Taking a break...

After recovering from the trip to Ohio, things have been strangly busy around here. We were constantly doing something, or, we were totally wiped out and thus, doing nothing. I have been having some good training, but just to see, I decided to run a little loop called "Wilson Creek Mini-Moab" out of the Boise area trail guide. The difficulty rating on this loop is "Gonzo" whatever that means. Apparently, as I found out, it means "you will regret trying this and you should plan on being sore for 6 full days afterward." Anyway, 15.6 miles and 3000 feet of elevation change and you have yourself a dirty little pain in the quads. I had planned on running the loop with company, but apparently they all knew better and stayed home, so after 3 hours of intense physical effort, I completed the longest distance I've yet to run and the most vertical feet I've ever traveled by foot before. I should note that I knew exactly what this loop entailled because I rode it with a couple of friends back in the Cafferty's days and vowed to never take my race bike back there again. Regardless, this insanely challenging workout left me feeling the need to switch it up a bit so I decided to put the shoes away for a week and do some riding. Sunday I rode my Neuvation F100 road bike on a sunrise ride up to the Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge. It was a great ride, but I and decided that the frame just wasn't working out for me so I listed it on Ebay (just the frame, so I still have all the necessary ingredients of an awesome road bike but lack the bike itself...) and sold by Tuesday. That left me riding my old friend, the shiny Sette Razzo 29er for the remainder of the week. Needless to say it was a great week of doing something different and just enjoying the outdoors and the feeling of movement and speed. The week was capped off by a great little ride in the Boise foothills on some of my favorite trails.

(Looking back down to Boise from the 8th street parking lot at the access point for trail 4.)

(The last section of our ride took us to Bogus Basin Road via "Corrals")

(Close up shot of the Razzo, love those big 29 inch wheels!)

I managed to land some great company this time, with Mike Lapp and his father-in-law joining me. We covered about 14 miles and about 1500 to 2000 vertical feet. Looking back, we rode less than I ran one week earlier, ouch... No wonder I was so sore.

Now its Monday again, and I have put my feet to the road once again. Six miles in 43 minutes on an 85 degree day tells me my legs are fresh again and ready for the big push to a fall race. If I could just decide what that will be... I'll be looking forward to some time on the bike when necessary.

The bike of choice for the my endurance races

Many of you may wonder what kind of bike someone rides for 100 miles in the woods. I have ridden all kinds of bikes, and for now I've come to the conclusion that simple is better when your relying on your bike to get you through hours of riding in remote places. I picked a hardtail 29er for my endurance bike because I needed this simplicity but found the standard 26" wheels on a simple hardtail (no rear suspension) to have less desireable traits for racing 100 miles. After much debate I set my sights on the Sette Razzo 29er from Pricepoint.com. I have been impressed by the bike on all my training rides, and have now completed my first long race on the bike. The race was the annual Galena Grinder in Sun Valley, Idaho. The course involved over 3000 feet of elevation change on each lap. Riders in my race category complete two 22 mile laps. I can say that the bike performed flawlessly. With the bike taken care of, now I guess its my turn to make sure I'm ready for the challenges that lay ahead.

**UPDATE** I just made this video... sorry its lame, I'll blame my camera man :)