Happy Thanksgiving!

On this beautiful Thanksgiving Day up in the High Country, I thought I would share the things that I am thankful for...

First and foremost, my Family. To my parents for never letting me give up on my dreams, always supporting me in the decisions I make, and bringing me up to be the man, husband, and person I am today. Thank you for raising me with an open mind and the ability to love everyone for who they are. To my brother and sister, Kyle and Cierra, for your continued love and support even though I am not always there for you guys as you grow up. You both make me very proud in all your achievements. As my friend John Klish would say: "Live Life Large". Don't ever forget that.

Next, I'm thankful for my wife Danielle. You are always there by my side day in and day out and I cannot thank you enough. Very few people have the opportunity to share the common interests and passions that we have, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to share life with than you.

Health. Enough said. Everyone should be thankful for their health even if you think it may not be on your side right now. If anything, Diabetes has made my wife stronger, healthier, and more in tune to her life. It is a test given to her because the higher powers above know that she can succeed. She has taken what is commonly viewed as a dampener on life, and has used it to her advantage to become an amazing athlete fueled by the very disease that is meant to bring her down.

Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. You have been there since the beginning of our journey to Colorado. You provide for both myself and my wife, and give us the opportunity to take in this beautiful world in any way we see fit. Although we may not always see eye to eye, one thing is for sure; you are always there to support us financially, to challenge me, and to allow me to express my creative side in the workforce. Thank you.

I am thankful for our home in the small mountain town of Eagle, Colorado. Thank you for your personality and charm, your easy access to the great outdoors which has become such a large part of my life both professionally and personally. Thank you to this county and state that allows me to put aside the trials and tribulations in life and open my eyes to see all the beauty this world has to offer. As problems in this world are just opportunities to make dreams come true. Learn to find the positive, even in the worst of situations and everything will work out.

Cycling. Thank you for giving me the ability to pursue my goals, ride great trails, and most of all give me a sense of community and the greatest friends I could ask for. It is a great thing when you have friends that all feel the same passion you do for two wheels. You connect on a deeper level because you all have  the same drive to be great in your own right. Thank you to my team Bach Builders and all of our sponsors. You continue to give me the resources I need to make my dreams a reality. We may not all become pro riders and some may never even race competitively, but at the same time we all give it our best to further enjoy what we love to do. We are all there to support each other, push each other, and congratulate one another.

Finally, I am thankful for everything life has to offer. Thankful for all that I have done and what the future holds. Happy Thanksgiving!

TMP

Motorola Motoactv - Garmin/Apple eliminator?

While enjoying my morning coffee at Yeti's Grind I was filtering through emails and social networking sites in an attempt to find some sort of basis for a blog post that didn't pertain to sex scandals, doping scandals, or any negativity in general. Sadly, it's a tough find these days.

Anyways, while checking out REI's marketing email about some "new" 3-in-1 winter coats, I found an interesting device from Motorola at the bottom. Below is the new Motorola Motoactv, all in one GPS/fitness trainer/audio stimulator device. Check out the details here: https://motoactv.com/

At first sight I thought, wow this really looks like an iPod Nano knockoff. But after digging into their website further I found out that Motorola really put some work into creating this product. Just slightly larger than a Nano, it features a tough screen interface with a ton of features. To start, the GPS functionality. Similar to a Garmin Forerunner, this device tracks your runs, rides, etc. and easily uploads to review your data via Motorola's fitness software. (Compatible with Win/Mac OS's) Taking it a step further is a built in Accelerometer which allows the device to sense forward movement even on a stationary treadmill to count your steps and distance traveled.

Next is the audio interface. It grabs your local FM radio signal as well as allowing you to upload your favorite workout playlists from a variety of sources including, you guessed it: iTunes. Interesting... My initial thought was, how could Apple allow this? Not only the design of the Motoactv looks like a Nano, it even plays music like a Nano. Anyways, Motorola decided to integrate your music preferences with your fitness workout to push you to the next level. The device will take into account your performance throughout a variety of songs and determine a "power performance" playlist comprised of the songs that you perform best to. Also included is a fitness coach that can tell you when you need to pick up the pace. Two models are offered in 8GB and 16GB at $249 and $299 respectively.

For all you runners and cyclists who rely on ANT+ technology to pair all your accessories, this device has that too! Heart Rate, Speed and Cadence, to headphones, the Motoactv can easily connect to each of these. Better yet, ditch the heart rate strap and opt for the Motorola headphones that grab HR data from pulses in your ears to reduce the number of attachments on your body.

Finally, the options on where to mount this device are endless. The Motoactv offers multiple accessories from a watch style wrist band, arm mounted fitness band, and even a handlebar mount for cyclists.

Now I own an iPod as well as a Garmin Edge 500 and love both devices. They work and serve both of their intended purposes to absolute perfection. My Garmin is very cycling specific and provides me with a ton of data fields that I can use to monitor and improve my performance but what I find is that I never ride with music because I don't like having all these devices and wires attached to me. The Motoactv could be the answer to an all-in-one fitness/entertainment device. It debuted at the NYC Marathon but other than my REI email, I had not heard about it until today.

Now to be straight, I do not own this device nor do I have any affiliation with Motorola. Just happened to stumble upon this and thought it looked like a pretty sweet new piece of equipment to blow my money on. Like I said, I own a Garmin and it has yet to fail me and my iPod, well it obviously works with my heavily dominated AAC Protected iTunes music library. While this new device looks great on the web, I cannot attest to the actual offerings and compatibility with the advertised accessories. ANT+ capability yes, but will I be able to see Garmin speed and sensor data? CycleOps power data? Who knows.

At first glance, the device looks to be tailored to runners but the potential for use as a cycling tool hints at a bright future. Hopefully the future will allow for a real-world test of this device. Until then, I'll stick with my Garmin.

TMP

A Melting Pot of Cycling News

If you have not yet viewed any website remotely pertinent to cycling, you have not yet seen the release of the 2012 Amgen Tour of California route. Check out more here: Cycling News

The 13 Host Cities for the 2012 Amgen Tour of California include:

• Stage 1: Sunday, May 13 – Santa Rosa 
• Stage 2: Monday, May 14 – San Francisco to Santa Cruz County
• Stage 3: Tuesday, May 15 – San Jose to Livermore
• Stage 4: Wednesday, May 16 – Sonora (new for 2012) to Clovis
• Stage 5: Thursday, May 17 – Bakersfield (Individual Time Trial)
• Stage 6: Friday, May 18 – Palmdale to Big Bear Lake
• Stage 7: Saturday, May 19 – Ontario (new for 2012) to Mt. Baldy
• Stage 8: Sunday, May 20 – Los Angeles/L.A. LIVE

Tour of California route in short form above. Prologue in Santa Rosa (Levi Leiphiemer's hometown) to start the race off. Good choice considering the 2011 Stage 1 fallout in Lake Tahoe due to this:

The bigger question may be - Will we see Levi racing despite his new team (Omega Pharma-Lotto) not having a presence in the 2011 version? My guess is OP-L will be an automatic shoe-in for the 2012 race. Should be interesting though to see last years winner Chris Horner now battling it out against Levi since the two are now riding for different teams. Somehow, I don't think the Schleck's will be riding for Horner if they show for the race on the still yet to be determined "Leopard-Trek-Nissan-ShackStrong" team. Either way, in my opinion they will be ruining a very classy, simple kit design from the previous Leopard Trek team for something a little more BOLD, to fit all those sponsors:

But you have to be careful how those rainbow stripes are used so as to not upset the UCI officials, even in those CAT 4 races as this rider did sporting the TwinSix "Dopers Suck" kit. If there really is a CAT 4 World Champion of Cyclocross, sign me up. I probably still won't win it since I tend to lose 10-15 seconds after every run-up on course anyways.

It's been weeks now since the "Occupy Wall Street" movement began, with everything form of Occupy __insert adjective__ following close behind. Strangely enough, two weeks ago I had the brilliant idea of an "Occupy Bike Lanes" t-shirt design which no one has seemed to think of yet. At least one person though, has decided to take their protest to the street:

If someone wants to jump on this design (cough, cough... Handlebar Mustache) before I do, all I ask is you send me a t-shirt of appreciation. I'd ride that bike lane pictured above, as it's probably about as safe as the painted version in NYC.

In local news, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert's effort to amend an extension for a third term on Tuesday's ballot was foiled by the general public in an 11,554 to 6,101 vote. Seems to me, there were far less Mercedes drivers and Lakers fans dropping the ballot, than people fed up with his "quality experience" he has shown us in the past two years. Great job citizens of Eagle, Lake, Summit, and Clear Creek counties. "This was not just about me." said Hurlbert, regarding the extension being beneficial for DA's to come. With 6 of the 22 judicial districts in CO who have already voted to extend terms, I'd say this decision was exactly about you Mr. Hurlbert.

Despite recent snowfall, Colorado CX races have been loving the mix of conditions true to the sport of Cyclocross. This past Sunday proved to be a fantastic day for a little 'cross racing in Boulder for the Boulder Cup's first race at the newly built Valmont Bike Park. I haven't had the opportunity to visit this place yet but I've heard nothing but rave reviews from all who have. Funded almost entirely from sponsors and public donations, it offers everything from pump tracks, skill building features, XC loops, to a full on CX course complete with a Belgian Run-up which to me looks more like the set of stairs to the Lincoln Memorial. With that being said, Belgian rider Ben Berden showed and proved his experience on those steps taking the top spot on the podium ousting Ryan Trebon and Tim Johnson. Katie Compton decimated the women's pro-field in typical fashion, shown here in Karen Jarchow's picture asking "Where's everyone else?" Some joked, "Europe, with the 'pro' field."

Details for the 2012 Bach Builders team will be coming out soon and I am stoked to be racing for such an awesome team of athletes again. We've already added a few new racers including a CU racer fresh off some good results from Collegiate Nationals down at Angel Fire, NM where the racers had to fight their way through less than ideal conditions after an uncharacteristic Fall snow storm covered the course the day before. Many of our sponsors are already returning for another year which we are very thankful for including Infinit Nutrition, Maxxis Tires, Rudy Project, and Swiftwick Socks.

That's it for today. Enjoy and happy riding. Still 30 degrees here in Eagle so I'll resort to the trainer or dusting off the skis. Keystone opens this weekend!

TMP