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.
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.
INTERMOUNTAINCUP #2
So Brandon Firth and I decided last minute to go down to Hurricane and do the Cholla Challenge. It gave me a good excuse to get out of work Saturday night and so we left early Saturday towards Hurricane. We made it just in time to sign up before they closed down same day registration. We even had time for a 10 minute warm up. I was excited because it was the first time that I was able to race my new Cannondale Taurine. It's Cannondale's carbon hardtail version and it's super light. I rode it the day before for the first time and it climbed like a mountain goat, no excuses if I didn't do well in the race.
The gun went off and I actually got the whole shot, unfortunately I only lasted up on the front for about 30 seconds. I didn't even feel too bad on the first climb, but after about 20 min. my body just shot down. I really haven't bonked that early in a race, but that's what happened. I started going backwards. I couldn't get myself out of the hole and even mentally I was totally fried. I just couldn't get any positive thoughts into my head so I just pedaled half heartedly around the race course. I came sooo close to dropping out but at least I hung in there for a good training ride. I got passed by a good amount of expert riders that started a few minutes behind me and I think I finished about 20 min. down on the winner's time. I haven't sucked that bad ever since I started racing. Well, it'll give me some good motivation to train harder. I don't want to disappoint my new team, Mona-Vie/Cannondale, especially since we're getting great support this year. Hopefully next race report will be more positive!
1st mtb race at St. George
So I guess I haven't updated my blog in a while. Lots of stuff going on, nothing really to write about. I am fortunate this year to ride for a great new team. I can't wait to get my new Cannondale Taurine, it'll be a blast to race on. This past weekend I decided to go down to St. George and ride a mountain bike for the 2nd time this year. I was lucky enough that Matt O had a Rush that I could borrow, since I haven't gotten my new Taurine yet and I just sold my old mountain bike on ebay. Brandon Firth and I decided to take the drive on Saturday morning, we wanted to leave around 6am, but by the time we got started it was a little closer to 7. We made it there on time, though, enough to mount a bottle cage on my bike and get a 15min warm up.
The course is a lot of fun, the climbs are rather mellow and the downhills are just pure pleasure. I haven' t ridden a full suspension in 4 years and the Rush sure felt different than what I am used to. It was actually really nice on the climbs, but it was absolutely brilliant on the down hills. I can't believe how well the lefty absorbs the bumps, yet stays so true to the line. I felt like driving a Cadillac around on the race course. I hope I'll get a chance to race that bike in a Super D race.
Had a really bad start and thought of throwing up due to a cold I've been fighting all week, but kept riding and actually started to feel better as the race went on. I couldn't catch up to my new team mates Jason and Bart, but was able to take third to make it a 1, 2, 3 finish for our team. Big thanks to Matt O for letting me use this cool new bike, personaly I think everyone should have a Carbon Rush in their garage.
Now I hope I can get back into a decent training routine and have a fun season. I feel like the ski season is coming to an end, I sure will miss the skate skiing at Soldier Hollow. Well, it'll only be a year 'til next time. Actually can't wait for the bike season to really kick off.
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