Fontana

I've been racing almost every weekend for the last 3 months. It's a bit excessive, but without much time to ride during the week it's been a good way to get in shape and it's been a lot of fun. I have managed to see myself get better every single week, every single race. I don't think there's been a race this year where I didn't feel like I improved from the one before. That is until today...

My allergies have been acting up pretty bad recently so for now I think that's the main reason for my downturn at Fontana. Whatever it was though, I simply didn't have anything to give. I'd push up a hill, and then my legs wouldn't stop burning. I just couldn't go. I essentially stopped racing about 3 miles into the first lap. From that point on I just sort of cruised. It still hurt though, I just didn't try to push it all that much from then on. I think I finished 24th out of around 36. My goal after the first US Cup race was to finish in the upper half of the field (after finishing 19 out of 32 there). I think that would have been doable, but now I'll have to wait another week.
Can you feel my pain in this picture? This was just over a mile into the race and I was already hurting.


I'm a little unsure of what will happen next week. If I don't start breathing better the racing isn't going to get any better. Especially with next week at Sagebrush being an 18 mile race. I am going to try to change allergy medicines and see if that helps.

Things were a little better in the Super D. The course was a little disappointing as it was mainly just the 2nd half of the xc course. We started by category in a sort of crazy LeMans start. First we set our bikes down, then walked down the hill about 15 yards and sat down facing away from our bikes. Then at "go" it was a sprint to our bikes and we were off. All the reaction drills I did from running track in college paid off here. I was the first one to the bikes and then I was off and in the lead. I knew it wouldn't last long and it didn't, but it at least felt good to get off to a good start. After the first 20 seconds or so I was in 5th and I held that position for most of the race. Then at the flat section towards the finish I was pretty much done. I couldn't go as fast as I needed to and was passed. I finished 6th of 12. Not bad considering how my xc race went.

My Super D run is here.
And my XC laps - Lap 1, Lap 2, Lap 3.

Despite the lack of posts I am updating my racing results page. This is mainly for my own reference, but feel free to take a look.

I also continue to post my Crafton TT times. Now seems like a good time to mention the Crafton TT after my poor racing today. My only concrete goal coming into this season of racing was to break Mike Erb's record at the Crafton TT we do. He went 16:25 and when he did it I busted my ass to get 17:41 and I couldn't believe how fast he went. I thought that time was untouchable (by me anyways). Well last week I beat it. And I didn't just beat it, but I went 14:53 to crush it. I was feeling good that day. If only I'd felt that way today.

Racing

I decided a few months ago I'd do a little more racing and as it turns out it looks like I'm going to do a lot more racing. Racing has always been an occasional thing for me. I did my first race when I was 13 at the 1987 World Mountain Bike Championships in Mammoth. I did 1 or 2 races a year for the next 3 years or so. I did well at the 1989 Mammoth Downhill. I finished 2nd in the beg men 17 and under division. Other than that I mostly did xc races and didn't really do all that well.

I resumed my 1 or 2 races a year schedule about 3 years ago. It was at Rim Nordic and I again didn't do all that well. It was fun though as I liked the challenge and the competition. I finally decided I'm ready to make a little commitment to racing and getting in real shape to race.

I did my first race in about a year and a half in November at the Fontana Southridge Classic. I raced beginner and finished 4th out of 8 in the xc race and I did the Super D for the first time and finished 1st out of 9, again in the beginner division.

Then on January 10 I went back to Fontana to race the first race of their series. It was a brutally windy day and they cut the course short, making it a little over 4 miles instead of 7 miles. They also upped the lap count for beginners from 1 to 2 making this 8.5 mile race my longest to date. The wind made it tough, but I felt okay and finished 3rd out of 8. I then went on (after the wind had died down some) and won the Super D again, out of 9 people again also.

























At the top of the podium after my 2nd Super D race.


















About halfway through the Super D race on Jan 10.



I'm going to start devoting most of my entries now to my races. I'm not sure how things will go once track season starts. There's a good number of races on Sunday so I'll have options to race, but training gets real tough when I'm at track meets every Saturday.

Garmin 305

I got a Garmin and have been tracking my rides at motionbased.com. Everything I've done the last couple of weeks is on there (except it shut off when I crashed at Temecula last weekend).

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/user/pinnacle10

Gooseberry 2008

Joy and I headed to St. George right after Thanksgiving for some Southern Utah riding. Day 1 was Gooseberry and the Day 2 was a quick ride at Bearclaw Poppy before heading home (after a hearty breakfast at Cracker Barrel).

Weather was great, riding was epic, and scenery was as beautiful as can be.















The rest of the pictures are here.

Muddy Buddy

This was my first race of 2008 and my first Muddy Buddy ever. The concept is pretty simple and really fun: There are teams of 2 with 1 mountain bike. One person starts on the bike and the other starts off running. There are 4 transition zones. At each transition, the person on the bike gets off and runs and then the runner will get on the bike and ride when they get to the transition zone. There's also an obstacle of some kind at each transition, plus there's a mud pit to crawl through just before the finish.

http://www.www.muddybuddy.com/results.php

The Race Bike

The race itself is a little under 6 miles. I did the race with Aaron who routinely runs 16 minute 5Ks. Clearly, I was the weak link here. Aaron had done the race twice before with Mike and they finished fairly well. Last time they did it Aaron had a lot of trouble finding the bike at the first transition zone...thus the inspiration for our team name - Dudwhrmybik? (Dude, where's my bike?)


The Race
My leg started on the bike with a steady uphill followed by a short steep downhill into the transition zone.

My next leg was a run which was mostly uphill (at least it seemed like it). This was probably the toughest leg for me. I was even hurting on the flat sections. Luckily, Aaron only beat me to the transition zone by about 10 seconds, so even if I'd been able to go much faster here, I would have beaten him to the transition and would have had to wait there for the bike.

The 3rd leg I was on the bike again for what again seemed like mostly uphill. Aaron passed me here along with another runner, but not a single biker passed. There was then a short downhill into the transition zone which allowed me to get back in front of Aaron.

The 4th leg was nearly all downhill. I felt pretty good running here, but it was the last of Aaron I saw until the finish. This led to the funnest transition zone which was a climb up a cargo net and then down a giant inflatable slide.

This picture is from a different race, but it's just like the slide we had.

The final leg had the steepest climb of the day. It was followed by some semi-steep downhills. It was then into the bike drop area where Aaron was waiting for me (and had been for a few minutes). From there it was a short run into the mud pit and then to the finish line. I was pretty clueless about what place we were in, but Aaron knew exactly where we were. We were in a battle for 2nd place in our division with 3rd place literally right behind me coming in on the bike. We crawled through the mud pit pretty much neck and neck. Then the final sprint to the finish and we got them by 0.2 of a second.

We finished in 43:33.4. This was good for 2nd place in our division out of 95 teams and 20th overall out of 1100 teams. If they kept track of fastest individuals Aaron probably would have won the whole thing.

To see all the pictures - Click Here

My Races

All the races I've done that I can find results for....


2009
6/28 Rim Nordic xc 3rd of 18 1:41:54 cat 2 35-39
6/27 Rim Nordic Super D 2nd of 5 6:32 open 30-39
6/20 12 Hours of Rim Nordic 4th of 18 12 laps 4 person open
6/13 Colorado Springs - US Cup #6 xc 13th of 19 cat 2 30-39
6/7 Santa Barbara xc 8th of 19 1:36:28 cat 2 35-39
6/6 Santa Barbara SD 9th of 16 9:45.27 open 30-39
5/31 Big Bear Shootout #1 xc 13th of 26 1:26:16 cat 2 35-39
5/9 Racers and Chasers #4 SD 3rd of 10 5:49 sport all ages
5/9 Racers and Chasers #4 xc 5th of 12 1:21:57 sport 30-39
5/3 Idyllwild Super D 7th out of 12 17:41 open 30-39
4/26 Santa Ynez - US Cup #5 xc 7th out of 22 1:32:05 cat 2 35-39
4/18 Sea Otter - US Cup #4 xc 26th out of 99 1:37:16 cat 2 35-39
4/17 Sea Otter - US Cup #4 SD 9th out of 48 7:37.1 open 30-39
4/5 Sagebrush - US Cup #3 xc 8th out of 28 1:34:46 cat 2 35-39
3/28 Fontana - US Cup #2 xc 24th of 37 1:21:12 sport 35-39
3/28 Fontana - US Cup #2 SD 6th of 12 13:40.56 open 30-39
3/14 Racers and Chasers #3 5th of 15 1:07:59 sport 30-39
3/7 Southridge #5 xc 3rd of 3 1:03:42 sport 27-34
3/7 Southridge #5 SD 4th of 7 6:10 sport all ages
3/1 Bonelli - US Cup #1 xc 19th of 32 1:19:20 sport 35-39
3/1 Bonelli - US Cup #1 SD 4th of 10 9:03.02 open 30-39
2/21 Southridge #4 xc 2nd of 6 1:06:19 sport 27-34
2/21 Super D 4th of 7 5:58 sport all ages
2/14 Racers and Chasers #2 4th of 5 1:29:11 sport 30-39
2/7 Southridge #3 xc 3rd of 3 1:09:10 sport 27-34
2/7 Super D 5th of 9 6:25.52 sport all ages
1/31 Racers and Chasers #1 4th of 8 1:09.44 sport 30-39
1/24 12 Hours of Temecula 13 of 19 13 laps 4 person open results
1/10 Southridge #1 xc 3rd of 8 59:29 beg 27-34 (2 laps on shortened course)
1/10 Super D 1st of 8 5:20 beg all ages

2008
11/22 Southridge Classic xc 4th of 8 49:31 beg 27-34
11/22 Super D 1st of 10 12:18 beg all ages
11/2 Muddy Buddy - LA 2nd of 90 in age group, 20th of 1100 overall 43:33.4

2007
2/24 Southridge #4 xc 3rd of 6 48:11 beg 27-34

2006
11/21 Southridge Classic xc 6th of 6 56:22 beg 27-34
8/27 Rim Nordic #4 xc 7th of 7 55:46 beg 30-34
3/25 Dreaded Hillclimb 14th of 15 18:20 open

1990 (age15)
6/10 RockHopper South, Big Bear DH 5th of 17 3:38.6 beg 17 and under
6/10 RockHopper South, Big Bear uphill 7th of 11 30:18 beg 17 and under
6/9 RockHopper South, Big Bear xc 12th of 27 33:56.3 beg 17 and under
5/5 Coors Light National Series #1, Big Bear xc 17th of 34 33:39.1 beg 17 and under
5/6 Coors Light National Series #1, Big Bear uphill 16th of 25 31:02.5 beg 17 and under
4/8 Keyesville Classic xc 5th of 12 31:50 beg men junior

1989 (age 14)
10/15 Fall Classic, Big Bear xc 453rd of 550 2:05:37 men overall
Sep Mammoth Norba World Championship overall 7th of 19 beg 17 and under
Sep Mammoth Norba World Championship xc 12th 58:20 beg 17 and under
Sep Mammoth Norba World Championship DH 2nd of 20 7:03 beg 17 and under
6/10 RockHopper South, Big Bear xc 11th of 18 31:30.0 beg 17 and under

Redlands to Big Bear

I had planned on going to Mammoth to do the downhill thing for the weekend, but instead I ended up doing the uphill thing. I've been thinking about riding from my house to Big Bear for a few years now, but it's just been recent when I've gotten serious about it. I decided Thursday night I'd finally attempt this ride.

The Numbers
Roundtrip Mileage - 102 miles
Day 1
Mileage - 44 miles
Starting Elevation - 1419'
High Point Elevation - 8140'
Elevation Gain - 6721'
Day 2
Mileage - 58 miles
Starting Elevation - 8180' (after chairlift ride)
Ending Elevation - 1419'
Elevation Drop - 6761'

The Plan
I wanted to carry as little as possible with me. With a restaurant in Angelus Oaks at about the halfway point I didn't need to worry about carrying too much food. There were also a couple other water stops along the way in addition to Angelus Oaks so I didn't really need an excess amount of water either. I'd spend the night in Big Bear and then ride home the next day.

It took me 11 hours to get up (44 miles) and 9 hours to get down (58 miles). The most unexpected thing was the heat. I really wasn't ready for it. The previous weekend I had driven up to Seven Oaks to check things out and it was 75° in the middle of the afternoon. On the Saturday I did my ride weather.com reported highs of over 100° in both Redlands and Angelus Oaks. The heat took so much out of me and I was hurting by the time I got to Angelus Oaks.

The Route
Stage 1 - I left my house at 8:30am and rode through Redlands and Mentone on the streets. Once I got to the Beef Jerky place towards the end of Mentone I turned and picked up a dirt road that went towards the wash. then I was back on Highway 38 for a couple miles until I took a short break at the Ranger Station. From there it was about 3 miles up the 38 until I got to Loch Leven.

Stage 2 - This is where the majority of the offroad riding started. At this point I was really starting to feel the heat. Loch Leven is a nice 7 mile ride up the Old Highway 38. Parts of it are still paved, but most of it is now dirt and there is even some singletrack on the ride. I took almost an hour at The Oaks restaurant to eat lunch and recover.

Stage 3 - The was my first of 2 downhill sections on the day. I took a section of the SART down and then picked up Middle Control Road and took it the rest of the way down to Seven Oaks Road.

Stage 4 - This was the big uphill of the weekend. The elevation went from 4790' to 8140'. Luckily it was a little cooler, but it still had to be at least 90° at this point so I was anything but cool. I took 1N04 right when I got to Seven Oaks Road. Then climbed about 1000' with occasional little downhills and it met up with 2N06 (Radford Truck Trail). I had one last stop for water at a fire station there right where 2N06 started. It was then up 2N06 and it was all uphill and it was at a pretty steep grade. I was so worn out at this point there were sections I walked. The views up this section were great. I was seeing things from angles I hadn't seen before. I was essentially looking straight down the canyon between the Big Bear mountains and the Gorgonio mountains. Finally I got to the hump and had that feeling of sitting on the bike and having it move without me pedaling. This was the 2nd best moment of the trip.

Stage 5 - It was up and down for a bit on the fireroads (2N06 to 2N10). I then got to Grandview Point and turned onto the Pineknot trail to take it into town. This was the 2nd of the 2 downhills on the day. The sun was just starting to go down at this point. I rode into the Village and found the Big Bear Hostel (A great place to stay) and was finally able to fully rest.

The Ride Back

After a stop at the bike shop to get some new tubes I headed to Snow Summit. I decided I wanted the full experience of riding all the way from the top of Snow Summit to my house. I took the chairlift up and it felt incredibly good to gain that elevation while sitting back and taking in the scenery. I took Falline down and then headed towards the golf course. From there I picked up 2N27 and took it to 2N93. this was a gradual 5 mile climb on a fire road that essentially took me around Sugarloaf Mountain. Then I took the Wildhorse singletrack down to the 38 and then down to Southfork.

Once at Southfork I was in territory I knew well. At this point I was just ready to get home and I was dreading every little climb. I was also nearing the Middle Control Rd. climb which I had been dreading right from the start when I was planning the ride.

At about 80 miles I got to Middle Control Rd. It's about a 3 mile fireroad climb up to Angelus Oaks. When I got to it, it was as bad as I had imagined. I just didn’t want to pedal anymore at that point. I wasn’t on it more than 2 minutes and I got off and started walking. I was figuring on it taking me about 45 minutes to get up those 3 miles with a mixture of walking and riding. I was walking for about 30 seconds and a car came up behind me and the guy rolled down his window and said something like, “hey, want a ride, grab on and I’ll pull you up.” I grabbed on to his back window and held on for dear life. It may have actually been the hardest I worked on the whole ride. He certainly didn’t slow down and take it easy for me. I was just holding on with every muscle I had and trying to keep the bike steady with my other arm. My triceps felt like they were going to fall off. It was worth it though, 7-8 minutes of intense work was much better than 45 minutes of moderate work. Thank you to Jeff and Melissa for the ride. I've ridden up that road close to 100 times, and never has anyone asked if I wanted a ride up (possibly because I've never been walking before). If anyone were to ask at any other time I would have declined and kept on riding. This was different though. When I got to the top I went to the restaurant and had some pancakes and even after I ate I was still feeling it in my arms. For the official record, I did subtract those 3 miles from my 105 mile total to make it 102 miles.

From this point on it was all downhill. I decided to take the Old Highway down rather than the SART. I wanted the easiest and most direct way at this point. There still would have been a little climbing had I taken the SART. It was about 18 miles to my house, the first 8 on trails and the final 10 on pavement. The absolute best moment came in Mentone when I looked up at the mountains and looked at what I had just ridden. I've seen those mountains hundreds of times, but never had I seen them in quite that way before.

I won't entirely rule it out, but I doubt I'll ever do this ride again. If I do, the number one priority will be checking on the weather more closely and making sure it's not too hot.