Camp Lynda Recap

This was at the 25 mile mark on day one looking south back toward St. George. I bagged it here and turned around cuz the last 3-4 mile/1,000 foot climb would have put me in the grave. The trail up to this point was a perfect combination of hard packed and soft sand, sandstone, sharp ledges, fire roads, cow pies and rocks.

Since I was dumb and took a few pictures, I was always playing catch up. That's not real smart when you're the slowest one on the trail. This is what Barrell Roll looks like from the back of the pack. Ya gotta ride this one when ya hit the George. What a treat.

Lynda said "it's a wee bit of a climb, it is. You may want to take off you coat and hat!" Scott's sure tend to understate things - just a wee bit mama. This is the start of Blakes Loop that climbed about 2,500 feet in 10 miles. I was last-ass-over-the pass, how surprising, and glad to survive. The climb was all fire road with just a couple of steep sections. When I arrived at the top by the high tension, humming power lines it was super windy and cold, and I was glad the climbing was done. This was real hard for a January ride, but I'm thrilled I did it.

Where's Waldo? Can you find the red bike in this photo?

The dislocated, severely cut finger is under the Kleenex. That sucker was bleeding bad. Ouch!

Watch out - Dead man riding! The glow above my helment is from the spaceship that followed me up the Blakes Loop climb. Really, I saw it!
I came down from the mountain top with Brad Newbie and Bob Saffel. Brad's a St. George boy who knew the route down. If it weren't for him, I'd still be up there. No wait, the spaceship would have helped me down. Really, I saw it!

Final numbers for day 1 and 2:
Miles - 101.9
Climbing - 9,760 feet
Time - 10:26
tss - 706
Calories - 8,006

Thanks again Lynda and Dave for making this a remarkable and memorable weekend. Count me in for next year.

Camp Lynda, Day 2

ANATOMY OF AN EPIC - wheel stopping mud, 30+ mph wind, wind chill below freezing, 5,500+ feet of climbing, 51+ miles, 5.5+ hours, 10 mile continuous unrelenting climb, super fast descent, technical and swooping single track, indescribable views, fun people with incredible skills and no Roadie attitudes. Camp Lynda, Day 2. More to follow when I recover...

Camp Lynda, Day 1

I survived the 1st day of binge training, Lynda Wallenfels style. What a great ride. The ride was modified a little due to mud and snow at high elevation so we did an out-and-back. Total ride time was 4 hours 50 minutes, 3535 feet of climbing and 50 miles. The single track was narrow, well packed in most areas, deep sand in others and sometimes it was lined with cactus and lava rock. I made it through without any flats but one guy got 8, that's right 8 flats! We had two bad accidents with one guy dislocating a finger and cutting it down to the bone and another guy went over the bars and ran the end of the bars into his ribs - ouch. We have the usual minor falls and scrapes, but everyone survived. The weather was a little on the cool side most of the day and started out at 39 when we departed at 0915 and the high got up to 60. We finished off the day at Bajio for a Mexican feast and the usual bragging session. What a great was to end a great day.

Thanks for a eventful 1st day Lynda. You're a great hostess and have started a cool event that will only get bigger. We started with 22 hardcores and will probably have 21 toe the line tomorrow. So far I'm feeling good-to-go and ready for another challenge. I hope I feel that way when I get up. If I can survive day 2, that will be a big deal for me. Here's a few pictures from todays event.

The peleton on Bluff Street.

The first climb up the power line trail.

Which way do we go!!!

The Legend himself, Dave Harris.

Chris Holley and Bart Gillspie checking out the ledge.

Adam topping off his Camelback at the 20 mile mark.

Camp Lynda

It's off to St. George and the First Annual Camp Lynda binge training weekend. Time to leave the cold and snow behind and head for the sunny south and 50 degree temps. Just what the doctor ordered.

Fun Website

For those of you out there that need a quick picker-upper, check out this site. Click on the Demotivators (By name) tab in the upper left corner and enjoy. It's hilarious and will bring a smile to your face. You can order posters from a long list of titles like "Burnout", "Defeat", "Fear", "Failure" and others that will lift your spirits get you out of the duldrums. Here's a couple...

Blame: The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.

Challenges: I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long, and so frequent.

I've added a "Despair" link to my Good Links section on the right, for future reference should you forget. And remember, the days are getting longer and the first ICUP race is only 60 days away.