Krista Rust: August 2008

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Watching the Brian Head Stage Race

My Camping Spot.

Cass after Stage 3

Start of Last Stage (Stage 4)

Heather and Pua (dark pink leader's jersey)

Amanda

For race info go to: http://www.mtbracenews.com/

Monday, August 18, 2008

Brian Head, UT

Yesterday's ride with my sister Erika and brother-in-law Dusty was perfect until Dusty hit the very last rocky section and ended up having to get ~9stitches.

I heard the wreck and went back up to find Erika tying a bandanna over his forearm and blood everywhere. There was a lot of blood in an 8-foot area and all over his arm. I took the pictures after it quit bleeding and we had cleaned him off with a gatorade/water mix. I was worried that we may have created a tourniquet and kept making sure he could still feel his fingers.

The big deal is that he is a top Semi-Pro Archer (you can make a lot more money than in cycling) and leaves for Worlds tomorrow (Aug 19th). He took it easy the entire ride so he wouldn't get hurt...

I love Brian Head. It has been two years since we've been here and it seems like more people have found out about it. Our campsite is quiet today (Monday) but was really crowded/loud this last weekend, mostly due to ATVs and loud ATV drivers. It will fill up again this weekend, especially with the stage race, but hopefully we'll get some neighbors who try to get their sleep or at least don't start yelling at 7am and run their generators till 4am. Any quiet campers headed up? I'll save you a spot.

Los Alamos, NM

Todd and I headed up to Los Alamos for a local race. I was born and raised in Los Alamos, but had never ridden a mountain bike there. It was a great course, a little harder than I expected. The event organizers did a great job, especially with having course marshals in all the right places and running on time. My only complaint with the NM races is that the courses are not marked ahead of time (making them kind of "locals only" races). The best thing about the Los Alamos race was the payout.

Todd raced singlespeed, he beat me. He started just in front of us, I caught him twice, but he got me on the major singletrack climb and I never saw him again. I raced most of the race with three gears (large ring, mid ring, small ring), my rear cable pulled out of the derailleur, it happened slowly and I kept playing with tightening/loosening the cable, getting a certain rear gear to work for a little while, then finally figured my rear derailleur was damaged when I couldn't shift at all. I even laid the bike down and tried to figure it out, not till after the race was over did I finally yank on the cable and it came loose in my hand. Todd's first comment was " that was a 30 second fix!". duh. Oh well.

Nina Baum and Jen Wilson were there; it was cool hanging out with them after the race. Jen had a great race.

After the race I had Todd drive all over town so I could see my town. There was a big fire (~50,000 acres, 200 homes) in 2000. short version. At the time we were visiting family in Santa Fe and volunteered at a shelter set up in a Casino between Santa Fe and Los Alamos. I had not been back to Los Alamos since. It was pretty sad to see the burned areas; luckily the fire somehow missed the ski hill.

This picture is the house my Dad built, the one I grew up in. The White Rock Canyon is just behind. The Red Dot trail starts at "our" property line.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Mt. Snow Dinner pics

Pictures from our dinner at the Brewery and drinks at the Silo (Vermont) with Andrew and team (and of course singlespeeders Dejay and Fuzzy). Thanks to Andrew for picking up the tab at the brewery!

Kenda Fest

Kenda Fest was the biggest mountain bike festival I have been to; it was a blast. There were multiple rides leaving at every time of the day. And if you had enough riding there were many other things going on. And guess what? I found Starbucks Frappuccino, at the Kenda Fest: