July 6, 2017: One Full Day in Paris.

The Seine River near our hotel.  Some fancy building front and center.

 I'm just going to let the pics do the talking today and save the blah blah blah.  Suffice to say we squeezed the most out of our only full day here in Paris.  Ate well, survived the heat and enjoyed ourselves.

Tour San Jaques

The Louvre

I don't often try to take artsy fartsy pics of people but this caught my eye.

Well it made ME laugh.

Some little painting with a million people trying to get to it.

A million people looking at some sculpture or other...

Jasper trying on the fit of an F1 (sorta) at the Renault Store on the Champs Elysee

Kris caught a nap in the lounge of the Toyota-Champs Elysee while Jay and I got our geek on.  LOVED this place.  Toyota and racing!  What more could I want?  Well maybe a brand store to pickup a cool frenchy TRD hat or something maybe...?

Gotta tilt your head back to admire Le Tour Eiffel.  Check them fancy city bikes!  Not recommended for casual riding about.  Paris is a bit of a zoo and bike lanes are, uh, hard to explain.

July 4-5, 2017: Getting Going!

Paris France, 6AM.
SLEEP!  Glorious sleep.  Sleeping is one of my favorite things during vacations.  Going to bed when I'm tired and, generally, sleeping until I'm rested is a luxury I don't enjoy in my day to day commute-work-commute life so vacation is a great time to do it like it's supposed to be done.  As I tap this out I've got a  nice 8 hours of sleep in me and Kris and Jay are blissfully sawing logs behind me still.  But we didn't start that way.

SFO->ORD

At 5:30 yesterday two days' ago morning (funny how skipping a night of sleep blends two days into one...) we were picked up for the quick trip to SFO where we checked on through and uneventfully begin the travel day  (Jay just snorted in sleep and stirred.  It would be totally rude to take a picture of him doing a classic teenager boy sleep-sprawl but it's oh so tempting....). 


Anyway.  We flew to Chicago with no problems, found the next flight and boarded our next plane to London, Heathrow.  Kris does such an amazing job planning these trips for 3 years in advance taking advantage of rewards cards and member benefits on this and that.  I don't have the patience for dealing with those kinds of things but I do certainly reap the benefit of her ability to capitalize and we enjoyed the 8-hour flight in business class with awesome British Airways pampering. (I have to point out here that I flew this same flight last year in my trek to Namibia.  COACH.  It was a VASTLY different experience...)

Fourth of July in Chicago O'Hare

ALL flights should be like this for EVERYONE!!!

While Kris grabbed some sleep on that flight, Jay and I just enjoyed the pampering and comfort and entertainment and failed to sleep.  At all.  So it was a little bit tired that we found our way through Heathrow to our Paris flight.  I slept a little on that shorty, as did Jasper, but it was not enough.  Customs, bags, figuring out Metro, walking to hotel lugging a suitcase and my bike case were a bit
rough and I started to feel like throwing up by the time we finally got to the hotel but we made it, crashed for a few hours then spent a little time in the evening exploring the neighborhood (which includes Notre Dame cathedral) and getting some dinner. 

EagleEye Jasper spotted this escaped gargoyle on Notre Dame

Today:  PARIS!  Only today as a full day here so we'll go full blown turista.  Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, Louvre (hilights only) etc.

Livermore Asshopper coming Saturday!

Send Roy and email for more info (jeep_royj...A/T...yahoo.com)

When:  Saturday March 14, 2015.  Coffee at Peet's at 6:45ish.  Ride starts at about 7:30AM.

What:  ~52 mile, 4 to 5 hour, non-competitive mixed terrain mini-epic with ~4200 feet of vertical.  Cross tires on a cyclocross/gravel/touring bike would be ideal.  Hard tail 29'er good.  Any mtb totally fine.  Road bike would be suicidal but it would be awesome to watch you try.  Be prepared for typical Livermore dirt (a few 20% grades and one or two short steep hike-a-bike over a mix of gravel and notverytechnical single track).  RAIN will not cancel but will eliminate all singletrack on the ride and shorten it by 5-7 miles.

Where:  Depart from the Livermorium Plaza (that's the little park next door to Peet's on corner of Livermore and First).  Route out of town around Brushy Peak, back through town via roads and bike paths over to Sycamore Grove, over and through Del Valle then back into town ending at Tequila's Taqueria (on the other side of Peet's).  If you don't have time, motivation or fitness for the entire 52ish miles then there are plenty of opportunities to bail or cut the course and rejoin (assuming you know the local routes).  I plan on having cue sheets to hand out at the ride.  

Why:  Because fun, different, free, and all those other reasons you ride a bike.

******************************************************
March 9, 2015 update:

Here's a few questions no one asked that I've answered...

What should I bring?  This is 100% unsupported.  So bring what you need for a 4-5+ hour mixed terrain ride.  Bonus attaboy from me if you add in a small 1st aid kit.

Where are we going?  Crazy.  Oh, you meant, actual route info?  The previously posted route suggestion (peet's->brushypeak->sycamoregrove->delvalle->tequilas) still stands but the plan is to do Brushy Peak counter-clockwise (see link below but note that BrPk going CW). 

The rough flow of dirt/pavement is:

    ~8 miles road

    ~7 miles dirt

    ~13 miles road/bikepath

    ~16 miles dirt (with a short section of paved bike path)

    ~8 miles road

There's no prize and no one keeping track if you follow the exact suggested route so you can relax about that.  There WILL be a route sheet for guidance.  Bring a pocket-size ziplock baggy with you to keep the paper dry and ink non-runny. 

I absolutely won't have to run out of water or get left behind or pee out in public on the trail will I?  There will be two points on the ride where riders can use bathroom facilities and get water (actually there are several more but these two are the best and most direct.  Brushy Peak is the first and the point in between Sycamore Grove and Del Valle is the second.  Like most of the details on this unorganized ride we'll play the regroups by ear.  If we have large numbers, folks will just do their own thing.  If we have a manageable smaller group, we'll keep track of each other and do regroups.

 

Will I be sharing the trails and yielding to hikers and horses?  This is an important issue to me and mostly why I don't want the ride numbers to get too big.  The trails on this ride are frequented by hikers, joggers, horses etc.  Remember to be ridiculously polite in the face of any attitude encountered and try to follow the IMBA guidelines for yielding to hikers and horses.  The entire route is bike-lega,l to the best of my knowledge, and the best way to keep it that way is by being excellent ambassadors for our sport. 

Have you thought of everything?  Definitely not so be flexible and remember this is a free unofficial and unsupported day of fun.  Unfortunately I just learned that the Badger Cove Half Marathon/5K/10K will be running at Del Valle on Saturday so we're going to be doing a TON of sharing toward the end of the Del Valle portion.  I've been out riding during this event in the past and it was just fine as long as you enjoy the camaraderie of the trails and be a little patient here and there.

Weather:  Ma Nature is doing her job!  If we do get any rain this week it'll be early enough for dry trails on Saturday and the temps are forecast to peak in the mid 70's! 

2013: Trying to find the suspension for some rough patches.

So the blog is on life support but I have been racing this year.  Maybe the renewness of bike racing again as an older guy has worn off and I just feel less compelled to capture it all.  I think I used to be motivated to record every race in order to cement what I secretly feared was a freakish period of my life in which I found myself doing something that I had once so hopelessly abandoned.

At some point in the swirl of life and bike racing in the new environment of higher responsibilities I started to take it for granted and accept that racing and enjoying a fit body was back in my life to stay.

 

Looking forward...

 But the universe has a way of snapping you back from that kind of complacency.  The year started off decently enough.  I was pretty happy to come back from extended travel (and time off the bike) and be competitive in my first race of the season (see my last post from... MARCH!).  I followed that race up with another mountain bike race where I started off strong but then faded hard when my back just couldn't keep up with the burden of the race pace.  I was satisfied with a finish in the top of the field, though I would have rather not dropped from 3rd to 5th during the race.

But that was it.  I mixed in some track racing but just found I was barely floating in the Cat. 4's and never really found my pop there.  And the rest of the mountain bike racing season was just a string of good starts followed by my back completely abandoning me and then fading hard and getting passed out of the podium spots in race after race.  Then I put in alot of hours, built up a base, started building some speed and jumped into cyclocross only to have one of the most miserable races I've ever had without my bike failing me.

I'd like to blame a pretty substantial increase in my life responsibilities and distractions starting about a year ago.  I'd like to blame a year in which I traveled for work a total of something like 80 days.  I'd like to accept all that and say I can regroup, come out the gates next year and turn things around.  But that ain't it.

...or looking back.

 The fact of the matter is I'm getting older.  And getting older means getting slower.  Sure I'm working with the doctors and am on a track to fixing my back but, fuck, I really don't want to accept that this is what it's come to.  Can't I just do like I've always done when denial doesn't work?  Ibuprofen?  Icing, heating or stretching?  Rest?  Train harder?  Nope.  The real solution is to stop aging.  And the reality of that keeps me up at night, attacks my morale and threatens to push me off that edge where I deal with depression and anxiety.

But don't worry about me!  I haven't lost the ability to realize how good I have it.  I do, however, need to work a little harder to align my priorities and not get too wrapped up in my own little complications.  The fact is I still have excellent health and, through this rather bleak racing season and worry over my exponentially increasing discomfort and inability to train properly I CAN, as a matter of fact, still get on a bike and enjoy a nice day and good friends.  And that can't be traded away for anything so I'm very thankful.

We all age.  Our bodies are going to fall apart.  Damn that's hard to accept.  I was talking to Kris this morning and I just had to admit that this is it.  This right here right now is as old as I'm willing to get.  Too bad, eh?  I've always enjoyed a healthy body whether it's on the bike or out on the property or under a car.  So now I just have to start learning to slow down?  I'm only 44!!!  I'm not done fighting.  I'll figure it out.  I'll slow down.  I'll learn how to maintain, repair and keep enjoying this stupid body that's wearing out.  I simply don't see any other alternative.

Despite the view, I'm not ready to pack up and leave yet.

TBF MTB Madness: Quite sane, really, but I don't name the races, I just do them) 3/3/13

March is the latest I've gone into the year without pinning numbers on so far in my royracingV2.0 and my last race was back in October (a rather unsatisfying 50 mile mountain bike race) so I was kind of itching to get some competitive juices flowing despite not being up to race fitness.

Not up to race fitness? Why is that, Roy? Well... I started base miles and food-diary-calorie-counting-hell in the end of November and -despite some pretty big demands on my time- by the Grasshopper ride in January was feeling quite fit and on target for my optimal climbing weight. The Grasshopper ride went well despite some back problems and a cranky bike.

Kind of hard to keep the fitness up when it looks like this!

But then work took over and I had to go to Massachusetts for 20 days and my training was very disrupted and my diet went all to shit. With only ten days back on the bike, I wasn't sure what to expect from the legs at this race but I treated the training week normally with little concession to the race and just didn't put much emotional stock in it figuring it would be a good test of the legs and, at the least, a fun day on the bike with the teammates around. I rode the opening section a couple times and really liked the sort of cyclocross-ish feel of it.  I decided that if anything came of this race I was going to put a big effort into the beginning to try and form a better habit.  Lately my starts have been WAAAY too lackadaisical.  So that's what I did.  I passed everyone in the opening two mile (ish?) section except one guy and by the time we were into the first real single track section I was holding 2nd place firmly.  I stayed in 2nd into the paved section before the first single track climb and was feeling pretty good about that.

Then I was passed by one person who pulled away strongly and thought, "well, hold onto third then."  Then the slow traffic started getting heavy and keeping momentum was a little difficult.  I tried to keep track of who passed me and who was in different categories and by the time the dust settled and the body checks of the first lap were settled I thought I only lost two or three places.

The second lap was mostly spent in no man's land but I was passed by someone who looked about my age category toward the end of the lap.  I held him in sight for quite awhile closing the gap on the climbs and open flat sections but then losing him on the twisties and rocks (quite a familiar story for this roadie-wolf in mtb-sheep clothing...).

Every lap I enjoyed the opening section but my lack of fitness was starting to show on the climbs where I was losing my pep.  After the longish single track climb toward the beginning of the third and last lap I barely saw the rider ahead and decided that even if I completely exploded and lost four places, it would be worth it to leave everything out on the course and close that gap and try to beat that guy.  And, amazingly, that's what happened in spectacular (well, if there's a mediocre bike racer version of spectacular this was it...) fashion I surprised myself closing the gap right at the end of the lap, literally coming by him in time to sprint for 5th place.

That was extremely satisfying not because 5th of 18 finishers is any kind of extra-special result but more because I did two mental things really well in this race that are weak points for me.  A)I dug in at the start and established a good position early on despite burning some matches.  B)I again burned matches instead of holding back in order to catch the guy ahead.  It paid off and, besides being a confidence builder, it was a reversal of a couple of bad habits I've developed that are both related to not wanting to overextend myself in races.

fortnergardens.com racing team with two wins, a third, a fifth,
two sevenths and a tenth for the day! w00t!

After the race I enjoyed celebrating the team's two wins and a third for the day despite our not quite getting enough team points to get on the overall podium.  I'm really enjoying my new team and really feeling like things are on track for a good season if I can get the four pounds back off my frame and keep the training up.

Besides being the first race for this team this was also my first chance to ride the new (to me) Trek Superfly 29'er hard tail I bought back in December.  What a huge jump up from my (formerly) beloved Johnny T!  Without being a dork I also have to mention how much I am *honestly*, for reals, enjoying my Mavic Plasma SLR helmet and Fury shoes.  I'm very picky about helmet fit and the Plasma has been awesome from day one.  And the Fury shoes replaced the Giros I bought last year immediately.  They're simply more comfortable and stiffer when standing on the pedals.  I hate replacing high-end gear so soon (always the thrifty one...) but this was a good upgrade.

Next race firmly on the schedule isn't until May but I'm trying to re-motivate for track racing this year so expect to be adding that to my diet in the coming weeks.  But more work travel and a much-needed family mini-vacation come first.

Grasshopper ride: Old Cazadero 2013

Ray and I at the finish.  Still smiling after a hard day.

Ray, Ruben, Tao, Harley and I (I don't think I missed anyone)found ourselves in Occidental yesterday morning with 340 other knuckleheads waiting in the cold to get going on the ride.  About three minutes after the start we came up around a corner and there was carnage all over the road on a bridge that was half covered with ice. 

I never saw Ruben Tao or Harley after the start so have no idea how they faired over that obstacle.  Ray and I tip-toed around the mess (with some hysterical high-pitched person screaming "OH MY GAAWWWD!!!!  IT'S BLACK ICE.  Thaaaat's blaaaack IIIIcE!!!!"  I later confirmed the screaming was indeed, Ray).

We settled into a pace and rode in and out of groups up the climb over Willow Creek Road and down the descent.  On the dirt road at the bottom I was busy filling my mouth with some power chew and catching back up to Ray when I came around a corner to find him on all fours in a patch of ice.  Trooper that he is, he grabbed his bike from me with a, "Let's just get going, I'm okay."  but I could tell it was a pretty hard fall.

We continued on and on back inland and up some pretty cool climbs and even a little bit of single track logging road before actually getting on Old Cazadero Highway up to the feed zone.  At the feedzone my attempt to figure out my nagging derailleur problems turned into a failed attempt to rebuild the cable connection but eventually we continued on down to the Austin Creek.  I plunged right in but Ray took the wiser route of removing his shoes and socks and keeping them dry (my numb right foot at the end of day was like, "See dummy, that guy's feet are nice and happy.  See?")

Anyway we dug back into round two of "Let's waste our time on Roy's derailleur" on the other side of the creek.  It was better after that (and a third readjust in the middle of the following hill) but continued to cause all kinds of misshifts and annoyances that made me want to throw the bike down into the ravines and creekbeds we seemed to be next to all day long.

We finally poked our way back out to the coast and back to the final climb up Willow Creek where I continued to futz with my cable.  And then, out of nowhere, was the finish.  Surprise!  You're done.  There were no numbers so they were just getting peoples' names as they came across.  I forced my cold climb-numbed mouth to mumble something like "Rory Bomstone" or something like that and they excitedly yelled out, "You're a prize winner!" and pointed me to an emptly bin with one small t-shirt and some gift certificates and such in it (I guess you gotta be faster if you want a good pick from the raffle basket).  I was in no mood at that point to sit reading a bunch of gift cards so I just grabbed the size S t-shirt and went and found Ray.

We took the short cut back to Occidental, grabbed a pretty nice meal from the Roach Coach and that was that.  Being familiar with the area and a Sonoma County vacationer for many years I was really happy to FINALLY get a grasshopper ride accomplished.  I'd definitely do another one and, frankly, between Ray's crash and the 30+ minutes wasted messing with my bike, the next experience has a dang good chance of being a better one.

http://www.grasshopperadventureseries.com/

Winter 2012

I hit the road hard in January, stopped running altogether, and logged more hours in the saddle than any month from 2011.  This was partly motivation to build a decent base on a shorter scale than the previous year's 12 weeks but also because I started going off the schedule and enjoying some longer days in the saddle.  I did alot of hill work and, by the last week of the month, was already doing anaerobic work.  All this was supposed to be leading to an early Road Race season assault with a February to April racing period.

Jan 21, 2012:  Early Bird Road Race from Patterson:
 This is one of those races that I almost never evade.  I know the course very well, it's a short drive from home and I happen to like this type of race that breaks up and leaves finishers coming in small groups instead of a big dumb steaming pack.  I actually had a pretty good race.  I put up with some stupid tactics on the way out, held my own and rode conservatively on the climb and then nailed it back to Patterson.  I outsprinted my one partner on the road and finished 5th of 21.  I was pretty happy with this result but a couple things left a bad taste in my mouth.  First was the general roadie douchebaggery from the race itself.  Without getting into too much detail I'll just say grown men who are supposed to be smart can be really childish and stupid sometimes.  And the ones that choose to race/ride road bikes seem to be on a completely different level of selfish stupidity -in general- than the ones you find on mtb, cx or the track.  The second was the reaction from my team which was mostly apathetic and what response existed was others self promoting their own mid-pack performances or even cutting down or poo-pooing mine.  OK I've just exposed that I'm an insecure little girl that needs a little external ego boost now and then (when it is EARNED, dammit) but there it is.


BUT then February came and I got sick.  It didn't seem too bad at first but a vague lung burn and dry cough persisted and my riding hours were cut to half of January's. And as I was getting healthy again I lost my motivation to road race altogether.  Traveling longish distances to get outsprinted or dropped or otherwise spanked by people with shitty attitudes on bikes worth more than my car suddenly lost ALL its appeal.  My re-focus was firmly on a dirtier path for the year.  And none of this was helped by Ray mentioning he was going to do the Whiskey 50 in my old hometown of Prescott, AZ in the end of April...

February 4, 2012 CCCX mtb cx #1 Fort Ord:  I should have skipped this race but the motivation was stronger than the intelligence and I raced with the early symptoms of a flu coming on.  I had a pretty unremarkable race and finished 13th of 24. 

February 19, 2012 TBF mtb Challenge:  I must have had full health back and the rest in the legs was good because this was probably my single strongest race day of the year.  But I had a horrible start.  I knew I had good legs from my warmup and I got a little cocky on the start.  I took a little excursion from the main trail on the start to get around early traffic and hooked a tree with my handlebars within the first two minutes.  I was slow to get going again since I had to get my chain back on and straighten my bars and by the time I was back on track I was dead frickin' last on the trail.  But I had a good mental game that day too and just dug into the race and passed and passed and passed and even passed one last guy in a sprint in the last 50 meters to finish 6th.  That was fun having great legs on a race day but there was a distinct aftertaste of "if only..."

In March I got back on track and started logging some longer days again along with regular speedwork.  I didn't do any racing but I was enjoying some long days on the bike in preparation for my first 50-mile mountain bike race coming up in Arizona.  I did a TON of climbing (for me) during this period and began a streak of five weeks straight of climbing 11 to 13 thousand feet per week!  To put that into perspective for my usual climbing load, I only had TWO other weeks the ENTIRE YEAR where I climbed more than 11,000 feet.  But I was super motivated to do well in Prescott!

2012 recap begins... with a 2011 recap?

Dear weblog,
Remember me?

I've thought to capture some 2012 hilights month by month but a little 2011 recap may be a good place to start.  2011 ended with a trip to the cold eastern lands of my old haunts to visit moms and pops at their places.  It was a good trip and a nice break from the bike.  I don't know if it's smell, weather or what but sometimes when you suddenly find yourself in your old stomping grounds the memories (not something I am usually good about retaining) kind of come flooding in around the corners.  Usually that's a good reminder of where you've been and, despite the weather, I really have nothing but fondness for my days living in the Mid-Atlantic.

The end of 2011 was a bit frustrating bike-racer wise.  I really enjoyed some excellent fitness and training seemed to be spot on.  I did notch one good result in a cross race but mid-pack seemed to be the standard result.  I did nail my peak but then was unlucky with the bike on that day and that was a huge bummer.  Luckily I found the high ground with myself and decided that it was really a very good year where I finally got the hang of self-coaching.  I ended 2010 as a guy who rode alot but haphazardly and a year later I was able to fine tune all that riding, be more efficient and be able to make my body do what I wanted it to do when I wanted it.  For the most part.

So that made 2012 an encouraging future of applying my newly learned coaching to myself and building on what I learned in 2011.  In theory...

Origins

So today I went for a rather long and hot bike ride.  As I turned off the pavement onto my dirt road for the final 20 minutes of climbing and sweating and heat my eye caught an old school A&W Root Beer can.  The heat, dust, and my own very strong desire for something cold and wet at that very moment triggered the memory of Summers working on the farm when my cousin and I would drink a flat of cheap grocery store-brand soda a day between us.  Grandma and Orville (her husband who, for all intents and purposes was the closest I had for a Grandfather) would buy flats of 24 of all the flavors they could find and those were the most syrupy sweet oddball things you could think of.  But we didn't care since they were cold and sweet and had just the right mixes of sugar and caffeine to keep us working in the Colorado sun all day doing whatever. 

If we were working around the house servicing vehicles, buildings, fences or animals we'd find any excuse to go "up to the house" and, as unspoken teenage bonds work, we'd come back out with a soda for each other.  We thought we were so clever.  My Uncle, ever the hardass, never gave it much attention (unless he he happened to need us right at the moment we were up in the house slacking off) but sweet old Orville knew.  Every once in awhile he'd just sort of randomly show up at the side of a field and patiently wait while I lumbered across in a tractor towards his truck.  As I'd get nearer, he'd wave an arm up in the air and I knew that meant to stop.  I'd jump down and hustle over and he'd let me know he was just over here checking cows and he had a cold Cherry Pop Pineapple Zingo, "If ya wan' it."  I've always felt that being married to sweet old giant of a man was the best way for my Grandma to live the last years of her life.

And then this triggered the 1984 Olympics.  I was in Colorado that summer and very very clearly remember being "up to the house" and catching my Grandma in the kitchen (probably sewing a huge hole back together in someone's overalls or jeans or working herself into a sweat working out a gigantic grease stain in somebody's junk work clothes or putting enough food together to try to feed a large man and two bottomless-pit teenage boy stomachs...) with the TV on in the background.  At first I lingered since the house was cool and my uncle's eye was afar but then I became very fascinated watching a focus piece about Davis Phinney.  And the thing that just clicked with me was a longish shot of Davis riding his bike through the Colorado Mountains with these huge expanses of views below him and that Colorado sky above.  The romance of it clicked with me and I thought, "Yeah.  That looks like a good day." 

It took six years for me to finally act on that thought.  But I was right.

Catching up for my bestest fan...

So it turns out that I DON'T write anything at all if I don't at the least post race weblahgers.  And here's a dirty little secret.  I don't write for other people.  It's true, like that dude staring at his reflection in the pond and frozen in place, I actually crack myself up and enjoy reading much of my own dribble.  Pathetic, but that means I've made a big gap in time now that I can't come back later and look through and be amused by.  BTW, that previous sentence should go in the stupendously poorly thought out sentence hall of shame.

So...

Laguna Del Sol Cyclocross:  With my cyclocross bike busted I did this one on my mountain bike and that meant a slow ride and a crappy result.  My legs just weren't into it either.  The hilight of the race was being able to jump the barriers without dismounting.  This raised a pleasing crowd response each time.  The best heckle of the year came after one of these barrier hops, "Dude!  You just made the cover of AARP!"  Ah cyclocross.  Sometimes all it takes is bringing your sense of humor and one wise-ass comment to erase the sting of a shitty result.

Early Bird Road Race out of Patterson:  This early season race is a must for me since it's on my local roads.  The pace on the way out to the climb was frustratingly slow since a team that had something like a quarter of the pack decided to block the front and plug along at 15 mph without sending riders off or letting anyone else go either.  That sucked.  But the climb broke it all to heck (as usual).  I survived the climb better than most years, kept my head on the descent and regrouped with one other fellow all the way back to the finish line where he tried to cat and mouse with me.  I said screw this and just sprinted from 400 meters out (which really really hurt, btw) and he didn't have the gas.  Ended up 5th out of 24.  I was really pleased with this result but either this race gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield or no one cares and the result slipped completely under the radar (and realizing how much that hurt made me feel like Sally Fields in reverse).  Oh well.

CCCX #1 Fort Ord:  Just went out and did this one without really modifying my training week so showed up a bit sluggish.  Had a pretty undramatic race and finished 13th.

TBF MTB Challenge (#2?):  During warmup knew I had spectacular legs for the day and was very excited to unleash them.  But got greedy on the start, hooked my bars into a tree and went down.  By the time I remounted, jumped off and got my chain back on and got going again I was DFL in the field.  Spent the entire race passing passing passing and ended up 6th of 30some riders.  Was dissappointed since the start messed up what would have been a good race but happy to recover that many places.

CCCX #4(?) Toro Park:  I've been working hard on climbing lately but didn't really treat this as a race worth preparing for.  So the legs were up to the multiple climbs but more at a plodding pace.  The first couple of laps the descent didn't go so well and I lost alot of time on the front markers.  Ended up 13th of 20 or so and quite dissatisfied with that result. 

But that's racing.  You can't always have good results or you're sandbagging and not challenging yourself.  And sometimes I wonder if the literally hundreds of ass kickings I've received over 13 seasons of racing in 21 years have just taken my competitive fire away.  Yet there I am training, motivating and entering all over again.  It's a funny hobby.  But I frickin' love it.

Good Life

After 70 miles and four hard hours in the saddle I stumble in the door.  I immediately put a pan on the stove with a pat of butter in it.  In the pan go four eggs from our chickens (I like having chickens very much).  A muffin goes into the toaster and I grab my new favorite thing, the Oster hand mixermadoodle!  I put a banana, a handfull of blueberries, another handfull of blackberries, a few ounces of orange juice and four or five big soup spoonfulls of vanilla yogurt in the mixer cup, jar whateveritis.  I blend it up then mix in two spoonfulls of peanutbutter in there.  The eggs are done and go onto the muffins with plenty of salt.  Then I sit down and eat the whole mess and enjoy the smoothie.  Normally this should leave me bloated and full but it goes down and the satisfied belly and endorphins mix and I wonder why the heck I'm writing this instead of lying down for a quick nap.

It's a good life.  I wish I could share this feeling with everyone.

In other news I'm behind on a couple of race reports but really I'm becoming as disinterested as everyone else.  In the end you just have to race for yourself.  A few people may care but mostly everyone is so self-involved with their own racing that they forget to even ask how your race went so I certainly can't expect anyone to read race reports with anything other than a passing glance.  And I'm certainly not going to be casting any great impressions with my own mediocrity.  So I'll do race reports when something strikes me but I'm going to try to liberate myself from this strange compulsion to report on every silly race.

The good thing, however, about race reports is that at least I write something.  I'm sure nothing will come of it but I'm going to try to get back to just writing random shit.  No one will read that either so that's fine.  I just need to do something with words.

CCCX at Toro Park: Dec 4, 2011

I may as well finish getting caught up here...

Although I was only racing the 35+ B's and not eligible for a district championship I was still psyched for this race since it represented the peak of my 13 week late season block of training.  One thing I decided to work hard on halfway through this season is being less emotional in my racing.  From what I've read there's the concept of being a "tilt" player in poker.  Emotions get the best of a person -who knows better- leading to lapses in strategy and smart tactics.  Result?  Loserville.

When I found out about this concept it made me realize I end up racing on tilt all too often.  It can be a comment from a competitor, a perception that the race is not fair (external locus of control anyone???) or that your competitors "must be sandbagging" or are riding unsafely.  The result is stupid racing, lack of concentration, ridiculous behavior.

So I studied a little and it really helped to re-learn the definition of mental toughness.  But mostly I just resolved to be more of a rock during races and not let the emotions tilt me.  How have I done?  I can say I've improved but I still could be a little more calculating and race smarter.  San Ardo is a good example of needing to continue improving (though I still say riding for 60 miles just to sprint is LAME).  But the last two cyclocross races were really good examples of how I've developed some ability to brush off either bad luck (two bad crashes in the space of about 40 seconds) or loudmouthed competitors.  I think I still have to concentrate and remind myself but I like this taste of an improved mental game.

I didn't expect to have to apply it 100% at CCCX, however.

Sometimes CX means racing against guys who had to borrow their sister's skinsuit for the day...

On three warmup laps I really enjoyed the course.  There were many whoops in and around a dry creek bed, some light single track, a "barrier" that I easily hopped 100% of the time and another "barrier" that was very fast (it helps that I'm a dork who thinks it's funny to dismount and leap over 3 foot diameter trees regularly).  And there was a rather long runup.  My running legs are really good this year so that made me happy.

After an okay (not great, still need to be more aggressive) start I was running somewhere between 7th and 10th wheel.  I was following another rider who was faster than me in the open but slower in the technical stuff so we had a good race going and passed a few guys together.  On the long section before the runup he got away a bit and I was behind another rider when we hit the sand at the bottom of the hill on the second lap.  The guy ahead went down!  (note to that guy, shift your weight BACK)  I mostly avoided him but the sand grabbed my wheels.  I stepped over the handlebars just fine but my bike augured into the sand.

Top of the runup.

In a moment of polite raceriness we inquired about each others health, post crash all while getting up and getting moving.  I ran the hill, popped onto the bike (I haven't mentioned this yet but my remounts have been outstanding -for me- this year with very few stutter steps glitching things up) and hit the downhill.  "Hmm, I can't shift."  Kick, hop, tug on der. cable.  "Hmm, I can't shift."  I spun out the 42-29 I was stuck in but was quickly passed but 4 or 5 riders.  I hopped off and tried to see what was binding but couldn't find it.  So I hopped on again and continued the kicking and hopping and the tugging with no result other than managing to get a shift to a 42-27.

By the time I stopped for a third time with no real result I was passed by pretty much the entire field and was really cursing my bad luck.  I finished the lap and dug into the third.  I decided to just spin whatever random gear I had and just get the best race workout possible.  After half a lap or so I started passing guys from my race.  So then I decided to keep racing and just do the best I could and, lo and behold, I caught a few more guys.  By the last lap my chain had slipped into a 42-25 gear and that was good enough to feel kind of up to speed.  I kept digging in and enjoyed the same legs and focus as the Folsom race.  I caught three more guys from my race on that lap and, in a moment of poetic justice that I couldn't invent, caught the guy that crashed me out on the last turn before the straightaway.  I spun my cranks and held him off.

I felt a little lame sprinting for a backmarker place but I was in competitor mode (a victory by itself given the rotten luck).

I ended up 11th of 20.  It's rare to feel that satisfied finishing in the bottom half of a field but I did.  Yes, I was super-bummed to have great legs and have the bike be the deciding factor for my placing but on the other hand, I was able to stay off tilt and just find my focus and keep racing.  Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks afterall.

PS  The sand destroyed my brifter.  Now I don't have a working cyclocross bike.  I may call it good and end the CX season there.  But I seem to still have decent fitness so I may do one more race and just use my mountain bike (boo! hiss! uncool!).

All these pictures come courtesy of the great Stephen Woo http://www.flickr.com/photos/swoo/.

The end.  Hehe.

Folsom Cyclocross: Nov 13, 2011

Almost caught up!

Note:  This was already posted in the VSRT forum but I have a compulsive need to be thorough and put everything in the right place. 

With only two races so far this 'cross season under my belt (one mediocre mid-field result plus one dnf due to a flat) I headed up to Folsom early Sunday morning looking forward to the rare opportunity to get away for a Sunday race. I was also looking forward to letting the excellent training legs I've been enjoying lately rev out in a race. I even got that pre-race adreneline feeling that only really comes when I anticipate a good race. I also knew I was sandbagging a little bit. This was an actual USAC race so they had racing by categories. Though I've been racing at the "B" level (think Cat 3/4) this was a Cat 4 35+ race and we raced with the E4's all starting together.

I arrived plenty early enough to get five practice laps in. First off the course was a pure joy to ride. My nemesis in 'cross races are those annoying 180 degree turns that promoters use to stretch out small spaces. This course only had one! The course began on a flat-out rolling section with a cute little bridge in there that needed only the shortest bunny hop to get over without ruining a wheel. This led into a mix of sidewalk, lawn and gravel that had a u-turn in it. After that was a fun double-track section with a steep but fast climb then a descent into a sharp curve before another longer short but steep climb. Then there was another very fast rolling section leading into one barrier at the bottom of a hill that seemed to seperate the field between gettin'-it and not-gettin'-it. Luckily I found myself able to run fast enough to remount smoothly and ride the hill, placing me in the former category. Another very fast descent with a brake-free (slight pucker factor here) corner at the bottom lead into a medium length climb that really stung the legs. An annoyingly off camber but wide 180 degree turn was followed by the only set of double barriers. Then a bridge, another double track descent, a short climb into a climbing 180 degree turn then a short section and then a narrow sidewalk next to a fence came before the third and final dismount of the lap to get up a steep-but-short run up. I found this runup to really suit me and I cleared it in only about ten steps each lap and my cheap-o shoes dug in and worked great each lap. After that it was hop-back-on and wide open across the start/finish for another lap.

I was chatting with a guy setting up the course (turns out I was skipping an entire section of the course on my warmups!) and ended up showing up to the start a little late so I didn't have time to ditch my snazzy new Voler leg warmers that I won last Summer. That wasn't a big deal since the temps were still in the lower 60's. Off we went! I started pretty far back in the field but with the wide open section was able to dig in a bit and move up move up move up. I was a little concerned how hard I was pushing but I've vowed to stop these lazy starts that have become habitual. By the time we hit the first technical section I was seventh wheel and we had a nice train going. But, oops! A couple guys stacked it and there was some rearranging. When the smoke cleared, two guys were riding away, two more were behind them and I was with two guys chasing. During that rest of that first lap I really felt I was feeling good and when my partners took their turns at the front, I was cruising too easy.

So at the start of the second lap I decided to bridge across or die trying. I was doing really well until that first technical section. I hopped off the curb then over another curb turned across a sidewalk and entered a gravel section as soon as I cleared the apex I put the pedal to the floor and next thing I knew I was getting up off the ground and remounting as the two guys from earlier were passing. I latched back onto them but realized that, "Snap! That hurt!" We rolled up to the bottom of the turn before the steep climb and suddenly the side of my face was plowing through the dirt and I felt that sick feeling of the momentum of my body pushing against my neck trying to use my head as a tipping point. I bounced then grabbed the bike and was a bit slower remounting and getting going both due to the ringing in my ears and for being at the bottom of a hill. By the time I got my butt up the hill, fixed by brake lever and was rolling again I had lost three of four more positions. I used the next section to try to calm down, figure out if I was concussed and just find my rhythm again.

After remounting on the uphill after the barrier I knew I was going to be okay and just got back to business. Luckily that was the end of mishaps for the day. The course continued to agree with me and the good sensations in the legs ( ) continued so I was able to reel in, work with and pass riders over the next several laps.

Going into the last lap I saw one of the guys from the original triplet of chasers off in the distance. On the fast charging section I thought, "Hey, I've got matches to burn! This is awesome!" It seemed far-fetched to close the distance but I turned it up to eleven and, when he bobbled the uphill remount I suddenly was three inches off his rear wheel. I waited until the longest climb of the race and jumped as hard as I could. I never looked back and just rode the rest of the lap as hard as I could. In the final 30 seconds I started to feel like I was going to throw up and no finish line was ever so sweet to cross!

I finally assessed the damage during a cooldown lap and a BS session with Ray and Jenni Fortner where I found my left hip with a pancake-sized rash (shorts torn), my left elbow already swelling up, both knees bloodied (my brand new race-won Voler leg warmers were both torn!!! ) and my left ankle and right knee both not bending pain-free and feeling tweeked.

But you know what? I don't care! It was worth it!

I simply can't emphasize enough just how much damn fun cyclocross can be when you've got good fitness and the course agrees with you.

PS  Was 3rd of 20 and took home a nice pair of socks and some food.
 

Sacramento Cyclocross Series @ Lembi Park Nov. 5, 2011

I did this race last year and didn't have a very good time between my own lack of fitness, poor setup (overinflated tires) and a run in with an asshole roadie.  This year I toed the line with a large sense of confidence with really good fitness, tires at about 35 frnt and 45 rear and a good attitude to not let anyone else's mouth get into my head.

I had a mediocre start and immediately got caught behind a starting line crash (again!).  I really have to work harder on being more aggressive on both the starting grid and the actual start.

A couple minutes into it I was trying to move up through the 180 turns and half a wheel in front of a guy and, as is standard protocol for the guy ahead, took the optimal line without cutting him off.  He immediately whined something like, "you're just not gonna give me room are you?"  I just replied, "I'm just racing, buddy." and continued on.  He quickly burned out and disappeared and I mentally patted myself on the back for ignoring it and moving on with my race instead of getting wrapped up in stupidity.

I felt pretty good and had an okay first lap catching a couple guys and keeping tabs on the front runners and making room on the wide open sections and limiting my losses on the 180's and making room on some of the curb hops and the short runup.  But this course doesn't really have very technical challenges so you just gotta GO.

The second lap was going well and I was picking up steam when I felt the rear end squish out in a tight corner.  I did a quick rear wheel bounce and confirmed that I was flatting out the rear.  A few minutes later I was done since I had nothing in the pits.  As I rolled to the start/finish and let them know I was out I thought back and was pretty sure a hard hit on a tree root had caused a pinch flat.  So much for the proper tire pressure...

It was nice to have an actual spectator for a change!  Teammate Zaf was in town and had dropped in to see what the whole cyclocross thing looked like.  After dropping out and getting changed we hung out, watched cheered on our teammate Jim Lund to a 3rd place finish (on a headcold)  and spectated at the sandpit where the guys who know how to relax and shift their weight get separated from the guys who, um, go over their handlebars.

I was frustrated with the DNF but that's racing.  I kind of wish I'd brought my mountain bike and put it in the pits but it just seems so overly self-important to put a pit bike in for a B race...  I guess I should get over getting over myself...

CCCX: Manzanita Park Oct. 16, 2011

Catching up...  I did my fourth cx race of this season yesterday so I'm going to try to catch up here a bit in the coming days...

This was a pretty fun course except for the many many tight 180 degree hairpins.  I crashed on one in practice and then followed that up with pretty much having no rhythm on them for the rest of the race. 

There was a crash right at the start and I got backed up behind it and, as a result, was either the very last rider through the first corner or the guy in front of the last.  Besides tight 180 degree hairpins my biggest problem in cross races is being aggressive and pushy enough to get a good position on the starting grid. 

Attempting to give the English archer's salute to Steve Woo.  At least it made him laugh.

Half of the course was pretty wide open and I was happy to find myself pretty strong and able to pass and gap riders on these sections.  Then I pretty much just held my own on the turns and put the pedal to the metal whenever the course opened up again.  As a result I was happy to go from dead last at the start to 16th by the end.  I was using this race as a tune up so that was okay but I couldn't help thinking that a good start and my improved fitness over last year would have put me farther up than mid-pack.  The main take away from this race was that, though I had definitely revved my motor decently I generally need to dig harder and make myself hurt a bit more in cyclocross racing to get better results.  I was really just kind of cruising.

I think I can legitimately "steal" this photo since it was hilighted on the CCCX page...

 But I had a good time and saw alot of racing buddies that I've seen recently or not so recently and some people I hadn't seen in about nine years.  The bike racing community is such a good one and it's fun like family when you can catchup or just touch base. 

Oh and I didn't pop my stitches so that was a bonus.

They did this.

What did they do?

Only five?

So I was asked if I was going to blog about how I had a rather undramatic fall during a four and a half hour mountain bike ride and sliced my knee open and had to go get five stitches later that day to close it up.  So, there, I just did.  Never fun to see the little white bits inside of yourself...

A Post for Me That I Won't Keep for Me: It ain't always all about bikes...

Before I chicken out and send this to the saved-but-never-posted pile, I'm going to hit "post" and dedicate this one to all the posts I've kept to myself that maybe didn't deserve it.

It kind of bums me out that I don't write as much as I'd like to.  I clearly remember when I fell in love with writing.  In grade school (I think it must have been 4th grade) we had a creative writing assignment where we had to take a number of classmates and put them into a story that had a particular beginning scenario (I vaguely remember its having something to do with getting lost in a cave).  I became completely engrossed in my story and enjoyed the first experience (of many) of having my brain surge ahead of the words making it onto the page.  By the time my cramping little fingers made the pencil catch up with my racing mind I was light-headed and hyperventilating.  True story.

From that time on I didn't really need school assignments to make me put words on paper.  As I grew older it included WAY too much sappy poetry (although I eventually did get a kind of clever little allegory about a girl who trusted her parachute more than me published in the college "black book." *)

When I met Kris I was doing some writing.  It was actually a pretty creative period of my life fueled by an abundance of free time (remember free time? no?).  I would work hard, ride my bike hard and spend my lonely evenings working out guitar parts or tapping away on my computer.  I kept starting stories but not finishing them.  I even outlined a novel and wrote a few character-defining sections of it.  And I kept wanting to take some writing courses but didn't have the enterprise to get  it done.  Like my writing at the time, I was dangerously close to stalling out in my life and not getting to where I wanted to be.  Luckily Kris and I were flung toward each other like two lumps of clay at high speed squished into each other so thoroughly no one will ever know ever again where one part begins and the other ends.

Then, like most people who collide with the soul they were destined to meld with, life got really busy and writing became a forgotten pleasure.  And along with all the wonderful pleasures all that busyness brings, I came off the rails a little and things got a little dark.  I started writing as a way to vent and I really didn't like where it was going and what I was reading from myself.  But those never-to-see-the-light-of-day bitter ramblings kind of helped me to work out many things that put me back on the beautiful charmed joyous path I'm on now.  Thank fate for putting me with Kris and her being so supportive of the second most important thing that came out of that time, falling back in love with being a cyclist -and returning to the world of a racing cyclist at that.  But with all that bike riding, writing has taken a back seat again only to surface with race reports and the occasional guilty, "I really should write something" blather.

So here it is almost midnight on a Thursday night and I just felt the need to write an essay about, well, anything.  Hell I'm writing an essay about writing for cripe's sake!  I guess it's just a part of who I am that I can no more shut off than this damn love of murdering myself over my handlebars or thinking about my son and Kris and having a warm rush of love fill me up.  And that, you dark mother fucker, is the hole you were so desperate to fill up.



* It went...
*Parachute You*
If I were a parachute,
then I think you'd jump.
And I'd set you down to earth,
In a gentle lump.

But... and I can't remember the rest of it but the gist was "If you pack me wrong then I'm just some pathetic sap you won't fall for..."  Get it?  Fall for.  Fucking clever shit right there.  And it wasn't even remotely subtle since my muse was very heavily into sky diving...  I think I caught her doing about-faces and walking swiftly in the opposite direction from me for quite awhile after that.

San Ardo Road Race: 8/20/11: YdoIdothistome?

Well this is my third time with this race and I seem to get worse every time I try it! In '97 I had a fun looong breakaway and then had enough legs to survive the field sprint. Two years ago I rode too hard and ended up cramping but still was able to spin in the field sprint.

Since this is a race that tends to get a little boring with everyone plodding along for 63.5 miles and then racing the last kilometer, I wanted to try to get a break going from way out. So I gave myself a 20 minute window to try that at the end of the first lap/ beginning of the second lap. I was hoping to get something going on the flat going into San Ardo and then stretch it and get out of sight on the climb and following rollers going out of town. Unfortunately NOBODY wanted to see that happen. I just can't get a grip on negative racing. Do people really enjoy a boring three hour ride followed by a field sprint? (I know I know it's more about racing and results and if you want fun go for a mtb ride...) That's just not fun racing to me. I attacked and counter attacked and counter counter attacked until I was crosseyed but I simply couldn't stretch the elastic. The biggest gap I was ever able to create was only about 20 seconds and I couldn't get anyone else to go. There were a couple people riding hard at the front but no one was attacking.

Sidebar: Attacking: Riding hard at the front is not attacking. Pulling hard and slowly ramping up to speed is not attacking. Generally any kind of riding hard at the front that does not create gaps is not attacking. If there is a rider with two or three bike lengths ahead and you want to make a breakaway you have to JUMP across that gap. If you ride hard across that gap you are only going to pull the pack with you. Now if only the only two or three other animated riders in yesterday's race would read that... Oh and another thing. If you are trying to get a flyer going with two or three other riders you have to share major efforts with those guys for a few pulls. If you let ANY other rider into that rotation you screwed up.

But. whaddiknow?

Anyway. Despite riding myself crosseyed I just couldn't get away. So I settled back into the pack for a 38 mile snooze. Pathetic (both that I couldn't get away and the negative racing in the pack). Oh, and while I'm whining can I just say how flipping frustrating it is to see CAT FOUR racers on deep dish carbon wheels, and $4,000 + bikes? Oh, and the pinnacle of this absurdity is that I finally saw a CAT FOUR racer on Di2. Let me repeat that. I saw a CAT FOUR racer with a $3800 Dura Ace electronic groupo on a $2000 frameset using $1800 wheels. My car isn't worth that much money.

So then we finally sniffed San Ardo in the distance and the pace went up. Surprisingly, I found myself near the front and in good position. I got swarmed a little coming into town but then worked my way back up the side and into decent position on the climb. I was off to the side maybe five wheels back when the rider in front of me (who I had earlier determined to be a strong finisher) jumped hard. I went too but then going under the freeway just before the turn my legs simply quit on me. I sat down and pushed as hard as I could through the turn and to the finish but pretty much the entire pack went by before the finish line came. I don't think I've ever faded that hard in a sprint in my life. It was quite shocking, really. I'm no stranger to going too early but usually I can hold it and scratch something out of it. But this was more like I put the brakes on. I mean EVERYONE had a sprint left in his legs.

Finishes like that really just make you want to hang up the bike. I did everything right in the sprint. Good position. Fought onto a good wheel. But I went too early and didn't have NEAR the legs to get away with it.

Well at least I had a near-four hour drive home by myself to replay it over and over... Luckily it was all vanquished by the time I got home and forgotten after a solid, yet wobbily, afternoon of swimming, hiking and playing with my boy.

Sky Tavern Mountain Bike Race: Aug. 14, 2011

This was fun race with a nice mix of everything. I raced as a Cat 2 (old days we called it "sport") for the first time since, um, 1996? Of course back then I wasn't racing in old man age bracket but, hey.

My alarm went off at 2:30 AM and somehow I dragged my butt out of bed, showered and was in the car by 3. Fast forward many hours and I was ready to race. I met up with (soon to be teammate) Ray and he talked me through the course as we warmed up on the opening climb.

After a racer talk-to from the promoter we all headed to the start and were sent off in waves. Our wave was the Cat. 2 50+ and 40+. And a wopping six of us took the start. One guy was asking everyone what their age was and I found it slightly annoying but didn't think to ask him his age and figure out what age group he was racing. The promoter did ask a show of hands for the age groups but I wasn't really paying attention so I assumed Ray was the only 50 plusser.

Off we go!

We somewhat slowly took off across the paved parking lot, up a short road and then turned onto a two-track dirt climb that was fairly steep and went for about a mile and a half. About halfway up I was liking what my legs and heart rate were telling me and moved up to the front and set the pace. At the top there was a steep section with some loose dirt/gravel that made traction difficult and could force a hike-a-bike. I was happy to clear it and hadn't looked back yet.

After the climb the dual track continued for another three quarters of a mile with some more altitude gain before heading into the single track. I did look on one curve and was very happy to see only two guys maybe half a minute back.

But then I got clumsy! Unfortunately, the lack of mtb racing and a steady diet of relatively untechnical riding at Del Valle caught up with me and I was struggling to clear easy stuff in the woods. Simple ditch crossings, one or two log hops and very minor rock challenges seemed to cause me to stumble left and right (literally!) and overshoot turns. Pretty shortly a guy in a blue and yellow jersey asked for trail and I gave it to him. I paused to let Ray by but he wasn't there so I jumped and vainly tried to keep up with blue/yellow-dude.

On a rocky dropoff I finally turned from clumsy to crashing and went down pretty gently (though it was enough to pop the bottom of my jersey zipper giving me a distracting wardrobe malfunction that I couldn't correct in the heat of battle). Ray very quickly appeared and I was glad to have him by me so I didn't have to worry about holding him up. The rest of the lap went about the same with lots of clumsy dismounting as I stalled out in mud and sandy sections. I was pretty frustrated and only started to feel like I wasn't a roadie pretender on a very steep decline section over some rocks. "That's more like it" I thought as I cleared it.

The descent back to the finish was a mix of single track and rough fire road and I was doing better.

Past the finish line onto the paved parking lot with a tailwind and a nice smooth time trial back to the start of the climb for laps two and three! Lap two I was feeling more comfortable but never saw a single rider to catch or to have catch me. And lap three was pretty much the same. That last lap was when I finally rode most of the stuff that had been tripping me up earlier. That said, with about five minutes to go I passed a lapped rider just before going from a dirt road to single track section and stacked it pretty good coming down heavily onto a rock and a bush that gave me a couple nice puncture wounds in the leg. On the third lap I was starting to fade and lose motivation. In my head it was just alot of work for second place.

As I finally crossed the finish line, muddy and bloody, shorts torn, and jersey zipper failing Ray (looking altogether too fresh) said, "Hey! I think you won!" Turns out blue/yellow, the guy asking the annoying age questions, was a 50 plus rider. So, yeah, I guess I won since everyone who beat me was in a different age group. I shouldn't qualify a win that way but if that's how it feels, that's how it feels.

The important thing is it was a very fun race, an absolutely GORGEOUS day in the Sierras, a great hangout with friends and mountain bikers and I got to bring home a cute little medal and some shwag. Nice.

Not exactly displaying "look like you've been here before" presence on the podium