No, I haven't given up riding

The blog posts are few and far between these days. What do you expect during the off season? I'm only getting to ride a couple of times per month right now. Now if I had made the Specialized Trail Crew, things would be a little different right now....
I have been busy starting a new job and taking car of family needs. I did get out and ride this morning with my friend Brad and my new boss Mike. We rode despite the rain because none of us had seen the trail in too many days. Despite the intermitant sprinkles and a few showers, we did just fine. I was even able to clear a few wet technial sections.
So my new boss Mike is a rider. We were introduced at the trailhead one day last summer by Gary Vernon, a mutual friend. I ended up cleaning windows at Mike's house, and he later informed me of an open position with the company he works for. Now I work with a fellow mountain biker! I am sure this will mean many stories are soon to follow.

Cold and Alone...

The title describes my 63oam ride today. Since the time change last weekend, my riding buddies have decided to revive our morning rides. The sun is coming up around 630 now. However, between sick wives and children, none of us have had perfect attendance this week.

I was the only one that showed this morning. Though the group had planned to ride the new trails, which I agree are fun because they include challenging climbs and sweet jumps and banks, I decided to detour back to the Ridge trails, Razorback and Rocky. I enjoy the good push up the hills, cruising around on top, and the dive back down to the bottom. I feel that our new trails only give you the option of going up or down, not much in between. Don't get me wrong, I like the new trails and will continue to ride them. However, it seems that they have become the destination. I see them as part of the ride, and not the entire ride. I need diversity!

Winter isn't far away

This is why we don't go to Moab in March anymore. At least it shows our dedication to the sport however. Bring on the winter, we will still RIDE.

Results from the Specialized Trail Crew Contest

The phone call came last Friday from Tan at Specialized. Sounds like I made the top 8, but they only chose 6. Pretty sad to be that close and miss a huge sponsorship like that. I discussed possible job opportunities with Tan, and he gave me a person to contact in HR. Could this be the beginning of a career? I've thought that before.

I consider myself pretty upbeat after the rejection. Long live mountain biking. Specialized is going to send me something anyway, I believe.

Beautiful Fall Day!...flash flood watch tomorrow.

Put in some good miles today. I have to say I miss that 2.5 Werewolf tire I used to have on the back. I don't think it's affecting my ride, but it may be affecting my head.

Anyway, I took this picture of the guys working on a new section of trail that is amidst the other new sections of trail we've been riding lately. This section is going to be more BMX and possibly Freeride like. The banks are huge, and there are going to be some jumps as well, I was told today. This trail building crew is amazing!

Also, I got word that there are some new trails going in behind my girls' school. I'm hearing great things, and I am sure I'll be out there soon helping with construction.

SPERRYs ONLY ride @ Indian Creek

My sister Suzanne won a nice Felt Mt. Bike in a drawing at the Tour of Missouri bike race. Over the weekend, Jon and I took our sister out for her first ride on her new bike. We went to Indian Creek Reservoir, which is the closest trail to our parents house. Thanks to Doug Long for completing this trail around the lake. I still haven't had a chance to see the whole thing, but what I have seen is a fabulous ride. It's alot of up and down, which you would expect around a lake. There are some great climbs and very fun drops. Suzanne went for a little way, and after a while decided to head back while Jon and I went a little further to see some of the trail we hadn't seen yet. On the way back, Jon had to repair a flat, and we found that Suzanne had broken her chain. I'm ready to go back and see the whole thing!

The ride with the bike shop guy

It took a day longer than I thought to get a call back from Specialized telling me who I was going to go ride with for their Trail Crew contest. Tan called me back and said I needed to get in touch with Jonathan at High Roller in Fayetteville. I called him within minutes, and told him that I was ready to ride with him any time in the next 24 hours. Jonathan said "how about next week?" I begged him to come up and ride the next morning and he did, despite his getting ready to race over the weekend.

Regardless of the race, we rode pretty solid for 2 hours. Jonathan knows how to ride a hardtail. He stayed right with me on the downhill sections. He said he expected a little more from me on that, but he did have an appreciation for my climbing abilities.

Jonathan then had to talk to the guys at Specialized and discuss our meeting and ride. I don't know what he said, but hopefully, it was good enough to put me on the Trail Crew.

Specialized Trail Crew Contest

Specialized recently ran a contest for a Trail Crew, a group of riders that will ride their 2010 S-Works Stumpjumper and be an ambassador for their products. My friend Wynn Peterson sent me a link to the contest and told me I should enter. When I read it, I knew that it was for me. Hillary helped me make a video (see the videos on this blog page)

The qualifications that they were looking for included "riders who respect and are respected by their buddies." (here is the job description and the goodies that come with it-http://www.specializedriders.com/blog/1/post/show/2384 )

I latched on to this idea and asked all of my riding pals to watch the video and share their thoughts. The judges read the comments after watching the video, and thanks to them, I have made it to round 2!!

The next step is an actual ride. Tan @ Specialized called me and said that I will be riding with the guys at the local shop so that they can get to know me better. It sounds like I've got this gig nailed and that the ride is just to make sure that I'm the real deal and not some freak.

More to come as things continue to unfold.

Fall is here!

You can see the leaves have already begun to cover the trails in Slaughter Pen. This makes the trails a bit "shady." By this, I don't mean that the sun doesn't come through the trees; rather, the leaves cover the roots and rocks in the trail, making it anyones guess what you're going to hit as you fly down the trail. Thank goodness for great suspension! Still, I tend to be a little more cautious.

Got out and rode Saturday with a group of 5. We hit the newer sections of the park. Yesterday, I rode by myself late in the morning for an hour. I rode hard: Seed tick to Urban to Razorback to Free Time, to Rocky Ridge to Razorback and Seed Tick again. Good cardio workout.

Saw a 4' black snake leaving headed into the woods as I started my first trail. I barely missed running over him. Is it good or bad luck crossing the path of a black snake? Either way, I had a great ride...

Finally, a day with no rain

Got out and rode with Brad Nielsen and Shane Davis today. It's been raining for days. The amazing thing about the trails in Slaughter Pen is that they shed water so well that they are ridable within hours of a rain.

We hit the Urban trail and the new section today. One casualty...I broke one of my eggbeater pedals. It's still rideable. I'm surprised though. I had another pair for 3 or 4 years that never broke despite hitting tons of obstacles. These pedels are maybe a year old.

The one that got away...

My brother Jon and his family came down to visit for Labor Day weekend. Jon and I always try to ride when we're together. We rode Saturday, and he filmed me the entire time with his helmet cam. We decided we would squeeze in a ride on Mon. morning as well before he had to hit the road, and I volunteered to man the helmet cam this time.

Labor Day started out with dense fog. With all of the moisture in the air, the first video I shot didn't turn out very well. The real bummer however was the second video. We rode up on a bridge, which was wet and slick. Jon hit the bridge at full speed and lost all traction. The bridge laid him out on his back. Then, to top it off, he slid off the side of the bridge on his back and fell what I would gauge to be 4 feet into the creek. It was amazing! Jon was done after that. At least he had video to watch of such a spectacular crash. Unfortunately we found out later that the battery had died. We are still bummed. There may never be another one like that again.

Opening Blog Entry

I've been considering doing this for a long time. I have been pondering the idea of starting a guide service for cycling, but knew that it would require a blog. I've definitely got the pictures and the testimonials of friends in many places to back up my claimed abilities, but it's time to start publishing them. This is the beginning of many pics and videos of bike trails, bike riders, and many good times, past and present.

You'll notice my blog is "QASpecialized." My initials are QAS and the bikes I ride are Specialized. I've had that for a gmail address for 5 years now. Specialized is currently holding a contest to find people to be on the Specialized Trail Crew. Riders will be given a 2o1o S-Works Stumpjumper to ride for a year and have opportunities to go ride together. My friend Wynn Peterson sent me a link last weekend and told me he thought I would be great for this. With the help of my wife, I recorded a video today that I believe clearly lays out the case that if anyone is Specialized, I AM. I also wanted to name names of all those that I have been able to share time with on the trail and help get started or get back on their bikes. I am leaving it to those of you who fall under those categories to comment on the video and share your experience.

I've had some great years, and I'm looking for next year to be the best yet. Here is what Specialized is looking for.

http://www.specializedriders.com/blog/1/post/show/2384

Check out my video and see what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJYHTkGr7Q

Nemesis

This is the hill on the slick rock trail that I mention in my video posted on Youtube. I attempted this hill every year for the last 4 years. This year, I knew it was coming. I took my time riding to where I could view the massive climb. Here I stopped, and watched the rest of my group make their attempts. Zobe tried 3 times, and on the third time, he fell. I waited for everyone else to make their tries. I had no idea what it would be like on my Enduro. The last several times I made the attempt was on a Stumpjumper Expert.

I pedeled, nice and steady. Everyone always tripped up on the initial part of the ascent where the rock has a few knobby rocks jutting out of the path. I calmly negotiated through. Amazingly, I conquered...all the way to the top! All of my pals were standing near the middle of the climb encouraging me, knowing that the hardest part was over. Soon, we were all at the top celebrating together. I received many a Hi-Five.

2009 was my year at Moab!