Ride Report Keyesville Classic 2009/Great Event (merged threads)

It would suck on the DH though? :?:

 

Yes but I still came in 3rd with a crash. It would have made pedaling that damn Dutch Flat road (one of the DH runs had a ton of pedaling) much easier. Plus, the results of all 3 races combined determined the stage race overall...I may have been able to place higher in the ST and XC on a lighter bike?

 

good point.
Well it looks like i'll have to get my ass in gear and get a bike to race the stage race next year :lol::bang:

 

Pretty close Brandon. You race downhill, short track sprint, and then cross country. They sort of build you up on the amount and duration of pedal power and distance required with each additional race.

You never know, they might have the Sierra Club sponsor the Tour of the Sierras... a weeks worth of racing down the Sierra Nevada range from Downieville to Keyesville, as the last stage. :beer: Just kidding.

The guys on the hard tails flat out smoked in the stage race with the short track and the XC... they made up sooo much time on the course, more than enough to offset what they may have given away on their time in the rough stuff like the snake pit or the wall of voodoo. We had a 13 or 14 year old guy on a hardtail Bionicon Frequency from Flagstaff AZ, elev about 7000 feet where he trains all the time (not much riding in the snow in the winter), I believe his name was Ryan... Look for some pics of him wearing a gold helmet in this thread. The kid was fast, fast, fast. Not quite Mechmann fast, but give him a few years with some training and he's gonna be a contender.

 

Hardtails definitely had the overall advantage for the all-mountain. The 170mm travel Supershuttle, dual crown fork was overkill for even the DH, but sure was fun on the course overall. I also took a medium, a slightly larger bike than I'm used to, and I put an extra 15 pounds in the fork and the rear shock to stiffen them up a bit. I made up most of my ground on the downhill sections of the XC course....

 

Kanga is correct. Chewey Aitken rode a Golden Willow in all three disciplines, only 4.75 inches of rear travel, 6 in the front. Check out one of Kanga's videos of Chewey picking lines through the wall of voodoo, and watch the bikes suspension work.

There are ways to tune a bike for a specific race, suspension wise, when you have a Bionicon with air shocks and a shock pump.

And start training with Allison and Mechmann with the climbs and proper nutrition. No more tortilla's, more pasta before the race. :bang:

 

Thats the only way i got through my first race in sport being out of shape. i carb loaded for 3 days...
you can ask anyone on the team how much i eat when we go out... maybe a few bites then jason or soemone finishes mine... well the thursday before the race, i had 5 full plates of spaghetti
we're talking like a 12 inch plate. IDK how i managed but it definitely helped..
as for the climbs, ill have to do that on my own. The mann's live too far away #-o
Thankk god i have the mountains to ride and trails galore in my "backyard"

 

Fall in love with a nice Italian girl that likes to cook and stay away from the 1080p Hi Def programming on TV. Go riding instead. Like me! :wave:

 

TV? whats TV?
I havent watched TV in awhile. I rarely watch TV with the exception of a few supercoss races now and then.
And i try to ride when i can. unfortunately right now, i get up at 430 and go to work with my grandparents and dont get home until around 430 or 5. By then im too beat to ride #-o

 

Quite yer cryin'! :lol: I don't think I own a bike that is less than 30lbs...except maybe the road bike and an old BMX bike in the garage!!!! :lol::lol: I figure I'll just keep pedaling awy on the heavy bikes and end up with legs the size of a tree and the lungs of Armstrong! #-o

p.s. I'm just joking. I'm just jealous of your skills. lol

 

I know you're kidding

I'm down to about 135 lbs now...pushing a heavier bike is getting harder even though I feel stronger. I think my power:weight ratio is improving but for a person heavier than me, wouldn't riding a heavier bike be easier?:?:

 

No... My other bike weighed in at 31.6 pounds, the one I have now weighs in at around 34.5, with the addition of a Gravity Dropper, some Alex DP20 rims from some FD16's, and a bag under my seat with a spare tube, tire irons and some basic wrenches for when our club goes on some epic rides into the backcountry.
Weight on a bike is your enemy, until you reach the point that lightness equals failures and DNF's. Then it becomes your friend again. It's a pain in the legs and the A$$ accelerating rotational mass, so think light wheelsets, rims and tires if you are serious about XC and short track sprints on race day.

 

Keyesville & more pics...

Fun for sure !!! I wont rehash what everyone has already described from the weekend but man I have to say (again) it was COLD!!! This is my first year racing and Keyesville was quite an experience.

For DH – this was my first time. On the 1st run, everything felt good. After walking up the trail it wasn’t that bad at all. On the 2nd run, it was a bit intimidating. After hiking up Snake Pit and looking back, I was desperately trying to remember which were the best lines to pick. As I mentioned in my previous post coming into the Pit I panicked, slowed down and lost momentum. Crashed infront of the crowd. Good experience :lol:

For the Short Track, that was a blast. I actually started about 10 -15 seconds later than the group. I was out in the parking lot when I heard the beginners staging…next thing I hear is “ they’re off” WTF… LOL Fortunately I wasn’t too far. Never the less I was still able to catch the group and did my seven laps. Best part of it all was the SNOW falling while racing.

For XC, all I have to say is that was a beautiful countryside trail. The rolling hills on the backside of the course was epic!

Here are some pics that my GF took of me (she’s actually getting pretty good as a photographer ) and the others I shot from the Sport Short Track (Mechmann, SDYeti, Alison, AutoDuel, Kanga (I think). I dont have a photo editing software at work so some of these could be cropped for a tighter shot.

Good times…definitely good times…

 

More Short Track pics...

 

and just a few more...

 

Easier for the heavier person to pedal the same weight.
Their legs are used to carrying their weight up stairs, etc. A 200 lb rider riding a 30 lb bike is pedalling 15% more than their body weight. A 150lb rider on the same bike is pedalling 20% more than their body weight. Or in my case, 24%. A huge difference.

 

Check back to this website to see results, etc. when they are posted (not up yet):

http://keyesville.com/

 

I beg to differ... Kanga weighs 125-130 and goes 5' 2" maybe 5'4", I weigh 225, 6'5" His bike goes 29.5, Edison small, my XL Edison goes 34.5. There ain't no way in hell I can keep up with Kanga on anything, except maybe I can beat him in eating more pasta faster.... that's about it. Or watching more 1080p than him. Training and dedication will wipe out the advantages of physics. Look at how short and lean most of the XC weight weenie racers are.

Muscle mass to fat mass as a percentage of body weight tells more, as does level of training. Then there is the mental aspect, riding skills, ability to read and pick good lines, etc, and having a strategy to win, that need to be developed. It's not just brawn over brains.

 

True.

A wise racer once sed:

The race not always favors the strongest and fastest.
The race usually favors the smartest and fittest.

 

You got me... 153!

Thanks. My 2gb of photos were uploading last night and didn't go through. Started all over again just now....

My weigh-ins for the Supershuttle were 32.6 and 31.4 respectively, going from 2.5/2.35 nevegals, to a 2.4/2.1 mutanoraptor for the XC. That's with DP20 rims, and a gravity dropper. For a 170mm travel bike, it's not bad.

My body weight is about 125. Mass (bike/rider combined weight) gives you stability over rough stuff and momentum, but when you have to lug it up a climb, every extra ounce takes more energy to get up the hill.