Race Report: Chile Challenge

Ken rippin the downhill in Angel Fire, NM. Photo: vastaction.com
Angel Fire has always been an important race to me, it was the first 'mountainous' course I ever raced a single speed on, it is one of the most physically and mentally demanding courses, it is super techy going up and coming down, and is just a lot of fun. The 2006 installment of this event did not dissappoint.

After an easy pre-ride the day before, I was a bit nervous in the thought my legs did not feel fresh, and was unsure about being to push it. My training leading inot the season has been completely different than that of prior seasons, leaving the door open for self-doubt. But at the same time, I have never felt as fresh mentally nor physically, I know I am missing some top end speed, which the plan was to gain through racing the month of May and into June.

We had a solid field of riders at the starting line, soem of whom I have already raced once, most I have not, so lots of questions to be answered, and they were on the first climb. Dan Durland, as he has done for several races going back into last season, grabbed an early lead which was short-lived, as I took over at the top of the start shoot. Rolling around the side of the ski hill, I rode very conservative, and had a look at the rest as we hit the fist switchback. Just a few minutes in, and it was David LaBarr (he won the IF frame at SSWC05) and myself off the front. The climb from there was gradual, until we hit a loose fast descent that dropped us out onto a ski run, and then it was a hard right for one of the steepest climbs. I punched it to see how David was doing, he dropped back, and struggled his way back up, and I thought I was in for a long hard fight.

I kept the lead as we plowed through the Expert classes that had started before us. The climb varied greatly in grade, and was mostly doubletrack for the first part, then we hit the twisting and techy singletrack climb. It was there I made another attack, putting about 6 experts and a lot of daylight between David and myself. On the gas, I kept climbing, making quick work of the Expert riders on front of me. The climb weaved in and out the woods, and was speckled with gnarly rock gardens. My new Hutchinson Piranhas were finding great purchase in the loose conditions, as I kept rolling to the summit. peaking out the first of two laps, I gave a quick glance back - no one.

The descent is so sweet, tight, snappy, rock strewn singletrack the whole way down. Makes for interesting passing, which I made a few, but it felt great to get into the flow on the way down. This is the kind of descent you do not relax on, it is punishing, but I was ear-to-ear smiles.

Through the base area, I charged out on my second lap, but still looking for any sign of my pursuiants. Like the first lap, I was charging through categories that had started earlier, and was getting a lot of encouragement from the riders I was passing. Near the top, that pain of several thousand feet of climbing over the course of the race was starting to be felt in my legs, but was dimmed by the thought if I can just keep my bike on the trail, this was my race. At the bottom as I circumvented the base area loop one last time, I saw the line, as was so stocked to have won the Chile Challenge for a 5th time.

Once David came in, we conversed, and then 3rd place Kenneth Kisiel joined in. We all had a great time out there, and enjoyed the competition. In the end I was able to ope a good gap over the field, and beat every time of the categories that did two full laps. A lot of spectators cheered me on as the IF Single guy, a nickname I wear proudly. It is a great start to the season, and it looks like my training is already paying off. Thanks to my sponsors and everyone who supports me!


Men - Single Speed
Place  Name Time License Bib Team
1 Ken Bloomer  1:52:46.94  161389  35  Independent Fabrication
2 David Labarr  2:00:12.89  20065  692  Tamarack Resort
3 Kenneth Kisiel  2:01:36.05  19279  39 
4 Michael Cubison 2:05:13.87  229210  36  University Of Colorado
5 Clinton Knapp  2:06:54.23  19424  40  Blacksheep Bicycles
6 Devin Curran  2:08:47.01  211576  37  Wily Cycles
7 Robin G  2:08:50.39 467 
8 Dan Durland  2:17:12.10  199907  38  Pro Cycling
9 Chris Sulfrian  2:24:29.30  185757  42  Team Pink Taco
10 Andrew MESESAN 2:37:17.05  727 
11 Thomas Ray  2:43:59.33 213174  724  KHS
3 DNF's

IF Ti Deluxe Single Speed

When I started racing back in Germany circa 1993, it was all about steel bikes for me, and honestly nothing has changed. Back then, I was riding a sweet Brodie Expresso, and my best friend had a Fat Chance Yo Eddy. Both bikes were magical, beautiful and always got a look over from people passing by. Since then, I have moved through a few bikes, another Brodie, a Dean (which really sucked), two single speed Sycip's and my current steed, this sweet Ti 2005 Ti Deluxe from Independent Fabrication. I landed my dream ride with IF last year, as part of my sponsorship they built me this mtb and a single speed cross bike (look for it soon on this blog).

It is a custom geometry, like all of their bikes, Reynolds Ti tubing, disc brakes, with a sweet Phil Wood eccentric bottom bracket, which makes for easy wheel changes. Phil Wood is also pulling BB duties with a silent, Ti 113 BB that has already seen two hard seasons, and still buttery smooth. Flanking the PW BB is a set of custom anodized White Industries ENO cranks with a 34t ring. Stealthy, stong, and absolutely wonderful to look at. Outboard from those are some sick Triple Ti Crank Brothers Eggbeaters, light, strong, and simple.



Suspension duties are handled by a more than able Fox Racing Shox F80X, and I was sceptical of this fork when I first tried it, but I am really digging it. A fan of really supple-active forks, the 80X is set on the lightest setting, so it blows opens with the slightest trail variation, but still provides enouh lock-out for those stand-up and grunt sections. It feels as good as my F80RLT did, and is the best steering fork with awesome torsional rigidity of any other out there.



Look at those dropouts! The wheels are courtesy of DT Swiss, which include their new Tubeless kit, it is a really slick system, and have had no issues with it since it was installed. The cool feature about the DT tubeless system is, if you flat, just remove the valve stem, and throw in a tube, no need to remove the whole system like with the Stans, this way you still have rim tape. The 240s Single Speed wheels w/ the Centerloc disc brake pattern are a beautiful black all over, run sooo smooth, and engage without a thought. Using DT adapters, I can run my Magura Marta rotors on the Centerloc system and actually save a few grams with this light weight alu adapter over those heavy steel bolts. Chris King is handeling my rear cog duties w/ their sweet stainless steel cogs, the one you see here is five years old, and is still like new!



Magura Marta Sl's keep my bike firmly dowm from orbit, and this is my second season on this set of brakes, they have been bled only a couple of times, and changed the rear pads once. Titec's new Pluto bar and post shine brightly clad in carbon, while the Thomson X4 stem rouns out the cockpit. Only a Chris King headset will do, topped off with an OTE Sports headcap. Troy @ OTE Sports in Fruita lent me his personal Edge Cycles single speed for my first race on a single speed. That, and my close ties to those guys, I am honored to run their headcap.



This bike was electric blue last season, but it did not feel right to me, so I had it stripped and redone for this season, in a proper Lime Green scheme with the team decals. This goes awesome w/ the assorted black parts, and the custom silver Fizik Gobi saddle, which is by far the best saddle on the market. It has a soolid feel to it, but is not so hard that you get sore, and has a great form. The paint schem also matches well with our Squadra IF team kits, featuring the oh-so-to-be-desired YPro3 pad from Castelli.



The overall ride of the bike is incredible. Only a couple of my bikes that I have owned have felt seemless, like that in this bike. I literally float down the trail, and can really push it hard through technical sections, corners and in flight. It my not be quite as snappy as some of the steel bikes I have had, but the bonus there is I don't feel beat after a hard ride or race. The frame & fork do an awesome job of soaking up the terrain, I also attribute this to the tires, Hutchisons, which I will write a whole blog soon about those, and a new set I am trying.



The carbon bar and post from Titec also take the edge off trail roughness, and yet are very stiff, and confidence inspiring. I love bikes, especially custom ones, and while it is nice to upgrade and get new gear, this bike fills all of my need as a mtb, and there is really no reason to change anything (unless the day comes and I want gears - like that will ever happen). I am fortunate to be aligned with all of the companies involved in this bike, oer the years I have learned what I like in my equipment, and these companies represent the best in what they do. Thanks to everyone who help put this dream machine.

Enoy the ride!

Race Report: Battle @ the Bear

Last year Charlie Hayes smoked me at this race, and this year I wanted to change that. So w/ a stout 34x15, and rigid fork, I went looking for redemption, I found humbleness.

Completely wired and nervous nearly three hours out from our 11:30 start time, I had a bad feeling about how the day was going to go. And as I fed Sandi during her Pro Womens race, I could feel I forgot to pack something, fresh legs. Sandi was in a great race, four girls out front, playing road racing tactics in a flat mountain bike race w/ some strong winds to make it interesting. Sandi sat fourth position most of the race, siting the girls were excellerating off each turn, and uphill, and could not play the game. Could have fooled me! She launched a counter attack after young 17 year Tokyo Joe's sensation Cloe got away, and Sandi dropped the other two girls to take home a solid 2nd place.

Then came my race, after watching scary high heart rates during my warm up. Off the start, I grabbed the point to try and set a sensible pace, but the Junior Experts were havingnone of and animated some attacks just a few hundred meters in. Charlie Hayes followed suit, and I gave chase. Once on Charlie's wheel, I tried to settle in and draft, but my legs felt sluggish, and heartrates were off the charts, I was in trouble early. By the end of the first lap, I let Charlie go, but had a huge gap on third place Dan Burnett, so I settled in to suffer through to the end. Finishing a disappointing second, disappointing because I wanted to run w/ Charlie, I sought consolation, that even on a bad, actually a really bad day, I still finished well ahead of the rest, found some good power to push the stout gearing up steep climbs, and fought through despite my anguish.

The next day I had a stellar follow up on the road bike, climbing a 9 mile ascent w/ ease. Funny how that works, off one day, on the next. Next weekend is Angle Fire, and while it is still early in my season (@ 95% of peak right now), I am hoping to be in the mix.

Enjoy the Ride.

USA Cycling New Cyclo-cross Categories

According to a new press release from USA Cycling, they now have 'new' cyclo-cross categories on their licenses. Now is they could just have some races outside of the USGP's, which by the way there are two of them this year in Colorado in November. Realizing we are just getting into the mountain bike season, I check out the DVD 'Transistion', a movie that follows the 2004 domestic cyclo-cross season and racers. It is very well done, show some insight into top racers, as well as some not so top racers. It is a great motivation for any kind of riding or racing, check it out. You can order it through www.cyclocrossworld.com.

I have also heard a rumor that USA Cycling will rank single speeders this season? While single speeders have long been anti-establishment, and sort of punk rockers of the mtb scene, it would be great to see ranking structure, as there are more and more SS racers, state & regional point series, and interest in the facet of the sport.

Fruita Fat Tire Festival

Getting the machine ready for service.


After getting everything setup this morning, they slowly started rolling in, and soon the The Backdoor Coffeebar in the rear of Over the Edge Sports became the place to meet for the first offical day of riding at the 2006 Fruita fat Tire Festival. The first party the night before, put on by DT Swiss had many heads hanging, but I was ready to put some pep into their step with a our great new Rwandan espresso blend. It was easy to dial in the Astoria, and soon I was pulling great shots. Using Horizon milk and half& half, that they provided for our demo, I put out varous drinks to the weary as they gathered to go out on rides. Many faces I did not know, but also many I did. A couple came in that now live in Nederland, but once resided in Gunnison and were Mochas regulars, recognized the Cravens cups, and eventually me as well from my days as a barista there.

I set up the who's who of the cycling industry, to include Scott Nicol of Ibis, Jason Grove of El Camino, Chopper from Smith and one very thankful Andy Hampsted, former Giro d Italia winner. Andy said it was the best americano he has had in some time, high praise from a man whom spent most of his professional career in Europe. Everyone was stoked on the coffee, and I really enjoyed serving everyone and starting their day off right. Many came back for another free cup of those sweet, rusty-golden brown shots. Man, it was magical.

After my time behind the bar, and a few coffees myself, my friend Kevin and I hit the trails as well. We opted for the Zion Curtain loop off of the Rabbit Valley exit, and that was some sweet single track that just did not end! No wonder this is the mountain bike mecca! It was a pretty sick loop featuring quick snappy, bermed turns, whoops, jumps, white knucle descents, and ear-to-ear smiles all around.

After tanking up with some of the best authentic Mexican cusine, it was back to Gunnison, where a freak spring storm greeted us with a dashing of snow.

Ah, but it was all worth it.



Looking out over Rabbit Valley

http://thebackkitchen.blogspot.com/

David Blaine is an awesome chef, having personally had the pleasure of meeting him and dining at the Latah Bistro late last fall, the food is great. David is a fellow cyclists, chocolate & coffee lover and obviously a conscientious individual. Check out is his Blog, he offers up some great receipes and thoughts. He has a Coffee Conscious Quiz up right now about coffees, and how make purchasing decisions, below I have cut and pasted his quiz for you to take as I would love to hear your thoughts...

Which local coffee roasters source their beans directly from the plantations?

Does it matter if the beans are sourced directly or purchased through distributors on the open market?

Are you willing to pay more for Organic or Shade Grown when buying a coffee drink in a restaurant or drive-through?

Do you choose where to get coffee by the brand of beans they use?

Is the Barista more important than the beans?

Do you purchase more coffee at inside counters or at drive-thrus?



Simon Craven cupping at the source

Motorsports Revolution

Growing up around auto racing (that little guy looking through the fence is me watching my Dad's car get weighed in after winning the Indianapolis National), I still posess a great interest n it. This past weekend had some great racing, F1 @ Imola, AMA Supercross @ Dallas and some sport car racing. The reason I mention the F1 & Supercoss series, is that these are tow of the best years of racing in long time in both. F1 is tight w/ the long-time champion Schumi having to fight and scrap for every point against the new guard lead by current World Champ Alanso. And Supercross is down to the final two events with a tight points bought between Carmichael, Reed and Bubba Stewart, awesome!

More than these story lines is a bigger one that has not gotten much press, Diesel. My conscious has had me torn in the recent past about supporting racing, because it had seemed that racing was not leading the technology and direction to sustainable fuel resources. Except for a few cockroach looking vehicles scurrying accross the Australian desert, racing has been about faster cars, technology in the sense of computers and maximizing current resources, and saftey (which is a bad thing). But until a couple of weekends ago, it had nothing to do with environmental concerns, but that all changed in Sebring during the American LeMans Series 12 hour race, when Audi absolutely dominated a field of some of the most technically advanced autos with a pair of TDIs (Turbo Diesel Injection).

The Europeans are so far out front on diesel technology, it is not funny. There is an all-wheel drive TDI Golf, that will blow the doors off the new GTI Mark IV just now making its US debut (these have been out for 3 years in Germany). And it is coming in the near future that more race series will adopt these engines, right now they are in LeMans, and the German Touring Cras, be looking for them in more sports car series, WRC World Rally, and yes, F1. What about NASCAR? Not that I care, but they have their own issues w/ the big 3 bleedy massive amounts of $$$ every day, Toyota will step in the next year or two and take over that series. And when Chevy, Ford and Dodge are gone, I wonder what will that sticker of the kid peeing on their least favotrite brand will be peeing on?

Racing is as good as it has been, and things are looking like it can only get better with these big changes coming. It is great to see a sport I like so much, take charge and lead the change towards something positive, while still provide great competition and sport.

XM

Recently, I put XM into my car, mainly because I loggged 40k miles last year for work, and my CD's tend to take a beating getting sheffled around. And I want to say I love it! More channels than you can imagine, and better than that, really good wones.

Meet Fred. If you are an eighties child like me, and grew up on early eighties groups like the Clash, X, Berlin, along with the mid-eighties Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, New Order and late eighties U2, REM, B-52's and Sugar Cubes (now I realize a lot of the groups mentioned here spanned the entire eighties, and some of the best stuff was earlier on - no debate here, but you get the point), then meet Fred. The play great tracks I have not heard in a long time, taking me back to homeroom, and skipping class. Jumping off the cliffs down at the quary and later partying at my friends house which was always blasting these great tunes. Actually I went to school with Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel rider) during this time, we both got into snowboarding about the same time, and I saved his ass from a real ass kicking during Steamboat Days in downtown Burlington. Ahh, those were the days...


Jason getting it done on Brastown Bald Photo: Casey Gibson, Courtesy of VeloNews.com

But like anything, only in moderation, so when I have had enough of Fred, I check in with Lucy or Ethel, two similar alternative rock stations throwing down the classics and some more modern tunes. Everything from Nitzer Ebb, Ministry, Nirvana to 311, Blink 182 and so on.

While living in Europe I grew to love electronica, House, Progressive, Trance, Acid Jazz, you name it. One of my close friends spun, and produced music, DJ Nikman, and that taught me to really appreciate livesets. XM Chill, the Move, BPM, and Progressive not only throw on some of the best beats going, but have great livesets from likes of Frankie Knuckles, louie Vega and my favorite DJ right now, Armin van Buuren (http://stage.arminvanbuuren.com/). pretty sick stuff.

there are plenty of other station to check out that I have failed to mention, but w/ my job, I will definitly find the time. As for my CD's? Well the may be getting a break for now, and I do occassionaly thow them in the mix. Besides, I am finding new music that will have to be added to my library.

Espresso machines

Here is Jason Grove's machine, it is a sweet single group Faema, very nice. I find espresso machine to be like bikes, they are beautiful works of art that serve a great functionality in our lives. The ones made by hand and with care, tend to be the ones I desire most, not the mass produced, plastic riddled pieces of %$@# that Starbucks and other chains try to pedal onto you, you might as well go out and buy a Trek, or Specialized...

I noticed that Jason is using Starbucks shot glasses in this photo, great looking shots! I did a barista training this past week in one of my dealers and noticed they too had a scoop from Starbucks, I guess we are all guilty. I have an old tamper from Starbucks, it is a paper weight on my desk now that I have a sweet Espresso parts machined tamper (espressoparts.com). I guess we all start with satrbucks, or someone gives us stuff from there because they think it is cool. It is like bikes, we all had a main stream bike somewhere down the line (Specialized, Santa Cruz, Trek...), those are the bikes you buy before you buy a real bike - I'm talking custom made steel, or ti.

My espresso machine is a Micro LaCimballi (pronounced: la ch-imballi), while living in Germany, I had an espresso out of one of these older piston, lever style machines - it changed my life. Since then, my pursuit has been to replicate that sweet nectar, and the golden rust brown crema, very few coffees and machines can produce. Even my wife Sandi is a a coffee snob because of this machine (not too mention the coffee).

FFTF06

The 2006 Fruita Fat Tire Festival is quickly approaching, April 27-30. I will be there handing out free coffee Friday morning, April 28th, along w/ my protege barista, Jason Grove of El Camino Fab (www.elcaminofab.com), he was the featured builder in the October 2005 issue of Bike, and makes some of the most beautiful frames out there. Should be a lot of fun, cool rides and the world reknown Clunker Crit. Did I mention the parties???

C'ya in Fruita.

Morning Cup

Besides riding bikes, coffee plays a major role in my life. Learning the art of espresso back when I lived in Germany from an Italian that I worked for, after coming back to the states I worked as a Barista during my college, then I ran a very busy coffeehouse (doing something like 300+ coffee drinks a day!) my education in this field continues today as brand manager for Cravens Coffee. We offer a wide range of coffees, but my focus is primarly on the Certified Organic/ Fair Trade coffees. This is very important as coffee is largely a third-world industry, and coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world. From both the retailers and consumers point of view, it is our responsibility to ensure that farmers in these impoverished parts of the world can afford to buy their evening meals, and not exploited. Transfair, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization out of Holland that oversees the trade of coffee, and through certification sets a fair price for beans. Right now that is around $1.24 per green pound of coffee, we pay on the average $1.65 +.

Cravens buys our coffee based on quality, and is a big patron to the Fair Trade movement, but what about the coffee from really small farms and coops that can't afford certification? Well, I drinking one now. Rwanda has some great coffees, one of which we are putting inot a conventional blend (that is it has not certification). But this coffee is organic, and we paid above fair trade prices for it, not toomention this has become one of my favorites. So what to do, do we say that it is organic and fairly traded? But it has no certification, and that would mislead the consumer. I have seen other companies spin this to the point where you really did not know what the coffee was. Some are mearly exploiting the system, trying to bypass costly certifications, and taping into a marketing tool. While others are geniune in their efforts to treat farmers w/ respect, but they do not participate in the Transfair programs.

Lets face it, it would be great to research all of the companies that we buy products from, but we can't. So look for the certifications, or labels on the coffees that clearly state a companies position. That morning cup of joe you have may make all of the difference in the world to someone half-way accross from you.

Baby Steps

On wednesday, I had it all planned out, I was going to ride the Soveriegn Trail in Moab as it would be perfect for my planned workout, that all changed. Grabbing some air for my tires that had softened dramatically since my last ride, Sean at the Chile Pepper gave me the 4-1-1 on a new single track called 'Baby Steps'. It is a new loop off the Klondike Bluffs loop that actually has single track!

Sean gave me a verbal lay of the trail, then had one of his employees go over w/ me one more time before sending me out on this beautiful spring day. Arriving at the trail head, i ran into Alison Dunlap who was taking out a group, we caught up a little, wished each other a great ride, and started the wheels turning.

It was a short while of sand, double track and some slick rock before I hit the first section of single track. This trail is still fresh, narrow single track, I talking ten inches wide, max. Wrapping the contours of the landscape, this red ribbon, was snappy, tight and fun. Eventually the first section spilled me out onto a slab of slick rock, along wich, as instructed, I followed the perimeter unitl I picked up the next section. Once again, primo riding and it even wrapped under a psychodelic mushroom rock formation. I kept seeing little geckos shooting across the trail like little green bullets as I interupted their sun bathing in the warm spring daylight.

Again, the red strpie came to a close on another slab, or was it the same? I did not really care because of the fun, but I was pretty sure I was heading the right direction as I was told earlier. Sure enough, I came upon the Klondike Bluffs trail, and then hit my first steep climb of the ride. At the top, I opted for an out and back view point that was also prime-time single track, worth the effort, from there, it was a sweet techie downhill, that was fairly long, alowwing one to get into the groove, fing flow down the hillside.

Riiding along the valley floor, the exploding green for the ripening vegitation engulfed my sight, and it made me feel very vital, alive. It was great just zipping along the valley floor like a tiny blip on a vast radar of green grass, towering red rock walls and a ever expanding bue sky.

A quick left and it was back up and over the ridge line for the second time. Mainly double track, I rolled on, short ascents and descents accented this section as I rode along the ridgeline. Then in a saddle, it was a hard right, turning me to look straight up the last major climb, before grabbing some sweet lines back down. My legs pounded out a strong tempo, propelling to the top.

Then after catching my breath, there it was, the last section back to where I started. It was a long, twisting, turning and at time, white knuckle fast descent, but worth every effort to get there. The red ribbon ofter intersected w/ slabs of slickrock, and had some great features along the way. Fully in the flow, I pumped the trasitions, manualed the woops, and floated over obstacles, it was zen like.

Before I knew it, I was on the road back to my car. I was in postride extascy. Glad about the choices made to take a chance on a new ride, it is definitely worthy. It is not on a map yet, so you will have to bring and open ear, and open mind. It is easy to floow, and a sweet ride. And the name? Baby Steps because it is the first mountain biker built trail in Moab...

The Gerbil EffectThe Gerbil EffectThe Gerbil Effect

Nestled amidst the jagged peaks that tower over the thousands of square miles of National Forest, we do not give much thought to immediate trail riding access in Gunnison. Don’t get me wrong, we fully support IMBA, and every year volunteer for the cause, but recently I got a taste of what one in Denver must do to go for a ride.

Over the weekend, I rode Green Mountain for the first time, which for those of you not familiar w/ Denver is a large tree-less barren green hill (actually it is brown most of the time) that dominates the landscape on the northwestern part of town. An inter-lacing web of single and double track drapes over the many ridges and folds of the metropolitan riding area. Just to the west in the foothills is Red Rocks (famous for its concert venues), Dinosaur Ridge, and many hundred of miles of riding in Jefferson County. But for a quickie or nooner, this seems like the place; otherwise you are into urban riding, bike paths, or some seriously flat riding.

Looking to get in a good hill interval day, I set out looking for a trail to do my first ascent. Occasionally stopping to let riders pass coming the other way (you know the rule, the rider going uphill has the right of way), I asked for a verbal lay of the land from locals. Once I figured out my options, my first climb was from the main parking lot on the east side, that had some sweet steep single track and switchbacks. So I set out from the west parking area, and headed around the baseline trail. Rolling into the east parking lot, I located the climb I was looking for at the far end, and started my charge up. I forgot my heartrate monitor, so I just use the pounding of my heart in my head as a guage. After grinding that climb out on my single speed, another local pointed me to one of the better descents, and it dropped me back down the west side.

Near the bottom, I saw a steep road that went back up, and jumped on it. Nearly coming to a halt a few times on the way up, I kept the pedals slowly turning over; I was definitely paying my dues! No wonder the Denver guys can climb the fire roads at ski areas like no tomorrow! Back on top, I found a single track that I saw the first time I summited. It scurried the outline of the hilltop around from the westside about 100 meters below the ridgeline, back around to the eastside. It turned out to be pretty swoppy and fun, and at a T, I dropped down another trail that looked like it wnet on for a while only to find it was a dead-end into a neighborhood. After pulling a quick U-turn, It was back up to near the top, where I picked up the previous single track, and followed it around to the east. After catching a double track back to the top, I dropped into a sweet switchback trail that ran parallel to the first single track I climbed earlier. 2 hours later, and three times to the top, my ride finished on the lowest ribbon of trail that circumvented back around to the west side where I had parked with several other riders.

All in all it was a fun ride, but then again I only rode it once. Having this as an option, sometimes as an only option, I can only think of a gerbil running in its stationary wheel. But if you are ever in Denver and don’t know where to go, don’t have much time, and don’t want to get lost, this is a no-brainer.

Sandi Looks Strong at Koppenberg

Sunday's Koppenberg Climb in Louisville Colorado turned out to be a race of survival as 50-60mph winds scoured the parched landscape of the foothills. In her first appearance of 2006, Sandra Bloomer, showed her strong form from the 2005 season had carried over. A strong women's field lined up for their mid-day attack on the course, and the action came early and hard on the first of six assents on the Koppenberg. Sitting mid-pack, Sandi was forced off the bike on the first round, when the line she was in came to a screeching halt. Untangling herself from the carnage that found many women scrambling via foot to the top, a strong but small group of five made the first break of the day, leaving the rest of the field, exposed and strung out over the long dirt road, that was being raped by an unrelenting side wind. Outside the top ten, Sandi went to work, clawing her way back in to eighth, when on lap 3, she was literally blown off the road just after the climb by what must have been a 60+mph gust. Climbing out of the ditch, she lost contact with the small group she was in, but a lap later she had blown by them, and was chasing down 6th place. With a teammate up the road, a the 8th place rider was not working, Sandi pressed on. On the final climb, a strong gust made Sandi veer off course during the climb, relinquishing the spot, leaving Sandi to settle for 8th. It was a valiant effort, and Sandi showed not only great form, but great composure in the face of adversity. If this weeks road race result is any indication, Sandi looks to be on track to make her way to some top mountain bike finishes this season.

Spring in Fruita

This was originally posted on the 'teamgreen' blog, but I wanted to bring it over to this blog as well.

Like a migratory birds returning north in the spring, each year on the first few warm days of spring see a different migration on the Western Slope of Colorado. Out of the mountains they come, emerging from the hibernation in winter sport, leaving behind their vehicles of sliding on the white frozen high-altitude terrafirma, for a warmer pursuit of rolling across the fresh dirt of Fruita. As the mercury surpasses the 60F, their numbers increase, SUV's and other fossil-fueled ironsleds bring them in hoards to this sacred ground of mountain biking. Parking lots full of a buzz, as these creatures shed their heavy wintercoats for more sleek, fresh and fast skins of springtime, full of bright colors, but still paleskin from the long, cold dark days behind them. They zip around, testing their shiny two-wheeled, off-road gyropscopes, bouncing, hopping and playing in the large gravel fields before charging out onto the ribbon of dirt for a 3 hour plus journey.

We too join the masses, leaving behind our nest, still frozen solid in a landscape of white. Armed with my trusty, do-it-all IF cross bike (single speed), and my mate with her Ti mtb, we park away from the main herd, and opt for a slightly different route. Making the transformation from winter to warmer coats, we mount our trusty steeds and feel the first few rotations on dirt as we ride away. Euphoria is abound as we communicate our joy with exclimmated physical expressions as we just try to soak up the warmth of the intense solar rays, that seem to melt away the months of cold from our souls. This energy seems to provide an extra spark as the pace quickens along the parched valley floor. I find myself challenged on the ascents, pushing a stout 44x17 gearing combo, but my enthusiasm and joy overcome the challenge, watching my legs swell while standing up and pushing through the hard gears. As we find our first section of singletrack, I allow Sandi to drop in first, allowing here first tracks into the offroad cycling equivalent of fresh powder tracks. She quickly stretches out before me as the loose dirt proves to be challenging for my skinny tire choice. After meeting back up at a crossroads, her experience of pleasure is clear with out words, and verified by her vocal approval.

Snaking, twisting, and rolling out way up through a small ravine, our pace is steady and fast, but leaves us time to gaze about at the world around us that is still brown, and lacking life. The plant life has yet to awaken in these early hours of spring, but there is a sense of anticipation for their arrival. We arrive at the top of our first climb, fresh, and ready for more as we drop into another section of prime grade A singletrack, this time with a slight tilt downward. Once again Sandi makes quick work of the snappy turns, obstacles and elevation changes, this time I am right in tow having found my footing.

We make our way around this configuration, encountering for the first time others who too have made the journey. Out of etiquette we make way for each on the this small bit of realestate that is barely big enough for one, not too mention two in passing. Friendly greetings are exchanged as we accelerate from one another, gladly getting back underway on our ride. We close out this section with a dramatic finish of white knuckle descents that spill us back out onto the valley floor. And as the symphony of singletrack becomes more tranquil, we turn back northward, for yet another journey to the top on another of many in the web of singletrack that covers this part of the world. Feeling punchy, I grab the point. Rolling, and sometimes sprint the ups and downs of the climb. Direction is forever changing, snapping to the left and to the right, up and down, stepping up and over obstacles in the trail, it is the sweetest taste to these now salt encrusted lips. A quick hello to my singlespeed brethren as we both glance at each others rides, and it is onward. Wrapping around the top, we face our final descent, and journey back to where it all began. Full of confidence, I hold my post in the lead, and charge may way down what to me becomes an extended BMX course of berms, jumps and features for railing. One with the bike, I flow like water, fluid and fast. And as I pass one rider, I notice she shares my insignia, and say "nice Indy" to her. She smiles knowing I too am on an IF. The charge down is long and plentiful, but yet my greed doesn't want to see it end. And as we spill out one last time, onlooker watch, as they prepare to begin their own journey into spring, leading to yet another riding season.

Reluctantly, we change out of our new found freedom, dawning our cloaks of winter, and slowly make our way back to the cold nesting grounds we have chosen. But at the same time, we feel a sense of satisfaction, not just for the recent feeding on prime dirt for which our bellies are full, but for the knowledge that spring is here. That there will be many more migrations to warmer locals and spring to will slowly migrate towards us, slowly revealing more and more opportunities to ride along the way.

2006 IF/ Squadra Team Jersey

You know you want one. If you are interested in one of these sweet, green IF jerseys, it will set you back $75. Custom made by the Squadra Team Apparel division of Castelli, they are of the highest quality. Features include fill zipper front, three rear pockets, and a racey cut. True to sizing. Please email me @ kenbloomer@earthlink.net, provide me w/ your size, and quantity.

Winters Last Stand?

Sitting here, looking out my window, you would not know that it is spring. Near white, the field across the street is onceled to me. Funny, just a couple short hours ago, I was riding my single speed up the valley, but hey, that is winter in Colorado. This presents an interesting time for me, I am torn between riding and nordic skiing. It has been one of the better winters to date, great snow, and having had some epic days both on the snowboard and skis, I don't want it to end. yet, it also has been a long hard winter, many mornings saw the mercury receed back to -30 and lower. This make me long for the warmer days of spring and summer. Lately, it has been the best of both worlds - skate sking one day, followed by riding the next - awesome!

But those days are numbered. We will probably have the best crust season in long time as ski areas close this and next weekend, and people turn their focus more towards riding. I have made a pledge to myself to keep the skis waxed, and hit the hardpack while it is good. This will be a tough priomise to keep as we are already hitting our first road race of the season this weekend, and as the riding gets good...but I guess you can't loose not matter what you choose.

Enjoy the Ride.

WELCOME!

Not that I am on the cusp of anything here, but I wanted to have my own Blog, and want to welcome you to browse, ponder and ridicule my postings. Life is all about living, and what you will find here is excerpts from my life. As an avid cyclist, the topics (also the title 34x18 - my gearing on my mtb single speed) will mainly surround this topic, however I will also talk about other issues and topics close to me, like coffee, yoga, skiing, running, art, books and so on. So enjoy, I look forward to an engaging dialogue w/ whomever might browse my site.

Thanks, and Namaste'

Ken