Bryan Alders

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While I let the breakfast digest before I head out for a big ride I figure I'd do a quick recap of the last 2 races.

I think there have only been a few occasions that I have raced in as extreme of heat as we did in Texas a couple of weekends ago. Now I had never been to texas and the people there assured me it was "unusually hot for this time of year" somehow I just can't believe them. I don't think I heard one local talk about the heat. Hello people!, it's 100 degrees out with 90% humidity. You seriously don't mind it? I guess I've spent too much time in locations where the snow flies 5 months out of the year.

My trip down for the Mellow Jonny's Classic couldn't have gone much smoother. Blake's dad, Tommy, offered up great hospitality all weekend long. I had a wonderful place to stay with the AC cranked close to the venue, a car for transportation and a ride to and from the airport. I think it might have been my easiest travel experience yet.


After the race I relaxed and drank beer in the pool while enjoying this view. I guess it could be worse.

The race started at 1:00 in the afternoon in (as mentioned above) 100 degree weather with 90% humidity. I got called up 75th out of 80. Needless to say I had some passing to do. So I worked my way around about 25 people or so on the first lap which caused me to completely overheat. I could barely ride my bike but I try and never drop out so I just kept turning the pedals over and poured lots of ice water on me. As the laps went by I suffered through the heat, my best tactic being to attack whenever a cloud rolled in front of the sun. This cooled the temperature, or at least me, enough to allow me to bring the heart rate above zone 2. So basically I did 3 min intervals the whole race. Ride in the sun, race in when a small cloud was there.

I passed a few more people but still thought I was sitting somewhere around 45th place. On the last climb I heard some guy yell, "nice job 16th". Two senarios ran through my head. First, that guy can't count, second, I must be hearing things I'm so blown, he must have said 60th. So I continued my way to the finish line where they proceeded to tell me I placed 15th.

The moral of the story. If you are dumb enough to keep racing your bike in this extreme of weather you do well by default. I think 23 people DNF'd that day. Don't think for a second that I was thinking about do the same. But next time a race is hot I can just think about that time in Texas when it was HOT! And I can still count on two hand my DNF's over my last 8 years of racing.

Some photos from Mellow Jonny's bike shop. While I expected more from the shop in terms of new bikes for sale, they did have some of Lance's old tour bikes and a wall full of fast wheels.

I think it's only supposed to rain 5 out of the 7 days this week.... so the weather is looking a lot better.



Driving to the race the weather wasn't looking too promising.

I raced the Triple Crown Mountain States Cup in Nathrop, CO this weekend. There were 3 races: Super D, Short Track and Cross Country. I decided it was in my best interest to race them all due to the point structure of the Triple Crown Series.

Due to a mostly single track course Super D went off in 30 sec intervals. Since it only involved about 450 feet of descending and 250 feet of climbing I figured I'd just attempt to pull it off on the hardtail with lightweight wheels. It was about a 4 mile course that started with a long, barely downhill straight, funneled into some rolling single track, went downhill for about 15 sec and proceeded to climb back up a fire road for a mile. I decided to save a little bit on the beginning of the corse a pin it up the last mile of fire road as fast as possible. This strategy proved successful as I finished in second place!

This is where I'd supply a podium shot with JHK, myself and Travis Brown which would look really good to all those people thinking about sponsoring me but the people the Promote the Mountain States Cups just decided to not do podiums this week. This will have to do.



Please note the sponsorship column here and here (bottom). I've been trying to figure out a way to get them to publish my sponsor as "Unattached" and "Sponsor Me" (Two Words) but it hasn't worked. This weekend I have finally broke through and just "Sponsorme" got published on cyclingnews.com. I WIN!

Short track took place a few hours later. The race seemed to move in slow motion for some reason. No one really did any work so we all sat in and rode slow until the last lap when JHK attacked. I gave it about 90% to save the legs for XC since I already had my 2nd place in Super D counting towards the overall. I still finished 5th though which isn't too shabby.

Cross country was yesterday. The course only had 550 ft of climbing per lap which isn't my thing and basically turned it into a road race. So I sucked wheel all day like any good roadie would. JHK and Jay had gone off the front during lap 2 leaving me in a small chase group. The pace was set high by Collin who towed me, Sid and Travis around 4 screaming fast 26 minute laps of the 7.5 mile course. I hung on for another 5th place finish barely nipping Travis at the line.

All said and done this was a very good weekend for me. I had a lot of fun and ended up in 5th overall taking home enough cash to neutral out the weekend, which is basically the only way I can afford to race this year. I can really feel the fitness coming on. I may have to figure out a way to make it down to Texas.



Mini golf and a beer to prepare for the XC.


Our super sweet cabin. Who knew a 12' by 12' plywood shack slept 4?


Although Nathrop's courses may not be great the views sure are.

Just about a month ago Katie and I went to San Francisco. If you haven't been to San Francisco you should definitely go. Katie hadn't been so we squeezed it into the Sea Otter trip. And when I say squeeze I mean squeeze. We arrived in the city around noon made a short detour to Treasure Island, drove Filbert st. (the steepest st. in S.F. at 31.%), drove Lombard st, ate fish and chips and got some sourdough bread while watching the Sea Lions and walking Pier 39, ran into Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate, hopped on the cable car for a quick roundtrip, walked halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge and drove Highway 1 to Stinson Beach, all within 6 hours. Yes, ideally we would have had more time there but if you ever only have 6 hours to see the city that's how to do it.




Katie on the cable car


The City as seen from Treasure Island


Sea Lions at Pier 39


Creative Sourdough Bread


Filbert st. 31.5% does really show up in pictures.




Stinson Beach


As stated above almost a month ago was Sea Otter. Or Sea slaughter as many like to call it a name that it lives p to year in and year out. I went looking for a better result than Fontana but it would have seemed my body was going to remain training for base miles at all costs. Shortly after what might have been the sketchiest start to a mountain bike race I have ever done, I crossed the finish line in 54th. Not exactly flying but since there were 123 people and a few current or ex world champions at the front, I'll take it. On top of that finding sponsors was close to a complete failure. My hopes seem quickly diminishing for this season. The best part of the weekend was the excellent weather (a first for the Otter) and hanging out with old family friends.

Unfortunately, after a season off of giving my money to the people who run the Mountain States Cup (MSC) Series, I participated in the Rabbit Valley Rally, in Fruita. While it is never in anyone's best interest to pay this much for this little i.e. $70 to race with a sharpie written number plate and not even so much as a free water bottle, which looking back on it you couldn't fill anyway because they put on a 32 mile race in the desert with no water at the finish line. It's straight robbery. The only thing they have going for them is good course and being the most popular (for now) race series in Colorado. I hope they soon begin to think of the athletes and not themselves. That being said I paid and raced so I guess they are doing something right, no let's not give them that kind of credit, I did something very wrong. Anyway, I took 3rd out of 53 which is my best MSC finish ever. Ben and Alex took 1, 2 respectively. I was close but again in my last week of base miles while I heard Ben had peaked for the week before. The form was coming on.


Man that rider on the left would look good with a jersey that matched those other boys and his bike.


Finally, last weekend was the Front Rage 50 in Morrison, CO. As defending champion I had to return for another shot at it. I kept the pace easy for the first 2 laps and then Steveie ramped it up for lap 3. We passed about 200 people on lap 4 and 5 and had an interesting sprint to the finish which left me surprisingly in 1st. With 33 people in our category alone and over 100 all together it is clear that the legs are beginning to show some form.




Well that about catches you up on the adventures of the last month. Thanks for reading.

As many already know the Cannondale pulled the plug on sponsorship in lat January and Mona Vie soon followed. This has left me with out sponsorship for the 2010 season. At quite possibly the worst timing ever I might add. I have been working hard to find companies to help me cover some expenses this year.

So far I have acquired some sweet new kicks from Pearl Izumi. These might just be the best fitting and stiffest shoes I've ever put on. Check them out here.

Also as of today Nuun is on board with Great drink mixes and water bottles a plenty. If you haven't tried Nuun yet you probably should. One of it's best features is that it's easy to travel with. No large canisters of messy powders, just tiny tablets packed full of good flavor. Taste this.

Anyway, I'm still on the hunt for quite a few things. A bike and hopefully a few entry fees and/or some covered travel expenses still need to be checked off the list. If you know of anyone who needs someone who can promote their product well, please let me know.

Sea Otter is in just a little over 2 weeks and I'm hoping to have a few less cobwebs in the legs than I had at Fontana, and although the race may not have gone as planned it was really nice to be in warm weather, hang out with the family and see some friends.

The riding in L.A. was a bit like this on the beach...





and a bit like this downtown





Time to go eat some dinner.

As for SponsorQuest 2010... this too shall pass

I sometimes wonder if I should keep blogging just for something to do. As I sit here sipping coffee and watching it puke snow outside I have finally decided it's time for my yearly checkup.



And here's a picture of Katie and I in Alta. It reminds me of the amount of snow falling outside and what I should be doing right now.