Injury Update - Wrists and Rhinos

This year certainly started off with challenges.  With my road bike getting stolen and with getting parts for the new mountain bikes.  Every company seemed to be back ordered on what I needed, going out of business (Race Face), or things like an earthquake/tsunami in Japan to delay shipments (Shimano).  It was quite stressful and giving bikes their maiden voyages on race days isn't optimal.  But it all got worked out in the end and now I have two awesome bikes to ride and race.  Then I got taken out in the short track race at Fontana the last weekend of March.  I took a good hit to the left shoulder which caused me some pain for the next month or so but wasn't anything that would keep me from riding.  Since the motion that would aggravate it was lifting upward.  But the left wrist was the real problem, and still is.  This is what it looked like two days later:

It's a little hard to see but it was pretty swollen, for a wrist, and it's all red and purple and blue.  I got xrays later that day and was told there weren't any fractures.  Well that's good.  But here's what it looked like 4 days after injury:

Nice and purple huh?  Nasty.  But the swelling was going down so I figured it's getting better.  I just kept icing it and alternating with heat whenever I could.  It seemed a lot like the injury I had to my right wrist last year.  Though this one had more discoloration initially.  A week or two went by and it seemed to be getting better.  I was able to ride for the most part if it was taped up, but it would be pretty sore after a rough MTB ride.  I wanted it to keep getting better so I danced the line between time off the bike and trying not to loose too much performance.  And it was going ok, until one day I while I was driving I reached back behind the seat in the car to push something back that had fallen over, kind of flicking it with that hand and SNAP!  Ohh that didn't feel good.  This was not the same injury that I had to the right side last year.  When that one would pop it was a release and would feel better.  And this was more of a snap, not a pop.  And after that it seemed to feel warm.  Hmmm... but this stubborn guy didn't go back to the doctor.  Just kept icing, wrapping, taping, etc. in the hopes it will get better.

Well now almost two months after injury it's not any better.  You know that little "divot" on the underside of the wrist at the base of the thumb?  Well it's not there on my left wrist, and it seems like a bone is protruding out where it's not supposed to.  Time to go see the orthopedist... we'll see how that goes.  I'm just tired of going to the doctor lately, just keep reading...

Now lets back track a little to early April, the 13th to be exact.  The week of the Sea Otter Classic.  I raced the Wednesday night Prairie City Race Series and was feeling really good, taking the win.  After the race I put away the Tallboy and hopped on the "cone bike" to help pick up the race course like I usually do.  I was about to set off when Brian, the race promoter, said to me "Hey they rolled the Rhino, you should go check it out."  I figured maybe they needed help putting it back on its wheels or something.  They just pick up the cones on the course too so it probably wasn't a big deal.  "Where are they?" I asked.  Brian was on the radio to them and said "Over by the kids moto track."  Then I asked the question I just figured I should but wasn't really necessary... "Is everyone ok?"

Brian: "Jen's foot got squished." 
Me: "($&!#)"

Prior to that I don't even think I knew Jen was out on the Rhino.  But she does go out as a passenger to help pick up the cones frequently so it wasn't too big of a surprise.  I tore off in the direction of the kids moto track, trying to remember what part of that night's race course went by there that would be so rugged to cause a rollover.  Going as fast as I could, but not very fast (dang cone bike is a single speed!), I spun my legs frantically feeling like a mouse on a running wheel and finally got over to where I thought they'd be.  (insert cricket chirps) There was nobody there.  I looped around a little to make sure I didn't miss them, scanning the area and nothing.  So I wheeled back to the venue area at about 130 rpm and as I rolled up I saw the flashing lights of the park ranger truck down the hill, maybe only a quarter mile from the venue.  I ditched the stupid cone bike for the Tallboy and sprinted down the hill.  As I got closer I could see the Rhino still on its right (passenger) side and that Jen was still on the ground being tended to by the Renee, the event EMS.  As I skidded in, Jen was on her back with her foot splinted and elevated on a medical bag.  There was nothing I could do except comfort her.  She was in pain, quite a bit.  Her foot was bluish purple but I wasn't sure how much of that was because with the wind chill it seemed like it was in the 40's.  Her foot didn't look "squished" to me, but it was obviously bad considering how much pain she was in and she did NOT want anyone to touch it, or her, or the bag it was on, or really look at it wrong.  I tried to distract her by telling her that her pedicure still looked good (she just got it the night before, and that's a rare occasion).  I think she giggled.  I asked what happened to the general vicinity, and I'm not sure who responded if it was Jen, or Kelly the driver, probably a combination of both.  Jen missed grabbing a cone as they moved along because the front wheel of the Rhino hit it, so when they made the left U-turn to go back and get it, the Rhino rolled onto the right side.  In the split second and seemingly slow motion process, Jen instinctively put her foot out, as you would on a bike or motorcycle, to protect her head from hitting the ground.  We keep telling ourselves that thankfully the Rhino only landed on her foot.

The ambulance finally arrived and loaded her up to take her to the ER.  They wouldn't let me ride in with her, which I thought was odd.  So I loaded up the bike in the car and followed them to UC Davis Med Center.  I went in to the ER waiting area and asked the front desk if I could go in and be with my wife who just came in via ambulance.  She said no because my wife isn't in the system yet.  Ahhh!!!  I asked if I would have ridden in with them would it be any different and she said no.  I went back to the car and ate the couple oranges I had and grabbed all of the Hammer Bars I had stashed, figuring it was going to be a long night.  I went back in and asked the front desk girl if Jen was "in the system" yet and she replied, "Oh she's in C21/22, that's bad."  Oh great!  After a minute of getting me signed in I was able to go back and entered a big room with massive overhead lights and blood spots on the floor.  I hope those were from the previous guy!  But Jen wasn't in the room, just one nurse who told me they had taken her to get more xrays.  I saw that there was an xray of a foot already on one of the monitors and I asked if that was Jen's.  It was, so I snapped a photo:

I'm an eternal optimist, so it didn't look THAT bad from what I could tell.  I was still waiting for Jen to come back from xray and I discovered the ER had wifi.  So I emailed the xray photo to our parents (who I had called on the way to the hospital).  Jen finally got wheeled back in.  She was doing ok and in good spirits considering.  She said the EMT in the ambulance couldn't find a pulse in her foot so she was brought in as a level 1 trauma and there were at least 15 people waiting for her in that room when she got wheeled in.  They swarmed over her with amazing efficiency and before she knew it she was hooked up to everything and her clothes had been cut off.  They had determined that she was getting circulation to her foot and was stable so we were moved to another smaller room to await the test results.  Hours went by and a CT was taken as well.  The Orthopedic docs in the ER came by and kept messing with her foot asking if she could feel this and that and if it hurt when they did this.  Even over all the pain meds she was in a lot of pain, but they kept messing with it.  They said she might need surgery right away, so she couldn't eat anything.  All she could have was a water soaked sponge-on-a-stick that I had ready whenever she needed it.  I finished all my Hammer Bars (cashew coconut chocolate chip is really good!), trying not to make her hungry and eat them quietly.  They ended up putting on a MASSIVE temporary split/cast thing in the ER.  I thought they called it a "Bulky Johnson" and in my sleep deprived state I resorted to juvenile humor and laughed.  But I think it's called a "Bulky Jones" and it was all in my head.  Oh well, at 4am in the ER I think I'm allowed to giggle at the voices in my head right?  Jen got discharged from the ER at maybe 5am or so and officially admitted to the hospital.  They ended up not doing surgery and just keeping her for evaluation.  She got set up with a nice room on the 5th floor by the window so that was cool.  She fell asleep after a while and I went down to the awesome cafeteria to get my post race meal, about 14hrs after the race.  I powered down the biggest salad I could make and about half of a rotisserie chicken!  Jen was doing ok and was finally discharged to go home at about 2:30pm. 

Happy to be going home.  Look at that huge splint!

Ok time to make this long story a little shorter.  We're set up with an awesome Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Yoo, with UCD.  She has a Lisfranc injury, complicated by numerous fractures.  He showed us the CT scan which basically shows the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsal and 1st thru 3rd cuneiform bones being shattered on the bottom side.  An MRI was taken to determine the ligament damage as well.  Thankfully some of the crucial ligaments are still intact!  Which is great news for recovery.  But there are some that are ruptured.  Since it is nearly impossible to repair the fragmented bones on the bottom of the foot without causing additional damage, the plan is to let the body heal them and fuse them together naturally, then see how it goes from there.  However she did need surgery on the 1st metatarsal, and that was done on the 5th of May.

Getting the nerve block put in, ready for surgery.  Very happy to have SOMETHING being fixed!

The new hardware.

The surgery went well and Dr. Yoo was impressed with how quickly she has been healing.  He said it was actually hard for him to set the bone because of how far along her healing has come.  While he was in there, he also put some stress on the joint and said it held very well.  More good news!  We'll take it.  But the Dr. has tried to keep our expectations realistic, and told us that it will be about a year before she can walk normally again.  And she may never be able to go a day without pain for the rest of her life.  It's very somber news for sure.  But we've been praying for God's amazing power to heal and perform miracles, and we are faithful that he will.  She still has another six weeks of absolutely no weight baring, but she's ready to attack physical therapy as soon as she's allowed.

So needless to say, daily life changed for me since this happened.  I missed Sea Otter for the first time in years, but my #1 priority needed me so that was a no brainer.  I don't make a living off of racing bikes, so training and racing have taken a back seat for a while.  I'm happy that I can be there for her and take care of her, but it's been hard because she's very independent.  Both of our cars are manual transmission so she can't even drive.  Until this last week when our friends went on vacation and have let us borrow their automatic car to see if she could drive left footed.  She's able to drive herself to work and back which is awesome, but is uncomfortable going much farther than that.  This has also allowed me to ride to work and get back to a fairly normal riding schedule too, which I'm thankful for.  I'll keep racing where I can, probably staying more local to save on time and expenses.  Hopefully my wrist will hold up too.

If you got this far... thanks for reading and for caring :-)

Rockhopper Classic Race Report - 5/7/11

Someone had the idea of bringing back one of the original NorCal (and MTB for that matter!) races after a about a ten year hiatus.  Well that was a good idea!  This course was a good one, set in the rolling hills of Lagoon Valley Park/Pena Adobe Park in Vacaville, CA, with a good amount of singletrack, climbing, and tons of switchbacks.

Saturday morning I arrived at 9am in preparation for a 10am start, figuring I could get about a half hour warmup which I needed.  I hadn't ridden since Tuesday because Jen finally had surgery on her foot and priority #1 is to take care of her, not turn pedals.  But something caused the registration process to be extremely delayed and I didn't get registered until about 9:55.  Luckily they moved the start back to 10:15!  My warmup basically consisted of a few passes in the parking lot to get my heart rate up as much as I could and then lining up at the start.  I knew this race was going to hurt.

There was some pretty speedy competition on the line including Kevin Smallman who I'm usually pretty well matched up to and current Cat 1 40-45 National Champ and general fasty Dario Frederick.  Should be a fun race if I could stick with them.  At the gun some younger riders set off with a sprint pace.  Ok guys... we got a long ways to go here.  But I managed to tag along with the front group sitting in about 7th or 8th place I think.  My legs felt ok on the first climb, but I was redlining.  Got a little bit of a breather on a downhill and then traverse before another steep short climb.  I hadn't preridden the course either so I was ok to sit in for a bit.  But that second steep climb got me and the pace was pretty fast.  I had fallen off the back a little bit, maybe 5 to 10 seconds already.  Coming off of the first second ridge was a set of two downhills.  The first was pretty open and went into a saddle with a little rise and 'S' turn under a tree.  I went into that turn, having to duck for a branch other shorter riders probably didn't see, and the front wheel washed on some grass as the bike was laid over to the right.  Instinct reflexes kicked in and I shifted my weight, locked the rear wheel with just a split second pinch of lever and the bike popped back up.  Nice, that was close.  Just time for one breath and I'm behind the saddle on a choppy steep downhill with what looks like a sharp off camber right turn at the bottom.  The rear wheel is sliding now so I weight the seat a little to get some traction.  I see a lot of dust at the bottom of the corner, like there was some commotion from the lead group there.  As I get to the corner, yep it's off camber and I've got too much speed so I un-clip the right foot and dirt track drift the corner, getting some extra traction on the exit from some matted down bushes.  As I pedal out, I a rider walking with a tire off what looks like a taco'd front wheel.  Yeah there was some commotion there, it was the lead rider who was maybe a little too reckless early on, and his day was done.  I made a pass on a flat open section which put me in about 5th I think, cool, time for a drink.  I reach down and grab an empty bottle cage.  Crap, my bottle must have come out on that downhill (sure enough it did, found it after the race at that corner on the bottom).  I take my 2nd bottle out of my jersey and grab a swig before putting it in the cage, hopefully this one stays.  And hopefully they have some neutral water or something because there's only about 15oz in that bottle, and I have no support.  Then I came to the "Steeze Jump" photographer...

After a little style it was time for the real climbing to begin.  For the next couple miles it was all steep climbs followed by short steep downhills that quickly take all of that elevation away without much rest.  The legs were burning pretty good but I just set in with a pace I knew I could sustain for 3 laps of this craziness.  I pass Kevin Smallman on one of the climbs as he's off on the side with a mechanical problem.  Come to find out he snapped the chainstay on his frame!  Major bummer.

After a traversing section I get to a steady fire road climb and as it bends around the corner I see some neutral water being handed out.  Sweet, only in cups, but I'm gonna need everything I can get.  I down a cup and charge up the first set of switchbacks.  Have I mentioned this course had switchbacks yet?  Yeah, TONS of them!  Good practice for me, since I stink at them.  At least I think so anyways.  Especially right handers.  And it seemed like the crosswind was always blowing against me on the right handers too for that added balance training.  After that set of switchbacks, was more fire road climbing, then more switchbacks after a little traverse.  Oh but we're not at the top yet!  There's more switchbacks around that corner!

Ok, finally at the top!  The nice 360 degree view was interrupted by that cross wind gust reminding me to pay attention and hold on or get blown off the trail.  From that point down to the finish was a truly sweet cut-in singletrack trail on the steep hillside, gradually making it's way down.  The Tallboy was an awesome choice again as I'm railing the turns, popping off the banks, hurdling rocks and skidding into... oh yes... switchbacks!!!  Though the downhill versions are much more fun.

I finally make it to the bottom in 4th overall about a minute forty back from the lead.  I knew I wasn't going to get the win, but maybe I could get into the top 3, so I kept charging at my "diesel" pace.  Lap 2 was pretty much spent alone but on a few occasions I could see 3rd overall at the top of some switchbacks.  I'd time from where he was and I was about 40 seconds back from him.  Each point I would measure on lap 2 though I was always about the same time back, and my legs were burning pretty good.  I just didn't have any "pop" up the climbs.

On to lap 3 and I had rationed as much as I could but took the last drip of HEED I had in that bottle about a mile in.  Which was about an hour and a half or so into the race.  The quads began to slow-fire on some of the early climbs in the lap and I just went into survival mode.  Thankfully I wasn't feeling any pressure from behind.  Up the last set of steep switchbacks I caught a lapped rider who slowed my rhythm and my balance was off as I spun out.  I dismounted and ran to where I could remount again, hopped on and began spinning as both calves cramped up.  I kept spinning with pointed toes and after about 10 seconds they unlocked but were still stiff.  By the top of that climb every muscle in my legs were slow-firing and my toes and my fingers were cramped as well.  I was dehydrated to say the least!  Thankfully I was done with the climbing and set off on the descent with a few working fingers that could still operate the brakes.  I got cheered on by the lapped riders I passed which was a needed boost and I hammered my way to the finish line taking 3rd in Pro and 4th overall.  Dario earned the overall win ahead of me by 4 minutes! 

Aside from the wind, it was a beautiful day to be out racing a bike and I got my first minor sunburn of the year!!  Is the sun back for good?  Hopefully!

Sierra Cup Series #1 - Pine Nut Cracker - 5/21/11

Saturday was the first race of the newly formed Sierra Cup Series which consists of seven races in great locations in northern California.  Each course is different and challenging in its own way.  This first race was in Gardnerville, NV (yeah, I had to "google map" it too) and I've done this race the last two or three years.  But this is the first time they've changed up the course, running it backwards from previous years.

Gardnerville is set in the southern end of the Carson Valley and there were beautiful snow capped mountains all around.  But our starting elevation was only about 5200ft or so.  Not too bad on the lungs.  Normally I don't feel the effects of altitude much below 7000 feet, thankfully.

The Pine Nut course is fairly flat for a Tahoe-area course, with only 2417ft of climbing over 30.3 miles as recorded by my GPS.

So what makes this race hard is that there is really nowhere to take a break and recover.  No long downhills or slow technical areas.  Just pedal to the metal from the gun.  I lined up with a fairly good sized start group of mixed pro and cat 1 riders and we set off on the 1 mile gradual fire road spur to the loop course.  We were heading into a little headwind so I sat in at 3rd position, then 2nd, and forced myself to wait until we made the left turn onto the course.  No reason to try to get away with a headwind since I throw off quite the slipstream.  Once we made the left turn I went to the front and set a strong pace on the relatively flat rollers.  Another half mile or so of fire road and then we finally got into some singletrack, winding around the high-sierra shrubs.  The dirt was dry and the racing line was well packed and fast, but anywhere off that line was incredibly loose.  I could hear riders behind me but I didn't know how many.  I waited until after the first short, steep climb to take a look back and there was only one rider there.  Wow.  I didn't think it set that grueling of a pace!  Good thing though, because I totally botched that climb.  It was loose and I tried to stand up and the back wheel just spun.  The WTB Nanos were not quite deep enough to grab the loose stuff out of the saddle.  I let the rider pass and sat on his wheel for about a mile to see what he had to offer.  He would attack the climbs a little more that I would in front, but I matched his pace just fine.  Because of his efforts on the climbs though he settled in a little on the gradual climbs and traverse where I excel.  So when I had the opportunity I passed in the grass and set my pace again.

The back half of the loop was a long gradual downhill with swooping banked turns in sandy medium pack singletrack.  Tons of fun!  I was railing it and still pedaling.  The Santa Cruz Tallboy was a rocket!  Then I missed a turn... BRAKES!!!!  Ooops.  I quickly turned around and when I got back to the corner my chaser said "Go ahead you're setting a great pace."  Awesome, I'm glad he didn't try to attack right there.  I railed the rest of the lap and stayed in the saddle for the steep climb back to the turn for lap 2.  I was about 15 seconds or so ahead of my chaser when I turned onto the fire road.  I increased that gap by another 5 seconds I think before getting into the singletrack again.  The legs were feeling pretty decent but burning some.  I was making sure to keep on schedule with the Hammer Gel every 30 minutes and keep sipping on the HEED mix in the bottle, so I'd still feel strong for the next hour of racing.

Burnin' up the steep climb at the end of the loop

My goal for lap 2 was to increase my lead to the point where I would be out of sight of any chasers on the longest open stretch before I get to the last lap.  So I don't become a "rabbit" for someone to try and chase down at the end.  Well I accomplished that and had a blast on the last two laps just riding the Tallboy as fast as I could on some sweet and flowy trails.  I took the overall win by 2 minutes with a time of 2hrs and 2 minutes and had a pretty good leg burn.  Maybe the altitude did affect me?  Hard to say, but I still had some energy so I kept riding and exploring for another 45 minutes or so around the area until it was time to woof down some post race bbq and attend the awards.

I'm not sure exactly why, but I always like coming here.  It was a 2hr 45min drive each way this time with the Hwy 50 closure which stunk.  But a great workout and a net profit of a few bucks on the day (even with these gas prices!) with a little cash winnings for taking the overall... sweet!  Big thanks to Alta Alpina cycling club and Sierra MTB Series for putting on a great event.

Fontana Pro XCT #2 / US Cup Triple Crown #2 Race Report

The Fontana race week started off with some good news, my new Giant XTC 29er hard tail finally got built and I was able ride it for the first time on a Tuesday night.  It's my first hard tail so it was nice to get a 20 mile ride in before heading down to the race.  I raced at Fontana last year so I knew the course and had a suspicion that the hardtail might be the better choice over the Tallboy, since the course consists of short punchy climbs and there's not really any rough pedaling sections.  I prerode the course on Friday and I was feeling pretty good on the XTC for the course but my only hesitation was the 1x10 gearing setup with a 36 tooth front chainring.  The course sends us up a very steep climb which could cause problems without having an easier gear.  I was able to ride "The Wall" a few times during my preride so I committed to the XTC.  I figured the gearing was going to be hard but it would force me to push it and go all out which is what I needed to do anyways.

The 2pm race time came on Saturday and I set off with a hundred or so other dudes around the start loop (which would be Sunday's short track course).  I had a start position in the 40's which wasn't bad and was up a few positions until we got to the first choke point.  It's a 180 degree left turn with a line through two boulders only a few riders ride.  And of course someone fumbled there and we had to stop, just before I got through.  Then as I'm scurrying to figure out how to get by, I see a group of guys dismounting and hopping over the ribbon cyclocross style and shortcutting the corner.  I scrambled to do the same as the pack was getting away, but I was really annoyed that 10-15 guys just got to leap frog me like that.  Oh well, a little anger helps put the hammer down. 

Here's a little video:

We finished the start loop and headed up towards "The Wall" where I learned that there was one important aspect in my bike choice and gearing I didn't consider: OTHER rider's gearing!  With so many riders around and in front of me and nowhere to pass on that steep, loose climb I had no choice but to ride at their speed.  Well they had a granny gear and could sit and spin but I couldn't.  And I wasn't able to maintain such a low rpm while standing.  And there began my day of having to run up this climb.  The rest of the course was pretty fun, but the combination of my gearing and not being used to hardtail style riding (standing and mashing) really wore me down.  There's not a whole lot of area to pass in places where I excel.  Needless to say I didn't have a very good day.  I see-sawed with a few guys at various times but I don't believe I was passed after the second lap.  Unfortunately because of that first lap mess and having to get off the bike a few times due to traffic, the field became very stretched out and I just couldn't make up a whole lot of positions.  I ended up 49th for the day but I didn't get pulled or lapped! 

Super D was just a couple hours after the end of the XC and I was spent, cold (nasty wind came up), and very hungry!  I hid out in the car and scarfed down some food.  I'd heard that the Super D course had changed from last year and was more technical, awesome!  I switched my number over to the Tallboy and set out to check out the course.  The course started at the top of the big hill, yeah... the one I'd just climbed 5 times in the xc race!  I climbed up the road to check out the lower half of the course first since time was running short.  I dropped in and was rolling through some good rocky stuff when "PSSHHHshshshhhhh!" went the air out of my front tire!  Ahh!  I did NOT have time for this!  AND I didn't have any CO2 with me.  I rolled the rest of the way down the course to check it out with maybe 5psi left in the front tire, trying my best not to ding the rim. 

Back from the car I rode the lower section again and then rode up to the top where they were staging for the race.  Everyone was hunkered down behind rocks and bushes trying to stay out of the biting wind.  I walked down the first few turns of the course that I hadn't seen and watched the first five riders go by, checking out their lines since I hadn't seen the course.  My time finally came and as I rolled up to the line the start official told me I had a ghost in front of me.  This was good news since we were only 30 seconds apart and the course was proper singletrack with no real room to pass. 

15 seconds... go on the sixth beep... breathe, breathe.... beep beep beep beep.... clip in... GO!  Down the first bit of rocks, feeling some flow, start to pedal and the foot comes unclipped!  Ahh... c'mon be smooth!  Clipped back in and I get around the first switchback, man I'm all over the place.  Be smooth, then fast!  Ok after the next switchback there's another set of rocks to shred and a drop with a blind line I learned about from walking down to that section.  After I start to feel good and get some good pedaling in, but now I'm getting into the part of the course I haven't seen.  This area has some consequence as it's on the side of a hill and there are blind corners because of the vegetation and rocks.  I took it a bit easy here, adhearing to Jen's #1 rule (don't die), but I was having a blast and really kicking myself that I didn't make the time to preride the course!  I could have really railed it!  When I got down to the flats I had caught the guy who started a minute before me and then caught another.  I hammered as best I could on fried legs and they began to cramp badly.  But just 20 more seconds of pain and I was across the finish line.  I finished 26th out of about 65 which I'm pretty happy about considering I didn't preride.  

The next day was round three, the short track race.  It was at 4pm and I was feeling a little drained so I tried something new... coffee.  Wow, I was ready to go!  That was great, after just one cup I saddled up the XTC and got a really good warmup in, lined up and was ready to attack.  I was mid pack on the start grid and it was a pretty big group with 64 racers.  The gun went off and the craziness started.  Gee... hope my muscles don't mind being oxygen deprived!  I moved up a few positions and managed to make it through the hairpin choke point ok.  As you can see in the video:

I kept moving up as the laps continued and was feeling great considering how spent I was the day before.  Was it the coffee???  Maybe, I need to remember that! 

The field got pretty strung out after a couple laps, it's just the way it is.  If you start where I did you need an unbelievable start or be super human to get to the front group.  I think I was in the top 25 or so after a few laps in coming through the start finish at about 25mph I'm in the open I set up wide for the left hand turn when out of nowhere I feel another rider trying to come around my right side.  There's not enough room and he takes out my right elbow and handlebar... we both get bucked.  My wheel got crossed up and I took a dive to the dirt, trying to tuck my left side down and roll it out.  My left shoulder took a good hit and as I stood up I saw the other rider still tumbling through the tape and crowd.  Both of my knees were bloody, left elbow, and it wasn't showing through but my left hip and shoulder were rashed up pretty good too.  There was no killer pain so I picked up the bike and hopped on giving it what I had left before things started to stiffen up.  I was able to pass a couple riders back over the next couple laps but ended up in a disappointing 47th place.  With lingering injuries to boot.  After the race my left wrist really started to hurt, stiffen up, swell, and change color.  Great.

US Cup Pro Triple Crown #1 / Pro XCT #1 - Bonelli Park

...and then it came... whether I was ready or not.  The first big test of the year, the first round of the USAC Pro XCT and the US Cup Pro Triple Crown at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA.  I've had some stresses and challenges in the month leading up to this big event including a stolen road bike, my last remaining mountain bike cracking the frame, and the cross bike I borrowed to get me by busting the special order derailluer hanger.  So for over a week I basically didn't have a bike to ride.  A forced rest week maybe God was telling me I needed, but I was wanting to be really getting into some training intensity.  I finally got the replacement road bike so I could get moving again.  But still didn't have a MTB because of parts availability issues for the new bike builds I'd ordered over a month ago.  It came down to the week of the Bonelli event and I still had no mountain bike... talk about stressed!!  I found out that Shimano had the stem and seatpost I needed that Easton and Race Face had previously been out of so I switched my order on Monday to get the new Pro XCR stuff.  The only thing left was one of the smallest parts on the bike, that you never think about, the headset.  Santa Cruz said they had what I needed on Monday and it was supposed to ship.  Thursday afternoon came and I called Mad Cat Bicycles and they had just heard from Santa Cruz that the headset was just being shipped that day!!!  Well, at least my warranty frame had come in from Giant so I could still race my old Anthem at Bonelli.  But I began frantically calling all the local shops to see if somehow I could come up with a headset.  Finally I found a shop that said they had what I needed, drove over, picked it up and brought it over to Mad Cat.  But oh no, it wasn't that easy.  The part that was in the box for the bottom bearing wasn't what was ON the box, so it wouldn't work.  AAHHHHH!!!  Thankfully, Eddie (the mech.) was able to scrounge up a cheap bottom headset piece to make it work and he began putting the new ride together.  In the process we also found that we got the stem from Shimano, but no seatpost!!  It was coming from a different warehouse apparently.  Thankfully the post and seat from my Anthem was the same size and would work.  I brought in some beer to keep the guys in the shop motivated and at 7pm, an hour after the shop closed, the new beast was done...

Thanks so much Eddie, Tony, and Mike from Mad Cat Bicycles for all your work to get it built.  And to Will and Chris from WTB for making sure I get at least one set of the new Stryker 29 race wheels. 

After the six hour drive on Friday I finally was able to swing a leg over the new Santa Cruz Tallboy and head out with my brother DJ (also on a Tallboy) around the Bonelli XC course.  I have to say that the first lap around the course did not feel good at all.  I was not in the least bit comfortable on the bike and I knew it was needing some adjustments.  To the tools I went and numerous adjustments were made.  Took another lap, better... but still needed more tweaking.  Lap three, there we go, now it's starting to feel good and I'm hanging right on my bro's wheel who knows the course very well.  I'm starting to have fun and now thinking about not putting out too much of an effort.  I could start thinking about my setup options and my WTB Nano 29er tire choice was hooking up perfectly.  I got a 4th lap in solo and was feeling really good and having a blast on the new ride, starting to get used to it.  As you can tell by my smiling face...

Saturday afternoon I lined up with 87 other guys on bikes to get in a little workout called a UCI sanctioned Pro XC race.  No pressure.  Who's nervous... me?

Getting called up to the line, trying to decide where to fit in.

Ok very.  I wasn't where I wanted to be with my training and knew I didn't quite have that explosive gear just yet.  So I was going to try and be patient with my race.

 

I'm way in the back... somewhere.

The start gun went off and the sprint starts.

I'm able to stay off the bars and elbows of others through the first corner.  Someone goes into the tape on the left and I pin it around the right side and stick on the draft of the first half.  We maintain the bunch sprint around the start loop (which is eventually Sunday's Short Track course).  I feel like there's a ton of guys ahead of me, and there are, I peek behind at a corner and there are just as many behind me it seems.  Cool, I'm doing ok.

We get through the start loop and head up the first steep climb for lap 1 of 7.  It's good and steep, but fire-road wide and I take a line on the left behind Kevin Smallman who I've raced with a few times in Northern Cali.  Half way up the climb I settle in to conserve and be patient.  Some other guys still pin it and pass as much as they can but I was thinking it was better to play it safe.  If I had to do it over again I would change my strategy and just go for it because there was time to recover when you inevitably get stuck in traffic on the singletrack.  We get through the first two downhills with a good climb in between and on the next climb, as I come to the top I make an error shifting to prepare for the downhill coming up and somehow my chain comes off.  Again?!?!? Really?!?!  I'm in a panic and I hop off the bike and put the chain back on, the train goes by and I lose anywhere between 10 and 15 positions.  Ahh!!!  And it's so crowded and crazy there's nowhere to pass back quickly.  Sometimes after you've had to stop for a mechanical you can burst by a lot of the people who just passed because you got a break when they didn't.  But there was just no space.  Thing start to spread out a little though as we get over half way through the first real lap, but the lead group is long gone.  All I can do is keep pushing.

After that hiccup with the chain I ended up having a really good race.  Just laying down steady power the whole time, hitting my marks and shifting points and fueling with Hammer HEED and Gel to keep the diesel motor pumping.  I picked off a ton of riders over the course of the laps as the day went on.  I was getting more comfortable with the new bike too and was feeling pretty good.  And then it came, as I was coming to the line with two laps to go.  They were pulling riders based on the 80% rule.  Which means anyone who's behind by more than 80% of the leaders lap time gets pulled from the race.  The leaders didn't seem anywhere close and I hadn't seen any other riders that were pulled so I didn't know it was coming.  Turns out I was in the last group of riders to be pulled.  Meaning we were the highest placing riders to get pulled from the race.  Dangit!!! Right on the fringe, so close!!  I was still coming on strong too, pacing myself for the last two laps and to make a charge.  I ended up finishing 40th of the 88 guys turning pedals.  Which considering the competition is good, but I know I could have done a lot better without the chain mishap and with the knowledge I now have to just go hard no matter what, don't conserve. 

With a few hours to recover ( EAT!!! :-D ) next up in the Triple Crown weekend was Super D.  I put a couple laps in and found that the course was more of a Super XC than Super D.  But it's what they have to work with at Bonelli, not really any big hills right there if you want to end up back at the venue finish.  The course starts of with a hundred yards or so of flat twisting singletrack in the bushes and then dives down a fast downhill with a very slightly banked 90 degree left turn at the bottom.  Man I almost blew that turn and went flying into the bushes spectacularly!  I wish someone would have captured that on video.  Entering the turn my rear wheels skidded out to the left under braking which pointed me right (keep in mind it's a left turn!) and I planted the front wheel in the proper line but the back wheel swung back too hard and went over the berm.  I somehow managed to stay up right and let my momentum take me a little wide into the bushes and thankfully there were no big rocks there to take me out and I pedaled hard out of it.  Wow that was a rush.  I finished the rest of that downhill laughing at myself.  That was awesome.  Next followed a short climb then a long flat stretch until we entered back onto the back end of the XC course from earlier in the day.  There was a new cut off line that had developed if you hopped over a log which saved a couple seconds, sweet.  Two more hard climbs with a little bit of bumpy off camber DH before hitting the grass and sprinting to the finish.  I caught the guy who started 20 seconds before me so I thought I put in a pretty good time.  It actually turned out pretty good, finishing 18th of 49 for the Super D stage of the Triple Crown.

Sunday morning I was up early with my brother who was racing his first Cat 1 race which started at 8am, the day the time changed.  So essentially 7am!  Nap time anyone?  I spent the morning cruising around the course taking tons of pictures for him and cheering him on to a 5th place finish!  Nice!

The third and final round of the Triple Crown weekend was Short Track XC at 4pm.  I woke up from my nap (so nice!) at 1:43pm and set off back to the venue with Jen after packing up the car for the drive back up to Sacramento.  I got in a good warm up almost an hour long and was feeling pretty good.  I set my Fox TALAS fork in the lower setting and got used to the feel of that as I shadowed Adam Craig, Barry Wicks, and Aaron Bradford around the course as we warmed up.  It was nice to just get used to riding with a slightly obstructed view and see if they were taking any different lines.

55 riders mashed the pedals to start the 20 minute sprint known as Short Track XC.  As we got off the pavement start I was towards the back of the pack as I had missed my pedal on the start.  The first, and only, dirt downhill second was right after a little climb and we were going right into the sun.  I couldn't see a thing, just the rider in front of me.  Due to the dust and sun glare.  I almost ran into a downed rider rolling off to the side of the trail which turned out to be Sid Taberlay who crashed at the front of the group and ended up dislocating his shoulder I think.  I made it through the dust bowl unscathed however and the pack strung out as we wound through the tape on the grass.

Lap two, man the legs are burning!  I draft on the pavement section and make a pass under braking heading up the climb, gaining a few spots.  But I lose one at the top of the climb.  The pack continues to string out and separate.  The leaders are gone, that's out of the question.  All I can do is draft and then try to slingshot and bridge up to the next group.  I'm doing ok and see-sawing with a few guys but generally making up ground and gaining positions.

Legs and lungs still screaming!  Trying to look ahead but my eyes just won't focus but a few yards in front of my front wheel when I really push it.  Coming to the end of one of the laps, I go to pass a guy on the left entering a left corner, he starts to cut in "On your left, left, LEFT!!" I yell but he cuts in and I go into the tape and take out a few wooden posts.  Should have given him an elbow to the ribs, but my reaction wasn't to be aggressive and just make sure I stay upright.  I didn't loose too much ground and thankfully didn't get tangled in the tape.  With a little anger motivation now I reeled him back in and passed him on the next lap.

Suddenly there was nobody in front of me that I could try to bridge up to and as I came back to the finish line it happened again.  I was leading the last group that got pulled.  Dang.  Right on the fringe again, finishing 28th of 55.

It was a great weekend of racing and really fun.  I'm trying to be relaxed about it this year and just do what I can and be happy.  I'm thankful I have a day job, a wife, home, and other blessings and obligations and I know I can't put in the ride time most of these guys I'm competing with are able to do.  I learned a lot this weekend and I'm ready to do it all over again in two weeks at Fontana.  Right now I'm sitting 30th in the overall US Cup Pro Triple Crown standings.  Not bad.

Now if it would only stop raining...

Winter Racing 3-Pack

For the most part, the weather here in Sacramento has cooperated and allowed me to get some good winter saddle time.  The last weekend of January usually starts my racing season with the TBF MTB Kickstart at Granite Bay.  This year it is the first of three races out there, each two weeks apart.  I use these as "training races" to kind of get me going and motivated and to see where I'm at in my fitness.

I'm not ashamed to admit I was nervous for the first race.  I hadn't raced for about six weeks since I did the Folsom Cyclocross race and hadn't raced my MTB since September 15th!!  I had definitely missed racing and was ready to get back into it.  But I was nervous that I wouldn't perform to my expectations and to others' as well.

I started with just one other guy in the pro category but we were in a combined start wave with the experts who are sometimes just as fast or faster.  We had a long and mostly flat first mile or so which makes a gap pretty hard to create until the first climb.  I think I went into that first climb in third position but that's when I go to work.  It's the longest sustained climb on the course which is my forte, even though for MTB racing it is a relatively short climb just a few minutes long.  But by the top I put maybe 30 seconds on the next guy and headed into the trees for the fun rolling single track of Granite Bay.  I had three laps to do and I was by myself.  It's hard to stay motivated and keep pushing but that's what I'm out there for.  I also know that I'm being chased... so keep pushing!  I ended up taking the overall win by a couple minutes over the next fastest racer, expert rider Chris Schulze who usually races SS but has since added some speed with a 1x9 setup.  It was a good first race, and a good benchmark.  I still had a little bit of life left in the legs so I knocked out a few hill repeats after the race until I started to cramp :-).

Two weeks later we added a lap and a lot more competition.  The pro group was 7 riders strong and we headed off on the course the same direction.  The racing was pretty much identical to the Kickstart two weeks prior as I went into the first climb in 3rd or 4th but by the top had put in a gap.  Again, I just tried to keep pushing and stay motivated as I ended up riding by myself.  About half way through the second lap there was a turn around point where I saw SS rider and Mad Cat teammate Ron Shevock within about 30 seconds.  That was my "uh oh" moment for the race and I got the motivation I needed to put the hammer down again.  I made it through the rest of the laps without seeing any of my chasers and took the win by about three minutes.  Had one adrenaline kick on the last lap where I took an "up and over" rock line to pass a lapped rider just a little too fast and caught some good air I wasn't expecting.  Luckily I landed still on the smooth down slope of the slab or that would have ended badly... oops!  And since it was Super Bowl Sunday I felt I needed to earn my game watching grub so I decided to ride home too.  Adding an extra hour and a half of pedal turning to the day earned me a beer and the right to not move from the couch the rest of the day.  Go Packers!!!

The final race of the 3-pack was set up to run the course in reverse, which makes the climbs shorter but steeper and more technical (relatively speaking, it is still Granite Bay).  And then I got what I asked for... a 5th lap for the Pro class.  My goal, as with all the "training races" I do, is to work on my weaknesses, which may not necessarily put me in a position to win but will help me in the races that matter.  So for this one, knowing the climbs are shorter and steeper my goal was to go as hard as I could from the start and for each climb get out of the saddle and mash it.  Normally I don't like to get out of the saddle and I like the long sustained type of efforts.  This got me out front again and by myself right from the first short climb and I was feeling pretty good.  But those power spikes over the course of two hours were really wearing me down especially considering the three hours I rode the day before.  I ended up getting caught on the last lap by Cody Kaiser and Riley Predum, two young U23 riders who are getting pretty darn fast.  They raced the day well and conserved enough to be strong on the last lap and they worked together.  With a half lap to go I couldn't hold onto them and I was done.

This was also the first race I'd done with a Garmin to record everything which is really cool to see.  I could see how my heart rate steadily declined as I faded... gotta work on that!  Strava - TBF MTB Challenge, 5 laps, Granite Bay, CA.  I know I worked hard though because I absolutely could not move the rest of the day once I got home.  Part of that may have been that Jen and I moved one of the spare mattresses out to the living room in front of the TV!

Next race is the big one at Bonelli.  A Pro XCT, Triple Crown, and UCI C2 race.  Am I ready?

Stolen 2011 Giant TCR Advanced 2 XL

Hi all,

I just want to put this out there if anyone is able to help. If you see or hear of it please let me know. And, well, if you're the thief, contact me and give it back no questions asked. God will get his vengance, I just want my bike back.

Theft of 2011 Giant TCR Advanced 2 which was on the bike rack on our car. It was locked to the bike rack with a cable lock. The car was parked on the street in front of our friend's house in East Sacramento (Brand Way). On 2/10/11 we arrived at 6pm and when we went outside at 9:30pm the bike was gone and the cable lock had been cut.

The bike is full carbon fiber frame, white in color with black lettering. It has white Giant branded DT wheels, Michelin Lithion front tire and Michelin Pro 2 rear, a white & gray Fizik seat, black handlebars and silver Crank Brothers Egg Beater mountain bike pedals. It has two black carbon fiber water bottle cages and it has a Cateye Strada Cadence computer. Also attached to the bike was a Niterider Rage HID light on the handlebar connected to a battery pack attached to the frame. There are also red flashing bar end lights and a flashing taillight attached to the seat post. It has some small scratches on the right brake lever and rear derailleur from a crash.

The serial no. is: GDOD885

Here's the link to the website with specs: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/model/tcr.advanced.2/7309/44385/

The picture shows the bike when I had fenders on it, but it didn't at the time of the theft.

Thanks for any help. Clint.

The Off Season - I'm Still Here!

Yep It's been quite a while since I've made a post... sorry.  But I'm still alive!  It is the off season and I've been having fun being a bit more relaxed and doing some different activities.

Jen and I have gotten out for a hike here and there.  We had a good one up to the top of Mt. Ralston, which is just south and a little west of Lake Tahoe and I think the peak is 9600 ft.  It is a steep, steady climb and it was COLD!  But we made it!

And I've been able to actually get out on some "fun" rides, with no training goal, and not even a heart rate monitor!  Over Thanksgiving I rode a few hours with my brother in San Luis Obispo up on Cuesta Ridge and in Poly Canyon.

It was a good fun shred down some rocky trails.  But the road section to get back wasn't fun on my big Reign X.  My brother is loving his new Santa Cruz Tallboy though.  And I have to say I'm a little jealous.  Over Christmas we met again for another ride on Cuesta Ridge, but this time I brought my Anthem (XC bike).  We took a trail called "What?" down which is just a chute of jagged granite rock and the whole time you're just holding on hoping you don't flat.  Or maybe that's just me.  It was a challenge, and fun in that regard.  But I definitely enjoyed the flow of UC Santa Cruz trails I rode the day before.  I love that place!  Anyways, the holidays were great and the time off was awesome to just get out and ride with no agenda and enjoy mountain biking in those places and the local stuff in Auburn and Folsom.

In December I had the day open so I decided to enter the Folsom Cyclocross Race.  I don't have a CX bike this year, but Rick Cunningham was nice enough to let me borrow his Rocky Mountain Rail.  Thanks Rick!  I got maybe a 10 minute warm up in, oh well, and then we were off!  ...and about a minute into the race and after the first couple barriers I remembered... Cyclocross is hard!

But it was a great feeling to get back out there getting a really good workout with some other guys for an hour.  My lack of warm up and familiarity with the bike on the first couple laps dropped me from the lead group but after I remembered how dismounts and remounts worked I wasn't loosing any ground and was gaining in the last couple laps, and came in 4th.  Not bad for December I'd say.  Good times.

Since it's January, the training has picked up for me.  That means lots of time on the bike and unfortunately by myself.  At least I am easily entertained and am content with whatever songs get stuck in my head!  A couple weeks ago I was riding before work, heading back on the bike trail after a few hill climbs and had my first road crash.  It didn't feel too great.  I went into a fairly sharp right hand turn at maybe 19mph in a wooded area and hit some moss that I didn't see.  My back wheel slipped out and I rode the slide into the other lane but wasn't able to hang on and went down.  Wrist, knee, shin, and chin caught the pavement but the wrist got the worst and is actually still not recovered.  Probably because I haven't laid off it and am still riding :-).  But I did add a little extra detailing to my road bike finishing the rest of the ride, courtesy of my bloody chin.

Last year I wasn't able to ski at all and I was bummed to say the least.  But this year has been quite the opposite of last in that we've gotten a TON of early season snow.  I was finally able to make my way up to Sugar Bowl on the 3rd and made some turns in the cold stuff.

I took a couple good tumbles early on getting used to the skis again on the double black goodness.  Snow is nice to fall on :-).  I found an area of the mountain that was my "hidden gem" off of a new (to me) chair lift.  After a little hiking over along the ridge it was well worth the sweet fresh stuff that was knee deep.  Awesome.

So that's what I've been up to.  Living life.  It's back to the races, literally, in a couple weeks.  The TBF MTB Kickstart is the first XC race of the season on 1/23.  And everything is looking forward to the first big race, the Pro XCT at Bonelli Park March 12th and 13th.  It already seems so close!

Review: Ride The Divide - The Movie

Monday night I had the opportunity to see "Ride The Divide" in the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento.  I had some knowledge of this event going into the movie, having followed some of the racers online at this year's race and read reports of their experiences.  Self supported ultra endurance mtb events are crazy... especially in the Rockies!  I'm someone who totally stresses over what to pack for a weekend car-camping trip at a race, going through the schedule of each day deciding what I will wear in advance and what I will eat.  So that I make sure I have everything, but not too much.  I'm sure if I went backpacking a few times, the "survival" aspect of this type of adventure wouldn't be as stressful, but wow I can't imagine trying to figure out what to bring for a 3 week bike ride!

This movie follows the 2008 race.  Two and a half years to make an adventure event documentary you ask?  Well the race does cover 2700 miles and spans around 3 weeks.  So you can imagine how much footage they have to go through, and then they have to make it interesting to an audience.  It's not like these riders are hucking cliffs and doing things that would get you on the edge of your seat just watching.  I have to say, that this movie was worth the wait.  It was very entertaining, and quite funny at times.  Not just because the racers get a little loony out there and say some funny stuff, but some of the side stories about the people they'd meet along the way were a crack-up.  The crew did a great job developing the characters (racers) and the audience was really tied in emotionally, at least I was.  So many of the racers almost quit, numerous times, for legitimate reasons.  And the hardest part of this race is the mental game of being alone, wondering why they're doing this, among other things.  They'd get to a point where the vast beauty of the world they're riding through just doesn't matter anymore, because they've experienced the beauty the last 1500 miles, or whatever it is, and start to focus on their pain and depressing emotions of being away from family, etc.

Without spoiling it... one of the most impact-full moments of the film was when the racer Mike called in and his daughter answered the phone and he just broke down.  And he's trying to be strong for his daughter but can't help it because he's emotionally spent, and can't even really appreciate where he is:

This race has a $0 entry fee, no support (just a Spot gps for tracking), no awards and no prize money.  IF you get to the finish at the Mexican border, you still have to get a ride home!  It is an amazing concept for a race, and I'm really, really glad this film crew took the time to document it.  They did a great job and I loved the movie.

1st Triathlon!

I started running again a couple weeks ago and it finally doesn't make me sore for three days after.  So this Sunday since the weather was so nice and I had the opportunity, it was a good day for a bike ride, a run, and a swim!  I entered the TBF Granite Bay Triathlon which is a 3/4 mile swim, 13 mile road bike, and a 5 mile trail run.  I haven't swam since, oh... probably May of this year, but I'm pretty comfortable in the water so I was willing to just "get through" the swim.  I know a little bit about riding bikes and the run... well I don't know when I've ever run five miles at one time but I was up for it!

My transition gear

I donned my wet suit, goggles and swim cap and headed down to the water level of Folsom Lake, which was thankfully much higher than it has been the last few years.  Last year I remember it was a .8 mile sandy run up from the water to transition.  This year was probably about half that distance.

I was in the first wave to go off, of men age 34 and under.  The "gun" went off and we were running through the shallows and about 50 yards in it was finally deep enough to swim.  I started off to the side because I wasn't used to swimming in such close proximity to others.  I still had a little bit of an issue with a guy that seemed like he kept crossing in front of me, but maybe I was weaving around behind him, who knows?  The swim course was a two turn course in a big triangle with orange sighting buoys half way in between the turn buoys.  Well when I was almost to the first orange buoy, hardly a 1/6th of the way through the course, I wasn't very comfortable.  My arms were already starting to fatigue and my mind was getting some pretty panicky thoughts.  You know... "I can't touch the bottom!" "I've just started and I'm tired... I'm going to drown!"  etc. etc.  I almost turned around and quit right there... seriously.  But when I thought about quitting, I thought about how much I would hate that I quit.  So I told myself to calm down and just do 10 more strokes, and breathe.  Well 10 strokes came and went and I got into a rhythm, and before I knew it I was to the first turn buoy.  I kept that steady (but slow!) pace and never stopped and finally finished the swim... yes!  I ran up the beach and passed a few people before making it to T1 for the bike.

I got my shoes and helmet on as quick as possible and mounted my two day old Giant TCR Advanced 2 for the bike leg.  Honestly it felt a little weird getting on a bike right after swimming and my equilibrium seemed slightly off.  But a few hard pedals and I was right back at home.  The course was a good combination of rolling hills and turns so it was pretty fun.  I hammered and passed more people than I could count on the two 6.5 mile laps and made up a lot of the time I lost churning in the water.  The new TCR is so much fun to ride.  It's super responsive to any power I can give and it turns and handles incredibly quickly.  I really wished the bike leg was about 3 times as long, but it was over and I headed down into T2.

Off came the helmet and MTB shoes (haha!) and I pulled on my sweet super-meshy-water-tri geek-trail running shoes and was on my way.  I even did everything sock-less like a real triathlete!

I started out running with short strides to give my legs a chance to get out of pedaling mode which worked pretty well.  And I was in a good running rhythm after about 200 yards.

And then I got passed by a 44 year old guy (our ages were written on our calves), doh.  But he wasn't blazing by me so I stepped up my pace to match him and that was just about right.  I have no idea what pace we were going though, but it didn't seem like it was going to push me too much.  I ended up running with a group of guys in their 40's until we got into the trees and the fun trails with climbs.  I like climbs on the run!  I think because the leg motion is closer to that of a bike pedal stroke.  I powered through the first rollers and up a little steep climb, making motorcycle "BRAAP" noises in my head through the turns.  I was feeling good and, I'm almost ashamed to say, really enjoying running!  That might just be because it's something different than the hours and hours of bike time I've had for months straight.  But still, three miles into the run I was really amazed at how good I still felt!  We came up behind a woman who was running slower on some singletrack and the guys I was following just slowed down behind her and didn't pass.  Well I just did what I would do on the bike and went up into the grass and weeds and blew on by!  Woohoo!  This was kind of fun!  I was passing people on the run!  I never thought I'd do that!  I started to pick up the pace a little and then came the climb up to the water tower on Mooney Ridge.  This steep, sandy climb was riddled with people walking and I just kept on chuggin' and powered up.  The reward for the climb was the fun rutted descent that I liked to ride on the knobbies too.  It was harder to keep control running down it than it is to ride that's for sure.  I successfully made it to the bottom without slipping or twisting an ankle and a little over a mile later I crossed the finish line of my first triathlon!

What a sense of accomplishment trying something new, stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone, and succeeding gives!  I was really quite happy with myself.  I made it through the swim without stopping, had a good bike leg and pushed it the whole time, and kept a good pace on the run without stopping.  And most of all had a blast doing it!  Then I found out I placed 5th in my 25-29 age group!  Awesome!  The fastest overall time was 1hr 26min set by a guy in my age group and my time was 1hr 57min... ouch.  But I really didn't care that I wasn't close to the overall.  I had a great time and a great off-season workout.