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Two years ago I was getting ready for my “A-race” the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race.  I was feeling fit and ready to go, but on the Tuesday before the race I noticed a small crack at the bottom bracket tube/seat tube interface.  No way was I going to race on a cracked frame, so I hustled on down to the shop where I’d bought the bike eighteen months prior.  They offered to break my bike down for sixty bucks and send it to the US rep for the brand; six to eight weeks they said.  I asked about racing this weekend and they offered to rent me a bike at seventy dollars a day.



An old friend

I walked out.

I went to Veloce Velo here on Mercer Island, and explained my situation.  The guys immediately saw my predicament, said “said okay here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to sell you this awesome Pinarello frame at a super discount then we’re going to strip your broken bike and move all the components over – it’ll be done next Tuesday.”  To which I replied that’s awesome except for the fact that I need the bike tomorrow.

Greg the mechanic said “bring me a six pack and it’ll be ready in the morning.”

I went out and bought him two six packs a liter bottle and a tee shirt.

The next morning my bike was ready, and it was perfect.

What Veloce Velo did for me was make me feel like they were on my team.  I wasn’t asking for anything for free, and they didn’t see me as a nice mark ripe for being taken to the cleaners.  They listened to me, they empathized with my situation and we worked together to come up with a fair solution.  I’ve been loyal to them ever since.

This is the type of business that I’m building with Greenlite Heavy Industries.  I’m giving you a fair product at a fair price, I want you to use my product; I’m on your team.

#pinarello, #greenliteheavyindustries, #roadbike

All Over

Well it’s over.  Time to dismantle old Blue in order to power wash all of the dirt and grit out of the inside her aluminum tubing.  I gotta get my business up and running, finish that kitchen remodel, complete my half-done deck, grout the shower at the cabin, put finish on the windows that were installed last March, refinish that rocking chair, build a greenhouse – whoa better stop there before I become completely demoralized.

Here in Seattle we are lucky enough to have two thriving cyclocross series’: SCX and MFG.  I raced every MFG race and did well enough to land a front row call-up in all but the kick-off race.  My SCX attendance was a bit more spotty: I chose to miss a few races in order to avoid burnout.  The SCX series ended this past weekend at the fairgrounds in Enumclaw.

Quintessential is a cool word.  It means the pure and essential essence of something.  Enumclaw really was the quintessential Northwest cyclocross race, and not just because a guy named Quinn won the overall Masters 45+ Cat 4 SCX series championship.  Wick and the SCX guys really laid out a beautiful course (they needed a bit of redemption after the Tall Chief debacle) including mud, grabby grass, a tape maze, a series of three off-camber chicanes, a soul crushing run-up, a little single track descent, a long, but ridable, mud bog, three slightly too high Blue Rooster barriers, some pavement for passing and a sandy ride through a horse arena.  All of this was raced in fifty degree dry weather.  At the end of the race I was covered in just the right amount of mud: not enough to rip off my rear derailleur, but enough to know that I’d just raced cyclocross.

Since I’ve missed three SCX races I didn’t get a call up, but I managed to squeeze into the inside lane of the third row.  I must admit to liking the third row.  Up front you feel a lot of pressure from the row two guys.  The fellas directly behind you, literally breathing down your neck, are all serious, experienced racers and they are hungry, they want to get up there, so a bobble or a missed clip can result in losing five, six, even seven spots.  Starting third row, on the other hand, reverses the roles, now I’m the hungry one pushing past all of the wobbly guys.

I had a great start and passed half a dozen riders before the first turn.  On the second turn I was in a lot of traffic and really big guy leaned on me – he was on the inside of the turn, I was on the outside.  It’s nice to race with good riders because good riders know that when two guys lean on each other it’s best to just keep leaning until you get out of the mess, and then separate.  Fortunately the big guy was good and we went shoulder-to-shoulder through the turn.  It’s fun to dodge a bullet.

The run-up at Enumclaw has a well-deserved big reputation.  It’s a killer, no matter how strong you are.  This is where I lost the top five guys.  I just couldn’t get my butt up that hill fast enough.  On the other hand many of the guys who high-stepped it up the incline were left gasping at the top, and I easily passed them once back on the bike.

It was a three lap race and thanks to a super good warm-up I never really felt the heart attack sensation that usually plagues my first lap.  I got stronger as the race progressed, but unfortunately so did my competition.  I figured that I’d have to work hard and ride aggressive in order to finish top ten, as I was somewhere in that number eight to twelve never never land.  In the end I pushed past a couple of guys and ended up ninth.  I finished feeling great and totally exhilarated, it was a great day.

Next year I’m getting me one of those mint green RockLobster bikes.  Damn I love those.  

One More Dig

I was watching Behind the Barriers the other day and at the end of the episode Jeremy Powers (AKA J-Pow) was being worked on by a physical therapist/chiropractor.  The two guys got to talking about what it takes to win at cyclocross and the PT mentioned something that really hit home with me.  He referred to “one more dig,’ that the guy/gal who won was the typically the person who had “one more dig” than the competition.

Cyclocross is different than your typical American ball sports in that in order to have any success at all you have to operate at beyond what you might have previously thought was possible.  Cyclocross races typically last from between thirty to sixty minutes and during that entire time you have to be operating at maximum possible output, and at several times during the race you’ll have go past what you thought was possible – you have to dig.  It’s the guy/gal who can dig just that one more time, the person who can accelerate out of that last turn just a few seconds faster, generate just a few more watts than the competition, who wins.

I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of Americans have never experienced what cyclocross racers consider routine.  Perhaps that’s why I love this sport so much: it makes the seemingly impossible possible, and when that happens you come out the other side a stronger (read better) person.

 

Stottlemeyer 30 Mile Mountain Bike Race

What a great day of mountain bike racing.  A handful of Cucina Fresca teammates and I made the annual pilgrimage over the water to Port Gamble and the Stottlemeyer 30 mile mountain bike race.  The trail conditions and the weather probably couldn’t have been better.  I lined up with the 40-49 masters, which was grouped with the Men’s Open resulting in a total of 190 riders at the line – a bit crowded. 

A bit fuzzy but it gets the point across

The thirty mile race is broken down into two super technical laps, which begin after an initial two mile ride up a well-maintained fire road.  My technical skills have improved exponentially since last year, but I remain one of the more technically challenged riders on the course.

For the first lap there were probably five or six guys thinking, “that damned Cucina Fresca guy is driving me nuts,” because I’d pass these guys on the ascents and the fire roads and then they’d run up my butt on the technical stuff, I’d let them by and then we’d just repeat the process in another mile.  Fortunately these guys all stopped at the 15 mile aid station, which I blew through – thanks to 100 oz of water and 6 scoops of Sustained Energy in my Camelback.  Note for Leadville: the Camelback is key.

Any experienced triathlete will attest to the fact that the clock speeds up any time you stop during a race.  I've had transitions that I swore were less than a minute, but when I go back and look at the chip time I realize that I spent three to five minutes trying to get my shoes on.  With this in mind I didn't stop pedaling for the entire race and I'm positive that it bought me at least five minutes.

I didn’t cramp until the final 100 yards and I knocked 18 minutes off of last year’s time, so I’m super happy with my results.  I feel on track for the 60 mile race on June 8th at Echo Valley and Leadville in August.

After the race we hung out in the sun drinking cold Rainier, eating hot dogs and listening to the local high school rock band crank out some pretty good cover tunes.   A good day in the woods.

 

Stott 30

So here I am out looking for a full suspension mountain bike.  It never ends does it.

Yesterday I joined three teammates: Matt, Peter and Monica, at the Stottlemeyer 30 mile mountain bike race.  Holy crap 30 miles on a mountain bike is a bitch.  Here in the moist, heavily wooded Western Washington region the trails are tough man.  Hairpin switchbacks, tight trees and the roots, the freaking roots.  It’s just bam bam bam the entire time.

I have to say that I didn’t find the race all the physically exhausting; physiologically I was ready, but what I wasn’t ready for was the cramps and the mental fatigue.  Cramps seem endemic to endurance mountain biking events, perhaps because it’s because of the quick changes in cadence or perhaps it’s because you have to continually alter the amount of power you apply to the pedals: you can go from powering over a root, to spinning up a hill to standing over the seat on a descent all in less than a minute.  It tears your legs up.  The entire second lap was a fight against thigh and calf cramps.  I just couldn't push that hard withouot risking a sieze up.

About two miles into the second 15 mile lap I went over the handlebars and rang my bell right good.  I rode in a fog for about thirty minutes and I really had to concentrate on keeping my focus lest I go over the front again.  On long road rides, you can zone out for awhile and just let the miles go by, but on this mountain biking thing you have to be continually sharp, always on edge.  It really taxes your brain.

Stottlemeyer also offered a 60 mile, four lap, option.  Talk about a mind fuck.  That would just beat your mind and your body to smithereens.  I met a friend of mine, Tom, at the Edmonds ferry terminal; he and a couple of buddies were doing the 60.  They had won the lottery for the Leadville 100 and were using this as a training day.  I wonder how the terrain of Leadville would compare to Western Washington.  The Colorado altitude would certainly screw you, but it looks to me like most of Leadville is devoid of trees and thus you won’t have the brutal switchbacks and roots.  I’d like to get out there and ride some of that course just to see how the other half lives.