Team Alchemist Blog

Plodding through another night shift.  It’s 1am, and I’ve got an 80 year old lady with diarrhea and a kid who downed a bottle of Jack.   Good time to update the blog.

Last week, Team Alchemist and friends road tripped to the Black Hills of South Dakota for the Dakota 5-0.  It’s a little known race in Spearfish, SD with bomber singletrack and a great vibe.  As much as I hate to go camping, this experience was surprisingly enjoyable due to the nearby showers, soft well-kept lawn, and the group of companions that came to race and hang out.  About a dozen of us set up camp in the city campground, just a few pedal strokes from the start of the race.   Actually, Jon and Deb took all our tents and set up the whole camp the night before the rest of us slackers arrived .  Thanks guys.   Showers and running water is really the only way to camp, and no one is going to convince me otherwise.

The race is 50 miles of sweet singletrack.  The Alchemist bunch rode out together from the start, carving a line through the crowd before the road narrowed to singletrack.  Stuart and Ken rode in drag.  Stuart in a flowy yellow sash, Ken in a red sequined skirt.  I know what you’re thinking.  Sequins are soooo 1980’s.  But there’s something about a clydesdale in a sparkling mini-skirt and hairy legs that is . . . hot.   All the ladies had flair too.  Sue taped Playboy bunny ears to her helmet.   I’m still trying to figure out how to convince her to wear those again.  Ryn brought the accessories for the event.  Thanks, Ryn.

The boys in drag led the Alchemist train up the road and set a heavy pace on their singlespeeds.   I wasn’t sure if I would be strong or tired from the Breck Epic, but my legs felt as good as they have ever felt.   So I aired it out and figured I’d ride it til I popped.  Despite dropping my chain 6 times (I finally stopped and spent a couple minutes to tighten up the chain line at Aid 2) and imploding my fork (bottomed out on the first bump and stayed completely compressed for the rest of the race), I felt good enough to ride my legs hard for the whole 50 miles.   I finished 7th out of 33 singlespeeders, and 38th out of about 450 riders.   Good by my standards.  In fact, we all rode a good race.  Stuart, Ken, Jon and myself all finishing well and within 10 minutes of each other.   Jon finished in the money. Ryn and Jenn finished together not long after.  Christian (a real-deal clydesdale) and Deb came in just after them.  And Sue and Amy crushed the longest mountain bike ride either have ever done, picking up catcalls all along the way.  We all decompressed with beer, burritos, and brats afterward.   Thanks to Tom  (Jenn’s mountain biking dad) for the cold PBR.  A fine time was had by all.  Thanks to my folks for coming from Houston to brave the weekend with the four grandkids back in Boulder.  I will continue to unilaterally deny that my little heathens had anything to do with the Four Mile blaze that greeted us on our return.

Sat down with Rebecca Heaton of Competitor Magazine the other day.  She is the senior editor at Competitor (formerly Rocky Mountain Sports and parent company to Velonews).  She interviewed Claire and me for the “One Cool Job” story in the magazine.  I didn’t have much time to submit a better pic of me and the Walt Works bike mower, but I think this will do.   At the very least, it’s the pic in which I look the least dorky.  But that’s not saying much. Thanks to Todd (on the Team, but recovering from an ankle injury), Katie (Todd’s daughter and Jake’s playmate and love interest) and Julie (Nina’s bohemian mom) for helping me capture the image.  The interview will be in the October issue of Competitor.   So keep your eyes peeled for it.

Alchemist will be sporting a booth at the Boulder Racing Cyclocross Series.  So if you race cross, or just like to get drunk and heckle, come on out and say hi.  Special event deal: Buy 2 shirts and get a FREE pair of our bamboo socks.  We will be sponsoring prizes as well at the races.  So if you are fast enough or lucky enough to win one, we’d love to hear about it.  Alchemist@AlchemistThreadworks.com.

I decided to offer the Alchemist Team Kit to the general public.  Once we get things inventoried and organized, they will be available for purchase.  10% of profits will be donated to a worthy green and/or cycling charity TBD.  You can see the kit here: http://alchemistthreadworks.com/2010/09/alchemist-team-cycling-kit/

I need some photos of the backside, so Team members need to get me some pics.  Word.