Confessions of a Manic Cyclist

The revolution has come

2008-01-30T18:33:00Z

...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!...(read more)

(R)evolution

2008-01-24T13:15:00Z

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...(read more)

Togwotee

2008-01-18T23:55:00Z

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...(read more)

Camp Lynda done, over and out

2008-01-15T03:06:00Z

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...(read more)

Camp Lynda day 1 in the books

2008-01-12T23:36:00Z

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....(read more)

Recursive bootstrapping to form

2008-01-11T14:00:00Z

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...(read more)

Gears: a love/hate relationship

2008-01-10T15:04:00Z

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...(read more)

Training camp #1

2007-12-27T23:53:00Z

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...(read more)

Something old, something new

2007-12-27T03:00:00Z

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...(read more)

The path to enlightenment: manic or nibbling away?

2007-12-14T13:46:00Z

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...(read more)

Goat trail exorcised!

2007-12-03T19:34:00Z

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...(read more)

SS adaptations in QA

2007-12-02T13:26:00Z

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...(read more)

SS training plan

2007-11-30T20:25:00Z

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...(read more)

SS analysis: strength or power?

2007-11-22T13:30:00Z

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... ;...(read more)

Square Top denial

2007-11-20T14:59:00Z

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....(read more)