It is President’s Day weekend and my traditional time to start racing bikes. This year I decided not to travel to Texas for Mas O Menos, but rather try something epecially ridiculous–24 Hours of Old Pueblo! My first ever 2-4 SOLO starts Saturday at 12pm local time, 11am Pacific. Tune into: http://www.epicrides.com/twofour/24.htm For live results and to start your own VAN cheering party on my behalf.

We are on site, the course looks good and there are plenty of folks here to ride with. Fun, fun, fun! Of course I will offer up a full report once the damage is done so stay tuned for that. Now time for a test of the legs, body, and spirit–will I measure up? Time will tell…

Thanks for reading,

VP

It all started back in 1986. A 10 year old got his first mountain bike and a free spirit was born inside him. For 22 years that free spirit struggled against the status quo—only a challenger. It struggled against family, school, work and all that fills American life. Several months ago, life changed and an exorcism occurred. This free spirit was cast out and now must live on its own. VAN Plews was hidden away for most of the Holiday season but on Jan 1st, 2009 he was released from captivity.

For six weeks, VAN has been occasionally sighted training, but often it has been dark, cold, even raining or snowing. Often he stays inside the garage focused on his sole mission—endurance mountain bike racing supremacy. His own entity now, VAN rests waiting for his opportunity to climb aboard his machine and ride.

This site will now be reserved solely to the ranting of VAN Plews. He will ride unabashed, and speak equally here in cyber-space. Tune in frequently to read more about this 22 year old phenomenon and his singular mission.

The Baja Epic has come and gone and I am back home in the Northwest winter again. We had a blast in Mexico playing bikes and seeing sights. Here is my day by day report…

Day Zero
This was our travel day and we left early in the morning from PDX flying to San Diego. It also happened to be the day we would find out if we were going to be chosen to adopt two little girls–wow, the anticipation. We landed in San Diego with an hour to spare and sat down for a snack at Chili’s. That is when the phone rang with great news! We ARE parents! After many phone calls and not much eating, we were ready to meet the Baja Epic Shuttle to Rosarito beach. Armando Carrasco (the promoter) was waiting at the curb with vans and trailers for all the bikes and gear. Awesome service!
We all hopped in and picked up some more racers at Holiday Inn. Next we drove to a local bike shop for last minute purchases. Then it was on to the border which was an uneventful crossing–I don’t even remember them asking for passports! Shortly after we got back on the freeway heading south, things got interesting. We heard some sirens and looked back to see several pick-ups passing traffic with lights flashing. As they got closer we were immediately reminded that we weren’t in the USA anymore. These “police” officers were armed with sub-machine guns and dressed from head to toe in black combat gear–including ski masks. In case you didn’t know, there is a war going on right now just south of the border. Just so happens that the USA and its insatiable appetite for drugs is creating quite the battle over cartel control at entry points like Tijuana. Some locals told us that as many as five killings per day are happening there alone! Maybe the media needs to spend more time covering this mess than the mid-east conflicts… Soon we were on the coast and pulling up at the famous Rosarito Beach Hotel. This is an older place, but very cool indeed and worth another visit.

Day One
We woke up to sunny skies and kind of a slow start on the beach. After a little run through the soft sand, we headed east up and away from the coast. Initially we were on dirt road but then as we traveled inland we experienced jeep roads, atv trails and even a bit of single track. It was a difficult day starting at sea level and ending up at over 3000ft fifty some miles later. Since I was in the lead from early on, I rode alone pacing off my Garmin most of the way. Unfortunately I missed one turn but still made it to the finish line well ahead of the race caravan! Looking back, this was probably my favorite stage since it had a little of every kind of riding. We finished at Hacienda Santa Veronica outside Tecate. It was kind of remote but would be an awesome place to stage some epic off-roading from.

Day Two
Yellow jersey clad, I pedaled out of Santa Veronica into a rising sun and some sweet singletrack. It was a little hard to see with the glare but lots of fun. We continued to ride east for the first part of this EPIC 80+ mile stage straight into a vicious head wind. It was also a virtual uphill for the first 50 miles with many deep beach sand sections. I suppose that I walked a total of a couple miles but I enjoyed the beautiful serenity of the desert morning along at the front. Again I missed a turn but still managed to finish well ahead of any of the riders. Uphill, sand, wind–needless to say it was a HARD day! We traveled into the high sierra country and went right through a nice National Park. It was outrageous with nice pine forests and elevation over 6000ft.Then we had a great dirt road descent for about 15 miles into a small town called Ojos Negros where the finish was.

Day Three
After a wonderful night in Ensenada at the lovely San Nicolas Hotel, we shuttled back inland for a loop around a place called Mike’s Sky Ranch. The stage started with some dirt road with a gradual stair-step climb to the ranch. We were heading south so the wind was mostly behind us and the first 20 miles to the Ranch literally flew by. We were sharing this part of the course with the Baja 1000 so it was pretty cool when I got passed by some sweet, off-road buggy! I plan to try some of that when my racing legs are through for sure… Anyway, after Mike’s the trail deteriorated to rocking, rutted jeep trail and that was pretty fun. Unfortunately, there was a lot of up/down in and out of sandy washes followed by about 7 miles of perfectly straight washboard dirt/sand road into town. Oh, yeah, it was also into a strong afternoon cross wind–nothing like being able to see exactly what you are up against!

Day Four
Another night in Ensenada and short shuttle ride to the Wine Country of Baja. Some beautiful sights and a fast start on the road followed by a little single track and lots of dirt road and cow trails. We traveled northwest back toward Rosarito Beach on what I would describe as a high plateau just inland from the coast. The elevation was between 1000-1200ft most of the day before a quick plunge down to the beach. It was during this fast rocky downhill that I got a little distracted. After stopping for some photos, I jumped back on my bike only to mis-judge one of the last corners of the course. OUCH! After sliding about 20 yards on my hip and forearm over 1″ minus gravel I was literal hamburger. Unfortunately, the fun was over and I high-tailed it to the finish hardly able to enjoy the beautiful beach or a nice victory and lobster chimi!

Epilogue
Luckily we were able to get into the hotel quickly where I tried to wash out my wounds which consisted on many gashes several inches long and more than 1/4″ wide and deep. We also were lucky to meet a great guy from San Diego who gave us a ride to the airport Saturday night. With a layover in Sacramento, we decided to visit the local ER there only to be given a run around and no stitches or anything. Evidently all the flesh was gone so the doctor didn’t want think he could sew me up! We finally got to bed at 2am and made it home Sunday morning. A great trip and a fun ride. Hopefully the Baja Epic lives on next year, since it seems like one of the best places in the world for a race like this!

Thanks for reading,
Evan Plews

I returned home from Interbike to ‘cross season going full swing here in the Northwest. Wow, every year it gets wilder (and harder)! Proving that 72 hours of traveling, trade-showing, and not sleeping or eating well is no way to get ready to race, I only managed fourth place the next day. Oh, well, it was sunny and warm and other than plowing into a tree, pretty good times. I was also glad that I did some maintenance on my ‘cross bike after KC nationals last year… it was all ready to go and performed flawlessly.

I haven’t won a ‘cross race since my first one way back in 1996, so it came as a bit of a surprise to win the next two weekends in a row! Granted they were little local races, but winning is still fun and I proved my mettle by placing 11th the following day at the second race of the prestigous Cross Crusade Series. Last weekend I was in position for a third victory in as many weeks, but didn’t factor a lapped rider into the equation. Anyway, I was second wheel to my hotshot young teammate, Brett Luelling, and he made the pass while I didn’t quickly enough. Oh well, that is racing bikes–sometimes you win, but most of the time you don’t!

Next stop was Astoria for the infamous Cross Crusade Halloween bash. We were treated to more beautiful fall weather for both days of racing and my results we nothing short of awesome. Even with fields stacked with Northwest talent, I was able to manage top 10 in each race. A ninth place on Saturday and a sixth place Sunday. Not bad for a guy who went longer than ever this season–an hour ‘cross race doesn’t even qualify as a warm-up!

I have been doing some serious training this last month and look forward to a good showing at the inaugural Baja Epic MTB stage race down south of the border. Hopefully all the banditos and rattlesnakes leave us alone in the desert and we have a fun race. After that, I will play around some more on the ‘cross bike and then relax for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

In any case, I will keep you all posted and thanks for reading!

EP

September is half gone and the MTB season is officially over for me. Some good news to report, though…

I tried to rest up after the August debacles and headed off to the NUE series finals, the Tahoe-Sierra 100 down in California. Since Chris Eatough had overtaken me for second place during my absence from the last three east coast events, I was mostly racing to defend my position and hoping for some prize money.

It was super dusty and I backed off several times on the early descents to protect my sinuses. (remember the sickness during AMC? well, it still wasn’t over) Each time I was able to bridge back up and even push the pace a little bit. By the midpoint of the race, there were only four of us left at the front. First me, then Harlan Price got dropped by Eatough and Jeremiah Bishop on one of the rougher downhills of the race. I bridged up to Harlan and we rode together for awhile but eventually I began to pull away. Nice–third place, and in the money!

Again, I easily bridged up to Chris and JB and they seemed surprised to see me. Oh, well, wonders never cease! I pulled them for about 20 miles before Eatough attacked. OK, wow, I am sick and doing all the work, so knock yourself out, man. JB followed suit and I was on my own again. Knowing I had 20 miles still to go and feeling the effects of no real training or even a long ride since July, I rode my own race. Eventually, I finished comfortably in third place, and third place in the NUE series overall standings. Not bad for the 100 mile experiment!

Article below…

http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb/?id=2008/sep08/tahoesierra100_08

Last weekend, I headed south to Ashland, Oregon, to contest the State MTB Hillclimb race. This is a great event which begins in town and ends at Mt Ashland Ski Area nearly one vertical MILE later. The other interesting twist is that there is a road event that happens concurrently, so everyone gets back together on the pavement and races one another to the finish!

I have owned the MTB event here for the last two years and really wanted to win again. In Oregon, we also have something called the MTB BAR competition for Best All-Around Rider. While I don’t chase points for this, I have won last year and three of the last four! I was in the BAR lead again, so might as well pad the stats, right?

I set-up singlespeed based on last years course hoping to set a new personal record. Unfortunately the course ended up getting changed so who knows how I really did. My gearing may have been touch high at 38-17 but how about those Rotor Q-Rings that make SS so much better? Oh, YEAH–beat all the roadies and all the MTBers and set a ‘new’ PR. I attached a pic of some hardware from this one, too.

So, the final annual highlights are:

3rd place NUE series (top four in each race)
3rd place National Marathon Championships
Oregon State XC Champion (2 years in a row and 3 out of the last 4)
Oregon State Hillclimb Champion (3 years in a row)
Oregon BAR Champion (2 years in a row and 4 out of the last 5)

On another note, The Statesman Journal (second largest newspaper in Oregon), took some time to talk to me and put together a nice article. Here is the link:

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809100388

Hopefully I get to catch up with some of you at the ‘cross races or InterBike show next week. Until then thanks for all your support and keep the lid up!

Over,
Evan Plews

Howdy folks!

Not sure how to entitle my August race report… it may come across too negative in any case. August was a difficult month for me on the bike. Sometimes we come to a place where the sum of adversity becomes more than we are prepared for. This was the case for me. I still believe things could have turned out a little better but that is my optimistic side again!

The month started with a week off for me. Off the bike that is. Unfortunately this really meant trying to make up for lost time on our house remodel and feverishly preparing to leave for Transrockies. In retrospect my biggest mistake was entertaining another shot at TransRockies at all. This involved ridiculous time and monetary expeditures for which I had not budgeted. More importantly was the energy expediture required for this event.

We made it to TR relatively unscathed and the first day went well. Actually the first half of the first day went well. I was easily one of the best on the intial climb and could have stayed with the Italian team went they attacked for a huge advantage. My partner wasn’t able to follow and that was planned for. What wasn’t planned for was the 2.5 hours of combination hike-a-bike and velo-schlussing to the finish. Oh, did I mention tempertures dipping below 40 degrees and sleet? Anyway, we were still in good shape finishing fifth on the day. I attached a picture from the finish…

Stage 2 turned out to be the endgame. I was able to stay with the group until the steeper climbs but again my partner faltered. As the hike-a-bike began it was me who was in big trouble, though. I started to feel the efforts from the day before immediately and was losing time. Then things got vertical–as in crawling with bikes all the way to the top of some peak. Nearly two hours later, we discovered we were not “on course” and then things really fell apart. It was cold again and my hands were blue. I had already eaten everthing I hadn’t dropped on the hill and we were even half way through the mileage. I really quit caring about results and nearly seven hours later we made it to the finish–ahead of most of the leaders!

Stage 3 was my last gasp it turned out. I set the pace throughout the timetrial and again we finished fifth. However, I was feeling poorly after the first two days and I desperately needed some recovery. Unfortunately, there was none to come.

I will just lump the rest of the race together. Basically my legs were ruined from the previous hours of pushing bikes and while that was the worst, it was really only the beginning. Ultimately, we finished 7th as the top American team but it was probably the worst I have ever felt on the bike. Without a doubt, in over ten years of racing, I haven’t pushed/carried my bike so much!

A total wreck, I spent 3 days in bed after returning home in hopes of somehow recovering in time for the American Mountain Classic stage race in Utah. That was another long shot that became an impossibility when I came down with a sinus infection while traveling to the race. In the first ten minutes of Stage 1, I was already out the back when a bee flew in my mouth and stung me. Game over. My body was shutting down from the illness, fatigue and poison. I managed to finish the stage and rode the next day at a leisurely pace. The final stage covered much of the previous days course twice so I did one lap and called packed up my bike. My only DNF of the year but continuing just didn’t make sense.

I have been sick for two weeks now but my legs seem to be back and I have been able to take care of some work on the home front. My fitness is pretty much back to my de-trained winter state so I look forward to a nice pre-holiday training block after Interbike. Speaking of the show, I plan to attend as much as necessary but would like to help any way I can. Please let me know if any of you would like me help promote your wares at either the demo or the show. I can be available as needed.

In the meantime, I am on my way to the NUE series finals to finish that business. I look forward to a long (100 mile) ride in the high Sierra with no expectations! Next week I plan to defend my Oregon MTB Hillclimb title for a 3rd year in a row. That will bring some vindication for August and stoke my fire for some ‘cross races and training leading up to the Baja Epic and Nationals.

I look forward to seeing you all soon and thanks again for your support this year. Until then, over and out!

Evan Plews