Spinning in Sedona

     As soon as I left The Republic, the front end of my Honda van was all over the road.  Something was definitely not right, but I was on a mission from God, or maybe it was Dog. I was going to get to Sedona for the Big Friggin Loop no matter what. Time to get back on track. Enough of riding the CX bike around the dirt of Boulder, enough of hours in the wind in the name of getting my old ass in shape. Time to get some red desert dirt grinding in the chain of the MTB.  I ended up pulled off the interstate twice to crawl under the front end and make sure the wheels were not going to fall off.  I know nothing about cars, but figured I should at least take a look.
     It all looked good to me so I got back in and punched it. Half way to Santa Fe I called a repair shop, pretty sure I wouldn't make it to Sedona safely. Since I was staying with The Kid in Santa Fe, I had a day to play with, hopefully they could fix it quickly. Ended up talking The Kid into going along, which didn't take much. Kid's a natural, won the Cochiti 100 last year, one of my favorite riding partners.
     We rolled in his old Diesel Benz that has something like 275,000 mile on it. He's shooting for the 300,000 mile mark when he'll get a golden belt buckle or something from Mr. Benz. It was kind of like riding a single speed, use your momentum. We made it.
     The riding was insane! Lots and lots of technical singletrack, so many trails, and, of course vortexes! I'm sure we were caught in a couple of these tornadoes of vibe. Wierd stuff was happening out there on the trail. We were lost, but not lost, the entire day. We came off some single track after two hours without seeing anybody, only to find some freeriders sessioning some drops in a dry creek bed, full armor and all. We crossed a slippery ass creek only to turn right back around and cross it again.  We crashed, well, The Kid crashed. We extracted all sorts of cacti from all sorts of body parts, but most of all we rode singletrack that demanded 100% focus and an A Game to keep it on the trail.
     Oh yeah, and I did work on Saturday, trying to put all the recon we did on Friday to use by following the race by car, bike and foot to get photos of a killer race in a killer land, on killer trails.  Here's the Mt. Flyer report with some pics.  http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/sedona-big-friggin-loop.html

Big Time

The CX Gods smiled upon us and brought some wet stuff for the big weekend in Fort Collins.  Two days of worship filled the cup.  Couldn't race but gave it everything I had to capture the weekend.  Here are some favorites from Saturday...

http://shawnlortie.photoshelter.com/

Head Spinning and CX Eyed

What a weekend of festivities! Killer to have all the big names in town to throw down with the local heat. Jake Wells had a great weekend, as did Nicole Duke. Boulder Cycle Sport, the Hudz/Subaru crew, the Tough Girls, all had impressive results. But results don't tell the whole story, and many of our local racers were relegated to the back of the pack at the start due to lack of UCI points.

On Sunday, I saw Pete Webber start one or two rows from the back in the Men's Open race.  This is in a field of nearly 100 racers. Pete worked his way up to 19th place by the finish, imagine what could have been if he were to start near the front.  Regardless, everyone had their work cut out for them as they chased the likes of Tim Johnson and Katie Compton around the course.

My lungs hurt from racing and screaming and my neck hurts from lugging around all that camera gear.  Had a blast shooting all weekend and can't wait for the USGP to roll through Fort Collins.

Da Boys

After shooting all day, and racing Saturday, I could barely get out of bed on Sunday.  I really wanted to race the new course at Flatirons but I knew it would be a futile effort.  I couldn't stay away.  I had to go shoot the guys I usually race with.  Once again I got so involved in yelling at everyone that I missed a lot of shots.  Here are a few of my favorites from the 35+ race.  Can't wait to re-tool and get back out there.

Brian Hludzinski with the hole shot.

Jeff Cospolich on the run-up.

Mark Legg-Compton likes to show up every once in a while and kick some ass.

Rod Yoder capturing it and sharing it.

Double Dip

Two in a row this weekend.  First day was fast and flowing, coolest course of the year for me. Threw down hard but played it smart, recover, recover, go. Second day was pretty rough with a couple long run ups.  Not much jam but kept it steady.

Lots of carnage and tragedy narrowly avoided.  Keller taken out by a rider warming up.  Coyle glancing off a 3 year old girl loose on the course.  Myself having at least two close calls with riders warming up.  It's crazy out there.  Round and round we go...

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...