CX Thrilla' Race #3

Thursday evening rolled around quickly this week and it was a quick reminder of being 1 day closer to the weekend, but also of race #3 of the cyclocross Thrilla' series.  I was hoping that since we had some precip last weekend, the course would be packed down a little better and there would be less moondust in the air to clog up the lungs.

As it turned out, the moondust was as bad as ever and the first lap was particularly heinous as the stampede of riders from the group ahead of us kicked up a serious moondust cloud.  Midway into my first lap I could feel my mouth drying up like a prune.  It was nasty...I tried to alternate breathing through my nose & mouth until the heart rate kicked up enough to force the gasping through the biggest hole to take air in....After that it was all over and the moondust inhaling began in earnest!  I tried to salivate to create some moisture in the mouth but then gave up as that just made for a moondust mud flavor.

As we went through the first 1/2 lap, things started to clear up a wee bit (relatively speaking).  It was another fun race of red-lining the heart rate for about 30 minutes and trying to hold on until the finish.  The HR stayed in the 160's again throughout the race and also visited into the 170's for moments.  Chart below shows the HR consistently in the 160's for the entire race (middle section of the graph).

The legs felt tired all week and the moondust imbibement from the prior week's Thrilla' race still seemed to linger.  The lungs and legs were tight so it was bound to be an internal dialogue battle royale of sucking it up (literally) and trying to work out the lead (as in anchors) in the legs.

I had a couple of snafu's while trying to mount and could not figure out if that was from being tired and making mistakes or from watching some 'how to cyclocross' vids that planted the seed of a different technique mounting/dismounting.  It was probably a combination of both....nothing like learning on the fly, eh?  The new techniques (more like proper) were quickly discarded as I was botching them up and only causing myself strife...so back to the inefficient and naive riding it was...I managed to finish without too much further turmoil and there is 1 more race to go next week.

I have thrilla' lung this morning and am trying to work out all the moondust....with a little luck we will get some precip to pack that course down a little more.

Props to Webcyclery who have done a bang up job of providing a great opportunity to learn about this new sport.

MTB Flagline Profile

Ride Stats from Sunday's ride:

MTB Bend - Flagline

Sunday was the day I finally got to ride Flagline!  A combination of weather, seasonal closure, schedule, and daylight made this trail elusive since arriving in Bend.  Many had mentioned that it was a MUST DO trail and I kept thinking I needed to make time to go ride it.  Sunday was the day.

I dusted off the singlespeed and went up to the Skyliner parking lot where I caught the connector trail up to Tumalo Falls and rode North Fork to the junction for Flagline.  North Fork is always enjoyable and Sunday did not disappoint.  Once I hit the junction to pick up Metolius Windigo/Flagline, I was in for a real surprise.  The super buff trail snaked through old growth and it just continued to climb for a while.

There were a couple of moments where I forced myself to stop because the scenery and trail were so stellar.  It was easy to just get lost in the flow of climbing and riding.  After another 1,000 ft of climbing, the trail topped out, but not before seeing some sneak a peak looks at the Sisters Wilderness with great views of Broken Top.

 As I was taking these pictures, I heard the whirl of helicopter blades and watched a helicopter with a big water container heading to the Pole Creek Fire (SW of Sisters and NW of Bend).  I was not at the ready with a camera but it was a little surreal to be in such pristine country on the only clear day (due to smoke) of the past 2 weeks and remember that the fire was not yet fully contained.

The trail definitely made you feel like you were riding in alpine country with meadows everywhere and the lungs reminding you of your elevation.  The top out of the trail was at about 7,000 ft.  Towards the top, I took a little detour to a road that provided amazing views of Sisters and Broken Top.

I re-traced my steps back to the trail and then started the fun and fast downhill.  Along the way I was surprised to run into a little snow drift!

I got to another junction where a guy could pop out at Dutchman Sno Park.  I turned left to stay on the Flagline trail that would hook into the Swampy trail system.  Once I hit the warming cabin, it was time to head down South Fork which was fun since I had never ridden down it, but had always opted to ride up it to gain access to the trail systems on the ridge.
It was a fun, fast downhill and soon enough it put me back along the river trail that I rode back to Skyliners.

What a great day!  This might just be Bend's premier trail and for good reason,  It has a little bit of everything mixed in and I secretly kept thinking that it is a good thing the trail involves a fair amount of climbing and is only open part of the year (due to the high elevation and closure for elk calving through July).  The combo helps to thin out the herds of riders and keep the trail in good condition.  I ran into a couple of riders along the way but was content to have the trail to myself as I could feel the batteries getting re-charged and the soul getting fed.

Ride details to follow...

Bend...Octoberfest....Wiener Dog Races

Need I say more???

 a video of the 'finals':

CX Thrilla' Race #2

Thurday evening rolled around quickly this week and quickly enough it was time to start thinking of the Webcyclery Cyclocross Thrilla' hosted each Thursday for 4 weeks.  Last night's race was the 2nd is a series of 4, so it was time to wrap the head around pinning the heart rate for a while.

These first 2 races of the series made up the full extent of my CX experience...my first time out on a cross bike was race #1 and so it was only natural that my 2nd time out on the cross bike was for race #2.  Since we have received no rain over the past week, the course was only bound to be dryer, and moon-dustier.  It did not disappoint in the moon-dust department.

The other novelty for the week was that the wifer decided to join the CX misfits and give it a go.  She did great!  Her chain fell off on her last lap and it was enough to slow her down a bit in her first cross race.

Race #2 was similar to the prior week in so much as my heart rate quickly bumped up into the red zone and stayed there for most of the race.  I managed to snag pole position during the first lap of the race and then tried to hold on until the finish.  The 2 or 3 times I was able to look at my heart rate, it was in the mid 160's and again visited the low 170's!  The middle section below is the race where the HR is consistently above 160:

This spiky anaerobic stuff is my nemesis...I am used to the long marathon rides that prep me for the long 10+ hour days in the saddle....this is my weakness and  despite it being good for me, it does not mean I have to like it...but in a twisted way, I do...crikey

The course was similar to the prior week's mayhem with a couple of slight modifications that made for a spicier course.  There were a couple of sharper/looser turns that required a little more man-handling...or rather one of the turns man-handled me on lap #2 which was just long enough to set me on my arse.

The good:  I was able to hold hold onto the pole position I moved up to during the 1st lap just long enough to eek out 1st place and get a 6 pack of beer as a prize for my efforts...ding ding ding ding, I likey!  I rode the 40+ Beginner category again and it was tons O' fun.  My heart rate got jacked up again....Ride it like you stole it!

The bad:  Moondust lung...hacking up dirt for the remainder of the evening is not my preferred way to spend the evening.  CX is hard work!  Going into my heart rate red zone is enough to make a guy want to barf.  It took me about 10 minutes to re-gain my lungs after the finish.  At one point I almost felt like I was going to hurl.

Cross Thrilla'

The first bike to get replaced after the garage theft debacle was the cross bike.  As it just so happened, Webcyclery was having a sale on 2012 models to make room for their 2013 inventory.  I just happened to hit their sale on the first day (by pure dumb luck) of the sale last Thursday.

I had done a little research and was particularly interested in the Scott bikes as they seemed to provide a good bang for your buck.  Considering that cycloscross is a totally new sport for me, I was putty in their hands such that my opinions could be easily sculpted by those in the know.

My road bike is a size 53cm frame and so the plan was to stay more or less in the same vicinity relative to size.  They had a Scott Team bike in a size 52cm that I took out for a spin in the parking lot and it seemed to handle well and fit me.  After some BS'ing, I decided to pull the trigger and walk out of the store with a new bike, but not before they talked me into signing up for their Cross Thrilla' series.

They put on a 4 race series in Bend that started last Thursday and runs every Thursday for 4 weeks...fast forward to the late afternoon and I found myself signing up for a OBRA license and getting ready to ride in the first wave of races as part of the Mens 40+ 'C' category.  The 'C' stands for newbie, rookie, greenhorn, first timer, the list goes on.....

There is nothing like toeing in for a race after having just purchased the bike!  I did get to ride it a little bit prior to the race as my warmup entailed riding from the house to the course and then doing a quickie preview lap of the course.  The mystery of how the bike (and operator) would handle was still looming.  The practice lap went somewhat uneventfully although there was a huge difference in handling in the dirt (relative to the mountain bike).

Before I knew it, the race started and there I was inhaling buckets of moon-dust as the riders in front of me kicked up dirt and dust into the air.  Since this was all a novelty, the plan was to just ride and see how it all unfolded.  The first lap was somewhat uneventful and so we built from there.  By lap 2, the handling started to feel mo' betta' and it was time to push the bike and body a little harder.  By lap 3 the heart rate was pinned and it was a matter of just trying to hang in until the finish.

Observations:

• My usual 'red line' HR is in the 160's.....The race jacked it up to a high of 173!  I stayed in the 160's for a majority of the 28+ minutes of ride time.  Either I had grossly under-estimated my red-line, or the race just kicked my butt....probably a little bit of both!
• My mtb handling skills came in handy when coming around/through soft sand and 'tech' terrain.  I use the term 'tech' rather generously as there really was not much tekkie to deal with at all.
• Sitting behind riders and 'Hoover'ing Bend moon-dust into the lungs for 30 minutes will make a guy cough up lung cheese for the remainder of the night...yum!
• Cross is FUN, Cross is HARD...I can see it might develop into a love/hate thingie
• Getting off your bike and running over obstacles with your bike jump starts your HR!
• 'ain't nuthin' like a good cross race to make you feel a wee bit more local 

Butte - It's a W-R-A-P!!!

Life has been full of change for us over the past few months.  Part of the change has included a move from Butte, Montana to Bend, Oregon.  Moves themselves are often stressful but as with everything else regarding our 4 year sentence in Butte, this moving process would also prove to be more exciting than we had anticipated....the actual move had its own excitement but the following is part of the pre-move fun.....

Long story short of it is that the garage in Butte got broken into while the wifer was at home asleep.  The most concerning part of this was that I had moved to Bend early and the wife was home alone when this happened.  We had a detached garage in Butte and so with no dogs and one less person, the garage was ripe for the picking.  

We had our Butte house for sale and I think someone cased the house during an open house and saw the garage contents.  They then saw my truck was not around for a couple of weeks and proceeded to plan out their crime.  My 2c is that is was a local (as in someone who lived within 1 block) job.  Reason being they knew my truck was not there, the dogs were gone, and here is the topper.....2 days later, the Po' Po' found one of our old computers (fortunately we had removed the hard drive) that were stolen in the alley, 2 doors down from our house!!!!  Of course the fine investigators that are the Butte Po Po did not think that was worth following up on.  

The burglars must have been in the garage for quite a while as they cleaned us out.  The tally included 7 bikes, all power tools, all camping gear, all climbing gear, electronics....It was really disturbing for many a reason.  The wife went out and learned how to shoot a shot gun and made the wise move of buying a shot gun to have in the bedroom as she slept.  There was many a restless night after that and we are thankful that no additional craziness happened until the tickie tockie of the Butte clock came to a stop.

This last episode in Butte was just the cherry on top of our 4 years of collective experiences in Butte.  At this point it was about survival and trying to get our family out of that shit-hole before anything happened to jeopardize our physical safety.  This is not to say it was ALL bad in the Butte, but let's just say we had lots of whacky, crazy, tweaker-ness happen such that we will have plenty of good stories to tell for years to come.  One of the redeeming qualities of the Butte is the mountain biking.  It is top notch and many a town / rider would be thrilled with the access, quality, and quantity of trail.  The mountain biking is truly spectacular - the road riding is a 'ride at your own risk' proposition.  I quit riding my road bike due to having things thrown at me, being buzzed way too closely, way too many times for comfort.  I would rather deal with the red necks (yes, paintballin' freak families included) in the woods than the red necks on the pavement.

Fast forward about 3 months and our time in Butte is done.  We are thrilled to be laying down roots in central Oregon and are super excited about the possibilities the area has to offer.

Last week was the start of the bike-replacement-effort for the Reis family!  Woohoo!  The first bike on the list was to replace my cross bike.  I had initially gotten a hold of a cross bike while in Montana thinking it would be a great way to supplement the riding in the spring until the trails thawed out.  The cyclocross subculture in Oregon is akin to cheese in Wisconsin, grits in the South, the metro-sexual in New York, or the surfer wannabe on the Cali coast....Seriously though, cross is HUGE in the O to the R so having a cross bike to partake in said craziness is a must!  

more to come on the cross bike replacement on the following blogaroo post.

High Cascades 24 Pix

Pictures from the race:

High Cascades 24 Race Report

Written by the wifer:

So I definitely was worried about this one, having been sick about 2 weeks before the race.  But since I just moved to Bend one week before, I figured it would be a great way to explore the local trails and meet some like-minded people.  Of course, I was the only female crazy enough to sign up for the solo race, but our friends from the Spokane race came down from Seattle and Mark also did the event.

The first lap was horribly dusty- imagine 2 foot visibility – but after the pack spread out a bit, it got more tolerable.  The course was a lot of fun- 10 miles of singletrack, gradually rolling, with some fun downhill sections, followed by 6 miles of gravel road.  This section was mostly climbing, but imagine a road that is lined by evergreens and all you can see at the end is blue sky before you drop down for some fast descent.  There was nothing very technical about the riding, but I still fell several times in the loose dirt, which got worse and worse as the night wore on.  If the trail conditions had been better, I think it would have been my favorite course for a 24 hour race (out of all 3 of them that I have done).  Luckily my bike held up, my lights worked great, and thanks to my trusty pop tarts my nutrition was spot on as well.  It was a little difficult making myself stay hydrated as the hours ticked by, and I was so tired after my 5^th lap I felt like giving up.  So I took a 4 hour nap and woke up around 3am to take another night lap.  Luckily my sweet husband brought me  a cord I needed for my light setup, so all was good.  In all, I completed 7 laps for a total of 113 miles.  Not bad for the end of the season!  The last lap was definitely my favorite, as it was still nice and crisp with the sun coming up and the stillness of the forest.  Plus there were not nearly as many people riding, or at least it didn’t seem like it!

To top it all off, I scored a new headlamp as my award.  Baldy’s BBQ sponsored the post race feast, and real food never tasted so good!  I was so hungry I ate even more when Tiago showed up with a smorgasboard of treats as well!  My best discovery from this race was using my new Garmin Edge 800, which is truly an amazing device.  By plugging it in to charge between laps, it stayed charged the entire night!  Definitely a good time, and to top it all off, I hear that I get free entry into next year’s race. . .

MTB Bend: Forks Figure 8

As the daylight hours shrink into Fall, it becomes a race to eek out every minute of daylight after work. Tuesday's shenanigans took me out to the Skyliners parking lot where I met Josh and we embarked on a mad dash to do the Forks Figure 8:  up North Fork, through Happy Valley, down Farewell and then back up South Fork, along Swede Ridge and back down the connector trail back to Skyliners.

With little time to spare we hopped on the bikes and pedaled into therapy.  It was about 2 1/2 hours of ride time with a little under 23 miles and a little over 3K of vertical gain.   There is a definite nip in the air and soon enough it will be time to bust out the long sleeves and fingered gloves.

Climbing - Smith

We got up relatively early on Sunday and headed over to Smith Rocks to get a slice or two of humble pie.  The destination was the back side where it would be shaded and we could avoid the slow broil on the front side where the sun was baking the rock.

We took the long way around via 'Misery' trail that goes around, up and over the little saddle to the back side.  On the way we spotted what appeared to be a little baby rattler.  It did not have any rattles yet but had the markings and head shape of its bigger and noisier buddies.  After letting the little guy slither across the trail we kept on hiking up up up up.  The stairmaster workout popped us at the top where we started to work our way down.  Shortly after you take a few steps and lose some altitude, it pops you out right in front of MonkeyFace to some phenomenal views of the distinct spire with the Cascades range as a backdrop.

We eventually worked our way down after trying to look for non-existent holds on the big boy climbs that only a handful of people can actually pull on.  We oohed, ahhhhed, and took in the sights.  We were on the hunt for moderates as our head space for leading needed to be nursed after yrs off the sharp end of the rope.  We passed up many a great moderate line that required gear and finally settled on a couple of routes that looked like they might be accommodating.

Some pix of the approach with the stunning views:

High Cascades 24

The missus signed up for the 24 hrs of High Cascades this past weekend.  The event is in its infancy as this was the second annual....Apparently no female had yet signed up as a solo racer in either the inception year or this year's event.  Since the wifer was the only solo female racer, chances of her getting on to the podium were darn good!

She persevered through seven laps for 113 miles and around 12,000 ft of elevation gain.   She is currently scheduled for a massage which should help through the aches/pains/recovery.  With a little luck she will write up a race report once she catches up on her sleep & sanity.

Pic of the start of the race (800 yard lemans run to the bike):

MTB N Fork Farewell Loop

As the days get shorter, the mad rush to squeeze in post-work rides is ON!  Many of the lower elevation trails in Bend are getting a wee bit dusty so I have been avoiding them over the past several weeks.  The goods are up higher and the higher the goods, the better the riding!  The conditions are better (not as loose) and the added bonus is that there seem to be much fewer people on the trails.

My once a week go-to loop at the moment is heading up North Fork through Happy Valley and back down via Farewell.  As usual, it did not disappoint.

Ride details:

24 Hrs: High Cascades

Do it, do it, do it, do it...

all the cool kids (OK, all the crazy kids) are doing it:

http://highcascades24.com/

I of course have an excuse (prior engagement) - thanks to Chad for coming into town and saving me from the 24 hrs of silliness and grogginess....not to be confused with hitting the 'grogg'