Crazy Flying Dreams

For as long as I can remember I have had at least one or two dreams a year about flying.  Most of the time I am soaring over forests, through canyons, and over valleys but occasionally I'll be "flying" under water (isn't that called swimming?).  They usually end with me loosing altitude and floating to a standstill.  I always wake up a little disappointed that it was all a dream and I really don't have super-human flying / swimming powers.  I'm not really sure what all of that means but this video pretty much captures the essence of those dreams. This one is pretty crazy as well.

Dropping A Few Gears

Wednesday's short track race was probably my last competitive race this year.  Reluctantly, I am going to have to pass by the Park City race in September due to my work schedule ( if you want in, please let me know!).  Disappointed? of course I am because it is an awesome course and I've been racing pretty well this year.  The singletrack is amazing and the organizers are top notch people.  In fact, I remember seeing Jay Burke, the big man himself, out on course last year asking each racer how the course markings were as we rode on by.  Clearly this is the mark of someone committed to providing the best race experience possible and I am sure that will hold true for this event.  I'm also disappointed I won't have a chance to ride with Adam, Keith, and the rest of the Utah riders I've made friends with over the past year or two.  This year has taken a lot out of me with training, racing,  job changes, and a multitude of other things so I'd be lying if I didn't admit to some degree that I am ready to throw in the towel on structured training and competition this year.  I'm satisfied with the Hundo, and Breck 100. Short Track is a new found addiction, and I get to do it all over again in one capacity or another in 2012.  So just like that, my Superfly 100 is retired, hung up in the garage, and  waiting a good overhaul.  My Niner SS is enlisted back into service and on the bike stand getting a face lift.  After throwing on some new Stans ZTR Crest wheels and swapping out a light seat, seat post, and bars I almost have it down to racing weight.

Racing weight?  Ok I may have one more Winter Park race left in me... but it will be on my SS.  I'm dropping a few gears for the rest of 2011.

CU Short Track and Strava

I finally made it back to some high intensity racing/training Wednesday for the 2nd to last CU Short Track race series.  The last two races I attempted were canceled due to rain so I was determined to race this week and talked the student organizers into letting me race the men's B and the men's A.  Crazy I know but there was no way I was going home empty handed this week.  I raced conservatively in the B race finishing up in 10th place.  After a 25-min rest and a quick spin around the course again, I lined up at the back of the A race.  I put in a strong effort but burned out on the last few laps failing to reach my one and only goal which was to avoid getting caught and lapped by Mike West, Bryan Alders, or Brady Kappius.  Last time I succeeded, this time I didn't.  In the end I pulled off 14th place.  

In other news, I've been using connect.garmin.com for over a year now as a way to store, manage, display, and track the metrics from my Garmin Edge 705.  I ride with this device and a HRM almost religiously and it has been a great tool to compare training and racing but there were a lot of things missing from the Garmin website.  Enter Strava.com.  I have had my eye on this site for a few months but I was initially turned off because you had to pay in order to upload more than 5 rides a month.  Until now.   They opened the site up and uncapped the upload limit so I uploaded some rides and took a closer look.  Here are a few things I found that I love about it.

My Men's A race.  Notice the 170w average power?  I don't have a power tap!  Strava calculates an estimated power output based on HR and other available data.  Pretty cool.

Ever wonder how you stack up against other riders on the same trail?  Here you go!

And if you want to watch yourself race the fastest guy on the course?

Or up Boreas Pass on the Breckenridge 100?