With Downieville rapidly approaching I figured it may be the ideal time to get to know our two high stakes betting athletes (Ryan and Sako) a little better. For those of you new to the subject at hand, just hop back two posts to get the low-down. Lets fire off a dozen questions at these guys and see how it goes.
1: Who would play you in a movie?
Ryan Fowler: Val Kilmer
Sako Kapano: Al Pacino
2: Who was the last person to make you nervous?
RF: My Doctor
SK: You... with this friggin' blog.
3: What's a talent you wish you had?
RF: X-Ray vision
SK: The ability sing
4: What's your favorite sport (except mountain biking)
RF: Grassy hill biking
SK: Skiing
5: One sport you would never try?
RF: Speed skating....the whole "ice thing" scares me.
SK: Pole Vault
6: Best place on earth?
RF: I kinda live there (Truckee)
SK: Truckee!!
7: Worst place on earth?
RF: India
SK: West Palm Beach
8: Guilty pleasures?
RF: Justin Timberlake music
SK: Beer
9: Favorite food?
RF: Sushi
SK: Greek
10: How many times will your competitor flat during the race?
RF: 2x
SK: 1x
11: What's your race strategy for this Saturday?
RF: Keep Sako in sight on climb and put lots of pressure on him on downhill to force him onto a mistake.
SK: Common'... I can't tell you that!
12: What would your single best piece of advise be to a newbie racing Downieville?
RF: Four scoops of Stans, two shots of whiskey.
SK: Don't even try to pass me.
Well, there you have it folks. Some insight by some of Downieville's top athletes. Wish them luck... their going to need it.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
People always ask me....
..... what did you do during the week leading up to the race at Downieville. Reflecting back, I remember usually being busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest rebuilding forks, installing tires, building wheels and otherwise prepping bikes for guys that were going to be toeing the line with me at the race the next weekend. Of course, I'd be trying to work on my bike as well, usually at some "wee hours of the night" situation. I'd usually follow this up with a couple of "adult beverages" before going to bed. How's THAT for pre-race strategy!
However, I realize that the advise folks are probably looking for is in regards to having their best day at what may likely be the only race they do the entire summer. Now, I'm going to give some advise here and tell you what I would do/have done, but it should be known that my theory on what I do in the days leading into the race may (probably will) differ from what a "coach" or "trainer" would recommend.
First and foremost, I'd have my bike prepped early in the week and get a "shakedown ride" on it so I know it's good to go for the weekend. The afore mentioned ride would be on trails I knew well and would usually be an hour at the longest. The main thing to keep in mind on this ride is to have fun and feel the flow with the bike. After the ride, I'd give it a wash, lube the chain and hang it up till the weekend. I'd usually try and get this handled by Tuesday for two reasons. One, if I needed an unexpected part, I'd have plenty of time to get it handled. Two, I won't be riding the mountain bike again until the weekend.
By this point in the season, I'm as fit as I'm going to be. No amount of hard rides or interval training this week is going to help gain any fitness. You can't get fit the week before the race, but you can damn sure burn yourself out if you do too much. Be careful! I'd do some easy road rides, two hours max! I'd try and stay away from big climbs and keep the heart rate down for the most part. I might "give 'er" a little bit on Thursday, just so my body doesn't get lazy, but not too much. By Friday I'm usually itchin' to be riding trails but the emphasis will instead be on drinking lots of water and eating a slightly more than average amount of good food.
Saturday morning, I'm up early. I haven't ridden the mountain bike in almost a week so I'm completely joensin'. I'll drink lots of coffee and a good breakfast consisting of eggs and veggies. Since I've loaded up the car Friday night, all I have to do is hop in, crank the tunes and get to the start with plenty of time to mingle with friends, warm up and get a good position on the line.
Regardless of what YOU do, remember the most important thing... have fun out there.
And don't flat!
However, I realize that the advise folks are probably looking for is in regards to having their best day at what may likely be the only race they do the entire summer. Now, I'm going to give some advise here and tell you what I would do/have done, but it should be known that my theory on what I do in the days leading into the race may (probably will) differ from what a "coach" or "trainer" would recommend.
First and foremost, I'd have my bike prepped early in the week and get a "shakedown ride" on it so I know it's good to go for the weekend. The afore mentioned ride would be on trails I knew well and would usually be an hour at the longest. The main thing to keep in mind on this ride is to have fun and feel the flow with the bike. After the ride, I'd give it a wash, lube the chain and hang it up till the weekend. I'd usually try and get this handled by Tuesday for two reasons. One, if I needed an unexpected part, I'd have plenty of time to get it handled. Two, I won't be riding the mountain bike again until the weekend.
By this point in the season, I'm as fit as I'm going to be. No amount of hard rides or interval training this week is going to help gain any fitness. You can't get fit the week before the race, but you can damn sure burn yourself out if you do too much. Be careful! I'd do some easy road rides, two hours max! I'd try and stay away from big climbs and keep the heart rate down for the most part. I might "give 'er" a little bit on Thursday, just so my body doesn't get lazy, but not too much. By Friday I'm usually itchin' to be riding trails but the emphasis will instead be on drinking lots of water and eating a slightly more than average amount of good food.
Saturday morning, I'm up early. I haven't ridden the mountain bike in almost a week so I'm completely joensin'. I'll drink lots of coffee and a good breakfast consisting of eggs and veggies. Since I've loaded up the car Friday night, all I have to do is hop in, crank the tunes and get to the start with plenty of time to mingle with friends, warm up and get a good position on the line.
Regardless of what YOU do, remember the most important thing... have fun out there.
And don't flat!
Friday, July 26, 2013
Thursday Night Race Re-Cap
I must say, I was super excited for the Thursday night race at Northstar for a couple of reasons.
First off, the race was a fundraiser for the Luna Chix team and what's not to like about chix racing bikes and supporting a good cause.
Secondly, for some odd reason I was prepared to suffer for an hour and see where I am fittness wise as I haven't exactly been setting the world on fire in terms of miles on the bike recently.
Last but not least, the dynamic dou of Ryan and Sako were both going to be there racing which would surely set the tone for who's got a (shaven) leg up -pun intended- on the great Downieville bet between those two.
Sooooo, I got to Northstar early in hopes of getting signed up early and pre-riding a lap of the course. Ran into an racer friend (Matt) that lives in Nevada City, shot the shit with him for a bit, then headed up the hill towards registration with Ryan. We rode around for a few minutes looking for registration and found this instead....
Race cancelled. No suffering. No insight on the Ryan/Sako battle for supremecy. Nothing. Natta.
Soooooo. We haeded back to the cars. We met up with Sako and quickly formed "plan B" which was to go across the street and do a lap in Martis. I'll keep this short and just say that we had fun, the recent rain made the trails awesome and we got back to the parking lot completely exhausted of all spare tubes and Co2 cartridges after "someone" in the group flatted FOUR times.... yeah.... FOUR times.
First off, the race was a fundraiser for the Luna Chix team and what's not to like about chix racing bikes and supporting a good cause.
Secondly, for some odd reason I was prepared to suffer for an hour and see where I am fittness wise as I haven't exactly been setting the world on fire in terms of miles on the bike recently.
Last but not least, the dynamic dou of Ryan and Sako were both going to be there racing which would surely set the tone for who's got a (shaven) leg up -pun intended- on the great Downieville bet between those two.
Sooooo, I got to Northstar early in hopes of getting signed up early and pre-riding a lap of the course. Ran into an racer friend (Matt) that lives in Nevada City, shot the shit with him for a bit, then headed up the hill towards registration with Ryan. We rode around for a few minutes looking for registration and found this instead....
Race cancelled. No suffering. No insight on the Ryan/Sako battle for supremecy. Nothing. Natta.
Soooooo. We haeded back to the cars. We met up with Sako and quickly formed "plan B" which was to go across the street and do a lap in Martis. I'll keep this short and just say that we had fun, the recent rain made the trails awesome and we got back to the parking lot completely exhausted of all spare tubes and Co2 cartridges after "someone" in the group flatted FOUR times.... yeah.... FOUR times.
Four times.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Dueces Wild In Downieville
Following up from my last post, I'll get to the "high stakes betting" at Downieville I was mentioning.
Sure, the Downieville Classic has the glitter and glam of high profile athletes competing over the weekend, but for them it's just "another day at the office" as the likes of Carl Decker, Adam Craig and Katerina Nash hurl themselves towards the finish line in search of All Mountain Supremacy.
Now, I could do a race report on the aforementioned riders and get the usual race re-cap reporting that you'll be able to get at dozens of other media sources, but where's the fun in that! Going with Mighty Mobiles' typical "outside the box" thinking, I've got a scoop on a race within the race that's sure to be far more interesting than what you'll get anywhere else.
It started with an innocent wager. Two dudes. Fairly equal in fitness, bike selection and competitive spirit. The bet started with the looser paying the winners entry fee. At nearly $100, this was a pretty good deal for the winner but then the ante got upped. The stakes were raised and it was decided that not only would the looser be $100 lighter in the pocket, he would have to shave one (and only one) leg. (I'm almost positive there was drinking involved here) As if this weren't enough, it was later decided that the process for hair removal from the leg wouldn't be shaven with a razor, but with wax. Yeeoww!! Yeah baby.
Without further adieu, lets meet our two contestants.
Sure, the Downieville Classic has the glitter and glam of high profile athletes competing over the weekend, but for them it's just "another day at the office" as the likes of Carl Decker, Adam Craig and Katerina Nash hurl themselves towards the finish line in search of All Mountain Supremacy.
Now, I could do a race report on the aforementioned riders and get the usual race re-cap reporting that you'll be able to get at dozens of other media sources, but where's the fun in that! Going with Mighty Mobiles' typical "outside the box" thinking, I've got a scoop on a race within the race that's sure to be far more interesting than what you'll get anywhere else.
It started with an innocent wager. Two dudes. Fairly equal in fitness, bike selection and competitive spirit. The bet started with the looser paying the winners entry fee. At nearly $100, this was a pretty good deal for the winner but then the ante got upped. The stakes were raised and it was decided that not only would the looser be $100 lighter in the pocket, he would have to shave one (and only one) leg. (I'm almost positive there was drinking involved here) As if this weren't enough, it was later decided that the process for hair removal from the leg wouldn't be shaven with a razor, but with wax. Yeeoww!! Yeah baby.
Without further adieu, lets meet our two contestants.
First, we have Ryan Fowler. Born in Vacaville Ca and raised by a pack of wolves high in the Sierra, Ryan is no stranger to racing the bike. He'll toe the line with anybody and could give two shits about how many KOM's his competitors have on Strava.
Ryan's the kind of guy who does his research, makes a list, checks it twice....
... then follows through with authority!
Ryan takes his racing very seriously and is always in search of ways to improve his program. Bike selection for Downieville is paramount and he'll stop at nothing to try and get an upper hand on his fellow competitors.
He's not afraid to try new things in an effort to shave (no pun intended) precious seconds off his race time. Seen here, Ryan experiments with a new aerodynamic technique he calls "planking" at a secret test site in the Swiss Alps.
Ryan is a good egg. His favorite color is green, eats his veggies and is an all around doo-gooder.
Next up, Sako Kapano. Born on the east coast with the attitude to prove it, Sako isn't one to take things lightly. He'll race a 7yr old down the street and celebrate the victory like he's just won the Tour De France. Sakos' legs aren't much bigger than a #2 pencil, but he somehow still manages to "throw down" on the bike.
With an amazing ability to light up his nipples while negotiating technical singletrack, Sako's sure to be one tough adversary.
I've been riding with Sako quite a bit this season and must say that he's pretty fit. My only hesitation on putting all my money on him is that he's often the victim of mechanicals... as seen here....
.... and here.....
.... and here....
.... and here. (I have tons of these shots)
So, it's any ones guess as to who will emerge victorious at the 2013 Downieville Classic but one thing's for sure... it's going to be one hell of a battle. Tune in race weekend to see how it all went down.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
What a mess
Wow. This blog is in some serious need of maintenance. It hasn't been updated in a coons age, the sidebar links to manufactures service sites take you to "error land" and the "pic of the week" must be damn good... it's been there for months! As outdated as I thought my blog was, I realized that I wasn't doing too bad when I checked in with this guy.
So, here we go. I'll start my blog overhaul by throwing out a little sumpthin' sumpthin' in the form of a post and take it from there when I have a little more time to put some real meaning into this thing. Lots to tell ya' all. Mighty Mobile has been at it hard. Fixing this, repairing that and acquiring new accounts in a constant ongoing effort to make this business better so your bike can perform to its potential. But more on that later.
I'll be going somewhat against my word of "not racing this year" and racing this Thursday at the Luna Chix fundraiser held at Northstar. The Thursday night races have always been fun and since I was a big fat no show at any of the races last year, I'm going to go out and give it my all (which may not be much at all) this Thursday night.
More racing news is that the Downieville Classic is fast approaching and I'll be there... but not racing. I'll be taking more of a "reporting" role at this years race as we have some top athletes competing at this years race with some high stakes betting going on. More info to follow. Stay tuned, you're not going to want to miss this one.
So, here we go. I'll start my blog overhaul by throwing out a little sumpthin' sumpthin' in the form of a post and take it from there when I have a little more time to put some real meaning into this thing. Lots to tell ya' all. Mighty Mobile has been at it hard. Fixing this, repairing that and acquiring new accounts in a constant ongoing effort to make this business better so your bike can perform to its potential. But more on that later.
I'll be going somewhat against my word of "not racing this year" and racing this Thursday at the Luna Chix fundraiser held at Northstar. The Thursday night races have always been fun and since I was a big fat no show at any of the races last year, I'm going to go out and give it my all (which may not be much at all) this Thursday night.
More racing news is that the Downieville Classic is fast approaching and I'll be there... but not racing. I'll be taking more of a "reporting" role at this years race as we have some top athletes competing at this years race with some high stakes betting going on. More info to follow. Stay tuned, you're not going to want to miss this one.
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