Laramie Recap

Taking time off from work, driving over two hours to get there and not getting back to Casper until after 11pm....... COMPLETELY worth it to race on the fast trails of the Happy Jack Area. The Laramie crew that sets up the course really knows how to make a ride fun for everyone. Most fun for me, is a multiple lap race. I love to get to know the trail with each lap, which usually gets me going faster and faster.

Last night Mike and I rode down for what I knew would be a battle to finish top 3. I was nervous already by the time we were driving through Laramie. The sick feeling in my stomach did not go away until I heard GO on the mega phone.

4 laps, 4.2 miles each lap.

Within the first 2 miles the lead guy was way out on everyone else. Then it was another CO guy, Even and then Me. Even and the other guy were able to gain about 10 seconds on me on each decent, but my climbing was my strength last night. I was able to get ahead of Evan in the middle of lap two with the CO guy not in my sights anymore. Mentally, I was there and accepting of the punishment my legs were taking. I wanted to catch the next guy so bad that I started to really push the limits on the decent in lap 3. I knew it wouldn't gain me too much time overall, but if I could just do whatever I could to not give up that 10 seconds that he gained the first lap, it just might be enough to take him at the final climb of the race.

Lap 3 was smoking fast and I finally came within sight of the CO guy (in second place). I was 10 seconds behind at the start of the final lap and just 8 seconds behind him before we started the crazy technical down hill section. Again, I thought, just don't give up any time.

The speed got the best of me, and the 3 foot rocky section which I gracefully jumped the first three laps, seemed like pebbles as I FLEW over them at a speed way higher than the previous times. I soared over the rocks, past the nice smooth landing where I touched ground the last laps, and smashed my front wheel into a basketball sized rock which stopped my bike right there. I was tossed over the handle bars and, like in slow motion, looked at each rock that I was about to hit with my limp body. Shoulder first into solid rock, then a roll to another solid rock which my left hip and butt thought would be fun to smash against.

Unbelievably, I'm nearly pain free today. David Milam with The Spine & Injury Clinic of Laramie gave me an evaluation after the race and gave me some direction on what to do next. He said that I had separated my shoulder and that I need to take it easy until Nationals.

Good thing I have a Kinetic Indoor Trainer :)

Can't wait to ride again!

July 8th is the next Fat Fish Racing ride

We will be up on the mountain, parking will be at the restroom area just south of where we parked at the Casper Race on Sunday.

What trails are we going to do? It will be a mix of what we did at the Casper race, with all the stuff near the lodge taken out and some other fun stuff mixed in.

6:30 start.

Hot dogs, chips, cookies, gatorade will be there for all riders which is provided by Bruce at

Mountain Sports!!!

Casper Mountain Rewind

The Casper Mountain bike race sponsored by the Red Cross turned out to be another georgeous day to race. With a turn out of nearly double that of last year, it proved to be an intense afternoon of racing for everyone. Two of the Fat Fish placed in the top 3 of the Expert class while another Fish was riding strong in the Sport or Intermediate class. There was great music afterwards, plenty of food and drink and stories of how each persons race went. It is so great to have the trails we have here in Casper.

We were talking after the race about how nice it is to have so many miles of trails basically to ourselves, with not having to stop constantly for hikers, horse riders, and other bikers.

Adam above (second in Expert). Neil below (third in Expert).

Frank below (Sport class rider).

This last weekend was amazing for riding. I went to Winter Park to race the Super Loop, an 18 mile hammerfest with close to 100 expert class riders. IT WAS AWESOME! I finished in at 1hour28min, followed by another 1 hour hillclimb of 2300 feet. The best part of the day was picking up Andrea from the airport later that night.

THE STICK!!!!!

Using The Stick completely recovered my muscles for the Casper race and I was completely 100% by the next day.

Tomorrow, Laramie! I can't wait.

Next Fat Fish Race....... JULY 8th

Casper Mountain Race

Feeling Fast? Good! I hope you are planning to bring your A game to the Casper Mountain/Red Cross Bike Race this Sunday. The Fat Fish Racing team will have a few members racing and sporting our new jerseys.

Here are a few pictures from last years race. The insanely steep hill, yeah the one that makes you get off your bike and walk up, IS RIDABLE.

The hill is also runnable, however, your legs will be much more happy if you stay on the bike and spin as hard as you can.

My suggestion is to get to the race an hour early and head straight for that hill. That is what I did last year and I tried getting up it 12 times (with no luck) before the race began. Come race time, I was mentally prepared for the beast and had each root and rock memorized. Sure I didn't make it up the first time, but you know what they say........ 14th and 15th times are a charm!!

What have I been up to for training????

I've been riding and stretching and yoga'ing. Monday I rode my 1 mile loop on my single speed until I bent the chain which came out to be 1 hour and 50 minutes at an 85% intensity. Tuesday was a recovery ride indoors on the Kinetic Trainer for 1 hour and 25 minutes at 60% intensity. Today was max out race pace effort for 45 minutes on the single speed (until I snapped my chain), then a 30 minute aerobic yoga session.

Lately i've started getting into stretching for a good 20 minutes after the rides and it, along with using The Stick, has DRAMATICALLY reduced my soreness and recovery time.

I'm only posting this info to try and help people, not to brag or anything (OK, well maybe i'm trying a little to out-do my brothers back in MN, but nobody else). I read Pro mountain bikers blogs all the dang time for training tips and do my best to imitate their work-outs. Who knows, maybe you'll start doing some of these workouts and find out that your getting stronger, faster, fitter, healthier and even having more fun on the trailsier.

Ride Hard and I'll see you out there on the dirt.

Adam

For the love of biking

Wind, Wind and more WIND was the story of our Fat Fish Racing bike ride on Thursday. The wind was so bad, that most of the people who RSVP'd for the ride, did not even show for the ride. Oh well. Gordon, Mike and I tore up the single-track of crossroads for over an hour without even touching the rising river.

The ride was great, even with the wind. I brought to the ride one thing that I never leave home without, earplugs. Earplugs eliminate almost 100% of the noise from the wind and when you can get rid of that annoyingly loud howl in your ear, the enjoyment factor goes WAY WAY up during your ride. Now, please don't do this while you are riding in the city. This is dangerous when you are riding in town, but while riding alone on the dirt, they are a lifesaver.

Because of the wind, we did not stay afterwards to grill. So during our next Fat Fish Racing ride, we will have more hotdogs, chips, cookies, gatorade for EVERYONE thanks to Bruce at MOUNTAIN SPORTS.

Yesterday I rode 26 miles of single track near Denver. The Red Rocks trail, the Castle Rock trail, and the Morgan Creek trail. All were fun, but way way way too crowded. I did over 4,300ft of climbing in 26 miles and in 2 hr 50 min.

I must say that we have it so good here in Casper. We have so much riding opportunity here and the best part is that there are usually no other people on the trail. Yesterday, I was constantly slowing down for hikers, bikers, fishermen, runners, walkers, and even bird watchers. I can honestly say that I'd take the wind here over the crowded Denver trails any day.

Thanks for looking

Hope to see everyone at the Red Cross Casper Mountain Race on Sunday

Adam

Thursday Night Ride

Tomorrow nights ride will be at crossroads.

Who: It will be a small crowd tomorrow, but hot dogs and chocolate milk will be there for the folks who come to ride with us.

What: We are going to ride for about an hour and a half. I'd like to start with a warm-up loop followed by 1 set of 3 intervals (3 minutes each). Then another lap and another set of intervals. Repeat this for an hour and a half.

When: 6pm start

Where: Start at the kids playground at the entrance on Poplar St. This is the parking lot where the Casper Ghosts play.

Why: This can be as difficult as you want to make it. The loops will be more casual while the intervals are designed to be very tough. Come ride with us, because you will become a stronger and faster bike rider!

See you tomorrow!

Adam

Thursday Night Ride

Finally a nice day to ride outside. The last three days I have been using The Stick (check it out by clicking on the picture to the right) and doing some light spinning indoors on my Kinetic Trainer.

My last race was May 22 and I have not recovered yet from that until today. It took three days of use and my muscle soreness is completely gone. AWESOME, I highly recommend this tool to anyone who ever gets sore.

Anyway, I'm going to ride crossroads tomorrow night (or send a scout at least) to see if they will be ridable for Thursday. With everything out here being so water logged, crossroads may be the best bet for us.

I will post tomorrow night with the final destination for the Thursday ride.

Laramie race is postponed for tomorrow, so get to crossroads and do some intervals!!!!!

See you soon.

Lightning!

Whoa, was I in some serious stuff today while in search of new trail to share with all of you. Rain, hail, lightning crashing all around me, just another day of training and exploring for me. A new neighbor of ours let me ride through some of their land and it was great. I absolutely LOVE climbing and when you can finish the climb with an super long and super fast decent it makes the perfect end to a ride. I had to do a lot of hike-a-bike to find the two track, which seemed to be obvious one second and completely disappear the next. I think that with some more exploring, a new trail could be in the works for us to ride on another Thursday.

The area that I rode was near Bessemer Mountain and with A LOT more exploring, the perfect cross country loop could be found in the mix of cobble, dirt, sage, washouts and flat rock.

Right now I'm pretty bummed. My wife and I were planning on going to Winter Park for the hill climb on Saturday, but since the car broke down we are not going to. So, if you are not doing anything on Saturday, GO TO WINTER PARK! The trails are epic and the 40 minute hill climb could be the warm-up to an amazing weekend of riding. Check out the link on the right of the blog here.

Next Races:

Tuesday, June 15. Laramie Mountain Bike Series.

Thursday, June 17. Fat Fish Racing Bike Ride.

June 26. Super Loop in Winter Park, CO

June 27. Casper Mountain Bike Race.

June 29. Laramie Mountain Bike Series.

Get out and explore!

Adam

Tons O' Pictures

Sorry for the delay folks. Transmission went out on our car (our only vehicle b/w us) on Monday and I haven't had the time to get to this. So we are in the market for some new wheels and if any of you have a friend in the car dealing business that won't take me for every penny, I'd love to get their name.

Anyway, the Thursday night ride was great. The wind was at our backs on the hill climb and the loops were really really fast for everyone.

Enjoy the pictures and I'll see you all next Thursday.

Adam

Thank you everyone who showed up to the ride today. The wind was in our favor again, as it helped to push us all up the mountain. Micah flew up the mountain today and, along with Colby and Neil, was finishing the loop that I thought would take everyone 11-13 minutes to finish in less than 9.

Thank you Bruce from Mountain Sports for the donation of food. It is so nice to have some grub right after a tough ride. Don't worry friends, there will still be enough for the next ride too:)

I took a ton of photos and will post every single one of them on Monday or Tuesday. For now my wife and I are headed to MN for the weekend and will be back late Sunday. If there is anyone who DOES NOT want their picture or name posted on this blog, please contact me by Monday saying so. Email at www.fatfishracing@gmail.com

Next Fat Fish ride is June 17. See you then and remember.....

Keep the rubber side down

Adam

Jackson Canyon Competitive Mountain Bike Ride

Who: Anyone can ride as long as you are wearing a helmet and sign the safety release form.

What: A 7.7 mile bike ride into some amazing country. We are so lucky to live and ride here.

When: Thursday, June 3rd. 6:30 start

Where: Start at the horse arena at the top of the hill a half a mile from hwy 220 on Goose Egg Road. Look for the Goose Egg Inn restaurant sign on the left side of the road and turn left there.

Why: Because this is a really fun course and I rode my tail off all evening in the rain today to mark it, so you better be there! :)

The course is set for Thursday, and I must say that I have outdone myself on this one. The scenery is absolutely amazing at the top of the canyon and I know all of you will agree. This is going to be a wonderful event which will start with a 2.2 mile hill climb up jeep trail to the top of the canyon. From there we will all ride a 1.85 mile loop with a mix of single track and double track. The OPEN class will be doing the climb + 3 laps while the BEGINNER class will do the climb + 2 laps.

Expect the OPEN class winner to finish in about 52 minutes and the BEGINNER class winner to finish in about 56 minutes.

We will finish the ride at the top of the canyon, exactly where we finished last time, and you can stay to cheer on the rest of the riders or you can casually ride back down to the arena to enjoy a recovery drink and hot dog.

Please respect the land owners and their property. So no leaning bikes against the buildings, no littering, no peeing in the open, and stay on the marked trail. Be sure to say thank you to the land owner as well before ya leave.

The Fat Fish will have some gatorade and water, hot dogs, chips and some music. Besides that, be sure to bring your helmet and to sign the release form before you ride.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

Adam