Grammo News

Solid Weekend

2015-01-28T17:35:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend! I started off Saturday morning at 7:30 with the goal of riding until 5:30 in the evening. Mileage wasn't important but the hours were. I wanted to see what starts hurting after a long time in the saddle so I know what to expect when I am riding for 12+ hours in the Mojave Desert.

I was joined for part of the ride by a couple friends who weren't afraid of the early morning temps and thick fog we found ourselves riding in and out of for the first few hours.

The route took us on several of my favorite roads. Climbing/descending Antioch Rd is always fun no matter which direction you choose. This time we dropped out onto Evan's Creek Rd (definitely one of the most scenic rides in the area). Despite my trying to work on pacing myself for the long haul, my friend and I dropped the hammer for the 20ish miles to Rogue River with just a couple minute break at the Wimer Covered Bridge to shed jackets.

Ten miles later I was on my own as my cohort something better to do with his life than ride all day with me. He left me with 4 hours to go, but I still felt pretty good. However, I backed off the pace a little and tried to save something for the small but substantial climbs I had ahead of me. It didn't help. By the time I hit Dark Hollow, my legs had 110 miles and what felt like jelly in them.

Fortunately, around mile 120, I got a second wind and managed to lay down a 19 mph average all the way home, finishing just past5:30 with 141 miles.

I think I'm gonna try 12 hours in a couple weeks.

But, enough about pain and suffering.....Sunday, although I felt like resting and being lazy, the sunny skies and new Grammo Toa were calling to me. After stuffing my face with some not so healthy Chinese take out, I knew I had to ride. So I rounded up a couple like-minded souls and we hit the Sterling Mine Ditch trail for some fast paced single track. The perfect way to end a weekend.

Next up, the Paskenta 100 mile race in Chico on Superbowl Sunday.

Oh, one last thing. If any of you give's a rat's a--, you can follow me on Strava -

https://www.strava.com/athletes/mocka

-Aaron

Adding to the Stable

2015-01-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

What's the first thing you do when you get a new racing steed? Here's a hint: You don't put it in the stable and let it go to sleep right away! In my case I headed out for a quick test ride above the thriving metropolis of Medford, OR.

First impressions - It's pretty frickin' dark on Roxy Ann at night when you don't remember your bar mounted light.

First impressions of the bike - It's pretty frickin' awesome! I had no idea this level of ride even existed! Ok, that may be euphoria talking. But, it's incredible none the less.

The Good - Everything a quick 6 mile gravel road ride in the dark could show me about a new bike.
The Bad - I'm at work right now and not riding my new bike.

Thanks to all the fellas at Unreal Cycles and Grammo for putting together such an awesome ride! I can't wait for this afternoon.

-Aaron

Training For My First Double

2015-01-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

Pretty hard to drag myself out of bed and into pea soup fog this morning, but only slackers sleep in, right?

Besides, I only have a couple months to get my fat ass in shape for the Joshua Tree Double Century.

My plan for the day was to meet up with the Alex Hayes group for their metric century ride in order to get some easy miles in while riding with the peloton.

After about 60 miles and some fun sprints to imaginary finish lines with the big boys, it was time to fly solo.

Almost Home

Put in another 40+ by myself and managed to squeeze out a respectable 103 before my stomach tried to start shrinking and I headed back home to devour some much deserved wings and a couple pints of beer.

The Grammo C3 performed flawlessly and at times, it felt like I was barely spinning until I looked at the Garmin and saw 25 mph or more.

Until next time, Cheers!

Aaron

Missing my MTB

2014-05-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

This year I hit one of those milestone birthdays and I decided that I needed to do an Ironman to celebrate. As you can imagine, I've been doing a lot of training to get ready. In fact, I was reaching the point of starting to burn out. Then, I realized that the problem was that I had been spending too much time on the wrong bike... The solution, pull my Toa down off the rack and head for the hills on an Epic ride. My friend Rob came to the rescue and agreed to go with me on what turned out to be an 8 hour, 67 mile ride with 10,370 feet of climbing and about the same descending. It turned out to be just the ticket for re-energizing my training.
How do you cap a ride like that? I got my 6 year old out on the trails on his mountain bike today and he tore it up climbing like a maniac and fearlessly descending everything he could find. It was awesome. Now I'm ready for the final month or so of training before the big race. After that, I can get back to more riding in the dirt.

Having fun

2013-09-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

Now that fall has started to kick in and cyclocross is in the air, it's time to say goodbye to another mtb & tri season. This year has been a fantastic one for me. I had a lot of fun and was rewarded with one of my most successful seasons ever. I owe a lot of that success to solid training - the result of having a bike that is just plain fun to ride. I got out and did some epic rides, with a big smile on my face. Here are a few photos from the season.

You don't find any tossed out gel wrappers here, just dueling banjo's.


A nice spot to cool off on a hot day

above the American River Canyon

Loaded up and ready to roll


Hitting the trails with my 5 year old - can't wait until he grows enough for his own Grammo!

Just finished up a really cold swim at altitude. Training for XTERRA Tahoe City.

Oregon 24 MTB in Bend, OR

2013-08-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

In April a member of staff came across the Oregon 24 and thought it sounded like a great idea! A number of us looked at it, got excited and vowed to put in lots of training and preparation to be ready for it months later in July. The days, weeks and months went by with lots happening at the store, including opening the new store front; Needless to say, the hours of training promised had not come to fruition.

A late night meeting, with beer, was held in the days leading up to the event to tackle the difficult question, to bow out or to get up there and give it all we had? Thanks to the enthusiasm of one of the riders the general conciseness was, "LET'S DO THIS THING!"

Preparations were made to the best of the abilities of those in question and the trucks were packed late the next day.

On Friday afternoon, late, we got our convoy in motion and set off for Bend, OR. Arrival was late, luckily a local supporter of the team had staked out a camp site close the the race start and we made camp. With overnight lows in the 40s on Friday night, sleep had not been comfortable or continuous however post coffee spirits were mid to high.

The course shown below was 10 1/2 miles featuring 1,000ft of climbing with a climb immediately out of the gate.

Lewis opted for the first lap to try and get a lap in before the temperatures came up, the race start was 11am. The organizers had decided le mans start was in order and so the racers lined up to take a jog.

Lewis was at the very back of the runners and thus one of the last to enter the course and eat the dust, literally, of the entire pack.

Happy to finish lap one after flats, Lewis coming down the hill with the "baton" in his mouth.

A quick explanation of some finer points after Lewis returned from lap one, Kjell took to the course to put in his first lap.

Another pep talk with the third rider on the roster Kirk. Taking on the course rigid with nothing but smiles.

The team took to the bunks at midnight after three laps a piece.

Rising early they all got one more a piece in before the 11am cut off for a total of 12 laps for the team in 24 hours.

Post morning lap pancakes were provided for the racers. Much needed sustenance.

The team ended up taking last place by a lap in the team of four category, however they were a man down. So they opted to "Win the team of three category."

Fellow Grammo mounted rider Tom Keller riding with Sappo Hill took his team to first with sub hour laps all night for a total of 28. Tom enjoyed the ride on his brand new Grammo Pako 650b, first one in the country build fresh for this event the day before.

May thanks to the team support and team photographers who turned up and stayed up late to make sure the riders were fed, watered and pictured.

Stay tuned for more pictures and gopro footy of the interesting bits.

Fireworks

2013-07-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hey all! As many of you know, last week was the 4^th of July. In the greater Sacramento area, that means the Davis 4^th of July criterium. Traditionally, the course is fast and dangerous, with brutal carnage. The first time I attended, I saw at least a crash per race, once having to go on course and help a woman who knocked herself unconscious on impact, another time I saw a bike pinwheel over a barricade into the crowd.

However, this year was very different. They ran the course in reverse, and I didn’t see one single crash the whole time I was there, from about 7 till 12:30ish.

I raced Jr 15-18, which races as one group but is scored separately for 15-16 and 17-18. There were around 20 starters for the early race, the 2^nd race of the day. About half of those were in 17-18.

The race started fast and stayed that way, attacks were almost regular. The front pack was quickly whittled down to the 10 or so strongest riders, and still the attacks continued. I would always respond to any attacks by the other 17-18s, afraid that they would get away and stay away on the fast race. I knew if I was stranded with some 15-16s they wouldn’t help me at all, I had made that mistake in the past. The frustrating part was when some of the other 17-18s would respond to 15-16 attacks, thus pulling me along.

When the prime lap came along I was in great position, and took the sprint, winning a big prime.

On the last lap, the pack was on fire. On the middle of the lap, a guy jumped off the front. I struggled to fight through the pack in the corners to catch him. On the final straight I was so close, catching him fast. But it wasn’t enough. I only caught onto his back wheel as we flew through the line. I was happy with second, but bummed that I couldn’t take the victory.

Later on I found out that the guy was a 15-16 who had lurked in the back of the pack the whole race. Since he was in the younger age group, I still took the 17-18 win! I was stoked.

So I had won the prime, and my division. And a rad winners jersey to boot. Quite the successful day for me. Hope you all had equally fun 4ths. I’ll keep you posted.

Photo cred: Julie Barton

XTERRA Tahoe City

2013-06-30T16:48:00.001-07:00

It’s always a great feeling when a race comes together as planned.
I’ve been having a successful season this year, racing stronger than ever, so I decided to take a shot at the podium for the XTERRA in Tahoe City.

I started putting in some long mountain bike rides with a lot of climbing, followed by tough runs with a lot of climbing. I put in some time in the cold water at high altitude (the altitude makes a bigger difference in the swim than on the bike or run).

The race got off to a good start with a solid swim that kept me in a good position in the field. Off on the bike, it took most of the first climb before the legs loosened up and I hit my groove. Then, I let the bike take over. It was a perfect course for the way that my Toa handles, and it was a lot of fun. I ended up taking about 12 minutes off my bike split from the year before (not bad for a 22 mile course).

Throughout the bike, I had been dueling it out with another guy in my age group. He’d pass me and get a little gap, then I’d hit a section where I could fly through and I’d pass him back. Each time, one of us would get that little gap and think that we had dropped the other only to relax for a second and get passed.

I came in to the transition area first, but he was a little quicker getting out. The run for this race is a hard 2.5 miles up, with a little loop at the top and then a fast 2.5 mile descent. At this point, neither of us was sure exactly where we stood with our placing, but we were certainly having a good race on our own. He pulled away towards the top of the climb, but I caught him again as we started to head downhill. In my lead up to this race, I spent a lot of time working on improving my downhill running skills and it paid off. This time, the gap opened and I kept it. I came in to the finish line knowing that I put in a very solid race that I could be happy with.

And my goal of making it to the podium? I got 3rd place.

Post race. Ready to jump back in the water!

Auburn Omnium

2013-06-15T22:53:00.005-07:00

Hey all. Last weekend was the Auburn Omnium. It consisted of two events, the Montserrat Circuit race on Saturday and the Auburn Downtown Criterium on Sunday. Both days, I competed in two events, Jr 18 and under, and E4. My total was 4 races in 26 hrs.

On Saturday morning, I was up quite early since I had a 7:30 Jr start time. On the way to the race, I listened to the DJs on the radio talking about how hot the day was going to be, 110+, hotter than any day in the greater Sacramento area since 2006. Great. I already knew the Juniors would be tough. A few weeks before the herd of Bicycles Plus Sierra Nevada Juniors wiped the floor with me with tactics, stranding me between the leaders and the pack and giving me no shot at the win. I wanted revenge. I knew there would be some strong E3 riders in the Jrs, as well as the BPSN crew and anyone else who showed up. Not to mention the crematorium level heat. Then the E4 race 50 minutes later. Then the whole thing again Sunday. I had my work cut out for me.

I attacked straight away on the Jr race. The pace was kept very high, and we quickly shed riders. I was happy to see the BPSN guys fall off, until there were only 4 riders left: Me, one BPSN E3 racer, on E3 Chico Corsa guy, and one guy from the Granite Bay Grizzlies. With two laps to go, the two E3 guys pulled away and made a moderate gap. I was incredibly hot and I was hurting, I had been working hard and my legs had been screaming for a while. I thought it was over for me. The Granite Bay guy looked pretty blown, but there was no way I was catching those guys up front. Then, on the final descent, my dad shouted that the leaders were tactically battling each other. I had a chance. I rocketed through the final roundabout and towards the steep hill, atop which the finish waited. There were the two leaders, riding side by side, slowing down before the final sprint. They thought I was out of it, that they had enough gap. They were wrong. I saw red, I hit the hill as hard as I could. Halfway up, I flew by the two like a freight train. Behind me I heard, “Oh, crap!!”. By this point I had tunnel vision, and only could think of the finish line. I sprinted, out of my mind, through the line. I did it. I won. Not only did I win, but I won free and clear, with a 15 foot gap.

I couldn't actually comprehend this at the time, because I was hit with the worst heat exhaustion of my life. Head spinning, I rolled off course away from the venue. I tried to stop, but when I tried to stand I fell with my bike between my legs, and couldn't get up. I couldn't think straight, just knew I had to cool down. I lay on the pavement with my bike between my legs, pouring water over my head until a team-mate (guardian angel?) Lance Loveday drove down, found me, and helped me get back to the venue and recover. Thanks again Lance.

I recovered enough (?) to attempt to race the E4 race soon after, but I ended up just rolling it. It was really no surprise that I had nothing. I finished that race somewhere in the back of the pack, and then went home to sleep off that gnarly day.

The next day, I came wanting to win the Jr Omnium. I knew the rest of the field would be brutal. I had a strong friend from NorCal joining as well, I knew I had to watch out for him. This race was a little less eventful. On the last lap, I broke away solo, and held it all the way through the line. Two Days, Two wins, and my first Omnium victory. And on the doorstep of my shop and in front of my whole team to boot. I was stoked.

But I had one race left. I wanted to help my teammate go for the Omnium win. He had won on Saturday in a similar fashion to me. The race was tough, but this time I had the legs to hang on the front and attempt to help out. I was about 7^th wheel going into the final corner, but some guys ahead of me wrecked. I didn't hit the asphalt, but got all tangled up and ended up 12^th out of 40ish. Luckily, my teammate made it through clean and took 2^ndon the day, and won the Omnium. Congrats to Aron!

Overall it was an incredibly successful weekend of racing for me, and I am looking forward to more road races soon. Thanks for reading, I’ll keep you posted.

End of an Era

2013-05-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all. As many of you know, I have raced the last four years in the NorCal High School Mountain bike league. Freshman year I raced Freshman D2, Sophomore as D2 JV, Junior as Varsity, and finally Senior as Varsity. I have started and finished every single NorCal event the last four years, 22 races I believe. I have been on each and every step on the podium, and never DFL. Not to brag, but there are few who can say this, and I am very proud. NorCal has been my focus for the last 4 years, and it is tough to see it go. I have made so many friends, learned so much about racing my bike, and devoted so many hours to NorCal. Hours training, hours in the car traveling to races, hours thinking about it.

A few weeks back was State Champs, my last high school race. It was brutal, and I finished mid pack. It was epic to finish this final race. The course was brutal, the field was brutal (even though the top 3 guys were off at World Cup in Germany), and getting sick midway through the race was brutal. But that’s racing. I held on and pushed through the finish. And it was over.

It is very tough for me to see NorCal go out of my life, but I am also excited for some road and hopefully some enduro racing this summer, and get up to Northstar and send it on the big bike. Today is my last day of high school. Tomorrow is my graduation ceremony. In September I move to San Diego to start studying at the University of California San Diego. Don’t worry, I plan on racing collegiately. Major changes are happening in my life, and I couldn't be more excited. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye to NorCal, but I can’t wait to keep racing, and see what collegiate racing is all about.

Huge thank you to my family, girlfriend, friends, coaches, mentors, teammates, and of course my wonderful sponsors at Grammo for all their support and making these past 4 years of racing happen.

Excited about life, I’ll keep you posted.

Photo cred: Julie Barton, Vince Tarry (Cycling Development), and Capturaphoto.com

Up Close and Personal with the 19.5 lb Toa 29er

2013-05-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few close ups of the 2013 TOA in highlighter yellow. It is rocking a Sid Fork, XX1 drivetrain, XT brakes 160/140, Ritchey wcs pedals and saddle, Thomson Masterpiece cockpit, and crazy light custom 1400 gram stan's wheels. I feel like I'm cheating with this thing being how light it is. No, I'm not exaggerating. It weighs 19.5 lbs complete. Enjoy

Enhydra Lutris

2013-05-01T00:15:00.003-07:00

Hey all, I wanted to shoot out a quick update about the 2013 Sea Otter Classic.

This year was cooler than last year temperature wise, and I was super happy to have that in the XC race. The 50 something starters in the Cat. 1 17-18 field are brutally fast, most times in the top half of the group are competitive in the pro field. Comparing results afterward, you could also see that although my field has less racers, our times our tighter together (more competitive) than the pro field. Anyway, the race was brutal and I did alright, coming in at 29th with a time of 1 hour and 39 minutes. I am still trying to get my racing on track, I have been "off" at recent races. Hopefully I will fix it soon. Try and try again, right?

The downhill race was also super fun. I got to race in my super comfy new Unreal Cycles jersey, that breaths amazingly well for a long sleeve. I raced my big bike for this event, and ended up 21st in Cat. 2. I was pretty happy with this given that it was faster than my time from last year. This downhill event got me really stoked for lots of enduro and downhill this year, even though I was quite rusty on this race.

The venue is always fun, and I had a great time chilling with the gentlemen from Grammo and ogling all the new 2013 wares. I can't wait to race some the new product! It was also great to see the huge number of international pros attending. This years event was bigger than any i have previously attended. I was able to see and meet some of my personal cycling idols in passing, which was really cool.

I would almost say, though, that the hardest part of Sea Otter as a student is catching up after missing school. I had what seemed like endless make-up work and test after test when I got home. These are the true perils of racing.
I'll keep you posted. Check back soon.

WM

Photo Cred:
John Taylor
Julie Barton
Patrick Morin

Sea Otter Classic 2013

2013-04-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Grammo had a powerful presence at the 2013 Sea Otter Classic thanks to the US distributor Unique Sports Company. Spanning forty feet by twenty feet, the booth was filled with 2013 models in all new highlighter colored decals, which drew crowds all weekend.

Read below what they had to say about their trip.

The beginning of the trip started off with a bang, quite literally as we blew up a tire about 4 hours into the journey.

At that point we parked it and waited for day light to investigate the damage.
The next morning we pulled the wheel off and were greeted by this:

We had the spare on and went about installing it so we could move on. We then discovered we didn’t have a jack on board capable of lifting the fully loaded rig. Who’s in charge here?

Using the tools we were given, a big crescent wrench and a curb, we got the spare on and we were on our way.

Once we arrived at the venue we took the time to get our rigs in place and pop up the booth.

According to the organizers attendance was up on the year previous, with an interesting statistic that registration for the competitive road events was up 18%. As you can see below, there was no shortage of people at the venue and the weather was gorgeous.

Co-located on the booth were Royal Racing, Urge Helmets and Atlas Braces, below is a shot of the whole set up.

The Saturday setup. New models and new graphics all on show for the very first time.

Highlighter colored tribal graphic flags also new for the event to match the new frames.

Early in the morning when nobody is around.

You'll be happy to know we made it back to Southern Oregon with out any further tire problems. We're now back in the office and ready to answer your enquiries via email on the contact form or on the phone (541) 201 8798.

Thanks to Unique Sports Company for representing Grammo at the Sea Otter. Stay close, the next news entry will be introducing the new models. Pre-Orders will be available soon on the website.If you're not signed up for the news letter do so here. Sign Up

Roadie Style

2013-04-16T20:14:00.004-07:00

I recently raced in my first ever real road race, Copperopolis Road Race. I've raced crits before, but never a true road race. I had been told by friends that if i got a good result there, with my small amount of crit experience I could upgrade to a Cat. 4, and escape the "crash 5's". This in mind, and after a tough week, I came for blood.

The race is a 21 mile lap, with a brutal 15 minute climb a few miles in, then rollers for a while, before a descent into the finish. Oh, and its on some of the worst roads I have ever ridden. E5 raced 3 laps.

This was my first actual road race, I have only ever raced crits. That being said, I went into it with hopes to be successful and petition for an upgrade. 63 miles is a lot though, and I was nervous to see how I would do, especially after last weekends flop (2 flats and no legs). My plan was to stay in the front and see what happened.

The start was pretty mellow, and then a quick but not unbearable jump up the climb. At the top, we had cut down to a group of about 12. This group then pack rode across the flats/rollers on the top, and caught and passed some of the Jr 17-18s who started 5 min ahead. After the first lap ended, the P12 field roared past us; I was very impressed by their pace and group.

Then on the 2nd lap, we hit the climb a little faster. I stayed in the front again, and this time we reached the top with a pack of 7. We took off pace-lining on the flats again. On the long straight road before the hard left hander (I don't know the name), I accidentally made a solo breakaway. At the start of the road, I took a turn on the front of the pace line and picked up the pace. When I looked back halfway down the road I had a sizable gap. At this point I had a bit of an "oh $#!&" moment when I realized that I didn't mean to do that, and highly doubted I could hold a solo breakaway for half of the race. So I eased up just a bit and let the group catch me a few miles later, and fell back in. They told me that they wanted to "let the kid hang in the wind" I thought that was just fine, I didn't feel any worse for the wear and got to see that they might not have much left after two climbs. We hung together as a pack for the rest of the lap.

On the third lap, it all came together for me. We hit the climb again, faster than ever. The pack started to explode. On the climb we lost 3, reaching the top with 4 riders, two saying they were hurting. We all agreed we had to turn it on and not let ourselves be caught. So we started a strong pace line again. Soon enough, we were down to 3. Then, before the halfway point on the lap, we lost another. It was just me and a Velo Promo racer named Bingo. We agreed to work together to keep them off and get to the finish, and we worked very well together. I knew he was hurting, but my legs were starting to go as well. When we hit the descent, I took a risk and took the lead. I knew he would draft me the whole time, but my Jr gearing won't let me pedal on the descent, and I didn't want to lose him if he started pedaling. I led the entire way down, sometimes getting a wee gap on him through the corners, sometimes with him right on me. When we reached the bottom and hit the little ascent into the finish, I kept the heat on and let him ride my wheel. I felt confident about my legs. At the 200m mark I got up and went for it. He tried to slingshot around me, but I gave it all I had. We were neck and neck coming up to the line, so I poured everything I had into the pedals and threw my bike out. And I took the win. It was insanely close, but I knew I had it. I put my arms up after, but went back to make sure. A victory. My first RR and a victory. I was beyond stoked.

After sending in my upgrade request, I am now an Elite 4 road racer. I can't wait to hit more road races this year.

Sea Otter is this week; and even though I am enjoying road right now, I'll be racing Cat. 1 XC on Friday and Cat. 2 Downhill on Saturday. I couldn't stomach the idea of more than 2 races over the weekend. Hoot 'n' holler if you see me racing!

I look forward to seeing everyone down there, feel free to stop by the Grammo booth by the entrance bridge and say hi, as well as drool over the new 2013 products.

I'll keep you posted.

Early Season Mayhem!

2013-04-16T07:14:00.001-07:00

I'm Seth Carlson and I'm new here to the Grammo crew. I race Cat 1 XC and Marathon MTB. I am based out of Fargo, ND. Yes, there are people who ride bikes in the frozen tundra. In fact, my race season started out back in January. We have what are called "Winter Races" or as many of you have seen popping up: "fat tire races." Unfortunately, I don't have a fat bike, so I just refer to them as races where I get to work on my sweet snow handling skills on a skinny 29er! I'll spare you the recap on the few winter races I did since you are all most likely baffled by the fact that we ride bikes all winter in -20 F weather with blowing snow and blistering winds. Basically its miserable riding, but we like to think we're super B.A.M.F. when we do it. (if you need a definition on bamf, give me a call)

My first race on the TOA [well, technically my first DNF] this season was down in El Paso, TX at the Coyote Classic XC USAC race. This is a 28 mile knuckle busting race on loose gravel and gnarly pumice like lava rock with cactus hazards on every turn. I got a chance to pre-ride the night before the race on my brand new TOA 29er. It handled like a champ, unfortunately, my seatpost had a bolt malfunction which caused my saddle to slide around. I last minute rushed to the shop in El Paso and swapped out my post with an FSA K-Force Lite post. This is where everything went downhill. Within the first 5 miles of the race, my FSA post SNAPPED IN HALF!!!! This was the end of the race, and a sad day indeed. I later found out that the shop in El Paso had sold me a used FSA carbon post that was 4 years old...ever heard of Material Fatigue? Well, I just defined it for ya!

This last weekend, I had a chance to head over to Lawrence, KS for the Bone Bender Marathon Race. After my shenanigans racing in El Paso, I luckily was able to get a lot of riding in throughout New Mexico and Colorado on my way over to Kansas. I even picked up my girlfriend in Denver so she could join me at the race in Lawrence, KS (and by the way she kicked butt and placed 4th in the women's division!) The race was one of the toughest courses I've ridden in a long time--which was surprising since we were in Kansas of all places. It was basically a 13 mile rock garden on flowy singletrack with short punchy climbs and winding descents.For the 3 hour marathon, I got 3 brutal laps in. And, yet again, I had a mechanical issue on lap 1. The night before, I put a new stem on, and the bolts loosened up within the first mile of the race, so I spent the first lap with handlebars sliding up and down and side to side--basically zero control on descents. I lost about 15 positions during that first lap. After lap 2 and 3 I regained control with my bars now in order and caught back up to 7th place overall. I placed 2nd in age group 19-29. For the first true lung buster race of the year, I felt good, but there is definitely some improvement to be gained!

***Overall review of the TOA 29er: EXCELENTE!!!
I have ridden tons of 29ers, and this one is the most plush, stable, and rock solid bike yet. With the full XX1 drivetrain, stan's wheelset on hope hubs, SID fork, and Thomson cockpit, this is truly a World Cup worthy ride. If only I could convince everyone to ride one of these sweet pieces of Magic, we'd all be champions.

TBF XTERRA

2013-04-01T21:26:00.003-07:00

I have been looking forward to the first XTERRA of the season for a while now. It’s my second year of racing triathlons and I built up my Toa with races like this in mind.

The conditions were fantastic for an early season race. The water was in the mid 50’s, which was a little shock to the system, but not too bad after a few minutes. The swim was a mass start, with some strong swimmers out there. I came in with a decent swim, - top 20 and headed for the bike.

Once on the bike, I was having a great time, it was warm and sunny. The trails were in fantastic shape – hero dirt. I passed a few riders and hit a great groove where everything was going well. Point the bike where I wanted it to go, and it did, flying through the fun singletrack trails. At this point, I didn’t know how I was doing place wise, but I never saw anyone in my age group, so I just kept hitting it as hard as I could.

Before I knew it, I had caught 3 other racers and we all came in to the transition together. A quick change of shoes, grab a GU and a swig of water and it time to run. The legs didn’t make the switch to smoothly, and I realized that it was warmer than I thought and I didn’t drink enough on the bike. I drank 2 cups of water at the first two aid stations and did another GU. Slowly, the legs started to do their thing, then I hit the climb – ouch. I kept my pace even up over Mooney Ridge and hit the descent, which is what I was dreading at this point since the descent is usually harder on tired legs then the climbing. But, I made it down smoothly, got passed by a couple of really good runners and headed for the last mile to the finish.

It was a smooth run in to the finish, with a great result. 1^st in my age group.

Scott C

Cool, California

2013-03-17T20:25:00.001-07:00

It really is a place, and it is home to one of Northern California’s best mountain bike races.

The conditions for this race vary a lot from year to year. Typically this includes lots of mud. Favored bike selection is usually a single speed because by the end of the race, you’re probably going to have to replace most of your drivetrain. This year it was dry and fast. I chose to go with gears and it was a good choice.

The pace was fast right from the start, but the field spread out by the top of the first major climb. I mostly rode the rest of the first lap by myself, before a Sho-Air rider caught me and we pushed each other with a really hard pace for the next lap.

At the start of the final lap, I hit it hard and opened a gap, but he caught me a couple of miles later. We went back and forth for another mile or two before the gap opened back up and I managed to hold him off to the finish.

I ended the race with a big smile on my face in 4th place.

Scott C

Student of the Sport

2013-03-17T13:57:00.001-07:00

Hey all! So this blog is actually an update of my last two races, NorCal High school mountain bike race series Northern Conference #1 and #2.

I was very disappointed with my first race. The season opener, Northern Conference #1 at Granite Bay, went very poorly for me. My start was good, but that was about it. My legs had trouble for two laps, and I fell off pace hard. I finished 16^th after I was able to pick it up on the last lap, but I was very disappointed with this result; I know I could be faster.

I took a look at everything in my schedule, and made some changes to my warm-up and my training for the next race.

The next race was Northern Conference #2 at Folsom Prison in Folsom, California. This time, the start went great. I got up and into the front group before the top 4 guys broke away. I then was running in the 5-9 s for lap 1 and 2, then 3 of the group broke off the front and I was working with the 9 guy to try and catch them, until he flatted out. I held 8 solo for the last lap and a half, making a little time back up onto the group of 3, but not enough to get close enough to catch them, or see them on the twisty course. I finished 8th, and I'm stoked with a top 10 finish in that field. For anyone who knows that course, I was running 23 ish min laps on the backwards loop.

I am beyond pleased that the changes I made were successful, and I am excited and confident for the rest of the season. The quick fix was a pleasant surprise, I hope to only see my speed and power increase as the season wears on.

The next NorCal is a full league race at Granite Beach in Folsom, CA. There should be a huge turnout, so if you’ve ever had interest in seeing the speed and power put out by high school racers, this would be a great one to attend (Next to State Champs in Marin). The event is very fun, look for start times on their website. My race, Varsity Boys, starts at 1:00 PM. See you there.

Thanks for reading. Like, comment share. Let me know how you feel, or anything you want to hear my opinion on (cycling matters please). I’ll keep you posted.

Photo. Cred.: Julie Barton, Robert Lowe, Miles Lim and Cycling Development

A Cool Report..

2013-03-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

I signed up for this race because I had nothing on the calendar for March. Also, Cool was my first mountain bike race outside of Prairie City. Dude! I'm growing up, with a big girl bike (Grammo Toa), doing a big girl race (Sport 20-29)! I was all excited and crap and then, on a frickin' rest week, I hurt my back. A rest week? Really!? I'm used to pain. My back is super crooked so I know what living in daily pain is, and I put my big girl bibs on and keep riding through it. However, this time, I wasn't able to move. I don't want to say that I can't fight through the pain because I'm becoming an old hen (okay I'm not an old hen), but damn... I've never actually been bed ridden due to this much back pain.

This race went from being exciting to being dreaded. I didn't want to do it. I didn't ride my bike for two consecutive days, and we all know that I don't do that. Not only did I not ride for two days, I didn't ride the two days prior to the race. So, I was all "bleh" physically and mentally. Why mentally? Because I'm the type of person who needs to do something active, whether it's the bike, lifting, or working, to keep from going completely insane, and we all know I'm not far from jumping that insanity line. Hello! Psychologist.

So, I dreaded the whole thing. In fact, I regretted registering for the race. I pretty much knew I was going to be DFL so I agreed to go to a hockey game after the race. I was to leave Folsom at 1400 to be at Stockton by 1600 for the start of the game. So, at least that was something to look forward to, right?

We lined up like cows at the starting line. When I got to my area, there were only two other girls. One who now races for CSUS, me, who used to race for CSUS, and the other girl who is from Santa Cruz who also talked about the racing at UCSC. It was like a collegiate reunion.

I'll put this out there: The Clydesdales started before us.

So, we start, and we pretty much catch up to some of the Clydes right away. The first hill isn't really a hill. You can pretty much big ring/SFR it, buuuuut, people were getting off their bikes to walk up it. Because there was a sea of people who were walking it, I had to get off my bike and run. After that, I passed enough people to where I could get back on and tackle the next little hill (again, big ring). I was able to weave around enough people to get some speed going. I pretty much looked like a midget passing those big guys.

The downhills were easier than I remember, but I was also in race mode so I was taking more risks that I would on a regular ride, usually because my regular mountain bike rides are me going, "oohhhh pretty flower!" or "derp" or "MAN DOWN!" This race has a few sections that give me trouble. One of them is the really rocky downhill, but I kept remembering Asa saying that my bike wants to go over stuff, so I pretty much pointed and shot, and it worked.

Yeah, I was totally going, "Yeah, buddy! You got over that one. Way to go!" I had to pump myself up, okay? The creek is a section that gives me issues, too. I can sometimes clear it, I sometimes can't.
During the second lap, I didn't clear it, and some dude behind me says, "Why are you stopping!?" "I'm a chicken shit," I replied. "No. You're descending way too fast to be a chicken shit." Ha! Awesome. I'm used to being the slowest descender. Then again, I mostly ride mountain bikes with downhillers, ex-pro/CAT 1 downhillers, and people who give no shits when it comes do a downhill. I guess my slow is normal people's fast.

The hills were fine. The second lap was harder because my back decided that it was going to tell me that it was definitely not happy. I big-ringed most of the hills, except for the really steep ones. I got stuck behind a fairly slow climber up one of the hills and I didn't know if I could climb that slow on the mountain bike; I was afraid I was going to tip over. Those SFRs that Coach has me do really help with everything, though. So, I pretty much SFR'ed and didn't tip over. Yay me. Or something.

I also rode over a lot more stuff than I did on the pre-ride. Things weren't as scary. The only time I messed up was when I dropped my chain and I had to run up the hill. It was going to be faster and easier to run up the hill than to try to fix the chain right there and to start on the hill, so screw it, I ran. All of that trail running I've been doing with Dog helped. Having to drag Dog's 55-pound ass up the hills made dragging my bike up the hill even easier.

I passed one of the Expert women during my second lap. She told me that I was the first Sport woman she has seen so I'm probably winning. That made me pretty happy since I didn't know which way was up at that point of the race. Mountain bike races are really confusing. You start in a sea of people and you don't know who is in what category. So, you know, I just kind of rode my bike and hoped I didn't die, or that my back didn't completely give out while I was in the middle of the course... or the creek. I didn't want to drown. The news that I was most likely in first gave me a little boost since my back was hurting really badly by mile fifteen. Not a happy camper. I shouldn't have said no to the beer hand-up.

Some dude and I rode together for the last couple of miles of the race and we joked around. Hey, if you're not having fun at a race, you're doing it wrong! He also told me that my teammate was doing awesome and was right on it. Mason ended up third in the SS Expert category!

Before the finish, there's a huge mud pit. You can either go through it, which people encourage, or you can go around. Every lap, you would hear people chant, "MUD! MUD! MUD!" and each time, I said, "Nope! Nope! Nope!" I went around, but I almost ate it anyway and I just said, "You got the same result!" I was super happy when I crossed the finish line. That was a tough race!

So, here's me after we found out I won. I have a no-drinking rule during race season. The exception to the rule is winning. I need some motivation. T-shirts and free race entries only get you so far.

And there's the podium shot.

Haha look at how short I still look.

So, there it is. This race went from being dreaded to actually turning out to be a good race. My back hurt like crazy after the race but it happens. I couldn't not race this. I called my friends and said, "Oh hey, guys, I can't go to the hockey game because I freakin' won."

"You what? Really?"

"Yeah. So... I gotta wait for the podium. Have fun at the game." I apparently missed out on a good game, but they were all proud of me for not killing myself at this race and pulling off a "W."

Miss K

(Re posted from seekayride)

Grammo Paru: New converstion

2013-02-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

The first half of winter in southern Oregon was unusually snowy and cold. Most of the trails I ride were buried under snow. I am a mountain biker at heart and I typically try to ride my bike 3 times a week. But with all the fluffy white stuff everywhere that wasn't happening. After a couple of weeks of not riding I was going stir crazy.

All I knew was I needed to ride one way or another before I went loco.

I've never been much of road guy as I just can't get comfortable dealing with traffic. I sold the last road bike I had because I never used it. But I figured I'd give it a go again. I reached out to Unreal Cycles about building up a road or CX bike so that I could at least get some miles in and stay fit. The guys at Unreal were great and helped me build a sweet carbon Grammo Paru CX bike. We built it up with a unique blend of road and MTB components. Solid !

I set out for my maiden voyage in the dark. With my lights charged and dressed for the weather. I headed out into the night. It was freezing ! I left my house and went for 15 mile loop ride out to Jacksonville and back. It was nice to be pedaling again. The bike was super smooth and was much more compliant on rough terrain than I had expected. Like I said. I'm not comfortable riding around cars. So I spent much of the time on the gravel off to the side of the road. One way to stay true to my dirt roots I guess. Probably not a good idea though with all the broken glass and debris that litters the side of the road. Luckily I didn't flat.

The bike is fun to ride and it looks really good too. I have taken it out on several different asphalt and dirt road excursions. Including a 21 mile trip from my house up and around Roxy Ann mountain that included asphalt and dirt. This has been my favorite ride so far. I love being able to just leave my house and go for a ride rather than loading my truck and driving somewhere to ride my bike.

The snow has since been melting and tacky dirt has been calling my name. So I have been riding my mountain bike a bit more lately. The Paru has mostly been used for fitness and interval training. With days as short as they are it's pretty much impossible for me to get a mountain bike ride in after work during daylight hours. So I am stoked to have the option of jumping on the Paru and going for a quick spin.

We still have a couple more months of northwest weather. I am looking forward to spending a lot more time on the Grammo grinding out miles helping me stay fit for the upcoming MTB season.

Thank you Peter and Lewis for hooking me up with a sweet ride and helping me maintain my sanity. And maybe. Just maybe. I'll take up cyclocross racing next season.

Mike Bronze.

Keep Calm and Carry on

2013-02-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life doesn’t always go the way you want it to go. Things go wrong, at the worst of times. And you just have to push through. You just have to take a deep breath, keep calm, and carry on. Life sure has been throwing me some curveballs lately. My asthma has been flaring up pretty badly, and I got slammed by the flu a few weeks ago. This last week I was back on track and I headed to Marin County for a training camp over the weekend. A weekend of riding with my team. On sweet trails. We’d be riding with Olympian and current National Champion Sam Schultz. I was stoked.

On the first day of camp, the mountain team headed out to Mt. Tam for some good climbing and some good shredding. I was feeling great when we finished the first long climb and hit some fun singletrack descending. I was feeling the flow, taking the lines of one of our fastest mountain guys and we were hauling. And then it happened.

I don’t entirely remember what happened, but from what others told me I know it wasn’t pretty. I hit a rut from a weird angle, my front wheel got thrown off and I ran into the bushes on the side of the trail. My bike stopped when it hit the bushes; but I didn’t. I did a full front flip over the bars and landed hard on the trail.

The main thing I remember after that is a horrible headache. I don’t remember walking from where I landed to the sag vehicle. I barely remember the 20 minute car ride back to City Cycle, and I don’t remember talking to the people at the shop. I didn’t notice the sharp pain in my left wrist for over half an hour after the crash. I remember my teammate’s dad, a doctor, taking me in the back door of Marin General Hospital. After a 3 hour hospital visit, my wrist seemed to be intact but we were still unsure whether there was a fracture or not. I have a concussion, along with a noticeable bruise on my right cheek. My right hip is cut and bruised, and my right shoulder is very bruised, swollen and sore.

I can’t even tell you how bummed out I was for the rest of the weekend. But I’m fortunate enough to have the best team someone could ask for. Everyone was so supportive and they kept me optimistic. There is an unbelievable amount of things I could not do with my huge splint on, and every single one of my teammates jumped in to help me out. It made such a difference.

I’m home now, and focusing on recovery. The orthopedist I saw on Tuesday confirmed that there is no fracture, just a bad sprain and soft tissue damage. The best news? I can get on the trainer and start doing core workouts as soon as my concussion symptoms are gone for good. I hope to be back on my bike in as little as 2 ½ weeks. With the support of my family and team, this should only be a small bump in the long road I’m on. I’ve got to work with what I have and not let a rough start to the season get in the way. Most importantly I just have to keep calm and carry on.

Avery

A Tale of Two Seconds

2013-02-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hey all! So, the last two weekends have gone really well for me.

Last weekend I raced my first Crit of the season, the BP Winter Crit. I was super stoked to race this race, it is my home course and I love Crits. The adrenaline, speed, tactics. They’re just super fun. And I was also excited to kick off the road race season, since I hope to upgrade to E4 as soon as possible. Over the last year I have begun to enjoy road racing more and more, and I want to fit in some fun/epic races along with my Cross Country and hopefully Enduro racing.

The BP Crit course is a very short and simple D shape, with the start finish in the middle of the straight away. There are only two turns, but there was a wreck in at least one in each of my previous races at this venue.

In the E5 race, I tried to do as little work as possible, and stay in the pack until the end. A few times, though, I had to reel some strong competitors back in. I came into the last few laps in great position, up in the front few guys. On the last lap, a racer jumped and got a big enough gap that I didn’t think I could reel him in, so I sat in 2nd in the pack until the final turn, and then sprinted like crazy. I have been working on my sprinting ability and tactics with some of my Victory Velo teammates (huge thanks to themJ), and my work paid off. I won the field sprint and took 2^nd overall. I was beyond stoked. It was a great way to open my road racing season.

Then, this weekend, I raced TBF MTB #3. This race, they added 2 more miles onto each lap. That makes for a total of 32 miles for the Expert racers.

Again, the High School Experts spent the 1^st lap making our way around the entire age group expert field that started one minute ahead of us. I caught and passed all but 6 of them. After the start, I soon started working with a friend of mine, Alec Crowfoot. Another one of my competitors got a gap on us after the first lap, getting away by sneaking around some traffic. Alec and I worked great together, taking turns pulling to try to real the guy in 1^st back in. We kept a pretty hot pace going, and in the first part of the last lap Alec blew up. I found out after the race that he wasn’t eating enough, and bonked hard. I dropped him right away after that, his speed drastically reduced. Then I was hammering away in second, time trial to the finish.

I finished 2^nd in high school expert, and 7^th overall, with a time of 2:03. I was 5:10 off the winning pro time of the day. I was pretty happy with my result, and it always feels amazing to get up on that podium.

And that is the tale of the two weekends and the two Second places.

Next week is the beginning of NorCal, with the first Northern Conference race. I super excited and nervous to start my last season of NorCal high school mountain bike racing.

Thanks for reading. Like, share, comment, do those things you do. I appreciate it.

I’ll keep you posted.

Double Duathlon Debut....

2013-02-17T10:39:00.001-08:00

I just received my Toa this week and built it up in time to take it for a quick spin before it was time to put it to work as my newest race bike.

It only took a few minutes of riding the Toa before I thought to myself “wow, this bike is amazing!”

The race was a double duathlon. Run 2 miles, road bike 6.5 miles, run 2 miles and finish with 6.5 miles on the mountain bike.

The race got off to a good start for me, finishing the first run in 2nd place overall. I lost a place on the road bike, dropping to 3rd overall. The race stayed this way through the last run and into the mountain bike section. At this point, I was mainly concerned with making sure that no one else caught me. As I got going, I hit a great groove and quickly dropped anyone behind me. The bike was really amazing on the climbs, but also handled the flowing singletrack really well.

Before I knew it, I had caught second place, shot right by him and on going full speed ahead to the finish line.

A great way to start of the season.

Scott C

Redemption

2013-02-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hey all! At the end of my last post, I mentioned the next TBF MTB race.

TBF #2 went much better than the first one. If you recall, at the first race I suffered a catastrophic flat that sent me to the back of the pack, and I finished alone in the back. When the next one came around, I was ready to redeem myself.

The race started fast, and again we were instantly into the Expert field.

We had to fight through them again, constantly passing on the first lap. I stayed with the front of my group this time, and had no flats.

After lap 1, I was in 3rd, 2nd place had a gap on me, and 1st had a gap in him.

The race was pretty boring from there. We all held our positions for the next 3 laps, out of sight of each other and the rest of the field.

I finished in 3rd.

Although it wasn't a particularly exciting race, it felt really good for me to finally make it back onto the podium, and redeem my awful result from the race before.

Look for a blog on the BP Winter Crit this week.

Thanks for reading,

I'll keep you posted.

Black Ice, Stans, and Pain: Old Caz and the Kickstart

2013-02-06T13:03:00.001-08:00

Hey all! Been a couple weeks,but I wanted to capture the epic-osity of the story for you. I try to knock every blog out of the park. That's actually really hard to accomplish a lot of the time, though. Things sound more epic in your head. But, I did manage to write this one.

My longtime readers (thanks guys!) already know that I double up my weekends with races quite often. I've even been known to triple up. And it generally means a great story, or at least one involving my legs hurting quite a bit. This was no exception.

I heard about the Grasshopper 1 week before it happened. A couple of my Victory Velo teammates told me about it while on a training ride. They though I should do it, it sounded fun, they were all caravan/carpooling to Occidental. Long story short, I was in the car early in the morning on Jan. 19th, headed to the 15th annual "Old Caz Hopper"

The Grasshopper isn't technically a race. Even though there is a mass start and a finish line, and you are timed, it isn't actually a race. The roads are not closed, there are no awards other than the raffle. It's ridden more like a really hard paced Gran Fondo. And the course is so gnar that it is recommended to ride it on a cross bike.

The course is 53 miles of a combination of road, fire road, dirt, and beat-to-shit-why-hasn't-someone-fixed-this-pavement-esque-ground. That is why they recommend a cross bike. I also saw people there on road bikes, and on mountain bikes. It is strange to be hammering a pace line on a road and be on a cross bike, while the guy next to you is on a mountain bike, and the guy in front is on a road bike. But I digress.

The ride was epic. There was a pack of super fast guys off the front, who I held on to as long as I could. Then I fell back into another pack. There were crashes everywhere. I went down in a corner that had black ice, but I was alright. The climbs were brutal, and the descents were sketchy (CX brakes do not stop you much). The descents were so hairy, the sides of the trail were littered with people fixing flats or mechanicals. There was a great deal of change in altitude, to the point that I would be hot and sweating and tearing off clothes, looking for shade and sucking down water on the climbs, and then bundling up and descending back into the cold and icy weather of the valleys. And the terrain was constantly changing. I crossed all manner of ground possible, as well as some gates, bridges, and a creek.

The Grasshopper loop was super epic. It was one of the more brutal events that I have done, and I was stoked to finish of 85/340 with a time of 3:39. I would definitely like to race it again next year.

Then, the next morning, I got up to go race my season opening mountain bike race.

The TBF MTB Kickstart was my first mountain bike race of the season. It did not go well for me.

First off, let me start by stating that at this time in California, high school expert racers compete at a very high level. I see many posts from friends competing around the world. I saw one this Monday from a racer I know complaining about going to school after getting home from racing Cyclocross World Championships this weekend. Given the level of current high school athletes it is very frustrating when we (HS Expert category) are started 1 min behind all age group experts. We spend at least the entire first lap (a little less than 6 miles) passing them. This past weekend, the leading high school racer beat the fastest pro of the day by 2 minutes. Anyway, I just sure wish the we could start with or ahead of the experts.

At the Kickstart, I rolled my tire completely off the rim on the first lap, spraying Stans everywhere. I then had to fix it, and try to catch up.

I was already hurting from the day before; there was no way I was going to catch up. So i just hung in there and rode hard to finish. After the flat, it was pretty uneventful. It was a very disappointing way to open the cross country mountain bike season. But then I realized that I can only go up from there. And that is exactly what I did.

Tune in later this week to find out how I did at TBF MTB #2 this past weekend.

Thanks for reading, like, comment, share, do those things you like to do.

I'll keep you posted.