Pictures in place of words

There have been many races and adventures lately.Here is a  look at some recent efforts, media and images!

FIRE CRACKER 50, BRECKENRIDGE, CO

Brian Smith 4th fire cracker 50

Dave O : racing WELL! b4 mechanicals.....

Mens podium: Colin Cares, Jay Henry, Kelly Magelky, Brian Smith

ladies podium: Monique Mata, Jenny Smith, Kelly Bonfiace, Jen Gersbach,

 Fire cracker 50 Media:

 Mountain Flyer magazine: http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/firecracker-50-2.htm

Cycling news: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/us-pro-uet-2-firecracker-50-ne/marathon/photos/181104

FAT TIRE 40, CRESTED BUTTE, CO

Travis Scheefer 4th Fat tire 40.

Jenny Smith, 2nd Fat tire 40: Kevin Dirk Photography.

FAT TIRE 40 MEDIA

MOUNTAIN FLYER MAGAZINE: http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/fat-tire-40-a-proper-test-of-skill-power-and-endurance.html

MTB RACE NEWS: http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=353

http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=35

Dixie 200

A few weeks ago, I wandered into Rock N Roll Sports with the goal of finally acquiring the last of my gear for the Colorado Trail Race: A lightweight down jacket, a lightweight sleeping bag, and a bivy.  I combed through catalogues with Dave Moe until I had the perfect setup.  Last weekend, I took it all out for a test run at a little race called the Dixie 200 in Central Utah.  The race was 176 miles (shortened due to snow that wouldn't melt in time) and circumnavigated the stunning Bryce Canyon National Park on a mix of dirt roads, pavement, and single track. 

Five intrepid souls lined up bright and early on Saturday morning at the Thunder Mountain Trail head not really sure what to expect.  Armed with little more than a GPS, two days worth of food, and my newly acquired sleeping gear, I felt slightly less than ready to take on the world.  My two goals were to finish, and to finish with a happy stomach. 

The first miles flew by with 40 miles of trail and dirt road covered in just over 5 hours.  Then came the 'optional' out-and-back to Powell Point, a 25 mile detour climbing up to 10,200 feet.  Optional because the race organizer wasn't sure it would be clear of snow, but he did offer a 10 hour 'time bonus' to anyone who made the trek to see the view.  In a race like this, the idea of a time bonus is a little bit silly because everyone is out there for the adventure more than the time or finishing place, but I liked the idea of up.  After a very trivial, but not short, climb, I arrived at the point having seen first place returning from the point a mere 20 minutes ahead of me.  Even with my rabbit in sight, I had to take several moments to take some pictures, chat with Dave Harris the race organizer who had pedaled up to the point to hand apples out, and soak in the beauty before screaming back down the climb. 

It was only a matter of another hour of climbing on a dirt road and then a 20 mile descent with a little bit of everything (downed trees, primitive trail, treacherous water crossings, sand, and rocks) before I coasted into Tropic, the little tourist town serving Bryce Canyon and serving as our one resupply point.  Lo and behold, I found Aaron Gully there who had been leading the race since we first hit singletrack 10 hours ago.  Since I wasn't sure I'd make it to Tropic before stores closed, I had all my food on board so I quickly filled up my bottles, my camelback, stuffed some cashews in my mouth and was off a mere 15 seconds after Aaron left. The race was on.

Things were going swimmingly until nightfall.  The trail was slow going, but that was to be expected.  The second half of the route was going to be the crux and I felt prepared.  Ride until 2 am, sleep for 4 hours, get up and keep moving.  That was the plan. 

Then I hit the first downed tree in the middle of the road.  I hoisted my bike over the massive pile of logs and hoped that it would be the exception rather than the norm.  I continued up Crawford Pass encountering log jam after log jam.  I crawled over them, under them, around them, through them, covering a mile in just over an hour to get to the top of the pass where I saw car tire tracks, indicating that the road was clear on the other side of the pass.  Unfortunately, my little GPS track pointed in another direction, up a trail and through the woods.  The first log jam was about 15 feet up the trail.

At 2 am, I looked around.  I was on a mountain side surrounded by dead trees littering the ground and the trail.  While I still had water, I knew it would go fast if I stopped for the night and had a recovery drink and then food for breakfast.  My plan shifted: Move until you get to the reliable water source.  Sleep there.

20 miles later, it was 7 am.  The sunrise had been beautiful, but even more beautiful was the sound of a stream next to the trail.  I quickly downed the water I had been rationing, filled up my bottles and camelback, dropped in some iodine, and laid down to sleep for a few hours in broad daylight.  45 minutes later, 3 helicopters flew overhead waking me from my dreams.  Awake, I figured I might as well keep moving.

The next 20 miles was more of the same except with big views.  20 miles in 8 hours.  My legs were scratched, my arms were raw, my bike was not happy with being tree-bound for the majority of the time.  Yet, I had no map of how to get out easily, so I figured that as long as I kept moving, I'd get to where I was going.  I prayed that the long descent off of the plateau was a road and not a tree-clogged singletrack, and for the first time all day, my prayers came true.  Dropping 2,000+ feet on a smooth, grated road was the best present I could have wished for. 

From there, it was another 20 miles home.  Some on single track, some on the Fremont ATV trail, which thankfully was smooth and well maintained.  I arrived at the top of Thunder Mountain at 9 pm with only 6 miles of single track to ride.  I'd ridden the trail earlier this spring so I knew what to expect, swoopy, fun, and dropping 1,200 feet down to the parking lot.  The last mile was the hardest.  High speed, straight, I sang to myself to keep alert and awake.  Loudly.

I finished in 39 hours and 5 minutes, the only one to finish the entire course.  I guess that means I won, but more than anything, it was the reaffirmation that as long as I keep moving, I'll get to where I'm going.

Ethan

Like many people in the Gunnison/Crested Butte area we have become glued to the live spot tracking of the Tour divide race.
www.tourdivide.org
With three Gunnison/Crested Butte riders in the top four overall its addicting and very inspiring to watch their progress southward.
Last night we saw that team Alpine Ortho rider Ethan Passant was riding over the Continental divide via Marshall pass to Sargents, CO.
Bryan Wickenhauser loaded Brian Smith, Myself, and Jarral Ryter into his truck and took us on a late night tiki tour up to cheer on Ethan. We ran into him at 1800 miles into his race high on Marshall pass.  Pretty cool close to 11pm at close to 11,000 ft we saw one lonely set of lights coming down the mountain toward us.

its never too late, dark, cold, or early to geek out over someones bike and equipment choices. Brian and Jarral checking out Ethans rig.

Self admittedly a little delirious and sporting  a sore knee he was otherwise in good spirits and ready for some desert warmth. The night before had been spent in a prefab post office building in Como to hide from the snow. Bonus it was open double bonus it was heated.
Have to say the legend of Ethan is Growing!
Good luck for the next week we'll all be following.

SSUSA

After the Growler last week, I decided to go for a change of pace with racing.  I gave up 20 of my 21 gears and any form of suspension and headed to the Front Range to race Single Speed USA.  It's 4th addition was run in my former hometown of Boulder, so I couldn't resist heading back to see what the race was all about.

All we knew headed into the race was to meet at a park in Boulder on Friday night for a cruiser ride and round one of the hosting competition, a series of contests to decide who got to host the event in 2012. Round one was a tube race down the kayak course in Boulder Creek.  With run-off in full force, I can't imagine the water was warm.

The motley crew of single speeders than proceeded to various Boulder watering-holes to receive a map to the race start, ride mechanical bulls, and to pre-race carbo load with some of the fine micro-brews available in Boulder.

Saturday morning brought a race start at an altitude which favored the mountain dwellers.  Shawn Lortie did a nice write-up of the actual race over at Mountain Flyer which I highly recommend checking out.  To sum-up, everyone got at least a little lost.  Even I, who learned how to ride on these trails, got turned around a time or two.  It was a rollicking good time with a happy combination of dirt roads, trails, and post-holing through snow.  Winning the race was just an added bonus.

The post-race party was also the venue for the infamous foot-down bike-derby competition and the last round of the hosting competition.  I took a non-violent approach to the derby and was able to outlast all the boys who took great joy in running into each other with their bikes.

Vermont won the hosting competition.  Guess I'll have to travel out there next summer to defend my belt and title.

Dana Allen Photos from Growler

Thanks Dana! - Some sweet shots.

Sick Job Smithy! You friggin CRUSHED that race! What a great showing for team AO and thanks so much for all the support out there! Lisa, Missy, Stew, Doc G, Travis and the whole Alpine Ortho Crew that was out there - you were stellar support. Thanks to Rob and the Acli-mate crew for their on course support both in the water bottle and at the base. Our sponsors RULE! And one of them slayed a 14th place - Yeah JB and Go To Guide! Paul Pike was also out there smilin' as always - nice work Paul!

Gunnison Growler highlight video

http://bcove.me/swqr2xe8

The video link above highlights the Gunnison Growler 64 and 32 mile from the weekend. The scenery of Hartman's in it is stunning and Brian is making it look... well how we all want our riding to feel.
With so many Alpine Orthopaedic team riders out in force: riding, racing, supporting, organizing, this video is one of our stories.
It was a really neat experience to be part of such a successful positive team effort.

Congrats to everyone who competed in the Growler event and thanks to everyone who supported the racing. You all made it smooth and fun.
Check back during the week for more pictures and results.
cheers
Jenny Smith

Salida MSC #3

Great weekend across the way in Salida with some REAL mountain biking on hand. Team AO was out in force with 5 riders taking on the 3 stage race weekend.

Results are definitely early season but Brian and Jenny Smith showed some great results with a 2nd (Jenny) and 4th (Brian) overall. Travis had some bad luck with a super fast and twitchy Short track start that put him back in Gunny in the good hands of Alpine Orthopaedics for some stitches in the elbow. But that didn't stop him from accelerating like a bat out of hell after getting up and trying to get back into the race. Both Laura and myself got a good beating out there, but it was one for under the belts and getting some race legs in.