Wednesday, November 1, 2017

BT Epic 2017 - A Proper Ending to Race Season

As the weather begins to cool and days grow short to where I'm finishing my training rides in the dark, the only thing keeping me and hundreds of other racers motivated is this little big race in a tiny corner of the Ozarks called the Berryman Trail Epic, or BT Epic for short. It's a fifty mile mountain bike race deep in the heart of hill country, where the locals' accents starts to draw out a little more, the smoked meat is other-wordly and there may actually be more flannel than in Colorado. Well, pretty close. For sure more beards.


This year's iteration of the race, for me, wasn't my best effort. I spent the good part of September racing enduros and not really training for long format XC, banking on the many hours spent in the saddle since the beginning of the year to get me through it. On top of that, I coughed up more mucus from my lungs in the 3 weeks leading up to the race than in my life so clearly I wasn't going to be heading into the BTE in top form but enough with the excuses. Those are boring. There's more exciting things to go along with this story.


Tuesday, October 10, 2017

2017 Great Wide Open Part 2 & The Monarch Crest Enduro


Though I might like to think I could live by this famous mantra, truth be told, I'm too much of a control freak. It's just not in my genes to let go and allow nature take its course. So whenever I sign up for an enduro race, and especially one like the Monarch Crest Enduro, I do so with jittery hands and an elevated heart rate. Racing bikes in the high mountains is hard enough. Add in the time of year where weather swings are a daily occurrence and I start to sweat. This year's event would be the ultimate test of everything I thought I was capable of on a bike.


Friday, October 6, 2017

The Great Wide Open Part 1 - The Whole Enchilada Enduro 2017

Into the great wide open
Under the skies of blue
Into the great wide open
A rebel without a clue...

I've written these words before on a previous blog entry about a trip West but thought it was fitting more than ever to repeat it with the passing of the author & singer, Tom Petty, on October 2. 

RIP, Mr. Rebel.


Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Five-0 Fever!


It's now October. Where did September go? I couldn't tell ya but I can tell ya where we went. September was the month to hang up the little bikes and tune up our big bikes (big for us flat-landers) and hit up two Enduro events as part of the Rocky Mountain Enduro Series. 

Friday, July 14, 2017

Wyoming-Colorado Traverse




Me and the husboy love to travel with peeps who like to explore backcountry trails and have a good time. We like to check out places first before bringing others so this trip included some new locations that our wheels hadn't been as well as some ol' faithful tracks that always deliver.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Ride & Shine at the Growler


R&R Outside has taken groups to far away places to play bikes in the woods but this year’s trip to race the Gunnison Growler was by far the largest. After a couple of late cancellations, the group was 17 adults and one toddler. And no, I’m not talking about Ryan. (Hehe). What was even more special about this trip were the many new travelers. So the pressure was on to make it memorable and fun. I think we succeeded in both departments.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Ouachita Challenge 2017 - Of Mud and Miracles






The first race of a new season is always such a stresser. Time to put all the fall/winter training into action. Time to see if those new bike bits really will transfer into better ride quality and hopefully a better finish time.