THAT WAS A WEEKEND

Colorado Cross Cup and Boulder Cup back to back this weekend, on top of life being so chaotic, makes for some damn good livin. And one of my favorite moments of the weekend captured below when over 100 junior riders tackled a brutal Boulder Cup course, the response to the questions are you having fun" was simply, "I love cyclocross". Priceless, and a great photo from Linard Cimermanis.

LOOKS LIKE IT WAS "IN YOUR FACE" AT LOVELAND SKI AREA YESTERDAY, YOWWWSA!

ARGH

Great while it lasted.....

INTERLOCKEN....COMIN, AND GOIN.....THROUGH THE COURSE TAPE.

Photos from Annette Hayden, Mountain Moon Photography

Need I say more, no.

INTERLOCKEN CX, FORGIVE THE MUSIC, I HAD TO DO IT...

And my own day was not without incident, as usual on lap one, but I'll spare you the details..

INTERLOCKEN CX, ALL ABOUT THE BACON HAND UPS...

Yesterday at Interlocken, the third installment of the Boulder Racing CX series, it was all about the Bacon hand ups...which many took, as we ran out of bacon.

LIBERATED AND THANKFUL IN THE HILLS...

Below are some photos, they are just photos of some hills, but they represent so much more. These are the hills surrounding the Eagle River Valley, close to Vail and Beaver Creek. I do not regret leaving these hills just over six months ago, I had an agenda at that time which required some big changes for me personally with some big commitments. Not there long after moving everything which I called my life to begin a new life to the front range of Colorado, I once again realized that it's virtually impossible to replicate or improve on what is buried deep within your soul which keeps your life simple and in a good place. The front range is a great place, and it's a far different lifestyle than in the hills, and it's full of good folks and great stuff to do, and it's a fantastic place to settle if you can meld into the system there and you can find a calm spot for your soul there. I had difficulty cracking the code down there on the full time work front, and was deceived a couple of times by promises of sunny days, which of course happens everywhere, but for me, the move turned into a catalyst for something bigger down the road, and I'm excited for it. The opportunities which have recently presented themselves to me through other opportunities, as well as having met some great new friends, on the front range as well as other places in this universe, have me looking up at this huge clear sky from the bottom of a deep gully, and the steps out are wide and stable, and it's really exciting. The past 6-7 years have been filled with disastrous financial decisions of which there is no one to blame but myself, and in the midst of a foreclosure and so many other challenges, the bricks of poison are falling one at a time, and all though the cup appears to just have a couple simple drops of fine wine it right now, that same cup is actually spilling over with optimism. For me it all starts with what these photos represent, and the simplicity of staying healthy and good friends, and thanks to Tim Faia for taking five minutes of my time this past weekend to help me see the future even more clear than I thought I already had, you are a good and funny damn friend. So it's time to purge and move on. For those of you who think I'm an ass for leaving and talking smack and then coming back, you are right, I'm an ass.

In the meantime it is so good to almost be back, with challenges of course, but amongst really good people, some of whom I hope can forgive, as well as in a great place. The grass is greener right here for me, and I promise to bitch about it being cold just like I have previously, but the sun and spring will return, and until then I'll just wear more clothes.

Liberate yourself should need be, it's incredibly liberating.

THIS IS A BITCHIN VIDEO

Taken with some type of sweet cam/model heli combo. Well done on opening day at Arapahoe Basin last week....

And this is the greatest one day skiing race in the world at the greatest ski area on earth, this will be the 23rd year for the Enduro, you've never seen anything like it, 72 runs in ten hours is the record for the event, and you must finish with your teammate, good luck. In the early years, it was a 12 hour event.

Both vids from Michael Hagadorm

HERE'S TWO OF ME NOT CRASHING....

Thank you Annette from Mountain Moon Photography, you can find your race photos there as well....

MONARCH HIGH CROSS, SOME HIGHLIGHTS..

And bears are hungry now so you may want to read this warning...

USA CYCLING TO HOST CX NATIONAL QUALIFYING POINTS RACE ON NOVEMBER 6TH IN COLORADO SPRINGS

 If you plan on attending Cyclo-Cross Nationals this year in Wisconsin, you may want to pay attention to the November 6th USA Cycling sanctioned CX race in Colorado Springs. See the details below from Pete Webber...

"Here is some info for those going to Nats: this only applies to masters i believe. your best 3 USAC races are averaged to calculate your points. if you raced both days at Fort Collins, you just need one more USAC result. If you need more races, you could race your age group and also the open race in C springs to get 2 results. If you were top 8 at Nats, you may get called up based upon that, but they haven't yet announced the exact call-up rules."

I'm flattered to be on the mic for such an important battle on that day and I hope to see you ALL there!

XIXLINX AND MONARCH DRAW THE POINT CHASERS OUT OF THE CLOSET...

With Colorado Cross Cup points on the line this weekend they came out of the dirty spots under your finger nails to race this weekend on the front range. Xilinx presented another face stuffer of a course in searing heat during the afternoon hours.....this time the moving human barrier had been removed and stuck in the announcer's booth. This was the start of the Running of the Bulls, the Men's 35+4 race.

And DBC Events put on a great event at the site of last years state championships, Monarch High School.

Gates Carbon Belt drive had four guys on the front of the single speed race for half the race, which worked out fairly well, with Jesse Swift taking the Carlos Casali assisted win....

MOAB PRE-RIDE WITH BOHICA

Team BOHICA was in the house on Friday afternoon at the 24 Hours of Moab. Some of them had never ridden the course before. So we went and rode it. And then had one hell of a weekend. Nice ridin fellers.

SKI SEASON OPENS TOMORROW, ARAPAHOE BASIN WINS

And there appears to be an epidemic going around as witnessed on AHTBM

I believe we may be in for a "Planet of the Big Game" nightmare.

 So before that can happen, eat a hot dog.

NOBODY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE THIS FUCKING GOOD, CMON

THERE ARE A LOT OF ARCHES IN ARCHES NATIONAL MONUMENT.....A2B TAKES A ROAD TRIP

This was another incredible weekend of work and play. I spent Sunday night at the "Moab House" with the Granny Gear crew, who are a unique and incredible team of individuals, and then kind of planned on riding somewhere in Moab on Monday, but I was pretty waxed tired, and sore as well from eating rock. So, I decided to chill on a perfect day and do the Arches National Park tour for the day, and it was spectacular, and I named many new Arches that previously had been undiscovered.

This is actually called Pine Tree Arch

This was another cool arch

This one had no name so I named it Penis Arch

This one had no name so I named it Butt Hole arch

There is a reoccurring theme here, and I named this one Dead Stick Arch

No Surprise that I named this one Culvert Arch, I also considered calling it "Skunk Hole Arch" or "Cigarette Butt Hiding Arch", but "Culvert" just fit better...

This was perhaps my favorite arch, it followed me around all day amazingly enough, and I named it Shadow Arch. I almost dropped my shorts to give it a different profile but I did not feel like spending the day in Moab Jail and having to register as a sex offender.

And below is seriously one amazing form from nature, the Landscape Arch. If you have never been to Arches National Park, go, it's a pretty amazing venue for viewing nature and all it's glory.

I took this photo of a welder fixing a crack in the Arch while I was standing there being a tourist.

Here is a normal photo...

THERE WAS A BIT OF DRINKING INVOLVED...

So there I was, at the 24 Hours of Moab knocking out one of my "bucket list" items as I was asked to announce this event which has meant so much to me in previous years. Laird Knight, the promoter of this race, during his racer meeting, explained that the race is all but dead for the future and that this was going to be the last edition. With that said, I planned on making this a pretty fun weekend to celebrate all the years of participating on some level here. Well, I was done announcing at 10pm for the evening, and the Dale's Pale Ale motor home was present, which meant there was good beer, really good beer. So I drank a couple, and Dale himself as well as a few others suited up to go do a night lap during the race for fun, which sounded pretty damn fun to me. So I put on my cycling shoes, a helmet and some work gloves, also hooked up my old school Nite Rider light for some nostalgia on my handle bars and rode with just one light. I also did not put any cycling clothes on but rode in long Carhart pants and a puffy jacket as it was chilly. We rode an entire lap, and it was really fun, and we saw many of our friends racing, and we were slightly drunk, slightly, and then the Gubna and Dale's came out, so we had a few, and the ride was nothing short of a party on two wheels, and we rode everything clean, and then the last move at the Notch was in front of me, and I had been drinking, but only one, one more than a few cans of beer. So I rolled through the Notch, and there it was, a big loose rock right in the middle of the middle of my front wheel, and I had been drinking, and being a steeper part of the course, I cased the rock hard, which sent me way the hell over the bars somewhere into the rocks, and it was a good damn thing I had been drinking. Dale's Pale Ale and Gubna saved my life, because I hit like a pile of Silly Puddy, and it saved me, because I had been drinking. And then I went to bed at 3am and finished announcing the race the next morning. It was a celebration of the final 24 Hours of Moab, and it was fun and a unique experience. And I regret none of it....

And with that said, I guess it could have been worse, yeah, here's the viral African antelope video..

WRAP IT FROM MOAB.....

This was an incredible weekend in Moab. Talk about bucket list items. It was surreal being the person on the mic for the 24, a place of hallowed grounds to so many including myself. The weather was actually perfect, with rain right up until the start and then drying conditions the remainder of the weekend, it was fast and furious racing. Oskar Blues Brewery showed their grand face Friday eve and it was on. So many great stories from the weekend despite this being threatened as the last 24 of Moab ever. A night ride for the ages during the race, with beer, and crashes, and broken shit and blood. It's grand to be alive and back in Moab.

Laird Knight of Granny Gear as he addresses the crowd and tells them this may be the last 24 of Moab. Andy Jaques Maines and Jill Huekman took the solo titles

Tear down begins with snow on the Lasalles

The classic shot leaving the venue post race...

Good bye 24 Hours of Moab, you have been a highlight for so many for so many years...

It appears this is the last 24 in Moab, and many leave bummed. I believe the race will return, but the people and racers must make it happen, they have to rally for 2012 and make it happen.

2011 was a grand weekend of racing and fun, 2012 should be as well.

WHAT I DID ON MY MOAB VACATION

First I went to Mesa, Colorado and got snowed out from fishing so I drank a bunch of beer at the Wagon Wheel Inn with one of my old best fishing and hunting bros.

Then I drove up to Powderhorn the next morning to see it for the first time, it was cool looking down on Mesa County from the Grand Mesa.

I drove to Powderhorn ski resort

Then to Moab where the Lasalles were covered with fresh snow

Then I rode a lap on the 24 Hours of Moab course with Bobby Diesel and his racing teammates

Then we came back to camp and started a fire with some architects drawings

Then we drank beer.

The end

THE 24 HOURS OF MOAB....

I guess it's safe to say the drinking may have gotten the best of me this eve. Tomorrow, I am on my way to the 24 Hours of Moab. Not as a racer, not as support, not to party (I think), but as a bicycle race announcer. Not one of you understands what this means to me nor do I expect you to understand it. After a killer day today fishing the Roaring fork river with one of my best old fishing and skiing buddies from my old Summit County days who now has a very large figure salary position with Johnson and Johnson, who just happened to have biz in Grand Junction and is from Michigan (so we watched the Tigers knock the Yankees out of the playoffs at the Wagon Wheel Inn in Mesa after a several beers with the locals instead of the planned fishing on Grand Mesa due to a snow storm here and everywhere else up high in Colorado), I head to the fabled grounds of the 24 Hours of Moab, a race and place I used to base my entire cycling season around trying to race and win. A place where the taste of a team victory was on the brink of my lips, leading going into the final lap of racing after 24 stinkin hours, only to have another team snatch victory so cruelly away from us at the stroke of midnight, fuckers. A race and place where I supported solo Roan Exelbly, an unknown from South Africa who road with Josh Tostado and Tinker Juarez for eight hours until the night took the wax out of both of us and he eventually finished third. Support is so much harder than actually racing.

So now I get to head back to the roots of 24 Hour Mountain Bike racing in Moab, and call the action, and i can't wait, and it's going to be something special, and I hope I can make it something special for the riders and racers that come to the desert this year, because it's a special race in a special place. I hope I get to ride the course tomorrow with friends, because all though it is not the greatest mountain bike ride in the world, it's a great race, and the course is a classic, and knowing it intimately makes a difference.

See you Behind the Rocks. Hell yes.

ONCE AGAIN I MUST DECREE

THERE IS NO CRYING IN CYCLOCROSS

I pay the same fee to race as the fast guys, I clearly do not, nor will I ever have the God given fitness or engine to stay with the most fit racers out there. I work hard to be able to race at the highest level my engine will allow. I expect to be able to finish what I pay for, regardless if Gary Thacker is going to lap me, again. If I am to be lapped, I'm gonna submissively let that rider pass me and continue towards my goal of finishing what I came to do. If I decide to not give way to a faster rider who is overtaking me, whether or not it is a pass for position or being lapped, I expect a shoulder or a lean which could result in myself crashing and possibly being injured, I EXPECT THAT, that is why I give way. I'm racing for fun and the camaraderie of my fellow racers, I don't give a shit about a pint glass or points that may give me a better start position, I'm not as good or as fast as you, that does not give YOU the right to make rules that screw me over. There is no Crying in CX, have fun, and F the rest of it.

2011 CROSS VEGAS NEWS STORY....AND IS THE 24 HOURS OF MOAB DEAD?

It's kind of funny to see how people react to what we consider main stream...in the meantime, the USGP course is going up in Colorado Springs and I'm sorry I'm gonna miss it, but the 24 Hours of Moab calls, along with Outerbike.

Please see this communique from Laird Knight at Granny Gear Productions.
DING DONG IS MOAB DEAD?

After 16 Years, This Year May Be The Last 24 Hours of Moab In recent years there's been a trend towards teams signing up later and later. Distressing as this has been, taxing our ability to anticipate and plan for the size of the event, we've been gratified to see late registrations consistently pour in, and "save the day." This year, going into the last two weeks before the race, our pre-registrations were only slightly down from previous years. That was a little un-nerving but not alarming, given the trend we've observed. In previous years we've seen 40-60 teams sign up two weeks before the event and fully 75-85 teams sign-up in the final week leading up to the race. This last week we have seen only 10 additional teams sign up. Now that's alarming. It does not bode well. While in recent years we have seen fields of well over 350 teams, at the rate things are going, even 300 teams would appear to be an optimistic expectation. The 24 Hours of Moab is an expensive event to produce. It always has been. Hosting thousands of people in the middle of the desert is no small effort and, far from being a profit-center, the camping/gate fees that we charge only serve to offset our expenses. Naturally, over the course of sixteen years, our costs for all aspects of the event have risen. In the interest of keeping the race as affordable as possible we have not raised our entry fee significantly since 2004, relying instead on the sheer size of the field to make ends meet. Clearly, those ends are not going to meet this year. How closely they come to meeting will determine the future of the 24 Hours of Moab. What can you do about it? a) If at all possible, sign up and field a team in this year's race. b) If you can't race this year, put a shoulder into making 2012 happen (read below) c) If you'd like to make a contribution on behalf of your team, register a "phantom" team. The Men's or Women's Solo Singlespeed class is the lowest entry fee ($162 total). An inordinately large "turn-out" for the solo singlespeed class would certainly send a clear message about the support for the continuation of the event. (Even if you don't show up, we'll mail you this year's T-shirt!) There are four more days of on-line registration and then there's walk-in registration on Friday. Every team counts! Go to 2011 24 Hours of Moab Online Registration>>>

2012 and Beyond...In the headline of this communique, I chose the phrase "may be the last 24 Hours of Moab" intentionally. I am by no means throwing in the towel but I won't know until some weeks after the race, when all the financial dust has settled, exactly where the race will stand. If at all possible, I intend to move forward with the 18th Annual 24 Hours of Moab but a field size much under 350 teams is not financially sustainable without a significant increase in entry fees. I know it would be better for everyone to get our numbers to a 350-400+ field instead of raising entry fees. That said, I can't do it all myself. I need you and the vast community of people who have enjoyed this race over the past sixteen years to recommit to keeping this event as one of the "crown jewels" of the sport. I need you to recommit to attending and to bringing new teams to introduce them to the fun and excitement of 24 Hours of Moab. A long, bright future for 24 Hours of Moab is a very real possibility. There is so much to build on: a 14,000+ base of previous attendees, long-term permits allowing for fields of 500+ teams, a super-experienced and committed race crew, a spectacular course and venue, and world-famous reputation as one the greatest races in the history of the sport.

Blame LairdIn the surfing world the phrase 'BLAME LAIRD' is used to credit Laird Hamilton's invigoration of the stand-up-paddling (SUP) movement. BLAME LAIRD bumper stickers can be found on many a surfer's car. But I'm using the heading here to take some personal responsibility. Just as I leveraged the success of the original 24 Hours of Canaan in West Virginia to finance the start-up of 24 Hours of Moab, I used the success of 24 Hours of Moab to help finance Granny Gear's efforts to create the six-race 24-Hour National Point Series (2006-2009). Despite our best efforts, the 24-hour Point Series didn't take. I'd have done well to have pulled the plug sooner but my tenacity got the better of me. Clearly had I not made this push, the financial pressure of lower numbers at Moab would not be felt so acutely but the combination of debt from my failed efforts and falling numbers at Moab has limited my ability to reinvest in the marketing and advertising of the race. For my part, I have taken no pay for the last two years (Yes, I have an incredibly understanding and supportive (and patient) wife). The good news is that at least my equipment loans have now been paid-off and that will make Granny Gear's 2012 cash-flow much better. In other words, I'll have more money to invest in rebuilding 24 Hours of Moab. Plus this year's BBC TV show will give the race more exposure than I could ever afford to buy. I know from experience how effective media coverage like this can be. I won't be surprised if a dozen or more European teams make the trek next year, and then with other airings in the U.S. and around the world...who knows?! Start Where You Are is the title of Pema Chödrön's masterful treatise on compassionate living. The Buddhist notion of starting where you are is as empowering as it is compassionate. It let's us shake-off the shame of the past and fear of future, renew our energy and enthusiasm and move forward in our lives. It is also consummately pragmatic because starting where we are is all we really can ever do. So, let us start where we are rebuild this great race so that it may go on and on. It has been a distinct privilege to be the creator and race director of the 24 Hours of Moab and it would be incredibly exciting to see the event brought back from the brink of non-existence and see it return to the glorious event that has delivered so much excitement, so much fun, and so many memories for so many folks. The kind of fun, so well represented by the creativity and goofball-ity of the 24 Hours of Moab Team Photo Gallery and teams like Bada Boom!

Making The Most Of ItIn great measure, the motivation behind this communique came from a phone conversation I had with my awesome wife, Barbara, as I was coming to grips with the reality of the situation. She said, in essence, "If you think this could be the last one, you've got to tell everyone. They need to know. Imagine not knowing until after the race." She was right. I knew it right away. For those of you who are in attendance at this year's race, it is my greatest hope that you make the most of the race and truly savor the rich history and special race that is at hand. I know that I will. I also hope that you will be an active participant in the conversation around bringing the race back in 2012 and beyond. That is certainly a conversation that I welcome. Best of luck to you, your teammates, and support crew.

The Show Must Go On !40 teams or 400, when Granny Gear hosts a 24 we pull out all the stops. Preparations are well under way and we still have lots to tell you about this year's event. We'll save that for the next couple of e-mails.

Happy Trails,

-Laird Knight, Race Director

& all the fine folks at:

24 HOUR USA CYCLING NATIONAL MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPIONSHIPS

It's kind of funny how few photos I actually take when I announce endurance events and I had to loan my camera to a spectator to take these while I was announcing the start....updates after I sleep. Cheers to Josh Tostado and Pua Mata, 24 Hour USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Champions.