Ragbrai 2009

Ragbrai 09

I'll keep it brief as I've covered this relatively well in the previous two years. It was great as always. Jillions of people and 7 days on the bike. The only noteworthy difference this year was I went into the week really really over tired. By the last couple of days I was out of gas and was ready to go home.

One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is what happens away from the bike has such an huge impact on how things go on the bike. Not bike may be as important as bike. I think this basic formula applies to all sorts of things one wants or needs to do in life. This years Ragbrai was a great example. All the work I had done on the bike all spring and early summer was nearly mitigated by over work and stress in the week before the event.

Cycling has always been a tool for examining/testing assumptions and personal qualities. Cycling at a high effort level draws ideas into fine contrast to make them easy to see. Press hard this way reveals a great deal.

I think what has been drawn if finer detail this year is that a seemingly separate areas of life are connected whether the links are visible or not.

So this is every town, infested with cyclists.

Tent city... one of many

Some of the gang at a beer stop

Balloon race as we roll out of the first town on the first day.

The gang at camp.

Group shot

Loin cloth guy... sheesh

The finish

Banff

Ok let me first say, thank you Canada!

I had a great stay in the Banff area last week. We had great hikes, mountain bike rides, food, Beer...... The beautiful mountains and being among them for 5 days really did rejuvenate me after an unbelievably difficult july. I am not going to go into the details of july ( too Boring ), but by August first I was a cooked and really really needed some fresh air and to be waaaaaayyy out of cel service. I got both in buckets full and am energized and centered again. Phew.

This is the trail from banff to canmore and back 40K, 6000 feet of climb. What a great trek. mostly fire road and double track, not technical at all, with stiff climbs and fast, fast, descents, crazy fun. You'll notice in the garmin data, we took our time up to the last half hour, then I couldn't take it anymore, I had to let er' rip. It was cycling glory. There are those rare, rare days when you can go as hard as you like and your body says "more please". I was soooo lucky to have a magic day fall on a day I was in such a beautiful place. This may have been the best ride of the year. A "10" for sure!

http://connect.garmin.com/player/11047867

This is where we stayed.

We hike up to this lake, had the place to ourselves.. amazing!

The main lodge

View from the lodge.

This is Chip, he/she really liked trail mix!

I did a touch of rock balancing just for good measure.

Tri-Loppet

The people that put on the city of lakes loppet x-country ski race, host a summer race on a similar course. It is a tri though, so you do canoe/kayak, trail run, off road mountain bike.

I entered with my wife and it was a really fun event. we entered at a relay so we canoed (11K) together then she ran(5k) then I did the Bike (11k).

It rained buckets the night before and some on us in the morning in the canoe. So everyone and everything was soaked. The trails were mud and slick but that's ok. It was all good fun and another chance to get some experience. We came in 8th out of 13 teams. Having canoed only once before together i think that's not too bad.

All in all a fun weekend and a good outing.

Buck hill attempt #1

Great weather last night at buck hill for my first race there.

So here's what happend...

I have never races this coarse before and this is only my second mountain bike race of my life to I entered the beginner bracket. Because I am a beginner mountain bike racer. right?

I ended up in a race with about 10 people or so three of which were children.... doh! There were 5 other adult men in the race and a woman and me. I won by 2 1/2 minutes on a 15 minute lap.

Clearly I should have raced the intermediate/recreational class. Which is what I'll do next time.

The other guys in the race were pretty regular guys and I beat them fair and square but it's sort a dubious win.

This is me receiving my $10 gift car as my winning prize... and the crowd is yelling "move up" at me. I assured them I was.

It's all ok tho... I have defiantly taken it on the chin many, many times ( see the marty minnesota road race from last year... ouch) and for once it wasn't me taking a pounding. I am looking forward to the next Buck hill race and the rec class!

Look out Rec... I'm comin' ta get cha..... haha

NVGP Wrap up

The Nature valley grand prix wrapped up in stillwater on sunday and the crit they host every year did not fail to deliver. Both races were unbelievable ( see last years posting for more awe driven pros).

The Story this year like last was Kristen Armstrong. She pulled the front the entire race then took a break of three away then with two to go dropped them and rode away to a solo victory. She is unbeatable... amazing.

This is the break with three in it.

The mens race was great don't get me wrong.. The speed of it is so far beyond anything, it is hard to have any sense of it if your not there to see it up close. It's truly shocking, to the point it's difficult to even perceive them as human beings, it's just to fast for a human being.

21% grade at 30+ mph = ouch!

Dethroned Floyd Landis was here for the race. He was sort of in the middle of it all week but not dominating.

All in all very inspiring and just plain fun!

In my personal racing-ness... I am thinking of racing ... maybe tonight ((crit) biting my nails), if not then thursday (mountain bike race)

I'll have some video of the minneapolis uptown crit soon.

Ciao

Band of Horses

I ran across this song working in a local cafe recently and was reminded how much I like it.

For your listening pleasure.......

Nature Valley Grand Prix stage 1

Stage one was this morning a 6 mile TT. Here is a picture of Kristin Armstrong about 50 meters from the finish to put in her first stage win for this year. It was super cool to see such unbelievable athletes up close.

Floyd landis is here this year and i saw him too during warm up but didn't stay for his finish.

Stay tuned