9,500ft and up; Day One in Brian Head

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NORBA #5 - Brian Head, UT, August 4-6, 2006

Wow, on the scene in Brian Head on day one of the NORBA weekend and what a change from Sonoma. I think that the high temperature here today was like 68 degrees F. Beautiful blue skies with a few clouds and awesome trail conditions, this feels like a real mountain course. The air is thin here, you don't necessarily notice it standing around the trailer, but if you ride your bike or walk up stairs, instant redline. The XC race course starts at 9,500ft and instantly goes directly up to 10,500ft, OUCH!

It was an easy day today for me, I got to sleep in my own bed last night, then a <4hr drive down to southern Utah and I was ready to start setting up the tents, wash vehicles, etc. Due to the high elevation a number of teams/riders are staying in a town called Parowan, at the base of the climb up here to Brian Head. It is only 20 minutes away and the elevation is almost 4,000ft less. I talked to the Trek/VW head mechanic, Zack Vestal, today and all of his riders are staying down low. Two of my Ford riders are trying the 'stay low' approach, while two are staying up here at the venue. We will have to see how the two approaches work. Next weekend the venue at Snowmass is at similar elevation, but with no option to 'stay low' anywhere near.

At the end of the day today I got to go for a little road ride. The riding up here is awesome, miles of small highway and forest service roads with amazing views. We are right next to the Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the surrounding area is part of an old volcanic formation. Some stretches of road look like the surface of the moon on both sides, others look like a dense alpine forest. Plenty of killer climbing too.