Cross Crusade #3 and 4: Broken bikes and Aggressive Riding

To recap on my last two recent races I had great results on road racer friendly courses under dry conditions and long road sections. Not my style of course.

Looking tough makes you fast right? Photo from pdxflint

At PIR I was sitting in 6th place in the B's and had a explosive failure of my carbon seatpost upon remounting. Luckily I kept the bike upright and had not impaled myself. But trying to maintain my position was another matter. I had to ride through tight turns and off cambers and an uphill section all out of the saddle as I no longer had a saddle. This lead to a fade of 4 spots as I fought and sprinted to keep 10th. Not bad considering no saddle and I didn't let my bike try to mate with me.

Washington County Fairgrounds last weekend was another dry course with long straight aways. I attacked myself into a hole right off the gun going from 4th on the first lap and fading a  position or two a few laps in.  By the last lap I was in 8th place and being over taken going into the barriers when I forgot how to unclip. Luckily the guy right behind me was wearing a helmet camera and caught my stupidity. (I am still looking for that video.) I decided that I was going to let camera man from Trusty Switchblade beat me so I chased hard coming into the twisty 180 degree switchback section of the course. Here I used my body and bike handling to squeeze around camera man. This lead him into a fence but he was ready for this game and push right back sending me towards a tree at the next corner. We traded very physical barbs through another 5 or 6 turns and fought all the way to the line. In the end I prevailed over camera man and he conceded for 9th place. We shook hands afterwards and I invited him over to our team tent to have a Ninkasi Beer (compliments of Ninkasi). I am still looking for him to post that video but I think it will be entertaining.

My last part of this write up is about breaking bike parts and learning to dial in my own bike. I do bike fitting as a physical therapist but often stop my adjustments at fit. Also its hard to be precise and bike fit yourself. That being said I had to put on a new saddle and seatpost after PIR and was reminded why you need to play with your fit. I rode around with my saddle too low and felt the good old quad burn. I have to be careful as this was a symptom of knee pain for me in the past so know your bike position feel, and if its not right have someone who knows the human body take a look.

Tensegrity Physical Therapy, my work in Eugene has been a great host to the team and the Tensegrity principles often apply to the bike as well as people. For instance after finishing my race, I like a donkey drove over my Mavic training wheelset. (I was sure they were done for). But this was a great lesson for me, I learned to tru my wheels. Truing wheels is like fixing people, you need to add or decrease tension in certain areas to make the wheel roll straight, or make a person function optimally.

P.S. Keep an eye out for us race 5 and 6 in Bend, we will have another tasty Ninkasi Keg there for all you non Deschutes people.

The tails of a true beginner; PIR cross race and beyond.

I should start off by telling you all a little bit about myself. I am a runner, always have been, I run a lot, I don’t bike and going into my first race on a bike I had about 6hrs of ridding bikes under my belt for the entire year. I am scared of single track and going down hill fast. I was roped into biking by my great friend Taylor (the superb P.T. from the wonderful Tensegrity Physical Therapy Clinic). I really started doing it because I liked the indoor (short) trainer rides and abb workouts we did last winter, but when Mt. biking season started I pretty much stopped all form of team training. I was training for the Eugene and Portland marathons so biking got in the way of my running. I kept saying wait until I’ve run the Portland then I’ll change gears. True to my word I’m doing cross. I think it’s the best for me anyway. I don’t have to worry about too much down hill or super fast crits to get bunched up in. I can just ride hard, crank out the miles and race.

So I raced my first race in Eugene, one of those Tuesday night races, long story short I road into loose dirt and ate shit lost my chain, a wonderful reverse breakaway every time I hit single track, followed by the second to last lap ridding too fast into loose gravel eating shit loosing my chain and a good amount of skin. I finished about 8^th out of 15 with a DNF or two or so people, but UN deterred.

Second race ever, now with 7 hrs of ridding under my belt (including the 30 min commute out there on my bike and the 30 min race the week before). I felt good road hard, and flatted on the second to last lap. I ran into the pit but had no spare wheel waiting so I DNFed.

Third race, I decided to just go for it, I had got a tubeless set up through the team bike shop (lovely Collins off of 11^th in Eugene, wonderful place) so I was feeling good about everything. I took off from the start staying ahead of everyone into the first turn, and then just held it from there. Other than a pile up when I started to run into the back of the C’s, where a fellow rider who will remain nameless flipped over his handle bars and head butted me in the ass, the race was pretty un eventful. I worked my way up about halfway into the C’s before the race was over. Good job me, look out Portland beginners.

I didn’t ride for the next 2 weeks, week one coming before the Portland marathon (PR and broke 3 hrs), then having a week break. So PIR was my first race back I was excited to kick some ass, with a bigger field, maybe some more competition to battle for first place. Spencer Bushnell promptly informed me, that you get no props for winning a beginner race even if it is only your 4^th race ever…

So there I was getting ready to ride, stuck in (almost) the back of the pack (if I had been in the back I would have gotten a coupon for a free six pack), waiting for the start of my first C race, in a field of about 160 other C’s, not really knowing what to expect. I quickly learned that you have to be aggressive if you want to move up the ladder. I finally got to a point where I could cruse a little bit by the time I got around for my second lap. Sadly ridding so slow the first lap didn’t really give me any idea of what the course was like, plus not getting a preride at all let alone with Wes to tell my how to ride every corner and obstacle, made it challenging. I learned as I went, never really getting the hang of most of the turns or corners, but I kept passing people and working my way up in the standings. I did however get very down trodden when I was passed by a group of 3 fast guys on lap 5 of my eventual 6 laps, I thought I was being lapped, but it turned out that it was just the Clydesdales who had started a min after us.

Long story short I got 40^th and I’m excited for my next race, and think I’m going to have to invest in a ss bike so I can race in two races a day, because one is just not enough for me, and while I may be lacking the skills, I’m not lacking the cardio, so the more time racing in the saddle the better for me.

Cross Crusade #2: My Revenge On Rainer

There is nothing worse than feeling great in a race and being near the front to have mechanicals keep you from finishing. Last year I was sitting in the top 10 and flatted, running to the pits to only have failure. This was my first and only DNF in a bike race.

Fast forward a year and I was vibrating at the start line ready to make up for my past mistakes. This year I came armed with Reynolds Carbon Tubulars with Grifos filled with Stans tubeless sealant. This is a mean, green, non flatting machine. Also I had a spare set of wheels in the pits.

This is what you need to not flat. They work :)

Having finished 3rd at Alpenrose in the B's I had a nice front row start. I knew I was gonna need it with the climb at Rainer. If you haven't raced Rainer it is the hilliest cross race in Oregon, and once you fall back in the pack its hard to move up. I attacked off the gun and was the first to the top of the climb. This caused a little bit of a reverse break away for me as I slid back into about 15th by the second lap. I grinded up that climb 4 more times for a total of 6 laps. Amazed at how long 45 minutes really is. I had one mishap and lost my chain but only lost a spot or two. In the end I had fought my way back to 12th. Its not a victory but it was a good race, with a solid finish.

Taylor through the barriers: photo from Dave Roth 

Ryan Garner raced his first race as an A. To be honest it made me glad to have a few more races in the B's. Ryan is fast but so are all the rest of the A's. He rode for 60 minutes instead of 45 minutes and they rode faster for the whole time. My hats off to Ryan and soon I will be in pain chasing your wheel again.

Ryan Garner: photo from Oregon Cycling Action

Julie Berkbuegler raced her second cross race and rode hard, making 3 laps and finishing 34th. She looked sore but was all smiles post race. She repeatedly said that she needs to ride her bike more and I think this race will give her that inspiration. Climbing that hill is no joke.

Julie ripping down hill. Look at the determination.

The Beginning of a Cyclo Cross Junkie

TENSE and GRITY girls (Meaghan Bull and Julie Berkbuegler)

I spent the last three years watching my good friend Lindsay Jones (AKA the GOAT) race and I always knew I wanted to get out there play in the dirt and scrap some knees on bikes. Finishing grad school opened up that space for me to race cyclocross and I LOVE THIS SPORT!

I feel the old athlete that I was return to my blood. But to tell you the truth I need to be on my bike more then once a week(at the races) and if I want to take this a little more serious I will be. Currently I like this phase of my new racing career, it almost feels like the beginning of a long lasting relationship(We are on our 5th or 6th date).

I am writing my first race report for cyclocross after the third Cross Crusade, which had quite a few members on the Tensegrity PT cycling team ready to rumble. Alexander Jole(AKA Ken doll) raced his first big race in the beginner men's peddling his long legs and showing some love for the sport. From what I understand he is just as excited about cross as I am. Alexanders older cousin Spencer Ardt and marathon runner raced his first cross crusade, racing in the Men's C's he passed 93 men to rank 40th out of 133.

Deireck Ritter also came out and raced his first crusade race jumping head first into the B's and killing it finishing 40th! Taylor Bushnell rode an impressive 10th place...hard enough to snap his seat post off his bike. He finished 10th only losing 4 spots to the mechanical(he won the coveted prize of having not spearing himself with his seatpost). Ryan Garner was looking good racing his second week as a A. Life is hard playing with the big boys but he is doing well with it. John Muyskins was riding hard until he split his groin. That pulled him back a few spots and now he is sitting in recovery. Dave Bisers was charging in the top 30 in SS and showing off some of his skills by bunny hoping over the concrete barrier, only to flat on the last lap(Next time Dave).

At the moment I have been either sitting at the middle of the pack or in the top third of the beginner women's field. I finished 21st this week after finishing in the 30's the first two weeks. My goal is to move up from 21st to 15th next week, so there are five ladies I want to take down!....I plan on riding my bike a little more this week. Megan Bull also hammered it in the women's race and moved up showing her serious grit though her girlness!

So stay in touch as I followup on my new relationship with cyclocross racing. Like I said it will be a hot steamy, full of ups and downs, and occasional bruises.

Cross Crusade: Alpenrose Dairy - Good Cross, Bad Stink

That is Mike Rosenberg yelling at me to stop being slow
Photo from Oregon Cycling Action

So in Oregon when it come to cyclocross its all about the Cross Crusades. The opening race is always the biggest with tons of vendors and cyclocross carnage everywhere. For me its the start of the Holy season from Cross Crusade #1, thru USGP's in Decemeber. For the devout dirty man every sunday involves some combination of blood, sweat, mud and tears.

I wanted to take a different approach on this season from last year, as I peaked at the first race and went downhill every race after Alpenrose. So this year I have been working slowly into the season racing less in September. My goal was to get a call up in the mens B's. Last year I got 7th without a call up and bad lineup position, so I expected to do worse than last year.

Trying to stay near the front of the race, dont I look like Im having fun
Photo from Jens Voigt's Army

I lined up 7th row of 9 rows(86 finishers), with my teammate and friend Ryan Garner lined up front row with a call up. I was wondering if I could even get close to him in the race. The race started in blaze as I attacked up the left side jumping up 3-4 rows in the first lap. As I settled in during the second lap I was already pushing my way through the top 15. By lap 3, I was in 2nd place with only my teammate Ryan infront of me. For the next 2 laps I chased down Ryan, having his best race ever.

Ryan looking at an empty course as he leads the race
Photo from Jens Voigt's Army

At one point I got the gap down to 10 seconds but that is the closest I could get. In the closing lap I was trying to gain on Ryan when I realized I had a guy charging hard behind me. I picked it up as much as I could and then started throwing in all the blocks I could. But when the course climbed back up he powered past me. I yelled at Ryan to watch out but this guy just kept gaining time on Ryan. In the end the other guy won, Ryan got 2nd(2 seconds down) and I got 3rd(16 seconds down).

Now I have my call up for the season and my best finish ever, but if I keep riding this good its time to go up to the A's and race for mid pack finishes.

Other Tensegrity PT racers did awesome as well, with Dave Bisers getting 15th in SS and Jon Muyskens getting 93 in SS. Dave got his call up in one of the most competitive fields in Oregon. Julie Berkbuegler raced her first Crusade in the women's beginner race and finished 30th(Julie's awesome photo), and Meagan Bull finished 60th, both having a blast and looking faster and smoother with their technical skills.

Bisers climbing like a madman

Jon winding thru the dairy

Meagan Bull (NOT IN HER TEAM KIT) Good race but get your kit on!

High Cascades 24 HR Race: 272 Miles of Smiles, and a Win!

Smile for the camera. Dirt taste good.

Originally I wasn't planning on racing the new 24 hour race that Mike Ripley was putting on, but I had a call from a teammate two weeks before the race offering me a free spot on a 4 man team. So without mountain bike racing or riding my mountain bike hard in almost 2 months I quickly said yes.

Winners: 1st place Open 4-man team 17 laps = 272 miles

The 4 man team was compliments of Jake Rosenfeld and his Fry Shack. My teammate Dave Bisers and I, were riding with two other friends of Jake's named Brian Gerow and Jon McCoy. First off I never had even met these two guys but I can tell you they rock. Brian is a legit singlespeeder in mountain and cross, and Jon is killer cat 2 road racer.

So we had our newly formed team (Team Fry Shack). Of course Ninkasi came through and gave us a Keg of Believer Red Ale for the race. Also Collin's Cycle Shop hooked me up with all the pre-race essentials before hand.

Time to race, but who was going to do the first leg of the race? That was quickly decided once we found out that we had to do Lemond Start running 800 meters on a dirt road. I was chosen as I had been on a run a few weeks prior. That made me the only person on the team to go on a run this year. At 11 AM Mike Ripley shot off his starter gun and the fun began.

I rocked the first lap in 95 degree heat in 1 hour and 20 minutes including the run and 16 miles of mountain biking. The other crappy thing about starting the race beside running is that all the riders were bunched up making the Wonaga Trails in Bend super dusty. I came back looking like miner covered head to toe in brown dust and coughing like a pack a day smoker.

We quickly moved up from 15th, to 8th, to 5th, to 4th overall. We were cruising with 3 teams in front of us, but none were in the open 4 man category. This became a even greater challenge as night set in. Also I surprised that many racers wouldn't visit our keg. They were too into the racing for some, but as the night wore on we started getting more visitors.

Brian Gerow being fast and cool

Dave Charging it at Night

Dave Charging during the day

I look tired, this is lap 5 going for 80 miles

The best recovery food for racing is French Fries and beer, cause that stuff kept us rocking all night.  Brian kept the fastest laps through out the day and night with both him and I putting in 1 hour and 15 minutes, Dave did the best job not fading his times in the dark. Jon a veteran roadie who hadn't ridden a mountain bike in years was rocking 1:20 to 1:35. In total we put in 17 laps for 272 miles. That was 5 laps for me for 80 miles, and 4 laps for 64 miles for the other three Fry Shack studs.

High Cascades 100ish MTB race: A testament to pain and suffering

Attempting to find a reason for living 60 miles into the race

It is a well known fact on the west coast that Mike Ripley of Mudslinger events puts on the best mountain bike races. But sometimes I personally forget that his races tend to be the most brutal and punishing physical and mental races around. This last weekend I did my final mountain bike race of the season in Bend, Oregon at the High Cascades 100. The race began at 5:30 am at the Wanoga trail complex half up towards Mount Bachelor, and was a balmy 34 degrees. By the time it was all said and done it had gotten all the way up to 85+ Degrees.

The High Cascades 100 MTB Map, 106 miles with over 12,000 ft of climbing

Now I have done a few other endurance events in the past the Cascade Cream Puff 100 on a singlespeed, one 12 hour solo race, and two 24 hour solo races, plus three of Mike's Test of Endurance 50 mile races. I expected that this race would roll smoothly, considering all my previous suffering. But unfortunately that is not how these races work. Each one hurts just as much after enough hours. But that being said I would have to put my suffering at the High Cascades as my all time hardest experience on a bike.

Errors from a race ego made the suffering and race time even worse for myself. I overcooked myself 3 weeks before the race and was completely overtrained, leading me to have to take time off the bike. So I came into the race with 4-5 rides in three weeks. At this point I should have changed my goal time, as I was hoping to finish between 9 and 10 hours. Instead I went out hard from the start, like I was in perfect shape and rode the first 35 miles in 3 hours sitting in the top 30. I felt great at that point. But the euphoria quickly vanished in the next 10 miles or so.

Me jumping my bike and feeling like hot stuff with ONLY 80 + miles left to ride

The race went through three different loops with some overlap. The aide stations were awesome and well run with good food and water. Another lesson I learned is I hate Hammer Nutrition products. I was given a bottle of perpetuem 60 miles in, and it destroyed my stomach. I also had to full gel flasks of Huckleberry Hammer Gel. I dont plan on eating either of those products for atleast a year.

Photo from Thom Parsons from Cycling Dirt. Read his highly entertaining commentary on his blog. I especially like his helmet-less biker story.
The Aide Stations were so good, a cyclist aka fat kid dream foods

Leaving the Aide station at mile 87 was rough. The guys running the station did what they were supposed to and gave false hope that there was only 3 more miles of climbing left. In reality we had 19 miles left to ride and most of that was uphill. I rode really hard for the first three miles so that I could be done with the mythical end of the climbing. I turned myself inside out to reach the ridge line but this was far from the end of the climbing. At this point I had to have a few talks with bicycle. The two of us had a huge argument in the woods and almost broke up.

Climbing the mythical last 3 mile climb to finish

Quickly realizing that I was fading hard I was Ok, I am going to finish the race is 10 hours, then I readjusted, I will finish in 11 hours......Crap can I finish in under 12 hours? The answer was yes but not by much. I came in 11 hours and 47 minutes demoralized, beat, cramped head to toe but atleast I finished. My friends also raced Doug Turnbull, Jeff Standish and my brother Spencer Bushnell. Each having there own crazy adventures. Doug and my brother finished in 10:40 to 10:50 respectively. Jeff was around 12:30.

So mountain bike racing is over for the year. It is time to relax, ride for fun and drink a few Ninkasi beers. Stay tuned for some other cycling posts and the coming Cyclocross race season.

Test of Endurance 50, and test of bringing gear for Ryan, plus Cramps of DOOM!

The 6th Annual Test of Endurance 50 mile MTB race was a perfect mix of climbing and technical single track this year. Leave it to Mike Ripley to put on and run the best mountain bike races in the Northwest, if not the whole country.

Lucky number 100. Hmm maybe this is a sign of good things to come in the High Cascades 100 MTB race next month

 Before I go into my own race adventure my fellow teammate had a pre race adventure. A question to all the folks out there. How many times have you forgotten your helmet, or your gloves, or your shoes for a race. Inevitably this may happen at some point. But how many of you have left your helmet, gloves, jersey and bibs, and shoes for a race? Probably not many. What if this was your second time this season forgetting your race stuff.

Well this is exactly what good Ole Ryan Garner did. After a 6 am departure from my apartment we roll up at 7:30 for the race to realize Ryan forgot everything minus his bike. I am still confused at how this happened(for a second time this season). Anyways I kept it cool as Ryan was about to loose it. We started asking for extra gear from people and within 30 minutes we had a Helmet, shoes, pedals, a Trinity bike race kit and gloves all from different people. This is where I would like to thank Ninkasi for being such a great sponsor. Normally we handout beer to people under our team tent, but at this race we used the beer to make Ryan race ready. In the end it worked out well as Ryan got 2nd in the TOE for Cat 2, finishing his first endurance race in 5 hours and 12 minutes in all borrowed gear. I am proud of Ryan, but hell at this point I am surprised he didn't get lost and up in Canada.

Ryan on the podium with the only clothes he brought to the race. "Hey guys do you have some sorta clean bibs for me to wear?" 

My race was a blast. I have raced here two other times in 2006 and 2007. Finishing in 6 hour 35 minutes, and then 5 hours and 12 minutes in 07. This time I came into this race in the best shape I have been in as a cyclist. I planned on gunning it hard at the start and let my legs dictate my pace. This meant starting out at the front with Shannon Babcock and Erik Tonkin and all the other pros. The pace was similar to racing a 20-30 mile race.

I quickly realized about 30 minutes into the race that my legs would not tolerate riding with the top pros as the course shot straight up. Did I forget to mention the course had between 8,200-8,500 ft of climbing in 50 miles. Take a look.

After settling in at a pace that was painful but doable a fellow racer and nemesis Shane Johnson of Trinity Cycling, came up to me and asked how I was feeling. I did what any racer would do that understands the game. I told him that I was feeling great, but in reality I was ready to start riding easier. So I put on the burners to create a gap on Shane that has dogged me so many times this season and broke him. With Shane down, my next goal was to catch Doug Turnbull. Doug is a stellar rider. He exudes watts like chi energy and rips the legs off mere mortals in time trials. This season I have yet to catch him, but I have a glimmer of hope as Doug has an Achilles heel, and that is descending. That being said he shamed me and put 8 minutes on me to finish 2nd in Cat 1. For that he earned a Ninkasi beer.

Nice Bronto shirt Doug. Bronto bikes are super fine, and Ninkasi goes well with them. 

With that in mind I attacked hard from Aide Station 1 to try and make up some of the difference. This would have been fine if my water bottle didn't bounce out in the descent. I was left with half a bottle of water to drink over the next 15 or so miles. This came back to haunt me, as I had to ride easy the last 45 minutes of the race because of serious cramps coming on in muscles that I had forgotten that I had. The physical therapist in me was like oh that is my Adductor Magnus cramping(oouch). Ok get out of the saddle and my quads mostly my VMO and my gastroc in my calves ripped me back to the saddle with knife bending cramps.

Missing bottles = cramps of doom

So I grinded away in constant cramping closing in on the finish. I crossed the line in 4 hours and 39 minutes and 36 seconds. Cutting 33 minutes off my previous best time. Not too bad, but leaving me with room for improvement for next year. My goal for next year is to rock under 4 hours and 20 minutes with mullet. I think the mullet will drop atleast 5-10 minutes for me.

Dave Bisers also raced in singlespeed and rode his butt off for showing up right before the race, and having to leave directly after. Dave is the man, rides up and registers races, rolls across the finish drinks a beer, then drives back upto Portland to deal with his landlord. I am stocked for Dave as he is contemplating racing the Shenandoah 100 MTB race in Virginia in September.

Dave looking good on his custom Huckleberry 29er, made by Jake Rosenfeld

Return of the Jedi: Tensegrity rocks the Raffle and Podium Finishes to match.

Check out the bling!











Yes, if you couldn't read the branding on the chunks of log Ryan and Taylor are holding that's a 1st and 2nd respectively.

Let me start at the beginning ... Sunday morning Taylor Bushnell and Ryan Garner showed up at my (Dave Bisers) house at a quarter to five in the morning to take a trip down to the Return on the Jedi race put on by the Pistis team which is about 25 miles NW of Grant's Pass. After a few hours on I-5 cresting that pass and looking onto the Siskiyou's never gets old. After getting off I-5 and stopping for gas (and a special treat for Taylor; read further) our path continued along the beautiful Rogue river and then onto a forest service road to the race course.

After registration and a little warm-up with the 32:18 I wussed out and switched to a 20 tooth cog right before the start. After a litlle sprinkling at the start line Taylor and the rest of the Cat-1 field went off first with a lap around Saturday's short track loop (those who raced on Saturday could have also done a Super-D; I'm definetly am planning on making a whole weekend of it some future year) and took off on their 30 mile ride.

Ryan (Cat 2) and I (SS) started our 23 mile race off with a 4ish mile climb. From what I hear Ryan took the lead and swapped that position a few times during the climb but ultimatley crested the top in the lead and never gave it up. I personally witnissed what seemed like the entire SS and Cat 2 fields passing me shortly after the start as I attempted to spin my tiny little gear as fast as I could; there's something very absurd about singlespeeders racing on flat pavement. We climbed pavement for a while and then entered a short singletrack section where I proceeded to blindly cut the inside of corner trying to pass a slower ride only to discover 2 logs that I at crap on. After this section I climbed for another half hour or so. An aside: I started the graduate program at University of Oregon for Architecture last June. I was in pretty good shape that June and retained alot of that fitness through the cyclocross season but by the time the 2011 XC season started the hours in the studio and not riding had really taken its toll. This season I've been towards the back of the singlespeed field that in previous years I had gotten used to riding near the front of. Settling into a good rythm of sitting and standing on this first long climb and reeling in many of the Cat 2 racers was a good feeling. Its a signal that I'm really getting some of that old fitness back. I've got 3 months till the Shenandoah 100 and want to be in the best 100 miler shape I've ever been in for that race.

Then the fun stuff started. The climb tipped over into a screaming fast, loose, abandoned fire road descent which then turned into some slightly sketchy, ripping singletrack. That singletrack section was my favorite part of the course. I excel at the tech stuff, the loosier and sketchier a race course is the better my results. I got to bring back quite a few riders on this section. We bottomed out at a creek, probably the lowest part of this course, and settled in for a long and shallow (almost false flat) climb and got to actually look around appreciate the scenery this part of Oregon has to offer. The Rogue valley in the summer is more arid than us in the Williamette valley are used to and quite a nice change from all the rain we've had. After finishing this second long climb we were treated to the namesake of this race; the Jedi Trail. Three miles of rolling singletrack that required me to stay on the gas the whole time. When I hit the final bit of road back to the finish I had a smile on my face. For me the point of biking up a hill is so you can go down. Singletrack like that is what I live for.

Pistis put on a race that really exemplifies mountain biking. In addtion to providing a fantastic race course that they had a great barbeque. Ryan and I waited for Taylor to finish while eating some burgers and drinking some Ninkasi Oatmeal Stout and hanging out with Andrew and Maire who are also from Eugene.

Awards treated the team well where Taylor got 2nd place in the Cat 1 19-34, his first podium in that class in the season, and Ryan took the win in the Cat 2 19-34. He's well on his way to clinching the series title. We also got to see Maire get her 2nd place



and another great rider, Cosmic Miller, get his award.



This guy's the real deal. He's been traveling from Everett, WA to the entire OBRA XC series to contest the Cat 2 55+ category. I first met him racing the Sierra Tahoe 100 down in California and have seen him all over the Pacific Northwest since then.

Then the real event of the day started. The raffle. Ryan, Taylor, myself and the other 6 (?) people sitting at our picnic table each won something at that raffle. I've never seen such a dominant showing in my racing career. On the drive home we stopped at the same gas station on the way out where Taylor finally found what he's been looking for a long time.



This is how they roll in the Rogue Valley.



We cruised into Eugene around 5:30. Team Tensegrity laid waste to southern Oregon and was back home all in just over 12 hours. Great race and great showing by everyone involved. Now if we can just remember how to steer our road bikes in tomorrow's crit race.

Sisters Stampede with cowboys and all

Ahh, there is nothing like camping and bike racing on Memorial Day weekend. Just think, no work for 3 full days, a few cases of Ninkasi Beer, a new team tent(from Biota Sciences), and a teammates birthday. What more could someone ask for? This would be the sentiment for the weekend had the weather cooperated. Saturday night was accompanied with 2-3 hours of nonstop hail that looked like Mordor from the Lord Of the Rings and got down to the low 30s. And the weekend had lots of rain and wind(which may or may not have damaged the new team tent, which I promise to fix)

Race day I have the routine down for my energy needs. I Drank a protein shake 3-4 hour pre-race, followed by eggs, bacon, toast and hashbrowns and 4 cups of coffee. Decidedly a lite breakfast for me. The bike gods did listen to our weather concerns and cleared the skies during our race but left us with strong winds and 50 Deg temps for racing.

This was my first Sisters Stampede and I can say that it was a blast but not designed with me in mind. The cat 1 race was 27 miles only a mile further than the cat 2 race. But that mile was the best part of the race and the only mile that was suited to my riding style.

The race started as a flash with Chris Sheppard and Carl Decker leading the charge behind a cowboy on a horse shooting a gun in the air. I was hanging on for dear life with my 1 x 10 gearing on the flat jeep roads for 5 miles before hitting the singletrack and did an amazing reverse breakaway. If you aren't familiar with a reverse breakaway it is an amazing race tactic in which you ride as hard as you can, but everyone rides away from you like you are standing still.

So after reaching the singletrack 5 miles into the race, I finally got to do what I do best most of the time. Railing turns and dropping people in the rocky sections. I worked my way up through the field passing whenever I got the chance. The Peterson Ridge trail network is super fun, flowy, with lots of twists and turns and is really flat. In my case too flat. That being said I had a good loss of judgment after passing a group right before a small descent and washed out my front tire during a full speed descent. I laid there and with my left knee bloody and tried to stand up. But whenever I did my whole calf cramped up into a ball.

I finally got back up with my whole body hurting and my ego a little bruised. That wreck cost me atleast 2-3 minutes and a bike seat as my rails twisted(So I am in need of a new seat). I starting ramping up my speed again this time a little more reserved but found that I was able to catch every single person who had passed me while I was on the ground. Then we came into my favorite mile of the course the "cat 1/pro only" hill. It is a sweet section of the trail that is all tight rocky switch back climbs that are rideable if everyone infront of you doesnt stop, which they did. That was frustrating so I decided to do a little early cyclocross practice and shouldered the bike and ran past a bunch of guys that were walking uphill. I powered through that section and just tucked my head and dug deep all the way to the finish passing another cat 1 a few hundred meters from the finish.

Don't I look happy to be running uphill

I finished the 27 mile race in 1hr 59 min and 33 sec finishing 12th with a big wreck. Not too bad, maybe I will actually place well if I keep the rubber side down. To add to my strong finish, Loren Mason-Gere from Hood River whom I had beat in the last two races in the last mile or two confronted me. He told me that I crushed his soul coming by so quickly and dropping him at the end. For his great compliment he earned a Ninkasi beer from the team.

Loren Mason-Gere Ninkasi recipient(victim)

Lindsay raced and got 14th in the cat 1 women and Ryan got 9th in the Cat 2 men. Ryan also had to give a Ninkasi beer as a an offering to a local bike shop mechanic in Sisters. Ryan was sitting at breakfast before the race to realize he left his shoes in Eugene. He rushed off to the local bike shop and was ready to drop 100 dollars on shoes and cleats when one of the mechanics offered his own shoes, pedals and cleats for him to use. So that goes to show, you treat Tensegrity riders well, and beer will come your way.

Duck Bill Thrill 5-21-2011

All week we there had been reports of the water Temperature being a balmy 55, which in hindsight it would have been better had they just not told us what the temperature was because the water was warmer than the air at the starting point in the day.

I approached this race with some reservations, I am training for Ironman Coeur D’Alene so this was a workout in my plan, but one where I would have competition and thus really push myself.

As the largest showing of the Duckbill kicked off the water experience was not desirable. The large amount of people had made it a very crowded mass start in a course requiring two laps. When my face first hit the water it literally took my breath away because of the temperature, this was in addition to how eerily dark the water was with the cloud coverage.

After a few initial strokes I found my groove and really started to surge, so much so I questioned my pace due to many swimmers I was overtaking. I reminded myself that I had started at the back so it was bound to happen, telling myself “just race my own race” don’t pay attention to those around me. This lead to big PR on the swim with a time of 26:18, which amusingly was followed by a terrible transition time of 2:43, yes as in nearly 3 minutes putting on my helmet bike shoes and sunglasses….whoops

Fortunate for me I had no idea how terrible my transition was so I tore off on my new specialized Transition bike (compliments of Collins bike shop), this was the first race I where I had a chance to really get after it with some people to chase down. As I started to dial my speed up I was blown away by how easily I cruised past 23 mph with not nearly as much effort as I had been accustomed to. I finally found a pace where I was very uncomfortable but it was manageable and decided come hell or high-water I would race at this for the remainder. It took awhile for me pass enough of the field to find people who were racing at my pace for me to chase.

Throughout the bike leg I worked on pulling in two riders who were a quarter mile or more ahead of me and were keeping a difficult pace. At the half way mark I decided in my mind that I had made progress in gaining on them and my goal was to catch and pass them by the end of the bike assuming I could stay within my racing boundaries and not blow up. I did exactly this and managed to find myself strangely alone with less than 3 miles left on the bike course. When I came into T2 and finished my 1:05 40K there were not many bikes on the racks, which is when it finally occurred to me that I was actually close to the top 30.

With a 1:37 transition I kept my slow transitions streak alive and started out the process of regaining feeling in my feet. The first few miles I was negative splitting down from an initial 6:50 mile pace. At the half way point in the 10k, the uphill portion finally ended much to my delight and I pushed the pace. I got myself down to 6:30 and felt great, I hit the 1 mile sign as I crossed back over the Dam and enjoyed the beautiful Oregon view. Unfortunately the run ends with a fairly significant hill which pushed my pace back to finish me with a run time of 43:48.

Overall I finished with a 2:20:48 in 17^th place within a rather competitive field that featured people like Jesse Thomas who just won wildflower. I would say it was defiantly one of my best performances to date and it was clear that the new bike from Collins bike shop made a huge difference in my ability to hammer on those bike times. Turned out to be a gorgeous day and a great race, with lots of confidence coming off of this going into IMCDA I will hopefully have a positive race report post Ironman!

Team BBQ...brought to you by Ninkasi Brewing

This has been a fun filled evening of grilled faux-meats and delicious beer provided by our ever-generous sponsor Ninkasi Brewing Company. It has been a time of reminiscing a myriad of painful races and favorite rides. The essence of the Tensegrity Physical Therapy cycling team has been summed up in the totality of this evening; good times, good people, good beer, and good bikes.

Informal race reports, playful trash-talking the competition, and drinking some of the most delicious beer in the region; this is our way. All we desire is to bring good times and good vibes to our community of fellow cyclists.

Please tune in for further, more specific race reports, from many of our members. We have passed through the half-way point of the cross country mountain bike race season. Taylor has been killin it among the Cat I men, slowly working his way towards the top. Lindsey has been keeping herself very consistent in finishing strong among some of the strongest Cat I women in the area. Dave has been doing some serious work in the single speed category, reppin' a handbuilt Huckleberry frame out of Forest Grove, OR. Alexander competed in his first ever mountain bike race a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. I have been consistently doing better and better among the Category II men, bringing in my first ever win a couple of weeks ago.

Sitting here among teammates and talking about our goals and challenges, we wish to thank our sponsors. Thanks to Tensegrity Physical Therapy, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Collins Cycle Shop, Urban Farm Massage, and Biota Sciences. We are looking forward to working with many more local companies and continuing our racing efforts and bolstering the local racing community.

Spring Thaw, a race, an adventure, and good times thanks to Ninkasi

So after dealing with a sprained wrist all week, I decided that going to Ashland and racing was still in order, but made sure to tape my wrist up good. Historically I have always hated Spring Thaw. The race promoters always charge more money then the rest of the races. The race also was boring. It had a 7 mile gravel road climb followed by a 12 mile flat gravel road across the Ashland watershed followed by a fun but short single track descent.

This year the race promoters did awesome and changed the course. They removed the upper sections which get snowed out too often anyways and made the race a two lap 21 mile race with 5400 feet of climbing. Now I don't know how many of you have climbed that much over a short milage but it hurts a lot.

The race began with the weather slightly cool so I way over dressed with a compression base layer on top and knee warmers on. This was in response to being underdressed the previous week in Bend and getting snowed on in the race.   The race started out by going up, up and more up. Right after the race started, the sun decided to shine and I started to heat up too quickly. So 10 minutes into the race I tried a maneuver that I wouldn't recommend. I tried unsuccessfully to remove my knee warmers while climbing. This led to me falling over on the gravel road climb and having both knee warmers get stuck on my shoes, costing me atleast a minute of frustration. I finally remounted and spent another 15-20 minutes climbing hard to pass all the people who rode past me while I lay on the ground.

Finally reaching the top of the climb I was so happy for what came next. A fun flowy single track from the 4 courners trailhead. The descent is also used for the Spring Thaw downhill race, which I have raced in the past. It is like riding a roller coaster, and one that I know well. I passed 15 people while descending and didn't have one of those people catch me again. Lap 2 climbing was less eventful but I did have to turn around cause I dropped my fogged sunglasses climbing. rrrrrrrr. Descent 2 was what made the race worth it, I had finally opened up enough space on people that I wasn't having to slow down waiting to pass people. I was railing every burm and catching a little more air than I wanted sometimes.

After descending off the singletrack you have to ride 1 mile on road down into Lythia park, as I hit the cement another Cat 1 racer, Trevor Pratt had caught me. I looked at his gearing and knew that I was had. I race on a 1 x 10 with a 36 tooth in the front. There was no way I could drop this guy so I sat up and got right on his wheel. He rode hard all to the line and I jumped with 200 meters to go and spun upto 150-170rpm with my little ring and passed him by a bike length. In the end it worked out for the fellow as I gave him a 22oz of Ninkasi Spring Reign for what happened at the finish. In the end he seemed happy.

Trevor Pratt Enjoying his Ninkasi prize for pulling me to the line. Good things come to those whom I snake.

In the end I got 9th finishing the 21 miles in 2 hours and 15 sec. Edging closer to my friend Doug every week. Doug Turnbull got 5th finishing 2 minutes ahead of me. Last week he beat me by 7 minutes.

Dave Bisers had a blast in the single speed race and is having his form come along. He did have a an issue with his sliding dropouts that made him have to stop but other than that a great race. Lindsay Jones also raced well in the Cat 1 women's race finishing 5th. She was happy with that considering she has been in grad school lock down mode until this last weekend. Another team friend and soon to be possible teammate, Dax Turner, had a more unfortunate race. He was given the wrong number for singlespeed and they directed him onto the shorter Cat 2 course. He was bummed but got a free shirt, pint glass and free entry into the race next year. Also he won an ice cream cake afterwords, which was delicious.

After the race, was good times with food and lots of raffle prizes. I walked around and handed out 22 oz of Ninkasi to racers, compliments of my sponsor. I also gave a case of beers from Ninkasi for the race promoter to hand out. This brought a lot of smiles to everyone. Personally the raffle worked out great for me, I one a Thompson seatpost, grips and chain lube.

A racer receiving his Ninkasi Beer

Also adding to the fun was are super top secret camping spot that Dave on our team has used for 4 years. Take at look at our prerace home.

Dax at the ghetto camp

Chainbreaker MTB Race aka Wrist Sprainer

The 2011 Chainbreaker in Bend Oregon was a trying race for the Tensegrity crew. First off, a congrats and shout out to Alexander Jole. He raced his first mountain bike race as a Cat 3 and spent his time learning to judge his speed in corners and in the rocks.

Ryan Garner claimed his second consecutive podium spot finishing second, after winning at Bear Springs in Cat 2.

Dave Bisers rode to a 18th place finish in the singlespeed Cat with some guys pushing gear ratios as high as 36 x 16(Luke Demoe).

As for my race in Cat 1 it was rough but I am happy with the animal inside of me that I found. I finished 11th riding 38miles in 3 hr 2 min and 42 sec. I showed up to the race with 25 minutes to spare and found myself ill prepared with my warm up. It was 42 degrees when the race started and was sunny for a few minutes. Sun turned to snow, snow turn to rain, rain to hail, and hail back to snow and sun. So it was cold, really cold, and I forgot my base layer.

My race started with a big explosion out the back of the pack as I couldn't get my legs up to speed. What that meant was that I got stuck in the back on all the single track sections. Being nice I made sure to allow the leaders of the masters and the singlespeeders to pass, and let a few guys in my own race pass cause I just couldn't wind up the legs.

Then on the second lap I caught up to another guy in my Cat 1 race and asked to pass him on the descent as he was going slow in these sections. His response was this is a race and you have to get around on your own. Ok, jack A##, I tried for 2-3 minutes to get around him and he kept blocking me. This is when I remembered how to race my bike and I rode up his wheel and took control of the single track. In doing so, he may have fallen down, but I insist I did not take my hands off the bars. Remember this is a race. So I dug deep from there realizing that I better well beat that guy by a lot after our headbutting.

I rode hard, really hard. I was in a trance and starting picking off Cat 1 racers that I hadn't seen since the start of the race. I would come into the few technical sections at full speed and not let off at all. For me the tech sections are my strength. In doing so with about 20-30 minutes left to race my right wrist started hurting. I rode through the discomfort thinking nothing of it. I pushed all the way up to the finish line passing a guy in the last 200-300 meters, and missing 10th by another 13 sec.

Here is photo of me trying to not vomit while racing, although I did get some air. So now I am resting this week with a sprained wrist, which I kind of need to use at work as a PT. But who knows if it feels better I should be hitting it up in Ashland this weekend for Spring Thaw, with Ninakasi Beer to give out to other riders.

New Kits for a new team

Photo compliments of Jacobpace.com photography

So here is a look at the 2011 Tensegrity PT Cycling team minus Dave Bisers, Ryan Garner and Meaghan Bull. Julie Berkbuegler designed the jerseys and our friends at Pactimo did a great job getting us our jerseys in a short time. Personally I love the skinsuits. I feel like a superhero when I am wearing it.