Holiday Hibernation

Finished up a big block of training prior to the 4-day Christmas break. Break equals no training.  Basically 4 days of chilling out with Family. It was a good 2 weeks with some longer rides focusing on climbing as well as occasionally running the engine hot on the local group rides. Needless to say, by the end of the block I was ready for some rest.  It will be an on-going process until leaving for Nepal: training then rest, training then rest.  It's all about building and layering on fitness.  Here are a few highlights....

The regularly scheduled Saturday Oval Ride. The week before was the 'lite' version. This week, it was taken up a notch. Started with a good healthy group of about 50. By mid-ride it was down to like 10. Still early in the year for most. Beauty of the ride/route is everyone can go as fast or slow as they like.

8k climbing day outside Boulder, CO. Good weather window with temps near 50F around 7,000-10,000 ft. These kind of days are few and far between in Dec-Jan. You take them when you can get them. Could have spent all day out there, but sunlight dictates temp. range.

Searching for dry trails behind the house. Few and far between this time of year. 2 days after this picture was taken, we got 7 inches. Think it is time to head to Moab! :)

The day before the Winter Storm Warning went into effect. Climbing to the top of Towers Rd. west of Fort Collins. Climbing = Yak-Attack focus.

Scope out the Strava gps files here.

Jeff Kerkove said at 9:41 AM :: ::

11 days later.

Yes, it has been 11 days since last blog post. Just a lot of the same 'ole stuff going on here in Fort Collins: work, ride, repeat. Plus, Facebook and Twitter are slowly taking the place of blogging.....especially when people want to-the-second updates on life, riding, training, gear, etc.  Blogging is becoming the diary.....archive of life.

Work is busy.  Yes, I work. For those blog followers that may need a refresher and for those new readers, I basically run the show for marketing and customer service for Ergon in North America.  The bike riding is a highly addictive passion of mine.  So, yes, I constantly mix work and pleasure.  I am lucky.  Very lucky!

Anywho, enough with the boring stuff.  Yak-Attack.  It's one of a few things currently on my mind all day....every day.  The challenge consumes me.....the terrain....the culture.....the environment.....the training.....and relationship building.  Is this healthy? Feels like it. This week it became 100% real.  The biggest hurdle was the funding for the $1500 airline tickets.  That was finalized, and tickets will be booked in early January.  So now, training keep moving forward.  Discussing with team partners as well trying to get the new Canyon 29er hardtails here in time.  The course favors them.  Not going to lie, it would also be a great marketing opp for Canyon.

Winter is not here officially, but seems this winter is going to be 'hard' as the locals refer to it.  Temps in the low 40Fs and snow on the ground for more than a few days is not the norm.  But it is Colorado, so we deal with it.  The last few weeks have been a mix of indoor and outdoor training.  Pictures tell the story the best.

Pedaling the road that sits right behind the house on a 35F degree day. The sun....so warm. Makes it super easy to get out the door earlier in the day.

The 'indoor cycling studio'.....also known as the laundry room. It is a neccesary evil. Trainer doesn't bother me.....when there is a plan. So, I plug into the iPod and put the MacBook in front of me with World Cup XC replys and put in the work.


Non-cycling activities. Most notably stomping around the snow at 9,000-11,000 ft. with a like minded other with similar goals.


Oval Ride is starting up. This past weekend was the 'lite' version. Basically meaning the full 90 mile loop minus the speeds that make a grown man or woman bleed out their eye sockets onto their stem. It will all change soon. Surviving to the end will be the goal for each and every rider.


High mountain roads. Perfect for Yak-Attack! Temps in the 40Fs, low wind, groups of 5-10 riders makes these rides a freak'n blast!


Gas station lattes. Calories and warmth wrapped into one package. 'Nuff said.

Jeff Kerkove said at 4:39 PM :: ::

Bike then hike then bike

Yeah, I know. This photo is wrong. Very wrong. But, when you are training for an event that will require each rider to hike for 4 hours up to nearly 18,000 ft often carrying the bike....this photo now becomes correct. We finally got some cold temps and snow here in Fort Collins...both of which will be seen at the Yak-Attack in March.  Hopefully at the event there is less snow than more. It was good to get out and test some gear and ways to carry the bike.  One thing for sure, I learned a lot in this 2.5 hour ride and hike.  For example....

- Salomon Gore-Tex trail running shoes were good, even in the 25F temps
- REI Gore-Tex gaiters were money! Kept everything warm and dry.
- Dressing for riding in the cold is not ideal for hiking in the cold. read: overheating
- How to best carry the bike?  To be determined.
- Deep snow (6+ inches) requires carrying the bike full time.  See above.
- SRAM XX pulleys decide to stop spinning at about 25F ;)

Overall, it might look miserable, but it fact it was a blast!

Jeff Kerkove said at 4:07 PM :: ::