Trail Maintenance!

A few days after the annual ‘Poo-Pickup’ in the foot hills, Team Eastside Cycles had another opportunity to improve our trails by being a part of the largest Ridge to Rivers Adopt a Trail volunteer trail maintenance crew so far this year!  There were a lot of bushes to trim, trail bars to maintain and ruts and erosion areas to patch up!  All in all the work was done within two hours.  Happy runners, hikers and cyclists passed us with smiles and comments of appreciation.  We returned to the Cartwright trail head to an overwhelming amount of cars parked along the road as the parking lot was full!  So, we returned our tools and made space – Always fun to lend a hand!

See you on the trails!

Z

Echo Red to Red Race Report from Page Rost!

52 degree temps with overcast sky's greeted 600 plus riders in Echo, Oregon for the Red to Red. This is Oregon's annual season opener for OBRA - Oregon's Bicycle Racing Association.
Red to Red was run in reverse from previous years. All categories dropped down to the river. Breath taking views, loose river rock, narrow bridges along the banks of the river. And then a short climb out to the rolling ranch country of Echo. The multiple finger-like extensions make this a race course that loops back upon itself. The constant extensions creates one of the more unique experiences in Mt Bike racing. Many times you are not sure which group of riders you are behind and which ones are behind you. The Pro/Cat 1/SS completed 32 miles and the Cat 2&3's course was 26 mile. 5 team members and 1 guest member finished with no mechanical/mishaps on the course. Post race was filled by dirt smudged smiles talking of commitments to longer training rides.

TEC 2013 Roll Call!

It has been fairly quiet on the Blog front – but rest assured Eastsiders have been busy skiing, biking, racing and having a grand ole time since the last post!

The end of cyclocross season seemed premature as nationals and worlds were still a month out and the weather was just getting ‘crossy’ in Boise…   But a few us hung up our bikes and started waxing the skis and turned our typical Thursday Night Ride into a Thursday Night Ski for 5 weeks!  While trail conditions waned in the valley it was an easy choice to run up the hill to Bogus Basin to get some laps in.  Turnouts were lower, but the fun shared patched the whole where bike riding used to be…

Unseasonably warm temperatures dried things out for about a week mid February and even though the skiing was reported to be great, four of us slipped out for our Thursday night jaunt to test the better trails!  The feeling of rolling the knobbies left me feeling elated…  It was good to be back on the bike! 

We have some ideas for how and where to end a good ride…

And – we made it!  Winter’s end is looming!  The first mountain bike race of the season is this Saturday!  Of course the next race isn’t for another month after Echo Red to Red, but spring fever is imminent!  Time to wash those bike when the hose thaws, pick this years’ new gear and plan those trips and races! (if you haven’t already! – some races have already sold out! J )



Name the back of the beautifuly trimmed, team member/sponsor head!



Last night was the team 2013 kickoff meeting and about 20 of us showed up for some great pizza from one of our sponsors (Flat Bread!).  We tasted some Honey Stinger product (another sponsor) and had product to take home from Stinger and GU (new sponsor this year!).  Of course we met at our Title sponsor’s new Eastside Cycles location (across the street from previous location) to wine and dine amongst beautiful bikes I’ve only seen dancing through my mind the last 5 weeks!).

Here you can see Geneva’s brand spankin’ new Rocky Mountain on the stand getting dialed for its first ride as two of our trusty wrenches admire the beauty!

Trailhead Chiropractic or second main sponsor was on hand to meet those of us who have not yet required his services to fix locked joints, sprains and pains and share his goals for 2013 as well! 

Of course we had other team member sponsors on hand, including Bryan (Catridge World), Geneva (Riverbend Preschool), Matt (Matt Green Photography; NEW SPONSOR!) and Greg (Verde Fulfillment)!  Of course we have secured other official and non-official team sponsors (some mentioned in previous post, some last night).  Good people coming together for good things, love it!

It was good to get back to seeing the regular folks again, good luck to those headed out to Oregon for the first race!  Looking forward to the 2013 season!  Should be a good one!

Cheers,

Z

We are very excited to announce our sponsors for the 2013 season!  Your support is critical to our success as a club, both on the bike and as a positive contributor to the local community.  THANK YOU Eastside Cycles, Trailhead Chiropractic (NEW!), Cartridge World, Flatbread Community Oven, Thornton Oliver Keller, Verde Fulfillment, Habitat Veterinary, Riverbend Preschool, Matt Green Photo (NEW!), Boise Fry Company (NEW!), WestWater Research, Rocky Mountain, Ridley, Maxxis Tires, GU Energy and Honey Stinger! 

As we enter the 8^th week of the 2012 Cyclocross season, I wanted to pause for a moment and reflect on what has been going on: lots of fun!  Team Eastside Cycles has had a great showing thus far in both the SICX series and the Waffle Cross series.  The courses have been fun and challenging.  I tried to layout a course on paper, enough to get a feel for how tough it can be to even plan the course not to mention setting it up!

I’ve had a great time chatting up everyone at the races and battling it out with the BYRDS.  Maybe I’ve had a good time racing with BYRDS because they’ve only beaten me a handful of times (usual suspects) and have only put me in the tape once or twice…  It seems we don’t get to see this amount of fellow rides at any other time during the year!  In fact, there are so many people at the races, I rarely have time to talk to everyone I’d like to catch up with! 

 

So a big thank you to everyone coming out every weekend.  It has been great to see you and be a part of the excitement we are all making the cross scene here in Boise.

A few of my highlights of the season so far:

·        Working with Ryan Faber to build up a new cross assault bike

·        Racing CAT2 and getting beaten by a ‘new’ rider in CAT3 at Sandy point (Brad from the Wood River Valley). 

·        Visiting Victor, Idaho for Moose Cross and beating Brad two days in a row – the second day took some doing…but the swag was very much worth the effort and trip!

·        Eating Waffles at Waffle Cross!  Good call on the ‘crystallized’ sugar – or Belgian sugar – whatever – magic.  (much better than choking down a waffle and a PBR during the Waffle race)

·        Racing Kuna and getting Flocked again – but still grabbing the last podium spot.

·        Racing Nampa after a day of broken sleep interlaced with flu like purging but still enjoying the course and trying to keep Jeremy Whitman at bay!  I also had a chance to race with Mark Schafer for most of the race before he crushed me at the finish…

·        Being called up first for Turkey Cross #4 before Brent Gorman or Shawn Mitchell as the series point leader for Pro1/2!  (unless both Brent and Shawn don’t show up or finish, it seems I have a good shot at 3^rd for the season…)

·        Both Angela and I holding the series lead for the SICX series at the moment! (Wmns Cat3 and Pro/1/2 respectively)

Looking forward to seeing you all at States and the SICX finale December 1^st and 2^nd!

Cheers,

Z

Charity Ride 2012

This was the second year we participated in a charity ride.  Charitywater.org was the 2012 Charity Ride beneficiary.  They are a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

Cory Bolen Provided excellent maps for the rides!

Riders donated $15 and then headed out on one of three ride options to suit various desires of difficulty.  Similar to last year, there was a 50mile, a 40mile and a 23mile ride mapped out.

Last year we had about 8-10 people on the 50mile route, this year I opted for the coined "Yam" ride.  The "Russet" was the 40 mile and the "Bourgeois" was the 50mile option.  Themes of the ride names were chosen as a nod to our partner sponsor, Boise Fry Company, who took care of all of us post ride and donated 20% of all of their sales for most the the afternoon to the charity as well!

Green Belt Roll Call!

Nine of us showed up at 10:30 to do the Yam and everyone patiently waited around for me to run into Eastside Cycles to purchase some new water bottle cages for my new Ridley cross bike and inflate Angela's tire again as I was unable locate and fix a leak in her tire before the ride.  (I would have to add air another 3 times during the ride, but it worked until I find time to try and fix it again!)

Yes, it was smokey out there, but it didn't hamper our spirits or hinder our riding abilities...it did, however decrease our visibility!

 



Bryan Warnock and Rick Holscher leading up Sidewinder



The group slinkied up Crestline trail and grouped up again before climbing Sidewinder.  The trails were not very busy Saturday!  Seems everyone was hesitant to ride in the smoke.  But as fellow cyclist Dave Byers said in response to "should I ride in this smoke?" he replied: "Ride. Always."  I wonder if he got the information on our charity ride?  Similarly to many others, our Thursday night rides have been a bit lite as of late!



Angela following Jeremy







  

Still smiling up Fat Tire Traverse!







Enjoying the Tailings Art





Rolling out Rocky Canyon: Fall colors are here!





Happy Rick and Nancy Odel on the last climb of the day



During the ride Rick received a call from his daughter Danny who informed Rick that the basement was flooding!  She was going to use a shop vac to get most of the water up and lay down towels and limit water usage until Rick could call a plumber and finish out the ride!  (Danny is in the 7th grade!) :)

Rick arranging for a plumber on Rock Island

Post ride we all enjoyed ample amounts of fries, gourmet burgers and beer!  It was a pleasure to catch up with the three Red Lantern riders who did the 50mile (altered) route; good seeing you, Jared Rammel, Todd Meir and Ben Biggerstaff.  We did not get a chance to catch up with any of the Russet riders!  Anyone?

Yam riders:

Eric Zuber

Angela Haener

Rick Holsher

Bryan Warnock

Nancy Odel

Tyler Smith

Logan (Tyler's nephew)

Jeremy (didn't catch your last name!)

It was a pleasure!  Hope to see more of you out next year, as well as the fast approaching Cross Season!

Zuber



Multiday Adventure

Just a quick entry to keep some fresh content and exercise my day dreaming…

I’ve always been intrigued by multi day bike travel since Angela bought our first pannier back in 2007 when we were deciding how to experience Ireland.  Since then we have taken three large trips, the largest of which was a 3 week, self supported trip in the rain over 5 countries during which we learned a lot.

Then it was easy to be sucked into the endurance mountain bike events with all of the strong riders on our team and in the valley.  It only seems natural to me what the next adventure step would be: multiday mountain bike travel and; GASP – RACING! 

I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas in order to draw out your experiences and ideas in the hope of creating more adventures together.  Local Multi day trips, signing up together for organized multi day events or creating a local multi day route/event to share with others local and out of state!



From XXC_Mag_#17: Frame Bags for a 400mi race

 A group of friends from Boise (not including myself) are headed down to Moab to do a self supported White Rim tour.  Bob trailers are being gathered, dry runs being made up Rocky Canyon and excitement mounting.  I wish them smooth travels and pleasant memories to be made.  Looking forward to hearing about the trip!

It seems multi day, self supported mountain and/or cross bike racing is growing at a reasonable rate as of late, or perhaps I’m now more aware of events and gear options.  A few of us on the team have been talking about bike packing.  One has even gone so far as outfitting his mountain bike with frame bags and route planning.  I hope to join on a 2-3 day jaunt this Fall if time permits.  I have not committed as far as gear is concerned, as frame bags can get a bit costly.

If you have read this far; Perhaps you too are interested in exploring this world on two wheels under your own effort.  Do you want to learn what it would be like to be self supported on an overnighter MTB trip?  Maybe before the snow flies we can do an overnighter to Mores Campground and back?  Anyone?  Baby steps to multi day adventure! J



Freeload Racks from NZ on a Full Suspension MTB

 Recently fueling my excitement was being exposed to XXC Magazine showcasing Endurance Mountain biking including accounts of Southern California Stage Coach 400, TransIowa, San Juan Hut to Hut, Dirty Kanza 200, and various other multi day adventures stateside and abroad as well as fueling ideas from top endurance athletes such as Amanda Carey.  Needless to say the adventure detector in my brain was pegged. 

It was in this magazine I came across a rack system that I thought to be ingenious.  I had been looking for a front rack for my commuter (bottle opener included) and then thought this rack may fit many uses I’d like to explore at a reasonable cost!  This rack could convert any one of my bikes into a multi day rig, lugged or no.

We do have one experienced multi day endurance racer on our team and I hope by the end of next year we have two or three more!  Two of us at this point have committed to and signed up for a first taste of multi day endurance event; the BrekEpic in August next year.  There are currently 5 Boise riders signed up.  Perhaps one of the closer multi day events(staged or self supported) will also make our calendars, one never knows, but they are in the back of my mind.  And maybe I can plant the seed in yours too?!  Can we gain enough interest to grow this idea into an Eastside Epic?  A yearly event?!

Here is to adventure; share, plan, prepare and execute!

Cheers,

Z