The Bear Necessities (not bicycle related)

Shop News

I will try to be open again real soon. The sun will come out, tomorrow. I just ordered a bunch of these. I will get them assembled ASAP. Wholesale price for the 2012 model!

http://www.redlinebicycles.com/archives/2012-d680

Things Done, Places Been, Photos Not Taken, In Reverse Chronological Order

Bitterroot Brew Pub Spice of Life Beaver Loganistan Angel Fire Taos Texas Louisiana Florida Felasco Salt Springs tt rides carpentry Santos Christmas in Jacksonville Mississippi Alabama Arkansas Taos Colorado UTCX awards party St. George last cross weekend.  There.  Blog updated!

Post?

Facebook has killed my blog.

Catch Up

Where has November gone?  It's almost December, so I better update this blog.  It's a quite morning.  Lupine is at school and Patty is on a plane to California.  "Going to California on a big jet plane, never let 'em tell ya that they're all the same."  A Pacific storm is moving in and it looks like rain.  The dogs are sleeping at my feet.  So, here goes.  Mostly, I have just been really busy.  There have been visitors, Vickie, Heather, and Greg, bicycle races, a Quarterly Report, and kid that needs me.

Cyclocross season is nearly over, yet it seems like it just started.  I will race tomorrow and then again the following Saturday, and the season here is done.  It's been a good year, even if it has not been very successful.  I've only had four podiums in 12 races.  There is still a chance to finish third overall in the singlespeed category.  I will problably be fifth, I would bet.  I did not ride or run at all for the entire Thanksgiving week.

We went to Montana for Thanksgiving, and mostly worked.  My feet were cold.  So, we went to Gold Bug hot springs on the way home.  Gold Bug is surreal, a waterfall of steaming hot water, perfect pools, and a billion dollar view.  I should say a priceless veiw, because you could never buy it.  It is Mother Nature's perfect miracle.

 

Robert Hamlin Bicycles is still open. Open, when I get a call and go down there to meet the customer and flip the sign over. I still have plenty of inventory, and everything is 40% off. I have bicycles, helmets, parts, clothing, etc. Please come get it all.

 

 

Utah Cyclocross, 10-27-12, Halloween 'Cross

UTCX Halloween 'Cross 2012 from Grizzly Adam on Vimeo.

Lupine Cramer On The Podium

Lupine Cramer, racing for Robert Hamlin Bicycles, came out of her self imposed short term retirement to race once again at a Utah Cyclocross race in Salt Lake City last Sunday.  Cramer, spinning a 36x22 on her Pake C'Mute singlespeed, easily finished in second place.  For three laps she reamained about 10 seconds behind the winner, often reminding her father in a fiery tone, each time he told her to go faster and move into first place, "no, Dad, I don't want to do that."  OK.  Pushy father.  Pushy, pushy.

Robert Hamlin, on the other hand, quit on Sunday after starting his third lap because he was a quitter, going backwards the entire race, after he said he was going to go to the front of the race.  Right.  Perhaps he has lost his competitive fire, only standing on the podium twice this year after nine races (last year he was on the podium eight times in ten races).  Quitter.

Waiting For The Light To Turn Green

I saw it coming
On the east sidewalk
She rolled fast, south bound

Into the crosswalk
She assumed the right-of-way
And so did the car

She did not get hurt
I hope she'll ride on the street
Legal, visible

Big Efforts

I put in some real work at the UTCX races yesterday, doubling up again racing 45+ and Singlespeed.  I will not bore you with all the race details and placings.  The short story is, when I got in the car to drive home, I felt quite satisfied with my big efforts.  I went about as hard as I could all day.  I left nothing out there.  If there was anything else in my hand, I would have thrown that at my competitors too, but there was nothing left.

Also, Jamey Driscoll, one of the top U.S. cyclocross professionals, showed up to race.  He won easily in front of the likes of Alex Grant.  Yes, I am a big fan, and I got his autograph.  My biggest thrill ever:  right as he was about to lap me, I rode over a huge head-high log pile while he dismounted and ran.  After the log pile, he went right around me like a rocket, but I postponed his pass for a second or two.

Ouch, That Hurts

My arms are really sore from Sunday's races.  In the 45+ race I bunny-hopped two log barriers every lap.  They were only about a foot high.  I was flying over the logs, lifting both wheels at the same time rather than the slower front-wheel-then-real-wheel "bronco" style hop.  I was feeling confident, but I chose to run the two traditional barriers, about 1.5 feet high.  I have always been able to bunny-hop, but in cyclocross races going so hard that I'm usually near the end of my physical rope, I've always been too scared to hop the big barriers.  If you miss and smack a wheel on a barrier at speed you could easily end up on your face.  Also you have to hop the first barrier cleanly because if you don't there is no time to set up your hop over the second barrier.

In the singlespeed race something came over me.  The two large traditional barriers were not too close together, so without really thinking much about it I bunny-hopped them nearly every lap.  I almost always got over the first barrier doing the flying lift without even touching it and doing a flying lift/bronco hybrid style hop to get over the second barrier.  The second one was not always clean, but I made it every time.

The 45+ race had six laps with two hops per lap over the logs.  The singlespeed race was nine laps with four barriers per lap.  That makes a total of 48 bunny-hops.  No wonder my arms hurt.  Here is more than you would ever want to read on the subject with video:

http://www.cxmagazine.com/to-hop-or-not-bunny-hopping-cyclocross-barriers

A Better Day

Today was probably the most beautiful day of the year with a bright blue sky and yellow trees.  I woke up, popped two sudafed and four ibuprofen, loaded up the singlespeed and headed to the race in Ogden.  I stayed at the front all day with Art O'Connor and Jeff Ure.  With one to go I went for the win.  I knew it would be first or third.  Yep, I finished third in a three up sprint.  It was good to get back on the podium.  Here is a nice picture from last week, sporting the new shop colors.

Not My Best

I had a rough outing at the cyclocross race in Ogden today.  I started slow, in 13th position.  On the third lap I moved up four or five spots, a little closer to the fast guys, but then started to drift back.  My power(s) failed me.  Especially on a long section of thick wet grass.  I finished right where I started, my worst result in a cross race since 2007.  I'm getting sick, and had a low grade fever, but I pushed as hard as I could.  Tomorrow I will try again, sick or not.  I'll be on the singlespeed.  The geared bike I rode today is dead.  There is a crack running nearly half way around the seat tube at the bottom bracket shell.

My Schedule

In the shop this afternoon, hot laps at the fairgrounds before dark, on the road by 8pm tonight, in a hotel room in Richfield, UT by 1am, up and at 'em checking cameras at dawn, US 6 in the twilight, and home before midnight Thursday.  Friday?  I will take a nap, ride, and then it's a double cross weekend in Ogden, races on both Saturday and Sunday.  Easy.

Yesterday's Cyclocross Races

The lungs hurt today from too much dirt and dust and two races.  I finished fourth in the Masters 45+ race and fifth in the Singlespeed race.  Here is a video of the 45+ race.  My buddy Jason stumbled getting a foot out before the barriers and let me get around him for the fourth place spot.

Utah Cyclocross #1, 2012

This is the one I missed.  My mountain bike was down.  Really, I wish I would have been there.  I think I would have been just fine on the cross bike in the mountians.  Nice work Adam!


UTCX 1 - Snowbird from Grizzly Adam on Vimeo.

This Week

I should be open Wednesday through Friday in the afternoons.  I'll try to get back from the 'cross race in time to open on Saturday.

I've had a good week of training so far.  I rode Green Canyon easy on Sunday, rode hot laps and ran the steps 10 times on Monday, and did hot laps again last night.  I will do one lap efforts tonight, ride easy on Friday, and tear the pedals off on Saturday.

6AM alarm
No desire to drive or race
Slept for two more hours

I'm disappointed
Mentally kicking myself
Sitting on the couch

Today I'll go ride
Can't make up for a missed race
But, It's a great day

The sky is bright blue
The trees are crimson and gold
Baxter Hollow calls

This Week Is Last Week's Next Week

The shop is open this week in the afternoons, usually 1-5.  Come buy and see me.  I'll be putting the double-decker bike rack back up in the front of the store, the same rack that was there two years ago.  It's been at a shop down in SLC.  I'm glad to have it back.  I'm still trying to get ready for cyclocross season:  removing old tubular glue, applying fresh glue and tubbies, and building a tubeless wheelset.  The first race is Saturday.  The shop will be open on Saturday just as soon as I get back from the race, probably around 2.

Speaking of building wheels, here is my post from March 23, 2007 with baiku included:

Building a bicycle wheel is truly therapeutic. It starts with only a hub, a rim, and a big handful of spokes and nipples. The finished product is a work of art. It's also a form of healing, wholeness, strength, and fullness. Round, symmetrical, and rhythmic, it comes full circle. Right two and in, right two and in, left five, over under and in, left five, over under and in. Groups of 4, repeat the pattern, eight more groups of four to go, three-cross, 36 hole, and your done. The circle is complete. Strength in numbers. A hoop under tension.

Weaving spokes, hub, rim
Symmetry, form, and function
An endless circle

I am back in Utah, back into the swing of things.  The shop is open in the afternoons this week.

I'm trying to get ready for cyclocross season but there have been a few hurdles.  It was too smoky to train much up in Montana, and now I've picked up a sinus infection.  I went to the fairgrounds yesterday to do some race-pace laps and my handlebar broke.  Five years of heavy use will do that to aluminum.  Like I've always said, steel is usually a better choice than aluminum for bicycle frames and parts when it come to fatigue strength.  Aluminum will always fail.  Here is the Wikipedia explanation:

Ferrous alloys and titanium alloys^[2] have a distinct limit, an amplitude below which there appears to be no number of cycles that will cause failure. Other structural metals such as aluminium and copper, do not have a distinct limit and will eventually fail even from small stress amplitudes.

Still In Montana

I will be here for two more days, hanging out with lions and bears.  A bear, blind in one eye, can still find the apples.  I know for sure this bear was eating apples, because I stepped in it.  I think it is eating plenty of other things too, fat and happy, getting ready for a good long nap.  It is definitely not getting ready for cyclocross season, trying to loose weight.  Yes, it is cold up here; there was frost on the ground yesterday.

The air up here is bad.  There is a big fire on the mountain just outside of Hamilton.  Here is an air quality graph, because I'm a scientist.  I love graphs.