Team MotionBased

After a solid start to my 2006 season I ran into a wall in July. I learned the hard way that entering every single road, XC and Marathon XC event around is not the way to prepare for Nationals. As a result, my finish in Sonoma did not reflect my potential. I decided to back off and rest up for Downieville. Though my race started out well, a misinterpretation of a course marking put me out of contention. At least several other veteran Downieville Pros suffered the same fate. Whether it was a mechanical or over-racing/training I have yet to achieve a solid NORBA result. You better believe I was anxious and ready for Brian Head! Venue Brian Head is a small ski resort town a few hours north of Las Vegas nearby the Cedar Breaks National Monument in Southern Utah. Its breathtaking scenery is characterized by 2000 foot canyon walls, cool looking spires and columns mixed in with alpine lakes and streams with the occasional spruce and aspen grove. As you would expect its MTB trails are just as diverse as its geography and offered technical rock gardens, brook crossings, high speed sweeping single track through the aspens, and tough, steep, lung bleeding climbs (Brian Head elev. 11,000 feet). The quality of trail is best captured in the "whoohs" I heard by racers in the final descent in the XC. It sounded like a "pow" day at Squaw or Alta. As for the race, we were lucky enough to experience 26 miles of Brian Head as opposed to the standard 4 laps of a 6-7 mile track like most NORBAs. Weapon Since I raced at Brian Head last year I knew what to expect. It had a lot of rough technical single track so figured I would come equipped with my Santa Cruz Blur XC. I felt since the course was open, my 22 pound Orbea Alma was not needed for the hole shot at the start. Conserving energy and staying on my bike was more important. Another interesting adjustment I made was I swapped out my 175mm XTR cranks for 177.5's. I have always been puzzled my how fast I am on my Single Speed where I run 180's. Strategizing Thursday afternoon Olivier, Paula and I pre-rode the XC course and concocted our strategies. We figured being out front at the start was not that important for it was easy to pass on the first descent and being from sea-level, we wanted to be careful of "blowing up." Once a flatlander goes into the red in an XC race at altitude it is nearly impossible to recover. Your legs fill up with lactic acid and you feel almost paralyzed. Essentially, your race can be ruined in the first 10 minutes. Any how, we believed the place to attack was the second steep, single track climb. It was important be near the front going into the treacherous, long Black Hollow downhill. XC Race Day The clouds rolled into race day A.M. which immediately agititated the butterflies in my stomach. 1. I do not like racing in cold, wet weather 2. I wear glasses so visibility would obviously be an issue and 3. The Black Hollow downhill is downright gnarly when wet. The roots, rocks, moss and soil get greasy and slick, as I experienced last year. In 2005 there was hail,/snow/ sleet and rain and carcasses everywhere along the trail. To calm myself I went for a walk, grabbed a coffee and tried my best to shoosh away the clouds. Well, it rained for a few hours then broke when the gun went off…Ethan Passant, the eventual winner, 1st time semi-pro and top Nordic skier from Colorado as I was told went off the front, followed by a young Yeti rider. Though feeling good, I elected to play it conservatively and stayed with the group. Then Pete Graf, a friend of mine from Reno who I knew to be strong went. Two thirds way through the 4 mile, twenty minute or so half paved/ dirt road climb I noticed my heart rate dropped so I broke from the group. Another Coloradan followed and passed me on the first descent. I rode behind him catching a little draft, then he hit a rough section, applied too much front brake and somersaulted over the bars. I made sure he was alright and rode on…eventually passing Pete who double flatted and the Yeti rider who was seemingly having a rough time with the terrain, catching Ethan right before the feed zone. On this gradual fire road climb, Ethan gassed it and put a minute or so on me before the steep, single track climb. Still being concerned about the affects of the altitude, I kept it mellow on the fire road allowing a Tamarack rider to pass me going into the next climb. He must have given it his all on this pass, for he might as well threw it into reverse on the hill. I extended my lead over third place going into the descent. I tried to keep it together the best I could but I ended up blowing the turn into Black Hollow falling off my bike and then went over the bars on the lower section. Tamarack caught me but I stuck with him to the bottom pulling away from him and Michael Rainey on the climb home. I caught glimpses of Ethan on certain sections in the home stretch but never reeled him in. 2nd Place Semi-pro XC in Brian Head! Marathon XC Feeling good, I was anxious to improve on my 7th place finish in last year's Brian Head Marathon XC. The course was basically the XC track with an additional 20 miles or so of fire road and jeep trail. With the same strategy as the XC (take it easy at the start) I watched Jeremiah Bishop, Travis Brown and crew ride off and ended up grouping up with Ethan Passant and Evan Plews for the first 15 miles or so. After a 5 plus mile flat/ downhill fire road mid way through the race we started climbing back to the final 10 miles of the XC course. Ethan got spit out the back on the first climb then Miles Venzara, a Health FX rider from Durango joined Evan and I. I would describe this section of trail as weathered, technical jeep trail. There were moderately steep climbs, with puddles and rocks and slippery mud. Choosing the right line was important for if you made a mistake it was too slippery to remount. I handled this section well and dropped Evan and Miles and caught up to Mike Janelle, MTB endurance legend and Eric Ransom, young up and coming Tamarack Pro. I could see 5th place at the time Adam Craig only 30 yards up the trail! Did I have the legs today?!...The three of us worked together on the long fire road to the "steep, 2nd climb in the XC". As expected Adam Craig, pulled away. Of the three of us no one was able to get away on the "steep climb." I tried to put the smack down but the two of them caught me along the top. Perhaps, my SC Blur XC would help me put them away on the downhill, for they were on hard tails. I did manage to gain 30 seconds to a minute but Eric found a second wind on the first climb to the finish. I found myself battling chain suck and watched Miles pass me too…Ok, 8th place not bad, Miles is right there maybe I can catch him, I have 2 miles to go. Then right at the 1K sign, I noticed my rear tire had no air. I ran the uphills and flats (it was really slick) and coasted the final downhill, but Mike passed me and I ended up in 9th in the Pro Marathon putting me 8th (PDF) overall in the series. Not bad but I was there…. MotionBased Analysis One of the coolest features of MotionBased is its function as an organized training/race log. As soon as I got back to Oakland I compared this year's race to last years. I had the same time in both the XC and Marathon. The courses were a half mile longer of single track near the finish. The conditions were roughly the same. The winning times were 5 minutes faster for both events. My average heart rate was higher in the XC this year and lower in the Marathon. I attribute the warmer weather and the fact that I was in contention of winning to the XC data and the fact that I was working together with other riders this year for the Marathon data. Anyhow, great weekend of racing!