Del Norte Dave

New Saddle

2010-05-27T14:52:00.001-07:00

I rode Spring Thaw a couple of weekends ago. Notice "I rode" not "I raced". I've decided I'm not a mountain bike racer. I just ride the Cat 3 course and enjoy myself. My stock answer when asked how my race went was "Uneventful". One high point of the day was that I won a new saddle in the raffle. Check out how good it looks on my cross bike. It's perfect. Thank you Amy, and whoever donated it.
Last weekend I rode a loosely organized ride in the Illinois Valley near Cave Junction. The people who own the local bike shop in Crescent City have a cabin near O'Brien and invite friends to come ride and have a barbecue afterward. We had a good time but my young Chinese friend crashed on a downhill about five miles into the ride. He was pretty banged up and got taken to the hospital in Grants Pass. He did a face plant into the gravel shoulder at about 45 mph. He's okay but his face is pretty scraped up.
Next weekend is Return on the Jedi. I'm taking my trailer again and spending the weekend. I'm racing short track on Saturday with my single speed and "riding" cross country on Sunday. I again opted not to race the Super D Saturday afternoon. I'll just kick back with a glass of wine to prepare for Sunday morning.

Pork BBQ

2010-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

I cooked some pork barbecue yesterday, and took pictures.
I injected the meat with a mixture of apple juice, brown sugar and salt at about 6:00 a.m.

Started the coals at about 7:00 a.m.

Applied a mustard moisturizer,

a seasoning rub,

and placed into the cooker at about 8:00 a.m.

Initial temperatures, 248° in the cooker, 41° meat internal temp.

It's going to be a long day. I need to be comfortable. The coffee cup later became a bottle of beer and eventually, a glass of wine.

The final product at 7:00 p.m.

There were some intermediate steps that I didn't photograph. After about 3 hours, internal temp 130°, I sprayed the meat with apple juice and continued to cook. After about another 3 hours, internal temp 160° I double wrapped the meat in foil after pouring on a wrapping mixture of butter, honey, brown sugar, yellow mustard and water. Then back into the cooker for another 2 1/2 hours to internal temp 192°. Then wrapped in plastic wrap, insulated with beach towels and placed in a cooler to rest for about an hour. Then unwrapped, lightly coated with the seasoning rub and back into the cooker for about 30 minutes. Then drizzled with bbq sauce and into the cooker for another 20 minutes. This is from my favorite cookbook, Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang.

Oh, it was delicious.

I'm Back

2010-04-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

I decided that, since I get irritated when other people don't post to their blogs, I need to post to mine. I doubt that anybody cares. Does anybody read this?
My last post was after the nationals in December. Since then I raced a road race, Cherry Pie, and a TT series, three races in Medford. I got dropped about a third of the way through the road race, way better than last time, and Vern kicked my ass in the TT. Both were fun though.
The big news is that I built a new cross bike. Most of it is used stuff off ebay. The shifters and derailleurs are off my road bike. I upgraded it to 10 speed. I haven't ridden the new bike on any kind of cross terrain but it feels really good on the gravel roads I ride on. BB30 really feels solid. Old Blue will now become my B bike in the pits.

Dura Ace 7900 on the road bike.

I'm having trouble getting motivated to race mountain bikes. I didn't do Horning's and I'm not doing Mudslinger this weekend. I signed up for Spring Thaw and I'm doing Return on the Jedi for sure. Those may be my only races until STXC starts.

Cyclocross National Championships 2009

2009-12-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for quite a while. I didn't have anything to post about until now. I raced the National Championships in Bend this week.

Here I am with Jeff Boyer before the race. I stayed with Jeff and Tracy at their house between Bend and Redmond.

As you can probably guess from the photos, it was cold. Actually it was warm...compared to what it had been. The night before I got to Bend it was 10 degrees below zero. When we got up the morning of my race it was 1 degree above zero and by my race time it was almost up to freezing.
This is what most of the course looked like. It was very slick. I started slowly and after the first lap gained some confidence and picked up my pace somewhat. I was moving up in the standings when I went down twice in the same lap and decided to revert to survival mode. I stayed upright for the rest of the race but didn't pass anybody else. On the last lap a guy in my age group caught me. We got to the run-up at the same time but he stumbled a little. I beat him to the big drop and didn't look back. I sprinted the last couple hundred yards on pavement and almost puked at the finish. When I looked back after the finish line he was nowhere to be seen. He must have fallen on the drop.

There was a set of stairs to negotiate.

I felt pretty good after the finish. Glad to be done.

On day two I was a spectator, eating some frites.

It was a fun experience. I finished eighth in my age group and didn't get hurt. I'm looking forward to next year.

Outlaw Cross '09 #3

2009-11-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

We raced again on Saturday for the third race of the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross Series. There was mud again. Only a couple of places on the course were muddy but it was a sticky mud that caused a derailleur carnage. The last count that I heard was 13 broken derailleurs out of about 60 racers. I saw two derailleurs broken during warm up laps. I decided I didn't want to ride the course until it was time to race. I was surveying the course and spoke to Thom Kneeland who is an experienced cyclocross racer. He said "work the edges and power through the sticky stuff as fast as you can go". I did that and I survived the race. I not only survived, I finished ahead of several people who always beat me. Steve Law was one of them. He broke his derailleur on about the fourth lap. I think that I might have been able to beat him even if he didn't break down. I was passing him at the end of the course on every lap. He would then catch me but always after the start/finish line.
Look at him. He knows I'm coming and he's hurting. Doesn't it look like he's having some kind of attack trying to stay ahead of me?

There was a run up that was really muddy. That was the only section that I didn't ride. There were a couple of other muddy sections that I was able to ride without clogging up.

This was Vern's bike after the race. I lapped him again. For some reason I didn't feel bad about lapping him this week. In fact I had to speed up right at the end to catch him before the finish line.

I feel pretty good about my racing. I think I'm still getting stronger and I'm continuing to learn how to race smarter. I'm think I might be on track to peak for the Nationals next month.

Photos by John Raedake

Outlaw Cyclocross #2

2009-11-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

We raced yesterday in Grants Pass. We had mud. It was the Halloween costume race.

I started out going what I thought was pretty easy. I am still hurting from crashing last week and really didn't want to crash again. I was hanging right behind Vern and I quickly realized that he was setting a pretty fast pace. After a couple of laps I noticed 7 on the lap board and started to worry that I might not be able to keep up for that long. Vern started to fade after about three laps and I passed him . He told me his wheels were clogging up with mud. I was running my carbon wheels with the Dugast Rhino tires and they were working pretty well. I was still picking up a lot of mud and it got harder to ride as the race went on. About half way through the last lap I caught Vern. I decided I wouldn't lap him as that might be pouring salt into his wounds. He stopped to clear out the mud and, with a grin on his face, threw a handful at me. So I stomped on him while he was down (figuratively) and lapped him.
This was my bike after the race.

It's pretty amazing that it was even functioning.

The race really took it out of me. When I was walking back from picking up my pit wheels I felt like I might need to sit down a take a rest so I could make it back to my truck. Maybe I shouldn't have ridden 30 miles the day before. I usually don't ride the day before a race but the weather was so nice I just couldn't resist.
Next week we'll be at the Speedway in Medford.

Ugly Race Photos

2009-10-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Have your children leave the room before you view these Photos. They may be upsetting.
I raced yesterday in Yreka. It was the first race of the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross Series. It started well for me. I was going hard. Richard Bush was riding right behind me. I don't know if he was holding back or I was going faster than normal. At about two thirds of the way through the course I came to a hard, bumpy section. I was still going pretty fast and decided to move to the right side of the track which I thought might be smoother. I was riding gripping the hoods. I hit a rock or something and both my hands came off the bars. I went down, hard. Now I know why people ride rough stuff in the drops. From a review of my injuries I hit on my right knee and rolled to my hip and onto my back. My head also hit the ground as my helmet mount popped loose. Here's some photos taken after I got home.

To add insult to injury, when I finally got ready to continue, my rear tire was flat and I had to run quite a distance to the pit. It should go without saying that Vern beat me.
I'm OK though. I'll be back next week to race at Paradise Ranch in Grants Pass.

KFCX '09 #2

2009-10-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

I raced in Klamath Falls again on Sunday. I've been putting off posting about it while I waited to see if I could find some photos. I didn't find any of Vern or I but I found some that showed parts of the course. Speaking of Vern, I beat him this week. I don't want to gloat about it because Vern is a good friend and a fierce competitor but, having said that, I SMOKED him. I had decided that I really needed to figure out how to ride the sand pit because that is where I caught up to him each lap at the last race. Vern and I discussed the sand pit and decided that the left side looked ridable. The tape was a little wide of the pit so at about half way through you could try to bounce out onto the grass.
This shows the sand pit. It is the right side and from the clouds it is the first race. The weather was much nicer this week.

I decided that I needed to go through it ahead of Vern on the first lap so I passed him on a 180° turn prior to the pit. I hit the sand pit going pretty fast and was able to coast to a spot where I could exit on the left side onto the grass. That didn't work every lap but, when it didn't I was able to pedal out to the end. Then when I got to the uphill pavement section I pounded it. I hit it hard. I had noticed, in earlier races, that if I let Vern stay ahead of me for very long he seemed to draw on some inner power to keep ahead of me. Anyway, Vern had trouble with the pit and I didn't. After a few laps I was far enough ahead that I could back off a little on the uphill.
Here's a photo showing the steps after the uphill section. Actually there is a short downhill before the steps that allows for a little recovery.

On the next to last lap Steve Law passed me. I thought that he was lapping me but he said "Now I'm on the same lap as you". He had flatted earlier. If I hadn't backed off maybe I could have beaten him. That would've been sweet.
This weekend starts the Southern Oregon Outlaw series in Yreka, CA.

Cross Crusade #2 2009

2009-10-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

I raced the Cross Crusade race on Sunday at Ranier High School near Ranier, Oregon. I try to do at least one of the series each year. I go for the experience not expecting to be competitive. It was an experience. I think there were nearly 1,200 racers. My race included Masters B 35+ (107), Masters 50+ (68), and Junior Men (26). Staggered start but still over 200 racers on the course at the same time. I'm always amazed at how well the OBRA racers are run. My race went OK. It is a tough course with a long, killer hill and a short, steep forced run up. I just tried to survive. I finished 62nd out of the 68 50+ riders. Some of those guys are 14 years younger than me. That's what I have to remember as about one third of them lapped me. I didn't take any pictures but you should look at these to get a feel for the race. You can also read about it here. I did find some pictures though.
I look like I was really going fast here.

I lose weight and get fit, but I'm still an old, fat guy trying to be a racer.

Here's Thom Kneeland going fast in the Masters A 35+ race. It was really great for me to be racing 300 miles from home, all by myself, and come around a corner to find Thom and Scott Churchill rooting me on.

Next week I'll be back in Klamath Falls for finish the two race series there. Then it's the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross Series.

Cyclocross Klamath Falls

2009-10-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

My cyclocross season has now started. I raced at Klamath Falls on Sunday. I picked up Steve Law in Grants Pass and headed over the mountain on Highway 140. When Steve put his stuff into my car I thought that it didn't look like he had enough clothing. When we got near the top of the mountain and it started snowing he said "What's this?". I asked if he hadn't read the weather forecast. "No. Is it supposed to snow in Klamath Falls?" They had been forecasting snow all week. All my Southern Oregon cycling friends on Facebook had been talking about it. Steve needs to get connected. Lucky for him I had thrown some extra clothes in at the last minute. So he didn't freeze. It didn't really snow at the race but it was really cold.
Here's Steve looking good with my cap and long sleeved shirt on under his jersey.

I guess I can't delay any longer saying what all my loyal readers want to know. Big Vern beat me again. He bested me on all parts of the course. He was able to push a bigger gear up the longest hill. I didn't have my legs. I couldn't quite catch him.
The course started on an uphill section of grass that didn't look difficult until you tried to ride it. Grass makes a hill steeper than it appears to be. Then some more grass through a couple of switch backs leading to a volleyball court sand pit. I had successfully ridden the sand pit during warm up laps but crashed into the sand on the first lap. I ran it after that. Then more grass and onto an uphill paved road. That's where I couldn't seem to catch Vern. Then downhill on the road to a set of stairs where these pictures were taken. Then onto a dirt trail downhill to an off camber grass downhill to the parking lot. Then along a concrete path with a couple of sets of stairs back to the start. Each lap I would catch Vern at the sand pit but then just hang with him on the uphill and he would get away on the downhill. He was strong. I wasn't.
I was sporting a new jersey advertising Drop Top Amber Ale. At least I looked good.
I rode the wheels with Mavic Reflex rims and Tufo Flexus tires at 26 and 28 psi. Worked fine. I just need to work a little harder.
I'm racing next weekend in Portland. Cross Crusade at Ranier High School. They had almost 1,500 racers last weekend at Alpenrose. I hope there's not that many next weekend. I'm sure I won't do well enough to get any points but the experience will be worth the drive.

Photos by Jamie Douglass

Catching Up

2009-09-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

I guess, since cross season is about to start, I should catch up this blog. Also Brooks just updated his long ignored blog so I should follow suit.

I've been racing STXC in Grants Pass on my Niner One 9 single speed. There have been five single speeders in the series. My usual rival, Vern, has been off his game and not a factor, until the last race. Usually I'm faster than him on the uphills and he's faster on the downhills. In the last race of the series he passed me on one of the uphills and I never could quite catch up with him. The only other notable happening during the series was when I crashed twice at the third race. Once during warm up and again during the race. Different corners, same ribs. One month later I'm finally able to sleep without pain. My mountain biking buddy, Brian, did the series and finished second overall in Cat 3 riding his single speed. Before he bought a used single speed he couldn't understand the attraction. Now his full suspension geared bike sits in his garage most of the time.

Last month, August, Brian, Ethan and I took a road trip. We hooked up my trailer and drove to Sam Brown Campground near Grants Pass between Hwy 199 and the Rogue River. We met Steve Law who guided us. We rode the Jedi trail and the Briggs Creek trail. It was great fun.
We camped at Sam Brown where Brian learned that he likes red wine. We drank my red wine allotment for the whole trip the first night. We stopped at Safeway in Roseburg the next day to replenish our supplies.

We drove to the McKenzie River where we camped at Paradise campground. A nice spot. A different experience from Sam Brown where we were the only campers.

We were right on the river.

The next day we drove to the upstream trail head and rode about 21 miles back to our camp. I had hooked up with a guy from San Francisco on one of the forums who camped and rode with us and provided a shuttle back to my truck.

The upper half of the trail is really scenic.

It's really rough, though. If I ride there again I won't do the upper half.

The lower half is just as scenic and a lot easier to ride. The upper half took 4 1/2 hours and the lower half 2 1/2 hours.

Now it's time to get ready for cross season. I'm racing in Klamath Falls this weekend. I'll be racing the same old Blue cross bike. I'd love to get a new bike but I can't afford it. I haven't been working lately and I'm broke.

Mill Creek Ride

2009-08-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode what's known as the Mill Creek Acquisition. It is the land formerly owned by Miller-Rellim Timber Company. It was purchased by the Save the Redwoods League and donated to the State in 2002. The State hasn't decided what to do with it yet. They are doing watershed restoration and decommissioning some of the roads. It is only open to the public for day use on weekends. It has tremendous potential for recreation use. 25,000 acres with old logging roads all through it. The riding on the old logging roads is pretty good but very steep. Our ride yesterday included over 3,800 feet of climbing in 18 miles. 1,800 feet in 3 miles at the beginning. A lot of hike a bike. Coming back down is great fun.
Here's Ethan and Billy walking up one of the hills.

You can see the ocean from here but there was too much moisture in the air for it to show in a photo.

Very rugged country. I can't imagine how difficult it was to log here.

If you enlarge this photo you can see where we started riding. It is the light spot in the exact center of the picture right over the ridge in the center.

This is the view to the east.

We were the only vehicles in the parking lot at the trail head. This property doesn't get much use. I fear that the State budget cuts might cause it to be closed to all use.

Here's a link to the activity on Garmin Connect.

Return on the Jedi and other races

2009-07-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I have raced Spring Thaw in Ashland, the Jacksonville short track xc series and the Return on the Jedi race weekend. I was having trouble deciding on Cat 2 or Cat 3 at Spring Thaw but went with Cat 3 since they have cut off times that I might not have made. It was very enjoyable. I'm happy with the decision.
Then it was the 4 race series in Jacksonville. They had two new courses along with the old one. The new courses included some steep climbs so I rode my geared bike. I rode the two races on the old course with my single speed.

This is one of the new courses on my Orbea Alma 29er.

I camped in the same site as last year at Return on the Jedi.

The only difference in the picture is Jake's new ramp. He blew out his ACL and had surgery to repair it. He can't jump into the back anymore. I suspect that's how he injured it in the first place.

I raced STXC on Saturday. There were only two single speeders so here I am with my second place ribbon. I raced XC on Sunday and, again, raced Cat 3. This is the course that I bonked on last year and had trouble finishing. This year it was hot but not as hot as last year. I paced myself on the long climb and thoroughly enjoyed the Jedi trail to the finish. I have decided that I am a Cat 3 racer. I would rather enjoy the races than suffer on the longer and more technical courses.

I don't have any races scheduled in July. The Pistis Racing Team STXC series starts in August. It is a five race series in Grants Pass. That should be a good workout for me to start getting ready for cross season. I'm looking forward to racing cross this year.

Mudslinger

2009-05-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe I really am too old to do this shit. I raced the Mudslinger mountain bike race on Sunday in the Oregon coastal range between Corvallis and Newport. I raced Cat 2 for the first time. About 24 miles, about 4,000 feet of climbing. Hard packed gravel logging roads and slick, muddy single track. I jogged most of the single track if it was uphill or downhill. The uphill was too much effort with no traction and the downhill was too scary, crashing and getting back up is too much effort. I had to stop and clear out the mud from time to time or my wheels would just lock up and skid. At about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the race I came to a junction with course volunteers directing the Cat 3 racers to turn left for 1.8 miles to the finish and the Cat 2 racers to turn right for another 14 miles. I was really tempted to bag it and turn left but I didn't. It was then more than 3 more hours before I finished. That's right. I was out on the course almost 5 hours. Toward the end I was walking the uphills even on the roads. I was able to ride the final mile uphill to the finish though. It took me 4 hours and 40 minutes. The Pro winner took 1 hour and 40 minutes, on a single speed.
I'm racing Spring Thaw in Ashland in two weeks. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to race Cat 3 or Cat 2. It didn't kill me. Maybe it wasn't so bad.

Racing and Drive in the Mountains

2009-04-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything since the Southern Oregon Time Trial Series got over. Some might think that I am bummed out because Vern beat me again. Not true. I'd rather beat him but it doesn't bother me to lose to him on the road. I was surprised though, in the last race when he caught me and passed me, on an uphill. I knew he was faster going downhill but I thought I was faster going up. I learned something that kind of explains why he's as tough as he is. He told me he went to college on a swimming and water polo scholarship. WATER POLO! Those guys are animals. That's got to be the most physically demanding sport there is. He may look like a softy, but he's not.

I'm racing the mountain bike next weekend at Mudslinger up west of Corvallis. Should be better than last year when it snowed. I'm racing the sport class this year. Three years as a beginner is pushing it.

Yesterday we went on a ride into the mountains with Frank and Sally. We drove up highway 199 to Patricks Creek, turned up Patrick's Creek Road and drove up Shelly Creek and over the mountain to Obrian, OR. Nice drive.
This is what it looks like up on top.

We came across a Darlintonia bog. Interesting plant.

Racing Again

2009-03-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Somebody mentioned, at the race today, that I haven't blogged about the Southern Oregon TT Series. Okay Vern, I'll tell everyone that you've beaten me two weeks in a row now. I have raced the first two out of three races in the series and my times have improved over last year. Unfortunately Vern's times have improved as well. During cyclocross season if the course is mostly uphill I can usually beat him and if there are a lot of fast downhills he can usually beat me. These TT courses are up the hill, turn around and come back down the hill. Today he started two minutes behind me which has been his usual margin of victory over me. When I turned around at the top of the hill and started down I saw him coming up too soon. I knew that he would catch me and that would mean a two minute victory for him. I pushed myself beyond my comfort level going downhill and he didn't catch me until right before the finish line. What fun though.

New Single Speed

2009-02-21T15:18:00.001-08:00

I finished the single speed today and Susan Roberts came over to take some pictures before it gets dirty. I felt pretty ridiculous when working on it because I had to wash my hands so often. It was fun though.

Lots of white parts.

I don't know when I'll ride it. I wouldn't want to get it dirty. Maybe when it quits raining.

Cool Nitto components.

Shimano Sante. Brand new, twenty years old.

The build is:
Soma Delancey frame and fork
Cane Creek headset
Nitto CT-80 stem
Nitto Raundoneur bars
Shimano Sante brakes and levers
Shimano Sante crankset
MKS pedals with Soma toe clips
White Industries bottom bracket
Velocity Fusion rims on Paul high flange hubs
Vittoria Randonneur tires
Nitto 65 seatpost
Selle San Marco Zoncolan saddle

I forgot to mention:
Shimano Biopace (oval) 42 tooth chainring
White Industries 16 tooth freewheel

I'm Back

2009-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

I'm always slightly upset with other people who don't post to their blogs and now I haven't posted to mine for over a month. Not since my birthday. It's not that my birthday upset me. I just haven't been doing much of interest. No racing but I've been putting a lot of miles on my bikes. I'm hoping to start the season in better shape than last year. Speaking of birthdays, I've learned that your racing age for cyclocross is your age the following year. That means that I'll get a new age group a year early, just in time for the Nats in Bend. There have only been 6 racers in the 65-69 year age group the last two years at the Nats. If I work really hard maybe I'll have a chance for a podium position.
I really can't afford to be buying more bikes but I couldn't resist this one. I've been gathering components for a single speed road bike and this is the frame that I wanted. I scored a complete bike. It has the same bars and pedals that I have already purchased so I guess I'll sell the brand new ones to help defray the cost. It has a flip flop rear hub and I rode it fixed the first day I had it. I don't know if I'll ride it fixed again. It's a lot more comfortable with a freewheel. Consider this the "before" picture. I'll post lots of pictures of the completed project.

Birthday

2009-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

When i get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine.
If i'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When i'm sixty-four.
You'll be older too,
And it you say the word,
I could stay with you.
I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride,
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When i'm sixty-four.
Every summer we can rent a cottage,
In the isle of wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera chuck & dave
Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When i'm sixty-four.

I remember when that song came out. I liked it. I didn't think it had anything to do with me though. I had a birthday today. Guess what.

Bogstomp

2008-12-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

I found a video of the race I did last weekend. This guy was able to ride the whole course. He must be tougher than me. He rode the 30 minute race. The course was more torn up when I rode the 50 minute race.

Winter

2008-12-15T19:51:00.001-08:00

Winter is here, finally. Saturday morning I loaded my cross race stuff, including my pop up canopy and heater, into the truck and headed for Eureka. It was snowing lightly on Crescent City hill, snowing heavily on the Redwood Park bypass and raining heavily at lower elevations. It reminded me of something I always tell people new to the Pacific Northwest. If you plan an outdoor activity and the forecast is for shitty weather, just go do it anyway. It almost always works out. By the time I got to Eureka the weather was almost nice. It didn't rain at all while I was at the race. It rained hard as I was getting ready to leave the race. Perfect.
The race was called Bogstomp and was held out on Elk River, enlarge the picture and you can see route from my Garmin. It was on the Wrigley property which was an apple orchard until Pacific Lumber Company raped the forest and caused the river to flood every year killing the apple trees. There's a book's worth of story about that. As a child I used to ride my bike out there to go fishing and sneak into the old abandoned town of Falk. The race course was two sections of single track through the woods connected by old road sections. The single track was so muddy that I, as well as most of the other racers, ran it carrying our bikes. Even the roads were muddy to the point that you couldn't ride a straight line. It was the muddiest race I have ever done. Muddiest cyclocross race anyway. The Horning's MTB race was muddier. It was fun though and rewarding to finish. I think the some people abondoned the effort. I raced the long race, 50 minutes. It took me slightly over an hour. It was fun to meet new people who like to race bikes. I beat a couple of people.
That was my last race of the year. It even snowed at my house today, at sea level, so I didn't ride. I now need to figure out my training for the next month and a half. I probably won't race again until the Cherry Pie road race in February. Base building I guess.

December?

2008-12-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Is it really December? I can't believe the weather lately. Friday I rode my cross bike at Cadra Ranch and it was beautiful.

Saturday I raced the Stomach Churn down near Arcata. I've raced there the last two years and I remembered that it is a rough course. I took my single speed Niner as well as my cross bike. It was a good move as I ended up riding it. The course was really bumpy. I saw a lot of bikes get their chains bounced off. It was a hard race. Maybe it would've been easier with gears. At one point I realized why it's called Stomach Churn. I felt like hurling. I raced the thirty minute race and at the end of my third lap I waited for the leaders to lap me so I didn't have to do another one.
I think I'm going to race in Humboldt County again next week. That will be my last race of the year.

Psycho Cross

2008-12-04T12:28:00.001-08:00

I raced Sunday in Eugene. I have delayed writing about it because it was fairly unremarkable. We had been in Portland since Wednesday and left early Sunday morning so I could race. I've raced at this location before and have enjoyed it. The course was slightly different from last year. There was a long section around the agricultural fields. Some of that section was muddy but it was sticky mud. Kind of slippery but it only got on the tires. There was some single track, a stair runup, a steep downhill switchback, a steep rideable uphill, and some barriers. I was outclassed by everyone in my race but one junior so I was not very motivated. I didn't dog it but I didn't push it either. As I said, unremarkable. I stayed upright and I finished. It's probably my last OBRA race for the year. I'm not going to Portland for the USGP race and I probably won't go back to Eugene in two weeks. I'm going to race in Humboldt County this Saturday and maybe the next weekend too. I've raced 32 times so far this year with no races in January or July. That's almost every weekend.

Outlaw Cross #5

2008-11-23T11:59:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the final race of the Outlaw Cyclocross series. It was held, again, at the Paradise Ranch development on the site of a future golf course. It was, again, muddy. Way muddier than last time. I decided that, even though I'm still sick, I was going to go out hard and see if I could keep up with Steve Law. Steve is a friend of mine who turned 50 and is racing in the 50+ cat for the first time this year. He always beats me unless he breaks down. I started hard and hung with him for a little while. He soon pulled away from me though. He ended up winning the 50+ race. We race with the rest of the B cat so there's a lot of other people on the course with us. I beat about 6 people. I beat Joe Davis who always beats me and I even lapped Vern. I didn't beat them with my riding skills or my fitness. I beat them with equipment. My wheel/tire combination was right on for the day. I ran the FSA carbon wheels with Dugast Rhinos. Everybody had problems with mud and leaves clogging their wheels. I should have taken a picture of Vern's wheels. He probably took a picture. If he sends it to me I'll add it. My wheels would feel clogged and hard to turn at one point on the course but on a following downhill section they would clean out somewhat.

We're going to Portland for Thanksgiving and I'm going to race in Eugene on the way home Sunday. Then I'm going to do a couple of races in Humboldt county and that will be it for the season. I'm already thinking about next year. I'm going to be way better.
Here's Vern's bike. You can see why he had problems.

Outlaw Cross #4

2008-11-19T17:02:00.001-08:00

I raced at the drag strip again. I didn't take any pictures but here's a nice picture of Kristy Green taken by Chet Collins.
I was sick all week and didn't train at all. Well, I rode a couple of times but really easy. I don't get sick very often so I don't know how to act when I'm sick. I raced anyway. I took it easy to guarantee a finish. I just hung with Vern. He knew I'd been sick so I think he was trying to drop me. He wasn't going easy anyway. I decided to make my move with 3 laps left. I figured I would get lapped so it really would be 2 laps. When the lap board said 3 I left Vern on the hill and pushed to stay ahead. That lap was hard. The next lap almost killed me. I didn't get lapped by the leader and had to do the third lap. I survived. I raced for 1 hour and 2 minutes. I still haven't recovered from my cold or sinus infection or whatever it is that's bugging me. I hope I'm better by this weekend. I'm planning on racing hard. It's the last race of the series.

Outlaw Cross #3

2008-11-10T13:51:00.001-08:00

I raced on Saturday in Medford out by the drag strip. If you've read my earlier posts you know that I did a couple of races there last spring. That's when I learned that a drag strip goes uphill at the end. The hill is still there. The course was mostly on hard dirt with loose gravel on top. It started down a little hill and then alongside the drag strip in dirt. Then it went onto the drag strip and up the hill. It was a pretty good climb. Very tiring. Vern had added the hill at the last minute before our race started to spread out the field and make it easier to score. After the uphill it was, suprisingly, downhill for a while. The downhill was on pavement so it was fast. Then it went up a slight hill to a runup with a barrier at the top and then a steep, short drop. Then it zig zagged around in the field to end with a couple of barriers. I got ahead of several people during the first lap but then didn't catch anybody until the last lap when I passed a guy in my age group who stopped to add air to his tire. During the fourth lap my rear tire felt really low and when I looked at it I thought it was flat. I pulled into the pit but found that it had just lost pressure. I thought it would be okay so I continued without changing it. I must have picked up a Goat's Head thorn and the Stan's sealant held. I'm glad I added the Stan's. I did have to slow down on the pavement section as I was afraid I might roll the tire off.
It was a good race. I worked hard and finished near the middle of the B class, 14th out of 21. I think I need to warm up harder and start harder. I get behind at the start but then don't lose a lot of ground. I'm always thinking about next week and next year. Then, all of a sudden, I'll think "wait a minute, I'm f***ing OLD. How many more years can I do this shit?". I guess I'll just keep doing it until I can't.
I found this picture of Lillian at the SSCXWC race in Portland this weekend. I bet she had a good time.

Mud

2008-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

I raced yesterday in Grants Pass, Oregon. The second race in the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross series. It was wet and muddy. The course was on the site of a future Jack Nicklaus golf course. It was flat and would have been fast if dry. I guess I don't ride aggressively enough. I stayed relatively clean.

This guy rode a single speed mountain bike.

Vern got dirty, even though I beat him again.

There was a nasty run up.

A few guys were able to ride it.

My bike survived. I rode the Challenge Grifos at about 28 psi. I bottomed out on every bump but they worked well.

Next week the race is in Medford, out by the drag strip.

Yreka

2008-10-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

I did the first race of the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross Series Saturday in Yreka, California. Yes, an OBRA race in California. Some of the regular southern Oregon racers live there and have put on a race two years now. It's a nice course. Some grass but mostly single track. There is a hard, rocky section so I left my carbon wheels in the pit. I raced my Racing Ralph tubeless setup again and it worked well. Several people flatted using tires with tubes including a guy in my age group who always beats me. He flatted twice so I came in third out of four in the 50+ age group. I kicked Vern's ass. He is in a different age group but we still race at the same time. The course included quite a bit of climbing and a very difficult run up.

I took a couple of pictures of friends of mine on the grass during the A race.

Richard Hogan

Thom Kneeland
It was a beautiful day. The series continues next weekend in Grants Pass. Guess who gets to design the course. Vern. I probably won't have a chance of beating him.

Bling

2008-10-20T11:06:00.001-07:00

I want to build a single speed road bike so I've been looking at pictures on the forum to get ideas. I spotted a bike with a white crankset and thought that it looked really cool. I did some research and discovered that it was Shimano Sante, a groupset that they made in the late 80's. It was between Ultegra and Dura Ace. I've been told that they quit making the line because it was consider too yuppie. I first found the brake set on Craig's List Boulder Colorado and then the crankset on ebay. Brand new twenty year old stuff. This is just the start of my project. I don't even have a frame yet. I'm leaning towards a Soma Delancey. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Cross Crusade

2008-10-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

I did the Cross Crusade race yesterday at Ranier Oregon. It was a great course. Mostly on grass and dirt paths. Lots of climbing but with long sections of downhill to recover. Check out the photos on http://pdxcross.com/?p=284 to get a good feel for what it was like.

The race started on an uphill section and I took it kind of easy so I wouldn't blow up right at the start. Once we started downhill the guy in front of me was going too slow so I passed him. I continued to take it easy because I hadn't pre-ridden the course and had only walked part of it. The course was over two miles. I went back and forth a couple of times with the guy I had passed but eventually I got ahead for good. I held on but couldn't pass anybody else. There was a steep uphill section of hard gravel with some loose stuff on it. I must have had too much air in my tires because I couldn't get traction near the top and had to get off and run up. Well, I didn't really run. The Masters 50+ class had 48 starters. I finished 42nd. Maybe I need to push harder at the start. The other age 60+ guys didn't finish very far ahead of me.
Here's my heart rate with elevation. I guess I'm more fit than last year. Some times I wonder about that but I don't ever feel like quiting during a race like I did last year. It was a tough race though.

Next week is the start of the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross series. That's my favorite series racing with the people from Southern Oregon who have become my good friends.

KFCX #4

2008-10-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

I did the final race of the Klamath Falls series yesterday and got my ass handed to me by Vern. It was bitterly cold. At one point during the race I was remarking to myself that it was just a few weeks ago that I was complaining about how hot it was at races.

The race started at this spot on pavement.

The first part of the course was up this dirt road. It was a fairly long climb and steep enough that I was out of the saddle about a third of the time with my single chain ring. There were three barriers at the top of the hill. Then there was a long, fast downhill on the same kind of dirt road. I'm too old and scared for fast downhills. I was on the brakes and Vern just let her fly. He was WAY faster than me. The end of each lap was slightly uphill on the pavement back to the dirt road uphill. I would just about, but not quite, catch Vern at the top of the hill on each lap. At some point I realized that I didn't have a chance to beat him unless he crashed. I would not only have to catch him I would have to get way ahead of him before the downhill section. It didn't happen.

Hail to the Victor, Vern. We each beat the other twice during the series but the last race was double points. Vern got second for the series and I was third. It was fun. A good competition.

KFCX #3

2008-10-06T16:29:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from a faithful reader telling me my blog was not up to date. Wow. I must have a huge following.
I raced in Klamath Falls again yesterday. I didn't take any pictures so I've posted my Forerunner chart showing heart rate and elevation. I don't think that my heart rate really went up to 214 at the beginning although that's when I pushed hard to get ahead of Vern. That's my new strategy, get ahead of him right at the start and hope that he can't catch up. It worked yesterday. I beat Vern but the other masters racers in the B race both lapped me. I finished third out of four.
It was muddy so I ran my Challenge Grifo tires at 30 psi. They worked well. I could feel the rear tire bottoming out but it survived. The race was at the same location as last week but laid out slightly different. Fewer barriers. The rock garden was still there but the approach to it was slower and a track had developed through it. It wasn't as rough. The mud wasn't the thick, grabby kind you sometimes find in the northwest. It was thin and slippery. Neither my bike nor my body had much mud at the end. My tires, pedals and shoes were packed though.
The starter/lap counter guy was new and I'm pretty sure he screwed up. It was supposed to be a 45 minute race but we were out there for nearly an hour. I went by the finish line with the lap board reading zero, pulled over, stopped my watch at 54 minutes and was told that I had another lap to go. I don't want to be critical though. We need people willing to be officials so that we can race. He'll get it right next time. Next Sunday is the final race of this series. I'm in second place in the Masters 40+ B Division.
Check out the beautiful photos on the pdxcross site. Not of this race but of the races in Portland. I have a link on my Blogs of Interest.

Ghetto Tubeless

2008-09-29T08:22:00.001-07:00

I bought a set of Racing Ralph CX clinchers a couple of weeks ago. I was going to put them on my single speed mountain bike and try it for cyclocross. I decided against that and, late last week, mounted them on my cross training wheels. I mounted them ghetto tubeless on Mavic Open 4 rims. They are predecessors to the Open Pro rims. I used Stan's yellow tape and a cut up 26" tube with Stan's sealant. They aired up and sealed easily. I raced them yesterday in the second Klamath Falls race. It was a perfect test for them. Lillian, the race promoter, had told me that the course would be flat and fast. It was neither. It was rocky and hard dirt with a lot of loose sand on the surface. There was one section that was about 20 yards of big, loose rocks. Rocks 4 or 5 inches in diameter. It scared me but I figured out just go pretty fast and hang on. There were a lot of barriers. Some of them led to slightly uphill sections with loose dirt. It was a physically demanding course. I ran the tires at 40 psi. They survived the banging through the rock section and provided traction in the loose sections. And they held air the whole race. A lot of people flatted on tires with tubes.
Oh, by the way, I put the hurt on Vern.

Vern

2008-09-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me chasing Vern up the stairs at the first Klamath Falls race. In a previous post I said he was my nemesis. That's not true. The definition of nemesis is "an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome". I can best or overcome Vern once in a while, about half the time. I think I need to change my strategy to improve my record against him.

Wa-hoo!

2008-09-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

I'm torn. I'm tickled to pull this page up and see my name in the number one position but I feel bad for the guy who is now number two. I worked real hard just to finish these races and I raced a lot of times but, other than Verne a couple of times, I've never beaten anybody. I raced with the now number two guy at Return on the Jedi and he lapped me, twice. Do I really deserve number one?

KFCX #1

2008-09-21T18:11:00.001-07:00

I raced my first cyclocross race of the season today in Klamath Falls. I didn't take any pictures and my Garmin charts aren't very interesting so I took a picture of my bike as I raced it. I didn't know anything about the course so I didn't know which wheels to take. I decided to take the coolest wheels, the FSA carbon wheels with Dugast Rhinos. They were totally inappropriate but were the coolest wheels there. That counts for something doesn't it? It was a fun race. They are all fun when they're over. This one was fun during the race too. My nemesis, Verne, was there. Actually we are good friends and each of us races harder when the other is there. It was a 45 minute race so I wanted to conserve energy. The course started on an asphalt path then there were two short sets of stairs then grass, uphill for a while and level for a while then a barrier with short runup leading to an uphill section of asphalt road which leveled out to a long stair section then downhill on an asphalt road which led to a short dirt transition to a grass off camber section then downhill on grass back to the asphalt path. I just hung on Verne's wheel most of the race. He would get ahead of me on the downhill section leading to the grass. I was almost airborne a couple of times on the dirt transition which scared me. Then I would catch him on the uphill sections. On the last lap I passed him on the uphill section and screamed downhill to the off camber grass section where he caught and passed me to nip me at the finish line. It was fun. I'm going back next week. I didn't sign up for the whole series because it's such a long drive but now I'll probably do all four races.

Pistis STXC

2008-09-16T17:31:00.001-07:00

That's my trophy from the Pistis STXC series. 1st place, single speed. The final race was, again, uneventful. I was the only single speeder. It was hot. I didn't have Susan's Volvo and my truck doesn't have a thermometer so I don't know how hot, but I think it was the hottest of the races this year. I felt bad during the race and was sweating like a hog at the awards afterwards. I won a saddle in the raffle. A Serfas Stinger RS. I put it on my road bike. I think I'm going to like it.
Next Sunday is the first of the Klamath Falls Cyclocross series. I'm going but I haven't signed up for the series. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive each way. I'll do the first race and then decide if I want to do the rest of the series.

Check it out!

2008-09-11T09:26:00.001-07:00

I know it's bogus because I participate in races with only 2 or 3 competitors, or even sometimes only me, and the other guys participate in actual races, but it's still cool to see. It's for the whole state of Oregon, all ages.

Mountain biking and STXC

2008-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've been riding my mountain bike lately with a couple of guys I've ridden with in the past. The first ride was in what is know as the Mill Creek Acquisition. It is 25,000 acres that was purchased by the Save the Redwoods League from the Miller Rellim Timber Company and given to the State Parks system. The State has no budget to manage it so it is only open to the public on weekends. It's a huge piece of property that was actively logged so it contains a confusing system of old gravel roads. This is a picture from the high point on our 16 mile ride that day. You can see Lake Earl in the background.

The next weekend we rode the Little Bald Hills trail. It starts out on the South Fork of the Smith River and ends up in the Redwoods on Howland Hill Road. We shuttled to the trail head and started up the hill. The first mile is a steep trail with switch backs up to the top of the ridge. We walked that portion. It is too steep to ride unless you are an animal. The trail climbs gently for the next 4 or 5 miles to the high point shown in this picture. It is mostly old jeep road at this point.

Once the trail starts downhill it becomes a sweet single track that enters the forest. A long section of the trail is new with gravel surface about three feet wide.

The trail ends in the Redwoods. It is spectacular.

Sunday evening I raced STXC in Grants Pass again. It was pretty uneventful. It was hot but I survived. I was the only racer in the single speed class. There was another guy riding his single speed but he raced in the regular Sport class. He beat me but not by very much. Next week is the last race in the series. The following week will be my first cross race of the season. I'm racing a four race series in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Then it's the Southern Oregon Outlaw Cyclocross series. It's a really fun series with great raffle prizes including a Desalvo frame raffled at the last race. You can see the bike that was built from the raffle frame on the Plus One Lap blog. There's a link to the right.

Race

2008-08-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T16:03:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

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

Return on the Jedi

2008-06-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Ridiculous

2008-05-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

I thought it was ridiculous that I was driving 4.5 hours to race 30 minutes at the STXC race series. Well I finished that series and started the Southern Oregon Championship Thursday Night series. The other day I drove 4.5 hours to race 11.5 minutes. It was a time trial at the drag strip in Medford. Drag strips are flat, right? Wrong. The portion of the track that they race on is flat but then it goes uphill so they can slow down. It goes really uphill.
The race course was a loop up the drag strip and back the return road which was about half way up the hill at the end. The finish line was at the top of the hill. It was only three laps, about 3.3 miles but it was a killer. I was last place. Even the kids beat me.

Next week it's a road race. I guess it's called a circuit race. Mass start, 10 laps, same course without the hill at the end.

Alma

2008-05-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

I got a new frame for my mountain bike. An Orbea Alma 29er. I swapped all the components off my Orbea Lanza. Isn't it pretty? I'll eventually upgrade the components to match the bling level of the frame. I'm going to race the single speed again next week but I'll take this one along to show off.

Spring Thaw and STXC

2008-05-06T17:38:00.001-07:00

Friday afternoon we hooked up the trailer and drove to Ashland. Frank and Sally hooked up their Casita trailer and came with us. We stayed in an RV park out by Emigrant Lake. It is a nice park and we had spots next to the creek. I raced the Spring Thaw race on Saturday morning and we went out to dinner Saturday night to New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro. Excellent food. Google it and read the articles.

The race started in Lithia Park and climbed up the hill, and climbed, and climbed some more. I raced the beginner category so I only had to go part way up the hill and only one lap. I don't know if I could have done more. I probably could have. My chain came off the big sprocket on the rear wheel and jammed up against the spokes on the first hill out of the park. It took me several minutes to get it loose. The guy riding sweep helped me. That tells you what place I was in. It didn't happen again and I couldn't get it to happen later in the repair stand. Once I got to the top of the hill it was mostly fun single track all the way back down. There is one section that is pretty technical and I crashed once. I actually just fell over because I was being cautious and going too slow.
Here's a chart from Motion Based showing elevation and heart rate. It was pretty difficult. Motion Based says the average ascent grade was 10.7% and the average descent grade -7.4%. Total elevation gain, and loss, 1,930 feet.

The short track cross country series in Jacksonville, Oregon started Monday evening. I raced it. The big news is that I raced my single speed. The course is perfect for this bike. It starts with a climb up a gravel road for about 1/2 mile and then single track back down to the start. The single track is a little rocky but generally pretty fast. Two steep, short uphills. One I rode each lap that someone wasn't stuck walking up in front of me and one I coasted up until I slowed enough to have to walk. I think next week I'm going to attempt to ride them both. There is also a fast creek crossing. Big splash. Lots of fun. It's a four race series. I think I'll do better next week. It's kind of crazy, though, that I drive over two hours each way to race for thirty minutes. I'm racing the sport class now.
On a sad note, our beagle, Buddy, got run over while I was away racing in Jacksonville. Even though we live basically on a gravel driveway with only one house beyond us there is some traffic. He chased cars and that was his demise. Rest in peace Buddy. Drive all your neighbors crazy with your howling up in doggy heaven.

More Mudslinger

2008-04-23T16:47:00.001-07:00

I forgot to load the Google Earth map of the course. We staged at the school, near the road at the top of the picture, and rode as a group to the start where the loop connects. The finish was back at the school.

I found some more pictures too. This one shows the mud a little better, with me walking again.

This isn't my bike but it's representative of what my bike looked like.

Mudslinger

2008-04-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

What the f***?
This is April 20 not January 20.

This is the Northwest not the Midwest.

I raced my mountain bike at Mudslinger west of Corvallis Oregon on Sunday. As you can see, it snowed. Actually the snow wasn't a problem. It was muddy though. A lot of the course was logging road which was hard gravel. Some of the course was single track which was deep mud. I just pushed my bike on the muddy single track. I figured that the up hill was too much effort to try to ride and the downhill was too dangerous. I would have wasted a lot of energy crashing and getting up. Overall it was fun.

This was a steep section on the road called the stair steps. I hadn't reached the mud yet.

You can't really tell how muddy it was from this picture. I am walking though. I should have taken a picture of my bike at the end. When I got back to the road there was so much mud on my tires that I couldn't tell if they were flat or holding air. I didn't care. As long as they stayed on the rims I was going to ride on them. By the way, I'm running them tubeless which seems to be working out ok.

The locals are doing their stage race this weekend. Two time trials, a road race and a hill climb. I don't think I'm going to do it. The hill defeated me last year. Gardner Ridge Road. I've never made it to the top.

I'm racing my mountain bike again on May 3. Spring Thaw in Ashland. Susan and I are taking the trailer and Frank and Sally are coming with their trailer. We have reservations at New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro on Saturday night.

Ride on the South Fork

2008-04-14T20:00:00.001-07:00

Sunday I rode up the South Fork of the Smith River. It was a beautiful Spring day. 27 1/2 miles, 2650 feet of climb. It's a good work out.

I went with Susan Roberts, Don Hartley, and Darren McElfresh. Darren used to be a pro bike racer. It's been a long time since he's raced but he's still a strong rider and it just blows me away how he can ride. We'd be blasting down a hill at 30+ mph with me hanging on for dear life and I'd look ahead and see him riding with both hands above his head stretching his shoulders out, he's recently had surgery to fuse a vertebrae.

It really was a nice day and it's always pretty on the South Fork.

Well I've signed up for Mudslinger next weekend and made a motel reservation. The race is west of Corvallis. It's the same day as the Albany Triathlon so I'll be staying in Albany with my Tri friends and then leaving them and going in a different direction on Sunday morning.

Horning's Hustle

2008-04-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I raced my mountain bike this weekend. If you can call it racing, that is. I took my trailer and my dog, Jake, and drove to Portland. North Plains to be more exact. It was raining. I did this race last year and it was muddy. It didn't rain earlier this week so I was hoping for something better than last year. It was worse. Way worse. I did have a pleasant weekend though. I camped on the race course. Right on the course. The grass you see in the picture is not representative of most of the course. It was deep, sticky mud. The race was multiple loops of approximately 4.5 miles. I raced the beginner category and was supposed to do two laps. At about 3/4 through the first lap I looked at my watch and saw that it had been over an hour since I started. I decided that no way was I going to do two laps. I had pushed my bike more than half the time. I was pushing up and down hills. My bike probably weighed 50 pounds and the wheels just barely were turning. When I got to the finish line I said I don't want to do another lap but I don't want to DNF. They told me that if I quit I would DNF so I kept going, up to my trailer to have a beer. I returned later and finished. By that time the leader had finished and they were waving racers off the course. I didn't cheat. I told them I only finished one lap. It was okay. I felt like a sissy but I didn't want to go through another lap. There was a group of three young guys camping across from me with their families and they all quit after one lap too. They all finished behind me so I didn't feel so bad.

Here's the course. The part on the upper left side of the picture was all new. It was carved in by a Cat last summer. It was the worst mud, about 5 inches thick. All up or down. Nothing level.

I might race again in two weeks but the race is called Mudslinger. I've had enough mud. I'll probably forget how hard it was by then and do the race. I know that races are supposed to be hard but this one was more than hard.

I'm in third place in the OBRA BAR Age Graded 60 to 64 category. I'm a long way behind first place but a long way ahead of fourth place. When I start racing cyclocross I should get closer to first. It's fun.

Riding on the Winchuck

2008-03-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Susan Roberts and I went on a ride up the Winchuck River today. We started at Nautical Inn and rode to the end of the pavement. It was a beautiful day but it was windy and cold. Probably high 40s or low 50s. We had planned to ride down into Harbor for a coffee but it started to rain so we cut the ride short.
I discovered a web site called Motion Based where I can upload the data from my Forerunner. The coolest part of it is that it will put your route onto Google Earth.

This is where we turned around.

The road on the way back.

Buddy the Beagle taking it easy while I was out riding.

Next weekend I'm doing my first mountain bike race of the year. Horning's Hustle up near Portland. I'm going to take the trailer and stay on the race site. Should be fun.

Crescent City?

2008-03-25T21:01:00.001-07:00

Is this Crescent City? Starbucks and Home Depot.

This proves that it is really Crescent City. That's Susan driving by in our Volvo wagon as I was taking the picture. Coincidence in a small town.

While I was out on my bike I took a picture of the real Crescent City. Crescent Beach anyway.

Southern Oregon Time Trial #3

2008-03-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Susan Roberts and I headed over the hill to Oregon early this morning. As we were driving over Oregon Mountain in the dark it was snowing, hard. Snowing hard by our standards anyway. We thought "What the hell are we doing?".

Never fear, though. I had my new canopy and my propane heater. It turned out that the weather was actually okay. It didn't rain or snow while we were at the race. The race was fun. I was slow, as usual, but I beat Susan this week.

It was a hilly course on the back roads between Phoenix and Jacksonville, Oregon.

I dropped my chain again, dammit. That's where my speed drops to zero. The places where it's below 5 mph were just an old, fat guy going really slow uphill.

The charts are from Motion Based. I can upload data from my Forerunner. It will plot the course on Google Earth too. Cool.

Bad Ass Bike

2008-03-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

I love my new Cannondale but I've never liked the way it looked. Even though bikers in the know would realize that this is a serious racing machine, it looks too much like something you'd see next to the Schwinns at your local bike shop. Well I've changed the look. I mounted some road tires on the carbon wheels I bought for my cross bike. I think that they make it into a bad ass bike. I'm going to race it in the time trial this weekend.

Crescent City, CA

2008-03-09T17:25:00.001-07:00

I was out on my single speed one afternoon last week and took some photos along the coast. I wasn't very happy with the way they turned out but decided to post them so that Mary and Brooks can remember what they left.

If you make this one full screen size you can see the Pt. Saint George Lighthouse.

You can see the snow capped peaks in this one. This is as close as I get to snow except when I'm driving over these mountains to get to Oregon.

Castle Rock Island, taken from my bike on Pebble Beach Drive, Crescent City, not Monterey.

Pebble Beach.

The coastline.

The coastline with the lighthouse in the background.

The lighthouse.

Just think, Brooks, if you still lived here you could be racing with me in Oregon instead of peddling inside on your trainer looking out at the snow.

TT #2

2008-03-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

I did the second race of the Southern Oregon Time Trial series today. Brooks liked the charts last week and, since I think he's the only person reading my blog, I'm posting charts again. The race was short, 8 miles, but all climb and descent. I don't know why the elevation chart looks different between up and down. It was an out and back. Maybe because I was going 9.9 mph up and 26.8mph down. The down could have been a lot faster but my TT bike is pretty squirrelly in fast curves and I'm pretty chicken in my old age. I'm thinking of racing my road bike next week. The course is even hillier. My road bike is lighter, 18.5 lbs vs. 19.8 lbs for the TT bike, and the CAAD 9 frame should be a lot more solid on descents.

Here's speed and heart rate. I'm too fat for hills. I should lose weight but that would take cutting out wine. That seems a little drastic just to be faster on a bike.

Here's the profile of next week's course. It doesn't look like and out and back. I think I'll try the road bike.

TT

2008-03-02T09:06:00.001-08:00

Susan Roberts and I did the Southern Oregon Time Trial yesterday. It was the first in a series of three races. Again, the race showed that I need to do some more hill work. Susan beat me by about 1 minute. I dropped my chain and had to stop to fix it. I thought that would be my excuse but she said she stopped once too when she thought she had dropped her chain.

I have figured out how to capture the screens from my Garmin Forerunner program. Isn't it interesting to plot heart rate against elevation?

Here's speed and heart rate. I felt pretty strong at the end. I figure I averaged13.4 mph going out and 21.1 mph coming in. I should be able to improve on that. I think I finished last in the masters group. It was fun though. I'm going to do the rest of the series. Next week is shorter but more climb.

I took my TT bike out for a ride on Thursday to make sure that everything was working properly and I flatted the front tire. I put some Stan's sealant in it and it held. I was a little worried racing on it but I really wanted to use the Cosmic Carbone wheels. It worked. The tire continued to hold air for the entire race and is still holding. I ordered some new tires though, with yellow sidewalls. Should look cool on the wheels.

Cherry Pie

2008-02-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

Since Brooks commented "Nice work at Cherry Pie", I guess I'd better describe the race.

It was a learning experience. This picture isn't my race but it's representative of what I saw.

The race had a neutral start. We staged in a parking lot at a little town and followed a lead car to the start. There were about seventy riders in my race. It was a long way to the start. A couple of miles. With some hills. As a beginner, I was riding at the rear of the pack. I knew approximately where the start would be, but not exactly where. Gradually the lead car started going faster until all of a sudden we were racing. Up a hill and the pack left me. Shit! I had been worried about racing in a pack but I shouldn't have been. It didn't happen.

So I was on my own. I screwed up the race right at the start. To make things worse there was even a noticeable headwind. There was another guy who got dropped and, after a couple of miles I caught up to him and suggested that we work together. So we took turns leading. He seemed to be a fairly strong rider. At one point I was leading up a hill and sensed that he was falling back. He sounded like he was in distress so I slowed and waited for him. He thanked me later and said that his heart rate at that point was 198. We rode fairly hard but about 3/4 of the way through the race he faded. I waited for him a couple of times and then left him as he couldn't keep up. I felt pretty strong at the end or, at least until just before the end which was up a steep hill.

All in all it was okay. I think my aerobic fitness is coming along nicely but I need to do some speed work and ride some hills. All I've been doing is base building. I had a cold for the week before the race and I'm still recovering. I'm not racing anywhere this weekend but then I'm racing three weekends in a row in the Southern Oregon Time Trial Series. That should give me some speed work.

There's a time trial near Portland this weekend that I'm not going to. I checked the list of pre-registered racers and there are 13 male 60+ racers. I keep looking for events with not many in my age group, but I guess this isn't it.

Race Picture

2008-02-09T21:32:00.001-08:00

I don't know if it's cool to post pictures of myself but I really like this one. It's from a race I did in Eugene in December. I posted a different photo of the same climb but this one is better. Shawn wanted pictures of the members of his club to put up in his studio. I guess I'm still a member. I haven't paid dues since they started the club. You can see in the picture that I'm really bundled up. It was about 30 degrees. You can also notice that there's nobody else in the picture. I guess I was either way ahead or way behind.

In an earlier post I wondered if my new road bike had too much red on it. Well, I ordered some new bar tape, chrome. It came today. It really looks like chrome. I don't think I'll use it on the Cannondale. I think I'll save it for my next project. Honey. I need to buy a new bike to go with this bar tape. My next project is going to be a fixie. A track bike although I don't think I will actually race track.

I don't have anything new to report. I rode about 30 miles today. Real easy. I have a cold. I hope it's gone by next weekend. I'm racing on Sunday. Cherry Pie Road Race.

Ride Report

2008-02-04T17:01:00.001-08:00

Well, I've ridden the new bike a couple of times between rain storms. I rode about 16 miles on Friday and about 30 miles yesterday with Susan Roberts. It's nice. I liked the flat black funky look of the old frame (see below) but this new frame is much better. When I get up out of the saddle and jump on it, it responds. It goes. I haven't done any real climbs or descents yet but I expect it will be much nicer than the old frame.

I'm doing a road race up north of Corvalis on the 17th. I'm a little nervous about it. I'm not in very good shape yet and I've never done a road race. I've never raced in a pack. I racing with the Cat 4/5 group so everybody else will probably be somewhat of a beginner too. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I look at the analysis of my blog every once in a while to see if anybody is reading it. Not many are. I noticed that 62% of my visits were referrals from Brooks' blog and that 2 were referrals from Christine Vardaros' blog. She's a professional cyclocross racer who's blog I read all the time. She's been living and racing in Europe and it's interesting to read about her life. I couldn't figure out how I got referrals from her until I looked at her blog closer. She has me included in her list of blogs. Isn't that cool.

Too Much Red?

2008-01-30T18:08:00.001-08:00

I bought a frame for my road bike on ebay. When I did the bike fitting last year I learned that I needed a frame with a longer top tube and head tube. The 58cm Cannondale looked perfect. I really wanted a carbon frame but after missing a couple of used System 6 frames on ebay at about $850 I came across this CAAD 9 with the same geometry. It's a brand new frame I got for $400. I swapped all the components off my old Cannondale which was flat black. Do you think this is too much red? I just finished building it and haven't ridden it yet. Stay tuned.

TT Bike

2008-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

I guess that, since I'm not doing triathlons anymore (I haven't actually said that out loud to anybody yet), I need to call my triathlon bike my time trial bike. I'm going to do a series of time trials in Southern Oregon in March. I'm also going to do some road races starting next month with the Cherry Pie race in Corvalis.

I've always loved this bike. It was the first bad ass bike I owned.
Stay tuned for news on my road bike.

New Year's Eve

2008-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

We went up to Packer's Cabin with Frank and Sally again this year. This year we took the trailer. I took the afternoon off from my part time job so I could get everything ready. Susan didn't get home from work until 5:30 so I should have worked to earn some money for new bicycles. I wasn't very happy about driving into the mountains with my trailer in the dark but it was okay. We got there at about 7:30, set the trailer up, started dinner cooking and opened a bottle of wine. We had tamales that Susan had bought at a fund raiser with chili sauce I made and red tomato rice. And several bottles of wine. It was a very pleasant New Year's Eve with Frank and Sally and their grandson Tristan.

Puppy

2007-12-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

I never get any comments to my posts so I decided to post some pictures that will probably draw out some comments if anybody is reading this.

Nick and Jennifer's new puppy, Bailey.

Napping with Hank.

Carbon Wheels

2007-12-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

I picked up a set of carbon wheels on ebay. The logos have been taken off but they're FSA RD 488s with Challenge Grifo tires. Used but in great shape. I'm thinking I might put my Dugasts on these rims and put these tires on my Velocity Deep V rims. The FSA wheels are not the lightest but they're tough. They are lighter than my Velocity wheels but about the same weight as my Reflex wheels with Flexus tires.

Well, I'm truly done with cyclocross for this year. The last race on my schedule is in Eugene tomorrow and I'm not going.

I've just finished this year's racing and I'm already excited about next year. I've decided I'm going to do some road races and time trials along with XC and CX races. I've been riding the road bike lately. I figured out what was causing the rear wheel to rub under power. The non-drive side spokes were too loose. I tightened them up and now I can hammer without any rubbing.

Psycho Cross

2007-12-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

I think now I'm really done racing for the year. We hooked up the trailer Saturday and Susan and I drove to Eugene, Oregon for the third race of the Psycho Cross series. I don't think that I'm going to go back for the final race next weekend even though I think I'm in second place in Masters 50+. It's a four hour plus drive. The race this weekend was on Sunday so traveling on Saturday was okay. Next week it's on Saturday so I'd have to travel Friday afternoon. It was a fun race. There were only two in my age group so I got some good points. The other old guy has been winning everything lately. He won his age group both days last weekend at the USGP races in Portland.

The race was at a camp north of Eugene. They do conferences and retreats and have a pool, mini golf course, cabins and 6 RV spots. So we stayed in the trailer right on the race course. It was really great having the trailer there. It was cold. Cold by NW standards, not by Midwest standards. The high for the day was 37 degrees. It was probably about freezing when I raced at 9:30. I was able to ride to the trailer immediately after the race and take a shower to warm up. Just like the pro racers in Europe.

It was a great course. It had everything. Some pavement,

some smooth grass,

some bumpy grass,

a fast downhill leading to a

watercrossing,

some steps, that's me. Also some single track, barriers, a couple of runups and a sand pit. I robbed these pictures from the blog of one of the race directors.

They're going to race basically the same course next weekend. I'd like to go but I probably won't.

Cow Pasture

2007-12-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm not done yet for the season. I raced in Arcata today. It was a really small race in a cow pasture. There was some single track. The course was rough and bumpy. It was fun though. I had an overall good time. Again, though, I felt like I just barely survived. I must get into better shape next year. They had a 30 minute and a 60 minute race. Naturally I raced the 30.

If you look carefully you can see the cow pies. You can also see all the cars that were there. I think there were only 25 or 30 racers.

It was a pretty setting for a race even if it was bumpy.

The after race activities included grilled hot dogs and beer provided by the race director. The raffle was great. This was his last race of the year and he wanted to get rid of everything. He gave a nice multi-tool to everyone who raced. I won one of the raffle items which consisted of two large containers of Heed powdered drink mix, a 26 serving Hammer Gel with flask and a hydration pack. It was worth the drive down.

The next two weekends are races in Eugene. I don't know if I'm going to do them. It's a long enough drive that I would have to spend the night before the race. The weather is getting shitty. It's supposed to snow in Portland this weekend for the USGP races.

End of Season?

2007-11-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

I might just call it a season. I raced yesterday in Eugene and felt like I just barely survived. The course was almost all on grass. It was also very hilly, all up and down. It was cold but not raining. The course became muddy very quickly. Probably about one third of the course was off camber. The hilly course was not well suited to an old, out of shape guy like me. I suffered. It was so slick that I ran my tires as low as I felt comfortable with, 35 psi. I found out that I didn't do a very good job gluing the tires on. On one of the off camber sections my tire held well but the glue didn't. I rolled my rear tire off the rim. Not all the way off. I was able to push it back on and ride carefully to the pit. After changing the rear wheel I quickly learned that the Mud 2 tire at 40 psi was almost worthless. That did give me an excuse to walk the uphill sections though. I finished at the back of my age group but it was a small group so that was fourth place. The points will help me in the OBRA BAR rankings. I'm in third place in the Age Graded Masters Men 60-64 ranking. I don't think that I can overtake second place or be overtaken by fourth place. There's a race in Arcata next weekend and two more races in Eugene in December but I don't think I'll do them. I'm tired.

We spent Thanksgiving in Portland and had a good time. I rode my road bike on Friday. It's pretty hilly where I rode. Maybe I should have rested up for the race the next day. I took some pictures while I was out.

This was taken from high up on Terwilliger Blvd. in SW Portland. Condo construction in the foreground, Mt. Hood in the rear.

This is downtown on the river, The Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

The other side of the river, The Eastbank Esplanade.

I ended up in Susan's brother's studio in SE Portland.

View from his roof.

View in the other direction.

I need to start a blogs of shame list. Brooks hasn't posted to his blog in over a month. I have to read Brian's blog to know what's going on in Wisconsin and I don't even know Brian.

Final Outlaw Cross Race

2007-11-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

It was the final race in the series yesterday at Emigrant Lake near Ashland, Oregon. It had been raining so I expected a miserable, muddy mess. Didn't happen. The rain held off and there wasn't much mud. I had decided to push harder this week. Big mistake. I hurt badly and wanted to quit a lap before the race was over, maybe two laps. I was hurting so bad that I slowed way down those last two laps instead of picking off a couple of racers. I crashed once. Well, not really crashed. I fell over after not being able to make it out of a ditch.

This is my friend, Richard Hogan entering the ditch in the A race. Everybody I watched went through the ditch easily, without even pedaling up the other side. I need to work on my technique.

Again, the SWAG for the raffle was the high point of the day for me. I won a shower caddie filled with bath goodies. You can't see it in this picture. It's behind the suitcase.

They had a separate raffle for a custom De Salvo frame. Not this frame. I think extra cash would be required to get it. What a sweet frame, though. Titanium with a carbon rear triangle. Check out the etching in the titanium. If you enlarge this picture you can see the shower caddie I won. I didn't win the frame.

Next weekend I'm going to race in Eugene, Oregon on my way home from Thanksgiving in Portland.

Cross Crusade. Holy Shit.

2007-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

I raced Saturday at Emigrant Lake, near Ashland, Oregon and Sunday at the Cross Crusade race at Estacada near Portland. My actual racing was hardly worthy of mention. My bike worked, it didn't break, my body worked, I finished without a great deal of pain, and my Dugast Rhinos performed admirably. The course at Emigrant Lake was jungle cross almost more suited to a mountain bike than a cross bike. I survived. The course at Estacada was fun. Mostly grass, some single track, some off camber, some mud, two muddy downhills with runups that the accomplished racers rode up and a little bit of pavement. The course was long, 2.4 miles. I probably rode too conservatively. I started easy to pace myself and never really pushed it. I felt tired at the end but not spent. They start the beginners and 50+ masters at 9:00 a.m. so I was there early. I got a parking spot right in the middle of all the action. When I finished I was amazed at everything that had been set up while I was racing. Cross Crusade is not just a race. It's an event. There were vendors and bike shops and manufacturers there with booths. There was food and beer. I found the beer tent right after I finished. It was PBR but it was FREE. That's right FREE BEER. I had two PBRs before I spotted a guy with a dark colored liquid in his cup. I asked him where he got it and he took me to the Cross Crusade motorhome where they had Pyramid Snow Cap Ale. Much better and also FREE. Do they have free beer at the cross races in Wisconsin?

I couldn't get a good picture that showed everything. If you enlarge the picture you can see Vanilla Bicycles, White Industries and Retrotec Bicycles.

I took this picture of parts of the course from near the beer tent. Standing there made me realized that, during the race, I have absolutely no idea where I am other than on the course. In the top left of the picture is an off camber section that kind of bothered me. I had no idea it was so close to this downhill section and runup.

There were lots of interesting people there. It was a little crazy at times. It was lots of fun and I left before noon. I bet it got a lot more fun. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say there were thousands of people there. There was more racing for the rest of the day. As I was driving away about every third car on the highway had bikes on top.

It was supposed to rain all weekend but it didn't rain during either of the days I raced. We drove home from Portland on Monday and it rained hard. It was scary on the Interstate. It frightens me enough just passing the big trucks but when they're throwing up so much water that, for a couple of seconds you can't see anything, it absolutely terrifies me. We made it though.

Next Saturday is the final race of the Outlaw Cyclocross series, again, at Emigrant Lake. Sunday is the final Cross Crusade race in Portland but I don't think I'll go. We're going to Portland for Thanksgiving and driving there three weekends in a row is too much. I'm going to race in Eugene Saturday on the way home after Thanksgiving.

Flexus ride

2007-11-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

I rode this afternoon at Cadra Ranch. The Tufo Flexus tire that I sealed with Stan's held up. I pumped it up to 50 psi and took off. I rode hard. I hit all the bumps. It held. Maybe I'll race with it again. Not this week though. It's going to be muddy at the Cross Crusade race on Sunday. I'll race the Dugasts. I ordered a pair of Michelin Mud 2s for my clincher rims. They will be my pit wheels.
This is the other side of the view from the picture I posted this morning. I don't know if you can see what I'm talking about from the pictures if you don't know what to look for. The picture looking west from the ridge shows the ocean and some water just before the ocean. This is the water, Lake Earl. This picture shows the mountains where the other picture was taken from. Right in the middle of the photo, at the very back.

If any of Brooks' and Mary's friends are reading these posts you might get an idea of why they stayed here as long as they did. It's really beautiful here.

Another Race and a Sunday Drive

2007-11-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I raced in Grants Pass again on Saturday. The only thing successful about the race was that I didn't flat. I rode the Dugast Rhinos. They performed well but were probably overkill for the course. There were about 40 riders in my race again this week. They started the race on a long paved section, about a half mile. The actual race course zig zagged along both sides of the road but they wanted to spread everybody out at the start. It worked. By the time I turned off the pavement onto the trail I was near the rear of the pack. I only passed three riders during the race and finished at the back of my age group. There were six in the B 50+ which is where I race. I felt good during the race though and my bike worked perfectly.

I'm going to train this week on the sealed up Flexus tires and see if they hold up. I really like those wheels if they just wouldn't flat. I'm racing at Emigrant Lake near Ashland, OR next Saturday and then I'm going to drive to Portland to race the Cross Crusade race on Sunday. Also that day in Portland they're having the Oregon Handmade Bike show.

Sunday we went for a drive with Frank and Sally into the hills of Del Norte County. It was a gorgeous day especially considering that it's now November. It must have been 75 degrees. We stopped on a ridge top for a picnic lunch. We could see the ocean including Lake Earl and Castle Rock. The view the other direction was into the Siskiyous.
This is the view to the west.

This is the view to the east into the mountains.

Our beagle, Buddy, wandered off while we were there and I thought we might have to send out a search party. I marked the lat, lon with my GPS. You can put it into Google Earth and see where we were. 41°47'53"N, 123°52'05"W, elev 4562 ft. He wandered back after about 45 minutes.

Flexus followup

2007-10-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

I got some Stan's sealant and put it into my flat Tufo Flexus tire. I put in 1 ounce. When I pumped it up quite a bit came out before it sealed. I let it sit overnight and then pumped it up again. Only a little came out this time. I let it sit all day and then, this afternoon, went for a ride on a gravel road. I took a frame pump along. I lost pressure pretty quickly and pumped it up. I eventually lost pressure and pumped it up a couple more times. One time it went completely flat. I came home, put in another ounce of Stan's and pumped it up to 40 psi. A tiny amount came out and it seems to be holding. I don't think I'll trust it to race this weekend though. I'll race on the Dugast Rhinos. They're mounted on Velocity Deep Vee Elite rims. I built them for use in mud but, I guess I'll use them for dry conditions too. My clincher wheels with Geax Blade tires will be my pit wheels. Should I put some Stan's in my Dugasts in case I puncture them?

In my last post I mentioned an old guy from Portland who had come down to race in Grants Pass. I looked him up on the OBRA site and found that he is the BAR points leader in the masters category. His wife is the leader in the BAR female masters. Kick Ass couple. He has raced 57 times this year.

Tufo Flexus Tires Suck

2007-10-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

I raced today in Grants Pass. I used my wheels with Mavic Reflex rims and Tufo Flexus tires. This is the second time this year that I've raced on these wheels. For the second time I flatted. I hit a rock but I was running 40 psi and the tires should have been able to handle the hit. Now I have $190 worth of brand new tires that are worthless. They can't be repaired. I ordered some Stan's sealant to see if that will fix the leak. I'll let you know if it works.

The race was fun, though. I ran about a quarter of a mile to the pit and switched to my other wheel so I was able to finish the race. There was a fast old guy from Portland and a guy from Yreka who has beaten me in the past in mountain bike races. So I probably would have been third in my age group without flatting. Maybe next week will be better.

The highlight of the day was that I won this gift basket in the raffle. I would have preferred the Garmin Edge GPS but Susan was happy with what I won.

Overall it was a very pleasant day. The weather was beautiful, especially for southern Oregon in late October. That reminds me. It rained like hell one day last week and the river came up 17 feet in 8 hours. Amazing.

Big Race Weekend

2007-10-22T17:26:00.001-07:00

I picked up a cool jersey this weekend. Yeah, that's right, I'm the Short Track Cross Country Male Beginner State Champion. Before you send congratulations, I have to confess that I didn't have to beat anybody for the title. Just show up and race. I do deserve something though. STXC is brutal. Especially for an old, out of shape, overweight guy who doesn't train and has limited technical skills. I raced STXC four times in Northern California and four times in Southern Oregon. Isn't it cool? Champion of the whole state of California. That's way better than champion of someplace like, say, Wisconsin.

I hooked up my trailer Friday afternoon, loaded my bikes and stuff with one dog, Jake, and headed for Yreka. I almost didn't go because there had been a wind advisory for 80 mph gusts on Siskiyou summit in the morning. By mid afternoon there was only light winds so I took off. I stayed in an RV park in Yreka and was ready early to race cyclocross, my first race of the season. It was a good race. Nice course in a park. Some grass, some single track, some mud and some shitty, rocky stuff that was totally unnecessary, some barriers and a couple of steep runups. They only have A and B races in this series so I race as a B 50+. There were 37 racers in my race. I lined up near the rear so I would be out of the way of the young, fast guys. It was really slow at the start and I thought "this feels pretty good". I was the only 50+ so I decided I didn't need to push it. I just took it easy. I passed a few people who tried to ride what I considered a run up early in the race and then, late in the race, I started passing people who had run out of steam. I passed a guy on the last lap that I have never beaten before. I felt good at the end. Maybe next race I'll try harder.
It was muddy in spots.

After the race was over and the raffle was done I headed for Weaverville on Hwy 3 through Scott Valley and over the Marble Mountains. It was very scenic, lots of color. I passed a sign at one point that said "Steep curvy road 7 miles ahead autos with trailers not advised". I figured since I had a truck, not an auto, I'd be okay. I was. I just took it easy going down the other side of the mountain.

I stayed in another RV park in Weaverville. Not as nice as the one in Yreka, lousy cable TV and no Wifi.

The STXC race was uneventful once I realized that I was the winner by default. The course was pretty boring. A muddy, rutted road, a long rutted, muddy uphill section, and then a steep downhill drop in to the finish. Four laps for us beginners. Hardly worth the effort except that now I'm the State Champion.

Next weekend is in Grants Pass. It's the second race of the Outlaw Cyclocross series. I'll be there since I'm the points leader in the B 50+. Maybe I'll have some actual competition.

Sunday Morning Ride

2007-10-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

I rode this morning up the South Fork of the Smith River from Hwy 199 to Big Flat. Went with Susan Roberts, Don Olsen, Michael Saberr, Gordon Pfeffer, and Tom and Nan Latimer on their tandem. 33.2 miles lots of hills. It's beautiful this time of year.

Here's the beautiful South Fork of the Smith River.

Somethings wrong with my road bike. When I pedal hard it sounds like something rubs. Tom thinks the hub is slipping. Chris King hubs are supposed to be bullet proof. I'm going to have to figure it out. It's been bugging me for a long time.

My first post

2007-10-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've finally decided to try this. I don't know how long this will last but, I guess we'll find out. I'm not sure what I'm going to write about. I guess it will just be what I'm doing. I'll just jump in.

I just got back from riding my cross bike. My first race of the season is next weekend Oct. 20 in Yreka. Then on Sunday I'm racing the last of the STXC Norcal series in Weaverville. I have the Northern California Beginner Over 40 title locked up. I'm hoping that nobody in the Beginner Over 40 class show up for this race. If so I could be the State Champion. I've been riding out at the Cadra Ranch lately for cross training. I'll try to figure out how to post some pictures.
This is how the ride starts out. Gravel road.

Then it changes to two ruts. Is that called double track. It's so pretty that, when you're actually there you don't notice the power lines.

The trail goes out to a point next to Lakes Earl and Tolowa.

This is the trail coming back from the point.

Then it loops back a different route to a Spruce forest.

It finishes through the forest. I usually do two laps.

Okay. That's my first post. I'll try to learn how to improve.