The Bacon Strip

weeelllll, i’ve got a bout a week and a 1/2 till the Vapor Trail goes off and i’m feeling about as ready as i’m gonna get. while i missed last weekend’s fun at the SSWC08 - nice job guys! - i did my damnedest to get in a tough and kinda technical trail ride masterminded by Nate Schuster and his bud Jan (sp?) in the high country above Donner Lake.

over there, that peak on the skyline, the one with granite and trees

we’re going over that one too

YEEEEEAAAH! Nate descending from top of Tahoe-Donner

spicey feature along trail at Summit Lake

deli sandwiches from the market in Soda Springs, a fine mid-ride aide station

that ride turned out to be a 9ish hour day with a surprisingly tough 50 miles and 6700′ of vertical. that’s less than 1/2 of what’s expected at the the VT. at lower elevation too. ouch. since the Suffer Solstice my training regimen has been less than modest - between getting smacked by a car at the end of the Solstice ride and walking away the ER with a busted rib and bruises, to becoming a brand new dad just a few days later.

HLM

Mom and Grom

if there’s one thing i’ve got going for me, i’ve had lots of practice of being up all night! handy, since this year the Vapor Trail starts at 10pm. we have until dark the next day to finish it, and from the maniacle cacklings trickling in via email, this year’s course will be the hardest yet. check out this sweet map of last year’s route i poached from www.vaportrail125.com

google earth map of the 2008 Vapor Trail course

that little blue spot near the top of the pic is Salida, CO. the race starts and ends in Salida, goes 125+ miles and something like 20,000′ of vertical. i didn’t even “finish” last year’s course! i bonked pretty hard climbing Marshall Pass - 10ish miles, a few thousand feet, 5% grade old railroad bed after already riding close to 100 miles. it took me hours. i was geared 32×20 on my 29″ Salsa and was convinced i’d have been better off if geared a bit higher. the grade was too low to stand and my legs were too tired to spin. Dereck Fish rolled by me like a single speeding freight train and another singlespeeder, Jordan Carr, a nice kid from Gunnison, rolled on ahead and never looked back. Both of those guys finished. i bailed on the last 10 miles of single track towards town, opting for the dirt road that it paralleled. i was pretty sure if i rode those last 10 miles, i’d have been the guy they were looking for who fell asleep next to a log b/c he was too exhausted. as it was, i had to save something to ride the motorbike 1,000 miles home in the next day and a half too. this year it’s mostly the same, just a bonus loop around additional peaks and more trail instead of Marshall Pass…

the bonus loops in Section 4 around Granite Mtn

and in Section 7 with the addition of Starvation CK will make this year the hardest yet

taking the long view of it now, i expect my bonk had more to do with using up too much staying power by riding my motorcycle out before the race, drinking way too much whiskey (tasty stuff that Dave Nice brought from his distillery) the night before the race and not resting well the day of the race. i can get away with that kind of fun before shorter/easier rides. i’d never done anything as hard as the VT though and i paid dearly. new strategy this year: fly to Colorado (my only choice, actually), save the partyin for after the race, sleep on the lawn at the Gillis’ place rather than sleep on the patio behind the shop or run around looking for a campsite, and either run a 32×19 so i can stand up on the long climbs or rock some geared drivetrain until i have time to improve my fitness. just participating in this race is an absolute blast. no better people on earth to ride with (except the Shredder, of course) and undoubtedly, some of the best terrain for mountain biking i’ve yet to ride. my goal is simply to finish, or leave it all out there trying. and the folks i’ll be rubbing shoulders with (at the start of the race, at least) - according to the VT125 web page

“Here you go, this is the 2008 group of crazies:

• Ethan Passant, Crested Butte, CO
• Jeff Irwin, Gunnison, CO
• Ed Ellinger, Evergreen, CO
• Blake Heren, Boulder, CO
• Tim Miller, Lakewood, CO
• Lisse Daugaard-Gordon, Boulder, CO
• Scott Gordon, Boulder, CO
• Casey Puntenney, Leadville, CO
• Cat Morrison, Montezuma, CO
• Chad Brown, Tucson, AZ
• Chris Plesko, Westminster, CO
• Calvin Rickard, Evergreen, CO
• Mark McDaniel, Reno, NV
• Matt Turgeon, Durango, CO
• Jefe Branham, Gunnison, CO
• Todd Schweizer, Gunnison, CO
• Jeff Kerkove, Fort Collins, CO
• Jason Stubbe, Gunnison, CO
• Mike Bordogna, Leadville, CO
• Matthew Juth, Evergreen, CO
• Jordan Carr, Gunnison, CO
• Shawn Gillis, Salida, CO
• Katie Lindquist, Steamboat Springs, CO
• Kent Erickson, Steamboat Springs, CO
• Greg Bachman, Silverthorne, CO
• Cannon Shockley, Leadville, CO
• Sterling Mudge, Leadville, CO
• Nicole Habay, Flagstaff, AZ
• Clark Wheeler, Flagstaff, AZ
• Brett Landin, Boulder, CO
• Andrew Carney, Fort Collins, CO
• Ben Preston, Crested Butte, CO
• Aaron Gulley, Santa Fe, NM
• Eddie Vargas, Gunnison, CO
• Alison Gannett, Crested Butte, CO
• Aaron Weinsheimer, Salida, CO
• Scott Patterson, Manitou Springs, CO
• Dan Dunbar, Boulder, CO
• Steven Yore, Santa Fe, NM
• Kevin Thomas, Salida, CO
• Ryan Hamilton, Boulder, CO
• Carol Quinn, Gunnison, CO
• Jim Ishman, Silverthorne, CO
• Andrew Lapkass, Breckenridge, CO
• Steve Oliver, Denver, CO
• Darren Clarke, Boulder City, NV
• Jeff Hemperley, Rico, CO
• Dan Montgomery, Dillon, CO
• Jonas Fast, Boulder, CO
• Davey Sprinkle, Cisco, GA”

no Sean McGuinness this year?!  he’s a vet of 2 tours and has nothing to settle there.  i’ll sorely miss his company, easy going charismatic tough as fillet brazed tude.  what about the rest of you, maybe next year, aye? till then, keep an eye out for the vultures!

blending in with the horaltic pose

Monarch Crest Trail, 2006