NW MTB Series

First of all, my apologies for not posting here this season. As they say “too many irons in the fire”! In some ways, I feel like my “iron” has been in the fire too long! Anyway, what’s been going on? Well, we opened a bike shop in Wenatchee last winter www.ridgecyclesport.com. The kids are growing up and seem to consume more and more time. After taking two months off last winter to “recover” my general health condition is good but my performance continues to be compromised and this season it is worse than ever. The good news is that I have some different Drs. taking a look and despite dealing with this for five years, I still have some hope that the puzzle can be solved! Read more »

Rassumussen Rides Again!

Several weeks ago, “Ninkrossi” in Washougal WA marked my first race in over three years. Normally, finishing in the middle of a Cat C cyclocross race would not rank noteworthy to me. However given how time constraints with work and health issues have kept me on the sidelines for too long, just doing a race felt like a victory! I’ve never done much ‘cross anyway, so I really have no standards in my head that I need to live up to. Right now I’m just enjoying the little bit of training I’m doing and looking forward to the next event.

That opportunity came last Saturday. A Perfect Day–nice weather, a fun course, my supportive wife and my form returning made for a great day of cross at the “Crossword Challenge” in Canby, Oregon! It felt great to be competitive again. I rode the entire race within the top 5-10 riders and wound up in 6th place in a field of about 30.

Mark R.

Hat Trick in Oakridge!

We saddled up the trusty mommy (and daddy) mobile and headed back to Oakridge for the second race of the Oakridge Fat Tire Series. Those who read this column often will know that I’ve had the opportunity to win the FAT55 the last two editions so I hoped that I could return for a Hat Trick!

Eugene Cathcart has built a super solid event over the past few years and this time was no exception. This time we stayed at the quaint Arbor Inn right across the street from the venue at Greenwaters Park. Despite the long drive and late night arrival I was ready to test my new Ibis HDR 650 bike on some of Oakridge’s finest trails. The weather was simply perfect again and while I managed to ride over a bank in the first couple miles, I was able to get back on and regain the front in short order. Read more »

SC ‘crosses the country!

Round one of the Sportif Cross Cup Series took place this past weekend with the first stop in Cascade, Maryland. The venue at Fort Ritchie sits in the foothills of some local mountains just outside historic Gettysburg, PA. The beautiful background of pine forests, hills, and a lake confused me and left me wondering which side of the country I was on!

I am glad to be back racing after many hurdles, walls, and dead-ends with health, moving, and long working days in Baltimore/DC traffic! After only riding for 1-2 hours per week for a few months I thought I’d try a regional crit in an effort to test my fitness so that I could try and have some fun with the local cross scene this year. Long story–short, I could only do so many 800 watt accelerations “off the couch” before my legs just stopped functioning! Needless to say, I went home early. While mixing things up with running and weight lifting is great for overall fitness, it did nothing to prepare me to even sit in on the local Pro’s wheels in a crit–ouch! Read more »

‘Puff Daddy! by Nathan Pfeifer

With all of our worldly possessions in a moving van heading to Washington I took a “break” from packing to take another stab at the race I said I would never do: the Cascade Cream Puff 100. As I was coming up toward the top as a mountain bike racer I heard about the CCP. It was a race down in Oakridge, Oregon which claimed to be ridiculously hard and totally awesome at once. At that time, I couldn’t imagine riding 50 let alone 100 miles on a mountain bike and hence determined that I would never ride such a crazy race.

I continued to hear how rad it was but basically ignored it until 2006 when my friend Ben Thompson won the it just days before we left for Europe to race the Transalp Challenge. Undoubtedly the CCP sawed off his lower extremities so instead of me chasing him up all the climbs in the Alps and Dolomites the opposite occurred. However the seed of possibility was planted and when I finished third overall in the NUE series in 2008 I knew I would eventually give the mother of all Hundies a shot. Read more »

At the front–briefly, OregonVelo

With just one weekend left before our big move to Wenatchee, I still had a little unfinished business left in Oregon. This would be my third try at the High Cascades 100 and I had good training and high hopes for the race.

Things got underway at the ridiculously early 5:30AM start from Bend. As we pedaled up Century Drive I felt decent despite the unreasonable hour and was happy that the temperature wasn’t near freezing like the other two times I’ve done this event. The pace was mellow even as we hit the dirt and I had little trouble staying at the front.

Barry Wick-nasty (Kona) led me into the single track as we paid homage to the late Steve Larson and seemed to be a little slow through the sweeping turns. Then he was really late and washing out the front end! I eased up and expected him to save it only to watch his wheel hook up and launch him over the high side. As I steered clear, Barry immediately clutched his shoulder and I soft pedaled until we reached the Funner/Storm King intersection in case he was able to get back on. Read more »