Bear Springs Race

Race#2 of the season for me. This time I started a little fresher, as had been resting the last couple of days as opposed to doing intervals. This race was a blast last year - lots of technical sections, some good downhills and a few ramps.
I arrived about 45 min before the race start - not in a big hurry, as last year everybody showed up late, and the start got delayed by an hour as everyone had to file their paperwork. But this time I was one of the last to arrive, good except for the fact that I bottomed out the van in one of that last available crappy parking spots. A quick warmup, and all ready to go on time at 11 am. Here's the play-by-play from my perspective :

The relatively large group of Pros and Experts take off. As usual, I have strategically placed myself near the back of the pack. We blast down the tarmac for a minute, then it's off to the right up a steep unclimbable dirt road - everybody off their bikes and running raggedly up the rutted incline - stupid start, much chaos. A stretch of wide dirt track for a while, where passing is possible. I finally pass a few poeople after 20 minutes or so, and right after I drop my chain on a downshift before a dirt road climb, and all those I passed and more get by me ! I don't seem to have much wind, and notice I am riding alongside people who usually finish near the back. Catch up to ChrisS - we had a great neck-and-neck race last year, maybe more of the same this year ? I get by him and then later a few more, then time for some downhill. Someone's right behind me... hey it's ChrisS - alright the race is on !

Notice at the 1:15 hour mark I'm starting to get tired - not going to be a big day it would seem. Hit a bit of a climb though, and I'm chugging along nicely. The trails are great, and I allow myself to forget I'm racing for a bit and just have fun. Now approaching the 2 hour mark, which based on last years time, means about another hour or so to go. But is the race longer or something, because there's some points of reference which I haven't seen yet - so yeah either I'm slower (not impossible), or the race is longer. A group of 3 surge past me on the road. I decide to try hanging on to their wheels just for fun - see how long I can last - but I end up staying with them for a while. A little bit later they are hanging onto my wheel, and later yet I've dropped them. Thanks guys. I guess I didn't know I could go faster. Now getting into the last half hour of the race. Lots of techy stuff that wears you out, but I'm feeling great (as opposed to last week's race, where I was in 'survival mode' for the last 1/4 of the race). Passing a few more people here and there. Now hit the rooty slick riverside trail - the bike and me are rolling this stuff great (29'er advantage). Then the steep climb out of the ravine - lowest gear grunting and several dismounts up steep switch-backs. Up to the last, steepest climb, and feeling pretty wasted, am about to dismount, when up ahead I see someone still on their bike, almost reaching the top. Inspiration, and I try it and make it as well - hey it was a girl - the top pro female.

Inside 10 minutes to go and I push hard. Pass several casualties - poeple collapsed on the side of the trail cramped up, some just leaning on trees still on their bikes. Onto the road for the final stretch to - and no one behind me, so don't have to sprint too hard. I get 4th out of 17 - one of my best results ever - quite the reverse from last week, which was probably my worst. And I learned a valuable lesson - go faster !

Training observation #1

Building leg muscle over the winter appears to be useful. Because this year I didn't, and I seem to be feeling the effects. Let me explain : in my training program, you do a bunch of heavy leg lifting during the winter, culminating with a month or so of really heavy weights, with few repetitions. For example last year I recall pushing almost 800 lbs in Leg Presses, over 5x my body weight. Then you go into on the bike training, then racing, etc. So after many months on the bike, I went back to the gym to see how many lbs I could push with my legs, and the results were pathetic - like no strength or power at all. Yet I could ride my bike for 3 hours hard in a race with no problem. From this I concluded that leg exercises in the gym must be useless. So, I didn't do them this year.

So what ? Well, I noticed that when I started doing intervals on the bike this season, my legs were hurting, but my lungs were good. So then I determined that building up the legs with weights is fairly useless wrt racing, but it provides a training effect early in the season by forcing the lungs to work harder. So you don't need it later on, but earlier on is good as a jump start.

I Mudd

After some trials and tribulations, finally got to attend the much vaunted Mudslinger race. This is usually the first mountain bike race of the season, and has a huge attendance. I could never ascertain the reason for this, but I postulated it was only popular because it was the first opportunity for training-happy racers to show their stuff after coming out of hibernation, during which they spent 9 hours a day on the trainer. It can't be for the quality of the trails, which are still pretty wet and muddy. And ditto for the weather.

So last year I signed up but never made it, due to an inconvenient early spring snowstorm that resulted in my abandoning the early morning 3-hour drive across the Pass, because I didn't want to risk my life fighting through snow at high speed to make it there on time, and then of course there was the fact that it would probably be pissing down as much rain on the Other Side as snow on this side. So yeah, much easier to go back to bed and forget about it.

This year was determined not to repeat the past, and planned to leave the night before and camp out near the race. I was just about to start packing the van, and doing a pre-trip check on the vehicle, when I noticed a large burp on the front tire sidewall. Hmm, definitely some sidewall separation going on here, don't want to be doing any treacherous Pass driving on this here car - no sir. Well, maybe take the smaller Subaru, in which case would have to tent it (as opposed to sleep in van). Check forecast : raining and low of 42 - not fun for setting up tent. Alright, change plans and get up at 5am to drive over in the morning, just like last year. And the funny thing is, there is a snowfall warning until 5am the next day. Sheeyit, deja vu.

So get up at 5am - no snow around here or anywhere, so all systems go. Briefly contemplate abandoning back to bed, cuz race forecast is kinda chilly and wet, but of course go for it anyways... Drive through a bit of snow, and arrive by 9am at the cold and damp race start area. Large crowd as usual, and start near the back of the Expert group. I'm not feeling too rabid, only been on the MTB a few days, had some weird intestinal bug earlier in the week that had me horizontal for a coupla days - blah blah blah excuses - so just planning on going at a good steady pace and see what happens.

The rain holds off at the start, and we set off on a steady climb up fire roads for the first little while. Then an abrupt turn into singletrack, and the fun begins, as the muddy slop of trail is first encountered. Man, with only 50 or so riders in front of me, it's already turned to mushy crap, what will it be like the 2nd lap ? I hold my position mostly for the first hour or so, with only the occasional single-speeder (they started a bit later) getting by. I don't pass anybody either, which means I'm still in the latter part of my class. But feel great, constantly outputting over 100% of LTHR. The mudfest on the singletrack is actually starting to be fun - no traction at all - just controlled sliding. The occasional rider can be seen clambering back up slick slopes to the trail, after a wash-out and tumble down the side. Interspersed with the single track are some great fire-road vistas, and the overall experience is somewhat more pleasant than I had anticipated.

The first lap ends in a fun twisty downhill slick-fest, and back onto the fireroads for Big Climb #2. The legs are starting to fail a bit now. The Lungs are having a relatively easy time, and are finding Legs to be a bit of a party-pooper.
After a downhill section, Legs have decided to demonstrate their displeasure by cramping up. Now we all have to go slow because of stupid Legs. Amazingly the trail conditions have not deteriorated as I had presumed - in fact in some cases things seem to have improved - perhaps all the really squishy mud has been splashed off to the sides by the passage of riders.

On the last downhill, pass a bunch of people who are mud-sliding slowly, and get onto the road for the final climb to the finish - a gradual 2 or 3 mile affair that is exceedingly annoying after racing for over 2.5 hours. I expect many of the people I passed on the downhill will now be gaining on me. After a while, look back, and sure enough there's a posse of 4 or 5 riders getting closer. Push a little harder if that's possible, and when I look back they are gone. Almost at the finish, there's 1 behind me surging ahead. But I have absolutely no gas for a sprint, so have to let 'em by. I end up 10th out of 15 - my worst ever result in Expert I think ! Oh well can only go up from here ?

And thus ends the soggy muddy saga. It had started raining for the last hour or so, so that was a nice touch. Needless to say, the bike was weighed down with an extra few pounds of mud. My shorts looked like I'd just won a beer and shnitzel eating contest, and then enema'd myself. So yeah, a good time.

HitnRun

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070419/NEWS0107/704190317/0/FRONTPAGE

? It seems links don't work in Blogger...

da young coot xpost

http://bentrag.blogspot.com/2007/03/praise-da-lord-for-dah-assholes.html

Missing link :

Snow Terror grips Central Oregon !

at least that's what it seemed like last night, with 40 inches of snow expected over the next 48 hours. Planned to go up skiing early the next day, which was made easy by my son waking me up at 5:45 am. Checked the Mt. Bachelor website : 7.5" of snow overnight, with another 5" that morning - not bad, shouldn't be too crazy driving up there. I packed both my skate and classic skis, figuring the grooming might not be skate-worthy due to the big dump, and drove off just before 7am in pouring rain.

Ten minutes later I was out of the rain and into the snow-zone. Soon it became thick slush, and the car was starting to slide around. Visibility was getting bad, and there were blizzard-like wind gusts. As I ascended, the slush on the road gave way to a more consolidated snow surface, but visibility was getting worse. I decided to turn off at the first snow park, rather than driving all the way up to the mountain. But when I got there, a 3-foot high wall of snow from the snowplow blocked the entrance, so I kept going. Next snowpark...nope, not plowed at all. So what the heck, keep driving.

Now the road surface was actually getting better - recently plowed and much colder snow. I was able to increase velocity to about 50 mph, and got to the Mt Bachelor parking lot shortly. Couldn't see much, but didn't look like the lot had been plowed. Headed towards a group of 3 or 4 cars that had already parked, going through about a foot of snow. I saw the car in front of me was stuck, so slowed down and went around, but then I got stuck too ! The snow was so dense, that my 6" or so of clearance wasn't going to cut it. Tried going back and forth with the stick, attempting to rock it out - no way, all tires spinning. An SUV came in to park, and it got stuck too - even with way more clearance than I had. So got out the shovel, and started digging the snow out from under the car, and a path to where I wanted to park - about 30 feet away. This probably took 20 minutes, and then I was able to lurch ahead and park. Briefly contemplated just getting out of there, but I'd probably get stuck again...and if I ski for an hour or so, maybe the snowplow will have cleared the lanes.

So had a great ski for over an hour, and when I returned the snowplow had done a bit of work. Was able to get out relatively easy. Could see people shoveling and pushing cars all over the place, what a mess. The snowplow was way behind the number of people that needed to park. Driving back, the road had deteriorated, but still tons of people on the way to the hill - they don't know what they're in for ! Some more sketchy driving through deep snow and slush, but made it to work only a few minutes late. Tomorrow more of the same probably - what will I do ? :)

Observations on snow travel techniques

Everybody knows how much I love snowshoers :) Yes last year they were the source of many poke-funning blog entries. Hey I even went snowshoing a few times this year with my kids, notably the time when we dragged the 14-foot tree out of the woods. Well my snowshoes are huge - though not as big as those traditional wood-and-gut creations of old - they have a large surface area and can transport me with relative ease through deep snow. If I remember right, they were spec'd to support up to 200 lbs through deep snow - just right for me and a full overnight pack. Now I have to wonder when I look at the itty-bitty snowshoes most people are using these days : barely larger than their feet, and sporting all kinds of spikes and claws on the underside to facilitate grip in icy conditions. These look cool and all, but methinks they are better suited to mountaineering than traipsing through the gentle undulating terrain where I see most snowshoers as I'm skiing around. The snowparks all have marked snowshoe trails now, and 99% of the time that's what the snowshoers follow. They don't have much choice, because the teeny-tiny snowshoes they wear are only good for following a firmly packed trail. So they rarely venture off randomnly into the woods, which is when it actually becomes fun.

Now for an observation on skate-skiing, which I do a couple of times a week. It is kind of analagous to road-biking, being restricted to wide groomed trails (roads), and therefore a bit sterile and not so much fun in an exploratory way as charging into the wilderness on backcountry skis (which is my other pair of Nordic skis). However it is fun technically, as small gains in technique enable you to propel yourself more efficiently and with greater speed. It is competitive in the way cycling is, in that without acknowledging it, people engage constantly in subtle speed duels (well at least I do). When someone passes me, I try to up my speed to match them and stay with them. And if I see someone on the trail ahead, I do my best to catch up to them and pass them. This makes it 'fun' for me, otherwise I'm just going around in circles.

My first observation concerns the V2 skate technique. This is not the first one you learn, but a more advanced technique for high speed skating on flats and slight downhills. Personally I find it quite difficult, and unless I'm on a decent down-slope, I get out of breath doing it and it feels inefficient. So I'm usually doing V1 or V2 alternate. Now I see everyone else doing a lot of V2, as though it's the trendy thing, kinda like itty-bitty snowshoes with spikes. But it seems to me as though most of these V2'ers are quite inefficient and would be better off perfecting their V1 first (this I notice as I glide by them V1'ing).

That's it for today's observations. In the future I may actually say something that is helpful to somebody, if you are lucky.

Season over

...for at least a few months now. Since then been cross-training, doing XYZ intervals and bulking up the lower fectoralis, to get ready for next season. I will have bionic surgery on my legs to rectify the problem I had with not enough power, speed or intensity.

But siriusly folks it was a great season. I moved up to Expert class, and it was nice to be racing against a group of rabid competitive freaks. There was rarely any 'pack fodder', so you actually had to work your butt off to not place last. Similar to last year, I didn't place so well in the first few races, due to the high number of contestants, and my specialized training program, where performance peaks assymptotically around June. Then all of a sudden I surged ahead in the standings, grabbing medal after medal - of course this started happening when attendance waned in the early months of summer - but hey even though I was in a huge field of often 2 or 3, I didn't DNF !:) So from Figure 1 below you can see I finished at the top of the point standings for Master Expert. This is really not too hard to do - it's mostly a matter of attendance. For some reason people are nuts about racing from March to maybe June, and then they stop showing up. Personally I'd much rather race in the summer than in the cold wet months of spring, but I'm in the minority. And the race schedule for next year is packed in spring, but there's like 1 race all summer - WTF? In fact there's many overlapping races, so it appears everbody's fighting to hold races during the peak seasons for mud and mosquitoes. You all @#$!:)

So as someone I know once said "Are You Dead !?". This is for all the people who may be reading this but don't comment. I'm just not getting enough stroking here. So say something, even something frivolous like "Dude!" or "Asshole!". Yes, that will make me feel better. Otherwise I will go back to my other career of playing my guitar stoned into the wee hours of the morning, recording it all on my 4-track, and then playing it back 6 years later and exclaiming "This stuff rocks!".

Watch out for the Giant Snow Chipmunks !

Yes snow fever is rampant, and they're scurrying all over the place. I came back from the first ski of the season yesterday, and saw a few jittering around the parking lot. Why they just didn't get onto the trails, I have no idea. I was proceeding out of the parking lot in my vehicle, at approximately 5 mph, when all of a sudden one darted out in front me. Still having the summer tires on, I was unable to stop on the slippery snow surface, so I had to resort to honking the horn. The group began chittering at me as I smiled and waved - one was speaking German-chuk I think.

Then today I'm flying down a trail, and a couple of them are off to the side further down. But just as I get near them, one starts jumping out onto the trail, and I have to let forth with a bellowing yell to alert them to the fact that I am about to pulverize them. A couple of dirty looks, but tragedy is avoided.

4-hour tour

Early start in the cold. Too frigid to go where I wanted to go - higher up, further - so opted for a 35 to 40 mile loop from my house. For some reason I thought it would take me 3 hours.

Cruising up Mrazek. This trail goes on forever. Don't daydream, the trees can be tight. I woke up from 1 such dream today - flying quickly over the handlebars as I snagged some part of my bike.

View from Farewell trail. Topped out at 6400 feet, where it was 41F. First time on trails on the DosNiner in 6 weeks. Forgotten how fast it slices and dices.

Nothing like an arc-en-ciel to finish your ride.

Of Snow and Ferns

This past weekend enjoyed some microclimate extremes. Was planning a long 40-50 mile ride on Sunday at high altitude - up to almost 7000 ft - but earlier in the week we had a not insignificant dusting of the white stuff, with Bachelor reporting 8" at the base. That's at 6000 ft, but since then it rained and was sunny, so I figured it might have melted away. Just to be sure, headed up that way Saturday on a reconaissance mission.

Started out right at 6000 feet, with sporadic snow on the side of the road. Hit a few inches of snow right away as I climbed up MW (Metolius Windigo), and it got worse with minutes. This was expected, so retraced my tracks back to the road, and dropped down MW going South, expecting as I lost altitude the snow would disappear. It started looking good, with almost no snow at 5800, but then as I kept going down, the snow level increased... some wierd microclimate dumped a whole bunch more in the woods there. At first it was kinda fun, as with only 3-4 inches of snow, it was no problem making progress on a downhill slant, and jumping off little water bars onto snow was novel. But it got rather tiresome after a while. Even down to 5300, still consistent snow patches. And it was rather... unattractive. I was offended by the ugliness of it in some way. Just didn't look right.

After an hour or so of this finally left the snow behind at 5000 ft. Soon was time to turn around and go back. But wait, it's going to be a major pain in the ass going uphill through those snow sections. I check the map, and see if that I keep going, I can exit off another trail much further South, that will require sloggin uphill on the highway for 10 miles or so. All in all about 3 times the distance compared to retracing my steps, and still some unkowns as I've never been that way. But I go for it. And yeah the ride up the highway is extremely painful psychologically and physically. So the lesson we learn is that any trails above 5000 ft will have snow.

Talk to ChrisS that night, and he proposes a ride up King Castle, near the MRT. Much lower altitude, sure I'll go for it, even though it's a 1.5 hour drive. We meet up the next morning, and man what a lush experience - huge ferns towering beside the trail as it wanders through dense wood. Total contrast from my ride the previous day. This tough little trail offers up a 2600 vert ft. ride to a peak with a great view. Mostly uphill, so the downhill is a blast. Verrrrry smooth trail, and we encounter no one else on the way down. Some pretty high speeds, as I'm trying to keep up with Chris's teenage sons.

Then off to MRT to do a section of it up and back : from reservoir to Blue Pool. Lots of fun climbing up the damp lava sections. As we're resting at the Pool before our descent, talk to a guy on a shiny new Giant who's on his way down. He looks familiar... yep it's Adam Craig - World Cup mountain biker - he hangs out in Bend part of the year. Another rabid downhill chase soon ensues and then it's back to the High Desert - may as well give me some more snow, guess I'm ready.

MRT Ride #2

Clear Lake through da trees


Sketchy bridge ride


The standard Blue Pool shot. It's behind there somewhere

YAB [Yet Another Bridge]

Log

Cut Log

Free lessons

Thanks to all the [insert term here, like Redneck Asshole or Stressed Out Office Worker or Cell Phone Yakking Dork] drivers who provided me with free cycling etiquette lessons during my lunch hour ride today.

To the moron in the roundabout who deliberately slowed down when I entered the circle, thinking I was too close to him, then honked his horn to signal his displeasure : screw you - if you'd just kept going at normal speed, my pinpoint timing would have enabled an efficient flow of traffic through the roundabout. But no, you had to ruffle your feathers and puff out your chest in a big display, hoping this would 'teach me a lesson'. I'm sure your driving is perfect - the next time you cutoff a cement truck I hope it T-bones you and drives your vehicle up onto the roundabout sculpture for all to see.

To the idiot who sideswiped me in the bike lane after I'd turned right into the flow of traffic, remaining in the bike lanes the entire time. Were you angry that I didn't come to a complete stop ? Jealous that you can't do the same manoeuvre when you turn right ? So you decided it was a good idea to risk my life by throwing your 4,000 pound vehicle in my general direction ? Sounds like a great way to teach people what to do. I'm sure the little kids on bikes and their parents appreciate it. And I'm sure you always come to a complete stop before turning, and never cut any body off as you turn into traffic. People with glass windows in cars shouldn't throw their cars around. I just might be waiting with a large rock on the next corner, maybe teach you a little lesson my smashing your windshield should you fail to perform a turn to my liking.

Broken Top Ride-By

A nice 25-miler or so, that loops you up near Broken Top. Plenty waterfalls on the way up North Fork.

Happy Valley. Fun wheelie-drop off bridge to get in. Happy logs and streams abound.

Up in the alpine tundra.

Detour up 4WD road to get to the Broken Top trailhead.

No bikes allowed past here. You can only look and drool.

On the trail again - back into the big trees.

Near and far. Before I was near Broken Top. Now I am far.

An amusing incident occured near the end of the ride, as I was cruising back on the last slight downhill. Just finished the high-speed traverse along the Tumalo trail, that switchbacks down the mountain side, with some great views. Was feeling amped and still going at a good pace, when I saw riders approaching. I reduced speed, planning on moving to the right of the wide trail when I got near them, when I heard an insistent ringing noise. Oh god, the guy's got a bell mounted on his handlebar, and is ringing it to save his life. Mayday! Mayday! Maniac coming down the trail at high speed! All hands on deck ! Red alert ! I slow down even more, so as not to panic this guy, feeling like he might fall off his bike if I got too close. And as I drift to the right of the trail, calling out a greeting, and conceding the center line (uphill riders have the right of way), he shouts out in a nasal voice : "Would you mind stopping and letting me go by, rather than riding off the trail!?". I grunt out an "Ok, sure" as I keep going, and wonder at the strangeness of someone who would try on the fly to instruct others on trail etiquette. Can't say I've ever encountered that before. And wait a second, that voice is familiar, I think I know who that is, it's the president or something of the local mountain biking organization - COTA. I've met him a few times before, seemed like a nice guy. But whoa dude, how miserable must your rides be if you spend the whole time worrying about how other people are treating the trails. Hey we're out in here in the wilderness, I don't need anyone telling me where I should or shouldn't point my wheel. Of course he's right in theory, but his method is confrontational and will surely backfire rather than achieve the intended results. Ne prenez pas la vache mon ami!

Urban Biking Terms

Biking through city streets can be a blast, especially when racing against cars, and flouting traffic rules. Here are a few terms and techniques :

Piggybacking : when coming to a crowded 4-way stop intersection, piggybacking involves following beside a car that has already stopped and is now preceeding in the same direction you want to go. When the timing is just right, you can come flying into an intersection where cars are backed up at high speed, and barely slow down as you tag along beside a car that is speeding off in the right direction. This is an advanced technique that demands pin-point timing : follow too far behind, and you might get side-swiped by another car (since they often like to miss each other by inches). And watch out for turn signals, or the lack thereof.

Leapfrogging : when on a long stretch of road with stops and lights, you keep passing the same car over and over again, as they get slowed down by traffic or stops, while you scoot ahead in the bike lane. For added excitement, make obnoxious hand gestures to these drivers when you pass them.

Anticipated Green : Going through a red light when you know it is about to go green. For example the left turn arrows are on, and you are going straight. As soon as the left turn chute is empty in front of you, boot ahead through the red light. Hopefully it will turn green relatively soon, or that cop sitting way back may decide to bust you.

Head Fake and Ram : At a 4-way stop, do a head fake, so the driver thinks its safe to proceed. Once he starts moving, accelerate quickly to ramming speed and... oops, sorry, wrong place for this - see my Redneck Driving Tips blog entry.

The Sneak Across : When confronted with a light that has just gone red, and you need to get across the intersection, wait until traffic going in the other direction gets the left turn arrows and starts moving. Then take a right, proceed along until you're past the left-turners, then cut left through the lanes of stopped traffic, and ride the short distance back to the intersection - now you're on the other side ! Get out of there quick before someone figures it out.

Black Rock Ride

This was a group ride put on by Hutch's bike shop - a social ride around the Paulina Peak / Newberry Crater National Monument thingy.

It's been an 'end-of-season' tradition for many years now.

Lots of people show up - maybe 40-50 ?

It's only a 20 mile ride, but over 3000 ft of climbing.

The high-speed pumice riding was a blast, once you got used to what felt like riding over a carpet of marbles. Note : this pic is not pumice, just regular dusty surface.

Ride of the Supers

It was one of those days : flying along the trail, hucking everything in sight, attempting every obstacle, never getting tired.

I'd been waiting for a long ride for 3 weeks. Two weekends ago, Jennifer was away, the babysitter cancelled, and I was stuck around the house all weekend. I managed to get some exercise with the Shevlin Ridge baby stroller Criterium, which involved hooking up Rowan in the stroller behind my road bike, and doing laps around the neighbourhood while Carmyn waited in front of the house. Got in 5 or 6 high intensity laps before Rowan demanded release. Last weekend, I caught some nasty bug. Felt crappy Saturday, but decided an easy ride might make me feel better. Went off for a couple of hours with a buddy, exploring some trails at a very easy pace, but then had a major relapse later : fever, chills and sweating, and I was down for the count. Sunday had to flake out around the house doing absolutely nothing in order to recover.


Which brings us to today. Feeling good, and left the house around 10 am to hit the Edison to Lava trail, a 3-hour mini-epic that toasted me last year in the mid-summer heat. That was the first time I'd done it, and I remember two 'note to self's' after that ride : bring more water (remorseless heat beating down through the sparse tree canopy), and bring a full-suspension bike. So armed with 60 oz of Accelerade-infused Camelbak, and the Giant VT, with a plushy 5.75" rear, I was ready to attack the trail with gusto.


The drive there took barely 35 minutes, due to the eagerness with which I plied the Subaru's transmission. Upon arrival, I was minorly disappointed to note half the SnowPark had been taken over by construction vehicles (they're 'redoing' the road that leads up past there from SunRiver), and the other half by RV's that were associated with ATV type people. Edison SnowPark is a major hangout for snowmobiles in the winter. And oh yeah Snowshoers with Dogs also show up, wrecking the nice XC loop that can also be found there.


I decided on a good Tempo pace, which is a steady fast solo pace, way below race speed, but still gets you places fast. The trail starts off with nice winding singletrack through old growth, with several sections of burly lava thrown in. The tires were biting nicely (Schwalbe Tubeless Racing Ralph in the rear and a Knobby Nic in the front), and I was feeling the Flow. Mostly slightly uphill all the way to half-way point, where a trail leads up to Kowl Butte. Before this, the ATV trail blends into the singletrack, causing it to be double-track, but not too badly chewed up. Hit a major 4-foot diameter downed tree at one point, which no doubt was helping keep the ATV's out, as I saw nary a one. After the half-way point, the singletrack resumes and motorized transport is verbotten. And thence commences the downhill to Lava Lake - never really steep - but sustained and rendering you capable of some rather high speeds. Interspersed are many technical lava sections, and some beautiful launchers to huck off of. I recall having a good time down this last year on the DosNiner (no rear suspension to speak of), but now I was freaking flying down it (or so it seemed) at a much higher velocity. And spending much more time with both tires contacting nothing but air. As you descend, however, never far from consciousness is the fact that you will have to climb up all this stuff on the way back - and that is somewhat sobering. I remembered significant struggles from last year, as I laboured up steep loose sections, pushing the bike often, and cursing the folly of he who would so ignorantly descend in glee, so irresponsibly forgetful of the need to Return.


I reached Little Lava lake, stoked on the giddy descent. The previous year I took my snack and respite on the shores of this jewel-like lake. This year I continued instead to the right towards Big Lava Lake, and had my break there. Motors allowed on this lake, not as picturesque.

Now time for the grind back up to the half-way point. While barely twenty minutes to descend, I figured it could be up to an hour climbing back up. I went along happily enough, and stopped a few times for some photo shoots. I waited for the steep, loose, energy-sapping sections with some trepidation, hoping perhaps foolishly that the full-suspension bike would supply extra traction and allow me to sprightly scale those areas that had troubled me last year. The clock kept ticking, and I still had hit nothing steep. Oh, a few very short technical pieces had appeared, but they were easily attacked and thrown. As time wore on, I felt a swell of hope, thinking perhaps that I had passed all the steep sections ! But I'd been down this road before, only to have my hopes dashed as a wall of climbing suddenly appeared.
But this time... holy freaking time warp, I never hit the steeps ! All of a sudden I was at the half-way point, and I had easily climbed everything that had been thrown at me, and all the while barely breaking a sweat doing it ! It was then that I realized I was having one of those SuperHero days. I came upon a technical trail feature, one that was meant to be taken in the other direction, and involved riding a skinny up to a downed log, traversing the log for 20 feet or so while several feet in the air, and dropping off the end. I had dismissed it as too risky when passing it this year and last, but now with the Super-thing going on, I figured I'd better take a second look. Yup, doesn't look too bad - I can do it. Hit it with speed and confidence, and nailed it. Continued, remembering that there was a another one of these on the way back, and which was probably easier. Had another great downhill run on the other side back towards the starting point, wondering how I could generate so much speed here, when ascending it had seemed so gradual and easy. Saw the skinny to log transition, and as I flew onto it, I realized - oops - this is a little harder, longer, and skinnier than the other one, but enhanced mind-over-matter scoffed and swallowed it whole.

Back at the car I was hardly tired, and must remember this day, when others may not be so easy. Oh yeah, so my loop time was a few minutes faster this year, on a heavier bike, with a longer break on the Lake side, and with several photo-ops on the way back. And one more thing : Zero Hikers, Zero Bikers, Zero Dogs, and Zero Motos were encountered along the entire trail.

83 hikers, 11 dogs, 3 bikers

That's what I encountered on the trail today, on a short 1h20m ride. Infestation ! And most of these within 2 miles of the parking lot, which was packed of course. Many of the hikers are grumpy about bikes, and only grudingly move aside. I carry a stick and wack on those who don't behave. They chase me - this is my training.

Rossland trip

I went up to Rossland, B.C. to visit my friend Cory. But the day I took my camera out, Cory was sleeping. So I hung out with Cory's friend Mark, who is not as sleepy.





We went to the bike park at Red Mountain.

Race Report : Scotty Graham Memorial @ Mt Hood

Ahhh, the last race of the year ! I thought the Firecracker would be my last, as I was feeling burnt out on racing for the season, but voicing this thought was met with cries of derision from my fellow racers, who convinced me to attend the last race. Curiously, many of these 'deriders' did not show up for the final event ! One reason to attend was that they'd be handing out the series awards, for points accumulated for the 4 SkiBowl races. I'd only hit 2 races, but was tied for 3rd in the standings.

As is usual for the Mt Hood area, you never know what you're going to get weather-wise. The previous day the high temp had been in the mid-forties, so I packed the goretex sox and a huge array of additional layers. But it turned out sunny and 70F, so donned the usual racing attire.

Felt kinda crappy doing my warmup intervals - not surprising since the previous day I had suffered similarly in my day-before intervals : hyperventilating, wheezing and feeling an asthmatic-like inability to gulp in enough air. It was a decent size start-group at the line for my heat : 8 40+'s, and a few women, singlespeeders, and assorted cripples and freaks. As expected, my start sucked : most of the pack surged ahead of me, including some of the women. I held back, knowing pushing it would only cause premature wheezilation. As the single-track approached, 5-10 minutes into the race, I went for a little surge, and passed a half-dozen riders. Soon hit some technical loose climbing, and the gap widened. At the start-line, I had heard the names of 2 uber-fast riders who regularly clean my clock [whatever the f*ck that means], so I knew only 3rd place was reasonably within reach. But then heard the name of another guy who beat me handlily the last race, so I knew even the 3rd spot would be tough to attain. I thought I saw this dude quite a ways ahead of me while we were still in the open.

Soon enough we were in the deep forest, and I was isolated in my own space. No noise of others ahead, nothing from behind. I lapsed into a relaxed tempo, not really caring to push it, and feeling that a good result was beyond my grasp today. On a switch-backing climb, I did catch a fleeting glimpse of a jersey ahead and above moving between trees, but it was too far away for motivation.
Came out into the open again, and could see what I assumed was the 'bronze medal dude', still way ahead of me. Did a time-check against a reference point, and measured the gap at around 50 seconds. Did the downhill back to the resort area, and commenced the second lap. Once again into the big trees and the silence. But after 10 minutes or so, hear a rider approaching from behind - oh-oh, somone's catching up! But I see the red plate designating a Pro rider, and let him by (they are doing some other combo of loops). This gets me going a bit, and try to match his pace for a spell. A few minutes later, another red plate, and I push some more. Coming out of the trees, I wonder if this 'pushing' has reduced the gap to bronze-guy (or did the same happen to him?), and see that it has. Now looks like less than 30 seconds !

Up Horse-Trail we go, a long steep loose climb. Bronzy's front tire washes out, he starts walking, and I'm right on his tail. I make some comment about the loose trail as I ease by him, and he grunts in response - hmm he does not appear happy to see me :) On a flat area he gets back on the bike, and is soon right behind me. But I am in the choice climbing line as it gets steep again, so he can't easily get by. I stay on the bike all the way up, and I guess he was off again, because by the time I reach the top I have got a nice gap. Next comes a downhill fire-road, leading into the technical downhill that finishes the second lap. I know the dude behind me is a fast descender, probably faster than me, so I keep it pinned. But as I start the 3rd lap I can see he's made up some of the gap. The last lap we have a shorter technical ride through the trees, and then up the main road to the last downhill. I rail the tree'd trail, and begin ascending the last climb. Start going into the red on the HRM, and see dude is close behind. It's now or never and I pin it up the climb. Drop into the downhill, and looks like I've dropped him as well.

I do indeed get third at the line, and second overall for the series. Only 2 and 4 minutes behind #2 and #1, so something to go on for next season. The dude I passed, who was pretty chatty with me last race, leaves the finish area quickly, and does not return for the little ceremony afterwards with prizes, raffle and beer.