US Grand Prix of Cyclocross Louisville edition

flew home for the second edition of the USGP in Louisville. i had some really strong efforts in both races, but starting from 53rd position put me at a real disadvantage. i stayed around on Sunday afternoon to watch the pros go at it. talk about smooth!

thoughts on Shimano's tubeless road wheelset...

I try to keep the blog light, but this time I’m going to get a little technical with talk about wheels – bike wheels, specifically. For the last two years of racing cyclocross, I rode on a traditional clincher wheelset. Rough courses were made rougher by the high pressures I was forced to run (50+ psi) and on more than one occasion I had to drop out of a race due to flats (usually goathead induced). On the plus side, I could quickly and easily swap tires for nearly any condition (I have a stack of “barely-used” clinchers on my porch).

Before this season started I decided to make the switch to the Shimano Dura-Ace WH-7850 SL tubeless wheelset. Only two tires were offered, Hutchinson’s Piranha and Bulldog, but I’d spent all of last year running the Piranha with great success so I wasn’t concerned. I was a late adopter to tubeless in the mountain biking world, but once I changed over I became a convert. The potential benefits of tubeless in cyclocross were intriguing – resistance to thorns/goatheads and pinch flats and the ability to run lower pressures.

So far, I’ve run the Shimano WH-7850 SL wheelset in four races and I’m disappointed. Setup was easy enough: add a scoop of Stan’s sealant and pump the tire up until the bead “pops” into place. From there, you can adjust your tire pressure as you desire. In my initial tests with the tubeless setup I started with tire pressures in the mid-30 psi range. Now, I’m no lightweight svelte racer – I weigh in at about 175 pounds – but I’m not really a heavyweight either. After starting my first cyclocross race with those mid-30 psi tire pressures I nearly finished the race on a flat rear tire. At several locations on course I “burped” the tire and lost tire pressure. At subsequent races I tried gradually increasing the pressures until burping stopped. At my weight, I found that tire pressures around 50 psi yielded good results, namely no burping. Unfortunately, with a tire pressure that high, it negates one of the primary reasons to run tubeless in the first place: I couldn’t run lower pressures!

At one race, on the hardscrabble dirt roads and paths in Watkins, Colorado, I did find that the tubeless setup provided one advantage over the clincher setups – resistance to goatheads. After my warmup laps I pulled five goatheads out of the front tire and the Stan’s expertly closed up the punctures with no noticeable pressure loss.

This past weekend, I planned on running the tubeless setup on the Frisco cyclocross courses. Unfortunately, on the way to the starting line at Saturday’s I felt my rear tire intermittently rubbing on the brake pads and discovered the wheel WAY out of true. I swapped over to my backup wheel setup (clincher) and ran the race on those, but after the race I closely inspected the Dura-Ace wheel. It turns out that the end of one spoke close to the hub broke, apparently during my easy warm-up laps. Word from the bike shop is that Shimano is out of spokes for this wheel, so I’m off of this wheel for at least one week.

As I mentioned above, I’m pretty disappointed in this tubeless option for cyclocross. Yes, I gain the advantage of thorn protection, but I’m still forced to run the same pressures I ran with clinchers. And now, it seems that the durability of the wheel is in question.

While the wheel is getting repaired, I’m setting up the Stan’s tubeless system on my Easton Circuit wheelset. I’ll document how that goes and how it performs.

my face in Velonews?

I'm not the centerpiece, but you can make out my black jersey and blue helmet behind the "major players"

war wounds

I got a little lazy near the end of my race yesterday and i'm looking a little worse for wear as a result. 3 years of racing cross and it's my first time to trip over a barrier...

those wooden barriers are unforgiving. at least i didn't bloody my argyles. but that's gonna leave a scar (to match the one on my right shin from getting spiked in Little League baseball)


my handlebars "punched" me in the face (or did my face run into the handlebars?)

odd double-decker bike

i never saw anyone try to get on or off it...

batter blaster

for the truly lazy, I present BATTER BLASTER! pancakes in a CAN!



What? you couldn't mix up some Bisquick or pop some Eggos in the toaster?

DNC comes to the Mile High City!

After feeling like there's a party going on in my own house and I'm not invited, I decided to head downtown to see what I was missing.

Gorgeous day on the South Platte.


MSNBC was filming just outside Union Station.


Obama gear everywhere.


The Obama train derailed.


Political party mascots on Segways.


The 16th Street Mall was bustling with more activity then usual.


Not sure what this had to do with the DNC, but I guess they felt it was a good place to throw down a yoga mat.


Not fans of Bush.


Again, no idea what robot man had to do with the convention.


Well, at least I've got that going for me...

Buffalo Creek

Last weekend Rick, Matt, Brenda, and I hit up Buffalo Creek for mellow 22 mile ride.

Little Belgium - The 2007 New England Cyclocross Season

Little Belgium - The 2007 New England Cyclocross Season from Andy Frothingham on Vimeo.

Two Eagle Scouts and Unidentified Boy Get Lost in THEIR OWN Campsite!

I was wide awake when the wake up call came. 4 AM. I’d been that way most of the night. Was it excitement? No, probably not - this wasn’t my first climb of Longs Peak. Maybe I was just uncomfortable? I never seem to sleep well my first night of camping out.

Regardless, it was time to get up, make breakfast, and get moving. The temperatures never dropped below 45 degrees F all night so there wasn’t the shock of cold air when I wiggled out of the sleeping bag – it was quite comfortable, even in shorts. Dustin forgot his fuel canister so his stove was useless. That left me as the only one with an operating stove, so I was the cook for the morning. Dustin and I were gathering water from the creek when ShelbyForest. arrived in Goblin’s Her morning started even earlier than ours when she left Denver at 2 AM to make the drive up to the Longs Peak Trailhead. Hmmm…maybe she had the right idea? At least she got some sleep.

I boiled water for Dustin and Doug’s Mountain House meals and then set about making oatmeal for Brenda and me. Of course, breakfast wasn’t without its own excitement. When I walked away from the stove to get a second batch of water to boil, the flame died on the stove. That didn’t stop fuel from spewing all over the ground, and we created our own “unofficial” campfire by burning off the spilled fuel. Then the stove wouldn’t relight. Well, it wouldn’t relight until Dustin applied his own flame WHILE MY FACE WAS OVER THE STOVE! Thanks for that. I’m lucky to have walked away with my eyebrows.

By the time the breakfast shenanigans were over, it was 5:30 and light was just beginning to permeate the sky. Brenda and Shelby got a headstart on the hike while Doug, Dustin, and I hung the bear bag. I guess that the three of us hadn’t paid enough attention to how we found our campsite in Goblin’s Forest the night before, because we couldn’t find our way out. It was like playing Keystone Cops in there – we’d meander down a path thinking we found our way back to the main trail only to come up on a tent in somebody else’s campsite. We’d turn around, pick a different path, and repeat the same scenario over again. After doing this a few times, we eventually chose the right path and got going in the right direction. We joked about the headlines the next day: “Two Eagle Scouts Lost in Their Own Campsite.”

Signing in at the register of Longs Peak trailhead.

A little over one mile into the trail and we turned off to set up camp.


Our own version of Burning Man in RMNP.

The first hour of the hike was pretty gentle as we meandered through the forest and crossed a number of streams. Eventually, we broke out of the trees and Longs Peak came into view. We knew that summertime in the Rockies always brings with it the likelihood of thundershowers later in the day, but the summit was already enshrouded in cloudcover, even if it was the innocent, whispy kind. Our fears were confirmed when we met up with some forest rangers at the Chasm Lake junction and they told us that the latest forecast called for a seventy percent chance of thundershowers. Would we beat the storms to the summit?

Just above treeline, sunrise to the east.


The first time Longs Peak comes into view.


Dustin and Doug in the "biggest meathead" contest.






Chasm Lake trail junction.

All five of us were keeping a pretty impressive pace. Doug would generally take the lead, surge ahead, and then wait for us at a trail junction or good napping spot. We passed a number of groups and even a few folks who turned around and called it a day much too early. Our fast pace carried through to the Boulderfields where everyone confidently leaped their way from rock to rock. The climb up to the Keyhole was easier than I remembered. Maybe I was a little more surefooted after spending time in crampons on Mount Rainier?

In the Boulderfields, looking up at the Keyhole.


The Keyhole.

From the Keyhole I got a perspective on where we came from and where we had to go. Skies to the west were scattered with clouds, high and not very menacing. I knew that the rain would come eventually, but not from these clouds. I looked ahead to the Ledges and saw a long string of multicolored shirts and jackets ahead of us. With Doug and Dustin leading the charge, we picked our way up and down rocks on the Ledges, following the red and yellow bulls eyes the entire way. Again, we passed a number of other climbers and reached the Trough with plenty of energy. Dustin tackled the Trough like his prom date at an all-you-can-eat buffet; he was out of sight and on the summit in no time. The rest of us chose a more moderate pace, avoided the loose scree, and climbed the larger, more secure boulders. In a couple of places the ladies had to receive a boost to climb Volkwagen-sized rocks; even a stranger managed to cop a feel of Shelby’s derriere at one point.

Brenda just into the Keyhole, with a long string of climbers ahead of us.


We crossed the Ledges and came to the Trough.

Even though I built up the Narrows to be more of a tightrope act then a Sunday stroll down a wide path, no one showed any fear and cruised to the Homestretch. Brenda, Shelby, and I followed Doug’s route up the Homestretch confidently climbing hand over foot on the steep slope. In this section I was happy with my choice of trail running shoes over leather hiking boots as I managed to just walk straight up a vast majority of the pitch.

The Narrows. Not nearly as imposing from this view.


Shelby and Brenda taking a breather on the Homestretch.


Best view on the mountain.

At 10 AM, we crested the Homestretch and celebrated on the summit. There wasn’t much of view due to the clouds, but victory was sweet nonetheless.

We made it!

Heading back down the Homestretch probably took nearly as long as it did to climb. Not so much because of the difficulty of the pitch, but because we had to dodge all of the climbers heading uphill.

Heading back down. Can we beat the rain?


My last view on the summit.

Doug, Dustin, and I took turns taking pictures of ourselves standing as close to the ledges as possible on the Narrows.

Doug on the Ledges.


Dustin on the Ledges.


Traffic jam on the Trough.


Nearly back to the Keyhole. Creepy guy following the girls. Me following the creepy guy.


View from the Keyhole into the Boulderfields.

We cruised down the Trough, back across the Ledges and through the Keyhole. At the base of the Keyhole we all regrouped and geared up just as the rain began to fall. For the next two hours we hiked back to camp in the pouring rain. Even wearing proper gear, I felt a chill, but I knew that everyone that summited behind us had to be feeling it more. We made it back to camp and eventually to the cars around 2 PM with little excitement, elated to have summited, and a little soaked and sore.

According to the Longmont Times, some others weren't so lucky:

Afternoon sleet and snow caught a number of hikers on Longs Peak by surprise this weekend. The peak attracts an inordinate number of novices, despite the fact that it is a long and exposed hike. So anyway, a bunch of them holed up in the Agnes Vaille Shelter (above) at 13,150 feet in the afternoon.

According to the Longmont Times Call, one decided, since it was cold and stormy, the only thing to do was call call park rangers on his cell phone for help for himself and 14 others. “They basically refused to leave the shelter,” ,RMNP spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said said. “They said there had been awful snow, wind and sleet.”

With some of the hikers experiencing symptoms of hypothermia and lacking recommended hiking equipment, the caller initially requested a helicopter to fly them out, an impossibility given the weather conditions, Patterson said.

Instead 22 park workers that were int he area brought rain gear, warm clothing and hot liquids for the wet and cold hikers. By 6 p.m., all the park staffers and hikers had left the shelter. However, the last group didn’t get to the trailhead until midnight.

All in all, a great climb for all four of us. That's probably my last 14er for the year, but six Colorado 14er climbs and one in Washington is great for a guy who previously only averaged one climb a year. Next up, more mountain bike racing and 'cross season!

Mount Rainier - Seattle to Portland

Friday and most of Saturday were spent in downtown Seattle.

The Pike Place market.


Bears love salmon, even at the market.


An automated doughnut machine. We tried some - straight out of the fryer.


My fish taco and salad from the waterfront.


A brat with spinach, sauerkraut, and onions from Uli's.


Jimi Hendrix

After walking along the waterfront, around Pike Place market and Pioneer Square, I headed down to Portland to meet up with Jeremy. I was driving Kevin's hybrid Ford Escape, a pretty nice ride, I must say. Kevin was riding in the STP, the Seattle to Portland bike ride; a total of 202.25 miles of bike riding in one day. I was shuttling his vehicle down to Portland for him.

Kevin at the end of his ride.

Sunday, Jeremy and I hit up a few microbreweries in Portland and then met up with Carol to see the Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.