Fantastic Ride

KROGG LOVE RIDING IN CALIFORNIA!


Today Krogg ride with Seattle friends from Keller Rohrbach team. You should remember these cavemen from Krogg blog. Ian crush Krogg at time trial last year, and Jamie crush Krogg on training ride earlier in year. Well today, KROGG CRUSH BACK!!!

We ride over famous Gibraltar mountain outside Santa Barbara. We go up up up up up! Here photo of group near top of hill.

Also on ride Spencer Paxson -- pro mountain biker for Kona: 

Also near top of hill, Krogg spot these crazy guys:

At first, Krogg pretty sure he find real live GPS (Giant Pigeon in Sky), but then someone tell Krogg these simply hang-gliders, not Giant Pigeons. Krogg ask hang-gliders if they still get nervous when they jump off giant mountains, and one hang-glider reply "I don't get nervous; I get an appropriate amount of butterflies in my stomach before a launch. Hang-gliding isn't an adrenaline sport -- it's an endorphin sport." Sounds nice. Then hang-glider pick up giant wing-bird and march towards edge of cliff:

Then with little fanfare, he simply jump into the void:



Once Krogg and group return to Santa Barbara, Krogg wish fond farewell to KR team, and then ride back to Ventura along coast. Krogg get flat tire on Highway 101, but this do little to disrupt Krogg's good mood -- look at view!

Krogg see other amazing thing on way home. DINOSAURS ATTACK FORREST!!!!!!





Mighty Mastodons -- look at those machines devour trees! This somewhat terrifying to Krogg. If that machine has teeth so sharp it can chew through tree trunk, imagine what would happen to caveman, should he accidentally fall into machine's mouth! Lastly, Krogg want to share file from real Giant Pigeon in Sky of ride. WHAT A GOOD CAVEMAN RIDE!!!!

Emmett-Horseshoe Bend Loop: CRUSHED.

First off, sweet little bit of Exergy news: team car is here. Scope the pic from Remi. Team Camp #1 in T-minus 9 days and counting.

Now then.
What's up Emmett-Horseshoe Bend loop? How are ya? Are ya feeling good? No? I didn't think so after I CRUSHED YOU like that today! BOO YEAH. I friggin CRUSHED YOU LIKE A LITTLE PUNK TODAY!!!

DINO CRUSH!!!!!!

GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!


Full loop in under 4 hours (from Camel's Back park to Camel's Back park). All by my dinosaur self.  CRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHACRUSHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Now I can't move. 

Things Going Great in Boise!

I am in bike riding heaven up here. The weather has been clear and cold (hovering just below thirty most of the day). I got my cross bike out of storage, and took my first cruise on the nearby trails. It was awesome -- swoopy, smooth single-track that went for miles and miles. I found out that I can hop on trails practically across the street that link up to the entire network of trails. Plus they're beautiful:

Today I took a nice loooong ride over to Horseshoe Bend, a town just north of Boise. Here more pictures:

YAAAA HOO.
This ride was long, it was hard, and it was cold. It was so cold, I decided to bust out the tights! I could tell it was cold because frost kept forming on any part of my clothing that wasn't in direct contact with my skin (namely my tights, specifically the region near my crotch). I also formed frost./ice on my mustache. You should have seen the look on the lady's face who worked at the gas station I stopped at -- she glanced at my frost-covered crotch, then at my icy mustache, and (kind of) suppressed a chuckle.

Oh, and I nearly ran over this guy on my way out the other morning:

Truchas New Mexico

So Krogg get special opportunity: ride bike from Santa Fe to Taos and then get car ride back home! This great for Krogg -- Krogg always want to ride those roads, plus weather being very cooperative at the moment. So Krogg start voyage. Aside from mild head-wind on frontage road to Pojoaque (pronounced poe-WHA-kee), things go smoothly at first. Krogg pass by famous Camel Rock and have to suppress caveman urge to huck spear at camel -- think how much meat! 

Then Krogg get slightly lost. YES, Krogg have Giant Pigeon in Sky (GPS), but GPS not exactly well-versed in the labyrinthine, canine-filled, nettle-work known as Pojoaque. GPS offer this suggestion for taking shortcut:

Pojoaque offer this as counter offer:

Yes, Krogg get caveman blood flowing rather quickly when dogs approach with teeth bared, and make bid for caveman ankle. Fortunately, Krogg have excellent kicking reflexes, as well as excellent sprinting reflexes. Finally Krogg find road that take high-route to Taos. Travel through beautiful new mexico countryside.

 Finally Krogg arrive at Truchas. Truchas at 8,000 feet. Damn that not a lot of air for caveman lungs.

 Krogg climb climb climb up to snow covered mountain pass, and take picture of bike in snow.

 Finally Krogg pass through TAOS, just as sun setting. Friggin gorgeous time of day in New Mexico.

Here Krogg Garmin file. Zoom in on town of Nambe (near bottom of map) to see Krogg's failed attempt to take shortcut through Pojoaque. 

Glory Be Praised -- A Real Ride!

Thank the heavens above -- the roads have cleared, and bike riding is back on the menu! Check how beautiful New Mexico!

Killer ride I tell you! KILLER!
Then, to finish, I stopped at Santa Fe Baking Company, and ate THIS:

To some of you that might look like a brick covered in blood and dinosaur boogers, but to a true-blooded New Mexican, there's no more appetizing sight: a breakfast burrito (with bacon) smothered "Christmas" style. HALLELUJAH!!!

Thanks to my Garmin Edge 800, I didn't get lost once (ok -- I did take a wrong turn at one point -- but it's not the same thing). I rode through the little towns of Lamy, Galisteo, Los Cerrillos, and Madrid (pronounced MAA-drid). Check out my little loop:

Tour of Utah 0.1: The Preface to the Prologue

So here we are. In Utah. Things are great. We're settled into our home stay. We're staying up in a beautiful neighborhood, somewhere high up in the clouds, halfway between Salt Lake and Park City. Here's what we did today:

Saw deer!

We woke up and found that our home stay is frequented by wild deer even more than by traveling cyclists. Here's the sweet little thing munching on the garden right outside the office:

Went Riding!

Yes, the air is thin up here, and the sun beats down with ferocity, but good lord is it pretty!

Ate Dinner!

There was a free pasta feed for the racers. Nothing, and I mean nothing stirs up the predatory instincts in amateur cyclists like the words "free pasta feed." Like sharks smelling blood in the water, we descended from our perch atop the mountains to the Sheraton Hotel, race headquarters for the Tour of Utah, and gorged on pasta, veggies, and bread. 

Chris came, even though he eats a gluten-free diet. Only a cyclist would bring pasta to a pasta feed: 

Top-Secret Training!

We added an impressive new feature to the Hagens Berman team van, one normally only seen on the best-equipped pro-tour teams. We now have the ability to spin our legs while we're in the van, thanks to our state of the art stationary trainer. 

Here's Sean, cranking out ~580 watts.

The advanced mechanism that controls the resistance does indeed get hot! I burned my finger on it quite badly. We poured water on the crank arms and it sizzled off as though it were a hot skillet!

We will now be the most warmed-up, and cooled-down team here at the Tour of Utah!

THE CLAW STRIKES AGAIN!

Boy these weeks sure have been flying by. I just finished the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race. As some of you may recall, I've done this race in the past, and while I didn't encounter any demonic donkeys, demonic cows, or even demonic sheep, I still had a good time.

I placed third in the time trial (same as last year). I love this race because they've used the same time trial course since 1997, and they've posted all the results on their website. It's fun to look back through the years and see who the heavy-hitters of yesteryear were. It's also neat to see riders improving over time; in 2000 Svein Tuft threw down a 13:31 (good enough for fourth). In 2007 he did a 12:25 (the current course record). My what seven years of riding a bike will get you.

The criterium was rainy (as usual), and filled with crashed (as usual). Why people skip Wenatchee to race at Enumclaw is beyond me. I made it through alive -- that's pretty much all I have to say about that.

The road race was an odd duck. I got up the road early in the race with four other guys, all of whom were interested in working. At one point we had a five-minute lead on the field, making me the leader on the road. We worked smoothly until the final climb when things started to splinter up a bit. I shelled all but one of my breakaway-mates and finished second on the stage, but first in GC. This is my first real stage race victory ever, so that's pretty cool.

To celebrate, I went on a recovery ride today. Actually it had nothing to do with celebration; it's what I would have done anyway -- but it was still a sweet recovery ride. The rain and cold of the weekend has given way to a beautiful day here in Seattle. Here's a slice:


Morgan in Magnolia



Alan and Morgan

Elliot Bay

It's (still) in the P.I. 

Post Alley

Cobbles

Pikes Place Market

PIROSHKY PIROSHKY!!!

Yum

Cobbles up to Queen Anne

Flat tire. 

Culprit: 

Bike