Well, I suppose the speculation was true after all. I drove to Austin with my best friend Laura, her 2 dogs, my dog, 2 bikes, and a lot of gear last week to compete in yet another edition of 24 Hours of Rocky Hill. Considering the circumstances, it was a trip I shouldn’t have made, but I had some stuff in the basement at Rocky Hill and this little voice inside my head told me I needed to get it out, or at least run myself into the ground trying. No matter how much I tried to reason with myself, myself simply refused to not make this trip.

I was still hungover from Colorado Springs. That race was only 3 weeks prior, and that is pushing it as far as recovery time goes. Mentally, I was still a little stuck on losing that national jersey. I didn’t have much riding time in between races, and that really worried me. I was also sick with a cold for about 8 days leading up to the day we left for Austin. I was busting ass at work and didn’t feel very rested. The drive to Austin was tiring and I didn’t get good sleep Thursday or Friday night before the race. There were some really big dogs signed up this year, and I knew deep inside I didn’t have what it would take to beat them. There were also a few new names on the roster that I haven’t raced with before but sensed they might bring a good fight. And there are people like me who don’t pre-reg and just show up. I knew the Texas heat would likely give me problems again.  To top it all off, my main go to bike had developed a crack in the frame and was un-rideable. Just 6 days before the race, I had to pull Proud Mary out of the shed, dust her off, and swap all the parts out. I hadn’t ridden this bike for ages. It’s a different feel, and although I got the fit close to the other bike, it wasn’t a perfect match. I knew this would probably cause some fatigue problems in weird areas, not to mention just mess with my game.

So yeah, I knew going in things weren’t looking too bright. However, the only thing that bothers me more than losing is not trying in the first place and wishing you had.

We drove up a little later on Saturday morning than I would have liked, but I’d done the 90 minute setup scramble many times before so it didn’t phase me too much. I cut it real close, making it to the LeMan’s start right as the gun went off. A quick jaunt around the pond and the race was on.

The Players: Shaun Taylor, a 24 hour world’s champ from Rossland, Canada and also the guy that finished 2nd to me in the 2007 race was here. He was the man to beat, especially since he was rocking the Singlespeed. With him was Dave Frank’s, last years 2nd place finisher, and also a world’s podium finisher. They came down from Canada since this years 24 Hour Worlds at Canmore was cancelled, and they were well trained for it. John Russell, last years champ, was not racing this year, but running pit for these two. I setup my tent next to theirs and John was able to help me out a lot throughout the race too. I considered Dave a very strong threat, but still considered Sean the man to beat. Man is just a beast. Also in attendance was Jamon Whitehead from Utah. I’ve raced with him before and he is a very strong rider. The usuals Ray Porter and Marshall Bell were also here. I wasn’t too concerned with them, but was aware they could put up a good fight and make the race that much more tougher.

The Race: fearing total body shut down from heat exhaustion like last year, I paced myself early on. I just wanted to get in some smooth moderate laps and stay out of trouble with the heat. I felt like I gauged my efforts just right, but still, the heat was killer. It warmed up somewhere between 85 and 90 with lots of humidity and my Colorado acclimatization was not liking it one bit. I was feeling sluggish from all the factors I mentioned above. If I got too close to threshhold, I could feel nausea begin to creep up and I just had to back off. I couldn’t wait for nightfall and some cooler temps to set in.

The sun eventually did set, but the temps didn’t drop much. That nasty heat refused to leave the woods. My jersey was fully unzipped and I was still dousing myself with water. I felt like I had good legs and good lungs. Even though I was riding rigid singlespeed, I didn’t feel like the course was taxing me that much. Instead, the heat was driving my heart rate and blood pressure through the roof. There came a very low point where I finally had to stop and cool off. I dropped from 3rd down to about 6th. The win was definitely out of the question now, but I had to keep my hopes up and gun for a podium finish. I was not going to quit this time.

I slowly got up, got back on my bike, and headed off into the night. It was comeback time. The break did me well, and very methodically, I began to pull riders back in throughout the night. At some point, the lead changed and Dave was now the man to beat with Sean taking a long break in the middle of the night. I had just caught Jamon who had been in third and kept the gas on to take his spot. Eventually, I caught up to Sean and moved back into 2nd, but only for a brief while. I don’t remember what lap it was, but it was my last full night lap. I got a slash in my sidewall and had to stop twice to fix it, setting me back probably 15 minutes. Later in that lap, my helmet battery died, leaving me with the handlebar mount. I stopped to switch the the two so I could have better control over where I pointed the light, setting me back another 5 minutes. I was still in 2nd, but let me tell you, having Sean Taylor chase your ass is one of the most uncomfortable feelings in the racing world. He is a mighty wolf, I a wounded rabbit, and he can smell blood from miles away. I limped into the transition zone, sat down for a mental break and a battery change, and sure enough, Sean rolls in, refuels, and heads back out to regain 2nd place.

For a brief moment, I think maybe I can hang with him, but this dream is abruptly crushed when my helmet light again dies about 10 min into the ensuing lap. I try to ride it out with the handlebar mount but begin scraping trees and missing turns, so I have to stop and switch batteries again. At this point, I am very frustrated with batteries and my motivation to get 2nd is gone. Now I just want to try and finish in third. My paced slowed down, but remained consistent up until the 22 1/2 hour mark. The top overalls had been locked up with Dave, Jamon, and Sean. I was holding steady at 4th, and 2nd in SS behind Sean. Ray was in 5th/3rd SS a lap back, and as soon as I found out he had thrown in the towel, I decided I was happy with my 19 lap effort and 2nd place SS and followed suit. That’s how it ended.

In some ways, it was the battle royale I expected, in others, it wasn’t. Nonetheless, I feel it was the toughest 24 I’ve ever done and I was able to take away a lot of good things from the race despite not getting the win. Yeah, maybe I am the Caveman, maybe I do live in the coolest mountain bike city in the US, but I just haven’t had the time to train like I would like to win something as grueling as this. When I think back to about a year ago, I remember saying I wasn’t going to race at all this year and basically took to skiing and drinking a lot of beer.  Lost a lot of fitness and even gained 10 lbs. Then that San Juan Hut race popped up in June, then nationals, then this. So, all in all, I’m happy again. Next year is going to be freaking epic. I have some very big races on the calendar. I think I really will take a break from Rocky Hill finally, but there will be some new and exciting races to take its place. I’ve got some new gear that will allow me to ride throughout the winter so I won’t have to start completely over come March.

Shout Outs: I would like to thank the following people who had a helping hand in my race:

Laura Faubion for providing good pit assistance and being an awesome road trip buddy

Bud, Spaz, and Rocco, for being cool dogs and providing face salt removal services

John Russell for wrenching and also helping out in pit. Love you man, even though you didn’t do anything to slow down Dave and Shaun (j/k)

Zoe Nance of Zoefitness title sponsor

Bobcat13 Photography for race photos. Joel also completed his 2nd 24 hour race!

Terra Firma Racing for putting on yet another awesome race and cool awards

Sam from Ska Brewing for hooking me up with free Ska beer in the Austin Whole Foods parking lot. what a coincidence…

Proud Mary, the bike that I continue to downplay, yet the one that keeps on cranking out the miles.

As for the rest of 2012, my cross bike should be here soon and I hope to tool around a little in the local CX scene. MTB season is now completely over as the snow will be here shortly and there aren’t any more races to do in this neck of the woods.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the cooler weather.

Caveman

There seems to be a lot of speculation that I will be racing at Rocky Hill this year, and I just wanted to make it clear that although I hold this race dear to my heart and would love to go, it is highly unlikely that I will. Someone asked earlier in the year if I would be back for rocky hill, and I said “No, I’ve got much bigger plans in mind” Originally that was to be 24 hours of Moab, but turned into 24 hour Nationals instead. My bigger plans have been fulfilled. My body is tired, in fact I’ve got a pretty nasty cold as I write this. It is a long drive to Austin and a very big expense, one I’m not sure I can handle since I just bought a cross bike. That, and it will require time off work that I really can’t swing right now. Never say never, but don’t count on seeing me there in a few weekends.

There will be a celebrity racer in presence though, and apparently he will be on a single speed too! Shaun Taylor is my friend and nemesis from the first Rocky Hill 24 I did in 2007. He has since gone on to compete successfully at 24 worlds and become a well respected endurance coach. He will be the man to watch. Good luck to the solo open field, you are going to need it against this beast of a man.

Sorry if for any reason I had your hopes up, but you just can’t race ’em all. Now if you excuse me, I’ve gotta shred some singletrack a few last days before the snow gets here…

There I was, 17 hours into a grueling 24 hour race. I had been riding well, and for the most part, having tons of fun on this exciting new course. I was in the lead for solo singlespeed national champion. Earlier in the race, I was even 3^rd overall against the geared guys, and that in itself says a lot considering the competition. Things were starting to look bleak though. Just a few laps earlier I was feeling so good I thought for sure I might actually be able to pull this feat off and go home with a gold medal, the thought of which was so tempting it might have been what led to my breakdown. I finished lap 11 in the early morning hours, exhausted from the effort thus far, and harboring a little doubt I could keep it up, but I knew I had to keep going.

Come lap 12, things really started to fall apart. I was now walking all of the steeper climbs and taking some breaks along the way.

This is the story of how I lost that coveted stars and stripes jersey, but also one of how great effort was not for nothing and I was still able to get on the national podium for the first time in my life.

This race will likely haunt me for some time as “the one that got away”, yet at the same time, it is a race that has opened new doors and has led me to believe that there is potential beyond my imagination. It is a story similar to the San Juan Hut 200 race earlier this year where I spent the majority of the race in the lead, but in the end, ran out of gas and fell short of victory. However, I can take away great lessons and move forward with big expectations for the times to come. Mark my words, that jersey will someday be on my shoulders.

A lot of you might think, damn, 3^rd place at nationals is pretty good, and I have to agree it is something to be proud of; it just hurts knowing that I could have had it all and it slipped away from me. I remember distinctly what an awesome feeling I had when I caught up to 2^nd place and the eventual winner, thinking that I had just lapped him. Because I had no one giving me splits or any way of knowing where positions and times stood, because frankly, USA Cycling’s tracking system sucks compared to every other 24 hour timekeeping system’s, I’m not sure if I was indeed lapping him or just catching back up to him since maybe he passed me in transition, I’ll never know how things might have really unfolded.

After finishing that 11^th lap, which I had thought was my 12^th, I realized that maybe I hadn’t lapped him, and now he was in the lead. This caused me to ride lap 12 a little harder than I should have, setting me up for total shutdown on lap 13.

That lap started out ok around 5 in the morning. I was ectastic knowing I had successfully ridden without stopping much throughout the night. I was incredibly fatigued, but hopeful that my next wind would come around. Instead, things got worse. Lots of little parts on my bike were starting to rattle loose, some of which I didn’t have tools to fix. One of my lights died because of poor battery management on my part. Worse yet, my body was shutting down once again. This time it wasn’t a bum knee or heat related, it was something I’ve never experienced before. I was literally losing conciousness and becoming very naseous. There was an aid station about half way through the course. I decided to stop here and lay down for a while and see if I could regain some strength. I was now in 2^nd, but not terribly far behind. The sun began to rise and I felt a little better, so I forged on, slowly. The long break had robbed me of all my body heat and I was terribly cold. The temp might have only been around 38 or 40, but when you are this tired and running on fumes, you feel cold no matter how well dressed you are.

I knew the race for first was likely over when I got back to transition, but thought maybe if I got back there, ate a lot, drank a lot, and rested for a bit, I could get back on the trail and keep fighting for it and at a minimum, hold on to second. This all came to end when I hit a long moderate climb and was overcome by the naseau. I didn’t really have anything to throw up, so instead my body fell into severe dry heaving. One heave was so bad, it felt like I pulled every abdominal muscle I had and fell over on the trail. This was definitely the nail in the coffin. I wanted that jersey so bad, but it was not meant to be this very day. Everyone has their limits, and I had met mine. I slowly and painfully completed that lap to finish in19:34. I had ridden well enough and long enough to finish in 3rd place after all the dust settled. Not to take away from all the other riders below 3rd, they rode hard and well too, but I felt like I only came away with 3rd because the field wasn’t all that competitive. In any other 24 hour race I would’ve dropped to 9th or 10th for pulling out that early, but you know what, showing up to a race like this takes cajones and is half the battle, so mad props to everyone who toed the line.

I originally came to this race not expecting to be in contention for the national title, and instead, just wanted to focus on riding for all 24 hours at a comfortable pace. After finishing 4 laps, the announcer said I was in the lead, and also 3^rd overall. I couldn’t believe it. I wish I’d never even heard him say this as the confidence this inspired in me caused me to up the effort a bit and get out of that so called “comfort zone”. I was no longer riding to just ride. I was riding to win.

Lap 5 was rather magical with this new found confidence. I had time to flirt with not one but two pretty ladies. The first was a cute course marshal signaling the turn off the road climb. The other was a solo woman rider, the one that happened to be setup next to me in solo alley. We had already hit off well and I thought she was cute so I slowed down on a climb to chat relationship stuff before I slapped her ass and rode off. If you are reading this Chrissie, thanks for the memories! I also had time on this lap to stop and help a stranded rider. He had a flat and I loaned him my pump. Apparrently it saved his butt and kept his team in the running. NEVER forsake good trail karma just because you are racing for the win.

Perhaps that Karma wasn’t returned to me this race, maybe it was, but if it wasn’t it will someday, maybe in a time when I need it most. Or, maybe it was from some time in the past when I really needed it and I went on to win. But I digress. The remaining laps up to 11 went by clockwork. Body felt great, I was hydrated, I was eating ok, bike was doing awesome, and I wasn’t stopping hardly at all. I wish it could have continued this way, but it ain’t over til the clock hits 24. You ain’t as tough as you think unless you can ride to the end and execute to your maximum potential.

Like any good shortcoming, there are great lessons to learn. A true competitor looks at something like this and thinks “where did things go wrong. How can I do it better next time?” I know exactly where things went wrong. reason 1: I wasn’t trained enough. In a nutshell, it was a very busy summer and I struggled with personal matters that kept me from riding as much as I could have. I should have taken the momentum from San Juan Hut 200 and built upon it and done better at this race. Reason # 2: nutrition. It was great at the beginning. My caveman food was working well, but if you’ve ever raced hard more than 12 hours you know it becomes increasingly hard to get calories and nutrients in. You reach a point and your mind thinks your body really doesn’t need ‘em. For some people, they can go on like this. For me, not so much so. Historically, I have to take 2-3 long breaks at some point in the race and just sit down and eat whatever I can get my hands on. That didn’t happen this go round since I was really pushing to stay out in the lead. I have already begun development of a new super secret prototype caveman energy liquid drink that will hopefully solve most of my nutrition problems.

Nationals take place in Gallup, NM for the next two years, and you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be back, and I’ll be more prepared. I have had a taste of the gold, and I must say it is very addictive. MTB racing is pretty much done for the year. I might dabble in a few local races, but now the focus switches to cyclocross. I have a new steed in the mail and it is going to be awesome!

Thanks for checking in on yet another wonderful Caveman adventure. More to come…

Caveman Greg

A couple of weekends ago, Rocco and I decided to hit the road once more for another epic weekend of long mountain biking/tall mountain hiking. We decided Aspen would be a cool place to visit and experience. I got off work at 4 on Friday, went home, packed, and hit the road. We ended up camping in a cool secret spot I know about in the Gunnison National Forest close to Paonia Reservoir. We got in late, and I didn’t feel like pitching a tent, so we slept open air. It was chilly and crisp-a clear sky. It was also absolutely amazing looking up at the stars through ponderosa pines.

We finished the drive to Aspen early Saturday AM and hit up the farmers market where I said hi to a friend I know there. Unfortunately, I had left my biking shoes at home, but fortunately, I found a really cool shop there in town, The Hub, that let me borrow a pair that fit close enough and gave me some tips for a long ride.

I suited up and hit the trail, where upon I rode long and hard for 7 hours before returning to town. I met back up with my friend for coffee, then decided it was time to leave town and go find a campsite. I picked up a six pack of local brew, and the cashier recommended a cool camping spot up the road a ways. Rocco and I get to the turn off, and the sign says our camping area is 6 miles away. It is a forest road, and 4WD is recommended. There is also a paid campground only 1.4 miles down the road, so I get going thinking I might give that a try if the road gets too rough for my 2WD Mazda B2300.

It didn’t take long and sure enough that road started to get pretty rough, and had me questioning whether I should be on it. I reach the campground, and its full. Feeling the spirit of adventure, I decided to trudge on and and push the limits of my truck and off road handling capability. 4WD would have been really nice, but truly, all you needed was high clearance and skilz, both of which I had. We made it the 6 miles and found a really sweet dispersed site off the road and set up camp. I didn’t know how high we were, but I knew it was much higher than the night before, and it was much colder, I pitched a tent for me and the dog to cuddle in.

Sure enough in the morning, everything was frosted over. There was even some ice under my therma-rest. First freeze of the fall that I have experienced. I was a little unprepared for it to be that cold, and my hands and feet got quite numb as  I broke down camp and packed up. The morning sun revealed to me that we were only a few hundred feet below treeline (roughly 11,000′), so we were indeed pretty high up there.

The morning sun also revealed to us some pretty amazing changing Aspens.

So yes, we made it back to the highway just fine. It took us up to Independence Pass, 12, 096′.

From here, we dropped down to the town of Twin Lakes. I got some coffee at the general store, and inquired about the trailhead for the next big adventure, a hike up to Mount Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado at 14, 433′. We drove out to it and began the 6 mile, 5,000′ 3.5 hour ascent to the top. The views at the top of Colorado are pretty nice.

While the summit was pretty awesome, I don’t feel like it was the most spectacular part of the hike. That came in the form of fall Aspens totally on fire with changing leaves:

After the hike up, a little of which Rocco and I ran, we decided to run down, the whole thing. What took 3 and a half hours to get up only took 1.5 hours to get down. We were blazing, and having a blast! After getting back to the truck, Rocco had some water while I had one of those Aspen beers I bought to celebrate cresting yet another 14er.
We got back on the road and chartered our course through Buena Vista, Monarch Crest, Gunnison, and Montrose. I had hopes of making it to Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway to soak at least an hour. With the pedal to the metal, I got there in enough time for an hour and a half. Even sweeter, I got in for free using my charm and good looks.

After a nice hot soak, I didn’t feel like driving another hour and a half to Durango over crazy mountain passes at night, so we drive a few miles down to Ouray and found that same sweet camping spot from the weekend before. It was surprisingly warm for 11pm, so we went open air once again, and it was another awesome night of sleep before waking up at the crack of dawn to make it back home and start the work week. Another awesome adventure in the Caveman books…

I am unabashedly stealing the mantra for the Mountain Gazette Magazine, but damn, what words of wisdom they are. I wrote another post titled “In Search of Mojo” but after letting it sit a couple of days, decided it was too personal to share. Let’s just say that booze, women, and work were getting the best of me and I was in desperate need of a reset button. This past labor day weekend, I found one. I was relieved of Saturday farmers market duty because they had more than enough people lined up, so I decided it was time to skip town and head for the high country.

I called my super duper good friend Laura up, whom I was dogsitting for almost two weeks while she was enjoying a badass trip to Alaska. I wanted to see if she would be back before Saturday morning so I could go up to Telluride and not have to worry about her dogs. Turns out, she was already heading back to Durango, and to make things better, was interested in going with me.

We loaded up her truck with dogs, bikes, gear, and hit the road Saturday morning. Our first stop was the Ice Lake trail head. This 7.5 mile round trip hike starts near Silverton at 9,810′ and ends up at Ice Lake at 12,257′. The alpine lake is known for its breathtaking vistas, bright blue color, and of course, very cold water.  A journey to such a unique place would not be complete with a dip to cool off, even if it only lasted 20 seconds…

So yeah, that was a bit chilly, but extremely refreshing. It actually left me wanting to get back in, but there were a few other hikers up there and I didn’t feel like they needed to see me in my birthday suit any longer, but I’ll definitely be back to this place for another swim.

After completing our hike, we drove up the road a bit and put it in4x4 to get up and over Ophir pass before heading into Telluride. We were hoping to nab a campsite in town park, but the Telluride Film Festival was going on and the place was packed. We decided to grab dinner and a brew at Smugglers before taking the advice of a local and trying to find a campsite up on Last Dollar road. It took a while, but we eventually did and hit the hay.

After an awesome breakfast at Baked in Telluride, we set out on our individual trips for the day. Laura went for a nice hike up to Blue Lake above Bridal Veil Falls, and a cool dude at a bike shop recommended a mountain bike loop that would take 3-4 hours and have some sweet singletrack.

It only took about 2 1/2 hours, and that was after meeting a pro on the trail who took me on some totally sick singletrack that wasn’t even on the map and added a little bit of distance, so I added in some extra mileage by taking a trail that climbed to Mountain Village, whereby I took the Gondola up and did one of the easier downhill runs that are part of the mountain bike park there (it’s all Free, and awesome). Well, mostly awesome. My hardtrail XC bike was able to handle it, but a downhill bike would have been a lot more fun….hmmm, more gear to add to the wish list…

Laura and I rendezvoused in town, and decided to take the scenic byway around to Ridgway, and then down to Orvis Hot Springs. Neither one of us had either been here. It is a clothing optional hot springs, and the outdoor pools are all set in rock-like natural pools ranging from 98°F to 110°F. We decided to go Au Natural, and although a little uncomfortable at first, mainly while you are de-robing and everyone is checking you out, it’s the only way to go once you hop in.  We soaked for about two hours then went 7 miles down the road to Ouray to setup camp in a secret free place just outside of town before having dinner. Following some good food, we went back up to the springs where we had another hour and a half to soak under starry skies.

After a good nights sleep and a pretty good breakfast at the Silver Nugget in Ouray, our game plan for Labor day was set: we were going to hike up to Sneffells, one of 54 fourteeners in Colorado. Furthermore, I was going to ride my bike up the forest road to the trail head. Laura would drive ahead of me with the dogs, do a short side hike, and we would meet up at the parking lot to do start the hike. The hope was that this would tire me out and slow me down for the hike since she wasn’t feeling 100% that day. Plus I would get some good training in. My total ascent for the day would total be somewhere around 6400′.

Everything went according to plan, except that the ride didn’t slow me down much. There comes a part on the trail where it pretty much dissipates and you have to scramble up a steep scree slope for a good 1,000 vertical feet. The trail sort of becomes whatever you feel is easiest for you to climb. I’d never done any mountain climbing at this difficulty, but I must say, I rather enjoyed it and killed it. Laura was a little nervous, understandably so, and took her time. It is not recommended that you take your dog on this climb, but Rocco is a pretty good climber, so he came anyways. He had the easiest time of all of us, having four limbs and big paws. The altitude never seems to bother him either.

The last 100 feet of climbing was very steep and required a lot of climbing, and we did have to shuttle Rocco up one part, but we all made it, and all was good.

Too bad I had to go back to work Tuesday, but at least I knocked off 4 items from my Summer to do list here (Ice Lake, Telluride, Orvis, Sneffells) and I feel pushing this reset button has empowered me to do a few more fun things for the remaining weekends of summer and even a few weekends into fall. It has gotten me back on a track that I really need to be on. Thanks to Laura for being an awesome travel buddy. Thanks to all of you for checking in! Happy trails!

So there I was…

Walking the streets of Durango at night looking to quench my thirst after a long Saturday. The day had already been pretty damn awesome. I woke up at 5:30am to harvest vegetables, then worked the farmers market until noon. Then, I decided it was time to rip my legs off with a hard hard ride. I setup Long Tall Sally rocking the one cog, threw on some big fatties, then proceeded to punch it all the way up skyline trail to the very top of Raiders Ridge, then shred it all the way down the ridge to Horse gulch. It’s crazy how much better I ride when not given the option of gears. I cleared just about that entire ride, and it’s not easy on a geared full suspension. I grabbed a hammer and tape measure I had left at a job site in town, then cruised back up to the farm where I worked until dark on the camper and installed a new kickass deck/porch. I then cooked a huge meal from vegetables that didn’t sell at market that day-fresh organic squash, onions, beets, and German butterball potatoes, accompanied with some salmon. After stuffing myself silly, I rode downtown to check out the action.

Many of you might or might not know the USA Pro Challenge bike race is starting here in Durango on monday. It is a huge deal for the city. There is just energy everywhere. Downtown has been closed to cars and there are pedestrians and vendors everywhere. Plus all the stuff needed for the race-cool looking barriers, stages, bleachers, extra bike parking, etc. Everywhere you go there are team cars- BMC, Radioshack, Garmin Sharp, Omega Pharma, Liquigas, Astana, and more. Pro riders are mingling with the locals. Bikes are freakin everywhere. It’s just awesome.

So, I walk into my favorite bar, El Rancho. It’s packed, more so than usual, and just hoppin;. New Belgium beers is one the bigger sponsors of the race, and so all their beers were on special, plus they were doing drawings for schwag and a cruiser. They had this beer I’d never tried, Biere de Mars . I order a pint. The bartender brings it up and then slips me 6 tickets for the drawing, apparently left behind from previous patrons. I knew at once that I was going to win something. Just a gut instinct, because that how my luck goes in this town. I barely have one sip of beer and they start the drawing. My timing was just absolutely perfect. Sure enough, the first ticket they call out was one of mine, and I score a sweet Fat Tire trucker hat. The night was off to great start.

I put my new hat on and head to the rear and meet some folks I know. I’m talking with this crazy mofo and all of a sudden he says ” Dude, do you know who the f#$* that is standing behind you? That’s f&*(%$ Cadel Evans!” I turn around, and sure enough, there is the 2011 Tour de France winner with a bunch of other BMC teammates. They go get some beer and when they come back I meet Cadel and shoot the shit with him for a few minutes over some awesome beer from Mars. He is super down to earth, I mean obviously, he’s hanging out in one of the diviest bars in Durango at 10pm drinking beers and meeting locals. Everyone else is getting autographs and picture ops, but I didn’t really care for either, as it was more memorable just hanging out with these guys.

Anyways, they didn’t stay too long, but my night was going so awesome I decided to stay and close that mother down. Been a while since I partied that hard, but it was totally worth it. I might have even had a little other good fortune come my way even later in the night, but that’s off topic.

Life is good, just another day in Durango, Colorado.

Now that the dust has settled from the race, I’m busy with new ventures. The house that I bought in Austin as an investment finally sold. This is a huge huge relief since it was becoming a real pain in the butt. The selling process didn’t go too smoothly either, so this is a big load off my back. It still netted a little cash, even after splitting proceeds with the ex, and with this, I was able to pay down a chunk a debt. I probably won’t meet my goal of being debt free by the end of the year, but I’ll be well on my way. So far this year is going as hoped for.

I was planning on doing the 12 Hours of Snowmass again on July 21, and even got a wild hair to return to the Breck 100 this weekend, but racing will have to take a back seat to my latest project. I bought a 1965 15’ Forester camper and have moved from my previous location to a farm on the northern outskirts of town. The place I was at was nice, but it had a lot of drama and wasn’t ideal.  I just needed some breathing room, and now I’ve got all I want. The trailer needs quite a bit of work, but for $300 it was still a steal. Right now, I’m living in a tent while I renovate the camper, and also operating out of a small storage shed that I built to house tools, bikes, and other belongings.

You would think it is a little crude, but it’s actually kind of nice. I don’t have any electricity (except for power tools) or internet, so I pretty much crash when the sun sets and don’t feel distracted. I also rise early when the sun comes up, so I feel like I’m starting the day out right. I actually get up early enough to get a two hour ride in and eat breakfast and be at work by 9am, so the morning sun is a very convenient alarm clock!

It is immensely beautiful out here. To the north I have views of the valley and the mountains between Durango and Silverton. To the south, or more like the west actually, I have an awesome view of Smelter mountain, and Perins peak. The  Animas river creates the western property line of the farm so I can always go take a dip if things get hot. To my direct west is Animas Mountain. To the east is Raider’s ridge, where I plan on taking a small break from construction to go ride tomorrow morning. It has been two weeks since the race and I feel like my legs are starting to weaken up a little. I have big race plans for the fall, so for now, I need to at least maintain what fitness I have until I can get settled into my new quarters.

Monsoon season has finally arrived, and what a relief. It was getting pretty hot and we were in a drought. The wildfires were getting pretty scary. It’s almost guaranteed to rain every day now in the evening, if only just a few drops. What is scarier than the lightning and rain though is the wind. My tent is protected in a grove of trees, but man does the wind howl and thrash around out here. Most of the time it is a gentle breeze, but when a storm blows in, it really blows in.

In addition to really cheap rent, I will be trading work on the farm. This is super exciting because I’ve always wanted to work on a farm. It’s just an organic vegetable farm, so no horses, cows, pigs, or anything of that sort, but I’m looking forward to gaining knowledge of how to work the land. Another condition of my rent is that Rocco works the main field as much as possible. We have a little problem with prairie dogs, raccoons, magpies, and few other nuisance species. Rocco has yet to catch anything, but his presence at least keeps them at bay. He’s having a blast. As I get enough work done on the camper to have a little free time, I’ll get my bow out and do some early morning and late evening hunts.

There are also a lot deer out here. Of course, there were deer at the last two places I lived, but there seems to be more out here, and they seem to be healthier, and not so much of the grungy urban deer variety. I also see more bucks! Come hunting season I hope to bag one and fill up the freezer. The land owner tells me in years of heavy snow, the Elk get driven all the way down here, so maybe I’ll just pass up a deer and go big!

Work is going well. We have started building the two main houses of the summer and we keep getting lot of smaller handyman jobs come in, a lot a result of my marketing work, so I’m feeling really good about this job and learning a lot. I haven’t had time to build any bike trailers or work on any of my other businesses, but look forward to returning to these as soon as I’m done renovating the camper.

I think that about sums up my summer happenings. July 21^st marks my one year anniversary that I moved to Durango. The last year has just flown by, but in a way, I’ve had so many adventures that it almost feels like I’ve been here 3 years. I am truly blessed in all that I have, and even when times are tough, I can always remember than even a crappy day in Durango is better than a great day in Dallas or Houston, maybe an ok day in Austin. This place is just freaking awesome. Summer is my favorite season here, probably because I moved here in the summer and jumped into everything head first. The weather is so nice, the vibe is good, and there’s lots to do, and yet, not much to do other than relax.

Thanks for checking in, hope you are enjoying your summer too!

Caveman Greg

Here is all you need to know about the race:

1. I finished it

2. I finished in better time than I was predicting

3. I did not win, but 2nd place isn’t all that bad

4. It was the most epic athletic endeavour I’ve ever done.

And now, for those interested in the details, please read on.

Leg 1 I toed the line at 9am on Thursday at Durango Mountain Resort with 5 other crazy bastards. I had done a little research on these guys and felt only one would bring good competition, and he did not disappoint. Markley Anderson, the eventual winner, is a badass rider from Virginia. He has won several 12 hours across the country and is an official finisher of the Tour Divide, the toughest bike race on the planet. His looks are a little deceiving. He is short and stalky, coming from a bodybuilding background. He also rides a tiny little carbon 26″ hardtail, something I thought for sure would beat him down on a course like this. I figured all that muscle mass and and low elevation origin would put him at a disadvantage, and perhaps it did, but his superior conditioning to y0urs truly and his mental toughness proved to be the key to winning in the end.

Markley and I hung together up the first climb on Hermosa Creek road. As we got close to the crest, I put it in big gear and started to pull away because I knew a long fast descent was in store and I was ready to get moving and beat the heat. I got to Hermosa Creek and the long arduous climb up to Bolam Pass began. I looked back and did not see 2nd place, but something told me he wasn’t far back, it was too early in the race.

I held a steady, but slightly fast pace up to Bolam. I was well rested and feeling good this morning. I remember being surprised that I reached the 11,500′ pass in only 2:05. By this point, my instinct told me Markley was quite a ways back, but I was on fire, and bombed the descent to the highway to finish stage 1 15 minutes ahead of him.

Leg 2 started with long climb up towards Dunton. I was still feeling good, so kept steady on the throttle. I was rewarded with a nice descent down to Burro bridge. After this though, it was a long hot climb up to the Black Mesa Hut. Fatigue began to set in and I initiated my mini breaks, short 10-30 second stops on the side of the road to bring the heart rate down and recoup. I also began looking for creeks to douse myself in and cool off, a few of which a found and greatly appreciated. At this point, I felt my lead was much bigger than it was.

I made it to the Black Mesa Hut and took my time to refuel and rest.  Should have got my ass back on the bike and the road, but the rest was nice. I was still out on the road before seeing anyone close to coming in after me, so that felt good.

Leg 3 started with more climbing, then a fast technical decent on a very rough forest road, then a a super fast descent on smooth forest road, then some gradual climbing, then some flat windy stuff, a loop around Miramonte Lake (which I jumped in to cool off), then a long steady climb to Sandy Fort Pass, then a long gradual descent down to the Dry Fork Hut. The scenery really began to change from mountain to high desert during this leg and the heat picked up.

I took a long break at hut 3 to restock and give the legs a break. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back Markley had arrived at the hut and was getting a coke. I was very surprised he had kept the gap so slim, and I all of a sudden my competitive side fired up. I hopped on my bike and took off, hard.

On Leg 4 I was determined to put a lot of time on Markley, so I rode very hard. This leg was hot, smooth, fast, and fairly flat. It did have some headwinds to contend with, but I just tucked down onto my bars and punched through. My plan was to reach the Wedding Bell hut, just grab what I needed, and get back on the road. Well, a plan is rarely executed to intention. There was a long gradual climb at the end of this stage that left me pretty tired after maintaining a pace around 18mph on the oil/gas roads. I decided to take a long break here as well, just waiting for Markley to come in before heading out again. There was a drop bag at this hut with new food, coconut water, and other provisions. I decided to only take a little, and to also leave some of my other gear behind to lighten the load. It was around 8pm at this point and night was coming.

I started Leg 5 rather leisurely. I realized at this point that I had let another racer influence my ride (something I said I wouldn’t do) and I had paid the price. I still had legs left, but not much. This stage to Paradox Valley was going to be at a nice and easy pace, so I focused on keeping the heart rate chill. This meant walking some of the steeper climbs. Watching the sunset over Bull Canyon during this leg was one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever laid witness too. At this point, something told me it was not my destiny to win this race, but deep down I knew I would still finish in good time, and so I was somehow at peace. I began realizing that I would probably have to stop and sleep at hut 5. As the night progressed, this became more and more evident. I become extremely fatigued and loopy in the head. I had to stop and lay down for about 10 minutes. I saw a few real shooting stars, but I was also seeing stars doing funny things they shouldn’t have been doing. I can see how people think they see UFO’s now. I got going and began the climb out of Bull Canyon up to a mesa that overlooks Paradox Valley below, even though I couldn’t see anything because of the dark. From here, there are lots of turns onto to dirt roads that are hard enough to navigate in the day, let alone at night. I had a really hard time finding the route and this was another factor pushing me towards sleep. At one point you get on a sandy road that doesn’t seem like much of a road at all. All of a sudden it turns into a very rocky narrow ATV trail. You crest a hill, and then proceed to do the stupidest singletrack trail I have ever done. A few parts are ridable, if you are very very good, the rest is all hike-a-bike. It’s a lot of switchbacks full of loose rock, ledges, and dropoffs. This thing must drop 1000 feet in about a 1/2 mile. It was dark, I was tired, and going down this trail was extremely frustrating and difficult. I probably fell 4 or 5 times, the last one really hurting my foot as it got jammed up against a sharp rock. Looking back, this definitely upped the ante on the “epic” factor, but at the time it did nothing but piss me off.

I finally reached the bottom and hopped on the highway a little bit until finding my turn for dirt road. From here it was about another 4-5 miles to the hut. It was a welcome relief to see those guys strobe lighting me from a distance to help me find it in the dark.  It was at this hut that I caught up with all the 7 day stage riders. It was 12:30am, most of them were asleep. I was all but certain I would be staying the night here too, but by my competitive nature was hanging on by a thread. I figured Markley was only 15 minutes back and I would rest for a while and wait for him to come in. My body was wrecked, it didn’t want food or water, it just wanted to sleep. After 10 minutes no one came in, but my decision to sleep was now final. I took everything off except for shorts and jersey, crawled into a bunk, set my alarm for 5am, and crashed. No pillow, sheets, or blankets. There was a slight chill that made it hard to fall asleep, but I tucked into a position that held most of body heat in and I was out until 5, at which point I turned off the alarm and slept til 6.

The stage racers were stirring at this point, including the chefs! I downed a few breakfast tacos, some fruit, some bacon, and stuffed another taco in my jersey before saying my farewells to everyone and hitting the road again by 7am to start Leg 6. No other riders had come through in the night so I was confident 2nd place was locked up. There was small hope that I could maybe even catch Markley. He had a 4 1/2 hour headstart, but word was he was looking rough and there was still a lot of tough terrain between there and Moab.

The day started out with something like an 1800′ climb out of Paradox Valley. My hope grew as I climbed the switchback road and saw footprints where Markley had been forced to walk, but having some rest, I was cruising up this climb. After the steep initial climb, the rest of the leg has several slighter climbs and a few flat sections, but basically this Leg was 24 miles and about 5400 feet of climbing up to the Geyser Pass hut. The last few climbs were steep and rocky and I did quite a bit of walking. This hut was a little difficult to find, but I stuck to the cue sheets and ribbons and met Joe, the owner of San Juan Hut Systems, and Sean, Scott Hudson’s son manning the aid station.

I ate quite a bit more food here and relaxed a while. I saw that Markley had checked out by 0715 so I knew he was well on his way to Moab and despite being in pretty rough shape was able to push on through the night. Catching him now was out of the question.

After feeling rested enough to move on, I began the final Leg 7. I still had a fair amount of climbing to make it up to Geyser Pass. The legs didn’t have much power left at this point, so it was slow go for a while, but once cresting the pass, I enjoyed a couple thousand feet of descending at Mach 1 before teeing into a paved road. Along the way, the trees opened up to views of Moab 25 miles away and 4,000 feet below.  My journey’s end was in sight..but still a ways away.

The paved road brought sadness as it started out with a steep climb, and then eased up with a long gradual climb. It was midday at the this point, and the closer I got to Moab, the more the heat cranked up. Even though this leg had the most descent, it was also the longest at 38 miles.  The paved climb up to Kokopelli trail was really baking me. I finally found my left hand turn and began descending ever closer to my destination. The Kokopelli trail dumped me out on Sand Flats road. Now it was really baking, and just getting hotter. I was also greeted with a stiff headwind that felt like a hair dryer as I continued the descent. I ran out of water with about 4 miles to go, but that wasn’t a huge deal, because I knew I only had 4 miles to go, even if it was 104 d out. After taking a break under the only shade I could find, a measley juniper tree, I mounted my trusty steed and rode into town.

I found the brewery, along with the timekeeper and a few other friends. First order of business was to down two glasses of water, then, order a beer and a burger. I walked over to Chile Pepper Bikes a few shops down and picked up my drop bag which I mailed a few days earlier, and talked to Scott, a mechanic there that was gracious enough to let me stay at his house later that night. Thank you Chile Pepper Bikes and Scott!! My kind of people, go check them out next time you are in Moab.

My housemate Laura, who had volunteered for the full 7 day stage race, was there, and pretty much free of duty for the rest of the day, so after lunch, we went up to the Colorado river and I took a very refreshing bath. We found Scott’s house and then I slept like a log til morning.

Saturday morning Laura and I had a nice breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe. The rest of the day we hung out around the brewery and greeted the 7 day riders as they wrapped up their awesome adventures. After the dust cleared, Laura and I went back to the river for some more swimming and even found a cool campsite that we would crash at that night. Later, we all met back up at the Brewery for the awards ceremony and dinner.

The camaraderie surrounding everyone’s stories and experiences is something I will never forget. There was no trophy for second place, but Kathy and Scott of Terra Firma Racing still felt compelled to give me the “Man of Steel” award since I rode with the group the first day and volunteered before riding back to town and then doing the epic 3 days later. Good stuff.

Here are some things I learned about this race that I will apply in similar future races:

1. Minimizing weight is important. I raced on a steel hardtail and carried quite a bit of extra food, emergency bivy, warmers, rain jacket, water filter, few other odds and ends. If money wasn’t an issue and I had any choice of bike, I would probably do it on a Ti hardtail with a carbon fork and a 2×10 XX drivetrain. There were really only about 3 places riding a rigid would have been a little rough. The weight savings and stiffness would have far outweighed these.

2. Aero is important. I spent a lot time drooping over my handlebars to tuck into an aero position. The large sweep of my bars coupled with ergon grips lets me do this. For next time I would probably get some small aero bars to clip on. This not only makes it easier to cut through headwinds and go faster on long gradual descents, but gives your body a different position to work different muscles and spread the load out.

3. Use huts more to my advantage. One reason I carried so much food was that I knew the huts wouldn’t have food to my liking. I carried Lara Bars and homemade pemmican, and they both worked great up to about hut 5. At that point, all bets were off and started eating anything I thought i could hold down. So, even though hut food isn’t ideal for my diet, I think my stomach is flexible enough to be sustained from just the hut food.

4. Take shorter breaks. I think one reason I took 10-25 minute breaks at some of the huts is that at a 24 hour race, I’m used to taking a small break every hour or so. Here, the stages were 3-5 hours and I just felt like I needed longer breaks. Next time, I’m going to stick to the plan of being in and out. I could have easily been 1 hour ahead by hut 3, and that would have taken pressure off to go so hard  to 4 and 5 and left something in the tank to ride straight through.

5. Being in shape is necessary, having the mental toughness of a badass &*&G*(! is even more important. I felt like I had several advantages over Markley, but in the end it was his perseverance and mental toughness that won the day. There is tough, and there is real tough. A few more races like this and some top tier 24 hour races and I’ll know what it means to be real tough.

Well, that’s all the time I have for now. I’ll try to post up next week on some exciting new developments going on and maybe discuss some race plans for the future. Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend.
Caveman Greg

Today is Tuesday June 26 2012. The inaugural San Juan Hut 200 Epic Race starts in two days. I put in my last bit of training this past weekend as I rode up to Bolam pass with the folks doing the 7 day tour and camped out with them before heading back to town Monday morning. From here, it is all preparation: rest, gear check, bike check, mental focus. It has been a little tough since I’m also in the middle of yet another big life change. More on this when I get back from my trip, but I will say it is exciting news!

So a lot of people have been asking me the same 2 or 3 questions:

1.  How you do think you will do?
2.  How long will it take?
3. What are you carrying?

I’d like to address the first two, and if I have time Wednesday night maybe do a little gear discussion. This is an interesting race that does not require me to carry camping equipment, but I do need to be prepared for other situations, and is always cool to share and learn what other people would do.

How will I do? Heck, I have no idea. This will be the single toughest ride I have ever tried to complete. 230 miles, 26,000+ ft of climbing and at altitude. 48 hour cutoff. Large temperature differentials. Large threat of wildfires at anytime, small threat of monsoon season kicking up. I am self navigating through thousands of acres of wilderness. Anything can happen. As far as my fitness, it’s ok. I don’t feel like I’m the best shape I’ve ever been in, but at the same time, after living here for almost a year, I have gotten acclimated to the elevation and gotten used to doing long hard mountain climbs, some things I didn’t have in my favor while in Texas. Assuming most things go well, I’m hoping to be in Moab by 9pm Friday night. That’s 36 hours from start to finish. That doesn’t equal 36 hours of ride time, because I will definitely be taking lots of mini breaks and am also budgeting for a 4 hour nap somewhere in there. If I actually finished in 36 hours I would be very happy with my effort. There will be 4 or 5 other riders. I’m going to try as hard as I possibly can to not let them influence my race. They can run theirs, and I will run mine. This might prove to be very difficult, because I’m a super competitive guy, but that is the plan. I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses and I must stick to my guns when it comes to playing to each of them.

So, that is all the beans I will spill for now. Check back next week for the race recap.

It’s May 30. The San Juan Hut 200 is now less than a month away. I’ve been getting in some ok miles, but a crap ton of work the last few weeks has made cycling take a back seat to making good money to get caught up on bills and start paying down some debt. This past weekend I had a chance to get in a really good ride and wanted to share some photos with you. I rode from town all the way up to Bolam Pass, which will be the first checkpoint of the race. Of course, the race will start at Durango Mountain Resort 28 miles north of Durango and about 2500′ higher, but I needed a hard ride and got one at about 52 miles and 7,000′ of climbing. To top it all off, I got to come back down to a campsite next to upper Hermosa Creek, prepare a good meal, and fall asleep under the stars at 9,000 feet.

Old Shalona Climb towards DMR

First peek of Engineer Peak

Starting ascent towards Bolam on Hermosa Creek Road. Notice wildflowers on left.

First Creek Crossing

Cruising along some awesome Colorado scenery

Nice woodsy section

Cool waterfall, among many

Steep switchback, one of many.

Graysill Mine close to top

Celebration Lake at Colorado Trail intersection

Still some snow left at very top

View from Bolam Pass 11,433′

Back at campsite

getting ready for dinner, old dog warming up by the fire

I must say after finishing this ride that I was thoroughly destroyed. It’s only about a quarter of what I will attempt to complete in about a month. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t harboring a little doubt about the task at hand, but I remain confident my fitness will come up to where it needs to be and I will run a smart, efficient race and make it through. At first, I was thinking of riding straight through and not sleeping, but I might be changing my mind to throw in a 3-4 hour nap in the colder hours of the night for a recharge. We’ll see when the time comes. Also, mystery race #2 is right around the corner. It promises to be a fantastic training opportunity for San Juan. Of course, I will fill you in as the time comes.

Here is a bonus snippet of me racing at the local short track series recently. These little $5 races remind me of the dirt derby back in Austin, except the courses are usually a little more technical and the competition is way fiercer.

Yes, I was going that fast.