Tomorrow morning I am heading out to St. George for the Cholla Challenge. I have been chomping at the bit the last few weeks getting ready to compete. Saturday should be a good indicator of where I am with my fitness, but also it will just be a lot of fun to hammer for a couple hours with friends. The X-Cal is ready to go. I have new Maxxis 29" Ignitors installed, a new TruVativ flat bar and Ergon grips. It is clean, shiny and ready to rock and roll.

All dressed up and ready to roll
New Maxxis kicks
Ergon grips and new flat bar equals comfort for the long haul

In other news, Dicky, I am afraid that my 3 year old son is a ninja. He attacked me recently decked out in black, dual wielding plastic chopsticks. I suppose it is a case of "like father, like son" since I have never even swung a leg over a singlespeed.

The last couple of days have had a strange duality to them. I still feel an empty pit in my stomach. I still am haunted by the events that transpired Saturday. But I am also happy to be alive and well. I am happy I was able to ride around the block last night with my 5 year old daughter. I am happy that I was able to get out and enjoy the sunshine on a 2 hour mountain bike ride. The ride was a good diversion, but I caught myself several times looking out over the valley to where the accident occured.

Funeral Services will be held at the Park City Community Church, 4501 No. HWY 224, ( behind the Park City Nursery ) at 11:00am on Thursday, March 30th. Members of the cycling community are encouraged to participate in a group ride to Main St. following the services. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Bill Corliss Bicycle Advocacy Fund. An account in Bill's name has been set up at Frontier Bank, 1245 Deer Valley Drive, Park City, Utah 84060. Bill's Obituary can be found here.

Ride hard, ride fast, and most important...ride safe.

Saturday was supposed to be one of those great cycling days. The weather was great, the legs were snappy and we had a solid group of riders heading out. It all went sour just 15 minutes after we left the parking lot in Lehi, UT. Bill Corliss clipped the wheel in front of him and fell beneath a passing vehicle. He was killed instantly.

Cycling has always been a life affirming activity for me. It is something I do to enjoy my environment, my friends and my physical abilities. It is an activity that renews the mind and body, the spirit and soul. It is a sport that is supposed to give life, not take it.

We stood in shock and disbelief at the scene before us. A sheet now covered Bill. We were helpless to do anything but cope with our own feelings and emotions. Boris was sitting on the side of the road sobbing, I put my arm around him, and not knowing what to say, I remained silent.

I still can't believe what happened. The imagery shooting through my mind seems unreal, or surreal. It doesn't feel a part of any memory, but rather something from an unwanted fear or nightmare.

Selfishly my thoughts turned to my wife and three kids. The horror of the reality that this could have been any of us in the group sunk in. I felt an odd sense of empty relief that it would not be my family receiving this horrible news. I felt ashamed feeling this way, at that moment. I knew that in Park City there was a wife and a son that were about to experience the worst of human emotion and grief.

Training and racing are important to me. But they can't hold the wheel of my family. Not even for a moment. I have been hugging my wife and kids a little more often, and a little tighter today. I am still haunted with dark thoughts about things that could have been yesterday. The nature of the accident could have taken multiple riders down. We were grateful that was not the case. But we mourn for Bill and his family.

Later in the day a storm rolled into the Wasatch Front. The bright skies turned dark and heavy as the warm temperatures dropped. It was a dark ending to a dark day. I will forever be connected to the riders in that pace line Saturday morning. Some were long time friends, others, inlcuding Bill Corliss, were people I had just met. We stood speechless with one another on State Road 68 realizing that for a long time, if not forever, each time we got on our bikes we would think of this day.

I set out yesterday for what was going to be a 3-4 hour road ride. After 90 minutes I was cooked. So I packed it in and went home. Tomorrow there is a 90 mile group ride heading out at 9:45AM. It should be good times, assuming I have the legs to get me around the loop.

It looks like Team Dicky will be heading out this way for The E100 in August. I can't imagine doing that race on a rigid single speed.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend in AZ, AR and any where else you may be lining it up!

I am still thinking a lot about lights. I am happy so far with the doubleshot, I have not had an opportunity to get out with it, but the set up is nice, the beam is bright, and it is not a super heavy package. The bar mount is a weak spot, it doesn't fit very well on OS bars, and with the way mine is set up, the shifters get in the way. Not a huge deal since the doubleshot will spend most of its time on my head.

I am toying with the idea of selling my HID set up. I have a Niterider Blowtorch 2.0 with a spare battery. It includes a bar mount and fast charger. The burn time is about 4 hours. Email me or leave a comment if you are interested.

Does this make sense to anyone?

News of a new National Ultra Endurance Series is cropping up this morning. Check it out here also.

The last couple days it has just been rest and recovery. The big weekend in Moab kicked me around pretty good, but I am feeling the urge to get back at it. If the weather holds, I may try to do the ULCER 100 route on the road either Thursday or Friday, then Saturday will be another big road day.

Next weekend will be my first XC race of season. The race is down in St. George, and consists of a 12 mile loop that I will do 3 times. I've not raced this course, so I don't know anything about it. I have heard that it is a flatish spinners course.

OK, not much else going on this morning. Check out The Soiled Chamois for some sweet mash up mixes that JM has put together. Good Stuff!

I'm out.

The scheduled rain was running late. We didn't hang around to see if it would show. We arrived in Moab Friday morning and were ready to ride within the hour. My plans to scout the Kokopelli Trail were thwarted by previous wet days. All reports indicated the the La Sal section of the trail was unrideable. So Friday we rode the Sovereign Trail, and Gemini Bridges. The weather held out and we enjoyed a great precursor to our White Rim tour that would follow on Saturday.

Because of the recent rain in the area, the Shafer Climb on the White Rim route was closed. This altered our plans somewhat and after some discussion we decided that an out and back style ride would have to do. This would give us the opportunity to shorten the ride should the need arise. Saturday morning arrived, and to our delight, the sun was shining and the skies were clear. We parked the car on Potash road, underneath the massive wall of Amasa Back and set out on our epic day.

The wide open spaces of south eastern Utah are some of my favorite places in the world. Canyonlands National Park provides a great opportunity for open air exploration. The White Rim winds its way along the top of canyon walls and through oceans of sagebrush, all the while snaking along in the shadow of rock formations that seem to defy physics in their balance and structure. In these wide open spaces the wind blows, and Saturday was no exception. We fought strong headwinds most of the "out" section of the ride. As we crept over a short, but steep pass the wind whipped into our faces, stinging exposed skin with blowing dust, trying almost successfully to blow our bikes to the ground. We pressed on admiring the vast landscape and enjoying the windy silence of the desert.

One of the reasons I enjoy these remote areas is the feeling of isolation. There is a respite from the every day taskmastering that rides near home don't supply. Despite the tiring nature of these type of rides, I always return feeling refreshed and renewed. There is good therapy in desert isolation. We wove our way through the canyon country keeping a close eye on the dark clouds that seemed to be trying to sneak up on us, catch us off guard, and drop a day's worth of rain on our heads. They never did though. The most we got was a few isolated drops. The headwind that we cursed all morning became a godsend in the afternoon. We were riding the opposite direction and we began the "back" part of our trip. The miles flew by as we enjoyed the gentle push from the wind.

8.5 hours and 80 miles after we left the car, we arrived back to it. We were tired, but happy. It was a great day on the bike and a reminder of how good an epic day can be. That evening we talked about our good day over some decent Mexican food. Always wanting to have another epic day in the saddle, our thoughts and conversations turned to returning to the White Rim....sooner rather than later.

The Moab Weekend Forcast
A few of us from the Mad Dog Cycles team are heading to Moab in the morning. I will be doing some Kokopelli Trail scouting on Friday, then on Saturday we are planning on riding the White Rim. The weather could scuttle some, or all of our plans. We shall see. If all goes well I should have some great photos and a weekend's worth of epic tales.

The great light debate is over. I finally made my choice. I ordered one of these. When I recieve it I will post my impressions. It should make a great primary light for the KTR, and a worthy companion to my HID system for 24 Hour round and rounds.

So, until Sunday, happy trails!

P.S. Only 1 day into the NCAA tourney and my bracket is already looking pretty sad.

P.P.S. Blogger is doing some strange stuff. I am getting some crazy errors when I try and post.

24 Hour$ of Adrenalin announced the date for the "solo world championships". The venue is Conyers, GA. Which I found ironic, since it seemed that last year when 24HoA was there Stuart was reported to have burned some bridges with the locals. But it gets better. The date? October 7th. The 24 Hours of Moab is October 14th. 24 HoA has put every top solo rider in a tough spot. Many top riders already have Moab on the schedule. Will they change that now in light of the "worlds"?

I guess time will tell. It should get interesting.

Today the sun came out. I had planned on going to the gym, but when I saw the bright sunny evening I scrapped those plans and hit the road. I was able to squeeze in a good 1.5 hour ride before dark. Like Saturday's ride though, it was cold. My poor toes were screaming with pain as they thawed out afterward. The average temperature on the ride was 33ºF. I am really hoping for good weather in Moab this weekend.

The snow was delayed enough to get out this afternoon for nearly 3 hours. But it is was cold. Like late December cold. By the time I stumbled into the house I could not feel my toes. Much of the ride had a healthy headwind screaming in my face. Despite the cold and wind though, my legs felt really good. They are cooked right now though. Time for Recover-Ease to go to work.

A look at the MotionBased.com ride summary.

Endurance races last long enough that your body will give you clues as to how it is going to be feeling in the coming hours. It is an important skill to learn to read these signs. I failed horribly at this during the 2005 24 Hours of Moab.


The above photo was taken on my last full day lap at Moab. At the time of the photo I was feeling very good. I was on pace to meet my goals, and was very excited about the coming night. 2 laps later I was puking. I had become dehydrated. I had done a very poor job of replacing electrolytes. Take a look at a detail of the image:


The arm warmers are white with salty sweat. That is not normal for me 6 hours into an event. I should have seen that, and known immediatley what it meant. I could have prevented the puke fest, and continued on through the night. Instead I was balled up in pain in my sleeping bag.

Everyone's body is different. If you can learn the language your body speaks, it can go a long way in preventing future bonks.

The snow is melting. But more is supposed to fall tomorrow. If it doesn't fall, then in the afternoon I will be heading out on a nice road ride. If it is snowing, well then it will be back to the gym.

Dave Harris is divulging secrets. He has posted three very detailed 24 Hour race related articles. They are designed for someone looking to do thier first solo 24, but I think they are a nice read for anyone. It is always good to see what works for other people. It seems that the search for the ideal strategy for food, lighting, bikes, clothing and pit stops is an ever ongoing endeavor.

I installed my new flat bar and my Ergon grips. The flat bar is quite a bit more narrow than the riser I had, but it is a throw back to what I am really used to. I think the new bar, with the Ergon's will be a nice comfy set up for the long haul. If the weather would cooperate I could get some trail time in to get a better idea.

OK, time to do some Ab work on the big rubber ball my wife does pilates on.

I awoke this morning to snow falling. I get home from work and there is a package waiting for me containg a new flat bar and a pair of these. I also recieved a box this week with a Wingnut Gear Hyper 2.5 inside. My first impressions are that the 2.5 is going to be along with me for a lot of miles this year. It is very impressive. I thought for a moment that Christmas had returned.

I learned recently that I will be a part of Team Recover-Ease. I have been using the product in my workouts for the last few weeks and I am enjoying the results. I will be handing out samples at the events I ride in this year, so make sure and grab a few packets from me.

I updated my sidebar. I took a page out of Jeff's book and installed a new menu. Now if I can just find an image rotator script that I can understand, I will be able to show off multiple headers. For now though the scripts and instructions make my head spin.

And speaking of spinning....I hit up 2 spin classes this week. I will admit that I actually enjoyed them (gasp!). They are a great way to get in some high intesity workouts. I think I will continue going 2-3 times a week for the next 6-8 weeks.

Snow is forcasted for the next 3 days. Remember that bit about winter coming back and taking one last big bite? Well it appears that it has happened once again. It will probably not be the last time either.

Allright I'm out. Gotta get some rest.

...this little student film I did in 2001 at the 24 Hours of Moab. Doing the film was my first introduction to 24 Hour racing. Needless to say I became very interested in this type of racing. Keep in mind when you watch the film that I was a student :D

It runs 16 minutes so it may take a minute to load. Hope you enjoy!

The first XC race of the season happend in St. George last weekend. So it is official. The 2006 season is here. Sort of. It is another month until the next race, but nevertheless, the giants have been awakened.

I almost feel that right now is the calm before the storm. It has been a long winter of plugging away on stairmasters and indoor trainers, lifting weights and braving the cold. Spring is emerging from beneath the mud and thawing snowpack. It happens slowly if you try and watch it, but forget to check its progress for a few days and suddenly it stands there in front you with raised eyebrows wondering when you are going to "gitterdun"!

Winter in Utah does not go away easily however. It seems that every year, just when everyone is breathing a collective sigh of relief at the beast returning to the woods, it wheels around and takes one last bitter bite, leaving in our minds the stark reality of the weather in the Rocky Mountains.

Do you ever have those moments where the exact feelings you have during a race come back to you? For an instant today I could feel the sun on my back and taste the sands of Moab in my teeth. I could see the sun sinking behind the horizon and feel the terrifying and thrilling "lump" in my stomach at the prospect of night arriving. In that instant I was homesick.

I could feel the adrenalin rush of the Le Mans start, I could see the sea of helmets around me as 500 riders tried to sort themselves into some semblance of order. I could hear the whirring of chains and the shifting of gears, the grunts and cuss words of racers beating thier heads against a brick wall as they tried to pass in the chaos.

In that instant everything that is a solo race came back to me. As quickly as it came though, it was gone. I was back in March again, watching the grey clouds move slowly across the sky, and continuously waiting for spring to arrive.

Nothing happening today. I am trying to get some details worked out that will allow me to ride part of the Kokopelli Trail (Dewy to Loma) on Friday the 17th, then get back into Moab for a one-day White Rim tour on the 18th. I just need to find a way back to either Dewey, if I park there, or all the way back to Moab if I get dropped at Dewey. I need to talk to some of the people heading down for the White Rim trip to see if they want to pick me up in Loma. Yeah I know...good luck!

The word on the street is that my teammate and riding buddy, Chris Holley smoked the field down at the first ICS race in St. George on Saturday. I am not surprised. He put down the fastest overall lap down at OP a couple weeks ago, and has been in top form since last spring. I wonder how the rest of the team did?

There has been some darn good reading on a bunch of other blogs lately. Check out these posts:

An Open Letter to Cannondale by the Fat Cyclist.

Viking VS Ninja by Rich Dillen

The Rush and The Prophet by Carl Buchanan

Just another day on the bike by JB who loves2ride

More Vikings and Ninjas by the EnduroSnob

This week is a busy one with work, but I should be able to get some good speed work done. Outdoors would be ideal, but If I need to I may hit up the spin class at the gym (gasp!). I have to say that I really disdain the spin classes a the gym. Do we really need to be yelled out by some chick in the dark blasting techno music? Ah well, they can be wonderfully painful workouts, and perhaps the techno yelling will sharpen my mental endurance skills?

I had my first ride with the Garmin Forerunner 301 today. I am very excited about the potential this little unit has. On its own it is a very nice HR monitor/GPS/Cyclo computer. But pair it up with some various software programs and it becomes incredible. Click the images to get a bigger view.

The MotionBased.com summary screen

My ride exported to Google Earth

Apparently I climbed a 35% grade at some point

It must have been this killer. I rode it out though

I was rewarded with some sweet mini BMX action

I can not wait to get some big fat epic rides done with this GPS unit. Can you imagine what The E100 will look like mapped out in Google Earth?

I realize that some of this could probably be classified as "gee whiz" data. But the TC software is really pretty useful. You can get your speed, pace, distance, elevation, and HR for any point during any ride. All the data is graphed out and can be customized with different data options. It will really come in handy when I get multiple rides on the same course mapped out.

For any of you that are numbers and map geeks, this gear will really get you excited.

A Rude Awakening

4 years ago this weekend I was in St. George for the first XC race of the 2002 season. It was the first race of what would be my first real competitive year as a bike racer. It was in the summer of 2001 that I started racing my bike at all, so at this point I was still pretty new to pre-race nutrition, proper warm up/cooldown techniques and really anything other than just pedaling my bike as fast as I could when the gun went off. I learned. I learned the hard way.

The morning of this race I was pretty nervous. So much so in fact that I had zero appetite. I managed to eat half of a banana about 3 hours before race time. That was it. I lined up a the start line on my new 2002 Fuel 100. I had 1 bottle with some crappy caffeine water in it. I was racing in the sport category, so I had two 7 mile laps ahead of me. The race course at Green Valley in St. George is a ton of fun to ride. It has singletrack, techy climbs, and dirt roads to hammer. There are no real difficult sections, it is just rolling desert mountain biking.

Everything was going well until about half way through my second lap. I started to get light headed and dizzy. It was getting hard to steer my bike and keep it on the trail. I figured I needed to drink, so I downed some of the worthless caffeine water. I continued on for a few more minutes, until I came to the bottom of a long technical climb that takes riders up a dry wash. It is a really fun section to ride. This time up however I was fading fast. The dizziness was increasing, and was now attended by blurred vision. I got to the point where I could no longer ride. I was to dizzy to keep my bike upright. I dismounted and tried to walk, but my legs felt like thick jello.

I remember laying the bike down on the side of the trail, then sitting down. At some point I layed down on my back. I am not certain if I passed out or not. I remember people asking me if I was ok as they passed by. I also remember feeling the race slip away as riders continued to pass. I do not know how long I layed there. I was not to far from the top of the climb, where there were volunteer EMTs. I opened my eyes and one of them was standing above me. He asked how I was doing, and I don't know if I even replied.

A few minutes later I was in the cab of a pick up truck being hauled off the course. The EMT gave me 2 PowerBars, which I devoured. He gave me some advice about replacing electrolytes during intense activity. I felt stupid. I felt embarassed. I returned to the start/finish area to a worried wife and curious teamates. I learned that day the importance of proper nutrition before and during a race. Have I made that mistake again? Well sadly, yes. But let's not talk about that! I managed to bounce back 3 weeks later on the same course, where I exorcised the demons and finished a strong 3rd. I also went on that year to win the overall Sport 19-29 series title.

Curiously enough, there are only 2 races that I have ever DNF'd. Both were this St. George innaugral race. The second time was in 2003 when it snowed and rained enough to fill the dry washes with gushing water and cause brand new brake pads to wear out over the course of a couple of hours. I called it a day after 2 of 3 laps when I had no stopping power, and no desire to continue on in the conditions that existed that day.

I can't make it down this weekend for the 2006 version of this race. I will have to settle on reflecting about past efforts down there and wonder why I ever thought that half of a banana and some caffeine water would fuel me through 90 minutes of redline effort.

Ah well, as they say you live and you learn!

Scouting it Out

I was 12 or 13 years old when I did my first "long ride". My scout troop had planned a 50 mile ride, as part of our cycling merit badge. The route would take us from our local church, to Cedar Fort, UT and back. The plan was to ride out to Cedar Fort on a Friday afternoon, spend the night at the park, and then ride home Saturday morning. 25 miles out, 25 miles back.

The distance was daunting to me, but I was excited for what was to easily be the longest bike ride I had ever done. We set off, riding on streets that today are just not fit for cycling, but back then they were ideal. A few things really stand out about this ride to me. The first thing was that I had a walkman tape player, and I listed to the "Flood" album by They Might be Giants at least twice on the ride to Cedar Fort. Whenever a song from that album comes on the radio, I immediatley think of this ride. Another thing that stands out is when we got to Cedar Fort, we played basketball at the park until it was dark. Our adult supervisors were to tired to join us. I also remember one of our group coasting down a hill on the return trip. He somehow did not see a mile marker sign approaching, and he clipped it with his handlebars. He of course wrecked spectacularly. He was fine. He got up and finished the ride. Even today when I drive that road I think about that kid hitting that mile marker. I always laugh about it. And hope it never happens to me.

Today the highway to Cedar Fort is a crowded mess. There are new housing developments filling the land between Lehi and Cedar Fort. The result is a lot of traffic. Yet, for the most part the road is still the same 2-lane road it has always been. It was adequate 15 years ago, but the growth has made it a cycling nightmare, and so the ride I did on that road when I was a scout will probably not be repeated any time soon.

On a somewhat related note, I recall as a scout doing something that today seems utterly pointless. I realize that you are all scrolling through your memories, recalling all the pointless things scouting aged kids do....well this endeavor was the 50/20 hike. 50 miles in 20 hours. Our route took us from downtown Salt Lake, to downtown Provo. We startd in the afternoon, and walked through the night. I did this twice in my lifetime. It was torture. And yet I did it twice! I was sore for weeks afterward. Why am I sharing this with you? Well I am starting to think that perhaps my roots as an endurance racer lie in the influence that the 50 mile bike ride, and the 50 mile walk had on me. Like the bike ride the 50/20 was a scout sponsored activity. Hundreds of scouts from all over the state came to do it. I still do not know the reason why. That event was canceled a short time after I did it because several parents complained about safety issues.

Perhaps these events did influence me. But regardless they stand out in my memories from my teenage years. Rather than explain my love for long days on the bike, they may more accuratley explain my disdain for walking down any part of State Street between Salt Lake City and Provo.