Blogs by Professional Cyclists - Professional Cycling Unplugged™

Here’s a video interview (thanks to http://www.cyclingdirt.com) of Colin Cares’ U23 MTB National Championship win–Enjoy!!

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE

In past years I have ended classes this time of year to allow for more traveling and racing.  Now on Kenda/Tomac/Hayes, I have a much more domestic schedule which means I can press on with school, though somewhat reluctantly.  The upside is that was able to go on my first real spring break trip of college. 

Beforehand, I’d envisioned something between a collegy spring break and a training camp…16 friends renting a house within Moab, Utah’s infamous Lazy Lizard hostel for the week?  Perfect. 

We had nothing but sunny 75-degree days, which meant I could take off my leg warmers for the first time all year.  My friends and I would make breakfast, promptly embark on our respective adventures—mountain biking, climbing, cliff jumping, hiking, photo-safari-ing—and the reconvene in the early evening to make dinner and fall asleep by 10:00.  It was a far cry from Cancun, but just about perfect for someone who has to pin on a number plate in less than a week.  Yikes, that date crept up fast.  

I was a little nervous about taking only a hardtail on Moab’s relentlessly bumpy trails, especially since I haven’t ridden one since I was 15.  The equipment held up great (3 longs days with tubes and no flats!); the tech skills, well, they’ll come.  My sit bones are definitely looking forward to a few days on the road though.

I’ve been fortunate enough to ride my bike in some pretty places over the years, but Moab, at just 5 hours from home, ranks among the best.  Rides there aren’t merely punctuated by a few cool view points.  Rather, there are spectacular 360 degree views from just about anywhere.  It’s a photographer’s dream and next time I’ll be sure to take more than just my cell-phone camera…hopefully that day is soon. 

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE

Almost everyone in Colorado Springs knows the incline.  Some know it first-hand, some know it by reputation, and others know it simply as an unsightly vertical scar at the base of Pikes Peak.  Regardless, it’s one of the most unique physical challenges that I know of and a great off/early season workout.  Looking up…

Made up of railroad ties from a bygone cog railway, the incline is a long, relentless, and shockingly steep set of stairs—1.02 miles long with 2,011 feet of elevation gain, to be exact.  There’s no potential for headwinds, malfunctioning equipment, or unfortunate race tactics on which to blame slow incline times.  It’s just a matter of embracing the hurt and slogging upwards…a pretty uncomplicated test of fitness.  For most, simply getting to the top is a personal triumph and it’s those types–the jean-clad older guys doubled and gasping for breath every 10 steps—that inspire me the most.  If they can drag their bulging bellies up this thing after work, surely I, an alleged professional athlete, can give an extra push to the top.   From about half way up…

Truly wintery weather strikes CSprings maybe twice every three weeks.  Those days, it’s much easier for me to crank the Girl Talk and hit the incline than to risk insanity on the trainer or losing some toes on a windy bike ride.  Sometimes I do it two or three times; once I did it four times but never again (I was limping for nearly a week out of soreness).  Who knows how well inclining transfers to power on a bike, but it’s definitely a one of a kind workout if you’re ever in the Springs…that, and the view from the top beats the heck out of the view from a trainer.

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Posted under NON-BIKE

For Christmas, my sister gave me a book called Outliers.  In it, Malcolm Gladwell argues that people are products of circumstances mostly beyond their control and that success does not come from hard work, determination, or any of the other traits that we typically associate with it.  He’d say that Mozart wasn’t born with an ear for music, nor was Bill Gates innately good at computer programming—they were merely in the right places at the right times to become what they became.  In a culture so rooted in the idea of self-determination, this is a little tough to swallow, but this book got me thinking about my own life, and, for the purposes of this blog, cycling. 

On the one hand, it’s nice to think that nobody is born with a head start.  Right out of the womb, we all have equal chances of becoming an Absalon or a Gunn-Rita.  Immediately after that though, outside forces direct our lives.  For me, being in the position to write for a cycling blog today was dictated by an infinite number of factors, not least of which were growing up in an outdoor-minded community, having maybe the world’s most supportive family, and not first falling in love with football or wrestling (are there wrestling blogs?).  The more I think about it, the more I buy Gladwell’s theory and the less of a role I seem to have played in my own life.  Kinda weird.  I guess I hope future opportunities and circumstances deflect me someplace nice.

Because nobody likes a blog without pictures, here are a few from the recent forest fire near Boulder.  Just getting started…

Damage to the Cliff Bar Cross Team bus:

And this was taken the morning after the fire, about a mile from the burn:

Uh huh.

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE, NON-BIKE

Last Monday I got back on my bike.  It’s amazing how foreign a bike can feel after just two weeks of not riding, although it had been a couple months since I’d ridden my road bike.  I cruised around town for a mere two hours but had achy joints and a sore back and felt as if every pedal stroke took mental effort.  It was as if I couldn’t quite remember how long my cranks were.  Despite this discomfort, I saw local pros (in Boulder, CO there are many) returning from their long rides and I got excited to get back to training, back to starting the morning with a big breakfast and a large press of coffee, back to that euphoric feeling of calorie deprivation, and back to guiltlessly over-eating and routinely napping. Now a week into riding, I feel as if it’s all coming back.  My bike doesn’t feel so alien, I’m remembering just how much I need to eat to not bonk after four hours, and how to dress properly—no matter how warm it is at noon, always bring an extra pair of warm gloves. These were part of my no bonking strategy:

This time of year I also feel excitement and anticipation for the upcoming season.  Last season’s bad results, illnesses, and lulls in motivation are all erased with a fresh training log.  Whereas I grudged taking two minutes out of my day to write down workouts this fall, I now find myself writing in my log daily, even bothering to capitalize and spell correctly.  Maybe it’s just the New Year’s revelry talking, but if I can maintain this hopeful attitude and resolutions a little longer each year, I figure I’m bound to reach my long-term goals sometime.  Happy New Year!  

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE, NON-BIKE