigly lines below.

EweTSS has been instrumental in keeping me in line this year. With two big injuries it's been essential to come back smarter, not harder. Er, well sorta. With several years of power data and EweTSS experience I know what I need to do well in a 24 hour race - by more than just instinct. The type and quantity of training that make a good race are not so uncertain. In OP this year I didn't have time to get there so just called it a training race.

Moab is different. There has been enough time for the key elements, although some of them got squeezed into a shorter period than I like. More experimentation. Increasing CTL from 107 to 147 in 16 days has turned out to be the biggest jump in that time frame in my experience. It was basically like doing back to back Transrockies. What was I thinking anyway?? Fortunately I recognized it was a bit agro and planned a 3 week taper instead of the usual 2...it's a damn good thing cause if the race was this weekend I'd be in trouble.

But...the sensations are improving rapidly now. Fitness is really the least of my concerns for Moab. Things seem to be unravelling in other areas....

Like the foot. I can only clip out if it's done well in advance. My left side is cut and bruised from a week of "spd falls" cause I can't clip out quickly. With any pressure on the foot, or in the wrong location, I just don't have that range of motion anymore. I have no doubt I can go circles around that sandy course on two wheels - it's the repeated trips on foot over nosedive and to a much lesser extent the Lemans run that have me concerned right now.

This all is probably coming off as self-doubt and confidence issues...however it's anything but. It's a small part of the big picture, yet this is the only brush I could find this morning.

One thing is certain. Come hell or high water I'm going to the 24 hours of Moab and will ride until I can't.

Anatomy of the Epic Ride

Dave — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:48:00 GMT

Ingredient #1: join me for a day in the saddle, you not being from around here.

Ingredient#2: I've got a burr up my craw to hit the top of some peak miles and miles away...

Ingredient#3: add the storm of the decade to the mix.

Time for some pics to do the talking. Here's topping out of the Virgin river gorge on the south side. Great views to be had on sunny days. Honest Jeff ;)

It wasn't long till #3 began to figure heavily.

Ingredient#4: brake pads become a pulverized mess.

Me: "Jeff, you don't wanna go up this climb cause you can't stop coming down. But I can't turn around now or my head will explode, I gotta go up this mountain"....

Jeff: "I'm following you"

Hmmm....ingredient#5: questionable decisions (LOL like there was any choice for either of us).

The top was in the clouds. This is the first spot that wasn't completetly shrouded in mist.

While we were climbing and descending, ma nature really revved it up and left this cherry for us on the return trip. We had to wait it out until it dropped to this questionable crossing level. Same crossing as the black creek above.

Towards the end we did have some moments of sun and the way the light played with this gorge offered the kind of natural beauty you can only really see through eyes that have been pounded by weather all day.

Now there are two bikes in St George that are up for sale and cheap! It was a tough day on bikes...

On a clear day here's the view from the peak. Top of Black Rock mtn looking towards St George, Pine Valley mtn is the horizon line on the left.

The Siren Song

Dave — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:50:00 GMT

I met Brendan and Mary Collier at the Kaibab Mountain Cross in June. Brendan is (among other things I'm sure!) a custom frame builder and owner of www.sirenbicycles.com; Mary races them. Purty fine mojo for this power couple if you ask me.

Siren doesn't do just any old frame design...the one that really fires Brendan up is a 26" rear wheel and 29" front wheel design. I rode his bike a little at KMC and really liked it. That big front wheel floats over stuff, and with the normal back wheel size the drivetrain gear ratios are what I'm accustomed to. The drivetrain issues were a constant issue for me when I rode 29ers in '05.

Shortly after KMC I started working with Brendan on design ideas for a new bike he's coming out with. OK the ideas are his and I supply the excited anticipation. Oh wait he's full of that too...anyway, to make a long story short, the new bike is a 26/29 softail design in the vein of the Salsa Dos Niner, but with close to twice the travel and more careful tuning of the suspension characteristics. She's in the jig and nearly a frame now. Here's how it looks so far.

The artisan in his element.

Lot's of standover in this beauty.

I think he's done this before!

The lower end consists of a titanium flex plate and another brace (not shown).

What's the coolest part of this design? Hard to pick one...but if I had to I'd say it's the action of the rear travel. There is some negative loading built into the design, meaning the shock will be tuned to get the appropriate sag, and it will be active! The Dos' rear end was rock hard to me - I'd get maybe 1/2 to 2/3" travel hucking something stupid - but this design will be active for any rider weight, and the Cane Creek AD5 will provide all the tunability required to dial in the sweet ride. So there you go, a bit more info that the teaser here: http://www.sirenbicycles.com/softail.html.

The bike will be known as the Siren Song and both Mary and myself will be doing some serious R&D at Moab. The anticipation thickens!

Horizons

Dave — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:54:00 GMT

Newness...I'm surrounded by it. Springtime in the fall.

The blog silence is a good sign in this case...I've been deep into my own version of a 16 day stage race. What's that mean? Well, it's part of the grand plan for that upcoming desert rumble...and given the foot status I was a bit limited to what I could do and when. 'Tis fine cause I like playing catch up ;)

Rides have been like this: stick my head out the door and see what chunk of unexplored horizon fascinates, consult the maps, plan a route, toss the filter and a prayer in the pack, head out for 60-80 miles of dirt. Repeat. Sometimes it's great training, sometimes it's just good for the psyche. Most routes include a 3 hour climb - the low point is usually about 2500' and the high point about 7k. Lots of volcanic rock in the region means every other new route I explore is riddled with black rubble on the edge of unrideable. Luck of the draw.

There is so much big ride potential around here it boggles my mind. South is the AZ strip, public lands stretching to the GC. To the west is the Beaver Mtns and tons of singletrack then big mountain climbs. N and E is more singletrack and Pine Valley mtn, the highest point in the county - about 7k' higher than StG.

A visual sampling.

A climb I'm quite fond of on the slopes of Pine Valley Mtn. Grades of 25% make it a challenge. The goal for popping over this climb is a spigot controlled spring...nirvana in the desert.

A fork in the road? I couldn't decide so did them both. The author wasn't kidding about the boldervard part!

Cedar Pockets overlook. Pine Valley Mtn is the horizon line on the right; the big slanted uplift in the center is Blakes Lambing grounds, the location of 2 of my favorite climbs in the area. I may as well sell my road bike cause it's become redundant.

I've developed a real fondness for domestic critters. They mean water is close by.

Others have been to these places before me...

Another day begins in the land of golden horizons.