Some Wintertime Fun!

Oh what a wonderful world!  Been out having some fun this new year.  Fatbiking, snowcamping, backcountry skiing.  It's been a blast!  Lots of the year yet to come.  Excited to see what's around the next corner.

The Cordillera

Do you need a good book for a cold winter day?  Do you want to race the Tour Divide?  Do you want to read stories from some of the racers of the Tour Divide?  Do you want to know what gear the racers used?  Do you want to read my personal 2015 Tour Divide story?  The Cordillera is the place to find it.  Here is the most current volume of the Cordillera, Volume 7, which contains insights, stories and data from the 2015 Tour Divide.  

Sam Newbury - Cordillera V7 Cover Photo Photographer

I have read every volume of the Cordillera and consider it essential training material for the Tour Divide.  Bikepacking racers are a weird little clan and this book is probably the highest concentration of stories and thoughts from our little band of misfits.  The proceeds also go to a college fund for Linnaea Blumenthal, the daughter of our Tour Divide brother Dave Blumenthal who was killed on the route in 2010.

I'm sure this new volume will contain many laughs, emotions and tears from this years race.

Here is an excerpt from my story in the Cordillera, Volume 7

My speed was decreasing from a full powered 24 mph time trial effort to an ugly, wobbly coasting speed that could have allowed a kid on a trike to blow by me.  I pleadingly took a pull on the hydration hose from my frame bag.  Nothing.  I clumsily pulled the liter sized bottle from the downtube of my bike as I swerved into the left lane of roadway, unscrewed the lid and tilted it towards my parched lips.  One drop.  A drop of hot, rancid orange juice fell to my swollen tongue.  It burned and irritated my desiccated mouth.  My eyes scanned the side of the road.  I looked frantically for liquid in any form.  A bottle tossed out by a passing motorist, a cattle water tank, a 10 year old selling lemonade.  Nothing.  For the first time in over 100 miles I looked behind me.  Empty road made blurry by the heat waves rising from the tarmack.  Glorious rain storms vignetted the blurry image.  Rain poured from the sky in the distance; too far away from me to be of any aid.  I squinted to try and focus the image.  Nothing but a blur.  Yet somewhere in those heat waves rising from the roadway I knew one of the most powerful and talented ultra-athletes in the world could materialize at any moment.  I swerved severely again as I turned my head forward almost toppling my bike into the ditch.  The lyrics from Marty Robbins, Cool Water evilly played in my mind.  “This may be it”, I said aloud to no one other than a jackrabbit crouched beside the road.  It seemed like hell to me.  Winston Churchill’s quote, “If you’re going through hell, keep going” echoed in my head.  Just keep going I chanted to myself.  My mind began to wander uncontrollably.  I was no longer the keeper of my body.  It was as if I was a spectator to all that was happening.  A silent, helpless observer of a grand dream unravelling.  I could no longer see the road.  All I saw was the replay of my previous days.  I was in a waking dream.  The visions of those previous days on the Divide began to consume me.

Trainer Time

That time of year.   Short days, long nights, wet, soggy, cold.  Always looking for something to get me going before heading off to a nightshift at work.

Maybe It Was Just A Dream

What do you do after completing the Divide?
You think about it a lot.  It's a dream that has become reality.  What do you do with that?

Riders put a lot of time, effort, sweat, tears, money and backside into completing the Divide.  Why?
Everyone has their reason.  A vision quest, in search of simplicity, happiness, chasing dreams, conquering demons, setting records, raising funds...   I'm sure that some of us don't have the answer figured out.  Maybe some of us never knew the question.
There are always questions from the curious and congratulatory Divide spectators.  Some crazy, some  not so much.  Perhaps their questions aren't so odd.  Perhaps they can help us find the answer.

"Why did you do it?".
"How do you carry enough clean underwear?"
"What do you do now?"
"Are you going pro?"
"Did you get any sponsors?"
"What did you win?"
"Were you going for a record?"
"Why did you race if you didn't think you were going to win?"

Why did I race if I didn't think I was going to win?
There's always a dream.

I was sitting on a porch, in New Mexico, in a place called Pie Town, at a magical little abode called the Toaster House.  It was sunset.  The air was totally still.  I had a Pabst Blue Ribbon in one hand and a Totinos microwave pizza folded over like a taco in my other hand.  I was comfortably lounged back in a slightly reclined position in a bucket seat that had been removed from an automobile.  Sitting across from me was Matthew, a young 19 year old German who had come to this place along his journey.  A journey which was taking him from the US east coast to the west.  He was walking from coast to coast while pushing a heavy, unwieldily stroller.  Mostly alone.  He sat upon a bench seat that looked like it had come from the back of a Chrysler mini-van.
I had just finished the Tour Divide bicycle race a few days before.  In first place, in record time.  We each vocally proclaimed the other insane during our meeting earlier in the day.  Now, at this late hour on a June evening we sat in our respective chairs, buckled in by seat belts still attached to our vehicle-less seats.  Each of us engaged in conversation with someone that the other considered a bit off kilter.

"What's your dream?", I asked Matthew.
"You'd think I was crazy.  You'd think I was nuts.", stated Matthew.

I paused for a time, smiled and said, "Try me Matthew."

What a Race!

What a race!  The Tour Divide.  It's absolutely amazing.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what went on out there.  The whole thing is a bit of a dream to me.  I'm sure it's gonna take me a while to remember all the bits and pieces from those two weeks on the bike.  In the meantime.  I've written out my entire 2015 Tour Divide kit for the website Bikepacking.com.  It contains some of my thoughts about the gear I used.  I'll be putting together a listing of my bike and parts in the near future.  It's easy to geek out on gear and bikes.  It's not so easy to formulate my thoughts and experiences from the race.  It's a lot of personal emotion and trying to translate that is a bit challenging for a guy that's spent a bit too much time at elevation.  Indeed, my story about the 2014 race took me more than half a year to tell.  However, I think that the interview I did with Outside Magazine shares a few of my thoughts and experiences from the race pretty well.  Of course there is also Eddie Clark's coverage of the event at Mountain Flyer Magazine that is fun to see.  Eddie got some lovely shots out there.  It was great bumping into him out on the back roads of the Divide.
I've also recently done a quick interview with Jill Homer for Revelate Designs blog.  More of my thoughts about the race including why I almost decided to stop racing within a couple days of the finish.   A link to the interview for Revelate- Revelate Designs Blog

In the meantime I wanted to give a big shout out to EVERYONE that competed in this years Tour Divide.  I'm sure there are a lot of awesome stories out there.  This is a race that truly has winners in everyone that completed their challenge.  I had a blast meeting a few of the racers as they came through Pie Town on their way south as I made my way back home.  It was a pleasure to meet all of you!

To those that didn't finish and tried their hardest to do so.  I've been there.  It is an emotional thing to pull out of something you've poured so much energy and time into.  I have full respect for everyone that lined up.  Pulling out of of the Divide last year is indeed one of the hardest things I've ever done.  I raise a glass to all of you starters, finishers and dreamers!

The Tour Divide is a special sort of race.  It defies the tradition of many other cycling events.  I love that about it.  Every year the bikepacking.net forum has some comments about changing it somehow.  Teams, rest-breaks, support personnel and any other number of modifications.  I still maintain that the Tour Divide is a supremely simple event.  It's beauty is that it is a beast of a race and yet once you break it down it is so, so simple.  You just go from point A to point B as fast as you can, on your own.  Ride when you want, sleep when you want and be sure to eat a lot in between.  During the race you will learn all you need to know about yourself.  All you have to do is ride and listen.

Oh, and have A LOT of FUN while doing it!!!

Passing Time

Went out on a ride today.  Not so much a training ride as just a ride.  A ride I really enjoy.  We all have those.  Places we like to ride just because we enjoy being there.  Places we like to go in our daydreams when stuck behind the walls of societal obligations.

Not too many miles today, 50, but plenty of climbing up some of my favorite canyons.  The snowy mountains in the distance that I've played in so many times tempting me from afar.  Raptors gliding alongside me playing in the air currents as I granny-geared up the steep switchback laden climb of 13 miles and 5000 vertical feet of elevation gain.

I've always enjoyed climbs on the bike.  I'm not a particularly fast ascender, I just like going uphill.  Something about climbs seems romantic to me.  They slowly seduce you into a state of surrender.  The long, drawn-out, painful anticipation of the end.   Uphills with open, sweeping vistas are especially entrancing.

On the narrow, dusty tracks on the steep sides of canyons and valleys you can only see open space and mountains in your peripheral vision.  It gives a sensation of floating through the hills.  A sensation that helps to take us to other places. Places that have been burned into our mind's photo album.  Welcome places away from the sweat, heavy breathing and tightening muscles brought on by challenging climbs.

It helps me pass the time to flip through the idealized pages of those grey matter derived collection of snapshots.  On a day like today this memory based photo stream came in quite handy.  While this winter has been pretty mild in Washington there is still plenty of snow hanging around in the hills.  Especially the north facing slopes.  My 50 mile ride was actually only 42 as 8 of the miles along the top of the ridgeline turned into a festival of post-holing through a breakable frozen crust into thigh deep snow.  Divide training at its finest.

I opened my skull based photo album.  I watched my favorite re-runs of places skied, biked, fished 

and hiked.

Speed, or lack thereof, dissolved into the crisp mountain air and took on no meaning.  The cutting sensation of each step into the ice-crusted snow against my shins, knees and thighs disappeared.  Frozen feet melted into the world around me.

Re-runs or good new episodes, either will do.  Come June I'll be tuning in.

Tour Divide Training

Training...

"High Performance" Training on a Touring Bike

How do you train for the Tour Divide?
I have no clue!  My solution this year was to buy a Fatbike.  Hmm...

Fat, Heavy and Fun.  Perfect

Sure, there are all sorts of tech options out there.  Heart rate monitors, power meters, functional threshold testing, nutrition plans, cross-training discussions, coaches, 12 step programs.  There is a market for anything and everything that can make you an unstoppable cycling Jedi.  These programs always seem like a lot of work to me.  Work as in drudgery.  If I had to calculate differential equations every pedal stroke while biking I'd probably hang it up and go fishing a lot more.  Some people are able to make things like power meters, heart rates and Cytomax fun.  Sick people.  Biking has always been fun.  Even when I raced years and years ago I kept it fun.  Probably why I got out of racing and probably why I wasn't a podium fixture.  But the Divide, what's not fun about racing the clock from Canada to Mexico?

Riding Fat Uphill Is Good Training

When I set a goal to race last year in 2014 I decided I just needed to go full tilt boogie and ride.  Ride lots, ride hard, ride fast.  Do what I enjoyed and try to overdose on it.  I had a goal that seemed insanely challenging to me.  That's what made it so mesmerizing.  What makes this year different for me?  It's even more mesmerizing this time.  I know the happiness and enjoyment I experienced while racing last year despite some discomfort.  The simple beauty of racing mostly alone through a vast and amazing landscape.  I recall the disappointment I experienced when withdrawing from it and of course I remember the food.  I'm greedy and I want it all again!  Well, not the quitting part.

Divide Training Food

I think one thing that Valerie and I have done in our training is to always keep it fun.  We always have a blast on the bikes.  Of course it helps when your spouse is also a built in training partner.  What Val lacks in pure speed she makes up for in endurance, intelligence, sheer will power and climbing prowess.  I'm quickish on the bike, a fast descender, have all sorts of mechanical abilities and an iron stomach.  We learned from one another and pushed each other to acquire the other's strengths.  Perhaps I was at a major disadvantage.  I'm a sprinter and a downhiller...  Probably not the best ingredients to cook an ultra with.

Full Body Workout.  Full Soul Relaxation

Well, this year I have a firm, structured training plan in place.

1.  Ride the fatbike.  Laugh and smile at how fun and ridiculous these things are.

2.  Run.  Realize why I prefer biking to running.

3.  Cross-Country ski.  Realize there isn't much snow this year so it's probably better to hit the bike.

4.  Core-strengthening.  Chop wood, stack said wood.

5.  Do it all a lot.  Do it all fast.

A Perfect Fatbike Downhill "Training" Run

I've set a finish goal time for myself this year which might be insanity.  I have no way of knowing until I get out there and ride as fast as I can from Banff to Antelope Wells.  I'll be racing.  I'll push as hard as I can.  I'll try to eat better this year.  I'll try to keep the rubber side down.

Mostly I'll try to remember at the end of a 200 mile day and have no food or water why exactly it is that I'm out there.

It just seems fun.