Rio Bravo Rumble 2009

The Rio Bravo was a great was to start out the season. It is a biathalon, 10k run with a 16 mile bike, both off road. Held out in Bakersfield so there was a hefty 2.5 hr commute each way. It is beautiful country despite the crappiness that is the central valley industrialized-agriculture.

We were supposed to get up at 5:15ish. My body decided that I didn’t need the sleep and I got up at 4:00 .. used the extra time to drink a few extra cups of coffee and load up the ipod with some new tunes.

We got registered and I watched Jos take off for the 10k running leg.

She was a bit “gut sick” and psyched out by the hills but I still was hoping she would get her target time of 1:10. Well she did 9 minutes better! I was barely done with my warm up when she zoomed into the transition area looking suitably exhausted for such an effort (I think her exact words were “Get back or I’ll vomit on you”)

I threw on the timing anklet and took off. I was passing people at a pretty steady rate on the initial climb which was mostly fireroad.

A good portion of the cyclists were using cyclocross bikes so I thought the whole course would be cake. Then it turned off the trail and onto … nothing. See the hills around this ranch were just wide open pasture so they did it “jungle cross” style with the course (poorly marked by white spray-painted arrows) just busting across the open grassy slopes. This led to some creative passing lines, interesting navigation requirements and some off-cambre, cow-crap encrusted, cow-hoof rutted, pseudo-trail descending. It wasn’t what one would call “technical” but I was glad I had my 2″ tires.

Speaking of which, my stans raven rear tire burped air pretty badly on one of the descents leaving me with 15 psi. Cost me a minute to pump it back up. There goes all the time I saved my lowering my rotational weight. Grrrr…

Only one guy passed me the whole time and I think I hit my VO2Max trying to stick with the bastard and his 17 lb Redline cyclocross bike up one of the steep climbs (of which there were many). There were also a lot of flatish dirt road sections around the orchards which were time-trail territory, a definite advantage to the cyclocross riders.

Anyways, I did the 16 mile MTB portion in about 1:06. Would have gained me second place in the MTB-only race.. not bad! For an early season race, I felt OK but my endurance waned near the end. I let my HR slide way down a few times near the finish. My lower back was hurting and my hamstrings and glutes were tight; probably from pushing too big a gear and doing all the climbing in the saddle (my style). A lot to improve on but a good way to start the season.

And, of course, a great way to share the day with my girl! Our team got 5th place out of 12 teams in the combined-age < 89 category.

Tubeless Lessons

When I committed to tubeless a few months ago, the whole thing was a frustrating mystery. By experimenting a bit and learning a few lessons the hard way, I think I’ve almost got the hang of it…

My setup is stock Stan’s Arch Rims and I’ve successfully run Bontrager Jones ACX 29×2.2 and Stans Raven 29×2.0. Aside from some minor little problems, I like the setup. I find that its more hassle and headache to set up compared to tubes but is more puncture resistant, lighter, and rides nicer.

• Stans will dry out! You’ve got to periodically add some juice.
• Shake vigourously and pour upside down using the spout. This maximizes the “magic crystals” which make the sealant do its thing.
• Get a core remover and a 2 oz injector kit. Adding juice this way is much easier than popping off the bead.
• Getting the bead to set is the hardest part! For a first-time tire, remove the valve core, lube up the tire bead surface with soap suds and use an air compressor to blow air directly into the tire. This was the only way I could get new tires to set; a hand pump would simply not work for me. Give it some good pressure and make sure the bead is stuck. Then release the air, inject the juice, reinstall the valve core and reinflate.
• Shake, Rattle and Roll the juice around the new tire … you will find new holes so make sure stans has a chance to find them.
• Once mounted and ridden for a while, they air up way easier when mounting used tires.
• If the pressure drops too low, you can burp air out of the tire or, worse, get some crud caught between the tire bead and the rim which breaks the seal and causes rapid pressure loss. I’ve had to scour dirt and bark out of the bead hook area while doing a trailside repair.
• Bring a tube or two just in case.
• Always bring a hand pump. A CO2 cartridge may not work as tubeless problems requires some troubleshooting – by the time you figure out where its leaking you may be out of CO2. Plus CO2 solidifies the Stans juice into weird rubber chunks which hang out in your tire.

Other than that, just follow the instructions on the notubes.com website.

Gibraltar Hillclimb TT

Today was the first race of the year, though it was more of a warm up training ride with a timer. About 100 riders (most locals, many from the chicken ranch team) showed up at the base of Gibraltar road for an uphill time trial race. The proceeds of the race went towards the Kendra Chiota Payne Memorial Fund (a cyclist killed descending this very road a few years ago), Bike Safety Awareness and the UCSB Triathlon Team.

I left the house at 6:30, stopped by John C.’s place and rode to the starting line. By that point the temp was up by 20 degrees .. luckily i shed all my morning thermal gear into a bag that was taken to the top by our fearless support crew, Luke and Randy.

Anyways, I cranked up the hill, kept the pace steady, kept the HR just at zone 5. I did pretty well, 17th place overall, 40:14 for the 6.1 mile, 2550 ft vertical course. A few chicken ranchers came in just before me (Larsen at 40:01 and Lettieri at 40:09) while John Communale pulled out a 5th overall with 35:44.

Went for a nice ride afterwards out on Camino Cielo (parts of which are newly repaved … cycling heaven!), down San Marcos (where I defied death by attempting to follow Rick Martz’s wheel.. guy is a fearless animal on the paved downhills) and then out the isla vista with Nichola. Fun day, some good riding, racing and training with some good company. I love the weekends!

UPDATE: Chicken rancher and unofficial team photographer Carson Blume has some great photos and the results link posted on his blog.

What muscles do you use to pedal?

A great post with some very informative graphics – What muscles do you use to pedal?.

I wonder if anyone has developed any strength training programs specifically around recruiting these various muscle groups in the proper sequence?

Saturday Lake Loop

Got up early this saturday and actually felt good .. got rid of that nasty throat cold finally!

I decided to hit up the Saturday Lake Casitas ride. So did about 60 other riders from all the local teams as well as some pros who were in town. It was a hammer-fest – the pros didn’t push the pace but some of the other guys were out to prove something! After climbing over casitas pass, we took it easy until PCH when we rejoined with some hammer heads … we were pacelining 27 to 31 mph the whole way back! Thankfully we took it relatively easy from Carpenteria back home (except for the climb up the Mesa).

85 miles, 4 hours 15 minutes. Way too much time in the upper HR zones but feeling good.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year all!

Lets wrap up 2008: I got back on track with a consistent cycling lifestyle after faltering due to ankle sprains and knee injuries. I’m back and built a good base for the 2009 race season.

My goals for 2009: Stick with my training plan, win a sport class MTB race, place in the US Cup West, compete in the Vegas US Cup finals and complete one solo endurance race.

Today, I had planned on a 95 mile road ride up to Rose Valley in Ventura. But the 42 degree rain/fog weather and my newly developed throat cold conspired against me. Oh well.

I pushed my gym workout on Tuesday a bit too hard; my glutes, quads and hammys are still a bit sore from the squats and deadlifts. So I’ll probably spin for a while on the trainer and start digging into Core Performance by Mark Verstegen.