The Mann Adventure

Smoke Signals

2012-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

Fire makes such a great analogy for things in life. It can be amazingly powerful, but fragile at the same time. Cultivated properly it can sustain, provide warmth for those nearby. It is useful in so many ways and yet destructive at the same time. It can be fearsome, or comforting. Controlling it can be a bit of an illusion at times, snuffing it out can be immediate and harsh. All kinds of parallels can be drawn between flames and the chemical fire that burns in each one of us. Some are smoldering, straining to stay alight while others are consuming everything around them, all consuming and destructive in nature.

Allison has been using fire as an analog in many of her posts recently and I like it. Understanding fire and bridling it's good qualities while avoiding the bad is much like the way an athlete cultivates their ability. The title of this post was one I thought of on my long drive home this last Saturday evening after the final CX race of the season, following the awards ceremony where I stood on top of the podium as the Series Champion for 35+ A group.

Lots of smoke is usually a bad sign from the fire. It can mean lots of things, burning too rich or having trouble staying alight...

The past few races I felt like my fire was making too much smoke. My results have faded some and I have struggled with the race efforts and with the motivation to compete. It isn't like that is a big surprise. I have had a lot of racing and stretched my base further than expected, the fire needs to be reformed and rebuilt. As I started with my YIR post, which turned into a series, and was then never finished; 2011 was one hell of a year for results for me. I raced more than ever before and was on the podium more than my share. I won a lot of races, placed third at Nationals, took several jerseys for my collection, and was forced to pick and choose between trophies for the shelf.

At dinner last night with my father-in-law Allison and I agreed that it was probably our best year ever for vacations, and will be one with which many future years will be compared to (with the exception that her whole racing season was destroyed). So after having a bright, hot, somewhat destructive fire things need to be rearranged, they need to have some order restored.

So that is what I am doing now. I need to find out if my fire can burn brighter, cleaner, hotter, maybe a tad less destructive and overall more efficient. I will have more competition, serious wildfires to contend with in 2012. Fires that left a much bigger swath of destruction behind them than I did last year!

Seeing as how I am not so good with plans I am still playing things by ear. I am entering the year with diligence and focus but am not expecting results on the same level. I am looking forward to the epic battles and hope that I am prepared to take part. Despite where I lay when the dust settles, I hope to have improved in some way.

To this end I am doing some trail running in the hopes of promoting continuous improvement. I am still very new to all this and have much to learn about sport and myself. 2012 will be an exciting year and I hope to have many fabulous stories to write in my blog.

Till then, a drink to the success that was 2011 (and then a little with the last CX race this last weekend)!

2012 is here!

2012-01-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

Since my YIR'11 post has been stymied by my lack of computer/free time I have put it on the back burner to bring my blog up to date for the New Year!

That is right folks! First race of 2012. First podiums for Rock N' Road / Bikes for Boobs!!! I got third (photo below) and the Gritters brothers went 1-2 in Elite!!!!!

Bummed that my report isn't on winning, not even second place, but second loser was all I could muster on the day. Some days just don't turn out the way you hope they would.

A quick race recap...

Uphill gravel start got me off on the way wrong foot. My ground foot slipped, my wheel spun, and in a heartbeat I was off the back ruining David Turner's start as well. The first lap I was pressing hard to move through all the traffic and in my haste made a couple mistakes. Way up ahead somewhere Phil was in a league of his own on the day bunny hopping barriers, behind him a group of four were drilling it, and way back from them was me chasing like a the loyal dog that got left behind at the last pee stop of the family road trip complete with drool and foaming mouth.

This was the slippy Start/Finish region. Photo Credit: Jesus Ortega

Eventually I caught back on and things shuffled a bit. The group was whittled down to four; Hime, Dave, a rider I don't know, and me. Other than my stupid mistakes and generally sloppy riding (guessing this is a base fatigue and lack of racing related issue) things were uneventful until the last half of the last lap.

Hime was on the front exiting the "Spy-clone", a spiral-in-spiral-out feature that seemed to just serve as a mid-lap recovery zone, and he stomped on it as soon as the dizziness wore off. I knew it was coming and followed. Dave had an issue on the steep spot behind (would have been a run-up if it had stairs) and lost the train. I was on Hime's wheel as we came out of the uber loose left hand gravel turn and I counter attacked. I probably should have been patient and saved my attack for after the barriers (learning!). I led up to the barriers and Hime just edged me out remounting. This gave him the lead for the rest of the lap and given the extremely loose gravel there really wasn't much of a sprint opportunity.

It was another good close race and hopefully I learned something along the way.

1) File treads are not king.
2) Work on being patient on a loose start, don't get anxious, just be smooth!
3) Be patient on the last lap, plan your attack relative to your weakness, not just the first opportunity.

After the race I coerced Dave to go for an hour long ride with me. Good times! I am glad that CX season is just about done but I will miss some of the great people I get to race with during the winter (that don't race MTB during summer).

Speaking of MTB, training is going fairly well. I have been riding a good amount and my weight is coming back down. There has been a lot of discussion on The Mann Show lately about bikes and whether "size matters".

You wouldn't think so by the picture, but this innocent looking bike started all this...

Allison demo'd a Specialized Epic Comp 29er 2 weekends ago. She flew on the descents, it was sweet and I was stoked. Totally beautiful. On the other end of the spectrum, I have been training on my 2009 26" Sworks HT. Yesterday we rode with some team mates who are really looking at stepping it up in 2012 and they spanked my butt going down hill, one of them was on a HT 29er! Do the "Pros" of big wheels outweigh the "Cons" with the latest tires and wheels and forks? Now the pressure is on. I can't be giving up time on descents if I want to be on the podium at all.

What does all this mean? Well after two weekends of testing it seems Allison's cockpit was too stretched out. Size does matter! Wider flat bars and a shorter inverted stem seemed to help her descending on the 26" FS, but is that even relevant if we consider the 29er FS as an option? (then there is the task of figuring out whether a size Small is necessary, or if a Medium with a shorty stem is a better option). The concept of changing race bike platform has my head spinning and my wallet cringing, not to mention me having to swallow my pride and revoke all the negative commentary on "wagon wheels". Oh the horror... :)

Beer doesn't help ease the pain.

With only one more 'Cross race on my schedule, and MTB racing creeping up on us, gearing up for 2012 and training consume us entirely. Such is the life of the "wanna be pro" and "wish I could be fast CAT1" MTB racing duo known as The Mann Show. We are so simple.

See you on the trails!

2011 YIR Part 1

2011-12-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

For me 2011 will always be the year of "The Comeback". If I close my eyes I can still feel my body shatter against cold hard steel, hear the bone snapping collision in head, taste the blood that flowed freely from my face. I don't know if time will ever smooth over the broken jagged edges of my memories of April 2, 2010 or the days and weeks that followed. Those memories propelled me. Death is a stationary immovable object but I plan to move, till I can't move anymore. Sure my neck and my knee still hurt, living is hurting though and is better than the alternative. I charged into 2011 with my best friend and partner by my side.

New Years Eve, Allison's foot went bad that day.

Her presence by my side though was short lived in 2011. Black Death Foot knocked her clean off the track that she was racing on. In her absence I envisioned myself left on the field of battle. Alone I was left to guard our flag. I don't have many pictures from the seemingly endless hours of training in the cold and wet that followed but my skin grew thinner showing more of the sinew and muscle below than ever before. I did get to ride a couple times on the dirt with friends and they were not just great times, it really helped keep me going to ride with someone else.

Singletrack riding with Weeger, one of the best rides of January.

In February Allison tried to train again despite her injury. The excitement over the 2011 race bikes fueled us along with the refusal to give up hope that she could get back on track and continue her ascent in racing. She was, actually we both were, desperately groping at the edge of an icy crevasse of unknown depth that neither of us wanted to admit she had slid into without warning.

The new race bikes ready to rumble.

I love riding with this girl!

After the short ride together I rode home solo from Escondido.

Soon enough though the slow pace of the Winter picked up and going fast would be the name of the game in the Spring. I was up to the challenge. Winning races started in February at SRC.

There was no winning at Sagebrush, only suffering and cold.

March was a new month and the disappointment of Sagebrush pushed me to a higher level. I am not sure if there was another race in 2011 where I was so much "in the zone" as I was at Bonelli.

Shortly afterward Fontana brought one of the most memorable and closest races I have ever had on a mountain bike.

Special thanks to Brian for making this race amazing.

The "Top Step" at Fontana, a dream come true.

April brought a whole new race venue with Sycamore Canyon. Again I reaped the benefit of all my hard work and mounted the top step.

Joking with Sheek off the start line.

"Tower, requesting a flyby."

While I was getting practice climbing to the top step Allison was practicing her photography skills. They would come in handy during what would become the most amazing Summer ever.

To be continued...

Santa Cross

2011-12-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

I have really been feeling the fatigue of ramping up Base training lately. Unfortunately my training induced stress is being compounded by other issues. It seems that Allison's training has diverged from mine significantly enough that we aren't able to train together much. She has been doing some trainer workouts after work which makes scheduling the day difficult (I really don't like doing indoor work if I don't absolutely have to).

The stress has gotten to me and I have been a jerk, which doesn't help things. Sometimes it is important to remind myself that being a team means that although we aren't necessarily working side by side we are still working together. We both need to stay focused to have a good season next year and we need each other to make that happen.

This last weekend was the Griffith Park double header known as Santa Cross. Since Allison is done racing for the season doing the double header just wasn't going to happen. Since I am still leading the points series I wanted to make it up for one of the days, but felt that putting in some solid riding with Allison on Saturday followed by a hard race effort on Sunday was my best option.

Saturday we rolled out into the cool morning air and put in a very good Base ride.

I really love riding with my wife.

I took a short nap after the ride and tried to ensure that I would be as rested as possible for Sunday's race. I know I am not on peak form so it is tough to head to a race with high expectations.

Since Allison wasn't racing on Sunday I dropped her off for a ride in The Gabes with Tonya. A big part of me really wanted to be heading out on a rad mountain bike ride instead of racing 'cross. About the only thing that helped me follow through was the promise of a sweet course at Griffith Park!

The course was challenging with a significant amount of climbing and some great technical stuff! I however was not really up to the challenge on the day. My hands and wrists have been getting worse and worse through the season and warming up on the course I knew I was going to suffer horribly in the bumpy sections. My left hand was so bad I couldn't really hold the hoods to bunny hop. This made for really slow going through the smaller barriers as I then was super worried about pinch flatting with no spare wheels! I told myself to suck it up and thought of the text message I got from my mom who suffered through radiation therapy for her cancer this past week, "Pedal your ass off!".

Race recap...
First lap: Decent start, didn't want to be on the front but was very close. Hime swerved right going through the barriers and pushed me through the tape on the right. I had to fight to stay with the group. Then I made a really dumb mistake on a tight turn folding my front tire and pushing it out. Remounting my bike the chain had fallen off. I was no longer in contact with the chase group, Hime was off the front with a good sized gap. I chased.

Middle of the race: I chased hard. Caught and passed people moving myself into second place. Hime had what looked like an insurmountable gap. I chased harder. With about four laps to go Hime started making mistakes. He crashed on a grass corner. The gap was coming down as I was drilling it with Dave McNeal on my wheel. I am pretty sure that at one point Hime had to pit and we had now formed a group of three. I could now sit in some.

Two to go: I attack going through the Start/Finish and take the lead. It was mostly to see if I could gap them off in the corners. I knew they would match my pace on the straight climbs by drafting. Hime took the lead back going over the small barriers and threw a shoulder at me as he went by. My ultra conservative approach to the barriers section was costing me a couple seconds every lap but I couldn't afford to pinch flat and my left hand was totally useless and could hardly work the brakes let alone bunny hop. It looked like it was going to come down to a sprint finish.

Last lap: Hime attacked brutally going through Start/Finish. I matched it. Going through the barriers he had about 2 meters on me. Remounting I missed my pedal and it looked like I might have lost it at that point. He had probably 10 meters after the barriers and I cut that in half by the top of the course. I closed a bit more going through the tight grass turns and was within 2 meters again as we hit a high speed gravel right hand sweeper. This corner seemed to be getting looser as the race went on for some reason and Hime pushed it too hard. He went down hard. The attacks had opened a small gap to Dave McNeal so from that point I just tried to stay smooth and mistake free. I crossed the line a few seconds up on second and nearly 15 up on third, double fist pump, another win!

Race Results

Huge thanks to all the people that cheer for me. Hime had a huge cheering section, but people like Carolyn Reeves and Brent Prenzlow were reminding me that there are people in my corner too. I appreciate it very much!!!!!

This has been a very long season and it has taken it's toll. I am tired and sore and nursing injuries while trying to start Base and finish the CX season with a SoCal Prestige Series Title. Not sure how all this is going to effect me going into 2012. I really hope I can carry momentum, get some solid base, and race well in the early season. If that works out I think I will try to schedule a lull and then get back on form for Nationals. Sounds like a plan, but I am not all that great with plans so who knows what to expect! :)

Hopefully I can put together a "Year in Review" blog soon. I think I know what I want to do with it, unfortunately these things often look better in my mind than they do on the interwebs... If it doesn't get out before Christmas, hope everyone has a very merry one!

Till then, rubber side down and shredding (or rolling super steady, Base you know)!

Good Weekends tend to lead to Bummer Mondays.

2011-12-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was pretty great! Saturday Allison and I got up early and headed over to Orange County to donate some cans and go for a sweet ride with a hundred or so other people. This was our third year going to the Hunger Ride and this year the weather man smiled on us again, last year it rained! Instead of hammering myself into the ground on the ride I hung out with Mammograms In Action founder Zionna. She is a kick ass Cross Fit athlete and Olympic Lifter but is new to the bike thing and I had a great time showing her the ropes and escorting her on her longest ride to date (30 miles on her 3rd ride!).

Sunday Allison and I got out on the mountain bikes and rode Trabuco - Holy Jim. This route is a Santa Ana's classic and one of my favorites!

It was a beautiful day!

Monday is as always a "rest" day, but I went to the gym and did some plyos anyway. :)

Unfortunately during the day a major bummer struck and I got an email from Google stating that my Adsense account was terminated. This was a major bummer but it seems that along the way I had "promoted" the ads on my blog and that is forbidden. All funds I had earned ($104) were refunded to the advertisers.

I was really looking forward to donating that money to Bikes for Boobs so it hit me pretty hard. I now plan to still make that donation, but from my own pocket to honor my promise to my blog readers and their cooperation with clicking on the ads.

So there you have it, another update from The Mann Show. Training is going well, work is hard, living the life...

See you on the road or trail!

Hunger Ride and Stolen Shoes

2011-12-08T15:56:00.001-08:00

Anyone in Southern California that rides a bike should "Bring your can" and join us for the Rock N' Road Cyclery Hunger Ride!

It is a fun ride, and a good cause! We have been there the past two years, and I am looking forward to meeting and riding with some new people!

Now to something not so cool...

Sometimes I am reminded of how much I really hate people. Yesterday my cherished black leather Vibrams that I wear to work were stolen from the locker room at work along with my Injinji socks, my Specialized shoe bag, and the "glove dogs" I put in my cycling shoes to help them dry out. What is wrong with people?!?! They were sitting under the bench in front of my locker and someone decided that I shouldn't have them anymore. Such is life, from now on I will have to lock my shoes inside my locker with my other stuff...

In other news the "Leader board" was updated and I am still leading the points for the SoCalCross Prestige Series in Master's A 35+! This title will make a nice ending to a winning year for me!

Have a good weekend!!!!

A late Thanks-giving and Shades of Grey

2011-12-07T08:33:00.001-08:00

The past couple weeks since my last post have been crazy. It seems that is a fairly common occurrence in our house, though this time it might be a little more than usual. The Thanksgiving portion of the title on this post is self-explanatory but the "Shades of Grey" is not. You will soon find out the details but basically it is a combination of things that has seemed to create a fog in my mind. My original title was "Not Winning, Not Losing" which is also accurate but wasn't as all encompassing.

Rewinding a bit we traveled to North Mexico to celebrate Thanksgiving with the duo-Mac. Stephanie is an amazing cook and I love her food. I love it so much that I nearly ate myself sick. That is what T-day is all about right? Eating so much you have to roll yourself away from the table is normal right? I kid, we have much to be thankful for and many things went through my mind that make me very thankful indeed. I will save most of them for my Year In Review post that will come some time in the near future. Suffice it to say that I am very grateful that we have such wonderful friends to share some time with!

Around that time I got a phone call from my Dad. I don't talk to him much and for the most part he is a non-factor in my life as it seems he prefers it that way. Lots of history there for sure, and it doesn't really belong on my blog. I wish that meant I felt completely ambivalent to the news that he delivered but I do not. In any case he called to inform me that he had cancer in his throat and a mass in his lung. Officially both my parents are now fighting cancer.

The day after Turkey Day Allison and I headed to Noble Canyon for some sweet trail action. As luck would have it we ran into our buddy Jens and the three of us had a fantastic time. With SCNCA Divisional/State CX Championships on Sunday it was a pretty big bummer that Allison was having some issues riding. She poked herself in the ribs with her handlebar in a low speed crash and it is STILL haunting her. I feel for her struggles on the bike and hope that this time of struggle is followed by a time of "hot nasty sexy speed". I had a good ride with no major carnage though I definitely went down and certainly pussy footed about a few times. I really wish we had more "trail" type bikes to train on at times! I came out of the day with a bit of a sore right knee and some pain in my left palm.

Saturday we did an easy road spin. I keep battling with myself between racing well in Cyclocross and putting in my base miles for Mountain Bike racing next year. On this day base miles won out and I rode "bonus" time to meet Allison at her G-parents house. Certainly not the best preparation for the following day's race, but again I am conflicted.

Sunday's race was a very fun course with some good challenges. I had crashed a couple times in last year's race and managed to finish better despite repeating the crash-happy theme. Several guys that normally race the Elite category raced down for the "Bear Jersey" so I was not too upset with my finish position, especially considering I had two get-offs on a stupid 180 corner, the first of which occurred while I was leading the race on Lap 2. I did appreciate the racing experience though and am always learning more about tactics and how to race better. On the last lap I was in third, stuck in a Felt sandwich of Sheek and Fritz. Sheek managed to pull away a bit due to a bobble on my part and Fritz put in a brutal attack from the tail gunner position shortly after that left me in fourth. Allison again won the title/jersey which was a nice consolation prize for me.

As if the whole training/racing stuff and both parents ill with cancer wasn't enough, work has really been turning the screws on me hence no time to blog during the week. I have been trying to follow Allison's training schedule but her coach isn't giving her much base work. Fearing a downward spiral of mediocrity when faced with racing the two fastest amateur XC racers in the nation at a local level next year I am having to strike out on my own already. This is disconcerting as I learned early in 2011 that I didn't like riding all those endless hours alone, but I don't want to be under-prepared. In 2011 the average differential between me and the Marco/Ty battle was 3-4 minutes. I am not going to bridge that gap with a weak base!

This past weekend we did another Cyclocross race. This time a double header UCI race in Downtown Los Angeles. Again my race preparation was less than optimal as I had done a 4 mile trail run with Allison on Friday. The course was good even though it didn't have much in the way of technical challenges and it turned out that tactical racing was the order of the day. Saturday the Lap 1 attack of Tim Butler (Sue Butler's husband) left me and the rest of the 35+ Men's field scratching for second. I didn't know my competition for sure and didn't actually know the identity of the man in the black kit with the big W on the back, though in retrospect it is a tad bit of foreshadowing as he wound up Winning both days. I also didn't know Kenny Wehn of the "Stan's No-Tubes Elite" team was sitting in and waiting for the kill along with Bailey Bikes owner John Bailey. All I knew was I was in second with one guy up the road and drilling it till I dropped dead seemed like the order of the day. I rolled across the line in fourth losing a sprint to John after Kenny pulled away through the barriers.

Sunday's race was a lot different. I played a more tactical game and was happy to not sit with my nose in the wind. I spent pretty much the whole race in third tucked behind Tim and Kenny and trying to learn from their actions. A pack of 5 of us ripped around the course and several times I was unsure of how exactly I was managing to hang in there. Donny put a pass on me at one point and it made me very nervous to have him between me and the lead pair. I didn't want to have a gap form and know that if there is a roadie in there I would be more likely to get yo-yo'd than if I can shred the corners at my own risk filled pace. I picked a superior line through a corner and had a clear path through the next chicane when Donny leaned on me some. I didn't want to give up my line so I said "Make a little room" and held my ground. Unfortunately Donny then went through the tape on the opposite side of the course. I definitely didn't mean for that to happen. Our little squabble for third meant that I then had to bridge back to the lead pair and that cost me valuable energy! On the back straight they accelerated and I couldn't match it. Again I was left in the wind and towing another rider. This time I tried to use my corner speed and got a small gap going onto the finish straight. I sprinted with all I had and when my legs gave up I sat down and looked back. Fourth place was coming fast but I took third by a few inches. It was CLOSE! Another foot and I would have been fourth.

So as you can see I have not been winning, and not really losing either. Working hard for sure though! Looking forward to next year already! Since you invested this much time in reading my dumb blog, go check out the sweet new website for our new team, Bikes for Boobs! If you are so inclined please feel free to donate to the cause! Save a pair, save a life!!!

It's not easy being cheezy!

2011-11-21T08:09:00.001-08:00

I am not sure I have recovered from last week yet. The travel, lack of sleep, and crazy work stuff has left my head spinning. Add to that the fact that it seems I brought dreary weather back to Socal with me when I returned from Chicago and I feel like curling into a ball and taking a nap (the lack of pictures due to atmospheric moisture is sure to impact my crappy blog!). Hibernation anyone?

Allison's rightfully neurotic obsession with her foot in cold and wet weather makes planning and executing rides more of a chore than ever before. I am feeling the pressure too, she turns to me for guidance as if I know what she should and should not do. How the heck am I supposed to know? The best doctors that we can't afford are unable to give us any indication of how to deal with Black Death Foot. These doctors pocket more money per quarter than we make combined in a year. Surely they should know something I don't, but they are useless! We are further confounded by the fact that despite our best efforts we have thus far been unable to locate a pair of Specialized Defroster shoes for Allison. You would think that maybe someone somewhere could help, but so far it seems we are shit outta luck. At least the $200 "hot socks" seem to be doing a sufficient job so far, but I have my doubts about their effectiveness when the rides shift to longer duration. Insulation will become more important in my opinion. Don't come at me with suggestions, we have tried them all from wrapping her foot with space blankets, wool socks, booties, aluminum foil, plastic bags...

It is easy to come up with suggestions and say, "Try this..." The problem with everything is that if the suggestion fails Allison loses 3 months of her life. It is like playing Russian Roulette only the gun is pointed at her foot instead of her head. Think about it, if your foot gets cold it dies and now you have a terrible injury from NOTHING that takes 3 months to heal. Oh by the way, your foot getting cold is only a hypothesis. It has happened twice before and only two things that seem to be common between the two occurrences, riding bikes and cold weather.

Okay enough of that rant. Despite all this we had a decent weekend of training.

Saturday we headed up Indian Truck Trail with the goal of riding Trabuco and Holy Jim. We got up to Main Divide and it was cold. I could hear the cylinder snap shut on the revolver and the hammer pull back, the gun is pointed at Allison's right foot. I pulled the plug. We headed back down Indian Truck Fail and then drove to Vail Lake to finish her specified volume at lower elevation and without extended descents. My left Achilles tendon had started to hurt earlier in the day and at the completion of the three hours it was excruciating. I loaded up on Vitamin I. (Inside joke for Ibuprofen)

Sunday we had learned our lesson and knew we were going to have to keep training on the down low, the lower the better. Reluctantly Allison agreed to spend three hours looping through Daley Ranch. I had a good ride, she struggled I think. Either way it was much better than having to deal with icy cold wind and rain! We got a little wet in the last 10 minutes or so of the ride, but not enough to short out her "hot socks" thankfully!

Sunday night was the Velosport Team Banquet so we drove over to Rancho Santa Margarita. After helping to set up the banquet hall we feasted on pizza and cupcakes. It was nice to see some of our racing buddies that don't show up to 'Cross races! Huge congratulations to Clint and Marco for winning the coveted "Rider of the Year" award. It is nice to see people recognized for their hard work, likable personalities, and good attitudes!

It was nice racing with one of the largest club teams in the USA (approx. 600 members), but I look forward to next year racing on the new Bikes 4 Boobs / Rock N' Road Cyclery team. I think it will be great to sport new colors and to work for something bigger than a "trophy". Helping to detect cancer early for people who can't afford screenings is certainly a worthy cause! I ride with purpose. Save a pair, save a life!

Getting back to life after busin-ass travel...

2011-11-18T14:47:00.001-08:00

Putting things in perspective, it was a great experience to be selected to attend a corporate wide technology expo. The major drawback is that traveling destroys my ability to exercise restraint on my dietary intake and then creates a perfect fat-storm because I wind up with no time to work out at all. The trip itself was extremely demanding though, arriving in Chicago at 1 AM, didn't get to hotel and bed till 2:30. Up Monday at 6:15 AM and then spent all day at the symposium (3.75hrs sleep). Monday evening I met with a vendor and didn't get back to the hotel and bed until 1:30 AM. Tuesday I was up at 6 AM and working the poster presentations all day (4.5hrs sleep). Despite my lack of sleep I spent Tuesday night with a co-worker in Downtown Chicago (pics below) and then got about 2 hours of sleep before heading to the airport to catch my 5 AM flight. Total sleep for three days around 10hrs. Huge quantities of crappy coffee were consumed to accomplish this schedule. If it weren't for Kim I would have been sulking the entire time from missing my wife and bikes!

Arriving near downtown we parked and then grabbed the train.

There was a really nice sunset during our train ride towards Millenium Park.

I snapped a few photos of the Millenium Bean, this one was my favorite.

We walked down to the statue of Marilyn Monroe.

A couple of shots off the bridge of the river.

Some weirdos were posing between her legs and snapping pictures of her undies!

The Wrigley Building.

Figured Allison would dig the Leg Lamp!

She has one of her own...

In any case, I am super thankful to be home again and looking forward to shredding some sweet trails this weekend with my beautiful wife.

Loving life!

Some things that DON'T suck.

2011-11-16T18:28:00.001-08:00

This post was supposed to be posted on Monday but was delayed due to a crazy few days of busin-ass travel. I appreciate your patience during this time of technical difficulty... :)

1) Riding bikes with my wife and friends.

2) Road trips with said people.

3) Sushi that I cannot afford.

4) Utah landscapes.

I am sure I had more items on that list as I piloted the Black Max across the desert Saturday night. Right now though those are on the forefront of my mind. The last four days were stellar.

It is easy to identify and list things that don't suck when immediately juxtaposed with something that does. Air travel is certainly on the list of things that do. As I write this I am sitting in the bar at the airport sipping a glass of overly expensive red wine waiting for my flight.

I was determined to not let a business trip rob me of a weekend day, I desperately wanted to race Cyclocross today but despite my best efforts it just wasn't to be. Between a ticketing SNAFU and trying to unpack from one trip, pack for another, and sleep a little, all I was able to manage was a 1 hour ride with my wife before reluctantly driving off to the airport.

Rewinding a bit, I took three days of vacation to properly execute a plan for Allison's birthday that had been hatched four years earlier while sipping beers in the parking lot of Bootleg Canyon after a full day of shuttles and giant grin inducing shreddage on big DH bikes.

Interesting how one road trip in 2007 birthed another in 2011. We were sharing a Stone Brewery 11th Anniversary and Stone's Vertical Epic series spurred some discussion about Allison's birthday in 2011 being a unique opportunity to do something cool. 11.11.11 with an 11th Anniversary @ 11,000 feet of elevation was born.

Wednesday, the first day of the vacation, we lazed a bit in the morning before a nice ride around Lake Elsinore. This is a main staple of winter base training for us as it has a very flat profile. Post ride nutrition out of the way we packed up the truck and headed 4 hours north to Las Vegas where we would rendezvous with Jeff, one of the original instigators of the trip. After picking Jeff up at the airport we headed for The Hard Rock Hotel where we first enjoyed a cervesa at the Pink Taco, and then Steph and Dan joined us for an incredible sashimi dinner at Nobu. Now that we had the full compliment of friends and our tanks topped off, the five of us sped late into the night arriving on a nearly full moon lit Gooseberry Mesa in the early hours of Thursday.

An all too brief night's sleep yielded a great deal of excitement around Thursday morning's french press coffee from the Jet Boils.

After sufficient caffienation and a hearty bowl of oats I revelled in introducing three of my closest friends to slick rock riding on The Goose. We spent the better part of the day playing connect the dots, steep ups and downs, fast single track, techie fun heavenly riding with spectacular vistas of Zion and Little Creek Mesa and massive vertical drops to the desert below.

By the time we were loading the bikes back on the cars for the evening jaunt to Hillsdale every one of us had smiled, laughed, hooted with joy, and were ready for food and rest. At the little house beside the road a roaring fire in the potbelly stove kept us warm, a delicious dinner of steak and vegetables satiated our appetites, and sweet sleep fell on our weary eyes (after some libations and clowning around of course).

Friday, 11.11.11, four years in the making.

A ride on Thunder Mountain was the order of the day. Conditions were uncertain as there was some patchy snow still on the ground in the valley from the previous week's storms. As our group pedaled up the bike path the snow became more and more dense, eventually shrouding the path entirely.

Our mountain bike tires groaned and hissed as they pressed their way up through untracked snow. Turning right onto the dirt road the snow only got deeper and before reaching the single track the snow was several inches deep. I have to admit that at this point I was a little worried. Between Allison's Black Death Foot and navigating the trail with 4 inches of snow covering it, it was going to be a long and fairly stressful day.

Fortunately it takes a bit more than some frozen precipitation to dampen the spirits of our little crew and we proceeded to shred snow covered trail with reckless abandon. Traction was hard to come by and the riding experience was a polar opposite to the previous day's slick rock. The views again did not disappoint, snow provided jaw dropping contrast amongst the red rocks, ancient gnarled pines, and hoodoos.

Unfortunately the next activity of the day was cut short by the white winter decorations. The road to Brianhead Peak was not passable in our truck and Allison deemed it too far to hike. Night had fallen and our energy levels were depleted. We did our best but came up 560 feet short, enjoying the aged 11th Anniversary at 10,420 feet.

Our failure to summit was not without celebration though as the duo-MC set about making snow angels and writing giant birthday wishes while Allison tilted back the brew.

Back at the cabin the evening's feast consisted of Mann-style grilled pork chops and S-Mac's magical vegetables, followed by Reese's Peanut Butter Cup encrusted brownies with 31 candles alight. Surely it didn't measure up to Allison's mom's famous Boston Cream Pie birthday cakes, but it was quite tasty.

Sometimes the drive home can be a drag after such a fabulous few days of adventure with friends, a sensation of crashing down off an amazing high. This trip however brought us back from the high nice and slow. After winterizing the house and bidding farewell to Dan and Steph MC who were headed home through picturesque Zion National Park, Allison, Jeff, and I drove through Toquerville for a blissfull trip on the flowy serpentine single track above the cliffs of Hurricane (always pronounced Hurkin in these parts).

Even a violent looking crash by Allison did not derail the pleasure train on this day as our slightly smaller group of mountain bikers flew through the desert landscape on perfect buff one track.

Dinner consisted of the highly touted Cafe Rio in St. George followed by a "Concrete" (think DQ Blizzard but made from frozen custard) at Nielson's.

Sitting here on an Airbus, flying to Chicago, these memories warm my heart and bring a massive smile to my face. I close my eyes and it isn't just the turbulence that moves me. I can hear my friends brapping and shouting and laughing as we ride. This is the reason mountain biking is so important to me. It is the polar opposite of suck. It has brought us great friends that will travel from far and wide to full fill a crazy whimsical idea for my beloved wife's birthday celebration. I love riding and I love these people.

Till the next time, may your adventure be full of joy and love...

Fat on Saturday, skinnier on Sunday

2011-11-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

"Fat on Saturday, skinnier on Sunday." Tires that is. Certainly our recent over-indulgence isn't going to provide me any weight loss!!! Sorry in advance for the distinct lack of photos, I will try to get more snaps for the next one...

Saturday we rode the mountain bikes on San Juan Trail. Conditions were primo because of rain on Friday. The ride was made even sweeter by the fact that we got to ride with Ben Jones, Brent Prenzlow, and Chtistina P. Turner! Perfect single track shreddage and a veritable who's who of cycling in So. Cal. made for an exceptional day.

On the climb Ben Jones was riding in front which made for a nice change of pace. I am usually playing 5mph bumper for Allison but on this day Ben took the onslaught of shuttle riders and DH rippers. Our pace was fairly moderate which was good because my legs were quite sore from running 4 miles in 30 minutes on Friday.

When we arrived at Bluejay Campground where we usually refuel I discoverd that my rear tire was leaking down and Allison declared that she was going to give in to her training OCD with a 10 minute low cadence climb up "Pain Divide". Nobody thought that sounded even remotely like a good time so our little party of five broke up. I put some air in my tire and hoped it would seal but it didn't. I then figured I would tube it while Allison was flogging herself on the fire road climb but that didn't quite work out as my spare tube had a hole in it. When Allison came back down I decided to milk the tire as far as I could which wasn't very far. I hate having to put a tube into a tubeless setup!

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I slowed my pace to stay close to Allison and to ensure I didn't pinch flat the tube. With the conditions so perfect there were a lot of people climbing the trail late in the day so it was a good thing I wasn't really letting it rip. I love to open it up and blast that descent but on day's like that when other trails are too wet to ride San Juan is amazing so there is always a ton of traffic.

Saturday night I BBQ'd dinner at my father-in-laws house as an early birthday celebration for Allison. As is customary for us we ate too much and drank too much and generally had a great time. We both paid for it on Sunday!

Sunday we awoke to rain. It seems some people get really excited for "real 'cross weather", but Allison just gets super freaked out about keeping her foot warm. I have tried to explain to her that I don't think that less than 1 hour is enough to cause Black Death Foot, but it is a huge deal and we really don't know for sure exactly what the limits of her condition are. If finding the limit means another three months off the bike and another wasted season I say we stay well on the safe side!

When we got to the park it was pouring rain so I set up the canopy and the trainer and then set about getting dressed. I layered up and jumped on the rollers. Riding rollers in the rain on a CX bike with 35psi in the tires is tricky to say the least! My legs were feeling pretty sore and beat down though so it was nice to spin on the rollers for a few. I didn't get to ride a full lap of the course before my race as the lap times were fairly long and I needed to strip all my warmup layers off. I had another iffy start as you can see in the video (4th or 5th wheel), but I really didn't want to be on the front as I hadn't ridden a full lap and figured it might help to have someone in front of me for the first lap to keep me from blowing corners or crashing.

The first lap I didn't feel terrible. I was easily holding position in third place. The course was very slick in places and I was being a bit conservative. I was third wheel going onto a high speed sidewalk section when both of the riders in front of me splattered. It looked terrible, but I think they were both okay. I snuck around unscathed only to get passed in the next corner by Brent Prenslow! I didn't know he was racing with us but I sort of hoped he would be just cruising so I could hold his wheel. I figure I have a lot to learn and staying with a guy that wins at the Elite level locally might help, especially seeing his lines on the rest of the course that I had not pre-ridden.

Well it didn't last long. My legs just didn't have the extra gear to hang with BP. I really tried, but it wasn't to be. He quickly opened a gap and I found myself battling with another rider for 2nd. The other rider seemed to have better power than me but was struggling a bit in the mud so I tried to help him out. "Stay centered on the bike, lean it under you, don't get inside the bottom bracket." I don't know if I helped him, but I tried. Soon after that I got a gap on him and was pulling away.

On the last lap it looked like I was going to take second place with a good margin to BP in first and about the same gap back to third. There was a slippy muddy section leading onto a tarmac straight. Unfortunately as I was speeding through the mud my bike started to skate around, I wasn't well balanced as I came up on the transition to asphalt and couldn't un-weight the bike properly bashing my front wheel on the lip. That horrible swish-swish-swish sound of my front tire going down sent a feeling of panic through me! I need points! I tried to stay on the gas and found out going into the high speed corner at the end of the tarmac that although a tubular tire will stay on the rim, it doesn't afford any real traction or predictability on the mud. I face planted.

I struggled, riding the rest of the lap on the flat front tire. It was pretty terrible. I managed to cross the line in 9th. I felt crappy about the whole thing even though the course was tremendous fun and the mud was a very welcome challenge. Two flats in two days, and this one was my first time flatting a tubular.

So a flat tubular comes at about the worst possible time. My mom had a tumor and her thyroid gland removed from her neck last week and it turns out it was malignant. My mom means a lot to me and she is strong, if anyone can beat cancer it is her. It still scares the shit out of me that she has to fight it though. On top of that we will be leaving for Allison's birthday celebration this week. Four years in the making, 11/11/11 will be epic but it leaves me zero chance to strip off a dead soldier and glue a freshie. Oh well, everyone keeps reminding me that "it is just cyclocross." I fly out to Chicago on Sunday afternoon for work so maybe I will skip the CX race altogether. Maybe I will have time to update the blog, but it may be a while...

Till next time, hold it WFO and rubber side down! BRAAAAAP!

Update: Robert Plumb uploaded this pic of me to Facebook, I thought it was cool as I think it shows how much concentration goes into riding the slick mud sections.

TEAM, The Mann Show is a TEAM!

2011-11-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

This morning my good friend DMC uploaded a bunch of photos from this past weekend's racing. Before I delve into the topic of this post I want to give a hearty thanks to all the people who take the time and effort to photograph and share these images. The moments of racing, like many in life, are fleeting. When a photographer applies his or her skill and artistic talent they (sometimes) capture something special. Looking at race pictures I am often reminded of the sweat stinging my eyes, the elation of racing, or the crushing moments when as an athlete your body simply lets you down and won't do what you ask of it.

When I saw the picture Dan posted it was a different feeling altogether.

You see a bit of back story is necessary for the casual observer to understand...

After racing my guts out in the Master's 35+ A race, and immediately jumping into the Elite Men's race which I pulled out of with 2 laps to go due to cramping while again turning myself inside out to try and place well, Allison asked me to ride the course with her and show her what I learned in the last 2 hours of flogging myself cross-eyed.

This photo for me captures the fun feel of the Expo area of a local cross race. It captures the multiple surfaces that we race on (dirt, cement/tarmac, and grass). It captures the fabulous weather and venue that comes with racing in Balboa Park, at the San Diego Velodrome. More than those things though it captures the nature of my relationship with Allison. In the photo I am calling back to her to "take that corner to the tape", coaching her on corner speed. It reminds me that first and foremost, although we race individually, we are a team. One without the other just wouldn't be the same.

I am one lucky Mann!

No matter what the future holds I am excited and comforted with the knowledge that the two of us, the team that was formed so many years ago, will rock on strong...

THE MANN SHOW

Spy-clocross and the Velodrome!

2011-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last week was a good one. I got some solid training in both running and riding. I am anxious to start my serious base training for next year, but the draw of SoCalCross racing is strong!

This past weekend was the "San Diego Double Header" with a race on Saturday at Lake Hodges (SPYclocross San Diego) and Sunday at Balboa Park (Adams Avenue Cyclo-Cross). Racing at new venues is always so exciting! Lake Hodges was a brand new venue so although we had ridden in the area we had never raced there. To up the ante even further Sunday's race was to start and finish on the San Diego Velodrome. Allison and I had never even ridden on a track before so our excitement level for the race was definitely very high! To make the weekend even better Allison arranged for us to camp out at Steph and Dan's house, Mannimal Reunion Meat Festival!!!!!

I have been slacking horribly in the mechanical department so the bikes were not at all ready for another race weekend. I am glad that the race on Saturday was close enough to home, and starting late enough, that I had time to get up and at least do some abbreviated race prep in the morning before we had to head out. Eventually we hit the road and before I knew it I had picked up my Series Leader jersey was heading out to check out the course.

First off I was stoked to have another flyover, despite the fact that it was not functional (didn't have any usable passageway below). The course was really pretty good IMO. It wasn't the typical CX course as there was zero tarmac and almost zero grass. Last week there had been quite a lot of heated discussion on Facebook about the course. I didn't really chime into the conversation as I am not an "OG" cyclocross racer. Not to disrespect the big dogs, but I actually like having the variety of courses. I really think that the course was fun. I wouldn't rank it high for "All-Time Greats", but it had a good variety of features. There were super fast sections, some long sandy sections, some tricky corners and **GASP** singletrack!

Before the race Allison took a few pictures of me in the leader's jersey and when I saw this one I thought with the beard that I could maybe do a funny bit of editing...

Being series leader affords me the privilege of first call up.

Though that doesn't guarantee that I will actually have a decent start as demonstrated moments later. I got absolutely swarmed off the gun and was probably 6th wheel or so as we headed out. Johnny O' definitely was on his game though and was out front and pulling away immediately. The high speed double track descent was broken up by a kink in the course and a couple of the riders in front of me went down which jammed things up a bit and let O' Show open the gap further. By the bottom of the course I was fourth wheel with O' Show checked out, Todd Stevenson and Jeff Sanford battling, and a gap back to me. My goal was really to catch Johnny and I sort of hoped that Todd and Jeff would work with me. At the end of the first lap I had caught the duo and as we headed out onto the fast section of the course for lap 2 I went to the front to pull.

I hoped that giving them a bit of draft could help us all reel in Johnny but I heard Todd yell up "Thanks." neither of them ever came to the front again. Though this picture definitely shows that they weren't far behind me two laps into the race.

I was pretty sure there was no way I could reel O' Show in without help but I am not smart enough to not try... and fail.

Luckily for me Johnny is almost old enough to be my dad and although he seems to kick my butt regularly we aren't in the same age group. Winning my age group means I get to go for a celebratory leap!

After my race I tried to re-hydrate and ran around taking pictures and dousing the women as they battled through the hot afternoon. Eventually after Allison got done crushing the course and collecting another win it was time to head South again for Meat Fest and some time with the original Mannimals!

Sunday morning we were up early and headed over to check out the course at Balboa Park. The course was much more of a traditional CX course, but also had some very rough sections that I would say were more mountain bike specific than a buff piece of singletrack! I heard lots of people complaining about flats and even broken carbon rims! The course was also a little confusing on the first few laps. In some places it was so wide that there was no indication that one was still on course! It was however quite fun with long grass sections, dirt, some cement walkways and wait for it... the Start and Finish on the San Diego Velodrome!!!! Here is a video of the start of the Master's 35+ A race, yep that is me on the front!

Though I did lead the race from start to finish it wasn't as easy as it sounds. I didn't know what the gaps were and I was pinned the whole time despite the fact that I had already signed up to race the Elite Men's race immediately after finishing the 35+ race!

It was totally rad that they incorporated the Velodrome into the race!

The joy of victory was quickly wiped away though as I suffered horribly in the Elite race and wound up pulling out when my legs started to cramp up. I had been desperately trying to hang onto James Walsh after catching him and with two and a half laps to go just ran out of fitness. After changing clothes I grabbed the camera and you can likely find any number of (hopefully) sweet pictures I took on Allison's blog. I am not a great photographer so I hope my spray and pray technique yielded something useful for her along with all that work of sorting through the crap photos.

See you at the next one!

Bikes 4 Boobs Excitement!

2011-10-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

As Allison already posted, this past weekend was another non-racing weekend. In some regards it is a bit of a bummer to not race knowing that our racing buddies are all suffering and drooling on themselves as they ride/run/jump in repetitious fashion until an official tells them they are done, but I was relieved to not have to be driving quite that far. The races would have put us 5 hrs from home on Sunday afternoon.

Instead we did some other driving this past week. On Wednesday we borrowed some sweet Turner 5.Spot bikes from Turner Bikes and did a ride with some nice fellows over in Laguna after meeting for a chat with Matt from Rock N' Road Cyclery. Definitely not our ordinary weekday grind!

Friday I enjoyed a long (for me) run at lunch. 5.6 miles is more than I think I have ever run at one time. I don't run very fast but the idea is to go out and just get some other stimulus for my system. I need to force a lot of adaptation if I want to be competitive next year!

Saturday after a lazy morning we headed over to ride the mountain bikes on San Juan Trail. That trail is always pretty busy on the weekends, likely because it is such a good trail! Our ride was made even better by an encounter with our buddy Jeffe which spurred on plans to do dinner with his family. I felt pretty good on the bike and was having a really good time on the descent but Allison was having an off sort of day and wound up violently sampling dirt. Luckily she didn't suffer any major damage! I like to think it was made all better by a typically excellent BBQ dinner and some ice cream for dessert at Jeffe's, or maybe me strapping ice to her helped...

In any case Sunday was a very exciting day. New opportunities are always like that, especially when they are this good. We drove to Newport Beach from Jeffe's and joined the new Bikes 4 Boobs team for the first team ride! The group is quite diverse but we all have a great love for cycling and a desire to help with Mammograms in Action! It is a cause that has affected nearly all of us in some form, I nearly lost my grandmother to breast cancer in the 80's. She was strong and lucky and beat it, but only because it was identified soon enough. From the Mammograms in Action website, "Mammograms In Action (MIA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit breast cancer organization with the mission to provide funding for qualified low-income and uninsured women and men who need screening and/or diagnostic procedures in the prevention of breast cancer." This opportunity to ride and race in the B4B kit and help to fund medical screening that saves lives is really giving both Allison and I an opportunity to participate in something much bigger than ourselves. We feel both humbled and grateful for this opportunity and look forward to our future adventures in Black and Pink! Many great things are on the horizon!

If you haven't already, please feel free to click on the link on the right side of my blog to donate to the cause. I have also added an "Advertisement" to the bottom of my blog to "monetize" it. Please click on it often as I will be donating any funds that it generates to the B4B cause! Any donation helps and is appreciated by the many people who's lives are touched by this organization. Help us save a pair!

Spookycross Photo and Video Update...

2011-10-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

My wonderful wife is not only super fast but she takes some nice photos and she just sent me over a bunch of them via email so I figured I would provide a photo update!

Rock N' Road Cyclery is our #1 supporter, and this was their event, so it is only appropriate that I post a picture of me with one of our favorite store managers/mechanics!

Thanks for all you do Chuck!

This is what it looks like when you totally blow the start. I am not in the photo at all!

Moving up, I was working way to hard trying to catch up with Phil and Johnny.

Caught Johnny in the sand and was on his wheel on the off camber turn.

Working through traffic, but definitely not in the lead!

Flyover.

Run-up.

The hardest section for me on the weekend, the endless sand pit!

Finishing up, 2nd AG, 3rd in the wave (Johnny is 45+)

This is what it looks like when I don't blow the start. Clear track!

Swapping positions and being schooled by an ex-Olympic track racer on race tactics.

Working the barriers!

Off camber!

Last but not least a video of me being chased through the barriers by Mark Noble.

BRAAAP!

Spooky Cross 2011

2011-10-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

After suffering through the flu last weekend I spent most of the week leading up to Spooky Cross somewhere between healthy and sick. I had no appetite at all and didn't feel well enough to really train. The net result was very little training volume and a questionable outlook on what is likely the most important 'cross race of the season for us. To compound these issues Allison's coach sent her "Week 1" of her 2012 training plan on Monday, a week that essentially meant a low level transition week with a 1/2hr run on Friday. This wouldn't have been an issue had we been doing any trail running lately, but over a month had passed since our last run...

Friday worked out to be different in just about every aspect from a "normal" day for The Mann Show. It started out with a "Dawn Patrol" trail run up at Santa Rosa Plateau. I really love trail running now and it was awesome to get up and run in the brisk morning air. Before the run I had a banana with a bit of almond butter and maple spread (looking back I think this "breakfast" was part of what contributed to me feeling so good on the run). I started the run behind Allison because she paces better than I do, especially with the use of her Garmin 310XT.

That didn't last long though. I am guessing that the recent lack of training has left me feeling very fresh and I jumped ahead of her onto the second single track section. We don't run very fast compared to real runners, but my feet felt light and I was jumping onto boulders and generally having a blast. A large buck with a very impressive rack bolted across in front of us at one point. So cool! About half way through the run though Allison said that she was hurting pretty bad and needed to take the short route back to the car. I think she finally stopped heel striking and the stress on her underdeveloped little calves was devastating. Not good timing...

We headed home and I scrambled a couple eggs for us to munch on before heading to work. It was a really short day at work due to a Department Picnic. At the picnic I pigged out on BBQ and treats. On the bright side my appetite was back, but I certainly wouldn't get sufficient volume over the weekend to burn the extra calories. It is tough to balance off season with not gaining too much weight!

After the picnic we headed directly over to Irvine. Our buddy Mykyta was kind enough to open his home to us for the weekend so we could hang out with the Rock N' Road crew and enjoy the festivities. Allison and I stopped by the race venue and then headed to the Irvine store to chat with buddies and hang out. A late dinner and a margarita with Mykyta, Chanson, and El Gato was lots of fun!

Saturday we cooked breakfast and spent a bunch of time hanging out with Mykyta before heading over to the race venue.

I had lots of bike prep to take care of and did so in the parking lot. Allison even pitched in to help out, she is pretty handy with a rag! When the course opened at 12 o'clock we jumped on to figure things out. It was a fun course, not one that I would say favored me, with lots of long fast sections and a long sand pit that could not be ridden 100% (by me). The barriers were also set up in an interesting fashion with a fast lead in, and a 180 left turn immediately before them.

Eventually it was time to line up and race. I wasn't feeling super confident and my legs were sore from the trail run. I am not sure why, but I had a terrible start.

Moments after the gun, I had managed to make a front row start look like a third or fourth row start. That meant that I had to dig super hard to pass my way through traffic and catch back onto the lead pair of riders. The lead pair consisted of none other than Johnny "O-show" O'mara and (unknown to me) Phil Tintsman (ex-DH Pro among other things). I managed to catch them before the sand pit...

This is where Phil passed Johnny and then gapped the two of us. I was on Johnny's wheel and then on the back section of the course where there are long straights I tried to put in a pull. I didn't know who Phil was but figured our only chance to catch him was to work together. This is where "Dumb Justin" took over. I went into the gravel corner at the end of the straight way too hot. I two wheel drifted most of the way through and should have gotten my foot out but didn't. Down I went as Johnny yelled back to hurry up and get back on. A few times I thought I might catch back up but made too many mental mistakes at crucial moments. Since Johnny was racing 45+ I took second behind Phil in 35+, third from our start wave. It was great racing though and I really wish I could have raced closer with Johnny as I surely could learn a lot from him on course. I need all the help I can get to race with Ty and Marco next season! There were however a ton of people out cheering and taking photos. Some of the best race pictures I have ever had taken of me...

...and some suffering captured.

After my race I did my best to enjoy the night and support my wife and team mates!

Front?

Back?

It was a really fun night!

There wasn't much time for recovery between the races on Saturday and Sunday (less than 24hrs). Allison and I were both feeling pretty beat down on Sunday but we suited up just the same. With temperatures much higher I lined up looking for Phil or Johnny but neither of them were there. My start was much better though and I led the pack into the first corners which is much more comfortable than working through traffic! Soon it was clear that I had a new challenge for the day though in the form of Mark Noble (former National CX Champ and Track Olympian!).

Had I known who he was before hand I would have tried to sit on his wheel but instead I played the "Dumb Justin" card again and wound up with my nose in the wind till Mark attacked me at my weakest, as I "ran" through the sand.

It was an amazingly humbling and soul crushing moment for me in the race when he attacked. He led by a foot or so as we dismounted into the sand and when I was about halfway through I realized through my race fog that he was already re-mounting and pedaling. I never claimed to be a runner, but that was ridiculous! As if my coffin wasn't quite nailed shut, later in that lap we were both working through traffic and a rider came off on a steep-up blocking the course in front of me and I came off my bike avoiding him...

It didn't really matter though. There was no way I was going to catch Mark, this just made the gap a bit bigger!

So in the end I was second in the wave behind a former Olympic cyclist, but took 1st in 35+.

It was a fun weekend of racing but I am very sore and feeling exceptionally beat down. Another 1st place and a 2nd place keeps me in the lead for the series but I am not sure how that will all pan out. Allison and I both need to downshift to Base Training for next year soon! It is tough to balance the pull of racing with the promise of training... I am sure we will be at some more CX races though.

In the mean time, see you on the trails!

Half a weekend...

2011-10-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

I was super excited for this weekend. On Friday I posted this pic of Allison and I from work.

We were both sporting our Twin Six Cyclocross Skeleton t-shirts. On tap was an easy Saturday with a bunch of ladies and a 'Cross race on Sunday, both at our local bike race venue Vail Lake. You see it is very exciting to have a good bike race that we don't have to drive 100 miles to get to, and we are always excited to share our local trails.

Saturday morning over breakfast and coffee Allison and I discussed the topics of the "Women's MTB Clinic" that we were supposed to be hosting. It didn't work out quite the way we had hoped, but Saturday turned out good all-in-all. I led a ride with the whole group of women in the name of M2M. (Hopefully can update this post with all the pics I took later). The group was very diverse but I think we did a good job. After the ride we had some food and the women had some chit chat time (okay a lot of chit chat time). I was anxious to ride and do a clinic but that wasn't to be. Most of the group wound up doing Yoga. I loaned my MTB to one of the women and a small group of us went for a ride. Allison seemed anxious to get home and I think in retrospect she was likely already feeling what would eventually totally destroy the remainder of the weekend.

When we got home we set about our normal dinner preparation and Allison said that she felt really out of it. I didn't notice anything specific, but she said she wasn't feeling well. Even weirder, after we had dinner I totally passed out on the couch. That is something that doesn't happen, especially given that I have been on an "off season" week as far as training goes! Turns out my body was being invaded by the influenza virus and I woke in the middle of the night shivering uncontrollably even though our bedroom was not cold. My sleep was fitful at best and by morning my whole body ached and I was hating life.

Sunday morning rolled around and Allison was also sick but still wanted to race! There was no way I could. After forcing myself to eat breakfast we discussed the options and Allison agreed that it wasn't a good idea to try to race sick. We drove over to Vail to pick our our EZ-up and the stuff we had left over-night and then I spent the entire rest of the day on the couch with a fever. I was really super bummed that I didn't get to hang out with all my race buddies. Quite a few people came out to Vail that I hadn't seen in a while. I hate being sick!!!!!

Why can't I get sick during the week and waste a work day? Why do I have to lose such a valuable weekend day? Today I feel mostly back to normal. I guess I should be glad that the flu only robbed me of one day, but it is a tough pill to swallow at this point. Hoping to do a nice easy spin at lunch...

Looking forward to Spooky Cross this weekend. Hope I can rally and have a good race. See you there!

Vail Lake Bike Week - Part 1

2011-10-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

"Bike Week" at Vail Lake is a new event here in So. Cal. that has combined the close of the MTB season with early CX racing. The first weekend (Oct 1-2) was comprised of a marathon distance (~48 miles) race followed by a SuperD on Saturday, then an XC race on Sunday. The second weekend (Oct 7-9) includes CX and MTB clinics and rides for women, a Euro style Enduro/SuperD, and a full day of Cyclocross racing on Sunday.

Though the Marathon and SuperD races would have been lots of fun our hunger for racing has been more than satiated of late so Allison and I opted to only participate in the XC race this past weekend. I was very nervous about the outcome of Sunday's race as I am not anywhere near as well prepared to race as I was earlier this year. I am rolling about 5lbs heavy and have not been getting the same quality work in on the bike as I was previously.

Saturday Allison and I got some stuff done around the house and then rode a lap of the XC course when it opened for practice (after Marathon, before SuperD). It was a good thing we checked out the course as it was slightly different than what we expected. We set up the EZ-Up and then went home to prep bikes and try to stay cool. Not an easy task when the temps are over 100F!

Sunday morning we were up and at the venue early. Allison and I chipped in and helped support the CAT2 racers and cheered a few friends on to victory. I noted early on that Eric Bostrom was present and knew that meant my race was going to be a tough one. E-Boz is looking super fit as usual and with my "off season" lack of focus and extra weight I feared the race would be very one sided with me off the back. I was stoked to get to warm up with Eric and he is as friendly as he is talented. Before long it was time to line up.

On the line I joked typically, trying to convince the other 10 or so racers to do a neutral start lap and start racing on Lap 2. When the horn sounded it was clear that nobody was biting and the group sped across the grass toward the first climb. I was sitting third wheel and attempting to conserve a bit. I knew that we would all be paying for our Lap 1 efforts on Lap 3 in the oppressive heat! It was nice to know ahead of time that EB was the man I needed to mark but when he took the lead and started accelerating I was definitely on the rivet! About halfway through the lap I was totally cross eyed and made a mistake on the entrance to a single track. Unfortunately I let that mistake cascade into two more which were all compounded by the fact that my chain kept falling off the big ring! I was imploding and my bike wasn't working right!!!

By the time I managed to get myself back into some semblance of race mode E-Boz had opened up at least a 30 second gap and I had dropped back to third. It would have been very easy to give up at this point and I had plenty of negative self-talk going on but re-focused and reminded myself that we still had over two laps to go! Soon I caught Allison (she had started 4 minutes in front of me) and she shouted some greatly appreciated words of encouragement. I knew that she was having a great race though when a while later, heading out on Lap 2, she was not far behind and shouting up at me to keep my head in the game. I was elated that she was going fast, but it worried me that I wasn't going faster. Looking ahead though Eric's pace seemed to be starting to falter and I felt that I was closing the gap.

Not long after that Eric made a wrong turn and went off course. Not wanting to capitalize on one silly mistake I sat up to let him catch back up. When we hit the next steep section he had closed to within a few seconds so I dialed back up to race pace. I noticed by the top that the gap had widened and realized that Eric was now paying for the brutal first lap pace that he set so I focused on staying smooth and fast and not making any more mistakes. Talking to him post race it seems he had over paced in the heat and was cramping.

For the next lap and a half I just did my best to ride a solid race. Several times on the last lap I was forced to drop my pace well below that which I felt was acceptable but I was on the verge of cramping and someone had set the heat outside to full stupid (over 100F). I was very grateful for the ice in a sock hand-up that I got on the way out on that final lap, it would have been way worse without it!

In the end I pulled off another W and we celebrated afterwards with some good beer and fun times!

Nice to end the MTB season on a high note and hopefully I can carry momentum into the 2012 season. The 35-39 field next year will be super stacked as the two fastest and most talented 30-34 riders in the U.S. (1 &2 at both XC and Marathon Nats) are moving up an Age Group!!!!

Wish me luck! See you at the Cross races...

Expectations...

2011-09-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Expectations are a tricky thing. They can totally lead you astray, let you down, or build you up. I once read a book about relationships that suggested eliminating expectations. According to the book if you don't expect something from someone then you will not be let down when your expectations are not met. Ideally this would leave you in a constant state of "How nice of a surprise that was!" I spent some time thinking on this notion and I simply don't feel that this mentality is within my grasp. I have so many expectations from myself and others every day, to accomplish stuff at work, be a good husband, etc. I also feel it is important to have expectations for my performance in training and races. If there is no expectation then where would the motivation to suffer come from? I just don't think I could dig that deep, regardless of how wonderful it would be to always think, "What a surprise that I was able to finish!"

It is an interesting notion but it seems I will just have to proceed with having expectations and opening myself up to the possibility of disappointment. With that in mind I prepare for this coming weekend's race, the final race of the year on my mountain bike. I will do my best and hope that in doing so I will fulfill my expectations. In this case though, disappointment can be fuel for winter training! Yeah I am already looking forward to the 2012 MTB season!!!!!

With that out of the way... "It was a nice surprise to win this weekend!"

Plans were laid very late to head to Camarillo for the Pacifica Crossfest, the second stop of the Socal Cross Series. Saturday when we awoke we still didn't have a plan but it came together nicely! After a morning of gluing tubulars (Specialized Tracers on Williams CX wheels) we did a short CX ride from the house up to SRP and back.

After the ride I prepped bikes and packed the bike stuff in the truck while Allison packed the essentials for the weekend. We shared the ride and hotel with a buddy (Thanks for joining us Scott!) and that was great because it made the trip much more reasonable cost wise.

We started the drive with a stop in at Rock N' Road in Anaheim Hills to pick up some much needed stuff. The rest of the drive was painfully slow and I was not such a happy camper (think pre-menstrual female), sorry to Scott and Allison. Though eating an entire bag of Trader Joes triple chocolate chip cookies did seem to help...

Sunday we were up and had our typical race breakfast, except I went bonus and ate a fresh waffle from the "Continental Breakfast" at the motel. (YUM!) We arrived at the venue with lots of time to spare and then proceeded to walk the course. The course was RAD but walking it took way too long. In some regards I am glad we didn't ride it due to the 1" tall rebar puncture section (this was later fixed I was told), destroying our only set of tubulars pre-riding would have been bad! After walking the course and checking in I suited up and started a warm up. It was nice to have already connected the course up in my head from the walk!!!!

I found out on the start line that 1st and 2nd place from last Sunday's race were not racing this race. That was a bit of a disappointment. I was looking forward to a rematch! I got a call up though and that is always nice. On the sound of the horn I decided to drill it and take the holeshot to avoid a possible pile-up in the first slick wet left hander on the pavement. Once out front I decided to go ahead and stay there where I wouldn't have to worry about dicey handling skills or questionable tactics.

I knew that a chase group would form and a couple laps into the race they caught me. I was stoked to see Jeff and the other guy (MRI was all I remember from his kit) as it gave me a chance to recover some in their draft. We were only together as a group of three for a short time as the guy in the MRI kit made a mistake crossing the slippery sidewalk at high speed and went down (I tried to avoid him and his bike but ran over his ankles, very sorry!). I was forced to put in a very big dig to catch back up to Jeff after having slowed significantly due to the crash and was unsure of whether or not I would wind up able to hang for the remainder of the race!

I passed Jeff again a lap or so later to take the wind on the long sections and wondered if it was a smart tactical move but gambled that I could save more energy through the corners if I had a clear track ahead. My tubulars were working great and I had the corners dialed! Jeff stayed close to my wheel right up until he made a mistake entering the stairs. It was very bumpy and sandy and I heard him go down behind me. I yelled back "Sorry Jeff!" as I didn't intend to wait up. The finishing laps I rode solo as I played seek and destroy through some of the slower riders. It was a great race!

After my race I led Allison around the track and pointed out my lines, then grabbed a camera and did my duty capturing images for her before lubing my chain to warm up for the Elite men's race. I didn't plan on doing great in the race but wanted to maximize my workout for the day! I even talked Allison into going again! The second race was very taxing but this time I only had one minor spill and finished 14th, still on the lead lap! Good times!

Time to prep for State Champs on Sunday! See you there!

Friday musings...

2011-09-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about a blog post for a while that would go through all the things that make my life better. Things that would have a major impact if I didn't have them anymore. You see I am fortunate and there is a long list of them... if you really know me it is likely that you can guess most of them and that you already know where this post is going.

Near the top of the list is my collection of Oakley sunglasses. Everyone knows I broke my neck last year. The only other injury that my parents ever used to scare me out of doing something was putting an eye out.

(You know the story... "Don't **insert crazy reckless activity here** because you will **insert one here**! A) break your neck or B) put an eye out)

I have already broken my neck so putting an eye out is the only thing left that scares me.

Well, I wear Oakley's nearly 100% of the time now because they will protect my eyes. Mostly because I don't think an eye patch would look good on me!

Some other things that I have added or taken off the list as my mind churns on all the cool things that I have the pleasure of having in my life: my new Golf TDI to move us around so fuel efficient and comfortably, my Specialized CruX to ride no matter what surface or terrain, my sweet BBQ to cook on every single night, my ancient first generation Droid phone to stay in touch with everyone, my Garmin to help me keep track of my training, my Vibram Five Finger shoes that keep my foot pain free when off the bike, Purist water bottles to keep whatever I happen to be drinking from dribbling all over me....

The list was getting ever so long and I kept trying to remember different things as I went through my day. I worried that there was no way I could actually capture all these things in a blog post, so then I started trying to organize these things into categories like Bike Related, or Cooking and Nutrition so that I could group things and post them separately. My mind was churning!

Then we (my wife and I, you see we are inseparable) did a ride earlier this week and on that ride I started to think only one thing mattered. The bottle of Coke that would bring me back from horrible bonkage and get me back to work so I could finish my day.

That was a turning point in the train of thought that I had. Out of all the things that I had, only a Coke mattered? I still had a sweet Topeak multi tool in my awesome Topeak saddle bag, I still had a sweet pair of split jackets to protect my eyes, my Specialized CruX to ride, Crank Brothers pedals, Garmin in case I forgot where I was, and my not so trusty Droid that worked when I needed it most to call Allison when I was laying on the side of the road bleeding profusely with a broken neck "Come get me I'm hurt!"...

Then it all came together. All I need in the whole world, the one thing that makes everything good no matter where I go or what I am doing. Keeping me safe and sane (mostly).

My other half, the W to my M, the Yin to my Yang. Love this girl. Nuff said.

Have a stellar weekend! I know I will cuz she will be with me!

Ups and Downs

2011-09-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

With the first CX race out of the way for the season in Vegas, and a very expensive collision with a Wile E Coyote in the TDI on the way home, it was time to kick off the Socal Cross Series.

This year the first race was held in Downtown LA. This urban setting was in stark contrast to the rural Irvine Lake season opener last year that was my first experience with a cross bike/race. Since this race was a one day only race, we had Saturday free to enjoy ourselves. (Translation: ride bikes and do race prep) One of the big downsides to racing so much is having to race prep the bikes so often!

In any case after a fun spin on the CX bikes (LOVE my Specialized CruX!!) on Saturday and a bunch of race prepping we headed to LA on Sunday morning to get our race on. I had a bit different of a setup on my bike with some Kenda Small Block 8's on the Mavic Ksyrium wheels from my road bike. (read lighter than stock wheels)

I had tried them out on Saturday on our ride and they seemed to work really well for our dusty dry Socal conditions while rolling really well on the pavement. The compound feels good (soft and supple) and they have lots of siping in the tread for traction. I can't comment on longevity, but when new these tires are quite good.

Once at the races we got checked in and wandered around talking to race buddies. Eventually I kitted up and checked out the course. It was a really fun course with a set of stairs, typically tall UCI barriers, and a fun "BMX" section with some small jump-like obstacles. It was definitely going to be hot and dusty so I was really glad we brought our spray bottle of Kool N Fit!

This stuff works great and really helps I think. You can purchase it at Rock N' Road Cyclery.

There were no call-ups for the first race of the year so I cut my warm-up a bit short and got a spot in staging. There were a bunch of guys already standing around and when we finally lined up I was near enough to the front. Off the start I made a good move and had the right gear putting me in the front, PERFECT.

I might have had the hole shot but I let up a bit as I was worried about going too hard.

Pretty sure the above picture illustrates that I was about 6th wheel. I was very fortunate to not go down harder on an off camber grass right hander when I tried to pedal through it and got a pedal strike, NOT PERFECT. As the race wore on there was one rider off the front with a good sized gap, and three of us in a chase pack.

No need to hop this high dummy! Wasted energy.

At first it seemed that we were going to work together but I am not so good with these tactics and pulled on what seemed like the longest headwind section of the lap. I was feeling a bit tapped out so I hoped to sit on and recover a bit.

Chase pack in this shot.

BRAAAP!

That is exactly when the eventual second place finisher put in a dig. The other guy in the group of three accelerated to chase, then sat up and I was indecisive. I was worried that if I pulled again I would pop so I didn't.

Not fast enough through the barriers, these guys are good and were gaining a few feet on me here.

Lesson #1 learned. If I can chase, chase. For the rest of the race I was "racing for third" (quote from JV of Team Garmin Cervelo, Allison and I will forever remember that footage!) and was decisively the second loser after shutting it down to save some energy for the Elite race.

Wrong step, I was third but was in a hurry to get over for Elite race staging.

I wasn't feeling so great after the 35+ race so I didn't know what to expect from my Elite race. I was lined up towards the back of the group (pretty sure I was 5th row) because I just didn't want to be in the way of the fast guys if I was sucking. Again I had a decent start and moved up some but not far enough to get clean air for my intake.

I sucked copious amounts of dirt into my engine! Maybe trying to sprint while holding my breath to not suck dirt is a bad idea...

Maybe I need one of these in case I decide to race Elite again...

I dangled off the back of the second group for a long time (it seemed like forever but was probably only a couple laps) till I made a mistake in a corner and went down. I was really fatigued and took a moment to get going again. A few riders came back to me from the group ahead and when Casey Williams came back I decided that maybe we could work together. On the long Start straight I gave him a solid push and said "Lets go!". He tucked down and started drilling it so I jumped on. Towards the end of the straight I called up not to blow and he said he already had (could have fooled me!) so I offered to pull into the wind.

Random picture of me suffering, does not correlate with story as my leg isn't dirty from the first mistake.

The rest of the lap I pulled and he recovered. Soon another rider drifted back and when Casey and this other rider accelerated exchanging attacks I was left solo. Lesson #2: Casey Williams will recover and rip my legs off if I help him. By solo I mean I felt like I was the last guy on course! Several places where the course looped back on itself I was looking for any riders behind and there was no one! I reminded myself that I was out here for the workout so I put my head down and tried to keep the power going.

Now my leg is dirty, the group in the background is where I wish I was!

A bit later (once again it seemed like forever) another rider came back from the group ahead. We only had a couple laps left in the race and I just wanted to finish out my workout but this dude had other motives. He wanted to play games and see if he could stay ahead of me at all cost. To that end he proceeded to soft pedal and block me and push me into the tape. It was really aggravating and after being slammed to the tape 5 or so times I got a bit mad (STUPID). Really I just wanted to get my workout in, there is no glory in battling for 20th place! Anyway I managed to pull up next to him and instead of focusing on accelerating past him I threw an elbow. Not sure what happened next but I found myself slamming to the ground. Lesson #3: Don't fuck around battling for 20th if someone wants to race like that; either get by cleanly, drop back, or better yet pull out of the race because it is so not worth it.

Crashing was all the excuse I needed to quit so I walked off course and sat down, glad that the suffering was over for the day. (QUITTER!) I think this is the first race I have ever quit. I honestly don't know why I had such anxiety about it. Quitting isn't so bad... :)

The injury tally; deep abrasions on my left knee, left elbow, left shoulder, and a massive contusion on my left hip. So. Not. Worth. It. Lots of trips to the freezer for ice bags, pain, and wasted money on bandages...

Despite still being quite stiff and sore I got back on the bike today after taking Monday off entirely and did a nice steady ride with the wife. I love riding bikes with her!

Need to start being disciplined with my eating, I look chubby!

See you at the next one! (hopefully ready to rock with injuries mostly healed...)

Interbike Craziness

2011-09-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

Funny, if you read that title you might think I was dumb enough to repeat last year and wind up drinking too much and puking. That didn't happen, though I did feel like puking at one point... that was during the race.

Stepping back a bit, the craziness started early in the week. Allison needed to have the tubular tires glued to her Vuelta wheels for Cross Vegas.

I had never glued tires before. Not only had I never glued tires before, I wasn't sure what tires to glue! The idea that I had to pick the right tires (only get one shot at it with the tubulars and we had one set of tires and one set of wheels) and get them done correctly on the first shot, really had me stressed out! I even asked people on the Interwebs which tires to use and how to glue!

After a great deal of deliberation I picked the set of Specialized Triggers.

I had purchased a set of Tracers as well, but heard that the course was nearly all grass at Cross Vegas and figured that the file treads might help my girl out with a little lower rolling resistance. The gluing process went pretty horribly. It was terribly messy and I am sure I made mistakes. Learning new things isn't always easy.

The next step in preparation for Cross Vegas was to do a little "Pimp My Ride" session with Allison's 2012 Specialized CruX race bike. She was struggling a little to heft the bike on run-ups so dropping a little weight seemed prudent before sending her out to be eaten alive by the skinsuit clad wolves. I had an extra set of Sworks road cranks laying around from the module that got ruined when I broke my neck so I put a CX-able spider and rings on it from Rock N' Road Cyclery.

I also put her sweet Crank Brothers Eggbeater 11's that I had purchased for her mountain bike race season on the bike.

Those pieces helped some, then I added the old Race Face seatpost (Next SL 2008 vintage) from her Salsa Dos Niner frame that has been hanging in the garage, and one of the really awesome Titanium railed Phenom saddles.

When all was said and done I dropped about 2 pounds off the stock bike (that had Crank Brothers Eggy 3's on it).

Feeling pretty satisfied with the result of my efforts, I turned my attention to my CruX. Unfortunately it was already well past my bed time and we were supposed to get up early to hit the road to Vegas so all I could manage to do was dig out some Kenda Kommando tires that had been raced last year and install them on a stock wheelset.

They work well in grass, but I am not rolling 'ze uber peemp setup like the rich kids with carbon tubulars! Other than that my bike is 100% stock with Eggbeater 3's.

Wednesday we headed out (later than Allison wanted I assure you) and not long into the drive she was playing on her phone and realized that she had messed up a critical meeting detail. The rest of the ride was interesting and I wound up wasting some extra fuel to try and get us there a bit faster. We then checked me into my race and wandered around the show a bit to see who we could talk to.

Topeak's booth was pretty much just inside the front door, so that was our first stop and we chatted with Eddie for a while about product we had been using. He didn't remember sending us this one but it is probably my favorite pocket multi-tool for training rides!

We also swung by the Twin Six booth to say thanks in person for the BRAAAP! tee they sent me when I had my broken neck last year. It is probably my most favorite t-shirt of all time.

We went by the Specialized booth too. It was sweet to see the World Champion (men's) bike complete with mud. His bike had some interesting stuff on it like prototype grip shift from SRAM and other stuff like a braze on FD (SRAM Red).

Swinging by the Ergon booth we saw the new colorful grips (in addition to Green, White, and Black they now have even lighter GA1's in Red!!!!) and the sweet new saddles. The carbon railed saddles looked very nice! (good flex, super light, sweet design).

Funny that we wind up going to places like Vegas to see him as he lives just across the freeway from us, but we swung by the Turner booth and talked to Dave Turner for a while. Dave has lost a lot of weight this year and is looking super fit! It is always a pleasure to hang out and talk to Dave as the depth and breadth of his knowledge in the sport is amazing. If for some reason I am ever tempted to purchase another bike that isn't Specialized, I am sure I would wind up on one of Dave's bikes.

After the short trip through the show we headed over to the venue to get ready to race.

We also scored the coolest hats ever made.

The race itself didn't go so great for me, though it was an excellent workout. I started on the last row of the 160 some odd riders.

As we lined up I joked about starting backwards, it seemed as futile as thinking I could pass the mass of people in front of me. When we started I was just passing however I could. On the start loop I had moved up quite a bit I think.

I was still making moves when things went awry right before the pit zone. I was on the inside, I called the pass, a guy came over on me, I called it again, and he put me into the tape. I have no idea how Brandon Gritters rides through the tape all the time and never gets jammed up, but a stake jammed my right crank arm and tape was wrapped everywhere when I tried to get back up. After putting my chain back on I was solidly near the back of the race. Oh well...

I worked my butt off after that. I was making passes and moving up. I caught Bob Kmetz (Sho-Air rider) and he and I worked together for a little while. He was on my wheel when I made a pretty costly mistake. I was pushing hard going through a right hand decreasing radius turn and had been drifting that one pretty heavily all night. Well as the night wore on the traction went away from my tires and I failed to factor that in, down I went knocking my shifter and bars askew (I think I also bent something, pretty sure the right side of the bars is not supposed to be higher than the left). I spent a little time getting everything somewhat straight again before resuming my workout. I did what I could, netting 66th overall. Hopefully not an indication of my season to come.

Allison's race on the other hand was awesome! She raced really well despite not having done any speed work. Her speed through the barriers and on run-ups hurts her some, but she otherwise rode like a champ to 20th place and nearly reeled in Kathy Sherwin at the end. Allison actually beat the French National Champion. I am sure she had a good excuse though...

After the race we hung out and drank with friends at the Crank Brothers tent, then crashed the Specialized BBQ, and finally went to our motel and checked in. It was late and apparently they oversold, gave the broom closet to someone else, so all they had left to give out was a phat suite! On the way up there we saw "Coltrain" and Allison arranged to meet him in the bar for drinks (really!? I was so ready for sleep!)

One of the nicest rooms I have ever stayed in. Vegas isn't the terrible place everyone claims!

We headed straight downstairs and hit up the bar where Allison rode a mechanical bull for the first time ever. Amanda Schaper backed down from her own challenge (quitter!) but I will try not to hold it against her (quitter!). I didn't get pics, but Danger did get a video that will later be used to blackmail my wife. :)

After closing down the joint we wound up going out for breakfast (it was almost time for it on our regular schedule) and then finally got to put the Jacuzzi in our suite to good use.

Somehow our internal clocks were still functioning and we got up shortly after closing our eyes. After a Mann sized breakfast we headed back into the show. We visited our friends at Specialized again, and stopped by Swiftwick and Kuat among others. It was all too easy to blow the entire day wandering and chatting with all the great people we know in the bike industry!

Unfortunately just as the party started at 4pm we decided it was time to make the long drive home. This was probably a bad idea. It took us something like an hour to get to the freeway and finally get up to speed. The drive was uneventful right up until a suicidal coyote ran out in front of our little TDI. I was driving 65mph and only just caught a glimpse of him before the impact, nothing I could have done. He totally wrecked my bumper!

It is worse than it looks in the picture as the entire grill broke (I am just hoping that there was no damage to the inter-cooler) I assure you and will be putting at least a $500 dent in our CX racing funds. So the trip to Vegas had it's ups and downs, overall though it was a good time and I feel it was worth while.

In any case I am hoping to scrape together a decent race this weekend. Hope to see everyone out in LA!

Definitely not the regularly scheduled program!

2011-09-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

First of all I have to say that Allison's website is finally back up after being hacked! Not only can I now read back through all my favorite posts and look at all her great photos, but she unloaded some of her bottled up writing from the last few weeks in a spectacular post... stellar!

allisonmann.net

This last weekend was nothing like a typical weekend. Allison had plans for Saturday to help with a Women's only CX clinic.

http://socalcross.org

http://www.rocknroadcyclery.net/divas.php

This would be cool except that we are attached at the hip and have neither the motivation nor the money to have the surgery to separate us. Needless to say I was very excited when towards the end of the week I was approved to "help out" at the clinic. Sure I wouldn't be out doing a big ride, but I love to talk bikes and I am proud of being a "women's athletic supporter"! For some reason they left me out of this article. I helped out with getting the women set up on some sweet demo CruXs and talked bikes and parts etc.

Once the actual clinic started I headed over and grabbed Allison's camera and tried to help snap some photos. To make things interesting a crazy thunderstorm rolled through complete with lighting. One advantage to the rain was that it made it easier for me to herd everyone together for a nice picture!

After the rain cleared we all jumped on the bikes again and went for a fun spin around the park. It was really fun to look for natural barriers to practice on and help lead the group ride. All the women seemed to be having lots of fun!

After the clinic was over Allison had arranged to meet up with some OC friends for another ride. I think she scared them off by suggesting Whiting Ranch-Santiago Truck Trail-Luge. Though any Mann-imal on a CX bike that hears that route thinks "this will be fun!", the rest of the world simply says "screw that!". Needless to say nobody joined us for the ride but it was a good time. Luge was in really great shape! The CX bikes definitely make rides like this more challenging...

After the ride we swung by Rock N' Road (Anaheim Hills) to pick up some parts and visit with some of our favorite shop employees.

From there we headed West to Long Beach. Chris Hanson of www.barbellsforboobs.org was having a birthday celebration!

Neither of us had ever had pho (pronounced "fuh") before so it was cool to try something new. Of course the celebration would not be complete without dessert and we wound up getting froyo (seriously, we have lost all discipline!). It was quite the double whammy for us on the day between staying out super late (didn't get home till midnight, it was a LONG day!) and eating poorly but I certainly feel like we maximized the fun factor for the day!

After far too little sleep we got up and headed South to the Charger's season opener against the Vikings! My friend Dave suggested going to the game (he has an obsession with purple) and I jumped in with both feet arranging a tailgate party with Dan (a co-worker that has season tickets). We proceeded to eat too much food and drink too much beer, then scream till we were hoarse and clap till our hands were painful and swollen. Lots of fun!

Thanks to Dave for sending me these great photos!

On today's lunch ride we were definitely feeling the effects of the weekend's excesses. Racing CX in the next few days is going to be tough! At least we have some excuses now...

See you out there!

Really good at not racing!

2011-09-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

This season I joined the ranks of the semi decent spare time amateur bike racer. There are a lot of things that go into making that happen. Mechanical aptitude, logistical arrangements, time management, dedicated and focused training, support from my wonderful wife, and a significant amount of money. Basically it is like having a part time job (on top of my full time job to pay the bills) that you pay for instead of getting paid. In the process of streamlining everything and stressing about all the details it sometimes feels like there is nothing else left, nothing but work and racing/training/preparing for races. It is no surprise that many people get burned out!

This last weekend I proved to myself that I am truly good at not racing. I am a bike racer, sure it is part of who I am at this point, but before I was a bike racer I rode bikes because I love being outdoors, speed, and enjoying the time with other people. This last three day weekend I did just that!

Saturday morning Allison and I met up with Richard and shredded some dirt at Vail Lake. Sure, we were "pre-riding" the State Champs course, but I was really just enjoying the trails and the speed! I didn't once think of my normal "pre-ride" mental checks like where to eat and drink. I did talk to Richard some about where some attacks might happen, but I wasn't really thinking of my race.

After getting the mountain bikes dirty (and finding that my poor neglected race bike was in desperate need of some bottom bracket love) we were joined by Richard's GF Heidi and we all jumped onto the "road bikes" for a loop through wine country. I use quotation marks for that comment because I choose to ride my CX bike pretty much all the time now. I love that thing! It was a good group...

and we had a blast rolling past the vineyards.

After the ride Allison and I went home to chill out in the air conditioning for a bit (it was HOT out!) and then get ready for Joy's wedding. We felt so fortunate to be a part of their nuptial celebration! Joy and BMC are truly awesome people, the type of people that ordinarily awesome people look to for inspiration. Basically their wedding was a giant vortex of awesomeness and we had a freaking blast!!!!

Words fail to describe just how cool it was to be a part of that.

Sunday morning we drove down to Pizza Port in Carlsbad to start a ride that would earn us some good pizza and beer. We rolled out on the cross bikes and headed generally south then east on pavement.

In La Costa we put the little knobbies on the CX tires to use and didn't let up on them till we had gone over a few mountains,

through stream crossings,

around lakes,

and down blazing fast fire roads.

Such an amazing ride! We wound up back at Pizza Port after almost 6hrs of riding and pigged out with good friends!

Sunday night Steph and Dan (the original Mannimals!) came up for the night and joined us on Monday for what turned out to be about the best ride I could imagine. The rain came and made the trails PERFECT!

Group riding is neat because it affords me some time to build lines and play...

Everyone rode great and we had so much fun! I have to admit we cut the ride a little short though. One of the boys didn't bring any food, and it got a bit chilly. That's okay though because we were on a mission to BBQ some spectacular food for dinner and enjoy a cold brew!!!

As usual, photo credit for all the pictures goes to Allison.

So in summary we rode for a lot of hours and many miles on various bikes. We consumed vast quantities of food and beverage and laughed lots with great friends. I am truly good at not racing bikes, but very soon we will be bike racing every weekend on the CX bikes. I hope I feel as successful in that venture as I did with MTB race season, and my short season of not racing bikes!

See you at the Cyclocross races! Next up, Cross Vegas!

The calm (?) before the storm

2011-09-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

It is funny that my desire to blog seems to be tied to racing or vacationing. Since I have done neither of those things lately my blog has been sort of neglected but I assure you life has been moving forward! I have been putting in solid miles on the bike, and trail running. Yes, running! Since trying Vibram 5 fingers my right foot has been mostly pain free when off the bike...

...and with CX season bearing down on us, and the need for some off-season cross training I decided that maybe I could run with them too!

Trail running suddenly became a fun and relatively pain free way to experience trails. I don't run very fast or very far, but I am enjoying it lots! New trails (not open to bikes) and time spent with the wife on dirt... can't go wrong!

I have been fortunate enough to get a Cyclocross bike as well!

The 2012 Specialized CruX is probably the funnest bike I have ever ridden. It makes all the "ho-hum" trails around us into "yeehaw" trails. It is way more fun to ride on the road than an MTB. Combine this with the new route options of Road-Dirt-Road and well, it just friggin rocks! Sure, I will likely curse this machine as I drool and gasp for air in the upcoming CX races... but racing always hurts and there is so much more to this bike than just racing!!!!

Allison's website got hacked and that has been a big downer. I will never understand the motivation of people that do things like that. Hopefully we can get it fixed. In the meantime Allison has been bottled up and suffering a whole range of emotions. Worlds is going on and she isn't there. We had really planned on being there. I don't think I fully understand it all, but from what I can gather it is like she had leaned forward into a severe headwind and all of a sudden the wind stopped and she crashed on her face. I get pretty fired up about it all and will do anything to prevent future issues with Black Death Foot or anything else that keeps her from doing what she wants. It pains me to see her pained. With any luck maybe she can return to that level and race in Austria next year, that would be SWEET!

http://socalcross.org/2011/08/01/introducing-the-2011-12-southern-california-cyclocross-season/

Back to CX, it is a bit daunting looking forward at the schedule. More racing than I care to think about. So much driving! I am super glad for having the TDI, but the miles and cost is going to be quite a lot! I do hope to have some good races though. Not sure whether I will be contesting 35+ or the Elite 1/2/3 races yet. I plan on doing both at the first race or so and then deciding where I stand. I should be faster than last year, so if that is the case I will probably go for the Elite races where it will be a huge struggle to stay on the lead lap.

Interbike should be interesting. Racing CX there should be a nice kick in the nuts, the first of many kicks in the nuts that I will likely get this "off-season".

Looking forward to a fantastic weekend! Get some!

Rim Nordic Series Finale

2011-08-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

My mountain bike season seems to be lasting forever. I have however had a very successful year, so maybe I should embrace the concept and stretch this "season" into infinity!

Saturday night I resigned to giving up on racing Sunday. It didn't look like it was going to be worth it to make the drive up to Rim Nordic with Allison praying to the porcelain god and a night that didn't promise much sleep. On Sunday morning however Allison rallied (at least on the outside) and talked me into heading out. She seemed fine till it was almost time to leave when all of a sudden she was lying on the floor moaning. At this point I had enough momentum that I was going to head out solo, but moments before I rolled from the garage she climbed into the car. I knew she wouldn't be racing, but at least I wasn't going to roll one Mann short!

Warming up I didn't feel great. It felt like maybe the altitude was getting to me, or was I feeling the effects of Saturday? I just didn't have much to give, and when I did put in an effort it seemed lame. Due to not feeling great, I spent some time chatting. One of the guys in my AG was harassing me about moving to Pro. I laughed as I rolled away. I am not the top dog in the area, and the top amateur times at Fontana, Bonelli, or Big Bear are significantly faster than mine, not to mention the fact that I don't think I even had a top fifteen or twenty Amateur time at Nationals. I have no desire to get pulled from my favorite races just to appease some dudes that can't dedicate to solid training or nutrition. Deal with it. I want to finish my favorite races like Bonelli and Fontana, not get pulled early. Just like you, I am a working dude and I pay to play. I give up lots of stuff to train with my wife (who does have high aspirations). Train harder, eat right, and kick my ass. :) That said, Allison has declared that if I post the top Amateur time at Bonelli or Fontana that she will apply for my upgrade for me. It would be quite a feat to pick up 4 or 5 minutes on my races this year.

The race itself went better than expected. I sat on Griffith's wheel off the start. I didn't want to go solo but noticed that he was looking really sketchy. I don't think his 1.5" wide cyclocross-ish tires were helping him out any! When we looped back near the feed zone I knew that a technical climb was coming up and I wanted a clean track so I went around. I sat up a bit once I was clear of the challenging section but nobody seemed to have followed so I went into solo TT / seek and destroy mode. I did my best to stay focused but had noticed a deeper than usual Pro field and didn't think I could pull a top five time to meet my goal for the day. I had a couple of bobbles on lap two and got hung up for a while on a descent losing precious seconds. On the last lap I went around a corner and it felt like my front tire rolled on the rim. NO!!!!! Not another flat!!! I kept testing it as the lap went on and it was definitely going down, so now my whole goal was to milk it to the finish. As I traversed the fire road up top I spotted Garnet ahead and hoped to pass him. Unfortunately my front tire kept me from descending at speed, I was having to brake into corners way too much to keep the front tire on the rim. I crossed the line and my front tire was almost immediately flat. There was a sidewall puncture that was large enough that all my Stan's Sealant had drained. It had lasted just long enough for me to take the win in my AG and meet my goal of a top five time! (4th overall)

So I can add another series title winning the Rim Nordic Series. I also contributed heavily to the 2nd place team finish for Sho Air behind the huge Bear Valley Bikes team. Another successful page written in a very successful year.

Looking forward, cyclocross season is starting to look really intimidating. There are just so many races, so much driving, and so little time between the end of cyclocross and the beginning of MTB season. It will for sure make for an interesting adventure! In the mean time we have a couple weekends to enjoy some good riding. I look forward to it!!!! BRAAAAAP.

Big Saturdays

2011-08-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures. I wrote this quickly to capture some memories. If you want pictures check out www.allisonmann.net. I know, I suck. :)

100 miler

I don't like using the term Century for riding 100 miles. I guess technically I only wound up riding 98 miles or something like that (not really sure, my Garmin was having issues) so even saying "100 miler" is a misnomer.

Due to training OCD Allison rarely disembarks from her regularly scheduled diet of 3-4 hour rides on the weekends. At the same time she likes to do silly things like pedal a bike for 100 miles in a day. These notions are at odds with each other and when given some freedom to operate "off plan" our adventures wind up leaning to the extreme. Thus a plan was hatched to do a big ride with a few friends on the wonderful California coast. Allison posted up on Facebook and the rough idea was to start at Jeffe's house in Laguna Niguel and ride to Panikins in Leucadia and back. Steph and Dan jumped in on the idea, Jeffe planned to join for part of the ride, and a Sho-Air racer Jose piled on.

We all rolled out and had a very civil pace. Around the halfway point Jeffe announced that he was going to have Renee meet him at Panikins which meant he was going for 50, Steph and Dan then jumped on that plan to shuttle back and save some energy for their Sunday activities. As we rolled through some traffic on Camp Pendelton a woman in a car frantically waved and was yelling "Thats Allison Mann!!!". It turned out to be Heidi who we had met the previous weekend at Rim Nordic, but it was great to joke with Jose that my wife is a cycling celebrity and this sort of thing happens all the time. Panikins was amazing as usual. I probably ate too much food and we definitely spent more time hanging out than was ideal but it was really very enjoyable!

When the reduced group started to roll north I joked with Jose that he was going to have to tow Allison and I back up the coast. I am not sure if something was lost in translation there, but he then proceeded to repeatedly and brutally drop both of us. I kept making excuses for myself, "Oh I will just wait for Allison." In reality I didn't feel all that bad but Jose (a CAT2 MTB racer) was really handing me my ass. I will admit that it stung. I made a pact with myself, from this point forward I will never internalize any comments about me being a sandbagger. I will also never again entertain the idea of moving to the Elite ranks. Next year with the new competition moving up from 30-34 AG, I will not likely see the top step of a podium so I doubt I will have to field any sort of criticism, but if I do it will be met with laughter. I will do my best but racing is just a distraction, the real reason I ride is to not be a fatty!!!

Anyway we eventually neared our destination in Laguna Niguel and Allison announced that she was going to ride more to ensure she had 100 miles. I dismissed this notion as lunacy and rode straight to Jeffe's dropping off Jose near his car on the way. It was a good long ride with great weather and riding partners. Can't beat coastal riding in the summer! After the ride we ate too much, drank too much, and generally did all the stuff we are forbidden from doing during racing season. Silly bike racers!

Sunday I felt like total crap. Three of us struggled to ride to Kean and then proceeded to eat too much again. On the trip back home Allison and I decided that we needed to burn some more calories. A plan was hatched to go trail running at Santa Rosa Plateau. I have to admit that I am really enjoying the trail running! Maybe it will help me close that 4+ minute gap to the truly fast CAT1 racers that I will line up with next year...

Our week went okay. Training got sort of side tracked with picking up the new CruX race bikes. As with the 100 miler, our excitement over the new bikes and lack of restraint led to me suggesting a ridiculous route for Saturday. The thought process went something like this: Allison wants to ride the Palomar Double (up South Grade, down East Grade, 180 turn, up East Grade, down South Grade), we had new CX bikes that seemed to be begging for some adventure, Google Maps showed some inviting looking truck trails all over Palomar that we had never ridden before, "Lets do a Palomar Dirt Double!" Yes there is definitely something wrong with this picture.

The ride went great though. It was big, it was hard, and afterwards I was tired and sore all over! It would likely not have been a very big deal to ride that route on the mountain bikes, but on a CX bike with tall gearing it was a challenge. Descending the 4500 feet back to the car after 6 hours in the saddle with cantilever brakes was interesting. It was a good thing I had gone into total silly mode. I was BRAAAPing and screaming out my own version of the "Double Rainbow" video of Youtube fame. Allison wasn't having any fun at all, but I didn't let it get to me. I would feel bad if she had some sort of injury from a dumb idea of mine, I guess I overestimate her toughness sometimes. I get a little over zealous, but it was going to be our last weekend of freedom.

Next weekend we go back into race mode and stay there pretty much until this time next year when mountain bike season ends. We get far too few weekends a year free from "the plan" and next year we might not even get that WHEN Allison makes the selection for Worlds. I am not complaining, it is a fabulous ride to be on!

See you at the Rim Nordic finals this weekend. I should be claiming my second series title of the year. Gotta enjoy it while I can, Marco and Ty will be taking all the big victories next year! :)

Rim Nordic Stage Race and Camping Extravaganza

2011-08-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

Allison and I decided very last minute (Friday night after work) to drive up to Rim Nordic and camp out for the stage race. I am not sure what prompted this. Camping lately has been a big thing. Saving fuel and money is another motivator. Maybe by going camping in the local mountains we felt that we could remedy the malady that seems to have stricken us as soon as we left the big mountains of Colorado. In any case, it was very much a spontaneous action!

We packed up the Black Max and arrived in the Rim Nordic parking lot around 10:30pm. I was overjoyed to find that we were now camping for the weekend next to our team mates Brandon Gritters and Ted Willard! This definitely was to make the weekend at least 1000 times better! Anyway we set up our tent and were lulled to sleep by the seemingly continuous road noise as cars sped their way up and down the highway. Thank goodness for wax earplugs!

Saturday's activities started early and it was likely a big mistake that we didn't eat early enough to fully digest before the Hillclimb competition. It was tough though to figure out nutrition as we were to race up the hill, wait around for a while, and then race back down the hill in the SuperD. Expecting delays and not wanting to carry much up the hill in the race I wanted to get my standard race breakfast in my belly!

Hillclimb:

At the gun everyone sort of eased onto the gas. The pace was not too hard across the rolling fire road at first. The pack lined out pretty quickly though and I think I was in the top 4 or 5 when we started to gain elevation. Romolo was up on the front and Brandon was also in front of me. Not too far up the climb Brandon put in an attack and Romolo followed. I was already on the rivet so I figured I would go ahead and just hold my current pace and try not to blow up. Not long after their attack Mike came by me flying up the hill. I watched as Mike passed Romolo and then Brandon on his way to setting the fastest time up the hill. I held onto my spot narrowly beating Ely. So fourth overall for the Hill Climb, third of the CAT1's (excluding Romolo), I won my age group but that was meaningless as I was the only one!

Pause:

After the Hill Climb I was absolutely cross eyed. My stomach was trying to eject it's contents and I fought hard to keep my breakfast down. I wish I had felt better as it seemed that all the racers were having a good time chatting but my internal struggles kept me from really joining in.

SuperD:

Eventually we were called up to start the SuperD. By this time I was finally feeling like I would win, I wasn't going to regurgitate my oats! The SuperD wasn't very challenging but it did have some climbs and some very fast corners. I felt like I did okay. I wound up fourth overall again, first of the CAT1's. This was a decent result especially considering how blown I felt after the Hill Climb!

Longer Pause:

After the SuperD it seemed the name of the game was rest. We all sort of lounged around and tried to recover from the short hard efforts in preparation for yet another full frontal assault on our anaerobic systems. I was stoked to have my hammock!

Dirt Crit:

My body was so reluctant to get back into motion. After a 10 minute all out Hill Climb, then the 5 minute sprint for SuperD and the full body shut down that followed, trying to warm up was mentally taxing! We all lined up though and I knew that Brandon would be the guy to follow if I could manage it. Off the start one of the Williams phenoms exploded from the line and gapped the field. Behind him there was some shuffling on the first couple of laps as Ted Willard and Anton Petrov worked the front and then faded a bit. When the initial flurry of attacks was over it looked like Casey was going to take the win as he was mostly out of sight. Brandon and Mike had a gap over me in fourth. I was doing what I could to try to close, but it seemed that they were just out of reach. At about the mid race point Brandon attacked brutally and left Mike alone in third. I held the throttle open and watched as Brandon bridged up to Casey and Mike faded just enough for me to catch him. With four laps to go I was on Mikes wheel and sitting in fourth. I played some strategy as I didn't think I could bridge to Casey and Brandon, I sat on for two laps. With two laps to go I attacked and passed Mike on the descent. I figured if he countered I would have time to re-evaluate. I guess he was pretty blown though as I took third without being challenged.

So not a bad showing on the first day of the stage race. Even though I had "won" everything, the way I see it I was sitting in about second place overall not counting the Elite men. Had we raced the Dirt Crit with them I would have factored them into my overall ranking. My own personal rankings after day 1 put Brandon Gritters in the lead with me in second, Mike in a very close third, and then Ted and Anton behind him.

Post Race:

Much beer and wine consumption. A swim in Big Bear Lake. Consumption of Mann meat. Ice cream indulgence. Scrabble while being viciously and repeatedly #mounted by Bounce. Sweet sleep came much too late and before I knew it I was waking up to the sound of rain pelting our tent...

Sunday XC Race:

I have done well in adverse conditions. The rain was coming down pretty good. I had to dig ditches around our pit area to divert the rivers of water and drain the Gritters Reservoir. It was really tough to motivate myself to get into race mode. I was cold and wet. Reluctantly I finally put on my kit and started to spin around some. I watched Allison's start and then tried to keep moving/warm for the next 40 mins. Finally it was time for us to line up and take off. We had a fairly small group that started in our wave. From the gun Brandon led out with me and Ted in tow. Jason Rusnak had made the trip up to race in the rain and he commented on the first climb that the pace was really quite nice. When we neared the top of the climb Ted had fallen back quite a ways but was the only other rider in sight between Brandon and I. I suggested we wait for him and have the three of us work together. Brandon seemed to agree and let up some. As soon as Ted caught on I took the pace making and the three of us bombed the descent together. The first lap was more like a fun group ride than XC racing with the three Rock N' Road riders smiling in the rain.

Near the end of that lap Brandon took over the front and I asked if we were going to start racing. He replied that he was getting cold so I grabbed his wheel and figured we were going to do some serious battling. The three of us went through the Start/Finish together and as soon as we turned onto the single track climb I was bracing for the attack and, to my complete dismay, Brandon said "Screw this, have fun Ted." and turned around. I wasn't expecting that! Since I really wasn't racing with anyone else I decided to wait for Ted and have some fun. I wasn't going all that hard but it seemed that my pace was too much for Ted to hang on so about halfway through the second lap I decided to turn on the afterburners and see how fast I could finish and get out of the cold and wet.

The rest of the second lap and most of the third was pretty uneventful. I was on the gas. Caught and passed four or five other riders including Anton who had started in the wave ahead of us. On the descent I was pinned and thinking about warming up. I never felt a rock strike or anything, but as I turned the corner at the bottom I felt the rear tire get squishy. SHIT! I tried to milk it but it wasn't holding. Not too far down the road I stopped and hit it with my CO2. I spun the wheel and shook it in the hopes that the Stans would seal it before jumping back on. In the mean time Anton and at least one other rider that I had passed in the last 1.5 laps passed me back. It wasn't long before the tire was flat again, it was leaking down really fast. I didn't have any more air so I just rode her in flat. Near the end of the lap, riding a flat tire, Rusnak passed me. I wound up second in my wave, first for my AG and 8th overall. Not bad considering the circumstances.

Overall:

Even though the race results show me winning my AG for all the races on the weekend, I figure Mike took the title for the Stage Race. He won the Hill Climb, and beat my XC time handily (we weren't racing heads up, but that sounds like an excuse!). By my figures I put myself in second, but only because Brandon DNF'd. That isn't too bad, but it isn't all that great so I figure I have some work to do before the next race! I hope to put myself in the top 5 at the next one and bring home some money. It was a great weekend and we definitely had a blast! I don't think it would have been nearly as fun without our fellow campers. Thanks to everyone that made my weekend great!

See you at the next race or out there training!

What a ride! Vacation/Nationals Mann style. Continued Again and again!

2011-08-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

I wanted to capture the overwhelming afterglow of Crested Butte while it was still fresh. While I could still close my eyes and hear the Slate River rushing past our camp, easily conjure images of the breathtaking display of delicate and colorful wildflowers. Unfortunately that task was too much and just didn't happen with work and daily life. I left off with our arrival in Crested Butte but the crescendo for this piece was still a few days out.

Day 8 Wednesday July 20, 2011

After filling our bellies with such treats as Izzy's and Camp 4 we set about finding a campsite. I think when you return to a place after having a really great time you sort of try to "re-live" that experience so Allison and I had our hearts sort of set on camping on the other side of Gothic. Waking to the sunrise as it illuminates the granite formations that frame that glacial valley is an image that I have clung to since our last stay there. For some reason I remembered the road being much better than it was. I quickly found that the road came uncomfortably close to exceeding the off road performance envelope of our heavily laden TDI.

Some road weary frustration surfaced as we found the only available campsite in Gothic to be one that the TDI was not capable of getting in and out of. I was worried that with the condition of the road, however few, trips to town and back would possibly be an insurmountable challenge for the car if we got some rain. Let me tell you now, we expected rain. I don't think we had previously spent a day in CB that it didn't rain. We had factored this into our decision. Rain would not deter us, but we didn't have the truck.

Allison set to work on her beloved iPhone to search for more camping while the little diesel clattered back towards town with it's tail between its legs. The fruit of her labor, though we didn't at first realize it, was a discovery the magnitude of which is only paralleled by things like the invention of Maple Syrup. Slate River supposedly had some campsites. This road is in much better condition, though unfortunately a bit more heavily traveled, and we found what turned out to be a stellar camp site about 7 miles up the valley.

After setting up camp Allison coerced me into riding. My fatigue level put me somewhere around the "Princess Bride" status of "mostly dead" but that didn't stop us and we rode Snodgrass from Washington Gulch up and back.

Can you feel the magic of this place by looking at this photo too?

I purchased a hammock at the local outfitter to take our camping experience to the next level. Allison doubted it would get used as my frenetic pace rarely has me spend more than a few seconds at rest. She was kind enough to test out my setup for me.

Once nestled into our little stand of pine trees above the rocky gorge of the Slate River we settled into what I would consider the ultimate rythm, EAT SLEEP RIDE, the passage of days is marked not by days of the week but by trail names.

Day 9 Deer Creek Summer 2011

We hadn't previously ridden this route because Allison feared it was too big. After having done the route I can assure you that the 403-401 route we had done previously felt bigger. In any case we started the day with Allison's oats and then rode down Slate River Rd, climbed up towards the ski resort, jumped onto Upper Trail, continued onto Upper Upper dropping onto Brush Creek Rd. A left at this point took us out to the start of Deer Creek Trail and from there climbed and then descended on typically outstanding high alpine Crested Butte single track and finally popped out in the Rocky Mountain Laboratory of Gothic. A left on Gothic Rd. and we dropped back into Crested Butte.

That summary is so sterile! It doesn't capture any of the amazing views, the explosion of color that the wildflowers spread in every direction, the slight technical challenge when Allison's shifter fell off her bike, or my once typical flat tire experience. It is futile though, text and pictures cannot really submerge one in the experience, flying down narrow one track through tight growths of aspens and then the assault of light and color as you burst from the trees into alpine meadows with fast flowing perfect trail lined by wild flowers. Still images are like a drop of dew to satisfy the thirst of a desert wanderer... brutally insufficient.

One happy Mann.

After the ride we stopped in at the local grocer for some camp supplies.

I felt the pain of our little TDI as my rear suspension was strained heavily by the ride back to camp.

Day 10 401 Summer 2011

There was discussion of making this day an "easier" day. Funny how things change over the years, this trail has gone from the very limit of what we could possibly do in a day to what would equate to a rest day now. 401 is however one of the iconic trails in Crested Butte and I am glad to say that we have ridden it every time we have visited. The combination of altitude, perfect high alpine single track, vistas of Gothic below and the Maroon Bells, collaborate together in a symphony of the most beautiful kind.

We started the day with a feast of an egg scramble complete with BACON and because we wanted to shower afterwards at the hostel we parked the car at the Snodgrass Trailhead above Crested Butte. The ride was magnificent.

Our hunger for mountains and trails was satisfied for the day and we dined at the Teocalli Tamale, brewed at Brick Oven Pizza, and desserted at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Rest day success? I don't really know if that is the case, but I can assure you it was a day for the memory banks!

Day 11 Tony's Trail Upper Upper 409B 405 406? Reno Divide Flag Creek Bear Creek Deadman's Gulch Summer 2011

I am not sure we need to go past the title of this day to convey the overwhelming nature. It was to be our last day in Crested Butte. If history tells us anything we may not return for several years. When confronted with an impending famine I think we try to compensate by gorging ourselves. Everything about this day resonates this theme, from breakfast all the way through the route selection, and then post ride activity, right up to our reluctant departure.

After rising early and packing camp we headed to Izzy's for one last delish breakfast. It was epic.

I would soon regret my over-indulgence. I have not experienced climbing quite as labored as the first few climbs this day in a long, long time. Climbing was certainly the theme though as we went straight up 409B. I think Allison celebrated a little when she climbed past me on multiple occasions, take it when you can get it! 409B would make a really fun descent, it was a tortuous ascent. We had some navigational issues though and after a bit of high alpine riding we dropped toward Cement Creek far earlier than planned on trails that had us both off our bikes multiple times.

Steeper and harder than it looks with major penalty for error...

We got back on track though as we climbed up to Reno Divide.

Then we feasted on what is some of the best stuff there is.

There are no pictures of the Deadman's Gulch descent. There are reasons for this!

We ran out of water at the top of the last climb. Our internal fuel tanks were also on empty, but they don't get filled quite as easily as filling bottles and hydration bladders at Cement Creek Campground. The headwind on the ride back to town was taxing.

Once back we feasted yet again. The Last Steep tried to fill our bellies but didn't keep us from one last trip to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory before hitting the road.

We bid farewell to our beloved Butte and began the all too long journey home.

We made it as far as Green River, crashed (figuratively speaking) for the night, then finished the drive home. Suddenly days of the week mattered again. We finished the drive home late on Sunday. The pain of going back to the grind of daily life accompanied the return of days being called by days of the week instead of trail names...

Till our next adventure. Be well. See you on the trails!

What a ride! Vacation/Nationals Mann style. Continued Again

2011-07-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Others have told me that we are crazy for the things we do. Most of the time I feel like they are wrong. This time though, I think we were definitely crazy. The sort of crazy that you find when you have that wild, crazy, passionate love. When your whole being swoons for something. That kind of crazy is what had it's grip on The Mann Show. Technically it still does, but now that we are home and not on the road anymore, it is more like that short period of time after some amazing sex. Metaphorically speaking, I am laying here looking up at the ceiling and basking in the afterglow...

Day 7 Tuesday July 19, 2011

The morning came all too quickly. When I got out of the tent I looked around on the ground to try and figure out what it was that the deer had been gorging on. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Though I don't know what "deer crack" would look like, if it exists you can certainly find it in Campsite 3 on Corral Canyon Road outside of Sun Valley, Idaho.

After preparing some coffee and breakfast we packed up camp and headed out for our ride. We had debated not riding again in Sun Valley. We were feeling the pull of Crested Butte. That amazing destination that we make it to all too seldom. We have this amazing long distance relationship with Crested Butte. After the high adventure on Monday we were both ready for some more enjoyable single track and less HAB. In the end I decided that it seemed unfair to leave Idaho without at least a second ride. The drive to Crested Butte was supposed to be some 728 miles or nearly 13 hrs. That is one heck of a drive. Likely not going to happen all at once which meant we were going to either lose a day of riding, or wind up splitting the drive and riding somewhere in the middle, the sort of compromises that we just don't want or like to make!

In any case we rolled out in good spirits hoping to find a bit less adventure and more fun.

Soon the dirt road gave way to single track. The climb was much more reasonable than the previous day's fare.

I wound up only having to HAB a short section near the top where the chunky rocks kept me from putting down the necessary power to propel myself up the steep incline. The views were quite excellent...

...and I always enjoy being able to point out where we started the ride. :)

Once at the top of the climb, well it wasn't really the top as I had continued past our turnoff before Allison yanked me out of my climbing stupor to show me that we were supposed to have turned right, we started a most excellent single track descent.

The Sawtooth Mountains were breathtaking and the trails were fabulous!

After some ripping fun single track descending, we climbed some more. The plan for what would happen next was congealing in our heads.

We enjoyed this second day of riding in Sun Valley but the call of our beloved Crested Butte was too strong to resist. We decided that after the ride we would get some food (wanted to try the other pizza joint in town, the second one was better IMO) and some coffee (Java on Fourth is very very good) in Ketchum and then head south.

We bid farewell to Idaho but again didn't know where we would lay our heads to rest. I can assure you that rest was needed. I was fairly tired after the 3hr 45min bike ride, not to mention my lack of sleep due to the deer frenzy the night before. Some discussion took place around stopping off in Grand Junction to check out the Ribbon Trail but it didn't really strike a chord with either of us. We had our hearts set on high alpine single track. Meanwhile the little TDI hummed southbound.

We stopped on the north end of Salt Lake City and Allison whipped up some salad to fuel us.

We stopped somewhere near Grand Junction to fuel the car for more driving.

My memory is a bit fuzzy after that. I don't remember where I asked Allison to take over driving. I had been awake for almost 24hrs. I simply couldn't stay awake any longer and was afraid of making a mistake. The deer were kind to my weary eyes and didn't jump out in front of us, but that didn't ease my nerves.

I have to be honest though, I worry about Allison driving under these conditions. When she did take the wheel though she was a rockstar! She kept the little TDI pointed in the right direction as I took a little nap and the sun rose.

She informed me after my nap that I had missed an amazing sunrise. I was content with having snagged an hour of sleep!

After I woke we were driving past Blue Mesa Reservoir and we spied this fellow enjoying his breakfast. He didn't let our passing bother him and it was incredible to get the opportunity to see such a beautiful animal up close. (albeit from the safety of our car)

So technically it was a new day. Though due to driving all night and not sleeping more than an hour, I will arbitrarily end this very long day of the trip with the reward of our all night efforts.

Pulling into town with the sun rising over Mt. Crested Butte.

We had arrived in nirvana. The plan: don't sleep till night time, eat, set up camp, enjoy the first day in Crested Butte. What better way to celebrate our arrival than to enjoy breakfast at Izzy's and coffee from Camp 4!

Don't worry about the "Closed" sign, the photo was taken in the evening on the day we were leaving. Izzy's was open on this wonderful Wednesday morning. A note however for future trips is that Izzy's is closed on Tuesdays. I don't think I like Tuesdays anymore.

To be continued...

What a ride! Vacation/Nationals Mann style. Continued.

2011-07-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

With previous huge races (mostly ones that I had to watch last year from the sidelines) we always seemed to have some sort of post-race negativity. Even races where things went well, there always seems to be some sort of issue, at times that something was related to the finish position but often it had to do with the challenges of travelling or some other thing. Maybe it is like some sort of post traumatic stress disorder, where the build up of the race is over and all you have left are questions about how to improve and where to go from here. Whatever the cause or issue, we are definitely learning lots about not just training and racing, but what to do after the race.

Last year after World Championships we took a day to enjoy Quebec City after the race and it was very rewarding. This year after Nationals we Mann sized that concept. We didn't have a plan (imagine that!) but we did have a full week of vacation time and everything we would need to spend that time in the woods/mountains crammed into the little white TDI. So immediately after watching some Short Track action we headed North and paid for a camp site next to Red Fish Lake. We had a map purchased from the Specialized dealer in town and had some trail beta for a good back country loop. We didn't know what to expect for the next day, let alone the next week, but we were prepared for whatever might come up...

Day 6 Monday July 18, 2011

While attending SDSU Allison and I went on an organized camping trip with the Recreation Center. I am pretty sure we got some sort of credit for the trip. It wasn't the most amazing getaway, but there was one thing that I remember the instructors/leaders saying, "Camping is all about good food." I took that message to heart. Monday started out with Allison's Amazing Oatmeal and a Jetboil full of local coffee. Money.

We packed up camp as we did not know where we were going to sleep that night, but we had no intention of paying for a second night in that location. We drove a short bit south to a day-use spot near the river, next to Hwy 75. The plan was to have a fun ride and then cook some food. We had discussed options for what to do after that, whether we would drive North into Canada, West to check out Oregon, or make a long trip South to return to our beloved Crested Butte but we were far from settled on what the next leg of our trip would look like, only that we were looking for stellar trails and free camping.

The ride started with a 1 mile spin south on 75. We turned left up a dirt road toward Boundary Creek. The real adventure started here...

The trail was good and steep. There was some dead fall that forced us off the bikes, offering a chance to catch our breaths.

Allison mentioned near the top that we had ridden less than 5 miles, and had climbed over 3000 ft.

We were both still feeling the effects of the hard race weekend. The views kept us distracted, at least a little bit.

After a bit of hiking up a wicked steep single track we topped out on the Casino Lakes Trail. There was still quite a bit of snow in places.

The descent was quite interesting. Every time I stopped to wait for Allison to hike down a section I thought to myself, "This is extreme back-country chunk!" Allison wasn't having the best time of things. She was having to hike both up and down sections of trail, and I think maybe having the backpack on contributed to her going over the bars at least once. I was struggling with my rear tire, it kept leaking down and I really didn't want to put a tube in it. It seemed to leak faster when I stopped to wait which was frequently.

Finally near the bottom of the descent I decided to put a tube in it. As we were laboring to put a tube in, a nearby tree crackled, and then crashed to the ground. I looked at Allison and asked, "If a tree falls in the woods..." Definitely makes you think twice about widow makers in the forest!

The last five miles or so of the descent really changed character. We started shredding and trees whizzed past as we sped down the single track. When we reached the bottom we already had 2.5hrs of ride time and we knew we had a long climb ahead so we filled our packs.

Honestly we had no idea how hard things would get. I dubbed the next 1500 ft of climbing on Little Casino Trail "Up Down Splish Splash". The trail zig zagged across a rushing stream. We would go through a BB deep crossing, climb straight up the far bank at an un-ride-able steep pitch, level off for just long enough the get on the bike and clipped back in, then drop back down through the stream followed by another un-ride-able steep pitch... and so on. I have no idea how many times we crossed that stream. The repetition wore on us. I kept begging for some real elevation gain. Even if it was HAB. Just to keep from having to cross that darn stream again!

Finally it happened. We emerged from the repetitious stream crossing into a wide meadow. Then the trail disappeared. The map had forecast this.

"Route vague" was definitely what we encountered! It amazed me that several times a well worn and reliable looking trail would simply vanish leaving us hunting for another section of trail to follow. My GPS track showed how I hunted around for trail, found it, then was again lost, and again.

Little Casino trail might also be known as Big Confusion. Honestly it was not that bad, it definitely added to the adventure! Once on the trail again the final climb began. This section was pretty brutal. The climb was at first fairly steady, then it consisted of wicked steep climbs and short false flat sections. It was like a giant staircase. The climbs were almost ride-able in pitch, but when you add in the many loose fist-sized rocks it left us both doing quite a bit of this...

Finally we reached the top and descended back down Boundary Creek. It was a fast fun descent and I called out to Allison that "I could have just ridden up and down this trail all day and been mostly happy!"

After 5 hrs of ride time on the Garmin (good thing I had the 705 for navigation this day!) we got back to the car and set about making a delicious dinner.

After stuffing our faces we headed south. Along the way we stopped to drop off some garbage and ran into some really cool locals who said that we had to go ride more trails in the area. They confirmed that the trail suggestion we had heard of from the bike shop was indeed worthy and that we should be able to find camping on Corral Canyon Road and we could do the ride from there so we continued south. It was after dark when we set up camp and hit the hay so we were not so sure of our surroundings other than that we could hear the nearby creek.

Unfortunately I didn't get much sleep. It turns out we set our camp in the middle of some deer feeding frenzy. It was wild. Deer were grunting and farting and gnoshing on something all around our tent. I tried several times to scare them off but they kept coming back and making all sorts of noise. Crazy animals.

Finally sleep came. I would need every bit of it for the coming days' activity!!!

To be continued...

What a ride! Vacation/Nationals Mann style.

2011-07-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Wednesday July 13, 2011

Drive from home to Southern Utah. We spent Tuesday night packing the tiny TDI with all the bike racing and camping gear that we would need for the 1.5 week long vacation. The drive started super early.

Coffee to go, time to party!

We weren't in a big hurry, I set the cruise control on the TDI for maximum fuel efficiency and we stopped frequently as we wanted to be super hydrated for the upcoming race weekend.

Lots of time spent looking just like this!

One of the stops was on the side of the road in the Virgin River Gorge. Driving through this tiny corner of Arizona is a good analogy to what my life is like... I seem to spend the majority of my life at cruising speed, rushing through a vast seemingly baron desert landscape that is only interrupted by fleeting moments of awe inspiring beauty. If I look closer though, the desert landscape contains a great deal of beauty and inspiration, it just takes a different perspective to appreciate.

TDI loaded to the max!

We drove up to Cedar Breaks / Brianhead to just take in the view. No matter how many times I have been there, it never gets old or tired.

Always cool to see Marmots. We don't have those in the desert climes of Socal! :)

We will be back for our 11/11/11, 11k ft. with the Stone 11th birthday bash for my beautiful wife. Promise.

We arrived at the house with plenty of time to kit up and go for a spin.

Not sure we could ask for a better first stop on the trip. The energy of this place is so overwhelming. The color of the earth, the sculpted shapes. I was already winning.

I laid down on the crimson earth and tried to digitally capture some of the colors surrounding me. Allison and I passed her sizable camera back and forth like a pair of hippies sharing a joint. Each taking our turn sucking in the light reflected from the canyon walls, filling our lungs with it, not wanting to exhale, trying to ingest as much of the view to maximize the high.

As we sped back down the single track we both felt energized. Ready for the next leg of the trip and for the weekend of racing.

Day 2 Thursday July 14, 2011

Another early morning.

Someone had turned up the blow off valve on the pressure cooker though and I was feeling some stress. My mind was racing on an unknown course in the dimly lit morning. I wanted familiarity, I wanted speed, I wanted a result. My brain was buzzing with the pressure of competition.

I was bursting at the seams, not unlike the little white VW I was piloting through the desert. The relaxed pace of the previous day had sublimated over night. Fuel consumption and velocity were higher as the anticipation of the race seemed to be building overhead like a thunder cloud.

Arriving at the race venue we checked in at our hotel and I was finally able to start illuminating the path ahead. Riding the course for the first time I was automatically analyzing every detail, identifying key areas, and burning the race line into memory. Some of the pressure of the race started to lift as the veil that had shrouded the course was removed, revealing challenges that would surely make race day frustrating and challenging adding different stresses to the equation.

A nice dinner on the town with fellow racers helped to ease the tension and anticipation...

Day 3 Friday July 15, 2011

Early in the morning riders converged on the course for the final course inspection. Marco, Brandon, and I collaborated on our one lap preview of the next day's challenges. Near the top of the climb as Brandon and I chatted about race tactics a fox trotted onto the road maybe 10 yards ahead of us. He led us up the climb, looking back occasionally and marking his territory as he went. I am sure he wasn't happy with all these people rolling through his 'hood, "What is with all the traffic these days?!"

After a trip to the local market we set about grilling a feast of a lunch with the mountain mocking us from the other side of the river. Good fuel is certainly a pre-requisite for battle.

Dinner was prepared similarly before it was time to retire for the night and rest for the early morning start times.

Day 4 Saturday July 16, 2011

With a 7:30am race start I rolled out to warm up in the cold misty morning air. My energy levels were good and I was ready to throw down. I had planned on extending my warm up to the last minute as I have been the top ranked racer for my age group and the defending champion plus the top four were supposed to get call-ups. I was looking forward to getting a call-up, hearing my name announced before the start of National Championships!

I rolled through the starting area as I was warming up and Allison informed me that my name was not on the call-up list! I was instantly confused and furious! Allison looked up the rankings on her iPhone while I inquired as to how USAC could screw up while using their own rankings. The issue was never resolved but I was able to battle for a spot on the front for the start.

A few deep breaths and we were headed straight up the ski hill on the "Start Loop". I wanted to be near the front onto the single track to try to ensure I stayed close to the leaders. I think I was third in my wave as we turned off the fire road, and we were already catching the tail end of the wave ahead of us. We were less than 3 minutes into the race and the traffic was already thick with the also-rans of the groups ahead free falling back through the lead pack of my wave.

I fought for position and was feeling good until an unskilled racer from a previous wave came to a complete stop in the second (very small) rock garden blocking my progress. I dismounted and ran around but at least four riders went by and I no longer knew where I was at in the pack. I twisted the throttle to ensure no more would pass before we entered the single track...

Then the real frustration started. The course featured a single track climb that was fairly challenging to ride. With no real passing opportunities available the "race" became a steady marching line of spandex clad bike pushers. Pushers ahead were unwilling to allow riders to move through, tempers flared. People pleaded with those around them, some yelled, some pushed.

One rider tried to force a pass on me. He put his hand on my hip and pushed to try to make room for a pass. I gave him fair warning that if he was going to push, so was I. I then put my hand under his rib cage and shoved him off the trail. His response, "I gotta give you props! Good push!" For once my extra upper body muscle mass came in handy in a XC race!

At the top of the single track climb was an alternate line that was a steep run-up. I jumped off and passed at least 4 guys but paid the price. On the double track I was red-lined and unable to make a decisive move. I kept pressure on but was passed by a couple others, still no idea where I was in the pack.

At the top of the double track climb, the top of the course, I was suffering horrible and thought, "Your race is half over. If you want a result you better get on the gas." The descent was going good until I crashed on a right hand switchback. I lost a couple spots. One of them was definitely in my AG, he posts on MTBR and I knew that I had to get that spot back. We hit the single track climb together but he slowly pulled a gap as we worked through shelled riders. My mental game suffered a bit at this point as I knew I had no chance for a win, and was losing ground on the top finishers. With no real possibility of gaining spots on the descent the climb was my only hope and I was hurting bad. I battled, primarily with myself, and then rallied for the descent. Not far down the descent the rider that had passed was on the side with a flat tire. One spot lost, one spot gained, but I had no idea what spot I was in. I crashed again, same stupid corner, but didn't lose any spots this time.

I did my best. In the end it was good enough for Third.

Not the result I had hoped for, but a good result regardless.

Unfortunately USAC scheduled the SuperD practice for the same time as podiums so we only got one run on the SuperD course before we headed for a celebratory pizza dinner with the Gritters and Arochas...

Most excellent.

Day 5 Sunday July 17, 2011

Although I don't race many SuperD races I felt that I had a good shot at another podium spot. The course had one brutal climb and I felt I could put in a solid effort. After watching Allison's start I warmed up and waited for my turn.

I passed my 30 second man less than 3 minutes into the course. I passed my one minute man shortly after that on the descent. I passed one rider with a flat, and then another rider who I am assuming was my 1 minute 30 second man. I had my head on straight and was tearing up the course. I felt like I was winning the jersey. As I neared the last couple of switchbacks I felt my rear tire getting soft. I tried to baby it, "Just get it across the line!" It wasn't going to happen. There was a course split where the CAT1/Pro/SuperD course broke off to the left uphill before the rocky drop near the finish. My rear tire squirmed to the right, I leaned left and hit an overhanging stump with my left shoulder at speed. The impact sent me flying off the track and into a bunch of deadfall/logs off the right side of the course. I scrambled to collect myself and my bike then rode/ran the rest of the course. 9th place was all I could muster. 8th place, just four seconds ahead, turned out to be the winner of the All-Mountain competition. Major bummer...

After eating something we watched some Short Track racing.

Following that Allison and I looked at each other and said, "Now we start vacation!"

We drove north toward Stanley, Idaho and set up camp next to Red Fish Lake. Game on!!!!

I don't mess around when it comes to camping, vein busting efforts!

To be continued....

Race Weight

2011-07-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the reality started to set in that Nationals was just around the corner.

This will be my first time racing MTB XC Nationals!

I really felt like I started out the season very strong. I also feel that although my results didn't suffer much in many regards I had a lapse of focus after Fontana. My weight went up by 10lbs. My training volume fell off without any significant increase in intensity. My discipline suffered.

I don't have much experience finishing a season without a major interruption so my racing and training is still very much in it's infancy. 2009 was my first season and 2010 was basically a total loss for me after Fontana. If we exclude the crazy life stress that I have experienced this season which impacted my training/dedication to racing, this is only my second season of racing that hasn't been completely derailed. I really don't know much about what my maximum potential is, how to train myself to reach that potential, or how long I can maintain it. I don't know because I just don't have enough information. In some regards a coach could apply some anecdotal information, but even a great (read big $$) coach isn't going to know me.

In any case, I have managed to re-focus. I think.

What does that mean? It means I get back to focused, dedicated training. It means I get back to racing weight. It means I eat clean meals (sadly no pizza). It means I go fast when I need to and rest when I am not going fast. Today I am at race weight.

150lbs and change. My tan lines are an indication that my training focus and dedication is on track. Though it isn't all pain and suffering to achieve them, recently I have had some fantastic rides with Allison in the mountains. I have only a few more hard workouts before I rest for Nationals, primarily hard intervals in the heat on the road bike #suffering.

According to the USA Cycling rankings I am sitting in the top spot for my AG headed into the race...

...but I think most people know that these rankings are totally useless. I have been beaten outright this season by the guy ranked 20th (Big Bear Shootout #1), and based on some quick research from non-USAC sanctioned MSC races the guy ranked 23rd has a very good chance of being a significant threat for the podium.

Last week I did a power test (2x20 on Palomar) and although my power numbers aren't as high as I might hope for, I feel like I am about as well prepared as I can be. My lack of altitude acclimatization has a chance of playing a role in the race for sure. I know for a fact that other local fast CAT1 racers are already at altitude, if not already riding the course in Idaho. That makes me a bit nervous.

The course makes me a bit nervous too. Looking at the profile I can tell you that the climb might be on the outside of what is ideal for me. Combine that brutal climb with the altitude and I can tell you now race day is certainly going to be an exercise in severe suffering. I really hope that there is some technical aspect that tips the scale in my favor as the pure climbers that live at altitude look like they might have an advantage.

What variables I do have control over I will be trying to take care of this week. I need to race prep the bikes and square away all our gear. This is no small task when you consider that my race steed has suffered through some wicked bad conditions this year. I also need to ensure that we have all our other gear ready to roll: camping, tools, spares, etc. It isn't so easy to pack all that stuff into the little TDI, but we will save a LOT of money in fuel by driving it!

I will have one final race tune-up at Rim Nordic this weekend. Wish me luck. I may not have a chance to post another blog between now and some time well after Nationals.

So 6 years ago I was 90lbs heavier wearing 40" waist jeans (my 29's are falling off me now), 1 year ago I fractured my neck in *at least* 6 places. Regardless of my finish position at Nationals I am stoked to be where I am right now. Life is what you make of it. "Do Epic Shit", Go Hard, *insert every other motivational saying you can think of*

See you on the trails!

Anniversary and Rim Nordic #1

2011-06-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

8 years has passed.

Not one doubt.

Many things have changed.

As long as we are together,

nothing is too big to conquer.

Celebratory beer. Firestone Parabola from our trip to Santa Ynez.

Champagne flutes from the wedding.

Almost 10 years, going to have to do something special for that one.

Many more to come...

Racing back to back weekends can be a bit on the stressful side. Camping AND racing back to back weekends put me right on the edge this past week!

Friday I was in meltdown mode. Between work, bike maintenance, camping gear sorting/packing, training, racing, and general life stuff like cooking and dealing with the fact that my Dad has been in and out of the ICU for the past couple of weeks... I was maxed out on all levels of stress. I feel for Allison. I had to have been like a teenage girl with PMS.

I was freaking out that there wasn't going to be a Yellow Post camp site available late on Friday where we had hoped to camp near Keller Peak. I was trying to run contingency plans in my head and just couldn't even manage to fathom a guess as to how I was going to save the day in the dark. For once Allison was the calm, go-with-the-flow, person. The drive was full of tension and I felt like the world was crushing me as we inched our way through northbound traffic.

Yellow Post site #2 was open.

And it was RAD!

Deep breath. Holy crap, things worked out (BTW it was the last available site and we likely would have missed out had we been 5 minutes later). Looking back on this I need to remember that things will work out. Stressing about these things won't make the situation better. As long as Allison and I are in it together everything will work out.

In any case, the relief that I felt was just like the sound of cracking open an ice cold beer.

Not too long after pulling in we figured out part of the reason that it was the last available site. There was garbage everywhere. The people that had occupied this spot previously were of the lowest possible ilk. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the amazingly beautiful location picking up all manner of refuse. We totally filled a kitchen sized garbage bag. Sometimes I forget how low of a life form humans are. Moving on. We set up camp and cooked a typically fabulous BBQ dinner before staring at the camp fire for a bit...

Pork Chop, Asparagus, Quinoa

Thanks to Allison for capturing the best images to share!

Please note, fire had just gotten going and I underestimated the dryness of the wood, I don't usually have the giant flames rolling like in the picture. #firedanger

Saturday I had my work cut out for me. After breakfast I wanted to stockpile some firewood so that I wouldn't have to purchase more from the store. $7 for a tiny bundle of super dry fast burning wood just seems like a waste of money so I cut and chopped and carried firewood back to camp for a while before we kitted up for our planned 3hr MTB ride. Lots of dead-fall around the area meant I had plenty of raw material!

Getting primal. When the log is too big for the tiny hand saw and the hatchet, I used the SMASHER.

We then kitted up for our ride and Allison needed my ID and USAC card from my wallet. I had placed it in the car, but then we ran for Fuel and supplies after setting up camp and it was no longer where I remembered putting it. We frantically turned the car and camp upside down hunting for it. We came to the conclusion that I had to have lost it after paying for the supplies at the store so we jumped in the car and drove down searching the sides of the road. We asked inside the store if anyone had turned in a wallet. Things looked bleak. Then Allison remembered that I had told her that I put it in her camera bag! Wow! I don't like feeling stupid, but what a relief!

Ride time!

The route we picked for the ride was lots of fun. We left camp and climbed towards Keller Peak, then dropped down Exploration Trail, climbed 38 to Rim Nordic, rode a lap and most of a second lap of the XC course for the next day, then back down 38 and up to camp. I felt pretty good on the ride, I struggled a little technically on Exploration Trail, but I think that it was likely due to a severe mismatch between tires and trail conditions. The Rim Nordic course was super fun and I was totally looking forward to Sunday's race!

After the ride we checked off all the boxes for stuff that needed taken care of. First on deck was cleaning up and we had a bit of fun with showering outdoors. Following that was hydration, food, bike prep, firewood, pictures, etc. I harassed Allison about her iPhone, but I am glad she is enjoying and I like having the pictures to steal for my blog!

I think it was good for me to get some time with the SMASHER, it was definitely therapeutic.

After all the work on our firewood collection and the fatigue from the ride I decided I needed to rest a bit so I went to lay down in the tent for a few minutes while Allison prepped our bottles for the race.

A delicious Ballast Point Sculpin IPA was consumed and a typically amazing BBQ dinner followed that and we were in bed long before I was able to burn through my stack of fire wood.

The Mann site complete with Sworks'.

Sunday was another beautiful day in the mountains and after breakfast we broke down camp and packed it back up in our little TDI. With all the driving to races and stuff I am really glad we pulled the trigger on the new car.

With the later race start and an extra long warm-up Allison's patented Steel Cut Oat breakfast and two Jetboils of French Press coffee didn't seem like enough.

My stomach was grumbling big time about 30 minutes before race time. I wolfed down the easiest food to get to in the car (2 Fruit Leathers) and was super stoked that they had Clif Bar samples near the water jugs by Registration. I shoved a tiny Clif bar in my mouth, slammed a small cup of water, dumped some more water on my head and back, and lined up to go racing!

I was bummed to find out that my wave started 8 minutes behind the Pro men. I guess if I want to get to race with the big dogs I need to get upgraded! The coolest part about racing Rim Nordic is that if CAT1 men place in the top 5 of the Pro class *times* they get to take home the prize money for that position. I was on a mission. I wanted to be in the money!

Photo credit : Mrs. Dean Swank.(Laura Ranney)

Off the start line I didn't waste any time. I set a harder pace than what was comfortable and only Jason Rusnak followed. It was really hot and dry out but I wasn't holding back. I hoped he would hang on longer than he did as it can be motivating to race with someone else, but I was soon all my myself with the exception of an occasional rider, none of which were moving fast enough to work with. Two themes kept me moving as fast as possible. First that this was preparation for Nationals, this was hurting myself at altitude, if I am to do well at Nationals I need to race fast at over a mile of altitude. Second was that I wanted in the money! There was a good showing from the local Pro racers and it was going to be a huge boost of confidence if I could finish with a top 5 time overall.

Photo credit : Mrs. Dean Swank.(Laura Ranney)

I gave it my all. I had a few rough patches during the race, on the second lap I had some issues with staying focused, I even went down on a loose corner losing precious seconds. On the last lap I had some issues fighting with my dreaded leg cramps. Overall I felt like I had a decent race. In the end I gave it what I had on the day and came up the fastest Amateur time on the day, 32 seconds behind the 5th place Pro time. Didn't get in the money but there were some seriously fast dudes out with the deepest Pro field I have ever seen at Rim Nordic.

Definitely an awesome weekend all around. We are already trying to plan what is in store for the three day weekend ahead. Whatever I do I look forward to doing it with this girl...

Best companion ever.

Full gas toward Nationals! BRAAAAAP!!!

2011 Kenda Cup West Champion

2011-06-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

While the title gives away the subject of my blog post, it doesn't tell much about the other stuff and that is what I want to look back on to read. So for those that like "Short Attention Span Theater", I won the 35-39 CAT1 Kenda Cup West Series Title.

Actually I had the title wrapped up after Santa Ynez. Even counting points and a half I clinched it. I have to admit though, with Ben and Brian racing in the Pro class now, the victory feels a bit hollow. After Fontana I didn't get any bar to bar racing except with racers that were not in my AG. I am reminded by the finish times of Ty and Marco that I need to be faster to win races outside of Socal, and am worried that the lack of competition will leave me unprepared for my next big race goal.

It didn't much matter to me that I had already clinched the Socal Championship Series, I am headed to Nationals soon and racing at altitude is going to be a big challenge there. Since Big Bear is at altitude and I have historically struggled with cramping there, I figured there is no better training for Nats than to smash myself up high. To make the weekend even better Allison and I decided to test out a weekend of camping in our new little car. It is a challenge for us to pare down our load, we have always been famous for "cramming 10lbs of shit in a 5lbs bag", dating back to our R/C racing days. So this weekend played double duty for us, camping road trip and altitude racing! PERFECT!

Still can't believe we fit all our crap in this little car!

Friday after work we headed up to the mountains. Our little car was loaded down with lots of stuff! Camping gear, tools and racing gear, and our race bikes on the back. We planned on camping at Barton Flats but by the time we got up there the place was full. I asked the Camp Host about availability of sites and he said that San Gorgonio campground up the road might have spots. A short trip up the road we found an acceptable location for our homestead and set to work cooking dinner and setting up camp. Dinner was great, boneless pork chops with asparagus and quinoa, and we indulged ourselves with some great beers, Stone Lukcy Basardt followed by a Kernville Brewing Just Outstanding and finally a Firestone Walker Reserve Porter for dessert. By the time we went to bed we were both fairly well smashed!

I didn't sleep well. Woke up many times, had a wicked headache, but the new Thermarest pads that we bought at REI were very comfortable and I didn't have my typical camping body aches, big bonus! Saturday morning we got up (slowly) and had both Jetboils fired up to make coffee and Allison's patented Steelcut Oat breakfast. Eventually we headed up to Big Bear and rode a good amount of the course (rode the Medium Course). I felt pretty good but for some reason had a lot of muscle soreness in my legs. Not sure what caused it. Unfortunately my bike wasn't feeling so well. A couple of miles in to the ride my bottom bracket started to complain. By the end of the ride it had mutated into a cacophony of creaks and pops and moans. Not good, in reducing the volume of stuff to take I had eliminated several items I would have needed to do a rebuild!

Immediately after the ride we hauled butt over to Bear Valley Bikes and were super stoked to find the proprietor, Derek Hermon, in the house! Derek hooked me up with his mad wrench skills and some top notch tips and tricks! I am not sure anyone knows the Sworks race bikes quite like him and I am extremely grateful for the fact that he sacrificed some of his ride time (he was kitted up and headed out to ride when we arrived) to help me. Derek, you are the man!!!!

After turning my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang bike back into the rocket sled it was designed to be, we headed back to camp and set to work making dinner again. Due to some "above and beyond" type efforts at work I had obtained a gift card for Omaha Steaks and part of my order included a "Free Gift" of "Gourmet" hot dogs and hamburgers. I fired up our PIMP ASS TOO DAMN BIG AND SHINY camping grill and set to grilling meat and veggies. What I wound up eating was quite satisfying, despite the not-very-impressive meat I had to work with. Grilled red onion, grilled sweet peppers, avocado, thin sandwich flats, and meat (I had three cheeseburgers and two hot dogs!). Allison and I joke around that we are like fish, if there is enough food available we will eat till we explode. I came close. We also enjoyed an Alaskan Limited Edition Imperial IPA.

Hope you like my jugs!

Thanks to Allison and her iPhone for capturing so many food pics!

Sunrise on Sunday morning was pretty amazing!

We turned in early and despite a wicked headache (again?! I don't know whether it was the beer or the altitude) I got a good night's sleep. Sunday morning we were up early and rushing to pack camp, cram it back in our little car, and cook breakfast. I really like camping with Allison like this, but it is for sure a lot of work for me! We got up to Big Bear with plenty of time to prep and warm up before our races. I decided to forgo warming up with Allison and ride up 2N10, then down Pirates and Fall Line. Fortuitously, Eric Colton joined me and I appreciated the chance to ride with him before he heads off to join the Specialized Helmet design team (Eric you will be missed, come back and ride/race with us often!). I felt like I had a good warm up session in my legs and decided to go stage for the start. The staging area was a cluster eff! Guys were walking around yelling at everyone trying to chat and stage to clear the road. At first I was very confused as there were no cars driving up and we were supposed to be staging for our race. It turns out that due to the remote start for the 50 miler, and the start timing, the 50 miler contestants were scheduled to climb through our staging area a couple of minutes before we were supposed to start. I guess Team Big Bear/US Cup is still learning. In my opinion the course layout/design and timing of starts were bad enough at Big Bear, adding the 50 miler like they did just made things less optimal (trying to be as polite as possible, I have no hate for the race promoters/organizers!)

Eventually we were lined up and took off up the climb. Marco again put in a huge attack off the start and nobody followed. I remember in years past when Marco used to make these attacks and they always seemed stupid because he was soon going backwards through the field. I take it back. The dude now attacks and checks out and doesn't fade or suffer. Huge improvement and quite remarkable/inspiring! I was in the chase group that included Ty, Griffith, and several others. The pace was brutal and I was suffering. Ty seemed to be cruising and had extra energy to push Griff a few times to help him stay near the front. When we crested the climb I am pretty sure it was just Ty and me, and Eric Colton who had started ahead of us but tagged on as we worked through traffic. Griff might have been very close as well. Moments after passing the Pro women (Allison was right with Deya which was HUGE for her to hang up the first climb) Ty soft pedaled a few strokes and looked over at me to pull. I really had no intention of pulling for a stronger rider (did he not think I saw him push Griff?) and he didn't seem to want me tagging along as he put in an acceleration that popped me off the back. My attempted response to his attack, however weak, shelled anyone else that was trying to hold my wheel and it left me all alone on the top of 2N10. Every now and then as we undulated across the mountain I would catch a glimpse of Ty who was 40 seconds or so up on me and gaining ground. So much for hanging on.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. There were tons of cars on the course, which is never a good thing but I felt like I was going pretty good and was constantly passing traffic (50 milers were doing the same course as us and we were working through pretty much that whole field). However I was never in contact with anyone from my wave so it is hard to judge. I suffered where I always do, the single track climb up from the bottom of Cabin 89, and rallied in the same location on the fast fire roads afterwards. On the fire road descent at the end I discovered another issue with the simultaneous running of the 50 miler. As we were descending 2N10 at breakneck speeds, the Pro class from the 50 was set on a collision course with us. I played it safe and didn't have any issues, but it really seems like a risky situation to have two way race traffic in addition to all the jeeps and motos that are out on course!

At the finish line I looked at my Garmin and was stoked to see I had finished in around 1:46. I was pretty sure my race a month earlier had been around 2hrs so I thought I had cut a huge amount of time. Looking back at results however they had my finish time at 1:48:43 so I was only a few minutes faster. Not as impressive, but I figure I would likely had been faster if I felt I could take some risks descending (less cars/riders/traffic). I waited around to see how Allison would fare against Deya and much to my surprise she was victorious! It is a huge deal for her to slash somewhere around 6 minutes from her finish time in a month. Hopefully she can keep the momentum going and salvage something from what started out as a horrible year for her!

So there you have it. Approximately one year from my return to pedaling after breaking my neck and knee (first ride back was June 29, 2010) I have smashed the Kenda Cup West winning 5 of the 7 races, and am looking forward to my trip to Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Nationals, regardless of finish position, will be the capstone for my comeback from my crash. I am sure I will be lined up and shredding the course before I know it. Hopefully I will have a good story to write about, but I know I will have a great time!

See you at Rim Nordic next weekend for more high altitude suffering.

Smiling through it all.

2011-06-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Tumultuous. That is how it feels my life is lately. I have so many things in the process of change, so much stress, so much going on that I feel at times that I am not going to be able to keep it together. Sunday during the race I found a very real analogy for how I feel about life in general right now. Before I get to that I figured I would share a bit of the lead-up.

Plans came together last week and my mom would be joining us up near Solvang for the weekend of the Santa Ynez Kenda Cup West race. We were going to sort of double-up the weekend since my birthday is coming up. I had been planning on driving the new TDI up and seeing what the amazing little diesel is like on a longer weekend road trip. Unfortunately the weather outlook was not so bright. Thursday we decided that it would be better to have the truck for this trip. If for no other reason other than to not trash the interior of the new car with muddy race gear!

We took Friday off work and meandered our way North. We stopped off at our wonderful sponsor's shop, Rock N' Road Cyclery, to grab a few odds and ends and say "HI!" After that we stopped off at an REI for a few other odds and ends. We wanted to go for a little bike ride somewhere on the way up and Gary Douville responded to Allison's Facebook request for an easy ride with some sweet bluff-top single track over looking the ocean in Goleta. The ride was perfect, exactly what we needed! We even found some sweet little jumps and stuff.

After our little ride we headed to the place my mom had booked for all of us to stay for the night. It was a "Thousand Trails" facility in the Los Padres NF area. We all jumped in my mom's car and headed to dinner at the Firestone Walker Tap Room in Buelton. Such an awesome night! Great conversation, food, beer, wine... we even had TWO desserts! (the server made a mistake in our favor, collect bonus yummy empty calories and advance to GO!)

Friday night the weather started up. The wind howled and woke me up many times in the night. The morning started out partly cloudy, but deteriorated rapidly as we lazied around and ate breakfast and drank coffee. By the time we left for the race venue to go register and pre-ride there was some rain falling here and there. Allison and I rode a lap and a half of the course, got to see our favorite DH racers, and generally had a good time. We then ran over to the Firestone Winery and purchased some wine (2 bottles for Allison's Dad, 1 bottle for my mom that was the same as what we had the previous night at dinner, and 1 for us!) before hauling butt down to meet up with my mom and have some coffee and pastries in Solvang (more caloric indulgence, noticing a pattern yet?).

Okay so this is where there starts a few kinks in things. We have been struggling some with how to approach the bike racing and training while enjoying the life experience. Previously Allison was going to conquer the world on two wheels (she still is, but not this year) so we were both very focused on every detail of every second of every day to get her there. With a delay in her World Domination we have shifted some focus to life experience including beer drinking and other such indulgence. The problem comes when these things directly contradict what we know to be the ideal race preparation/experience. Anyway, at times this internal controversy causes some friction between us and that certainly happened on Saturday evening. We wound up eating the leftovers Allison had thoughtfully/carefully packed as a pre-race meal, then joining our favorite DH'ers where I had some pizza ("I like pizza, Steve") and then I had an ice cream sandwich. Downward spiral much? At the same time Allison was freaking out, worried that racing in the cold and wet was going to cause more "Black Death Foot", certainly something that we both fear in a major way. The Mann Show had shifted from a situational comedy to a drama for the night. The rain and wind pounded away outside, a physical manifestation of the struggle inside?

Sunday morning we had our regular race prep breakfast and headed to the venue. Somebody had definitely done a rain dance and we were going to pay the consequences. We started our warm up in the rain and things were sticky to say the least. My warm-up was weak. The lap count for the race kept changing. The course changed. I had no idea what was in store for us, wasn't even sure what the course was. We didn't have anyone to do bottle hand-offs. With no idea on race duration I had one bottle on my bike and hoped for the best. #tumultuous

My group lined up with the AG below us (just like at Big Bear) so we had Ty Kady and Marco Arocha in our group, as well as Brandon Gritters. I figured I would mark my main AG competition and Gary Douville topped that list. I guess the weather scared off Eric Bostrom who had pre-registered.

I took a few deep breaths and we were off. We funneled down to single track quickly and I think I was around 8th wheel. The first little climb had a bunch of shuffling and I moved up to 6th. The guys in the front were all strong so I figured I was in a decent spot. On the first major climb of the lap I moved around Ted and then Gary. Looking ahead it seemed that Ty and Brandon were checking out and Marco was in between. Right at the top of the climb Umberto put in an effort and passed me. I rode behind him for a good portion of the descent before going around which gave Marco a pretty good gap. The rest of the first lap was fast and I was trying to hunt down Marco. Conditions weren't too bad and the rain was light.

The second lap things changed. I was right behind Marco going through the Start/Finish. After catching him I sat on for a while, then went around and pulled for a while. When we hit the climb I just kept a good pace and Marco followed. Near the top of the climb I caught Chloe Forsman and rode her wheel for part of the descent. The track was getting quite slippery, mud was starting to clog people's bikes, and we were hitting a lot of traffic. We got hung up behind some kids and we were pretty much track standing. Marco dropped off the track to the left and cut a switchback to make the pass so I followed. Better to not force a questionable pass on little kids and the single track was slippery! Marco led onto the next climb and we were working hard through very heavy traffic. Marco seemed to be making some pretty iffy passes and I tried to play it safe which gave him a gap. We caught Derek Hermon and Marco tried to pass on the left but slid in the mud and fell. I moved past him and stayed behind Derek until I could get a clean pass and then just motored on. The rain was coming and going and the mud was getting really bad. Somewhere around this time I just decided to smile and have fun and not let the conditions derail me. I knew I was leading my AG and was 3rd in our wave, likely overall for amateur racers. The next descent really tested my attitude! Right before getting there I passed Alex Estrada.

At the top of the next descent there was a guy standing there and he said, "The trail is extremely slippery, watch for down riders, be careful!" I said, "Thanks!" and thought to myself that I could handle anything coming. I will now forever know the next section of trail as "The Slip and Slide." No sooner did I enter the trail I was sliding sideways and moments later was picking myself and my bike up off the ground. I did this a bunch of times. It seemed I was making decent time as I caught the Pro Women's leader, Lea Davison, and complimented her on the awesome new Specialized Fate race bike she was on. Catching and passing a World Cup racer was very encouraging! I figure she races in crazy conditions and has a great deal more experience in mud than me so it really stoked my engine room. Unfortunately the mud was starting to take it's toll. My FD stopped shifting altogether and only certain gears would work in the back. I kept bunny hopping and slamming my bike down to knock mud off, but it didn't help the FD. As I came into the main race venue I made a decision to stop at the bike wash that was pretty much right on the course and wash off my FD. It took about 30-45 seconds, but I think it was a very smart decision as I now could shift in the front!

The 3rd and final lap was quite an experience. I am not sure I could convey how much the track looked like a war zone. People were standing, walking, carrying bikes. I just kept cranking and smiling. The carnage seemed to effect everyone except me! I passed Zack Valdez standing on the side of the trail scraping mud off his bike. It seemed like I was in a constant state of calling out "Passing Left" or "Rider up, please move". I wasn't mad, but I did not want to slow down. I had a theory that if I went fast enough the mud couldn't stick to me!

It seemed there were three kinds of people that were hiking with their bikes, many people were cheering me on and commenting how amazing the Pro riders were at dealing with the conditions (I am NOT a Pro!), an equal number were asking me how the hell I was still riding everything (I just kept smiling and cranking hard!), and a small minority of the people were so shell shocked by their own personal struggle with the conditions that they were completely unaware of anything else. Near the top of the second big climb of the lap one of these people managed to smash me in the face with his rear wheel as he swung his bike around to shoulder it. Not long after that I was shocked when I passed both Brandon Gritters (he was in the second category above) and Ty Kady (who I will classify in the first group as he said something like "Good work dude").

I was now leading the amateur race for sure (nobody goes faster than Ty), and had definitely lost count of how many times I had crashed and slid around in the goop. Going down "The Slip and Slide" and finishing the lap it seemed I was all alone on course. It was pretty cool. I just kept smiling and miraculously my bike kept working!

Fastest non Pro, 2nd fastest time of the day!

Post race coffee to warm up. Man is it nice to have the Jetboil on tap!

I swear my bike hates me now. First Sagebrush and now this?!?! #rebuildneeded

It seems I took the second fastest time of the day! I got my birthday wish. All I wanted from myself for the 36th birthday was a good race. :)

Keep on smiling! See you at the next one...

Still maxed out...

2011-05-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I raced at the Over The Hump series (Tuesday night race). The turnout was awesome. So many people! It was a lot of fun but I don't think we will be back for too many of these as it makes for a really hard week (we didn't get home till nearly 11PM which cuts our sleep down to around 5hrs).

The race itself was interesting. Reminded me lots of CX racing last fall, with the exception that I was going fast instead of sucking wind and going slow. :) I was in the first chase group for the Pro men, which was the lead group for the Expert men. I was having fun drilling it on the front and drafting to recover. Traffic was crazy at times and I was battling for the Expert win with a couple of other guys right up till shit went all wrong...

I was second wheel in the group and we were flying through last lap traffic. Probably 2/3 of the way through the lap (a bit before the mud section) I went to the right of a slower rider (I had called out the pass on the right) and I had almost gone past when the rider swerved right ,their bar contacted my hip. I heard the crash behind me and glanced back. To my horror it was Willie (just back on her bike after shoulder surgery) and Griffith (he had been chasing/drafting me and battling for the win as well). As soon as it registered who was involved I was running backwards on course to offer assistance. I helped her get back to the Start/Finish and we thought that she was going to be okay, but since then she has had X-rays and her collar bone is indeed broken AGAIN. I can't describe how awful I feel about the whole thing, even though she said that she knows she shouldn't have swerved.

I would be lying if I said that part of the reason I don't want to go back for more races there is that I feel that I don't think that the race itself is a good formula for me to be racing. The relative speed differences on course were just way too high and there was way too much traffic to work through. Sure, shit happens while riding/racing but it will be a long time 'till I stop feeling sick to my stomach when I think about the fact that Willie is off her bike AGAIN and this time I had something to do with it, regardless of fault or avoid-ability. I know how it feels to be busted. Healing vibes to Willie.

Due to lack of sleep, training, and work stress (see post title!) the week flew by. I really needed the three day weekend! Allison and I did a great ride in IDY on Saturday...

After the ride we headed to the desert. While there we ate too much, drank too much, and generally did all the wrong things from a bike racing perspective. We did however manage to go on a challenging ride...

Trail conditions combined with the wrong tires, compounded by wicked wind conditions, had us cutting the ride short but I was smiling and loving the beauty of the desert and riding with my awesome wife! The new car is perfect for these little weekend outings...

More caloric and alcoholic beverage over-indulgence followed, but I was wearing a cool shirt from Rock N Road!!! (I need one that has a picture of a giant plate of food, a big beer bottle, and a giant plate of dessert with "OFF" under them, but somehow I don't think it will help with my discipline...)

This weekend we will be headed to Santa Ynez for the next Kenda Cup Series race. I am looking forward to racing there since I didn't get to last year. Eric Bostrom is pre-registered so I hope to have decent race legs so that we can duke it out. It would be nice to have a great race right before my 36th birthday! (yes, that is what I am wishing for as a birthday present from myself, having a good race) Either way we will be celebrating my birthday with a visit to Firestone Walker!!! :)

See you at the races.