Last night I watched the last 45 thrilling minutes of Stage 17 of the Vuelta.
A 5-man break was out 6 km from the start of this flat stage. As usual the peloton was drilling it near the end to reel them in. The peloton was hitting speeds over 70 km/h (43 mph) and was eroding the gap fast.
The break faltered 5 km from the finish as they jockeyed to avoid the lead and looked over their shoulders for the charging peloton. Finally Maaskant took charge and shot off the front. Then Roux made a huge bridge up to Maaskant, rested for a while on his wheel, then took the lead.
With 3 km to go the peloton was bearing down under 30 seconds away and Roux was giving the pedals everything he had left. At the last turn the peloton was right there but Roux took the win by only a few meters.
It was one of the most exciting sports moments I've seen. You could feel the impending doom as the massive peloton charged forward, closer and closer to Roux. At a left turn through a round-about you could see Roux exit with the peloton right behind him entering the round-about (see the video below). Jolene and I were both physically tense as we watched. And how sweet it was when Roux crossed the line.
This video recap is pretty good, but cuts out too much. If you have this stage recorded, go watch the last 30 minutes or more to get the full impact.
Bonus
I saw this sticker mentioned on the UMB forum - not a bad idea:
There are two other stickers to chose from.
The Vuelta Stage 17 Thriller
Group Ride Close To Home
Met up with the Bike Peddler group ride tonight since they were riding close to our house. We rode up the Water Tank Road, up Betty, up Fretty (my name for the new trail between Frank and Betty), up Frank to the Altar, then up Lament. Here we split - Bill and Nate went on to Dry Canyon while the rest of us went down Crank and Ireland then back down the Water Tank Road.
It was a good ride. I haven't been up in the foothills for over almost two months and since then it's turned from green to gold. The trails were in fairly good shape, but the recent rains had caused water to run down the trails in places washing away dirt and leaving loose rocks. But it wasn't bad and was less dusty.
The sun was setting as we rode down Ireland lighting everything in golden orange. I snapped this photo quick and was surprised how well it turned out. Nice pose, Josh!
It was good to ride with some folks I hadn't seen in a while and meet some new friends.
Bike Maintenance: Shift Cable
I did some work on the bikes before the Moab trip. I tried to get my old Prophet going for Moab, but stupidly tried to clean a shift cable only to get it stuck. The Prophet has a ghost shifting problem that shows up after only 3-4 rides of installing new shift cables. Talking to Mike at the UMB shop we hit upon a simple idea which I hope will fix it.
The bike has lugs on the downtube for the cables and normally there is a break in the cable housing here and bare cable between the lugs. But the front wheel flips dirt and mud up onto the cable which runs down into the housing, gunking it up.
So we installed solid, unbroken cable housing from the shifter all the way down to the rear derailleur. While at the shop I noticed that Bruce ran solid cable housing on his Prophet also so I'll bet he had the same problem and arrived at the same solution. I'll get the Prophet out for some test rides to see if this change fixes the ghost shifting.
I'm not certain why frame designers / bike manufacturers put these break in the cable housing. Sheldon Brown states that it's to save weight. I think that's a bad idea for a mountain bike - I'd rather gain a few grams in shift cable housing to get smoother and longer-lasting shifting.
LoToJa Hangups
Look what LoToJa finishers got for their $180 and 206 miles this year:
(photo stolen from Zeph.)
I expect to see these hangers displayed in car windows around the valley as they supplant the ubiquitous stickers.
The hanger made of bike parts is unique and well-made, but not much of a keepsake. Do you invite your friends to the closet to view it?
It could be worse. At one of the ICup races (Draper?) instead of a T-shirt or socks they gave out a square of cloth (hanky?) with the ICup logo on it, and back in 2007 at Sherwood Hills they gave out a 2x2 foot square of cloth with the course and sponsor logos printed on it. Left the racers puzzled - what was it and what should I do with it? Most became grease rags.
I was glad to see the LoToJa leg stamp was small and subtle:
(Photo stolen from Rick.)
Evidently guys with flashlights were checking for leg stamps in the dark before the start. Dang, missed my change to be thrown out of LoToJa and get a misdemean.
Plenty of good LoToJa stories from the blogs / forums / etc. It's a worthy race/ride and my hats off to all the participants and volunteers. Just because I'm the LoToJa curmudgeon doesn't mean I don't respect or appreciate the effort it takes to train for and attempt this course. I just like to poke fun at LoToJa. Everyone needs a hobbie, right?
My Best Recorded Crash
Like a nuclear explosion, mountain bike crashes are terrible but somehow beautiful.
While riding the Sovereign trail near Moab I had my best (worst?) recorded crash. A rare uphill endo. Onto rock. Behold:
I still laugh when I watch the video. Let me break it down:
Mark and Paul rode up the ramp, over the tabletop, over a gap then off the end of the rock (as you can see in my previous post). The ramp had a ledge at the bottom and one at the top. Mark and Paul told me I'd need to pull the front wheel up to get over the upper ledge, as they had done. Well I felt my 29er wheels would roll right over that little ledge so I only gave a half-hearted pull up on the bars (Mistake #1).
Also, I hadn't realized that my longer wheel base was going to be a problem (Mistake #2). When the rear wheel hit the lower ledge it pushed the front wheel down as it hit the upper ledge where it stopped dead. It also bounced me up and forward, launching me over the bars.
And I was too far forward (Mistake #3).
I was fully expecting to roll right up the ramp, so when I started to fly forward I was completely surprised. The catapult action was swift and I barely had time to get my hands out in front of me and turn my head.
Luckily I hit flat on the rock and only had a few minor scraps. Landing uphill also helped minimize injury. I smacked the side of my helmet on the rock which saved me from a face-plant. My sunglasses and helmet were comically askew.
The chain was wedged into the spokes, but we got it free without too much effort.
All in all it was a painless crash, but it looks violent.
After gathering myself up and attending to the bike I took the ramp a little more left and made it just fine.
It's been a while since I had a good crash. The Arizona crash in February was a doozy. In the last few years I've endo'ed on the Ridge trail, fell over into a hole at Solitude... Hold on here, ever since I started riding with Mark 3-4 years ago I only crash on rides with him. Sorry, Mark, I can't ride with you any more, my body can't take it.
Mark's First Moab
I've been trying to get Mark to Moab for two years. This weekend it happened.
(No, I didn't make the "MOAB 2009" in the photo above. We came across it on the Sovereign trail.)
Friday morning we (Mark, Mark's brother Paul, and I) drove down to Moab, checked into the hotel then headed up to the Slickrock trail.
It was a beautiful blue sky day, but pretty hot (in the 90s). After gearing up we rolled out of the parking lot, across a bit of sand and up onto slickrock. Mark didn't say much, but I imagine he'll blog about his first impressions of riding on slcikrock.
After the second junction with the Practice Loop we climbed to the first seriously steep slickrock ramp. I remember my first time here I looked at the steep angle of this slope and couldn't believe it was possible for a bike to climb it. But when some others went up it, and I tried it myself, I was a believer. Mark made it up without trouble.
Going down Fried Egg Hill I did the half pipe and Mark followed, taking a slightly more mellow line.
Riding out to the junction with the loop I was feeling crappy - my heart rate would not come down, I was dizzy and my legs felt like lead. Not sure if it was the heat, the lack of riding recently, the jolt of going from riding in the car to hard riding, or just a bad day. (I did have an emergency evacuation by Shrimp Rock and felt better afterward.)
At Cogs To Spare, Mark made a good first attempt and Paul cleaned it on his first try! Mark played "Eye of the Tiger" on his iPhone and made it on his second attempt! Here's the video (if you listen close you can here the music):
I was concerned I would have trouble on Cogs with my hard tail 29er, but it did fine. I tried 5 times, made it over the steep, short middle ramp twice, but could not summon the mojo to complete the climb. The walk of shame up Cogs was bitter.
Not my best Slickrock ride, but still plenty of good stuff, and it was fun being there with Mark on his first ride.
Saturday morning we rode the Sovereign trail.
My technical skills and confidence improved from the lack-luster ride the day before. For fun we kept a casual running score of technical stuff we made or didn't make. This added some friendly motivation throughout the day.
Where the trail enters the inclined slickrock expanse we stopped to play around. We found a sweet line up a ramp, over some tabletop rock, over a gap then off the end of the rock - see photo below.
Here's a video of Mark rolling it:
I had a rather spectacular crash here that I'll cover in my next post. (Update: the crash post will be up this afternoon.)
Then we climbed up the slickrock as far as we could then went back on Sovereign.
After lunch we rode the Klondike Bluffs trail. At the end we hiked up to see the hoodoos. On the way back we decided to give Baby Steps a ride. We skipped the upper trail which I felt was not as fun as riding back down the slickrock section of the Klondike Bluffs trail. So we started down Baby Steps in the middle (after a minor navigational blunder by me). The trail has worn in better than the last time I rode it and I quite enjoyed it. I even cleaned the rocky notch move at the top of the hill (on my third attempt). (Mark A.: I've revised my opinion of Baby Steps.)
I suggested we go to Bartlett Wash for our final ride, but Mark wanted more Slickrock trail. We rode the Practice Loop then out to the Wooly Gully where Paul rode through it on his fifth attempt.
(I should have picked a better place to video. The ledge Paul climbed getting out of the gully is angled sharply left to right which takes finesse to get over without your rear wheel sliding out.)
We made it back to the car as the sun was setting. Even though my legs were tired, they had more punch than on Friday and overall I felt and rode much better.
Congratulations, Mark, on your Moab initiation. Now when can we go back?
Notes:
- Perhaps it's best not to do Slickrock as the first ride.
- A hard tail 29er is a good bike for Moab, particularly for crossing sand, but I would have preferred a full suspension bike.
- The food was good at Eddie McStiff's, but they wouldn't substitute mashed potatoes for cole slaw and they charged us for another tiny tub of salsa to go with the chips we ordered. This inflexibility and nickle-and-diming left a bad impression.
- The turkey avocado panini and strawberry smoothie at the Peace Tree Juice Cafe were excellent.
- Only one mechanical: Paul burped his rear tire on Sovereign. The Stans had dried up so we put in a tube. I love my new Topeak Mountain Morph pump.
- Always carry TP. A gauze bandage is a functional, but inferior substitute.
- The burgers at Ray's Tavern in Green River are still the best heading-home dinner.
- iFart is the best iPhone app ever (according to Mark).
Labor Day Weekend
We had a good Labor Day weekend.
Saturday morning Jolene and I joined Steve and Derek for a mountain bike ride up American Fork Canyon.
As we drove up the canyon around 7:30 we passed Mark, Elden, Sam and Doug on their road bikes. Unfortunately for them, and us, the drizzling rain started coming down in earnest. We sat in the van at Salamander Flat for 15-20 minutes until the worst had passed.
We rode up Pine Hollow and out the Ridge a ways and then a few miles on some new trail that looks promising, but is still very soft and rough. I got a stick in my rear derailer that knocked it out of whack and my shifting is still not right even with some adjustments.
American Fork Canyon has some eye-pleasing vistas.
The new trail.
After the ride we went to the new Lindon Aquatics Center. It's very nice. They have a big lazy river, a small water slide, a good-sized hot tub, a nice splash pool, a separate lap pool, and a FlowRider. The pool bottoms are a textured rubber with some padding - it's soft and doesn't chew up your feet. There was very little chlorine in the water - they may be using a salt sanitation system - it was nice to not have irritated eyes or smell like chlorine.
Kade and I on the suspension bridge over the lazy river.
Kade and Kara on the raft.
We had a good parenting moment. Kade was afraid to go down the slide. We knew he'd love it if he just go once. We cajoled and pleaded. Then I told him I'd stop bugging him if he'd just go once with me. He said he'd think about it - progress. Then we told him we'd get pizza for dinner if he'd go (we were getting pizza anyway - yes, sneaky) and finally he gave the OK. We went up and he sat on my lap as we slid down. Then he went by himself, and then did 10+ laps on the slide.
Monday we borrowed my Dad's canoe and went up to Payson Lakes. The weather was nice and we had a good time canoeing, picnicing, wading, cloud-gazing and simply enjoying the outdoors.
The kids canoeing.
A water gun salute.
This evening I watched a rebroadcast of the BYU - OU game - some pretty good football there.
I also watched stage 9 of La Vuelta. A nasty climb at the end with a peak grade of 20%! (And I thought the Butterfield 16% grade was brutal.) Those guys suffered up that climb. There was a break of 7 with a 6 minute lead and I thought they were gone, but the strong climbers from the pack caught a few - amazing.
Now it's back to work, but Moab is coming this weekend!
Invasion Of The Sunflowers
Mark and I hit Corner Canyon this evening.
We started with BST north as an out-and-back warm up. This trail was closed for a while after heavy rains caused mudslides back in July. A lot of work was done to stabilize the soil and prevent further erosion. Most gullies had terraces of these fabric/plastic dams:
It seems the recent fire and perhaps the July rains were good for Sunflowers because they were tall and all over.
The BST was in good shape and fun to ride, just watch for a few sandy spots and don't let the sunflowers hit you.
Next up was Clarks. It's in good shape and quite smooth. I didn't feel like pushing it, but I was able to stay in my middle ring. Perhaps I should TT it again since I seem to be in better condition than this May when I did it in a sluggish 14:53.
At the top we saw a newly cut trail just to the left (north) of Clarks so we decided to try it. I'm pretty sure it's Jamie Pouge's trail. I believe this top part was cut Saturday. It's rough and very soft with a lot of switchbacks. Tough to ride right now, but hopefully we'll get some rain to settle it down. It basically ends at the intersection with the Pipeline trail. Mark went up Pipeline and I continued on the unfinished trail - I just had to see where it went (yes, Jamie, I'm a bad man, a very bad man). The trail peters out into partially cut scrub oak so I pushed the bike up to the new connector trail between the upper Clarks trail head and Canyon Hollow (the trail formerly known as Brocks Point).
This connector trail is new but already good to ride. Coming up Clarks just keep heading east and look for the gap in fence. It Tees into Canyon Hollow a few hundred yards from the top.
We went down Canyon Hollow and I couldn't understand why the trail dozer had been up/down this way since the trail was fine. When we joined the Ghost Falls south trail it made sense - they are creating a new section of trail to bypass the two steep slopes that are tough to climb and often washed out with loose rock. In a strange way I liked those steep spots, but the new trail should be good.
We made it back to the equestrian center right as it was getting dark enough that it was hard to see. Even though it's cooler to ride up higher, Corner Canyon is not as hot as I expect and is a good riding option even in Summer. Always nice to get out for a ride as it never fails to lift my spirits.
