Ok, taking the plunge - A n00b going XC racing

Fontucky. The name is actually Fontana, but it quite resembles Kentucky, so it is then Fontucky. Similarly, in San Diego there is Santee. It is referred to K(KK)lantee, Santucky, etc.

Oh no. Time to break out the Steppie video.

[youtube]u-IqQoeM9-Q[/youtube]

That, my friend, is Steppie (aka dstepper).

 

That's what I thought, but I then thought it couldn't be that simple. I have driven through Fontana twice, both times I stopped at some gigantic truck stop...

That is a cinematic masterpiece!

 

While I did take a number of the photos utilized, the final product is not mine

 

So my riding buddy is looking to join me at the next race, he calls me today after doing one of my workouts, he's like 'uhhh, that was hard!'

Duh.

Tonight was 4 x 10 min intervals with 2 min recovery between, first time working out on the trainer. Stayed in high zone 4, low zone 5 on HR until the end, then pinned it for the last two mins. Had trouble getting off the bike and nearly hurled, good stuff!

Since I was at home with the trainer, put Mallrats on the tube so I could laugh my way through the workout. Good times!

 

So this was kinda cool - About 3 weeks ago, I gave one of the spin instructors my climb/speed workout. It's got some music in it with pretty foul language, figured we wouldn't be doing it in class, with the way work environments can be these days.

So this morning, I'm feeling guilty for taking yesterday off, so I hit the gym at 5 AM, get on a spin bike and do the workout.

Then I go to spin class today and low and behold, the class is going to do my workout.

Nothing more satisfying to watch the whole group suffer though it instead of just doing the workout by myself. Pretty cool!

 

Alright, Sunday is round two of the race series and round two for me. I have trained very hard for the last 3 weeks, with a myriad of interval, time trial and high intensity climb workouts. 5 outdoor rides, 11 indoor spins - All with one goal in mind, shaving at least 3 minutes off my last time. It appears that the course is going to be in similar condition to what it was last time - WET!

On my outdoor rides, I can definitely see the advantage in the interval training, I can dig in and pedal harder when I need to.

Here's to hoping that I got better!

 

Wet course, fast first lap, even with a crash. Super sloppy course, most everyone else was faster, I was about the same speed total race.

My day ended with stitches in the ER, more on the whole deal later.

 

glad to hear it'll be okay!!!

 

Good news first - 4th place finish, less than one minute out of 3rd. I stuck around for the awards so I know who I am chasing. Everyone was slower, I was much less slower than the rest, so I'm pretty sure I improved a lot in 3 weeks.

Bad news - Leg is infected, it's red and swollen from my kneecap to my ankle. I'm on horse antibiotics and can't work out for at least 3 days. Ugh.

Here is a cool picture of the start - I'm number 95, right in the center:

 

Looks kinda wet and cold...

Sorry to hear about the infection, btw! I guess mebbe next time stop and check the wound?

 

Was wet and cold. Fun though.

Stop and check? During a race? You must be kidding!

Oh, and Under Armor's Winter gear works REALLY well. I was not cold at all. Wet, but can't do much about that unless I wanted to wear something baggy.

 

And, drumroll please, I have decided to buy a new bike.

I'm going to do either a Voodoo Canzo 29er or a Niner Jet9. I am leaning towards the Jet9, but we will see about pricing from my buddy up north.

Going to build my own wheels with CK hubs and 355 rims (I'm pretty gentle on my wheels, I think, so I'll give the lighter 355's a shot), lightweight spokes and nips.

I'll build it up with my 08 XT stuff that I have already, should be a fun bike!

 

Race #3 of the series was yesterday - Final race in the winter series, I was 4th in points going in. We had quite a large turnout, with 14 guys showing up. A couple of sport guys dropped down and so I knew it was going to be a tough ride...

I went into this race training REALLY intense the previous two weeks, determined to start fast and crank hard for as long as I could. I went out of the gate hard and pedaled my ass off - HR was pinned from the start!

I came off the wide road and into the single track in 2nd place in my age group. I passed the leader in some technical climbs and held the lead till about mile 4, where a few guys got by me in a short time. At around the end of the first lap, the last of the faster riders slipped by and I clamped on to his rear tire and kept on pedaling.

Ended up 7th out of 14, time of 1:15:02, over 10 minutes faster than my previous best! I was less than 4 minutes behind the winner of the first two rounds, where I was about 6 minutes behind before.

I'm disappointed in the low finish, but am exceptionally happy that I went significantly faster than the previous two races. I'm pretty sure that I finished 4th in points, but that's more of a function of going to all the races, whereas the fast guys that showed up yesterday skipped the first couple rounds.

 

Congrats!! That's a huge improvement!

Next race is??

 

3 pics here, search bib 319:

http://jamesprattphotography.exposuremanager.com/scripts/expman.pl?rm=search&dir=galleries/24/9/2

You can't tell it in the 2nd pic, but about .02 seconds later, I went OTB and landed on my head. I was "showing off" for the camera and that's what happens...

 

Nice! Dig the xc jersey BTW, looking trim. But, try getting some sun :lol:

 

How many miles was the race?

Congrats on sticking it out through the series:clap:

 

Just a skosh under 14 miles:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5180534

Funny Story - At the first two rounds, there was a 13 year old girl who passed me on the same climb, about a mile before the finish. Her group starts 2 mins behind mine. It was embarrassing.

This race, she didn't get by me. She was still about a minute faster overall, but I didn't have to go through the shame of getting motored by a 13 year old girl. Haha!

 

3 years ago, I proclaimed (during an XC race) that I'd never race XC again...I had just gotten smoked by a 13 year old girl, too. Damn, that hurts.