"Don't dig deep"....that was the word according to Coach. The Oval ride wasn't originally planned for me in the training plan, but after a few days of nothing but 30 minute spins since last weekend I asked Coach if I could give it a go. I knew showing up I would have either super legs for the entire ride....or just for part of the ride....only to be shot out the back to spin home.
We had a huge group today. I would say there was around 50 of us. Pretty good crop of talent as always.
The pace was pretty chill as we headed towards Windsor. There was some drama early in the ride as one rider..Ian Holt.... about 4 riders in front of me hit the deck at like 25 mph sending other riders into the ditch and grabbing for the brakes. It looked bad as all I saw was a bike go flying into the air. The group slowed...and Ian limped home to the ER....where we later found out his OK....except for some road rash.
Ticking over the miles until things got crazy.
The front of the group of 50 odd riders pushes on. It wasn't until the "Windsor Wall" that the group blew into pieces...me included. The group managed to get back together later down the road....but a lot of riders burned their matches for the day.
I soon found myself riding in a duo with Aaron Potts chasing into a 20 mph head wind. It sucked! We managed to catch 3 other riders to take our group up to 5 riders, but the fatigue in the legs of the group was showing. We were not making up any miles on the 2 groups ahead of us.
Once we got to the Carter Lake turn off, I shut the engine down and spun home. My legs feel fine....but not at the high end. Time for just a bit more rest. All the photos and video from today are here. If you see yourself feel free to snag the photos.
Pretty mellow week here in Colorado. Bike time is super low, as Coach has me in a deep recovery from the last 3 weeks of hard training. This give me plenty of time to organize some Ergon related travels and web updates. Wasn't sure what to post about today...so how about some random photos from around the house...
Ever since this past Sunday during the 104 mile ride some folks have contacted me via email and facebook about what I carried during the ride. Well, here is detailed list...
On the Bike - Two 24 oz bottles of Cytomax in concentrated form - Small Topeak seatbag with 1 tube - Suunto T6 HR monitor
In the Ergon BC3 Pack on my back - 100 oz of tap water - one 24 oz bottle of concentrated Cytomax - 1 can of Starbucks Double Shot Energy Drink - 1 peanut butter sandwich - 4 full size Clif Bars (250 calories ea.) - 4 mini Clif Bars (100 calories ea.) - 1 Power Bar - 1 packet of GU powder drink mix - 4 water purification tablets (enough to treat 120 oz of water) - 12 ELETE Tablytes (took 1 per hour) - 2 tubes - 1 Topeak mini tool - 1 Topeak hand pump - 1 skull cap - GoLite Gore-tex jacket - Fuji digital camera - Cell phone - $5
At the end of the 104 mile ride....some 9.5 hours after I started (includes riding and stopping time), I had the following nutrition items left over: - 20 oz of tap water - 1/2 of one Cytomax bottle - 4 ELETE Tablytes - 1/2 of the peanut butter sandwich - 2.5 full size Clif Bars
Finally back to Fort Collins after a marathon drive day from St. George, UT. The drive itself is not that bad....that is until you throw in some sections of sketchy roads where you are only cruising at like 30 mph. Ugh, what a drag.
Anywho, time to get back into the swing a things with work and life. Need to nurse both my lower arms about 2 inches above the wrists. I did some major torquing on the barends on the first day of Camp Lynda and appear to have strained some muscles and/or tendons. Wasn't a big deal on the bike....but now that I am off the bike, the swelling, soreness, and tightness is rearing its little head. Good thing this week is a recovery week.
The plan was simple for the day was simple on paper. Lynda and Dave laid out roughly a 105 mile loop through the desert in and around St. George. As with all the rides this weekend, riders were self supported carrying all water and food needed for the days ride. And once again....your daily photo and video feed...
At 8 AM on Sunday morning roughly 20ish super freaks departed on their daily journey.
The group quickly spread out as terrain turned to dirt roads and began to roll.
The opening miles were a gentle climb to an overlook, before flipping it and heading back down. Then the real loop began.
A majority of the route today was dirt road. Sometimes smooth....some times rocky. The early miles were spent with Lynda and Dave Byers....that is before Lynda had some place to be and dropped it down a gear on her SS.
So for the remainder of the day Dave and myself rode alone. We both had a similar goal to ride a good consistent tempo and to finish before the sun set.
Wasn't a ton of climbing today, but there were a few longer rises in the road that had the muscles scream out a little cry.
If you weren't doing a little bit of climbing, you were laying out the wattage on the miles and miles of desert roads. Tail winds good. Head winds bad.
At about this point...some 6.5 hours into the ride I started to feel drained. I stopped and slammed a Starbuck's Double Shot. With in about 20 minutes of drinking the creamy milky beverage I had rocket legs. I was back in the game...and felt like I did at mile 10.
My legs felt awesome....Dave's were drag'n a bit, so I did my part to drag him through the wind. It was the least I could do since he had the GPS an I didn't. Thanks Dave!
As we pushed into the wind, we were caught by Plesko, Kurt, and Dan. We rode with them for a bit.....and then let them go about their business.
Dave and I kept our pace all the way to the intersection at I-15. A mile or so later we caught up to Plesko and the others as they sat on the side of the trail munching on Pringles.
From that point on we pedaled back into town to finish out the 104 mile and 9500 ft of climbing effort. For me, it took 9 hours and 40 minutes from starting point to finishing point. That time includes all stops to take and photos and grab food out of the pack. All the photos and video from today are posted here.
Day 2 started out wet....just like yesterday. Due to the all night rains, the route was reworked to give us some less muddy trails. Oddly enough, the first 300 yards of wet clay ended up being the worst miles of the entire ride. Riders came to a complete stop and wet clay clogged up wheels yielding them useless. 23 lbs endurance bikes were now 50 lbs dead bodies being drug across the southern Utah desert. After those 300 yards, the trails firmed up and we were greeted with some on SW Utah's best dirt. And now the photos and videos...
The opening mile mud. It was of biblical proportions! Wheels stopped turning....as did planet Earth.
After the section of mud....the trail was perfect. A little tacky, but nothing a raging mountain bike would complain about.
After about 1 hour of saddle time, the rain clouds began to push out of the area leaving us with some partly cloudy skies.
One of many slickrock sections.
Riders spinning out the miles. Some a bit more spunky than others ;)
Sometimes the rocks win.
If you climb, chances are there is always an awesome view awaiting.
St. George Pano-Vision.
This is how you fuel! "It's all about the Fritos bitches!"
Gas station burritos work well too! "This thing was like 99¢ and will fuel me for 8 hours."
This was pretty much the trail flavor for the day. A bit more climbing after this section, then it was all downhill to St. George.
Just under 4 hours of saddle time today with about 2,600 ft of climbing and a hair over 30 miles. Tomorrow is the big one....110ish miles of desert miles. Speaking of fueling proper....got to do it big time tonight!
All the photos and videos from the last 2 days are here.
Of course wouldn't ya know it....it rained....all night....in the desert. The plus side, it was a light rain. So, Camp Lynda: Day 1 happened, but we were denied our total route due to sticky clay. Not a huge deal....we still got in around 40 miles of some good single track, slick rock, and dirt road. Here are your photos for the day...
The riders get together for a preride meeting. Something like 35ish total riders today.
The early miles were tame as the skies spit light rain and the temps warmed into the mid-50F's.
The first of many slickrock sections.
Some fast and buff desert singletrack....as the clouds hang low in the background.
The group regroups then starts to head back to St. George after being denied our turn around point due to sticky clay.
The smooth road home.
This is how it was today. Looks kinda bad....but really wasn't. Bikes are now clean for tomorrows session.
Here is the days effort recorded off the Suunto T6. The HR was higher than at altitude.....but the level of effort on the pedal was about 60%. I felt pretty good all day....any time I started to feel the effort creeping up, I just let off the gas. There are still 2 days of riding yet. Not going to burn all the matches in 1 day.
Off to St. George, UT for 3 days of training, demos, and product testing. You can bet there will be lots of video and photos from on and off the bike. Stay tuned, as things get underway on Friday.
Short little roller ride this AM before breakfast. Yeah, I know....rollers on a day when it is to hit almost 70F. It is part of Coach's evil little plan for me this year....and it is working! Nothing crazy, just a 30 minute spin to shake out the legs from the weekend efforts. Then, followed by my same 'ole breakfast of champions....or something along those lines. Rest of the day has me working, relaxing, and dialing in team bikes for this weekends trip to St. George, UT.
Here is 90% of Saturday's Oval Ride shot with a VholdR camera by Dan. Prepare yourself....this is about 80 miles of road riding compressed into 9 minutes. Don't you wish you could spin 300 rpm? Cyclists in Fort Collins can. It's something in the water....;)
Today's workout consisted of a 4 hour session with a 2 hour 240-287 watt continuous tempo. Going out was great....30+ mph over rolling terrain in the foot hills. Coming back sucked pushing a 30+ mph headwind. Can you say "standing up to pedal down hill." Oh, and as obvious by the photos, the warm weather continues. More random pictures posted here.
Finally! I had a good ride for today's Oval Ride throw down. This ride always pushes my limits....always. It very well might be one of the hardest things I do on a bike. One minute it is a civilized tempo. The next minutes everyone is sitting on the nose of their saddles wonder how much longer they can push hard on the pedals before the black out and roll off the road.
Today's group of crazies....waiting....watching....planning their attacks. I mention in the video that the fastest of the fast guys aren't even here today. Just goes to show the talent depth in this town.
Funniest thing for me today on the entire ride is I about got dropped out the back at about mile 15 of the 90 mile ride. The pace picked up and for some reason the legs didn't respond. I am thankful for the right hand turn to Severance that slowed the pack down a bit. After that, the legs were snappy and powerful for the remainder of the days effort.
After a quick hammer over the 'walls' near Windsor, we rolled South of Hwy 34 towards Berthoud.
When we turned west to head to Berthoud, that is when the pack pretty much separated into 2 larger groups. The straight and narrow roll into town had folks gritting their teeth....me included.
Rolling out of Berthoud left one last chance to sit up....get some food in the system....and prepare mentally for the kick in the nuts that riding over Carter Lake is.
Only about 1/2 the group decided to do the Carter Lake option. The pace was a hard tempo to the switchback...the all hell broke loose. Our group of like 12 riders was not little groups of 4's, 2's, and 1's. I found myself alone up the climb. I maintained a reasonable pace and was able to catch 2 other guys. The last guy I caught was wearing a Hot Tubes jersey....and we kind'a worked together to bridge back up to the leaders just before Eden Valley.
After Eden Valley, the group did their thing until the climb up to Horsetooth Mountain Park. Here is where I found myself alone....as did many other riders. It was this way all the way back into town. Not sure how many folks were in front of me at the end.....maybe 6 or so.
Today's fuel intake consisted of the following: - Three 24oz bottles of Cytomax - 1 Clif Bar - Couple shots of Hammer Gel
Oh well, I can't complain one bit today. My legs felt good....and I used them to their fullest capacity....for January. One more tempo on tap for Sunday, then a few days of recovery before heading to SW Utah for 3 days of big mnt bike miles.
I ran out of gas on my ride today.......so here are some photos. I think it was pay back for my comment a few days ago about the 2 hour tempo being easy. Today, not easy!I need a day to rebuild before the weekend thrashings.
Not too much happening that did not happen last week....at least on the training front. A lot of the same work outs with the same goals in mind are being sent over via email by Coach. Really looking forward to the weekend and the Oval Ride again.....but with out the flat tires that came along with last weeks ride. Legs are feeling good still, and I want at least one good solid effort this week.
The other day we got roughly 5 inches of snow here in the Front Range....but 90% of it is melted up here in northern Colorado. Can't complain about the weather one bit right now. While the eastern half of the country is in some of the coldest temps in many many years.....we here in Colorado are enjoying temps in the 50F's! Check it out! Geez, do I dare say it? Shorts on the weekend and Monday?
In the coming week is the first Ergon road trip of the year. Been looking forward to the trip to St. George, UT since last year when I made the trip, only to get sick the night before. What is going on in St. George you ask? A 3 day mega dose of mountain bike mileage. My Coach puts on an open training camp for 3 days. It's all on mountain bike....self-supported.....and self-navigated. Mileage for this years training days looks to be roughly 40 miles, 50 miles, and 100 miles. As an added bonus, I take the Ergon show on the road and let folks demo product out in the elements. This is as real as it gets.....new product in the old desert.
2005 Results
12 Hr Sugar Creek :: 2nd
12 Hr of Metro :: 1st
12 Hr of Thunder :: 2nd
12 Hr of Winter :: 3rd
24 Hr of 9 Mile :: DNF
24 Hr of 7 Oaks :: 1st
24 Hr in Japan :: 1st
2004 Results
Stump Farm 12 Hr :: 2nd
24 Hr of Rapelje :: 1st
12 Hr Nationals :: 3rd
24 Hr of 9 Mile :: 10th
24 Hr Solo World :: 12th
24 Hr of Moab :: DNF
Bio
NAME: Jeff Kerkove
NICKNAME: Mr. 24
COUNTRY: USA (Colorado)
TEAM:Topeak-Ergon DOB: 2.7.1978
HEIGHT: 6 ft.
WEIGHT: 165 lbs.
RACE CATEGORIES:
Pro (XC & Endurance) Click for full Bio
"Don't dig deep"....that was the word according to Coach. The Oval ride wasn't originally planned for me in the training plan, but after a few days of nothing but 30 minute spins since last weekend I asked Coach if I could give it a go. I knew showing up I would have either super legs for the entire ride....or just for part of the ride....only to be shot out the back to spin home.
We had a huge group today. I would say there was around 50 of us. Pretty good crop of talent as always.
I soon found myself riding in a duo with Aaron Potts chasing into a 20 mph head wind. It sucked! We managed to catch 3 other riders to take our group up to 5 riders, but the fatigue in the legs of the group was showing. We were not making up any miles on the 2 groups ahead of us.
