June 20 - CCCX MTB XC #6

CTL: 119
TSB: -6

35-44 Beginner (or cat 3 as NORBA calls it now...)
Hadn't raced in a while, and after not doing Pescadero because I didn't want to risk showing up and not being able to get in needlessly (100 pre reg no shows!), looked at the calendar late on Saturday night and saw this race and decided to do it on the spur of the moment.

For once my strength is climbing and my weakness is descending, my choice of mostly slicks might play a part in this, also, riding the MTB only once a month. About 600 feet of climbing and descending per lap. Since the lap is six miles, decide to not carry the tool kit and camelbak, and just ride the bike and quit if I get a mechanical, the start finish is centrally located. This works out, because nothing went wrong with the bike.

Pretty easily able to keep up with the front runners on the first lap, until one rider passes me before the single track descending section. A huge gap opens up in front of him by the end of it and we can't see any of the leaders, I pass but am only skilled/motivated enough to try to keep ahead of the riders near me. Spent the rest of the race duking it out with them, closing gaps on the climbs and seeing them vanish by the descent to finish 7/13.

T: 1:13:35
S: 20.6
C: 80
Pavg: 182
Pnorm: 216

2009 May 16 CCCX MTB #7

CTL: 114
TSB: -6
(standard constants)

I made the same mistakes I made last time I did this race - too much air pressure in the tires, and not going hard enough on the uphill. That's what I get for not reviewing the past race reports. :) Also, I may just be worse than everybody else at adapting to the heat, at least based on my performance the next day and descending.

The course is really hard due to the recent heat wave, was expecting some sandiness, but not nearly as much as we had during cross season on the same courses, it was mostly super hard pack so at race speed was getting a lot of vibration transmitted through the tires.

This is the most gentle pace for a mountain bike race I have ever been in, need to change that next time!


On the last lap started slowly picking off riders, just ran out of uphill. One rider went down in front of me with about 2km to go and I thought I was going to get to use my newly acquired first aid certification but he didn't consent to care (he described a leg cramp so not much to do except maybe a massage) so just moved his bike off the trail and finished up.



After the race I felt really fresh, so that kind of discounts the heat having much effect, especially since we started at 9:00, stuck around for the 11:00 start but then by the heat started to kick in and I had to get in the shade.




T: 1:13:25
D: 25.1 km
S: 20.6 kph
Pavg: 165
Pnorm: 201

CCCX MTB XC #9 35-44 Beginner, State Finals

TSB: 6.1
CTL: 131
Finally the hip strain from the pedal unclip and the compressed disc in the neck is healed enough that I can consider racing off road. This race is run under NORBA rules for a change so I *have* to race beginner unless I upgrade.

Broke all the rules for doing well by a.) not verifying the start time until this morning and realizing I have less than two hours to get to Monterey. b.) no warmup c.) forgot to adjust tire pressure for conditions so go off with 45 PSI

Get to old venue with forty five minutes to spare, then realize, I needed to read the flyer a bit more closely and have to drive to the other side of Fort Ord to travel about half a mile in thirty minutes due to construction.

Register with fifteen minutes to spare and line up and the guy next to me points out the guy who won the last five races, a Clydesdale but he must be plenty strong to win five races. Decide to attempt to follow him...

Race starts off with a pavement section and find myself second wheel. As we go into the first descent the Clydesdale takes the lead and I tag along. I have no trouble climbing with him but due to lack of practice at speed and way too high pressure find myself bouncing all over the place on the descents and having to make up ground on every climb. The climbs only last two minutes max so it's hard to figure out the correct pacing, plus I want to do well tomorrow so need to not dig too deep. After washing out the front wheel for about the tenth time, I give up on followng him and he drops me on a descent.

Don't have much company for a while, get to the late race pavement section, and the one big climb. Have to use the middle for it and get passed again but he falls on the next descent and I pass him back and don't see him until the end of the race.

On the second lap someone passes me on the descent after the finish and I start reeling him in on the climb but hold back a bit - am I going hard enough to blow, hard enough to hurt my form for tomorrow, dunno, but going hard enough to catch is going to hurt and I cut my losses and throttle back to time trial pace and he gradually pulls away.

Don't see anyone else for the rest of the race except for slower riders from the prior 18-34 wave.

3rd/9

T: 1:15:31
Pavg: 186
Pnorm: 223
H: 178
C: 83
S: 21.6 kph

CCCX MTB #4

Category: 35-44 Beginner
6/17
Three laps of a 5.5 mile course. Many shallow hills. Never considered using the granny gear. The cyclocross bike perhaps could be optimal for this course. This is the fastest average speed I have ever done a mountain bike race and is faster than I do most cyclocross races. I think I am not allergic to poison oak as this course is notorious for that and I went off course multiple times and have no rashes to speak of yet.

Teammates: Mike Schaller in Sport
Friendly rivals: Curt Ferguson
The heart rate receiver in the PowerTap CPU is broken so no heart rate data.
Used semi-slicks in the rear and a cut down directional knobby in the front, 40psi each.
Total TSS warmup/cooldown/race:138
Race only
NP: 234
IF: 0.95
D: 16.9 miles
S: 14.7 mph
C: 78
First time to wear a skinsuit. These things make it awkward to go to the bathroom and the long sleeve arms are not quite as comfy as a good armwarmer. Plus with armwarmers I can always use multiple layers - may have to put a thin one on prior to the skinsuit if it's really cold, today I felt OK once we started racing but too cold at the start and after the race. Also for a race of this length, probably should consider going without any water or tools and just DNF if there is a mechanical as I took only a couple sips of water, mainly to wash out the mud.

Curt gave me a very helpful guided tour of the first mile of the course. We started uphill on pavement for about 3/4 of a mile then went offroad. Most of the hills are pretty short and take less than five minutes so my goal was to go up all of the hills at close to V02Max power and see what happened, I also wanted to do the track sprint tournament in the afternoon so I wanted to avoid going above that too much to save something for that later event. Curt took off like a rocket at the gun which is impressive considering he is the largest rider in the field. A group of seven of us worked hard to hold his wheel, separating us from the rest of the 18-34/35-44 beginners, after looking back and seeing a huge gap I noticed our speed was about 20mph going uphill. At one point on the hill I was having trouble keeping up and not going over VO2Max and still there was no one close behind me so I eased up a bit to go at my own pace. Since I have not ridden my mountain bike that fast since the one race I did last year, I was tentative in some of the turns and managed to biff almost every technical turn by braking too much, and had to accelerate hard out of them to keep up with the riders I was catching on the uphills. After a full lap, I finally caught back up to Curt and the riders that were with him. I tried to encourage him to go as hard as he had gone on the first lap but he was not up to it so I had to push hard to keep the pace up since a few people were on my tail and lost Curt on a short climb. A couple of riders stuck with me so we constantly traded position until it was just me and one other rider ( and the four others off the front). I attacked once on the second long paved climb since he had difficulty there the first lap but he came back to me on the following descent. He let me lead until the last hard short climb about a mile from the finish. He pushed it really hard and keeping up was forcing me into L6 so I eased up a bit. He stayed 20 meters ahead until the finishing stretch - this was a bit technical and downhill so it was hard to make up any ground here and I got within a couple of bike lengths by the end but that was it.

MTB ride for fun

Cast of Characters:Dino, Benoit, and Jun.

Woke up late and had to stuff the bike into the car and drive to the starting point to get there only a little late but my rush made me neglect to bring my camera. Luckily Jun showed up even later so I didn't feel so bad. :) Unluckily I managed to mangle my front derailleur so I could not get it out of the granny gear. So I rode the first couple of miles on the road spinning like a madman trying to keep up with everyone else. The other guys took a short break in Fremont Older and graciously gave me enough time to move the derailleur so I could use the middle.

I think my odometer and speed are about ten percent high - compared my speed data to Dino and Benoit and I realized I had the low profile slick on my MTB and I never bother to update the computer for any wheel size other than the one on my road bikes.

S avg 11.3 so probably 10.2 in reality
P avg 141
P norm 200
TSS 224 - I thought this felt really hard for a three hour ride
IF 0.85