Thursday, October 31, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Presumably These Are For Cyclists?
Who am I kidding? It is Walmart. They are for fat people.
I am just home after running a few errands. These are the current weather conditions in Rexburg: temperature 10 degrees F, drifting snow, sustained north wind of 26 mph with gusts to 43 mph, numerous accidents and road closures. If there was any doubt yesterday about cancellation of the TNR, today it seems like the most obvious decision we ever made.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Where to Ride: Gravel riding & fly fishing along the Teton's Western Slope w/ XPDTN3 - Bikerumor
Lots of familiar locations in the story. Big Springs. Harriman State Park. Mesa Falls. Warm River. More. We have ridden bikes in all of these places.
Tomorrow's TNR Cancelled. 2019 Perfect Attendence Award to Jeff Hancock
In light of the very cold temperatures forecast for tomorrow evening (overnight low of 0 F) the final Tuesday Night Ride of 2019 has been cancelled. The 2019 TNR season consisted of 29 rides beginning March 19th with only a couple of weather-related cancellations. That does not mean that we only encountered bad weather twice. It means that we only had the foresight to cancel twice. Congratulations to Jeff—the only TNR participant with perfect attendance for 2019. We will look forward to seeing you in March of 2020.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Cube Post-Race 2019
Photo credit Heather Williams
Photo credit Heather Williams
Photo credit Heather Williams
Photo credit Heather Williams
Photo credit Heather Williams
Photo credit Heather Williams
I had a lot of fun at the Cube on Saturday. Since then we have received quite a bit of feedback, mostly positive. One thing is beyond dispute. This was the most popular Cube course ever. Weather conditions were tough with cold and wind during the kids' and B Races and rain during the A Race. The total number of registered participants was around seventy. In light of the weather, we feel pretty good about that number. The number of spectators was significantly lower than previous years, almost undoubtedly due to the weather.
Local cyclocross stalwarts Kelton Williams and Shae Griffin each added to their long list of Cube victories in the A Race which was notable for a number very fast riders including young mountain bike racers. Jeff has posted complete race results on the Cube homepage www.rexburgcube.com
The Cube is only as successful as its supporters and participants. I am going to do something that I very seldom do—mention individually many of the people who contributed to this year's Cube. The obvious risk is that I will fail to mention someone that I should. If you feel like I have overlooked your contribution, I would be happy to make amends in a subsequent post.
Brian Williams was the principal designer of the 2019 Cube course. Brian has an ability to see potential that other people do not and to utilize familiar features in novel ways. Over the years, he has been responsible for many of the best features of our courses. Brian, Tony, Kelton, and I spent hours at the Nature Park clearing trails, trimming grass, and test riding every variation of every feature.
Brian also made the prize medallions for the A and B Races. They were unique and beautiful--CNC machined, sand blasted, and CNC machined again. I regret not getting a picture of them. Does anyone else have one?
Heather Williams has provided years of professional photography to The Cube and Rexburg Cycling. She is offering free downloads of this year's Cube images at her website. https://heatherwilliamsphotography.zenfolio.com/p689838807 In addition, Heather made a substantial contribution to the purchase of this year's T-shirt.
Jeff Hancock is responsible for virtually every technically or logistically complicated aspect of the Cube, from maintaining the website and registration to drone video and building the techiest aspects of the course such as the Event Horizon. Jeff does most of our design work including the Cube poster, T-Shirts, and several generations of team kits. He has put in more than a few stitches and provided medical attention following some bad accidents. In addition, Jeff has been the primary financial benefactor of Rexburg Cycling through Teton Cancer Institute.
Stephanie Hancock has been responsible for race-day registration and check-in. She has spent countless hours in the cold managing the registration table.
Tony Perkins, head coach of the Upper Valley Composite Mountain Bike Team, was a significant cycling mentor to me thirty years ago during the mountain bike boom. He has never stopped. Tony is the boots-on-the-ground guy who is there from the first moment of planning to the last minute of clean-up.
Lana Grover has provided IT and design assistance over the years. Jeff built the Rexburg Cycling Blog. Lana taught me how to use it.
Chris Huskinson was Rexburg's first cyclocross racer and pitched the original idea of the Cube to me, Tony, and the City Rec Department all those years ago. Chris provides the potatoes that are a Cube staple as well as providing a trailer and storage for our course marking supplies and barriers.
Kellen Birch maintains the Rexburg Cycling Facebook page and the Rexburg Cycling trailer as well as providing deejay and audio to the Cube. There is a saying that friends help you move, but real friends help you move bodies. If I ever have a body to move, I will call Kellen.
Scott and Rachel Hurst have been our primary liaisons to the NICA mountain bike families. The participation of the mountain bike kids has added new life and excitement to the Cube. Rachel has been our volunteer coordinator for the past several years and is unfailingly calm, organized, and hard working. Rachel organized the hot cocoa and baked potatoes.
Emma Hurst (my cyclocross nemesis) and Erik Hurst organized the high school kids to help with the post-race clean-up.
Joe Hill and the guys at Sled Shed have provided mountains of course marking tape, raffle prizes, bikes, and mechanical support.
Eric Cameron has been responsible for timing at the start-finish line for the past two of years. Timing would have been perfect this year except the rain glitched out some of our touch screens.
Ryan Edge and Stefan Haase from Fitzgerald's Bikes were at the Nature Park well before sunrise and worked for hours along with Morris Christensen, Michael Karren, and Sasha Socolov to mark and set up the course.
We are very grateful for the support of the City of Rexburg including Greg McGinnis Director of the Parks Department, Officer Wayne Robison our liaison to the Rexburg Police Department, and Mayor Jerry Merrill a consistent friend and supporter of the Cube.
Our deepest gratitude goes out to the participants; to Kelton and Shae for keeping the other racers honest, and to everyone who makes the effort to come back year after year. Dan and Shae Griffin drove over from Boise and the mountain bike families from all over the state. Bob Walker has participated in virtually every Cube since the beginning. Peter Joyce has also been a long-time supporter. Please consider supporting Peter's race, Bengal Cross on Saturday November 9th in Pocatello. Dan Streubel from Driggs seldom misses the Cube. Many of the Rexburg locals have been here since the beginning.
Post Script.
My first omission was the most obvious, my wife Dawn, who spent the day wrangling the twin terrors, the two Olivers.
Post Script.
My first omission was the most obvious, my wife Dawn, who spent the day wrangling the twin terrors, the two Olivers.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Hit and Run at the Cube
Thanks to everyone for a great Cube today. We will publish a few pictures and a race report in the next day or two. In the meantime, we need your help. There was a hit-and-run incident during the awards presentation. A small silver car was hit by a large blue pickup truck (categorically not Michael Karren who spent many hours volunteering today as well as helping out last night). If you have any information that might assist in identifying the driver, please contact me or the Rexburg Police Department. Dave
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Cube Preview Tuesday Night
The TNR will be a regular road ride. Likely Steve's loop. Swinging by to take a look at the Cube course on the way home. If you want to bring a cross bike that would be helpful but certainly optional.
Sedona II
We wrapped up an excellent week of mountain biking in Sedona with a stop in Salt Lake City yesterday where I rode the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with Thomas from City Creek to Emigration Canyon. We saw Sedona’s famous White Line Train which for obvious reasons we opted not to ride.
Cube Volunteers Needed!
As the Cube has grown, the need for volunteers has increased. We are committed to putting on the best community event we can. Good volunteers make that possible.
I just signed up for "The Cube 2019" and you should too! Click here now: https://signup.com/go/LijBODB
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Sedona
Dawn and I are in Sedona this week. She lured me here with promises of mountain biking. And true to her word, she has been a tenacious rider and a good sport generally.
We have mostly avoided downtown Sedona which is gridlocked with tourists and traffic. The city is home to restaurants, crystals, all things New Age, and art galleries ranging from serious art to velvet Elvis. I will leave it to you to place the example above on that continuum.
Think of Sedona as a significantly upscale Moab with fewer cyclists and an extensive system, dozens perhaps even hundreds, of mountain bike trails radiating out in every direction. Most of the trails are loops, typically of about 3 to 7 miles. You can link them together in a virtually infinite number of combinations to produce an almost endless series of multi-hour rides. It is the best trail system of its kind that I have ever ridden.
The trails are remarkably well marked and well-engineered. Many of Sedona's trails would rate a high moderate level of technical difficulty by modern standards, significantly higher by historical standards. A medium travel bike like the Fuel EX is a decent match for these trails, but the optimal setup would be an even burlier rig. Compared to Moab, Sedona has more vegetation in the form of pinion and juniper, less sand and slickrock, and more hard-packed soils and blocky rocks.
Shout-out to Sled Shed and James Turcotte who spent all day Saturday upgrading Dawn's Bike for the trip with a new dropper post and 1 x 12 Sram drivetrain.
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