258 I actually won a race.

Sort of. I was the only person entered in the 40 to 49 beginner class. I actually did fairly well though. There were 10 people entered in the beginner class from ages 10 to mid 50's. I finished in third place in the group. I was happy with that and I beat someone who works with my wife. It was nice actually having a couple of people to race with. At most of the races I have done this year I am out there by myself because I cannot keep up with anyone. The course suited me fairly well. The course was fairly short up hill climbs then down hill. Just enough time to recover before the next climb. The Solitude course helped me in this race. The Galena Grinder was steep then technical on the down hill side. There were several log piles you had to ride over and a lot of sketchy loose trail. Had it not been for the down hill side of the course I would have finished a couple of more places back. There was one person who would pass me every time the course went up hill then I would pass him back shortly after it would head back down hill. Thankfully the end of the race had about a mile of mostly down hill with a couple of short up hill climbs and I put a minutes or so gap on him.

Erich had a more rough ride. He had to move up to the 15 to 18 sport class. They rode 18 miles and he broke a pedal half way through. I looked at the pedal and the spring broke so I hope I can get a new set of egg beaters on warranty. Erich was doing fairly well until the pedal broke and one of the kids who placed said he passed him when he was walking up a hill.

Shannon and Jen showed up for the race. Shannon finished second in the pro marathon class and was top 5 overall. There were some amazingly fast experts who did the marathon course. 45 miles and about 3000 feet of elevation change per lap. Major props to those guys. That course was tough and I think I probably could do one lap but no way I could have done 2 laps. They were flying at just over 2 hours per lap.

259. Grumpy

So my day was not going well and I was in a shitty mood. I am surprised no one told me that I was a jerk. I know if I had opened my mouth one more time it was probably going to happen. How did I fix my crappy mood? I went to the Wednesday Solitude race. I was still in a crappy mood when I got there. I tried my best to hide it but I was doing a pretty poor job. Once the race started the bad mood was gone. I entered the pain cave, which by the way has teeth, and did not crawl out for 75 minutes. They changed the course and had us go up the paved road and then ride the course backwards. The climb hurt the flats hurt and the down hill hurt. At one point I started hearing things. I kept hearing phantom racers who were not there coming up on me fast. At one point I thought I saw a racer in the shadows about to pass me. I managed to finish but the last mile was fairly sketchy. I went off the trail twice and nearly crashed about a hundred times. On my second lap while going up the paved road someone asked me why we do this. I told him I must hate myself. The race hurt but at least I am not grumpy anymore. Tired and beat yes. Grumpy no.

Tomorrow Erich and I are off to do the Galena Grinder. It is the memorial race for my friend's son. It will be good to see Mark and Gail. I am sure the race will be interesting. From what I know it is very similar to Solitude. High altitude, rocky and rooted. Still it should be fun. I will take a few photos. I just hope the pain cave does not bite my butt too hard.

264. Weight

So my weight has been floating between 260 and 272 in the last week. I am not sure what is going on. I have been trying not to eat out so much which I think is helping plus I had been riding quite a bit as well. The problem was last week on Friday going up Corner canyon I had nothing. I could not get my HR above 140 and was in major misery. Granted at 6 am I have never felt good going up Corner Canyon. For some reason this keeps happening. About every two weeks I seem to go through this thing where I have to back it off and take 2 days off the bike. I am not riding all that much compared to most of the guys on the team but I seem to flirt with some form of burnout regularly. So far this year I have about 900 miles and about 90 something hours on the bike. By Bob standards this is nothing and I think he hit these numbers in February. For me it is quite a bit given that I have less than 10 road rides this year. I know I am getting faster, even though I am slow overall. It is just weird. I feel OK and kind of crummy all at the same time.

Sunday we pre rode Solitude. The course is fun. I had never ridden the upper loop. The loose double track should be interesting. I think I scared a few hikers. One nearly to death once I started going down hill. Again moving fairly slow but I think the sight of 260 something lbs of cyclist coming around a corner kind of freaks people out.

Not sure what to do about the weight. I have held it in this range since April. It has to go down. I thought the weight was on the way down Sunday when I stepped on the scale and saw 260. Then on Tuesday morning it was 267. Today 264. I put in a hard effort on Sunday and I wonder if my body just swells up after big efforts? I have no idea. I took off Monday. Yesterday I was going to ride at 6am but Erich did not want to go and that was enough of an excuse for me. Tonight I will race the Solitude Mid Week and will not DNF even if I have to drag the bike for 2 laps.

263.. Pay it forward???

This should get interesting. Bobby Fresh made me do it.

I like this idea, plus I like free stuff.
Here’s how it works. The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something handmade from me. But in return, you have to make this same offer on your blog and make something for five other people.If you want to play, copy the text below onto your blog and leave me a post:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.
I reserve the right to make you whatever I want. It will not be virtual, it will be an actual object.

263. I love these. You cannot make this stuff up.

Straight off of KSL.com

Free '92 Jeep Wrangler...

Midvale, UT 84047 - Jul 1, 2009

...with proposal and wedding ring. That's right! Act now on this one-time offer. All you have to do is date and marry me and you can be the proud owner of a 1992 Jeep Wrangler (along with a 1970 woman). Jeep has a lift, safari top for the summer/hard top for the winter, rear locker, 33" tires and (new this year) an 8000 lb winch. Not only do you get the Jeep, but you get me. And boys, I don't come stock. I am FULLY LOADED! My add-ons include: a great sense of humor, an affection for "garage nights" (that means working on stuff in the garage), an amazing work ethic, temple-worthiness, an appreciation for sports, the ability to live well within my means, logical reasoning skills, a "work hard so you can play hard" mentality, and I'm great with kids, too!Terms and Conditions:1. Marriage must last a minimum of 5 years. 2. Jeep cannot feel neglected - trips to Moab required - but it's a package deal. You take the Jeep, you take me!3. Honda 400EX included in lifetime package.4. Honeymoon required.

3 pictures of the Jeep. Only one photo of some one's future Wife. Act quickly you single guys. There is a set of 33" wheels and an 8000lb winch on the line.

264 The Dragon Fly did it.

My wifey went boom.

Last night we all went for a ride. Erich and I went up Bonneville to Corner Canyon Road then down Ghost Falls and up Clark's then down the new trail. I think it is called Canyon View or Brock's point. Anyhow Susan thought we were nuts because it was so hot. She rode up Clark's and down Ghost Falls. At the end of Ghost falls on the main road just before the single track a dragon fly flew into her face/helmet, she lost concentration and went down. This is the worst of it but she also has some abrasions on her hip and her elbow. Can you say Ouch?

It is classic road rash. Nasty burn. Not much bleeding but it is oozing and is just a painful mess. I feel bad for her. Last night she did not get much sleep.

I am always amazed by how big of a mess road rash makes. Susan wore Capri's to work today and the ooze soaked through the knee of the pants.

After seeing this I am going to go hairless. Yes I am going to shave the tree trunks. The only good thing about Susan's abrasion was that she did not have to clean hair out of the road rash. I have seen hairy guys go down on the road and seen the infections and the pain that comes with having your skin peeled off. So next time you see me it will be sans hair. Even if I am not the hairiest dog in the pack. I do not want to deal with the hair when I eventually go down

That or I am just looking for an excuse to shave my legs again.

267 The trail to be named later

Erich and I did a little trail work today. Jamie has put together a very cool trail in Corner Canyon. We probably put in about 100 yards of new trail today. Jamie, Corey, Dana, Bill, Erich and myself met at 8 am and walked down to the new trail.

This is a little hard to see but it will end up being a jump. Next time we go up I will bring the single speed with some bmx pedals and we can take turns crashing into the scrub oak.

Trail we put in today.

Again a bit hard to see but someone on a horse had been on the very soft new trail and punched some holes. Not a big deal but Jamie is going to put up some tape to try to keep people out until it gets worked in and is a more durable.

268 What??

OK.. Straight from the War of the Roses. Dog People should marry Dog people. Cat people should marry cat people. No self respecting dog. No less a Blackdog should ever tolerate this. I know what Mookie would do. Get all scratched up by the cat.

268. Sufferfest

I have had kind of a long week and I have more miles on my saddle than in any previous 7 day period all year. Saturday I rode 100 miles in the MS. 100 miles that looks like 13 minutes on my Garmin because somehow I must have bumped the on/off button while traveling and the battery was dead. There is nothing like riding a century and not knowing how fast you are going or how many miles you have gone. Oh ya and to the douche who said to me "How would I know" when I asked how many miles we had to go.. Look at your F ing cycle computer you dick. With stops and lunch I finished in 6 hours 30 minutes. I had planned on riding with some guys from work or hooking up with the Revo group but that plan was shattered when our Corporate affairs person saw me going to the line and grabbed me to be in a photo. Great 270 pounds stuffed into a 200 lb Lycra bag which will now be on display for my everyone in my company to see. Not a good image. Anyhow the group I planned on riding with went off at 7 am and I was left to fend for myself. I found someone who I have ridden with in past years so I thought this will work out. Just before we leave his wife says something like. Hey I will be in the hotel room if you want to cut the ride short. Hmm guess what happened? Cannot blame the guy Hotel alone no kids. So I rode 70 miles trying to jump on any train of riders I could hang on with. It seemed like every time I got in on the right group going the my pace they would pull into a rest stop. After a while I gave up and rode it alone.


Saturday night I found an old friend from College and we decided to ride together Sunday. We rode 40 miles. I had nothing. I averaged 17 mph including the rest stops but every time the road went up hill even slightly I had nothing. I would have done the 75 mile route but Karl wanted to get home early and when we hit the canyon we had a 20 mph head wind and that pretty much made my decision.


So Monday my legs feel like someone has just dropped a bowling ball on the top of each thigh. After work I decide to just go out and take Mookie for a ride to the holding pond at the bottom of Corner canyon. When we get there it is empty. Mookie proceeds to drink my whole watter bottle but we spin around for 30 minutes and I generally feel much better.

Tuesday I pull Erich out of retirement. And get him to ride with me. We rode up Clarks and around Corner Canyon. Nice ride nothing too hard except Clark's which is always hard for me. Erich crashes which is nothing new. His elbow, Knee and shoulder are scraped up. The kid always has scabs on his knees and elbows from riding. Or should I say crashing. Susan wants to wrap him in foam.


Wednesday rolls around and we have decided to do the rest of the Solitude series. Long story short I Dnf'ed. I have never been so happy to get a flat tire. Last night I had assumed my rightful place in the universe. DFL in the sport class. I was climbing the single track (crawling in the granny gear) towards the roundhouse and psssst. I hopped off the bike and Stan's was blowing out of the puncture like crazy. I think OK great here we go. Flip the bike over and try to get the tire inflated. Somehow I bought threaded CO2 cartridges. This is something that is a big mistake when you cannot see straight and no longer remember your kids names because you have no oxygen left in your body. My inflator will actually work with a threaded cartridge but this took some thinking and clearly I could no longer think. After about 3 minutes of trying to get the inflator to work it occurs to me that the cartridge is threaded and I see the head has threads and I can just screw it into the head. Now the thing works. I have watched all the Fast guys pass me and offer encouragement. I am thinking unpleasant thoughts about the skinny fast guys and how they would all look if they were thrown in the river. ( I really harbor no ill feelings toward the skinny fast people other than evny) The tire inflates but immediately blows sealant allover and goes flat again. So at this point I know I am going to DNF because there is no way I want to push the bike across and down the mountain. So I use my last cartridge, jump on the bike and immediately head down the paved road to the base. I can hear the hiss every revolution of the wheel and I just know it will be flat any second. Amazingly it finally seals and I coast down with about 5 lbs pressure in my wheel. This is my first ever DNF. Well at least the only one I can remember. I always finish so I felt just a little bit guilty because I did have a tube and I could have gone that route. But to be completely honest I was not feeling it unless it was misery.

I guess there is always next week.