Couple of things Saturday, Bike wheels and Cyclocross...

Hey loyal reader, check it out! A couple things Saturday!

Look at this awesome OK Go video:

Inside Brilliant: The Wheel Factory from Brilliant Bicycle Co. on Vimeo.

Or maybe it is just an awesome bike wheel building factory in Taiwan. Found via Spencer Wright who is an interesting dude with a really strong bike background and the co creator of the Public Radio and creator of the prepared newsletter, where I found the link to the above, and which you should subscribe to. Really.

Also,

I should have given him his own blog post, but CXHairs is just killing it with the cross videos this year, distilling world cup and other races down to 20 minutes of race coverage and analysis. Check out his coverage of the Womens world cup in Milton Keyes below, and three years worth of excellent coverage over on his website. I suggest binge watching them all with a side of whiskey and chocolate tonight, so you are ready for the world cup tomorrow and worlds next weekend. I met Bill last year at cross Vegas and he is a solid guy, he even took it well when I blurted out "I love your videos but man do I hate the music". Anyhow I still hate all the music as I am a twisted old man set in my ways (where is the Van Halen maaaannnnnnnn) but the videos and analysis more than make up for it, I love them. Videos are arranged sequentially on his Vimeo channel if you want to binge watch more efficiently, CX Hairs Vimeo

Glorieta Cyclocross 11/3/13 Mini Race report

As full blown race reports are apparently no longer within me, I will get down with mini reports to get some content out there. Here is the quick and dirty from Hawke's Old Fashioned cross sufferfest in Glorieta this past weekend. (see here for a report from a previous excellent Old fashioned cross race from the same promoter.)

Old faithful, ended up running a slightly wider more bitey front tire for the sand and the off camber loose stuff

The course was on the grounds of the Glorieta (baptist) conference center and was really hard, somewhere between 2 and 5 dismounts per lap depending on how strong you were, as appropriate for the Old Fashioned cross series. Two long runups: one stairs, one quasi ridable dirt. One short set of stairs. A gopher hole riddled set of tight chicanes which was pretty ridable but slower than running. One short steep ride up with an ugly transition that was a bit too steep for my one gear for 5 of the 8 laps.

Much more technical than the usual UCI looking cross we get used to. Lots of off camber, lots of grassy dirt, a couple sand pits, even tighter chicanes than normal, longer run ups. I acquitted myself decently on the one speed I think. Got an OK start, crashed straight through some course tape on a chicane, lost a couple guys I shudda stayed with right there. I churned along painfully in my slightly-too-large-for-my-fitness gear of 36-17 or so. Rode the sand well. Ran the run ups well. Did not chicane as well as I could of. Got lapped by two really nice fellers on cool bikes from a Trek Composites something something team (zach and some other dude), down from durango possibly. Highlight of the race for me was getting lapped by them in the ugly little gopher chicanes and then blowing right back by them in the sand as they were waylaid into running by another lapped rider. I lost my will to live about 40 minutes in and then lollygagged for a lap and then noticed that I was getting caught by someone behind me, so I turned on the jets and finished OK. Given the complete lack of training and the only one other cross race this year I was pretty happy with the effort. There was only one mens category, which I enjoyed, reminded me of outlaw races I cut my teefs on 20 years ago, I have no idea where I finished other than the three guys who lapped me, I think midpack. I am pretty sure I was the only single speed.

Here is a video Elena shot of me through the sand pits.

Sand Pit Riding at Glorieta Cross from Tarik Saleh on Vimeo.

It is probably best to watch the full minute with the sound on to hear what Aida thought of daddy racing. She did tell me today that she loved going to the race and wanted to go to another cross race soon, so this was probably just a bit temporary dissatisfaction with the attention meter.

Anyhow, good course, good turnout, hurt my lungs. Yay cross. Thanks to all the organizers.

also, firetruck!

In Socialist Belgium, Jonathan Page cheer you!

I wrote most of this post last month and never finished it, but in honor of Jonathan Page's national championship victory and the impending world champs in Kentucky, I cleaned it up and added a million photos. I have been a big fan of Page since 2001 nationals and supercup in Baltimore when I watched him win the Supercup race (on a Richard Sachs cross bike) by sprinting full speed around Todd Wells into the last set of barriers, barely holding it together as he tripped/ran/fell across the barriers and holding on to the finish for the win. So congrats to Page for his 4th national championship and read on if you got some minutes.

Jacob Van Artevelde discovers Gent's Socialists Dwelling

So there I was in Gent for a meeting a back in early November, I cleverly had built in two days at the end of the trip for bicycle based shenanigans, fortunately my long lost pal Jeff was living in nearby Antwerp and up for said shenanigans. On Saturday I planned on hitting the Soudal Classic Jaarmarktcross Cyclocross race in Niel Belgium. I hopped on on my fixie bike friday early saturday morning and rode 5 rainy kilometers to Gent Sint Peeters station and hopped on a train to Antwerp.

Excellent train murals in Sint Peeters Station

Once in Antwerp I hopped on the bike and rode a couple of km to Jeff's abode. Where I discovered he secretly is the man behind the evil society of the Ned Van Vlanders Flag. We talked bikes and stuff and set up a road bike for me for the next day's cobbly adventure on the RVV course. Finally, due to a cancelled ride, Jeff graciously offered to accompany me down to Niel to watch the race.

Flag of the free state of Ned diddily Van Flaandersen

We rode down on a very confusing yet well marked bike routes down toward the race. I am glad Jeff had some local knowledge and was able to steer us more or less directly down to the race. The routes varied from separated bike lanes, to sidewalk routes, to suburbs then on to skinny farm roads that eventually dumped us in Niel. The ride down featured varying levels of driving mist and rain. It was clear that it was getting increasingly crossy out there. Once in Niel, we followed the trail of welly wearing superfans, paid our fee and got into the race site just before the start of the women's race. We immediately got tiny beers in plastic cups and frites.

Frites with Diablo Sauce and tiny Primus beers

Jeff watches the women's race from the special vantage place...

The atmosphere was a bit sparse at the Start-finish line, so fortified with more beers, we went in search of mud. It was found. The course was pretty flat with one impressive off camber muddy chicane. Some of the flat sections were more or less unridable. There were sections where the mens field were running for what appeared to be 1/4 mile or more on pancake flat ground. Impressively mucky.

My feets

Deep ruts even for flyweight riders

Manual assist on the crowd barrier

Jeff and I set up camp at an area with a great view of the muddy chicane and with a turn of the head, we could watch the big screen following the race. We watched the end of the women's race, went on a dangerous mud mission to get more beer and returned to our original watching spot to watch the rider's introductions on the big screen. Sven Nys got the biggest cheer. Niels Albert got boos. Jeff and I were probably the only people at the race who cheered for Jonathan Page. The vinyl jacket wearing superclub supporters (Vantourenhout, Nys and Pauls) in front of us, smirked at our homerism.

Me and Jeff and the Bald Superfans, best photo of my whole trip really...

More superclub fans, Klaas Vantourenhout, Sven Nys and Kevin Pauwels

I really enjoyed watching the top Euro's fight it out. There was a pretty big pack at the front initially with a couple guys turning themselves inside out to stay with Nys, Albert, Aeronauts and the reanimated corpse of Bart Wellens. As the race progressed and the field split up we had ample opportunity to cheer on Jonathan Page and watch the big four duke it out. Some mild gamesmanship occured throughout the race, often playing out on the slick climb right in front of us.

Nys cleans it

Chicaney Goodness, I think Albert with Nys behind him

I know you wanted to see the giant umbrella again, note the freshly trimmed tree for TV coverage..

We spent the race cheering Page on as he slowly moved his way from a position in the 20's up to his final position of 18th. The battle between the top four guys spread out over the mud in front of us and the big screen behind us was pretty cool. At the end, much to the disappointment of nearly everyone there, Albert just plain old ran away from Nys and Aeronauts on the long muddy flat run. He opened a 20 second gap there and finished easily ahead of the rest at the line. Aeronauts jumped Nys on the finishing stretch and Wellens tailed in for fourth.

Field blows on by in the beginning

Page wings on by

Page again

Yu Takenouchi was riding a sweet steel Toyo frame with extra cool downtube

Nys hisself

After the race ended, Jeff and I wandered around the pits and checked out the mechanics cleaning the bikes, the cool giant buses and the riders warming down. Nys had a giant personal camper, a big tour bus for VIP's to drink and meet people and a small camper selling Nys branded crap. I bought an ugly ass Nys hat. Other highlights were checking out the Toyo bike and the amazing multi team battle jitney.

Only steel bike in the race

Check that Downtube

The multi team cyclocross battle jitney

Washy wash

washy washy wash

Totally typical mechanic guy

Finally, if you are still reading and are trying to figure out where the title comes from, Jeff and I left the circus of Neil and started riding home on the bike path out of town. Right at the edge of town a camper van passed us and as we looked over at it, Jonathan Page stuck his head out of the passenger window and gave us a hearty heckle or cheer. It was pretty cool that he not only heard us, but recognized us, especially given his intense focus during the race. I am pretty sure there was no one else on the course cheering for Page that day, but it was still pretty cool. Later, Jeff forwarded me this twitter exchange:

I was smiling about this for at least a week. After getting the cheers, we then rolled back through the fields and dales back into antwerp and shared some road beers on the way among the cows and misty fields. Rolled in to Antwerp, grabbed some dinner and then I folded up the mud and cowshit smeared bike and headed back to Gent. A perfect bike adventure, even including the extra few miles I rode in Gent in the dark and rain as I got pretty lost on the way back to my hotel from the train station.

Road beer on a road, covered in mud and cow shit, but it was a road

Trusty steed on the way back

Dinner in Antwerp, beef stew, more frites and beers

The crapulous bike folded up back on the train

So I recommend going to watch some cross somewhere big, whether it is Nationals or a Supercup like event or pretty much any race in belgium or upcoming worlds or something else. It is awesome. More photos from the race here. The entire set from belgium is here

2011 NM Cross Series #4 Pojaque

race 10/15/11


Late the night before the race, I was sitting in front of the TV, drinking beers, watching the baseball playoffs and blogging my last race report. I noticed an email on the NM bike racers list reminding that the next day's cross race would be in Pojaque, a mere 20 minutes or so from where I sit (a mere half mile from where I was living when this blog started many moons ago). I have mostly given up racing cross in NM as the races are most often in Albuquerque and honestly I am way to lazy to drive 2 hours each way for a one hour or shorter race. However, this race was close enough to get me interested.



I thought about it a bit, finished watching the Rangers run up the score on the Tigers and then decided to race. First thought, where the hell is my cross bike? I decided it probably was in the back of the bike closet. I unearthed it from its hook and headed to the bike dungeon to give it a once over. The tires were well goatheaded from its last adventure a number of years ago. The sealant still held in the back wheel, but was not holding in the front. The tires were a bit hard as well, so I changed out the front tire and tube, picked all the goatheads out of the rear pumped it up and gave it a spin and called it good. I was running a 36-17 on the bike which seemed good as I have not been racing much lately. I spun a 16 freewheel on my pit wheels and aired them up too. I slapped some lube on the chain and checked the brakes. It was good. I love singlespeeds.



I grabbed a helmet with a light on it and went out for a late night shakedown ride. I spotted an aluminum schwinn hardtail on a junkpile destined for large item pickup, decided I did not want it. Rode around for a couple few miles getting used to the handling, and decided to go back and check out the bike again. I looked at it more carefully and noted it had shimano quick releases, a bell, an old headlight and some bmx pedals, all worthy conquests! It also had some IRC mythos slicks on it, which are not a bad tire to put on a commuter, they looked pretty new, and were aired up a tiny bit, so I pulled the bike off the pile and ghost rode it a couple blocks home. I got in just after midnight, put the bikes up and went to bed.

The Race morning I woke up late, got my gear loaded and hit the road. Got to the race site about 15 minutes later than I planned and registered quickly and noted my race was not the next one. Somehow the schedule I read online was an hour earlier than the race day schedule. The NM cross series has 2 oddly laid out websites with a third for race registration. Information is sparse and confusing at times. But the races are usually worth the hassle of figuring out where and when to show up.



The race was at the Pojaque Reservation Wellness center. I am pretty familiar with the area, having lived very near by for most of 2003-2004, but I was not sure where they would run the race. Turns out they had laid out a really fun course over the slow wet grass of the football field/track to a nice long gravel road climb and descent and then a dirt section. Lots and lots of chicanes and 180 hairpins and a couple three sketchy high speed turns thrown in. One set of double barriers on the grass and a stairway run up on uneven large stones.



I warmed up slowly as I watched the womens/masters men race unfold. I did not really get a chance to hit the course at all, but snuck on for a brief recon after the race before ended. It turns out I was not used to my cross bike at all after not riding it for so long and I had tons of trouble with the hairpins, especially the dirt ones. But no matter, I headed to the line and lined up with the 10 or so racers in the singlespeed collegiate race. 8 or so of us were on one speeds and there was one geared male collegieate racer and one geared female racer. It was really sunny and warm as our race started, we were scheduled for 40 minutes, but we were warned that they might cut it short a bit, which was fine with me.

NM has a funny cross scene. I looked over on the line next to me and noted a hot tubes lugged cross bike with bart bowens name stickered on the top tube. I look at the rider, nope, not bart. But he is a NM native and usually shows up once or twice a year to stamp his authority on the local race scene. Also I noted there was a dude warming up in the parking lot on a slick looking carbon Trek single speed cross bike with Travis Brown's name on it. Rider looked to be Travis Brown himself. Durango is a 4 hour drive, so occasionally we get special guest visitors from the Durango scene. Fortunately for me, he was planning on riding his single speed in the Cat1-2-3 race, instead of dicing it up with our anemic singlespeed field.





Anyhow, I lined up in the second row, unsure of the condition, we got a laconic, "ok go" from the official and off we went. One dude went out really hard and I looked around at the rest of the field and realized no one else would be going after him, so I rode around a couple of people in front of me and sprinted to try to get to the guy in front. I hit the grass just behind the leader and the barriers went OK considering I had not done any barriers in almost three years.

The slow wet grassy chicanes did not go so well and the leader had gapped me and a few guys behind were tight on my wheel. We then hit a stretch on the track to a short dirt section with a tricky hairpin to the stairclimb. That part went OK, then we remounted did another tricky turn and did the big gravel climb out descend back. I tried to catch the leader here and by the top of the climb I had closed in a bit. I noted the riders close behind me (all on single speed mountain bikes) dropped off a bit on the climb.

After the fast descent we hit a hard tricky right on gravel, followed by a short climb and a fast descent to a 90 turn on pavement that was pretty tight, followed by a section of chicanes and hairpins on dirt. I pretty much screwed up all these parts. The leader gapped me good and two riders were right on my tail. We transitioned back to the grass part and I further screwed up the grass chicanes, but did well on the barriers and the stair climb.



I drilled it on the gravel section and got a pretty good gap on the lone chaser and settled in. It was pretty clear at this point that I was probably not going to catch the leader, and it was clear that I was only going to be caught by the guys behind me if I kept screwing up the hairpins. I transitioned to the downhill and over to the dirt section, screwed up a bit less than before, but the guy behind me had pretty much closed the gap. When we hit the grass again, I did much better, finally trusting my bike a bit and opened up the gap a slight bit through the stairs to the start of the climb. I drilled it again on the long climb and had a ton of room behind me by the time the tricky bits started. The third time through I did pretty well all through the gravel and the grass, I hit the track and got three to go from the official and probably had a good stair run and went out to climb again.

At this point I was hot and tired and thirsty and vaguely aware that my rear tire was getting soft. There were goatheads everywhere on the course, I could only hope my sealant would hold long enough for me to finish. I was pretty sure I could hold off everyone behind me and was dead sure I would never see the leader again. So I resolved to drilling it yet again on the climb and looked back at the top, delighted to see no one even close. The rest of that lap went very well as I finally got the corners dialed through the dirt and grass. The rest of the race was only dramatic in that my rear tire was getting progressively softer.



To make my long story shorter I will say the race ended just like that. I think I actually closed in on the leader a bit once I figured out the corners, the guy behind me had pretty much thrown in the towel and I finished second in the race, second of the single speeds. Just before I got the bell, I think I pinch flatted the rear in a manner that the sealant could not deal with and lost quite a bit of pressure in the last lap. I finished with the tire damn near flat, but I barely had to slow at all.

I changed drank some water, grabbed a cowbell and cheered on the A's for a bit. When I left Travis Brown was yo yoing off the back of the lead pack in the A race, but it appears that he won in the end. The course was really nice and was quite fun. The views of the snow capped Sangre de Cristo mountains were supurbe. I am not a huge fan of separated single speed races in cross, I think they should have thrown us in with the A group so there would have been more racers in between to make it more interesting. As it was the A (cat 1-2-3) only had about 12 racers in it. But otherwise I remember why I like cross so much. I think I started cross racing 15 years ago (1996 DFL cross races and Surf City Races) and I have skipped 3 years since then, so happy dozenth season to me. I may try to hit one or two more races before season end, but I would bet on fewer rather than more...

This is totally Travis Brown. Not some cheap imitation. Real deal.


Race well run by, results posted at, and photos borrowed from Dash for life

Decisions

To race? If so, which of the 10-15 year old cross tire technology should I embrace...


Update answer was yes, and went with the NOS michelin Sprints, the perfect NM Cross tire, report soonish

Cross season Summary

First part of the season. Drinking beer from a cross crusade pint glass (thanks my portland pal andrew):



middle part:
Not racing cross

End part:
Aida and I watching all the cross videos posted on mud and cowbells:


Aida really enjoyed this one:


So that is year two since 1996 that I skipped cross season. I shall return.

Saturday Video Fun

Everyone and their uncle has linked to one of these videos or another, but has anyone linked to them both in the same post? At moscaline we go the extra step for blog gold.

Dock Ellis and the no-hitter on acid:


I have no problem with McGuire and Bonds in the hall of fame, despite their drug use, but maybe the veterans committee can elect Dock Ellis so there is there is no question that drugs have been a part of MLB for a long time.

Anyhow, in a completely unrelated note, can I wear tight jeans while racing?

source
Actually if those guys race a single race this year, they will race more cross than me thus far this year. This may be the second year in the last 14 where I skip cross season, we shall see...

Finally, everyone in the world has seen the Danny MacAskill video right? Here is him selling out to the man. Good for him:



I hope he sleeps in piles of money.

2008 Fort Marcy Cross race report

Since little Aida has come along my riding has consisted exclusively of a 6 mile rt jaunt on the Big Dummy to work and back. I was getting a bit jumpy about not riding that much and had an opportunity to run some errands in Santa Fe that neatly coincided with the NM cross series #7 race in Fort Marcy Park, which is a few blocks from the downtown plaza in Santa Fe. I knew I was not in great shape, but I was hoping that my veteran cross wiles would get me through the A race happy and no worse for the wear.

pre race. Luckily the little girl in the back was not in my race or she might have lapped me too


I got down to the race site around 11:30 with a half hour or so to spare. I quickly changed and registered, but due to an unfortunate snafu I spend 15 minutes looking for a restroom that did not exist. Apparently the portojohns were never delivered and the local gyms restroom was not open as planned. Bummer. I climbed down into the arroyo that cut through the park and somewhat stealthily watered some trees. Problem solved but course pre-ride was not completed before race time.

training the night before the race, like 95% of my cross specific training this year


The course was a nice example of public park twisty chicane celebration. Making good use of natural berms, sidewalks and bridges. The first half of the course was something like start, hard left, hard right onto bridge, hard left off bridge down dirt path across another bridge up a loose climb, tricky right onto gradual dirt climb along the road at the edge of the park, short right turn onto a downhill into a series of chicanes through sand and then up a set of stairs. Back down the gradual climb with a loose detour around a truck parked on the course. Hard left back down the park with a loose turn leading to another bridge.

This lead to the second part of the course which started with a hard right off the bridge along some pavement to a 270 wide paved turn to some dirt leading to a hard right up a loose bumpy climb. A 180 at the top of the climb right back down to a loose left and then a dirt gradual climb to a tight left that led to a three long straightaways with a couple of very loose tight 180 turns linking them. After this a sweeping loose right hand descent on to pavement followed by a tight left and short straightaway leading to a final bridge. Hard left off the bridge onto a paved path that surrounded a soccer field with sharp corners with the start/finish at the end.

It was a long fun course with lots of loose stuff and tricky bits. The stairs were the only place where you needed to get off the bike. The course was really narrow, but there were probably only 20 starters or so in the race so it was not a big deal.

looking fast, although reality was quite different


Anyhow, here is the report, I started in the back, yo-yo'd off the back of the pack a bit as I screwed up every technical section in the first half of the course. I passed a three or four people who I think had raced earlier, jumped in the A race for a few laps and dropped out. Then I popped, dropped off the back completely. And then I finished the first lap. I then rode on my own for a number of laps and then started getting lapped. I started riding a bit faster as the lappers came through, taking better lines and enjoying myself, attempting to hold onto wheels.

I did do great on the stairs though, I was able to take them two at a time almost every lap, and look smashing while doing it. The course could have used a second set of barriers or other forced dismount feature, but overall it was really great.


Crossing the start/finish line


I was probably running my tires at too high a pressure and was unable to hold some of the loose lines on the course. It is a delecate balance for me as I ride pretty light, but I do weigh 200 lbs, so no sub 25psi pressures for me. I think I was probably up around 40 on my michelin sprints which was a bit hard and jarring, again, getting there earlier and preriding would have shaken this out a bit. I did end up flatting, but it was a slow leak over the last lap that pretty much held until the last corner where I almost bit it. Goatheads. It did not cost me any places though as it happened over the second half of the last lap and no one lapped me and I was already last. I had some specialized airlock tubes in there, but they are probably the same tubes I have been running since 2003, so they might be a bit light on the sealant now.

After the race I headed over to 2nd st brewing company with my Ski Club buddy John D. and his Nob Hill Bike club teamates for some delicious beer and sammiches. Good time was had by most.

Results over on nmcross.com I took DFL in the A race. Yea me. If you want to get some idea of the course and racers, there are some good photo galleries here and a big one here where I borrowed a couple photos fro

My buddy Glen is the race promoter and I heartily thank him for putting on a race in Santa Fe. In my dotage I am reluctant to drive two hours to albuquerque for a cross race anymore. Glen has lined up the Santa Fe PD to help sponsor the race next year and allegedly they will bring their big barbeque truck, so it should be a can't miss race. Thanks to Glen and the other volunteers for putting on a good race.

Old media profile!

Mountain Flyer is the mostly off road magazine of the mountainous west of the country. It has finally hit its stride in issue 10 by featuring me in the community section! Go me. I think it is slowly transitioning from Rocky Mountain centric to a slight bit more national feeling. Kind of how Bike is a West Coast bike mag and Dirt Rag is an East Coast mag, but they both still have enough interest for the national audience, Mountain Flyer is heading ther. The magazine has strong Los Alamos roots as the publisher Brian Riepe grew up here and a number of writers (including my interviewer KoachK) and editors still live in town. So check it out online or on your local news stand.



last time I hit the big time

2008 La Tierra Torture MTB Race Report

Very short report:
I dominated the novelty bike division.


Take that "norms".

Much much longer report:

So last saturday I got up and started to tinker with my trusty single speed mountainbike for the race. I noted the headset was knocking a tiny bit the week before and wanted to get it tight. I loosened the stem and tightened the top nut and felt virtually no resistance. That is odd, I thought. I pulled the top nut and cap off and saw that the star nut was pulled almost all the way out. Not so good really.

I am usually pretty aware of not tightening a threadless stem cap while the stem is clamped on, so I thought this was really weird. I had no star fangled nuts in the parts box, so I was able to pull the nut out and reset it. It still pulled right out.

Damn.

So I hopped on the trusty schwinn and rode downtown to see if the LBS had one. Nope, LBS was closed at 1pm on a saturday. I like our little LBS, but only if it is OPEN, which it is falling into the habit of not being. This is a huge problem with living in this town, there is no good help, so there are inordinate demands on shop owners to run their shops solo, which leads to shops being open sporadically at best. And then people don't even bother going to the shop before driving to santa fe or mail ordering things and then the shop goes out of business...

So anyway, I am still out a star fangled nut, I call a few pals no body has one, so then I remember there is a guy who repairs bikes out of his house and I swing by to see if he is working. He is not. Double damn.

So I drive 45 minutes down to santa fe and buy a couple of star nuts. I grab some lunch, ride around on the folding bike a bit and and then head on back up to the mesa for some star nut installation. I go over to the stand, thread the star nut onto the installation tool, and drop it in. The star nut does not even engage the steer tube. Fuck.

It appears that the tasty hunter fork I got last year (to replace the cracked kelly fork) has a really thin steertube and thus the star fangled nut does not engage all the way on the old nut, and at all on the new ones. Crap.

So plan B. Build up the BMX bike, which is still in bare frame form, and race that. So I did. I built the hell out of it and 4 hours later:

I am ready to race. Except for one thing. My handlebars twist in the stem too easily. Crap crap crap.

I am pickled in phil grease and too burt out to figure out the bars, so then I go to plan B, and pull the trusty cross bike down from a hook, clean it up a bit, swap the 36-15 hard man of october gear to the 36-20 up way to late the night before the race gear, slap on some 35mm knobbys and a bottle cage and call it good. In bed at 12:30 am with a headless MTB, an almost built 24" bike and a race ready cross bike. Woo!

A few short hours later I got up, ate a small amount of oatmeal, bannana and coffee for breakfast, drove over to Pal Paul's house and got his bike loaded and headed over to the race site.

The race is just outside santa fe, and is chock full of smooth singletrack and short steep climbs and descents, it manages to cram 1100 feet of climbing in a relatively flat area.. I had two 9+ mile laps on the agenda. Last year it was cold, windy and snowy and I had some digestion issues that caused me to fall apart the first lap and come back strong on the second.
last years report here. This year is was obviously going to be alot warmer and the course had more single track and it was alot drier which implies much more sand and possibly less ideal terrain for the cross bike.

We got to the race site an hour before the start, I bottomed out my golf about 70 billion times on the rutted rarely used road to the parking area. I got registered, picked up a nice jersey that was a registration bonus for the first 100 racers to pay. Got the bike ready and rode around a bit. I felt pretty good and I felt that I was well digested compared to last years debacle. I knew I was not in as good shape as last year and that the bike might be a liability so I was not too worried about racing well, mostly just trying not to crash hard and break the bike..




The race started with about 15 odd singlespeeders on the line. Glen, the organizer, announced that we were racing for two laps, but if we wanted to, we could do a third for the "advanced single speed" something division with the clever acronym ASSHAT. Eh. I guess one of the racers complained that two laps was too short for the singlespeeders and we should do three, but then he did not even show up. Nice. No matter though, I was in it for two and utterly underfed and watered for three, so no wavering on my behalf.

Race started and I got a pretty good start, not like last year, but easily in the top five, we got to the top of the hill and then started a the singletrack and the entire field passed me. Slow and steady says I. I was pleased that I could clean almost everything in my 36-20 gear, and it was much easier than in my 36-16 mtb gear I ill advisedly ran last year. I got into a nice rhythm of descending in the hooks and climbing on the tops or hoods. I forget how much fun my cross bike is when it is not in race gearing. I am pleasantly suprised with how firm the course is. THere are a few sandy bits that I can't ride and the new singletrack is pretty loose, but it goes well. I think I am in dead last for the singlespeeders in the first couple of miles, I pass one guy in some demoralizing hilly bits and another who probably dropped out with a mechanical.

The downhills are very twisty and loose but I am having fun drifiting and skidding around the course. I pull over often for the sports men field to ride by, but no biggie. The lap ends with a fast fun woopty doo arroyo crossing fiesta, the course snakes across an arroyo 7 times in a short period of time.

As the long climb into the second lap begins, my legs tell me that perhaps I have not been taking it as easy as I thought. It is really getting warm, and I feel hungry. I am pretty sure I can fake the second lap with out bonking, but not positive.

I kind of struggle through the hilly bits at the beginning of the lap, get passed a bunch, pass a bunch of people on the smoother climbs and the non technical descents. It is pretty good. While the first lap I climb pretty smoothly, pick some good lines and avoid alot of the sand, the second lap finds me hitting every rock and tree and sand pit. I can't really get my smooth on, but I am probably going faster as I am not getting caught up with sport riders passing me and then flipping to the granny gear on the climbs... My legs are on the verge of the cramping, yet I press on. Not much else happens. I did get lapped by the two leaders in the last half mile or so. It was probably the longest race I have ever been lapped in. New fast guy Mike was pulling established fast guy Damien through the singletrack. People who saw the sprint finish claimed it was really close, but with a half mile to go it was pretty clear to me that Mike was doing all the work and looked like he was about to blow a gasket while Damien was kind of chilling in his slipstream waiting for the hill in the last 100m to sprint by him. It is good to see someone pushing Damien this year, he has been winning all MTB races and hilly road races by a ton in the last couple of years. Next time, I bet Mike tries to get him to do some work...


People seem inordinately impressed that I rode a cross bike in a mtb race. While this is not the best race for cross bike riding, it is pretty skinny tire friendly and certainly is much much better than many other races we have here in NM. Anyhow, I finished in around 2 hours, which is about 20 minutes slower than last year, but maybe the course was a little longer. I was 14th of 15 single speeders, results here. I survived and only crashed once at low speed when I steered slowly into a large loose rock that was the only feature on a smooth bit of singletrack climbing.



Anyway, great race. It was really dusty but not sandy. It was hot, but not scorching. It was hard, but not too hard.
Maybe I will ride the BMX bike next year, or maybe I will compete for the 3 lap asshat award, or perhaps I will sleep in. It is a really fun course and not too far away. Director Glen and the Pedal Queens and other volunteers did a great job with the course marking, results and the like. Well done.

I was actually pretty happy that my back did not get locked up like it does during cross races. The big gear I run in cross and the constant on and off at high speed is much different pain than what I put myself through this time. I think I set the handlebar height on the cross bike in 1996, so I was pretty happy that I can still ride in the drops as well. My neck was a bit sore, but all in all, no biggie.

Paul finished and was happy with his first MTB race in a million years. As soon as he learns that you don;t need 50psi in tubless tires on a full suspension bike, he might be even faster. We boogered off after the race as I was starving and went to the Santa fe brewing company for bitters, fish and chips and salad. Good day was had by all, probably. Anyone still reading?

Bicycle crashing

Give the people what they want I always say. I get about 10 hits a day since cross nats looking for video of Ryan Trebon crashing at Nats. I think most people find my mefarm v treefarm video lacking a bit. So here you go, a video of Ryan "treefarm" Trebon getting clotheslined by a rider who looses it and crosses the tape:



He is OK already and in europe getting ready to fight the belgian overlords in races leading up to worlds. Pretty nasty.

Speaking of nasty, check out this track race where 13 of 17 racers bite it on the track. I could watch this over and over again. Everyone was OK more or less. Junior Race in australia:



Note they interview three separate aussie pros in the nightly news broadcast. Awesome.

Tijeras Moonlight Cross Race Report

I have thus far avoided riding cross this year due to a combination of sickness, wedding prep, wedding and honeymoon. But the NM cross scene keeps growing in leaps and bounds and the variety of races seem to be thinking outside the fast grass track roadie festivals. So how could I resist driving down to Tijeras (just east of albuquerque on I40) for a night time cross race under a full moon with generators powered lights filling in the gaps. The prospect of racing on snow and muck was hard to resist as well.

Chad all crossed up on the run up


By the time we got over to the race course, at about 5:40, it was cooooold and dark and the moon had peeked over the mountains. I am going to guess it was 25F or so with a bit of a wind. I ended up putting all the clothes I had on, Elena and I grabbed some cowbells and cheered on the B race. I am really proud of my buddy Chad, who came out to race his first cross race ever on perhaps the least beginner friendly course and conditions ever. I am also really impressed with Elena and Jill for cheering in the intense cold. Well done.

Chad and Jill post race


The course had a nice mix of grassy chicanes (two sections), a single trackclimb and off camber descent, a long paved section and one triple barrier, a icy slushy wooden bridge of potential death and under it, a nasty creek crossing frozen slippery run up. It was pretty technical, made a bit more so by the frozen ground, snow covering and ambient moonlight on the single track section.

Start of the A race



After spending a few laps watching the B race and cheering for chad, I went through the long and laborious process of figuring out what to wear for the race. I decided on a insulated cycling cap, wool tank top with two long sleeve wool jerseys, bib shorts, wool knee warmers and wool ski socks. I also wore my super warm commuter gloves so I could keep my hands from going numb. I warmed up a bit with a trainer on and was cold. Really cold. I was kind of sure that the race would keep me warm, but not positive. Brrrr. The B race ended, I hit the course for a couple warm up laps and was pretty happy with how I felt. The snow, power sections and run up suited me well, but the long pavement section was half downhill which was problematic.

Patented flailing duck technique on the run up


Now it was time for the A race. About 20 or so of us lined up at the start, shivering and shedding layers. Race Director Jamie Ryan White, resplendent in a Loyal Order of Water Buffalo Hat, gave the pre race direction and offered a $200 first lap prime. The race started too soon and off we went. Apparently cross wunderkid Taylor Layne nearly killed himself on the first lap coming onto the icy bridge of death too hot. $200 prime will done that to you. Thankfully there was no hope for me to even be anywhere near the front at one lap, so I could avoid crashing on the sketchy slush death bridge at my leisure.

Crossing the slushy death bridge under the full moon


I had a really good start for once and held a pretty decent postion through the first lap. Then I actually moved up 4 positions or so through the second and third lap. I felt like I was powering through the grass well, making up a ton of time on the barriers and run up and the single track section. I was even holding on pretty well on the paved section. I was not really cold either. My face was a bit cold and my toes as well, but otherwise I was feeling good.

Not as slick as it looked, hardly any snow/ice/mud buildup on the bike


I was running a 36x17 gear on the single speed and it seemed pretty good given what shape I was in. A little warmer or a bit more training and the 36x15 would have been the ticket so I could keep up better on the paved part. The singletrack section was kind of nice. There was a big berm speedbump at the start of the climb, a brief powerclimb and then a really fun snow covered off cambered descent which looked like a ribbon of silver lit by the moon. This transitioned into a somewhat sketchy steep short downhill then a hard right onto pavement. Everytime I let it go on the downhill I came close to loosing my front wheel at the bottom, so I decided to err on caution side as I was in no danger of contesting for anything.

Thankfully no wet feet


Around lap 3 or 4, it all started going wrong and the complete lack of training, hard efforts and racing caught up with me. My back started seizing on the running parts. I slipped a few times on the run up exacerbating things (note to self, replace toe spikes on shoes), my power in the grass dropped to zero and I was getting dropped badly on the pavement. I lost 30 seconds on the barriers at this time when I had my worst remount in the last decade. I almost missed the saddle completely. Missed my pedal. Came to a complete stop. blindly tried to clip in a few times, finally dismounted again, ran to the pavement and then remounted. Crap. To make matters worse, as soon as it was going wrong, I got a verbal "9 laps to go" as I crossed the start finish line. crap. Long night ahead.

My complete superfan support club, Elena


At this point I changed my race strategy a bit. Instead of powering through everything, I concentrated really hard on not using my brakes ever in the chicanes. Instead of attacking the barriers and run ups, I tried to be smooth and non back jarring. This worked pretty well, but I was not really going that fast. As the race progressed I loosened up a bit and put the power on, but by then it was merely damage control time. The bottom line was that 4 people passed me and two people lapped me between lap 3 and the end of the race. Usually I am able to pass people as they fade in the second half of the race, but I was going completely backwards this time. I think I finished last of the finishers, but it was hard to tell. Attrition was pretty high. I assume results will be here eventually. I won ten bucks for finishing. Thanks pals!

Pretty long video of me smoothly and slowly getting up the run up with a minimum of slipping, 18MB quicktime:


After the race, I changed, got some delicious veggie chili and hot cider provided by the organizers. Then I realized how very cold I was, so Elena and I boogered off and met chad and jill at the flying star for coffee, cookies and a breakfast burrito as big as my head. It took about an hour after the race to stop shivering. We then bid our adieus to albuquerque and made the long drive home, arriving just after midnight to a 10 degree F los alamos.

So very cold post race


All told it was a great race. My lack of form was starkly revealed by this race, but given that starting condition I am pretty happy with the race. It was an excellent course, well organized race and overall, now that I am warm, a complete blast. Big thanks to khsnm for putting this race on. Big thanks to any and all spectators out there too. It was a pretty rough day for racing, but a really rough day for standing around in the snow.

Race Photo set on Flickr