All Blog Posts (398)

Here I find myself again, testing out the ole racing legs for my first race of the year.  Conditions were the best I have ever seen them at Cool, very little mud, and no rain in the forecast.  I decided to race in the pro class simply because, what the hell is the difference if we are all leaving at the same time and riding the same miles.  Sure I wasn't going to win or even podium but I always compare my time to pros anyways.  

Once the race started things spread out pretty quickly…

Yesterday was tough, no way around it. It was one of those days that you hope to not have, especially for a race that is a season target, but at least lessons can be learned and experience taken from it into the future.

The Cool XC just outside of Auburn is in its 21^st year and a fun event that is traditionally a muddy race of attrition. Last year was pretty dry by historical standards leading up to the race, but the promise of mud came through at the last second…

The Cool Mountain Bike Race is usually Team Summit Bicycles' first priority race of the year.  It happens kind of early, which means the weather can be unpredictable.  This year there was no snow or rain, only sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s.

Training has been going well for me, though I raced last weekend at the TBF race at Granite Bay and finished off of the…

HOPPER! Wow, what a great event! I have raced many XC events, a CX, a Super D, and several other big road events (some timed) (e.g. Death Ride, Ride Across Indiana), and the Chileno Valley Grasshopper was right up there in terms of EPIC fun. A combination of amazingly beautiful scenery, tough climbing, super fun descents, and some REALLY fast guys (Trek Bear development team, Berry Farms development team, Mikes Bikes road team and others, including top pros) made for a great day of comradery…

The second ride of the 2013 Grasshopper Adventure Series was Saturday.  This one was pure road, and drew a significantly different crowd than the road/dirt mix of Old Caz'.  I had just finished my base training period and this seemed like a good 4 hour workout and one of the few options I will have this season for competitive road biking.

Registration was full the day before the race, so that meant 300 other cyclists, many of them ready to test the early season fitness.  The winter…

This "ride" is earlier than it used to be, and now represents the first longer competitive ride of the season for me.  Most of us are training base at this time of year and a competitive 3+ hour road/dirt race with some steep climbing is a recipe for pain, but everyone is eager to get out and let the suffering begin.

The weather was perfect.  I started without knee warmers or arm warmers and didn't regret it.  I showed up on my rigid Superfly with a 2x9 drivetrain (18lbs) and ran a…

Well, further exploring different bicycle racing disciplines led me to the final CCCX Super D race in Salinas (next to Monterey) Dec 16 for one last final race of 2012. What a blast!

A local…

All I can say is WOW, CX is a blast! Short version=10th/33 in Pro/Elite (Cat 1/A), and super fun.

I have been interested in CX for several years, but have not had a CX appropriate bike, the time (young kids), and have always had an excuse. Not this year...figuring its a good fun way to keep motivated through the winter and try something different, I bought some really racy mtb tires (Specialized Renegades) and a rigid fork and converted my hardtail Santa Cruz Highball to be…

Well, this race was certainly a surprise on two fronts...I had not planned on racing until two days prior, and I certainly did not expect the result.

I hope my wife does not read this, but I was planning to race the Lion of Fairfax CX race Saturday...until I was reminded of the Novato Mother's Club Halloween kids party that my wife had chaired the planning committee for. Thanks for the Lion of Fairfax organizer for taking mercy on me and allowing my registration cancellation.…

I hadn't intended to race this double. This was to be my sixth double for the season and my ninth overall. Only 41 more doubles and six years to go en route to my 50X50 goal. Bass Lake was supposed to be just the last long final ride for the season. After-all, I'd been racing consistently since February, knocking out some reasonable finishes at numerous local ultra-distance dirt and road races. Now, it was mid-October and I was feeling a bit tired, somewhat uninspired.

Instead, I…

22 miles never felt so long! With the knee injury interrupted 2012 season, I am still pretty hungry for some racing, having missed Downieville and a few others in the middle of the summer. I have been training regularly, and while still a little heavy, feel good. In the weeks leading up to TDC I put in good time on the road and trails, and even had a few early morning rides counterclockwise at Tamarancho to scope out the course. Sunday drew closer and the temps started climbing...three laps…

I’d venture a guess that no other racer had brought along two doctors, there to provide him with bottle hand-ups, check his vitals and provide desperately needed encouragement on a most challenging course. I came prepared for this game.

Dr. Kevin Sherer, a pulmanologist and his wife Dr. Rebecca Sherer had just moved into the Bend area and were excited to see their old friend compete on a National stage and…

Driving under towering redwoods early Saturday morning, down a long dusty washer board road into the heart of Jackson State Demonstration Forest, just inland on the northern CA coast, I finally rolled to a stop in front of a rustic cabin behind an aged Mendocino Woodlands Association Sign. I had arrived for my next challenge.  

With Marathon Nationals in Bend, Oregon only a couple weeks…

2011 -- 2:20, 11th place, one week after Terrible Two; tired at the start line, cramped hard at mile 20, rolled in totally spent...

2012 -- 2:21, 12th place, feeling fresh all day, a 'B' race en route to Nationals, 80 - 90% effort, felt solid, in control, ready for another lap at the finish...

This is a course Jim and Shiloh would excel on -- fast start into the park, rocks everywhere, punchy climbs, bumpy descents and elbow to elbow competition onto the best…

This past weekend was a great homecoming to racing, as I competed with 699 other racers in the Annadel XC.

If you have read my prior blog posts and/or know me, you know I had a massive knee injury on Father's Day weekend in mid-June, which resulted in two surgeries and a month off the bike. While I resumed road riding gently after about four weeks, it has been a process to rebuild my atrophied leg muscles and recondition my lungs and heart. I am still not fully recovered, but…

Just a week out from the 12 hour suffer-fest in Humbolt, I found myself on the start line in the dark at 5 AM for the Mt. Tam Double. I wasn't there to race I told myself. This was simply one more double event on my way toward my 50X50 goal: completing 50 double centuries by the time I complete fifty laps around the Sun.

Unlike many doubles that aren't timed and times are kept personal, this event started under a banner with a over-sized digital clock and went off with a race director…

A good finish last year earned me a chance to preregister for the all mountain class.  It can be tough to get in so I took advantage and signed up. 

The race start had changed from a mass start of the combined pro and expert classes to separate starts for the two classes.  This made me think I could roll up the start line just a few minutes before go time, and still have good start position.  I was wrong. I ended up abut fifteen rows back from the line which I'm sure slowed me down…

Somewhere past 8 hours, not able to read or figure out the split time board posted near the finish, I finally asked the time station where I sat against other 12 hour riders.  '15 minutes off..' 'she said. 'Back or ahead?' I asked. 'Behind...' she replied. I took off in hot pursuit after Justin Graves, who I thought held the lead position.

Early in the race, I held a strong lead for the first 5 hrs, enjoying the day and my brisk pace. Unlike the trying conditions at Tahoe Sierra, the…

Another fun local race. It is a bit of a shame that it didn't bring out more riders.  Although the cat 1 class had some of the regular strong riders, the rest of the field seemed to be lacking.

I started this race wondering if I had fully recovered from last week's TS 100. I had done a few rides since, none more than about an hour and a half, so I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel.

Off the start line and into the first section of dirt I settled into fifth place. By the time I…