Quick ride last night

Tracy had an appointment until later in the evening, so I didn't get out to ride right away. Instead, Charlotte and I ate dinner at Ikea (meatballs, lasagna, garlic toast, masshed potatoes, and veggies - yum!) and then we played with all the toys, jumped on beds, opened and closed drawers many times and ran through the warehouse potion. It was good clean fun - and we didn't care who was watching!

Once home, I gave Ty a call to see where he and Dan were riding. Turns out they were kinda close to my place, so I donned the BCR kit (Scott, why do I still have yours?!) and they pulled up.

We did a couple repeats of Lone Oak Rd, before wandering around in Eagan. Then we made our way to Fort Snelling and Dan and I said goodby to Ty. Dan and I then dropped down along the river and popped up at the airport. I took 494 home and Dan headed off to keep riding until 11pm I'm sure.

I didn't get out for much, but it felt good. The pace was high at times and the two Lone Oak trips were pretty hard core.

I'm hoping to get ready for the Powder Monkey this weekend. However, I don't think I'll be able to ride until Saturday, when I'm in Duluth. I'll be checking out some new trails in Piedmont.

My goal at the PM is to be near the front when we enter the singletrack. The first climb is a killer though and I'm cautious to hang at the front for fear of blowing up midrace. However, to get into the singletrack early would be a huge time saver....but then again, making good time up climbs is also a time saver....so who knows....

All this talk about racing - now I have to poop.

You can register for the race HERE.

Old PM pics.

Change is Good

If you were to ask me to describe previous races at Red Wing with single words, here's what you'd get:

HOT
HUMID
SUNNY
HOT
FAST
AMBULANCE
HUMID

Typically it feels as if it's 95 degrees and 95% humidity at this race. There seems to always be an ambulance run and there's very little shade if you're spectating. And it's hot. It's always been a challenge for me. This year however, the day brought a kinder, gentler temperature range and made it very tolerable.

This day I dragged Lalla along since he was skipping the stage race in St. Cloud, so I figured I'd have someone to ride with for a bit (Lalla, remember the St. Cloud race a couple years back?!) - even as he was sporting his new road shoes and pedals on the Specialized.

Red Wing got a bit of rain prior to race day and the trail was tacky for the morning racers. However, as my start time got closer the trail seemed to dry up nicely and looked to be offering up some ideal trail conditions.

I told myself that I was going to make a point to be at the line early so I could get a spot closer to the front. If you know me, you know that I typically start near the back, so this was kind of new territory for me. I've tried it a couple times before and quickly blew up to fade through the field like a stone in water.

But this is a new me. This is a new bike. And change is good.

Right?

Lalla and I were next to each other as the Experts charged from the line. Immediately there was a crash and a small group of guys went down. Hard. Trace got some good pictures:

Can you spot who's about to go down??






And he's back up!


After I saw the hurt rider get up and continue I applauded and tried to shake off any flashbacks to my crash at the start of the Spring Cup.

The announcer tells us that we'll be doing 3 laps and that there are a coule re-routes to watch for.

15 seconds

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (he literally said it for that long)

I had a great start and made some passes right away to be in the top 12 as we made our way around the field towards the entrance of the singletrack. Once we got to the entrance, I cut inside and made my way around a couple more people as we hit the trail. My rear brake was already going mad (earlier a mechanic from The Route sprayed some cleaner on it and it was queit!).

Once in the single-track the pace was good. We were moving along nicely and I was staying on the wheel of the person in front of me. In several cases I had to slow down and I think my brake was annoying the guy in front of me. Things seemed to be moving nicely. So far starting closer to the front didn't feel so bad.

If you haven't raced at Red Wing, I'll tell you that there's a nice mix of double-track and single-track. in fact, there's quite a bit of the double-track, so if you get stuck behind someone in the woods, you can hold out for the next wider section to step around him. Well, that's where I need some work, because every time I hit the double-track I felt like I just had two flats. I didn't always lose a spot, but a couple times I did. I don't know if it's cuz it's straight and non-technical or what, but I just seem to go slower in double-track. I can't explain it.

After the first lap I was still feeling good and the trail was treating me great. I was able to gap the person behind me and make up time in the single-track. One change I enjoyed was the new entrance to the quarry. It starts the same, but then turns back up the hill before you go under the bridge for more single-track, before dropping you back into the original trail into the quarry. Lots of people and cameras on hand to witness the falls and close calls. Being so low and tree covered, lots of the rocks were slick and I heard lots of people go down. The climb out of the quarry was the same as last year and caused me to walk it the first time.

I tried to keep drinking water and took a couple shots of my CarbBOOM flask in the hopes to keep my position.

As the race went on I was still making some passes and occassionally got passed. But I felt much better than my last attempt at starting up near the front. On the last lap I bobbled the last climb (the long loose-rock Stairway to Heaven) and had to walk. That lost me two spots. As I started to close in on the finish I could hear a rider approaching and tried to floor it so as to avoid a sprint. No good. I saw his wheel on my right side and heard him shift. I shifted once and stood up and we were haulin'. Just as I start to pull ahead I think to myself, "the finish line should be..." and then his wheel is gone, and I'm locking up as I'm overshooting the line and have to turn around to go finish behind him. LOL.

All in all I had a great time. I felt pretty good most of the race and am still amazed at how the Taurine handles single-track. Dropping into the quarry and bouncing off the rocks was a blast - must have been my high tire pressure :D I finished with my best result of the season so far and am both nervous and looking forward to the Powder Monkey next weekend. I love that course and would like to do really well, but that first climb is scaring the crap out of me....but that's another post I guess.

Thanks Trace and Lalla for the water and pictures. Charlotte was cheering for me even!
Thanks to everyone who made the race happen. It was a great day and the course was wonderful.

Even if it needed to be a couple changes working together, I'm learning that change IS good.

Let's fight!

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Get your registration on!

Click here to register for the Memorial Race this weekend.

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I'll be there along with Lalla who's coming for moral support and beer hand-ups.


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Wednesday night ride

I had planned on hooking up with the ride out of Penn Cycle by my place, but I got a call from Ty and we hooked up at Minnehaha Falls.

My trip TO the falls was fantastic. I was riding some big gears due to the tailwind and the passing cars along 13 weren't going by me nearly as fast as usual. It felt good. Once I started crossing the Mendota bridge, reality hit and my legs didn't feel quite as strong as I had hoped.

Ty showed up at the Depot and we got on our way. We dropped down by Fort Snelling and popped up on Post Rd. Took that to the airport and crossed 494. The wind was a pain at times, but it felt good to be working hard.

I grabbed the first city sign as we entered Eagan on 494; 1-0

Once at the top we headed left and made our way towards St. Paul on hwy 13. This stretch was nice as it was with the wind. Tyson continues to amaze on the bike. Even after a hard climb, he has power to keep it going afterwards. I'll call it his "Over the Top" style.

On the decent into Mendota, Ty grabbed the next city sign. 1-1. Nicely done. My weight on the downhill wasn't enough to catch him. I kept the pace high through town with my sights set on the next city sign - which happens to be two. I could see Ty's shadow catching me as we neared the end of town. I thought for sure he'd come around me, but then he faded and I took the two signs. 3-1

Next we climbed up to the park. By now my legs were feeling tired - exactly what I need to work on, so I tried to keep the pace up. I managed to grab the St. Paul sign as we entered the park: 4-1

After the park, we turned and headed towards Lalla's old place, which was also part of the GP ride. We turned right and headed for Eagan. Along the way Ty snuck in an attack for the Eagan sign: 4-2 Well played.

At Lone Oak and Pilot Knob we split and headed for home. It was a great ride with some good efforts up the climbs and a couple short sprints. Needless to say I slept great last night.

Thanks for the ride Ty!

Instead of riding....

....get in the mood for the new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:

Google Maps and the TdF

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MNSCS#4 video

Something I threw together from the latest race.


MNSCS#4 - Bluff Rider's Charge from Adam Emanoff on Vimeo.

It was a good effort Jeff!

This morning I read on VeloNews that they had selected the Olympic Teams. Unfortunately our local Pro Racer, Jeff Hall, didn't make it. Below are some highlights of the article:

USA Cycling named 21 of its 24 nominees to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team on Tuesday, including all 16 men’s athletes across the disciplines of road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking BMX.

The governing body also named five automatic women’s nominees across the four Olympic disciplines of cycling.

Of the 21 named on Tuesday, 12 earned automatic nominations under USA Cycling’s Olympic selection procedures, while nine other riders were nominated to the Olympic Team by a nine-person selection committee according to USA Cycling’s Principles of Discretion.



For the discipline of mountain biking, Todd Wells earned the only men’s automatic nomination, while Adam Craig was selected as a discretionary nomination to the two-man squad.

Wells automatically qualified by earning the highest cumulative placing in his best three 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup events. Wells finished sixth at the World Cup in Vallnord, Andorra on May 31 to complement an 11th-place effort in the season opener in Houffalize, Belgium on April 20. He then finished 13th at the most recent contest in Fort William, Scotland on June 7. Wells’ sixth place finish in Andorra was the best result by a men’s American mountain bike athlete in World Cup competition this year.

As the discretionary selection, Craig was the only other American to record a top-ten finish in a World Cup race this season, placing eighth at the second round in Offenburg, Germany. Additionally, Craig was the only other U.S. rider to place in the top 20 of four World Cups this year, adding a 15th-place finish in Houffalize, and a pair of 16th-place efforts in Andorra and Fort William.

I'll admit that I didn't always keep the closest tabs on Jeff to see how he was managing at the races abroad, but I was holding out hope that someone I knew, someone I've met, someone who's lapped me in a race would be representing us in what is often referred to as the pinnalce of our sport. I helped where I could; I bought a bracelet - in fact it's still on my wrist as I type this. BCR organized a TT in his benefit and managed to donate some cash to help with any expenses in his journey to Beijing.



It's too bad Jeff, I was pulling for you! I'm not sure what's in store for any future attempts for the Olympic Team, but I'm sure Jeff will keep busy with his family and cycling endeavors. Thanks to Jeff we had a great kids series in the MNSCS last year which helped grow the sport where it matters most.

It won't be the same following the Olmpics without Jeff, but I'm happy to have been a part of his attempt to make it to China.

A cool one indeed

This year at the Bluff Rider's Charge there were several firsts:This was the first race that Charlotte rode her Strider bike at.It was the first time the MINI hauled the cargo box with the Burley inside.It was the first time I raced the Taurine on these trails.And it was the first time that it wasn't 95+ degrees out.There was as stiff breeze however, but I'll take that over the heat anyday.We arrived early so we could see Brad and Matt race. It was fun hanging with both of them before and after their races. As I was venturing out for photos and video I could feel the trail was a bit damp. It wasn't damp enough to be thrown around by the tires, but I could see some sections of the luge were a bit slick. After talking to Brad and then Matt, it seemed the course was drying up nicely. I'm guessing the clear skies and 20mph winds did the trick.I got myself ready to go and found Dan - who arrived ON TIME - and we started riding around to warm up. We got back to the start finish line and everyone was ready to go - whoops. We took our spots in the back of the pack and waited for the start.Luckily there was no prologue this year! Thank you course organizers. I don't like it for the reason that it adds a lot of climbing, but it also doesn't seem to do much in the way of thinning the field. The corners on the way down are always tricky with everyone and seems more dangerous than doing good. But anyway - there was none of that and we all took off for the first climb. The gravel singletrack climb was mowed to accomodate two or three riders wide, but it was littered with random holes. Fortunately there were cones in the holes so they were easily avoided. As we made our way up the climb, positions were jockeyed for and at times we were going up three wide. The Taurine and the legs felt good and we made some good passes. I could see Dan about 10 riders ahead of me. By the time we started the first singletrack portion there were about 6 riders between us. I tried to maintain the gap and keep myself fresh for the upcoming 4 laps. Once at the top of the hill, we turned into the wind on a slight climb and it was more work than I thought it would be. Luckily there were riders in front of me to help block some of the wind. I'm really enjoying how well the Taurine rides. Accelerations are instant and it really does handle like a dream. I was able to make passes where I usually would have waited for a better spot. Through three laps I managed to slowly get closer to Dan and I was feeling pretty good. During the race I had been drinking HydroBOOM and taking shots of CarbBOOM from my flask. I think I managed to drink about a half a bottle a lap (It's probably not enough, but if you know me, you know that's a lot for me.). One of my favorite parts of the trail came as we dropped down to The Maze. Several switchbacks in the woods, a jump onto the ski run and then back into the woods for some high-speed sweeping turns. On every lap I managed to close gaps in the switchbacks and by the time we were getting ready for The Maze I could make some passes. Several riders were kind enough to move over for me, with one dude looking back like I was about to run him over. I'm thinking it was the squeal of my rotor that gave him the hint. We were on a highspeed section and I had to slow down to not hit him. Several times. Finally, we moved over and let me by. I've always loved The Maze. It's literally a bunch of sweepers tied together. There's no straight section until you exit. You're totally leaning in the corners and testing the fine line between braking and breaking loose. I hauled ass in there and felt really good. It was a nice break before heading back up the hill. That wasn't really my favorite part, but I think I did okay. Once at the top, we dropped in to The Quick Release. This part is new the last couple of years. But the trail has been there for a long time. I remember hitting portions of it way back when I was racing the MB-1. The entrance was the same, but at one point the new stuff takes a right turn and we hit more roots and then drop down. Each time I hit The Quick Release I was in a group and wished I wasn't because the Taurine was soaking up all the roots and we were flying through there with no problems.Here's a shot of me in the early laps doing The Quick Release:Tracy was fantastic at doing water hand ups for me. She was ready every time and we haven't once missed or dropped a bottle. Things went smooth for the start of my 4th lap as I started climbing. I could still see Dan, but he was starting to get away from me. I could see he was on a dudes wheel and wondered if he had enough to make a pass or if I would be able to catch them and we could ride the last lap together.Soon enough I found the answer as I could feel my legs get tired. Just starting to run out of gas (maybe I should have had 2 hot dogs for lunch...). I tried to keep the pace high and make up time where I thought it mattered. A couple times I told myself "Let's go! You're racing here!"By now I was finding fewer racers to catch and spent lots of trail time by myself. I managed all the tricky parts just fine - the nasty, dropping hairpin, Mad Squirrel, fast switch backs, etc. It was the last time to hit The Quick Release and then it was easy to the finish line. I entered my usual line and bounced around off the roots (thanks to my high psi) and turned the corners nicely to get lined up for the last portion. Since there was no one in front of me I came in pretty hot. 3 times prior I had aimed for a large tree on my left to go over the roots and turn right down the drop. This had worked well for me as I was going over the larger diameter roots and had less steering correction on the way down. This time however, on the last lap, I messed up and had too much speed as I headed for the tree. I manged to scrub off the speed and start the turn to drop, but I must have overcorrected and the bike was headed to the right, but my body didn't quite follow and I went tumbling. I went down pretty hard and remember being upside down.Head, meet ground. Ground, meet head.The Taurine came and landed on top of me, almost as if it was trying to catch up with me and say "Here I am, let's go!" My bottle landed right in front of me and I grabbed it and put it back in it's place.After I got up, I looked around and yelled "whoooo eee!". There was one dude standing off to the side not moving or saying anything. Almost as if he had just seen a ghost. Weird. The Taurine seems to ride just fine, so I hauled her in to the finish line with dirt all over my left side. Just after The Quick Release I saw Dana the photographer and told her she just missed my crash - bummer. So that was my race. I placed 9th age group and 26th overall.I saw that Dan snagged another podium!! Nicely done - that's 3 out of 4 so far. And one race he was 15 minutes late to. Keep it up.Did you race? Do you have any stories?