two images for today

seasonal images from recent rides

Palisade single track on a cold afternoon

sandstone formations of Gooseberry Mesa

two images for today

both images are from the same ride (on different days) somewhere in western Colorado.

i love the smell of singletrack in the morning.

art

two images for today

derny madness

the timeless art of Daniel Rebour

more derny action

the Belgian dude pacing the cyclist looks a bit on the lean side to be super effective in providing a good draft... nowadays they are substantially more "well-marbled" it seems.
at any rate, this was found on a cool French blog called Moto Legendes that is primarily focused on vintage motos- but i happen to think that Dernys are the bomb and would someday like to round out my fleet with a nice, early model that is totally over-restored.
you can be sure that when i really get old and the time comes for me to hang up my self-powered velocipedes, i would be buzzin' that thing pretty much everywhere.

mayhem in the bike shop

here's another crazy story (and video) from Orange County, SoCal, via SFGate:

Cadillac plows through Rock N' Road Cyclery

and because it's friday, no one died in the accident, and i happen to like the name of the shop... let's get some rock bumpin' and get a witness on the vid.








this one gets the ABANDON YOUR CAR "holy carpe" near-miss special award for the year. check out the woman standing at the counter; her hair is blown in the wind as the Caddy roars past and slams into the wall at the back of the store.

the ol' "misapplication of the brake" was the culprit again, it seems.







the carnage once again highlights the dangers of the automobile when piloted by individuals who are not qualified to drive. i have always maintained that it is far too easy in this country to get a driver's license (and keep it) and far too difficult to have driving priveleges revoked, even after multiple DUI's and/or other infractions are accumulated.

feel free to discuss, and be sure to watch your back whenever you are out there riding on the roads, trails, or even while shopping your friendly LBS, for that matter.

have a great (and safe) weekend of riding.

about those helmets

lots of folks have been asking about the special "safety headgear" that Jen and i were sporting at the recent U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge. while i generally don't care to divulge my sources for my highly-treasured, hoarded, and curated items, this image was recently posted over at Ride the Machine and a link to the discussion board where it can be found.

here's the link, it makes for some good reading in itself and there are a lot more cool images from the same era.

tell 'em ABANDON YOUR CAR sent you over, and we'll see you all next year when the race returns to Colorado again!

two images for today

my buddy Dice descending westbound from the top of Reeder Mesa during our early morning ride this past sunday.

top Pro Tour riders, experiencing the special "sensations" of sprinting to the finish line at 2900 meters of altitude in Crested Butte are reduced to zig-zagging like paperboys.

image credit: Jonathan Devich/cyclingnews.com

Vuelta a Espana 2011

i'm not sure what happed to the u.s. coverage that was supposedly going to appear on the Verses network- maybe they realized that with the Vuelta and the USPCC (a.k.a. Tour de Colorado) both happening this month, there would not be much time left for the regularly scheduled bull riding and swamp-buggy racing programs.

at any rate, we can still view it... commercial free, at that.here ya go, if you didn't know about it already:

Vuelta a Espana live coverage

i'm cheering for Igor Anton of the Euskatel squad. he has some unfinished business after spectacularly crashing out last year while wearing the leaders jersey (as so often seemed to be the case for the Euskatel, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory- right before the finish line).
their Tour de France this year made up for a lot of lost ground, however.
follow the men in orange with this convenient link, also located in the blogstack favorites sidebar on the right of this page. > >


AUPAAA!

image for today

image for today

and a shout out ot our friend Andy over at Bike Furniture Design. he recently celebrated a birthday, so it seems like a good time to give some props to this highly-acclaimed artist and photographer. he's a Leo, too.

off the back... OTB

after consultations with my good Dr. Richard Price and other highly trained professionals on staff at Rocky Mountain Orthopaedics over in GJ, the course of action was to receive a corticoid injection to relieve nerve root compression (and associated non-stop, debilitating pain). this is the area that hurts (most specifically, the L5 disc which has had its jelly-filling pooched out one side)

this is what it looks like when the disc is squished (right side):

the plan was soon confirmed by a late-night trip to the emergency room this past friday night when the spasms and pain flared up far beyond the point of being able to treat it with something from the home medicine chest.
after almost 3 hours of waiting (standing), i finally got in to see a Doctor. he quickly tired of all my moaning and writhing about, and ordered a visit from sweet sister morphine and her cousin demerol as well. once i was calmed down enough and could lay still on the exam room table,  i was gurneyed to the MRI room for a scan which has confirmed the extent of my injury.

on monday i received the L5 spinal corticoid injection. good stuff, tell ya what.

that will conclude the graphic image and descriptions for a while; no need to see injections or surgery, scars or skinny legs, for that matter.
my last hope for relief is to now have a discectomy performed, probably by a neurosurgeon.
the L5 seems to be a vitally important component in lower-body mobility, muscle function, and the ability to do just about anything else-- i'm not sure that i could ride a bike right now if i wanted to. here's a short list of things that are affected by L5 problems:

L4, L5, S1 Thigh abduction


L5, S1, S2 Extension of leg at the hip (gluteus maximus) 

L4, L5, S1, S2 Flexion of leg at the knee (hamstrings)

L4, L5, S1 Dorsiflexion of foot (tibialis anterior)

L4, L5, S1 Extension of toes

L5, S1, S2 Plantar flexion of foot

L5, S1, S2 Flexion of toes




there is a lot of work in front of me to rehab from this predicament. i am going to serve notice at this time of the probability of highly irregular blogularity from me, as (what looks like from here on the sofa) the rest of the summer will likely be more about clawing my way back to the front of the bunch from about as far down as i have ever been... rather than (participating in and reporting on) all of the epic rides and races taking place during the high season of our favorite sport. besides, the intense haze of pain and narcotics i am currently experiencing has rendered me a near-babbling idiot. right now, it's more like looking at pictures and doing some coloring books for me, anyway... best to stay away from the keyboard.



most importantly, i also would like to take a few moments to thank my partner, Jen, who has stood by me at all hours of day and night, through what has been one of the most protracted experiences of intense physical pain that i have ever endured. i don't know how or where i would be right now without her, and the kindness and caring she has shown me on so many occasions, especially in the past few weeks.
she works 12 hour days practising internal medicine at the Veteran's Administration hospital in GJ, taking care of our Nation's sick vets, and then still manages to take care of me as well, after she gets home.
thank you, Jen. i have a profound appreciation for all of the hard work that you do every day, and the way you kick ass at the races is a huge inspiration for me, too. i love you so much.

rock strap v2.0

way back in the day a device was developed in order to keep aging, road-weary musicians on their feet and not falling off the stage while performing at yet another stadium concert. strumming the guitars and mumbling into the mikes is easy enough for all but the most overly-impaired, but standing all the way through an extended-set 3 hour jam is where things begin to get a bit tricky.



Steve could have saved himself from this season-ending fall, had he only known.



fortunately, modern science again came up with the answer; ladies and gentlemen... the Rock Strap:









after an initial visit to Dr. Richard Price (also one of my LTR team mates) at  Rocky Mountan Orthopaedics Associates over in Grand Junction, it was determined that i have been suffering from an herniated disc w/nerve root compression for the past 6 or 7 weeks. that  would seem to explain why i spent four hours writhing on the floor in agony after a mountain bike ride of the same duration a couple of weeks ago.
things are not a whole lot better when riding the road bike, either. there is a position of comfort where some pain-free moments are to be found, but the pain is there when i start riding hard and then waiting for me when i get home.


i have embarked upon an aggressive plan of attack to get me back on the bike- or just being able to do anything, really, without experiencing spams of agonizing pain. sure, riding the road bike provides brief moments of relief; times that i actually forget that something is hurting bad... but that's not the way to enjoy the best part of the year, to do some epic rides and expeditions, great races, and generally enjoy some quality of life with my partner.
 i have been ordered off the bike for two weeks by my physical therapist, in order to give the disc any chance to recover. then there's the corticoid injection to the spine that Dr. Price will administer next week... the last-ditch hail mary all-out effort before surgery. and that's no joke...

Greavy: "That fella' Vic said you run his truck down in the swamp...said you locked him and his missus in the root cellar."



Earl: "That was kind of a joke..."



Greavy: "A joke? What the hell kinda' joke's that?" It's about as funny as a gut full a pinworms."

from Neighbors


the physical therapy sessions are providing some relief, getting my spine straightened out a bit and reducing the frequency of muscle spasms. they hook me up to one of those electro-stimulators and put a 25 kilo sheepskin heating pad on my back before some therapeutic massage. after all that nicey-nice relaxing stuff, i get hauled out to the real physical therapy area for some fun.

it seems that medical science has also discovered an application for the original Rock Strap- and added a treadmill to keep the feet of the old road warrior moving in a forward direction. this new device also cinches tight on the thoracic region, making it really hard to breathe. lucky for me that the thing was programmed to roll at a blistering 1km/hr.

Rock Strap v2.0



looks like i get to be the soigneur this year and do support for Jen at her upcoming races including the season opener of the Steamboat Springs Town Challenge series and the epic of the West- the 111 kilometer MTB marathon- the Laramie Enduro (she got in by winning a spot in the lottery, my stars didn't line up for an entry this year). probably just as well, that i didn't... my pre-entry fee for the Dead Dog Stage Race is a contribution at this point.

time to get on the program- 110%

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2011 Giro d' Italia

i have to admit that i really love the Giro. the promoters go to such great lengths each year to outdo the previous edition with more climbs that have never been used before; steeper climbs; steep climbs in snow storms; and really, really steep dirt climbs that would be better suited for the VTT's. then they throw in a day on the strade bianche and it rains torrentially for the whole 6-plus hours that it takes the winner to navigate the parcours.
like what happened last year on stage 7 when Cadel finally stomped the stuffing out of everybody on what was probably one of the most brutal days of racing i have seen. here's the first of 5 vid segments. i'm sure that you will figure out how to watch the next 4 if there's still some plasma pumping through your veins.




also look forward to increased and more regular blogularity around here as the season develops. now that all the excitement of the past couple of weeks has subsided a bit, term papers written, got ourselves moved into our new digs over in the 'sade, and the madding, huckin', he-man hordes of the Fruita Fat Sausage Tire Festival have vacated the trails, making it safe for the sisters of singletrack to venture out once again, there might actually be a few minutes to drop a post or two and some worthwhile things to rant about (as well as the usual trail/road/race reports from western Colorado and the southwest).
to wit; we still have a race report form Rabbit Valley to post, heralding Jen's ascent to the top step of the podium. stay tuned for more.

oh, and in case you didn't know already, here's where you can watch all of that fantastic Giro action from the comfort of your armchair:

steephill tv Giro coverage

cheers

Liege-Bastogne-Liege

here's a couple of videos of one of the (arguably) most talented winners of Liege-Bastogne-Liege doing his thing- way before he had a "posse". no matter that his fridge was full of medical products for his sick dog and that he vacillated from the highest step of the podium to the darkest depths of depression and personal tragedy- finally dying alone at age 34 in a hotel room in Senegal... the guy could ride a bike like no other:






and then there was this bit of climbing at the Vuelta in 1999:




the style, power and panache... not to mention the hair gels, Frank Vandenbroucke was one of the greatest winners of L-B-L ever.

have a great ride today, gas it like Frank on those climbs.

two images for today

and

re-posted from the blog bikes, bikes & bikes (caution: all cycling-related, some NSFW)

two images (and a map) for today

from the ride. didn't see a car the whole time- not one. and that is not a complaint.

sunny, but not warm

 just turn around to see this:

Pinnacle peak, south Routt, Colorado.

which is right about in the middle of this map:


View Larger Map

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how to avoid cabin fever

winter can be nasty and brutish up here in the mountains of northwest Colorado. seldom is it short.
some days, the snow is piled so high outside the ol' shack that it's impossible to go anywhere until conditions moderate significantly, and the sun finally, and almost magically, appears from behind the clouds.
today wasn't exactly one of those days, high temp was about 10 degrees farenheit and the snow insisted on continuing to precipitate earthward.

no, this isn't actually our cozy cabin in the mountains. it does, however, represent an excellent example of the shacks that Oak Creek coal miners lived in back in the day.

here's some local "mountain men" playing some music and singing about how they assess the current weather conditions outside. enjoy:





this is what it really looked like outside my back door when i was making a decision about what sort of ride i was going to do today:

hmmm... too much shovelling required to make an escape- go to "training plan B" was the only realistic option. hit the rollers.

after it's all over, we pull on the boots, the packs, the lead-filled snowshoes, avalanche probes & shovels, and slog it up over the pass and into town to stock up on plenty of bacon, flour, salt and hardtack before we get slammed by the next big storm coming our way.

ya have to get outside... one way or another. that's how it's done.

the voice of Le Tour de France

i spotted this exciting blorb over at bikerumour.com a while back and thought it was worth another mention here as it is now well time to be planning out the upcoming season... if one hasn't done so already.

at any rate, it is now official that none other than cycling's finest commentator, Phil Liggett, will be making the call for the "multi-year" HD broadcast of the Amgen Tour of California in May.
and such a beautiful, thoughtful idea to bring another great Gran Fondo event to the U.S. by offering cyclosportifs the opportunity to ride a brutal stage as the pros do in the L'etape du California.
we here in Colorado still have a bit of catching up to do with California (as our local ProTour race does not offer a corresponding Gran Fondo event), but what's new? anyway, we're still in our inaugural year of the race.

that is, without a doubt, some of the best cycling-related news i have heard in quite some time. hopefully, Phil will be on board for the Tour of Colorado Quizno's Pro Challenge  August 22 - 28 as well.

Phil and Dave (sporting a slightly deranged, too-much-bike-schwag-viewing-look) chillaxin' large at the great annual Gathering of the Tribes a couple of years back.

readers can get further infos over at bikerumour by following this link. we'll be out for at least a couple of days worth of roadside picnics when the riders roll on through south Routt this summer.

see you there!

wishing a full and speedy recovery

i will forego my usual commentary and observations for this post and just wish a full and speedy recovery to congresswoman Giffords from the folks here at ABANDON YOUR CAR. our deepest condolences go out to the friends and families of the other victims of the Arizona shooting as well.

congresswoman Giffords is obviously a "real cyclist", not just an election-seeking politician riding around the neighborhood in search of a photo-op and a few more votes. in fact, she's a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus. here's a couple of links to articles from TusconVelo; one is an interview with Rep. Giffords, the other is a short article describing a ride she took with a friend on the night before the shooting.

check out her custom whip, put together by Dave Bohm over at Bohemian Cycles: urban tires, SPD's, disc brakes, internally-geared hub, comfortable and sensible geometry, custom paint job, and, equipped with LIGHTS front and rear.
that's what i'm talking about: a real bike for a real cyclist.

happy Martin Luther King jr. day, everyone. get out and go for a nice ride today... to honor all of those who are unable to do the same, but would certainly be out there if they could.