You havn't lived until you MTB in the pitch black

Well its been awhile since my last update and its time to give one. Well the past few weeks have pretty much consisted of me working a lot and biking in my spare time. Seeing that Corey is changing shops it has given me a lot of hours which is good and bad. I started paying for my new mountain bike this week which is going to make me very broke but the bike is pretty sweet. I will do a little bike report of the new bike pretty soon.
Well Tuesday night we had our second group mountain ride of the season. Started out very good, and I'm finally feeling a little more comfortable on the bike as far as my fitness level goes. So I'm going to try to build on it. Anywho, we set out with Corey, Feighny, Colin, Austin and Ray do try a different route that looped back to Feighny's house. It was going pretty good until the sun started to set and we weren't halfway to our destination. We decided to keep pressing on, and didn't get any brighter outside. At one point when we were waiting for people to catch up Feighny, Corey, Colin and I had a little break in our conversation only to hear coyotes howling and making all kinds of noise in all directions. It was a good little laugh. Once it got really dark Austin took a little dive over the handlebars and beat his bike down the hill, the bike almost landed on him. I wish I could have seen it but it was far to dark. We made it back to Jenn waiting for us in the short bus to pick us up.
All in all it was actually a great time and I had an absolute blast. I can't wait to do the trail again. Big thanks to Jenn and Mike for letting us have pizza at their house and Jenn for rescuing us in the middle of the night! Thanks for checking in

PS I would have pictures but I have no camera

New Belgium Crit and such

It has been awhile and it is time for an update. Weekend was pretty eventful worked all day saturday and went to the New Belgium Crit in Fort Collins. The course was really cool, very flat and only about 6 tenths of a mile long. I went into the race extremely nervous. I stayed with the main field for maybe 3 laps, then the motopace guy blew his whistle for me to drop out of the race. It was kind of an eye opener in how fast the Cat 4's can be, but I am still learning a lot.

This picture shows how hard I tried to stay on with the pack. It didn't work.


Today I went mountain biking at the Devils Backbone outside of Loveland with Corey, Colin, Dana, and Ray. Mark let me test out the Cannondale Rush that I am going to buy from him. The ride couldn't have gone better. I forgot how much I miss mountain biking and it felt great to go out and ride again. Corey broke his chain not far into the ride and Colin and I rode on by ourselves. Corey caught up with us pretty quickly and we had a real fun ride back. I need to start saving more money to buy Marks Rush. The bike was awesome loved the way that it felt when I climbed. I thought that a full suspension would not climb like my old hardtail but it felt great. Well I have work tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

I had a productive day, imagine that

Well Im finally starting to recover from my horrible sunburn that I got last sunday. I finally am not in pain all the time and I actually had a good night of sleep last night, imagine that. Since I havn't been outside on the bike lately (because I was worried about the burn getting worse) I burrowed Dana Curlee's trainer. I was able to probably put a solid 4 hours or so in on it this week. Gotta say that I don't really like doing the trainer that much, and seeing as my house has no air conditioning you end up sweating a little.

I woke up this morning to a phone call from Corey asking if I would work for him today, seeing as it was my first day off in awhile I said no. Sorry Corey need some time off. I went and got a haircut at campus cuts. Then went and visited Steve at Roubaix for a little while. After that I went to Noodles with my roommate Jason, friend Pat, and Pat's co-worker Kellen. We went back to Pat's for a little while and played some Xbox 360. Pretty cool but definately not worth the 600 dollar price tag. Afterwards went for a little ride by myself out to Windsor and back. Felt really good to get out on the bike again. I also had to test out my newly aquired parts for my bike. Which includes a new Ultegra front derailleur, and a new FSA hollow forged energy aluminum double chain ring. I have been lusting after a double for some time and I finally got what Scott would call a big boy double. Anyway, back to my ride. It was the first ride that I have been on without an Ipod or a friend with me. I don't mind riding alone at all and the only reason I didn't have my Ipod was that I left it at I-bike. I really enjoyed the time alone and it definatly cleared my head which I really needed.

After a week like I have had this week I have realized a few things.

1. Where sunscreen even when you don't need it.
2. Second degree burns really hurt
3. I love my job at I-Bike and I am forever in-debted to Corey Carlson for getting me a job there.
4. The mackin hoes diet is a good way to go for a diet.
5. FSA cranks are very cool.
6. When you work at a bike shop you spend all your paychecks on parts.
7. Having a room to yourself and a queen bed is really nice.
8. A ride by yourself is actually really nice.
9. You can't tell girls that you ride a bike on the first date, its probably a turn off. ( According to Scott drop the bike bomb on them on date number 2 or 3.

For the millions of people that read my blog I thank you.
-Evan

Housewarming Party

Well our housewarming party couldn't have been better. We got ourselves a keg of coors light and hung out. I would like to thank everybody for coming. Obviously wouldn't have happened if you guys didn't show up! I think the highlight of the night was when Scott was trying to get this girl with me, only to find out she is married and 26 years old. Live and learn I guess. I believe the night was capped off by me eating shit in the kitchen and trying to get girls to make out with me.

The next day I went wakeboarding with Shawn, Justin, Amanda, Julia and Joe. Joe took his boat out as well that day so we had a lot of fun. The lake was packed with people so the water was extremely choppy. The day was a lot of fun. I came home extremely sunburned and finished the night with Jason watching American Flyers. Good flick, anybody who hasn't seen it should its pretty sweet. I woke up the next morning for work with my sunburn feeling terrible. I was in pain all day and felt like shit. When I got home to get in the shower I took off my shirt and noticed that I had these disgusting blisters on my shoulders. Not a good feeling but I'll get through it. Well I'm off to watch a movie, thanks for checking in.

The End of an Era

Well I got my new helmet last week and I thought that we should reflect on the times of the old one...

2000-2006
First I will give a short history, I asked my father to buy me a helmet. He told me I have a brand new one sitting in the garage. I said that it was purple and I didn't want a purple helmet, then he told me that I can pay for a new one. Seeing as how this one was free I took it. I chose not to wear it for awhile, I usually stole my brothers nicer helmet when I needed one. Then collegiate road racing started and decided it was time for a new one. Never got around to buying a new one until recently. It has been called many names: The Tub, The Beast, Barney (mostly comparing my chubby ass to a purple helmet...I may have resembled barney) Well my entire collegiate cycling season was spent on this helmet, and I took crap about it from beginning to end. Ive been dropped from races on this helmet, crashed on this helmet during mountain bike season, lost my first race on this helmet. ( I wish I could say that I won a race in this helmet, but lets just face it it didn't happen.) As much crap as I took about it, it probably saved me a few times so I thought that I would dedicate this blog to it. Here is the new one and maybe someday it will have memories like the tub gave me. Thanks for checking in.

Here is the new one

My new house, become a pit stop for people with court dates.

Well I had an eventful weekend of getting moved into my new house. Im real happy to finally have my own room now, and not a twin bed inside a dorm room. It feels real good, my weekend was pretty much devoted to moving with a little bit of drinking and biking here and there.

My friends Conor and Emily came up on monday night because they had court the next day because of MIP's that they recieved earlier in the year. We hung out and drank some beers that night and had a middle of the night pizza. The next morning we went to the Bread Board to get some coffee and pastries, 3 cups of coffee is a good cure for a hangover let me tell you.

The next day I had work over at I-bike all day followed by a group ride with the Roubaix Bicycle Company that evening. It was a lot of fun, actually got a very good workout in. I am going to start making that a regular thing. If anybody wants to come they are Wed. nights at 6.


I saw this picture on cycling news today. Cool picture of Marco Pantani. For those of you who don't know who he is, one of the best climbers in the world. Anywho I thought it was cool. Adios

Training Program

Well I had a conversation with Corey about a training program for cycling next year. I've decided that I am going to do it. It may be tough but I could use a challenge in my life. I started my program yesterday and I went on a ride with Brian and Dana. It was pretty fun, the flat fairy was not helping Dana on this ride he had a total of 3 flats on the day. So this ride that was pretty short ended up turning into a long one. It was still fun, great to finally get out on the bike again it had been to long. Only problem with this ride for me as I had eaten just about nothing but 2 Clif Bars all day. Don't do that it sucks.

Later that night I went and hung out at T-bone Ranch Apartments to hang out with my friends Shawn, Jason, and Pat. It was pretty fun there was a little party going on and good to hang out and meet new people.

I had good intentions of getting up and going on a ride this morning but when I did wake up my legs hurt pretty bad. I should have just gone anyway but I didn't. Well I'm actually going to get up tomorrow and go on a ride so if anybody wants to join me give me a call.

Living at Corey's

Well I have temporarily moved into Corey's place until the 20th of May. The weekend started out with work at I-Bike with my new job there. My job couldn't really be going better, the days seem to go fast and I love what I'm doing. On sunday I hung out with my friends Pat and Danielle and went to the Olive Garden for lunch. Man that beats the dining hall food. Monday morning Corey returned from the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico. We decided to make a pizza that morning and called Brian over to join us. We ended up indulging in some 40's and watching wedding crashers. On Tuesday I had the day off and a group interview at the Texas Roadhouse. It went pretty good because I got a call the next day for a second interview.

Unfortunataly, I have not been on the bike lately as much as I should. I think I made my decision on the bike that I am going to get. I am thinking the Cannondale Rush 800 full suspension bike might be my next mountain bike. We shall see, well I am off to work. If you have any road races you know about clue me in.

schools out for summer

well school is finally out. Thank the lord for that one. I have been burned out on school pretty much since the first week back from Christmas Break. So that is definately a relief. I had a lot more work at I-Bike this past week, it was a lot of fun, I am learning more and more every day. Getting moved out of my dorm turned into an ordeal that took a lot longer then it should have. But I piled all of my shit into my friend Shawn's car and brought it over to Corey's where I will be living for a little while. Thanks again Corey for letting me live with you for awhile!

Well I was thinking about taking out a credit card to pay for the mountain bike that I plan on buying soon. That way I can have the bike during this summer and I can start preparing for mountain season. I am still debating whether I should get the hardtail or the full-suspension. Well I am off to dive into a good book. Leave me some comments about my decision on the mountain bike

UW and Finals Week

Well the University of Wyoming race turned out to be quite the race. We woke up saturday morning with it pretty cold outside in Laramie. By the time we got up to where we were actually going to race we were sitting at a comfortable 25 degrees. Wasn't very pleasant to say the least. The course consisted of about 23 miles of downhill then you turn around and go back up. It took me about an hour to go downhill 23 miles. As soon as I turned around I was met with a headwind that didn't really stop until I made it back to the finish line. My ride time was 3 hours and 12 minutes and it was not that fun. Oh well those can happen.

We decided to ditch out on the TTT and just get some rest and save ourselves for the crit the next day. The crit was a lot more fun than the road race for sure. It was flat all the way around, only problem was is that it started at 7 am. We all started together and I ended up dropping out of the race about 3/4 of the way through because I was not feeling so hot. Anywho, Albert King ended up taking 5th overall in collegiate racing C's this year. Congrats to him. I was pretty pleased with how my season went, this year was a learning experience for me and with every race I felt better. My goal is to lose some weight this year and work on some climbing. Well good season.

Well this week was my favorite week of the year in college...FINALS!!! Ya they have been going pretty good I took 2 on monday, 2 on tuesday, have wednesday and thursday off, and then Bio on friday. I started at I-Bike yesterday afternoon and had a lot of fun, it will be different doing a job that I actually enjoy. I go in today again as well I have a feeling it is going to be a good summer of work.

I started moving some of my stuff over to Corey's today because I'm living with him until I can move into my house on the 20th. Thanks Corey!