Rapsure Blog

In 2014 I trained, and raced the Park City Point to Point race. The race was tough. Essentially the number of hours I put into training was rather staggering. There was nothing more than to complete the race. In a sense I have payed for the choice to train, and finish the race. Ever since the race and in the months leading up to the race I have dealt with left knee problems. Although I have done a lot of work to resolve the knee problem I have yet to be successful at total resolution.

Race day began with me eating nothing more than a bagel and 32 oz of milk. Not a great breakfast to start such a long day on the bike. I did try to get a better breakfast, but with me and my wife having a 10 day old baby did not help with the issue of finding food. We stopped at the gas station and got breakfast. Next time I do a big race like the Park City Point to Point I won't do that again. I know what breakfast does really good in keeping me going on long rides. I like to start out with a few strips of bacon, pancakes or waffles, orange juice, and milk, and some hash browns. I am able to go longer on my good breakfast without hunger or burning out. Finding the race start was also a little tricky in the dark. I now know where to go next time if I race.

The race started out in Round Valley and went around in a big circle essentially adding several thousand feet in an otherwise not a big climbing area. The exit from Round Valley came out where the race started. After round valley the race worked over to Deer Valley where the first long climbing would be done.

The first big climb through Deer Valley took me a couple of hours to complete. That is where the first support area was located. I stopped and got a quick snack before jumping back on the bike. I was really wishing I had a better breakfast at this point. The race kept climbing, and the clouds continued to move in and instead of warming up the weather got colder. Once I got done with the long big climb and right before the start of the enduro segment there was bacon! Bacon saved me! I ate a couple of slices of good greasy bacon. I started the enduro segment even though I really wasn't paying attention to the start. I was really wishing that I could pass more people on the downhill in the enduro segment. Some had difficulty navigating the trail technical obstacles. Eventually I dropped most of the elevation I had gained and I had to ride back up the mountain to Hidden Lake.

During the climb up to Hidden Lake the rain came in. The rain brought dark times because I did not have my jacket. The lake probably would have been much better looking if I hadn't been almost hypothermic at the time. I told myself that I just needed to survive till I got to the second feed zone. Then at the second feed zone I could make my decision if I would keep going. At the second feed zone I had food. Glorious food to reinvigorate me. I stayed at the third feed zone for a half an hour, and had good luck with the sun coming out and warming me up and making the day rather pleasant. I made the choice to continue. My knees at this point were bothering me.

The third segment for me began with a nice long climb which I figured that I would be the last person and not catch anyone. I was surprised when I passed two fellow racers. With me being stopped for a half an hour I was dropped about 7 positions. So I passed 2 racers and I was still thinking that I wouldn't pass anyone else. On the contrary when I passed the last support zone I caught up to two more racers. Now I was getting more excited! I caught up to another, and another racer. I was starving for downhill at this point. I was going as hard as I could to get to the finish line and get downhill! The longer I went without a good long downhill segment the more angry I was getting. Finally I got a good long downhill section and was just ripping the downhill as fast as I could, and then disappointment. I had to ride back uphill for an elevation gain of about 500 feet. I was very grumpy about that. I really just wanted to be done and was trying to complete by a certain time. My hopes were dashed. I got to the top of the last climb and I just let gravity let my bike rip down the last piece of trail for the day. I caught up to one last person at the very end and I was riding his wheel. I really just wanted to get to the finish line, and be done. He went around a turn, and I cut the turn to get in front and bam! I finished the race at last!

I spent time looking for Kristie, and Sage and then we got a bite to eat. In the end the race was closer to 76 miles, and closer to 12,500 feet of elevation gain rather than the advertised numbers. Tough is a great way to explain the race. Can I do it? Sure can! The race took me about 12 hours to finish. I could do the race again, but training for a race of this magnitude requires days of very long rides which becomes a part time job. In the past several months I have sort of had to refind my love for cycling.

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The Bear Lake 2013 ride was hot and injurous and exciting! To start the Bear Lake ride story requires a quick summary. I almost broke my arm, and Kristie seriously injured her shoulder and had to walk the last two miles of the ride because her shoulder wouldn't bear weight. The ride starts at the Right Fork parking area in Logan Canyon. Afterwards we start by riding up Cotton Wood spring and then over to Mud Flats. We then just follow the road from Mud Flats over to Meadowville passing through Temple Flats along the way. Once at Meadowville we just turn left to the north and follow the gravel road out to Bear Lake and then turn around and ride back. Instead of returning by riding down through Cotton Wood spring we took the route of going down Willow Creek which is where the accident that Kristie had.

So we were riding down in the dark when one of Kristie's peddle struck a rock and caused her to go sailing over the handle bars. This caused her to injure her shoulder and made is so we had to walk out of Willow Creek to the parking lot. My accident occured while I was riding up Cotton Wood spring. I was ahead of Kristie and wanted to ride the entire length of the trail without stopping or walking the bike at all. I was almost at the top and I had a series of roots I needed to ride over. Instead of riding over the roots the bike spring loaded and bucked me off causing me to hyper extend my elbow. For a minute I thought I might have broke my arm or some tendon since the arm wasn't working initially but after using my working right arm to move the left arm I got the left arm to start working again. I picked up my water bottle and dusted myself off and finished the climb to watering area for the cattle.

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This year for the annual family vacation we returned to Pine Lake. Pine Lake is located about 15 miles north of Bryce Canyon. During that trip me and Kristie went on an bike camping trip. We loaded up our BOB trailers and rode to the top of the mountain. There we setup camp and roasted brats over the little single burner backpacking stove that we had bought. For Kristie the highlight of the vacation was going treking with the BOB trailers. We only camped overnight, but we had fun at the top of the Barney Top at around 10,500 feet. The trailers work great for pulling gear around the mountain. Just remember that the additional weight might slow down the climb.

Also as a family we went to Hell's Backbone which is a narrow bridge at the top of two deep canyons. The cliffs were a couple of thousand feet down on both sides of the bridge which made the view breathtaking. My mother had the idea of driving to Hell's Backbone but the cliffs turned out to be almost too much for her. The drive just made my mother stressed because she was worried that we would fall deep into the canyon.

The people that went were: Amber, Joe and their children, Me and Kristie, and Brent and Connie.

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For my Memorial Day activity I chose to do a big long ride. The plan was to go on the trail from Providence Canyon to Millville Canyon by way of the trail that follows the contour of the mountain. I last rode the contour trail three years ago in October. I had since forgotten how technical the trail was to do, and to make sure I don't forget how technical the trail was I feel that I must describe the situation of the trail.

The contour trail is full of extremely short fast climbs and very fast descents. The situation is the same on both the Providence side and the Millville side of the trail. Not only that, but I almost broke a spoke when a stick went into the wheel. I just so happened to luck out today because the hike out of there would have taken a very long time. On the Millville side I was surfing with my rear wheel due to the extreme slope. When I finally dropped onto the rode in Millville Canyon I was much lower on the rode than I though I would be and I had to ride up a significant amount of 30% percent grade. I survived the trail and proceeded to drop through Leatham Hollow.

Leatham Hollow is just as bad as it has always been. There are really nasty rocks on the lower mile of the trail and that hasn't changed in 4 years. At the bottom of Leatham Hollow there was a rendevous being held. I didn't pay much attention to the rendevous and headed towards Richards Hollow as quickly as I could as I was running a little behind on time.

The bottom 1.5 miles of Richard's Hollow is steep and a good climb on the bike. Once I was past the water fall the trail mellowed out and was a nice easy grade for riding up. The next major climb was at the last half mile of trail which was steady but doable on tired legs. I was not wasting time and headed towards Card Canyon West. Card Canyon West was running my brakes hot and even though I have Shimano XT brakes with ice tech the brake fluid still heated up and changed the position of engagement of the brake lever.

I was quite happy when I reached the bottom of Card Canyon and turned left to ride down Logan Canyon. That meant that I only had about a 45 minutes to ride until I arrived home! At Third Dam I turned off of the rode and back onto trail until First Dam. I was very glad to be back home because my butt couldn't hardly stand another minute on the saddle.

Least of all here is the ride details from the Garmin. The ride included 43 miles of peddling, and about 7,500 feet of elevation gain.

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So I went on a big long bike ride on Saturday since I could and the mountains are finally clearing! First I had a good strong ride up Ricks Canyon which on Strava gave me a KOM. I actually just improved on my KOM from the previous week which was cool. Then with me at the rode I turned left and rode towards Old Ephraim's grave. I did not pay any hommage to the old bear and continued up the rode to meet up with the rode that goes to Temple Flats. So I had to see if there was snow on Temple Mountain and if I could start to do Moses. Moses is my longest and most difficult ride that I do, and the ride takes me over Temple Mountain. At the top of Temple Mountain there wasn't snow, but there was snow as I started to ride down the north side. Instead of riding through Peter Sinks I opted to drop down the Little Bear trail. I don't know what it is but everytime I ride up Temple Mountain I get wiped out. The feeling of being wiped out is a full body experience and includes lungs, legs, heart, and butt.

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