Rubber Side Down

And Now, Back to Your Local News…

marty — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:30:15 +0000

Since the weather’s getting better, I’m sure we’re all totally jonesing to get onto the trails, but in general, they’re a mess. It’s a bummer to see nice singletracks get trashed and widened, so like all of you, I’m grinding my teeth in annoyance while I try to be patient.

The good news is that you can check out the conditions on this website rather than rely on word of mouth or driving there to see for yourself. Check it out.

UPDATE: March 8: As commenter JDub so kindly provided below, you can follow/tweet to @boco_trails on Twitter, with even more timely updates. Cheers!

Downieville, Take Three

marty — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:44:42 +0000

Okay, well, things went pretty haywire in race promotion after the registration debacle. The organizer received so many hateful emails and comments about the mishap that it made him wonder if he should even bother putting the race on. I can’t blame him, really. In his shoes I might do the same thing. It sounds like he did huge amounts of work to get the permits to run the race in the first place, and then gets zero support at the first mistake. So, today’s food for thought: even though the grand anonymity of the internet may tempt one to be a jackass, maybe we should consider being kind when we encounter this kind of problem.

As a result, two things are happening: First, registration is NOW starting April 1 at 8pm (let’s hope the date choice isn’t a bad omen). And second, the All-Mountain entries are only those left over after the “qualifying” slots are filled. So now it’s going to be harder than ever for us out-of-staters that have never raced this before. And now you must be expert category and above to even take part in the All-Mountain. It’s kind of an odd setup, because as more and more people quality, it will eventually outstrip the total number of entries. Not sure what they will do then. But hey, it’s Greg’s race. He can do whatever he wants. If people had been nicer to him, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

At any rate, it’s still going to be an awesome event. If you’re still on the fence, all this delay means you have yet another chance to try!

Here’s all the low-down.

Or Not…

marty — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:15:13 +0000

I tried to register for Downieville last night, and got totally hung up on some “passcode” that Active.com was asking for. No explanation on either website, and people were seriously freaking out on the comments page for Active.

I called my Nationals-winning Super D pal, who magically knew the passcode, and thought I was in like flynn. Yes!

Well, turns out the whole passcode thing was a screw-up, and the slate has been wiped clean. This means everyone has to register all over again on Feb. 26th at 8:00 p.m. So for those of you who missed out, you can consider this your salvation. Get some.

Downieville Awaits!

marty — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:35:40 +0000

Come one, come all, to the land of deep tans, convertibles, and fake breasts — and that’s just the men! — where everyone’s rich but the state is broke. You guessed it: California. (Speaking of which, did you see this craziness??)

Tucked away in the woods, far away from the posturing of Venice Beach and the poetry slams of San Francisco, is Downieville. And in this little town is a bike race unlike any other: The All-Mountain Race. Take the single bike of your choice, and use it to slay your competitors on both the cross-country and the Super D. A unique test of fitness, downhill skills and bike selection, this is an event no dirt lover should miss.

Why am I telling you about this right now? Because registration opens tomorrow night at 8pm, and the slots fill up faster than the seats at an Apple product launch. If you want to be a part of this radness, be poised with your finger on the button at 8:00:01. GO!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Be forewarned, there’s some bad language in this video on the part of spectators. Keep the kiddies away.)

Here is all the information you’ll need.

More Living Vicariously

marty — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:28:09 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Making Plans

marty — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:07:43 +0000

This will come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m actually riding base miles this year. Due to back pain and/or my general indifference to road riding, I haven’t trained properly in about three years. So it’s high time I started getting some aerobic fitness happening. And as a result, I have no wacky adventures to report. But I know these boring-but-consistent efforts will pay off when I’m able to actually keep up with my friends on group rides. Crazy idea, I know.

And if the training goes well, I might find myself on some cross-country start lines this summer. I had previously decided it was Super D all the way, but hell, there’s an awful lot of singletrack out there calling my name, so I’m sure things like this will lure me in:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fun festival atmosphere, great trails, and other cool sports to watch when the racing’s over.

Here’s their website you can go to for this year’s info.

Ft. Fun Cyclocross

marty — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:50:40 +0000

Here I was lamenting the rapid end of the ‘cross season, and thanks to one Beatles-haired teenager, we got another chance to get all “Belgie” this past Sunday.

Skyler Trujillo of Fort Collins made the podium at Nationals last month, which resulted in a spot on the USA world’s team. Badass. And to send him to the race in the Czech Republic, his dad and sponsors organized a race with the help of the oh-so-bike-friendly New Belgium Brewery. What’s not to like about that? So Rob and I loaded up all our junk and headed up there, where we found several of our Blue Sky Velo peeps.

Rob can’t believe Andy Harmon ripped off his tall-sock racing method.

Here’s Rob cruising to an effortless second place.

The four BSV punx dominated the Men’s B, sweeping the podium in vigorous fashion. Our man Bill Teasdale took the win.

Then it was time for my race, just as the day got warmer and the course got muddier. It was a super fun setup, with tons of tight turns, snowdrifts, and punchy climbs. I felt a bit out of it, since I hadn’t raced cross or even ridden the mountain bike in weeks, but during the warmup lap I started to feel the vibe.

The whole turnout for this race was rather small, so I wasn’t surprised to see only five women on the start line. Me and my teammate Kayla were the only Blue Sky-ers, since our fast chick Susan was out with a torn hamstring. (She was everywhere on the course cheering, though, which was pretty killer.) There were two ladies on the start with mountain bikes, which weren’t a bad choice for the conditions — except for being heavy.

The start dude hit the siren button on his megaphone and we were off. Historically my M.O. at cross races is to sprint off the front, blow up spectacularly, and free-fall back to 15th like a spent rocket booster jettisoned off the Space Shuttle Atlantis. You could say that it’s the first sign of insanity, to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. But basically, sprinting is the only thing I’m good at. And let’s face it, it feels good to do something you’re good at. But I never have the fitness to back it up, and exploding one lap into a cross race feels like hell. So I’ve finally stopped charging off the line like it’s a drag race.

I let the fat-tire twins lead out, and tailgated them mercilessly in the turns. When we got to a big snowfield along a dirt road, I let my skinny tires cut through the slush and made my pass. I was starting to get overly excited (as racing does to us all), and I was sure that one of these girls would pass me back at any time. But I pulled ahead and seemed to be staying there.

One of many bank-teller turns out in the prairie.

My legs didn’t feel like all that, though, and neither did my back, so subsequent laps found me on foot up the muddy run-ups.

Sure enough, I was starting to get a bit redlined. The second-place girl got within 15 seconds of me while I slowed down to recover, and I was pretty sure it was all over but the cryin’. But I concentrated on all those things you think about when you’re suffering: Relax. Breathe into your belly. Pedal in circles. Look where you want to go. I should have invested in Apple stock. Hey, pay attention, dumbass.

And eventually, I began to widen the gap again. To my extreme pleasure the last lap was upon me, and I felt like I could give whatever was left. I pulled into the finish with a decent lead. It feels very weird to win a race, even when I know it’s just because (a.)not many people showed up and (b.) the course was technical enough to suit me. But hey, I’ll take it!

Eddie Clark interviewed me for Mountain Flyer….I tried not to sound like a jackass, but I probably failed. I have zero ability to be on the wrong side of the camera/audio/video.

Check out Eddie’s work here at Mountain Flyer.

After the race we blasted our helpless gears and bearings with the powerwasher, drank some beers and failed to win anything in the raffle. Best of all, we got to hang out with our race-day buddies, which we don’t often see in the off-season.

And lastly, best of luck, Skyler! Rip some legs off.

And now back to our regularly scheduled base miles.

Breaking News

marty — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:48:25 +0000

If anyone out there was planning on riding Picture Rock this weekend, be forewarned that it’s closed.

I got this from the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance today:

“The Wild Turkey and Picture Rock trails have been temporarily closed at Heil Valley Ranch due to concerns for damage to the trail surface and surrounding vegetation.
Wapiti, Ponderosa Loop and Lichen Trails will remain open.
Current trail conditions in the lower elevation Front Range are generally poor due to the recent moisture, warm temperatures and freeze/thaw conditions. Moreover, the slope orientation and soil type exacerbate the problem even more for these two trails. Finally, with weather forecasting continuing mild temperatures over the weekend, staff has initiated this temporary closure. Signs are being posted today. The two trails will reopen when staff make the on-site determination that conditions have improved and are stable.
Feel free to contact Michael Bauer at 303-818-0615 with any questions.”

So if this bums you out, consider doing this instead.

However, In Contradiction….

marty — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:19:37 +0000

to my last post, winter can also be fun.

Behold, the First Annual New Year’s ‘Cross Fondo.

Nearly 40 people showed up on the first day of this fine 2010, ready to rock. The ride was organized by the ever-passionate Greg Keller, who is seen here addressing the troops before they embarked on a series of 360-turn-downs in the dirt jump park.

Actually, before I go any farther, I think I will open this post up to a guest blogger. Here’s Rob Love’s version of events.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Dan F, known to some as Pale Power, uses the now patented JPow start to holeshot the first race of the year.

Well, the new year is officially off the ground. My buddy Greg organized a great ride, and all sorts of different people showed up. We met up on the shady side of Amante and it seemed like everyone but me showed up with some sort of new-zoot helmet cam, HD flip-thingie, or some other hi-tech Christmas present. I showed up with my single-speed and my horn. Damn, it felt good to get back out on the bike after taking way too many weeks off.

We rolled out and over to the BPOE elks lodge and dove into the snowpack. The venue was short lived, though, as I followed people directly eastward into the network of bike paths connecting to Gunbarrell. Somehow we showed up at Eaton Park, and Boups, Spencer, and I hit the dirt jumps on our cross bikes. The jumps were covered in snow, but it was pretty rad anyways. Someone somewhere has a video, but damn if they have shared it with me. So, i give you this:

Hollywood getting his Tokyo-drift on, BoulderCX style. Take that, guy who is somehow not Paul Walker!

So, we lit outta there and made our way through some of the other paths and trails out almost into Niwot before getting separated with a slight touch of the floor on an icy patch. Once we got the affected parties back on their bikes and exchanged insurance cards, we were off. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up to far out into the Longmont/Niwot constellation. Spencer had cell coverage and dialed up the crew, who had since noticed our absence and were performing one of the most difficult moves in all of amateur racing–adhering to the “no drop” rule instituted at the beginning of the ride.

Heading east of the tracks, into the great white yonder.

All back in the fold, we crossed over into open-space trails at Coot Lake and ripped over past the Res, the sun shining down and the Flatirons laid out in front of us. Everyone must have been feeling good, because we strung it out and rallied full-tilt across the crunchy snow to the next parking lot.

Marty and I in a cheezy albeit genuine photo. Hey, we’re just psyched to be riding!

The final push back into Boulder was a bit of a struggle on the single, I must admit. While there is a saying about gears being for people who prefer the personal company of the same sex, I sure do wish I had a couple of gears on my bike. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Anyways, we walked, rode, and slogged through some deep drifts on the open space off of Neva road, and decided to cash it in and opted for 36 into North Boulder. The horses could smell the barn, and the pace lit up like Chinese new year (because we might just be celebrating that more widely over here soon, but i digress). Yours truly was not too proud to get spit out, and Marty, Brandon, and I fought for Lantern Rouge. I think I won, but we’ll have to consult the video. We all rolled in together to Gregs house, where his sons were kind enough to feed me pistachios and beer for a couple of hours. How sweet it is.

Not too shabby for the first day of the year.

All told, Marty and I had a great day, and if you’re like me (and i know i am) you’re glad to have someone along on the ride to take the pics, enjoy the something something something DARK SIDE humour, and dream of podiums in 9 short months.

over&out

Rob Love

Winter Sucks.

marty — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:00:45 +0000

I’m ignoring it and fantasizing about mountain bike racing in the summer sun.

While pondering summer’s events, I came across this rad race calendar for the whole nation. Check it out!