Prairie City Race #5 and IMBA's Ales and Trails

It's already Wednesday night again! After two days off from work, Wednesday morning was a tiring day at REI. We have a huge sale starting this weekend. I was tired by the end of my shift and didn't have high expectations for the race. We packed up and got to the course. We got in three practice laps, and I felt a lot better. The course had two short steep climbs and the rest was a big ring fast course. I took a sizable gap on everyone and led out the first three laps. i was caught on the fourth lap by a rider that hasn't been out since the first week. I rode just behind him the fourth lap hoping to sprint at the end and take the win. I did a test sprint 3/4 a way through the lap after the hills hoping he would drop but he didn't. With about 150 yards to go he jumped and I couldn't retake him. So second place again for me. I'm a little bummed because I felt I had a sizable enough led to ride away with the win. Training needs to be better, I can't just race on Wednesday and ride to work the rest of the week. Keith got run over but somebody on a wideopen straight away and got a nice hip wound and elbow scrap and still took second. Jen detroyed everyone in Women's expert. In two weeks starts the Team Competition. The three of us will make up Team Q St Coalition! I did get to talk about the GT Dirt Coalition and an IMBA event happening this weekend over the intercom and that was pretty cool. The IMBA event this weekend is the Ales and Trails fundraiser in Marin County. 8 brewers, BBQ, Pro riders clinics, and demo bikes. It is an awesome time. Buy tickets online to save some money www.alesandtrails.net Click on the flyer to see it larger;

Sea Otter 2009!!

Sea otter was a blast! After Wednesday night’s race I came home and packed. Four days of sleeping in a tent, mountain biking and looking at cool bike parts was ahead of me. Rich, Hopkins, Evan and I left the next morning with two cars packed to the brim. The drive is long, but now where near as long as some of the people coming to the race. We got there and the tone was set. This race/expo is confusing and nobody knows anything beyond there little volunteer responsibility. Oh well, it made it comical not frustrating. Hopkins signed up for the Cat 5 road race and circuit race, I signed up for the cat 2 XC race. We got resisted for races and our camp site circled back around the Laguna Seca race track. (Yes the one with the “Corkscrew”) and found out or campsite was a RV parking spot that was smaller than we imagined. No worries we had brought 

big tents and double up occupancy. This is where I endorse the REI Base Camp 6, tall enough to stand in and big enough to fit two World War II era cots with a camp table between them. The nights were cold and windy, and the days hot to super hot. I learned how to better pack for next year. Down Jackets are a must. The first night we ate our dinner in our tent. 

On Friday I pre-rode the XC course. It is a good 19 miles course, filled with fun single track, sandy descents, some long climbs and a short steep one. Friday was also Hopkins’ road race. Rich, Evan, and I decided to go on a leisurely mtb ride and come back and watch Hopkins finish. Instead we got lost and pretty rode the course. We did bring some Coors Lights and cheered on some Beginner racers that were competing. That was fun. It definitely sucked that I put in 40 miles of mtb riding the day before my race though. 

My XC race was Saturday at 8am; Hopkins’ Circuit race was immediately after my start. We woke up to fog and cold. I put on a long sleeve base layer, ate half a bagel and a banana and rode to the start. Warming up on the race track was drenching us the fog was so thick. My race group went off at 8:20am. I had shed my base layer before the start. The GT Golden Bike 

Cheerleaders gave us some inspiration and we were off! These guys were fast! We had two crashes in the first mile and a half. I keep within the top ten for the first four or five miles when on a bumpy decent my chain fell off to the outside. When I pedaled it back on the chain twisted and would no longer go through the gears. Rendering the bike impossible to pedal. I walked the nearest aid station, but they had no chain tool. I don’t generally carry one for races. If your chain breaks you not going to win, but I was a long way from the finish line and I want to ride back. I took their leatherman tools and bent back my chain knowing it was a matter of time till it broke. When it did I walked along the trail asking for a chain tool. Lucky for me someone gave me one and then went back to racing. This is where I don’t endorse Shimano chains. Reusing old pins is a nightmare, with SRAM I can just carry a powerlink and trust it. With my chain I took out the twisted section, and re-pushed in a chain pin to put it back together. My chain broke two more times after that. So for the last 8 miles or so I had limited gearing, but I was riding and smiling. I crossed the finish line riding hard and still didn’t take last place! 

Hopkins tired from his race came back to the camp site at the same time. We watched Levi and the pro circuit race. Then we wondered the expo with checking out all the new stuff. Being a gear head that was half the fun. We went into town that night and celebrated and watched the UFC fight. Monday morning we went to the beach at Carmel and then drove home. It was a good time and next year I will be better prepared, and will do more races. It was good to see GT represented all over that race and meet some pro riders and some fellow Dirt Coalition riders. 

Prairie City Race #3 & #4

Man I haven’t blogged in a while so I’m going to have to group some events! Prairie City Race #3 & #4 where very similar. Both courses were “big ring” courses, meaning I never shifted out of my faster chainring up front.
Race #3. I lead the first three laps with Billy hanging out behind me. There was a flurry of action in lap four and neither of us where sure if we had been passed. On the final lap Billy hammer up the last long climb and put some distance on me. The race organizations computers had been bugging so I didn’t know till about four days later I got second. It was a fun course with a couple of interesting single track ridges to ride along with no passing possible.

Race #4. This was a cool course with splits that provided faster lanes with more technical routes. In the first lap I got confused and missed a faster split and Billy saw it and took it and I never saw him again. L I rode with one of the Mad Cat riders, cool guy and I feel like an idiot for forgetting his name, for the first two laps. We rode fast and I ended up dropping him. He is getting faster; I will have to worry about him by mid-season if he keeps pushing himself during the races to stay up front. I then rode all by my lonesome till the last lap when I joined a rider from another age group. We pushed each other to the finish. I’m thankful he did too, because halfway through the last lap I could feel a presence behind me.(creepy I know, maybe when you race enough you can pick up such things) My extra sense was correct, in the last hundred yards a rider from my class had snuck up right besides me. I shifted down and hammered to the finish line securing second place. This was a fun race night, there are some epic crash pictures if you go to www.racemtb.com. Brian took most of the good crash shots.

This week I get my road bike back, with that my fitness should come back. I don’t like losing and really want first place. I have to get on a training regimen if that’s going to happen.

Prairie City Race #2

Thursday afternoon and Wednesday morning brought rain to Sacramento. I admit we only get rain like three times a year, so I can't complain too much especially since my GT buddies in the Midwest are still getting snowed on. Anyway it was all sunshine by race time leaving some mud puddles on the course. To be honest we were excited to race with the extra obstacles on the course. After three practice laps we lined up at the start line. I lined up next to a guy who had raced Sport last week and decided to upgrade to Expert. I remember last year when I did that, I was so nervous I was going to get whipped! Instead you find yourself going faster, surrounded by others you realize you can keep up. Sometimes not the whole race but you know you can be faster, and as the season goes on you will get stronger. This is why its good to train with people who are faster than you, or at least race as well. You'll find yourself get stronger and faster.

Anyway I got fifth this week, my seatpost kept dropping on me, which sucked. Oh well won't happen again. I felt stronger this week. I really like the crew of guys in our class. I see it being a competitive class this summer and I hope none of them get upgraded.

Congrats to Karen, who raced her first race this week! She has already admitted she's hooked. Keith took second again. Jen won again and will be upgrading to Expert next week. Mike Meza also won his class this week!

GT- good times! See you next week!

Weekend riding!

Fun Weekend but didn't get to Race. On Saturday I went to a bike demo set up by a local shop. It  was fun except I forgot my mtb shoes and spent the day doing laps on platform pedal with my crocs, a not so stiff "shoe." I did get to ride a bike from Brand X that I've always wanted to ride. It is supposed to be the hardtail killer, the only world champion full suspension bike. I didn't like it, the rear suspension has a weird feel if it isn't fully activated, and the front fork was spongy with the adjustment for which and the bottom of the fork. Sooo...Go GT Zaskar hardtail!! 

Sunday I was supposed to race at the Napa Valley Dirt Classic but I got called into work an overnight due to the remodel we are going through at work. I hoped to get home by 1am and get some sleep but that didn't happen and with two hours of sleep I didn't feel safe driving. I slept in and rode my fixed gear with some friends on the bike trail instead.

Today I rode Forrest Hill after work it was fun. There was some major trail work done, which turned some of the downhills into some weird tight snake turns. But it was fun, and I got a little carried away and washed out in a turn. Crashing the GT for the first time! Good times!

First race of the year, Prairie City Race Series Race #1

Alright the season has begun! Tonight was the first of 12 Wednesday night races at Prairie City. Last year I did really well in the expert class and decided to stay in that class. In the 25-34 expert class age group there appeared to be about 20 people at the start line. The course was short but fast with two climbs per lap. (the courses get longer at the sun sets later)  There was also a bit of wind.  The expert class does 4 laps, I rolled out and led after the first two, on the third lap I was dropped on a climb and lost the lead. I joined up with another guy in my class and we worked together and started to catch but on the last lap I couldn't maintain anymore and lost my partnership and was passed again midway through the last lap. So in my first race of the year I took fourth place! I'm happy with this. I know I'll get my speed back on the flats but I have hill work to do, that's where I lost my placings. My buddy Keith raced in the Expert Plus class (grassroots for Pro) and took second. Awesome job Keith! His girlfriend also dominated the women's sport class, get ready to be upgraded Jen. While hanging out at the end of the race I found two guys with some sweet old GT Zaskars, check out the pic above, the guy on the right has some sweet anodization on the cranks, stem, seat post, bar ends, and brake bar. Will post some pics from the race soon! I'm doing the Napa Valley Dirt Classic this Sunday, it is supposed to be hilly so more fun to come and one of my GT brothers from Reno will be there to race with.