Archive for August 2011
I love this race its fun. The Vacaville Grand Prix has a bit of everything. A power climb, a kinda fast descent, a straight away to get things established, followed by a narrow pinch your ass cheeks together and hold on tight for your life hairpin, and lots of 90' corners that require you to turn your head in a direction other than to the right. Thirty laps and super hot. At the start line it was Justin Rossi, Nate Freed, and me (Mr. Pack Fodder). My fitness has been lacking to say the least but, little do the masses know, I broke my Collarbone 7 weeks ago. Currently, my legs are like whip cream on shit, no matter how I dress them up they still stink, but at least I still have a presence about me that makes people uneasy. As such, I used my rancid reputation to my advantage and attacked like a ravenous turkey vulture vomiting missiles aimed for destruction. Lacking my usual voracity and velocity, I was lucky to go half the distance falling short on every occasion. Its was all I could do to perform a solid attack and avoid the inevitable slaughter house. The meager strength of my legs forced me to latch on to any available wheel with my head hanging low whimpering all the while for a draft. Ya know I'm Just trying to save face and sell the decoy.
Luckily "Fierce Freed" was doing a more convincing job of being a hoodlum and still holding his position at the front.
Eventually about 15 laps in Veteran Norc-Cal hero James Mattis took a flyer and Rookie Rossi was soon to follow creating a duo that worked well together.
Old boy Fierce and yours truly Mr. Pack Fodder promptly set ourselves to the act of patrolling the front and neutralizing anything threatening so as to let the gap grow like a hormone fed pig.
Fat Bacon!...........The move stuck and I watched it from the sidelines. My job was done and so were my legs so why not?
The conclusion, poor Rossi took second again.
Rookie boy Rossi has so many podiums this year and has been a factor in almost every finish of each race he has entered, yet he just can't seem to win. Trust me its not because of his legs. I am actually unsure of Rossi's true origins but I think it began somewhere with an ox, a horse, and 30 hours a week in the pool as a collegiate swimmer. He also lives and trains at altitude then races at sea level. The coefficient of all this add up to deliver a powerhouse of a cyclist. However, its his determination that always bites him like a double edged sword. Despite having the best legs and making it into the decisive moves, his opponents just don't feel as ambitious when it comes to setting the pace. I'm sure you don't hear them telling Rossi to go faster or take longer pulls. They're just stoked to sit in his mega draft and conserve. They don't care if the move gets brought back, they have more teammates ready to counter-attack. But Rossi, he worked his ass off to get in this move, he worked his ass off to be able to push the watts, and you can bet your ass that he is going to work to make the move stick. My critique of Rossi is also praise. In just one season he has emerged as the best all around rider on our team and Nor-Cal. We all can count on him to be there when we're not. I think Rossi has amassed 98% of the tools and knowledge in one season that riders struggle to gain in a career. The seeds therefore have been sown and next years harvest looks to be very promising. If I've learned just one thing this year it has to be that I'm glad to be on the same team as Rossi and the rest of the MarcPro-Strava athletes.
Bacon.
Luckily "Fierce Freed" was doing a more convincing job of being a hoodlum and still holding his position at the front.
Eventually about 15 laps in Veteran Norc-Cal hero James Mattis took a flyer and Rookie Rossi was soon to follow creating a duo that worked well together.
Old boy Fierce and yours truly Mr. Pack Fodder promptly set ourselves to the act of patrolling the front and neutralizing anything threatening so as to let the gap grow like a hormone fed pig.
Fat Bacon!...........The move stuck and I watched it from the sidelines. My job was done and so were my legs so why not?
The conclusion, poor Rossi took second again.
Rookie boy Rossi has so many podiums this year and has been a factor in almost every finish of each race he has entered, yet he just can't seem to win. Trust me its not because of his legs. I am actually unsure of Rossi's true origins but I think it began somewhere with an ox, a horse, and 30 hours a week in the pool as a collegiate swimmer. He also lives and trains at altitude then races at sea level. The coefficient of all this add up to deliver a powerhouse of a cyclist. However, its his determination that always bites him like a double edged sword. Despite having the best legs and making it into the decisive moves, his opponents just don't feel as ambitious when it comes to setting the pace. I'm sure you don't hear them telling Rossi to go faster or take longer pulls. They're just stoked to sit in his mega draft and conserve. They don't care if the move gets brought back, they have more teammates ready to counter-attack. But Rossi, he worked his ass off to get in this move, he worked his ass off to be able to push the watts, and you can bet your ass that he is going to work to make the move stick. My critique of Rossi is also praise. In just one season he has emerged as the best all around rider on our team and Nor-Cal. We all can count on him to be there when we're not. I think Rossi has amassed 98% of the tools and knowledge in one season that riders struggle to gain in a career. The seeds therefore have been sown and next years harvest looks to be very promising. If I've learned just one thing this year it has to be that I'm glad to be on the same team as Rossi and the rest of the MarcPro-Strava athletes.
Bacon.
I started this week off getting my left arm whacked by a car doing 50 mph. I'm still baffled as to how I was not knocked from my bike with a shattered arm or flattened like a pancake all together. I'll take it though. The bruises, the aches and pains. The fraction of an inch that saved my life. The driver said he did not see me. Uhh, nice one Beavis. That's what it felt like. Wham! A shotgun goes off and ripples through my body as a car swerves, barreling away from me. Pieces of something flying in the air. Oh my god! I've been hit by a car. I'm doubled over holding on to my left arm. It's numb from shoulder to fingers. Looking up hill to the car I see it's stopped and the driver is running towards me shouting, to see if I'm okay. Am I? What else got hit. Oh man this blows. Maybe I should just get on my bike and ride home (shock). Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah. At the ER I call the police, get X rays, file a report, take pills, sit around in spandex, try Jedi levitation of water bottle from bike in hall to my bed, have Indie and Alanna by my side and when I answer the doctors question of, what happened, with "I got hit by a car in the left arm" he just stares at me. He leaned in looking for more when Skadoosh!!! From within my exploding belly and alien baby shot. Latching on to the doctors face it screamed " He skipped the boca race tonight and rode the Hobart loop a few hours earlier because he had to watch his daughter this evening. Since he's racing this coming weekend in Winters and Vacaville no boca, no biggie. Pressed for time he made the almost fatal error of altering his route from Alder Creek/Northwoods to 89S. He had not ridden this stretch of road for over 3 years and as he was climbing in the late afternoon shadows he thought to himself "not much shoulder here. Never was and......".
So yeah, after the start of my week I decided to end my week positive by jumping back on the bike. I'm sore. But felt I needed to see what it's like traveling the same path as a car sooner than later. Make the mind strong. Not afraid. On Saturday I skipped Winters, thinking it would be a bit much and did a Berkeley Hills loop. Besides, there's not really cars in a road race. It felt weird and a little tense as cars passed me from behind but all in all it was good. Good enough to give the Vacaville Grand Prix a go on Sunday.
Having breakfast with my family Sunday morning I felt nervous about my decision to race but once we got to downtown Vacaville I was able to settle down. It's fun and helps to calm my nerves when I get the chance to walk the course and town before doing a race like Vacaville, Tour de Nez, or San Rafael Twilight. For a few seasons I've listened to my friends Nick and Nate talk this crit up as a technical front and fast back. With a power climb dividing both sections. The technical first half goes in quick succesion L, R, R Hairpin, R, L into long stretch R, Power Climb, Descend, R into long stretch, R into long stretch into narrow finsh/start. It's a pretty fun course that reminds me of Benecia but more technical.
At the start line. It's 12:48. I wave to Alanna and my baby girl and we're off. The first couple of laps went well and then on the third lap the rider in front of me lays his bike down. Okay, this could be stimulating. Barely and unlike the car hitting me, it was in slow motion. I slowed down the best I could but ultimately rode my front wheel over his torso and broke my fall on his ribs. I think five other riders behind me went down as well. While asking the guy under me if he was alright I quickly got up along with one other rider, did a bike check, lost my water bottle and with the other rider made my way in reverse back to the pit with about a minute to spare. With a 3,2,1 count off from the pit official I was chasing my way back into the pack and Unofficially back on my bike baby! Yeah! Mr. Invincible rides again. I've got my cape and looking to burgle. Back to the task at hand. Right at the front and have fun. I had some good laps and some recovery laps. Yo Yoed front to back. All laps were no water bottle laps. I got caught behind one split in the field but made it back it to the field going over the climb. while repeatedly breaks tried to form counting down to the last lap. None did. Going into the final hairpin of the day I made a technical error and found myself pedaling without a chain coming out of the turn. Man oh man. That was it. I looked down and took a second to correct the chain in motion but it was too late. All I was going to do was snap the chain. It was so bad that when the motorcycle officilal came by he said " just stop pedaling". I did.
Off went the field to battle for one last climb and a sprint. Dean La Berge took the sprint and my arch nemesis from the Death Ride in 06' took 2nd. But thats another story. I was super stoked with my day. I love racing as it always feel great afterwards. What an accomplishment each and every time.
Maybe Folsom next?
So yeah, after the start of my week I decided to end my week positive by jumping back on the bike. I'm sore. But felt I needed to see what it's like traveling the same path as a car sooner than later. Make the mind strong. Not afraid. On Saturday I skipped Winters, thinking it would be a bit much and did a Berkeley Hills loop. Besides, there's not really cars in a road race. It felt weird and a little tense as cars passed me from behind but all in all it was good. Good enough to give the Vacaville Grand Prix a go on Sunday.
Having breakfast with my family Sunday morning I felt nervous about my decision to race but once we got to downtown Vacaville I was able to settle down. It's fun and helps to calm my nerves when I get the chance to walk the course and town before doing a race like Vacaville, Tour de Nez, or San Rafael Twilight. For a few seasons I've listened to my friends Nick and Nate talk this crit up as a technical front and fast back. With a power climb dividing both sections. The technical first half goes in quick succesion L, R, R Hairpin, R, L into long stretch R, Power Climb, Descend, R into long stretch, R into long stretch into narrow finsh/start. It's a pretty fun course that reminds me of Benecia but more technical.
Off went the field to battle for one last climb and a sprint. Dean La Berge took the sprint and my arch nemesis from the Death Ride in 06' took 2nd. But thats another story. I was super stoked with my day. I love racing as it always feel great afterwards. What an accomplishment each and every time.
Maybe Folsom next?
This is why everyone loves Jens - the dude knows how to give a professional and interesting interview.
And speaking of professional, did you see his time in the TT yesterday? He gave it his all, while his teammate (Andy), who is probably the second best climber in the world (sorry Horner), must have soft-pedaled for his very under-whelming 31st place. I know he can't time trial to save his life but this was a climb!
And speaking of professional, did you see his time in the TT yesterday? He gave it his all, while his teammate (Andy), who is probably the second best climber in the world (sorry Horner), must have soft-pedaled for his very under-whelming 31st place. I know he can't time trial to save his life but this was a climb!
With about half of the team residing in Truckee, Boca is as close to a home race as we can get...
... and this year, we treated it as such.
Here are the MPS placings in every Boca race this year:
5/24
1. Jesse Miller-Smith
2. Dustin Hahn
7. Andy Scott
8. Nate Freed
18. Ramsey Etchison
6/28
1. Justin Rossi
2. Jason Walker
3. Nate Freed
7/26
1. Jesse Miller-Smith
2. Justin Rossi
3. Jason Walker
8/17
1. Nate Freed
8. Jason Walker
11. Ramsey Etchison
8/23
1. Nate Freed
2. Jason Walker
*Photos courtesy MacBeth Graphics*
5/24
1. Jesse Miller-Smith
2. Dustin Hahn
7. Andy Scott
8. Nate Freed
18. Ramsey Etchison
6/28
1. Justin Rossi
2. Jason Walker
3. Nate Freed
7/26
1. Jesse Miller-Smith
2. Justin Rossi
3. Jason Walker
8/17
1. Nate Freed
8. Jason Walker
11. Ramsey Etchison
8/23
1. Nate Freed
2. Jason Walker
*Photos courtesy MacBeth Graphics*
This article was originally published in the Friday August 19th 2011 edition of the Lake Tahoe paper, the Sierra Sun.Did you happen to notice all the mountain bike racers in town last weekend? If you did see one, there is a good chance he or she was here for the Tahoe Sierra 100 mountain bike race put on by Global Biorhythm Events.
Starting at Ice Lakes Lodge in Soda Springs, racers wound their way through about 82 miles of diverse trails, climbing about 12,000 feet before arriving at the finish line in Foresthill.
Typically, mountain bike endurance events are raced primarily on fire roads; not the Tahoe Sierra 100. This race had some of the most fast, technical descents and tough climbs I've encountered. It was by far the most challenging, but also the most fun and rewarding course I've ever ridden.
Anyone who didn't do this race really missed out. Anyone who was able to race, that is. Due to the demanding nature of the event, registration was limited to 200 entrants. In addition, in order to enter, each racer had to qualify by showing proof of completing another endurance mountain bike race with in the past year.
Aside from the challenging terrain, racers are also forced to figure out a good on-the-bike nutrition strategy and deal with temperature swings over their long race day. Fortunately, there were six fully stocked aid stations with lots of volunteers to help refill hydration packs, serve up snacks (even fresh tacos!) and lube chains.
I primarily race road bikes and I have to say, it was very refreshing being a part of an event like the Tahoe Sierra 100. Typically, a road event is very results based, with riders not being happy with themselves unless either they or a teammate places well.
The Tahoe Sierra 100 housed riders with a big range of goals, and even bigger range of ability. There were the handful of riders racing to win or earn themselves a podium spot, and then there were the riders racing with everything they had to make the time cut of 15 hours.
Aren Timmel of Team Chico won the race with a time of 8:18:56, and the last rider rolled in with a time of 14:10:45. Everyone seemed just as excited after crossing the finish line, whether they finished first or last.
There were quite a few Tahoe locals present at the race as well, with teammate Jesse Miller-Smith of the Marc Pro-Strava Racing Team leading the charge with a third-place finish in the Pro Men's field and Allie Donovan of Biking for a Better World taking third in the Pro Women's field. Me? I was riding strong battling between second and third all race before making a wrong turn 10 miles from the finish, which ended up being an hour detour. I eventually finished 15th in Pro.
If you have an interest in endurance sports and love to ride your bike, I highly encourage you to get out there and try to qualify for next year's event. It's a great opportunity to see the beautiful countryside from a truly unique perspective.
- Race fee is $25 to pre-register online and $30 on the day of
- Race registration, bib pick & parking will be at Truckee's Factory Outlet Store mall and will be open from 8:00 - 9:00 am
- First rider off is at 10 am
Michael Rasmussen, finally getting those KOMs on Strava, albeit with a little artificial assistance.
However, if you are too old, fat, slow or lazy - and as a result your Strava KOM wall is filled with cobwebs instead of shiny gold icons - I have some methods you can use to "dope" yourself into cycling internet climbing super-stardom. Just like Micheal Rasmussen!
CREATE IMPOSSIBLE KOMS
Strava allows you to create your own KOM segments. If you have the fastest time on these personal segments, it's still worth a trophy. To insure you have a KOM that no-one else can break, create one that ends inside your house. That's right, ride straight through your front door (lock it behind you) and end your ride at the refrigerator. As long as you keep your doors locked, no-one will beat the KOM that ends at a sandwich in your kitchen.DRIVE TO THE CLIMB
The KOMs that I am most proud of are ones that I set 4-5 hours into a ride. If someone comes along and beats these KOMs, I always check how far into their ride they were when they beat them. Setting a KOM at mile 10 is a lesser feat than setting a KOM at mile 100. However, if you need to stroke your internet ego and add some trophies to your wall, start driving to the base of KOMs. Find KOMs that are deep into a typical cycling route, load up your 2-wheel drive SUV with your bike and park right at the foot of the climb. Use your trainer to warm-up, then hammer it up that climb, fresh as a daisy. Steal those KOMs from other riders who actually worked to get there.Motorized Assistance
Fossil fueled engines can propel you faster than your legs, it's a fact. But I'm not suggesting your install a motor in your down-tube like ole' Fabian Cancellara, that's far too complicated. I'm suggesting you put your bike on your roof rack, turn on your GPS and drive your hipster-hybrid Subaru wagon to the top of the climb. As you crest the ascent after setting an unbeatable KOM record at 45 mph, get out of your car and salute like you just won Alpe D'huez.UH OH, YOU'RE BUSTED
If you want to join in the fun of Strava and earn (or steal) some KOMs, it is now 100% free. Check it out.
I don't really understand the University Road Race. Placed on the UC-Santa Cruz campus, this 'road race' climbs up Hagar Street a 2 km, 340 ft climb then simply plunges down Coolidge Dr before starting the climb again. Now, what I don't understand is that with all the awesome potential races that you could have in Santa Cruz (not to mention just on the campus) this race is very simple/torturous. But maybe it's easy to promote, either way it's in Santa Cruz, my home down, on the campus where I went to college and currently work so it's a no-brainer.
The last few days in Santa Cruz the fog has been so heavy in the morning that it's been basically raining. It was the same the morning of the race, roads were wet and your glasses fogged up, it was rad. The corners on the usually safe easy course were slick and people were taking them a little too fast and falling. The 20-lap race started out somewhat easy. Keith, Kris and I were doing a good job of covering threatening attacks and keeping the pace high when it slowed. At 13 to go Jared (Cal Giant) attacked on the downhill and got a gap. Justin and I brought the field back up to him. Jared tried again the next lap and Evan of the same team bridged up. I set Justin up to bridge to the two berry riders and the winning break was formed.
Yuri (McGuire), James (Yahoo), and Billy (Webcor) were not happy to only have two teams represented in the move. I was covering every other move because more than a few times a group would get a small gap over the top of the hill only for the field to catch them by the bottom, effectively nullifying your efforts. This race is about attrition and you only have so many jumps before your legs can only tempo. Eventually it was James Mattis and Yuri who were strong enough to break the cord and get off the front of the race. Keith, Kris and I did a good job of running the front of the pack.
Some of the guys who had not been attacking/chasing at the beginning were riding strong now. It was a little frustrating to have to chase a new group of fresh legs but it made for a good workout. Despite being outnumbered, Justin nearly won the race and only lost to Huffman who sucked his wheel to the last few meters.
Eventually Keith won the field sprint and Kris and I trudged in behind him.
Result:
2nd - Justin Rossi
8th - Keith Hillier
12th - Art Rand
19th - Kris Lunning
The last few days in Santa Cruz the fog has been so heavy in the morning that it's been basically raining. It was the same the morning of the race, roads were wet and your glasses fogged up, it was rad. The corners on the usually safe easy course were slick and people were taking them a little too fast and falling. The 20-lap race started out somewhat easy. Keith, Kris and I were doing a good job of covering threatening attacks and keeping the pace high when it slowed. At 13 to go Jared (Cal Giant) attacked on the downhill and got a gap. Justin and I brought the field back up to him. Jared tried again the next lap and Evan of the same team bridged up. I set Justin up to bridge to the two berry riders and the winning break was formed.
Yuri (McGuire), James (Yahoo), and Billy (Webcor) were not happy to only have two teams represented in the move. I was covering every other move because more than a few times a group would get a small gap over the top of the hill only for the field to catch them by the bottom, effectively nullifying your efforts. This race is about attrition and you only have so many jumps before your legs can only tempo. Eventually it was James Mattis and Yuri who were strong enough to break the cord and get off the front of the race. Keith, Kris and I did a good job of running the front of the pack.
Some of the guys who had not been attacking/chasing at the beginning were riding strong now. It was a little frustrating to have to chase a new group of fresh legs but it made for a good workout. Despite being outnumbered, Justin nearly won the race and only lost to Huffman who sucked his wheel to the last few meters.
Eventually Keith won the field sprint and Kris and I trudged in behind him.
Result:
2nd - Justin Rossi
8th - Keith Hillier
12th - Art Rand
19th - Kris Lunning
Thanks to all who attended Monday's bicycle meeting with Caltrans regarding 89S, and other state road bicycle use issues in the region. A quick head count had 70 bicycle use supporters in attendance! A good turnout for a meeting that was called by Caltrans less than one week before, with the word being spread solely by emails and social networking. Can not stress enough how important the strength of numbers are for getting the message of bicycle safety and infrastructure needs clearly heard in public meetings such as this one, and future ones to come.As mentioned in Paco's email, you can join and follow TARBAS movement HERE. And If you see Paco tell him thanks. He's fostered the career of most every one of us. Including you!
Yes, the complete roadway on Hwy 89 S to Squaw from Truckee is to be repaved in early summer 2012. This is to include the bike lanes/shoulders. Need to stay on top if this. Many great questions were asked and needs for cycling improvements were raised. A great job was accomplished by those in attendance pointing out the bigger issues up here. It was stressed that all Caltrans roads in the Truckee/Tahoe area need reworking to become bicycle safe and bicycle friendly. Follow up is definitely needed. The meeting ended with the Caltrans representatives in attendance promising more public meetings and more communication. Attendees signed up on a sheet, which Caltrans said they will create into a communication group. As this becomes more in place, I will let all know, so those who missed this meeting can get in on the communications and receive Caltrans updates, etc.
Martha Bellisle just started a Facebook Group Page. It is found on Facebook under TARBA or Truckee Tahoe Area Road Bike Advocates. This is a Facebook group page where ideas, meetings, updates, discourse can be posted and shared. If you want, join it and share ideas.
Thanks again.
Paco Lindsay
Good day,For all you Neo's out there here's the PORTAL. Thanks Morpheus!
Thank you very much for your participation and communication this week in Truckee. As promised, we held a meeting this morning with a group of Caltrans folks from Maintenance, Construction, and Design. I feel very confident that everyone in the meeting is aware of the condition of State Route 89 & 267/the triangle ride and very much so understand your concerns.
Our plan is to hold a second public meeting on Tuesday, September 27 from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. (location TBD) .
The website TahoeRoads.com will be our portal for updating bicyclists and the public about current and future plans. as well as give you the ability to send in comments and requests. http://www.tahoeroads.com/contact_us
We will prepared a FAQ area from the questions we have received and will update as questions come in so that you may forward the link to others that are interested in knowing about the planned projects. We will have the link for bike information updated next week ( August 26).
Thank you for your time and I can assure you that your voices have been heard. I’m happy to be of assistance wherever possible.
Thanks!
Deanna
Leadville 2011: A Single Speed Perspective
Aug 21 2011
Matt Chappell in Spoke N' Words | No Comments Yet
When I dug a little deeper I learned about a family friend whose grandfather was the Sheriff of Leadville during the days when horseback gunslingers raged the trail ways. I took this bit of history and made it my ColoRADo race mantra.
The set back – approximately 1,900 racers lined the streets of Leadville on race day. Unfortunately, not even an electronic recommendation from AEG Sports, nor a 5-hour/60 mile qualifying time, 39 overall/3rd on a Single Speed, would get me a pro coral start. So I started, with all other supposed first time Leadville competitors at the very back of the pack.
As the 12-gauge went off, we waited patiently until many moments later when the pack began to move. Photographs would show me tattooed in team sponsor logos and all the food I needed for 40 miles in two pockets. To my left you see a guy wearing a ragged fleece and backpack. To the right there’s a guy with a yellow rain coat and fleece pants – interesting, maybe they’re camping at the top.
So I charged ahead ducking and diving in on wheel-after-wheel. One rider would crash out and I would fill his gap then steer off his cohort and move up ten spots. I would sit patiently and wait to attack as soon as the trail gave enough space for my 28-inch handle bar.
I would continue to do this picking off rider after rider like Doc Holiday with a loaded nickel-plated revolver. Some would come as single claims and others would come in packs of 20, 30 or more. On descents, I would let it rip taking inside lines or weaving through herds of humans until I reached an opening – then I would ride for miles in silence with no one in sight.
The silence rushed to a stop at the bottom of famed Columbine climb. This is where past stories tell of riders cracking from altitude, dehydration etc. Not me, I had the best race crew on the course, who at the first aid station gave me additional bottles of fluid, a bunch a Clif stuff like Rok’s, gel’s and half a bottle of Ensure (this stuff works great in small doses).
As I approached the steeper, lose section of the fire road climb to the top I had bridged to the faster heard of pedal pushers. Finally, I thought. So I continued to claim a few spots here and there up this brutal climb right before everyone dismounts. WTH, one of my goals was to ride the entire course. This is something Single Speed riders take much pride in. Now the entire field was tiptoeing up this huge climb like ants walking a stairway to heaven.
At this point I see a few guys (Todd Wells, race leaders etc.) ripping down the fire road heading right at us. Okay, it’s an out and back course; it’s also a rutted fire road with two lines. One goes up and one goes down. The one going up is severely off camber pushing the hike-a-bikers into the more flat down-line, which resembles a creek bed in certain locations. Hikers go up on the right (blowing up and hallucinating) and course leaders fly by on the opposing side. “Try passing here… I dare you” says another racer – no problem. Look ahead, see a gap and fill it up. Sort of like crit racing where if you don’t fill it, someone else will and you’ll move back.
Rider by rider I make my way to the top noticing teammate Andy Scott fiercely descending the path home. I mark his lead on me while studying the odd sections of the descent so that when I return I’ll be prepared to react at full clip – this worked well since there were a few off-camber, loose corners where you could make up time and pass if you anticipated the right line.
When I got to the bottom of the of the descent another geared rider who I passed early on in the descent, would catch me in the flats and share his mind with me a bit – apparently I boxed him in. Oops. He then asked me what time I was shooting for and began to lend a hand by pulling me into the head wind. This would last for about 20 miles, maybe less, before he would disappear off the back. This would happen several more times throughout the day, it’s interesting to see how many geared dudes are willing to blow up trying to out pedal a single speeder.
Entering the last aid station, the crew thought I had it in the bag. That is, a nine-hour time for the big buckle. After leaving the aid station things got a little difficult. The temps were increasing, the climbs got steeper and my one-gear got harder. With approx. ten miles to go, I had :15 plus a little change to make the goal. My alter ego kept shouting, “Get it done”. Each time I said that out loud in the open air my cadence would increase. I took in a little espresso and before I know it my heart rate was sustaining the fastest pace of the day sans cramps.
I would soon reel in one single speeder, then another until I finally caught a fellow Truckee racer with approximately 5 miles to go. From here on in I knew there was a long flat with headwind and then a bastard creek bed climb known as the “last nail to the head” followed by a progressive climb to the finish line.
I put down everything I had left which was plenty enough to get hollers from spectators yelling “GO SINGLE”… when is this going to end.
With the finish line in sight my Garmin 800 beeped recording 9 hours. My head rushed with a slight burst of emotion and I again sped up…
As I approached the line I heard my name several times over by family, friends and the announcer repeating my time of 9:06. I missed my goal by sixth minutes and you’ll never guess what place I came in… 7th – more often than not.
Out of approx 1,900 racers, starting last, I finished 280 overall with just one gear. Over 103 fire road miles I passed over 1,600 people the majority of which happened downhill. If you haven’t done Leadville you should. It’s a great experience especially with just one gear to worry about.
• Tire specifications
- 2.24 WTB Mutano Raptor Front (corners well on hard pack and carries a little extra oomph for rally time.)
- 2.0 Continental Race King Rear Tubeless: this is the lightest, fastest tire on the planet. It’s handling abilities will surprise you just keep it moving or you’ll slip out on steep climbs – and don’t lay the hammer down either for the same reason. Knees to the stem are almost as bad as knees to the #%$’s.
- Choose your gear ratio wisely… this time I went 32/18. Next time I’ll go harder 32/17, maybe 32/16 just not sure I can endure the soft tissue degeneration over 100 + miles. Leadville is actually 103.67 miles. The rounding will get you every time.
- No gravity dropper – bummer, these add so much life to the ride however, this ride is nearly lifeless, there’s more single track on my commute to work at Tahoe Donner then there is on this entire route. So shave the weight.
- Bike: a Single Speed modified Scott Scale, 26” wheels, (White Industries Eccentric Hub) with Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes, an FSA Carbon Crankset, a Rock Shock SID World Cup Fork, a WTB Silverado Seat. A few Ritchey WCS bits and pieces, a Truvative Noir Bar and Pink Crank Brothers Pedals complete the bike at 20 lbs.
And then starting Monday is the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge (a simply horrible name in my opinion, I liked Quiznos challenge better).
Start dusting off those cross bikes because this road thingy is almost done.
With the season winding down, I wanted 1 more stage race to focus on. Ok, I guess a series would work too. Cal Cup is a series of 10 races spreading throughout August to Labor Day weekend. It is a mix of time trials, road races and criteriums. With some time off to refocus and rebuild my form I was ready the opening weekend to establish some points with Warnerville tt and Patterson RR.
Warnerville Time Trial
I met up with Kris Lunning once again in the middle of nowhere, Knights Ferry, Ca, for a nice warm up along the rolling, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough Willms Rd. Not much wind to be a factor and my legs feeling ready, I was confident of a good finish. Before the race I noticed some issues with the tt rig... Rubbing brake pad and a rear wheel less than .1mm off the frame. Oh well... too late for mechanical adjustments. I rolled off the start line and quickly settled into a pace...I checked my power at 4 minutes and it was around 425...time to ease off a bit because this tt was a long one. Velopromo has it as 20 miles...Luckily I researched Strava...22.5 miles!!! Come on Velopromo. At the turnaround my power was at 400... either I was gonna die or I was having a stellar day. The long 11.25 miles back was terrible. My power was steadily droping and sweat was filling my glasses to the point of blurred vision. I finished at 390 watts for 48:28!!! Surely this would be enough for the win. Turns out Evan Huffman (Cal Giant) has a better position than me and smoked me by around a minute, and James Wingert (Yahoo) also bested me by 20 seconds. Baffled by my placing, but really happy with my power I headed back to town with my focus on Patterson.
Patterson Pass Road Race
See Keith Hillier Race Report...I frickin crashed for no aparrent reason, other than not paying attention...No more chatty Kathy while racing.
Dunnigan Hills Road Race
Keith and I were the sole representatives from Marc Pro-Strava on this flat boring course in Yolo, Ca. With my hopes for Cal Cup glory crushed from Patterson's crash, I was on a mission to destroy myself and maybe get off the front in a break. I was active early and throwing down attack after attack, but for some reason Keith was not countering my moves...WTF...He is usually a man for the early break. I floated back in the peloton, only to be told that my teammate had flatted some time ago. Ok, great it was now me vs. about 6 guys from Cal Giant, 6 from Specialized and 6 from Freemont Bank. Every time I attacked I was marked by Cal Giant...who was in no mood to help me establish a break. They would cover my move and sit on my wheel. Very frustrating, but smart tactics. Towards the end of the race a group of 5 got off the front with a representative from each team... Damn, a lot of hard work with no result is hard to stomach...I see how having no teammates can really hurt your chances.
Suisun Harbor Criterium
With my motivation fading for the Cal Cup, strong winds greeted me while warming up for Suisun Harbor Crit. I was again the solo rider from MPS for this 72 lap 36 mile Crit. While warming up, I noticed a Bissel (Andy Jaques-Maynes), Kelly Benefit (Halloway's Star/Stripes jersey) and Ride Cleans Logan Loader. What these guys are doing in suisun city, I don't know...but talent usually makes a race harder, which plays into my benefit. I had the same goal as Dunnigan, get off the front. Field sprints, especially crits, are not my favorite. I was off the front about three times during the race. With about 15 laps to go a group containing both big Pro names got off the front. I found myself off the front and in no man's land with Sam Bassetti (firefighters) chasing a group with big power. The field let us go, and I gave everything I had. Sam was also in the mood to work. We burried ourselves trying to chase down the break. Lap after lap we dangled. On the last lap we caught them on the back stretch... I had a clear chance to attack right past the group as they were sitting up waiting. Instead I let my tired legs creep into my head...Ahh just wait a second...Oppurtunity missed, I was now sprinting to 6th place with no chance to move up.
Warnerville Time Trial
I met up with Kris Lunning once again in the middle of nowhere, Knights Ferry, Ca, for a nice warm up along the rolling, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough Willms Rd. Not much wind to be a factor and my legs feeling ready, I was confident of a good finish. Before the race I noticed some issues with the tt rig... Rubbing brake pad and a rear wheel less than .1mm off the frame. Oh well... too late for mechanical adjustments. I rolled off the start line and quickly settled into a pace...I checked my power at 4 minutes and it was around 425...time to ease off a bit because this tt was a long one. Velopromo has it as 20 miles...Luckily I researched Strava...22.5 miles!!! Come on Velopromo. At the turnaround my power was at 400... either I was gonna die or I was having a stellar day. The long 11.25 miles back was terrible. My power was steadily droping and sweat was filling my glasses to the point of blurred vision. I finished at 390 watts for 48:28!!! Surely this would be enough for the win. Turns out Evan Huffman (Cal Giant) has a better position than me and smoked me by around a minute, and James Wingert (Yahoo) also bested me by 20 seconds. Baffled by my placing, but really happy with my power I headed back to town with my focus on Patterson.
Patterson Pass Road Race
See Keith Hillier Race Report...I frickin crashed for no aparrent reason, other than not paying attention...No more chatty Kathy while racing.
Dunnigan Hills Road Race
Keith and I were the sole representatives from Marc Pro-Strava on this flat boring course in Yolo, Ca. With my hopes for Cal Cup glory crushed from Patterson's crash, I was on a mission to destroy myself and maybe get off the front in a break. I was active early and throwing down attack after attack, but for some reason Keith was not countering my moves...WTF...He is usually a man for the early break. I floated back in the peloton, only to be told that my teammate had flatted some time ago. Ok, great it was now me vs. about 6 guys from Cal Giant, 6 from Specialized and 6 from Freemont Bank. Every time I attacked I was marked by Cal Giant...who was in no mood to help me establish a break. They would cover my move and sit on my wheel. Very frustrating, but smart tactics. Towards the end of the race a group of 5 got off the front with a representative from each team... Damn, a lot of hard work with no result is hard to stomach...I see how having no teammates can really hurt your chances.
Suisun Harbor Criterium
With my motivation fading for the Cal Cup, strong winds greeted me while warming up for Suisun Harbor Crit. I was again the solo rider from MPS for this 72 lap 36 mile Crit. While warming up, I noticed a Bissel (Andy Jaques-Maynes), Kelly Benefit (Halloway's Star/Stripes jersey) and Ride Cleans Logan Loader. What these guys are doing in suisun city, I don't know...but talent usually makes a race harder, which plays into my benefit. I had the same goal as Dunnigan, get off the front. Field sprints, especially crits, are not my favorite. I was off the front about three times during the race. With about 15 laps to go a group containing both big Pro names got off the front. I found myself off the front and in no man's land with Sam Bassetti (firefighters) chasing a group with big power. The field let us go, and I gave everything I had. Sam was also in the mood to work. We burried ourselves trying to chase down the break. Lap after lap we dangled. On the last lap we caught them on the back stretch... I had a clear chance to attack right past the group as they were sitting up waiting. Instead I let my tired legs creep into my head...Ahh just wait a second...Oppurtunity missed, I was now sprinting to 6th place with no chance to move up.
88 Miles/4 Laps/22 miles per lap/8,700 Total Elevation Gain
Limited squad for this race of… Art Rand who had just returned from a bike touring adventure. Frank Spiteri which had just recovered from mountain biking injuries. Justion Rossi who is just always on fire. And me who is somehow always in a breakaway.
The plan was to get a win for Justin and the team.
After the first lap of easy riding there was a breakaway that rolled off the front. I bridged to with a helper. Everyone didn’t seem to want to work. Yury Yurchanka rolled off the front of the breakaway while the breakaway was gobbled up by the field.
On the second lap on one of the smaller rollers Justin crossed bars with another rider and went down. I stopped to see if I could help out but his derailleur was ripped off. So I took off in hopes to catch back onto the field and report back to my teammates.
Somewhere on the third lap a few pairs of riders were able to separate themselves from the field. Then Nate English and Evan Huffman attacked and no one followed. A few guys (including monster pull Frank and Art) organized at the front of field and started pulling on the super fast tail wind flat section to bring back the English/Huffman break. With me tail gunning and holding on for dear life.
With teammates bringing the gap down I was then able to solo kamikaze bridge across to the English/Huffman break. Now my teammates were able to just sit in and it was time for another breakaway for me. The breakaway wasn’t working together well with Huffman not really working because of his teammate up the road. But we managed to catch two riders and share more of the workload.
Up the last roller a few miles from the finish Huffman attacked and blew apart the breakaway. I followed English as we crawled back to Huffman. Once English realized that I was stuck on his wheel he started to soft pedal. I then attacked him and he crawled back to me. Then we were stuck in a soft pedal waiting game. I knew it was a head wind finish so I held off my next attack until we got onto the finishing straight. I through down whatever sprint I had left in me and was able to hold English off and almost brought back Huffman for 5th place.
Art through down a sprint but James Wingert got him by the line for 10th place and Frank pedaled in for 16th.
Limited squad for this race of… Art Rand who had just returned from a bike touring adventure. Frank Spiteri which had just recovered from mountain biking injuries. Justion Rossi who is just always on fire. And me who is somehow always in a breakaway.
The plan was to get a win for Justin and the team.
After the first lap of easy riding there was a breakaway that rolled off the front. I bridged to with a helper. Everyone didn’t seem to want to work. Yury Yurchanka rolled off the front of the breakaway while the breakaway was gobbled up by the field.
On the second lap on one of the smaller rollers Justin crossed bars with another rider and went down. I stopped to see if I could help out but his derailleur was ripped off. So I took off in hopes to catch back onto the field and report back to my teammates.
Somewhere on the third lap a few pairs of riders were able to separate themselves from the field. Then Nate English and Evan Huffman attacked and no one followed. A few guys (including monster pull Frank and Art) organized at the front of field and started pulling on the super fast tail wind flat section to bring back the English/Huffman break. With me tail gunning and holding on for dear life.
With teammates bringing the gap down I was then able to solo kamikaze bridge across to the English/Huffman break. Now my teammates were able to just sit in and it was time for another breakaway for me. The breakaway wasn’t working together well with Huffman not really working because of his teammate up the road. But we managed to catch two riders and share more of the workload.
Up the last roller a few miles from the finish Huffman attacked and blew apart the breakaway. I followed English as we crawled back to Huffman. Once English realized that I was stuck on his wheel he started to soft pedal. I then attacked him and he crawled back to me. Then we were stuck in a soft pedal waiting game. I knew it was a head wind finish so I held off my next attack until we got onto the finishing straight. I through down whatever sprint I had left in me and was able to hold English off and almost brought back Huffman for 5th place.
Art through down a sprint but James Wingert got him by the line for 10th place and Frank pedaled in for 16th.
Justin set a new record tonight at the Reno Wheelmen hosted Franktown Time Trial with a time of 16:05 (28.9 mph).
- Justin Rossi (Marc Pro - Strava) 16:05
- Josh Rennie (Clif Bar) 16:52
- Jason Walker (Marc Pro - Strava) 17:04
Leadville 100 Race Report: Thank God for Magic Pixie Dust
Aug 15 2011
Andy Scott in Race Reports | 1 Comment
[Updated w/ Photos and Strava]
Sitting in the medical tent while a crew sprayed water on my bibs to get them unstuck from dried blood and dirt and trail rash was not how I envisioned my Leadville experience. Hypoxic at altitude, cramps, general bonking, wrestling mechanicals — these were all things I thought about pre race, but not taking a massive beater on the non-technical course. So of course that is exactly what I did at mile 20, descending the upper Pipeline section in traffic on a rutted and steep and rocky section. Easy riding until I was passing a guy and in hindsight didn't give him enough room in case he slipped down off the one primary/smooth but off-camber line, which he did, sliding down into me at speed in the romper room and here we go! Launch over bars, look out below, wow that spot doesn't look very soft, in fact it looks like a rock garden. It is a rock garden, There Will be Blood. [Note: Other dude was able to lay it down vs. superman, and ok. I apologized, won't go into fault but happy to take full blame/responsibility just on the premise I was passing] As if I needed more adrenaline after the shotgun (literal) start w/ 1700 other riders. So I popped up and did the old once-over, deciding not to actually look at what I knew would be a thorough gouging / rashing of the right side, but confirming it was all superficial, which it was, good. The bike, ack. My bottle cage had been ripped out of the frame, dangling/attached to the inter-connected cable guides. The (empty) bottle was still in it but the cage was unusable. The (full) bottle that had been in my jersey was gone down the hillside. Sweet, so now I'm gonna have 1 bottle to do another 80 miles and stop at every aid station and have to dig it out of my jersey pocket. Obviously a big challenge of this kind of race is getting hydration and calories in your system early and often so you don't explode, and I'd just made that challenge even bigger. Lost the front shock lock-out, and rear shifting was off. But the bike was ridable so back on and get to mile 26 aid station and catch up on hydration/etc. Pre-race strategy to achieve sub 9 hour/gold buckle: Go hard, don't crack, never panic. Time to focus on the final piece of the equation. And the Magic Pixie Dust my daughters had coated me with (Quotes: "it won't wash off even if you take a shower" and "when you get a flat tire you won't care"). It worked. The Pixie Dust overcame my penchant for Mountain Bike race adventure. I did have to stop at every aid station for liquid and food (note: they don't hand out bottles, and my support crew (thank you Katie (teammate Matt Chappell's wife) and Ann (Katie's mom) and Mike (Katie's Dad) did have my bottles, but carrying two in the jersey pockets wasn't going to happen given they were already stuffed w/ food/supplies/etc.. The rear D issue had me off the bike 5 times from shifting the chain into the wheel and getting it wedged and trying to barrel adjust to fix and blah/whine. I thought hard about a longer more focused stop but mostly avoided the granny ring on the rear and really tried to feather things but every now and then the stars aligned poorly and well, I'm just glad I didn't break my chain or worse and these stops had a 'fixable mechanical'. The race actually went by pretty fast, and I went hard but was fairly conservative, feathering bike and body over the final 80 miles. Highlights were the top of Columbine views and high alpine beauty, zoning out in the couple miles of singletrack, the PBR hand up crew (in hindsight I really should have grabbed one), paceline/peleton at 30MPH on dirt road in a sea of gravel, powerline crowds on the inbound/mile 80, and the guy from Marin who knows my teammate Chris that came up behind me on the Boulevard when I was alone and spacy and knew I was a mile or two from the finish and would end up inside of 8:30 – he was hammering and rode me off his wheel, nice one. Next time, more Pixie Dust. Finish time 8:24ish, Gold Buckle. Thanks again to my family and Matt/Katie and Ann/Mike, and to all the peeps that sent cool messages and vibes. Leadville is as advertised: big event, hard, cool, beautiful. Looking forward to giving it another run someday.
Sitting in the medical tent while a crew sprayed water on my bibs to get them unstuck from dried blood and dirt and trail rash was not how I envisioned my Leadville experience. Hypoxic at altitude, cramps, general bonking, wrestling mechanicals — these were all things I thought about pre race, but not taking a massive beater on the non-technical course. So of course that is exactly what I did at mile 20, descending the upper Pipeline section in traffic on a rutted and steep and rocky section. Easy riding until I was passing a guy and in hindsight didn't give him enough room in case he slipped down off the one primary/smooth but off-camber line, which he did, sliding down into me at speed in the romper room and here we go! Launch over bars, look out below, wow that spot doesn't look very soft, in fact it looks like a rock garden. It is a rock garden, There Will be Blood. [Note: Other dude was able to lay it down vs. superman, and ok. I apologized, won't go into fault but happy to take full blame/responsibility just on the premise I was passing] As if I needed more adrenaline after the shotgun (literal) start w/ 1700 other riders. So I popped up and did the old once-over, deciding not to actually look at what I knew would be a thorough gouging / rashing of the right side, but confirming it was all superficial, which it was, good. The bike, ack. My bottle cage had been ripped out of the frame, dangling/attached to the inter-connected cable guides. The (empty) bottle was still in it but the cage was unusable. The (full) bottle that had been in my jersey was gone down the hillside. Sweet, so now I'm gonna have 1 bottle to do another 80 miles and stop at every aid station and have to dig it out of my jersey pocket. Obviously a big challenge of this kind of race is getting hydration and calories in your system early and often so you don't explode, and I'd just made that challenge even bigger. Lost the front shock lock-out, and rear shifting was off. But the bike was ridable so back on and get to mile 26 aid station and catch up on hydration/etc. Pre-race strategy to achieve sub 9 hour/gold buckle: Go hard, don't crack, never panic. Time to focus on the final piece of the equation. And the Magic Pixie Dust my daughters had coated me with (Quotes: "it won't wash off even if you take a shower" and "when you get a flat tire you won't care"). It worked. The Pixie Dust overcame my penchant for Mountain Bike race adventure. I did have to stop at every aid station for liquid and food (note: they don't hand out bottles, and my support crew (thank you Katie (teammate Matt Chappell's wife) and Ann (Katie's mom) and Mike (Katie's Dad) did have my bottles, but carrying two in the jersey pockets wasn't going to happen given they were already stuffed w/ food/supplies/etc.. The rear D issue had me off the bike 5 times from shifting the chain into the wheel and getting it wedged and trying to barrel adjust to fix and blah/whine. I thought hard about a longer more focused stop but mostly avoided the granny ring on the rear and really tried to feather things but every now and then the stars aligned poorly and well, I'm just glad I didn't break my chain or worse and these stops had a 'fixable mechanical'. The race actually went by pretty fast, and I went hard but was fairly conservative, feathering bike and body over the final 80 miles. Highlights were the top of Columbine views and high alpine beauty, zoning out in the couple miles of singletrack, the PBR hand up crew (in hindsight I really should have grabbed one), paceline/peleton at 30MPH on dirt road in a sea of gravel, powerline crowds on the inbound/mile 80, and the guy from Marin who knows my teammate Chris that came up behind me on the Boulevard when I was alone and spacy and knew I was a mile or two from the finish and would end up inside of 8:30 – he was hammering and rode me off his wheel, nice one. Next time, more Pixie Dust. Finish time 8:24ish, Gold Buckle. Thanks again to my family and Matt/Katie and Ann/Mike, and to all the peeps that sent cool messages and vibes. Leadville is as advertised: big event, hard, cool, beautiful. Looking forward to giving it another run someday.
Downieville was my goal race for the year. Two weeks before, I tore my rotator cuff, ending all hope of denying Jesse Miller-Smith a repeat win in the Cat 1 XC race. I immediately changed my focus to the Tahoe Sierra 100 mountain bike race.
Originally slated to be 100 miles and 20,000 ft of climbing, the race ended up being 82 miles and 11,500 ft of climbing... for most of the riders. I, on the other hand, did 86 miles and 12,900 ft of climbing...
Friday morning I drove up to Truckee to meet up with Jesse, where we got in a short ride on some rad local trails, a quick swim in Donner Lake, a delicious lunch at Wild Cherries (try their Breakfast Smoothie and Grilled Turkey Club - both are out-of-this-world delicious), threw a ball for high-energy Ziggy and got registered for the race. We were basically geeking out on mountain bike stuff all day. Most fun Friday I've had in a loooong time.
Saturday morning we arrived at the race start location at 5am to get ready for the 6am race start. I was a little concerned about the pacing of such a long race. I figured I didn't want to go out too hard, but I still wanted to be up front for the beginning dirt segments to avoid too much dust. We started out with a 9 mile start loop before trekking into the forest on our way to Foresthill for the finish.
On this start loop, at some point I was following another rider when we realized we must be off course. We ended up in the back of someone's cabin, eventually making our way to the first aid station. Since we were riding 3rd and 4th in the race at the time we got lost, we decided to wait for the leaders to come through Aid Station #1 before getting back on course. Leader Aren Timmel (Team Chico), flew threw the aid station, followed just a few seconds back by Marc Pro-Strava rider, Jesse Miller-Smith doing about 25 mph. Just as I was hoping back on my bike, I see Jesse trying to pull off an arm warmer, yelling, "Arm warmers!" to the support crews. Then he hits a rock, loses balance and launches himself over the bars. I know the skiers out there should be familiar with the term "Yard Sale." All of this right in front of me. I rushed over to make sure he was alright. I think he might have still be sliding when he jumped up yelling at me, "Frank don't wait for me keeping going. Let's go!!" As Jesse was trying to jump back on his bike, I picked up his bottles and had to put him in his bike for him, because he was just too concerned with getting himself back into the race... and maybe because he hit his head too hard. Good thing he had on his Giro helmet. Saved his life.
Jesse and I took off, followed by another rider from Team Chico. As soon as we hit the next climb, Jesse dropped me like a rock, which wasn't surprising. A few miles later, on a different climb, I caught Jesse... Frank catching Jesse on a climb?!? Yes, I was confused too. Onto the next segment of the race, Red Star Ridge, I passed through a technical section climb and decided to "Send it" down the descents. This was by far my favorite segment of the race.
Fast forward to mile 72. I come across a bridge to a split in the trail. Fireroad left. Fireroad right. Singletrack right. Hmmm. I couldn't see any bicycle tire tracks or arrows or chalk on the ground marking the trail. Fireroad left had some faded ribbons hanging. Single track had one ribbon hanging. Fireroad right had two fresh looking ribbons. I went fireroad right. After climbing 1600 ft over 2 miles, I encountered a closed gate with no clear marking on the other side. This is when I realized I was off course. I descended back down to the split, where I found a race official marking the trail. He was just an hour too late. Now out of water, I continued on to the next aid station where I was told I had 6 miles to the finish and was now in 25th place. Great. After riding in 2nd or 3rd the entire race, I was now in 25th because of an unmarked intersection. I continued on, passed a bunch of other guys, and ended up 15th in the Pro field. Not exactly what I was shooting for, but still good considering the circumstances. Lucky for Jesse, with me out of the running for a podium spot, it opened it up for him to take 3rd. Oh, and did I mention he did that with an out-of-true front wheel and a rubbing front rotor, since his crash at mile 8?
After the race we were treated to a great BBQ and a bunch of Santa Cruz Aleworks brews. If you haven't already realized it, mountain biking is way cooler than road biking. Then we got to hang out and wait for Jesse's soon-to-be brother-in-law, Seth finish. One of the coolest things about this race was seeing how excited everyone was to be there, whether they were racing for a podium spot, or racing to beat the time cut.
Although I was frustrated to lose out on a podium spot, I still think that was the most fun race I've ever done. The variety of terrain, the hard climbs, fast and technical descents all made for a super fun day. And lots of fun times with Jesse, Seth, Sam and Ziggy. Can't wait to ride these trails again next year.
Originally slated to be 100 miles and 20,000 ft of climbing, the race ended up being 82 miles and 11,500 ft of climbing... for most of the riders. I, on the other hand, did 86 miles and 12,900 ft of climbing...
Friday morning I drove up to Truckee to meet up with Jesse, where we got in a short ride on some rad local trails, a quick swim in Donner Lake, a delicious lunch at Wild Cherries (try their Breakfast Smoothie and Grilled Turkey Club - both are out-of-this-world delicious), threw a ball for high-energy Ziggy and got registered for the race. We were basically geeking out on mountain bike stuff all day. Most fun Friday I've had in a loooong time.
Saturday morning we arrived at the race start location at 5am to get ready for the 6am race start. I was a little concerned about the pacing of such a long race. I figured I didn't want to go out too hard, but I still wanted to be up front for the beginning dirt segments to avoid too much dust. We started out with a 9 mile start loop before trekking into the forest on our way to Foresthill for the finish.
On this start loop, at some point I was following another rider when we realized we must be off course. We ended up in the back of someone's cabin, eventually making our way to the first aid station. Since we were riding 3rd and 4th in the race at the time we got lost, we decided to wait for the leaders to come through Aid Station #1 before getting back on course. Leader Aren Timmel (Team Chico), flew threw the aid station, followed just a few seconds back by Marc Pro-Strava rider, Jesse Miller-Smith doing about 25 mph. Just as I was hoping back on my bike, I see Jesse trying to pull off an arm warmer, yelling, "Arm warmers!" to the support crews. Then he hits a rock, loses balance and launches himself over the bars. I know the skiers out there should be familiar with the term "Yard Sale." All of this right in front of me. I rushed over to make sure he was alright. I think he might have still be sliding when he jumped up yelling at me, "Frank don't wait for me keeping going. Let's go!!" As Jesse was trying to jump back on his bike, I picked up his bottles and had to put him in his bike for him, because he was just too concerned with getting himself back into the race... and maybe because he hit his head too hard. Good thing he had on his Giro helmet. Saved his life.
Jesse and I took off, followed by another rider from Team Chico. As soon as we hit the next climb, Jesse dropped me like a rock, which wasn't surprising. A few miles later, on a different climb, I caught Jesse... Frank catching Jesse on a climb?!? Yes, I was confused too. Onto the next segment of the race, Red Star Ridge, I passed through a technical section climb and decided to "Send it" down the descents. This was by far my favorite segment of the race.
Fast forward to mile 72. I come across a bridge to a split in the trail. Fireroad left. Fireroad right. Singletrack right. Hmmm. I couldn't see any bicycle tire tracks or arrows or chalk on the ground marking the trail. Fireroad left had some faded ribbons hanging. Single track had one ribbon hanging. Fireroad right had two fresh looking ribbons. I went fireroad right. After climbing 1600 ft over 2 miles, I encountered a closed gate with no clear marking on the other side. This is when I realized I was off course. I descended back down to the split, where I found a race official marking the trail. He was just an hour too late. Now out of water, I continued on to the next aid station where I was told I had 6 miles to the finish and was now in 25th place. Great. After riding in 2nd or 3rd the entire race, I was now in 25th because of an unmarked intersection. I continued on, passed a bunch of other guys, and ended up 15th in the Pro field. Not exactly what I was shooting for, but still good considering the circumstances. Lucky for Jesse, with me out of the running for a podium spot, it opened it up for him to take 3rd. Oh, and did I mention he did that with an out-of-true front wheel and a rubbing front rotor, since his crash at mile 8?
After the race we were treated to a great BBQ and a bunch of Santa Cruz Aleworks brews. If you haven't already realized it, mountain biking is way cooler than road biking. Then we got to hang out and wait for Jesse's soon-to-be brother-in-law, Seth finish. One of the coolest things about this race was seeing how excited everyone was to be there, whether they were racing for a podium spot, or racing to beat the time cut.
Although I was frustrated to lose out on a podium spot, I still think that was the most fun race I've ever done. The variety of terrain, the hard climbs, fast and technical descents all made for a super fun day. And lots of fun times with Jesse, Seth, Sam and Ziggy. Can't wait to ride these trails again next year.
While almost everyone else was out doing some type of "epic" mt bike race, I stayed very local to do the 2011 edition of Sky Tavern. I admit, this is one of my favorite races:
Unfortunately the race wasn't very well-attended due to Leadville, TS 100, etc, and I think there were exactly 3 people in the singlespeed category. Guaranteed podium! Whatever. Conrad wasn't around to push/chase and the field blew up pretty quickly on the first climb, so there weren't a lot of rabbits around. This is where the Garmin comes in handy - we were doing 4 laps, so I told myself I'd like to try make my laps consistenly hard to make sure I wasn't slacking-off.
And since Conrad destroyed me in this race last year I wanted to see how I compared to his effort last year. I even created a few new segments because I knew he was putting minutes into me on the DH - I wanted to know how many. Unfortunately the new segments I created didn't reconcile with his file from last year. So all i have is his overall time, which is 7 minutes faster than mine this year. Not good, for me.
Okay back to the race. Conrad and LT were kind enough to let me borrow one of their SS because mine is still getting fixed.
A couple things I was very interested in trying out were the Tubeless wheelset and the front shock lock-out feature. New things to me. And they were cool and seemed to work very well. However, I'm still very used to my 29er and my descending skills aren't RAD, so even thought tubeless and at 28psi I didn't feel too comfortable on the descents. But I did improve my times each lap (see below for Strava link).
The course was amazing though. As I said I love this race but it has been getting better (uh, tougher) over the last couple years because of the amount of water. The upper sections reminded me of a couple Oregon cyclocross races I did last year - deep puddles with the possibility of Loch ness lurking below, much mud, many dismounts and a lot of laughs. Very cool.
I finished 3rd overall on the day, displaced by Justin T and Mario G but won the singlespeed division. I love being on this team because it means Conrad doesn't show up for singlespeed races. I'm 2 for 2 this year.
See below for Strava data - My highest "Suffer Score" of the year!
Until next time...
- Tough climbing
- Twisty, turny singletrack
- Fast, technical downhill
Unfortunately the race wasn't very well-attended due to Leadville, TS 100, etc, and I think there were exactly 3 people in the singlespeed category. Guaranteed podium! Whatever. Conrad wasn't around to push/chase and the field blew up pretty quickly on the first climb, so there weren't a lot of rabbits around. This is where the Garmin comes in handy - we were doing 4 laps, so I told myself I'd like to try make my laps consistenly hard to make sure I wasn't slacking-off.
And since Conrad destroyed me in this race last year I wanted to see how I compared to his effort last year. I even created a few new segments because I knew he was putting minutes into me on the DH - I wanted to know how many. Unfortunately the new segments I created didn't reconcile with his file from last year. So all i have is his overall time, which is 7 minutes faster than mine this year. Not good, for me.
Okay back to the race. Conrad and LT were kind enough to let me borrow one of their SS because mine is still getting fixed.
A couple things I was very interested in trying out were the Tubeless wheelset and the front shock lock-out feature. New things to me. And they were cool and seemed to work very well. However, I'm still very used to my 29er and my descending skills aren't RAD, so even thought tubeless and at 28psi I didn't feel too comfortable on the descents. But I did improve my times each lap (see below for Strava link).
The course was amazing though. As I said I love this race but it has been getting better (uh, tougher) over the last couple years because of the amount of water. The upper sections reminded me of a couple Oregon cyclocross races I did last year - deep puddles with the possibility of Loch ness lurking below, much mud, many dismounts and a lot of laughs. Very cool.
I finished 3rd overall on the day, displaced by Justin T and Mario G but won the singlespeed division. I love being on this team because it means Conrad doesn't show up for singlespeed races. I'm 2 for 2 this year.
See below for Strava data - My highest "Suffer Score" of the year!
Until next time...
Pro Mountain Biker Katerina Nash Discusses Cycling Career and More
Aug 13 2011
Paul McKenzie in Spoke N' Words | No Comments Yet
This article was originally published in the Friday August 12th 2011 edition of the Lake Tahoe paper, the Sierra Sun.It's no secret that the Truckee-Tahoe area is a breeding ground for world-class athletes. I recently had a chance to catch up with one of Truckee's finest — professional cyclist Katerina Nash of the Luna Women's Mountain Bike Team.
As we spoke, Katerina was catching a flight to Europe to attend two World Cup mountain bike races, one in her native country, Czech Republic, and the second in Italy. She will then compete in Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland.
Q: How has your season been going so far?
A: “It's been a somewhat quiet season so far, with some bad luck and mechanicals, early on, but I'm going well now and shooting for some top-five finishes in the coming races.”Q: How does racing in Europe on the World Cup circuit differ from racing in the U.S.?
A: “The laps are shorter in Europe. We typically do five laps in a World Cup race. This makes it more spectator friendly, and more fun for the riders as the venue is packed with fans cheering for their favorite rider.”Q: What result(s) are you most proud of this season?
A: “I won a bronze medal in Cyclocross Worlds early this year. Marianne Vos, Katie Compton and I rode away from the rest of the field. In the end, Vos surged for the win — it was like she had another gear — and Katie and I fought it out for second and third. It felt great to ride with the best cyclocross athletes in the world.Q: What are your long-term aspirations in cycling and in life?
“Winning the Nevada City Classic was also a highlight. I love doing local races. At Nevada City, I was going for the primes (prizes given mid-race as the riders lap the course), and kept getting beat by more experienced road racers. With four laps to go I decided it would be best for me to try to get away on the hill. I was able to ride away solo for the win by a margin of 1 minute, 20 seconds.”
A: “I want to keep riding as long as my grandmother. She's 82, and still uses the bicycle as her primary mode of transportation. She is my inspiration. I want to continue to explore the world. I have a degree in marketing, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet (laughs). I want to live a good life, and influence people to live healthier and have more fun.”Q: Why is Truckee a special place to live?
A: “I love the community feeling, the friends I've made over the years, the mountains and the weather. Most professional cyclists choose to live in warmer climates to train during the winter, but I prefer living in the mountains. I can ski in the morning, then head to the foothills, or Reno to train in the afternoon.”Q: What do you like to do when you are not training for 15 hours per week?
A: “I love skiing of all kinds, spending time with my husband (Marcus Nash), hiking, camping, barbecue with friends. Our dogs, Lola and Rubi (named after local peaks Mt. Lola and Rubicon), join us on most of our adventures as they share our passion for the outdoors. Then they fall asleep on the couch!”Q: What is the biggest challenge of being a professional cyclist?
A: “Having to say no to fun activities with friends when they don't fit into my training regimen. It happens often, but I try to find a balance, mixing training on the bike with other fun lifestyle activities.”Q: What advice would you give to aspiring female cyclists?
A: “Find a good, supportive group to ride with. Cycling is a social sport, and it's safer and more fun to do with friends.”Q: Will you be focusing on making it to the next Olympics?
A: “Yes, making it to the Olympics next summer is a focus for me, and I am hoping that everything will line up for me to make the team and race.”
Marc Pro-Strava is typically viewed as a road cycling team, but don't let that be your only view of us. Most of the team's members know how to get rad on their mountain bikes.
This weekend Marc Pro-Strava will have two representatives, Andy Scott and Matt Chappell, at the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race. Matt is even going to be racing on his single-speed! Back in 1998, MPS rider Paul McKenzie rode it in a 8:54:05. Will Matt be able to beat Paul's time from '98? It's gonna be a close one.
There also happens to be an epic endurance mountain bike race this weekend here in Nor Cal. This one will be held on proper Tahoe single track rather than fire road (ahem, Leadville)... the Tahoe Sierra 100! Jesse Miller-Smith and I will be representing the team there.
The typical plan going into a race like this is: Go as hard as you can and hang on (read: suffer). I prefer to look at it as a 100 mile trail ride. Hopefully that equates to a fast and fun time.
Be sure to check back for the teams results and to hear how much fun Jesse and I had shredding the trails, and hear the stories of how Andy and Matt earned their belt buckles.
This weekend Marc Pro-Strava will have two representatives, Andy Scott and Matt Chappell, at the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race. Matt is even going to be racing on his single-speed! Back in 1998, MPS rider Paul McKenzie rode it in a 8:54:05. Will Matt be able to beat Paul's time from '98? It's gonna be a close one.
There also happens to be an epic endurance mountain bike race this weekend here in Nor Cal. This one will be held on proper Tahoe single track rather than fire road (ahem, Leadville)... the Tahoe Sierra 100! Jesse Miller-Smith and I will be representing the team there.
The typical plan going into a race like this is: Go as hard as you can and hang on (read: suffer). I prefer to look at it as a 100 mile trail ride. Hopefully that equates to a fast and fun time.
Be sure to check back for the teams results and to hear how much fun Jesse and I had shredding the trails, and hear the stories of how Andy and Matt earned their belt buckles.
While many of my teammates were either racing the Leadville 100 qualifier or the Cascade Cycling Classic, I decided to try out the "Burner" put on by the good people from Biking for a Better World. These crazy guys are best known for riding 15,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina for charity. Along the way they helped build a school in Nicaragua.
The objective of the Burner is simple: do as many 5 mile laps through a set Paige Meadows loop as possible in 4 hours. I didn't really understand that this was a full-on race until we actually started. Aside from breaking the front derailleur on my sweet loaner bike (sorry Allie!) and being stuck in the big ring for the entire 4 hours, the ride was awesome. I was able to squeak out 9 laps of the course, while John Morrison did the same in slightly less time than me.
Please support Biking for a Better World! They are a great group of locals that raise money for a variety of charities. Their featured ride for this year will take them from Denver to Durango, CO. They also have a fundraiser coming up on September 10th called "Wine for Wheels".
The objective of the Burner is simple: do as many 5 mile laps through a set Paige Meadows loop as possible in 4 hours. I didn't really understand that this was a full-on race until we actually started. Aside from breaking the front derailleur on my sweet loaner bike (sorry Allie!) and being stuck in the big ring for the entire 4 hours, the ride was awesome. I was able to squeak out 9 laps of the course, while John Morrison did the same in slightly less time than me.
Please support Biking for a Better World! They are a great group of locals that raise money for a variety of charities. Their featured ride for this year will take them from Denver to Durango, CO. They also have a fundraiser coming up on September 10th called "Wine for Wheels".
Meeting with CalTrans Monday 8.15, Chance to Make Truckee/Tahoe State Roads Safer for Cyclists
Aug 10 2011
FROM THE LOCAL CYCLING ADVOCACY COMMUNITY
Caltrans has listened to your concerns, emails, and web based messages regarding the conditions of the shoulder/bike lanes on Highway 89 between Truckee and Squaw Valley. A public meeting has been scheduled. It is this coming Monday, July 15, at 6:30pm at the CalTrans Truckee North Maintenance Yard on Keiser Ave up above Old Town Truckee (next to the freeway, just off of Jiboom St.).
If you can, please come and express how important, and how well used, the bike lanes/shoulders on this section of 89 South are. That they are now essentially unuseable as well not safe. [Editor note: I consider 89 South excellent training for Copperopolis, Leesville, and Challenge Road Races. Roubaix style. By that I mean the tarmac is battered!] These lanes need to be repaired and repaved now. It is also be an opportunity to express that the lanes/shoulders on 267, on the north side of Brockway Summit, need repaving too. This roadway was repaved this summer, and the shoulders were not touched. Hwy 89 North out of Truckee, at minimum to AlderCreek Rd, needs wider shoulders/bike lanes. The cycling infrastructure up here at Truckee/Tahoe, on state roads, is poor and unsafe for cycling. A huge turn out will go a long ways here to getting Caltrans to hear our needs as cyclists. With Caltrans, this is a big opportunity that hardly ever comes along.
FROM CALTRANS
Truckee Area Cyclists,Dave Wood and myself would like to invite everybody Monday evening , August 15 at 6:30 p.m. to the Truckee North Maintenance Yard located at 10152 Keiser Ave, Truckee CA 96161. We look forward to meeting everybody and discussing the bike lane and bike trail/paths concerns on Highway 89 south between Truckee and Squaw Valley RoadSincerely,
- Who: Bicyclist
- What: Bike lanes, trails, & path concerns
- When: Monday August 15 @ 6:30 pm
- Where: Truckee North Maintenance Yard, 10152 Keiser Ave,Truckee CA 96161
- Why: We care : )
Deanna Shoopman
Public Information Officer
CalTrans District 3 / Tahoe Basin Outreach Coordinator
703 B Street, Marysville, Ca 95901
530-741-4566
deanna_shoopman@dot.ca.gov
Team Clif Bar is a community of over 15,000 pro and amateur athletes, sponsored by Clif Bar and fueled by Clif Energy. The athletes are awesome at what they do, but they are also nice. That's why Clif Bar likes em'.And we like Clif Bar too, not only because they are nice, but they are delicious too. Check out the Marc Pro - Strava Clif Bar Team Page.
Each year the Reno Wheelmen Twilight Series brings much fun to local racers on tuesday nights. There is a race every week, but there are 7 races that are added up for the points series. This year I missed the first 3 out of 4 and figured to be out of the competition. Luckily Jason Walker has been planning his season around the twilight points series... just kidding... but he was able to attend all races and had a strong lead over the competition. Luckily my schedule lined up so I could come out and play for the final 3 races. After Jesse and I switched off winning a couple twilight races, we were both back in the competition for 2nd and 3rd.
The local competition was anamated this year by local talent from Clif Bar, new kids on the block Audi and a slew of other local hammer heads. Knowing the competition was close; Jason, Jesse and I set out for the final Boca Road Race with a plan to score some points. I was the first to attack and got off the front, shortly followed by Jason's bridge. We kept the pressure on, knowing that Jesse could drop everyone on "the wall" and bridge up to us making it a MPS 1-2-3. That is exactly how it went. Once together off the front we took turns crushing ourselves. We ripped across Stampeed damn and were greeted by some crazed fans...straight off the Euro climbs of the Tour De France. Flahsed, cheered and motivated to keep pushing on... Someone caught some pics as we rolled through.
We finished the race in record time, 54:21, according to Race Director Rich Paul... And more importantly secured ourselves 1-2-3 in the points competition. Next week I just needed to defend my slim margin over CJ Dudley from Clif Bar. I had Jason for my work horse... He softened the legs with multiple attacks. I saw my moment and took it. I initiated a break of about 10, of course CJ was glued to my wheel knowing all he had to do was sit and wait for the sprint and he would pass me in the points. I found an ally in the infamous Bubba Melcher and attacked out of the break. I was able to ride CJ off my wheel and secured our points series sweep.
We finished with Walker, local hero champ from the Tour De Nez, in first, myself 2nd, and Jesse Miller-Smith 3rd. Thanks to all for coming out to play...Lets keep these races going... the more racers the more fun, and thanks to all who volunteered to put the races on.
The local competition was anamated this year by local talent from Clif Bar, new kids on the block Audi and a slew of other local hammer heads. Knowing the competition was close; Jason, Jesse and I set out for the final Boca Road Race with a plan to score some points. I was the first to attack and got off the front, shortly followed by Jason's bridge. We kept the pressure on, knowing that Jesse could drop everyone on "the wall" and bridge up to us making it a MPS 1-2-3. That is exactly how it went. Once together off the front we took turns crushing ourselves. We ripped across Stampeed damn and were greeted by some crazed fans...straight off the Euro climbs of the Tour De France. Flahsed, cheered and motivated to keep pushing on... Someone caught some pics as we rolled through.
We finished with Walker, local hero champ from the Tour De Nez, in first, myself 2nd, and Jesse Miller-Smith 3rd. Thanks to all for coming out to play...Lets keep these races going... the more racers the more fun, and thanks to all who volunteered to put the races on.
2011 Elite District Champs Pescadero Road Race
Aug 9 2011
Justin Rossi in Race Reports | No Comments Yet
It's been some time, but we took a mean squad to Pescadero Road Race this year to do battle for the title of District Road Champ. I had a feeling my legs were ready due to some recent intervals during my training week. We rolled out of the start zone with Jesse, Frank, Kris, Nate, Keith, Art and myself. The game of establishing a break happened on the first lap after multiple attempts. At least one rider from each team was represented (Jesse Moore and Sam Pickman Cal Giant, James Wingert Yahoo, Keith Hillier MPS, the legend Eric Wholeberg Form Fitness and Brian Buscholz Webcore). The break quickly distanced itself to about 4 minutes up the road.
On the second lap Nate English (Yahoo) drilled it up Haskins Hill, I mean 480 Watts for 5 minutes drilled it!!! At the top of the hill it was Art, Jesse, Kris, myself and Evan Huffman (Cal Giant) left standing. We should have taken this as really good odds and started chipping into the breaks lead, but we hesitated and were caught soon after the descent. I took my pull not knowing we were caught and was off the front by about 10 seconds. I looked back and everyone was sitting up and fueling, expecting me to sit up and float back into the peloton. Knowing this was not likely a successful move, I acted out in a bit of defiance. Like a kid in a convenience store with a pocket full of candy, side shuffling down the aisle towards the front door, I slowly and calmly lifted my pace. Once out of sight, I ran...I mean, I drilled it. Apparently conversation in the peloton went like this, "What an idiot...Not a smart move...I don't understand your team tactics..."
This is my favorite thing to do on a bike... burry myself for 3 hours. Knowing I had a long chase I settled into a sea level threshold pace. Around the course I rolled, asking at every corner How Far? No answer... On the long stretch of road leading to Haskins Hill I could see them...They must be only a minute up the road by now I told myself...just keep pushing. No one insight behind me. I ripped up Haskins Hill for the 3rd time and picked off two guys from the break... Over the top I heard... "1:00 ahead"... WTF, you got to be kidding me. Wanting to give up at this point, I didn't... Just up the road I passed Nate, who yelled you are right there...just 20 seconds. Soon after I could see the cars. As I made the catch and the bridge was complete, I had to laugh to myself... 30 miles alone. Jesse Moore looked back and did a double take... He was now saying WTF, where are my teammates. Over the two power climbs we went. Not knowing our gap on the main field was at around 8 minutes. Moore gave a little attack just after the power climbs and I bit. I countered right past him and off the front of the break. Not good, why am I here? I should be sitting and recovering. Well... I got a gap, might as well. Plus Keith can sit and follow wheels until the final climb. I had about 20-30 seconds going into Haskins. With my legs on fire, I was certain I was going to win this thing.
With a little more than 1k to go I heard him... Jesse Moore had shared the workload to bring me back and attacked up Haskins... I had nothing more than I was already giving. He blew right pass me for the win. I kept my pace and was soon passed in the last 100 meters by my teammate Keith for 2nd. Two spots on the podium. Jesse took 2nd in the field finishing dash up Haskins with Art just behind. Nice showing for MPS, but this one still burns... For those that like numbers check out the Strava file... My tss was 390 for the day!!
On the second lap Nate English (Yahoo) drilled it up Haskins Hill, I mean 480 Watts for 5 minutes drilled it!!! At the top of the hill it was Art, Jesse, Kris, myself and Evan Huffman (Cal Giant) left standing. We should have taken this as really good odds and started chipping into the breaks lead, but we hesitated and were caught soon after the descent. I took my pull not knowing we were caught and was off the front by about 10 seconds. I looked back and everyone was sitting up and fueling, expecting me to sit up and float back into the peloton. Knowing this was not likely a successful move, I acted out in a bit of defiance. Like a kid in a convenience store with a pocket full of candy, side shuffling down the aisle towards the front door, I slowly and calmly lifted my pace. Once out of sight, I ran...I mean, I drilled it. Apparently conversation in the peloton went like this, "What an idiot...Not a smart move...I don't understand your team tactics..."
This is my favorite thing to do on a bike... burry myself for 3 hours. Knowing I had a long chase I settled into a sea level threshold pace. Around the course I rolled, asking at every corner How Far? No answer... On the long stretch of road leading to Haskins Hill I could see them...They must be only a minute up the road by now I told myself...just keep pushing. No one insight behind me. I ripped up Haskins Hill for the 3rd time and picked off two guys from the break... Over the top I heard... "1:00 ahead"... WTF, you got to be kidding me. Wanting to give up at this point, I didn't... Just up the road I passed Nate, who yelled you are right there...just 20 seconds. Soon after I could see the cars. As I made the catch and the bridge was complete, I had to laugh to myself... 30 miles alone. Jesse Moore looked back and did a double take... He was now saying WTF, where are my teammates. Over the two power climbs we went. Not knowing our gap on the main field was at around 8 minutes. Moore gave a little attack just after the power climbs and I bit. I countered right past him and off the front of the break. Not good, why am I here? I should be sitting and recovering. Well... I got a gap, might as well. Plus Keith can sit and follow wheels until the final climb. I had about 20-30 seconds going into Haskins. With my legs on fire, I was certain I was going to win this thing.
With a little more than 1k to go I heard him... Jesse Moore had shared the workload to bring me back and attacked up Haskins... I had nothing more than I was already giving. He blew right pass me for the win. I kept my pace and was soon passed in the last 100 meters by my teammate Keith for 2nd. Two spots on the podium. Jesse took 2nd in the field finishing dash up Haskins with Art just behind. Nice showing for MPS, but this one still burns... For those that like numbers check out the Strava file... My tss was 390 for the day!!
Jesse Miller-Smith Breaking Records Up Mt. Rose
Aug 9 2011
Marc Pro - Strava in Race Reports | No Comments Yet
Since Jesse is so humble, I thought I'd let you all know that on Sunday he:
- Set a new record up Mt. Rose of 54:21, taking down Kyle Dixon's record that has been in place for several years
- Made up ground on Paul Mach (Bissell Cycling), who started before him (and who immediately left after the race for the airport to fly to the Tour of Utah)
- Established himself once again as the most ridiculously fast climber I've ever seen
Another year on this climb, another lack-luster performance. I mean, my time wasn't horrible or anything (1:01:11) but still above the ever-elusive 1hour mark. That' okay though. Given where I am in my program I couldn't expect much more from myself today. And there's this little voice in the back of my head telling me that as soon as I do break the hour mark I'll probably quit racing - and i"m not ready to quit racing. So, Mt Rose remains my waterloo.
I won the old guy's race today and overall for the series and Jesse had a pretty good day today as well (I'll let him tell you about it.).
Thanks to Rich, Spencer, Lance and everyone else who helped put on the series and congrats to the winners of the Strava memberships and the Marc Pro unit.
Until next time,
Jason
I won the old guy's race today and overall for the series and Jesse had a pretty good day today as well (I'll let him tell you about it.).
Thanks to Rich, Spencer, Lance and everyone else who helped put on the series and congrats to the winners of the Strava memberships and the Marc Pro unit.
Until next time,
Jason
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6839125/mlb-warns-players-deer-antler-spray-report-says
Careful out there!
Jason
Careful out there!
Jason
This article was originally published in the Friday August 5th 2011 edition of the Lake Tahoe paper, the Sierra Sun.Life as a Category 1 cyclist has been the most fun I have had in years. Of course, you need a very understanding family and some serious discipline on your part.
All bicycle racing is based on categories and age. All start as a Category 5 racer and can upgrade to the highest amateur level of Category 1. The only next step to take is to sign a contract with a professional team.
Some cyclists, including many from Marc Pro-Strava's locally-based elite cycling team, have the ability to make it pro. But they are either too old, anywhere close to 30, or have jobs that earn them more money than the average pro cyclist.
So as an amateur we eat, breathe and live bike racing, all for what? Money? Definitely not. Fame and glory? Not really. It's all about fun and the reward of personal achievement.
This year the newly formed Marc Pro-Strava Elite team has been all across the West Coast racing our bikes and having much success and competing against the best professional and amateur talent this country has to offer. The beauty of cycling is you don't have to be a pro to beat a pro. There are some exceptions when we can't race — i.e., the Tour of California and Tour de France — but for a majority of the races we can test our fitness against some of the best professionals.
So what does it take to compete at this level? First you need some serious discipline and the ability to suffer. Actually, you need to enjoy suffering; we get a certain high out of it. You need a job. Yes, that's right, we are amateurs who pay for all the travel, gear, race and food expense.
You need a plan. Some hire a coach and some have the ability to read and learn their own bodies and create plan. This includes a strict diet. There are certain occasions that you can splurge, but for the most part you need to think about what you are putting in your gullet and whether it will help you.
Cyclist walk a fine line of eating enough food to recover from the abuse they dish out to their bodies, and starving themselves to be light enough to hang going uphill. Try being 175 pounds and staying on Jesse Miller-Smith's wheel riding up Donner Summit. His record is right around 14:20; go take a stab at it.
On the subject of recovery, a cyclist will do anything to recover faster than the competition. Supplements, massage, stretching, compression tights for better blood circulation and, of course, our team's title sponsor, electronic stem muscle recovery (Marc Pro).
Traveling is a huge part of racing. The 4 a.m. drive through a snow storm over Donner Summit is one of my favorites. We frequent cheap hotels, usually somewhere in Central California, and go to bed hoping the car doesn't get vandalized. Then there is crashing. It really hurts.
Imagine falling off a bike at 30-plus mph and hitting the asphalt wearing nothing but your underwear. It is part of racing and it happens to everyone at some point. Hopefully you don't break any body or bike parts in the process and just have to deal with some painful road rash.
I know what you must be thinking: This doesn't sound like fun. But it is. The places I have traveled are amazing. We certainly have some beautiful countryside here in our own back yard. The adrenaline of a bike race and being able to push yourself is indescribable to the average person. Luckily, cycling is a team sport and we can share our experiences with each other.
So if you have a bike, go out and ride it. If you enjoy pushing yourself, come out and race. Just beware, it is highly addicting.
- Train really hard, for a really long time. When you are fast enough, join the team and get all the water bottles you want!
- Support the team in a race. Team support usually involves sitting in the sun (baking) on the side of a country road for hours at a time, patiently waiting for the opportunity to hand out a fresh water bottle to a Marc Pro - Strava team member. What happens to the empty bottles? We toss em' off the side of the road at the feedzone, and that's your time to swoop in for souvenirs. I highly recommend the boogers off first.
- Buy a bottle! They are available from our Truckee-local sponsors;
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On Saturday Keith and I headed out to Los Altos for the Foothill college circuit race. The course was a twisty rolling course around the college with one substantial climb. The field was 40 to 45 guys represented largely by Webcor and Fremont Bank. The race started out as usual with riders flying off the front doomed by strong headwinds that followed the climb.
Before the race Keith and I talked about strategies that we thought would suit our two man attack. We decided that we should wait for the race to unfold a bit before trying any thing. Keith was active earlier than I was following some moves up the road, only to be brought back by a motivated field. I went with a small group that stayed away for a lap or two but realized the group was not really working well together. When we were brought back the race sped up and attacks were neutralized for a bit. Keith continued to be present near the front.
Half way through the race I attacked on the down hill followed by Charlie from Trek live Strong. We caught the two riders up the road and dropped them after half a lap. We pushed it hard for three laps then Charlie said we should settle in, I was relieved by this concept. However this kid is a pro and his settling in meant that he was going to continue to crush it. After five or six laps alone with him I was struggling to hold his wheel up the climb. eventually I could no longer hold this rapid pace we were pushing and lost his wheel on the climb. Once absorbed by the field with I tried to recover in order to help Keith in the finish.
In the end I went to the front to bring back the group that was up the road. When we brought them back with two to go Keith was in top 10 position and managed 10th. All in all it was a really fun really really hard race, and I was happy with my first real race in about two months.
Before the race Keith and I talked about strategies that we thought would suit our two man attack. We decided that we should wait for the race to unfold a bit before trying any thing. Keith was active earlier than I was following some moves up the road, only to be brought back by a motivated field. I went with a small group that stayed away for a lap or two but realized the group was not really working well together. When we were brought back the race sped up and attacks were neutralized for a bit. Keith continued to be present near the front.
Half way through the race I attacked on the down hill followed by Charlie from Trek live Strong. We caught the two riders up the road and dropped them after half a lap. We pushed it hard for three laps then Charlie said we should settle in, I was relieved by this concept. However this kid is a pro and his settling in meant that he was going to continue to crush it. After five or six laps alone with him I was struggling to hold his wheel up the climb. eventually I could no longer hold this rapid pace we were pushing and lost his wheel on the climb. Once absorbed by the field with I tried to recover in order to help Keith in the finish.
In the end I went to the front to bring back the group that was up the road. When we brought them back with two to go Keith was in top 10 position and managed 10th. All in all it was a really fun really really hard race, and I was happy with my first real race in about two months.
Holy Moly! Talk about a season/career-maker of a race for me. I'm elated.
First off, I want to thank Ramsey and Conrad for the support yesterday. We warmed up together, talked a good bit about strategy and it played out about exactly how our "best case scenario" for a win played out.
The race was hard from the "gun" (uh, they didn't actually have a gun for the start, I guess only Bill Wycoff has one) but not as hard as I've experience in years past - and the Strava data supports this, see below.
As always, Conrad, Ramsey and I told ourselves we needed to stay at the front and be attentive to every Safeway move - if one of them went, we had to go with them. We were well positioned early and followed the right attacks. Somewhere about 10 minutes in I attacked, got a gap and did the "peek-a-boo" under the arm thingy to see if anyone was coming with. Negative.
So I faked it a bit, catching my breath and lowering the HR until I got caught.
We rolled on and it started to get a bit harder. Guys were putting big digs up the climb on the back side, especially over the top of the false flat.
I was feeling great and kept wondering how I could get away with the right Safeway guy and Steve Reaney, figuring the only group that would be let away would contain some mix of those entities (Steve is an entity - tough).
I made another move with about 20 min left, following the wheel of Reaney and he solo'd up to a group of three but that didn't work either, mostly because it took me so long to get to Steve and the field wasn't that far off.
Then Angerman went with someone else and things started to heat up a bit. The group worked hard up the climb and Steve and Jeff kind of looked at each other, everyone sat up because we were hurting and I told myself, "this is probably the time to go." And so I went but not that hard. I just sort of rolled away. I could tell the group was wondering who was going to chase but nobody did. I had a gap and kept the gas on a bit.
Eventually I saw a figure coming, a big figure. Jason Boyton. I just met Jason this year, knew his name from the past but have done Hood and Cascade with him. I knew he is super-tough, would work with me and would definitely out-sprint me but i could worry about that later.
We started working together, very well and our gap was growing. I found out after the race that Conrad was doing exactly what a good teammate does in this situation - follows moves, annoys people a bit, fakes it and plays good defense.
I kept waiting to see the field come up behind us, or at least a black jersey or Reaney but it wasn't happening. I kept my eye on the timer waiting for the laps cards and trying to figure out how I could beat Jason.
We were both working hard but I could tell that I was recovering better and at some point I could attack him. I was still concerned about the field and thought about going solo with about 4 to go but we still couldn't see the field so I remained patient.
4 to go, 3 to go, 2 to go.
Okay, I knew I could wait until the final time up the climb and attack him but anything could go wrong there and then I wouldn't have any time to recover if it didn't work. So with 2 to go I was completing my pull as we headed up the climb but i kept the gas on just a bit. At the top Jason came around for his pull around the back part of the course. This was the time to go. As we rounded the right-hander before the stretch into the chicane I jumped hard, glanced back and had a good gap. I rolled through the start/finish, took another looksy and had a good gap. As long as I didn't do something stupid I was going to win this thing. WTF? Wowzers.
And so I enjoyed the last lap, made eye contact and gave fist pumps to the peeps who had been yelling for me all day. What a great feeling. What would I do at the finish line? Could I keep my bike upright no-handedly.
Yes.
Arms aloft I rolled through and absorbed the cheers. I haven't won many races like this so it's a bit emabarrassing but maybe I'll get used to it.
Thanks Mom for tailoring my onesy for the race, thanks Kerri for being uber supportive and keeping me healthy, thanks Louden and Lander just because and thanks Conrad and Ramsey and everyone in Reno.
First off, I want to thank Ramsey and Conrad for the support yesterday. We warmed up together, talked a good bit about strategy and it played out about exactly how our "best case scenario" for a win played out.
The race was hard from the "gun" (uh, they didn't actually have a gun for the start, I guess only Bill Wycoff has one) but not as hard as I've experience in years past - and the Strava data supports this, see below.
As always, Conrad, Ramsey and I told ourselves we needed to stay at the front and be attentive to every Safeway move - if one of them went, we had to go with them. We were well positioned early and followed the right attacks. Somewhere about 10 minutes in I attacked, got a gap and did the "peek-a-boo" under the arm thingy to see if anyone was coming with. Negative.
So I faked it a bit, catching my breath and lowering the HR until I got caught.
We rolled on and it started to get a bit harder. Guys were putting big digs up the climb on the back side, especially over the top of the false flat.
I was feeling great and kept wondering how I could get away with the right Safeway guy and Steve Reaney, figuring the only group that would be let away would contain some mix of those entities (Steve is an entity - tough).
I made another move with about 20 min left, following the wheel of Reaney and he solo'd up to a group of three but that didn't work either, mostly because it took me so long to get to Steve and the field wasn't that far off.
Then Angerman went with someone else and things started to heat up a bit. The group worked hard up the climb and Steve and Jeff kind of looked at each other, everyone sat up because we were hurting and I told myself, "this is probably the time to go." And so I went but not that hard. I just sort of rolled away. I could tell the group was wondering who was going to chase but nobody did. I had a gap and kept the gas on a bit.
Eventually I saw a figure coming, a big figure. Jason Boyton. I just met Jason this year, knew his name from the past but have done Hood and Cascade with him. I knew he is super-tough, would work with me and would definitely out-sprint me but i could worry about that later.
We started working together, very well and our gap was growing. I found out after the race that Conrad was doing exactly what a good teammate does in this situation - follows moves, annoys people a bit, fakes it and plays good defense.
I kept waiting to see the field come up behind us, or at least a black jersey or Reaney but it wasn't happening. I kept my eye on the timer waiting for the laps cards and trying to figure out how I could beat Jason.
We were both working hard but I could tell that I was recovering better and at some point I could attack him. I was still concerned about the field and thought about going solo with about 4 to go but we still couldn't see the field so I remained patient.
4 to go, 3 to go, 2 to go.
Okay, I knew I could wait until the final time up the climb and attack him but anything could go wrong there and then I wouldn't have any time to recover if it didn't work. So with 2 to go I was completing my pull as we headed up the climb but i kept the gas on just a bit. At the top Jason came around for his pull around the back part of the course. This was the time to go. As we rounded the right-hander before the stretch into the chicane I jumped hard, glanced back and had a good gap. I rolled through the start/finish, took another looksy and had a good gap. As long as I didn't do something stupid I was going to win this thing. WTF? Wowzers.
And so I enjoyed the last lap, made eye contact and gave fist pumps to the peeps who had been yelling for me all day. What a great feeling. What would I do at the finish line? Could I keep my bike upright no-handedly.
Yes.
Arms aloft I rolled through and absorbed the cheers. I haven't won many races like this so it's a bit emabarrassing but maybe I'll get used to it.
Thanks Mom for tailoring my onesy for the race, thanks Kerri for being uber supportive and keeping me healthy, thanks Louden and Lander just because and thanks Conrad and Ramsey and everyone in Reno.
