Picture fest

Bubba #2 at Spanish Lake

Summit!!

This is a pic of the agulle de midi from the air. The main formaion is the tallest point in the middle with the radio tower in it.

My dad summited the aguille de midi, a formation on the Mt. Blanc masiff, over the weekend. This route is accessed from Chamonix by cable car. This formation has some significance in the region as a test piece for climbers that are new to the area. It sounded like it was mostly snow and ice, with some technical rock work.

Here are some CX pics of yous truly. The first pic is of my nice start on Sunday. You can see the deep gravel in the middle of the road. CX is where its at

The second pic was taken by Lizz James at the Ronde race in Carbondale. Dig the suitcase tech...mad skill off the bike.

Bubba #2 at spanish lake.

It is already the second bubba race. Spanish lake is tucked into North county. This park packs a punch for CX and MTB. The course this year was vary different from last years, but was still very difficult to get that rhythm going. The back ball field section was same condition, boggy, and energy sucking. The field was windy, and had a cork-screw that kept turning you back into the wind. This was a great CX course by definition, with its varying terrain, and surfaces. Some of the gravel was packed in and fast, and other sections were deep, and slowed you down like deep sand. I found it very hard to recover because the transitions between sections were quick. There were two grass sections that turned to loose gravel on corners. One corner was a 180, and had me riding very cautiously as to not go down at the start finish line. I heard this described as a power course, and I would have to agree. The corners were awesome at this course, allowing you to carve hard and pedal at the same time.

I had a good start, on the extreme right side, riding the grass ledge to the corner. Big thanks to Boz for the premium starting position, too bad I could not capitalize on the front row start. Most of the others were in the deep gravel sections. I grabbed Yieldings wheel, and held on tight. We did not have a huge gap from the others, and within two laps Dennis and Matt rolled by. At this point, I was still feeling really good, and I was trying to play some defence while recovering. This continued until about half way through the race, several others had passed, and were out of range for me to reel in. For the rest of the race, I was just trying not to loose positions, and the legs felt super heavy. I was totally spent by the end, and could not put up much of a fight. Kent and Jim Klages came around me at the end on the last lap, they had been on my wheel, and trading punches with me for a lap or so. I had no response to their final push. I did better than last year at this race, but still struggle with spanish lake courses like this.

The lamb stew bread pudding and beer was a great end to the weekend.

I am sucking bad in the fantacy CX league. Looks like after this weekend I am holding down second to last. NICE http://cxmagazine.com/fantasy-cyclocross-2008-2009-standings

Weather is getting colder, and the days shorter. Time to break out the bike lights for some night riding. I took the 26in out last night to LV. I havnt ridden the stumpie since before the Greensfelder race. I forgot how nimble that platform is. Kind of makes on think about getitng a light carbon hard....nevermind. Great ride in the dark. Probably will do a couple of these per week as long as the weather holds out. There were a lot of people out there doing the same. Good times.

Bubba #1 JB

The excitement has been contained for long enough. I have gotten a taste of CX already, but this weekend was the beginning of BUBBACROSS!! For me this race began the night before, by going to bed at 9:30. I got up early, and had the bike humming. A pre ride of the course gave me an idea of what I would be up against. Very similar to last year, with a few tweeks. The main difference was the barriers on the up hill section. The short pop of a hill after that was there last year. This was a fast course, with open straight aways leading into high speed corners. It was balanced with some tight turns, a long climb that you could spin out, and some rolling sections. Mostly grass course this week, with a section of gravel road leading into the last corner before the finish line.

I had a third row start, and was able to work my way up to top 6 in the first few laps. We had a nice group going for a lap or so, and were pulling away from the main group. I felt pushed, but was able to keep it going without much digging. The 44 tooth seemed to be perfectly suited for this course, I did not take it down the whole day. I am not sure when, maybe about 30 min into the race, I moved to the front after the long climb. I was not trying to create a large gap, but put pressure on the others. Looking back, I might want to consider a different strategy for the future. At this point it was Dennis and Matt price riding with me. They passed with 2 or 3 to go, and I was starting to get tired. Matt put on a huge attack starting at line, and again at the hill. He was laying down some mad power. I could tell from across the field that he was ready to run and had some fight in him. I never caught his wheel, but stayed on Dennis. On the last lap, I almost rolled past Dennis, he saw me coming around and put up a fight from the top of the hill to the barrier. I thought he had me purely on the reserves he had, but gave it one last shot at the barriers. We were even going in, but I got around him. At that point I was able to see Alex from the Hub gaining fast. I made sure the mount was clean, then hauled off on the two hills in front of me. The long sweeping right hander into the ball field had me hanging it all out, pedaling through the corners, and pushing the big meat. I was lucky to take second for the day. My winnings were spent having refreshments, and debating the finer points of seatposts. Cross is here, and the fire is raging.

On the way home, I grabbed some bags of ICE and took an ice bath to refresh the legs. The tech definatly is waiting to dump the ice in AFTER you get in the water. WOW the legs are like new, and ready for some more. It is worth the price of admission.

CX mods

On Friday, I made some mods to the CX bike. First off was a 44 tooth large chainring. I swapped the 48 for a 44, in the hopes I could push the big meat longer in a race. It is paired with a 26-12 cassette, so I have a nice range to work with. Next up was a set of tubular wheels. This allows me to run the challenge grifo tubular tire. 34c gives you a tone of air to ride on, and really smooths out the ride on grass, and gravel. Both performed flawlessly yesterday. It is good when the machine performs to your expectations. Stay tuned for a race report.

Burning 6 Hour

Finally feeling the postive energy of recovery today. Burning was high on my list at the beginning of the year, but after a long season, the motivation was not all there. Still, I packed up and trugged forward. My goal for the weekend was fun and four laps. I have never done 4 laps in one day before, and only done 3 laps consecutivley one other time. I was a bit nervous about my preperation when lining up. I have not faired well on the long MTB rides this summer, so the name of the game is disapline for me. This was my second burning, last year being my first racing the fast class with tim and tony.

Lap 1 and 2 were pretty consistant. I was about mid pack for the Lemans start, and going down the hill. There was a pile up at the drop in, and the switch back onto the lake loop was a choke point. The first lap was crowded and bunched up a bit. The most frustrating part is when I would pass people, and then mess up a tech section. I really did enjoy the company though, and for me this made the time pass quickly. It was nice to ride with friends new and old. Lap two was cleaner, and had me feeling great. I took a 20 min break after lap 2 and had a sandwich. Probably not the best idea, but the hunger was intence, and I really wanted to rest up for the second half. Lap 3 was on a full stomoch, so it took a while to get the blood flowing again. I was definatly feeling it on the last hill, and ended up walking a portion of it with Scott P. The fatigue was setting in on my legs, but I still felt good. A short break, and some gels had me feeling good enough to tackle the last lap. I felt the best on this lap until I hit the beach, then the cramps set in. It is hard to keep those negitive thoughts from coming in, but I tried my best. I was covering the doors and windows like in that move "Birds", trying to keep the darkness out. I had been feeling the twitching coming on since about half way around the last lap, so I was standing alot on the inclines, and spinning the flatter stuff. The last hill had me walking again, cramps came on strong right at the end. I really wanted to ride across the line, but had to limp like a stray mutt into the finish area. I didnt care at that point. I ended up in 6th place for my first real endurance race. I was ear to ear about that.

The rest of the day is kind of a blur. We ate, drank and cheered until Zach B. came across that line with hands in the air. What a sight to see.

This was a test of will for me. I had a ton of fun with the trail, conditions, and all of the great people that made this event happen, and participated.

No complaints about the trail condiitons. It was super fast, no dust, and perfect temps for the whole day. C-bluff is an epic trail, at 13 miles, it never really lets up. The legs were super spent and warrented an Ice Bath. Man this is the ticket to a fresh pair of legs. Maybe could have used a little more ice, but the feeling is great. This was a nice end to the MTB season.

Short Track

Got up on Sunday, and felt pretty good about my self. So I loaded up and headed to C-wood for some short track/dirt crit. I only did one other short track race over the summer, same course, but opposite direction. Fair consideration was given to using the cross bike for this, but at the end of the day, the creek crossing helped make up my mind. I scoped the creek on Friday night. The recent heavy rains had made it wider. There was a small muddy puddle as you dropped in, then a long gravel bar, with a deeper creek section. The trail leading out had been paritaly washed away, and was wet from everyone crossing in the same general area. It made for some great fun. The race was set for 45min and 2 laps. I gave it little thought as I lined up. I started second row, not getting in a big hurry. The start was side open and quickly funneled into narrow switchback sections just like cross racing. We get on the single track, and I make some moves. As we roll into the field, I make a few more, and try to get some distance from those around me for the creek crossing. I made most of my moves in the first 2-3 laps, kind of hard to remember at this point. I do know that I moved around Ralph and Robert in the field, and Russel the Mussel at the creek during a bunch up. I had my sights set on a guy rolling a cross bike. He was flossing big time on the roots, and the drainage wash. I was able to pull up to about 10 sec. gap, but could not close the deal. Greg from Segul came around me super fast in the field. That sent me reeling and scrambling for power. Also around that time, Robert came around me, and slowly pulled away. At this point I was deep in the red, and asking buddy if there was only one lap left. In reality there were 4. I put in some hard efforts to bridge up to metz, but every time I would see him, I biffed the creek crossing, or exploded my form. I was able to finished in good shape, 9th overall in the A race. I feel pretty good about the effort, and my discipline. I tried to keep it in check for the first half. I did that pretty well, still need some work on staying smooth.

For me, the main goal for the day was to not get lapped. While this almost happened, I crossed the line before CP was able to pass me on the final lap. It was close though.

The race promoter, Ralph Pfremmer did a bang up job for the race and the series. It was nothing but good people and good times. The 2 man really was awesome to watch. People were turning some hot laps.

Getting stoked for burning. I could feel the effort last night, even after a nap yesterday. Some quality recovery is in order, so I can be fresh for c-bluff, and an epic race.