Sublimity Circuit Race

I'm not joking I haven't ever raced as hard or extended as much effort in ANY race (marathons, bike races, cross, mtb) it was crazy. A ton of hills and a ton of attacks...It was a beautiful course with rollers and open fields, just LOTS of "Rollers". In our race Sean Babcock (pro mtb, 2nd place in the the state for cross A's) and some other super fast folks were on the front a lot of the day and everytime we hit a hill the pace went up, it was all I could do to hang on to the pack. No joke I was seeing stars, I thought I was going to pass out a few times. We started with something like 55 folks, we dropped at least 30 of the 55 on the first climb. I had ridden the start of the course and the first hill so I knew what was coming. When the race hit the hill there was a gap pretty quikly and I knew it was just going right into more hills so I extended the effort to be with the front of the race early...That was the race right there. It would have been miserable if you didn't make that break. There were 15 DNF's and only 18 of us that stayed as a group till the end...There were a couple climbs that I barely made it over and then chased my ass off just to bridge back on (probably had something to do with the nearly 28 pound steel cross bike I decided to race)...I popped off the back at the last climb along with a few others. The finish had a 22percent grade. I ended up in 15th. I was just glad to finish!

IT WAS AWESOME!
Great photos by Ivar. Check out this photo of the finish hill...STEEP.

What else? Lacrosse season started today. I am going to be coaching a few days a week. Feel like I am getting sick again...what gives. I think I will make it to the first Banana Belt race on Sunday, I like that course and I have to be in Portland for some work anyways.

Gotta get some taxes done and pick me a real road bike. I plan on doing a bunch more road racing till the MTBiking starts. Maybe throw a stage race in for good measure.

Make it rain candy...

Good weekend of biking and skiing. Two days of skiing, one of road racing...only in Oregon. I drove across the mountains in a snow storm to Albany and then raced in the sun with temps in the low 50's. The pic with the snow is on the drive over.

Roadie I am not, but I do enjoy racing...I told Don I was going to race again this weekend, he said I might be turning roadie...not that it's a bad thing, but I am more a mt biker and cyclocross racer...I am not good at the whole strategy thing on the road. I sat in the pack all race, wishing we were going a little faster and steadier...then try to sprint...I had the legs, not the position. It was a good ride none the less.

Finally a little snow on the mountain.

The beer fairy came by...Found this on my porch...Thanks Pete...ahhhh Kettle House.

Raining candy would be nice, but raining beer would be even better still.

Riding and working this week. Racing again Sat.

Listening to:
Blitzen Trapper Listen
Atmosphere
Bon Iver Listen

Sweetgrass Productions - Handcut

I came across this clip from a movie we saw a couple weeks back. It gave me the shivers then, it still does...The slow motion, cross dissolves, ray lamontagne... These guys are doing some seriously quality stuff, this is where it's at, less of the snowmobiles and helicopters!

More of the same - Cross on the brain

Got a road race this weekend, trying not to let this cold I'm getting overtake me. Ruth's got the soup on.

Still thinking about cyclocross...

2009 cross nationals are in 10 months!

"La Rentrée 2009" Movie Cyclo-Cross by arnoyo
Uploaded by arnoyo

70 miles of sun and mountains

This is one of the reasons I love Bend...Put in 4 hours on the road bike and soaked up some beautiful scenery.









Compression socks and some Mexican food, that's gonna be my night.

Oh yeah, and I am officially a fan of this guy...Check it!

Cycling Capital! - Cyclocross nationals in Bend !

Bend adds road nats to 'cross champs

By VeloNews.com

Posted Feb. 4, 2009

Bend, Oregon, will be the cycling capital of the United States for the next two years — USA Cycling announced Wednesday that it had awarded the town the 2009-10 junior, under-23 and elite road championships...

“Bend’s long tradition of community-wide support and passion for cycling convinced us to award them two national championships in the same year.”

Here's the full article from velonews: http://www.velonews.com/article/87285/bend-adds-road-nats-to--cross-champs

2009 - 2010 Cyclocross Nationals will be in Bend !!!!!!!

Monday Night

Yep that's what's up. Made a big salad and roasted some sweet potatoes. Been doing a little reading on weight training for cycling. Did some weights after work...we've got pretty good facilities at school and I can save paying at the gym, gonna make a little routine of that once a week to build a little more power. Talked with my acupuncture guy about the need to do some more core strength so gonna get on some pilates to balance out a little more.

Looking forward to getting outside this week, looks like it will be nice. No real snow in the forecast. Skiing yesterday was pretty good, better than I thought it would be.

Bike outside tomorrow after some pilates, Wed garage intervals, Thurs Spanish class (bike easy in gargage?), Fri apres work skate ski (maybe early am intervals or weights?). That and a bunch of work is my week.


Fraggle ROCK