This weekend is 24hrs of Cool. I could lie and say I have not been obsessing over it the past few days...
...and I could lie again and say I haven't been checking the weather every hour on the hour.
The fact remains its going to be wet. Its going to be cold, well at least for May in California. I have gone over it a dozen times: six pairs of shorts, this and that, rain gear....I am covered. Chris is bringing some clip-on fenders that I ironically gave him amazing amounts of sh&% over a few months back. So, yeah, I think I am set.
No matter how you look at it, its going to be tough, and once I am riding the weather really doesn't matter. Get wet, change clothes. Get cold, change/add clothes. Gets too sloppy change bikes while crew changes the gear on my DeSalvo. No matter how I prepare for this its going to hurt, or at least be tough - if it didn't hurt I wouldn't be pushing hard enough.
The key is living in the moment, that one lap I am on. If I am getting cold, I know warm clothes are 12.5 miles away at most. Everything is about that lap, that climb, that's it. Last year I was golden in that mindset until almost 8a.m. when for one reason or another my concentration slipped and I started doing the math in my hazy mind. The race is hard enough, and to think about how much longer you have to ride makes it that much tougher to do.
The goal, ride each lap hard at a pace I can keep on trucking for a full day, and eating everytime my alarm goes off (every 20 minutes) and drinking what I am told to each lap. I just ride and concentrate on the dirt in front of me. If I can do my part, I have complete faith in my crew to get me through this as fast as my body can do it...or as far as it can go in 25 hrs.
So all this worry about the weather is silly. Its just one more factor that makes this an EPIC weekend. Don't get me wrong, I would love beautiful weather, but "it is what it is"....
Have a great weekend! If you want, come hang out in Cool this weekend!!!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Catching up...
Sorry these are so late in coming...
Rode the Cool 24 course last night (Monday) and I like it. The changes are nice. The first added single track is a bit flat for my liking being on a SS, but the second bit is a fun downhill. The last addition changes the climb out of Salt Creek. Just when you hit the rocky steep double track you head off on single track. The climb itself I think is steeper, but you ride out to a lake on single track before joining back up with the top part of the old double track climb... Nice changes Jim!
Now all of the new trail junctions do not flow at all, but after 6 hrs or so nothing is flowing anyway!
Rode Auburn last Wednesday, Marja and I had a fast ride on the usual loop up Clementine to the connector, to the Foressthill Divide loop, a little visit with Ruck-a-Chucky and on back. Marja had to head down to school so I rode up Stage Coach, came down Manzanita, up to Upper Stagecoach and down and did it all over again... A good 6 hours I needed in the saddle. We did have an exciting medical emergency issue, but that a later blog...Not us...
A few days later we rode out to Granite Bay to meet up with Jenni and Joel. We did a lap with them (Sabastian too of course) and then started back toward Hazel where we started out day. Somewhere between GB and Beale's Point my rear tire explodes. I look down between my legs and really can't figure out what I see... My rim had separated for about six inches along the arc.
April 20, 2009
Life has been nutty lately, probably my own fault considering how much the kids have going on then add what I am trying to do on the bike...well its almost time to breath for a week or two, after May 2-3 of course.
The past few weeks have been fun. Lots of riding, racing, bonking and just plain good-old suffering in the saddle. Last weeks race out at Prairie City on Wednesday was fast, very fast and my 34x16 was a bit small for the course. As we came through to start our second lap they had just finished starting the sport classes and still had the beginner classes to go through...
The funniest thing happened starting that second lap (well its funny now), there was a short but steep climb, geared rider went down in front of me, I steered left of him and gave a burst of power to pop over the top of the climb and next thing I know my knee is practically smacking me in the chin. I hit the deck, pick the bike up (as 4 or 5 single speeders fly by me), and as I leap to mount my bike CX style, I notice my foot feels nice and airy... I had actually come out of my left shoe, it was spinning around still clipped into my pedal. HMMMM......lucky for me as I put my left foot on the pedal my foot slipped right in. The only problem was I couldn't spin circles in order to keep my cadence up, I could only mash down on the pedals....
I attempted to buckle my shoe several times, but PC is rocky to say the least.... Finally we got to a flatter road crossing and I had to slow and buckle my shoe....3 more SSs fly by....good news is, I felt good so I didn't panic, I caught up to the three pretty quickly and at the bottom of the climb I left them. Topped out and kept spinning my brains out to catch the 4 that passed earlier on my fall.
A few "iffy" choices on the decent later and I was on their wheels, through the parking lot and out on lap 3....passed two, sat on the Victory Velo's wheel out to the flatter part of the course where said SSers I just passed, pass us but off course. They cut the corner, a big sweeping corner we rode, they cut it and ended up in front.... I know its only PC, but I was pissed. Again, bottom of the climb, I took off and topped out in front again, through the parking lot with Victory Velo on my wheel, then he came over and the two of us made our way into a traffic jam that allowed the earlier said SSers to catch back up.... Flat part of the course on lap 4, guess who is off to our right cutting the course again....bummer.
No panic, I get close to them as we near the climb and hit the climb hard, maybe a little too hard as I let my emotions push me past the redline just a wee bit too far. No worries I know I can recover and push hard to the finish.
As we approach the parking lot I take a softer line and the three (victory velo and the other two SSers) take the better line and they sneak in under me...I blew that one, oh well.
As the Victory Velo and the others battle past the line into the chute, Victory Velo starts barking at one of them....I roll by and congratulate Victory Velo and tell him not to sweat it, that the other two cut the course lap 3 and 4. The other 2 got extremely defensive, I just told them "no worries next time just ride the course like everyone else...." The three of them kept arguing. I cruised over to Pete's tent, proceeded to eat my almond butter and jelly sandwich and get ready to ride back to Scott's house from PC. Dave and I rode a lap around the park then I headed out for the ride home. Beautiful night too! Great day of miles on the SS with a 12.5 sprint in the middle of it, total 52 miles.
Rode again on Thursday with Marja on the bike trail, just spun on the road bike for an hour and a half trying to be rested for Sea Otter.
Then comes Sea Otter. I met Scott and Marja at Laguna Seca on Saturday after Cameron's baseball game. I picked up my number and timing chip and we headed back to the hotel to go eat and relax. Great pizza at Gianni's, then just settled in at the hotel. 5:30 came, Scott made some waffles in his waffle maker! Now these were sweet, but I fear this may have been my first mistake of the day (foreshadowing, notice the word FIRST in front of the word MISTAKE). I always eat oatmeal and blueberries and/or yogurt every morning, especially race morning. I am no nutritionist, I am guessing here.
Flash forward to our arrival at Laguna Seca, 48 degrees in Monterey at 7a.m., 64 degrees at Laguna Seca already. I strip off my knee warmers, arm warmers and vest, get a good luck from Scott and Marja, then I head out to warm up. Feel like I usually do before this race, a little anxious, but relaxed wishing I could warm up more though. We stage.
Pro/Cat 1 SS are off at 8a.m. Strong field as expected at Sea Otter, and the usual fast start. Now this start on the track at Laguna Seca cracks me up on SSs....its something you have to see and listen to in order to understand....all heads bobbing up and down in sync as we spin out, then no bobbing and the sound of knobbies...then heads bobbing, and so on...again, words can't describe it...its funny. I stayed with the front group all the way around the track and on to the dirt. Ouch!
The first climb was no biggy and the crazy roller coaster section afterwards was a blast. Then the single track section that can be mayhem was fast and relatively smooth this year...the first switchback climb. Legs felt a bit heavy as expected but kept plugging away, at the top however I felt lethargic, everywhere.....no worries, just kept cranking knowing I had the "sandpit of joy" to descend with the first relentless climb just afterward....I was very upbeat looking to slap the climb around. Made my way passed two SSers in the decent through the sand (my fat 2.2 Exiwolf was heaven...they had what looked like 1.9s on the front...not good for sand) and hit the bottom of the next climb.
This climb is relentless, it keeps kicking up, false flat, kick and when you think its topped out it starts kicking again.... I went passed Zol (local racer), he didn't look too happy pushing on the lower section, I rounded the next corner, got caught in traffic and had to dismount and jogged the bike for a bit to where you can see the end of the climb up about 50 meters. Topped out and felt absolutely toasted....legs felt okay but my whole body just felt tired...
No worries, kept cranking. The rest of the lap went like this, I jogged the steep little climb near the end of the lap and was okay with it due to all the traffic on it. The long climb in was tough but I was upbeat as I always feel better the longer I race.
Saw Marja and the pooches, she handed me bottles and I could barely get the words "thank you" out of my mouth. Saw a lot of people I knew on that climb in so it lifted me a bit and I dropped into Laguna Seca to do a lap on the track and then head out on Lap #2.
Now when I dropped my bottles, they were both half full....no big deal if it was 60, big deal as it was already approaching 90 degrees.
Ate a fig newton package, took a rolaid and an S cap and felt pretty good. felt good and fast until the relentless climb....topped out and my body felt totally lethargic. Here's the funny part...I went to rest my elbows on my bars and I fell over. I jumped back up, got on and sucked down two GUs and kept pedaling, how fast, I am not really sure....I felt horrible.
As I made my way up the last climb I again saw Adam, Alex and a few others I recognized from Sac when Alex yelled, "You are looking strong Brad!"....I retorted, "You are so full of s&^%!" with a big smile on my face....
My biggest issue was at the bottom of that last climb I was freezing cold with goosebumps....I thought to myself, "uh oh..." You are taught that if its hot, really hot and you get cold, "stop what you are doing" but I realized my best bet was to finish the race. Firstly it will get me whatever it is I need and secondly, I will not get a DNF.
So my streak of mediocre races at Sea Otter continues. That's racing I guess. Looking back I think MAYBE it had something to do with what I ate, MAYBE I should have let the lead pack go at the start and ramped up from there. Then again MAYBE I should have drank more fluids... The sick thing is, I still had fun in the end, and I did not throw in the towel. You need those character building rides from time to time.
Fluid count for the ride home: 24oz water bottle, 20 oz lemonade, 24 oz Cliff recovery, 2 diet cokes, 30+oz powerade, another 20 oz diet coke on the drive to my parents...2.5 hrs later I finally had to pee. Hydration?
Rode the Cool 24 course last night (Monday) and I like it. The changes are nice. The first added single track is a bit flat for my liking being on a SS, but the second bit is a fun downhill. The last addition changes the climb out of Salt Creek. Just when you hit the rocky steep double track you head off on single track. The climb itself I think is steeper, but you ride out to a lake on single track before joining back up with the top part of the old double track climb... Nice changes Jim!
Now all of the new trail junctions do not flow at all, but after 6 hrs or so nothing is flowing anyway!
Rode Auburn last Wednesday, Marja and I had a fast ride on the usual loop up Clementine to the connector, to the Foressthill Divide loop, a little visit with Ruck-a-Chucky and on back. Marja had to head down to school so I rode up Stage Coach, came down Manzanita, up to Upper Stagecoach and down and did it all over again... A good 6 hours I needed in the saddle. We did have an exciting medical emergency issue, but that a later blog...Not us...
A few days later we rode out to Granite Bay to meet up with Jenni and Joel. We did a lap with them (Sabastian too of course) and then started back toward Hazel where we started out day. Somewhere between GB and Beale's Point my rear tire explodes. I look down between my legs and really can't figure out what I see... My rim had separated for about six inches along the arc.
April 20, 2009
Life has been nutty lately, probably my own fault considering how much the kids have going on then add what I am trying to do on the bike...well its almost time to breath for a week or two, after May 2-3 of course.
The past few weeks have been fun. Lots of riding, racing, bonking and just plain good-old suffering in the saddle. Last weeks race out at Prairie City on Wednesday was fast, very fast and my 34x16 was a bit small for the course. As we came through to start our second lap they had just finished starting the sport classes and still had the beginner classes to go through...
The funniest thing happened starting that second lap (well its funny now), there was a short but steep climb, geared rider went down in front of me, I steered left of him and gave a burst of power to pop over the top of the climb and next thing I know my knee is practically smacking me in the chin. I hit the deck, pick the bike up (as 4 or 5 single speeders fly by me), and as I leap to mount my bike CX style, I notice my foot feels nice and airy... I had actually come out of my left shoe, it was spinning around still clipped into my pedal. HMMMM......lucky for me as I put my left foot on the pedal my foot slipped right in. The only problem was I couldn't spin circles in order to keep my cadence up, I could only mash down on the pedals....
I attempted to buckle my shoe several times, but PC is rocky to say the least.... Finally we got to a flatter road crossing and I had to slow and buckle my shoe....3 more SSs fly by....good news is, I felt good so I didn't panic, I caught up to the three pretty quickly and at the bottom of the climb I left them. Topped out and kept spinning my brains out to catch the 4 that passed earlier on my fall.
A few "iffy" choices on the decent later and I was on their wheels, through the parking lot and out on lap 3....passed two, sat on the Victory Velo's wheel out to the flatter part of the course where said SSers I just passed, pass us but off course. They cut the corner, a big sweeping corner we rode, they cut it and ended up in front.... I know its only PC, but I was pissed. Again, bottom of the climb, I took off and topped out in front again, through the parking lot with Victory Velo on my wheel, then he came over and the two of us made our way into a traffic jam that allowed the earlier said SSers to catch back up.... Flat part of the course on lap 4, guess who is off to our right cutting the course again....bummer.
No panic, I get close to them as we near the climb and hit the climb hard, maybe a little too hard as I let my emotions push me past the redline just a wee bit too far. No worries I know I can recover and push hard to the finish.
As we approach the parking lot I take a softer line and the three (victory velo and the other two SSers) take the better line and they sneak in under me...I blew that one, oh well.
As the Victory Velo and the others battle past the line into the chute, Victory Velo starts barking at one of them....I roll by and congratulate Victory Velo and tell him not to sweat it, that the other two cut the course lap 3 and 4. The other 2 got extremely defensive, I just told them "no worries next time just ride the course like everyone else...." The three of them kept arguing. I cruised over to Pete's tent, proceeded to eat my almond butter and jelly sandwich and get ready to ride back to Scott's house from PC. Dave and I rode a lap around the park then I headed out for the ride home. Beautiful night too! Great day of miles on the SS with a 12.5 sprint in the middle of it, total 52 miles.
Rode again on Thursday with Marja on the bike trail, just spun on the road bike for an hour and a half trying to be rested for Sea Otter.
Then comes Sea Otter. I met Scott and Marja at Laguna Seca on Saturday after Cameron's baseball game. I picked up my number and timing chip and we headed back to the hotel to go eat and relax. Great pizza at Gianni's, then just settled in at the hotel. 5:30 came, Scott made some waffles in his waffle maker! Now these were sweet, but I fear this may have been my first mistake of the day (foreshadowing, notice the word FIRST in front of the word MISTAKE). I always eat oatmeal and blueberries and/or yogurt every morning, especially race morning. I am no nutritionist, I am guessing here.
Flash forward to our arrival at Laguna Seca, 48 degrees in Monterey at 7a.m., 64 degrees at Laguna Seca already. I strip off my knee warmers, arm warmers and vest, get a good luck from Scott and Marja, then I head out to warm up. Feel like I usually do before this race, a little anxious, but relaxed wishing I could warm up more though. We stage.
Pro/Cat 1 SS are off at 8a.m. Strong field as expected at Sea Otter, and the usual fast start. Now this start on the track at Laguna Seca cracks me up on SSs....its something you have to see and listen to in order to understand....all heads bobbing up and down in sync as we spin out, then no bobbing and the sound of knobbies...then heads bobbing, and so on...again, words can't describe it...its funny. I stayed with the front group all the way around the track and on to the dirt. Ouch!
The first climb was no biggy and the crazy roller coaster section afterwards was a blast. Then the single track section that can be mayhem was fast and relatively smooth this year...the first switchback climb. Legs felt a bit heavy as expected but kept plugging away, at the top however I felt lethargic, everywhere.....no worries, just kept cranking knowing I had the "sandpit of joy" to descend with the first relentless climb just afterward....I was very upbeat looking to slap the climb around. Made my way passed two SSers in the decent through the sand (my fat 2.2 Exiwolf was heaven...they had what looked like 1.9s on the front...not good for sand) and hit the bottom of the next climb.
This climb is relentless, it keeps kicking up, false flat, kick and when you think its topped out it starts kicking again.... I went passed Zol (local racer), he didn't look too happy pushing on the lower section, I rounded the next corner, got caught in traffic and had to dismount and jogged the bike for a bit to where you can see the end of the climb up about 50 meters. Topped out and felt absolutely toasted....legs felt okay but my whole body just felt tired...
No worries, kept cranking. The rest of the lap went like this, I jogged the steep little climb near the end of the lap and was okay with it due to all the traffic on it. The long climb in was tough but I was upbeat as I always feel better the longer I race.
Saw Marja and the pooches, she handed me bottles and I could barely get the words "thank you" out of my mouth. Saw a lot of people I knew on that climb in so it lifted me a bit and I dropped into Laguna Seca to do a lap on the track and then head out on Lap #2.
Now when I dropped my bottles, they were both half full....no big deal if it was 60, big deal as it was already approaching 90 degrees.
Ate a fig newton package, took a rolaid and an S cap and felt pretty good. felt good and fast until the relentless climb....topped out and my body felt totally lethargic. Here's the funny part...I went to rest my elbows on my bars and I fell over. I jumped back up, got on and sucked down two GUs and kept pedaling, how fast, I am not really sure....I felt horrible.
As I made my way up the last climb I again saw Adam, Alex and a few others I recognized from Sac when Alex yelled, "You are looking strong Brad!"....I retorted, "You are so full of s&^%!" with a big smile on my face....
My biggest issue was at the bottom of that last climb I was freezing cold with goosebumps....I thought to myself, "uh oh..." You are taught that if its hot, really hot and you get cold, "stop what you are doing" but I realized my best bet was to finish the race. Firstly it will get me whatever it is I need and secondly, I will not get a DNF.
So my streak of mediocre races at Sea Otter continues. That's racing I guess. Looking back I think MAYBE it had something to do with what I ate, MAYBE I should have let the lead pack go at the start and ramped up from there. Then again MAYBE I should have drank more fluids... The sick thing is, I still had fun in the end, and I did not throw in the towel. You need those character building rides from time to time.
Fluid count for the ride home: 24oz water bottle, 20 oz lemonade, 24 oz Cliff recovery, 2 diet cokes, 30+oz powerade, another 20 oz diet coke on the drive to my parents...2.5 hrs later I finally had to pee. Hydration?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Quick cruise up I-5...
Just back from Ashland, Oregon, where Marja and I sat down with Mike DeSalvo to discuss Marja's CX build. Really cool to see what Mike can do with the bikes geometry, etc. in order to address the fact that we could not find a bike with a short enough top tube for her. Seems no one builds a women's specific CX frame yet, so most women who race cross end up "reaching" for the bars... The 4+ hour drive up and then down was well worth it!!
It a true test of will power NOT to get fitted for a CX build for me. Yes I had my CX bike on the truck and vowed NOT to pull it off the roof and bring it in. Then Mike wanted to measure it for comparison to some of the dimensions for Marja's bike.....UH OH!! Alas, I made it out w/o getting fitted, however, we will be driving through again at the end of May on our way to Spokane for Chris' race and I may not be so strong....
Here's an update for Chris as to where he stands, didn't know you were getting a SS Chris? We did get a chance to see his bike though....
Unfortunately, seems that Linda's bike was posing a bit of a challenge to Mike, so he may be building a whole new frame for her. Originally her 29er was built up for what tires were available at the time, which were SKINNY, so Mike was putting a new rear triangle on it for better tire clearance. Seems it was turning out to be a serious issue so he might have to build another altogether.
While up in Ashland we got to see the results from Prairie City, and I surprised myself by pulling out a 2nd. I felt good last Wednesday night, but to be honest I had absolutely no clue where I was. For me the short races are all about trying to stay with the lead group on the first lap and then just holding on for dear life with the throttle wide open. I started with a 34x16 which I feared would be too small, but with the winds we had it ended up just right. I also rode out to the race from Scott's house, so I got to warm up for about an hour on the way out there.
Sunday Marja and I headed up to Auburn to ride with Scott, and of course the one time he is dressed and ready to roll at our agreed time Marja and I were late, by 15 minutes, at least! I was too comfortable drinking coffee instead of loading the prius...ooops!
Nice ride, beautiful day. The bottom of Ruck-a-Chucky was gorgeous down on the middle fork of the American. Here's the goofy POSE shot for champion Systems and GU sports:
After taking some pics with the new team kits and started back to the bottom of the climb, seems the equestrian people want to try and tell us to stay off of the access roads now too. The Western States Trail is off limits to bikes, and Ruck-a-Chucky is where it crosses the middle fork, however the access roads down in the canyon as well as McKeon-Ponderosa (access fire road up to Foressthill) are open to bikes. Keep in mind the three of us probably make up half of all the cyclists who routinely ride down there anyway as the climb out Mckeon or up Ruck-a-Chucky to Driver's Flat are not fun...not your typical "lets go have fun on our MTBs ride" We soon forgot about them.
The rest of the ride was great. Now Chucky hurt me more than it has in a while, but I can accept that. He has to let you know who's boss every once in a while. Its a little more chewed up with the nicer weather means more vehicles head down to the river there. A lot of Western States Training runs start there, so some drive down to it from Driver's Flat.What a day. Marja was lucky enough to see some sweet downhill guys on the confluence trail clear all the gaps on it. Jealous. I have only once seen the aftermath of someone trying the largest gap, he didn't make it. He didn't look so good, now his friends were rather enjoying it though.
We finished the climb back up Stagecoach to the car and headed down the hill. We met Jenni and Joel for dinner at Chevy's on the River...Wow, a whole other blog, what a trip on Sunday night.....Marja and I are trying to convince Joel to race Wednesday at Prairie City....hopefully we can pull it off. I have a feeling even with his downhill bike he will finish well.
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