Well, I made it home. Luckily I was able to fix my car and make it back to Basalt with minimal problems. My legs on the other hand, Well, I just started riding again Monday. They feel great now, largely in part to lots of time sitting in the ice cold rivers, stretching, acupuncture and physical therapy. I also found the main cause of my recurring IT Band issues, improper bike fit. You would think after all these years of riding I would have been able to figure that out and maybe get a bike professionally fit to me, but nope. Anyways, I ended up lowering my saddle almost an inch. Which is a huge amount, but oh god does it make a difference. 
He has been rallying the race course since I have been out and nursing my wounds, and doing so in normal Swift fashion. Well, I got to hit the hay, tomorrow I am hitting up a big ride with good friend and Fort Lewis Alum, Alex Hagman. We figured we might as well poach the locals ride tomorrow and see what damage we can do. Until then,
Wow I am tired. But a good tired, these past few days have flown by. After working a solid 35-40hrs a week at Dos Gringos, I have really been making the most out of my rides. This weekend was great though. On Saturday it was the annual Ride For the Pass at Independence Pass and I had to do it at least once. I figured since I would not be able make it out to California for Santa Ynez it would be good to get some race intensity in. Turns out it was an awesome event that was super fun. I think I also really liked it because the course finally suited me for the first time this year, i.e. It wasn't flat! Anyways, It was super fun and managed to pull of a 7th place finish, 1st U23. Not too bad seeing as how Sam was having me train through the weekend.
So after climbing ten miles of narrow highway in 5-6 foot snow corridors, I went down valley to Carbondale and road my Durance. It was getting some negligence and could not pass up a mountain bike ride. Even though I was pretty tired from racing already, I was really dying to get in a good mountain bike ride, unfortunately I ripped the side wall of tire about an 1.5 hr's into the ride and had to cut it short. Then Sunday was the crit. I have never really been a crit or short track person, but this was awesome! It was in downtown Aspen right in front of the Wheeler Opera house. The course was super fast and had some of the best sweeping turns for a crit ever. Really, most of my motivation for going so fast was so I could try and lean it over a bit more and more on the next corner. Unfortunately I could not get enough of the other guys to work with me to catch the leader who went on a solo from the 3-4th lap in, so I ended up just attacking everybody and making the race as hard as I could for others. Great training, and really fun. I ended up grabbing 13th and Most Aggressive Rider. So not a bad finish to things.
Today I made it to the top of crown that looks towards the always awesome Mount Sopris. It was freezing cold and sprinkling rain the whole time. But still an awesome ride. The single track that comes down from the top of the crown is just to epic to pass up.
On the way down, I was greeted with a new obstacle on the trail. I am used to fallen trees and branches, but never fallen cars. Somebody screwed up here. The worst part is, is that the trail is about 50-60 feet below the road. I didn't really look into the car too much, but needless to say, this is sketch. Well, I'm off to bed, need to put in some hours before I head off to work. Finally the races are heading to the mountains soon and I want to make up for my less than impressive results so far this spring. I'm still wanting a top 5 at a MSC this year and a top 30 at an NMBS race. But above all, I'm just hoping for more epic rides like today.
Another late night tonight, figured I would just finish everything tonight. I have been getting almost no sleep lately, and this is how I have been getting it done. In very sad news, tomorrow is my last night in Durango. Really sad actually since I love it here. Oh well, back to the school work.
It's 1:08 am right now and I just finished studying. Normally I would be complaining, especially after the week I have just encountered, but I am too excited for this weekend. The Mountain States Cup Series opens this weekend in Fruita, Colorado. I am super excited for this race. The course is quasi old, same area as the Fruita fat tire festival from a couple of years ago, but I am sure better. Although I am super psyched to be racing again, and especially on my new Maverick Durance, I am a little bummed at how fast this year is going already. At this moment I have only 11 days left in Durango. At first I was psyched to be going home, able to sleep in my own bed, ride my home trails, get some well needed alone time and be able to make some money. Then I realized how much I love it down here. Even living in the dorms is pretty sweet. Take last night for instance, some of my friends and I got bored, so we filled up a 5 gallon bucket with water, leaned it on some of our room mates doors and knocked until they opened up. I can honestly say, 5 gallons of water does not look like much just sitting in a bucket, but once you knock that sucker over into someones room, you really get a good grasp of how much it really is. Then tonight, somehow two wheel chairs, a super soaker, and 3 bottles of watery lotion all came together in an awesome night. I really feel bad for the kids who couldn't run fast enough from the RA's and had to clean everything up. But all the dorm debauchery aside, I am really going to miss it here. The food, and most of my classes, not so much, but everything is too hard not to love. But rather than rattling off how much I love it here, the short and sweet of it is, is that I will be taking full advantage of all Durango has to offer for the remaining days that I am here. Besides last time I checked we have a lot of snow back home in Basalt. This really sucks because I really just want to ride mountain bikes right now. Oh well, maybe we will get a huge thaw and I can get something in.
In other news, great friend/coach Sam Jurekovic killed it at Pan Am Championships last weekend in Venezuela. Like always Sam has been working his ass off this past winter, and its really showing. 4th in Fontucky, 1st at Pan Am's.
Big congrats to him and everyone else who went. I also wanted to point out that my new game in the school cafeteria has been going quite well. I followed up my mystery meat sausage link wiener dog with a turkey and ham elephant that is sitting in the opposite side of the cafeteria planter. Hopefully I will be here long enough for them to start smelling. I also wanted to point out that this game is no creation of mine, but was suggested from this fast guy.
Well I must be off to bed, I have an 8am class tomorrow that I can not skip again and then an Earth Shock test at 9. Afterwords its off to Fruita for the weekend. Lets see if my racing legs have come out of hibernation yet. Until then, I will be sleeping!
I have recently found a new game to play when at the school cafeteria. I like to call it Jungle Survival. It's quite simple really. All you need is some good old cafeteria meat, in this case sausage link type mystery meat from breakfast and some toothpicks. The key is to make a new animal each time and then to hide them in the plants hanging from the ceiling. The trick is getting them into the plants without any of the cafeteria workers seeing you, and then checking and seeing how long it takes for 1) the animal to start smelling and rotting or 2) for the cafeteria workers to find them. Enjoy!
This week was a bit of a difficult one. I had to get caught back up on school work that I missed while in California and was also trying to get motivated to prepare for finals, which are coming up scary fast. And I also had to realize some of the things or ways of life that come when trying to be a professional athlete. The short and sweet of it is, is that if it were easy then everyone would be one. But once again I was easily reminded of why I do it. I rode my Durance almost everyday this week. Its really hard to stay upset when you are throwing a leg over that thing. Really aside from some minor life lessons and me realizing once again that I like to procrastinate with school work, nothing new really happened. My days in Durango are ticking away and I not happy about it, for many reasons. Another person who is leaving the D-Town soon is Dicky Dub. He is heading down south to Austin soon. He will be missed and its bummer to see him go.
Fontana was a big learning experience. It was my first pro race in the month of March, first time to California and encountering Cali riding and weather. But all excuses aside, I did not race well and can do better. But that's racing. If it were easy it would be called something else other than the Pro class. I gained a lot of knowledge this past weekend about racing and many other things. Luckily I was able to learn this from some good friends who have been involved in the sport longer than I have even been riding a bike. One of them was Cody Peterson, who is chasing down Liam Killeen in the short track. All of his info was very important, but the thing that I really took to heart was when he said the best athlete in the world is the one who works the hardest and really does their sport because they love what they do. I hope to take what I learned this weekend and improve upon my results for the rest of the year. I also want to take the time to thank John Polli and everyone at Team Bikeparts.com and Peak Cycles. They really take care of me and made this trip and all trips to bike races possible. Thanks again!
Fontana, California. Very Hot, Very Polluted and the course is probably the fastest courses I have ridden in my entire life. It is also very urban and very short. I think the leading lap times are going to be close to 20 minutes. I have ridden it four times so far, a couple of times with Sam Jurekovic, Cody Peterson and few other times with Eric Ransom and every time it was scary fast. Its definitely not a course that suits me very well and its going to take A LOT for me to do well.
Its spring here in Durango, and I could not be happier. It was in the 60's today and I was suffering because I still dressed as it was in the 40's. I am trying to get my body used to riding in super warm temperatures. So essentially I have been finishing every ride, swimming in sweat and exhausted as hell. Also with it being spring again, I have my Durango training buddy back. After dominating the XC ski scene here in the Rocky Mountain region, Tad Elliott is back on the bike, and I could not be happier. The long days in the saddle with just an iPod have been a bit hard.
For some reason lately I have been acquiring a variable consortium of pictures of elite cyclists drinking. This was especially relevant after participating in some bigger Cyclocross event this past fall, but it also seemed to follow through into this past weekends FLC Squawker Road Classic. If you weren't racing, you were cheering or cheering and drinking. I also figured with it being St. Patricks day, it would be nice to see the worlds best knocking back a few.
The one of Kabush I understand, but this one of Zabriskie leaves me with a few questions. But then again anything this guys does leaves questions.
And if you don't drink beer, you drink Coffee. My drink of choice, thanks to the Parktool.com website I found this photo of Sam Jurekovic having a cup for himself. That's probably one of the best things I am looking towards this summer, working at the Cafe Ole' coffee shop in Carbondale. We are talking excellent coffee in my cup all the time and in great abundance. Ahh, Coffee! In other news, I am moving into the next stage of training and preparing for my first race of the season, the NORBA NMBS #1 in Fontana, California. I am super excited for many reasons, first race of 08, I get to see how my forum is and this also be my first time to California. Can't wait. But I still need some more hours on the bike before I venture out, thankfully I have some time.
Yesterday was one of those unexpected excellent days. I got up when I woke up and packed up my things before I drove back to Durango. I got some awesome coffee from Dos Gringos burritos on Carbondale, and then drove out to Fruita for some more mountain biking. I was out riding for almost 4 hrs.
But then again when the trails are like this, why would you want to stop? More proof of this was when I saw Jenny Smith and Lea Davidson out riding. Thanks again for letting me borrow the pump. I am really getting used to riding these epic trails, hopefully Durango will thaw out soon.
This past weekend after escaping campus I headed west with Jesse, Matt, Tate and Josh for some excellent early season mountain biking in Moab. It was so nice to finally get on familiar grounds again. I like road biking and all, but after the past 12 weeks I know for sure I am mountain biker. The first day we climbed up the old Mountain States Cup race course on Amasa Back to do a new trail called Rockstacker.
It was easily seen that even over the winter, everyone else was still ungodly fast on the descents. It might have had something to do with me being on the hardtail, but you can't dispute skill.
The next day the weather was a bit cooler, but still awesome compared to how its been in Durango. We hit up Poison Spider Loop and then came down one of my all time favorites, Portal.
Not only is the trail wicked fun, it was quite the spectacle watching Swifty descend the technical terrain. (I will upload the video once I get some faster connection speed) But of course not even the best can make it down everything completely unscathed.
It's midterms week and also the week before Spring Break. Stress levels are still at a high and today I was able to completely escape it by staying on my bike until the sun went down. Nothing takes care of stress and other school BS like a nice ride in the sun. Today Durango was getting closer to its norm with temps in the 50's and not a cloud in the sky. Then afterwords, I got official word that my new ride is in future. Speaking of new rides...
You know when its almost March that it's time. Time to get out and go ride in the warmth.
Thankfully here in Durango, I am able to ride my bike out side again. The snow was recedded off the streets and maybe in mid March we can see some normal ground again. But overall this great news. The sun has been out and been in the 40's all day this week. Paired with that, the days are slowly getting longer. Today, sunset was at 5:50pm. That's awesome. I have been taking ful advantage of it latly packing in longer and longer rides everyday.
Although I may be spending more time on the bike, it doesnt mean I still havent been suffering on the climbs up to Purgatory or to Hesperus. But I can't complain, I would much rather have my butt planted in the saddle than class right now. This recent abundance of sun and high temps have kept me on the bike.
And besides, with views like these can you blame me?
I am not going to beat around the bush or anything. It's cold outside, and here in Durango we have lots of snow. Lots, so much that we have had two consecutive snowdays this week. Thats right, 4 day weekend everybody! This means I have been spending a little bit more time indoors than I normally enjoy. Jesse Swift has also been making great benefit of the warmer dryer indoors.
This new white stuff covering all of campus isnt too bad, atleast its pretty. The real bummer is that I am having to keep my favorite ride inside until a dryer day.
The nice thing about winter is, its easy to be positive when you know that one day down, is another day closer to warmer weather. See you on the wintry roads.
I woke up this morning before going to the gym to see this sign on the door of my dorm. Having no classes after ten that means an off day today for me!
Although I am a bit more partial to summer, lots and lots of snow is really pretty. And equally as fun sometimes.
All of campus is covered with a fresh blanket of white. Happy Monday and Happy 100th post!
This past week was quite difficult for me. With the high all week being 18, it was incredibly hard to stay outside on the bike for more than a couple of hours, if even that. I was putting coffee in my water bottles at times hopping it would help to keep me warm. Oh well, looks like above freezing weather is around the corner. Maybe now my hands won't freeze.
After the influx of snow the western half of the United States just got recently, I have still been out and about having fun. I guess the proper term is "training", but sometimes it's easier to fun first then the fitness sides seems to follow. The past two weeks since I have gotten back to Durango have flown by. I have been Nordic Skiing like crazy with almost 12hrs on the skate skis last week. 2-3 of those hours where night skiing, which is crazy fun. It's also a great way to get accustomed to the cold.
Then since the roads have cleared a bit, the bike rides in 25 degree weather have been quite de regeur and nothing out of the ordinary. Besides its too hard to stay inside when the sun comes out.
And as for dealing with the cold, I have been growing quite accustomed to my new wintry fur. But in all seriousness I am really finding this winter to a joy. Getting some time on the skis mixed with biking and back country snow shoeing has really shown me how lucky I am.
