Turbo recruiting help on his bike

Day 1 - part 2

It's a beautiful and cool morning at camp Kandalore.
There is a loneliness in the end of season at a summer camp. The children are back at school and soon the docks, boats and other equipment will be stored away for another Winter.
Last night's meal was fantastic with several people commenting on the mount of food on my plate which I referred to as my roast beef sundae.
Awards were given and a course preview followed. People chattered over the expected longer day of mud riding thatay in store. Overkill received a second place for his crazy time of 4 hours, while B&S also got a second in their cat. (2 loons just flew by as I sit with the pictured view writing this).
The feast was followed by heading early to bed. In our cabin was BurnE, Stew, Turbo and me.
Some camaraderie was followed by Turbo's snoring which according to Stew lasted all night. At one point I awoke soaked in sweat. The problem being that it was near freezing, so pretending out of the wet sleeping bag quickly became less comfortable.
Laying in bed pondering a restroom break, the alarms began at six am. Shortly thereafter 3 of us heading towards the dining hall while Stew tried to get some sleep.
A big breakfast followed by the angst of preparing for another big day. This includes repacking, the important bathroom sessions ( a gunshot just rang out in the distance), water refills, etc. No matter how rehearsed, these are always bait of an ordeal.
I walked out onto the dock and stood in solitude, giving thanks and taking in the beauty.

Seems that it's time to head out. They'll be another report tonight.

UM

Day 1 part one

So a successful day 1 completion. Despite the lessons one would think would be obvious to the course designer, the first half of the day was on freshly cut trails which quickly turned to the consistency of a cattle yard - idiot. After some venting in the field, we rode on - well to be clear it was more riding between mud sections. I opted, however to keep a positive attitude and just ride on.
Saw Tanya on the course - friendly as always.

Off to dinner, probably more later.
Below is our cabin - a sizable jaunt from the central area.

UM

Pre-race prep

Test for email posting

Here's this year's XC ride...

Crank The Shield 2010 - I'm Back!

Well, though I stated that I never planned on doing CTS again (due to the 3 day solo mud slog last time), I opted to give it another try. This time it is with two time BC Bike Race (Team Winded) member, "Turbo". We didn't really train for the event but have decent fitness from a Summer of fun rides.

We'll be heading up this afternoon in VW vans and camping out. Also attending from Chelsea are StewE and BurnE (over 100 team) and Iain (Overkill) riding solo.

Unfortunately, Chico (Adam) of Chicoracing has sent out a warning email that wet and muddy conditions can be expected. Growl...

Oh well, at least this time I will be riding with someone else. We're keeping a positive attitude and looking forward to some great trails - muddy or not. If I have time, I'll post some info on the gear that we're using. (Purpose built Intense Spider II, SLR's, XO, Thomson, etc...)

Day 7 and wrap-up

Awoke to the group getting organized for our final day, back in Fruita. An efficient pack and cleaning then we pulled away from our condo and headed to a recycling drop-off. Sly drive us to the trailhead just outside of Fruita. The weather was only a few degrees but it seemed much warmer as we headed up the initial climbs. Once decided on the proper route, More Fun, we churned up the winding technical singletrack, snaking up the mountain. It was narrow, switchback laced, steep at times, with lots of little rock sections to test your balance and lunging abilities. The views continued to be sickeningly beautiful, each more breathtaking than the last. Atop the trail we opted to climb Mack's Trail which threaded up the spline and ledge of the ridge. Unbelievable views of mountain, snaow capped peaks, the Colorado river, valleys and seemingly every vista from ecry western I've ever seen.

Today we ran multiple cameras.
Sly carried his camera and took lots of stills through the ride. Eric had or group-owned VioSport on this helmet plugged into my Samsung which he carried in a waist pack. Jeepus had a camera and took videos. I had a helmet cam faced forward and a mini cam mounted under the seat to capture riders behind. Think of the possibilities of these configurations. You could have similtaneous fore and aft views while the filming itself is being captured.

The logistics over sorting and editting the 15 or so gigs of weekly video will undoubtedly be a task. Furthermore, there are always complications. Erics great footage has a giant foggy smudge in the center. One day the camera shook like crazy, another was pointed to the sky and yet another all crooked.

Mack's - we turned and I flowed while Sly and Paul hammer the thrilling descent.

Then was Mary's loop (initially fireroad turned to cliff edge technical singletrack on and overhang) then Uncle Murray's suggestion - Horsethief Bench. Jeepus was in heaven, fast flowy singletrack with scattered rock sections and little ledges to jump.
We did the loop then did the final section back to the the van. I shadowed Jeepus on the climb and when I saw the opportunity to attack, he sensed me coming and pushed me aside as a went by. Reacting quickly I grabed a stone from the side of the trail and bludgened him on the temple until the others caught up and pulled me off of him. Ok, the last part isn't true.
Reloaded the van, stopped at Harvey's, squeezed in another argument, then I drove us back to Denver. We reached 3250m elevation en route, likely as high as I'd ever been. There was lots of snow and the temp dropped as low as -10.

Stayed in a nice hotel, packed up and parted ways this morning. Eric and I dropped off the van in a fashion that could make us contenders on the amazing race.

Right now I'm sitting in Mile High Grill at the airport in Denver. Flight got cancelled so just sipping some merlot and reflecting on our trip.

Think I'll now review some footage then post the wrap-up in a couple of days.

Should get home around midnight, via Chicago.

Thanks,

UM
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