Doug and I have been enjoying the non-rainy weather in Eugene. It has been nice having them here. Doug got in on Wednesday and we went for a birthday ride that evening (57 years - the old man can still ride well). Thursday we road for a while in the morning. Friday we went on a ride with a friend of mine. He is a runner and doesn't ride very often. It is pretty amazing that he can still keep up and push me without riding. Friday and Saturday we spent watching the NCAA western division track meet. It was fun to see the events.
On Monday Doug and I had a great 68 mile ride. A couple of months ago in the Bicycling magazine they had a highlighted ride from each state. A DZ mountain bike ride was highlighted in Utah. In OR it was Wolf Creek in Eugene. It is an amazing ride. I will pass on explaining it and let Doug do it when he writes in. Needless to say it is beautiful! There was some pretty strong winds on the way back, but it is was still fun. Tonight is the uphill TT and Doug and I are going to go over to them. My legs are pretty hammered from yesterday, but will let you know how it goes. I did take my camera, but when I was pulling it out I dropped it and it broke. Sorry there were some pretty amazing shots that I tried to get. Doug is going to bring his camera tonight.
Bub
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Draper Flats
T Man and I raced the Draper Intermountain Cup today. It was hard. I know that sounds unusual for a mountain bike race, but what can I say. The course was one long climb and then a long single track descent with some rollers thrown in for good measure. The bottom half of the descent was near the Draper Temple and in the million dollar homes and South Mountain Golf Course. I never worried about getting hit by a golf ball on a mountain bike before. It was kind of strange ripping down a grassy alley between big house. However, it was really nice to race close to home and to have a big turnout.
First Tanner. He's been working on his climbing and rode really strong up the big hill. His group did one big lap (10 miles with 1500 feet of verticle) and one small lap (about a mile or so). He was in 3rd or 4th at the top of the climb, but close to the leaders. Unfortunately, he had a few issues on the descent and hit the dirt 3 times. He wasn't hurt too bad and finished in 8th place. I'm proud of his efforts, but I've failed him in the descending department. We have practice planned this week.
I finally felt physically good today. My group did 3 big laps for a LONG race with lots of up. Glen Adams came, so we were all racing for 2nd. I hung with Glen and Dana for 1/2 of the first climb, but had to back off a little. I was about 30 seconds down at the top. Glen dropped Dana and I was working hard to get to Dana. Unfortunately, on the single track descent on the 2nd lap, I flatted. I didn't exactly have the fastest tube change in the world and got passed by a lot of guys as I floundered with my wheel. I rode hard once I got going again and passed everyone in my group other than Glen and Dana by the start of the 3rd lap. I didn't know if anyone else was a head of me in my group, so it was go hard the rest of the way. In the end, I'm not sure I would have gotten Dana for 2nd without the flat, so 3rd with a flat isn't too bad. My race time was something like 2 hours 47 minutes, so it was a spanker.
I rode a friend's hardtail for this race. I've been toying with the idea of putting together a light HT for racing. After today, I'm not sure. The bike was really good on the climbs and fast on the descents. Where I struggled was on the relatively flat, bumpy sections. I just couldn't get going. I think I went just about as fast as I do on the Epic going downhill. However, the ride is MUCH rougher. On the 3rd lap, I felt very beat-up and I'm much more sore in my shoulders, arms and back than normal. On some courses, a HT would be the way to go. However, on most of what we race, FS is the call.
Happy Memorial Day,
Daren
First Tanner. He's been working on his climbing and rode really strong up the big hill. His group did one big lap (10 miles with 1500 feet of verticle) and one small lap (about a mile or so). He was in 3rd or 4th at the top of the climb, but close to the leaders. Unfortunately, he had a few issues on the descent and hit the dirt 3 times. He wasn't hurt too bad and finished in 8th place. I'm proud of his efforts, but I've failed him in the descending department. We have practice planned this week.
I finally felt physically good today. My group did 3 big laps for a LONG race with lots of up. Glen Adams came, so we were all racing for 2nd. I hung with Glen and Dana for 1/2 of the first climb, but had to back off a little. I was about 30 seconds down at the top. Glen dropped Dana and I was working hard to get to Dana. Unfortunately, on the single track descent on the 2nd lap, I flatted. I didn't exactly have the fastest tube change in the world and got passed by a lot of guys as I floundered with my wheel. I rode hard once I got going again and passed everyone in my group other than Glen and Dana by the start of the 3rd lap. I didn't know if anyone else was a head of me in my group, so it was go hard the rest of the way. In the end, I'm not sure I would have gotten Dana for 2nd without the flat, so 3rd with a flat isn't too bad. My race time was something like 2 hours 47 minutes, so it was a spanker.
I rode a friend's hardtail for this race. I've been toying with the idea of putting together a light HT for racing. After today, I'm not sure. The bike was really good on the climbs and fast on the descents. Where I struggled was on the relatively flat, bumpy sections. I just couldn't get going. I think I went just about as fast as I do on the Epic going downhill. However, the ride is MUCH rougher. On the 3rd lap, I felt very beat-up and I'm much more sore in my shoulders, arms and back than normal. On some courses, a HT would be the way to go. However, on most of what we race, FS is the call.
Happy Memorial Day,
Daren
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Back in the Game
Well, I felt good enough last night to give the RMR Crit a go. I ventured off the front with a couple of moves early, but I was starting to get worked. Therefore, I just sat in the middle of the group the rest of the race. It was nice to feel heathly enough to finish a race and feel decent the next day. Hopefully, I'll be fully recovered from my sickness by Monday's MTB race.
The best news last night was Eric Rasmussen of the Porc Special team won his first RMR A race last night. Eric beat up on the B's last year and moved to the A's late in the year. He's worked very hard to improve and it paid off last night. Go to teamrico.blogspot.com to see the picture of his winning sprint.
Doug and Bubba, have fun in the great Northwest. Let us know how things are going.
D
The best news last night was Eric Rasmussen of the Porc Special team won his first RMR A race last night. Eric beat up on the B's last year and moved to the A's late in the year. He's worked very hard to improve and it paid off last night. Go to teamrico.blogspot.com to see the picture of his winning sprint.
Doug and Bubba, have fun in the great Northwest. Let us know how things are going.
D
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Daren the Spectator
Well, I've been sick for nearly 2 weeks now and I'm tired of it. I tried to race the crit Wed. night lasted about 12 minutes before getting dropped and then felt terrible Thurs. I was hoping for a great recovery for the MTB race Saturday, but no such luck. Remarkably, I did the right thing and watched the race instead of suffering for 2 1/2 hours.
Even though it was difficult to watch my group go by without me, it was fun to watch Doug and Tanner race hard. They both did very well and I got some good pictures around the course. Tanner had a bit of a machanical and fell back early. However, he battled back and finished a close 4th out of a big group of juniors. If the race would have been longer, he would have been at least 2nd. Doung is getting more comfortable on the MTB and was competitive with the old guys. He finished 4th as well but was only 4 minutes off the winner. I was proud of both of them.
Doug had a bike issue while warming up and had to ride my bike. I guess it was good I didn't race. The down side is now Doug wants another new bike!
Here's Doug on the opening climb. That's a really cool bike he's on.
Tanner ripping in down hill (Doug's in the distance. Doug's group started a minute ahead of Tanner's group. However, the T-man ended up finishing about 8 minutes in front of Doug.)
Tanner beginning a long single track climb.
Doug not far behind on the same climb.
Tanner coming off the difficult single track descent.
Doug survives the descent. If you look closely, you can see the blood on this right arm.
Even though it was difficult to watch my group go by without me, it was fun to watch Doug and Tanner race hard. They both did very well and I got some good pictures around the course. Tanner had a bit of a machanical and fell back early. However, he battled back and finished a close 4th out of a big group of juniors. If the race would have been longer, he would have been at least 2nd. Doung is getting more comfortable on the MTB and was competitive with the old guys. He finished 4th as well but was only 4 minutes off the winner. I was proud of both of them.
Doug had a bike issue while warming up and had to ride my bike. I guess it was good I didn't race. The down side is now Doug wants another new bike!
Here's Doug on the opening climb. That's a really cool bike he's on.
Tanner ripping in down hill (Doug's in the distance. Doug's group started a minute ahead of Tanner's group. However, the T-man ended up finishing about 8 minutes in front of Doug.)
Tanner beginning a long single track climb.
Doug not far behind on the same climb.
Tanner coming off the difficult single track descent.
Doug survives the descent. If you look closely, you can see the blood on this right arm.
Every time I do a MTB race, I know it is a big effort and that I'm suffering on the climbs. Some times, I think I'm the only one suffering. However, after watching about 150 riders go by me yesterday on a difficult climbing section I can confidently say ALL 150 were in the pain cave. Some were in a little deeper than others, but they were all there. It's kind of comforting to know that racing is communal suffering.
It was also interesting to notice all the different body types of the races. The pro's were very lean and just look fast. The experts are lean and fit looking, the sport class riders are a little less fit looking and the beginers look pretty average. However, I have a great deal of respect for anyone willing to put in the effor to race on the dirt. The effort level is about the same for all groups. The speed and time just goes up with the higher level groups.
Wish me luck this week. I'd like to be a bike racer again!
Daren
Friday, May 18, 2007
Soap Opera- As the Drugs Turn
What a great time for professional cycling! The pot got stirred big time yesterday. Landis's expressions have been an interesting as he has gone from smug to I wish I had a knife to slit you throat looks. You need to read on cyclingnews.com the daily inputs. It is interesting to note that Lance beat up on dopers Ulli-Basso-Bele-Hamil, but he didn't, what a joke.
On the home front, Robby Garrett was here with Jill and kids and we got some great rides, Hot and fast. I'm really excited to be going to Brady's next week. I shipped my bike up, it was hard to see it in a box, may the force be with it. Daren, Tanner and I are racing mountain bikes tomorrow at the hollow, hopefully it will be fun. Hope your feeling some better Daren. Sutt's big Fremont Baseballers are doing great, it must be the coaching.
Have great weekends to all. Kim's in Denver, something about a witch? We are hoping farmer Russ can find his way to a bike, LOTOJA is looming. Be safe
Doug
On the home front, Robby Garrett was here with Jill and kids and we got some great rides, Hot and fast. I'm really excited to be going to Brady's next week. I shipped my bike up, it was hard to see it in a box, may the force be with it. Daren, Tanner and I are racing mountain bikes tomorrow at the hollow, hopefully it will be fun. Hope your feeling some better Daren. Sutt's big Fremont Baseballers are doing great, it must be the coaching.
Have great weekends to all. Kim's in Denver, something about a witch? We are hoping farmer Russ can find his way to a bike, LOTOJA is looming. Be safe
Doug
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Landis! Uh-OH!
Landis is in TROUBLE! He thought he was going to get away with it, until Greg showed up.
Bubba
Bubba
Monday, May 14, 2007
No racing in Eugene
Daren, thanks for the updates on nutrition. It was very helpful, especially after my last race. There aren't any races for the rest of the month, other than the uphill TT. I am hoping to get to do atleast one more of them. I did a group ride on Saturday and road about 80 total miles. The group was small - 8 of us. There were some strong riders and they were going at it. I was trying hard to pull through in the 5 man rotation. I am looking forward to a little visit from Doug. He is going to send his bike up and we are going to do some rides.
Hope all is well.
Bubba
Hope all is well.
Bubba
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Training Tips
I went to a seminar at The Orthopedic Speciality Hospital (TOSH) in Murray Thursday night called the Science of Cycling. TOSH is a new practice established last year by Dr. Eric Hieden (yes, that Eric Hieden) and Dr. Max Testa. Dr. Testa is a legendary cycling coach who has worked with top European teams for 30 years. They came to Utah when USA Speed Skating moved it's headquarters to SLC. They have a staff of doctors and Phd's specializing in endurance sports that is as good as any in the world. The clinic is open to anyone.
Here's some of the highlights of 2.5 hours of interesting information.
1. Your physcial makeup pretty much determines how good you will be. The good news is that you can improve your abilities with training. The bad news is you can improve only so much. Tests like VO2max don't predict winners (eg. the highest VO2max doesn't necessarily win the race), but they are prerequisits. In other words, to be a Pro Tour rider, you need a VO2max of at least 70. However, just because you have an 80 doesn't mean you will win.
2. Lance Armstrong's physical make up is something like 1 in 7 million. By contrast, an NBA player's physical make up is something like 1 in 500,000. There are about 13 attributes they can test to determine your cycling ability. LA is off the chart on all 13. He won the cycling body lottery.
3. Dr. Testa outlined the basic concepts of a good training plan. These are the things we all know, should be specific, include periodization, consistancy, etc, but he stressed it needs to be individual. He said no one program will work for everyone. As an example, he described the "Oscar Friere Paradox". Testa started to work with Friere after he had won his first world championship. He met with Friere in Spain in November. Friere is a super nice guy and showed Testa all the sights of his town for a couple of days. By the 3rd day, Friere had not mentioned the bike or training once. Finally, Testa brought it up and wanted to build a traingin plan. Friere said it is much too early in the season to train and he would start later. Testa built what he thought was an easy plan beginning in the end of November. Friere was concerned it was way too much. Friere ended up gettin back pain in December and was not able to ride more than 2 - 4 times per week for an hour or so. By the time the 1st stage race in Spain rolled around, the longest ride Friere had done was 3 hours. This race is hard and they didn't want to put Friere in. However the promoter demanded he ride and so he started. Friere went on the win 3 stages and finish 2nd overall. Dr. Testa bascially said, "go figure". Some guys just don't need or can't handle huge hours. Others can and do.
4. Nutrition plays a big part in performance. Dr. Meyer, a Nutritionist, gave some really good advice. Carbs are the engine that fuel us. Eat a high carb, low fat diet. Avoid all sodas. The fewer the ingrediants on the label, the better. Don't eat out very often. Prepare from whole foods. Eat small amounts often, not a few big meals.
5. Hydration. You need to stay hydrated but not over-hydrated. The only good way to know if you are drinking enough is to weigh before and after a ride. Measure your weight loss and had the weight of anything you drank. You will then know how much volume you lost. If you lose more than 2% of your body weight, performance will suffer.
6. Eating on the bike. You need to get 60-70 grams of carb per hour on the bike. This can come in solid form or liquid. Liquid is easier to take and is usable faster. Gels are also good. Too much is as bad as not enough. Sports drinks can be very helpful and should be used on rides longer than 1.5 hours.
7. Recovery eating. Eating immediately after a ride is very important. You need to eat a little carb and light protein. A recovery drink is very good for this. You should repeat this grazing every hour or 2 and then have a full meal 3 to 4 hours post ride.
8. You should eat a good meal high in carbs 3 to 4 hours prior to a race or big workout. If you eat a full meal close to a race or workout (less than 2 hours prior), your body will still be using energy from your blood to digest the food. This will take away from your performance. If you can't eat that early (an early race or workout), you are better off not eating a meal, but start eating on the bike early in the ride. Use gels, sports drinks etc.
9. Carbo loading really works. For a big event, like LoToJa, it should start 3 days prior to the event and should taper each day.
10. Eric Hieden talked about common cycling injuries. He said cycling is great on your body (for example, running puts up to 11 times your body weight on your knees, but cycling puts only up to 1.3 times) but it is very easy to get repetitive motion injuries. In a 6 hour ride, you'll do something like 320,000 pedal revolutions. Therefore, any slight problem gets magnified. He and Dr. Testa repeatedly stressed proper bike fit. They said that most riders are not fit correctly and suffer pain and poor performance as a result. The cost of a good fit is worth it.
11. Hieden stressed most cycling injuries can be treated with rest, position alteration, stretching and increased strength. He said if a doctor recommends surgery to repair over-use injuries, you should run away as fast as you can. He said in 11 years of practice, he has rarely operated to solve these issues.
12. If you break your collar bone, it can heal without surgery most of the time. In fact, Dr. Hieden has only surgically repaired about 1 in 10 collar bones he's treated in his life and he's treated a bunch.
13. Stretching and weight training. Both Dr. Testa and Dr. Hieden stressed streching and core strengthening. However, when Dr. Testa was asked about weight training he said, "the only guys who don't lift weights are the ones who win races". He said he may have guys lift in the winter to slow them down so they don't peak too early. Otherwise, he's not a fan. However, he did say if you are a recreational cyclist over 40, weight training will help your overall health and fitness.
TOSH will likely do more seminars. I'll let you know if I hear about them. Testing at TOSH is pretty reasonably priced
Daren
Here's some of the highlights of 2.5 hours of interesting information.
1. Your physcial makeup pretty much determines how good you will be. The good news is that you can improve your abilities with training. The bad news is you can improve only so much. Tests like VO2max don't predict winners (eg. the highest VO2max doesn't necessarily win the race), but they are prerequisits. In other words, to be a Pro Tour rider, you need a VO2max of at least 70. However, just because you have an 80 doesn't mean you will win.
2. Lance Armstrong's physical make up is something like 1 in 7 million. By contrast, an NBA player's physical make up is something like 1 in 500,000. There are about 13 attributes they can test to determine your cycling ability. LA is off the chart on all 13. He won the cycling body lottery.
3. Dr. Testa outlined the basic concepts of a good training plan. These are the things we all know, should be specific, include periodization, consistancy, etc, but he stressed it needs to be individual. He said no one program will work for everyone. As an example, he described the "Oscar Friere Paradox". Testa started to work with Friere after he had won his first world championship. He met with Friere in Spain in November. Friere is a super nice guy and showed Testa all the sights of his town for a couple of days. By the 3rd day, Friere had not mentioned the bike or training once. Finally, Testa brought it up and wanted to build a traingin plan. Friere said it is much too early in the season to train and he would start later. Testa built what he thought was an easy plan beginning in the end of November. Friere was concerned it was way too much. Friere ended up gettin back pain in December and was not able to ride more than 2 - 4 times per week for an hour or so. By the time the 1st stage race in Spain rolled around, the longest ride Friere had done was 3 hours. This race is hard and they didn't want to put Friere in. However the promoter demanded he ride and so he started. Friere went on the win 3 stages and finish 2nd overall. Dr. Testa bascially said, "go figure". Some guys just don't need or can't handle huge hours. Others can and do.
4. Nutrition plays a big part in performance. Dr. Meyer, a Nutritionist, gave some really good advice. Carbs are the engine that fuel us. Eat a high carb, low fat diet. Avoid all sodas. The fewer the ingrediants on the label, the better. Don't eat out very often. Prepare from whole foods. Eat small amounts often, not a few big meals.
5. Hydration. You need to stay hydrated but not over-hydrated. The only good way to know if you are drinking enough is to weigh before and after a ride. Measure your weight loss and had the weight of anything you drank. You will then know how much volume you lost. If you lose more than 2% of your body weight, performance will suffer.
6. Eating on the bike. You need to get 60-70 grams of carb per hour on the bike. This can come in solid form or liquid. Liquid is easier to take and is usable faster. Gels are also good. Too much is as bad as not enough. Sports drinks can be very helpful and should be used on rides longer than 1.5 hours.
7. Recovery eating. Eating immediately after a ride is very important. You need to eat a little carb and light protein. A recovery drink is very good for this. You should repeat this grazing every hour or 2 and then have a full meal 3 to 4 hours post ride.
8. You should eat a good meal high in carbs 3 to 4 hours prior to a race or big workout. If you eat a full meal close to a race or workout (less than 2 hours prior), your body will still be using energy from your blood to digest the food. This will take away from your performance. If you can't eat that early (an early race or workout), you are better off not eating a meal, but start eating on the bike early in the ride. Use gels, sports drinks etc.
9. Carbo loading really works. For a big event, like LoToJa, it should start 3 days prior to the event and should taper each day.
10. Eric Hieden talked about common cycling injuries. He said cycling is great on your body (for example, running puts up to 11 times your body weight on your knees, but cycling puts only up to 1.3 times) but it is very easy to get repetitive motion injuries. In a 6 hour ride, you'll do something like 320,000 pedal revolutions. Therefore, any slight problem gets magnified. He and Dr. Testa repeatedly stressed proper bike fit. They said that most riders are not fit correctly and suffer pain and poor performance as a result. The cost of a good fit is worth it.
11. Hieden stressed most cycling injuries can be treated with rest, position alteration, stretching and increased strength. He said if a doctor recommends surgery to repair over-use injuries, you should run away as fast as you can. He said in 11 years of practice, he has rarely operated to solve these issues.
12. If you break your collar bone, it can heal without surgery most of the time. In fact, Dr. Hieden has only surgically repaired about 1 in 10 collar bones he's treated in his life and he's treated a bunch.
13. Stretching and weight training. Both Dr. Testa and Dr. Hieden stressed streching and core strengthening. However, when Dr. Testa was asked about weight training he said, "the only guys who don't lift weights are the ones who win races". He said he may have guys lift in the winter to slow them down so they don't peak too early. Otherwise, he's not a fan. However, he did say if you are a recreational cyclist over 40, weight training will help your overall health and fitness.
TOSH will likely do more seminars. I'll let you know if I hear about them. Testing at TOSH is pretty reasonably priced
Daren
Monday, May 07, 2007
Joys of Biking
I think I have got this sign in OK now. Adam and I worked at it at Russ's on Sat. It helps if you have the right password. Adam you can find the results at cycleutah.com. You took 22nd and about 31 finished some 30 didn't finish.
My faith is bike racing has been shaken with the reality we all knew but hoped against. Ivan Basso admits today that he did use EPO. It just lets you know that all the group was doping. It will hit the big hitters in the sport with ValVerde going down as well.
I sure am looking forward to felling better this week and the weather looks so much better. I've come to find my place in the biking world. I love to ride and what I like the most is riding with our group. It is free and no pressure, we enjoy the experience. No solo into the wind.
Happy riding to you all
Doug
My faith is bike racing has been shaken with the reality we all knew but hoped against. Ivan Basso admits today that he did use EPO. It just lets you know that all the group was doping. It will hit the big hitters in the sport with ValVerde going down as well.
I sure am looking forward to felling better this week and the weather looks so much better. I've come to find my place in the biking world. I love to ride and what I like the most is riding with our group. It is free and no pressure, we enjoy the experience. No solo into the wind.
Happy riding to you all
Doug
Racing Solo
Saturday turned out to be a death ride out on the island. It was cold and the wind chill made it bitter cold, but no rain. Unlike what Daren said I’d take the heat any day over riding in those crappy conditions. Wind on the island is always bad, but Saturday was brutal. I had a miserable solo ride. I felt OK and raced hard the entire first 2 and 1/2 laps in the group. The next thing I know, I’m positioned about 20th and the first 13-16 riders attack up hill into the wind. 3 of us try and counter the attack in hopes of jumping on, but the three of us just end up suffering in the middle for another 2 laps until they drop me (I was killing myself to help the three of us bridge) and I ended up soloing the last 5 and ½ laps. In the wind with no recovery I thought about quitting every lap. To my surprise I wasn't caught by any other cat 4, but I think most of them quit. The top 6 cat 5 riders caught me on the 2nd to last lap. I wanted to jump in the the group, but didn't. I road next to them until the last lap, but with no help they slowly peddled away.
It felt great not to quit, but it would have been fun to complete the entire race with the group. I’m not in the saddle enough during the week to hang with the top cat 4 group. I’m going to do a few more crits, but I might be done racing cat 4 until I can get more time in the saddle.
I have no idea what place I was in, but I would guess around middle of the field (just like last week). I would love to know how to find the results. I’ve tried to find them for East canyon and Antelope, but have no idea where they post them. Not that 20th -30th place is that great, but it could tell me where I stand in the group.
It felt great not to quit, but it would have been fun to complete the entire race with the group. I’m not in the saddle enough during the week to hang with the top cat 4 group. I’m going to do a few more crits, but I might be done racing cat 4 until I can get more time in the saddle.
I have no idea what place I was in, but I would guess around middle of the field (just like last week). I would love to know how to find the results. I’ve tried to find them for East canyon and Antelope, but have no idea where they post them. Not that 20th -30th place is that great, but it could tell me where I stand in the group.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Almost
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day for MTB racing. It was cold (low to mid 40's) and the wind was blowing hard, but no rain and the trails were perfect. I'll take yesterday's conditions over sunny 90 degrees anytime. Hydration and over-heating were not issues and we were protected from the wind most of the course.
I had a good race and almost won. I felt OK and raced hard the entire 2.5 hours. There is next to no recovery at 5-mile and it seems you are never going downhill. Rob Westerman and I battled the whole race. I lead most of the 1st 11 mile lap and the he got a pretty good gap on the 2nd lap. I slowly started to come back and closed the gap to less than a minute at the start of the 3rd lap. I was closing and trying to measure the effort so that I wouldn't be blown when I caught him. I finally did get to him on the hike-a-bike about 1/3 of the way into the 3rd lap (see Chris Fox's blog for some good pictures of the hike section http://www.bikehusla.blogspot.com/ Fox is the only guy I know that can take pictures WHILE racing.) and we raced together for most of the rest of the race. I tired to drop Rob on the one real decent of the race but couldn't open a big enough gap. On the last steep roller coming in, he attacked and I couldn't respond so I ended up about 20 seconds back.
It was fun to complete the entire race. It's unusal to ride together for any length of time in an MTB race. Most of the time, gaps open and you are on your own. Rob and I talked a fair amount and on the last lap, I knew I was in trouble when I could hardly speak and he's talking easily. Rob's a great guy and won the XC National Championship in the 45-49 class two years ago. Anytime I can be close to him, I'm happy.
Racing for the lead covers much of the suffering. It didn't seem all the hard when I was passing guys that started ahead of me and closing on Rob. Funny how it works that way. However, last night and today, my legs have let me know I did some work.
Tanner had another solid race. He was 3rd in the 13 - 15 Sport/Expert class. He continues to improve and took 10 or 15 minutes off last year's pace. He was only about 10 minutes off the winner of his group. Tanner showed me this kid after the race and he looked like a Pro. I couldn't believe he was Tanner's age. He had a great cycling build and looked very fit. I'm proud of Tanner's willingness to do difficult things and compete hard. Most kids his age just want to play video games and have everything handed to them.
Adam, good job at Antelope in very difficult conditions. If you miss the move with that kind of wind, it's over. I'm impressed you hung in as well as you did. We need to hear the details.
Only one race with this week, RMR. I'm off to do some work at my neighbor's mountain ranch this Friday and Saturday. This is part of my dues to hunt there this fall.
Daren
I had a good race and almost won. I felt OK and raced hard the entire 2.5 hours. There is next to no recovery at 5-mile and it seems you are never going downhill. Rob Westerman and I battled the whole race. I lead most of the 1st 11 mile lap and the he got a pretty good gap on the 2nd lap. I slowly started to come back and closed the gap to less than a minute at the start of the 3rd lap. I was closing and trying to measure the effort so that I wouldn't be blown when I caught him. I finally did get to him on the hike-a-bike about 1/3 of the way into the 3rd lap (see Chris Fox's blog for some good pictures of the hike section http://www.bikehusla.blogspot.com/ Fox is the only guy I know that can take pictures WHILE racing.) and we raced together for most of the rest of the race. I tired to drop Rob on the one real decent of the race but couldn't open a big enough gap. On the last steep roller coming in, he attacked and I couldn't respond so I ended up about 20 seconds back.
It was fun to complete the entire race. It's unusal to ride together for any length of time in an MTB race. Most of the time, gaps open and you are on your own. Rob and I talked a fair amount and on the last lap, I knew I was in trouble when I could hardly speak and he's talking easily. Rob's a great guy and won the XC National Championship in the 45-49 class two years ago. Anytime I can be close to him, I'm happy.
Racing for the lead covers much of the suffering. It didn't seem all the hard when I was passing guys that started ahead of me and closing on Rob. Funny how it works that way. However, last night and today, my legs have let me know I did some work.
Tanner had another solid race. He was 3rd in the 13 - 15 Sport/Expert class. He continues to improve and took 10 or 15 minutes off last year's pace. He was only about 10 minutes off the winner of his group. Tanner showed me this kid after the race and he looked like a Pro. I couldn't believe he was Tanner's age. He had a great cycling build and looked very fit. I'm proud of Tanner's willingness to do difficult things and compete hard. Most kids his age just want to play video games and have everything handed to them.
Adam, good job at Antelope in very difficult conditions. If you miss the move with that kind of wind, it's over. I'm impressed you hung in as well as you did. We need to hear the details.
Only one race with this week, RMR. I'm off to do some work at my neighbor's mountain ranch this Friday and Saturday. This is part of my dues to hunt there this fall.
Daren
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Uphill TT
I did one of my first uphill TT yesterday. It was pretty fun to do, but very painful. The course is 5 km long and pretty steep. The weather wasn't the best for racing, it was raining (of course). It had been nice all day long, then started raining right at race time. They sent people off at 30 second intervals. I felt pretty good and passed five people on the way up (Yes, one of them was a girl, but who's counting). I finished with a time of 13:06. I got 2nd in my cat and 4th overall fastest time. The top time was 11:25, which is pretty amazing.
I did find out more about what happened on Saturday's race. I guess it was a girl that was being lapped and didn't get out of the way. As we passed her she crashed and that was who came in front of me and caused me to swerve. But such is racing. No more races here for a while. I don't know if I am going to be doing the TT next week, because it took a long time for 13 minutes of riding. I will keep you posted.
Bubba
I did find out more about what happened on Saturday's race. I guess it was a girl that was being lapped and didn't get out of the way. As we passed her she crashed and that was who came in front of me and caused me to swerve. But such is racing. No more races here for a while. I don't know if I am going to be doing the TT next week, because it took a long time for 13 minutes of riding. I will keep you posted.
Bubba
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