Soldier Hollow ICUP

My daughter and grand daughter at the Sugarhouse Crit on Saturday. I'm slowly converting them to the wonderful world of bicycles.

Gene, Lewis, Joel, me, Bill and Bruce.

May 24th - 2 days after the race!!!

First off I've gotta thank Chris and Jared at Bingham's Cyclery on 300 South in SLC for hooking me up with a new 2010 RockShox Reba Team 29er fork. They pulled some strings with the SRAM boys in Chicago and got my blown out 2008 fork replaced - at no charge to me! And THANK YOU SRAM for standing behind your product. That is way cool.

Along the fork line, I guess I've never had a fork set up correctly, or I've never had a good one because this new Reba was as smooth as butter and very stable. I set it up based on the factory recommendations, no field testing yet, and I love it. And the proof is in my hands and arms. Very little discomfort compared to usual and I don't feel beat up. I'm excited again.

I encountered rain and snow on my drive to Heber Saturday morning, and expected the worse. To my surprise, conditions at the venue were actually quite nice. The course was wet and muddy so Ed was forced to shorten it by eliminating the single track climb to the normal high point. That would have been a mud bog so Ed made a great call. I'm glad too because I struggled mightly today. Like the rest of you, work and bad weather kept me off my bike since last Sunday, and, I did a boot camp class on Thursday that made my glutes and hamstrings tender to the touch! That was so stupid - I can't believe I did that. The fallout was I had absolutely no snap and my legs felt like lead the entire time. Yikes!

My race went like this. Joel Quinn and I separated from the pack immediately and went back and forth for about 17 minutes. The fun thing about where our group starts is all the people we get to pass. And surprisingly this year riders are being more cooperative than in past years. So, if you're one I've passed, thanks for being a sport and moving over.

Back to the race. Joel built up a 50-75 yard lead that felt like a mile. I wanted to quit but decided to gutt it out and see what happened. Maybe he'd get a flat and I could coast to a cheap victory. Didn't happen. He kept that gap for a few minutes and I took it back on the short steep righthand uphill after the slightly downhill fast double track (you know where I'm talking about). We rode together until the course headed downhill and I gapped him. My bike was hooking up on the corners like never before and my confidence soared. And the bumps that usually drain my speed were a non-factor. I built up a 10-20 second lead and I hung on to that till the end. The only time I got concerned was the short steep hill just before the start/finish line. I thought about walking it the 2nd time up but there was a chick at the top watching and my manhood would have been called in to question. Damn women! That hill really hurt me.

The weather stayed nice, but cool, until after the awards and everybody went home happy. On the way home I stopped at Brothers Bikes Store in Heber (520 North Main Street) and cashed in my winnings. Brothers - thanks for supporting our race.

As a follow up, I'm writing this on Sunday and I can report my legs have come back. I rode in PC at Round Valley and Lost Prospector with some Mad Dog teammates and my legs felt like new. And my fork was just as good today as yesterday.

Watch out Dwight and Roger. I'm coming after you at the State Championships!