expensive

on my recent trip to elkhorn a lot of the conversation centered around gear. even riding/racing for a team the cost of bike's and bike related gear isn't cheap. it kinda leaves me in a perpetual state of feeling like i'll never be able to attain the bike, wheels, or gear that i want for racing.

at the end of the day you can drive yourself mad by researching options and looking at prices.

the harder thing to keep in mind is that performance isn't about how light your bike is but how well you have been training. keyword in that sentence is performance. because mentally it would sure be nice and i would feel cooler to be riding a new race bike!

elkhorn recap - a musical

well, i missed a few days and a few songs while i was racing the elkhorn classic stage race. bike racing is hard, even when your not on the bike, and i was just not left with enough time and/or internet connection.

sometimes i forget that not everyone corner of the universe or even our wonderful state has high-speed wireless. although, i'm not really sure why...

all that aside there were songs each day, however, i don't like living in the past. therefore, i will give a couple songs that sum-up and recap the dippy weekend:

oregon trail road race


pleasant valley tt


spencers - dooley mt road race


my - dooley mt road race


two very different songs for two very different races!

i think one of the things that fascinates me the most about bike racing is that every racer i talk to has a song running through his/her head while he/she is racing. never are the songs the same and never do the mean that same to each racer.

somehow music allows us to deal with the deep dark places we push ourselves into and through while we suffer with our fellow gladiators in the rink we call racing!

travis is the name and peaking is the game

in this fun game of being a bike racer there is a subplot called "training" and then further "subplot-layers" within "training". the current subplot layer i am in is "peaking." it's something that i have heard a lot of other racers talk about, but that no one ever seems to do. and not for lacking of trying on his/her part, but it's kind of an illusive aspect of training and it is really hard to judge or gauge.

so this weak starts the start of my peaking for a stage race in just over a week. today's ride taught me two things really. the first lesson i learned on the road today is that i love riding my bike even if i ride uphill for an hour and a half into a headwind and then turn around and ride down hill into a headwind for an hour.

the second thing i learned today is that a ferrari going 9x (i.e. 99 mph approximately) the speed you are going uphill on a windy road is really fucking quiet and can easily scare the crap out of you!

so remember to make love not war with the wind and watch your back cause those european sports cars are out to get you!

KATT WILLIAMS: Every Day I'm Hustlin'

off to portland

i find myself on the fringe of another trip to portland. i am very impressed with myself, well, at least with the amount of trips i have been able to take to portland within the last year while not owning a car!

with another roadtrip on the horizon you can be safe to assume that there will be some new "conversations from the road" very soon!

Race Race Race Race Race

So far this spring has been my heaviest racing schedule ever. It has been really fun and I have learned a lot. I got my upgrade to cat 3 and raced my first three races as a 3 last week. The jump was definitely an increase in race speed. The combination of the increase of speed and the bulk of racing I have been doing left me wrecked after the weekend, so I am currently enjoying the rest week!