"Your life must suck"

Alright, you all knew I was a dork, so this shouldn't really come as a surprise. I got the new Oregon quarter today! Yeah, that's right, I've got all of the Statehood Quarters that have been released yet. I'm not sure if Kansas is out yet or not, but I haven't see one. Anyway, I'd be happy to show you the collection if you are interested.

Well, that's about the extent of the excitement of my day. I got 5th in ST today after not finishing yesterday due to a little pedal crankshaft interface problem (I hit my pedal on a rock really hard and it came off). Today was fun though and now I don't race for two weeks, but I will be able to do the Aims Cyclocross rides so I'm pretty fired up about that. I've never raced cross before, or even done an official cross ride so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm gonna try to fit one in Tuesday, but the ride is at 4:00 and I have class at 5:15 so it could be hard to squeeze in. I won't bore you anymore with the bike stuff for today.

Thanks to the incredible lack of response to Friday's update, I won't be handing out any CD's since Scott is the only one who responded and he's already informed me that he already had both the Hanson, and 'N Sync CD's.

*News Flash* This just in, I found out that the Kansas quarter was revealed in Lawrence, Kansas at the Kansas State Fair on Friday, September 9th. It will be hitting the banks soon. If anyone sees one or has one drop me a line, I'll give you 20 cents for it.

Thats all for now, thanks for suffering through this. I'll leave you with a parting shot of the newest member of my collection.

Gearing up for tomorrow

I'm busy getting my stuff ready for the race tomorrow, wanna see what one day of racing requires?

First off is survival gear, we're talking fall in Wyoming, could be cold so coffee and the faux Carhartt are a must.


Next we have the bike which is possibly the most important piece of equipment. P.S. I hate Avid BB5 brakes.


Now we'll hit the items I need to make sure my bike runs all the way to the finish.


And now the stuff to make sure I make it all the way to the finish.


Now for what I'll be wearing. Red is the name of the game when it comes to race attire. Start with the red Six Six One Raji gloves, red Defeet knee and arm warmers, as well as red Defeet shoe covers (not a chance I'll wear them), the red, white, blue, and yellow Cofidis colored Giro Atmos helmet, as well as yellow Specialized shoes, UNC bibs and jersey, blue Oakley Half-Jackets (with the ever so important clear lenses) and finally the tall black wool socks which I haven't raced without in over a year, and just to silence all you critics, it has nothing to do with Lance, I actually first saw and liked the tall black when I saw it on Geoff Kabush so I unveiled them at the New Belgium Criterium last June.


The final touch to my suitcase is the paperwork stuff involved in running a team, ok, there isn't that much.


So, hopefully I can fit this all into my Mountainsmith bag that I was informed today, really isn't that cool. Oh well, since I started writing this I've remembered two things that I left out. I'm thinking this would be a good chance to have a Wenzelesque contest. The person who can name one or both of the items I've forgotten will be given a burned copy of 'N Sync - No Strings Attached, or Hanson - This Time Around, winners choice. Like I said, there are two items so you have a chance to win both CD's. I guess that's all for now.

One more interesting note...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/09/15/zellweger.chesney.reut/index.html

"fraud" we all knew he was gay, I don't think that's fraudulent?

I'm out.

Pinky to the Rescue

Off to Double You Why oming this weekend, Laramie to be exact. I'm a little disapointed in the lack of a team we have this year. It looks like it's going to be my and one other kid. That photo is of the XC race in Wyoming two years ago. I had managed to flat, and strip a pedal out of my crank within a lap and a half of the Short Track the day before, and had to have a spare bike rushed to me in time for the XC the next day. I made due with Pinky and our relationship has never looked back. She's hanging in my bike room just waiting for a sealed headset, but the way I see it, unless I need her to rescue me again, I have until June to get that headset in. With that being said I'll probably get bored and put it in next week, as well as a new cable set and drive train clean. She deserves some TLC and since I usually find a bike to work on rather than read or do something I need to do like laundry. Tonight I rebuilt the rear hub and freehub on my road wheels. Not that they needed it, I just wanted to mess with it more then anything. Anyway, I'm gonna go read for a minute or two before I go to bed. Thanks to all 5 of you who read this yesterday. Who knows, by next week there could be 6-7 people reading this, it's amazing what is capable with the World Wide Web at your fingertips. I promise there will be something interesting in my next update, if nothing happens to be between then and now, I'll make something up.

Beaver

Alright, I'm back. After much pleading from the 3 people that actually check this site, I decided it was time to get back on the horse. This weekend kicked off the collegiate mountain bike season after 10 months of hiatus. The Beaver Meadows short track (and the infamous rock jump) have become one of the many signs of fall for a select few of us here at UNC. I headed up to Red Feather Lakes Saturday morning with my good buddy Justin knowing the race was going to hurt... bad... and probably be a pretty embarassing event overall. I also knew that getting completely worked was the only way to dive into the racing season. I'd made a plan with Scott (who also made the trip to see my puke face) that I'd get the whole shot, and be the first to jump the rock on the right of the traditional mud puddle. The whole shot when as planned, well lets just say I'd moved into first by the rock. I tried to get some air over it, but since my eyes were already crossed and the black spots were starting to appear I don't think I actually got that much. I slowly drifted back during the next 2 or 3 laps and watched Ft. Lewis rider after Ft. Lewis rider pass me before I finally settled into 6th or 7th. I finished right there after holding off another late surging pair from Ft. Lewis. Overall I can't complain, although I'd rather not be tasting blood on the second lap, and it would be nice to be competitive like I've been there in the past. Oh well, thats what a summer of laziness and gluttony will do for you. Nicky was there to congratulate me at the finish which was awesome since she's one of my biggest role models in the cycling world.

After the race Justin and I rode one of my favorite rides around the Ft. Collins area, "A" trail up to Shoreline, and down Micheod, I think I spelled that wrong, but it doesn't matter since I totally missed the trail and we ended up coming down some new ultra knarly, steep, rocky, switchback descent that dropped us down behind some water plant. It was a really fun ride, truly Coloradorific as Justin said. It did get a little hot, but Justin was sure to show me proper "cool off" technique.

Well, I should try and keep this short so maybe I'll end up hitting this two days in a row. If anyone actually reads this leave a comment and let me know who you are and what you're up to. Thanks for coming down this weekend Justin, I had a lot of fun, and thanks to Scott and Nicky for making the trip up to watch me get throttled.

I wonder if my new tire came in yet, and if it did, I wonder if Scott wants to MTB today?

Steve spilled the lotion!

Uh Oh
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Hey, so much for two updates in a row, and guess what, the next one is already a few days out. Oh well.

I've been busy moving the past few days so I haven't found time to update, although in the process of stalling I've found time to do about everything else I can think of. I've realized this week, that I have a lot of trouble accomplishing goals when I'm not under a strict timeline. I started moving on Monday I think and now on Thursday I still have a load or two left. Oh well, there is no rush so I guess I'm not going to rush. My new apartment is pretty cool and I started setting up the bike room tonight so I'm pretty excited about that. I'll be sure and get an entire photo album up once I get all moved in. I'm thinking about building a bedroom set and some stuff for the living room. Until I figure all that out it's going to seem pretty empty. Nothing else really exciting happening that I'm allowed to talk about just yet, but I'll have a very interesting update for you next week. Stay tuned.

-Corey

I'm still alive

What a view
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Man, it seems like years ago that Mark and I were setting out on our adventure. This is a picture from the first day when we were leaving Telluride. Although our trip turned into a car camping adventure, we still managed to have a lot of fun, and I would do it again in a second if I had the chance.

A lot has happened since I updated last, Justin came out and joined us for a few awesome days in Winter Park, then took Mark back to Y-town. I followed a few days later to celebrate our nation's independence. My parents had a little shin-dig on the fourth then we all headed to the river to watch the city firework show. After that a bunch of my friends came out for a campfire and some tent camping at my newly restored firepit. I ended up heading back to Greeley on the 6th, and I've been here ever since.

Some of you may have heard I was considering a little break from school this coming year. I was even in the process of lining up a job in Moab, UT at one of the nations premier bike shops. While I was home, my parents "talked a little sense (cents) into me" and I decided it wasn't in my best interest to put school on the back burner just yet.

I stumbled across an apartment as soon as I got back and just signed the lease yesterday. It's in an awesome old house that was built in 1905 in the Meeker Historical District. The landlord lives across the street and used to teach at UNC. I move in on Wednesday, so I'll have to try and get some pictures of it for ya'll soon.

I've figured out my class schedule for fall for a business management major and I'm in the process of registering right now. I'll have to green card into one class so hopefully that doesn't prove to be a problem, but I've had pretty good luck getting into classes in the past.

On the bright side of this all, I get to continue racing my bike at UNC, and I've actually been riding lately, so we might see something great if I'm actually in shape at the beginning of mountain bike season. It's pretty freakin hot here though, so riding isn't always exactly enjoyable, but it's been a great way for me to escape and get my mind off everything for a few hours everyday, even if it does mean drinkink 8 or 9 bottles of water over a 3 or 4 hour ride. I climbed up to Estes Park the day before yesterday, and today I have this itch to ride Rist Canyon in Ft. Collins. I've never been there before, but I hear it's a great climb. Maybe I can look for a bed while I'm there.

Thats all for now, since all I have to do lately is pack and ride, maybe I'll try and hit two updates in a row. We'll see tomorrow.

P.S. if anyone in the Greeley area is free on Friday I'm in need of a favor, had someone lined up, but they found something better to do.

Slight Change In Plans

Whew, another whirlwind week. If you would have told me a week ago as I was setting out on the San Juan Huts that I would now be in Arizona I never would have believed you, but as life so often does, Mark and I were thrown a curveball on the third leg of our trip.

The first leg from Telluride to Last Dollar Hut was a bit of a curveball. As we looked at the description it read that we would be riding 14.7 miles on gravel roads. Being that hardcore mountain biker that I am I was a little disapointed, but sucked it up and decided we should leave by noon or so, so we would get to the hut early afternoon and hang out there for a while. Well, we left about 12:15 with fully loaded B.O.B. trailers that weighed twice the amount I thought they would, and as soon as we left Telluride we started climbing, up past the Airport thats on a huge mesa and up to the top of Last Dollar Pass. That little 14.7 miles ended up taking us about 5 hours.

The views from the top were breathtaking and we got some good pictures. The next day we were treated to a nice fat descent and then another 20 miles of rolling gravel. The second hut was awesome as well, nestled in some aspen trees just off a forest access road.

We set off on the third day for 33.1 miles of up and then down, ending at the same altitude we started at. By mile 2 or 3 it started misting, mile 5 it was raining, mile 7 the snow started and by the time we had climbed up to mile 9 it was nearly a soaking wet white out. Since we were only a little over a fourth of the way through the route, still climbing, and couldn't feel many appendages, we made the call and flipped it back to the hut we had come from. Now, for any of you who have ever gotten really cold on a climb, the descent is guarenteed to be twice as bad. I know that Scott is familiar with this phenomena because we almost died on HWY 34 descending from Estes last spring. So Mark and I made it to the hut, made a fire, warmed up a little, dried out all the clothes we'd been wearing, and sat inside as it continued to rain, snow, and sleet, the rest of the day.

The next morning we left really early and headed for Telluride. We rode about 15 miles of gravel back to HWY 62, descended 10 miles to Placerville, CO. then climbed 16 long steep miles back to Telluride up HWY 145? I think. We got into town to find all the campgrounds were full, so we drove on to Durango, for a day before we decided to go spend a few days in Phoenix with my favorite Aunt Brenda, and wonderful Uncle Dave. We had a blast there, and now we're in Flagstaff to do some riding before heading on to the Grand Canyon and then Moab later tonight.

Thats my last week, if any of you actually read this far, please leave a comment at the end and you will be given a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut because I'm pretty sure this marathon update will cover all of the stars you needed for the month. I'll try to check in again soon.

We're really doing it Harry!

Last night Mark and I took off from Greeley around 5pm, made it to the Flagship REI store in Denver and maxed out both of our credit cards (not really but close), then hopped on I-70 and crossed the Rockies to end our day at the Colorado River State Park Island Acres just outside of Grand Junction. Our first night in the tent went without a hitch and we woke up to a great view of the Colorado river and surrounding red and orange cliffs. Right now I'm sitting in the Grand Junction Public Library and Mark is outside on his phone. We're off to Telluride to hopefully get the final revisions of our huts course and try to get a mountain bike ride in before returning to the tent for night number 2. We'll try to find a computer in Telluride to let you know how Marks first off ride bike ride goes. Stay tuned.

Corey's Fro

Corey's Fro
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Mark's Hawk

Mark's Hawk
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Hello Everyone. I am guest writing for Corey today, and yes, that's me with the hawk. Today we are leaving for Telluride and getting this adventure off on the right foot. Yesterday I was looking at my hair, and decided... I need a Mohawk to truly be a rockstar, so master cutter Corey took the wheel and crafted the best mohawk I have ever seen. After the haircut, I considered donating the leftover hair to a cancer cause, when suddenely I had a revelation... with the help of my leftover hair, Corey would make a great Angus Young (AC/DC guitarist) look-alike. So now, Corey and I have become true rockstars, with not only the lifestyle, but the looks to accompany.
Last night, Corey and I had a little Greeley send off party at Jackson's. Scott, Kari, and Jordan joined us for some brews and long islands... only appropriate for a true rockstar send-off. Today, we are packing, making some final bike ajustments and eating Taco Johns for the 4th or 5th day in a row. We are stopping in Denver and Boulder before we head to Telluride to disembark from civilization for a month. To everyone reading, thank you... and for those about to rock... We Salute You.

MARCOR summer adventure day 1

Hey Everyone,

I'm updating from Marks house as we put the final few things together to take off on our trip. After a little packing, lunch with Lay Z and a little preening of my house, we will depart on the first leg of our journey. The trip today takes us through colorful Nebraska (home of arbor day) into beautiful eastern Colorado, and finally to the smelly little place I like to call home, Greeley, Colorado. We're hoping to get there in time to suck down a slurpee at the Rio before bed, but the way things are falling into place, it looks like that may have to wait for tomorrow.

The next few days we'll be in Greeley, hopefully getting some quality riding in during the day, and trying to to get thrown out of Roasties at night. Its been a fun few weeks here in Y-Town but it will be great to see some of the Greeley people for a few days before we hit the trails.

Latest trip update, we'll be departing Telluride on June 8th, not June 6th as originally expected. I guess there was some confusion in the reservations, but it all worked out because I got to stay an extra couple days in YKT and hang out with a few new friends.

So, in closing, to all of you in Yankton... farewell, thank you for a wonderful week home. To all of you in Greeley... beware, rockstars on the loose.

P.S. the last entry wasn't lost, there was just nothing more to say.

ROCKSTARS!

Hail Storm

Hail Storm
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

So, last week we had a heck of a hail storm here in Greeley. The picture is of a few hail stones I found in the grass and a AAA battery for reference. It actually made me a little homesick because I remember this type of storm happening quite frequently the first spring we were in S.F. I also remember re-shingling a few houses in S.F. because of those hail storms. Anyway, you know my life has hit a low point when I'm talking about the weather on my webpage.

School got out a week ago and since then life has been pretty low-key. I've been working quite regularly at the bike shop, but no longer at the Rio. That gig is done until I'm done with my bike trip in June. For those of you who don't know, I'm going on a month long trip in June with my homeboy Mark from SoDak, word has it Justin might make it out for a week while we're in Moab. That would be awesome, in all honestly the whole thing makes me get all stir crazy everytime I think about it because I'm so excited to get on the trail.

I went mountain biking today with my roomate Scott, a kid from south of the border named Ray, Mike, and Jenn his wife. We had a blast and finished it off with some burgers and beers at Coopersmiths in Old Town Fort Collins. For those of you who haven't been there, you should get there because it was really good, but I think that every burger and beer I've ever had after a ride was "really good" so maybe save yourself the trip, go for a mountain bike ride, then eat a burger and drink a beer, I promise you'll love it.

Moving on, my friends are starting to trickle back into the states from Europe so if you aren't back yet I wish you a safe trip, but to all of you, I can't wait to get back to town to see ya'll. I miss hanging out with everybody from home, other then a few weekends with Bob, I haven't seen any of the Yankton crew since summer. In other personal news I've been hanging out with a very nice girl named Jenny a little lately so I'll keep you all posted as to where that goes. I hope this post finds you all well and I apologize that it has taken me this long to get a real news entry up on here.

Thanks Steve for the encouragement, and to the hater, find something better to do, chances are I don't like you even more then you dislike me.

That's all,
Corey

Trials Trials Trials

P1010013
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Betcha I can swim across the pool underwater

Betcha I can swim across the pool underwater
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Another great weekend of traveling in the books. The racing still isn't the greatest in the world although we're showing steps in the right direction. I got ninth in the crit just behind my team/roomate Scotty Boy. We worked really well together patrolling the front and pulling back a break with a kid from CU and Mines. It was fun to feel like I made a difference in the race. Other then that this past week has sucked, everyone seems to be mad at me for some reason or another, but I'm just trying to brush it off and get my stuff done. I have talked to some people that I don't get to talk to that often so that's helped out a lot. I'm sitting here waiting for a girl from my spanish class to call so we can finish our presentation, but it doesn't look like she's gonna call tonight. I suppose somehow it must be my fault for procrastinating though. On the bright side, once again we got to swim in Grand Junction, this is getting to be a tradition we swam in an outdoor pool last mountain season in September or October, and now this Spring we got to in mid-April. April 24 has passed now, but I always remember a few years ago on April 24th when Mark, Scott Lingor (mono at that time) and I headed out for some early season wakeboarding in 50 degree temps and 39 degree water. It was cold and miserable, but the BS front flip was invented that day, although we all know it is now the BC front flip. Well, I think I'll just hit the sack and hope we can do this presentation another time. Thanks for reading.

Quick survey, do you readers think I should teach or run a bike shop? Your logic and reasoning is also helpful.

Who are you?

P1010031
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

This was me rockin out to The Who about 5 minutes from home after a long day on the bike and in the car, I bet you never knew I'm gonna be a drummer someday?

Mikeal in the car behind me

P1010014
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Its been a while again

Oval Sprint
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

This picture is pretty old, March 27th to be exact. Thats me in the red helmet. I just got back from Durango Sunday night after a super hard weekend of racing. We had a Team Time Trial on Sat. morning and we killed it. Our team was Scott and I and a couple of the B guys from our team, Mikeal and Nick, so I was curious to see how it would go, but we averaged over 40kms an hour over the rolling 30km course. I was lucky enough to be on the front when we caught our 1 minute team which was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced on a bike. We blew past them on this little false flat thing and I even got to yell at them to get out of the way. The crit was a little sketchy, but CU once again crapped out and pulled their whole team, so we had to do 2 20 minute heats and a 30 minute final. I didn't make the final, but Scott did and after watching it, I'm actually a little grateful that I didn't make it, it was super super fast. Sunday was the infamous Ft. Lewis Circuit Race that scales the front hill to campus 10 times. I'm guessing its about a 500ft gain each lap, plus a couple other small climbs on the back of the lap, so probably close to 6,000 ft of climbing over 50-55 miles of fast fast racing. Needless to say I didn't stay with the lead group long. I actually felt descent the first 5 or 6 times up the hill, but I cracked on a little climb on the backside of the 6th lap and limped in alone from there. This was the first time I've finished this race so I was happy about that, but how good can it feel to be the last finisher? Oh well, Now I just need to finish off the school year, we'll see how that goes. Hopefully I can get a couple car ride pictures up from the way home, 7.5 hours in the car can make you crazy.

Mi otra bicicleta nueva

Cross Bike
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Hey, it hasn't taken two weeks to get back this time. This week flew by once again, finals will be here all too soon and I'm not ready for them. I guess I've felt like the every semester I've been in school though. This picture is my new cross bike that I traded my MTB wheels for. It's a Surly Cross Check frame that was painted a chameleon? color. It's got this cool gadget that screws into the hub where the free hub is supposed to go and allows you to put a freewheel or fixed gear cog on it. It also has some awesome Race Face cranks that I just learned are prototypes that never made it into production. I've only had this bike a week or two, but I'm already in love with it, I know now why people get all gooned out about Surly.

I raced this morning in Boulder, well actually Superior. It was the Koppenburg Circuit Race, and although I would imagine the real Tour of Flanders is harder in Belgium, it can't be that much worse. I suffered all day. It was a really fast first mile on dirt to get to this 17% dirt climb that was really short, but 17% none the less. After that the race got really fast as the selection was made coming over the hill and the rest of the 110 person field was trying to chase back on. I chased really hard at this point all the way back to the start line where the dirt started again, but it was to no avail. The rest of the race was fast and hurt, but I felt good suffering on the bike for once. Maybe my racing legs are on their way back. I think thats all for now, maybe I'll get back to a daily update. Thanks for reading, and no you can't ride my bike.

One of my new steeds

The Blue Beast
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Wow,

Once again its been a couple weeks since I've updated. I think I'm behind in about every aspect of my life. Anyway, if anyone is waiting for a phone call from me, you might as well just give me a call because I probably don't remember. I've been working pretty much everyday at the bike shop and keeping pretty busy there. Today I worked 4 hours there, headed to a meeting at the Rio, then worked from 4:30 to 12:00 there. I made $80 though which is the most I've ever made in a night, so I was pretty pumped about that.

Since I've last updated a lot has happened. Friday, March 18 I was working at the Rio, when some guy passed out in the bar, (not because he was drinking, he had a some wierd condition), but thats beside the point, I was trying to clear the stuff off the table that he had fallen on, when some lady tugged on my arm. I almost snapped at her and told her to leave me alone, when she said, "its pretty bad when you drive all the way from South Dakota to surprise your son and now your dad has to play doctor when we get here." I looked at her and realized it was my mom and my dad is over taking this guys pulse and tending to him sitting on the floor. So... moral of the story, my parents drove out to surprise me for my birthday. They watched my race and saw me get pounded into the ground, the we went out at midnight and they got to watch me drink my first beer.

Last weekend I raced in Ft. Collins and it went much better. I ended up 12th, then we mountain biking with my manager Christie and her husband Jeff. This leads me to my first new bike. During the week I traded a guy my MTB wheels for a single speed cyclo-cross bike. It's pretty cool and so far I love it. I rode it off road that day in Ft. Collins and kept up with Jeff on all the decents and he was on a full suspension mountain bike.

This week I finally finished my fixed gear bike. I just got it done today and put a picture of it up for all of you to look at. I can't think of anything else to write, plus I'm tired of typing so thats all for now. Tomorrow I'll try and get a pic of my cross bike up.