Arizona Adventures

I’ve never been one to shy away from biting off more than I can chew, so when Glen tossed out the idea of a one day epic 100-mile ride along the very remote Arizona Trail, I was in. I even started to train for it, but then, well, life got hectic, and “training” turned into drinking lots of coffee hoping that it would be a suitable replacement for proper sleep, diet, and exercise. 

It wasn’t.

Tour de Heifer

The combination of camping, Vermont, and a good gravel ride makes for a perfect weekend in my book.

Those three factors came together on the weekend of June 8th & 9th as Jean and I, along with the illustrious Liz & Dan, brought our travel trailers to Brattleboro, Vermont, for the Tour de Heifer.

Brattleboro is one of my favorite towns, with a cool downtown and an amazing farmer's market, books stores, antique stores, coffee shops, and restaurants (like the Whetstone Brewery with great beers and awesome outdoor seating). We were there last year for the West Hill Grinder and had been looking forward to a return--the Tour de Heifer was the perfect reason.

Waterbury Area Trails Alliance Gravel Grinder 2019

Well, it's spring 2019, so that means rain... April, and so far early May, have been rainy, rainy, rainy. Mountain bike trails are a mess, and events like the Muddy Onion, Rasputitsa, and the Waterbury Area Trails Alliance (WATA) gravel grinder have been impacted by the rain in one way or another. I did the Muddy Onion, and while it was a bit muddy, I fortunately finished right before the cold deluge began. Rasputitsa is on my bucket list, but I haven't committed yet, and this year's course seemed miserable with not only rain, but sleet and snow.

CircumBurke 2018--East Burke, Vermont

I’m not afraid of making bad decisions and biting off more than I can chew, but when I registered for the CircumBurke Challenge, I actually had a plan.

That plan hadn’t included a crash and a really, really, really uncomfortable groin injury that kept me off the bike for a few weeks followed by a brutal work schedule that also kept me off the bike for a few weeks. So, when Glen and I headed up to Vermont, I was mentally exhausted from work, and hadn’t done a serious mountain bike ride for about two months. But hey, the race is only 26 miles so…

Photo Gallery

West Hill Grinder, Putney, Vermont

Another great weekend in Vermont, and another great gravel ride, this one put on by the legendary West Hill Shop in Putney, Vermont.

The course was great and the weather was amazing. I had originally signed up for the 4-Gap  loop, for 40 miles and about 4800ft of climbing, but with my leg still recovering, I opted for the 2-Gap, for 34 miles and about 3800ft. It was super fun, and I've love to do the 4-Gap next time around.

Jean, Liz and Dan rode too, and had a blast on the West-West loop.

2018 Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge [CBCC] 100K Race Report

Not much to say about this event, aside from the fact it absolutely rocked, was the ‘A race’ for my 2018 season, and exceeded expectations on all counts.

All roads led to the Carrabassett Valley this past July - starting last November ‘17 on the rollers, on the freezing porch, racing a bunch of other online hammerhead nerds in Zwift. The solid base built up through the winter with a mix of climbing, endurance, and 1-3 all out short race efforts (35-75 minutes) morphed into pretty good outdoor on-bike fitness, but it took some weeks to re-acclimate to the mountainbike. Late spring and early summer saw good gains and an increased ability to go harder longer out on the trails. This was key to doing well at the CBCC as it’d be a minimum of a 6 hour effort required (based on optimistic projections and a bit of good luck) to finish in decent shape.

2018 Rose Mountain Rumble Gravel ride

It's hard to know if I was rumbled or if I did the rumbling, but the 2018 Rose Mountain Rumble has been completed, logged, video'ed and documented on Strava, No fake news here.

Vermont Overland Pave' Madness (Hot as Balls)

Vermont Overland Pave' Madness 2018 from David Alden on Vimeo.

2018 Acadia 10K

Jean and I wrapped up a week of camping, riding, and hiking on Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park with the Acadia 10K, starting and finished in Bar Harbor.

It has been a fun week, in full "vacation mode" and I hadn't been setting the alarm or getting up early (not with cold beers and camp fires at night). But, the race had a 7am start, so I was awoken to Metallica's rendition of "Am I Evil?" at 5:00 to caffeinate and get to the event in enough time to watch everyone do their pre-race stretching. I don't want to say that I'm "anti-stretch," but I do enjoy watching the WIDE array or pre-run calisthenics that people go through as many remind me of a Monty Python Silly Walk skit.

WATA Gravel Grinder Video

Read the story here.

WATA Gravel Grinder, Waterbury, VT

And then at about mile 9, I knocked my wife to the ground...

That was just one of the highlights along the WATA gravel ride in and around Waterbury, Vermont.

Ever since we did the Muddy Onion a couple of years ago, Jean and I have been fans of gravel rides. Great routes, great vibes, and great views have pulled us back for more and more rides, and this was our first year at the Waterbury Area Trail Alliance Gravel Grinder.

We opted for the shorter "traditional" loop which included about 27 miles and 2800ft of climbing and it was filled with--as promised-gravely goodness.

2018 Muddy Onion, Montpelier, Vermont

Jean and I have ridden in the Muddy Onion in Montpelier, Vermont for the past couple of years  2017  2016), and the event really set the bar for gravel rides. Great route, great support and an amazing apres ride bash all made for memorable rides. Sadly, the organizing shop, Onion River Sports closed its doors, but some dedicated people are working to keep the dream alive and Onion River Outdoors is being born. And while the doors are not open yet, the Muddy Onion lives on!

Kingdom Trails with some of the Crew

Kingdom Trails with some of the Racer-X crew, October 2017 from David Alden on Vimeo.

A Busy Weekend of Racing

It was a busy weekend of racing for Racer-X, with Dave Tufts taking 2nd overall in the Gulf South Mountain Bike Series after the Lungbuster north of Jackson, Mississippi, Glen Gollrad, tackling the CircumBerzerk, racing 50 miles with more than 6000ft of climbing in East Burke, Vermont, and Jeff Soderman racing both days at the Gran Prix of Gloucester in Gloucester, Massachusetts. More on all of that coming, but in the meantime, here are some more pics from GPGloucester...

Braintree 357 Gravel Enduro

Braintree 357 Gravel Enduro from David Alden on Vimeo.

2017 Rose Mountain Rumble Gravel Ride

The 2017 Rose Mountain Rumble gravel ride, in Lyndenborough, New Hampshire was all that you'd want a gravel ride to be...

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