Boulder Cross Race #4 - Xilinx

I'm pretty sure not too many people rode their bikes for fun today, unless they were one of the 500 or so weirdos at Xilinx that love cross! I'm still not really sure what the course looked like other than a black strip of mud meandering through a nice field of snow. Mother nature made it fun, somewhere around 30°F and slop that was up yer bottom bracket. Here's Greg making his way through one of the trickier sections on the course.

The conditions made for a foot race in some sections, as the course detiorated throughout the day.

Some racers had two bikes, and pulled into the pit area to swap out every lap or so. I had one bike that weighed as much as two bikes by the end of the day.

It's been a good year

There's always some way to bust your butt outside here in Colorado, even once temperatures are way down and there's snow. And most of us are active year round. But I think the MORF Majority would agree that, even if we're not collectively in the off-season yet, we're rapidly approaching that time of year. Almost time to place Year One of MORF in the Annals. Two "n's" in that word, ya jokesters.

Yeah, sure, we've got Mike in Maui right now, getting ready to race at Xterra Worlds on Sunday, making his run at a bunch of the World's other fast 35-39ers in off-road triathlon. Represent, Mike. We're all jealous of the next week you've got planned. Well, I am anyway.

So while Mike's been getting ready to throw down, the rest of us have opted this year to stay a little closer to home and simply drink more beer these last few months. Some of us are getting in a little CX now and then, but for the most part it's been down time.

Since it already seems like a long time ago, I thought it would be fun to go through the photo album, recollect, and be inspired a bit. Yes, it takes inspiration to get up and go to the fridge. Here are some shots we've compiled of MORF in kit:


Big thanks this year to the following supporters:
- Redstone Cyclery
- Curve
- Ritchey
- GU
- Rudy Project

These folks helped make Year One a MORFing good time.

Mountain Biking Access Boulder

Dave at Redstone had this message on his blog - http://www.redstonecyclery.blogspot.com/

We've got 3 MORFers in Boulder who will get to vote on this, read Dave's Blog exerpt below:

Bike Access to Your Mountain BackdropDepends on YOU!Ever dreamed of riding from your front door instead of driving to a trailhead? The chance for change is now as the city begins the planning process for our Boulder mountain backdrop. Bikes have been banned here for 25 years, so getting reasonable and responsible access to that land for mountain cyclists will not be an easy fight. There is something you can do right now. When you receive your mail ballot, vote for the BMA slate of city council candidates. Do not wait until later - VOTE NOW!!! The mailed ballots are sent out October 13-16. If you voted in the 2008 presidential elections, you'll get a ballot. If you don't get one, call the county at 303-413-7740 and they'll send one out. This city council will decide if bikes have any rights to the public open space land west of Broadway. Vote Suzy Ageton, KC Becker, Macon Cowles, George Karakehian, and Barry Siff.Thought you were done? Nope. We need you to do one more thing. Forward this email to anyone that you know who cares about mountain biking in Boulder. Get your friends to vote too! The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance endorsed candidates we felt would give mountain bike access a fair shake. Help us help them get elected. VOTE NOW!!!

And remember to thank Dave for his advocacy for Mountain Biking!

Xterra National Champs 2009

Team MORF didn't turn out in full force, but Vanessa and Mike toed the start line (aka boat ramp) and let it rip. This late in the season, the sun is not up yet for setup in transition and the temps are cold. Headlamps were must haves in your tri bag. The sun came up revealing a swim course in perfect water temps for a race, around 66F. The race would unfold on a flawless day with summer temperatures against the backdrop of fall colors. Watching from the sidelines due to school/work induced out-shape-ness, I watched Mike and then Vanessa hit the water along with a rabid pack of athletes racing like there was a prim for the first 50 racers to the first buoy. The only prim some got has a cold kick in the face, and in Luna Bar pro Danelle Kabush's case, 5/6th of the swim course minus her goggles. Karate Chop! Mike and then Vanessa came out of the swim in quick succession, high up in their age group rankings.

After exiting Pineview reservoir, the climb was steady, the kind of steady that sees you climb 3500 ft. before descending into T2. The bike course was defined by a quick 2 mile fire road filled with loose rock, before funneling down to sweet uphill singletrack. Mike came into T2 and I thought he had to be right up with the leaders. Vanessa followed in the front group of women, apparently the 25 to 29 year olds were faster than the women in their 30's this year...crazy. Both Vanessa and Mike were in the most competitive age groups, and both were in contention the whole time.

If you've raced Ogden, you know the run course is straight up, flat, and then straight down. Well, apparently, they added some elevation in the middle this time, in order to get the run to a 10k. More climbing...ouch. By the time the athletes hit the run, temps on the cloudless day had to be pushing 85, which felt unseasonably warm having come from CO where we had snow the last day of summer. Watching the athletes come down into the finish, I didn't envy the downhill sprint, but by this time of the year, everyone (except me) was in prime shape, and finished in fine form. Mike and Vanessa finished strong for 5th and 6th place finishes against a tough field. Nice job to all the MORFers that busted out this year, we had some great races!!!

MORF at Xterra Mountain Cup, Beaver Creek

Photos courtesy Erin.

Teva Games

3,2,1 blast-off... no, stop... OK, wait for riders to pick their bikes back up, OK GO!

Greg shifting his new derailleur, mid-race:

Ryan thinks you sing the national anthem after the race.

Was a nice day for the 5k Fun Run for Jamie Whitmore

Fun Run to Benefit Jamie Whitmore April 19th 9:00am

Hey y'all,
Just checked into http://www.jamiewhitmore.com/ a couple of days ago and saw that Zeal Optics is having a 5k benefit run for Xterra athelete Jamie Whitmore. The cost is only $10, and you get a free burrito and 2 raffle tickets with the price of admission. More importantly, you get to help out Jamie a bit.
By the way, Vanessa and I got to talk a bit with Jamie while at Xterra Real, she seemed to be doing really well! Sounds like she'll be back on a bike soon.

Friends of MORF - Horsecow Hot Racing

Check out the Xterra press release for Tim Helms, a really gifted Veterinary School Student who somehow finds time to occasionally race and beat Xterra Champions. As you'll see in the following paragraphs, it was a good month of racing for Horsecow Hot Racing. To find out more about HorseCow, go to www.naymoo.com. The following is courtesy of Xterra News:

HORSECOW "ACE" WINS XTERRA REALTim Helms, a 26-year-old in his third year of veterinary school at UC Davis, ran down a trio of XTERRA National Champions (Joshua Olmstead-2009, Damian Gonzalez-2007, and David Cloninger-2005) to win the XTERRA REAL Off-Road Triathlon in Granite Bay, California on Sunday. Josh, Damian, and David finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively.While a relative unknown in XTERRA circles - it was just his third ever XTERRA - Helms (pictured here courtesy James Pratt) was a Track and Field All-American in his junior year at UCD when he placed 4th in the 3,000-meter steeplechaise.“He passed Cloninger at mile two, where he was about 70 seconds behind race leader Joshua Olmstead at the time, and he caught and passed Joshua a mile and a half later with just a half mile to the finish line,” said Mark Shaw, one of the race directors from Total Body Fitness.In digging around to find out just who Helms was, we uncovered the Horsecow track club (his nickname is “Ace”) and their uncanny success in XTERRA races in the month of March. Fellow Horsecow members Justin Hurd and Mark “Hot Karl” Lonac based out of Fort Collins, CO won the XTERRA Dash4Cash Snowboard race and the XTERRA Snowshoe 10km race, respectively, at Snowbasin Resort in Utah earlier in March. Not bad for a bunch of “shamblers”. “HORSECOW is just a collection of friends and old teammates from Davis that we’ve raced with over the years,” explained Helms.

Xterra Real - Really Really Fun

Hey all,

Two MORF'ers headed out to Sacramento for a great early season race - Xterra REAL. Why is called Xterra Real? Because back in the day, 7 years ago, it was the only REAL mountain bike triathlon around the area (or so the story goes). By "real", they mean, real trails. The single track is great, a nice narrow ribbon of brown dirt surround by green foliage (inlcuding Poison Oak, Tecnu is a great thing to lather in after the race). I had my camera mounted on my handlebars hoping to get some great video, alas, it is harder to work than I anticipated with my heart rate at 180 bpm trying to catch up after the swim. I did manage to take a photo, which is very representative of the whole course:

Race Recap: I've done this race three years straight, and everyone is always worried in the weeks leading up to it..."Will there be water in the lake?????". Oh there was water in the lake. Clean, crisp, cold water. So much it managed to rise high enough to cut off a 1.5 mile portion of the bike loop. The swim went off without a hitch, right at 9 am. (Side note: TBF Racing in Sacramento puts on first class events. This may not be a major "Cup Race", but it's the best organized race I've been to. If you are in Sacramento for business or pleasure, go to tbfracing.com and see if they are having a swim, trail run, or triathlon while you're in town and go to it). During the swim, the two MORFs in the crowd ended swimming side by side, and came out of the water together, despite someone unzipping my wetsuit COMPLETELY while basically dry humping me during the first 50 yards of the swim. Graphic I know, but you get the idea, because it's happened to you. We exchanged phone numbers at the first buoy and went on our way. I finished the swim with the velcro around my neck holding my wetsiut on, 55F water sloshing into the open zipper. The beach run was about a minute and a half run to T1. Early season triathlon = crappy transition. I managed to leave T1 with no water, my camelback lying under my discarded wetsiut. Crap.

The bike leg is sweet right off the bat. T1 is set up directly next to the single track you'll ride for the next 13 miles, and includes a nice little 5 foot steep drop to get your speed going for you right off the bat. You're off like a shot, and unless the swim went well for you, you have a bit of work to do to pass on a series of curvy short climbs. The bike is an all out balls to the wall fast course. The very short climbs are generally followed by drawn out long portions of windy trail, where a pre-riding the course and knowing the turns will benefit you in carrying massive amounts of speed through the turns. It's a two lap course, so I picked up my water as I rode by T1 to head out on my second bike lap, thank goodness. As you roll into T2, you wonder what it will be like to head out on the run not yet having incorporated brick workouts into your training. Brick workout number one for the season, here I come.

The run is flat for the first mile and a half, then descends to the beach along Folsom Lake. Wow, I can't believe this area is so close to Sacramento, that section of the beach is beautiful with granite rock formations providing good obstacles to run over the top of on the run course. The meat and potatoes of the course is in the middle mile and half, where a series of STEEP climbs push your legs into full blown hurt. Descending down the other side of the steep climbs, you get to let it ride to the finish. The two MORFers in the crowd had a great start to the season, claiming age group second places, with the men's and women's overall champions taking the first place spots in their division. More importantly, we're stoked and motivated for the season to come, and were reminded just how fun XTERRA is!

MORF at Xterra Real - quick update

Just got off the tele and got a quick update from Ryan. He and Vanessa each took second in their age group. Friend of MORF Racing Tim took the overall. Hoping to hear more of the story directly from R & V... stay tuned.

MORF Fun

One of the most aerobically and technically challenging trails in Fruita is called "MORF Fun." That's how we spell it anyway. FYI, actual spelling is "Moore Fun."

Ryan spoke with Dave a while back to get some recommendations. Basically, the answer is to do everything. But he also recommended we do MORF Fun first. Good call Dave... it's not mountain biking unless you're hiking, right? Actually, this trail is more suited to a longer travel, slacker trail bike than our cross country rockets. But we still made it without breaking anything.

Here's a snapshot from the top, courtesy Pete's camera and a small desert tree/tripod (L to R, Erik, Ryan, Greg, Pete):

Runnin' of the Green 7k.. Getting Stronger!

Had a great turnout at Sunday's Runnin' of the Green! Greg, Natalie, Jason and Erik showed up to race in the event at LoDo. Erin, Heather and Ryan were there in support mode.

All in all it was a great event. Beautiful mid-March weather, Irish festivities and the spectacle of 5500+ runners clad in green. MORFers agreed that it was a fun course, but that short road running races are brutal! It capped off a great weekend of training, and getting tired legs up to speed from a long Saturday on the bike was just what the doctor ordered for this time of year. And the corned beef bagel sandwiches taste pretty good! Who would have thought?

Results. Short summary... Greg spanked the other MORFs with a respectable pace coming off his "Fire and Ice" victory; Jason and Natalie flew across the line. Erik learned how not to start a road race (went out way too hard, cracked and walked).

MORF Racing in Green, foreshadowing the MORF kit:

Runnin' of the Green - this Sunday - for Good Cause

Are you Irish? Ever wanted to just pretend? Neither applies to me, really. But here's a fun fact for you -- Erin was born on Saint Patty's day. So I am sort of married into the whole hubbub. And while I'm pretty sure the real pub livin' Irish don't run unless they have to, I'm gonna "be Irish for a day" my way by participating in the Runnin' of the Green... a race that benefits Meals on Wheels. Will be painful to open it up on tired legs for the first time in many months. I think it's a great opportunity to sweat real good in something green and recover with corned beef and cabbage and a beer. And it benefits Meals on Wheels. Does this appeal to you at all?

MORF Racing Results from Xterra Winter Worlds

Just got off the phone with Greg. He called to give us a quick report as he and Natalie were driving back to the Front Range from Ogden. Quick results bulletin:

• Greg is the Men's Amateur Fire and Ice Champ!
• Justin finished 7th Overall!
• Natalie killed it at the Snowshoe 5k... she won her age group and got second overall!

Way to go MORF!

Justin, you Two Timer!

MORF Racing crew member Justin Hurd is now officially the reigning two-time Xterra Snowboard Dash-for-Cash Champ! Way to go Justin! Check out the news here.

XTERRA's Fire and Ice

In just a few weeks when the second running of the XTERRA Winter World Championship takes place at Snowbasin Resort, a special Fire and Ice Award will be presented to the men’s and women’s pro and amateur racers with the fastest combined times from the 2008 XTERRA World Championship off-road triathlon in Maui and the 2009 XTERRA Winter Worlds race in Utah.

This year there's even more competition for the Fire and Ice honors, with at least 16 racers in the mix including the top three American finishers in this years Maui World Champs - Josiah Middaugh, Brian Smith, and Seth Wealing (and they are seperated by less than five minutes). The forever young Jenny Tobin, coming off a 7th place finish in Maui, leads the women's pro division while Colorado native Greg Abrahamson has nearly 10 minutes on Minnesota's Peter Hanson in the men's amateur race. In the women's amateur race Caroline Colonna will look to defend her crown, she has a little less than four minutes on 35-39 XTERRA World Champ Sarah McMahan.

Day to Night Ride - Wednesday Night

Well, we've got an almost weekly night ride going on. Although, with the days getting longer, it's easy to start in the sunshine which is always nice. Come out and join us next week. We've been riding some of the new trails open in South Boulder. Prairie Vista, Flat Irons Vista, Doudy Draw, and North/South Brook trails are excellent trails to ride at night. Not very technical, but fun easily accessible single track.

Bike Baggage Fees - Southwest

Hey teamers,
So I've had a couple of discussions on bike baggage policies with people on our team, spurring me to investigate my claim that southwest is still $50 each way, as opposed to $100 to $175 each way like other carriers (Delta, United, you should be ashamed of yourselves. I mean, seriously? You're gonna let some richy rich a-hole golfer check clubs or some punk skier check skis for free, and then charge $175 each way for a bike?) Upon further review, Southwest is still $50 each way! See text directly from their website below. In case they've change their policy but haven't updated their site, I recommend bringing a printed copy of their policy to the airport if you are paranoid. Which you should be. They'll be charging you to $1 to take a leak on flights pretty soon, and $50 to take a dump (they know they've got you).

Weight and Size Allowance: Maximum weight is 50 pounds and maximum size is 62 inches (length + width + height) per checked piece of luggage. Effective March 1, 2005, overweight items from 51 to 70 pounds will be accepted for a charge of $25.00 per item. Items weighing from 71 to 100 pounds and oversized items in excess of 62 inches but not more than 80 inches (i.e., surfboards, bicycles, vaulting poles) will be accepted for a charge of $50.00 per item. Any item weighing more than 100 pounds must be shipped as Air Cargo. However, Customers cannot use SWA Cargo unless classified as a Known Shipper as defined by the TSA or TSA approved Indirect Air Carriers (IAC). For full details about shipping cargo, visit swacargo.com.

President's Day Long Ride Anyone?

Not sure if anyone else has tomorrow off from work, but I do so I'm going to get in a longer ride. Probably head up to Ward from my house if the weather cooperates. Lemme know if you wanna ride along.

Team at Hall ranch

Morf in Action at Hall ranch! Nothing like a break at the top of the hill...

Team Training: Eldora Randonee

Vanessa, Greg, and Ryan headed up to Eldora on Saturday for a little ski mountaineering training in preparation for Xterra Winter Worlds (and just for fun). Suprise! It was actually snowing with no wind...crazy! The only catch, it was about 31.95°F, and the snow was heavier than usual in Colorado. Made me feel like I was back in California. By the end, we had clumps of snow sticking to the bottoms of our climbing skins. Perhaps it's time to try waxing the skins for better glide and to avoid the snow clumps? We also practiced taking the skins off and putting them on quickly. Ogden here we come!

Team Night Ride Week of Jan. 26th???

Hey team,
I think Erik's in town next week, so I figured I'd plant the seed a week in advance in hopes that we can have as many people who are dumb enough to ride mountain bikes at night show up. Greg and I headed out to some new trails in South Boulder that you can access out of the Dowdry Draw trail head called Flat Irons Vista and Spring Brook loops. We even found a trail not on the map, and proceeded to get lost on it for a while (completely by accident). Anyways, if the trails are dry enough, we should go there. It's great riding during the day, making it pretty spectacular at night. Look at your work/famliy schedules and see what day you can carve out to meet between 5:30 and 6:00 pm in South Boulder and let's ride!

As always, don't rule out riding in Fort Collins out of Justin's house. It's not as far away as you think the trail is freak'in awesome.

The New Mexico Board Of Tourism Invites YOU

It took me a second to put my finger on it, but I know this guy. I swear. The first 3 times I looked at it, I thought it was my buddy Cliffy from Davis. Not having seen Erik without the beard, it was tough, but it is definitely Erik. No doubt about it. This month's Outside Magazine in a tourism ad for New Mexico. Number 176 in Xterra Four Corners. Looks like we found a new sponsor. ..And we'll have to add "Male Model" to Erik's role on the team.

Team Ride - Hall Ranch

MORF hit the trails today... a 65F day in January! Great turnout: Greg, Natalie, Vanessa, Ryan, Erik, Erin (for lunch, can't ride currently), Justin, and Erin O., and Mike. Here's a quick video of the action:)

Team Ride This Weekend

Does anyone want to arrange a team ride this weekend. Right off the bat, I know Justin isn't available Saturday, so maybe Sunday would work? What is everyone else's availability. I was thinking we could meet in Lyons and either do Hall Ranch via the easier entry, or do Picture Rock out of Lyons towards Heil Ranch. Let me know!

Maybe we could hit a quick trail run afterwards too. Lunch/Dinner/Linner/beer at Oskar Blues? If the lakes weren't frozen, we could swim. We'll have to wait until they're partially thawed for that though.

Night Ride this Week?

Anybody up for a night ride this week? I can do Boulder or Fort Collins.

MORF UN-OFFICIAL OFFICIAL TEAM PICTURE

Teamers and friends (I think 11 people in all) shredded some gnar on the Sourdough trail new years day. It was good practice for Xterra Winter Worlds! Here's the first official picture of the complete (at the time) MORF Team.

Thursday Night Ride 1/8

Hey all. I talked to Dave at Redstone tonight and he gave me the rules and regs on riding at night in Boulder. Boulder County Trails are closed at night. Good news is, City of Boulder Trails are OPEN, meaning we can ride the Marshall Mesa Trails (Including a brand new trail called Spring Brook) as well as the North Boulder Trail System. Greg and I talked about riding Thursday night, I vote we head to Marshall Mesa, those trails are pretty fun. Can anybody make it, say around 6:00-6:30 pm??

Greg, do you know what the trail cond'ish is like up there?

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