Out on the trails - Big Springs

Yesterday I had the itch to get out on the trails on my 'cross bike, just to make sure I can still handle skinny tires on the single-track. I headed up to Big Springs Park in the South Fork shoot off of Provo Canyon. There is a nice, but short, trail near the park that my family uses all the time. We spend a lot of time in Provo Canyon and at least half of that is spent at Big Springs. It's become the go-to area for us. Jen takes the kids up there hiking all the time, the trail is relatively mellow and follows and crosses various streams. It keeps the kids interested and makes it a nice area to go. It's also a great place to go snowshoeing in the winter.

I opted to start off my ride by heading up the dirt road that goes along the East side of the wilderness area. I was quickly made aware that my legs hadn't recovered from the weight

training I did two days before; but I managed to make it up the hill anyway. The trail/road is only 1.5 miles up, so a up and back nets 3 miles. Not a whole lot, so I ended up doing 3 laps going up the road and down the trail. I think the old couple hiking down the road and the family hiking up the trail were starting to wonder what I was doing after I passed them a couple of times.

After riding up the road for about a mile the trees open up into a meadow, this is where I cut back on to the trail to finish the last 1/2 mile up (you can see the trail just to the right of the road, heading off into the meadow). The trail is pretty mellow as it winds up, especially through

meadow. It's basically gravely, narrow double-track. Then the trail gets steeper and starts to get fairly rocky. I was a bit worried about pinch flatting on the rocks, especially on the way back down when I had some speed. I had my tires down around 40 psi to maximize traction. I was happily surprised to find that I can still finesse my way up and down through the rocks without much trouble, or pinch flats.

The single-track back down winds through aspens and pines, over rivers and streams and is really a lot of fun. Not the most technical or taxing as far as mountain biking goes, but plenty

fast for getting the cornering and breaking skills on a cyclocross bike. At one point I was

carrying quite a bit of speed and feeling pretty confident. I rounded a corner and saw a tree and a stream right in front of me, I was sure I was going in after I dodged the tree. I managed to get the bike slowed down just in time and made it onto the bridge. My second time down I noticed a lot of other tire tracks where the trail runs wide; I guess others had come into that corner a little hot too. While I was stopped taking this picture a mountain biker came by and did a double take as he passed by my cyclocross bike; obviously not a part of the cult of 'cross yet.

The fast ride down managed to give my legs, and lungs, enough of a break that I was able to be recovered for the ride back up. I managed to get my legs a bit muddy from cruising through a couple of the springs that spout up along the trail and almost ran over a snake. All in all it was a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday.

Annual "I can't wait for Cyclocross" Post

This morning there was a definite chill in the air this morning; Fall is on the way. My twitter (yeah I signed up for twitter, but only to see what's going on, not to "tweet" about anything) is full of cyclocross chatter; I follow a bunch of 'cross racers. Some of my facebook friends are posting stuff about 'cross. Everywhere I go there seems to be this feeling of excitement about the forthcoming cyclocross season. To blow my mind even further, the same guys that run the mid-week mountain bike race series are starting a 4 race mini-cross series in September. Check out this awesome gps file of the race course http://connect.garmin.com/player/44997122

To further increase my excitement, this year I have seriously nice (way nicer than my speed and talent justify)cyclocross bike (Stevens Carbon Cross) that I bought last spring with my bike shop discount. I have a set of tubular wheels, aluminum mind you, I haven't managed to get myself to drop $1000 bucks on a set of carbon race wheels. There are a set of tubular tires on those wheels getting stretched and ready to be glued on.

Team Clammy Chamois will be in effect this year, though without our ringers since they defected through the lure of free bikes and local bike shop fame. It sounds like we're going to make it official with team jerseys this year. I'm looking forward to seeing the design and celebrating the rowdiness and brat filled 'cross racing and spectating that is team Clammy Chamois.

My only goal for this year is to move up a few places from my consistent mid-pack finish and not puke after finishing the race in Draper. Upon further reflection, I realize that those goals are somewhat at odds with each other, but I'm going to stick with them anyway.

To achieve these goals I will:

- Do some interval training (periodically, and only as long as my mental Psyche can handle riding a bike in my basement and without going anywhere)

- Limit my sausage consumption to after the race, this includes not taking the bacon hand-up during the race.

- Keep myself mentally in the race and not spend half of it hoping I get a mechanical or a flat.

It should be an awesome season despite the fact that the first 4 races are at venues that are designed to stamp out any delusion that I may have in thinking I've prepared better for this season that in past years. Draper and that stupid hill, Weber x 2 and Heber Fairgrounds designed for fast roadies that have much better cardio than I ever will.

Bring on the cold and the mud and another awesome cyclocross season. Mud and guts on 3!

Geeking out on 'cross bikes.

Cyclocross Magazine asked me if I wanted to attend a bike industry function at Deer Valley a little while ago. The event titled "Dealer Camp" was held this past weekend to showcase new bikes from major manufacturers, giving bike shops and retailers the chance to look over and demo the new bikes. The event was 2 days, but Jen had her Spudman Triathlon on the 2nd day so I was only able to spend one day up there. It was a ton of fun checking out new bikes. I talked with some other people that were very into cyclocross as well including past National Champion Mark McCormack, and a the designer that actually fabricated the new Blue 'cross bikes. I got a lot of pictures and even a few freebies. Check out my write up and pictures here http://www.cxmagazine.com/new-trends-dealer-camp-2010-deer-valley