87% Throttle: Race 3

I finally have some excuses for poor race performance other than I'm slow. I showed up Wednesday night at Solitude hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Instead I fell somewhere in between. I'd been fighting a nasty headcold all week but when when race time rolled around I went with the old adage that if a cold is from the neck up you're OK to exercise. Rhonda and I did a pre-ride lap and I felt OK but I was having some major drivetrain issues. When I got back to the car I gave the bike a close examination and realized I had a severely bent link in my chain that made my rear D ghost shift under strain. If you're counting from home that's excuse #2. Going up the road on the opening sprint I died and settled into mid-pack a few riders behind Wedge. I started getting warmed up on the climb but as I got out of the saddle to power up the first steep pitch my rear D locked up and I had to pull over to free up my chain. 5-6 guys got around me and I mounted back up and tried to remember to stay seated and nurse my drivetrain by spinning. I made a few passes on the climb and re-connected with Wedge at the road. Stood up to try to put some distance into him on the paved hill and the drivetrain popped again reminding me that that wasn't going to happen today. Rode behind Wedge across the top and he hit the decent about 30 seconds ahead of me. After getting completely bitched by Wedge and his 5" at Desert Rampage my goal on the DH was to hold his wheel as long as possible. I lost a little time to him on the real rough stuff but I finished the DH and entered the climb right on his wheel giving me my lone bright spot of the race. Felt OK on the second climb but 3/4 of the way up I cracked. No power left, HR in a downward spiral and an upset stomach full of post nasal drip forced me to back off the the throttle. My time ended up being about 4 minutes slower than my average time from last year. Not horrible considering.

Rhonda led most of her race but the girl who has won all three womens races was playing a bit of cat and mouse. She played with Rhonda by staying in contact behind her the first lap and then stepped on the gas at the end of the final climb giving it just enough to make sure she won. Rhonda held off the girls behind her for 2nd place.

I'm in.

Are you?

Corner Canyon

I met up with Drew and Joel for a little spin around corner canyon today. We were planning on doing the Round Valley race later in the day so we kept things pretty chill and I got to explore some newer trails I hadn't ridden before. Brock's Point will be sweet once it's broken in, the new part of lower Jacobs Ladder is well done. The freeride DH trail that everybody raves about was nice I suppose but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm guessing the low bar, high saddle race geometry on my hardtail didn't help matters but I would have had more fun descending ghost or Clark's. The trails were all in perfect condition and the rain held off giving us an excellent 2.5 hrs in the saddle.

Millcreek rain ride

After 6 days of riding the couch I braved the elements and did a Saturday morning MTB ride in the rain. Rode from my house up the road and explored the upper millcreek trails. Dog Lake is fully rideable and GWT is good do go for a couple miles past the Dog Lake turnoff before you start hiting too many snowdrifts to make it worth your time. No mud. Crest should be ready within a few weeks!

Why I'll never be fast part nine hundred ninety four.

When it's June in you'll never catch me doing this:

Or this:

So when last nights race was canceled Ken called to see if we wanted to eat some of this instead:

Well minus the nekkid lady of course. Ken has impeccable taste in food so when he recommended hitting Matsu Sushi for half price rolls (mon-wed) we agreed. The rolls were excellent and for the four rolls we ate plus an appetiser our total bill was under $25. Highly recommended.

Mid Mountain Super Loop

Mark P, Ken, Bob, Jen and Shannon joined me Saturday me for this bad boy.

Over 62 miles of the greatest singletrack you'll ever ride. If you ride Mountain Bikes and you don't live in Utah you're missing out.

editors note: Bob, Shannon and Jen wanted 6 hrs tops so they bailed at Johns trail and didn't finish the ride. Mark P bailed with them. Wedge started the ride with us but locked his camelbak and keys in his car and just rode Flying Dog. The GPS track file shows us poaching the private trails through Pinebrook at the end of the ride. We of course would never do such a thing so please ignore that part of the track.

Move over Mexi-Coke

Now there's something...........American-er?

Pepsi throwback. Made with real sugar just like back in the day. Kind of the same deal as Mexi-coke in that the sugar doesn't overpower the cola flavor like HFCS does. It's also a easier to deal with the empties since the cans can just be thrown in the recycling bin. Just for Fox they also make Mt Dew throwback.