The Front Range Chronicles

Podcast #2

2012-01-27T16:44:00.001-07:00

XXC Magazine Podcast #2 is now online.

You can get it from the site XXCMag.com site:

or, if you're one of those I-guys, you can get it at iTunes here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-xxc-magazine-podcast/id495842782

Here's the introduction on XXC of what's it's about:

"In the second XXC Magazine podcast XXC’s Jason Mahokey is joined by friend and endurance racer Ben Welnak and HVAC expert, full time accountant, part time editor type person and endurance race virgin Zandr Benedict begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting to talk endurance racing. Truthfully not much race talk actually happened but we did manage to talk for 66 minutes about semi bike related topics as we slowly work our way up to having real guests with actual topics to talk about. But hey, we got to talk bikes and amuse ourselves (if no one else) for an hour or so. Feel free to download."

If you have any ideas for future podcasts or have feedback, good or bad, send it my way.

We'll get better at bs'ing as we go. It's been fun so far.

Have a good weekend!

That was a good day

2012-01-27T00:00:00.001-07:00

Ah.... Sleep. The day started early and spent a lot of time on the road. Parts picked up, clothing dropped off to make into branded cool shit, people met, calls made, emails, facebook, twitter, google+, biz ideas discussed.

Snuck a little punishing 3hr ride in there tonight to before making dinner. A steady effort with all out efforts on the good uphills. Trying to boost those late ride high octane efforts. 24hr duo in Old Pueblo in a few weeks...need to be on it to hang with my teammate, Mr. Ben Jones from Cali.

I'm out. Gotta get up early to get some things cranking. Then on to some carpentry skillz in the garage. Then some wheelbuilding in the afternoon i think..just to calm me down.

Blue Ti

2012-01-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

Do you like anodized titanium and bikes? Check out our facebook page : http://t.co/ynUtUEV9
--

Do you like anodized titanium and bikes?Check out our facebook page : facebook.com/twenty2cycles
— Twenty2 Cycles (@Twenty2Cycles) January 26, 2012

Mountains

2012-01-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

Decent view!

Blue Ti

2012-01-26T10:06:00.001-07:00

Do you like anodized titanium and bikes? Check out our facebook page : http://t.co/ynUtUEV9
--

Do you like anodized titanium and bikes?Check out our facebook page : facebook.com/twenty2cycles
— Twenty2 Cycles (@Twenty2Cycles) January 26, 2012

Twenty2 Softgoods

2012-01-25T16:23:00.001-07:00

In the works.

Today's Work Was Rewarded With A High Grade

2012-01-24T20:57:00.001-07:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

This afternoon's ride was what Rapha would refer to as epic.

Climbing mountains. Wet. Foggy. Visible Breath. Snow. The only things missing are fancy bike hats, other gentlemenly riders, and clothing that doesn't look like an unorganized closet. It was epic.

Got a good little climbing session in. By the time I got up above 7,000ft, the temp had dropped into the 20's and the road was pretty covered with snow.

If you're into Strava, here's your link. It's fun matching up my mtb riding against mostly roadies on this climb. I'm slow. Then again, I didn't see anybody else out on this epic day.

Surly, What Are You Saying?

2012-01-24T13:17:00.002-07:00

I just read through Surly's blog newest blog post. I'll be nice and link it HERE - even though that's what they're hoping to get (I guess, to be fair, we all like a little google juice)... Anyhow.
While the random creepy bastard may be a cool touch to some, it just seems like a confusing end to a confusing post.
"Our fat forks have a listed length of 447mm axle to crown; that's what the frame was designed for. Got it? So if you are adventurous and you are thinking about putting this on a Pugsley be prepared for the front end to adventure up significantly-which technically voids your Surly frame warranty, be warned you adventurers'."
It's not an attack on Surly, but a question of what the direction of their post is...I'm going to think out loud on this one, just to process it and throw out a few things....
"Technically voids your warranty." From a "marketing" (I use the term marketing, but the term seems in it's classic sense seems outdated to me. It's really listening, interacting, and making quality relationships....) perspective, that seems a little scary. So, now you have people worried about using a slightly different fork with the frame. It seems that there are so many high quality options, that instead of asking or worrying, people would go elsewhere. I wouldn't want to have to argue over it. And, honestly, I'm not really going to read through the fine print to determine whether there is a tolerance built in of lets say, 5 or 10mm. Example, what if I want to run a 450? Is that ok? Which leads me to....
"We recommend 450mm for our bikes." I would understand this as ok to run a different fork from the technical 447mm, which it's designed for, and be ok as far as the warranty. What happens to the rest of the builders that come along with very high quality options for a variety of conditions, wheels options, etc. Further, the post points out that White Brothers Snowpack will not work with your current setup. What the post doesn't mention is that White Brothers is making an adaptor to work with your current setup. What is good about the Snowpack? You can run a BFL on a sweet carbon fork, which you can't do on the 447mm Pugsley fork.
I may be overthinking this, but it's gets me thinking about all the other hardworking people out there putting out great products (which Surly and Salsa are too) and what they think about it.
I'm not sure what it means to discuss others forks like this, but I am sure that I'm unsure whether they are talking about others to point out that if you use them on your Pugsley and you break it, then you'll have an argument on your hands or whether they are giving them props and endorsing them. Make sense?

***Update. I just posted a response that further explains my post. " MG. That is what I'm saying - just unclear as all. Salsa and Surly stuff is good stuff. It just gets confusing when they put a post out like that which kind of flies in the face of their focus of catering to the local community and shops (http://surlybikes.com/blog/post/the_way_we_do_things) . It's already a confusing world out there for consumers and it seems like that post makes it more confusing."

Good Night

2012-01-23T20:04:00.001-07:00

Got a quick hour in this afternoon to get the weekend cobwebs out before a marathon XXC podcast recording session. Man, Jason and Zandr are a drag....i kid..i'm a kidder.

Steely look

2012-01-23T13:52:00.001-07:00

Steel is real....really.

Monday

2012-01-23T09:39:00.001-07:00

Trying to get some dealer info worked out and refined. Get it out, ride, and "prepare" for XXCast (this is what I'm calling the XXCMagazine podcast to see if it sticks...).

Going on 20weeks...the little boy is growing fast in his little space. Apparently he can cover his ears if sounds are too loud and weighs about 10 ounces. I wonder if he'd cover his ears if he heard the podcast...

I think it'll be a good day.

XXC Magazine Podcast

2012-01-22T16:23:00.001-07:00

It should be fun. Hopefully my Wisconsin accent isn't too distracting... "RT @XXCMAG XXC Podcast #2 set to record tomorrow night with my 2 cohorts. Trying to improve upon my annoying Quentin Tarantino-esque radio voice."

If you want to hear the first podcast, check out http://www.xxcmag.com/xxc-podcasts or over search for XXCMag over at itunes.

Twenty2 Cycles

2012-01-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

We're going to start keeping our Twenty2 Cycles "News" section a little more up to date.
Check out the latest news HERE.

This is a pic of the latest steel Bully - it's headed to a customer here in Colorado. Pretty in pink...

Testing

2012-01-22T12:50:00.002-07:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

In an attempt to resurrect my blogging, I'm going to try something new out. We'll see if posterous works to help keep things up to date and new. I considered trying out tumblr too. We'll see how it goes.
Yesterday was a great day to ride - no bull.

Colorado Blue

2011-10-21T09:20:00.001-06:00

Not a bad phone pic.... this is the Colorado Front Range in full display.

Happy Friday!

September Nights

2011-09-22T15:07:00.000-06:00

Last night was one of those nights that you feel that hand of fall trying to reach out to you while the bubble of summer surrounds you and manages to hold off the chill.

Owls, snakeskins, coyotes, foxes, dirt road, paved road and bikepath, double track gravel, rippin singletrack - all within 2 hours.

Roadie vs Mountain Biker

2011-09-21T10:17:00.000-06:00

I came across this in Steve Tilford's Chequamegon 40 race report. The Christian he is referring to is Garmin rider Christian Vande Velde . It just serves as a reminder that even the pros may or may not know what they are doing. It also serves as a reminder that mountain bikers kick roadies asses.

Have a read:

"I thanked Brian for making my prediction look good. I picked him a couple days ago. I’m not sure what would have happened if Christian kept air in his tire. I asked him what happened and he said that he didn’t feel anything, it was flat. I asked him if he burped it and he kind of looked at me wondering and then said he had a tube. I questioned why he wasn’t riding tubeless and then he said maybe it was tubeless. I told him not knowing whether he was riding tubeless or with tubes disqualifies him from the chance of getting to win Chequamegon on his first try. He hadn’t paid his dues obviously."

The Brian he is referring to is Brian Matter. He's on fire and really ripping it up.

Amy, Mason's Cause, and little bw reposted

2011-09-19T17:10:00.000-06:00

Amy has been training for the Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon that's quickly approaching on October 9th. Her mileage has quickly progressed and she's already did a full 13 miler this past Saturday, which is her longest run ever. She's barely even sore! Jeesh!

She just signed up on pledgie.com to raise funds for Mason's Cause (masonscause.org) while training and running the half marathon.

If you could help a worthy cause, we'd appreciate it because it means a lot. She has found great comfort with all the others involved in Mason's Cause. If you are just joining in, read on below to see what I'm talking about.

Go here to donate: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/16034

It's been almost a year. Wow. I've gone back and reread my post after that weekend out in Frog Hollow last November and it just reiterates how much that place holds a place in our heart.

We couldn't have gotten this far without all the support we have and for that I am very grateful.

From my November 14, 2010 post:
.....................................................................................................................

little bw

It's been a while since my last post...

I don't know how things will eventually end, but I know how they started......

It was a great season, a full year of riding and racing. I started up the 2010 season on January 1, cranking out cold ride after cold ride. Many double ride days, including early mornings and late nights. Amy always there to encourage me on my way out and greet me upon my return, always with a smile. January turned into February and the rides continued. With both of us being accountants, February through April is probably the worst time of the year....but we just kept on going - late nights, bike paths, and ice - Amy supporting me the entire time. The first warm days pushed my excitement and anticipation to yearly highs. I started pushing the limits of my lungs, legs, as well as my other extremities. By the time the tax deadline rolled around, my body had put the dead legs and tired eyes in the past. After a couple great races in April and May, it was time for full on summer and the first big race of the year.

The 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest in McGaffey, New Mexico was on June 19 - 20, Father's Day weekend. Foreshadowing? Yeah, I think it's the definition..... Although I succumbed to an early morning crash and had to rely on an early race lead to hang on to 3rd place, Amy and I had an awesome weekend. We hit up the Sand Dunes National Park, visited Durango, drove through desert-like terrain and mountain passes and stopped at some fun spots along the way. A great adventure weekend as a family. Little did we know that family was bigger than we thought.

June 24th, three days after we returned, we confirmed the family was to be three of us. The next five months, the three of us experienced more than we ever thought we would - camping, hiking, racing (Amy is becoming an Executive Pit Manager [my official term]), and just enjoying the home we have been building. It was a busy summer that seemed to go on forever, a summer we'll never forget.

The season came to a close a week ago at the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow, near Hurricane, Utah. (Sidenote: as if 24 hours isn't enough, this race occurs during the time change back to standard time; therefore, we get the extra hour.)
The race was one of our best weekends so far (I'll get to the race later). Roadtripping together, camping together, racing together, visiting great friends together, and enjoying a happy (and tired) breakfast together (one of our favorite things). We arrived home (and subsequently at work) tired but satisfied. Life was good.
Just like racing, life can be cruel and humbling creature. One minute you are cranking along full speed and the next you double flat and break your chain.

Tuesday morning, only two days after the end of the race, we headed over to the midwife center for our regularly scheduled 24 week checkup. After the midwife had trouble finding the heartbeat, Amy and I looked at each other with the sinking feeling that only a parent would know while in the background we heard the midwife calmly say, "Amy, I don't see the heartbeat, we need to go to the hospital." It was a surreal moment that will be with us forever. Escorted by our midwife, we headed to the hospital where the doctor confirmed with an ultrasound that something had gone terribly wrong. "No heartbeat." You'll never understand the emotions and thoughts that can possibly go through your head within a two minute period. It's hard to fathom that we went from everything going along smoothly to Amy being induced into labor. At 2:25am on Wednesday, November 10th, Bodhi Finn Welnak arrived. The little guy was 1lb, 5.8oz and 12.5 inches long. It turns out that sometime over the last few weeks, Bodhi had managed to move so much in there that he twisted his cord to the point that he cut himself off from life. One of the hardest things I've faced yet is having to write my son's name on his death certificate. Our new life started as we made the slow walk out of the hospital Wednesday morning. We left together, healthy, strong, and ready to face the world as a team.

Just as quick as the season hit full swing, the season hit a screaching halt.

I know there is no real transition to talk about the race because it is so small compared to the massive blow to our lives. But, I owe it to my family - Amy, who has stood by my side, provided pro style pits, and been my rock and Bodhi, who has taught us what it means to be not only expectant parents, but parents, real parents!

I'm stealing this excerpt from Jill Homer's blog because she is far and beyond a more talented writer and paints a wonderful picture of the whole race experience. For her blog, you need to go HERE (I would recommend reading her whole race write up.)

"A strange smile swept over his face. "You know, I am," he said, and with that sprinted off into the strange night. Ben came in a few minutes later. He had been officially lapped, and then some. "Did Bill already leave?" he asked.

"Yes," Amy and I both replied at the same time. He let out a long, probably unintended sigh. Later, Bill told me that Ben caught up to him and attacked throughout the night, launching up hills and sprinting the singletrack. It was all Bill could do to keep up, but Bill did keep up because that is what Bill does. Bill races, even when it hurts so bad that every other good thing in life is sucked into a vacuum of pain. Bill races, even when it the meaning of it all is completely hidden from view. Bill races, and often Bill wins. To me, it was symbolic. The race as a metaphor for life. They usually are, and that's why we do it."

Another good race report comes from Bill Martin, the experience hardass enduro from Missoula, Montana and the man who put me in my place by beating me during this showdown at the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow.
I've stolen some excerpts from his blog, as he has done a great job telling the story. It's also pretty cool to get the perspectives of others involved. Check out his blog HERE for the full writeup and future adventures. Both Bill and Jill are quite inspirational individuals.

As Bill writes:
"Frogtown is the name of the 25 hour race venue for that weekend. IT was all a buzz with the usual 24 hour affair. Everyone was excited to get underway and at 10 AM we were off and running down the road to our bikes. Once on the bike I looked up and realized that again it was confirmed that my running sucks. I put my head down and hammered up to the second pack from the front. I pulled in beside Ben.

"Is there any solos up their", I gestured to the pack of five up on top of the gravel road climb.
"No I don't think so." I took the lead momentarily and realized that Ben and I should just work together until we found out if there were any solo riders in the lead. Ben took over the lead and busted out a wicked fast inaugural lap. I struggled to hold his wheel and keep from going too hard.

"beep beep beep beep beep", my heart rate monitor was ferociously reporting a anaerobic status.
"Is that your heart rate monitor", Ben asked. "Yep, I am not comfortable with this pace." "So of I keep it beeping you will eventually blow up?" "Um, probably", I mentally smacked myself upside the head for disclosing vital information.

"Cool", and then he turned up the pace. He was putting the screws to me. I thought that he had to be damaging his own chances as well and gambled by mirroring his pace. As we approached the timing tent I followed him in. One lap down and many to go. No need to get to the tent first.

In the tent the personnel took a long time to find out score cards. They found Ben's and he was off like a scared rabbit. As the volunteer ferociously dug through he score cards I watched Ben attack up the hill. Three full minutes later they found my page and marked me down for a lap. I was free to go. I got to my pit where Beat was getting his bike ready for a lap.

"They took like 3 minutes to find my damn score sheet ... where did Ben go?" "You guys are doing great", Amy encouraged me. I took off after Ben with irritation in my cadence. It really wasn't fair to be attacked like this but we WERE in a race. And it was apparent we were in the lead. I needed to catch Ben and calm him down. Maybe we could ride smart to distance ourselves from the others. It took me half a lap to catch Ben. He was surging the hill climbs and I tried desperately to catch. When I finally found his wheel I was exhausted. "I shouldn't have caught you this fast but ... WTF ... what is up with the timing tent"?

I didn't get or couldn't understand the answer so I resigned to just ride behind him again. Maybe I could get some kind of recovery. Just after the Gem Trail section I passed on a downhill and tested his technical skills. I was able to put a gap on him and by the end of lap 2 I had a 10 second lead.

Suddenly he sprinted up and tried to pass. I put it into the dog and responded. We sprinted full cross country style to the timing tent. I won out by a thread ad got to transition first. Still though Ben was impatient and wanted to get going before I did. I made sure they had my name down on my score sheet and chased him to the pit area. We pitted at the exact same time."

Bill goes on:

"This time I was on Ben's wheel immediately and as we started the first climb. On lap three around 2:20 into the 25 hour race Ben had a bobble. He dropped his water bottle. I picked it up and rode up to him. "Are you OK", I looked into his eyes. "Yea, sure, go ahead, I'm fine." "OK but Ill go slower", and pedaled in front of him.

He didn't appear to be fine and I saw some doubt in his eyes. His breathing was labored and the fact that he dropped his bottle was the first sign of weakness I saw. I rode steady and kept my heart rate right where it needed to be. I was finally in charge of the race. Once out of sight I picked up the pace and rode the downhill single-track with great passion. I knew I would be faster on the downhill and I took advantage of it right away. He disappeared in the distance behind me.

When you are in the lead you make gains in the pit area. If you pit slow your competition comes along and has the chance to catch back up. But if you pit fast and you can get out before they come in, it is a huge mental advantage. At first Ben would ramble in, then later I would be leaving as he rode up to his pit, and then after a while I was totally gone out of sight before he came in. When this happened I surged and attacked pretty hard. I needed to lap him. I knew that if I wanted to win the race I would have to have a lap on him."

Bill does an awesome job of describing the dagger he stuck in me to finish it off:

"Ben had come in and watched me try to do repairs and must have seen me getting comfortable with my new found cup of joy. He left his pit and attacked so hard he was enveloped by darkness before I even looked up. I saw him leave his tent and knew this was it. This was where the race would be decided. If he were to take back his lap he would of won. I had to catch him or loose everything I had worked so hard for.
"Jill I have to go", I said so despairingly it sounded pathetic. "Its OK bill, you're doing great"
"Bye Jill." "Bye Bill."

It took me 15 minutes to catch Ben and found that I had legs. In fact I felt marvelous. Jill had saved my race. That cup of soup was working miracles. I wondered if it was indeed the soup or just that my fitness was finally coming through. Finally I didn't question anything I just stuck to Ben. he was ripping up the hills so violently I was left momentarily shattered at the top. but then he would slow to catch his breath and I would catch back on. And the dance continued. He surged and I struggled to catch back up. Surge, struggle, surge, struggle .....

Near the top just before the downhill single track we were sided by side gasping for air. The battle was just about over. We both gave it everything and the next slight uphill before the single-track would be the entire race. Who had enough to make that final attack and push the dagger onto their rivals heart.

I got out of the saddle and put it all into my bike. We reached the single track first and coasted to the mandatory dismount. I was in the lead and this would be the last time Ben saw me as I ripped away into the darkness that night. I knew at this point I would be able to win if I could keep my bike in one piece."

From my perspective, I gave it what I had. I pushed the pace from the beginning, trying to soften him up and see what he had. I was a little surprised by his response and just thought to myself, "hmm...this is awesome. I wouldn't want to be anywhere buy here, actually racing during a 24 (well, 25 hours) hour race." Even after Bill put the dagger in the race, I stuck it out, focused on being consistent and held off a strong, experienced, 3rd place Mark Wallace, who also finished with the same 20 laps that Bill and I did. Bill was an strong competitor and even stronger guy. I'm happy to know that he will always be part of this memory. Thanks Bill and thanks Mark. I have a feeling all of our paths will cross again.

I can't ask for anything more than being in this position in my 4th 24 hour race and only one year into it (Moab last year was the first.) I can't ask anymore from Amy - she was there every lap, resting the hour in between laps and getting me food and a report on the leader and third place each time around. We were a team and she was the foundation.

As I wrote to Jill, "It's these times when life and racing really do mirror themselves and why I gravitate to long adventures," Ben wrote. "It's like the 15th hour of a 24 hour ... you just don't know how you'll get through it. But, you bear down, jump back on, and keep going. That's just what we will do."

Although I recognize that racing isn't nearly as important as "real life," I do know that there are some similar lessons. One of the most important of them is to know that it's most important how we respond to adversity. Do we stop and feel sorry for ourselves or do we surge up that hill into the darkness with all we have? I know our answer.

I don't know how things will eventually end, but I know how they will start......

Monday Picture

2011-09-19T09:33:00.001-06:00

two races to report on

2011-09-06T13:43:00.001-06:00

well, fell of the wagon on the Ore to Shore race.
Now I have another race in the books - the PV Cycle Derby 66 miler . Managed a 6th of 12 starters (2 dnf's) in the men's pro/open division.
Although I do admit that it was a small field and I was 40 minutes off the top two guys (Colin Cares and Brady Kappius), but have to start somewhere.

Before writing up on the races, I'll post some pictures, courtesy of Mountain Moon Photography (she is a big supporter of 303Cycling.com, so it's cool to have her good a few cool shots).

Fast, Fast, Fast --- The Race, part 1

2011-08-25T10:19:00.000-06:00

It's now 2 weeks late.....
Part II, The Race.

There is so much I want to share with this one that I'll split it up into a couple so you don't have to spend any extra time at one time while you are wasting your bosses time on their computer if you do decide to read the whole thing.....ha.
The Start

The Ore to Shore is one of the unofficial "Triple Crown" races in the Midwest. The Chequamegon 40 and The Iceman Cometh in September and November, respectively, round out the three HUGE races. (not sure on Ore to Shore this year or the other races, but the Ore to Shore had over 2,000 racers total for all the distances and I'm certain the Cheq and Iceman have well over that).

These races aren't like a typical singletrack lap race that is so common throughout the Midwest. These are fast races over varied terrain, including service roads, random trails, cross country ski trails, paved roads, and a very tiny bit of singletrack on the North Country Trail.

The start was fun to be part of. The National Anthem recording had some technical glitches, but a cool thing happened. As the sound faded, the street full of racers started singing. Goosebumps for sure. Then they got the music going again and that moment was ended. It would have been great to just let us sing.

Here is picture I grabbed while I was warming up. Only a few had staged their bikes so far at this point. It's really all about getting a good spot. With so many riders, the middle is the worst. A bad start, even on the paved road rollout for the first couple miles, will have you hammering down the trail just to catch back up. I know because I didn't start off hard enough and hung back too far, which I then had to do a little catchup midrace.

Speaking of warmup....after 2 years of only emails and Facebooking, I finally met the one and definitely only The Soiled Chamois. I was going to do a little effort up one of the quick hills and town and I saw him start to cry and turn away from the hill. I was pretty sure that this meeting before the race was back luck - the type of bad luck you'd have if you got the number plate 13, saw a black cat, and walked/rode under a ladder all at the same time. Like seeing the grim reaper in your last days. I tried to stay calm and reassured myself that it's a short race, so maybe I can escape without any issue. It turned out that there was zero problems and he's actually not a cursed individual. He's a cool dude - I will explain in the next post in the post race discussion.

Here is a video of the start to give you an idea of what it's like. Thanks to MQT Photo for the video and pictures.

As we ripped down the road, there was a loud hum and you could just feel the draft. The fast pavement ended quickly. The race was on...

quickie

2011-08-24T16:59:00.000-06:00

This morning was nice

O2S in parts.

2011-08-23T22:00:00.000-06:00

I'm over a week late on this posting. Sorry. In a world of instant gratification, twitter, facebook, and up-to-date everything, a week and a half late blog post is like a movie on tape - still functional (if you still have a VCR) and cool if you have absolutely nothing left to do, including looking through all your photo albums and any other old crap you have sitting around in bins from the last twenty years. I get it. Chances are you have read many other race reports from a ton of other racers and gotten the idea of what it was like from many different finishing spots in the race. You probably didn't even get past their Facebook updates to actually even read the blog entries. No worries, if nobody reads it, I will again.
Yet I feel the need to spend my free time (well, my wife's too - thank you Amy!) writing up my thoughts and what I experienced during my little adventure up there. I guess there is something to sharing experiences. So, maybe it's not like a tape and closer to hulu. It's all there at the tip of your fingers whenever you are feeling it.

Intro.

The Ore to Shore race weekend was so good, I thought that I'd break it up into two parts. I have minimal pictures, which will make the posts probably boring, but I will post up some race photos when they are available. I hope the few that I did take will suffice.*

Here is one picture from the registration line the night before the race that will give you an idea of how many people were in town.

The City.

Marquette, Michigan is a great city. I was pleasantly surprised this weekend. It all started as we cruised into town. The picture in my head definitely didn't match the scene that unfolded as we rolled through Ishpeming, Negaunee, and into Marquette.

I met up with Green Bay bike gang members JVog, Jesse, Nate, and Mr. Benny Friday morning for the trip up to da U.P. (On a side note, the accents up in the Marquette neck of the woods aren't anything compared to being around Wisconsinites. It's actually fun to come back and listen to the accents now..) We arrived at the weekend basecamp at a city campsite, unpacked, and talked a little smacktalk. I headed over to Dead River Coffee Roastery for the remainder of the day to crank out some work. On the way back to the campsite, I stopped off for a U.P. delicacy from Jean Kays...the pasty.

The pasty is an intriguing food item. Pretty normal and boring in appearance and far from gourmet fare, but it seems to have a mythical cult following in the U.P. I think it's more of a tourist trap than anything. The Wikipedia explanation is much better than anything than I could do. Basically, it's a big, handheld potpie. There seemed to be two options: meat or veggie. The meat version was beef and rutabaga with a type of gravy, just enough to keep it moist. The veggie was a mix of all kinds of stuff, including cauliflower. Both were good, well...for $3.95 they were good and if you're into boring stuffed pastry. For me, it'll just be something I always do - a good memory food. Perhaps this is how they escape extinction.

Marquette is also home to Northern Michigan University . It may be the U.P., which is normally referenced in negative terms (and truly not sure why because everywhere I've been has been good), but it doesn't matter where any campus is located because there is always a positive feeling of energy. There are the businesses just waiting for the new students to show up and bring the new cash and there are some straggler students hanging around during the summer months living the good life. Realistically, they are probably just struggling to pay for anything, living in a dumpy mess, and constantly hungover, but we old people, relatively speaking of course, only see a green field of grass when we see them sitting in there mini yard in their duct-taped loungers. Either way, it's a constant flow of promise and new youthful energy.

Trails.

The day after the race, I met up with David Wert who knows the trails like the back of his hand because he used to live there. The best way I can describe the riding is a mix between classic Midwest singletrack and Colorado mountain terrain. Smooth flowing singletrack mix with rocky, technical climbs, descents, with a good mix of roots thrown in, just to keep you honest.

You know you have a quality place to ride when they have trails from town just to get you to the "real" trails. In addition to all the singletrack trails, the Marquette region has snowmobile trails, railroad beds (both new and old), gravel service roads, cross country ski trails, and some lakeshore bike paths to get you into or out of a beautiful downtown nestled into the shoreline of one of the most intimidating and awe inspiring lakes in the world. If you are into adventure by bike, this is your place. I will be back for a longer period of time to do some exploring.

Since I took zero pictures of our ride, I stole one that Mr. Wert took during his vacation. We may or may not have hit this up (I really can't remember because some of the trails we hit up were fast and I didn't have time to commit them to memory) in our ride. However, it's a great example of what there is to ride.

The landscape just outside of town was even better. Miles and miles of thick forest and rivers literally falling down to Lake Superior. This is a picture from not more than 7 or 8 miles from the middle of campus.

Race Report.

That will be in the next post. It was a good race, I will say that.
Until next time...

*I'm not quite sure why I've stopped taking pictures. It seems that I've been focused on other things and don't carry the camera around. I just really realized my lack of blog photos.

Time

2011-08-09T08:02:00.000-06:00

It's time to get back to things.

There are a lot of things that can be distracting if you're not careful.

It's time to refocus and get moving on the next few months on some projects.

I pulled the plug on the last race - the Wausau24 . It started out to be a good race. For the first five laps, I was right in there with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place riders. 1st place, Ronsta, the favorite, was racing as expected on his singlespeed - fast. He had a 10-15 minute gap on the rest of us. Chris Strout and Mike Schroden were riding strong and a rider Jeff, that I did not know was mixing it up as well.
The temperature was in the 90's I'm sure and the humidity was about 75 percentage points higher than I'm used to in Colorado. With clear skies on the horizon it seemed as though we were settling in for a long day on the trails. Then it happened.

As we all came through the pits after lap 4, all we heard was about a storm that was supposed to be rolling in sometime within the hour. I'm grateful that Amy let me know, but my inexperience showed through in this instance.

Chris has a great writeup going on the race at his blog: http://cstrout.blogspot.com/2011/08/decision-point.html . He describes what happened perfectly as a scene from Ghostbusters. We all looked up and all there it was. A swirling black wall of clouds. My thought at first was, "perhaps it'll be more bark than bite." Then the wind started and the temperature dropped probably 15 degrees. I was dead wrong - it had the bite. The rain started to fall. First, it was just big drops and before I had time to think about it, the skies opened up. The next hour was dark skies and heavy rain, which forced the race organizers to keep pushing back the restart.

In hindsight, I should have bolted out of there and raced that lap to make sure I completed it before the rain shut it down. Something that Chris was keenly aware of and I wrongly wasn't. I was late getting back from the check in tent by a few minutes; therefore, the whole lap wasn't counted. Mike and I rode in that lap together. We both went from only minutes behind to a full lap back because Ron and Chris made it in before the race was postponed. That sealed my fate. Mike lined up at the restart a couple hours later a full lap back - props for that for sure.

Ronsta pulled off the win, with Chris pulling a strong 2nd place. Jeff Fetterer pulled off a strong 3rd place finish, holding Mike off for 4th. A special shout out should also go to Randy Wegener for sticking in there for 5th in his first 24 hour race.

Stay tuned to Chris's blog for the remaining write up.

With a busy next few weeks and a full season yet to race, I made the smart (and I feel old...errrr... mature) decision and ended my race. There is no need to ruin a bike and race myself into an injury. Two years ago I may have gone on just to prove something, which is not the right decision in some situations. We hung around to see the riders lap around after the first post-restart lap, which only confirmed my good decision. They were covered in head to toe mud. It's one thing to regroup and push on for another 45 miles like I did earlier in the year at the Pueblo Fire 70 miler when flat tires on the first lap cost me about an hour and derailled any chance of an even respectable finish. It's another to restart at this race.

Whether it be life or racing, things move on.

Race Ready Bike Porn

2011-07-27T00:44:00.000-06:00

Race Ready.

Mt. Evans Intervals

2011-07-11T08:46:00.001-06:00

Thursday morning Jonathan Davis and I headed up to Mt. Evans to do a little interval work.
We started the ride at about 60 degrees and nice. Once we were to the top, we were trying to enjoy the low 40's and rain. After a cold and fast descent, it was nice to head over to Jon's favorite spot for a famous noodle bowl. I suppose it did live up to it's hype.

Here we go....

Still plenty of snow around. Is it July?

Wildlife to me...watching these out of towners. I thought they
were taking pictures of the mountain goats....nope, just feeding a marmot.
Too bad.

The actual wildlife....about 20 mountain goats - look near the center for the white spots.

We summited on the final interval after getting almost there and having to
turn around to make sure we had enough distance... a lot of climbing!

Famous in small circles of the world

Strava stats HERE. You can see that the first 30 minute "warmup" was a little too hard to be starting out above 10,000 feet. Once we settled in, it was ok. Then I had to play catch up to Jon at the end of the first one, so I didn't get proper recovery.

I headed up for another round of climbing up over 14,000 on Saturday and was greeted with 30+ mph winds and (maybe) 40 degree temperatures.

The plan is to head up again Wednesday morning with Jesse.

On a separate note, I read a really great piece of writing this morning from Epic Endurance Cycling racer Chris Baddick. Ok...time to go hear something now...

Response from Bill

2011-07-05T06:01:00.004-06:00

I received a message from Bill Underdown in a very timely fashion in response to my rebuttal.

It went like this:

"I stand corrected. My memory is going, and 2007 is kind of a fog, a good year for the moonshine. I will cross your name off the list. Thanks for posting those pictures. It helps my old memory. The Thunderdown didn't even have a website until 2009. You'll have to talk to your brother as to the severity of this year's race because I was sitting back taking it all in. Tyler made a nice jump in the WEMS standings.

Chris sends his regards and says that you make him yearn for the mountains. He spent 1991 in Gunnison and hasn't really been back since. A lot has changed in the mean time. He's still got to work at climbing.

He's also starting to wish he'd signed up for 24 hours at Wausau just to meet up with you a little more. I'm sure you'd make him hurt. He'll see you though. The 12 hour race is on his list of things to do, but he'll get back to 24 someday when he's older and tougher. He just hasn't been the same since 2007 when he last rode 24 with anything to show for it - probably accounts for the memory loss. Years of selective amnesia are taking their toll.

Keep working on that beard. I could teach you a thing or two.

Bill Underdown "

I sit here at my command central in my basement reading the race winner's race writeup and check through the limited Facebook posts. It sounds like the race was a test of heat tolerance, technical singletrack prowess, and an overall will to win or, in other words, a real endurance race.

Endurance holds many meanings to many people. What does it mean to you? I think what I learned from Mr. Underdown is that it means to have patience, stick with the real you, and keep hanging in there and the beard will grow.

Wind and a honey badger

2011-07-04T00:56:00.000-06:00

A lot of thoughts and stuff going on...isn't there always. I won't get too much in on this post...but it's a start.

Yesterday, I was worked over by the Wyoming wind. We were up camping at the Glendo Reservoir with the Davis family. After various conversations in my head all pointing to just needing to suck it up and finish off a monster training week, I pulled on the chamois and proceeded to spend 3.5 hours of chasing Mr. Davis around. I've never met Lynda , but I can confirm that she is an evil woman who is bringing her demons to reality to poor unsuspecting people under the guise of LWCoaching.com *.

Three intervals in the beginning of the ride - 3 x 20 at 250 watt avg, 280, and then 350. I was just trying to stay with Jon, but he's a little too strong (and with the big week of riding I had), so I ended up probably a little under a minute back on the first two and more than 5 minutes back on the last. On the last one, I was tapped out in the last five minutes.

At that point in the ride, we were riding on the gravel of County Hwy 1 into a bitch of a 25mph sustained cross wind on the flat, barren Wyoming landscape. Jon slowed enough that I finally caught him. Of course, it was just in time to turn south for the final straight 15 miles home. Perfect, only 150 feet of climbing left in 15 miles and on pavement. Yeah, we had done some pretty tough intervals, but no big deal.

Bullshit. The wind was directly in our face. Full on 25 mph. Bullshit. I don't think I've worked that hard on a flat part of pavement in a long time. So...let's recap the ride: 20 min warmup, intervals for an hour with some recovery in between, and another 1:30 of tempo into an f'ing wind. Just for the record, the wind is like a honey badger. You can yell and swear at it, but it just doesn't give a shit.

It was a nice feeling to roll into camp to a big bowl of fruit and an awesome breakfast cooked up by Jon's wife. I'm pretty sure that she knew that Jon would kick my ass. I just need to keep at it and/or find someone else slower than me to make me feel good about myself.

Oh...spent the rest of the day doing some of this...

I think that I was lazier than Duke at this point...eh, nah, he was snoring too.

Keep on...

* Lynda is not evil. In fact, from what everyone says, she is one of the good people in this sport.

Called out

2011-07-01T11:23:00.000-06:00

I was called out. Seems that the ghost of Bill Underdown is haunting and taunting me....all the way from the eerie depths of the Northern Wisconsin woodlands.
Don't believe me? Check it out here: BILL

My response may seem quite weak and, this time around, perhaps Mr. Underdown wins.
I won't go down without a little word battle.:

1. I live 1000 miles away, at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Bill, while it may seem that, in comparison to the dark haunts of your eternal home, they are weak with wide open trails and minimal mud and bridges, I challenge you to get out a bit. Try climbing your ghost ass up a mountain for an hour, followed by technical singletrack at 10,000 feet above sea level. Your 800 feet above sea level can stick it. However, your presence may be thrown off by the 330 days of sun. Bring 100 spf sunscreen and shave the damn beard.

2. I've already been there. Perhaps your memory is short, Bill? It was 2007, my first 12 hour solo race. Look, there I am... left side of the picture, in the back.

True that I was last going into the singletrack as seen in the picture below. That's only because I had no idea what I was doing, rather than being nervous about your punchy climbs, sweet singletrack, and overall soul crushing course. You did nothing to stave off the afternoon rain, which was normal for your fall race, but it didn't deter me. I rode the entire damn 12 hours...wasn't that when WEMS was for endurance racing? I hear that WEMS has actually started calling 75 and 50 mile races endurance races? What have you let this world come to Bill? Damn shame - no excuses, Bill, no excuses.

3. I did this RIDE last Sunday with Jon, Jeff, Curt, and Dave. You can check the stats and compare it to your little race through the woods. Perhaps we leave it to the public to decide? Perhaps I should challenge you and your helper (Chris) to this ride? Since that ride was a higher priority to your organized fun parade, I did that and am taking this weekend off of anything too big - even an "endurance" race on your home turf.

4. I will be in Wisconsin in a month and racing a little race at 9 Mile and the travel would be a little much to come back now.

Although your helper, Chris, kicked my ass at the Stump Farm 100 back in May, that does not play into my decision. Fact is, Chris is a damn strong rider with a ton of experience and I welcome the challenge of racing him. He's the man.

Good luck to all of those racing this weekend and I will admit that your haunts are home to the best trails in the midwest. I will be there at some point....just make sure you keep the dream alive.

Rest

2011-06-16T08:55:00.000-06:00

I've tried to lay off of things for the last two weeks as much as I can to rest up for The Bailey Hundo this Saturday and all I've felt like is this old lady that I saw the other day...

Resting up also because the Bailey Hundo kicks off a good intense chunk of training for the next six weeks. I thought that I'd be traveling up to Canada, but I'm not sure that will work out - we'll see today.

A lot of things going on, some real good and some that aren't all that. I guess in the end, the tortoise really does win out...probably because they've been keepin on for a million years. Lesson learned.

testing...testing

2011-06-07T22:40:00.002-06:00

Tuesday

2011-05-31T08:15:00.000-06:00

long day ahead again....
Started it off in style

Sun, sun, and epic.

2011-05-30T21:39:00.000-06:00

Spent Memorial Day down in Colorado Springs again, starting off the second week of Bicycle Repair and Overhaul at BBI. A full day...

Then got out for some more training for the upcoming 24 hour race . Just got out for a little over 2 hours of dirt. Spending time right now working in Starbucks.

A few pics from under the towering silhouette of Pike's Peak:

I'm camping (loose term meaning driving up into the Pike National Forest and sleeping in the back of the 4runner) up at about 8,000 feet tonight and then getting up as early as the sunlight allows for an hour ride.

Then get out tomorrow night for some more. Have to get as much in this week as I can, so I have the next two to rest up and get a ton done.

It looks like I may be sporting some new lights soon too....

A special shout out to friend Jon Davis who is mixing it up on the national scene at the Trans Sylvania Epic Stage Race. He did damn well today - check it out here.

For daily updates, my buddy Mr. Soiled Chamois, is updating info daily on the Epic on XXCMag.com . Check it out!

Parting shot.... excerpt from a short discussion this morning: him: "it was an awesome ride...some technical sections that we had to walk, some had to ride, a ton of climbing, and loose trail. It was epic." me: "How long did you ride?" him: "About 2.5 hours." It was at that moment that I realized that my reality is quite skewed.

the pics..

2011-05-29T15:38:00.000-06:00

added the pics that I couldn't get up yesterday

just a peak

2011-05-28T23:27:00.000-06:00

Friday was a good end to the week.
Thursday night I camped out in the 4 runner up at 8,000 feet just west of Colorado Springs up on Rampart Range road. I woke up early Friday morning to a beautiful sunrise, fastastic views of Pikes Peak, and warm temps in the 50's (I'm trying to add the pictures...but they are not uploading...hmm).

I got in about 1:30 of ride time before I headed over to the local Starbucks to get a little work done before class at BBI. I spent about 1:10 of that climbing up to about 9700 feet on Rampart Range Road. It was a good "fasting" ride, as I had nothing to eat before heading out and only a quarter bottle of water for the ride.

Friday was some more wheel building and trueing. As I tweeted, although both groups spend a lot of time with bikes, guys that work on bikes are COMPLETELY different than guys that ride. They may know how to actually fix things and how everything works exactly, but they probably wouldn't know what tires to ride when or actually even most of the best trails - they'd only know the best trails through talking to the riders that come into the shop.

Got in another 1:15 of riding some good trails just down the street from our classroom before I headed home.

Trying to pack in some good frequency of rides, hit it hard for another week, and then lay off for the upcoming 24 hour race on June 18th.

Randoms

2011-05-26T21:49:00.000-06:00

Never got around to actually writing my own race report....but I did do this little writeup over at XXCMag.com. Check it out HERE.

Taking a class at Barnett this week and next in Colorado Springs to hopefully learn a thing or two for future use.
I'm camping out tonight back in some national forest just west of town to save some miles and gas money.
Got out for 2.5 hours of riding trails, dirt road, and pavement after managing to sneak out for 45 minutes during our hour long lunch. Today was finishing off a wheel we started building yesterday and then pr

A couple pictures from tonight

The other venture going on in my life currently. It's purely Colorado....

This weekend will be busy and random.... gardening, organizing, building an office downstairs, starting another business, riding, and beating Amy at Scrabble with a beer in hand....if that isn't random shit, I don't know what is.

Keep on....

Stump Farm 100

2011-05-16T21:40:00.001-06:00

Managed a 2nd place at the Stump Farm 100 near Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday in 8:12.

I'll get a little race report done soon. My brother Tyler stuck a 4th place on the board - not bad with a newborn little girl.

It was great seeing everyone out there!

New site.

2011-05-05T09:02:00.002-06:00

I found something interesting.... http://www.livehard.net/

The Singletrack of Life

2011-05-04T22:12:00.000-06:00

So....

The last two weekends have been pretty good. Although I had some real tire issues (cut the tire, 3 flats...mounted a new tire in the pits) on the first lap of the Voodoo Fire 70-miler, I cranked out pretty good second and third laps. Based on the results, I think I would have fared pretty well.

Then, this weekend we headed out to the Whiskey 50 . I managed a 6th (I was 5th through the podium announcements and in the last couple days they added a rider in there bumping me to 6th) out of 233 in the amateur men's open and 14th overall of all (men's, women's, masters, singlespeed, etc.) categories, which was something like 550. It was a good race - stats HERE. It was fun to get out and do some real climbing in a race. Epic Rides puts on a hell of a weekend that everyone should check out.

I mention the results because it has led me to reconsider my GDR attempt. A better rider than I (you know who you are) has led me to realize that I'm headed in a good direction in the endurance racing world and the attempt would sabotage that. Therefore, I am out.

This year has been a much different year than last. Last year, my first endurance race was a four-man race at the 18 Hours of Fruita which was at this time last year. Then came the Chequamegon 100 in May. It was a good race that I got to do with my brother, but it wasn't a full out effort. My first big effort wasn't until June at the 24 Hours of the Enchanted Forest. This year I already have 70 mile and 50 mile races under my belt and I found myself out near the front in both of them (Voodoo until I cut my tire). I had good hopes for the season, but never thought that I could actually do halfway good. Hopefully I can carry this into the next race at the Stump Farm 100 in Green Bay on Saturday, May 14th. With some good pit support from Amy, hanging with family and friends, I think it should be a good time.

Today I snuck out with a couple fast riders for a lap around the Front Range 60 course, up Mt. Falcon, and through Lair of the Bear. Garmin HERE. The weather is predicted to be spectacular the next few days, so I should be able to get some more dirt time in. Friday I plan to get a long slow day out on the Colorado Trail, so we'll see how that turns out.

Thanks for following along the twists and turns on the singletrack of life.

Let's get this moving

2011-04-26T00:46:00.000-06:00

Alright, enough messing around. Time to get serious, write something and get on with it.
If you're looking for some fun updates, make sure to head over to our new facebook page HERE .

The GDR is drawing near and I have a lot of work to do....
Let's start here.

Tomorrow....ride, work, pack.
Wednesday....ride, work, head down to Arizona for a fun filled weekend.... stay tuned.

LOI

2011-04-12T17:33:00.000-06:00

I have failed to maintain any sort of writing on here....boo...
I suppose that is the process of something like this. It's meant to follow the ebbs and flows of life.

Newest ebb (or flow) ...

The last email I just sent went something like this:

to: tourdivide@gmail.com

"Hello Mr. Tour Divide,

I'm in.

Thank you to my wonderful wife Amy ahead of time for pushing me over the edge on doing this crazy shit.

See you soon,
Ben Welnak - Littleton, CO
Twenty2 Cycles"

A few things in that email that make you go...huh? wtf?
Yeah, I know.... soon enough it will all make sense.
However, until then, I need to finish up some client's tax returns.

Keep on, keepin' on

Make it Happen Monday

2011-03-23T01:03:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that I've been slacking at sneaking in time to write...writing is like fitness... once you fall off the bandwagon, your skills go quickly, only to slowly improve upon the return.

Also like fitness, (lack of) writing is because of so many things - no time being the biggest excuse. It's not so much no time, rather a reallocation of it. I've had so many other things going on that I've tried to focus on those.

This blog may be shifting to another related outlet.... Something that could be big and exciting or something that could be a bust, all depends on me. I've definitely done my share of soul searching over the last couple months and it's now to the point of just getting things done.

I saw a tweet yesterday that stopped me in my tracks by @lovingthebike: " Make it Happen Monday: Leap "
A little excerpt:

"Although my body chooses to ignore

And my spirit races within

My head often gets the better of me

And overpowers these instincts

With its knowledge of what should be"

I'm often reminded from a friend that "Life is happenstance, not circumstance ... make it happen."
It's a process to go from where I was to where I will be, but I'm confident with the great people around, that everything will work out ok.

Just need to keep on, keepin on....

TweetWeek 3/15

2011-03-16T09:17:00.000-06:00

I'm already late on keeping this a weekly thing:

Ross Schnell @Rossschnell I'm not really sure what to say on this: "Oh snap! Another @bikemag cover shot of Grand Junction Trails in the next issue of Bike http://twitpic.com/47whnx" "Oh double snap! Full-page Ad for @Girohelmets on GJ trails same issue, this time Noah and I on "Pucker Up". @bikem http://twitpic.com/47wk39"

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski @JeremyHK Looks like he doesn't work much when on location: "Photo shoots are 1% photos and 99% this: http://yfrog.com/h355064280j"

Sonya Looney @looneysonya apparently likes to write and watch drunks. I wonder if it's fun to drink and watch writers? "You can read my latest story in @elevationout here if you can't pick up the magazine! http://tinyurl.com/4nqw58a " "Today: tour de Seattle via bike shops. The crazy thing is that every time I've been here, I see people drinking booze with breakfast. What?"

Adam Lisbonee @GrizzlyAdam He's a good writer - enough said: "The Book is Done. Almost.: A little more than 2 years ago I set out to write a collection of essays. Originally ... http://bit.ly/gXGKvR "

Sid Taberlay @SidTaberlay of Team Sho-Air, shows that he is extremely talented, "There's no law against tweeting and racing is there? :)"

Tinker Juarez @dtinkerj is still not tweeting.

I'll just keep adding more people and comments each week to make it better because it's what I do.

Lack of posts, but not adventures

2011-03-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm going to flat out steal someone else's blog.
Epic Endurance Cycling teammate Jeff wrote a little about our ride last night HERE .

Mountain Bike TweetWeek

2011-03-08T10:28:00.003-07:00

Mountain Bike TweetWeek in Review

Well, I’ve been kicking around and then this popped up on Friday from Triathlete. With all the information flying around through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, etc., all available through a phone, I’ve been thinking up a way to just do a quick summary of some of what the “in” crowd have been up to.

Well, what is born is a weekly, fun look in the mountain biking world of twitter (please people, no disrespect here..just for fun). The tweeters may or may not be the same from week to week and there may be more or less information, depending on what has been going on.

I intend to have this as maybe a Monday morning read or maybe a Friday morning read. However, who knows where it’ll go. For the first go around, you’ll need to be ok with a Tuesday roundup. Therefore, we can refer to it as MBTWR of March 8 (this will probably evolve to some extent as well…).

I will start with some that I am already familiar with and see how it goes…. Feel free to kick in ideas at anytime. Feel free to check me out on Twitter too at @Bwelnak.

Here we go…..

6-time World Champion and 2-time Leadville 100 winner (crushed it last year), Rebecca Rusch (@thequeenofpain) answers a question we’ve all been trying to figure out lately: “Ever wonder how I pick my race schedule? Made some more videos this weekend :)” I assume she added the smiley because she knows that it doesn’t matter what race you or I show up to – she will crush us. Anyhow, I suppose I should listen to her video .

Pro mountain biker and Ergon sales manager, Sonya Looney http://twitter.com/#!/looneysonya has been buzzed up on caffeine and Nuun: “It’s weird how caffeine sensitivity can vary so much! Some days I don’t feel it at all, and some days just a little cup gets me wired.” As she headed to yoga she let us know that she was hydrating with “Nuun at noon!” Perhaps the buzz is affecting her decision regarding her Garmin purchase: “This might need to be my next big purchase. I think it'd be a great supplement to my training. @Garmin http://tinyurl.com/lyr8cm .” What, no coffee flavored Nuun? Stay tuned for the gps decision…..

Rad Ross Schnell http://twitter.com/#!/rossschnell apparently was a mechanic on Sunday: “Wrenching on old Vw’s today.”

Heather Irmiger http://twitter.com/#!/irmigrrr), 2009 MTB XC National Champion and Subaru/TREK World Cup Mountain Bike Team member, has been SUP and playing with pans: "North Shore SUP down-winder...check. New experiences making me tougher & #lululemon 's "do one thing a day that scares you"...double check ... These are the exact same cereals but 1 was cooked in non-stick pan, other in cast-iron http://yfrog.com/h0e7uej I'm guessing that's iron?!" From the looks of it, that much iron could probably fix my cracked steel frame. Perhaps it helps with stand-up paddling? grrr...

Heather's husband, Jeremy http://twitter.com/#!/JeremyHK, lost his balance: "Think I got wetter on my bike in the rain than on my North Shore SUP session which is saying something since I fell in the ocean a few times." You may be getting too much iron?

Canadian Geoff Kabush http://twitter.com/#!/GeoffKabush isn't fond of some coaches: "Seen some coaches saying "train smarter not harder" is an excuse; think those coaches don't have the right tools & don't want any questions."

In honor of turning 50 I thought I'd note that Tinker http://twitter.com/#!/dtinkerj) was kicking around twitter early in the year: "Thinking about trying to tweet. First need to figure out how to text....may need to upgrade the phone first." That was January...still nothing. That's ok - he's Tinker.

That's a good little start.... until next week.

Epic Endurance Cycling made Cycling News?

2011-03-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yep! I'm proud to fly the blue and green this year.
It's a great group of people with a lot of different talents.

I'm thankful for all the work that has gone into it.

Check out the article on Cyclingnews.com HERE

Pitstop

2011-02-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

A little more from my drive down the Minnesota North Shore last Sunday...

I know a lot of people would think someone would be nuts to find beauty in a scene that has four foot waves, piles of ice months old and several feet thick, howling winds directly from the arctic, and temperatures to match.

I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it's the reminder that Mother Nature can still exhibit her power. We may be changing how she functions, but she is definitely going down fighting. Then I think it may be the link into the past when this water was truly a source of life and death for those that depended on the water, fish, and trading, but, without toasty car heaters and warm insulated houses, were naked to the bone chilling winds and vast wilderness.

North Shore of Minnesota from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

And, who knows, maybe it's just damn cool.

i will stick with pics for now

2011-02-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

I've just been flat out slacking on any sort of writing out here on the blog.
Pictures just keep going....
Here are a few more from last weekend in Northern Minnesota

One good thing for the day

2011-02-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

I didn't even have this today, but it's a good thought while I sit in the Minneapolis airport all day. Today was not a good day for many reasons.

I got this smoked sea salt mocha the other day at The Angry Catfish and it was really damn good.

16

2011-02-16T05:43:00.007-07:00

I guess that's the magic number for the day. If I'm not going to get in endurance riding, I'll get some sort of endurance training and what can be better than 16 hours of work. Perhaps I can make that a race.

You think the 16 Hours of Work will sell out as quickly as the Park City Point to Point? Within the six minutes it took for registration to be filled, I weaved through the tangled web pages, managed to efficiently type the numbers into the wilderness of blank lines, and emerged victoriously with an accepted entry. I'm a little unsure if I'll be at the starting line. You see, there is another little race that is likely the following week and that thing is pretty badass.

I'm certain that I am in no way, shape, or form as well spoken or written as Mr. Grizzly, I can't help but gain some inspiration from what he is doing. I shared some of his intentions when I started this back in January of 2010, and I've realized it's helped.

It's helped to seek out new ideas and ponder old ones. It's helped to process my thoughts more clearly and improve my writing. Most importantly, it's cemented my thoughts that this blog, as well as twitter, facebook, etc., is not a disruption to the fabric of friendship but rather an extension of the full community and friends that we truly want to be involved with. There are still varying degrees of the term "friend", just as there always has been. Becoming involved in a community (whether you dig mountain biking or kite flying) seems to be such a basic instinct - even loners seek out other loners. Our sense of what a physical community may been completely unrecognizable from 100 years ago (or perhaps even 10 years ago), but the true sense and feeling of community is stronger than ever.

With more of my life spewed out on the page....I can say that I've been concocting a little discussion in my head recently and a blog I ran across recently touched on it (if I can think of where I saw it....I will definitely reference it and weave it into my own thoughts). It's the mental aspect of endurance racing and training. It's a hard topic to wrap your head because it's so complex. I'm not sure if I will get it done any time soon and whether it will even portray my thoughts accurately, but I guess that's why I write this blog - think, create, do, share.

A random topic just popped into my head.... Recently, it seems that I have been reading more about intermittent fasting. The concept appears intuitive to me - train your body to utilize it's own energy stores more efficiency by training on low/lower-than-normal glycogen stores ; however, it seems that there is some conflicting opinions out there. I'd like to get into that subject as well, but again, we shall see.

For now, just a step at a time.

Quickies

2011-02-09T06:00:00.008-07:00

Some pics from Monday morning. I hope you enjoy.

The Cold Week That Was

2011-02-06T06:05:00.002-07:00

Maybe you saw my post on Wednesday. If not, it was cold. The official low in Denver was -17 F. I acknowledge that this may not seem too cold for many people in the northern regions of the country, but it's really cold to be doing any type of outdoor activity, including cycling. According to the National Weather Service wind chill table, at -15, 10 and 15 mph winds produce windchills of -35F and -39F, respectively. I suppose that wind chill doesn't really matter much if you have all skin covered. Uncovered skin while riding in these temps won't last long.

I did grab some good pictures from Wednesday morning before the camera shut off.

Cold enough to get the river steaming

Proof that others are indeed outdoors in -15F temps

Looking back towards home as the sun begins to cast shadows in the tracks - I love when it does that

It was a good week despite the tough conditions. I was hanging around the 15 hour training mark, with some added yoga and strength training. All 15 hours on the bike this week have been on my "steel is real" Gary Fisher Ferrous... I'm certain that pushing around the 30+ pounds through the cold and snow is adding some good leg strength.

I sandwiched work in between 4 hours and 15 minutes of riding today (45 minutes to and 3:30+ home). The loop back home tonight was pretty interesting.... about 3-4 inches of slow sticky snow started to fall before I headed out and continued for the first half of the ride. By the time I was a few miles from home in Chatfield State Park, there was a full four inches on top of a couple inches of compacted snow from a couple days ago. Cruising along at about 6 miles an hour was all I could muster. I arrived home wet, snowy, but to the wonderful smell of lasagna that my wonderful wife cooked up. She's awesome and I will never take that for granted.

Nothing all that exciting, but I'm sure it'll all get interesting soon enough.
The weather this week doesn't look like ideal training weather, but I'll make do...
Keep on keepin on..... I can't wait for lasagna leftovers after tomorrow's ride.

snow biking

2011-02-02T06:54:00.002-07:00

about to head out for an hour trek to work....

A Lot Going On In This Head

2011-02-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm taking notes in my notebook of things I'd like to write about, but I'll just have to chip away at them.

Brando, who, by the way, is awesome at making videos, and I got out for a few hours on Sunday. Riding on fat tires (of course!), we started in Golden, rode up Lookout Mountain (hitting up some dirt even!!), and wound our way out near Evergreen. I was a little unsure of a few of the roads being open and we had to cross some private property and do a little detour. Good thing Brando is an easy-going guy - he seemed to have a good time.

Check out Brando's masterpiece...

It was a good day overall and we discovered some new, good road riding....
To come...what to wear when it's -15 below (that's what the low is supposed to be - we shall see....)

Playing Around

2011-01-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm trying to move up in the world. I started out by doing short videos with a camera in one hand and handlebar in the other...now, I'm trying out an actual camera... Thanks Brando! I will eventually have a camera of my own..

Did a ride that included Bear Creek Canyon today....
It's not a very exciting video, but I'm sure they will mature and improve over time...

Testing out a gopro from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

No Leadville Race

2011-01-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

A group of six of headed off early to get to Leadville to race the first race of the Winter Race Series. Unfortunately, a winter storm and never ending line of I-70 ski traffic changed those plans. One car turned back and the rest of us (Eric, Jeremy, Brett, and I) stopped off on the Frisco/Breckenridge exit.

A little 3 hour tour by cross country skis was the name of the game.

Eric pushing through (on xc skis for the 1st time!)

Brett staying steady (for now....)

That was pretty cool. Only thing better would be to do more up and then get some turns....all in due time...

Happy Friday

2011-01-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say today, so I figured a picture would do the job. Have a good Friday!

Live Video - Performance

2011-01-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in improving your performance, stick around. Different aspects are discussed! Live!

Want to increase your performance?

2011-01-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

If you're an endurance racer, athlete, or just someone interested in fitness type things, check out Integrated Performance Medicine, Part 2 tomorrow, Wednesday, January 19th. (it'll be streaming live here!)

What is Integrated Performance Medicine?

This meet up will be the second part to a comprehensive discussion on peak performance through peak health led by Nathan Daley, M.D. It will cover the science of exercise/training approaches, hormones, air quality, altitude, water quality, hydration, sleep, and psycho-social components of peak performance and health.

At part one of the series, Nathan explained

“Some new thinking in the world of performance enhancement and/or disease prevention. That is, the processes which lead to degenerative diseases are the same processes which impair endurance performance and, to maximize performance, we must enable the body to minimize and/or control and balance these processes. Thus, we can increase performance capacity by preventing and/or reversing disease, or we can prevent disease by increasing performance capacity.”

There was great audience participation that lead to a lot of discussion regarding training and nutrition.

When and Where?

The meeting will start at 6pm mountain time on Wednesday, January 19th in the Baker classroom, upstairs at the American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colorado.

American Mountaineering Center
710 10th Street
Golden, CO 80401

Streaming Live Video.

Can’t make it? Live streaming video will be available for those who cannot make it in person, though the slide content is not visible online and so the talk is mostly limited to audio. The PowerPoint will be available by email (DrDaley@leonardiinstitute.com) upon request. An archived version of the video will also be available.

Starting at about 5:45pm ( U.S. mountain time), we’ll be streaming live on the following websites:
http://www.epicendurancecycling.com/?page_id=320
http://www.303cycling.com/
http://www.benwelnak.com/
http://www.themakerofshoes.com/
http://www.thebikehubcyclingteam.com/

Live on Social Media!

If you can’t be there, but still want to ask questions, you can go to:

Facebook: Ben Welnak (feel free to friend me, I don’t bite)
Twitter: @Bwelnak

Shoot me a question and/or message and I will relay to Nathan and the group!

Who is Nathan Daley, M.D.?

Nathan Daley, M.D., M.P.H., is residency trained in preventive medicine, integrative medicine, diagnostic radiology, and environmental health. In a pursuit to understand the true entity of health, Dr. Daley has acquired an impressive background in emerging areas of medicine. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Microbiology and his M.D. from the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Daley underwent a clinical internship and diagnostic radiology training at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Frustrated by the overemphasis on end-stage disease and lack of health-oriented pursuits in modern medicine, Dr. Daley began investigating the origins of health from an ecological perspective involving gene-environment relationships and an individuals way of interacting with the environment. Nathan is an avid runner and cyclist and brings his experience on the trail together with his knowledge in the medical field.

Mountain View

2011-01-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

Brando keepin the rubber side down

Successful Duathlon Type of Day

2011-01-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Not only did I participate in one, I ended with a double day.

First up.
Chilly Cheeks Duathlon. I joined three Epic Endurance Cycling Team members, Jeff Higham, Les Handy, and Anthony Thornton, as well as friend, Eric Schraufnagel, for the second race of the series. The format was a run, bike, run, bike, short sprint to the finish. They advertised it the miles to be 1.5, 3.6, 2.5, 7.2, 50 meter sprint. I think the first run was a little short. There were two divisions - tri guy and fattire. Overall, Jeff captured 3rd, Anthony 6th, and Les 7th. I'm not sure why Eric signed up in the open - he was on his mountain bike- because he would have finished 4th overall in the fattire. I managed to take the overall win out of 49 fattire competitors. Results are here.

Truth is, I wasn't the fastest runner or biker and would have finished a good ways back in the tri guy division. With the fitness I have, I just tried to keep it consistent. I knew with such a short race format, it would be decided in the transitions. I decided to stick with running shoes and flat pedals on the bike. The other guys swapped out for cycling shows, which cost them too much time to overcome in the short runs and bikes. I know I lost time on the bike with the flat pedals, but it was short enough, that the time I saved, was just enough to eek out the win.

Jeff put together this sweet video. It's cool to see the view from his helmet sitting in the pits.

Chilly Cheeks Duathlon #2 from Jeff Higham on Vimeo.

Afternoon snow.
Epic Endurance Cycling Team member, Brandon (aka Brando), and I headed up to Leadville for a little playing around on next weekend's race course. It was his first little snowbiking excursion and I think he liked it.

We ended up walking a good chunk because our skinny tires couldn't quite handle the soft snow.
With the beautiful weather, breathtaking views, and thin air, I don't think it really mattered...
Brando put together a sweet video of the ride.

These guys are getting pretty damn good with these videos!
So... on to today. We'll see how it goes!

Saturday will be chilly

2011-01-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

With temps predicted to be in the 50's, the only thing chilly tomorrow is the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon - a 1.5 mile run, 3.6 mile bike, 2.5 mile run, 7.2 mile bike. I don't expect to do very well - just want to go out and check it out.

Some pics from today

Dirty Kanza practice

the ride was a hoot

New Year Resolution?

2011-01-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

It may seem like I started the year off with a resolution to write more on this blog - not really. I just had some time while we were traveling to crank out some of my thoughts.

The writing about endurance is not over. In face, more great discussion continues over on a LinkedIn group...more ideas. Great, just what I need. I'd like to delve into the mental aspect over a couple posts and see what comes of it...we'll see when I can pull that together.

Tonight, Amy and I joined a few Epic Endurance Cycling Team members were out at a fundraiser for Chris Romer. He's trying to become the next Mayor of Denver and is a cycling enthusiast.

He was actually instrumental in putting together the Bailey Hundo. It's become a pretty popular race.
There were some big names that were in attendance and Amy was rubbing shoulders with them.

Amy and Dave, just chillin

Saturday is the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon.
Keep on, keepin on...

Week Summary

2011-01-09T07:13:00.008-07:00

It was a great week. I really enjoy the different views that cold weather brings.

Untitled from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

Iron Will

2011-01-08T07:03:00.030-07:00

I have been participating in some discussion on LinkedIn with an Executive Athletes group as a result of my latest blog posts about endurance.

Some very wise people have made some good points. However, one response was so good that I went to Amazon and ordered the book.

This was posted by Mike Plant, a coauthor of the book (with Scott Tinley), in response to my question - what does endurance mean to you?:

"When I think about endurance, I think about this bit I wrote a bunch of years ago to end a chapter in my book "Iron Will"

"All good endurance competitors learn that patience is a precious, irreplaceable virtue. About the worst thing for a triathlete to do during the Ironman is to anticipate the end of anything... Pacing and strategy are important, but a certain psychological calm is critical. Putting the miles behind you, one mile at a time, is the key. Thinking ahead makes you anxious, eager to be there instead of where you are... An anxious triathlete thinks the hills should be easier to climb than they are, thinks the bike should weigh less than it feels like it does...

"'You have to adopt the ultra philosophy,' (triathlete) Ron Smith told me. 'You have to be very patient...'"

Although he's specifically discussing triathlon, nothing could be truer in a 12 or
(or anything in between, really) 24 hour race.

Enjoy the weekend and keep on, keepin' on......

Do it a lot! Don't overlook Frequency

2011-01-06T05:21:00.034-07:00

Frequency

I don’t anticipate that this won’t be as long as the previous post. However, I feel that it is important to highlight frequency as a standalone aspect of endurance training.

Consistency and frequency do overlap each other; however, frequency is distinctly different because it describes more specifically the total number of workouts during any given time period. It is the micro view that I discussed earlier in the “Consistency” post.

Like most of you, as an amateur racer, who doesn’t have all day to train, I think that frequency plays an enormous role in training your body to be efficient over a long period of time. Again, I’m not a professional, coach, or even really that experienced. So, keep in mind this is coming from a desk job employee … Anyhow, back on track.

Adaptation

With a traditional one-a-day plan, I feel like my body is able to adapt. It gets used to storing the energy before and after the workout. This may just be a mental observation (which I hope to get to in a future post), but it seems that riding twice, or even three times a day, keep all systems firing and keeps my body on its toes. It’s a good technique to split up a higher level of intensity as well. You should be able to maintain a higher intensity level over two separate 1.5 hour rides than one three hour ride. Ever ride three times in a day? Whoa. Try it sometime.

My body is forced to be efficient in the morning ride, to ensure that I have the legs for a good ride later in the day. Then, later in the day, my body needs to be efficient to have enough to get through the next morning’s ride. Obviously, the workouts need to be adjusted according to different lengths and intensities. But, overall, it’s important to keep the legs (and core, arms, hands, etc..) used to a constant stream on stimulus. Commuting can play a huge role in getting in frequent rides. If you haven’t done this either, try it sometime!

Ride the Fat Tires

Another important consideration regarding frequency is the bike you choose to ride. This is probably applicable to all disciplines of mountain biking; however, I think it’s critical for endurance racing. Many mountain bike racers seem to spend a lot of training time on skinny tires on pavement. Although road riding may provide a more consistent tool to get specific training in, such as intervals and heart rate zones, it can’t possibly mimic fat tires on dirt or road. I’ve been trying to convince my friend, Jesse, on this point, but I think his WORS focus currently is keeping him away!

Riding a mountain bike more often seems to increase power and, more importantly, prepares your body to endure the long hours on that specific bike. Also, I know it’s not possible for some, but I try to hit some dirt each day. Dirt doesn’t necessarily mean singletrack. Dirt can be roads, rail trails, parks, cross country ski trails or anything else not pavement. If you’re going to race on dirt, you need to ride on dirt. Do you tend to ride your road bike more than your mountain bike? Why?

There are many theories on the number of rest days per week, periodization, and overtraining that I'd like to get into at some future point. However, at this point, I’ll leave the technical aspects behind physiology to the experts, but I know that if you want to race endurance events, you need to ride. A LOT.

I'm not quite through with the next post and think I'll be passing along sometime early next week. Stay tuned. This doesn't mean I won't be posting!!

LIVE! Cycling and Running Performance Medicine Meetup

2011-01-05T16:13:00.003-07:00

Coming at 5:30 pm mountain time tonight!

Information Seminar - Streaming Live

2011-01-05T05:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm joining 37 others for a Meetup discussion (if you haven't checked http://www.meetup.com/ , you may just want to see what's out there.. I would say the same for LinkedIn and Twitter - great network of resources at your figure tips if used right....). It's the first of a two part series.

I'm going to try to get this hooked up to some streaming LIVE video. If everything goes as planned, it should be posted to the following sites at 5:30pm mountain time:
     - this site
     - http://www.epicendurancecycling.com/
     - http://www.thebikehubcyclingteam.com/ and/or http://www.themakerofshoes.com/

Here is a description:

"This meetup will be the first of a two part series provided by Dr. Nathan Daley of the Leonardi Institute reviewing the science behind endurance performance capacity and degenerative disease processes which comprise the foundation of integrated performance medicine.

This presentation will briefly summarize the physiological and biochemical processes which can produce either peak conditioning and performance or degenerative disease, and introduce fundamental nutritional concepts.

The second series (TBA) will continue with the practical application and performance and disease aspects of exercise and physiological conditioning, breathing techniques and air quality, hydration techniques and water quality, training and racing specific applications of nutritional supplements, hormone levels and the overtraining syndrome, and psychological factors. The presentations may be followed by discussion as desired."

If everything goes well and I get some good feedback, this will just be the start of live video.
What live video would you like to see?

Testing

2011-01-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/epicendurancecycling

The Importance of Consistency in Endurance Training

2011-01-04T05:20:00.007-07:00

I hope today's topic gets you thinking. Check in tomorrow morning for some information regarding a seminar by a local expert on Cycling and Running Performance Medicine (mark your calendars for 5:30 pm, Wednesday to go to http://www.epicendurancecycling.com/ and/or to this site). The plan is to have it shown LIVE, in it's entirety. If we have glitches, then I'll try to get the archived version.

Anyhow, let's get on with it...

Consistency

One of the most important aspects of any endurance training is consistency. Obvious? Sure. We all get up and head to work every day and continue to improve our skills in our career. That’s an easy one, because we (well, most of us) have to. We are forced to be consistent. Assuming that most of us would rather be somewhere else than our day job, it’s amazing the constant improvement you can make at something that may not even want to be doing. Imagine the improvements that can be made at something that you WANT to do. Easier said than done – I know.

Do What You Can, When You Can

My Mom always said, “Just do what you can.” It’s a piece of advice that holds more weight every day. With increased responsibilities like little kiddos running around someday and future business opportunities, time is stretched thin and the calendar becomes erratic.

A common question I get is “how do you find the time?” Now, keeping in mind that I don’t have kids like many of you, as well as a relatively easy desk job, it’s not so much about finding time as it is making the time. At this point in my “career,” just accumulating pedal time is an essential factor for racing endurance type races, especially the 12 and 24 hour races.

Endurance is like a set of LEGOS. The more pieces you add, the more you stack and connect over time, the better it becomes. Therefore, I tend to view endurance training on a macro scale. I like to view training as a yearly or 2-year period, in which the whole is greater than the sum of the days. You can see this in action in many examples.

Some riders count the total days, while others count miles and hours. A couple great examples are the following blogs: Brett Ebben and Robert Herriman. Brett is a friend who is very consistent throughout the year.

Brett, cranking out more miles

He keeps tab of the number of days he doesn’t ride to work. In December he finished a 2 year stretch of monthly 100 mile rides and doesn’t plan on stopping (side note: I need to get out on one of these…). Although I don’t know Robert, I ran across his blog a couple years ago. He is probably one of the more extreme examples of tracking miles and hours. He did 50 100 mile rides this year - that's hardcore. Each has their own tally of consistency, however, more importantly, the do what they can, when they can.

Macro View

The offseason is a key aspect from the macro perspective. Although time isn’t necessarily allocated to specific on-bike training during the offseason, it is imperative that you maintain a good activity and fitness level. The individual level seems to be very dependent on racing level and experience. An individual who has been racing as a “sport” rider for several years can probably take part of the winter off from all activity, whereas a top-level pro would require an offseason built around maintaining a high level of fitness. Josh Tostado, the 2010 24 Hour National Champion, is an example of an experienced high level racer who can take advantage of the base he’s built through years of consistent training and racing by spending a good chunk of the winter (winter in Breckenridge is sometime in October through April…) off the bike completely while he downhill and cross country skis.

Tostado rippin' it back in the day

Granted, he’s not really like the rest of us, but nonetheless, he keeps his legs ready to go and his fitness at a high level.

Therefore, I think in endurance training, it’s important to have patience and be able to look at it from the big picture. That said, it’s important to keep the daily happenings in perspective to ensure things get done. What do you think?

Micro View

From the micro perspective, I favor a training schedule that is 6 days (and 7 during the heaviest training periods) with at least some riding every day. I’m not a real strict numbers guy and understand that many of you might be. Although, I’m not strict to a plan, so to speak, I do adhere to a general plan to get a certain number of specific rides each week – at least one long, at least one hard climbing/interval, and some easier endurance pace rides.

One of the beautiful views of winter commuting

Commuting is an integral part of the equation, I think, in part, because it forces you to get out in the morning, before weather, work, or other obligations have a chance to wreak havoc on any riding. What works for you – are you a dedicated plan person or a get-it-when-you-can type?

Endurance Corner

The following is a link to some good writing about consistency from much more qualified individuals than me. I think that there is a lot of value in this site and I try to read it often:
Endurance Corner

Here's a little excerpt from the above link:

"So my profile was:
•   Slow weight gain
•   Desire to leave the house all day -- until I left the house all day
•   Wanting more -- despite doing more

I think the above would describe most athletes at some stage of their fitness cycle and it’s caused by “too much.”

So the cure for my desire to ride more is to look at my life and see where I can remove stress. Here’s what I came up with:

•Stick to my schedule: The weeks in my life that “work” all have the same structure -- I move around the world but my life functions best when it’s very stable in terms of work/family/self.

•Moderate intensity: In June/July, I switched from my low-standard deviation training approach (moderate daily load) to a more variable approach (Big Day / Easy Day). While that enables me to bump my capacity to race -- it is tough on my brain-chemistry! Given that I want to be fast in October/November, I was way ahead of the curve on intensity-driven overload. I need to have more control over my efforts (sounds like I need a coach).

•Simplify my life: Whenever I arrive at a time “crisis” it precipitates a hard look at where I am spending my time.

It requires consistent effort to hone my life to focus on the areas that I do well. EC operates on an October to October cycle so now is a natural time to review where we want to take ourselves over the next 18 months."

I think that there is some valuable tips in Endurance Corner's writing that can allow you to stick with it over the long term.

The next post won't be until Thursday. Frequency will be the topic.
Until then...keep on, keepin' on

Tips from the Bike Hub Cycling Team

2011-01-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today's Ride

Winter brings some great scenery.

Today was the start of the 2011 season for me. I kept in somewhat ok shape over the last two months. Really, it took probably a month to completely recover from Frog Hollow, and then I did some running and a good amount of cross country skiing over the last 3 weeks. I'm a little heavy thanks to cookies and beer, but my fitness is there. I'm happy to say that I feel way ahead of last year. I just have to be patient and not get too excited too early.

Bike Hub Team

If you'd like a good read, check out THIS from the Bike Hub Cycling Team. It's a good primer to my posts to come starting tomorrow.

Here's an excerpt:
"Always remember that the goal of overreaching is to allow your body to overcompensate, and your body can't overcompensate until it is in a rest and recovery mode. The moral of the story? Always plan in easy days into your week and easy weeks into each month. Do not be tempted to shorten up this rest! Do not feel guilty that you're not working hard! Enjoy it. Allow your body to become stronger. Allow your immune system to stay healthy. If you only push, push, push, you will become tired, sick, injured, unmotivated, and frustrated."

Endurance, A Series of Posts

2011-01-03T05:30:00.001-07:00

Series on Endurance Training

Recently, I exchanged some messages discussing thoughts on endurance training. Then, fellow enduro, Tim Lutz, touched on the importance of consistency in a current blog post. It really got my wheels turning, pun definitely intended. Relatively speaking, I don’t have much experience in endurance mountain biking, so the following discussion isn’t from an expert point of view and I’m not telling you what to do.

This is meant to be an ongoing discussion for whoever is out there reading, or perhaps someone that you know (please pass along – I like outside thoughts and opinions). I welcome thoughts, criticism, ideas, or anything whether it’s positive or negative. I think that endurance sports encompass so many aspects of yourself that they often serve as a small learning tool for life. Experience rules and the only way to get the experience, is to get out there, train, read, discuss, and listen. This little series of blog posts is only a step in that process, so if it seems that I’m just jotting down thoughts on a page, that’s exactly what I plan to do. The writing might be long, but I’ll try to split it up in an attempt to keep it easily readable.

A Little Background info first

First, I find it necessary to veer off onto a tangent away from the training discussion. For no other reason than background purposes, I’m giving a little info about my endurance “career” that began in 2003. Since then, I have run six marathons (best being a 3:19 in Ireland), completed Ironman Wisconsin in 12:12 (on rudimentary training), as well as several other triathlons at various distances (never better than an age group winner), and started mountain biking in 2005 and 2006. After a couple duo 6 and 12 hour attempts with my brother, I didn’t dive into solo racing until September of 2007. Since then, I’ve done four 24 hr races, several 12 hours, a stage race, and several other endurance distance races, as well as a decent number of cross country distance races.

I wasn’t the fastest guy (I’m still definitely not), but I discovered that I was faster than others and that I can push myself pretty far. Anyhow, through training, racing, and all the associated learning, I’ve come to appreciate some important principles. They won’t be in any order necessarily, I’ll just add a few to get started and see what I come up with in the process. Also, keep in mind that I’m writing from the perspective of what I know in endurance. I understand that the higher level cross country riders will have a completely different view.

First 12hr solo, Sept 2007

Coming tomorrow is the first of the training elements.

Ice Riding and XC Sticks

2011-01-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

The blog posts have been pretty few and far between. Sorry.

Amy and I have spent the last half of December back with family and friends in Wisconsin.
It's been a long year and with all that has gone on over the last 2 months, it was a good recharge.

We are on our way back to Colorado right now - we are making it a cush trip and sleeping the night in a hotel, so we aren't trashed tomorrow. It'll make Monday morning tolerable.

I've done a lot of random stuff over the last 15 days - a good amount of xc skiing, a session of lake riding, ice fishing, and even some racquetball and pickup basketball.

XC Skiing

Northern Wisconsin

Wisconsin has some great cross country skiing... when there is snow. Luckily, some storms rolled through during early December, leaving plenty of snow throughout Wisconsin, north to south.
I first was able to get out for some good classical skiing with Amy out at ABR.

We rented one of the rustic cabins for a night and enjoyed a night of pounding dice in some competitive and spirited Yahtzee games. The following day, we headed out for a couple hours of winter wonderland conditions.

After lunch, Amy headed back to her parent's place near Green Bay and I hung around Minocqua waiting for Jesse to arrive. While I waited, I enjoyed some food and tea at the High Voltage Food Gallery. Kat and Tony (the owners - check them out on Facebook HERE) were very accomodating and served some great food (Amy and I ate there on the way up, I hung out there, and then Jesse and I ate there).

Jesse just did a blog writeup HERE. It was a good time with some solid classical skiing.

Green Bay and Southeastern Wisconsin

I managed to get out for some skiing at the Reforestation Camp with Jesse and Mr. Sikora. It's always good to catch up with people. Those guys have an exciting 2011 on tap with their new TEAM.

While we were visiting my family, I got out on some more nicely groomed and tracked trails. I know Colorado has some fantastic tracked and groomed trails, but you can't beat the accessibility and quality of Wisconsin xc ski trails when there is snow.

I was happy to get out, do something different, and keep some endurance (and maybe even gain a little!) during the holidays. The skiing probably only minimally helped to offset the cookies and beer, but that's another story.....

Lake Riding

You may be thinking to yourself - what the hell is lake riding? Wisconsin gets cold, very cold resulting in frozen lakes. Since trails are snowed in and road riding succombs to frigid wind chills, the only logical answer is riding a mountain bike wherever possible.

Lakes that are covered in an adequate, but not excess, amount of snow, provide a unique feeling of climbing a hill or mountain without actually climbing any feet. You are constantly putting good power to the pedals while traveling slowly. It's great work, quiet with no cars, and warm (since you're traveling a whopping 7 miles per hour, there is almost zero wind chill).

Here's a quick video of what we do in Wisconsin in the winter.

La Belle Lake Riding 12-27-10 from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

While I will admit that lake riding hasn't exactly become mainstream, it'll catch on. It would be pretty easy to put together a winter race out on a lake and it would be damn fun. I'm sure it'll happen sooner than later. Any interest out there?

Basketball...for an endurance mountain biker?

Yeah, Ty and I hit up his YMCA and played some racquetball and basketball. He was new to the white-walled box and didn't really dig it and we got smoked on the court. It's too bad we played only half court. If it would have been full court, we could have at least run the out-of-shape strangers into the ground. Their dribbling and shooting were existent, unlike ours. Want a good workout? Try a quick game of basketball. Only 30 minutes worth has left me sore.

Back To the Grind

We'll be back home tomorrow. It'll be great to unpack and get back to a somewhat normal routine.
The first race of 2011 is in three weeks up in Leadville, so I better get cranking.

Thanks for reading all of this stuff over the last year! This writing has led to a lot of exciting things that I didn't imagine when I started this a year ago. I really hope that everything works out in 2011.

I look forward to sharing all of 2011's experiences and can't wait to look back at this post in a year to see how much more things have changed!

12 Hours on a Trainer?

2010-12-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Members of the Epic Endurance Endurance Cycling Team are getting in a good workout today by riding trainers from 12 to 12. Happy New Year!

Social Media 101

2010-12-29T14:29:00.001-07:00

I've been reading a new book, Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan, and ran across a short chapter that hit a chord, stopped me in my tracks, made me reread several times, and want to share with you. This is the excerpt, stolen directly from his book:

"... You have ideas and thoughts and realizations that rise above what you're called upon to accomplish in a given day.
     You can choose a few paths: One is to just do what you're given to do, go home, and wonder why life hasn't dropped off a big fat bag of cash and destiny on your doorstep. Another is to fight the system at every turn and to rail against everyone that they don't 'get it' and that you're smarter than all of them, no matter how it looks right now.
     Or you can work on your secret mission. Realize that you're different. Cloak some of that during your day-job hours by doing more than is necessary without drawing much attention to the fact that you're doing it. If your workplace is ripe for change within, be that agent quietly. If not, then work on what you will do outside of what you're paid to do to build on that secret mission.
     The point is, there's what you take to be reality, and then there's what you make to be reality. the more you work on the latter, even if it's your secret mission, the more you can grow your abilities, find ways to satisfy what you know is true, and move into bigger things.
     Or you can complain about how "everyone else doesn't get it...."

It's sort of biking related...

Hut #2... the end?

2010-12-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

continued from yesterday.......

The old, decrepit buildings were oddly fascinating. Bryan jumped in, anxious to get some pictures and we all pulled our cameras out. I thought to myself in those few minutes - what did they do here? how long did they live here? was it a family? I was foolishly drawn in. The remnants of the mini homestead were almost like the angry soul of an old inhabitant, just waiting to distract unsuspecting visitors from their intended trail. The added distraction of a single woman cross country skiing, who strangely disappeared into the distant trees shortly after we turned east at the "T" in the trail, was enough to throw even the most experienced trekkers into the unknown territories of the seemingly endless valley.

With a false confidence, we were off. We finally needed our snowshoes just shortly after the cross country skier snuck off into the unknown. Now, with the grip and float of the shoes, our pace picked up (you need to keep in mind with five strong mountain bikers, "picked up" is a relative term....for normal people, we were flying on snowshoes.). We were cruising down the trail. Awesome. The weather was great, we had plenty of time before dark, and we were on the right trail. What the hell? The. Tracks. Stopped. We were NOT on the right trail. Those angry souls succeeded.

I grabbed my phone out in a hopeful attempt to reach Brett. Luckily, he answered. "Where are you?" Brett quickly blurted out with desparation in his voice. I confirmed what he knew in his gut, "we are at the spot you guys turned around, aren't we?" "Yeah. You know that road on the side of the hill? Go there," Brett said before his phone started losing service.

Shep was right the whole time. He had a thought that we were supposed to be up on the ridge we had been parallel to rather than in the valley. Between the cabins seducing us into taking the path to nowhere and me and Handy cranking out a 3+ mph pace, we had become some lost out-of-state tourists rather than the mountain man personas we fabricated in our minds on the drive there.

The thought of turning around and hiking the 2.5 miles back to the "t" in the trail punched us in our guts. It took a few minutes to gather ourselves, reset our mental state, and begin to retrace our steps. The next 2.5 miles were long and flat. Once we made it to the "t" and were back on track, things started looking up....literally.

We're headed up those hills

Bryan and Shep leading the way

Looking back at Aspen

It would be 4 more miles to the McNamara Hut. Yeah, 4 more miles. So far, 2 miles to the dilapidated ghost cabins, 2.5 miles out on the Trail of Tears, 2.5 miles back, and another 4 miles to go. 11 miles? On snowshoes? Yes, if we wanted a warm place to sleep.

In the dimming sunlight, the views were starting to get good. You had to enjoy them quickly as we trudged higher. We didn't have much time before the headlights needed to be on high.

Nightfall. The last 2-3 miles was a head-down, just keep on keepin on type of hike.

We all managed make it....with wounded pride and tired legs. Brett, Eric, and Dru had a fire started and we were all anxious to share the stories of the day. "Epic" seems to be an often used term these days. But, I think this ranks up there as EPIC for snowshoe trips - 5 hours and 11 miles.

It was truly Epic (great IPA by the way)

Once we were all changed, dry, and done eating, we hung out around the fire, relaxed, laughed, and reminisced about each of our biggest days on shoes.

The next morning we awoke to maybe 6+ inches of fresh white powder. The hike back to the truck was on course and pretty uneventful, well, other than the views. Pictures describe it best. Brett, Eric, and Dru had another day of adventure while we headed home (check out Brett's story and pictures HERE). For more pictures, check out the Epic Endurance Cycling Team's website HERE.

My view upon waking up

Great group of guys

It's a short week in the office this week. Amy and I are headed back to Wisconsin for the rest of the year. With everything that's happened over the last month, we need the time to recharge with family and friends. Recharging includes copious amounts of cross country skiing and getting back on the bike for the 2011 season, of course! We are excited to head back and to ring in the New Year!

Keep on keepin on!

McNamara Hut Trip #1

2010-12-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

I know that I didn't get this out on Sunday like I said, but close...
Anyhow, our first hut trip.

The day started out with anticipation, warm and clear weather, and a truck full of five dudes. The five guys? Four Epic Endurance Cycling Team members - Les Handy, Anthony Thornton, Bryan Alders, and me, as well as Andrew Sheperd(Trek team mechanic who has a good sense of directions and his surroundings). All newbies. We were set to do an overnight snowshoe into a cabin at 10,200 feet. It's a stocked cabin, so it has most of the supplies you'd need - cooking stove, utensils, wood burning stove, outhouse, TP, paper towel, beds for 16 people, tables, benches, and even some board games. It's a 5.7 mile route from trailhead to door. It turned out to be 11 miles and just over 5 hours on the way in....

I was the last pickup in the morning, so after a quick meetup at a park and ride, we were off around 9:15. This was about three hours after a group of three - Brett Ebben, Eric Schraufnagel, and Drew (sorry Drew, don't know your last name) - we were meeting out at the hut. Our spirits were high as well pulled out of the park and ride and started cruising west on the Denver skier pipeline (I-70).

The road was clear and we only made one stop for some lunch at Qdoba, so we were to Aspen pretty quickly. With a good group, the about four hour drive to Aspen, time seems to fly.

After a little navigation, we were able to find the parking lot. We unloaded our gear and got ready to go. First issue. Trailhead? Where is it? Hmm..after a short walk up a private drive, we turned back and another guy in the parking lot let us know that the old, faded sign we were contemplating actually was the start. So, we are barely into the hike and we've managed to be unsure about the parking lot and trailhead. Oh boy.

After a few minutes, we were now on a trail that we were pretty confident about. There was a decent track and a few blue markings, so we continued on for about two miles. It got interesting when we arrived at "The Spot."

More to come...

Tostado, 303Cycling, and Shoein'

2010-12-11T22:59:00.001-07:00

One more quick shameless plus. Go to 303Cycling HERE to see what 24 Hour National Champion, Josh Tostado, is thinking.... I noted it back nine days ago, but he was a cool guy, so I just wanted to share again.

Also, I did manage to head out with some teammates on a snowshoe hut trip yesterday and today that saw 5+ hours and 11+ miles yesterday and another 5.7 miles today. I'll add more on this tomorrow.....

JHK and Heather Irmiger

2010-12-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Not much too say today other than you need to check out the newest 303Cycling.com interview with JHK and his wife HERE.

The Bike Hub Cycling Team - Coming to Wisconsin

2010-12-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

It's new! It's damn good! It's The Bike Hub Cycling Team. My good friend and Wisconsin fast guy, Jesse Shoemaker has compiled an elite level mountain biking team based in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area.

The team will be racing primarily in the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) and other high profile races in the Midwest, including the Ore to Shore and the Chequamegon 40.

If you want to follow a group of successful, high-level cross country racers, check them out!
Good luck guys!

A lot of cool things happening

2010-12-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

This fall I hooked on with a great group of people. Today the website went live!
Check out Epic Endurance Cycling's website HERE. It should be a great 2011 season and I am looking forward to it!

Things are in motion with 303Cycling.com and XXC Mag. I really hope that everything works out with everyone involved. I feel pretty lucky to be associated with so many cool people.

The newest 303Cycling project went out yesterday. Ever wonder what goes on in the head of the 2009 and 2010 24 Hour National Champion, Josh Tostado????? If so, go HERE.

It's the second in (hopefully!!) a long series of interviews with some endurance athletes. The first was with 2009 and 2010 24 Hour Runner Up, Kelly Magelky. Check out his HERE. I'm really becoming interested in the more in-depth aspect of the sport and I was REALLY luck to sit down with these two good guys right from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, all the nutrition, gear, bikes, and gadgets are cool, but I have a feeling you could throw all these guys on much lower level gear and they'd still be competitive.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of some good things.

I want to say thank you to everyone for all of your support. Like Josh said during the interview, “it’s so overwhelming, that if you tried to do it by yourself, there’d be no way – physically or mentally – no way." He's a wise man.

Keep on, keepin' on.

Now that's a Christmas Tree and No Lions This Time

2010-11-27T21:13:00.001-07:00

With family in town, we got in some off-the-bike activity and I got out riding with Ty.

Nothing too crazy, but getting out in late November and not having to wear several layers is always a bonus.

Off the bike activities:

On the bike

Random November 25 and 26 from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

It's been a long last three weeks, but thanks to all the support and all the things we have going on, it's been manageable.
Ahh, is it Christmas vacation yet??

More Uncomfortables

2010-11-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

With all that has been going on in our lives and the current Extreme Makeover - Welnak Edition inside our house, I have really taken something to heart. I was reminded during a staff meeting in the office. "Do something uncomfortable each day," was what I heard (not sure if it was some other corporate speak, but that's what my filters allowed in).

Something uncomfortable means something different for everybody and in many different situations. It could be a long, complicated memo or email at work, a tough personal relationship decision, a big purchase (of a bike, duh...), little purchases, or just a small project around the house that has been hanging on your thoughts. You know in the back of your head, it'll be a little tougher to call that pissed off client or pass up that meal out a couple nights so you can enjoy that one meal on the weekend with your best friend. It can be big or small - doesn't matter, because when you add them all up over time, you'll may be a little different person in a little different position.

Today, I knocked off three of those and it felt good. One was work, one was kind of work, and one was pretty unexpected.

I was working from home today making sure the guys ripping apart our house were ok while Amy was in the office. This made it easy to get out for a run while it was still like (well, at least in the beginning). My plan was to head out for an easyish paced 45ish minute loop from home, out to and along the hogback, and down around to the south and loop back. It started out nice, cool, and pretty calm.

heading south

Then just as it was getting a little too dark for my little Canon camera, uncomfortable #3 showed up.

It was my first. I hadn't even seen evidence before. I've heard of their presence and wondered how I would react.

My first mountain lion. It was perched up on the upper edge of the hogback ridge. At first it was crouching down and I thought to myself, "that can't be...it's probably a coyote". Then, it stood up and my thoughts quickly changed to "That is no f$#!ing coyote." I practiced my leg turnover, which is very important for cycling, for the remaining 15 minutes of my run.

Like I ended with yesterday, a journey starts with one step......in a VERY FAST running shoe.

Did you do something uncomfortable today?

Firsts

2010-11-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's like the guy you see mountain biking with his helmet on backwards, in jeans, and with tennis shoes, out riding somewhere that he clearly out of element. Or, perhaps, the guy who shows up at the race who you know immediately is a newbie. We've all been there.....

I was there today. Running clothes and shoes and no skill. Amy and I headed out for a walk and I hit up the newly found areas close to home and got in my uncomfortable thing for the day.

Look out! from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

I guess a journey really does start with one step.....in a running shoe

Offseason is officially underway

2010-11-20T13:15:00.001-07:00

I've been starting up some running - nothing more than 35ish minutes, but the legs are not what they used to be for running.

The other night I got out just as the sun was getting low behind the mountains.

Then yesterday I headed out west for a mix of business and pleasure. I managed to get in a couple hours of smooth cruising on the skinny skis. Instead of getting out for some backcountry touring type xc skiing, I was feeling like some groomed, tracked white stuff. It was around 40 degrees, so the snow wasn't exactly fast, but for November 19th, I can't complain.

I put together a little video of the ski. The music just goes with the comtemplative mood of the cruise.

First XC ski of the year from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

This weekend, Amy and I are in the midst of a home makeover, so I'm going to get out for a short run today and try my hand at a little rock climbing/bouldering on some newly found terrain close to home.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome guys

2010-11-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

It's cool to see a couple new faces in the blog world.
Welcome Tim and Brando!

It's always inspiring to see others getting out and getting after it.
Things around here don't seem to slow down and I may be getting in on another writing gig.....

So, I ask anyone out there reading this - if you have any thoughts or ideas on any endurance related reading you'd like to see, please let me know and I will try to get stuff moving along. XXC Magazine and 303Cycling.com have been keeping me busy in addition to the day job. Hopefully, it all works out, and I can continue to gain writing experience, knowledge, and a network of great people.

I've been quickly learning that, above all else, it comes down to the people.

I've switched gears (pun intended, if you'd like) and will be off the bike for another 3 weeks or so. I might sneak in one or two rides next weekend when my brother is in town, but that's all. It's been a long year and the riding just adds up. I need to do something different. So, I headed out for a 30 minute run yesterday, exploring a new-to-me trail close to home. I'll get out again tomorrow if it works out.

It's time to get the gear ready for the winter riding season. I look forward to some of this soon....

Now, where are those goggles.....

A huge THANK YOU!

2010-11-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

As I laid out in my last post, it's been a hell of a week.

Before I go ahead with any more this year, I owe a huge thank you to a lot of people who helped make this race go the way it did.

Thank you:

Amy - Thanks for being there for everything and staying strong throughout everything.
Ty - It's been a crazy few years, but through it all, I can think of some pretty concrete moments in biking that have changed the way I view all the hours on the saddle.... Muir the first time, Kewaskum 6 hr duo, Underdown, 1st Colorado Ride vs. 2nd Colorado ride, Chequamegon, 9 Mile. It might be a thousand miles in between, but it doesn't seem like it.
Jesse - Thanks for all of the votes of confidence. It's great to have someone that always has a quick response and reminds me to heed my own advice. You've done a hell of a job to get where you are at, so you owe it to yourself to keep on keepin on.
Jon - Thanks for letting me rock the course on the Superfly. It's pretty cool that after only a few months you let me borrow the same bike that helped put me in the hurt locker in the first 24 hour race this year.
Brett - Thanks for the extra lights. With over half the race covered in darkness, they were put to the test.
Bill - Thanks for a hell of a race. You are truly an enduro badass and a damn nice guy.
Jim - Thank you for all the bike help and bike building. I owe you a ton for bridging the gap between my pedaling and my mechanical ineptitude.
Jill & Beat - You guys gave Amy some company over the long day. Jill, thanks for the good words and awesome write ups on your blog.
Epic Endurance Team - Thank you for being so supportive. It's easy to have confidence with a group of people like you cheering from home.
Ken - Thanks for pushing my ass this year. The Epic was a week I'll never forget.
Everyone - Thank you for all of your words of support. We've been overwhelmed with all of the support. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Also, here are a few more pictures and a video of the weekend. These are some sweet pics from http://www.brianleddy.com/.

And just because I never get sick of 24Solo, I stuck with it for the video.

25 Hours in Frog Hollow from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

I'm signing off for now. Things are slowly getting back into a groove and I'm sure before you know it, it'll be spring and life will be full of promise.

But for now, we all need to just keep on keepin' on.

little bw

2010-11-14T21:09:00.001-07:00

I don't know how things will eventually end, but I know how they will start......

Don't Waste Your Life

2010-10-30T18:49:00.000-06:00

So...another 70 degree day here on the Front Range.
After the garage door guy left (with a perfectly functioning, like-new door), I headed out on the local trails for a 5 hour shake down ride before next weekend's 25 Hour race out in Utah. I decided not to join some of the team at the 2010 Monster Ride with the Ergon guys and just stick to the Ringtail Trail (and other side trails) and the Indian Creek Loop.

Indian Creek 10-30-10 from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

I don't think the weather can get much better right now....

First snowshoe

2010-10-28T22:31:00.001-06:00

This was Monday night....slow getting it up.
I headed out from work, drove the 45 minutes up to just over 10,000 feet at Henderson Mine. I got in just under 1.5 hours and 3+ miles. The snow was maybe around 10 inches at the start and increased as I went higher. I guesstimate that there was maybe 15 inches up at 11,000 feet. It's actually kind of exciting to see some snow.

Let's Get it Started! from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

The last ending words say check out skinnyski as I had contacted Bruce at skinnyski if he wanted a copy to get up on his sight to get a little snow/ski excitement up on the site. He said, yeah, cool, but I don't see anything up there....I sent it Tuesday. I guess that means it didn't make the cut.

quick lunch ride in

2010-10-27T23:20:00.000-06:00

Well, meetings worked out and I was able to get in a good lunch ride today.
The temperatures were only in the 40's, but for some reason seemed warmer.

I managed about 2,000 feet of climbing in 1:15. It's great to be able to have the trails within riding distance of the office.

Ringtail

2010-10-24T13:45:00.001-06:00

I'm keeping it short....
Headed out this morning up the Ringtail Trail to the Indian Creek trail, turned around and ripped it down with Brando and Bill - new Epic Endurance teammates. Less than 30 miles and more than 3000 feet of climbing. Good little jaunt I'd say.

A view from home while waiting for the guys to show up

A hard chargin' Brando

It's all about the climbing

Nice rock

Brando Rippin'

2011 Team Teaser

2010-10-23T00:39:00.000-06:00

Epic Endurance Cycling Team from Mike Berg on Vimeo.

This is only the start..

Published

2010-10-19T21:40:00.000-06:00

Check out the latest on 303cycling.com.
The Orange Ride

Reminders

2010-10-16T23:24:00.000-06:00

It's takes a short hike with a good friend, your wife, and your future son to remind you what is out there.

Thanks.

Sunday Adventure - Imagine.

2010-10-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

Well, so, it went like this...

I had a plan to ride from home to Buffalo Creek early Sunday morning to meet Brett and his friend Jim (he's here on vacation from Wisconsin) for a ride, starting at 9:00am.

Sounds not too bad...ride segments one and two of the Colorado Trail, meet at the trailhead, and head out on Buffalo Creek's smooth, flowing singletrack with the guys.
Not too bad....however...

Sunday morning, 4:15 am departure. 4:15am, really? Yeah. Not an easy ride to segment 1 either. The normal easy 7 mile warmup through Waterton Canyon - Closed, absolutely NO access, since August.

Just go around?? Hmm... perhaps. I did a little map reading leading up to Sunday and came up with a route that winds up a road through $1,000,000 homes onto a forest service road, across a .7 mile section of Douglas County Open Space non-mountain biking trails, and onto a group of about 8 miles of singletrack that I don't think is ridden much by the Denver metro area mountain bikers. Some climbing up to and on the road through the $$$$$$ houses and a little more on the gravel service road. Then everything changed. Even in the darkness of the early morning hours I could sense a big change to come.

A change it was. Over the next 50 minutes, I climbed from about 6,300 feet up to the top at 8,000. Damn, it took 1 hour, 40 minutes to go 10 miles and climb 3,000 feet. Once to the top, I managed to find some cell phone service. "Brett, hey, make it 9:30ish."

Once to the top, it was a good cruise down some fire road, into some great singletrack on the Indian Creek Trails (the same portion of trail we rode last weekend). From there it was on to the Colorado Trail. The sun was up and it was plenty light enough to turn off the light and start to pick up the pace. Hmm.. only problem...another climb. This time the climb was only about 750 feet. Once to the top, down...and then another 1,000 foot climb. Recognize a theme?

The remaining sections of Segment 1 and 2 are great singletrack. Mostly smooth flowing singletrack, first through heavily wooded sections and then burned out, wide open areas starting at Segment 2. It was taking a little longer than I anticipated, so the last 2 hours before meeting up with the guys, I pushed the pace. By the time I reached them, I was 5.5 hours in with about 8,000 feet of climbing in 45 miles. Yeah, that's climbing of almost stupid proportions.

Brett, Jim, and I added a good 3 hours. It was good to ride with some others over the last few hours because over the last hour, I was started to lose a little gas. Jim was really enjoying the ride and the views. It's always great to see visitors (especially Wisconsinites) reactions to the overwhelming vast overlooks. The scale of the mountains is something that seems a couple days to process.

We stopped off at Zoka's on the way home for beer and burgers. What a way to end the ride.
Brett and Jim headed out to Moab the next day while I was headed to the office....

A couple still pics from the day:

A cool entrance sign - what do you expect for $1,000,000 homes?

Mix1 is good for mid-ride, as well as pre and post ride.

Rokit Fuel is right at home... Good, clean fuel and "Not for Wussies"

This video is a summary of the day. Since I'm now part of the Epic Endurance Cycling Team for 2011, I thought that it'd be appropriate to really show you what the team is all about. This is it!

October 10 Ride Home to Buffalo Creek from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

The rest of the week should be pretty quiet on the ride side. Plans were set for a quick mountain hut trip in December - so, snow is somewhat welcomed at this point (just not down here). However, big news on the baby side of life coming.. Will it be a boy? Time will tell.

A shout out to all of the future Epic Endurance riders for a great weekend of racing at the 24 Hours of Moab. Check out the Epic Endurance Cycling Team on Twitter at @EpicCycling!

Get out and ride.

Like Cross?

2010-10-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

Get excited about it by checking out some pics from the local scene.
Check out the new ones up on Smugmug. Hup! Hup!

(ps... these are only some of them - I need more time to get the rest up from the men's and women's open races...)

Looong Day and stuff.

2010-10-08T22:50:00.000-06:00

I just haven't been one for words lately. I've been sticking to a lot of pictures and movies. Not sure why, just going with the seasons, I guess.

It seems that you go through phases during the year and right now it is an attitude of reminding myself to just relax, enjoy the beautiful weather of the shortening days, and crank out some good final efforts..... Most of the "hay is in the barn" for the final big race (maybe final race - looks like a group may be going down to northern Texas for a 50 miler later in November) - 25 Hours in Frog Hollow November 6 & 7 out in Utah. 25 hours you say? Yeah. It takes place on the night that the clocks are turned back. I just have to pound out a couple heavy weeks, with some long adventure ride type days to really top off the endurance, as well as some short intense hill climbs. They plan for Sunday should be the first good long endurance day in this last block.

Today was a good day - a quick 45 minute ride into work, 1:25 lunch ride with Mark H. out in the Ken Caryl hills (that almost reached 2,000 feet of climbing), and an easy, relaxing 1+ hour ride home on some easy flowing singletrack and bike paths and sidewalks. I really believe in the multiple ride days because the endurance really seems to add up quickly.

It was a surreal type ride home - nice temps, changing colors, a brush fire a few miles from home, and then a bleeding road cyclist laying flat on the side of the road, surrounded by medical personnel.

I'll keep with my recent posts and add today's video.

Day of riding October 8, 2010 from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

Tomorrow, we have a bunch of random things going on. I think Amy and I are going to get in a short hike in the morning, followed by breakfast, and then a few hours up near Boulder to get some picks of the second race in the Boulder Cyclocross Series. I'll be adding pics HERE and there should be some showing up on 303cycling.

Some good things going on with the team and sponsors...I'm sure there is much more to come after the 24 Hours of Moab this weekend. I think another delivery of Rokit Fuel should be arriving soon too. It's great stuff - good fuel for anytime of the day really. Look out for the next issue of XXCMag coming sometime in the next few weeks. I didn't have much to offer to Mr. SoiledChamois but I was pretty pumped to hear that I may at least have a picture show up! Cool shit.

Baby Welnak seems to be growing pretty quickly too. We'll find out this week if it's going to be on my side or Amy's. Either way, I'm sure it'll work out.

So, for now I should maybe finally get back to finishing up my 12 Hours of Snowmass race report. At this point, does it really matter? Hmm.... for a better read, head over to up-and-comer Mr. Shoemaker's recap of an awesome weekend out here last weekend.

it's a busy weekend: 24 Hours of Moab, the 24 Hour Worlds (local Coloradan representing), and the Ironman Championships in Hawaii. It should be exciting! Have a good weekend!

Nighty night

2010-10-08T00:34:00.000-06:00

Brett and I got out to Buffalo Creek for some night riding before the weather turns winter.
Plans are in the works for a little Sunday adventure......

For now, a little bit from tonight.

Brett and I Riding Buff Creek from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.

Yep, the weekend was that good. In video.

2010-10-04T23:11:00.002-06:00

Another little compilation - videos this time.
24solo was the soundtrack of the weekend.....

Colorado Riding Weekend from Ben Welnak on Vimeo.