Stable

Here are some updates on my bike stable for the year:
Top Fuel 9.9ssl - mostly stock with a 1x10 conversion using an MRP chain keeper. 20.5 to 21 pounds depending on exact setup. I will either be running XR0 front and rear or XR1 front XR0 rear for dry conditions, XR3s for semi-adverse conditions, and mud x's in the nasty stuff.
Remedy 9.7 - partly stock. I put an XX groupo and some Bonti carbon goodies I had on it. I am running 1 x 10 with a direct mount MRP chain keeper. I plan to run only XR3's or XR2's on this bike. It will probably be my ride in muddy races too (with mud x's). Why? Well, because it is only 24.8 pounds and it is quite capable of racing. Yes 6" of front and rear travel < 25 pounds. I can see why this bike has been called the quiver killer!
In other news, I am heading out to Longmont, CO for work next week. I have 3 packed days of work planned at our design center out there but won't miss an opportunity to test the Remedy. My brother Ben, who is about the only one who can make me feel like I have to vomit during a training ride, lives in Boulder so I will be staying with him. After the work is done, we plan to head west for a long weekend in Fruita and Moab.

Ivan Drago

I often get asked 1) how I train or 2) how someone else should train. I can answer the first question, but I am certainly not qualified to answer the second (there are plenty of good coaches who can).

If you are familiar w/ Rocky 4 (one of the best movies ever BTW) then you know how great the contrast is between how Rocky and Ivan Drago trained for the fight.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I am going to answer the first question.

Technology and time: I train with very little technology and a pretty flexible plan. I simply don't have the time (if I want to be successful at my most important job of being a daddy and husband) to be gone a whole day training or even travel south to train or race like some of my competition. I have a heart rate monitor but haven't worn it in 3 years, have never worn it outside, and only ever used it on the trainer a few times. I don't have a power meter or even a computer on any of my bikes.

My science: What I do do is keep track of my activities in a little notebook. I write down the duration of each ride and rate each ride on a perceived exertion scale. I may also include a note or two about how I felt during and even after the ride. This allows me to look back and see what does and does not work for ME.

The off season: In the off season and even through the spring, I play a lot of hockey, run/showshoe a little, and joy ride. When the snow flies, I ride a bike with 7 extra pound of wheel weight...no power meter necessary.

Leading up to the season: The only structure I have all year is around rest periods from Feb until racing starts. I do this to assure that I stay fresh and get stronger. I typically do a weekend +2 weeks "on" (ride more and ride harder) and then take the 5 following week days off. Weekends are precious and this maximizes riding while minimizing the impact to my family and job. BTW, I am in this phase now.

The season: In the race season, I race a lot and recover. Period. Recovery is sometimes spent at the playground, most of the time commuting, and when I am lucky on the trail with friends.

What got me thinking about doing a post on how I train was a great blog entry linked below that the fastest current North American endurance racer, Jeff Schalk, who happens to ride on the Trek Coop team too. I love Eddy Merckx's quote=)http://trekmountain.typepad.com/king/trek-racing-co-op/

Summary: I choose Rocky's method. Now, if I could only be as tough as him.

Coming soon will be quiver details....hint: 6" of travel and 25 lbs.

Fat Fest 9.9

First, this beauty showed up on Valentines Day. The delay in getting it posted up here was due to the fact that the internal cable routing mandated some TLC from Tyson at Penn Cycle (Bloomington). I will be riding for the Trek Mountain Co-Op again this year and am very excited about that!

A few days later some tread showed up. I am pumped about the new Bonti XR3. Is it sad that Tegan thinks the UPS guy only delivers bikes and bike stuff?More details to come later on the bike (weight, spec etc), tires, and equipment for this year....

Then Sunday I headed up for "Fat Tire Fest" in Elk River. Rich Ohmdahl always puts on a great show, and this race, the third in the series, is where the the Fat Tire Fest Champion is crowned. The weather held off up there for the race, but I drove home in an insane blizzard. As far as the race goes, I did my best to hold everyone off in the conditions that were either awesomely perfect or a skating rink (depending on the part of the trail) and no where in between. I did end up taking the race win and the series win. To top it off, 2 more riders on 907s, Charly Tri and Hollywood, rounded out the podium...I am just sayin' ;)
Oh, and while the awards took FOREVER to start, the results were hilarious w/ Jag-Richie (as in Jagermeister) showing his face. I think you had to be there to know what I am talking about=) LOL.
Below is the only pick I could find for now. I will post more as they are available.In other news, Casey and Tegan are growing too fast...

Now, back to shoveling.

Attrition

You know it is bad when half of the fat tire class doesn't even finish. For those that did the Du Lac slop-fest last year, the second lap of 2 was a really cold version of that.
I finished with 3 PSI in each tire of the 9Zero7. It was that or run. Running was faster but not as much fun.

This is how we stayed warm after.
Is anyone following what the real tough men of the sport are doing?
http://www.arrowheadultra.com/index.php/results/2011-results
Go Dittmer!

Two Years Ago....

Tegan's little brother Ty would have been 2 today. For those that don't know, we lost him at 8 months to unknown causes. This day is difficult for me but much more so for my wife, as she carried him during his short life.
One of the hardest parts of losing him is knowing all the earthly joys that we will never experience together. I am confident, however, that he is up in Heaven right now cruising around on a red Strider bike while he waits for us. No wait, he is on one of those carbon fiber dual suspension kid bikes they have up there!
We miss you buddy.

Dear Mr. Landis, All is not broken.

I read this this morning from an outspoken cheat:
“I don’t want it to come across that I’m quitting because I’m bitter,” Landis said. “I’m relatively sure this sport cannot be fixed, but that’s not my job, that’s not my fight.”

It is comments like this that have taken away any respect I have for Floyd. I would invite him to come to a MNSCS or WORS race and see how NOT broke the sport is (I can't comment on road or CX because I don't frequent those, but there have been cheats recently there at a local level...very weak and sad). Maybe Floyd has forgotten about all the people that compete in this SPORT simply for the love of the sport.

Back in the day, from what I have heard (second hand), read, and understand, the pro peleton in the US and abroad full of cheating. I would like to think it has gotten better, but without evidence of this, I can't say. I would also like to think that the top mountain bike racers of the world are clean today (just like the roadies, they certainly weren't 10 years ago), and I for one think guys like Julien Absolon are clean.

Either way, at a grass roots local level I believe the SPORT we love is not broken and for the most part never has been.

Cold Bear #1

The Fat Bike XC race season kicked off last Sunday up at Elk River - Hillside Park. I am not sure that there are any other single track Fat Bike series in the world...does anyone know of any?

The course is a perfectly groomed (by small snowmobiles called Snow Cats) 7 miles of tight and twisty trail with 700 feet of climbing per lap or so. It is the same trail that you can ride in the summer.. The conditions Sunday were perfect course wise but a little on the cold side temperature wise for me at 5 to10F ... I am soft I know.
The race had 65 competitors with probably half in the Fat Bike category. There were lots of new faces in the Fat Bike class, which is awesome. I ended up following Cody for a while before, like a gentleman, he let me by. From there I rode a reasonable but hard pace for the rest of the race and pulled out the win. I don't like to overdo it and go too hard this time of year, as the cold temps and wide q-factor, or distance between the pedals for the lay person, wreak havoc on my knees. My time actually wasn't that much slower than at the Halloween race (same exact course sans-snow) so my fitness hasn't deteriorated too much especially given the Top Fuel 9.9 was my chariot in that race.

So how did the 9Zero7 perform? Swimmingly. It is a refined piece of snow navigation equipment, that is for SURE. It was cool to see the mix of bikes out there with ~50% Pug, 25% 9Zero7, and 25% Mukluk. The first race I did out there was all Pugs and 1 9Zero7. Pretty much all of these bikes come in at a price point of ~$1600 fully built so people now have a lot of options. Without sounding like I sales man, I do want to point out that the 9Zero7 frames are only $500 if you are looking to upgrade...that is pretty cheap for such a sweet frame (talk to Hollywood if you want a 9Zero7 custom build, as he has been doing a fair number of them).

Next up? Just trying to stay warm...I heard -20 to -30 air temps next week. Really? I need a new bumper sticker that reads "Global Warming...I want some".

907 is coming tooooo town.....

While my blog has been idle, I have not been to say the least.
Check out the sweetie below. At least half of the snow biking crew that I frequent with is now on or is converting to 9Zero7 (area code of Alaska) bikes from Chain Reaction cycles. This includes endurance specialist and multiple time 24 Afton champ Dan Dittmer who after a first attempt at "trying" the Arrowhead race will be "racing" it this year. Let me say it this way, I work with and ride w/ a bunch of gear-head engineers and all but one of them is on a 9Zero7.

The build below is a full on XX suite w/ Bontrager bits, which enables a complete snow bike to be 26-27 lbf.

My Mechanic commenting the build and bike.Yes, that is reflective 9Zer07 branding...sweet!

For Sale 54 cm Cervelo R3 Sl

I am selling my road bike, as it is underused.

Here are the details:
54cm Cervelo R3 SL. It should fit anyone that is between 5'7" (my wife rides it comfortably), and 5'11". 6' may work depending on your torso and leg length.


Reviews:
This is a stock 2008 Cervelo R3 sl road bike....full 7800 Dura Ace w/ FSA carbon cranks, FSA carbon bars (standard ones not the ergo ones in the picture), Syntace Stem and Seatpost, and Hed Bastogne wheels.
The bike weighs 15lbf w/out pedals....it is a rocketship.
Here are the reviews:
http://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/ce...6_5668crx.aspx

Price:
$3100. It retailed for 6500 when I got it just over 2 years ago and only has 3K miles on it. It has never been raced or crashed.

Contact me at bjmoore1@uwalumni.com if interested.

Its been fun...

I wrapped up the Mtbking race year at Elk River this past weekend. This is the first time I have ever cheated in a mtbk race: I had an aero advantage. The photos below are from Matt Weissenborn at www.studiohdr.com...totally awesome pics.

So that is it... the season is done and it really went by quickly. I ended up doing ~35 races, which is plenty given the other things on my plate, and I felt relatively fresh at the end of the year, which isn't always the case.
I would sum up my season like this: it was muddy often, and we did a lot of racing in less than ideal conditions. I am definitely stronger and stand a better chance against the competition in dry warm conditions. That said, I was pleasantly surprised with my results. I am still not the mud rider that some of my competition like SamO and Jack are, but I am a better mud rider than I was a year ago!

Next, I have to thank several people/groups for their support:
First and foremost I have to thank my wife, kids, and dad for being there. It doesn't happen w/out me not feeling guilty or being stressed about racing.
Secondly, my sponsors were fantastic. It is no accident that I had very little equipment or nutrition trouble this year. Trek and Bontrager set me up w/ the best equipment in the world (I have said enough about this already =), Rochester Cycling and Fitness (stop in and see them if you are ever in Roch...awesome store), and Penn (especially Tyson at the Bloomington store) helped out on maintenance and the little stuff, and Gu (the Roctane Rocks!) kept my muscle glycogen above zero most of the time.
Finally, I want to thank the MNMBS for stepping it up to be one of the premier mountain bike series in the nation. You do not get enough praise and thanks for what you all do.

See you on the trails...snowy or otherwise.