Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tamarancho MTB race:
Expert/ 3 laps of a 5 mile loop with over a third of a lap being very technical narrow single track... Tree dodging fun big time. Sunday I was feeling better and decided to go up to Fairfax in Marin to do the Tamarancho race. This was my second ride/ first race on the Superfly.
There was no pre-riding the course so while I new it would be technical, I was going in sight unseen. Pro /Expert started together and was a undulating/ downhill fire road start--hectic for sure. Some guy piled it right in front of me. I had to stop to avoid running him over. The top 15 or so guys were in full sprint. Crap.....
The trail started to get faster and I started passing guys to move up as far as possible before the single track. Which I managed to accomplish. The switchbacks and roots provided plenty of excitement and the narrow (2 feet or less) paths necessitated using the "Force" to stay on the trail. Failure to do so, had you off the trail and down the slope of the hill.
I was moving up and passing guys . On the 2nd lap I was playing yo-yo with a friend Keith that I usually race against on the SS. I figured we could tag team and on lap 3 and have some fun. On one of the steep switchbacks I shifted to the 34T and the chain went into the wheel and jammed!!! Oh SHIT. There was hardly enough room to stand on the side of the trail to fix my bike. I ended up having to pull out the wheel and un-jam the chain.... Knowing I was in the top 10 while fixing my chain issue and losing 5 places sucked. 3 of those I made up before the end but was having a tough time afterwards as the shifting was not working to well. Later I found out I smacked the derailleur on a rock or something cuz it was scratched and the hanger was/ is bent! Probley why it over shifted into the wheel.......
I finished somewhere around the top 10. The results were all messed up and I didn't want to wait around to see if I was 10th or whatever?? I did a time of about 1:24 which was decent especially having not ridden any real technical single track at speed recently. Dispite everything, the Superfly was awesome and with a little more dialing I see some super-fun races in my future.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
BHRR and other news.....
Monday, May 05, 2008
Cat's Hill Classic
20 Laps
Well this was the second time for me doing this race. I did it once before 2 years ago but as a E4 and we only did 12 laps. This time as a E3, we got to do 20 laps. I went into this race feeling prepared and confidant that the hill wouldn't cause me any worries. Josh and Tyron were in the race, as well as, Andy/ James/ Cullen/ Henrick were in the E4 race. Pretty good team presence.
I felt good for this race especially on the hill. I made a huge effort to stay near the front and was doing fine until around 3 to go when things got messy. I ended up getting out of position and with 1 lap to go I was in the group but couldn't really get out to GO. Legs good no real estate however. At this point I would have just drilled it to string things out and take whatever placing I ended up with. Sometimes I just want to kick guys out of the way. I've been a little to conservative in the last few crit races when it counts. This will change I just need a few more races under my belt. The biggest disappointment was I felt I had a good sprint in my legs and I wanted to see what I had. Oh well next time.....
Josh and I hanging in...
It was good to see some familiar faces from CX (Aron and Jordi among others) mixing it up. So this Sunday is Berkley Hill RR. Once again I did this race 2 years ago as a E4 and this time around... GULP I'll be in the M 1/2/3. 77 miles. I do what I can to finish with the lead group or at least just finish!
See you on the start line!
Oh ya... the hill. No problem--