blog

2012-09-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Winding down the West Coast Summer

It’s been a couple months since I started this, well, couple-month block of racing and traveling... Inevitably, every summer there is a big chunk of racing smack in the middle. As there should be, the weather in the Northern Hemisphere is typically perfect, everyone is keyed in on summer pastimes involving bikes and it’s just the right thing to do. That said, it’s always good to see the approach of fall and slightly mellower times. As I work on this transition back to Mountain Biking in the Mountains, the summer race block gets ever more complicated. This last month and change has included amazing riding in legendary places and racing on some of the best terrain in the world. It has also included some pretty ridiculous travel and plenty of equipment and logistical headaches compounded by solid fatigue. We’ll just focus on the good parts, maybe with a few struggling anecdotes for good measure and so y’all don’t think it’s just all fun and games around here… Not to mention The Olympic Games, which also happened for two hard-working Americans.

I’ve always said that you’ve got to be in great shape in order to dig deep enough to actually make your body genuinely fatigued. I was in shape at World Cup Finals. That, which was quite satisfying, has left me proper tired for the next two weeks. Having 48 hours at home between the France trip and the Downieville/Link/Whistler/Chilcotins trip was just enough time to scramble and develop the beginnings of a cold. Perfect. There was also enough time to drop off my XTC Hardtail at Sunnyside Sports to get torn down and re-built on a Reign X frame for the Crankworx Enduro. While at the shop, I ran into Carl Decker’s roommate and pro triathlete Matt Lieto. He high-fived me on the good World Cup race and joked that I should “take it easy” on Carl at Downieville this weekend. That wouldn’t be a problem.

Carl is also in an interesting transitional period in his career. The Giant Factory Team has shifted it’s focus to Enduro and Marathon events, so Carl, who loves aggressive mountain biking but is also quite happy training on his road bike and racing XC, has ended up doing a bunch of what amounts to downhill stage racing. He’s been a touch off the pace on the burly stuff… I was also secretly pulling for him at Downieville, knowing he races well there and that he could use a little boost to his summer of racing.

There was someone else pulling for him in Downieville too. As the cross-country race rolled off the pavement and started the fifty-minute climb up the Sierra Buttes, Junior National Champ Keegan Swenson went to the front and gave ‘er like only a junior who hasn’t yet ridden the climb can. (Ed. Note, on account of my long publishing timeline, I can report on Keegan’s 5^th place ride at Junior World Championships in Austria last weekend. Dang, that’s strong work.) Carl eventually left the excitable youngster and went on to win the XC for the third year in a row. I got around Keegan as we dropped into Baby Heads, which gave me the honor of finishing second to Carl, again.

An even higher honor was bestowed upon me a few meters shy of the finish line when I was suddenly covered in beer. From someone’s mouth. I looked at my assailant, expecting to see one of Mark Weir’s cronies, but it was just some random derelict. He was working on a Wizard Staff (taping empty beer cans atop one another) that was about waist high at 11am... So I requested his staff, took a swig, and returned the favor. Turns out, according to Mike Ferrentino (knower of all things mountain bike underworld) this guy, named Darrin, used to race for the Retrotec team. Those jerks knew how to party… Fortunately, my new friend Darrin still does. He ended up making quite the Staff, and quite the scene, before ultimately getting Tazed, twice, for exposing himself at the bar, and dragged off to jail. Which was actually the first time anyone’s ever actually been arrested at the Downieville Classic. Impressive.

We all know it’s all about the Downhill in Downieville. Carl most of all, after coming up short the last couple years. I woke up feeling ever crappier and was happy to see Carl decently chipper, for 7am… We were both wondering how the day would shake out. Last year’s winner, Aaron Bradford, was in town and is always quick, and Moeschler can never be counted out, but we also had the wildcard of Frenchman Jerome Clementz. Dude is fast, but how fast? Not as fast as Carl. He laid down the fastest time of the day, which was only a few seconds up on perennial challenger Jason Moeschler’s. I fogged my way down the hill unsure of whether I rode smooth and fast or just lazy and slow. It was the latter. 5^th place, which I should’ve probably sacrificed to silence some impressively cowardly hecklers at the bottom of First Divide the old-fashioned way…

Josh Carlson looks for incoming as Jake snaps some photos on Third Divide. Super safe.

Regardless of competitive success, the riding in Downieville is the definition of classic, as are the folks who put on the event. It would’ve been nice to stick around and relax, go for a swim, ride the Lakes Basin, etc. But, onwards and northwards. We had a flight to catch. From Bend. On Monday morning. At 5:30am. The drive home started at 5:30pm from Downieville. It’s seven hours, in my car, hauling ass. Carl and Kelli were in Carl’s new (to him) ’91 VW Vanagon. They didn’t sleep much… Josh Carlson and I got home in time to sleep for about 2 hours before driving the final half hour to the airport. Destination- Vail, Colorado.

Giant shows our beloved dealers a good time, and new bikes, once a year. The location varies but is inevitably in a spot that has solid riding potential. After a long trip and early wakeup call the freshly rained upon trails accessed by Vail’s Gondola were a sight for sore eyes. While there is plenty of business completed at The Link, the main reason folks come is to ride. And ride we did. Road rides up Vail pass (which I secretly wished I could do one of) and all manner of idyllic Rocky Mountain singletrack on the mountain kept folks entertained. Which is what we were there to do as well. Riding with our dealers is a good time, some of ‘em shred, some of them are just getting into bikes, but they all are stoked to be out. Us too.

Not for long though, the summer whirlwind continued for us North American Giant folks. After a hilarious/tragic dueling pianos accompanied dinner, we struck back to the Denver Airport. Destination this time- The Great White North. Crankworx Whistler was warming up and we were slated to compete in the Canadian Open Enduro on Saturday. This left Thursday and Friday to try and learn four different race courses (I thought Enduro was supposed to be raced blind?) and get our brains to work at the level necessary to blaze through the infamous Whistler Bike Park and down some lesser-known gems. In retrospect, folks also needed to learn the routes to Transit between the four stages, as time was of the essence.

A misunderstanding with the eleventh-hour communication of start times for each stage set off a chain reaction resulting in a whole lot of folks missing their start times. Which, at most of our North American Enduros, doesn’t really matter, they just assign you a new one. Not here in Whistler, the clock starts on your minute, regardless of your presence. The transits between stage 1-2 and 2-3 were tight on time, but completely doable if you had a plan. There was a whole lot of moaning about this, so I took a poll of my peers.

The question- “Do you have a watch?”

The answer for 2/3 of the sample pool- “No, why do I need a watch?”

Because you’re at a goddamn timed competitive event where it might be helpful to know what time it is, since you have a start time to adhere to… How many times do you have to say “time” before lazy-assed mountain bikers think having a watch might clever? I’m just bitter because the Rally Car racing community LOVES their watches and will smote down upon you with limitless vengeance if you’re late. Or early for that matter. Them’s the rules, you’d better learn…

Top of the World Trail. The start of 18 minutes of amazing on Stage 4.

Anyway, most of the contenders in the men’s race were on time to stages 2 and 3, so it didn’t really affect our results. Jerome Clementz won with an impressive run in stage four, which was an all-downhill test from the tippy-top of Whistler Peak. A genuinely challenging stage with amazing variety of trail, from alpine singletrack to bike park chunder. Our frothing youngster Josh Carlson won what I’d consider the most diverse stage, which also has the best name. Blackcomb Mountain’s Golden Boner. I was third in this, just a couple seconds off the pace. But I was WAY off the pace in the final stage, compounded by a small crash that resulted in a wardrobe malfunction. Namely, my pants fell off. Oops… I still managed 6^th overall, so, solid, but not quite the mixing it with the fast guys I’d hoped for. Need to work on that ability to ride at DH bike pace on a trail bike…

The women’s race was a bit more of a mash-up with the times. A couple locals were on time and the rest was a bit grim. Rabobank/Giant teammate Rosara Joseph put in another impressive ride, winning the Golden Boner stage by 40 seconds but losing 3:30 on the first transit to finish second overall. What could’ve been… To her credit, she did have a watch… Overall, the Crankworx Enduro is the most diverse, interesting, challenging event of this discipline I’ve had the pleasure of contesting. Here’s to riding more downhill and moto, picking up that last little bit of pace to be in the mix when it gets hairy…

Next up- the middle of nowhere.

A Beaver's-eye view of the Chilcotin through the lens of one Sterling Lorence. Love your work.

We’ve been working on the Trance X 29 for quite some time now, over a year since the first prototype. It’s a great bike. And we finally got to show it to the Media in possibly the most perfect setting imaginable. The South Chilcotin Mountains lie a few hours north of Whistler, on the east side of the Coast Range. Dale from Tyax Adventures will happily, for a nominal fee, use his ’61 De Haviland “Beaver” float plane to transport you and your bike buddies up to one of the myriad alpine lakes above their lodge. Then, it’s a lifetime of old prospecting trails to ride back down. Seems like a good place to take a mountain bike for a test ride. And we did. The editorial crew was comprised of entirely strong riders, most of whom were in town for Crankworx and on the shred program anyway. Fun was had, bikes were discussed, guides were pumped for more info on the area (thanks, Adrian and Emily.) We only had a day out in the hills, but it was enough to know that a return trip with plenty of time and provisions is necessary someday.

It was a pleasure to shoot with Sterling in his adopted backyard. Beautiful country...

Hmm, after the lovely Chilcotin bookend to our busy summer season, what’s happened? Oh yeah, I haven’t left the state of Oregon for a few weeks. But there’s still been plenty of action… I sometimes wonder if Bend really is the perfect place to live for a bike rider. Equidistant to California and British Columbia, but with plenty going on close to home.

A little Metolius-Windigo Trail action above Sisters. This is currently on fire. Sad to see it go, it was in the best shape ever after a bunch of Oregon Enduro Series trails work. Thanks, guys.

The Oregon Enduro Series held it’s final two rounds on August 26 and September 8-9 in Sisters and on the flanks of Mount Hood. They were very different events, showcasing the variety of riding in our little state. I won the scrappy, raw Sisters event and got smoked on the high-speed, committing, DH-style Mount Hood. Guess the Oregon pedal/coast racing win streak is over for me. Josh Carlson might be starting his own streak, as he sort of DOMINATED the Hood weekend to win the series overall in grand style. I’m glad I’ve gotten to see that guy ride a motocross bike, as it gives valuable insight into how brutally he attacks every inch of trail. A must for this kind of racing. Let’s do a winter exchange, Frother, I’ll give you a touch of diesel restraint and you work on my Race Gas consumption…

I was trying hard enough at Sandy Ridge to end up with fir boughs in my CTD lever...

Last but not least was our second year of backyard Marathon National Championships. Myself and Carl had the #1 and #2 plates on our bikes from last year’s runaway 1-2. And we actually had sufficient time to prepare for their defense. The course was way better this year, taking in some of Bend’s finest trails and climbing up to 7000’ along the Cascade Crest. It was at this point, actually, that I liked my chances of a title defense. My clever line choices on the biggest climb and descent had opened a gap on perennial challenger Todd Wells and I was alone at the front. I missed Carl, but was glad to not have the prospect of a sprint finish with him… Fast-forward a couple hours and my impressively bonked, flimsy carcass was unable to sprint with Carl, except this time it was for 2^nd place. Todd had ridden away after I exhausted the last of my bag of tricks (riding up the Octupus Log on Funner) and was no longer able to stay in front of him and ride at 200 watts, hoping he didn’t notice my (painfully obvious) grenaded state… It’s almost easier to lose a title defense when you’re so incredibly blown that there’s no possible recourse. Hats off, Todd.

Carl and I were really tired after...

And damn fine work at the London Games, I’m proud of you and Sam Schultz for finally ending our “Americans riding like poo” streak at the Olympics. 10^th and 15^th are right in there. And while we’re at it, sweet that Georgia Gould got a bronze medal. That’ll keep the stoke high for all those XC pinners out there coming up through the ranks. Pedaling bikes hard is a good time.

Speaking of good times and hard pedaling, I’m on a plane to Nice, France as I wind up this summer narrative. About to wind up the mountain bike season at Trans Provence. Much like that float plane trip into the wilds of BC, I’ve been looking forward to this event since I signed up last fall. It’s going to be pretty amazing to ride across the mountains of Haute-Provence, camping and racing on the downhills, for an entire week. Hope I have enough energy left for it…

Check out http://www.dirtragmag.com/ for updates from yours truly.

And http://trans-provence.com/ for info about this sort of amazing race...

2012-07-31T22:16:00.002-07:00

Two (very different) Weeks in France

If it weren’t for a random call to Ross Schnell a month ago, I would’ve skipped World Cup Finals. He said something I’ve been hearing from members of the North American Shred Posse for years “What are you doing in July? You should come to the Mega.” My normal response is the same for anything happening in July that’s not a World Cup or National Champs. “I’m triple-booked that weekend anyway…” Ross diplomatically pointed out that, as far as he could tell, July twenty-second was free, other than the Megavalanche down the slopes above (and below) Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps. And it was the weekend before the final World Cup in Val d’Isere, which I’d planned to respectfully bow out of on account of not really riding very well in Europe this spring. But hey, a long DH race would be great prep for what could be my last World Cup XC race, right?

Just so we’re all on the same page, the Megavalanche has to be the undisputed king of endurance downhill racing. Dropping from 3300 meters at the top of Pic Blanc to 720 meters in the village of Allemont (that’s 2580m, or 8,385 feet) over the course of 33km. That’s a lot of drop. You climb some too, but not very much. More importantly, the race is mass start. On snow. For about 3km. In about three minutes… Start position (crucial to success and/or safety) is determined by a series of ten qualifying races on a different course. Which also is mass start, in waves of 200 riders, and also involves snow. Perfect. The top three riders from each qualifier get front row position in the final, 4-6^th second row, 7-9^th third row and so forth. The top 35 from each round make the proper final. The others qualify for the slower waves, Challenger, Amateur and Affinity. Basically, it’s a whole bunch of people racing downhill together. Super safe. Fortunately, the organization requires the use of full-face helmets and body armor. It’s good to see that, even in the land of limited liability, the promoter is wise enough to try and protect us from ourselves, and each other…

The Bourg d'Oisans Bus Station is a scenic place for a gear pile...

It’d been a while since Ross and I had gone to a race together, probably back in the Team Devo days, actually. The fact that we were getting a chance to co-habitate for a week was made ever better that the days of that week were spent riding gondolas around in high alpine sunshine and working on riding downhill as fast as possible. Ross’ new, and quite pregnant wife Cathryn and my Rabobank/Giant Offroad Teammate Rosara Joseph joined us to round out the crew. Ross had one Mega under his belt, so sort of knew the ropes. At least where to go and when, ish… This is good information, as the logistics of a 33km downhill course are challenging. Our three glorious days of “practice” involved a whole bunch of hurrying up and waiting in between riding the most diverse tracks I’ve ever experienced. Doing one practice run meant leaving our apartment in Alpe d’Huez village aboard a 16-passenger gondola to the base of the Pic Blanc tram which dropped us at the top. Of the world from what I could tell. From there it was an hour or more of snow, alpine scree, ledge, pistes, meadow and forest down to Allemont. There you got in line for a bus that would tow a cartoonishly packed trailer of bikes up to the base of Oz en Oisans ski area. Here you boarded another long gondola back up to the Dome de Rousses tram, dropping us just below the Pic Blanc at the start of the Qualifier track. This track started raw and rad in the alpine before mellowing into berm-filled meadows. It took around thirty minutes to practice and passed our apartment about ¾ of the way down to its finish in the village of Huez. From here you could wait in a huge line for a cable car back to the Alpe d’ village or just pedal up the final five switchbacks of the access road made famous by the numerous Tour de France stages finishing on it’s slopes. Joined by hundreds of Dutch tourists, on a pilgrimage to emulate their Tour heroes. All due respect, I’d heard of the legendary Alpe d’Huez climb for years and was kind of expecting something more interesting. It’s a busy dead-end road to a ski area. Just like hundreds of others in this corner of the world.

OK, writing that all out kind of helped me process what a production it was to race the Mega. Which we eventually did, and did pretty well. The qualifier is key, and is basically an intermediate downhill race on trailbikes. You HAVE to finish, and finish well, to secure a start spot in the final. I hemmed and hawed about what bike to bring and in the end kept it familiar. The Trance X 29 has been my fun bike of choice for the last year as we’ve tested and developed it. Why not race it in France too, it’d be good on the snow at least… Plus, Rosara needed to borrow something so she was the lucky recipient of my trusty Reign X. Having never ridden anything bigger than an Anthem X, she was like a kid in a candy store. Suddenly dropped atop the highest mountain she’s ever had the pleasure of standing on with a full-face helmet and 160mm travel bike. Lucky. And fast. After starting her qualifier last and passing 75 girls she finished 25^th, just enough for a front row start in the MegaLadies final. This start turned into fourth place by the finish. Pretty good for an XC bandit who’s never ridden a proper bike… French legend Anne-Caroline Chausson won the women’s race casually by a landslide, just like her World Cup DH racing days.

The above sentence about finishing the quail intact and at the front being mandatory made me a touch nervous when, after a top-ten start in my heat, I was standing in the first snowfield trying to put my chain back on while half of the 200-rider wave filed past me. S**t. Thinking I was clever I followed what looked like a sneaky line that shortened the snow section after a tricky entrance. The rest of the (smart, French) guys in front of me opted for the conservative line, knowing the risk of a mistake. My mistake was small, barely stepping over the bars, but the dropped chain put me in a dire situation. My clever line worked in snow section #2 and the game of passing everyone in the race began. It was fun. And dangerous. Which I needed anyway to wrap my head around charging down brutally rough trails with tons of random dudes. I overtook dozens of people, mostly in a safe manner, and finished 7^th, 1:20 down on Remy Absalon. So, third row for the final. Not ideal, but not disastrous. The biggest disappointment was that it would’ve been really interesting to stay upright and in the mix to find out just how fast Remy is. That guy has been the fastest rider in the fastest country for Enduro since it became a thing. I need to know how good these guys are.

Here's a little rear-POV from some practice on the Qualifier Track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3toHqhJuxE&feature=results_main

Rad Ross, qualifying second just outside the dust trail of the legend, Nicolas Vioulloz

Finals- Whoa. I like to think that riding on the edge is something I’m into, but I was genuinely intimidated atop the top of Pic Blanc at 7am waiting for the sun to warm our bones and the freshly groomed, solidly frozen ski piste that was the start line. For about 200m before it doglegged right onto a 4m wide “road” made up of fist to lawnmower-sized rocks. This led to more snow, lots more. Some of it steep, some with sharp corners. Growing up ski racing in Maine and actually doing some winter downhill bike races on snow, I’m comfortable with the white stuff. Or was. When my turn to line up came I instinctively chose high right, just at the edge of the talus slope above the snow. I assumed, what with the steep, icy snow bottlenecking into a rockfield and all, that there would be a huge crash by the time the third row got there. I was right, but had no idea how huge until after the finish.

The view from the Tram Station. This is the lower 3/4 of the snow, the safe part...

The energy up there is pretty amazing before the start. It was a crystal clear morning, accentuating your view of dozens of huge snowy peaks, and allowing the helicopter film crew to get intimate with the start grid. Dance music pulsed from speakers on the line as 350 people awaited their fate. Turns out most of them embrace it wholeheartedly. Almost immediately I could see bodies piling up to my left, so went for the high right route through the rocks, figuring it was slower, but safer (and ultimately faster) than the NASCAR scene developing below me. I squeaked through and set about hauling ass down the lower snow slopes, amazed at the level of grip and control available on the groomed, frozen glacier. Except for where there were old ice ruts. Those were sketchy, and I narrowly avoided a few other impressive crashes.

Off the snow and onto the upper rocky singletrack I wondered what place I was in. Could’ve been 100^th, could’ve been 30^th. Either way, I could see the leaders of the race minutes down the mountainside. Welp, so much for thinking I could show up and be on the podium. Fortunately, even the random dudes I was with after the start melee are pretty good on their bikes. I passed whenever I could but ultimately had to wait until the course turned to the southern aspect and began traversing across the ski pistes of Alpe d’ Huez proper. Once there I set about overtaking fools like Sherman through Georgia. Eventually I started recognizing people. First was Jamie from Nelson, New Zealand. He didn’t have a seat. Before the main “climb” (a two-minute affair on a dirt road) I caught Ross. My only comment for him was “Good work surviving.” I crested the climb with enough of a gap on his group to stop and top off a leaky tire before we dropped in together. This was exciting. Riding with a familiar face, especially one as inspiringly fast and smooth as Mr. Schnell, is helpful in a race this long and taxing. We both weren’t smooth enough though, in the eight minutes of pounding braking bumps on the section down to Oz we both got dangerous levels of arm pump. Ross bad enough that after I pulled off to let him by his hands blew off the bars and he packed it in, hard (enough to separate his AC joint slightly and tear out some of the stitches he’d gotten after a qualifier crash). When I made it to the next short road traverse I couldn’t even push the lever to actuate my DOSS seatpost.

Checking out lines on the upper section with Dan, Anka and Jamie. Scenic.

Fortunately, thirty seconds of smooth road is enough to recover before the next woods section. It was in there that Swiss Enduro legend Rene Wildhaber passed me on a shortcut line that I overlooked, he was about twenty meters below my unobservant ass and turned a ten-second deficit into a five-second advantage. Right, next time I need the time to do more than two pre-runs of the whole course. Thanks for the tutorial, Rene. And, by the way, how the hell did you survive your start crash? It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. By pedaling, tucked, down the first 200m of snow, he got the holeshot, normally the safest place to be. Except he was going about 80kph when the bumpy snow gave way to rocks. Sliding out just before he exited onto to the relative safety of the stones, Rene started tomahawking, and people started hitting him. It was horrific. Only three riders made it through, Dan Atherton, Nico Vioulloz and Franck Paroulin. And, while we were talking in the parking lot after finishing 17^th and 18^th, he didn’t even mention it. Just another day in the life of a European Enduro racer, I guess…

Remy Absalon got out of the start crash early and unscathed, enabling him to hunt down the gravity-oriented riders on the traversing bits. But Nico was checked out by then, with nearly a minute lead after the climb. Which is funny, because Ross and I passed the legend shortly after, walking back up the hill with his bike on his back. Hmm. What could that guy, who is the picture of competitive restraint and calculated control have possibly done in the open, flowing meadow singletrack to abandon the race? Turns out he was still pushing hard enough that he overcooked a corner, burping his tire and breaking his front wheel. Amazing that a ten-time downhill World Champion was pushing that hard while leading this race. It speaks to the depth of talent and overall challenge of this event. You’re PINNED, mentally and physically, for, well, in eventual winner Remy’s case, 41:20. In Rene, Ross and I’s case, it was more like 45:00. But we survived. That’s an interesting emotion to have post-race. Normally for this kind of event you’re pumped to take every chance possible, and these guys are. I will be next time, now that I know the score. It’s another level. But it’s not that far away…

Check out a video recap here. And watch a few of the other vids on this site... Action.

http://www.endurotribe.com/en/2012/07/video-le-film-officiel-de-la-megavalanche-2012/

Rosara and I had a forced rest day, which was extremely necessary, after our dipersal of equipment en route to Val d’Isere left us bikeless on Monday. We Kept it Real with our Alpine travel plan. Taking the bus from Geneva Airport to Alpe d’Huez with three bikes, a wheel box and two bags saved us a rental car for the first week. Anna from Massageme.co.uk came down from Bourg St. Maurice to give us (and Tracey Moseley’s crew) some much needed massages before the Mega, and we sent parcel # 1, Rosara’s bike bag with my spare XC tubular wheelset, with her. The big package, my bike case with my XTC Hardtail in it, almost went to Enduro of Nations in Italy with Dan Atherton. Fortunately, I swung by as he was leaving, identified this conflict in destination, and was able to get his mechanic, Pete, to take it to Val d’Isere. It’d be more useful there anyway… SRAM BlackBox manager Jon Cancellier was kind enough to take Rosara and I’s Enduro bikes, but left on Monday morning, which meant a sort of bummer (to be missing out on more idyllic alpine riding) and sort of amazing (we were beat up) day off. Tuesday we caught a ride with the New Zealander-strong Lapierre DH team over the Col du Croix Fiere and Col d’Iseran to the awaiting World Cup scene of Val d’Isere. Whew, Keepin’ it Real feels great, but sure is complicated. Thanks for the non-same-team help, folks…

Using one bike to go pick up another... I'm glad my Dad and I put a new skid plate on the ol' double bike box.

This could very well have been my last World Cup. Although I’ll probably race Mont St. Anne again someday, hopefully with the above-mentioned DOSS seatpost… I was thankful that Ross tricked me into coming to Europe for two reasons. First of all was that I got to be there while Michiel Van der Heijden won the Under-23 World Cup Overall title. Second was that I rode at least one World Cup race in 2012 somewhere around my potential. Both points made me feel pretty good.

Really, though I took more satisfaction in watching Michiel over the course of the week than in my own relative success. This young man has serious talent, and has his head squarely on his shoulders, regardless of his twenty years of age. He had a narrow lead in the overall standings with a few riders posing a serious threat to his title. It would take a calm, smart ride to secure the Cup.

When I woke to the sound of a steady rain I was stoked for Michiel, as he’s quite good on his bike… This might’ve been misguided on my part, as he was involved in a pair of start-lap crashes on the rain-slicked grass and settled into the second lap outside the top twenty. Hmm. Having never raced at altitude (Val d’Isere is at 1,860 meters above sea level) Michiel was inquisitive as we were pre-riding about how to play it. I told him “whatever happens, don’t go over your limit, you have to be smart and steady.” He did just that, waiting another lap for traffic to clear before he got down to business and rode back into 5^th place. Winning the World Cup by 28 points. Solid.

I tried to do the same thing, except staying in control of oneself at the start of an Elite Men’s race means getting passed by the same bunch of guys who’ve been passing me on the first lap all year. Like my U-23 teammate, I was patient and then started methodically moving through the field. The course was good, not great, but the sporadic rain made it more interesting and there were lots of places that being smart and efficient would gain valuable seconds. I gained lots of them. Riding from 67^th to 26^th by the finish. Around the dinner table, the last time I’d be sat there with the Rabobank team, the boys pointed out that my last lap was 5^th fastest. Neat. I’m still excited about moving on to different types of racing in the future, but it sure feels good to know that I can still ride at the World Cup pace, even if it’s only one lap per year…

I’d made Michiel a deal that if he won the U-23 title I’d let him borrow the Reign X for a little afternoon shred-mission. He upheld his part of the bargain and I was more than happy to sneak on the Gondola with him after my race, even though I was completely effed… We disembarked at 2700 meters in swirling mist and dropped into the funnest forty-five minutes of bike-park and pristine alpine singletrack I’ve enjoyed in a while. Not surprisingly, Michiel has style for days on the big bike, he’s not a just a hardtail rider, evidently, or at least adapts quickly… Either way, I reckon Giant Bicycles and/or the Rabobank team needs to get together to give the kid a bonus. He’ll take a Reign X for sure. And might just ride it in the Megavalanche someday… It gives me faith in the future of XC racing to have upcoming talent like Michiel on the way. Mark my words, just like the last guy who won the Junior World Championship at Mont St. Anne (Julien Absalon in 1998 and Van der Heijden in 2010), this guy is going to win a lot of races in his day. I can’t wait to see how many, and what kind…

Funny that I left my last World Cup XC race on the Gondola with a kid who's just starting out on this fantastic journey that is chasing bike meets around the globe...

Anyway, ‘twas a lovely two weeks in France. I’ll be back sometime soon, I promise…

2012-07-05T22:49:00.001-07:00

Right Coast Summer

One thing I can count on in this continually changing bike racing landscape is a summertime trip to the homeland for some World Cup racing. It always feels good to step off the plane and feel that thick, warm air, knowing it’s even thicker under the dense forest canopy. Full of oxygen and roots, rain or shine, the conditions are always right as far as I’m concerned. We had each in the last two weeks at World Cup rounds #5 and 6 in Mont St. Anne, Quebec and Windham, NY. Knowing I’ll get to enjoy some time with family and friends in Maine between events is the icing on an already sweet cake. Not Whoopie Pie sweet, more of a mellow, sustainable sweet…

Preparation for the Mont St. Anne race seems to start at another Mount, this one the namesake of Waldo County along Maine’s coast. Sparky keeps raking the trails and Justin keeps riding the hell out of them, the combination of which puts a smile on my face annually. Too bad there are only about a half-dozen people who ever enjoy it. Or, that’s perfect.

The hooligan riding seemed to be good prep for St. Anne. The course there has changed over the years, but it’s always so good. The kind of place I’d never ride a bike without back shocks. Anthem X 29 seemed to let me open it up and have even more fun on the descent to tech zone #1 every lap. Maybe too much fun, as I caught Christoph Sauser mid-race whilst riding quickly through the field. I really wanted to show him this sweet gap jump off the bridge, but instead smacked something and, psssssssst. Game off, briefly, for another snazzy tubular wheel, then, game on. After a couple years of riding like poo at a place that’s always been so good for me there were glimmers of past pace. Then it started raining. Perfect. And I mis-counted laps. Thinking we were on the bell, and that folks weren’t really putting up much of a fight considering the impending finish, I had a Coke and went on a tear with two to go. Oops. And sorta fun. Holding on for the last lap was a touch less fun, but resulted in more slickness and more overtaking, so, result. The actual result wasn’t so flash, 24^th is about 5x my best finish in this fine forest, but feeling decent and having fun is un-quantifiable. Nino Schurter also flatted a tubular, hopefully riding like a dick as well, but still was able to out-sprint Jose Antonio Hermida. And Max Plaxton, the most talented guy in the World Cup field without a podium finish, finally got one. Solid work, Max, ‘bout time…

Just another Sunday afternoon in Brownville.

I like bike races and all, but I took the proximity of Quebec to my Dad’s place in Exeter as an opportunity to implement the European exodus model. Race, hose off, and get the hell outta there in favor of bonus home time. Lots needed to be done during the week in Maine. There was massive flooding carnage to inspect in Brownville with the locals. Aunt Diane made Baked Beans for Craig family dinner. Mom had some sweet fused glass pieces she’s been learning to create as one of the spoils of her recent retirement. And it was raining, which meant the opportunity to get a quick run on my favorite local river, which happens to flow past the house on its way to the Atlantic. Plus some more Mount Waldo riding, in cartoonishly wet conditions.

My burgeoning form now that it’s proper summer only added to my resolve to achieve a lifelong goal at the Windham World Cup. I’ve got a tattoo that’s only available to one person a year, that of the Singlespeed World Champ. This tongue-in-cheek event is a far, far cry from the incredible level of competition that defines the modern World Cup, but at the end of the day they’re both mountain bike races. Over the years I’ve done a fair bit of racing on a singlespeed with folks on normal bikes. Fast folks. I’ve always been surprised with the result, which has been victorious more often than not. But how would my relatively small, domestic sampling compare with the sport’s grandest stage? There’s only one way to find out…

The Windham course is pretty ideal for a singlespeed, uphill start, consistent climbing with very little flat terrain and a fast, flowing descent. You know, good bike stuff. I’ve also always ridden a hardtail there with good luck. So, this would be my chance, then. Hatching this plan to myself after returning home from La Bresse, I logged onto tightjeansfixie.com and found a magic gear. 32x17. Conversion complete, I set to training like I used to, long rides in the hills with Jimmy on our simple bikes. We wanked on about how riding the SS gives you mystery power in between talking about girls and what we’d have for post-ride lunch. And I started to feel pretty strong.

Not quite strong or fast enough to keep up at the start though. Which I expected, and wasn’t too concerned about. Not to be self-deprecating, but I’ve been far from lighting it up in the first five minutes lately… Fortunately, the last-minute discovery of an even more ambitious gear (34x17) that resulted from, shall we say, manufacturing tolerance drift, meant that I had no choice to ride up to about 40^th by the top of the first climb. Sweet, this might just work. My brain was pumped on riding fast and making this happen, finally. Too pumped evidently, as close following of the dust-train (evidently the inches of rain that fell on Maine this week missed the Catskills) resulted in a kind of burly, scary high-speed wreck. First point of impact, shoulder. Second, back and elbows. Dang it. Or something to that effect. A brief pause to wheeze and curse (which I’m sure sounded hilarious) and I was riding gingerly down the hill to fix some things at the pit. Dang it. It took a lap or so to get my wits back about me and by then the momentum was gone, replaced by some solid discomfort. I caught up to the mid-30’s after a few laps and was trying to fake some momentum but it just wouldn’t come. Body-slamming myself was a poor choice from a physiological standpoint…

Appreciate the cheers for the alternative setup, folks in the woods...

Martin Allen Photo

From a mental standpoint, the Singlespeed Challenge was great. I finally got to do it. And from the solidly stoked Windham crowd’s reception, folks were into it. Thanks for the cheers out there, boombox PA crew and everyone else lurking in the woods. I mightn’t’ve made it up some of those pitches without y’all. It just might have worked had things gone a little differently. 37^th place is OK, but I genuinely thought I could ride in the top 20 on that thing. Better that I didn’t, as my ability to deliver a decent high-five was questionable. Or put on my pants…

Just to clarify, I mean absolutely no disrespect to the institution of World Cup racing that’s provided me with an amazing focus and purpose for the last decade. In 2006 I started experimenting with a single front chainring in World Cups. It worked awesome and has ultimately become a very common setup at all levels of XC racing. Doubtful that the proper single will ever be a common sight, but you never know. It’s fun to try things out, just in case… I completely understand (and was sternly told as much after the race) that plenty of people support our Rabobank/Giant Offroad team and they expect a certain level of professionalism at events. I like to take a broad view of what being a professional is, probably broadened by my innate American-ness… There were so many smiling faces out on the course, screaming their heads off for someone who was going out on a limb. Hopefully those impressions last a lifetime, they certainly will for me.

The devil’s advocate would say that, with recently improving form, I could’ve ridden a bike with gears (and maybe even shocks, it got rough out there!) to a respectable finish. Maybe so. Over the last two and a half seasons, since shredding my knee and joining this Rabobank team, I’ve had a continual inability to do just that, regardless of how hard I work. There’s always something. This continual disappointment has burrowed deep into my brain and, as a coping mechanism, I’ve stopped considering podium finishes as a realistic option. In some way, the one-gear challenge was a way to have World Cup racing be a kind of unknown again. A personal challenge. And it was…

Now I know. It can be done. But it’s probably not the future. I saw Burry Stander, who’s riding a single chainring and always pushing the limits of equipment, out on the course before the race, he’d heard of my plan and asked what the hell I was thinking. I told him it was an experiment, a make or break one. He responded that it’d probably break me. He went on to win in Windham. Smart guy. Pretty awesome that our US Olympians all slayed it on Saturday. Todd Wells rocked it in 4^th, his best result ever, Sam Schultz was only a minute off the podium in 10^th. Damn, fellas, glad you’re in shape and looking on track to make us proud. Georgia Gould was even more agonizingly close to the Win than last week, a puncture in the last kilometer resulted in her running toward the line while Catherine Pendrel and Katerina Nash sprinted around her. Save it for London, Georgia. Lea Davison finally punched her podium ticket as well, coming home in 5^th in front of her extraordinarily stoked family. Warms the heart, Nugget.

I’m glad the little mountain community of Windham was able to pull together after the destruction of Hurricane Irene last August to not only rebuild but put on their third installment of a great event. The little details like a “ride the pond” challenge on Thursday evening and solid concerts Saturday after dark really tie together our traveling MTB circus. Hats off to Nick, Lori and the rest of the crew for making it happen and to the UCI for letting them start us on the downtown bridge that washed downstream ten months before we stood on it.

I heart the East Coast racing. That said, I might not be here, for this at least, next year…

Stevie Wonder wave, Kenduskeag Steam, Bangor Maine.

2012-06-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

European XC to Oregon Enduro and more…

A whole lot has happened since I last jotted down a few anecdotes from the road. Most importantly, being on the road eventually, if temporarily, gave way to some home time. That was a highlight for sure. I love traveling to beautiful places, and a long stint in the GMT-1 Time Zone this spring was the right thing to do for my attempt to make the 2012 US Olympic Team. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Not even really very close. If the team selected four or five riders I would have been a contender. We earned our right to send two. Those two were clear choices and I was glad to learn that the Selection Committee did the right thing in sending Todd Wells (who had similarly bad luck this spring as myself but kind of ruled it in 2011, consistently top 10 on the world stage) and Sam Schultz, who was by far the most consistent and ultimately the best American at the first four World Cups of 2012. Plus, he’s a stoked, talented kid from Montana who’s paid his dues, one small step at a time.

The third and fourth rounds of the World Cup in Czech and France seem like ancient history at this point, but they were only a month ago. I had high hopes for the French Alps training camp having gotten me in shape enough to make a statement at these two events, both of which were on courses that I actually enjoyed riding.

Nova Mesto na Morave is a scenic town in the central Czech Republic countryside, not entirely dissimilar from where I grew up in Maine. Farmland and forest that sees more precipitation than sunshine. We stayed in the Hotel Ski, right at the race venue, which was a nice treat. The Rabobank team’s usual M.O. for these World Cup races is to have lodging in some adjacent town in order to maintain a quiet atmosphere for the riders to rest and prepare. The opposing view of this is that it almost removes one too much from the environment, making these prestigious races seem like just another weekend. Not so in Czech, the energy in the hotel was palpable and I think it fed all of the riders. Or at least gave us something to do in the form of socializing with our competitors, sponsors and random race fans. We also go to watch the World Cup Eliminator race from the grandstands. It looked even harder than from the start line as a participant…

U23 National Team member Russell Finsterwald has style for days.

Evidently the energy of the race was too much for me to handle though. Other than avoiding a MASSIVE pileup on the pavement, I had my standard average/bad start. Fortunately, I was still in the 70’s (could be much worse) and riding with JHK as we started moving through the field after the start lap. Then I got excited and tried a new passing line. It had a huge rock. I smashed into it. My fault. The resulting flaccid tire had to be ridden half a lap to the pit, which put me back into the triple digits. Still feeling solid, I worked back up to the 70’s by the finish. Super. Nino Schurter won a hard-fought battle with hometown boy Jaraslav Kulhavy. Damn those guys are fast.

The next weekend in La Bresse was my last chance. I pretty much needed to light the world on fire, or at least enough of my competitors to finish up near the podium to salvage any hope of Olympic Glory. To this end, I rode my trusty XTC 29 hardtail all week and limited time spent exploring the Hautes Vosges region’s never-ending supply of amazing singletrack. Which, it turns out has such awesome tracks and lines burned in because Remy Absalon holds a two-day Enduro event there every June. Smart guy.

Hardtail skills are good to have, but this sure looks fun on a proper bike.

Again, average start. Actually below average. Somewhere around 100 after the start lap melee. Although, interestingly, Burry Stander had some mishaps at the start and we were together in the cheap seats on the first (large by modern World Cup standards) climb of the day so I had a good marker to see just how far someone who’s actually fast could go from said seats… Turns out it’s possible to get 24th from the back. Good to know, Burry. Actually, I used to be able to do that... I rode decent, passed about 50 guys and ended up 52^nd. Still the 5^th American. We all finished within a few spots and minutes, nearly a lap down on hometown boy Julien Absalon. His convincing win on a track designed by his brother and 20k from his home of Remiremont warmed my heart. I’ll say it again, he’s a good bike rider.

Ok, that was Europe and not making the Olympic Team. Let’s move on.

Next up, a week off the bike. Which flew by, there are a lot of things to catch up with on the home front after a few months abroad. Like going snowmobiling with the boys after a surprise 18” dump on May 24^th. Back on the bike it was time to just ride the thing. No powermeter, no intervals, just riding the terrain as it dictated. Sometimes, on the singlespeed, that meant really hard. Other times, on the road bike on gravel with some Aussie prick on race tires, it meant a lot of creative flat tire repairs. Either way, bike riding is ace in my book.

Byron likes to rock out. Being crazy pays huge dividends on snowsleds.

Fortunately, in this day and age of mountain bike contests, there’s never a very long period without an opportunity to have someone say GO and have a crack at it. I’m growing ever more enamored with the burgeoning Enduro racing scene, which has finally landed in The Northwest in the form of the new for 2012 Oregon Enduro Series (formerly the Oregon Super D Series). The new format, which, just to clarify, exchanged the old Super D format (one long downhillish run) for the European Enduro format of multiple timed downhill “Specials” connected by un-timed but still to be ridden uphill or traversing “Liasons”. It’s kind of like Rally Car racing on bikes, but only on the good parts … It’s also the future, I hope.

Due to massive storm carnage in Hood River’s Post Canyon, the series opener was moved to Bend. Perfect, I could ride from my house to the race. And have local knowledge. Which proved kind of irrelevant, as I don’t really make a habit of riding at 110% pace and commitment in my backyard. Doesn’t really seem sustainable…

Series organizer Devon Lyons fingered Slaven, Anthony, The White Buffalo and I to star in a course preview video. Check out the terrain here-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7wwt0QapY&feature=youtu.be

A proud field of the nation’s top bike riders turned up to see just how their particular skill set would stack up with this unique format. I was quite curious myself. Would established Super D guys like Timmy Evens, Nathan Riddle, Matthew Slaven and Jason Moeschler use the shorter, less pedally stages to give XC bandits like Carl, Josh Carlson and I a run for our money or would the proper gravity guys like Curtis Keene and Brian Lopes (yikes!) roll and smoke everyone with their precision and snap? Hmm.

I had the extra layer of advantage/uncertainty/pressure that came with riding this sweet new bike I’ve been working on for nearly a year with Giant for the first time in public. It has big wheels, biggish shocks and does great wheelies and skids. Plus, it’s the fastest color other than white. Black. Seemed like a good choice for racing on the good parts, but you know how it goes, if you win it’s because of the bike, if you lose, well, that bike sucks.

I won. By a decent margin (luckily, because a rookie mistake involving basic bike maintenance starting stage 4 nearly cost me the farm.) Whew, the bike IS good. And condensing the racing into the really good bits with time to reflect/BS/get stoked in between with your buddies, or strangers, is pretty ideal.

Not to get all caught up in the stage times and what not, there was one notable test from a time comparison standpoint. Somehow, in 2:12 spent on what amounts to a downhill BMX track, I was only two-tenths slower than Lopes. Neat. And, how the hell did I do that? Side note- The sketchiest, shortest, lippiest, most 9-year-old kid looking jump on the course? The one some people just rode through the bushes around? Yup, I built that one fateful Wednesday evening last spring. Sorry for the danger, I’ll go fix it the next time it rains…

New Giant Factory Team rider Josh Carlson overtook Mr. Lopes on stage 5 for 2^nd and Carl did the same to Curtis Keene for 4^th. So, in the top 5 we had two XC riders, a proper DH’er, an Ex-Pro Motocrosser (Carlso) and, well, Brian Lopes, however you define that guy (he’s really good). The rest of the top 10 included the usual Enduro suspects, and our Shimano Boss, Joe Lawwill was 22^nd, dead-nuts in the middle of the 45-rider strong pro field. He’s a huge proponent of this Enduro business and we’re glad to have the support from up top. There was a good turnout from the bike industry, everyone seemed to be waiting with bated breath to see how this event was going to play out, wishing success upon it as the next coming of bike racing. I’d say we got off on the right foot, pros and amateurs alike were stoked on the format and amount of riding done throughout the weekend. Some kinks need to be worked out here and there, but hey, it’s riding bikes in the woods, fast, it’ll all come together…

It was Carl's Birthday, so...

OK, two more bike meets to go-

Arguably the best one, definitely the most lucrative (even by World Cup standards) is the Blitz to the Barrel. Local mountain biker/entrepreneur/businessmen/good guy Eric Eastland suggested an undergound local’s race to me a couple years ago. This, it’s third iteration, is the most condensed fun I’ve had at a bike race in a long time. Basically, we started at Wanoga Sno-Park and raced down Funner and COD to Tetherow Golf Course, where a huge crowd watched us hit a sweet rock-to-wood stepdown then try to huck a sand trap before four (count ‘em) miles of pavement were pounded to get to the finish at Ten Barrel Brewing on the west side of town. Where we, um, pounded a pint to stop the clock.

Tetherow unknowingly built their driving range on a perfect launchpad. All Access just had to provide the landing...

My goal for this year, in the face of the strongest field and biggest purse ($20,000 split between the men and women’s top 5) was to arrive at Ten Barrel with enough time to slightly enjoy my beer. With guys like Carl, Timmy, Gibson, Barry Wicks, Ryan Trebron, Josh Carlson, and Chris Sheppard in the mix, it wouldn’t be easy.

Things started off dangerously awesome with Carlson winning the $500 holeshot prime, just, after Matthew Slaven did a RAD Crew Jones impersonation, bunnyhopping the inside course tape to go from 6^th to 2^nd. So high, so smooth, so close… I respected his radness for a while, and Nick’s amazing pink POC kit, then set about catching the Aussie. It happened fast and I was alone soon after. Tasting that deliciously bubbly malted beverage already. Tetherow was a blur of screaming fans and setting sun. Fortuately, Alex McClaren was on the PA, and, instead of telling dirty jokes, he actually gave split times when my unseen pursuer, Wicks, came onto the driving range. 45 seconds. Just enough time to finish up and drink a pint. Fast. With some burping/sneezing/gasping. For $3000! Katie Compton brought the Colorado Springs’ locals’ battle to the Blitz, taking down Kelli Emmett in the ladies division. Rosara and I really miss you on the Rabobank team, Katie, but we understand your position… And now you’re rich too! Thanks, Eric, and all the Blitz Sponsors. This race is ridiculous.

The Blitz experience really begins at the finish line though. Imagine having a bunch of stoked buddies, bike nuts and curious strangers at the pub, which is your finish line, on a Tuesday night. Plug in a Sublime cover band on a proper stage provided by All Access to get everyone stoked for the final event, ARM WRESTLING! Who loves skinny, yet unhealthily competitive bike riders performing feats of strength? Turns out, everyone. Esepecially the elders of the race, Lev and Brooke. Evidently you need to be a parent to rip someone’s arm off. Well played. Things kept on after that, just another Tuesday night ending in that fateful decision- whether or not to go to the Westside Tavern for a nightcap…

Timmy Evens. Commitment. The Aussie buckled eventually.

I didn’t. With a flight to the Ute Valley Pro XCT in Colorado Springs two days later, I had enough of a hangover to make things tenuous without the Westside upcharge… But Ryan Trebron did, his chugging skills just wouldn’t go to bed. In retrospect, I should’ve too, as Ryan rode convincingly away from our five-strong lead group on the penultimate lap of the XC race Saturday afternoon. Must’ve been that night-cap. Or just his continual quest to actually tear his crankarms and handlebars off his bike with every pedal stroke. OK, everyone go home and do this Tree Farm approved exercise- pick a random stranger off the street, challenge them to a beer-quaffing contest, then sprint off on your townie, trying to remove the bars and pedals with your skinny appendages. Repeat for a decade and you too can ride at 1,000 watts all day long. Freak. My K.I.R. points from Tuesday only paled in comparison to Ryan though, so I attacked the remainder of our group with 500m to go, didn’t crash on the slickest rain/clay soaked boardwalk ever raced across and got second place. Basically Todd, JHK and Sam should’ve all accepted their invitations to The Blitz, it’s obviously ideal preparation… Next year?

Brady, Russell, Kalan, Mitch and Kerry race because they love to ride. Bonus lap, Garden of the Gods.

Not to get all sappy, but being in Colorado Springs, the town that jump-started my current utopic MTB lifestyle, when the email entitled “Olympic Team non-Selection” came through on Friday afternoon was bittersweet. The Olympic Training Center’s U23 resident athlete program that I earned a spot in after graduating high school was absolutely the turning point in my life. It’s been a great ride, much like the many rides I went on in the hills around Colorado Springs in those formative years. When some of the current U23 crop suggested a ride after Sunday’s Eliminator race (which I got smoked in and Ryan won) my heart kind of melted. Having Jeremiah Boobar (who gave me my very first free bike part, a RockShox SID in 1998) guide us on some little-known Cheyenne Canyon gems was the icing on an already sweet weekend cake. Thanks, stoked kids and lifelong MTB shredder, for bringing it full circle. This is a fine hobby we have…

That’s all for now. But there’s going to be more. The next eight weekends are spoken for, all good stuff.

June 23- Mont St. Anne, Quebec World Cup

June 30- Windham, NY World Cup (surprise in store)

July 6- XC and Super D National Champs, Sun Valley

July 14-15- Decision- Missoula, Montana Pro XCT or Hood River Oregon Enduro? Vote.

July 22- The MEGA Avalanche Alpe d’ Huez, France Finally! I’m scared.

July 28- World Cup Finals, Val d’ Isere, France.

August 5- Downieville Classic.

August 11- Crankworx Enduro, Whistler, BC

August 12- Olympic Games Mountain Bike race/I hop on a plane to the middle of nowhere, BC.

Good thing I got in shape the last few weeks…

2012-05-05T10:34:00.002-07:00

Ten Votes in Favor of European Spring-

Mallorca. What better place to spend 10 days getting over the most serious flu/mystery virus I’ve encountered than a Spanish Island usually reserved for team training camps (what I’d intended) on beautiful, sun drenched roads and trails. Sitting around shivering, sweating and coughing is much better in a pleasant setting… Fortunately, Rosara’s Kiwi acquaintance, Craig, had a small plane to give a tour of the island that was impossible for me by bike. And the hospital staff was pleasant.

Weather. I’ve always been pretty lucky with springtime in Northern Europe, racing the Houffalize, Belgium World Cup in exclusively dusty conditions throughout my career. Not this year. With Katie, Rosara and I all recovering from super-virus, the single digit temps weren’t ideal, but prompted expulsive coughing, which was constructive… I raced like I felt, a small child with a cold. 130^th, a lap down. What are you gonna do? Watch Julien Absalon take a dominant win from the sidelines and wonder how you ever sort of kept up with that guy…

Hardening Up. After Houffalize the Non-Europeans on the team retired to our team manager, Leo’s place on the northern Dutch/German border for a workweek. I was starting to feel normal again and super keen to get back to training/ playing catch-up. Fortunately, the weather was continuing to, well, exist. Cold wind and rain in the flat lands is a tough transition from Mallorca, but being able to ride made it seem strangely pleasant. I’ll have to remember this hardening up for the next time utopic bike riding seems difficult…

Shakedown. How’s this for strange times- Two normal-looking people pull up to a German Autobahn rest stop for fuel. Transaction complete, they begin to depart, at which time the Polezi flag them down. Informed that they’ve been selected for a random check, passports are handed over. Intentions become immediately clear with “May we look through your belongings?” and “Did you smoke any weed while you were in Holland?” Ultimately, they interrogated us, searched our stuff, demanded to know if vitamins were disguised drugs and forced me to take a urine test for drugs in the bathroom. Whoa, Dutch plates really get the treatment in Germany. Good thing I passed…

The Alps. Nothing makes you appreciate returning to an idyllic mountain setting more than a few days spent in the flatlands. We raced in Haiming, Austria after the Great Grey North and it felt so good to be in the hills. The solidly awesome course in a beautiful forest made the continually cold/wet/snowy weather unnoticeable to this kid. I rode slightly better, 12^th in the softest HC-class field race in Europe all year. Fabian and Emil went 1-2. Dang, fellas. The sun shone on Monday morning, enabling a tidbit of local beta to produce one of the best loops I’ve ever ridden. Seriously.

I got a new whip in Austria. Anthem X Advanced 29. Carbon fibre comes to big wheels and shocks. Making every ride a pleasure from here on out...

Team Training Camp. Excited about the prospect of getting a leg up on the competition at a new World Cup venue, the Rabo squad spent a few days in La Bresse, France checking out the freshly constructed course and dialing it in with the help of skills coach (and former DH honch) Oscar Saiz. We had some little chalets up on the mountainside in which a bunch of good meals were cooked with the help of Michiel, snowflakes fell and sun shone. Some pretty radically good riding elsewhere in that corner of Alsace as well… I’m glad Remy Absalon puts on an Enduro race there in addition to doing a bang-up job on the World Cup XC track.

Bundesliga. I’ve never raced a German National Series event. Strange that I’d missed that in the last decade. What better one to sample than the biggest, Heubach. We knew we were there when the BLASTING AC/DC was interrupted with a synth voice-over announcing “BIKE THE ROCK!!!” which is what we were about to do, evidently. Up and down the rock a bunch of times, actually. A nearly World Cup level field took frothingly to the 10min up/3min down course while I tried to continue getting in shape. Improving for sure, but still not ready for 70min of climbing and 20min of reward, yet… 18^th. Fabian almost won before German Champ and fellow Cape Epic dropout Milatz Moritz punched his ticket. Lots of people were real fired up to watch the race and drink beer. Lucky folks.

Driving. There’s something about driving around Europe that I sincerely love. Being in an area of such condensed beauty and infrastructure means you can always find something to look at or comment on. In the last couple weeks we’ve driven from Holland to Austria, then just across the border to France, back into Germany, and a pit stop in Switzerland on the way back to France, the Alps this time. Along the way delicious, fast, nutritious meals were eaten at rest stop Marche restaurants, people drove fast and courteously, and the GPS didn’t send us wrong, even though we don’t have a friggin’ map to confirm it’s blind directing…

Friends of Friends. I like people. Meeting them, finding out what they do and about their neighborhood. Just this week we’ve had a buddy of the Northwest Shred Posse, Rob Hamilton-Smith, turn us on to an amazing train-assisted ride along the shores of Lake Geneva, then introduce us to the guy, Sam Morris of http://www.bikevillage.co.uk/biking.htm to ride with and get beta from in the Beaufortain who subsequently set us up with Anna from Massage Me, who did just that in the little village of Nancriox while I gazed at a massive avalanche crown line on a 3200m peak. And shoot, I haven’t even met Ash Smith of Trans Provence yet, but he’s already gotten us set up with a place in Bourg St. Maurice in addition to providing what I assume will be the best bike racing week of my life with his event this fall…

Trains take you here!

Weekends off. There haven’t been many, but they sure are nice, in addition to being productive. This one in Bourg St. Maurice is exceedingly so. The progress that can me made in place of racing is always impressive, and rejuvenating. I’m pretty sure this final block of prep for World Cup rounds 3 and 4 (my last chance to ride like I know I can and make the Olympic Team) is going to set up a solid finish to this long, rollercoaster of a trip. 8 weeks of 10 down, time to get stuff done and then go home!

2012-04-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Cape Epic

Well, I finally went and did the Cape Epic in South Africa last week. I’d been intending to see what this eight-day Magical Untamed African MTB Race was all about for quite some time now, but it’s just never worked out with the schedule. Or I’ve never made it… Rabobank/Giant Teammate Emil Lingren has finished The Epic twice in the last few years and expressed interest in doing it this year. Which made a bunch of sense considering it was one week after the World Cup opener in Pietermaritzburg and finished two weeks before the next round up in Belgium. Our team manager, Leo supported the idea when we proposed it at Team Presentation in December, provided I promised to get in shape to avoid sucking and wasting everyone’s time… I was able to agree to this, nobody likes sucking, after all, especially when it’s pointed out like that.

After the World Cup we made the short flight down to Cape Town and set about resting up properly for the week in an apartment overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. My body was pretty pooped after the travel across the World and difficult racing on Saturday, so the plan was pretty much to take it as easy as possible without becoming completely comatose before Sunday’s Prologue TT. To avoid said coma, Emil and I took Christoph Sauser (who owns an apartment in Stellenbosch) up on attending his midweek fundraiser race at the Kayamandi Township. Songo.info is an organization that sponsors Christoph and Burry Stander for their South African racing pursuits as a way to draw attention to helping the children of these impoverished settlements gain access to sport and a more diverse life. Racing through a Township of tin roofed shantys has a way of making you less concerned about the burning in your legs and somehow it’s easy to push hard when presented with how easy your reality is. So we did. Emil and I came 5^th and 6^th in a World Cup caliber field and left feeling rough and ready for the Epic. After a few more days of nothingness…

Those days passed quickly and soon enough it was 11:26am on Sunday. We kicked out of the start gate just as Jackie Baker and Josh Fonner (liv/Giant program manager and NY Giant Rep) finished up their Prologue. They said it was a cakewalk… Liars. Emil is effing strong, especially on the steep climbs that dotted the vineyard meandering course. He kept me on the rivet and we passed a bunch of people. Including a team of women with #546 on their back. We had #13. At 30 second intervals, that means they started 4:25:00 in front of us to complete a 27k TT loop. Dang, there’s some tough souls that sign up for The Epic… We made it to the hilltop finish (who’s idea was that?) in an hour fifteen, good enough for sixth place and reassurance that we were indeed ready to contend at the front of the race. Perfect.

A couple hour drive inland, through a tunnel in the Hawequas Mountains where the scenerty changed from verdant vineyards to rugged desert land, delivered us to the arid valley of Robertson. This, and our trusty Kombi Camper, would be our home for the next three nights. Thus my insistence on parking under a shade tree. Survival skills would come in handy this week… It was only when we arrived in the race village that the undertaking that is the Cape Epic’s organization really became obvious to me. 1200 riders need to eat, sleep and live for a week in this roving city. A massive meal tent (where I’d be providing entertainment and anecdotes from the front of the race to the dinner crowd), hundreds upon hundreds of red Absa tents, a whole slew of RV’s, shower trucks, food vendors (the greatest of which was the Woolworth’s truck with it’s free recovery snacks and afternoon top-up meals). The infrastructure is quite impressive, and shade is at a premium! Temperatures were set to be well into the 30’s to start the week (37C is 100F), necessitating smart locations and impressive amounts of water.

Stage one proper is always a grunt, according to Epic regulars. It’s intended to set the tone for the week and weed out the unprepared. Regardless of riding quite strong, almost got weeded out for being unprepared. Emil had a classic JRA flat riding down a smooth gravel road, which we changed in just over a minute and caught back up to the group on the next climb. Then, with about 40k to go, and the three ridiculously steep (two of them unridably so) climbs out of the way, Emil and I were working with the second place group to keep Sauser and Stander’s gap in check. I thought we were doing so quite well, Emil’s initial work on the steep climbs (where I was again surviving) had softened the group up a bit so I took over on the rolling bits and we were both thinking a stage podium was in sight. Then I flatted. Which we fixed quickly as well, while Photographer buddy Sven Martin snapped away) Then I flatted again. And again. Once your tubeless tire with latex sealant has a lowly innertube inside, you’re completely defenseless against the millions of thorns that line the rocky tracks and vineyards. Oh well. We found increasingly comfortable spots to change the litany of punctures and rode at an increasingly conservative pace, opting to lose a touch more time today and save energy for tomorrow. We lost 27min total, and finished 17^th on the day. Shoot. But hey, at least we were riding strong before the junk-show started. And we didn’t melt in the heat, which reached 44C at one point. Whoa.

That would be the last we (or I at least) saw of the front of the race. We started stage two, supposedly an easier 120km with less climbing, on heavier tires and hopeful to get some time back. Which would prove difficult with the road-race like pace and terrain. Much of the day was spent on fast District Roads, the rest on jeep tracks rolling through the barren hills. I had a sinking empty feeling in my legs from the two previous days’ efforts that became quite apparent on a 5min road climb around KM60. I got dropped. Never to see the front group again. Emil eventually realized what happened and waited up, as we’re never to be more than two minutes apart, and helped me keep a steady tempo to Water Point Two. Just before which I had the opportunity to walk, aided by fatigue, frustration and dust/sweat soaked glasses, into a metal fence right at nose level. Nothing like getting dropped AND a black eye/bloody nose. We held on for the rest of the day working with the chase group to end up 14^th, but I could feel my body’s emptiness. It was a concerning feeling.

Eating is pretty much your life at the Cape Epic. On the bike, the second you cross the finish line, all afternoon right up to bed (which, with dawn and the start coming at 7am) happens before nine… I knew that this particular afternoon was going to be key for replenishment, so I set about it. By bedtime I’d eaten about a half-pound each of rice and sweet potatoes, a steak, a can of tuna, three bananas, two apples, two bowls of cereal, a salad, a custard dessert, enough Himalayan Salt to last a week and a Woolies Top-Up bag consisting of sweet potato salad and a chocolate shake. Plus a bit of random other stuff like barbecue peanuts and dried fruit.

It was the dried fruit that I had the pleasure of seeing amongst the stomach bile that came up when I rolled into the fetal position, shivering, at Water Point One on stage three. This pleasantry came after I took nearly three hours to cover 57km of mostly flat terrain (aside from one soul-crushing 6km rocky hike-a-bike climb and subsequent paved descent). Brilliant. I was able to get a ride with the concerned looking medics back to the race village eventually. It was an impressively long drive, but that’s to be expected for a stage that covers 143km. Yup, 89 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing over lumpity-bumpbity jeep tracks and district roads for the folks tough enough to complete, which was most of them… Impressive.

Once at the Medical HQ, they took a urine sample and blood sample to gauge my fluid levels and pronounced me dangerously dehydrated. Obviously. My options were to immediately start an IV drip if I wanted to continue on stage four, risking kidney damage due to grossly imbalanced fluid levels. Or to accept my fate and quit. With the Houffalize World Cup and a chance at Olympic Glory 18 days away, I chose to honor the give up option that had already been exercised quite effectively by my body.

For some reason the toughness ethic that pervades this particular event has gotten into my normally analytical brain quite deeply over the first couple days. The party line at the Epic is SURVIVAL. It’s what the eventual winners are doing just as much as the poor blokes that are out there for 10 hours per day, every day, surviving. It’s a serious test of being. One that I’d failed impressively early, and that kind of tears me up inside, regardless of how obvious it was that continuing was not an option. Fortunately, Rabobank’s agreement to go out on a limb and send us to the Epic wasn’t completely disrespected, Emil continued on as an Outcast, riding in a black jersey and unable to factor into the stage outcome, but having the Untamed African Experience nonetheless.

I, as I often do when feeling like a bit of a failure, got the hell out of there. Thursday morning I was on a flight to Johannesburg, then Frankfurt on my way to the Mediterranean Island of Mallorca, off the coast of Spain and world renowned for it’s perfect weather and ideal riding. Rabo teammates Katie Compton and Rosara Joseph posted up here to train for Houffalize and that’s just what I’ll be doing, if I can ever get my health back. The flu bug has turned into a cold and I’m sat here in the sunshine, shivering, just like five days ago on that lonely District Road in South Africa… Wondering if I’ll ever go back to The Epic and finish things up. Trans Provence sounds a touch more fun, but a good test is what makes us strong, right?

Here’s to all the finishers, I’m impressed, no, shocked, at the level of riding that happens throughout the field at the Epic. World Cup pace at the front and 60 hours of survival at the back. Hats off to you, folks.

Check out the details at

http://cape-epic.com/

Even Sven had puncture problems on the media moto. Thanks for all the fine Photos, Sven. Check out his work at http://www.svenmartinphotography.com/

2012-03-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

South African Dispatch

Hello from the other side of the planet. Assuming you’re in North America, although this is probably the other side from most places this email will be read… That said, the bike community down here in South Africa continually impresses me with it’s strength. The day I arrived happened to be the annual Cape Argus road race/ride. Which meant bike racing (40,000 riders strong) was on live TV in Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport. And everyone seeing my Rabobank/Giant polo shirt assumed I’d just been there, or was a bit late in coming. Good eyes that the average SA resident has for cycling-related tidbits. A nice welcome for a place I’m slated to spend three weeks with the sole purpose of riding bikes in the sunshine, hopefully fast.

Speaking of arrival, the last thing I wanted to do after departing Bend at 4am Friday to land in Durban at noon on Sunday was to spend another six hours waiting for the arrival of the rest of the Rabobank team members for our drive to Pietermaritzburg. Fortunately, the local Giant dealer, Cyclesphere, is owned by someone who’s a proper bike rider. Greg Albert is an avid Track, Road and MTB rider who understands what makes the bike riding world go round. So, I reached out to him for an airport wait enhancement. Which he delivered in style. Luckily for Women’s World Champ Catherine Pendrel, she was on my flight from Jo-Burg to Durban, albeit without her luggage. This put her in the perfect position to catch a ride down to Cyclesphere with us and borrow a bike for a much-needed afternoon tour of urban and suburban, er, Durban. Some of the local racer chaps joined Johan, one of Cyclesphere’s mechanics to give us a sampling of their turf. It’s a diverse turf, enhanced by a warm, if torrential at times, afternoon rain. We rode through shanty villages, high priced condos, urban revitalization efforts, the harbor, the boardwalk (with it’s perfect, and well used, surf) and finished past the new soccer stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup. Lunch at the local Italian Restaurant as the downpour continued was the perfect airport wait capstone… Thanks for the time, Greg, and for helping us out all week, and for lunch again on Monday. And for having some of your loyal Giant riders swing by the shop to watch us pack our bikes while asking tons of thought-provoking questions. Bike love in Kawzulu-Natal is strong!

OK, now off to Maritzburg for the World Cup opener. Mind you, I arrived in South Africa on MARCH 11 for the first World Cup. Dang, way to stretch out the season, UCI. I kind of hate you for that, but hey, you also forced me to train harder earlier, which has resulted in feeling stronger sooner than ever before. Or so I thought.

We had a full work week to get our bodies sorted after the planetary crossing and set about doing that the only way I know how on Monday. Going for an accidentally exploratory bike ride… Three hours and a bunch of bermed singletrack amongst the Gum-Tree groves later we felt like the jet leg was combated effectively by laughter and excitement. And we found a waterfall. A big one.

The rest of the week lounged and flew by simultaneously. Getting used to being part of a group of a dozen for three meals a day was smoothed by the fact that it’s a good group and the meals, prepared by the Protea Hotel chef, Sven Lindstrom, were meatily delicious. Plus, I was rooming with Katie Compton. Five boys and three girls on the team set up a unique lodging scenario, which Leo deftly handled by assuming that The Americans would get along fine with their tandem jet-lag and love for car shows on TV. We stayed up late watching Top Gear and all was swell… I was able to resist sneaking bites of KFC’s Bakery on Main Gluten Free Granola and plentiful nut butter supply, just…

We had team bonding/practice with Giant’s skills guru Oscar Saiz on Wednesday, analyzing our way around the course and finding the fastest, surest lines. The track didn’t really speak to me initially, a bunch of finite terminal velocity, smooth singletrack (fun but not especially selective or creative) broken up by what’s becoming known as “technical sections” comprised of various imported obstacles to spice things up. These are kind of challenging, kind of dangerous, and kind of make you feel like a dweeb riding through them, no matter how effectively. There’s no “hell yes” line. Just survival. But there were some sweet jumps. And riding with the boys was fun. They thought I seemed fit, which was supportive and nice. Compared to last spring, I better be!

Trusty Mechanics Ed and Marcel made sure James Huang put the cameras on my sweet new whip real tight for a POV lap of the course. Check it here.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-adam-craig-previews-world-cup-cross-country-course

Anyway, Race Day: The moment we’ve all been waiting for. After a solid spring and good week, I was ready to find out what being fast was like. Except I wasn’t. Damn it. The standard crazy start found me in about 90^th place after a lap, riding as hard as my strangely sore legs and stomach would allow me to. Which wasn’t very. I was still getting passed by random dudes, only 20 or so of which remained behind me. Embarrassing. And sort of soul-crushing, for that matter. World Cup racing sucks when you suck at it, and have sucked at it for a couple consecutive seasons after so many where it all seemed to make sense and be worth the struggle. I kind of got trapped inside my brain a bit on the first lap. Then after the second struggling round I got yelled at by some Spanish rider for no reason. So I told him off. Maybe a bit aggressively. For about 30 seconds. And somehow that swell of anger, and the appearance of Spencer Paxson, who was charging, turned things around. My legs eventually warmed up, the adrenals fired and I was off. Making up ground from the 80’s. Impressively bad. Needing to get back into the top 60 to salvage a start for Houffalize in a month (surely I’ll be fast by then) I put my head down and rode fast-ish and felt good-ish for the second half of the race as the storm clouds thickened. Then on last downhill of the race, as I was just entering the top 60, all hell broke loose, rocks and logs covered by clay and a downpour let me catch a couple more guys and come in 55^th. Ouch. But less terrible than if I’d quit (racing completely, maybe) after the first lap…

Hats off to the little guys on the team, Fabian Giger was 12^th and Emil Lingren 22^nd. The girls did awesome as well, Rosara Joseph used her Kiwi summer form to bring home 11^th and newcomer to the Rabo show, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was hot on her heels in 13^th. A benefit of a big team, SOMEONE is always riding well. Hope that’s me soon…

We had another real nice team bonding exploration ride on Sunday as well, Michiel and Rosara keen for more after the initial find of sweet Sappi Land trails outside Howick helped me knit together some loops I’d been thinking about all week. Rumor has it these trails are playing host to a certain race that awards a Tattoo for fastest/best drinker in September… Hope you’re thirsty.

Monday we popped on down to Cape Town, on a flight filled with bike riders, just like always. Was good to chat with some folks I hadn’t seen in six months and catch up on the happenings of the bike world, which included John from Black Box Labs’ attendance of a recent Italian SuperEnduro race in Finale Ligure. Sounded like fun… The Cape Epic folks sorted us out with an apartment in Sea Point, a coastal suburb of Cape Town, and we settled in for the week of sunshine and resting. With a bit of riding.

And more racing. Christoph Sauser works with an organization called Songo.info that aims to provide much needed funds for developments in the “Townships” surrounding every decent sized Town in South Africa. These settlements are often comprised of ramshackle shelters constructed from whatever’s available and cheap/free. Lots of cardboard and sheet metal. And dirt. Even with the fall of Apartheid twenty years ago, South Africa is still quite separate and not exactly equal. Songo.info is working on getting kids in these Townships exposed to sport, cycling included. The Township of Kayamandi, across the tracks from the posh wine producing community of Stellenbosch, has seen the installation of a BMX track and programs to get local kids using it, as they should be! It’s working from what I saw.

Plenty of urban singletrack in Kayamandi

It was pretty easy to be positive about my position in the world, even with racing like a small child last weekend, in such an environment. I steeled myself to make the most of the 40 minutes+two laps circuit race that took us up the hill through the Township every lap. I was able to do that, actually feeling decent and riding through the chase group of the World Cup (and Cape Epic, which is sort of the same) level field to finish sixth, just behind Emil, who’ll I’ll be trying to stay that close to for 780km starting on Sunday…

It was pretty surreal racing through Kayamandi. Little kids yelling and running down the streets next to us, middle-aged women going about their daily chores (like laundry, which I need to do too) as if nothing was happening and old timers looking on, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Everyone seemed happy to see something different passing their front doors nonetheless. And the BMX was race going off. Local kids battling with out-of-towners on all manner of bikes like it was the World Champs. Great to see another avenue to show folks a good time on two wheels. Good work with the vision and even, Christoph, and congrats on winning…

Now we’re finishing up resting our faces off before riding them off next week. I’m feeling good and Emil is obviously strong, so we’ll see how things shape up in the first few days of The Cape Epic, maybe we’ll be contenders, hopefully we’ll survive either way… Check it out at www.cape-epic.com and I’ll do my best to keep facebook and twitter updated with something noteworthy. Like drool.

2012-03-12T09:53:00.003-07:00

Ten, wait, Eleven, Reasons Why Winter Was Also a Blur

1. The Olympics. The race season kickoff seems to creep earlier and earlier these days, but normally one can ease into things with some US racing before the big show. Not this year, World Cup #1 is March 17^th in South Africa and marks the beginning of the Olympic selection process (best two Americans in World Cup Series ranking after the first four rounds) for London 2012. This necessitated the following changes to my normal winter routine.

2. Perpetual summer seeking. I like riding in the cold. Most of the time I’m content to hole up in Bend and ski in the morning while it warms up enough to ride in the afternoon with booties and a thermal jacket. This year that wouldn’t fly with the good form needed in March. So I went south.

3. California. As much as I love The Northwest, our southern neighbor is a pretty rad place to ride bikes in the winter. And most of the sponsors who get me through the summer have offices there. Thus, it was a logical start to winter training trip, 2012. Visiting and riding with the Santa Cruz area folks first, Fox Racing Shox and Giro, seemed like a logical start. We had lots of fun. And I didn’t get poison oak, the fear of which is why I didn’t spend the whole winter in Cali… Next up were Giant and Shimano in greater LA. Even sunnier. Perfect.

4. High School Kids. Also in California is the epicenter of kids getting on bikes these days. The uber-successful NorCal High School League has grown into the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. These fine folks held their annual awards banquet at Clif HQ in The Bay Area and they invited me to be the guest speaker and take some folks on a bike ride in Marin. It was a pretty eye-opening event. The students are amazingly articulate young adults who also happen to be stoked on bike riding. Happy days to them, learning an activity in school that you can carry on with through life is an incredible opportunity. NICA is hoping to bring High School MTB programs coast to coast by 2020. We should all help.

5. Sedona. While last fall was flying by I was keeping my ears open for good training locations for the winter. SoCal? Hawaii? New Zealand? Then longtime shred buddy Ross Schnell called me randomly and mentioned that he and the rest of the Over the Edge Sports shops were going in on a place in Sedona, Arizona for January and February. Sold. Sweet trails (so I was told) and super fun folks to ride with would make getting in shape seem like having a good time… Which it was, it was great to see the different crews rolling through town with a common goal, enjoy riding bikes in the sun. I met up with said crews after doing my workouts and we had lots of fun on the red rocks and never-ending trails. Go there sometime, and try to keep up with Jason First and Mike Raney from OTE’s new Sedona shop. Plus, talk to Troy about all things life.

6. Recess. With a long season ahead of me and a good solid training plan laid out with my longtime coach, Bart Bowen, I had a couple of rest weeks mixed in to regenerate and prepare for the next, ever-intensifying training block. I took advantage of some United miles and flew home to Bend for one of those weeks. It was magical to have a bonus week, house projects done, life in order, just time to spend catching up with friends and being able to relax at home. Plus, I got to go to a pretty awesome Beats Antique concert. Perfect.

7. Retail therapy. Since he loves it so much, Carl pointed out a craigslist posting for a motorbike like his. I called and they had already sold it. Oh well. Then a chance Superbowl Sunday backyard motocross session at garage framer Tony Emick’s place alerted me to the fact that it was still available. So, I got a fresh (to me, quite used though) KTM 200 XC-W. You know, to ride, and maybe even race, this fall after bike season… Pretty sure having a moto that feels like a MTB is going to make me ride more like a French Enduro racer, or maybe Danny Hart. Thanks for helping, Tony and Carl.

8. Planning. It’s going to be a long, convoluted season with many variables. This takes all kinds of vision in regard to what events to attend, how to get there and what I’ll need to succeed while there. Spring is going to fly by as well, with March 9 through May 21 spent across the Atlantic in South Africa and Europe chasing the World Cup and Olympic Selection. Here’s hoping I ride like I know I can and make the team. Regardless, summer will also fly by, mixing in some Enduro events with the XC and having a good time along the way…

9. Driving. I love being on the road, solo, with an outline but no exact plan to stick to. 3000 miles went on the old WRX (will it ever die?) from mid-January through the end of February. I met some great folks, saw some amazing scenery and assorted randomness, listened to a lot of NPR and got some good thinking done. And my beat-down car loved every mile of it. Especially the last 100, in the middle of the night in a snowstorm, hauling ass, returning home to Bend.

10. Winter. I think it flew by because I wasn’t in it much. Even Bend had record warmth through my departure in the middle of January. It was weird, not being in proper winter. Seasons run deep into my soul and I take a lot of emotional balance from the changes that come with life around the 45^th Parallel. A necessary evil, chasing summer, in my opinion. This week in Bend, taking some time off the bike and watching it snow seemed to balance me out a bit, and getting straight into race season will seal the deal, but I’ll still long for the winter that never was. Good thing 2013 will see a serious paradigm shift for me… But hey, I’m always staying that. This time I mean it…

11. RACING!? Since everyone seems to prefer the list format to my run-on 2000-word reports, let’s just cover the season kick-off right here. It happened this weekend, the first one in March. I thought this was a fundamentally flawed concept, but it turns out riding your bike on sweet trails in Arizona all winter prepares one for riding on similarly sweet trails in Texas too. Despite moving from Lance’s (recently sold) ranch to a different ranch, Flat Creek Crossing, outside Austin, it was still on kick-ass (better!) singletrack and the date change resulted in P E R F E C T conditions instead of oppressive heat (like we’ll have in South Africa in 13 days). A bike meet on home soil also meant that I could hang out with my old posse from the Giant Factory Team, I miss you, Felice, Carl, Kelli, Frank and Steve K. Love your work, and company. Anxious doesn’t really speak to how curious I was to get to racing and see if I was on track, regardless of Nerd Box (SRM powermeter) quantification of my homework. Turns out I’m decently in shape, or at least good at riding my shiny new Anthem X 29er (26” is dead to me) on funsie trails. Or off the trails, which I was forced to do often after flatting out of the lead group about seven minutes into the race. I passed a lot of random dudes, and eventually people I recognized, after Frank gave me a handy-dandy new (inflated) wheel. Almost all of ‘em. Ended up 7^th in the shortest XC race I’ve ever done, under 1:20 isn’t even time to have a drink or warm up… I almost didn’t care about the flat and ensuing couple of minutes lost, I was just stoked to be having a good time racing my bike (fast!) and feeling good about it. Here’s hoping that’s a trend that continues. Max Plaxton won, which won me $5. Rabobank/Giant teammate Katie “it’s the off-season” Compton ended up fourth, an impressive off-the-couch effort made all the more awesome by some comments made the night before about her competition… I’m glad we’re teammates, her being hilarious will make ten weeks in Europe go by much faster…

PS- I’m still building it out, whatever that means but I’ve created a Facebook Athlete page. Go Like it and I’ll do my best to cleverly keep y’all up to date this season. Good stuff is going to happen.

2011-12-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

10 Reasons Why This Fall Has Flown By

I built a garage. Using past tense is a stretch here because it’s not exactly “done” yet but at least it’s a glorified shed with a sweet paint job and lights that (mostly) work. My Dad came out for a while and we puttered away on the details, letting the professionals handle some of the major things, like Framing and Roof. Eric Meglassen from Pique Architecture did a good job with design and sub-contractor wrangling as well... It was nice to wake up in the morning and roll out back with Harvey to solve problems and make progress. That said, it will also be nice to no longer be working construction from dawn till dusk…

Houseguests. Dad opened and Mom closed a solid month of visitors to Portland Avenue. It’s great to have time in the fall to catch up with folks from out of town and show them a good time in Bend. Easy crowd to please and good catalyst to do the things you don’t normally do at home. Like go to the dirt jumps, or the Symphony.

No Cyclocross. Other than a hilarious Halloween weekend in Bend. As much as I’ve always struggled to accept cyclist’s claims of being “burnt out” at the end of a season, I was pretty over toeing the line after a challenging summer. Thus, it was nice to catch up on life this fall, stoking the fire for next year.

We did a rally race. We won. It was awesome. Decker/Craig and the Wheels of Teal are now stage record holders on 17 Road and Fir Mountain, two classic stages of the Mount Hood Rally. That’s effing TEAMWORK! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbszjRY0O5Y

Um, the GRAND CANYON! Yup, took two weeks and floated down the Colorado River for 280 miles of spectacular scenery, hiking, camping and general pleasant existence. Perfect weather, a great group of old and new friends and high water made this sort of an amazing trip. Thanks for the invite, Lana, glad I ran into you and made it happen. Some solid introspection has time to happen whilst floating between towering sandstone walls and looking at the stars from your bivvy sack.

Bike Testing. We’re working on some pretty sweet new stuff over here at Giant Bicycles. 2012 was the year of the road bike and I can assure you that 2013 will be the year of the MTB. Sounds like a good year to me…

Cinematography. On the topic of bike testing, Clay Porter came up to Bend with a proper film crew to make a short showcasing the fruits of our labor. $200,000 worth of camera equipment and a hilarious Irishmen combined to produce some serious dust busting footage. Stay tuned…

Europe without a bike. My fantasy of traveling to Europe and not racing was fulfilled for Rabobank Team Presentation in Holland. This left time for a couple evenings checking out downtown Amsterdam around the team event at Rabo Intergalactic HQ before popping down to the Alps for a short, solo ski holiday. Which worked out so, so amazingly well. Fresh show just in time, friends of friends introducing me to ever more great people in Verbier and Chamonix and a surprise MTB ride in the valley with the folks from Bike Verbier. I might retire and become a guide on their lifetime supply of singletrack…

Planning. 2012 is shaping up to be a great year. I’m going somewhere warm for the bulk of the winter to train my face off, hopefully without crashing it off following Ross Schnell (preferred shred buddy) around Sedona, AZ’s fabled trails. Then nine weeks across the pond will be spruced up with the Cape Epic in South Africa after World Cup #1 and enhanced by the last seven taking place at some TBD sweet location for the remainder of European Springtime (Verbier? Fribourg?). At the conclusion of World Cup #4 in late May I’ll know if I’ve earned my spot on the US Olympic Team for London and can commence preparing to ride like myself at The Games. Either way, the season will wind down at Trans-Provence, with a week of racing through Southern France from Gap to Monaco, but only on the downhills, it might just be the best event I’ll ever do…

Motivation. Not racing or being involved in competition for the last few months has refreshed my brain and body, and let me catch up on all the other things in life enough to be stoked to step off the plane in Redmond this evening and get down to business. This is about six weeks before I normally start and should pay dividends considering the schedule. It’s going to be so sweet to be super fast all season! Between getting off the plane and a sweet bike ride tomorrow there will have to be a stop at Deschutes for a local’s burger though. With salad and gluten-free bun of course…

I hope this finds everyone having a happy holiday season. Whether staying home and relaxing like I am or traveling to Sri Lanka to re-uinte with long lost relatives...

2011-10-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

Locals’ Advantage

Over the last couple weeks I’ve gotten to see both sides of having a little local knowledge of a bike contest. First was our home court advantage, US Marathon Nationals in Bend. Eight days later I was in the Eastern Standard Time zone for the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race. Which happens to be in one of my favorite riding buddies’ back yard, Sam Koerber. His back yard is way more awesome/complex/diverse/rad/dangerous than ours when it comes to trails and pertinent knowledge…

Carl and I had to sort of cram for our local knowledge exam at Marathon Nats. The trails we were slated to race on didn’t exist until recently. Our local MTB group, the Central Oregon Trail Alliance has been building out the Wanoga Sno-Park area with the support of the Forest Service and a whole bunch of local labor since the project began a couple years ago. One of the goals of the system is to have competition-friendly trails to support events from the local to national scale. This would be the first National level test, and we were trying to ride the new stuff enough that we at least knew where we were going by race day.

The trails in Bend overall are pretty darn easy to ride. This lets John Q Public get into riding in the woods quickly and without breaking anything (I have no idea how newbies survive in Pisgah…). The flip side of this is we were concerned if they would be demanding enough for a National Champs caliber event. Fortunately, one of my favorite sayings applies to this situation as well as many others, “if it’s not hard enough, GO FASTER!” This is exactly what Carl and I did without even really realizing it once the race hit the dirt proper.

Esteemed Garage Architect Eric Meglasson looks on as Kelli Emmett clears the most tech climb on Funner. After getting 3rd at CrossVegas two nights before, she refused to run any more... 2nd place for Emmett. Nice.

Up until then it had been a very civilized start in the Old Mill District and roll out Century Drive, other than road honch Peter Stetina making an early, slightly concerning move. By the time we were climbing up away from the river it was a group of Mountain Bikers though, led by the Subaru/Trek duo of Jeremy H-K and Sam Schultz. We were really nervous about their recent string of Top-20 World Cup results and associated fastness. On account of this concern, Carl and I had a plan. Which normally falls apart at the first turn. Not this time. We got into the singletrack up front and stayed there, for thousands of turns to come. There’s something about riding fast on Bend trails that’s an acquired taste. This flavor is of conserving and producing momentum through the endless turns and riding a friggin’ full suspension bike. The Trek guys asked what bike to bring and I gave them a firm recommendation of a duallie. They didn’t listen. So we used our Anthem X 29ers to pedal away without even really trying. It was pretty nice to work together so smoothly over the course of the race, trading pulls on the road sections and laughs in the twisty bits. We were perfect.

Then the race started. Carl knew I would jump the super sick (as far as 10 foot gaps go…) doubles when we dropped into the final Tiddlywinks descent. I knew he wouldn’t, giving me a gap, after the, er, gaps… Our next bit of mutual knowledge was that Carl is way smarter and quicker in a two-up finish. So, I didn’t want that. He did. We came out of the bottom of 15 minutes of shredding dusty, blown-out perfection separated by about 10 seconds. 10k still remained to the finish. So the time trial, on mountain bikes, on pavement, dirt and random neighborhood trails, began. I had to stay away and Carl had to catch me. He got within about 3 seconds a few times but never closed it completely. We both almost had it closed for us by random Saturday morning walking traffic. Evidently Chad and Bill didn’t believe us when we said it would take just over three hours. The crowds parted for me and I crossed the line in 3:10, 12 seconds up on Carl. Sweet. I was kind of planning on getting smoked at the end of a long season of getting smoked. Those twenty final minutes were the hardest I’d ridden all season, and The Deckerator agrees. But hey, at least it was to ensure a local took the National Title, not to get just barely beaten by some out-of-towner.

Carl was cutting some serious corners to try and reel me in. All he had to do was hit the sweet jumps...

After I recovered from the brutal 20-block ride home (the last two uphill blocks of which would’ve been insurmountable without a tow from Timmy’s van) and fought off the bouts of nausea that come with a good, hard effort, we got down to trying to show the aforementioned out-of-towners a good time. The obvious solution- Sundowners on the deck of my garage-in-progress. And a late-night stop at Taco Salsa for recovery snacks…

I’d been approached this summer by Rodney Robinson, sponsorship director for the Pisgah MTB Stage Race in Western North Carolina about attending. As a growing event, they were interested in getting some more pros to come try their hand at riding in Pisgah for five days. In the middle of a busy, challenging summer, I normally am reluctant to take on any extra racing commitments. Fortunately, (or maybe unfortunately) I’d gone on a handful of pretty amazing rides with Sam in Pisgah over the years. This little snippet of knowledge got my “I love mountain biking” juices flowing and I agreed to check out their event. Either way it’d be an amazing week of riding some of the best trails in the universe. A lot of them, the five stages cover 195 miles and over 25,000 feet of climbing with most stages being 40-odd miles and 5-8,000 feet of climbing. Ouch, but doable.

It’s a good thing Pisgah is holding strong, because after the August Europe struggle-fest, I wasn’t too keen on more struggling. Winning the Marathon title was a good booster, but I was still pretty tuckered out. That all faded away once we turned onto Squirrel Gap trail, day one.

The first morning. Pisgah is beautiful at 8am. And, thanks to Hunter Subaru for giving me an Impreza to rally for the week...

An ulterior motive of race director Todd Branham in getting me to show up was to put some pressure on three-time winner Jeremiah Bishop. He even went to the length of putting up $3000 for first place. That’s a lot of hooch. Bishop is pretty darn good at stage racing but I was hoping I could use some good-old-fashioned hooligan riding and overall woods efficiency to give him a run. Hopefully with the help of an on-form Sam Koerber, who rides these trails faster than ANY person ever has, or will in the near future. It’s a thing to see, ideally from about ten feet back, all day long.

The first stage worked out just as I hoped the whole week would, Sam and I rode away on the first major descent and never saw Jeremiah again. That’s what he gets for approaching me in hopes of an agreement to ride long-travel trailbikes (which I happily agreed to) for the week. I was pumped to race on a bike I actually loved riding (Trance X Advanced SL) for the week, enhancing my ability to keep up with Sam on the good stuff and my safety while doing so. Then JB showed up with his 20lb XC wonder-bike, mumbling something about his trail-bike not working right. Lame. So we gave ‘er on the downs and it worked. Sam rolled and smoked me on the last tech climb/hike of the day and took the first leader’s jersey, as he justly deserved for that display of trail-riding mastery.

Then Jeremiah got serious. Still claiming to want to ride funsie bikes, he pulled the bait and switch again on day two, rocking the fun-hater bike and attacking on the climb to Farlow Gap. Even with my new Fox DOSS seat dropper (doing exactly nothing for me on the climbs) I got dropped. Sam hung on. Impressive. JB went on to win that stage by 8 minutes over the course of 39 miles. Sam cracked on the final climb up Maxwell Cove and I caught him at half-speed, hoping he’d make it in and recover in time for the next day’s Mills River area test.

Local knowledge is always better implemented with a partner. Sam and I agreed that we’d try to check out on the first descent of Spencer’s and work together to take some time back on Bishop, who was riding his “racebike” (what, is this a race?) again. I finally smartened up and brought out my Anthem X 29, which immediately felt rad on the rough-and-tumble Pisgah trails.

Excerpt from SuperTroopers-

Officer Thorne: “Mac, what does any good law enforcement officer do with his equipment before using it in the field?”

Mac: “He tests it!”

Thornie hands the already nude Mac a bulletproof cup to wear. Mac obliges, slaps the rookie, Rabbit, on the ass and strolls down the shooting range for a test.

Thorne fires a few rounds at Mac’s crotch, all ricochet harmlessly off the now-proven equipment. Rabbit dry heaves and dons the cup for more testing.

If I had taken this type of scientific approach to my equipment on day three, Sam and I’s plan would have worked. But instead I stopped 15min into the day to fix some avoidable problems. This was the last time I’d see the front of the race, although I did get to pass, in awesomely dangerous fashion, about ¼ of the 70 rider field (including Daniel, who had just made me breakfast and is pretty darn quick himself) on that descent down Spencer’s. Hopefully they were amused more than pissed or horrified… Sam ended up winning that stage solo while I continued to fix my assorted issues and hemmorage time, eventually losing eight minutes.

So, after three days of racing, I was really tired and about 12:00 down on Jeremiah, 4:00 down on Sam. Shoot.

Another day brought another plan of Sam and I’s to use the challenging, mostly ridgeline trail Stage Four to get some time back. We used our skills to pressure JB up the opening climb of Black Mountain and forced a little gap on bits of an extremely fun, difficult, raw, overgrown Turkey Pen Gap trail. Then he decided to really race. And dropped us for good, riding at about World Cup pace along the unrelentingly rolling ridgeline. It was brutal, and trying to keep up cost me the final match I had to burn for the week. Survival mode came on at hour two and was my reality for the rest of the race. Lightly padded by some (well deserved for running light tires on proper trails) flat tires and other pauses. I lost 30 minutes on stage four. Wow. But I saw a lot of beautiful Blue Ridge scenery and had a good time riding the continually awesome descents. Too bad those aren’t categories for the win…

This newfound level of exhaustion was at least placated by Todd’s pre-race talk on the final morning at the Black Mountain Trailhead. He said “We’ve ridden a lot of great trail this week, but we’ve saved the best for last.” Vineyard Gap, Laurel Mountain, Pilot Rock and Avery Creek would bring us to one final shred down Black Mountain, which is the best finish descent I’ve ever ridden, and we got to ride it four days this week. Once again, I tried to stay with Sam on Vineyard Gap, but a bobble let Bishop through and I got cut off yet again, left to ride my guttered pace for one final day. Fortunately, Laurel Mountain climbs like a trail should, peppered with things to entertain yourself, and Pilot rock follows immediately with miles of ridiculously perfect descent. Really great. I stopped and took in the view on some exposed switchbacks before continuing to giggle to myself through the forest. Pilot rock is the most fun I’ve had on a bike this summer, that it came at my most exhausted moment as well speaks to just how awesome the Pisgah riding really is.

Shrimper dressed up in this perfectly creepy White Squirrel suit every day and came out to heckle. Here he's giving a demo of how to ride Pilot Rock properly... How awesome is this on all levels?

Anyway, I survived the day and held onto third place, my 17:30 or so overall time being well over an hour behind Jeremiah, who had a healthy gap on Sam as well. We made $3, 2 and 1 thousand dollars each for our time rallying around the forest. But that’s not even the point, the point is for the other 70-odd racers who finished five days of riding the most trail-packed stage race in North America to take pride in that fact. Every one of those folks is a damn good mountain biker and I hope they’re all back next year, with their friends, and YOU, to sample the best Pisgah has to offer. I know I want to come back, maybe with some “fitness” and “knowledge” gleaned from this year’s edition. It sure would be sweet to launch a race-winning attack coming down Pilot Rock…

I owe a huge thank-you to Todd, Heather and Rodney for getting me out to this event. One of the constants in running this even is the amount of trail work done in the forest before race day. I think it’s kind of an excuse for Todd to keep his favorite trails open… Sound familiar, Paul Thomasberg and Bend’s Big Fat Tour? Daniel and Terry at Brevard’s Red House Inn sorted me out with a sweet cottage for the week and made delicious breakfast at 7am every morning. The local Giant Dealer, Asheville’s Ski Country Sports, let their head mechanic Aaron Pete out for the week as well, the last thing I wanted to do was deal with bike washing and fixing after each stage. He kept things running smoothly considering the amount of abuse dished out by some guy riding like a dick in Pisgah on a daily basis and I got an extra hour of sleep a day because of it. Thanks, Aaron.

I resisted the urge to have Daniel make the Full English Breakfast. Until Sunday...

It’s a good sign when folks are passionate enough about their event that they actively recruit guys like me to come check it out. I’m pumped to have some insight into stage racing and excited to see where these events will go in the next few years. It’s up to you, the enthusiast, to come out and participate, and us, the Pros, to continue raising the game at these types of events. Which I believe to be the future core of Mountain Biking. Who doesn’t love a week of riding classic trail with savvy folks?

Cyclingdirt.org send Thom Parsons out to cover Pisgah. He did it in fine style, riding out into the woods and following us around for some POV shots to complement daily interviews. Check it out—

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/240283-Pisgah-Mountain-Bike-Stage-Race-2011/video/508345-PISGAH-Stage-4-Highlights-1

2011-09-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

World Champs (Anti) Climax

I drove from Czech to Italy on my 30^th birthday for the final round of the 2011 World Cup. It was a beautiful drive spent with good friends, Katie, Rosara and Selby (who also happen to be teammates). We were all excited to arrive in the culinary capital of Europe in time for the sunset. Our Rabobank team manager even went to the trouble of procuring a couple bottles of Prosecco for a toast after a delicious dinner at the Hotel Bella di Bosco. Thanks for starting a new week off on the right foot, Leo, you’re a good man.

Nothing wrong with a little nap on a long drive, right? Selby is a steady hand at the wheel...

We had a fairly lovely week in Male, eating three delicious Northern Italian creations a day and riding our bikes around in the mountains. It all went by too quickly, to be honest, and it was soon time to toe the line for the World Cup Finals. It was similarly hot and steep to the last two times I’d raced around this valley. Not my ideal combo but after last year I knew I could do it. Too bad that knowledge wasn’t used for the duration of the race. A solid start and a bit of luck had me in the 20’s after two laps, feeling strong and moving forward. A bit too strong, evidently. Lap three saw the end of my rise to a decent position and marked the slow decline back through the field, to right around what seems to be by rightful place in 2011. I sprinted with Rabo teammate Neils Wubben for 47^th place. Jaroslav Kulhavy sprinted with Nino Schurter for the win. He won the sprint to confirm his already locked up World Cup overall series win. I lost the sprint with Nils to confirm my 45^th overall in the series. If you can “confirm” being totally average for an entire season, that is. Pretty sure 45 is the number I started the first round in South Africa with. So, at least I know my place in 2011. I’m really looking forward to 2012 now that the level of mediocrity of this season is so firm in my mind. I know how to change that, it just takes a lot of homework that I never had to do in the past. Getting old I guess.

It's better to start a sprint in the draft, right? Then you come around at the line? God I suck.

Fortunately, the Final World Cup isn’t the final race on the international calendar. We still had World Champs to look forward to. And I had been, regardless of recent mediocrity. The English-speaking Rabobank crew borrowed the Team Transporter van and drove to Champery, Switzerland for two weeks of resting and training in preparation for the biggest race of the year.

A moment to appreciate how awesome the VW Transporter Van is. We loaded nine bikes, four people and a whole bunch of gear into our trusty van and drove with dynamic precision and comfort normally reserved for a station wagon. The route from Val di Sole to Champery crosses two mountain passes to bookend a freeway rip through the industrial heart of Northern Italy. The Transporter ate it up, six speed gearbox and perfectly placed pedals making heel-and-toeing whilst passing trucks on narrow roads a pleasure and also cruising comfortably at 150km/hr on the motorway, staying with the aforementioned German wagons… And the 700km used about 2/3 of a tank of diesel. Why can’t we have this vehicle in America? Does it not suck enough? Maybe I’ll get into the grey-market import business… Crap, I must be 30, dreaming about importing a friggin’ VAN instead of some unobtainium Japanese Domestic Market Nissan Skyline track car or something…

Thanks for the good times, Volkswagen. And for the arrival rainbows, Champery.

Unable to find an apartment or rent in the Kirchzerten, Germany area for the week off between Finals and Worlds, we ended up getting a Chalet right in Champery courtesy of Leo’s Dutch connections. Initially we were a bit hesitant to post up in a tiny Alpine valley for an extra week. The riding would be steep and hard every day and the weather could easily be abysmal. After our first day we were more than stoked to have an extra week in this amazing valley. The riding was awesome, weather perfect and forecasted to remain as such and that chalet was, shall we say, of sufficient quality…

Not wanting to get TOO settled in, the girls suggested we go to the Swiss Bike Trophy race up in Bern on the Thursday evening. It was to be an urban race circling the Swiss Parliament building. Not really knowing what to expect but excited to find out, Rosara sent off from our steamy parking garage base to check out the track. Selby and I were in no rush so waited for a report. She came back wide-eyed and subtly suggested that I go check out the track and maybe give her a tip or two on the “obstacles”… Turns out the Swiss like their racecourses to be stimulating even when they’re in the city. Wooden pallets, a corduroy-road (perpendicular logs) bridge, some cheese-wedge jumps and other assorted creations were complimented by a pretty cool paved switchback descent that ended in two sets of tight and technical stairs. And a kind of big climb for a “criterium.” We sorted Rosara out on the sweet jumps and discussed how slick and dangerous the race would be if it rained, which, considering the density of thunderclouds around the city, seemed likely. I turned up at the top of the climb on lap five just in time to take shelter in the covered alley as the clouds broke loose. This gave a front-row seat for Katie’s arrival at the lead of the race with Lea Davison and Natalie Schneitter. More importantly, it was where Rosara would succumb to the wet concrete and (completely harmlessly) slide out directly at my feet, laughing out loud and decided that it wasn’t worth continuing… Awesome.

The men’s race started at the peak of what seemed to be the heaviest thunderstorm I’ve ever witnessed. And it was just getting dark. Perfect conditions for 100 guys to sprint down a boulevard and onto a sidewalk littered with obstacles. We all survived but there were some cartoonish moments, the pinnacle of which was the two guys right behind me taking each other out at the lip of 30 stairs and sliding down on their asses. Ouch. I felt pretty lethargic after a long, hot day and was a touch scared of racing around in the downpour/darkness/lightning storm. Fortunately, Florian Vogel and Thomas Litscher were hauling ass and lapped me after about half the hour-long race. What a relief. We were in a pizzeria having a Quattro Stagioni as they crossed the finish line. Ah well, it was good culture and Compton made 750CHF for her podium finish.

How's that for some rainy darkness?

We rode out the rest of the week at The Chalet in style, cooking great meals, playing cribbage and doing a few rad rides up in the hills before moving across the tennis courts to the USA Team Hotel for worlds week proper. I used to stay with the Giant team at worlds, just to keep our routine smooth, but there’s something about kicking it with all of the Americans that sets the world champs apart from other events. We have some legitimate talent in the Junior and U23 ranks these days and it’s great to get to spend some time with those guys, even if it’s just to give them beta for the good post-race rides.

Speaking of Juniors, 17 year-old New Zealander Anton Cooper is pretty good at riding. Here Rosara stokes him through a last-lap charge from 6th to 2nd. Hope we can keep him on Giant bikes...

All right, one last big international race for 2012. And it was the one I’d been looking forward to since it had been announced two years earlier. I’ve always raced well in Champery, the course really (REALLY) suits me and I’ve been 6^th, 10^th and 14^th here since 2007. With this history I’d set it out as my goal for 2011 to be really solid at Worlds, with an eye toward a top 5 finish and automatic 2012 Olympic Team nomination. As the season progressed I kind of knew deep down that I didn’t have the form and basic physical strength I normally enjoy in September and absolutely needed to ride well on the technically perfect course. You just have to feel STRONG to ride well in this forest. I kept my chin up for the week leading up to the Worlds though, trying to rest my weary body and brain as best I could and being positive about the prospect of shredding.

Reality is harsh though and when race day rolled around, bringing with it absolutely perfect (fully expected) conditions, I just didn’t have it. Just as I had expected, regardless of my best efforts to keep a sunny disposition. Frustrating is an understatement. I survived the start and first lap melee somewhere in the 50’s and set about picking riders off in the technical bits, or wherever I could. It was obvious though, the spark needed just wasn’t there. Then it started to rain. Perfect setup for me, if only I could capitalize on it. Staying smooth, the slow climb through the field continued, but not with its usual fervor. The last guy I passed, with a lap to go, was Sam Schultz for 34^th place. Afterwards, over some tequila, we agreed that was totally average and such a missed opportunity to do something great. And, more importantly, something FUN. I LOVE riding around the Champery track with the strength of the East Coast in my body and brain. It’s just not there this year, and it takes more than two weeks of utopia to bring it back…

Another In Motion Photo. This one has huge crowds. If only I could get a push.

Todd Wells did what I fantasized about doing here this year. He used the mid-race rain to turn a spot in the teens into 7^th at the finish, CHARGING and very nearly punching his ticket to London. JHK did the same, making it up to 12^th by the finish. Solid work, Team America, glad you guys flew the flag like we should at the “Mountain Bike” World Champs. It was the Czech flag that flew highest though, Kulhavy capped off a dominating season with a dominating last couple laps, crushing the Swiss hopes of an Elite world title on home turf. Impressive.

Sunday dawned early for me, as my roommate and fellow US Team XC racer Spencer Paxson rallied after a couple hours of sleep to make the 6am Canada vs. The World hockey game which happened to be taking place at our hotel’s rink. Rad. I was confused enough to have forgotten about this little tidbit of information at the bar and fell back asleep, wondering why he went to breakfast so early… Dang it. The World OWNED Canada, but Catherine Pendrel got to keep her Rainbow Jersey.

Fortunately, the Downhill race was in the afternoon, plenty of time to pack and hop a rainy chairlift ride up the hill to watch Danny Hart dominate in spectacular fashion. It was pretty amazing how composed he looked cruising down a mountainside that was difficult to traverse on foot. And pretty awesome to watch up close, getting a feel for the gnarliest track in World Downhill history. Here’s to the Giant Factory Team earning a World Title! Paul, Joe, Oscar and Alan busted their asses this year to help Danny help himself to the title. When it came down to it though, that kid PERFORMED!

Check it out here:
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Danny-Harts-2011-World-Championship-Winning-Downhill-Run-at-Champery,9041/bturman,109

Anyway, thanks for tolerating my average International season’s reporting this year. The outline is already in place with my coach and winter training locations to rectify the situation for 2012. Racing fast is way more fun that just participating. We’ll save that for the plethora of other events that will need (and receive) my attention in the near future. Bikes are fun, and they'll get ridden a lot this Fall and Winter.

2011-08-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

Alpine Super D and Czech WC

After not nearly long enough at home following the big swing of racing around the East Coast and Rockies, I headed down to SoCal for Giant’s annual product launch to their top retailers, The Link. While I was suspicious of doing something that wasn’t training or racing this time of year, it ended up being super productive and entertaining. Giant’s dealers are inevitably bike riders at heart and we got to do a bunch of that with them while they tried out 2012 product. There were also a whole bunch of presentations on everything from sales trends to getting more women on bikes with the launch of Liv/Giant. And, we obviously spent plenty of time hanging out BSing about sweet new road bikes (they’re pretty rad) and the inevitable 26 vs. 29 discussions, both with our Product department and dealers. Sean from Knoxville sorted me out on the setup for the Pisgah Stage Race, which, as any properly good trail deserves, will be Maestro Suspension and 26” wheels. It all ended with a pretty rad evening ride down to the beach for burgers, beers and a classic Pacific sunset. Nice. And, Carl and I took turns pounding each other into the ground on the plethora of big road climbs in the Santa Monica Mountains, so we got our legit training in too. All in all, a nice way to earn your keep as a bike rider, other than the usual racing and making up stories about it…

I made it home from The Link in time to do some housekeeping around town and load up the car for the Oakridge Super D. Since the inception of the Oregon Super D Series in 2010, I’ve been wanting, almost needing to make it to one of their events. Held on some of my favorite trails in Oregon, it’s Mountain Bike racing like it should be. The queen stop, in my opinion, is held on the Alpine Trail in Oakridge. 4700’ of descent in 14 miles starting in an alpine meadow and finishing on the banks of the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. I figured since it was a “local” race, I’d keep the spirit of that in mind and hitched a ride with good buddies James Williams and Laura Winberry. James ended up riding his road bike over there (dang) and Laura and I arrived in plenty of time for a couple practice laps (AKA- having a damn good time) on Alpine before a campfire prepared dinner and early night to bed. Going to bed early is important when you’re camped with the Bend family crew. Kids love to wake up early and get a head start on playing the day away. I suppose bike riders should too.

I've been at a lot of scenic start lines in my day, but this one is right up there... These flowers bloom every seven years, and normally in June. Here's to crazy Northwest winters!

Oregon Super D organizers know that nobody likes hurtling themselves through the woods first thing in the morning, so they smartly have the Pros go off first at 11:00. It wasn’t until we had all piled into Randy’s Mountain Bike Oregon school bus fleet for the shuttle up 1912 road and pedaled up Kate’s connector to Sourgrass Meadow that the legitimacy of the field was confirmed. Mark Weir, Jason Moeschler and Kenny Burt had made the trip up from NorCal to race some of Oregon’s finest. Good thing I didn’t know this until start time, I totally would’ve been nervous about getting smoked. And it’s a good thing I’m in shape and ready for the final European XC racing, because the 900 feet of climbing sprinkled (liberally) throughout the 14 miles should have presented enough of a chance to distance myself from those guys.

Jason Moeschler is a pretty awesome, easy-going, hard-riding guy. His competitive side came out in fine form as the times were posted though: “Goddamn it Adam, you put a MINUTE into me? I had a PERFECT run, and I’m having a baby this week, my last chance to win one of these things was today!” Sorry buddy, I’d like to see you win too, but my run was also perfect, and a whole hell of a lot of fun. I look forward to taking my fitness down and beer intake up a notch or ten sometime in the future and racing you NorCal punks on the downhills! Weir was third, another 20 seconds down, with Kenny Burt and Aaron Bradford rounding out the podium. Good thing I made it out to represent the Northwest and keep these Cali sallys from stealing our show. I’m stoked they came out though, Alpine ended up being the most stacked Enduro race we’ve had in the States this year. The new Downieville? At 42:47 from top to bottom, it’s plenty long enough, and doesn’t have any of that pesky “fire road” or “pavement”, just bench cut beauty. As maintained by Derrik Bell and the rest of the Oakridge trail crew. Thanks, guys.

Moeschler isn't afraid of a little air-hump. Must be what got his wife knocked up...

One more interval session on the road bike Monday morning and I was on a flight to the Czech Republic for the next World Cup XC. I’d have sore legs for the rest of the week… Good thing there was nothing to do but relax and recover from the last couple weeks of training and working. I’d been looking forward to getting across the pond and catching up on rest for a few weeks now, and it was everything I thought it could be!

Ah, Hotel Medlov. How very eastern european. I didn't have the heart to photograph the food. It was meaty...

Not to get too sedentary though, Emil, Nils and I got decently disoriented on Thursday riding through the Czech countryside and ended up our for quite a while… It was beautiful, once we figured out where we were and how to get back to the Hotel Medlov. Friday I kept the fight against bedsores going by participating in the XC Eliminator race in the evening. We each did a time trail qualifier around a 1:40ish course that wound out of the Biathlon stadium over some logs and through the woods before looping back into the stadium for the sprint finish. I just barely snuck into the finals with the 30^th qualifying position. Work smart, not hard. Evidently I worked too hard in my first round though, sprinting with enough panicked aggression to pull out of my pedal and effectively hand first and second to the fast qualifiers, ending my evening. Oh well, great crowd and fun warm-up made it way better than more hotel lounge lurking. I guy I’ve never heard of won. Nice work, guy.

Katerina Nash has ski raced in this stadium since she was a kid. Finishing up an Eliminator round on "bikes" was a nice change of pace...

The legs came around just in time, on Sunday’s morning workout. Lately, at coach Bowen’s direction, I’ve been taking it easy the day before big races then doing an abbreviated opener effort session on race morning, followed by eating, sleeping and warming up short and easy for the race. It’s been working pretty well. Henk-Jaap let me (not that he’ll get them back) 150mg worth of caffeine pills and I was feeling READY for the start. So was the GIGANTIC crowd. Dang, these Eastern European countries sure love their mountain biking these days. Having a hometown ringer in the form of Jaroslav Kulhavy doesn’t hurt either… He didn’t disappoint. Maybe I got so dropped on the start lap because he was attacking off the front with such fervor that everyone was forced into an impressively unsustainable pace in response. I felt warmed up and strong, but just couldn’t respond to the pace and got shuffled from 48^th to nearly last. 100^th or so. Fortunately, as Kulhavy kept his charge going, everyone else was forced to accept reality and I started working through the field with good legs and mindset on the first proper lap around the pretty amazingly rad circuit. Beautifully dark Czech forest laced with rooty trail that was taped WIDE for artistic interpretation of each and every section, in addition to countless clever passing opportunities. I liked. For a few laps, then I got sort of tired too and settled into the 40’s with two to go. Kulhavy stayed off the front, much to the delight of the crowd and live TV audience. It was easy to tell when he crossed the finish line. The crowd stuck around for us backmarkers too, I got nearly as big a cheer rolling in for 41^st with a below-average wheelie. Thanks for having us, Nova Mesto na Morave. We’ll be back next year and I’ll be in shape, ready to properly shred your woodsy perfection.

One of the only places on the track with one line and no spectators. Credit- In Motion Photography.

The young Americans made us proud in Czech, Stephen Ettinger got off the plane and into a test-drive with the BMC Factory Team in time to bust a top 5 in the U-23 race. Solid. Sam Schultz had his best world cup yet in 15^th place. He must’ve been fired up after getting his stolen bike back… East Coast master Lea Davison also had a career best- she was 7^th in the Elite Women’s race, mixing it up all day with some of the sport’s biggest names. At least one of us “2010 Surgery Club” members is riding decent in ’11… Solid work, Nugget.

I really enjoyed our time in Czech, apart from yet another missed opportunity to race like myself, but we were all pretty pumped to get to Italy for the next round and a serious upgrade in hotel menu. Since I was turning 30 on Monday, the rest of the English-speakers let me drive a few hours of beautiful backroads as we made our way to Austria, Germany and, eventually, the Sud-Tirol region of Italy. Driving in Europe is such a pleasure, in our Rabo team VW Transporter van we cruised little roads and The Autobahn quickly and smoothly, with 5 people and 8 bikes, only using less 3/4 of a tank of Diesel for 800+km. Where's my sweet, efficient, manual transmission, high capacity vehicle, American Car Companies?

Regardless of recent racing struggles, I’ve been pretty lucky to have done and seen a lifetime’s worth in the first three decades of my life and am looking forward to the next third. You never know what’s around the corner. Even WITH a GPS on the dash…

2011-08-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Northern Rockies Racing- National Champs and MSLA

With all this flying around the universe racing bikes going on lately, I’d been looking forward to a good old-fashioned road trip for a while now. The back-to-back weekends of US National Championships in Sun Valley, Idaho and Pro XCT Finals in Missoula, Montana appeared to provide just this opportunity, right in the middle of the season when a bit of a change was in order.

The prospect of driving around the Sawtooth and Bitteroot mountain ranges was a good carrot at the end of a long block of racing east of the Mississippi. We got back to Bend in time to do laundry, logisticate a bit, load up and head east. But not before the Women of Giant pulled off a 1-2 in the Blitz to the Barrel Ladies’ Night with Kelli and Lizzy taking top honors and a bunch of cash. So, they’d be buying gas for the trip, then… It’s a good thing Carl couldn’t pull off renting a 2011 Mustang for the 10 days. That would’ve cost Kelli a bit more cash at the pump. At least in the manner it would have been driven across the desert of eastern Oregon… Lizzy and I successfully crossed said desert without getting arrested thanks to my Valentine V1 Radar Detector, which identified the location of an Oregon State Policemen hidden in the bushes in the middle of nowhere. Thanks, little beeping buddy.

The drive to Sun Valley was still completed in reasonable time and we rolled into Scott and Susan Robinson’s yard with plenty of daylight. The Robinsons were kind enough to put us up on the random host housing program for the weekend after Lizzy and I made such a good impression on a quick ski tour with Scott and Gabe this winter. I never got Scott’s last name then, turns out he’s the same awesome guy and now we go way back… There was plenty of daylight for a Super D practice run with NW Shimano rep and Shred Team buddy Nick Gibson so we did just that. Taking the Gondola up Baldy for a sunset cruise. Which obviously turned into pinning it down fun trail. Read and run.

Friday was the standard “oh, we’ll just ride a lap and relax a bunch, it’ll be so pleasant” idealistic, and unrealistic, approach to race prep. It was somehow a busy day, like always, rolling right into Saturday’s race start. Sort of, we didn’t go off until 3pm, which meant the afternoon clouds had a chance to build up by the time I was really starting to feel the burn with two laps to go. Todd Wells and Sam Schultz were dangling in front of me on a course that just wouldn’t give even a second to gather oneself. It was old-school ski area stuff with a twist. Straight up a fireroad climb for about 5 min of barely moving, then into a new-era singletrack descent, about 1,000,000 switchbacks dropped us the 500’ we’d climbed in about 6-7 min. That translates to a lot of sprinting out of turns down flowy straights that weren’t quite steep enough to just coast and have a rest. Constant effort. Even with the cloud-cover, I couldn’t re-gather myself on the last two laps enough to pull the two leaders back. Sam made a solid effort to bring Todd back on the last lap, which I could watch from 1 minute (about 150 yards on this climb) back, almost able to touch them yet sooooo far away. Todd Won. I got 3^rd. Oh well, I guess Rabobank isn’t going to have to make me a US Cross Country Champ kit this year, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be faster next time around…

Brit buddy Chipps Chippendale of Singletrack mag was in town to learn about 29ers. He learned that it's the perfect wheel size for snagging cash whilst racing.

Sunday’s Super D started at 8am. Brutal. We finished the XC race, podium and Doping Control about 12 hours prior to the Super D start. Which happened to be up a 4-5 minute dirt road climb. I can assure you that climb hurt more than the previous day’s XC race. Probably as a direct result of though… Starting mid-pack in the time-trial format race, even with my new Smith Goggles courtesy of Gabe Schroeder, I knew dust would be a problem, so was relieved to pass two guys on the climb, leaving Spencer Paxson in front of me, but with a 1:30 gap. Plenty of real estate. I dropped in and used the memory of the previous evening’s practice runs to roast the top singletrack “no brakes challenge” section. The stoke of that rally kept me clean and fast down the rest of the run, even on the lower XC course switchback descent, which was way less annoying to do once on my Trance X with the proto Fox Panty Dropper (pretty fun even) than half a dozen times on my hardtail with a serious oxygen debt. Fun. I crossed the line in 19:37, 15 seconds up on former leader and 2010 Champ Mike West. Perfect. Rider after rider came down without breaking 20 minutes but I knew Carl was up there on his Anthem X 29, slaying it. Turns out he should’ve slayed it about 1.5 seconds harder. Sucker. The top three remained the same as the final pros came down the hill. Maybe Rabobank will make me a Super D National Champ kit? Doubtful…

Check the chain tension while trying super duper hard. Shadow + is legit!

Lizzy and Kelli kept their back-to-back positions from the Blitz, with one exception- Lea Davison woke up early and decided to race, and she won that shit. East Coast heritage makes for fast western racing. Our hearts are still in the woods back there though… After a missed season due to a hip injury, it’s good to see Lea get a national title, regardless of her employment with the Big S...

Short Track. Well, let’s just say after the previous two events I had ZERO left for the ST. Zip. Zilch. A top 5 start meant I was far enough up to not get lapped before the finish, but I sure did get passed by 30 or so dudes. One of whom wrecked promptly. Awesome. Fortunately, Rabobank teammate Katie Compton is in a whole different category when it comes to Short Track, especially a flat fast one like we had here (the rock garden would’ve only helped her cause, had it been included). She recovered from Saturday’s 3^rd place XC effort well enough to win by about half a lap, and I’m pretty sure she would’ve beaten me… Well played, KFC.

Monday we took the day off. Well, the morning. It’s so hard not to get sucked in when you’re a kid in a singletrack candy store. Scott and his business partner at First Lite (high end Merino wool hunting clothing), Kenton, joined me for one last lift ride up Baldy and a run down Warm Springs trail, bench cut shred-track from the top to town. Shockingly, we had a great time. Which we did again on Tuesday with a ride from way up the valley back to town via Fox Peak trail and a bunch of others. Impressed. Then, just to make sure no candy went un-eaten, Lizzy and I met Chopper and his ladyfriend somewhere north of Stanley for a bit of a mission on the north side of the Sawtooths. Kirkham ridge probably will get ridden by a couple dozen mountain bikers this year. We’re lucky to be among the first. Ride of the year so far. Easily.

Chopper taking it all in. It was like this all day. Except when we were groveling up pitches too steep for our "bicycles". A moto would be nice. And is welcome on this ribbon, like all of them in this area. Thanks for clearing trail, throttle jockeys...

Sun Valley served it up right with their freshman attempt at putting on the show that is Mountain Bike Natz. Everyone in the town was stoked to have the event and most of them seemed to come out and check things out throughout the weekend. Combine that with smooth organization and EPIC riding in all directions and I’ll be back next year for sure. Although I hope they succeed in breaking up that soul-crusher of a climb… Good thing they’re already working on it!

With the mountain bike-a-palooza that happened in Sun Valley, I was almost ready for something else to do. Good thing we brought kayaks. An afternoon surf session on Brennan’s Wave in downtown Missoula fit the bill perfectly. Lizzy’s dad Toby was planning on racing the Masters class up at Marshall Mountain, a good demonstration of how stoked the locals were to finally have a Pro XCT in their town. He had some questions about the proper way to shred the switchback descents so I figured we’d better go to an evening lap and check things out (plus I kind of wanted to see THE DROP). We sorted him out with the “enter as far uphill as possible and accelerate through” technique after I was peer pressured into riding the fairly large (6-8ft down and out) drop by a couple juniors from the East Coast who fully expected me to. Good thing they were there, that shit’s fun. We finished off Mellow Thursday with some grilling in the backyard at Toby’s place. Being from Montana would be cool. Kind of like being from Maine.

Good ol’ Sam Schultz stole the evening show in front of a banner local crowd on Saturday. I’m proud of him for riding a perfect race and pulling off the win EVERY single person in attendance was hoping for. Probably even third-place Max Plaxton… My tired (totally worth it) legs from the week of making sure no candy was left in The Sawtooths took a lap to get going and by then the lead trio had checked out. I rode around in 4^th with Carl keeping me honest. It was his clever idea to ride XTC 29ers with dropper posts, after all. We got to send the drop comfortably and seriously make the steepish switchback descent ours every lap. Wanting/needing to run an adjustable post is the ultimate tip of the hat to a cross-country course. The Missoula crew has a real gem up there at Marshall Mountain.

Lea Davison was able to keep the good juju from Sun Valley going by winning the XC race AND the Pro XCT overall for 2011. Nice. Plaxton won the Men’s series. Must be that new team director, Sean Estes, really making things happen in their camp. We miss you at Giro… I ended up salvaging 5^th overall for the spring and summer’s worth of racing, not too bad considering the ups and downs.

Anyway, busy-ness continues but training is on track for the final rounds of the World Cup and a shot at riding like I should at World Champs in Champerey next month. Here’s to a proper summer of Mountain Biking.

Oooh, speaking of Proper MTB riding. I just entered the Pisgah Stage Race in North Carolina. 5 days of riding, if my Sam Koerber-following memory serves me correctly, the best trails in America, sounds like a perfect capstone to the season. Check it out, then come race it! I’ll try not to get beat by the guy on the poster…

http://www.blueridgeadventures.net/stage/

2011-07-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Summertime XC Racing

I’ve been telling myself for a couple months now that when proper summer finally rolled around things would start working out. All things being relative, they seem to be, at least for the time being.

The last three weekends (and upcoming two) have been occupied with races of my favorite flavor- Sea level and east of the Mississippi. It was sunny and clear when our Denver-Madison flight crossed the river that drains our heartland. Carl wasn’t convinced that we’d have such luck for long. My childhood memories wouldn’t be dissuaded though, east coast summer kicks ass. Fortunately, it’s impossible to rent a place to stay in Wisconsin that’s NOT on a lake. We ended up with our own dock and wharf for the second year in a row. Keeping with the repeat theme, the WORS crew dished up an action packed weekend yet again at the Mount Morris Subaru Cup.

Wisconsin likes it's bike racing. We like it too. Thanks to local Gerrard Abrams for the pic.

There was a little too much action for me, as I ended up sprawled on the lawn for an hour, immobile on account of a severely cramped back immediately after the XC race finished. Evidently I’d gotten a little ahead of myself chasing people down over the course of the race. Which was on the same super fun course as last year. In an attempt to be well-liked and able to converse in the language of the Midwestern racer of today, I’d chosen the XTC Composite 29 for the race. I was kind of bummed to not be on my trusty Anthem X but could tell that the 29er was faster, something everyone around these parts already knows. It felt super quick all day and helped with the last pass of the day, on Pro XC podium virgin and U23 World Cup shredder Stephen Ettinger. Unfortunately, I never made it to the box to help spray him with champagne. On the way there it became apparent that the back cramp wasn’t subsiding and the 1% grassy hill that I was trying to “paperboy” up en route to the awards would be insurmountable. I fell/crawled/collapsed/got to the ground as safely as possible about 100 yards shy of my goal. Whoa. Troy from the Subaru/Trek helped Felice implement a cramp management program while I tried not to do anything to make it worse, like moving. After and hour and a bunch of confused passers-by, they forced me to my feet amidst serious protest (yelling in pain). Walking it off had to happen at some point. The 75 yards back to the trailer took a solid half-hour of baby steps and resting. Wow. It was pretty scary to be that incapacitated but AMAZGING to be able to walk sort of normally after a while. Kelli cranked up the seat heater in the rental and drove me back to the lake, minding the bumps…

I'm just going to rest a minute...

I participated in the short track, not really able to “race” but happy to ride and get a workout. Figuring that saying “yes” to every race I’m presented with isn’t ultra-sustainable, I left the Super D to Carl, he’s the one with a National series Super D win streak anyway. He delivered on a surprisingly fun, sort of legit track, given the 250 vertical feet that Mount Morris has to work with. Kelli pulled through with a win as well, I bet she treated herself to the seat heater on the way home too…

From Wisconsin Felice and I flew to Maine for some R n R before the Mont Saint Anne World Cup. Carl and Kelli flew home, missing the east coast world cup swing for the first time in years in favor of the Downieville Classic. I was a little bit jealous. That jealousy didn’t last long though, it only took a couple of turns down the Mount Waldo trails with Sparky and Justin to remind me why I love the right coast. It’s really fun to ride bikes in the woods there. We made a video, and my back didn’t give out, pretty sure laughter-inducing shredding with Sparky and Qualey is good to work out the kinks…

Sparky cut these trails wearing this skinsuit. Unorthodox, but totally worth it.

http://contour.com/stories/upper-quarry

Following Justin down the last bit. Freshly raked. mmmm.

http://contour.com/stories/lower-quarry

We arrived in Quebec on Thursday to ominous skies and steady rain. Perfect. I rode a lap in proper mud and it felt great. But the hardtail just wouldn’t do for me on the rough and tumble trails of MSA. Still a bit scarred from the back incident, and a little edgy on the prospect of not feeling fully recovered from it, I pulled a classic crazy bike rider trick. Completely change your setup the day before the race. Oh yeah, I can do high maintenance too! The reasoning was (other than wasting energy on possibly pointless complications) that the AMAZING ride quality and grip of the Dugast Tubulars (ahem, Vredestein Prototypes) I had the pleasure of riding on the wagon wheeled bike would combine quite nicely with an Anthem X 29er, creating a bike that would eat the nasty bits of St. Anne alive. Familiar with the AX 29 from riding Carl’s Ol’ Blackie in Bend lately, I was just one piece shy of making the silly swap happen- the bike. Turns out our favorite Giant Canada tech guy and ex-downhill honch Luke had one in his van for demonstrating the radness that is Maestro suspension action. I promised to be a mobile billboard for said action after he loaned me the bike for the weekend. Our Rabobank team mechanics, Ed and Marcel were hugely relieved to learn of my unreasonable plan- swap the XTC 29 parts to the Anthem, immediately, on Friday morning, at 11:00… Otherwise they would have just sipped coffee and waited for us to finish training. I’m here to help… They did the swap lickety-split while I played parts gopher (Thanks to Nick at Shimano for the new low-clamp front deraiuler and brake line) and took a nap. The course was drying out anyway, so all this wasting time made total sense from a practice standpoint. Right…

It was worth it though, the new whip felt awesome out there. All of the tech climbs flowed under like the water that was running down them and descents were an afterthought. The thing basically rode itself. Which was great, because I was still feeling a little beat down. Ah well, residual fatigue is the best pre-race Governor anyway.

Feeling spry the next morning and super confident that I had the right tool for the job, I did a solid, structured pre-race warm-up, wore a heart-rate monitor even. Loch “Chuck” Norris came along and we agreed that we were super ready for the struggle that is a World Cup start. Then we got dropped. Hard. At least Trek Canada rider and my 2011 first lap buddy Adam Morka was within earshot in the first cartoonish woods bottleneck to laugh at my shouting of “RIDER, RIDER, ON THE LEFFFFFT!” in the general direction of our gridlock. Nobody else thinks sarcasm is funny I guess… I sort of got moving with some clever A/B line choices and moved up a bit to finish the first lap in the 50’s somewhere. Then wrecked entering my nemesis, the goofy-ass, contrived rock garden under the Gondola (I refuse to acknowledge it’s super-intimidating name) and lost all the spots I’d gained. And got tired. A mirror image wreck the following lap and escalating fatigue seemed to seal my fate. According to the finish line clock, Jaroslav Kulhavy was off the front and killing it. He was putting 2-3 minutes per lap into me as the race progressed. And the lap was only 16 minutes. God, I suck. The stupid full suspension 29er (which Kulhavy had also wisely chosen) wasn’t even riding itself, with me a mere passenger, as I’d expected. Maybe Matthew Green was right when he rolled by the pits, all east coast core’d out on his rigid Spooky and said: “Why are you riding your mom’s bike?”

Crap, snap out of it, crazy, embattled bike racer. You’ve worked your ass off the last month to catch up and be ready for summertime racing, and you will be, someday. Just not today. I didn’t have it at all, the punch that normally makes the Saint Anne course a pleasure to ride was non-existent and I ended up just surviving around, wondering if Kulhavy would lap me and put me out of my misery. Weird. And good insight as to why some people don’t like racing in Quebec. It sucks when you suck. Ah well, what can you do, rest up and hope to feel better next weekend. Which might enable you to get beaten by less than 14 minutes… Wow.

Got to hang out with the cool downhill kids on sunday. Giant Factory Team's Andrew Neethling in the hot seat. Those guys are really good.

And I did! It just took a quick swap of those parts back onto the Hardtail, riding said HT in the Maine woods all week and a 4^th of July rest day on Moosehead Lake to bring my body to it’s senses for the Windham World Cup.

The airplane rides just keep a-comin. This one was a float equipped 182. Ballin...

Going up hill fast doesn't always look fast...

As any self-respecting (depreciating?) bike racer would do given the lackluster previous weekend. Instead of unreasonable setup changes, I stuck with the hillclimbing prowess the XTC 29. Instead of tons of electrolyte drinks and pills I just drank water, instead of a quiet team dinner the night before the race, I attended the Windham World Cup Groups’ VIP dinner, instead of warming up with a heart-rate monitor I rolled around for a few minutes then rode a half lap of the course to get the body AND brain firing. As a result, instead of struggling through the race wishing I was somewhere else I rode like myself. Strong but from the back, thanks to some dicks who couldn’t keep their bar-ends out of each other’s asses for 10 feet at the start. Like last weekend, Kulhavy had 2 minutes on me at the end of the first lap, and I was in the 50’s somewhere. After lap two he had two minutes and change and I was up into the 30’s. Much better. I kept at it, eventually hooking up with Cedric Ravanel for the last couple laps of charging. We cat and moused and ate up whoever we tracked down. It was really fun, especially when the east coast heckling/cheering section was present a couple times per lap. Thanks for the love, folks. I ended up doing Cedric on the last descent and holding him off to the line for 19^th place. A couple years ago, 19^th at an East Coast World Cup would’ve been sort of lackluster, but after this season I’ll take what I can get. Kulhavy won again. Todd Wells had yet another solid ride in 11^th. I could see him though, which will hopefully be the case this weekend at Nationals. The upswing can only continue from here on, right?

Evidently riding fast up hills does take it's toll. It's hard to breathe after sprinting to the line, but good to have needed to sprint...

Sunday morning a chance meeting of a local amateur racer in the parking lot set me off on a sweet little mini-adventure in the Elm Ridge trail network. It’s pretty awesome to see a community with such kick-ass riding also have the passion to go through the process that is putting on a World Cup race. We appreciate your work, Windham World Cup Group, and hope to see you next year, right here!

2011-06-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Gravity Powered?

It’s been a few weeks at home in Bend now. Super nice. Bart and I have been working together smoothly to try and improve on my recent, quite improvable, results… The SRM and bathroom scale are telling more encouraging stories after a little time to focus on catching up. Mostly the work has been on one-minute power, short intervals and lifting weights. Plus, you know, some “bike rides” and not eating like a total jerk. And since it’s been a few weeks since I’ve flown across the Atlantic Ocean, sleeping even. Whoa.

I did make an airplane exception to fly over to Mackenzie Bridge with Jake Ruhl and ride King's Castle trail. It was the best day of the summer, so far...

I figured the best way to test out the recent work would be a pair of “start up high and finish down low” races. Good fun, good for morale, and some good chances to use the 1-min power in a real environment, or at least one where someone says “GO!”

The first point to point descent event was the suddenly big and legit Blitz to the Barrel. Last year local mountain bike enthusiast and ex- All Access supercross/supermoto race team director Eric Eastland approached me wanting to put on an underground “Bad Boy’s” race, a kind of dash for cash that finished at the 10 Barrel brewery on Bend’s west side. We threw something together and Carl won $500 for riding from Wanoga sno-park to town. This year it was a bit, um, bigger… Eric started working on the event early and had a $5000 purse together by springtime. Dang. It’d be $2000, $1500, $500 and four primes worth $250 each. Wheelie contest, two jumps and a radar speed trap.

The roster came together as we got closer to the event and ended up being pretty stacked. Local fast guys, some imports from around Oregon and even an Australian. Once the roster was finalized, the betting began. Carl and Chris Sheppard were given the best odds on account of their local presence. I was listed at 5-1. Not looking good for people’s confidence my recent training. Little did they know that I REFUSE to be beaten by Chris Sheppard. Which, it turns out, would require winning. Carl’s roommate Matt Lieto bet wisely and made $60 on my stubbornness…

Before the payday there was some action though. I took the out of towners, Kona rider and ultimate shred buddy Matthew Slaven, NW Shimano Rep Nick Gibson, Ashland king Nathan Riddle and the Aussie, Rockstar/Giant’s Josh Carlson out on a pre-ride of the course and to mark said course. Knowledge would be key. We had lots of fun and hung enough ribbon that nobody could claim being lost as an excuse for cutting the course. Except maybe at the Tetherow Golf Club, where we’d race across the patio and driving range, the length of our entrance jump to which would earn someone $250.

The riders caught an expertly driven (thanks Erica) Cog Wild tours shuttle from 10 Barrel up to Wanoga after work for the pre-race wheelie contest and some trash talking. The Australian, using his years of Pro Motocross racing skills, aced the sort of lackluster wheelie contest. It was kind of like taking cash from a baby. I blame Carl’s hand-me-down Anthem X 29er for not riding itself in a wheelie. But it DID win this race last year so I figured it was the right tool for the overall job.

Before the play by play of the race, let’s do a little prime recap to see who won some cash. Josh had the easiest go with the wheelie win for sure. Slaven took the Funner rock drop honors, using his Magic Link to huck that shit to flat. Riddler decided that instead of keeping Brennan in sight on the last road section he would just try to jump over him at the golf course, nearly making it the 40 or so feet to the fairway. The most awesome of the primes was definitely the speed trap. Former Westside Video proprietor Damieon Schmidt showed up with his Vulture Cyclocross bike. He reckoned he wouldn’t be in the mix for the wheelie, jumps or win, so he might as well focus on some serious beer money. He brought two tubes. Which he’d need, as he flatted twice. D ended up racing down Tetherow Road into the speed trap on about 10psi in his rear tire at 38mph. Nick Gibson was riding his pimp Giant Reign (with 2.4” tires and 6” of travel, NOT a ‘cross bike) and had gotten dropped by some XC bandits before the trap so figured he’d go for it. He also went 38. Solid. And totally owned Damieon in the armwrestlting tiebreaker. Turns out tattooed Enduro racers are stronger than tattooed ‘Cross racers, but they’re both fast.

A little Tetherow Golf Course air action. Pretty fun to ride on one of these without the cops chasing you. Good grip and sweet jumps...

Ok, Blitz Action proper. First off, my garage architect owes me $20 after Josh Carlson got the holeshot, just like he did at the Mellow Johnny’s classic with all of America’s best lined up. I took the Enduro racer crew on the inside off the pavement and slotted into second. Perfect. The Funner trail has a series of “Y’s” where it’s possible to pass on a parallel trail section. Even though Josh was SHREDDING (moto skills never disappoint) I figured I’d not eat his dust for a hundred yards and went left to his right at the first one. I immediately heard gears grinding and cursing, which made me think he’d broken his chain or something. Never saw him again. But I had a gap and decided to run with it. I could see nor hear anyone down most of Funner until I KO’d a tree (racing on your local trails is a whole ‘nother set of braking points) and Sheppard was immediately on me. Weird. I got fired up and pushed hard, never seeing him again and not screwing up while riding FAST over the next 30 minutes down COD trail to Tetherow. Where there was a PACKED parking lot and a few hundred people cheering me onto the course as directed by Emcee Alex McLaren. Impressive. Keeping my eyes on the prize, I kept it low and fast over the airs and wagon-wheeled over the turf grass. Then that wily Canadian appeared again, about 20 seconds back. Weird. And annoying, as we still had about 3 miles of headwind pavement on our knobby tires to get down to The Brewery finish. I wasn’t happy about the amount of effort I had to put forth to maintain my gap and ensure enough time to down my Pint to seal the victory. I made it happen though. Gotta keep the “unbeaten by our local cheater” streak alive. 10-Barrel was obviously packed for the finish. Folks were fired up to have action delivered to their watering hole, even if it was in the form of hyperventilating bike riders trying not to boot their beer…

Carl finished 3^rd, although he would have been second if there was a “long course” division. Turns out the Aussie holeshot master just thought he’d made a wrong turn and beelined it through the woods back over to my lane on the Y, losing a bunch of spots in the process. Then he flatted. Shoot. I could’ve used the help on the last road section… Nathan Riddle showed impressive speed from the gravity boys by rolling in 6^th in what is really an hour-long XC race. Local boys Brennan, James and Brig kept things fast and were stoked on such a warm reception in their hometown. All in all, the Blitz was an overwhelming success, punctuated by a low flyover during the awards by a certain red Cessna 170…

John Frey and I really mix it on the mic... That's a mug full of Benjamins. Some of which are going to be turned into sweet berms by COTA.

The next morning Lizzy, Josh and I loaded up the trusty WRX (will it ever die?) and headed down to Ashland for the 12-Mile Super D and Chainless Challenge. Josh was fairly impressed with the size of the Volcanic peaks and old-growth trees that flanked them on our trip over the Cascade Crest. There was still lots of snow too… We rolled into our very stereotypical Ashland lodging for the week to meet Frank and the rest of the crew for an afternoon shuttle from the Ski Area. Which had fortunately been plowed. The first mile of fireroad bombing was snow-lined and wet. Neat. Evidently it’s been the third wettest winter on record in the Pacific Northwest and it shows in the moisture content of the soil all the way from Mount Ashland to town. Except maybe BTI, that’s always a dust over hardpack skid-a-palooza. Fun. The Aussie import was continually fired up on how awesome and plentiful the Ashland trails are. I never need reminding, but it’s always good to have the stoke delivered with a different accent. He was also quite helpful in shaming me into hitting THE double jump on the course. Which is pretty tiny, maybe 15 feet. I never claimed to be a BMX’er but kind of always wanted to be. Following someone with a Supercross racing background who was on an Anthem X seemed like a good balance. We sent it, twice, Lizzy was impressed, and a good time was had by all.

Friday was the Chainless Challenge. I’d never done a Chainless race before, but it seemed like a good test for a guy who can always rely on pedaling hard (except at World Cups where everyone is) to make up time. Carl and I were real curious about just how smoked we would get by some random local dudes. Turns out just a little. The “Pro” class was decided by a 0.2 second gap between me and a Whistler local (who probably does a lot of coasting. Lucky). He got the nod. If I only hadn’t blown the only corner you could blow, into/under a Manzanita bush… Even with that corner cleaned up I still would’ve gotten owned by Oregon Super D Series promoter Devon Lyons. He had 6 seconds for us “Pros”. Maybe I should’ve kept living at my rental house on Chardonnay Lane. It seems to make people good coasters at least… The chainless was a good challenge for the head though, looking for speed in places where it’s available for free is a good skill to practice instead of blindly sprinting out of every corner to achieve the same thing with way more work. Smarter, not harder.

That was my mantra at 8:01am the next morning, when I left the 12-Mile starting line. There would be no blown corners, none spectacularly stuck either, just a solid, fast, fun, smooth run down through the Siskiyous to Lithia park. Carl was my one-minute man and had a similar morning. We weren’t happy about racing so early but I kind of think it helped, instead of being all fired up we were a bit cloudy, like the morning sky, and probably ended up not doing anything dumb as a result. Aaron Bradford was the first guy who crossed the line looking like he’d just PINNED it. Local (broken collarbone victim) Giant Rep Paul LaCava later confirmed this from his vantage point on the last trail section, BTI. Bradford was hanging it out. And I was nervous. The guy is fast. Turns out what looks fast isn’t necessarily fastest, I had Bradford by 18 seconds and Carl was another 6 out. Josh got a good “slow is fast” talk from us on the shuttle ride up and kept it safe for 4^th, a further 6 seconds back from Carl. Not bad for his first Super D race, on his XC bike.

Trying to get a run for the finish chute. I went way to slow to crash. Blowing it...

The morning was warming up and the finish chute was fast enough that as riders finished, most narrowly avoiding stacking on the gravel road exit, we naturally congregated on the inside to see how our competitors would manage the finish corner. Some better than others… The highlight being Northstar/Giant rider Jordan Lopez, who overcooked it in fine downhiller style and ended up executing a flawless double somersault up the embankment and back into the ditch. Classy.

We all hung out until the Women’s race battle made it’s way down the hill. It was really a battle between the Trace X Advanced SL’s of Kelli Emmett and Lizzy English. They seemed to be a minute or so apart and a bunch faster than last year. When the times came in it was Kelli with the faster run. Abby Hipley used her mad descending skills (she was plenty fast on the XC bike too, once upon a time) to land the final podium spot. She was clearly stoked to be racing, and fast.

Carl and I taking a break from the finish line entertainment. Funny to be done racing at 8:30am.

Not as stoked as us to watch her hit a bunch of massive moto doubles on Marty’s trail during our bonus run though. We all had hopped a shuttle back to the top and got together a fifteen person shred posse for an alternative Ashland trails cool-down. Missing link, the aforementioned Marty’s and finishing off with the narrow perfection of Jabberwokee. I love the Super D crowd! Everyone is out to have fun on bikes. Not to seem like I was too into the fun though, when I spotted Subaru-Trek team rider Russell Finsterwald heading out with his SRM on for what looked like a workout, I hopped on and we did a little Nathan Riddle directed double alternative trail exploring on the west end of the Watershed after an hour of climbing as fast as we could. Gotta get in shape for those World Cups sometime…

It's not all Gravity fed these days. Racing the Summit High crit wednesday night was good old fashioned work...

Hopefully these two fun race wins are a sign that the last few weeks of busting my ass, smartly, is going to pay off in the form of good summer legs. We’ll just have to wait until the Mont Saint Anne World Cup on July 2^nd to find out! I’m excited to see myself…

I might just apply some of the skills outlaid in the singletrack.com "Novice to Gnar" video series that's dropping right about now at the next two World Cup rounds... Check it out-

http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/06/training/novice-to-gnar-trail-manual_17626

2011-06-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Rallying vs. World Cup

Well, it looks like this contest was decided before it even started. Mostly because, to look back on it, the outcomes of the last two World Cup Cross Country races seemed to be determined about 1 second after the gun went off. For me at least…

For whatever reason I just don’t have the physical fire for the start of these races right now. This lack of superb sprinting ability is compounded by my overly gentlemanly approach to racing. Starting mid-pack in a European field means there are dozens and dozens of guys fired up to sprint and fill that hole you leave open for even a split-second. This approach will see a rider shuffled pretty quickly from the 50’s or 60’s to the 100’s within the first kilometer or two. That rider was me the last two weeks in Dalby Forest and Offenburg. Lame.

In Dalby my body was evidently pissed off enough about the Trans-Atlantic travel that it never came around after the 100^th place first lap. The body did a great job of convincing the brain that this was the way it was going to be, and the brain was strangely accepting, maybe a bit too accepting, of the defeat. I just kind of rode around with some other slow souls, unable to find my normal groove of passing through the field. Fortunately, one of them was Britain’s own ageless Nick Craig, so everyone was going bonkers for “CRAIGEE!” I doubt anyone noticed the duality of their cheering, but I kind of appreciated it. So much so that I never left his little group. We eventually rolled across the line in 81^st and 82^nd spot. After the finish Nick chastised me for not passing him for “The Points”. I informed him that since he’d last raced a World Cup a few years back they’d taken points down to the top 60 and we were in no danger of getting up to that level of suck on that particular day…

One of the fun fast bits on the Dalby track. Pretty fun riding. Just out of the frame is where Brian Lopes and I got to watch and encourage a shoving match between two skinny euros amidst the first lap mayhem. They didn't fight. Sissies.

Nor was I able to get up to that level of slightly worthwhile sucking the next week in Offenburg, regardless of how perfectly idyllic my week spent in Kirchzarten, Germany with the US under-23 National team was. Man, that was a nice week. Sleeping a ton, which my body seems to sorely need even though it gets it pretty much all the time, riding awesome terrain in perfect weather, eating fresh meat and produce from the farm our apartment was on and having a good time hanging out with Gully, Kerry, Jack, Stephen, Amy, Chloe and D. Wayne the hilarious mechanic. It was just the environment that us fun-loving Americans should prosper in. And they are. Ettinger was 10^th and 6^th in Dalby and Offenburg and the rest of the crew was out there battling tooth and nail, taking names and turning heads.

On the way to the Feldberg, the highest point in the Black Forest. Used my sweet white grips to sniff out and shred singletrack all the way home. Nice midweek R&R...

Somehow I missed the prosper boat as it sailed up to Offenburg, captained by the local US Team Physio, Julia. I rested well, warmed up well and when the gun went off, nothing. Dudes roosting by left and right for the first lap, which ended with 126 next to my name on the live timing board. Impressive slide from an already pathetic 67^th call-up. Once the dust and standing around at the technical bits settled out on the second lap I kind of started to feel reasonable. Which I should, goddamn it, since training has been going decently well and it’s almost friggin’ June. Waiting for “racing season” is over. It IS and HAS been racing season for a while now. So I gritted my teeth and started passing guys. Figuring 10 per lap for the six remaining laps and I might sneak into the points. “Almost made it.” 62^nd. Which officially proved that I could have just stayed home for the last two weekends. Far from ideal.

This may seem like self-serving timing, but this topic has come up a lot in the last two weeks. “The Modern World Cup.” Shorter laps, shorter races, more sterile courses, all in the name of enhanced media coverage and spectator involvement, the pinnacle of which is the upcoming 2012 London Olympics. At our ridiculously, unnecessarily nice Hotel Ritter Durbach (****) I had breakfast with Wolfram Kurschat of all people. He’s probably the fastest guy in the World Cup uphill. Down hill, not so much. Even he was bemoaning the modern format, saying the courses had gotten too “conga-line” esque and were difficult to really feel like you were mountain biking and being creatively challenged by the terrain on.

Henk and Nils were challenged by Worry Gill in Dalby Forest… Not Spencer Paxson though, he rides that stuff in his Northwesterner sleep!

http://contour.com/stories/wicked-willy

Most of the probable 2012 Mountain Bike Olympians had a chance to preview the Hadleigh Farm Olympic MTB venue on Monday after the Dalby World Cup. (Another opportunity for the Rabobank Team to exercise large group travel dynamics with little foresight or consideration for effectiveness.) The course is on a beautiful hillside overlooking the Thames River Estuary on the South End of London. While quite scenic, the hill is about 100’ tall and there aren’t many trees. Great place for a picnic. The London 2012 crew has spent a whole lot of time and money building a MTB course in the Modern standard on this little chunk of land. On one hand, it’s great fun to ride and over half of the course is visible from most vantage points. On the other, it’s a holeshot race with little opportunity for overtaking (F1 anyone?) within the very one (good) line circuit. Again, it’s super fun to shred perfect bermed turns broken up by short climbs and “technical” features on your lunchbreak, but to decide the Olympic MTB Champ on this type of circuit is a bit of a stretch.

That’s just it though, the best man is going to win either way, much like the perfectly groomed, perfect conditions courses we raced on the last two weekends. Jarslav Kulhavy (on a full-suspension 29er!!! Holy crap! Go get one NOW!) rode an impressively perfect race from the front in Dalby to win over Absalon, who then turned the tables in Offenburg seven days later to win his fifth straight on that, essentially his home, circuit. Both of these tracks put a smile on my face every lap I ride around them, great flow, spectators making the rounds, they’re great. But they’re also pretty darn sterile and difficult to have dynamic racing on. What’s the solution? Who knows. Maybe the direction of the sport is healthy and the UCI knows what it’s doing, they can’t cater to whiny, struggling pack-fill like me all the time… The old school “tape it wide and raw and let them figure it out” still appeals to me though, just like it did at my first World Cup in Bromont 13 years ago. Maybe that’s it though, for me the allure of mountain biking in the “mountains” grows stronger every year. And the opportunities to do that competitively grow stronger as well… My brain is pretty scrambled lately, we’ll see where it all goes.

See for yourself with this little video we made of a lap around the track. Think you could roost it?

http://contour.com/stories/2012-london-olympic-mtb-course-preview

All this bike racing business aside, being underdogs and getting our hands dirty in the Rally Car still puts smiles on Carl and I’s faces. It always will. We had the scheduling good fortune to race the Oregon Trail Rally a couple weeks ago and had a pretty fantastic weekend in the Portland and Hood River areas. The car was ready way before sunset on the way the event and we didn’t break anything (major) during the three days of racing. Recce went smooth and we did a couple solid training rides over the course of the weekend, even making it home before dark on Sunday. Unprecedented. And what’s expected when two dudes who have gradually figured out what they’re doing get together for a weekend of action. Having always been a bit perplexed by Carl’s lack of desire to court sponsors and “progress” for his Rallying exploits, this weekend of free-wheeling, fun-loving, independant racing, compared with the follwing two weeks of large “sponsored” team dynamics finally shone the light on Carl’s wisdom. Don’t mix business and pleasure.

The first order of business on a Rally weekend is Recce. We drive all the stages and make sure this little book makes sense. It usually does...

And a pleasure it was. Friday afternoon’s super sweet (HARD) ride around the De Ronde loop in Portland’s west hills warmed us up for an evening of racing at Portland International Raceway. Cool mixed surface stages as the sun set and thousands of people showed up to check out the spectacle. A lot of whom were familiar faces from the bike racing world.

Saturday morning we slept till a reasonable hour and headed out to The Dalles to get ready for a full day of rallying. And meet up with our chase plane pilot, Jake Ruhl. He’s got a little Cessna 172 and isn’t afraid of flying it close to the ground. Loves it actually! With a stall speed of around 30 knots, he could follow us low and close with a cameraman hanging out the door. Rad. But before that happened we flatted four miles into a fourteen-mile stage. And thunderstorms moved in. Fast. We changed the flat and Jake figured out how to deal with 80mph gusts, downdrafts and lightning to get a few shots of us on the Ketchum stage before he tucked tail and flew below the storms back to Bend. Thanks for trying!

This is what driving ten miles as fast as possible on a flat does. Not that bad considering. It was pretty good on the straights...

The thunderstorms turned the Dufur area farm road stages into comically muddy tests. We loved it. Then they cancelled the last two stages. Something about not being able to get emergency vehicles on-stage. Fair enough. We were bummed to miss out on juvenile mud-running but happily got back to the Henderson compound before dark and had a good dinner and night’s sleep. Rallying when you’re not totally strung out is way more fun!

Sunday dawned rainy and cold. Northwest springtime… We had fallen out of the top-10 overall with the flat tire incident, but were still leading the Regional rally overall. Carl checked the times between grooving tires for the mud and hypothesized that five stages would be enough to re-claim our usual, rightful, 7^th overall position. Some stages were shortened on account of mud, making this goal a bit difficult for us scrappers, but all of them ended up being perfect in some respect or another. Perfectly muddy, perfectly hilarious, perfectly tacky and FAAAAAST. We worked together well and totally caught up to 7^th overall for the weekend. High five for sticking to our rightful spot… Carl gave me a hall pass and loaded up the car with Tina so I could make it back to Bend in time for a bike ride. There were World Cups coming up after all, and I was stoked to be feeling ready… Hmm.

Carl claims three hours of editing time per minute of rally recap video. I'd say it was worth it. Too bad about the t-storms...

http://contour.com/stories/oregon-trail-rally-giant-accd-2011

For some reason winning the Regional event overall didn't get us in on the champagne spray. Maybe next time we can park closer...

2011-05-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Mellow Johnny’s Classic

It’s officially the end of spring racing season! Things were on the upswing at Sea Otter, kind of leveled off in South Africa, and then took a bit of a nose dive in Texas this weekend… But hey, it’s almost “summer”, which, as I recall, is proper bike season.

After the fairly brutal trip home from South Africa (40-odd hours in transit) I met up with our esteemed massage therapist and all around life enabler, Felice, for a recovery rub. She is normally pretty candid about the state of my lower extremities and this session was no different. The expressions were obvious, as were my reactions. My body was F’d. She dug into all the problem areas (everything) and I trusted her judgment in between wincing and trying to crawl up off the table. I rode my bike back up Portland Avenue afterwards feeling more balanced but quite debilitated. That explained why my bike ride that morning seemed really hard and kind of weird. That was the first step in getting my body and brain back together over the course of two days at home before heading down to Austin for the fourth Pro XCT round, the UCI C1 Mellow Johnny’s classic.

We were excited to stay with the Gentry family again, but not as excited as Tito was to see us... Thanks for having such cool parents, Meredith.

If it wasn’t a solid event with good points I’d have probably skipped it, but after our experience last year, we know the Texans love their mountain biking and that the trails at Lance Armstrong’s ranch are super fun to shred on. So, I went. Which was a good call, as I felt reasonable for the first time all week on race day. That’s how it usually goes, fortunately, especially after another massage from Felice, this one less painful and clearly the final step in the right direction…

These Arctic Heat ice vests are really amazing. Especially as the sun is just coming out on the start line.

Unfortunately, the biggest cheers I got during the race were for riding up the decisive climb, which was packed with spectators, Tour de France style, with a flat tire. It was flat after a kind of mysterious (although I have my theories), quite violent rushing of air back into its beloved atmosphere while I was chilling in 5^th place on the second lap. I had just started the lap, so the tech zone was 3k away. Bummer. It’s a good thing I’m still adhering to the idea that, even though you don’t have to, you SHOULD be able to fix your bike on the trail, in case you were actually on a trail, maybe in Siberia. So I pulled out my trusty spare tube and installed it in a timely manner. It promptly exploded (confirming my theories). So, I rode the flat to the tech zone, perched at the top of said climb. As I approached the climb, kind of annoyed about having ridden 3k of rocky singletrack on a flat, I noticed that the guys in front of me (who were in second through seventh from last at that point) were carrying their bikes. Hmm, guess I’d have to walk too. This meant that the crowd was doubly impressed to see a Rabobank jersey riding up the climb on a rear flat. It didn’t seem that hard, but I guess those guys were tired from the 1,000,000 (91 actual) degree sunshine. I’d had a nice rest (pointlessly) changing the flat. Suckers. Since I’m not allowed to drop out of races, I swapped the wheel at the tech zone and set off to see how far the top 10 was ahead and maybe scrounge some UCI points. Turns out they were a long ways…

Ryan Trebron lent me a book this winter while we were riding in the NorCal rain. It’s called “The Dip” and basically is a book about knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. According to the author, if you’re on a dead-end road, you’re better off turning around and looking for a road that goes somewhere than driving down to the dead end for no gain. This leaves more time to find a road that goes somewhere. Basically, it’s OK to quit, even preferred sometimes. Deep stuff… Well, riding around in the blazing sun, 10 minutes out of the top 10 with two laps to go after a week spent being exhausted is a dead end. So I quit.

This whole spring of struggling and being unable to get out of that pesky 8-Ball’s path I’ve been looking forward to the beginning of May, when we’d have a couple weeks off and time to train, rest and re-center for the beginning of the summer racing season. Well, with quitting the Mellow Johnny’s XC I reached that light at the end of the tunnel about 35 minutes sooner. And Mike van Linden from Fox Racing Shox had extra time to install some prototype, super buttery, fork seals before I took my bike home. He also brought me a prototype Kashima RP23 rear shock, courtesy of head shock engineer Josh Yablon. Josh is keen to get some miles put on the new (slippery gold) coating and Adaptive Logic damping system. That I can do in the next couple weeks of finding out just how high the snow level is getting around The Cascades. There should be some shred time in between testing my 1 and 5 minute power and generally getting in shape. Maybe even lifting some weights. Yeah, “training”. It’s gonna be awesome, and the reportage from the next round of World Cups at the end of May will have a return to my typical sunny disposition and amazing results… I did have some amazing results, once upon a time, right?

The Kashima coated shaft and body boosted compliance and grip to 11 on the surprisingly slippery Juan Pelota trails. It just didn't keep my tire on the rim...

Oh, and Lance wasn’t there, again. Good thing there were plenty of other people around who were stoked on mountain biking. Sorry I don’t have a picture with him… What I do have is this sweet camera phone sequence of a rope swing Spencer Paxson (career best 6^th place this weekend!) and I found on our Sunday morning recovery ride along Barton Creek. Wonder if Lance stops here to cool off too…

I wonder if this rope is going to break?

Nope, but this water sure is refreshing.

Fortunately, while I wasn't having things work out in Texas, Michiel van der Heijden was winning the U-23 race in Houffalize with Henk-Jaap Moorlag a close second. Good work, Rabobank teammates...

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/news/article/rabo.giant.goes.1.2.in.houffalize/15573/

Michiel is a proper mountain bike rider who seems particularly stoked to have learned the phrase "shred". He's always asking if we can go for a shred at the races. Of course we can. Here's a little clip of some SoCal shredding...

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/maestro/

2011-04-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

World Cup #1, Pietermaritzburg, RSA

Yup, still getting surprised by the onslaught of proper racing season. The first World Cup Triple is already in the books for 2011. And it’s a good thing, as folks are evidently FIRED UP to race. I need to get fired up too if I plan to make good in the World Cups this summer, which I do, obviously.

Last week’s racing at the Sea Otter Classic was a good warm-up for the beginning of the World Cup, it just happened to be on the other side of the globe. I departed Monterey, CA (a couple hours late) at 1pm on Sunday and didn’t land in Durban, South Africa until noon on Tuesday. Dang. Fortunately, I planned a “long layover” in New York City and spent the night at my cousin Jen’s place in Brooklyn, getting a few hours of sleep and some great catching up on non-bike racing world stuff. Like her being very pregnant and very excited about it. We all grow up someday and I’m happy to see her moving into a new phase of life.

I’m pretty sure everyone who traveled to Pietermaritzburg from California felt like they started a new phase of life, or maybe ended one… Making up the American travel crew, Katie and I met the rest of the Rabobank/Giant team guys at the Cool Winds lodge and caught up over a nice dinner prepared by the staff there. South Africa is nothing if not a place where there’s plentiful help available, we’d have meals prepared all week as part of our stay. It was good to meet our other new female teammate, Rosara Joseph, who joined Katie and I at the “Gluten Free” end of the table for the week. We got a few more veggies and had some good old-fashioned conversations in English over the course of the week. Welcome to the team, Rosara, and good work riding your New Zealand National Champion’s kit to 14^th place.

Resting is training. Jelmer and Fabien hard at work...

With the Cross Country racing on Saturday there was little time to do much other than one solid day of training before a bunch of lying around trying to get over the obvious jet lag… I think proper training on Wednesday, including some sweet riding in the Cedara Woods trail network with Emil, got me tired enough to establish at least some semblance of reasonable sleep but I was still keeping the light on well after Jelmer hit the sack and was definitely the last one to show up for breakfast in the morning. I can never tell if I’m in trouble for that, but I guess it is what it is…

That's a big Grasshopper!

Race day came fast, as it always does, and I felt pretty ready. Not super duper ready, but as good as I could be given the time of year and week prior. Turns out anything less than 100% just isn’t even close to good enough for the Opening round, or any round. I started with #39, my ranking from the 2010 series, and pretty much stayed there as the course funneled into singletrack after 300m or so. Which was a victory in itself, not losing positions in the start melee, that is… We all knew the nature of the new racecourse they’d built for this event would make the field string out quickly and overtaking would be difficult without miracle legs for the few false flat dirt road sections. The rest of the track was super fun to ride, all bench-cut singletrack with great flow, both up and down, but it just wasn’t the kind of track where you could be clever and make a difference without using brute strength. Which I didn’t have, even on the XTC 29er with amazingly awesome Enve Composites Tubular rims… I felt pretty strong, actually, and feel like I rode pretty well, but all I have to show for it is basically maintaining my position mid-pack while losing a minute and a half per lap to the lead duo of Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter, who I’m sure were able to make a difference somewhere on the track… Nino made the biggest and took first blood of 2011. Todd Wells showed why we won the Sea Otter last week by riding to a solid 10^th place. I got 50^th. Kind of pathetic but also kind of concerning considering the fact that I didn’t really feel bad at all. I just couldn’t push that extra little bit to pass guys on the road sections. Guess I’ll have to work on that in my next block of training at home…

For 2011 the World Cup is featuring a separate race for Under 23 riders. Of my young Dutch teammates, Michiel Van Der Heijden, Marco Minnard and Tim Lemmers raced this event while Henk Jaap Moorlag elected to race with the big boys. Coming off winning the Junior World Championship in 2010, Michiel announced his arrival to the Adult age bracket by riding steadily from his last row start position to 5^th place on the last of 5 laps. Damn. That was a solid effort. Watch this kid…

Shimano had a Braai (BBQ) after the race. They're smart and we love them.

Anyway, I’m kind of at a loss as I travel home, which is essentially taking forever. For not really feeling bad it’s kind of hard to stomach getting smoked. Hopefully this isn’t a trend as the races shift to shorter, less selective, more man-made courses and I shift more towards wanting to have fun and feel good about what I’m doing… Pretty sure doing some more homework and it getting closer to “summer” will take care of it though. Till then, thanks for reading, hope you’re doing your homework too, whatever it is.

Cows living a happy life out in the countryside must be why the beef at The Butchery is sooooo delicious! Man it's good.

2011-04-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Sea Otter Classic ‘11

After getting to see the Otter from the other side last year on account of my sideline status, it was nice to be back racing this year. Although last year’s insight on the topic of non-competitive festival attendance was quite entertaining and informative… Also entertaining was actually being at home in Bend for 9 days and getting some quality training, resting and living in for the first time since the Pro XCT series started over a month ago. Much needed to get back on track for this next chunk of racing. Even though it snowed during about half of my rides…

Something about riding in the morning and kayaking in the evening makes my body feel really good. And my brain...

The struggles of driving around California with recreational ADD still fresh in my mind from the last trip, I wisely flew down to the Otter, allowing a pleasant (snowy again) final morning in Bend before a quick trip to work. Upon arriving we immediately went to Giant Family dinner at PF Chang’s. I have a strict rule about Chinese food avoidance but also kind of missed the family and wanted to catch up so an exception was made. Turns out the food is pretty darn good (gluten free menu even) and it was great to see everyone from the Factory team and office. I miss those guys. Getting to room with Carl was a rare treat too. It gave us time to casually decide to, if it all works out, contest the Oregon Trail Rally on May 13-15. The car is healthy and looks rad after the X-Games treatment so we might as well race it…

Speaking of racing, we did some at Sea Otter. I decided to make a tribute to the G.O.A.T. with my finishing position in both the Short Track and Cross Country. It’s a good thing I did some catch-up training last week because he had a pretty low #... Short Track at Sea Otter is always a good time, a solid crowd gathers on the hillside and the racing is generally pretty dynamic on a good, hard track. Having decided to ride the new Composite 29er at World Cup #1 this coming weekend I steeled myself to ride it exclusively before then, no relapsing into the luxurious world of Maestro Suspension… Carl and I were on the fence for the Short Track though, it’s always BUMPY! Eventually we agreed that it was a Short Track after all, and we should probably just man up and ride the Hardtails. Once the box of 622x2.0 Schwalbe Furious Freds were found in the Factory Team trailer it confirmed this decision. A sub-400 gram 29er semi-slick would make any bike the right choice for short track! And it did. Unless you’re Carl, he didn’t get called up on account of not having raced yet this year (lucky!) and spent a minute watching people get up off the ground before we lapped him three laps later. While this was happening, I got slowed up by the front row’s reaction to Brian Lopes’ fairly awesome inside line in the first turn and subsequent holeshot. After letting things settle out for a lap and passing the fading Lopes I started using his line, and a couple other clever ones, to move up to the front. It’s a good thing, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clear view of Max Plaxton attacking the group of three leaders with impressive power. He made it clear that I should no longer be chasing the win and should instead just settle into 4^th place and save a match or two for tomorrow’s XC…

It’s a good thing I saved that match, it was needed on Saturday for sure! Now, I try not to get caught up in complaining about lame courses and general negativity, but the new “UCI approved, spectator friendly” Pro XC track at Sea Otter is a bit on the soul-crushing side of things… Over the course of each 12-minute lap, four or five were spent on the Laguna Seca race circuit, another 4 on dirt road, leaving 2 for climbing dirt and 1 for descending a “trail” that was actually pretty fun, although completely, utterly, non-selective. Unless you were Todd Wells, Jeremiah Bishop and Sid Taberlay on lap one while Max rode a bit slower, opening the gap… I worked hard with a little bit of help from Sam Schultz and Adam Morka for two laps on the pavement to keep their gap steady, and eventually Sid got dropped, suggesting we might be able to make the catch. Plaxton, who’d be dutifully sitting on while his Specialized teammate was up the road, attacked on the dirt climb (which actually had a solid pile of spectators who got a good show every 12 minutes) and I was just barely able to stay with him as we dropped the rest of the non-aggressive chase group and set off to bridge the 40-second gap. I worked hard with Max and hoped he appreciated it enough to not roll and smoke me up the proper climb at some point. I guess not, as I got stretched after two laps and ended up alone for the remaining couple laps. I spotted some fairly obviously crashing tire tracks that matched Jeremiah’s and then saw him out of the lead group and coming my way. But not fast enough… The gap to 3^rd came down to under 10 seconds by the finish but I ended up with Ricky Carmichael’s iconic #4 for the second day in a row. Hard racing for sure. The rub with lame tracks is that you’re pedaling for all you’re worth pretty much the entire time instead of the usual, pleasant, up/down/challenge program that makes me love racing XC. And makes it a touch easier on the pins… Ah well, there was actually a good crowd so that’s a bonus…

Watch out for those rocks! Sara Salo has an eye for the technical section photos, nice framing with the Expo area in the background too...

The XTC 29 is definitely growing on me,. Having spent a few days on it at home and it being the perfect tool for the XC race here at Otter definitely upped it’s stake in my eyes and I’m stoked to have it in the luggage compartment on this flight from SFO to JFK right now, hopefully it keeps floating up the climbs for me on Saturday in Pietermaritzburg!

I don't recall the floating feeling in this particular shot... Plaxton is about 10 meters up the road and everyone is shouting that at me. I know...

I kind of blew it with the respectable finish in the XC though, as there was a ride with some kids from the Norcal and SoCal High School MTB leagues scheduled for 4:30… Which is when that pesky podium presentation was happening… I called Chris Spencer of NICA to give him the bad news but he just laughed and said they’d meet me there. What a relief. And maybe the kids would take it easy on me if they knew I’d just raced really hard… We went and rode some fun trails around Laguna Seca then retired to their pit area to chat about bike racing. I was impressed with their skills and stoke on the ride but it was during this extended forum that these kids really showed their passion for mountain biking. Pretty much every good question possible was asked and discussed in a productive manner. I supposed that’s the beauty of an event like The Sea Otter, everyone is already pumped on bikes but once they’re immersed in the culture for a weekend their excitement and awareness goes up a notch or ten. I’m pretty sure this trend will continue forever, or as long as there are kids and bikes…

2011-04-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Pan Am Champs 2011

It’s funny to think that I had to travel to Columbia to get caught up on rest and start feeling a bit more normal, if wheezing at 8000ft can be called normal… Hey, it’s all a matter of perception. And the perception of the US National Team couldn’t have been anything but positive after a few days at Hacienda Guanata in Chia, Columbia. Chia is a a suburb on the outskirts of Bogota, population 7,000,000.

I spent the few days between the Fontana Pro XCT and my departure from Columbia having a rest week at home and getting my new XTC Composite 29 dialed in. I’m pretty stoked to be spending some proper time of the big wheels (in particular, the new Stan’s ZTR Race GOLD rim laced to XTR hubs). It will be good to figure out if it is indeed 1% (1 minute in a 1:40 World Cup XC) faster in certain conditions in addition to being able to have an intelligent conversation with my fellow bike riders who seem to ask only one question these days. “What do you think of 29ers?” After my first couple rides on a bike set up for me (not Carl’s prototypes) I’m definitely stoked on the way it just feels fast, even if good ole’ Timmy Evens did point out that he’s still waaaay faster shredding down Sand Canyon on his new Northstar/Giant Team edition Reign… Thanks, jerk.

The trip to Columbia is actually pretty easy in the grand scheme of things, you could probably even drive there if you really wanted to. Which Carl kind of does someday, on a motorcycle, on the way to Patagonia… We landed in Bogota at about 9pm on Thursday and made it through the baggage claim/shuttle loading process about as smoothly as a group of twenty with a bunch of bikes in tow can. Unfortunately (and obviously), it was dark for our drive through the city to Chia so it was hard to get a sense of place. Lights were visible way up in the air though, which generally means big hills. We drove down smaller and smaller back roads outside Chia until turning into our Hacienda, kind of in the middle of nowhere, it seemed. Even my normally sufficient sense of direction was outside normal operating parameters…

Friday dawned a beautiful day, which, thanks to the shutters, we didn’t even know was in progress until about 10… Niiiice. A breakfast of fresh fruit and fried eggs was waiting for (roommate) Sam Scultz and I on the veranda when we emerged from our sleeping cave. Warm sunshine, dry ground and beautiful mountains surrounding the valley. Pretty nice. And mellow. Just what I needed.

The view from the breakfast buffet. Nice place to spend the weekend...

The inevitable bike-building project was smooth, it was great to have former Giant Team mechanic Tom Neb on staff to field silly questions and lend crescent wrenches. Tom’s been in Durango getting his new shop, San Juan Cycles, up and running. www.sanjuancycles.com He’s become a Giant dealer and is focusing on high-end work in between the obligatory shred sessions, which I’m quite sure have gotten even more awesome now that the boy’s got time to ride! (The shop opens at noon)

We were kind of wondering what the “safety” situation would be for us Gringos riding around Columbia after the tales of the last Pan Am Champs in Medellin, 2003. Fortunately, Columbia has been growing up the last few years, getting a bit of control over the Cartels and overall calming down a bit. We still had a police escort on a motorbike to accompany us on our fifteen-minute ride over to the race venue. It quickly became apparent that things were fairly mellow in Chia and we got a bit of local beta on a nice ride up into the hills to stretch out before getting on the racecourse. New Rabobank /GiantTeammate Katie Compton and I set off to check out the scenery and catch up. Beautiful countryside to say the least, small farms interspersed between lavish homes with kids from both playing in the streets while their parents lounged at the cafes that seemed to be every 500m or so along the winding road. There was also some serious bike riding going on, it seemed to be a preferred mode of transportation, even though we were 5k up a legit climb… Which made getting down to town riding on your friend or neighbor’s handlebars a bit sketch.

Steven Ettinger claiming the commute. He later claimed Bronze in the U23 men's race.

Side bonus of our hillclimbing was that we could drop directly onto the top of the racecourse, just as the Masters finished, to check out the fun part before we did the hard part. In true Latin American Style, about 200 meters into the fun part was a surprise hard part. They like the climbs steep around here! And, it turns out, they like the trails proper. This little zone was clearly a place that folks came to ride mountain bikes, the trails all contoured up and down the hillside and were built with the touch of someone who cares. It was good to see. Even the climbing, while steep and hard at times, was technical and thought-provoking for the most part. I was getting in the groove of riding the new 29er by the second lap, but couldn’t help but wish I had given the Columbian MTB community a little more credit and brought my Anthem X, it was rough and tech out there!

Katie checking out one of the smoother, flatter parts of the track. Wonder where that "Zona" sign ended up, Tom Neb...

Saturday passed with a similar amount of sleep and even more lounging around eating the delicious meals prepared by the Hacienda staff. It was really great. Steak for lunch? Finally! Hats off to USA Cycling MTB director Marc Gullickson for setting this little trip up. We also sat down as a group in the evening and discussed the upcoming 2012 London Olympics. It was really nice to chat with Gully and the probable contenders so that we were all on the same page with rankings, selection, scheduling before the Games and overall ideology.

For some reason, team therapist Bernard Condveaux had a sideways view of lunch. I took it straight!

Sam and I championed another ten hours of sleep before Sunday dawned sunny and perfect yet again. No sign of the rain showers that were predicted, and that we were kind of hoping for. Sort of. We dined on more exotic fruit, my favorite being “The Eagle” and moseyed over to the racecourse at around noon. Very nice. The place was PACKED! I know Columbians love their cycling, but it was an impressive turnout. The whole hillside was jammed with people cheering for the U23 race, which happened to be won by a Columbian, just like EVERY XC event and almost all of the DH events. (American Jackie Harmony won the Women’s DH to break the streak) I’d met the Columbian Giant distributor with Katie on Saturday and he spoke of Chia’s ambitions to host a World Cup in the future. With this kind of enthusiasm and venue quality, they might just pull it off!

Some FIRED up Columbians for the Ladies podium.

The North Americans dominated the front row for the start, but we all knew that some locals would soon catch up and be threats for the win. I started solidly, in the top 10 and keeping the leaders in sight on the first climb, while having a battle with one of the hard charging locals who I should’ve just given more credit and let go ahead. Which would have saved me from going that key 1% too hard at this altitude… I paid the price and he continued on. Todd Wells was able to keep local hero Leonardo Paez in sight until lap four of six when he simply disappeared up the climb. Wells and Bishop were gifted a position on the last lap when the Columbian in 2^nd broke something with 2k to go. Bishop got around a lapped rider smoother (without crashing) to take second from Todd.

While all this excitement was going on I was slowly fading back into the teens, knowing that, regardless of my record sleeping the last few days and overall sunny disposition, I needed to stay within my limits. Then Bernard handed me a Coca-Cola (the good South American stuff with real sugar) with two to go and I started perking up a bit. Cracking on the last lap isn’t a big deal so I gave ‘er and passed 5 or so guys to come in 11^th. Not great, not terrible. Stoked to have actually finished a race strong for the first time in a few weeks. Ok, so far this year.

Almost down the hill for the last time! Breathe...

So, how’d that new 29er work? Good and bad. On this course, for me, after having raced six laps, the Anthem X full suspension 26 would have been better. The track got rougher as the race wore on, which was compounded by fatigue, naturally. Climbing was awesome, the composite structure’s stiffness means every watt goes directly to the ground. And since XC races are won on the climbs, this ultimately was an asset. However, the climb was broken up with lots of little descents and bumpy traverses. These are the places that time was there for the taking if you could shift up a few gears and accelerate, which would’ve been better on the duallie. I had a great time descending on the 29er, it’s super light and flickable, enabling me to hit some of the jump lines available and shred around in general. But it’s still a hardtail, which, regardless of wheel size (and low pressure enabled by the NoTubes rims) will never roll as fast or smoothly over chunky terrain as a bike with 4” of travel. So, I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten 11^th either way, I just would have been more comfortable on the Anthem, since I’ve kind of forgotten how to ride hardtails. It’s coming back though! I wouldn’t trade the XTC 29 for my Anthem X just yet, but it’ll definitely get used a bit this year and I’ll continue to learn it’s abilities, or at least have intelligent conversations about it…

We all hung out at the USA tent for a while after the race, watching the awards ceremony in front of the Castle and taking dozens of photos with fans. They really love their bike racing here! The storm clouds we’d been hoping for to liven up the course a bit (more) finally arrived and we experienced our first Equatorial downpour about 500 meters from the Hacienda. Perfect timing, bike washing was taken care of!

I'm sure the mechanics were stoked this this washing technique...

Another relaxing evening and now we’re on the way home. I’m stoked to have survived that first block of racing and am fired up for a ten days at home in Bend to catch up on training. I’ll be ready for the next swing of Sea Otter, World Cup opener in South Africa and Mellow Johnny’s Classic in Texas!

2011-03-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

Cali Spring Racing 2011

Man, we’re already solidly into bike season. I guess last year I kind of forgot how busy springtime could be while I was sitting on the couch (between rehab sessions of course). Regardless of my skewed perception, this year started off busier that most. With the Rabobank Camp in Cyprus and associated travel, it’s a good thing I got in some proper riding in January because I’ve kind of been too wrecked since getting home to do all that much. Which is pretty frustrating. As my departure for two weeks of racing and training in California rapidly approached it became clear that the Cold I’d probably caught on the way home from Cyprus wasn’t going to be ignored and was in full effect for my solo 13 hour drive to Los Angeles for the US Pro XCT kickoff in Bonelli Park two weeks ago. That was a pretty dark day, and not just because of the snowstorm I drove through. It takes a lot to stay positive when you’re starting a pretty key preparation block in the absolute basement…

This isn’t dangerous. Photo-documentation of crappy drives is just as important as not getting in a head-on with a Semi…

Ah well, I took a bunch of Standard Process Echinacea and Zinc, slept a fair bit and hoped for the best. The warm Cali sunshine helped work the bug through and I was sorta feeling reasonable by race morning. It was also disappointing to be feeling so sub-par at a race that normally would have been good for me. The track was pretty legit, Ty Kady from Sho-Air had clearly spent some time creating interesting “pro sections” and the course flowed together really well. Flow doesn’t mean easy though, it was hard! I eased into it and actually felt sort of reasonable for the first few of seven laps. Eventually I forgot about my situation and took it up a notch to pass JHK for 6^th place. Which resulted in a prompt reminder not to dig too deep that came in the form of being forced to ride the last few laps in survival mode on account of a very empty fuel tank… I held onto 9^th in front of a hard-charging Steven Ettinger of the newly formed BMC U-23 team. Those boys are getting quick. Jeremiah Bishop did his homework this winter and came home with the XC win.

As part of both the US Pro XCT series AND the Sho-Air Triple Crown All Mountain series, Bonelli played host to three events. A Super D and Short Track complemented the XC and each rider was given their best of those two events to add to the XC for the weekend overall. The “Super D” (a term I hold great regard for but use loosely in this context) was two hours after the XC finished and to be quite honest, I didn’t have the capacity to dig deep on what amounted to a 30 second fireroad descent followed by 6 minutes of time trialing on the last 1/3 of the XC race course. Ouch. Sid Taberlay beat me by 40 seconds, in addition to everyone else.

A nice Sunday morning ride with the Kona Boys, Barry Wicks, Kris Sneddon and Spencer Paxson through Marshall Canyon seemed to start Short Track day off right, but it soon turned wrong as well. A good start and the lead group was mine for a few laps, but that empty feeling came back quick and I was relegated to the second chase group, which seemed to be comprised of people who love crashing for no reason. It was scary. So I led them to a finish in the teens somewhere for safety’s sake… Wow. Bishop won again and Barry took our good morning mojo to the podium in 5^th.

Trying not to get dropped by Kris Sneddon and the rest of the lead group…

OK, I survived that weekend and salvaged a few UCI points but knew some proper rest was in order before any training in the sunshine commenced. Laguna Beach seemed just the place for that so I moseyed over there to sleep on a friend’s really comfortable couch and lick my wounds…

Fortuantely, since I get bored so quickly when “resting”, Jamie Bate of Velonews and Singletrack.com just moved to Competitor Group’s Global HQ in San Diego and was keen to do a film some tech tips for a new online series they’re working on. He met Pua Sawicki and I at Aliso Woods park in Laguna (where we realized that the trails were a long walk for the camera guys and relocated to Top of the World above Laguna proper). We shredded some stuff, talked about it and watched the sun go down. Stay tuned to singletrack.com for the fruits of our labor.

A chance meeting of Tony “The Tiger”, one of the Laguna Rads, at dinner that night got me an invitation to the Rads Saint Patty’s Day Ride the following evening. Feeling better that morning, I went out and rode all the trails I could find in the Laguna Hills (which, it turns out, was only scratching the surface) to get in some proper riding before what I assumed was a social ride with some beverage stops. Turns out this particular legendary crew of middle-aged dudes SHRED! We rolled out of town into a zone I didn’t know existed and proceed to have a good old time for a couple hours, with only one beverage stop in between pinning it up rad climbs and riding at a very juvenile pace down even radder descents, the last of which delivered us to the Pacific Coast at sunset. These guys have me fired up for the next 20 or 30 years of my mountain biking life!

The man who schlepped the Jamison’s up the first climb… Stoked.

From Laguna I started working my way north with a stop at the Giant Offices in Thousand Oaks for a “Moto” themed photo shoot with Jake and some catching up with the folks who make the Giant Bicycles world go round. One really awesome road ride was squeezed in through the Malibu Mountains while I was in the neighborhood too. Such good roads there.

With my quota of the SoCal hustle and bustle filled and a hankering for some good old-fashioned mountain bike racing I headed further north and east to the southern tip of the Sierra Mountain Range. The Kern River valley is supposedly home to some of the best singletrack in California and the Keyesville Classic happened to take place on my “off” weekend between Pro XCT events in LA. With an All Mountain theme as well, albeit with a bit more “Mountain” in there, I elected to embrace the spirit of the event and race my shiny new Giant Reign (with rad matching Fi;zi:k leather grips courtesy of Amanda at Crankbrothers) for the weekend. Plus, the final Downhill stage was weighted so I hoped I could keep the XC Bandits in sight and then make my move in the funsie race finale.

Turns out when you’ve spent the week getting in shape the combination of heavy legs and heavy bike make it real hard to keep up with the California crew in a proper XC race, which the Keyesville circuit certainly is. I turned myself inside out for the first lap to come through in second place and then was forced to accept reality and take it down a notch, or seven. The 29er hardtail crowd went to work on the relentless steep climbs and quick, buffed to moto-perfection descents while I may or may not have walked a few of said steep climbs… Possibly while Tinker Juarez passed me…

The switch to “fun ride” pace left me time to stop in at the Medical Tent and check on the status of my fellow Northwest Shredder Nathan Riddle, who had crashed SPECTACULARLY right before my eyes practicing Downhill before the XC started. We were riding at 130% of standard hooligan pace when things went pear-shaped. His carnage distracted and scared me enough that I was forced to attempt an impossible rock gap and flatted while he was still starfishing. Talk about GroundSkyGroundSky!. Riddler ended up getting taken to the Hospital in Mountain Gate for observation. X-Rays of his back and foot turned out fine so they just kept him for the day to make sure he didn’t die.

I had procured lodging at “The Singlewide”, a mobile home up a dirt road owned by Dirt Rider magazine editor Jimmy Lewis, “Diamond” Dave Donati and five other motoheads for the express purpose of riding dirt bikes on singletrack in them thar hills. Being dedicated moto riders and thus quite familiar with carnage, they were happy to feed Nathan and give him a futon for the night, continuing the theme of making sure he didn’t die. We had finished the mini-moto session on the front yard track before he arrived, so as not to rub it in…

Can you find the owner of the man-a-palooza garage in this photo?

Sunday dawned fairly miserably. It was about 40 and raining at the trailer when we begrudgingly loaded up for the 9am short track race. I seriously considered keeping my sore legs in bed for a few more hours but the possibility of payoff in the downhill was too great to pass up. Before the DH fun began I had to make it through another pedaling oriented race. Actually, Short Track is ALL pedaling. Since we started with all of the Pros and Cat 1’s, male and female, on a 1:30 lap, I tried to control the pace for a few laps so the rest of the field could race for a while before they got lapped. And because my legs hurt. Tinker didn’t fall for it though, he attacked on the second lap and started eating up chicks and masters like it was a buffet. I got dropped but not eaten.

Finally, it was time for the Downhill. I did some practice laps while the rain continued to threaten and cold continued to set in. Somewhere over the course of the weekend of feeling guttered I lost most motivation to really pin it in the race run, or maybe I was still terrified from Riddle’s example of how bad things could get… Either way, I pedaled hard and took advantage of perfect dirt on a super fun track to turn in a clean run. It wasn’t until I’d changed clothes and was loading (again) the truck that I heard Graeme Pitts shout “I WON!” Turns out he won. 3:02 to my 3:04. Solid work, youngster.

My sweet 90’s moto pants (found in Diamond Dave’s closet) were no match for Graeme’s Team USA skinsuit…

I don’t have Mark Weir’s obsession with making “All Mountain” events heavily weighted toward the Downhill leg, but the Keyesville folks did just that. Probably to save themselves from listening to self-serving whining in case he showed up. I embraced the spirit of the event and got beaten fair and square, regardless of DH weighting, by a guy on a 29er Hardtail. His 9^th in the DH didn’t suck nearly as much as my 12^th in the XC. I kind of like getting beaten fair and square sometimes, keeps you honest. The Keyesville Classic is worth doing, now I know to be a bit more prepared when I come back…

The week after Keyesville I spent up in NorCal with Ryan Trebron, doing some riding in the cold rain around Auburn. He was house sitting for Chris Jones (of the Rapha/Focus ‘cross team) and I figured some coattail riding was in order. Turns out we needed waterproof coats… Super nice riding though, quiet roads and plenty of hills to up the core temperature, if ever so briefly.

The final race in the Cali swing was the second round of the US Pro XCT in Fontana. I flew down on Thursday evening and woke to steady rain on Friday morning. Sweet. Normally rain means mud, trashed hotel rooms and laundry. In SoCal it means wet sand and beaucoup traction! I’d fantasized about racing Fontana after some rain for years now. No dust, great grip on the ball-buster climb and even faster downhills. Should be a fun weekend. Even if it was abbreviated, I’d elected to skip Sunday’s Short Track in favor of getting my weary legs home a day earlier to rest up and pack for this weekend’s trip to Columbia…

The XC stared out fine for me, I settled into the top 10 on the first big climb pretty reasonably and figured I could work with that. Which I did for about 5 minutes. I’m not sure if it was the driving around, the cold road rides, the lack of focus on doing my situps when traveling or the physical nature of the course, but my back wound into a knot of pain almost immediately. To the point that, in between trying to shred perfect singletrack or keep a good rhythm on the climbs, I was stretching so often that it was borderline dangerous. I held on for 10^th, with plenty of energy, but no way to put the power down to the ground. Another kind of frustrating weekend of feeling a bit off, OK, a lot off.

Using Felice’s special back rolling technique to stop the spasms after the XC. Awesome. At least it’s cold out, sweating and being sore would suck.

There was one more chance for good times and competitive success in Fontana though. The Super D. Normally the Fontana Super D is kind of a waste of time for me, a mass start on what is essentially half a lap of the XC. If that had been the case this year I’d have skipped it and had time to shower before my flight north. But, as a little birdie named Joe Lawill told me on the Rads ride the week prior, they’d made a LEGIT course. Starting from the high point of Southridge park, it took in some sweet skinny trails I didn’t even know existed before hopping on the Sport Class DH course and finishing along the Short Track circuit. I borrowed a panty dropper seatpost and put a short stem on my Anthem Advanced to enhance it’s (ample) shredding abilities and charged my race run. I was fastest down of the XC guys with a 5:47. As I was changing and getting ready to head to the airport I heard Waylon Smith’s time at 5:45. Nice work, Waylon. Then, Brian Lopes came down, he did a 5:35. Dang. That’s fast enough that I almost can’t claim fatigue from the 2 hour XC race that finished 2 hours before the Super D as an excuse. Would he?

Anyway, Cali was fun, but more fun was being at home for two days and getting caught up, even just a little bit, on life. It’s been a busy spring, not an ideal one to be behind the 8-Ball in terms of fitness and fatigue. Hopefully it’s all part of the plan to be super fast at Worlds in September. I’m pretty sure the heavy legs and twitching eye (my fatigue barometer) will be long sine forgotten by then. Who knows, maybe they’ll be forgotten this weekend in Bogota…

2011-03-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

Rabobank/Giant's Cyprus Camp 2011

Trying to leave my Only Child ways behind and become a team player with the Rabobank boys is going to be fun this year. An Le at Giant and I agreed that it would be good to kick things off before the first World Cup (less than two months away!) by attending a Training/Racing Camp with the crew on the Island of Cyprus. Having not been there, all I knew about Cyprus was that it was in the Mediterranean somewhere (near Greece?) and had an early season race series called the Sunshine Cup. Sounded promising. Turns out it’s tucked in the far northeastern corner of the Med, between Turkey (which has upheld military occupation of the northern third of the island since 1974) and Israel. My decision to attend the camp came after the holidays but before all hell broke loose in North Africa, just a few hundred kilometers to the south. Cyprus has been essentially unaffected, so far, but it was strange to have the first billboard I saw promoting “Four Weekly Flights to Cairo!” I wonder if those flights have resumed…

Our home for the camp was the quiet little village of Kalavasos, nestled in a small valley about 5k from the southern coast. Which happened to have an extremely large factory, Vasilliko Concrete Works, next to an extremely large power plant, Vasilliko Power. Either direction along the coast was quite beautiful though, and it was kind of nice to see some of the infrastructure that makes Cyprus tick. Sometimes in traveling we get to see just the good stuff and don’t have to consider exactly what makes the lights turn on… I turned the lights off a lot in the last ten days…

The people of Kalavasos were super relaxed, as I suppose most islanders are wont to be. The same dozen or so older fellows would hang around the square in the sun, playing cards and smoking. Then in the evening the working age folks and younger crowd would come down to watch football and have a pint of Keo lager with their crew. The small streets encouraged a slow pace to moving about town and nobody was bothered when we’d block the way to load our bikes. Plus, the local bike shop had internet, so we’d inevitably end up mingling with the townsfolk in the square whilst looking for the end of the aforementioned internet. Cultures collide I suppose…

But, down to business. First I had to GET to Cyprus. It’s really far from Bend, Oregon. Fortunately, I had a 36-hour stopover scheduled for me in The Netherlands for some obligatory Rabobank Team testing. Fresh off the plane I was whisked over to a small Dutch Olympic center in the Amsterdam Suburbs for a Max Power test on the bike. An hour after I stepped off the plane I was pedaling for all I was worth. Which, shockingly, wasn’t much. That’ll keep the road teams from hassling me at least... A quick drive over the German border to Team Manager Leo Van Zeeland’s flat in Keeken for some serious sleep brought me to my next appointment. Medical testing at a hospital in Eindhoven. Teammate Jelmer Jubbega picked me up in his sweet little Mitsubishi Colt and we there in no time. EKG, Ultrasound of our hearts, a physical exam and full blood test were done efficiently and, after a chat with a doctor to go over the results and confirm our health, that of twenty-something professional athletes, we were on our way back to Keeken. Whew. A quick (but careful) bike packing job on my new Anthem Advanced took up the remaining time until Marco and Micheil showed up and it was back in the car for the trip to Dusseldorf to catch our flight to Larnaka at the crack the next day.

I’m not sure if it was the Trans-Atlantic flight, the Max Test, the day at the hospital, the 4 hours of sleep or the steak and prawns dinner on the way to Dusseldorf, but my first order of business after clearing security quite hurriedly in the morning was to barge into the men’s room and forcibly vacate a urinal so I could throw up quite violently. Nice. Nothing like sitting down next to an attractive young lady on a 4-hour flight and saying, ashen faced “Hello, um, I’m feeling ill so if I say I need to get up, I’m probably in a hurry, thanks.” Welcome to Air Berlin flight 6673 to Larnaca, Cyprus…

It was worth it though. After 24 hours of illness I came around and set about riding some bikes in the sun. The boys were racing in the first round of the Sunshine Cup on the Sunday, which I’d already planned on skipping, so Micheil and I were delegated to tech zone duty, which meant sitting in the sun and watching Emil jump over a muddy rut that everyone else rode through for no reason other than the lemmings before them did it. He was also winning until the last lap, which is the one that counts. Austrian Karl Markt(??) took advantage of a bobble on Emil’s part and took the win with our obligatory Swiss teammate, Fabien Giger, in third. Stacking the podium, I like it. Michiel and I rode home, getting a handle on the scale of our Cyprus tourist map. It’s not THAT big of an island…

I rode past this ancient Tenta settlement on day, it was all set up with interpretive kiosks. Pretty cool to see how they lived a few thousand years ago on this island...

The next week went by quickly, a big solo road ride on Monday softened me up for a team training ride around the upcoming weekend’s Point to Point racecourse in the Macharias forest on Tuesday. Fortunately, a Swede kicked a rock up into my rotor halfway up the hour-long climb so I had an excuse to “stop” (not get dropped) and straighten it. Thank God… We were rewarded for our pedaling with a shuttle back up to ride the (epic) descent of the course again, this time under the direction of retired World Cup DH honch Oscar Saiz. Oscar has been teaching the Rabo guys how to shred this winter and I can say first hand that it’s paying off. We had lots of fun.

Oscar Dropping some knowledge before we drop in.

Some resting and some more riding, and lots of eating and sleeping, and it was Friday morning and time for the first day of the Axflentia Stage Race, which happened to be a UCI Hors Categorie event. Big points and money for the fast guys. Which, after the day one Time Trial, it appeared that there were 25 or so who were faster than me… Marco and I tied at 17:37 for one lap of the Cross Country Circuit loop, which would be used again on Sunday for the final stage. At least I’d gotten the first race effort of the year out of my system and could start to remember how to dig.

Turns out I really, really needed to accelerate that ability to dig’s progression for Saturday’s 44k Point to Point race. The “neutral” start in a small village on the edge of the forest already had me on the limit and, after 5k of climbing pavement I was the last guy in a group that looked to be 60 or 70 strong turning onto the dirt. Which was all I could muster. Ouch. Settling into working with groups for the next hour of fireroad climbing and descending was also more than my legs and brain could handle. Fortunately, after some seriously negative minutes (tens of minutes) alone and watching the race ride away, we got on the trails that I didn’t lightly give the descriptor “epic” in a previous paragraph. The E4 trekking route along the spine of Cyprus is easily as good as any trail I’ve ever ridden. Climbing beautiful limestone ridges connected with burbling creeks and dense thickets is my kind of mountain biking. And evidently guys who can slay dirt road climbs aren’t into pushing it up proper trail. I kept up my pathetic pace but somehow passed a whole bunch of guys over the final 6k of climbing the E4. This set me up to pass another dozen or so shredding back town a spur trail toward the finish. Still, I was at least 10:00 down and had no idea of my position. Coulda been 50, coulda been 70. Kind of bummed to feel that small all day. Turns out it was 41^st, what a relief… Kind of. Not really.

Here's current Junior World Champ Micheil Van Der Heijden shredding the descent. Kid is legit.

The relief came after the gun went off for Sunday’s standard cross country race. 6 laps of a 6k loop, that’s something I know how to do! I rode sorta respectably, with guys I recognized at least, and ended up finishing 25^th on the day. I was really hoping Emil would get the win he clearly deserved before flatting (while leading with 4k to go) in the previous day’s Point to Point but it was not to be. He ended up 3^rd on the day and 4^th for the overall stage race. Fabian was 5^th to keep our podium flanking ways alive. The rest of the team was solid, Marco 11^th, Nils 13^th, Tim 26^th and the token American bringing up the rear in 29^th. I still get a decent chunk of UCI points for even that level of effort, so, mission accomplished, I guess? Or, maybe, confirmation that February is a bit early for a guy like me to be racing bikes. Either way, it was a fun weekend and I’m glad to have the first effort under my belt. Now I know there’s some work to be done before the World Cup opens in South Africa. Plenty of time…

After a week of cooking at our apartments as a group of 13, we elected to dine out on Sunday night. Emil used his seven years of Sunshine Cup attendance to direct us to The Captain’s Quarters fish house in the seaside village of Zygi. Once we received the menu the choice became obvious to all but a few of us. Let the Chef prepare a classic Cyprean Fish Meze for us to sample the fruits of the Mediterranean. It was delicious, even the fried whole softshell crab. The platters kept coming and the few teammates who stuck to their Dutch ways even tried a thing or two, in exchange for Frites that we didn’t have room for after all the delicious fish…

After a pleasant Monday morning ride along the coast with Tim Lemmers and another quick bike packing job, I’m on my way home. Although that was yesterday, it’s two days, five flights, and a drive to and from Leo’s brother Karel’s house to get from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Bend, Oregon on this particular itinerary. Good thing it’s still the off-season…

Looks like a nice place for a private dip, eh?

Thanks for reading, hope your winter is going well.

P.S. I’ve joined the 21^st century and am on Facebook (adam craig) and twitter (@A_Craig) if you want to receive more regular babblings…

Armand wanted "action" photos so Emil Lindgren obliged by taking it to 11... Awesome

2011-02-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

Winter 2011 Update

Time Flies! It seems like yesterday was the 2010 Cyclocross Nationals in Bend. Turns out it’s been two months since that happened and now I’m on a plan to Europe for a Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team training camp on the Island of Cyprus. Pretty cool. But something must have happened in the last couple of months. Let’s take a little look back for some highlights…

First off, I never formally reported on ‘Cross Nats… Sorry about that, the following sections will explain why. Basically, I’ve been busy being not busy… Nationals was a good time as always, enhanced by the fact that it took place in my place of residence, Bend, Oregon. The weather once again delivered perfect “cross conditions” (whatever that means) and a good time was had by racers and curios bystanders alike. The bystanders were especially curious during the Singlespeed race on Thursday. A whole bunch of guys, some of whom took themselves quite seriously, were slip sliding around having a good time on simple bikes with simpler outfits. I slip slid the fastest and won the first official SS National Title (even though it was a horizontal stripe jersey) for the hometown crowd.

I'm totally winning in this photo. Can't you tell? Thanks to Lindsey Vories for the proof...

The proper race at Nationals started and ended the same way as last year, with #7 on my bib and next to my name in the results. At least it was partially earned this time on the world’s pimpest singlespeed, my TCX Advanced SL (which has now moved on to really fast bar commuter bike duties)… Todd Wells narrowly edged out homeboy Ryan Trebron for the win. Too bad we couldn’t please the GIGANTIC crowd a little bit more and keep the Elite title in Bend… My Dad, Harvey, came out to watch the carnage and had a jolly good time trying to get a handle on what was happening… Then we partied kind of hard with the Embrocation Boys and Mosley Wotta. Madison, Wisconsin has the bar set pretty high as we send Natz their way for 2011-2012…

In addition to being a miracle worker Acupuncturist, Amy Moll takes a mean iphoto...

Dad stayed in Bend for another week to help me with some projects at the new house on Portland Ave. We spent most of the week making the garage workable with things like “doors” and “insulation”. In between there was some time for some snowmobile skiing out at Paulina and some cheeseburger eating at Deschutes. Thanks for coming out and passing some more knowledge my way, Dad.

After family visit time, The Streak began. Dates are a little foggy, but from December 20 till January 16, days went something like this- Wake up, check weather report and avalanche forecast while making eggs and bacon, load gear, drive into hills, go skiing, high five, drive back to wherever it was we started, hang out, sleep, repeat. It was pretty awesome.

Steep lines were skied in Central Oregon right up until the moment we left for a holiday trip to the Flathead Valley of Montana to visit Lizzy’s Family. The first day there was spent skiing and we just kept it rolling down to Missoula a few days later. Had the opportunity to consult with Sam Schultz’s “dolphins” on the surprising depth of the pow at Lolo Pass. Lost Trail Pass confirmed, in a unique way, that little areas do indeed ROCK by being devoid of lift lines but packed with rowdy ski lines all day only to produce a healthy line for last chair as locals got their fateful last run in. Hoots and Hollers echoed from the hills as hucks gave way to crud shredding.

Sam made a little video on Lolo Pass before his telemarker friend broke a binding and ended our day... We had lots of fun.

http://yfrog.com/n8v7dz

The stoke was high enough to carry us a few hundred miles south through the Salmon River canyon to Sun Valley. I’d been feeling bad about never going to visit the Smith Optics boys in their hometown so we made a point of it. Chopper directed us to The Powerhouse for a few Belgian Trippels with Billy Olsen upon arrival. This meant I wasn’t at my best for 2011 contract negotiations with Gabe after a sunny two-hour skin up Endurance the next morning, but after some classic Gang Skiing on the way down we agreed I was back on the team. Stoked about having optical deliciousness on my face this year!

Got back to Bend and, whoa, it had snowed five feet! So we went and skied some more pow. Keepin’ the streak alive!

Local DPS Skis Rep Jeff Remiker has good product placement skills. Little Alaska sluff management!

Now we had to focus on skiing daily to stay fit for our impending trip to Interior BC and the Valhalla Mountain Touring lodge. Canada is never that far from Bend and it’s always worth the drive from what I can tell. We arrived in Nelson on the heels of a solid dump and knew the week was going to be a good one. Whitewater Ski Area (covered in fresh) was the perfect hill for Lizzy and I’s matching new DPS Carbon Fiber skis. They worked real nice… A day of lift wrangling had us set up perfectly for the next day’s snowcat ride into the middle of nowhere, BC. The Valhalla Mountains and a lodge tucked neatly into one of their valleys would be our home for the next week of super condensed eat, sleep, ski, drink, BS, repeat with a dozen other like minded buddies. Perfect.

Looks warm and beautiful, right? It's -10F and we're about to scurry off the lake amidst 6" snow/slush/ice settlement. Our retreat tracks were hilarious once we climbed the ridge and looked back down...

And then, snap, we were in Spokane, Washington on the way home and the thermometer read 64 degrees a short four hours after leaving a 5’ in 5 days storm in the great white north. Must be bike season!

To kick off 2011’s bike time properly, Timmy, Carl and I met Phil Meglassen (of Phil’s Trail fame) out at Horse Ridge for a little trail work before the first pedalstrokes of the season. It was a pretty fun to re-route a few hundred yards of straight sandy trail into a double fall line rolling flow session, no brakes required when I rode it nicely buffed in this Monday!

Just because a tree has been dead for 30 years doesn't mean it shouldn't be transplanted...

For the last month it’s been perfect in Bend. Absolutely perfect. If you like riding bikes in the middle of the winter. Sorry about all the skiers who have been S.O.L. on the snow front…

I still took a little break from perfection to head down to Southern California for some bike business multi-tasking. Mostly it was to see the late Russ Okawa off. Russ had been a pillar in the bike industry since the beginning, fostering everything from the growth of BMX racing to electric bikes for the masses. He’d been in our Giant family for ages and his team dinners will be sorely missed. Although I’m not sure the schnapps will be…

While down south I had the opportunity to attend the Dodger Stadium AMA Supercross race with Andrew Juskaitis and his fine wife Megan Blades. Bend buddy and All Access Staging principal Eric Eastland set us up with VIP passes, which meant that after watching Eli Tomac battle to second place in his third SX race ever we got to walk the track and meet up with him and his dad, the great Johnny T, at the Honda pits. Pretty awesome that the Tomac name is still comfortable atop the results sheet. Wonder where the kid will go from there…

Unfortunately, John was unable to join us for the best ride ever the next day in Santa Barbara. Decline Magazine’s Mark Jordan took us on a loop of such perfection that I had a really hard time containing my childish giggles for at least an hour of descending and problem solving back to the car. Wow. And thanks.

Since the little SoCal weekend I’ve just been at home, taking advantage of rad weather to put in solid 20 hour training weeks on the road and (perfect) dirt. Doing a bit of cross training at Rebound and on the Dirt Bike too, just to keep things balanced and smiling. The plan for 2011 is coming together quite nicely with input from Bart Bowen and the folks at Giant and Rabobank. They just threw their trump card this week, actually, announcing the addition of Katie Compton to the Rabobank/Giant Offroad Team. As long as she doesn’t end up faster than me I’m stoked to have another Gringo and rider of her caliber on the team! We’re going to turn some heads this year, mostly those that are looking in the direction of World Cup Podiums! I think it might be a good year and I’m pumped to have a good solid month of training under my belt already. Riding in the winter with a focus on a successful season is a pretty awesome thing, one that I sorely missed last year. Stoked to be back on track!

So, here I sit, on a flight to Amsterdam, on the first day that it’s snowed in Central Oregon since January 14. Other than being a teensy bit bummed to miss out on a powder day, it’s pretty perfect timing and hopefully a sign that this season is going to be one where the luck comes my way on a regular basis!

2010-12-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hometown Days

For some reason this fall ended up being pretty busy. I guess that’s because I’ve got a busy job combined with a predisposition to always be doing stuff. Being on the road every weekend for a month racing ‘cross was super fun and pretty productive, but I’d been looking forward to these last two weekends at home in Bend for a while. And look at all the stuff that got done! I won't bore you with photos of how organized the garage is. But here's one of how rad the new garage is gonna look someday!

The main project is obviously building on my decent fitness in the last month to be even more ready for Nationals next weekend. This has been difficult. Sometimes November brings sun and 50’s and rad mountain biking in the desert. Sometimes it’s brings temps in the teens and a fair bit of snow. We got the latter, starting when I returned home from Colorado. Oh well, I can run, ski, ride the trainer (which I kind of hate) and ride outside in pretty abysmal weather to stay fit. Or rested at least… The plan seems to be working out although the last week has been tough, it’s a good thing I’ve got Bart and Brig over at the Rebound SPL to keep me slightly motivated to do workouts inside or things might have gone completely by the wayside…

Brig getting things set up for a session. I told him the wrong Lactate Threshold so my workout was really hard. Oops.

Fortunately, there was a local race two days after Thanksgiving up the street at The Inn at The Seventh Mountain. This meant that I could do a day on the trainer, a day of racing then hope for a day outside and end up with a solid block anchored by my favorite workout, the one where someone says “GO!” and you try super hard for an hour of fun and heavy breathing. The Crossflixation Cup course was super fun and coincided with a serious snowstorm. My morning warmup ride in 4”of fresh and still nuking had me wondering if I should stop at Carl’s and get some track spikes on the way to the race. Turns out the other categories had burned the track in pretty well for us by the afternoon. Thanks, other guys and gals. I figured I’d pretend it was Nationals and give ‘er from the gun, which resulted in promptly stacking on the fast snowy rad downhill and soaking my gloves. So, if I wreck at nationals, I’m going to stop at my car after a lap and get dry gloves so I don’t freeze my little fingers off for the next 55min. Other than that, it was totally like Nationals better be, some serious snow shredding combined with some serious heckling and snowball throwing from the local spectator crew. And I won. Good times and a good workout. Plus, the Inn has Apre-Ski all-you-can-eat chili starting at 3pm, just enough time to trade bike shoes for Sorels and head inside for some chili. They kind of expect you to have a drink too…

This part was REALLY fun. When I wasn't crashing. Really fun. And fast. And dangerous.

Hutch's Bike Shop manager John Frey was glad I lapped him with one to go so he could warm his shins up five minutes sooner. He wanted to borrow my sweet jacket for them. No deal.

In between all of the bike riding and whatever else it is that I do to stay really busy I got my snowmobile running so Josh and I could go skiing up in the high country in November. Novel idea. Day one didn’t work out so well…

Note open ski racks. Yup, I had to unload the "lifeboat" and go find Josh, who'd bailed waaay before it got this bad, to help dig out.

Second try on Monday was a little more productive. We skied a line on Broken Top I’ve been looking at for years but just never bothered wandering out and up to. Turns out it was worth it. Nothing like a classic line to close out a weekend of training…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WehlwdyP7rQ

P.S. I just joined Twitter. @A_Craig will have all kind of clever musings sometime soon... Maybe the other social networking site will follow soon... It's gonna be a long winter!

2010-11-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

New Belgium Cup

I don’t want to sound like captain obvious here, but bikes and beer go together quite well for a lot of people. Whether it’s that’s frosty cold one on the tailgate after an evening ride, a reward for racing hard on Sunday or the reason that you ride a bike Downtown Anywhere, USA, this fine partnership can’t be denied. The founder of New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, Jeff Lebesch learned this on a bike tour of Europe in 1989. He came home and immediately set about developing his own business crafting delicious Belgian style ales. Not forgetting his roots, Jeff made bikes a central focus of his business and has built the brand around two wheels. I learned all this from former Pro road and track cyclist Sarah Uhl on a tour of the Brewery Sunday evening after a weekend of racing in Fort Collins. This third Round of the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross was surprisingly the first foray into supporting large-scale competitive cycling for New Belgium. Normally the champions of bikes as a more basic transportation necessity and lifestyle choice, the NBB crew decided to bring the USGP to Fort Collins and with it a taste of upper echelon competition for local community. Not surprisingly, it was a knock-out, kind of like Sunday Night…

This camera phone photo does no justice to the beauty that is the upper level of the New Belgium Brewhouse. Go check it out sometime. Maybe the VIP taps will be flowing...

Leading up to that closing party at the Brewery’s tasting room were two days of classic cyclocross racing. An active weather week on the Front Range took the dry, dusty, hillside field venue and gave it a solid watering then snowed and froze to trap all that excitement into the ground for the weekend when just barely sunny enough skies pulled it to the surface and made things proper slick for us. Thanks, weather.

Alice Pennington got 6th on day one. Dang. Wonder what Luke is doing today?

I hired a local friend of a friend, Christian Hartwig, to help me out in the pits for the weekend and it was money swell spent. Bikes got pretty hosed out there… Day one’s race necessitated pitting every couple laps to keep your bike grass/mud/snow free and usable for, well, biking… Whenever it’s nasty I get all excited and think I’m a super duper good bike handler who rides amazingly clever lines and can win races on the twisty descents, of which there were plenty on this track. My front row callup and actual decent start put me in position to do just that for the first couple laps but my less fit than the other guys legs didn’t hold up their half of the bargain, and by that I mean ¾, as that’s how much of each lap was spent climbing up muddy grass or traversing lumpy bogs. Oh well, I settled into 6^th position and then got done late in the race by a hard charging (by shredding clever lines) Zach MacDonald and Jeremy Powers, who’d stopped crashing as the course dried out to finish 8^th. Geoff Kabush had good enough legs to take one for the mountain bikers. Nice.

Kind of struggling up hills on Saturday...

Sunday dawned, if you can call it dawn, with a fresh dusting of snow and a thick freezing fog. Fortunately, the City of Fort Collins loves it’s bicycles enough to plow the bike paths before the roads so my morning spin was unimpeded. Impressive. It must have been this extra effort that gave me better legs on a drier, but still slick, track for Day #2. I again started well and again trailed off the group a touch on the climbs but was within striking distance when my front tire began to have a little bit TOO much traction and promptly went flat. I was just riding along… On a pinner ‘cross tubular with 25PSI slamming trough ruts from a weekend of racing in between hopping up a railroad tie pile obstructed climb and over 18” high barriers. I can’t imagine what could have gone wrong… Riding the flat took me out of the lead group and I would never regain it. Better legs and a bit of attrition (see www.cyclingdirt.org for Todd Wells going OTB) found me chasing Jamie Driscoll for fourth place on the last lap as the sun set over the Front Range. I tried talking smack “I’m coming for you, Jamie” but to no avail. He hung on for fourth and I had a solid fifth. Sunday racing is way better than Saturday racing…

Having a way better time going down on Sunday...

Christian doesn't seem impressed with my recovery drink...

I suppose this brings us back to square one, riding a borrowed cruiser from Schwalbe Tires’ Henry Horrocks’ Old Town Bungalow to The Brewery for a tour and a few pints of delicious Belgian ales while race principle Jason Trujillo told the story of the event and thanked everyone involved tied the weekend together quite nicely. I’m not sure where the dive bar and jello shots fit in, but it made having a townie with a flat tire less annoying on the wintry ride home… Thanks for reading, see y’all in Portland on Dec 4 for the continuation of the USGP, I’m gonna work on my ability to pedal between now and then…

The brewery tour finishes with a flourish... We could've used the sliding practice Saturday morning...

If you want to learn more about how rad my cross bikes are this fall, check out this cyclingnews spot that James Huang put together this weekend. The Di2 is extra special in the mud/grass/snow/frost...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pro-bike-adam-craigs-rabobank-giant-tcx-advanced-sl