Colorowdies Burning Bike 2014 / Strider Huge Rock Enduro / Desert Glow Stick Dance Party Moab Weekend Report!

After the success of last year's First Annual Burning Bike and Strider Huge Rock Enduro, the organizers and participants realized that it would be difficult to outdo ourselves this year.
But we did.
By gosh, we did!
The Striders were newer and free-er, the glow sticks were more numerous, the fire pit-jumpers were more intoxicated, and the podium prizes were swag-ier.  The injuries were gnarlier as well, but if you want to make an omelette, you have to wing some eggs at a police cruiser and then get assigned as a cook in the prison mess hall.  Or something.
Some Colorowdies were lucky enough to get into town on Thursday night, so a Whole Enchilada shuttle was organized for Friday because, miraculously for the end of October, the top of Burro Pass was snow-free.  We met up at the Rim Cyclery and loaded up on the three vans for the hour-long ride to the Glacier Pass parking area, then all waited in line to use the single toilet in the tradition of "I drank way too much coffee before and during the shuttle ride".  After taking care of business, we donned our tutus and began the pedal up to the top of Burro, which is only a mile but always feels much longer.
Once there, we posed for the obligatory 'start of the WE' photos:

Tony: "Do your best raptor impression!"

Gotta have a jumping photo

Get ready to get rowdy.

While Eric took a surreptitious backside shot of the rainbow of tutus:

And then we were off!
The dirt on the descent was just about perfect, even slightly dusty, which was extremely odd since at that time last year the pass was under several inches of snow.  The first wave of Rowdies tore down the trail, one after the other, roosting the corners and splashing through the creek crossings, and regrouped at the beginning of the climb to Hazard County through the aspens.

A few folks in the group elected to wait for the rest, but those of us who like to take their time climbing started cranking up the trail at an easy pace.
We stopped again in the parking lot at the bottom of Hazard, assuming that the ones behind us would catch up momentarily.  After twenty minutes passed standing in the cold wind, Tricia and Yann decided to start pedaling up again to keep warm.  Another half hour went by with Spicy and me trying to take cover from the wind behind a van, the rest of the Colorowdies finally rolled in.  The problem: one girl's front brake cable had been neatly severed almost immediately after starting the descent down Burro.  Since a brake cable is virtually unfixable in the field, and there were plenty of steep sections remaining on the 20-odd-mile trail, it was very inadvisable for her to continue riding, and she had to bail out and take the road about 30 miles back to town.  We bid her good luck and kept on.

That's not supposed to look like that.

Hazard County was, as always, fantastically fun, as evidenced by Taylor's and Tony's smiles at the start:

And here are several more photos from the rest of the ride:

Unfortunately, though we started with 15+ people in our group, several had to break off due to mechanicals and needing to get back to their dogs and not feeling well, so there were only seven of us that popped out of the tunnel at the end of the Porcupine singletrack (not including Zach, who broke his chain at the start of the singletrack and Stridered his way out).
We pedaled back into town, drove back to camp, prepared dinner and readied ourselves for the dance party that would begin once everyone was properly costumed and intoxicated.
Yann Ropars, a veteran Burning Bike participant, wins for getting the best photos of the proceedings, and you can see more of his amazing work here.

When Rowdies go camping, you either hate us or join the party.

Photographer and fellow attendee Eric Rasmussen also got some great shots:

There was also a practice session for the following evening's Strider Huge Rock Enduro:

When jumping a Strider over a fire pit, remember that it's always important to wear proper safety equipment: helmet, gloves and flip-flops.
The festivities were still under way when I eventually stumbled off to bed, and the next morning I was acutely reminded of the bottle of tequila that had been passed around during the dance party, and of which I had apparently partaken a bit too much.  Even coffee, a bacon muffin and a Wescial burrito at the Love Muffin cafe did not make a significant dent in the hangover, so I took a nap in the van until about noon, at which time we finally mobilized for a ride at Amasa Back.
We had a fairly large group again, but this time we stayed together on the climb, and mercifiully there were lots of water and snack breaks because the pedaling made me feel like puking.  Of course we had to stop at the Jackson's Hole overlook for pictures:

#ladyshred

Now everybody take five steps back...

When we reached the turnoff for Jackson's trail, most of the group was tired of pedaling and ready for the descent, but seven of us elected to continue up Amasa and take Rockstacker over to Jackson's.  I was still hurting at that point, so calling it a day sounded quite appealing, but I caved to peer pressure and kept climbing.
I'm glad I did, because I forgot how much fun Rockstacker is.  Here's Leigh cleaning a section near the start that I've always been afraid of for no good reason:

Ain't no thang.

After that we just kept moving, so no more pictures for you!
Finally, when we got back to the parking lot, my hangover had more or less abated, and it was time to go to the brewery!  Apparently we had had our fill of biking for the day, because the dinner conversation was dominated by talk of skiing.  I got some beta on AT ski bindings from Donny Roth of Independent Descents, and also heard the story of the (only) time he was caught in a slide, which was terrifying.
Then it was time to go back to camp and register for the Strider Enduro!

Kelly and Tony worked the registration table, handing out glow sticks and event T-shirts.  Liz and others outlined the courses with tape, flagging and more glow sticks, and the racers busied themselves walking and preriding the lines. Stage 1 was similar to the previous year: moderately steep ledgy rock and sand.  The middle section of Stage 2 sent us on a meandering line through the Tent City:

Then we would have to stride vigorously up the dance party rock to the final descent down to the fire pit and the finish line, where most of the carnage would happen due to soft sand and high speed:

There was one rough faceplant on the first stage that had us thinking we should make full-face helmets mandatory for next year, but otherwise injuries were kept to a minimum.

Also, a brief intermission was required between stages to get the bikes back to rideable condition:

I mean, they are designed for 6-year-olds...

Finally, I give you the women's podium:

1-Taylor 2-Erin 3-Liz

And the men's:

1-Joey 2-Jeff 3-Ryan

Ryan and Jeff are both awesome riders, but it is slightly possible that this will be the only time they share a podium with Joey Schusler...
The girls received jewelry made by Leigh and the boys got Michigan pickled asparagus and the number plates from the Striders, and they all got various swag supplied by First Chair Clothing.
Then the girls stole the number plates because girls are better:

Pirates?

Then we all signed the eponymous Burning Bike before chucking it in the fire:

 A burnt offering to the trail gods.

The festivities continued until 2am, at which time Daylight Savings turned the clock back to 1am (if you're curious, iPhones just go straight from 1:59 to 1:00) and most of us made our way to bed.

In the morning everyone slowly dispersed, already looking forward to Burning Bike 2015 and dance parties in the desert.

Racing Green: The Pioneers go to Snow Basin

Last Saturday, the Pioneers traveled to Snow Basin to compete in the second-to-last National Interscholastic Cycling Association race of 2014.  We left Pocatello before dawn the morning of the race, and rolled into the resort parking lot with just enough time for the kids to pre-ride the course.
I rode with the team's only female racer that day, shouting tips and encouragement that hopefully wasn't too confusing or annoying.  The course was roughly five miles long, with some rocky sections and lots of flowy switchbacks in the second half down to the finish line.  Aside from a loose access road at the start, the climbs were not too challenging, but a couple spots funneled the riders into steep gravelly switchbacks that would quickly turn into bottlenecks if even a single rider stalled out.
The first heat of racers, the freshmen, gathered for a pep talk from Coach Dan:

And prepared their high-tech on-trail nutrition-access systems:

Genius.

The first wave of riders rolled out shortly afterward in a cloud of dust, and while they climbed up the back side of the slope, I hiked over toward the downhill section to find a place to set up for photos.
First I found this spot, where I captured our first racer looking a little bobblehead-y:

And the second racer, unfortunately taking the slower line around a small root:

I chalk this behavior up to the kids not looking far enough down the trail.  But we're working on it.

Then I shifted to a section that had better potential for carnage and interesting pictures, where a chipmunk was playing 'chicken' with the racers:

I got one shot of a Pioneer coming through on his first lap:

Then attempting to overtake another kid in this seemingly straightforward switchback that nonetheless caused several dismounts and amusing slow-motion falls:

'ON YOUR LEFT!!!' - future Trail Fred

But the light wasn't great there, so I came down another couple of switchbacks and made a somewhat successful effort to take an 'artsy' shot:

close focus = art

Then I was attacked by a semi-clothed Sasquatch:

He tried to steal my camera but I kicked his ass.

After the freshman boys were done, it was the girls' turn.  I joined our one female competitors' mom at the start line to cheer her on:

Then hiked to a different section to get a photo on the second lap, and to provide encouragement  yell things vaguely related to biking:

The majority of our racers had finished by that point, so I ditched the camera and joined the parents and other coaches at the finish line to cheer on the last couple groups.  There were a few terribly exciting sprints to the finish line, with racers narrowly cutting each other off to gain the lead.  I've never experienced that in my races, because the enduro format puts 30 seconds to a minute between each racer instead of using a mass start.  The XC system is particularly favorable to racers that have performed well in previous races, because they get to start at the front of the group, thereby largely avoiding bottlenecks that hold up racers farther back.

Helping out with the Pioneers has piqued my interest in trying out an XC race, just to see how I would stack up.  Pedaling is certainly not my strong suit, but having the motivation of a timer could theoretically speed me up.  There tends to be a larger field of female competitors in XC as well, and judging by the surge in interest of lady participants in enduro races this year, the field will only get bigger.  So I have my work cut out for me this fall and winter: pedal harder and take fewer breaks!