Idyllwild Time Trial

I caught the dude that started 1 minute ahead of me. We up hill sprinted for the line and some guy shouts out to the other guy, "Your climbing like a cat 2 rookie." I thought it was funny. I got him at the line.

Here are the results.

Idyllwild

Tahquitz rock overlooking Idyllwild.

the mountain

the other side of the mountain from the valley.

Bud is the owner of the Bike Route. He was here when I was a kid.
High dessert terrain. Swoopy and dry. Perfect.
1st place out of 2! I won the XC, TT, and Super D for pro ss.
My award.
Don't worry if you cant read the numbers. I cant either. But if you compare my times I would have been 5th for Pro. I'll take 1st for ss instead. Manny Prado takes the win.

I have a huge race report that someday I will post. It took me like 4 hours to write it and my computer wont give it back. I hate computers! Have a nice day.

Singlespeed-a-palooza 2010, and my game.

33x17
Dear reader, It’s All Lepo has been on the back burner lately and I’m sorry for that. It’s important to me that we all connect on this level for some reason. I know the behind the scenes of what goes on in my life is important to you. And vice versa. I will try to do better.

The reason for the lack of posts is that I got rid of the internet at home. I stopped using the internet mid March and I’ve only been on it one or two times since. I can check my email and blogs from the library computer, but I have only gone twice.

Singlespeed-a-paloosa has been on my mind for a long time. I was really focused on seeing if I could beat the “Monte”. For some reason this year I have jumped up my game a lot (I’ll talk about that later) and I’m able to hang with some of the best single speeders in the country. So thinking that I might have a chance gave me some hope.

The start of the race was interesting rubbing elbows with Dejay Birtch. Who came all the way out from CO to play in the mud and lose his brakes. Dejay is sponsored by Niner, and also hosted SSUSA in Tucson last February. Super cool guy with a super cool bike. Not so cool brakes.

Dejay and Foco were hitting it hard up the Major Mike climb with The Monte just ahead. Getting around Foco on the climb was a good move because The Monte and I took off together and got a good size gap off the front and didn’t look back. I ran a 33x17 and didn’t have any trouble keeping up with The Monte’s 34x16. I was feeling good despite the wheezing and grunting, as someone pointed out on Big Bikes comments. I wonder if they noticed me drooling all over myself, or saw me dry heaving. This time of year with my allergies I get a little congested. Once the pollen goes away I sound much better. We rode together for the first lap and up Major Mike again and that’s when the shit hit the fan. The first lap was great without most of the mud, but once 250 riders came through it was a different story. My brakes started failing during the first lap and once I started descending down Major for the second time I knew I was in trouble.

My brakes were bottoming out as I watched The Monte float away. Things started to get hairy and I resorted to going “Old School” and put my foot on the rear tire to slow me down. This only partly worked and I didn’t have much control. I eventually went off the trail and decided that a stone wall would make for a softer landing than a tree. I don’t have luck with trees. After crashing and not getting hurt too bad I continued on trying to see if I could catch The Monte. I never gave up, but It would escape me and I would come in happy for 2nd place. Way to go Monte! You truly are the fastest single speeder in the land.

Amazingly Josh Wilcox came in 3rd! 2 spots on the podium for 503 cycleworx! And Stine came in just after him. Way to go man! Sean Cavanaugh did very well after a season off of racing. And CB2 without a front brake from the start came in 12th.

Thanks Darkhorse cycles! The new course was awesome! I really liked going through the building and the stairs were a lot of fun. Not so much the second lap when my bike weighed 15 lbs more but still fun. And thanks for the huge payout! Thanks for giving us single speeders a chance to shine. Looking forward to the DH 40!

So you want to know how my game has improved? It didn’t happen overnight as some people might think. It’s not like I did one thing differently and all of a sudden I’m faster than last year. There are a few things that stick out in my mind that I can say has made me faster and one of those things is Josh Wilcox. Josh and his bike shop 503 Cycleworx has helped me to get to where I am today. He provides me with the tools and information that I need to get faster and he pushes me to do better and is super encouraging all of the time. Plus he is really hard to keep up with and pushes me past my limits constantly. Bottom line is without Josh I wouldn’t be doing as well. Also guys like CB2 (Charles Beal). He schools me over the technical stuff in the West Hartford Res and is also really encouraging and positive to ride with. You all have made me a little bit faster by giving me the incentive to try and reach your level of riding. Inspiring riders like Sean Cavanaugh, Thom Parsons and Rob Stine, not to mention The Monte. You all have given me tons of encouragement, advice, and positive vibes that only fellow single speeders can give. So I would like to thank you all and everyone else I might have not mentioned for your help.
I also think that my wife Jesse has been a huge part to help me do better. She keeps me fueled with Gluten free bread and helps me to make the right choices for food. She is my biggest fan, and she is also understanding of how much time this hobby consumes.

I’m going to CA this weekend for the Idyllwild spring challenge. I’m going with the same gear as single speed USA. 33x20. Saturday is the 30 mile XC event and Sunday is the Super D and Time Trial. It should be a lot of fun. I’ll try to write about it when I get back.

Going back to Caly... to Caly... to Caly

I just couldn't get enough of California I guess. So I signed up for the Idyllwild Spring Challenge stage race. It's a 2 day event. 30 mile cross country race on Saturday, Super D and TT on Sunday.

I know what you are thinking. Why go all the way out there and spend tons of money to do that race when you could have gone to Trans-Sylvania Epic which is closer and more "Epic."

My answer to you is that it's complicated. I don't have $900 to spend on strictly bike stuff. I do however have some money to spend on "Vacation." Going out to CA is a vacation. Going out to CA to do a stage race is awesome. Get over it!

Furthermore, not to make you jealous or anything but I used to live in Idyllwild. Yep, in the 7th grade. But that is were I first got into mountain biking and wanted to get into racing. So this is my Mecca.

I have this memory of riding there, back in 1989. We met some old timers who had only one chainring up front. They said "it's all you need." I thought they were being macho or something. But now I'm coming back with only one gear. Does that make me macho?

Mt. Tam

California was a lot of fun. I was able to get out for a ride the day after we arrived in SF. Thanks to Thom Parsons who hooked me up with Pete Verdone.

Pete brought me one of his creations. This is a SS Trail bike. The fit was perfect for my taste. And it rode nice. The slack HT was ideal for descending. I just wish I knew how. Some of the stuff Pete was sending me down was insane. I just walked. He rode it of course.

The climb we took to get near the top of Tam were all fire roads. Some beautiful stuff.

I love this shot because it seems so surreal to me. That's how it felt. Like a dream. I couldn't believe I was out here on the West side riding bikes in the warm weather. And the way it all came together was perfect.

Pete took me down some sweet trails that were all off limits to bikes. He called it "Poaching." We ran into some surly hikers with their dogs off the leash. They were pissed but Pete was able to sweet talk them and remind them that they too were braking the law by not having their dog on a leash. We went on a busy Sunday afternoon so no wonder there was so much traffic. The trails were sick. Sometimes the single track was only 15" wide one a steep side hill. I wanted to look around more but I didn't dare. I had a few close calls that kept me focused and heart pounding.

Pete had a lot to say about 29'ers. He doesn't like them. I don't know if it is because of the type of riding he does or just is a die-hard 26'er. He was telling me of a 28'er that he made. He thinks the 29" wheels are too big. He might be right. The 26'er he had me on was easy to pedal over. Kinda made me miss the 1x1. But I won't go back.

Pete thinks outside of the box and makes changes to his bikes that make sense. Like putting a 7" roter on the front. He said it evens out the braking. This caught me off guard a few times and I locked them up like nothing. He builds fast motorcycles for a living so he knows what he's talking about.

Unfortunately this was the only day that week that I rode a bike. I did however get some trail running in. I ran the shore side of Mt Tam through Muir Woods. Running through the redwoods was another dream come true experience. The trails were steep and had stairs. It was fun to be running along the trails that were unrideable. I ran for about an hour and a half and only got about 5 miles. Trail running is my new favorite thing to do. I know you guys are cringing. I'm not going to give up riding bikes anytime soon (ever). But when you want to get out on some trails and don't have a bike you have to improvise. And if I only have an hour to do some kind of "training" then I'm going to run because I feel like it's a more intense work out.

Flip flopper

If you are at all familiar with who I am and how I go about doing things you will know that I usually jump right into things without too much hesitation. The classic "think before you act" usually doesn't apply to me. I just head in some direction hoping to get there somehow. And I tend to tell people one thing and the next day say just the opposite. I try to do things on the cheap and usually pay for it in the end. Life can be cruel in that way. Sometimes.

Well, can you tell what this is leading up to?

I would like to detract what I said in my blog about racing this year in the 30-39 cat 1 class for 2010. I will not be racing in that class anymore.

I did some soul searching and looked at my goals for 2010. I want to be racing longer events like the Darkhorse 40 and VT50. And I'm already signed up for D2R2. So racing for an hour and a half just doesn't seem to cut it for me any more. Plus it's not about winning for me anymore. At least that's what I keep telling myself. However, I want to race like I want to win and then when I get 10th place I won't complain about it or give a list of shitty excuses why I didn't do better. I promise.

So just for fun I thought I might see if I could be upgraded to "Pro." I really didn't think that they would do it but they did. Yep, the guy who will finish 15-30 minutes behind first place is now pro. Thanks guys for your encouragement. Too many to write down here and I don't want to leave anyone out. You know who you are.

On top of that I get to pay $150 for my International house of pancakes license. Sweet, now I can compete in Canada.

And I got the upgrade to cat 2 for cyclocross. So watch out Reuter, Sweeney, and Wilcox, and Green. My main goal is to be the most videoed by the seat cam.

My winter training is not going too well. The weather is really getting to me. I was able to get out today with Josh for a 3 hour ride but that is all the riding I did all week. I'm hoping that everything will be all right. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Sebastian is quite funny. Check it out.

SSUSA 2010, a desert odyssey

Single speed USA 2010 was a single speed mountain bike gathering in the Tucson dessert. Dejay Birtch (Niner bikes) ran the show.


Me posing with the porta potties hoping to get a sponsorship from United toilets. Photo by Thom's helmet.

The week before the "race" I flew out to AZ to stay with my sister and visited some old friends.
Living in Tucson for most of my childhood I was brought back to the sites and smells of the dessert in winter.

Monte introduced me to Fantasy Island which was super fast single track through cacti. Monte had this one jump out at him.

Then it got stuck in his hand! Ouch!

Fast and flowy. FI was super fun! Banked corners and super fast chutes with little jumps at the top. With the F-16's flying overhead I felt like I was the pilot flying through the turns and pushing the edge of traction to go faster and faster. The first 10 minutes Monte was hammering through all of these twists and turns and ups and downs I felt like I was going to be sick trying to keep up. It was easy to loose track of time there. You just want to keep going because it's so much fun. When I look outside now I get kinda depressed thinking about how nice it would be to go riding there just one more time.

Wednesday before the race I scoped out part of the course I started this climb that lasted forever. I climbed for 50 minutes. I got lost 100 times and wound up being out there for 5 hours. I also wound up at the same quicksand monte went into. And yes I had to walk all the way back up the hill. Took forever. A dumb and dumber moment.

Looking out to Chiva falls.

Water crossing below Chiva.

After the race

Belt. There were like 6 of these there.

This guy is so cool.

Thom and Monte "stoned"

carnage

It's hard to put it into writing what happened out there. But I will try. We all rolled out on the pavement. Our humming tires and passing of beer in the cool dessert air was quite an experience. The kind of thing you (we) live for. We got to the base of the climb and Dejay had us take our front wheels of and walk down the hill. We sang happy birthday to him and he thanked us and said "have fun." That was the start. I walked fast to my bike while others ran and people were saying "why are they running?" The first 6 miles was all hill. I knew I had to pace myself or I would be cooked the rest of the race. As some of you know I tend to blow it all on the holeshot, but not this time. I had to keep telling myself to hold back. It was a long ride to the finish and I had no idea what the last half was all about.

Everything was working perfectly. All of the climbs I thought were huge on Wednesday were not really that huge anymore. Having a 33x20 helped also. The course was either up or down. Not much flat.

The experience of riding with other singlespeeders from all over the country was really cool. Everyone was proud to say where they came from and asked me where I'm from too. Being able to talk was a good meter to judge if you were going too hard.

We made a right turn at the top of Redington rd onto some sick single track. Sharp rocks and sharper cactus all over. I kept praying that I didn't bite my sidewall on my new karma. Went by the first of many tire failures. "Sorry dude!" was the only thing I could say.

Then the single track ended at a fence. Uh? the yellow tape is on the other side of the fence. Sweet! Throw the bike over and hop the fence. Nice! Super fun!

Enter the rock garden. I've never ridden anything like this before. Thank god for 29" wheels was all I could think. There was water too. This was too much fun!

Got lost for a second and had to back track. Someone followed me too and was kinda pissed. But thankfully we were not too far from the trail.

Once I got to the top of High Chiva I knew I could start pushing the pace a little bit more. We climbed back up to Redington Rd and I saw a Niner jersey. It was Fuzzy! He finished 1st last year here so I thought I must be doing really well. I passed him on the road and was pushing kinda hard now. I knew that most of the climbing would end at the top of Redington. I was taking full advantage of the road by cutting all of the corners and tucking on all of the slight down hills to make up time.

Left onto the AZ trail. Some more climbing and beautiful views of the high desert. All single track now. Totally kicking it now and caught up to some guys. One guy was taking a leak and was just finishing up when I passed him. Nick and I would finish together and since he was taking a leak when I caught him I gave him 4th place so I wouldn't have to sprint for it. It wasn't a race after all.

La Milagrosa was the final push home. Miles of super techy down hill sketch town stuff. If you click on the link you will see what I mean. Just multiply the speed by 2, lock out the suspension, and change the music to Master of Puppets and you might get the feel for it. I walked some sections it was so steep. But again thank god for 29" wheels!

And thank God for Dejay Birtch and all the other people to make SSUSA happen. Boulder CO next year.

It was really good to see Thom and Mike out there. I'm hopeing next year we will see guys like Stine, Cavenaugh, Dougyfresh, and CB2 out there. We could all rent a cabin and ride all week long!

In the mean time we can look forward to Single Speed a Palooza! So sign up bitches!