Clint Claassen

2012 Racing Is Here!

2012-01-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

It comes every year, whether I'm ready or not, that first local "tester" race in the TBF MTB Kickstart at Granite Bay. Last Sunday was that first measuring stick for 2012. I'm only 4 weeks into training, actually, 4 weeks into riding period after a long long time off the bike. So to be honest I was a bit nervous, but I'm accepting of the fact that I can only work with the time that I've been given and I'm going to be happy with whatever comes of it. And if I stick with it, I just might have some even better results in the mid and late season this year when it really matters. I just can't try to rush the training, which is hard, because I like doing well.

The first rainy weekend of 2012 had to be, of course, the weekend of this race. But thankfully there was a Sunday morning break and since Granite Bay drains so well, conditions were just about perfect. I didn't even need to change from my favorite hard pack tire, the WTB Nano 29, and the Santa Cruz Highball hard tail would be the perfect choice. I pulled up to the start line next to the only other rider in the Pro/Open category, Ron Shevock, who's kind of the ying to my yang as far as strengths. So I knew this was going to be a fun challenge, especially since there isn't any snow and the former competitive skier has been riding his bike way more than normal this time of year. We started in the same wave as all other experts so it was a pretty big group, but I got the holeshot, which I thought was odd and wasn't exactly where I wanted to be. I was hoping to sit in for a while and I didn't think I was fast enough right now to dictate the pace of the race. After about a mile we broke out to the first bit of pavement and an expert rider sprinted on by. Ron and I discussed the likelihood that we would catch him on the upcoming climb, and we were right. Only Ron caught him about 10 seconds faster than I did and already had a gap by the top. That ying to my yang thing means that Ron typically crushes me on those short climbs, especially since he's on a single speed so he has 100% efficient power transfer. There was another expert that had managed to pass me on that climb, and I decided not to push the issue and pass him at the top before the downhill, but I regretted that decision. I was stuck behind him for the next mile or so at a pace slower than I wanted and I couldn't see Ron anymore. Finally I had the opportunity to pass on a short climb and dropped him quickly. I made my way out to the far end of the course called "Doton's Point" where usually we flip a U-Turn at the end of the single track and head up a short road section, and that's where I saw Ron. Only the course volunteers there were yelling at him "TURN AROUND!!!" Instantly I knew the course must go out around the dirt and not up the road and Ron had just been a creature of habit with his head down. By the time I got to the point Ron was rejoining the course and his lead was gone. I rode the rest of the first lap in the lead and into the 2nd lap until the main climb again when I said "see ya" to Ron as he motored up the hill. I was trying to keep from going beyond threshold during the race so I was going to save any effort like that for the end if needed. And I figured if I couldn't catch back up with him on the dowhills, flats and twisties which are my strengths I wasn't going to catch him anyways.

I had a good smooth lap 2 and was having fun, and I did catch Ron by the bottom of the climb on lap 3. We had a pretty huge gap on the rest of our start group so it was just going to be the two of us to battle it out. Which is pretty fun since it rarely happens in MTB racing. I decided that I was going to stick with Ron on this climb to keep that gap from forming again and then recover later. He gave it his normal stand-up effort for the first half of the climb and I stayed with him, not completely gassed, but the legs were burning pretty good. We had a bit of a discussion about how much this race seemed to hurt for the second half of the climb after we backed off the pace a little. I sat up on his wheel until we reached Doton Point again and I couldn't help myself and took the lead. But then as I rolled a small downhill with a 90 degree turn at the bottom there was a loud thud and wobble from the back of my bike. I said to Ron "that felt like my back wheel was trying to come off!" Everything seemed fine though and he confirmed, but he said he didn't have enough energy to really focus on it. Yeah sure Ron. :-). I never believe anyone when they say "oh my legs are burning" or talk about how gassed they are during a race. I always think they're trying to get in my head so I back off... "Lies! All lies!" I think to myself. But what was in my head now was that I thought my bike was falling apart. I wouldn't dare pick up my back wheel over any obstacle for the rest of the race or really go hard into a corner which messed with my flow and rhythm a bit but the bike held together. I stayed in front of Ron and made him go my pace on the climbs so that he couldn't get a gap, and then my strategy would be to try to break away on the last flat part of the course about a half mile from the finish. Once we got to that section though, there was of course a decent head wind that had picked up and I knew I had no chance of breaking away and he could just stick right into that massive slipstream my 6'3" frame throws out. Since I don't have the straight TT power to just pull away right now, it was going to come down to the last few turns and a likely sprint finish, not my strength either. I was in front which wasn't where I wanted to be when going into a sprint, and I had an idea that Ron would probably try to pass me on the gradual uphill after the last open area, and he did. At that point I thought it was going to come down to a finish chute sprint.

4 turns left, and two short climbs. I had to stay right with him. Left turn, he went wide through a puddle and I picked the better line, giving me a little momentum up the short climb. There was a lapped rider off to the left we would pass, Ron took the middle and there was room on the right leading into the right turn at the top. I had momentum and I had to take it. I squeezed on by and made the pass clean, but it was tight. I used the next stretch, left turn, and short flat of singletrack after that to recover since there wasn't anywhere to pass and got ready to give it everything I had up the last short knoll and finish chute. I stood up and laid down what power I had. The rear wheel stayed on as I shifted through the gears and I looked back expecting to see Ron pulling out to pass as we entered the chute but he was sitting up, so I rolled across the line taking 1st and feeling pretty good about 2012's first test. Especially since it turned out to be really fun and a back and forth "battle" with a good riding buddy.

Another thing I'm happy about is that my finish time was only 55 seconds slower than last year when I had been getting a lot more time in the saddle starting 2 months earlier. I do need to keep an eye on those high school kids though. They started in a different wave but their finish time was really close to ours, with their winner being only 1 second back from Ron. Kids these days...

Thailand "base" ride and bike review

2011-11-28T00:33:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning at the Oriental Village Resort, near Chiang Mai, Thailand (yes I know how I got here!), with anticipation of the bike ride that was planned for the morning. What bike would they have for me to ride... hmmm... something carbon fiber perhaps? We are pretty close to where most of them are made (Taiwan) so they've got to be all over the place right? Maybe a Stumpjumper, Giant XTC Composite, even my Santa Cruz Highball was made over on this side of the planet. Nope... well a cross bike would be perfect for this area too... lots of dirt roads or uneven concrete swaths through the rice patties. Nope. My ride for the day was a sweet Mongoose Wing-comp "Pro". Yeah it had both "comp" and "pro" in the name. Rad.

I set off with this highly weathered, 30+ lb. beast with behind our guide, Koon Jon, ready to shred. In the first few hundred yards I had used just about all 24 gears. Not because I needed them, but because "Popper The Friendly Ghost Shifter" was riding backseat with me. That's what I've named the nemesis of all bike racers, "Popper." The little being who must be fiddling with your bike because "I swear I didn't hit anything!" yet your bike is making funny "popping" noises and generally not working. But this time I really didn't hit anything... we had just started. The chain skipped wildly about anytime I'd put the power down so I was destined to work on my non-existent cyclocross "skills" (running re-mount) and run up any hill or any time I needed to start after a photo op.

Some of the spectators had cowbells... fittingly... though their heckling could use a little more substance ("Moo!" - yeah I know I'm heavy... it's the off season ok!).

It took me about half the ride to figure out what gears worked and which to avoid so I could try and analyse the features of my steed. Here's the breakdown:

Drivetrain: Shimano. Only the rear derailluer had markings left and it was the Deore model. Shifter pods had no plastic left with exposed springs and cables which were thoroughly worn. But they were silver which matched the bike so that's bling.
Brakes: Unknown brand v-brakes which worked... thankfully.
Tires: Unknown brand front, just said "boxer" and the rotation direction arrow was not pointed the right way. Brontrager rear tire.
Saddle: I don't care what it was... ouch! WTB Silverado I miss you!!!
Pedals: Steel flats. The kind that tear into your calf when the chain skips and your foot comes off...
Fork: Manitou dual crown with TPC damping (which had a dial, that I couldn't adjust) and a preload adjustment dial (which was also stuck). Oh and the bushings were shot and I don't think there was any fluid in it either. But it still "worked."
Rear suspension: No-name coil shock for the rear set up on a 4-bar style rear linkage. It had flex, to say the least, but I don't know if that was a design flaw or the improv repairs. Bolt... bearing... same-same.

Even though the front tire was mounted backwards, I was able to rail a few corners and have a good time cruising through the northern Thai countryside.

The popping chain kept me from hammering any climbs... good for "base" training I suppose :-) (aka- no power spikes). Despite all its issues, including a "squeaky" noise which could only be described as an "in use" cheap motel bed (err ee err ee...) and the fact I wouldn't recommend the bike to anyone stateside... here it's just fine. Whatever gets out out rolling across beautiful, undeveloped, luscious Earth is good enough. And it makes me even more thankful for the kick @$$ bikes I have to race back home.

What was the most exciting aspect of the morning was that Jen was able to ride with us also. She was on a Giant Rincon... a pretty orange reliable hard tail with working shifting (which I had tested the day before).

But it really didn't matter what she was riding... she was smiling. It was the first "athletic" activity she'd been able to do since April when her foot was crushed and we were both stoked that she could "shred" too.

I came to the conclusion though that most Thai bikes should be single speeds for simplicity and the ease of maintenance that they'll never receive. Though make sure you get the right size... and don't try to pull a manual if it's too small.

At least in Thailand you can still get a good post ride "recovery" drink...

Puttin' myself out there - Coaching

2011-10-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this for over a year now and Jen has been really encouraging me also. I've helped out with a number of skills clinics the last couple years and I have really enjoyed it and I've received great feedback from the "students" regarding my instruction. I love sharing my passion for cycling and fitness with others who are motivated to improve and willing to get dirty so opening myself up to more people and opportunities to coach is the next step.

Seems like I've been asked quite a bit lately for training and racing advise and if I'd be interested in coaching. Well I certainly am so here it goes.... finally taking the plunge!

Please check out my coaching page on the site here if you're interested or know someone who might be.

Survival Training - Sierra Nevada Trail Challenge

2011-10-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago I started running again so I could change the training up a bit for the coming off season (training for the off season? Did I really just say that?) and I was looking toward the Sierra Trial Half Marathon as some motivation to keep it up. Well the running didn't happen quite as regularly as intended and I hadn't been riding very much either since most of my time has been spent painting the new house so we can move. But, either out of stupidity or naivety, after spending Saturday coaching the TBF MTB Skills Clinic and Sunday helping at the Trojans High School MTB Team practice I felt rejuvenated and ready for a challenge. On Tuesday I felt good on a 4 mile run and on Wednesday I was a little sore but still busted out a 5.3 mile run in 40 minutes. I thought, "I'll just see how well I recover from that and then I'll decide if I can/should race a half marathon on Saturday." Even though I knew I was just kidding myself and would probably give it a shot anyway! Thursday I did an upper body workout in the gym. First one in a while, which was stupid because it made my back sore and tight. A 1 mile run Friday seemed to work some of that out but I was not at all "fresh" come Saturday morning. Quads and calves were a little sore but the back wasn't tight which was the main thing. I only know how to warm up one way... so I set up the trainer for a 20 minute spin to get going nice and easy.

It's been a while since I tried something totally new (1st Triathlon last year) and I was a little bit scared of going into "the unknown." I had never run more than about 6 miles in my life, and that 5.3 I did last Wednesday was the farthest I'd run all year. The gun went off and I began shuffling along with 100+ others who signed up for, if nothing else, an opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day out on the trail.

I got into a good rhythm and thankfully had fellow Mad Cat Patrick Morin to run with. He's a very experienced runner, having completed the Western States 100 and several other ultra trail runs. So I paced with him and learned a lot about trail running technique while keeping up. He really attacked and "ran" the downhills which was fun, fast, and actually easier on the joints than just coasting down. I also learned the importance of shoe covers while trail running as I got sand in my shoes and that wasn't very fun later on. We wound through the undulating singletrack of Granite Bay and kept a good manageable pace. We got to the climb up to the bench hill at about mile 6 and I was feeling decent so I went on ahead. But after that the second half of the course flattened out which to most would seem easier but not for me. Running the climbs is more of a cycling motion that I'm used to but the flats stretch out the legs a bit more which is still foreign to my hips and they started to tighten up. Also, that sand in my shoes started to wear on the soles of my feet and the heat generated from socks that were too thick made it feel like there were massive blisters forming. So from about mile 8 on I was struggling. I kept running though, and I only walked just 3 times while getting water and one other climb which I'm really happy about. I survived and finished up the 13.1 miles and about 2k ft of climbing in 2:00:36 and was ecstatic to have actually done it. I began the recovery and rehydration process and hopped back on the bike trainer to see if I could make my legs forget what I had just done to them because I was going to tackle the TBF 50 Miler XC race the next day. There was a special category for those crazy enough to do both (The Sierra Nevada Trail Challenge) and a $500 Trek cruiser bike to the top guy and gal with the fastest combined time from both days. After spinning on the trainer and walking around I headed home to a 25 minute ice bath and then went back to work painting the house. At about 8pm my body was done and I passed out face down on the floor in the living room while Jen finished up some "painting." :-)

After a painful and restless nights sleep on an air mattress the alarm went off at 5am... Jen got up... I lay there not wanting to move. My hips were in so much pain. I was only half serious with my response of "If I can get up in the morning" when asked if I was doing the MTB race after the run. After a few more minutes contemplating movement I rolled, literally, out of bed onto the floor, pushed up to the knees then up to the feet. I staggered the first few painful steps and Jen commented that I walked like she did with her broken foot! The hip flexors didn't want to work and the bone/connective tissue pain in the hips was crazy! As I stayed up about about though I seemed to move a little more freely and got the bike and gear loaded up. At the venue one of the staff members had some Tylenol (thank you Stephanie!!). Some coffee and my last delicious Cashew Coconut Chocolate Chip Hammer Bar started to pick me up. I walked around for about 10 minutes and things started to feel better as I contemplated the start 3+ hour MTB race which was only a half hour away. Then something unexpected happened, with 15 minutes to go before the start, I swung a leg over the Highball, immediately felt right at home on the familiar WTB Silverado saddle and the hip pain was gone. Turns out I could still ride a bike! Game on!

The fun began as I sprinted to the front for the 200 yard start stretch and zero'd in on the singletrack straight ahead. Which would have been fine if that was where the course went too! As I started to go straight for it the course went right and Dean Bailey (SS winner) yelled "RIGHT TURN!!" I had run the same course the day before but was still in a daze apparently. I went around a cone into the weeds, ducked under a branch and was back on course in about 6th. "Sorry guys!" I yelled, embarrassed of my bonehead move. As we continued on course no thanks to me, the pace seemed to be unreasonably fast for the start of such a long race.

We hit the first water crossing, up a grassy slope and to the first bit of deep sand on course where Dean fumbled a bit and let out a frustrating yell. As I went by I reminded him "long race Dean" trying to calm him down a bit. He acknowledged with a deep breath and a "Yeah..." as we continued on.

We finally got into the good singletrack and I was in 3rd with our group already with quite a gap. Jared Kessler was in 2nd and another guy I didn't know in 1st. On a few of the climbs I noticed my left knee was giving me some pain right over the top of the Patella when I was push hard. I was a bit concerned because I'd had this pain before and it had kept me off the bike in the past. But I continued on and we stayed together until the second half of the lap where Jared and I broke away on some more technical riding. On the fire road back I was leading and took the right turn down off the bank for the short fun single track section that was on the run course the day before. Would have been nice if that was actually the bike course too! Doh! Which I discovered on the 2nd lap after actually looking at the signs which pointed straight instead of right.

Lap 2 was pretty fun just riding with Jared. It was nice to BS and chat while still riding fast. He's a very skilled rider, one of those guys who seems like he spends more time in the air in a tricky section than he does on the ground. I sat in behind him through the few techy sections as he showed me some fun lines up and over rocks that keep the flow going and the fun factor up. With the second half of the course being flatter we worked together to keep the pace up and engines burning with gels and liquids. I started to think I didn't drink enough water the first lap as my legs started to cringe some on the last little bit of lap 2 climbing. I made sure to finish off one bottle of HEED and grab one of the spares I'd set out in the team area as I began lap 3. We kept the pace up and were still having a good time until about mile 4 or 5 and I was having to work a little more to keep up, and we weren't talking as much. Up the climb to the bench hill I said to Jared, "This is getting hard now." "Yeah..." he responded, thankfully out of breath too. My left knee pain, after getting worse for lap 2 seemed to have subsided a bit but I lost touch with Jared on the second half of the course as I faded going up the water tower climb. Because of the knee pain I couldn't really stand up and power over the climbs.

I kept fueling with Perpetuem Solids which were nice to chew on after the 2hr mark and made sure I finished lap 3 empty of water. I grabbed my last spare bottle starting lap 4 and headed off... kind of in survival mode. I just didn't have the energy to keep pushing. I was caught by a 2 person relay team rider at about mile 4 on the course and he was pretty fresh. I grabbed his wheel and paced with him for the next few miles until we hit the flats again where I squeezed out my last bit of water and put down as much power as I could. Things started to cramp up a bit. The normal place for me was the inner thigh but my shins and the outsides of my calves would cramp too which was new. Probably a result of the previous days little run. I gave Jared an "atta boy!" cheer as we passed each other on the two-way section of course with only about 2 miles left. After I hit the turn around and rolled the fire road back I took a deep sigh after grunting up the last climb since that was the last bit of pain before the finish.

I pushed it as fast as I could for the last mile wondering if I had put enough time on my running competitors. I came around the last corner and the race announcer shouted out that he thought I had won the two day trail challenge. I rolled across the line with a smile at 3:29:30, three minutes back from Jared.

I knew there were still some pretty decent riders to come who had put some serious time gaps on me the previous day so I was not too confident of my victory. One of my toughest competitors, teammate Joey Figone, had dnf'd with a crash but there were still a couple guys to keep track of. Since I was no longer sweating and I would feel queezy as I continued to drink fluids, I hung out in the medic tent while waiting for more finishers. Three water bottles later I was good to go but I couldn't walk, the hip pain was still there. I could ride around though so I put the bike in the granny and cruised around until I found Jen getting a Thai massage (which I would later get too... awesome!). I got my congratulatory kiss and hug (always good motivation to finish fast and hurry back to!) then it was over to the awesome BBQ and some well earned beer!

As it turns out I ended up 2nd overall for the two day Sierra Trail Challenge to Jon Hyatt with only a 2 minute gap after 5 1/2 hours of racing. He was 10 minutes faster on the run and I was only 8 faster on the bike. Congrats to Jon for an awesome job over two days and to Jared too for a strong performance for 50 miles! I was pleasantly surprised to receive a packed bag of awesome schwag for my 2nd place finish too! Thanks TBF!

I'm so stoked on how I did this weekend. 1. That I was able to do it and 2. That I podium'd! I have some lessens to learn for running in the future (socks, shoe covers, chaffage...) and I'm really happy with how comfortable my Highball was for a 50 mile race. I didn't get fatigued at all from continued jarring you would expect from a hardtail and it is just so fun, fast and easy to ride.

Now I'm ready for November... lots of pumpkin pie, turkey, and a trip to Thailand!

Sierra Cup Series Finals / Sawtooth Ridge Challenge Race Report

2011-10-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

I discovered this year it's pretty hard to make a race season last from March to October and stay in top form the whole time. I was struggling with motivation to train, maintain a "performance based" diet, and push myself in races. October 2nd was the final race in the Sierra Cup Series and I had committed myself to racing the whole series and I wanted to finish it out strong to put a good cap on my 2011 season. It would effectively be my last race this year. The 41st race. I may still do a race here or there (maybe one while we're in Thailand!) and maybe of a different sport (running or triathlon) just for fun.

Turns out though, when you have a well laid out course on awesome trails, a "matters" race can be fun too! This was definitely the case with the Sawtooth Ridge Challenge held at Northstar. This race capped off a seven race northern CA and NV series where I had found myself in 2nd place overall to Gregg Stone in 1st. I found some motivation in the couple weeks prior to the race to stay on the bike and not lose too much fitness so I was feeling pretty decent when the start gun went off at 6,300 ft. I took the lead right away heading up a fire road climb for about 1/8 mile and I turned into the first singletrack with a little gap. The course would be 4 laps long for me on a 6.5 mile loop comprised mainly of one big 1000 ft or so climb of varying trail type (smooth and rough singletrack, and fire road) before turning down a winding trail of gradual descent. Before the race I was thinking about my strategy and if I would just ride with Gregg until the last lap and see what I could do or if I should just peg it from the start. I decided on the latter, and to just race my race. I knew that I would (should... hopefully) be stronger on the climb and Gregg would likely be faster on the descent. So I needed to play to my strengths, especially since this is Gregg's backyard.

I pushed it up the climb at a strong steady pace and put a serious time gap on the rest of the field and couldn't see anyone behind me on the longest open stretch. As I hammer down a fire road after what feels like the crest of the climb I see a left turn arrow and then bam there's the trail to my left... as I jam the brakes and skid about 15 feet past the turn! Doh! Turns out I would do the same thing on all but my last lap! That's what climbing fatigue does to you, turning you into a reactionary rider if you're not careful.

The downhill trail was just awesome with berms, jumps, little table top jumps, hip jumps, and a couple drops. The upper portion was pretty smooth and had a ton of flow and it got more rocky and technical as the elevation dropped. After being spoiled for 5 minutes by fun downhill there was a sucker punch of a fire road climb though of a distance right in between that go all out sprint pace or the usual diesel chug. Because you could see the top once you started, but you still had maybe 500 yards at a decent incline to go. When I got to the top each lap though I would look back and still couldn't see Gregg, just wasn't enough open space. As I mentioned the lower half was more rocky and technical and my first lap I was still learning the trail so I didn't feel too terrible when I turned for lap 2 at the bottom and saw Gregg only about 15 seconds back. I set out to get all that time back on the 2nd lap climb. The 2nd lap was much like the first as I put time back on the climb and missed that same turn. But I felt a lot better on the downhill and knew I was faster. But so was Gregg apparently because when I turned for lap 3 I saw him go over the table top jump at almost the exact same spot as when I started lap 2. Dang it!

Lap 3... I love my Tallboy!! It was working flawlessly and was so efficient on the rocky climbing, soaking up everything and keeping the power down. Then when I opened up the travel on the fork it was just hammering the downhill. I was having a ton of fun! Yet still working pretty damn hard. Drifting into the loose, banked turns and finding the flow and speed in the trail. But at the bottom Gregg was even closer! Ahhh! As I turned into the first singletrack for the last lap climb I yelled back at Gregg, "Gregg would you slow down!?" Trying to keep the racing light-hearted... I didn't get a response. I was actually a bit frustrated and I guess that was the motivation I needed and I gave it everything I had on that last lap. I gassed it everywhere I could on the climb and when I hit the downhill... stoked at not missing that turn again (the small victories) I was still hammering. Standing up and pedaling out of the turns and letting the Tallboy fly I was ripping the downhill and "racing scared" because even though I couldn't see him when I would look back, I swore that Gregg was going to catch me on the last downhill. I reached the bottom and crossed the finish line alone... and spent. Six and a half minutes later Gregg rolled in and later told me "Man you crushed my soul on that last lap climb..." and he watched me ride away as his legs cramped up. I have to admit that was a bit satisfying to hear :-)

I ended up 2nd overall for the series since there was just too much points spread to make up between us. Congrats to Gregg. Next year I really hope they do this series again and I will make it more of my racing focus. The race courses are just awesome, very well run, and I really want a regional champion jersey!

Santa Cruz Highball Carbon 29er Review

2011-09-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've had a few months of riding and racing, about 700 miles total, on the new Santa Cruz Highball frame so I wanted to share my impressions of this new rocket. And that's exactly what it is.

I transferred build directly over from the Giant XTC 29er I was on previously, which was a great bike in itself. It was extremely quick handling, like a BMX bike. It made for a very fun time and gave you a lot of feedback. You had to stay on top of it though as it could very easily be described as "twitchy." But I actually liked the super quick handling. The head angle on the XTC was 2 degrees steeper than the Highball and I was interested to see how much it was going to slow down the handling.

The new Highball frame was 1.3lbs lighter than the XTC!

So here's my build spec:

Frame- XL Santa Cruz Highball Carbon
Fork-2011 Fox F29 100 Terralogic, 15mm axle
Drivetrain- Shimano XTR M980, 1x10 with FSA 36t chainring and MRP 1x guide. (later switched to triple)
Brakes- Formula The One
Rotors- Ashima 160mm
Bars- Easton EC70 Riser 680mm
Stem- Shimano PRO XCR 100mm
Headset- Cane Creek Taper
Seatpost- Crank Brothers Cobalt 11
Saddle- WTB Silverado SLT
Wheelset- WTB Stryker 29
Grips- ODI 'O' Grips
Pedals- Crank Brothers Candy 4ti
Tires- WTB Nano

All that built up came to just 21.24lbs!

So it's pretty to look at... how does it ride?

In short, it's exactly what you'd expect in a hardtail from Santa Cruz. Stiff, firmly planted, and easy to control. The steering is slower than the XTC, but it is not sluggish in the least bit. You can still rip it around corners, berms, and flick it around rocks with ease but it is much more "stable" feeling than the Giant and it's much easier to conserve energy. A very good thing for a long XC race.

With the head angle a bit slacker, it takes the bumps from the front and absorbs them into the frame horizontally (rearward) more than vertically. Same with the 73 degree seat tube, allowing a good carbon post to flex and absorb chatter. It's really easy to stay seated and pedal on this bike. The rear seat stays are flattened and shaped in a wishbone style which allows for vertical compliance as well, all while keeping incredible lateral stiffness. That stiffness holds true in the BB (power) area and up to the tapered head tube, making it incredibly responsive to rider input. When it's time to get out of the saddle and really lay the power down, it just launches forward and says "this all you got!?" It's every bit as stiff as other carbon hardtails I've ridden (Cannondale Flash 29er, Specialized Sworks Stumpjumper 29er HT, Leopard 29R), but to me felt more compliant than the Flash and Sworks Stumpy.

Another nice touch from SCB is the use of a standard threaded BB instead of press fit. Which gives you more options of BB's and cranks (you can just transfer from an old bike if you upgrade the frame) and you can also run a BB mount chain guide.

I've raced this bike plenty and it's a fantastic weapon. I rode it to 24th at XC Nationals this year, and a number of wins and podiums closer to home. I'm getting more and more used to hardtails in general (used to be just a suspension guy) and the range courses where I still choose this bike over the Tallboy is broadening more into the rough category. Just because it is so stable over the rough and chatter. I've also had the pleasure of taking this bike out on 3-4 hour training/fun rides and it totally rips. I never thought I'd choose a hardtail over my Tallboy for a fun ride but with this bike, sometimes I do! It isn't the lightest frame in the category (still incredibly light!) because the Santa Cruz brand to me also represents durability. They made it strong too. You can have some serious fun on this bike, racing or just riding, mashing into rocks as much as your wheels and wrists can take, taking drops and even jumps.

Ride, race, or look at this bike and it will bring a smile to your face!

8/7/11 Howell Mountain Challenge

2011-08-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

Spend 15 hours on the bike, plus 4 days gym workouts, and 5-6 hours of sleep each night in a week and then race a tough 30 mile MTB race? Mmmm... ok. Oh and still be motivated to push it and try to win. Uhh... raincheck?

I overcame the urge to stay in bed at 6am, even though that's sleeping in for me, mainly because I didn't get up at 3:45 with Jen to go work the TBF Tri 4 Real because I was racing. Wandering around the house, gathering all the gear together and making the bottle mixes of HEED for a 2hr race, thoughts and excuses rolling through my head trying to justify not doing it. But this is one of my favorite courses of the year, tough, but rewarding. So I zombie'd around the house and before I knew it I was westbound for Angwin.

The legs were pretty heavy feeling during the warmup, and even caffeine wasn't really getting me juiced to hammer. Oh well, it's a pretty long race, maybe they'll come around in an hour or so and if I can manage to stay towards the front I'll still be in it. Well the gun went off and up the dreadful start climb we went, with the Whole Athlete kids sprinting off the front. Argh. I was off the back of the lead group right away. Up the climb and hike section to the top and then onto the flats for a half mile, I could already see there was a lead group of 4 or so breaking away, and another chase pack, then me, in about 11th place by the time we get into the first singletrack. I tried to keep track of the number of riders in front of me as the plan was just to pick them off slowly. Through the fun singletrack in the trees, drifting, twisting, climbing, where no matter how narrow your bars are the gaps in the trees still feel tight. Super fun stuff. Ok, starting to feel better. I start to see some dust and then get into an open stretch and see some "rabbits" to catch. Well here we go. 10...9...8... and then some more twisty singletrack and rocks. I love my Highball... good choice... the bike was rockin' it. 7... steep climb, punch it, 6... more singletrack and then a fast fire road descent... 5... climbing again, oops, 6... 7... good job guys. Ok now the last descent before the steep climb, 6..., ....and up the steep climb we go into the granny and standing but it's too loose and I have to walk the last bit. 7... dang, nice job man. But next up is my forte, the long gradual climb where the diesel power shines. But I look down and discover a lap 1 casualty; lost the seat tube mounted water bottle somewhere. Dang! That was one of the good Camelbak ones, hopefully I can find it on the next lap because rationing just 1 bottle for this race is pushing the fluid intake limits. Still climbing, 6... 5... 4... now lap two and I see Brian Astell up ahead with about a 30 second gap as we go into the trees for round two. Riding by myself for a while, trying to stay smooth and on top of the pedals. I finally catch Brian after going through the rocks, half way through the lap and as I go by, "there's three guys ahead right?" Brian said he thought there was only two. Guess I must have miss counted. I was sleep deprived and trying to do high level math while racing, so it's a possibility. I could see them riding together in the couple long stretches, maybe just 30 seconds up. Down the hill I go again, keeping a sharp eye out for my MIA waterbottle... no luck. As I get to near the top of the steep climb again, going around a lapped rider I slip out. As I dismount I hear "Hey Clint!" from behind me. Brian was at the base of the climb and as I look back "You're right, there are three guys ahead!" Aha! So I was right (and my math skills were still sharp)! Cool. But where was that leader?

Time for the long climb again, what pops into my head? Dori from "Finding Nemo" singing: "Just keep swimming swimming swimming..."

Well, swap swimming with pedaling and DO IT!!! The plan is working! They're getting closer!

Lap 3, no luck on finding the lost bottle and not much is left in the one I have. By the end of the singletrack I'm seeing lots of dust and we pop out onto a road section and I've caught them. Two Whole Athlete Cat 1 racers putting out a strong race. I seesaw with them a bit and one gets a bit of separation from us. Nice effort, I can't match it. I just about catch back up to him on the long grinder climb though, giving it all I had, but there's just too much gap. I get to the rocky "whoop de doos" and over the first one, down and up the second but when I stand up to power over the rocks the chain skips and I land on the top tube, ouch. As I get my breath back from a crotch impact the next guy goes by, 3... and I still had to run up the rest of that whoop. He put some time on me there, too much to get back with only about a mile to go and I eventually roll across the line 4th overall, 20 seconds back from 3rd, and another 20 seconds from 2nd. Nice job guys. But the winner, Will Curtis, crushed it and was three minutes up! Turns out he was fully rested and in redemption mode after a bad race a couple weeks prior and really wanted this one. And "wanting it" vs. "looking for excuses to stay in bed" equaled three minutes. It would have been interesting to compare our lap times though, because my last one was feeling pretty good. But I certainly didn't have the motivation to go ride for a couple hours after the race... took a little cat nap on the grass waiting for the awards instead :-).

I'm happy though with the solid and consistent effort that I was able to put out, finishing as the 2nd place pro and a time over five minutes faster than last year's. Must be the bike :-).

2011 XC MTB National Championships Race Report

2011-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Just a few days after the Downieville Classic I loaded up the rental car and set off for Sun Valley, Idaho and this year's National Champs. The drive would be about 650 miles from Sacramento and take me through country I'd never been, so I was pretty excited.

I think I did a good packing job!

Unfortunately Jen wouldn't be joining me this year, with all the time off work she's having to take to rehab her foot, tagging along for this trip wasn't going to happen. So rollin' solo... across I-80 and norther Nevada where I learned there is NOTHING out there! It's beautiful in it's openness, but my cell wasn't getting service so I felt a little isolated. At least the car had XM radio and the comedy channel was great. Oh and in my opinion roads that straight and flat shouldn't have speed limits! Where there wasn't road construction that is... and there was lots of that.

I got stopped for about 20 minutes just north of Wells, NV to wait for construction. At least there were some calves in the trailer in front of me that kept me entertained and I got some good stretching in...

So I finally made it to the race venue in Sun Valley at about 4:30pm, with the intention of getting a few runs in on the Super D course. But I had forgotten that Sun Valley is an hour ahead and it was actually 5:30. By the time I got all my registration stuff and got suited up, the gondola was shut down. Bummer, well looks like I'd be riding the XC course. I rolled out on the Tallboy to scope out the course and decided to see what pain this years race was going to bring. Right off the bat we'd be climbing up a fire road and gaining about 620ft of vert. Pretty much riding up a ski run, where I heard in places it got to a 27% grade. I'm not sure if that's right, but it sure was steep in spots and the dirt was a little loose too which made standing up a bit difficult. Once that climb was over, there was some fun to be had in the trees. The trail turned to singletrack and wound back down the hill with a ton of tight switchbacks where the best way to get through them was to stick a foot out moto style and slid the back end around, then sprint out of the corner. Pretty fun. There were a few roots and rocks to go over but it was overall very smooth. Down at the bottom they had one short downhill fabricated rock garden that was easy to roll (especially on the 29er!) once you get the line set up correctly. Just let off the brakes and let 'er fly. Unfortunately some people didn't obey the "speed is your friend" concept here and took some bad tumbles. After that the course wound around the lodge and into the "River Run Rock Garden" which was a flat bit of dirt about 50yds long where they embedded a bunch of big rocks. This section was just annoying to me and was there just to break the flow of the course. But I eventually found a couple lines through it and got used to it. After a couple laps on the pro course I decided to take a lap on the amateur course to change up the scenery and get some more sweet Idaho singletrack and views.

Thursday afternoon the Super D course was finally open for practice and I was enjoying not pedaling all the way up.

View from the Start of the Super D, looking down on Ketchum and Sun Valley.

The Super D course started off with about a 4 minute (at race pace) climb on a fire road that gained about 300 vert. Then, whether you're ready or not you're shot into a singletrack chute and after a couple pedal strokes you realize you're going wayyyy to fast to make that first blind left corner. Conditions were a little loose up top so you just feather the brake and find that line between drift and grip and hope you remember how tight that next corner is. The top trails were technically easy, except for the fact you're going really really fast. My first run down I qualified that as "scary." But I got more and more comfortable and after 4 complete runs on the course I felt good about it. I even caught the upper chairlift and took it to the very top of Bald Mountain (9000 ft.) to get some extra riding above the Super D start.

The Tallboy at 9000ft. atop Bald Mtn.

Friday morning I was at the venue early, around 6:45am with the Highball to ride the XC course again. I was pretty certain that was the best bike for the race but my gearing was still TBD with that nasty climb. The night before I had put on a 32t front ring instead of the 36t 1x10 setup. Well one trip up the hill and I had my answer, I needed more gear. Luckily I had brought my triple ring setup and shifter and as I was heading back to the car I noticed the Shimano support guys were up early, and Ryan was willing to help me switch it out... SWEET!

Of course though, I forgot the chainring bolts! And the new XTR bolts are different than any others and they didn't have any spares. He ended up scrounging some Ultegra bolts and had to file them down by hand.

Thankfully the bolts are aluminum so they filed away easily. They worked perfectly and we got the triple setup working like a charm. Thanks Shimano! I took it for a spin and knew I was going to be very happy I made the change! Mmmm granny gear comfort!

2pm Saturday was go time for the XC race, and I was lucky #13... at least I was hoping it was lucky! Fellow Mad Cat Patrick Morin was also there with his family (kids Avery and Wyatt were racing Jr's) and he was willing to be my tech and feed support for the race... sweet!

I had a call-up in the mid/back of the pack, 47th I think, out of 65 racers starting. Once the gun went off it was the usual start sprint and then straight up that climb. It was a wide fire road so I wasn't expecting there to be a bottleneck but sure enough someone in front of me had to get off and therefore so did I, lame. I love running in a bike race... Once I remounted after loosing some positions I set my "diesel" pace for the climb and slowly picked off riders handfulls at a time. Some people were slipping out on the loose dirt in the steep sections but the Highball is so balanced and the WTB Nanos gripped just enough I could keep the steady power down.

I finally made it to the top of the first climb and then hit the singletrack gasping for air. The first few turns were spent narrowly avoiding trees because I was so focused on recovering. I caught up to a couple riders on the decent but there really wasn't anywhere to pass and honestly I didn't want to exert myself much anywhere else on the course except for that climb. There was a big crowd at the bottom though which was pretty energizing as they watched everyone go down the last rock section. Here's a video of that first lap descent:

And the "River Run Rock Garden" was filled with hecklers ready to raz or cheer everyone struggling through the rocks.

Lap 2 was a little bit of a recovery lap and I didn't push the pace too much on the climb, but there were already guys walking in a couple of the steepest spots and I still passed a few before making the turn at the top again. I had another clean run down the switchbacks and when I got to the rock garden at the bottom I took my usual line which was a little different than most others. I would cut across the inside diagonally from the top, squeak between a couple bigger rocks and then hit the smother line at the bottom. But I caught my right pedal on one of those taller rocks on top which pitched my back end up and a little sideways. The crowed let out a uniform gasp of "Oooohs" and it must have looked like I was going to cartwheel down the whole thing. I stayed loose and it didn't feel to bad to me, I didn't touch the brakes and let the big wheels keep rollin' and the back end came down about half way down the rocks to the amazement of the crowd as the all let out a roaring cheer! I busted up laughing before I got to the bottom and got a huge lift in spirits from the whole crowd cheering me on. I've never had that, and it was awesome. Oh and I took a different line the rest of my laps :-).

I set up the hill for lap three and like the previous two laps, refused the "feed" from the guy giving out marshmallows. "MARSHMALLOW FEED!!!" He'd yell and hold one out, it made me laugh each lap.

My 3rd and 4th laps were my fastest and I continued to pass quite a few guys on the the climb each lap. I was so thankful to have that triple ring and it was really starting to sting and I was certainly using the little gears. I had one more bobble during the race on my 5th trip through the lower flat rock garden. I lost my balance and momentum in the rocks and popped my chain off trying to shift down. It's such a slow section though I didn't loose much time and found a place to remount and ride it out and only had to run a few feet.

My final (6th) lap I put out a big effort on the last climb and passed 3 more riders before the top. It was pretty spread out by then. I caught another rider on the descent and was right on his wheel when he crashed on a switchback. I ran over his back tire and kept on going as fast as I could to the bottom almost picking off one more by the finish but he got me by a wheel.

I finished up in 24th place and I'm really happy with my effort. It's my first time in the top 25 at this level and at National Champs! Positions 31 and back were lapped and pulled from the race. Just goes to show you how tough the course was to race on. Thanks so much to Patrick Morin for the awesome feeds, and the cold water splash on the back on the last lap, that felt great! And thank you to Judy (Jen's Aunt, who drove down from northern Idaho to watch) for the cheers and lap times.

Here's my GPS data from the race:

Sunday morning it was time for the Super D throw down and I was up early to catch a 6:45am gondola ride to the top for one last preride. But when I dropped into the singletack I discovered an "x-factor" I hadn't considered the day before, the sun. The hillside we were blazing down was mostly east facing and the morning sun was glaring right in my eyes. I switched to dark lenses on the goggles to minimize the squintage but since they didn't have polarization the glare was really bad. Not being able to see really made it scary on those fast, loose, blind corners. But everyone would have to deal with it.

Super D start area

I was one of the early start spots and had Alexander Grant and Adam Craig in front of me so I knew I wouldn't be slowed up. My legs were feeling decently recovered from the XC race on Saturday so once I got going I was feeling good on the climb. On the long part I could see Adam and Alex and I didn't seem to be loosing any ground really. I got to the top, put the Tallboy into "shred mode" (opened the rear shock and extended the fork to 120mm) and dropped the hammer down the first descent and promptly overcooked into the first corner and slid my rear wheel off the edge of the trail but recovered. I got back on the pedals for a long straightaway descent and boosted some air off of a rise. That's not the "fast" thing to do but it's fun and helps me relax and be smooth for the rest of the run, which is faster overall. I nailed the first right hand switchback which was the tightest of the course and kept on truckin' into the sun now. I kept it clean on the top section and felt fast all the way down to the fire road. I got in some good drifts around the corners on the road and pedaled wherever I could, hitting the singletrack corner at the bottom with a ton of speed pulled some good g's before heading back into the trees. I came up on a rider who'd had a mechanical, he got off the trail and I made it by clean but after the next corner I heard an odd clanking noise from him down the hill. I turned to look, not knowing if I was falling or something, and he'd just hopped on his bike to ride straight down for a shortcut. That look back though pulled me off my line and I went off the trail and had to put a foot down and pull myself up loosing a couple valuable seconds. A few more corners in the trees, one more fire road section and then a sweeping downhill turn, off camber and loose, to bring me into the top singletrack section of the prior day's XC course which I'd pretty much memorized by this point. I let the Tallboy do the work and just stayed loose and off the brakes... for everything but the switchbacks of course :-). No bobbles from here on out and I felt fast, clearing the final rock garden and coming across the line exactly 1 minute behind the winner Adam Craig. I'm stoked to say that time put me in 8th place!!! Also, with a new All Mountain category this year, combining the XC and Super D events, my placing in both of those got me 4th place! Nice!

I'm really happy with how Nationals went this year, I gave it my all in both events and considering everything that's happened this year I think it was a big success. I would have liked to stay and race the Short Track race as well, but it started too late in the day for me to realistically make the drive back and go to work the next day. I didn't want to leave Sun Valley, it was absolutely beautiful. Ketchum is a pretty cool little town and I really wanted to stay around there at least a few more days and just explore some of the great trails and places I heard people talking about. I can't wait to come back next year.

7/9-10 Downieville All Mountain Championships Race Report

2011-07-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last year they barely got the snow cleared in time for the Downieville Classic, and this year there was even more snow! This led to a cross country course re-route, cutting out Sunrise Trail, the traverse over to the "baby heads" and Pauley Creek Trail. Cutting out about 8 miles and to me, what really makes this a cross country race instead of one big climb then a downhill race. Even with cutting out all that mileage, they had to shovel and snow-blow out the top of Butcher Ranch trail. Normally I try to get up there and pre-ride a few times before the race, but this year I only made it one time. And since the top wasn't accessible yet, I rode up the downhill trails (you don't realize how steep they really are until you ride UP them! No wonder we go so fast!) to the snow line. Most of what I rode that day was in very similar condition to last year, but as I learned during the race, what I didn't ride got gnarly.

The Santa Cruz Tallboy would be my race rig set up with WTB Stryker TCS XC 29 wheels WTB Wolverine 2.2 tires. Even with the 774g tires (my usual XC tires are 560g) she weighed in at 25.12lbs all set up with the spare tube and Garmin taped on the frame. Sweet.

I got in a good warm up and lined up at the front next to a few other fast guys, Carl Decker (last years winner), Aaron Bradford and Sid Taberlay to name a few.

Once the gun went off it was on... with 700+ other guys and gals who willingly paid a lot of money to suffer up the climb from Sierra City, about 3200 vertical feet. But it's for a good cause right? No... not just to get the free beer at the end, but to promote the building and preservation of some pretty awesome trails. Well suffer fest it was as in years past. The pace started out fairly calm but then picked up after about a 1/4 mile when a guy from the Marc Pro / Strava road team went off the front. I think all of us in the lead group thought to ourselves... "Nah... not yet, we're still on the pavement dude." It got a little more stretched out and the pace seemed to progressively pick up when we hit the dirt, and I think I was in the top 15 or so.

Not much to talk about with the climb, it's a steep, loose fire road that climbs 3000+ feet in 8 miles... it hurts. I pretty much spend my time picking my lines to make sure I don't slip out and staring at my heart rate trying to keep a strong pace but not blow up. I wasn't able to keep up with the lead few unfortunately and crested the top in about 10th, in just about 54 minutes. This is where the course deviation began. Instead of diving into Sunrise Trail, we turned down the paved road for maybe a half mile, trying not to slip out on the wet snow run-off going 30-something mph on tires you have just a little more inflated then normal because it's Downieville and you hit big rocks, hard. I dove into the Butcher Ranch fire road just a little fast, hit the first hump and launched! I landed with just enough time to lock up the rear and hit the berm for the corner. Phew! That was almost bad. The road was in pretty good shape for the first few hundred yards, then started the snow run off and water crossings. And boy were those deep! I tried to wheelie across the first one and came up a little short, the front wheel dove into a hole and I just about endo'd. I kept on through the few mud bogs and then through the last g-out before putting on my glasses. Didn't want a ton of spackle on there when I entered the trees. I had to slow a bit to put them on and Kenny Burt went blazing by. I tried to catch up but he was a man on a mission! And I still hadn't seen this part of the trail yet this year. With all the snow run off, a lot of the dirt had washed away leaving a much gnarlier, rockier, flow-breaking trail than I remembered. This is the part of my race which really frustrated me. I really tensed up and went into survival mode, trying to protect body and bike. I lost a lot of time there, but finally made it to the "waterfall" which was roaring. I played it safe and decided to run through it. Pansy.
Shortly after the waterfall I was passed by Greg Stone who I've been evenly matched with the last few races, but he's a better descender than I am. So I stuck on his back wheel since I knew the trail from here on and I knew he'd be predictable and pick good lines. Once we finished up Butcher we crossed the bridge and started up "Cramp Climb" as I like to call it. Because after the hour long climb and then being in a neutral descending stance for the next 10 minutes or so, that's just what happens. Greg cramped but kept going, and it was the same for me. I could still pedal but I couldn't push it as hard as I wanted. Aaron Timmel didn't cramp I guess, because he was able to pass me just as we crested the top and started the super fast 3rd Divide Trail. I let him by because I figured he wouldn't hold me up and I still wouldn't lose sight of Greg. Well I guess Aaron blew himself up a bit on that climb because right away I was on his wheel and Greg was gone, dang. After a little bit I asked to pass and he pulled over in a good spot and I put the hammer down. 3rd Divide trail is so awesome. Warp speed... trees blurred, eyes tearing (from wind, and joy), knuckles white, and heart rate pegged. I get to the bottom and climb up onto the fire road and Aaron passes me again along with Kevin Smallman, dang. I stay with them all the way down into 1st divide and we're riding it all together. That was pretty fun, hammering as hard as we can racing together at D'ville... that NEVER happens! It's usually so spread out. We catch as pass Menso De Jong (fast MTBer turned Pro Roadie) on the lower portion of 1st divide, on a climb no less, which I was really surprised about. But as soon as I dropped down onto the road for the last "TT" to the finish Menso and his 6'6" legs power on by, wow. I rolled into the finish with a 14th place of the Pro Men but 12th in the Pro All Mountain field. Pretty good for me considering it was a much more downhiller friendly course this year and I totally seized up on upper Butcher.

This year I wasn't staying in Downieville for the weekend but elected to drive to/from home each day. 2hrs each way probably didn't help my recovery and prep, but it was nice to see Jen (and my Mom who was visiting and helping Jen out with our reg/timing duties with TBF), eat good food and sleep in a real bed. Only problem was that Jen had to get up at 3:45am each morning and on Saturday she accidentally turned my alarm off too! Thankfully I woke up just 20 minutes after I was supposed to get up! But that was a real "OH @#%#" moment!

I didn't have the alarm issue on Sunday thankfully and made it up there early enough to catch a ride to the top with Billy Damon, but I forgot my water bottle in the car! Doh! Thanks to Cody Kaiser for lending me a spare Kinetic Cycles bottle... it was even red and matched my kit too. I got in a good warmup and was in the start gate early, the 20th rider to go off. I was determined to have a better run through upper Butcher, and I did. I was able to stay much more loose and try to flow with the trail a little better. I made it to the waterfall with confidence and a good line and was determined to ride it. I went up over the first rock and when I took a pedal stroke to power up over the next rock there was nothing there, the chain had fallen off! So I pogo'd off that rock and got bounced into the bushes to the left. I hopped off and put the chain back on, remounted and rode out the rest of the waterfall from there. After that I felt clean, smooth and fast all the way down to 1st Divide where I think I rode that as fast as I ever have.

I still play things fairly conservative though, just not quite willing to leave D'ville by helo or ambulance I suppose. I came across the line with a time of 42:08, 3 minutes and 18 seconds back from the DH winner Aaron Bradford. That put me into 19th for the DH, and with the new points system I came in 17th for the overall All Mountain World Championships. And if they still calculated it by combined time, I would have placed 11th. I'm happy with a top 20 either way and a fun weekend!

After the DH race I went for a little exploration and had some fun cruising on the South Yuba Trail. That is some tight, real true singletrack! Fun stuff! And some good views too.

Just found this nice little video recap of the weekend on singletrack.com: http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/07/features/2011-downieville-classic-wrappin-it-up_18564/1

6/25 Annadel XC Race

2011-06-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

So one of the answers to solving the CA budget crisis is to close a bunch (70 was the last number I heard) of State Parks. Yeah, the places where people go to enjoy our beautiful state, get active and healthy. Really makes sense to close recreational areas when another main political initiative is to promote an active and healthy lifestyle right? Anyways, Bike Monkey Magazine decided to do something about it since one of Nor-Cal's MTB/hiking/horseback riding gem's was on the chopping block: Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa. They worked their tails off and somehow got the OK to host a MTB race there, the first one in about 25 years, with proceeds to go towards keeping Annadel SP open for all to use. And what an awesome event it was!

We (all 615 of us!) started out in downtown Santa Rosa in front of city hall in a massive "neutral" start going up Sonoma Ave. towards Howarth Park. This neutral start was supposed to be a 15mph conversational pace until Yulupa Ave. and then we'd get a 1/4 mile to put the pedals down before hitting the trails. I say "supposed to be" because it went quickly up to 20mph as we followed the Bike Monkey truck, and then faster, 24, 26, and I worked my way out of the middle of the peloton and up to 27/28mph to the front and tucked in behind my buddy Keith Hillier who was motor-pacing behind the truck.

Do these look like the faces of riders during a neutral start???

We got to the cross street BEFORE Yulupa Ave. and the driver gassed it... uh ok, I guess we're going now! I just stayed in behind Keith, who's a Cat 1 road racer btw, and didn't get anxious as more riders worked their way up to the front. When I got to where we could finally see the trail head, I worked my way to the outside and up to 28+ and went around into a good spot, fitting in about 13th or so as we hit the first fire road climb.

The first climb was actually pretty steep and loose, the perfect combination to sort out those who maybe shouldn't be up in the front for a MTB race. And that it did as our lead group seemed to pull a gap on the rest of the field. We kept climbing and the leaders were charging hard. I kept in contact but didn't feel the need to blow up and stay in right up there on them since there were so many miles left. And frankly, I just don't have that "burst" gear right now. Just the big diesel motor.

We entered into Annadel SP with some tight singletrack and I caught back up to the group as we traversed over to the Cobblestone Trail downhill. It wasn't too steep or technical but there were definitely some places you could make some mistakes easily and ruin your day early if you caught a sharp rock wrong, slipped off a root or missed a turn. A NorCal Bikesport (local Santa Rosa bike shop) rider came up behind me and said he knows the trail and wanted by. No problem and there was a dual line banked corner coming up so I let him have the inside and then I got back on his wheel as he showed me the best lines. We got to the bottom where we started the Channel Dr. flat road section at about 20 seconds back from the lead 7 or so riders. We had some fun rolling singletrack along the road for a half mile or so before turning up the Richardson Trail fire road climb. I dug in and found a good rhythm and passed up to 6th by the top. I could see the lead group where it was open and they were maybe 10-15 seconds ahead.

We got into some singletrack and fun rocky riding on North Burma and Live Oak trails and made our way around Lake Ilsanjo to climb up the back side of Richardson. This was a bit of smooth fire road and when I came around the corner on the first climb I could tell there was a shake-up with the front group. It looked like two riders had attacked off the front, leaving Dario Frederick, Will Curtis, and Brian Astell in a chase group. Brian fell back a little as we got into the beautiful wooded climbing on Richardson and I made the pass into 5th. We had some more climbing to do on South Burma trail where it got rocky and my Tallboy really shined. Will fumbled a bit on a rock and slipped his rear wheel into a rut and allowed me to close right up. I followed him as he caught back up to Dario and then made the pass on them both into 3rd before a sweet bit of rocky and tight DH on Marsh trail and extended a little gap.

Then came pretty much the reward for doing the long loop with the Lawndale Downhill. Here you can really open her up and fly through the trees like a storm trooper in the Ewok Forest. Here's a YouTube video (not me, just one I found while doing my "virtual preride" of the course) if you have 9 minutes to sit back and enjoy the ride. I was having a blast and the Tallboy was just floating as I opened up the fork to 120mm and sat back. I was getting a little spoiled with fantastic dirt conditions as I went into a right hand turn (time-stamp 2:53 on that youtube video I believe) and it was just a bit more loose than the others and my front wheel washed out. I saved it from a fall but the front wheel slid into the bank and sprung back to the right and my body was so far over to the left from saving the slide I was completely out of position now and the bike was pointed off the trail. I pulled myself back up right as the bike went off the trail and started going down the hill to the right. "$#@&!!!" At that point I just laid it down on the left side to save time and body from a bigger trip down the hill. Just loosing a few seconds I hustled back up a few feet to the trail, remounted and went back to work. Whoa, ok settle down, deep breath... stay loose and find flow again. I got calmed down after a few more swoopy turns of DH fun and reached the bottom of Lawndale and jumped the gate into the parking lot where there was a crowd cheering me on... awesome! The race director had previously said that Camelbak would be at the base of Lawndale handing out bottles and I was counting on that. I had rationed perfectly and made the turn in the parking lot taking my last swig and ditched the empty as the Camelbak guys came through with their Podium Chill bottle filled with nice cold water. Nice... thanks guys!

Not having to worry about fluids anymore (it was in the back of my mind until that point) I chugged Hammer Gel and water as I climbed up Lawndale and Schulz road. I could see the lead two riders and they were about 35 seconds (according to a helpful spectator) ahead as we climbed. This road section wound about on a one lane bit of tarmac and it was kind of fun to rail the turns and make the knobbies hum. I came around the last bend and saw a CHP cruiser roadblock and knew it would be back to the dirt and arguably the hardest climb of the day on Schulz trail.

The Schulz climb becomes almost continuous rock as you climb and is pretty rough pedaling. This climb was my deciding factor in choosing the Tallboy over the Highball (hardtail) for the day. Boy was I glad. The suspension and big wheels soaked up the bumps and I could stay seated, keeping the power down, and I caught and passed the #2 rider as we got into the winding trees of Pig Flat and Ridge trails. These wooded trails were super flowy and full of MTB awesomeness. Swooping in and out of the trees, up and down, in and around rocks and roots. The kind of trails that almost make you forget you're in a race. I did say almost, because I could see the leader as we wrapped around the contours and I was getting closer. I was also riding scared because I was sure Dario, Will, Brian, Jason Moeschler or Mark Weir (and many more in this packed field!) would be catching me at any point. Especially Jason and Mark, known for their descending and trail hammering skills, after the Lawndale DH. So I kept pushing. But each time I pushed a little harder the leg cramps would start to creep up and I'd have to back off. So I'd play this game with my legs and tiptoe that line of pushing too hard and seizing up yet still being fast. I still seemed to be gaining ground on the leader, Aaron Timmel, as we began the gradual descent of Canyon trail. We broke out of the trees and the trail opened up to more of a fire road, but it was quite rocky. I pushed it and flirted with the out of control line, two wheel drifting into corners and sprinting out of them if my legs would allow it. More and more hikers and spectators began to line the trail and I knew we must be getting close to the finish.

I was close, about 10 seconds, inner thigh muscles fully cramped up and giving it all I had when we came around a left turn and I saw the finish line ahead. I just ran out of real estate but I'm totally stoked on 2nd place! I think if there was another climb, I could have taken it, but who knows? It was a great race. I rolled up to Aaron after the line and congratulated him on a great race. He said "Man you were like the ghost in the woods! You suddenly appeared out of nowhere!" 3rd, 4th and 5th soon rolled in to high fives from Aaron and I and we were all smiles after a great race on awesome trails.

I quickly pedaled over and found Jen and gave her a big dirty, smelly hug and kiss :-).

And then I got my free burrito and beer... Mmmmmm!

Fast company!

Hopefully we helped save the park, sure had a good time there. As I rolled back to where our car was parked at the start I was a little jealous of all the people who lived in the houses I passed by. You guys are lucky, get out there and enjoy it!

Here's my route/ride data from the GPS:

6/12 - Skyline Park MTB Race - Sierra Cup Series #2

2011-06-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite races rolled around this past weekend in Napa, CA. The Skyline Park trails are the real deal. Where there's climbing it's steep, and there's plenty of rocky, rooty, twisty technical stuff to keep you on your toes. I would be doing three laps of the 7.3 mile course which is a nice full body workout. I was also happy as this was the first race since Bonelli that Jen has been able to come to. I always love seeing her right after I finish!

It was beautiful and sunny in Sacramento but of course, once we got to Napa it was overcast and a little chilly. I was glad I threw in my windbreaker at the last minute. By the 10am race start the sun had decided to show up... finally. I got checked in and suited up with about an hour to go and set off easy to warm up. I was heading up the first fire road, spinning easily and fine tuning the shifting adjustments when suddenly a massive racket comes from the rear of the bike. I can't even describe the sound, just think bad! I looked down and the rear derailleur was twisted up and on top of the cassette, along with the chain. "What the?!?!? Are you kidding me?!" Figures, at home I was still thinking about bringing both of my bikes but I decided just to bring the Tallboy so I wouldn't be indecisive at the race. I took a deep breath, removed the rear wheel, slung the bike over my shoulder and started walking back. At least I didn't get very far! As I'm walking back, fellow pro rider Kevin Smallman rolls by with a "Already? That sucks!" comment. Hah! Thanks Kevin! I get back to the car where Jen is talking with my teammate Asa Salas and I tell them what happened. The derailleur hanger had failed, twisting back, causing the derailleur to curl up, chain to be pulled through the cage as it bends links and the cage goes into a couple spokes on the rear wheel. Asa was the only person at the venue who might have the knowledge and tools to bend something back or make it work somehow. But it was too badly damaged and she could tell right away. Without hesitation, she said "You can use mine, your race is more important." She all but insisted and ran off to start cannibalizing her Santa Cruz Highball. She came back in a few minutes with her identical derailleur and hanger and got to work fitting them up to mine.

We (pretty much just Asa) got the bike working again with just a rear wheel wobble and I was good to go. Except it was 9:50! My warmup would be the 200yd pedal down to the start line for the riders meeting, but at least I'd get to race! Thanks Asa!!!

I squeezed into the front row next to Dario Frederick and did what I could to get the blood flowing in my quads. That pretty much meant I beat on them and fidgeted around like an goober. I knew the start was going to be fast and it gets into some good steady climbing right away, and that was gonna hurt! I was just going to try and stay with the front group if I could but see how I felt and back off if I was going to blow up too early.

We set off and of course Dario and a group of his Whole Athlete development team sprinted to the front and began pushing the pace. Those kids are fast! In the mix were a bunch of fast guys, Smallman, Kenny Burt, Brian Astell (last year's winner), oh and some bearded guy named Mark Weir. I managed to keep in fairly close contact with the front group up the first bit of fire road and then the climbing got steep up Passini Trail. I had to hike this climb last year but my Tallboy stuck like Velcro and I nailed it. We kept climbing up the switchbacks and I got into a pretty good rhythm before the first breather on the traverse over to Skyline Trail. I think I was in about 5th or 6th place at that point but I couldn't see the leaders through the trees. I finally finished the steep climbing and on the decent back down to the lake at the top of the course I almost lost it on a loose corner and dirt-track slid into the weeds but stayed upright. Whoa! Forgot about that one! I finally made the turn around the lake and after one more switchback (too gnarly and steep to ride) it was time for the fun DH. I pushed out the Fox Talas fork to 120mm and let her rip. The trail back is just awesome mountain biking. Pretty much all narrow singletrack riddled with rocks, steep hillsides, roots, stream crossings and switchbacks. There are a couple steep climbs going back as well and they're pretty tough to clean because of the cross beams and ledges in the trail. And then the final downhill has a rocky section of "stairs" that I always manage to pogo on my front wheel.

It was a lot easier on the Tallboy as the bigger wheels roll over it all much easier but I still manage to pogo that section anyway. I guess it's just the way I ride it and the line I take. After a few more switchbacks down it opens up a little and you really get some speed going, rail a couple berms, drop a couple log ledges and then BRAKE!!! Uh oh... I forgot about that sharp left turn to the bridge over the creek and I skidded right off the edge! I knew I had way too much speed and just slid straight onto the bank instead of trying to make the turn on the bridge and falling off in the middle. I lost only a few seconds and got back on track for the last half mile to the start/finish.

About 40 minutes into the race and I was feeling pretty good. Maybe in about 4th or 5th. I got a new bottle from Jen and set off up the climb after pulling the fork back down to 95mm. Laps 2 and 3 take a slightly different route up to the top, turning off the fire road right away and heads up Buckeye Trail's steep singletrack. I set off on a good pace and made my way back up to the top, catching Smallman again. I let him lead on the singletrack and kept him in sight all the way back for the final lap. I turned it up and gave it all I had up the climb, dropping Kevin and Whole Athlete rider Will Curtis. I was catching quite a few lapped riders also and for the most part passing them without incident. But I caught one just going into an uphill switchback and he lost his balance and blocked the whole trail, causing me to dismount and have to run up past the next switchback. Not much I could do about it but it's just frustrating. One of the riders who was up front must have cracked and I closed the gap on him quickly by the top of Skyline. I had looked back though and thought I saw someone coming but I couldn't tell who it was. On the fire road almost to the top I came upon a lapped rider, I yelled "on your right" as we came up on a right turn that I knew there was a short climb on the other side with the preferred line on the left. I was giving the lapped rider the better line but as I continued to yell "right, Right, RIGHT!!!" She went right anyway, stalled out on the climb and began to dismount and swing her right leg out as I was coming by and kicked me in the side. I saw it coming and was on the brakes already but I still had to un-clip and duck-walk up a few steps to the top loosing what would soon become valuable seconds. I made the turn back and headed down into the creek crossing, pushing it, and in the water I hit a rock wrong and suddenly the bike was sideways pointing right. But just as quickly as it got out of shape the back wheel hit another rock which kicked it back on line and after I let out a little laugh and audible "WHOA!" in amazement I got right back to pedaling. I could feel the heat coming and at the base of the last steep climb I was caught.

There was room and he asked so nicely so I let him by, he was clearly faster. He attacked up the climb on his hard tail and I tried to match it but didn't quite have the speed. I rode that section the best I had all day though! To the base of the hill I made it across the bridge without incident one final time and he was half way up the last hill. I poured the coals on and sprinted to the top and was gaining ground. The legs were cramping up but I kept the power going as best I could on the last 1/4 mile of flat before the finish. We turned onto the grass and with about 150ft to go he looked over his shoulder to see me coming and sprinted the last little bit to keep his position. Dang. So close! Turns out that rider was Gregg Stone that was for the Pro win. Gregg finished 2nd to me in the first Sierra Cup race, so now we're tied in the series... it's on now! The results show three seconds between us but it was closer than that. And Dario Frederick ended up taking the overall win, but still close being just 35 seconds ahead.

It was a great race and my legs didn't have any more to give that's for sure! I was still a little disappointed though because it just doesn't feel good to be passed right at the end. And I just kept thinking back to the bridge error on lap 1, the lapped rider incidents that slowed me up, and other minor errors I had throughout the race. In the end, I'm just happy that I GOT to race at all, thanks to Asa!

And my favorite person was there to greet me at the finish :-).

When we got back to Sacramento... it was still such a nice day so we decided to go on Jen's first bike ride since the accident... just cruisin'

Injury Update - Wrists and Rhinos

2011-05-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

This year certainly started off with challenges. With my road bike getting stolen and with getting parts for the new mountain bikes. Every company seemed to be back ordered on what I needed, going out of business (Race Face), or things like an earthquake/tsunami in Japan to delay shipments (Shimano). It was quite stressful and giving bikes their maiden voyages on race days isn't optimal. But it all got worked out in the end and now I have two awesome bikes to ride and race. Then I got taken out in the short track race at Fontana the last weekend of March. I took a good hit to the left shoulder which caused me some pain for the next month or so but wasn't anything that would keep me from riding. Since the motion that would aggravate it was lifting upward. But the left wrist was the real problem, and still is. This is what it looked like two days later:

It's a little hard to see but it was pretty swollen, for a wrist, and it's all red and purple and blue. I got xrays later that day and was told there weren't any fractures. Well that's good. But here's what it looked like 4 days after injury:

Nice and purple huh? Nasty. But the swelling was going down so I figured it's getting better. I just kept icing it and alternating with heat whenever I could. It seemed a lot like the injury I had to my right wrist last year. Though this one had more discoloration initially. A week or two went by and it seemed to be getting better. I was able to ride for the most part if it was taped up, but it would be pretty sore after a rough MTB ride. I wanted it to keep getting better so I danced the line between time off the bike and trying not to loose too much performance. And it was going ok, until one day I while I was driving I reached back behind the seat in the car to push something back that had fallen over, kind of flicking it with that hand and SNAP! Ohh that didn't feel good. This was not the same injury that I had to the right side last year. When that one would pop it was a release and would feel better. And this was more of a snap, not a pop. And after that it seemed to feel warm. Hmmm... but this stubborn guy didn't go back to the doctor. Just kept icing, wrapping, taping, etc. in the hopes it will get better.

Well now almost two months after injury it's not any better. You know that little "divot" on the underside of the wrist at the base of the thumb? Well it's not there on my left wrist, and it seems like a bone is protruding out where it's not supposed to. Time to go see the orthopedist... we'll see how that goes. I'm just tired of going to the doctor lately, just keep reading...

Now lets back track a little to early April, the 13th to be exact. The week of the Sea Otter Classic. I raced the Wednesday night Prairie City Race Series and was feeling really good, taking the win. After the race I put away the Tallboy and hopped on the "cone bike" to help pick up the race course like I usually do. I was about to set off when Brian, the race promoter, said to me "Hey they rolled the Rhino, you should go check it out." I figured maybe they needed help putting it back on its wheels or something. They just pick up the cones on the course too so it probably wasn't a big deal. "Where are they?" I asked. Brian was on the radio to them and said "Over by the kids moto track." Then I asked the question I just figured I should but wasn't really necessary... "Is everyone ok?"

Brian: "Jen's foot got squished."
Me: "($&!#)"

Prior to that I don't even think I knew Jen was out on the Rhino. But she does go out as a passenger to help pick up the cones frequently so it wasn't too big of a surprise. I tore off in the direction of the kids moto track, trying to remember what part of that night's race course went by there that would be so rugged to cause a rollover. Going as fast as I could, but not very fast (dang cone bike is a single speed!), I spun my legs frantically feeling like a mouse on a running wheel and finally got over to where I thought they'd be. (insert cricket chirps) There was nobody there. I looped around a little to make sure I didn't miss them, scanning the area and nothing. So I wheeled back to the venue area at about 130 rpm and as I rolled up I saw the flashing lights of the park ranger truck down the hill, maybe only a quarter mile from the venue. I ditched the stupid cone bike for the Tallboy and sprinted down the hill. As I got closer I could see the Rhino still on its right (passenger) side and that Jen was still on the ground being tended to by the Renee, the event EMS. As I skidded in, Jen was on her back with her foot splinted and elevated on a medical bag. There was nothing I could do except comfort her. She was in pain, quite a bit. Her foot was bluish purple but I wasn't sure how much of that was because with the wind chill it seemed like it was in the 40's. Her foot didn't look "squished" to me, but it was obviously bad considering how much pain she was in and she did NOT want anyone to touch it, or her, or the bag it was on, or really look at it wrong. I tried to distract her by telling her that her pedicure still looked good (she just got it the night before, and that's a rare occasion). I think she giggled. I asked what happened to the general vicinity, and I'm not sure who responded if it was Jen, or Kelly the driver, probably a combination of both. Jen missed grabbing a cone as they moved along because the front wheel of the Rhino hit it, so when they made the left U-turn to go back and get it, the Rhino rolled onto the right side. In the split second and seemingly slow motion process, Jen instinctively put her foot out, as you would on a bike or motorcycle, to protect her head from hitting the ground. We keep telling ourselves that thankfully the Rhino only landed on her foot.

The ambulance finally arrived and loaded her up to take her to the ER. They wouldn't let me ride in with her, which I thought was odd. So I loaded up the bike in the car and followed them to UC Davis Med Center. I went in to the ER waiting area and asked the front desk if I could go in and be with my wife who just came in via ambulance. She said no because my wife isn't in the system yet. Ahhh!!! I asked if I would have ridden in with them would it be any different and she said no. I went back to the car and ate the couple oranges I had and grabbed all of the Hammer Bars I had stashed, figuring it was going to be a long night. I went back in and asked the front desk girl if Jen was "in the system" yet and she replied, "Oh she's in C21/22, that's bad." Oh great! After a minute of getting me signed in I was able to go back and entered a big room with massive overhead lights and blood spots on the floor. I hope those were from the previous guy! But Jen wasn't in the room, just one nurse who told me they had taken her to get more xrays. I saw that there was an xray of a foot already on one of the monitors and I asked if that was Jen's. It was, so I snapped a photo:

I'm an eternal optimist, so it didn't look THAT bad from what I could tell. I was still waiting for Jen to come back from xray and I discovered the ER had wifi. So I emailed the xray photo to our parents (who I had called on the way to the hospital). Jen finally got wheeled back in. She was doing ok and in good spirits considering. She said the EMT in the ambulance couldn't find a pulse in her foot so she was brought in as a level 1 trauma and there were at least 15 people waiting for her in that room when she got wheeled in. They swarmed over her with amazing efficiency and before she knew it she was hooked up to everything and her clothes had been cut off. They had determined that she was getting circulation to her foot and was stable so we were moved to another smaller room to await the test results. Hours went by and a CT was taken as well. The Orthopedic docs in the ER came by and kept messing with her foot asking if she could feel this and that and if it hurt when they did this. Even over all the pain meds she was in a lot of pain, but they kept messing with it. They said she might need surgery right away, so she couldn't eat anything. All she could have was a water soaked sponge-on-a-stick that I had ready whenever she needed it. I finished all my Hammer Bars (cashew coconut chocolate chip is really good!), trying not to make her hungry and eat them quietly. They ended up putting on a MASSIVE temporary split/cast thing in the ER. I thought they called it a "Bulky Johnson" and in my sleep deprived state I resorted to juvenile humor and laughed. But I think it's called a "Bulky Jones" and it was all in my head. Oh well, at 4am in the ER I think I'm allowed to giggle at the voices in my head right? Jen got discharged from the ER at maybe 5am or so and officially admitted to the hospital. They ended up not doing surgery and just keeping her for evaluation. She got set up with a nice room on the 5th floor by the window so that was cool. She fell asleep after a while and I went down to the awesome cafeteria to get my post race meal, about 14hrs after the race. I powered down the biggest salad I could make and about half of a rotisserie chicken! Jen was doing ok and was finally discharged to go home at about 2:30pm.


Happy to be going home. Look at that huge splint!

Ok time to make this long story a little shorter. We're set up with an awesome Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Yoo, with UCD. She has a Lisfranc injury, complicated by numerous fractures. He showed us the CT scan which basically shows the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsal and 1st thru 3rd cuneiform bones being shattered on the bottom side. An MRI was taken to determine the ligament damage as well. Thankfully some of the crucial ligaments are still intact! Which is great news for recovery. But there are some that are ruptured. Since it is nearly impossible to repair the fragmented bones on the bottom of the foot without causing additional damage, the plan is to let the body heal them and fuse them together naturally, then see how it goes from there. However she did need surgery on the 1st metatarsal, and that was done on the 5th of May.

Getting the nerve block put in, ready for surgery. Very happy to have SOMETHING being fixed!

The new hardware.

The surgery went well and Dr. Yoo was impressed with how quickly she has been healing. He said it was actually hard for him to set the bone because of how far along her healing has come. While he was in there, he also put some stress on the joint and said it held very well. More good news! We'll take it. But the Dr. has tried to keep our expectations realistic, and told us that it will be about a year before she can walk normally again. And she may never be able to go a day without pain for the rest of her life. It's very somber news for sure. But we've been praying for God's amazing power to heal and perform miracles, and we are faithful that he will. She still has another six weeks of absolutely no weight baring, but she's ready to attack physical therapy as soon as she's allowed.

So needless to say, daily life changed for me since this happened. I missed Sea Otter for the first time in years, but my #1 priority needed me so that was a no brainer. I don't make a living off of racing bikes, so training and racing have taken a back seat for a while. I'm happy that I can be there for her and take care of her, but it's been hard because she's very independent. Both of our cars are manual transmission so she can't even drive. Until this last week when our friends went on vacation and have let us borrow their automatic car to see if she could drive left footed. She's able to drive herself to work and back which is awesome, but is uncomfortable going much farther than that. This has also allowed me to ride to work and get back to a fairly normal riding schedule too, which I'm thankful for. I'll keep racing where I can, probably staying more local to save on time and expenses. Hopefully my wrist will hold up too.

If you got this far... thanks for reading and for caring :-)

Rockhopper Classic Race Report - 5/7/11

2011-05-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Someone had the idea of bringing back one of the original NorCal (and MTB for that matter!) races after a about a ten year hiatus. Well that was a good idea! This course was a good one, set in the rolling hills of Lagoon Valley Park/Pena Adobe Park in Vacaville, CA, with a good amount of singletrack, climbing, and tons of switchbacks.

Saturday morning I arrived at 9am in preparation for a 10am start, figuring I could get about a half hour warmup which I needed. I hadn't ridden since Tuesday because Jen finally had surgery on her foot and priority #1 is to take care of her, not turn pedals. But something caused the registration process to be extremely delayed and I didn't get registered until about 9:55. Luckily they moved the start back to 10:15! My warmup basically consisted of a few passes in the parking lot to get my heart rate up as much as I could and then lining up at the start. I knew this race was going to hurt.

There was some pretty speedy competition on the line including Kevin Smallman who I'm usually pretty well matched up to and current Cat 1 40-45 National Champ and general fasty Dario Frederick. Should be a fun race if I could stick with them. At the gun some younger riders set off with a sprint pace. Ok guys... we got a long ways to go here. But I managed to tag along with the front group sitting in about 7th or 8th place I think. My legs felt ok on the first climb, but I was redlining. Got a little bit of a breather on a downhill and then traverse before another steep short climb. I hadn't preridden the course either so I was ok to sit in for a bit. But that second steep climb got me and the pace was pretty fast. I had fallen off the back a little bit, maybe 5 to 10 seconds already. Coming off of the first second ridge was a set of two downhills. The first was pretty open and went into a saddle with a little rise and 'S' turn under a tree. I went into that turn, having to duck for a branch other shorter riders probably didn't see, and the front wheel washed on some grass as the bike was laid over to the right. Instinct reflexes kicked in and I shifted my weight, locked the rear wheel with just a split second pinch of lever and the bike popped back up. Nice, that was close. Just time for one breath and I'm behind the saddle on a choppy steep downhill with what looks like a sharp off camber right turn at the bottom. The rear wheel is sliding now so I weight the seat a little to get some traction. I see a lot of dust at the bottom of the corner, like there was some commotion from the lead group there. As I get to the corner, yep it's off camber and I've got too much speed so I un-clip the right foot and dirt track drift the corner, getting some extra traction on the exit from some matted down bushes. As I pedal out, I a rider walking with a tire off what looks like a taco'd front wheel. Yeah there was some commotion there, it was the lead rider who was maybe a little too reckless early on, and his day was done. I made a pass on a flat open section which put me in about 5th I think, cool, time for a drink. I reach down and grab an empty bottle cage. Crap, my bottle must have come out on that downhill (sure enough it did, found it after the race at that corner on the bottom). I take my 2nd bottle out of my jersey and grab a swig before putting it in the cage, hopefully this one stays. And hopefully they have some neutral water or something because there's only about 15oz in that bottle, and I have no support. Then I came to the "Steeze Jump" photographer...

After a little style it was time for the real climbing to begin. For the next couple miles it was all steep climbs followed by short steep downhills that quickly take all of that elevation away without much rest. The legs were burning pretty good but I just set in with a pace I knew I could sustain for 3 laps of this craziness. I pass Kevin Smallman on one of the climbs as he's off on the side with a mechanical problem. Come to find out he snapped the chainstay on his frame! Major bummer.

After a traversing section I get to a steady fire road climb and as it bends around the corner I see some neutral water being handed out. Sweet, only in cups, but I'm gonna need everything I can get. I down a cup and charge up the first set of switchbacks. Have I mentioned this course had switchbacks yet? Yeah, TONS of them! Good practice for me, since I stink at them. At least I think so anyways. Especially right handers. And it seemed like the crosswind was always blowing against me on the right handers too for that added balance training. After that set of switchbacks, was more fire road climbing, then more switchbacks after a little traverse. Oh but we're not at the top yet! There's more switchbacks around that corner!

Ok, finally at the top! The nice 360 degree view was interrupted by that cross wind gust reminding me to pay attention and hold on or get blown off the trail. From that point down to the finish was a truly sweet cut-in singletrack trail on the steep hillside, gradually making it's way down. The Tallboy was an awesome choice again as I'm railing the turns, popping off the banks, hurdling rocks and skidding into... oh yes... switchbacks!!! Though the downhill versions are much more fun.

I finally make it to the bottom in 4th overall about a minute forty back from the lead. I knew I wasn't going to get the win, but maybe I could get into the top 3, so I kept charging at my "diesel" pace. Lap 2 was pretty much spent alone but on a few occasions I could see 3rd overall at the top of some switchbacks. I'd time from where he was and I was about 40 seconds back from him. Each point I would measure on lap 2 though I was always about the same time back, and my legs were burning pretty good. I just didn't have any "pop" up the climbs.

On to lap 3 and I had rationed as much as I could but took the last drip of HEED I had in that bottle about a mile in. Which was about an hour and a half or so into the race. The quads began to slow-fire on some of the early climbs in the lap and I just went into survival mode. Thankfully I wasn't feeling any pressure from behind. Up the last set of steep switchbacks I caught a lapped rider who slowed my rhythm and my balance was off as I spun out. I dismounted and ran to where I could remount again, hopped on and began spinning as both calves cramped up. I kept spinning with pointed toes and after about 10 seconds they unlocked but were still stiff. By the top of that climb every muscle in my legs were slow-firing and my toes and my fingers were cramped as well. I was dehydrated to say the least! Thankfully I was done with the climbing and set off on the descent with a few working fingers that could still operate the brakes. I got cheered on by the lapped riders I passed which was a needed boost and I hammered my way to the finish line taking 3rd in Pro and 4th overall. Dario earned the overall win ahead of me by 4 minutes!

Aside from the wind, it was a beautiful day to be out racing a bike and I got my first minor sunburn of the year!! Is the sun back for good? Hopefully!

Sierra Cup Series #1 - Pine Nut Cracker - 5/21/11

2011-05-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the first race of the newly formed Sierra Cup Series which consists of seven races in great locations in northern California. Each course is different and challenging in its own way. This first race was in Gardnerville, NV (yeah, I had to "google map" it too) and I've done this race the last two or three years. But this is the first time they've changed up the course, running it backwards from previous years.

Gardnerville is set in the southern end of the Carson Valley and there were beautiful snow capped mountains all around. But our starting elevation was only about 5200ft or so. Not too bad on the lungs. Normally I don't feel the effects of altitude much below 7000 feet, thankfully.

The Pine Nut course is fairly flat for a Tahoe-area course, with only 2417ft of climbing over 30.3 miles as recorded by my GPS.

So what makes this race hard is that there is really nowhere to take a break and recover. No long downhills or slow technical areas. Just pedal to the metal from the gun. I lined up with a fairly good sized start group of mixed pro and cat 1 riders and we set off on the 1 mile gradual fire road spur to the loop course. We were heading into a little headwind so I sat in at 3rd position, then 2nd, and forced myself to wait until we made the left turn onto the course. No reason to try to get away with a headwind since I throw off quite the slipstream. Once we made the left turn I went to the front and set a strong pace on the relatively flat rollers. Another half mile or so of fire road and then we finally got into some singletrack, winding around the high-sierra shrubs. The dirt was dry and the racing line was well packed and fast, but anywhere off that line was incredibly loose. I could hear riders behind me but I didn't know how many. I waited until after the first short, steep climb to take a look back and there was only one rider there. Wow. I didn't think it set that grueling of a pace! Good thing though, because I totally botched that climb. It was loose and I tried to stand up and the back wheel just spun. The WTB Nanos were not quite deep enough to grab the loose stuff out of the saddle. I let the rider pass and sat on his wheel for about a mile to see what he had to offer. He would attack the climbs a little more that I would in front, but I matched his pace just fine. Because of his efforts on the climbs though he settled in a little on the gradual climbs and traverse where I excel. So when I had the opportunity I passed in the grass and set my pace again.

The back half of the loop was a long gradual downhill with swooping banked turns in sandy medium pack singletrack. Tons of fun! I was railing it and still pedaling. The Santa Cruz Tallboy was a rocket! Then I missed a turn... BRAKES!!!! Ooops. I quickly turned around and when I got back to the corner my chaser said "Go ahead you're setting a great pace." Awesome, I'm glad he didn't try to attack right there. I railed the rest of the lap and stayed in the saddle for the steep climb back to the turn for lap 2. I was about 15 seconds or so ahead of my chaser when I turned onto the fire road. I increased that gap by another 5 seconds I think before getting into the singletrack again. The legs were feeling pretty decent but burning some. I was making sure to keep on schedule with the Hammer Gel every 30 minutes and keep sipping on the HEED mix in the bottle, so I'd still feel strong for the next hour of racing.


Burnin' up the steep climb at the end of the loop

My goal for lap 2 was to increase my lead to the point where I would be out of sight of any chasers on the longest open stretch before I get to the last lap. So I don't become a "rabbit" for someone to try and chase down at the end. Well I accomplished that and had a blast on the last two laps just riding the Tallboy as fast as I could on some sweet and flowy trails. I took the overall win by 2 minutes with a time of 2hrs and 2 minutes and had a pretty good leg burn. Maybe the altitude did affect me? Hard to say, but I still had some energy so I kept riding and exploring for another 45 minutes or so around the area until it was time to woof down some post race bbq and attend the awards.

I'm not sure exactly why, but I always like coming here. It was a 2hr 45min drive each way this time with the Hwy 50 closure which stunk. But a great workout and a net profit of a few bucks on the day (even with these gas prices!) with a little cash winnings for taking the overall... sweet! Big thanks to Alta Alpina cycling club and Sierra MTB Series for putting on a great event.

Fontana Pro XCT #2 / US Cup Triple Crown #2 Race Report

2011-03-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Fontana race week started off with some good news, my new Giant XTC 29er hard tail finally got built and I was able ride it for the first time on a Tuesday night. It's my first hard tail so it was nice to get a 20 mile ride in before heading down to the race. I raced at Fontana last year so I knew the course and had a suspicion that the hardtail might be the better choice over the Tallboy, since the course consists of short punchy climbs and there's not really any rough pedaling sections. I prerode the course on Friday and I was feeling pretty good on the XTC for the course but my only hesitation was the 1x10 gearing setup with a 36 tooth front chainring. The course sends us up a very steep climb which could cause problems without having an easier gear. I was able to ride "The Wall" a few times during my preride so I committed to the XTC. I figured the gearing was going to be hard but it would force me to push it and go all out which is what I needed to do anyways.

The 2pm race time came on Saturday and I set off with a hundred or so other dudes around the start loop (which would be Sunday's short track course). I had a start position in the 40's which wasn't bad and was up a few positions until we got to the first choke point. It's a 180 degree left turn with a line through two boulders only a few riders ride. And of course someone fumbled there and we had to stop, just before I got through. Then as I'm scurrying to figure out how to get by, I see a group of guys dismounting and hopping over the ribbon cyclocross style and shortcutting the corner. I scrambled to do the same as the pack was getting away, but I was really annoyed that 10-15 guys just got to leap frog me like that. Oh well, a little anger helps put the hammer down.

Here's a little video:

We finished the start loop and headed up towards "The Wall" where I learned that there was one important aspect in my bike choice and gearing I didn't consider: OTHER rider's gearing! With so many riders around and in front of me and nowhere to pass on that steep, loose climb I had no choice but to ride at their speed. Well they had a granny gear and could sit and spin but I couldn't. And I wasn't able to maintain such a low rpm while standing. And there began my day of having to run up this climb. The rest of the course was pretty fun, but the combination of my gearing and not being used to hardtail style riding (standing and mashing) really wore me down. There's not a whole lot of area to pass in places where I excel. Needless to say I didn't have a very good day. I see-sawed with a few guys at various times but I don't believe I was passed after the second lap. Unfortunately because of that first lap mess and having to get off the bike a few times due to traffic, the field became very stretched out and I just couldn't make up a whole lot of positions. I ended up 49th for the day but I didn't get pulled or lapped!

Super D was just a couple hours after the end of the XC and I was spent, cold (nasty wind came up), and very hungry! I hid out in the car and scarfed down some food. I'd heard that the Super D course had changed from last year and was more technical, awesome! I switched my number over to the Tallboy and set out to check out the course. The course started at the top of the big hill, yeah... the one I'd just climbed 5 times in the xc race! I climbed up the road to check out the lower half of the course first since time was running short. I dropped in and was rolling through some good rocky stuff when "PSSHHHshshshhhhh!" went the air out of my front tire! Ahh! I did NOT have time for this! AND I didn't have any CO2 with me. I rolled the rest of the way down the course to check it out with maybe 5psi left in the front tire, trying my best not to ding the rim.

Back from the car I rode the lower section again and then rode up to the top where they were staging for the race. Everyone was hunkered down behind rocks and bushes trying to stay out of the biting wind. I walked down the first few turns of the course that I hadn't seen and watched the first five riders go by, checking out their lines since I hadn't seen the course. My time finally came and as I rolled up to the line the start official told me I had a ghost in front of me. This was good news since we were only 30 seconds apart and the course was proper singletrack with no real room to pass.

15 seconds... go on the sixth beep... breathe, breathe.... beep beep beep beep.... clip in... GO! Down the first bit of rocks, feeling some flow, start to pedal and the foot comes unclipped! Ahh... c'mon be smooth! Clipped back in and I get around the first switchback, man I'm all over the place. Be smooth, then fast! Ok after the next switchback there's another set of rocks to shred and a drop with a blind line I learned about from walking down to that section. After I start to feel good and get some good pedaling in, but now I'm getting into the part of the course I haven't seen. This area has some consequence as it's on the side of a hill and there are blind corners because of the vegetation and rocks. I took it a bit easy here, adhearing to Jen's #1 rule (don't die), but I was having a blast and really kicking myself that I didn't make the time to preride the course! I could have really railed it! When I got down to the flats I had caught the guy who started a minute before me and then caught another. I hammered as best I could on fried legs and they began to cramp badly. But just 20 more seconds of pain and I was across the finish line. I finished 26th out of about 65 which I'm pretty happy about considering I didn't preride.

The next day was round three, the short track race. It was at 4pm and I was feeling a little drained so I tried something new... coffee. Wow, I was ready to go! That was great, after just one cup I saddled up the XTC and got a really good warmup in, lined up and was ready to attack. I was mid pack on the start grid and it was a pretty big group with 64 racers. The gun went off and the craziness started. Gee... hope my muscles don't mind being oxygen deprived! I moved up a few positions and managed to make it through the hairpin choke point ok. As you can see in the video:

I kept moving up as the laps continued and was feeling great considering how spent I was the day before. Was it the coffee??? Maybe, I need to remember that!

The field got pretty strung out after a couple laps, it's just the way it is. If you start where I did you need an unbelievable start or be super human to get to the front group. I think I was in the top 25 or so after a few laps in coming through the start finish at about 25mph I'm in the open I set up wide for the left hand turn when out of nowhere I feel another rider trying to come around my right side. There's not enough room and he takes out my right elbow and handlebar... we both get bucked. My wheel got crossed up and I took a dive to the dirt, trying to tuck my left side down and roll it out. My left shoulder took a good hit and as I stood up I saw the other rider still tumbling through the tape and crowd. Both of my knees were bloody, left elbow, and it wasn't showing through but my left hip and shoulder were rashed up pretty good too. There was no killer pain so I picked up the bike and hopped on giving it what I had left before things started to stiffen up. I was able to pass a couple riders back over the next couple laps but ended up in a disappointing 47th place. With lingering injuries to boot. After the race my left wrist really started to hurt, stiffen up, swell, and change color. Great.

US Cup Pro Triple Crown #1 / Pro XCT #1 - Bonelli Park

2011-03-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

...and then it came... whether I was ready or not. The first big test of the year, the first round of the USAC Pro XCT and the US Cup Pro Triple Crown at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA. I've had some stresses and challenges in the month leading up to this big event including a stolen road bike, my last remaining mountain bike cracking the frame, and the cross bike I borrowed to get me by busting the special order derailluer hanger. So for over a week I basically didn't have a bike to ride. A forced rest week maybe God was telling me I needed, but I was wanting to be really getting into some training intensity. I finally got the replacement road bike so I could get moving again. But still didn't have a MTB because of parts availability issues for the new bike builds I'd ordered over a month ago. It came down to the week of the Bonelli event and I still had no mountain bike... talk about stressed!! I found out that Shimano had the stem and seatpost I needed that Easton and Race Face had previously been out of so I switched my order on Monday to get the new Pro XCR stuff. The only thing left was one of the smallest parts on the bike, that you never think about, the headset. Santa Cruz said they had what I needed on Monday and it was supposed to ship. Thursday afternoon came and I called Mad Cat Bicycles and they had just heard from Santa Cruz that the headset was just being shipped that day!!! Well, at least my warranty frame had come in from Giant so I could still race my old Anthem at Bonelli. But I began frantically calling all the local shops to see if somehow I could come up with a headset. Finally I found a shop that said they had what I needed, drove over, picked it up and brought it over to Mad Cat. But oh no, it wasn't that easy. The part that was in the box for the bottom bearing wasn't what was ON the box, so it wouldn't work. AAHHHHH!!! Thankfully, Eddie (the mech.) was able to scrounge up a cheap bottom headset piece to make it work and he began putting the new ride together. In the process we also found that we got the stem from Shimano, but no seatpost!! It was coming from a different warehouse apparently. Thankfully the post and seat from my Anthem was the same size and would work. I brought in some beer to keep the guys in the shop motivated and at 7pm, an hour after the shop closed, the new beast was done...

Thanks so much Eddie, Tony, and Mike from Mad Cat Bicycles for all your work to get it built. And to Will and Chris from WTB for making sure I get at least one set of the new Stryker 29 race wheels.

After the six hour drive on Friday I finally was able to swing a leg over the new Santa Cruz Tallboy and head out with my brother DJ (also on a Tallboy) around the Bonelli XC course. I have to say that the first lap around the course did not feel good at all. I was not in the least bit comfortable on the bike and I knew it was needing some adjustments. To the tools I went and numerous adjustments were made. Took another lap, better... but still needed more tweaking. Lap three, there we go, now it's starting to feel good and I'm hanging right on my bro's wheel who knows the course very well. I'm starting to have fun and now thinking about not putting out too much of an effort. I could start thinking about my setup options and my WTB Nano 29er tire choice was hooking up perfectly. I got a 4th lap in solo and was feeling really good and having a blast on the new ride, starting to get used to it. As you can tell by my smiling face...

Saturday afternoon I lined up with 87 other guys on bikes to get in a little workout called a UCI sanctioned Pro XC race. No pressure. Who's nervous... me?


Getting called up to the line, trying to decide where to fit in.

Ok very. I wasn't where I wanted to be with my training and knew I didn't quite have that explosive gear just yet. So I was going to try and be patient with my race.


I'm way in the back... somewhere.

The start gun went off and the sprint starts.

I'm able to stay off the bars and elbows of others through the first corner. Someone goes into the tape on the left and I pin it around the right side and stick on the draft of the first half. We maintain the bunch sprint around the start loop (which is eventually Sunday's Short Track course). I feel like there's a ton of guys ahead of me, and there are, I peek behind at a corner and there are just as many behind me it seems. Cool, I'm doing ok.

We get through the start loop and head up the first steep climb for lap 1 of 7. It's good and steep, but fire-road wide and I take a line on the left behind Kevin Smallman who I've raced with a few times in Northern Cali. Half way up the climb I settle in to conserve and be patient. Some other guys still pin it and pass as much as they can but I was thinking it was better to play it safe. If I had to do it over again I would change my strategy and just go for it because there was time to recover when you inevitably get stuck in traffic on the singletrack. We get through the first two downhills with a good climb in between and on the next climb, as I come to the top I make an error shifting to prepare for the downhill coming up and somehow my chain comes off. Again?!?!? Really?!?! I'm in a panic and I hop off the bike and put the chain back on, the train goes by and I lose anywhere between 10 and 15 positions. Ahh!!! And it's so crowded and crazy there's nowhere to pass back quickly. Sometimes after you've had to stop for a mechanical you can burst by a lot of the people who just passed because you got a break when they didn't. But there was just no space. Thing start to spread out a little though as we get over half way through the first real lap, but the lead group is long gone. All I can do is keep pushing.

After that hiccup with the chain I ended up having a really good race. Just laying down steady power the whole time, hitting my marks and shifting points and fueling with Hammer HEED and Gel to keep the diesel motor pumping. I picked off a ton of riders over the course of the laps as the day went on. I was getting more comfortable with the new bike too and was feeling pretty good. And then it came, as I was coming to the line with two laps to go. They were pulling riders based on the 80% rule. Which means anyone who's behind by more than 80% of the leaders lap time gets pulled from the race. The leaders didn't seem anywhere close and I hadn't seen any other riders that were pulled so I didn't know it was coming. Turns out I was in the last group of riders to be pulled. Meaning we were the highest placing riders to get pulled from the race. Dangit!!! Right on the fringe, so close!! I was still coming on strong too, pacing myself for the last two laps and to make a charge. I ended up finishing 40th of the 88 guys turning pedals. Which considering the competition is good, but I know I could have done a lot better without the chain mishap and with the knowledge I now have to just go hard no matter what, don't conserve.

With a few hours to recover ( EAT!!! :-D ) next up in the Triple Crown weekend was Super D. I put a couple laps in and found that the course was more of a Super XC than Super D. But it's what they have to work with at Bonelli, not really any big hills right there if you want to end up back at the venue finish. The course starts of with a hundred yards or so of flat twisting singletrack in the bushes and then dives down a fast downhill with a very slightly banked 90 degree left turn at the bottom. Man I almost blew that turn and went flying into the bushes spectacularly! I wish someone would have captured that on video. Entering the turn my rear wheels skidded out to the left under braking which pointed me right (keep in mind it's a left turn!) and I planted the front wheel in the proper line but the back wheel swung back too hard and went over the berm. I somehow managed to stay up right and let my momentum take me a little wide into the bushes and thankfully there were no big rocks there to take me out and I pedaled hard out of it. Wow that was a rush. I finished the rest of that downhill laughing at myself. That was awesome. Next followed a short climb then a long flat stretch until we entered back onto the back end of the XC course from earlier in the day. There was a new cut off line that had developed if you hopped over a log which saved a couple seconds, sweet. Two more hard climbs with a little bit of bumpy off camber DH before hitting the grass and sprinting to the finish. I caught the guy who started 20 seconds before me so I thought I put in a pretty good time. It actually turned out pretty good, finishing 18th of 49 for the Super D stage of the Triple Crown.

Sunday morning I was up early with my brother who was racing his first Cat 1 race which started at 8am, the day the time changed. So essentially 7am! Nap time anyone? I spent the morning cruising around the course taking tons of pictures for him and cheering him on to a 5th place finish! Nice!

The third and final round of the Triple Crown weekend was Short Track XC at 4pm. I woke up from my nap (so nice!) at 1:43pm and set off back to the venue with Jen after packing up the car for the drive back up to Sacramento. I got in a good warm up almost an hour long and was feeling pretty good. I set my Fox TALAS fork in the lower setting and got used to the feel of that as I shadowed Adam Craig, Barry Wicks, and Aaron Bradford around the course as we warmed up. It was nice to just get used to riding with a slightly obstructed view and see if they were taking any different lines.

55 riders mashed the pedals to start the 20 minute sprint known as Short Track XC. As we got off the pavement start I was towards the back of the pack as I had missed my pedal on the start. The first, and only, dirt downhill second was right after a little climb and we were going right into the sun. I couldn't see a thing, just the rider in front of me. Due to the dust and sun glare. I almost ran into a downed rider rolling off to the side of the trail which turned out to be Sid Taberlay who crashed at the front of the group and ended up dislocating his shoulder I think. I made it through the dust bowl unscathed however and the pack strung out as we wound through the tape on the grass.

Lap two, man the legs are burning! I draft on the pavement section and make a pass under braking heading up the climb, gaining a few spots. But I lose one at the top of the climb. The pack continues to string out and separate. The leaders are gone, that's out of the question. All I can do is draft and then try to slingshot and bridge up to the next group. I'm doing ok and see-sawing with a few guys but generally making up ground and gaining positions.

Legs and lungs still screaming! Trying to look ahead but my eyes just won't focus but a few yards in front of my front wheel when I really push it. Coming to the end of one of the laps, I go to pass a guy on the left entering a left corner, he starts to cut in "On your left, left, LEFT!!" I yell but he cuts in and I go into the tape and take out a few wooden posts. Should have given him an elbow to the ribs, but my reaction wasn't to be aggressive and just make sure I stay upright. I didn't loose too much ground and thankfully didn't get tangled in the tape. With a little anger motivation now I reeled him back in and passed him on the next lap.

Suddenly there was nobody in front of me that I could try to bridge up to and as I came back to the finish line it happened again. I was leading the last group that got pulled. Dang. Right on the fringe again, finishing 28th of 55.

It was a great weekend of racing and really fun. I'm trying to be relaxed about it this year and just do what I can and be happy. I'm thankful I have a day job, a wife, home, and other blessings and obligations and I know I can't put in the ride time most of these guys I'm competing with are able to do. I learned a lot this weekend and I'm ready to do it all over again in two weeks at Fontana. Right now I'm sitting 30th in the overall US Cup Pro Triple Crown standings. Not bad.

Now if it would only stop raining...

Winter Racing 3-Pack

2011-03-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

For the most part, the weather here in Sacramento has cooperated and allowed me to get some good winter saddle time. The last weekend of January usually starts my racing season with the TBF MTB Kickstart at Granite Bay. This year it is the first of three races out there, each two weeks apart. I use these as "training races" to kind of get me going and motivated and to see where I'm at in my fitness.

I'm not ashamed to admit I was nervous for the first race. I hadn't raced for about six weeks since I did the Folsom Cyclocross race and hadn't raced my MTB since September 15th!! I had definitely missed racing and was ready to get back into it. But I was nervous that I wouldn't perform to my expectations and to others' as well.

I started with just one other guy in the pro category but we were in a combined start wave with the experts who are sometimes just as fast or faster. We had a long and mostly flat first mile or so which makes a gap pretty hard to create until the first climb. I think I went into that first climb in third position but that's when I go to work. It's the longest sustained climb on the course which is my forte, even though for MTB racing it is a relatively short climb just a few minutes long. But by the top I put maybe 30 seconds on the next guy and headed into the trees for the fun rolling single track of Granite Bay. I had three laps to do and I was by myself. It's hard to stay motivated and keep pushing but that's what I'm out there for. I also know that I'm being chased... so keep pushing! I ended up taking the overall win by a couple minutes over the next fastest racer, expert rider Chris Schulze who usually races SS but has since added some speed with a 1x9 setup. It was a good first race, and a good benchmark. I still had a little bit of life left in the legs so I knocked out a few hill repeats after the race until I started to cramp :-).

Two weeks later we added a lap and a lot more competition. The pro group was 7 riders strong and we headed off on the course the same direction. The racing was pretty much identical to the Kickstart two weeks prior as I went into the first climb in 3rd or 4th but by the top had put in a gap. Again, I just tried to keep pushing and stay motivated as I ended up riding by myself. About half way through the second lap there was a turn around point where I saw SS rider and Mad Cat teammate Ron Shevock within about 30 seconds. That was my "uh oh" moment for the race and I got the motivation I needed to put the hammer down again. I made it through the rest of the laps without seeing any of my chasers and took the win by about three minutes. Had one adrenaline kick on the last lap where I took an "up and over" rock line to pass a lapped rider just a little too fast and caught some good air I wasn't expecting. Luckily I landed still on the smooth down slope of the slab or that would have ended badly... oops! And since it was Super Bowl Sunday I felt I needed to earn my game watching grub so I decided to ride home too. Adding an extra hour and a half of pedal turning to the day earned me a beer and the right to not move from the couch the rest of the day. Go Packers!!!

The final race of the 3-pack was set up to run the course in reverse, which makes the climbs shorter but steeper and more technical (relatively speaking, it is still Granite Bay). And then I got what I asked for... a 5th lap for the Pro class. My goal, as with all the "training races" I do, is to work on my weaknesses, which may not necessarily put me in a position to win but will help me in the races that matter. So for this one, knowing the climbs are shorter and steeper my goal was to go as hard as I could from the start and for each climb get out of the saddle and mash it. Normally I don't like to get out of the saddle and I like the long sustained type of efforts. This got me out front again and by myself right from the first short climb and I was feeling pretty good. But those power spikes over the course of two hours were really wearing me down especially considering the three hours I rode the day before. I ended up getting caught on the last lap by Cody Kaiser and Riley Predum, two young U23 riders who are getting pretty darn fast. They raced the day well and conserved enough to be strong on the last lap and they worked together. With a half lap to go I couldn't hold onto them and I was done.

This was also the first race I'd done with a Garmin to record everything which is really cool to see. I could see how my heart rate steadily declined as I faded... gotta work on that! Strava - TBF MTB Challenge, 5 laps, Granite Bay, CA. I know I worked hard though because I absolutely could not move the rest of the day once I got home. Part of that may have been that Jen and I moved one of the spare mattresses out to the living room in front of the TV!

Next race is the big one at Bonelli. A Pro XCT, Triple Crown, and UCI C2 race. Am I ready?

Stolen 2011 Giant TCR Advanced 2 XL

2011-02-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I just want to put this out there if anyone is able to help. If you see or hear of it please let me know. And, well, if you're the thief, contact me and give it back no questions asked. God will get his vengance, I just want my bike back.

Theft of 2011 Giant TCR Advanced 2 which was on the bike rack on our car. It was locked to the bike rack with a cable lock. The car was parked on the street in front of our friend's house in East Sacramento (Brand Way). On 2/10/11 we arrived at 6pm and when we went outside at 9:30pm the bike was gone and the cable lock had been cut.

The bike is full carbon fiber frame, white in color with black lettering. It has white Giant branded DT wheels, Michelin Lithion front tire and Michelin Pro 2 rear, a white & gray Fizik seat, black handlebars and silver Crank Brothers Egg Beater mountain bike pedals. It has two black carbon fiber water bottle cages and it has a Cateye Strada Cadence computer. Also attached to the bike was a Niterider Rage HID light on the handlebar connected to a battery pack attached to the frame. There are also red flashing bar end lights and a flashing taillight attached to the seat post. It has some small scratches on the right brake lever and rear derailleur from a crash.

The serial no. is: GDOD885

Here's the link to the website with specs: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/model/tcr.advanced.2/7309/44385/

The picture shows the bike when I had fenders on it, but it didn't at the time of the theft.

Thanks for any help. Clint.

The Off Season - I'm Still Here!

2011-01-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Yep It's been quite a while since I've made a post... sorry. But I'm still alive! It is the off season and I've been having fun being a bit more relaxed and doing some different activities.

Jen and I have gotten out for a hike here and there. We had a good one up to the top of Mt. Ralston, which is just south and a little west of Lake Tahoe and I think the peak is 9600 ft. It is a steep, steady climb and it was COLD! But we made it!

And I've been able to actually get out on some "fun" rides, with no training goal, and not even a heart rate monitor! Over Thanksgiving I rode a few hours with my brother in San Luis Obispo up on Cuesta Ridge and in Poly Canyon.

It was a good fun shred down some rocky trails. But the road section to get back wasn't fun on my big Reign X. My brother is loving his new Santa Cruz Tallboy though. And I have to say I'm a little jealous. Over Christmas we met again for another ride on Cuesta Ridge, but this time I brought my Anthem (XC bike). We took a trail called "What?" down which is just a chute of jagged granite rock and the whole time you're just holding on hoping you don't flat. Or maybe that's just me. It was a challenge, and fun in that regard. But I definitely enjoyed the flow of UC Santa Cruz trails I rode the day before. I love that place! Anyways, the holidays were great and the time off was awesome to just get out and ride with no agenda and enjoy mountain biking in those places and the local stuff in Auburn and Folsom.

In December I had the day open so I decided to enter the Folsom Cyclocross Race. I don't have a CX bike this year, but Rick Cunningham was nice enough to let me borrow his Rocky Mountain Rail. Thanks Rick! I got maybe a 10 minute warm up in, oh well, and then we were off! ...and about a minute into the race and after the first couple barriers I remembered... Cyclocross is hard!

But it was a great feeling to get back out there getting a really good workout with some other guys for an hour. My lack of warm up and familiarity with the bike on the first couple laps dropped me from the lead group but after I remembered how dismounts and remounts worked I wasn't loosing any ground and was gaining in the last couple laps, and came in 4th. Not bad for December I'd say. Good times.

Since it's January, the training has picked up for me. That means lots of time on the bike and unfortunately by myself. At least I am easily entertained and am content with whatever songs get stuck in my head! A couple weeks ago I was riding before work, heading back on the bike trail after a few hill climbs and had my first road crash. It didn't feel too great. I went into a fairly sharp right hand turn at maybe 19mph in a wooded area and hit some moss that I didn't see. My back wheel slipped out and I rode the slide into the other lane but wasn't able to hang on and went down. Wrist, knee, shin, and chin caught the pavement but the wrist got the worst and is actually still not recovered. Probably because I haven't laid off it and am still riding :-). But I did add a little extra detailing to my road bike finishing the rest of the ride, courtesy of my bloody chin.

Last year I wasn't able to ski at all and I was bummed to say the least. But this year has been quite the opposite of last in that we've gotten a TON of early season snow. I was finally able to make my way up to Sugar Bowl on the 3rd and made some turns in the cold stuff.

I took a couple good tumbles early on getting used to the skis again on the double black goodness. Snow is nice to fall on :-). I found an area of the mountain that was my "hidden gem" off of a new (to me) chair lift. After a little hiking over along the ridge it was well worth the sweet fresh stuff that was knee deep. Awesome.

So that's what I've been up to. Living life. It's back to the races, literally, in a couple weeks. The TBF MTB Kickstart is the first XC race of the season on 1/23. And everything is looking forward to the first big race, the Pro XCT at Bonelli Park March 12th and 13th. It already seems so close!

Review: Ride The Divide - The Movie

2010-11-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

Monday night I had the opportunity to see "Ride The Divide" in the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento. I had some knowledge of this event going into the movie, having followed some of the racers online at this year's race and read reports of their experiences. Self supported ultra endurance mtb events are crazy... especially in the Rockies! I'm someone who totally stresses over what to pack for a weekend car-camping trip at a race, going through the schedule of each day deciding what I will wear in advance and what I will eat. So that I make sure I have everything, but not too much. I'm sure if I went backpacking a few times, the "survival" aspect of this type of adventure wouldn't be as stressful, but wow I can't imagine trying to figure out what to bring for a 3 week bike ride!

This movie follows the 2008 race. Two and a half years to make an adventure event documentary you ask? Well the race does cover 2700 miles and spans around 3 weeks. So you can imagine how much footage they have to go through, and then they have to make it interesting to an audience. It's not like these riders are hucking cliffs and doing things that would get you on the edge of your seat just watching. I have to say, that this movie was worth the wait. It was very entertaining, and quite funny at times. Not just because the racers get a little loony out there and say some funny stuff, but some of the side stories about the people they'd meet along the way were a crack-up. The crew did a great job developing the characters (racers) and the audience was really tied in emotionally, at least I was. So many of the racers almost quit, numerous times, for legitimate reasons. And the hardest part of this race is the mental game of being alone, wondering why they're doing this, among other things. They'd get to a point where the vast beauty of the world they're riding through just doesn't matter anymore, because they've experienced the beauty the last 1500 miles, or whatever it is, and start to focus on their pain and depressing emotions of being away from family, etc.

Without spoiling it... one of the most impact-full moments of the film was when the racer Mike called in and his daughter answered the phone and he just broke down. And he's trying to be strong for his daughter but can't help it because he's emotionally spent, and can't even really appreciate where he is:

This race has a $0 entry fee, no support (just a Spot gps for tracking), no awards and no prize money. IF you get to the finish at the Mexican border, you still have to get a ride home! It is an amazing concept for a race, and I'm really, really glad this film crew took the time to document it. They did a great job and I loved the movie.

1st Triathlon!

2010-09-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

I started running again a couple weeks ago and it finally doesn't make me sore for three days after. So this Sunday since the weather was so nice and I had the opportunity, it was a good day for a bike ride, a run, and a swim! I entered the TBF Granite Bay Triathlon which is a 3/4 mile swim, 13 mile road bike, and a 5 mile trail run. I haven't swam since, oh... probably May of this year, but I'm pretty comfortable in the water so I was willing to just "get through" the swim. I know a little bit about riding bikes and the run... well I don't know when I've ever run five miles at one time but I was up for it!

My transition gear

I donned my wet suit, goggles and swim cap and headed down to the water level of Folsom Lake, which was thankfully much higher than it has been the last few years. Last year I remember it was a .8 mile sandy run up from the water to transition. This year was probably about half that distance.

I was in the first wave to go off, of men age 34 and under. The "gun" went off and we were running through the shallows and about 50 yards in it was finally deep enough to swim. I started off to the side because I wasn't used to swimming in such close proximity to others. I still had a little bit of an issue with a guy that seemed like he kept crossing in front of me, but maybe I was weaving around behind him, who knows? The swim course was a two turn course in a big triangle with orange sighting buoys half way in between the turn buoys. Well when I was almost to the first orange buoy, hardly a 1/6th of the way through the course, I wasn't very comfortable. My arms were already starting to fatigue and my mind was getting some pretty panicky thoughts. You know... "I can't touch the bottom!" "I've just started and I'm tired... I'm going to drown!" etc. etc. I almost turned around and quit right there... seriously. But when I thought about quitting, I thought about how much I would hate that I quit. So I told myself to calm down and just do 10 more strokes, and breathe. Well 10 strokes came and went and I got into a rhythm, and before I knew it I was to the first turn buoy. I kept that steady (but slow!) pace and never stopped and finally finished the swim... yes! I ran up the beach and passed a few people before making it to T1 for the bike.

I got my shoes and helmet on as quick as possible and mounted my two day old Giant TCR Advanced 2 for the bike leg. Honestly it felt a little weird getting on a bike right after swimming and my equilibrium seemed slightly off. But a few hard pedals and I was right back at home. The course was a good combination of rolling hills and turns so it was pretty fun. I hammered and passed more people than I could count on the two 6.5 mile laps and made up a lot of the time I lost churning in the water. The new TCR is so much fun to ride. It's super responsive to any power I can give and it turns and handles incredibly quickly. I really wished the bike leg was about 3 times as long, but it was over and I headed down into T2.

Off came the helmet and MTB shoes (haha!) and I pulled on my sweet super-meshy-water-tri geek-trail running shoes and was on my way. I even did everything sock-less like a real triathlete!

I started out running with short strides to give my legs a chance to get out of pedaling mode which worked pretty well. And I was in a good running rhythm after about 200 yards.

And then I got passed by a 44 year old guy (our ages were written on our calves), doh. But he wasn't blazing by me so I stepped up my pace to match him and that was just about right. I have no idea what pace we were going though, but it didn't seem like it was going to push me too much. I ended up running with a group of guys in their 40's until we got into the trees and the fun trails with climbs. I like climbs on the run! I think because the leg motion is closer to that of a bike pedal stroke. I powered through the first rollers and up a little steep climb, making motorcycle "BRAAP" noises in my head through the turns. I was feeling good and, I'm almost ashamed to say, really enjoying running! That might just be because it's something different than the hours and hours of bike time I've had for months straight. But still, three miles into the run I was really amazed at how good I still felt! We came up behind a woman who was running slower on some singletrack and the guys I was following just slowed down behind her and didn't pass. Well I just did what I would do on the bike and went up into the grass and weeds and blew on by! Woohoo! This was kind of fun! I was passing people on the run! I never thought I'd do that! I started to pick up the pace a little and then came the climb up to the water tower on Mooney Ridge. This steep, sandy climb was riddled with people walking and I just kept on chuggin' and powered up. The reward for the climb was the fun rutted descent that I liked to ride on the knobbies too. It was harder to keep control running down it than it is to ride that's for sure. I successfully made it to the bottom without slipping or twisting an ankle and a little over a mile later I crossed the finish line of my first triathlon!

What a sense of accomplishment trying something new, stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone, and succeeding gives! I was really quite happy with myself. I made it through the swim without stopping, had a good bike leg and pushed it the whole time, and kept a good pace on the run without stopping. And most of all had a blast doing it! Then I found out I placed 5th in my 25-29 age group! Awesome! The fastest overall time was 1hr 26min set by a guy in my age group and my time was 1hr 57min... ouch. But I really didn't care that I wasn't close to the overall. I had a great time and a great off-season workout.

Ohio Trip

2010-09-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

I had a business trip to Columbus Ohio planned for last week and the week leading up to it I was hoping my new road bike would come so that I could bring it and explore a new city. Well it didn't come, and I'm glad it didn't. Monday afternoon I started calling around to bike shops in the area for a road bike rental. The closest shop didn't have any road bikes to rent or demo, but they did have a Niner Air 9 in a Large I could demo. Hmmm... I wasn't thinking about mountain bikes, is there even mountain biking IN Ohio? I stuck that idea in my pocket and kept calling around. Some shops farther away had road bikes for me, but I didn't have a car to get there. Tuesday rolled around and a coworker local to the area offered to take me to get a bike. Sweet! After work I called the next closest shop, who told me they had a road bike the day before, but no luck today. Bummer! Oh well, I decided to go with the Niner and just have as much fun as I could even if it would be a lot of pavement riding. I had discovered a park across the street which had some hiking/running trails I could have some fun with. We headed over to roll: bike shop and got hooked up with the bike. They also gave us directions to a MTB trail in Alum Creek State Park that was only about 15 minutes away. Sweet! We loaded the bike in the car and I got dropped off at the trail, since it was close enough for me to ride back after I was done.

The park has two mountain bike trails called Phase 1 and Phase 2. The guys at the shop said that Phase two was the more advanced trail so that's where I was. It's about a 7 mile loop of very tight singletrack, weaving around in a thick forest of rolling hills. There wasn't much climbing, nothing sustained at least, but the technicality of the trail kept it challenging. The trail was littered with roots, which I don't have much experience with out here on the west coast. They can really break your momentum and you have to hit roots at an angle as close to 90 degrees as possible since tires can slip on them very easily. The trail also had a ton of logs to hop and man made ladders and bridges. It was a sweet trail.

I chalked off one lap and had enough time to rail another. The dirt was really dry hardpack so it was quite fast. I was really enjoying the Niner as well. It had quick handling for a 29er and was great weaving around the trees and for the quick adjustments I would have to make on the obstacles. I was even getting used to the fact it was a hardtail too. I enjoyed the quickness and 100% pedaling efficiency. But hitting a big section of roots was still jarring, there's only so much the big wheels can smooth out. My second lap was a blast as I knew what was coming on the trail and could really push the speed and rail it. A half hour road ride back to the hotel and I was done, with a big smile on my face from 2 hours on a sweet bike on new trails.

I decided I was going to get my money's worth out of this bike demo, so I rolling on the bike at 6:30am the next morning (after fixing a flat! Did I ever mention I hate tubes?) to see what fun I could have on the trails at the park across the street. It wasn't quite light out yet... ok it was dark... but close to a full moon! I had hiked a lot of the trails on my first day there and studied the map so I knew where I was going for the most part. The sun eventually came out and I got in a good half hour or so of spinning so I was happy.

After work that day I set off for Alum Creek again. As I came outside I noticed a couple rain drops fall. Oh this could be interesting. And then I looked to the west and the skies were dark, really dark, with the wind blowing it all my direction. Oh well, at least it's not cold! A little midwestern thunderstorm to ride in. So I set off anyways. By the time I got to Phase 1 trail, which was closer, it was starting to rain steadily. I pulled into the trees and set off for a lap around this 6 mile trail. Phase 1 trail was supposed to be the beginner/intermediate trail, but it was still challenging at speed. It was littered with even more roots than Phase 2 in my opinion, but didn't have as many big logs and ladders. The forest provided shelter from the wind and rain, but things were still getting a slick covering as I went along. So I got to experience WET roots! Those are tough! You can't hit them with the bike leaned or at any acute angle or you slip off and can easily be on the ground. The hard pack dirt also just turned slick instead of muddy and the rain and wind were knocking leaves onto the ground which also added to the slippery conditions. Oh and anywhere there was a man made ladder or platform, well you can guess where I'm going here. Just look at the sheen on this:

So all this slowed down the ride and just made for a few "oh #%*" moments when I hit a root I didn't see. Or ride across a ladder with the timidness of a tight rope walker. But I finished up Phase 1 trail and set off for the 10 minute road ride to the north for a lap around Phase 2. With the wet conditions it was nice to have the trail knowledge, but it almost felt like a different trail than the day before because I had to ride it so cautiously and at a lower speed. The rain did stop about half way through the loop but things were still wet. There were a few really narrow board crossings that I cleared the day before, but in the wet I decided to walk because the risk just wasn't worth it. Slipping off a wet wood bridge or board is not fun, I've done that before, and it hurts.

I finished up Phase 2 and headed back, and the storm had passed. It turned out to be an epic evening of riding with the storm conditions, lightning and thunder, wind and rain. I had a great 2.5 hours on the Niner and I was really comfortable with it. It's a great handling bike and would be a good racer for sure. Even though it was an aluminum frame, it wasn't overly harsh. I would love to try out the Air 9 Carbon.

Then, I found out later that the tornado warning sirens were going off at some point. Oops! I never heard those. :-)

The next morning I didn't have to fix a flat so I was on the bike at 6:15 for one more ride in Highbanks Metro Park across the street since I would have to return the bike in the afternoon. The skies were clear and the moon was shining bright to give me a little bit of help seeing in the early morning darkness. I explored a few different trails while dodging downed tree limbs from the strong winds the day before. I can't really describe the peaceful atmosphere that I was riding in. It was really cool. In complete silence except my bikes freewheel whizzing through the trees in brisk morning air and passing through moonlit patches of fog and seeing moon-rays through the trees. Just an amazing way to start the day.

I'm so thankful that I was able to take this trip and experience everything as I did. Just another awesome story to add to my blessed life.

Oh sorry for the bad picture quality, I forgot my camera so my cell phone was the only thing I had.

US Cup Finals / CA State Championships

2010-09-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

I made the six hour drive down to SoCal and lined up for the US Cup Finals and CA State Championship combined race last Sunday. The course was woven through Bonelli Park in San Dimas giving a 4.2 mile course I would race around six times. When it climbed, it was steep and short... same for the descents. Nothing very technical. Just a little bit loose, but my WTB Nano tires stiff suspension setup was perfect. As far as a mountain bike trail goes, it leaves something to be desired, but it makes for a pretty good race course and a fun venue for family and spectators.

We set off on the pavement with a sprint from the start and after about 20 seconds of that the course turned up with about a 17% fire road climb. I was in about 6th place by the top of that climb, then after a short descent we were climbing again and I was up to 4th. I was a little surprised with my positioning so early on and how good I was feeling. I rolled into the "techy" descent on the course which was pretty rocky with a couple switchbacks, but nothing concerning, and came out of it clean and set off for the longest climb on the course. It's a couple minutes long and steep in a couple parts and brings us up to a ridge line for a two breath recovery descent and then another short climb to stand and hammer. A little more fun after that as we made some 's' turns through trees on some deep loose dirt and mashed through some nasty stutter bumps before an off camber left turn.

The next section was fast and rolling terrain then a good gradual climb. This is where I first noticed I was in a lead break of about 4 riders. We stayed together up to the ridge and began another fast and choppy descent. I was in 3rd position behind John Nobil when he got bounced off line and slightly off to the right of the trail. Then I heard a nasty noise, thankfully for me, it was coming from his bike. I think he caught a stick or something in his chain/derailleur. I saw my opportunity to pass and released the brakes to blow by. I was able to catch back up to the leader Sid Taberlay (5 time Australian National Champ, Olympian, etc.) to set in for the last climb on the course.

After crossing the line for lap two I took my turn at the front and stayed there, pushing the pace, but not red lining. Sid made an attack on the short climb before the 's' turns on the ridge that I was able to match and stay on his wheel for the descent. I stayed with him for the rest of lap two in the breakaway group of three. I'm not sure when or how it happened, but we had dropped Vincent Lombardi from third place and Sean Donovan and bridged up to us. On lap three Sean and Sid began attacking each other and I took a breather but kept Sean in a manageable gap going up to the second ridge. Sid had really dropped the hammer I guess and gapped Sean to really stretch it out because I couldn't see him.

Then... I dropped into the fast and choppy descent just like the previous two laps but this time the violent jarring created by the stutter bumps vibrated my chain so much it came off the big chainring. I tried to pedal out of the high speed corner at the bottom and the pedals locked in place. Looking down at 25mph I could see what the problem was and had to ride it out to the bottom of the hill, hoping it would stay out of the rear wheel's spokes. "Not again!!!! I thought as I contemplating just throwing my bike into the lake... But after stopping for a second to put the chain back on, I was on my way thinking I just lost a few seconds and could get back in it. But there was bigger problem that revealed itself after a few pedal rotations. In that whole mess, probably when I tried to pedal hard and the chain locked, some of the links had bent so they wouldn't catch the gears anymore. Now it was nearly impossible to pedal with any power because it would slip every time those four or five crooked links were over the gears. Still at that time I didn't really know that was the problem. I started to fiddle with the cable tension on the shifter thinking maybe it just got knocked loose, but I adjusted it to the limits in both directions and it still wasn't helping. Going up the last steep climb of that lap I was getting really frustrated. I looked down and watched a full rotation as I pedaled and could finally see the near catastrophic problem.

I came into the grass area and saw my brother and told him the problem as I rode by. Looking back, I really should have stopped there to see if he could fix the problem. That would have saved a lot of the time I lost on lap 4, by running every single climb on the course. But I finally made it through that lap, with my back pretty knotted up after the running and came into the feed/tech zone where I was planning on pulling out of the race. I hate DNF's, but I wasn't going to run two more laps. As I rolled into the tech/feed area my brother was there with a chain breaker tool and the chain he pulled off of his bike (which he rode to a Cat 2 victory earlier!). We decided that since so many links were bent on my chain, we'd just replace it with his chain. A few minutes of hurried finger work got the replacement chain attached. I hopped on and then BANG! CRUNCH! GRIND! SNAP! and a whole bunch of other noises I can't quite put into words erupted from my bike. The crowd that had just watch us frantically work to "fix" the bike let out a roaring "OOOooo" groan when they heard the gear explosion. The seriously marred gears really didn't like the new chain, and all that messing with the cable adjustment left the shifting way out of alignment too. It took about a half lap and running a couple more climbs before I finally got the shifting decent enough to put some power down.

I gave the last lap and a half what I could, trying to hold off my emotional disappointment until after I cross the finish. Hoping that there was still someone I could catch. Well I caught a lot of people, but only Cat 1 racers and not any pros. I was the last pro to finish and rolled in for 8th place. There were quite a few dnf's, 6 I think. It was such a roller coaster of a day emotionally. Nervousness, pain, excitement, surprise, frustration, and disappointment. Looking at the positives though, I was well prepared for the race and my fitness was where it needed to be to race for the podium. And I still, even with all my problems, finished my 6 laps under two hours which made me feel good. Oh and Jen was happy because she didn't screw up any bottle handoffs, thank you!

I'm going to be trying out a 1x9 gearing setup with a new 1.X chainguide from MRP. That should solve the chain issues I've been plagued with this year... :-)

SoNoMas Race Report - Chasing Levi

2010-08-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm so thankful that I had this weekend open to make the drive over to Lake Sonoma for this race (though I had to leave at 4:30am!). This is one of those good ol' EPIC mountain bike races on a giant course where you say "see you in a few hours" to whoever you left at the start. None of this 4 mile or less loop with a ton of laps that the sport seems to be progressing towards. This type of race requires some serious thought and planning before the pedaling begins. You have to know what the weather will be like, dress accordingly, and plan for enough food an water to get you through it. Also, equipment choice is important because you don't want anything too fragile that would break easily when you loose focus for a second in the boonies. For me, I went with my Giant Anthem (not that I have a choice) on WTB Nano tires. The front tire was new, but the back tire I'd worn down and is a low tread semi slick which wasn't a good choice. Conditions turned out to be quite loose. Last year this race was run in 110 degree heat and the opposite direction to this year's course. I was trying to gauge my water and fuel needs based on last years results but it was a guess at best. Especially since last year's top 10 all got lost on the course and just rolled in together at 3hrs and 20min. Hmm...

Course map, racing around Lake Sonoma

Thankfully, this years weather was awesome! We started the race around 50 degrees and the fog had just lifted at 8am. We rolled from the parking lot with a neutral start on the road and up the hill. Santa Rosa local, Mr. Levi Leipheimer (Team Radio Shack), had decided to join us on the dirt for the days race as well. He's just off a course record win at the Leadville 100 MTB race, among other things (Tour de France, etc...). I was up front having a nice chat with him as we climbed up the hill about his race at Leadville, his bike, etc. which was pretty cool.

The bridge, part of the neutral start and a sight for sore legs after 3 hours into the race!

We crossed over the bridge and shortly after that the pace picked up as the singletrack approached. I hit the dirt in about 12th spot and wasn't worried, it's a long race and I like picking off people deep into the race (keeps me motivated). That was the last time I got passed :-). 35 miles and 8000 ft. of climbing was projected, and an estimated top finish time of around 3 hours and 20 minutes. The race director said that the climbing was anything but gradual. Steep, hard, and the first 8 miles had the most technical and treacherous terrain.

Having never ridden any of these trails before I really didn't know what to expect or how to pace myself. Not knowing if the climb you just started was one you could stand up and hammer over because it's short or sit and spin steady because it's a half mile long is a little disconcerting. Oh well, just ride the bike... hard.

The first singletrack was pretty fun, it was loose dirt (pretty common theme throughout) with leafy cover and some good switchbacks taking us down to a creek crossing. Then up, steeply. Maybe a switchback or two before getting to the top just to do it all over again, and again. If the descents weren't in switchback form they were double track with ruts and big loose rocks with sharp edges. Definitely fun and a good beginning to a great race. What wasn't "fun" though were those steep climbs because they were so loose. There were quite a few sections that were just not ridable, which my calves are still protesting now two days later after running up a number of steeps in bike shoes. I was able to make a couple passes on some of those climbs that I was somehow able to ride that others weren't. Corners on the downhills came up quickly and on one trail split I blew the corner big time and had to make a little new trail to get back on course. Thankfully not losing any positions.

We busted out of the trees and up to the road again for about a half mile stretch. I could see to the other side where the turnoff was and I think I saw Levi right then, maybe about a minute or two ahead. I had worked up to about 8th place at that point. I got off the road and just after this picture...

Climbing up the bank from the road at about mile 6.

was my first close call of the race. A fast, rutted and rocky downhill took us down from the road. It was the first wide open downhill where I could actually see enough to get some real speed going and I was happy to let 'er fly. My happiness soon transferred to white knuckle adrenaline as I looked for a good line through some rocks and ruts, and wasn't finding one. I was sure this was going to be where I get a flat, or worse. The back tire skidded and got squirley, the bike now airborne and pitched a little sideways to the right after going over some rocks but my shoulders still pointed downhill and it was time to just let off the brakes and stay loose. When the wheels touched again I saw a line in between some rocks and that took me across the big rut. I hopped the rut and it was clear sailing down the other side after boosting a couple more rocks and my smile returned. Still at speed, a series of off camber, foot dragging two wheel drift turns and then on the brakes hard for at steep creek crossing and then one more. But at the next one I didn't see the sign on the tree saying "you better walk this." It was a real bike swallower! Luckily I was going slow enough for a quick dismount as I basically fell into the hole and then ran up the other side. Got away with one there too...

Coming into the aid station at about mile 8

I was catching up to fellow racer Kevin Smallman and one other rider. Kevin usually starts faster than I do and then I, at least in the last few races, am able to reel him back in towards the end. So I was really happy to catch him pretty early on in the race. I made the pass at the top of this long climb and kept on chuggin'.

The climb where I passed into 6th place.

The view from the mile 8 aid station. See the bridge way down there?

The course leading up, down, and over to the third aid station was mostly a hillside traverse with random switchback climbs thrown in for good measure. Many small ditch crossings with steep pitches and tight hillside singletrack. It reminded me a lot of the Kirkwood course last week with the tall vegetation along the trail concealing the tightness of the upcoming turns. Only here the "vegetation" was wild grain with a slick straw covering on the trail, also hiding rocks and holes. Every feature here was momentum eating and it was a chore to get through. After about a half hour of riding by myself wondering if I'm still catching anyone I finally got to see some dust. Then I could see a group of three at the top of a switchback climb as I got to the bottom. I recognized one as Menso de Jong (who would finish 3rd) so I figured I was approaching the top 5. But I still had no idea where I was on the course. I think Menso attacked shortly after that because when I caught the first of those riders he was by himself. So I continued on by and made it to the last aid station which was staffed by the guys from Camelbak. It's always rejuvenating when you come around a corner in the middle of nowhere and hear music blasting and see Coca-Cola's and beer lining the trail for the taking. I didn't partake, but the scene granted a smile for sure. I went through their station complete with cowbells and cheers, got a bottle and took a swig but I had nowhere to put it. Just enough time for one quick drink before that bottle is discarded because the trail quickly required "hands on" attention again.

If I recall correctly the race director said there was about 12 miles left after that last aid station. And man was that slow going. I hit that third aid station at 1hr and 55min so I was feeling good mentally about my time and position, but wondering what the last third of the course had in store. It was all singletrack and on the shaded north face which was great, but just so loose and gravely. After racing for over two hours some serious fatigue starts to set in, both physically and mentally. One could really get into trouble here as the trail was narrow, true singletrack, cut in on the hillside with blind turns. I really had to keep my speed in check and stay focused because overshooting some of those turns could end up with quite the tumble down the hill. I was cursing my back tire's lack of grip as I slid around under hard braking, and then slipped out on the next climb, again and again. As I passed another rider I asked "any clue where we are?!" He said we had 11 miles to go, but the last two were on pavement. Sweet. But then he said the rest of the course was just like "this." And "this" meaning the sketchy, no flow, loose singletrack I had just let out a yell of frustration about after having to run up another climb due to slipping out, again. I figured it'd be about an hour to the finish after that, which turned out to be a pretty close estimate.

For that last hour I was all by myself, except for the random member of the EMT crew standing in the middle of nowhere with a backboard. Good to see. This race was definitely well staffed for medic crew. The creek crossings had more water in them than on the first half of the course but I was able to ride them all except one. That one being a really big gully with a sandy bottom and no clear way, that I could see anyways, up the other side. I saw a spot where it looked like the right spot and scrambled up the 5 ft ledge. I got tangled up in the limbs and vines and my bike seat and bars kept getting hooked as I tried to get through. Ahhh!!! So frustrating!! I was sure someone was going to catch me because of this. I finally got through and about 20 ft down the gully would have been a much better place to climb up, dang. But after some more rolling hills and good fun singletrack, dodging the limbs and rocks Menso had knocked onto the trail, I FINALLY came around a corner to see the bridge. YES!!! I got quite the burst of energy from that, until the trail turned up and away from the bridge! But, but... no! Not fair! My brain gets kind of whiny when this happens. It wasn't long though before I came up onto the road and made my way back down to the base of the dam, finishing in 3 hours and 12 minutes in 4th place overall. And as Menso (3rd in 3:08) pointed out, the 2nd non "pro tour" rider to finish. Levi finished in 2:57 and Christopher Jones (Team Type 1) in 3:03. I'm really happy with how things turned out and I don't think I could have given it much more effort, the metaphorical "fork" was in me.

Pretty cool to be standing up there with the big shots.

The top 4

The top 10

Here's a couple pics I took of Levi's custom paint scheme on the Trek Top Fuel he was riding.

No question of who's bike this is...

108+ degree racing... and 2011 Cannondale Flash 29 demo

2010-08-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Post is a little late, oh well, it was a busy week last week.

We've had a pretty cool summer here in Sacramento, but apparently the weather tried to make up for it all in two days. Tuesday was around 104 and 108 on Wednesday. All the weather people advised not to be outside in the afternoon if at all possible. But Wednesday was the first of the Prairie City Fall Flash series races, so outside we were... and racing! It was definitely a scorcher, and there was no relief in the shade and there was no breeze.

There was one "cool" part of the day though, and that was the Cannondale demo truck with a sweet new 2011 Flash 29 Carbon in size XL for me to demo! And thanks to C'dale rep Dez Wilder for letting me race on it!

Here's what I thought:

It's a 21 lb. XL 29er out of the box, sweet. Because of the lightness, it was super quick and accelerated up the climbs and out of the corners like a rocket. But it didn't feel twitchy at all. The geometry was spot on and I felt right at home and in control. The big wheels definitely take the edge off the fact it's a hardtail. The frame was stiff and responsive, but had good bump/vibration damping. The seatpost it comes with has a compressed "bend" in it which allows for a little more flex than a standard post and that made it easy on the back too. The "Lefty" carbon on the front is set at 80mm, but according to Dez it can be increased up to 110mm through internal spacer adjustment. This bike was set up with remote handlebar lockout which was really handy and the button was easy to push. The drivetrain consisted of a 2x10 gear setup with some Cannondale SL cranks (I didn't really inspect those too much) that were stiff and did the job well and SRAM's new XO 10 speed rear shifting. All the shifts were easy and quick but the chain did have a little problem dropping off the big ring when making a bumpy left turn.

It's a fantastic race bike, and I wouldn't mind having one at all. But I did miss suspension. That's probably me just not being used to hardtail riding though. I'm sure I could get used to it if I had a 20lb carbon rocket to pedal of my own :-). Oh, and I really like the big 29er wheels, I'm sold on that technology.

As far as the race, I had a whopping 8 minutes of time on the bike before the start and didn't quite get the seat high enough. So I was a little uncomfortable because of that, oh and the fact we were in an oven. Keith Hillier (2009 Series Champ) and I pulled away from the rest and I towed him around until the 4th lap. He passed me on the 4th lap and attacked, which I matched for a few seconds but began to feel the effects of the heat. I started to feel some chills which is not good, so I backed it off a little and ended up taking 2nd on the day. I was quite thankful the EMT's were there after the finish line as I promptly put some ice bags on my neck, my body temp was red lining. There were a number of finishers and dnf's having the same problem but thankfully nobody with serious heat exhaustion and no crashes and injuries.