oh yeah..let it rain

Portland this weekend...CYCLOCROSS!!!!!!

The Thunder Down Under!!!!!

SO.......... Rob and I headed out at oh dark thirty for Klamath Falls this morning to go race in the first cyclocross series in the southern part of Oregon. We signed up to race and i thought we should go preride the course.....time to get dressed.......Where are my shorts?????? crap I left them on the table at home.I have no shorts!!!!!! i have a bib and helmet and all that but no shorts. odd situation to be in. you can usually find someone with a spare something to borrow but bike shorts????? uhhhh no. alas my buddy Rob brings with him three pairs of shorts and hooks a brother up...tightly but hooked up.

The course was a tight loose and gravely course with 6...count them six sets of barriers. this is a running mans course. There are 10 people in my field. smaller than the usual 40-60 I race with but that's cool and its a small town so cool.

a short race at 35 minutes and we are off. I am known to fade at the end so I start out easy.......really easy......what? I am in first??? how did that happen? ok keep your cool. I seem to be a bit more experienced at the barriers that the rest of the field and the run ups being a war of attrition,,,,,,,,moving along and CHAINSUCK!!!!! damn the bike is all screwed up. I stop and calmly pull at my chain here and there while the entire field passes me. I am now last. ok there the chain comes out and I am off. during the next lap I catch up and pass the entire field...that felt good......then all the way to the end with 2 more chain sucks and 1 crash that was hilarious and i ended up first. Wow ihave had some good races the last few years but I have not been numero uno in a while. YYYEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA

Now the next race and Rob is up.....wire to wire he takes the race and almost laps the entire field twice. ( He was wearing his own shorts). There is talk of Bend sandbaggers but we raced in the same categories we did at Hood and we did not come close to this..... guess you need to handicap it based on where you live??

Good times had by all....we came ......we raced......we won. a nice day.

end of Sept

M.O.P.

that's right!!! middle of the pack.......almost exactly the middle. the second race went even better and with a new course layout at the same location gave a bit more recovery between run ups even though there were two on this course. on lap one i watched a guy go off a bridge into the creek!!!! holy toledo, but he said he was ok and a bystander helped him. I chased down a few people and even drafted a guy one lap before he blew up...again the shouts of Dan and Val and Steve and Rob made me push a little harder. so always take friends to races is my tip of the week.

so resting up a bit and then headed to kalamath falls to get up the ladder a bit

1 down and 1 to go

i raced the first of two cyclocross races today in Hood river. I am racing master 35+ this year so I do not have the excuse that some twenty something kid with no job and family beat me. got there an hour early and pre-rode the course which had a lot of wide singltrack dirt back in the woods. good thing I pre-rode it because some line were better than others for corners and soft sand and the run up section. I also increased my PSI ion my tires due to the firmness of the whole course. right bnefore the race started I saw my great cheering section Dan and Val and from Canada the big H. those guys rocka nd went all over the course to cheer me on. that always keeps you motivated. I found I got a nice mid pack position and kept it for the most part. the course had some ups that Ilost a few places on and then i would get them back in the down section riding the cyclocross more like a mountain bike...the skills paid off. I ended mid pack I think maybre a little below the mid line but felt good. felrt better than the last two races so we are headed in the right direction. I have another race on Sunday at the same location and then off to Kalamath falls next weeked with Utrek foranother cross race series.

on a side not I decided to do the BIG FAT TOUR with Steve and Roger in my neck of the woods next month.

Here is the rides:

from the website:

Friday, October 17 is the Sacred Ochoco Loop. One hour East of Bend, past Prineville into the Ochoco National Forest this ride takes us through Old growth Ponderosa, Fir and Spruce, alpine meadows and rocky outcroppings. The route crosses over two summits - Round Mountain and Lookout Mountain, the latter being entirely within a Roadless Area. The route is 90% singletrack and the conditions can vary greatly according to the weather. Come prepared for anything, especially to have your mind blown! Saturday, October 18 is the Classic Mt. Bachelor to Town with Epic riders completing the circuit around Mt. Bachelor. Check back later to find out the final route - some things we like to keep as a surprise. All rides are shuttled from town, but don't let that lull you into believing the ride is easy. Epic riders will tackle almost 80 miles, Recreational riders will face almost 50. It's the jewel in the crown of single track riding in Bend. Sunday, October 19 is the Cache Mountain Finale. This classic figure-eight loop climbs about 2000' in elevation and descends forever. This year we are contemplating a modification to this route, so please check back here when the time draws near. BBFT Veterans will tell you this is their favorite day, it's like the hangover cure and the social ride, all while surrounded in stunning Fall colors. Epic ride finishers will be awarded the highly coveted "No Whiners" Patch of Honor after this ride ends. Hope to see you there!

when in Rome

see the rest here:


BED

camping

took the canoe to Hosmer lake again after years of Utrek telling me how cool it was there we finnaly went and should have gone awhile back. then went to our secret camping spot and since only two readers or so are local here it is:

UTM

10 T 0622999
4871507

if you do not UTM then you should learn as its very useful if not here is a link you can use to translate:

click here

I did see a bob bag to try and match the Kratsch bag but it was old skool and not as durable by any means



So off to Portland for a week and then to Hood River......travel away

cyclocross race 2 of the season

I felt like I got ground up and spit out. i go to the venue about 1 hour early to warm up. the nice thing about these races is I can ride from home and then back after the race so thats a big plus. I was warming up and really felt somewhat sick. I almost bailed on the race. I just had no energy and felt somewhat queasy....later realized I did not eat much all day as I was busy but not sure. I thought back to my DNF days and figured I did not want to add a DNS so I lined up at the start. I thought that last time I went out too fast and blew up so this race decided to keep it even steven and the whole race actually went better that I thought. not great but as the short anaerobic fitness comes in to the mix this strategy seems to be the way to go. it was super dusty at this race. I think I much prefer the mud and cold weather. the hot duist really aggravates the old lungs. they took out one barrier this course for a short steep climb which I cleaned all the times other than one when I got caught in a mix at the bottom and lost my chain. A good cheering section again which is always appreciated. it is the pain that after wards I look back and am glad I did. The next series is next weekend in Hood River so that will be fun hanging with fordman.

Next week Bruce and I will train in Portland during a work trip. always good to focus elsewhere and Bruce always pushes me so should be a fun mix of training and work....( well that part is not fun)

work night, school night.....

Yep that's how I roll. Jennelle and I went camping with the mountain bikes and bob trailer on a work and school night....why....cuz I am continuing the summer long Wednesday night camping until first snow. We both get up early ( she got up at 5:30) so we still get home in time to start work and get to school. We rode up Storm King to a new camping spot. Played how far can you travel without stepping on the ground ( using rocks as islands) and according to Jennelle she was whisked away by eagles in the middle of the night to do battle with the bats and she helped the deer king win and saved the universe......ahhhh innocence of imagination at that age.

so that's all the happy stuff now the sad stuff is i am going to get my ass kicked tonight in the race so I am resting today and will post photos and a race report tommorow.....its going to hurt....so good.

sidenote: there was some confusion if that was really me running with lance....yes it is.

Humpday

Picture of Lance an I running since I am growing the facial hair for cyclocross season

Well I woke up to the news that Lance Armstrong is coming back to professional cycling!!! How sweet is that. I had the pleasure of watching him back before he was someone. He has raced and won the local Bend Oregon cycling classic. I raised my daughter watching the tour with me every year at 6 am since she is an early riser as well and she hates it when i fast forward through the flat stages on the tour.

Yesterday swam about 1500 meters with the underwater ipod.....oh what a difference that makes.

This morning did a reverse brick of trail running and transitioned to my bike for commute to work, about an hour workout all together.

rest now until Thrill cyclocross race Thursday night where I plan on getting my arse kicked yet again.....hopefully the girls do not pass me this time :)

You are the champion...( sing like queen)

ramping up for race two

Well the results are still not out and that's good because I do not want to see how far back I was. spent the weekend being active with a great mountain bike ride cranking the ipod ( new Ozzy CD I got ) and then kayaking and tandem road bike. today planning on going to the 50m pool and doing 1500 meters. I am all set to get my ass kicked again but thats ok.

arse was kicked!!!!!

ahhh the thrilla near the milla!!!!!! what an ass kicking. it was 45 minutes and 2 laps......but felt like a half ironman. I had not been working on the short intense workouts thats for sure. hit the wall half way through the race and recovered ok and finished but man oh man was I a hurting unit. fun race though and I was proud of my dismount skills and my ability to stay upright the whole race in the sand pit of despair. I stayed with Rob for about 2 laps and then adios. he lapped me at the end. the best part was Steph won the womens race so we are all stoked about that. Thanks to Bruce for the shouts and pics!!!!
next race in 1 week and a cyclocross race every week for the next 8 weeks....I will get better by pure force.......but so will everyone else...DAMN!

its on like a rock star

TIME TO RACE LIKE A ROCKSTAR or die on the side of course puking!!!!!!!!

Race season is on

Well its race season but really great hardcore training for Ironman next year. I have a cyclocross clinic tonight with Trebon and then race 1 of the Thrilla starts tomorrow. After the series of 4 races ( of which I think my schedule allows for three) we start the awesome Cross Crusade!!!! I am growing out the chops and facial hair for the race season and stoked!!! Put some new semi knobby tires from kenda on the cyclocross bike last night and actually cleaned the bike. I will get some better mudder tires later bit these were cheap. It feels like fall as I rode in on the road bike this morning to work in 42 degree temps. I swam yesterday for about 20 minutes and swam with my new underwater ipod case....wow thats the way to go...the boredom was gone!!! I can listen to podcasts or music while doing endless laps.......perfect.