Camp Lynda: Day 3

Camp Lynda: Day 3
St. George, UT and Arizona
70 mile route
Full ride details here.

Jeff Kerkove said at 10:55 AM :: ::

Camp Lynda: Day 2

Camp Lynda: Day 2
St. George, UT
50 mile route
Full ride details here.

Chunky!

Jeff Kerkove said at 8:57 PM :: ::

Camp Lynda: Day 1

Camp Lynda: Day 1
St. George, UT
40+ riders for the training ride.
40 mile route (out and back)
Full ride details here.

Jeff Kerkove said at 4:55 PM :: ::

Training Camp

Off to St. George, UT for 3 days of riding with like-minded folks. Looks like about 150 miles of dirt in 3 days....as the gps files sit right now. Weather is looking great....unlike in past years when the rain/snow seemed to have followed me from Colorado! Stay tuned for photos and video!

Jeff Kerkove said at 3:58 AM :: ::

‎"Dude, I can't feel my face. Are my lips moving?"

Winter training above Boulder, CO at it's finest!

Jeff Kerkove said at 11:26 PM :: ::

Oval Ride - Jan 22

Jeff Kerkove said at 6:07 PM :: ::

Beat the weather, kind of

50F and warm yesterday was a tease!  Woke up this AM to mostly sunny skies and temps right at freezing.  Forecast called for snow, wind, and colder temps to roll into the area late in the afternoon.  So, I pounded out all my work early this AM and hopped on the bike for the 3x20 sub-threshold intervals.

Rolling west above Fort Collins to sun and warmth. 36F and sun is warm for Colorado at 9 AM.


The workout went very well. 20 minutes at 300 watts....do it 3 times on rolling terrain and then spin home.


Rolling back to Fort Collins and dark clouds moving in. Looked more like a thunderstorm was moving in rather than snow.


About 2 miles from home the snow began to fall....and my front tire went flat. Instead of stopping to fix the flat, I just rode it home.

Jeff Kerkove said at 2:10 PM :: ::

Boulder Session

Training moved south today. Needed to get some 'stuff' from Sonya, so I figured I would get the planned training ride in the mountains west of Boulder. The plan was simple....roughly 5 hours at zone 2 and 3. It has been a while since I did any climbing work, so I got a hold of Jason Hilimire to see if he wanted to join in the fun. He did, and rode up to Gold Hill with me.

Rolling up the dirt roads to Gold Hill, CO. Roads are good...all things considered.  Could be an ice rink this time of year!


Jason and I split ways after this pic in the booming metropolis that is Gold Hill, CO.


The plan was to keep riding west to Peak-to-Peak Hwy....then over to Ward, CO. But, the further west I went the more windy it got!  I was being blasted in the mug by sand and snow....mostly sand.

About 1/2 mile from the pavement of Peak-to-Peak Hwy, the wind was in full-on jet blasting mode. How windy? Unsure? 40 mph!? 50 mph!? More? You be the judge, as I about got blew off the bike....so I stopped to shoot this clip of the wind.


I decided to brave the wind and push over to Ward. I last about 10 minutes on the highway before I about got blew off the road....knocked off my bike.....and was asked by 2 passing cars if I needed a ride back down to lower elevations.  One car pulled off the road and this little lady got out of her car....she about got blew to the ground.  Classic!


I turned around and rode back to Sawmill Rd, where I would ride down and up twice.  You can see the very angry winter storm going on in the background.  On a clear day you would see some big mountains in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

Then it was back to Boulder to finish up the ride by doing a nice tempo up Flagstaff.  This would be my second time up Flagstaff in my life.  The last time I was bleeding out my eyes chasing this guy on one of his training rides.

By the end of the day it was 4 hrs and 45 minutes in the saddle and just shy of 9,000 ft of climbing put into the legs.

All pictures from the day posted here.

Ride data posted on Movescount.

Jeff Kerkove said at 5:56 PM :: ::

Oval Ride - Jan 15

Good stuff today!  To be the hammer....or the nail?  Always good to be the hammer....but riding/racing in Colorado there is ALWAYS someone that is faster on any given day.  So, in this case you are the nail...and you get hammered into a bloody pulp. I always tell folks the Oval Ride is one of the hardest things I do on a bike....and it is.  It is a given......on each Saturday during the winter months you can guarantee to see max effort more than a few times, bleed out your eyes, cry internally, and have your legs go numb when they load with lactic acid.  It also reminds me why I mountain bike race and not road race, ha!

I had some good efforts today....and had to dig deep more than once to bridge back up to the lead group on Carter Lake and beyond.

On the hill prior to the Horsetooth Mountain Park climb I pushed the pace.....which then left us with only 5 riders. It would be this way until the last climb of the day....when Ian Holt would simply ride away. No surprise, as Ian is a strong rider.  The rest of us would roll into the town line finish a few seconds later.

Here is the power file for those of you that know what you are looking at. 80 miles and a average wattage of 230. For January, I'll take it!

Here are all the pictures from the day. Note, 99% of these pics are taken when I am not drooling on myself because I am incoherent in pain.



Sunday is another big block before a day off on Monday.

Jeff Kerkove said at 4:13 PM :: ::

A break in the cold

Pretty typical Colorado winter so far.....50F one day.....7 inch snow dump...3-4 days of highs in the teens.....then highs in the 50Fs again.  Glad the sun and heat came back....riding indoors, while manageable, was getting a little old.  Hooray for vitamin D!

Jeff Kerkove said at 5:06 PM :: ::

Cross Training

It is winter on the Colorado Front Range.  It means one thing....A.D.D. weather.  One day it is warm, sunny and in the mid-40F's...and the next day it is 20F and dumping snow.  Today and next few days are to be cold and snowy.  Not in the mood to hop on the trainer on the weekend, I met up with friend, Jill Hueckman, and made a mad dash to the base of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.  The plan: start early and get as high as possible before the snow and wind hit.  We got the snow.....and the wind.....then a small break in the weather...then much more snow and wind.  My bike legs are going to feeling this snowshoe session....that is for sure!

Jeff Kerkove said at 1:20 PM :: ::

Oval Ride

Oval Group Ride - Jan. 8, 2011
Fort Collins, CO
Temp: 40F
Distance: 80 miles
Time: 3 hrs 40 min

Jeff Kerkove said at 4:48 PM :: ::

2011 Team bike & specs

Frame: Grand Canyon CF (Hardtail)
Drivetrain: SRAM XX
Fork: RockShox SID Worldcup Team
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC 1250 Carbon / DT Swiss XM 1550 Tricon
Tires: Continental Race King 2.2
Brakes: Magura Marta SL Team, MT 8 Team
Headset: Ritchey Superlogic
Stem: Ritchey WCS carbonmatrix 4-Axis
Handlebar: Ritchey Superlogic Carbon
Seat post: Ritchey WCS Carbon
Grips: Ergon GX2 Leichtbau Carbon Team, GS2 Leichtbau Carbon Team
Bottle cage: Topeak Shuttle Cage Carbon
Saddle: Terry Fly RSR Team Edition

2011 USA team jersey.



Further detail located here.

Jeff Kerkove said at 9:01 AM :: ::

Wide angle training

Easy training ride was on tap today.  Good weather on tap as well!  So, I took out the Epic Cam HD and messed around with the 'photo' mode on the camera.  The result is below.

Jeff Kerkove said at 2:32 PM :: ::

Canyon: Topeak-Ergon bike partner for 2011

Via the Canyon.com website:

One of the most successful mountain bike teams of the last few years – the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team – will be competing on Canyon bikes in 2011. The team made up of reigning Marathon World Champion Alban Lakata, women’s World Champion of 2007 and 2009 Irina Kalentieva, and three times German Champion Wolfram Kurschat will all be riding exclusive Canyon team mountain bikes.

Following the signing of contracts Team Manager Dirk Juckwer explained, “We were looking for an innovative partner who will cooperate as closely as possible with us. In addition, the geographical proximity of the team to Canyon makes many things a great deal easier.” Canyon’s Marketing Manager Daniel Bley said, “Following the wind up of the FBI-Team we’re looking forward to working with a strong and internationally oriented team in cross-country sport. We can provide the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team with top material and are looking forward to working closely with the riders. We also expect to gain valuable support from the pros in the area of product development.”

The Topeak-Ergon Racing Team was founded in 2005 and is now one of the most successful teams in cross-country and marathon sport. In 2011 the team will have the same premium squad as last year and continue to underscore its winning ambitions. The team also has big ambitions in America going into the new season. The riders around MTB legend Dave Wiens consistently show in endurance races what they are made of. Dave Wiens, who made his way into the Hall of Fame in 2000, has beaten among others veteran Lance Armstrong in “his” event the Leadville 100.

I am super excited! I have been biting my tongue on this announcement since before Interbike.  Always good to get to try new bikes and technology!  Here are the frames we will get to choose from on any given race/training day.

The Lux MR full carbon FS frameset will be one race weapon available to the team riders.  Weighing in at 3.8 lbs, the Lux MR will be the choice for stage racing, marathons, and multi-day events.

Option number 2 to the riders is the 2.4 lb Grand Canyon CF.  Sure to be the right choice for the World Cups as well as those climbing heavy courses in Colorado.

Stay tuned, as the images of the frames in team colors are to be released to the public in the coming days!

Jeff Kerkove said at 9:39 AM :: ::