Images from Dakar

I am having to spend my evenings hunting the internet for Dakar news. There has been some increasing beef between Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah and, while Versus showed them having a discussion after todays stage (where Carlos ate a dog turd), they didn't bother to fill us in what he was crying about. The T1 class is kinda like the anything go's class. These things are built like trophy trucks. I think they have to use the homologation block in the motor and keep about the same wheelbase but that's about it. Check out the cage and chassis construction on the VW.


I don't know which rider this is but I love the picture.



This is Annie Seels. She was leading the woman's class but then woke up with a nasty fever and stomach issues. She raced anyways and came in like 90th but she's a bad ass.




This is the VW driven by De Villiers. That's the stocker in the background. Isn't it cute?

Road riding?

I don't know when I was last on my road bike. I decided to give it some attention today. It was almost 40 degrees out and we were supposed to be under a winter storm watch tonight. I headed out at about 11 I guess and got almost a solid three hours in of super easy riding. The first hour was bliss and then the weather started rolling in. The temps dropped and I started getting cold. I was gonna push for another hour but I decided to go home and have coffee. I feel good. I know I wasn't riding at all this time last year. The fishing blows right now so I might as well pedal.

Workouts

A while back I was talking with our varsity football coach about lifting weights and he was showing me some stuff he thought would be helpful. I was very skeptical. I assumed he didn't know what he was talking about and was going to have me doing stuff that would turn me into a linebacker. I hated some of the stuff he wanted me to do right away but after 2 months I love them. My weights have gone through the roof now and we sat down last week to talk more. He's changed things up for this past week. Again, I was skeptical but thought I'd try it because the lover of football has made some really surprising connections to cycling specific workouts. Turns out...I was the meathead. Won't be the last time. This week he had me cut back on the weights and start selecting fewer exercises each day but doing 3 sets of 20 reps for each. It was much harder than I thought it would be but I think it makes sense from an endurance point. This week I'll go to 4 sets of 20 and then 5 sets of 20 before we sit down and talk again. The rest of the days in the week are spent just doing easy spins outside or on the trainer to flush out my legs. I love being in the weight room.

The Dakar

I'm thankful that Versus is covering the Dakar because some coverage is better than none but.......

a half hour of coverage sure doesn't do this race much justice. Particularly when they spend a decent chunk of that coverage dedicated to the towns that days stage is passing through and what they're known for. Don't get me wrong...the blonde that does that segment is certainly easy on the eyes and her accent doesn't hurt but I really would rather see the race. Thankfully they are spending the most time covering the motos. I think the new 450 rule is going to make for a tighter race this year and end the KTM stranglehold. Don't get me wrong again...I'm a big KTM fan but I'm pretty psyched for Jonah Street and to see what the Yamaha can do. I'm also really bummed that they're not showing anything about the T4 trucks. It's always cool to see those big things plowing through the terrain. I'm having to do a ton of web surfing to stay on top of all the action. But...at least the race is going on.

This just in...

I said I was going to do more overnighters last year and I didn't. With the goal that I have in mind for the CTR this year, I am going to have to spend more time on the bike in situations where I'm gonna have to be pushed and I'm gonna need to put myself into dark hurt lockers. I will not be able to do 7 hour repeat rides on my road bike up and down the mountain to Colorado Springs and back. Everything will be preparation for CTR but I've found some really neat stuff to do. My friend Marshal has talked about putting together a Tour Divide type of ride from our front door to the Grand Canyon and back. I would really like to do that but I'm not sure I could do it on a SS. Today I found the preliminary schedule for the Colorado Endurance Series. It's 10 races all 100 miles long. These will be excellent training for me. I won't be able to do them all but I'd like to hit as many as possible. I definitely want to do the first event in Durango that eases into things with a fire road century. I'm super psyched to see Ring the Peak on the list for sometime in October. Good motivation.

Look at all those holes. They aren't big but imagine standing in 35 degree water for 6 hours and having water come in from each of those babies.

For holes this big you can get by with using Aquaseal. Just dab it on each spot and then let it dry for about 6 hours. If you're like my pruned friend Scott, don't fret. You can get patches that are big enough to do the job at any reputable fly shop.

On a more serious note...I find that I go back and forth between cycling and fly fishing. I truly love both activities. Sometimes (like now) when I'm sooooo focused on a cycling goal, I neglect the river quite a bit. When I'm out on it, I feel like I shouldn't be. When I'm on my bike and ride by a puddle, I think I should be fishing. A few years ago, before I started riding again, my burning desire was to catch a new Colorado 5 weight fly rod trout record. That was truly in the peak of my snobbery. I would walk along the river covering huge amounts of ground passing on tons of fish that many would have spent hours casting to. There was no time for food other than a quick bar or gel. I would furrow my brow at anything under 18" (which is a damn respectable fish anywhere in the lower 48). Back then my eyes were so tuned into the water, I could spot a trout set up in a riffle 100 yards up stream. Then I'd crouch down, sometimes on on my stomach in the tall grass, and just watch to see if that fish was eating. If your eyes are really in check, you can see the white inside part of the mouth open up when they eat. Sometimes they will flinch a bit when making a quick move left or right to get a bug and their sides will flash. That's a feeding fish. Once you see that, it's just a matter of time and I'd gladly spend 4 hours or more laying on my stomach while casting at that one truly trophy fish until it either stopped feeding or I fooled it. Those were the days when I'd be gone 10 hours easy and sometimes come home having not touched a fish but knowing that was perfectly fine because I had seen some beasts.

One of the biggest reasons I've decided to focus on my cycling goal this year is because my home river, the South Platte is really struggling. The Gill Lice all but wiped out the salmon. I haven't seen a healthy Kokanee population in years. The big resident browns and bows just aren't present in sections where they should be and haven't been in years. The only thing my buddies and I can think of is all of the construction along the river is messing with the fish a lot. Cheesman dam is being worked on and the flows are regulated now to accommodate the workers there and no the trout. The same goes for Waterton Canyon and it's construction and dredging. I really think it's wreaking havoc on the trout and it worries me. Normally the flows even as far away as Hartsel are dependent upon how thirsty the Denver people are but now 2 of the 3 dams are regulating flows pretty sporadically too. It's sad but...necessary.

Todays task

I have not been doing much fishing recently because my waders have some leaks in them and, at this time of the year, that makes for a painful day on the water. This time of the year, the fish are anchored down in the deeper holes and you simply have to be in the water for long hours. Nice Gore-Tex waders can run $500 and, although I've had mine for a while (I bet 8 years now), I'd love to get more life out of them. So if you're in a similar situation and have never done this before...fear not...it's easy and here are the steps.

The first thing you need is rubbing alcohol. This does not have to be 100% (70%) works just fine. I think I've had this bottle of alcohol longer than the waders but I don't think it's perishable. For you non-midwest folks...a Snook is a fish. I have no clue what a Schnuck really is other than a large chain of grocery stores back home although I bet when Sean Connery says he wants to fish for Snook, it sounds like he's saying Shnook.

Then you'll need some decrepit waders.

Turn said waders inside out to reveal a smell that is sure to please any dog (particularly this one). I found the aroma to be a pleasing mix of mold, must, feet, farts, beer and fish. Tis delicious and if I could bottle it I would and then apply liberally.

Here in Colorado, we trudge through some pretty rough areas to get to the bigger fish so waders take a beating. Usually holes show up on the shins. My waders are 2 layers up front and 1 in the back. This is a shot of the calf area of one leg. Lay it out nice and flat and spray it with the alcohol.

After a few seconds you'll see dark gray spots appear. These are tiny pin holes. I still need to take a picture of all the holes I found before I patch them up. I'll post the carnage for you. It's no wonder my feet go numb quickly. My friend Scott has had a half inch hole in his ass area I think since I've known him. I never get anything more wet than my socks but that's bad enough. I imagine if that icy water hit my sphincter that my butt hole would slam shut with the effectiveness of a cigar cutter. Anyway...I digress....take a Sharpie and let the alcohol dry a bit and then start circling those dark spots. I did have some wear and tear spots but no gaping holes.