Jim Hewett's Posts - The Call Up2024-03-28T15:52:34ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewetthttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2195760128?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://summitcallup.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0pz7xdru772rj&xn_auth=noDownieville Classic DH Race 2018 - All Mountain Part 2tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-08-08:2372093:BlogPost:329722018-08-08T04:28:21.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I felt pretty fresh as I blasted off from the start tent on my DH run Sunday morning. I started 9th, with a ghost racer behind me and Ryan Gorman in front of me, so I didn't anticipate any company. I had recovered from the vision problems of the day before and made it to the start line with glasses.</p>
<p>I pushed hard on Sunrise and came close to my fastest time, keeping it up down the fire road and across to the single track. I had reduced the rebound damping on my fork to 11 clicks…</p>
<p>I felt pretty fresh as I blasted off from the start tent on my DH run Sunday morning. I started 9th, with a ghost racer behind me and Ryan Gorman in front of me, so I didn't anticipate any company. I had recovered from the vision problems of the day before and made it to the start line with glasses.</p>
<p>I pushed hard on Sunrise and came close to my fastest time, keeping it up down the fire road and across to the single track. I had reduced the rebound damping on my fork to 11 clicks out and it was noticeably better. I tried to pedal hard and ride smoothly, though I did bobble twice in wet rocks and roots. I passed Nathan Riddle with a flat, but he caught me again on the climb up to 3rd Divide. I felt like I was moving fast, but I wasn't watching my splits to confirm whether I was on track for a fast time. I started to lose some heart as I crossed Lavezzola, realizing I was behind my fastest time. I came onto the pavement at 48:30. With around 2 minutes to go, I knew I would not be getting a PR. Nevertheless, I gave it everything I had to the hay bail chicane at the finish line.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, my time earned me 13th place. I had come in a second after 12th and a second ahead of 14th.</p>
<p>Though I had not broken my personal records for either course, I finally achieved a 10th place overall in Pro All Mountain!</p>Downieville Classic XC Race 2018 - All Mountain Part 1tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-08-08:2372093:BlogPost:329702018-08-08T03:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>At the end of every season of mountain bike racing, there is the Downieville Classic All Mountain World Championship.</p>
<p>Though racing starts for me in March, I always try to tailor the last half of the season to have some fitness left for this NorCal testpiece.</p>
<p>This year found me in less than peak form, but eager to compete in the All Mountain category once again. I had raced a Trek Fuel EX for a few years, with some good results, but this year I returned to a cross country race…</p>
<p>At the end of every season of mountain bike racing, there is the Downieville Classic All Mountain World Championship.</p>
<p>Though racing starts for me in March, I always try to tailor the last half of the season to have some fitness left for this NorCal testpiece.</p>
<p>This year found me in less than peak form, but eager to compete in the All Mountain category once again. I had raced a Trek Fuel EX for a few years, with some good results, but this year I returned to a cross country race bike, the Trek Top Fuel. With 100mm of rear travel, it would be more efficient on the climbs than the 130mm Fuel EX. I did add a new Fox 34 SC 120mm fork, shorter stem, wider bars, and Minion SS tires front and rear. Oh, and, of course, a 150mm remote dropper post. I ran a 34 x 9-46 11 speed drivetrain, and 160mm rotors front and rear with SRAM Level Ultimate brakes. After a few pre-ride trips up to Downieville, I felt confident that this bike could do the job. As my power has declined yearly over the last few years, I figured the lighter weight (23 lbs, 13 oz) and greater climbing efficiency would contribute to a faster overall race.</p>
<p>My racing age was 47, but I once again participated in the Pro All Mountain category. While I usually had placed around 15th in the field, well out of the top ten, it was still the most interesting challenge for me to try to improve my times and put a good two days of racing together.</p>
<p>Greg and I rode up Friday and did a practice run down the Butcher downhill. This was the second ride on my new Fox 34 Stepcast fork, so I made some adjustments to dial it in for the fast and chunky course. After dropping the chain a few times in prior practice runs, I added a 20g upper chain guide, and it seemed to be working.</p>
<p>I experimented with tire pressure and settled on 28 rear and 27 front, measured in Downieville.</p>
<p>Friday night I helped some friends do some last minute work on their bikes. I played a little more with my new fork and decided to increase the rebound damping by 4 clicks. I organized my gear for the morning: Camelbak Racebak with 50 oz of CR7, one Roctane, two half packs of caffienated Shot Bloks, one 38g CO2 with a head, one light tube, one 25g CO2 as a backup, one 11 speed chain quicklink, one tire lever, and a Dynaplug race tool. And, of course, a helmet and clear lens glasses.</p>
<p> This would be my first year racing this race with a power meter, which I had used also on my practice race run two weeks before. I had completed the new longer XC course in 2:24, with a disappointing average wattage of 275 for the first 45 minutes of climbing. I had a little better practice DH, finishing in 51 minutes.</p>
<p>We woke to very smokey conditions, but unusually cool weather. I warmed up well and chatted with friends, then made my way to the start for a second row position. One minute before the start, I realized I did not have my glasses. My plan had been to carry them in my pocket for the climb, to avoid sweat contamination, and put them on for the dusty descent. I think they fell out of my pocket while I was warming up.</p>
<p>We started at a moderate pace, which I kept as some began to pick up the speed. I finished the first 6 minutes on the pavement in the top 25. Heart rate was good and I backed off of my 320w average to a more sustainable 300w. I figured I would move up in the field as the climb progressed. I slowly picked off some riders, while trading places with others. My team mate Mark Gibson got pretty close to me, but eventually fell back. I reached the false summit in 45 minutes, this time with an average wattage of 285. Before Packer Saddle, Dylan Fryer caught and passed me. Pretty impressive, as he had started 5 minutes behind me.</p>
<p>At Packer Saddle, we were diverted to the new course that follows the PCT for around 25 minutes. We kept climbing, and I caught up to a train of about 6 racers plodding up the singletrack. I closed the gap to them, but didn't fight to pass. I figured I would have my chance once we started downhill.</p>
<p>I reached the lookout above the lake in about 1:14, and we started down from our high point. I caught a racer quickly, and the problems of racing without glasses started. After the minute of dust I endured before I could pass him, my vision was impaired. The vision in my right eye was blurred, and it was thowing me off. I passed him and a couple more before we reached the Babyheads. Despite my impaired vision, I kept it up at race speed, flying down the trail relying on memory and luck.</p>
<p>I passed Ryan Gorman with a leaking tire, and a few more racers that climbed stronger than they descended. My fork was not feeling as plush as it had, which I did not diagnose properly as too much rebound damping. I crashed hard twice due to my blurry vision. Ryan Gorman caught and passed me before Third Divide, but I passed him on the climb up as his tire once again began to deflate. I had a pretty good climb from the bridge (3:30) and took some risks going 36mph down 3rd divide. I passed another rider going into 1st Divide, where I was once again overtaken by Ryan. We passed Duncan Riffle on the side with a puncture. I pushed hard and passed another person before the pavement, and made it stick all the way to the end. I came in at 2:23, good enough for 19th in Pro XC and 12th in Pro XC All Mountain. I soaked in the river and prepared for the DH race the next day.</p>CA Dirt Series #5 - Sugarbowl - Final Race of the Series!tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-07-11:2372093:BlogPost:327632018-07-11T05:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>After 4 rounds of racing in the CA Dirt Series, we made our way up for the 5th and final round at Sugarbowl ski resort near Truckee. This race would decide the winner of the CA state championship series. I was leading the series in points, so I knew I needed to have a solid race to clench the title for a second year in a row.</p>
<p>There were some fast guys that had not raced any of the races this year: Tristan Uhl, Tate Mientjes, Xander Sugarman, Carson Benjamin, and Nathan Barton were…</p>
<p>After 4 rounds of racing in the CA Dirt Series, we made our way up for the 5th and final round at Sugarbowl ski resort near Truckee. This race would decide the winner of the CA state championship series. I was leading the series in points, so I knew I needed to have a solid race to clench the title for a second year in a row.</p>
<p>There were some fast guys that had not raced any of the races this year: Tristan Uhl, Tate Mientjes, Xander Sugarman, Carson Benjamin, and Nathan Barton were all there for this first race on the xc trails at Sugarbowl.</p>
<p>My competition for points in the series, Nicolas Jimenez, was the guy I needed to beat.</p>
<p>The altitude was high compared to Marin, but did not go much above 7,000 feet. The weather forecast promised a warm day.</p>
<p>This would be my first race on my new Trek Procaliber carbon hardtail. I set it up with a 1x11 drivetrain, 100mm dropper post, and Fox 32 SC 100mm fork. The altitude exposed a problem with my front brake, so I made a parking lot switch to a Guide RS brake which I robbed from another bike I had brought. I stuck with the Victoria Mezcal tires. They rolled fast and gripped alright, and the high weight gave me confidence that I could avoid a flat tire.</p>
<p>I arrived before my race, but the course marshalls denied an attempt to pre-ride the course. I settled for warming up on the pavement and getting a course description from other racers. All reports were that it was predominantly single track with little passing opportunities. The only sustained climbing was to be a 2 minute fire road climb in the middle of the course. We would be racing 5 laps, so I knew the laps would be pretty short.</p>
<p>The 12 Pro racers lined up on the paved start pretty much 12 abreast. We would be pedalling down a paved hill to a hairpin 180 degree turn and then down more pavement to single track. I knew it would be important for me to go into this single track in front of as many people as possible, especially Nicolas.</p>
<p>We blasted off and sped down the paved hill. I was able to move up outside of the paceline as we approached the hairpin left turn, making my way to about 4th wheel. I was going to get pinched in the corner, so I dove hard to make the turn. My front wheel washed out on the pavement and I went down pretty hard, causing most of the field to slow or even dismount behind me. I cursed myself for this mistake, embarrassed to crash but also worried about letting Jimenez get away from me. By the time I was back on the bike, I had fallen to last. With all of the twisty single track ahead, I knew this could prove to be a fatal mistake.</p>
<p>I passed a few riders and found myself stuck behind a racer that was pretty slow on the loose and dusty turns through the woods. I could see the guys ahead of him getting away, so I put pressure on him to let me pass. Once by him, I was able to dig pretty deep to get within 20 seconds of Landon Fairnworth, Brent Woods, and Nicolas.</p>
<p>Over the first lap, I slowly reeled them in. The course was very twisty in the trees, with deep dust in most corners. It was hard to get much speed going, as you were continually slowing to turn. I tried my best to keep speed but avoid a crash.</p>
<p>By the end of the first lap, I had moved from 12th to 8th. On the second lap, I made my way up to Jimenez and got by him. Then I kept it up to get some racers between us. I was feeling okay and opening a gap, maybe moving up to 6th. With all of the switchbacks, I was able to monitor the competition behind me, but the fastest four guys were out of sight ahead of me.</p>
<p>I worked to get some flow on the course, trying not to wash out in the dusty conditions. I pushed on the climbs, but was cautious not to overdo it. We got into lapped traffic from the CAT 1 classes about halfway through the race, but everyone was polite and it didn’t seem to be a big problem.</p>
<p>I kept it up and increased my lead over Jimenez, but noticed Clint Claassen closing on me at the end of the last lap. I pushed enough to get to the uphill finish sprint ahead and held him off to the finish line, coming in 6th, but, most importantly, ahead of Jimenez to be crowned California State XC Champion for 2018!</p>
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<p></p>California Dirt Series #4 - Riding High at the Ranchtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-05-28:2372093:BlogPost:319122018-05-28T00:55:30.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>This is a race that has been happening for years in Susanville, CA. Due to the fact that Susanville is 270 miles away from Fairfax, and the very small pro field I had seen in past race results, I had never made the trip to do this one. This year, as part of the California State Championship Series, it was solidly on the race calendar for me.</p>
<p>After 3 rounds, I was leading the state championship series. Though back in a late base training period, I knew I needed to be there and get…</p>
<p>This is a race that has been happening for years in Susanville, CA. Due to the fact that Susanville is 270 miles away from Fairfax, and the very small pro field I had seen in past race results, I had never made the trip to do this one. This year, as part of the California State Championship Series, it was solidly on the race calendar for me.</p>
<p>After 3 rounds, I was leading the state championship series. Though back in a late base training period, I knew I needed to be there and get some points. Nicolas Jimenez had finished ahead of me at Sea Otter, but I had edged him out by one place at Round Mtn and The Hoot Trail. Though I wanted another win in the series, I knew I had to beat him to keep the lead.</p>
<p>This race brought out some fast guys that had not been racing the series. Tim Olsen and Stephen Mills, both of whom had bested me at Lemurian, were on the start line. Jimenez was there, of course, as well as Landon Fairnworth.</p>
<p>They lined us with no separation from the Cat 1 fields, so it was a little hard to tell who else I was actually racing.</p>
<p>We would be doing a 28 mile course with a lot of climbing, which is pretty long for an XC race. It sounded like we would climb up the mountain, eventually come down, and pass the finish line at 19 miles to go our for another short 8 mile lap. I had very little knowledge of the course, as I had not had a chance to preside it.</p>
<p>It had rained a lot in the days leading up to the race, but the decomposed rock surface conditions were good. Temperature was also good for racing.</p>
<p>I rode the same bike setup as last race but replaced the dropper post with a lighter rigid post. I wanted to drop a little weight for the claimed 4500’ of climbing.</p>
<p>We started in a large group and rode together on a relatively flat fire road for awhile. There were some unfamiliar races around me, probably Cat 1 racers that had started on the front. I knew this race would last over 2 hours, so I allowed others to take the front and I fell back to 8th. I might have stayed closer to the front if I had known we were about to drop into single track. As we funneled into single file, we began climbing. I could see ahead and noted that Tim and Stephen were pushing it. It looked like a few others back to Jimenez and Fairnworth. I rode just behind Fairnworth, who was keeping about the pace I felt I could maintain. The trail was made for bikes, with some rocks and lots of switchbacks. We climbed for a bit and the line stretched out. I came around Fairnworth just in time for a section of descending, where I closed a bit of the gap up to Jimenez. We pushed along through the forest and eventually came to the start of a sustained period of climbing.</p>
<p>The trail was probably designed as a descent, as we climbed numerous bermed corners on our way up. Landon was keeping up behind me, and he and I could see Jimenez around the switchbacks as we slowly reeled him in. This went on for quite awhile until we entered a dowhill section. I turned it on and tried to ride the unfamiliar trails as fast as I dared. I was able close it to Jimenez, and he graciously let me by. We dropped Fairnworth, but soon the climbing began again.</p>
<p>We rode together for a bit, eventually starting to see another racer. As we neared him, I recognized Cat 1 racer Drake Murphy. He was climbing strong, but we were slowly gaining on him. Once the trail turned down again, I caught him and passed. </p>
<p>The trails were super fast and flowy, with occasional rocks. We rode the berms, avoiding the occasional slippery spot. I was able to stand and hammer the short climbing sections, but I had to shift down and sit for some of the longer ones. I needed more descending to get away from them. </p>
<p>We crossed a small bride and climbed a slightly technical rocky section. Whoever was behind me slipped and unclipped, so I attacked without looking back. I kept it up through some rolling sections to a group of tighter bermed s turns and noticed that Jimenez was with me but we had shaken Murphy.</p>
<p>We rode together down the mountain. I would get away on the sections that angled down, but he would claw back to me if it was uphill. I spotted another racer in our class ahead off us, just as we neared the meadow with the start/finish area. Eager to catch him, I missed a turn. I got back on the trail quickly, but Jimenez had already come around me. I got on his wheel, hoping that he would pull us up to the guy ahead. Jimenez led as we came around to the start/finish and started out on our last 8 mile section. We were around the 1 hour 40 minute mark, our usual finish time.</p>
<p>Jimenez and I took turns in the wind as we tried to make up the 500 feet to the unknown racer, but we couldn’t pull him back. I came to the front in anticipation of the single track climbing I now knew was ahead. We were both feeling the long efforts in our legs. I pushed hard, thankful that each upward pitch was not longer than it was. I stopped worrying about the racer ahead and began to think only about beating my true competition for the series - man glued to my rear wheel.</p>
<p>Knowing what was ahead of us, I remembered that I had closed a gap to him on the upcoming descent at the start of the race. I must get to that descent ahead of him, and with a small gap to start. I attacked as hard as I could at the last climb and rode the low-bermed switchbacks well, straightening corners where I could and getting away from him. There was a long flat section of fire road lined with pine trees where I was able to gauge my lead at around 20 seconds. I knew that was good enough for the last 2 miles and stayed on the gas. As we entered the meadow again, I entered some racers from the shorter course. I believe I passed someone from our race, and I could see the Pro racer ahead of me in the distance. I was not able to bring him back and finished just off of the podium. The key tactical element is that I placed ahead of Jimenez, maintaining my lead for the series.</p>
<p>One more race, on July 8 at Sugar Bowl. I should be coming back to some fitness for that one, ready to seal the deal and claim Pro State Champ for the second year in a row.</p>
<p></p>California Dirt Series #3 - Hoot/Pioneer Trailtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-05-22:2372093:BlogPost:318992018-05-22T06:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>After a race fitness period, I was back in late base endurance training. I wasn't sure what to expect from my legs for the 3rd race of the California state series, but I knew I had to show up to get what points I could.</p>
<p>I placed second at this race last year, and knew what to expect from the course. The start was flowy and then straight and fast. There were some wide open slightly downhill fire roads that emptied into singletrack before a bit of climbing. Once we turned left, it…</p>
<p>After a race fitness period, I was back in late base endurance training. I wasn't sure what to expect from my legs for the 3rd race of the California state series, but I knew I had to show up to get what points I could.</p>
<p>I placed second at this race last year, and knew what to expect from the course. The start was flowy and then straight and fast. There were some wide open slightly downhill fire roads that emptied into singletrack before a bit of climbing. Once we turned left, it was fast and flowy singletrack to the Hoot Trail, which was a proper bermed and pumpy trail for about 4 minutes. This spit us out onto a paved road, which we climbed to "The Zipper", an uphill section of switchbacks that gained most of the elevation for each lap. After The Zipper, it was fast downs and ups until a short fireroad climb and a short flat section of fire road to the finish. Laps were about 7.5 miles long and we would be doing 3.</p>
<p>I made the decision to install a dropper post on my Trek Top Fuel, and once again raced on Vittoria Mezcal tires.</p>
<p>The Pro class was small, but there were 2 other racers there in contention for the series win: David Duncan, the winner of round 2, and Nicolas Jimenez, who had placed the highest at Sea Otter and finished just behind me at round 2. There were also an unfamiliar Durango racer, Kell McKenzie, and my teammate, Danny Macnaughton.</p>
<p>The start funnels into singletrack pretty quickly. I went into this fourth wheel, and immediately found myself on the brakes but wanting to go faster. I had seen that Duncan and Jimenez could climb well, especially early in the race, but I knew that I had the edge on the descents. Here was a spot where I could have been using that edge to get ahead, but I was trapped in traffic. Not long after it opened up, I made a push and was surprised to move to the front without too much work. With no one in the way, I let it fly on the corners and used my 34x19 high gear to pull away. I ripped along and soon made it to the first slight climbing section. As I expected, Duncan and Jimenez reeled me in, but I was able to stay just ahead until we made the left turn into singletrack and the Hoot Trail section. Here was another chance to leverage my downhill speed and I dropped my seat and made it count. I was railing the berms and straightening the corners as best I could. Conditions were excellent in the tacky hardpacked dirt, and I had around a 20 second gap when I entered the pavement. I pushed to start the climb, but my legs didn't have a lot of power. I remember a time when I would have added substantially to my lead by dropping the hammer on these climbs, but the two of them caught me by the start of The Zipper.</p>
<p>"Here it goes again", I thought to myself, beginning to accept my slow decline of climbing strength. I asked Duncan if he wanted to come around me, but he said "this is okay, for now." I kept up my pace, and was surprised to lead all the way to the end of the first lap. We came through pretty much together, and headed out for #2. I was in the front for the flumey berms at the start of the lap this time, and once again I pulled away from them. Jimenez seemed content to draft behind Duncan for this superfast section. Either he was racing really smart, or just hanging on.</p>
<p>Once again they caught me at the first climb. I assumed Duncan would try to come around me before the Hoot Trail, and he attacked on the fireroad climb leading to it. I dug deep and made sure I got there first. "At least I will lead this race for another 4 minutes", I thought to myself. I covered the now familiar ground a little faster than before, and found myself with a decent gap as I started climbing again. My two chasers had almost caught me by The Zipper, but I maintained a small buffer. Eventually, Jimenez bridged up to me and Duncan faded. I kept on the gas, as Jimenez seemed content to ride my wheel to the end of lap 2. Here, I started to feel like I could pull off the win. </p>
<p>As in the other laps, I blasted the first quarter of lap 3. I did not want to give Jimenez a wheel to suck. By the entrance to the Hoot Trail, I had a 20 second lead on him and Duncan was nowhere in sight. I let it rip on the fun descent, doubling the features where it made sense and going brakeless through the high bermed corners. I reached the start of the climbing, and then The Zipper, with no one in sight behind me.</p>
<p>I was feeling the fatigue in my legs, but I pushed hard. I soon realized that I had grown my lead substantially, but I kept it up to make it stick. I came in alone for first place, claiming my first California Series win, and the series points lead so far.</p>
<p>Interesting fact: I think I am older than 2nd and 3rd place combined.</p>
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<p></p>The Lemurian Shasta Classic 2018tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-05-11:2372093:BlogPost:318882018-05-11T00:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Back up to Redding for the Lemurian, a great single loop mountain bike race that has lots of climbing and some great singletrack. I raced my Trek Top Fuel again, this time with Vittoria Mezcal tires and a 34 x 9-46t drivetrain. Though the Mezcal is quite heavy for an XC race tire (730g), it is a very fast roller and puncture resistant, with decent grip.</p>
<p>The competition has thinned at this race over the years, but there are always 5 or so fast guys. Stephen Mills has been winning…</p>
<p>Back up to Redding for the Lemurian, a great single loop mountain bike race that has lots of climbing and some great singletrack. I raced my Trek Top Fuel again, this time with Vittoria Mezcal tires and a 34 x 9-46t drivetrain. Though the Mezcal is quite heavy for an XC race tire (730g), it is a very fast roller and puncture resistant, with decent grip.</p>
<p>The competition has thinned at this race over the years, but there are always 5 or so fast guys. Stephen Mills has been winning this one for a few years. Tim Olson, though not racing much these days, usually makes the scene and is always a threat. Greg "The Golden Eagle" Golet still climbs very well and has been right there with me in recent years. Numerous other would-be-contenders lined up, unknown but looking to test themselves at this classic NorCal race.</p>
<p>The start was very civil. I led on the pavement and stayed in the top 6 until the gravel road turned skyward. Stephen and Tim pulled away, and The Golden Eagle. I slowly came around a Roaring Mouse racer, and then one in an Adventure's Edge kit. I kept The Golden Eagle in sight, but he had about 30 seconds on me when we crested the hill. </p>
<p>New this year were two timed "enduro stages". We came to the start of the Gas Can descent and crossed a timing mat. This section was high speed and loose fire road, not technical but scary at speed with our dry conditions. I did my best to keep speed and not crash, which involved scrubbing more speed than I wanted for a few corners. Though it felt pretty slow, I finished 9th overall in Long Course racers for this downhill segment. Not too bad, but the real goal was to win the XC race.</p>
<p>I hit the pavement over the dam about 45 seconds back from Tim and 20 seconds back from The Golden Eagle. I put my head down and tried to gain on them. As we re-entered the dirt and began more climbing, I could see Greg ahead of me. I kept pushing it, but anticipated catching him once we got into the singletrack. </p>
<p>He stayed ahead of me through the first bits, but I caught him as I stayed on the bike for a steep and loose "hike-a-bike" section. He pulled away after this, but I slowly reeled him in on the flume section. He let me by just before a technical bit and I opened up a gap. From here he stayed in sight of me through the first feed station. I got away on the fireroads over to the second, where he once again came into view behind me. Having raced him on this course numerous times, I knew this was his terrain. I needed to get to the top of The Couch ahead of him, where we would enter more technical terrain where I would have the advantage.</p>
<p>I kept it up as we got into lapped traffic from the medium course and rode over to the last steep climbs. There is a long and steep singletrack climb littered with slippery pine needles that usually forces me to dismount. This time, with The Golden Eagle chasing, I was able to ride it and thus get to the start of The Couch with a small lead. Here began the second timed enduro segment, which would last to the end of the race. I blasted down the rutted trail, having fun and pedaling hard when I had the chance. Even this downhill oriented segment still contained a lot of punchy climbs that rewarded the well-rounded racer. I tied for second overall on this one, with Tim OIson beating us for first by 30 seconds over 19 minutes. </p>
<p>I finished the long course race with a minute gap over Greg, but over 3 minutes behind Tim and Stephen, for 3rd place.</p>Sea Otter Classic Pro XCtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-05-10:2372093:BlogPost:320932018-05-10T23:38:05.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The Sea Otter Classic pro XC race is always a challenge for me. An international field racing a short XCO style course means that the bottom half of racers usually don't finish on the leader's lap. I've had to accept that I am now finishing in the bottom half of a national level pro field, so it is really a race to see how many laps I can complete before I am pulled.</p>
<p>This year, it was also the first race of the California State Championship Series. The California racers would be…</p>
<p>The Sea Otter Classic pro XC race is always a challenge for me. An international field racing a short XCO style course means that the bottom half of racers usually don't finish on the leader's lap. I've had to accept that I am now finishing in the bottom half of a national level pro field, so it is really a race to see how many laps I can complete before I am pulled.</p>
<p>This year, it was also the first race of the California State Championship Series. The California racers would be ranked for series points by their finish order, though only if they reported their finish place to The California Dirt Series. Kind of strange, but I planned to do the whole series so I knew that doing as well as I could at Sea Otter would help.</p>
<p>The field was quite small this year; about 70 racers down from the usual large field of over 100. I started a couple rows from the back and we all pedaled as hard as we could up the pavement start. Due to the smaller field, there wasn't the expected traffic jam as we entered the chicane before the dirt. In fact, I rarely felt like traffic was an issue in my race. I rode at my pace, passing and getting passed. I was feeling pretty good, keeping a steadily high heart rate. The course was slightly different, with a steep climb and a steep descent added. Unfortunately, the steep descent was very fast so I was not able to make up any time there.</p>
<p>It was great to have Simon cheering for me at the feed zone, and teammates and friends sprinkled along the course. I was still keen to race when I was pulled on lap four of eight, just 20 seconds back from a racer that was allowed to go out for another lap.</p>
<p>It looks like I finished 2nd out of 4 racers that reported their time and intend to do the state series. Pretty shallow field, but I will take the points as we go into the CA Dirt Series races that comprise the rest of the series.</p>
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<p></p>California Dirt Series #2 - Round Mountaintag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-05-07:2372093:BlogPost:321932018-05-07T06:24:26.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I am prioritizing the races in the California Dirt Series this year, as the series determines the California State Champion. I was consistent enough in last year's series to win the Pro class overall title, so I'm doing my best to make it two in a row.</p>
<p>This course at Round Mountain was a new venue, but the NVCDC/California Dirt races are always good. The track comprised a 5 minute climb to get up to the top of the mountain where we would then do 4 laps. My son Simon raced before…</p>
<p>I am prioritizing the races in the California Dirt Series this year, as the series determines the California State Champion. I was consistent enough in last year's series to win the Pro class overall title, so I'm doing my best to make it two in a row.</p>
<p>This course at Round Mountain was a new venue, but the NVCDC/California Dirt races are always good. The track comprised a 5 minute climb to get up to the top of the mountain where we would then do 4 laps. My son Simon raced before us, so I was able to check out the course a little while watching him. Generally flowy and fast, with few rocks and some short, punchy climbs. There was a fireroad section in the middle, but not really any other great passing spots. </p>
<p>The Pro XC results from Sea Otter would be applied to the California racers that also attended this race. Based on our finishes from the week before, it looked like I was second in the series going into #2. Nicolas Jimenez had finished ahead of me at Sea Otter, but I had finished before David Duncan and Brent Wood. Though the Pro field was once again pretty shallow with only six, I knew I would have a few guys to battle.</p>
<p>The weather was cool with a chance of rain as we lined up to duke it out on the unfamiliar course. Lots of nervous talk at the start line from my competitors, mostly young guys that haven't been racing in this class for long.</p>
<p>We started at a modest pace up the hill and I led to the first steep section. Wood came around me looking pretty casual, and then Duncan and Jimenez and Kyle Dixon, a racer from a Cat 1 class that started with us. I stood and pushed it, but they pulled away from me and I backed off to keep the heart rate in a manageable zone. It took us about 5 minutes to climb up to the start of the lap. As we passed what would be the finish line after 4 laps of this upper loop, we started into the first and longest single track climb. Duncan and Wood were going hard and got a little ahead of Jimenez and Dixon. I was about 10 seconds back from them when I crested the hill and started down the singletrack. The four ahead of me had bunched up, and I caught them pretty quickly. The pace on the descents was less than I could have done, but they would punch it on the climbs and eventually the lead two began to get away from us. I tried to use this first lap to get a feel for the course at speed. The dirt conditions were pretty good, but there were a few surprise corners that threw me off. By the time we had reached the fireroad section, I was still in fifth and Duncan and Wood were almost out of site. I kept Jimenez and Dixon in view, but started my second lap 20 seconds behind them.</p>
<p>They both went hard up the first climb, and I matched their effort. Once over the top, I let my Top Fuel run for a bit and closed the gap. They were really trying to make it count on the short steep climbs, and I couldn't quite match it. I kept pushing at a steady and controlled effort, trying to ride efficiently and keep the speed. I could see Jimenez was out of the saddle a lot, probably trying to break me off, but his efforts never really stuck. </p>
<p>I started the third lap in fifth, but with less of a gap this time. I punched it up the first climb and caught them pretty quickly once we were going down. I was riding Jimenez's rear tire, frustrated that he wasn't pulling over. I figured these guys had been really burning some matches on the first two laps, and I attacked and came around them on the first short climb. The effort was taxing but well-timed and now I was in front of them! This was our third lap on the course and I was beginning to get the hang of it. Lots of fun ups and downs and I popped out on the fireroad and stepped on the gas. Dixon was showing he still had some life in him, but Jimenez was falling back. </p>
<p>I backed off the throttle a little and Dixon closed the gap to me. Turns out he is around my age and racing Cat 1, so I wasn't worried about placing ahead of him for series points, just for pride. I kept the pressure on him for the last lap to discourage any real attacks, and he finished the race just behind me.</p>
<p>Duncan finished 3 minutes ahead of me and Wood less than a minute. Third place points keep me in the game, as there are 3 more races in the series.</p>
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<p></p>CCCX Fort Ord, March 4tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-03-05:2372093:BlogPost:318692018-03-05T06:55:47.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The Base Phase of training had just ended, so I decided to get a fast pace workout in by heading down to the CCCX race at Fort Ord.</p>
<p>Rainy weather had given some firmness and grip to the sandy trails, and the cool temps and sunny weather promised ideal conditions.</p>
<p>I lined up with Carson Benjamin, Kell Mckenzie, and a bunch of young guys that I didn't recognize. We cruised up the paved road start and turned into dirt with Carson in front and me second wheel. The course was VERY…</p>
<p>The Base Phase of training had just ended, so I decided to get a fast pace workout in by heading down to the CCCX race at Fort Ord.</p>
<p>Rainy weather had given some firmness and grip to the sandy trails, and the cool temps and sunny weather promised ideal conditions.</p>
<p>I lined up with Carson Benjamin, Kell Mckenzie, and a bunch of young guys that I didn't recognize. We cruised up the paved road start and turned into dirt with Carson in front and me second wheel. The course was VERY flat and fast, so it became a train of about 6 or 7 racers. Carson stayed in the front for a bit, and then Jason Gandzjuk came around him for a bit. I rode third for awhile, checking out the course for the first time, as I had not been able to pre-ride a whole lap. The pace was pretty fast, but I was able to keep it without too much trouble. I attacked on an uphill fireroad and lead through the bermed and flowy trails back to the finish to complete our first of 6 laps. After the start, there was a sustained slightly uphill section with no recovery. Here I wasn't able to keep the pace up enough and fell back a couple places. I moved to the front again after some recovery on some downhill sections and lead the group to the end of our second lap. </p>
<p>It looked like the pace was having an effect on the group, as we were now only 5. There were two Baghouse racers that looked like roadies that were pretty much sitting on behind Carson, Jason, and me. When we started our third lap, I once again fell off a little from the sustained pace on the slight uphill, but once it became more varied I was able to make my way back up front.</p>
<p>This group stayed together through the end of the third lap, but I fell to the back as they hammered the sustained section again. I kept on the gas and made my way back to one of the Baghouse racers. He and I were not so far behind the others, but we couldn't reconnect. They were keeping the pace of our first 3 laps, but we were falling off slightly. By the end of the lap they had grown their lead to 45 seconds or so.</p>
<p>After racing with the Baghouse guy for a few laps, I had decided that he had an advantage on the flatter bits of the course and I had a slight advantage on the few steeper climbs and the descents. As I led us out to start the penultimate 5th lap, I tried to push hard to stay in the lead for the sustained section that had been giving me trouble. Either he was too tired to come around me, or he just wanted to suck my wheel, but I was able to stay in the front through that section and lead the whole lap.</p>
<p>We were getting into Cat 2 lapped traffic, which interrupted a couple attacks. I tried to keep the speed up and damage him, but he would claw his way back. The guys ahead of us had grown their lead to a couple minutes by the time we started out on our last lap, so it was pretty much the two of us battling for fourth place.</p>
<p>Once again I was able to lead the first quarter of the course, and once we got to the "steeper" climbs I attacked as well as I could. The first one did not stick, but I felt like it had hurt him. We came up on some lapped racers and I banged bars with one of the guys, just after which I put in a big effort to get away. The next time I looked he was not in sight, but I kept up the effort all the way to the finish for an uncontested fourth place.</p>
<p>You could say the race was fast, as we averaged 17mph. Bike worked great, and I was very happy to see a lot of high heartrate numbers. Fitness is coming along, as I begin to enter the Build Phase to come to peak form in a couple months.</p>
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<p></p>Old Caz 'Hopper 2018tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2018-01-29:2372093:BlogPost:320642018-01-29T08:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Once again, the Old Cazadero Grasshopper pops up just in time to add a little spice to the early season training. Never the right thing to be doing in my first periods of base training, this race nonetheless tempts me to go out there and see how things are going.</p>
<p>I have had many top ten finishes on this course, but the competition has been getting deeper every year. Add to that the decline of fitness that seems to inevitably come with age, and it becomes more and more of a…</p>
<p>Once again, the Old Cazadero Grasshopper pops up just in time to add a little spice to the early season training. Never the right thing to be doing in my first periods of base training, this race nonetheless tempts me to go out there and see how things are going.</p>
<p>I have had many top ten finishes on this course, but the competition has been getting deeper every year. Add to that the decline of fitness that seems to inevitably come with age, and it becomes more and more of a challenge. At age 46, this is starting to become noticeable. I had felt especially "not my old self" since Downieville last year, turning in a lack-luster performance at Annadel and a couple of mediocre efforts at CX races. After taking some time off around Christmas, when my fitness usually hits a yearly low, I was training again. Old Caz found me with some base hours in my legs, as usual, but without the ability to ever feel recovered.</p>
<p>I showed up on the Trek Crockett disc cyclocross bike I had built recently; 40 x 10-42 gearing with 37mm WTB Riddler tires (43 psi rear, 41 front). The dirt conditions were a little wet, but the weather on race day was pretty good.</p>
<p>We all rolled out and made the right turn onto Coleman Valley Rd, where the climbing began. I settled into a pace, keeping my position and moving up a little. I could feel a little burn in my legs, but knew this effort level had gotten me to the front last year. I didn't panic when some people came by me, keeping it steady. As things levelled off a bit, I found I was farther back than I wanted to be, so I came around a few people and tried to bridge up to the large front group. My legs didn't seem to be recovering from this effort too well, and by the time we turned right on Willow Creek Rd, I found myself surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Though most of them were breathing way too hard, I couldn't really pull away from them. By the time we started climbing again, I saw that 20 or so people were pretty much out of sight ahead of us.</p>
<p>Last year at this time, I had been taking turns at the very front of the pack. It slowly dawned on me that it would be different this year. We made our way over to the dirt descent on Willow Creek, a full minute behind the front group at this point. I passed some riders right away and settled in behind a couple of guys that were going fast. By the bottom of the downhill, one had gotten away and the other had gotten a little ahead. I bridged up to find that there was no incentive to chase a close group, and also no strength in the legs for it, so he and I waited for a chasing pack of racers that we had passed on the way down. They caught us just before the right turn on Highway 1, and by 116 we were an unorganized paceline of 15 or so. I recognized Oakland high school racer Max Macfadden and Pro mountain bike racer Katy Courtney, but the rest were either vaguely familiar or not at all.</p>
<p>I took some pulls, but mainly tried to stay out of the wind. I could feel my legs were weak, but I hoped the steep climbing would wake them up. We eventually organized a clumsy echelon. I heard a noise in the back as some wheels were crossed and looked back to see a guy skid and cross to hit the barbed wire fence on the left of the road. </p>
<p>A few more people caught us as we made our way over to Duncan's Mill Rd, where there would be some separation on the steeps. We made the sharp right and hit the gate, pouring through it wherever we could fit like water through a screen. Last year, at this point I attacked and pulled ahead of the whole field. This year, I pushed myself to not fall off the back of this group too quickly. About 8 people slowly pulled away from me on the climbs, but I just couldn't go faster.</p>
<p>They all took a wrong turn just before the singletrack section. I yelled to them as I entered first into the slippery descent, smiling to myself at my fortune. With no one in my way, I quickly put a lot of time into the group, hopping logs and ripping around corners. I found myself alone on the flats, passing a rider with a flat and catching another guy. I ate and drank to prepare for the Old Cazadero paved climb, about 20 minutes long, that usually gives me trouble. </p>
<p>Once I started uphill again, it wasn't long before the same group had swallowed me up and spit me out. Max and Katy were still there, and I recognized John Hunt from Fairfax. There were 6 or so others. They slowly moved away from me on the steepest parts, but I pedaled hard and closed the gap to about 10 seconds on the rolling bits.</p>
<p>They reached the Osmo feed station about that much ahead of me, but had to slow due to a bottleneck at the feed. I came through alone and was handed two bottles pretty smoothly, which allowed me to close the gap even more. I had been feeling pretty good on the descents, and I knew that a nasty one was coming up. As soon as we hit the road down to Austin Creek, I started passing. It was like most of them were in reverse. It took ten more seconds to make my way to the front and then I once again proceeded to drop the whole group. I actually caught a couple of people from ahead of us at the creek, and I started up the dirt climb on the other side with them. There was no sign of my old group behind.</p>
<p>The few people I had caught also pulled away from me slowly, and by the top I could once again see the group closing on me from behind. I blasted down the paved descent to Cazadero Highway, but was 100 yards off a paceline of 6 or so people, including the riders that had left me on the climb. I knew I could not catch them, so I ate, drank, and waited. My old group caught me before we made the left on Austin Creek Rd, where more awkward rotation occurred, with about 4 of us doing most of the work for the whole group. I was okay for some turns at the front, but my legs were feeling like jello. I seemed to have a big advantage over this group on the descents, but there were no more descents. Only pacelining over to the final climb up Willow Creek.</p>
<p>Once we hit the gate before the last 20 minutes of the Willow Creek Climb, all but Max rode away from me. It was nice to have some company, and I shared some Shot Bloks with him as we tried to ride with some urgency. We climbed together for awhile, catching a rider and being passed by a couple. I put in a half-hearted attack, from which he eventually rode back to me. Max put in a big effort at the very end and beat me by a bike length.</p>
<p>I finished 23rd, with a time of 3 hours 10 minutes (on a shorter course than pre-2017).</p>
<p>Kind of disheartening, but this is where I am right now. I feel like I am finally bumping into physical limitations based on age, and to some degree life responsibilities, that put me at a significant disadvantage in the elite field. I will continue with my training plan, which should build more fitness by April, and do my best to seek improvement where I can. It is still great to be racing!</p>First Time Racing The Annadel XCtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-08-14:2372093:BlogPost:312662017-08-14T06:49:54.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The XC race at Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa is a great single loop race that isn't too far from where I live, but I had never done it before. I usually try to stretch some fitness into August for The Downieville Classic, but this race is so late in the season that I have passed on it...until today.</p>
<p>I figured I would give it a try, as I had heard the course is good. Though I had a cold for the week leading up to the race, I was able to pre-ride the course on Friday. It involves…</p>
<p>The XC race at Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa is a great single loop race that isn't too far from where I live, but I had never done it before. I usually try to stretch some fitness into August for The Downieville Classic, but this race is so late in the season that I have passed on it...until today.</p>
<p>I figured I would give it a try, as I had heard the course is good. Though I had a cold for the week leading up to the race, I was able to pre-ride the course on Friday. It involves a lot of rocky singletrack, with some rocky fireroad climbs and descents. The pro class races for 25 miles, which would put me finishing in under 2 hours.</p>
<p>I would be racing my Trek Top Fuel, with a Bontrager XR1 2.2 in the back and a Schwalbe Rocket Ron SS 2.25 in the front. I threw on a KS Lev 150mm dropper, which would increase the fun factor and hopefully the overall speed on this relatively technical course.'</p>
<p>There were about 12 guys in the pro field, including some that would call Annadel State Park their backyard. My teammates Phil Mooney and Carson Benjamin were both gunning for a win. Shane Bresneyan would surely be fast on these trails, while Sam Bassetti would be climbing strong. NorCal league champ Xander Sugarman, also from Santa Rosa, would surely be fast.</p>
<p>The start was an abrupt climb on pavement to a short technical climb. I figured there would be some bobbles in the rocks, so I sprinted hard to get into it in good position. I made it around Bassetti as he dismounted and gassed it to catch Xander Sugarman at the front. Carson came around me soon, and Bassetti caught and passed me as we made our way over to the rocky Cobblestone downhill. We passed Carson with a dropped chain, but Bassetti was slowing me down in the rocks enough for Xander to get a decent gap. Once we hit the pavement, Bassetti gave the roady signal for me to come around him and take the lead, a cowardly move after insisting on leading in the rocky parts that were not his strength. I did my best to gain time on Xander, and Bassetti came around me again as we re-entered the singletrack. </p>
<p>Carson, Phil and Shane caught up to me, and we changed positions a couple of times on our way over to Warren Richardson. Once we hit that fireroad climb, I started to get a feel for how my day would go. Jason King and Ryan Gorman came by me and I found myself trying to shift into a gear that I just didn't have. I kept some guys in sight for the next 10 minutes, but I was slowly falling back. </p>
<p>After the South Burma descent, I caught sight of Shane on Live Oak, but I couldn't overtake him. This continued for awhile, as I was jamming on the downhill sections but not able to punch it on the climbs. I hit the pavement at the bottom of Lawndale with a 20 second gap to Shane, but had an uninspired climb over to Schultz and up.</p>
<p>I rode by myself from here to the end, losing time on the climbs. Strava analysis shows that I was faster than anyone on some of the descents, but I had lost too much time already to make it up without pedaling well. The rocky trails were more fun without anyone in the way, but I was bummed I was a couple minutes behind the real race.</p>
<p>I finished in 1 hour and 50 minutes for 8th place.</p>
<p>Kind of a mediocre showing. I guess I can now say the XC race season is over.</p>Another Year, Another Downieville All Mountain Race - DH Editiontag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-08-07:2372093:BlogPost:310652017-08-07T16:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Okay. A new rear derailleur solved the chain drop and my legs were feeling pretty good, prior day's racing considered.It It looked like Wicks opted out of the DH, so I had a ghost rider in front of me for my run. I didn't figure I would make two minutes on the guy that started 8th, so everything would be set for me to have a clean run. It was a little warmer than the day before, but my relatively early start time kept that from being a factor.</p>
<p>Sunrise went down smoothly, within 3…</p>
<p>Okay. A new rear derailleur solved the chain drop and my legs were feeling pretty good, prior day's racing considered.It It looked like Wicks opted out of the DH, so I had a ghost rider in front of me for my run. I didn't figure I would make two minutes on the guy that started 8th, so everything would be set for me to have a clean run. It was a little warmer than the day before, but my relatively early start time kept that from being a factor.</p>
<p>Sunrise went down smoothly, within 3 seconds of my fastest time, and I pedaled hard over to the singletrack. I was feeling good and staying focused, straightening the corners where I could and powering through the pedally sections, all while avoiding a flat. My line through the waterfall was a little slippery, but I held it together. All the pre-riding helped a lot, as I tried to keep speed everywhere I could. I hit the interesection with the XC course in record time (for me). I felt pretty fresh as I climbed up to 3rd Divide, doing the climb almost half a minute faster than the day before. I took some chances on 3rd Divide, noticing how even a slight speed increase changes the lines in some of the corners. I hit the bridge at the bottom and pedaled every chance I could through 1st Divide. I was on the last paved descent to the finish when I was slowed by a moto in the road (WTF?) and barely avoided a crash while trying to pass him.</p>
<p>I rolled in slightly faster than last year at 49:36, almost a minute slower than my fastest time, for another 16th place finish.</p>
<p>My combined points earned me 15th out of 47 in the Pro All Mountain category. </p>
<p></p>Another Year, Another Downieville All Mountain Race - XC Editiontag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-08-07:2372093:BlogPost:311682017-08-07T16:21:06.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I was back this year for another crack at the Downieville Pro All Mountain weekend.</p>
<p>This year, I was racing a 2017 Fuel EX with 130mm travel in the back and a 160mm Pike on the front. This longer fork raised the bottom brackett a little and slacked out the head tube, both of which come in handy for me when riding fast into the many rocks on the course. I chose Maxxis Minion SS tires front and rear, with a low tread center to roll fast and chunky side knobs for cornering traction. …</p>
<p>I was back this year for another crack at the Downieville Pro All Mountain weekend.</p>
<p>This year, I was racing a 2017 Fuel EX with 130mm travel in the back and a 160mm Pike on the front. This longer fork raised the bottom brackett a little and slacked out the head tube, both of which come in handy for me when riding fast into the many rocks on the course. I chose Maxxis Minion SS tires front and rear, with a low tread center to roll fast and chunky side knobs for cornering traction. At just under 800 grams with the EXO protection, I figured they might make it without a flat. I ran a 32x11-42 drivetrain, Level Ultimate brakes with 160mm rotors front and rear, and a 125mm LEV dropper. A 60mm stem with 750mm bars didn't put me in the best climbing position, but felt pretty good going down. At 25lbs, 11 oz, I felt I had made some good compromises for the course, especially with the current scoring that did not combine racing time for the XC and the DH, but weighted the two races equally giving points for finish place.</p>
<p>I had symptons of a cold leading up to the race, but felt alright on raceday. I was not in peak form, but my legs were feeling pretty good. The weather was unusually cool, and cloud cover looked like it might save us from the brutal sun on the exposed climb up to Packer Saddle. I was given the number 10 plate, which earned me a callup to the front of the 50+ person Pro XC field. Lots of familiar faces, many of the usual suspects.</p>
<p>When things got underway, I settled into the top 20, probably making the right turn from the pavement after the first 6 minutes in 15th. I was feeling pretty solid, keeping a sustainable pace with my heartrate between 160 and 168. I was behind my fastest time to the false summit, by over a minute, but I felt like I was riding smart for my current fitness. I found myself in with a pretty good group on the last of the climb with Scott Chapin, Ryan Gardner, and a few other guys. I was fresh enough to sprint up the last climb, passying Ryan and another guy to get into Sunrise. I felt like I was moving okay as we started pushing it in the singletrack, and then my chain dropped. Damn! I was off the bike as Ryan and the other guy got by me, and Chapin caught up as I started again.</p>
<p>I had dropped my chain once the day before on my preride, and hadn't thought too much of it. Everything in my drivetrain had been replaced within 2 weeks except the rear derailleur, so I hoped that this would not be a continuing problem. I finished sunrise and Chapin and I closed the small gap to Gardner, Myles Lucas, Barry Wicks, and a few other guys. We stayed together for the fireroad traverse over to The Babyheads.</p>
<p>I went into the rocky descent near the back of the group. Despite the dust, I was able to move around 3 or 4 guys pretty quickly. Chapin got away ahead of me, but I caught Wicks and Lucas. I was going pretty well in the chunky stuff when Gardner came by me taking some rougher lines really fast. I stayed in touch with him until the left turn onto smoother stuff, where I noticed my chain had derailed again! Wicks and Lucas came by me again as I fiddled it back onto the chainring. Not much else I could do but keep trying, so I dug hard and closed the gap to them. We got back into singletrack and Wicks and I were pushing Lucas. He let Wicks by, but I was stuck behind him still until my chain came off again, costing me precious seconds. I made up the time quickly and Lucas let me by as we jammed down to the bridge at the climb to 3rd Divide. This 3-4 minute climb has often caused me concern about cramping, but I felt pretty good and soon saw Wicks ahead. He crested the climb and started down 3rd Divide about 20 seconds ahead of me. As I hit the top, I could see another racer behind me coming on fast. I laid off the brakes on the descent, going faster than I ever have on the relatively straight trail through the woods, and soon began to see Wicks' dust trail. I caught him before the rocky part and urged him to push it as we flew to the bridge. I passed at the start of the fireroad and kept ahead on the road over to 1st Divide, where I promptly dropped the chain again. Wicks and the guy I had seen on the climb to 3rd Divide came by me, and I worked hard to catch them. I didn't see Wicks again until the last of 1st Divide, and I was digging hard to get him on the last climbs, when, of course, I dropped my chain again. This kind of destroyed my chance to make up another place, which was obvious once I started the pavement to the finish. I rolled in at 2:09:47, a little faster than last year and a minute slower than my fasted time, in 16th place Pro XC,</p>
<p>It was time to soak the legs in the river and then solve the dropped chain issue for the DH race the next day.</p>Carson City Offroadtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-06-20:2372093:BlogPost:303642017-06-20T07:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The good burst of XC racing in NorCal ended a few weeks ago, which works for me as my fitness is usually down in June as I prepare for another peak in August. I have gone back to some endurance oriented base miles, so I thought it would be fun to check out a longer race not too far away. The Epic Rides Carson City Offroad is a 50 mile race and a weekend-long mountain bike race festival. It is part of a 3 race series, and the prize money is quite good, so the Pro field is very…</p>
<p>The good burst of XC racing in NorCal ended a few weeks ago, which works for me as my fitness is usually down in June as I prepare for another peak in August. I have gone back to some endurance oriented base miles, so I thought it would be fun to check out a longer race not too far away. The Epic Rides Carson City Offroad is a 50 mile race and a weekend-long mountain bike race festival. It is part of a 3 race series, and the prize money is quite good, so the Pro field is very competitive.</p>
<p>Cathy and I arrived Friday so I could make the obligatory Fat Tire Criterium. This is a crit style race on pavement through the streets of Carson City, NV. You must race the same bike that you will race on Sunday, but you can change tires. I opted for Bontrager CX0 38c tires, the narrowest allowed. I lined up in the back of a 42 person field for the 7:20 pm start, with the oppresive heat of the day just starting to subside. We would be racing a short course involving 7 90degree turns, no real elevation change. Laps would take under 3 minutes, and we would race for 20 minutes plus 3 laps. I started near the back and pretty much stayed there, sprinting as hard as I could with my 34x10 high gear and getting yo-yo'd off the back as the group compressed and shot out of each turn. I maintained a pretty high heart rate for the 23 minutes I raced before I was pulled, with the leaders doing a couple more laps. That was something for which I had not been training, and I was glad it was done.</p>
<p>We rode Clear Creek Trail on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was spent resting and staying out of the heat.</p>
<p>They moved Sunday's race start from 8:30 to 7:30 a.m. in an effort to reduce the time spent in the higher temps. We lined up again under the starting arch, but this time rolled out at a much slower pace. The first lap involved a gradually increasing paved climb where the group stayed together until we hit the dirt. I was closely monitoring my heart rate in an effort to keep it at 160 or below. Most of the field moved away from me as we climbed the fire road, but I knew that I would suffer later if I pushed it too hard. I was relieved when we entered single track, where we found shade and a slight breeze on the ridge. We climbed some more but eventually came to the long single track descent. I had not had a chance to pre-ride the course, but I was moving pretty fast on this section. I caught and passed a few racers in the 20 minute descent, and did my best to hammer the 5 minutes of flat pavement back to the start/finish area. I came through for my first lap in 1:18, 7.5 minutes behind the leader and 38th place out of 46.</p>
<p>On the second lap, we followed a different course at the start. We hit the dirt sooner and climbed on a treeless hillside with no breeze, following a rocky and narrow trail that presented some technical climbing challenges. I overtook a couple of racers, but didn't have the punch to climb hard. I caught and passed a couple more, including John Nobil and Josh Whitney just before we hit the single track again at around 45 minutes into the lap. Josh stayed close on me as we meandered around, up and down, to the beginning of the trail down. The summit altitude of 6,600 ft was slightly noticeable, but the breeze up high was very welcome. Josh asked to come around me before we dropped, and I asked him if he would be fast on the descent. Of course, he told me he would, and he pedaled hard up the last bits to gap me by 10 seconds or so.</p>
<p>I gathered myself for the descent, a little more confident after having ridden it on the first lap. I let it rip and soon saw that I was making time on him and the rider ahead of him. I caught him and we both passed the other racer, and afterwards I put the pressure on him until he pulled over and let me by. I felt like I was flying, but I heard someone gaining on me. At the bottom, I was overtaken by Geoff Kabush, who was a favorite to win but had flatted on the start of the second lap. I stayed with him alright on the rest of the trail along the creek, until we hit a short, soft fire road section and he pulled away. After pedaling hard up the hill, and not pedaling much on the descent, my legs were annoyed at being asked to pedal hard again. The ribbon of single track after this fire road was very fast, and I got up to 30 mph. At one point I hit some soft sand and almost crashed hard, somehow fishtailing but keeping it together. I put my head down on the last section of pavement back to the start, completing my second lap in 1:37.</p>
<p>The temperature was now at 90 degrees, but we all headed out knowing that this was the last one. I had hoped my conservative pace at the start would leave me fresher at the end, but I really did not have any kick while climbing the rocky, exposed single track. 2 racers passed me and moved on ahead, and I suffered through. I soon saw Stephen Mills, and it seemed like I was gaining on him. I would have felt better about this, except for the fact that he had raced this same course the day before in the amateur event. I called to him as we both came through the aid station where they dumped ice water on our backs, but he stayed just ahead of me on the fire road climb over to the single track. I was slowly gaining on him, but I thing it was because he was slowing down. I was shaken out of my lethargy when I noticed that John Nobil and Cody Scwhartz were all of a sudden within striking distance behind me. I picked up the pace, hoping to get to the descent ahead of them. Alas, they both caught me and started down ahead of me.</p>
<p>Once again, I closed the distance as we dropped on the narrow trails. We all passed Mills, then Cody and I passed Nobil, who said he had nothing left in his legs. I pushed Cody hard and he eventually let me by, as he was starting to cramp. I tried to keep my speed, pushing my advantage while avoiding any crashes. We were all hurting pretty badly, but there was only 10 or so minutes left in the race!</p>
<p>When I hit the short, soft fire road climb, my right hamstring seized. I whimpered to myself, but I was able to keep pedaling and work through it. I looked back to see Cody only a couple hundred feet behind me. I pushed on and then cramped in my left hamstring. I somehow worked through it without stopping, and amazingly kept ahead of Cody. I made the right on the last single track section and really pushed it. Just before the pavement, I saw Chris Ganter, a rider that had passed me on the climb at the beginning of the lap. I rode as smoothly as I could and came by him on a wide section with a decisive pass. We made the right turn onto the pavement and I had a decent gap, so I put my head down and turned over the cranks to stay away from him for the five minutes to the finish. </p>
<p>I looked back to see someone gaining on me, but there was nothing I could do about it. Cody Schwartz passed me, too fast for me to jump on his wheel. I stayed ahead of Chris to finish in 34th place with a time of 4:44, after 55 miles and 7,700 feet of climbing. </p>
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<p></p>Nevada City Dirt Classic #3, Final State Championship Series Racetag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-05-22:2372093:BlogPost:299212017-05-22T07:15:19.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>April and May are the strongest months in NorCal for XC racing. I had raced about every weekend for these two months, with the real block of competition starting with the first NCDC race and ending with this one, the last of the series. After a second place in the first and second races of the series, I was in a good position to win it all and be crowned California State Champion in Pro class. I was leading the points, with Cody Schwartz being the only other person that was within…</p>
<p>April and May are the strongest months in NorCal for XC racing. I had raced about every weekend for these two months, with the real block of competition starting with the first NCDC race and ending with this one, the last of the series. After a second place in the first and second races of the series, I was in a good position to win it all and be crowned California State Champion in Pro class. I was leading the points, with Cody Schwartz being the only other person that was within striking distance. </p>
<p>We travelled up to Nevada City for what promised to be a very warm day. I did not get a chance to preview the course much, but I had a pretty good description; flowy singletrack followed by a 6-7 minute steep climb with switchbacks, rocks and roots, then to flat and fast singletrack along an old flume and down to a rock garden area before some vicious but short climbs back to flowy singletrack and the finish line. We would be doing 4 laps of the 6 mile course, so I figured I would know it well enough after a couple.</p>
<p>I left the dropper post at home and decided to run my fastest rolling race tires front and rear, the Bontrager XR1 29x2.2. My Top Fuel was under 22 lbs and I had really dialed it in over the last two months of racing. I warmed up by riding the Hallelujah Trail from the venue to White Cloud campground and back, starting to get a feel for the hardpack dirt trails we would be racing.</p>
<p>The Pro men's field was once again kind of thin, and I did not see Cody Schwartz on the start list. That decreased the pressure on me significantly, as I would win the series if I finished the race at all. Nathan Barton, who had beaten me at the last race, was there, as well as Gareth Feldstein and Alex Pasqualina, I was not so worried about the series, but I wanted to be on the podium at this last race and I was gunning for the top step.</p>
<p>We all started hard up the short climb to the first singletrack descent, and Nathan got the hole shot. I was third wheel behind Alex as we flowed downhill through the trees and made our way over to the climb. Gareth made his way to the front and led for the first half of the climb. His pace was a little slow for a few of us that wanted to start inflicting damage on this decisive section, and we quickly moved around him. Alex slipped on a rooty switchback and I made it around him to top out 5 seconds behind Nathan. I quickly closed to him on the flat and straight singletrack, though it took effort to push hard after just climbing the steep bit. I was surprised to see that Nathan was not really riding with any urgency, and I suggested to him that this was a race and maybe we should go faster. He picked it up a bit, and it seemed that we had made a real separation between us and the rest of the field.</p>
<p>Initially, I was happy to let Nathan lead on this first lap, as I had not ridden these trails, but I felt I could maintain a slightly faster pace on the more technical parts. I moved around him before the baby head section and did, in fact, pull ahead, but he closed the gap and we came through on the first lap with Nathan hot on my heels.</p>
<p>I had seen all of the trail now, and I could see how important the climb was going to be. I felt that Nathan would be climbing that faster than I could, so I needed to minimize the damage he could do there. I pushed it on the fast trail over to the climb, and barely held the lead all the way to the top. We cruised the flat and flowy stuff, and I could see another racer not so far behind us. I turned it on as we trended down hill and opened a small gap. After the rock garden section, I heard someone gaining on me. I was surprised to see that it was Alex, not Nathan, that caught be just before the end of the lap. He passed as we started out on lap three, but I was right on him. He seemed to be riding a little beyond his comfort zone as he skidded the sharp turns and slid out a few times, but he stayed in front to the climb, where we pushed each other pretty hard but were caught by Nathan. Alex pulled away a little and Nathan passed me just before the top, and they were out of sight by the time I started on the flat stuff. I estimated their lead at 17 seconds or so and gritted my teeth to keep the effort going.</p>
<p>I was by myself and found it easier to keep the speed, as I was now familiar with the trail and completely in control of my pace. I was pleasantly surprised to see dust ahead and then to catch Nathan and Alex on the baby heads section. We came through the finish line together, going out for our last lap. </p>
<p>I knew that the climb on this lap would be decisive, but that I was feeling the effort from earlier. I gave it a good push at the start, but backed off up higher. I wanted to finish strong and thought I could close any lead they would build when we came to the last half of the lap, maybe with enough left to hammer the short, loose climbs toward the end that had been giving them a little trouble.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they must have put more than a minute into me on the climb, and I was not even offered the encouragement of dust lingering in the corners as I sped down the now familiar trails to the finish.</p>
<p>It was a disappointment to finish third on the day, but it had been a close first three laps and the best racing in the series so far. And, as a reward for my consistent efforts, I had earned the California State Championship title!</p>
<p></p>Old Cabin Classic 2017tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-05-15:2372093:BlogPost:300022017-05-15T07:27:50.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>This was my second year doing the recently revived Old Cabin Classic. Last year I finished 5th in a pretty strong Pro field on the 3 lap, 33 mile course. I was back for more this year and I hoped to put in more consistent lap times.</p>
<p>Cathy and I arrived Friday and did a pre-ride. Definitely a good idea, as there were a few technical sections and one tough short climb that would have surprised me if we had not. The course conditions were a little different than last year, and we…</p>
<p>This was my second year doing the recently revived Old Cabin Classic. Last year I finished 5th in a pretty strong Pro field on the 3 lap, 33 mile course. I was back for more this year and I hoped to put in more consistent lap times.</p>
<p>Cathy and I arrived Friday and did a pre-ride. Definitely a good idea, as there were a few technical sections and one tough short climb that would have surprised me if we had not. The course conditions were a little different than last year, and we would be anticipating some wind on the more wide-open sections of the course.</p>
<p>I was racing my Trek Top Fuel, with no dropper and Bontrager XR1 2.2" tires. The rear suspension would definitely help with the many bumpy and rutted sections, and hopefully regain some of the traction I was giving up with the fast rolling tires. Weight of the bike was 21 lbs.</p>
<p>The start list for Pro men had been posted, and it looked like there would be at least 5 really fast guys out of the 14 registered racers. At the start line, Colin Daw and my teammate Carson Benjamin were absent, so that relaxed things a little. Young CX star Tobin Ortenblad and Shane Kloepfer were locals that had beaten me the year before, but I couldn't discern any other real threats from the group.</p>
<p>We started pretty fast and Tobin, Shane, and I were following an unkown rider in Trek Volkswagen shorts. Not sure when that team last produced a kit, but this guys was in it (at least the bottom half) and he was leading us all into the wind. The pace was manageable, but we made a pretty quick separation from the rest of the field. I was on the back of the train as we climbed the switchbacks and made our way over to the first descent. The other 3 guys were on hardtails, which I knew would make the smooth climbing a little more efficient but take its toll on the rougher sections. I had fallen back about 5 seconds as we began to go down a rutted trail. I reached down to move my shock into the "open mode", but took a little too long and crashed pretty hard. I was back on the bike quickly, but I had lost contact and my knee was very scraped and feeling numb. That was a dumb mistake to make in the first 10 minutes of the race!</p>
<p>I charged my way back to the Trek Volkswagen guy, but Tobin and Shane were now pulling away from him. As we climbed out on The Old Cabin Trail, I stayed on his wheel and waited on my chance, a little anxious that the first two were getting away from us both. Once we were headed down again, I tried to pass and he blocked me. Soon I saw a widening of the trail and made my way around him. I tried to descend well and punch it on the climbs, and I eventually put some time between us. As I climbed a fireroad about halfway through the lap, I came upon Shane walking his bike. He said he had flatted and did not have a spare tube or pump. Not carrying the bare essentials to fix a flat was a rookie maneuver, but it seemed a shame that he would be out of the race so early, so I dropped my tube and a CO2 for him. Maybe not so smart on my part, but I anticipated that he would fix his flat and get back into the race.</p>
<p>I did not see Tobin and focused on riding the rockier sections of Enchanted and Zane Grey fast but safely. I clocked the Trek Volkswagen guy at about 1 minute behind me as we started the second lap, which I didn't find worrisome. I was getting mixed reports from anonymous bystanders about Tobin's lead, but I figured it was probably 4-5 minutes. That is a big gap for less than an hour of racing, so I resigned myself to a fight for second place. All of the sections were more familiar on this second lap, though the climbing slowed a little. My first lap was about 48 minutes, but my second took 52 minutes. Not at all the consistency I had hoped to see, but I seemed to have a couple minutes lead over third place as we started out on our third lap. I stayed steady, though slower, on this lap. There was no cramping, and my knee was not hurting, but my body was feeling the effects of almost 2 hours of racing with 30 minutes to go. After a report that Tobin was 10 minutes ahead of me (ugh!), I accepted the inevitable defeat. Pushing on, I tried to stay smooth and avoid a flat, as I had given my spare tube away. I rolled into an uncontested 2nd place finish, happy to be done but a little disappointed in the loneliness of the experience.</p>Nevada City Dirt Classic #2, California State Championship Series, Berms for Daystag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-05-08:2372093:BlogPost:301972017-05-08T06:53:55.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The three Nevada City Dirt Classic races comprise the California State Championship series for 2017. I placed second in Pro class at the first of the three, and traveled to the second for more series points. </p>
<p>This one was on the trails of the Sanchez family property near Nevada City, the location of the weekend before's TDS Enduro. I had never raced there, but I figured that any course on these trails, even XC, would involve some spicy stuff, so I outfitted my Trek Top Fuel with a…</p>
<p>The three Nevada City Dirt Classic races comprise the California State Championship series for 2017. I placed second in Pro class at the first of the three, and traveled to the second for more series points. </p>
<p>This one was on the trails of the Sanchez family property near Nevada City, the location of the weekend before's TDS Enduro. I had never raced there, but I figured that any course on these trails, even XC, would involve some spicy stuff, so I outfitted my Trek Top Fuel with a dropper post.</p>
<p>Again, it was a small Pro field. Seven or so of us lined up for a noon start. Cody Schwartz, who placed first at the first race of the series, was there. Nathan Barton and David Duncan would also be threats, though not for the series, as they were not at the first race. I noticed I was the only racer in the field with a dropper post.</p>
<p>We rolled up to the start line and the start whistle blew abruptly, sending us flying down the initial fireroad section. I was out in front, and maintained that position as we turned right and climbed the short steep road to the top of the hill. I dropped my post and got the hole shot into the first singletrack descent. I tried to recover from the effort of the start by riding smoothly on the berms and jumps, controlling the pace and getting my first real race-pace look at the course. We wove around the trees on the slightly dusty, hardpack trails, and after a bit I slowed to see what damage I had done to the field. It looked like only Barton and Duncan had been able to stay in contact, though a little behind. I maintained the pace, trying to keep some flow going in the tight turns and on the short climbs. We reached the powerline fireroad section and the mid-lap climbing began. Barton attacked and Duncan went with him, getting away from me a little bit. I wanted to punch it and stay with them, but my legs did not really want to go into the red. It was not long before I made the turn at the top of the course and we started another long section of tight, woodsy flow trail. I was able to close to them without a lot of effort, feeling blocked by Duncan on the type of trail where it looked like I had an advantage over them. As the climbing began again, they pulled away a little and I had to back off. They passed through the finish line on the first of our four laps about 15 seconds ahead of me, with a lap time of close to 20 minutes. Pretty fast, and probably not sustainable for any of us. I watched my heart rate and tried to keep it reasonable as we started out for #2.</p>
<p> For series points, Cody Schwartz was the real concern, though I could not see any racer behind me, even on the longer straight sections. The lead two had gotten slightly out of sight, but I was seeing some wisps of dust and knew they could not be far.<br/>After making the turn at the top of the course, I eventually caught Duncan and passed him on a climb. He seemed to be having shifting issues. I pushed hard and got well away from him pretty quickly, moving into second place. I believe I came through the finish area about a minute back from Barton as we started on lap three. Halfway through this lap, where the course doubled back on itself, I clocked myself as 1 1/2 minutes behind Barton. If I was going faster than he was on the down bits, it was not fast enough to catch him. By this point, I was becoming familiar with the features of the course, so I tried to ride fast and smooth, jumping where appropriate (an abandoned car table top) and leaning the bike through what seemed like hundreds of berms.</p>
<p>I was unable to catch Barton, but stayed well ahead of Duncan. Second place again. Duncan came in third, which put Cody back at fourth, probably putting me in the lead for the State Championship.</p>
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<p></p>The 30th Annual Lemurian Shasta Classictag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-04-30:2372093:BlogPost:300882017-04-30T17:03:13.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Cathy, Simon and I were very excited to do The Lemurian Shasta Classic again. Last year was the first year for those two, but I had raced this 28 mile single loop course many times. Simon would be racing the 8 mile short loop, and cathy once again doing the long course.</p>
<p>We traveled up Friday evening and had a chance to preride Simon's course, which shares common trails with the start and finish of our course. For him it is pretty much a gravel climb of 800 ft to the slightly…</p>
<p>Cathy, Simon and I were very excited to do The Lemurian Shasta Classic again. Last year was the first year for those two, but I had raced this 28 mile single loop course many times. Simon would be racing the 8 mile short loop, and cathy once again doing the long course.</p>
<p>We traveled up Friday evening and had a chance to preride Simon's course, which shares common trails with the start and finish of our course. For him it is pretty much a gravel climb of 800 ft to the slightly technical and fun singletrack descent back to the start/finish. He was nervous about some of the loose and rutted sections and walked in a few spots. The sun had gone down and we noticed a big drop in temperature, but the forecast indicated very warm weather for race day.</p>
<p>We arrived early on Saturday and began our preparations. Simon was racing his Trek Fuel EX Jr, outfitted with a dropper post and fairly aggressive tires (for a 95 lb racer). Though he's only 8 years old, he was racing in the junior category against kids much older. They made an announcement at the riders' meeting that they were offering a $100 prize to the first short course racer to the top of the gravel road climb, in which he cautiously showed interest. He hooked up with some friends, Deven and Yohon, that he remembered from the year before, and they warmed up for the start.</p>
<p>I was once again racing my Trek Top Fuel. I decided to go with a Brontrager XR1 rear (29x2.2") and a 2.25" Schwalbe Rocket Ron on the front. The XR1 is a very fast roller, but not the best for anything loose. I opted for no dropper post, despite the fact that it would have been more fun and helped with some of the relatively rough trails. From past experience, I prepared myself for the thousands of feet of climbing, and knew I could rely on a little skill to go fast enough on the down bits.</p>
<p>We all lined up for the mass start and I got a look at the field. Local hero Stephen MIlls was back on his singlespeed. He has pretty much ruled this course for the last 2 years, really defying expectations to win on the one gear. Former winner Tim Olson, Danny Macnaughton, and Greg Gollett were there. Bryce Lewis and Kell Mckenzie were two familiar racers that were out for their first Lemurian. I was starting with 60 oz of Osmo in my Racebak, but quite surprised to see a lot of these people with only one bottle for the warm conditions and over-2-hours race duration. I could see a lot of racers chose to prepare their bikes more for the technical portions of the course than for the relentless climbing, with dropper posts and grippy tires, and even some longer travel full suspension setups.</p>
<p>As the start gun went off, I briefly thought of Simon at the back of the field, before focusing all of my attention on the task at hand. We motored up the pavement and over to the start of the gravel climb. Bear Development rider Bryce Lewis sprinted ahead, and Stephen went with him, but I wasn't too eager to push hard this early. My plan for this race involves realistic pacing, as the last 30 minutes or so can be very brutal if you overdo it at the start. I would try to keep my heart rate right around 166 for the climbs, pushing it but avoiding crossing the redline. </p>
<p>We made the left turn to begin the steep gravel road climb, and I could see Stephen and Bryce ahead. It looked like Bryce was going to try to hang with Stephen, which I doubted would go well for him. I pulled away from Kell, but was joined by Greg, "The Golden Eagle", for a bit. I could see Tim Olson not far behind, and another racer I did not recognize was with me for a bit. I was feeling solid at this pace, and I slowly pulled away from most of them by the top of the climb. </p>
<p>I started down the loose and winding fireroad to the dam by myself. I didn't feel fast on this, high-posting with the low tread tire in the rear. I expected Tim would catch me, as he knows it well, is quite skilled, and was on a Santa Cruz Nomad set up for going downhill fast. I stayed away to the pavement, but he made up time and was maybe 20 seconds behind as we started across the dam. I could not see Bryce or Stephen, which meant they had more than a minutes lead. Tim closed the gap to a few seconds, but I pulled way a bit on the paved descent by tucking low. I went into the first singletrack a little ahead, and tried my best to corner well and charge the short climbs. Again, I was surprised that Tim did not catch me, and I was able to get out of sight a bit. I think I saw a couple of riders behind me when we were on some more long fireroad climbs, but I kept pushing it. </p>
<p>I was anticipating the short loose climb for which most people dismount, and here is where I reconnected with Bryce. I was able to ride almost all of it, and he was off the bike pushing. I caught him in the flume trail and we rode together for awhile. It didn't look like he had drunk much of his one bottle, and I had already consumed at least 20oz of my supply. Despite having a dropper post on his bike, he was not using it to corner faster in the bermed flumes. We rode together for some time, and he let me by before a technical creek crossing. I pushed it on the ensuing climb, getting away a bit, and thought maybe I had broken him off.</p>
<p>A few miles later, as I hit the first aid station and turned up another fireroad climb, I was surprised to see him just behind me. He dug hard at the top of this to get by me before the drop into singletrack, flicking the tail of his bike around like he was ready to "shred the gnar". Unfortunately, he was not aware that we were going into an unrideable rocky section. He abruptly dismounted and we made our way around a couple of medium course racers we were lapping. He slipped and fell down the hill a bit as I carried my bike by on the highline and got away from him again. More flume trails and a missed turn for me and he had reconnected.</p>
<p>Now, we had been racing for about an hour and a half at this point. The climbing was taking its toll, but there is a lot more to come. I was feeling pretty good, so I turned it up some and slowly rode Bryce off of my wheel. I must have gotten a pretty good gap, because it was not long before I could not see him behind me on the long fireroad climbs. I was riding by myself, which was quite fun down the XX descents. I knew that Stephen was well ahead of me, but there was always the potential for a flat or mechanical on the rocky course and I pushed on.</p>
<p>The last 20 minutes were not too eventful. I kept it together with no problems and finished second place overall in about the same time as the year before.</p>
<p>Simon was waiting for me at the finish line with a second place medal and a $100 bill - he had been first to the top of the short course climb and claimed the prize!</p>
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<p></p>Sea Otter Classic 2017tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-04-25:2372093:BlogPost:301892017-04-25T06:20:49.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Cathy, Simon and I left early on Friday to make it in time for me to race the Short Track at 11:15 on Friday. The course was very short and flat, with various sections of loose and slow materials ranging from pea gravel to sand. I guess around 85 people started the race, and I had a pretty good first lap, coming through the finish about mid-pack. I soon felt the effects of my hard start, and I was overtaken by 20 or so racers over the next few laps. I think I completed 5 of the 8 laps…</p>
<p>Cathy, Simon and I left early on Friday to make it in time for me to race the Short Track at 11:15 on Friday. The course was very short and flat, with various sections of loose and slow materials ranging from pea gravel to sand. I guess around 85 people started the race, and I had a pretty good first lap, coming through the finish about mid-pack. I soon felt the effects of my hard start, and I was overtaken by 20 or so racers over the next few laps. I think I completed 5 of the 8 laps before I was deemed "out of contention" and pulled from the race, finishing 70th. I had gotten very hot with the effort in the sun, but felt okay once I had a chance to cool down.</p>
<p>Not a huge success, but about the way I figured it would go. As usual, a good leg opener for Saturday's XC race.</p>
<p>The Pro XC course was designed to meet UCI course standards, as used for World Cup and Olympic races. This meant around 3 mile laps, which pretty much precluded any long climbs. Probably 30% of the course was on pavement, with much of it the same as the short track course. I had pre-ridden the course that morning, and the only section that I rode more than once was the contrived rock garden. This was the same as last year, about 15 feet wide and 30 feet long, but this year there was a definite "path of least resistance" worn into the left center. This was simple enough to ride at speed, so I focused on riding the right line through rougher rocks that were overgrown with grass.</p>
<p>There was a section early in the lap where we climbed an S turn through deep sand, but we would bypass this on the first lap to avoid the eminent traffic jam. The bulk of the climbing was up a wide dirt section beside the pavement. From here, we rode down and up over to the rock garden. From there it was back and forth on switchbacks over past the Dual Slalom course to a fast descent to more arcing turns and down onto the race track for more flat short track sections. Conditions were loose, in general, but there were still signs of moisture on the course.</p>
<p>I was racing my Top Fuel, with some lighter and faster rolling Bontrager XR1 29x2.0 tires. It weighed 20 lbs, 12 oz.</p>
<p>My teammate Carson was also racing Pro, and his dad, Dave, was handling the bottle hand-ups at the start of the long climb. Carson and I ended up in the back row of the 110 person field. I saw many familiar faces, but also many young guys that had just moved up recently.</p>
<p>My fitness was coming along well, and I was in a much better place than I had been in the year before at Sea Otter. My goal for the race was to race smart, but push myself hard. With 8 short laps, there was a big danger of being pulled by falling 20% behind the leader as they checked the time differential each lap.</p>
<p>The start gun went off and we fanned out to fill the wide paved race course. I moved up a few positions and chose the right side of the herd, just before hearing hard braking on the left side and seeing a couple racers that tangled bars and went down. The whole pack slowed as we hit the steeper sandy climbing, and I gained a few more spots. There was a brief stop as we made our way in traffic through a couple of sharp turns, then down and up a short climb toward the rock garden. I saw Carson there with me as we came around a turn to the line of guys clogging the one smoother line through the rocks. I was glad I had planned for this, and I moved right through my contingency route quickly, passing at least 10 racers. I heard the sounds of someone unclipping from the pedals, back and to my left, which surely meant a pileup of anyone behind him. This made me smile to myself, and I hammered up the next climbs to press my small advantage. I had moved through the field of 110 to probably 60th or so. I could see the race leader (World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Nino Schurter) on a climb ahead at 5:00 minutes into this first lap, and estimated his lead to already be 35 seconds.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230489952?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230489952?profile=original" class="align-center" width="480"/></a>I lost some places on the flat sections around the track, and a couple more in the sandpit climb starting the second lap. Carson had caught me and entered the feed zone just ahead of me. My heartrate was in the high 160s, just where it should have been, and I tried to gain a position whenever possible. The field broke up a bit on the next few laps, with the crowds being less of a problem. I found myself falling off the back a couple of times, thus doing more work in the wind on the flat sections. I was never passed going down, but passed a few times on the long climb. The laps were taking me around 12 minutes each, and I tried to muster as much kick as I could to avoid getting pulled. On lap 5, I dropped down onto the track and saw that a Giant racer that I had been chasing seemed to be sitting up. I called to him that I was passing on the right, but he drifted over and blocked me, saying that our race was already over. He mocked me for caring about how I finished so far back in the field as I got around him and closed the distance to the next racer. As we came around a corner to start the next lap, that racer and I were waved off the track as we watched a guy 15 seconds ahead of us start out on his 6th lap.</p>
<p>I finished 70th, not exactly satisfied, but knowing I had put out a solid effort and tried my best in the largest and most competitive field I face all year.</p>Nevada City Dirt Classic #1, 2017, First Race of the California State Championship Seriestag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-04-16:2372093:BlogPost:298822017-04-16T06:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I had heard good things about the Nevada City Dirt Classic races. Friends had told me that they were fun courses with a well-run grassroots feel. I had them in mind when I was building my race calendar for 2017, and their designation as the 3 race series that would determine the USAC California state champion sealed the deal.</p>
<p>Mark GIbson and I drove up past Auburn and into the state forest to throw our hats into the ring in our respective classes, and for a little more training…</p>
<p>I had heard good things about the Nevada City Dirt Classic races. Friends had told me that they were fun courses with a well-run grassroots feel. I had them in mind when I was building my race calendar for 2017, and their designation as the 3 race series that would determine the USAC California state champion sealed the deal.</p>
<p>Mark GIbson and I drove up past Auburn and into the state forest to throw our hats into the ring in our respective classes, and for a little more training before The Sea Otter Classic the next weekend.</p>
<p>I was racing my Trek Top Fuel again, pretty much the same as SoNoMas. There had been rain late in the week, so I felt the Rocket Rons would be a safe call for tires. This bike had been feeling so fast for me, a very race-able build and only 20lbs 11oz.</p>
<p>We arrived in time to register, suit up, and get a very small warm up. We had hoped to do a full lap pre-ride of the 7 mile lap, but would have to race it blind. I lined up with the other pros, a little disappointed by the relatively small turnout of only 5 or 6. I recognized only Kell McKenzie, a racer from the East Bay. All the other racers that lined up at the front looked like they were under 20 years of age, which made me feel kind of old at 45. We rolled up to the start line and too abruptly heard the start whistle. </p>
<p>The first bit of the course was very fast with banked turns and fireroads that trended gently down hill. I moved up to 4th position quickly, but let other racers charge at the front. We were going at least 20mph, so I spent a few minutes drafting. After seeing the guys in front of me do a couple sketchy things, I decided I didn't like trusting their wheels and moved to the front. Right away, a Scott Bicycles racer (Cody Schwartz) came around me and we pulled away from the rest of the field. We turned off the fireroad into some fun bermed turns, and then more fireroad climbing. Cody seemed desperate to get an early gap, and I let him go a little. I was soon overtaken by another racer, and went into more singletrack in third place.</p>
<p>We made our way to the "Hoot Trail", a very fun flow trail. The dirt conditions were absolutely perfect, with moisture but not much mud. I tried to push it, but kept it safe. I opted for smoother lines around most of the numerous small jumps, as most of the lips had a little kicker that wasn't so good for my XC race bike. I overtook the 2nd place racer, who was off of his bike, and eventually popped out on a fireroad climb. This climb took me to a long section of switchbacks, that were mostly smooth and not too steep. I could hear Cody ahead, but I was not gaining on him. The rest of the lap revealed more ups and downs and some freshly cut new trail, with a longish straight climb where I looked back and saw a couple guys chasing. I came through the lap finish area a little over 1 minute behind Cody and went out for number 2.</p>
<p>This lap started more smoothly, as I was riding by myself and had some knowledge of what to expect. I was generally averaging 14 miles an hour, which is pretty fast for a mountain bike race. I pushed a little on some climbs, and felt a little faster on the flow trail until I botched a jump and lost a few seconds. I quickly realized there was someone catching me, and he closed the gap on the fireroad climb to the switchbacks. I knew he must have had to dig pretty hard to catch up to me, so I pushed hard on the climbs and eventually got out of sight in the woods.</p>
<p>My legs were feeling pretty good, but this was the end of a three week "build" training block. Despite accumulated fatigue, I was recovering well enough to punch it on the short climbs. As I came through and started on my third and last lap, I felt sure I would be able to keep up the pace for another 34 minute lap. I laid off the brakes through the fast corners and fireroads for the first few miles, trusting the perfect trail conditions and my knowledge of the course. I felt smooth and fast on the Hoot Trail and got to the switchbacks farther ahead of my pursuer than on the last lap. I kept it steady and built the lead, coming across the line a couple minutes behind first place.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230529897?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230529897?profile=original" class="align-center" width="640"/></a></p>
<p></p>SoNoMas 2017 - More Lake Sonoma Action!tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-04-03:2372093:BlogPost:299782017-04-03T05:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>We were back at Lake Sonoma for the Bike Monkey SoNoMas race, this time doing a longer loop around the lake counter-clockwise. The field was a bit different this time, a few of us from the Lake Sonoma Grasshopper race a couple weeks earlier (Carson Benjamin, Barry Wicks, and me), with the addition of more fast xc guys and some very strong roadies. I'm not sure why this race tends to draw guys who are usually more inclined to race on pavement, but Ted King, Peter Stetina, Sam Bassetti, and…</p>
<p>We were back at Lake Sonoma for the Bike Monkey SoNoMas race, this time doing a longer loop around the lake counter-clockwise. The field was a bit different this time, a few of us from the Lake Sonoma Grasshopper race a couple weeks earlier (Carson Benjamin, Barry Wicks, and me), with the addition of more fast xc guys and some very strong roadies. I'm not sure why this race tends to draw guys who are usually more inclined to race on pavement, but Ted King, Peter Stetina, Sam Bassetti, and Jacob Albrecht were all out for some mountain bike racing. Acme had about 10 racers on the course; Carson, Danny, Stephen and I were there to contest the pro field.</p>
<p>The pace up the first couple of miles of paved climbing wasn't too bad, with the roadies generally breaking the wind. I hung out in the top ten, gauging my legs after another week of intense training. I anticipated the right turn onto singletrack, almost resigning myself to getting clogged up in the first technical dirt sections. As we approached, Barry Wicks pulled off the front a bit, and I put in a burst to get around the 7 or so guys between us. To my surprise, I easily slotted into second wheel just before we entered the first technical section of trail. What a difference this position made over past years! Barry and I ripped the descents and cleaned the rutted and muddy climbs, getting a decent gap on the pro roadies in the chase group. Even as the climbing became more sustained and the other guys began to catch us, there were audible signals of a racer behind me slipping on a root or botching a technical uphill maneuver, and the ensuing unclipping from pedals as the racers close behind him were forced to dismount. Sweet music!</p>
<p>It was great while it lasted, but eventually the punchy climbing took it's toll on me. I slipped and had to run the last section of a hill. Not long after remounting, King, Stetina and Carson came around me. As we hit the fireroad climbing, they and Wicks pulled away. Soon I was caught by two guys from the Herbalife road squad, Bassetti and Albrecht. I know Bassetti had been really strong on the road lately, but the pacing and technical aspects of a mountain bike race seemed to be giving him a little trouble. Albrecht had done some mountain bike racing as a junior, experience that would serve him well on this winding singletrack course. I led them over to the reconnection with Rockpile Rd, and he and I got away from Bassetti on the steep descent that followed the return to dirt a few minutes later.</p>
<p>I was doing my best to put pressure on Albrecht down the fast trails until we abruptly found that the trail had ended! It quickly occurred to me that we must have missed a turn, and my heart sank. We turned around and rode up the steep way we had come, to a minor looking trail that cut up the hill to a camping area. I looked around quickly and still did not see any markings, but this had to have been the one we missed. Once back on-route after a 2+ minute detour, we began to overtake the racers that had passed us. Eventually we caught Bassetti, before dropping down the steep Bummer Peak fireroad to the shoreline trails. A few minutes later, I saw an unknown racer and another Acme jersey ahead. It was my teammate Stephen Flynn, who finished second in last year's race. His fitness was low for this race due to recovery from an injury, and Albrecht and I eventually passed him and pulled away from his group.</p>
<p>The next couple of hours followed a consistent pattern; I would get a gap on Albrecht on the descents and technical sections, sprinting hard on the short climbs to get away, and then he would reel me in on the longer climbing sections or anywhere he could apply his apparently superior strength. We continued like this, sometimes talking and discussing elements of the course-to-come when we were near each other on a slow climb. I was in the lead the whole time, challenging him to match me on every tricky creek crossing and steep technical climb. He occasionally faltered, but would kick it in a little and get back to me.</p>
<p>It went on like this until about mile 29 (2:49 in), when I suddenly felt the sharp twinge of a cramp in my right hamstring. Albrecht came around me and pulled out of sight as I soft-pedalled to subdue the spasm. I was able to work it out without stopping, but not able to push as hard as I would have had to to catch him. I rode the rest of the race at a manageable pace, without seeing any more pro racers, coming into the finish at over 3 hours 18 minutes, sixth in Pro men.</p>
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<p></p>Lake Sonoma Grasshopper 2017tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-03-19:2372093:BlogPost:299672017-03-19T05:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>The trails that surround Lake Sonoma make for an interesting race course. It's mostly singletrack that contours its way in and out of the many ravines that feed water to the lake. The trails drop into the folds of the hillside, cross some sort of creek, and then climb back toward the lake to do it again. Pretty fun stuff, but repetitive in a strange way. Each short, steep climb back out is short enough that you can hammer it, but they take their toll and add up to quite a…</p>
<p>The trails that surround Lake Sonoma make for an interesting race course. It's mostly singletrack that contours its way in and out of the many ravines that feed water to the lake. The trails drop into the folds of the hillside, cross some sort of creek, and then climb back toward the lake to do it again. Pretty fun stuff, but repetitive in a strange way. Each short, steep climb back out is short enough that you can hammer it, but they take their toll and add up to quite a workout.</p>
<p>I was at the end of a three week intense training block for this one, so I saw it as a great way to cap off the first fitness build period, as well as a shakedown for some changes I made to my Trek Top Fuel race bike. I had whittled the weight of my rig down to just under 21 lbs and installed some higher volume Bontrager XR1 tires. The tread pattern on these tires is fairly minimal, which favors easy rolling speed over grip, so I chose the larger volume 2.2 size to allow me to run a little lower psi to reclaim some traction. I started at 24 psi front, 25 psi rear, but bumped the pressure up a few psi on each after remembering a cracked carbon rim and a couple flat tires on these trails.</p>
<p>We started up the initial paved climbs as a group, warming up quickly as we made our way to the dirt. I went into the rocky single track about 7 or 8 back. After a few minutes, we had shed some fast starters that couldn't hold the pace, and I got a pretty good look at the guys to watch. Kabush and Wicks were obviously going to push it at the very front, with a young guy Emmet Tuttle keeping up pretty well. I was riding with Carson Benjamin, Glenn Fant, and Shane Bresneyan for awhile. Carson was climbing strong, and Glen and Shane were descending well. There was a little back and forth as we made our way over and under fallen trees and rocky creek crossings, with Carson eventually pulling farther and farther out of sight. I rode by myself for awhile, but Glenn and Shane were never too far back, making some time on me on the descents and falling back on the longer climbs. </p>
<p>As we made our way to the feed station, just over halfway through the 24 mile course, I came down hard on the back of my saddle and tilted the nose up. This would not do for any real climbing, so I prepared to stop at the feed station to readjust it while I picked up my spare bottle of Osmo. Glenn and Shane caught me here, and we rode out together. It was good to see these guys pushing it, as I have fond memories of battling with them over the last 10 years. I made my way to the front, but Glenn soon came around me. I wanted to go just a bit faster on the climbs, in hopes of catching Carson or Emmett, so I moved around and slowly pulled away from the NorCal Cycling guys.</p>
<p>I rode by myself like this for miles, trying to keep a sense of urgency and purpose. My legs were really feeling the recent training, which cost me some snap, but I was able to go at an okay pace and recover on the down sections.</p>
<p>I passed Emmet, apparently the victim of a puncture, but still didn't see Carson. I luckily made the right route-finding choices and found myself on the fire road climb out. I think I slowed down here, uninspired by anyone close behind or ahead, until I abruptly rounded a corner to see the finish.</p>
<p>I enjoyed a cold beverage and some food while I waited for my team mates to come in. There was some frustration about course markings, as Cathy, Mark B and Greg took some wrong turns that lead to extra distance and climbing. Mark I had to deal with multiple tire issues, but still finished well, just ahead of Dave B.</p>
<p>We all rolled back down to a catered lunch and cheered for Carson on the Pro podium, his first top 3 finish as an Acme Bikes racer.</p>
<p>All in all, a good workout and good prep for SoNoMas in two weeks, which does the same trails in reverse.</p>TBF #3 - Shake and Bake at Folsom Laketag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-02-13:2372093:BlogPost:298652017-02-13T06:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I travelled up to Granite Bay for the third of the TBF xc races. Seemed like a good training race, and a good race for testing the new xc race bike setup.</p>
<p>I raced on the Trek Top Fuel last year, and this year I am keeping things much the same: SRAM XX1 drivetrain, XX brakes, carbon rims laced to DT 350 hubs. One change I made last week was the addition of a new Fox 32 step cast 100mm fork. This is a reduction in travel from last year's 120mm World Cup SID, and also a reduction in…</p>
<p>I travelled up to Granite Bay for the third of the TBF xc races. Seemed like a good training race, and a good race for testing the new xc race bike setup.</p>
<p>I raced on the Trek Top Fuel last year, and this year I am keeping things much the same: SRAM XX1 drivetrain, XX brakes, carbon rims laced to DT 350 hubs. One change I made last week was the addition of a new Fox 32 step cast 100mm fork. This is a reduction in travel from last year's 120mm World Cup SID, and also a reduction in weight - an amazing 200 grams savings! With 550-600 gram tires, my race build for Sunday came in at 21.25 lbs. This includes some special weight saving touches, such as bolt-on thru axles front and rear, but also reflects some concessions for performance's sake, such as ESI grips over foam grips, an Easton EC70 handlebar instead of an EC90, and 160mm rotors front and rear instead of 140mm on the rear. I will likely tune this bike down beneath 21 lbs. for some races this year, and adversely increase weight to close to 22 lbs. for others.</p>
<p>Though the forecast for race day was excellent, the rains earlier in the week had left the course very wet in places. Much of the sandy, decomposed granite track was perfect, but there were some very muddy sections that I knew could cause some trouble. Despite the muddy conditions, I raced a 29x2.0 Bontrager XR1 on the rear and a Bontrager 29x.0 XR2 on the front. Just enough grip, but pretty fast rolling.</p>
<p>I didn't anticipate a very competitive field, with only 6 or so people racing in pro class, but this is early in my training and I knew there would probably be a couple racers that would challenge me. Right off of the start, I moved to the front to get things started. The start lap had a long flat bit on a wide levy. It was bumpy going, except for a thin smooth line. I lead the group on this line, testing to see if any other racers were anxious enough to come around me in the rougher stuff. Of course, a few guys couldn't resist, and I had identified the four people that wanted to contest this race. </p>
<p>We were doing four laps, so I was not in a hurry to attack on the first. My competition had already raced in this area in 2017, so I let one of them lead. Almost reluctantly, I would take the lead after the guy in front bobbled or stalled on a climb, but this proved unwise for me and resulted in a couple minor wrong turns on my part. We all slipped a little in some of the worst muddy sections, which were often followed by some sandy ground. The water and sand combined to coat my bike, and all shifting and braking was performed with grinding complaints.</p>
<p>Well into the second lap, a younger guy racing for Scott Development (David Duncan) and I had broken the other guys off, mostly by climbing faster on the short but sometimes slippery uphill sections. David had not been racing particularly smart, attacking hard a few times but not making it stick. I was able to reel him back in each time and I felt pretty good about my chances of wearing him out.</p>
<p>As we came around to start lap three, David committed hard to another out of the saddle effort on a long flattish section. He opened a gap of 10 seconds or so as we started climbing and got into the first of the abundant lapped traffic we would face in our last two laps. I was keeping him in sight most of the time, but he was keeping up his effort and increasing the lead. I came into a particularly bad muddy section that had gotten worse since our last lap, I guess due to traffic, and the front wheel stuck hard, sending me over the bars and deep into the mud. I was back on the bike right away, but everything was totally coated: grips, shifter, glasses, face. I could see that David had been slowed here, as well, but he maintained his lead and pressed hard to get out of sight.</p>
<p>I timed his lead at an overlapped section of the course at 43 seconds, which disheartened me. I tried to stay on the gas, but I knew I was slowing some, and the lapped traffic got even worse. He was out of sight as I came through to start the last lap. I didn't feel like I was going to be able to chase him down, but I thought I might have a chance to make up some time if he botched some of the muddy or technical sections. As I approached the muddiest area, I decided to try the left side of the bog. I came into it with speed and wheelied through what I hoped was the deepest bit, only to have my front wheel stick fast as it came down; another over-the-bars dip in the mud that kind of dashed my hopes of catching him. </p>
<p>I came in for an uncontested second place, almost 2 minutes behind the winner.</p>
<p>A good training race, and the first xc effort of the season. I look forward to better results as the fitness comes along.</p>2017 Old Caz' 'Hoppertag:summitcallup.ning.com,2017-01-29:2372093:BlogPost:294702017-01-29T07:32:05.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Despite a very rainy winter, the weather was perfect for my tenth run at the Old Cazadero Grasshopper.</p>
<p>I sold my cyclocross bike a few months ago, so it was back onto my trusty rigid mountain bike. Honestly, I think it is a pretty fast way to go: light and fast rolling 2.0 Bontrager XR0 tires (28/26 psi), 36x10-42 drivetrain, and an overall weight under 17 lbs. I drove up with Cathy, Phil, and Teddy, and we met Greg, Mark and Carson before the start. This is becoming a unique and…</p>
<p>Despite a very rainy winter, the weather was perfect for my tenth run at the Old Cazadero Grasshopper.</p>
<p>I sold my cyclocross bike a few months ago, so it was back onto my trusty rigid mountain bike. Honestly, I think it is a pretty fast way to go: light and fast rolling 2.0 Bontrager XR0 tires (28/26 psi), 36x10-42 drivetrain, and an overall weight under 17 lbs. I drove up with Cathy, Phil, and Teddy, and we met Greg, Mark and Carson before the start. This is becoming a unique and fun early season challenge for the team and everyone is getting into the "Grasshopper Spirit" by modifying their mountain bikes or setting up 'cross bikes.</p>
<p>I was just completing my biggest training week of the year, as this race found me at the end of my base period. I had some hard workouts and a lot of hours in my legs, but overall I was optimistic and ready for a challenge. I was in a much earlier stage of training last year, and my 11th place finish was the worst I had done in many years. This year I was ready to push for a top five finish, and maybe the first place finish that has always eluded me.</p>
<p>A few heavy hitters from recent races were absent, but there was still a competitive field. Kabush, Wicks, Sneddon, and Paxson were there representing the mountain biking elite, while Ted King was the sole big time retired roadie. Phil Mooney will be racing some mountain bike races with Team Acme Bikes and had returned to good form since his retirement. Fellow Acme Bikes employee Teddy Hayden was there to try something different and do his first 'Hopper, and Carson Benjamin, the youngest member of our team at 19 years old, was eager to prove that he had what it takes to race at the front. Shane Bresneyan and many other of the "usual suspects" were there, as well.</p>
<p>Things went pretty smoothly up Coleman Valley Road, with Carson pulling the field over to Willow Creek Road. I took over at the front in the rolling hills over to the dirt descent, and went into the dirt in 6th place. Phil and Shane lead the way down the winding and sometimes muddy fire road. I tried to keep my place but not take any risks, feeling pretty confident on my rigid mountain bike. Teddy had fallen behind a bit on the paved approach, but he pushed it hard on the way down and caught up to me close to the bottom of the steepest part. We all stayed on the gas pretty well for a bit and backed off on the busted pavement of Willow Creek Rd as we approached Highway 1.</p>
<p>I took my turns at the front in the group of 12 or so along 116. Before too long, a chasing group had closed the gap to us and we were then 20+. My rear tire was feeling slightly low on pressure, but it didn't get any worse and I put it out of my mind, as we often do during a race with slight problems that are not slowing us down. I tried to stay out of the wind, preparing to attack once we returned to some steep climbing. With the turn onto Duncan Rd, I got my chance. I pushed pretty hard, feeling the familiar burn in my thighs that means some work is getting done. The group strung out a little, though an unfamiliar racer stayed with me. This is no place to ride away for the rest of the day, but it is a section where some effort off the front is rewarded. We are climbing slowly enough that drafting is no help, and a good push serves to make some separations in the field. Also, I was looking forward to going first into the dirt on the way down, as I have been slowed there by other riders in the past, which forced me to burn some matches reconnecting to the lead group before the brutal Cazadero Road climbs.</p>
<p>In my haste to put pressure on the group, I missed a turn. That is definitely a danger for someone with a bad sense of direction when they are at the front of the race. I quickly turned back up the hill as many people started up the left turn I had missed. No big deal, I thought. I can get back up there and it will all pigeon hole soon at the gate crossing. Just then, I heard the dreaded hissing of air escaping my rear tire and noticed I was dangerously low on pressure. I jumped off the bike and proceeded to throw a tube in. When I emptied my only CO2 cartridge into it, my hopes for catching the lead group were deflated along with the punctured spare tube. Not sure why it had a hole, as it was a new tube, but I was now without air or spare.</p>
<p>I hung out while many people rode by, some offering help. Greg and Mark came by, and Mark gave me his pump, which I used to confirm that my spare tube was no good. I waited for a bit for my girlfriend Cathy, who I knew had 2 tubes and a pump. It wasn't long before she came up the hill, and I grabbed the pump and tube from her jersey pocket as she rode by. She wanted to keep riding, as she was trying to put some distance between herself and a few women behind her. I told her I would catch up.</p>
<p>After fixing the flat, I moved as quickly as I could through a hundred or so people on the rest of the climb and down the log strewn and muddy descent. I caught Cathy again at the start of the Old Cazadero Rd climb, and we rode up together. Though I missed being at the front and suffering with my peers, it was nice to ride with her and help as I could. I eventually rode ahead to the feed station and gave her a bottle hand up as she came through. Then I leap frogged her again on the way to Austin Creek and videoed her crossing the swollen, thigh high water.</p>
<p>We rode together down to the pavement and I did what I could to pull her (and some other people that saw their chance) over to Willow Creek Road. Cathy was starting to feel the effort, but she was moving along on the flatter part alright. I left her as the climbing got steep, as I wanted to put in a good FTP effort for the last 3.5 miles and be in position to get some photos as she finished. </p>
<p>I passed about 45 people on the 19 minute climb, finishing in 132nd place.</p>
<p>Not the way I had hoped the day would go, but all in all a good Plan B, riding my bicycle with my lady on a beautiful January day!</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230482240?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230482240?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center" width="750"/></a></p>
<p></p>2016 Lemurian Shasta Classictag:summitcallup.ning.com,2016-05-01:2372093:BlogPost:284722016-05-01T04:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Cathy, Simon and I made the journey up to Redding for this classic single loop mountain bike race. Team mates Bill Surges and Danny Macnaughton were also there to test themselves on the challenging climbs and descents of the Whiskeytown trails.</p>
<p>I've raced this many times, getting second overall a couple times recently. This year, my modified training plan had me in late base training, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I felt like I could go pretty hard all day, but not really hard…</p>
<p>Cathy, Simon and I made the journey up to Redding for this classic single loop mountain bike race. Team mates Bill Surges and Danny Macnaughton were also there to test themselves on the challenging climbs and descents of the Whiskeytown trails.</p>
<p>I've raced this many times, getting second overall a couple times recently. This year, my modified training plan had me in late base training, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I felt like I could go pretty hard all day, but not really hard for long at all. Many people have pacing issues at this race, so I thought slow and steady might just work.</p>
<p>This year I have been racing a Trek Top Fuel full suspension bike, which is a change from the hardtails I have raced for many years. The carbon bike has 100mm of travel in the rear and a 120mm fork in front, helping with traction and comfort, but possibly reducing my climbing efficiency. Despite the less snappy uphill acceleration, the sub 22 lb weight makes for a pretty effective xc race machine for rougher courses.</p>
<p>I opted to run Bontrager XR1 29x2.0 tires, at 25psi rear and 23psi front, on quite wide carbon rims (31.6mm internal). Though I knew the fast rolling tires would not dig in for traction on some of the loose decomposed granite sections, I estimated that the reduced rolling resistance while climbing would make up for any time lost.</p>
<p>We arrived Friday and pre-rode the short course, which would be my 7 year old son Simon's race. He was nervous about racing by himself, but once we entered the singletrack descent part of his 8 mile lap, he was flying. Though he walked a couple of tough sections, I was really impressed with how well he rode the technical Brandy Creek Trail.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The weather on race day was pleasantly cool in the morning, despite the forecast for 80deg temperatures. We all started en masse and I quickly moved to the front. Once we turned onto the gravel road, a lead group began to form: Stephen Mills (last year's winner, on a singlespeed), Tim Olson (former winner), Peter Koch (young SF Composite racer) and Kurt Wolfgang (also on a singlespeed). We weren't pushing too hard on the gravel road climbing until we made the left turn to start the steeper stuff. Stephen and Kurt both began standing, as their singlespeed gearing dictated, and Peter stayed with them on his geared bike. Tim was just behind them and I was behind Tim. This stretched out a little, and I was joined and passed by Greg Golet (53 years old? "The Golden Eagle"). I was pushing a heartrate in the high 160s, which was about where I wanted to be, so I controlled my pace and settled into the grind. Kurt fell off, and Peter fell back a bit. We crested the top in a this order, and I quickly closed the gap to Peter. I was not able to pass for a bit on the loose fire road descents, but made my way around him onto Greg's wheel just before we rejoined the pavement to cross the dam. I could see Stephen and Tim ahead, though they were quite far up the road. Greg and I tried to work together on this flat paved section and the paved descent, but were unable to catch them. We entered our first singletrack section and I quickly pulled away from Greg and Peter. Though they would get to within sight behind me on some of the fire road climbs, I maintained my lead and rode by myself for awhile. I tried to ride the bermed flume trails with a sense of urgency, but often lost focus and intensity. Things continued like this until The Golden Eagle caught me on a long section of fireroad climbing. I dismounted on a particularly steep, pine-needle-strewn section and he stayed on the bike to get by me. I was back on the bike and chasing, but he stayed away for some more steep climbing. When we began the rutted downhill section beyond, I closed the gap and he politely let me pass. I let off the brakes and pushed it, enjoying the rear suspension and putting precious seconds into him. I had a lot of fun ripping down the trails, while keeping the gas on for the flats and climbs. He came into sight behind me for the last fire road climb, but between the two of us was at least 20 seconds, and I was anticipating the 3 miles of rocky singletrack before the finish.</p>
<p>I rode in with an uncontested 3rd place, though 6+ minutes behind last year's time. I was happy to see Simon waiting for me at the finish line, and proud to hear that he had completed his race and gotten a 2nd place medal!</p>
<p>It wasn't long before Danny and Bill came in, and not long after Cathy finished for first place in her class. A pretty good showing by Team Acme Bikes!</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>Sea Otter Pro Short Track and XCtag:summitcallup.ning.com,2016-04-20:2372093:BlogPost:284672016-04-20T18:53:54.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Though I am in the early phases of my training for the season, I made the trip down to Sea Otter to take my licks racing in the pro short track and xc races.</p>
<p>The weather was not brutally hot, just hot. The field would be considered quite strong to very strong; over 100 racers, including some top international contenders and all of the top North Americans. Cathy Chevron and my son Simon came down with me and provided support.</p>
<p>Friday's short track race was a bit frustrating,…</p>
<p>Though I am in the early phases of my training for the season, I made the trip down to Sea Otter to take my licks racing in the pro short track and xc races.</p>
<p>The weather was not brutally hot, just hot. The field would be considered quite strong to very strong; over 100 racers, including some top international contenders and all of the top North Americans. Cathy Chevron and my son Simon came down with me and provided support.</p>
<p>Friday's short track race was a bit frustrating, as usual. About 80 racers lined up for the course that wove through the venue, only climbing a few 20 foot high hills. We were to race 20 minutes plus 3 laps, but they would be pulling anyone in danger of being lapped. I started in the back of the pack, and barely moved up a little from there by the first bottleneck. Once everyone was through and back on the bike, it was just sprint for the next corner and try not to get stopped up by other racers. I was pulled about half way through the race, but I did get my heart rate up and open up the legs for Saturday's main event XC race.</p>
<p>After the race, I pre-rode the XC course. It was not so bad, though very contrived. We would start with a long climb up the pavement, and then traverse up and down and around the hillside near the dual slalom course. They included an obligatory technical challenge with a short rock garden section constructed just for the race. It was wide and had a few fast lines, but, unfortunately, there was an off-camber, loose right turn/climb just after. Most of the course looked like they had just mowed it and marked it the week before.</p>
<p>Saturday was a little warmer, but I was looking forward to racing a course with more variety. We were doing 8 laps of less than 3 miles each, so the real question for the back of the field was how long you could last before the 20% rule would be enforced. Officials monitor each racer's time and will pull anyone that falls more than 20% behind the lead racer.</p>
<p>No call up for me, so I ended up awaiting the start in the back of the field of 115 or so. They announced that the oldest rider was 46 years old, which will be me next year. Also of note, there were 42 racers in the U23 age category. I saw teammate Stephen Flynn, Joe Williams, and other local guys. There were quite a few Bear Development youngsters there: Carson Benjamin, Stephen Sorenson, Bryce Lewis, and Eli Kranefuss.</p>
<p>When we got underway, I moved up a few positions but was in the back 20 as it clogged up on a sandy climb that diverted us from the paved climb for a bit. At the top, we funneled into a pinch point and had to wait our turn for the singletrack. Once moving again, I moved up a place or two. We wove our way around to the rock garden, where everyone ahead of me seemed to want to talk the same line. I went left around about 10 guys via a slightly rougher line. The off camber turns were slow in the traffic, and I gained and lost some positions on my way back to the paved track for lap 2.</p>
<p>I started the paved climb for lap 2 and could feel I was lacking the snap I needed to move up. As I am 2/3rds of the way through my endurance base training, the power fitness is not there yet. I maybe gained a couple positions, but lost more than that over the next few laps, mainly in this section of climbing. Things eventually spread out, and I was able to stretch my legs on the descents and get some flow going just before I came around to finish my fifth lap and was directed off of the course.</p>
<p>I had raced for an hour. Though my lap times were getting slightly longer each time around, I feel I could have maintained a similar pace for 3 more laps, surely moving up a few positions. As it stood, I finished 83rd out of 115 or so, not happy with the result but content that my training plan for the year is progressing as it should.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230482249?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230482249?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p></p>NVDC- First XC Race of The Seasontag:summitcallup.ning.com,2016-04-11:2372093:BlogPost:282642016-04-11T17:30:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Sometimes it's good to change up a training routine. Obviously, on the day to day level, as your body responds more readily to fitness gains with new stimulation, but this year, I have decided to make some changes to my annual training plan. For many years, I have been excited to start base training, usually a few months long, in November or December, thereby coming into peak racing form for the April races. The challenge has been building for another peak later in the season, around…</p>
<p>Sometimes it's good to change up a training routine. Obviously, on the day to day level, as your body responds more readily to fitness gains with new stimulation, but this year, I have decided to make some changes to my annual training plan. For many years, I have been excited to start base training, usually a few months long, in November or December, thereby coming into peak racing form for the April races. The challenge has been building for another peak later in the season, around July/August. I have felt flat for the Downieville Classic and other races, as well as the USAC National Championship race. With Nationals in Mammoth Lakes again this year, I decided to forego the early season peak for more edge later in the season.</p>
<p>That puts me right now in the second month of base training, just before any intensity begins. Many hours in my legs, but no real speed work. I did not race at Lake Sonoma or SoNoMas, two races which I would have surely done if I were building to a peak, and I knew going into The Napa Valley Dirt Classic that I would not feel as strong as last year.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this race is too good and too close for me to miss it.</p>
<p>I knew the Pro field would be a bit thin due to a few conflicting races on the calendar, but I was a bit surprised when only 3 racers lined up. My teammate Danny Macnaughton and I are veterans of the course, while Joe Woods would be racing it for the first time.</p>
<p>There was rain the day before and just up until the race start, so the course was going to be a bit sloppy. Despite the less than ideal traction, the temperature was fine and I started the race without knee or arm warmers.</p>
<p>I knew it would not be a desperate start with just three of us (the opposite of next weeks 100 person plus Pro class), but Danny and I immediately drove the pace and dropped Joe. We traded pulls on the flat fireroads out to the Obsevatory, keeping it up to get a good gap over any potential pursuit. I've known Danny for a long time and I'm glad he's racing on Team Acme Bikes this year, so I knew no matter which one of us won it would be a good day.</p>
<p>We rode together through the twisty singletrack. I led most of it, but he was always just behind me, pushing the pace. I noticed my lack of punch, as I was not able to blast away from him on some of the climbs like I have done in the past. I did make some time on the descents, which were pretty fun in the slippery conditions. My Maxxis Ikon tires were not the best choice, but not too bad of a compromise.</p>
<p>This was my first race on the new Trek Top Fuel, and one of my first times racing XC on a full suspension. Under 22 lbs, it is not heavy, but I did notice it was a little slower climbing compared to my former 19 lbs hardtail. Overall, I am getting the hang of it. I found myself in the middle compression "trail" mode on the Fox shock most of the race, as it worked well with the efficient suspension to climb and descend.</p>
<p>I had a decent gap on Danny as we descended the rutted steep fireroads to the creek crossing that signals the start of the brutal climb out. I lost traction and had to walk up the first slippery climb, but then was back on and pedaling. My 32 tooth oval chainring combined with a modified XX1 10-44 cassette to give me an easy enough gear, but it took focus not to lose traction. A third of the way up the climb, I was able to see Danny behind me. He was not giving up and I could tell he was fitter than I've seen him at this race. I stayed ahead and out of site as much as I could, but he was never more than 25 seconds behind me. We passed the airport and carefully went down through the muddy turns back to the finish. I knew there would be no sprint finish on the track, as I had about 15 seconds on him, and we both pedaled in for an Acme Bikes 1/2.</p>
<p>A lucky win for me at this stage of training. Next week, onto Sea Otter for the most competitive Pro XC race that will happen this year.</p>
<p></p>Old Cazadero Grasshopper 2016 - Jim Hewett's Report of the Action at the Fronttag:summitcallup.ning.com,2016-02-13:2372093:BlogPost:261652016-02-13T23:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>This is my first post since last year's Old Caz' 'Hopper. Team Acme Bikes will be on the race scene this year, with a new team and new energy. Expect to see race reports after the good local mountain bike races.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It was a beautiful day for the Old Caz' "adventure ride". Though we have been getting a lot of rain this winter, it was 70 degrees and sunny, with good dirt conditions. Once again, this early season mixed dirt/pavement ride sold out at 400 people; the usual mix of…</p>
<p>This is my first post since last year's Old Caz' 'Hopper. Team Acme Bikes will be on the race scene this year, with a new team and new energy. Expect to see race reports after the good local mountain bike races.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It was a beautiful day for the Old Caz' "adventure ride". Though we have been getting a lot of rain this winter, it was 70 degrees and sunny, with good dirt conditions. Once again, this early season mixed dirt/pavement ride sold out at 400 people; the usual mix of roadies, mountain bikers, 'cross racers, and everything in between.</p>
<p>I've finished in the top five overall here for many years, but that usually depends on who shows up. This year there were a couple of strong road racers added at the last minute, as well as the usual local strong men. Ted King, Lauren Ten Dam, and Levi Leipheimer were the obvious road talent, and Geoff Kabush and Barry Wicks there to represent national level XC mountain bike racing. Otherwise, the usual 'Hopper hardmen.</p>
<p>I had not begun training this year, as I was switching up the usual schedule to focus on some mountain bike races that come later in the year. I was still anxious to go hard, but became a little discouraged when I became ill on Thursday: chills, fever, sore throat, cough and aches. I wasn't completely bed ridden, though, so I figured I would be able to give it a go.</p>
<p>I once again chose to race my Trek Boone Disc, this year with a 40x11-36 drivetrain and slightly larger 38mm Bontrager CX0 tires at 37/39psi.</p>
<p>Things started pretty casually, with the group staying together up Coleman Valley Rd. I noticed a couple of the Bear Development kids moving toward the front. Matthew Tracey-Cook and Tate Meintjes were out to test themselves against the big boys. We cruised over to Willow Creek Rd, where the pace picked up and we dropped a few people before the drop down the dirt. This high speed descent is a mixture of fun, fear, and frustration. In the front, most people are on cyclocross bikes, with varying levels of descending skill. I was surprised to see a few people actually unclipping for some of the tight corners, usually going just fast enough that I couldn't safely pass them. I did overtake 3 or 4 guys, Lauren Ten Dam included, but Levi, Shane, Glen, Geoff, Barry and a few more (a couple of them with dropper posts on their 'cross bikes!) gapped us by the bottom. </p>
<p>Here I figured they would be trying to increase the lead on Ten Dam, who started hammering once we were on the broken pavement. I settled in behind him (a potential future Tour de France contender?) and let him pull us up to the front group, which was not pressing their advantage from the dirt descent. </p>
<p>Here, our paceline of 20 or more proceeded at a civil pace on the flat pavement. We made the turns through various small towns and cruised along without any attacks.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230490482?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230490482?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a>Our more casual than usual pace allowed many people to catch up, and soon our number had doubled. Kabush decided to attack, and everyone let him go except Tate, who probably should have taken our cue. They sped away and out of sight.</p>
<p>I was content to stay with the lead guys until the steep climbing, which I knew would break things up pretty quickly. We made the right up Duncan Rd and I kept up with Levi and Barry through the initial climbing. Once we started down on dirt again, I was slowed by traffic and they got away a little. I made it around the slower rider and pushed hard, but I was in between the top 7 and the next group as we blasted along the shaded paved roads toward the steep Old Caz' paved climbing. I dug to catch up with the lead group just as we started climbing.</p>
<p>That far, my legs had felt okay, but I knew I needed to meter the efforts if I wanted my body to still work in the last hour. The lead group slowly pulled away, and I once again was in between groups, but climbing at a comfortably hard pace. I noticed a rider gaining on me, and slowed until he caught up. There would be many flat paved miles ahead, and I would need some help to cross them efficiently. We came through the bottle feed together (thanks NorCal Bike Sport) and hurried over to the dirt descent to Austin Creek. I passed another rider going down, but slowed after the creek crossing to allow us to regroup. Glen, Shane, Chaz, Jon, Ryan, Adam and I climbed up and dropped to the pavement together, which would be my group for pace-lining all the way back to Willow Creek.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230491103?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230491103?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a>It took a bit to get organized, and it wasn't the smoothest train, but we each took turns in the wind back on 116 to highway 1. I got a glimpse of a lone rider ahead, which was Ryan Gardner. We rode back through the puddles, potholes, and broken pavement of the lower Willow Creek road until we hit the final dirt climb. Right away, Jon and Adam pulled ahead and were soon out of sight. Ryan R. and I left the others, and soon we could see Ryan G. ahead. I was hurting, but was able to counter an attack by Ryan R. and catch Ryan G. I dug deep on the steep pitches and developed a decent gap, but they reconnected on the flatter sections. I tried to squeeze more out of my exhausted legs, but they both slid by me in the last 20 seconds. <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230497450?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2230497450?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>I finished 11th, spent but happy. I drank a coke, ate some chips, and basked in the sun as I waited for my teammates to finish.</p>
<p></p>Old Caz' Grasshopper 2015tag:summitcallup.ning.com,2015-02-01:2372093:BlogPost:249622015-02-01T05:50:37.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>Feel free to see my race report archives for numerous posts on this race from years past that discuss the unique nature of Grasshopper "adventure rides" - this one is going to get down to business.</p>
<p>The dead of winter in Northern California; sunny and warm, mostly dry.</p>
<p>For the first time in years, I chose to race a cyclocross bike instead of a mountain bike. My new Trek Boone Disc was outfitted with carbon rims (23mm internal) and Specialized Trigger Pro 33mm tubeless tires…</p>
<p>Feel free to see my race report archives for numerous posts on this race from years past that discuss the unique nature of Grasshopper "adventure rides" - this one is going to get down to business.</p>
<p>The dead of winter in Northern California; sunny and warm, mostly dry.</p>
<p>For the first time in years, I chose to race a cyclocross bike instead of a mountain bike. My new Trek Boone Disc was outfitted with carbon rims (23mm internal) and Specialized Trigger Pro 33mm tubeless tires (38psi rear, 36psi front), 34/50 chainrings, and 11-36 rear cassette. SRAM hydro discs were trying to slow me down with 140mm rotors front and rear.</p>
<p>I knew the lack of grip on these file tread tires would cost me some time on the loose descents, but I was hoping that the light weight and low rolling resistance would make up for it on the pavement and climbs.</p>
<p>This event sold out, once again, at 400 riders, though only 20 or so would really be racing it hard. Levi, Barry Wicks, Michael Hosey, and Shane Bresneyan were all guys that had beaten me on this course before. I was told to watch Neil Shirley, an Old Caz' first-timer. Lots of other fast guys around, among them Phil Mooney, Kurt Wolfgang, Sam Lueck, Chas Christianson, and Tony Smith.</p>
<p>It warmed up quickly for our 10:00 a.m. start. Things were pretty well organized as we made the right turn to climb Coleman Valley Rd, and the pace was more than civil. The field thinned out a bit by the top and a little more as we rolled over to the Willow Creek descent. I went onto the dirt in 10th place, reluctant to go as fast as I wanted. I rode conservatively to avoid crashing or flatting and lost 5 places by the time we were down on the flats.</p>
<p>I dug hard and reconnected with the group ahead of me, only to realize that 7 or so guys were off the front pretty far. That is where I wanted to be, but I couldn't get there by myself. Glenn Fant, Tony Smith, Chas, two others and I tried to organize and chase through the broken pavement and muddy puddles. We passed Neil Shirley with a flat and lost Kurt Wolfgang to some mechanical issues.</p>
<p>Once we were out to Highway 1, we could see the lead group in the far distance. Usually, we would have been able to rejoin them with some effort, but not this time. They were blasting it and we were not exactly working together smoothly. I did what I could to push the pace and conserve energy, biding my time 'till the steep climbing on Duncan Rd.</p>
<p>At mile 20, we made that right turn and started going up. I pulled away from our group of 6 and quickly caught Ryan Gibson, who had fallen off of the lead group. I moved by him and out of sight, climbing smoothly and descending as fast as I dared. I rode by myself over to the start of the Old Cazadero Rd climb, where I was second guessing my route finding enough to sit up and let the others catch me. Once together and on course, we started up the steep paved road. I was at the front, steadily pushing the pace. We dropped a few riders until only Tony, Chas, a guy named Andrew, and I remained. This is how we started the fireroad descent to Austin Creek, where Tony and I got away a little. We discussed our options and slowed on the climb after the creek to let them catch up; four would be better than two on the windy paved roads back over to Willow Creek. Andrew caught us, but Chas wasn't in sight. We three made it safeley over to the pavement, where we scooped up another victim of the blistering pace of the front group, Shane Bresneyan.</p>
<p>He fell in with us and we kept a steady paceline to 116 and onto Willow Creek. Andrew fell off as we hammered back along the busted pavement for the final climb back up Willow Creek Rd. I had been eating and drinking well, and my tire/bike selection was an advantage on this climb. I knew I still had gas in the tank, so I pushed the pace at the front, slowly riding away from Shane. Tony stayed with me until the steep section, where I kept pushing and opened a decent gap. I was hoping to catch another shattered racer, but the next time I saw the leaders was at the finish line.</p>
<p>52 miles in 3 hours. Not a bad day of training and I finished 5th overall. I enjoyed some food and drink as we watched the other racers come in, listening to the stories, both glorious and tragic, that racers tell.</p>2014 Downieville All Mountain World Championshipstag:summitcallup.ning.com,2014-08-05:2372093:BlogPost:231652014-08-05T07:00:00.000ZJim Hewetthttp://summitcallup.ning.com/profile/JimHewett
<p>I missed the Downieville Classic last year due to a work conflict, but this year I was back for more competition on the rugged Sierra trails. My preparation included periodized training to put me in peak condition for the weekend, as well as a couple of trips prior to better learn the extended downhill portions of the XC and DH courses. I would also be riding the most capable mountain bike I had ever ridden for the rocky and fast terrain.…</p>
<p></p>
<p>I missed the Downieville Classic last year due to a work conflict, but this year I was back for more competition on the rugged Sierra trails. My preparation included periodized training to put me in peak condition for the weekend, as well as a couple of trips prior to better learn the extended downhill portions of the XC and DH courses. I would also be riding the most capable mountain bike I had ever ridden for the rocky and fast terrain.</p>
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<p>My race rig would be a Trek Fuel EX 9.9 29er. I replaced the stock 120mm Revelation on the front with a 140mm Pike. The increase in stanchion diameter and improved damping, as well as the additional 20mm of travel, were well worth the 100 grams of increased weight. I ran a SRAM XX1 1x11 drivetrain with a 32t narrow/wide ring in the front and a 10-42t cassette in the back. I opted for a light wheelset with wide carbon rims and installed a Maxxis Ikon 2.35" rear tire (750g) and a Maxxis 2.4" Ardent front (770g). A dropper post now seems indispensable, but I removed my 125mm travel Kind Shock Lev in favor of a 100mm unit that saved a couple ounces. Another compromise was reducing the front rotor size to 160mm from 180mm. Titanium Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals, a carbon stem and carbon railed saddle helped keep the weight down to a respectable 24.5 lbs.</p>
<p>I knew I would be able to dial in my equipment, but the fitness didn't come as easily. Though I had followed my program through my build and peak phases, it just wasn't coming together for me. I tested my wattage a couple weeks before the race and it was about 10% lower than I expected. These results were reinforced when I put in an abysmal race-pace XC ride the week before the race. I was a bit discouraged, but I knew that I could do nothing to get stronger by the race and I hoped things would come around.</p>
<p>The weather for the race would be hot - as high as 90 degrees - and it hadn't rained enough to affect conditions in weeks. I prepared for the XC race by freezing my Raceback bladder with 3 liters of Osmo Active Hydration and drinking Preload the night before and the morning of.</p>
<p>I weighed the bike in, warmed up, and rolled over to the start about 15 minutes early. It was nice to talk to friends and fellow racers and check out the competition. Most of the local fast guys were there: Hosey, Menso, Claassen, Chandler, Olson, Moeschler, Bresneyan, Osborne, Chapin, Kessler, Damon, Skyler Taylor,Tony Smith, Leipheimer and more. There were race bikes of all varieties and setups, though they were mostly 29er full suspensions with dropper posts. I saw one Audi cycling racer that had beaten me on the climbing at the Lemurian with a Specialized Renegade for a rear tire - a very fast rolling tire that had no place on these trails. Some others seemed to have gone too far in the other direction, with very burly tires that would cause much suffering on the exposed fireroad climb that comprised the first half of the race</p>
<p>The race start was much more organized than I have seen it in years past. They had a designated start grid for the Pro racers and called up the top 10 from last year's XC race. I sipped some Osmo thawing from the frozen bladder under my jersey and prepared for an hour of discomfort.</p>
<p>We started at a manageable pace, but it stretched out as we neared the end of the 5-6 minute paved section. I could see Levi leading the pack and Chandler was on his wheel, with Decker, Moeschler, Damon, Taylor and a couple others falling in line behind him. My heartrate was steady just above my threshold, so I settled in for the climb at my own pace. I rode for a bit with Macky Franklin, Claassen and Tony Smith. The dry and loose terrain combined with the blazing sun to make it pretty tough on anyone trying to go fast, and I saw a few guys crack and fade. Chandler fell back to us and then surged again. I knew things were not going so well for me when I missed my split at the first aid station by over two minutes. Not long after, Tim Olson caught me. On the last climbs to Packer Saddle, we rode by Menso who was having cramping issues and riding a pretty big bike (Niner WFO). I think I crested the climb in 20th place, over 3 minutes slower than my fastest time.</p>
<p>Then, into Sunrise for our first real bit of descending. I pushed hard and soon found myself on the fireroad traverse over to the baby heads. I hooked up with Anthony Medaglia and Clint Claassen for much of it, switching leads and preparing for the baby heads section. Just as we started down the rocky doubletrack, my chain derailed. I wasn't able to close the gap to them and had to stop and reinstall it. After that, I pedalled hard and passed a Marc Pro Strava rider that was probably better equipped for the climb than the descent. I knew there were only 17 or 18 people in front of me at this point, so I was very encouraged when I saw the tell-tale sign of dust in the air. I caught Clint, who seemed to be done, and charged on down Pauley Creek to Butcher Ranch. I dropped the chain again, but felt like I was making good time down to the bridge before 3rd Divide. As I crossed it and began the 3-4 minute climb up to 3rd Divide, I saw at least two riders not far ahead of me. I started to put in a big effort to close the gap, but my legs would have none of it. Instead, I tried to spin smooth circles to hold off the multiple cramping muscles. I crested the top without anything locking up, but now I was in Kessler's dust trail and I had to back off on the speed. I finally caught and passed the Audi racer, then pedalled hard by Empire Ranch on the road over to First Divide. Here I passed Kessler who was obviously not having a great day, and I pedalled hard all the way accross Lavezolla and into the last sections of single track. I was happy to see Tony Smith and Anthony Medaglia ahead and I found the gas in the tank to run them down and pass. I hit the pavement with Medaglia just behind, knowing there were less than 2 minutes left in the race. I popped the seat up, locked out the suspension, and pedalled as hard as I could to finish the XC in 15th overall. I was happy to have gained so many positions on the descent, but not happy with my final finishing time of 2:12, which is minutes slower than my best showing on this course.</p>
<p>I then hit the river to soak my legs in the cold water and began my attempts at recovering for Sunday's downhill effort. I also discovered that the clutch on my SRAM XX1 rear derailleur was not working properly, which explained the two dropped chains, and figured out how to adjust it so that it would not happen again.</p>
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<p>Sunday morning was a little cooler as the timed runs started at Packer Saddle. I was going off in 30th position, one minute after Justin Herrell. My legs were feeling surprisingly good, and I was excited to charge the downhill course without the day before's climb.</p>
<p>I pedalled hard on Sunrise and dropped into Butcher Ranch. The loose and slightly off-camber dirt roads here make me feel slow, but I could see Justin as we started into the singletrack about 10 minutes into the run. He let me pass very quickly and I tried my best to stay smooth and fast over to the Waterfall. I rode my line smoothly and passed another racer just after this before rejoining with the lower Butcher section that was also included on the XC race. I jammed along, feeling pretty fast but also seeing where I was leaving seconds on the course. My climb up third divide was 44 seconds faster than the day before, and I began to see Garrett Gibson's dust trail on 3rd Divide. I caught him at the short and steep rock face on 3rd and passed as we hit the road up to Empire Ranch.</p>
<p>From here I pedaled as hard as I could, knowing that the seconds would be important. When I hit the pavement, I knew by my splits that this would be my fastest downhill run so far, which gave me extra inspiration to make it count all the way to the finish line.</p>
<p>I finished in 49:22, good enough for 17th in Pro DH.</p>
<p>Final results for All Mountain were 13th overall in combined time and 17th overall in points.</p>
<p>A bit disappointing, as I was shooting for a top 10, but still a lot of fun and good practice for next year!</p>