CCCX XC #4 3/29/09

My first XC race in the GT Dirt Coalition team kit and on board the GT Carbon ZASKAR was quite a ride.......

The race course was super challenging with some steep climbs and railing downhills. I must say that the team bike was amazing in all aspects of handling, comfort, durability, and speed. The bike is responsive on the climbs and solid & stable on the downhills. Plain and simple it is pure fun to race on.

Now I am only looking forward to more races and more fun times riding and training on the incredible GT ZASKAR.

I am so thankful that the next race is coming up this Saturday in Ft Ord. This will give me more time to get in the groove with my new super race machine from GT!

NICE~

The GT Carbon ZASKAR is awesome~

The GT Dirt Coalition easy up tent is top of the line~

Thanks to GT & I.M.B.A. for putting together such a great program.

Being a part of the GT Dirt Coalition is very exciting and now it is time to ride hard and have fun doing it!!

Tuesday Night Throw Down~

The road circuit practice went off tonight and there was some serious throwing down of bike race warfare going on. The group topped out at about 40 riders. It seems my cash payout for the win idea creates a stir among the riders during the week. So for this session all the local teams were represented with seemingly all of their riders. There were also 2 wild card riders, both road professionals, who showed up after hearing of this road race practice affair. Both of the out of town guys seemed to be the strongest as the laps ticked by on the circuit race. They were together off the front on a break during lap 3. The field seemed to not able to bring them back. So on the hill section I did a huge flyer to get across as these two guys seemed to be on another level then the locals. I just barely bridged the gap and as I looked back the field behind me shattered to pieces. All I could do was hang on as the out of town guys kept driving the pace and hitting speeds that were ridiculous on some of the flat sections of the course. All I could do was hang on!

In the end I came off on the last hill section of the course. My heart rate was near 200 B.P.M., and my legs felt like they were going to explode. The two dudes rode me off their wheel and went on to finish 1-2. But I was the last local rider to make contact with them on lap 3, and then hang on until I got popped off.

This is the type of workout that I really wanted by adding money to the practice session to spice things up. And this is the type of workout that will make me a better rider for sure!!! No pain- No gain!

CCCX DH #2 TORO PARK 3/22/09

Digging in near the finish line.....
1st Overall Single Speed Division.....

Hanging on during the drop in section of the course.....

I had over 200 DH racers come out to my CCCX event on Sunday. There were some seriously fast talent out on the course. Rain the night before the race made the track super sweet and traction was as good as it gets after a steady rain watered down the dirt perfectly.

I was stoked to win the Single Speed Division. This was my first win while wearing the GT Dirt Coalition jersey. I really liked the course and hit my run almost perfect.

I felt really lucky there was no rain on race day to bring down the fun atmosphere of the event. Rain makes for some interesting racing, but sunshine makes things a lot easier on everyone.

Next Sunday is the Toro XC race and I have picked out a classic route for the racers. The weather forecast looks really good and I think it will be one of the biggest turnouts for a XC race at Toro.

Saturday Morning Ride

I felt pretty good on the Saturday morning ride. I was first to the top of the climb, while posting my fastest time up the hill this year, a 12:52. Then I won the final sprint along the ocean. It felt good to wake up early and be riding by 7 A.m.

Weekend Action

Here I am getting the hole-shot at the start of CCCX XC #3. On the day rider #437 took the win and I had to settle for 2nd place......

I set the course today for the CCCX DH race #2. I really like this course and the route is extra fun for me to ride. I did some work building up 2 of the berms near the top of the course, and now they are massive. I know all the riders will like bigger berms in those corners. They are calling for rain on Sat. night and Sun. morning. This could make for some serious action at the DH race.

Friday I will ride for maybe 1 hour 30 minutes just to get some spinning of the legs in. Saturday I will get up early and take part in our Sat. morning group ride. This ride starts at 7 a.m. and usually is very well attended. The ride has some good climbs in it that can break things up, and there is also a few good sprint points.

Then it will be DH racing on Sunday.

Working The Sea Otter Dual Slalom

One of my favorite parts of the Sea Otter Classic is working the microphone and interviewing the world's best gravity racers. Here I am mixing it up with World Cup Champion & the 2008 winner Greg Minnar and World Cup Champion Steve Peat. It seems all the Pro's are pretty cool to me and it is rad to watch them rip up my slalom course....
Me deep in the berm on my way to qualifying #1 on the blue course...

Berms and jumps make up the fun of my Slalom course. I just like to ride it again and again and again....

It was six hours of using my commercial sized Huskavarna weed eater today on the Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom course. Just cutting down the grass and cleaning up the vegetation on the course to make it look sweet seems to take forever.

The berms are really coming into form, and they are simply giant! It is very hard work putting this course together for the world's best Dual Slalom racers. Yet, it is very rewarding for me when it is all finished and the package is complete. I can look up at my work admiring the symmetry of the turns and jumps built directly into the Laguna Seca raceway terrain. It is 'DeFiebre Hill".

Monday-Tuesday

I love to race Cyclocross, one of my favorite disciplines of cycling for sure. Here I am chasing the leaders up a hill at the famous Manzanita Cross race...

Monday I did 2 hours of easy riding just to get the legs working slightly after the hard race on Sunday. I felt a little tired, but I knew a calm spin with some tempo climbing would help my recovery.

Tonight we had the Tuesday Circuit race practice session. With the cash payout for the winner going on, the group doubled in size from last week. There must have been nearly 30 riders taking part. I felt really good and on lap 2 my planned attack made the deciding break away. Things worked out perfect for my attack as the speed was high going into the climb portion of the route. So I drilled it and told two other strong riders from different teams to follow me. Sure enough it worked and we joined my team mate and another rider who had about a ten second gap on the field when I attacked and the break was settled. Two riders made it across chasing my move, so it was 7 of us gone off the front. All the teams were represented and most of the really strong guys were present.

In the end I watched out for attacks from Team Joselyn's who had 4 riders in the move. The attacks never came, but they did drive the pace all the way to the line. This only helped me and my team mate as we had the best sprints anyways. In the end we went 1-2 for the finishing order and claimed the money for the 2nd week in a row.

Also I have really been putting time in building the Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom. The course is coming along extra good!

Another interesting item is I am working with the Laguna Seca Raceway to host a open race track night once a month for cyclists. The race track and the County managers envision a community day for cycling on the famed raceway, and local clubs will host the event once a month starting in April. This is good news for cycling on the Monterey peninsula, and having the County realize the benefits of cycling for the community will only help in future activities taking place on County controlled land. I also hope that new riders and people who are just getting interested in cycling can take advantage of this opportunity and simply get out and ride!

CCCX XC #3 3/15/09 @ Ft Ord- Monterey

Me doing the race thing......

It was a perfect day for Mountain Bike racing this past Sunday at the CCCX XC race #3. The race route was really good, and the hill climb portions I added to the design of the course really took their toll on the racers. The added climbing made for some great action and tested every ones strength and endurance.

Personally, I attacked early in my race just to see who was willing to throw it down early. One rider, Alex Rousch, followed me and the two of us gapped the others. Alex kept the pressure on and I lost contact with him after one lap. He was the race winner on the day. I then was riding solo with a strong group of four riders working together to chase me. A few times the gap was only 10 seconds, however I worked as hard as possible to keep a gap on the chasers and try to frustrate their effort to get on terms with me. This worked and after three laps I had dropped the chasers by over a minute and then worked hard to get to the finish. In the end I was 2nd place.

I tried to hit every hill as hard as I could, and overall it was a extremely hard race. I do feel digging deep and hitting out as hard as possible up the hills will help me in future events.

Keeping Busy~

The Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom- this photo says a lot, 2 riders battling side by side virtually even on course, in front of a large crowd, on a amazing course, at a huge cycling festival.....
The worlds best MTB racers go at it on my Slalom....

I have been keeping very bust lately. I started to build the Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom. This is one of my favorite things to do! I love building big berms and jumps and being creative with the design of a Dual Slalom. It is a big project and takes up a large amount of my time. But it is very rewarding when I watch all the racers go off on it during the Sea Otter Classic.

Tuesday night was the first practice race I do with the local road group on the Ft Ord Circuit course. I had one team mate there, and I told him I will keep attacking to soften up the group and make the group chase me constantly. Then he can pimp the sprint. I kept my promise and kept attacking, and was in a 2 man break for about 5 miles. But the group chased us down, and after that they chased all of my attacks right away. Then my team mate took the sprint easy. It was nice to claim the first win of the practice races for my squad, and me and my team mate shared the first place money, which I was the one to put up for the win in the first place!!!

Then today I set up most of the course for CCCX XC #3. This course is very good, and has a lot of climbing and fun turns I have added. This is one of the best loops I have put together out there in Ft Ord over the years, and I know the riders will like it. However, I added some climbing sections, so hopefully people will not complain that it is too hard. Personally, I really like this race route. Now is the perfect time to ride in Ft Ord..... the grass is green along the trails, the dirt is smooth from recent rains, and it is just plain fun to rip and rail all of the turns.

1st Place- TBF XC Series Final March 8 2009

After crashing extremely hard and ripping open a huge hole under my chin while leading race #2 of the TBF Series 2 weeks ago, it was very rewarding to bounce back and win race #3. I felt very strong on all of the hills and my heart rate seemed to be always over 180 beats per minute, yet I never seemed to feel as if I was going to completely blow up. My legs were pedaling smoothly and my breathing was controlled. Winning the final race allowed me to wrap up the TBF MTB Series title for the 3rd year in a row. Winning the TBF Series for 3 straight years is something special for myself. It shows my desire to race & my consistency on the TBF MTB race course they use in Folsom. The course is pretty demanding, and has some technical sections that test a riders handling skills. Plus, I always like to back up a race win with another race win, just to validate my performance.

Winning the TBF Series for 3 straight years is an achievement I am very proud of.

Intervals~

I did a series of intervals today on my road bike in Ft Ord. OUCH did that hurt! Unless I do intervals every week, it is easy to forget how much they really hurt. Now I want to do more of that kind of workout because pain creates growth in my cycling portfolio.

Today was also special as I received my confirmation on backing for eye wear from Oakley.

Now all I want is to be riding my GT ZASKAR up some sweet dirt road pushing the pace. Driving hard to get to the top so I can push the pace even harder going downhill~

Wed. Workout

This was one of my favorite wins of the Tuesday night Road Race practice session, it was a super strong group and there was lots of talk of who was the best, and in the end I was the best............

I pumped out 2 hours 30 minutes on the Road bike tonight. I just kept the pace steady and enjoyed the terrific weather at hand. Next Tuesday is the start of the local Tuesday night Road Race practice. It is a group workout on a 4.25 mile circuit of closed roads I selected in Ft Ord. The course is a real challenge as there is a lot of wind and some very good roller sections that can test ones strength and stamina. Most of the top local racers get involved in this 5 lap practice race that starts at 6 p.m.

I have decided to try and get a few local cycle related businesses to kick in a little cash for a weekly $payout$ to who ever wins the 5 lap race. This will spice things up a bit, as well as give the winner some gas money to get to the next race they take part in.

Sometimes I do amaze myself by how much I set things up for everyone to race.....

All in all I am just keeping the dream alive for myself and for others, and that is a admirable way to live my life.

Check out this cool video of the DH race I put on this past Sunday in Toro Park near Monterey.

here's the link...

http://vimeo.com/3480190

Busy MTB Weekend

CCCX XC #2- not my best day on the bike......
Elevation and beautiful trails meet rider at Toro Park......

Ft Ord single track~ a dream for a person who likes to ride MTB's............

Sweet trails ready to ride in Toro Park..........

It was one of the most busy weekends of the year for racing MTB's in Monterey. On Saturday I promoted the CCCX XC Race #2 in Ft Ord. The turn out was great and the racing was fast and furious by all. The course was really good and tested everyone well. Personally I had a bad race, but gave it a go and tried hard. I am still recovering from my hard crash last weekend, and a root canal on my tooth on Monday. Then setting up 2 different courses during the week seemed to take a big toll on me physically and mentally. In the end I was not good racing the XC on Saturday! So now I am looking forward to my next race, now that one of my most busy weeks of promoting is over.

On Sunday I had the High School race going on in Ft Ord. The Nor-Cal High School league is a huge success and they had over 400 High School racers!

Also on Sunday was the CCCX DH Race #1 of the 2009 Series. I received good feedback about the course, and I had one of the biggest number of DH racers ever for a CCCX DH Rcae. Rain started to fall half way through the timed DH runs. This really changed the course for the riders who were forced to race in the rain. But those who did race in the rain clearly had more stories to tell about their time on course!~

Hopefully the DH Series will continue to grow!

This Sunday I will be racing in Folsom in the final race of the TBF Series. I really hope to be strong and race hard for this event~

Mountain Bike racing is definitely healthy in Northern California based on the busy past weekend that I just experienced.