SunValley To RedFish Lake

Mt Harison

Yesterday I decided I wanted to ride up Mt Harrison, it is one of my favorite rides near by. We headed out to Albion to drop me off about 4 miles from the start of the climb. The first little bit was fairly flat and I could tell my legs weren't firing on all cylinders. After I started up the legs felt a bit better but not fully to my abilities. I think the altitude is still getting to me a bit.

About 1/3 the way up I was greated by a heard of cows feeding on the side of the road. I'm no fan of cows, mind you are darn right hate cows. They are dumb animals that you never know what they are going to do. This one decided to give me the 100 yard stare and I was really thinking it was going to charge at me. I made it to Pomerelle Mountain Ski Resort, about 60% up the grade or about 7,800ft, and was starting to feel alot better. My legs take a large amount of time to warm up, generally 45 minutes, before they can ride well.


Me about 8,500 ft up starting to feel a bit of cold in the air. The views from up this far are amazing! You can see for miles around, even with the cloud cover. The leafy trees I passed earlier had started to change colors allready for fall, the colors were so bright it was neon.


Funny story about the water bottles. Seems my support crew decided they would wash my bottles out the previous nite in a attempt to get them sparkly clean for the next day. Well, hmm it is wise to wash out bottles fully before drinking from them, all i could taste was soap. I ended up riding up only on that single bottle of 16.9oz of water, not nearly enough.



Allmost to the top only about 1km to the top, the grade gets quite steep at the top.


Last push to the top, ended up out of the saddle in a atempt to really crank it up the final 200 meters.


Felt so good to finally reach the parking lot at the top!


Quick family photo, and then it was off the bottom of the hill. The way down was a quick little jaunt as it was starting to get cold on the top and I wanted to get down to Albion for a great dinner.

Trail Creek Time Trial

First morning after arriving in Twin Falls at 1430, I was up at 0500 to get ready to head up to Sun Valley for the Trail Creek Time Trial. When getting to the late registration area we noticed no one around. We decided to ride up the road and even found the finish line, yet no people. on the way down the hill we found some people at a small turn off the road. Turns out the flier that stated 0800 start time was wrong, start time 0900. Registration was a tad bit un organized as the lady registering was not exactly sure of what was going on. Secondly it was BLOODY COLD! 45 degrees, Im used to 70 degree plus weather. I put on every item of clothing I had; tights, bibs, base layer, jersey, jacket and beanie. Yet I was still cold! Finally go to my start time and I decided to shed the jacket as the weather was warming up a tad.

Race was a down the hill turn around then back up past the start line. The start wasnt really down hill, more gently rolling downward. The start I was feeling pretty darn good getting right up to 28 mph and holding that for most of the first part to the turn around. The around was pretty tough as the road is fairly narrow.

The ride back to the start line I could start to feel the pain of my lungs and legs. I wasnt getting the oxygen, nor did i get the proper warmup i needed. The next little bit still inst much of a hill, however i could tell it wasnt going right. The last 1 mile is around a 15% grade all the way to the finish. By the top I had had it, my lungs wanted to explode, my legs ached, and I couldnt breathe. The ride down was sadding as I thought about how horiable of a race I had just had. I got caught by the rider behind and failed to catch my minute man. I dont know the place I got or my offical time. I have around 29 minutes, with a dismal avg of 19mph. What got me was the elavation, 36 hours before I was at 0 feet, then flew for 12 hours, and rode a race at 6,700 feet elavation. Abit from the race it was a nice trip up and some great scenery.

Woops where went August?

O the month of august where did it go? All ready it is September 11th and im on a flight headed back towards the mainland, with my bike in tow. The month of August was not as strong training as I would have liked. My motivation and drive seemed to have vanished quickly and fast. The only saving grace was the adtion of a power meter mid month. Luckily this gave me enough motivation to continue on and try and get some miles in on the bike. I also have to thank my fellow team mates on Pac Velo, as the sunday rides gave me a reason get up in the morning.

So, the power meter I know many of asked me about it and how is it working. It has had only slight problems, all related to either the Garmin Edge 705 or the "wonderful" design of the megaxo bottom bracket. My problems with the Edge have slowly dissolved with the latest firmware updates, however there is some kinks to work out. I have had some strange missing data periods on the Edge, this can be extremely frustrating when your are trying to record every detail of your ride to be able to analyze later on. The greatest aspect of the power meter was at Dick Evans Road Race. During the Climb up Kunia road there was a crash that split the field right off the bat. I was in the second group towards the back. Knowing what my wattage limits were, what my "Burning a Match" wattage was I was able to make smart moves. In the beginning I knew I still had the ability to make some jumps and get out of the back of the chase pack and into the top 10 of the chase. I then was able to know when I could offer the group something by pulling and to what extent. Luckily, I was with a great group that organized quickly and we caught onto the lead pack. This turned out to be the best move of the day. All thanks to the Quarq Cinco.

Dick Evans, so we already know that I made the jump and caught on to the main train at the top of kunia. The next 30 miles nothing spectacular, I rode with my fellow teammate David Delong. He however had a mechanical (threw a spoke) and had to drop back. I knew this happened but didn't know when he was going to go back. I found out to late when he was gone and just then the pack picked up the pace. It was a crummy move on the groups part. Everyone in that field knew he had a mechanical and took advantage of it, really shady. Looking back on this event I wish I had known, or wish I would have acted on it by falling back and him back into the pack. Hindsight is 20/20. onwards the race went and I felt strong and was riding up in the main group. Then 25 miles to the finish after a long descent I shifted, my chain dropped as did my sprits. I tried and tried to get it back on to no luck. I had stop and put the chain on. This made me lose contact from the lead group. I tried to catch back on, but 1man against 20 that late in the race isn't going to happen. To my credit I did gain ground but not enough. Mile 99 disaster! I flatted going up a small out and back hill. Halfway up I knew I had flatted but said screw it and kept going to the top, by the top I was riding on the rim. At the top I said flat flat flat, yet the volunteers looked at me like they didn't know what a flat was. Great! no wheel support and no other ideas, glad I packed a spare tube and co2. 6 minutes later I carried on and headed to the finish. Going up Makapuu grade I darn near broke, I had just been passed by two team mates and was unable to hold on. Between the flat and the chain drop, the miles alone I was popped. I did finish the race and in a fairly good time.5 Hours 20 Minutes.... should have been 5 Hours 14 minutes without the flat. Then you think, well if i was with the group I could have gone faster, so realy what should have been my time? Next year next year!

Now its September 11th and Im headed home! Its been 18 months since I have been home and its time to get a break. The plan while at home is to start back my riding and really get some base miles in. I have a race on Saturday the 13th. It is a 10 mile hill climb time trial. The following weekend I get to do the Twin Falls Triathlon. Mind you I haven't trained for a triathlon in over 2 years! Im looking forward to this race, it will be a trip back to the start, the twin falls Tri was my first triathlon. The rest of my time will be spent doing all my favorite hill climbs, and a trip through north-eastern Idaho. 18 days of biking bliss!