Race Report: 2003 Sacramento CX #3

Race three took place out at Folsom Point, a venue that I really like due to the hills. As luck would have it, I had my climbing legs, so I didn't even have to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day.

The course was the hardest I have done yet: 1.4 miles, very hilly, rough, rocky and technical, with little running. All of this was to my advantage as a mountain biker.

After poor starts in my two previous races, I decided to make a point of getting out fast. We would start at the very bottom of the boat ramp and ride up the long asphalt climb before turning left onto dirt and going down a bit before continuing to climb more. I took a spot a few rows back from the front and waited for the gun. We started and within a few pedal strokes I found a gap and made my way towards the front. Suddenly there were only two guys in front of me. I thought, hell, I'm going to try getting to the corner first so I can go down the hill dust free. And within a few more strokes I was on the front. It seemed too easy. I looked behind me to see a gap. I figured, well, might as well grab the first lap prime.

We turned onto the dirt and I rode a strong but not hard tempo all the way to the finish where I did indeed grab the $10 prime. It kind of cost me on the next couple of laps, where a few guys passed me. I backed off the gas just a bit and kept going.

Lapping Gordon, who would DNF.

For a couple laps nothing really happened. I hovered around 6th to 8th place. I was cruising along in my own world, not really racing so much as riding.

As guys started getting tired they were crashing and making mistakes. I just tried to ride hard but under control, and I started reeling them in.

Doing a decent job on the barriers.

On the bell lap, I had two guys within striking distance, so I just put my head down and went after them. I caught them about halfway through the last lap, rested for a few seconds, and then attacked with everything I had up a hill. I got a five-second gap and held it all the way to the finish for second place.

My man Curtis took 11th.

The payday was not too bad. Along with the $10 prime, I was awarded a water bottle, arm warmers, leg warmers, socks and a nice bottle of locally produced olive oil.

With nine points for second, I am sitting at second overall behind Gordon and back in the thick of the series.

It's always nice to get a shout-out from a teammate:

Later.

Race Report: 2003 Sacramento CX #2

Granite Bay was again the venue for race number two, but this time on the north course. This typically entails a lot of riding and running through sand, which I suck at, and today had plenty of sand. And I unsurprisingly sucked.

Dismounts are not my strong suit and today there were many. Riding in sand is tough for me as a skinny guy, and we had that. Running is by far my weakest skill, and we had two different running sections in deep sand.

That's me in the lower left watching the big guys power away from me.

It was a struggle from start to finish. I couldn't get going, couldn't maintain momentum, and there were no hills to speak of for me to make up time. Every time I even began to feel strong there was another section of sand to run.

Here's Rio teammate Curtis also struggling.

In the end I took a very disappointing 13th place. Gordon again won while Alex took fourth. Curtis finished right behind me in 14th.

I have some work to do to get back in this series. We have a break in the schedule, so hopefully I can start peaking and work on my technique.

Later.

Race Report: 2003 Sacramento CX #1

Race number one of the 2003 series was a great one. The Granite Bay south course has been good to me, and today was no exception. My buddy Steve came out to watch and manned the camera. After the race he assured me that he took lots of "sweet pics," but this was the only one on the camera:

Sweet, indeed. Not sure what button he was pushing, but it obviously wasn't the shutter.

After taking second in the series last year in the Cs, behind Alex, this year we both moved up to the 35+ B class.

Race wise, I took off and hovered around second to fifth place most of the race, ultimately taking third at the end. Gordon won and Alex took sixth. It was nice to grab eight points right off the bat. Hoping for a solid race number two next week.

Later.

Ready?

The first cross race of the season is tomorrow. I think I have prepared as best I can considering all the recent life changes.

So far I have commuted home five times this month, which is my main training tool right now. Do difficult 35-mile rides with tons of climbing translate to success in 45-minute cyclocross races? Time will tell.

Today I did 20 miles on the bike trail with a few hard efforts on dirt and gravel trails just to get the feel of going fast on different surfaces.

Tomorrow should be fun. My buddy Steve is coming, so that's always great motivation for me.

Later.

Boot Camp

Cyclocross season and the birth of our son are both fast approaching. Jenn and I decided to head up to Tahoe for a week for some R&R (both of us) and some high altitude training (just me).

I brought both my new mountain bike and the cyclocross bike. Even though I was excited to ride my new Santa Cruz, I was focused on the cross bike. Over the course of eight days I rode seven times, and four of those were on the cross bike.

The first three days I did cyclocross rides of 22, 27 and 31 miles with lots of climbing and intervals. I was feeling pretty good.

In the afternoons we would go for walks, sit at the beach and have nice dinners.

On day four I finally took the Blur out for a ride. I was a little tired and had some difficulty adjusting to the new bike. Full suspension feels weird and slow.

I rested on day five and spent the whole day relaxing with Jennifer. It was good.

On day six I took the Blur out again and I suppose it was better. I don't know. It's fun to go downhill but climbing sort of sucks.

Day seven was another cross ride.

On our final day I again rode the Blur. The ride wasn't much to get excited about, but on the way back to the condo I almost hit 55 miles per hour on Country Club Drive.

That evening we took a dinner cruise in South Lake Tahoe. It was great.

Jennifer had that expectant mother glow.

Fannette Island:

Vikingsholm:

We headed back earlier today to avoid tomorrow's Labor Day traffic. It was a great trip.

Later.

Blurry

I have been mountain biking now for almost 20 years, and technology has come a long way. I thought perhaps it was time to try full suspension again.

My first dive into full suspension was in 1994 when I was racing for Dean. It was an AMP Research rear end mated to a Dean front triangle. Many companies utilized the AMP rear end for their FS bikes at the time.

That design left a lot to be desired. The main problem was there were only two attachment points for the rear end: At the shock mount and at the crude pivot behind the bottom bracket.

This led to a wildly flexible frame. My friend Doug also had this frame, and I remember riding behind him on a downhill in Auburn and marveling at how the front and rear wheels were rarely even close to being in the same plane.

Thankfully I broke the seat tube before the bike broke me.

Now, almost a decade later, I am going to try it again. This is my new Santa Cruz Blur.

I finished it just in time for our trip to Tahoe tomorrow. We will see how it goes.

Later.

Settler

After knocking out 600 miles in June, I fell off quite a bit in July with only 348 miles. Selling my house, moving up to Shingle Springs and riding in a completely new (and somewhat dangerous) environment caused the mileage to drop significantly.

Now it's August. Jenn is cool with me racing cyclocross again even though we know our baby will arrive sometime during the season. If I am going to do it, I need to get busy.

I rode from work up to my new home for the first time yesterday. I took the direct route up Green Valley Road and I will probably not do that again. During rush hour there are simply way too many vehicles going way too fast. It was very uncomfortable.

Today I took a different route through El Dorado Hills, which added more mileage (36.5 miles versus 32 yesterday) and climbing.

I don't know what the total climbing is, but our house is at 1670 feet and work is at about 70 feet of elevation. You climb over a number of hills with descents, so I am going to say around 2500 feet.

Working a full day and then riding home for 2.5 hours is pretty tough, but that's the only way I can get some real training in right now.

Later.