2 Wheels || 2 Tracks

Introduction to Skimo Racing: Part 3 : CLOTHING (what to wear)

2012-01-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

"There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear."

Yes, winter is cold...and wet...and the days are short, but with the right combination of clothing skiing in the winter can be fun.

Randonee skiing is a unique winter sport in that your choice of clothing has to adapt to the changes while touring. When you are skinning uphill your body is generating a lot of heat(and sweat), but as soon as you turn around to ski downhill your body ceases to generate heat because the workout is way less aerobic. After you factor in the windchill on the way down that freezes that sweat you generated and you are chilled by the time you get to the bottom to turn around and go uphill again. The key is to stay dry because once you get wet it is hard to stay warm.

Luckily, there is a solution...its called layers and really is quite basic.

*This is what I would wear if I was going skinning on the ski resort or some other controlled environment (similar to skiing at the nordic center on groomed nordic track). For true backcountry skiing I would bring and/or wear warmer and more stormproof clothing as well as bring along backcountry safety gear.

Training Clothing
This is what I put on before leaving the house to go skinning.
Base layers-
Wool socks, windbriefs, lightweight wool long underwear bottoms, lightweight long sleeve wool top

Outer layers (that I wear the entire time)
Softshell pants(light and breathable), vest (windproof front& breathable back)
*if it is really cold &/or windy &/or dumping snow I also wear a softshell jacket (light and breathable)

Nordic or cold-weather cycling clothing works well for skinning because you are at a similar aerobic level. Check your closet, you might already have clothes...

Uphill

Notice the headband(buffs are awesome!) and lightweight softshell gloves.

The goal with the clothing you wear uphill is to minimize the amount you sweat. This probably means for the first 5 minutes you might be a little chilled, but once your core gets up to temperature you are comfortable. You can also start in a jacket(or with more layers) until you begin to warm up then remove it before you start to sweat. I prefer to wear a vest uphill so that it cuts the wind and keeps my core warm while allowing the sweat to evaporate off my arms. However, if it is windy &/or snowing I wear a softshell top to cut the windchill and keep me dry from the falling snow.

Change headwear between uphill and downhill!
50% of your body heat is lost through your head if you are hat less. This is actually good news in that switching between a light headband for the uphill and hat for the downhill can help control your body temperature and the amount your sweating.

Downhill

Put on a jacket, dry gloves, and a dry hat! When it is really cold I put on a lightweight down
jacket on and if it is snowing or really windy I put a shell on top of that. I would rather an extra 2 mins to be warm and dry on the decent then be freezing at the bottom! If you are a really sweaty person I would recommend maybe even doing a quick long sleeve baselayer change(to stay dry and warm).

Backpacks
I ski with a backpack all the time during the winter. It allows me to take extra clothing as you never know what the weather is going to do or what might happen. I can also carry food, water, and whatever else I might need.

There are a few companies in the U.S. that make skimo race specific backpacks. Below are the two most popular(or easy to get).

Dynafit RC20 Camp Rapid

Both of these packs have a couple features that are necessary if you want to be a competitive racers as they make your transitions really fast.
-ski carry (without removing pack)
-safety box (allow you to store and remove skins or crampons w/out removing pack)

Racing Apparel

Ahh....spandex! Well, the good new is, you don't have to race in spandex to be comfortable and perform well. I raced for half a season before I got a race suit and figured out what worked for me. You don't have to wear much racing because most of the time you are going uphill and generating heat. The key once again is to stay dry!

I wore lightweight/breathable pants(nordic style w/ breathable back and windproof front) with wind-briefs underneath and a long-sleeve top with a vest on. This combination was breathable enough on the uphill, yet warm enough on the downhill. Polyester long underwear cuts the wind better than wool so for racing I would recommend having a stinky polypro top. Find a vest that you can cinch tight at the bottom around your hips. This is so you can tuck your skins into the front for the descent and keep them warm.

Racers wear one piece spandex suits because of their breathability and plenitude of skin pockets. They are great for racing because you are generating a tremendous amount of body heat and not stopping. However, if you stop or find yourself in a whiteout you will probably freeze your ass off! This is why the ISMF requires you to carry outerlayers in your backpack while you race.

Luke Nelson looking AGGRO at Worlds last year in his spandex. Maybe it does make you faster???

I'll let you decide....

Why do you race?

2012-01-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

I ran into a fellow skimo racer this afternoon and he asked me the question I have been answering a lot lately, "Why haven't you been racing this winter?"

Instead of giving a straightforward answer I found myself beating around the bush and never really giving the reason why, despite having a legit reason. My real reason for not racing yet this winter comes down to economics; I decided earlier in the winter my credit card would remain healthy if I only raced locally.

I went for a run this evening and found myself coming back to that question. So I stepped back and thought, why am I out running right now? I suppose mainly to stay sane. Beyond that running is convenient (5 min bike ride to trailhead), cheap, and painful. Taking the same logic to a larger scale....

I think the question to ask is,"Why do you race?"

-fun

-improve/maintain health

-pushing your self/limits

-solitude

-pride

-enjoy competition

-desire to achieve physical goals

-personal identity

-atmosphere

-vanity

-awards

-other ______

That is just a quick list off the top of my head of why someone would race.

Why do I race?

I race because of the adrenaline rush and challenge of pushing myself, the atmosphere and the people that are involved in the whole scene, the travel and places that racing takes me, the feeling of personal accomplishment.
(this is my short answer)

And how about you?

Introduction to Skimo Racing: Part 2 : GEAR (on the cheap or $$)

2012-01-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

This is a continuation of the Introduction to Skimo Racing Series (links on right side of page)

Part 2: Gear

I'm tired of hearing, "So you want to get into Rando Racing? Well, you should start by purchasing this carbon...., carbon..., and Ti...., drop some $$$ and then you can get into the sport." I fully disagree with this mentality... and I think this is a common misconception with getting into the sport.

Here is what you need to know about gear:

1) Used gear can be a great buy!

-Modern randonee race gear has been out for a number of years now so it is possible to find a great buy on used equipment. Unless the gear is practically brand new I would advise not to pay more than half of what retail price is on a used piece of gear. During my first year of racing I threw down big $ on pair of used skis and guess what, I broke one of the skis after a couple months and the company wouldn't warranty it even though it was less than a year old! With that word of caution; don't over spend on used gear, keep looking if the seller is asking too much.

2) What to look for.

Boots

-There are two ways to approach buying boots. Either buy a pair of boots specifically for racing and training or buy a pair of boots you can also go backcountry ski powder boards in. I would recommend the latter because there are some great options out there now.

Race Specific

Dynafit DyNA or EVO

This boot came out in Fall 09 and has proven to be a great design. The integration of the lower boot into the cuff is much different than the Scarpa boots and has proven to be light, stiff, and durable, but comes with the typical carbon fiber boot price.

Scarpa F1

This boot was really the catalyst to getting randonee racing going in the U.S. (along with the Dynafit binding). I believe the boot came out in 2007 so there are plenty of these floating around.

Scarpa F1 Carbon or Alien

The F1 Carbon also came out in Fall 09 to compete with the new Dynafit. The Scarpa stayed with the same boot design as the F1 and basically put on a carbon cuff instead of the plastic and ground more plastic off the lower boot to shave weight. I have heard of a few cracked carbon cuffs with the F1 Carbon boots so durability is something to consider with these boots(I think Scarpa has been good about warranty on these though). I'm not sure about the alien. Again, these boots come with the carbon price tag.

Full Carbon
La Sportiva Stratos, Pierre Gignoux, etc.

There are also a few all carbon boots out there if you've got some real $$$. However, unless you are racing in Europe I don't think they are worth the extra money because of the durability issues with an all carbon boot. They sure do look pretty and might intimidate your competition!

Do it all boots!
Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain or Performance

Introduced in Fall 10' this boot has opened the eyes of many people to how well a light weight boot can ski downhill! I have logged a lot of days in the backcountry with this boot skiing a ski with a 95mm waist and it has delivered. Yes, you have to be a smooth skier to ski big skis with this boot so it is not for everybody, but if I can make twice as many laps as you on your 4 buckles then I will take what I can get.

These boots are lighter than the F1 Race and ski uphill better because the of the improved flex (thanks to the bellow in the back of the liner). For racing, remove the tongue and powerstrap as the boot will still be plenty stiff to ski your little 160 race boards. I could ski the Grand Traverse in my TLT5 boots as they are very close to the same boot as the DyNA.

For the extra $200 for the Performance you get a much stiffer boot due to the carbon cuff and the liner is lighter weight. If you enjoy skinning for your turns and are not a backcountry hucker (or wannabe) then these boots could be your ONE uphill/downhill boot.

I'm going to speculate that the TLT5 boots for next year will move to a non-flexing lower cuff like the EVO which should shave substantial weight and make for a stiffer boot.

Bindings

This is easy, go Dynafit! Dynafit bindings were invented a long time ago(1990) by someone who was thinking outside the box and the design has not changed much from the beginning. These bindings are light, efficient, and designed for the backcountry. They were slow to catch on in the U.S. because we are Americans and think bigger/burlier is better (think alpine trekker). They are designed for efficient uphill and downhill travel in the backcountry, however I would not recommend them for your local ice-hard mogul field at the resort.

Dynafit Speed
(also called the classic or tour-lite)

If you are looking used, this a great buy as they have been on the market for a long time. They can even be found in a multitude of fun colors. The internals of the binding are rebuild-able so just look for a pair that appears to be in decent shape. They have varied slightly over the years but should weigh in about 350 grams per binding.

Dynafit Race or Low-Tech

I think around 5 years ago Dynafit introduced a racing binding. The toe piece was made of titanium to save weight and the heel came in two offerings. A traditional heel piece with climbing step adjustments and din or a new radical heel that simply had a U shaped prong that shaved some serious weight. The original low-tech race is about 160 grams per binding.

This year (Fall 11) Dynafit introduced a new auto-locking race binding that is incredibly light (I believe the lightest on the market, someone correct me if I am wrong). The new toe piece locks into uphill mode as soon as you step-in to save time. The bindings weigh about 120 grams each.

Other Tech Bindings

This past year the patent on the Dynafit binding expired which opened up the door for other companies to copy the design. There are lots of other offerings out there, some appear to be as reliable as the original Dynafit, but others seem to be plagued with lack of quality control in manufacturing. If you decide to go with an alternative to Dynafit be sure to read up and find out if they have proven to be reliable.

Skis
In North America there is a very limited selection of skis you can actually get. I'll just mention the skis you find in shops in the U.S. Having owned and skied about 4 different brands I don't think the more expensive skis are worth the extra money unless you are racing on the World Cup. The length and size of all race skis are about the same; 160 cm length and around 96 x 65 x 78 mm.

Dynafit Race Performance
These skis retail for $650 and weighs 800 grams. The quality is top notch and they ski downhill great. I highly recommend these skis as they are durable enough to use them everyday in training, yet light enough to race on.

Hagan X-Race
This ski retails for $750 and weighs 700 grams. I have not skied or checked out these skis in person so I'm not sure about durability or quality, but I know in the past the Hagan skis have been durable (the older x-races are about 800 grams).

$1200+ skis
(when you get into this category I would view the skis as a race only set and have a cheaper set to train)
Dynafit DyNA World Cup
Ski Trab Duo World Cup (the most popular race ski in Europe)
La Sportiva RSR

*I know a few people with the Atomic Tour Races and they have proven to be good skis if you could find a used pair as they are no longer sold in the U.S.

Skins
You want mohair skins! They are the key to going fast. There are two options. Either buy a set of precut race skins with tips attached or find a shop that sells bulk skins cut to length and make your own tip attachments. Basically there are two large manufacturers in Europe of skins, Pomoca and Coltex, other companies then package and sell the skins as their own.

Camp and Black Diamond Mohair are the two options for bulk buying. The two shops in our valley sell them for about $15/ft so you are looking at $120 for a set.

Pre-packaged
Dynafit Race Ready Skins (Pomoca)
La Sportiva RSR Skins (Pomoca)
Ski Trab Race Skins (Coltex?)

Here are a couple previous posts about skins that you will find helpful-
http://travisscheefer.blogspot.com/2010/01/mohair-race-skins.html
http://travisscheefer.blogspot.com/2010/01/mohair-skins-part-ii-adding-glue.html

*For racing you are going to want 2 sets of skins.Your backup set could be a cheap pair of synthetic skins.

Poles
A set of Nordic poles are your best option. Cheap is good because if you break a pole it isn't a big deal. I've had good luck with old school carbon (or they might even be fiberglass poles), but I know some people that use aluminum and like them. You can also buy skimo specific race poles from Dynafit and probably other companies and they are obviously good as they are light, stiff, and durable. You want simple loop straps on your poles as you need to be able to take them on and off easily for transitions.

For length, you want them shorter than you would a typical nordic classic race pole. This is personal preference so if you get a chance try a couple different lengths(or use adjustable poles at varied length) until you figure out what feels good for you.

This is the basic gear you need.

Next up is what to clothing and backpacks (including what goes in it).

2012 US Ski Mountaineering National Championships

2012-01-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Luke Nelson and Sari Anderson 2012 National Champions!

pic by Ian Anderson

Official Results

Womens Race

1	27	Sari	Anderson	Female	Race	3:04:13
2	74	Stevie	Kremer	Female	Race	3:12:20
3	78	Gemma	Arro Ribot	Female	Race	3:16:03
4	20	Melanie	Bernier	Female	Race	3:17:05
5	4	Amy	Fulwyler	Female	Race	3:26:20
6	1	Janelle	Smiley	Female	Race	3:29:06
7	70	Nikki	Kimball	Female	Race	3:34:19.7
8	60	Jennifer	Gersbach	Female	Race	3:39:56
9	65	Kim	Young	Female	Race	3:48:07
10	26	Jari	Kirkland	Female	Race	3:49:55
11	15	Kathleen	Crowley	Female	Race	3:59:06
12	50	Lindsay	Plant	Female	Race	4:13:00
13	5	Jaime	Falcon	Female	Race	4:22:38
14	71	Jenny	Pierce	Female	Race	5:28:19

Mens Race

1	25	Luke	Nelson	Male	Race	2:38:58
2	42	Scott	Simmons	Male	Race	2:40:59
3	46	Jason	Dorais	Male	Race	2:43:42
4	17	Bryan	Wickenhauser	Male	Race	2:47:32
5	68	Ben	Parsons	Male	Race	2:48:47
6	3	Cary	Smith	Male	Race	2:50:20
7	2	Pete	Swenson	Male	Race	2:51:46
8	47	Jared	Inouye	Male	Race	2:53:19
9	41	Jon	Brown	Male	Race	2:55:13
10	48	Andy	Dorias	Male	Race	2:59:16
11	55	Chris	Kroger	Male	Race	3:00:59
12	36	Simon	Gilna	Male	Race	3:01:59
13	51	Brian P.	Harder	Male	Race	3:02:37
14	61	Michael	Hagen	Male	Race	3:05:26
15	58	Mike	Schilling	Male	Race	3:05:43
16	12	Dennis	Flanagan	Male	Race	3:07:58
17	59	Teague	Holmes	Male	Race	3:09:24
18	72	Brian	Story	Male	Race	3:09:48
19	22	Andrew	McNab	Male	Race	3:12:06
20	77	Zahan	Billimoria	Male	Race	3:13:18
21	45	Thomas	Goth	Male	Race	3:22:08
22	30	Nathan	Brown	Male	Race	3:25:56
23	43	Jamie	Kilcoyne	Male	Race	3:28:12
24	57	Miles	Venzara	Male	Race	3:28:56
25	49	Brian	Edmiston	Male	Race	3:30:33
26	24	Tyler	Newton	Male	Race	3:33:52
27	76	John	VanNostrand Jr.	Male	Race	3:34:19.4
28	44	Nicholas	Francis	Male	Race	3:34:20
29	14	Chad	Brackelsberg	Male	Race	3:35:36

30	23	Ray	Hellinger	Male	Race	3:35:49
31	54	Jon	Crowley	Male	Race	3:37:29
32	80	Brandon	Kern	Male	Race	3:39:46
33	66	David	Hoffman	Male	Race	3:41:57
34	6	Brook	Yeomans	Male	Race	3:45:05
35	10	Layne	Caldwell	Male	Race	3:49:23
36	84	Micah	Thatcher	Male	Race	3:52:01
37	35	Scott	Archer	Male	Race	3:52:03
38	69	Jon	Lowe	Male	Race	3:53:51
39	67	Scott	Radek	Male	Race	3:55:46
40	9	Tim	White	Male	Race	3:57:58
41	11	Jeremy	Rietmann	Male	Race	4:06:32
42	16	Matthew	Hart	Male	Race	4:16:16
43	52	Joel	Ahlum	Male	Race	5:06:05
44	21	Christopher	White	Male	Race	5:25:30

Le Velo

2012-01-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

New Years Day Tour

2012-01-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I opted to not wake up with a hang over to start off 2012. Instead I went to bed before midnight so I could wake up early to head out on the annual Swampy Pass New Years tour. Started off the morning right with a perfect shot of espresso!

I think the New Years day tour started about 8 years ago and has become an annual event that always draws a large crowd of Crested Butte and Gunnison athletes for an all day tour. This year was no exception with 20+ people out to enjoy the blue sky and perfectly calm day. The tour is a great social event and is many peoples first big tour of the year (including me this year). The tour basically circumnavigates the Anthracite range.

Hope you had a good New Years!

Winter Weight - New Dynafit Evo Boots and Low Tech Binding

2011-12-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

I received a package from Dynafit last week with the new Dynafit DyNA Evo Boots, new Low-Tech bindings, and Race Performance skis. Geeking out on gear is a perfect activity to indulge in while waiting for more snow to cover up the rocks so you don't destroy your new gear on some shark fin!

I will post up a more in depth review of these boots once I ski in them a few times, but thought I would throw out the numbers for anyone who is curious.

Dynafit DyNA Evo Boots- 770 grams (size 27.5)

Other skis I weighed on my scale
-2010 Dynafit DyNA Boots(27.5)- 960 grams
-2010 Scrapa F1 Carbon(27.5)- 950 grams-2010 Scarpa F1 Race(27.5)- 1220 grams

The weight shavings off the previous DyNA boot is very substantial at almost 200 grams. This is mainly because of the new plastic used in the lower and the elimination of the flex point under the ball of the foot.

Dynafit Race Performance Skis- 799 grams

Other skis I weighed on my scale
-Ski Trab Duo World Cup- 760 grams ($1200)
-Dynafit DyNA Race Skis- 750 grams ($1200)

For the weight these skis are a great deal at $650! The construction of the ski looks top notch and I'm sure will prove to be more durable than the lighter options out there.

Dynafit Low-Tech Bindings- 123 grams (131 w/ screws)

Previous generation Low-Tech binding- 160 grams

After seeing many of the other race bindings at World Championships last year I still think Dynafit takes the cake with the lightest and durable binding. This new Low-Tech is a work of art in machined aluminum that is top quality. Does anyone else out there have actual binding weights to compare?

Dynafit TLT5 Performance Boots- 1062 grams (size 27.5 w/o tongue and powerstrap)

This boot is awesome and is the answer for anyone who wants a boot for everyday backcountry skiing and racing. I'll write more about this boot later....

Off to the facets!

Ahh..October and November

2011-11-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Alright, I will break the video posting with an actual update. I have been enjoying the fall riding with friends because the high desert trails always seem to be at their prime this time of year. I made the annual fall pilgrimage to Moab and had a blast camping and riding. I always feel lucky to survive the Whole Enchilada in one piece! I also have been riding in Fruita and Grand Junction, I highly recommend the lunch loops in GJ if you have never ridden there.

This was parked at the lunch loops and appears to be the ultimate bike shuttle vehicle!

I rode part of the new Sidewinder trail that runs between Montrose and Delta and would give it the "adventure ride" rating. The trail is not fast and flowy on a bike and is fairly rough (think shark fins!) so the riding is slow as it took about 4 hours to go out and back about 8 miles at a decent pace. There are a few unique and fun sections(like the pic above) and I think the trail will break in over time so maybe just give it some time or be prepared for an adventure ride!

I finally gave into the snow today and dusted off the rock skis for a little kick and glide at Lily Lake above Crested Butte. The CB Nordic Center set track with their snow cat a few days ago to make for some great touring, it is still a little thin in spots so I would recommend rock skis until we get another snow. Crested Butte is really lucky to have consistent early season nordic skiing so if you live in CO and are looking for a good place to come ski in November I recommend it (and it is even free!).

Now the decision is...to ride the bike this weekend or go skiing? What are you doing?

Plentitude

2011-10-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

I love the sketching in this video.

Snow fell from the sky yesterday... winter is getting closer...

2011-10-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

All.I.Can. Teaser 2 from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

I want to share this teaser as the cinematography in this film looks amazing! I have not seen the whole movie yet, but I'm hoping to.

Another Danny who is a Super Hero on a bike

2011-09-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

I love the announcer for these downhill WC videos, "How does he sit on the bike with balls that big?"

Some stoke on a rainy day.

2011-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

I love all the Danny Macaskill videos. Who new that riding a bike could be such an art!

Get out and ride! (the Crest Trail on Monarch)

2011-09-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Why do you mountain bike? For fun?
Well, when I was little my dad used to drag me out riding... well, not really. I have always enjoyed riding a bike. I think it has to do with the serious mechanical advantage wheels give the human body. Being able to easily cover miles and miles of singletrack in the backcountry is awesome. Add in some friends and you've got a good old time.

One of my favorite rides in Colorado is the Crest Trail to the Rainbow off the top of Monarch Pass. You have to do this ride at least once if you live in CO. You park at the top of Monarch to start the ride at over 11,000 ft. You climb a little to get above treeline (to almost 12,000 feet) for spectactular views riding across the high alpine tundra. Then you start dropping down, and down, and then some up and down to eventually end up 32 miles later in Poncha Springs (just outside of Salida). Overall you end up climbing about 2,000 ft, but get to descent almost 6,000 ft!

There are a few shorter bailout options if the weather goes South (actually comes in from the West), but I highly recommend the Rainbow Trail at the end as it is some fun flowy singletrack.

Don't forget to go into downtown Salida to get a burger and beer after riding as they have an awesome downtown. Hope to see you out on the trail!

The Leadville 100

2011-08-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I always told myself I could wait until I was at least 30 years old to do the Leadville 100. After all, its an old mans event because everyone knows you get better at endurance as you get older. Well, I must be getting stupid because I decided to do the Leadville. I mean why not, the qualifier went well, its only 40 miles longer, it shouldn't be that much harder....

The Spectacle

What happens when 1900 riders and their families and support crews take over the mining town of Leadville at 10,000 ft? Chaos ensues. Not really, but you have to wait in line for everything. You can't go out to eat because everywhere is overrun and the grocery store gets cleaned out. Lycra clad riders and their $10k rides are all over town. The locals must have a hate and love relationship with this event.

How does a mountain bike race have a mass start with 1900 riders? Again, chaos ensues. The start is right in downtown Leadville and is pavement for the first 3 miles, downhill pavement. I was lucky enough to get to start in the top 100 because of my Pro license. The gun went off and I had the most tense 10 minutes on my bike ever. For a solid 10 minutes we were riding at 35+mph (spun out) with a few 90 degree corners thrown in for some fun. I was quite prepared for this as all I wanted to do was stay upright so I didn't get run over by masses behind me. I survived the pavement and as soon as we hit dirt began moving up through the crowd despite the nasty dust cloud prepping everyone's lungs for the rest of the 100 miles.

Once we hit the first climb, 5 miles in, things calmed down a bit and it became more of a normal bike race. I realized I wasn't nearly aggressive enough off the start and it took me most of the first climb to move up from 100th to around 30th. I then found myself in a pack of about 8 guys who I would ride with all the way out to Twin Lakes taking turns pulling and drafting. I quickly realized that my legs hadn't seen enough of my road bike as the flat power sections were sucking the life out of them. And yes, Leadville is a road race. By the time we got out to Twin Lakes (40 miles in) I was wondering if my legs were going to get me up Columbine.

I stopped for a quick feed at our Team Alpine Ortho tent to fuel up before the long climb up Columbine hoping my legs would come around for the climb. I had no such luck and instead of making up time on the climb I watched some of the flat-landers put time on me. I was relieved to reach the top and turn around to be more than half way done with the race. Descending back down Columbine for a solid 20 minutes at high speed, I realized how far I had just climbed up. It was cool to see the 1000+ people in a conga line still coming up the road as I descended and thanks for the cheers whoever was cheering for me.

Back into the aid station at Twin Lakes and all I wanted was a new set of legs to get me to the finish. I settled for half a PB&J and took a bunch of goodies to hopefully get me back to the finish. For the next 15 miles I rode in no mans land (the section from Twin Lakes to Powerline), mostly riding solo. Shortly after the Powerline aid station Rebecca Rusch caught up to me. The women were riding fast this year! As soon as she caught me, my new goal for the race was not to get chicked.

As I hit the base of powerline my legs miraculously felt fresh again (probably due to all the Aclimate and food I put down since Twin Lakes). I was riding behind Rebecca for the beginning of the climb, but she opted to get off as soon as it got steep. I felt good and stayed on the bike riding by to luckily never see her again (during the race). The last 25 miles of the race I felt good and picked off riders one by one to eventually catch Bill Demong at the bottom of the last decent. We ended up riding the last 5 miles together, taking turns pulling to finish under 7.5 hours.

I was pumped to ride across the finish line in 7 hrs and 27 minutes and glad I came around for the last quarter of the race. I ended up finishing 34th which isn't quite what I was expecting place wise, but shows how many fast guys raced this year (including a lot of pro roadies). My time would have placed me 14th in last years race, top ten the years before that. Not bad for a mountain biker who has only ridden his road bike twice in the past two months.

Thanks to Alpine Orthopaedics and Dr. Griggs for the awesome support out on course (and all season)! And Rock n Roll Sports for hooking it up all the time!

I highly recommend doing the event to anyone just because it is such a spectacle and experience (and probably the most popular mtb event in the U.S. now).

Top 5 guys- (Nice job Jay, your the man!)

1. Todd Wells, in 6:23:38 DURANGO CO M3 (30 to 39)
2. Alban Lakata, in 6:27:57 LIENZ AK AUSTRIA M3 (30 to 39)
3. Alex Grant, in 6:35:32 SALT LAKE CITY UT M3 (30 to 39)
4. Jay Henry, in 6:38:31 AVON CO M3 (30 to 39)
5. Jeremiah Bishop, in 6:43:34 HARRISONBURG VA M3 (30 to 39)

Top 5 women (FAST!)

1. Rebecca Rusch, in 7:31:46 KETCHUM ID F4 (40 to 49)
2. Gretchen Reeves, in 7:35:38 AVON CO F4 (40 to 49)
3. Pua Mata, in 7:37:50 ANAHEIM HILLS CA F3 (30 to 39)
4. Jennifer Smith, in 7:39:14 GUNNISON CO F3 (30 to 39)
5. Tammy Jacques, in 8:02:30 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO… F4 (40 to 49)

Congrats to Jenny Smith on finishing 4th in the women! You'll get it next year.

For some awesome pics from Crested Butte Photography (Thanks Kevin!)
http://crestedbuttephotography.com/blog/2011/08/14/leadville-trail-100-mtb-race-2011/
Of course the one on the main page has to be me and Rebecca (note to self; do not let the girls actually catch you!)

For full results-
http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/08/news/2011-leadville-trail-100-results-top-50-men-and-women_19946/1

CB Alpine Oddysey (Leadville Qualifier) - Racing With Lance

2011-08-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday is worthy of a lengthy blog post, so here it goes.

Since the Firecracker 50 on the 4th of July I have been on the "just ride for fun" plan. This bike season has been up and down for me, with some good results and some bad luck. I opted to not take the trip up to National Championships in Sun Valley a couple weeks ago and instead enjoy the local trails with friends. The high alpine riding is finally dry, the wildflowers are spectacular and the trails are tacky making for some awesome trail riding.

Crested Butte was the host for the final Leadville 100 qualifying race over the weekend and even I had no desire to race Leadville, I'm not one to pass up a local race. I figured I would take the “just for fun” approach with it. I showed up to pick up my number on Saturday afternoon and heard the rumor that Lance was racing. Of course my reaction was, "Yeah, right." However, it was announced at the race meeting that he was on his way over. So much for a casual pace....

Sure enough Lance Armstrong rolled up to the start line a couple minutes before 6:30 am. Of course I’m thinking, "Wow, I'm getting to race Lance again on a mountain bike." I raced against him a couple summers ago in Snowmass at a Mountain States Cup race and it was pretty anti-climatic. The race started and immediately Lance rode off the front and was out of sight within 5 minutes. I hoped for something different today, but expected the same to happen. Luckily, we had a neutral roll out from Mt. Crested Butte down and around town before the race started so everyone would get to ride with him for at least the first 5 miles.

The energy of the peloton was buzzing as everyone rode behind the pace car and Lance down Elk Avenue as locals and tourists snapped pics and cheered. A pace line quickly formed as we headed out of town and turned onto the dirt road to head up the Slate river valley. The group stayed together for the first 5 miles of dirt to the base of the first climb, locally called Slate D'uez. As soon as the road grade started to climb the group slowed dramatically and I found myself out in the front pedaling comfortably. For the first few pitches I was waiting for Lance to come flying by, but he didn't.

Instead he rode right on my wheel and stayed there even when another rider came by and opened up a small gap partway up the climb. I was feeling great, riding at a comfortable pace, and enjoying myself. I could hear Lance breathing hard and about three quarters of the way up the climb he was asking, "Does this climb ever end?". To which I replied jokingly, "I know the Alps has way harder climbs then this." His reply was in good spirit, "Yeah, but it's different when you haven't been training."

When we reached the top of the climb there was a guy who had a 30 second lead on us. I quickly closed the gap on the short decent into Paradise Basin and passed him on a fast section where he chose a bad line threw the rocks. As the road flattened out Lance rolled up and informed me that the guy had flatted due to his bad line choice. There were a couple more little climbs to get to the top of Scoffield Pass and Lance again was asking me, "Do we ever get to descend?" I was still feeling great and found this encouraging, but told him we were almost at the top.

We rolled over the top of Scofield together and started the screaming fast road decent down past Emerald Lake to the snow plug. The snow field across the road is huge this year, still a couple hundred yards long, and requires dismounting to get across. The photographers snapped away at the unique shoot as I scurried across with Lance on right on my heels. Then it was back on the bike for a couple more minutes of screaming fast road decent before it flattened out for some fast road riding. As Lance and I started taking turns pulling across the flats another rider who neither of us recognized, caught up to join us. We made quick work of the ride out of Gothic each taking pulls to get back to the ski area.

I jumped out in front when we hit the 5 miles of singletrack at CBMR to climb up and over to the base area. Hopefully, this will make you chuckle; About halfway up the climb I made the decision to stop for a minute and go pee, thinking I could easily catch Lance and Greg on the decent. Luckily my plan worked as I caught up partway down the decent to ride Lance's wheel into the base area on the first lap. Of course, the crowd was all cheers as we rolled through the base area. You are probably wondering, "How are Lance's descending skills on a mountain bike?". Surprisingly, they are pretty good, he is really fast on the dirt road decents, but a little slower on the singletrack.

As we started the climb up Washington Gulch on the pavement my legs were starting to feel the 40 miles. I ignored the feeling, hoping it would go away and put down some food and liquid to keep going. I was encouraged that Lance was feeling the same as he was asking me about distance and climbing of the second lap. Once we hit the dirt after climbing on the pavement for a few miles Lance said, "Is anybody else feeling this? Or is it just me?" To which I replied, "No, my legs are definitely feeling this." However, the mystery man, didn't really say much and shortly afterward began to push the pace and pull away.

Neither Lance or I felt like trying to hang with him so we chatted it up for a bit as we started the gradual climb. As the climbing got steeper Lance started to push it a little more, split timing with his watch as to how big the gap was. He also asked me, "How much time do you think you can make up on the final singletrack decent on him?" in a way that almost implied that he would help me get to the top to close the gap on mystery man. To which I replied, "I think easily a minute." As we hit "the wall" near the top of Washington Gulch I could feel my legs starting to cramp, but just kept pushing to stay on Lance's wheel. As we rounded the final corner and could see the top he said, "I think there is a god." To which I had to laugh that he was as relieved as me to reach the top.

When we hit the top of Scofield the mystery man had about a minute and a half on us. A quick decent down to the snow field, this time it seemed more challenging to stay up right crossing with my bike, not sure if it was my legs or that the snow had softened up. Then another screaming fast decent down to the flats and Lance started to push the pace on the false flats down to Gothic. My legs started to cramp so I eased up thinking there was no way I could keep that pace all the way to the finish. Lance looked back when had opened up a gap of a hundred yards and to my surprise he slowed down a little to wait for me.

When I caught up, he asked me how I was doing and I told him my legs were starting to cramp. He said his legs were starting to cramp too if he started to “give er” and said lets work together. So I put my head down and rode threw the pain, taking turns pulling all the way to the ski area. We turned off onto Prospect and could see the mystery man climbing up the road ahead, still about a minute and a half up. Lance was on it and began to pull away as we started to climb, obviously determined to close the gap.

As I forced my legs to keep spinning as the road got steeper the sound of my chain going around was similar to nails on a chalkboard. My bike was in dire need of chain-lube after 60 miles and multiple stream crossings. My legs felt just like my bike sounded, screaming at me, but I had to keep pushing forward. I was relieved to hit the singletrack and get off the road, but Lance had already opened up a decent gap.

The singletrack gave me something to focus on other than the growing pain and cramps in my legs. On the first steep section my legs began to seize but I just let out a few choice words and pounded my fist against my quad to unlock it and keep going. I was relieved to reach the top of the singletrack but my legs where so smoked that I had little left to push across the top of Painterboy to begin the decent. I rode the decent fast and smooth knowing I would at least make up a little time. Halfway down I caught a glimpse of the duo riding right together lower down on the mountain, but the gap was a little too big to close before the finish line.

Lance Armstrong took the race in a time of 4:32:21, edging out the mystery man by 3 seconds! Turns out the mystery man was Greg Krause from Littleton. I finished just over a minute back in third place.

Wow! What a day to remember, I got to race side by side with Lance for almost 60 miles!

Lance later tweeted-
"Helluva fun ride today in CB for the @ltrail100 qualifier. Beautiful course. Squeaked out a "W" somehow. Full body cramp at the end."
"Thanks to the Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey MTB race yesterday I now feel like I've been run over by a truck."
I guess we have something in common, I woke up this morning feeling like I was run over by a truck too!

Thanks for reading!

for some awesome pics-
http://trentbona.photoshelter.com/gallery/2011-Alpine-Odyssey/G0000IxvE6pa7a5A

Team Alpine Othropaedics had a great showing for the day. Jenny Smith from AO took 2nd place on the women’s side in a close race with the winner Rebecca Rusch. Jari Kirkland also from AO rounded out 3rd. We had a bunch of riders from the team in the top 20, including Dr. Griggs, Mr. Alpine Orthopaedics himself.
for full results- http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/07/race-results/2011-crested-butte-alpine-odyssey-results_19070/2

Slacker!!

2011-07-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

So I have been wayy off the back as far as posting on my blog goes. I think I posted this last year, but I'll post it again. I'm riding for Team Alpine Orthopaedics and we have a blog that is continually updated. Check it out-

http://teamalpineortho.blogspot.com/

Steping back....riding the North Rim of the Black Canyon and the past three years

2011-05-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

Racing as well as life has its ups and downs. The past month has been up and down for me with racing as well as figuring out my life....

Lucky for me I live in an awesome place with lots of great friends and ample opportunity to get outside. I think I would go crazy without being able to exercise, even getting out for 30 minutes can do wonders at the end of a stressful day. I had an awesome 4 hour solo road ride on Monday that gave me plenty of time to reflect. I rode the North Rim of the Black Canyon, Hwy 92 and it is my new favorite road ride.

Parking at the Blue Mesa Dam, I headed West on 92 towards Hotchkiss. I have driven this road a fair amount and it is like driving on a snake for 30 miles. For this reason there is not much traffic on the road as there are faster alternatives. I only had 10 cars pass me the entire time! It is perfect for road riding, with all the climbing, descending, and corning there is not a boring moment. On top of excitement of the road there are awesome views over shear cliffs down to the river that is 2,000 ft below as well as views of the San Juan mountains to the South. The pavement is fairly new and well kept making for a smooth ride. I rode out and back, doing about 55 miles in 3.5 hours at a decent pace. There is a lot of climbing going both directions that you might not notice when driving, but is quite significant while riding. Going at a slower pace on a bike allows you really take in the beauty and notice all sorts of things you miss while driving. I highly recommend this ride to anyone, it is only about a half hour drive from Gunnison to the dam where you park.

The past few weeks have been sort of like Hwy 92 for me. My original aspirations for this summer were to race most of the National Mountain Bike Series this summer put on by USA Cycling. However, the race series caters to California riders and doesn't even make an attempt to consider us high mountain Colorado folk. The first two races are in March in California before another California race that is mid-April. Have you ever been to Colorado in March? Usually it is the snowiest month of the winter! Then there is another race at the end of April in Texas before taking a little break until mid-summer for a race in Wisconsin and then Championships in Sun Valley in July. There was supposed to be a race in Colorado Springs in June, but that was cancelled. So, 4 of the 6 races occur before May, there are no races in Colorado(where there is probably the highest concentration of riders), and USA Cycling wonders why the National Series is struggling. I could go on more with my frustrations with the series but I will stop there (many others I talk to share the same view).

I re-evaluated my plans at the beginning of April and decided National Championships in Idaho might be the only worth while National race to go to. That leaves me to take advantage of the many events going on in Colorado all summer long that have stout competition. I realize that minimizes my chances of getting on any sort of factory team, but with the limited amount of sponsorship available these days, most teams are cutting back on riders not adding them. Talking with one of the team managers of a prominent factory team it sounds like mountain bike racing is seeing a shift to more endurance type events anyways(put on by independent organizers). On that note, I signed up for the Whiskey Off-road in Prescott put on by Epic Rides.

The Whiskey Off-Road (first race of the season)
The pro field was large, with 85 men racing for the weekend($20k in prize money is a draw). The off-road criterium was on Friday evening in downtown Prescott making for a great spectator event. I got schooled, but so did most of the field and I was really there for the 50 mile cross-country...I'll give you really short story for the cross country. An hour into the race I was feeling great, riding in the top 15, and tore the sidewall on my tire. After three stops I finally was rolling again, but way off the back. I still finished...but was bummed as I was hoping for a good finish.

12 Hours of Mesa Verde

I raced again the following weekend after the Whiskey teaming up with Jon Brown again to race duo with our eyes set on the top of the podium(the past two years we have raced the event together). Jon was sick coming into the race but rallied(as usual) to race fast all day. We ended up putting down 9 laps and taking the win! So that was awesome, but I was disappointed in that I rode consistently slower lap times than last year. I would like to think I was tired from all the driving down to Arizona then back to Gunni for a couple nights before jumping back in the car to head back down to the Four Corners area again. It is always a bummer when you think you are riding faster than the previous season and your times tell you otherwise...but I was stoked with the win!!!

I then took a weekend off and finished the exterior of my pop up camper(an extensive remodel project I jumped into after buying an 87 camper for cheap).

That catches you up on the racing I have done the past few weeks. I moved down to Gunnison from Crested Butte the first week of April in the hope of getting in lots of riding in April. Lets just say it has been a really rainy and snowy spring, making for more ideal skiing then riding conditions. I'm sad to say, I haven't skied since the beginning of April because I have been focused on biking despite the weather. This sort of brings me to the stepping back part....

Reflecting on the past three years...

Since I graduated from Architecture School three years ago(May 2008) I have done a lot of racing. That first summer it was so refreshing to be out of school. I was a little burned out on Architecture after five years of school and opted to move back to Colorado to enjoy the mountains instead of jumping into working at an architecture firm. I had a fun design/build project lined up for the summer(on my own) and was motivated to get out and race. I simply had fun with it, racing Cat 1(expert) and traveling around Colorado on the weekends.

The next spring I upgraded to Pro and had another season with lots of racing without guidance or a training plan. I was lucky to have another design/build project that I was framing that summer. I learned a lot racing against the fast guys that season and again had some great results, like 16th at National Championships!

The next spring(2010) we put together an awesome local bike team with the support of Alpine Orthopaedics. Dr. Griggs(from AO) came up with a training plan for me and I raced my second season as a pro mountain biker with a plan. I still had fun, probably still trained way less than most of the guys I was racing against and had some great races. I continually improved over the season and ended up 2nd overall in the Mountain States Cup series and was top 10 at National Championships. I still had a decent amount of work that summer doing carpentry.

Now it is 2011 and of course I would like to be even faster this season. To meet that goal I tried to focus on starting riding earlier this spring. I bought a stationary trainer, told Dr. Griggs I wanted to up my training and get after it. I did start riding earlier(the middle of March), but lost some motivation when I realized that going to National races wasn't worth the time. I was really slow with work over the winter and have only had a little bit of work so far this spring.

Unfortunately(or fortunately) I am of the personality type, that the busier I am with work(or school) the more motivated I am to take advantage of my free time to get out and exercise. For some reason, if I have all day off, its easy for me to procrastinate and say I'll go bike(or ski) in the afternoon and then end up never actually getting out. I think part of this comes from the fact that I am pretty fast "off the couch" so to speak, so sometimes I overlook the benefit of training consistently. I'm also a more content person when I am busy, I enjoy being challenged everyday solving problems and getting things done.

So that brings me to sitting here typing this long post. I turn 26 in less than a month and would like to start moving back in the direction of focusing on my career and getting my architecture license. Does that mean I'm going to stop racing? No, it just means that I'm looking at the balance of my life...more thoughts to follow...

Now, get out there and ride! (or ski if it is still snowing where you are)

Gearing up for The Whiskey Off-Road

2011-04-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

I guess bike season is here, although way up here at 9,000 ft it has been snowing and raining for the past 5 days. I have been trying to ride for the past month as much as the weather allows to get some bike legs for the early season races.

I'm choosing to do the Whiskey Off-Road as my first bike race of the season. Why not go for a 50 miler with a $20k cash purse for the pro field?

Cycling News is calling it an Old West Showdown. My hope is to stick with Dave Wiens as long as possible...we'll see...

I have never been down to Arizona to ride so I'm excited to check it out and get my butt kicked!

2011 Elk Mountain Grand Traverse - Hitting the Curveball

2011-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

"I was told yesterday by someone that I'm not supposed to tell you guys that you could die out there." Is the first thing H-Bomb says when he takes the mic at the pre-race meeting. This is my favorite part of the pre-race meeting, where H tells people they could die out there. The tension in the room of 250 races feels like the electric charge when you stand near one of those huge high voltage electric transmission wires.

The Grand Traverse is a race that I look forward to every year. I'm not sure why. Who in there right mind would want to start skiing 42 miles through the back country from Crested Butte to Aspen at midnight? Yes, that is right, the race starts at midnight. Why? Because it is easy to ski during the day when the sun is out. Finding your way through a snow covered landscape at night with a headlamp in a ground blizzard is way more fun. Wait, did you say fun? Ok, I take that back, I think challenging is more appropriate. The people that choose to do this race a hardcore whether they admit it or not. Often the leaders of the race are breaking trail and having to navigate in the dark. This is the Grand Traverse!

Waiting around for the midnight start this year was typical. Looking out the window it was dumping snow and gusty. Thoughts race through the head, "Are we going to Aspen?", "Is it going to be a whiteout on Taylor again", "Is it time to head to the start yet". Then before you know it you're rushing to get out the door with all your gear to get to the start(or at least I was). A quick last minute beacon and gear check at the school and we were on the start line heading to Aspen. I'm standing next to my partner Ethan Passant, who I have raced with the past two years, racking up two 2nd place finishes. Despite us both being humble and not really focused on this event(this is our first ski together for the year) our goal is to win.

After drinking a double Americano at 11pm I was ready to go and wanted to get the hole shot off the start line. Three, two, one, go and we were off. I won the hundred yard dash and got the hole shot into the first corner onto the nordic trail before quickly realizing this was mistake. There was 4 inches of new snow on the trail that was required some serious effort to skate through. After breaking trail for a couple minutes I pulled over to let someone else have a turn. This was how much of the race would go.

For the first hour and a half of the race my partner, Ethan and I were up in the front trying to break away from the pack. We discovered this was a futile effort in that every time a gap would open, we would hit another section of breaking trailing and quickly teams would begin to stack up behind whomever was breaking trail. I finally pulled over after breaking trail across death pass and succumbed to the masses. I had to persuade Ethan to do the same because loves to be out front. This was a smart move.

For the next two and half hours going up to the Friends hut we were in the middle of the line of lemmings, all fifty of them. This was because of the fresh 4+" of new snow that the first person of the line was having to break trail through. The pace was pretty slow and I was wishing I had my Ipod because it was fairly boring. Marching along in a slow moving line at 3 am was monotonous and I began to feel like I was just sleep walking along. By the time we got to the Friends hut my legs were aching and I was feeling blown. We opted to stop below the hut in the trees to put on jackets and warmer gloves before heading up Star Pass. The weather was clearing and we could see the stars which was encouraging.

As we started skiing again Ethan said, "I don't like being this far back." We were probably in about 20th place but as we passed the checkpoint at the Friends we passed around 10 teams who were stopped. Ethan was anxious to catch the front and set a fast past climbing the switchbacks up Star Pass. I was feeling blown but thought it would be better to just suffer through and see I could come around. We passed a few more teams by the time we got to the top of Star. We were treated with a clear night sky and no wind on the traverse across Star. This was lucky because the air temperature felt somewhere in the single digits.

Standing on the top of Star, there was a nice third moon illuminating the bowl below. We dropped in and were treated with some awesome powder turns all the way down the bowl. We caught up to the lead teams just as we pulled into the checkpoint at the bottom of Star. After the nice powder turns I felt rejuvenated and awake again. We had a quick transition and left the checkpoint. Quickly we caught up to two other teams and Ethan informed me that we were with the lead group. "Really? I think we can win this." Luckily, the trail had been broken from Star to the check point at Taylor and we were able to open a gap on the teams behind us.

Skiing by the checkpoint at Taylor we were right with Sari Anderson and her partner Peter Gaston. The other team of Brad and Teague had dropped back a little from us. However, it was back to taking turns breaking trail as there was no track to the Barnard hut. Sari was skiing really strong and determined to not let anyone catch us. Ethan, Sari, and I took turns breaking trail while Peter hung in because he wasn't feeling up to it. There was a low cloud hanging over Gold Hill that reduced visibility to a couple hundred feet and caused frosted eyelashes.

I was in the front skiing down Gold Hill as we got close to the Barnard. As I was skinning down through the windblown and crusted drifts I was hitting patches of bare ground that had only a trace of snow on them. About halfway down I had one skin blow off my ski then a hundred yards farther I had the other skin come off. I was forced to stop to put on my other set of skins for one final climb before the decent into the Barnard. The frigid temperature causing the skin glue to become hard and less sticky combined with the humidity in the air creating moisture on the ski base was a recipe for skin disaster. I caught back up to Ethan and the lead group before we descended into Barnard.

Teams were closing the gap as we broke trail across Taylor and I was looking forward to Barnard because the final stretch of Richmond Ridge to Aspen Mountain is a heavily used snowmobile trail. I was disheartened as we skated into Barnard and I saw there were no snowmobile tracks towards Aspen. Looking around the Barnard checkpoint there were close to 10 snowmobiles and a few guys standing around by them. I had a thought, "Can you guys please break trail with a sled to Aspen? We have been breaking trail from Taylor and all the other teams are just closing the gap."

As I dealt with rearranging a few things in my pack and putting down some ramen I was more focused on what the snowmobiles were going to do. There were a couple guys getting suited up so I was feeling relieved. However, one volunteer said, "I better go ask." and ran up to the hut to ask the doctor. He came back down and crushed our spirits. "They said no, it is part of the race" and two snowmobiles took off towards Taylor, "Oh, they are going to drop something off."

My thoughts were; "great, they are packing out the section behind us for our competition to catch up to us." The end of our 10 minute mandatory stop came quickly and I slapped my short skins back on my skis that had fallen off going down Gold Hill. Ethan and I skied out of the checkpoint first only to make it five steps before one of my skins fell off. "Damn. Ethan do you have a spare skin?" Ethan got out his spare skin and we put it on my ski, it was long but at least sticky. We caught back up to Sari and Peter pretty quickly and I hobbled along for five minutes with what felt like a limp because of the combination of skins(one much faster than the other). Going down the first of several short decents along Richmond I realized the skin combo was not going to work as everyone else pulled away from me. I stopped and ripped both my skins to finish the decent and catch back up.

At the bottom of the decent I stopped and told Ethan I was going to get my short skins to work even if it mean taping them on. He said, "Ok, but I'm going to keep skiing with Sari at the front." I took one skin out of my suit and applied it to my ski and it did not want to stick. I had some duct tape on my pole and I tried to peel it off and quickly realized tape wasn't going to work when the glue separated from the backing due to the single digit temperature. This could be the race, wait, deep breath, you can get these to stick. I cleaned them off using my ski edge and massaged them onto my skis and they seemed to stick just enough.

I was encouraged that no one else had passed me while I was stopped for probably 3 minutes. I charged to catch back up to Ethan and was getting worried until I finally had a glimpse of the lead pack. Sari and Peter, Brad and Teague, and Ethan were all right together. I was pumped to be back in the mix and determined to no let anything stop me. We hung in for a few minutes as I recovered from my hard effort to catch back up, but I was anxious to get out front. As I took my pull at the front, I though this is it, we need to pull away.

I quickened the pace and Ethan I began to pull away, dropping Brad and Teague first. Sari was the next to drop back, but Peter stayed a couple hundred yards behind us. I was thinking, "Why isn't Peter waiting for Sari and helping here out after all that trail breaking she did?" About a mile from Aspen Mountain there is a steep short hill to climb that has a good view looking back and when we reached the top and could not see Sari I knew we had the race barring something crazy going wrong. We were pumped and enjoyed the rest of the cruise into the ski area and laid down nice carving turns down Aspen Mountain to the bottom of the gondola.

We won! I think the smiles on our faces at the finish expressed our jubilation.

It was interesting race and the coed teams were really impressive. As it turned out Stevie Kramer and Marshall Thompson were motoring at the end because they passed Sari and Pete before the top of Aspen to come in 2nd! Sari Anderson and Peter Gaston came in 3rd followed by Brad LaRochelle and Teague Holmes.

Full results are http://www.elkmountaintraverse.org/html/results-2011.html

Story in the Aspen Times http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110327/NEWS/110329864/1077&ParentProfile=1058

2011 World Skimountaineering Championships - Italy

2011-03-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes racing is more about the places it takes you and the experience of being there. This was the case with World Skimo Championships this year for me. I was excited the week before heading over to Italy because I was feeling great, I had just won the race at Monarch and was hoping to improve my results from the year before at World Championships.

We flew into Venice and drove up into the Dolomites to a small sleepy town named Claut. There was no ski area in the valley they were basing the event out of, just backcountry skiing. Things looked grim the day we drove in because it was raining and there was no snow down in the valley. The next day was sunny and our spirits were lifted as we took in the amazing landscape. We headed up to the venue of the Teams and Individual event and skinned 3,000 vertical feet to get above treeline. It was magnificent, plenty of snow up high and rugged rock faces that made the Tetons look small in all directions.

Unfortunately, the next day I felt a sore throat coming on when I woke up in the morning and it just got worse throughout the day. I knew I had to rally the next day no matter what to race the teams race with my partner Max Taam from Aspen. I woke up the next day and made the best of it. We did really well, especially given the way I was feeling. Max was a rockstar as a teammate and was patient and willing to tow me on the final climb. The race was tough 7,500 ft of climbing and it ended up being 30k long because we skied all the way back into town for the finish. I was worked, but we had a solid mid-pack finish coming in right behind Pete Swenson and Luke Nelson. About as good as it gets at Worlds for a U.S. Team.

My sore throat and cold got worse the next couple days before starting to improve towards the end of the race. I still did the individual race for the experience, but suffered through it. I enjoyed the experience of spectating and taking it all in. I realized a few things, in order to really do well at Worlds coming from North America you would have to go over a month before the event to get adjusted and do a couple races to get into the European style racing. The top athletes are so fast and inspiring, if I ever have the chance to live in Europe for winter and race I will jump at the opportunity as I think ones racing would make leaps and bounds.

For a great day by day account of being at Worlds check out Luke Nelsons posts on
http://www.lasportivawhiteroom.com/
Click on February in the blog archive on the right to get to his posts

Race the Divide- Monarch COSMIC

2011-02-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

Another warm and sunny morning at 10,000+ft. Driving up to Monarch the temperature went from 2 degrees at the bottom of the pass to 28 degrees at the top! Can you say inversion?

Waking up at 5am is not my thing or at least not yet. I say not yet because my dad wakes up that early every morning and my sister who is in medical school is starting on that routine. Something to look forward to as I get older I suppose. Anyways, I had to wake up at 5 am to drive to the race which started at 9am. I made an Americano at my house and enjoyed it on my drive down to Gunnison. I stopped for another Americano in Gunnison and by the time I was halfway to Monarch I had a crazy caffeine buzz going. This was different than my normal buzz though. I felt like my body was all pumped with caffeine flowing through my veins, yet my brain was still half asleep and relaxed.

Warming up before the start I was still stuck with the weird buzz. The body and the brain were on two different pages. There was a great turnout for the race in all categories. The sun was shining and the temperature was nice as everyone lined up for the start. 3, 2, 1, go and we were off, charging up a groomed run for the first climb to the top of Mirkwood Basin. I just skinned with the pack up the first climb to feel things out and see if my caffeine buzz would wear off. I had a fast transition at the top, moving up a few spots and managing to ski off right behind Pete Swenson who was leading the race.

The second climb felt better as I started to feel normal. I kept up with Pete's pace all the way to the top. A quick decent down Mirkwood(there is a total of 4) and I managed to have a faster skins on transition than Pete. I was now leading with Pete right behind me and half expected him to pass me part way up the climb. He stayed right behind me as we topped out for the third time. Another quick descent and transition and I was still just ahead of Pete. The final climb was fast as I was seeing if I could create any sort of gap. It wasn't until we hit the cat road at the top that I was able to open up just enough that I would have a little lead on the decent.

The final decent was down Mirkwood again for the fourth time, but continuing all the way back to the base of the area. I skied solid and kept the small gap on Pete to finish first. The race was fast, over 3k ft of vertical in one hour and ten minutes. I think I'm ready for Italy! Janelle Smiley was blazing fast on some fancy new carbon gear and won the women's race.

Top 10 Overall


Travis Scheefer	1:10:54
Pete Swenson	1:10:59
Bryan Wickenhauser	1:14:39
Jon Brown	1:16:52
Brian Riepe	1:17:20
Jesse Rickert	1:18:30
Jason McGowin	1:19:02
Janelle Smiley(1st-F)	1:19:22
Brian Edmiston	1:21:18
Michael Hagan	1:21:25

Full results are here

Introduction to Skimo Racing: Part 1 : History

2011-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is a series of posts that will give people a little insight into the sport and how to get involved.

I frequently get the question.

What is randonee racing? or What is a ski mountaineering race?

A Ski Mountaineering Race is a timed event that follows an established trail through challenging winter alpine terrain while passing through a series of checkpoints. Racers climb and descend under their own power using backcountry skiing equipment and techniques.

-USSMA

Competitions are believed to originated in the military as a way to test soldiers abilities and were called military patrols. The first civilian competitions began in the 1920's in Europe. The 1924 Olympics had an official event that combined Ski Mountaineering and Shooting. The event eventually turned into what we now call biathlon. There is a moment to make Ski Mountaineering an official event for the 2018 Olympics.

In Europe, there are what most consider the "big three" of racing. The Swiss Patrouille des Glaciers, with a history going back to 1930's as a military patrol. The Italian Mezzalama Trophy and the French Pierra Menta are the other two. 1992 brought forth the European Cup and European Championships. As the sport gained momentum and there became a governing body, the first official World Championships were held in 2002. Today there is a World Cup series and World Championships happen every other year.

Check out the International Ski Mountaineering Federation page for more info.

I believe 2003 was the first year of randonee races being held in North America. The Wasatch Powder Keg, Jackson Hole, Alpental, Stevens Pass, and Crested Butte all put on races(I think, someone is welcome to correct me on this).

In 2004 the Wasatch Powder Keg became the premiere race of North America becoming part of the World Cup circuit. I wasn't tuned into racing at the time, so maybe someone can post a link to some sort of story. About all I can find is that the Europeans came over and smoked it. I believe the event was held again in 2005 and that is all the history of International competition in North America. Hopefully another World Cup stop in North America is in the near future.

Today, there are races all over the U.S. and Canada. There is a governing body for the U.S.(USSMA) and Colorado has its own series(COSMIC). Check out the USSMA website for more info.

Here is a good video to give you an idea of what Skimo Racing has grown to be today.

Crested Butte COSMIC

2011-01-31T07:32:00.000-08:00

Another blue bird day! The weather always seems to cooperate for the Crested Butte skimo race, this year was no exception. The race started in the traditional Le Mans style with Jan Koles showing everyone how it is done Slovakian style with his 100 yard dash and quick slip into his skis. His lead off the front was short lived as Brian Smith was ready to show everyone that you can go out hard and maintain for the entire race.

The first climb at CB is tough, not only is it long but technical as well. The South West exposure combined with warm temps and lots of sun in the days leading up to the race create firm skinning conditions. Switchback technique is critical to conserving energy for later in the race. I found myself in the top 5 at the top of the first climb. Brian Smith was off the front with a couple minute gap. Wick was also skiing strong with a minute gap on Max Taam, Pete Swenson, and myself.

I traded positions with Max and Pete over the next two descents and climbs but ran out of steam halfway up the final climb and had to throttle back. I'm going to blame it on the skate skiing I've been doing this week in preparation for the Alley Loop marathon next weekend. I was able to keep moving along well enough for a solid finish. I know some people would like to know more about training so I'll work on a post.

Brian Smith took the race, leading the entire time. Max Taam finished second, passing Brian Wickenhauser on the final decent who finished third. Pete Swenson was forth and I rounded out the top five for the men.

The turnout for the race was great and continued the trend of more people showing up in race suits. I'll post a link to full results when it become available.

Photos from Crested Butte Photography

Men’s Race:

Brian Smith
Max Taam
Bryan Wickenhauser
Pete Swenson
Travis Scheefer
Scott Simmons
Jan Koles

Women’s Race:

Sari Anderson
Janelle Smiley
Monique Merrill
Jari Kirkland
Stevie Kremer
Lyndsay Meyer
Jessica Phillips

Full results are here

Open to Feedback

2011-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

I have noticed my posts on gear seem to get the most comments. I'm happy to do more gear/technique related stuff, give me some suggestions on what you would like to see. Maybe a "introduction to skimo racing" series of posts???

Skiing on a beautiful morning!

2011-01-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to blue sky and -10 degrees. Sometimes it is hard to motivate to get out the door early when it is that cold. This morning I had a plan to meet Xavi Fane in town around sunrise to go out and shoot some pictures. Despite the cold temperatures we have I find as soon as I'm in the sun and five minutes into skinning, I'm loving it. Thank you Colorado sunshine at 9,000+ ft.

Yesterday it snowed all day long, giving us 8" of new fluff on top of our steller base. We have recieved over 200" of snow this season making for great coverage. This allows for skiing in some places that can't be skied every year because of the exposure and lack of snow. Enough typing already, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Xavi is a very talented photographer, check out his website for more of his work.

Skimo World Championships! (in a month)

2011-01-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

Ski Mountaineering World Championships is less than a month away. All the qualifiers for the U.S. Team are over and the team is set. When I tell people that I am going to race at Worlds there are a few common responses.

Are you hoping to do well?
If by doing well you mean finish mid-pack, then yes. The Euro's are so fast that a top 20 finish by someone in North America is a major accomplishment.

Italy? Sounds awesome, is it all paid for then?
Ha. I think this is a common misconception with endurance racing. There is little to no money available for support (or even free gear for that matter). I do the sport because I love racing and the experience of competing in Europe is awesome! Maybe someday the U.S. National Team will have funding, but it is still in grassroots stages.

Click on the poster above to visit the official website for World Championships. The event is a full week of racing from February 18th to the 25th. The following races will take part throughout the week.

Saturday- Sprint
Sunday- Teams
Monday- Junior Individual
Tuesday- Vertical
Wednesday- Junior Vertical
Thursday- Individual
Friday- Relay

Here is the group that is going to represent the U.S.
Women
Sari Anderson
Mona Merrill
Janelle Smiley
Nina Silitch
Jari Kirkland
Amy Fulwyler
Jessica Phillips
Jaime Falcon

Men
Brandon French
Travis Scheefer
Pete Swenson
Scott Simmons
Luke Nelson
Bryan Wickenhauser
Max Tamm
Greg Ruckman

A little video clip to give you a good idea of what Skimo Racing in Europe is like

The Heathen Challenge

2011-01-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

After the race at Grand Targhee I headed farther North to my old stomping grounds in Bozeman, MT. I had not been back to visit since I graduated and left town in the spring of 2008(with my Masters in Architecture). I had a good week of catching up with friends and doing a little skiing before getting back in the car to head back to Colorado for the race at Sunlight Mountain.

I rolled into Glenwood Springs on Friday night after two fairly longs days of driving solo. A quick night of rest in a cheap motel in Glenwood and it was up to Sunlight to see the sunrise. The weather looked good and so did the competition. I never seem to arrive early enough at these races to get in a good warmup, it must have something to do with the 8am starts. During the summer I always seem to get at least a half hour warmup on my bike before the race start. This winter I have been lucky to get five minutes. This is something I need to work on because I spend the first climb of the race trying to get things warmed up.

The race started up the groomer from the base and there was a large pack charging that begin to break apart about halfway up. I was somewhere around 10th to the top of the first climb with about four guys right in front of me. Then it was down the groomer to the Heathen(a double black run) which luckily had better coverage than last year. After the Heathen we dropped into the infamous willow area that never gets skied because it is below the cat-track that traverses to the base area. I call this area infamous because the snow is shallow, always sugary, and there are willows, stumps and all sorts of nastyness to ski through. I suppose it is part of the challenge, but I think of it as scary. A good way to break some expensive gear or yourself.

I held my position on the downhill and kept it under control in the willow area. We then switch-backed up the Heathen, a new addition to the course this year. I passed a few people on the uphill, a couple of them with skins falling off. One of them, Greg Ruckman amazes me. He has one skin fail, stops and puts a fresh one on, hits the gas and is starts passes guys to just have another skin fail. He stops again, puts another fresh skin on, hits the gas again, and is back in the top five by the top of the climb! Talk about motor!

We descend down the Heathen again and into the willows to start the third climb that follows the East boundary of the ski area all the way to the top. Jared skis in with a broken walk lever on his boot while I am in transition at the bottom putting my skins on . Bad luck as Jared was sick in Jackson and hoping to qualify for Worlds(click here for his story). I decide to take inspiration from Greg as he passes me right before the bootpack and hit the gas a little myself knowing the climb is long and I can make up the time to get to the top five. I catch up to Max and Jan by the top of the climb for the third decent down the Heathen and the willows. Pete is leading with a good couple minute gap at this point and Scott Simmons from Durango is in a solid second. Max, Jan, and myself pass Greg Ruckman on the decent who was in third at the top of the climb.

There is a short climb out of the willows before a traverse on the cat-track to the finish at the base area. Jan and Max get out of the transition a little ahead of me for the final climb and Greg is far enough behind that I know I have a solid finish. We exchange high fives at the finish and Greg is bummed until he is informed that he made the Worlds team(Jan is Slovakian so he doesn't count). I'm happy to have survived the infamous willows and have a solid finish especially with all the driving I had been doing.

Here are the top results:

Mens' Race

Pete Swenson 1:48

Scott Simmons 1:49

Jan Koles 1:50:43

Max Tamm 1:50:53

Travis Schafer 1:51:09

Greg Ruckman 1:51:28

Chris Kroger 1:51:34

Marshal Thomson 1:53

Jon Brown 1:57

Andy Dorais 1:58:53

Jared Inouye 1:58:54

Women's Race:

Sari Anderson 2:08

Monique Merrill 2:18

Jari Kirkland 2:22

Jessica Phillips 2:23

Jamie Falcon 2:31

Wendy Lyall 3:08

For some pics-Crested Butte Photography

Back to Back- Grand Targhee Classic

2011-01-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

The forecast for Targhee was calling for arctic cold air with a high around 5 to follow the hard day of racing in Jackson. Luckily, weather forecasters are frequently wrong. The 10:30 am start was awesome with the clouds beginning to give way to sun and the temperature was cold but not too cold. The field wasn't quite as large as Jackson but all the top competition showed up the start line.

Targhee has a brutal first climb, straight up a steep groomer to the top of the resort that is right at the limit of what one can skin straight up. Once again there was a big lead group out front charging with everyone pushing their limit. Reiner and Brandon jumped out in the lead setting the pace with the top 15 chasing. I was right where I wanted to be in the top 10 hanging strong with plans to attack on the last climb. On the second climb we skinned out of the resort boundary to bootpack to the top of the catskiing area. Then it was the long leg burning powder decent to the bottom of the catskiing area before the final climb all the way back up to the top before the final decent back to the base.

I found myself sitting in 5th or 6th place at the bottom of the catskiing area and knew I needed to make up some ground on Reiner and Brandon who were about 2 minutes ahead. I jumped in the skin track and had an unfamilar voice behind me, "come on Scheefer lets go get those guys." I glance back and realize it is Luke who is a runner for La Sportiva mountain team and getting back into skimo racing. I kick it into gear and start closing the gaps. Luke is right on my tails as we make our way up the climb. He decides to pass while giving encouragement and I know I need to stay on his tails. By the top of the climb we have caught up to Reiner and Brandon. Four of us at the top all together and I know the decent is going to be exciting. Reiner gets his skins off and skis off first, followed by Brandon, then me, then Luke. I catch Brandon as we hit the short ridge traverse before dropping into the bowl between the gates. We chinese downhill all the way to the finish and I manage to get him by a couple seconds at the finish. We almost catch Reiner as well, who missed the traverse to go to the gates, dropping right into the bowl and gaining a little lead as a result.

Pics by Crested Butte Photograhy

Reiner claimed the top podium spot again, followed by me, then Brandon. All within 5 seconds! Luke finished 4th with Wick coming in 5th. Another close race with the top 15 within 10 minutes. Sari won the ladies race, Janelle finished second and Mona in finished third.

For complete results:
http://www.tetonat.com/2011/01/09/results-grand-targhee-ski-mountaineering-classic/

I am always impressed with the community that endurance races in the mountains. Having Luke Nelson give encouragement mid-race is awesome, especially because I had never previously talked to him. Its always fun to meet someone during a race.

My finish qualified me for the Worlds team and I was excited with how I raced. Wick was the other qualifier. So the U.S. Team consists of below as of now with three more spots up for grabs at Sunlight coming up this weekend.

Men
Brandon French
Luke Nelson
Pete Swenson
Travis Scheefer
Bryan Wickenhauser

Women
Janelle Smiley
Sari Anderson
Monique Merrell
Jari Kirkland
Amy Fulwyler

More speed suits than ever at Jackson Hole!

2011-01-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Pulling up to the start line in Jackson Hole showed that Randonee Racing in the U.S. is beginning to take off. The turnout of elite racers appears to have at least doubled since last year. There are definitely new people getting into the sport who are coming from something similar, running, biking, xc skiing, etc. as well as others coming back out of retirement from a few years ago to have another go at it. I believe this is going to make everyone in the U.S. faster as the level of competition begins to be raised! Watch out Euro's, we might break into the top 20 this year! (instead of 30's)

Photos by Mark Glocke

Jackson brought forth a challenging course and field this year along with some nasty weather conditions. Out of the start gate there was a huge pack of leaders, around 20 charging up the first climb. The race would stay tight for the entire race with a Canuck coming across the finish line first with a blistering time of 2 hours and 39 minutes. Reiner Thoni from Canada proved he is skiing strong this year with his win. Branden French was just under a minute behind with the top US finish followed by Luke Nelson just 30 seconds back. Pete Swenson followed less than a minute behind with Brian Wickenhauser less than a minute behind him. So that is the top five finishing within 3 minutes of one another! Twentieth finisher was only about 20 minutes back so you can do the math that. Not much room for error in a race this close.

The ladies race was close as well with a great turnout as well. Janelle Smiley from Crested Butte grabbed the ladies title followed closely by Sari Anderson. Monique Merrill rounded out the ladies podium. Check out Sari's blog for a recap of the women's race:
http://sarianderson.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/good-start-to-the-2011-race-season/

The large turnout was due to the fact that three spots were up for grabs on the US Ski Mountaineering Team headed to Italy in February for World Championships. The top three from the race grabbed these slots (not Reiner because he is Canadian). Congrats to Brandon, Luke, and Pete!

Results and pics can be found here:
http://jacksonrandoneerace.blogspot.com/

So maybe you are asking how I finished? Well, I did not and that is not typically my style. I had a frustrating gear issue that I couldn't solve during the race and I decided to save it for Targhee when I realized more than halfway through the race I wouldn't be able to catch up to the lead group. My goal for the weekend was to qualify for Worlds.

Headed to the Tetons for a weekend of racing!

2011-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Headed up to the Tetons for a grueling weekend of racing. Saturday is National Championship at Jackson Hole resort with a course that appears long and brutal. Around 8,000 ft of vertical with the infamous Corbet's ascent. Hopefully there will be some energy left in the tank for Sunday's race at Grand Targhee Resort. A more mellow 5,000 ft of vertical that goes into the cat skiing area. The goal for the weekend is to qualify for the US Team going to World Championships. That means placing in the top 3 at either race. We'll see what happens as it is still really early in the season.....check out the Jackson map....

Bike Racing Season Recap

2010-11-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

I want to throw in a recap of my bike racing season for some of you who might be interested...

As soon as I finished the Five Peaks I got in the car and headed out to Fruita to start logging miles on my bike. The season started a little different that usual because for the first time I had some direction on how to train. Dr. Griggs of Alpine Orthopaedics offered to coach me and I of course jumped at the opportunity. As I learned throughout the season it is awesome to have someone to keep you on track and have a training program to peaking at key events.

I set a couple goals for the season;
-podium at a few Mountain States Cup races
-finish top 10 at National Championships
-race a World Cup

The season had more ups than downs and I feel I learned a lot as a second year pro. I had a slow start into the season, but this was somewhat expected as I didn't start riding until I was done skiing(most pros start bike training in February).

A creepy mustache and a mullet always makes one feel faster for spring training.

April/May
The first race of the season was the MSC race in Rabbit Valley which had a huge field of 50 pro men. I was humbled by the fast downhill roadie start and it was all I could muster to finish 26th. 12 Hours of Mesa Verde was the next event and is one of my favorite events because of the venue and the course. My legs burned from the lack of miles but my Duo partner Jon Brown was on fire and we managed to get one more lap than we had the year previously. The competition was faster this year, we only managed a second place finish(not bad in hindsight) but we were hoping to defend our title. The Chalk Creek Stampede in Nathrop was the next MSC event, but was also part of the Triple Crown Series, drawing big names and numbers and was more like a National. I saw some definite improvement from Rabbit Valley and finished 17th out of a field of 50. The final event for May that I was excited about was the Gunnison Growler(32 mile). I managed to flat 5 minutes into the race, which was the worst possible time to have a mechanical. I pulled over to fix it and watched 150 people go by knowing that the race was almost all singletrack so there was no hope of riding back up to the front. I still finished the race and enjoyed riding for the pure enjoyment of the trails.

June
June started with the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, a race that typically draws a number of top Pros because of the prize money. This year was no different with JHK taking the race. I battled to a 10th place finish out of the field of 50. On June 14th I turned 25 years old, guess I'm no longer an "up and coming rider." The typical MSC Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte ushered in a new course this year. The same course that was the Fat Tire 40 last year, an epic race circumnavigating MT. Crested Butte via epic singletrack. I settled in with top 10 for the first part of the race but at the bottom of one of the decents, not quite halfway into the race, the top 5 men took a wrong turn repeating part of the course we had already raced. That left me in the front of the pack for the rest of the race, riding in with win.

July
The 4th of July brought the Firecracker 50 my way (Marathon National Championships). Being a National, there was plenty of top level competition on the starting line. I had a little bit of a rough start but eventually warmed up and picked off riders on the 2nd lap for a 9th place finish. Top 10 at a National Championship, I was stoked and felt I was coming into top form. I raced the following weekend at the MSC in Snowmass. Looking to peak for National Championships I was in top form at Snowmass. I ended up being the only rider that could match Jay Henry's pace and rode with him for the entire race until I crashed on the final decent, shattering my hope of beating Jay on the final stretch. Live and learn, next time it is safer to hang in than try to pull away on the decent. Knowing I was in top form I was excited for National Championships in Sol Vista the next weekend. I waited until the last minute for bike parts to arrive before leaving for Sol Vista and managed to miss registration, not finding out until the morning of the race that I was not allowed to register day of. I was devastated and got to watch the race from the sideline. That also meant no racing the World Cup in Windam as I didn't have enough points and needed the result from Nationals. Another lesson learned, pre-register.

August
Coming off the disappointment of Nationals I was looking for some redemption at MSC Keystone. I hung with the lead group for the first lap and eventually settled for a solid 5th place finish. I was excited that MSC decided to resurrect the Telluride race, a course that I hadn't raced since High School but remembered as cool. The course was different than the past and was buffed singletrack with gradual climbs and decents. Jay Henry set the pace as usual taking the win in the xc and hill climb. After a slow first lap in the xc I picked it up for the second lap and finished 3rd. I rode with Jay for most of the hill climb but couldn't quite hang for the final push when he put the power down, I was happy with my 2nd place finish.

September
A crew of us Alpine Ortho riders piled in the car to go to the Winter Park MSC race. It is always fun to have a team to travel and hang out with. With Jay absent from the race, Len Zanni showed he was in top form by pulling away from the pack off the start and putting time on everyone the rest of the race. I was one of the riders trying to catch up, but never saw Len and ended up with a solid 2nd place finish. After a full summer of racing there were three of us in contention for the Mountain States Cup Series overall win. Jay, Len, and I were all neck and neck. The Series win would come down to the final weekend of racing, The Fall Classic in Breckenridge. The first event was a circuit race that lasted for just over 45 minutes of suffering. We rode as a lead group the first half of the race until Jay put down his power and pulled away, leaving Kalan Beisel to finish second, followed by me and then Len. An hour of recovery and it was up Humbug Hill for a lung busting, leg stinging hill climb of just over 20 minutes. Jay took the top spot again, followed by Len and then me. The next day was the epic cross country course with a little revision from years past. I found myself in the company of Jay and Len again as we rode together for the first two thirds of the race. Jay put in an effort on one of the steep climbs and pulled away. I tried to hold Len's wheel but decided I didn't quite have it and backed off a little. Jay finished first, Len second, and I was third. We were all left in suspense at the award ceremony as to who would take the overall series. Jay ended up standing on the top of the podium with me on the second step and Len taking third. I was excited with my podium finish for the overall series as I had not even considered being a contender early in the season.

October
The last race of the season would be 24 Hours of Moab, the Endurance National Championships. We decided to put together a pro four man team consisting of Alpine Ortho riders. The team shaped up to be Jon Brown, Dave Ochs, Ethan Passant, and I. Going into the race we had some confidence having raced the year before with a 4 person coed team, finishing 4th overall. A week before the race there was talk of a dream team assembling, as it turned out Len Zanni had put together Jay Henry, Ross Schnell and Kalan Beisel to race with him. Damn, we would need to have a good race to win. We ended up having a solid race, going for all 24 hours without anything major going wrong. As things shook out, it became obvious that the level of competition was higher this year. 8 hours into the race and the dream team had done 8 laps, riding an average of under one hour, a first for the event. That left us battling with 3 other teams for the top 5. We came up a little short of leg power and finished in 5th place. Which in hindsight was a solid finish given the competition. We all had fun and enjoyed the atmosphere that goes along with the Moab event. I love the technical sections of the course, but have never been fond of the second half of the course. I still haven't become a roadie and I'm ok with that. I stayed out in Moab for a few days after the race and became acquainted with my new to me 5" travel bike(Giant Trance). I spent the rest of the fall riding my new love and practicing my downhill riding, trying to re-learn corning to ultimately be faster on the descents.

That was my a summary of my season with the ups and downs that come with racing. I have decided I want to step up next year and race more National events and hopefully post some top results. For now, I will enjoy the powder as it is dumping outside again!

The snow is moving back in!

2010-11-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

So I will admit, I have been slacking on the blog posts.... Sometimes I wonder if this blog is worthwhile, but I've decided it is, so I will try to post once a week this winter to keep you updated on my winter.

Hopefully there will be lots of days like this!

Bike Racing Season!

2010-04-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

So I finished up the Randonee season with the Five Peaks which was an awesome race, one of my worst as far as how I felt. However, the course was top notch and the weather was perfect. I highly recommend it to everyone next year.

Now, I am ready to ride my bike! This summer I am riding for a newly formed local team that was initiated by a group of us local pro mountain bikers. Thanks to Alpine Orthopaedics for throwing down as our title sponsor! Check out the new blog for the team.
http://teamalpineortho.blogspot.com/

I'm taking a break from my blog for the summer so you'll just have to follow my progress at the new team blogspot. I'll start back up when I strap the skis on.

The Five Peaks

2010-04-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

The Five Peaks in Breckenridge is coming up this weekend!

Here is the Race Description from the website- http://www.thefivepeaks.com/

The Five Peaks (T5P) is North America's longest ski mountaineering race with 10,000 feet of vertical and five separate ascents in the Ten Mile Range behind and in Breckenridge Ski Resort. Eighty teams of two will skin, climb, ski and traverse Peaks 10, 9, 8 (from two sides) and 7. While The Five Peaks course will be demanding in terms of vertical and time, course loops are designed so that teams that don't wish to complete the final climbs will still enjoy a full day of high-alpine skiing.

The course looks awesome! Just like racing in Europe with all the off-piste.

Max Taam and I are partnering up for the challenge and I'm looking forward to a good day of backcountry skiing. The weather looks good so come up for one more long backcountry spring tour!

I/O Bio Merino

2010-04-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

A common question I get from people getting into Randonee Racing is, "What do you wear while you are racing?"

That as a really good question because you are going uphill generating a lot of body heat, but then you have to ski down with quite a windchill. Luckily, the uphill takes up 90% of the race so it is better to dress comfortable for the up and survive the less than 5 minute downs.

I of course wear a one-piece ski-mountaineering suit by Dynafit. If you are serious about racing a suit is a must have, as it is designed for racing with big pockets in the front for skins.

The next challenge is what to wear underneath. I chose lightweight merino wool because it is superior to the synthetic stuff out there. I/O Bio Merino is a new player in the wool market and they are making superior products to their rivals. The thickness is perfect for everything from all day slow tours to warmer spring weather. I have been solely wearing their baselayers all

season and they still look new.

My favorites are the Contact 3/4 Tight and Contact LS Crew. I have never had 3/4 Tights before and I am sold on the comfort, why would I need my long underwear to go into my ski boots when I have tall socks on? The fit is better than any other company I have found (for an athletic build). I am 5-10 and the medium is perfect.

Check them out- https://www.io-bio.com/

they also often have specials on their Facebook page

The Grand “Reverse”

2010-04-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

The movie trailer from the film made last year about the Traverse.

“Wish and you shall receive” did not come true for this year’s Grand Traverse weather. The forecast a few days before the race looked grim. I still held hope for clear skies and minimal wind for the race. Friday morning rolled around and everyone congregated at the base area of CBMR for registration, racers meeting, mandatory gear check, and the pre-race pasta feed.

The “uplifting” racers talk began around noon when competitors are filled in with what to expect while skiing to Aspen starting at mid-night from Crested Butte. “Be prepared to be bivouac for 24 hours in freezing temperatures and 50 mph winds, otherwise you will die!” is how I would paraphrase it. Granted, every year I have done the race the weather has been nasty and indeed one probably could have died on course. This year would be no different as far as the predicted weather, 4-7 inches of snow overnight with winds gusted 40-50 mph.

We were told at the meeting that a couple things could possibly happen;

A: The race would start at mid-night and we would ski to Aspen as planned.

B: The race start would be postponed until 3am to allow the lead teams to reach Star Pass as it was getting light(to let the storm clear and make for easier navigation in the daylight)

C: Race to the Friends Hut where the race would end or turn around and ski a modified course finishing back in CB.

For some great pictures of the racers meeting/gear check;

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=95c11d8ab37a4b1b&sid=0AYt27Ro1cNmT6A

I was voting for option B, as were the other teams hoping to be in the top 10. I would love to see the start moved to 3am for the “elite” teams anyways, as it would allow for more of the race to happen in the daylight.

We were told to listen to the radio or check Facebook for updates at 3:30pm and then again at 6:30pm. 3:30 came and went with an update saying to check back later. 5:45 and there was a post on Facebook by the organizers saying things were looking up. 6:30 still waiting. 7pm announcement; “Start being postponed until 6am, typical start and follow regular course to the Friends Hut, do a lap around the yard, down from the Friends Hut, Farris Creek to Strand Bonus Trail, back to East River and up the ski mountain finishing at the base area.”

Ahhh…. disappointment. One does not want to hear they are not going to Aspen when they have been looking forward to the race for months. Furthermore, racing at night is a different ballgame, a real challenge. The race has changed.

I call up my dad and ask him what the “reverse” was like when he did it(the one other time the race has not gone to Aspen). Backcountry nordic race is the term he uses to describe it. Hmmm… I am tempted to switch from my Randonee race gear to a nordic setup as skating is way more efficient (and the gear is a little lighter). The thought quickly vanishes because my partner doesn’t nordic ski at all, but he is a damn good Randonee racer and skier.

We decide it is not the “real Traverse” and we will just go out for the day and give it our best. I’m not going to go to in-depth about the actual race as I am probably already boring you, but this race is very mentally challenging leading up to the actual start of the race.

6am we are read a blessing and start at the school in Crested Butte. Fresh snow overnight makes for some guerrilla skating across the town ranch to the base of the mountain in the dark. We put on skins to climb to the base area and it starts getting light. Continuing on up the mountain and dropping into the East River valley from the ski area where we are treated to more Guerilla crust skating. Somewhere in the top 10 we hit Brush Creek and put skins on again for the trek up to the Friends Hut. I think it takes us about 3.5 hours to reach the
Friends and where we arrive about 10 minutes behind the lead team in 4^th place.

We rip skins and start the decent down from the Friends Hut, hoping to make up some time up on the two nordic teams in front of us. The snow is colder and slower than I expect and therefore the down-hills are not the scary fast I was hoping for. We manage to catch up to Mike Kloser/Jay Henry as we reach the turn for Farris Creek. They are on nordic gear and were ahead of us by about 2 minutes at the top of the Friends Hut. Not quite the time we were thinking we would make up on the downhill.

Skins back on for the climb up Farris, then off again for more Guerilla crust skating. We get a glimpse of the unknown nordic guys about 3/4 of the way around the Farris/Strand loop giving us hope as they are less than a minute and a half ahead of us. Kloser/Jay are also in sight a few hundred yards ahead where the final climb on Farris starts before getting to the Strand Bonus trailhead.

We opt to put skins again at the bottom of the hill as we are both over Guerilla skating. As we get within a hundred yards of the trailhead sign for Strand Bonus there are 2 sets of skate tracks that turn more downhill and disappear. We opt to follow the skin track right next to the trailhead sign since the course setters had skinned the entire course and it was obvious they had gone that way. I quickly realize the two nordic teams in front of us didn’t follow this part of the course as there are no skinny ski tracks. More up and down, back and fourth, skins off to finally descend to Brush Creek.

We hit the road were there are a few spectators and we ask how far ahead the nordic teams are? I receive the reply I don’t want to hear, “6 minutes or so”. Damn, now it is back to Guerilla skating to East River with a decent headwind and the hope of catching the teams in front of us gone. Skins on again for the grueling skin back up the mountain, around a little, up some more, and finally the decent down Columbine hill to the finish. Yes!

Team Dynafit made it! I’m not sure if it was easier than skiing to Aspen or not. It took less time, we did it in under 7 hours, but there was a lot of Guerilla skating. At least we looked good with our Mullets!

The young nordic guns crossed the finish line first, then Brian Smith/Brian Wickenhauser, followed closely by Jay Henry/Mike Kloser. We were next crossing 4^th followed by Pat Oniell/Jake Jones coming in 5^th.

However, like all good drama’s there had to be an upset. The nordic guns and Henry/Kloser would be disqualified for cutting the course. That would mean the final results would be;

Men

1st Bryan Wickenhauser Brian Smith 06:28:16 Gunnison

2nd Travis Sheefer Ethan Pussant 06:55:27 Crested Butte

3rd Pat O'neill Jake Jones 07:03:06 Crested Butte

Women

1st Emma Lohr Emma Catmur 09:05:45 Crested Butte
-not sure about 2nd and 3rd

Co-Ed

1st Mark Smiley Janelle Smiley 07:26:02 Crested Butte

2nd Alan Hadley Jari Kirkland 07:40:15 Crested Butte

3rd Becky Sears Jesse Rickert 08:13:18 Gunnison

Gearing Up for the Grand Traverse

2010-03-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

I have been back from Andorra for almost 2 weeks now. I feel like the end of the ski season flies by as soon as it is warm enough to start biking. It has been mostly warm and sunny with some perfect spring days. I’ve been outside riding on the road a few times since I’ve been back and it feels good to get back on the bike.

This morning it snowed an inch, just enough to make the road really slick and delay the local trails from melting out. So here I sit drinking coffee on the computer. This weekend is the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse so I am starting to get my gear together. Ethan Passant is my teammate again and we are excited to have another shot at the title.

The race is well established, this being its 13th year, and on-line registration filled up in a record 28 minutes! There is no other race in North America like it. The start is at midnight on Friday in Crested Butte and you finish in Aspen on Saturday. The course is 42 miles, snaking its way up and down valleys and over ridges reaching 12,000 ft eventually finishing right in Aspen.

I have done the race 3 years in a row now and the weather seems to be the major factor. Skiing for 7 hours in the dark before it gets light is way different than skiing during the daylight. Fresh snow and wind have blanketed a section of the course throwing the lead teams off course every year I have done it. I’m hoping this year is different. Battling the wind and cold is part of the race and there is mandatory gear each competitor must take so they would be independently prepared for a 24-hour bivouac.

This is almost all of the mandatory gear excluding food and water (still gathering a few things) that is going in my pack. I’ll weigh my pack when I get everything together and my guess is it will be around 15 pounds. Every year some teams show up with these tiny little packs at the start line and I have a hart time believing they have all the mandatory gear. Some things only get so small and light, are they carrying little kids clothing for their extra dry clothes? I would really like to see a gear check for the top 10 teams at the finish to keep things honest.

Jesse from CAMP hooked up Ethan and I up with these X3 600 packs for the race. You will see a lot of teams using this pack, as they are light and affordable. They hold 30 liters and are only 600 grams! Plus they are functional with the side mesh pockets for easy access during the race and pouch on the waist belt for food etc. while on the move. Thanks CAMP and Jesse! http://www.camp-usa.com/

Racing at World Ski Mountaineering Championships they had a gear check for the top competitors at the finish line including checking boot and ski weight to make sure it meets the minimums. If you were missing something, say your space blanket you were given a time penalty as defined in the rules. Maybe for the traverse it could be ½ hour for every piece of mandatory gear missing at the finish.

36th Annual Al Johnson Uphill/Downhill

2010-03-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

This was my first Uphill/Dowhill race, I think I was 11 years old. It remains one of my favorites. This year was perfect weather bringing out lots of great costumes! I like that the event is a freak show as well as a race.

Top 10 Individual Results

Travis Scheefer 13:10

Pat O'Neill 14.12

Jake Jones 14:57

Rebecca Dussault 15:19

Andy Sovick 15:32

Kirk Haskell 16:12

Pete Curvin 16:57

Alex Lafoe 17:15

Drew Holbrook 17:17

Mos 17:59

Top 5 Teams

Travis Scheefer 12:22

Dave Scheefer 12:22

Jake Jones 13:33

Pat O'Neill 13:33

Carol Quinn 14:28

Rebecca Dussault 14:28

Tucker Roberts 14:34

Tad Stoorza 14:34

Emma Catmur 17:18

Martin Catmus 17:18

Most of my friends were involved in the Tetris costume below. Nice work!

World Championships Relay Race

2010-03-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

To wrap up a full week of racing and skiing was the relay race. Luckily, it was a late start around lunchtime. It was also just above the hotel at mid-mountain so we could just ride the gondola up to the venue. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny with lots of spectators and action.

The women would race in teams of 3, each doing one lap. The men would race in a team of 4, each doing one lap. For the women it was Amy, Molly, and Jari racing. The men decided the younger guys would race so it would be Myself, Max, Ben, and Brandon.

I got to do our first lap and it was 13 minutes of suffering, check out how fast the start was!

Spectating was awesome and I was glad to get my lap over with so I could cheer and watch the rest of the team. There were some good crashes on the final lap as the decent was really fast and rutted, like an off-piste GS course.

We managed to come in 10th place and then move up to 9th because the Polish team received a time penalty for missing a gate on course. A great way to wrap up an AWESOME week!

For full results:
http://www.skimountaineering.org/2010/02/24/2010-world-championships-start-lists-and-results

The Teams Race

2010-03-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning excited for the teams race. Everyone got on the bus at the hotel and had a 45 minute bus ride to the other side of Andorra, the road sure is curvy as it has to follow the valley floor. As we approached the valley at the base of the resort it became obvious the weather could be nasty for the race. It looked stormy up high where we would be racing.

The start of the race was mid-mountain so we got a little warm up skin to the start line. It was pretty windy when we arrived at the start and I wasn't really looking forward to racing in the wind. The women started first at 10 am and I was surprised there were only teams racing.

We started a half hour later and the wind was still blowing. There was a good turn out of 45 teams in the men's division. Standing on the start line getting chilled by the wind I was surprised when the helicopter showed up to catch the action. The visibility was only a few hundred yards and I could even see where the first climb would go. The start was more mellow than the individual race for me because I told Max I would just stick behind him for the first climb. Our plan was to start slower and work into it because it would be a long race.

The first climb went by fast and there was a good crowd at the top as we reached the transition. The visibility wasn't great, but we ripped up the first decent which was a mix of 6-8" of new snow, with some hidden ice crust underneath. It was good to pass a few teams on the decent as we were skiing downhill stronger.

Check out the video of top men's teams on the second climb, look how in sync they are.

As we started the second climb the weather started to clear a little. We could see the two other US teams of Pete Swenson/Cary Smith and Brandon French/Ben Parsons in front of us. We skinned behind a German team for most of the climb where the smaller guy was carrying his big partners backpack. The climb seemed to be every bit of 1,000+ meters as it went up into the clouds. I was relieved to reach the top and put the climb behind us. The first part of the decent was in the clouds with poor visibility but we were able to pass some teams on the way down.

The final climb began with a long gradual stretch to get back up to mid-mountain. As we climbed and reached mid-mountain the weather cleared and we could see that the final climb was also going to go on for awhile. We could still see the two US teams a few minutes ahead of us, but couldn't seem to make up any time on them. I was relieved to reach the top of the steep boot pack as I was looking forward to the final decent. There was a short slog across the ridge with some mixed rock sections before we got to take the plunge off the cornice. There was fixed rope so we could lower ourselves a hundred vertical feet off the top before putting our skis on. We straight lined as much as we could of the final decent which descended a steep coulior and managed to pass a couple of teams.

Pictures from http://press.areaphoto.it/canillo_2010/photo_3_gallery/index.html

According to Max's watch the vertical was actually around 7,800 vertical feet of climbing! I was glad to just finish but we also posted a good result coming in 23rd out of 45 teams!

Max dropping for the final decent with me in the background

We posted some good American results as we much be better racing together or something.

For some great pictures check out:
http://www.skimountaineering.org/en/category/image-galleries/world-championships-2010

Women's Top 3 Teams

1	201	Roberta Pedranzini	IT	02:50:17	02:50:17
		Francesca Martinelli	IT
2	202	Marie Troillet	CH	02:59:16	02:59:16
		Nathalie Etzensperger	CH
3	208	Corinne Clos	IT	03:02:13	03:02:13
		Silvia Rocca	IT

Americans

7	214	Amy Fulywer	US	03:28:36		03:28:36
		Monique Merrill	US

10	215	Yari Kirkland	US	03:40:55		03:40:55
		Nina Cook Silitch	US

Men's Top 3 Teams

1	1	Florent Perrier	FR	02:14:54	02:14:54
		Didier Blanc	FR
2	4	Florent Troillet	CH	02:16:50	02:16:50
		Martin Anthamatten	CH
3	21	Lorenzo Holzknecht	IT	02:18:23	02:18:23
		Damiano Lenzi	IT

Americans

19	46	Ben Parsons	US	02:48:00	02:48:00
		Brandon French	US
20	43	Peter Swenson	US	02:48:25	02:48:25
		Cary Smith	US

23	45	Travis Scheefer	US	02:50:46		02:50:46
		Max Taam	US

29	44	Jared Ignoue	US	03:01:51		03:01:51
		Bryan Wickenhauser	US

Teams Course

2010-03-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

The Teams race is tomorrow and looks to be a long and challenging course. The venue for the Teams race is about 45 minute bus ride away in Vallard(where they finished one of the stages of the Tour de France last year). I am doing the race with Max Taam and we decided to take a rest day, hanging out at the hotel and going for a short ski right out the door.

Check out the course profile and map below, noticing that the second climb and decent are over 1,000 meters! That is about 3,300 vertical feet!

Skimo World Championships Individual Race

2010-03-04T01:39:00.000-08:00

Woke up to new snow this morning, a few inches at our hotel which is down valley from the individual race course. All I could think about was that lovely ice crust from the rain with fresh snow on it. I could just hope it was warm enough to bond.

The start was delayed by a half hour but the race was a go. They decided to start the men and women together as well due to the delay. There was a slight course modification as well but I was just excited to get to race. It turned out there was 6-8" of new wet snow on course which improved the ice crust conditions.

The start was crazy with 80 men and 40 women charging out of the gate at the same time. Check out the video.

Luckily, there are 2 skin tracks set everywhere on course which allows for passing. The visibility dropped as we climbed in elevation. I was charging mid-pack for the first climb, just ahead of the lead women until she passed me towards the very top of the climb. About the same time I could hear a helicopter which I couldn't see because of the thick mist but it sounded like it was about to crash into my head. I finally get a glimpse of it and sure enough it is only about 200 ft away to my right hovering about 50 ft off the 45 degree slope!

I am met with a huge crowd of spectators at the top. Visibility is terrible as I drop into the first decent, a wide open 45 degree pitch that is a mix of ice and fresh snow with some scattered rocks. I watch Brandon French take a tumble a few turns in front of me but ski out of it. I feel like I am skiing well considering the visibility and all of the sudden a French girl comes flying by! Wow. Turns out she would be the only one to pass me on a decent the entire race!

The second climb is less hectic as the pack has split apart. I am behind the 2 lead girls as well as Brandon French and one of the Canadians, Reiner. The spectators are awesome cheering in all different languages along the entire course. My legs begin to feel the fast pace as I am not used to being able to have the turn over at this low of elevation. Also, I think I have been skiing too much since I have arrived here. There is so much you want to do it is hard to sit in the hotel and just rest.

I pull into the final climb and know it is going to hurt, especially the crampon boot pack at the end. Brandon and Rainer are now about a minute in front of me and the 3rd place women has caught up to me. I can feel the lactic acid in my legs as I begin to skin but notice everyone around me has also slowed way down. Brandon and Reiner pull away and the 3rd place women passes me. I struggle on the final boot pack as my legs would rather just have me stop. I do manage to pass one guy on the final decent and I'm glad to come through the finish line with my legs on fire!

My first race in Europe and I am hooked! I courses are awesome, the competition is stiff, and the support is amazing.

Top 3 Men

1	2	Florent Troillet	CH	01:30:50	01:30:50
2	8	Kilian Jornet	ES	01:30:54	01:30:54
3	28	Didier Blanc	FR	01:31:41	01:31:41

Top 3 Women

1	202	Laetitia Roux	FR	01:48:49	01:48:49
2	201	Roberta Pedranzini	IT	01:49:20	01:49:20
3	203	Francesca Martinelli	IT	01:53:36	01:53:36

Monique Merrill was our top American finishing 9th!
Pete also posted a great finish with 29th in the mens.

American Women

230

Monique Merrill