Shuper Duper Shimano Reps

National Championships race report continued...

The next day we all went to tool around on some short and sweet little non-muddy trails:

Then guru Mary and assistant guru John showed us some yoga moves:
But the next morning was my first ever short track race. I still had a non-functional deraileur, so bright and early I headed over to the Shimano tent. First he tried adjusting it. No go. It was bottoming out on the frame. So then he was going to put a shim in to move the whole mechanism away from the frame just to get it rideable for my rapidly approaching race. In pulling off the cranks, he discovered a totally rusted-in bottom bracket. He tried with all his might to get it out. Then there were 2 mechanics trying to wrench it out. Finally all three of them were at it. (Quite a scene!) Then the Fox Shocks guy came by with a torch just in case. Instead of the bottom bracket crying mercy and giving up the fight, it went ahead and broke the wrench they were using! We realized that if it came out, it certainly shouldn't be put back in again, so I went off in search of a new bottom bracket and deraileur. I came back empty-handed just to find out they had prevailed over the bottom bracket by standing/jumping on the wrench. But now we had nothing to put back on the bike and my race was in 1/2 hour. It must've been my lucky day because the Shimano mechanic went and dug around in his truck and came out with a brand new bottom bracket and a set of XT cranks--much better than what I'd had on there. And they wouldn't let me pay, they just hooked me up! So I was finally on my bike with 10 minutes to warm up before the race.

The race itself should've been an embarassment but I actually had fun (during the 4 minutes I lasted). I managed to do 2 laps and then was pulled. I didn't mind because the catagory was Open Women (all the non-pros) so I was mostly racing against Experts. All us Sports and Beginners were creamed and pulled instantly. Oh well, still fun.

After the race I loaded up the Shimano guys with cookies and coffee, the only sort of payment they would accept.

Lyle was killing himself in his short track race but a lot of the other guys just had more power. He got 13th and stayed in for 20 minutes before the pull. He did way better than me!

Lyle and his coach:

Watching the pro races was awesome. It seems there is so much more integrity in mountain biking than road biking. I don't even want to think about the disgrace being brought to cycling by those roadies and all their doping and cheating. Check out the statement JHK is making on his socks:
Then I saw similar socks on Jeff Kabush the following weekend. You guys rock for that! The only way to keep the sport clean is by internal peer pressure, so thanks!

National Championships for Walking in the Mud (er...Mountain Biking???)

Well, just before Saratoga Springs, we went to the Championship race for the year. I easily qualified because all it takes is a top 10 finish at any NORBA race. Well, considering the fact that the biggest turn out I've seen this year in my catagory at ANY race has been at the most, 7 racers, I couldn't help but qualify. Anyone who entered in my catagory and age group (Sport women 19-29 yrs) quailfied for the National Championships. That same situation pretty much applies to every women catagory except pro.

So, let me just take a minute to rant about the catagory divisions. Considering the fact that there are 4 catagories for women (Beginner, Sport, Expert, Pro) and only about 10% of race entrants are women, that leaves hardly any girls to race against. But of course we cant race against the men because they are like another species when it comes to cycling fitness and speed. Anyways, then they go ahead and divide us up by age group as well, so not only are there 4 catagories, but about 50...Beginner Women under 18, 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc. If anyone who actually makes any decisions about this happens to read this post, PLEASE consider just doing away with the age divisions all together! It doesn't actually make you feel like you accomplished anything when you get on the podium and get a medal at the awards ceremony for getting 5th place in a field of 5 girls!

So that's how I felt about this race. I got 5th out of 6 girls. One away from DFL (dead f---ing last). So, I didn't even bother going to the awards ceremony for my medal. This is my starting line-up:

Compared to Lyle's:

See, they're a little more sensible with the Semi-Pros because there is no age group divisions with them. All ages are combined.

Anyways, back to the race report. I was in Vermont pre-riding the course for a whole week before the race. It rained every day but only for a bit and stayed ridable despite the mud. The course was sweet and fun and technical, and I'd gotten it to the point where I could ride almost the whole course.

Then, come Thursday, the rain really hit:

That picture was taken while I was sitting in the car procrastinating my Thursday pre-ride for the last time before my Friday race. With the rain pouring down, all my previous pre-riding was useless since the trail completely changed character. All the lines I'd picked through the technical sections were now the wrong ones. I was riding through rivers, not trails. Little did I know that was much better than it would be on race day.

By the following morning the mud had dried up slightly to be super sludgy and slippery and peanut-buttery but really deep. Here's a typical section of trail after the conditions had improved quite a bit:
The mud completely destroyed my front deraileur within the first 10 minutes of the race. Then, coming up to the muddy uphill singletrack, since I had been used to actually riding it the earlier days, I kept trying to get on my bike and ride it. But it was impossible to ride and I ended up getting further and further behind the front 4 girls who had dropped me earlier. I was wasting time getting on and off my bike. When I finally figured out it was much faster to get off and walk it, the girl behind me in 6th had caught up and then shortly after, passed me. As I was slogging through the mud, I kept thinking "umm...isn't this supposed to be a mountain BIKE race???" After cresting the hill, I decided to just ride it for fun and not be disgruntled and miserable, and ended up passing the girl who passed me just by riding the singletrack descent. So, I got 5th out of 6 and a ruined derailieur.

To be continued...

Saratoga Springs, baby!

Yesterday we went to Saratoga Springs, NY to ride with John. It was such an awesome trail system!!! Really technical but almost everything was rideable if you put your mind to it. There were non-stop roots on every inch of trail but it was dry and in good condition. There were even little wooden bridges like you see in pictures of north-east riding. And there were lots of little logs lying across the trails to ride over. That's the first time I've tried riding those. We don't have that in CA. It was fun! If you want to try out some awesome, epic riding, go to Saratoga Springs. After the ride Lyle and John were even talking about buying a "summer house" there.

Anyways, I know I'm behind on posting. I'll put a post up about the race soon.

Some More Vermont

We went out riding today and just happened across a complete trail system through the forest just minutes from where we are staying. It deserves some more exploration if we get time.

Here is a typical Vermont "back yard":

(See the horses in that photo--everyone's got 'em! I'm so jealous.)

A cool wall:

More local wildlife:

I will definitely be getting new tires before the race. It's been raining daily and the already muddy race course is getting muddier and muddier. Imagine riding through slick mud on these tires!

Out.

Vermont

Well, we're here in VT, and holy crap, the riding is intense! It is so lush from all the rainfall, that there are so many roots which are fully exposed on the trails. It's some of the most technical riding I've seen. At least I have a week here to get used to it before racing on it.

I'm seeing tons of wildlife which I never see in CA. For one, there was a groundhog that popped up two feet in front of me on the trail as I was riding. I know of their exsistence, but had never seen proof before coming out here.


Also, I'd never seen fireflys before this trip. Pretty cool. Today there was a fully polka-dotted fawn with it's mom. And some kind of tiny brown snake with an orange belly and a little yellow diamond on the nape of it's neck. (If you can help identify that snake, post a comment.)

Gooseberry Mesa

I can't let this slip by without a post. We camped at Gooseberry Mesa in Utah on our way to Park City for the race.

(Thanks for leaving a pile of firewood for the next guy--It was great since we rolled in at aroud 2:30 AM and didn't have any light to find wood.)

The riding was epic as expected. It's one of those incredibly unique places that only all the right people know about it, so that even though it's famous for what it is (incredible mountain biking), it's still completely isolated and empty of the crowds. We saw no one on any of the trails the whole 3 1/2 hours we rode that day. And it wouldv'e been totally cool to see people because they only would've been cool adventurous mountain bikers.



The terrain is so unique, you would never find anything like it except in Utah. It just awesome! Makes me see how much I need to work on my technical skills!





Some of the local wildlife.

Lyle's pretty skilled on catching these fast animals on camera! Here's from the drive back home:

Anyways, that's it for Gooseberry. Definitely a place we'll go to again!

Deer Valley

The race in Deer Valley was pretty surprising! I didn't do so bad after all. While pre-riding the course on Thursday (my race was Saturday) I REALLY felt the altitude and the lack of riding in my legs. I was so tired, short of breath and slow! By Friday when I pre-rode again, I felt much better and things were looking up. Then Saturday I was as good as new! It was a bigger field than normal and I felt like that podium spot I won actually meant something (not like geting 3rd place when there's only 3 of you!) There were 9 of us this time. Yeah!

I was sitting in 4th on the last 1/2 lap just behind this girl in the Wheaties jersey:



Just at the crest of the hill I was able to squeeze out a burst of power in those last 3 seconds before it turned into downhill single track (which I certainly didn't want to be in the back for) and passed her in the knick of time. I couldn't have done it any sooner and actually held her off still. Then it was a matter of keeping her off and I managed to continue widening the gap bit by bit until I found myself crossing the finish line in 3rd. Not bad considering my prior few weeks!