All Blog Posts (398)

So I decided to do it again, 100 miles from Soda Springs to Auburn.  Sizing up the competition on the start line, I thought, looks like I should be able to make the top ten. Then Tinker Juarez rolled up and I thought, well I'll be happy with a top 20 finish. Thankfully, Tinker didn't attract a large crew of pro endurance racers.  It actually seemed as though there were fewer pros this year.  Oh well if you can't run with the big dogs, you better stay on the porch, right?  There was no point…

Good ‘old timey’  mountain bike racing is what Jim the promoter promised. Still not quite sure what he meant. The course would cover 102 miles, point to point, climb nearly 16,000’ and descend close to 18,000’, following most of the Western States Trail route used during the equestrian Tevis Cup and foot endurance races. Shiloh and I would drive up two vehicles, leaving mine at the finish in Auburn and driving his and our bikes up to the start at Soda Springs, just off Donner…

Bad math?

198 miles + 20,300' worth of climbing + 8 High Sierra passes = FUN.

On the backside of Monitor Pass, somewhere into hour twelve, blasting down the smoothest wide open descent on the planet, clocking just over 50 mph, my bike began to wobble un-controllably. Squeezing the top tube between my thighs and pulsing the brakes couldn't stop the increasing oscillations from one end of the bike to the other. First thought: flat? Second: wheel tension gone? No matter. Stay…

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.…

Two years ago, this was to be the longest ride that I'd ever attempted. Not knowing any better, I registered after seeing that the SRCC website listed the ride as a '5 C/D, 130 miles, w/ 15,000 in climbing'.

The route makes a counter-clockwise loop north out of Lake Sonoma onto HWY 128, up to Boontville, out to Point Arena, south along HWY 1 then back inland over Skaggs via Annapolis. This time, I knew a bit more about endurance riding and wouldn't start the ride four days after an…

Last year we were expecting the 'The End of Days' at the conclusion of this classic CA double; it was predicted that the world would come to some cataclysmic end before some riders even had a chance to finish the course. A precisely 6 PM, the predicted demise of all civilization, I was still rolling across an overpass 15 miles from the finish...

The world still intact, I registered again this year, needing one last double dose of suffering prior to the Terrible Two. For this round, I…

The Rock Hopper Classic (RHC) makes my fourth race of 2012 and my first race report.  One of my standard goals for each season is to qualify for the National Championship race.  Usually this is accomplished at the Sea Otter Classic (SOC).  Unfortunately, due to a broken chain and subsequent repair (5 min), I could only manage 20^th, which is outside the allotted 15 qualifying spots.  And local USAC qualifiers are a little scarce this year.  Two qualifiers were on tap in California…

The SRCC club ride promised 129 miles, 15K of climbing out and back over Sonoma County's biggest peaks.  Looked to be a fun day.

We'd start at Alexander Valley School, just east of Healdsburg on Hwy 128. The route would take us first north up and over Geysers, down the backside, then up Pine Mtn., where would turn around for a return trip back and over Geysers again to our starting point.

Some riders got out early, just after 6 AM. I ended up with the ride leader Marc Moons and…

"The hits keep on rolling" is how to best sum up this past weekend at the BikeMonkey Boggs 8 hour XC race in Bogg's Demonstration Forest outside of Cobb, CA.

I decided to do this race many months ago with my friend…

Somewhere past hour six, mid-way into my eighth lap, bouncing down a loose rock-strewn single track left, I heard and felt stuff falling off my bike. No time to look or stop, bike still functioning and rolling fast, heading toward the fire road below, I chose to roll it out and deal with it later. There was no way I wanted to give up the 15 minute lead  that I’d made by lap six over my competition.

This was to be my third round of Boggs, back to defend my…

Never quite know what or who to expect when one shows up to a local Grasshopper. On this day the route called for us to roll out of Santa Rosa bent for new territory east of town that promised a few steep climbs, a number of rough roads and one dirt descent over the course of 70 plus miles. Fat 25cc tires on the Madone would prove to be good gear for this mixed road terrain.

Amidst the assembling 100 or so riders in the grammar school parking lot at the edge of…

The Shasta Lemurian is a classic NorCal hardman race.  Lots of climbing and some fast and rough descending on a 2+ hour single-loop course in the mountains West of Redding.  I have done this race most years since I started racing in 2005, but it always comes at the end of my first peak racing period.  Last year, I was pretty fatigued by this point and decided not to do the race.  This year, I was in better form and ready to race!

The course conditions were very good, with recent rains…

One big loop, lots of single track, lots of climbing, an ice cold lake to swim in afterwards, and it's technically challenging. I have been hearing stories about the awesomeness of this race for years, and I've finally decided to get out and race it.

I don't know how or why but I somehow signed up in the pro class. No big deal, though.  Category can't affect my time.  I heard that the mass start was gonna be a cluster of mayhem.  But it wasn't that bad.  Downieville's start is much…

What a week! My very pregnant wife finally popped last Thursday, April 19th, giving birth to a happy and healthy girl, Arden, weighing 6lbs 7 oz and 19". Blue eyes like her brother, 3yr old-Owen, but with lots of dark brown hair like her mother. No less moving and emotional the second time around, and we were again blessed with an easy and no-drama delivery. My…