The Next Local Hero

Good bye

2010-12-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

This blog is dead. I have gone so long without posting that it has died from neglect. So I am starting new at www.alotofblankstares.blogspot.com

New Look, New Year, New Plan, New other things

2010-01-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

As you might have noticed, your favorite blog now has a new look to it. I felt the need to select one of the other pre-made templates offered by blogger just to change things up a bit.

If you are as observant as I hope you are you also have noticed that in the last few months I have neglected writing on this blog. That time is no more, I had a love affair with twitter and facebook (friend me or follow me) but it had no substance so I am back to you my loyal readers. It is a new year and I am working on a resolution to post on this acclaimed publication at least once a week. In analyzing which blogs are popular I have concluded that the most read blogs don't just focus on race reports like I have done in the past, instead they talk about anything and everything thus keeping their readers thoroughly entertained. So as part of my new blog plan for 2010 along with my traditional race coverage and ski tales I will also tell you all the amazing things that happen to a high school senior. Be excited!

For 2010 I will be racing for a new team, Kuhl clothing. Look for me in the stylish light blue. The other new thing for 2010 that I am backcountry ski touring. (I will relate yesterdays death march soon when I am recovered)

Some of you might want me to fill in the blanks in my life that have happened between posts they are here in bullet point form.

Went to cyclocross nationals
Raced and crashed twice killing my possible top 5
Finished 14th
Refused to think about race
Christmas
First ski tour
More skiing
Second ski tour
Came to terms with my Cyclocross race
Started training again
Third ski tour (before mentioned death march )

I have had one constant fan of this blog, Danny the Manchild. Later this week I will have the Manchild superpost all dedicated to him. It will be epic.

Here is the video of my snowy ride

2009-11-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick video of my on snow adventure in corner canyon. I tried a new angle that is cool for short peirods of time. I will likely edit clips of this into a composite movie. Enjoy! The embeded video clips a little off so go to this link if that bugs you. http://www.vholdr.com/video/snowy-corner-canyon-ride

A quick burst of information

2009-11-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

After my spectacular bonk at the Halloween cross race I took a week to recover, it did me good. At last race at Weber I felt good, was second to the first corner and raced smart. I was with the first chase group until I washed out on the off camber section and dropped back considerably. I then latched on to a strong group of about 5 other guys and just sat in. This worked until the last lap when I tried to go with Connor when he attacked early which left me spent for the real attack later in the lap, I finished at the back of that group and 11th. It made me confident that I can actually race again.

Have been riding my mountain bike as much as possible the last couple weeks and it has been great, yesterday I struggled up the Canyon Hollow trail in Corner Canyon in the snow. It was awesome there wasn't a lot of snow and the ground was frozen solid so it wasn't muddy.

The pray for snow part seemed to work and I am looking forward to the ski season.

Watch this video of the race in Draper a few weeks ago when I had the hole shot and it was rainy, the only mud we have had so far this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1VtXxQJQpA

I blew up at the Halloween cross race

2009-11-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

At the Halloween I had no power, I apparently was not recovered and therefore could not go at all. I got passed by people that I have lapped before and worst of all my dad who started in the 35+ A's beat me. I filmed the race with the helmet cam but have been unable to make myself look at it yet. I will upload it and post it here soon. I am all about recovery this week and should be back up to speed on Saturday.

Enjoy this video I took during a Solitude midweek mountain bike series race.

Fall in corner canyon

2009-10-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Rode in Corner Canyon on Thursday with my friend Danny, the fall colors were awsome. I mounted my helmet cam backwards just to see how it worked, here is the video.

the video gets cropped a little when I embed it, here is the link for the perfect version http://www.vholdr.com/node/49366#

2 cross race updates!...and a gas mask?

2009-10-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

I missed a post about the second UTCX series race in Weber that I did, I will sum it up in less than 3 sentences.(I promise.) I had a horrible start.(1) I pulled really hard for a long time. (2) As a result of my hard pull I got passed at the line and finished 9th.(3) That is the 3 sentence summary now I will give you the 3 picture summary.

UTCX race number 3 was held at the Heber County Fair Grounds, yet another horse racing track, and is all about power on the straights. Much to my surprise I had accumulated enough points to get a front row call up which I blew by stupidly lining up on the right side off the beaten path. The start was not good nor was it as bad as last weeks. I managed to move up quickly after the mount Heber run and soon found myself at the front of the first chase group. I thought to myself, "self, what has been your biggest problem in the first two races? Being on the front to long to early. GET OFF THE FRONT!! IDIOT!", so I moved back so I was second or third wheel. The group was full of very fast riders that it is just a treat to race with them after looking up to them for years, unfortunately that endearment didn't transfer into amazing legs. After about the first half when they would accelerate on the power sections I was beginning to drop off the pace and want to throw up. I got dropped but still felt pretty good until 2 laps to go when I blew up. I barley peddled with 2 laps to go but managed to recover for another effort with one to go. At that point I was so cross eyed I could barley ride a straight line so I made a big mistake in one corner then crashed in the next and got passed by 3 riders. I finished 11th. It was a good race, I went the hardest I have ever gone in a cross race and raced pretty darn smart, I was where I needed to be to bad the legs weren't. Now some pictures.

the run up "Mt. Heber" every lap hurt

going down the Mt. wasn't as hard, but it was sketchy

This is when I was with the group and had friends going through the barriers.

This is after I got dropped and I had to run the barriers all alone.

I hope you notice I didn't have the tall socks this week, it was much to hot for them. It was much to hot for cross, think I got a little dehydrated. Pray for cold wet weather for every Saturday from now on.

Now for the week ahead planner. This Wednesday go watch the Utah High school cross country running state championships at Sugar House. I'm told to be there at 3:30. Go my friends that run!(I refuse to show school spirit on my blog!)(I like parentheses and exclamation points!) This Saturday you should all come and watch (that's you cross country team ) the cross races in Draper at the equestrian center on 1600 East Highland Dr.(13675 South), Draper, UT at the base of Corner Canyon. There will be races from 9:30am to 2:15pm. I race with the A group at 2:15.(I am taking the ACT again that morning so my racing might be a little off!)

Now the part about gas masks. Have you ever herd of a magical little place called the Army Navy outdoors store? I have, and I read their adds. They were selling surplus Russian military gas masks for only $13. It had the makings of an adventure. I journeyed to that magical land and purchased one just for fun. Then my sister came home and with her imac and photobooth we had some fun playing with it and some basic effects, enjoy.

You don't know what you missed.

Vote in my poll to decide what Halloween costume I will race in at the Halloween cross race at Wheeler Farm, keep in mind I would like to finish well so pick the costume you think would be least intrusive but still awesome.

P.S. I got my skis finally mounted up and tuned, bring on the snow!

P.S.S. The Pray For Snow Party will be a go for this year.

P.S.S.S. ( I really do like parentheses and exclamation points!!!)

I hope that you enjoyed this epic post.

Cross Season is Back!

2009-10-05T17:54:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was the first Utah Cyclocross series race of the year and my first race in the elite men's field. I am amazed at how large cross has become in the last couple years there are more Fields, larger fields, and faster fields. At the start I was a little overwhelmed because I was racing with all the fast Utah racers that I have watched and looked up to for inspiration for years so you can imagine that there was a little bit of awe in my eyes. Due to my stupefied attitude I botched the start and got pushed almost to the back of the pack but was able to move up again fairly quickly. This season I feel the best that I have ever been technically on the bike though I still don't think I am as good through the barriers as I was last year yet. It will come. I raced most of the race with a group of about 4 guys who are all very fast and smart riders, I am not a smart rider. I spent to much time on the front early and was not able to go with the attack on the last lap so I finished just behind the guys that I spent the race with. I am happy with my first race of the season and look forward for more to come. Look at these pictures and take the link to watch the cool video of my race.

the new skin suit and matching baseball socks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ZVXma4ahg watch the video of the first race.

Its been a while

2009-09-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

I started school which has been fine. Won the Park City Point to Point duo race with Keegan Swenson by 32 minuets and won a tent. Got a replacement frame for the one I broke. Raced DMV last nite, tried to make people suffer, don't know if I succeeded but I drove the pace from the gun and pulled a lot. Pictures and more posts to come. Cross is a coming!!!

Err.... I guess I was wrong

2009-08-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

The last time I posted I said that summer was here so I could start blogging, as it turns out all the fun activities that I would have liked to blog about seamed to take up all my time so I was unable to blog activly. I apologize for any falsely raised hopes.

A quick update in bullet point form with a more compleate update to follow with the Tour of Utah lookback.

I went to MTB Nationals in Granby Colorado, I finished 11th and was as high as 7th before fading and losing time on the decents.
I finnished 2nd overall in the 19-29 expert catagorie in the intermountain cup race series. The only I-cup races I did and didn't win I crashed in in. Lesson learned stay on the bike.
Raced my second road race of the season and did well untill I pulled out of my pedal in the finnal corner.
Finnished 8th overall in the snowbird hillclimb
My phone bounced out of my pocket on a ride and was destroyed with all of my friendes numbers. I will get a new phone in the next couple days so I everyone with my number should call or text me so I can get your contact information back.
Got a sweet helmet cam expect an epic video post.

Summer is finnaly hear, so I can start blogging

2009-06-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to post anything for a quite a while due to my rigorous schedule of training, school work, and generally avoiding any real work or anything else of actual consequence. But now it is summer so my pretend responsibilities drop to almost nothing, the plan for this summer is work just enough to buy ski stuff, ride and race bikes, and make memories by committing some sort of tomfoolery with my friends. This post will now break into two parts: (feel free to read both if you wish) first I will give you all the latest news about my always entertaining life, and then I will do a quick recap on everything that has happened to me since my last post through photos and witty commentary.

Part One: My life is made! I have a awesome job at Canyon Bicycles that allows me to still race and train as much as I want while putting me in an environment where I am surrounded by one of the things I love. My life is also cooler than yours because on Tuesday when you were out in the real world being productive I slept in then went to Alta and hiked up to the small jump my friend had made earlier and spent a couple hours trying to remember how to be stylish in the air without hurting myself. Then I came home picked up a couple things and then went up to Deer Valley and rode a lap on the I-cup race course which is one of my favorite courses. Because of the rain the trails were perfect and tacky unfortunately the rain came back and dumped for about the last 10 or 15 minuets of the ride. I have pictures of these events but I am saving them for a near future post that I hope will draw you back to my humble digital abode.

Part Two: Are you ready for some photos?

This is the only picture size that I could take from zazoosh.com, but the race at 5-mile pass that I won was very muddy. The section in this minuscule photo most people were walking, but thanks to my cross skills I was able to ride it with ease.

This is the river of a dirt road that we had to drive on to get to the East Canyon road race, thankfully it stopped snowing as we rolled off. I finished 2nd in the Cat 4's in a breakaway of 3.

I have smart friends that do things like go to model UN conferences and debate tournaments, one of my friends had to drop out of his partnership for the conference so I was brought in a couple days before the conference to be his replacement. I knew that my attention span would be taxed so I brought along a camera to document the experience. (It should be known that everyone else had been preparing for this conference for the entire year, I had one night of study.)about 10 minuets into the conference my attention span began to wain, pretending to be a member of the Canadian delegation was not enough for my brain so I looked at the program and found arguably the coolest word ever, "Finlandia", which I think is the Finnish national anthem. I should wikipedia it. Even though I was supposed to be Canadian, when they needed volunteers for the flag ceremony my Swedish heritage came about and I got to carry the flag of my very forefathers. Sweater vests and glasses just look good on me don't they?At about hour 6 or so we were supposed to be debating ways to be rid of malaria in Africa, my attention span was really shot at this point so I teamed up with the Egyptian delegation which we named the Canada of the Nile and together we drafted this brilliant plan to hire wizards to destroy the disease. For the actual discussions we went into smaller conference rooms with representatives from every nation. This painting was on the wall right in front of me. After a while I referred to him as Jeremy. It was a long day. Though I let my partner down and we didn't win, I still came out on top scoring a phone number of the girls in the Egyptian delegation.

This picture is from the Sherwood hills race which I won making for my second victory in a row at the I-cup.

Went to Idaho to race a USA cycling sanctioned event to qualify for Nationals in July. They had a mass start with everyone going at once so I was able to jump on the pro wheels and was in second for about the fist half of the race and ended finishing 5th overall and easily winning my class by a long shot.This picture was taken during one of the very few cool sections of the course the rest of it was super exposed sketchy cow tracks and jeep roads.

I was excited for the race in Draper but I got sick the week before and didn't really recover enough to have a good race. I led the first lap then faded. Because of muddy course conditions the race was delayed for most of the day so I probably did more standing around like this than any actual riding.

We are getting close to getting up to speed with my life I will just show you the video that showed my final project for IB physics that was due the last day of school and counted for most of my grade. I had to make a Rube Goldberg machine and film it.

Now that You have seen how I finished my school year you are caught up with my life.

I now have unlimited texting so I am considering starting a twitter profile so all of you faithful readers can get updates of my amazing life in real time! I will keep you updated on weather or not this actually happens.

About time for a post

2009-04-22T20:25:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted on my blog, a lot of interesting things have happened since my last post. I will go in chronological order with pictures and short explanations.

This is the wheel that I broke in the RMR Crit a couple weeks ago when I was going about 30 in the oval and drifted into a guys rear derailleur. Luckily no one crashed, it could have been bad

Later in the week after I broke my wheel I went and raced the Tour of the Depot with a time trail in the morning that I completed in 21 minuets and 17 seconds averaging just over 25mph putting me just over a minuet off the leader and put me in 8th place. Later in the day there was a 25 mile circuit race that included some of the scariest group riding I have ever done on this one slightly downhill road with a slight tail wind. I was spun out at 200 + rpm at about 40 mph during the field sprint where I didn't ride to aggressively and finished 20th. Overall for the day I finished 8th.

The Monday after the TofD me and my dad built up my mtb bike up at 21lbs exactly and then took it out on its first ride in corner canyon. My dad's excellent photo skills cut my head off.

Yesterday my dad and me went on a ride in corner canyon and up Jacob's ladder and down ghost falls with a bunch of guys from our team, it was very fun.

I am in 2nd place in the two pictures aboveI am leading the 2nd groupI am leading the chase groupTonite I went to the DMV crit race which is about twice as hard as RMR with no where to recover and a steep hill every lap. I managed to stay with the main group for the first time for me on the course.

This weekend I am racing the East Canyon Road Race.

A long anticipated update

2009-03-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for quite some time. I will give you the highlights of my life in numbered bullet points.

1. I raced the first I-cup of the year and led for the first lap then crashed, went backwards from there and finnished 5th in the 19-29 expert catagory.
2. Finnished 3rd quarter of school.
3. Got a job at Canyon Bicycles
4. Still don't have a girlfriend
5. lost motivation to race.
6. Regained motivation to race.
7. Skiied some more.
8. Made a couple pots in ceramics.
9. Listened to the new Decemberists CD.

This is a video from Friday that my friend over at thamarshall.blogspot.com took with his new halmet-cam

Skier's P.O.V. from Brad Marshall on Vimeo.

Finnaly some ski photos

2009-02-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

I have taken a lot of ski photos lately and need to show some of them.

I am also getting excited for the first mountain bike race of the season down in St. George next weekend.

Here are some of the photos

Mt. Baldy Pics

Me and Brad went night skiing at Brighton on Thursday and these are the only pics I got before my battery died, but we used Brad's digital camera on its video setting and made a kind of shaky kind of skill-less terrain park video, we don't ski park, we ski Alta. Still it was fun the link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qofFmx-pG6M

We went back to familiar ground today and skied Alta, but the snow wasn't that great so we played around jumping off of stuff and finding cool places for a while, these are what we found.

Disco style 180I got betterBrad pops better

These are some of those same pictures again, but zoomed in. Truly mind blowing technology is.

I look so manly just wearing my flannel.

Presidents Day Weekend

2009-02-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

Presidents day weekend was great I skiied twice in good snow and had a lot of fun. I took a few pictures the two days I went and hope you enjoy them. Today I wanted to go ski very much seeing as Alta got 23 inches of new snow in 24 hours, unfortunetly I had school, but it was clear in the valley so I rode outside and avoided the godforsaken trainer.

Enjoy the pictures.

my dad looking stylish in his new coat and not like the gaper that he was beforeThis made up for my lack of a date on Valentines day

Monday the snow wasn't as good, but It was still soft and very fun I went skiing with my buddy Brad, check him out at http://thamarshall.blogspot.com/. I dig my Bluehouse Districts.

As you can see Brad shreds, but I don't look to shabby myself.

Coolest Parents on the Face of the Earth!

2009-01-26T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today my parent's let me leave school after my first two classes and go ski powder at Alta. Nothing more needs to be said. (Plus, I shouldn't take long they probably want me to go be productive as payment.)

These are a couple pictures that I took today, they were taken quickly and not very expertly in order to ski more. Enjoy!

I look much colder in this picture as well as older and more grizzled.

I'm Back!

2009-01-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

I have not really posted on this blog since the new year and my stolen ski fiasco. That horrible problem has been resolved with a pair of new Bluehouse 176-districts. They are a fun bigmountain ski that floats well and likes to charge hard and fast. I am a little disturbed with the current snow conditions and the horrible weather in my eyes. I went to Snowbird on Monday and swore I was skiing in the spring as I wore my t-shirt. Anyway here are pictures of everything important that has happened since my last post.

Last chance cross race

My new skis and today skiing the steeps in heavy new snow at Alta.

My dad rips to.This is my buddy Danny, I skied the bird with him on Monday and he begged to be on my blog. I don't think he knew that I would use this picture, he thought I would use the one of him throwing a three. I like this one better.

The new skis have been great, I have skied them in powder, crud, crust, ice, moguls, and groomers. They have preformed excellently, if you are looking for new skis you should check out bluehouseskis.com and support a local company. I promise to update more often.

New Years Eve Quick Post

2008-12-31T06:43:00.000-08:00

This vacation off from school has been interesting to say the least. I had my skis stolen and then experienced a bout load of offers and concerned comments from people on tgr's forum. I thank all those people. Today I am trying out a demo pair of skis that will probably replace my long lost Pontoons. I will let you know how that goes. I would do a year in review post, but I am lazy and like usual my dad has done it for me. Go to dccrossing.blogspot.com or click the Fun Enabler link on the sidebar in order to read that post. Happy new year!

I need a gun!

2008-12-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

I need a gun because I need to hunt down the loser who stole my skis on Saturday. There is not much to say I went into the lodge I came out they were gone, I filled reports with Alta and the town marshal, and then rode a bus home. I am very angry and now stuck in a period of moping and anger. If by some slim chance anyone who reads this might see my skis I will describe them now.
Model: K2 Poontoons
Length: 179cm
Binding: golden yellow Solomon z10's
Condition: brand new
if you line up the plane picture on the lefts ski just below the plane there is a black sticker with Alta written in red cursive.

If by chance you see someone with these skis that is not be please tackle them and let me know where I can reclaim my skis. Also look on Ebay or Craigslist they might try to sell them. Have at it my minions!!

The Kansas City Nationals Blogging Extravaganza, with photos!!

2008-12-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

Last week I along with several of the local cross addicts of the great state of Utah, made the pilgrimage across the nation to Kansas City for the US Cyclocross National championships. I made promises to some people that I would blog while on my epic journey of suffering, but due to crappy Internet connections and a oppressive workload given to me by my oblivious teachers. I now will uphold my promise and tell you every part of the epic journey that I had the pleasure of encountering.

I started off on the journey riding in the chase vehicle driving behind Rico's uncle's RV ( for my purposes I will refer to it as RURV, or the epic Eagle )

Most of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas look like this, so I will only post one picture. Wait never mind this is a rarity, there is the semblance of a corner. There are no corners on I-80 in the Midwest.Occasionally something out of the ordinary or interesting would pop up, like these windmills. Yeah wind power!We continued the drive for never ending hours during which we experience all the wondrous driving conditions that Wyoming has to offer to the humble traveler. Me as a passenger was probably much more content than Rico who was faithfully staying at the helm of his majestic (and epic) Eagle. Though after seeing him after the drive it became apparent to me that he was under the impression that he was riding his ship down into the depths and took 10years off his life. It also gave me time to take pictures of myself, and our impressive packing job.

After we survived Wyoming we drove to Sydney Nebraska where we had the pleasure of bringing the Eagle into nest at the RV park at the Cabela's world headquarters.

We woke up and went to McDonalds for breakfast, only the best for us!

As we left we were attacked by angry Nebraskan ducks!It was soon time again to be on the road again. It was a very long drive, so long in fact that I had time to knit a hat, take a picture of it, and then get artistic.As twilight approached on our drive we came across a gas station that had this giant nutcracker that was not just a holiday decoration, it was firmly cemented in the ground.Don't worry I will get to the interesting race part in a minuet. I just feel that it is necessary to build up to it in order to give you the whole experience. Soon we were in Kansas City and were checking into our hotel the night before the B-races. Rico and Kevin felt it was time to get a little spin in on the trainers, I took pictures.

Now the racing begins. Kevin and I both raced the under 29 men's B race that morning I was lucky enough to get a front row call up and had a good race even though I backed off the last couple of laps to save something for the next day. Even with my energy conservation I managed to pull off a 13th place finish. Kevin had to start much farther back and had to work through more people and finished around 20th. Later in the day my dad raced in the 40+ B race and had a very good race and finished 9th out of a field of 102. Here are some of the best pictures of those races.

The next day I had to race in my actual national championship race in the 17-18 division. I had a front row call up but was not used to the speed and number of fast riders so I didn't ride aggressively enough in the first corner and and lost some places, then lost some more places stuck behind a crash. After I had a mediocre start I felt good and started to make time up on the climbs and crawl up the rankings. I ended up finishing 18th in what cycling news is calling the fastest junior field ever in US cyclocross history. The course conditions were very muddy and I was forced to change bikes every lap.

Both these bikes only have one lap of mud on them.

Later that day my dad raced in the 40 to 45 nationals, but was worked from the day before, so he was happy not to get lapped by Tilford.

Dr. Cross also raced.The next day there was another national champ race with Rico, Socks, and a almost Utahan Sam. Socks was able to finish 2nd behind the sandbagging Andy Jackmain.

Watching all of the cross races over the weekend was very fun especially the elite men and women. I took a few pictures of their races.

Yeah Bart!

The drive home was very long, cold, and windy. I am not sure why anyone would live in Wyoming or Nebraska. As a result of the high winds and low temperatures we decided to not sleep in the Eagle instead we stopped at a motel 6 where a guy was being arrested down the hall and the biggest luxury was the built in bottle opener in the bathroom. I took a few more pictures on the way home, because I think Rico needs to see what he missed because he wimped out and had Kevin take command of the Eagle for the return trip.

Here comes the Eagle!This was the Cody trading post that had the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in miniature.

I enjoyed the adventure very much and look forward to racing again and possible making the sojourn out to Bend Oregon for the 09 nationals. I also look forward to the Utah last chance cross race and party. I strongly encourage everyone to come and race in costume.

The much anticipated update

2008-11-24T16:15:00.000-08:00

For everyone who reads this blog religiously (there must be at least one) I apologize for not updating you on every nuance of my life for the past two weeks. I have had a uninvited influx of homework to occupy my precious blogging time of most nights and on the weekends I am usually so completely hammered I am not able to bring myself to type.

I guess I will start with the race at Wheeler Farm a couple weeks ago, I had a bad start but liked the course and made back some time. I ended up riding with the Glenn brothers for several laps and lost a sprint for 5th and finished 6th. It was fun to have a technical course and one that was so close to home, it allowed several of my friends and neighbors to come and see what I do when I done the spandex and ride away. Thank you to all that came and cheered, it was very good to hear. Right after the race I drove up to Alta which was having a early opening for the weekend to get some early turns. It was definitely worth the drive, after that I met my friend Brad and went downtown to Ski Utah's Fat Flake Festival and got a ton of autographs from skiers I have never herd of and my favorites alike. On the way home we had the bright idea to go see the new Bond movie late that night. It was pretty good but I was completely ready to die when I got back home at close to 1 in the morning. All in all it was a very epic day.

Then continuing into the week on Thursday I went to see my friends band, Steiny and the Flip Kids, play at the Outer Rim. They were allot better than I thought they would be and were definitely better than a lot of high school bands I have heard. Unfortunately during there best song with really funny lyrics the mike kind of died.

Then as we continue on to this past weekend I went skiing on opening day right after school on Friday, unfortunately the conditions kind of sucked. We need more snow. Then on Saturday it was the Utah Cyclocross State Championships. I had a good start, finally, and led the men's B race from the start. People kept telling me to pull off and sit in. That's just not my style, the field broke up into a 5 man break away then whittled down to me and Tyler Fought. I drafted him on the never ending straight away from hell on the last lap then made an attack as we transitioned on to the dirt before the barriers. I led until the last log that I hopped on the outside and Tyler made a genius move on and dismounted and took it very tight inside and managed to shut me out on the next corner. I got back on his wheel but he managed to out sprint me for the win. I have got to give my congratulations to Tyler he rode a very smart race and made an excellent move for the win. To conclude the Porcupine results my dad (the fun enabler) won his first state championship in the men's 45+ !! And Team Rico became my hero (at least until Bart gets back) by winning the single speed race and then going straight into the A race and finished 2nd to Sam Krieg who is from Idaho so he ended up with two state titles.

I am getting very excited for Nationals in December, and its supposed to maybe snow this week!

Please Forgive Me, and some other stuff

2008-11-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Attention Please!!! To all that might be reading my exquisite rantings and excellent race reports I apologize and ask for your forgiveness for my lack of devotion. I have not posted since the race at RMR, frankly I have been in a state of despair since that race. I had a bad start, flatted, crashed, and had the worst finish that I have ever had in a cyclocross race. I have some marginal confidence issues and after the comparatively easy victories of the first two races, not winning and going harder has fueled my ever present paranoia that I am digressing in speed after my training decreased with the school year. I know that I should not worry about these things and that I am still a pretty good racer. With this said I still think that I need to have a good result this coming Saturday in order to regain some confidence.

Anyway, I will now tell you about the super fun mud fest that is Heber in the fall. I apparently chose a bad spot of ground to start on because when I went to take my first pedal stroke I dug in and spun out losing precious ground on the leaders. As a result of my folly on the start line I had to chase hard for the entire race, I ended up catching the lead group of three and mixed it up with them for a while entail a few mistakes cost me dearly. First I had a problem with the stupid triple barriers again, by the third barrier my arms always seam to drop and my bike just barely makes it over the last one. Once I didn't make it at all.

I also seamed to always catch up to lapped racers at critical times when I was about to catch other riders in front of me. I had trouble getting around the racers which possibly made me end up finishing a couple places back. Finally I the last mistake I made was on the last lap on the corner exiting the horse race track I was coming up on a lapped rider who got caught up in the mud witch is completely acceptable, but as a result I was forced to stop and put a foot down. When I was swinging my bike around the corner after me my seat post caught the guard rail and stopped my bike cold. Seeing as it was the last lap and I was in oxygen debt and couldn't think straight I probably lost 15 seconds trying to figure out what happened and as a result two places. Besides all these problems it was very fun to have some competitive racing that involved a lot of position change and the course was much better than the crits we have been having every week entail now.

For some more pictures of the me in the B race and of the A race visit http://dccrossings.blogspot.com

This next section is a public service announcement and a call to arms of sorts. The last race of the Utah Cyclocross season that is put on after the series is officially over and the day of the end of season party is very fun. In order to increase the fun I am sending out a message that everyone needs to follow the lead of a few pioneers last year that wore costumes during the race. EVERYONE NEEDS TO RACE IN A COSTUME DURING THAT RACE!!!! If you are reading this post about it on your blog, e-mail it to your friends, call people, just get the word out that you need to be in costume. I will even give you some quick and easy ideas on costumes. You could go as a trigeek and wear a speedo and write your number on your leg in magic marker, or you could go as a hunter and wear camo, or even you could go as the gutted carcass of a moose that Sara Palin has skillfully field dressed. The point is dress up and convince others to do as well.

P.S I am EXTREMELY excited about the upcoming ski season!! Alta opens the 21st!! Start counting down the days.

Risk with no reward

2008-10-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the fourth cross race in the Utah Cyclocross series, it was at Fort Buenaventura. This is one of my favorite venues, unless they turn it into a Crit with some dirt for a little added fun. I though that the course was good, but could have been much more technical and could have used some more of the cool features at the venue. I did hear someone say that they wanted us to try and stay off the grass, I don't know if that was true, but it could explain the course.

Anyway I had a bad start for the second week in a row and couldn't get clipped into my pedals entail after the first corner. I was able to quickly get back into the lead group that continued to motor the entire race. It was always me and someone Else rotating at the front setting the pace, which encouraged me because I had lacked confidence on my ability to hammer on a flat power course. Anyway I found that opening any gap was next to impossible because of all of the straights. On the last lap I decided to take a risk that would hopefully open a gap when none could be opened before. In the trees there was a log that you could ride around on the left then cut quickly to the right or you could hop the log and go straight. I hopped it once warming up and almost crashed, I thought that I could hop it again and open a gap on the last lap. I couldn't instead I crashed and the lead group flew past me, I managed to latch back on and finished 6th. I guess I had to try.

Bart rode away with ease to win the A's not to any ones surprise. After the race I told him he made it look to easy and he replied "yeah, I kind of was" truly he is a local champion and worthy role model.

Enjoy a few pictures and a helpful diagram of my folly:

My dad had a great race and finished 3rd in the 35+A's, so good job. Just shows where I get it from. Next week I am going to Boulder for some road trip Cross action, stay tuned for that race report that will come from OUT OF STATE!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Blogging Extravaganza Part 2!!

2008-10-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, faithful followers how your continued readership boosts my self-esteem and bolsters my confidence. A few posts ago I requested your help to join me in a crusade against The Fun Enabler and is rapidly growing number of readers, now he has over a 100 more visits than I do. For a while I viewed this as a failure on your part entail I changed my point of view, lets say that my father's blog is the cool new boy band that attracts a lot of attention for their sexy legs and killer dance moves, while this fine literary establishment can be likened unto a new Indi band that only has a core following but will make it big and outlast the New Kids On The Block. So I congratulate you happy few that are the cream of the crop, a binary pioneer, and digital connoisseur for not scumming to the temporary trend.

I will categorize this Extravaganza into several parts because, like a state fair, you may just wish to see a few of the highlights and miss out on the fat tube tops and 5 headed pigs.

1. Cross race #3

2. Make you jealous (you were probably at work)

3. Creep you out

4. Whine like a teenager

5. A plea for help

6. RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!

Part 1: The third cross race of the Utah series was a new course at the Weber County Fair Grounds in Ogden. It is the fastest, most road race like, and highest air time course in the series. I had a crappy start and got got in the start actually locking bars with some guy and having to doge a crash right at the start. After a few laps of on the rivet in my largest gear I caught on to the lead group of about 10. We rode for a while and jostled for position to see who would be stuck pulling on the front on the way back on the sidewalk. The group widdled down to 4 strong guys including me, then with a lap to go me and a Khul racer got a gap on the rest of the Field. I was forced to pull almost the entire lap entail we came onto the grass after the triple barrier, at this time he asked if we had a lap to go or if this was it, someone (might have been me, I really don't know) said that it was the last lap and he attacked from out of my draft and ended up winning by about 10 yards. Oh, by the way he races pro mtb.

The A race looked painfully fast from the gun. Bart and Chris got off the front pretty quick. It looked like Bart was getting a little time on Chris when he would hop the first log each lap, and it looked like Chris got caught up in lapped traffic a couple times. Anyway congratulations to Bart, my inspiration, on being able to bunny hop so high and on pulling out the win.

A few of the best pics, for more go to http://dccrossings.blogspot.com/, I am going to maybe open a fliker page to post all my pictures.

Part 2: On Friday at about 10am you were probably at work contemplating the weekend, I was in corner canyon riding on the pristine trails with the pretty leaves and 3 other people for the entire ride look at the proof.

Part 3: If you want to see something really cool, but slightly disturbing you should go to the Body Worlds exhibit downtown at the The Leonardo. The human body is a fascinatingly complex and amazing. I can not believe how everything links together and works in unison. It is very cool but creepy. My favorite body might have been the chicken or the camel.

Section 4: AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! My classmates are generally extremely stupid and annoying to me!!! Just listen to this exaggerated conversation I overheard in one of my classes. Oh, my life is so hard I'm a upper middle class white suburbanite dude!! I know totally, things are so hard in the hood. Doesn't your dad own a Ford dealership? Isn't it embarrassing, I might have to drive a sensible American made sedan to school. I can't wait to grow up and leave Utah and go someplace cool like Southern California, there is nothing fun to do. I know there like isn't any good malls around here.

I just wanted to lean over and smack them and tell them about how awesome our mountains and trails are, then I though better of it, do I really want people like that impeding my fun?

Part 5: Please vote in my polls, I need to know why you think I can't get a date so I can counter it, and I have no idea what I am going to where to Yoko's Halloween party this Friday. Please Help!

Part 6: Head for the hills, I have now had my drivers licence for a couple of weeks and now can legally drive on the roads. Please don't drive, I don't like cars on the road when I drive, they make my nervous. I also don't like them when I ride! Anyway if you value your property go away and get off the roads.

Bonus Question: How many times did I use exclamation points? E-mail your answer to tannercottle@comcast.net, the winner will get a shout out on this blog, thus boosting their coolness by association.

Blogging Extravaganza Part 2, the preview

2008-10-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

I will wow you with a blogging extravaganza tomorrow, for now know that I finished second in my cross race, Bart won, and I got in a amazing mtb ride, and Body Worlds is cool.

A Productive Weekend

2008-10-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

I went to the 2nd Utah Cyclocross series race in Heber yesterday, the weather was not nearly as bad as I had feared. There was snow on the ground during the first race, but by the time that the B flight went it had stopped snowing and had firmed quite a bit. (When the A's went it was so firm that my dad's bike doesn't even look dirty.) I was worried that on a flat course with no hill my lack of power would hinder my race progression, much to my surprise I manged to get the hole shot and lead into the barriers, unfortunately I manged to get tripped up and take a header into the second barrier of the three. I then preceded to drop back to about 10th. From there I managed to fight back to the lead 2 in a few laps and then take the lead. I dragged them around for a couple laps before mounting a attack and getting a gap of about 10 seconds witch I held. The chase group was faster on the straights, but I made up time in the barriers and on the run up on the random pile of dirt. I managed to stay away for my second win of the series. Thinking back I needed to pushed a smaller gear (as Bart tells me I should) in the corners, I was having a hard time accelerating out of them I will learn from this mistake. I wish that I could have been down South racing 24hours of Moab, but cross is still fun.

These are some pictures of the B race (mainly me) and of the A race (mainly the Porcy Crew):

I went and picked up my skis after having the binding mounted and tuned, I got the k2 pontoons, they are BURLY!!! They scare me, I will put a picture of my pair on soon, but for now enjoy this very large picture for reference.

THE NEXT LOCAL HERO WANTS YOU!!!!!!!

2008-10-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

Earlier today my father had a greater number of page loads of his blog than this blog did, this can not stand!!! We had decided that I get more hits because I am much cooler than him, now he has more people reading about his mundane life instead of mine. This means that now working backwards he can deduce that he might be cooler than me, you all have had parents and when they start thinking they are cool bad things happen! You must read my blog minions and put me in your links and email me to all your friends, your hero needs you! (Dad I think your cool, but the world must not and you must not encourage those thoughts, you are mearly the fun-enabler to them, please keep it that way. I love you)

Now I will give you reason to stay on my blog and to join my growing number of readers ( I may refer to you as my minions, do not take offense I mean it lovingly) by showing you pretty pictures that make you jealous of my day. I went on a mountain bike ride right after school, I can ride for about 25 minuets on the road and be at some fun trails. The temperature was perfect there was almost no one was out and the leaves look amazing. I always forget how awesome riding the mountain bike is when I go through long bouts of roadiness fulfilling my carbon addiction, I worked past that today and had some fun on the dirt. The mountain bike is the most fun I have riding a bike after a good ride I always wonder why I do anything else at all, I still don't know why. Anyway enough of my rambling enjoy the pretty pictures mentioned in the above paragraph.

That bus almost killed me, twice

Why would anyone do this to a perfectly good rock in a beautiful area? Its just not good.
I shall depart from your presence with an inspirational scripture that was emailed to me today:
And so sayeth Crispy, "thou shalt go forth into the depths of the mud and flourish in the fruits of thy training."

And it came to pass that Crispy prepared himself before the day of reckoning with all manner of gluing and lactate training. And verily he did it in the name of inflicting pain into the very soul of the detractor.

And yeah, it came to pass that the big ring was used often and in the name of suffering. And Crispy followed the path of The Jens and it was good.

-- 1st book of Jens Dave Harward

Star Wars, Cross, Rain, and The Greatest Gloves Ever!!

2008-10-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start this post by reveling in my nerdiness and celebrating my inner pasty white nerd by giving a quick review of the new animated Star Wars TV show Friday nights on cartoon network, in short it was awesome. That opinion may be a little weighted because I am a devoted fan boy and would probably like anything that was Lucas's name in the credits. My only gripes about it were that they changed the John Williams opening theme and (hang in there cross is coming soon)they made the separatist battle droids idiots is order to have comic relief.

Now we can get back to the only reason that most people would even read this blog among millions, cycling and cycling commentary. Yesterday was the first official race of the Utah Cyclocross series, it was hosted in Draper at the Equestrian park just below Corner Canyon ( the Icup started there) the fields were the largest I have ever seen at a Utah cross race and the course was very fun and different. Anyone who raced will tell you that the long road climb every lab was killer, I thought that when it flattened out and you were exposed to the wind it hurt more, but I also am a skinny kid who likes hills. Anyway I surprised myself by leading up the hill the first time and never saw anyone again, I am told that I won the B flight by about 45 seconds even with my crash at the end to the downhill on the last lap.

Prepare yourself for my take on the A race and the festivities that ensued on the side lines during the race. The race started out with DH pulling Jens( Chris ) up the hill and away from the group, the next time I saw them they were coming up the run up and it was Chris and Bart my wise sage, or keeping with the theme of today shall we say my Obi One Kenobi, were out in front. They continued to hurt people until I think Bart had some mechanical problem and Chris was alone then Mitchell bridged up to Chris, they rode together for a while then with a couple laps to go Chris said his back started to tie up a little and Mitchell was able to escape Jens for the win. Meanwhile when most people were watching the race I turned to the crowd for awesome people watching Chris Fox stole the day as number one fan with his preams and techno music, although anyone who was willing to stay after and watch in the rain is above and beyond awesome.

I took A LOT of pics, these are the best:

These gloves are the greatest wet weather gloves I have ever used!!! They are neoprene, like the wet suites, they rock!!

The Promised (but late) report on the cross races and crit in Ogden

2008-09-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to post some pictures and video from Friday's cross race as well as some pics from the Saturday Crits. During the cat1,2 crit Chris lived up to his title of local Jens when he attacked from the line and made people hurt. I tried to race two races on Saturday, only finished one of them. I was able to win a pream in the Junior race which had a small group, but filled with fast kids who race cat 2, and managed to finish 4th. Later in the day I tried to race cat5, to bad I can't start in crits or ride on a wheel in a race, I manged to miss the first acceleration and found myself between two groups trying to get back on to the wheel in front of me. After a few laps of torture I called it quits and went for a ride with my dad and uncle on the very cool bike path in Ogden.

Enjoy the pics and video from the races.

If you go to http://www.standard.net/live you will find a much better quality video of the B cross race.

Saturday Morning Quick post

2008-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is, as the title suggests, a quick blog update on a Saturday morning. Last night I raced the Ogden Mountain 2 metro cross race and finished somewhere in the top 10, I think. It was a fun course if not a little sketchy in places. The A race was very fun to watch with Bart (when your that awesome you don't need a last name.) and Chris battling most the race ending with a sprint Finnish that was won by Bart thus validating my hero worship. Meanwhile Chris was close behind and raced amazing, this warrants some attention, therefore I will dub him my local Jens Voigt. He makes people suffer.

I would like to quickly take a moment to state that most things that I write and say are at the very least half way sarcastic, please do not take everything that I say or write serious. I am probably making fun of you in some way, but its in a loving way because I like you if I take the effort to mention you.

I am off to race two crit races in Ogden, I will write about those later and post some cool pics and video from last nights cross races.

The inaugural post that starts the magic that will flow

2008-09-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is the first post that I am making from the new world headquarters of everything relating to Tanner Cottle, T-man, The Throttle Jr. , that kid that cut me off at the last race, Bart's teenage groupie, take your pick I will probably answer to any of them. This world headquarters is kind of like my war room in my fight to be a well know pillar of the Utah cycling community, I hope I can enlist all of you that read this as minions to help in the cause.

I am going to Ogden to race the cross race tonight and hopefully pull of the win in the B's ( I don't lack in self confidence or expectations, do I?) and then take some awesome pictures of the A race. I should be OK to race the B's because I have not been called out as a sandbagger yet, I hope to become good enough so that people will think of me as a sandbagger. Hopefully that dream will be fulfilled soon.

People always are ranting on their blogs about how awesome cross is, I will add to that growing list. (If I expect to gain a fan base and eventual local fame I have to follow all the major trends.) Cross is cool, it hurts, its a little off kilter and strange, no one at my high school knows what it is, its wet, muddy, snowy, fast, technical, and fun. The list could go on forever, I think of cross as the glue that holds my year together it falls in and fills in the void in my life between the Icup and the start of ski season while keeping me at top form for the first mtb races in the spring. The fact that I perceive myself as being slightly good at cross has nothing to do with how much I like cross, its all because of the community and experience.

Thank you for reading this far into my first post. I promise as the school year gets harder and my English class advances my writing skills will improve thus making your experience as the reader much more better.