Probable Last PC MTB ride of the season

Saturday we got out for what will probably be our last ride in the Park City area for the season. We parked at Jeremy ranch and hit the 24-7, Flying Dog, Glenwild, and the new DH trail loop. All the trails were in near perfect condition with the exception of the backside of Flying Dog which was a sloppy mess. The ground was pretty frozen and there was some rideable snow in sections but other sections had about 1" of freshly thawed soup on top of frozen ground that was not the least bit fun. We walked the deeper mud sections to save the trail but we still got plenty muddy. The frontside of Flying Dog was buff and fast. It would have been smarter to just do an out and back on the frontside but my loop loving self never even thought of going that route until we finished. The new DH trail is short but fun. No drops but lots of fast bermed corners and whoops. A ton of people were out on the trails but it was mostly addicts such as myself so the traffic flow was exceptionally good. A nasty storm is supposed to move in for the weekend and I'm sure winter will be right on it's heels but it sure was nice to hit alpine singletrack in late November.

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TAKE QUIZ

(my 8-10 score didn't make the cut but it did hurt my brain)

I think Rico might be a sadist......

In that good pain makes you stronger way. With 5 minutes to start time yesterday I decided to take a bathroom break and missed a key piece of information regarding the line up. I rode over to the area where the C's started and watched TC's dogs wrestle for a bit until I heard a loud whoosh behind me as the the B field rode by. Crap, missed the start. Put in an all out max sprint to catch on to the back of the women's field and got around them to get to the back of the men's field by the first run up the grassy knoll. Passed a few people in time for the 2nd run up the knoll. Down the field, around the power pole, through the chicane and back to the start. One very fun lap down. I was riding well and working my way slowly through the field by lap 4 but after the 8th run up I started getting tired. Checked the lap counter on my way through the start area and it said 4 laps to go. Uh Oh, I was pretty tired already and only half done. Late in the 6th lap my back started to get tight and it was all I could do to not hemorrhage too many positions. By the last lap the run up's were walk ups and all I could think of was my Mexi Coke waiting at the finish. Man that course was hard! I think it was the 16 runs up the grassy knoll that did me in or maybe it was the grassy backstretch where it felt like the harder you pushed the easier it was. It was a wicked fun course with a bit of everything including a sandtrap, tons of short burst ups and pedal downs and well timed 180 deg corners to keep you on your toes without losing too much speed. Well done Rico! As usual I cleaned up in the raffle winning a brand new Bell Sweep R helmet for Rhonda. Unless something changes it was a very way to end my race season and I'm excited to start thinking of next year.

I'm not very good at cross.....

But who cares, it's so damn fun! Arrived at Wheeler nice and early which worked out well because after riding for 5 minutes I realized I didn't bring enough clothes. Ran home to grab tights and warmer gloves, got in a warm up lap and lined up with 65 other souls in my category. No, this wasn't a race in the northwest, Utah CX is just that big now. Started out around 20th or so, passed a few people, got passed by a few people, pulled about 8 people down the road sections each of the first two laps and finished mid-pack. Compared to others I seem to be faster on the straights and road sections and much slower in the twisty stuff. Strange since I'm a MTB guy but I waste a lot of time dodging trees with my large frame in the narrow singletrack. I bet I would be faster on my MTB, even with the paved and road sections but the point is to get faster and gain skills not to try to beat 10 more people in a C race. The Wheeler course set up was sweet, many props to Matt and Joe for building such awesome courses week after week.

I kept my front wheel tubeless but went with a Stans'd tube in the rear at about 60lbs. Just got sick of the rear tire burping. My back was hurting by the last lap but both tires held air and rear traction didn't seem to suffer too much.

Rhonda started out slow (she hasn't been on the bike much lately either) but built up to normal speed by the last couple laps. Sucked a few wheels (she's learning), held off Melissa and passed TC at the very end for 14th out of 30 starters (the women's fields are getting huge as well).

Tomorrow we're hitting Cutthroat cross which will be our final race of the season. Time to start thinking about next season..... Desert Rampage is less than four months away!

Double X weekend

Wheeler tomorrow, Cutthroat Sunday and then we have to throw in the towel for the rest of the season. We'll be out of town for the last two races and I can't get to Ogden in time for the AM scrub races next weekend. Home improvement projects have temporarily taken over my free time so I've only ridden once in the last two weeks. That means I should be peaking tomorrow right?

Road Tubeless Review

After a full summer of riding Stan's road tubeless system I'm pretty impressed. Rough and chipsealed roads feel almost as smooth as fresh blacktop and the tires are very grippy while cornering. I used to be a 6-7 flats a year type of guy and had to run 120lbs to avoid pinch flats but with this setup flats of any kind have been non-existent. Railroad tracks, huge potholes, no worries. I originally has these setup on a normal rim with spoke holes and I had some trouble sealing the spoke holes with the yellow tape but since I switched over to Ksyriums mid summer the setup had been bullet proof. They lose almost no air between rides. I would recommend this setup for anybody but if you have Ksyriums or a similar sealed rim it can't be beat.

Why Lance is still cool.

29'er hard tail and hairy legs.

(also note the soon to be available Stan's ZTR Race 29er wheelset)

The Elixer of the Gods

This ferocious lion guards my Mexi-Coke 24-7

Obama skis victory lap

Yesterday at "the bird".

Two starts, no finishes

Saturday Rhonda felt like sleeping in so I headed to RMR by myself. I almost called her after doing a warmup lap to have her run my MTB over, I just had this feeling that I might need it but I decided not to bother her. One lap in I hit a bad part of the last downhill whoop-de-doo, launched off the lip and landed dead on my rear wheel. Burp, tubeless tire blown, wheel way out of true, no backup anything, race over.

Repaired my bike and headed to Wheeler Sunday AM. First lap tried to make a wide pass on a corner into a cement pad. Caught the edge of the pad square on my read wheel. Burp, lost about half my pressure (in all fairness had I been tubed it would have been a pinch flat). I rode three more laps on real low pressure but finally with 2 laps to go the bead buckled on a sharp corner and I lost most of the rest of my air. For some reason I never even considered stopping in the pit the 5-6 times I went past it to top off the tire until Ken mentioned it to me after I withdrew. I guess I just don't yet have the fix your bike in the middle of the race mindset. Next step will be to try a Stans'd tube in the rear and see how that goes. Cross is fun but this is getting frustrating.