Chainbreaker
Although I’m a little late in posting, VRV headed off to Bend last weekend for the highly anticipated Chainbreaker mtb race which is always sure to be fast and dry and this years Mother’s Day addition was no different. Our contingent of riders was a bit of a family affair this year as my older brother, Will, was there along with my younger brother Rory, whom is primarily a motocross racer, came along to try his hand at some two wheeled, non-motorized fun. (I should also note that Will raced in his new team kit, Hammer Nutrition)
Rory and I rolled in on Saturday early afternoon and got a good pre-ride in and as I had suspected, the course was dry and promised to be fast, the only part I hadn’t calculated into my noggin was the amount of dust that was going to reek havoc in the morning. Will was able to show up in the early evening and we all met up at the course for a short walk through of the finish area loop and then it was time for bed and thoughts of sweet, sweet singletrack.
Race day dawned clear and crisp with some rather cool temps, but perfect for racing. After eating, the three of us started going through our own pre-race routines: getting dressed, check tire and shock pressures, etc. then headed out to start warming up. I felt like this was going to be a good race for me, my legs felt good, I knew the course and I was mentally prepared for how fast the Central Oregon guys are; little could I imagine just how bad my day would turn seconds into the start.
I got a good warm up albeit a little long which got me back to the start grid in time to line up in the very back row and at the gun, it was immediately clear what a terrible error in timing this was. The Pro and Cat 1 field all started together, so with 50-ish riders in front of me you can imagine the amount of dust that was kicked up and what it felt like, funneled directly into my lungs. This is when my day got bad as I began experiencing the wonderful sensation of my lungs and throat constricting in a beautifully painful asthma attack.
The Cat 2 field started approximately 1 minute after us and Will got off to a fantastic start pushing his way up through the field for the mile or so long gravel road sprint; my other brother Rory opted for a slower, more controlled start, which in light of the dust might have been a strong option.
Shortly after crossing through the finish area on lap one, Will, who was riding incredibly strong, caught and passed me on his way to victory as I settled in for two more laps of misery. Will finished his second and final lap just as strong as he’d started it by taking the win and Rory managed a strong race as well which is quite notable considering that he rarely rides and the last mtb race he did may very well have been over 10 years ago.
By the start of my third and final lap I was finally getting control of my breathing and began to feel a little stronger, knowing that I was no longer in jeopordy of being lapped by the Pro’s (huge relief) I focused on finishing and adding race miles to my training schedule and thinking about the bigger events that are ahead on the calendar, specifically the Cream Puff and High Cascades, both 100 milers!
For another year the folks who put on the Chainbreaker have done an amazing job in organizing this even with a well run race, tons of swag and nearly instantaneous results for all fields, so thank you one and all for another miserably good time!
Mary’s Peak – a preview
I grew up in the shadow of the highest peak in Oregon’s Coast range. As a high schooler, back when I still rode one of those mountainbike thingies, I would drive to the top with my friend Gabe and we would drop down the single track on the north side, which eventually led to some gravel roads that ran pretty much to his front door. We would then take a second car and drive back to the top to retrieve the first. I think I probably considered riding up the paved road once or twice, but assume that I quickly thought better of it.
In 2006 or 2007, I can’t remember now, I rode Mary’s Peak for the first time. I parked at the turnoff from highway 34 and rode the nine, painful miles to the parking lot. That year, it nearly broke me. I flatted once and was overjoyed at the excuse to get off my bike and rest. I did make it to the top eventually, but it hurt. It hurt a lot, and I stopped more than the one time I flatted to catch my breath. I took a photo of my bike at the top that I kept as the wallpaper on my cellphone for a long time. It was the biggest climb I’d ever done.
Since then, I’ve ridden many longer climbs in Oregon, Colorado and Washington. Still, I’ve also made it a point to ride Mary’s Peak at least once a season. Like no other climb I’ve ridden, it both tests and rewards you in equal measure. There is only one paved way up and you take the same road down. The views are expansive at many points on the ride, and since it’s a protected park, the natural surroundings take away whatever breath you can spare. On the climb up, I can’t ever spare much.
Last season, I rode it with Jason Freed and we started in Corvallis and did it as an out and back of about 50 or 60 miles. It was the first time I’d climbed the whole thing from either side. Starting at the true bottom on the west side, it’s twelve miles to the top and the first three before the turnoff from highway 34 twist and climb so serenely, that it lulls you into a belief in your own rhythm. But the broken ramps of the park road that begin after, well, they destroy any attempt at a steady tempo you might try and make. One minute you are cruising along in the big ring on a gradient of four or five percent, and then the road suddenly heaves up into the high teens through a switch back leaving you gritting your teeth and leaving your legs feeling like lead.
A small group of us have discussed riding a century that climbs Mary’s Peak towards the end of the route, and so today I rode it partly as a preview, partly as training. I wanted to remind myself of the road and judge whether, in planning a century, a climb like that should come in the beginning, middle or end. The route I have in mind is essentially a big loop, so the mountain could come at any point. I’m not sure that I decided today what would be best.
What I did do was start from the parking lot of a country church just a few miles from the beginning of the full climb on the west side. And when I hit the first turn of the climb, I started an interval timer on my bike’s computer. I turned it off when I hit the top and then started a second interval on it when I headed down. In hard numbers, this, for me at least, is Mary’s Peak.
interval #1 – 1:18:44, 12.06 miles, average speed 9.1mph, average HR 158.
interval #2 – 28:19, 12.05 miles, average speed 25.4, average HR 124
I'm blocking the view of the willamette valley to the west.
It wasn't the Gavia today, but I did find the snowline
Almost a good image, and then my bike fell over.
the routes:
Stottlemeyer 60
I had originally planned on racing round 4 of the Oregon XC series this weekend, but work, life and a serious lack of motivation had me deciding early on that I was going to look for some high mileage instead to try to get ready for next weeks Chainbreaker in Bend. About the same time; our newly transplanted Seattle teammates James and Heather Westfall (mostly James) started pestering and cajoling me to come up to Port Gamble, a small town near Bremerton Washington, and race the first addition of the Stottlemeyer 60, a 60 mile mtb race. I was able to refuse James advances until Friday morning at which point I thought that this race could be just what my under trained mind and body needed.
Port Gamble is a good 3+ hour drive from Portland, which meant to get up there in time to register and warm up I would need to leave town by 5am at the latest, so with a 4am wakeup call, I managed to hit the hwy by 4:30am and made great time arriving by about 8:15am. This gave me plenty of time to change, catch up with James (and secretly curse him for talking me into coming up for this) before the start of the race.
The race had a field limit of 60 riders, which gave it a real “homey” feel and race organizer Kevin Reinkensmeyer was thrilled at everyone had showed up and very excited to put everybody through the torture that was to come. After a quick riders meeting the race got underway with a 2.5 mile drag race up a gravel road climb to the first section of singletrack. A fair sized group of leaders led the way with James and I heading up a much larger group behind; I should note that OBRA’s own Omer Kem was the primary instigator of that lead group.
Lap 1 was a real eye opener to what the next 3 laps would entail, a good portion of the singeltrack was new, as in freshly cut, soft and chock full of slippery roots, wheel eating holes and a fair number of log crossings; all of this added up to a serious inability to get any kind of rhythm, there was however two fantastic sections of buttery smooth singletrack that you could absolutely rail through. I had a decent pace through the first half of lap 1 until some torn down course markings led the leaders and my chase group on a 1/2 mile detour, once we correct our mistake and got back to the race, I found tha James was just ahead of me and for the next lap and a half we were able to ride and commiserate together.
Both James and I suffered through the last half of lap 2 and into lap 3 with aching backs, and the initial onset of lag cramps, I was also dealing with some stomach cramps that may have been the result of a bad batch of Gu that I had mixed up the night before. It was somewhere during these laps that James and I came unhitched from each other as James had to stop and stretch his back and take full advantage of the aid stations.
Lap 4 started much like the previous 3 with the exception that I could now smell the barn and was ready to be off the bike. I kept an easy pace for the first quarter of the lap, but got a second wind and really powered through the rest of the course finding a great source of energy and a verse from the last song I had listened to was on replay and stuck in my head, “Advantages and taken, not handed out”.
I finished strong with the initial results looking like 13th overall and maybe 7th in class, but we’ll see when the official results are posted. I think that Kevin did a great job with his first endeavour into race promotion; his course was a real test for everyone and I for one greatly appreciate the work that went into this one. I’ll also note that even with the 1/2 mile detour Omer absolutely stomped the field winning easily, so congratulations to Omer.
Bear Springs Trap
Will Sullivan represented Vista Ridge at the third stop of the Oregon XC Series this past Sunday with another strong showing and has the following report of the race:
04.25.10
Oregon XC Series
Round 3
Bear Springs Trap
Today marked the third round of the Oregon XC Championship Series. Located on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood at McCubbins Gulch. The weather was specatular. Clear, sunny skies with a race time temperature of about 60*. Turn out was huge with nearly 300 entries.
Heading into this event, I was a bit apprehensive about my conditioning. The past two weeks I have been traveling and have not have consistent or complete workouts. Nutrition and fueling had also been less than optimal. Further, the course conditions were a complete unknown. Mt. Hood has had a lot of snow and rain leading into this event.
I arrived early to allow plenty of time to sign in before the crowds and get out for some course inspection. To my surprise the course was very dry, highly technical and FAST! I opted to run Panaracer FireXCPro tires with 40 psi, and made a couple suspension adjustments. With about an hour to the start, I began to press hard into my warm up. I immediately felt the sluggishness in my legs. Able to maintain a fast and powerful pace, but no “snap” on the hills. Damn!
The start was blistering mayhem as usual. I got a good jump off the line, but two riders went down big right in front of me. Narrowly missing the pileup, we headed up the first climb. More mayhem! Thanks to a dosage of Hammer Gel right before the start, I was able to power up the climb and pop over the top in 3rd O.A. I quickly disposed of the second place rider and closed to the leaders wheel. At this point I settled in and the two of us ran a quick pace, extending our lead over the field rapidly.
As the miles wore on, I hung on the wheel of the leader, sizing up his weaknesses. I was clearly stronger in the technical and descents, while I was a little off on the climbs. About mile 10, I noticed my quads and calf muscles starting to tighten a bit. Not good. Experience tells me that this is precursor to cramping. I started managing the muscles to delay the onset of the cramping. More Endurolyte and water. Stretching the muscles while pedaling and conserving energy everywhere possible.
Four miles to go and still in position for the overall win, we hit a very tough section of “hike a bike” followed by a very long and STEEP uphill. This proved to much and my quads seized up hard. For the first time in my career I was forced to the side of the trail in agonizing pain. Several riders caught and passed me. Eventually I was able to remount and limp in to the finish. Still, I managed to cross the line 5th O.A. in category a mere 3:12.00 behind. 3rd O.A. in age classification only 2:28.00. Respectable considering the fitness issues.
My Trek Top Fuel performed flawlessly. Without a doubt the fastest, most capable piece of equipment in the event. Hammer Gel and Hammer Endurolytes kept me in contention all the way. With the spotty training leading to this event, they were solid fueling performers all the way.
L-B-L
A little piece of me died today….unrepentant dopers should not be allowed back into the sport, should not race and most certainly shouldn’t win; Vino and Ricco should especially just disappear.
It’s on….Part Deux
Read it here, De Ronde is on!!
Horning’s
After a dry Saturday, overnight rains soaked the course out at Horning’s and turned the tacky soil into a bit of a goopy, slippery mess, thus marking the start of the second mountain bike race of the season. Will and I had pre-rode the course on Saturday noting all the various bumps and lumps, but all that changed with the overnight rain; so our warmup was more to check conditions than anything else and that ended up paying dividends. I knew this was going to be a tough day as I sat on the starting line because all the tree pollen was making it tough to breath.
The race started as they all do, with a huge sprint….uphill….until you hit the first bits of singletrack. Riders started to sort themselves out as we came of the gravel road climb and started the first descent down into the canyon bottom. The first lap was fast with a lot of passing (mainly me getting passed) but I was able to make some positions back on the nasty, slippery descents. In the mean time, I could look back through the string of riders and was already starting to get glimpses of Will charging through his field. (Will’s class started approx. 30 seconds after mine)
As the laps went on a lot of the goop started to dry out and the course became even faster, with the exception of a couple of the descent/climb sections, but even these improved considerably. By the end of lap three, Will was very close to catching me and my breathing had only shown marginal improvement since the start. (it’s hard to go fast when you just can’t breath. Shortly after passing through the start/finish line for my fourth lap I was able to expel a bunch of crud which made an immediate improvement in my breathing, the problem was the race was basically over.
Horning’s had what looked like a good turnout of riders and the course prep and flagging was excellent; a big thanks to all of the volunteers, organiser, OBRA officials and the folks who own the land at Horning’s.
As of now it looks like Will finished 2nd in the Men’s Cat 2 44+ and I finished 13th in the Cat 1 35-44 group (although I’m disputing that, as I think I finished 10th and I know I rode 4 complete laps)
It’s on!
Confirmations have been confirmed, dates are set; in July Will and I will be in Oakridge to challange the Cascade Cream Puff (100 mile mtb race) and a month later in August we will be heading to Bend for the High Cascades (another 100 mile mtb race)
Game on kids!
Echo
Today was the first mountain bike race of the season….all the way out in Echo, Oregon.
Starting just before dawn, James, Will and I loaded up in the Team Extreme Xterra and hit the highway for the three hour drive to Echo. We made really good time and got to town just about 9am, leaving us plenty of time to get our registration and numbers for the race and head back to the car to gather gear and start warming up for the 11am start. I should also note that the weather this year was amazingly opposite to last years weather which was cold, very, very cold…windy and just plain miserable; this year saw blue skies, warm temps, shorts, short sleeve jersey’s no booties for the feet.
After the neutral roll out, james and I (both racing Cat 1) made our way to the singletrack and the real racing; James and I lost contact with one another at this point and didn’t reconnect until the finish. At last years race, I had just come home from a trip overseas (literaly had only gotten off the plane the afternoon before) this year I had no trips planned and plenty of base miles to test. With the warm dry weather, the course was fast and the competition stood ready for the challenge. The course also added a new really fun section on the backside that added a couple of extra miles and a lot of enjoyment, kudos to race organizers! James and I battled well within our fields with James taking a strong 13th and a 20th for myself.
Will’s race started shortly after ours, since this was Will’s first mtb race in many years he opted to start in the Cat 3 field in order to get his feet wet. Before the race I tried to give Will my course knowledge from last year hoping that he would be able to use it to his advantage, which I think for the most part worked for him; worked for him until the he ran in to some bad luck with two flats. Once done fixing his flats he had to work his way back through the field to try and regain his original position. With some energy to spare, Will was able to pull down 10th in his first race, which I think considering the mechanicals is a fantastic result.
VRV had a good day today and a lot of thanks go out to Mike Ripley of Mudslinger Event and the fine folks of Echo and the Red to Red organizers for what is quickly becoming a “Don’t miss” race at the top of the calendar.
(on a side note, my finishing time today of 2:18 would have posted me a 2nd place last year….)
Jack Frost
Under beautiful blue skies and an annoyingly little wind out of the East, Vista Ridge showed up to test legs and lungs at the Jack Frost Time Trial.
After a short delay in the program, racers went off at regular 30 second intervals; with Will heading out for his fourteen mile out-n-back effort first, followed some twenty or so odd minutes later by myself. Once on course both Will and I found very similar conditions, which consisted off flat road and that ever annoying wind….sometimes blowing at our backs, or off our shoulders, but most often what seemed to be right into our faces….especially on the home leg.
Today was a good day and another well run OBRA event, so a big “thanks” to all the volunteers and the promoter for a great day of suffering…eeerr…I mean racing!