July 16, 2009
78º+ F, little wind, dusty, high UV factor
DNF

Southwest Airlines is great with bikes. Only $50 each way in a bike box. Some airlines won't take them or charge upwards of $100 or more.

A couple of days prior to my departure, I called around for shuttle costs to Winter Park. One company told me it was $60 each way. After they found out I had a bike, the price doubled. According to them, my bike takes up so much space that it bumps a paying passenger off the shuttle. I told them I was going to rent a car instead.

When I got to the rental counter, the clerk sold me on upgrading to a Prius. I was curious about the car and paid the $15 extra per day. I folded the rear seats down and my bike box fit with room to spare. It had plenty of pickup, even at 12,000 ft. I even averaged 48 MPG at 80 MPH.

I arrived two days before the race and pre-rode the course that day. It was awful, going from sea level to 9,000+ in five hours. I couldn't get my heart rate up, I was out of breath and a had massive headache. I didn't ride the next day and worked on my bike. I replaced my chain and installed Nokon shift cables. Did all the things you're not supposed to do the day before an event. Even had a few beers.



This is the toughest race course I've been on all year, worthy of our national championships. At the start, we immediatly start climbing, gaining 160 feet in the first quarter mile. I even passed a couple of walkers. One of them in a Reno Wheelmen kit. Doesn't that guy live at altitude? With 15 miles to go, I'm completely maxed out. At least I'm able to get my heart rate up to almost sea level rates.



The course is lots of rocky single track through the forest, connected by fire roads. Within the first mile, I passed someone on the side of the road, puking his guts out. Then riders from the next start group pass me. They started two minutes behind me. And they're older than me. This is not going to be a good day.

I managed to climb the rocky singletrack without difficulty, but slowly. I decided to run a smaller, lighter rear tire in case of rain. It works well on buff trails, but doesn't have enough volume to soak up the chatter. I could have used the larger tire, as the smaller one almost came to a complete stop when encountering rocks while climbing.

The downhills were an adventure. Fine dust, decomposed granite, rocks, ruts and braking bumps, conspired to take me down at every turn. There's even one section that's rideable, but faster to run down. Roll 100 feet, drop 50. A crowd was lined up there waiting for carnage, but I denied them their candy.

During the rocky singletrack climb, I developed a small leak. Every time I aired up, it went down again within a mile. I had a tube, but didn't use it. I finished the first lap in 1:15, not bad if I didn't have to stop so many times. Repeating the climb at the start was harsh, I almost started zig zagging across the road, making my own switchbacks.



Finally, midway on the last lap, I ran out of CO2 and called it a day. I turned around and back tracked to the finish. I only passed 5 riders.

Next time, I'll get out of my weight weenie tire mode and run a larger volume tire that can soak up more of the bumps. If necessary, put the tube in, and carry a pump for backup. Even if you're out of the race, at least you don't have to walk back.

June 28, 2009
60º+ F, little wind
7th Place

This was the series finale and I wanted to leave it all on the table. I had a great first lap (18 min), maintaining contact with the leaders. A second not too bad lap (18.5 min), where I was riding with a shadow. A third tired lap (19.5), but I did manage to pass the eventual 3rd place series finisher. And then a blistering final lap of 17.5 minutes.



During the third lap, I couldn't shake two riders. After we passed the finish line, I hammered the rest of the way and had almost a minute lead over those two at the finish.



This was my best finish yet, only 4.5 minutes off the leader. If I had only managed to keep up the 18 minute laps, I could have moved up a place, maybe even podiumed.

 

June 14, 2009
75º+ F, little wind
10th Place

I'd never raced here before, so I contacted Dain Zaffke at WTB for tire recommendations. He suggested a Mutano Raptor 2.4 up front paired with a 2.1 Nano Raptor on the rear. Great call, Dain. They're both high volume tires and worked well with the hardtail. I even saw him running the same tires on his full suspension Yeti ASR-SL.

Skyline Park has hosted numerous World Cup races and last year's Single Speed World Championships. The course runs through Valley Oak, Manzanita and Poison Oak, mostly on singletrack.

Right after the start, I'm hosed. My rear tire burped air on the first turn, waisting precious minutes. I filled it as quickly as I could and played catchup the entire race.

It's a tough course with an off camber hike a bike section and rocky, loose downhill single track. If this was casual ride, I probably would have walked those downhill sections. About halfway trough the first lap, I started catching up to racers in my group.

I kept pushing and managed to pull off a 10th place finish. Not bad considering my tire snafu at the start.

CCCX #7 Race Report
May 15, 2009
70º+ F, little wind
5th Place

I finally cleaned up my bike from the Coolest 24 Hours mudfest and I was ready for my first solo race on the Trigon. I kept the same tires, WTB's Exiwolf 1.9 front and Wolverine 1.95 rear. Even though the rear tire doesn't have much volume, I wanted to test it on hardpack and sand.

The race started as I expected, with the leaders gapping me within the first lap. I forgot my HR monitor, so I had to go old school and rely on rating of perceived exertion (RPE). The first two laps were 9/10 RPE, the third around 7/8. I knew I was easily in the top 10, but we were so strung out, I didn't know exactly.

I passed the 2nd place points leader on the 2nd lap and was only passed again on the third by my nemesis, Tick. I backed off my effort on the third lap, but didn't know how much I was lagging without my HR monitor. I also forgot my Endurolites and had to bum off SportLegs from Tick. Luckily it wasn't extremely baking. In addition, I had no idea how long it took for each lap.

On one of the exposed fire road sections, I saw Tick and someone else in my group. That, along with multiple hits of my gel flask and water bottle, gave me the energy to bridge the gap on the final lap. As I made the pass on the final lap, I asked him (3rd place points leader) who else was ahead in our group, but his response was muddled. I decided to put the hammer down and easily dropped him.

When I arrived at the finish, the organized called out 5th place. Woo Hoo. This is a tough group. The series leader has won every race and finished 2nd at Sea Otter in a sprint finish. Three others were top 10 at Sea Otter.

For the first time this season, I finished in front the 2nd and 3rd place points leaders. I don't know if they had problems with the heat, mechanicals or aliens. I'm taking that as a sign of great things to come.

5 man open, 220+ years

14 laps

2nd place

Rain and mud

Arrival

Tick and I arrived around 1:30 PM on Friday and chose a spot one row removed from the first single track section. I was a fortuitous choice, as it made hand offs easier. We eventually stopped waiting around the chute and instead took off from our campsite. We were between Snowjnky's and Mountain Hardware's camps, right next to one of the many free kegs provided by the race organizers. The Mountain Hardware guys setup this incredible tent, the kind you see in National Geographic's pictures of Mt. Everest base camp. They said a larger version of this tent is used as a hospital there.

It was drizzling during setup, turning to steady rain as dinner approached. Carmen had volunteered to cook dinner, but rescinded her promise as the weather worsened. So, eight of us walked down to a pizza parlor that didn't have a liquor license. We quickly ate and then stopped by the bar on the way back to camp to carbo load and hydrate. Rough cut wood floors, pool table, both kinds of music on the jukebox, cowboy hats, none of this rhinestone stuff. 

Jeff "Suave" Hecox

Remember that road trip scene from Animal House, when they walked into the bar and everything came to a complete stop. Even the music. Yeah, that was our reception. The locals warmed up quickly, though. In fact, Jeff could have had his choice that night. It was awe inspiring to see a master at work. The first blond in a soft leg cast said, " Oh, there's a tall one," and the second one eventually tried to sell him a house.

We're still chatting with the realtor, when a guy walks into the bar with a dog. He comes up to Jeff, grabs his hand and says, "That's my wife." Jeff's all calm and collected, as he's obviously dealt with this situation many a time. He casually told the husband about the race, and the guy offered Jeff $20 on the spot. He said it was a donation to our worthy cause. I called it a bribe to get Jeff to lay off his wife. We, I mean Jeff, didn't take his money, but asked him to make a donation during the race. 

As we were consuming a plethora of Widmer Hefeweizens, this grizzled old guy comes in and starts setting up what I thought was a live band. Turns out it was Karaoke of all things. The realtor starts the show and she's a ringer with her version of Nobody Does it Better. Nobody wanted to follow that act. 

Quite the Storm

We walked back to camp in the pouring rain and contemplated going to sleep at 8 PM. Tick went over to the Mountain Hardware tent and scored us an invite. It was dry and they had beer. We hung out with those guys until almost midnight before going to bed. It was howling and I kept getting up during the night to make sure our canopies didn't fall over. I hung bikes, a cooler and my toolbox on mine for weight. I even setup some guy lines. The rain finally stopped around 1 AM. 

We Also Raced

The next morning, Carmen and Tick made breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee. We discussed our strategy and prepped the bikes. Our order was Tick, Jeff, Marco, myself, then JL. We would have sent out our captain first, but JL didn't show up until 10 AM. The race came to a complete clusterf*ck within a minute as no one wanted to get wet and muddy at the first stream crossing less than a quarter mile from the start. 

The proposed handoff area was right down the chute from the start line, but really didn't work out. Teams started lining up at the first turn where it was wider. At the beginning, the next rider was waiting for the previous one to arrive for a mythical baton handoff. Soon, it became once you reached the dismount point, your teammate took off. For us, it morphed into come and get me when it's my turn.

I only managed to ride everything on my first lap. I couldn't shift to my three lowest cogs and had to clean out my housing and change the rear derailleur cable. My night lap combined with mud, rain, fatigue and not enough lumens made me walk a few of the steepest sections. Rafael was still holding court when I returned at 1 AM. Fortunately he left soon after and I got a few hours sleep. Tick and his tent, unfortunately, were right next to Rafael he and heard everything.

I got up at 3 to relieve myself as Jeff was preparing for his lap. He told me that Marco looked pretty haggard after his lap and that I might need to go out early. I set my alarm for 5 AM and prayed for his speedy recovery. I was relieved to hear Marco stirring about when I awoke. I started getting ready during his lap when Jim stopped by to tell us the race was ending two hours early. I did the math, if Marco gets back by 8, I'm going. I had breakfast, cleaned and lubed my chain and rear derailleur cable and waited. Fortunately, Marco arrived with 2.25 hours to spare. 

It was raining the whole lap which actually improved traction. Anywhere it was steep, I rode in the running water. I was nice and solid there, compared to the slick stuff on either side of me. As I made the left turn over the root near the end, I over cooked it, hooked the tree with my left elbow and went down on my back. I got up quickly and sprinted to the finish. Before I left, I gave Tick the keys so he could start loading the Explorer. I guess I was too fast, as only his tent was packed up. Oh well, we had plenty of time to kill, as it was a major traffic jam with double parked vehicles. 

Podium

We never knew the team standings until 11:30 AM. Turns out we came in second, behind some Sho-Air ringers. We collected our hardware and took a team photo under the finish line. We'll have to PhotoShop JL into the picture as he left earlier.