Race

I raced in Grants Pass again yesterday evening. It was hot. It was 93 degrees when I first got there but it cooled considerably by the time I raced. It was still hot. There were only two single speeders. Me and Verne. Verne is a guy I met when I first started racing cross in Southern Oregon. He's a nice guy and is about my speed. He's younger than me, mid forties, and a strong cyclist. He whips my ass on road bikes. He's a big guy, bigger than me, so climbing takes a lot of energy. If I beat him it's because I outdid him on the up hills. His technical skills are superior to mine and he's braver going down hills. I have to push myself to beat him. I did beat him yesterday though. It was a good race. I think it was the first time that I "raced" and felt like I accomplished something. The course started uphill on a power line road, loose dirt, then some fairly technical single track, then uphill on a gravel road leading to more single track that came downhill to the start. I had ridden the South Fork of the Smith Saturday with Susan Roberts and my legs felt like they hadn't recovered yet so I was conserving energy from the start of the race. I just wanted to stay close to Verne. At one point during the third lap I bobbled and went briefly off the course. I was afraid that I had lost him but I caught up pretty quickly. The race was five laps but we got lapped during the fourth lap. I was feeling pretty worn out but I passed Verne on the gravel road uphill section on the last lap. You can see where on the chart. It's where my heart rate went to 182. It almost killed me passing him but I figured if I pushed hard I might demoralize him so he would back off. He stayed close so I had to push myself on the technical downhill single track. I was beyond my comfort level but ended the race with a pretty good gap on him. A good win. There are two more races in the series. I should win the series if I don't crash or break down. I've got two firsts and a second and Verne has a second and a third. The guy that won last week didn't show up yesterday.
I love my tubeless tires. Racing Ralph 2.4 at 28 psi in front and Small Block 8 at 30 psi in the rear. They hook up well in these dry conditions.

Race Wheels

Last week I said I would post a picture of my race wheels. Here there are. From the left: Velocity Deep V Elite rims on White Industry hubs with Challenge Grifo tires, FSA RD488 carbon wheels with Dugast Rhino tires, Mavic Reflex rims on White Industry hubs with Tufo Flexus tires, Lew Palermo carbon rims on White Industry hubs with Tufo S3 Lite tires, and Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels with Tufo S3 Lite tires. On the bikes are: Mavic Open 4 rims on White Industry hubs with Panaracer CTX 737 tires on the cross bike, Stans ZTR 355 rims on Chris King hubs with Kenda Small Block 8 on the rear and Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4 on the front of the single speed 29er, DT Swiss wheels with Geax Saguaro tires on the geared 29er, Mavic Open Pro rims on Chris King hubs with Continental GP 4000 tires on the road bike, and FSA RD80 wheels with Vitoria tires on the TT bike. Am I a poser or what? I always read criticism of old farts who show up at races with fancy bikes and carbon wheels only to finish at the back of the pack, but that's all us old guys have going for us. We can afford nice toys.
I raced STCX in Grants Pass again. Susan was with me and took some pictures. Here I am in my California State Champion jersey. There were two other single speeders this week. I came in second. Next week is a different course. I felt pretty good this week and am looking forward to next week.

My Arsenal

I was washing a couple of my bikes today, the cross bike and the single speed, the ones I've been riding lately. They were leaning against the trailer drying and I decided to get all my bikes out and take a picture. I think I might need a couple more bikes.

Maybe next week I'll take a picture of all my wheels. I'm re-gluing some of them right now.








I raced Short Track Cross Country last evening in Grants Pass. I was the only single speed so I won. Actually I came in last in the Sport race. I wasn't geared quite right. I had emailed one of the promoters and asked what the course was like and how should I gear my bike. He said gear it easy. I put on a 21 tooth cog but it seemed too easy so I put on a 19. I should have left the 21 on. It wasn't massive climbs or even long climbs but it was either up or down, no flat. Some of the ups were almost like run ups in cross. It's a five race series so I've got four more races to try to get the gearing right.

Race Wheels

I bought a set of wheels on ebay. I can't afford to buy stuff like this since losing my part time job but I just can't resist. These caught my eye and they had a reasonable starting price so I set up an automatic snipe at slightly higher. We were in Jacksonville for Britt when the auction closed but when we got home I found that I was the only bidder. Lew Palermo wheels. They were the predecessor to the Reynolds Stratus wheels. Reynolds bought the company and put their name on the wheels. They have White Industries hubs. Reynold now uses DT Swiss hubs. I now have four sets of wheels with White Industries hubs. I like them. I have another set of hubs too. I was going to take the stickers off but I think I'll leave them. They are quite a bit lighter than the FSA carbon wheels that I raced with this year. My bike weighs 16.86 pounds with these wheels. I should get rid of the old Performance saddle and save some more weight. The FSA wheels will become my cross racing wheels. I think they're tougher than these wheels. 20/24 spokes versus 18/20 on the new wheels. I'm going to mount my Dugast Rhinos on them.

I haven't raced since Return on the Jedi. I'm racing STXC this weekend on my single speed. It's a five race series in Grants Pass. It should set me up well for cross season. Cross Crusade starts Oct. 5 and the Southern Oregon series starts Oct. 25. There are some other races in Portland and Eugene before that. I'm planning to race the whole Southern Oregon series and as many Cross Crusade races as I can get to.

I'm feeling pretty good. I rode 132 miles last week. I'm feeling stronger but I'm not sure if I'm fitter. I'm starting to do sprint intervals. Maybe if I keep doing big miles I'll lose some weight. Also I could quit drinking wine. I don't think so. Maybe I should try this http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/34225/title/Finding_the_golden_genes