And so it begins

It starts with an email.

Someones burning desire to "get outta' dodge".

Ideas get thrown about.

A plan forms.

Then.... then it begins.

A new day starts in a new place.

You reach new heights

in a new place

searching for.....

....perfection

You explore your options....

....pick a direction

and go deep

loving every minute of it

regardless of how much it hurts

Every day has its end and this trip will be no different

as the sun sets and you begin to plan for your next day and your next adventure.

Here's to road trips.

Not Bikes....

....almost.

The TS100 Race Report... fianlly

Ok. This event is O-ficially on the team Mighty Mobile race calendar for next year.
The aid stations were stacked with everything you'd ever want and the volunteers go above and beyond to ensure your day of ultimate suffering goes foreword without hesitation or holdups.

The race - damn hard. Classic Tahoe dust, sketchy descents on both singletrack and Jeep trail. Ridiculously hard climbs. Chilly temps at the start that turned into plenty hot for me by mid day. Mmmm. I can almost taste the warm water in my bottles as I type.

The excitement at the start was electrifying. Or at least it must've been. I was actually at Sakos' truck shedding a layer when I heard everyone hooping and hollering. Sheeiite! I hopped on my bike and made it about halfway back to the start when I saw the pack coming at me full bore. I pulled in between two cars, got myself turned around and hopped in the front third-ish of the pack.

After a mile or so of pavement the course hit the dirt through some of the ski trails at Royal Gorge. Dusty. I was glad I had a bandanna tied around my neck that I could pull up over my nose and mouth to filter at least some of the dust. I probably re-passed most of the people that passed me at the start and was told about an hour into the race that I was 40th.

At this point of the day (7:00am) I was still uncertain as to how hard I wanted to push for what I thought would be about 9 more hours.

I spent the next hour riding at a medium pace and started to feel pretty good. At one point I saw Obie Miller get waaayy out of control on a fast rocky fireroad descent. His bike was swapping so far sideways left to right that I could read the letters on his downtube! I don't know how he saved it but I'm damn glad he did. We would end up riding quite a bit together throughout the day - sometimes talking, other times just pedaling along in survival mode with the classic "100 mile stare" in the eyes.

I didn't have enough time to get my ipod filled with music so I left it up to chance that I'd have some killer tunes in my head. This can be a deadly gamble. Seriously, one wrong thought on a tough climb will have you humming "don't worry be happy" over and over and over again until it makes you half crazy. Fortunately, I dodged that bullet and lucked out with stuff that didn't suck.... at least to me.

So, on and on. More aid stations. More drink mix. More gel packs. A nibble of PB&J. Perhaps a banana. Occasionally, two cookies - one for now and one in the leg of my shorts for later. Hate to eat and run but.....

At some point we got to the section of the course that I'd done a few weeks prior. This was both good and bad. The good thing was that I knew what was coming up. The bad thing was that I knew what was coming up.

All hundred milers (or at least the good ones) have an element on the course that "stands out" from the rest of its route. For the Tahoe Sierra 100 it's the last three climbs that takes this ride to eleven.

After a descent that overheats brakes and tests the limits of suspension you have 15 miles to go when you face the first of the last three climbs. It's 1,600 vertical ft in 1.5 miles. Plenty steep. 75% hike a bike even on a good day. The blood drains from your arms as you push your bike up this ungrateful ascension to Devils Thumb. Sweat stings your eyes as tiny flies buzz your head making an already tough situation even harder. You pray for the climbing to stop - and it will.

You'll have just enough time to get a few quick drinks from your water bottles before a second helping of ledgy, loose and steep switchbacks descend to yet another canyon. You'll need two fingers on your brake levers this time. Partly because it's steeper but mostly because your entire hands will be stinging from the constant beating their dealing with on this downhill.

Not to worry though, the pendulum of gravity will start to swing the other way once again and you'll be faced with your next climb. This one isn't quite as bad as the last but you'll still have to dig deep to get yourself out. 2,000ft in 3.5 miles. You'll be pedalling a little more on this climb but still be off the bike pushing for more time than you probably will the rest of the season. The last "kick up" on this one is a real monster. You round each corner hoping that you'll see the top of the climb... but you won't. Hang in there.

Thank you ma'am may I have another. Yep, one more time. Another descent and another climb. The last climb isn't as hard as the first two but it's still a soul crusher. You'll be glad to see the pavement near the top of this one and even more stoked to see the finish.

Full Epic. The course is hard. The help is amazing. You get fed after the race. There's beer. I mean, what more could you ask for out of a bike ride.

I would definitely recommend this race to a friend.

Results here.

GPS file here.

more ts100

If you're not into 100 mile races, this might not be the week for you to be reading this blog. Or maybe it is since the race is actually only 89.3 miles. Not to worry though, it still has something like a billion feet of climbing so I'm still considering it an epic.

I couldn't help but notice a tandem signed up for the race while checking out the start list. Not sure if that's an act of burliness, a gluttonous desire for punishment.... or just plain stoopid. In any event, it did make my "wonder which bike I'll race" conundrum seem a bit petty.

Each 100 mile race I do presents itself with the need to plan, pack, plan some more, pack some more and set some sort of realistic goal for myself that I'd like to meet while out on course.

I'm still not sure exactly how I'm feeling about this race. One thought has me on a light bike with the bare essentials in an attempt at posting a decent finish. The other thought has me simply out riding around in the woods for the day with the main objective to finish and have some good fun. I guess I'll have to figure that out in the next couple of days.... or on the morning of the race while making my carpool friends as late for the race as I'll be.

On a separate -but somewhat related- note, good luck to ya'll that are heading to Leadville for the hundo out there. Seems like a good party. No, I'm not racing it. No, it's not because it's the same weekend as the TS100. No, it's not because it's too far. It's the lack of singletrack that keeps me away from that race. I've raced a 100 miles of fireroad before and quite frankly hope that I never have to do it again. If it weren't for music in my drop bag at the 50 mile mark and beer at the finish I'm sure I would've posted a big fat DNF at that one.

Lagging on the race report from Kirkwood. Sorry. I'm faster on the bike than I am at postings on this here blogity thing.

The race - I took the "W" by 6-ish minutes thanks to quite a bit of techy downhill. Well... that and deciding, at the last minute, to run the 2.35 Schwalbe Nobby Nic on the front of my race bike. Note to self; always... ALWAYS do a "shake down" ride on the race bike after doing changes. After having gotten used to the 2.35 inches of ultra-traction that the Nobby Nic provided me at Downieville going back the the "spindly" 2.1 WTB Prowler -which worked fine in the early season- proved to be quite scary. On my shakedown ride I was questioning my ability to pilot the bike as I overshot corners, had little to no braking power up front and generally had less fun on the ride than I knew was possible. Upon arriving back at home base, I threw the bike in the repair stand and put the Nobby Nic back on the front of my rig. That tire is simply AWESOME in the Tahoe duff and dust.

Fun course. 4 laps. Hard climb to start. Onto singletrack. Then a quick, hard, steep headwall climb on fireroad. Then... then some ultra-rad singletrack. Mostly descending. Lots of off camber sketchy rocky trail. Mmmmm. I like. A typical lap went like so: Get caught on the start climb - recover - drop the guy who caught me on the descent - repeat.

After the race, me and the misses did some investigation of the local campgrounds and decided on Kirkwood lake campground as our accommodations for the night. Super nice site. Out on a point. Killer views. A nice little trail that took us to a waterfall. Mmmm. I like.

Then on Sunday we did a nice road ride on nearby Blue Lakes Rd (Hope Valley). Light on traffic, heavy on views and nice pave'. Mmmm. I like.

Next up was some recon on the last 35 miles of the Tahoe Sierra 100 race course. This thing's gonna be a soul crusher. Steep climbs, river crossings, poison oak, loose trail with lots of rocks, bugs that swarm your head while hiking your bike.... should be a hoot. How hard is it? Well, hard enough to make you look like this!!!

Why do we do this? Because you also get trail like this:

and this

and this

and this

with views like this

and this????

So.... I'm racin'. Or at least going out and riding 100 miles. Should be some tales to tell. Race report to follow.

Ya'll come back now.... ya hear.

The Summer Hump

Wow.

Holy shit.

Ok.

With another long winter that refused to release its grip on Tahoe until sometime in early June ya'll were more than ready to ride once the trails started melting out this year.

Business at Mighty Mobile took off like a team of unruly horses pulling a wagon full of tools and parts. I pulled on the reigns with all my might and yelled most of the curse words I know at those damn horses. They pulled that wagon just as fast as they could with nary a concern for passenger or cargo. After a while though, the horses started to tire themselves out and become slightly more... chill-axed. One by one they started to fall into a groove and work together as a team signaling to me that the flow of a summer in Tahoe is definately upon us.

A three week break in the race schedule has given me a chance to rest, re-coup and ultimately get things caught up with Mighty Mobile. Quarterly sales tax, sifting through long neglected receipts strewn about my desk and other miscellaneous sheeite necessary to operate a business have all been taken care of. i's dotted.... t's crossed.

Good thing too. Round #4 of the Sierra Cup Series is this weekend at Kirkwood and the Tahoe Sierra 100 is juuuusst around the corner with plans already in the works for a pre-ride. Yikes!

I really feel like I've reached "the summit" this summer for all kinds of stuff. Weather you ride on the road or in the dirt it's always the downhill that most of us look forward to. And that time is now.

The Downieville Report

Downieville.
Wow.
Another year in the books.

First thing's first...Bike selection:
Well, this year was the year of the hardtail for me. I've been racing a carbon Specialized Stumpjumper Expert 29er for most of my races this year and just plain ole' felt comfortable on it. A preride in Downieville 10ish days leading up to the race confirmed my suspicions that I'd be alllllmost as fast on the descent on my hardtail as I would my Blur LT. Sure, without a doubt, there were sections that I couldn't "pin it" on the hardtail that I definately could have on my Blur but not enough to offset the 4lb weight difference (Hardtail=24lbs/Blur=28lbs). I ran Schwalbe Nobby Nics in a 2.35 width which proved to be a really really really good choice. I installed my trusty USE suspension seatpost to "take the edge off". I also loosely installed a blue ziptie to the rear left side saddle rail. What did this do.... absolutely nothing except make people ask questions and laugh. Other than that, I ran the bike the same as I do at most of the other races I've done this year.


Saturday, The XC:
Last year:
Last year I felt like a friggin' hero coming over the top of the start climb. I think I crested the top in the high 40 to low 50 minute mark. I felt great. My breathing was deep... rhythmic. I felt rested and almost comfortable.... sorta. I was told I was in the top 10. With the first bit of single track (Sunrise Trail) in my sights and 5,000ft of descending between me and the finish line a permagrin smile formed on my face and I started into the trail with the speed of a cheata and the tactfulness of a mountain lion.

This year:
This year as I crested the start climb I felt like.... well.... shit. Yea. Shit. Not even the shit from a mountain lion. More like dookie stuck on the bottom of your shoe from the neighbors dog. I looked ahead and saw a sea of riders ahead of me and wondered how my legs, which had already shown signs of cramping, would hold up in the remaining hour of the race. Lingering snow meant no Sunrise trail this year and as the course banked left and started its descent towards Butcher Ranch I let gravity take over and tried to change my mental game and get psyched for the second half of the race. I caught a few riders on the top sections of the course. This helped. I wasn't getting caught. This also helped. I still cramped on the climb after Pauly Creek but not near as bad as last year. The bad cramping happened BEFORE the Pauly Creek Bridge this year while doing battle with Clint Claussen. Dang. Things got a little better as the course went on, but I never had that feeling that I was charging or making up much ground. I continued feeling like shit until some two hours after the race and was rewarded 9th for my efforts. I was 10 minutes off the winners time (Carl Decker). Meh.


Sunday, The DH:
Well geez-o-pete.
Damn.
I was ON!!
Holy shit.
Holding bib #10 meant an early start time for me. The course had a super sweet line/lines ridden in it from the previous days xc race. Riding early meant that things weren't as hot. The course was a dark ribbon of singletrack after having a night of moisture blanket the canyons. With a slightly different warm up tactic today I rolled off the start line with a plan to ride good lines, stay relatively mistake free and most importantly NOT CRASH!! A few minutes into the course I was really starting to feel good. My legs felt way better than I thought they would and the course was fairly fresh in my mind letting me mentally prepare for the next section of trail. I crossed the bridge at Pauly Creek, flipped the Cramp Monster "the bird" while simultaneously dropping his sorry ass climbing to 3rd divide.
So fast. So scary. 3rd Divide is a bench cut single track stuck to the side of a mountain that makes you realize that you are indeed alive. Sure, there are trails that are faster but the fact that 3rd Divide is a bench cut singletrack lined with trees, blind roll-overs and high speed corners with exposure really require you to stay alert. Pilot error isn't something you even want to think about while on your way down this trail.

My efforts were good enough for a 16th place finish for the DH. Still waiting to see how it worked out for an over all once they tally the points for the weekend. Stay tuned for results as well as more gear selection complete with reviews!!