I weigh more now than I did when I left for Colorado. Let me say that again, I weigh more now than I did when I left for Colorado. Of course I've got the most important race on the international cycling calender on the brain right now, and I can't get over the fact that I weigh more now than I did when I left for Colorado. Guess all that sport eating I did with Pete-unh caught up with me. Also, I'm still waiting for the Superman effect that I'm supposed to feel after returning from altitude... impatiently. Oh well, maybe if I get lucky I won't win at ORAMM in nine days, and in 2010 I won't feel compelled to return which will allow me to spend more time on my upcoming book signing tour. I didn't actually write a book, but I was thinking that if you printed off my Breck Epic blog frommountainbike.com and brought it before me I would consider autographing it. I would only do this for you, of course.
I'll be MOOTSless this weekend. The Meatplow is somewhere within the confines of a brown truck somewhere between Steamboat Springs and Charlotte right about now. I guess it's finally time to break in the Drake powder coat job on the yet to be named Zion.
Maybe I'll get a little riding in on a suspension fork just to confuse my brain a bit before the big race. Anyways, shitty post, but since I'm gonna be out late tonight and up at 5:00am to ride tomorrow I gotta get my shit in order NOW.
Did you know that when you let off the brakes at altitude you gain speed much faster on the descents than at sea level? I wouldn't have believed it, but I wasn't the only one who thought so. Freaky.
So racing at altitude is way harder than I woulda imagined. Sure, I went into it just slightly better than anemic and with a 40.7 hematocrit, but I had convinced myself I would just flick a switch in my head, and it would be all better. It didn't work. Yes, early on (before I got to Colorado) I was toying with the notion of getting into the top three in the single speed GC, or at least standing on the podium for a stage (even though I despise podiums). I was amazed at just what happened when I pushed my body to the limit, and how long it took to recover. If I put a lot of effort into making a technical section of trail I would pay for it for a long time, unable to catch my breath and feeling like my heart was racing at 210BPM's. Serious shit.
That said, the Breck Epic was a serious challenge, which is truly what I was looking for when I signed up. Very few people enter a race of this nature with podium dreams. What we really want are incredible trails, great organization, and a challenge that actually makes us hurt by the end of the week. I got all that in spades.
The worst parts about stage racing....
Lugging over fifty pounds of gear all over the place. This is down from the 80+ pounds of gear I needed years ago, but I still ended up with a ton of shit I never used.
Not getting mad props for a killer trackstand while waiting for my TT Prologue start (I know this is why I locked myself into a fabulous eighth place finish). Bilz paid in full with awesome skilz.
So many beers, so little time...
Too many friends.... Jake Kirkpatrick (at left) is explaining to my contact at MOOTS (Jon, at right) why he needed to throw a miniature hay bail at my head during our important business meeting. "See, we were in the middle of this all-out cross table war..." Beer makes it all go away.
And the good stuff...
Having once in a lifetime experiences with new people. Here Rob and Matty from MOOTS show me where they plan on placing the MOOTSYWOOD sign on the mountain in the distance. "Yeah, Steamboat is our town".
All photos have been borrowed without permission from Pete-unh's Flickr page. Go over there and see what Pete-unh was busy doing while the rest of us (except for Mike Ferrentino) were racing.
Ferrentino's "race"?
I think he spent most of his time regretting the fact that they didn't engineer a cupholder into the carbon Santa Cruz Blur.
I figure I'll babble more about the Breck Epic later, but I feel like I should get this information out in a timely manner. Back when MountainBike.com published my last painstakingly well written 1,000+ word article I mentioned my timely purchase of the Awesome Strap. As any of you that have read my blog for awhile know I've been sweating how to carry my shit when I'm racing for quite some time. From fanny packs, to saddle bags, to hydration humps, to jersey pockets, to the unused orifices of my body... you name it. Well anyways I was looking into getting a strap, and found that there were two manufacturers of bike related straps out there. I looked at the features, compared the prices, and made my selection.
After I made my decision I ponied up the cash VIA Paypal to purchase the Awesome Strap, and I tacked on a little extra loot for Priority USPS shipping. A few hours later I got an email that my shipping was refunded, and that shipping was free. I replied back that I added the shipping dollars in order to ensure that it would get here in time for the Cowbell Marathon so I could test it before I headed out to Breckenridge. Then I got a strange reply back. Something about "Are you THE Rich Dillen?" As in "THE Bill Cosby"*, "THE Micheal Jordan", or "THE Real Mark Lepper".
And that's how it started. I paid for the strap like a normal human being as opposed to sending an email to Backcountry Research saying "I'm THE Rich Dillen, so gimme some shit for free". That way there were no strings attached, and if I hated the product there was no love lost. Well Richard Clark of Backcountry Research was pretty confident that I would dig his product, and offered to sponsor the whole team here at Bad Idea Racing, but I felt like the Awesome Strap needed a shakedown before I agreed. That was the Cowbell Marathon.
Real action shot taken by Big Worm, not a posed promotional photo
Well it performed as advertised, and I decided it would be my strap of choice for future events, and thusly I would agree to partner up with Backcountry Research and accept my first strap sponsor EVER! Victory!!
Richard sent me a few to take with me to Breckenridge, but I have to admit I only ran one of them while I was in Colorado. I installed it for a ride with the MOOTSfolks Thursday before the race, I left it on the bike for eleven days straight, and it never budged or dropped any part of its load. I just hit it with the hose and ignored it the whole time.
Not convinced? Watch the video and sit back and enjoy a theatrical experience that could hardly be called a "demonstration". Feel the drama as Richard entices you to "reef it down" and the titillating excitement as he beckons you to "go ahead and load it".
So...
Anyways...
Yeah, I'm digging this product, and I give it my...
Seal of Semi Approval.
Why only semi-approval?
It only comes in black. This is a great color choice if you are not secure in your manhood and feel the need to relate to Johnny Cash on some level in order to show the world you are truly heterosexual, but a guy like me can pull off pink as well as the day is long (what does that mean?). Aside from this minor exception to absolute perfection the Awesome Strap passes the muster, and I must insist that you buy one today... actually make that two since the only thing more awesome than having one would be the doubly awesome experience of having two. Good lord, think of the implications if you actually bought three....
I shudder just thinking about that much awesomeness.
I got home last night and posted up a link to the last stage write up on MountainBike.com. Now I'm settling back into my "normal life" and trying to figure out a way to stop going to work. Unfortunately I didn't come up with anything, so back to the wonderful world of being an elite (actually elitist) bike messenger in Charlotte, NC.
Even though I posted some "thank you's" in my MB.com post I still feel like thanking people where appropriate.
Mike McCormack: Promoter of the Breck Epic, race director extraordinaire, and helluva guy. If it weren't for his Blogger's Grant Contest I woulda spent a lot more money doing the BE, and that would have meant less racing the rest of the year. He helped me out in more ways than I'll bother to discuss, and I ended up having one of the smoothest stage racing experiences ever. Whenever Mike was met with a challenge he rose to the occasion and did his best to ensure that everybody had a good time (except that guy who wanted bottle handups all over the course). Peter Keiller: What can I say? As foul and evil a person as some might think he is Peter was actually a great travel partner. The trip was definitely more interesting having him around, and even though I think he mighta tried to slip something in my drink at the after party he's still all right in my book (I have one you know). Peter took a lot of photos, including this one where I'm explaining to reporters just how large Peter's man breasts are:
Tomi: Let's face it. He kept me entertained and motivated. With him out there on a fixed gear I knew I had to at least beat him since I could coast and all. He was crushing my on the climbs, so with him out ahead I probably hung it out a bit more than usual to catch him on the descents... well except that last day. He also snagged this photo (I'm pretty sure that's me waaaaay off in the distance).
MOOTS: Everybody at MOOTS was more than gracious during my visit. I had an incredible tour (more about that later), accomodations that were well beyond my normal standards, and overall I felt like I was treated like somebody quite a bit more deserving of such treatment. I must really thank MOOTS CEO Rob Mitchell for not only trying to scale the walls of the MOOTSfactory when I locked the keys inside the apartment on the Fourth of July, but for also putting me up at his house for a couple of days after the race. He and Maggie really made me feel at home (especially for them hardly knowing me), and I am forever in their debt. Also thanks to Matt (long time MOOTSwelder) and John (my main contact at MOOTS) for taking me out on a couple rides and proving that the air is thin in Steamboat whether I've been at altitude for one day or ten.
Life is normal again, and normal ain't all that bad.
but here's the next to the last day for ya. Over here...
Hopefully by Tuesday I'll be back to regular postings, and perhaps I'll have stolen some images from the interweb by then.
Thanks for clicking over to Mountain Bike to read up on the race. I get three cents for every click, and I almost have enough money to get that chain lube I've had my eye on at the bike shop.
There will be one more post on Mountain Bike, but I won't see a computer again till next week, so go find it yourselves, okay?
Maybe I'll get a little riding in on a suspension fork just to confuse my brain a bit before the big race. Anyways, shitty post, but since I'm gonna be out late tonight and up at 5:00am to ride tomorrow I gotta get my shit in order NOW.
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