Haven't raced at 9 am in a while, at the speed I'm getting things done these days, I'd have to get up at 4am to be ready by 9. I managed to get 2 cups of coffee and a little cereal into me before the race started. I would have been able to do a 20 min. warm up if it weren't for the line in front of the 2 porter potties, unfortunately only 1 had toilet paper.
Anyway, still a little sleepy at the start line, the race got under way and I was able to stay on Jasons wheel for about 15 min. Somehow I lost my focus and the long gravel climb seemed to take forever. On top of the climb I was passed by Bryson Perry, by the bottom I was in fourth behind Fox. I didn't preride the course and just couldn't find any rhythm on the single track downhill. I started to feel better after the 1st lap and bridged back up to Fox who seemed to be hurting at that point. I passed him and had a much better time on the downhill, started to feel good on lap 3 and was able to get within 15 sec. of Bryson. I could see him putting in a big effort, because he noticed I wasn't far off. In the end he held on to 2nd and I came in 3rd. It was a fun course, I'm happy with lap 2 and 3, maybe with a little more warm up my first lap will be better in the future.
Vote for Team Shannifer
Go to the raceface website to give Shannon Boffeli and Jen Hanks a chance to go to the Transalp this year. All you have to do is watch 5 short videos and vote for them. You might be tempted to vote for the 2 girls in the lederhosen, but go vote for Shannon and Jen!
"lustlos" on wednesday
Went to Sundance and did the weekly wednesday night race series. From the start, my legs just felt like led and I had to back off after just 5 minutes or so. I guess sometimes you just don't have it, my heart rate never really climbed past 160 and so I was tuckering along for about 1 hour. I must have been tired from the past weekend, I had trouble focusing and was all over the place on the single track. I was ready to pull out after lap one, but I kept reminding myself of the fun downhill that was to come after the painful climb. I rode with Brandon Firth on lap 2 and saw him go down hard as he clipped his left pedal on a rock and catapulted himself over the handle bar to land hard on his right side. It was a big crash, first I thought he was hurt, but he got back up and finished the race. There were quite a lot of crashes along the course, I don't think anybody got seriously hurt, though.
Seems like every time I check out cyclingnews.com there's a new big name confessing of having used dope. Bjarne Riis, Erik Zabel etc etc. It's really depressing. I know a lot of people that have said that all these big shots are dopers and I always thought they just said that because they never got very far in cycling themselves. After all these scandals and all these cyclists admitting to having doped I'm not so sure anymore. It's really a downer, just the thought of competing against people that are juiced up makes me sick. But then again, it's the love of racing and competing that gets me going, not the results, otherwise I would have quit long time ago.
Seems like every time I check out cyclingnews.com there's a new big name confessing of having used dope. Bjarne Riis, Erik Zabel etc etc. It's really depressing. I know a lot of people that have said that all these big shots are dopers and I always thought they just said that because they never got very far in cycling themselves. After all these scandals and all these cyclists admitting to having doped I'm not so sure anymore. It's really a downer, just the thought of competing against people that are juiced up makes me sick. But then again, it's the love of racing and competing that gets me going, not the results, otherwise I would have quit long time ago.
Saturday Race at Soldier Hollow
On Thursday and Friday after the Wednesday night race I tried to take it easy so I would be good and fresh for Intermountain Cup #4 at Soldier Hollow in Midway. My legs were still a little stiff warming up, but I ended up feeling quite good once the race was under way. The turn out was good with 13 pros at the line and I had a good start. Seemed like Alan Obeye and myself got a little gap on the rest right away and the two of us were riding together for the first 2 laps. On the 3rd lap my rear wheel spun out on a steep short climb and I ended up running that section with Alan opening up a little gap on me. He attacked right there and I just couldn't quite catch up to him on the last lap. I ended up in 2nd, but I am quite happy with my form, seems like my body is getting used to racing again. Bart tried out new cleat positioning on his shoe, check out his blog to get some more info, it's quite interesting.
I'll try to do another wednesday night race this week, it'll be in Sundance, great single track, it'll be fun. The trails in Park city are drying out nicely. Went on a nice long ride today, it was quite chilly, but Spiro, Mid mountain, Sweeney Switchbacks and Johns are all in great shape already.
I'll try to do another wednesday night race this week, it'll be in Sundance, great single track, it'll be fun. The trails in Park city are drying out nicely. Went on a nice long ride today, it was quite chilly, but Spiro, Mid mountain, Sweeney Switchbacks and Johns are all in great shape already.
Mid-week racing at Soldier Hollow
I pre rode saturdays race course by doing the wednesday night race at Soldier Hollow. It was amazing how many people showed up, this series is growing and it's great to see so many people come out and race their mountain bikes on a week day. I encourage everybody to come out and try one of these races at either Soldier Hollow or Sundance.
The races are shorter than your Intermountain cup races and there's always a great raffle at the end of each race. The course was hard, but fun and my legs felt quite good as well. Maybe the few days of resting after getting food poisoning weren't all that bad for the legs. I'm looking forward to Saturday, I always love racing at Soldier Hollow because I know every inch of the course from skate skiing in the winter.
I can't believe the Jazz made it to the Western Coference Finals, it's been great following their season and I can't wait for the next games. Anything is possible.
The races are shorter than your Intermountain cup races and there's always a great raffle at the end of each race. The course was hard, but fun and my legs felt quite good as well. Maybe the few days of resting after getting food poisoning weren't all that bad for the legs. I'm looking forward to Saturday, I always love racing at Soldier Hollow because I know every inch of the course from skate skiing in the winter.
I can't believe the Jazz made it to the Western Coference Finals, it's been great following their season and I can't wait for the next games. Anything is possible.
Lehi and food poisoning
Intermountain Cup #3 at 5 mile pass and I had a pretty good time. Rolling terrain, windy conditions and 44 miles made for a long and hard race. I felt pretty good at the start and settled into the front group, Bart decided to go and nobody really went with him. So he was in front of us, around 1 to 2 min. for the first few laps and I pullen Prime Time and Ali G around the racecourse. I didn't mind doing the work in the front, this race was primarily for me to get some race mileage back in the legs. Ali fell back and it was just Sly and myself for the last 2 laps. I kept pulling until the beginning of the 4th lap and my body decided to call it a day. My legs just exploded and it felt like the last lap took forever. I was able to hold on to 3rd at the end and it felt good to finish such a long race, some might call it a marathon and not a XC race. Anyway, it was fun and I'm looking forward to Soldier Hollow this weekend. I know the terrain really well from skate skiing, but I know it'll be harder to conquer on a bike.
This past weekend I didn't race and instead got a food poisoning from some fish stew I ate Saturday night. I have never been that viciously sick, it was brutal. I even got a ride in the Park City ambulance to the clinic. I decided not to ride Sunday and Monday, my body just felt like sleeping the last few days. Today I went out on my mountain bike and it's nice to see so many of the Park City trails already dry and fast. I guess the bad thing about that is that it'll be dusty pretty soon. Tomorrow I might try racing the wednesday night series at Soldier Hollow, these races are always fun and good training. Hopefully they'll have a good showing.
This past weekend I didn't race and instead got a food poisoning from some fish stew I ate Saturday night. I have never been that viciously sick, it was brutal. I even got a ride in the Park City ambulance to the clinic. I decided not to ride Sunday and Monday, my body just felt like sleeping the last few days. Today I went out on my mountain bike and it's nice to see so many of the Park City trails already dry and fast. I guess the bad thing about that is that it'll be dusty pretty soon. Tomorrow I might try racing the wednesday night series at Soldier Hollow, these races are always fun and good training. Hopefully they'll have a good showing.
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