MUD

The mudders came out to play today at Xilinx, Compton and Johnson dominated, with the master of the mic, Dave Towle, calling the action..just a bit of fun.

SATURDAY'S RACE AT XILINX IS BEING HELD HERE...

Hutch's dog Neo says....it's getting deeper by the hour.

These pictures just came in hot off the press from Bobby Diesel, my gracious host this weekend in Longmont. This is the site of this weekend's Blue Sky Velo Cup race, Xilinx. These pics were taken yesterday, it has snowed another 5-10 inches since these were taken. This might be just a bit of fun....Boulder Reservoir on Sunday, just down the road.

The promoters of the Boulder Cup have offered refunds to anyone who does not wish to race because of the venue change, just send them an e-mail if you wish to bail, I'm in, as long as it keeps snowing.

AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT...

This is the view from my place this morning, dry and green grass still growing while 40 inches of snow has been reported in Rollinsville.I say come on up a let's go ride dirt.

SNOW MANIA IN THE FOOTHILLS...

These pictures have been poached off of Brian Hutchison's blog "The Most Funnest of All". Brian is the current State of Colorado SS CX Champion and a friend. There is doody pile of snow at Brian's house west of Boulder. Brian measured just under 30 inches of snow in his yard YESTERDAY before it started to snow hard, it's still snowing there a day later. Here in Eagle, two hours away and on the other side of the divide, we have the stars out and ZERO snow on the ground, let's move the Boulder Cup to the Cult Cross Course in Eagle, we won't get kicked off by the city or county, they don't care.

This is Brian's dog's head sticking out of nearly 3 feet of snow.

The Eagle Fairgrounds, were mud is allowed to rule the day...

BOULDER RES CX FROM LAST SUNDAY...

This will be the sight of the Boulder Cup this Sunday...more sand anyone? Open wide.

Lap One, the second barriers
Burnsy good start, Elgee back about 30th

Boulder CX #3 - 35+ Cat 4 - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Lap two, both of us top 20, first barrier section

Boulder CX#3 - SM35+ Cat 4 Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Lap 3....20th spot, sand run up from hell

Boulder CX #3 - SM35+ cat 4 Lap 3 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Lap 4, Burnsy up to 8th, I'm riding a flat in 24th....then lost 30 places running in for a tire change....I love this game

Boulder CX #3 - SM 35+ cat 4 Lap 4 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? BOULDER REZ AGAIN? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I would prefer to do this on Sunday
And NOT thisNot that I'm tooo pissed or anything, but I do believe I was planning on racing at Harlow Platts this Sunday for Boulder Cup Day. Now before YOU get your panties in a ball and think I'm gonna start railing on the promoters (ahem)......well, they actually have nothing to do with this one as Mr. Grealish stated in his informative release...

"Race director Chris Grealish described the move as the best alternative given the fragility of the turf at Harlow Platts, "The racers love Harlow Platts because of the challenging nature of the grassy terrain but we have an agreement with the City of Boulder to make a move if conditions there risk long-term damage to the park."

So, this particular rant is directed at the City of Boulder, who is hoping to bring a National Championship CX race to town. Hey Boulder, do you get it? Run the race and then I'LL volunteer to throw a little grass seed around on the venue after the race. Gawd forbid it should get a hair muddy for a CYCLOCROSS RACE. Bajeez, Portland and Seattle are laughing at us, I can hear it through the dense blizzard skies. Maybe we could get together for a round of hacky sack or ultimate frisbee afterwards...

Here is what kind of sucks, I THOUGHT I had suffered enough at the Rez this season, by gawd the course was a devilish thing last weekend, and all though I had fun despite a mid race flat which I tried to ride out (to no avail, gogogogogoatheads, gotta luv em), I have RUN ENOUGH in the sand at that venue this season. So, is there any resolve? I think not. This could have been the Epic of Epics, the race that put Boulder on the map of classic CX races in most horrid and fun conditions, but instead, I'm forced to go buy three big bottles of Stan's to fill up my tires solid with the stuff for the race at the Rez...WELL, shit my pants.

I just have one request, leave that fucking hump out of the course we had to run over on the beach last weekend, please.
City of Boulder owes all of us. Damn, I'm ready for the Wilderness Hidden Gems meeting now.....

ANOTHER REASON IM GLAD LONG TRAVEL WAS INVENTED WHEN I WAS TOO OLD TO CONSIDER IT...

VERY IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT AT THE EAGLE COUNTY BUIDLING, WILDERNESS HIDDEN GEMS ON THE PUBLIC TABLE

Tonight, from 5-7 pm, at the Eagle County Building, the Wilderness Hidden Gems initiative is coming to the table, to be discussed in public forum. I'm not sure what the rest of you think about this proposed "feel good" proposal, but I personally think it is bullshit. The goal is to exclude all motorized use in "new" large swaths of public land because of their impact on erosion and wildlife in these areas, this INCLUDES mountain bikes. I am a mountain biker, and until someone actually does research telling me that mountain bikes physically fuck up trails more than four horse shoed hooves of a 2000 lb horse I aint buyin it. I live a 5 minute walk from the Eagle County building, what I would like to see are the mountain bikers show up on their bikes, and the horsey people show up on their horses, and we will then take turns doing laps inside the County Building hall floor for 5 minutes and see who fucks the floor up more. Guess what folks, it aint gonna be the Mountain Bikes....please come and speak your mind so the Mountain Biking community does not lose more PUBLIC land to use for their pleasure...thank you.

A BIT OF A LEARNING CURVE IN AFGHANIAN LAND...

No, I'm sorry sir, THESE are actually my men...
WTF is the point? Someone said there is a war going on? These guys will help bail us out of there for sure...

THE WEATHERMAN IS ALREADY BALKING SOME...

Hmmm, there is something oddly suspicious about the first big snowstorm forecast of the season in Colorado. This storm has been the talk of TV for the past day, then suddenly we get the...."well, it may not pack quite the punch we first thought" forecast, which is kind of biz as usual. However, it did dump in Eagle for a while today, which was pretty foshizzle since it was not measured in shovelable amounts, but rather just fun to go ride in...

Super tacky was the word, powder bike day for sure...
This is where I ended up with a trip to the ER earlier this season when a pedal cage came off the spindle hopping one of these roots, I basically pulverized myself...but it's all good now, thankfully.
And then there was the party thrown by the Dusty Boot who sponsored us in Mobe on Saturday eve, eat and drink till you are uncomfortably running to the toilet...check out the rad rigid SS this dude is rockin on the cake....Petron was in order.

TWO FEET OF SNOW + BOULDER CUP WEEKEND..

Could be simply outstanding if it stays cold enough to keep the snow around until the weekend when it will then melt. Harlow Platts Park may turn into the greatest mud fest this side of Portland....stay tuned.

BOULDER RESERVOIR CX PICS FROM LINARD CIMERMANIS

Men's open field racing on the front range this year has been outstanding, every week seems to produce a new winner out of the fraternity of the elites. This week, as Pacocha rolled out on lap one with his signature early pressure from the start, he drug along a mighty posse in tow. The crowd watched lap one amazed as Pacocha rode the long sand run-up on lap one clean, then got caught in a battle of brutality for the next 60 minutes. Heavy blows would be thrown.

Summerhill quickly moved to the front and controlled the race for nearly fifty minutes, he is gaining form as the season rolls to a peak. Summerhill, a silver medalist at Worlds in U23, would outsprint Pacocha for the win..
The lead group charges the sand climb up from the beach in a blizzard, Danny's mom screaming encouragement
Jonathan Baker takes a turn at derailing Summerhill
This would not be J Dubs day as temps dropped and Jake got chilled causing trouble handling the bike with cold hands...
Alison Powers would dominate the women's open field with Irmeger and Duke finishing out the podium...

I COULDA BEEN A CONTENDA...

On a gloomy, snowy day in what could have been the Belgian National Championships, except this was at the Boulder Reservoir, Everybody I know raced very hard and well for there is no other way to do it at the Rez. I think it is safe to say that the sand is still there, and utilized in a way that not even an Afghanian prisoner of war could appreciate. My solution to ending war is to threaten whomever we may be at difference with, the chance that if they are captured by the Red, White and Blue, that they be forced at gunpoint after paying their $25 to do a 45 minute cross race at the Boulder Reservoir, keep the course as it was today. World peace will be achieved immediately. With that said, the men's open field around here has just been outstanding to watch, not to mention commentate live as the racing each week has been nothing short of amazing. Today it was Danny Summerhill's turn to play dragon slayer as he drove the pace from the start, and finished with a battle for the ages with Dwight, Baker and Pacocha to the end, winning in a CLOSE sprint at the line as he had one last match to burn over Pacocha. If I can dig up some pictures from the races I'll post em, I was too busy yappin on the mmic to take pics, and the race was tight. In the meantime......

BEFORE I LEAVE ON YET ANOTHER FRONT RANGE JOURNEY

Get a load of this...the prototye CX shoe from D2, incidentally located right here in Eagle, Don has come up with another winner, Vibram and steel "Fangs". Which is the name of the model, the Fang, not sure when they will be available, but you saw them here first on A2B, of course. Totally custom to YOUR foot is you are not familiar with D2

You won't even find info on the website yet, but check out the rest of the line here

PRODUCT REVIEW; RUDY PROJECT, IT DOES NOT GET BETTER, PERIOD

Rydon
Exowind
OK, OK....I have finally got the chance to sit down and talk about Rudy Project and their "technically cool" eye wear. Trust me, technically cool does not do this product justice as it is so well thought out in design and function that I'll never consider buying another pair of glasses from another manufacturer, not too mention the 2010 Sterling Helmet. I can't say enough good about Rudy. The plus of not reviewing up to this point is that I have had the chance to use the product a ton. This includes in just about every type of riding condition imaginable. I've got a pair of Rydons (Carbon frame with ImpactX Photochromic red lense) as well as the super sick EXOWIND with Crystal frame and ImpactX Photchromic lenses. These are also RX perf to my perscription, just unreal.

The photochromic feature shown here after covering half the lense with cloth in the sun, the contrast is very measurable, exactly what you want

First of all, these glasses are so damn comfortable I swear I forget I've even got them on, they are super light and they cover my field of vision absolutely perfectly. The nose piece is totally customizable and form fitting to your shnoz, and when you've got a shnoz like mine that is critical. Rudy has also designed their new Sterling helmet to "grab" these glasses if you want to cruise with them off your face for a while. The temples fit right in the perfectly placed air vents (eyewear docks) securing the glasses so there is no worry of them bouncing around.

I was able to wear these clear RX lenses while racing the 24 Hours of Moab at night, they were simply the best glasses period I have ever used while night riding under STRESSFUL conditions. The design of the lense on both the Rydon and the Exowind have been carefully designed to allow for no "turbulance" behind the lense, which is a bonus when you are pegging it at race pace, no dust or dirt swirling back there and no tearing up from air movement, critical as you know. Impact X means these lenses are unbreakable, a nice feature should you happen to whack a stick or inadvertantly face plant in the wrong place. I like my eyes, and so does Rudy Project.

The helmet is Rudy's latest, and I must say they have really stepped it up. Check out the features in the below vid. The helmet is super comfy and is easily adjusted for comfort, also pretty damn light at 240 grams. Rudy says they refuse to sacrifice weight for safety, which I like. After all, I'm not going to be winning the Tour anytime soon, so a few extra grams to protect my noggin are welcome...I guess you could say I really like the Rudy Project stuff, but I'd say I love it...buy it.

PARTING SHOTS FROM MOAB...

24 Hours of Moab 2009 started like this...check out the guy charging at the front of the Lemans start.

And ended like this. I swear we did'nt do it...

FLASHBACK TO KANSAS CITY NATIONALS

Remember the story about this douche? Notice how he runs his mouth and then ducks out of the crowd before getting body slammed?

And Boulder Cup weekend is just around the corner, how can we ever forget "helmet dude" at Xilinx a couple of years back....classic

SHIZZLE CROSS, WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRACTICE...

Wednesday night shizzle cross practice with the fastest dudes on the Mafia team last night at Nottingham Park in Avon was just a crusher. A bunch of hot laps chasing Jake Wells, Ryan McFreak, Courtney Wuwuwuzup Gregory and the rest of those fast BIATCHES absolutely destroyed me, then we line it up for multiple "gassers" of about 200 yards with a barrier thrown in for good measure? I want EVERYONE of you to remember this when you are old and tired like me. Fuck, I thought I was going into cardiac arrest at least 47 times, just like a CX race. Thanks, it actually was pretty damn fun.

THE BONEYARD, EAGLE, COLORADO

Meanwhile, back on the dirt in my home town of Eagle, the Mountain Biking continues to be stellar as SNOW falls in Denver today, but not up here. Only one thing to do, go hit dirt before the inevitable comes...

The Boneyard, one of the High Country's sweetest single track climbs if you have an hour to burn...below is the entry up to BLM land

Buffed and perfect grade for middle ring climbing

WEEKEND RAP...

It was damn good to get right smack in the middle of CX season last weekend, good to see so many good friends again and even some people who aren't such good friends, I like all you guys and gals.

Many big thanks to Bobby Diesel and family for their awesome hospitality Saturday eve and allowing me to crash on the super deluxe snowman print flannel sheets for a much needed good nights sleep after doubling up, then drinking many PBRs watching first CU pull an exciting win then the lengthy Yankee/Angels game, falling asleep in the middle of a sentence and then waking up to stacks of bacon and a mega hot wheels session before hauling off to Golden to announce all day. In the meantime, it was JHK knocking it out of the park on Saturday, Pacocha with the great escape on Sunday, and Dunlap absolutely dominant in the women's open races...

FACES OF DEATH, VALMONT BIKE PARK CX

J Dubs scratching back in after lap 1 crash

National Mountain Biking champion JHK marks Pacocha in the elite race

Greg Keller Mud and Clanger bro....

Lead group Cat 3's, Wuwuwuz up takes the win

Darrin "the sneak" Cheek

Russ Kappius, one of the guys I chase around in circles, he's damn fast

CG in the house

Brady Kppius deep in the hurt locker on the way to the podge

Bumpy shit in Valmont...

Kappius, running scared or chasing? Both.