12 HOURS OF TEMECULA 2009- SERIES CHAMPS

Yes we are the 12 Hours of Temecula duo open series champions. What does that mean? Well we rode our butts off to and in all three of the SoCal 12 hour endurance races. That means on bikes and in the truck (I just got back so its fresh on my behind). We rode 42 laps total (most of any teams for the series)- finishing 2nd, 1st and 2nd respectively in the three races.

Carson and I made it down for the third time this year because its just a great escape and the weather is much better than here at this time of year. Which we realized when we got back to snow on the ground! It also is a fun series with great turnout and fun fast courses.

We headed out Thursday morning with idea of stopping in Vegas for a quick ride, but decided to stop in St George instead and rode Bear Claw Poppy. It was a bit dusty but really fast! If you haven't ridden it recently it seems to have expanded into a zillion options and turnoffs that meander in a red maze of rock and dirt but always takes you back to the main route. I'd recommended it to all levels of riders.

The picture is of the trailhead where we turn around to head back to the start near the race loop.

After the exhilarating ride we cleaned up and drove on to Primm just south of Vegas to lose a few bucks at blackjack and to spend the night. We rolled into Temecula the next morning, set up camp and went for a pre-ride.

I expected the course to be the same as last fall but was surprised that the course was changed. It did include combinations of the two prior courses we had done, so most of it wasn't too new. We still had the Dam Climb (And it is a Damn long hard climb!) The above picture is Carson climbing the least steep part of the climb. It is deceiving because there are about 5 false summits before you make it the 1.5 miles to the top. Below is from the top looking back at the dam and lake. Once you made it to the top the rest of the course was nearly all downhill with several quick steep "walls" that if you hit at full speed you could top with moderate effort. The "tunnel of love" is the funnest section that includes a long fast winding descent that goes on for a long time. There were a few changes that made the course seem shorter than last time but ultimately because of the time it took to do the Dam climb the laps ended up longer than previously.

THE RACE

Above is the paced start of the race. Carson is on the far Right. Our rule for the race starts is that if it entails a bike sprint then he goes but if it requires a run then I start. He got off well and I quickly got ready and anxiously waited for him to get back. To my dismay he returned third in our duo open category, but not by much. We were hoping for first or second, but it was early. I headed off and shortly saw the second place guy ahead. His name was Mark (sorry I forgot his last name) and he was racing for Racers here in Utah. We lost to a Racers team in the spring so I was concerned for a repeat of that. But by the time we got to the top of the Dam climb I had passed him and saw him no more on that lap.

As the times were posted several laps later we saw that the top three were within 20 minutes of each other which is pretty close for a 12 hour race. The worrisome thing was that Racers team was only 2 minutes back. Then as I waited for my third lap I saw, John (again- don't remember his last name), the other Racers racer come in ahead of Carson. I found out later that he was feeling sick and cramping pretty bad and got passed. Luckily I again was able to catch Mark on the climb and pass him. Carson's strength came back the rest of the race (thank goodness for me since he had to do the extra lap-13- and I wasn't keen on doing back to back laps) and that's what kept us ahead of third. Ultimately, we were able to widen the gap to about 11 minutes on them but were only able to close the gap to 1st place to 10 minutes by the 9 pm cutoff time. It was a very close clean race that could have easily changed with a minor mistake, injury or mechanical. But all 6 of us managed to avoid a mishap and it ended based upon our ability for the day- as it ideally should. I had a great time and felt great throughout the race. Each lap was extremely fun and even the Dam climb seemed easier than the last time I raced it.

I'll post times when they are available.

Karate kids

It's a proud moment in a dad's life when his 9 year old boy's Kata form is better than his dad's. Or is it a sad day for dad? The boys kicked butt in their tournament today. Jonny nailed his form section with his master watching. I made the comment that his was better than mine. And our master didn't say anything. I'm going to practice right after I'm done with this blog.

Who put the marbles in the trail?! The trails in CC have been packed this week and great fun to ride. Then I hit this turn towards the bottom of Ghost! How smart is it to put gravel on a tight turn like that? I've been really impressed with how much the city has been doing to increase and improve the trails and can't complain too much. But this sure was a dumb move. I can only hope it is temporary and they are planning to use it as base material for a concrete banked turn.

One more race left for this year. Carson and I are heading down towards Temecula this thurs. We'll stop for some riding in Vegas then head over to the 12 hour race in CA.

That's it. Off to work on my forms.

Arantix II miles: 1811

Fall Riding the Mistress etc.

Just like everyone else seems to be blogging about fall riding, so must I. It's just too beautiful not to take a few pics. Yesterday, I hit Jamie's mistress, Silly Little Urban Trail (SLUT) etc........ If you have not been on Jamie's email list you have missed a great barrage of name suggestions. All deal with the fact that Jamie has been out of the house for some reason (he says it was trail work) but Whitney has caught on and dubbed the trail "the Mistress" and from there it went downhill. Here is a video Jamie made of the trail. I rode her yesterday and it was fun. It'll be better after of winter pack.

Today I went up Clark's and across up to the South Suncrest trail. I've only been on it once before. It's fun, although overgrown in several spots. It dumps you out near the downhill course at the top of SunCrest. Now that's a blast! Luckily there are some bypass "blue" lines that avoid some crazy jumps.

So does the sign mean free ride bikes only or that you can only ride one way?

Nice ramp? Where does it go? The other side....

24 HOURS OF MOAB, 2009- PART II

So as I was saying until I fell asleep at the keyboard last night (I did a night shift the day before):

The last lap-5. Two of us had to do an extra 5th lap and the natural lineup called for it to be Carson and I. I was actually kind of looking forward to it. I REALLY felt good on the fourth lap at night so I was hoping to redeem my frustrating first two laps. There was no pressure since at that point we realized we had no hope of placing above 6th place, but I wanted to end on a good lap. And it turned out to be just that. It flowed, there were less riders to pass (or be passed by) and my legs were still not cramping! As a matter of fact my back was starting to get sore from the endo and standing up actually felt better. The legs took this pretty good and I was able to put in a reasonable time of 1:22.

Moab has become tradition. It is a way for the Mad Dog team to hang out and connect. There is more time for getting to know each other in a common setting that we are comfortable in. Then our character is tested by the course and respect is earned from the accomplished challenge we have set before us.

Special thanks for Keith for going through the brain damage of organizing and running the camp. And Abby (and by default the hubby-Scott) plus Marci the assistant for the great cook'in and nur'shm'nt she provided for everyone. And as usual my teammates; Carson the smug- garsh I'm just too fast and don't want anyone to know it, Keith the daddy, captain, husband and Oh by the way fast rider in his spare time, and Scott- Mr. nice to everyone, how can I help you, I'll race my heart out for the team.

ARANTIX II MILES 1645

24 HOURS OF MOAB, 2009

This race has become tradition. As many times as I've done this race I tend to take it for granted. But it really is "epic" as Laird Knight the race promoter put it. It has over 4000 bicycle enthusiasts from all over the world and ALL levels of riders collecting in the middle of a red desert to form a MTB oasis. This year the perfect weather gave me a chance to see the beauty in this place and REALIZE it's in my back yard! I must admit this is the first time I've done this race that the weather HAS been good enough to allow for this type of reflection. The first time I did the race in 2002 under team Quadra-sore-ass wrecks it was raining and freezing. Since then I've done 5 more with Mad Dog and endured hail, floods and wind storms.

2009 was looking like it was going to be perfect. I felt relaxed, comfortable and well rested (perhaps too well-rested). As usual I "volunteered" to do the Le-manz style 200 yard run around the poor pinon tree. I got off to a great start and found myself in probably the top 10 runners going around the tree. Not bad for an old fart I was thinking when I looked down and saw a baton on the ground. Instinctively I felt for mine on my right thigh where I carried it under my shorts. I couldn't feel it there! What luck I thought as I stopped to pick up the baton as 50 runners passed me. In the next instant I felt BEHIND my thigh and there was my baton. UHGG! What a stupid move. Anyway, I still ended up toward the front of the hoard of riders and really didn't have too much traffic to contend with as usually happens if you get caught in the middle of the 300+ racers fighting for a line.

I was feeling confident and taking aggressive lines down the rock drops and ledges when I got to the Nose Dive Hill bypass. There was a "helpful" guy there yelling at everybody to be careful since there were some jeepers at the bottom. So what do I do? I look over to see what he was talking about, ended up on the wrong line and drilled the front straight down. Even the larger 29'r wheel up front couldn't save me and I found my self rolling over the handle bars. It's funny the vivid stuff you remember thinking in that split second- only some of which I can repeat here. I remember thinking, "So how bad is this going to hurt? Is the race over right here? I hope the Arantix is going to be OK." Well I landed and had NO pain! I did the usual systems check and all systems were functioning. I jumped up and picked up the Arantix. I had held on to it so that it wouldn't slide and roll too far down. It only required a small straightening of the handle bar. Cool! I survived. The rest of the lap was a blur of relief for my life, anger, frustration at lost time, anger for being frustrated etc. I lost my concentration. Once it was done I had to admit my time of 1:14 was reasonable and I tried to shake it off in anticipation of redeeming myself on the next one. My duo pal Carson was next pulling in a screaming time, followed by Captain Keith who kicked some butt and then Scott (the team cook's main squeeze) finished off our 4 person rotation. And I was up again.

I headed out feeling strong until I started to hit the technical ledges and my chain dropped in between the cassette and spokes. As you all know (your lucky if you don't) that's a #$*ch to get out. I must have bent the derailleur hanger when I wrecked on the last lap. I finally got the chain out but had it happen two more times within a 5 minute period until I realized I just couldn't use the lower gears for the rest of the lap. I was frustrated. I put in a 1:20.

The next lap was going to be a night lap. I had our team wrench, Bryan, straighten the hanger and put the lights on. I've been wanting to take advantage of the hollow nature of the Arantix to "light" the Isotruss up so I got some glow sticks.

Night riding is really fun. I feel like I am in a different very focused world. The challenges are directly in front and nothing else really matters. The third lap in the past has been the toughest mentally and physically. It didn't let me down. This was a rough ride. I couldn't get into a rhythm. I pulled a 1:26 and went to sleep.

I went out for the fourth lap at 4 am. By now I new the lines and I got into a great rhythm. It was a very, clean satisfying lap done at 1:28. By now I had realized that I'd have to do another lap, but it would be in the daylight hours-and warmer.dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd...I'm falling asleep. I'll continue this tomorrow.

Good night Moab.

Fun times off the bike

While everyone was putting in training miles (Holleys, Carson, Keyes, Kendra) I was not. It was a good week, though.

Monday, I played hookey from my chores and headed off to go wakeboarding. I haven't been for about 3 years but it wasn't as hard as I thought. I did make it over the wake, which I haven't been able to do before. It was a good way to say goodbye to summer. Thanks Jory and Noelle!

Thursday for UEA we headed to the west desert to hunt for Geodes. Wow was that fun! The boys just kept digging and digging. Some of the time they even collected what they were supposed to. As you can see we came back with plenty of them. We camped for two nights. Hiking, 4- wheeling and exploring was included. I even got in a good two hour ride with the Arantix. The next day I went to head out for another ride but the front tire ripped and I had to abort. I made up for that by riding today with Carson here at Corner Canyon.

Now we have to get all those open! If anyone has kids this trip is a must do.

TEAM VIZMEG - MOHICAN OHIO

I got in with the bike intact and things going well until I heard that my wrench support through Delta 7 sports had a family emergency with his daughter hospitalized and couldn't help. I definitely did not blame him but it did leave me without any tools. He did set up to have the ARANTIX put together at a local bike shop. But I had to do a whole 12 hour race to do with a leatherman and my parks tool. I recruited my sister, Jessika, to help but the whole family showed up to help run support. That turned out to be the funnest part of the race. As some of the solo riders that I was racing said. "Wow you have a whole army!". I started out pretty excited to take on the OHio boys and found myself second half way into the race. I ended up having the second fastest time. But as usual I paid for that by burning out. With the Vizmeg army I had really had good turn around times so by the third lap I was out front overall. But half way into the lap another 12 hour solo rider passed going pretty fast. I got in and with a quick turn around I was first again. Again, at about the same spot I was passed by the same guy. I figured my first place chance was over. The only hope I had was to keep having good turn around times and pray he didn't. By the 5th lap I was getting reports from the Team Vizmeg crew that he was hanging out at the pit areas longer and I was 7 minutes ahead of him.

By then I was dealing with some serious chain skipping. It felt like the back cassette was slipping anytime I tried to stand or put any force on it. It was wearing on me since with the ARANTIX I like to stand on the short ups. My butt was feeling the extra sitting requirements to spin. The course was pretty wearing as well since it was a lot of ups and downs without any recovery sections. There were a lot of trees and roots that required standing. It was a fun course overall with about 95% single track, and a bit of grassy fields. There was a mossy 5o yard section of "rock garden" that was a challenge. It would have been treacherous if it would have been wet, though.

By lap six I was feeling it but did not feel like I could let up. Around that time what really kept me going was the excitement shown by my family. As I would roll into the pit area, I literally had the biggest and loudest cheering section. Each time I came by the whole team was there to help me out. They consisted of Jessy, Toby (sis and bro), Heather (sis in law) and their kids Nik, Alek and Maya along with my Mom and Dad- whose 70th birthday prompted this visit. As night rolled around I figured the kids had a long day and that Heather and Toby would want to take them home soon, but Heather made me smile when she said "We'll stay as long as you are winning". I had to keep going.

After the 6th lap I got word that 2nd place was 9 minutes behind and he seemed to be taking longer in the pit areas. This bolstered my confidence but I knew it wasn't in the bag yet. My cassette was skipping even more making me walk up hills I still could have ridden. With all of the skipping I felt for sure that the chain would break. I even had to borrow a pump to pump up my shock.

Night came and I got the lights installed in record time with my team and I was off 30 minutes ahead of second. I was breathing easier but finally getting tired and was wondering if I could keep going without stopping to rest like my competition was. I was cramping but not too bad likely due to the Carborocket I was regularly drinking. On the good side my stomach was feeling good and Mom had given me a bite of wonderfully tasting BBQ'd pork before I headed out. I thought of that the rest of that 8th lap and couldn't wait to get some more.

Coming in on the 9th lap I was 42 minutes ahead and barring mechanicals I was finally starting to relax a little. I decided to nurse the bike and chain to avoid a breakdown and slowed down. This also helped me avoid a full rest stop. So I kept going. This was the lap I was hoping the competition would stop on so I wouldn't have to do another lap. It was around 10pm when I rolled in still with plenty of time to do another. I wasn't prepared mentally to do more than 8 laps since last year's winning # of laps was 6! Jessy and mom were there to feed me and report that 2nd place had gone out about 10 minutes before I came in. I had to do another lap but as long as I finished I would win. Well that was the longest lap of my life!

My legs were shot. They even gave up cramping! They just gave up. I was spinning so slow that at least 3 times I would hit a small root, come to an immediate stop and tip over before I could even clip out. I never really got hurt since I was going so slow but it still stung. I felt like It was my first MTB race. I got in at 11 minutes after midnight. Jessy who was the core to the team and gave up her study time to help me was there with Mom. It was really cool to have the extended family experience the crazy racing stuff that has consumed my last few years and maybe have a better appreciation of why I do it. This has been the most satisfying race I've had. The funny thing is, is that I don't even have an award or medal to remember this by. They ONLY handed out $100 in cash! (which normally I would have preferred- go figure).

HAPPY 70TH DAD!