105th anniversary

Anyone going to the 105th this weekend?

I'd kinda like to go, but it doesn't seem too likely, with all the other thing going on. And I haven't really made an effort to find people who are going. Stump Farm is higher up on the list, for one. Although it would be possible to stop Saturday night after the race and catch the last few bands on the way home...

'Cross Fever?

Are you getting 'Cross Fever?  I just heard about this site for cross videos. I haven't had time to check any of them out yet.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Ben and Julie on their marriage!  May they have a long and wonderful life together.  

Wish it were here...

I have serious Park Envy! My friend emceed a showing of Road to Roubaix in Boulder last week. She told the crowd about the future plans for the Valmont bike Park in Boulder. They are trying to raise a bunch of money by Friday to convince the powers that be that they have enough donors to make it fly. She was trying to get me to donate as well. Looks like the midwest will be losing even more people to the People's Republic of Boulder if this gets built! It could be amazing.

Maybe if we get the 2016 Olympics we can convince them to build something like this. Yeah, right.

Update: My friend sent me a link to an article about this park in Velonews.

Downer's Grove - U.S. Pro Crit Champs

Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing won.
As you can imagine, he was pretty much jumping for joy!

If you haven't heard much about Rock Racing, the above pic of their posse on the podium after the U. S. Pro win says alot.....
Hometown hero, from Paris to Beijing to Downer's Grove, off the front for six laps! He's a good sport for doing the race, I'm guessing it's been a while since he's done a crit.
(yeah, I know, I am a big geek.)

hopefully more to come... some so-so pics
here.

Air show

I've been hoping to make it over to the North Ave. beach to watch the air show practice this afternoon (blue angels, etc.) - and I am way bummed to find out that it's not a "practice" any more, they have made it an official part of the air show. That is going to mean terrible traffic and watching with about a zillion other people, vs. what would have been a pretty low key experience. The practices on Thursday and Friday used to be something known mostly to people that live or work around there. Oh, well, at least it's a beautiful day!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday to Ben, who turned 26 yesterday! I hope Ben is having a good birthday week, which will soon lead right into a good wedding week!

Error 99? and Leadville 100

Do any of you have any experience with an "error 99" message on the screen of your Canon DSLR? If you have had one, were you able to get the camera working again, or did you have to take it in for service? What was cause of the problem? My camera displayed an "error 99" at the race yesterday and froze.

Also, congrats to everyone that did the Leadville 100 over the weekend! (100, as in 100 miles with 14000 feet of elevation gain! hurts to even think about it) I know some WORS peeps and former WORS peeps went. I am trying to find a list of results to see who finished under the time limit. All I know right now is that Dave Wiens, who beat Floyd Landis last year, and has won six times (!!), beat Lance Armstrong. Armstrong took second, approximately two minutes behind over the course of a race that took just under 7 hours. Armstrong pushed Wiens to another course record - Weins shaved 13 minutes (!!) off his time and finished with a flat rear tire!!

One of my friends who does Leadville regularly says that the locals run something like 60+ psi in their tubeless tires for this race - anything less and they will flat. I find that interesting, given that people around here run super low air in their tubeless tires, from what I can tell. He also said that people from other places get a lot of flats before they figure it out. You'd think they'd put it in the race bible or something?

Race report later, my family is still in town, which will likely keep me busy. I pushed myself so hard yesterday in my quest to win my age group and do well overall that my muscles are sore. It hurts to touch my quad this morning. Strangely enough, the right one hurts when you poke the muscle on the outside, but the left one doesn't really. Weird.

24/9 Part 2

Chris on the run, after getting some food and encouragement from Kim and Sprout.

Brad coming through the check-in area. It had to be around 4:30 or 5 am at that point. Hmmm, they seem to be going a little slower at 5 am.... you can tell how dusty the trail was, much of it ended up on the riders!

Kim (and Sprout), pit crew star, seems to be in good spirits despite the fact that it's getting really chilly and really late.

Megan and Bubba. Both had strong teams and good races. Bubba and his team ended up on the podium.

John was on Don's 4 man WORS team in the Older than Dirt category. (There is also an Older than the Hills category, which is younger than Older than Dirt.) They won, and got Milk Shake Making Kits.

Keeping track of Chris Eatough. Support for Chris is a well-oiled machine and his support crew has to be in the right place at the right time.

Congrats to everyone who rode for hours and hours at 24/9, whether on a team or solo! It was great to see so many WORS and WEMS friends there - these pics only show a few of the familiar faces at the event! But this gives those of you who didn't go an inkling of what it was like to be there.

Red Bud Lounge!!
See what you missed as you rode through in a haze in the middle of the night. These were taken at 4:00ish am so things had quieted down considerably.





Did I mention that it got really cold that night? I wonder what the late night racers thought when they rode by and saw this fellow.

The devil seemed to be chasing the beer bottle around a lot.

One of the solo 24 hour women getting water. The riders were really covered with dirt as it got later, you can see it again here.



More pics here, including podium shots.

24 Hours of Nine Mile

I went to the best all-night bike party on the planet over the weekend.

It also happened to be 24 hour Nationals, for the third year in a row. This is my third year going, too. The first year I raced a 12 hour solo, and I had such a great time at the event I went back this year and last even though I wasn't able to race it. It's been exciting to cheer on friends and watch them do well in one of the most demanding events around. I didn't feel like I could miss it this year, with my wanting to support friends and with it being nats. When nationals of the sport you love are so relatively close to home, how can you not go?

My power keeps going out due to the big storm, which is slowing down my progress on this post quite a bit! I got absolutely soaked tonight while out riding - I guess I should really be doing laundry, stuffing my wet shoes with newspaper, and cleaning my bike....but here goes.

I got there late in the day, so I didn't get daytime racing action shots. I would have liked to be there for the LeMans start, but I had too much other stuff to do. I kept checking the results on my phone on the way up to see how friends were doing, so I sorta knew the basics of who was where. It made the drive more tolerable. I kept seeing "back building" in first place in the men's solo results, which really confused me. I thought it was a mistake, first because of the odd name, then later, not to have "Trek/VW" in first place. "back building" turned out to be someone named Josh Tostado, who I had not heard of before. I kept expecting that this "back building" person, whoever they were, would blow up and fade away. That did not happen, according to the results.


The World Bicycle Relief team had one of the best pit spots. Things were hopping when I got there, with Chris and Brad both in the pit at the same time. They were both riding very well - I think they were within a place or two of each other when I first got there. They are very fortunate to have such a dedicated and well-organized pit crew! Kim and crew were phenomenal. Such caring and encouragement, even when things got tough. Congrats to both Chris and Brad for riding your hearts out and doing so well!



Some more solo tents near the WBR tent. This area is near where the start line is for the WORS race many of us do every year.


I don't remember which tent this was on, but it must have been Dana's Bacon Riders team? They got second in the women's 4 person 12 hour event. I didn't know pigs could rappel, I thought you had to have opposable thumbs for that? There were a couple of piggies on that tent, nice touch.


Gabi, Dana and James. Gabi has been making cycling themed t-shirts to sell. She brought them to the race. Dana was on the Bacon team for the 12 hour. James is looking forward to cross season.


The waiting area where team members waited for their teammate to come in so they could start their lap. You can see Don from WORS there waiting for his turn to ride.


Rachael (in BKB stars) waiting to go out on the course. It is the middle of the night, or almost, by this point. Rachael, Holly K., MurphyKate, and Megan were on a 4 woman championship category team. Congrats to them on their strong race, they had some of the toughest competition around.


Holly resting and staying warm until her next lap. It got really chilly (50's) as it got later. Alot of people weren't expecting it and didn't have warm clothing with them. Anyone selling sweatshirts probably did well.


And here is Holly again, looking bright-eyed and ready to go in the waiting area. It was really late by this time.


Blinkie Man was on Team Twinkie, I think? If he indeed was, would that make him Blinkie Twinkie Man? When this fellow's teammate came in from his lap, Blinkie man stood there not moving, shell-shocked, instead of heading out for his lap right away. I think all those blinkies blinking must cause some kind of short-circuit. There were just as many on the front of the vest as the back!! I guess you had to see it to get the full impact.


(this is a work in progress, more to come!!! now I gotta really get some sleep.)

24 hours of Bike Love. I hear they only started out with two!! They must have multiplied over the weekend. (just kidding) Isn't that a happy sight, all those bikes in the woods?...... a picture like that reminds me of how much I love mountain bikes AND 24/9....

Good Luck at 24/9

GOOD LUCK to the many WORS and WEMS friends who are taking on the challenge of racing all night at 24 Hours of Nine Mile this weekend!!

I hope to be up there cheering you on, if all goes well.

Team Sprout - Good Luck and Go For It!!

Last year it was such a great feeling to be watching the awards ceremony on Sunday morning and to realize that most of the people on the podium were WORS and WEMS racers!! I'm sure I'll be seeing most of you up there again, though in different combinations.