It's been a few weeks since my last update, but to be honest I've been too busy and tired to write here. I've probably covered over 3000 miles in the past weeks (not pedaling) with races in Santa Barbara, Colorodo, and Big Bear. Four weekends in a row of back to back racing with an upcoming 5th next weekend. The season is almost over, but I still have 2 very important Socal State races to attend.
Earlier this month was the Santa Barbara Bike Festival. I've really enjoyed this course since racing here twice last year. It's mainly comprised of single track and is just plain fun. Steep switchbacks and fast descents. I drove up with Matt the morning of the XC event. I felt good and was really hoping for a good result. The usual guys were there at the start line with the usual chit chat about the course and such. I decided to make a change with my sports drink. I still haven't found something I totally like, but using Edurox R4 in my training rides hasn't left that sticky saliva in my mouth. I find myself trying to spit all the time with Cytomax. I know it's not the prettiest picture. That being said, I used Endurox for the first time this race and I was much happier with the end result.
The race started out with a blistering pace for position to the 1st singletrack. I was able to secure 4th behind the leaders and I wish I had sprinted for the lead. I was in a dust storm, but at the same time being held up by the slower leaders. I knew it wasn't going to last for long since the single track was fairly short until the 1st pavement climb. I passed 1 racer there and the next on the following single track. The leader wasn't that far ahead, but as the race progressed he slowly gapped me. I held onto 2nd place for the rest of the race which was 3 laps total. Most importantly, I was able to finish ahead of Mike Barbee who finished 3rd. This gave me a little bit of breathing room for overall points. Also to my surprise, I was able to post a time that was 7 minutes faster than my previous best on this course from last year! I guess all this training time on the bike is paying off or maybe it's my beloved Blur XC carbon? We all know it's the rider, not the machine. ;-)
The following weekend, Matt and I made the long haul out to Colorado Springs, Colorado for the final round of the US Cup West series. We decided it would be cheaper to drive instead of flying. It would be such a pain to pack and ship bikes. We most likely would require special cases which are pretty costly if we would have wanted to bring them on the plane. Driving was the best choice. We left on a Wednesday evening and my parents were gracious enough to embrace us with their hospitality in Prescott Valley, AZ. That's where my parents live. I couldn't imagine driving the whole 17 hours straight, so this was a good stop. We arrived in AZ pretty late. The next morning my parents took us out for breakfast at Jamie's Waffle House. I tried some Buckwheat Belgian waffles. Once breakfast was finished, we were off to finish the second half of the drive.
Earlier this month was the Santa Barbara Bike Festival. I've really enjoyed this course since racing here twice last year. It's mainly comprised of single track and is just plain fun. Steep switchbacks and fast descents. I drove up with Matt the morning of the XC event. I felt good and was really hoping for a good result. The usual guys were there at the start line with the usual chit chat about the course and such. I decided to make a change with my sports drink. I still haven't found something I totally like, but using Edurox R4 in my training rides hasn't left that sticky saliva in my mouth. I find myself trying to spit all the time with Cytomax. I know it's not the prettiest picture. That being said, I used Endurox for the first time this race and I was much happier with the end result.
The race started out with a blistering pace for position to the 1st singletrack. I was able to secure 4th behind the leaders and I wish I had sprinted for the lead. I was in a dust storm, but at the same time being held up by the slower leaders. I knew it wasn't going to last for long since the single track was fairly short until the 1st pavement climb. I passed 1 racer there and the next on the following single track. The leader wasn't that far ahead, but as the race progressed he slowly gapped me. I held onto 2nd place for the rest of the race which was 3 laps total. Most importantly, I was able to finish ahead of Mike Barbee who finished 3rd. This gave me a little bit of breathing room for overall points. Also to my surprise, I was able to post a time that was 7 minutes faster than my previous best on this course from last year! I guess all this training time on the bike is paying off or maybe it's my beloved Blur XC carbon? We all know it's the rider, not the machine. ;-)
The following weekend, Matt and I made the long haul out to Colorado Springs, Colorado for the final round of the US Cup West series. We decided it would be cheaper to drive instead of flying. It would be such a pain to pack and ship bikes. We most likely would require special cases which are pretty costly if we would have wanted to bring them on the plane. Driving was the best choice. We left on a Wednesday evening and my parents were gracious enough to embrace us with their hospitality in Prescott Valley, AZ. That's where my parents live. I couldn't imagine driving the whole 17 hours straight, so this was a good stop. We arrived in AZ pretty late. The next morning my parents took us out for breakfast at Jamie's Waffle House. I tried some Buckwheat Belgian waffles. Once breakfast was finished, we were off to finish the second half of the drive.
Matt posing in front of our ride. (Thanks Jerry)
Breakfast in Prescott Valley, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ. A must place for riding. Maybe next time
My home for 35 plus hours
Matt hard at work being a passenger.
Some AZ landscape
Awesome race machines
Entering Colorado from 4 corners.
Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs
We arrived at the Doubletree Hotel in COS late Thursday night. I managed to get pulled over by the local authorities in CO, but was given a warning for going 80MPH in a 65. Everyone drives the speed limit once you leave CA. It's quite annoying. We got a good nights sleep since the plan for Friday was to get registered for the race and do some pre-riding of the course. We arrived at Cheyenne Mountain State Park around 1pm and we suited up for the pre-ride. The course ended up being the most technical course of the series as it should be since it's Colorado. All the climbing was done in the first half with the majority being a gradual grade with an occasional steep switchback and some rocky technical sections. The terrain was very similar to SJTas in hardpack with a fine pea-like gravel on top. The 2nd half was a rollercoaster of fun. Tons of natural and challenging obstacles to clear including rocks, boulders, and tree roots. We rode the course twice before the rain started to fall. No sense in burning more energy and getting wet.
We got back to the hotel and had plenty of time to kill. We decided to go see a movie. We saw Land of the Lost which was surprisingly good. I found it pretty funny while not being your typical over the top comedy with Will Ferrell. I'd say it's a rental though. Don't spend your hard earned cash at the movies on it unless you are out of state. I think the admission price was $8.50 in COS. I tried to get to bed early since my race started at 8am the next morning. The long drive really wore me out.
Packet pickup
Sweet number!
Woke up bright and early Saturday morning and made it out to the venue. After suiting up and doing a hill climb warmup it was time to line up on the grid. The start was very interesting. I'm used to having the age groups start in waves. This was the first mass start I've been in that wasn't a VQ or Traverse race. The gun fired and all the CAT2 men sprinted for position to get in the front since the course quickly went from a wide road to doubletrack and finally singletrack where passing became a problem. It was elbow to elbow racing for about 30 seconds. I didn't do a good job of getting position and was being heldup by alot of slower riders, but there was nowhere to pass. The pace felt like a social ride for the first couple of minutes. I grew tired of this and decided to up the pace and work around the other racers. This was quite tricky at times finding the right time to pass. What really sucks about not being in the immediate front is the traffic jams. As soon as one rider can't clear an obstacle, he gets off which causes everyone else to get off and HAB. I passed a bunch of riders as soon as this happend. I just ran with my bike around obstacles to get a better position. The first of 3 laps went ok for the most part. I was held up by a slower a rider for most of the 2nd half of the course. I had no idea what position I was in since there was no class marking.
I could feel the altitude was affecting my breathing. My HR was about 6-7 beats higher than normal and I didn't like that. I felt like my legs were tiring quicker than normal. I made up some time on the 2nd lap. I caught up to the 3rd place guy (knew this after the race) and eventually passed him just before the singletrack descent. I was able to hold him off until the fast road descent before the finish line. I need to work on pedaling more instead of coasting on the easy descents. I usually don't pedal as hard as I'm trying to recover. I guess more training will eventually correct that. On the start of the 3rd lap climb I was able to pass this guy again and then it happened. I ran out of energy and my legs had no strength. I was passed again and could no longer hold his wheel. I lost site of 3rd place. At this point I just wanted to crest the final climb so I could enjoy the fun and techy singletrack to the finish. I could see another racer slowly catching up to me on the climb, but it was in vein as soon as I hit the descent. I opened up a big gap and held it until the finish. I finished 4th after the results were posted and had an ok time of 1:35. I really wanted to break 1:30, but oh well. All in all, it was a really fun race.
Results here:
http://www.uscup.net/up/file/6-13-09_Amateur_Results.pdf
Here's a couple of links to professional photos:
http://photos.abouttheshot.com/p455426388
http://photos.abouttheshot.com/p77117095
Matt being aerodynamic. He had to race with the CAT1 guys since there is no CAT2 SS class. They were scheduled to do 4 laps, but due to time constraints the organizers shortened it to 3 laps. He was happy to not be DFL.
After we were done with our respective races, we decided to hike up some of the course to check out the pros go. It was fun to watch these guys blast down the hill. I got some pretty cool shots.
Matt being a badass
This race crowned me the US Cup West Champion for CAT2 30-34. I was a little bummed to find out there was no ceremony for the overall winners. After being told by the series orgainizers that I had to be present to collect awards months before the final, it turns out they weren't completely prepared and were going to mail out awards. I was really looking forward to getting that jersey after all the hard work I've put into it. Oh well, I should be getting my award soon.
Overall results here:
http://www.uscup.net/up/file/09_Kenda_Cup_West_Points-After_SandCreek.pdf
After the event, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Grabbed some dinner at a local Mexican joint for Margaritas and tasty food. Matt beat me at air hockey...damnit! Woke up the next morning and we hit the road. We stopped in Alburquerque, NM to visit a friend of Matt's. We ended up at this place called "Twin Peaks" which ended up being like a Hooters. Lots of eye candy, but I wasn't going to let the talent try to win me over in giving out a big tip. They sure try hard to be really friendly. We got back to my parents house around 8:30pm where my Mom made some kick ass kebob's for dinner. We watched the Lakers win the NBA finals while enjoying drinking more margaritas. Seemed to be the theme for the weekend.
The next morning Matt and I decided to get some pedaling in. We decided to hit up Granite Basin Lake. We were able to get about 3 hours in of exploring some new trails to Matt, but somewhat familiar to me. I wish this place was bigger, but the trails are really fun. We went out to lunch at "Casa Bonita" as made famous by Southpark before heading back home.
Overall, it was a fun time and I would totally do it again. It ended up costing more money than I would have liked it to, but I honestly don't know when I will get a chance to go back out there again. I also wish I had more time, but both Matt and I couldn't afford to anymore time off from work. I need to get rid of this "work" thing so I can ride a MTB full time. One can dream. I'll make a new post for this past weekend recap at 12 hours of Rim Nordic.
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