SoCal Racing

This past week has reminded me what a big mountain bike scene Orange County really has. There is a huge majority of riders that don't race, but even so there was a huge turn out at the first of two weeknight training races at Irvine Lake. 315 riders showed up and about 275 of them were sport and beginner racers, many first time racers all together! That's crazy for a wednesday night race on some unknown trails. The course was less than spectacular, it was really hot, and even more dusty, but everyone seemed to have a great time. I wasn't feeling it, but no big deal.



1 Sid Taberlay 0:56:20
2 Manny Prado 0:58:20
3 Sean Donovan 0:58:27
4 Brandon Gritters 0:58:52
5 Dana Weber 1:00:00

http://overthehumpseries.com/


Tomorrow I'm heading up to Big Bear for the 4th Rim Nordic race of the summer. Rim Nordic always puts on great races in the summer. The atmosphere is a little more laid back than a typical state series race, they have a great course, and it's always nice to get up to the mountains. I would like to have a good day - is one win this year too much to ask?

Orange County

Just got back from lunch at Wahoos. I was checking out an "OC Health" magazine while eating - an entire magazine filled with adds for cosmetic surgery, teeth whitening, etc... I skimmed a couple of the "article" including a couple paragraph blurb about some sort of mint water where every single sentence stated there were no calories. The magazine made me kind of sick.

Anyway, my Sunday ride to Long Beach to watch Beth swim was a good dose of OC culture too. It was there and back on 35-40 miles of Pacific Coast Hwy. A nice warm day and the beaches were packed. I just can't wait for school to start up out here and the Festival of the Arts to be over in Laguna. Then we can actually start going to the beach again without battling the crowds.

Things are busy but not crazy at work this week. Tomorrow evening there's a training race going down at Lake Irvine, and they already have over 200 people registered. Should be a good time racing with Manny and Sid...

Workin it back in Cali

We're back to the rat race here in CA. A couple busy days at work and I'm finally getting caught up. It's crazy how opposite Southern California is compared to Vermont. Especially in the summer when everything here is mostly crowded and mostly brown. The way people race around to get to work in the morning is wearing me out in itself.

This evening will be my first time on the bike since the XC in Windham. I didn't feel like riding the last couple days, so I figure my body needs the time off the bike. The race in Windham was a good one for me. I ended up 25th, which was not exactly the result I wanted, but I feel that I was riding well and am happy with how I raced. This year the top 30 and especially top 20 has been a lot more competative than last year. Based on how well I've been training this spring and summer I know that I am riding faster than I ever have. My results have been more consistent and I can now go top 30 on an average feeling day, but it has been harder to get in the top 20 because the competition is better. So the last couple races have been a little challenging for me. I'm riding better, but the results aren't my best ever... Looking forward to some local races in CA through September. Hopefully a few people from out of state make it to the US Cup race in Bonelli.

A few more favorites from our trip:

Eating and hanging out in montreal

Coffee in Jamaica

Stowe

WBR Newsletter

http://www.kintera.org/htmlcontent.asp?name=n&cid=92731#difference

East Coast trip

Our East Coast trip continues to be a good time. We arrived in Windham this evening after an awesome 24hrs in Stowe, VT. I recommend a visit there to anyone traveling in the Northeast. Rode my bike on the road over / through Smugglers Notch (3 times), Beth tasted wine, went to a maple syrup farm, Ben & Jerrys Factory (obviously), soaked in the river, and had an apple cider donut all in a days time. The time came to say goodbye to VT though and we made the 5hr drive to Windham NY this afternoon. The coutryside and weather continue to be beautiful. We're growing a little tired of being based out of a Chevy HHR, which has a sweet (actually lame) turn signal chime by the way, however our accomodations have been pretty nice. Looking forward to getting back into race mode with the rest of the mountain bikers taking over Windham tomorrow. What kind of result will the laid back week lead to? I'm thinking the lack of work and hard riding will be a good thing for the legs.

Mmm...

Montreal city biking

Going after it at Mt Snow in Vermont

East Side

Great trip here on the East Coast so far! Vemont was beautiful, including the weather! and Mount Snow put on a great weekend of racing as usual. Once again I felt a little off 100% in the XC, but still put my head down and rode as hard as I could. In the end it was good for 29th out of about 75 guys. Not the top 15 I was hoping for, but it just wasn't my day for whatever reason. The short track was similar for me, but I was at least enjoying the pain. Mount Snow has the best short track course and makes for great racing. Outside of the racing things were really mellow and we didnt do much else which was nice.

Yesterday we took a bunch of awesome back roads through Vermont and made our way to Montreal, eh. Actually everything here is French - road signs, menus, and thats all anyone is speaking. Very interesting. It's rainy so we're going to tour around this morning and hopefully get out for a spin this afternoon. There are some designated bike lanes that are more like a seperate bike road here as well as some cool looking city bikes, where you can swipe your credit card and rent them for about $2.50 an hour.

Tomorrow we'll head back to Vt for a day and then on to Windham for the race. Don't plan on training much, hopefully one hard ride on Wednesday and easy days besides that...

Flying to a race is always a lot harder because it's so much tougher to pack everything. After my last hard training rides over the weekend, my next couple evenings will be spent getting ready for the big east coast trip… How do you get all this in one suit case – cycling clothes, shoes, regular clothes, spare tires, mud tires, tubes, tools, stans, drink mixes, umbrella, fan (I cant sleep without it), etc… Almost none of these things will go in the bike case because the heavier it is the more likely the bike is to get damaged, and the more they will have to unpack (and not re-pack properly) when inspecting it. Then what about a spare wheelset? That’s pretty nice to have when racing 5+ lap races on the east coast where mud and flat tires are as common as the maple syrup. Do I have Beth lug the giant cardboard box though? I’m not sure my bike and case will fit in our rental car when we get there as is.

And of course our work schedules make things tougher than they should be. All flights from West to East Coast get there in the evening. Since the race is Saturday the only way to pre-ride Friday is to fly Thursday… Beth has to work Thursday… So I’m flying out in the morning and spending the night near the airport in Hartford. Beth is taking the red-eye Thursday night and I’ll pick her up Friday morning. Crazy, I know, but I took the Thursday red-eye for Nationals in Vermont a couple years ago and it’s not a good idea.

I do feel rested already after some really good training last week and work is fairly mellow right now so things don’t seem too overwhelming. Racing with the East Coast crowd is always fun and Vermont is a great place to unwind from all the other busyness of life. Cant wait!

Just getting started