Return on the Jedi

I hooked up the trailer and drove to Sam Brown campground last Thursday. It's located on Forest Service land near Grants Pass between Highway 199 and the Rogue River. Nice campground.










Jake went with me. It was HOT. I don't' know exactly how hot but the forecast said high 90s. Too hot for a dog with a fur coat and an old, fat guy from the coast.










Jake spent most of his time in the back of the truck and I spent most of my time here. Note the cheese and crackers and wine glass.
















I race STXC on Saturday morning. I rode my single speed. There were only two of us so I got second place. The other single speeder lapped me twice and won the Sport Class overall. It was a neat course. Uphill on a gravel road from the start and then downhill on a fire road leading to single track that looped around the campground, all slightly up hill. It was hard. It was hot. I had to ride about three laps more than I wanted. It was a 30 minute race. I'm used to the first lap being timed and then a lap board showing the remaining laps to make approximately 30 minutes. This race was 30 minutes plus one lap with everybody finishing on the same lap as the winner. I was out almost 40 minutes, seven laps.
You have to click on this picture to see what it is. Yes, it's a rattle snake in our camp. He didn't hang around for long, though.











Sunday morning I raced XC on my geared bike. It also was a neat course. A lot of climbing though. I felt pretty good on the first part which is the lower loop in the picture. The upper loop is all uphill to the top of the loop and then downhill on the Jedi Trail. Actually it's uphill from the bottom of the lower loop to the top of the upper. I bonked. Badly. I've never bonked like that before. Once you get to the Jedi Trail it's mostly downhill. Mostly wasn't good enough. Each little uphill killed me. I had to walk the uphills. I was so lightheaded I thought I would crash unless I stopped and rested. Then I got a cramp in my thigh and thought "Great I can't ride and I can't walk. How am I going to get home?" Then, as I was walking along the trail I heard bzzzzz. I knew what it was and that got my heart going good. I knew I would finish the race because that was the only way back to my trailer. Eventually I felt better and rode to the finish. I was surprised that I came in ahead of some people. I'm not sure what went wrong. I was well hydrated before the start, I ate a gel pack before the start and during the race, I drank a bottle of Heed mix and had a hydration pack. It was probably the effects of the race the day before and the heat. There was one good thing that happened. I braked to a stop at the finish line and let them take my tag and then peddled off. The next time I touched my rear brake it didn't work. I had lost the pivot pin, right after the finish. Perfect. I went back later and found it.

Ride to the Ocean

I went out on my road bike today for a while. I really wanted to ride my single speed though. I just installed a new 19 tooth cog, I'm racing the single speed at the STXC at Jedi next weekend. So after I got done with the road bike I came home and got the single speed. I went out to the Cadra Ranch (see my earliest posts from last year). I rode one loop at Cadra and then decided to explore. I rode to a nearby trail head and took off.
None of these crossed out symbols looked like a bike.


















I wanted to see if I could ride to the Ocean.













I took the straight ahead route which took me here.


















I came out of the forest onto vegetated dunes.













Some places the sand was deep enough that I got off and walked. I probably could have let some air out of my tires and ridden through but it would have been more effort than I wanted.















I was actually able to ride through most of this.













I reached the ocean. If you enlarge this picture you can see the Point St. George Reef Lighthouse.













Here's my bike, on the beach, looking north.
I live in such a beautiful place it never ceases to amaze me. And people here are always complaining that "there's nothing to do here".

I don't have a race this weekend. Next weekend is Return on the Jedi. It might be my last mountain bike race of the year other than the Pistis STXC series in Grants Pass in August.

I'm taking the trailer to Jedi and spending the whole weekend. I might do the Southern Oregon Thursday night race and then drive to Jedi from there. It should be a lot of fun.

OBRA Road Race

I did the OBRA Road Race on Saturday, State Championship. It was near Ranier, Oregon down river from Portland. I always forget, in between races, how hard races are. That's why I do them though. I know I would never ride that hard in training and I know that it's good for me. It was tough though. My race was two laps of about 16 miles each, 8 miles up hill and 8 miles down. My calves started to cramp just before the descent on the first lap. It was uphill to the finish and I didn't know if I could make it, on the first lap! I thought about the Lance Armstrong advertisement. Something about the pain will go away but if I quit it will last forever and decided to tough it out. I stopped and stretched and went on. My time was about the same on both laps even though I felt like I took it easier on the second.
I really need to lose weight if I want to keep racing. I was able to stay with the pack at the start but I got dropped on the first hill and never caught up. There was actually an age group for me, 60+. It wasn't any help though. I was last in my age group anyway. It was fun though.

My next race is a mountain bike race. Return on the Jedi near Grants Pass on June 28 and 29. I'm racing STXC on Saturday and XC on Sunday. I'm considering doing the Super D on Saturday afternoon because is would give me points in another discipline for the OBRA BAR competition. I didn't sign up for it yet though. Maybe three races in the weekend would be too much for an old, fat guy.