Leaded Lance

So Lance won Leadville this year. Everyone says it is "good for the sport", but I don't know. Now I've never ridden it, so take what I'm about to say with a huge grain of salt, but somehow the Leadville course just doesn't inspire me as an MTB rider the way some of the other courses do. Several years ago Lance did a Norba national after one of his TDF wins, and he did not win that race. In fact I think he crashed 3 times. And that is how it should be.

On some of the MTB courses this year, Burke Swindlehurst raced but did not just roll out and completely crush us, presumably because his off-roading skills were a little rusty and he didn't want to risk an injury. Throw Lance to the PCPP or some other single-track heavy course and then everyone can see mountain biking at its best -- adventure, skill, challenge, and like Leadville, endurance. More than just road racing on dirt roads. Don't get me wrong - I'm guessing Lance is fast pretty much everywhere. It is just that Leadville got a huge shot of performance enhancing something when guys like Lance and Landis started showing up. May as well pump the sport on terrain that will get people thinking "Cool."

I will admit it doesn't seem like many people who actually do the race think it is boring, so maybe I should just keep quiet till I try it.

Critical

Ahhhhh...now motorists will respect us and want to be more careful around bikes. Maybe they could find some other cause to discredit.

Finally visited an orthopedic specialist today about my deer shoulder. Turned out the viewing angle of the instacare x-ray was not too good and new x-rays revealed an obvious separation: hence the big bump on my shoulder (as a side-note, the servo controlled, multi-axis x-ray machine was really cool).

She (the Doc) tells me the bump will never go away and the separation will always be there (the bad news), but the shoulder will return to full strength and functionality relatively quickly. Additionally, I'm good to ride as long as it does not hurt too much.

Couple of Red-Heads

Another reason why

"There's a feeling that you can only get from racing and finishing -- the feeling of pushing yourself beyond what you're capable of doing in training. It's about achieving the ultimate physical accomplishment -- and you can't feel that on the sidelines."

-- Ned Overend

Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you fish in the stream, or lazily dream on the banks as the clouds go by?



Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you swim in a pool, to keep yourself cool, or swing in a tree up high?





Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you march in parades, or drink lemonades, or count all the stars in the sky?



Is that what you do? So do I!



It was a fun vacation. I was not feeling strong at the Jackson race. Chad, Brandon, and I got off-course once, and then I crashed a few minutes later, but I finished the race and had fun.



We drove back from Jackson via Bear Lake and enjoyed the beautiful drive.



Apparently, the cycling demons did not want me at the canyons for the last ICUP race.

The kids got sick one at a time while we were on vacation. By last Sunday, was feeling the illness, and was sick Mon to Wed, but not too bad, hoping to mend by Sat.

By Thursday I was feeling pretty good and did an easy MTB ride. Friday AM I was feeling peppy and thought I would be primed for the last ICUP race, but the deer collision fixed that for me. I went in to the instacare doc after work Friday, and she suggested I have a separated shoulder and will need PT, but I need to set up with a specialist and find out for sure.

Some people have asked how the deer is...I did not chase it into the hills to find out. Sorry.

Congratulations to all the series champions and thanks to Ed for another well-run year on the Intermountain Cup.