Lots going on these days at home, so Brett and I made the short trip to North Plains, Oregon. Hornings Hustle was the second race of the state XC Series.

I chose to ride singlespeed because the course is a very short up/down loop and the conditions have been quite muddy during past renditions.

Since I ride my singlespeed at least a couple times a week for training, I assumed this would mean that I’d be minimizing my chances for mechanical failure. I even put on a new (old) stretched chain the night before to help ensure that I wouldn’t stretch and drop my chain.

Things were going great (as planned) and I was out front after the first lap leading Carl Decker (Giant). Then I missed a turn and some other guys caught up. That was fine, but then I dropped my chain at the start of the second lap. Uh, oh! Thinking it may have been a fluke, I remounted and poured it on only to lose the chain again, and again, and again!

In the end, I must have stopped six times and could only manage 3rd place since I was never able to pedal hard or fast. It leaves me hoping for a little better luck next time around.

Thanks for reading!

After the Joshua Tree Camp, my wife and kids flew down and we spent the week in Cathedral City. It was a great vacation and we enjoyed a little “down” time together.

The weather was great–in the 70s or 80s each day and the sunshine was strong enough to induce a nice tan even with spf50 sunscreen.
While we had never been there before, the Palm Springs area proved to be a great spring/fall vacation spot. After years of vacationing outside the USA, it was nice to feel like we were at “home”, too.

It was the kids first experience with swimming pools and they spent no less than two hours a day in the water. Lots of jumping in and even a little doggy-paddling!

On Monday and Thursday, I was able to meet with Juerg from FaCT Canada and do their full physio testing. This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

FaCT uses the Fitmate and Physioflow to analyze cardiac and respiratory biomarkers during a cycling performance test. The first test was done when I was relatively fatigued from the previous week at camp and the second after 72 hours of recovery. Hopefully the data will prove effective in future training efforts.

On Friday and Saturday I was able to do two great local rides. The first was a road ride beginning about 30 minutes west on the freeway and up over the San Jacinto through Idyllwild then back to Palm Desert. A beautiful ride through many different lifezones and lots of great climbing/descending.
Saturday I got up early and explored some of the local MTB trails. They are awesome and I look forward to our next trip so I can spend more time checking them out. Springtime was great for wild flowers but not ideal since many trails are closed for “lambing season”. Still lots to ride and the best part is that no car is required to access the trails.

Thanks for tuning in!
VP

After the Keyesville Classic, I continued my journey south to the town of Joshua Tree, California. This funky little spot sits just outside Joshua Tree National Park and about 45 minutes north of Palm Springs. It was the site of the 2009 Balance Point Racing spring training camp.

BPR is a group of dedicated athletes from Canada–most hailing from the Okanogan Region of British Columbia. They compete in many different disiplines of endurance competition, but those in attendance were either triatletes or cyclists.

http://www.balancepointracing.com/

We stayed in two adjacent vacation homes with comfortable beds for each of us. Joerg for Magic Places (bike tours) catered, shuttled, and looked after our every need. I hope to join him soon on one of his “real” trips, because he did such an awesome job!

http://www.magicplaces.ca/

Coach Andrew spent time each day helping us determine our training plans as well as teaching us more about the FaCT Canada training system. The FaCT system fundamentally differs from conventional (old school) methods because it doesn’t base training intensities on max heart rate, lactate thresholds, or VO2.

Instead, effective training is accomplished by knowing one’s “balance point” or the HR at which lactate is stable in the blood. This means the body is producing and using lactate at relatively the same rate.

We did performance testing–both to learn about ourselves and effectively administer the tests. The rest of our time was spent training and the weather was simply beautiful all week long. It was great to collaborate with the other athletes regardless of their age, category, or disipline because the FaCT system works or everyone willing to use it!

In the end, I probably left camp with “more questions than answers” and likely more hours of training than I really needed. However, learning more about the FaCT system after 5 years of “using” the test in training inspired me to “think outside the box” again. It reminded me of my days working in manufacturing when it was so easy to accept limiters and road blocks as the status quo rather than diligently seeking continual improvement.

Hopefully my newly rekndled desire to dig deeper into my body and find different ways to improve my fitness will equate to even more success throughout the rest of my cycling career!

I was heading down to CA for the Balance Point Racing camp in Joshua Tree. It seemed right to start the week with a little racing, so I hooked up the Keyesville Classic to try to knock some cobwebs out of my system after nearly a month of steady training. The event has been around since the beginning of MTB so why not give it a shot?

I also finally got my new Scott Genius built up just in time to set it on the back of the Jeep and embark on the 12 hour journey to Bakersfield. Woke up early and got to the race site just in time to register and finish adjusting a few things on the bike.

There was plenty of local talent and even a few fast out-of-towners in attendance so the cross-country event got off to a fast start. After a little bottle-necking, I discovered that Max Plaxton (ShoAir) and Kris Sneddon (Kona) were nearly out of sight, so I spent the first two laps finishing my suspension tuning and getting aquainted with my new ride. By then, I was comfortably in third place so we enjoyed the next two-lap session together!

The course didn’t really do the Genius justice, but we still had a great first date. Even hours of waiting around for awards didn’t wipe the grin off my face after blissfully shredding the each downhill section…

Keyesville Classic has a great competition within called the “All Mountain Race”. This basically meant you paid a package entry for cross-country, short-track, and two downhill runs, but had to race the same bike for each stage.

The ST and DH races were the following day, so I again I was up early just to sit around most of the time waiting to ride. The ST went well, but again I was off to a slow start and couldn’t close the gap to the leaders once I fought through traffic. There was also some confusion with different numbers for the all-mountain racers. Since the CAT 1 and PRO were all riding together and we had started lapping the field I didn’t realize that the guy ahead of me was in fact a PRO due to his different number plate. Instead of blowing his doors off on the last lap, I sat behind him. Oops, turns out I should have been racing and lost $75 of prize money for that mistake!

The DH was a little lame since the runs were sub-three minutes and we had to push out bikes up the course. That meant we ended up waiting up-top for everyone else to race before we got to make our runs. Some extra sun tanning I suppose.

It was a good reminder why I don’t race DH anymore especially after I started screwing around with my suspension and rode off course both runs. I still finished in the middle even against the full-on DH crew so I was pretty satisfied.

Overall, I managed to hold on to third place in the “All Mountain” and the prizes paid for my gas and lodging. Most importantly, I thoroughly enjoyed my first weekend alone with my Genius!

Thanks for reading,

VP

After another short night playing bikes, it was a long drive and early morning to get to Echo Red to Red the first race of the Oregon MTB Series. The conditions were ridiculous–32 degrees and raining when we arrived, but improved as the precipitation stopped and the temperatures moderated slightly. The course was very difficult–never up or down for long, and never straight or smooth. It was so demanding that many of us were struggling just to stay on the single track and keep the locals in sight! I was able to reconcile a sizeable gap and re-join the leaders–Matt Russell (Capitol Subaru Cycling), Cody Peterson (Dedicated Athlete), and James Williams (cannondale) just as we exited the last loop of singletrack for a short gravel/paved road ride back to town. James opened a gap and Matt couldn’t follow as I closed it down. We each took a pull, but I was able to drop Cody and James with about 1km to go and managed a close but decisive victory!

Three different races, three emphatic wins, a February to remember–for sure.

Capitol Subaru Cycling brought a strong contingent of riders and placed four in the top ten of the PRO category. David Hill placed second in the 45+ Cat 1 and our newest rider, Kurt Haas, held on for 3rd place in the SINGLESPEED to round up three podiums for our team!

It was a great way to kick of the season and I am so excited that our team will continue this year. Thanks to our sponsors we have another shot at being the number one team in Oregon. Working with my teammates is a great motivation for me and their ambition and hard work inspires me to ride on. In any case, we are going to break a lot of legs this year and have fun doing it!

Thanks for reading…

After a week off the bike resting and spending time with family in from out of town, it was time to get back on after my victory at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. Unfortunately, I had some work to do on my road bike and spent little time sleeping the night before!

I had also just received some positive news from our teams’ title sponsor, so I was happy to show off our kit just minutes up the road from their dealership.

It was a chilly, but clear Willamette Valley morning as I drove across town to the Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race. We rolled west onto a brutal course with relentless short climbs, some rough roads and even a little winter wind. The race was five laps for a total of 63 miles and finished with a super-steep 20+% kick! With little time for warm-up the talented local field immediately raced hard and I hung on to the back of the group after dropping my chain on the hardest climb of the circuit. Things began to settle down midway through the second lap and I rolled to the front to see how things looked. The brisk early pace seemed to have tempered the groups’ ambition, so I pressed a little and opened a sizeable gap.

I bridged across to the lone leader and immediately dropped him on the next climb. After a lap I had 50 seconds lead, and assumed an aero position to see how long I could stay out front. I maintained a comfortable tempo and increased my advantage to nearly two minutes. At the end of the fourth lap, the now motivated chasers trimmed my advantage to 50 seconds. With a lap to go, I became focused on making the break stick and increased my pace. With less than a half-lap to go, I was up but nearly 90 seconds and cruised in for easy win–thankful not to have to sprint on that final hill!

It was my first CAT 1 race, my first victory on the road in over 10 years, and nice to win so close to home! Sublime indeed…

Photo Credit: Pat Malach, www.oregoncyclingaction.com