Gales
Today a few of the guys and I decided to head out to Gales Creek / StoreyBurn and ride what is really some of the nicest singletrack in Oregon. (By the way, I heart singletrack) joining us today was Flynn, Flynn is now officially the new team Vista Ridge Velo team Dog, Flynn rocked it today early and often.
Flynn was also a little impatient to get started and he let us know that it was time to get rolling
Once we all got our act together, we headed out toward Storeyburn, the trail pretty much starts climbing right from the car, so it’s a pretty brutal warmup, but the trail is in sweet shape right now….a little wet in spot, but traction was perfect.
From here we powered our way through some nice rolling sections of singletrack, really taking our time to enjoy the surroundings and the somewhat cool, but good weather. Before we finished with the initial bit of climbing we had the pleasure of a really great section of downhill that produced some serious grins from all of us.
All in all this is a super section of trail that can see a fair amount of both foot and bike traffic, but even though there were a ton of cars at the trail head, we only saw a small hand full of folks out on the trail. Cheers to my brothers in arms today (and new team dog Flynn) this was a sweet ride.
A Surprising Start
Sunday marked the beginning of the appetizer course for the upcoming cyclocross season with the first of three farm crit races out at Sauvie Island. I managed to have a quick start, got the hole shot and lead the race from the start. I was all alone up front for 4-5 laps until Ryan Smith of the Ironclad Cycling Team bridged up to me. From there we took turns riding each others wheels and putting in mini attacks to test each other all while we lapped the other cat C riders and worked our way deep into the B field which had started about 60 seconds before our group. However, in the end, a tactical mistake on my part and the excruciating pain from a blister on my left palm left me unable to respond to Ryan’s final attack and I finished second about 100m behind.
All in all I felt pretty good and am pleased with the result (mostly). Now I just have to figure out how I managed to form a blister on my left palm under my cycling glove so it doesn’t happen again. Ouch!
Novak takes 2nd
Early reports have it that our own Laird Novak took 2nd in Sunday’s Krugers Kermeese!
Congratulations Laird!
New MTB categories
So I guess there’s a rumor floating around, completely unverified at this point, that the USAC is contemplating changing the current mtn bike race categories from: Beginner, Sport, Expert, semi-Pro and Pro to something much more like the current road system of Cat 1, 2, 3, etc.
I guess the therory is that it will make the racing more competitive and weed out a lot of the sandbagging that takes place. If they do move that direction, I wonder if OBRA will follow suit? Could make for some tougher racing; which is always a good thing.
WARNING, RANT!
HEY YOU! YEAH YOU, YOU F-ING MARIO CIOPPOLINI WANNABES! WHAT THE F*&% DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING???? Don’t you dare roll through my neighborhood, the one that I live and ride in everyday and blow through here like you own the streets! If you come to a stop sign, STOP you f-ing A-hole, because the next time you blow through right beside me like you’re racing the TdF and then have the balls to turn around and give me the stink eye like I have no business even being on the same street as you, the first thing I’m gonna do is door you, then I’m gonna get out of my steel cage of death and beat the living shi* out of you, load up your 5K bike and drive off…….and that goes for both of you punks.
With all the reported (and unreported) tension between motorist and cars don’t you think it’s your responsibility to at least pretend to obey the rules of the road? I followed you from Council Crest, down Vista and 23rd as both of you rolled through stop signs and red lights so you could stop and get your morning cup of java at Starbucks, cause did you really save anytime in getting your double mocha frapachino or did you simply piss of every motorist within eye shot of you; I’m not saying you need to be cycling’s ambassadors of love and good will, but you do need to pull your heads out of your asses!
Good job boys! You suck!
Freaks
From 7 tours, a couple of marathons and now this Leadville 100 I don’t care what you say about Lance, the guys a competitor and forget about Dave Weins, the guys won Leadville like 6 times in a row…..both these fellas are a couple of freaks! Hats off to both
BTW 3rd place finished something like a half hour behind these 2
Dougies last ride
Last night was the Twilight Crit down in Portland’s north park blocks; it also marked the last ride of Portland’s native pro racer Doug Ollerenshaw. Doug was all smiles before the start of the race last night, but once the gun went off, Doug was all business, chasing every break that tried to form and helping to keep the pace incredibly high. (I think I heard that one of the laps had an average speed of over 34mph)
Good luck in Atlanta Doug, Portland and the local bike scene will miss you.
