Greg Alsterlind's Blog – April 2016 Archive (4)

My favorite race of them all. Once again, Jim of ACME Bikes set up a fun event for all ages. This year he added the 35+ to the A class(6 laps) and I was up for the challenge. In the last year, I have made good friendships with the top 35 + guys from last year and I was excited to see if I improved after spending so much time riding with them. The B and C's seemed to have very good turn outs but the A's were down to 5 at the start. My class featured the king of this race, David Benjamin,…

I was not going to write this but my friends actions changed my mind. I have been looking forward to this race for months now. I entered this back in 2004 as a beginner and had multiple mechanical failures that made for a long, frustrating day. Now 2016 on a better bike ('16 Trek Top Fuel) and better conditioning, I was ready . My pre-ride set the stage for Sunday's race. It took more than an hour to finally find the course (no help from the staff). Once on the course it became clear that…

My first race last year as a Cat 2 was my first as a Cat 1 this year. Two things that stand out to me about this course:  going down "Sand Hill" and climbing "Heartbreaker".  I was back on my Top Fuel with Maxxis IKON 2.2 tires. It had been raining and figured it would be muddy out there, but it turned out to be worse than I thought. We had 2 top racers and mechanics in teammates Shiloh and Jim of ACME and I forgot to ask about tire pressure in the mud. I guessed and upped mine to 5psi over…

Advertised as the thoughest MTB race and I would agree. I set up my '16 Trek Top Fuel 9.8 with a new set of carbon Raceface cranks and a 30 tooth single ring. I stayed with my Maxxis 2.2 IKON's that performed real well out here last week at the Lake Sonoma race. After a 30 minute warm-up ride, I lined up with teammate Mark Ingwersen in what I felt was a good spot (about a 100 deep). The start was an easy climb at a good pace up a paved road. When we hit the dirt things changed quickly. The…