Dave's Mtb Blog

This race series is going to be incredible and everyone should give it a try. As with all of Ray's events, the prizes are stacked. The trail is dry, and fun will be had by all. The course is better than ever, really fast, and challenging. This is going to be a good series and you don't have to worry about me getting in your way to the top of the podium. As is usual with these events, the pros are barred from kicking your asses.

Ray's Indoor Cross Country Time Trial

JUST FOR REGISTERING: (1st registration only per series)

RECEIVE: Tri-Flow lube sample; 1 Redbull energy drink; Free Chipotle Guac & Chips

PRIZES:

Every time you register for a time slot, you’re automatically entered into a drawing for a FREE BIKE. The more times you register, the better your odds of winning. ANYBODY CAN WIN! (Unrelated to race results)

PLEASE READ: This is a completely new, unique concept in mountain biking. Unlike the outdoors, course conditions are always perfect at Ray’s. This simplifies the equation and allows you to consistently measure your fitness level, experiment with bike components, tweak your fit, and improve your performance. And compete with your friends in a controlled environment with professional time-keeping equipment. We hope you like the idea! Race as many times as you like! Thanks – Ray

WHAT IT IS: • SERIES 1: Nov. 14, 2009 – Jan. 10, 2010 • SERIES 2: Jan. 23 – Apr. 3, 2010 A Two Series Time Trial. Separate winners and prizes for each series. Race held 7AM-9AM on weekends and holidays with eight 15 minute time slots on each race day. (7:00, 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45 AM) View time slot availability:

XCTT Calendar. Each series has 184 time slots. Sign up as many times as you like. Park opens at 6:30AM for racers. Park opens at 9AM for regular riding.

FEE: $15.00 per time slot (cash only) on arrival. 48 hour cancelation/reschedule policy. No-shows still owe the fee. ALL proceeds pay for Race Official salaries and your prizes. This is for fun, not for profit. START and FINISH triggered by breaking a laser beam, supervised by a Race Official.

COURSE: START/FINISH: GT Deck. Race totals 3 XC loops and 7 GT lines (shortest lines throughout)

START: Break laser beam to start clock on GT deck

Prologue: Line P (marked), return to deck

1st lap Fisher XC loop, return to deck

Line 1, return to deck

Line 2, return to deck

2nd lap XC loop, return to deck

Line 3, return to deck

Line 4, return to deck

3rd lap XC loop, return to deck

Line 5, return to deck

Line 6, return to deck

FINISH: Break laser beam to stop clock   CLOSED COURSE. Shortest and least difficult lines throughout. Times displayed on large overhead LED clock. Results & Calendar updated every 24 hours.

RACE CLASSES: Enter your normal Race Class. We reserve the right to re-designate entrants.

MEN:

CLASSES: Expert; Sport; Novice

AGE GROUPS: 19 and under; 20-29; 30-39; 40+   WOMEN:

CLASSES: Expert; Sport; Novice

AGE GROUPS: Open

As soon as I heard about the new Taco Bell Black Taco, I ran out and got one. Rather, I bought two of them and a chili cheese burrito. Excited to eat my new tacos in the perfect setting, I drove around and ate the burrito while looking for the right place. The chili cheese burrito is difficult to eat while driving and I wasted a lot of time trying to deal with this thing. I made it as far as my driveway before carefully opening the first one.

The first batch of Tacos where good. However, I didn’t have the right words to describe them at the time so I decided to make the critique more scientific by getting two more black tacos and a regular taco as a control. This was important work and it could not be rushed or thoroughly conducted during a parked feeding frenzy.

A couple things separate the new taco from the old taco. The black shell isn’t made of blue corn. Rather it is just black, and that is not such a bad thing because its flavor has been refined for years. Next, the cheese is no longer just cheddar. It now contains a delicate blend of Mozzarella, Cheddar, and Pepper Jack cheeses. The intricate flavors of which are further sophisticated by the addition of the hotly anticipated zesty pepper jack cheese sauce.

The resulting taco is cheesy, crunchy, meaty, and spicy. It is better than the original, and it costs less than $1. Viva La Bell.

Oh yea, ride bikes. GT Bikes, and umm, Ray’s is open for the season!!!

2^nd

The Mohican State Forest trail is an amazing, and the race had a great turnout. The weather was warm at race time and the course was completely dry.

The race came down to a sprint finish. My/Our finishing time for the race was 1 hour 51 minutes. We exchanged the lead several times throughout the race, but in the last few millimeters, Steve took the win. He was riding incredibly well throughout the race and seemed to have the trail dialed. He took a number of new lines that didn’t occur to me. Despite pushing to the limit, we each only crashed once. It was exhilarating to pedal that hard through the woods.

I was very interested in finding out what a fast lap time on the course would look like. It has been a topic of discussion for a while, and I have heard rumors that seem too good to be true. At the race there was a little bit of a problem in that the race didn’t start in the parking lot, but rather a half mile away. Luckily, I compared my computers trip distance to the 1-mile mark on the trail. As I passed it, I had 1.17, which seems close enough. On the return trip, the extra distance probably took us an extra 2-3 minutes. It’s hard to say.

1^st place

Westbranch was a mud hole, but I lowered the air pressure on my GT Marathon and it performed as it always has. I rode straight over every rock and root that Westbranch had to throw at me and never put a foot down. The cool thing, I reached down to switch my Fox RP23 shock from fully active to platform mode and it was actually hot from absorbing hits. It is neat to think that enough friction occurs from the oil whooshing around in the damper to heat the entire shock. I think it did a great job handling the bumps that I found on the trail, but it makes me want to ride it even harder next time.

On another note, It’s the end of the season and if you haven’t put your racing resume together it is time. Most teams want your resume in hand before the end of October. If you haven’t done this type of thing before, there are a few things that you will need to include. First, give them a biography. Start with accomplishments and passions, but remember to make connections that your sponsor will understand. Then, outline your results for the season and remember to include your class, the location, and the events name.  Bear in mind, you should also tell them how you have been making a difference in the cycling community. Lastly, explain what you will be doing in the new season and how you will help them promote their brand.

Here are a few tips from another site, but If you have any questions, I will be glad to help. You can email me directly at David_H_Walker@Hotmail.com.

1st

I’ve had mixed results at time trial races in the past. At these races, riders start at intervals not as a group. They then race on their own from point A to B, all the while not knowing how the competition is doing. In that scenario, I tend to take risks, which have led to big crashes. Of course, one crash leads to more speed, and more speed leads to even more crashes.

Today I started in the 16^th spot, 20 seconds behind 15^th and so on. It’s understood that I was working hard, but it was a surprise to have caught three riders within the first couple miles. I think that I passed eight in all. This brings me back to what I was thinking last week. Not knowing the course, I pedaled hard many times when I would not have If I had known what I was about to see. Is it faster to pedal into a blind corner or to relax knowing that you will be slowing down in a moment? Today I pedaled, but it was my way of making up for taking fewer risks.

1^st Place Neo Power Series Overall

1^st Place Reagan Park Time Trial, Neo Power #3

Some Fotoooos

For winning this series, I won a years worth of Chipotle Burritos, but I am not the only one. The prizes, cash, bike frames, and burritos flowed like water, furthering the case that this may be the greatest race series ever.

1^st Place

This win secures my win for the Groovy Series at Vultures Knob and puts me into a solid position to take the overall lead for the Neo Power Series. These two race series have the promise of becoming the preeminent series in Ohio. They are amazingly well put together and draw great crowds of riders at all competitive levels. I also like riding trails that are so familiar. With each lap, I push deeper into each section without braking.

I did realize that knowing the trail keeps me from pedaling when I would otherwise and I’m wondering if this is slowing me down. I should probably be pedaling if I’m not braking. The problem is that I think it’s easy to become comfortable with riding a trail at a certain speed. Pedaling were I usually don’t has the tendency to put me on lines that I wouldn’t normally ride.

Fotos

Leading up to this weekend we had a great time at the Cleveland Air Show, the opposing Peace Rally, and at Oktoberfest in Berea.

On another note, the 2010 GT bikes are on the site and they look good.

Neo Power Series #1

1^st Place

The GT was at full power for this race even though I was distracted. Last week I bent a pedal and I’ve been riding on it since. Even though I was able to get a replacement for the race, my non-drive side hip felt bad. It didn’t feel as though I could push hard without it hurting. To make matters worse, I got my handle bar tangled in an electrical cord that was hanging from a tree at the top of a climb and smashed some of my favorite bits into the back of my stem.

However, the course at Manitoc is great and its shame that we only get to ride it one week a year. Unlike years past, despite the rain, the course was very fast. Before the race, I had been whining about not having enough knob on my tires for the slick course, but I was sarcastically told to “just bring out more skill”.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. My average speed was nearly 14 mph, which equates to crossing lots of wet roots at a good pace. The race distance was 30 miles and since I have been doing longer races it felt great.

Pictures from the race

1st Place

Caesars creek is always a great place to ride. The hillsides and low valley areas are filled with trees and roots. It also has many high-speed corners, which made my bike the perfect choice for this race. I have been there a number of times in the past and had the chance to run the course in both directions. For my money, the path on the right is the best way to get started.

A week ago when I was racing in Michigan, the guys mentioned that there 29” bikes were catching me in downhill to uphill transition areas. They said that they could see my suspension working and that they would have to tap their brakes to keep from running into me. My rear suspension is set up to be active, so they may have a point. However, the guy who said this was nearly five minutes off my pace. Despite that, I added pressure to the rear and was surprised at how much better it climbed.

The day was not without its downside, a rider confronted me in a weird way asking, “How’s your mouth”. How is my mouth? I didn’t want to know what he was talking about, but that didn’t stop him. A couple weeks ago at Lake Hope while trying to kill Steve Hill with pace, I find this guy. From a good distance out, I say “rider up” and nothing happens. Now we are on top of the guy, “RIDER UP”. Taking his time he answers back, “I’m looking for a spot”. To which I respond, “Get off the trail”.

It works like a charm and we are on our way. Later, I hear that the guy is deaf in one ear. That would have been a nice thing to know, but it doesn’t change the facts. He’s holding a grudge and he said that he has some kind of great dirt on me. Well, I have done over 300 races in which I have been lost, kicked, punched, pushed, disqualified, and spit at. It’s a sport and things happen, so there is plenty to tell.

More fotos are here :)

2^nd place Pro

This race is part of the USAC MTB Michigan State Championship Series and it draws a huge crowd. The Pro Men were first to leave and we were followed shortly there after by a huge wave of experts. The promoters did a great job of keeping lap traffic down by starting the hundreds of sport and beginner riders two hours later at noon. It also helps that we raced three ten mile laps. Even though we kept a strong pace, we never caught any lap traffic, which was nice.

At the start of the race, there was a call up to the line, which I was left out of, as I have not been a part of this series. To get onto the front line I had shove my bike between two riders who gave less attitude than I expected.

Everything started as it usually does with a super fast race to the woods. I entered the single track in second place and followed as a Bell’s rider laid down a ridiculous pace. I found out later that this was his job. However, his reign was about to end. He slowed on a switchback while climbing and I made a pass on the inside of the turn. Now in the lead, I could hear the rest of the pack begin to panic. Instead of working as a traveling roadblock though, the Bell’s rider who gave too much acquiesced and let the pack through in one big clump. Yea, it was going to be one of those kinds of races.

I pushed hard out front and the pack wore down to only a few riders by the end of the first lap. Judging the situation, I decided to let someone else work for a while. Back into the woods on the second lap, I was sitting comfortably in third place. The two riders in front of me were more than capable of widening the gap on the rest of the field and best of all they were beginning to fight one another. Being pulled to the finish at mach ten and getting a ringside seat to the action was more than I could have asked for.

The GT Marathon functioned flawlessly. In fact, it allowed me the confidence to ride at full speed on a completely unknown course. I pedaled through two wheeled drifts, took bad lines over drop-offs, and blasted over rocks and roots when I should have been slowing down. The bike is more than capable.

More photos from the race

I have been thinking a lot about road racing. I even had a dream about it where I spent a long time trying to put the front wheel on the bike. Still, I have mixed feelings as to why I want a road bike. I have done a handful of races in the past, none of which went as well as I had hoped. In one, I pulled forever only to have everyone zoom around me at the end. Another, I crashed in a corner with someone else and had to catch the pack before they could get away.

I’m not sure how to win a road race. I think I all comes down to sprinting because it seems rare to make it to the end of the race alone. When I compare myself to the sprinters that I have seen its clear to me that I am out of my league. I have only gotten to 39 mph once on flat ground. It’s not something that I can just pull out of my hat. If I am going to stand a chance, I have to be in very specific situations and I have to be careful not to do too much work.

Here is what I’m thinking. I would like to stay near the front of the peloton; this would have kept me from being sent into the weeds by a squirrely rider. Then, I should get into breakaways, they are a good way to reduce the number of competitors that I will have to deal with at the end. In addition, I should do races with long climbs, as they will equalize the riders who work with those who draft. Ideally, I should be on the front and then in a breakaway at a race with long climbs. That is probably not as easy as it sounds.

Actually, that sounds naïve. In reality, the experience of being drilled repeatedly by super strong riders would be great for my training. Road racers also cover huge distances. I am riding a mountain bike, but 70 miles seems like a long way. I’m not sure what condition I would be in at the end of 90 miles.

It’s something that I have been thinking about for two seasons. I guess it would be hard to call me impulsive.