Planning on another 3-4 hour mountain bike ride, then will head into town for a coffee shop where I can charge up my laptop and relax in the sun again for a while. Might even take a lift up the ski hill to take a few photos and walk around.
One thing I'll certainly make time for is a tour of the Moots factory, and I'll probably buy a jersey or some other souvenir.
I end up riding about three hours this morning, on portions of the great divide trail. I'm tired from last night, this is a low end aerobic/recovery ride, with some good technical skills building along the way - the trails here are great for that. I stop at my halfway point to eat and take in the sights and sounds... birds calling, fish jumping, and wind in the trees. I could sit here for hours I think, if I didn't want to get down to the Moots factory today.
I stop by Wal-mart on the way into town to pick up a new foil for my shaver, other one tore and wouldn't be pleasant to use to say the least. From there it was over to Orange Peel to buy a souvenir shirt, the guys at the shop have been very friendly thus far, it's a place I'd recommend to anyone. Bikes seem to be a much more integral part of this town than home... commute to anywhere is short, so lots of people use it as default transportation. I've seen a lot of groceries being carried, and I've now seen 3 dogs lucky enough to be carried around in handle bar baskets.
Directions to Moots are easy, just hang a right off the road where the hammer ride left town. It's a nice looking building in a nice "industrial" park. Dave, the marketing guy who answered my first email inquiries, and whom I met at Orange Peel upon arriving here, was first guy I bumped into. He gave me a full tour of the place. It's pretty fascinating to see how slabs of ti, and tubing, go through so much process to get to the end product. Moots especially makes a lot of small parts from ti on their own, just examiming any of their frames will show how they do a dozen or so extra labour intensive pieces.
I chat with Brad, the frame builder doing my bike, and see the tubes on the floor which will eventually become my bike. He shows me how many niners they've done with S&S, and my mind races. That's what I actually wanted, I just couldn't get it confirmed properly through email first that it was entirely packable in the travel box. He says the YBB ride on the niner wheel size is awesome, and proves to me with a frame right there that it fits in the box no problem. I ask if I'd be using up more than my share of karma points to switch to a niner at this point. "Not at all man, I'll switch it first thing tomorrow". This makes me incredibly happy.
After that, I head up to see Amy, the office manager girl, for some souvenirs - a t-shirt and jersey. She's been in Steamboat for a year, and is working two jobs to make it happen. From Masachussets originally, and was always a cyclist, so feels like she just arrived in heaven. On top of that, her first Moots frame is only a couple of weeks away from delivery. She recommends a coffee shop nearby that I can grab a snack at before the crit starts.
Crit starts around Moots building at 6:25. We're geared up to do 35 minutes plus five laps, with about 20 people in the field. Mark, one of the Orange Peel employees, and a junior national XC skier, appears to be the one with the legs. I'm tired after doing two warmup laps, the course has about 10m of vertical per lap on one climb, a bunch of chicanes, and is generally just a sweet crit course. First five laps aren't too hot, then things get moving. Somewhere around lap 10, I'm riding in 4th, and the fellow in front of me decides to take a 90 degree left turn lying down. I don't really have any option other than to run into/over him, and when my front wheel hits his front chainring, it's like Texas chainsaw massacre for my tire. The exploding tire get's the attention of everyone who wasn't already freaked out. I see a large tree straight ahead, and hope our momentum dies out before hitting it. I come up completely unscathed, as I only fell once we hit grass. Buddy has enough road rash for the two of us, he'll be sticking to the sheets for the next 10 days for sure. I find out after the race that he's an ex-Canadian freestyle ski team coach? Never caught the name, will have to look it up.
Someone lends me a wheel, and I chase for two laps to rejoin the fun. By this point, the lead group is fown to 6. I bridge up and sit in to rest for a while. I'm taking the crash corner really wimpy and am losing time each lap, which means the hill is harder each time for me as I also need to close a 4m gap each lap. All goes well for another few laps until buddy in front of me flats on the fast straightaway, with fishtailing and leg outriggering all thrown in for fun. The thought of counting my blessings and abandoning here crosses my mind, but why cut a workout short when I'm having fun, and haven't been dropped yet?
An older fellow puts on the gas for a lap, and Mark and I are the only two to stay with. He blows up spectacularly, leaving just the two of us. Mark does another hot lap, then settles in. At this point, I'm content and don't feel the need to repeatedly attack him - considering I got a 3 lap rest with the crash/walk to pit/find a loaner wheel ordeal. Plus it seems like the whole scene really means something to him, and I'm just here for a workout. We trade pulls for the last few laps, then sprint the last 50m up the hill to the finish. I make up my "crappy corner" deficit with 20m to go, and get neck and neck. At that point I sit up, smile, and pedal across the line with his wheel crossing two feet ahead. I'm happy that everyone survived, and that my regimen of 3 hour base rides in the morning with the 1-2 hours of intensity at night is working just fine.
We shoot the shit for a while after, and I find out the other guy who I raced into town with last night is a XC kid of some acclaim, I'll have to look him up when I'm back on a computer. Everyone speaks highly of him no doubt. As the parking lot cleared, Brad was just locking up Moots, and had heard about the crash as buddy was in the building for some cleanup.
I stop for a bag of ice and some M&M's, then cruise up to refresh in Dumont lake and make dinner. Weather looks ominous, but it has every night and hasn't amounted to much yet. As I pull into camp, I see the fully loaded bike touring couple who were stopped 4/5ths of the way up the pass this afternoon setting up their camp. I stop to say hi, Sarah and Morgan are touring the western states. I let them know that I've got a giant toolbox of bike stuff, more than any tourer would carry, should they need anything. They seem happy at the offer, so now it's nothing but some gourmet mountain cooking and rest!
your writing is beginning to take on a bit of a jack karouac flavour - but without the bebop music, drugs and underaged hookers.
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