Cool Pictures, No Order

Mercedes Taxi
Rocky Trail
Lighting Bolt
2 kilo of chocolate cereal
Todd Nordblom
Sunset
More Sunset

mitch

Cool Pictures, No Order

Amazing place to live.
Picture of me with some endangered harry pigs that they eat here
Kirchzarten in the Fog form the tower
Me and the tower and some really cool windmills. They are real big. 
Yurtle the Turtle and the tower above the clouds
Windmill on a non foggy day
Same windmill on a foggy day
Same Windmills at sunset
Same sunset

Amazing riding. We are racing a Bundusleige U23 race this weekend, fast. Lots of Nutella required. They have really good cereal here. Witnessed two birds fighting the other day, that was cool. 

Mitch

Swiss Racer Cup and Local Crushing

So we did a Swiss Racer Bike Cup. It was crazy. The Racer started under this super low arch thing on cobbled roads. Sounds sketchy right. Then it comes back in the finish area, 180 degree turn and up this wooden ramp wide enough for 2 riders. I made it up and then was the first guy to put a foot down and thus started the massive pile up seen above. The guy on the left maneuvered a couple of summersaults down the hill and over the fence of the course. Seems like bolds strategy but i couldn't tell if it payed off for him.

Long story short i road pretty well until it started raining at which point i hit the deck on sweeping right hand road turn and got some DMB worthy road rash. I got cot by the rest of the US train and held on for 34th. 

That night i slept for like 4 hours because of post rest restlessness and continued jettlagg. The next day we headed out to a local circuit race. 10 2 k laps with the steepest hill ever. The US boys held it down taking the top to two spots on the podium with Tad and Rob. I suffered a lot from the previous night. But they apparently pay a lot of money hear. I got 15th and got 15 euros. 

My favor part about being here is the language barrier. We went out for pizza. Trevor orders pepperoni pizza. IT comes out with banana peppers. The waiter told us how he likes to speak with his hands and feet and pepperoni apparently doesn't translate well. Then he put on an instrumental version of Surfing USA and proceeded to play his tambourine and dance around for most of the song. When i came time to pay he brought us napkin with some numbers on it that didn't even remotely resemble the final amount we payed for. 

all and all its a great time over hear. 

Mitch

First Day

First day in. these pretty much sum it up


This is Amy and Kalan's futre hair cutting venture

Check out this euro kid and huge ass wheel of cheese. It weighed 73 kilos (160lbs)

These are just cool.

Swiss Racer Cup jet lagged should be fun
More Later

Mitch

The Essential Epic Group Ride

The Epic Group Ride can start many ways. Keep in mind that you must keep your options open and be able to jump on the band wagon when ever the opportunity presents its self. While the Acacia crushing fest isn't where you might expect to find an invite for a mountain epic, this weekend it presented Care Bear and I with the a chance to ride a Colorado Classic, The Monarch Crest. 

The Epic Group Ride has some serious requirements:

1. You must have a mix of people, ie, racers, old guys, the token junior, bike industry folk and a foreigner. 

2. An early start complete with a mix of 7-11 and Donut Mill fuel

3. Classic Variable weather in Colorado

4. Mechanical Problems, preferably early in the ride. 

5. Post Ride meal plan that includes Pizza, Burgers or Burritos 

Our ride included all of these. Which elevated into epic fun status. Some of the highlights include a German SRM employee, Magura Disc brakes dying at the very top of ride(that means 5000 feet of elevation drop with little to no stopping power for that token junior), solid down poor on the Rainbow Trail section making the trails amazingly tacky and pizza in a little Salida Brewery 

Please go out and find your own epic group ride and don't watch to much of the Olympics

Ride

Mitch Hoke

Going Single

I don't know about you, but I hit mid-summer and the motivation to strap on the heart rate monitor and crank up the hill in carefully selected heart rate zone to achieve a good metabolic rate for my training ride. It's not that I'm not psyched for a little raging and elevated pulse, it just takes something more. So I decided that those 27 gears offer to much opportunity for slacking off and went for the single speed. The single speed and I have been friends for a long time but were forced apart for "more serious training". But were back now. 

So if your feeling a little tired trade those 27 gears and protein shake in for the single speed and a post ride PBR.



Two cyclists were killed this week in Colorado Springs because of a careless motorist. Please drive and ride safe.

Ride

Mitch Hoke

Back to the Good Life

Traveling eventually takes its toll. While i will miss the east coast, muggy weather and stuck gas pedals, im shore glad to be back in CO. No driving or flying need here. Just the single speed I to keep things simple. Speeking of simple check this out and make your life a little more simple.

http://1world2wheels.org/go-by-bike-challenge

Ride
Mitch Hoke