Crusher in the Tushar 2012

I was lobbying to sell our entry's. I've done this race, I know it takes significant fitness to do it well, and knew I was coming into it in much worse shape than last year, which was already a fairly low marker. Annie - the wunderkid, was lobbying to do the race, and was recruiting my friends to heckle me into it. She hadn't done it with me last year, so her naivete can be forgiven, she didn't know what she'd drug us into. Short story, she was persuasive, I succumbed, and we were at the start line come Saturday morning - Annie being anxious to do the race, me being anxious to get it over with and get to our next stop, Yosemite. I really wasn't a total sourpuss about it, I'd done a few long rides with a good amount of climbing, and felt ok on one of them, meaning there was at least a chance of the legs working as well on this day, and it wouldn't be a total mess.

 Long story short - by rest area 1 (for some they were aid stations, for purposes of recapping my day we'll call them rest areas), I was pretty certain the legs weren't going to be better than they really were, and I thought riding with Annie would be the best use of the rest of the day. She'd started several minutes behind and it wasn't long before she arrived - she looked phenomenal.  Aided by a screenshot of Magic Mike that I'd covertly taped to her top tube the night before the race, she was blitzing the first climb, and feeling great doing it. She grabbed a quick bottle, and off we went.... and then...within about 30 seconds..... she dropped me. The rest of the story is on the video.... it ended up being a cool day, we didn't do it fast, but we got to do a big chunk of it together which was the clear highlight. As far as races go, Burke and his gang knocked it out of the park again.... fantastic production by the Crusher folks, best volunteer staff around, including and maybe highlighted by Burke's family at the rest area just prior to the KOM where we probably spent too much time joking and laughing, but made for one of our favorite parts of the day.

 It may be a one and done year for the racing.
 

Late summer through UTCX #3

You ever go a while without cleaning up and you end up with a pile of dirty clothes, etc... sitting in the corner of the room. That's what this post is, that pile - a quick and dirty clean up of the last month or so....

Annie raced and won the USCS Draper SuperXC - hot, hard day. She won her sport class, and collected another big check for fastest overall sport time. She also ended up winning the series for her class. Fantastic rookie year for her on the Mtn. Bike. She capped the summer off by taking a digger while out riding with her girlfriends, led with her face and head, smashed her lip open, chipped a tooth, and concussed herself pretty good. Took a while for her head to get back to feeling normal - but she came out pretty good for punching a rock with her face/head.

Next up was a Euro trip to Vegas to celebrate our anniversary. Swung through Valley of Fire on the way, where I stalked-ok, guess I can't call it stalked if he's looking right at me, we'll call it chased-this sheep to get within photo range. They grow em' big in the protected parks.

We also did our first hike in a sweat lodge, minus the lodge part - check out the temp. Little excursion to some little water hole out in the sandstone. We had visions of jumping into it until we saw it - putrid.

Here's the euro part of the trip - took a Fiat out for the long weekend - sweet, fun little cars. Think it paid for itself with the savings in gas - don't think we spent more than $100 bucks in gas down and back.
Kids started learning to fish a bit....

Brock finally paid a price for one of his stunts - gutted his arm just under his armpit jumping off a playset where a screw hooked it. Came in crying, didn't pay much attention to him until he pulled his shirt off and saw the hamburger hanging out - then out to the car pretty quick. He'd stopped crying on the way down when I began the pep talk about getting his first stitches. Spent the rest of the ride down listening to him insist he just needed a band aid, to turn around and take him home so he could get a band aid. I love his Rambo spirit.
Next up was Xterra - I had a comped entry for the triathlon, so did the short course. My swim was slow, but a success as I put an entire swim together without resorting to rolling onto my back or breaking form, that's a first for me, baby steps. Rode the bike well, than had the traditional melt down on the run, it was brutal. You probably won't want to watch the entire clip, but here's on board footage of the bike course from a slow swimmers perspective. They've widened the singletrack since I last did this race, so traffic, although it was there, was not the time penalty it used to be, plenty of room to ride around it all the way up. It's a really great course.

Annie raced the 10k trail run, and true to form, landed herself on the top of the podium.... she's ridiculous. This one was literally done with about 4 weeks of total inactivity after the concussion.

This was my favorite pic of from the Xterra weekend - amid the serious game faces prepping for the start, she's right in the middle being a total screwoff. The dude won it though, so she picked a winner.


CX season: Two races the first week at the state fairgrounds. First day was rough for both of us. We'd done some handling and skill practice in preparation, but no top end effort type work. That's never going to feel good, and it didn't.

Day two was more of the same for me. Annie came around a bit and put a better race together - seemed to be back near where she was at the tail end of last year, which bodes well. Decided over the next few days that we'd bump her up to the A flight the following week. UTCX #3 was at one of our favorite tracks, Ft. Buenaventura in Ogden. I raced dramatically better, had some rider error type things - dropped my chain twice and totally hacked the barriers the first lap through, but put in a good start and felt like I was able to ride hard the entire race. Wasn't sure that was going to happen all year after the first weekend.

Annie went out with the A's and got exactly what we were wanting to get from it. She rode hard, paid attention to how things transpired a little differently in that group, and held her own just fine. She also looks very good thanks to our friends over at DNA Cycling. Turns out their women's stuff goes perfectly with her fave helmet. I've got one of their skin suits on it's way, and can guarantee you I won't look as good in their stuff as Annie does, but looking forward to it nonetheless.

Park City 50

Did the Crusher in the Tushar this weekend and my head is swimming with stuff from that race that I want to get up, but here's a quick post on the PC50 - also a fantastic race and a significant day for the White clan. Annie and I both went up to this one, and it would be the longest Mtn Bike ride she'd ever been on, not to mention it being a race, along with a whole bunch of climbing thrown in the mix - makes for quite a bit to bite off for a first go round with endurance racing.

Quick recap of my day: It was fairly uneventful. Got about what I could get from what I brought to the game that day, no mishaps, flats, or any other problems with the bike. Brief fueling deficit a bit past mid way that I recognized quick and nipped in the butt by sitting down for a few minutes and putting in what food I had, felt good the rest of the way in. It was hard, but fun.

Annie's day went a little south early on. She had two flats early in the day that required some assistance and consumed enough time that it nixed her chances at being in the mix at the front of her group. Huge thanks to Lyna Saffel and the Bike Fix crew that offered her some help - it was a less than ideal start to a hard day, and their kindness helped salvage a race that otherwise would have been really disappointing for her. But alas, it wasn't. Annie's got a head for racing - and the legs I might add - but she's very efficient in managing herself above the shoulders through the various peaks and troughs of a race. After the slow start, she got settled in, worked her way through a course that's was a little rougher and more technical than anything she's ridden more than briefly, fueled herself nearly perfectly, and finished her first endurance race. 50 miles is a long way, and covering them by riding up and down bumpy ski mountains on her mountain bike isn't a "testing the water" kind of way to do it for the first time. I'm telling ya, I think there's some significant racing in her if she keeps having fun with it - and I think she will. Here she is wrapping up her day - man I dig this chick!

Best outing yet for the Suncrest gang - everyone got er done, a feat that's evaded the group numerous times in the past. Kingdon got into a similar situation to what I got into last year on those same mountains - bonked to the point of no return early in the day - hat's off to him for grinding it out - takes a lot to do it when it gets like that. And Banks, what can I say man - think I was happier for your race than I've ever been for one of my own... way to rip it man!

Wife's on a tear...

Playing catch up as usual. A few weeks back we jumped into a couple of firsts.

I did my first SUP race - it was a lot of fun. Couple of points of comedy from the morning. The first is my vessel. One of my first observations upon arriving and getting checked in, was that no one else was having to inflate their paddleboard. The second was my form, which was actually ok, assuming a guy knows which way his paddle should face, which would be a fair assumption unless I was the horse you were betting on. Turns out you hold it different than you'd think, and I paddled the whole race with it backwards. The fun didn't suffer one bit from the rookie mistakes, and we had a great time meeting new people in a new to us sport. Not ready to run out and buy a race board, but will do more of these for sure.

After the paddleboard racing at Deer Creek we buzzed over to Park City to get Annie ready for her debut Mountain Bike race in our home state. I'd stuck her in a Mtn. Bike race at the Teva Games a few years back, which was her only previous experience racing a Mtn Bike and was a less than ideal course for her to cut her teeth on. Have been looking to get her going again, so, thought Bob and the Utah State Championship gang's race at Round Valley would be a can't miss event to make sure she had fun and a course she could manage. I also thought I was pretty sure how she'd do, and turned out to be correct....
Similar to her CX season, new and learning the technical stuff that comes with racing on dirt, but it will come. In the meantime, she can pedal pretty damn hard, even for a girl. And I must admit, watching her race from the sidelines ain't half bad. The 8 yr old did a flawless hand up of a bottle, and yelled at her to go hard. So how'd she do? She won her sport class, and even won the big check for the fastest overall womens sport time. Makes a guy kind of proud to get to hollar "way to bring home the bacon" to the chick of the house at the awards ceremony.

Here is also probably a good spot to give props to the Utah State Championship promoters. Aside from the big checks, which is a fantastic touch and a fun little extra something to race for, they put on a helluva race - they're a really great addition to the racing scene here in Utah.
Now, back to scheming how I'm gonna keep up with this gal.....

Iron girl Las Vegas

We were back in Vegas a few weeks ago for Annie's Iron Girl Triathlon. She and a few friends had put this one on the calander late last year and she'd been working hard to get ready for the last few months - yet another practice from the school of Annie that I should pick up on, assuming the getting ready part had something to do with how well she did....

We dropped the kids with Grandma and Grandpa on the way down... big thanks to them for taking them for the weekend. Also saw a certain rider that hangs out in Utah on occasion from team Radioshack with his motorpacing crew out in a place I would never expect to see an elite pro riding - he was way, way out in the middle of nowhere, we spent a while trying to guess where he must have started from, didn't come up with any obvious options.

Some observations from the husband.... and right out of the gate - I must conceed, there are things that suck worse than having to watch a womens only triathlon....

• There is a fashion show element at a womens triathlon, can't say for sure, but got the impression that race attire may have been a little higher on the priority list than at a men's race.


• Funniest thing we saw was the girl struggling to get her wetsuit on.... backwards. Her guy was there helping her, so we didn't want to interfere and say anything, just watched. Saw her just prior to the swim, still on backwards, fidgeting with it as if it weren't comfortable.


• They started the race like a time trial, swimmers going in one at a time in quick succession. Helps the anxiety associated with the mosh pit pack start, but negates the head to head racing in the latter legs where one had no way of knowing who was leading the race or had any idea where they stood. There wasn't a winner at the finish line, it was an unknown until times were posted. Pro's a con's, but most of the girls seemed to like it.


• Chicks are every bit as competitive as bro's - saw some serious race within the race battles both at the beginning of the bike leg and the finishing sprints on the run.

This Iron Girl organization is over the top with the body marking. Counted 5 marks in 5 different areas - I volunteered to do fake or real markings....

In case you didn't notice it's dark in the photo above, the day started early, too early. We drove out that morning around 5:00 - race was scheduled to start at 7:00, and they were hustling people almost to the point of being beligerent, to have them lined up ready to go off on the swim at 7 sharp, which was great. But then proceeded to have them stand in said line for about 35 minutes past 7 while they got the course ready. You may also have noticed we had Annie in a down coat that morning - it was cold, especially for the 800 girls standing around waiting. So what do girls do while standing around waiting...? I know what guys would do... we would start bitching, a lot. The girls, they start dancing... and they had choreographed dances for each song that they all seemed to know... it was an amazing sight - like a flash mob, that lasted 6 or 7 songs. And then they were off, one by one, into the water that was starting to churn decent sized waves once out of the little bay they started in.

I love this girl...

Here she is just after finishing.

The swim was a tough one - it was windy, and despite the TT style start, congested. The hardest transition from swimming, to swimming in an open water triathlon, is learning to get your stroke into a rythym with all the variables going on immediately around you. I've never been able to put a complete swim together. Annie wasn't able to either on this day - she had a hard time breathing between waves hitting her in the face, and got a little uncomfortable in a few spots where it bottlenecked. Turned into a survival swim vs. a race swim, and she grinded her way through it. Once out of the water, she turned it on. Her bike split was solid and she ran a top 50 5k. I was a proud husband and foresee more coed duo events in our future. She's diggin the racing, have to thank cyclocross for igniting that spark, and I'm diggin that she's diggin it - it's pretty darn good to be the guy married to her.

UTCX #'s 10 & 11

Race #10 in the UTCX series was at Fort Buenaventura, and it was prime CX conditions - wet snow that transitioned to wet mud with some traffic, on a course that's fast, and got nice and messy. Which meant one thing for the White's - flailing. I went down hard on lap one -happened before I knew what hit me on a transition from dirt to pavement covered in wet leaves that were slick as hell. First crash I've had in a while that rattled me a bit, took me a lap or so to get my head right again. Eventually got going again and although still a little timid, managed an ok race the rest the way in, with the exception of one more get off on a corner right in front of Alex, who handles his bike well enough to have avoided stacking it up on top of me.

Annie's race was similar - she got bucked off three or four times, kept her head better than I did, and rode her typical strong race. Muddy might be one of her sexiest looks.

Big step: First time she's come in from a bike ride inclusive of crashing with a big ol' grin on her face. Contrary to mine - her crashes didn't phase her.

Brock had his first mechanical - need to make some adjustments to his ride to improve mud/snow clearance. Couple of tire kicks and he was back on his way.

Some of the girls from the B field. Annie, Gigi, Shannon, and Kara - they push each other - hard.

Good indicator you did some rolling around in places the race wasn't meant to go when you have these on your persons at the finish line. Not sure where I picked them up, which means there were more than a few lines I took that weren't the fastest ones.

Only thing to do after a day of flailing is to make uncoordinated faces for the camera turning onto the finishing straight.

The series wrapped up at Herriman, new course that brought with it it's own special feature - high winds. I liked the course, the long stair run up, the teeth rattling section through the frozen post hole countoured arena - didn't really notice we didn't have any barriers till after the race. I still can't ride wood chips worth beans.

Annie went after it hard right out of the gate, and finished up her season with what was probably her best start line to finish line race of the year. Nabbed her first win in the B field. She's really enjoyed racing with those girls and has learned a lot watching them. Figure she probably deserves a new CX bike sometime between now and next season - the hunt is on for another Yeti to go in our garage.

Just ducking out of one of the short sections where the wind uppercuts you right under the chin coming out of a fast corner.

Annie defending her first lead in the B field, she managed it really well, riding hard but smart.

Her transitions off and back on the bike are night and day from the beginning of the season, she's consistently smooth and fast now.

That's a wrap for the year. Obvious highlight has been having Annie take up the sport and do so well - think I've said it before, but can't tell you how much fun it's been having that little lady share in the fun that is CX this year, she's such a great cohort on so many levels, and we just keep adding layers. Also great to have the Zeph catch the CX bug, look forward to next year with him as well. Will probably add one more CX post of a few favorite pics from the season at some point, but if not, thanks to Ohran and the rest of the UTCX crew for a great series this year - made for a hell of a lot of fun!

Need to figure out what to do with Saturday mornings now, but sure we'll come up with something.

UTCX #'s 7, 8, and 9.

Let's start with some pics from last weeks race in no particular order....

Was really proud of the girls and Brock who bucked up and raced in the cold, and loved it. CX has turned into quite the family thing this year, increasing the fun exponentially.

Rick Sunderlage, yes he's as fast as he looks...

Chesney finishing up...

Bob, one of only a few to brave the conditions in shorts. In fact, he rode those naked legs right into a 2nd place finish.

Adam - on his way to a strong finish in his field - one of only a few who ran most of the off camber hill succesfully. Shoe traction wasn't superior to tire traction in most of the cases and the falls were more ackward, but Adam ran in to perfection.

Top highlight of the day - watching Matt Bradley sprint up the finish of his first race back.

Eric - the tougher the conditions, the better he is - on his way to a strong finish

Brock hitting the barriers...

Annie ripping through the creek bottom...

Adam before the race - looking maybe just a little giddy to go race in the snow... think he's also one of those tougher the conditions, better he is type of racers.

Annie running the barriers, she's gotten pretty smooth on these....

Some homer that Annie sacks up with....

Pat - you know I have some of you - they turned out well enough that I think they deserve their own post, which is forthcoming.

OK - Some catching up on the CX races.....

UTCX #7 at Draper - Uneventful enough that I don't recall where either of us finished that week, and too lazy to look it up. Nothing spectacular to recount, but nothing bad either, except that damn hill is still beyond my fitness level.

UTCX #8 State Championship - Overtakes week #2 as debacle of the year for me. Worst effort of the year. Got a little greedy on a couple of occasions at sections of the course where I handled it wrong and ended up on my back and in a tree as a result, had some other challenges , and just rode soft overall. Punished myself by jumping in with the B's later in the day to suffer up the hill a few more times, rode about the same, and was sufficiently beat down in both races on the day. That course exploited me in a few ways that give me some good specifics to improve on, so great day in that regard - but that type of great never feels good.

Annie on the other hand rode really well, in fact, she's yet to have much of an off day. She had a podium spot just prior to the barriers on the last lap, but didn't quite have the kick left to match Shannon and finished 4th on the day - was really impressed with how she climbed, she killed the up every lap.

UTCX #9 at Wheeler - We both race in the morning so we'd missed out on some of the previous afternoon mud/rain races - this was our first crack at some good CX conditions on the course this year (Annie's first ever) which was probably 90% snow with a few patches of ice and some pavement. Race dynamics change a lot when the conditions transition from the nice fall weather and tacky courses to the less stable surfaces later in the season. Some of the stuff you work on to go faster up to this point in the year don't help a whole hell of a lot when putting a big load into the pedals is counterproductive. Being able to hammer becomes secondary to being able to handle on days like Saturday. Wasn't my best race of the year, but I rode it smart and avoided trouble - and had a pretty great time in the conditions. Makes a guy feel like a kid again, out trying to ride it right to the edge of being a little wreckless and a little out of control. There were some 50/50 spots out there, and by that I mean you could ride it correctly, and it was still gonna be 50/50 on whether you got through it upright or not. We were the first race out so the course changed a lot, from breaking trail early to having some lines carved into the snow later. Some sections got easier once packed down, some got harder - that's one of the treats of going out first, the course evolves as the race progresses.

Annie rode one of her best races of the year after getting off to a slow start. As mentioned, this was her first crack on a slick course, so she rode a little timid on her first lap. Once she got a feel for it, she rode really great and reeled all but one other racer in. Was anxious to see how she'd respond to the sketchier conditions and she settled right into it, and loved it - she's a true CX chick and has been unbelievable this year - learning some things from and about her in the process.

Last but not close to least, we had a celebrity guest appearance at the race.... none other than evilbanks. Coincidence that the women race harder when this cat's watching??? I think not.

UTCX Halloween weekend

Matt and the gang's UTCX double cross Halloween weekend is one of the best race weekends of the year. Between the costumes and the already rowdy vibe of the CX crowd, it makes for a fun couple of days. Here are a few of our favorite costumes Alex Kim and one of his teammates raced as waffles - earning Bruce's race within a race status - not sure which waffle won...
Steve was more William Wallaceesque than Mel Gibson
Even the local contaminated meat doper showed up.

Rick raced as a scout, complete with sash and handkerchief.

This was one of my top three for the weekend - lifeguard with nipple problems and a burley batch of hair that couldn't be contained in the nether regions.

Annie raced as Little Red Riding Hood.

Steve Wasmund and his racing companions costumes were secondary to the coolness of doing a CX race on a tandem, and yes, they cleaned the sandpit and were even smooth on the barriers.

Miles running the barriers as cockroach.

Our kids favorites were the Lozon's, who came as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, didn't get a good shot of them together, but here they are.

The racing was good, really good. Wheeler is one of the best tracks on the circuit in regards to a good mix of fast speed sections and technical stuff that necessitates some skill and attention beyond pedaling fast. The highlight this year had to be the sand pit, as shown in last post's video - which made for a fun new technical challenge. There were two guys on the day, both in the A flight, that I thought stood out as exceptional in it.

Annie and I both raced both days. Niether of us put together a race that we thought was a particularly solid one. Did some things well, but lot's of important and sometimes silly little mistakes and a few bigger one's that make for good lesson's and prevent our racing for the weekend from being qualified as good. Fun factor was through the roof though.

Annie coming off the bridge, setting up for one of the trickier corners on the course on day 2.

We've got two more converts to CX in the house. Chesney and Brock both did their first CX race. Chesney challenged me to a race down the back stretch. She already had me on the rivet after chasing here around the lap, and the photo above captures the drop, the band snapped and I was off the back.

Us just prior to me getting dropped in the photo above, looking over hoping to see her in trouble, and seeing just the opposite - that's when I cracked.

Brock's takeaway from his race is that he wants pedals - said he can't go as fast as he wants on the push bike. Quick vid of the kids race for the grandparents.


The kidlets were lined up giving five's on the course on day two, made for some smiles and a brief respite from the chase when we came by. Hard to beat CX at Wheeler Farm for a full day of fun for the whole family - great time had by all.