Slow Motion with D

Of style points? Check this sweet video of hilights from last years cross nationals in R.I. I was awarded the, "style," award by the rowdy ECCC (Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference) kids. I think the only thing I had going for me was the beard, a sweat band, and being in the back of the race. This allowed me to smile and stick out my tongue as I took bad bad lines all in the name of looking good. I make an appearance with about :55 left after all the cool race footage.



Here are my winnings. About $43, some beeds, a trash can, a jersey and 2 beers. Not a bad day at the office.





I'm already training to defend my title. It might be hard if it's freezing and snowy, but I'll figure something out. Maybe Sunnyside has a full body skin suit in some retro 80s nordic ski colors.

…could be said for both my Hillsboro race report and my Cross season form!

Pre Race

After 3 long days driving back from Colorado, into Utah, through Idaho and home to Oregon, I was looking forward to a day at home. I think I made it home Thursday night, which gave me 2 days at home before heading over the pass to the valley. Early Sunday morning, 6am to be exact, James, V, dog James and I loaded the Pedro’s van and started our drive to the state championship, and final cross crusade race. We’d made the decision to drive over early to support our main man in the 50+ category, Don Leet. Don, one of the owners of Sunnyside Sports, is out at almost every crusade race and cheers all day long for people on his team, other teams, no teams and everything in between. He loves cross and if you listen to the crusade announcer, you’d think he invented it. Anyway, whenever possible, I like to make it out to cheer for him in the first race of the day at 9am…that means being there the night before, or getting up EARLY to drive over in the morning. This day, we chose getting up early.

We made it with about 10 minutes left of his race. I was frustrated that we didn’t make it for the whole event, but we showed up right when he needed us. As we pulled into the parking lot, I unloaded James (human) and V, mid course, so they could cheer. They grabbed their bells, hopped out and started screaming for Don. I found a parking space and followed suite. With 2 bells in hand I ran around the course cheering for him in multiple spots. He was in 3rd, chasing a close 2nd place and being followed closely by 3 other racers. Considering Don isn’t much of a runner, he was doing great. As the final lap wound down, Don hit the last mud downhill corner with 4th place right on his tail. I ran across the parking lot to yell, “Don, SPRINT!!!! He’s right behind you!” Now, Don is not much of a sprinter either, but he dug deep about 4 times. As his head bobbed up, he would dig deep and lower himself as he pulled on the bars, head up, then back down. Now, the guy in 4th can sprint. He closed the gap, but Don crossed the line about ½ a bike length ahead of him. 3rd place and another state medal in his name. Nice work Don. I felt like we had accomplished our cheering mission and showed up right when he needed us most. He was cheery and grateful that his crew of supporters showed up just as he was suffering most.

Another great thing about having Don at the race is that he has everything dialed. This means a pop up tent, extra trainers, tools, pump and space heater for the cold/wet days. Perfect!

The forecast called for rain, and rain is what we got. That was great because now people can stop saying, “when is it gonna be cross weather?” Well, I think any weather is cross weather, but I will admit that I was smiling just a bit more knowing that rain and mud were waiting to greet us on the course.

Warm Up

The course was pretty straight forward for Hillsboro, but it used different ground than the previous editions. The lap started with flat, fast pavement followed by some gravel and dove into a mud bog that gets used every year. Mud, gravel, fast long gravel w/barriers followed by more mud. This is where things got interesting. 3 big puddles. I mean big. The first was ride-able, but slow, the second, kind of ride-able, but I ran it, and the 3rd, not ride-able. I decided to dismount prior to the 2nd puddle and shoulder my bike. A task made difficult, as it felt like my bike, and feet, were stuck in 2 feet of mud. Once the bike was on the shoulder (for the first time this year might I add), a gradual run up led to a few off camber mud sections. Some more fast gravel, barriers, a run up followed by a steep, muddy downhill, run up and a flat led to the final mud downhill left corner. After that a short pavement section took us to the finish line. Done.


After some spinning around in the rain I popped onto the course for a lap. There went the clean bike. I should have ridden the lap on my pit bike instead of clogging up the beauty that is my Marcroft. I used some H2o bottles to clear off the drive train and got on the trainer under Don’s tent. It was super nice warming up in a dry warm area while I watched the women suffer as they rode past.

Race

At the start I was 4th row. Not very ideal since my only game plan was to follow Shannon’s wheel as long as I could, but it’s the spot that my results earned me. Be it 1, 2 or 3 laps, the only thing I wanted to do was follow that wheel! Funny thing about the front row at this race, it became the 1-6th place finishers. The start was like a Vanilla team time trial with Decker, Brown, Babcock and Blackwelder tagging along for the ride. I got a great view of the blue and white as they pulled away. Being that I got pinched off by a green jersey, who started at an angle, I was unable to fulfill goal #1 for even 100 yards. Oh well, time to make the best of the situation. When green jersey guy was done swinging his bike across 3 lanes in front of me, I shot the gap in between him and, I believe, Chad Swanson, and set off in pursuit of goal #2. Top 10. Going into the gravel transition the group slowed a bit and I found myself in the top 10 of our group (not the Vanilla train). Once we hit the mud a Veloshop rider took a slider right in front of me, but I made it through clean and set my sights on Plews about 5 riders up. After an outside pass on Steven Hunter (I think) I spent about 2 laps closing the gap to Plews and Cary Miller. My laps were pretty uneventful other than trying to catch or keep riders away. After getting by Evan and Cary I was able to put a good amount of space between us until my sloppy lap.

An over-mount found me just missing the ‘ol boys on the top tube and an under-mount had me sliding off the back of the saddle, scraping my thigh. This along with Evan chasing hard, found me back in his company going through the start finish. This wasn’t all bad considering Evan can lay it down on the power sections. I held his wheel and thought he might be able to help bring back Ian and Mark up the road. Once we hit the muddy sections I was back in front and didn’t want to give up the spot. Evan came by me in the first long mud section and I noticed that he was taking a much better line to the right of where I was. Nice. That became my line for the rest of the race. I worked my way back in front of Plews on the gravel and never looked back. Well, I did look back, but from then on I would stay in front of Plews, Miller, a surging Weaver and Slaven. Surprising to me, I felt like the running section was where I was making time on them. For the remaining laps I just rode a strong steady pace with no mistakes. Funny side note: Every time I would stand up to accelerate, I couldn’t feel my legs. Well, I could feel a little tingle, but I couldn’t tell that my legs were working. My saving grace was the fact that my ice block feet and hands would assure me that I was connected to my bike. Funny. I was able to communicate to Don that I wanted a bike change (only to assure not slipping off the seat again in the final laps). The communication was something along the lines of me trying to yell through my frozen lips and twirling my finger in the air pointing to my bike. Much to my surprise, Don was standing in the pit holding my clean bike. On the final lap I saw a slowing Molly up a head and put in a big surge on the run following the puddles. I passed her on the run up after the barriers and dropped into the steep downhill just hoping that I wouldn’t bobble. A clean line and a hard run up kept me in front and I took the corner into the downhill first. I pegged it through the final tricky turn and hit the pavement with a gap. Lucky for me because Mr. green jersey was in front of me again and his desire not to get lapped had him taking my sprint line with his 3 lane bike throwing technique (I need to learn that). I sat back down and did what I had to do to keep a hard charging Molly from passing me back. Muddy, cold, breathing hard and my best finish of the year. 7th place. It’s where I was hoping to start my year at Alpenrose, but I’ll take it. It’s been a long Crusade for me this year and I’m happy to finally get a result. I suppose the 43 degree rainy, muddy day helped my cause, but that’s cross weather, right? 45 minutes of blasting heater later, I was more or less warm. Good times.

Caravanned to the Mountaineer and Squawkercross UCI races in Gunnison and Durango Colorado this weekend with JT, Natasha, Amy, Nick and Joachim.  Long drives and a super hairy pass, along with some great racing and good people, is what was on tap for the weekend.  

The first day was on the Western State College of Colorado campus.  Upon arriving, entering the parking lot was more like a Saturday race in Eugene than a UCI race in Colorado.  No offense to the Eugene races, but you know what I mean.  These races were a bit out of the way and whereas the fields were fast, they weren’t as deep as they could have been.  Was this a perfect scenario for me to score some UCI points?  Unfortunately no.  Oh well.  The course was actually pretty cool and challenging as it snaked its way around the campus grounds.  Fast, off camber, twisty grass made up all but 100 yards of the course.  The rest of the mix was 2 short and 1 long stretch of pavement.  Upon pre-riding I came to the barrier section and noticed that they were pretty short.  Bunny hop?  Why not, I thought.  So, I did.  Easy cheesy.  Now I know some of you can bunny hop well, but I can’t…and a double barrier?  Forget about it.  These guys were short though and spread out perfectly.  Every warm up lap I hopped them, but I never felt confident enough to do it in the race.  Oh well, it’s a start.  Maybe next time I’ll give it a shot.  The field was deep enough that I’d have to have a good race to score a 10th or better for some UCI points.  Almost!  I didn’t have the start I could have and played catch up for the remainder of the hour.  I also went down on the first lap just as I was about to make contact with a good group who ended up racing for 6th.  The course was challenging and other than the fall on lap one, I felt good about how I raced.  I was able to bridge up to people and ultimately drop them, as well as attack when needed.  The legs were there, but in the early laps the luck (or skill) wasn’t.  The altitude didn’t seem to bother me at all, even though we were at nearly 8000 ft and I got 14th place, pretty close to 13th.  Cash money!  $49.  So pro!

Sunday’s race was in Durango on the Ft. Lewis campus.  The course was pretty similar to Saturday, held on the campus and primarily on grass.  Off camber sections, some tight corners, along with some longer power sections and a tricky 3 turn down up, down, up barrier made for a technical course.  Again, the field wasn’t big, but it was plenty fast.  Especially with Wells, Kabush and Parbo taking the start.  Again, if I had a good race I may have been able to get a point or two, and again, my start foiled my plans.  First off, 3D racing guy, when everyone gets off their bikes for the tricky running section, why are you trying to ride it in the middle of everyone?  That was only one thing that messed up my start.  The other was….going down again on a little left hander off camber around a tree….right smack into another tree!  No harm done, but I was dead last after that and at the end of lap one.  Boo.  After that I just took aim at the guys off in the distance, picking them off, one by one.  I was good enough in the technical sections and really strong on the power sections.  Finally, my legs are coming around!!!!  Too bad I couldn’t get to the next group up the road.  They raced it out for 9th and the final UCI points on the day.  I think if I would have hooked up with someone else riding strong on the straights, we could have got them.  Unfortunately the guys I hooked up with were good in the corners, but I would have to do the majority of the harder work.  A good battle formed with a guy for the last few laps.  I would power away and let up a bit hoping he could help, but again, I was left to do the work.  Over the barrier for the final time, just as I was getting ready to attack, he dropped his chain.  With him gone I took off after the only guy I thought I could still catch.  Tad Elliott a member of the U23 national team had been just in front for the last few laps.  In the end I fell about 20 yards short and coasted in for 13th place.  I’ll take it.  I wasn’t too far off of a point this time and the legs were feeling good again.  Hopefully this carries through the final month of the season.  Everyone else in our caravan scored points this weekend with Amy Dombroski getting the W both days.  Good times had by all.  

A new hat for V from Bread Bakery in Durango.

Well, sort of…Half ass'n it anyways! After last weekends UCI butt kickings in Boulder, CO, I filled my time with various short rides and spreading the Pedro’s word. Ft. Collins, Golden, Glenwood Springs and Aspen were all part of my travels as I tried to spread out the work as an excuse to stay in Colorado for another UCI weekend down south. Some people think this job is the perfect job if you want to race bikes fast(ish)…well, I’m here to tell ya, that it’s hard. Driving around all the time, trying to ride in unfamiliar places, take care of the dog, eat well enough not to feel like a stone, rest etc. Not as easy as I thought it would be. The upside is that each trip gets better, especially as I make friends and return trips to areas.

The highlights of the week would be getting to know Joachim Parbo, the Danish National Champion of cyclocross and riding bikes w/the Spot employees. Joachim has been in the states for a few months now seeking out UCI points to improve his starting spots in future Euro races later this year. He’s a good fiend of Molly’s and I was happy that we got to meet and hang out a bit this week. He can get pretty silly and has opinions on most everything American. He’s had to make his way in cross this year by promoting himself like crazy. After the Bjarn Riis confession, he said that sponsors ran for the hills. He wrote an article on doping in his homeland and was able to garner a lot of positive attention for himself. From there he got invited by the Boulder promoters to come back to the states to race again, and he’s made a 2 month trip out of it. Nice guy for sure and probably one of the only guys with hairy legs that can beat Tonkin.

Riding the new Spot belt drive single speed mtb was a hoot. I headed out on a 2 hour ride, right out of the Spot parking lot. Colorado mtb’n is a bit different than Bend. It’s pretty much straight up the hill, a little rolling, then down. Being my first real single speed mtb ride, it was a challenge for sure. Oh well, I was supposed to do power work anyway, so it was perfect. The weather was great, though a bit windy and the trails were sweet and rocky. Props to Jen Gersbach for pretty much dominating the technical sections as I kinda flailed around on the 29er. I pretty much want one now. Spot’s evil plan to get me to buy another bike worked!


Now I’m hanging out in a café in Durango getting ready to visit some more shops before I start the trek home. Living the dream? Well, ask me on Sunday after I drive 20+hours to make it home, not to mention work stops, for the Cross Crusade state championships….hope I have some legs! See you Sunday!

With all the Northwest racing pride K-Man has, I wonder if he would be on blog overload living in Colorado. Here's just a small example:

Last Sunday after the Boulder races had Dinner with: Barb Howe, Jen Tilley, Joachim Parbo, Lance Larrabee (TRP Marketing guy)

Then met up with: Megan Monroe, Tim Johnson, Michael Cody, Jeremy Powers, JHK and wife Heather I, Travis Brown, Ben Day a Bissell guy named Garrett and Ivan Stevic.

Next day for dinner: Joachim Parbo, Nick Weighall, Ivan Stevic, Garrett, Karl Menzies and Ben Day. That was a cool mix at a table. 2 Aussies, 4 Serbians, a Dane and 2 Americans.  Oh yeah, it was at this guy's Italian restaurant (Gaggioli).

Not to mention the various industry folks here: Velonews, Challenge, Yet, Spot, Slipstream training camp....and more. That's just a fraction of Boulder. There's still a whole state out there! Got to check out all of Tom Danielson's sunglasses and played reindeer with Tom and Kristen's cat in Durango last night.

Just a warning K-Man.

Live in Boulder

Dougie likes to finish a stage of whatever race is going on and read a book*....still in his kit....ha ha ha ha.

So, some little birdies told me that the SSWCxC line up is going to include:

Wicks
Trebon
Craig
Decker
Tonkin

Some of this is confirmed and/or pre-registered, but not all.  I wish I was gonna be there to watch the qualifying events with these guys.  They all know how to have fun and added in with the rest of the riders...madness!  I'm sorry that I'm going to miss it.

So, I'm in the great town of Boulder, CO, or as I like to call it, Bend Sr. There's been a lot of comparisons between the two places, but I’m not gonna go into that other than saying, I like them both, but they both have their flaws. I packed up the Pedro’s van last week and drove out to, “help,” the Cliff Bar Devo team. I say, “help,” because they didn’t really need any. I did hook them up with some tools, a stand and a bench along with some lube, but they didn’t really need me to shuttle them around since they all live here anyway. It’s a great reason to get out here again and to do some work along with a few UCI cross races. Plus, I did end up helping out a trio of Velo Bellas, including the cyclingnews famous Barbarella, for the weekend, who we also sponsor. Ben Turner is doing a great job with his Cliff Bar team and has a great commitment to the environment. Pedro’s is really happy to support Ben and his crew of talented youngsters as he drives around to races leaving an almost 0% foot print.

On to the races! If I had to use one word to describe the weekend it would be….WINDY! Holly heck! Day one was out at the Boulder Reservoir and had a mix of pavement, gravel, grass and sand to challenge the 60 or so racers lined up. The highlights were 2 actual, real sand sections. Dry sand that closes as soon as you ride through it. Ugh. The second was a sweet long section that you could take speed into and had a right turn lead in to a straight followed by a ride up. Umm…hard. Being a UCI event, I knew the competition would be fierce, but Trebon, Wicks, Johnson, Powers, Wells, Kabush and more???? Oh man, can’t these guys race on the East Coast when I show up? From the start I found myself in great company and a flailing Trebon came by me after he had slipped a pedal at the start. I knew I’d pay for it in the end, but I couldn’t resist pegging it after my great start. For a bit I was hanging around the top 10ish with Tonkin just ahead. Sweet, just the race I wanted to have all season! Unfortunately it was only meant to be for about 35 minutes. After that point I imploded and it was spectacular! I went from about 15ish chasing a group of perennial fasties to 34 and lapped with 2 to go. Ha! The only saving grace is that I was able to out sprint 2 of the 3 guys who passed me on the last lap…including another Oregon racer out for the weekend, Tonkin jr…er, Sean Babcock. I heard that Erik said he has the most raw talent that he’s seen since Barry, and we all know how that turned out. Sean has been killing it in what I believe is his first year racing mtb and cross. All I wanted to do was catch the group of 5 ahead of me for a few laps, but I was alone and the wind was killing me. I just wanted to sit on a wheel, but by then I was done. Travis Brown came by me late on his single speed which was cool. He didn’t get lapped and finished 19th. Hard day, but fun.

Day 2 was held in town at one of the venues from last years USGP. I was stoked to race it because on this course last year I had food poisoning and watched the race lying on the ground…and sitting in the porta potties. No need for details. This course was wide open, fast grass, few turns, some sweet sand again, and a long uphill pavement start/finish. Nothing special happened this day either. Mediocre start followed by passing some and getting passed by others. I thought I got pulled with 3 to go, but the results say 4 to go. Oh well. Ryan was, to say the least, 2 gears faster than everyone. He passed me and I rode with him till about ½ lap to go. From there I soft pedaled the remaining lap and 2nd place (Johnson) never came into sight. Ryan lapped everyone but the top 14. He shoulda been racing the Superprestige. 28th was the result for the day. Sean finished in the 30s again and we both agreed that it’s a bit different than racing in Portland. I was pretty far back in the start grid and I think Sean was in the last row. Oh yeah, it was windy too.

For the rest of the week, I'll be doing some shop visits and trying to work my way to another UCI weekend in southern CO. I think the competition will be a bit less, but I doubt it will be any easier. It'll be nice to be used to the altitude though.

Props to my boy Weaver for winning the single speed Cross Crusade this weekend. I couldn't be happier for anyone else! Nice work! Thanks for reading.