It comes to this

6 long months ago on February 14th I signed up for an endurance mtn bike race. Not just any race mind you, Park City Point 2 Point. This race, in its 2nd year sold out in under an hour for the solo category. In under 1 hour 200 other crazy bastards signed up for this race. I am almost positive that many of them have spent the last 6 months training, watching calories, studying maps and profiles, testing out foods and other things all leading up to this. The final countdown. It comes to this. The cold winter days skinning up mtns in the Wasatch Backcountry, trying to stay in shape throughout the long cold winter. The dark mornings of crawling out of bed just to ride your stationary trainer in a cold concrete prison room in the basement. The hours on the bike. The pain and suffering of training rides with people faster than you. The early wakeup calls throughout the summer to get some time on the bike before the rest of the world is awake. The time away from family. The support of Lindy. The cheering of Hannah, "umm, my daddy is beating you". The deep burning desire to NOT be the slowest guy in the group this year. It comes to this.

The Park City Point 2 Point race is by far the largest event I have ever entered into. It is known across the country by professional endurance mtn bike racers. There is envy from those that tried to get in but missed out. There is the shock and awe of those that think I and others are just plain crazy. To those I say, that might be so, but its just one of those things. As Dug said, Once your hooked, your hooked.

I have ridden nearly 1600 miles so far this year. There is still 2 months left of the season atleast. 1600 miles is nearly what my mom drives each quarter. My training has gone nearly to plan. I am looking forward to finishing the PCPP race with a smile on my face come late Saturday afternoon.

 
So, theres nothing left to do except Pedal Dammit, and Suffer Well. I also like what Dug had to say. Many other posts about PCPP showing up right now. Its all good stuff.

10 day review part 2

Picking up where we left off. A few weeks back while riding in Park CIty, my bike began making a weird creak noise. It would happen under pressure or riding in certain parts of the trail that a creak wouldn't normally happen. If that makes any sense. Probaby not but it was making noise. I couldn't pin point it to an exact spot except the rear hub area or somewhere in the rear. I got out my headlamp and started to investigate. Didn't really know what I was looking for but, I saw something that I was concerned about so I took it in to Revolution for a professional look. Worry confirmed, it was broke. I didnt know how to react. 2 weeks away from PCPP, what bike would I be riding. Not a good feeling. I tried not to freak out but my stomach was in knots. Matt (the cannondale rep) just happened to be on his way to the shop, so I hung out.

Broke, cant tell from the pic though

Matt came in and checked it out and immediately was on the phone to Cannondale. Awesome! Oh wait! Backordered until October! Shit! He said he would find me a bike to ride and thought maybe he would be able to track down a frame. Told me to call him later that night. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat and got me a new frame. Less than 5 days later, I have a new frame all built up and ready to roll.

Sweet brand new frame!

I took it out this morning  on its maiden voyage and broke it in real good. I took a digger coming down Jacobs. Trail is pretty washed out in a few sections and rutted. Got caught with my pants down in a rut and wasn't able to pull it out. (no pun intended) Crashed into a huge sagebrush bush and some small oak trees. Broke my sunglasses and scratched me up pretty good. Pretty lucky actually, I was expecting it to be much worse at the speed I was going. Too bad nobody was with me. I am sure it was a spectacular crash to watch, only Lord of the Blue Dome witnessed.

On to the Queen Stage of the Tour Of Utah. I have been looking forward to this stage for a long time. I wasn't able to watch last year since I was crawling up LCC just before the pros came haulin ass through. I got to watch the finish but I really wanted to be lower in the Canyon where I could get close to the riders. It didn't disappoint! We arrived at Tanners Flat around 1:30 ish. We were able to get a great spot up towards the top before it bends right. We could see the whole straightaway. We got the chairs out and hung out for an hour or so and waited for the support cars to roll up. Once we say them we knew they were getting close. Plus I was following where they were on my phone via Twitter. 

We went to the other side of the road since it was less crowded and everyone seemed to follow us. Dammit! We had a great view and we were near this guy. 

This dude was pumped to be there!

He also came with a chick dressed like the Wendy's chick. Couldn't get a good pic of her though. Anyway, Tanners Flat came unglued when the riders started rolling through. I jumped right in and ran alongside the riders, screaming and yelling, ringing my bell. It was a blast! We saw Levi roll through and Burke,  got some decent pictures. A few of the riders off the back asked for a push, I ran alongside them while pushing. They were all suffering. America's Toughest Stage race had taken its toll on everyone.

GO Levi GO!

Hannah started school back up on Tuesday. She was pretty pumped to go back to school. We will take advantage of that since it won't be too long before we are throwing cold water on her to wake her up!

Woke up this morning pretty sore. I went out for a easy mtn bike ride to see how my body felt. Felt decent on a bike. Rollin up to PC tomorrow to ride the last 2 sections of the PCPP course. Should be a good time.

 

10 day review part 1

In an attempt to catch things up a bit I thought I would try to do it in a few posts.

The Tour of Utah rolled through last week and I know alot of us did whatever we could to catch a stage or two, or three. I was able to catch 3 of them. I really wish I could have made the Park City Crit but was unable to pull that one off.

I cruised down to Nephi and watched them climb the backside of Nebo. It was a ton of fun to see all the support cars, media etc roll through there before the riders. Unreal how these guys climb. Here are a few photos from that stage.

Next up for us was the Time Trial. We decided to make the drive to BFE because I had the day off and it had some kids stuff goin on that I thought would help keep Hannah entertained. We got to meet the Bees mascot, we got to stand within 4 feet of Levi while he warmed up and we finally got a front row seat to watch the last 15-20 riders cruise in through the finish. Average speed 30+mph!

I really wanted to hug him but he wouldn't let me. 

We all had a really great time watching the Time Trial. Although, the Time Trial is probably not the greatest fun since you only see them for a split second. 

I had decided that day while riding up AF canyon that I would do the Snowbird Hillclimb the next morning. I could do that and still make it to work. Since my Scalpel broke (more on that later) I was unable to do some PCPP recon friday and wanted to get some good riding in. So, I surprised Lindy who was planning on going to the Farmers Market the next morning. She was a good sport and was able to come see me about half way up the canyon and still make it to the Farmers Market. I was pretty pleased with my time. 1 hour 6 minutes. Fastest by about 4 minutes unless you count the climb 2 years ago when it started over towards Big Cottonwood. A bit shorter I think. I felt pretty good and was able to finish strong. 

The previous week, the good DR. and I made our way to Park CIty to ride some pristine one track. The trails in Park CIty are very nice. Good flow, smooth, technical, demanding climbs etc. You name it they have it. We fumbled our way around the course and ended up with 30 miles. Not what we had planned out but good riding nonetheless. 

Come back for the news on my broken bike, the Queen Stage of the Tour Of Utah and possibly some other stupid stuff.