Caveman?...........Ive got the cure baby!!

I'm sorry but that last post prompted me to aid in finding a resolution to the dreaded fur body.

He crawls out of his cave and is blinded by the sun

Riding a bike is so easy a Cave-man can do it!!!

Fruita, Colorado

Hey everyone.... Look who is back in the game! Kelly leading out Andy for the sprint finish of the "Chutes and Ladders" ride at 18 road.

Crashing sucks................always!

"Beer" by Psycostick

Good carbs after our spring training rides on the bike and snow! Or if you are on a vacation! Cheers............

minturn mile

Alta Chute Beaver Creek - speechless

Before

After - two runs and back to work - Bill Mac

Hill repeats

Some spring time training in the rockies,

Secret Training Part 2 - Over three feet in three days

Let's just say the skiing is pretty good....

Paul and Jeff testing the product!!

Training camp Vegas 09

I'm taking Jeff's advise, there is plenty of time to ride. Relax, take
a load of......... get up and run the strip with a bunch of drunk,
cigerette toking, self indulgers............. I am missing the
spelling "B".........out!

Secret Training - Vail Mtn. 20" in the last 48 hours

Most of us are all about the bike currently and looking forward to the spring/summer, but with lots of new snow, mother nature reminded us that winter is not over! So get out there and enjoy the fresh POW!! Skiing is really good... And we'll be back on the bike soon enough.

Dom eating the Mags

Maggot (rice) pudding - Dominic Moneypenny eating his daily carb load

VUELTA CASTILLA Y LEÓN 2009 - Lance - Broken Clavicle?

Lance Armstrong crashed hard in todays opening stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León and was transported by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Palencia, Spain.

First indications appear that the seven-time Tour de France champion seriously injured his right shoulder and might have broken his collarbone.

Video after the crash:


Video of Doctors Statements after surgery:


Attached is a picture after his fall and one from my broken calvicle last fall (post surgery with metal plate and nine screws). I hope he has not broken it like I did because this will prevent him from racing the Giro and possibly the Tour.

Great Weekend!!!!

So the weekend started out right with some riding, skinny skiing, fat skiing and some more riding. Followed by some great food courtesy of Carmen Weiland. Then culminated with some Moab-esque (think howling wind) Cult Cross racing on Sunday, thanks for all the support out on course Jeff. I got destroyed by both the Cat 4's and the open field. But it was a great training day and left me thinking that I need to take Monday off of work to recover from my weekend. I hope you all had a great two days as well. Who's up for a rollers crit some time this week!

Day one

The first in the Johnny C spring break trainging blog. Look forward to
daily reports on training an a little bit of local culture. Out for
now. Cheers

Another day in paradise

Jay Henry, Adam Plummer, Rob Stienke (yes this is correct - he is back!), Paul Gorbold, and Bill Mac out for a training ride to Eagle, up Brush Creek and back. 63 degrees blue sky with a nice tail wind on the way back.
Jay Henry had a third place at the 2009 Xterra Winter World Championships in Utah. Looking at the results I see Josiah Middaugh was 4th and Lisa Isom was 3rd in female Pro and 13th overall. See this link for full results: http://www.jtltiming.com/results/x-winter.html

Congrats to Shawna & Drew Wachter

Baby Skogen arrived on March 18, 2009 - He is Happy and Healthy and will be crushing the expert class very soon just like his daddy!

What?

>
I know this is a cycling blog but can someone tell me how moths get inside light fixtures? I will buy a round of fancy drinks for person that can give me the best answer to this question that has troubled me from my youth. Johnny C

Happy Irish day damn it!

In honor of our own little leprechaun, the one and only Ronan Murray, here is a little Irish lovin with Ronans brother Fergal. Cheers mate lets get our Guinness on later!!

Training - riding in a paceline!

Pacelines can be either single or double (fat chance of getting a double going on most roads in Eagle County!). In a single paceline, everyone lines up behind the first rider, who maintains a constant speed. The rotation occurs when the front rider pulls off to the side and drifts to the back of the line. The next rider then sets the pace. Riders stay on the front from a few seconds to several minutes. This type of paceline has the advantage of requiring less road space.

A double echelon, also known as a rotating paceline, contains two lines of riders side by side, continuously in motion (when we use to have the Wednesday Worlds out of Colorado Bike Service we got these going on I-70). One line goes slightly faster than the other does. Let's say you're the lead rider in the faster line. You should cross over to the slow line after passing the front wheel of the rider beside you (the front rider in the slower line). Then you drift back with the others in the slow line. When the final position is reached (back of the line), slide onto the back wheel of the last rider in the fast line.

In strong crosswinds, riders become offset like geese flying south for the winter, forming what is known as an echelon. They also overlap wheels, which means a mistake in which wheels touch can take down the whole bunch. The width of this type of paceline also requires a completely traffic-free road (DO NOT RIDE LIKE GEESE ON HIGHWAY 6).

Here are some additional tips for becoming a more efficient paceline rider:

Get used to following closely to the rider in front of you to get the benefit of the draft. You use much less energy following a cyclist than riding out in the wind by yourself. Top riders feel comfortable riding within inches of the wheel in front. In a rotating paceline, stay as close together side to side.

Put weaker riders behind stronger ones. A paceline is a team. It's only as strong as its weakest member is, so help that person.

Ride smoothly and predictably. Never accelerate or brake quickly. If you are running up on the wheel in front, slow down by moving into the wind slightly. Avoid hitting the brakes.

Maintain a constant speed when you get to the front by glancing at your cycle computer. The tendency for new riders is to jump and pick up the pace.

If the rider at the front charges off (we all know a few strong riders who will do this), let that person go and hold your speed. If you're in a double echelon, move over and fill the hole just created.

If you tire, sit out as many turns as necessary at the back. Let riders coming back know that you are resting, and give them space to move in ahead of you.

As the speed increases, gaps may develop because riders can't hold the wheel ahead or miss the last wheel as they try to get back on the end of the paceline. Strong riders need to fill these gaps in order to preserve the flow, even if it means jumping across and moving back up the line early.

Reduce your effort up hills because the draft is less. Conversely, accelerate through more quickly on descents so everyone won't stack up from behind.

Thanks for info - Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.

What were they thinking or NOT thinking!

When he was a wee lad - Happy St. Patricks Day to All!

Johnny C, owner of Street Swell (www.streetswell.com), on one of his first custom boards in the streets of San Francisco (around 1970)

Cult Cross - Eagle, Colorado - 3/15/2009

Cult Cross II

Our own Chris Cook finishing on the podium - 3rd place mens masters

Cult Cross Race

Charlie Brown, Mountain Pedalar, on his way to a first place finish in the 2009 masters class at 2009 Spring Cult Cross - http://cultcross2008.blogspot.com/
class

Ahh training again

After a few days off it's time to get back in the saddle again.

cougar Barbi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiVc7XpgfYg

50 and still smok'n

Did I mention, Barbie is 50 this year? Happy birthday sweetheart, you should race masters ..........I cant wait till we have race results or something prevalent to post.............can you tell work is slow?

On second thought

Since my last post I have had the opportunity to re-think some things……….ride until you blow….we are mountain bikers after all!!

The Team (as many as possible) tried on fit kits from Hincapie and Primal Wear. I think we were focusing on Primal Wear for all items if they make a panel bib short such as we normally have purchased in the past. Whatever company we go with we will be placing an order ASAP so we hoepfully can show up at our first race in full kits. I think we are staying with the same design and colors but will be losing some sponsors which should clean up the jerseys and shorts some what. When we make the final decision I will forward out the order form to all in an excel spreadsheet. Both companies have childrens, womens and mens specific apparel which is nice. We have not finalized all the sponsorship dollars so for now what we all order we will pay individually. So when the e-mail goes out we will put deadlines on the time we need the form returned and a check will need to be provided before any items will be ordered. Both companies would need at least 12 of each item for us to place the order. What I have heard is most want shorts, bib shorts, short sleeve jerseys, long sleeve jerseys, cut off jerseys and vests.

Please comment back if I am missing something or you have any valuable input in this process.

Thanks BillMac

It’s been years since I have worn a heart rate monitor consistently. With the Breck Epic looming in the future I decided to start wearing one again to help monitor my training. I am coming into this season heavier than I have ever been. One of my goals is to get to my weight in check by race time. To accomplish this I need to slow down on the beer drinking (could be difficult) get 5 days a week in on the bike and watch my heart rate zones. I think most of us ride the same all the time, for us here in the valley it’s probably too hard, riding with friends often contributes to this. It is important to have days that are not all in the same zone. Doing so leads to flat heart rates and slow recovery. With a maximum heart rate of 185bps, my maximum weight loss and recovery heart rate is between 123 and 135 which seems ridiculously slow to me. I think I need a monitor to tell me what easy is more so than what hard is. It’s ok to ride easy some days and it’s much better than taking the day off, sitting on the couch does little to help you recover or lose weight. Any way I thought I would contribute something other than photos of me trashing my bikes or the jeep.

Western Rim group shot. Courtesy of the good looking Poole, no not you Andy.

found this one in the old file from that monsoon year in Moab.

Western Rim Trail

Ann - Paul, Pavan - Lisa, and Andy on the Western Rim Trail. Sunny 55 degrees....a beautifull day for a mountain bike ride in western Colorado!

Rabbit Valley

Sunday ride on the way back from Moab. Pictured (left to right) Paul, John, Ronan, Jeff, Lisa, Andy, Ann and Pavan with the Western Rim Trail behind them and the Colorado River.

The Last Supper

Team Pedal Power out for a carb fest at Pasta Jays in Moab, Utah.

Cummins and Poole

Infamous sand hill in Moab! Mission accomplished!

Recovery Drink

Grupetto Compacto

Johnny C

2009 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 - CEO Street Swell and Marmot Electric plus our Holy Roller!

Bruce Kelly, Owner of Pedal Power Bike Shop

Salvaged a ride after a morning of rain and snow. We rode 30 miles starting in Moab heading up 191 to Bar M, Cicle P, Bar B back to Bar M by the two streching girls.....Then back to Moab to drink a few Red Bull Martinis in the hot tub.

Finally riding

Rain delay

30 degrees and sleeting, time to cuddle and maybe have a pillow fight later

Late Night Jeep Tour

After dinner at The Moab Brewery John, Ronan, Adam, Paul and Bill went for a ride on Flat Pass until we discovered a severed rear brake line. So we turned around and went back to town via the river! The Jeep will need some TLC today so we have a ride home to Vail with BRAKES!

Stage One

Three hour ride and 29 miles. Rustlers Loop, Mary's Loop, Lions Loop, Troy's Loop, back on Lions, Steve's Loop (full), Mary's and then Beer Loop. John and Jeff added Mack Loop plus More Fun. Nice blue sky 55 degrees! Bruce, Adam and Chip went to Rabbit Valley to ride the Zion Trail.

On the road 10:00 am

Snowing in Gypsum, CO - 33 degrees - John, Ronan and Bill on the road in the Street Swell Jeep. Hopefully heading in the right direction to find some sun and dry singletrack!

Need for Speed - Not me!

High-Speed Mountain Bike Crash - For more of the funniest videos, click here

We will have a few crashes this weekend but hopefully not this bad!

Please secure firmly

I have mocked people in the past that have driven into a garage with their bike on the car........I don't believe in karma but I had this coming. I bet I drug it from Eagle to Edwards.......music was a little loud.

Allie and Max on our snowshoe up Paulies

Day Dreaming of Fruita Singletrack!

Waiting for Friday