Pickett's Charge Sufferfest

Another hot dry and dusty Bend race. It poured for a while the night before, but the bone-dry terrain just sucked it up and spit out more dust-balls. The temp barely made 90F, but with the additional effect of air-borne particles clogging up the air passages, it felt like worse or something.

Not much elevation gain in the 20-mile loop that we had to do twice, but on the first little hill I was gasping and wheezing and watching my heart-rate climb into zones I'd never seen before. Just a low point in the cycle I guess. A few days before I'd been doing Pilot Butte hill repeats, and slapping myself on the back for feeling so awesome. But now, not so good, and somewhat nauseous, which I never get.

I pushed as hard as I could on the flats, and just tried to survive the little grunt-ups. There was some amusement from the other racers, as the heat appeared to be generating a high percentage of cranky people. I was 2nd in a group of 3 as we approached a somewhat tricky-looking but actually quite easy diagonally oriented log pile. I cranked it a bit to get some momentum going over it, when the guy in front of me got stuck or panicked and jammed on his brakes at the top of the pile, and I ram into his bike. Whatever, that's racing, right ? But this guy lets forth with a verbal spew of profanity at my transgression - like yeah I get my kicks trying to play bumper-bikes. I just ignore him, but not his jersey, which proudly proclaims him as sponsored by the bike shop who runs the race - hmm that's not good advertising. We'll call him ShadySide. The guy behind me now starts muttering at me in my defense : "I knew that was going to happen, c'mon, show him by kicking his ass in the race. Take him, let's get him !" Well he passes him eventually, but I have absolutely no kick, and plod along with the now growing line of racers. However 15 minutes later he does seem to be waning, and I get by him, which is somewhat satisfying.



Start the 2nd lap, which is no less dusty or hot. I am following 2 other racers, and figure out that they are in my class. They drift into the distance occasionally, but I always reel them in, though I am actually doing no reeling whatsoever and just trying to survive. Hmm, maybe they are a bit tired too ? DaveM appears behind me, also in my class. I ask him how he's feeling - "Great" he says. So I explain how I'm feeling like crap, and he should really pass me and kick the butt of those 2 other guys in our class ahead. He follows me for a while, then bursts ahead and gets by the other 2 quickly. Then I notice #2 ahead overtakes #1 - aha someone is weakening. I feel a stirring, and hmm what do you know, I appear to be getting my first wind, after almost 2.5 hours of racing. I get close behind weakening "Knock-knees", and as soon as I see an opening, I scooch off to the right of the trail into small underbrush, and try to pass. But the trail starts veering left, so looks like I have to abort. But wait, I can see the trail veering back right again, so I employ a little 'trail-cut' manoeuvre and cross through to the trail and get ahead. And what do I hear but a bunch of bitching from this guy about how what I did was not cool and I should only do 'proper' passing on the trail. Whatever buddy, I don't think this 40-mile race is going to be decided by a few feet, and what are you pissed that I circumvented your blocking manouever ? Yeah, so this guy is also sponsored by a local shop - hmm when you're wearing the colors I think you need to present a somewhat sunny disposition... of course now they think WebCyclery riders like to ram other racers and cut trails ! :)

I go off in pursuit of SkinSuit - you don't see many mountain bikers wearing these, and I guess it is more satisfying to pass a guy whose attire proclaims "I am so cool and fast they gave me this awesome looking skin-suit!" - and he's not too far ahead. I am starting to feel great and I really don't understand it. Maybe cuz the last half of the lap is mostly on a slight downhill. I catch up to SkinSuit on a dirt road, and squeeze past him just before the single-track begins, yelling "On your right!", as I get there half a wheel before him. Except, that wasn't really the start of the singletrack, just more doubletrack. Oops - man these glasses are dusty, I can't see a thing!:)

Next I see if I can chase down DaveM, and finally I see his dust cloud way ahead, and I'm gaining. 10 minutes later the gap is down to 10 seconds, and it's looking good for a showdown sprint to the finish. But then I come around a corner a bit too hot, the front wheel loses grip, and in a fraction of a second I am slammed down viciously onto the hardpack trail. Stunned at the suddenness and ferocity of this mishap, and surprised by the blood-flecked pain, I scramble to get back in the saddle as fast as possible, not knowing how far back SkinSuit and KnockKnees are. But my muscles are doing weird spasmodic jerking and cramping, and it takes a while to get back up to my previous velocity. Only a few minutes to go, and looks like I blew my chance to catch up. It's close, but at the end I'm 12 seconds short.

I get off my bike, and immediately both legs lock up - all I can do is stand there frozen, willing my muscles to relax, but they obstinately refuse. I ran out of fluids about 10 minutes ago, and I desperately need to get to the water station, which is only 50 feet away. After several minutes of stiff legged shuffling, during which I contemplate just throwing the bike down and lying in the dirt, I manage to get there, using the bike as a crutch.

Well overall an interesting race. Usually the 'feeling like crap' part happens near the end when you're wasted, but I got it reversed this time.

How some deal with the dust :

On the Fence

"We're last!" shouted JustinT, as he went by. I glanced behind me - sure enough, there wasn't a rider in sight. What he really meant was "You're last!" - not a great start to the Falls City Firecracker race, a race where I usually do pretty well. Two years ago won my first race here in Sport, and last year got onto the podium in Expert class.

Today just wasn't feeling motivated - had been on the fence about coming to this race the whole previous week. It's a 3.5 hour drive, meaning a full day's commitment, and I had a shitload of backlogged chores and other stuff I've been trying to do and can't find the time for. So thought I'd just skip it. But then I already paid the entry fee - OK I'll go. But if it's just the $, then driving down there will probably cost me $50 - OK skip it. Then there was the weather forecast - not good, with rain expected the day before and day of. And when they say rain on the Coast, it usually means it will be pissing down, not the sporadic showers you get around Bend. So yeah, that seems like a good reason to not go. But wait, maybe then a lot of people won't go, so if I show up I'll have a better chance of podium'ing. So on it went... somehow I found myself in my car driving over there Sunday morning, looking for any reason to turn back. Hit snow in the pass, then rain on the other side. Stopped for a leak, and the tempation to U-turn almost overcame me, but then I figured what the hell I'm 3/4 of the way there. How about I just keep going, and if the overall experience sucks, then I won't do it again.

So as the race started in a light rain, I was totally unmovitated to be there, and didn't give a crap about being last. But went up the initial long climb as best I could, and soon was passing people. Ten minutes in, all self-absorbed crybaby talk was gone, and I was determined to do well. There was a new downhill section this year, with plenty of loose slippery sections, and crashes were plentiful. I took good advantage of these, and was having a pretty good time. Starting the 2nd lap of 5, I heard someone yell 'Go Romasco!', the name of someone who had beaten me by a bike length a couple of races ago. Man, if I beat anybody today, it has to be that guy ! So now had another reason not to slack off. One pesty orange jersey had been shadowing me for a few laps, and on the climb on lap #4 he made his move and passed me. This did not bother me at all, and I stayed close on his tail. On lap#5 climb, he seemed to wilt, and I returned the favour. Now just have to rail the descent and hold him off on the last climb. Yep OK, and I finish up with absolutely no cramping - probaby because it was 84F last year, and only 48F this year. Grab the last podium spot, and was in the top half of the young punks 19-39 Expert class. So ended up being worth it after all.

Chainbreaker

Race.
Last year a dust storm, but got a bit of rain day before this year, so was great conditions.
The usual tough Bend crowd.
I managed to squeak into the top half finishers in my class.
2 laps for us. Last year 3, but too many finishers came in over 3.5 hours in Expert 40+, so there were complaints, so they reduced us to 2 this year. But there were lots of complaints over that ! I checked times from last year - just as many slower finishers in the Expert 19-39 as Expert 40+, so no excuse. I didn't care - not the most exciting course, so 2 laps enough. First lap I was 30s faster than last year, and 2nd over 2m faster, but didn't have to conserve for last lap, so probably about the same. Finishing in around 2 hours almost seemed like a sprint.

Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I_OSk_sQ6o

Ashland Spring Thaw

Once again, the race that many people have negative comments about, but then show up in droves for. This year it was the designated "State Championship Race", so you get extra points, and bragging points - this helped drive the record attendance. Last year in my report, I pooh-pooh'd those who said the race is won or lost on the extended flat fire-road middle section, which you're on for 40-45 minutes. This is after a gruelling 3000 ft climb. This year they ran the course in reverse direction, so the climbing grade was a little easier. The bonus was the awesome 3000 ft descent on rolling switch-backing singletrack - the same course used for the downhill race (which you could probably win on a hard-tail btw). Anyways, I now officially eat my words about the flat section, as I was a victim of the 'all-alone' factor. More on that later.

Due to the gas price crisis, I was forced to be sociable and share a ride down to the race. Hooked up with TimJ, another WebCyclery rider, who had a Google map of a new shortcut to Ashland, and an address of a floor of somebody's house to stay in. We didn't read the map until too late, and missed the first half of the shortcut, but found the other half, descending down this crazy steep switchbacking road into Ashland, which might be fun to ride up on a bike...or not. Found the house easily - a 1 bedroom microplot - and saw the living room had been staked out already by several sleeping bags and piles of gear. So we're not the only ones crashing here... Yep, 5 in total - but hey, more convenient than a campsite.

The rest of the crew returns, and everybody is involved in getting ready for the next day - wolfing down carb-meals, tinkering on equipment, etc. Some are stretching, munching on granola. I crack open a beer and get dirty looks - "What, you're drinking beer the night before the race?". Oh shit, now I'll get kicked off the team for drinking and showing up at the race all hungover. That Marc, no he's not serious - he's making us look bad - tear up his contract. Maybe he can join the Guinness team.

I grab a sleeping area outside the kitchen where the washer and dryer would be, and try to get to sleep - difficult due to the bedspins from that one beer.

The first of is up at 5:30 am, and we get to the race early enough to grab some of the few all-day parking spots. I do my warmup, and am feeling rather crappy - not unexpected, as have spent 3 of the last 5 days between races doing hard intervals. So cut short the warmup. The race starts promptly at 9am, and spend the next 45 minutes or so chugging up fire roads and single track. Am feeling not too bad, and passing more than I am passed. Arrive at the top with another rider, and start pairing up for the long flat traverse. Another rider catches up, and the 3 of us move along for a few minutes. Then the pace is upped, and I"m having trouble hanging off the back. Feeling like it's a bit fast for me, I let them go, and decide to wait for the next paceline to come by. Well guess what, 40 minutes go by and not a single group has come up from behind. I'm getting quite shagged, and finally, a few minutes before the downhill starts, a couple guys go by - they are actually in my class, and people I normally finish well in front of. I latch onto the back, and amazed how it seems with only 50% of my previous effort, I can float along behind them. The singletrack starts - one lets me by, and follow the other guy for a while. He's slowing me down, but not by much. We get onto the final road for the finish, and he's puts down the hammer and goes for it. I draft behind, and I swear I barely have to pedal to keep up. I decide I'll tag along for the ride, and then just before the finish, kick down and scoot by hime. But I've actually never tried that before - I start my sprint a bit late, and am gaining on him, but not quick enough for the finish line, which appears sooner than I expect. I end up placing 8th out of 12. So yeah I should have killed myself trying to stay in the paceline with those guys at the top - looks like I would have finished around 5th - 5 minutes faster. Oh well, next time.

The ride home is again a bit adventurous, as try to find the mysterious missing link in the short cut. But with the gas guage reading low, and heading down a dirt road that seems to be going nowhere, we turn around and take the sure way out.

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.