Photos from Turkey Trot

Throwing the bike on up just before the runup. Wish you could have ridden it, because it would have been pretty sweet to have ridden this little creek, then up a climb, but you didn't carry much momentum, it was sandy, and had a big lip on the top....

The entrance to the "single track-ish" section. Wish I had a picture of barreling through here on the last lap, made up a good 5-10 seconds through the turn alone... though I was pretty damn close to eating it into the large rock.

One set of barriers, located on an uphill meant no bunny hopping. More specifically for me: lack of skills required to bunny hop barriers in the first place led to no bunny hopping.

The sand pit. I rode this pretty well each lap- only got caught up once where I slowed down, but still rode through it easily.

Turkey Trot

After dropping Nicole off at LAX for another 4-week session of talking on the phone, I was able to make it over to Glendale in time to do the 3/4 race at my third to last prestige series race, the Turkey Trot.

This was by far the coolest course there is in SoCal. Added to the course was just enough leaves and loose dirt and sand to make the course challenging but fun. Swooping turns you could rail through, a short sandy runup, a sand-trap and a hard little bit of single track that came after an almost 180-degree sandy turn.... pretty flipping sweet.

I started in the front row, and didn't quite get the usual fast sprint of a start that I'm capable of... probably didn't warm up enough. Though I still managed to slot into 5th or 6th. The whole first half of the first lap I had about a 5 second gap to the front group, and behind me was an even larger gap.... so I knew I had to gas it real hard to stay with the leaders. On one tricky part right when I had caught back on, a guy fell right in front of me, but by locking up the rear brake and sort of sliding around, I was able to get by him quickly, and right back up to the front of the group. After things settled down, it was the yellow jersey and another guy up the road, then me, and then two guys chasing me at about 10 seconds. Stayed that way for most of the race, until the 4th placed rider caught up to me, and then passed me when I slid out on a sandy turn. I didn't hammer it hard enough to get right back on his wheel, and he ended up getting a bit of a gap with about 2 laps to go.

With one lap to go, I had 4th in the bag, as I couldn't even see the 5th placed guy anymore, so I figured I'd take all the risks I could to try and catch the dude ahead of me. It was fun, with a few people yelling at me to catch up. I had been gaining on him in the corners, so I railed through some, going through sections without brakes that I didn't think I'd be able to manage. I finally caught him by skidding through the 180-degree sandy turn and getting the sand pit perfect. Though I botched the opportunity to pass him, and instead was right on his wheel (This as it turns out, is a subtle difference between cross and road. In a cross race, pass people. Always. This isn't always true on the road...) Having made the effort to get there, I didn't have the gas on the last quarter of the lap to stay on his wheel to try and win the sprint, and he got a bit of a gap again that I couldn't close. So I ended up 4th, but it was a heck of a fun race.

Looking forward to Bakersfield next weekend, where I'll be looking to snag another free jersey...this time it might have a bear on it...

Also, this is awesome. My former roomate Mike Friedman was on Slipstream for the last two years, and is still on it this year, as it progresses to a top-tier almost pro-tour level team. What a ride. I used to take craps in a toilet that he clogged on a consistent basis- I can't imagine what it's like to say hey, I have to get some good training in so I can help Magnus out in the Spring Classics. Unreal.

Urban (in the ghetto) cross

My new team, liquidfitness, was the host of the #3 race in the Urban cross series, the other series in SoCal. My teammate Ted and I drove up to Torrance to race in a sand bowl, which I had heard stories about.... but wasn't half as bad as what people were saying. This course was different than the Prestige series courses, not necessarily worse.

The course started on one of the "road" sections, a lot of gravel. Very quickly in there was a sharp turn, then a LONG loose sandy runup that HURT like hell. Following this was a longer less steep sandy descent to the barriers that really didn't require any pedaling, just holding on. After the barriers was some more sand, then a little single track, then down through the finish where there was a 2nd set of barriers right after a loose gravel turn. Little ways down were three tree trunks that you had to get off the bike for, then a long loose sandy ride-up, which fed into a bit of a hairy sandy descent, then basically back start.

I did the 4, and the 3/4 race. The 4s I did basically just to get points to try and get at my upgrade. There were about 12 dudes there.... from the gun I took off, and by the top of the runup I had a big gap. The race was already over. I just rode relatively easily, watching the 2nd place guy when the course snaked back on itself, but he was a ways back. Sweet... 10 upgrade points, only 3 to go.

The 3/4 went pretty well too, and was fun. Wish there were more guys there, I think there were only about 15. Ted and another guy went at the runup hard on the first lap, and were gone. I was in third, and came relatively close to catching them.... but after people started settling into their paces, the front two took off quickly. A guy caught up to and passed me, and I couldn't quite hold onto his pace. Then another guy came up and we were fighting for 4th for the next 3-4 laps. He rode for another team that is run by a guy who does coaching, so all the guys associated with our two teams sort of made a rivalry out of it, and everyone was LOUD when we came through... made it a lot of run. He kept getting away from me on the runup, and I'd fight back up on the sandy climb. With ~2.5 laps to go, he attacked, and I thought had it sealed, but he ended up fading reaaaal hard, and I caught him right before the runup on the last lap, and cruised to 4th. Go liquidfitness. Ted managed to get us onto the podium with a strong 2nd place.

With those results, I should have my upgrade, but I think I'll be holding off upgrading until after Bakerfield, where I can vie for a cat.4 SoCal championship jersey.... I think the ones around here with a big bear, like the state flag.... sweeeeet.

Eco-Cross

This past weekend's SoCal Cross race was up in Sylmar again, in the same park where the second race, Redline Cup, was held. Other than the start/finish paved stretch and the barriers, though, everything was different. The loose dirt and carpet of pine needles didn't serve me very well this time around either.

The course was pretty technical, which isn't quite an advantage for me, as I'm not all that comfortable taking turns through loose dirt and stuff yet... but it was still a really fun course to ride. My favorite stretch featured a steep loose dirt (I should almost say sandpit) hill, which was ridable only because you could carry momentum into it. I consistently lost time in the more technical sections, and wasn't able to gain it all back in the power sections. Suspicions of my being limited by handling skills were apparent when people I had been riding with for a lap or two (10-15mins) would easily gap me once they got the chance to pass me. I didn't feel all that gassed, so it wasn't me being tired, they just weren't such wossies in the turns! Still had a fun time though, and I did get more comfortable as the race went on, and caught up to two people on the last lap that had passed me earlier.

I got a decent start, and was sitting around 4-5th going into the barriers for the first lap. There was a dirt patch, and a paved hill after the barriers, and the leaders rode a bit away from me, and I never saw the front 3 or so again. I yo-yoed between 6-10th for much of the race, and ended up finishing 10th. I should slide a place or two in the overall standings from 5th, but I'll still get the all important callup.

I'll post some pictures of me in the green racer jersey later on when they're up online.

Cyclocross Nationals

The UC Irvine cycling team is picking up my tab to send me on out to cyclocross nationals this year. Sahweeeet. The race is in Kansas City, KS, a mere few days after I finish up the finals for the fall quarter. I'm currently trying to get my math final moved so that I can get out there to race the B race on Thursday, before the collegiate race on Sunday. I've been looking at the weather for that time of year (probably snow!), and just ordered a pair of 34 Tufos to use instead of the 30s I've been running out here- I'm planning on throwing those on my Ksyriums... would be a sweet cross bike when paired up with those wheels, I'm pretty siked for it.

Next though, I need to clean all the gunky horrible Vittoria glue off the Ksyriums before I can put the new fatties on there properly... gonnna get high on some lacquer fumes

Weird video on YouTube

I have a math test tomorrow, so naturally that means I'm online looking at cyclo cross videos on YouTube. Check this gem out... really weird, yo.



I think the weirdest part is at about 2:40 in... is that the woman's house the race is going by?? it looks like it... really weird, and the music right at the end makes you think that cyclo-cross has some tie-in with Halloween or something. freaky.