Bad Blood

Normally,  I would have been posting the HELL out of this blog by this time of year,  digging up every little thing about the upcoming Cross season, going over the latest cross policy,  leaking the schedule,  analyzing the races,  and in general getting all frothy and silly in rampant anticipation for the upcoming cross season.  Instead,  I seem to have been avoiding writing anything here,  just dropping off the online radar,  so to speak.    Why?  well,  basically,   I'm broken.

At least from a bike racing perspective,  I am just plain broken.  Once again,  my "Bad Blood" has taken over,  and in spite of whatever desires and wishes I might have,  There is just not going to be any cross racing for me this year.   Given that this blog DOES seem to revolve at least a BIT around the silliness that IS Cross,  and it would just remind me of what I did NOT really want to think about,  I just plain hid from it.

As I have noted in the past here,  I have a chronic Blood Cancer.   It's a rare and "easy" cancer to deal with and live with,  a FAR cry from what most people who have the disease go thru,  but mine  never "goes away".   As a chronic form of the stupid disease,  Mine gets treated,  pushed to the background,  then slowly builds back up,  ever so slowly and surely screwing my blood chemistry up till it begins to get "symptomatic" again.  The "cycle time" varies,  but I guess I am on a 4 year plan,  since this is my first symptomatic recurrence since I got diagnosed 4 years ago in June.  Hairy Cell Leukemia is a rare blood cancer (like 500 people a year get diagnosed in the U.S. kind of rare....) that if untreated,  overtakes your white blood cells,  destroying your immune system very slowly.  Turns out it also kinda screws up your aerobic capacity along the way while it's at it.  Maybe I need to take up needlepoint for a while.

It is easily treated,  a short,  one time,  and relatively speaking mild Chemotherapy round,  and you can put it in the background for a few years.  Sadly,  I've been in the "too sick to RACE,  to well to TREAT" stage this summer,  and while my blood numbers are fine for a "normal" person,  it just does NOT seem to support riding a bicycle at the edge of your aerobic capability right now.   I can still RIDE my bike,  but just can't really get to my Lactic threshold,  or really spend ANY time near that top few percent of my already kinda limited aerobic capability.  This bad blood just does not seem to transport oxygen well,  as I can send my legs into a screaming,  fiery, lactic haze of pain,  complete with a kinda cool complete muscular failure at ridiculously low heart rates.  Nothing like your legs giving out at a heart rate of about 130 BPM to really confuse a bike racer.

I HAVE managed to use the "TIME OFF" this year to do some other bike stuff,  maybe some things that don't take quite that same high end aerobic functionality.  With a trip to Seattle,  Vancouver,  and Whistler in the summer mix,  I tried out a bit of that gravity-fueled kinda riding at Winter Park.  Love the Gladiator look,  huh?

Turns out that the bike park in Winter Park is pretty cool.  The bike park in Whistler is pretty wild.  Even with a day of pouring rain,  I can HIGHLY recommend a day there if you are "in the neighborhood".  It also turns out that riding these monster gravity sleds is a LOT of fun.  Spent more time in the air in those 2 days than I have had in 10 plus years.   Also just one or two days of that stuff will make you a LOT better descender in general.  There WILL be more of this in my future.

SO,  here I am,  just weeks away from what is usually a wildly anticipated start to cross season,  and I'm kinda wondering what it will be like this year without racing to fill my fall weekends.  While my sweet,  long-suffering wife is happy to have a bit of a fall without the endless cross weekends,  and I will certainly enjoy some time "off" in some ways,  it also feels like there is a pretty big hole in my soul right now.


Will I be at some races?  Hell,  yea!  I love the atmosphere and the people.  I may even enter and "ride around" in the back of one or 2 events,  but it just is NOT going to be the same.  Pretty strange.

So to all of you out there winding it up,  getting ready to rock the cross season,  I salute you.  Jealousy is never pretty,  and I kind of have it.  Just know that I will be back,  will get treated (probably well before next cross season...) and plan on hitting it hard when I can get back.  Till then,  enjoy your health,  NEVER take it for granted,  and have a hell of a season you all.  I already miss it.

Wow,  you would have thought I had up & skipped out to Bangladesh or something,  given my lack of appearances here in Blog-land.  Nope,  have not gone on some top secret NSA undercover mission or anything fun like that.  Have had some basic motivational & inspirational issues with the writing,  especially anything bike-related.    It's been a tough,  as well as busy early summer here in Not-Boulder.    Sadly,  I just have not had too much inspiring bike kind of stuff to get me motivated to yammer about here.  But you are not all off the hook yet.  

One of the distractions that has kept my little tiny brain occupied was a home remodeling project,  one that required pretty much moving EVERYTHING out of the living part of the house for a while.  This led to much cleaning/sorting type behavior,  which led to the discovery of some,  shall we say "vintage" pictures and nick-knacks from the semi-deep historical well for competitive bicycle riding in our fair area.  Seems to have given me a bit of material to work with here this summer.

One of the things dug out of a box was a T-shirt from an old road race.  The recently completed Superior Morgul-Bismark race in Superior is the resurrection of many old versions of the Classic "Morgul" course.  From Coors Classic days,  to various local races.  The last club that did a race there prior to the Boulder Racing crew reviving it a few yeas ago,  was a small club of cat 4 folks out of Boulder in 1990.

The Boulder Velo Club put on the Morgul road race in 1990-ish for 2 years.  Not nearly as busy as it is now around there (no Rock Creek development,  and superior had like 3 dirt streets..) but was till quite an undertaking for a relatively small club.   I still remember having to go out & count how many white lane dashes were on the hwy. 93 hill,  so we had enough cones to put one on each stripe as the state patrol required.

Glad to see that race back,  and in the hands of a professional production crew.  The front range should be happy to have these races.

Speaking of things to be happy you have,  or maybe more like NOT have,  here is another one for your "solutions in search of a problem" file,  bike edition.  

Really?  You need a digital-gauge-meter-beeper-doo-hickey to drink enough when you ride?  You need this to "set and monitor personal hydration goals".  Really?  The next big thing?  Hmmmm......

Moab

I have been QUITE slow in updating this little blog-like-thing here.  I apologize to those few who DO drop by to read up on the happenings here.  LOTS been going on in my little world here,  just not left too much time for spewing words here.

It had been YEARS since I've gone to Moab just to ride.  Been thru the place on various desert-rat-related projects,  and ridden a few "bookend" rides after a White Rim ride/party event or 2,  but have been doing the spring desert riding elsewhere behind the Zion Curtain for a lot of years now.  This year,  the motley crew I usually head out with had lots going on,  so rather than exploring new and different Utah wonders,  we "settled" for the obvious,  easy choice for spring "training" camp.

The little trail fairies have been BUSY in Moab over the last few years since I last spent much time there.  Klondike Bluffs,  Sovereign,  Mag 7,  and the "Brand Trails" have seen a LOT of trail work.  For an area of Moab that once just had a few "crappy" dirt/sand roads,  (OK,  OK, a lot of those "crappy roads" are pretty damn cool rides....)  there is now an INCREDIBLE network of bike-specific singletrack,  ranging from "girlfriend first time" to "near-death-technical".

Herds of new trails in the Klondike Bluffs,  Sovereign,  Brand Trails and even the Gemini Bridges area.

And ALL of them are a ton of fun.

As usual,  the after ride activities did not disappoint,  either.

Sometimes,  the classics are a good thing.  with or without the "new twists",  Moab is still WELL worth a spring or fall visit,  without question.  Thinking a fall visit,  if nothing else to FINALLY ride the Whole Enchilada may be in the cards....   Hmmmmm.

Get that desert ride in before it gets hot.

New Team?

You LUCKY person you.

You now have a chance to become part of the Least sponsored, Most fun, Least Serious, Serious Cross-'Racin team out there. Yes, while hard to believe, the High Peaks Masters team is looking for a few fun people to help round out our team.

We are:

- Focused on Cross (But you can race anything you like... even... ***ROAD*** races...)

- Based in the Roughly Longmont/Boulder/Loveland area

- A Masters only (35+) team (name kinda gives that away, huh?)

- More Social Than "Serious Racer"

- Cat 3/4 mostly

- Here to help each other have fun & race till you puke

- Fond of heckling each other

We are NOT:

- Sponsored in any "serious" way

- Hard Core, serious, upgrade or get out Nazis

We offer:

- A fun, casual, social team to race with

- No whining about who gets the free sunglasses, tubes, or other sponsor schwag

- Multiple years without having to buy new kits (no "real" sponsors = Not a lot to change...)

- A small price break on FRS Energy & 1st Endurance Products

- A dive bar for team "meetings"

- Annual dinner/video Highlight Night

- Nordorks with guns (Our Nordic/Biathlon Team...)

- The occasional full-blown team compound at Cross races, full tent, Food, beer.....

- Annual public service projects (Trail work, Soup angels, etc.)

We Want from you:

- A couple of races a year

- A fun attitude

- $20 a year, and maybe a "service" day (The $20 funds the USAC/ACA team dues... leftovers go to beer)

- One day a year to work a cross race (Usually Boulder Racing - Xilinx)

Sound like Something you want to get in on? Join the 3rd best team in Colorado Beer-Drinkin-Dads-League Cyclocross for 2011? Do you have what it takes? (Well, probably, we are not that picky.....) Contact us at highpeaksmasters@gmail.com or hit the link off the blog. Maybe, just maybe we can make you dreams (cycling dreams... ) come true.

Fake

Well, after the 2 weeks of fake summer, we got our "you're not out of the woods yet, buster" reminder here in the last few days. Maybe now the trails will return to some kind of tacky dirt, rather than the "August Dust" that was already in place. Sunday was WAY too hot in the land of scorching sun

on the Bobcat Ridge/Ginny Trail

and I did leave the skinnies to my younger, faster healing riding companions.

Summer, yep, it seemed like it was here. Then, Tuesday it was snowing. But hey, it is Colorado, and wet, snotty weather is not just for cross season. The rides are good this spring, nice to be able to get some good mountain bike rides in this early. Now if I can just figure out why it HURTS so damn much after being off the bike for so long. Could it be "old age"? Nah, got to be something else.

On a less whiny note, saw yet ANOTHER way to shoot video of a cross race, thanks to The Natural Way Racing Team guys. What a cool toy. I think I want one.

Speaking of wanting one..... After the new UCI rules, one of these would be nice to have, eh?

Ah, safer now...

I am turning out to be quite happy that the ACA voted to re-join the USAC fold. Why, if Colorado remained independent, we might not have picked up vitally important new UCI rules that prevent such horrible and unsafe practices like Camel Backs worn on your front, Socks that are too long, and filed off "lawyer tabs".

I feel safer already. Thank god we can't void those fork warranties anymore. Just think of the untold horrors that might have befallen us if we had not rejoined. OH, The Horror...... The Horror.....

(And yes, I KNOW it's not April 1st..........)

The On-Board Diaries

My hand is now (finally....) free from it's claw/cage/splint/medieval torture device. Course, it's still pretty much useless. a stiff, atrophied lump. One thing at a time. I guess that "Hand Therapy" is the next step (OK, stop what you are thinking.... geez.) in getting back "online".

Skiing looks to still be a couple of weeks out, since I really can't fall on that hand just yet, but am going to try and ride again, as I NEED to stop the inflation around my middle, and the general softening all over that has been going on while I was semi-crippled. While the drinking hand/ability was not impaired, when you do not exactly DO a lot (well, OK anything...) else, it really takes its toll.

The High Peaks Masters winter video premiere party was a great success, and since the season wrap ups are now "out there", I can start sharing them here without them being pirated and sold in cheap Mexican restaurants in Longmont & on the streets of China. First up, the 2011 version of the "On-Board Diaries", my seat & bar-cam "best of" cut.

Wish me luck on my "maiden" rides.....