Northstar At Tahoe

Well, just finished the XC race at nationals, and I am proud to say that I have maintained my record of blowing every big race I've ever done. I had a pretty good start, was riding in the top 10, and thought that I was going pretty easy, but then suddenly I wasn't. I faded a little on the rest of the first lap, then blew up super hard on the 2nd of 4 laps. The course had a long 20 minute climb out of the gate, then a long rolling descent back to the finish. I was in my easiest gear for the ENTIRE climb on the last two laps, struggling worse than I ever have before. I couldn't even hit the downhills right... Just being super sketchy on everything. Awesome. I'm hoping to be able to throw down tomorrow in the short track.

The chicks did AMAZING though... huge props to Julia for her 3rd, and Joh for a 5th, and Alexis for a super solid 10th, and Sarah for destroying some souls for 11th. The guys weren't so hot... T Cowie pulled of a podium, but Cory and I were way OTB for 19th and 21st. I think we are still looking good for the overall, so more updates to follow.

On another note, Tahoe is AMAZING! It is so nice out here, I don't even know how to describe it. The house we are staying at is at another level of niceness than anything I've ever seen before. This resort is legit too, not like those goofy ones back home. I see why people come out here to ski...

I'm gonna go beat myself with a stick now. Later.

PS.

In addition (and speaking of procrastination), the South Park online player sucks. Every time I minimize it to pretend like I'm doing something worthwhile, it freezes up and I have to restart it. This actually wastes more of my time than if I just stopped procrastinating my viewing of the show and did it all in one chunk rather than pretending to be doing something meaningful. Then I could go and do my school afterwards without it freezing up. Or just watch another episode...

PIE!!!

Well, after a super fun ride yesterday followed by some super amazing Mexican food (cheesy bean dip is the JAM), today has been really wet and somewhat busy. Bent Creek was awesome, I had a great time hitting up a really chill ride with some of the most talented collegiate cyclists in the country. T-Cowie and Real Tall showed us how it is done on the downhills, and Julia killed it on the climb while maintaining her feminine vibe. Super cool. Just as I was bonking hardcore, we called it a day and headed to Papa's and Beer for the best Mexican around. After that, it was time to pack our babies up in the team trailer for the long haul out west.

Today has been a story in procrastination. I still need to get the last of my things together, still have to write the rest of my lab report, and still need to read some stuff for Ex Phys. Good times. I don't know why I can't seem to stop putting things off... it sucks.

On top of all that, I seem to have developed a speech impediment, which has gotten many laughs from my family tonight, and has somehow translated into my typing as well. Seriously, be glad that I am taking the time to fix all the errors I'm making writing this... you wouldn't be able to read it otherwise.

I also spent several hours today looking for my Garmin... I can't find it anywhere. It's been missing for a week now, and I am starting to think I may never find it. I really wanted to be able to take it out to Cali with me. Since that's kinda why I got it and all...

I'm going to go eat some apple pie and ice cream now. I may also write the rest of my report. You just never know with me. Except for the apple pie thing... you can generally predict that I will be eating sugar of some kind at any given moment (in addition to the title of this very blog).

Nationals - Prep Phase

I've got a lot to do before nats... and I'm leaving in a week. I'm pumped to get to go, and I think it should be a good time for all. BC Cycling is awesome, by the way. Anyway, my list for the week is:

-Get bike "national championship ready" (I already did the hard stuff earlier today)

-Get girlfriend's bike "national championship ready" (I need a rear SRAM shifter to do this... if anyone has a non-clapped out one laying around)

-Get packed up by Sunday to send my stuff out there

-Get pit bike ready for travel... Thad wants something to ride around/steal parts from

-Catch up on school... I've been horribly procrastinating all semester (including writing this blog right now), and I need to get caught up since there isn't any way anything is happening on the trip

-Write article for the T-Times. Apparently there is a demand for this from 3 people, so I guess I should appease them

-Eat copious amounts of bakery product to make up for not being around for a week

-Get project bike done... I can't say too many specifics about this cause it's not for sure yet, but let's just say that I was challenged to turn a bike with a checkered past into a national championship caliber whip with the stock parts in a matter of days. And not have it be sketchy. It's going to happen.

So you see, there is a lot to do. Most of it could be done in an afternoon except for the whole procrastination thing. For instance, a lot of my time is spent watching videos and looking at pictures. I'm pretty sure those will be around for quite a while, but still, they demand my attention RIGHT NOW.

I'm out to watch something about good ass bbq and foot massage.

Later

Clemson

Well, the regular season of collegiate mountain biking wrapped up this weekend in Clemson with the conference championships. I went into the weekend hoping for a couple of good results, and while I didn't really get what I was looking for, it wasn't a complete loss.

I started Saturday out right by sleeping through my alarm and missing the van by an hour and a half. I barely made my short track start (seriously, I got there at 8:56, and was on the line by 9 ready to start. We didn't actually start on time, but I was ready anyway), but the lack of warmup and a crash at the start relegated me to 14th place. Pretty crappy on a course that suits me pretty well. After the short track, I got some food and went to practice the downhill. I got pretty confident on it, and threw down what I thought was a really solid race run. At the finish, I was told that I had put down a 1:32, which would have put me solidly in the top 10, 1 second behind Real Tall. I was really stoked with that, since I had been trying hard in the gravity stuff all season and was sucking pretty badly. I found out today that I had only run a 1:42, which put me in the 30s somewhere, 13 seconds off the win. That pretty much sucked. There isn't much to report for slalom since I DQed my qualifying run by missing a gate (there were about 15 out of 40 riders who did that too, so I was in good company). Big thanks to Dan for letting me use his bike, that thing is sick, sorry I didn't put it to better use.

Sunday's XC went a lot better. I didn't get a great start, but worked my way up to finish 8th. I was feeling really good all day, very smooth and consistent, better than I've felt all season. That course really suits me, and is a lot of fun to boot. I was one place behind the second Union guy, so I think we matched them pretty well. Rimmer was 10th after I passed him about halfway around the last lap with some chain issues. Tristan crashed on the last lap and finished 2nd to the first Union rider. Julia held it down for the first 3 laps, but then faded on the last one to finish 3rd. I'm pretty sure that could have been avoided with some better eating and drinking, right? Its cool though, she won yesterday and sealed up the endurance omnium.

I'm not sure how the results are going to stack up, but it's going to be tight. Warren Wilson wasn't super consistent, but they had some good races yesterday, and as usual, flooded the hell out of the women's fields. Union was strong, but I think their lack of girls will come back to bite them. I'll let you guys know how the points end up once they get them posted. We are reasonably sure that all of our top riders will be making the trip to Cali, which means I need to start thinking about getting a little bit ahead on some school work. I think I'll actually go do that now...

Later.

A 29er

So, today I saw something… I saw pigs flying and people wearing jackets and skating in hell. I know I swore I would never do it, but today my curiosity got the better of me and (insert collective gasp *here*) RODE A 29er!!! And what’s more, I actually liked it. Trust me, that takes a lot of pride-swallowing to say. The shop got in a Stumpjumper Comp 29er hardtail, and of course, everyone wants to ride it (and when I say everyone, I mean the 3 of us who ride that size and are mildly curious about it). Anyway, I was the first one to ride it, and I went into it with as open a mind as possible.

First, let me explain some of my biases and factors affecting my perceptions about the bike. Normally, I ride a Specialized carbon Epic, which weighs just under 23#s with my race kit on it. That race kit (and what I’ve been riding for about 2 months straight now) involves some really light and stiff wheels which obviously is what I am used to. This bike is about 2 pounds heavier than mine, and the wheels are decidedly not race level wheels. I’m also pretty happy riding a full suspension bike, and I struggle a lot going downhill when I’m on a 26er hardtail. In addition, I raced this past weekend, so my legs are still pretty tired. Just keep that in mind when I talk about how the bike rode.

OK, so, what did I think of the bike? Well, rolling out of the parking lot, I noticed a good bit slower acceleration. Not a huge deal, but noticeable. I dropped into lower Sycamore, and liked the bike pretty much from the first hundred yards. Not only does it roll over stuff like everyone says it does, it also has loads more traction than a 26er when climbing on rooty terrain. That made me pretty happy right there, as I was able to clean stuff even after messing up some lines that would have stopped my Epic in its tracks. So, climbing on technical stuff? Check.

Going up Black Mountain, I did notice a lot of sluggishness. Trying to stand up pedaling was a bit harder, and I felt like I was wrestling the bike the whole time. I was able to sit down a good bit more than I would have been able to riding a 26er, but was definitely still on a hardtail. Again, what I am seeing as sluggishness is likely largely the responsibility of tired legs and a difference in equipment quality levels, but it was still there. I also noticed that the front wheel seemed to wander a good bit on the slower parts of Black. However, I felt like the bike really shone once I got it up to speed on the flatter parts. It definitely felt like there was some momentum behind me.

How about going downhill? Well, all of the stuff that I rode was fairly straight, without any of the tight turns that are usually found on a race course in the area. Going down Thrift, I noticed that I had more traction on the looser turns, and I didn’t really have a problem switching sides on an s-berm section. On Sycamore, the big wheels didn’t really shine as much on the really rooty sections. It was definitely better than a 26er hardtail, but not anywhere near as smooth as a fully. This made me realize something though… I had been comparing the bike to a full suspension, when I really needed to be comparing it to a 26in hardtail. This realization changed a lot. Instead of expecting plush, I began expecting fast. And the bike actually was.

All of that looks pretty positive, doesn’t it? It is. So will I be getting one for next year? No. In spite of all of the good things that I have mentioned here, I still don’t think it is a good race bike. It rolls over Pisgah stuff really well, and if you are looking for the simplicity of a hardtail without the punishment, a 29er could be a good option. However, as much as I think they would be OK for a fun riding bike, I really don’t see it as a race bike, particularly not around here. It is just too sluggish accelerating and climbing. Maybe out west where you have courses without a lot of turns, but on the east coast, there is just too much turning and changing directions to have the bigger wheels make sense. I am going to ride it a few more times to see if I get a different feel for it, but for now, I will be sticking with 26 inch wheels…

Also, as an aside, Julia is awesome.

Needed: Dry Weather.

I’m not sure what the deal with Brevard College Cycling is (or actually the SECCC in general), but we always seem to end up racing in the rain. The past two weekends have been mudfests of the highest degree, destroying many a bike in a very short period of time. I’m actually over it.

Since I’ve not written in a very long time, I’ll give you a really brief recap of my races and life. Two weeks ago, the team traveled to Lees McRae for the second weekend in a row, and after a dry and very successful weekend (for me personally and for the team) the week before, we hit some really gnarly conditions. The races were still fairly successful, but the gnarly factor made everyone feel a little less excited about the racing. I had a terrible day in the XC, and then didn’t race DH because of the weather. Short track went just as badly, as I got dropped out of the gate and then spent the rest of the race trying to see and stay on my bike.

This weekend was the Brevard home race, which, once again, was totally awesome. The team cleaned up (as usual) and in spite of the torrential rains on Saturday, kept it together to sweep all but one of the day’s events. I had some really bad luck during the short track, but eventually made my way back up from the very back of the field to finish 10^th. XC on Sunday was amazingly dry considering how wet it was the day before. I managed a season best 7^th on a course that really didn’t suit me at all. I think that was mostly due to the insane cheering section on the most technical section of the course. The local Brevard people are awesome.

Other than racing, I’ve been trying to keep up with school. And unlike Julia, I haven’t really had much to stay ahead of. It got a little crazy for a couple of days last week when I had two tests that needed doing, but other than that, it’s been a really easy semester. Hopefully after racing gets done it will remain easy so I have lots of time to go out and just ride. I really want to get out on my mountain bike and hit up some seasonal trails… I’ve been looking forward to that all year.

Stay dry Brevard!