Red Butte Trails
You can tell it's October. I'm getting ready to run some trails in the Red Butte area. The choices are endless. I focused all of my active energy running trails in the Red Butte area from 1994 through 2002. When you run out of options, you just take a trail to one of the ridgelines and make your way to the east as far as you have time. So far this October I've done a number of trail runs down in the Draper area, but nothing yet at Red Butte. I'm headed there this afternoon. I always think I'm just going to run for 45 minutes and it turns into something epic. Good afternoon upcoming.
I spent a few hours down at Canyon Bicycles with brother Mike Hanseen the other day for my updated fit. Few changes...a little higher with saddle height and not so big of seat-to-bar differential. I've used the previous fit since January 2003, so we decided to check it all out. Mike is definitely the man for fitting you up. The preparation for 2006 is now in full swing. We've got the fit in place and now it's time to get the bike. The X-Men will be returning for 2006, so watch out...and we're going to look good too!
The past few days have really made me reflect on the reasons behind racing with all the chit-chat on the topica list. My opinion, the points tally for the UCA and the Crit Series are what motivate me. It's great to take home some race winnings to split amongst the teammates, but to be duking it out for the overall is where it's at. With that in mind, you've got to fit in some races where you spend a lot of time grovelling to just survive. I put myself in a few of those situations this year.
First there was Redlands. Good lord(and i'm not referencing Marek "Supreme Death Overlord of the UCA" Shon)! Each day was full gas. The criterium was ridiculous. HealthNet stayed at the front for 90 minutes drilling it. I found the right wheels to sit on and I was killing myself to stay there. Mark McCormick was dragging JJ Haedo (eventual stage winner) around sitting about a thrid of the way through the pack of 180 guys. I jumped on that as soon as I saw it. Believe me, my head was turned sideways and I thought I was going to die the whole time.
Next there was Tour of the Gila. For some idiotic reason(trying to be ready for Tour of Utah and Elite Nationals) I agreed to go with Skylere Bingham. Everyone should try to do that race. It will help you understand how tough of a guy Burke Swindlehurst is...if he hasn't already put the wood to you in a local race. I was purely exhausted after each day's race. We found a dive of a burrito place to eat and drank lots of Horchata. Grovel is what I did nearly the entire week. When you are absolutely destroyed on the final day you see a sign that says 15 miles to go and you know it's all uphill.
The local racing scene is great. Weeknight races are a blast. I don't think we should even consider cutting them back...be selective and race the evenings that work for you. They are an excellent place to learn some good racing skills. Our local weekend races are also excellent. It's great to have so many opportunities to race. I think as people visit us for events like Tour of Utah and Nationals they will see what there is to offer and return to some of our other events. Antelope Island always draws a good crowd for early season...it's not just all local guys. Get the word out when you travel to some of these out of state races...or as I like to call them, opportunities to grovel and hope to survive. You'll be surprised at how fast you're going when you get home.
We do need to figure out ways of getting people out to the races. Everyone has a different motivation for showing up and all of us need to remember that. By the way, this dialogue opened up some good stuff...like Jesse's nickname. I wish someone would give me a cool nickname.