Boz

Brecktobercross - CX #1 for 2007

2007-09-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Finally back to racing on something other than pavement, what a relief. Spent the weekend in Summit at Kat's sister's place in Keystone. Saturday evening we headed to the DAM for their dam good beer and dam good food. Watched The Departed later that night, what a dam good movie. Off to the venue Sunday morning, the race was held at the dam Breckenridge Nordic Center. Each lap took 5-6 minutes and consisted of three dam runs, about 20 seconds of pavement, and some relatively lively singletrack, no resting on this dam one. Finished 14th out of 36 racers (small field), it was fun and dam good to be out there. Many of the familiar mountain bike clan were on hand too, good to see them since I missed most everyone this dam summer. A couple picks are included, one of me running, and another of my hind quarters highlighting some blood on my left shin from a dam crash. Great weekend, looking forward to racing CX through December since I missed the summer mountain bike season. Off to Chicago later this week for some holiday, going to Wrigley on Saturday to see the Cubs. Dam - peace, B

Lola and the Family

2007-06-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Back in Des Moines last week, finally met Lola! All the brothers were in town to celebrate Lola and Colin/Gina's engagement. Long drive out there but well worth it, my back and ribs seem to have taken attention away from the shoulder, anywho, more to follow - awesome time with the family and Chief of course.

Angel Fire, N.M., MSC #2

2007-05-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

Very fun/demanding course as always, approximately 3800' elevation gain. Last lap, really the last descent as you appear from the trees and bomb for the finish...I endoed, rag dolled too as it was told and ended up cracking my helmet and top tube of my new carbon Giant, egads. My outcome: bruised ribs, bruised back, black eye with facial abrasions, separated clavicle (2/3), separated shoulder (2/3), potentially torn rotater (MRI next weeks), and various leg/arm/back abrasions...all pointed out well by the friendly folks at the Taos ER. RMR'r Tony gashed his leg well enough that we could see a bone, at least we got to go to the ER together, thanks Jeremy, for driving and waiting! P.S. typing one handed stinks! A pic of me in the start shoot, pre-race. UPDATE - Drove to DSM two days after the wreck, zoinks, my back truly hates me, my shoulder and clavical seem at peace minus the fact that they HATE the touch of the seat belt. MRI tomorrow, hooray, so far it's the clavicle and shoulder seperation, hoping for no issues with the rotator. Peace, B

Battle Das' Bear: Semi-pro Race Du'

2007-05-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

New course this year with two new climbs, great. 22 semi-pros lined up at the start, I finished 10th, oh well, at least I didn't cramp, which is nice as I've never raced Das' Bear without cramping. More to follow...

First Race as a Semi-pro

2007-05-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

First mountain bike race of the season is under the belt, and I'm glad. Our field included 33 finishers, one of them being non-other than Georgia Gould (she's fast!) and likely to be representing the stars/stripes in Beijing. The race was held in Nathop, Colo., roughly two hours west of Denver, just north of Salida. The gun (or loud voice, I wasn't paying attention) goes off and the vicious pedaling began. Once things settled I found myself in the company of friends - teammate Derek and all-around racing pal Alan. Hopefully it was the warm weather or training week prior, but I felt terribly flat. Somewhere on the third lap Derek and Alan decided to start resting for Angel Fire so I ended up a few seconds in front of each of them. In the end I ended up 17th, the only saving grace is that my time would have 'won' my old Expert division and I would have managed to finish in front of seven/eight 'pros'. Post race a bunch of us hit up Amica's Pizza & Microbrews in Salida. I must plug their fine fair and even finer micros, their IPA is uber bueno. Full bellies and growlers in hand, we headed to Doody's A-frame at the base of Monarch. Sunday morning we headed back to the venue to ready ourselves for the STXC battle which looked to be on a super-fun course. Unfortunately there was a scheduling snafu and our race was moved from around noon, to nearly 6:00 p.m., putting us home around 9:00 p.m. That didn't work for most of us so we loaded up and headed to Buffalo Creek to ride those sweet trails. All-in-all it was a great way to start the season off. Next up is Battle the Bear then Angel Fire over Memorial Day weekend, hooray. In Floyd We Trust - Lemond is a Tool. Peace, B

Uncle/Niece! Lola is here!

2007-05-09T20:03:00.001-07:00

More to follow, quickly though I'm proud to annouce I'm now an uncle to my new niece, little Lola Costello. Lola arrived to Tim and Kera on May 3! Everyone is doing great, perfect health! Lola weighs 7 lbs 12 ounces and is already smiling. Can't wait to get back to see her!!!

RMR Training Camp - Fruita, Colo.

2007-03-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Pics - in no particular order - breakfast at camp, going Euro' for coffee, and good times at Saturday's dinner. I'll start this off with a few quotes - "Oh my god, I think I just killed something organic" - "They probably stopped so Blake could buy a gun" - "I'm not taking my chamois off until Sunday" - "I figured you guys paid enough for a helicopter, you'd have one come pick Dean up". Onto the story. Thursday - Took the entire day off and headed to Fruita early. Got in around noon, set up camp and relaxed enjoying some quiet and not being in the office. Went for a two hour spin on my new Giant hard tail, must say that I dig the new rig. Friday - More of the RMR crew rolls in and we head to town on our road bikes for some coffee. Took about an hour to get there as we were dragging without the coffee we were in search of. After a few cups of the good stuff we head back to camp. Unbeknownst to me, my left rear brake pad was fully engaged on my rim, I felt horrible on the ride back and was happy learn my brake pad was the culprit and not my fitness. Friday afternoon we take the mountain bikes to the Bookcliffs where the trails are super fine. Friday evening we start the campfire and cook our vittles. A little trick I like to play while camping is to stick some food under someone's tent as to lure animals and scare the crap out of that person. Well I decided to pick on the other Bryan and Jordan who were sharing a tent cuz Jordan forgot his. When no one was looking, and I still haven't told anyone about this, I stuck a big hunk of salmon under their tent. The next morning all the other Bryan could talk about was the "giant deer" that paid him a visit, to get a visual of his story, he held his hands in the air to describe the size of the rack on said salmon eating deer…I crack myself up sometimes. Saturday - We were all dragging due to a late night of story telling around the fire and "giant deer" visits so we drive into town to get coffee and meet up with the rest of the crew which now totaled 17. We all headed out for the Mack exit to ride the gnarly goods down there. Roughly two hours into the ride one of our stronger guys, Dean, wrecked hard. He was in absolute pain and couldn't talk, move, nothing. After staying with him for 15-minutes the other Bryan and I figured that this was not a good situation so we rode back to the trucks to get our cells and call rescue. Rescue shows up 20-minutes later with a gurney. There were only three of them so I volunteered to help carry in the gurney and their supplies. They gave Dean some morphine and we started carrying him out. Luckily the entire crew was there so everyone helped. About half way out a big ol' six wheeler met us and we loaded Dean onto that. Dean made it to the emergency room and they found his bottom two right ribs to broken and the right kidney to be lacerated, luckily no internal bleeding or lung punctures. Dean is still in Grand Junction fixing to head back later this week. He is one tough dude and will be back to riding in a month or so, bummer is no mountain bike for at least three months, he's going to be back to 100% soon which is great news. At this point Dean is in the hospital and there's nothing more we can do so we hit up the best and only Mexican restaurant in town for libation, food, and more libation. Sunday - We once again head up to the Bookcliffs for some fat tire madness. The drive home was miserable as we encountered massive ski traffic turning a four drive into six, oh well, what are you going to do. So that's about all I can write about Fruita this year. We're certainly doing it again next year. Peace, B

Technology is Cool

2007-03-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Click here March 10, 2007, ride, for details of the RMR and friends’ group road ride last weekend. Thanks to Alan for providing this 411. Peace, B

The Hanover/Kato Crew

2007-03-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Hanover/Kato Crew which consist of those of us living, 'studying', watching Seinfeld, etc. at 101 Hanover, Mankato, Minn., not Minnesota State, but to always be known as (we decided) Mankato State, got together this weekend for skiing and debauchery. I was the last of the crew to graduate from Mankato State, the name changed in 99', Rick from the crew may have slipped in w/Minnesota State on his degree, no one knows. Six whole hours of sleep the last two nights, magic markers were even in tow to 'tat-up' those that couldn't pass muster. This weekend was basically college re-lived, plus 10-ish years. Hard to describe for those looking in, these are basically the friends you decide to grow up with. In high school you're stuck with whoever is around you, in college, you decide to be friends with those you connect with, for us, the Hanover/Kato crew, we decided to stick together. Next report from this crew: Cancun 2008, and I've been tasked to bring a girlfriend of all things, zoinks.

Das Winter Stinx

2007-02-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Bonjurno'!,

It's been a while, yes I'm still here and gettin er' done. Denver has been walloped by seven snows in seven weeks, and it stinx for riding. The mountains have missed our snow but the skiing has been fine. I hit Mary Jane for a day of bump poundage last Saturday with Kara, Jason, Derek, and Scott, good times and one heck of a leg burn.

Most cyclist have had to spend far too much time on trainers of late, so a few weeks ago me, Janis, and Nat, decided to mix it up a bit by spending a couple days a week together riding our trainers and watching movies, it's been tabbed as 'movie night', which certainly helps us get hours in on the trainer. I finally invested in a PowerTap and have been monitoring my wattage of late. I'm taking the LT test later this month as a means of knowing where I'm at and where I need to be to compete with fellow psycho semi-pros that somehow manage full time jobs (some guys) and a high level of competition. Going to be a interesting season for sure. I'll be happy just beating a couple of my buddies (not to be named) and you know who you are!

As for my Thanksgiving and Christmas post, Coming soon..., well they ain't coming soon, it's a family deal, you have to be there to understand the good times, so sorry.

A few pics - my deck, my neighbor Kim's car in the parking lot, and one of 'movie night' on da dang trainer.

Happy hour tomorrow at the Yard House, around five bells, about 15 of us on the docket, be there or be square.

Peace, B

Christmas

2006-12-25T23:12:00.001-07:00

Words/pics coming soon...

Vacation! Almost here - sweet!

2006-12-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

G' day

I finally get some dayz off, Dec. 20, through Jan. 2. I'm heading home the majority of that time to spend time with the family and to get some SERIOUS base miles in. Additionally, I vow (as much as possible) to update this blog at least once a week beginning Jan. 07. So I start, with a picture of two of my favorites. Happy Holidays and the such. Peace, B

Thanksgiving

2006-11-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

Coming soon!

Stagnate Weekend

2006-11-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday and Sunday on my race road bike getting used to a new fit, ouch. Apologies for the stagnate weekend, in return, here are a couple old school pictures. Pic two - me/Dave, Halloween 05 (pre-head-shave!), I'm Harry Potter, he's well I'm not sure, see Dave/Marcy's wedding post for more on him/them, Pic one - me, Arches National Park, Utah, March 06'. Peace, B

Sign it!

2006-11-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=2643

Las Vegas

2006-11-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

Friday - Up much too early, might I suggest not taking the 7:00 a.m. to Las Vegas, is best to wait until later in the day and avoid waking up at 4:00 a.m., not good. We arrive, gain an hour, hooray and drop our luggage off at our hotel. We spend most of the day walking around checking out all the hotels, etc. Friday night we go to a hypnosis show that was one of the highlights of the trip, I hadn't laughed that hard in ages and definitely needed it. Saturday morning we rented a car and headed to the Hoover Dam, which was the other highlight of the trip. Holy smokes, what a feat, certainly didn't help that I'm scared of heights, but wow. I'll most likely forever be made fun of for very precariously leaning over the Dam to check out the view. We then headed downtown for dinner and to kick around a bit, in my opinion, downtown Las Vegas is much cooler than "The Strip", lots of history and neat old buildings to check out, plus I think the chance of getting mugged/whooped-up is lower downtown. All said, we had a great time but were all very excited to get back to Denver. I'm not sure I'll ever go to Vegas again, I felt like I was walking around in a giant cigarette most of the time. A buddy of mine describes Vegas as an armpit of the US, I must say I agree. The picture of the crashed chopper and $29 for a chopper ride sign, that's for real, not far from the Hoover Dam, still marked off and guarded by cops, hopefully no injuries, kind of funny with the sign though, pending no injuries. Peace, B

US Grand Prix - Race Two - Boulder, Colo.

2006-11-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm worked, made evident by my legs which are most upset with my brain. Awesome day of racing, no idea where I finished. The course was super tough, only one small section of rest and a kicker/climb that took the wind out of the sail with each passing. Cheers to my elite friends that had awesome races, Nat, Doug, and Jesse. No pictures at thus point, hopefully a few trickle in. I'm off to try to make up with my legs. Peace, B

US Grand Prix - Race One - Longmont, Colo.

2006-11-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

The major/main cyclo cross series in the US returned to Colo., this weekend. Race one was Sat., race two Sun. Today's race (Sat) saw a huge field of Cat 3 racers, 89 to be exact. As is the norm for me, I started at the dead rear end of the field and spent 45-minutes trying to improve my placing, I finished 52, not too shabby. Definitely didn't help to have sore ski muscles, whatever, the race was a blast, and I'm racing tomorrow as well. I stuck around with a huge crew of friends to watch all the pro men and women, wow they are fast. In Pic one - a few of my friends, Pic two - I'm in the middle of it, look for the C-O on my hip and elbow, Pic three - me. Peace, B

Breaking News! Doug and Lisa just welcomed in their baby boy, Sawyer, sweet!

2006-11-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.wookieejuiceracing.com/Sawyer/102506/img_1216.htm

Das Ski Season Tis Here! Sweet!

2006-11-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Called in sick today(cough-cough) and headed up to Keystone for their opening. Blue-bird day, around 45'F, no clouds, and suprisingly good snow. Around 1:00 p.m. the lift lines got long, so I picked up a growler (see pic) of EPA at the DAM and headed home. Got home, and got a nice/chill two hour ride in, heck it was 70'F in Denver, get er' done I say. Racing CX tomorrow and Sunday in Boulder, I'm going to have awful results as my legs are already sore from the skiing, whatever, it's going to be a sweet weekend. I'm kickin' off the weekend by viewing Dances With Wolves, one of the best movies of all times, Two-Socks and Cisco, I love ya! More good news, I finally broke down and ate some spinach last night, guess what, no e-coli, hooray! Peace, B

Brian Costello Boulder Res Cyclocross2, this ain't easy, watch the Colovita dude blow up behind me

2006-10-31T19:36:00.000-07:00


Brian Costello on sandy runup. Boulder Cyclocross race 10-29-06

Brian Costello Boulder Res Cyclocross1, my buddy Alan in front of me, and buddy Rob behind me, ouch!

2006-10-31T19:33:00.000-07:00


Cyclocross racing in Boulder Colorado. 10-29-06 Boulder Res.

Cyclo Cross Season - It's Here!

2006-10-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

Zoinks, Woke up this morning to 3/3.5 inches of new snow and today is the day I decided to kickoff my cyclo cross (CX) season, good call. The race was in Boulder and race #1 of the Denver Boulder Couriers Series, and the ninth, yes ninth CX race of the season in Colo. The CX season runs from Aug. through the second weekend of Dec., a race every Sat/Sun during that time. So the race starts, and I feel suprisingly well, well enough to make the break with the lead group of 9/10 or so, than plop, my rear tire blows, I run like the Energizer Bunny to the nuetral pit to see if anyone could spare a rear, totally lucked out and some super nice guy let me ride his tubular the rest of the race. I hurt myself pretty good trying to catch the field, was able to catch around 10 guys but then blew up, I was exhausted. Even hit the pavement pretty good during my attempt to catch up, see picture, and I didn't rip my cool spandex, sweet huh. Anywho, I finished in nar-nar position but it was super fun. I'm not racing tomorrow, need to get the car ready for ski season, ski box on the roof, wax, RainX, and drop the new skis off for a quick tune and new bindling mount, it's been dumping huge in the mountains, can't wait to ski, until then, more CX. Peace B

COMotion/Yeti Cycles - 2006

2006-10-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here's our 2006 team picture. What an awesome team, everyone is super-cool, still contemplating who I'm racing with next year, seems early, but it's all the buzz amongst the racers right now. Peace, B

24-Hours of Moab

2006-10-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer - I love everything about Moab. It was rough this year. Traditionally, yes, it's the 24-hours of Moab, but thanks to rain which began Saturday morning and did not stop until Saturday night, it was more like the 11-hours of Moab. The race was 'stopped' from 8:00 p.m. Saturday until 9:00 a.m. Sunday. We found out Sunday morning that the solo race was over (teams continued until noon), as having them head out for two/three more laps was not the appropriate way to crown a winner, and this was killer because Nat threw down on what was unknowingly the final lap of the solo race, he won the race and the overall Granny Gear 24-hour Series. The Tough Girls team I supported had a solid showing and did well considering the conditions and the fact that they raced in the uber-tough Pro-Am category. The course itself turned into a nightmare Saturday evening, sections completely disappeared, literal rivers popped up all over. The trail essentially acts as drainage for the surrounding desert terrain. Medical vehicles were more-less stuck and could not tend to victims of the course, even the giant four-wheel drive trucks couldn't head out. All said, we had a great time Saturday night. We built a mini-town by connecting four pop-ups (including walls), complete with tunes, industrial propane heater (thanks Derek and Lynn!), five cases of New Belgium, custom dug drainage complete with two mini-rivers right threw the middle of our mini-town, a taxidermy-i-fied bass, masseuse, plenty of junk food, and a sweet crew. This years race is one to remember, it's not supposed to rain like that in Moab! Some quotes from the race weekend: "If I had a barbie doll in my hand right now, I'd cut its head off!"---"Do I have pasta sauce in my hair?"---"Quick look, did I just burn off my left eyebrow?" - "The orbitz got Moab'd!"---"Are there any more words in the song Jimmy Crack Corn And I Don't Care, other than Jimmy Crack Corn And I Don't Care?". Lynn, Janis, Cat, Christina, Catelleta', Karen - y'all rule. Props to my friends (Chris) Fuller from Spot, Obrien from Niterider, all the Dirt Rag'ers, and last but not least, the entire Fisher crew, Myron, Jason, and Mike (Dam Brewery!), good times aye'. Note, Fuller from Spot was the dude at Eldora that ripped up the STXC on a dang townie, that dude rules. Peace, B

Time in Des Moines

2006-10-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Yo, so, four days of work meetings in Des Moines followed by a couple days of quality time with our family, good stuff. The meetings, well, were meetings. Spent Saturday with my younger, certainly not smaller brothers golfing, I need to start pumping iron er' something, those guys are huge and think I resemble a alien, what's up with that. Anywho, we slay Willow Creek, eat way too much, get to hang out with Mom and Dad, doesn't get much better than that. Some quotes from our golf outing at Willow: "I bet those are easier back on your planet", "I'm all red, this is bad for my blood pressure", "You all most hit me in the head with the golf cart", "Rides a little different than your space ship". Peace, B

Dave/Marcy's Wedding

2006-09-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

So Rupp and Barney, a couple of my best buddies from the old days of work, show up Friday afternoon. We hit the Rockies/Braves game, pay four bills each for Rock Pile tickets and spend the first couple innings hunting for more, er premium seats. We end up seven rows behind the Rockies dugout, sch-a-wheat. Rupp and Barney somehow or another manage to consume two foot-long dogs each, well done. Saturday morning, wake up, head to Summit for Dave/Marcy's wedding. Summit got a couple feet of snow yesterday-ish so their wedding was moved inside, no worries, still sweet fun. Pic one, the only non-blurry pic of the night. Pic two, left to right, me, Marcy, Dave, Barney, and Rupp. Peace, B

Juli's Wedding - Hooray!

2006-09-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

Cousin Juli of Orlando got married earlier this summer to a super-cool dude. The reception/golf outing was this weekend in killer-Arkansas. So Juli marries Doug, who of all things, is a alligator hunter. So now she too is a alligator hunter, how cool. The reception weekend in Eureka Springs/Holiday Island was awesome. Our family tis bueno, all my little cousin's kids are adorable and super-fun. You know how cool it is to spend time with those you have spent your entire life with, well, that was this weekend, Mom/Dad, Tim/pregnant-Kera, all the cousins, aunt Judy and Gidget, uncle Wayne and Jack, little Chandler in tow, and on and on, what a sweet weekend. Peace, B

Climax, Keystone, Colo.

2006-09-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

The XC race season is over, bittersweet, will miss seeing the entire crew until April/May/first race of 07'. Dang, not sure if I should upgrade and hope for a top 15 as a Semi-pro or stay the course and snag a top three in Expert, hmmm, don't know aye'. Pic 1 - MSC series overall, I got second, my season was marred with an injury, whatever, is what it is. Pic 2 - Keystone podium, I got second, my boyz, Bryan got first and Jeremy got third. Pic 3 - Jason 'one beer' Glenn passed out around 6:00 p.m. MT, got his smelly race socks in his face and hat on, wuss. Peace, B.

Meyer's Wedding

2006-08-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Words to follow, ain't easy summing up being with these guys/gals, they are the best/greatest around, wish we had more time together, kinda wish we were all back on Hanover working for Arnie and slaying brews at the Oleander...good god, those were awesome times. Working for six bones an hour and writing $4 checks at the Ole. Dang good times. Peace, B

Full Tilt, Telluride, Colo.

2006-07-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

July 29, full on XC, dnf. I felt like crap. Still recovering from the rib injury and I think it's moved into my head a bit. I clung onto the lead group for about 45 minutes and pulled the plug.
July 30, hill climb, 1050' feet, one section was 37%, so 25 minutes of slow motion tactics, it hurt. Kind a funny suffering that bad at what, eight miles an hour. Oh well, it's over. I'm not sure I'll ever race Telluride again. I had to DNF last year because I broke my frame preriding the course, what's up with that.

Peace,
B

Blast the Mass, Snowmass Village, Colo.

2006-07-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

Words associated with Saturday's State Championships at Snowmass, Colo.,: IVs, bug spray, the chills, sugar high, sugar bonk, flat out bonk…now you have the picture. We were greeted by record heat this weekend at 10k+ feet no less. The course was great and included two big climbs per lap (we did two laps), most notable about the climbs was the 100 yard section on the first climb where you almost go upside down (it's so steep), and most notable on the second climb (horse trail), was go figure, the horse flies. The single track in the trees and first descent set this course apart from others. The trees section includes numerous stream crossings, rocks, and roots and is flat out fun. The first descent is one of those 'point and shoot' type trails, way fast and narrow providing some 'scary' fun. In our category - Olaf the Austrian threw down huge and won the race, Bryan from RMR got second, and I cramped my way into third. We were too tired/dehydrated to enjoy our celebratory PBRs so we decided to share them with the fans (see picture). I relied on gummy bears to get me through the final 45-minutes of the race and should have eaten more as I blew up on the final climb and had to speed-walk like Frankenstein for a while, next time, more gummy bears.

Peace,
B

Tis a boy!

2006-07-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Little Chief (English Bull Dog) arrived via stork to Kevin at Western Ave in Chicago, break out the stogies! To be precise, little Chief arrived via Stork to Kevin in South Bend, Ind., at a car repair joint (long story) but they reside in Chicago. This boy is going to be 50+lbs, hopefully Belle is ready for this fella. I think Chief and Guiny, er Guinness (Tim and Kera's) will get along great, Belle (Mom and Dad's), not sure what she'll think. So you can connect the dots, pictures of Belle (little white fur ball) and Guiny (medium black fur ball) are included in this post.

Peace,
B

Independence Day (and weekend)

2006-07-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Rockies (mountains and team), parade in Breckenridge, heavy rains at Red Rocks, and a broken train.

(pic 1 - Mom and Dad at Red Rocks) (pic 2 - the whole gang minus Tim, Kera, Colin, Belle, Guinness, and little Chief pre-Rockies game, that's me in the middle protecting a bag full of secret firecrakers) (pic 3 - Mom and Dad in Breck post 7/4 parade)

What a weekend, not sure where to start so here goes. Saturday - I race the STXC in Eldora, cruise home in time to meet Mom and Dad in town for the weekend. Sunday morn, up early, head back to Eldora for the XC with Mom and Dad (see 7/2 post for race details). Post XC, we're back at my house. I highly suggest we hit CB Potts on Broadway at 7:00 p.m. Why you ask do I highly suggest Potts at 7:00 p.m. The answer is, Kevin drove in from Chicago to surprise Mom and Dad. So, Ma, Pa, Me, pull into Pott's parking lot...without too much thought, Dad looks at me and says "why don't you park there by Kevin", ha, then the looks and surprise set in! Forget Mastercard, this was the definition of 'priceless'! We kick heels Sunday night and are up early to see Breck's 4th of July Parade which was great. Oops, missed a day, poor July 3, twas a Monday, we devoured fish tacos at Wahoos, took some power naps and headed for the train. Ah, the train, we board headed downtown. Well the train stops for 50+ minutes as a train infront of us broke down. We finally make the game and luckily first pitch. Sheesh, that makes it three parks for me this year - San Diego, Wrigley and Coors. Blues Traveler at Red Rocks on July 4, with the entire gang and awesome friends. And this, is where the heavy rains occured, wow, what a dumping towards the end of Jonny Lang's (he rocks and is a N. Dakota dude) set, those along the front range will never forget that dump of moisture. Super weekend, the stories of which will be recounted for years to come.

Peace,
B

Eldora XC

2006-07-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Worst race in a long time, finished 16 of 19. Live and learn, right? Here's what I learned, when my doctor says "no riding for two weeks", maybe I should have listened and not raced six days into the magical two week rest period - she was right, I was wrong, doctors knows best aye'. The race hurt, I had trouble hearing for a while due to the chest pain, but it's all good as I finished. Snowmass is going to be rough...hopefully I get some strength and lungs back for Telluride and Keystone, and if not, viva' cross and tele season!

Peace,
B

Eldora STXC

2006-07-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

Umm, ouch. Eldora's STXC was difficult (for me) as we were offered little rest and a torrid pace. I ended up in second, thanks in part to the chocalote covered espresso beans. Thankfully, our course didn't include any technical/rocky sections that bump da' rib cage, it was more of a hammer and steer course with decent little climbs to mellow things out. My teammate, and way fast pro-racer, Stephen Iles, snapped a pic (I'm bib 153 and my friend who won, Alan, is bib 129) and stood-in to coach me through the race. Nothing better than a pro heeding advice during a race. Check out Stephen's blog here: http://www.steveiles.blogspot.com/.

Peace,
B

Wild Flower Rush, Crested Butte, Colo.

2006-06-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Great race, many wrecks, one of which included one of my buddies (Dean from RMR)...Dean and I (I was behind him) were descending the super fast and loose fire road on the front side of CB (before you hit the single track) so I see Dean put his left foot out to aid balance and suddenly he shoots, back first, into the trees, I brake and yell "are you ok?". Dean replies "yep", but I had a feeling he might be in bad shape and having no "official" medical training, I cruise down the course and find a marshal, I say "you've got to send a 4-wheeler up the course as a dude is in need of med-attention". After the race I learn that Dean blacked-out twice and the medics put him in a 'shock-chamber' to avoid further damage when they brought him down the mountain. After the race I found Dean, he was in decent shape and couldn't say 'no' to a beer.

Another crash at CB included me. First lap, gnarly-baby powder single on the front side, I wash and bail, and ended up with badly bruised ribs. No worries, I went to the doctor on this one to get x-rays. I finished the race, after contemplating a dnf (did not finish) numerous times during the final two laps, oh well, it's all good.

Peace,
B

Nobody Says It Better

2006-06-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Than the Godfather himself, James Brown. You know the commercial "Discover your music with your iPod", or something like that. So, I'm out for a ride and hear this random song, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Nothing against the Godfather, but zoinks. I most certainly did discover my music. Here he is, the Godfather:

I got soul and I'm super bad
I got soul, huh, and I'm super bad, huh!
I jump back, I wanna kiss myself!
I've got soul, huh, and I'm super bad, HEY!
I said I'm super bad
Ha! what it's all about, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme, gimme, YEEAAH! AACCKK!
Uh, come on
[Instrumental]
AAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEE!
Super bad uh! come on dance it, come on
Super bad, jab, good Lord! super bad
Mercy, huh! let me hear ya, super bad.

My Subar

2006-06-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Got to get a plug in for my Subar. Yep, I said Subar and not Subaru, some how or another, the 'u' fell off my dang car. It's all good though as the lack of a 'u' saves me roughly two grams off curb weight, which, if you think about it, ultimately saves me mileage, e.g. less weight, yeah! Makes me think of the i.e. versus e.g. debate in Get Shorty, jeez that is one of the best movies out there. Anywho, that's my super rad Yeti on the right (drivers side) and Kenny's fairly rad Yeti on the left (passenger side), I say fairly rad because he put a white saddle on the poor thing, white saddle, sounds pretty 'Italian' to me.

Peace,
B

2006-06-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Oye'. A weekend in Chicago with Kevin and Colin, good times. We hit a few pubs Friday night leading up to the Cubs versus Tigers on Saturday. Started the day off at Murphys before we headed into Wrigley. Wow, Wrigley is awesome. The Cubs got smoked but we had a great time. Sunday - I was back in CO catching up on six days without riding a bicycle (oops). Crested Butte is this weekend, should be interesting as I feel 'over' rested, but whatever, got to live your life and have some fun from time to time. Makes me think of this:
"You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough" - Joe Louis

Peace,
B

Chalk Creek Stampede - Nathrop, CO

2006-06-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

(That's me in top middle, grey t-shirt, black hat, looking uber rad) Word Wookiees and family. How we doing? Thought I'd share my reflection of last week's race.

Saturday - This was the full on XC race, four laps of roughly seven miles, it was hot, dang hot. I was in second and feeling bueno until the beginning of the fourth lap - I cramped, lost second, struggled along in third and managed to not completely fall apart - 3rd place and a podium, which felt good after my miserable showing at Angel Fire that resulted in a 8th place finish.

Sunday - STXC, hot again, dang hot. I was way sore and not all that keen on exploding for 25-minutes. Side bar --- Have you read Ultra Marathon Man? If you haven't, I suggest you do as it's a quick read and reiterates how much potential is in the body. One of the things I took away from this book, is that the author (Dean Karnazes), munches chocolate covered espresso beans when he needs a big spurt of energy, I'll get back to this in a moment. So we file into the start shoot for the STXC, roughly 25-dudes set to hammer out 3-5 minutes laps on a dusty kitty-litter course. The gun goes off, and I settle into 7/8 which was part of my plan. A few laps into it, a few of the lead dudes blew up and faded into the pack. So now I'm in 4/5th and the pace is really picking up, next thing I know, with a quick glance back, the entire field is gone --- it's just us up front. I'm buddies with all the guys I'm riding with but me and one of them (who got second) and I made a secret plan to drop the other riders with three laps to go and then work together on the second to last lap to make sure it was just us, then hammer each other on the final lap. So the four of us ride through the start/finish shoot with what we thought was 'three-to-go', I'm not sure if anyone else noticed but we had two laps left instead of three! I thought to myself "Let er' rip", I then held up my index finger and pinky indicating two-laps to go to my accomplis who was sitting in third (I was in second)…so we drop the hammer, or at this point, it felt more like one of those little kid style hollow plastic hammers as my legs were getting super heavy. We head up the climb, I look back, no one was there, just me. So I'm off to solo the final lap and eventually take the victory. Kudos to fellow COMotion racer, Bubba, who snagged third, pretty darn sweet for a climbing/descending specialist that hammered all of us at Angel Fire.

Back to the chocolate covered espresso bean - I highly suggest the consumption of them prior to a STXC race.

Peace,
B