Idyllwild Spring Challenge 2009 Update

One word describes this race course.....AWESOME!!!!

I highly recommend this course to everyone to do at least once.

Walked away with 1st place....literally. 2nd place wasn't even close. My race time was just over an hour and fifty minutes. I raced CAT2 Single Speed, but for some odd reason, CAT2and CAT3 raced against each other. Most likely because there was only 5 CAT2/3 Single Speeders. I just had lots of fun with the course and didn't give it my max effort. I still managed to cramp up a bit towards the end of the course though. Don't know what's up with that.

This race doesn't count towards the State Series championship. It was just a one-off fun race for me. There's about a 4 week break before the next state race. Some much needed rest and more fun time is over due.

I've decided to take care of a couple of repairs on my bike since there is a break. I'm having some work done on my fork to finally fix the lockout on it. It's been broken for about a year. I'm also having the bearings replaced in my rear hub because there is small amount of play in them that causes my rear brake to drag while leaning in turns. Can't wait to get the Blur out there on the race course for it's debut. Next race is at the Big Bear Shoot Out #1 on May 31st. This is the 5th round of the Socal State Series.

Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon = Next Chapter

After my first ride on it last night, I'm very impressed with the Blur XC carbon. This is my 3rd Santa Cruz ride and they have yet to let me down. Hope it stays that way.

First of all, this bike is a completely different animal than my previous Superlight. It climbs and descends in a whole new way that I didn't expect.

Climbing:

Great amount of traction compared to the Superlight. I prefer locked out shocks and the Rock Shox does a great job with their gates. The Monarch 3.3 has 3 settings of Open, Mid-Gate, Max-Gate. I started out with the shock open and as expected it felt very plush while pedaling through Whiting. Once I reached Mustard, I put in it the Max-Gate mode. This totally caught me by surprise. I was expecting the bike to feel more like a hardtail since that's how my Superlight felt with Max Pro-Pedal on. However, the suspension was very compliant. While spinning in the saddle the suspension would just open up enough to absorb the smaller bumps while keeping the rear tire planted, tracking and more importantly my efforts being applied to the wheels. Out of the saddle, there is no bob what-so-ever relating to even more power put to the wheels. Still, the suspension would give just enough over bumps resulting in maximum traction. The bike would react very well to my power inputs and is just responsive as hell. Traction was the biggest thing that surprised me. With the superlight I would be bouncing off small bumps, rocks, which would lift the rear tire off the ground just enough to slip under power. This was not the case at all with the BXCc. I couldn't say maybe it's the tires because I transferred all my components from my SL over to the BXCc. Only thing different was the frame. I'm sure this can be contributed to the VPP as well. One thing that I wasn't happy with was the amount of lift on the front wheel. I felt that the front was just a tad to light and it would come off the ground more often than the SL, but I believe that will be solved with lowering my handlebars for more of a XC position. I did have them in the highest position. That's small potatoes to me. BTW - This was my first time riding a VPP bike.

Descending:

Nothing but awesome things here. The Luge is practically my second home and I never tire of it. I really wanted to see what this bike could do and it didn't disappoint. The steering was the first thing I notice over the SL. It felt a tad bit slower due to slightly slacker head tube (69.5), but after I was used to the steering, everything just started to click. This bike is amazingly smooth and holds a line so much better than the SL. The bike induces much more confidence and speed all around. The SL is a fast bike, but definitely more twitchy in the turns than the BXCc. Again, I was so surprised by the amount of traction this bike has. I was able to carry more speed in the twisty sections which allowed me to brake even later into the corners. The bike was very lively and responded very well to my weight transfers and movements. I just felt like it was in sync with my thoughts doing exactly what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. I was completely amazed. This put a huge grin on my face knowing that my investment was well worth it. Only thing that was annoying was the slapping of my chain on the aluminum protector on the chain stay. Made for much more clanks than I was used to. I'm sure I can do something to quiet that down a bit. SL has those elevated chain stays where this was a non-issue. I couldn't wait to get to Live Oak and Cow Serrano in Whiting for some more fun...and fun is what I did.

Overall:

This bike is FAST! After a couple of small tweaks, fine tuning, and more saddle time, I should be able to put down faster times on the race course. This bike holds a line far better than the SL. It feels more connected and planted with the trail. The traction is great! It's stiff, yet very smooth. It's a very very efficient climbing machine. It's a great all around trail bike. Did I say it tracks great!? This bike is capable of way more than just XC. It easily could dabble in the AM terrain, but it's bigger brother the Blur LTc can stay there. This bike was built to go fast and fast it goes.


Huge thanks to Jake for building it and to Switchback Cyclery for getting it in for me.

US CUP #5/Santa Ynez Update

Short and quick.

Camped the night before with Matt. Cold and windy in the morning.

Raced...chased cows off the trail...bunny hop'd cowpies...not so great performance.

4th place finish.

Prentending to be happy below:



PS: Matt got his first 1st place finish. Huge congrats to him. I'm still the current points leader for the US Cup West series with the penultamate Round #6 June 13th in Colorado Springs. I will be there for that adventure.

SEA OTTER CLASSIC/US CUP #4 RECAP

The infamous Sea Otter Classic at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA. I've been wanting to attend this event for years and now I have an excuse. The 4th round of the US Cup took place at the SOC (Sea Otter Classic). The SOC isn't just a race, it's a 4-day festival where there's something for everyone such as vendor exhibits, mtb/road racing, beer gardens, live music, and other entertainment. It's the biggest bicycle event in the nation that attracts over 5000 athletes and 100,000 visitors.

Matt and I decided to leave early Thursday morning so we would have enough time to pre-ride the XC course that afternoon. We also decided to stay at a cheap hotel in the city of Salinas which is about 20 minutes away from the SOC. Let me tell you, Salinas is definitely not a vacation spot. That place is a shithole. We arrived at our killer Days Inn hotel right next to the ever loud 101 highway around 12pm. We couldn't check in yet, so we decided to head on over to the SOC and get the pre-ride over with. I couldn't believe the size of this event. It was freaking HUGE!! It was a cyclist's dream. Seeing the actual Laguna Seca track was cool in itself. I've seen plenty of motor races at this track on TV and it was just awesome to see the track in person. Lots of history there. Anyways, Matt and I suited up for our pre-ride. It was pretty windy and chilly at this time. The course was well marked off and we were on our way. The course had a little bit of everything and I found it to be a really awesome route. This was my first time out there and the word on the street was to beware of the sand as well as the beach downhill. Other than that, it was really fast with lots of fast flowing singletrack, a short pavement climb and a longer fireroad climb as the deal breaker at the end. The wind really started to suck at that point as well. I was hoping it wouldn't be an issue come Saturday. Our pre-ride took us about 1:45 (including Matt's bathroom break). My goal for race day was to break 1:30 and hopefully finish in the top 5. I knew the competition at the SOC would be tougher than a regular state series race. The race already had 62 pre-registered racers in my category.

After the pre-ride, we decided to go checkout the exhibits and low and behold...the first vendor I see is SANTA CRUZ!! Not only did they have the brand new Blur LT Carbon on display, they had two Blur XC Carbons on display. One in orange and one in silver. The reason I was so excited to see the BXCc was because I just ordered a large BXCc frame in silver that Monday. I was able to drool, touch and molest the new BXCc at the SC booth! Man it is so sexy! I should make it my new girlfriend. They had a large size and I was able to sit on it to make sure the cockpit fit and it felt great. I'm glad I decided to go with the large. I should have the new frame in 4 - 6 weeks time. I spent way too much time at the SC booth talking shop to the guys. Once I got tired of that...ahem...I mean Matt got tired of waiting for me, we cruised around some more. There was so much time an effort put into this event and in definitely showed. We eventually found the Felt booth where we found Nick of course since he works for Felt. It was cool to see him and we would get to hang out and ride with him Friday. It was getting late at this point and we headed back over to our 5 star Days Inn Hotel next to the loud 101 in Salinas. We checked in, went to Chevy's for dinner downtown and then a night out on the town of Monterey with Donald Jackson. We met up at a bar called the Mucky Duck where the $2 drafts of any type of beer were flowing. That was a fun time and we even managed to play some ping pong at some other bar. A ping pong table in a bar has to be one of the best ideas in the world. That was so much fun. We got back to the hotel late...err...early morning and called it a day.


Isn't she sexy?

Friday was much or less of the same with the SOC except alot more traffic. We ended up getting there a little bit later in the morning. I managed to get pulled over by the Salinas law enforcement on the way there. The officer let me off with a warning for no front license plate probably after finding out I'm such a great law abiding citizen minus my license plate. We checked out more of the vendor booths and eventually got burned out on doing that. We met up with Nick and Abby from WI, who was out here to race in the Pro Women's XC event, and we went for a little 10 miler pre-ride with them. The ride was starting out great until Matt snapped his chain and smacked his knee into his fork crown. Good thing it happened the day before our race instead of during. It just sucked because he was hurting from that impact. I forgot to mention that we started to ride during the CAT3 beginner race. I don't think it made the CAT3 guys feel really good since we were passing alot of them. Oh well. We had a nice pasta dinner hosted by Tim Z. from the Sho-Air team at their campsite. We arrived an hour late because we couldn't find the incorrect site. We had the wrong info. It was getting late and we decided to get some good rest before our early morning race start of 7:30am.

We woke up early the next day and arrived at the SOC with plenty of time to get ready. The word on the street was to stage at the starting line about 45 minutes before the race. As we did our little warm up on the track of Laguna Seca, I found out that they delayed the race by 30 minutes. Damn! That's 30 minutes of sleep I could have had. Oh well, it actually worked out for the better because the morning was really chilly and the fog was thick. The extra 30 minutes gave it enough time for some of the fog to burn off which would end up being a really warm day. I ended up chatting with a few other racers and some team members while waiting for the start. Each category would start in 5 minutes waves as opposed to the 1 minute waves with the previous US Cup races. I really liked that format better since it gives you more pedaling room due to lesser traffic out there. Matt's wave left 20 minutes before I would see the starting line. I tried to size up my competitors, but 63 of them were new to me. Only one other racer I knew was there and he happened to be a teammate. I got a good starting row position near the inside wall...GO!!! and away everyone went. Like Sagebrush, I was hoping no one would take off like a rocket really stressing the whole group. The pace started off hard, but wasn't a frantic pace. I stayed near the top 10 of guys sticking on the wheels of the guys in front. The rear of the group was in a big blob, while the front was more in line with racers trying to draft each other. I was in that group. As we approached the top of the cork screw, the course would veer off onto the dirt via a small entry way. I got through the fence before the pile up of guys. That was good. Now it was an all out sprint to catch the leaders and get to the 1st singletrack. The fog was bad at this point and it turned out to be a bad idea to wear eye wear. I didn't have time to really pull them off so I had them pulled down resting lower on my nose so I could see. There was a high speed downhill and to crash there would really suck. I made it to the 1st singletrack guessing I was in the top 5 or so. It was really hard to tell since we weren't marked to tell who's in the category. I had a good pace in the singletrack and it's always a good sign when you catch up to a racer while recovering at the same time.

I came up to the beach and it was like a war zone out there. I saw 2 guys in front of me go OTB and guys walking their bikes down. It was just a mess. I had no mishaps at all while skiing through and dodging the human obstacles. It was actually fun weaving in and out. I pedaled on and kept a really good pace. I caught up to a couple more guys in my group and one guy decided to hang on to my wheel. We trade positions a few times, but I decided to change that towards the last few stretches of singletrack. I up'd the pace while charging the fun-flowing singletrack. I didn't look back, but I knew there was a big enough gap there since I heard nothing behind me. I wanted to make sure I had enough in the tank to attack the final climb of the day and attack I did.

That last climb, the pain was really starting to set in. I could feel my muscles twitching which a sign of the cramps to come, but I was able to fight those off. I passed alot of riders here, but I figured most of them must have been from the previous waves. I had no idea. I crested the final hill while a spectator was offering donuts to those who wanted any. I respectfully declined, but it was quite funny to see that. I charged down the course, crossed the track over the bridge and sprinted to the finish line...the race was over. I was happy to see that I completed my goal of finishing under 1:30:00. My overall time was 1:28:44. I was really happy about that.

It was great to see Ryan and Sarah there at the finish. They drove up the night before. After changing and getting the bikes packed up in the car, we went to the awards ceremony to find out they already started...Yikes!! We got there just in time, but for some reason there was some sort of problem with the 30-34 results being finalized. I took that time to check the posted results and to my amazement I placed 2nd out of 65! I was ecstatic, but at the same time a little disappointed I missed out on winning the SOC. Don't get me wrong, 2nd place is an awesome result for a field of 65 especially at the SOC. The competition is generally tougher at these bigger national races.


After about 30 minutes or so of waiting in the blistering 85 degree weather, the results were finalized and I got my medal with swag bag. It was at this time I got to see the guy that got first. Now, you would expect some fit looking guy with muscle definition all around, but no...this dude was the exact opposite. We punned him the Mr. Bean looking french doughboy. He looked like Mr. Bean, he was french (didn't speak a lick of English), and he must have worked at a bakery eating nothing but donuts. I couldn't believe that this doughy guy beat me. Just look at the podium picture. The only way he could have beat me is if he ate one of those donuts on the final hill. I just don't understand it. Completely at a lost there, but whatever. Still a terrific result and I was happy to go home with some hardware. On a side note, Matt beat his nemesis Joey and finished 13th out of 66! An awesome result and he should get a little edge with points for the season.


We hung out for a few more hours, watch some dual stunt, ate some food, drank some beer, and then left. Officially ending our Sea Otter weekend and it was a great weekend. It was good to finally get home and get some real sleep. The weekend was exhausting. Next weekend is Santa Ynez/US Cup #5. The race season is in full effect. I don't get much of a break until mid-May.

PS: You can see my Sea Otter pics on the photographer's site. I don't think they are worthy enough for a purchase.
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=48040&PWD=&BIB=1728

SAGEBRUSH SAFARI/US CUP #3 RECAP

Round 3 of the US Cup takes us to east San Diego county not too far from the Mexican border and town of Tecate. This little spot in the southern most part of the Cleveland National Forest is called Sagebrush Safari. This year in the series sees this venue come back after a 3 year hiatus do to wildfires the past couple of years. Everyone in the MTB race community has had nothing but great things to say about Sagebrush leading up to this day. Maybe they talked it up too much which raised my expectations of the course.

Matt and I decided to pre-ride the course the day before the race which turned out to be very valuable. I was fortunate to have a place to stay in La Mesa thanks to Matt and his awesome Grandpa Jack. It's always nice to save a few bucks and to have a warm bed to sleep in along with a shower. Upon pre-riding the course I was shocked on how much tarmac there was to deal with. The first 5 miles of the course had us pedaling on a paved road which was mostly flat until the last mile or so. I knew some strategy would come into play during the start. Everyone kept saying that this course had really awesome singletrack. I think most riders seem to have a different definition of what singletrack truly is. They were right about it being awesome and fun, but they were wrong about it being singletrack. IMO, there were very few sections of singletrack. It was mostly doubletrack which should be the correct definition as the trail was plenty wide enough for 2 riders to pedal side by side. I was also expecting the trail to be more technical than it came off to be as it was explained to me it was a technical trail. The natural obstacles such as rockbeds and the small rock drops are always a pleasant sight which do add a new element of fun. Riding the same trails over and over in the OC can get quite boring, so it's always fun to ride somewhere new. Alas, I found the trail to have very few technical spots to me, but maybe others found it to be opposite. I think this is because I have become such an awesome mountain biker that these normally technical trails look completely tame to me now...lol! I think this can be proven by the fact on how many people ate shit on race day. One thing for sure, this course was going to be very fast and very fun. They were right about it being fun!

Race day started off nice with Grandpa Jack making bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast which was yummy. Hopefully it would provide the fuel for the burn that was to come later. We arrived at Sagebrush just before 10am and got our gear ready. We found the Team Velosport EZ-Up and relaxed before our 11 something start times. My race started at 11:13a while Matt started at 11:19a. The weather forecast was calling for temps in the low 80's, but man was it chilly. It turned out to be quite windy and dry which made it hard to warm up. I knew it would be fine once the race started. Once in the staging area, I had good conversation (CONVO) with my fellow competitors including Robert, who is the guy that got first at Fontana last weekend. I knew I would have my work cut out for me because this guy is fast. Turns out he's a really cool guy and didn't have that typical racer "I'm better than you" attitude. I find that attitude to rarely exist in the MTB world which is nice.

I lined up on the front line with 19 others in my category! This was the biggest field of racers I've raced against. GO!....off we went. The start was very good and I'm glad no one decided to be a speed demon for the first miles of flat road section. My plan was to not pull the group through the windy flat road miles of the course. That's exactly what I did. I stayed about 5 riders back as everyone was riding in a single file line. As soon as I felt the group splitting and my chase group falling behind a little, I decided to pass my chase group leader and grab onto the wheel of the 2nd guy in the lead group. I didn't want any large gaps before the 1st climb of the day. I could see most of the riders in my field falling behind as there was about 8 of us in the lead group now. Once we approached the climb, I knew things were going to get shaken up a bit. Robert attacked the climb hard and I couldn't match his pace that early on. I could see him pulling away at every bend on the road. At that point I was hoping I make some time up on the "singletrack" and I would just pedal away on the climb. Three other racers were in front of me, but I slowly reeled them in just before the climb crested. I grabbed my water bottle from the feed zone, drank a big swig and made it to the "singletrack".

I was sitting in 3rd at this point and I could see 2nd place about 100ft in front of me as the trail twisted left and right. I knew this section was where I had to make up some ground. I quickly caught up to 2nd and was able to pass on this short little sandy/rocky section where there was a small traffic jam. Once someone gets off the bike, everyone gets off. This is where I made my move and passed 2nd while running my bike. I just happened to pick the less congested line at the time. After that, I was able to increase my gap with ease while passing other slower riders either left or right on the "singletrack". There was quite a bit of traffic because of the other categories that started before me, but I never was really held up that much. A couple of times I would get held up while waiting for the safest moment to pass. Once the trail opened up a bit with no one in my way, I had so much fun with all the banked turns.

About halfway through the course I knew I was approaching the Hike-A-Bike (HAB) section. I was hoping I would see a glimpse of 1st, but I didn't. Robert told me that his downhill skills aren't that good, but maybe he was playing mind games with me? The HAB section sucked. I pedaled up the lower 1/4 of it until I ran into someone walking. I got off and ran passed this hiker, but man that really was hard. Trying to push your bike fast on a steep, sandy uphill is pretty tough. It really tired me out. Once I got to the top of the HAB, things got easier and I was able to recover. More "singletrack" was ahead and I took advantage of this terrain. Things were going great while passing more slower riders as I approached the last sustained climb of the day.

Of course this climb was on a paved road. Although boring, it does take alot less out of you then climbing on a dirt road where traction is limited. A couple of riders from the category that started a minute behind me passed me up. I knew at this point I wasn't pushing hard enough and I turned up the effort. I was able to catch up to those 2 guys and passed one just before reaching the top of four corners for the 2nd time. I grabbed a water bottle to cool myself off and went down the last "singletrack" of the day.

I caught up very early to the guy that passed me who was not in my category on the pavement climb. He let me pass and I started gaping him big time. This part of the course was the loosest, dustiest, and sandiest part. I guess riders were a little bit more careful on this section. I was fortunate to not have anyone in front of me at all. No one to slow me down, or throw up dust in my face. This was nice. It was also on this last downhill where I broke a spoke on my rear wheel. I remember going through some rougher terrain and hitting a couple of harder bumps. The bumps were hard, but I've hit harder bumps with no problems. I knew something was up with my bike since a new sound was coming from it. My guess was a broken spoke and I could see my rear wheel had a small wobble to it. A broken spoke would cause that symptom especially since I just had my wheels trued the day before. It wasn't slowing me down so I just kept going at race pace.

I was just a couple of miles before the finish and on the last "singletrack". Actually this was singletrack! I took a look over my shoulder to see if I had to put out a hard effort to the finish and I see the guy I recently passed not too far behind. This part of the trail was all flat. It seems the flats is where I lose time. At this point I felt I was home free and I was. That guy did catch up to me and we finished the race at the same time. I finished 2nd with a time of 1:29:14! I'm definitely happy with this result and I felt 100% better than I did last weekend at Fontana. I found Robert who got 1st and he had beaten me by 3:40. Wow! That is alot of ground to make up. I also verified that I did indeed break a spoke. At least this was a small mechanical that didn't give me any problems during the race.

In closing, it was a great race weekend and I had alot of fun out there. Again, the roadie turned mountain biker was just too fast for me on the climbs and the flats. I was hoping the course would have favored a true mountain biker more, but that didn't happen. How do I get faster? The question that no one has the answer too. Next US Cup event is the Sea Otter Classic at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA. I'm planning to go this event, but it's not set in stone yet. I'm still sitting 1st in the overall standings, but that is just because I have 1 more race under my belt.


PS: The guy that beat me out for 3rd in Fontana decided to move up to CAT 1. Kind of sucks as I was hoping to race against him at Sagebrush. Doesn't seem to be too many event pictures either. If I find some, I will upload them.

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.