Slow Motion with D

Last year at Sea Otter, I'd just got my cool job with Pedro's.  I'd also put in a good winter of riding hoping to do well in some early races, including the Otter.  The job required a bit more time in the beginning and my training went out the window, as did aspirations to race well early.  No worries!  It's a good job and I was able to get a bit of fitness for cross, so that's all that matters.  This year, I'm taking a different approach.  Very little riding is in my legs now, and I had no desire to race the Otter....ok, I had a little short track desire, but I resisted and focused on enjoying the weekend without hard efforts.  I'd just come off a good week on the bike and I knew that the majority of the week would go by without riding.  I was actually ok with this, since I knew what to expect.  It was harder last year when I thought a job in the bike industry meant riding your bike all the time!  I do get to ride, but just not as much as you'd think.  There's work to be done!

Day 1


We had a little press conference.  We're gonna rock and roll from now on!

Trying to get special coverage with a little bribe.

Our big responsibility for the Otter was sponsoring the bike wash.  We've got some great cleaning products and people were appreciative to have us there.  This is Jennifer Gersbach who works and rides for Spot.  The weather was amazing on Thursday.  Warm and not much wind.  3 of us rode our bikes back to the hotel.  Only 45 minutes, but totally worth it.  So nice.

Day 2

What a difference a day makes with the weather.  No rain, but my ride back in to the venue (another 45 minutes, but lots of uphill) wasn't exactly clear at 7:30 in the a.m.




The long road in.  The first few days of the festival were pretty mellow, so it allowed us to take walkabouts to see new products and industry friends.  I ran into Lance (not Armstrong) at the TRP booth and he showed me the new magnesium cross brakes with adjustable pad post toe adjustment and cable adjuster.  I want some.  I also got to see my friends at Thule, Crank Bros and Edge Composites.



I was also able to sneak out and do the short course on my mountain bike.  It was good to spin, but boy was it windy.  The final long climb, for those who know it, sucked.  I took a spill over my bars and burped my front tire.  It's becoming a habit lately.  I gotta kick that.  The wind broke my spirit and I decided not to ride back to the hotel again.  Ride time for the day, 2.5hrs.  I'll take it.  Props to the Clif Bar and Luna crew who rides in and out everyday after set up. 

Day 3


Don't let the sun fool you.  It was F'n cold.  It was also busier on Saturday, but the boss and I snuck off to talk business and watched some of the pro men short track.

Here's a few Bend boys fighting it out till the end.  Decker and Shep.  I think Decker stayed just in front after Chris held the lead over him for most of the race.  Ryan got beat by a young'n on the final lap.  It's funny cause he doesn't have a mechanic, so now he has to wash his own bike, right in front of us.  Good times.

I can't really explain how windy it was today.  We took everything down at the end of the day to keep our tents from getting damaged.  The wind died down just in time for us to hit up the Clif Bar party for some beers and margaritas.

Jay and Mellisa, no doubt talking about marketing strategies.  She's with Luna, who is with Clif Bar, who is with the band.

And that gets us to the front of the line for beers.

Jay even, "helped," make margaritas with the bike blender.


Day 4

Not too much to report.  Kinda slow and all the racer nerds were out on the big loops of dirt.  We held down the fort and sold a few items for super cheap.  I was making fun of this guy a little, then I realized that he'd earned the jersey he was wearing.

Former world and olympic champion Miguel Martinez.  I can't even tell you how many times they rode past all weekend just looking all Euro and cool.

This shot is for Kenji.  She gets my style award for wearing leg warmers and jean shorts.  Awesome.

At the end of the day we tore down, packed up and went to bed early.  Another Otter in the books.  Hope you enjoyed the pics.

I say week 1 because I guess some of my random riding could be considered base.  Although I only rode 5 or so hours last week, they were all quality, controlled, mid-high intesity efforts.  I've learned a few good ways to pull together a little fitness in a small amount of time over the last few years.  Unfortunately the fitness is still a bit behind and it doesn’t do anything for my endurance.  Oh well, like I’ve said, baby steps.  Well, this last week was a bit different.  Somehow, 20 hours on the bike snuck up on me.  Now, I’m not complaining, but it wasn’t planned, I just couldn’t help it. 

The week started off busy with the vid store and getting things ready for Sea Otter.  By Wednesday, I hadn’t ridden at all.  I made myself go out for just over an hour before work on Wednesday and that got it going.  Thursday was a set of maintenance intervals and Friday was 2.5hrs of  mountain biking.  I also met with my coach Bart Bowen to talk about training for the year.  Not too many races to mention, but I will say that I’m gonna try to get fitness for Elkhorn and Cascade (not peak, but be fit), as well as the summer run of crits before cross fires up full time.  I’m excited, super excited.  I really want to put a full year together of training without things getting in the way (does anyone actually accomplish this?  Ha!).

This is where the week got good.  That 70 degree weather we were forecasted to have…even better.  75+.  So nice.  On Saturday, a small group of us…lets say 13, went mountain biking out at Smith Rock.  Lets just say it was like a post card.  I’ve been out there before to climb and ride my road bike past, but I’ve never taken the mtb out.  You see so much more and everything is picturesque.  Amazing.  It was also hard.  Big climbs and steep, lose descents.  Awesome.  Add to that a big group of friends and it was a great way to spend the morning.  I also brought my road bike out and after the mtb’n, I loaded up and went to Prineville.  It was a little further than I thought it was, so round trip was 2.5.  I was pretty bonky and glad to be done after 5.5 in the saddle.  Sunday was also nice, but windy and cloudy.  Don, Mike and I went out Alfalfa and came back on Hwy 20.  Not that exciting of a loop and because of the wind I was stoked to have the good company of the Sunnyside boys.  More road on Monday and another mtb on Tuesday before driving to CA, pushed me to 20 hours.  Nice.  I took a few quick falls over my bars on Tuesday and my body was a bit stiff after the drive to Monterey.  Good times. 

Base one, week one down, and only 6 months till cross.

P.S. My boy Doug is in Georgia.  My Pedro's boss doesn't like my Rock Racing hat.  Weak.

I got to see Big Willy Clinton speak here in Bend.  Pretty impressive.



Please vote.

Is great. I got 4 days in on the bike last week. So what if it was only 5 hours total, I was still on my bike!!!! Got out today for another hour+. Baby steps right? I'm feeling the need to log some hours now, so....yeah, you won't see me racing at Kings Valley this weekend. It's supposed to be 70 here. I'll believe it when I see it. I guess our temps are 15+ degrees colder than the average spring temps for Bend. It's lame. Soon I'll probably complain about it being too hot while I log all my cross base miles in the Summer. Not riding this winter has made me a wuss though. Usually I'll ride no matter how cold it is, but this year I seem to be shying away from the cold. I need to harden the F up, especailly if my winter cross plans pan out.

Don't be too jealous of my sweet jacket.
Instead of logging big miles this weekend, I spent some time in the kitchen. Jamaican beans and rice, chicken stock, meatloaf and zucchini bread were on the menue. Tasty.

Wanna try something different for a, "diet?" Check out Nourishing Traditions. Deliciousness and not what you would expect for an athlete to use as guidlines, but lots do. Buy it from your local book store, please.

Tyrone at Left Side Ride in Colorado Springs painted this window. Buy local. It's more important than you probably know.

Ciao

D

So, I finished up my first Colorado swing of the year in style, in Boulder. I did a work swing into Grand Junction, Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder. Good times. A buddy flew in to Denver to visit family and then spent a few days with me. We tied it on a few nights and even found a dance floor on a Tuesday night. Rowdy’s in, Colorado Springs, is a good spot for cheap beer and good tunes. Careful though, looks like some fights could break out… Even closed the night out with some country line dancing. Shhh, don’t tell anyone. I got to see a few good shops and Pedro’s is popular in Colorado, so it’s always nice to see our stuff on the walls and work benches. The only negative to Colorado would be the food poisoning I picked up in the Springs. Not fun being uncomfortable (if you know what I mean) from 6am-3pm. Went to the grocery store after the vomiting stopped and walked, er shuffled, around like an old man looking for fluids. Good times. Here are some shop highlights:

Campus Cycles in Denver loves Pedro's!

If you're in the Springs, stop by Left Side Ride. You won't find any Dura-ace, but you'll get straight up honest talk about downtown and local Springs businesses. You'll find some sweet tee's and shoes too. I scored a pair of sparkle silver Vans. Pimp.


Wanna convert your bike shop into an enviro friendly self power producing machine? Talk to Old Town, also in the Springs.



This is the meter that tells the shop how much energy they are harnessing.
Finished up the week with a 3.5hr ride in Boulder with the Saturday ladies ride. Nice. Fred Dreier of Velonews was out there too. We were like, "one of the girls." They whooped me as we climbed left hand canyon for most of the day. Beers and college basketball closed out the evening and Sunday I started driving home. The drive home was less than ideal. Worst weather of the year for me driving through Wyoming.


Glad to have made it.

D