Friday, October 25, 2013

Vegas Bob's CA Cross Series Update

 
Hey Ev'rbody!
Well cyclo-cross season is well underway. It started out here in Downtown L.A. After pulling the Motobecane out of deep hibernation I aired up the ol' Kenda tires, spun the front wheel and my sleeping SigmaSport 1606 winked to life, and I clicked into my aluminum/ti XPEDO pedals and was ready to rock! Unfortunately, the "roll" part didn't follow so much. A covering of wood chips in the park made for a sea of flat tires. Tubeless, tubulars, tubes, Stan's, Slime, no one was immune. I unfortunately ended up with a total of 3 flats for 2 races, never getting more than a lap and a half around the track, even while just trying to warm-up between events. Amino Vital was on hand, but didn't even get a chance to work since 12 minutes was the most I was on a bike. For the last race I even tried to hide a good tube in the middle of a bad tube, but unlike Luke getting warm in the Taun-taun's innards or Hannibal escaping in his guard's face skin, my slice job didn't work out. Ah well, that's racing. 

 
 
 
Next was Prado Lake in Chino Hills. It's still a bit toasty out here in the Golden State, but the shade under lots of oak trees and the Sigma EZ-UP made it a nice day. The racing was tough, though. The course had lots of gopher-hole bumpy grass, and obstacles included a few off-camber lines, a couple switchbacks over baseball diamond DG dirt, a dirt stair, and the hurdles were around a corner at the top of a hill. The only resting spot was the pavement straightaway at the start/finish line. Even lowering my tire pressure to get a bit more squish outta them, I took a beating. In the "A" race I think the only two people I beat were a Junior racer who looked to be about 15, and the guy that took 5 beer hand-ups. Yay, Me! It's always a bit of a change from XC to CX, but always fun. Good thing cool beverages were waiting at the finish!
 
 

 
The third race was down at Vail Lake http://www.vaillakeresort.com/ in Temecula. There has never been a CX race down there before, but having done cross-country races there for a few years, I knew we'd be in for a treat. They graciously stepped in on short notice as a venue when Costa Mesa dropped the ball. When we arrived at the entrance, we were told to go around to the "other" entrance. I thought there was only one. Well after continuing down the highway, finding the back way in, and meandering down a winding road, we came on the racecourse, a ridiculously grassy patch of hills, right next to the beach by the lake.







But besides beautiful, it was actually a difficult course. A lack of flat sections kept us on our toes every lap, with the steepest hill I've ever done in a CX race ever. My cassette barely had a low enough gear to clean it. Lots of guys lost their strength or traction about 3/4 of the way up, with many choosing to just run up from the bottom instead. Just past the start/finish was a sand section, starting with a left 180 in very deep sand and then a right 180 into an uphill. Mayhem was the standard here, as those of us who could pedal through it clambered for space between those who couldn't, running or falling over all around us. The small dirt section was in a super windy spot, so not only was it slow, but we got showered with dust. The sickest part were the dinosaurs chasing us. That's motivation! haha. But really, local artist Ricardo A. Breceda http://ricardoabreceda.com/index.html is a metalworking master, and his workshop is on the Vail Lake property. Many of his sculptures are scattered over the property, and some even grace the hills of the canyon on the way out of town from Temecula. What a treat.

 
 
 

I also decided to try SingeSpeed for the first time. Luckily Joe from Bike Religion in Dana Point had some demo Felts ready to ride and waiting eagerly to be ridden. He swapped over my XPEDOs, I zipped tied the shifter paddles to the brake levers (after some gear-selection coaching from some experienced SSers) and I was off! I really interesting experience, since I've never ever even ridden a SS on trails at all, much less in a race. Plus it was my first time racing a drop-bar CX bike, too. Super fun! But I definitely had an adjustment period. For a lap and a half I still kept trying to use the shifters! And I kept pedaling in vain on the flats, ridiculously whirling to 130rpm before figuring out how worthless it was to do so. After the second lap, though, I had gotten the hang of it, and the gear was just easy enough to get me up the steepest hill. I had a blast! And I ended up 11th out of 20 guys. Hmmm, I may have to try that again!

VB

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Woodchips and Barriers; So Cal Cross Time With Fuzz and Bob!

Captain,

We had our first cyclocross race of the season in Downtown LA at the
Historic Park (aka woodchip bonanza park). Hot day of dry dirt and
woodchips galore. Amino Vital had to go to double dose and our Xpedo
pedals were working overtime as we jumped on and off the bike over the
barriers. Vegas Bob and I headed out to race the Class B and ended up
flatting one lap apart.



Massive woodchip had speared into my Kenda
Small Block 8's 700X50 so bad that the slime in the wheel couldnt close
the hole. Racing on a 29er this year is making a big difference
especially on the long straightaways. Trusty Sigma EZ-up kept us cool
and my Sigma Rox 9.0 (5th season for this computer) had my average
higher than last year. Flatted but had a good couple of laps.





 Needed to kick my butt alittle bit since crashing and busting my femur a month
and a half ago. Physically need to strengthen more. Confidence was not
there on the technical dirt sections, dont want to fall on it again,
especially when the doctor says not to ride at all, HA!



Highlight of the day was watching the up and coming youngster in the
Backbone grassroots program. Vrej, my nephew, at the tender age of 3
got 3rd place in his little tikes race. He was so focused and
determined. After the race he was asking when the next race is! How
awesome is that!



Big Thank you to all the peeps that came out to support on that hot day
in LA : Beth Jacobs (you are racing next time, she rode in from Burbank
to support us), Mr. Margve, Joy (great pics), and my brothers family
Kristina, Vrej, and my other nephew Njdeh (6 months old). Good luck
pronouncing their names.



And always our sponsors : Amino Vital, Sigma, Xpedo Pedals, Kenda
Tires, Ryder Sunglasses, Royal, Spinergy Wheels, Formula Brakes, Voler
Apparal, and mom/dad.