FONTANA NATIONAL/US CUP #2 RECAP

This past weekend was the 2nd race of the Socal State Series and US Cup. It also happened to be the 1st national race of the newly created Pro XCT as organized by USA Cyling. This alone attracted a field of around 120 Pro XC racers from North America! It was a 2 day event with tons of action for everyone. The Fontana race is famous for it's Downhill and 4X events which also attracts top pros from the nation. For the amateur racer such as myself, this event gave me a chance to see why these guys are pro. Absolutely amazing how fast these guys can pedal.

My race weekend started on Friday with flu-like symptoms which carried on throughout the weekend. I knew this wasn't going to be good, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from racing. I arrived to Southridge Park in Fontana Saturday morning and met up with the Velosport club. Parking was great and the event was already attracting tons of racers and spectators with bike vendors all over the place. This will probably be the biggest event of the State Series for 2009. The XC course had to be modified for 2009 due to an endagered species of something stupid. The result of this modifcation was a much shorter lap (4.2 miles) while elimanating the paint ball park climb and singletrack sections. The layout of the new course was done well and was quite fun. The CAT 2/3 racers were scheduled to start at 11am which was already turning out to be a scorcher. The temps reached the mid 80's and with not much of a breeze. The CAT 1's and Pro's raced the following day on Sunday. My category was to do 3 laps of this newly created course.

My race started off very fast. I wanted to make sure to get out of the gate quickly and to get up the first initial steep/sandy climb. If I didn't, I would be caught up in the traffic in my wave of racers and would be running my bike up the climb because of someone else failing to pedal up the climb. Again, I made sure this didn't happen and I was the first out of my group to get up this climb as you can see in this video.

CAT2 30-34 Highlights

As I continued on I almost made a wrong turn that cut right to a singletrack that was used in last year's course. I slowed down and asked the guy behind me which way to go and shouted straight. I lost my current place to that guy and one other. I was to never see those 2 again. I was now sitting in 3rd. I finished my first lap in the 21 minute range which is a really great time. Of course I forgot to hit my lap button on my Garmin in the process.

On the 2nd lap I was already feeling more tired than normal and the legs just didn't seem to have the power I wanted. I was passed by a rider in my category on the 1st main road climb towards the water towers. We were battling it out for the 3rd and 4th spot. I stuck to his wheel on this climb until the very top turnoff onto the singletrack. I got out of the saddle and pushed hard to get ahead of him. It was very important to get ahead of riders on the singletrack that may slow you down because there isn't much room or opportunity for passing. There was alot of singletrack and alot of traffic out there with all the other racers racing at the same time. My strategy started to pay off since I started gapping the racer behind me. This was working great until I got to the open fire road which is generally flat. The racer behind me caught up to me and eventually passed me on the flat section. I thought to myself if I can make it up on the climbs and singletracks, I may have a chance to pull 3rd off. Just before the end of the 2nd lap there is a short, steep, rocky climb. There is only one good line to take and of course there are other racers in the way walking up this line. The racer now in front me is about 10 feet ahead of me and dabs towards the top of this climb and gets of his bike. I powered up the climb with no problem while passing him to take 3rd place over again. I wish that was the final lap because after that short climb, it is really hard to pass someone until the start/finish line. This lap was much slower for me as I believe it was in the 24 minute range.

The guy behind me in this picture above was who I was battling it out with.

Lap 3 was a decent lap and I felt good until the water tower pavement climb. The guy behind me decides to attack me again at this point and even though I was able to hang onto his wheel for some time, he gapped me towards the top of the singletrack turnoff. The heat was unbearable for me at that point as well. Sucking down cytomax just made my mouth all sticky and wasn't quenching my thirst. Lesson learned here is to not use cytomax for hot days. I wasn't able to catch up to him on the singletracks because I kept getting stuck behind slower traffic. I could see the gap getting larger and eventually I couldn't see him at all once I got to the fenceline fire road. At that point I lost my motivation to push and settled into a comfortable pace to the finish. I finished the race 4th with an overall time of 1:09:50.


I'm actually dissapointed with my result, but under the circumstances of being sick, 4th is a good result. I really was hoping to repeat my 1st place performance from Bonelli, but it was not to be that day. Turns out I lost out on 3rd place to the guy that got 2nd at Bonelli. I'm going to have to watch out for him from now on. The 2 guys that got 1st and 2nd didn't race Bonelli and I'll see if they show up to Sagebrush this coming weekend. As of right now, I'm sitting in 1st place overall by 1point.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about my post race interview from Colt @ cyclingdirt.org. This guy has put together an awesome site with tons of video coverage from the race this weekend. Please check it out.

Post Race Interview

April 5th is the next Socal State Series/US Cup race. Definitely looking forward to that course as it will be more of a traditional XC course in the actual mountains and with more distance overall.

VISION QUEST 2009 RECAP

March is a busy month in the mountain bike world. It signifies the start of the race season; the days are longer, warmer and generally drier. Those elements usually make for a much more pleasant experience riding a bike outdoors. After months of training in the cold and dark along with fighting the wet weather; this day finally came to. The Vision Quest race put on by the Warrior’s Society, http://www.warriorssociety.org/, is considered one of the 10 toughest races in the nation. The event scales the Santa Ana mountain range on a mixed course of loose rocks, twisting narrow single-track trails and fast fire roads. These various types of terrain add up to a total of 55.5 miles and more than 11,000 feet of ascent. Not your average walk in the park. Most people that attempt this event are in it to finish it, which in itself is an awesome accomplishment. Others set personal goals such as beating the previous year’s time, or breaking record times. I myself decided to compete in the event riding on a single speed, hardtail mountain bike. Most people thought I was crazy for such a thought. I competed in this event last year on a full suspension geared bike and while I had no problem meeting the difficult cutoff times at the checkpoints, I had a very bad crash early on which killed all my chances of meeting my goal at the time. I was able to complete the event at a respectable time of 7:48. That’s 7 hours and 48 minutes. I had a different mindset going into the 2009 event. Unlike 2008, this wasn’t the first race of my short lived mountain bike career and I already knew what to expect from my previous experience. My game plan was simple. Don’t take it seriously and have fun with it. My 1st goal was to complete the event on a single speed bike. My 2nd was to beat my time from last year. My 3rd and optional goal was to finish under 7 hours. Training for the VQ was difficult at times due to crappy weather and snow of all things in the local mountains. I actually trained a lot less this year than I did last year. I’m fortunate to have such awesome riding partners to train with. We always encourage each other and strive for awesomeness...hehe.

The day before the race I made sure my bike was in tip top shape and prepared. Did I mention this race starts at 5:30am? I also had to make sure my bike was fitted with a light since it’s pitch black at that time. I got all my gear, tubes, tools, food, gels, and drinks ready. I got lots of rest and ate carb loaded foods such as Chinese and Mexican. I was able to get to bed around 10pm.

I woke up at 4am feeling refreshed for the most part. I wasn’t anxious or nervous this time around. No butterflies in the gut reminding me of what to come. I arrived at the staging area around 4:45am. I proceeded to walk to the start where I would meet "Alpine Rob". Rob was kind enough to provide support for me and my friends at both aid stations throughout the course. This turned out to be really awesome. I handed Rob my bag of stuff, we chatted a bit and off I went back to my car to get suited up. I only ran into Matt that morning before the race. I didn’t see anyone else until later. I made my way to the starting line with about 300 other participants. Needless to say, it was pretty crowded out there and not to mention…pretty cold. I think the temp was around 45.

Some words were spoken by Chris Vargas (organizer) but couldn’t really hear him. I was near the back of the pack and all I wanted to do was get moving to warm up. The race starts just past 5:30am and away everyone goes. Since I started in the back of the pack, I had to make my way through all of the traffic. I really didn’t mind, but it can be dangerous back there. At one point, 2 to 3 people crashed right in front of me. Thanks to my cat like reflexes, I was able to avoid the pile up and just ride on by. It was still pretty dark even with people using their bike lights. No one was hurt. It only took about 15 minutes before daylight started to break. The climb up Blackstar went much better than I was hoping for. I saw and passed most of my training buddies, except for Matt on this climb (sorry guys) and made great time of 51 minutes to Beeks. I was surprised because I didn’t feel like I was working that hard. This was a good sign of things to come.


I proceeded on Main Divide with virtually no problems until I rode right through a massive rut coming off a sweeping right downhill about 15 miles in. The sun was just cresting over the horizon and I had trouble seeing this rut. I didn’t panic and just rode right through it. However, I slammed my rear wheel and I knew there had to be some damage. Yup, my wheel was now slightly bent and had an awesome wobble to it. It wasn’t big enough to give me any trouble, so I pushed on. I made it to the Motorway singletrack in record time. I believe it was around 1:46. I was so stoked at this time and I felt really strong. It was at this time I noticed my cheap saddle bag holding my multi-tool and other spares was falling off. I tried to fix it quickly while at the top of the motorway, but my hands were so numb I couldn’t grab the Velcro straps. I decided to just deal with it when I would get to the 1st aid station at the bottom of Motorway. I started bombing down the trail and I was feeling really good. I passed a couple of slower riders that were kind enough to let me pass and not hold me up. I was about ¾’s the way down when I heard that familiar sound of air escaping. I couldn’t believe it, my rear tire was flat. I’ve only had 2 flats on this bike in the year I’ve owned it. I pull off to the side and start working on removing the wheel from the bike. At this point I realize my valve was completely gone. The valve was tucked under the rim, but missing the release pin. How does that happen? I was bummed because I lost 13 minutes to change the flat and then Troy passes me while I’m fixing my flat. After the fix I hauled ass to the aid station and found Rob. He filled my water bottles and took my trash for me. At this point, I see Doug cruising into the aid station. I fixed my saddle bag and continued on.


Next up was the Maple Springs climb. It was at this point I decided to make up for some lost time. I have never felt this good before on the climb. I didn’t time myself, but I ended up catching up to everyone that passed me while flatted, including Troy. It was by far my strongest section of the course. I got to the 4 corners checkpoint and I was all alone. I would only see 2 riders the whole way to Upper Holy Jim. I was very excited to actually descend down UHJ while not being in pain (memories of last year). I cleared the whole trail with the exception of 2 switchbacks I couldn’t make due to the big 29 inch wheels. I passed a guy that was really going slow down this fun, rocky technical trail. I strive for that terrain. He kindly moved aside for me.

I made my way over to Lower Holy Jim and I started to feel cramps coming on a short steep little climb before 6 miles of downhill singletrack. I got off the bike and ran up the rest of that short section. I got on the bike and proceeded to have a blast down Holy Jim. The trails were in such great shape. I was really moving until I heard a very familiar sound as I said out loud to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding. Not another flat!" I was in such a hurry at the first aid station that I forgot to grab my extra c02 canister. If I was to have a flat, I would be screwed and would have to wait for someone that had a pump or c02 I could use. I look down at my rear tire and to my amazement and relief; my stupid saddlebag completely detached itself from my saddle and was hanging on to the seatpost while my tire was rubbing on it. I didn’t have a flat! I stopped to pull that stupid pack off and proceeded to put it in my jersey pocket. I pressed on and made it to the 2nd aid station at 10am. I was 2 hours ahead of the last cutoff time. I was making really good time. Rob found me, gave me what I needed and away I went up Trabuco Trail. This time I made sure to get my c02.

Normally this trail isn’t such a big deal, but after riding close to 40 miles and 8000 feet of ascent, the fatigue was setting in. I had 3 miles to get to the next checkpoint. This part of the trail is technical at times and requires some strength to get moving especially on a single speed bike. I had to walk a couple of sections mainly because I was trying not to strain my muscles too much where I would start to cramp. Thankfully I didn’t cramp. I made it to West Horsethief and the real struggle would begin. On a good day, this trail is hardly rideable due to its relentless 25% grades. I hiked up the trail with my bike as most people do. One guy passed me because I was really feeling it now, but I didn’t mind. I pedaled out of WHT at the top and passed on the cheeseburgers from the awesome volunteers cooking up grub for anyone interested.

95% of the hard work was over as I made my way to Trabuco Trail. I had a blast down that as usual. I must have passed 3 people on the side of the trail with flats. Not a good time to get a flat with less than 10 downhill miles to go. I was on pace to break the 7 hour mark. I went a little faster and I felt really good. My upper body was still feeling strong and had no problem handling the rough terrain. As I approached the finish I knew I had the 7 hour mark beat and I was right. I ended up crossing the finish line in 6 hours, 53 minutes, and 49 seconds. That put me at 26 out of the 192 participants as well as the 3rd single speeder to cross the line. I was very pleased with my results. I didn’t feel really that bad, but I was craving a sugary coke for sure. Rob took care of that for me. He was a lifesaver. I can only imagine my time would have been much faster if it wasn’t for a flat and I was actually on a geared bike. Congrats to all my training buddies that finished as well and especially Matt. He was on a mission and finished in 6.5 hours! He improved his time by an hour from last year. I will not be entering the 2010 VQ, but rather volunteer. It’s time I see everyone else suffer for a change and give someone else the chance to see these visions on this quest.


Results found here: http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/2009_vq_results.php
PS: My future recaps will be shorter.

BONELLI STATE/US CUP #1 RECAP

In my quest for MTB fame and glory, I have decided to do a full race season of the Socal State Mountain Bike Series put on by teambigbear.com. I started racing last year (2008) and fared some success. Funny thing about racing XC is I didn't like it at first. It just was not fun to pedal your ass off with your HR above 180 for 1.5 hours only to be disappointed with your results. However, I got the bug and improved at every race and was able to finish 3rd for my age group and class (Sport 30-34).

On to 2009. The US Cup is a new national MTB racing series this year sponsored by Sho-Air, Specialized, and Kenda. March 1st, 2009 was the inaugural event and I was quite shocked by the size and number of participants. The number I heard was around 700 total racers which includes Pros and amateurs. It really was a great event. I also decided to join Team Velosport which is the club team for Rock n Road Cyclery. One of the main reasons for joining is they have a race reimbursement program which I can potentially get back as much as half of my race fees back at the end of the year especially when races cost about $45 - $60 a race. It's just fun to be a part of a team and to meet new people. Plus, I have to represent the home team!

The weather was fantastic for the day with temps in the low to mid 80's. Great for watching the race, but not so great for racing. I would have liked it to be in the low to mid 70's. After picking up my sweet plastic number plate and packet I was surprised to find a bag full of goodies that were exempt from last year. The goodie bag inlcuded an event t-shirt, drinks, gel, water bottle, and various coupons. Very cool! I headed over to the Team Velosport E-Z up to find tons of food, cytomax, and whatever I needed to prepare for the XC race. My race started at 10:30am and I had about an hour to kill. I found Matt as I was just doing a quick warm up on the first climb of the course. Matt was racing in the Cat 2 Single Speed class. Oh yeah, I decided to stay at the sport level which is now called Cat 2. Mainly because I can't put all the time and effort to train and race at that level. Some may call it sandbagging, but I still think there is room for improvement in Cat 2. Cat 1 guys are really fast.


On to the race. I didn't know if I would be seeing any familiar racers from last season and when I lined up at the staging area with 13 others in my age group of 30-34. I didn't recognize anyone. I had no idea who would be my competition or the guys to chase. The unknown factor was exciting. It was the start of a new season.


Lap 1 turned out to be my best lap. I started the lap to get a feel for how the other racers would jump out of the gate. 4 to 5 of them started out pretty hard and I just followed onto the first climb. One of my fellow teammates was in the lead and was not too far ahead of me. I stuck on his wheel for the first climb and he lost his grip on the first hairpin turn on the down. I passed him and never looked back. I decided to push a little harder after that to build up an early lead. I didn't want to look back cause I hate knowing that there is someone catching up. I like to hear that sound of silence when I'm all alone. I ended up passing a bunch of guys from the 1st wave of racers in the younger age groups. I then heard that silence and that too was bugging me. I had my cO2 in one of my shirt jersey pockets that would make a clanging sound against my cO2 nozzle that resembled the sounds a bike makes. This happened throughout the race and just made me nervous. I didn't realize it was the cO2 until the 2nd lap. I was able to complete this lap to my surprise in 33:20. I had no idea what times to expect since it was a new course and my first time racing Bonelli. This time far exceeded my expectations.


The 2nd lap was a little slower for me. I didn't have the same strength that I did to get out of the saddle and power over the short climbs. I could feel fatigue setting in, but I knew I had to just endure the pain as it would be over soon. I caught up to a Platinum rider from the 1st wave and we made some small talk. I was able to pace off of him pretty good. We kept passing eachother. I passed him on the climbs and he would pass me on the flats. I could tell he would push just a little harder cause I was right there with him. It didn't matter because we weren't racing against each other, but it did help to keep the pace going. I started to slow my pace towards the last 2 miles of the lap. There was no one behind me except for the occasional really fast Cat2 riders from the older age groups that would pass me. I still didn't see a single racer from my age group at this point. I kept going and rounded the last corner just feet from the finish line when I hear this guy behind me do a powerslide for about 20 feet on the pavement. Guess that guy doesn't care about his tires and I doubt he made up any time, but at this point it was too late cause I just crossed the line at that point. After the race, I come to find out he wasn't in my age group....lol! I did this lap in about 35:40 for an overall time of 01:09:04. I won the race!!! It was a surprise to me as I didn't expect it for the 1st race of the season.

I cheered Matt on as he raced to the finish. He was exhausted, but put up a valiant effort against some really tough SS'ers. After resting, we got our free In'N Out burger, watched the Pros and Cat 1's start and then waited around for the results to be posted. Results showed I got 1st place by about 50 seconds! Wow...not bad. Matt finished 6th, just missing out on a podium finish. I know he will get faster. Really good result for his first SS race. I got to stand in the #1 spot for the 2nd time in a row (dating back to last season) and hold this really cheezy plastic number plate award with 1st printed on it. I like the gold medals they had last year better. Oh well. A great start to the season! Next Socal State Series race is the US Cup #2 in Fontana on March 28th. Before that is the dreaded Vision Quest on March 7th. This will be my 2nd attempt at the VQ.



One thing to note. My time wasn't the fastest of the day for Cat 2 riders. I was about 5 minutes off the pace from the top Cat 2 guys.