Bikes Bikes Everywhere

Errand boy. That is what I was today, but I really didn't mind. I had to drive up to Longmont to pick up the custom bikes from Joe at Primus Mootry. It was an amazing thing to see behind the scenes in making a custom bike. I have to say that Joe is an artist at what he does. I had to ask him where he got the name Primus Mootry, he said that when he was in college at CU and watching news one night he thought the guy they were interviewing had a cool name...Primus Mootry. The name stuck in his mind ever since and when he started making bikes he thought it would be a cool name for a bike.
Due to him personally hand making each individual bike to fit a rider exactly, he is only able to crank out about 120 bikes a year.
And today, I had to put 12 of them in the back of my car and take them back to Denver for the rest of the team to get there's.
On the drive back to Denver I got to thinking about how much money (that wasn't mine) was in my control. I might misplace a few and they could find their way onto Ebay, but then all the other guys on the team, and Joe, would kill me.

Then there is my custom beauty, I have to say that this is the best bike I have ever had in my life so far. The cherry on the top would have to be the name on the top tube. If you don't know who I am as I fly past you, all you have to do now is look and my bike to know my name.

My Luck

So I start the day off by heading up Deer Creek and on then to High Grade, the ride was great. As soon as I was done, I headed back to the car to head home, but ended up running into Joey who invited me to join him in riding up DC to High Grade, so I figured, what the hell I wanted to get a long hard ride today.
We finished the climb and headed around the back way to DC. Then it happened, I usually wait until later in the year for the first one, but I guess fate wanted me to get it out of the way early in the year. After all the snow this last weekend the roads were covered in sand, and it just so happened that it accumulated on one corner where my front wheel decided to go another direction than I was. Brian meet asphalt, asphalt meet Brian's knee.

Joey kept saying, "It look fine, just wash it out and you'll be back on the bike tomorrow." So I decided to take is word on it for the time being as we finish our way back to my car. Then he breaks the news to me, "You need to go to the ER, I just didn't want to tell you how bad it was back there since we in the middle of nowhere". Grrrrrrrrreat.

So I spend a couple of hours in the ER as they cut out all the dead tissue that was actually still remaining in the void of what was once the skin and tissue below my knee cap. Just 21 stitches later and I am out the door with order not to ride for a week. Damn.

Still waiting to hear from coach, who probably isn't going to be happy since I was just hitting top form. Well, at least I will get some good rest time in. I have pics of the gore, but I am not going to post them to save everyone from loosing there last meal. 

Beuller......Beuller......

Its amazing, I've been here for about three months now and ride practically everyday, and I still can find new climbs and scenic rides that take you deep into the mountains and seem to be heading nowhere in particular, just to the middle of nowhere.


This is an old log shack that is halfway up Golden Gate Canyon, and curiosity got the best of me today.
It is right next to the road, but the inside makes it look like it was once someone's cabin with a little fireplace and a built in cot.
The Coors plant is just a few miles down the road from my apartment, though I haven't taken a tour of it yet, I do ride by it all the time, but today I was actually paying attention to some of the cargo sitting behind the plant, keg shells. Just think of the party you could throw with all those.

Clear, Sunny, and Cold!

Today was an uphill TT workout at low cadence and high RPE up Golden Gate Canyon, just slow enough to enjoy the scenery.
But too slow too to make for a short ride. The extended time in the sub-freezing temps numbed all the digits.

Check out this article (titled inside scoop in middle of page), it talks about how UCI is prohibiting Pros from racing the unsanctioned races hosted by Tyler Hamilton, it sound to me like the UCI just doesn't care for Tyler.

Stuff

Yes, its still snowing.



What is the only question you can never say yes too? (scroll down for the answer)










Are you asleep?


Check out this video, there is a crash near the end. It happened at the crit last weekend in Boulder, what you can't see is the chain reaction it created behind the camera man, lets just say a bunch of bike carnage.

Pictures

The weather still sucks, so it looks like it will be an indoor trainer weekend. Later next week looks promising for some beautiful days; I am already looking forward to it.

So to give everyone out there something new to look at, here are some new pics I got of the crit at Stazio last weekend (The crit is canceled this Sunday due to the weather).

The field was about 70 riders deep with some real talent in it.
This is one of the corners right after the start/finish; this was probably about half way through the race and about 20 minutes into my solo break.
Cruising through the spectator area.
Feelin good as I cross the finish about a minute ahead of the chase pack.

Boring Week

There's not much to say about this week. I've still been getting over being sick for a week and a half and it has hit hard into my training. I have spent most of the time indoors on the trainer just spinning, keeping the legs fresh but not pushing them hard until I am 100% better. Its not all bad though. The weather has been bad, they show snow through Monday, so it doesn't make me feel too down just sitting on the trainer.

If the weather permits I will be back in Boulder on Sunday to do the crit there again, but we will just have to wait and see.

Crits at Stazio

I'm tired.

Today I headed to Boulder for a crit race hosted by Tyler Hamilton. Its a good course, about 1.1 miles long with a good climb to it. So if you're not going uphill, your going downhill (mostly uphill).

We got there early and just hung out instead of doing our proper warm-ups.


Our race started out mild, the field was 70 racers deep and everyone seemed just to be cruising the first two laps. So after five minutes of the sixty minute race, I thought, what the hell, I'll attack. Woops, they let me go off the front of the pack. Well should I sit up and go back to the group. Hell no, I want to suffer for the next 55minutes. So that is what I did, I nailed it hard. Every lap I pulled father and farther off the front that before I knew it I was lapping riders. Sweet, but a chase group put there all into it, but it just wasn't enough. I soloed the rest of the race (55minutes) and won by over a minute. Pain is tough, but sweet in the end.

Then for a cool down (yeah right), we went and did an hour of climbing outside Boulder and called it a day.

Is it Time for an Oil Change Yet?

As I rode up Golden Gate for the second consecutive time today and I thumbed through the functions of the computer and noticed my first milestone while in CO was on the horizon. Then on the decent back into Golden and on home it happened. I rolled the odometer over to 2,000 miles of training in the mtns of CO. Not to bad for just two months, and those months being classified as winter training months with the mileage only to increase per month with the warmer weather.

The training has been coming along nicely, I feel stronger, but if that actually means I will be better when the gun goes of at the start and its hammer time is another question. Nothing brings out the true talent of a rider than a race.

Training is a funny thing. Many do it for a few months and call themselves race ready. But is it really ever over?

There is some starting point at which everyone begins to train, whether it be November or January. The thing is though, you train to race, then you race, but then you don't just go and ride around till the next race. You get back on the bike and keep training until the next race, then race again, then train some more. The only time that training should ever end is retirement, and that (knock on wood) won't be for a while. So until then, you will find me on the bike six days a week, training.

Sring Break 06

And for those of you who are curious, I am serious about Spring Break. Get yourself up here, you can crash at my place, and we can ride all Spring Break. If you are here on a Sunday, you can also register for the Crits @ Stazio hosted by Tyler Hamilton...www.dbcevents.com

For those who are serious about SB give me a call or email me.

On the Road To Recovery?

This was the ugliest thing I had ever seen, it was at Target last night. It even had vanity license plates...PNKVXN.
I woke up feeling a little better finally after five days of feeling like crap so I needed to get back to the grind, but he grind got to me. It felt like lead weights were tied to the bike on a mtn climb I could normally do with no problem.

This is a scary sight, the sign calls it Tiny Town, but it is in the middle of nowhere back down some small road in the mtns. It gives me the creeps; I would expect some leprechauns to step out at any moment.

Today was a lot like Christmas. I got all these new parts for my custom frame which should be complete by the end of the month. I felt like I was stealing, but the feeling soon left as I drooled over the shiny new components.

Being Sick Sucks

What some awesome weather we've been having up here, today it broke into the 70's. Great day for a ride, if it wasn't for me still being sick for the fourth day in a row. This unfortunately has thrown me way off of my training schedule, so I am regretful to say that I will not be going to Lubbock this upcoming week/weekend.

I am still offering an open invitation to anyone who wants to come up here during spring break and join me on some great riding. Just get yourself here and I will give you a place to stay.

I'm going back to bed....

I Hate Being Sick

I don't get sick very often, but when I do, it sucks. It wouldn't be all that bad if the weather wasn't perfect, if it was snowing I would be okay with being stuck inside, but I just want to ride.

Oh well, sleep today, rest tomorrow, and come back Monday hard.

Road Block

Yesterday was my first day back climbing in the mtns after a week down in AZ, and I must say that after a week of not climbing it doesn't feel good the first time back. I did get a little break halfway up Lookout with a herd of mule deer crossing the road. They took there sweet time too. I finally had to shoot through them to continue the ride.
I've been babysitting Max for the last few days; he is a great dog, just really a momma's boy. Erin gets back later tonight and will pick him up, it was fun having a dog for a while, just not fun taking him out for a walk when its freezing cold outside and he decides he really didn't need to go.
For those of you who are wondering, I will be down in LBK next Wednesday till Monday doing some training on the flats, so whoever is up for it let me know. I wish I could come down to TX more and do the entire TMBRA series, but it is hard right now trying to follow a strict training program and prepping for Sea Otter and NMBS, but I will be down to race the TMBRA in Waco, and looking forward to seeing everyone again.

The Last Five Days of My Life

The trip started out a day earlier than we expected. Originally planning on departing Denver on Thursday morning at 4am, we left 7pm Wednesday to beat the oncoming snow storm. It worked as we arrived in Las Vegas, NM at midnight missing all the snow. The hardest part in a rushed departure is figuring out for the first time how to fit four bikes and six wheelsets in the back of the vehicle along with luggage.

Thursday morning started out at 7am on the road again driving through NM and heading into AZ.

Our biggest pet peeve of the trip were the semi's who tried to pass other semi's but never had enough speed to pass them in less than 10 minutes.

I found out that Seth is the only guy that I know who separates out his servings of M&M's and cheese crackers into their proper serving sizes.

On a back road in AZ we came to a stop in a construction zone, Carlos too this advantage to relieve himself in the middle of traffic.

We arrived in Phoenix Thursday afternoon and turned our hotel room into a bike shop.

Then we went cruising in Carlos' Denali

Passed the time hanging out in our room watching mostly the Olympics. (From left: Seth, Carlos, Mateo (standing), and Goodwillie)


The time trial was on Friday and went very well, by far my best time trial to date. Then the road race followed on Saturday, Joey had the job of helping unload and reload the bikes.
Joey also too the time to admire the fine quality of the spinners on the mini van next to us.


The road race went okay, not great. There were a lot of problems, both in the logistics of the planning of the race itself by promoters and the stupidity of some of the other racers. Then Joey had to go and sit on his left shifter, but it was nothing that a bunch of tape couldn't fix.
The last stage was the crit on Sunday, I sat fourth going into it and the field wouldn't let me break away to make up any time, so I just sat in the group and took some cash sprint prizes.

We left Phoenix around 3:30 Sunday afternoon and drove straight through to Denver and got home about 4am Monday morning. Not a bad first race of the season, just time to start training for the next race, and maybe catch up on some sleep.

V-Day

This should be a great week. Yesterday was my second conconi test and it shows that my wattage at aerobic threshold, power to weight ratio, max wattage, and recovery time have all improved dramatically over just a month of training.

Today is an easy day with just three hours cruising and tomorrow is another easy day with just an hour of active recovery. Unfortunately, on Thursday we leave at four in the morning to start the 13hr drive to AZ for the stage race this weekend. Once we get there we have to put in an opener ride for an hour and a half. Then its race time, time trial on Friday, RR on Saturday, and a crit on Sunday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and happy Valentine's day.

Hammerfest

On the menu for today, four hours easy. However, what I got was three hours of very high intensity with my coach, Mike Carter, two Red Rocks Velo riders, and Seth. We started out with no warm up, a little over a hour sprinting out of the saddle up hill, followed by some seated hammering, finished off with a death march back to Mike's house. Now I get to rest up for my performance test tomorrow morning to see if all this training is paying off, hopefully, I get my moneys worth.
 

Internet

Its a pretty boring day, so I spent a lot of it on the internet where I found this pic. Whoever came up with that idea was a genius.

Active Recovery

It turned out to be a snowy day, then a sunny day, then back to a snowy day, so that means its a trainer day. That works out okay though, it was supposed to be a 90min active recovery day anyways, but tomorrow is different. I am scheduled for a 5hr ride, but coach is sympathetic to me not wanting to ride in the snow and single digit wind chill that he is substituting in a hour trainer ride, not even close to easy though.

I decided to spend part of the day in Boulder picking up some last minute bike parts and tools before my first race of the season in Arizona next week, if I am ready for it is yet to be seen, but we will find out next weekend.
 

Another Awesome Day to be on The Bike

Now I have seen it all, SRM cranks on a mountain bike. I can understand wanting to know your watts on a road bike while training or racing, but putting them on a mountain bike seems a little pointless.
My day got made this morning while on my ride. I just happened to cross paths with George on the road and we hammered hard together for a while, then he turned to me and said I looked like "poetry in motion, smooth, efficient and strong". To hear that from someone who you look up to as a cyclist, it just makes you feel great. 

A Day Off and Nothing Accomplished

Its Monday, and you know what that means.....cookie day.

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of wind beating against my window, which lead me to go back to sleep and opt for the indoor supplemental ride on the trainer.

This is a great pic that appeared on the internet today of me, Brian H., and Seth on our ride around Lake Carter on Saturday.
I can't help but point out the size difference in Seth and Brian H. Its not that Seth is huge, its just that Brian H. is realllllly small. It is impossible to get a draft off of him unless your only 5 feet tall. 

I Love Long Hard Training Rides

Today I headed up the road a little ways to join the Pro/1/2 group ride out of Boulder. These were the cream of the crop in the nation, and the world (a couple of guys were just at the Worlds Cup) and the pace definitely showed. We hammered for 35 miles at an average of 27mph in a race fashioned ride with constant attacks and counter attacks. Then it was time for a pit stop.
We hung with them for about 45miles then they turned back to head home but it was a long training day for the four of us riding for H.A.R.T. so we kept going north around Carter Lake just pass Fort Collins.

Even in the stiff wind and high pace we still got in some horseplay. (Randy, Seth, and Brian H. left to right)

At the end of the day we put in 95miles of constant high pace training in under four and a half hours. So after a long day, I just want to go to sleep, goodnight.

SEX.....now that I have your attention

I can't believe they are actually using this as advertisement.
I guess it does work, I will always remember from now on what casino has the loosest slots in CO. 

Espresso

It seems like the entire cycling world revolves around espresso and coffee around here. The rides start from a coffee shop, there is usually an espresso break a few hours into the ride, and the rides end at a coffee shop. For the even longer rides the stop during the ride usually entails a pastry of some kind to get the sugar levels back up to keep going. So if you don't drink coffee, then it would be really hard for you to fit in around here, but thank god I love a cup of coffee. I never really got into espresso though until I came here, but now I love a shot in the morning so much that I am trying to find a good espresso machine cheap, but this is the cheapest most reliable one I could find.....for only $700.

So today started out like all the others, a shot of espresso and then start the training ride, but today's ride was my first TT training day. Lets just say I think the shot of espresso wasn't enough to make it all the way, maybe one more could have gotten me the last 10 minutes of the last interval. So next TT day, I'm going to drink three shots, that should be enough.