Mystery race #1 of the year is in the books. I had long considered doing the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde ever since I learned about it last year, but wasn’t planning on actually doing it until 2013 or later.  I was checking out their site last week and noticed they had a waitlist. Fresh off the heels of a new job, new motivation, and a will to get back to racing, I signed up on the waitlist and wouldn’t you know it, I got in just 4 days before the start of the race.

Now, this race was nowhere remotely on my radar. Not just this race, but a 12 hour ride period. I kinda knew in the back of my head 12 hours might be problematic, but I was willing to give it a shot anyways. I’ve ridden Phil’s World before and thought “How hard could it be?”… famous last words, right?

I drove out to Cortez Friday evening, got my packet, ate dinner, bought a few necessities at the grocery store, setup camp, found some Durango buds ( The Rocky Mountain Chocolate 4 man team, and DEVO crew ) then hit the hay. By the way, thanks for the chocolate that  night guys.

Saturday morning went by quickly. Alarm went off at 5:30. Downed some raw eggs and a banana. Got the feed station setup in solo alley. Attended mandatory racer’s meeting. Got dressed, checked bike, and made it to the start line just in time for the LeMan’s run. The start of this race had a lot of traffic. There were 800 total racers, and split between solos, duos, and 3-4 person teams, there were probably 275 racers at the start. To help thin it out, we took a lap around the fairgrounds (the staging/start/finish area) and then onto a jeep road for about a mile before hitting the trail.

I wanted to be in decent position, but I also wanted to make sure I hit the singletrack with some reserve. After all, my game plan was to start slow and ramp it up/keep it steady. I probably could have gone a little harder since I spent the first 8 miles or so of the 16.4 mile 99% singletrack loop in traffic at a slow place, but oh well. Something told me the chill pace was a good thing. Besides, I was trying to maintain more of a “long ride” mentality rather than a race. It was going to be a long day.

Lap 1 just kind of floated along. Somewhere in my drivetrain this awful creaking noise started to develop. I remembered that at the last race I could feel my bottom bracket starting to loosen up, so I figured the bearings were finally crapping out. Oh well, they would just have to last for one more race I thought, even if it was a 12 hour.

By the end of lap 1, the field had mostly thinned out and my bike noise problem had escalated to a ” annoying bird in agonizing pain” kind of level. I don’t know how else to explain it. Every pedal stroke under power was just creaking horribly. Luckily, I had brought my singlespeed as a backup, and it had a bottom bracket I could yank out and switch with the dying one in Sally. However, having fought a little to get ahead of traffic, I wasn’t ready to do it on this break, so I grabbed some fruit, changed bottles, and kept going.

Lap 2 was a little smoother and quicker since I didn’t have as much traffic to deal with. I was also oriented with the course and felt comfortable railing turns and launching jumps. The noise problem just got worse. In fact, I think it kept other racers away from me, either allowing me to pass quickly, or vice versa. It was driving me nuts. I thought through how I could swap the bottom brackets without losing too much time. It occurred to me that fellow Texan Payson McElveen and his teammates were a few tents down from mine and probably wouldn’t mind giving me a hand. They could remove the part while I was on lap 3 and have it ready to put in for lap 4. After asking them, they graciously obliged, and I was off for lap 3.

The noise this lap was beyond horrible. It was now up to the level of “spoiled rotten 3 year old not getting her way and won’t shutup til she does” status. If you have ever encountered such a thing, you know that this is much worse than “annoying bird in agonizing pain” level. I couldn’t wait for this lap to finish and change that part out. I was starting to feel some fatigue at this point but wasn’t worried about it.

End of that lap, sure enough, my new bottom bracket was waiting for me. They had led me to believe they would help me switch it out too, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t really care though, I was glad for the help I did get and wasn’t really opposed to a long break anyways while I did some wrenching.

I set out for lap 4 after the extended break. It was a little toasty by this point, but I could see some clouds coming in, a welcome reprieve. The noise issue was only slightly better. Apparently, the real problem was somewhere in the cassette. The chain was super dry, but I think there was something more at play. Whatever the case, that damn creaking was still persisting and driving me nuts. Even though my legs were really starting to hurt now, and this course had a fair amount of climbing, I wished I had setup the bike singlespeed just to not deal with this effin noise.

About halfway through the lap those clouds didn’t disappoint and it began to rain lightly, with a little bit of snow mixed in. The trail was so dry that it wasn’t really enough water to make things muddy. In fact, when the rain let up, it packed down the course and left it slightly tacky. It was now supersonic fast! If only my body would have been. Last years’ winner did 8 laps, it was pretty clear I wouldn’t make that, but I was still hoping for 7 at this point.

I rolled through the start/finish, refueled, and made my way out for lap 5. Stuff was really aching now, but I remained hopeful I would catch a second wind and at least be able to ride 6 laps. Halfway through the lap, I realized this wouldn’t be a good idea. I felt strong naseau and my back and shoulder muscles just felt taxed to the limit, especially that bad shoulder. After 82 miles of moderately technical singletrack, 8 1/2 hours in the saddle dealing with a dying drivetrain, I decided to call it a day. I knew going into the race 12 hours was probably pushing it, but still, I felt a little bummed I couldn’t ride the full 12. On the other hand, I was completely obliterated, hadn’t crashed, hadn’t torn anything up, had a lot of fun, and felt it was a pretty training gig on my way towards San Juan Huts 200 at the end of June.

There remains one more mystery race before then. In some ways it will be more difficult than Mesa Verde, in others, it will be easier. One thing is almost certain, I will be rocking the one cog. It is unforeseen whether I will kick major ass, but that is a primary goal, among others. Stay tuned to read the ride report for this one. Might be this weekend, might be middle of June. Ahh, the suspense.

Life is good here in Durango. There is of course the news that I started a little bike trailer business last month. I’ve had a few orders including a rather cool and large commission in Aspen, and lots of people are talking about it and getting the word out. That’s April news though. This month’s really big news is that I’ve been offered and have accepted an awesome opportunity to be the left hand man with Sunpeak Builders, a local green building construction and remodel company. I’ll be doing everything from marketing to supervising to managing to designing to actually hopping in projects and getting my hands dirty. The owner, Adam Fries, sees this position as someone who could take over the company and either become a partner or maybe full owner. That is a ways down the road, but for now, I don’t think I could have landed a better job that fits my skills, energy, and desires. I’ve always loved carpentry and designing, and after starting my own business 2 years ago have started to really like marketing, managing, and embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Landing this opportunity has been bigger and more emotional than I can even put in words. Ever since moving to Durango I have struggled to find good work. I have sold bikes to pay for groceries. I”ve taken all kinds of odd jobs and back breaking labor just to stay afloat. There’s been a few times I’ve gone hungry, never that hungry, but more than I’m used to. I have turned in application after application, some for jobs that I wasn’t ever excited about but at least I could do them and get a little money. I can’t count on two hands the number of times my hope for staying here has dangled on a tiny thread. I have prayed and practiced all the patience I have, and now finally, I feel the good Lord has blessed me.

What is even more ironic was that last week alone, I had about 4 calls out of the blue for other jobs, some of which sounded pretty cool too, others not so glamorous, but hey, at least I got calls. Even though I already agreed to a great position, having those calls come in reaffirmed my belonging and happiness here. I tell ya, when it rains, it pours.

Then there is racing… The first legit race of 2012 for me went down this past Wednesday at the DEVO short track series. Getting back into race shape has been painful to say the least. I can remember a time when fellow Texan Payson McElveen and I were duking it out neck and neck at the Tuesday night Dirt Derby in Austin. Now he’s racing for Ft. Lewis College here in Durango winning collegiate national championships and although I don’t see him at the short track races,  he would totally annihilate me. I didn’t finish last, but dang 15th of 18? I’ve got a ways to go!

Following this short little race, I decided that since I had a kick ass job these days and a little cash coming in to head down to Aztec Sunday for the Alien Run Mountain Bike race. What a week! First short track race in who knows long followed by the  first cross country race since early October. I went with no expectation of a high finish, but simply to ride hard, ride fast. and have fun. I almost thought of registering in the sport category but ultimately decided racing Expert would be more beneficial. The start really sucked since it involved lots of paved and dirt roads and I quickly fell to the back, but once we hit singletrack I found my groove and started picking people off one by one. This lasted all but 4 miles until I got off course. Suddenly, I was chasing imaginary people along an unmarked trail before the trail sort of died and I realized what had happened. Unfortunately, I had gone about 3 miles on said trail and was forced to backtrack to where I got off course.

I was a little bummed that I only got to really “race” 4 of the 25 mile course, but decided I didn’t drive 40 minutes to do an easy 10 miles, so I got back on course and finished the race as best I could. I’m glad I did. There were actually a lot of good things to come of the race. I didn’t crash, my bike felt great, I was happy with how I was doing those first 4 miles, I got in a little extra ride time, I didn’t bonk even though I finished in 2:45 without any food, and the heat didn’t bother me one bit. Now, If I can just take that effort and multiply by 10, I should be ready for the San Juan Hut race at the end of June.

Between now and then I have actually added 2 more rather large races to the calendar. I’m not going to announce them. I’m just going to show up and kick some ass, and maybe write a race report for you entertainment.

Thanks for checking in on my adventures. Life is good and only getting better. I hope the same is true for you.

-Caveman

Apparently, I’m not blogging enough and posting enough pictures of myself, according to several friends back in Texas, and my mom. Well, that’s probably because I’ve been busy working and playing. I hope you understand that life doesn’t revolve around me   Lucky for you, I brought along my camera for a pretty nice ride this beautiful Saturday in Durango and snapped a few shots for my fans. First though, if you haven’t heard yet, I stated a new little business here in Durango, Durango Bike Trailers. For the past few weeks, I’ve been designing, building, testing, and marketing handmade bike cargo trailers. It’s a just a little side business I do mostly for fun, but I’m getting a few orders in as the word is getting out.

Coupled with other odd jobs around town, I haven’t had as much time for riding as I’ve wanted, but I’ve had a little. My fitness is slowly coming back round for the big race I plan on doing this summer.  Here are a few pics from my ride today.

For Immediate Press Release:

DURANGO, CO- I am proud to announce the launch of my newest business venture today, Durango Bike Trailers. A few weeks ago I was looking for a bike trailer to haul Rocco in to the dog park, and after unsuccessfully finding one locally, I decided to build my own. The research, building, and testing of said trailer got me to thinking I could probably build a few of these things and sell them to the public for a really good price. The company was hence born. I played with a slew of ideas, construction methods, options, and a whole lot more before coming up with some models that I could offer to the public for prices in the $50 to $150 range.  Better yet, I use a lot of recycled materials including tubing, wood, wheels, and other misc stuff I find being thrown out around town.  I will be an exhibitor at the 4 Corners Green Living Expo on April 21-22 at the La Plata County fairgrounds. If you live in the area, stop by and check out some of the trailers. If you don’t live here, you might know someone who does and would like to own a bike accessory like this. Send them my way!

I’m not fully expecting there will be enough people in Durango to make a full time living off this little venture, but hopefully it will produce a little cash and bring me great joy since  I really enjoy doing stuff like this and meeting new people. At the moment, there are no plans to expand beyond Durango, but you never know. I might develop a model that ships easily and can be put together without much work. We’ll see. Thanks for checking in!

The skis have been put away until next December. The river is about to hit 1,000 cubit feet per second and open to rafting. The trails in town are dry and open for business. The Tuesday Night Worlds weekly fast road ride has cranked back up. The temps are flirting with 70 degrees. The sun doesn’t set until 7:30 now. Spring is here, and I’ve been busy knocking off some rust.

I’ve gone for a ride or nice hike/run everyday for the past two weeks. I had acquired a little bit of belly fat from the winter and going out to pint night too much, but I have leaned back out quickly thanks to all of this riding and giving up alcohol, going out eat, and all processed foods for lent.

At first I was riding on the road since most of the trails were still too muddy. But gradually, the snow melted and the runoff subsided on the Dalla trail system and I broke out the fat tires and started going there. It had been a good 4 1/2 months since I laid rubber on a trail. The legs were weak, and my handling was timid. I was left wondering how in the world I would get ready for a 230 mile ride across Colorado and into Utah in just 3 months. I had a lot of rust to knock off.

This week I decided to jumpstart the racing legs by hopping in the Tuesday Night Worlds. Austin is famous for the Tuesday nighter. We have our own little version here, and it is arguably better. For one thing, you never who might show up. Ned, Todd Wells, Sarah Tescher, Tad Elliot, Payson, Rowan, or who knows. Still, even the riders you don’t know will kick your ass. For another, we have climbs. Real climbs. And at 6500-8500 feet. The route also changes every week. All the routes roll out from town, so you don’t have to ride 13 miles just to get to the course, or worse yet, ride 13 miles back home after being obliterated. And lastly, much better weather. Right now temps are in the 50’s/60’s ride time. By summer, it would pretty dang hot if we hit 91. None of that 105+ crap down in Texas. but I digress.

The 24lb steel 1986 Trek Elance 440 and I showed up for the B ride. The A group had a cooler route, but I knew there was no way in hell I could keep up with those guys in my condition on that dinosaur of a bike.  It didn’t take long for the hotheads to push a ridiculous pace and split the group up. I was one of the many spit off the back. The very back, at that. The split occurred at the base of the first big climb, and luckily, we regrouped at the top. I was seriously winded and a bit demoralized, but pushed on. Before long we hit the 2nd big climb and I noticed people starting to tire. We came back down and hit the rolling county road back into town. The peloton was getting really tired at this point. I felt like I was getting faster, and then I had my epiphany.

I am a second half racer. When others start to tire and cave in is when I typically start to do my best. I thought back to Rocky Hill last fall. I went against my normal way of operation, and paid the price. Then I thought back to all but a few of my big wins. I had always started slow and near last and gradually clawed my way to victory. Flash forward to this night’s ride. People were obviously hurting and not wanting to do any work. I wanted to go faster though, so I found my way to front and started to do some pulls-long and hard. It was awesome. Suddenly my doubt was beginning to crumble.

The muscles are getting stronger, the trail skills have returned, the tan lines are coming back, and I am loving it all. There is still a long way to go before June 27,  but I feel good about the start. I’m thinking of adding a second race to the year to use as a training race for this San Juan ride. I still haven’t secured full time work, so whether or not I enter will be based upon funding in the next few months. The bright side is that the local economy is picking up with the warmer weather coming to town so hopefully I can find something.

That is the update for now. Hope everybody is enjoying the awesome spring weather, wherever you might be.

Daylight savings took place the other day. The sun doesn’t set until about 7:30 now. Not only that, but we’re getting a little more daylight every day. The air is starting to warm up. The snow has all but melted in town. In the outskirts and higher up, it’s getting soft and starting a trickle into the seasonal creeks. I can tell that the Animas river is starting to rise just a little. There is a hint of green in some of the vegetation that was brown all winter long. Some birds that went south for warmer weather are starting to come back. Spring isn’t quite here, but it sure is in the air.

Today was actually my last day to work up at the resort, and hence probably my last day of skiing for the season. Last Friday I went up to La Plata Canyon with a friend and the dogs. We rode our mountain bikes on the snow covered road for about an hour and a half. It was the first real bike ride of any kind this year.

Sunday, I broke out the road bike and went for a two hour ride, maybe about 30 miles and 2,000 ft of climbing. My first road ride of the year-and it was amazing.

Monday I went up to Dalla park, praying that the trail would be dry enough to get in some good trail riding. It was, but just barely. Another week of this 60 degree weather and it should be in prime shape.

It became clear pretty quickly that my skills were a bit rusty, and 4 months off the bike hasn’t completely destroyed my riding fitness, but has definitely put a dent in it. The road to success in the San Juan Hut race this summer is going to be long and difficult. I have a little over 3 months to prepare. I wish I had more like 4 or 5, but there isn’t too much I can do about snow covering the trails around here, other than do lots of road riding in miserable conditions, which is what the pros do, but that ain’t exactly my cup of tea. Instead, I will attempt to play catch up and work just hard enough to get the results I want. I don’t want to work too hard for fear of injury or burnout. The cool thing is that this will be my first spring living in a mountain town. I moved here in the summer, enjoyed the fall, survived my first real winter, and now I’m looking forward to my favorite season of the year-spring. I am now fully acclimated to the climate and elevation so riding through the mountains should be much more enjoyable than when I first moved here.

Deciding to do the race this summer under the “epic” category, or self supported and attempting to complete the 230 mile course in less than 48 hours has got me really intrigued with the concept of “bikepacking”. This is simply where you rig your bike to carry enough gear to ride out into the wilderness for a few days and camp along the way. This requires a sturdy, comfortable rig, nice lightweight gear, and nice bags to carry all that gear. It’s also a practice in figuring out how you can do more with less since you obviously don’t want to be carrying any unnecessary weight up thousands of vertical feet. It will be a long time before I acquire all the gear to be a pro bikepacker (mainly because this stuff is expensive and I’m still very broke), but, I should have enough stuff already laying around where I can do some short 1 or  2 night trips close to town. I plan on doing these mini trips 2 or 3 times a month for supplemental training, but also to get out and enjoy some kick ass Colorado spring camping.

So that’s all the new news thus far. March 16 marks the one year anniversary of the accident that left me with a severely dislocated shoulder. To this day my shoulder is not right and gives me problems. A couple of hard falls while skiing this year have not helped at all. I have just sort of learned to deal with it. I’m not sure how it will respond to training again. Might not like it all, but on the other hand it might strengthen it. We’ll see. Thanks for checking into the man cave. Enjoy the spring weather, wherever you might be, and be safe out there.

-Caveman

March 1, 2012

Today wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary. I missed the shuttle to work up at the resort and had to drive instead. I hate driving up there, especially with as much snow as we’ve been getting this week, but it would later prove to be in my favor. I got to work and didn’t have a snowshoe tour scheduled, but a group of us decided to go up anyways to pack the trail since the mountain had received 24”+ of snow in the last few days. Busting drifts up at 10,800 ft was a lot of fun, but a little tiring. After that I had to shovel some snow, but was free to ski the rest of the day and look for guests on the slopes to assist. It was snowing hard, and was windy and cold, so not too surprisingly, there weren’t many people out skiing. I wrapped up my runs around 3:15 and checked in to finish up my shift, but it was so slow they let us go early, so instead of waiting until 5:15 to catch the shuttle, I had a truck to take me back. I also gave a fellow tour guide a lift back to town, and wouldn’t you know, she is a fellow real estate investor so we had some good conversation on the ½ hour drive back.

Now comes the part that makes this day not so ordinary. Today, the court hearing happened in Austin to legally finalize the divorce. Ever since I learned that the hearing would be this day, it has been on my mind. Colleen and I have said our goodbyes and come to terms with the circumstances, but still, something like this stirs up emotion and brings a much needed sense of closure. I feel like I can move forward with new relationships and other aspects of my life. This is one of the small steps I mentioned back on New Years that I knew I had to take to move forward.

Even though I was tired from play and work, I felt like I needed to do something to commemorate the day. I decided to take Rocco on a nice hike up to Hogsback peak.

The hike started with a wicked snow storm blowing in from the west. The wind and snow concerned me a bit since I knew I would be on an exposed ridge for a while, but the storm died down and the sky orchestrated with the mountains and snow to provide the most stunning vistas I’ve yet to experience here in Durango while we made the steep ascent.

I couldn’t have asked for a more mystical sunset to contemplate the good times I shared with such an awesome person.

While I’m strongly committed to looking to the future, today, I feel compelled to look to the past. I just wanted Colleen and everyone else to know I have no ill feelings, no contempt, no negative anything towards the person that used to be my wife. I choose not to remember the bad times, but rather the times like this:

And one last thing before I hit the hay for some much needed rest this evening. This might not be our song anymore, but it was at one point. I’m always going to think of Cupcake and Caveman anytime I hear it. Take care, Cupcake.

Before I dive into the topic of the title, I wanted to catch everybody up on a few things. Life has been ok here in Durango over the winter. We’ve finally had some good snow the past few weeks making my first winter in mountain town, well, feel like a winter in a mountain town. The white caps, snow covered fields, and cold air have been enjoyable. I’ve managed to find enough odd jobs to stay afloat. December and January were really tough on me financially, but I made it. I’m finally getting calls for interviews and finding other opportunities in my expertise, and I’m keeping the faith that some good paying work is right around the corner.

In times when I haven’t had work, I’ve found time to ski or go snowshoeing. Being a volunteer at the resort, I get a season lift ticket. I also get to take the employee shuttle for free. So, skiing actually doesn’t cost me anything. I found an old pair of telemark skis in the garage that work ok, and invested in a $40 pair of ski boots, and otherwise, I don’t have much more than that put in it. When you live in a ski town, you can ski pretty often for hardly any money at all-if you know how.

For those of you that don’t know what Telemark skiing is, it is sort of an old school way of getting down the mountain with less technologically advanced equipment. Your heel is not attached to the ski so you can bend your knees a lot more. To complete a turn you have to drop down into a lunge with one ski hanging back a little. It looks like this:

Telemark skiing is harder to learn than alpine skiing, takes more skill to excel at, and is generally a little more physically demanding since you are doing lunges all day, but man, it is a blast once you get it down and it looks damn cool too!

I’m not quite an “expert” at it yet, but maybe right below it. I can ski blacks with no problem and have even done some crazy double blacks. One bad thing about tele skiing is that it has turned me into a powder snob. Yes, you can ski on groomers and hard stuff, but fresh deep powder is where the real fun is at. It’s like floating on clouds. Unless we get 6” or more overnight, I don’t really feel like making the effort to get up to the slopes. This seems to be a universal problem with most tele skiers. Oh well, not skiing so much gives me time to look for work and get other things done, like writing this blog post.

One big event that happened here in Durango a few week back was Snowdown. This is a 34 year old winter festival originally started to help ease cabin fever. Nowadays, it is just an excuse for grown people to dress up in costumes, compete in silly competitions, and drink a lot of beer for 5 days straight. It started Wed Feb 1 and ran through Sun Feb 5 this year. They change the theme every year and this go round it was “Fairytales”. I decided to dress up as a hybrid Robin Hood. Most of my gittup looked pretty authentic-forest green top, leather belt, real leather armguards, a homemade leather quiver, leather boots, a homemade stickbow, and a pointy hat complete with feather. The part that made it hybrid was the brown leg tights. I have never had my ass grabbed so many times in my life as I did these 5 days of snowdown, nor have I ever felt so cold from pretty much wearing nothing (I was also commando I should point out). To say I didn’t enjoy being violated would be a bit of a lie, even if they were older, not so attractive women (most of them were not, luckily J )

I ended up competing in two competitions. The first one was a bike roller race on Wednesday evening. I hadn’t been in any serious athletic competition since Rocky Hill back in October, but I thought what the hell. No one there would know I was a former roller race champion, so there was zero expectation for a dominating performance.

This race was a little different than the one I won at Mellow Johnny’s a few years back. You could use whatever road bike you wanted, and the front wheel wasn’t fixed-you actually had to balance on the rollers. Heats lasted 15 minutes instead of 500 meters. Whoever pedaled the “farthest” was the winner. I very well could have done the thing on my road bike with 53×11 gearing (like all but 2 other people) and I maybe could have got decked out in spandex instead of cotton shorts and a t-shirt (like all but one other person)  but I wasn’t there to win it, I was there for style points. I outfitted the flat bar fixie with the tallest gear combo I had in my stash (53×16), threw on some SPD pedals and MTB shoes, and gave it all I had. Even with a pretty high cadence, I couldn’t match the distance of the higher geared riders. No matter, I looked good doing it. In addition to distance traveled in 15 minutes, they recorded average speed and max speed. When I had 10 seconds left, I revved it up to some ridiculous cadence to hit 50.6mph, good enough for third place in this category. I didn’t get a prize, but I got wicked respect from the crowd and fellow competitors.

It took a while and a few draws from the keg to recover and rehydrate, but once I did I went back home to change into my costume and from this point on I can’t say that I remembered too much for the next few days.

I did remember the next competition I entered, however. How could I forget such a manly and epic battle, not to mention one that I had been preparing for for 3 months to the day? It was none other than the Beard contest. At first, facial hair progression was slow, and all my friends kept telling me how competitive this contest was and that I didn’t stand a chance. Then, magically, secretly, I willed my beard to grow longer, faster, thicker-and it kinda worked. Come show time, I had a chance to size up the other 24 competitors who had also waited patiently since November 4^th when we had the “shave off”. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of beard prowess-save for 2 or 3 gentleman who I immediately marked as the men to beat. What I might have lacked in their beard power, I made up for with devilish good looks, and a kick ass costume ( I should point out that all of the judges were female, and seemed more interested in my tights than in my beard) Still, they gave me high remarks on beard length, bushiness, and neck hair, and then proceeded to grab and slap my ass hard, just for good measure. I thought to myself, “I’ve got it in the bag now!”

After visual judging and groping ended, the true test of man’s beard commenced: the beer holding portion. A big bowl of beer was placed before us. We had 15 seconds to dip our beards in and out and empty them into a pint glass. The glasses were then weighed to produce a quantifiable metric to be scored with the judges marks. I didn’t win this division, but had a respectable 8.4 oz. After wrapping up these shenanigans, it was time for awards. There were 5 categories: longest beard, fullest beard, best neck hair, best color, and worst beard. On top of this, there was best overall beard.

Somehow they awarded me best color. I totally did not have the best color, but I didn’t quite have what it took to stand out in any of the other divisions, and the judges really liked my ass and so I think that is why they gave this one to me. Whatever, I was ready for the overall and felt good about my chances. Unfortunately, some old guy with a really nice thick salt and pepper beard took home the grand prize. I must admit, it was a nicer beard than mine. However, there is still some controversy on whether that guy showed up at the shave off  3 months prior. No one remembered seeing him there. His beard almost looked a little too good. I did get second place overall though, so I was pretty happy with that, especially for my first ever beard competition. Next year will be better.

Now, on to the title. You might have seen that tiger post I put up a few weeks ago, and something about “Beyond the Great Snow Mountains” What in the world could I possibly mean by all that mess? THIS IS WHAT I MEAN.

I know I said I would take 1-2 years off from racing, but @#*! This is my own backyard. Terra Firma, the fine folks that put on 12 Hours of Warda, 24 Hours of Rocky Hill, and a lot of other cool adventure races in Texas is actually bringing a race up here! When Zoe Nance of Zoefitness showed me the link to this race, I immediately felt that old flame roar up that has been dormant since October. I tried to reason with myself and say there was no way I could afford it, no way I could find the time to train, and ask myself if I was really ready to do another race, not to mention one of this caliber. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself not to do it , I just couldn’t.

Now, before you get too excited, I’m not going to return to racing full time or get as serious about it as I have been in the past, but to say that I’m not a bike racer is big pile of you-know-what. Who am I kidding? Of course I’m a mountain bike racer, and a pretty good one when I want to be. There is a passion in every mountain bike racer, be it a novice Cat 3 beginner, or a seasoned Pro. It’s just there. You can’t deny it. Trying to suppress such a thing is like trying to suppress sex, and that’s just not healthy. So you heard it from me here, I will be doing at least one race in 2012, and it’s going to be epic. And if you had any doubt whether I’ll be choosing the 7 day tour or the 2 day epic, well, there shouldn’t be any doubt. If you are going to think, you might as well think BIG.

Training has already started. I have a long, long journey ahead of me, but I am looking forward to it like no other adventure I have ever prepared for. There will be a lot of weakness leaving the body, there will be lots of riding, there will be pain, there will be joy, there will be racin’. Hope some of my Texas friends can make it up. I’d love for you to see one of the main reasons I moved here. If you do come to race, you might try to borrow an extra pair of lungs, and climbing legs. Colorado riding doesn’t mess around. Til next time.

Caveman

PS if you didn’t catch the Louis L’Amour reference, the mountains here are packed with snow right now, so not only will the snow have to melt off before I go beyond them, but Moab is what actually lies beyond the great snow mountains. Looking forward to it!

The Eye of the Eagle is sharp, but the Eye of the Tiger is closer to its work…

I don’t like to think 2011 was a bad year, but it certainly was a tough one.

A wise man once said you have to know where you are at to know where you are going. I think another wise man said, you have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re at. So even though I don’t get excited taking a look back at the last year, it will help me to move forward.

The year started out as a married man, sharing a house with a wonderful woman, the first time in my life. Colleen was out of work looking for something new. I was still trying to grow my real estate investing business and doing some architecture work on the side.

Come Feb 12 it was time to defend my title at the Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Race at Warda. The competition was stout, and I was dealing with a little knee pain. I was in 2^nd place, but felt defeated, so I quit. It was the beginning of a downward spiral. On the good side of things, Colleen had finally found work at a dream job

On Feb 27^th I kicked off the 2011 TMBRA spring series by returning to Warda. This year they introduced a Singlespeed Open category, for the more competitive riders wanting payout. I knew right away I could win this series, but after finishing a mediocre 4^th in this first race I knew something wasn’t quite right and I had a lot of work to do.

Early March, Colleen and I embarked upon a Carribean cruise to celebrate our upcoming one year anniversary. Her parents bought the trip as a gift and came with us, along with an Aunt and Uncle of Colleen’s. I really enjoyed this new form of travel and seeing different parts of the world such as Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. This trip was actually one of my better memories from the year.

March 16, 2011 my life changed forever. I was out doing a training ride in the hills of west Austin. A driver in a Nissan Xterra come up to cross street stop sign very quickly. Not seeing me at first, he began to make the turn. I was moving along at a good pace going downhill and had to react. My knee jerk reaction was to steer to the right to try and miss him as he kept going into the intersection. Unfortunately, he saw me at the last second and his knee jerk reaction was to stop. I t-boned the SUV with my right shoulder taking the blunt of the impact. It was dislocated, bad.

Four days later I celebrated my anniversary with Colleen in a sling and a little bit of pain. We had made it a year! And while it was a year full of trials and tribulations, we were making it and doing alright.

I spent the next few weeks recuperating and then started my therapy. The road to recovery was excruciating and frustrating. The therapy hurt like hell, and progress was slow. Little things that used to be so easy like getting dressed, driving, cooking, cleaning, they all now had a degree of difficulty I wasn’t accustomed to. I had serious doubts of whether I would be able to return to the things I loved doing most, like racing and doing caveman workouts. Eventually, I was, but to this day I have limited strength and range of motion and am still receiving therapy for the injury.

My return to racing was bittersweet. On May 22, just 67 days after the accident, I was able to hop in the last race of the TMBRA season at Rocky Hill. I started the season in singlespeed open, and I was going to finish it that way. The race was absolutely brutal. I had lost just about all of my fitness, it was hot and humid, the course was tough, and I only had one gear. I finished last, some 25 minutes behind the winner. That was the bitter part. The sweet part was that I was back on the bike.

Following this race I felt confident my shoulder could hold up to the stresses of mountain biking, so I began to train again.

On June 25 I entered the Blazing Saddles 6 hour race in Warda. I knew where my fitness was and had no expectations for this race other than to finish. The brutal heat eventually kept from riding all 6 hours, but I was happy with 5 and pleased with the effort. Now, all of sudden, defending the 24 hour title at Rocky Hill in October didn’t seem out of the question.

Unfortunately, there was a storm brewing on the homefront that was about to affect me larger than the shoulder injury, larger than anything I’ve been dealt before. People always want to know how relationships go wrong. I’ve got my theories, but in truth, I just don’t know. Somewhere along the way, things just begin to deteriorate.

Not too long after that 6 hour race, Colleen and I began having serious talks about our marriage. The last talk ended with her asking me for some time away. Very unwillingly, I obliged. At first, I thought I would just call up a buddy and couch crash for a week or two, but then something big sprung up in my head. Some kind of mid life crisis type of thoughts. The kind of thoughts that inspired Peter Gibbons to knock down the cubicle wall and take over the office. The kind of thoughts that snapped Kevin Spacey into action in American Beauty. The kind of thoughts that Luke Skywalker must have had in realizing he was a Jedi, like his father before him, and he was the salvation of the universe.

I’m getting carried away here, but my thoughts were leading in the direction that I was at a point in my life where I needed MAJOR change. I packed my bags, not fully knowing where I was going or what I was in for, but I had something in mind. I left my home of eleven years and on July 16 I landed in Durango, CO. At this point, I was viewing this trip as a camping adventure, somewhere between 2 weeks and 2 months long. I was optimistic the time off would give Colleen what she needed and we could get back to life as a happily married couple.

Two things happened that intervened is this fairy tale dream though. First, the time and distance away didn’t do anything for us except make matters worse. Secondly, I realized that a place like Durango was where I should have been all along. Even if Colleen had asked me to come back, I’m not sure I would’ve. Everything here fits with who I am, who I want to be, what I want to do, the people I want to be part of. That is a bit selfish on my part, but moving back to Austin would have been to betray my spirit, and I would rather be a little selfish than to live somewhere I wasn’t truly happy. Austin was getting too crowded and just can’t compete with Durango when it comes to outdoor adventure.

I slowly began building my life in a mountain town. Found a place to stay, starting looking for work, began meeting new people, and started playing as much as I could. Riding, hiking, running, sight seeing, tubing, whatever I could find. Mostly riding though. Austin probably has the best trails in Texas, at least for a large city, but the trails here make Austin look like a kiddy playground. There is a reason that national champs Ned Overend, Todd Wells, and Shonny Vanlandingham call this place home.

As I got used to elevation and mountain riding, my fitness began to increase. I saw a flyer for the 12 Hours of Snowmass coming up, so I signed up. I did pretty well, riding 11 hours at 9,000 feet and LOTS of climbing. The effort here gave me confidence to skip Rocky Hill and enter the granddaddy of 24’s, Moab.

Time passed, and it became clear to Colleen and me that our marriage was over. I got busy with work and didn’t have the time to train I wanted to. Also, at some point I would have to make a trip back to Austin to get the rest of my stuff and tie up loose ends. I decided to return to Rocky Hill after all and kill two birds with one stone.

All things considered, I was in decent shape, but I was harboring doubt going into that race. I knew I would be up against the strongest field yet, plus I would have to deal with that dang Texas heat. I fought hard, but my body eventually succumbed to the conditions and I had to pull out. The Caveman reign was now officially over.

The drive back to Durango was long and emotionally draining. The loss weighed heavily in my mind, not to mention the long goodbye from my wife and to Austin.

Since then I have been trying to get as much work as possible since I have some rather hefty financial obligations to contend with. The split and relocation definitely didn’t help with these matters, but I’ve never defaulted on a debt and I plan to keep it this way.

Before I left for Dallas to visit my family for Christmas, I made known that I won’t be racing anymore, at least for a while. That fire is dead now and I just have too many other things to take care of.

That brings me to today, December 31, 2011, the last day of the year. 2011 was definitely a tough year filled with hardship and heartbreak, but there were also a lot of good things that happened. Everyday I walk out the door and am greeted by gorgeous mountain vistas and clean mountain air. Beautiful rivers and creeks abound. In the summer, I have hundreds of miles of trail to ride. In the winter, hundreds of miles to downhill, XC, or backcountry ski and snowshoe. I pretty much lost custody of the best dog in the world, Ladybird, but I’ve got a new companion now, Rocco, and he’s ok. I’m broke as I’ve ever been, yet I am as free and as rich as I’ve ever been.

2012 will be a year of rebuilding. I might not have the big accomplishments of years past, but I’m aiming to have several small ones that will build a foundation for success in the years to come. I might not have the money to go and do the vacations I want to do, but who needs vacations when you live in Durango? I’ve already met some wonderful new people and feel like a local here. I can just about walk into any business and recognize someone I know. I won’t be racing, but you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll still be out in the woods somewhere staying in shape.

I hope you take a little time to reflect on your past year and what you would like the next one to be like for you. Be safe and smart this evening. I would like to leave you with the words of one of my best friends from high school who suffered an untimely death from Hodgkins Disease:

Live Life, Love Life

-Jennifer Wood

Happy New Year!

Caveman