Three months of preparation. One race day. 135 miles.
After a quarter year of thinking about, reading about, and obsessing over the Arrowhead 135, it was finally time to toe the line and see if it was all worth it.
Read more...
The final countdown to race day.
Yesterday was my last day of cold weather riding before heading off to the land of International Falls for the start of the Arrowhead 135. I’d like to share the top five lessons I’ve learned in this adventure because regardless of how this race goes on Monday, I’ve been able to commute to work, in Crested Butte in the winter, on my bike everyday this winter, and that in itself is enough to consider this adventure a success.
Read more...
Two weeks out from the Arrowhead 135 and the puzzle pieces are coming together.
As of right now, I am 16 days out from the start of the Arrowhead 135. The thought is slightly terrifying because until I bought my plane ticket to Minnesota two days ago, the race seemed like somewhat of an abstract event in my future. With less than two weeks until I board a plane in Denver and head north, the reality of the situation is becoming very real.
Read more...
Winter has arrived and with it, the opportunity to fine-tune cold weather clothing. Or so I hope.
Last winter, my first winter here in the Gunnison valley, I was blown away by the cold in late December and early January. I was hoping to use a similar start to winter to figure out exactly how much clothing I'd need to stay warm for 20+ hours of riding through the Minnesota winter. My systems are slowly developing.
Read more...
Follow Eszter's adventure of getting ready for the Arrowhead 135, through the good and the bad.
Bad ideas are born in strange places. Signing up for the Arrowhead 135, a 135-mile snow bike race in International Falls, MN., at the end of January seemed like a good idea at the time. Forget the fact that I've never raced a snow bike before, I've never actually ridden a snow bike before, and I generally strongly dislike riding in the cold. What could possibly go wrong?
Read more...
Team SRAM at 24 Hour National Championships
What do you say when the 6 time 24 Hour World Champion asks you to race on a team with her for 24 Hr National Championships? How do you feel when you know you’re racing on a 4 woman team consisting of Rebecca Rusch, Jenny Smith, and Kelly Boniface? You say GIDDY UP!!!! Our team name for the event was “SRAM.”
Read more...
Park City Point to Point 2011
(September 8, 2011) PARK CITY, Utah. - Singletrack Never-Never Land. I'll bet you didn't know that nestled in the mountains in and around Park City are 300 miles of the sweetest singletrack your tire will ever grace.
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By Trina Ortega
Rebecca Rusch thinks we’ve got it too easy.
The pro athlete has learned much about patience, made good friends, and pushed her physical and emotional limits through mountain bike racing. To jazz up others’ lives with a little more thrill, Rusch aims to introduce the sport to more women on her 2011 SRAM Gold Rusch Tour.
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by Eszter Horanyi
Historically I have not been a gear head. I’m not a gram counter and generally choose bike parts based on durability over weight.
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My time in Europe has been quite memorable both from a personal perspective as well as from a race perspective. This trip I had the pleasure of always staying with people and experiencing various cultures from the comforts of home away from home and not from a hotel room. A Short recap of the places and I visited and my experiences there...
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By Trina Ortega
Rebecca Rusch thinks we’ve got it too easy.
The pro athlete has learned much about patience, made good friends, and pushed her physical and emotional limits through mountain bike racing. To jazz up others’ lives with a little more thrill, Rusch aims to introduce the sport to more women on her 2011 SRAM Gold Rusch Tour.
Read more...
Four Days in Sedona with Magura Direct, Crank Brothers, and SKS
It’s not every day that an Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France racer pulls you and your bike out of a rock gully on a cross-country ride in the Arizona desert.
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Two guys saunter down a row at NAHBS, chatting about all of the great things they’ve seen so far, when one questions the other: “What would it take to come up with all this stuff, man?”
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My time in Europe has been quite memorable both from a personal perspective as well as from a race perspective. This trip I had the pleasure of always staying with people and experiencing various cultures from the comforts of home away from home and not from a hotel room. A Short recap of the places and I visited and my experiences there...
Read more...
"I'm making a new doghouse so that you can sleep in the old one when you get here" --Best Dutch joke thus far.
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(May1,2011)-Silver City,NM-After Joe Lewis’s win in the Stage 4 Downtown Criterium on Saturday, the team was pretty pumped up. It was a kind of Déjà vu, as last year in the 2011Tour of the Gila, Jesse Saergent had won the TT the day before the crit, with Taylor Phinney winning the crit the next day. Could this be happening for a second year in a row, this young team stamping its mark on the pro peleton once again?
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(April 30, 2011)-Silver City, NM-It just keeps getting better for these kids! The fourth stage of the tour is the Downtown Silver City Criterium, 40 laps of pure speed. George Bennett and Dale Parker get call-ups, and the team sits in first for the GC of the tour. It’s a super fast circuit through town, with a couple of high-speed corners and a bit of a climb on the backside of the course.
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(April 29, 2011) Tyrone, NM-The 16.15 mile Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone Time Trial course starts just south of Silver City and heads down the highway for just over 8 miles before it turns around and heads straight back to the finish line. There are two small climbs, and today the wind is back.
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(April 28, 2011) FORT BAYARD, N.M.-Day two of racing brings another road race to the table for the Trek-LIVESTRONG U23 Team. Known as The Inner Loop Road Race, the course involves 80 miles of hilly riding with two KOM climbs and a couple of bonus sprints thrown in for good measure. The wind is once again calm at the start/finish line, which is just outside Silver City at Fort Bayard, on old military base.
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(April 27, 2011) Silver City, NM-The day before the race is crazy windy. One of the roads into town is closed due to dust and blowing debris.The airport is closed, forcing Team Bissel, amongst others, to fly into Albuqurque and make the 5 hour drive down to Silver City. By the time the sun is setting, the wind is still blowing as hard as ever and the horizon is nothing but a glowing orange cloud of dust.
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(April 13, 2011) BOULDER, Colo.-The Trek/Livestrong U23 team hosted a media ride last Wednesday to introduce it’s Boulder based squad, and give some insight into what makes the team tick. While some of the team members are living elsewhere for the season, at least six riders are calling Boulder Colorado home for the 2011 season. The Trek/Livestrong team was created by Lance Armstrong as a project to help develop the next generation of great young cyclists. It is a hand picked squad chosen from over 1000 top U23 cycling resumes from around the world. Needless to say, this is a serious group of young riders who are being groomed to become top riders in the Pro Tour.
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What we expected to be the last year of Interbike in Las Vegas. Lots of cool new products along with some expected trends.
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Sin City, Glitter Gulch, Lost Wages: all historical and well-appropriated nicknames for Las Vegas. It’s an amusing town with great food (if you know how to get yourself off the strip and into the right places) and, well, just about anything else large sums of money can buy. Vegas is all that. But it’s not a place most cyclists have on their list of top vacation spots. Despite the obvious disconnect, for the past 12 years the Gambling Capitol of the World has played host to the United States’ premier cycling trade show: Interbike
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With the Eurovan all loaded and the Let's Go Aero trailer attached we headed off to Moab, but not without a couple of stops on the way.
Trip number one in the new mobile Mountain Flyer rig is in the books. Outerbike turned out to be a great first year event drawing people from all over the country and many from Canada. I was also fortunate enough to go on a little ride called the “Whole Enchilada” in a fast “group ride” type format (kind of like a race).
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Things don't always go as planned.
Many racers say that everything must click together for things to go well in a bike race, especially a really long one. Your bike must work well, your light system, your fueling, and most of all your body all need to be working in sync with one another. But sometimes all these aspects just don't come together.
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Its almost time. Just a few more hours of chilling and filling the body with needed fuel.
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As the week winds down and the weekend begins to call, preparation for the 2010 Vapor Trail 125 has continued to consume much of my evening hours.
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Epic, fall high country riding is exactly what the Vapor Trail 125 offers. Amazing views, flowy singletrack and 20k feet of climbing... What could be better? Starting at 10pm on a Saturday night!!
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Last days of a trip from Steamboat to Park City, UT.
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Riding from Steamboat Springs to Meeker, Colorado and Meeker to Vernal, UT.
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360 miles in 4 days. From Steamboat, Colorado to Park City, UT. A company ride promoting an active lifestyle and alternative transportation.
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FRUITA, COLO. - Members of the Honey Stinger-Trek Off Road team recently gathered in Fruita, Colorado for their annual training camp.
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In the tech business they call it open source. In music it’s a jam session. Bill Gates wants to call it The Cloud, but simply put, it’s collective thought and shared ideas: the symbiotic melding of minds, resources, techniques or technologies. And it’s powerful.
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We Woke To Rain, Again
There has been a distinct theme of wet during this race.
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Cleared to continue with ibuprofen, massage and rest
By Brian Smith
We have been racing in rain for 3 days straight now. It hasn’t rained for a whole year here in Rio de Contas and it seems the rain gods are making up for lost time.
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Stage 2: Mucuge to Rio de Costa: Roosters, flattened toads, and grinning from ear To ear
By: Brian Smith
Each year I invite about 20 keen riders to join me on my birthday ride, one day on the White Rim. On Monday, I spent the day on my bike in Brazil with 300 international riders. The route consisted of almost 100 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing.
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Messages, Music and racing the Prologue
Last night in the Claro Brazil ride village I had one of the best miscommunications. In the center of the village is an open air tent, bar and music area with bean bags, couches and flax mats. I was using a grid rolle and stretching when one of the race doctors came over introduced himself, asked my name, where I was from.
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What a Trip
By: Brian Smith
MUCUGE, Brazil—What a trip it’s been so far. We’ve spent about 25 hours traveling from Gunnison Colorado to Mucuge Brazil. Strangely enough we haven’t experienced any conflicts along the way and we managed to receive our entire luggage undamaged.
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Mom wouldn’t have been impressed with another tattoo anyway…
The fine people of Rotorua, New Zealand brought us the 2010 edition of the Single Speed World Championships and it was everything you’d expect from the Kiwi’s.
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First Stop: Outerbike, Moab Utah.
With a credit card in hand and a pile of boxes full of Mountain Flyer schwag, Mountain Flyer's Jordan Carr has hit the road in our new - well 18-year old but new to us - VDub Eurovan. The first stop for the new ride will be Outerbike in Moab, Utah. Sept. 29 - Oct. 3.
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Training at the mercy of a mindless computer
The new SRM crank showed up at my house in mid July and sat on my dining room table for some time; the shiny black FSA carbon crank arms with their red and white racing stripes glistening under the lights like a sports car possessed.
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Stage 4 began wonderfully when I missed the start of the race.
When 8:10 rolled around, I was at my jeep trying to fit my chain onto an oddly shaped 23 tooth cog that Dicky had lent to me.
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I thought I was going to get hypothermia at 12,200’ on the continental divide. Then I found a beach towel.
When we started up the first climb of stage three, I immediately felt better with my lower gear. I was able to sit down and spin right up the hill.
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I ran into a pine tree today at 30mph. Aside from that bit of misfortune, stage two was better than stage one.
This morning’s start was a pleasant 50 degrees. We crowded into some little side street in downtown Breck, stood around making fun of each other, and then pedaled up a paved road.
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I’m covered in hammer gel. I threw my wool shirt, knee warmers, and gel flask into my drop bag at the first aid station today.
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The romantic notion of ‘making a difference’ a rant by James E. Rickman LOS ALAMOS, N.M.— As the fifth week of environmental catastrophe continues to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, I’ve decided that remaining powerless is no longer an option.
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Team SRAM at 24 Hour National Championships
What do you say when the 6 time 24 Hour World Champion asks you to race on a team with her for 24 Hr National Championships? How do you feel when you know you’re racing on a 4 woman team consisting of Rebecca Rusch, Jenny Smith, and Kelly Boniface? You say GIDDY UP!!!! Our team name for the event was “SRAM.”
Read more...
Park City Point to Point 2011
(September 8, 2011) PARK CITY, Utah. - Singletrack Never-Never Land. I'll bet you didn't know that nestled in the mountains in and around Park City are 300 miles of the sweetest singletrack your tire will ever grace.
Read more...
Three months of preparation. One race day. 135 miles.
After a quarter year of thinking about, reading about, and obsessing over the Arrowhead 135, it was finally time to toe the line and see if it was all worth it.
Read more...
The final countdown to race day.
Yesterday was my last day of cold weather riding before heading off to the land of International Falls for the start of the Arrowhead 135. I’d like to share the top five lessons I’ve learned in this adventure because regardless of how this race goes on Monday, I’ve been able to commute to work, in Crested Butte in the winter, on my bike everyday this winter, and that in itself is enough to consider this adventure a success.
Read more...
Two weeks out from the Arrowhead 135 and the puzzle pieces are coming together.
As of right now, I am 16 days out from the start of the Arrowhead 135. The thought is slightly terrifying because until I bought my plane ticket to Minnesota two days ago, the race seemed like somewhat of an abstract event in my future. With less than two weeks until I board a plane in Denver and head north, the reality of the situation is becoming very real.
Read more...
Winter has arrived and with it, the opportunity to fine-tune cold weather clothing. Or so I hope.
Last winter, my first winter here in the Gunnison valley, I was blown away by the cold in late December and early January. I was hoping to use a similar start to winter to figure out exactly how much clothing I'd need to stay warm for 20+ hours of riding through the Minnesota winter. My systems are slowly developing.
Read more...
Follow Eszter's adventure of getting ready for the Arrowhead 135, through the good and the bad.
Bad ideas are born in strange places. Signing up for the Arrowhead 135, a 135-mile snow bike race in International Falls, MN., at the end of January seemed like a good idea at the time. Forget the fact that I've never raced a snow bike before, I've never actually ridden a snow bike before, and I generally strongly dislike riding in the cold. What could possibly go wrong?
Read more...
by Eszter Horanyi
Historically I have not been a gear head. I’m not a gram counter and generally choose bike parts based on durability over weight.
Read more...
Looking back in order to look forward
The Colorado Trail: How does one describe it? We could go by pure numbers: 470 miles, 65,000+ ft of elevation gain with the majority of the route above 9,000 ft.
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