2008 US Señor Open in Colorado Springs

I competed in my first pixie stage race last Sunday. It was pretty much entirely stupid and hilarious. I had two 58 second runs back to back in the P3, my first times under one minute. Congrats to George for the overall win.

Stages:
Half Course PMX
Full Course PMX
2 Lap Pixie Helltrack
Pixie Super D(rink)
P3 Gravity Enduro

Pictures. Drinking is difficult after scrambling out of a steep ravine. Frame modifications to Peppermint Swirl can be seen in the header image.

In other news, I got to ride Blacksheep's yard'r at the RMBS last weekend. Much like driving a Cadillac, both in length and steering response.

I have been fortunate to continue on the pump track path to mountain bike domination recently. I am not there yet (maybe Brian just likes to take naps in that position), but getting better with every session. Eric and I believe that a new dizzydrome record may have been set.

Happenings Since Halloween

I spent this weekend in Boulder to watch some cyclocross, hang out, and ride my bike for no more than a couple minutes at a time.

Observations:
The People's Republic of Boulder does not allow public endorsement of candidates other than Barack Obama.
After about 20 goatheads, it appears that no amount of Stan's will reliably keep a tire sealed while riding a pump track.
Short stems are rad.
A handlebar and shin do not make a good couple.

I'm starting to rediscover the joys dorking around on a bike. Bunny hops, wheelies, manuals, riding backwards, curbs, jumps drops, pump tracks... I've also noticed that removing your clipless pedals in favor of platforms will change your outlook on life. Just hop on and ride.

Lee McCormack, the patron saint of pump tracks and bike nerddom, recently published some tire research which he performed a few years ago. Hopefully, I will get a chance to review it soon. My initial impression is that his methods may also be very useful for determining the impact of changes in other components and even training. Rad.

New bike, new shocks on the car.

So, I bought a new race bike last Thursday. The next day I got $30 worth of new parts upgrades and spent a few hours making modifications to fine tune the geometry. A few numbers: 69deg Head angle, 67deg Seat angle, 11" BB height, 20" Standover, 12.5" Chainstays, 19" Top Tube. Tires are Goodyear's 16" version of the Comp III. Saddle is the SDG BigBoy. Why put together such a contraption? For the 2008 Pixie Repack in Colorado Springs, of course. Very short LeMans start followed by 4 miles of winding dirt road descent and 1 mile of pavement. Coming into the first corner, you could smell buring grease and rubber from everyone's shoes and coaster brake. I made sure to go as fast as I dared and use the coaster brake just enough to keep myself out of trouble (they can seize if overheated). About 2 thirds through, I hear the guy behind me, coming up really fast and really out of control. So, I move to the left to get out of his way and also begin to laugh, as I find this situation quite amusing. Not only do I get passed, but the guy isn't even on his bike. Needless to say, this is the funniest damn thing I've witnessed since the last pixie get together and I find myself cracking up for the remainder of the race. I managed to pass a couple more riders on the pavement, which seems to have put me ahead of all the other racers who didn't have a hand operated brake in addition to the coaster. Average speed was close to 20mph(!). There's a good possibility that I'll put up a couple more detailed pictures of Peppermint Swirl and all its white and pink and square tube glory... Notice how in the first photo, Chris is already dragging both his feet and already off the saddle as he passes me; in the original file, you can see me grinning very widely. The second photo shows the splashdown.

In other news, my Volvo guy replaced a few bushings and installed my new Bilsteins today. It's like driving a new car. Not only is my ride much smoother and quieter, but the extra stability and consistency from the suspension will allow me to take corners a little bit faster, thus saving gas. Next on the to-do list is a new set of slightly larger, much less cracked and much more round tires.

Copper Harbor Fat Tire Race

I drove up to Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula for the coolest race ever over Labor Day weekend with some stops along the way to see family and friends. It's interesting how one forgets just how cool the trails are up there. Most of them are on actual dirt, there are lots of trees to dodge, and lots of trails which are turn after turn of late apex awesomeness. Another nice thing is that you don't have to climb for 40 minutes to get just 10 minutes of fun descending.

The Copper Harbor Flat Tire race would be a more apt name. I found out 3 miles in that my front tire setup, which I have been using all summer for riding and racing in Colorado, is not enough for Michigan. I'm pretty sure that I got a pinch flat on the feature for which the Rock 'n' Roll trail is named. After two minutes or so, I was back underway but unfortunately lost some more time being held up on singletrack by slower riders. By the second and final lap, I knew from the mild cramping in my legs that there was no way that my original strategy of sprinting for the last 5 miles would work. Plan B: follow the top female racer, who had just passed me. I was able to get ahead of her by the time the real descending began, and kept passing people until 2 miles from the finish. Braaapp! This time, I'm pretty sure that I got my second pinch flat in the front tire from bombing down Paul's Plunge (where all the spectators are) and hitting the big drop with all the sharp rocks in the landing area. The cheers made getting the 2nd flat tire and losing another 3-4 minutes totally worthwhile. I ran for about 100 yards before deciding that it was better to ride the rest of the way. Thwapp thwap thwap.... The inevitable Fat Tire cramping came when I washed out in a tight corner. "Are you okay?" asked some guy who passed me as I was doing my damnedest to bend my legs so that I could get back on my bike. Thwapp thwap thwap.... 33rd place overall, 33 minutes behind the winner (who was riding a singlespeed, which is awesome). Can't say I was disappointed with that result.

Interbike is approaching. Goals: pick out a new Super D bike to replace the Cake when it breaks again, ride some DH bikes, do some work, check out the electronic shifters, watch some cyclocross, make fun of dumb new bike stuff with Ryan.

News

Well it's as I suspected. Blogging is a dead art (at least to the contributors of this one), but none the less here is my entry.

I had a phone interview with Bike Magazine a few days ago. Went pretty well. I made them this: www.hu.mtu.edu/~rdlabar/bikemag.

So at any given point I could be moving out to Dana Point, California in 3 weeks.

If the Beastie Boys were a bike race...

..I'm guessing they'd be the INTERGALACTIC PUMP TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS!

About a month ago, when I first heard about this event, I knew I it was time to put Blue Steel back together with the fattest, stickiest, blackest tires alive. Unfortunately, my chainstays are so awesomely short that even though there is enough clearance for a 2.7" rear tire, any tire taller than a 2.4 will hit the front deraileur. Oh well, I guess I'll have to settle for the 42 durometer Bling-Bling on the rear.

When I got to Sol Vista on Friday morning, I did a few laps on the pump track on each of my two bikes to warm up and then took the chairlift up to get some practice on the Super-D course, where I would be vying for the Men 19-29 Colorado State Championship the following day. Lots of tight corners, brake bumps, sand, berms, one short climb, and a series of flat corners to finish. I decided the pump track race would be done on my XC tires and the Super-D on the fat tires and my new tubeless wheelset.

The Super-D did what I call a reverse cowgirl start, which involved sitting on the front tire, facing backward, with both feet on the ground, and getting on the bike any way possible after the gun went off. I was in second position shortly after getting on the bike and easily passed the lead rider just before the singletrack, just in time to mess up a few turns before getting myself back together. I was still in the lead at the climb, pedal, pedal, pedal, but I could hear riders behind me, so no rest. Sand and berms and arm pump followed. I heard the 2nd place rider, who had beaten me at Snowmass, approaching as I took a little bit of a breather just before coming out of the woods, "On the left!" The guy wasn't even there when I set up a late apex to turn left down the fall line. At that point it was too late for him, as I was more that prepared to pedal my ass off and wail hard on the flat corners coming into the finish. Margin of victory: 3.3 seconds after 7 minutes of racing and 6 seconds adrift of the winning Open time. My third ever race win, first State Championship title, and first new jersey in about 3 years. Sweet!

Later was the pump track. The last time I actually hit some berms on Blue Steel was at the Nathrop DS three months ago. We were all instructed to "bring it, foo'." I brought my 'fu instead, probably because I was still amped up from my Super-D win and wanted to impress (and do my best to beat) Chris Boice, Lee McCormack, Brian Lopes, and the Princess of Slovakistan. My qualifying run was two laps, each 10 seconds, flat according to the UCI official timing system. Enough to get me in the top group. Don't remember much other than hearing Lee say "Nice corner!" and getting squirrelly out of the last berm. My first two race laps were again 10 seconds flat and I managed to uncork just a little more speed on the third and final lap for a total time of something like 29.83 seconds. Just under 4 seconds behind Brian Lopes! I think I tied with Chris Boice, which is pretty cool considering I've made a goal of cornering like that since the start of the race season. I definitely didn't expect to be mixing it up with the pros, but I suppose Blue Steel is a magical bike.

The first lap in the XC race on Sunday went well as far as climbing fast, but not the rest of the race. I also had a hell of a time being smooth on the singletrack and descents during the first lap, probably due in part to a weak front brake and worn tires. Thankfully I was able to make adjustments and have some fun during the rest of the race. I managed to find a safety pin with my rear tire on the last lap (not very safe, huh?). After a quick change of the inner tube, I was able to finish very smoothly at 15psi.

Next on the calendar are Eldora Escape, and a drive out to Michigan for the Copper Harbor Fat Tire.

Mt. Evans

I've noticed that my friends haven't been making many new posts lately, myself included. My hypothesis is that we are too busy doing stuff to waste time telling others about it on the internet, which is pretty cool. I'm pretty tired, so I don't feel like putting much effort into this one.

I decided to ride my 30lb mountain bike up Mt. Evans today. The 28 mile climb took me exactly 5 hours, including bathroom breaks and stretching. I stumbled around at the summit for 20 minutes or so and probably had some strange conversations with a few people. The first 2/3rds of the descent was pretty decent (hah!!). Lots of switchbacks and overtaking of cars and motorcycles. Look, brake, look, turn, accelerate, enjoy the scenery. Stats from my new HRM: 5:00 duration, 3329 Cal, 136 bpm average, 3:40 in zone (>132 bpm), 165 max bpm.

Of course, this was all done the day after doing a 3 hour ride off road which included 40 minutes of lactate threshold training. That's how pumped I am for the Fat Tire.