Monday, September 10, 2012

Sandbox Nightmare? Or the best fun ever?

I drove up to Vancouver Wa for the Het Meer GPTB race on sunday knowing that I have to miss the local tuesday night cross race this week and thought it would be good for my skills. The course was well suited for me with a lot of fast up and down sections and tight trees, and a huge 200 meter sand section. The start of the sand was over 6 inches deep but get better after you entered it.

In the A race I practiced before hand and easily made it through the sand and was sure that I would do fine. First lap I was golden through there. But on another section of lap two I burped out most of my air in the front tire, leading to two small wrecks with the poor handling. I was bummed and knew that my tire was done for. So I thought I should go out in a blaze of glory and went for a flier into the sand. And below is the result of such thought out plans.

photos compliments of Matt Haughey



So this was the end of my Men's A race at Het Meer only 12 minutes into the hour long race. I was bummed but refused to not be able to race. With the help of Forest Wilson we ghetto rigged my bike into a singlespeed using my inner chainring and a 17 tooth cog. I signed up for round two and raced the Men's Singlespeed race.

You would think after such a wreck that I would take it easy in the sand. But not me, I wanted to master my sand skills. So for 3 of the 6 laps in the 45 minute race I again played with my face in the sand pit. Riding it twice and then finally running it last lap to not loose anymore positions. I figure in total that I lost over a minute and 5 places to my sandpit time.

In the end I finished 20th out of 47 on a ghetto singlespeed that I had to be careful not to shift to nowhere.

I love cross, even when I am not doing well. I guess I also need to work on my sand riding abilities.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

My 1st "real" CX race

So this has been a great Mt. Bike season (its not over yet), and I've been enjoying it immencely. Needless to say this CX season has snuck up on me. Mid last week I casually heard someone say "1st Harlow race is next Tuesday"...... Mixed emotions followed that statement. Mostly excitement but I'd be lying if I didn't say there was a bit of nervousness (never ridden a CX bike before) and some sadness (sign of the end of summer).

There was only one thing to do and that was to head to the Stoemper Compound and start getting my bike ready. About a year ago I'd started helping Stoemper with some machining and small part design and I'd worked enough hours to justify them giving me one of Ben Berdens retired frames from last season (it even came with a BB full of Belgium mud for good luck). Just so happens we have a few things in common. None of those things happen to be fitness or bike handling skills sadly but we like the same bike geometry and also classic monster tattoos.

So late Wednesday afternoon Todd and I started assembling my newish 'cross bike. Some parts were donated, some were purchased, some were pillaged from my road bike. All I know is that at 1:00am after consuming an infant sized burrito and a few beers I had a complete bike (minus some nobbys that I got from a teamate the next day).


Last minute Fankenbuild
On the way home I realized how snappy and quick the bike was and some of the nervousness went away. The next day I got in about 30min of practice with the team and got to show off my new ride. It hooked up pretty good in the turns and the only thing that seemed to make me hesitant were how bad the brakes are (Im getting used to it). Some more of the nervousness went away. Over the weekend I was guiding Mt Bike Tours for Oregon Adventures and didn't get a chance to touch the 'cross bike. I logged nearly 95 miles of singletrack and on Monday my legs felt like Jello. That night I though about crashing, cramping, and suffering. The nervousness came back.

Tuesday's workday couldn't go by fast enough and when I got to Camp Harlow I got registered and did a couple slow laps on the course. I was able to hold my lines in the turns, the tires seemed predictable, my legs weren't great but the jello feeling had gone away, and there was a sprinkler to ride through that was creating a bit of a bog. The nervousness was gone and I was STOKED! I toed the line toward the back of my category but I was ready to ride fast and take chances.


Looking for a hole to shoot passed Spencer
I rode aggresive and held my lines into the singltrack. I avoided a few roots and rocks that ended up flatting a couple people. Although my form is poor I managed to clear the barriers quickly (with only a few stutter steps). Coming into the bog I was right where I wanted to be, mid pack 6th of 14 and ready to move up a few spots on the next lap. I chose a line through the bog that I'd ridden fast in my practice laps ..... WHOOOAAHHH! Irrigation sprinklers lay down a good amount of water in a short amount of time. Before I new it I was sliding on my left side for 20ft or so and right off the side of the course like I was on a slip n slide. I managed to keep my right hand on the bars and my bike stayed with me so when I stopped sliding I hopped up, I had to unjam my front brake from under the rim and then I rode as fast as I could to catch the 3-4 people that just passed me. I managed to ride good lines on the technical sections and not lose to much time on the open flats and even though my legs were shot I caught a few riders to finish 7th. All in all it was a good time and I'm now officially addicted to Cross..... and I'm definately looking forward to my visit to my favorite Massage Therapist.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Climbing back on the dusty/muddy pony

Look at the action blur, I must be riding really fast

So in cycling there are three major seasons. Mountain biking, road(which most of our team doesn't even do) and the holy cyclocross season. This year I have been able to do many things for cycling in the area but most of it included me not riding my bike. I have dedicated myself to as much cross as my life and body can handle.

My prior form: winning the 2011 Men's B State Champs

Last year I came into the cyclocross season in stellar shape and rode to many great finishes, ending up 3rd overall in the Cross Crusades and men's B state champion. All that great form and riding earned me a forced upgrade to the A's to ride with the big boys. Now here is the challenge the races are longer, faster, and I am less fit.

Into the mud bog: great add on for a dry race
That being said I was excited to go and suffer and see what my legs could do at this point, and was less worried about riding with the A's cause the first twilight races are normally only 35-40 minutes. So it was a big surprise when we lined up and they said have fun you are racing 60 minutes. Camp Harlow is a fun course in Eugene and it was setup in a way that I have never ridden it which always adds to the fun.


The course was super fast and dusty dry, until the first race started. In one corner of the course near the corn field the sprinklers came on, leading to a super large mud puddle, and a sharp left hand turn. Which led to more than one slip and slide fall. Hollis Brake slide like 25 feet with a smile on his face the whole time.
This doesn't get any easier as the laps roll on


In my race I knew I was not trying to win but just trying to not get dominated. I rode strong and hard and was riding near the back of the A's and felt myself remembering all the pains that come with cross racing the back aches, the arms being vibrated almost off the bars, and almost constant lack of air. When I thought I was nearing the finish I looked up at the lap board hoping to see 2 laps left and it read 5 laps. That is a lot of laps when you feel like you are gonna fall off your bike.

I kept it pinned as best as I could but I was loosing steam. Then a challenge started to come my way, Steve Hauck a singlespeed racer was gaining on me and about to catch me, I held him off for the last lap and half and then heard that horrible pop off my front tube blowing up. Shit happens....... no reason to get mad. I finished off 60 minutes of riding with running a mile as hard as I could with my bike to finish DFL. But a DFL in my book is always better than a DNF.

So the season has started with dust and mud, mechanicals and many smiles. It only gets harder, cause as you race better you have to ride harder, which is fine in my book.