December 2017: Broke Top Fuel. Large loose rock came up and bit the bike as I was rolling along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Limped back to the truck and went to Trek of Salt Lake City the next day because they're open on Sunday.
Trek is an excellent company in case you haven't heard me say that before. I'm a fan. They lent me a fat bike while my bike was down. Gretzky appreciated the fat bike rides.
Gretzky and I even got to play with Alex making a video in the snow with the Trek Farley!
During the month I had a fat bike available we got some snow. I rode in the snow cause that's what one does with a fat bike. I actually enjoyed most of the fat bike rides and found it to be a good workout tool.
In mid February a few of us joined up for a True Grit training camp which was an excellent experience. After the first day I wanted to ride more than "session" so I went for a quick lap, had a bit too much energy to release, went a bit too fast on a skinny fast rocky singletrack, found a large rock on the left side of the trail with my front wheel, and went over the handlebars into large jagged rocks. Wrist disapproved. Now I'm broken a few weeks before my first race.
I decided to race True Grit anyways because my wrist felt OK but mainly I'm stupid and stubborn. I like the True Grit course; it has a variety of trail elements for everyone and is a good early season beating. Note I bought the above picture but it hasn't arrived yet and I'm impatient.
I then raced a few road events because I try to take advantage of racing on the Utah Motorsports Campus every chance I get and because I also have a long history with the East Canyon Road Race. No pictures here.
My first "A" race was in Gunnison, CO: The Original Growler. That was rockier and rougher than expected. Nowhere near as rocky as the Grand Junction Off-Road which keeps the title of the roughest race I've ever done, but pretty rocky and tough. More desert racing than I thought given we'd been to Crested Butte in the past and found Crested Butte to be drool-worthy alpine trails.
Since I'm a geek and can work remotely we stayed the week at a nice little spot in Gunnison and toured around the area.
And then came the big one. The BC Bike Race. A 7-day stage race that I won't shut up about. It was phenomenal, spectacular, amazing, awesome, inspiring, gorgeous, and the list goes on. So much to talk about, so much to try to convey. Let me esplain... No, there is too much...Let me sum up. Maybe over a nice glass of wine some day. Anyone capable of this feat should participate in it. Anyone incapable at this time should work toward becoming capable then participate.
So far this is the most beautiful place I've visited on the planet. I've said this before about the Sea to Sky highway between Vancouver and Whistler, and now I got to race my bike in the out-of-this-world looking scenery to the west of that highway. No picture I took or have seen does this place justice. Go experience it already.
Vanessa and Gretzky got to ride a bit of the trails in Cumberland and found a video that gives a taste of the fun.
A few weeks after, back in Utah, I jumped in to the Snowbird Intermountain Cup race. Yeah I know I should pay for this picture; life isn't fair. Anyways I somehow ended up on the 3rd step of the podium that day which was an unexpected treat. A solid day.
El Doce at Pow Mow was next. This was a week before my last "A" race of the year so I chose to race as a team, and ended up putting the majority of the 24 hours of Moab team back together. It was so nice just to have fun instead of race seriously. Well, we tried to anyways. We are competitive people after all so we found ways to compete against each other and somehow ended up taking 2nd place in the team competition.
Last "A" race of the season: the Inaugural Big Sky Biggie. Our first time visiting Big Sky, MT thanks to Josh T's invitation. The trails there are so much fun! Alpine trail mix of new, flowy, fast, rolly, sexy stuff sandwiched in old school and even maybe goat trails that don't see much use, with the occasional double track service road in the middle of deep forests. It's worth the trip.
Finishing the race I see a paved section leading back to town as I drop out of the singletrack. I may actually beat the 5 hour clock depending on how long this road is so I destroy myself up the road climb. And I notice a guy on a bike, maybe motorized, pacing next to me as I'm drooling and dying. He took a pretty nice picture.
I managed to finish in 4 hours and 55 minutes, earning me a 1st place finish in my age group and an 8th place overall. Yeeeeeees!
One of my favorite races is the 8 hours of Sundance, previously a 12 hour event. The course is extremely scenic and has plenty of features to keep one entertained for the day. I managed to go around the place 9 times while overcoming four nearly simultaneous cramps and some mental funkiness to earn myself another W this year, and this time I placed first overall and in my age group.
Lastly, the day after racing my ass off (not kidding, it was raw) for 8 hours I decide to race, well, "participate in" the Tour Des Suds in Park City. It's an event that's become somewhat of a tradition with Rick L. and Elton R. It's a good time, a beautiful set of trails, a silly event, it's well organized, and it ends with this view, so why not finish the season here?
The End.
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