Cycling and Outdoor Gear

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Tags: endurance racing, mountain biking
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Extreme Cold Endurance Mountain Biking

February 28th, 2010

This afternoon 50 hardy endurance racers will be heading out into the Alaska wilderness for the Iditarod Trail Invitational. The majority of them are racing the first 350 miles of the Iditarod dog sled race course to finish at McGrath. 9 of them have the goal of going the full 1,100 miles to Nome.

The racers get to choose whether to do the race on bike, ski or foot. Nearly every year it is won by someone on a bike. This year there are 30 mountain bikers, 18 runners and 2 skiers. I’m not sure why so few skiers do it. Any ideas?

Those on bikes use snow bikes. Snow bikes are basically mountain bikes with more clearance for wide tires. Not only are wide tires used but the rims can be twice was wide as normal mountain bike rims. This gives a lot of tire volume allowing tire pressure to be around 5 psi and a large contact area to spread the weight over the snow.

The last couple years I’ve been keeping track of Jill Homer during the race but she’s not doing it this year. This year I’ll be most interested in how my friend Chris Plesko is doing. Of couse I’m also interested in the other racers too.

Chris and I did a moonlight hike of Pikes Peak a couple years ago in the winter. Ok, it started in moonlight and turned into a blizzard in the wee hours of the morning. Since then Chris has finished the brutal 2745 mile Tour Divide from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, NM. Not only did he finish it but he was on a single speed.

The Iditarod Invitational leaderboard is kept updated throughout the race along with some commentary on the blog. I imagine Jill will also be writing some about the Iditarod Invitational on her blog. It looks like Craig Medred plans to be tweeting updates on twitter.

Men’s 350 Mile Records

Peter Basinger – bike – 2007- 3 days 5 hours 40 minutes
Jim Jaeger -ski – 200 – 4 days 8 hours
Steve Reifenstuhl – foot – 2005 – 4 days 15 hours

Women’s 350 Records

Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant – bike – 2005 – 5 days 7 hours 48 min
Gail Koepf – ski – 2005 – 7 days 6 hours 18 min
Loreen Hewitt – foot – 2008- 7 days 14 hours 40 minutes

1100 Mile Records – Northern route (even numbered years)

Mike Curiak – bike – 2002 – 17 days 2 hours
Roberto Ghidoni – foot – 2002 – 22 days 6 hrs 6 min
Women’s Record Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant – bike – 2008 25 days 12 hours 58 minutes *** first female cyclist to Nome***

1100 Mile Records – Southern route (odd numbered years)

Carl Hutchings – bike – 2005 – 22 days 47 min
Tim Hewitt – foot – 2009 – 25 days 9 hours and 29 minutes

– UltraRob

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Pueblo Reservoir on @trip

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Tags: Alaska, Iditarod, mountain biking, snow biking
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i-gotU gt-120 GPS Logger Review

February 24th, 2010

Since this summer I’ve been using a little GPS logger to record some of my mountain bike rides and hikes. It’s the i-gotU gt-120 GPS Logger from Mobile Action. As you can see in the photo above it’s very small.

Unlike the Garmin Edge 705 that I have for navigating and seeing my speed, distance, etc. while I’m riding, the GPS logger just records for download after the ride. Since I have the Edge 705 you may wonder why I’d use both. I received the i-gotU from Mobile Action so I could review it and ended up finding it very useful.

Since it’s water resistant, I’ve been just throwing it in my jersey pocket or hydration pack along with whatever else I’m carrying. It has a blue rubber bumper that fits around it to help cushion impacts. I haven’t taken any hard falls with it but it’s held up well bouncing around in my pocket.

It’s designed as a travel logger so you can share your adventures. The software that comes with the GPS logger makes it easy to geotag photos you take. If you aren’t familiar with geotagging, it adds GPS coordinates to photo files so services like Flickr can place them on a map.

It’s best to have the time set correctly on the camera since the software places the photos based on time. Even if the time isn’t set correctly, the software that comes with the gt-120 provides an easy way to adjust the time. If you know the time difference, you can enter it or you can drag the slider until it shows the photo in the right spot on the map.

Once photos have been added, you can then easily upload the map and photos to the web. They provide some space free on their @trip site and then you can buy additional space. Photos can be uploaded to @trip, Flickr or Picasa.

Once you’ve uploaded the map, you can share the link with friends or embed the map on your blog as you see below. You can also save the trip to file as a web page in .mhtml format or the Google Earth files as .kml or .kmz. When the map is uploaded to their website, they significantly reduce the number of waypoints so you don’t get as accurate of a route as you get saving it to file.

For me, saving to a Google Earth file is very useful. I used to need a couple software programs to create a map with photos of my rides. Now with the GPS logger and software it’s easy. I do have to do a bit of editing so the paths are right when I put it online. I made this Pueblo Reservoir map using the gt-120 and software.

The gt-120 has plenty of storage with 64,000 waypoints. It can be configured to store a waypoint every second or every several minutes and anything in between. There’s a setting to have it log at a different interval if your speed is higher than a set amount. I’ve been using mine with it set to log every 6 seconds. If my math is correct, that would mean I can store over 100 hours of data before it fills up.

How often a waypoint is saved also affects how long the battery lasts. With it set to log it estimates the battery will last 10 hours. I’ve used it a little longer than that without a recharge without a problem. Setting the logging interval to 12 seconds, gives an estimate of 30 hours of battery life.

The i-gotU GPS logger also is designed to work as a GPS receiver for navigation software. I haven’t tried using it that way so don’t know how it works.

i-gotU gt-120 GPS Logger Likes

Small Size
Easy to geotag photos
Easy to share adventures
Reasonably accurate even when in jersey pocket or outer pocket of pack

i-gotU gt-120 GPS Logger Dislikes

Charging and downloading data require a special USB cable. It’s probably used to keep dirt and water from getting in port.
Blue and red lights that indicate whether the logger is on, locked on satellites, etc. are very hard to see in sunlight.
The only charger is the USB cable so you need a computer or an adapter to charge it.
Some parts of the software aren’t intuitive

i-gotU gt-120 GPS Logger Specs

Dimension: 1.75 x 1.1 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 0.7 oz
Built-in SiRF StarIII 65nm low-power chipset
Built-in GPS patch antenna
Built-in flash memory
Built-in 230mAh Lithium-ion battery
2 LED for tracking and battery/charger status indication
USB 1.1 interface for PC connection
Operation temperature: 15 to + 120 degrees Fahrenheit

– UltraRob

Price: $219.95

Regular Price: $280.00
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Price: $268.44

Tags: gear review, GPS
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Where to Stay? – Leadville 100 MTB FAQ

February 12th, 2010

Leadville 100 - Bottom of Columbine Climb

This post is part of the Leadville 100 MTB FAQ.

If you’re like me, you probably won’t be doing a lot of sleeping the night before the Leadville 100 but it’s good to get is much rest as possible. Taking Ambien really helps but I still wake up through the night. Having lodging close to the start/finish some years has allowed me to crawl out of bed as late as possible.

Leadville is a small town and lodging fills up quickly after the lottery results are announced. Some people make reservations before they know whether they’re in as long as they can cancel the reservation. The only chain motel in town is the Super 8.

The Leadville 100 site has a list of lodging in in or near Leadville. If you’re on a budget and don’t mind dormitory style lodging, the Leadville Hostel is a good option. I’ve heard good things about the Columbine Inn and Grand West Resort.

A couple years I’ve camped at the Sugar Loafin’ Campground. You have to make reservations early to get an RV spot. At least in the past they’ve had an overflow tent area so they’ve been available closer to the race but one year they were full even for tents. There are also several National Forest campgrounds around Turquoise Lake. The Leadville RV Corral is located right at the edge of town but just looks like a bunch of RV spots lined up right next to each other.

If everything is full in Leadville, there are some nice B&B;’s in the town of Twin Lakes about 20 miles away. The town is on the far end of the lakes away from the race course. Ores & Mine B&B; is closer to Leadville and right on the race course where the paved road drops down near the Twin Lakes Dam. We stayed there after the race once and it was very nice.

Copper mountain is only a couple miles farther away in the opposite direction from the town of Twin Lakes. It should be less than a 30 minute drive. Because of the ski area there are several lodging options there.

– UltraRob

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Tags: Colorado, endurance racing, Leadville 100, mountain biking
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Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Entry Deadline Looms

January 29th, 2010

Lance Armstrong at the 2009 Leadville 100

Right now August seems like a very long ways away. I hope to be standing way too early in the cold on a street at over 10,000 feet on August 14. In order to have that privilege, I have to take action now.

The entry deadline for the Leadville 100 mountain bike lottery is this Sunday January 31st at 5 PM. New for this year is a $15 fee just to try getting into the race. The lucky racers will be notified whether they got in by February 8th.

I heard that about 5,000 entries were received last year. With the Leadville 100 movie and Lance expected to race again I expect at least double that will register this year. According to a Singletrack.com article there have been entries from 98 countries. That may mean the entries will be much more than doubled from last year.

I’ve signed up in hopes of lining up for my 7th time. I finished my first 5 times. Last year I got a stomach bug the night before. I started but bailed after I was doubled over beside the trail twice in the first 20 miles. I’ll spare you the details.

If they let 1,400 racers in like last year and receive over 10,000 entries, that doesn’t give much better than a 10% chance of getting in. Since some people are given preference in the lottery, some will have a better chance of getting in.

Good luck to everyone in the Leadville 100 lottery!

– UltraRob

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Pikes Peak South Slope Meeting January 2010

January 29th, 2010

Boehmer Reservoir with Pikes Peak in the background (CSU photo)

Update: At the meeting the end of April, they presented a mostly final Pikes Peak South Slope plan that included several things that were brought up in this meeting.

The Pikes Peak South Slope recreation meeting on Tuesday was very well attended. I counted somewhere close to 130 people.

There weren’t any major surprises from what I wrote before the meeting based on what I had heard. After writing that I also obtained a copy of the concept plan.

The written plan doesn’t have any information in it about who’s going to pay to build the trails and parking lots or how it’s going to be maintained. It turns out that’s because they really don’t have a plan. It did seem pretty clear that it’ll include user fees and could include a private company managing it.

Tom, the presenter, said they want to phase in access and trails because they don’t want to rush and damage a sensitive area. Barry from the Gazette said that we’re already 11 years into the process and he didn’t feel there was any danger of rushing into it. He also brought up that the Denver Water Board also manages recreational access to similar areas.

The reason given for not having a plan that would include a section of the Ring the Peaks Trail was that the Forest Service doesn’t want a new trail. CSU doesn’t want to build a trail that would deadend at the Forest Service boundary. Although I think the Forest Service is reluctant to build the trail, it seems they’re both pointed at the other and using it as an excuse rather than working together.

Their main reason for restricting mountain bikers is the bighorn sheep. There’s believe to about 200 sheep in the area. Utilities was told by a biologist that the speed of bikes scares the sheep. They didn’t know if there were studies showing that. Jim from Medicine Wheel pointed out a study in Canyonlands referenced on the IMBA site that showed that hikers caused significantly more severe responses from desert bighorn sheep than mountain bikers.

I don’t know how the response is similar between desert sheep and our high country bighorn sheep. Still it seems that they are using the sheep as a way to keep mountain bikes out and possibly don’t have sufficient scientific data to back it up. Maybe the area should just be closed to all users during the lambing season.

The main recreation groups of hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians and fishers were well represented. There were also a few rock climbers, hunters. When they asked for who was there for the various types of recreation, it looked like over half the room raised their hands for both mountain biking and hiking. That’s not surprising since there’s a lot of people that do both. Equestrians represented about 20% with a smaller number of fishermen.

Most of the equestrians were happy with the initial plan. I didn’t get a good feel for how hikers felt other than being disappointed about the Ring the Peaks Trail. Mountain bikers definitely weren’t happy about not getting access to the South Slope reservoir area.

If you didn’t make the meeting but want to make comments, fill out the comment form due by February 26th. There’s information on the Watershed Access Project page for emailing it to CSU. They plan to have another public meeting in April with plan refinements based on the feedback they receive. They plan to finish up the planning phase by June.

– UltraRob

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Tags: Colorado Springs, hiking, mountain biking, Pikes Peak
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2010 Leadville 100 Registration Open

December 21st, 2009

The Leadville Trail 100 races are now accepting entries for 2010. New for this year there will only be online registration including the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. The 100 mile mountain bike race will cost you more in 2010 whether or not you get picked in the lottery.

That’s right, you’ll pay $15 just to enter the 100 mile mountain bike lottery. Also the entry fee is going up $25 to $275. I doubt that’ll keep them from getting record entries after so many people saw the Race Across the Sky movie. Hopefully I’ll make the lottery so I can line up and attempt to get my 6th finish.

As in the past, the 100 mile mountain bike entry deadline is January 31st but the deadline is 5 PM. The strategy of entering with a group that I mention in my post on the entry lottery won’t work this year since there are no longer group entries. The other events have deadlines close to race date if the race isn’t full.

New for this year will be a 12/24 hour race Labor Day weekend. There was talk of having it last year but it got postponed. It’s been a while since I’ve raced 24 hours solo so maybe if I’m fit I’ll give it a try.

Leadville Trail 100 2010 Schedule

Leadville Trail 100 Run Training Camp – June 26-28
Leadville Trail Marathon – July 3
Leadville Trail Heavy Half Marathon – July 3
Leadville Silver Rush 50-Mile Mountain Bike Race – July 17
Leadville Silver Rush 50-Mile Trail Run Race – July 18
Silver King & Silver Queen – July 17-18
Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race – August 14
LT100 10K Run – August 15
Leadville Trail 100-Mile Run – August 21-22
Leadman & Leadwoman – July 3, July 17 or 18, August 14, August 15, August 21-22
24 Hours of Leadville Mountain Bike Race – September 4-5

– UltraRob

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