Vu Le - Mountain Biker

Racing in March

2011-03-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's about the end of March and I've already done two races this month. Bonelli was a solid race and I was happy to finish on the podium. From the start I was up at the front leading the group down the pavement to the first fire road climb. I was a bit concerned since I usually don't find myself leading up at the front at the start. Rest of the race was spent just trying to settle in a decent pace and try to minimize the time differences. I faded away on the third lap and finished the race in fourth place. I had suffered a slow leak during the race as my tire was really low when I crossed the finish line. Not too shabby.

Photo Credit: Allison Man

I stayed and watched the pro short track afterwards. The pro men and women were killing it out there.

The Fontana National was last weekend and it was an interesting race. The recent weather provided the Fontana course with some moisture which made the surface nice and tacky. The tires hooked up like Velcro, you could rail the turns with so much speed. So the start of the race was where things started to look bleak. I got call up so I had a front row start. We get the green light and I struggled to get clipped in, keep in mind this was the first time I was using my new Shimano XTR pedals. I figure, not a big deal since I didn't want to go to hard before the national hill. We approach the first turn and some random rider decides he can't commit to the inside line and swings out wide and takes out three riders. I happened to be one of those riders unfortunately... I got flung off my bike. I know this because I had to walk back to my bike. Now my bars and shifters are misaligned. My left shin made contact with my pedal and I was now starting the race at the back. Definitely not the way I wanted to start the race.

That said I can't just give up yet, the race must go on whether I'm a part of it or not. So for the next four laps I spent it just reeling in as many riders as I could. I kept it conservative for the first lap because I did not want to blow up trying to make up time. I recall climbing the national hill and overheard a rider saying this race is over. I comment back saying that this race isn't over till it's over. No sense in giving up yet. I had no clue what position I was in, but all I knew was that I was catching riders and that's all that mattered. I was surprise how much time could be made on the national hill. If you were able to clean it, you would put some time on the riders behind you. The finish for me came down to a sprint between my buddy Scott who I had caught on the very last lap. Scott managed to nip for the line by .5 seconds. Well played on his part.

Next race will be in Riverside. See you then!

Sage Brush 2011 Race Report

2011-03-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

Sage Brush was very different than the years past and it was definitely an unsuspecting surprise. To sum it, it was really muddy. Recent snowfall from last night brought down several inches of snow. Due to concerns of the lack of road access for emergency vehicles, the course was changed. It was somewhere between a cyclocross and short track course. It was roughly 220 ft of climbing per lap; five laps of 4 miles.

I've always thought of myself as a climber and the course description left me worried about how I would perform. The course change was last minute and while I wasn't too thrilled about the new course, I was looking forward to racing for the first time this year. Start was chaotic since the race organizers decided to start the Pros and Cat 1 together. Thinking that I could simply make my way through to my group, I was told that we would all start together and that I should say put where I was. Drafting from the start was very important since a lot of time could be made up on flat sections.

Justin Mann and I spent a lot time riding with each for most the race and it was great since it kept the pace high. I ended up taking second with a comfortable lead. I had a couple mistakes, but in the grand scheme of things it was a solid race. I'll definitely take a podium finish for the first race.

1. Believe it or not, all that snow had melted away by the time we left.
2. The fresh powder from last night made excellent snow for snowballs.
3. Preparations.
4. Post race. Smiles across our faces.
5. My trusty bike, she has seen better days. Thanks for not falling apart on me.

1. Post race meal, Trader Joe's cheese and black bean burrito.
2. Justin Mann and I were trading spots throughout the race. Photo credit: Allison Mann.
3. 2nd place and off to a great 2011 season.
4. This section just sapped my legs every time I came through. It became impossible to clean after the third lap.
5. Cody Philips and I showing off our trophies. Cody took second in the CAT 1 Junior 17-18 cateogry.

First Race of the Season is Approaching

2011-02-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

It's just days until the start of the first official race of 2011. Every serious contender will be out there, rain or shine. That said, it does appear that the first race of the season will be one to tell about. The current weather predictions have suggested that rain is very likely days prior to the race.

So what does that mean exactly? Well besides this race looking to be as epic than last year's, it's going to be freakin' hard. This is probably one of the most challenging course in Southern California. Add a bit of rain and possibly snow, you're looking at race that will challenge the best racers. The course will reward riders who can climb well and descend well.

Starting from the beginning, riders will start on a long flat section of road before it kicks up. If you survive by not getting your handlebars tangled or getting dropped, then you might have a chance at doing well. Should any of the two things happen to you before the climb, you might as well kiss your chances at the podium goodbye. Then comes the kicker, the climb up the pavement road to the top. This climb will completely split the field; you're either going to be with the leaders or spat out from the back. I've seen this happen every time. If you find yourself with the leaders, you're odds are looking good.

Then comes the descent. Riders who have an edge with descending over their competitors will allow them to have a head start. The course isn't really technical, but it's one of those course where the faster you go, the more technical it becomes. Followed after the descent is the hike a bike section. You're just going have to suck it up and feel the burn. For many riders, this will be the wall. If you're mentally defeated by this point, this hike-a-bike section is going to punish you. Can time be made up on this section? Perhaps, but you risk putting yourself into overdrive and leaving nothing left for the rest of the race. After this section you have a short descent before a pavement climb back to the top.

Upon reaching the top, you'll do another repeat what you just did before finally heading back to the start/finish. However this is not a downhill finish, you have a long flat section before arriving at the finish. It will be a drag race till the very end. If you're lucky, you would've put enough time on your nearest competitor to allow you to finish with a comfortable gap. If not, it's going to come down to who wants it more.

So there you have it. If you play your cards right, you might just have a shot at taking the win. Early recon done by other riders have indicated that there is a presence of snow as evident in this photo.

Photo Credit: Dazs

Racing in the elements brings a whole list of challenges. Bike preparation is key and this is where experience comes to play. Whether it's positive or negative, experience will aid in deciding the final bike setup.

During the meantime since the beginning of the year, I've been spending my time studying and training. I recently received my new Trek Madone 6 series frame and I am loving it. The taller headtube allows me to sit up more right and overall the internally routed cables are a nice touch. I honestly don't feel a difference between the 2011 6 series and the 2008 6 series despite some changes in the frame layup. I wasn't too sure about the paint scheme, but it is definitely growing on me.

The recent rains in Southern California brought snow to some unusual low levels in the San Gabriel Mountains. It might be hard to make it out, but there's definitely some snow on those mountains.

The clouds breaking formation as the storm clears up.

I'm certainly looking forward to this weekend.

The Holidays and The New Year

2011-01-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

Oh where do I even begin. I barely had anytime for studies and the blog had to be put aside. It's time to jump start this blog again.

Lets do a quick recap of the end of 2010.

-I raced in true cyclocross weather for the first time. My poor bike had to brave the elements. Luckily I had done the proper equipment preparation which saved my bike from falling into pieces after the race.

Brent Prenzlow on his way for the win. Yeah it was really muddy out there.

-Snowboard for the very first time. If there is anything mountain biking taught me, it's balance and learning how to fall. I lost count how many times I fell, but I was told that I did really well for a first timer.

-Epic mountain bike rides with my pals.

Challenge Accepted

Night ride fun

Someone must have just given up and left

Drifting in the snow too much will result in crashing and bleeding

And you will snap your shifter off

I'm now back into school and the race season is slowly approaching. Time to put in the extra work to see the results during the race season.

Mt. Sac Classic

2010-11-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

So last Sunday was the Mt. Sac Fat Tire Classic! I'm always looking forward to attending this race each year. This race has some sentimental value to me as it was my very first mountain bike race. I recall getting pumped about racing my mountain bike despite having never ridden a lot on my mountain bike. Let's just say that it wouldn't have been a surprise if I just quit riding that day. I ripped my shorts on the first lap and rode with half my ass exposed. While traumatic, for some reason I'm still racing to this day and I've made an effort to come out to this race each year.

My trusty steed. Shout out to AME grips for providing with grips this year.

Team Pablove kits.

To sum it up, the race went well. From the start I just spun as fast as I could till it started going up the hill. It was a combination of powering up the hills and recovering on the flats while on the single speed. It was enough to take the win and earn one of the fastest times for three laps that day. I welcomed the new changes to the course since it added something different this year. Yes, I was that guy racing in the pink kit on a single speed bike.

Phil racing to win the Men CAT1 27-34

First place in the Men single speed 34 and under.

Phil for the win!

Trophies were off the hook for this year!

Yoshio and I raced a lot in the CAT1 19-24 group in the years past. He would always finish ahead me in each race and was my inspiration to do well. He suffered a serious accident on the bike at the beginning of the year, but he showed up and raced. I definitely choked up a bit when I saw get on the podium. I'm so happy to see him on his bike and I know he will get better as time goes by.

Team Pablove

Having a good time on the bike.

Good to see everyone out there and I look forward to the next Mt. Sac Fat Tire classic.

Current events and Spooky Cross Recap

2010-10-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I started my first week of base and strength training. I haven't done any strength training for my legs for about a year now. I've been enjoying the nice break since state championships at Bonelli, but it's time to kick it back into structured training mode.

The recent weather has produced some excellent picture taking opportunities. Here is a couple shots from a ride last week on Sunset.

My favorite shot by far this year. The fog moving in from the west.

Despite Jon getting a flat, it gave us more time to appreciate the sunset. It was spectacular view as we transitioned from sunset to fog as we descended. It's as if we were teleported to a different set of trails.

I've spent the past couple weeks just doing rides and attending the local cross races. After my melt down at Velocity Cross, I was looking for a better result at Spooky Cross. The recent weather left with less ride time than I wanted for this week so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel on race day. I haven't been doing any specific interval training for cyclocross. Cody and Brooke were going to be carpooling with me from the shop after I got off of work. We left at around 4:30 and got there about an hour later. While Brooke was getting ready for her race scheduled 6:30, it was announced that all races would be pushed back half an hour.

After kiting up, Cody and I went out to preride the course before the women race. The course was definitely slick in some areas due to the recent rains. It was going to be a balancing act of keeping speed through the turns without washing out. My favorite sections of the course was going to be the sand pit and the two muddy switchbacks. With good entry speed, it was easy to clean the sand pit. The two muddy switchbacks required just getting the rear wheel to slide out as the front wheel tracked. There was also a forced dismount into a hill run. In addition there was a set of steps and a barrier section.

When we approached the barrier section, Cody was curious to see if they were possible to bunny hop. Sid Taberlay and Brian Lopes and approached the barriers and inspected if they could be bunny hopped. Sid botched it on his first attempt and decided that it wasn't possible. Brian decided to not try at all after seeing Sid tumble on it. Cody took a couple runs into it for entry speed before circling around for his first attempt. Cody got the front wheel over the first barrier and it looked like he was going to clean it after all. However as he got himself set up for the next barrier, he brought down his rear wheel to earlier and it bounced off the first barrier causing him to slingshot head first into the barriers.

I cringed as I saw him go down and I was afraid I was going to have to explain to his parents what had happened. Fortunately Cody just got the wind knocked out of him and came out of it scratched free.

It just looked way worse than what the outcome was. He was a crowd hit during the race though as people were cheering for him.

We caught up with Alex and Phil along the preride and discussed who out of the four of us would cross the finish line first. We had our share of smack talk and it was going to be a battle to the end. We watched the women elite race and from the gun they were putting out a blistering past in the beginning. Junior rider, Coryn Rivera was pushing the pace toward the front and looked like she was going for the win. Allison Mann was mixing it up toward the front and despite doing a 70+ mile mountain bike ride earlier that morning. After some cat and mouse games, Coryn was able to solo to the finish line and secure her first cross win of the year.

Allison Mann making her way to a top five

Brooke was out there as well mixing up with the women 3/4.

Who would have thought that I would get beat by this guy...

At the start line

Shortly after the women race was over, the rest of us proceeded to preride the course one more time in an effort to become more familiar with it. The more I rode it, the more I was beginning to like it a lot. Alex, Phil, Cody, and I had to start form the very back, so we we were going to have to toss some elbows at the beginning. Right from the start I'm on Alex's wheel as we make our way toward the first turn. The sounds of brakes as well as wheels locking up were heard as the group made its way around the first turn. As Alex and I accelerated forward, something had happened up front that cause the riders in front of Alex to stop forcing Alex to stop which led into me crashing into the back of Alex. As soon as it cleared up, Cody had managed to get around it and was already past the barriers as Alex and I dismounted for the barriers.

Leading Alex into the barriers

Soon after it became a game of catching other riders as I came across the start/finish. Alex and I were together at one point during the race until I decided to push harder and then I realize I was by myself as the group I was with was no where in sight. I got caught toward the end by leader of the single speed group and stayed with him for just a lap. After leaving the chase group, I spent most of the race by myself .

Alex Boone

Taco Bell Monell

With five laps to go I was still feeling good, I wasn't eagerly waiting for the bell lap. I rode smooth through the turns and just powered down on the straightaways to recover. I just felt like I was able to recover during, especially on the straightaway toward the sandpit.

Cody making his way toward his first CAT3 podium finish

Clearing the run up section

Go Phil go!

Toward the end I heard from the announcer that Chris Horner, Tour De France veteran, was coming through soon to finish his last lap. As soon I realized that Chris Horner was hot my heels, I shifted down a couple of gears and jammed toward the start/finish. I managed to hold him off and prevent him from lapping me. Excited that I had escaped that fate, I resumed to finish my last lap.

Making my way through one of the two muddy switchbacks.

I crossed the finish line feeling quite proud of myself for my effort. I wasn't gasping for air as I was able to crack a smile as I made my way back. After pounding some fluids down, I went over and spoke to Phil and Cody about their races. Turns not only did Cody finish ahead of me, he also finished 2nd in the CAT3, while beating some of the Men 1/2. My solid effort put just 6 spots down from Cody for an 8th place finish. 80% of the CAT3 riders were lapped and I was glad I wasn't part of that 80%.

Cody going for the podium finish at his second cross race! He better not get too comfortable..

It was excellent race all thanks to Dorthy Wong and the SoCalCross team doing an excellent job. It was awesome see friends out there cheering for you. Also thanks Brooke for taking pictures, they came out great. I look forward to Spooky Cross next year as well as the next cross race.

Krosstoberfest + Velocity

2010-10-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

Already well through the first week of October and I have done three cyclocross races. Cross Vegas was awesome since it the race atmosphere that made it such a spectacle to race. I think there over 100 riders in the Wheeler's and Dealer's race and that made for such a chaotic start. I surprised myself with 22nd finish.

Two weekends ago was the UCI Krosstoberfest race. It was held over two days, Saturday and Sunday, and the UCI status definitely brought out some big names to attend the pro field. I was working Saturday, so I was going to be racing the 2nd day of the race. I got the venue just in time to watch my friend/local riding buddy, Cody Philips, bunny hop the barriers and finished second in the Men CAT4. Way to go man!

After the race barrier hopping demonstration by Cody

I lined up with the non-UCI Men 1/2/3 and was ready to put the hurt on. Fast starts is a double edge sword, on one hand you can put yourself in a good position and avoid the crashes while at the same time you can risk blowing yourself up within the first lap. I took it relatively easy on the long stretch of the pavement as the field headed toward the grass.

Seems like everyone is cool as a cucumber on the pavement section, but as soon as it turns to grass and the next turn is up ahead, people seem to forget how to ride a bike. Maybe it's just roadies, but some folks out there can't corner or pass for beans. I could hear the horrific sounds of quick releases and wheels making contact within the first couple of turns. Thank goodness for the turns on this course otherwise I don't think I would have been able to make up and put time on the other riders. Slowly, but surely I was making up time and pulling in rider after rider. The fast winding sections allowed me to keep off the brakes and maintain speed. It was certainly an advantage as other riders were feathering their brakes and were forced to pedal out of turns to maintain speed.

Early on in the race. Photo credit: Allison Mann

By the second to last lap, it looks like I'm leading the chase group. I have no clue where and how far the leaders are at this point. I realize I'm going to have to reveal my cards and drop this group if I want any chance of finishing in front of them. By the start of the last lap, I punched it on one of the straightaways and managed to put a gap. On the final straightaway I caught/lapped some riders and was able to cross the finish line comfortably. I surprised myself with a 4th place finish. I knew I had to be somewhere in the top ten, but I didn't think it would be top five. I was just 40 seconds off from 2nd and 3rd. It would have been interesting if there was one more lap.

I stayed and watched the the Elite race with Cody, and Justin Mann. Watched Sid Taberlay bunny hop the barriers. I don't know how someone can sum up the metal focus to do that during a race. It's one thing to do it when you're not oxygen deprived. I had some focus issues on the dismounts.

Keep yourself hydrated!

Hanging out with Justin Mann

The chasers.

Someday...

With that said, Krosstoberfest was excellent cross race for me and it seemed like of sign of things to come in the future.

Last weekend was the Velocity Cross race in Chino put up by Team Velocity in conjunction with SoCalCross. That past week it had rained several times and it looked as if cooler temperatures could be predicted for that weekend. However as it in Southern California, just our luck, it ends up being over 100 degrees on Sunday. We had some fine cross weather early in that week, but nope, we get thrown a curve ball. This past year for racing has been fortunate since I couldn't recall any races where the heat was an issue. It has been a relatively cool summer in Southern California.

Alex Boone and Tonya Bray came by in the morning to carpool from my place. We arrived early for Tonya to race the Women 1/2/3 race. We got there at around 11am and it was already hot. Alex and I would be racing at 2:30pm in the Men 1/2/3 race and I knew it would be the warmest part of the day. Pau Sawicki dominated the women's race and finished with comfortable lead. I cheered Allison Man and Tonya as they could come by on their laps. It looked like they were suffering out there and within short time I would have that look on my face too.

Tonya warming up

Justin Mann riding into a podium place in the Men 1/2/3 35+

As Alex and I warmed up for our race, I was hoping for repeat of my last result. A top five again would definitely be a stronger confidence boost going into the next race. We ended up cruising with Sid Taberlay on our warm up ride. I guess the trick to being a fast rider is to just pedal faster in a harder gear, at least that's what Sid said. If only if it were that easy. My ride plan from the start would be to take it easy for the first lap before slowly eating away the time between the riders up ahead.

The start was fast on the pavement straightaway before heading on the grass right into a right hand turn. I bid my time as I knew many riders would make mistakes of overlapping wheels or blowing turns. I was riding right behind Alex as we came into an off camber straightaway that made and an immediate left hand turn. For some reason another rider next to Alex ended up slipping and crashing on that section taking Alex out. If Alex now tangled up with the other rider, I had no choice, but to keep going and make up some time. I felt good through the first 4 laps and it seemed like I was pacing myself. When the lap count at 5 laps to go and I began to slow down and I was having issues turning over the cranks. I thought I had gone easy enough in the beginning to take in account the heat, but I was beginning to have a race melt down. I went from averaging seven and half minutes per lap to eventually 9-10 minutes per lap toward the end of the race. Eventually Alex, along with some other riders, caught me and dropped me. I had gone from top 5 to almost dead last by the end of the race.

Must have been earlier in the race since it looks like I have a smile on my face. Photo credit: Becky Siegel

Alex leading me into the stairs. Photo credit: Becky Siegel

By this point, there was only one option, finish the race and not pull out. I had already seen many riders pull out due to the heat. I knew it would have to be more than some hot weather to get me to pull out. Eventually I was able to finish the race and was so relieved to know that I would have to spend another lap out there.

I have to say that this race definitely reminded me what it's like to suffer and not do well. Something I haven't experienced in a while now. A humbling experience as there are days where you're the windshield and days where you're the bug. This was by far the hardest race I've done this year, mountain or cyclocross.

As for what is planed this week is still up in the air. There is a cross race on the Saturday and there is the Corba Fat Tire Fest on Sunday. We'll see what happens.

Rock Shox Reverb First Impressions

2010-10-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

So last week I received a Rock Shox Reverb and I finally got to get a ride on it to give my first impressions. It now joins the several seat droppers out on the market. While it certainly performs the task lowering the seat like any seat post dropper, it's how it does it that makes it so unique.

Ever wanted to say "Seat post - adjustable height" in different languages?

It is available in two seat post diameter sizes, 30.9/31.6, with two different length options, 420mm/380mm. I chose the 31.6/420mm since my Trek Fuel Ex 9.9 uses a 31.6 seat post. As for the length option, they only had the 420mm option in stock. I would have gone with the 380mm option to save some weight if it were in stock.

What else is in box?

Rock Shox provided more than what I would have expected. While I did expect zip ties and perhaps some type of cable guides to aid in installation, I didn't expect it would include a bleed kit. The bleed kit provides two syringes and a small bottle of 2.5 wt suspension oil. I would suggest that future owners keep this set of syringes away from the syringes that they use to bleed their Avid brakes with. You do not want to risk contaminating the system with DOT fluid.

Installation was a breeze and within about 10-15 minutes, I had my Reverb properly installed on my bike. Most manufacturers today provide most 5 inch or more full suspension frames with specific cable guides for those who want the option to run remote actuated seat droppers . While many of the newer bikes include those guides, my frame lacks those specific cable guides. Luckily Rock Shox provides some accessories to aid in installation. With the help of some zip ties, I was able to route my cable so that it looked aesthetically clean.

Neatly tucked with my rear brake cable

That's just a pellet gun in the background

I've always had the attitude that the seat height you start your ride with remains the same through out the ride; this is before seat droppers gained such popularity. One reason I had this view was because it took skills to clean sections with your seat at the normal height. Especially since I race, I need to know how to descend tricky sections with the seat at the right height. So with that said, there's definitely an ego part to that attitude.

I've ridden and cleaned Middle Merrill and without having to drop my seat so I never really had a need for a seat dropper despite them gaining popularity. On the other hand I hadn't seen a seat dropper that had features that appealed to me. Either they lacked zero offset or I didn't like how remote lever worked.

After a while, the idea of owning one started to grow on me. I understood the advantages of what lowering the seat could do. The ability to ride steeper sections with more ease and control certainly appealed to me and after spending some quality time chair lifting in Big Bear, I knew I wanted a seat dropper.

So what makes the Reverb different from the competition?

Well it is the first hydraulic actuated remote seat dropper instead of the common cable actuated systems. So the system less likely to be contaminated since it will be better sealed.

As far as I know, it's the only seat dropper that has infinite adjustments of travel, 125mm to be exact of travel. Why is this important? Well as opposed to having preselected travel increments, the infinite adjustment allows the seat to be lowered at any point making it easy to quickly lower the seat. Users will no longer have to find the preselected notches when lowering the seat when using the Reverb. This feature was awesome out on the trail since there were moments where I wanted to just lower the seat and I didn't care how low so long as it was a bit lower. The remote lever was easy to install and was very simple to use. Much like the lock out remote lever they use on Rock Shox XX forks, the Reverb remote works in a similar manner. Depressing the button will either allow the seat to be lowered or risen.

Fits perfectly between my shifter/brake and grip.

Rock Shox currently offers either a left or right remote lever. Currently they are shipping with right hand remotes only since my Reverb came with one and it does not seem there are any options when buying to request a left hand model. So for those who want the left hand remote will have to order it separately. As a bonus, those who are running Sram/Avid components will be able to take advantage of the matchmaker system to provide a cleaner handlebar set up.

Out on the trail impressions.

What better way to test it out they hitting up Lower Merill and Middle Merill in the San Gabriel Mountains. While climbing, I didn't feel the seat post move at all which was good. As I approached the descent, I was able to finally take advantage of what the Reverb was made for. It was very easy to lower the seat and the infinite travel adjustment made it easy to lower it where I wanted it. The steepest section of Middle Merill became super easy to clean with the seat lowered. As soon as it flattened out, I was able to bring the seat back up with ease. I may have mentioned it already, but the action on the Reverb is super smooth.

It was certainly foggy up toward the ruins.

Final thoughts and comments

While this was just one ride on the Reverb, I can't say how it will fare six months to a year down the road. However I do ride a lot and I'll be able to comment the Reverb's durability in the near future.

As for cons, I would say there was still some slight play with the Reverb. It was not noticeable while riding, but play still exist none the less. Perhaps this is simply an inherent design flaw that plagues most seat post droppers. The hydraulic remote does mean one more thing that has to be bled and taken care of should the time ever come.

However at the MSRP of 299.99, I would say this seat post dropper is competitively priced amongst the competition. Taking in account the hydraulic remote and the infinite travel adjustment, it seems that the Reverb has an edge.

Interbike 2010

2010-09-27T19:03:00.001-07:00

Hmm, how to describe my experience at this year's Interbike?

Freakin' awesome!! Yet that alone barely captures what turned out to be the best Interbike experience so far.

For starters, this year I would be 21 years old at Interbike as opposed to the years before. So can anyone say "Happy Hour"? Fat Tire Ale was on tap and it was pretty sweet to kick back enjoy a frosty beverage in the Cliff Bar provided pint glasses. Note to self* get more pint glasses at next year's Interbike.

I love my Subaru, or at least wagon/hatchbacks in general. Can't hold three people comfortably with gear and one bike inside a sedan.

Left Wednesday morning with two of my awesome coworkers in my car. Fast forward about 4 hours later and we were in hot dry Las Vegas. I've never been a fan of Las Vegas, but Interbike is the only reason why I come out to this city in the middle of a desert. Even before we picked up our passes/badges to the show, things were looking to be positive. Despite reserving a room months prior to the show, Tresure Island, no longer had our room. So to accommodate us, hotel management upgraded us.

No unfortunately it was not a penthouse upgrade, but it was pretty sweet. There were two king size beds along with a pull out sofa/bed. There were two bathrooms with one of the bathroom housing a jacuzzi. It was very spacious and it was way more than what we needed, but if this is how Treasure Island wants to make it up for messing up on our rooms, that's certainly fine by me.

Well turns out that the hot tub can house three people just fine; three guys one tub

Day 1 comprised of me spending sometime quickly going around the show and meeting up with some people that I knew through the industry. I had a total of three days to browse around, so I wasn't in rush. Toward the end of the day I was looking forward to CrossVegas. For the first time I would be racing in the Wheelers and Dealer's race; representing Helen's Cycles of Arcadia. Last year the field was more than 100 deep.

So about an hour before the show closing time, we took off early toward the venue. I was able to a ride a couple sections of the course before they called us up for line up. I hadn't raced a cross race yet this year and I knew the first one cross races always hurt the worst. I got called up somewhere in the middle, so I knew it would be a tough start. We get the green light to go and right from the start I'm able to weave my way quickly in the opening lap. No close calls in the race. My cyclocross skills were a bit rusty, but I managed not to make a fool of myself on the dismounts. By the fourth lap I was feeling delirious toward the end. I nearly made the mistake of making a turn where there was no turn.

After turning myself inside out on the last lap to catch more riders, I surprised myself with a 22nd finish. After finally catching my breath and getting some food into me, I stayed to watch the Elite Men and Women race. It was a very humbling experience to watch how much faster the elite riders. The elite men leaders were posting an average of 6:30 per lap which was a 1:30 faster than my average lap time. I guess that why they are professionals and I'm not.

While this technique worked for some, it definitely didn't work for the guy who ate it in front me on the barriers. Photo: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

Barry Wicks, one of the more amusing racers out there, was showing how it was done on board his new carbon Kona Jake. Photo: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

Always a treat to watch mountain biker, Adam Craig, duke it out in some cross races.
Photo: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

Jeremy Powers on the run up, where can I find those J-Pow t-shirts?

Katherina Nash managed to pull the win after a decisive move during the race. She pulled away and kept at it. The men race was super exciting. It was beginning to look like that Jamey Driscoll would be able to pull off a repeat of last year's victory. He was able to pull away at one point in the race and stay away from the chase group. However toward the end of the last lap, the chase group was able to close the gap and French National Champion, Francis Mourey, barely nipped Jamey Driscoll. Say what you want, but Driscoll was clearly the strongest rider out there.

Oh so close. Damn Frenchy, just kidding.
Photo: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

Tim Johnson mixing it up in the front. Digging the Captain America skinsuit.
Photo: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

The next two days were spent just walking around on my tired race legs to see what was cool in the show. I also got an opportunity to talk to more people that I had become acquaintances with from working in the bike industry. One of the perks of knowing these awesome people is being able to score some cool free stuff. Also I enjoy socializing with others, especially if it something that we have common ground with. I took over 250 photo, a hundred photos more than last year. Here are some I've taken the time to upload and post.

Sacha White's Speedwagon!

Custom painted Chris King hubs

This Parlee was done beautifully. An elegant and simple design that was well executed.

Hungry anyone? Definitely a familiar sight when lunch time was approaching. Kept me good till I had lunch.

TRP just came out with some V Brakes made specifically for cross use, very cool.

The new XTR group was very impressive. It was definitely better than what I thought it was going to be. Shifting has never been so smooth and effortless.

More swag, including that Deuter hydration pak. Thank you Joe from Deuter!

By far the best thing I have ever gotten from Interbike, a pair of custom Radars. Thank Mike from Oakley for hooking it up man!!!

This 2011 Madone had one of the coolest paint jobs I've seen on Madone. Matt black finish with glossy decals, super clean and sharp. Badass written all over it.

For those seeking to improve the clipless experience, they new XTR pedals have more contact area than previous pedals. Therefore providing a better interface for power transfer in addition to being more comfortable.

This new rear light was on display from Light and Motion. This is the brightest production rear light I have ever seen. You have to be be there to witness how freakin' bright this rear light is.

This is Fox's prototype seat dropper. Despite what you may think, this seat dropper is all mechanical, no hydraulic internals in this seat dropper.

David Turner was showing me the new improvised cable routing on the new bikes. Quite impressive as Turner is all about small clever details.

So that how they got the chains stronger, by making them bigger haha

This was just after day one, so much stuff.

Pandas get drunk too you know

This new/protoype base layer uses a new fabric that Defeet claims will keep riders cool during hot weather. The fabric felt cold to touch which was really strange. Perhaps Defeet is on to something here. I can't wait until they make it available for the public. In the mean time, I'll test their armskin version that I was given.

Awesome Ann from Defeet

Party time!

That's all for now, I'll try to see if I can add more. 2010 Interbike was filled with so much fun and was such a cool experience. I can't wait for Interbike 2011.

States + Trek Mtn Co-Op Ride

2010-09-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago was the California State Championships. I had been looking forward to this race since the beginning of the race season. The course would be the Pro course used at the first US cup race. I pre-rode the course at the beginning of the week before the race to become familiar with the course. The short climbs followed by some quick descents would mean it would be a fast punchy course. I expected the turn out would be good as it was technically the last race of the season and there were two titles on the line.

A couple pictures from the preride

Unfortunately just three days before the race, I picked up a cold. I had the ill feeling of a sore throat lingering in the back of my throat and at the time I was hoping it was just something that would go away the next day. The following the day it was confirmed that I had a cold and the only thing I could do just days prior to the race was to get rid of the symptoms. Gurgling salt water got rid of my sore throat and some medication was able to lessen my nasal congestion. On race day, my symptoms were gone, but I was clearly zapped from having to recover from it. I had spent the whole season illness free and I some how managed to get sick right before an important race.

The race goes off and I immediately get tangled up with a rider who drifted off to the left as I tried to get past him. This ended up causing Phil and I to cross wheels, however we managed to ride it through. The first climb had only one real good line as the rest of the climb was powdery and loose. Phil and I managed to get past those who had stumbled and secured a spot right before the single track descent. I had to do five grueling laps and I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep my first lap pace throughout the race. I suffered through and finished a surprising 5th place, roughly five minuets off the winner's time. I talked with some of my competitors and I guess for some part of the race, I was in 2nd place, who knew? It was uplifting to know that I could race like this when I was sick and still pull off a decent result. It's just more fuel for the fire.

The top three in my race, I still don't know why they didn't have the top five up there as we met the minimum riders for a top five podium.

Cody Philips taking a close 2nd place after battling it out with 1st place. This kid is definitely going to be tearing it up in the future as a cross country racer. Check out his passing skills!

Last Sunday, the guys from the Trek Mountain Co-Op held the first group mountain bike ride in Santa Monica. Despite only having a week notice, we had a good solid group of about 15 riders. We met at Helen's Cycles of Santa Monica at 8:30am and rolled out by 9:00am. The ride was about 25 miles round trip and there was awesome single track throughout the ride. There was one section I wish I could put on repeat because it had such good flow. I wished I had stopped to photo document the awesome single track, but I couldn't stop flowing through the single track. Perhaps I need to purchase a Go Pro camera to photo document while riding. I just hate to have more clutter on my bike though.

Here are some pictures from the ride.

It was a good fun ride and for the most part remained uneventful and I say that in a good way. Here's to a good ride with those who share a common passion and may the days of awesome riding continue.

My visit up to Northern California.

2010-08-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

So the past couple weeks has been me taking a nice little break from racing. Once or twice during the race season, I take a two separate one week periods where I am off the bike completely. This year however with racing so spread apart, I haven't felt the need to take a break from racing. That does not go without saying that I didn't ride my bike at all for those couple of weeks. I took one week off the bike and spent the rest of the weeks riding for the purpose of having fun. It was nice not having to follow a structure plan of doing intervals.

I spent a couple days up in Hollister with some friends to visit a high school friend of mine. While up north in California, I went wine tasting in Napa Valley. I visited three locations and was fortunate to have a friend who happen to work in the wine industry to give me a tour of Napa Valley. I even purchase a bottle of my grandparents who I knew appreciated wine. The following night we hit up Berkeley to visit some high school friends attending school there. After hitting the local pizza joint for some beer and pizza, we went out to the bar for some shots. I only partook in one shot of Patron, which by the way went down really smooth. I also need to mention that was my first shot ever and I handled it just fine. I was concerned about turning red and just passing out, guess I can handle my liquor. Following a session at the bar, we returned to the apartment where we would stay for the night. There was a party being thrown for someone's birthday. Shots were being taken and there were many rounds of beer pong. I did not partake in the festivities, however I did enjoy just observing and trying to keep my friends on their toes. I had one or two shots, but barely buzzed. After falling asleep at around 3am, we had to wake up about three hours later as my friend who we were visiting had to return back to Hollister to take his sister to kindergarten orientation.

I had a lot of fun going up north and it was a nice break from riding. In addition I got to visit Santa Cruz and I enjoyed some home cook Chinese meals courtesy of my friend's mom. Road trips are always rad and it is definitely the people that you go with that make it fun.

So to quick sum up what I did or saw.
-I drove a Toyota Prius for the very first time and now I will definitely not get one.

-Went wine tasting for the very first time and I got see in the inside of a winery for the very first time. I visited William Hill Estate.

-Got an opportunity to interact with my friends who were under the influence of alcohol, very amusing.

-Flew a kite in Santa Cruz.

1. To the Barbie Mobile!
2. I enjoy eating oysters, but I never got to sample the oysters at this particular place. It looked good.
3. Some Mexican food for lunch in Napa Valley.
4. William Hill Estate was the first winery we visited. My friend Nate happened to work there and gave a personal tour of the facility.
5. The barrels of wine housing different types of delicious wines.
6. Prepping for our kite flight.
7. My friend's house chicken.
8. Delicious home cooked Chinese food.
9. Stir fried dumplings for breakfast before leaving back to LA.

Overall it was a fun trip and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

Rim Nordic #3; Unity!

2010-07-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I raced out at Rim Nordic for the second time this year and I had a good time out there. However before I write any further, I thought I would share on how I pack for races.

A full run down of what is in that photo above:
-2 x Trek Mtn C0-Op Kits
-Defeet under
-The red bag contains cold weather gear. I know it's the middle of summer it who even thinks about cold weather riding gear, however my experience is to be prepared for anything. As they say, shit happens.
-On the bike race nutrition, provided by the kind folks from GU. This race weekend called for Strawberry Banana flavored Gu
-Race tool kit
-Chamois Butt'r Eurostyle; very important piece of race equipment, definitely up there in the top things I cannot to go to a race without. Definitely keeps things down there comfortable.
-Specialized S-Works mountain bike shoes; I love these shoes and I have only good things to say about them. Most comfortable shoes I have ever worn and I would definitely have a hard time wearing something else besides theses.
-In the far back folded up is my Helen's Cycles jacket. If it gets cold, I'll have something to keep me warm.
-Garmin Edge 705 computer; I have to keep track of my race data.
-A towel; makes it easy to change without exposing yourself accidentally.
-UnDLite Tank; located in between my helmet pod and cycling kit, this is a must have piece of race equipment. I will always have this on underneath my jersey. Keeps me cool and keeps my bib staps from irritating me.
-My Giro Helmet pod; located to the far right, these helmet pods are no longer being sold with current Giro helmets and are no longer available. This is back when you could purchase a high end Giro helmet, in my case an Atmos, and receive a super nice carrying case. Despite retiring my Atmos, I still use the carrying case to store my helmet.
-Specialized S-Works helmet; keeps my head safe
-Inside the helmet pod along with my helmet are my Bontrager Rhythm gloves, and my Oakley Radars.
-Not pictured is a bottle of Neutrogena Ultimate Sport sunblock; gotta keep those harmful uva and uvb rays at bay.

And all packed into my trusty duffel bag

Yeah as you can tell I got some Specialized gear. Only due in part since I'm still tight with the folks at Temple City Bike Shop who are a Specialized Dealer. Despite not working there anymore, they still take care of me.

Phil and I carpooled from the shop and arrived about an hour and half before the start time. There was a perfect mix sunshine and clouds on that day and even looked like it could rain at one point. During the drive up there I had asked Phil about starting and getting the hole shot. I recall Phil discussing while it is important to be up front, he doesn't think about being the very first up front. Interesting comment since at the start of the race, Phil just takes off and is the first into the turn followed by me in fourth position. Realizing from the start that keeping up with Phil in the beginning would result in me blowing up, I eased off and fought my battle with my competitors. I felt surprisingly good for the first single track climb; the leaders were up front pushing the pace and I felt comfortable. First and second manage to put a growing gap on me during the first lap. The real battle for me was during the first lap where the I was exchanging positions with fourth. It seemed like he was pushing really hard and made a couple attempts to throw me off of his wheel, but each time I would be able to push back. Finally I just put it into a harder gear and managed to speed ahead without him on my wheel. On the second lap I managed to catch one of my competitors, Daniel. As I past him, he told me he had a mechanical and was going to pull out. I'm bummed cause it's not the way I would want to beat him. At that point he also told me that first was far ahead. I spent the remainder of the second and third lap pushing a solid pace before finishing.

While Phil had a great start in the beginning and was catching riders left and right from the early categories including the pros, it finally caught up too him when he blew up. Despite blowing up on the third lap, Phil still finished with a respectable time for second place and could have taken the spot on top of the podium.

Another 2nd place finish!

Phil celebrating other podium finish.

Top five fastest of the day up on the podium

Packing up

I had some good times that day and I'm looking forward to my next which will be August 29th up in Rim Nordic again. Two more mountain bike races left in the season for me excluding my single speed races.

So if any of you kept up with this year's Tour de France, you'll know that Lance Armstrong didn't have the best of luck. Several crashes left him out of contention for the yellow during the first half of the Tour.

However not all was lost, Lance continued to spread global awareness on cancer and the Radio Shack team won the team overall. In an effort to spread awareness, Lance was on several painted Madones including this one,

The word "Unity" instantly reminded me of a scene straight the Dave Chappelle Show. I'm Rick James bitch!

Unity!!!

Big Bear Shootout #3, Series wrap up

2010-07-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the last Big Bear race of 2010 as the state championships would be held at Bonelli in conjunction with the US Cup Specialized Invitational. The last Big Bear race I did prior to this race did not go as well as I had hoped so I had high hopes for final Big Bear race of the year. I feel like I am getting my top end speed back as the season is progressing to an end.

Fortunately Phil and I were able to leave in the morning without having to jump start my car unlike last weekend. In less than two hours despite somehow missing a turn off, surprising since I've been to Big Bear many times, we managed to arrive Big Bear with time to spare. It was a pleasant drive as there weren't many cars in the way and passes were easy to do; gotta appreciate that turbo charged engine!

The warm to the start gave Phil and I what to expect as temperatures were rising. It was definitely going to be warm out there on the course. As we got to start, almost all the riders were seeking shade before having to line up. The course was slightly changed for this race as a new section of single track had been cut. We are given the green light and we take off. Phil pushes the pace fast in the beginning as I ride right behind him. Suddenly a rider from my class just gets out off the saddle and attacks. At that moment I was pegged as I was riding with Phil. However that hard effort from that rider proved to be a fluke as he quickly slows down and is dropped. Phil pushes pace harder and I pop as I'm no longer able to hang with him. Two other guys from group manage to catch back and begin to peel away from me. I keep this within my sight as I struggle to keep pace. I lose visual contact as we approached the top and begin our descent. For the rest of the race I am able to see second place through the turns but I am unable to pick up the pace.

Rest of the race I spent just chasing however I was not able to close down the gap. A new piece of single track had been cut for this race and it was super loose. This was by far the loosest course I have ever ridden. While I was struggling on the climbs, I was able to make up time on the descents. The trick to riding in the loose stuff is to ride loose. You can't fight the bike, you just have to go with the flow let the bike do its thing. I definitely did see some people go down hard on some of the descents. On one of the descents, a tree had fallen down during the race! I recall descending the single track only to then come across a fallen tree that blocked the trail. Luckily there was a enough space upon seeing it that I was able to stop safely. I would hate to be the rider coming down just as it fell during the race.

The descent to fall line is the last indicator that the finish is nearby. I caught a couple riders from the sport and beginner group. I had a tough time getting around this one particular rider. It was one of those cases of them being just fast enough, but as soon as you get by them, they are no longer behind you. I was definitely taking some creative lines down fall line. I put in a final surge and past a group riders on the short climb before crossing the line in third.

I was really bummed that this would be the last Big Bear race of the season especially since it indicated that the season was coming to an end.

Overall it was a good race since I didn't crash or have any mechanicals. Phil raced well and finished second. He was definitely pushing the pace hard in the beginning. Double podiums for team Trek Mountain Co-Op!

Going off the amount of dust on my face, you could tell it was dusty out on the course.

Covered in Big Bear dirt

We have to thank our Trek Top Fuels to helping us get on the podium

3rd for the day

Phil placed 2nd and posted a top ten CAT 1 time

Third overall in the series.

Phil locked up his second series win for 2010. Way to represent team Trek Mtn Co-Op!

Third for the overalls was a surprise. I thought due to all the races I had missed or DNF, I wouldn't be in contention for at least a podium spot. I barely edged out for third by a couple points. It was good unexpected surprise. Perhaps next year I'll get closer for a series win. Big thanks to Team Big Bear for running a great race.

Rim Nordic

2010-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday was first, but of many Rim Nordic races. I've always liked racing up in Rim Nordic just because of it really embraces the essences of the word mountain in mountain bike racing. It has good single track climbs and descents. This is definitely a course where you can make up time on the descents, so that definitely suits my strengths. The blown out switch backs and loose sections added some technical challenges which favored those who could ride loose.

As usual Phil and carpooled from the shop, however it wasn't the typical morning start for me. Earlier in the morning I noticed that my car's key-less entry didn't work. However I shrugged it off as though the battery in my remote had died. Just as I'm about to leave to get gas and meet Phil at the shop, I noticed that the lights in the dashboard didn't turn on when I stuck my key into the ignition. My stomach just sinks as I think of what has just happened. In the corner of my eye, I noticed the overhead light button is depressed. I had just made a rookie mistake of accidentally leaving a light on in the car. What made matters worse is that I didn't realize till the morning of the race. I don't drive my car very often since I make a lot trips in town by bike.

With both hands on my forehead sighing in frustration, I proceeded to jump starting my car. After a couple minutes, I was able to jump start my car with the help of my mom's car. By the time at I got to the shop, we were 15 minutes behind schedule.

Surprisingly, we made it to the race with tons of time to spare. A quick spin along with some meet and greet with fellow racers, it was off to the start. We get the green light and I immediately am able to swing out from far right to position myself in second position as we head up the climb. Already I am feeling goo as I was able to put myself in a good position. As we start climbing toward the single track, the rider in front of me who is in Phil's category, begins to up the pace and I begin to fall off pace. Phil decides to do the hunch and punch as he gets around me to narrow the gap between the rider up front and himself. As I see Phil and that rider at the front creep away from me, my legs begin to give out. I go from first to second as the rider who was in second place passes me on the single track climb.

I try to minimize the damage by trying to keep up but I am unable to. I had no difficulty breathing at all just my legs were just not cooperating. I am to make up sometime on the descent, but for the rest of the race, I was racing in no man's land. By the third lap I was still safe in second place with a huge gap between myself and the third place rider. The third lap was definitely the hardest as the could feel the cramps coming about. I knew the end was approaching near as I hit the last water station. I put in a hard effort and secured my position on the podium.

Definitely a hard day on the bike and quite simply the guy ahead of me was simply faster than me on that day. Rule #76 "No Excuses. Play like a Champion."courtesy of Wedding Crashers. I was really relieved to cross the finish line. Phil managed to past the rider in first and was able to take a decisive win by taking the lead on the first lap and not looking back.

Props to Rim Nordic for hosting such a great race and thank you for keeping the word "mountain" in mountain bike racing.

Podium time

Win number... I've lost count for Phil's wins

Climbing my way up the podium; first place here I come.

After awards, Phil and I proceeded to heading back to Arcadia. On the way to shop, we stop at In-N-Out to grab a burger. Nothing quite like talking about our race over some food. Make that two cheese burgers without the spread please.

This coming Sunday is Big Bear Shootout #3 and I'm hoping to redeem myself from the previous Big Bear race. Phil Monell aka Taco Bell Monell will secure his position as the overall leader in the Cal State Series and plans to do it in style with another win. A lot of things going on this week. I'm making the right preparations to see that I do well this weekend.

Man my desk is a mess, bike parts all over the place

Cyclocross parts and disc brakes for my single speed.

Youtube goodness.

The Mann is back on his feet! + Weekend Recap

2010-06-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

So one of the familiar faces that I often at races, is Justin Mann. He and along with his wife are fast out on the cross country race scene. So a couple months ago Justin took a spill on his road bike and was forced to the sidelines that kept him off the bike.

Being motivated to ride the bike is easy, being motivated to train is another story, at least for me it is. One thought that motivated me to get on my bike and do my intervals was knowing about Justin's situation. I knew a hour south of where I was at, there was some guy sitting on the couch wishing he could ride his bike. I couldn't complain about doing intervals knowing that there was someone out there wishing to be on a bike.

I had spoken to him at Big Bear and I got the consensus that he wasn't going to be riding the bike anytime soon. However a couple days after talking to him, I spotted this picture on facebook.

I couldn't believe it, he was back on the bike!

Justin, I'm happy to see that you're back on the bike and I am looking forward to seeing you race again one day.

So last Sunday no one had a long mountain bike ride planned and I had needed to do a 3-4 hour ride. I decided to hit up a local group ride that I had done years ago. I'm not too keen on group rides just because most groups run stop signs and I have the tendency to at least slow down or come to a stop. I joked with riders in the group that it was my first time riding in a group and I had no clue if I could ride in a straight line despite being able to ride technical single track. I'm sure they were thinking twice about being near me, haha.

Oh the things I see out on the road.

By the time the group ride finished, I had about two hours of ride time. I decided to head over to the Rose Bowl and then go toward Brown Mountain. I wanted to check out the fire road and see what had changed since the fires. I decided to take a single track short cut on the road bike. I was definitely turning some heads I was rolling down the rocky single track. I don't know what I like about riding my road bike off road that makes it so exhilarating. Perhaps it's the fact that it's just wrong to do.

I wish I had taken picture of this area before the fires and the rain, but it was never this deep. It was just a small stream crossing. Now it's this hug ditch with a small stream crossing.

Mountain bikes skills come useful on a road bike while descending fire road.

Big Bear Shootout #2

2010-06-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

After the first Big Bear race was canceled earlier in the year due to heavy snowfall, I was looking forward to racing up in Big Bear. I've always liked racing up at Big Bear and it is definitely a course that suits my strengths. The long fire road climbs and the descent appeals very much to me.

After suffering some technical issues in the past races, I made a change in my tire selection. I've always run the Bontrager XR1 Team issue tire in the rear, but I realized that the descent down Fall Line could pose as risk to those thin tires. I realized that with running light thin race tires, you have to ride conservatively and take smoother lines on the descents, but I always liked to open up on the descents and not hold back. So I decided to make the switch to the Bontrager XDX tire for the rear. I've ran this tire for the rear on my trail bike and I've never had a flat. This is mostly likely because the XDX runs thicker casing than the thin XR1. There's a weight penalty, but for the sake of not flatting, I'll take my chances with adding some weight to my bike.

As usual, Phil and I met the shop early in the morning before carpooling to Big Bear. It's always fun to carpool with others and having Phil as my co driver makes the drive seem shorter. The complaint I've heard about racing up in Big Bear is the drive. It's a long and winding up to Big Bear. I think most people think twice about how they feel about the drive up to Big Bear if they were behind the wheel of a Subaru WRX. With a flat four turbo charged engine producing about 265 hp, driving up Big Bear becomes a fun experience. On the highway, I'm usually cruising anywhere from 65 to 70 max, just an effort to converse gas consumption. I guess you can call me a bit of a slow poke. I saw a lot of vehicles who were clearly going to the race past me on the highway, but I knew I would be seeing them again on the climb. Nothing like down shifting and hearing the turbo kick in as you speed past them up the hill. Going to races up in Big Bear is going become more fun.

In fact I had so much driving up to Big Bear, that we made it there in good time, under 2 hours and I was taking it easy. After registration, Phil, Scott, and I spun to the start. I was feeling good on the way there and hopefully I would feel good during the race. At the start line I see familiar faces and there is the usual competitive trash talk that goes around. Race goes off and Phil and I move with the faster group as we charge toward the fire road. I'm hanging in there, but I'm not feeling so hot as I realize something is not right. Heart rate isn't as high as it should be and I"m suffering a lot harder than usual. Eventually Phil and the fast group disappear from me. Now I'm definitely in trouble as breathing becomes difficult and I'm just hurting really bad. I was now in 4th place and I knew there still 6 other racers in my field. If I could manage to at least keep this pace, I could at least finish on the podium.

Older categories begin to catch me left and right and there is still no improvement in how I'm feeling. Suddenly one of my friends of the older categories, John, passes and encourages me to pick up the pace. For some reason I was able to latch on to his wheel and pick up the pace. I caught the rider in 3rd place on the fire road climb, but I knew he was still hot my heels. I was definitely going faster than I was in the beginning, but I was no where near my usual race pace. I'm checking the Garmin and I know the descent to Fall Line up coming up. I'm now with a group of riders as we head toward the finish. We are approaching a steep single track section and I get caught behind a junior rider when suddenly I hear a woman's voice asking to pass. I'm thinking, "who could this be? Freaking Allison Mann, I thought she wasn't racing at all since I didn't see her at the start line with the pro women. Little did I know she started with the Cat 1 men.

After a brisk descent down the fire road, I see the entrance Fall Line and I know I have to make my move if I do not want to get stuck behind traffic. I managed to sneak in a pass around some pros just before the last turn. It was now full throttle down Fall Line as I'm passing sport and beginner riders. Luckily traffic was spread out evenly and I had to stop only once to get pass a sport rider. As I'm descending I'm looking out for landmarks and I know the finish is coming up soon. I spot the last hill before the finish and I make an effort to pass the other riders from the other categories. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I spot fourth make a pass around me to get in front me as we crest to the top. Now its a knife battle as we come screaming down the single track to the right hand turn before the finish. He's even match with me on descending and we are moving too fast to make a pass. I know my only chance to get past him was to make my own inside line. I knew there wasn't enough room following the right hand turn to past him in the sprint. For split moment the two of us were side by side at the apex of the turn. Unfortunately my line didn't offer enough traction as I ended up washing out. I had just lost my chances at third place. I immediately grab my bike and ran toward the finish. The frustration of losing it at the end left me with a bitter face at the finish. However its moments like that add to the excitement of racing.

Despite not finishing as well as I wanted, I was still impress with my finish. If I can do this well not feeling 100%, then I can only imagine where I would be when I'm on it. A quick look at my ride data from Big Bear and Santa Barbara, you can see the difference at where I was racing at. I guess it was just one of those days.

Not having a good time: Big Bear

Good times from Ellings Park

After washing off and some post race talk. Phil and I waited for our turn on the podium. It was definitely a rare moment of having a full podium in my class. It is truly awesome racing with these guys and I am looking forward to racing them again. Everyone there was has an equal shot at 1st and that definitely makes racing intense. Phil finished third in his field and posted a time that would sit in the top 10 Cat 1 times. With this third place finish, Phil secured his position as the overall leader of the US West Cup series.

Droppings from the sky! I think this must have happened after Phil parked his bike.

Phil and Jon in his famous red Ford Escort.

Not too shabby for a guy who is resuming his racing career after sometime off the bike. Afterward, Jon, our downhill specialist, joined us after spending the day shuttling some of the awesome trails in Big Bear, which by the way I need to do. Jon thought what better way to spend sometime after a race than to hit the alpine luge.

There was a cool chairlift to the top and it was my first time in a chairlift. I could have definitely used a chairlift on some of those fire road climbs. Now in case if you are wondering if it is possible to crash on one of these rides, I answer yes because I've done it! One thing to remember with me is that I am super competitive and you pair me up against someone is naturally fast at anything with wheels, like Jon, there is going to be some mayhem. Off from the start I'm trying to keep up with Jon. I'm completely off the brakes as I come through the first couple turns and I am gaining speed every second. On the straightest part of the course, I gain a lot of speed coming into the right hand turn. So much speed that I am unable to lean far enough in and somehow I end up partially sliding off. I suffered a burn on my knee for that mistake. I went the fastest ever down Fall Line today without a hitch, but I couldn't keep on track on the luge.

This is the turn where I had my spill...

My swollen middle finger from the crash before the finish.

Overall it a was solid day of racing. I was happy to see all those familiar faces out there and I am looking forward to the next race. I'll be on my bike till then and I hope my fellow racers do that same as well.

Picture of the day

Ellings Park 2010

2010-06-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Man I haven't posted for such a long time it seems like an eternity. Well besides not having raced since Fontana, I've been busy with finals for school. I can't believe that I have completed three years of college and it seems that I'm on graduating within four years. That does however depend whether or not I want pick up another major; we'll see about that.

So last weekend, after more than two months, I finally got to quench my racing thirst. I was anxious how my training has been and if has produced any results. I was near the end of my rest week and I wasn't quite sure I was fully rested. Phil and I carpooled from my place and after about 2 hours and a missed an exit, we arrived at Ellings Park. The course was slightly altered from last year has the start/finish had moved to what I and many others thought as a nicer location. Other than the change in the start/finish, it was still the same awesome single track loop in the years past.

However all of this could have very well not taken place as days days prior to the race weekend, the race promoters were hit with a lawsuit by the county of Santa Barbara. You can read it here, but the general summary was the the race organizers were operating the race that were considered be out of the lines of what the park is meant to be used for. Bottom line is that complaints were filed and the race at Ellings Park came very close to not happening at all. Fortunately the race was allowed to be held although the possibility of future events at the park remains to be a question.

So despite missing an exit and not realizing it about miles after passing it, we made it to the venue with a good amount of time to prepare. As we rolled in, we were directed to parking immediately and found a nice spot right next to the exit. I thought to myself, "score", but I soon realized that star/finish and registration was at the top of the hill. Well at least I would get a good warm up in before the start.

Weather was overcast however by race start, it had already cleared up and the temperatures were in the 80s. Having raced in California for most of my life, racing in hot weather is a familiar event. Positioning in the start was going to be important as the pavement would eventually narrow down to single track climb. Fortunate for me, I was able to get right behind my teammate Phil and he was able to secure himself a position.

The single track eventually opened up at the top and it allowed an opportunity to pass more people before descending again down the single track. Phil and I got stuck behind a rider on single track and it was becoming an issue as we needed to pass him to put some time on our competitors. From his years of race experience was able to spot an opening and made the pass. I on the other hand reacted to slowly to Phil's move and was forced to say behind until it opened up again. It was one of those instances where the rider ahead is slower than you on the descents but fast enough to make it difficult to pass. However as soon as you pass, you're way ahead of them.

Along the single track I saw that one of my competitors had broken his chain. At that moment in the race I was in second place and I knew first couldn't be too far up ahead. I was able to catch the leader, Brian Crooks, on the pavement climb to the start/finish. As I was now leading coming into the second lap, I realized that my right shoe was experiencing far too much float than usual. I unclipped my right shoe and brought it up to the top tube and my worse fears were confirmed; My right cleat had somehow loosed through the race. I didn't have my multitool with me and I knew there was no way in hell I could finish the following laps with a missing cleat. I waited for Brian Crooks to pass me and so that I could ask for his multitool. He kindly gave me his and I pulled over once the single track opened up. According the Garmin, I lost a 1.45 for having to pull over. As quickly as I could while being calm, I was able to realign my cleats resume chasing the leaders. I was now in 4th position and I had to pass a whole bunch of riders from the other categories.

I spent the second and third lap battling it out with the rider in third place before dropping him toward the end of the third lap. I came into race wanting to win on my birthday, but if podium was the best I could get, then I was going to make sure that I fought tooth and nail for third place. I managed to bury myself on the pavement climb coming into the start/finish so that I would mentally discourage him from latching on my wheel.

On the fourth and final lap, I was able to stay away and secure my spot for third. Legs were cramping up toward the end and I knew all I had to do was to keep cranking the pedals and the finish would soon be there. No sprint finish with another racer so that was definitely a relief. Those are dreadful moments as you want to just finish, but you don't want to get nipped at the line despite that person may not even be in your cateogry. It's all about finishing strong.

I was so wrecked coming across the line, literally on the verge of cramping. I was happy and ecstatic to finish in third, about less than 2 minutes from 2nd place. Danny who placed first was a on a roll that day. He broke a chain and was able to catch back up and finish first. He definitely earned that first place finish.

Podium time

Phil finishing third and securing his position as the series leader.

Big thanks to Team Big Bear for running an awesome course. Also special thanks to Alex's parents for the feeds.

I had a fun time out on the course. Single track climbs are always a treat and the descents were super fast. I'm looking forward to more racing during the summer. I failed to mention earlier, but I turned 21 on the day of the race.

Warrior's Dash!

2010-04-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

School and training sure does make for less time for posting let alone other agendas.

As many of my fellow racers were racing at Santa Ynez on Sunday, I on the other hand was going to be attending the Warrior's Dash. This was about two weeks ago.

What is the Warrior's Dash? It's roughly a 3 mile run that involves a number of obstacles. It's literally a long obstacle course held over a cross country course.

A friend of mine, Jason, asked me to join him to do it with him. First and foremost, I'm a big Ninja Warrior fan so anything remotely close to it definitely has my interest. Besides, what a great opportunity for quality friend time.

The even was held at Lake Elsinore, toward Murrieta. Weather called for overcast with temperatures around 60 degrees. After an hour drive and spending a couple minutes trying to locate the venue, we arrived at Lake Elsinore. As soon as we arrived there, I was already pumped, cause parking held over a grassy dirt lot. Why was I excited about this? I meant that somewhere along in the day, there was going to be some rallying. Hell if I paid $10 dollars for parking, I'm going to rally the shit out of that lot on the way out.

This isn't me, but this just gives you idea of what actually happened on the way out; just imagine a white Subaru instead of a blue one.

After picking up our packets, Jason and I made sure that we stretched properly before running by doing some jumping jacks and some cherry pickers. Jason and I were in it together, leave no man behind. Both of us were going to finish together. Although I haven't running as often as I was during cyclocross season, I figured I was going to be the one who going to be pushing the pace for both of us.

We line up toward the back since neither of us were really in it to win. Whistle blows and everyone starts to move. I'm so use to fast cross country race starts that as soon as I heard the whistle blown, I was ready to take off. As soon as we hit the straight away, it widens and allowed for people to start passing.

I never truly realized how competitive I am in nature until that day. I was so eagerer to simply take off and just go with the group at the front. I felt so good for reason and I wanted to see how I would actually do just based off my cycling fitness. On the other hand I had made a commitment to stay with Jason and motivate him throughout the race. It definitely took a lot of self discipline to hold back.

The obstacles were held far apart. However my favorite obstacle would probably have to be the fire pit and the mud pit."Don't get burned"

It felt good to cross the finish line with mud on our faces.

My thoughts about the event. It definitely had a good atmosphere and I could probably see myself coming back again with more friends. I do wish there were more obstacles. Being that I am a Ninja Warrior fan, I would want to attend a more obstacle oriented event. It was definitely a nice change of pace from racing backs and I look forward to doing different events like this in the future. Ninja Warrior hear I come!

We got some cool head gear as part of our goody bag

A week ago I rode up to the top of Wilson by myself. This was the first I had ever done this ride or a mountain bike of this length by myself. I was definitely a bit nervous going up after passing point where I would see hardly anybody up here. I typically ride with somebody on mountain bike rides, but everyone was either busy or out of town. So rather race a long road ride, I decided to do a long mountain bike ride by myself. So as I was climbing I began seeing less and less people to eventually seeing none at all. I began to worry about mountain lions and whether I would encounter much less defend myself. I'll tell you one thing, I won't give up with out a fight, like my friend said, "fight back, no body likes a pussy".

I did however I did see a female trail runner who was really far up the fire road than most people. I really relieved to see her cause I figured if she ran up this far and wasn't scared, I would be fine.

I finally did make it to the top in a time of an hour thirty, that's usually the typical time so it meant I was on pace. Toward the end of the climb, it had gotten foggy and didn't help as it just added an eeriness to the ride. It was really cold at the top and I was glad I brought extra layers.

Foggy at the top

Some extra layers for the way down

I love my Trek Fuel EX 9.9

After consuming a peanut butter jelly bagel, I proceed down the Mt. Wilson trail toward Chantry Flats. This section is definitely one of favorite pieces of single track. I would like it even more if it were so damn steep. This trail just works your brakes.

Difficult? Yes, Cleanable? Yes

Cleanable? Probably, is it worth it? No

So there you have it, a long post. I have a couple more post to catch up on later during the week

How did these words ever come into play?

2010-04-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

For those who don't spend a lot of time in the cycling world, the word beef, or beefier, has been used as a synonym for stiffness.

For example, "The extra carbon layout produces a beefy bottom bracket"

That doesn't make any sense at all. Where is the relationship between cow and stiffness? I don't want any association between cow and the stiffness of a bike.

"How stiff is your bike? Well for a matter a fact it was as stiff as that New York steak I had the other night"

I don't go looking around my bike for that USDA sticker of approval.

It's definitely a pet peeve of my mine and it irritates me when I see it used to describe a bike in a review. I've made an effort never to use it while describing a bike to a customer.

My mediocre photoshop skills

And then there is Apple with their so call conceived clever marketing strategy. There is a couple things wrong with this advertisement.

Word? Are we really using the word "magical" to describe technology? All this really does is reinforces Apple's use of folksy nonsense to describe their products. There is no substance in that statement.

Revolutionary?
No, not really at all. The iPad lack features such as multitasking, flash, a headphone jack, or a camera. However despite that the iPad doesn't do anything that your devices doesn't do, the iPad does show that success can originate when form comes before function. Apple has had an excellent job in producing products that simply look good from the stand point of using it. And last but not least, we cannot forgot the number of die hard Apple fan-boys and girls, who worship Steve Jobs as an idol.

"It's fueled by dreams and powered by imaginations"
Haha

Oh the insides of the iPad have been recently revealed.

There's a battery in there!?! I thought it was powered by hype alone.

Here is an awesome video that recently surfaced on the internet.

I aspire ride like this someday. It takes trail riding to a whole another level.

This weekend will be the Santa Ynez US Cup, however I will not be participating this weekend. I will however be participating in the Warrior's Dash It is a 3 mile run filled with obstacles. I will be doing it with a friend I knew since high school. So despite not racing on a bike this weekend, I will be "racing." I'll post up report from that event. Hopefully these legs can handle that run.

Healing vibes and Easter Bunny

2010-04-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

Just as we are rolling through the season, I hear that two people that I know have been injured. Jon Buckell and Justin Mann will be off the bike for sometime. Jon, my coworker, friend, and training partner, injured his right ankle during the final run of the pro men downhill race. Just a couple turns in the race, Jon had a stumble which resulted in an injured right ankle. Despite the injury, along with the adrenaline flowing through his veins, Jon managed to finish his race.

Jon on his way to third at this year's Leaping Lizard just the day before his accident

Justin Mann, who I met through the local southern California mountain bike racing scene, was involved with a head on collision with a parked landscape trailer. After reading and looking over the photo's his wife's post, I would have thought there would be nothing left of that trailer, just teasing Justin.

Oh the horror, hospital food! Photo taken by Allison

I wish both of these guys a speedy recovery and I know that it won't be too soon till they are back on the bike again and kicking butt again.

It just reaffirms my belief that it is always the simplest things that will take us out. Take an example from Adam Craig who injured his ACL while walking across an icy parking lot. Keep in mind that this guy can shred the downhill. Or how about Ross Schnell sliding out on a wet grass turn which resulted in a broken hip. The times I've crashed have always been because of the simplest things. I'll clean a gnarly technical section only to get taken out by a tree branch that catches my camelbak. It definitely keeps me humble when I think about how far I've come along, but I know I can never let my guard down. As they say, "shit happens".

Happy belated Easter everyone and what better way to acknowledge Easter Day than with a picture of a bunny.

An evil looking bunny to be exact. Stay away from my carrots!

This is funny picture. "You shall not pass!"

Never give up, never surrender

In other news, my race kit came in the other day. I'll post some photos of it soon along with another post. I have so many draft post that I need to finish up.

Fontana 2010

2010-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Fontana, one of the biggest races on my schedule has come and go. Last weekend marked the first Pro Tour XC race for the year. All the big names on the national circuit were going to be out there racing as well as international Specialized rider Lyne Byberg.

The race was held over two days like Bonelli. The Pro Men and Women cross county race was held on Saturday and the short track was held on Sunday. Amateur cross country racing would be held on Sunday, with the exception of the juniors racing on Saturday.

However before I can discuss last weekend's race, I am going to show you what happens when one of my teammate's bikes falls into my hands.

In which case I will open the box from the bottom side and install a second bottle cage on the bottom of the downtube. The recipient will then be shocked/surprised to find that there is a factory installed bottle cage on the downtube. Why take feeds when you can just add another bottle cage, Alex?

Speaking about bikes, Alex, Phil, and I received our races bike just days before the weekend of the race. As exciting it is to receive new bikes, racing on a foreign bike that you have not spent anytime on can be sketchy. Unfamiliarity to the new position or how the bikes handles are risk when racing on a new bike that you have not spent a lot of time on. Especially since it takes a couple rides to break things in, last thing I needed was for a bolt to pop out during a race.

I'm excited about my new race bike, but I'll write up another post to go into further detail about it.

Phil and I arrived at Fontana about an hour and half before our start. Temperatures were cool early in the morning which meant that at least we would not be starting while it would be warm. Phil and I headed over to the registration tent to pick our registration only to find out that only the first 250 riders that preregister receive a goody bag. Talk about being left speechless. The only reason why Phil and I race is for the goody bag with the free In n' Out meal. It is not being on the podium that motivates us to be finish fast, it the In n' Out meal waiting for us at the end. I guess Phil and I were less motivated to finish early then. Haha

Warm up consisted of preriding a section of the course. Fontana itself is an awesome venue with great riding despite being located in an urban area. However Fontana has never really been the course for me, I just can't keep a rhythm out on that course. That said, the course has come sweet descents.

The Men 30-39 started before us again like last time, some of the top guys roll out some fast ass times, however the rest often become traffic. We started with the 25-29 group and had a starting group close to 30 riders. There were 15 riders total in my group. The whistle blows and it is a mad dash to the first turn. The beginning snakes around through the single track before heading up the steepest section of the course. Here is where the race can be decided, first to the entrance ensured a good climbing position and chance to possibly clean it from top to bottom. I knew I had I to be in the top, but I couldn't go full out as I needed some gas to clean the climb. As soon as we hit the climb in shifted up a couple of gears and just paced my way up. I knew smooth and steady would give me a better chance of riding most this section. Too many had ridden too hard from the start and were force to dismount halfway up the climb. I managed to get past the final turn of the climb before having to get off. One of these days I will clean this section during a race.

My calves were burning with each attempt to get to the top. I had made the mistake of going hiking on Friday morning with some friends which resulted in some sore calves the day after. I should have passed on the hike. It's funny how a 3 mile hike will leave me with sore calves, but I'm not sore after a 40 mile mountain bike ride. Some folks were using the hike a bike section to pass. By all means run and charge up the hill, because I don't want it that bad. Nothing more worse than having a bike as an expensive hiking stick.

Heart rate was definitely up there

The first two laps 3rd-5th position rode together. We were in a conga line as we chased down the rider in second place. Toward the end of the 2nd lap I let off the gas to consume a gel during the feed zone. I let a gap form, but I figured I would be able to close it again after refueling. I rather loose a couple seconds then the whole race from not refueling. As I entered the steep climb on the third lap, I could see the rest of the group(3rd-5th) just 30 feet in front of me. I knew I had to maintain contact before got to the top otherwise I would lose any chance of remain in contact with the group. I was not able to get as far up the climb as I was able to the last two laps and I had to dismount and hike a bike. At this point I could barely walk up the hill. I was going to have to salvage what I could and hang on till the end to see if I could catch up. By this point I was sitting in 6th place.

The forth final lap I made an attempt to give it my last shot to finish with a fast time. On the steep climb I fell to 7th place as a rider in my class was able to get up to the top faster than me. I ended up losing to him by 30 seconds. The flat section, I just dug in and time trialed my way to the finish. While and tired and spent, it felt good to give it my all toward the end.

While I didn't place as high as I wanted to, I was doing well so far this season. I am a lot faster at this time of the year than I was last year. Also I shaved a lot of time off from last year's time despite the course being slightly longer this year. In that perspective, I have made improvement over last year's results.

A quick cool down was then followed by heading over the car to rehydrate and refuel. Phil placed 4th in his age group and was close to finishing 3rd. Rewards are being done a lot faster now as Phil missed his awards while cleaning up and changing.

Wes placing third

Afterward I hung around a bit to talk with some of the guys in my age class. Brian, Scott, and Daniel would be familiar faces as I would be battling it out these guys for the rest of the season. Scott unfortunately had to pull out after suffering a mechanical. He was riding right behind me for the first lap before pulling out. Everyone seems to be a lot closer in terms of fitness meaning it is going to provide for some close racing this season.

Phil and stuck around to watch the Pro men/women short track race. Short track is just a brutal form of racing; anywhere from 20-25 minutes in hell. Willow Kober and Sid Taberlay pulled off the win with decisive moves.

Allison Mann hot off of her 5th place from cross country finished within the top ten in short track.

Ken Onodera

The trusty steed

Awesome time racing out there I am looking forward to my next race. Next race will not be until May 16th, so I have a lot of time between now and then. This week calls for intervals and some high volume rides before I can head into my rest week. So close yet so far away.

Big shout out to everyone that was cheering for me out there, thank you.

Piecing it together

2010-03-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

It is not too often that you bump into a pro rider out on the trail and this week was definitely not the case as I bumped into the one and only, Ross Schnell, aka Rad Ross. I've seen a many pro riders at races such JHK, Sam Schultz, Max Plaxton, and Ryan Trebon to name a few. However there are a couple of pros that I would actually go out of my way to meet and one of those riders is Ross Schnell. Former Downieville All Mountain champion and current world single speed champion are just a few of his achievements on the bikes. I would go as far as saying that he is one the more diverse riders as he is capable cross country racer and a technical rider. To put it short, he has skills to pay the bills. He just happened to be up at Chantry the day a couple of us went for ride before work and school. He was with one of the guys from Crank Brothers and he just trying to get in ride since he has been snowed up at his place in Colorado. Chatted for a bit and he told me that he was going to be heading to New Zealand to scope out the 2010 worlds single speed championship

This week I went out to dinner with Keith Bontrager along with Alex and Phil to discuss further development in the wheel testing. So far it seems that things are going well with testing. I am looking forward to having more opportunities with Bontrager.

I had some time before meeting for dinner so I browsed a shop called the Gold Bug and I saw this
I've seen some strange shit in my day, but this takes it up a whole another level, especially taxidermy. Great conversational piece in the house?

This weekend was the Bonelli Triple Crown Race. Most the big names in the US were showing up as the race was offering a nice cash purse for the pro men and the pro women. The event was held over two days with the pro men/women cross country race on Saturday and the short track & super d race the following day. Max Plaxton pulled out the first win for the year with Sid Taberlay and Sam Schultz following from behind. Kelli Emmit of Giant took the surprise win by beating silver medalist Lyne Byberg of Specialized. Honorable mention in the women pro field goes to Allison to placing 4th, edging out national champion Heather Irmiger Way to go Allison!

As for my race, we were not so fortunate to have the relaxing time schedule that the pros were entitled to have as Cat 1 started at 8:30 am, the day of daylight savings, sigh. Is an hour to much to ask of? Especially since previous races have always started later. However that is racing and you have to deal with it. I have to say I was totally looking forward to Bonelli as the course had changed and that it was a bigger event. As Phil and I were one of the early ones to get there, parking was a breeze as we were able to get a close spot to the start/finish. It was chilly in the morning and hopefully it would warm up by the start time.

Things were done differently with start up as they were having the men 30-34/35-39 start up first. That age group typically has some of the faster times of the day so it was not a big deal with them starting a couple minutes ahead of us. The start was same as usual, people jockeying for positions on the flats, but its not till the hill where fast guys emerge. Phil was sitting comfortably in second position in the group while I sat somewhere within the top ten on the climb, just bidding my time for the first lap. However I sadly would not get a chance to find out how it would play out for the first lap as I got a flat on the very descent. Pissed and realizing my chances of catching back up were slim, I proceeded to fix my flat. So as if things were not going my way, I realized that I did not have my CO2 cartridge with me. The possibility of a DNF was looming over as I had no way to fill up my tire.

Minutes went by as racers from other categories were passing me as I tried to flag down a rider for a pump. However I came in luck as someone down at the pavement yells at me that they have a floor pump. Realizing that while outside assistance is illegal, I was dead last at this point so it made no difference. After running downhill to grab the floor pump and pumping up my tire, I quickly got back on my bike and started chasing. I managed to reel in a whole bunch of people within the first lap and continued my quest of chasing down people into the following laps. The course was short and punchy as opposed to last years course. Changes included more single track climbing and additional technical descent. Overall I was quite please with the recent changes to Bonelli.

Second lap involved catching more people. I remember over hearing a person that I had pass say, "are they lapping us already?" Some were being lapped, others were being caught. Third lap involved just more reeling in more people. Food and hydration was on schedule as I was experiencing no cramping. Although there was an exception when I tried to put a Gu wrapper into my jersey pocket and my right arm started to cramp up....

However the fourth lap determined that I would no longer continue as I punctured again on the same section. Disappointed was an understatement as I was then determined to finish the race. It was a slap to the face as I had worked hard over 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lap only to flat again in the end. I was bummed in the end as I had to walk my bike back. I even got heckled by Justin Mann walking back, but I knew it was just tough love. Perhaps you should have let me borrow your rear wheel, Justin... haha

Geoff Kabush knows exactly how I felt:

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

A good response.

Sigh, oh well that's just racing. On the positive note I felt good throughout the race and I would have really like to see how I would have stacked up with the guys in my field. A mechanical is easier to troubleshoot then fitness, so I have to look at it that way.

Phil Monell scored his second win of the season by crushing his competitors in his age group while having one of the faster times of the day.
Wesley Reutimann placed third in his age category.
Afterward Phil and I walked through the venue to grab our free in n out burgers. On the way there, I stop and caught up with the guys from the Subaru Gary Fisher team. It's nice to still keep in contact with those guys. Thanks to Matto for hooking me up with some sealant for my front wheel.

I love In n Out

Sad face :(

Phil and I stayed to watch the men and women short track race. Short track can be best described as a short yet more brutal version of cyclocross. Also you will see some group tactics.

Heather Irmiger and Sid Taberlay took the wins in the short track. The men short track was just ridiculously fast as they came tearing up the hill before the descent every lap. The top guys were putting in every effort to try to break away and eventually there was a break away group of 10.

Sprint for the win

Big thanks to my mom and for those who were cheering for me. Next race is the Fontana National, looking forward to seeing everyone out there.

Bottle over board

2010-03-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

A couple random pictures from last weeks rides.

Sti Love

2nd race of the season and things seem to be getting better. I decided to show up for the last Fontana Winter Series race held by SRC. This would be a good opportunity to become familiar with the Fontana race course again as the next I come back to Fontana will be the Fontana National Race.

Conditions were as nice as it gets. The recent rainfall has allowed the course from becoming dry and powdery.

Alex and I carpooled from my place at around 7:15 and arrived with plenty of time to register and warm up. We caught with Jon Buckell who was out practicing for the the pro men downhill, who also by the way was able to finally beat Eric Carter for the super d race. Congratulations Jon.

Alex and I promptly kited and headed over to the course to get in a practice/warm up lap. It's been a while since I have been at Fontana, but I felt good to be back. Fontana, while unique, has been a course I have enjoyed racing at.

During the practice lap, I got a bit loose on a section and ended up having a little spill. Which reminds me, I just built a sorta new bike and it was the first time riding it. I think I smacked my knee on the top tube of my bike cause my knee was hurting quite a bit. If one of the two knees were to have issues, it would certainly be the left one, I've fallen too often on that knee. I soft pedaled back to the car to rest my legs and massaged my knee cap. It was bit discomforting when I pedaled, but it wasn't enough to stop me from racing. 1o minutes till the race start, I head over and get acquainted with the guys racing in my class. My field was small, so they started some of the other older age categories with us. I was worried how the start was going to be like with some of the fast guys from the other category.

We get the green light and we all take off. A junior leads in the beginning, but led with a pace that was comfortable. The surge that I was expecting in the very beginning did not happen as everyone seemed to be content where they were. Beginning of the race offered many opportunities to pass, but no one was really pushing for it. There was a couple a single track sections before it led to the pavement climb.

It was on the pavement climb where people made the move. I sat comfortably behind the junior and figured I should just play it how it goes as the other guys in my category were behind me. Suddenly some of the other racers from the other categories start to pick up the pace. Justin Mann and Seletzky began shifting into a faster gear and I immediately followed from behind.

The pavement section lead to a single track climb. After the single track climb, we started to descend before going up one last hump before the final descent to the bottom. The descents were fast and rough in certain sections. I was still trying to get use to how the new bike handled. I'm following Seletzky as I go through a choppy section when suddenly my bottle pops out of my cage. I quickly stop and pull over in a desperate attempt to find where my bottle had gone. Riders who I had passed and drop were coming through as I was trying to find my bottle. If it were a race where I knew I was going to get a feed, I would have not stopped. However with 3 laps still to go, there was no way I could hold off hydration for that long.

After finding my bottle, which had fallen down the hill, I quickly started chasing back. I managed to reel in a bunch of people including one of the guys in my category. I was running out of steam from having to chase and till the end I was not able to catch they guy in my category. Settled for second for the day; any day on the podium is a good day.

Afterward Alex and I spun for a bit before heading over to Subway for lunch. We took our lunch with us to spectate the super D race as our friend Jon Buckell was going to be racing in the Pro field. I wish I had brought my camera to capture some of Jon pinning it through the turns, although I think he would be too fast for the camera. Shortly after results are posted and I find out that Jon squeezes in a first place finish! Ending the constant second place finishes behind Eric Carter. Good job Jon!

Having a conversation with Ian Gross from Shimano

As I had mentioned earlier, I was racing on new bike for this race. I was able to acquire a Trek 69er frame and built it up with some components off my old race bike. What is a 69er? Well it's a combination of a 29 inch front wheel and a 26 inch rear wheel. It's suppose to have the best of the two wheel sizes as the larger wheel up front carries more speed through rough secions and the 26 inch wheel in the back provides the bike with quick acceleration. Furthermore the smaller wheel in the back shortens the wheelbase making the bike easier to flick around. It's interesting concept, but so far I've been pleased with how it rides. It will be the primary race bike till my Top Fuel comes in.

I missed awards since I was out watching the super D race, but that was fine with me as I got to see my friend win his super D race.

Hopefully I'll be seeing more of these with 1st on them.

In other news, the newest trailer for Tron Legacy came out.

I am really looking forward to this. I remember enjoying the first movie when I was younger. Jeff Bridges, aka the Dude, returns to his role as Kevin Flynn. Daft Punk is also composing the musical score for the movie, who can ask for more!

Image of the day

2010 Sage Brush Safari

2010-03-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

First race of the season officially occurred last Sunday at the US Cup Sage Brush venue. Conditions were epic and mud was the reoccurring word used to describe the course.

Anxious/Excited, both words could be used to describe the days following up to Sage Brush. First race is always exciting and interesting. It's awesome to get to see familiar faces and exchange stories. You also get a glimpse at who your potential competition is going to be and who seems to be in form. I saw Allison and Justin and they had the sweetest parking spot; right at the start.

Phil and I left the shop at 6:35 am the day of the race and three hours later we were at an unfamiliar Sage Brush; cold and muddy. Last year's event was held in April when it the weather warmer and the course was dry. Even drove through some mud as we headed toward parking. There was some rally action going on somewhere along the way...

Sage Brush is an awesome race. The climbs are long and grueling and the descents are just so much fun. This year however the course was slight tweaked. As opposed to last year's course where Pro and Cat 1 would split off from Four Corners to climb up to the top of Mt. Pinos, this year's course had cut that out. Instead we would go for another lap after coming through Four Corners. As for why they changed it this year, I don't really know. Perhaps they took in account of the weather and its effect on the course. I didn't really care cause it meant more ride time on the sweet singletrack decent.

Registration took a bit longer than usual. As soon as we got back to the car, kits were thrown and we spun for a bit. Saw some more familiar faces while we were spinning around. Probably half way through my warm up, I realize I hadn't attached my race plate, so I had to quickly spin back to the car. Luckily I was able to get back to the start with some time left.

Start was the same as usual, there was always a couple people who wanted to push the pace at the beginning. In the process we lost a couple riders in the combine juniors/19-24, 25-29 field. It seemed that some people lacked the "group" riding skills as it became very evident. I had one incident where someone's bars went right underneath my bars and nearly cause me to lose my front end. While the pace was fast at the front, Phil and I are just waiting for it to go up hill. As soon as it started it going up, Phil, I, and two other riders just take off. The field begins to string out. At this same time, we are catching riders who had started in front of us. We were definitely flying up this climb compared to last year. I looked down at my garmin and I saw 194 bpm! I was feeling good and I just kept it as we got to the top and started our descent.

Photo © Extreme Pixs

Photo © Extreme Pixs

The descents were just so much fun. It was difficult to wipe the smile off your face as you railed the berms and pumped the rollers. At the same time, there was tons of mud crossings and I was sure that by the third crossing, I had mud as lube for my chain. The descent ends up connecting to a fast fire road descent that eventually connects to the bottom of the hike a bike section. As soon as I got to the fire road, the drivetrain decided to throw in the towel. Just kept chain sucking and it forced me to coast to the bottom. After getting out the hike a bike section, there was some more fun descending before the climb back up to Four Corners. At the bottom of the climb, I could no longer ride in my 26t due to the chains suck and I had to pop it into the 38t. As Adam Craig would say, "Big ring challenge".

Photo © Extreme Pixs

Photo © Extreme Pixs

At the same time, I started to feel slow and before I realized it, I was suffering from the effects of bonking. An hour into my race and I had already bonked. I barely made it to Four Corners and I still had a lap to go. I was completely devastated. I pulled over and started to consider my options.

1. Quit and then ride back to the start finish

or

2. Go for another lap and then finish, but you have to use the big ring...

As appealing as quitting was, I was too suborn to accept a DNF. So I pulled out a packet of Gu Chomps, consumed the whole packet and proceeded to finishing the race. While it was too late to do anything about the bonk, I was going to need some fuel to let me finish the race at least.

Thank goodness for the descent, I was actually able to catch people during the descent. I turned the rest of the race into a mountain bike ride; can't really do that in a road race! I even stopped to pick up some packets of Gu Roctane I found; these suckers are $2.50 per packet. So after more climbing, it was finally a descent down toward the finish. However this race wouldn't be complete without multiple deep stream crossings to wipe that mud off of your bike. While at the same time soaking you in cold water...

While I was disappointed with how the race went, it was only the first race of the year. I would have other chances during the year to redeem.

Awards came by really fast. Sid Taberlay took the win with Jeremiah Bishop taking second followed by Manuel Prado.

Wes 4th
Justin Mann

1st win of the season for Team Trek Co-Op was earned by Phil Monell. Trophies handed out this year are really cool. Laser cut metal trophies are definitely an upgrade from last year's plastic plaques.

On the way back we stopped at In-N-Out and we saw a moose head in the back of a pick up truck

A little piece of Sage Brush

Season is almost here!

2010-02-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

This weekend is my first race of the season, US Cup Sage Brush. I am super excited and ready to race. Although I maybe thinking differently when I'm out racing, otherwise let 2010 race season begin.

School has kept me very busy. Week 8 out of 10 is almost over, so projects and finals are coming soon. However that has not really affected my training. I've really had to manage my time well. This year I have done things very differently as I adopted a training plan to structure my training for this year. Training is provided by the kind folks at Alison Dunlap Coaching. Awesome if you are looking for structure in your training. I spent the last two years racing by just riding and not having any structure. I'm hoping by adding structure to my training, my performance will be better.

In others news, I recently acquired some compression sleeves thanks to the kind people at CEP. Compression fittings have always existed, however within the recent years, more and more athletes are using them to aid in recovery. I have had mine for almost two weeks and so far I really like them. A large percentage of the time I am on my feet at work and these compression sleeves have made a huge difference. Especially after hard rides and then having to stand at work, the sleeves keep my legs feeling fresh. Do I keep them on all the time? No, since I take them off when I go to sleep. While asleep, the effect gravity has on your blood circulation is less because of how your legs are positioned in relationship with the rest of your body. However whenever I am not sleeping, I have them on; even at school. Has anyone asked me about them at school? Surprisingly not, but the guys at work have. * note: I always wear shorts. So far they're great and I will definitely appreciate them while traveling. I encourage anyone who is looking something to aid in their recovery to take a look at what CEP has to offer.
This year I am racing on the Trek Top Fuel 9.9! Excited is an understatement as I am really looking forward to racing on this bike. OCLV carbon constructed frame, ABP suspension, carbon wheels, and Sram XX equals AWESOME race machine. ETA is mid march, however I'm hoping it will come in soon as I really want to be racing on it. For Sage Brush I will race on my Gary Fisher from last year. However till my race bike arrives, I will be racing on another "Trek" for the following races. More about this "Trek" bike next week.

So the other day in class, a girl behind me makes a comment that I really must like bikes. At the same time I was viewing Velonews on my laptop. I reply, "I like to keep up to date with cycling". She then points outs that it was my boxers that made her make that comment...
Just because I sport "bike print" on my boxers does not mean I am obsessed about cycling...

What else is new?

2010-02-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl just recently happened and while I am no football fan, the super bowel does benefit non football fans. Super bowl commercials is what I am talking about and this year's Super Bowl produced some very clever and entertaining commercials.

The 2010 Kia Sorrento commercial receives my mention as it was original and memorable. Its clever use of characters and plot help deliver a message that Kia's unique approach to designing vehicles will make 2010 a successful year.

Another honorable mention is the Old Spice for Men commercial. Producing clever and original commercials are often difficult as many marketing teams attempt to set themselves apart from the competition. The Old Spice's use of witty humor left it memorable.

When casual Fridays become too casual.

In other news, in the highlight of the recent Toyota recall, Toyota has had to change their logo.
This is very unfortunate for the big auto maker, but if there is a company that can get back up on their feet from something like this, I believe Toyota can.

Which brings the importance of product testing, which why I am happy to say that I am product tester for Bongrager equipment. I have been currently testing out prototype hub designs since November and I am anxious to contribute more in the near future.
I would not also mind testing tires and I do love having a nice collection of tires to choose from.

Bontrager also happens to be one of the sponsors for the Trek Co-Op team and it was one of the reasons why I decided to join the Trek team instead of pursuing a deal with the Helen's Cycles Team. With the Subaru Gary Fisher Regional team folding up at the end of last year, it left me planning for 2010. I thought about a privateer setup as I knew a couple people in the industry that could really give me a hook up on products. It would also leave me with the flexibility of doing what I wanted as well as running my own equipment.

Another possibility was trying to resurrect the Helen's Cycles mountain bike team. Years prior to the Helen's Subaru Gary Fisher, the team was partnered with Cannondale. There was a lot of attention on the team by Helen's Cycles and support was really high; definitely a golden era for the Helen's mountain bike team.

However with Helen's focusing more on the the road teams such as La Grange and the men and women road teams, there was little attention toward the mountain bike team. There was a make shift team, but with Alex Boone joining Trek and the other members shifting their focuses, it left Phil and I as the only real members of the potential Helen's team. So with that considered, I believed there is a great opportunity by being part of the Trek Co-Op.

Also I get to stay within the Trek family. The year spent racing for Gary Fisher proved to be a humbling experience and nice to know that I will not really be severing any of the ties I have formed. Furthermore request for Bontrager support while riding Cannondale through Helen's would seem to be a conflict of interest. As much as I like Cannondales, it would prove to be difficult to receive Bontrager support.

2010 is shaping up to be a great year.

Time to get back at it

2010-02-03T19:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't attended to updating my blog recently and all I can say is that I've been swamped with school and training. A lot has happened since I lasted posted

A new year has come by and it is difficult to believe that a decade has flown by. 1o years ago I would have never imagined that I be riding my bicycle on a daily basis. Now I'm sporting lycra and training my ass off everyday. I get to ride my bike on the awesome single track found in the San Gabriel Mountains.

I will definitely be posting up new post on what has happened since my last post.

Most significant and most recent changes have been that I will be riding for the Trek Mountain Co Op team for 2010. I am happy that I will remain part of the Trek family and it is sigh of relief to have found a team to race for in 2010.

"The Trek Mountain Co-Op is an evolution of the 2009 program, the Trek Racing Cooperative. the re-naming of the program reflects the broader scope of collected riders beyond just XC racing, into the lifestyle of all genres of mountain biking. Festivals, local group rides, low-key grass root events, in addition to Pro-level XC and DH races are all part of it..."

I am honored to be part of this.

Preview of the team kits.

I am super excited about 2010.

Weekend Update

2009-12-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Base 1 is complete following Sunday's mountain bike ride. While the rain during the week left me short a couple of hours of my weekly goal, I do not think it is going to hurt my training regiment.

Two storms that came in to Southern California brought much needed rain after a long dry summer. Trails there were in much need of water got their share of water during the heavy rain fall. The first storm brought in the first snow fall for Mt. Wilson this winter.

Today I start my first week of winter break. Finals were mentally challenging, but it is a sigh of relief to know that they are over.

Sunday's ride plan was to head up Monrovia Canyon, take Rincon west to Newcomb's Pass, then take the Gabrielino trail back to Chantry and then back to where we started. What is certainly nice about the San Gabriel Mountains is that many of its trails can be ridden during or after days of raining; much to thanks to the composition of the soil. From the bottom of Monrovia Canyon to Rincon is roughly 9 miles of fire road climbing. Traveling west on Rincon to Newcomb's Pass is mostly rolling as most of the climibing is done from the climb up Monrovia Canyon.

Weather was mostly cloudy with a temperature of 50 degrees. At the top Rincon, there little evidence of the snowfall that was brought by the first storm as most of it had melted. Cogswell Dam looked be full after the heavy rain fall. The color of the water suggested that much of it was debris from the burn areas above the dam. Heavy rain fall had cause couple of trees to fall down, blocking off easy passage. We had to hike a bike a couple sections because of this.

Skies were nice and clear and you could see as far as the eye could see. It is interesting that all this is in our backyard. Despite a couple of months since the fires, the smell of burnt wood was still in the air.

The single track down from Rincon is really sweet. Leaves covered the entire trail and the smell of wet leaves filled your nostrils as you flew down the single track. Switchbacks, rocky sections, and smooth single track; this trail had it all. Last weekend I rode this trail going up and it was a pain in the ass; it was nice to be descending it this time. When we reached where Zion pops out, we regrouped and continued our way down the Gabrielino. The amount of water that had come through here was evident by how different the trail looked.

Despite only one flat and couple of fallen trees, it was an awesome ride down the Gabrielino. At the top we stopped by the station for some snacks and was treated by Eric for some food he had just cooked. Thanks Eric! Afterward we headed down the pavement and back to where we started.

Thanksgiving Ride!

2009-12-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is definitely one of the best holidays during the year! Copious amounts of delicious food and quality time with family and friends at the dinner table. There is also the Thanksgiving ride; an effort to burn some extra calories so that it is alright to help yourself to another serving. I suggested a long mountain bike ride as way to burn as much calories before Thanksgiving dinner and sneaky way to add some more base miles. However the majority seemed to want to do an easier ride; single speeds on Cherry Canyon!

Met at Lyle's place at around 10:00am. We chatted and had some coffee before heading off to the trail head. Cherry Canyon is a small network of trails, but the trail network definitely has some nice single track. There are some steep sections riding to Cherry Canyon, you can clean it on a single speed, but afterward you feel like hurling up an organ part. Overall it was a good ride, everyone kept the rubber side down. It feels good to go out and ride with friends.

AN END BRINGS A NEW BEGINNING

2009-11-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

It's true what they say, but all good things must come to an end.
Sadly we got the message from the team director that Subaru Gary Fisher Regional Program would not be continuing for 2010. Call it a cut in the budget and change in marketing strategies. The regional program has been running since 2005 and it is sad that it has to come to an end.

While this year was my first year on the team, I am glad I could have been part of it. While one chapter ends, a new one begins.

Current negotiations are in the process to form a new team and possibly resurrect the former Helen's Cycles Mountain Bike Team. As for what is to become of this blog, it will continue to be my personal blog and hopefully become the team blog for Helen's Cycles Mountain Bike Team.

Stay tune for further news.

HAWAIIAN SHIRT

2009-11-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

So it has been two years since I raced Mt. Sac in fact it was the first race I ever did. I ripped my shorts in that very race, but that's another story.

A week prior ago I was having a difficult time deciding whether to race Storm the Beach or Mt. Sac. I had caught the cyclocross bug early on, but the chance come out to a race that was closer by pretty much sealed the deal.

I race CAT 1 during the mountain bike race season, however I simply did not like racing for 24 miles, so I figured I bust out the single speed bike race the single speed category. 18 miles on single speed as opposed to 24 miles on a geared bike; that sounds like a good trade huh? This would be my first ever single speed race. I've trained/ridden a single speed, but I've never raced on my single speed.

Parking was easy find and the drive was short since I live only 20 minutes away. It was cool come back to where I first raced. As I remembered, venue was awesome. Registration was a breeze, only one paper to fill out. I collected my goody bag and proceeded to kit up and warm up. Figuring I was out here to just have fun and that I was racing the single speed, it just seemed mandatory that I wear my Hawaiian shirt during the race. This sucker is like 75% polyester.

My Trusty Steed

hmm... Hawaiian shirt or jersey?

Race starts were delayed roughly 15 minutes, which was fine by me. I caught up with some of the guys that I race CAT 1 with and chatted. I also chatted with some of the other riders as well; definitely a great atmosphere.

Pro and CAT 1 field takes off as I wait in anticipation for my group to start. A lot of people had already lined up despite there being 15 minutes before the start. I was starting to have second thoughts about my Hawaiian shirt. Having to stand in the sun made me realize that I should at least cut the sleeves off or cut some vents.

So I after coming back from the restroom, I line up in the very back. They were starting the single speed field with the CAT 2 field. I was not too please with this, but sometimes you have to go with the flow, even if that means battling with some traffic in the beginning.

We get the green light, and we all start. However just a couple yards from the start, there is a crash. The field slows a down a bit and weaves around. The first part of the race was flat so I was spinning like crazy in my 34 x 21. However as soon as it turns up hill, I started reeling in people.

The real part I was worried about the race was the single track in the very beginning. Holy cow, talk about a conga line! There was not much you could do it this situation, as much as it sucked for me and the people behind me, you simply had to keep some room between the person in front of you. The fire roads were where riders would be given a chance to pass riders.

First lap was solid, just reeled in rider after rider. Second lap caught some guys in my category. Hardly any traffic on the single track. Each lap I would have to dismount for super steep climb toward the end of the lap. My calves were burning! Props to guys who had gears that could clean. I saw two instances, props!

By the third lap, Charles Jenkins, pro rider, catches me 1/3 of the way through the course. I tried to hang out, but he simply drops me. By this point, I figured I was figured I was in first and all I had to do was finish. Took it a bit easy toward the very end and was able to finish with out any hiccups.

Chatted with some of the riders in my field, exchanging stories with one another. I cleaned up and proceeded to raffles and award. I decided to help and work at the Cannondale booth to kill some time.

CAT 1 19-26, the guys that I usually race with during the race season.

1st place!!!

Overall it was fun and I had a fun time interacting with riders there. Cool to see people pumped on riding bikes! Big thanks to the race organizers and volunteers.

WILLOW TAKES THIRD AT WORLDS!!!

2009-09-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Congratulation Willow for placing third at Worlds this year. It has been a while since an American has stood on top of the podium of Worlds, but she has managed to break that streak.

Santa Barbra Bike Fest - Alex Boone

2009-06-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Helen’s / Subaru-Gary Fisher team embarked on their second road trip in as many weeks to tackle California ’s toughest mountain bike racers at the Santa Barbara Bike Festival.

But in stark contrast to last weekend’s thin, dry alpine air – racers were instead welcomed with a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and damp, cloudy air on the beach-front bluff. What’s more, the course’s punchy climbs, swoopy descents and countless switchbacks tested riders’ ability to accelerate hard out of every corner while saving enough gas for all four laps – not an easy task by any means. Team riders opted to break out the 26” Hi Fi XC dual suspension bikes which, as it turned out, comfortably ate up the myriad stutter bumps and afforded an appreciable advantage over our hardtail-riding competitors.

As for the racing; Vu rode to an impressive 3rd place finish in the Cat 1 19-24 field; purportedly owing much of the success to his new team skinsuit. I think he's on to something here... Phil carried on his streak of podium finishes by placing 4th in a heavy-hitting field of 25-19 Cat 1’s. Jeff had an excellent start in the Cat 1’s until a disastrous crash on one of the course’s loose switchbacks sent him over the bars, where he managed to land nose-first. Yet despite his tumble, Jeff remained in good spirits and cheered on the rest of the team for the remaining laps. Now his only challenge is finding a rhinologist in Santa Monica… hmmmmm.

Daniel continued to defy the laws of physics by hurling his 6’5” frame to another podium finish in the 35-39 men's field, in what was arguably the day’s most hotly contested race. A chase group of 3 riders containing Daniel and 2 other local tough-guys circled the course for 3 laps, unable to shake each other until the fourth – and final – lap where a the second-wheel rider dabbed in a switchback, giving Daniel a chance to make a move. But the opportunistic leader of the three had already hit the afterburners, leaving Daniel to chase for the remaining lap, where he finished mere seconds down on the rider ahead of him.

And as for me, I put together a surprisingly decent race after battling a heinous bout of stomach acid indigestion that left me sprawled out in the back seat of the Tribeca, chewing on Tums in the hours preceding the race. From the gun I rode a blistering first lap with a group of 4 other chasers, but had to ease off the throttle after rolling through the first feed, afraid of using all of my bullets too early in the 2 hour race. From there I rode in “no man’s land” for two more laps, but on the last lap came within spitting distance of a wavering competitor – yet was unable to reel him in – finishing 10th on the day.

After the awards were given and the Tribeca was loaded, we all piled in and set off for thigh-sized burritos at nearby Freebird’s in Isla Vista; home of the UC Santa Barbara campus. Never has a mass of beans, rice, cheese and guacamole tasted so good! Add to that a healthy dose of fresh ocean air and people-watching (compliments of the ever-mischievous – and often scantily clad – UCSB student body). What a way to cap off a day of racing, eh?

The team returns to racing in three weeks at the first round of Running Springs’ Rim Nordic series – infamously known for its unforgiving technical climbs and dusty, rock-strewn descents that favor the all rounder. Between now and then, however, be sure to look for streaks of blue and black sailing down your local singletrack.

Best,

Alex

A NEW SPIN ON GARY FISHER

2009-06-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

In 2009, Gary Fisher debuted a road line up in effort to fill the space left by Lemond after relationships between Lemond Bicycles and Trek Bicycles dissolved. While most people associate Gary Fisher as the founding father of the modern mountain bike, Gary himself was roadie before he got caught up with a group of Marin riders that opened his eyes to the dirt. So the man probably knows a thing or two about building fine road bikes. With that said, a new model has been unveiled.

The Cronus is a joint byproduct of Trek and Fisher designers, utilizing Trek road technology.

At the claim weight of about 900 grams for a large frame, the Cronus is both stiff and light.
Looking forward to getting one of theses.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

2009-06-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Freaking Ken Block.
I actually got see his rally car up at Sea Otter. 566 horse power to the wheels!!!

BIG BEAR SHOOTOUT - ALEX BOONE

2009-06-04T22:04:00.001-07:00

After nearly a month without racing, the team made their way up into the rarified alpine air of Big Bear Lake for the fifth round of the California State Series. The course guaranteed a challenging race for everyone, with a long fire road climb to the top of the mountain from the gun, followed by a slew of fast, rock strewn descents and technical singletrack climbs. Fortunately, Mother Nature smiled on us by offering a cooling southeast breeze and patchy clouds that provided a modicum of relief during the race’s long descents.

As promised, the start saw large fields of racers scrambling to the top of the mountain – legs and lungs ablaze in the thin mountain air. Daniel and “Fast” Phil found themselves in the lead pack of their age categories, finishing 4th and 3rd, respectively, with times that would have earned a top-10 spot in the pro field. In fact, Daniel was even nice enough to point out the fact that his time was nearly 1 minute faster than mine, and the fastest on the day for the Helen’s / Subaru-Gary Fisher crew… what a nice guy, eh?

Brooke continued to show improvement by emerging victorious in a late-race battle, putting her in 4th place for the race and solidifying her top-3 overall ranking. Lyle came through the finish a slim 1.5 seconds ahead of the next finisher after an exciting two-up battle on the course’s final rocky descent – once again proving his descending prowess (be sure to check out the attached photo). Vu was riding comfortably in the top 3 until – in an incredible act of selflessness – he stopped to help a fellow racer who crashed violently over the bars on a fast descent. My hat is off to Vu for reminding us of what really makes the mountain bike community so extraordinary. And as for your author, I was able to find my mojo mid way through the race, at which point I attacked a group of 3 hangers-on on the course’s decisive singletrack climb. From there I was able to stave off all but one surging chaser, whom I eventually attacked (again) on the penultimate ascent – this time to drop for good – earning me a welcomed 7th place finish; my first top-10 of the season.

The mighty Helen’s / Subaru-Gary Fisher team will return to racing this Sunday in Santa Barbara’s Ellings Park, which also coincides with the Santa Barbara Bike Festival. The competition will undoubtedly be fierce, the course fast and punchy, and the spectators rowdy. Stay tuned for next week’s race report.

Until then, keep'er rubber side down.

--Alex

RACE RECAP: BIG BEAR SHOOTOUT

2009-06-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

It has been roughly a month since the last time the team raced and as Big Bear approached, we were all anxious to test out our legs again. As usual we loaded into the team car and picked up Phil along the way. I was looking forward to Big Bear since I have always like the course because of the long climbs and the rough single track.

In my effort to pack up fast before heading over to Warners, I forgot my camera. No race report is good unless it has pictures. Fortunately Wesley would be out there taking pictures as he was going to be sitting out this race due to injuries he had acquired from a recent road race.

The usual ride to race usually has us listening to some tunes to kill the time, unfortunately all we had was Alex's screamo/heavy metal cd left in the car as Phil forgot to bring his cds with him. We could only tolerate so many minutes of it before having to turn it off. As Lyle would said, it was to prevent us from hurting our necks from head banging to it.

The drive was rather foggy as we headed toward Big Bear on the 210. However as soon as we started ascending, the fog started to disappear and we were greeted with sunshine.

The ride to the top was simply the warm up as we spun up to start line. As usual, Phil, Lyle, and I would be starting together. The real question was, who was going to finish first among the three of us.

Start of the Pro men

Start of the Cat 1 19-24, 25-29

Phil having his sights on the podium

Lyle and I

Brooke

More of these photos that were captured by Wes are located here

Start of the races was not too bad. Some of faster guys took off, especially those of the 25-29 group. I totally lost contact with Phil, but I was playing the release and catch game. I figure I could reel in some of the faster guys as they begin to lose steam. Spent most the race just exchanging positions for 3rd while keeping a close eye on second. I was not working too hard as I was waiting till the end to strike as I would be able to turn on the after burners.

I was at about the half way point during the race as I was descending down the fire road when suddenly a rider from another category went over a bump and slam into the ground. I've seen crashes, but I've never seen anyone go over the handlebars while coming down a fire road full speed. It was startling as I witness something horrible and unexpected. I immediately hit my brakes and pulled over to check on the rider. Two other riders joined me as well. I quickly moved his bike out of the way and began diverting traffic as one of the other riders put his attention towards the fallen rider. As soon I saw a race official coming up, I hopped back onto my bike and started to chase back for my position.

Lyle catches me on one of the descents and then pulls away from me at one point in the race. I spent most of the time just reeling in riders. I began to wonder if the gap between myself and other riders was too great to make up, as the riders I was catching did not belong in my category. Eventually I caught back up to Lyle. However as soon as the climbing ended and turned to a fire road descent, I had no chance of keeping up with him. As the final single track descent signaled the end of race, I knew I had no chance of catching up, even so I made an effort to enjoy the rest of the awesome single track.

One thing that did bug me during the race was some of the traffic that occurred from the Cat 2s and 3s. Two people from another category literally stopped halfway on a descent forcing me to quickly dismount and run that section before having to jump back on my bike. Seriously, I've said once and and I said it before. Either clean it from top to bottom or get off the bike before hand. It would be much appreciated.

Alex Boone

Phil having a fun time going down fall line

Daniel looks like he stole this bike from a kid due to his size and the 26 inch wheels

Lyle showing how it's done a 29er

Those skills acquired during cyclocross season definitely came in handy.

A successful remount

I ended up finish 5th out of five, but my times compared to 4th-2nd were relatively close despite having to stop.

Top results of day were Phil and Daniel as both stood up top of the podium.

Phil seems to be climbing up the podium, only time will tell when he will stand on stop of it.

After the award ceremony was over, we headed over the nearest ice cream shop and had some delicious ice cream cones. Nothing like ice cream to aid the recovery process. While there eating ice cream, I saw this:

Freaking hilarious, picture courteous of my phone camera

Overall, Team Helen's Subaru performed well at Big Bear and will be making another appearance at Santa Barbra this weekend.

CATCHING UP

2009-06-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the delay in my postings. It is getting toward the end of school and I have been busy with school projects and papers. Combine that with training and it leaves very little time to blog.

So after Santa Ynez, I took a week off the bike to recharge and refocus.

Since then I have been rebuilding up my volume and planning my peak for nationals in July. I have already booked by flight and I am looking forward to attending my first national. I plan on racing both cross country and short track.

During my off week, I attended an insect fair as part of a class assignment for my insect class. It was held at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. I was really interesting since they had a lot exhibits going and they even had a some live insects to hold and observe. I held a tarantula for the very first time. While the tarantula was neat to hold, I avoided the Emperor Scorpion since I did not want to hold something that could potentially pinch my fingers! There were some some huge bugs on display. There was a beetle the size of both my hands!!

I also toured around the museum, looking at some the exhibits they had opened. I went though the minerals section of the museum and I got to see a what they had on display. They also had a vault where the most precious crystals were stored. The Red Diamond was the museum's most prized jewel. I could literally retire if I had one these diamonds in my possession.

I'm going to be rich

In the early part of May was the annual Pasadena bike week. Typically at the end of bike week there is a party that is held in old Pasadena where people from all walks of life come together with one thing in common, riding a bicycle. The amount of vendors they had at the party was small, but they all offered very interesting products. At the party, I bumped into someone who I knew when I first started riding, Greg Townsend. He had a booth and had a couple of some of the custom bikes that he had built. I've know Greg since he made his very first frame and has since then improved dramatically over the years. Greg is a gifted frame builder. Take a look at his track bike.

Here is a snap shot of Greg's road bike. For a steel brazed frame, it is really light.

I spoke to Greg if he was going venture into using Reynolds 953 and he said that he had ordered a tube set to build up a frame to try it out. Greg even expressed interest in using BB30. I am looking forward to the results.

Afterward we headed to King Taco to grab a bite to eat. Nothing like munching on some Mexican food!

Scott Sing and Jon Buckell

Of course I rode between now and then. In fact I spent a lot of time on the single speed bike during the last couple of weeks, 2-3 times a week at some points. There is nothing quite like a single speed ride to make you suffer.

Nothing quite like cool Southern California weather.

Next up, race report.

Family Quote of the Day:
Peter: Can’t we tell them that your mother died?
Lois: Peter, I’m not gonna lie about something like that.
Peter: All right, all right, I’ll kill your mother.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

2009-05-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Determination
One of the technical descents of Offenburg, World Cup #2

For this rider, quitting is not option.

Whoever you are number 42, you have my respect.

There only two reasons why you can DNF

Sustained injuries that prevent you from riding in a safe manner.
A catastrophic mechanical.

The only time I DNF was at a cross race where I got a flat. That's the only time I have ever DNF. Quit once and it becomes easier to do the next time. Besides I'm too stubborn to quit.

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY

2009-05-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know.

SANTA YNEZ RACE REPORT

2009-05-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

US Cup #5!!

*Disclaimer
Sorry about the late postings, I've been really busy with school because of midterms.

Another weekend of racing meant another chance to make up for my not so stellar performance at Sea Otter. It was the usual deal, loaded up the Tribeca, piled into the car, and headed toward Santa Ynez.

Phil showing off his bike

Fisher love

I didn't race Santa Ynez last year as a sport racer, but I was told that the race course was simple and boring. Whether it was a course favorite or not, I was looking to do well.

So we arrive at the venue and decide to see if we can grab some parking up closer near the start. Surprisingly we managed to find an open parking spot in front of the portable potties. As soon as we park there, we get some attitude from some old dude(non-racer) about parking there and claiming that cars were using that space to pass through. It turns out he was grumpy that we took up the free space next to him. We attempted to be polite and accommodating as Lyle offered to park somewhere else, however it seems like you can't please everyone. So he simply drove off to park somewhere else.

After picking up our number plates, Lyle, Phil, Jeff, and I went out for a warm up ride. I've wanted to bring out my trainer along with a spare rear wheel, but I always keep forgetting to bring it with me.

Alex's parent were out there to help with the feed so I did not have to worry have to about becoming dehydrated during the race. Thanks you guys!

Start was fast as it started out wide and then narrowed it down to single track before a switchback that went up hill. It was great to have teammates during the first part of race as I was able to position myself well before the switchback. I was only Lyle's wheel as we hit the first descent before it would start going to uphill. Lyle and I stayed together for the most part of the first lap. Phil was still within sight during the first lap and I was feeling really good.

Lyle's Dad, Bob, took some awesome photos

Helping out a fellow singlespeeder

However disaster struck on the beginning of the second lap as I got a mechanical. I got chainsuck and I couldn't pull my chain out. The night before I had re epoxy the metal chainstay protector and I had ziptied it so that it could cure overnight. Well that ziptie was the reason why I couldn't pull my chain out as my chain had lodged up and got stuck. I had to pull off the crankarm so that I could pull out my chain. I lost so much time and I wasn't even sure I could pull it all back. After I got back on the bike realized that I was too far behind to make up the gap so I decided to just finish the last two laps so that I would not get a DNF.

It was difficult to cross the finish line with a smile given how the race went. I was pretty angry and disappointed, but I knew I had to keep a good attitude about it. Just more fuel for the fire.

Despite how my race went, we still had some good results as a team.
Wes was on the podium again with a 2nd place finish and Phil placed 5th.

Phil Monell placed 5th but they ran out of plaques

Justin Mann sneaking in a 4th place finish

Sho Air has been doing a great job in hosting the US Cups. However the Santa Ynez course is so far my least favorite course.

It has been a busy racing season since the first US Cup in Bonelli. So many of the races were stacked since the beginning. I was planning to do Idyllwild Spring Challenge, but I'm ready for a break away from the bike. Hopefully I can race it next year.
Allison Mann was out there last weekend and placed 2nd in her fourth pro race! Congrats. You can read all about her race report here.

With that said, I'll be taking a week off the bike so that I will have a fresh start as I will be rebuilding my base. Epic rides here they come!!

SEA OTTER 2009

2009-04-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with school and life that I apologize for the late Sea Otter race report. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Sea Otter was definitely different when compared to last year.

Last year it was freezing cold and windy. This year it was freakin' hot!

I have a lot of catching up to do. Couple of days before we left, team clothing and forks arrived. However the status on the frames were unknown. I'm excited that I would be racing in official team colors at Sea Otter.

Part of the order also included a skinsuit, however for some reason whoever was responsible for making the skinsuit forgot to include the chamois!! D'oh
Of all the things to forget, how can you forget to include the chamois?

It was pretty sweet to have the team clothing arrive before Sea Otter, however I was still waiting to see if my frame would arrive in time. Fast forward the next day, I received news that the Hi-fi frames had arrived at the shop. As soon as I got off of work, I headed over to Alex's place to work on my bike. I had to quickly hurry since the next morning we were taking off to Sea Otter. Typically, bike building is a spiritual stress relieving activity for me, however in this case I had to hurry since I still had to go home and pack up for Sea Otter. By midnight most of the bike was built up however I still had to adjust the drivetrain and shorten the chain. I decided I would have that done when we got to Sea Otter figuring that I could use a spare work stand the Subaru-Fisher tent.

The following morning I went over to pick up Jon since his Jeep was out of commision. After arriving at Alex's place, we headed over the Lyle and Brooke's place to pick them up.

The Tribeca was packed to the max as all five seats were filled and we loaded to the max with 5 bikes.

The trip towards Monterey was mellow and was very entertaining since we were all traveling together. About 5 hours after we started, we arrived in the beautiful town of Monterey and headed toward the race venue to pick up our race packets. After picking up our packets, Alex, Lyle, and Brooke decided to do a little ride since there was enough daylight left. Unfortunately my bike was still far from being rideable and at this point in time, the team trailer was closed up so I would have to wait till tomorrow to have my bike worked on. So I decided to guard the Tribeca and make an attempt to look cool while doing it. Jon had decided to do a course walk on the downhill course to prepare for his race run. In an effort to pass some time, I practice drifting Jon's bike in the parking lot. There's nothing quite like getting the bike to drift; it's so much fun.

The following morning Alex and I woke up early to drop off Jon for his dual slalom practice. It was a bit foggy as you can tell in the picture below as we entered the venue.

Jon is so happy to be riding his bike

Afterward we headed back to the hotel for some waffles and then loaded up the bikes to and headed back to the race venue to preride the course. I on the other hand had to get my bike built up. So as the others went around visiting the booths, I headed over to the team tent.

A rule of thumb while being at the team tent is that the services are strictly for the factory guys and gals; we are just the regional guys. I'm always hesitant to step in to the team tent. Matt and John are super nice guys, but I don't want to be treading on their feet. I was going to ask to see if I could use one of their spare stands so that I could work on my bike. Nick, another mechanic on the team offers both his stand and his services. It was super cool to have Nick working on my bike, there are very few people I would let work on my bike and I knew any mechanic wrenching for this team was legit. I want to give shout out to Nick, Thanks man!!

After wandering around the booths for a bit, I head back to the tent to check out my bike as well as attend the Subaru v.i.p. lunch. Free food is always great, but great tasting free food is even better. I just wish I had my camera with me so I could document this.

I also decided to stop by some of our sponsors and say thank you for their support for 2009. Honorable mentions would be Sram and GU. Our sponsors definitely made it possible for the 2009 race season. It was cool chatting with them and telling them how awesome their products are.

As the day neared the end, we headed back to the hotel to decide what we would do for dinner. Seems like every restaurant we would visit near the hotel was closed.

Thinking hard where to eat

Fortunately Lyle's parents knew a great place to go to that had excellent food for a great price. I do not remember what the place was called, but I am definitely heading back there next year as the food was fantastic.

Photos always turn out better using natural light

Mike and Alexandra, these two people are really sweet

Everyone full and happy

Knowing what I would eat now would be powering me tomorrow, I made sure that I ate enough since it would be a long day tomorrow.

After getting back to the hotel, I made sure I had everything ready for race day.
Sleep that night was alright considering that I woke up three times last night no thanks to Mike's snoring.

Fast forward to the start of the race, initial thoughts were that it was really warm for a morning start. Although at the time I thought this was awesome race weather, little did I know that I would be eating my words half way through the race. The start was mellow and the group was organized till we off the tarmac. Short of someone crashing, that start was alright. As soon as hit a the fire road, a group of ten broke away. I knew that this was going to be a long race so that there was no point in going too hard in the beginning. I knew if I played my cards right I could reel in those guys toward the end.

First lap was good, I was on pace and I didn't feel as if I was going to hard from the start. First lap I posted a 1:30 lap, so I was on target on breaking the 3 hour barrier. Toward the half of the first laps I started to notice how hot it was and I was beginning to wonder if I had enough bottles. I had two with me when I started, one hidden carefully in the bushes about a mile after the start, and a bottle at the neutral feed zone. At the start of the race I figure this would be enough. After picking up my bottle in the bushes during the second lap, I realized that the heat was making me consume more fluids than I had planned. After coming out of the switch back section, I literally had to get off my bike and sit in the shade to cool off before resuming.

By the time I reached the neutral feed zone, I was ready for another bottle. It seem like I wasn't the only person experiencing the heat, since others were looking dehydrated. While passing through the feed zone, I realize that they weren't offering full bottles of water, only half full bottles. It seemed that they were running low on water and had to ration it so that everyone could get something to drink. I quickly looked for someone who was holding a full bottle and was able to find someone who had one.

I took a huge gulp of water and sprayed some water on myself to cool down. It was at this point that I realized that I shouldn't have done since the feed zone was the halfway point of the race and that this was the only water I would have with me.

It briefly reminded me of a scene from the movie, The Three Amigos.

So now I had two goals presented in front of me:
1. Find more water
2. Finish the race

Every chance I got, I asked the race officials to see if they had any water to spare. It even got to the point that I was looking at bottles on the ground to see if anyone had dropped a bottle with some water in it. Heck I even started looking at some of riders that I was passing to see if they had full bottles of water. Still no luck on finding water. I was running on empty as I neared the end as the last climbs approached. Thankfully, one person on the course had bottled water. Where ever that person is, thank you!

By this point of the race, any thought of doing well was diminishing, I was overheated, dehydrated, and I just wanted to finish the race.

After crossing the finish line, I hurried over to the GU booth across the team tent for some of the new recovery mix, GU Brew Recovery. Typically recovery mixes have a chalky texture to them, but GU Brew simply blows away every recovery drink I have ever had in my life. This stuff taste good, so good that I would drink this stuff on day to day basis if it weren't for the fact that it was for recovery. I hope we get some of this in our GU team order. I definitely want to thank the girls working the booth their for giving first dibs on a bottle of that stuff even though there were people waiting in line for it, talk about team privileges.

Afterward I cleaned up and tried to replace lost fluids. I stayed to watch the pros race and to feed my friends who were racing pro. Due to the heat and the amount of people in the Cat 1 races that DNF, the race organizers took upon themselves to shorten the course for the pros.

Pro men would race one 19 miles laps and then part of the short loop.
Pro women would race only one 19 miles as oppose to the intended two lap course of 19 miles per laps.

The fact that they had to shorten the course for the pros goes to show how hard the race was for the Cat 1s. One third of my field DNF and I happy to have been part of the group that finished.

Jeremy finished 4th

Followed by Sam in 5th

Ken finished well for the weekend with two 10th place finishes in both Cross Country and Short Track

Mike just after crossing the finish line, probably wondering what happen at the feed zone..

We headed back to the hotel to clean up and pack up as our time at Sea Otter had ended. We stopped by some Mexican joint for some food before we headed back.

Lyle, Alex, and Mike

Hmm... food

On the way back we stopped for gas and some In n' Out

Jon and Alex trying to figure out whose burger is which

Until next year, so long Sea Otter.

I hoping to get my Santa Ynez post up by tonight.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

2009-04-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sam Schultz. That's no photoshop job, that's the real deal.

Sam Schultz displaying his riding skills and the new team kits.

SERIOUSLY?

2009-04-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

People these days, check out the press release.

Quote:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?" - State Rep. Betty Brown of Texas
Yesterday, Brown continued to resist calls to apologize. Her spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race."

Uhh... I hate to break it to you lady, but we live in America, the melting pot of the world. Maybe you should accept the fact that people have different names and that you should learn how to pronounce it.

I did not realize that people were having difficulties with saying "Chen."

Typically I would include a photo of her, but she does not deserve it. Not on this blog.

I guess this would be a good time to announce to everybody that my name has changed from Vu Le to John Jacob Adams, hows that for a name?

But seriously, you should see me try to explain to customers over the phone what my name is.

FI'ZI:K SADDLES

2009-04-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

For the 2009 season, Subaru Gary Fisher will be sponsored by Fizik Saddles

A reputable company when it comes to producing high quality saddles, Fizik will provide a large range of saddles to the Subaru Gary Fisher team for 2009.

For Sage Brush I decided to run my Bontrager Race X Lite Wheelset since I figured I could make use of the weight savings and performance. The wheelset performed well above my expectations and held up well throughout the race; I could not ask for anything better.

It is not the lightest mountain bike wheelset by Bontrager as the Race XXX Lite is the company's pride and joy, featuring a carbon fiber molded rim. While only 39 grams lighter and stronger and stiffer than the Race X Lite, these wheels are legit. Not to mention they cost twice as much. Only the factory team guys and gals get to rides these. In fact because of the molding process and the limited quantities, there are only four pairs reserved for the entire team for one season. Even with the pros there are restrictions. Such as limited to only 3 pairs of shoes for the season.

Speaking about pros, here we have Sam Schultz and his Superfly

If we were offered Superfly for this year, I would totally pick it in a heartbeat. Carbon fiber and big wheel goodness, can't beat that.

Family Guy Quote of The Day:
Dear McGyver: Enclosed is a paper clip, a rubber band, and a drinking straw. Please save our dog.
-Peter Griffin

SAGE BRUSH SAFARI

2009-04-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's US Cup #3 and it has been a blast so far. Scott Tedro and his team have been very hard at work in making this an awesome series.

Most of the team was going to head up on Saturday morning to preride the course and then book a hotel to stay for the night. Unfortunately Phil and I had obligations to work at the shop on Saturday, meaning that we would not get a chance to preride the course.

The following morning we were off on the road by 6 am. It was a good relaxing 3 hour drive and was awesome to have some company on the road.

One benefit of driving early in the morning is the lack of cars

Sunny and bright

After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at the venue. In effort to arrive in style, Phil busted out some rally drift action in his truck! There is something about going sideways in the dirt that is so fun, maybe that's why I love mountain biking so much.

If there was one word that would be use to describe the race, it would be windy. It was blowing pretty as Phil and I were standing in line to pick up our number plate and goody bag. I almost lost USA Cycling license.

Probably should not have ate that many Clif Blocks

Phil made the discovery that certain Kenda tires are available in a pine scent.... WHO KNEW!?

We kited up and did our usual warm up which consist of just spinning around for about 30mins before returning to the truck to top off our bottles and then the usual last minute restroom stop.

As we lined up for the start, the Pro men along with thr Pro single men had taken off already. The Pro women would be starting before us with a 3 min gap. The pro women took off and I was cheering for Allison to do well in her second pro race.

As moved to line ourselves at the start line, I quickly looked around if I could see anyone in my age category and I could only see one guy, the dude who killed it at the National last weekend and was posting pro times. No worries, it just meant I would have to go faster, although I had a feeling that first place would be out of my league. The whistle blows and we are off to a fast start. We got into road formation as the first length of the race was gradual pavement road before it would kick up and become a long grind up to the top.

We were all togther in the beginning as we were drafting off each other. The lead guys were setting a pretty fast pace as some guys from our group began peeling off. Evenually all the juniors who started with us were droped before the climb. Phil and I were able to hang in till the the road kicked up before falling back off the lead group.

I faded 20 feet behind Phil but maintain that till the very top. I was trying to figure out what pace I should be riding at as I knew there was more climbing toward the end of the race. It's my first year of racing Expert and I'm still trying to get the hang of going harder and longer in a race.

A couple of the faster guys from the older age categories caught and past me, including my teammate Wes, who just smiled and said "Hey Vu" and then proceeded to drop me like a stone... Thanks Wes. You could have at least given me an opportunity to say something back or hook a bungie cord to your bike.

As soon as I started to hear the sound of cheering, I knew I was near the end of the climb. It flattened out for about 50 feet up to where it the double track started. I remember a couple of my friends had told me that the descents were full of berms and that the course was sandy. I crashed on the very first berm as I did not realize how powdery it was. Front simply pushed and I flew sideways off the bike into the dirt. I quickly dusted off and got straight back onto my bike as I did not want to lose more time. However my chance of beating Phil were becoming very slim.

I started to get a hang of railing the berms and soon I became more comfortable with the terrain. After blasting through the double track, it eventually became a fast fire road which then connected to the hike a bike section. I hate hike a bike sections. It is hard enough to ride this stuff let alone when you are racing. At least it was not as bad Fontana where I knew every time I came into finish a lap, it was there waiting for me. My calves were burning and I had very little motivation to run up it, probably a reason why I never ran cross country. Besides, it is too damn early in the season for cyclocross. At least this time I did not get karate kicked in the head.

It is during this section where I am caught by Daniel and Lyle. After clearing that section it was a fire road descent until it started to climb back up to four corners. The pros and cat 1 men had to the extra bonus climb to Mt. Pinos. I now understood what Alex meant by save some for the last bit.

I was able to get into a good pace and was able to catch up to Lyle, my only issue was whether I could make enough time on the climb so that I could finish first ahead of Lyle. It was a good grind going up to Pinos and I knew if the climb was longer I could have caught more people. Probably about a 1/4 of the way into my descent I catch a glimpse of a Subaru kit in the corner of my eye. I was wondering if it was Lyle or Jeff as I had saw Jeff climbing behind me before the descent. So I yell out "HELLO!" and then I hear Lyle as he comes passing me on the fire road. I need to go faster than I'm going now if I want a chance of doing well as a Cat 1. I eventually cannot keep up with Lyle's descending skills as I lose track of him.

I begin to pass other riders. It eventually reconnected back to four corners and then went back down some swoopy fast berms toward the finish. The last part of the race was definitely my favorite part as it was super fun. I had to deal with passing some of Cat 2/3 riders although it was easy to do as they were friendly enough to let me by.

After that, it was flat drag race back to the start/finish. I cross the finish line relieved that the race was over and I quickly start looking for some of my teammates. I have no clue how I did as I could not keep track of passing riders. A couple of us go out to spin our legs and chat about how our race went. I was glad I had brought some pizza to with me to eat.

Afterwards, Phil and I headed back to the truck to get cleaned up.

It was pretty dusty

Phil and his retro kit, hopefully the new kits will arrive in time otherwise people may think he is some dude who time traveled to the present.

Afterward I went over and checked how Phil and I did. Surprisingly I placed 2nd out of 4 riders; I had no clue there were more than two. Phil placed 5th, not too shabby for a guy who just back from a two year break.

Not too bad, roughly 15mins from first. It just means I need to train harder.

Yeah boi! 2nd place!!

Phil Monell

Wesley Reutimann

Daniel Stromborg had a great race and placed 3rd. Where the heck is first place?

It is important to highlight of this race was that Justin Mann, one of the guys who races in Wesley's age category, took it upon himself to help an injured rider, jeopardizing his chances of doing well. A selfless act of true sportsmanship

Forth race as an expert and I'm still trying to get the hang of it. I need to get more comfortable with how hard I can go before blowing up. I also need to be more aggressive when I'm passing people. So far though, it is still early in the season and I seem to be heading on the right track to an awesome season of racing.

Family Guy Quote of the Day:

Quagmire: Hey there, Gorgeous, how old are you?
Connie: Sixteen.
Quagmire: Eighteen?
Connie: Mom!
Quagmire: I Like where this is goin’!

MORE PICTURES - FONTANA

2009-03-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

Lyle Warner

Lee Bird aka (Lethal Birdstein)

My buddy Jon Buckell getting super loose

Too much free time with photoshop

Vesley Vesselton

Jeff

Brooke Warner

Fuzzy Phil Monell

Alex Boone

The awesome Subaru girls, Willow and Heather

I like to give a shout to Sho-Air and Team Big Bear for making this race possible.

US PRO XCT #1 FONTANA

2009-03-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

This was race number three and the first national race of the season. I was looking forward to this race as I had race for the first time last year when I first started racing. Last years race was definitely a learning experience.

This was a B priority race however I wanted to do a repeat at Bonelli. A podium at a national would be really nice.

Phil and I carpooled over to the race. After listening to some sweet jams, we arrived at the race venue around 7 am. We went over to pick up our number plates and then went back to the truck to suit up. We met up with Lyle, and prerode the first part of the course so that Phil could see the steep climb. We were then told by a passing racer that CAT 1 men start time had been pushed 30mins, no real surprise.

After warming up around neighborhood, we headed over to the start finish. My mom, aunt, and two of my friends came out to provide some racing report. Annie and Spencer provided some awesome race support as they cheered me on each lap. Thanks for the support guys!

At the race start I got chat some of the guys that race with. I saw Yoshio Garcia and I immediately knew I had no chance of contesting first place. The guy is super fast and I have a while till I get that fast. The coolest thing about the start was call up. For the first time of my life I got call up. Definitely a cool moment of the race.

Start of the men Cat 1

The whistle is blown and we all start. I was right behind Phil's wheel, sitting probably 5th place. I got a little a sloppy around one of the first turns and almost wipped out. I went from top five to back of the pack. I found Lyle and sat on his wheel to the bottom of the steep climb. Lyle was telling me to take it easy and he knew that everyone who went to hard would end up walking up the climb.

As I'm climbing, I'm trying to pass people quickly and smoothly. I hear Lyle in the back yelling to me to keep a distance between me and the riders in front, all sudden some dude karte kicks me in the head as he gets off his bike, forcing to me stop. Lyle rides past me and becomes of one of the only riders to clean the climb. It must be that heart of a lion.

Here's some footage of the climb.

I did not realize that cyclocross season started so early this year. Running up hill with a bike is really painful. My calves were burning with each step. After I crested the hill, I got back on the bike and started to descend the loose single track. People were literally falling left and right. It was super loose in the corners and that is where most people were crashing.

One goal for this race was to descend well. Last year I had bad race as I had crashed like seven times and it is very demoralizing. It seems like after a year of racing and training it definitely paid off. I cleaned all the descents where people were just on their brakes. I had a little group of fans who had saw me descend this super loose sand section on the course. They were super excited as they cheering on I was taking the gnarly line. So I was pretty stoked to see every lap to cheer on do well on that descent.

First lap I posted a sub 25 min lap and the goal for the last three laps was to make up for lost time. However I was plagued with a mechanical for the last three laps. I was having major chain suck and it was really annoying. It got worse every lap. I would make some time on the descent and then I would past a couple riders only then to forced to stop or slow down to get rid of the chain suck. I ended up going from 4th to 7th during the last three laps. It was depressing, but I managed to have a fun time just descending. Initially I did not like this course, but I started see how much fun the descents were. You definitely needed some good bike handling skills in order to avoid crashing. All it took was a small miscalculation and you would go over the bars.

The opportunity to pass people was very small and it seemed there were definitely more people with fitness than ability.

Lyle crashed at one point in the race after some female racer decided to stop in the middle of the loose downhill section on the backside of the course. Yeah she gets worst place to stop on the trail award. Seriously either walk it from top to bottom or just ride it.

We had some good results at Fontana. Wes and Brooke placed 5th respectively in their age groups. A good result for the day was Lyle who came back to from a broken chain and pulled a solid result.

Here is an official interview with the man himself.

Daniel and Lyle making a pass

Other than that, it was a fun atmosphere at the race venue. I got to see a lot of familiar faces. Allison Mann made her first ever professional debut at Fontana and placed 10th in a field of top riders, congrats!

I'm writing this on my laptop at college so I don't have any race pictures to show you guys yet. Check back later for more pictures.

Next race is US Cup# 3 Sagebrush Safari, San Diego. Hopefully the frames will arrive.

CHRISTMAS ALL OVER AGAIN

2009-03-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Nothing quite says love from sponsors then like receiving free stuff.

So last Sunday after a team ride, Alex and I headed over to the Helen's Santa Monica shop to pick up our stuff. Most of it was Sram and Bontrager boxes. After arriving back at Alex's, we unpacked the stuff and started to do an inventory check of what was shipped.

It was a bit funny to see how most of the stuff is packaged. I'm so accustomed to seeing bike parts individually packed, all this stuff came in balk packaging. For example G2 rotor 5 packs and plastic packages of bottom brackets.

Lyle checking out the new Bontrager Race X Lite Wheels

The Paragon Frames

After making sure the number of items were correct, we started to sort out items for the people on our team by bagging it into individual grocery bags. Nothing picking up your bike parts in a grocery bag.

Alex believes that's how my name is really spelled

My stuff after sorting it out of the bag, thank you Bontrager and Sram

Rockshox will provide us with suspension.

We are still short of headsets, centerlock adapters and some Bontrager shoes and gloves. That stuff should come in at the end of this week. New team clothing is expected to arrive early April.

I have pretty much everything to build up my bike except for one thing... the frame. The guys who ordered 29er frames got theirs, but the those who ordered the full suspensions are still waiting. Those frames were suppose to be shipped two weeks ago and the status on the shipment is unknown. Just crossing my fingers that it arrives before Fontana.

After sorting stuff out, Alex and I headed over to Lyle's place for dinner and a movie.

Lyle starting up on his build

Texas Ranger sitting on my lap

And with that, I'm pretty stoked that most of the sponsor stuff has arrived.
After reading Kathy Sherwin's post, I realized that despite the economy, some bike companies are still supporting the grassroot racers. If you are ever in need of purchasing something, look over to the right at the sponsors who are making the 2009 racing season possible for us.

Movie Quote of The Day: Back to the Future
Marty McFly: Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.

MR. COOL

2009-03-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

In the mountain bike racing world, there is only one name when it comes to the most stylish racer of all time, Geoff Kabush. There are few racer who define cool in my book and Geoff Kabush happens to be one of them. From the awesome Oakleys that he wears to the stylish sideburns that he sport, Geoff Kabush is indeed Mr. Cool. Besides being ridiculously fast on a bike, his sense of style is amazing.

Kicking it old school

Are those sideburns amazing or what!?!

A two time Olympian and a winner of many Norba races, Geoff Kabush is the definitely one of the top dogs when it comes to racing. He has even challenged Yao Ming in a drinking battle

Difficult to see who actually won

KEYESVILLE 2009

2009-03-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

This was my first time attending the Keyesville Classic. From what I heard it was an awesome course as it was fast and rolling. Alex, Phil, Wes and I would be carpooling over there with the Tribeca. After meeting at Alex's place around 6 and sipping espresso, we loaded the car and made our way toward Pasadena to pickup Wes. It was funny how we picked up Wes. While waiting at an intersection after getting off the freeway, out of nowhere comes Wes running up to the car. For a moment I thought we were getting car jacked some Swedish robber.

After a three hour drive, and some funny ass conversations, we arrived at Lake Isabella. As we were looking for parking, Lee Bird spotted us and led us over an empty parking spot next to him. After registration, we quickly changed into our team kits and went out for a warm up.

However as soon as we started, we began to have what would be the start of our problems. Brooke's fork was acting up and it seemed to have the same problem as the fork of my Niner. Problems increased as Phil began to have trouble with his bike as well. Thinking that his stem was loose, he realized the problem was his fork, which was exhibting the same symptoms as Brooke's fork. Deja Vu anybody?

Regardless of the problems we were experiencing, we weren't going to let it stop us from racing.

Our race would start be starting half an hour late. Not surprised as most races never seem to start on time anyways. Oh did I forget to mention that age categories were 19-29 and that racing age was determined the day of the race. Which meant that Lyle, Phil, and Wes would be racing with me.

As we were waiting at start line, we joked that we were going to do the Team Sho-Air team tactic, let Phil and Wes break away and Lyle and I would just try to hold off the rest of the group. We even heckled Lee who was starting behind us.

The gun goes off and its off to a fast start. First mile was looking good, we were all hanging in the pace was getting faster. As the paced surged as we approached the first descent, I glanced at my hear rate and I noticed it wasn't going up. Usually the first 5 minutes I'm around 195 bpm. I was like 20 beats short and I began to have trouble keeping up with the pace. No sooner after that I started going backwards. At this point I figure perhaps I'll be back on the second lap.

Second laps comes around and I was falling off the back. Lyle catches me including whole bunch of guys from the the older classes pass me including Lee. At this point it was survival mode as I made it my goal to finish and not to finish last.

You can tell just by the look on my face.

During the race, I realized I should have used the restroom, and by restroom I do not mean by watering the bushes. I seriously needed to go.

I was not having it, with the symptoms of being tired from training and the urge to go, I dug in and made an effort to finish the race. The only encouragement I had was Lyle and Dave Roth who I kept exchanging places with. I figure the faster I finish this race, the sooner I can use the restroom.

With lap two down, it was just one more and then the home stretch. Toward the end of the race, two of the Pro men caught up and dropped me like a stone. Max Plaxton complimented me on my drifting skills back at the single track descent, shortly after he kicked up the after burners and flew up the fire road.

I was so glad that it was pretty much a straight descent to the finish. I was pretty much ready to hop off my bike and run to the restroom.

Despite not having an awesome race, the course was awesome and I was having fun on the descents. Another reason why mountain bike racing rules over road racing.

Despite having fork issues and claiming he hadn't been riding the bike that much, Phil placed third and Wes finished second for the day.

Wesley Reutimann, sorry ladies he is taken.
Check out those shoes!!

But Phil on the other hand isn't taken

Phil attempting to find out how he did

Helen's Subaru takes 2nd and 3rd, filling up the podium

They say you can't win all the time, yet I did end up feeling like winner by the end of day since I had won raffle. And guess what the prize was? A MiNewt X.2 Light from Niterider!!!! I never win raffles and to have won the nicest prize of the day was very up lifting.

Hell yeah

We decided to head out in search for some post racing food. I'm starting to believe that cyclist are pre-genetically disposed to have the urge for some Mexican food after a hard effort.

Our podium men enjoying some Mexican food

Alex wondering if one burrito was enough

Check out Lyle's creative line

Freaking pinning it on the descent

Fast Phil is still smiling despite having fork issues

Brooke Warner. Haven't got a clue what she is grinning about.

Alex Boone making his way through the Pro field

Dave Roth showing how it's done on a single speed
Thanks for the words of encouragement Dave.

Ray Caballero attempting to pass another rider

With Keyesville in the books, the Fontana PRO XCT Tour race is up next and I look forward to battling it out with some of the fastest guys out there.

Quote of Day:
"Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." -Bill Nye, The Science Guy

UHHH.... NORMALIZED POWER

2009-03-11T09:58:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I put my new cyclops power meter to the test by performing a 20 minute field test to figure out my threshold power.

The kind folks over at Fast Coaching provided information on what is required for a field test:

A calibrated power meter
A steady stretch of road, preferably a climb that takes you about 20 minutes
Maximal effort
And a heap of motivation

With that set, I headed over to one of the steepest climbs in my area, Chantry Flats.

After a quick warm up, I hit the lap button and started to go as hard as I could go.
About 3/4 into the ride I started to have hard time to be motivated to go as hard I could.
Then I remembered Frank Schleck's memorable quote.

I was pretty wasted as I got to the top, but not as wasted as my effort from Bonelli. It was times like these I wish I had a power meter on my mountain bike when I raced, that way I could get two things done as the same time. Besides I would have the motivation to go all out.

I spun home and then uploaded the information to find out my threshold power.
By using a spreadsheet provided by Fast Coaching, I found that my threshold power is about 270

So it is pretty cool to finally find out how much power I could put out.

Taking in account of my weight, 62 kg, my power to weight ratio is approx. 4.4 watts per kilogram

So how does that compare me with, lets say current United States National XC Champion, Adam Craig. His coach claims that he produces more than 5 watts per kilogram.

The difference may seem small, but it is a lot indeed.
Here is a profile of a rider who finishes 1oth at national races.
The rider weighs 62kg and has a threshold power of 320
This rider produces approx. 5.1 watts per kilogram. So if I am to have any chance of being that fast, I have a long way to go.

However I'm relieved that I can produce over 4 watts per kilogram.

Perhaps I should ask Chet Bearclaw, greatest man in the galaxy, what he thinks of power.

Quote of the day: Frank Schleck
Pain is worth it. You have to go as hard as you, for as long as you can.

BRINGING SEXY BACK

2009-03-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Subaru Gary Fisher Kits have been revealed.

For your viewing pleasure
Let me know what you think.

Men

Men

Women

The Fisher crew is will have one of the hottest looking kits out there PERIOD

In other news, another race picture. I look angry.

Thanks for the picture Slater

Team kits are not suppose to arrive till April, until then sexy is going to have to wait.

Quote of the Day:
"You have to look fast to race fast, but if you are going to race slow, might as well look good doing it" - Alex Boone