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".