Team Hagan and X-Race/X-Lite Ski Review

This year I'm happy to announce that I'm racing on Hagan skis. Hagan is a small ski manufacturer in Austria and makes a full line of top quality back-country skis. The new sticks are lighter & wider than than the Atomic tour races that  I used last year and have a more aggressive side cut. My new pair are the 2011/2012 x-races but have a custom x-lite top-sheet.  Strait out of the plastic the first thing I noticed is how incredibly light they are. Low and behold their combined weight is 1,396 grams or just 698 grams each. I couldn't wait to get them mounted. This year I was able to get slightly used pair of Dynafit Low tech bindings for a deal I couldn't refuse and mounted them as soon as I could our local shop the Ute Mountaineer.  With bindings the whole setup weighs just 1751grams! I had just a week before the CS Irwin Race in Crested Butte so I threw them on the bench and added a few layers of wax and looked at the factory tune before heading out for dawn patrol. Like most skis they came razor sharp with a fair amount of structure in the base. After throwing the true bar to check for edge angle I was surprised at just how precise these skis were built. The skis came with a constant edge bevel and were just a tad edge high tip to tail.

I woke at 5:30 for dawn groomers on Snowmass Mountain. It was a quick 47 minute lap from the Mall to the top of Sam's Knobb. I was surprised at just how light the skis felt on my feet and was able to practice a few kick turns near the top and was shock at the lack of swing weight this skis have. Sure anyone can make a ski that is light for the up hill so i really wanted to see what they would do on the down? Thankfully I had 2000 vert to to test them out. The 22.6 meter sidecut puts this ski on the agressive side and I was able to carve medium and short radius turns with relitive ease. With only 64mm underfoot they were resonsive too. Loosing myself in the skiing I launched over one roller off balance because in the air I felt like I had nothing on my boots. It was like the skis weren't there.

So how do the skis race? They are light enough for the winners of both the Men and Women's Race Divisions. A big congratulations to both Marshall Thompson and Stevie Kremer both of Team Hagan. As for me I found them light on the ups and super responsive on the downs. I was very happy with 21st place after going into the race with no expectations. Now back to the skis.....Like any 160cm ski they kick turn well but are stiff enough to bust crud & wide enough to float the powder pockets that are found in many a back-country race. And man can they take a beating. The first decent I found myself head over heals twice after hitting rocks and going over the handlebars. The CS Irwin race had very minimal coverage and with snow that was sugar with no base. I was sure that I had more than a dozen core shots mid race but after each lap when it was time to put the skins on I  noticed I didn't have a single one. I did do some significant edge damage under the ball of my left foot were I went full gas and full weight onto a rock on the second decent. But if you were to put me on any ski I would expect much more damage than the bump that was produced. Plus the edge is still in the ski which is a testament to its strengh. The most important thing to note is the ski didn't break. If I had to use two words to describe these skis it would be light and strong. All in all I'm excited and happy with the ski change for this year and look forward to many more laps on the x-lites and the x-races, I'm even proud of the new suit to match the skis which is on its way.

If you would like more info on the skis check out this link to Hagan Ski-USA




Until the next Race I'm off to pray for snow and train.  -Ty-

Cosmic CS Irwin Race 2011: Welcome to Gunnison County

Yesterday was the CS Irwin Race near Crested Butte the first race of the Cosmic(Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup) Race series. The morning started out early as I picked up Lyndsey Meyer at 5:30am. The moon was full and becoming eclipsed as we picked up Sari Anderson from Carbondale, before going over McClure Pass to Kebler Pass. As the sun rose over and the moon disappeared we made the quick 45 snowmobile ride over Kebler to the CS Irwin Lodge.  The CS Irwin Hut was hopping as we arrived and I had just enough time to change, grab my bib and warm up. This year I'm racing on the Hagan x-race skis (my custom topsheet says x-lite) and I am excited to compete on skis that are 20% lighter than last years skis. Check out the blog later this week for my review of the new skis. Until then you can check out the Hagan-USA website by clicking here.

The race started out with a 100 meter dash that turns into a brisk uphill walk. I started out faster than I felt comfortable but was able to hang in there for the first climb. The first decent was treacherous with very little base and pockets of windblown powder.  I found myself head over heals twice on the first decent. The new lighter skis with their wider tips held up great and were very responsive cutting through the crud. The base snow was sugar and if you turned too hard you would sink right onto the rocks. I found myself light on my feet and slower than normal on the descents in the simple act of self preservation. I realized after leaving the staging area for the second lap how shaken up I was when I forgot to put my boots or bindings into walk mode and walked right back into my bindings. Rookie move.

The second lap was much better but the ascent gave me a new definition of what I think I can ski/climb with skins on. It is amazing how much grip the mohair skins have on rocks, dirt and grass. I really enjoyed the quick boot-pack mid climb. The second decent was just as harrowing as the first.in snow with no base and lots of sugary pockets. 

The third lap was very much survival. I lost a lot of time with poor skinning technique and the blisters that haunted me last year in the 12 hours of Sunlight reappeared for the last 1000 feet of climbing.  I bonked the last 500 feet of climbing and watched Lyndsey glide by as I stopped to recover. The last decent was by far the scariest. It was not pretty skiing on my part and it was not pretty snow on the mountain's part.  After the decent it was a quick uphill skate to the finish for a time of 2 hours 56 Minutes and 38 Seconds. I think I placed 20th of 29. Not my best showing.  As I crossed the finish line feeling like I had been chewed up and spit out, Pat O'neal who was smoking a cigar and watching desperate skate to the finish said, "welcome to Gunnison County."

Amazingly after the race I went to put on the skis away and I realized I had no core shots! The new skis hung in there for a brutal first race. The Après-ski at the Irwin Lodge was great. With above normal temps in the afternoon made the place a comfortable hangout. Most racers had a few cold ones recovering before the after-party back in Crested Butte.  It was nice catch up with some old acquaintances and meet more of the Gunnison County crowd. We stayed for the awards before sledding back to the truck; Sari & Lyndsey ended up second and fifth respectively. Stevie and Marshall both finish first for a double win for team Hagan!! All in all it was a great day racing with good company and fun. The day ended very close to how it began,  watching the moon on the horizon as I dropped off Lyndsey and headed back to Snowmass Village.

It was a great first race and I look forward to the next Cosmic stop at Sunlight in January. Thanks to Wick, Jake Jones, the volunteers and CS Irwin staff for putting on a stellar event.

Check out Sari's Blog http://sarianderson.wordpress.com by clicking here.

Check out Lyndsey Meyer's Blog http://bravabella.com/ by clicking here.

Full Race Results

During the race I wore the Garmin Forerunner 305 here are the race stats:

Snowmass to the Bells and Back

Today I had a half day so I was able to get out and ride.

Indepence Pass- Just another back yard ride?

Four years ago today I took off for New Zealand for five months, to mark the anniversary I went for a nice bike ride. 

Last year I started road biking and I slowly built up to bigger rides before riding Snowmass Village to the top of Independence Pass and back. I even created a blog post about it. Today Bart and I headed up to do it again. This time not as a goal that I've built up to but as just another ride. Today I realized how far I've come in a year and it is nice to look at this ride as a nice half day. The whole ride was great. Mother nature gave us some great weather & the cold breeze off all the snow near the summit was refreshing.  The bike computer got bumped mid ride and I so the ride got split into two activities. Here is the breakdown; 56.07 miles with 6,166ft of elevation gain in 5 hours 45 minutes and 55 Seconds and burned about 4,389 Calories. 

Aspen Cycling Club Snowmass Curciut Race 2011

Simply Brutal.

Aspen Cycling Club's Smuggler TT

The Last week I traveled with Nico to California for Leif and Natalie's wedding. (More on that adventure in a different post.) After flying in on the last flight and getting to bed after midnight I was back at work. After almost a week off I was happy to be back to work but kept making excuses for not riding this Wednesday's race. Finally it was quitting time and I sucked it up and grabbed the mountain bike pumped air into its two flat tires and headed to Aspen. I didn't have time to change my cleats on the mountain shoes so I pulled my road pedals and switched them before I left. I drove off thinking I'm only going up a road I don't need double sided pedals. Plus if I'm going up a road I'll probably not have to put a foot down. I arrived just in time to register   and warm up. Before today I have never rode smuggler road so I was going to race not knowing the track. I used the 25 minutes before my start to ride the first half of the course so I'd know at least the first half of the ride. My start went well and the first half of the race went well I was keeping a pace and feeling great until I reached the unknown  section I hadn't ridden. I misshifted and came out of my right pedal. It was just a little slip but the extra effort and adrenaline was enough to push me over the limit and I dropped off pace. I tried to slow my cadence and control my breathing  to recover but the damage was done. Two more minutes into the race and I was back on pace until the exact same thing happened. So much for just being on a road and wearing the one sided pedals. Two minutes more and I was back in the race slowly reeling in the person in front of me. With twenty feet to go an I realized I too was about to be passed. I pulled back and motioned for the other rider to pass. I fallowed his lead hoping to pass the slower rider with him before the trail turned to single track. He made the gap, I didn't. I called passing on the right and didn't quite have enough gas to get past the slower rider before she had go right and I ended getting half past her before I was run off the road. My right pedal hit the hill side and I put a foot down and tried to recover. We bumped and she had to put a foot down too but recovered much faster. I ended up in front of her but couldn't get my feet turning fast enough with one foot out.  I could only get my left foot to click in and after 20 seconds she turned and said "well are you going to go or not?" I felt ashamed and stupid passing too rushed and mucked the whole thing up. Still with one foot in I stood up and pedaled until I couldn't hear her bike anymore. I had just regained control of my breathing before the finish. 17 Minutes 10 Seconds is what the GPS said but the official result can be found at by clicking here. I ended up 10th out of 11 and for the first time this season I didn't get last in my division. After the race I spun the legs and road above to the look out. I rode down Smuggler hoping I could apoligize to the girl I had so graciously passed. I met her at the cars and she intermediately pointed to me and said to her friends that's the guy that knocked me off the bike and then couldn't pass me. I apoligized, she suggested I owe her a beer at the after race party. I agreed but suggested she bye me a beer too for running me off the road, she laughed.

Race Results

2010/2011 Results 

2011 COSMIC 9th Marmot Grind- 11th Overall; 8th AT Men's Race Results

2011 COSMIC The Five Peaks- 19th Overall; 13th Men's Duo Results

2011 Elk Mountains Grand Traverse- 19th Overall; 8th Men's 26-35 Results

2011 Highland's Inferno Eleven- 15th Overall; 14 Male Competitive

2011 America's Uphill- 27th Overall; 3rd Men Heavy metal 19-29 Results

2011 Mother of all Ascensions-  7th Overall; 1st Men 20-29 Results

2011 COSMIC: Power of Four- 13 Overall; 11th Men's Duo Results

2011 Sunlight Endurance Challange- 7th Men's Solo (DNF due to Blisters)  Results

2011 Hike for Hope- 29th overall; 3rd Male 20-29 Results

2010 Summit for Life- 17th overall: 3rd Male 19-29 Results

Changing seasons or sports schizophrenia?

Today was mother's day and I was happy to have lunch with my mom today and was even able to get out and enjoy the outdoors. This morning Dave Bart and I skinned up Snowmass Mountain for some spring corn. The hike up Slot from lot E was steep I was happy to try out my ski crampons. From the top of Sam's Knob we continued up Sneaky's to the patrol shack at the top of the Big Burn chair. As you can tell from the photos it has snowed quite a bit since the mountain had closed. The assent down was great we skied Power-line and then skinned back up to the Knob before descending Zugspitze back to the car at lot e.  The snow is still fantastic and I suggest if you have the equipment to go out there and enjoy this years record snowfall. Here is a slideshow of our Adventure. Here is a link to the GPS stats for our trip.





 After a nice lunch with mom I felt the day was too nice to not get out and enjoy the blue bird day. So I switched gears literally and jumped on the bike for a quick out and back ride to the end up of the pavement up woody creek. On the way back I even saw a herd of 30-40 elk. In an effort to make the ride more exciting I've added a time laps video of  today's ride. Again here are the stats for the ride.

Aspen Cycling Club 2011 Old Snowmass Time Trial

Today was my second bike race. Aspen Cycling Club's 2011 Old Snowmass time Trial. I only had to work a half day so I had plenty of time to make it to the race.  I  parked at the Snowmass Intercept lot and road down to Old Snowmass and back up the Snowmass Creek before the race. I even had time after getting a start time to warm up by forerunning the first 6 miles of the course from the start to the monastery before my start time. My goal for this race was not to go out of the start . I haven't seen the results but overall the race went really well. I tried to start out slow and after the turnaround at the monistary hammer it to the finish. it seemed to work. Guess I'll have to wait for the results. Check out the GPS stats by clicking on the link below.

Aspen Cycling Club's Difficult Time Trial 2011

Today was my first solo bike race. The Aspen Cycling Club's Difficult Time Trial. The Course was cold, during my warm up my arms went numb from the cold. With no full gloves I used a pair of cycling socks as mittens which worked out fine for the race. I went out a too quick out of the gate and maxed out my heart rate the first half and spent the rest of the time after the turnaround trying to recover. All in all a great time and a good learning experience. The official results aren't out yet but I'll update this post when they are posted. I wore my new Garmin Forerunner GPS 305 and here are the stats. Click on view details and check out a cool graph of my heart rate during the race and other cool stats.(I figured out my heart rate monitor and my speedometer were cross-talking because if my HR really peaked out at 238bpm I'd be in the hospital)




Not caring about aerodynamics much I attached the Go Pro to the back of my seat. Here is the time-laps video of my first bike race.

Previewing THE POWER OF FOUR SKI MOUNTAINEERING RACE course.

This week is the Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race. To Prepare Harlan Nimmo and I went to preview the course.

8:15am Start Snowmass Mall
10:00am Top of the Wall

10:40am Top of Long Shot

11:35am Top of Buttermilk Mountain

 2:12pm Top of the Highland's Bowl

1:30pm Bottom of Lodge Lift

2:12pm Top of the Highland's Bowl
2:35pm Bottom of Temerity lift
2:50pm Top of Congo Trail
3:30pm Bottom of Midnight Mine

6:20pm Top of Aspen Mountain

6:35pm Bottom of Aspen Mountain
6:45pm Bus Back to Snowmass

Hopefully we will do it faster for the race.