Silverton Whiteout

Fat bike Race!
I have two things against this type of race right off the bat!  It involves riding fat bikes faster than one should,  and second, it involves that cold, wet, white stuff called Snow! "Blek"

To make matters worse,  I didn't even want to participate in this lamebrain event. 

My friend, Rex,  had this "great idea" about a month ago. "lets put a team together for the Silverton Whiteout"  took him about a week to finally talk me into it, (I think partly it was to shut him up).  Besides, Id never done a race like this before.  But to be clear I really didn't want to do it

Well a week to go, and would you believe it, Rex bailed out of the race.  something about some stuff, conflicts, timing...  I don't know, I stopped listening when he said he was out.

Now skipping ahead a bit..  I borrowed Rex's Specialized Fat Boy,  and boy did I have a great time.  It was cold but the right clothing make all the difference,  not to mention it got up to 50º that day. 

I raced the  Duo category with Pete. 

Pete lost the coin toss and rode the first lap.  He thew down a sub hour,  which naturally meant that I had to throw down too.  My lap was quick, although I missed a critical turn and lost about 5 or 6 minutes.  but still managed to get a 58min lap.   And so, that's how the day went,  he and I raced sub hour laps all day for 5 laps each and a 3rd place finish.

Around mid day the snow turned to water and slippery slop,  I crashed (not hard) once, by trying to get from one side of the trail to the other.  The course traveled the nortic track out of silverton some 5 miles to the turn around point, then a fun snowy decent back to town, with a monster snow hill near the finish and a Blazing downhill.

Now on to our teammate and coworker Ashley.

Ashley decided two days before the race to sign up for solo.  She managed to borrow a Surly Moonlander from a friend and didn't stop riding all day long.  She pulled out 8 laps and a first place by a full lap.

My final lap was really more of a parade lap, as we had 3rd locked up tight.  This last lap began at dusk, which meant I had to bring my light,  at the first check point I caught up to Ashley out for her 8th and final lap.     She was completely in the twilight zone,  Forgot her light for this lap, and talking about quitting.  
I decided to give her a little moral support and ride with her to the finish.

Overall, I had a complete blast!   Thanks Rex for talking me into it! and letting me use your bike.

First Bike Packing (Camping) Trip (Older Write up)

I found this unpublished write up from a bike pack trip a couple years ago,  I thought it was worth publishing..



Something Ive wanted to do for quite a while is taking an overnight bike ride.  Jeff Hemperly and his wife Laura, had a trip planned for the Friday night over Labor Day Weekend, and invited me to tag along.
The hardest part of bike packing is getting all the gear on your body or on your bike, without it interfering with the quality of the ride.  This is practically impossible but pretty necessary,  after all this still is mountain biking, and the way the bike handles can mean the difference between a smooth fun weekend, or a ride to the hospital.
Since this is my first rodeo, so to speak.  i had a-lot of figuring to do. Ive been camping before..  Lots of times, so have a good idea of weight distribution on my body,  but this is a bike.  and a large backpack is pretty much out of the question, because it can throw off our Center of Gravity, pretty fast.  for me it seems under 15 pounds on my back is in the "OK" range.

here is a list of my gear

-- Osprey, Hornet 25 hydration pack, with 3L reservoir filled with water.
-- REI 30degree down bag  -   Strapped to the bars,  Down is important, because of how much it can compact
-- Outdoor Research Bivvy - backpack
-- MSR Superfly camp stove with one small fuel can - backpack
-- wool vest
-- full finger gloves

Food.  for one night
-- Two Cup of Noodles, taken out of the Styrofoam cup and put into a zip lock bag
-- Two McDonalds Hamburgers.  ( say what you will,  but dont cry if I eat one in front of you on a camping trip, cuz they are wonderful.)
-- one can of Dales Pale Ale ( this is mountain biking, not a road ride)
--

Begin the preporations

Part of the fun of signing up for something as crazy as the Stagecoach 400 is the preparation.

Lots of gear I already own, and that's good, because good gear aint cheap.

Today I had to finally purchase a new sleeping bag.  My current sleeping bag was purchased about 15 year.  Its nice and warm, but a bit bulky for bike packing.

Today I came home from Back Country Experience in Durango, with a shiny new Western Mountaineering 20º Ultra-lite bag.  At 6'6" it weigh a measly  17oz.

I also purchased an extra small stuff sack.  Not a compression sack, but a very small stuff sack.  Its a little bit of work to get the sleeping bag in. Once its in, it crams into my  Bedrock Bags Coconino seat bag.

The other purchase I reluctantly had to make today was a sturdy seat bag, to hold...  in my case, my sleeping kit.  Bedrock Bags is located in Durango, and has some superb equipment to help the bike packer get where he or she is going with the least amount of hassle.  I'm anxious to try out this new bag.

 

Like I said, it takes some persuasion to get my 6'6" sleeping bag into the seat bag, but after a couple tries  it gets pretty easy.

Now to figure out sleeping pad and shelter arrangements....

Stagecoach 400.. Its official

Im officially signed up for the 2015 Stagecoach 400. 

My hope is to finish in 4 days,  100 miles a day is doable, right?  The funny thing is, that with this race, that goes through the city of San Diego.  Im more concerned about the city portion, than the wilderness.

I plan on riding my brand new Kokopelli Warthog (as of this writing, it has not been delivered)

below is a picture of my first Warthog, which I sold a month ago to fund building a new bike.

Lets just hope my new bike is here on time and everything works together well.

Not sure I want to do this

I recently learned of a little underground race in Southern California called the Stage Coach 400.  This 400 mile gem of a race/ride takes place on March 27 in Idylwild Ca, and circles through Borrego Springs, Ocotillo Wells, Laguna Mountain, down to San Diego Bay, back up through Escondido, Pamo Valley, Warner Springs, then back to Idylwild.

as per my typical self, ive been wavering this race for the past two weeks,  weighing the pros and cons. looking at the cost of the aditional gear i will need to purchase to pull off this ride.   Not to mention the bike I intend to ride is currently being build in a factory in China.

Today Ive officially talked my self into it.

This Free race has a sugested 25 dollar donation to the hosts home town favorite charity.

Gas is less than 2.00 per gallon currently, to the 12 hour drive wont cost too much for me and my 2000 toyota 4 runner.

I desperately need a new sleeping bag, and my sleeping pad is a little heavy

My main worry is my right knee.  I commonly have knee pain on rides between 40 and 50 miles, but it usually settles out after about 60 miles or so,  So hopefully this wont be a problem for me.

Mentally Ive been preparing for two weeks,  slowly beginning to ride again,  i started myself on a regiment of fish oil pills and have begun taking Optygen again,  Vitamin B12 is also on the morning menu.