CrossVegas pre race interview

interbike pics up..

IMG_1379
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

ok, i am waaaaaaaaay behind on the blog updates, but i got my pics from interbike up.

ck it here.

new king cages, new moots road bike, new salsa bars and kits, trp disc brakes, and 100 other kewl things.

crossvegas was stupid fast. 45 minutes in, got lapped. not bad all things considered.

focus mares expert bike i road at vegas review up at the speedgoat blog, todays cross race uneventful for me today and ended up around 8th'ish or so with dead airplane legs and fatigue.

time to pack up and rest.

next stop - moab.

sologoat out

sswc - race day

IMG_1089
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

way too tired to post the full write up again - check out my last posts up on the speedgoat.blog.

now - time to rest up. tomorrow i meet up with the 'goat clan in vegas for some business called interbike.

sologoat out

single speeed worlds - thursday

100_2830
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

got into town yesterday for ssw - not racing, just to spectate, train and heckle.

pre-ride excitement included a flat tire (me) and a spectacular wheel smashing crash by fuzzy into another rider. luckily, nobody got hurt.

post ride activities had us at the meet and greet with ned, fuzzy, dj, decker and a few others - and then also a cool little bike show in town at a local pub that was way too overcrowded.

racing action will be nutty - supposed 1,000 single speed riders in town to race, most of them will be in some sort of nutty custome. some will actually race it.

about 30 pics up on my flickr site - ck it.

sologoat out

whiskeytown cross painfest

sunday was the first installment of cyclocross pain, the clev cross series race #1.

the course is somewhat flat with a few hills, typical twisty turnys and off chambers, a sand pit for fun, a small set of triple barriers at hella speed, three turns you really gotta think about and then into the short finish. it is a thinkers course as you got to be on it physically and mentally all the time.

i got there early, debating on tire selection but already having the setup on that i would run for the course. seemed like i'm always hitting stuff at speed so i went with about 32'ish in the front and about 38'ish in the back.



race started, i made the main pack but it slowly started fading away as matt from lake effect was putting in a hella solo attack from a group that included shawn, gerrry, mike, angry andy, and tony. i slipped back to no mans land.



the main group got the gap, but i held onto my pace trying not to think about the numbers game as i rode by myself. i could see some guys were sitting on and hoped that some would eventually peel off and i could leap frog across. i tried to make up ground on the techy stuff that i knew they couldn't be riding as fast as a solo rider on.



it paid off, just as they were backing off, i put out an all out effort across the paved section on the backside and made the bridge just as a few riders popped off. now it was down to five with two to go.



my plan was to make an attack through the triple barriers, but shawn jumped hard and i put down all i had to stay with the group, another effort by steve from pa put me in the hurt locker.



out of the barriers on the last lap, they gapped me. i would roll in 5th place - great day for putting in a long week.

sologoat out

sm100 - part 2

Photo credit ©Bob Popovich

once with aaron, we started picking up riders here and there. we were taking even pulls and sharing in the work.

we rolled through station 4, got new bottles and kept going. this was going to be the hella climb of 20 miles ahead of us.

up and up and up forever, we caught a few more guys and just kept going - nobody caught our wheel as we went by. i was just looking forward to station 5 where i had fresh bottles and another coca cola.

we rolled into station 5, got fueled up and pedaled on. the helpers at the area where somewhat dumbfounded that i didn't want to load up on pizza and all the other snacks, but that stuff makes my stomach turn at this point in a race.

the climb continues on and has several false peaks, enough to make you think the climb is never going to end. we crest the top and stop descending towards station 6, the last feed of the day until the end.

ripping down the backside of the climb, and just before station 6, i manage to both flat my rear tire and loose a bottle. i try in vain twice to pump it up, but it's loosing air badly - but not bad enough that i can't make it to station 6.

at station 6, the mechanic there helped me (along with about 4 or 5 kids yelling about the stuff coming out of my tires) convert to using a tube -- during this fiasco, i end up loosing 4 or 5 spots.

i catch a few of them back, one other catches me - i roll in 18th place, not bad for having come off an injury that had me sidelined for most of the season and watching too many netflicks.

should leave me with good fitness for my next enduro race.... stay tuned...

sologoat out

sm100 - part 1

ok, ok... i've been draggin' out this write up for several days now as i try to sort out cross bike work, my trip to duragngo/interbike, work and riding... just not enough time in the day to do all this stuff so i am going to post it in to parts.

the day before...
trip out with gerry and andy was a hoot, just a long drive of about 7'ish hours total for me. this would be my first real test of legs since my tibia fracture back in june. i've done these kind of hours before with this injury, but it was hard to tell how things would go with 7'ish hours of race pace and major climbing. my weight, power & endurance are on, but with my type of injury it could take major time to heal up and to feel good.


the first 50...
we rolled out at 6:30am with gerry throwing down on the very first climb. my knees were feeling tight (should of warmed up some) and i decided almost immediately i had to race my own pace. soon the leaders slipped away.

i got caught between a group of about 8 riders and a few stragglers behind me after the first climb and descent out onto the first paved road section. as we rolled by what would be drop #1, i got caught by Chris Strout and we rolled up together to the group ahead of us that included Steve Schwartz.

through some jeep trail and out, chris, steve and myself rolled onto checkpoint #2. chris and i grabbed a bottle, steve stopped to fill his hydration pack - we rolled on.

up another climb or two, i dropped chris and rolled on. hit the fast downhill section rolling good into checkpoint #3. grabbed my drop bag and a coke i had in it and then rolled out with andy applegate and matt ferari in tow. i gave them some of my coke sugar goodness and we rolled on.

we would hit a steep hike a bike and eventually i would drop them both by the end of the climb and when we circled back to ride by checkpoint #3, i could see two riders in the distance. time to hammer.

up the climb, i eventually catch up to the two riders - including Aaron Oakes. we all took pulls and on the next climb we dropped the other rider. aaron and i would now ride the next 40'ish miles together.

2009 season, take two

next up, the shenandoah 100 this coming sunday. hellishly long fire road climbs. dry, dusty, open roads that just go up and up. the kind of stuff i love and the kind of stuff that will test my comeback fitness.

will be making the journey with fellow speedgoat teammates gerry and andy, both of which are having good results in the NUE series this year.

gerry decided the sm100 is a bit too tough and has decided to race with some gears (he's got the NUE single speed series win wrapped up already) and andy should be wrapping up the series in the top 10. overall great season for speedgoat this year and cross hasn't hit yet.

project pink bike is up and raffel tixs are available now at the 'goat website. i've had several good karma things happen to me in the past few weeks so support a good cause and get a chance to win a hella cool bike.

coming up, trp carbon cross brake and lever review thanks to the guys at TRP. hands down, best cross brakes out there. doubt me and it may come to fisticuffs. or maybe just a minor scuffle.

and, off to single speed worlds at durango the week before interbike. will not be out there to race, but mainly to train, catch in some great sights and hang out with justin from princeton tec and dj and fuzzy from niner. i just need to figure out the best way to cheer/heckle them on. any way it turns out, it is going to be epic.

then, off to the full week of interbike. a little bit of fun work, hanging out and catching up with friends, an hour at full out 190 heart rate effort (and loving every second of it), then back home for another cross race on saturday afternoon.

i am so happy and thankful to be back in the game

sologoat out