Race

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

Race Wheels

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

My Arsenal

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

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








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

Race Wheels

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

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

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

Return on the Jedi

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










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










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
















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











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

Ride to the Ocean

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


















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













I took the straight ahead route which took me here.


















I came out of the forest onto vegetated dunes.













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















I was actually able to ride through most of this.













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













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

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

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

OBRA Road Race

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

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