Jim Hewett's Blog (106)

I've missed this relatively new race so far.  It always come so late in the season and I'm usually done with racing by August. As luck would have it, a large break in the middle of the season put me in a training period and fit enough to do it this year.  This would be my first time on the trails that go around the lake since I raced a singlespeed-only Grasshopper there in 2006 (?).

I knew there would be some pretty fast guys out for this one, as there is money involved (!) and it…

Hello.  It's been awhile, but this is a race blog and I have not been racing since Sea Otter.  Work, family, life - they all got in the way of training and racing my mountain bike.  It happens.

I've been getting some decent hours in for the last 6 weeks or so and I am finally fit enough to show up for a race.  I have always enjoyed the Howarth Park Dirt Crits in Santa Rosa, and I figured a 20-30 minute race like this would be a good chance to see how the fitness is…

I started the weekend with the short track race on Friday.  Around 70 guys racing on a course that takes under 2 minutes per lap is a recipe for failure if you are not in the front 20.  Of course, there was the usual pileup in the first turn and then the single file conga line until you get pulled.  I lasted 5 of the 20+ laps.  The postitive thing was that I achieved a very high average heartrate - 170 bpm for 10 minutes.  I have not been able to achieve this in training or racing for weeks,…

As the Dirt Classic approached, I got a feeling that it would be pretty competitive.  There are usually a few guys going fast this early in the season, but this year looked like a deeper field.  Young new guys like Will Curtis, Tony Smith, Will Patterson, and John Bennet are recent Norcal League graduates who are excited to get their racing careers going.  Of course you have the usual hardmen like Smallman, Timmel, Weir and Moeschler, and the recently returned Michael Hosey.  Clint Claasen…

This was my first year making the trip down to the Bakersfield area for the Keyesville Classic.  This grassroots event has taken place for many years.  Recently they began running an "all mountain" class, which combines results from the XC race on Saturday and the Short Track and Downhill on Sunday, all raced on the same bike.  At $69 for all three races, how could I…

I made the trip down to Southern California last weekend for the first of the national pro series races.  These races are the real deal, with close to one hundred pros from around the country.  This is where you test yourself against the fastest guys in the country (and Canada and Mexico).  A huge start group, short laps, and lots of fast guys makes the dynamic very different than local races.  You fight your way through the throngs in the beginning and then settle in to do battle for as…

Training is coming along pretty well in preparation for my first peak period around Napa Valley Dirt Classic and Sea Otter.  I have been getting my training hours in, but lacking a bit on recovery time.  My 2 year old son, Simon, is so full of life that he rarely sleeps through the night.  Though I miss him if I haven't seem him for 4 hours, I sure could use longer stretches of sleep!

On a day of intensity training last Thursday, I had my first down day of the season.  I tried my…

The forecast for this race was pretty bad the week before.  Rain and maybe snow.  They changed the venue from Toro Park to Fort Ord to lessen the impact due to wet trails.  It became less dire but still discouraging as the race approached.  I pretty much figure nasty conditions are part of mountain bike racing, and since this was a training race on the schedule, I made my plans to be there anyway.

The weather and conditions could not have been better.  It was mostly sunny,…

The Sonoma County Grasshoppers started a month early this year and I had to miss the Old Cazadero opener.  This is one of the few 'Hoppers that can be won on a mountain bike, and I've done pretty well at it for the last four years.  I had a work conflict this year that was unavoidable, which was a real pity.  Though I've started mountain bike racing for the season, I figured the second Grasshopper, the Fort Ross road race, would be fun and good training.

The forecast was for rain and…

First official race of the year.

I travelled to Fort Ord Sunday, February 13, for the CCCX season opener.  The weather was perfect - dry and cool.

These early season races are good training, and I use them as part of my weekly intensity workouts in the build period.  I was coming into this one with a little fatigue in my legs, but ready to begin my season of mountain bicycle racing!

There weren't many familiar faces at the starting line.  I did recognize Brian Duke, one…

I participated in the last 2 of this year's 3 DFL Crossdresser CX races.

I guess this will be the last year of this series, as it has become too popular for the urban underground race format.

You can race for free if you wear clothes of the opposite sex. Any bike goes. I wore my normal kit and rode my Superfly rigid at 17.5 lbs, 1x9 with Schwalbe Furious Fred tires.

The last course was at the Toxic Golf Course, which is basically a gravel parking lot and some area with a…

My last real race of the season was in July, but I've been participating in local events for fun lately.

Today I did the mountain bike portion of the Mt Tam Triple Crown. Basically a fun and competitive ride up Eldridge from the intersection at the base of Fish Grade to the gate at the pavement near East Peak.

I'm definitely languishing in a transition/pre-base period right now. That pretty much means riding a few days a week for fun - no concerted training. Though I didn't…

I've missed the Skyline Park mountain bike race for a couple of years, so I was pretty excited to be able to make it this year. It's a real deal mountain bike race, with lots of chunky descending and techy climbing. A race that favors the all-arounder, for sure. I pre-rode the course on Thursday and decided to go with some slightly stiffer wheels (Crest/Supercomp/DT240s w/thru bolts vs. ZTR Race wheelset) and aggressive race tires front and rear (Schwalbe Nobby Nic). Temps were expected to…

200 racers gathered Sunday, June 6, for Marin's only full length XC race, the Tamarancho Dirt Classic. This was the best promotion and organization I have seen in the 5 years I have raced at Tamarancho. Great expo area, attendance, and course. The pro class had 15 registered racers and promised some stiff competition. Among the racers to watch were Ned Overend, Dario Fredericks, Brian Astell, Kevin Smallman (3rd in 2009) and others. Conditions were getting loose and dry, despite the recent…

Unable to participate in The Summit Shorty due to my reponsibilities as the guy in charge, I ventured up to Santa Rosa to check out the first of a 3 race dirt crit series at the Youth Community Park (Thursday evening 5/6, 5/13, 5/20) that Bikemonkey is starting. I'm a big fan of the Howarth Park Dirt Crit series, which starts later in the summer, but this is a new course with which I am unfamiliar. The grassy and wooded open space area is behind a skatepark and kid's park and contains some…

This is my 5th year racing the Napa Valley Dirt Classic. I put in some good base and build training in the winter and come into the spring with decent fitness for the first grouping of priority races. This year I am trying to come to a fitness peak for Napa, Sea Otter, and Shasta Lemurian. Though full-time work and spending time with my son Simon have made training conditions less than ideal, I felt pretty good for this race and excited to mix it up at the front. Last year I came in second…

If you are an American pro mountain bike racer without the support or ability to race in Europe, the Pro XCT is the series on which you will focus in 2010. Though I will probably not do every race in the series, I am compelled to do Fontana and Sea Otter because they are relatively close. This is a completely different level than the local stuff. Sure, there are some fast guys in NorCal, but these races bring the fastest guys in America and Canada. The question changes from "will I win this…

So I'm on my way down to Fontana for the first Pro XCT national race. I am seeing accounts as I go, which has brought me to Santa Barbara today. I got into town and checked into my hotel by 5:30. After all of the driving over the last two days, I knew I needed to spin around for an hour. I kitted up and started tooling around the strip malls on my Superfly. There were some beautiful hills in the distance, but I was having trouble navigating my way through the neighborhoods and private…