Thankgiving in Sunny St George

Here are some pics from our trip down to St G for TG. The weather couldn't have been better.

What a find! Anasazi trail system in Ivins

The trails were pretty easy so the whole family went. The petroglyphs were amazing! 

It was good to go riding with the family. Dot and I even got away for a couple hours to do the Stucki, Rim Rock, Race course.

Making a Difference

 

15 years ago I met my little brother, Joe. He was 10, having anger issues and his father was out of the picture. We met regularly and had some good times, like- going fishing, hiking, 4 wheeling and just doing stuff. We did this for about 5 years until he moved out of state. The last I heard he was partying a lot, had an accident, lost his drivers license and just was not doing well. I had always wondered if what we did those 5 years, the time I spent with him, ever made a difference. Did anything I said or exemplified help this kid?

Well he came back to town this week and called me up. We went out for dinner and went to my 11 year old kid's soccer game (how time flies). At age 25 he says he has stopped partying, has had a steady job and girlfriend (and NO children out of wedlock!). He has dreams of saving for and opening up his own business.

So I asked him if the times we spent together when he was young ever made a difference to him. He said, "You were the only one in my life that accomplished anything or had anything. You were the one that showed me that I can do something if I work hard at it." He says his favorite thing to do when not working is going up in the mountains hiking and 4 wheeling.

I guess it was worth it :)

Sometime it may take a while but caring makes a difference.

Try it.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Finally! I've had to hike across Suncrest too many times over the last month waiting for them to open up the tunnel section to get to the sweet ride on the other side. And now it's done! I think Anne's is now my favorite ride in Draper. Riding it up to the top of Corner Canyon has a great grade that you can stand up and pound a  good pace. It is long and a great sustained work out. But now I can cross to the other side and climb her the other way but at the same grade. So far that section hasn't been discovered by too many, so the I can open it up on the return. Draper does it yet again. 


And MORE!

Draper has opened up parts of a pump track and downhill course! This little pump track was a bit much for the long wheel base of the Arantix, though. I wonder if they'll make one to fit a 29'r?

What's wrong with these pics?

Just think how fast my lap would have been if I wouldn't have posed! Just kidding- this was a pre-ride lap

I'm walking! And I'm smiling! Wrong!

This was Nose Dive Hill. I've never seen anyone ride it, although heard of it.

24 Hours of Moab - Take 8

Keith, the man, the leader, the guy who made up the winning team

It took me 8 years of racing the 24 Hours of Moab to get on a team that was able to take a first place finish! Due to a multitude of factors going our way, we were able to take a solid first and 4th overall. It is a good thing that it all came together because there was a lot of grumbling that this may be the last 24 hours of Moab. It's truly said since this has been a tradition for the team as well as myself. I looked back at the results for my 8 races starting in 2002 at the young age of 36. Looking at my first lap times I started out rough in the 1:20's (before I joined Mad Dog). Then in 2005 my times were not much better but the guys let me stay on the team. By 2006 I was feeling good but it was the rain year and I couldn't tell much about how I did. Then in 2007 I hit 1:14's and plateaued there until last year when I hit 1:13 and this year I reached 1:12.32.

The LaSal's were nicely covered with snow

Really, for the first time, this year I felt comfortable with the course. I didn't have the "pucker" factor on the technical stuff that I have had in the past. That can be good or bad. I pre-road the course Friday, with Jen our wonderful Chef, and I realized it was a very pleasant course- when you are not busting your butt.

Jen way up ahead of me- "putting it down"- a deceivingly pleasant ride

For the second year I didn't have to "run". I slyly suggested the race rotation should go by age and the guys bought it! Reed took the run and kicked butt getting back and then Tim took off and did not disappoint. Carson was to be next but he was still hacking up a storm from a recent cold (the same one that prevented us from doing Frog Hollow last weekend) so we left him for last. As it turned out he put down a 1:09 on his lap so we should have left him in third. Keith, however, went third and ended up setting down a respectable 1:13:04! That laid down a big challenge for me. I did not want to let the team down and I was really worried I'd be "the weak link". So with some nervous energy I headed off. Luckily I was able to find a few challenges from racers on the course that helped push me and I put down a 1:12:32. That's the best time I've ever had in all those years of racing. I have to admit that the course conditions were probably the best I've ever seen as well.

"Small" but cozy camp

After that I was able to relax and enjoy the team and the venue. The Mad Dog turnout was smaller but more intimate, plus being on a 5 man team that extra hour seemed like we had all day to get ready for the next lap.

We had time to "kick back" and enjoy the time with family

and friends

Our man, Chris, Coming in FIRST on the first lap!

Then came the night laps. Until then we were 6th overall but within seconds of 5th and 4th. This is where our experience shined. Our night lap times only increased by a few minutes from the day ones but the other teams' gaps were greater and we quickly pulled to 4th over all and 1st in our class. After that is was just a matter of avoiding mechanicals.

Finally- 1st

And when the dust settled by noon on Sunday, the best thing was, that every team Mad Dog sponsored took first! Brad, Dwight, Craig and Bill took the Grand Master (and 37th overall) and Chris, Josh, Matt and KC took Pro Am/Coed (and 2nd overall!). How cool is that?

I have a lot more pics that will be posted on the team site- as soon as Carson gets me the password.

Night Ride

If you haven't tried night mountain bike riding, your missing out

The 6 hours of Frogs Hollow was derailed for this weekend- Buddy issues. So I joined some good old boys for an early morning (5:30a) night ride up at Park City today. It was a VERY pleasant 2 hour ride up Glen Wild, 24-7, Flying Dog etc. I haven't been on this trail system before so it was exceptionally "interesting" doing it in the dark.

I've got one last ride tomorrow before recovery starts for 24 hours of Moab. I'm looking forward to it even more- having missed this weekend.

Bike vs Dog- Again!

This helmet probably saved her life.

This is getting ridiculous! I just finished with a poor gal who hit a dog that chased her, wrecked, and sustained a seizure, concussion and broken elbow. This is the third case this year just in our ER of severe injury to bicyclist vs dogs. And last year one of our docs had multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung from hitting a dog. This is more than we have seen from bicyclist being hit by cars!

My question is, can the negligent dog owners be responsible? None of these cases have resulted in any attempts to hold the dog owners responsible despite very large bills and lack of insurance in some cases. Is there a law that can hold the owners liable? If so, why don't we enforce it? If not, when will the biking community stand up to enact some protection or even awareness of this issue? All bikers have some bad experience with dogs. When will there be a movement to control this problem? Does someone have to die first?

Bugs

What do you tell a patient who swears she has bugs and worms crawling under her skin for 4 weeks, brings in hydrogen peroxide mouth washings to prove it-showing nothing AND swears she is not crazy but makes all of my ER staff itchy all over?

Wonder Woman Dot

That's NOT me next to Dot!

She's back! Today Dot rode 100 miles! That's big in and of itself, but for those who know her medical history this is awesome! Physically, Dot has recovered from her garden hose surgery a long time ago and I would say actually has become stronger. BUT, the theory was that competitive biking was the contributor to the clot, so mentally, she had been fearful of returning to competitive riding. So when I forwarded her the information on the Wonder Woman ride in Utah County, I was surprised when she decided to do it.

While officially it wasn't a race, she rode hard and strong. She finished well despite not having anyone to draft with (I guess Wonder Women don't draft since she tried a couple of times and freaked the ladies out).

I'm pretty excited she did it. Who knows what's next?

During that 6 hours the boys and I headed down to Lambert park and rode Spring and Rodeo and then headed to Utah Lake to try our luck at fishing.

The most we caught was this pizza

I think we need some tips about how to fish this lake.

Don't anyone make a comment about his hair. He gets too much positive feedback about it, as it is.

Simul-rappel!

Simul-rappel!

Rich and I "Simul-Rappelling" off of Morning Glory Arch- Moab

Professional Volunteer

Today, I spent a large part of my time between doing my charts from last night's shift (so I can get paid) and doing a lot of free work and planning for the organizations I volunteer for. That got me to thinking that I actually volunteer (free) as much as I actually work (for pay). So, I am going to outline my free work here to give you an idea.

I planned and helped Lay 3200 sf of fundraising pavers- April 2011

Channing Hall
The largest organization I volunteer at is the boys' charter school- Channing Hall. I am on the board and on two working committees- Fundraising and Strategic Planning. Last school year I logged over 220 hours there. I also run the school blog.

Church Expansion Planning Committee
Sit on the Unitarian Church expansion and fundraising planning committee.

Utah High School Mountain Biking
I am sponsoring and on the committee for the new initiative to bring high school mountain bike racing to Utah.

Teaching
I am medical director and lecturer to Canyons School district high school EMT classes and take on medical students to do ER rotations with me at work.

NonProfit (Global Emergency Medicine Support- GEMS)
Though not active in the past few years due to the kids, 9/11 etc, I have a nonprofit that's provided emergency medical training in several developing nations: Peru, Guyana, Nepal, Samoa, Fiji. Dot and I did this for over 6 years before the kids came along. As the boys get older I hope to restart this group and do more training and travel.

10%
Dot and I also contribute the local going rate on charitable giving of 10% of income on top of the above.

The point is that these are things I (we) believe in- Education, Social Justice and of course mountain biking- and I am willing to put time and money into it. I enjoy it and there is definitely an unending need for volunteerism. And, ultimately, I hope to set an example for my kids.

The frustration: I have been involved in a fair amount of fundraising and volunteer recruitment activities and what I have trouble with is how hard it is to get people to give of their time and money. There always seems to be an excuse: I already gave to the church, That's what I pay taxes for, I am too busy etc. Well I do all of that too.

I am proud of the contributions I am fortunate enough to make and wish more of our citizens would volunteer in this society. Many times the personal reward is greater than the contribution.

Thank you for listening.

PCP2P

I survived- barely. This was the hardest race I've endured ever. And that's comparing it to my first Leadville 100 race-10 years ago in the blizzard and 3 inches of mud. As soon as I started I was a bit worried because both my quads were feeling tight and even a little strained. I was hoping it was my imagination. I think I had made the mistake of doing an extra Karate session Thurs which ended up involving a lot of jumps and kicking. So I took it pretty easy up to Deer Valley to make sure I was good and warmed up. But then I thought it was time to test the legs out. The quads just wouldn't respond and by the time I got towards the top, along a narrow traverse my Quads cramped up. I froze in mid pedal and was balancing there for what seemed like minutes. I couldn't do anything. Then the wind blew- in the wrong direction- and I toppled off the side of the cliff. Luckily there were some good sized bushes to catch my fall. All I could do was lay there upside down with the bike on top of me-still clipped in. Finally, I got disentangled just out of sheer embarrassment  and limped off along the trail, popped a handful of electrolytes and tried to spin it out.

Finished and heading home.

From there on (mile 27 ish- out of 80!) I kept wondering how I was going to finish. Actually, it was how I was going to quit with some dignity. The only way was if the bike broke. But the Arantix wouldn't give. What saved me were the descents. The one thing I feel that I have improved on this year have been my descending speed, and despite how rough some of the downhill was, I felt good and was able to consume a lot of miles that way. Then I would gingerly spin up the climbs. I finally got to PCMR feed zone (mile 57) and with the encouragement of Kendra, Dwight and Craig I felt maybe I could make it. I sure couldn't quit with all of their enthusiasm and help there. I was very heartened when I reached the top of Spiro having ridden the whole thing! For 20 miles I was picturing myself walking up the whole thing! The final 20 miles along mid mountain were OK and I was able to inch along to the finish.

It was my hardest ride mainly because I was in pain physically and psychologically for most of it. It was NOT fun. Will I do it again? Yup- Stupid me.

Side note: I had to hurry home to meet up with Dot to see the show-Saturday Night Voyeur by the Salt Lake Acting Company.  It's not dirty as it sounds but if you see some of the idiotsyncrocies in Utah politics you'd appreciate it. I couldn't stand up after sitting there for 2 hours, though.

Recreational Biking

I almost forgot what it was like. Riding recreationally- that is. Being on the team and having upcoming races, gets me in a training state of mind. Every ride has the main focus of pushing hard, getting stronger, improving. Sure, every once in a while I'll look up and marvel at the incredible scenery or great trail conditions, but for the most part it's about riding for the next race. Wednesday I went up to do Bennie Creek with a couple guys from work. One hadn't been up there at all and the other rarely. I was in my recovery mode for the P2P so did not have much intention of riding hard. So we shuttled to the top and headed on down.

Tom. Thanks for planning the ride.

We took it easy, stopped a hundred times, talked and exchanged some pointers. We got down that 4 miles in about 45 minutes later. Interestingly, the trail seemed completely different than when I rode it last with a team member. It was fun. But when we got to the bottom, I finally broke down and had to sprint back up to the car. 25 minutes up and I was back in my training mode. I think I actually started to have withdrawels.

Dr. Jake. Glad you survived.

I'd do it again under the right circumstances since it is fun introducing new riders to the sport.

Clipless Pedal risks

Can you see the fracture?

Here's a case report about a Hip fracture from a guy unable to unclip fast enough. Who hasn't this happened to?
Also, they say as far as they know that was the first case. I saw a lady with the same thing just this past Spring. She was new and went to unclip. Didn't. And broke her hip. I should have wrote it up and been the first case.

Proximal Femoral Fracture in a Man Resulting From Modern Clipless Pedals

A Case Report

James Parker; Neil Patel; Ganesh Devarajan

Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 08/29/2011; J Med Case Reports. 2011;5 © 2011 BioMed Central, Ltd.

Abstract Introduction The use of clipless pedals amongst recreational cyclists has become increasingly popular in recent years. We describe a hip fracture, that was sustained due to inadequate set up of such pedals. To the best of our knowledge, this has only been described once before, and this was in the non-English language medical literature.(Maybe the English know how to use the clipless pedals better?)
Case Report A 38-year-old Caucasian man who was a club cyclist sustained a displaced intracapsular fracture of the hip whilst cycling. As a direct result of the incorrect set-up (Do I hear "Lawsuit"?) of his clipless pedals he was unable to release his feet whilst slowing to a halt (In the main body of the article it said he slipped on some ice- what did he expect?). This resulted in a loss of balance and subsequent fall with a direct impact onto his left hip. The resulting fracture was managed successfully with early closed reduction and fixation. At six month review he was walking unaided without pain but, as yet, has been unable to return to cycling.
Conclusion This case highlights the dangers of clipless pedals even in experienced cyclists, and underlines the importance of proper information for their correct setup to minimise the risk of potentially serious injuries, especially in the region of the hip.

Family Cross-training

Dot, going for the single ski and powering right up.

Sunday we took a break from our soccer and biking to do something different. We headed to Rush Valley (yes there is water out there-some) for some water-skiing with some friends who take skiing as seriously as I do biking. We haven't tried water skiing for exactly 10 years and therefore, the boys haven't had a chance at all.

Joey was next, getting up right away and laying down the challenge to his older brother

Jonny, focused on getting up.

Jonny was up to the challenge

I was last. I too got up after a few attempts and did a couple runs. It's impressive how sore the lats were the next day. It was fun challenging ourselves with something new. I was pretty proud of our little studs for making it look so easy for the first time. Thanks Milford's!

Now back to biking and soccer. Both boys have a big tournament this weekend and I have the Park City Point to Point (80miles). Stay tuned.

First Night Ride of the Season

I finally tried out the new AYUP upgrades I got this spring. Carson and I headed up towards Diamond fork up past the Hot Pots. A thunderstorm passed by just before we headed up. Luckily it soaked in quite well except that the wet leaves and plants kept us nice and cool/cold. We did a little "extra" riding at the top while looking for the turn off. It's funny how things look so different in the dark. It was a good 2.5 hr night ride.

Biking and Volleyball

The Race:
The 4th UCSC 35 mile race at Corner Canyon started a little after 8 and went on for 3hr 39 minutes. Climbing Clarks (the third time) I thought, " How am I going to play Volleyball for 6 hours? The race went as well as can be expected I eased into it the first lap on the climb up Clark's then just had a great time on the down hill. As a matter of fact it's the downhill that kept me in the race. This course is near home and my training area so all the trails are very familiar to me. I felt I raced it well, giving it my all but not blowing up at the start like I usually do.

I came home and finished setting up for the V-ball party. And wow what a party it was! We a very eclectic group of folks filter in for some play time. Some were pretty impressive players and others had a great spirit. The kids seemed to have a great time between playing and swimming. I was soo energized with all the folks that came that I forgot to be tired. Once everyone left though, I crashed and was exhausted. Dot and the boys all voiced what a great time we all had. Here's some more pictures of the party.

Dot with some good form bumping

Jonny, with a flailing dive return

Joey watching Brock's diving return

We had a pretty serious thunderstorm that cooled things off and gave us a chance to rest and get some food

We went back after the thunderstorm and played into the night until we couldn't see anymore!

FULL Saturday

Like most families our weekends can be busy. But today was really a FULL day. Here's a quick recap-

0700 Went up to Park City to meet with some team riders to pre-ride part of P2P. I got in a couple hours and a couple crashes before I headed to Jonny's tournament soccer game.

1000 Soccer tournament- Murray

 

Win- 11 to 0 on to the championship game at 1830

1230 - Tour of Utah downtown

Dot scored us some VIP tickets right at the start

They looked tired already

1600 Went Fishing with Joey at Spring Lake- Payson area

The big one came later

1830 Championship game

Doggy pile with couch Dot watching

Happy Champion- First place in 2-1 overtime

I must brag that Jonny scored the first point with an incredible sliding kick.

That's how to live the day to its fullest- with family.

Alone

I was down in St G Tuesday. To beat the heat I got up at dawn and headed out for a ride. I rode 3 hours and just shy of 30 miles. I did not see a single sole. I like the freedom of having the open space to get lost like that. That is a big part of the reason moved out west. Space. I think it is taken for granted when we live out here.

Some might say it is foolish to head out into the wilderness alone. Perhaps, but sometimes the calculated risk has rewards: confidence in ones independence, peace, reflection and just enough of an adrenalin rush to make you want to do it again-as long as you survive.

I recently had the discussion that humans are a social animal and are dependent on each other, which in the long term I agree with. But sometimes you just have to escape-For therapy.

Park City 50

5 hrs 30 minutes.

This was the line for the restrooms 10 minutes before the start. I wonder how many got to go?

I finished the PC50 today by 12:30pm. This was my first long distance race of the year. I really need to do more.  It was a fun one. It was planned well. It had most of the climbing (8000 ft) up front when we were fresh, crossed Mid mountain trail and ended with the a screaming downhill into the Canyons. I started strong and steady towards the front and settled into a good pack with similar ability as mine. However by mile 25 I started to cramp. Luckily I was able to spin it out for another 10 miles and then I was spent. But by then I could feel the finish coming and I held on. I finished 1/2 hour before I expected.

This was some of the climbing near the start. Carson's ahead. I rode with him most of the race until he started to have tire issues. Then I gave him my CO2 and took off.

Someone ahead of us missed the turn and we ended up taking this 100 yard hike a bike section. Can you say lemmings?