Buddy and me during better times
See that picture above? With me and the 7 foot tall bear costumed skier? Those were the good times. The Alley loop starts on Elk Avenue which is the downtown main drag in Crested Butte. This year we started by going up Elk avenue and looping back through the alleys. We were supposed to follow the guy in the bear suit through the sketchy parts of the alleys as a neutral start. Here is what happened. I was on the front row of the starting line. Buddy the Bear was in front of me. The race started. Everyone started skiing except the bear. The bear was still dancing. I hit Buddy the bear hard and bounced off. By the time I recovered everyone was way up the road and the bear still had not figured out what just happened. That, pretty much, sums up my race. You need not read any further, that was the best part of the report. For those who are looking for the usual overblown, late and too wordy report, please read on. For everyone else, thanks for coming by.
Start area with imposing massifs in the distance
Paul and I made the drive up to Crested Butte to race the Alley Loop race. We left on a friday, made it uneventfully under clear skies up to Gunnison by midday. We checked into a hotel (the tidy and cheap ABC motel) and I walked around Gunnison for a while checking out the town and photographing bikes. I had a nice chat with the owner of Tomichi cycles about the wealth of local mountain biking and skiing, and then headed back to the hotel. Paul and I then headed up to Crested Butte to get our reg materials and get some dinner. By the time we got back to Gunnison it was 4 degrees F and dropping.
Whole famdamily, crested butte is good stuff
The next morning we awoke to -12F at 7am and shivered our way for some grub at the W cafe there in Gunnison. I think I got serviceable huevos rancheros with bacon. Yum. We headed up to crested butte which was reading a balmy -5F as we pulled into town a coupe hours before the race. We scored a nice parking spot right next to the course and got our chips. Temp now -4. I took my time getting my chip for the ankle, hitting the loo and getting dressed for the race, by the time I was all suited up for it was 5 or 6 F at 9am. And my hands had no feeling at all. Poor glove choices (none) while getting the skis out of the top of the car and my boots laced left me with numb fingers. I skated around a while and realized they weren't getting better, so I went into a local restaurant and warmed my hands in the bathroom sink. Better.
As usual it was a snow cruiser fiesta in crested butte
I skated around a bit and watched the kids races, got warmed up and realized that even though it was probably 8 degrees, it was not the 15 to 20 degrees the forecast called for and the squeek squeek emitting from my skis meant I was waxed a bit warmly. I did a warmup loop with my buddy Clay and former SWnordic ski member Denny and then watched them line up for the start of the 42k. Right before the start Lenard Zinn (also a former los alamosite) came by and said hello and disappeared into the 42km race pack and was gone as the races had begun.
Pre race hyper dork pose. Oh yeah.
A few minutes later I lined up on the starting line and then, well, read the first paragraph again. After that, I furiously sprinted up Elk Avenue passing about 20 people and ended up at the back of a pack that seemed to be a good fast bunch. We turned off of elk avenue and into the twisty alleys, replete with 90 degree turns, bridges and little whopdedoos. Despite the lack of a pace bear, we took it pretty sanely through the alleys and as things opened up, off we went. There was lots of passing and jockying for position and after a bit I settled into a good group. Alas, we soon came up upon the tail end of the 42k race and there was some chaos trying to pass through them. I got a little too jiggy trying to weave between racers and I crashed and one of my skis buried itself in the side of the tail. It took a while to get it out, I had to back up slowly to get free of the snow bank. The pack I was with skated off into the distance and I chased futilely.
The 42k skiers do three laps of a course was the same as the 2 lap course us 21k skiers did, plus an out and back loop, so after a while the 42k racers split off from our race and then further on, faster 42k racers who had done the out and back already caught up to and passed us. This is nice as you can watch much faster skiers blow by you and occasionally get a burst of speed. You can also get demoralized when you see some fairly young looking women wearing purple spandex with puffy tails and mouse ears blow by you like you are standing still... Alas, after my crash, I was getting a little demoralizd and was skating and squeaking along and looking at my ski tips.
Finally the first lap was done and we skated through some back alleys, up elk avenue and then down some more back alleys at the start of lap two. This year I had a pretty clean shot at the alleys on the second lap and was moving pretty fast and proud of how I handled all the little turns bridges and whoopdedoos. At this point Lenard Zinn lapped me and said kind words of encouragement as he zoomed by me. A few minutes later I came upon him in pain on the side of the course being tended to by a spectator. He crashed and dislocated his shoulder I found out later. I yelled out to some spectators to help him (who told me the guy helping him was a doctor) and I told the next course marshall of the crash (she said help was on the way) and I skated out into the meadow.
The second lap was about as squeaky as the first, but as I got into my rhythm of ski tip looking, I realized that Crested Butte is a beautiful place and maybe I should look around. So I did and boy is it pretty out there. I kind of got into an enjoy the view epiphany and then looked down again and realized that my knees never really get balanced over my ski. I think I have always done this, but never noticed. You get more glide the more balanced over the ski you are and I was kind of buckled inward as I glided along. Self realization!. I tried to work on this and work on getting my poling to the right better and my V2 smoother and suddenly I caught and passed the guy in front of me. Yay me.
Look at the bent right knee, I don't think it should be doing that
I started skating hard for the finish and though I was tired I felt pretty great and I headed back into town for the finish. Just before descending into town a guy came out of nowhere to pass me, I followed him as he skated away from me and then I was surprised to see he finished just ahead of me instead of heading out for a third lap like the 42kers. Crap. there goes that last pass... But anyhow, I finished and felt good. Though I warmed up quickly during the race, it was still quite cold out, maybe 10 or 12 F, so I ran to the car and changed into my warm clothes and watched Paul finish strongly and then, a while later Clay finish well in the 42k. The race had a New Belgium Brewing company sponsored beer garden with a free cup of beer for all racers, so I headed to the finish, got some free soup and a beer. They had a nice dark beer with high alcohol content and espresso infusion or something. It was delicious. I usually am not a fan of dark beer that has strong coffee flavors in it, but it might have been the post race hunger, or it might have been good. I think it was a one off beer, I have not seen it in stores or on their website.
Post Race Frosting
The end result was 16th overall male in the 21k in a time of 1:30:32. Despite the slight miswax it was about 15 minutes faster than last year, which is probably close to 100% due to faster conditions. There were four guys ahead of me within a minute and that was probably the group I lost contact with when I fell on the first lap. Oh well. Next time, no falling for real. I really need to stop doing that. Overall it was a great race and a bunch of fun. Maybe the marathon next year...
Paul and I caffinating at the Camp Four
After the race Paul and I walked over and enjoyed an excellent espresso in a tiny paper cup at Camp4 coffee, then we hopped into the car and drove to Gunnison for more coffee and eats at the Bean. Then we zipped home, enjoying the views, including seeing a bobcat, bald eagle and a herd of antelope in a five minute period between Gunnison and Saguatche. Damn, Colorado, you are good.
The Bean in Gunnison for more coffee and grub afore the long drive homeResultsPhotos Here,
Dina's photos here2008 Alley Loop race report
Last thursday the family and I drove up to Crested Butte for the Alley Loop nordic ski race. This is the fifth year I have done this race. In 2010 I did the full 42k marathon, all the other years I have raced the 21k half marathon.
2008: 1:46 skate 21k, snowy conditions 2008 report 2009: 1:30 skate 21k, really cold clear report 2010: 3:04:08, skate 42k cold, new snow, badly waxed, good race nonetheless. 2011: 1:24:31 skate 21k, cold, new snow. I was fit and fast and well waxed, 8th male, 11th overall. 2012: 1:21:32 you are reading the report.
It has been a poor snow year thus far in Colorado, Crewted Butte got 30" of snow in the last few weeks before the race which allowed the race to continue as normal. We did hit some nasty weather on the drive up, but there was not too much fresh snow in Crested Butte when we got up there Thursday night.
Friday morning, Clay and I went out for a warm up skate. There was about 2" of new snow on the ungroomed trails. We got fresh fun tracks on Mikes Mile. It was like 2" of ball bearings on well groomed trails. I shot some video. CB is a really beautiful place.
I brought the Pugsley along for some riding on the snow packed roads. They also groom the main street and some of the alleys for the race, so I got to do some fun riding on the corduroy as well. Verdict? It was good. Left mild tracks on warm groomed trails that normal bikes had left deep tracks in, and left barely any mark on frozen trail. Snow packed riding:
Night ride on the frozen groomed trails in town:
Race morning dawned cold and clear, but warming ever so slowly. By far the nicest morning for the race in the last five year. I got ready and warmed up while they started the earlier races. They had a bit of a snafu with the 42k classic where the racers were coming through the start-finish area on their first lap right when the 21k race was starting. So they announced that they would start us a few minutes early. I would guess a 1/4 of the field missed the start as a result. I happened to be passing though the area thinking I had a few more minutes for warmup, but I was sort of ready and away we went.
Pre race team Southwest Nordic Beer Drinking and Ski Club:
Course starts straight up Elk Avenue and up a hill out of town. I sort of had the plan NOT to be in the top 10 going up the hill, but as usual I was probably in the top 5 midway up before starting to blow up a bit. As we were starting the 42k classic skiers were heading downstream our race. Fortunately there were no major issues, but the timing was pretty poor.
Post Race traditional sweatcicle:
I got into my rhythm as I dropped down in places. The course was insanely fast with frozen corduroy. I did not feel great and took one spill in the early going and then struggled with my internal do not want to race demons for most of the first lap.
My favorite piece of snow removal equipment removing the snow off Elk Avenue post race:
The 42k skaters started earlier than us and did the same course with an extra loop, so where the two races come back together there usually are really fast 42kers moving through the 21k field. This year something weird happened. As they first wave passes me, I got a second wind and caught them and on the long climb into town I was able to keep pace. I was feeling pretty good finally as we wended down through town and the alleys. As we got out of town into the flats again, I was able to pass a ton of skiers and start closing in on groups ahead. The gaps were pretty huge, but I was actually able to close, catch and pass people through the second lap.
Sad yet picturesque use of a Schwinn Cycletruck
I turned on the speed on some of the little sharp rollers and was able to drop a big group save one guy who was pacing off me. I was starting to feel pretty peaked, but still poured it on. This was by far the best and fastest I have ever felt in any XC ski race. As we made it up the long last climb again, I was starting to bonk pretty badly, but knowing the finish was near I held on.
Aida is on her way to nordic mastery:
We hit the last tricky descent and I went wide around a lapped 10k skier, while the guy behind me took the quick inside line passing me easily. The descent has a really fast curve and I got further waylayed by a guy in a Gorilla costume. He sort of did not make the turn at all, and I slowed way down to avoid hitting him. I did talk to Gorilla man after the race, turns out he rented the gorilla suit to spectate in at the tour of colorado, but the rental company would not take it back after a couple of days of him running up mountains alongside the peleton, so he had to buy it, for $80 bucks. Seems like a great deal to me, no hard feelings Gorilla Fella. I was unable to catch the one guy from my race in the last ski through the alley, but I finished up stron in 1:21:32, a 3 minute PR at this race for me. Again, mostly due to conditions. I think if I went out a touch slower and did not crash hard in the first lap it might have been a sub 1:20 day, alas...
Excellent camera ad in the bathroom at the post race meal:
Hilariously the guy who drafted off me most of the last lap came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on being really fast for a big guy. He went on to add that I was climbing really fast for such a big guy. If it wern't so true I would be upset. I probably should get skinnier if I am going to keep doing all this racing, but it never seems to happen anymore.
Picture perfect sunny and 1F, classic ski the morning after the race
Somehow they boogered up the results and had me as the 1st place in the 30-39 age group, I got a pintglass with some other goodies inside a nice awards ceremony at the Montanyo Rum Distillery. They have since amended the results showing me as 2nd in the group and 14th overall male. Sorry otherguy, I owe you a pintglass, some lipbalm a sticker and a scraper. I think I have missed out on one or two awards at this race due to the ceremony being too crowded before, so I will grudgingly accept my ill gotten gains.
Ice Dino in Alamosa on the way back home.
I had a nice very cold classic ski the next morning and then we packed up and had an uneventful drive home on roads completely empty of traffic due to the superbowl.
Or maybe a sauna. I was a bit sad to find out that this was not exactly a portahobbit home. Prestocked with hobbits. The next big thing, kind of like terrestrial hairy giant sea monkeys.
Seen in crested butte over thanksgiving.
Also, I tried to shove the old Kelly into the mountainbike hall of fame, but they would not let me. Bastards.
So it really is not the NAHBS, but this is real bikes getting used hard.
Clicking photos takes you to the flickr page where you can view em big...
Outside the Nordic Ski Center
Nice Ski tube
Kelly cross fork on the motobecane fixie
Schwinn suburban(?)
Schwinn Excelsior hanging in the MTB hall of fame
Schwinn Typhoon reamed out for a 1" threadless mtb fork.
Front chains on this MTB, I could not tell whether the front brake actuated or if it was disabled for safety
Waiting for the thaw, I guess
Schwinn traveler outside the Chamber of commerce
The Schwinn Lil' Chick, note the older MTBs in the racks behind
This guy was on an old Ibis mountain bike, I also saw a woman cruing around on an early nineties Barracuda frame. I guess old race mountainbikes are the Schwinn Cruisers of the nineties.
Huffy outside out hotel, I think the night manager commuted on it.
Typhoon over the Bar
Typhoon of a million spokes
Two speed kick back Merlin Newsboy in the MTB hall of fame
Here is a brief report from last weekends Alley Loop in Crested Butte, originally written for the South West Nordic Ski Club Blog, minorly edited for this blog, hence all the photos of other people in the club. I have lots of photos from the trip to share, including cruisers galore and a trip to the MTB hall of fame, more later...
Me heading to the race, allegedly a house behind:
Elena and I went up to CB last weekend with Paul, Dina and Clay.
Start of the 21k race, I did beat Richard Simmons, but lots of guys in drag beat me:
It snowed alot. There were death defying drifts on the NM/Co border going north on friday, and then is snowed the entire time we were in CB. There were 6-8' snowpiles lining the sidewalk. Snow was coming down in a fine sand most of the weekend and harder on sunday.
Well turned out ski bunnies in the 10k :
The race was saturday morning and the course was snowy. The main groomer for the CB nordic center was broken, so there was a wide course in the nordic area, with a narrow groomed skate lane with soft snow on either side and 4" of freshies on top. THe alleys were narrow, snow covered and fun.
I think they groomed elk avenue with this nightmare inducing monster:
I did the 21K race. The race started right up elk street and over the "pass" on the way out of town. Somehow I managed a great start and was in 5th place at the top of the hard climb. Cue the Ruh roh music. As we made our way through the soft slow nordic center I found myself unable to tap out a V2 on the soft snow as I was pretty much pegged. The entire nordic center was uphill near as I could tell. About a kilometer into the race, a whole bunch of guys in drag blew by me never to be seen again. As the course looped about, the 21k racers got to take a shortcut that the 42 k racers did not. So I ended up in the middle of much faster 42 k racers which was very instructive.
Dina cornering hard in the 10K:
As I was at about 99% effort, I was doing my patented drunken monkey/duck skate technique, it was working pretty well, but it was nice to see that alot of the faster 42k racers that were streaming by me had their own unique techniques: Drunk sailor, hopfrog, lurchymcgoo, Frankenzombie among others. The soft conditions, blowing snow and short steep hills made the race pretty darn hard.
Clay powering through an alley
After a big nordic center loop we were routed down the steep pass and through the alley portion of the race. This was fun as heck. Narrow alleys with whoopdedoos and lots of 90 degree turns and bridges and the like. I ended up double poling alot of this as some sections were too narrow to skate and I was going through the back of the 10k field, so there was lots of passing.
Paul skating hard :
Next, the final loop around the nordic center. More of the same, all hills, my glasses were fogging up, I could not see the fast lane. At some point a racer came behind me and said, "I used to live in Los Alamos". It was former Los Alamos resident Lennard Zinn. All my hypoxic brain could say was, "duh, hello bike guy!". He is 8 feet tall and super smooth.
Richard cruising through in the 21k:
I did pass a few people in my race during the last 10k. My arms were cramping from all the poling I was doing through the alleys. I could feel the bonk coming on. Somewhat surreally toward the end of the nordic center loop near the mine head, I saw a fat mouse jump out of the snow and slowly amble across my path. I could have hit it with my ski if I wanted to. I was even thinking of catching it and eating it, but I decided against it as I had no fire making tools.
Dina looking fast:
As I finished the loop and went into town, minor bonk settled in and my already limited skills went to hell and I switched to the super duck butt modified stagger skate technique. I was covered in ice and I had finished at last, in 1:46! Through some statistical quirk I ended up 12th male in the 21k and 3rd in the 30-39 age group. Woo!
Me not looking too drunkmonkeylike at the finish:
SWnordic ski superstar Clay finished well in the 42k despite bonking out of a top ten finish. Dina took 2nd woman in the 10k, and Paul Graham and Richard finished well in the 21k.
Ice encrustations post race :
After the race, I took a looooong shower to thaw off. Elena and I met Dina and Clay to eat falafel. Elena and I spent some time walking around town and checking out the very cool Mountainbike Hall of fame/Crested Butte museum. We drank out body weight in coffee and then we headed to the super firehazard awards ceremony at the pizza joint. It was so loud and hot we bailed out early. I may never get my New Belgium brewing company 3rd place glass, but it was so worth bailing out of that and going to eat lamb at the Timberline resturaunt with Dina and Clay.
Race photographer Elena and I trying to stay warm post race :
Sunday morning we headed to the Nordic center for some last minute skiing before we headed home. It was somewhat disappointing to see that the trails had not been groomed that day and the skating was slow as crap on 6" of fresh powder. It probably snowed 2" while we were skiing. We quickly got some excellent mexican food at the Teocalli Tamale and boogered off for NM. The drive was a bit hairy through colorado, but it turned into an unplowed nightmare when we crossed the border south of antonito. 8-12" of unplowed mush awaited us from the border until tres piedras. Slow crappy driving indeed. Thanks NM!
No plow, no problems, thanks NM :
All and all it was a great weekend and a fun race. The rest of my pictures from the trip are here and the race results are here
See that picture above? With me and the 7 foot tall bear costumed skier? Those were the good times. The Alley loop starts on Elk Avenue which is the downtown main drag in Crested Butte. This year we started by going up Elk avenue and looping back through the alleys. We were supposed to follow the guy in the bear suit through the sketchy parts of the alleys as a neutral start. Here is what happened. I was on the front row of the starting line. Buddy the Bear was in front of me. The race started. Everyone started skiing except the bear. The bear was still dancing. I hit Buddy the bear hard and bounced off. By the time I recovered everyone was way up the road and the bear still had not figured out what just happened. That, pretty much, sums up my race. You need not read any further, that was the best part of the report. For those who are looking for the usual overblown, late and too wordy report, please read on. For everyone else, thanks for coming by.
Start area with imposing massifs in the distance
Paul and I made the drive up to Crested Butte to race the Alley Loop race. We left on a friday, made it uneventfully under clear skies up to Gunnison by midday. We checked into a hotel (the tidy and cheap ABC motel) and I walked around Gunnison for a while checking out the town and photographing bikes. I had a nice chat with the owner of Tomichi cycles about the wealth of local mountain biking and skiing, and then headed back to the hotel. Paul and I then headed up to Crested Butte to get our reg materials and get some dinner. By the time we got back to Gunnison it was 4 degrees F and dropping.
Whole famdamily, crested butte is good stuff
The next morning we awoke to -12F at 7am and shivered our way for some grub at the W cafe there in Gunnison. I think I got serviceable huevos rancheros with bacon. Yum. We headed up to crested butte which was reading a balmy -5F as we pulled into town a coupe hours before the race. We scored a nice parking spot right next to the course and got our chips. Temp now -4. I took my time getting my chip for the ankle, hitting the loo and getting dressed for the race, by the time I was all suited up for it was 5 or 6 F at 9am. And my hands had no feeling at all. Poor glove choices (none) while getting the skis out of the top of the car and my boots laced left me with numb fingers. I skated around a while and realized they weren't getting better, so I went into a local restaurant and warmed my hands in the bathroom sink. Better.
As usual it was a snow cruiser fiesta in crested butte
I skated around a bit and watched the kids races, got warmed up and realized that even though it was probably 8 degrees, it was not the 15 to 20 degrees the forecast called for and the squeek squeek emitting from my skis meant I was waxed a bit warmly. I did a warmup loop with my buddy Clay and former SWnordic ski member Denny and then watched them line up for the start of the 42k. Right before the start Lenard Zinn (also a former los alamosite) came by and said hello and disappeared into the 42km race pack and was gone as the races had begun.
Pre race hyper dork pose. Oh yeah.
A few minutes later I lined up on the starting line and then, well, read the first paragraph again. After that, I furiously sprinted up Elk Avenue passing about 20 people and ended up at the back of a pack that seemed to be a good fast bunch. We turned off of elk avenue and into the twisty alleys, replete with 90 degree turns, bridges and little whopdedoos. Despite the lack of a pace bear, we took it pretty sanely through the alleys and as things opened up, off we went. There was lots of passing and jockying for position and after a bit I settled into a good group. Alas, we soon came up upon the tail end of the 42k race and there was some chaos trying to pass through them. I got a little too jiggy trying to weave between racers and I crashed and one of my skis buried itself in the side of the tail. It took a while to get it out, I had to back up slowly to get free of the snow bank. The pack I was with skated off into the distance and I chased futilely.
The 42k skiers do three laps of a course was the same as the 2 lap course us 21k skiers did, plus an out and back loop, so after a while the 42k racers split off from our race and then further on, faster 42k racers who had done the out and back already caught up to and passed us. This is nice as you can watch much faster skiers blow by you and occasionally get a burst of speed. You can also get demoralized when you see some fairly young looking women wearing purple spandex with puffy tails and mouse ears blow by you like you are standing still... Alas, after my crash, I was getting a little demoralizd and was skating and squeaking along and looking at my ski tips.
Finally the first lap was done and we skated through some back alleys, up elk avenue and then down some more back alleys at the start of lap two. This year I had a pretty clean shot at the alleys on the second lap and was moving pretty fast and proud of how I handled all the little turns bridges and whoopdedoos. At this point Lenard Zinn lapped me and said kind words of encouragement as he zoomed by me. A few minutes later I came upon him in pain on the side of the course being tended to by a spectator. He crashed and dislocated his shoulder I found out later. I yelled out to some spectators to help him (who told me the guy helping him was a doctor) and I told the next course marshall of the crash (she said help was on the way) and I skated out into the meadow.
The second lap was about as squeaky as the first, but as I got into my rhythm of ski tip looking, I realized that Crested Butte is a beautiful place and maybe I should look around. So I did and boy is it pretty out there. I kind of got into an enjoy the view epiphany and then looked down again and realized that my knees never really get balanced over my ski. I think I have always done this, but never noticed. You get more glide the more balanced over the ski you are and I was kind of buckled inward as I glided along. Self realization!. I tried to work on this and work on getting my poling to the right better and my V2 smoother and suddenly I caught and passed the guy in front of me. Yay me.
Look at the bent right knee, I don't think it should be doing that
I started skating hard for the finish and though I was tired I felt pretty great and I headed back into town for the finish. Just before descending into town a guy came out of nowhere to pass me, I followed him as he skated away from me and then I was surprised to see he finished just ahead of me instead of heading out for a third lap like the 42kers. Crap. there goes that last pass... But anyhow, I finished and felt good. Though I warmed up quickly during the race, it was still quite cold out, maybe 10 or 12 F, so I ran to the car and changed into my warm clothes and watched Paul finish strongly and then, a while later Clay finish well in the 42k. The race had a New Belgium Brewing company sponsored beer garden with a free cup of beer for all racers, so I headed to the finish, got some free soup and a beer. They had a nice dark beer with high alcohol content and espresso infusion or something. It was delicious. I usually am not a fan of dark beer that has strong coffee flavors in it, but it might have been the post race hunger, or it might have been good. I think it was a one off beer, I have not seen it in stores or on their website.
Post Race Frosting
The end result was 16th overall male in the 21k in a time of 1:30:32. Despite the slight miswax it was about 15 minutes faster than last year, which is probably close to 100% due to faster conditions. There were four guys ahead of me within a minute and that was probably the group I lost contact with when I fell on the first lap. Oh well. Next time, no falling for real. I really need to stop doing that. Overall it was a great race and a bunch of fun. Maybe the marathon next year...
Paul and I caffinating at the Camp Four
After the race Paul and I walked over and enjoyed an excellent espresso in a tiny paper cup at Camp4 coffee, then we hopped into the car and drove to Gunnison for more coffee and eats at the Bean. Then we zipped home, enjoying the views, including seeing a bobcat, bald eagle and a herd of antelope in a five minute period between Gunnison and Saguatche. Damn, Colorado, you are good.
The Bean in Gunnison for more coffee and grub afore the long drive home
Results
Photos Here,
Dina's photos here
2008 Alley Loop race report
