Monumentally Afflicted

Time to get busy.  Leaving tonight for Fruita via Frisco.  Hoping to get a good night's sleep in Frisco, with no kids/dogs to wake me up in the middle of the night or early in the morning.  I have a few loose ends for packing, but I'm pretty much ready to roll. Spun a few miles in Ute today w/ Austin and Kenton.  Did some stretching afterward.  Nothing else left to do, except go have some fun in the sand and sun. The forecast is looking good temperature-wise, but a bit sketchy for precip.  There are sections of the course that are pretty much a big mess when wet.  The mud gets wicked sticky and the bike turns into a giant anchor.  I'm hoping we don't encounter those kinds of conditions.  This mud also wreaks havoc on drivetrains.  With my internally geared hub, I shouldn't have those issues, but I'd still prefer a nice dry course!

Race goals Have fun, but push myself A minimum of 18 laps (60 minutes per lap) Realistically in the 20-25 lap range Goal        Avg lap time 20            54:00 21            51:25 22            49:05 23            46:57 24            45:00 25            43:12 FYI, in past team 18 Hour of Fruita events, I was turning back to back mid 27's for the night laps... Pre race Weigh me in shorts, short sleeves prior to race 200-400 calories >= 3 hours before race (3 scoops of Sustained Energy would work) No solid food in the 3 hours prior to the race Only 16oz of fluid per hour for the 2.5 hours prior to the race. ~40oz total No fluid the last 20-30 minutes Make sure lights are ready to roll - HID on the bars and R2 flashlight on the helmet Remind me to use chamois cream Remind me to start at a super easy pace Hydration/Fuel/Electrolytes Track and make sure I'm doing something close to the following... Sustained Energy 2.5 scoops per hour Water 20-25 oz per hour Endurolytes 2-4 per ...

For anyone who wants to follow my 18 Hours of Fruita progress, or lack thereof…Chris will be sending updates via Twitter.  I may send some updates if I get a bit of downtime.  So, go create an account at twitter.com and follow ctirpak and bbaker22 .   The race starts at midnight (Friday night) and ends at 6pm Saturday. Got out for another short night ride last night.  Used the HID and R2 combo again.  Works well.  26psi is a bit too high for the rear tubeless config.  Gotta remember to go to about 24psi. The HID turns a bit over hard bumps.  Might need to put a thicker handlebar shim under the mount.  For the flashlight, I think the double Velcro strap mount is going to work well.  Last night I managed to get the light aimed up nice and high, so I won’t have to tilt my head up for 6 straight hours. Actually, I woke up to a slightly tweaked neck this morning.  This is a sorta common experience for me, but with 18 hours of biking coming up, it is not cool.  Actually, my neck prob...

Let's just get this outta the way before the race.  Here is a list of exuses for my slacking off during the race (in order of likelihood of occurrence): My back/neck/foot/leg/elbow hurts I need to drink some of the beer before Tirpak finishes it all Sand in my shorts I'm sleepy Mechanical issues Bad weather Bad crash I'm in danger of ending up on the podium

Got out last night for some night riding on the local singletrack and dirt roads.  Tried out a variety of lighting combos.  It looks like the Trail Tech hid on the bars and the Deal Extreme R2 flashlight on the helmet will be choice number one.  Although a helmet mount is key for the twisty type riding at Fruita, I actually may attempt to ride with just the bar light after a while.  I anticipate that the additional weight of a helmet mount light may start bugging my neck.  After a few laps, I imagine I'll have the course figured out, plus I've done the course many times over the past few years. Picked up a couple Geax Saguaro's yesterday.  Replaced the torn up rear Fast Trak w/ a Saguaro and set it up tubeless.  No big issues with the installation and the tire seemed to work fine for last night's riding.   I also weighed my bike last night.  Hugely piggish!  30lbs, which is probably 5lbs heavier than my KHS Team Softail.  I'll be bringing that bike as a backup.  I...

This was a common view for me today! Took quite a few spills while checking out some trail connections from here... Past a bunch of these... To here... This pic is from the same location as yesterday's blog photo. Slight difference in weather, eh? Cloudy, foggy, and about 39 today. Yesterday was sunny and in the 70's. Didn't get in much mileage today, but lots of twisting and turning. :-)

Took a spin in the Monument Preserve today. Trail conditions are great. No mud. Lots of packed sand instead of the normal looseness. Intentionally sought out a rocky technical trail to see how the Notubes installation would hold up. It didn't! Well, that's not really fair. The tire's sidewall did not hold up. A new tear in the sidewall. The sealant spewed til the pressure got really low and then the hole plugged up. Pressurizing the tire would cause it to blow again and it essentially could not hold air. I attempted to do the glueless patch again. The patch worked, but I could not get the bead to seat with the hand pump. So, in went a regular tube for the remainder of the ride. Wildflowers are starting to bloom. Hopefully, all the recent snow will give us a stellar wildflower season...