Watching Cycling Does Not Get Much Better

What a great morning when you can wake up at 5:45am to catch the Dalby Forest World Cup which overlapped into the 8am start of the Giro. 

FORD #1

Leeger, Ezzel, Lisa and I headed up to conquer the FORD. I know we are a mountain biking team, but several of us enjoy running as well so a duatholon is only natural. We have been training by doing a psuedo duo using both Forest Hill, for running, and the full JRPS loop to mimic the FORD course.

I have to say, I did a quick run to warm up a bit before the start and I really wasn't feeling it. My legs felt heavy, no doubt the hibachi from last night was not the best choice. Nevertheless, I started out strong and led the field coming down the first fire road. I have learned in the past that you need to stay out front here if you want to do well. Two people had past me by the time we entered the woods, I felt like this was good enough. I knew the bike is where it would really get interesting anyway.

Once on the bike, I really felt like I had pushed it to hard. I felt a bonk coming on. I had passed some guys and was now sitting in second place. The leader was nowhere in sight. I settled down to a nice spin, grabbed some water, and was feeling much better after a few minutes. The bike portion of this race was very hard! With the tight singletrack, wet roots, and a bit of mud here and there, it kept things interesting.

One cool thing about this course is that you can see just how far ahead, or behind your competition you are. Heading back to transition, I saw that the leader was quite a ways ahead of the field. After transition, I saw the third place guy was a nice ways behind me as well. After the top three, there was a huge gap to fourth. I was really feeling this second run, but was relieved to know I would finally get a podium at this race which has eluded me thus far.

At the finish, I was second!! Felt great being that the conditions were so tough and the mountain bike portion had been cut short. This is normally my strength in past FORD's.

The whole team had a great race. Leeger finished with a strong 6th, and first in class. Lisa finished 1st for women. Not sure how Ezzel finished, but he wasn't to far behind Leeger so no doubt he finished well. It was a strong showing for sure.

2011 Urban Assault

It was another great turnout for the Urban Assault. The team was very well represented with 14 riders racing.  As I was standing out at the entrance/exit to Forest Hill, I overheard a few people commenting on the team and the number of people we had racing.  It is nice to see and hear how we represent the sport. 

We also had some great results:

Jeff - 1st Sport (30-39), 1st overall Sport

Damon - 1st Beginner (30-39), 1st overall Beginner

Joe - 2nd Expert (19-29)

Dave E - 2nd Sport (40+)

Nolan - 3rd Beginner (30-39)

Jim - 3rd Sport (40+) 

Sonya - 4th Sport Women

Kylan - 4th Sport (19-29)

Tom R - 5th Expert (40+)

Paul - 6th Sport (30-39) 

Matt - 9th Sport (19-29)

Lisa - 10th Sport Women

Waiting for the race to start.

Jennie defending her title until she broke a spoke...

Sport Men

So many rider they were coming and going!

Paulito - one of the few to ride the drop.

New member  - Jim Fisher

Congrats to the entire team, we had a great showing!

2011 12 Hours of Lodi

Not a strong turnout, but some great results!

Paul Leeger - 1st Place Solo
Steve Tolley - 2nd Place Vet Solo

Paul & Steve showed up to race this past weekend at Lodi. They started out with solid lap times and never let up. It was great seeing them roll out together on the start and then finish together in the end. Steve had some tire issues that set him back a little, but did not deter him - even after he had to come back into the pits to fix a flat after riding a mile up the trail. Here are some shots of the two in action.

Steve must have known what the future held for him right from the start.

Paul in full control.

Tolley hunting down Paulito early on.

I brought the team bike and it got rave reviews from everyone.  I never did get a chance to ride it, but that is another post to come shortly...  All in all a good day for the team.  I still cannot believe that both Steve and paul drove back to Richmond that night. 

RIP WOUTER WEYLANDT

Sad news in the cycling community today.  Thoughts and prayers with his family & friends.

The Builds

Here are a few choice bits from the Martin Shoot.

The Man

A special thanks to mi buen amigo Roger for sharing his mechanico skills las night.  The new bikes are pretty sick.  Muchas Gracias bro - pork tacos are on me Friday!

build-off 2011

For all those planning on attending the build-off scheduled for this Wednesday, please get me your headsets, seat collars, seat posts, and BB's. I want to install these on your frames myself so it will be done right and will expediate the process.

Hh