June 2012 Blog Posts (7)

Well, my training regime working to recover from an early season peak and get back to peak form for Downieville XC was interupted this past Saturday with a fluke road bike accident. In all my years of road riding (10 years/several thousand miles per year), I have never crashed my road bike, and hoped I never would.

It was a beautiful morning on Father's Day weekend as I rolled out Lucas Valley Road with seven other friends to do at 50sih mile ride around west Marin. As we…

Riding solo over the steep and shadeless climbs of Skaggs, heading out toward the coast at mile 125, the Garmin displayed 106 degrees just after noon. 

I had rode strong all the way over Trinity Grade, got into a brisk pace line with familiar SRCC and Grasshopper riders up the Silverado Trail. Held with the top ten into the Calistoga aid station. Cranked over the double summits of Geysers to the next aid at mile 84. Temps were climbing into the upper 90s by 10 AM. Doused the body with…

Well, I have finally recovered from a disaster of a race at Sonomas. Lesson learned the very painful way...too much sodium and electrolyte/carb supplements are no bueno!

Having placed 2nd in Cat 2 U35 last year (second to a Cat 1 roadie weighing about 135 :), I was hopeful to place top 10 Cat 1 this year. My fitness, bike handling and experience have all improved markedly from last year, and I was finally starting to feel an upward trend of recovery and performance since…

I am progressing steadily with my training for the Downieville All Mountain Race in August.  The XC race at Skyline Park is close and fun, so I decided to make it a day of race intensity training.  This race always falls between my fitness peaks, and I've never done very well here.  My last attempt two years ago was disastrous, as trying to keep up with my usual competition left me shattered on the steep and loose climbs.  I finished in survival mode.  With an okay result at SoNoMas the…

I've been feeling pretty good on the bike the last few weeks. And was excited to get out and race for the first time in a month.  The technical climbs and descents make this one of my favorite courses. Conditions were loose, rocky, dry, and dusty.  Every time I finish this race without tearing a tire open i'm surprised. 

We got there early, which is a good thing because my legs felt like poop and needed a good warm up.  I got a good warm up in than a nice cool down at the star line…

I took a week break after Lemurian and then went back to a month of base training.  Lots of hours, but not much intensity.  The idea is to come to a good race peak around early August for the Downieville All Mountain World Championships.  I made my return to more intense training by racing the Bikemonkey race around Lake Sonoma. 

I raced SoNoMas last year much later in the season.  I had cut my season short and this was my first race back before I started training for 'cross.  I…

Well into Zone 5 on the first set of dirt grinders off the pavement, I knew that this would be another desperate, hypoxic day of suffering chasing the local talent around Lake Sonoma.

Sure enough, not even eight miles into the course, while hanging tight with a strong group of Experts and Pros, a rider in front of me goes down on a deeply rutted drop, forcing me to take a bad line trying to get around him.  My front wheel washes out and down I go, tearing up flesh on my right leg.…