CX Sims #1

Tonight was the first night of CX sims.  Frickin' blast!  We hightailed it down to the BLM land west of Grass Valley and put together a very challenging .6 mile course shown below (ignore section that connects in the center).  We ran this clockwise.  One run up section, one big puddle you had to run around, one big big dip that was a thrill on a cross bike, some muddy spots, berms, jumps, baby heads, you name it!  The fellas that won tonight were on single speed mountain bikes.  As I said, this was a very challenging course.  We'll head there again next week.

2009 Shasta Lemurian

2009 Shasta Lemurian - Long Course
24.26 Miles
4779 Feet Climbing
2:40 Hours
2458 Calories
169 Average Heart Rate
184 Max Heart Rate
72 Average Cadence
(GPS missed the first 1/2 mile or so of race - operator error)

Time: 2:40:22 - 18:41 off leader
7th Place of 26 Finishers

2009 Prairie City Race Series #4

2009 Prairie City Race Series #2
Four laps at Hangtown Moto Trails at the Prairie City OHV Park.
12.97 Miles
1461 Feet Climbing
0:58 Hours
740 Calories
181 Average Heart Rate
191 Max Heart Rate
79 Average Cadence

Lap 1:
3.30 Miles
14:08 Minutes
177 Average Heart Rate
184 Max Heart Rate

Lap 2:
3.34 Miles
15:02 Minutes
180 Average Heart Rate
188 Max Heart Rate

Lap 3:
2.96 Miles
13:33 Minutes
183 Average Heart Rate
189 Max Heart Rate

Lap 4:
3.37 Miles
15:26 Hours
182 Average Heart Rate
191 Max Heart Rate

Breathing issues came back again, but was able to breathe through some of it. Very fun course on the ATV track, some big jumps back there. Almost had a high speed crash on the last lap coming down the big hill towards the pond. During the pre-ride and first lap the course was pretty slippery, but as riders came through it got cleaned up and much faster, more grippy. Bike performed flawlessly, it wants to go faster than I do...

13th of 20 racers in 35-49 Expert Men.

2009 Prairie City Race Series #2

2009 Prairie City Race Series #2
Four laps at Hangtown Moto Trails at the Prairie City OHV Park.
13.51 Miles
1031 Feet Climbing
0:58 Hours
765 Calories
HR Monitor not working
No cadence sensor on singlespeed

Raced in the expert category on my singlespeed.

2009 Napa Valley Dirt Classic

2009 Napa Valley Dirt Classic
One lap in Angwin, CA.
19.53 Miles
3361 Feet Climbing
1:51 Hours
1799 Calories
178 Average HR
190 Max HR
74 Average Cadence

29th of 41 racers in 35-44 Cat 1 Male.

2009 Cool Mountain Bike Race

2009 Cool Mountain Bike Race
Three laps on the Olmsted Loop in Cool, CA.


31.6 Miles
4770 Feet Climbing
2:48 Hours
2382 Calories
170 Average HR
188 Max HR
74 Average Cadence

Lap 1 time: :50:02
Lap 2 time: :53:52
Lap 3 time: 1:03:44

Rained on the last lap and the course became a muddy, peanut buttery mess. Still having breathing issues and therefore not performing at my maximum. Raced on the new Anthem X0. Killer bike, very fast and light, performed flawlessly.

Race - TBF Mountain Bike Challenge #2

25.48 Miles
2439 Feet Climbing
2:08 Hours
2884 Calories
178 Average HR
191 Max HR

I have raced at Folsom Lake four times now. Two times (including this one) I have had serious breathing issues. Some people, including my doctor, says it sounds like exercise induced asthma. I have only had this trouble at this location.
I had breathing issues and felt like I was going backwards on the climbs. I feel good about my descending during the race. First and fourth lap it rained. Overall it was a very muddy and fun race. Rode the Felt Nine Solo and it performed flawlessly, however I could have used a smaller gear. Ran 32/17 but due to the mud should have had a 32/18.

Expert Men - 4 Laps
8th Place of 8 Entries
19:08 behind race winner.

Race - TBF Ice Breaker

19.18 Miles
1771 Feet Climbing
1:31 Hours
1169 Calories
177 Average HR
191 Max HR

First race of 2009. Showed up just to have fun and to remember what it's like to race. It hurts. I raced Expert Class on my Singlespeed. Singlespeed only did two laps and I wanted to race longer. First really fast miles on the Felt Nine Solo singlespeed. It was great, held corners well, maintained speed well, climbed well and even took a 30" drop by accident well. Lost one place at the finish to a guy that had gears. Lost quite a few places at the start because of the long flat road start and a bottleneck turn. Even if I had gotten a good start position I would have lost it in the long flat road. Great race, had a blast.

Expert Men - 3 Laps
7th Place of 11 Entries
2:28 behind race leader. Pretty damn good for racing a singlespeed agains all geared racers.

Sacramento Cyclocross Race #1

8.14 Miles
129 Feet Climbing
31:56 Hour
406 Calories
187 Average HR
193 Max HR

First cyclocross race of the season. I'm going to start racing B's, because, though the race hurt, I didn't feel too bad afterwards, so I need to race for a longer period of time. My bike dismounts are good and my remounts are getting better. On the start of the third lap I was in second place with the leader about 40 seconds out. On the fourth and fifth laps I faded to 6th place. Racecourse was dead flat with barriers in two locations.

Men's C's - 1/2 Hour Race
6th Place of 33 Entries

Battling early in the race.

About half way through the race after pulling away from other racers in a fast flat section.

Finishing. Note the tired fallen shoulders...

Northstar Race #7

11.06 Miles
1849 Feet Climbing
1:16 Hours
1127 Calories
175 Average HR
185 Max HR

This crushed me. I worked very hard to catch, pass, drop and stay in front of they guy I did end up beating. This was a three lap race, my average HR for the third lap was 5 beats higher than the first two and I reached my max HR in the last lap. It was a good way to finish the series.

Expert Men - 3 Laps
6th Place of 13 Entries

SSWC08

SSWC08 Race Course at Skyline Park


24.13 Miles
4674 Feet Climbing
2:59 Hours
2197 Calories
175 Average HR
192 Max HR
No cadence sensor on singlespeed

I found out Saturday morning as I left home that I would be racing Sunday. I tried to get into this race on New Years Eve. I submitted my entry at Midnight and 05 seconds. I later found out that, somehow, I didn’t make the cut and have been bitter about it since. I was very please to find out I got in and I am in debt to a few people now (thank you Cruz brothers and Curtis!!!). Gladly so. Racing on Sunday changed my drinking plans for the weekend, which was kind of disappointing, but I was excited to race.

We arrived around 2:pm on Saturday and our friends had found a great campsite under some big oak trees about 100 feet from real bathrooms and showers. Socialized, drank beers and walked around for a few hours. Did a short pre-ride, but could only find the first small loops of the course. Got to see a Swedish fellow perform a spectacular crash in one of the switchback descents. Spectacular!

Right when we returned from the pre-ride we headed over to the bowling alley to watch the Decider. (btw, I thought G.W. was the decider... I guess this isn't a trademarked term...). Left towards the end of the first frame, headed back to camp to fire up the veggie bbq. Camp was quiet around 9:30 pm and started to get sleepy. Around 10 I decided to head to the tent. I then started to realize the partying was starting. Big bonfire around the corner, some yelling and boozing. People yelling at boozers that "there is a race tomorrow, i'm trying to get some sleep!" etc.

I was woken up at 3:00 am on the dot by some very violent vomiting a few tents over. This fella was having a rough time of it. It was loud and juicy! We didn't confirm, but I hope he survived.

Got up around 7:30, had some breakfast, made Mimosa's for my campmates and myself and sought out some coffee. Found the caffeine (thanks Pat!) and got ready for the race.

I had about 20 minutes to warm up before the race so I did some hill climbing and found my heart rate was very easily going high, a good sign.

Ding and I right before the race.

My camp mate (Ding) and I put our bikes down the hill in the field as instructed and walked back up for the start. Go! We ran around the horse corral and back to our bikes with everybody else. It took some work to navigate through the runners headed to their bikes and the riders headed to the course. Got on course and started my GPS. I was immediately passing riders on the flat gravel road. As the gravel pointed up I kept passing people, but not as quickly. Since I’ve raced at this location a few times I knew what to expect, so I was able to navigate some of the slightly technical sections of the climb better than others and was able to keep passing. The fire road got real steep and loose and everybody started walking. I figured that I might as well keep my heart rate pinned so I walked as hard as I could and kept passing people. Walk hard! My goal on the climb was to find as many shaved legs as I could and pass them. From my experience on this course, I descend the tricky sections better than most people so as to not lose time I have to beat the roadies to the top (same strategy as Downieville). We got to the top and the trail pointed down, steep down, real quick, with really tight switchbacks and rocks in the middle of them. I passed Tiffany (1x SSWC champ) in the first switchback and hit the gas. There were (of course) many riders in front of me and I couldn’t get around so I took it easy, relaxed and rested.

Next was the single track climb back to the top, I was able to ride with Tiffany during this section, we picked a few people off, some passed us. Made it to the bagpiper (I was very pleased to hear this guy and was surprise how much I liked the sound) and took a left. Fast, fast, fast into the corners, keep the momentum on the dips and don’t lose any ground. Felt good going into the lake section. On the backside of the lake on the hike-up-the-slickrock section I saw Linda (2x SSWC champ) a few switchbacks up. This would be the only time I would see her.

Climbing, sweating and grimacing.

Got bunched up behind some flailing rider on the next flowing, tight downhill section. The first guy pulled off when he realized he might die if he tried to go the speed we wanted to go. We then spread out and I had some space in front of me for the first technical drops / switchbacks. Rode them clean with some cheers from spectators.

This is when the memory starts getting a little blurry.

I made the next section of switchback / drops cleanly with encouragement from Shannon from PDX. Made the next switchback section clean and flew down the rocky fire road to the next section of…. Ok, I made all the technical descent and did them fast, enough, eh?

After a water feed, beginning of the second lap.

Back through the start, picked up my water (thanks a MILLION Max!) and headed out for my second lap. I ended up walking a bit more of the singletrack climb this time than on the first lap, but was feeling pretty good still. Before the lake I noticed a guy in front of me was riding a fixie! Idiot! Parents, give your kids the love they need or they’ll end up like this guy. I stopped at the water station near the lake and filled up my bottle with more water. It was really hot by now and I was covered in sweat and dirt.

Picked up my third bottle at the start of my third lap. I declined the Clif Blocks because I was felling pretty good. 300 yards further I started to feel the first sign of cramps. Doh! Shoulda grabbed the Clif Blocks!

About a mile further my right hamstring cramped. I got off the bike and started hitting it, drank a bunch of water, forced my leg straight and started pushing my bike. I had it worked out by the time the trail eased up enough to ride. Made it up to where the bag piper had been, but sadly he was gone. The course was getting pretty empty at this point. I was running into fewer racers and far fewer spectators.

I was starting to have some real trouble clipping into my pedals because the dust had scrubbed all the oil off my pedals and cleats.

I caught Nacho Libre from Texas and we chatted a bit heading into the water station by the lake. I filled up with more water here and asked the spectators if they had any chain lube. All I got in return was laughter and hazing. As I was leaving I heard a racer come in and say “there is some real seriousness out there.” Referring to the idea that people (who were clearly not going to win, myself included) were taking the race too seriously and maybe should have been focusing more on having fun.

Got to the creek crossing before the lake, saw a giant pink bunny holding a can of Tecate and asked him and his crew if they had any chain lube. I got the same laughter and hazing from this group.

I was starting to see a theme. There is very much a scene at this race, a scene I was hoping would not be here. A very ‘cool’ scene. I was clearly not very ‘cool’ because I was asking for chain lube.

We all need love. Especially the kids. Parents, love your kids. By the way, have I mentioned that I think that people who ride single speeds on a regular basis were not shown enough love by their mothers?

Where was I? Lap three.

Heading away from the lake on the hike-up-the-slickrock section I saw Tiffany one switchback below me. We tugged back and forth a bit and she got in front of me going down a technical section, then, then, then she was frickin’ gone! She completely dropped me. Well, I’ll be. Hammer time! I caught up with her at the dry creek crossing and passed her shortly thereafter. Flew down the fire road with water breaks and across the bridge. Coming up to the last climb a gentleman in a t-shirt that read “WHITE TRASH” encouraged me to dig deeper and informed me that there were only 500 meters to go. Meters? What kind of white trash American gives out information in metric units? The next guy up the hill informed me in a clear fashion that I had about ½ mile to go. Sweet, pass anybody in sight and don’t let anybody by.

I caught the fixed guy at the paved road crossing right as both of my calves started to cramp. He had his feet resting on his top tube. I spun as fast as I could and put my hand on his back helping him forward a bit. As the fire road turned up for the last little section before the finish I went as hard as I could go to the finish.

Some stranger put a bottle opener in my jersey pocket that said Finisher #94. According to my GPS I finished in 2 hours 59 minutes. I laid down my bike, chugged a Coke and searched for a beer and a shower.

This is me, cooked, at the end of the race.

Race - Howell Mountain Challenge

Downieville was my first long race in Expert. I've done some local series in Expert, but those were limited to about 1 1/2 hours at the most. I was really curious how this would shake out.

Got the bike ready the day before, got up at 4:45 am for the 3 hour drive from Nevada City to Angwin. Had plenty of time to warm up and drop off some bottles for the 2nd and 3rd laps. About half way into my warm up my rear shifting started acting up. I've been having problems with my rear shifting sticking very badly, I have new XTR rear der, put on new housing and the cable is relatively new. I've also had trouble with my SunRace rear cassette coming loose and the chain jumps around when this happens. My drivetrain is a mess!

Tightened the cassette and went to the start line.

Started at the very front of my group. When we hit the first bit of singletrack there were only two people behind me. I started flailing early on. I started passing people right after that and kept passing. First lap I kept slipping and sliding around the tight corners and kept my HR around 183 on the climbs. Traded pulls with a few people on the first lap but didn't catch anyone else.

Second lap I dropped dumped a water bottle and decided to race with just one bottle and rely on the water feeds for the rest of my hydration.

The second lap started out pretty good. I was feeling tired but pretty strong around the reservoir and hammered into the singletrack. I was having some serious shifting problems now and only had about four gears in the back, not always the same four, just a random four. I mostly relied on my front three.

After the first water zone a single speeder caught me and suggested we should catch the guy in front of us. So, I hammered down the fire road descent, the one with the water breaks and gaps. Fast, so fast. Didn't exactly realize I could descend that fast that comfortably. That was fun! Caught the guy we were trying to at the start of the last climb before the giant whoop-de-doos.

Third lap I dumped my empty water bottle and grabbed a new one. I was very tired now, my shifting was getting even worse (I was now having trouble with my front shifter now too, so much stiction my thumbs were hurting from shifting), my shock was getting a lot of stiction and my (five year old Crossmax) slick ceramic rims were locking up in an unpredictable manner. Awesome! So, I just trudged along, keeping my HR between 165 and 177. I downed Gu packets and keep my head together. I had some *almost* cramping in my legs. They would hesitate a bit when I pushed them but never actually went into cramping. A good thing.

After the second feed station I went as hard as I could and passed a few people on the last climb, the whoop-de-doos and the road leading to the finish.

According to the prelim results I got 4th, out of how many, I don't know. They only showed four deep. I was 3:08 off of third place. Not bad for my second real Expert race.

I am thrashed. I feel worse than I did after Downieville.

My time on my Polar HR was 2:46:16, average HR of 174, Max HR of 238 (the Polar has a tendency to get this REALLY wrong).

First Lap – 54:52, Av HR – 175, Max HR – 238 (wrong!)

Second Lap – 50:49 (no HR data???)

Third Lap – 1:00:33, Av HR 181, Max HR 220 (wrong!)

Race - Prairie City Race #1

11.86 Miles
958 Feet Climbing
48 Minutes
683 Calories
183 Average HR
192 Max HR

I ended up doing this race on the singlespeed because I thought it was going to rain. It didn't rain, but I did have an awesome race. Felt great through the race, didn't lose too many places on the flats and passed tons of people on the climbs and descents. This was a great singlespeed course. There were over 500 people racing, it was kinda like racing in downtown traffic. That part sucked. I'm #63.



Still waiting for results to be posted.

Race - Cool Mountain Bike Race

2008 Cool Mountain Bike Race
Two laps on the Olmsted Loop in Cool, CA.


19.36 Miles
2426 Feet Climbing
1:34 Hours
1353 Calories
180 Average HR
199 Max HR (Holy Crap!)
83 Average Cadence (But this is only for the last mile, when it decided to start working.)

I have done the Cool Mountain bike race five of the last six years. Last year I got third in the Sport category and I was hoping to better that result. Considering how much I have been training, it was a goal that was not unachievable.

I did the Tune Up and Warm Up that my coach prescribed. During my warm up my large water bottle, filled with Cytomax, had the bottom fall out and leaked all over my drive train. I had two small bottles, full of water, with me and ended up using only those. My cadence sensor wouldn't work, I attempted to revive it but to no avail. Already I was feeling unprepared....
The race plan that I had decided upon the previous night was to stay with the race leaders on the first lap and then pull away from them and hopefully crush them on the second.

I lined up at the start with about 20 other Sport racers in my age category. Just before we started we were told that ALL of the Sport racers would be going together, the younger men, older men and all the women. Some in my group got to the very front of the start and I lost sight of them right as the race started. We bottle necked within the first few hundred feet at the start of the singletrack. I passed as many people as possible, my heart rate spiking at 199 bpm, but there were still quite a few people in front of me. I couldn't tell who was and was not in my age group.

I kept passing people up the first climb, trying to keep my breathing in check and not overdoing it. I passed people going down the fast doubletrack, going down this faster than I ever have. The first creek crossing created a bottleneck as did the steep climb following. I followed some slower riders down the next track-and-a-half section and started trying to pass more people on the next long steep climb. I caught some more racers on the descent into Knickerbocker creek and was slowed by them until after the creek crossing and the climb out. I passed a few more on the following up and down sections and yo-yo'd with a few more.

I got up to the next section of singletrack, a tight ribbon, gently flowing down with tall grass on either side. I quickly caught a female single speeder that was going slower than me. With no place to pass I tried to get my breathing back under control and recover for the climb to follow.

After some more double track I came to the bog section. There was nobody close in front of me so I tried to watch the riders far in front of me to see the best line. I saw a rider disappear into the bog and decided that was NOT the line to take. However, because he was so far ahead of me, my perspective was skewed and I ended up taking his exact line. I ended up in the bog, hub deep. Bummer, indeed.

I fought with racers back and forth on the following climbs back to the start/finish, the beginning of my second lap.

At the lap marker I took some water and a Gu packet. Into the first singletrack section, thankfully, there was nobody in front of me and I was able to take the first jump for fun. I was able to carry my speed through the second jump into an immediate left turn. Up to the top of the next short hill, pick up my second water bottle and fly down the next descent with a high speed jump and then a high speed right hand turn.

The following singletrack descent and climb was a blur of crazy fast descending and lactic threshold climbing, with an open seat bag spilling all my tools as a bonus. Bonus! I was no longer carrying my tools, extra CO2 cartridges or second spare tube.

About the half way mark I caught a racer in my class. I figured by now I was up near the very front of my category, maybe this guy was the race leader. I pulled up behind him on the pavement descent, drafted him a bit, then pulled out in front and sprinted for the singletrack. Before the descent into Knickerbocker creek I looked back to see where he was, right on top of me, Bastard!

I pulled away from him on the climb out of Knickerbocker, keeping my heart rate around 184 bpm. I kept him at bay on the next descent too. On the next climb he caught me, we yo yo'd a bit, until I dropped my chain trying to get into granny gear. I cursed, got off my bike, tried to control my breathing, put the chain back on and started pedaling. At the top of the hill a single speeder let me by because the tight ribbon of singletrack was coming up again. Within seconds I caught another singlespeeder. I tried going around him but couldn't get any speed up on the grass and he wasn't willing to yield any speed to let me by. This is a fine way to piss off somebody when you are racing, fyi. After the singletrack opened to double track again I thanked him and wished him a good day as I dropped his lousy ass.

My competitor had caught another in our group (guess he wasn't race leader) and I had them in sight, only about 10 seconds ahead. I had the bog ahead to deal with and a good deal of climbing as well.

I kept my heart rate at 184 bpm (btw, my Lactic Threshold is 180) and alternated between standing and seated climbing. I gave it my all, got a better line in the bog and was pushing with all I had. Near the top of the next to last climb I saw they had caught another racer in my class, a team mate of mine. For fuck's sake, how many racers in my class were in front of me?!

I figured at this point there were three in front of me in my class and I wasn't reeling them in fast enough. Fourth place is as good as last so I backed off and made sure I didn't lose any position. A few older sport racers passed me but nobody else in my class caught me. I rolled into the finish line humbled and ready for my rinse off and beers.

I ended up with 7th place. In years past I would have probably considered this a good finish, but not this season. First place is the only one i'd have been pleased with.

Consolation prize is that I was only a little over five minutes off the leader. Had I gotten a better start and made a few other race decisions better maybe I could have made that up.

After the race I won some raffle prizes which were worth far more than my entry fee. That made me feel better too.

Year after year, Cool is a really fun race with great competition and awesome raffle prizes.