Blizzard 06

Sorry for the delay. Here are the pics.

Blizzard 06

Bleeeeezard

I'm sure everbody and their brother are blogging about this. I got sent home yesterday from work, and in my line of work, it takes an act of God for that to happen. Well that and me doing something I shouldn't.

I couldn't believe how many people were out on the roads yesterday afternoon. If I didn't "have" to be at work yesterday, I wouldn't have been there. The snow piled up fast and furious. Beer and movies were in my evening forecast, so I strapped on the snowshoes and hiked over to C-Dawgs.

It started snowing yesterday at 6:00 and it still hasn't stopped. I think we have around 24 inches in Denver. Pictures to follow.

Picture from Friday morning.

Not edited.

Weekend In Pictures

The Thumb


The top of a big hill. Appropriate name?


Results of the infamous pine beetle.



Views from Sunday's ride.

Post to come

repeat title here.

I've heard

that 80% of people hate their jobs. So why is it that 99% of people drive like maniacal idiots to get there?

How's This For Exposure?

The NYT baby.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/sports/othersports/25outdoors.html?8dpc

Choices Choices

The Thanksgiving feast. Well, there was some turkey and some of that other stuff. I over-enjoyed my selection. Good times were had by all.

Back to Normal

Well, I hope my computer is back to normal. My hard drive was on it's last leg for a long time. I waited until the thing flat wouldn't work anymore before I bought a new one. A few days later, a class-action lawsuit settlement was announced. Toshiba was ordered to extend the warranties on the drives and replace the bad ones. Normally, I would be a little peeved because I would have had a spare hard drive laying around, however, the new one I bought was worse than the original one according to the computer dude. Now I have to get the store I bought it from to give me my money back.

So since my computer is up and running, here are the pics from the USGP of Cyclocross I've had on my camera for weeks now. Enjoy.

USGP Xilinx

Save the Cheerleader . . .

save the world.

If I hear that one more time, someone might get choked.

It Took Me Long Enough

Now that I'm gray headed and ready for the nursing home . . .

Dear Alan,

The following request to change your NORBA category has been approved and
processed by USA Cycling:
mtbingfool - 2006-11-07 12:23
Member: Alan Simons
License: Cross Country Racer
Request to change category from Expert to Semipro

Another, Sign It

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/197087202

cross videos

http://nathanspear.com/movie/default.htm


PS I didn't mean to post this to my blog. It was an e-mail accident, but since it's up, we'll leave it. I haven't seen any of these, but they appear to be good.

Sign It

http://bicyclecolo.org/page.cfm?domain=bicyclecolo.org&PageID=763&CFID=29368717&CFTOKEN=51d8ca46ba2ba0a4-D0E7A388-DA6B-9BD5-CA11D7C4AB373550

Kaput

Well, my computer is all jacked up again. I just bought a new hard drive. It worked for a day before it clunked out, so I'm not sure what is wrong with the thing.

What a crazy last few days. USGP Xilinx Cup race on Saturday. Raced, watched the mens and womens open races, and drank beer. Rachel's birthday celebration Saturday night. More beer and the Broncos (I was too lazy to drive to Boulder for the 2nd USGP race) on Sunday.

Most importantly were the last two days. I stood in line almost 2 hours to vote on Tuesday. All due to what was supposed to be a quicker more efficient system. Cha. It's hard enough to get people out to vote as it is, but then you throw a 2 hour standing wait into the mix, and people aren't going to vote. I almost didn't, but the guilt overwhelmed me. I've been voting in my current area for almost 8 years, and the most I've ever had to wait was 15 minutes.

It wasn't all for naught. Power in the House and the Senate changed hands, and Mr. I don't remember what I said, but I said it, so I'm sure I said it finally "resigned." All good news. Let's hope the Dems follow though on their bipartisan cooperation promise. We'll see I guess.

Oh well, I snapped several photos of the races on Saturday, so once I get the computer back on its legs, I'll put them up.

Edit: Here is what Rummy actually said:
"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

Tinkoff is Russian for Juiced

And I ain't talkin' potato juice.

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/11132.0.html

Boulder Res Cyclocross

Thanks to Brian C. for sending these on to me. Thanks to whoever it was that shot them too.

Whipped

Man, work kicked my ass today. I've been asking for it though. Long story that I'm not going to explain. I'll probably have to go in this weekend. Oh well it's the off season. I just don't know how I'm going to fit in riding (to keep from getting fat), working on my bike, racing, drinking beer, watching the Broncos, etc.

Oh well, I can get to work on the drinking beer thing right now. I've got a bottle of Ska Brewing's Steel Toe Stout warming up right now. They call it "a working class milk stout." I don't know many of the working class that pay around $7 a 6 pack, but it is a milk stout. Whatever you want to call it, it's good shiznit.

Mud Pie

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I woke up to a little snow on Saturday morning. I thought it would make for a little mud in the race at Arapahoe Ridge HS in Boulder. Boy was I wrong. Try a lot of mud. Here are some pics.



My bike after the race. Yes, that's my pedal. Yes they are Crank Brothers Eggbeaters. Yes, I could clip in until the end of the race.





A shot of my feet:



Part of the course:



The first and last pictures were hijacked from www.pelotonphoto.com.

I didn't have a good race. That's a big surprise considering I only rode once the week before. I went straight into survival mode after the 1st lap. My goal was too finish, and that I did.

After the race, I headed up to Lyons to pick up a growler of Gordon from Oskar Blues. Pretty good stuff. Not your typical Double IPA. I guess Double IPAs aren't that typical to begin with. If your ever up that way, I definitely suggest stopping in. Good food and beer. The Old Chub is top notch.

Sunday I sampled some more local beers at the Bull and Bush Pub and Brewery. Somehow I always forget about that place and it's right in my back yard. I got a little carried away with the beer sampling for a Sunday night. They had a seasonal I tried that was sort of like a spiced Saison. Then a Double IPA, Imperial Stout, and another plain IPA. I guess that isn't the best tasting order, but they were all pretty dang good. The Double IPA tasted more like a Barleywine, but was dang good. Looked like motor oil.

PS Well apparently those two pelotonphoto.com pics aren't going to load. Clic on the white boxes and it will take you to them.

First Snow

First snow of the season was on Tuesday night. It's always fun to be out somewhere and watch the flakes come down for the first time. It warmed up enough the next day that I was able to get out to the park and do some barrier practice without having to ride in the snow.



It snowed again last night, and there is a cross race today. Woohoo! The snow will probably be gone again because it is supposed to get into the 60s today. There should be some fun mud though.

It shouldn't be like this year's edition of the 24 Hours of Moab.



http://googleearthlings.blogspot.com/

I Love Football

Fall

I love Fall. Great time of year. Great weather for tasting various tasty beers. Good times with cyclocross. In fact, I did another cross race today. Went much better than the last one. In fact, I managed to finish in front of a few guys and not finish DFL. Not bad after eating a big NY Strip and washing it down with four strong beers from the Golden City Brewery the night before.

The race was in Frisco, and it was a great course. Some technical aspects, some grass areas, some twisty turny sections, a fast barrier section, a long run up, and overall nice flow. Fun race. The running sections didn't totally blow my legs up this time. I guess that is progress.

Beers tasted this weekend:
Golden City Clear Creek Pale Ale - decent. I wouldn't necessarily recommend. Probably more of a summer beer.

Golden City Legendary Red Ale - not a big flavor beer, but pretty good. Easy to drink.

Golden City IPA - MMMMMMMMM. Good, drinkable IPA. I want more.

Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale - good. Pretty alcoholy. A sipper.

Backcountry Brewery Saison - A little to clear for a Saison. Light Belgium yeast flavor. Ok, but not as good as New Belgium's Saison.

Great Divide Brewing's Old Ruffian Barley Wine - pretty durn good. Definitely a sipper. If you like Barley Wines, it's a must try.


Sorry, no pictures this weekend. I'm going to try to update more.

Road Trip

Well, I was going to post some of these individually, but I played around with Picasas's Web Albums last night. It doesn't seem is as good as something like Flickr. I don't like the fact that you can't enlarge the picture in a full screen, but it's still in Beta. I'm also feeling too lazy to mess with posting pictures with Blogger.

These pictures are from a trip to Durango with some friends. It was actually a trip outside the Denver Metro area that didn't involve biking or skiing. A very rare occurrence. In fact, most of this trip was centered around tasting a lot of the local beers. I can tell that most of them were pretty good. The highlight was an English Pale Ale called Compound W. It was a joint effort between Ska Brewing, Steamworks Brewing, Carver Brewing, and Three Rivers Brewery (Farmington, NM).

Most of the pictures are from Mesa Verde. They are out of sequence, but it doesn't really matter. Two of the pictures are of the Animas River. It's a little high as you will see. It rained almost the whole time we were there and apparently that was par for the course for that week.

Durango Trip

White Trash

My WT neighbors decided to get into a drunken argument last night. This wasn't your average drunken argument. No, no , this was a 3-4 hour marathon that woke me up between 2:00 AM and 6:00 AM.

Here are a few highlights:
"You're a fucking drunk piece of shit."
"Fuck you! That's all I have to say to you."
"You didn't leave me a fucking cigarette??!! All I asked was for you to leave me one fucking cigarette. There were four cigarettes, and all I wanted was one fucking cigarette. I asked you for one fucking cigarette."

Ahh, the good life.

Response From Ken

It took him long enough. Sheesh.

See http://stabbedandstoned.blogspot.com/2006/06/enraged.html

Dear Alan:

Thank you for contacting me about the flag desecration amendment.

On June 27, the Senate voted on a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to ban desecration of the American flag. The amendment received 66 votes -- one short of the two-thirds majority vote it needed to pass the Senate.

I voted for the amendment because I believe the flag is special and deserves our reverence and protection. The American flag is a unique symbol of our heritage, our principles, and everything the citizens of this great country have done to sacrifice for them. I do not believe that laws narrowly prohibiting the desecration of our flag undercut the principles embedded in the First Amendment.

Having said that, I understand the strong feelings of those who oppose this amendment, and I understand their argument that the freedoms that the American flag stands for – including the freedoms of speech and expression – are as important as the flag itself. We must not separate the flag from the cherished principles it represents.

In keeping with that concept, I believe it is wrong for proponents of the flag desecration amendment to question the patriotism of those who oppose it. In addition, for the same reason I believe the flag should be protected, I also firmly believe it should not be politicized for partisan gain. The American citizens who pledge allegiance to this flag, who believe in what it represents, and who live and work under it every day deserve better.

Finally, we should be working just as hard to strengthen our national and homeland security, improve our energy security, relieve the health care crisis, educate our children, and strengthen American families. I remain committed to fulfilling that obligation.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

Ken Salazar
United States Senator

Please do not respond to this email. To send another message please visit my website at http://salazar.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm and fill out the webform for a prompt response. Thank you.

East Coast Flava

Man in car says,"kind of a crappy day huh?"
Me, "yeah, it's a little wet."
Man in car as C-Dawg and I get out to get ready, "man, you guys are crazy."
Me, "oh well, there will be less people out."
Man in car, "yeah, that's great til you slip, fall, and crack your head open."
Me, "yeah."
Man in car drives off. Me and C-Dawg exit stage up this hill:



I knew it had potential to be a great day. After all, it was just drizzling and not really cold if you had the right gear.

Here is C-Dawg cresting at the saddle. At this point we had only seen a handful of hikers that were all together.

























A couple trail shots on the top half of Lookout. Gotta love the fog. It made for a completely different ride.



















































A rooty section toward the bottom half of Enchanted Forest. It's featured in the video below, but I forgot to take a picture of the little rock drop off.

If you've been there you know these shots. This trail is semi-east coast on a normal day. Throw some moisture on it and it gets tacky. Then, you can rail the corners and slide over the roots. It made for a lot 'o fun.


























Ahh, there is the post-ride destination of in the foggy distance. See the little flumes of steam (smoke)? Yes, that is the land of free beer on Monday through Saturday from 9-4. Coors Brewery.


















Well, we got to the loading dock for the brewery tour, and there was a line from hell. After we finally boarded the bus to the brewery and got to the tour waiting area, we realized it wan't the line from hell. It was the line too hell. I've been on this tour many a times. Even on Saturdays, but I've never seen this many people trying to take the tour. I guess that is what happens when you combine cold, damp weather with a holiday weekend.

C-Dawg and I take a quick vote to do the short tour. i.e. straight to the tasting room for the free beers. What do we discover? MORE LINES. We bag the free beer idea and head for greener pastures.



Ahh, much better. We had to pay with cold hard cash, but we got real beer:


















And another real beer:


















It ended up being a fine day after all. That guy didn't know what he was missing. We only ended up with one gaping head wound a piece. Luckily there were two of us to find our way out.

Remember:

Here is the geeky XC video with my crappy camera. I learned a couple of things. Take a picture of the area because the video doesn't do it justice. Zoom in a little more.

It's just geeky cross country riding, but I will day this: while my bro and I were shooting these shots a I heard a couple of guys coming up to go over the little drop. They had been shuttling the trail on their full downhill race rigs. I'm thinking sweet, these guys are going to launch off this rock. No dice. They rolled of the thing slower than I had been doing it. Suckas.

Latest Listenings

Yeah, I haven't put up that ride report yet. Here is what I've been listening to as of late:

Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Rool
Gram Parsons - Another Side of This Life
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

I've always liked The Thermals, but their latest is turning them into one of my all time favorite bands. They're coming back to Denver soon, but it's in a slightly larger venue. It's hard to beat the corner bar in the hood scene.

Wide Awake

Man, I guess when you sleep 11 hours one night it's hard to sleep the next. I went to bed at 11, and here I am at 3:00 feeling like I got a full night's rest. The worst part is my buzz is gone.

I've been reading over some of my early season race reports. I used to go pretty in dept with those things, but then I stopped once mountain bike racing started. I wasn't really tired of writing them. However, every racer blog I went to, it seemed that the blogger always had race reports. I enjoy reading them, but I'm sure it's dull for most other people to read race reports over and over. Anyway, I may post a ride report here pretty soon. Today (yesterday at this point) was a pretty fun day on the bike . . . and on the barstool.

Bottom of Deer Creek Park

Photo Dump

I need a new hard drive. I've had these photos on my camera since May.

View of Denver from the top of Deer Creek Park.

Top again.

Singletrack at the top of Deer Creek. mmmm
Singletrack at Buffalo Creek. mmmm


View from the top of some boulders at Buffalo Creek. If you look closely you can see the trail.

Me pre-haircut, pre-5lbs, post-race, and at the start of a long bout of nausea.

The race rig. 23.5 lbs.

First mountain podium of the year. Back in May or early June.

New Toy

I've been way too lazy to post lately. I'm tired. It's been a long season, and I'm looking forward to the next season: Debauchery Season. Indulgence in all things fun. Mostly beer, fatty foods, and some cyclocross. Maybe I should move to Belgium.

Since I'm not really going to do a re-cap of the last few weeks of racing (2 DNFs, a 2nd and a 1st) (I guess that was a recap), I'll show off my new toy. Now settle down, it's nothing uncouth. It's a Garmin Edge 305. Pretty niffty little gizmo. Here is the GPS tracking from my ride on Wednesday night. A side note on this ride: My coach and I talked about the next few weeks being unstructured. He said he would set me up a schedule anyway, and I could follow it if I wanted. I had plans of not following it and just riding whatever I felt like. When Wednesday rolled around, I was doing the intervals that were scheduled. Weirdo.

This is a link to the info from the ride. I tried to post this last Thursday with no luck.