Frozen Hog Race Report 2010

Last Saturday I drove down to Alpine for the Frozen Hog Race.  My calves got completely shredded.  A full week after the event and I am still sore.  I keep having to explain to the guys at work why I am walking with a limp. 
It started out with Josh explaining the LeMans style start, he even mentioned that if you didn't want to run you could just go to the staging area and wait for a signal to go after most of the field had passed.  In hind sight that is really funny, after the LeMans start we grabbed our bikes and started running, and running and running. 

This was the highlight of the race, fifty feet in Chris Fox tempting us with a hand full of ones, (is it worth a dollar to loose a position?)  I should have grabbed a buck.

You can see me behind Chris running.... and look Stuart Goodwin can run too

                                      

The course was a 4 mile loop, to the right of the stars is the singletrack where you gain all of the elevation.  NONE OF IT WAS RIDEABLE.  40 degree temperatures turned the snow into slush, there was absolutely no chance of riding this section.  1/3 of a mile into the race I told myself I was going to do one lap and drop out.  After two miles of suffering we hit the top of the course and mounted our bikes for the downhill.  It was squirly but ridable and my riding legs were fresh so I jumped and tried to make the most of the section of the course that you could actually ride. 

As I finished the first loop I saw a familiar face standing on the side of the road spectating, Stuart Talley. By this time I was back to running with my bike and could tell that he didn't recognize me.  I ran off course directly at him and gave him a sucker punch to the gut.  I don't know why it just felt right.  Anyone that knows Stuart I am sure will understand.  Stuart and I have a bit of a history. 

The first time I met Stuart was in Moab through mutual friends.  We were going out to ride Flat Pass and on the way to the trail head Stuart informed us of exactly how fast he was, to paraphrase it went something like this, "You may beat me up the hills but I got this here new full suspension bike and I will kill you on the down hills."  He was right about the uphill part, and all I have to say is that right before I knocked my front teeth out on a rock I was in front of him on the downhill as well.  Seeing Stuart sealed the deal, there was absolutely no way I could drop with him standing there.  I kept running. 

Don't get me wrong I really like Stuart he is what I like to call a very likeable Ass Hole.  Many a good time have been had with Stuart around and since he introduced me to my wife I guess he can't be all that bad.  His son Noah had a stellar race and finished first in his class. 

I finished 4th out of 5 against a group of really fast guys.  I am happy with the finish.  

Expert Men 30-39

1 501 0:57:55 Greg “Chucky” Gibson

2 529 1:00:06 Steve Wasmund

3 520 1:03:47 Cameron Smart

4 566 1:04:19 Ryan Thompson

5 574 1:32:58 Aaron Moulton


I have to say Josh McCarrel did a great job of organizing and promoting the race everything ran very smoothly.  Mother Nature just had other plans for us on that day.

Frozen Hog Practice

Did a little bike practice on Saturday for the Frozen Hog Race.  I decided to play around with the video function on my point and shoot and ended up with this jem.  A short little clip I call perspective, given the choice I'll take two wheels.

Snow Biking on Bonneville Shore Line Trail in Kaysville from Rocket Ryan on Vimeo.

Magic and the Three Step Process

I feel like I have been getting away with something that I shouldn’t lately. I have been riding my bike off-road in the middle of the winter on mountain trails, both snow covered and in balmy mid 70˚ temperatures.


There’s an easy explanation for the fair weather riding and that is due to the fact that I just happened to find some spare time during a business trip to the LA area. Instead of booking a flight out in the morning, I booked one of the evening flights and rented a bike for the day. I was only able to find one shop in the area that rented bikes and it turned out to be a ’93 Diamondback with a second generation Manitou fork on it (if you thought the elastomer bumpers were bad when they came out try aging them a couple of decades). I did my best to subdue my bike snobbishness. The bike actually climbed great and we will just leave it at that. The riding was good and I will never complain about that.

The snow covered trail riding is a little more difficult and the only explanation I have is Magic. Magic keeps the tires above the crust. Magic propels you forward at a speed similar to that of summer time riding. Magic makes it possible to ride in places nobody else will venture out to (at least on two wheels). The Bonneville Shore Line Trail above Layton and Kaysville gets a fair amount of foot traffic and has had great riding conditions lately. I’ve ridden that section of trail four times in the last couple of weeks. I love getting the looks from hikers, runners, snow-shoers, and skiers as I pass them.

I generally try to be polite when making a pass, here is my routine.

Step one, Follow quietly for 30 seconds assuming they heard me come up from behind and are just looking for a spot to pull over.

If step one fails I move on to step two, “Excuse me mind if I get by here” this almost always works.

Step three although the most fun of all trail passing techniques is reserved strictly for Ipod listening oblivious to the world trail blockers. The rule for deploying step three involves completely exhausting all techniques in step one and two. Just for good measure I repeat step two three times prior to deploying step three. Here's how it goes, I start looking for an opening just wide enough that I can manage to make a pass without actually making physical contact. One extra inch is all I need. As soon as the opportunity presents itself I pounce, with gusto and flare.  The end result is always the same, I succeed in making the pass and trail blocker dude usually ends up jumping into the bushes.

I love step three.