With the Ridgeline Rampage mtb race snowed out, it was up to Sean to represent Team Alchemist this past weekend on the road. He threw down at the Weld County Road Race. Leading the pack for much of the race in his custom Alchemist Team attire. The Pais-Mo kit got a lot of attention. Nice work out there, Sean.
As bad as the weather has been for riding in Boulder, it’s still not as bad as the weather in Minnesota. Steve has been holed up through a long Minnesota winter, but his little girl, Amelia, still finds a way to sport the Alchemist colors. Good thing she gets her looks from her mother.
Amelia getting in some saddle time, and looking mahvelous.
Big thanks to Ross, Vivienne, Walt, Ryn, and, of course, Sue. It’s a little rough around the edges because I did the final editing at two in the morning, so don’t blame Ross and White Board for the hitches.
For more on the super rad film production company, White Board Entertainment, visit: http://www.whiteboardent.com/. If you want to check out more on the adventures of a pole dancer, check out verticalviv.com. For more on the mastermind behind the mower attachment, visit WaltWorks.
Team Alchemist had a great weekend in Fruita at the Desert R.A.T.S. race. A bunch of top podium spots. Ken defended his Men’s 30-39 title from last year. Ryn won the 30-39 women’s group. Jenn won the 40-49 women’s group. Becky took third in her first mountain bike race ever. Congrats Team Alchemist!
Ken’s race report:
Desert R.A.T.S. Report: Alchemist Train Chugs to Multiple Age Group Wins
The Team Alchemist effort at the Desert R.A.T.S. (Race Across The Sand) on May 12th started with a flat, but ended with multiple podium finishes. The out and back race is contested on the Kokopelli trail starting in Rabbit Valley, CO and turning around near the “Cisco Disco” in Cisco, UT. The course consists of mostly smooth double track with several rocky technical sections.
We got to the pre-race safety meeting 15 minutes before start and I realized my sidewall had a slice in it, and was bubbling out Stan’s. Since it was the only tire I had, I decided I needed to boot / duct tape the slice, and put in a tube. That was when the Alchemist Pit Crew (actually the other Alchemist racers) flung into action. How many people does it take to fix a flat? 6 – Chris Castilian, Stuart Walsworth, Jon Pulley, Becky Anderson, and Ryn Kreidl all took over and put everything back together, and rumor has it, Jenn Dice got a video of the teamwork. Luckily the race starter, delayed the start a few seconds, but once we got it inflated he said, “OK, we’ll start in 8 seconds” and we were off.
Chris Castilian led the Alchemist Train out of the blocks and put us comfortably in the 2nd group of 7 riders, with 5 other riders going off the front, and not seen again until the turnaround. After about 10 minutes, Chris told us his work as the locomotive engineer was done, and he settled in to a more comfortable pace. On the way out to Cisco, Disco Stu, JP, and I took turns pulling the train, but couldn’t drop the 2 stowaways. We made a quick turnaround in Cisco and had about a 10 second gap on the 2 other riders. We got into our 3-person paceline, pressed on the pedals a little extra, and were able to increase the gap to 1 minute quite quickly. We held the gap the rest of the race, and got that extra boost of energy from Deb Pulley (volunteering since she is recovering from surgery) and Tom Dice (out of the race after braking his chain multiple times) at the last aid station. Stuart was feeling frisky and kept the pace high through the last 2 climbs and Jon kept up nicely, while I struggled to keep up. They took a minute to enjoy the nice scenery, and allowed me to gather myself. We crossed the line together, and finished 6th, 7th, and 8th overall. Luckily for me, the 30s category was a little thin, so I won the 30s, while they came in 4th and 5th in the 40s. Chris kept the pedals moving after pulling us along at the start, and finished 22nd overall. They didn’t come home empty handed though, as they all won water bottles in the post-race raffle.
After the race Stuart said, “Jon Pulley has been closet training all year. He was super smooth in the sand. Way to crush JP!!!” Jon drew the stink-eye from Jenn last year after his famous Mountain Flyer quote about the course being well marked http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/desert-rats-classic.html . He noted it was “perhaps not as well signed as last year!” as we all made several small wrong turns this year, including a nasty 2 MPH crash by Disco.
The ladies did not disappoint in their race as well. Jenn pushed the pace early, and Ryn pushed hard to keep up. They worked together and “girled” rider after rider. They quickly found themselves in the top half of the pack, and in 3rd place in the women’s race. Becky was competing in her first mountain bike race, so started at the back, but quickly found her rhythm and left many a slowpoke behind. On the last few climbs, Ryn started acting like a Walsworth and hammered up the hills. They finished together, placing 3rd and 4th in the women’s race, and each won their age category. Becky stayed steady the whole race and finished 3rd in her age group, and was already pointing out areas where she could have gone faster.
Ryn was proud of her effort after the race and mentioned, “the key to winning is picking your races well. Now I am no longer the only one in the Kreidl family without a 1st place finish!” Her sons, Max & Luke, have already engraved a few wins on their race resumes, including the Bolder Boulder, Longmont Kids Triathlon, CU Short Track, and the Pearl Street Mile.
The after party at the Stonehaven Inn was as good as the race with Castilian manning the grill. If you ever have any questions about Peanuts trivia, ask Stuart.
Claire, Nicole, and Patton went down to the Fruita Fat Tire Festival this past weekend. They demoed some Salsa 29ers and set up shop in downtown Fruita. Here are some pics from the weekend.
Mr. Fish found the perfect jersey
Borat loves Alchemist! This fan hung an Alchemist cowbell around his neck and strutted his stuff all over downtown Fruita. We couldn't be more proud.
Ryan with the newest hot-off-the-press Alchemist recycled T-shirt
Claire and Nicole with the Green Guru boys demoing Salsa Bikes
Alchemist Wool making the rounds
The Alchemist Ladies cut loose in downtown Fruita.
Schnyder makes gear cutting instruments. In other words, they make the precision components that makes precision machines. Based out of Switzerland, they know a thing or two about making nice stuff. Glad they chose Alchemist for their custom jerseys and kits. Marc Schnyder is a ridiculous mountain biker (#5 in the world in the 90’s). He can also carve some nice turns in powder. Check out this video he sent recently. It was shot in BC, Canada. Whistler and Revelstoke. I’m told Swiss guys earn their turns. Um, is that Adele, Mark?
Bittersweet. So stage 6 of the US Pro Cycling Challenge will finish on Flagstaff in Boulder. Yeah! But they are finishing at the flagpole at the amphitheater. WHAT?! Ok, I understand the finish at the mailboxes on top of Super Flag is a little tight for media and fans, but as Dan aptly put it, finishing at the amphitheater is like doing “Sissy Flag”. The local test piece isn’t the same without the Super part. You may as well just call it Castrated Flag. I know every little speck of pavement on that climb, and the gruntiest parts are above the amphitheater turn off. Wouldn’t it be nice to see that familiar look of agony on the uber-pros’ faces when they look up and see the Wall? Here is that vid of my Flag descent to the tunes of Justin Timberlake. I’m such a girl.
Flatwater Cycling kit
Lest all you Boulderites think that all sweetness resides in the Bubble, I have to let you know that there is a club out in Nebraska that kicks ass. Yes, Nebraska. Flatwater Cycling is stylin in Alchemist custom BLACKBOXX kits, complete with premium Italian fabrics, eco-Ink, custom Flatlock stitching, and Powerband grippers. While I’d like to take credit for that sweet design, I have to give props to Sean at Flatwater for the killer graphics. We are honored to partner with these Nebraskan badasses on their custom cycling jerseys and kits. Props fellas.
a: according with the letter of the scripturesb: adhering to fact or to the ordinary construction or primary meaning of a term or expression :actual <liberty in the literal sense is impossible — B. N. Cardozo>c: free from exaggeration or embellishment <the literaltruth>d: characterized by a concern mainly with facts <a veryliteral man>
Perhaps I’m being petty, but the misuse of the word “literally” is annoying at best. In the context of an enabling family member referring to the enabled patient on the stretcher, it really chaps my hide. In reference to the patient with the headache in room 6, my tolerance for semantics has reach it’s tipping point. The doting husband felt compelled to hunt me down at my work station and throw furry eyeballs at me until I could no longer continue to ignore him beyond a socially acceptable time frame.
“Can I help you?”
“My wife, she’s dying in there. . . LITERALLY.”
Perhaps I should have prefaced this with the understanding that we do, in the ER, have patients who are actually dying. And while bed 6 was in pain, she was not, in fact, dying. At least not according to any objective measurement available to us in western medicine. (Some might argue that we are ALL dying, a little bit every day.)
Adding to the emotional trauma of literally dying was the report of 10,000. That is, 10,000 out of 10. That is, 10,000 on a pain scale of 1 to10. Once we got her down to a reported pain level of 10 out of 10, I felt a remarkable sense of accomplishment, having logarithmically improved her pain level by a multitude of 1000.
Lots of things on the burner at Alchemist, but I just wanted to give a shout to the Han River Riders, who are a group of ex-pats with a collective passion for cycling in South Korea. Here’s the custom cycling jersey we did for them. Requested colors were blue, red, white, and black–the colors of the Korean flag.
Han-River-Riders custom cycling jersey
Got a new design coming down the pipe for the Alchemist retail store too. Camo theme. Not kidding. Pics to come.
Another night shift, another blog post. I spend most of my time and energy trying to avoid looking at the clock. As the old adage goes, a watched pot never boils.
The average age in the ER tonight is 18. Not our usual geriatric clinic, but our usual vague symptoms with no diagnosis to be had. What’s with the youth these days? It’s Saturday night, the feelin’s right, and half the population between 15 and 30 chose to visit the ER tonight instead of raving or drinking or huffing or whatever young people do on Saturday nights.
Buuuut, I do have a straight forward case. Sort of. First, I need to preface this with a glossary of terms:
Pannus: The apron of loose skin, tissue and fat that occurs in the lower portion of the abdominal wall Suprapubic Catheter: A suprapubic catheter (tube) drains urine from your bladder. Rather than being inserted through the urethra, it is inserted into your bladder through a small hole in your belly.
Young lady had her suprapubic catheter cut while her boyfriend was changing her dressing (Why she has a catheter is beyond the scope of this blog). She came in leaking urine from the lacerated catheter. Simple enough. Pull the old one, put in a new one, right? But I was forewarned that I had to measure the depth of insertion beforehand because it needed to go through about 12 inches of pannus. Turned out to be easy enough by comparing the spot from the old catheter and marking it on the new one. There was a little resistance, but a little lube fixed that. She was actually my easiest and most pleasant patient of the night.
Praise Allah for easy fixes!
In between saving the future of America from the ills of minor discomfort, The Creeper was brought to my attention. As one the nurses aptly stated, “So they do have a name for that thing you do.” Yes, folks. I’ve put this on my list of dances to master, along with the dances from Napolean Dynamite, Can’t Buy Me Love, and Thriller. I’m breaking it out at the next wedding. If that animated GIF at the top bothers you, you should stop looking at it.
Before you watch the video, you should know that Alchemist is offering a screamin’ deal on custom cycling kits and merino wool. Good til the end of February.
The weather outside is frightful, but inside, the ER is delightful, which may explain why everyone seems to want to come to the ER when it’s sh*t outside. Crap weather usually dissuades the lazier, less motivated un-sick to brave the elements just to see yours truly. But yesterday’s crowd was apparently bred from a heartier stock of patients. Aside from the usual colds and nosebleeds, saw a lady with belly pain who had teeth in her ovaries. Whether this may have been the cause of her pain was beside the point. The presence of dentition in her reproductive organs prompted the obligatory debate amongst the ER staff of whether those pearly whites represented her reabsorbed twin. This, of course, would mandate that she have TWICE the powers of an ordinary human.
Saw another couple because they were innocently enjoying a beverage at the local bar when the next thing they knew, he was being arrested, and she was getting a ride home from a friend. In a Hangover-esque type script, they had somehow ended up 40 miles away from the bar, him in cuffs, and her, bewildered about how they ended up there. Neither of them remembered a thing between the last drink and the Big House. They were looking to get tested for GHB or some kind of date-rape type drug. To my amazement, we actually have a date-rape drug panel. GHB, Rohypnol, Ketamine, among others. With 30cc of urine and a sizable chunk of coin, you can find out if that Roofie really was the culprit for last night’s amnestic shenanigans. Or maybe you were just really drunk. Again.
Mount Kilimanjaro downhill course
Jen and Stuart are currently in the early stages of their adventure up to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. This is no ordinary trip though. They will taking bicycles up with them (well the porters will be taking them). They will then descend on two wheels back to base camp. Jenn is bringing an Alchemist softshell jacket with her to sport on the summit. We are rooting for you!
Saw a fella the other night who came in for an injury to his elbow after a rather innocuous fall on his skateboard. It wasn’t hard to diagnose the problem. The deformity around his elbow would make anyone go, “Uh, that ain’t right.”
As we were turning off his lights for the reduction, I asked him what he does for a living. Turns out he is starting a company that sells skateboard parts for do-it-yourselfers. As he started to fade, he squirmed and muttered,”Woah, that’s weird. I’ve never felt like this before.”
A refreshing statement coming from what seemed like a typical skater dude.
Turns out he and his friend also do SEO and business/web development for small businesses. Despite the mohawk and the strategically placed piercings, they weren’t the usual skater punks who seem to have no particular direction in life. They were polite, well-spoken and smart. I sat down and chatted with them for a while at the end of my shift. I learned about what they did, and how they were motivated to succeed. I could learn a thing or two from these “skater dudes”.
Looks like the custom t-shirt business is starting to gain traction. I’m not sure how some of these folks find us, but somehow they do. We did the Mountain Flyer shirts earlier this year. U.S. Cycling Monument and the Colorado High School Cycling League orders are in the printer queue currently. Full Cycle has almost sold out of their custom shirts, again. So they are ready to re-order. They also want to do hoodies. I’ll release the design after they are in the stores. Met with Gina from Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance (BMA) last week to talk about shirts for them too. Gina is a graphic designer and did a really cool design for their shirts. If you are reading this, and you want to do a custom order, or know someone who wants to do a custom order, check us out. Alchemist Custom.
Saw a fella the other night who came in for an injury to his elbow after a rather innocuous fall on his skateboard. It wasn’t hard to diagnose the problem. The deformity around his elbow would make anyone go, “Uh, that ain’t right.”
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