Jackson

I love the Jackson Hole Icup weekend, sadly it will never be again, at least most likely it will never be again. Sad, really.

This being the case led mr Chris B to come out of retirement for one last race there, we had a blast riding together on lap one. Lap 2, he just rode away from me. I'm thinking i was not too well recovered from the 12.5 hour race. Lap one was 32:30 lap 2 and 3 were around 34:30 each.

2nd place is good, and consistent. The Hostel was interesting. The ride on Sunday was awesome. Arrow to Phillips Canyon to Phillips Ridge. Good fun trail, with some amazing engineering on switch backs. The New 'MLC' Vehicle traveled well, good gas mileage too.

Meanwhile, i have a complaint about complainers. Seriously, Bruce over at UTMTB.com has had to write a revisionist trail description of the new Rush rail in Draper. Seems as if some out there feel it is not a downhill trail at all, because there are sections that go up and you can't carry speed through some of them.

To me this is a microcosm of all that is wrong in society. The whole I don't want to work for anything and if it does not meet my requirements, I'm not going to like it.

What people need to realize is that this is exactly what the initial vision of the trail was, to go downhill, but with twists/turns/climbs in the middle, Um, different is good, and fun, and extending your ride time is even better.

My hope is that Bruce (who is awesome btw) will edit out his disclaimers, don't kowtow to the wet blankets.......

or maybe 'm just sensitive...

Getting Lucky in Kentucky

Way back when in April or so I went ahead and registered for the 12 Hours of Capital view, promoted by Troy Hearn (whom I worked with at Applebees in Lexington, Ky in the early 90's) Troy owns Capital City Cycles in Frankfort as well. Lyna and I planned on making it to Ky to visit family around that time anyways. I really didn't do too much specific training for a race of this length, although 2 weeks prior I had close to 18 hours on the bike, including 10 hours in 3 days.

So We made it to Kentucky on Thursday night, Friday, I put the bike together and went to Troys shop to seat my tires and get a trail map, the course was not marked, so I just rode around the trails for an hour, I got dizzy with all the twists and turns.

Saturday AM included a huge thunderstorm, lasting till around noon, the rest of the day was clear though.

Sunday, race day, not Utah. Woke up at 4:30 am to eat and pack and drive to the race course, race start was delayed for 30 minutes, not a problem though.

The lemans run was longish, for me, so I jogged to my bike and took off at the back of the pack, the first lap had several corners not marked, and at least the people in front of me figured it out, by the end of Lap one I had made my way past a lot of riders. I had no idea where I was, but I just kept a steady sub xc pace. there were several mud holes, in corners, I watched several rides go down in them, as they were trying to go too fast. There were 3 or 4 steep, sudden climbs, that i was able to climb all but one every lap. There was one root/tree section that ate my lunch for the first half of the race, till i found the line. Great course though.

At the end of lap 3 I came to my pit area and saw 2 riders I knew were racing solo at theirs, I chomped down half a pb&j and took off, Lap 4 I did at an XC pace, to get in front of them. I had a blast, one of them got around me on the next lap.

Lyna showed up about 7 hours in and found out I was in the top 3 and that we were separated by 5 minutes max, I kept my pace, cause anything can happen. I started to memorize the 8ish mile course and all its tight fun onetrack, and had a lot of fun each lap. Lap 10 and 11, I hit a dark spot and lost 15 minutes and was ready to stop, but then I came around again for 12 and 13. At the end of 13 it was just before 7pm and the cut off was 7:29. I asked how close the rider behind me was, to be sure I held onto 3rd, I was informed that the guy in 2nd, left after completing 13 laps, upset for some reason, Lyna tried to get him back on his bike, bu the packed up and went home, so if I went out for 14, I would jump to 2nd. I debated for a few minutes, and took off, the lap was fun, and faster than the previous 2. The guy ahead of me, finished 14 before 7:30 and thought he was in 2nd, so he took off for a 15th lap, which he didn't need to do.

In the end, I ended up 2nd, which is more than I expected. I had fun, and was not overly worked. I spent 30 minutes in the pit zone total, but that was worth it, as I stayed fueled, hydrated and cool as a result. The 90 degree heat and super high humidity did not hurt me too bad and the long time on the bike, while I was sore, did not hurt my knee, which after last years knee issues, was a blessing.

Again, the race was great, low key, great volunteers, 25 dollar entry (I won 30) although the delta bike fees crushed me. The course was great, reminded me a lot of the Jackson Hole course, without as much climbing, but the same tight one track, much buffer trail though.

Troy did a great job and if the stars align, we will be back in 2011, oh and I made the news.

Stan Crane Memorial 2010

*First off, let me apologize to the Expert 30-39 racer that i bumped into about 6 minutes into my race, I was leading and was on the first BST section above the bridge, I thought I had enough room, a split second before my handle bar clipped his, BK say's something along the lines of 'Bob? you're gonna pass here?!?!' I am terribly sorry, n i thought i had enough room.

Ok, so, onto the day. Since it's inception, at the ever so lovely Thanksgiving Point location. Map courtesy of K-Day. Team Revolution/Peak fasteners has joined with the shops race sponsorship to have a Team BBQ post race, every year the weather has not cooperated, rain, wind etc... Postponed races to mid week night time and delayed starts. Add to that, every CX race BBQ we planned at the Equestrian Center ended the same, with rain. This year we were blessed with great weather.

Lyna and I got there early to help set up the team base camp, Doug set his camper up the night before, thanks a million. I went and warmed up with Ty and Drew, the three of us beat each other up on the course several times in the week before the race.

I lined up at the start line and turned around to see a mass of humanity. close to 400 racers. Ed put us off at 3 second intervals to help with congestion when lapping, this was a great idea and it paid off for those of us in the front groups and those in the back groups, in the long run. In the short run, the front runners in each category, caught up with the tail-enders in previous categories very quickly. (hence my apology above).

Sam got the hole shot, with Trent W in 2nd, me in 3rd. Just a bit past the tunnel, I came around Trent. Once we hit the short double track climb, a few of us went back and forth on the front, I put in an effort to go into the one track first, then I knocked some one over (see above). On the 1 mile double track downhill, Kevin surged ahead with an Infinite rider, I latched onto them. I surged ahead on the first part of the 1 mile climb, a bit up it, Kevin came around me and i held on to him as best as I could, he put a few 19-29'rs and 30-39'rs between us before hitting the singletrack. I was still within 10 seconds of him down steps and up lower ghost. On the Canyon Hollow descent, I was behind Dan H. who kept apologizing about being a roadie, I did a spectacular nose wheelie, sitting on my top tube around the switchback before heading down to silica. Kevin was putting good time on me on the descents. First lap was done and I headed out for lap 2. I could see Kevin on the road, but just used other category racers as rabbits. And couldn't see anyone in my category behind me. BK was gaining on me though. He motored up the long double track climb on lap 3 to pass me right at the top, I jumped on his wheel and stayed there. There was a 19-29 contender rider setting a descent pace for us, not too fast, nor too slow.

On many of the rides I did with Drew and Ty early in the week, we ''practiced' attacking each other on the Silica Pit climb. This proved useful.

So Contender, BK and I head into the Silica Pit climb, Halfway up the lower approach to the first slot, I get outta the saddle and hammer up the left, passing both of them, with inches to spare before the trail cut me off. I had a clumsy dismount n the chewed up section up top, but the damage was done. I rolled in for 2nd place, BK was about 20 seconds behind for 3rd. My HR hit 189 on that surge, my legs barely made up the last short climbs to the finish. Good race, good fun, consistent lap times again.

Lap 1 with start loop 40:05 ish

Lap 2 39:45 ish

Lap 3 with finish 40:50 ish

Lyna made a return to racing and came away with her first ever win. She started conservatively, surged in the early phase and kept pushing till the end, where she ha to sprint for the win. Congratulations out to her!!!!

Post race was a stuporful BBQ.