I drove over to Steamboat Springs from Silvethorne to give my cross bikes to Kent Eriksen to have rear disc mounts put on. I’m not sure I’m going to use disc brakes, but there isn’t a down side to having the option. Hanging with Kent and Katie is always super interesting and fun.

We didn’t get here until noon, went for a short ride, and then drove up to his house up above Steamboat. He’s been doing a million projects up here and I wanted to check them all out. The guy has so much energy and vision.

Last night I was thinking about bike frame materials and the advancements in weight reduction the last decade. Some of the things that have been done is simple amazing and really good for the sport. But I’m not sure that carbon fiber frames are one of the good things. The frames might be alright for the very top end of the sport, but for everyone else, they are a liability. When I was riding Trek frames, I went through a ton of them. Don’t get me wrong, they rode great and weighed next to nothing. But it seemed like just about everytime I even sneezed, I’d break one. If I fell and someone ran into me, or I ran into someone, they broke. And falling is part of bike racing. I hate it when I break a frame and I don’t pay for them. The “hate” of breaking a frame when you do pay for them is much, much more.

Bill Marshall, Mr. KCCX, posted something on Facebook about his Fuji carbon frame being broken by someone just knocking the bike over in a stand. Wow, I bet that happens way more than you’d imagine. How depressing would that be?

Anyway, titanium doesn’t have these issues. The frames aren’t 650 grams, but you can get one close to 1000 if you wanted. Titanium has really improved over the years and there are so many options of tubing that you can get really have a custom frame with exact characteristics. And with that you get a bike that is virtually indestructible. I’ve had a Moots YBB for 15 years. I’ve thrown that bike off of cliffs, ran into logs at 25 mph, snapped off shock forks, you name it, I’ve done it and it is perfect. One of my cross bikes I’ve ridden for close to 10 years. Show me a carbon cross bike that could be ridden that long. Impossible. When I get done racing, all my bikes are going to be only titanium. It is a great material for bicycle construction, withstands the elements, super strong and pretty light. And those is the reason I ride Kent Eriksen frames. Pretty simple.

Kent is building me a new road frame this week. I’m going to go to Park City, Utah today. I’m going to try riding MTB bikes with a bunch of friends from San Diego. I’m not sure MTB riding and my body are going to sync. Mainly my fractured ribs and screwed up thumb will be issues. I plan to see Eric Heiden’s wife, who is a hand surgeon in Park City too. My thumb is still pretty unusable and I have a couple other long term issues with the hand too.

I plan to come back through Steamboat in a few days. I’m not exactly positive what I am going to do for racing over Labor Day. Most likely I’m going to race a stage race in Steamboat Springs. But there is a MTB stage race in Grand Junction. Plus always the Gateway Cup criteriums in St. Louis. I need to race, so one of these will be what I’m doing.

Okay, I need to get into town and have Kent do a few measurements and then get driving. It’s only 300 miles to Park City, so it isn’t that far.

Picture loading is a little slow up here in the mountains, so here are just a couple.

My pile of cross bike pieces.

Kent’s house up in the Aspen trees.

I’ve only been in Park City for one day and I can say I really like this town. I’ve raced here a bunch off-road, but not in the last decade. Man, has this town chanced a bunch since then. Mainly by growth. It is amazing how much more is here. Deer Valley is jammed, as is Park City. The MTB network on the hill is amazing.

Yesterday I rode up the Armstrong trail, to the Mid-Mountain trail and met up with the gang from San Diego. The Armstrong trail is only uphill. I’m wondering if they are going to rename that one? Anyway, we rode over to Red Pine and then back on the Mid-Mountain trail to Park City. It was about 30 miles off-road. My arms are pretty worked. I fell once. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but for some reason, my bike stopped and I flew over the bars. When I got up, my rear wheel wasn’t in. It was about 2 hours into the ride, so I’m not sure exactly what happened. I assume my quick release came undone during the fall, but that doesn’t explain getting launched. I doubt I’ll ever figure it out. My shoulder was pretty achy all night from hitting the ground.

This morning I have an appointment to see Eric Heiden’s wife, Karen, who is also an orthopedic surgeon. But, she specializes in hands. She is in practice with Eric I think, but I’m not sure about that. She is going to look at my thumb and hand. It is a good time, since they both are pretty jacked up. Maybe I’ll get Eric to look at my shoulder if he is around.

Trudi took off at the wee hours of the morning to drive the 1700 kms. up to Edmonton, Canada. That is a long ways to go. She got a good bike ride in yesterday, so that is going to have to last her for the next two weeks. She is working through the Tour of Alberta, then the two World Tour Races in Montreal and Quebec City and then she is done for the season. She has a ticket back to Duluth the day after Chequamegon, so it’s only a couple more weeks.

I’m going to try to spend the majority of the day riding my MTB bike. I’d like to put some new, fatter, tires on to ride, but I doubt I’ll get around to it. I’ve been riding some Specialized Fast Trak 2.0. I got some 2.25 Schwalbe tires to try out, but don’t have an air compressor readily available, so I’ll just have to wait I guess.

I’m heading back to Steamboat on Thursday to go hang with Kent (Eriksen) for the weekend. Maybe I’ll hang with him late at night, when he seems to get a ton of work done. Maybe I can miter up a couple tubes and help put together my road bike if he isn’t already done with it.

I rode up on this kid when I was climbing up the Armstrong trail. He was pretty high up. I saw his dad a little later and got his phone number. I’m going to send him some MTB shoes and pedals for his son.

I wonder how many cities across the country have places and things named after Lance?

The view from the Mid Mountain trail.

Bromont waiting for Trudi after the ride.

The San Diego gang getting a beer after riding all day. It is amazing how much stuff they carry in back packs. That weight would kill me.

Trudi got a great birthday card from her team. Click twice to enlarge.