Family Affair

First time my wife and kid have watched me race in two years.  Really a good feeling to look over and see my 5 year old daughter Ruby yelling "go daddy!"  Puts things in perspective.  Placing doesn't matter as much.  Of course it is still why I am out there, to push myself, see where I can go.

Sweet venue up in the mountains.  Longs Peak keeping an eye on things.  Rugged course with lots of places to go wrong.  Took myself out twice in places that should have been no issue.  Feeling good, getting a bit jumpy.  Sit in and be smooth, it will come.  Lots of fun coming up in the new few weeks!

Thumbs

Fall is here.  I know because this is when the fingers and thumbs start to crack.  Makes squeezing that lime into the bottle a painful experience.  Small price to pay.  I also know it's fall because I had to wear my knee warmers before the race last weekend.  A brutal affair trying to dodge the wind, sucking wheel like a baby.  Survival from the start.  Straight and flat with nary a turn to be had...

All the Usual Suspects

First race with all the usual suspects.  Field was 40 or more.  My call up didn't help much as the road sprint went on forever.  Dry and dusty out in the fields. Great course with ditches logs and a run up.  Gotta make the starts a priority.  Once the boys are away it's nearly impossible to get back on.  Good pain and suffering.  Good pain and suffering.

Getting back in the grove shooting.  Awareness returns with time behind the lens.  CX'ers move a lot faster than the houses I've been shooting.  Damn that dust though!  Lenses are grinding, sensors are spotty.  Let it snow!

Let the Suffering Begin

CX season is back.  Figured I'd get a couple races under my belt last weekend.  Steamboat and Copper.  Always good to get slapped in the face early in the season.  Oh yeah, I gotta work at it if I wanna be fast.  Super fun racing again, trying to get dialed on the CX bike after a fully suspended summer.

Small fields gave me some room to work out a few kinks.  Still lots of room for improvement, those guys up front are so damn fast...

Intelligent Design

I've been totally slacking on posting as of late, but there has been a lot going on in my little world.  Since I do have a single track mind, and just about everything I do ties into the bike, I figure I should write a bit about some of those other things I do.  One of those things is photographing architecture.

I recently got the opportunity to shoot a very cool home designed by fellow bike freak and Architect Brian Fuentes, of Fuentes Designs.  Brian is totally committed to lessening the impact we put on our planet by building as green as possible, and not the "green building" that many folks are claiming, but truly innovative and intelligent building that makes a difference.  Brian has also been car free (which could also be construed as care free), for quite a few years, preferring to get around on two wheels under his own power.

The chance to shoot a home like this does not come around too often simply because not too many homeowners are aware enough to realize the benefits of building for the future.  Although there may be a few more costs up front, the long term benefits to the homeowners, and to the environment, definitely outweigh those costs.  Brian could go into detail about all that went into the design of this house, so please feel free to contact him with any questions.

The home owners were very helpful during the shoot, and it was obvious they took pride in the fact that they had invested in the future by building in a way they feel is important to the environment and the conservation of our resources.

Brian was also super helpful on the shoot and acted as my assistant for the two days of shooting we did.  Hopefully Brian will continue to design homes for this type of client, and hopefully more people will see the light and become this type of client!  Thanks Brian!

Everybody is Doin it...

Deep down I wish it wasn't true, but I don't see how it could not be true.  It's a part of cycling history.  It's part of human nature; do whatever it takes to conquer.  Sad but true...

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden

The Hundo

Last weekend I got the opportunity to shoot the Bailey Hundo for Mountain Flyer Magazine.  This was a race that had started out as a group ride and exploded into a happening 100 mile endurance race with the racer limit set at 150 invitees.  Dave Weins, Travis Brown, JHK, Sonya Looney, Ezster Horanyi, and a host of other super fast folks spent the first half of the day ripping the killer single track around between Bailey, Buffalo Creek, and Deckers, and the second half of the day climbing back up to Bailey on a brutal climb up Stoney Pass Road.

Jason Bertolacci of Colorado Mountain Bike Association dialed me in on following the race in my car which was crucial, as I needed to know when the leaders would be coming through certain sections of the course.  I definitely felt like I needed to do some scouting too (read: ride single track) so I spent five hours on the clock the day before the race.  It was good: really good.  So Luckily, with a lot of hustling, I was able to catch the leaders in three or four places throughout the single track portion of the race.

After that, I drove to the long dirt road climb but the first four riders had already gone up the road and I wanted to shoot a bunch of stuff on the way up the climb. It was a pretty awesome sight to watch these guys and gals work their way up through the burned out wasteland and finally into the trees at the top of the pass.  I ended up shooting racers in about 5th thru 30th places as I leapfrogged them up the pass for a couple hours.  There were some epic battles going on as each rider struggled with the conditions in their own way.

I knew quite a few people in the race, and one of my oldest racing buddies, Jason Stubbe was sitting in 20th place or so though out the race.  40 miles into the single track section I had ridden my bike a few miles out onto the Colorado Trail to shoot.  Stubbe came by and I was screaming and yelling at him telling him he was doing great.  He stopped for a minute and I helped him refill his camelback and grab a bite to eat. He was off down the trail  "I feel good."

A couple hours later I'm half way up Stoney Pass Road and I know he should be coming up soon. I should have a cooler full of food but I literally have 1 small bottle of water and a cinnamon roll in my car.  Ill prepared for hand-ups and for shooting all day.  I'm parked at the top of a particularly steep section that climbs and turns into a stiff headwind, mile 85 or so.

Here comes Stubbe, I know the way he rides his bike, I've ridden with him for hundreds if not thousands of hours.   He's hurting, I can tell.  But he's still holding the same place he was 40 miles ago, sick.  I yell down the road to him, "Stubbe!!  I've got stuff for you!!."  Not really, that is besides the 12 ounces of water and most of a cinnamon roll.  He pulls up and gets off the bike and grabs a bit of shade from a tree.  After drinking the water he grabs the cinnamon roll and picks up his bike asking me were we are.  I don't know, maybe near the top?  He slowly pedals off eating the roll.

Turns out we aren't that close to the top.  After the finish he told me the cinnamon roll saved his life;  I believe it.  Stubbe ended up finishing 23rd overall, pretty damn fast for a guy that works his ass off building houses during the week!  Anyway, Good times and suffering were had by all.  Definitely check out the trail system in the Bailey area, lots of excellent single track!