All Blog Posts (398)

I did a solid block of training after SoNoMas and felt I had enough top-end speed back in my legs for a 90-minute XC race. Sea Otter has been a HC-level international event since last year, which means that it is only one step below a World Cup in terms of prize money and ranking points awarded. This distinction also means that laps must be less than 3.5 miles long to be spectator friendly. The Sea Otter race organizers must have built the course with a lawnmower, because most of what we…

The Summit Shorty is back for its 10th year, and a big thanks to Jim for all the work he puts in organizing this event. For the third time this season, I got to check off another race that I've never done before.  I had been a spectator at last year's series, there to support the Novato/San Marin High School team that my kids are on, and on which I'm one of the assistant coaches.  It's a great event, and excellent mid-week intensity training for the High School teams and anyone else.  Me and…

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.

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…

I headed up to this race not knowing exactly what to expect as I'd never raced it before.  The area had received a lot of rain over the prior week, so I was thinking there would be some mud, but otherwise I'd just have to figure it out on race day.  

Getting there with not quite enough time to pre-ride the course, I did a brief warm up and took my place at the start line. The racers were sent out in waves: pros, then singlespeed (never really understand why the ss go out ahead of all…

“The Accidental Detour”

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…

I’m only 20 miles in to this 35 mile race and I’m cramping up so badly I’m not sure I’ll make it to the finish.  I had a flash back to the pre-race start-line warnings given by Bike Monkey director Carlos about how tough the race is, and there being no shame in using one of the bailout options along the way.  I didn't take those warnings very seriously and they were now coming back to slap me in the face with a big dose of “I told you so”.

Not being quite race fit yet, I had planned…

Sonomas has been lurking in the back of my mind for the past couple of years.  I've talked with friends that have done the race and each of them have said what a hard and unforgiving race it is.  Having done the Grasshopper MTB two weeks ago on much of the same terrain, only in reverse, I knew what I would be up against.  In fact, I had pretty much decided to skip Sonomas.  The mind is a funny thing, it seems to be programmed to forget the suffering and remember the good times, because I…

The hardest MTB race got harder. The heavy rain of this last winter left this course with a lot more obstacles than last year. I was back on my Trek Top Fuel and stayed with the XR1 2.0 tires. I think the smaller tire got through the mud a little easier and was worth a little slower down hill times? My training program called for a rest week heading into this race and I was questioning if that was the right move, as the race out here two weeks ago left me feeling I needed to spend more time…

I learned that SoNoMas isn't a race for position, it's a race of survival. It was one of the few mountain bike races in Northern California I hadn't done, so I had no idea what to expect besides a long day in the saddle. 

I had completed a hard block of training the week before the race and barely ridden in the days leading up to it in hopes of a good result. The list of registered riders, which included the likes of Ted King, Peter Stetina, Barry Wicks, and my teammate Jim predicted…

  I decided to enter the Cool Mountain Bike Race since it was on the way to Tahoe. I still need to shovel my cabin plus do some spring skiing. Even though much of the precipitation has been rain in Alpine Meadows, the snow can absorb the rain and increase the weight on my roof and deck. Some places nearby have suffered significant damage. It also has snowed about 35-40 feet at my place. Basically I am in great shoveling shape.

  The Cool Mountain Bike Race is always a good reminder to…

The trails around Lake Sonoma are impressive, that much is true. Like so much of our outdoor play paths in Marin though, they have been equally ravaged by the unusually wet winter this year. Downed trees, mud slides, countless exposed roots, enough mud to make small children giddy and on this course a foot bridge that had, until recently, been completely submerged combine to a technical masterpiece. But that isn't what makes Lake Sonoma a tough ride... it's the relentless short but steep…

Sometimes it is better to write these a day or so afterwards. This race was a big disappointment but a day afterwards I have a different perspective. I was back on my Top Fuel but changed my tires to XR1 Bontragger team issue 2.0. Skinny but fast rolling. The trail was all over the place (muddy, rocky, hard pack and loose gravel).  For the most part the tire was great. I started my race watching my heartrate meter as we made our way up the paved section. I was careful to stay 95% of max.…

   Here it was the middle of March and I had not had a chance to race or train consistently the past three months.  Feeling a little frustrated with the situation I decided to enter the mountain bike Grasshopper at Lake Sonoma.  I realized it might be more of a ride than a race at my current level of fitness, but what the hell.  Carson and I made our way to Healdsburg and our favorite coffee shop in the area, Flying Goat Coffee for a little extra fuel.  The rest of the Acme team of Jim,…

Lake Sonoma was my fourth and final Grasshopper Series race of the year. Crashing out of Super Sweetwater two weeks ago put me out of contention for the overall series victory, so my focus for the coming months will be solely on mountain bike races. I also used this race as a trial run of the fueling strategy and bike set-up I'll use for the rest of the year. 

The race started up a 2 mile paved climb that spread the field out before narrowing into a rocky, muddy singletrack. I came…

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…

The Lake Sonoma Grasshopper was another adventure in fitness combined with stunning scenery.  I rode my Trek hardtail 29er for the 25-mile race.  As the morning progressed and racers warmed up, we all gathered for our race meeting, which immediately launched into the race start.  I liked the beginning because, for the first time, I actually got to see the leaders take off up the road.  I watched as Jim and Carson rode away with the other racers at the front.  My start was rough, slow,…

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.

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…

The Grasshopper Adventure Series’ Chileno Valley Road ‘Hopper was another opportunity to gain some fitness and load up on training fatigue before starting the true mountain bike race season of the spring and summer. Grasshoppers bring out all of Northern California’s racing talent, and this weekend was no exception. Road racers Peter Stentina of Trek-Segafredo, Zeke Mostov, Cameron Beard, Sam Bassetti, Chris Harland-Dunaway, and Gavin Murray were all in…

Old Caz number 2 for me and this time I had my Trek Boone which I'd figured to be a better choice for the longer road sections I recalled from last year when I showed up on my Pivot 29er hard tail. In 2016 CX bike were everywhere and this year the number of mtb's and CX bike running extraordinarily fat tires were in the majority. Nevertheless, I felt confident on my comparatively narrow 35mm Continental tire mix running 45 psi with tried and true tubes.

Driving up with team mate Greg…