It was a nice weekend in the Exit. Fred and Heidi tied the knot (and what a beautiful knot they've managed to fashion) - in a meadow, in the forest, with dogs playing, kids laughing, and everyone smiling. The rain held off long enough to finish the service and then we huddled under tents and easy-ups and had a beautiful time. Thunder pealed in the place of bells and we even saw a through-hiker pass on the Colorado Trail.

The Omnium brought in a ton of folks for a good weekend of home-grown racing...a time trial in torrential rain Friday, big Crit around downtown Saturday, and a 74 mile road circuit Sunday. I worked a really fun corner on the circuit - the riders crested a big climb, hit downhill on broken pavement, rounded a 90 degree dirt corner, then picked up the pavement again at the beginning of a 40+mph descent. Some very sweet road racing.

Crest II

Here's an alternate way down from the Crest. It's not as blocky and steep as Silver Creek and is more flowing.

Happiness By the Pound

Hotchkiss cherries showed up at the farmer's market today. It doesn't take much more than that to make me very happy.


Here's some more homegrown goodness. I crashed and broke the tab that holds my brake lever to the reservoir body. The shop called Shimano to get a replacement and they don't stock the parts. Shame on Shimano, not only does the M575 provide weak power and no modulation, you can't get parts. Are they trying to create a throw-away product? I showed Anton and I could sense the wheels turning in his head. He took a hacksaw and notched the body, looped a wire around the lever to hold the lever bushing in the correct position, and then made a groove in the bar side of the clamp to pass the wire through for the right pull angle and so the clamp can sit flush on the bar. Brilliant! It was supposed to get me a couple of days until I could order a new assembly from a shop in New Hampshire, but I figure if it can survive 5,000 feet of descending on the Crest I'm going to just continue to roll with it.

[Update: Shimano sent a new lever assembly about 2-3 weeks after this. Thanks, Shimano. I'm still riding the wired lever that Anton fixed as it works just as well and am waiting until I need a brake bleed to install the new one]




Speaking of the Crest...I finally rode it yesterday. It's a pretty amazing ride with some big scenery and big descents. But I was surprised to be climbing on single track and descending on double track and fire roads. Something about it feels very backwards. I think there are endless opportunities though to turn that single track to downhill - a 6-10 mile out and back from the tram; or a ride up Marshall Pass road to link up with the Silver Creek section; or just bomb down Fooses or Greens from the top. Any thoughts, ideas, or experiences?

The Pumpfarm

Pump tracks are all the rage in The Exit. There is one public track and 4 or 5 private tracks. The tracks are fun; a great core and cardio workout - seriously, I know it doesn't look like it because you don't really pedal much but your heart rate tops out quickly; a safe way to learn advanced skills (sort of); and 4 year olds and their parents can ride at the same place at the same time. I was really intimidated by these things at first but then my buddy Brendan spent about an hour with me at the town track a few weeks ago breaking it down step by step...how to get my whole body into it, look down the track, commit to and rail corners. Centrifugal force is your friend. It's the closest thing I've seen to perpetual motion. Here's a little video from the Pump Farm track.

Tour Divide

The Tour Divide race covers 2700 miles of dirt roads, byways, old rail beds, and trails from Canada to Mexico. Racers travel solo, border to border, at their own pace over the course of about 3 weeks; they carry everything they need, sleep in the open, under bridges and in doorways, and resupply in the small towns along the way. Salida is the last major stop and last bike shop on the route before riders hit the New Mexico desert. This brings them through the shop for service, parts, and a lot of Clif Bars. We saw the race leaders trickle through on Tuesday.



Scot helping Matt Lee with a freewheel overhaul, shifting setup, and brake bleed...all in about 45 minutes. Matt came in about 7 hours ahead of the other riders. I'm learning that the longer the race, the mellower the racer. All these guys are kind, personable, and unpretentious.




Matt's bike with 3 weeks of camping gear and some food weighing in at 31 pounds. That's not much more than the bike you're riding this weekend!




Here is Blaine Nester getting ready to head out after some shifting work and a massive meal at the cafe next door. Again, calm, calculated, unhurried.




Erik Lobeck's Moots YBB loaded and waiting. He had some major drivetrain issues in Montana that sidelined him for 36 hours. I can't imagine what that would do to a person mentally. Even so, the guy has made up ground and is back in the running. Note that the three leaders in the race are all on Cannondale Lefty forks. Lefty domination!

Follow their progress here: www.tourdivide.org/leaderboard

FIBark Boater X

Nick and I headed up to Pine Creek north of BV to check out the FIBark Boater X. The paddlers race through class V holes in sets of 3 or 4; pine creek has about 7 massive, powerful holes and a nice rock garden. The action was amazing and really fun to watch. One particular hole kept swallowing people. The video shows a guy get surfed, enveloped, and spit out. FIBark was fun to experience and I'm glad that it happened...but I was also glad when it was over as the festival headquarters was literally across the street from my apartment raging until 2:00am for three nights.

Post #100!

Here's a bunch of random crap:

Working at a bike shop has some perks...the discounts and prodeals, shop tools, meeting people to ride with, etc. But this gig has a benefit that is unique: the shop is in an old feed store with a 3 story grain elevator that we occasionally get to throw stuff off of. The gig is a nice supplement to the contract work. I'm learning a ton and even got to rebuild my rear shock!


Sad and happy news for the bike. I had it in the stand to do a few adjustments and found a good size crack in the head tube. Then started looking around and found another in the bottom bracket shell. Sad to see it go. Now, I'm not posting this as a dig on a certain manufacturer out of Colorado; to the contrary, they stood behind it and had a replacement waiting for me the next day. It's a wonder that the poor frame lasted that long under my 190 pounds.



The finished product, good as new:

When I went to pick up the new frame I was met by this view. Holy Shmoley.


Made another trip to the Front Side for Mother's Day. Mom had another top done. It's not quilted yet...you have to contruct the blocks, sew them together, and then start quilting the top. Most sewers would take 9-12 months to do a project like this but she pumps out 3-4 a year. She's ridiculously talented.

Incredulous that I was actually imbibing, Matt snapped a photo during the first backyard BBQ of the year. You may know that I don't drink much - after living with gout for 15 years I'm always careful no matter how well the gout meds work.

Sam looking formidable. Wish that came in an adult size.


I made a quick trip to CB to say hello and check the PO Box...and revisit the winter that won't go away. 5" of snow in mid-May in town. Here's a pic of John, fully upright and mobile after a successful disc fusion surgery.


So there's some randomness for post #100. Time marches on. All is well. I have a bed to sleep in, a roof over my head (even if the landlord shut off the pilot light on the furnace), a sandwich and some grapenuts in my belly, trails to ride on, family and friends. I just finished a book set during the Great Depression and my perspective right now is one of gratitude. Times are thin for all of us, but it's also beautiful to see people spending less time stressing out about buying needless crap and spending time BBQ-ing, quilting, recreating, living, and loving. We're all going to make it...and we might just reconnect with our souls in the meantime!