South Fork MTB

It has been over two years since I rode South Fork.  Back in 1998-2000, I would ride South Fork often on my GF Sugar 3.  It was a hard ride for me.  Many of the trees along the route have had me stopping and leaning against them while I hyperventilated.

It was fun to ride it this morning w/ Brandon S.  Who knew that he would actually ride as late as 7 am compared to his normal 4:30 am.  Not only was is absolutely beautiful, it was fun to realize that South Fork had become easier.  3 Laps - Great way to start the day.

Summer

Summer from atomicmiles on Vimeo.

LOTOJA wrap up

This will be brief.

This year, LOTOJA was intended to be a race for me, but by the time I reached the first climb, my legs told me that this would be a ride rather than a race. I suffered through the ride.

The Good
Weather was perfect. My parents were an awesome support crew. No mechanical problems with the bike. I finished with my best time. Drafting behind Shaun Bradley for a bit.

The Bad
Rumble strips coming out of nowhere. 35F from Logan to Preston. I didn't make my goal of a sub 10 ride. Limping across the finish line beaten down and wasted.

Time to move on. Lunch rides, night rides, and cross races. I'm ready to ride with friends for fun.

A lotoja letter from Brandon

Here is an email from Brandon.

Miles,

Right now I know you are either traveling, checking in, or lounging around in your hotel room.

Just a few thoughts for your race tomorrow.

1 – Even though I know you just received your new AIR 9 Carbon putting skinning tires on it is not going to help. Although LOTOJA is a fashion show where people like to look cool, nobody there will even know what an AIR 9 Carbon with XX is. Better off to leave it at home even though you can lockout the front fork. This is a road bike race. You are better off riding the Scott.

2 – Don’t try and capture some cool video clips while riding in a pace line. If you forget “Roadies” can have quite the attitude and they just might not like it if you try and ask for them to wait up while you go and stage yourself up the road for a good video clip.

3 – Your wheels are not tubeless so don’t ride over anything you see thinking you are invincible. You will flat and there are no team cars regardless of how good Keith is a being a Team Manager.

4 – Be wary of who you make friends with on the road. Right when you think you are friends and they agree to all stop for that potty break is when they will drop you like a hot potato. There is no regrouping after the climbs/descents like on our lunch rides.

5 – Don’t try and answer your iphone while riding. Once again although mountain bikers have some handling skills and you reaching into your back pocket to pull out something like your iphone will send the peleton into an instant panic, thinking “he is going down. Clear!!”

6 – But most of all remember you signed up for this as FUN, trying to get a better time than last year. Please disregard any bad feelings or memories from the PCP2P.

Good Luck

Brandon

PCP2P Recap

Saturday was the Park City Point 2 Point. I have a lot of jumbled thoughts and memories that I'm still trying to sort. My feelings for the race are just as scrambled.

The race organizers put on a top notch race. I was impressed, especially considering the PCPP is only in its second year. The course was challenging. It was well marked. Aid stations were very well stocked. Pre and post race entertainment, drawings, and food were great. Very well done.

Before the race, I had in my mind a time that I wanted to beat. This was based primarily on what some of the "lunch riders" had done the previous year. I lined myself up accordingly at the start line. I remember hearing Brad K. yelling at the crowd as he sorted himself to a different group "didn't you guys look at the finishing times from last year? Didn't you see how many people finished 10+ hours????" He proved to be correct as the majority of us should have sorted ourselves better.

Round Valley was fun and fast. By the time I reached silver lake lodge at Deer Valley, my bottles were empty. As I started the climb, I started cramping. I was shocked. I wondered why in the world was I cramping so early in the race. I would spend the rest of the day trying to keep the cramping under control. As long as I soft pedaled, I was fine. Anytime I put in a serious effort or put a foot down, I would lock up in pain.

My favorite parts of the course were the flagstaff loop, round valley, and skid row. The parts of pain were John's 99 (which is downhill, but bumpy and technical), the steps, climb up silverlake, and the re-route by Spiro. Check out the picture of Eric B's niner. He finished the race, 18 more miles, with his bike like this.

I would say my deep dark moments came after John's 99, on that lame dirt road and then going up the steps. I was not happy. I was thinking about pulling an Aaron S. and cutting off some of the route. I did run into Brad K. at that point and it was great to hear some words of encouragement from him. It helped me push on.

Some of the best moments were riding with people I know. It was a major boost to morale to ride with people like Jason M., Sam C., Keith P., and Adam L. The Mad Dog support crew was awesome. They had the right balance of taking care of me, but pushing me out of the aid station. It was also great to see Rick and Rico at the PCMR. Here is a link and here to pictures that Rick took at mile 60.

Hands down, the hardest race I have ever done (Take that with a grain of salt--my list of endurance races isn't very long). I am happy w/ my finish of 10:04. I had stop or paused time of 28 min. It was awesome to see people overcoming their pain and pushing through to the finish.

I did ride the new niner. The bike was awesome and performed flawlessly. I'll share more details on the bike later.

The Park City Point 2 Point 2010 from atomicmiles on Vimeo.

A letter to myself

Dear Self:
Hello self, this is your innerself - you know, the voice in your head. We seemed to get past our differences on RAWROD and no doubt, we will have plenty of time to talk to each other on the PCPP. We've never done the Park City Point 2 Point so I thought I would write you this letter to help remind you of a few things for the race. I'm going to call you stupid and remind you of the many of the stupid things you've done in the past so don't let this hurt your feelings

1. Balance. Fight off the desire to take off from the start like a jack rabbit. Obviously, if you do this, you'll blow up. However, also be aware that you need to position yourself in Round Valley. Once you start the climb up skid row, the opportunities to pass are limited. Find the balance of pushing yourself and riding within your limits.

2. Eat & Drink, and then Eat & Drink some more. There is a reason why we have an alarm that goes off every 45 minutes. It's to help you once your reach a stupified state to remember to eat and drink. The temperatures in PC will be moderate and you may not feel like eating or drinking. If you don't, we will pay for it in the latter part of the race.

3. Deep Dark Place. At some point, you will reach a very deep dark place in the ride. Heck, you may be in that place all day long. You will start questioning your intelligence and sanity. You may even have thoughts of quitting. There is no easy way through these dark pits. You will have to push through it remembering that you have trained and are prepared for this race.

5. Throttle Back. About the time you reach Deer Valley, all ability to think clearly will most likely be gone. Don't be stupid and go full throttle on the downhills. This is where you are most likely to wreck. Pull it back a little to ensure you don't eat it and earn a sweet DNF. You wouldn't want to chip a hip or something lame like that?

6. The Carrot. Do remember how towards the end of an endurance race, you start fixating on a simple food that is waiting for you at the finish? Maybe chocolate milk, cherry coke, chicken tenders, watermelon, etc. Figure out what your carrot will be and start dreaming of it.

7. Enjoy the journey. Sounds like an overused motivational poster. However, remember that this is some of the finest singletrack around. It will be easier to tolerate the suffering if you can take in some of the beauty of the area and enjoy the trails.

8. Feed Zones. It is so easy to take a break in the feed zones. The minutes in the feed zones accumulate very quickly. Be aware of this and try to minimize your feed zone time.

Sincerely,

The voice in your head.