Phoenix and Truckee

When you are taking a class in which the homework is unlike the lecture material your motivation to work on that homework is readily diminished and your motivation to do other things—write a blog entry for a blog that is almost embarrassingly out of date—grows stronger. So, I’ve put on some Bob Dylan and am doing just that. As I revisit Highway 61, I wonder where to start. Since my last post, I have spent about five hours racing and 49 hours traveling to and from those races.

Collegiate Conference Championships went okay. The Leonard brothers, Alex and Elliott, and I left Friday, October 9th at 5:30 PM bound for a hotel in Scottsdale. Our drive out took us through Flagstaff in the dark. When you’re driving on I-40 at night towards Flagstaff, the city seems to come out of nowhere. It was at this point in the drive that my latest dream was realized. I long to see “Flag” during the day. Turning south, we moseyed into Phoenix at interstate speeds. After a 30-minute, stomach-churning drive through the disgustingly contrived, suburban metropolitan area that is Phoenix, we arrived at our hotel.

Race day started early with the team—now seven strong—enjoying a continental breakfast while I ate my cheerio-grape nut mix from home. We cruised to the race site. At first glimpse, everything seemed legit and annoying. After a summer racing in New Mexico, I expect the staging area to be minimal but well organized with evidence of free post-race beer from a local brewery. I didn’t get that vibe. I got the these-folks-take-themselves-a-little-seriously and that-announcer-can-shut-up-now vibe. However, I was assured that the trails were awesome. Race went off fast. That’s legit, but I am no good at this high desert stuff. I was moving up steadily after surviving the initial lactic acid bath. Then my skewer came loose. I fixed it and progressed more. Then I think I got lost; though, I am still not sure if I did. Then I returned to progressing. Then I flatted. I fixed that and suffered lots. I was completely floored at the finish and bummed that could not make up all the places I lost after flatting. That said, my level of exhaustion was a strong indication that the trails were, in fact, awesome. Everyone from the team talked while I drank water and ate Oreos (high fructose corn syrup is good for temporarily staving off bonks). It turns out that everyone raced a slightly different route on the horrendously marked and managed course. The results were accordingly screwed. We left the race for food. We stopped at a place called Senor Taco and ate Pizza. The pizza did the trick. Everyone on the team left looking like we had been at a spa or something. Finally, we left Phoenix and drove through some beautiful areas of the Payson, AZ ilk.

The following Wednesday, Alex and I left a hectic week behind, Lake Tahoe bound for Collegiate Nationals. We drove through Flagstaff in the dark again. That was lame. We arrived at the race site on Thursday, picked up our registration packet, and ate dinner with the CSU folk. That wasn’t lame. The next day we ate a legitimate breakfast at some café on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. The XC race was on Friday. The course was basically at 3.5 mile climb followed by at 4 mile downhill. Finally! I’ve been jonesin’ for one of these things. The guys were to do 4 laps. The start was a cluster, but a MTB start that’s not a cluster is the exception. I moved up solidly each lap. Then it started. At the beginning of lap 3, I started hearing a creak. It was small and intermittent; so, it was ignored. On way down, the creak became annoying and loud. Then the frame started flexing. “Crap, am I going to do a fourth lap?” I knew the frame was hosed, but I didn’t want to look. I eased up on the descent, so I could have a little extra oomph on the last climb and everything. With a little guidance from the generous CSU folk (they were handing us bottles), I pulled out of the race. I think I was just outside of the top 20 (of 75). I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the CSU team at the resort.

The next day, I didn’t expect to race and ate two gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. I then cheered on Chloe and met Katrina Nash. Both were riding un-broken Orbeas. However, the CSU team’s awesomeness turned those things into bad decisions. Caley hooked me up with his Orbea Oiz at the last minute. The seatpost was broken. No worries…Monica let me take apart her carbon fiber Ibis to make a complete bike. With almost no warm up, I headed to staging. Because of my DNF the day before, I got a dead last row start. YEE HAW! The STXC started by going up a steep, loose, gravel hill. Perfect. I passed about 1/3 of the field. I moved up every lap but the one that I crashed. I moved backwards that lap and got complemented on my rad, ‘cross-style re-mount. I finished just better that middle pack. Not bad. After the CSU team unsuccessfully tried to talk Alex and me into staying for the party, we left for home. The trip started with an ultra scenic cruise through the Sierra Nevadas. This time we drove through the Mojave at night. We once again lamely drove through Flagstaff at night too.

I am stoked to start cyclocross racing. The race this weekend was canceled. It’s probably for the best. I need a break. This weekend, I am doing a long ride. I also want to hike in some snow in the Pecos Wilderness. I wonder what I am actually going to do.

*Ed Note – I wrote this and let it age a few days before posting it. So, right now I am actually listening to “Songs of Leonard Cohen.” I pedaled bikes for 8 hours this weekend and didn’t drive anywhere. It was wonderful. My ‘cross bike is finally ready to go. I’m stoked to start racing it next weekend.

Road Apple Rally

Around 5:00 PM last Friday, I jumped in a car loaded with 3 mountain bikes and one ‘cross bike bound for Farmington, New Mexico. My traveling companions for the weekend were Dave, Randy and Cindy. We were all headed to Farmington to take part in the longest running mountain bike race in the world—the Road Apple Rally. The race start was fast. However, because I lined up late, I ended up in the middle of the 2nd group on the long dirt road start. I quickly managed to shake that group and pass plenty of riders being dropped by the 1st group but could not make the 1st group. I was floored but managed to find a rhythm and finish the 30 mile race with a solid 3rd in the Cat 1 20-24 class in 1:58. The course was fun. When my friend Dan-o alerted me to this race I knew it was worth going. He told me that Cameron described it to him as “high dessert pump track.” Cam was right. Hitting whoop-dee-dos for almost 2 hours straight at over 7000 feet is enough to make anyone’s head spin with sand-infused delight.

Dave managed 2nd in his sport class on a ‘cross bike after getting lost a few time and after a long hiatus from mountain bike racing. Cindy got third in her class. It was her 1st mountain bike race…excellent job, Cindy. Randy had a rough day, but managed to break in his new carbon fiber, Specialized 29er. Speaking of Randy’s bike: he let me cruise around on it. I must say it was nice. The highlight of the weekend came when I shook Ned Overend’s hand minutes after winning the race. What a class act guy.

The Road Apple was my last race with the Wheel. Heather and Dan and a whole slew of other guys have been very supportive and helpful and encouraging over the last five-ish years. So, a big thanks to Heather and Dan and everyone at the Wheel who taught me a lot and put up with my constant destruction of my race bike.

Up next is SWCCC Mountain Bike Championships in Phoenix. That’s this weekend. Unless something goes terribly wrong this weekend, the following weekend will be Collegiate Nationals in Truckee, CA. Then a weekend off to do something other than race. I’ll have raced 7 times in 4 weeks, so that will be nice. Then I will be headed to Boulder for Blue Sky Velo and Boulder Cup CX races. It will be my first CX race of the season; hopefully, it goes well. I will be joining Nob Hill Velo for the that race and many races to come.

Alright, sorry for the scatter-brained, typo-ridden posts lately. I’m pretty busy. Hopefully, I can make a legit post sometime soon.