Santa Cross

Game face at Santa Cross

Its pretty tough to get motivated to drive up and into the beast that is LA traffic, its a total crap shoot and you just never know what you are going to get.  There were two races this past weekend, both at Griffith park in north west LA.  Not knowing much about LA I was prepared to bring a gun for security purposes, another park in LA riding around in spandex, seriously?  Turns out though that Griffith park is very beautiful and in a pretty cool setting.  It was definitely a surprise and way nicer than I imagined, I even got to see the Hollywood sign for the first time.

Chasing the beard

The course for Saturday was pretty fun, albeit a little short.  It had a decently long climb right after the start/finish then went into the woods a couple times for some fun and fast, slightly technical riding.  I had plenty of time to warm-up and cheer on some other racers.  After getting warmed up, I heard last call to staging so I headed over to the start, figuring that would probably be a good idea.  I got there and everyone had already taken the entire front row, all 10 lanes.  I was a little perplexed not knowing if they had already done call-ups or not, as most of the people on the front probably didn't belong there.  The race official finally made his way down got everyone that earned a call-up up there, and I ended taking a second row spot right behind B. Gritters.

I had a pretty decent start and was sitting fourth at the top of the climb, with Gritters in the lead.  By the time we got to the twisty technical section he was starting to gap off the two riders in front of me, I knew I needed to get around them.  They weren't budging to my request through the turns, so I had to wait until we got to the sandpit and run by them to make my pass.  I was now about 5 seconds back from the leader and worked hard the rest of the lap to bridge up to him.

By the second or so lap Brandon and I had a little gap on third place Eric Bostrom.  We pretty much worked together the next 8 laps to try to get as big of a gap as possible, which is always good in case you need to pit or have a mechanical.  On about the 8th lap I had a little problem getting into my pedals after a muddy run-up after the barriers.  I had been clipping in immediately after the barriers but for some reason I decided I wanted to run to the top of the hill on this lap, which caused my cleats to clog up.  It gave Brandon a small 3 second or so gap, and he drilled it up the climb, as did I trying to get back on his wheel.  I managed to catch him before the end of the 9th lap but didnt get much recovery before climbing the hill again after the start/finish.  Gritters put down a solid attack at the start of the climb on the 10th lap and managed to put a good 5 or more seconds on me.

He maintained his lead and went on to win and I hung onto second about 8 seconds behind Gritters.  Jason Siegle managed to catch Eric Bostrom for third, and Gareth Fieldstein rode strong for top 5.  It was a fun day of racing to celebrate my 31st birthday.

Good times!

The race on Sunday was the toughest field that I have probably raced against this entire year (not including the UCI races)  The line up consisted of Brandon and Kyle Gritters, Eric and Ben Bostrom, Chris Jackson, Jason Siegle, Garteh Feldstein, and local cross guru Brent Prenzlow.  Having tired legs, and not much sleep from the day before I figured finishing in front of any of those guys would be good.

The course had been modified from the day before, adding in some more fun twisty climby sections, which was great, anything to not have to do 12 laps again!  I had a super crappy start when the whistle blew and was sitting back in 8th or so at the top of the climb.  I managed to get around a few people by the end of the first lap, but was still in 5th or 6th.  I could see the race starting to unfold in front of me and was frustrated by the traffic I was in and my current positioning.  I put my head down and gained another spot or two up into fourth.  By this time Chris Jackson and B. Gritters had already opened a gap on the rest of the field.

Getting chased by Prenzlow

About ten minutes into the race it started raining pretty good making for some super fun cross conditions.  I rode in fourth place behind Ben Bostrom for pretty much the entire race.  I took a good chunk of time out between us with two to go, but he managed to ride the last lap super strong and finish with a solid third place.

Always a lot of shit talking and fun on the podium!

The course was a blast especially with the rain.  I was able to put down the fastest lap time of the day, which bummed me out about my start as I know I could have been up there with the leaders.  Still pretty happy with fourth in that field, especially with tired legs.  It was nice to have Ellen and Jacki out there cheering me on too, in the rain and all!  There was also a mini "Santa Series" for the two days of racing which I managed to take second overall behind Brandon, and in front of Gareth, was glad I came up for the second day!

There are only a few more races left in the CX season (just as I start to get it down and my bikes dialed!) so I guess its time to start thinking about racing mountain bikes again, and maybe a few road races this year.

Falls arrived...

To say I was excited to race this past sunday would have been a long shot.  I wasn't totally into it mentally, actually the whole last week I was a little phased out since Ellen had an accident mountain biking at PQ Canyon.

Last sunday we were out having a glorious day riding bikes, excited to go to a party afterwards when she fell, going fairly slow, and sliced her arm wide open on a small bush.  It was just one of those odd crazy things that happened. the cut was 4 inches long and 2cm deep.  It resulted in her passing out and getting a ride in an ambulance  I am so proud at how brave and tough she was through the entire debacle!

After hiking 1.5 miles out of the canyon and into a neighborhood to get Ellen to the ambulance, I ran back to where we stashed the bikes and rode mine out while pushing hers, which took 40 minutes.  I didn't leave though until I went back to look for the branch that cut her, I saw many sharp blades of shrubbery but none with blood on it.  Had I had found said branch i probably would have gone crazy on it, or just brought it home and framed it?  This incident really made me think of what is really important in life, and was kind of a slap in the face of how fragile we really are.  Especially after the paramedic told me that if it would have cut a vein or artery that I shouldn't have hesitated to call the helicopter for a lift out.

So onward to the Turkey Trot up in Glendale.  I found myself going through the motions before the race, but really not wanting to race, I had no drive or fire burning.  I got my warm-up in and pre-rode the course about 5 or 6 times cause it was so darn fun, and toed the line against one of the larger fields this year.

As soon as the whistle blew, and some foreigner in our race who "can't speak english' almost put me into the tape on the first turn, the fire was lit!  We had a large group the first couple laps and kept a pretty mellow pace, with myself, prenzlow, gritters and a couple other people taking some turns in the wind.

Little bridge section.  Photo: Phil Beckman

At the start of the 3rd or 4th lap I was in the lead and had planned on trying to open a gap, if not on Gritters and Brent at least the rest of the field so we could have some space.  But Jason Siegle decided he was gonna make his move and bombed passed us on the long straight road section.  I know that in the past he likes to get a gap 1/3 of the way through the race then just time trial the rest of the race, well I wasn't gonna let that happen. After some 'encouraging' words from Brandon to stay on that wheel, Jason fumbled coming out of the sand pit and I saw an opportunity to make his attack short lived, so I sprinted in front of him right before a left hand turn through the mulch.

Only to somehow loose my front wheel in the loose bark!  For as fast as we were going I didn't slide anywhere and just kind of stuck there, which left Jason no other choice but to run into me.  It took a couple seconds but he finally got off of me, I peeled his bike off of my bike and myself and handed it to him, then grabbed mine.  I got back on with a dropped chain which left me about 15 seconds back from Jason and about 30 seconds from the lead group, and around 9th or so place.

Pretty bummed at what just happened I kind of just dazed my way through the rest of the lap, and contemplated dropping out and drinking some beer.  After more thought, I figured I'd get my money's worth and at least get a workout in after driving this far.  Its already ridiculous enough to drive all this way and spend all this time warming up, etc for an hour long race, even worse for a 15 minute race.

Pretty much sums up the day...

I started building into it and after a lap or two finally started catching some other riders.  On the last lap I put down my fastest lap (third fastest overall) and managed to catch John Bailey and steal 5th place from him, which is way better than I thought I would do after falling.  Despite laying down the bike, it was a really fun day of racing with a bunch of good people on an awesome course.  Thanks to everyone!

Ohh here is a picture of Ellens arm post stitches, warning possible gore factor...

Hodges Race Report

A little late on this one, was busy finishing up a little training block after last weekends races.  Anywho, the weathers been great here.  Its starting to get a little harder to get motivated for those morning rides with the chilly mornings, but as soon as the sun comes out everything gets warmed right up.

So the Hodges SpyClocross course was brutally painful.  In my mind a little more how CX races should be, a little more going up and coming down, and utilizing what our local terrain has to offer.  My buddy Kurt G spent a few hours digging a nice trench, which was rad until two dirty drunkards decided to start hauling mud from the lake and throwing it in the trench.  This made it tough for some to clip back in as after the mud 'pit' there was a nice long sandy beach section which just clogged up cleats.  It also provoked a good bit of whining from the 'pretty' boys/girls who are used to the dry socal cross races.  (Seriously, it was some pretty gross mud though)

Kyle leading the first few laps.  Photo: Phil Beckman

There was a decent little turnout for our race, including Brandon and Kyle Gritters who decided to come down and beat up on Brent and I who had tired legs from racing the previous day.  The race started at a pretty quick pace with Kyle getting about a 15 second gap off of Brent and Brandon.  I was left chasing after getting stuck behind a slower rider after Ted Willard broke his chain on the climb.  It took about two laps of me going all out to bridge the thirty second gap.  Even after I caught up with Brent and Brandon it was tough for me to hang onto their wheel, I was halfway thinking of dropping off and riding with the guy behind me for 4/5th.

At this point Kyle was still off the front by about 10-15 seconds, and Brent was chasing with Brandon behind and myself following.  I was still hurting bad and unable to help Brent put the chase on, the whole while Brandon was comfortably sitting in.  On about the 5th or so lap Kyle dropped his chain after the run and we finally caught him and everyone was riding together, with me still hanging on the back, and finally starting to get a little recovery.

Somewhere near the start of the 6th lap Brandon got in front of kyle, who was in front of Brent, and put in a solid attack.  With his brother sitting up slowing the pace through the grass section, Brandon was able to easily get 20 seconds on the group.  We rode the rest of the lap in the same order, then Brent was able to jump back in front ok Kyle and try to start working on Brandons lead.

Start of the last lap... Photo: Phil Beckman

At the start of the last lap I could tell Brent was exhausted and I moved to the front to try and possibly (i knew very unlikely, but you never know when someones gonna make a mistake or have a mechanical) close the gap on Brandon.  Kyle jumped behind me, which I was hoping would have been Brent, and I went as hard as I could to possibly try to shake Kyle hoping that he was exhausted from riding off the front for the first few laps.  Unfortunately I was also pretty exhausted from racing the previous day and playing catch-up for part of this race.

Kyle stayed behind me until the final straight away to the finish and let me lead out the sprint.  Total rookie mistake!  I knew he is a super strong sprinter and experienced road racer, and I really shouldnt havent been leading out the sprint.  Anyway he managed to pull around me and beat me by .6 seconds. A little bummed to let second place go like that, but still happy with a podium, especially after racing the previous day.

1st-Kyle Gritters, 2nd-Brandon Gritters, 3rd-myself, 4th-Brent Prenzlow, 5th-Scott Lundy, 6th-Johnny Weir

The CX skills are coming along nicely, and the biggest thing I have to start doing now is racing smarter, and more tactfully.  Ive decided to finish out some more races for the cross season as I feel it is building good fitness for racing mountain bikes next year.  Not to mention how much fun I am having racing with these guys, really thinking of doing some traveling next cyclocross season.

Storm the Beach...

Photo: Phil Beckman

After my chain failure during Socalcross' velodrome race, I was itching to get back onto the podium this weekend.  I had a little rest week after the velodrome races, and wasn't quite sure how I would feel my first week back of racing.  Turns out cross is painful anytime.

First race of the weekend was Celo Pacifics Storm the Beach, which is held just 10 minutes from my house on Camp Pendleton.  With a chance of some morning rain, and a strong N wind the event was truly living up to its name.  I ran down to Velo Hangar first thing in the morning to get my pre-race good karma and coffee then made it to the venue a couple hours before my race.

I chatted with friends that were done racing about course conditions, tire pressure, different lines/techniques and got a wide array of opinions   Then pretty much decided that none of it mattered, everything was personal preference, and that running in the sand and riding into a 30 knot head wind is what was actually gonna decide the outcome of this race.

Our field was rather small with only 11 entrants, I noticed Brent Prenzlow and Anton Petrov were the two that I probably wanted to keep my eye on.  The start was rather tame and mellow as no one wanted to take the first pull into the headwind on the beach.  As soon as we hit the running section through the sand and up the small but o-so-steep hill the race was really on.  I quickly latched on to Brent's feet, knowing he has had great success here in the past he would be the one to watch.  After the tough up hills and sandy beach sections we passed the start finish line with Brent in the lead, myself in second and Anton not too far behind.

Seeing the space we got on Anton during the run, we started to work together to try and lengthen the lead.  We ended up taking turns pulling throughout the course and had a solid gap on the rest of the field.  It was actually pretty nice to be able to ride with someone else the whole race as this course was very tough!

Photo: Phil Beckman

I was in the lead going into the last lap, and asked Brent when he was going to attach, he said he wasn't sure yet, HAHA!  He put a nice little move on the run onto the beach, where I had a little bobble burying my front wheel in the sand which was all he needed.  I chased him up the beach into the wind as hard as I could but didn't make up much time.  I managed to put a few more seconds on the gap on the last couple small climbs in case he made a mistake through the sand.  But being the veteran he is Brent rode everything perfectly and took 1st 5 seconds in front of me.

All in all a good fun day of racing.  I really enjoyed this course and thought Celo Pacific did a good job putting it on.  It was finally a course where I really didn't want to do anymore laps at any pace let alone race pace!

Gettin' learned in cross

I wasn't even sure if I even wanted to do any CX races this year, but after racing in downtown LA I was all in.  I forgot how fun a cross race can be, once you get over the whole suffering part.  I decided to try to make as many cross races as I could the rest of the year.  Next stop spooky cross!

Spooky cross is the first local UCI race, which attracts top level riders from across the country (and Canada) Just lining up with these guys was intimidating.  I got up to the venue a little late on saturday the 20th, and barely registered in time.  Not to mention I had to buy my UCI license online beforehand, thanks Ellen for navigating US cyclings terrible website and getting that done with minutes to spare before registration closed.

Got my numbers, suited up and warmed up, made it to call-ups only to have bad luck of the draw and be last row, I expected nothing less.  My main goal of these UCI races was to try to sit in as close to the front and learn more about cross.  I was one of the last guys into the first corner after the bell, i did a little work on the stairs and other straightaways and managed to get into around 15-20 place, which would be awesome but considering there were only 30 or so starters, not that great.

On the second or third lap somewhere through the sand pit I managed to unhook my rear Canti brake.  It was decision time, i had decent position to possibly finish top 15.  Stop and hook-up the rear brake, possibly loosing a lot of time, or ride with only a front brake.  You don't need brakes in cross right?  I decided to be safe and pulled over on possibly the darkest part of the course (did I mention this was a night race) and started to try to re-attach the cable.  I must of pulled the cable to get it into the stop 15 times with no luck, ok what the hell is going on, I couldn't see anything and could barely breathe, and having gloves on trying to move little metal parts around didn't help.

FInally got everything re-attached and was in dead last.  I caught a couple guys initially, then pretty much road 4 laps by myself.  I kept thinking about dropping out, but what kind of experience would I gain doing that?  All I wanted to do was catch someone!  With about 3 laps to go I finally reeled someone else in and ended un in 24th, woo hoo $17!

Sundays race went a little better, I rode up with Gordon from Velo Hangar and he brought some challenge tires with him which made a big difference!  I had a bad start and raced mid pack with my buddy Gareth Feildstein with him and I doing most of the work out of a few other guys.  Gareth put a nice move in on the last lap and I got trapped behind a few other guys, he ended up 15th and I was stoked with 18th and $28.

This past weekend we had another set of back-to-back races, this time down at the San Diego Velodrome.  It was nice to get to see so many familiar faces down there racing.  Unfortunately there wasn't a huge turnout for the Elite race on Saturday, but still plenty of fast competition.  Anton Petrov ended up taking first, in front of myself with Brent Prenzlow finishing behind me after getting a flat on one of the first few laps.  Anton did a nice little write-up of the race for cycling illustrated here

Only a dozen or so riders at the start

Riding the velodrome

After riding the course on saturday and seeing Prenzlow put an amazing performance on his mountain bike to go from last to third, after his flat, B Gritters and I decided to start the race on our mountain bikes.  I had originally brought the mountain bike for a back-up pit bike, but after talking to Brandon and doing some laps on the mountain bikes we agreed it would be fun to start the race on them.

There were a few small differences between the CX bike and the Mtn bike.  The MTB was faster over the bumpy infield of the velodrome, and the rocky singletrack around the outside, but they didnt accelerate as quickly out of turns compared to a cross bike.  The deciding factor came down to the fact that  mountain bike should have less chance of a catastrophic failure.  If only.

Flat Bars...

After 8 laps completed with two to-go Prenzlow, Gritters and myself had a significant gap on the rest of the field.  I was content to sit in at third and watch them two duke it out as I continue to learn more about cross as it is my first year racing competitively.  After the log hop, which was only about 50 yards past pit area, I broke my chain and watched the leaders ride away from me.  I thought for a second about going backwards to get my bike, but was pretty sure thats not allowed so I had to run almost an entire lap to get to the pit.  All in all ended up 6th.  Phil Beckman did a nice little write up about the races.

Heckling at the barriers

Cyclocross is a ton of fun, and great for all skill levels, I encourage everyone to go out to a race and check it out.  Its been a fun little season so far and I am excited to be able to race at this level and learn more about the sport from our local hammers.

A weekend of racing

I was starting to get the itch again to do some racing, and this weekend happened upon a good time.  On saturday there was the CA state endurance championships up in big bear put on by the US Cup guys, and a CX race up in LA on sunday.

But first thing was first, had to make a stop into Velo Hangar on friday for my pre-race good vibes

Laurel the Velo Barista' awesome Latte!

I am by no means an 'endurance' athlete, but what better way to get in some good training by 'racing' 58 miles at altitude.  I got up to the mountains around 9 on saturday, and with a chill in the air wasn't feeling all that ready to race.  I rode around for a little bit with my down jacket on, like everyone else was doing, trying to get a little warm up in.  Headed to the start and was stoked to see that I would be racing against two time olympian Tinker Juarez.  Well theres one podium spot taken!

The start was pretty mellow up the road until we hit the dirt which is when everyone stared to go.  I hung-on as long as I could with Tinker, Joel Titus of So-Cal endurance, and another Bear Valley pro, but for some reason my legs were not letting me do anything.  I just about completely stalled out and started spinning the easiest gear I could, this is something I thought would happen around mile 50 for me not 5!  Luckily Ben Jones came motoring by and I sat on his wheel for a while and kinda got everything under control.

Caught a few more guys on the first lap, and decided I did some good work, and was going to just cruise the second lap and try to not cramp up and bonk.  Just near the top of the hardest climb on the course, at mile 50, I looked back and saw someone was gaining on me.  Crap, I dont really feel like trying right now, maybe they will slow down, but I didn't want to take a chance.  So I lit a fire under my ass and got to motoring up the rest of the hills towards the singletrack downhill finish.  Which I knew if I could make it there I would retain my positioning.  I finally realized that it was my buddy (and kick ass world champ) Leslie Patterson that was gaining on me.  So I started yelling at her to try and catch me, just like race pace laps!  I couldn't have been any happier to see anyone else.

Photo Credit: Ti Peng

I finished fourth in the Pro/Open category, way behind the top three guys, but had a blast riding the trails and talking shop with Ben, Leslie and Tammy.  Also good to know that I still have some work to do until next year.


Onto sundays CX race!  After seeing a fresh motorcycle accident on my way up to LA (still dont know if the rider was dead or alive) I was just so happy and thankful to be there.  I wanted to hug everyone I knew when I got there, and really lost a lot of motivation to race, but nonetheless gotta get work done.

I had planned on racing both Mens A SS, and Elite A's.  I pre-road the course on my SS bike a few times and was about 15 minutes to race start when my chainring litterally broke in half, bent, sheered three chainring bolts off and bent the spider on my cranks.  It was the craziest failure I have ever witnessed, I was literally soft pedaling back to my bag to get some water, not even pedaling hard.

Chainring FAIL!

Luckily Gordon and some awesome Celo Pacific guys talked me into taping the shifters on my Bailey CX bike, so I was unable to shift and continue on with the race.  I doubled checked with Dorothy on this and she said it is fine with her races, but definitely not UCI races.  I found myself at the back of the line for the start, and was in just about dead last as we went into the first turn.  Damn Im in for a long race if I want to do anything.

I made a few quick passes at the run-ups and first few straight aways and about halfway through the first lap I had gone from about 20th to 15th.  As the pack started to string-out in single file fashion I just started picking off riders through the twisty sections and run ups, and let whoever was in front of me do most of the work when we got to the straightaways.

By about the end of the second lap I had snuck into the top ten, and was pretty stoked.  At this point I knew I had to make a decision though, either get on the podium on this race, or back off and try to save yourself for the elite A race.  A believer on not waiting and getting my hopes up for false results I decided to go for it.  I started putting in a lot of hard efforts, catching people in the turns then passing them on the straights, all while getting heckled, beer and water thrown in my face at max effort, Ahh YES! Cyclocross baby!

By the end of the third lap I had moved into the top five.  At the end of the fourth lap top three, and we started to put a gap on the rest of the field.  With one lap to go the first two riders exchanged places a few times while I sat in.  I thought that I may have a bigger gear than them and be able to out sprint them out of the last turn to the finish.  Unfortunately we maintained our order and all finished within a second of each other, good times!

I proceeded to punch the winner in the stomach in the next picture

  I did one lap of the elite A race then pulled the plug, my weekend of training races was done, quit while you are still healthy and not injured.  A huge thanks to Ellen for letting me race my bike all weekend, the Velo Hangar for awesome support, and of course my coach and riding buddy(and boss) Trevor!

Long time no blog!

After I was unable to make it to MTB XC nationals this year I took a little hiatus from hard training, the blog and social media in general.  Its been a fun and exciting last couple of months.  Have been meeting a lot of great people, and even added some extra side jobs.

Ive been helping my good buddy, and coach (thanks!), Trevor Glavin out with Skinfit USA.  Skinfit is made in Austria, and is some of the nice garments I have ever seen.  They are as popular in Europe as Nike and Addidas are here in the US.  A lot of success comes from their triathlon line, but they offer something for everyone, check out the Pfafflar shorts if you get the chance.  Its been fun heading out to ironman events and getting to see a completely different side of athletes and competition.

Recently I have been lucky enough to go help and learn from San Diegos Master Mechanic, Gordon Yeager down at Velo Hangar.  He and Laurel have the raddest boutique bike shop I have ever seen, and he is by far the best mechanic I have ever been able to watch.

Velo Hangar kicks ass, and I am stoked to race on their 'team' for the upcoming season(s).  I started hanging out there the day before my races and started getting good results.  I contribute most of that success to the good vibes of the Velo Hangar.  I recommend for anyone to take on this experiment before your next race.  Go in there the day before grab a latte from the Velo Barista, maybe get a quick race day check-up, and any last minute nutrition or race day supplies.  Then sit down, relax, enjoy your latte and meet all the nice people that are coming in with the same mindset, bitchin bikes!

Also big thanks to Dave Staiton for setting everything up for a Mt. Whitney summit.  The only thing I had to do was get my own stuff together and climb the hill, Dave took care of everything else.  I had a great time hanging out and suffering for eight hours climbing the highest peak in the US with the old farts, Dave, Len and Tony.  Hadnt had a good laugh for a while until hanging out with them, thanks again guys.

Whitney pics!

Big Bear, Season Finale

Well it took all season, and on the last race of the series, but I feel like Im finally starting to get everything figured out.  I think Trevor and I are finally starting to get my nutrition figured out as this is the first race where I didn't have to try to shake off cramps!  I drove up that morning and had plenty of time to register and hangout with Dave and Tammy.  Got in my warmup on the way to start and headed to the line really ready, for once, to throw down.

Im not the most aggressive at starts, and this was one of the most odd starts Ive had.  Once you go its pretty much uphill for the next 30+ minutes, I had planned with Trevor for this race to go all in for the first 20 minutes or so and if I blew up ohh well!  At the start Marco took off and I found myself right behind him next to Ty, which I thought was super odd for me.  I decided to sit in with Ty for a while and not chase down Marco, as I figured he knows the course better than me and may just be saving it for a solid attack.

I was feeling pretty good so I pulled away and road solo reeling in other riders that started before us, I started to sit in and slow down a little when Ty caught back up to me right after the first single track downhill.  Was still feeling pretty solid so I put in some more hard efforts up the next single track climb and continued to reel in more riders.  I got onto a good group of pro riders to take turns pulling on the flats and fire roads until the final super fun decent to the finish.

One huge bummer about this race is that the sport and beginner riders who do the shorter course are finishing on the last 5 miles of singletrack at the same time that all the Cat 1 and Pro riders are.  It really makes for some hard passing opportunities and bottlenecks.  I jumped in front of the other guys I was riding with before the downhill as I didn't want to take any chances of having someone come up on me in the last few minutes.  There was only a little bit of carnage as one guy I had just passed tire exploded and he went tumbling end over end.  I started to slow down and another rider behind me yelled that he was OK and to keep rolling.

Ended up finishing first in my age group, and had the second fastest Cat 1 time of the day.  Stoked to finally race to my full potential, and am looking forward to next year.  In the meantime its all about fun rides with friends, and trying to get in a little more surfing!

Sage Brush Safari

Im damn glad that I got the opportunity to go out and pre-ride the course before the race, as I learned that its dry as hell!  I was pretty delirious after the pre ride, as I didnt have enough water or nutirion, and we took it super easy.  So after that I made the decision to rock a camelback, as it was supposed to be 90 degrees and really dry race day.

So I dug out the trusty old camelback, dusted it off and headed out to lake Morena for my 3rd geared US Cup race of the year.  I made it out there with plenty of time to spare and sat around shooting the shit with Len, and even got a chance to hangout with Johnny Q for a little while too.  Made sure I took plenty of electrolyte pills, put nutrition in my bottle, and applied plenty of sunscreen and headed out for a quick 20 minute warmup before heading to the line.  

Again we were lucky to start with the 35-39 age group which is full of hammers.  The first two miles of the course are on pretty much flat pavement, then a nice little two mile climb immediately after that before funneling into some super fast and fun singletrack.  At the start everyone was in a solid paceline with Marco and Ty leading the pack, I was doing ok just sitting in midpack at about 10th.  As soon as we hit the climb there was a break and I was a little bit to far back to cover it, but I somehow managed to bridge up to Justin Mann bringing with me another rider in my age group.  For some reason my stomach was not agreeing with me at this point, looking back I think I ate too close to start time, I felt like I was going to vomit and I wasn't even going that hard.  

Justin slowly dropped me and the other rider, and we took turns pulling in front of each other the rest of the climb.  I know that most people in my group aren't that good at technical downhills and I somehow managed to throw it in the big ring and pass the other dude just before we entered the singletrack.  I just rode at a good comfortable pace on this fun section and slowly kept reeling people in.  Knew I was doing ok, at least in second but not sure if Brandon Gritters showed up and if he was in the break with Marco?  So I boogied out pushing it pretty good on the downhill to try to grab a few extra seconds before the dreaded hike a bike section that was next (thank you preride!)

Entry Singletrack...

I got up and over the hike a bike with no major issues continuing to reel in other riders, and didn't see anyone really gaining on me.  Flew down the fire road descent to the longest climb of the race Los Pinos.  Its a solid paved climb thats around 4 miles long.  I had kinda been saving a lot for this climb as I knew if I were to blowup here a bunch of people would pass me.  Managed to put out a good pace all the way to the top in the big ring with no one gaining on me.  Still had no sign if anyone was in front of me from my age group, all I had to do from here is throw down some solid downhill runs with a short climb and I was definitely on the podium.

I passed Justin with a flat, thanks to a 4" long nail, right before the Los Pinos downhill which has to be one of the best descents on the entire US Cup.  Put in a good run, with a short little climb back to four corners for the last downhill before two miles of flat back to the start.  Which, also, has to be one of the most fun singletracks so far this season, this is definitely my kind of racing!  Unfortunately the trail was a little crowded with some sport and beginner riders finishing too, so it was hard to get super focused on the trail.  

Managed to make it down to the finish without anyone passing me, and ended up second on the day in my age group, Gritters was in fact there and in the break with Marco.  Damnit!  Ohh well next time, I had a super fun day racing at one of the best stops on the Cup, this is more what mountain biking is all about!  Got to hangout at the loaded tent with Johnny and Len and drink some beers before making the drive back north.  

Ohh yeah, ran into my old co-worker Elise and her BF Jake from JPOV photography and they snapped this great pic!

https://www.facebook.com/jakespointofview

Santa Ynez

After having a crappy performance at Sea Otter last weekend, I felt the need for another race with some better results.  So I woke up at 4:30 Sunday morning and was on the road up to Santa Barbara to race the Santa Ynez Triple Crown.  Made good time through LA and got there with enough time to register and try to take a quick cat nap. 

It was super hot and dry so I sat around in the shade as long as possible, got in a quick 15 minute warm-up and was at the start with about 5 minutes to spare.  There was only about 40 feet after the start before the fire-road made a sharp right and turned into single track.  At the whistle everyone kinda scattered around all weird and I ended up sitting pretty crappy somewhere in the middle around 15th or so.  The first climb had quite a few switchies, and was pretty steep, and I was stuck behind some goober who thought he was a pro (he made some annoying comments at the start line, hence the goober comment).  He was starting to get gapped and someone behind me barked at him with an insult and told him to bridge the gap or get the F*!k out of the way, it was hilarious!

So worked my way around that guy, and managed to pass just about everyone else, except the leaders, at the top of the climb and saw the top two guys in my category a good 50 yards ahead.  I was able to catch them on the descent and settled in with their pace sitting in third.  I sat in at third for the entire first lap and 3/4 of the second lap.  I just sat there as these guys took turns pulling analyzing their strengths and weaknesses as this was the first time I really got to race with these guys.

We dropped Gareth on the beginning of the last climb out, and he ended up in third. On the last climb I knew I had to make a push for the win (which I should have done 5 miles ago) and there was only one little passing lane coming up, as it was a pretty tight single track.  I down shifted to clicks and Willard heard me and covered my attack and the little passing area I had, and didn't get around.  We descended, briefly getting stuck behind a female rider that didn't want to let anyone pass, and took off once we hit the flat fire-road to the finish.  There was only about 30 feet to the finish line after a sharp left turn which didn't really provide much room for a sprint finish  So I thanked Willard for pulling the whole race, and let him know I wasn't gonna sprint and crash us out at the finish and settled for second.

All in all I was pretty happy with my performance but knew that I could have pulled away from those guys, and should have made my move earlier.  I also learned a lot about my competition for the next couple years by sitting in and watching, and they learned nothing about me since I never got a chance to go to the front! 

Excited about racing Idylwild this weekend as it is actually a real mountain bike race with rocks and stuff, unlike Santa Ynez where I didn't see a single rock the whole time.

Sea Otter

View from our camp spot

Ahh Yes...Sea Otter!  I have been wanting to go to this event since I worked in a bike shop 12 years ago, and this year I finally got the chance.  I somehow managed to swindle my way into camping with the Staitons, Geigers, and Geist' who all had RV's, I even scored a comfy bed in one and people were always making me food to eat, it was the best.  So first off huge thanks to Dave, Katrina, Kate, Len and Len, Brenda, Taylor, Tony, Laura, Mattie and Rudy for their hospitality!

Truck all packed up

I left at about 5 on wednesday morning, made it through LA pretty quickly and after about 6 stops to pee on the way up finally got there around 1:00.  Met up with Len, Dave and their families (since I would be crashing at their camping spots :) helped Dave setup and park the RV he had rented and then quickly got out of there to go pre ride the course.  Was actually suprised out how tough the course was, it had super steep punchy climbs, long drainers, and some superfast flat sections.  We took it pretty easy the whole time and was suprised at how drained I was was when we were finished.

Best Buds!

I also discovered that the used tire that I was talked into installing a day earlier for this race was actually way too worn down and I was sliding out all over the place.  So was really hoping I could find a vendor that was selling tires and get it inflated tubeless with a floor pump on thursday.  Sounded great I didn't really have anything else to do except avoid the scorching sun.

I lucked out on thursday and scored a schwalbe Racing Ralph for $50, got the bead set with a floor pump and stans installed, stoked!  Did a longer than meant to be ride with Erik Dekold and tire held air and performed perfectly, sweet one anxiety factor out of the way.

The next morning, race day, I took it super easy and laid around most of the morning.  Finally Len and I decided to go watch the pro short track race, which was pretty cool almost like cyclocross minus the barriers and adding in more hills.  Man those guys (most of them at least) are FAST!  Had a blast watching them went to get on my bike to cruise back over to the campground and I had a flat!  Great, are you F**king kidding me.  My race goes off in 45 minutes and here I am walking my bike back over to our spot with a flat, the whole time I'm trying to figure out why it went flat, and passing back and forth in my head to try to inflate it and race tubeless or put a tube in it, AHHH!  This really stressed me out as I am getting geared up to race, not like I didnt have enough to think about aleady.  Finally at the last minute I decided to throw a tube in, no way I was gonna train this hard come this far only to get a flat the first three miles.

Day before race tire change!

So tube in, warmed up and on the line in time for my start!  There was easily 35-40 people in my race, as I was eying everyone up I noticed I didnt really recognize anyone, sweet!  Got a pretty decent start and was the third one going into the first single track downhill, with no one at all on our tail, I am guessing someone flubbed the super punchy fireroad right beforehand.  After the first downhill and ascending the first 'climb' of the course the leader (Brandon Gritters) started pulling away from us, so as soon as the single track opened back up to fireroad I put in a good effort and reeled him right in.  We descended the next section together and I let him do all the work, and after the sandy chute we were all alone.

We took turns in the wind on the fireroad, pushing the biggest gears that we had, and I went ahead to lead the charge up the next ST climb.  Knowing that we had two laps I really kept the pace tame on this, even though I know I could have ridden away at any point.  Eventually near the top the third place guy caught up to me and gritters, we made him do some work at the top on the fireroad then jumped in front of him before the next singletrack descent, which lead to us dropping him again.  Lesson learned dont get behind that guy on a descent!

The third place guy eventually caught up to us again at the beginning of the next climb and once again took our turns at the front, until we got to the final climb out of the valley.  This is a brutal climb thats about five miles long and I somehow ended up taking first pull up the hill, and we started gaining and passing people left and right.  About halfway up Gritters made a strong jump, I let him go a little then sat in until we had about a mile left of the climb where I completely backed off.  I thought back to my original race strategy, and that was to go all out on the second climb of the SECOND lap, so I wanted to try to conserve some energy for that.  I watched the two of them battle it out the rest of the lap and was about thirty seconds behind at the bottle exchange point, which thanks to Erik (and Time for making crappy pedals) and Tony for the smoothest bottle hand off ever!

Epic bottle exchange

I put in some good work by myself happy for the time being, I was in podium potential and 4th place was nowhere in site, had to have at least 2 minutes on him at this point.  I caught back up to gritters and the other guy at the bottom of the sandy decent, grabbed onto a wheel for the fire-road and was preparing myself for my attack on the next climb where I was gonna make my move.  I started out a bit sluggish and slow on the climb, i had a plan to go at about the halfway point where there was a nice steep section, only when I got there I could barely clean the thing in my easier gears!  I had hardly anything left, crap!  I watched those guys ride away slugging it out with each other.

At this point I was still pretty stoked, 3rd isnt bad and I still had a shot of at least second, I knew the one guy was slow at going downhill so i pushed it a little harder than usual on a fire-road section and ended up running out of talent going about 25mph on a loose sand section.  My front wheel just kind slid out and I super-manned it like I was sliding into home at the world series.  I had so much adrenaline going that nothing hurt, took a quick inventory, limbs work, bike works, onward!  I probably only lost about 15 seconds on this but looking back I think this crash had a larger affect on me.  Once I started the long 5 mile climb out I was hurting bad, more so than usual because of being slammed on the ground, and started getting passed by people, some of them in my age group.  Knowing I couldn't catch them cause I was done for I was ready to go for a DNF, but realizing I would have had to climb out on this hill whether I was racing or not I decided to finish.

I limped to the finish getting passed up by what felt like 100 people on the last climb and ended up with 8th.  Not super happy with my result but stoked with my performance, its a blast racing with other fast people and thats what I have been looking for!  Its also pretty amazing to see how far I have come with only about 5 months of smart training, thanks Trevor!  Had a great time at sea otter, but have still yet to see a sea otter at laguna seca, maybe next year if I drink enough beers!

The caranage

Sea Otter-1 Elliot-0

Looking back and going forward

It was 366 days ago that I entered my 2^nd race since my 12 year hiatus off the bike.  I was somehow talked into the Vision Quest race by my good friend Chas, and managed to transfer a spot at the last minute.  I had only been mountain biking again for about 4 months, most of the time on a single speed too, and I had never ridden over 40 miles, and there I was about to race 56 miles with over 11,000 feet of climbing.

For some reason when I started riding again I wanted to do these longer ‘epic’ races, looking back I feel a lot of people getting into racing are interested in this type of racing for the accomplishment of completing something great.  I got lucky and managed to finish the 2011 VQ top 20, and 1^st in the single speed category, it was a great experience and I learned a lot.  I will never forget seeing Tinker and the lead group a switchback ahead of me on the first climb in the dark, it looked like they were doing 25mph uphill!  At that point I really kind of realized how slow I really was, and started to think what I could do to start riding faster.  Just ride more right, HA!

I did a few more races last year, with some decent results but just couldn’t figure out what it takes to start getting to that next level.  I recalled the first time Len told me he had a coach, Im pretty sure I laughed out loud at him.  A coach for mountain biking?  Seriously? 

It didn't take me too much longer to realize that I wanted to step up my game so there I was asking Len if I could get the number for his coach.  I have only been working with Trevor Glavin about 4 months and in about two weeks I'm about to race one of the biggest races of the year in Cat1 and am feeling pretty good about it.  I have been wanting to race sea otter since I worked in a bike shop 12 years ago, and now that I live in CA its a pretty feasible task.

Its pretty awesome to look back and see how far you have come in a year, what has changed and where you plan on trying to go.  I am super excited to keep working with everyone and see how far I can go, big thanks to everyone at this point!

From this(haha)...

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=0EFA006G000022&c=&e=


To this(haha again)...

US Cup Fontanta, aka Fontucky

I dont know whether it was the multiple trailer parks we passed, the fact that there was a nascar race going on right down the street or the threat of rain I just couldn't get over the fact that I was going to a mountain bike race in Fontanta, aka fontucky. The biggest thing on everyones mind on the way to the race was the rain, no one really likes to race in the rain, and no one could tell what was going to happen.

Len, Dave and I got up there with plenty of time to register, gear up, and check the weather report 10 more times. 40 minutes before the race we started our warmup and checked out some of the course, and we're bummed to see the fact that 'the elevator' climb wasn't included in the course this year, as that is all Len has been talking about for the past two weeks.

I toed the line with the 30-34 and 35-39 age groups, and while waiting around to start I realized how unmotivated I was for this race. Not really sure why, maybe it was the overcast skies, or being tired from last week but I really wasn't feeling it, which was quite apparent in my start. The super fast 35-39 guys took off fast and I was sitting probably around 18th out of 25 or so in the group going into the singletrack, which is no bueno. The first climb is pretty narrow with basically no room for passing. It eventually opened up to a road where I noticed I was in about the third or fourth pack back. I put in a little harder effort and bridged the gap to the second pack but was still prob only around 10th overall between the two age groups.

The road eventually turned back into a single track climb and I finally started to settle in. Unlike normal races where if someone goes by me I stay on their wheel and eventually try to pass once they tire, I was more keen on letting people go by, as I knew it was only the first lap and we still had three to go.

The rest of the laps were pretty standard and I rode pretty much the same pace, managed to pick off a couple more riders and have fun on the technical course. I tried mixing some cola in my second bottle this time around and started pounding it on the last lap. I was feeling pretty good at this point, with some slight tingling in my quads as a warning sign of some possible cramping. About halfway through the last lap I ran into another guy in my category (he finished 3rd) and he thought we were right around podium potential, this kinda perked me up a little. As you have no idea who is in your category the whole time since no one got their legs marked. After I heard this I got a little fire lit under me, dropped him on the single track and caught another guy in front of me who also said he was in my age group, I asked him what about the guy in front of us? He said he was a pro and we werent racing against him. Perfect! At this point we were only about 2-3 miles from finish. I put in a good hard effort on the climb and got in front of the pro, which was good to keep the guy in my category a place behind.

I could see the another guy (1st place) not too far ahead down on the flats, and thought I had a good shot, and had about 30 seconds on the guys I just passed. I lost a little bit of concentration on a little rock drop and my front tire slid out, I was up and ready to go before the guys behind me caught back up, then I looked down and noticed my chain was off, NOOOOO! With the MRP guide I was running on my 1x9 its a bitch to squezze the cahin back through the guide and get the chain on the ring. I lost about a minute here and the three guys I just passed were now a good distance in front of me. I finally got going and managed to make up some time and hang onto forth and lost out on the podium by only about 8 seconds.

All in all it was a great day of racing and the heavier rain held off until the end. Dave S ended up with an awesome finish at 2nd place and Len G with a solid 4th which is pretty awesome considering he just had a broken tibia about a month ago. Lesson learned here, run a real geared crank and front derailleaur up front from now on!

Monkey pedals bike up hill, drifts down, hydrate, repeat!

One of those super nice days after work today. Headed over to the La Costa area and got a nice little 2 hr. mtn ride in. While cruising around I ran into good ole' Dee Folse, and then my co-worker Mark! Didnt have much time to chat with either of them as we were both heading different ways.

Finally picked out a hill to do my workout on, 'bomber' which is on the backside of the dump climb. Went up and down the hill a couple times, had a hard time pushing it too hard as legs were kinda shot. Climbed up shotgun, throwing in one more hard effort then descended down switchbacks as the sun was setting. What a great workout and perfect way to end the day!

The ADD! (All Day Debacle)

There couldn't have been a better day for the Second Annual All Day Debacle. Headed up by Kurt Gensheimer with the help of the DeKolds this ride is all about a long fun day on the mountain bike.

We rolled from the DeKolds a little after 8:30, and among the usual characters were Erik Dekold, Dave Hekel, Martin Kozicki, Dee Folse, Tony Barghini, Kurt Gensheimer, young Chris and Crazy Gary. Right as we started to roll someone had a quick 'emergency' that needed attending to, so we waited around at the top of dump climb for him. After Dump we hit the normal trails down and out into the bridges neighborhood. As we were cruising along the D.G. through the neighborhood is was awesome seeing all the poor roadies out on their sat morning ride, looking at us crusty dusty mtn bikers with envy.

After the neighborhood we dropped down to the Jungle trail and then over to the Lusardi loop, via some crazy, half grown in, hidden Kurt trail. From there we headed over through some construction area and into 'tunnels' trail system and into the ball fields, where we ran into the ice cream man! Luckily some of us had cash to spot the rest so everyone could grab a nice treat on a perfect SD day.

After the ball fields I pretty much didnt know where I was for almost the rest of the ride. We crossed Black Mountain Rd and into to Ramona, on some nice shaded, pretty flat trails. We were moving along at a pretty decent pace and everything seemed good, when all of a sudden Marty said he needed to stop at the 7-11 coming up in about 5 minutes. It had only been bout 15 minutes since our ice cream stop and Marty was babbling something about needing electrolytes. Being that Marty is newer to single speeding, and we had only climbed about 1,500ft out of 7500ft so far I knew Marty was going to be in trouble!

After our 7-11 stop we came upon our first climb up Ted Williams peak. Knowing there was a few hike-a-bike sections and I had a geared bike Kurt let me lead up the climb. Dee, Kurt and myself took our time on the climb trying not to push it and have a good time. Once Marty got up to the top the first words that came out of his mouth was 'thats it I'm done, my legs are done.' We somehow talked him into continuing on some more, and to try and tough it out, but he only lasted a little bit longer and had to stop at the Sprouts somewhere in Ramona and make that embarrassing call to Kathy to come pick him up. Crazy Gary brought along a pacifier to give to the first person that complained or couldnt continue, here is marty sucking away at the sprouts...

We continued on pretty much unknown-to-me trails through Ramona to the ranger station at highland valley, where we refuled with some water and a couple beers Hekel had stashed away. At this point due to the time lost sending Marty on his way we decided to cut out the stop at Kurts house and just head straight home. Knowing that the next thing on our agenda was ascending 'once is enough' coupled with some fatigue setting in, the ride moved along at a more quite, deliberate pace.

Once is enough is always a bitch and at mile 60 it really sucks! I was suprised at how far Kurt made it on the SS, one day someone from our group is going to clean the whole thing on a single speed! We regrouped at the top, and you can tell that everyone is just about done, and we decided to take the most direct route home. At this point almost everyone is trying to shake cramps and is just thinking about the reward at the end of the ride.

We managed to make it back to Eriks house by 5:00 with a total rolling time of 6:33 minutes, 65 miles and about 7,500 feet of vertical. We fired up the grill, drank some IPA and talked shop into the night, what a great way to cap off an awesome day!

Ted Williams peak 30 miles in

US Cup Vail Lake Race

Kind of officially kicking off the Mountain bike race season here in California is the first US Cup race, Vail Lake out in Temecula. Race day provided absolutely perfect weather, if you were going to be lounging on the beach all day, but for racing it was hotter, and drier than hell. I overheard several reports that it was over 100 degrees at the top of one of the climbs.

I was super anxious for this race as it was the first one since ive been training with Trevor Glavin as my coach, I basically had no idea where I was on my fitness. To top things off I had to race against my good buddy Kurt Gensheimer, who is an absolute hammer!

I hitched a ride up there with my buddy Dave Staiton and we met up with Len Geiger, who was up there earlier pre-riding the course with some friends. Got in a good 20 minute warm-up with everyone and discussed the bottle handoff/hydrating situation. Lucky for me Len wasn't racing and being as my bike only has 1 bottle cage he was going to hand me a bottle every lap packed with infinit nutrition"If I needed it"

Cat 1 SS started the same time as the 20year old age group, which helps on the SS if you can grab a wheel of a faster geared rider. Right out of the gate Kurt jumped into the lead and I hung on his wheel as best I could while we steadily jumped from one group of riders to the next. I sat on Kurts wheel for the first 2 or so miles, and right before the first real climb I let him know it was coming, and to try to get a good recovery in. Kurt recommended that I lead since I know the course a little better, and I just figured we would take turns pulling each other until the last lap or so. Turns out that he never caught back up to me at the top of the climb, and seeing the chance for a win I just started going for it.

The course at Vail lake, like always, is a super fast fun course that isn't very technical and has shorter punchier climbs, all in all a great race course. I was able to hold onto some geared wheels through the rest of the first lap and coming into the water bottle exchange i noticed a weird noise coming out of my rear wheel. I stopped to check it out with Len and turns out I had a busted spoke. To Lens quick inspection he said the butt end of the spoke had fallen out and it appeared as though I only had about 3 inches sticking out of the nipple. So I thought I was set. After starting to ride again I thought it might be a better idea to try to break the rest of the spoke off, so I hopped of and started bending it back and forth to try to snap it a little close to the nipple. This didn't work. It only created a sharp 'J' that looked like it would be perfect for puncturing my tire on a turn. So I straightened it back out and took off again. Then about a mile later I heard the same noise, and starting to get on my nerves so I hoped off again to solve the problem. Turns out the butt end of the spoke was still in there rattling around, and hadn't fallen out. I somehow managed to fish out the broken spoke without wasting too many more minutes and was once again on my way.

Got a few fast wheels on the flats that really helped my time out on the second lap, and everything was going fine since the spoke incident, until I started to feel a little twinge in my right calf and quad. Then at the beginning of the third lap, and out of infinit and just on gatorade I started to feel small cramps coming on everywhere in both legs. Knew I had to try to use my body weight the rest of the race and really couldn't push it, I thought my lead would be gone. Cramps got worse as the lap went on, including a couple full leg lock-ups where I wasn't even able to clip into my pedals. Any second now, I thought Kurt was going to be passing me like I was standing still!

I somehow managed to get through all the climbs and cramps and finish the third lap. And was able to hang on for a win at the season opener. Including the spoke debacle my overall time was 2:01:25, finishing over second place by all most 5 minutes. Considering this was more just a training race and to see how everything has been going I am pretty stoked. Its great to see how all the hardwork and proper training can translate into results.

Next race Sea Otter!