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Why Am I in Europe This Time?
For the last three years, racing a World Cup has been my goal. An obsessive goal that I had to fulfill. I’m here in England, and I will be lining up for my first World Cup in Germany next weekend. It started as a frustration: I was sat on the trainer doing intervals, and I was […]
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The California Trip
After a three-week trip to California, it was about time to catch up here and talk about the racing. With a couple of weeks off after crashing in Greece, I had only managed two weeks of solid training before getting on the plane for Fontana. I wasn’t too worried: I knew I hadn’t lost any fitness, […]
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Getting back in touch with the technical stuff
Back before I was an XC racer; back when Enduro wasn’t called that yet, I was a trail rider first and foremost. I guided mountain biking in the Alps for a summer, wore baggy clothes, and arrived in Colorado with the notion that one’s seat should be dropped to go downhill. It was Boulder’s incessant […]
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Crashing and learning on Salamina. This is all about not racing my bike
What do you do when you fly 16 hours for a bike race and then crash out before the start? That’s not a question I was hoping to answer, but it’s actually less depressing than it first sounds. I came to Greece to race two three-day stage races. After a successful first race, I headed […]
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reHYDRAting in the mediterranean
Hydra. Pronounced EEEEE-druh. Christa made the wise choice to get off our small Mediterranean island and find a prettier one. After a weekend of racing, I was perfectly willing to go explore. A short hop on the ferry to the mainland, and then a longer trip south to the island took a couple of hours, […]
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Hellas Salmina UCI racing – the S1
After our eventful trip to Salamina Island, we settled enough to find the race course and attempt to go ride it. We set off in the direction of Kanakia to find the time trial course. Forget the picture-postcard Greek island that you’re imaging though; Salamina is a little more down to earth. Belying the poor economic […]
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Getting to Greece, the long way
It’s 8pm and we’re in Athens. Not Georgia. I’m dizzy with fatigue, and I’m hungry for a meal I can’t place. It’s probably breakfast. When in doubt, eat breakfast. Our bags are somewhere that isn’t Athens, and the very helpful lady at the desk is telling us that we should now leave. Leaving an […]
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Old Man Winter – Version 2
Wake up. Coffee first. Always. It’s normally tea, but it’s coffee today. Race day. It’s been a while. The routine is still there, but a little fuzzy. A season off from cross racing means that my race morning routine is askew. My kit bag isn’t a kit bag any more. It’s been cleaned. Thankfully. The […]
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A short trip to the Ben Eiseman Hut
Winter isn’t all about trainer time. I got the opportunity to join a bigger group on a hut trip this weekend to the Ben Eiseman Hut. It’s a 10th Mountain Division hut, which means it was carefully looked after, amazingly well situated, and outfitted with everything needed for a low maintenance and last minute trip […]
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Mountain Bike Specific training: Part 3 – More data to validate Chronic Intensity Load.
So Jason Hilimire discovered my little blog on CIL and shared it with a good handful of coaches that liked what they saw. I’m really glad of that. My coach Dave Schell and I are really trying hard to make smart training easier, and it’s good that there are other people that have a need […]