Thru Endurance We Conquer!

June hasn't even started and it's already packed full of stuff and races. I was hoping with less travel this year, I'd have more time for fun stuff, like epic rides and camping trips. It all starts early on June 1, as my mother is attempting her first 24 Hour race at 24 hours of E-rock. She's racing with Noemi from CTS in the two person division. We're loading up the turtle with all her gear and Nick will be running pit crew through the night. I'll be joining them Saturday morning to help out for the rest of the 24 hour race. I was invited to join a team, but between work and such had to decline. Then Mom heads home and we head north. I may be invoking Murphy again, but the forecast is looking hot for the rescheduled Battle the Bear. I'm still gonna bring ALL my warm clothes this time. And I do mean all... Hopefully this time, we will get to race for the full 60 miles! I'm looking forward to throwing down some hot laps on the Bear Creek Lake Park singl...

Because 24 hour racing is greatly dependent on knowing how equipment performs, Nick ran a test of our new lights. He wanted to see exactly how long each of the Exposure Lights we have would last, so we could plan our laps at the upcoming 24 hour races. Please take a look at the chart he wrote up. There's some really good data, and some really impressive numbers. Click on the link below for the full PDF. Exposure Lights Bench Test Exposure Lights Bench Test 

Nick and I are pleased to announce an official light sponsor for the 2012 24 Hour season - Exposure Lights USA. We will be using the Exposure Lights for all our 24 hour races and night rides from here on out. This is an exciting partnership that will literally light up our nights! Why Exposure Lights? Well, it's a clean system with a no fuss on/off and setting toggle switch that easy to use, even with heavy gloves. (Nick loves that, especially in the winter.) The helmet mount for the Diablo light is robust and features a simple ball joint system that makes it easy to adjust on the fly. It's also withstood a few of Nick's high speed wipeouts. The bar mounting clamp is equally durable and easy to use - and very light. The aluminum housing for the light system is both functional and elegant. There are several models of lights, from the tiny 325 lumen Joystick to the burly 1925 lumen Six Pack that will light the trail for yards. All the lights are modeled after the same con...

I'm going to be splitting my time between two blogs for a while this summer. As part of the Sand Creek/Ascent Cycling series, I'll be posting some of my ramblings and race reports over on Pikes Peak Sports - the digital stomping ground for the Pikes Peak region. Generally, if it's related to the Ascent Cycling Series, I'll be writing on that site. I'll either re-post here a little later or just put up a link to the articles. It's gonna be a fun summer of mountain bike racing in Colorado Springs and I'm happy to be a part of it. My first post is up over there - here's the link - http://www.pikespeaksports.us/profiles/blogs/counting-down-to-the-ascent-cycling-series Enjoy the mountain biking in Colorado Sprigs the summer!

I've never put on a race - closest I've come has been volunteering. I know a lot of things go into hosting a race like Battle the Bear, from permits and course marking to food and volunteer logistics. Getting everything in place once seems hard enough, but twice? Nearly impossible. So I have nothing but respect for the Warriors Cycling crew with the headache that rescheduling the rained/mudded out Battle the Beat has become. Bear Creek Lake Park is a popular place and there are lots of events going on. So it's not as easy as just picking a weekend and saying we'll race then. They have to work with the park, the look at semi open weekends in the packed mountain biking calendar. I also have to respect that Thane and Co are trying to include the riders in making the decision on the reschedule. But I think it's a case of you can please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time! Every weekend in ...

Since there was no race this weekend, Nick and I went exploring on Sunday. (A smart call, I don't think the trails would have dried enough to be rideable. And I don't like riding in clay, cement mud) With the Pikes Peak atlas in Nick's pack, we headed up Gold Camp Road. I wanted a bit of a workout and took the climb a little harder, settling into steady state effort. It felt good to burn some of the energy stored from the taper for the race. At the top, we pulled out the map. Time to go find some new trails. My turn to enjoy the view - looking out over Ft Carson and 115 And we did. With a mix of fun riding, some steep hike-a-bike sections and a few technical sections it was a slow but cool hour and a half. The views at the top were worth all the effort to get there. And we saw where some of the other trails we're looking at might go. But that's exploring for another day. The drop to Old Stage was loose, with lots of decomposed granite scree, but still fun. W...

When I packed my bag Thursday night, I felt like I was forgetting something. Couldn't place it, so didn't worry. I'd checked the weather forecast for Battle the Bear 60 mile race pretty regularly - and at that time, it was for mostly sunny, highs low 60s and a chance of rain in the afternoon. Having had mud experiences where I've pushed and carried my bike off the trails in Beak Creek Lake Park, I kept my fingers crossed that is would stay nice. Thunderstorms greeted us at Chatfield Res last night. Off and on sprinkles cooled the air. Then I checked the forecast again - that mostly sunny had changed to mostly cloudy, with a high of 60 and 70% chance of rain. At 3:00 am, I woke up to thunder and a downpour. And it kept raining. And kept raining. At 5:30, when my alarm went off, it was still raining. With the race still on at that point, we prepared as best we could and headed to the race venue. And it was still sprinkling on and off as we were driving. Got to BCLP an...