2009 Season

The 2009 season finished well. After the trouble I had at Fontana things greatly improved at the next race - the Sagebrush Safari in the San Diego area. I finished 8th out of 28 guys in my class. Looking back that was one of the funnest courses of the year, and at the time it was by far my best race.

The next week was US Cup race #4 at Sea Otter. My goal all along was to finish in the top 30 which at one point I didn't think I'd really have a chance to do. I started in the very back of the 105 person field, but got out hard and quickly worked my way to the front group. The first mile or so of the race is on the Laguna Seca racetrack, so you're riding in a big peloton. I was pretty beat by the end but I managed a 26th place finish out of 99 finishers.

I had another good race at the US Cup race in Santa Ynez finishing 7th and then it was on to Colorado Springs for the final race where things didn't go so well. Finished 13th out of 20 on a tough but fun course. Not being able to preride hurt and the higher elevation didn't help either, especially with most of the field being local to the area. A camelbak would have been the way to go as there were no spots on the course where you could safely get a drink. Everything was too tight and technical on both the ups and downs. At one point when I thought I had a chance to get some water, I quickly ran out of safe space and I ended up riding right off the trail into the weeds.

Here's my series finishes for the 2009 Season.
US Cup West - 6th overall
Socal Series XC - 4th overall
Socal Series Super D - 2nd overall
12 Hours of Temecula (4 person team) - 3rd overall

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