Bordertown Challenge, a rare one.

Early this morning Lyna and I packed up and headed west to Oasis Nevada for the Bordertown Chalenge. Having never ridden out there and the fact that it was a 25 mile loop format meant going in cold. I got in a short warmup on teh first mile or so, nice flat desert singletrack. So off the start, Sam has a weed in his drive train and i go to the front, i hammered the first 3 miles on singletrack and opened a gap on the field. At about mile 5 the 2300 foot 5.5 mile climb started, I just kept it clean here, spinning on the steeps, hammering the flatter sections. I passed one of the pro's a short way up and by the top of the climb I was on the wheels of the next 2 pro's. The 2.5 mile descent of the top was sketch and I made it down still in the lead and safe, At about mile 17 I cracked on a steep exposed climb, I saw Rich and someone else in the distance and tried to hold it together, luckily only about 2.25 miles of the remaining 8 were climbs. I was railing the DH and accelerating on the flats. 5200 feet of climbing later, I came into the finish with the win, my first ever ICUP expert win, I am super psyched as it is a rare occurence. I led from the giddy'up to whoa. Rich was a minute and a half behind me for second, Chad H was a further 2.5 behind him. I am gonna savor this sweet day for a while, well at least till Brian Head NMBS next week.

Lyna came in 4th sport women after a dropped/stuck chain in the first 2 miles and stopping to help a delirious racer 5 miles from the finish. A good day for both of us.

Here is the elevation profile, about 900 feet short of the claimed 9000 foot summit, I tell you, we climbed enough.

Whatever.

Roid/Floyd, midnight delivery per chance, what a surprise :)

Well in drug free racing news, I took 4th at sundance. Good times, man that new course hurts a lot.
That hairy chest could be a sign of increased testosterone.

The Wind Cave

On Monday, Blake, Chad, Warren and i met up with a few other PC boys outside of Victor Idaho, we hiked 1.5 hours up steep switchbacks to the wind cave, put on our cool weather gear and spelunked about 45 minutes in. We had to belly crawl 3 times and traverse a ledge, it was chily and eery and fun.

Then we drove home. Tuesday evening went out for a short recovery ride. My legs (well my glutes) and my wings are sore. The glutes from the hill climbs and the wings from crawling through a cave.

Tonight I hit Sundance, yeehaw.

Jackson Weekend

So 4 days in Jackson, 2 of them include racing. Saturdays ICUP race was on the most brutal, hardest course of the season. Pilling and I were dicing it up the whole race till halfway through the last lap, i bobbled and lost time. Ended up 4th. Pilling 3rd, 2 Jackson locals were ahead of us.

Sunday was the teton pass double hilll climb. 1 up on the road bike up the main pass road, 2 up the old pass road then singletrack to about 800 feet above the road pass. The road climb was about 2400 feet in 5.75 miles. The mtb was about 2800 feet in 6.25 miles, so 12 miles, 5200 feet of climbing, with 1 hour in between the day after a hard tb race, sweet.

I should also mention, EJ, 1st Pro Taming the Tetons, 1st in the road hill climb, 1st in the mountain hillclimb, BZ, 2nd pro in taming the tetons, top 5 overall in the combined hill climbs. Sue, unfortunatley a probable broken collarbone in the Saturday xc, Chad, 4th pro man taming tetons, Warren dnf in taming the tetons, and finished both hill climbs.

I got top ten overall in the hillclimbs, 3rd 35 plus.

I'm blown, tomorrow we hike and drive home, below is the elevation profile of todays races, they were both all up hill, so the flat and downhill were warm up, cool down, etc..

Snowbird Mountainbout

Friday after work i went to get an hour in on the road, easy spin for the day before racing. It was almost 105 degrees the whole ride. Man, that is way too hot. Came home made dinner, watched a bit of 'Cable Guy' and went to bed.

Woke up Saturday a.m. anticipating pain and suffering at Snowbird. This course is evil, the always low racer turn out proves the point. 3.5 mile laps, close to 1000 feet of true climbing per lap, sketchy, loose, dangerous downhill. We started right after the pro's again. Only about 10 of us i think. Sam got the hole shot into the singletrack and i was on his wheel. Rich was dangling behind us and caugh on halfway through the singletrack, then we popped out onto the Dick Bass Highway climb, exposed, rocky, steep. I got around Sam and opened up a small gap by the top. Sam and Rich got by me on the descent, i got ontheir wheels though and by the time we pulled through the statrt/finish (at 22 minutes, which boded ill for later), we where all together,then Rich dropped his chain, Sam made it over the top first on the 2nd lap, me second, Rich got by mme on the DH again. The next 2 laps i was just trying to survive and not loose a podium place. I DH'd better on the last 2 laps, as I figured out the lines. Ended up 3rd. With the heat nd the shorter punchy climbs, i was happy about that.



















Lyna took 5th in sport women.

















Here is the elevation profile for 4 laps.









Saturday night we went up Big Cottonwood canyon for Drew and Lucy's wedding celebration, it was a nice evening in the cool mountain air. They are off to Peru to mountain bike at some serious elevation.

Sunday, Ty, Shannon, Jen, Lyna and I headed up for 3 hours on the upper DV trails. Midmountain to Team Big Bear to Flagstaff loop (around it 1.5 time) Down Deer Camp to Naildriver to twist and shout, to some Black Diamond DH run. We dropped Ty off there then the rest of us headed to PCMR via mid mountain and back via John's 99 and little chief. Nice day, I was way shot afterwards.

Race/Recover/Race/Recover

That is what it is all about these days. Last night was another battle at Sundance. Two 5 or so mile laps. The first lap i was cross eyed, way outside the comfort zone. Way better than trying to get that kind of work in on my own.

What? I have to race against them? Is there Broccoli in my teeth?

It has been nice having the form come on, Every year i try not to get down on my early season results, then in June/July I remember.

I DH'd a bit better last night, no one caught me at least.

DV NORBA XC report

Saturday 5 am came quite early on my alarm clock. I really wish the race was later, but the cool mountain air made it much nicer. Made the waffles, then Lyna and Iheaded up to DV. Got ready and warmed up for about 45 minutes. They lined us up and it looked to be less than 15 of us in the 35-39 expert class. The only ones I knew were Pilling, Sam Moore and series leader, Dave Wilson. I wanted to be towards the fron going p Little Stick, as not to get behnd any slower DH'ers on the down hill. The switchbacks had turned into rutted messes, so I knew people would be going slower.

Well off the start, past the feed zone, i found myself up front, and not pushing it too hard, I went into the first singletrack section in front and settled into my pace. Once we popped onto the little stick doubletrack 5 got around me, I let them go. Going down the first long descent we start catching lots of earlier starters, most let me around easy enough. At the bottom, I catch up with one of my cat riders, i get around him on the ski run climb and just keep it steady. I continue to catch and pass other cat riders. 1st lap time, about 38:30.

Second lap, I continue to pass other cat riders and see no one closing on me. Well, except for Scott Fifield a 40-44 rider, who crushed it. I railed the dh on the second lap, no brakes through braking bumps is much smoother. 2nd lap time around 39:15.

3rd lap i was a bit more careful on the DH, got stuck behind a slow rider on deer crest for a bit, HR dropped. Going up the ski run climb i saw Henneman coming, he is in an older cat, but i wanted to hold him off. I went hard on the climb up to the road and up snow top and had a clear path on the DH. On the slight up to the guard house I was really suffering, but in the end i held him off. Finish time was 1:59:14. the course conditions were slow, the course had a bit extra added to it and my time was only 21 seconds slower than the pedal fest, which had super fast conditions.

I ended up 5th place, which will get me an invite to be on team USA for Master Worlds again (I got this in 2004 as well) I won't go, but it is kind of cool.

Seems like the form is coming, staying and getting better. I wish nationals were in Mammoth, i am building to that date and that terrain with only Jackson Hole Icup to race. What a shame.

What is up with Velonews not giving much coverage to the DV race? Usacyling.com has nthing either. They are kowtowing to the tour and a select few riders, what crock.

We need to take it back, really, we do.

Prep Week

Only worked on Wednesday this week, took the rest off, very nice vacation time. Prepping for the Norba at Deer Valley.

Wednesday I went up and did the Soldier Hollow race, nice one hour effort chasing the D2 Euro Pro on his cross bike. I took second. Got home, helped finish Lyna's prep for the Marathon on Thursday. She was super nervous. We got the DV early and she picked up her number and everything and headed to the start. The non pro's did 2 laps, brutal course. Lyna was looking good coming through the feed zone after her first lap. She did a consistent lap time to finish at about 5:42 for first in Womens 30-39. She was the only starter, but hey, she did it. I am super proud of her. More of this to come for her.

Eric Jones rpped for 3rd in open men and Sue Abenne took 2nd in open women. We spoke with Monique Sawicki and her husband Ron after the awards, wow she is commited and focussed as well as super down to earth. She had a horrible crash at a world cup a few weeks ago, wow.

On a sad note, toards the finish of the marathon they rushed someone down off the course and were working on him for 15-20 minutes before life flight came, I hear they never loaded him on the copter, sad. Not sure what happened. Maybe a heart attack, sad.

Tomorrow p early for the XC, I feel like ripping it up, we will see.

Solitude Race Report

The build to Saturdays race was pretty good, I did think i may have gone too hard Tuesday riding with Bart and Wednesday on the course with Ty and Rob, Fridays 1.5 hour Cottonbottom jaunt was not boding well, my legs were tired, i was not wanting to ride and it was hot. after Friday evening i felt better as i discovered the race started at 11 and i could sleep in. Woke up after a good nights sleep, made waffles and headed up to the Tude.

Solitude is one of my favorite courses, it is mostly singletrack, technical up and down, nowhere to hide most of the course, my buddy Scott is a patroller there winter and summer and puts hours into the trails. I won a beginner race there years ago, did well as a Sport classer and have done decent enough as an expert. The climbing helps me as well.

We got to line up directly behind the pro's as we generally pass most of the 19-29 year olds. There were 23 pro's, huge field. We left one minute after for the 900 foot climb, the first lap we go up the pavement, I'd prefer the singletrack, as it is not as steep. A few people go off the front, mostly those i don't worry about, some cause i know they will pop, a few others cause, well they are fast. Jarom Zenger was gone by the time we hit the round house, Fox was mixing it up there as well. By the time we got to the top of the climb we ha already passed the slower pro's, i was running in 4th at this point behind Chad Harris, he had a bit of a gap on me and Mark Wimmer was a bit behind me, other than that it was all strung out, on the descent i pulled Chad back a bit and by the time we started climbing Serenity singletrack i had a good feeling. Wimmer disappeared (later he was cheering me in the feed zone) Once we popped out of the single track to the round house i was very close to Chad, I kept it together and just tailed him all the way up the climb and on the descent i was braking a lot as he seemed tentative. Through the feed zone going into the 3rd lap i was on his wheel. he took a digger on an uphill switchback and i let him get back in front. Ty was coming behind us, guess he flatted. Saw Fox just ahead of us, feeling even better. Once we got to the pavement i made my mind up, got a bottle from Shannon and spun up the steep pavement, passed Lyna, then on the not so steep pavement before it its doubletrack, I attacked, hard, got a good gap and it was on. I made it over the top of the limb with a comfortable lead, started ripping the DH, keeping it smooth, made it about to the creek crossing, going through a rock garden, hit something, rode a front wheelie for a while, saw the possible injuries in my head, when, thank goodness, my momentum pushed me into the scrub oak, i hopped back on the trail and started going, uh oh, there is something wrong with my left pedal, shoe or crank, keep going Bob, The Bull Elk comes up behind me, i passed him on the steep doubletrack, and helps me realize i gotta a race to ride, so I start going a bit faster. get to the feed zone, and had caught back up to Ty, only 1/2 a lap to go, started to lose it part way in the singletrack, but kept going. Finished it out and discovered my left pedal axle had taken a hit and bent a few degrees off center.

3rd place is my best result in the Icup since evanston a few years ago. Even better was the way it was done, tactically and including a spectacular wreck and slight mechanical issues. I will never know if i could of caught Fox, I'd like to think so, but too late for that now.

I am ecstatic with this result, can you tell?

Today I headed up to DV to do more Norba recon, I think i have ridden that loop about 15 times in the last month, i hope the form stays with me.

Props to Fox on his 2nd place.