bicicletas

[rubbish heap two]

Yo Soup, I liked the roads out there a lot. It's hard to compare for sure because I've done most of the climbs above West Portland a million times and the Bay Area thing was a novelty for me... I'd say both have their pros and cons, really. So Skyline Rd. in Portland is about equivalent to what you guys got above Oakland, in that it's a pretty easily accessible area from the city and features lots of climbs, rollers, off road stuff in Forest Park, all that. Oakland hills have a better view since it's the Bay and all, but Skyline climbs in Portland have more chance for elevation gain/loss in a shorter amount of distance just because of the way Skyline, HWY30 and all the up/down roads are organized. I'd say Logie Trail Rd. in Portland would be our equivalent to Pinehurst descending... but Logie is longer and wider, whereas Pinehurst is some of the most narrow shit I've ridden. Multnomah Falls would probably be our analogous road to Redwood, in that it's a pretty constant, winding 5% grade, but you have to ride a good 25-30 miles out of the city just to get there. So yeah, I can draw tons of parallels... the weather and novelty of the Bay Area may just be enough for me to eventually move there, and plus I've heard the racing scene is just fast and competitive as fuck.

 

Do you guys have any gravel rides in the Bay Area? Now that's some of my favorite shit... I've only ventured out to the gravel in the guidance of guys who know the area where better than me, but I gotta say, it's some of my favorite road terrain bar none. Gives an epic Paris-Roubaix feel (while in reality being about 1/10 as gnarly), and lets the CX skills shine.

 

I'd probably venture a guess that although I didn't ride it, the off road stuff on Redwood is a lot better than the (legal) stuff on Skyline in Portland (just because of the bullshit politics that prevent us from being able to ride all the available trails that runners refuse to share).

 

If you're ever around in Portland when I'm there I'm down to showing you around.

[Soup]

No gravel roads that i know of. And if im ever in portland again I'll box the bike and holler. Also next time you're around I should be able to tell you more about the trails around here too. The trails between redwood and skyline is just one park. We have TONS of parks with singletrack/hiking trails, including on Mt Diablo going from the summit all the way down. Also in the next month im moving to Marin County, the birthplace of the mountain bike, so you can imagine what that'll be like.

 

You'll prob be down here before im up there again. I'll def hit you up.

 

If you're interested in knowing about the racing scene down here, hit my buddy up: http://www.provantagesports.com/about.html He's the only dude i still hang out with that rides. Cat 1 racer, coach, thanks to him when the SFGP was going on we'd sit in the VIP tent and drink free booze while watching live helicopter feeds of the race. Ahhh it was good to be 19. Oh and he's how i met Adam from Rock Racing. They used to have a place together in davis with about 100k worth of bikes in the garage. Good people. Just a really well informed guy who's been racing since we were in highschool. You can hit him up for some training routines too haha. (Sorry i gotta plug that crap, but i do recommend checking it out. Im curious how it goes.)

[Joker]

USGP is in the books. Didn't do Saturday because I had to work, so just today's race. I knew it was going to be tough for several reasons... the wind that is always present at PIR, a soggy course, fading fitness and a starting number of 76. Then when I saw the guys in my group getting called up... I realized just how stacked my field was. It was intimidating for sure. Rubbish... the guy who won the Crusade series overall for the Men A field, was in my race. And lots of others in the top twenty of the Men A from the Crusade series.

 

I lined up in 76th position and just kept telling myself to pick off as many as I can, try to stay upright and have fun. After the gun it was a long, long straight so the field strung out pretty quickly. I moved up a lot because a lot of folks don't have a long sprint in them, I guess. The first two laps it was kinda tough because there were so many riders and that made the traffic hard to get around, especially in turns. I have no idea where I was as far as place in the field but I felt like I was pretty far back. I just plugging away and trying to pass people but really getting no where. With two to go I did pass a big group of riders and tried my best to distance myself. I was getting pretty tired and started taking some unnecessary chances which resulted in my first crash. I recovered quickly and only one guy from the group I passed caught me but in about two minutes I crashed again... right into a fence. I still have no idea why it happened. I just went right to it. I was about ten feet away, knew I had to turn left... but kept going straight. Kinda odd, but whatever. A few guys passed me but I caught them again and stayed with them on the last lap. They dropped me with about half a lap to go... I was exhausted. I still don't know where I finished but I know I didn't get lapped and that is good for morale, especially with Nationals coming up in a week.

 

Soup... glad you're loving the CX bike!!

[rubbish heap two]

My USGP day two....

 

There was a crash at the starting line that I nearly avoided, but then got a little tangled in at the last second. Didn't really go down but my rear wheel got knocked out of true and was stuck in the brake pads. Spent about 30 seconds fooling around with the cables to get it moving again. After that, thoroughly rode myself into the ground for the rest of the race to get 18th out of ~60. Way drier today, and ran ]stupid low pressure on my tubeless wheel set up. Sub-30 PSI both; felt the front wheel bottom out on a rooty section at one point but no burps and no pinches. Both days coming into the finish line I got the chance to sprint against some geared dudes (they combine SS and B's here) while heckling them about being outsprinted by a guy on a singlespeed :D all in good fun of course since we're sprinting for pride, not placing.

 

Now my cross season is over since I'm not racing nationals but I still got the competitive spirit running hardcore in my veins. Oh welll... time to start feigning an interest in spring road racing and get to pumping the iron in the mean time. Oh, and looking forward to increased boozin'.

 

For the record, the winner of the race (Louie Fountain, decade+ pro snowboarder) was also running Stan's 355's to Mud 2's. Gotta be saying something as far as tubeless goes. You guys on clinchers would be fools not to try it out, except for the fact that conversions are wack.

 

Joker, you picked the right day. Day 1 SUCKED. Way harder conditions on account of sticky peanut butter mud that dried to your skin instantly upon contact. The running section after the motocross track was far worse and I endo'd twice, once while riding into it and the second time after a remount. Crashed in a few other areas as well, mostly on account of getting my tires swallowed up in the quick sand. To make up for the increasing dry conditions of today, they added a lot more of that twisty turny stuff that we didn't have yesterday.

[Soup]

Now that i've seen a cross race Im loving these race reports.

 

Also, Life Cycles is on iTunes in HD for $9 as of TODAY.

[rubbish heap two]

I always thought cross reports were kinda boring without pictures or video, but that's me. I still feel like sharing anyway, and the haters can just scroll past :D

 

So here's a pic of me that would otherwise be really cool if I wasn't a foot too high above the saddle and had a knee warmer slipping down. You can see that peanut butter all stuck to tires and bike though... buck nasty.

[count chocula]

that looks like it's gonna be painful.

[rubbish heap two]

Somehow my taint stays iron-tough.

[Soup]

Today was fun. It was raining enough that I only saw one other cyclist all day. In fact, I only saw one jogger too. Kinda sad, because even tho it was pouring, there was no wind and it was like 55 degrees outside: IE shorts and teeshirt weather. Not sure what compelled me to put the rear fender on since it failed to keep me dry.

 

Started the ride late, so I didnt actually reach the trails until about 3:45. Started riding the trails, fog got thicker to the point i was riding beyond what I could see. Then I got under the canopy and it got too dark to see anything at all. Please note I havent got any lights for this bike yet, and it never occured to my I would need lights for the fog. So I turned around at Chabbot and decided going home down Pinehurst was too dangerous with no shoulder, the rain, the fog, the nighttime, and the idiot drivers... so i took Highway 24 instead.

 

UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME the shoulder was closed because of construction. LUCKILY for me it was rush hour traffic, so I tucked behind a car and rode it out. Even passed a few cars too. So there I was, in the rain, in the fog, at night, with no lights on, wearing shorts, a teeshirt, covered in mud, on the freeway, in traffic, passing cars, on a bicycle. I figured there was no better time to pull a mile-long team america secret signal, until my exit came up and i rode home.

 

You're welcome America.

 

 

Which brings me to my quesiton: I need a trail light. Suggestions?

[count chocula]

Haha ...you's a foooo.

 

Was raining so much this morning that I decided to crawl back in bed rather than ride.

just finished up some 3x3x5's on the trainer... and I feel a.o.k about only 45min total today.

[Joker]

Soup... I have one of those Niterider Tri-newt lights and it's pretty damn nice. It's a few years old so I'm sure you could find something much better now. Light & Motion and Niterider make some great riding lights. I'm pretty sure MTB.com has a review on all the lights out there and gives images of well they work on trails. Check it out.

 

Headed to Nationals today... sure be way too fast for me.

[Ernie McCracken]

 

i saw a few pages back someone talking about mountain bikes combined with lawnmower engines. these are the equivalent of what i have to deal with in every day life of city riding. they rent these out to people at the wharf with no bicycle riding experience whatsoever. oh, o forgot to mention that they love passing on the right. maybe im old, but im hating on the future hella hard right now.

[Soup]

Yeah but fuck that.

 

http://www.motopeds.com/

 

That's what you want. You can buy them complete for a little over $3k but if you cant build one yourself for under $2k you's a damn foo'.

 

50-150cc pitbike with a downhill mtb frame. 45-65 mph top speed depending on motor, 100 lb wet weight, 80-100 mpg, and with the motor switched off you can legally take it on bike trails. Does life get any sweeter?

 

 

No. It fucking doesn't.

[Ernie McCracken]

that looks like a hillclimber, im down. extend the swingarm!

[Fist 666]

that might be the gayest thing i've ever seen.

[kaes]

I want one of those sooo bad

[kaes]

I have a dirt bike and a very nice Dh bike and I'd trade em both for that thing

[count chocula]

[Soup]

Hahaha fist's too much of a dh purist to enjoy a street legal dirtbike from time to time. I guess if those became so popular it would fuck things up for the cyclist. Dirt bike barreling down the trail at 35 mph on the flats. And whats the fun of DH riding without pushing that 40 lb bike back up the hill?

[Fist 666]

pushing? thats what the lift is for...

 

its not that i'm a dh purist (i'm not) its that i'm a cycling purist. i enjoy simplicity and tradition, form AND function. and that thing is just a mess.

[Soup]

Yeeeaaahhhh, but, the bike was developed in santa cruz, not aspen.

You just gotta see it in action http://vimeo.com/8417461

[Joker]

CX Nationals... ugh. Worst. Day. Ever.

 

Had to do a TT on separate course the day before my race to determine my call-up. I always forget about the elevation change between Portland and Bend... it's over 4000ft higher in Bend. That change had me gasping like a fish during my TT. I started out strong and then slowly faded about half way through. I bombed the downhill section and too the sweeping turn, after the downhill, at top speed... enough to get some good feedback from the crowd standing at the turn. I still have no idea how long it took me but out of 170 riders I was 112 in the TT. Not good.

 

I took some time after my TT to go over to the Champ course and do some laps. It was a little muddy but not too bad. The worst parts were the grassy sections that were soaking wet... leg sappers.

 

Saturday morning just as my race is about to begin the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and the snowflakes got massive. Big, big flakes and lots of 'em. I was surprised there wasn't a crash during the hole-shot... really surprised. After turn one I started working my way up through the riders but not making a ton of progress. One guy actually gave me shit for bumping him as we went through a turn together. Yelled, yes yelled, for me to have fun racing for 90th place. We're half way into lap one and this dude has already given up and wants me to give up as well... at a National Championship race. Dork. On the third lap I crashed about five times. I was just so cold from all the mud puddles, the snow, the rain and my form is practically gone from a full season of racing... I was just getting tired. I tried to give it some gas where I could and in one of those sections I took the off-camber downhill turn too hot and rolled my front tubular. I tried for a bit to push it back on but in that short amount of time my fingers started to go numb and my toes were screaming from being frozen. I called it. Race done. Bummed to DNF at a Nationals but I had no pit wheels and there weren't neutral wheels so, what to do except DNF.

 

Looking at the lap results... the five guys in the lead group, all from Colorado, were doing laps in just over 8 minutes. I was doing them in just over 10. It was only a matter of time before they caught me and I got pulled, anyway.

 

Wish I had some photos to share but right now I have none.

 

Now it's time to relax for a few weeks...

[rubbish heap two]

Dang Joker, that sucks! Rolled tubbie and all.

[boxcarrapist]

Video of CX Nationals

[count chocula]

 

mist/fog/drizzle + pine needles = sketchy descents.

fun ride though.

[Soup]

Where the eff is that? Today was indeed foggy. No bueno when you're going faster than you can see, and there's horses and horse shit up yonder.

 

My ride today.

http://goo.gl/maps/uBTK

 

The trail route google's got in there is far from accurate. +1/-1 mile for that reason

[rubbish heap two]

Choc, is that off Redwood Rd? You weren't doing that on a road bike were you? That moisture/mud looks about perfecto home terrain for a cross bike, assuming there's not a bunch of rock gardens and gnarly roots hidden below.

[Enmity]

Yeeeaaahhhh, but, the bike was developed in santa cruz, not aspen.

You just gotta see it in action http://vimeo.com/8417461

 

bad ass.. i miss my rm7 dh .. sooo much

[Soup]

Im curious to know where choc's been riding too. I dont know if that's redwood because i dont recognize that left turn sign in the mud.

Along the westridge trail there's these two descents almost at the very bottom where it runs into redwood that drive me nuts. Rocky all the way down, fast right, another fast bumpy slope thats steep as all hell and a sharp left turn. I need to work on my hand strength so i can pull those brakes and ride them out, but for now I just walk them down. If you've got a way to get down it, choc, holler.

 

Redwood's cool because its a loop that you can just keep doing over and over, but i want to try the skyline trail soon. Probably go in a day or so.

 

 

Edit: so i told my friend that my wheels werent going out of true. He goes "well duh, the rims are bending." and told me to keep my tires above 60 psi because redwood is really, really bumpy.. Does that sound right to anybody else? I trust this dude but i am disappoint that i cant run the lower psi.

 

Also Choc, Rainier's gonna be racing for my bud's team next season. Holla.

[Joker]

Above 60psi??? You better check your tires to make sure that's all good. I don't run my tires above 45psi.