talking shit....

So, I see Dicky is taking a monk like approach to the BreckEpic.

meh. but what do you expect out one of those racer boy spancered PRO types? Somebody needs to yank his singlespeeder street cred, this talk about no beer....err, at least until he's out of contention. whatever.

Here's the deal, I plan to be in contention, I plan to drink beer. Don't go changing the method midstream, go with what you know...can't imagine slumming back up over Boreas or Georgia Pass without the carrot of an ice cold beer waiting back at the tent. Can't imagine chilling under a purple mountain magesty sunset w/out a tasty beverage to close out the day.

Guess it goes to mindset. My mind is set to blow some minds, the fix ain't that big of a handicap, it just isn't....just need to outclimb everybody. And keep picking away at it...like the George Castanza pick up method. Just keep lingering enough to bend them into submission, just linger and they'll come back. Ride the last climb same as the first, and they'll get reeled in. Keep at it day after day after day, use those years of Tour experience, the precedent setting rides, been there, done that, cash it all in. Pedal beyond the loneliness of the quiet place and blow their minds. Go time is coming.

qwik FYI on finalized 'plans'...Fly into DIA Thurs, chillin' w/ Furious George thru the Friday shakedown spin near Evergreen, then rolling the Volvo loaner towards BuffaloCreek. Found a place on the map to camp, Green Mountain, near a pretty lake at ~8000ft. Take in the mtn vibe w/ a bit of car camping, then roll up to the Kenosha Pass 'hood for a bit of higher mtn shakedown Saturday morn, check out the CT out of Jefferson Lake. More sight seeing tourist noobness, should roll into BreckTown Saturday afternoon for a bit of apres Firecracker50 mingling. Imagine there'll be Holidaze fireworks, crash on the couch/floor hookup afterwards and moving into my tent for the week on Sunday.

Official daily bloggyness will be somewhere, I'll try to throw the linkage up here once I know it...got a bag of clothes to pack, then to the airport on Thursday for a trip thru the metal tubez. Here we GO!

oh yeah, Rousseau, shoot me an email w/ your digits, will try to track you down on Saturday, not sure if I have your email....

heard about this....

word was in the grapevine late last year,
saw more this morning, hit the Google...

Trans Sylvania Epic, a PeeYay stage race

curious about the route(s)....cost?

thoughts

into the latter portion of a big bottle of the GoldenMonkey.
Breck on my mind, as always since MikeyMac announced the
bloggity blogness. three 1000 word articles, no problem.
race reports no problem. yeah.

I don't like using a lot of words. pare it down, say what
needs to be said. find something related to the theme,
anything, to riff on, only find maybe 600 words.
shit.

what I'm saying is, it was an interesting undertaking, learned
some things. articles are different than rambling impromptu
blog posts. that i've gotten more reserved, in some respects,
with what gets thrown up here. or there. or whereever there
is....supposed to be linkage from BikeMag, no such thing yet.
Whatever. But since a quick surf last night showed that they
haven't updated much of anything bloggish since MAy, well...
what do you expect?

Also reread, again, the last pre-race dilly, kinda happy with it,
sorta. coulda been a storger effort, jumbled thoughts w/out
flow towards the end...stuck on too many themes, trains of
thought, loose ends in the wind....what's done is done.

got onto the Google Earth last night, combined with more
incredible beta from Euro Greenerificness Sonya & Jeff, and
my map and a few obscure web pages I printed, getting a
feel for the lay of the land.

HUDGE!

wow, been telling myself, queitly on manymany rides,
'this is for Breck.' even during one foot in front of the
other last laps at Denton or Whitegrass, 'this is for Breck.'
And now this opportunity of a lifetiime is upon me, and
I can't thank everybody enough, and wish I'd given more
props in that last pre-gamer. Psyched for old school
friend hookups for the acclimatization roadtrip.
Checking out the Evergreen scene, then Kenosha
and/or Georgia Pass on the Colorado Trail on
Saturday before saunterring into BreckTown for
some Firecracker apres' scene. It's a celebration!

Then I'll deal w/ the inevitable headache and ride through
it like always and try to blow some minds w/ regard to
what an eastern boy can do on a fixed gear in the
big bad Rockies.

The well is full, time jump in, pull the plug, and drain it.

fishin'

in the mood to 'get away.'
like I don't do that all the
time anyway, but without
the bike, just me and the
flowing water, taking a
couple hours to explore
the ground that passes
under wheels in 10minutes.

even caught some fish!
of course, no picture of
the only keeper of the day.
Brook trout make me smile

to race?

you know you're in the right place
when you think about actually 'racing'
at Breck vs jra getting thru it.

Altitude? yeah it's a bummer, but pretty
much everybody will be in the same boat,
unless you've been hi mtn chillin' like JB,
or a hardcore local out to defend the turf...

And based on how the ridin's been goin',
I'm ready to fucking rip some cranks off!
still on a Stoopid buzz, rolling the fix
home @ only 20 couple minutes off the
Pfluganator, who just threw down a 5th
overall at Lumberjack. Yeah, the pump
is primed. Dropped a couple pounds,
turned up the intensity while backing
off the volume, and now I'm resting
and chomping at the bit.

Today the required gear list came out,
thought I had it dialed. Figured on bottles
on the bike (34+25ozer's), gel flasks in a
pocket. Stem bag to hold a tool, patch box
of bits, #2 tube. Loaner swanky rain jacket
stuffed in a pocket, camera in the other pocket.
No pods allowed.
No pack needed.

But now I see an emergency blanket and
first aid kit in the mix. Hmmm, that's a
camera's worth of space, or I go back to
riding with a pack...ride it, or race it?
Run the Ergon fully loaded and ride it like
a fast tour, or race it and maximize the
support???

Could drop the #2 tube, or strap it to
the stem! make room for silver blanky
and band aids in the box, keep the weight
off my back. cuz every time you stand to
pedal, you're lifting it over and over and
over....and I ain't 'racing' w/out my camera....

glad I got few days of shakedown once there
to figure it out. Looks like I'm hitting Evergreen
w/ FuriousGeorge and then solo explorin' a
bit of the CT on Saturday.

Good times coming!

beta-maxing

crunch time.
what's done is done.
it's all in the books now,
clock is punched.

loose ends, making lists.
collecting boxes, fill
'em w/ the 'essentials'
feet up as much as possible,
still turn the pedals a bit to
hone the edge here and there.

surfing, wondering what's
in store. small world
nowadays thru these tubez.

wanna know what's out there?
wonder what the terrain is like?

go here: Ergon pimpin' Jeff

or here: uber Green babe Sonya

or here: Little e, more my style.

then hyperventilate for full effect.

rolling it.

this is the short version,
long version was practice.

neutral leadout goes beepbeep! Go! sorta,
do take a hard tempo flyer, then latch back
and tempo once more. follow super smooth
locals Matt & Billy across Tussey, caught by
ElkBuckPete on the descent. Crush Thickhead
in a hurtful focused manner, get a gap when
you can.

Flow across Indian with Buck then keep the
tempo rolling on the approach to Beeyootiful
and it grows quiet behind, hmmmmm. neck
gets sore from all of the over the shoulder
glances. Just keep pedaling, all day long.
Beautiful trail was dialed fixy sweetness,
then steady gunning in the woods, walking
the cramp zone tightrope thru the fireroad
transiitons and get into a good back n forth
with Chip on the way to Aid2.

Had a quiet goal of a top five on the fix.
Unknowingly, I was battling for it, didn't
think we were that far up.. Crush Thickhead
again, slum down Detweiler, get caught. Chase
Chip the carrot and hit it one final time up
Gettis, get out of sight, way out of sight.
Couldn't stretch it far enough though, caught
at the bottom of Bear Meadows. Reality of
Laurel Run settled in, Chip got dibs & I was
glad to be done, happy to get down it clean.
Cross the finish line, come down off the edge,
queasiness no longer containable and empty my
stomach once back at the car, neat.

6th single, 17th overall, 4:45/50ish for fifty.

Breck? I ain't skeerd,
the work is all but done.
Breath deep.