xc race day

Whitney is on the course right now! Her race started at 8:05am. They even started on-time! Send positive thoughts her way.

My gun goes off at 12:05pm.

Here's a short video of the start of Whitney's race!

Day Two: Or day four?

Yesterday was a nice day in Northstar. The morning was lazy, followed by a nice pedal around the COMPLETE cross-country course. The most memorable, unique? part of the course is an intestine style climb going up the face of the mountain below a lift. It's pretty obvious that they put it there for our race. For once could the nationals course be freaking pro?




Casey hiked the DH course and discovered a couple inches of snow on the top. After a day of practice all the snow should be gone, but they are pretty environmentally savy here so there will be no riding down the course until it's melted. Officials say it should be ridable by tomorrow (saturday).

We met a great guy named Brian from Florida. Funny how the first person we meet is our geographic opposite. He was not used to the lack of O2 and the hills.

Yesterday at the riders meeting the officials informed us that they have added one lap to the xc races. So Whitney now races 3 laps, for a total of 22.5 miles. I'll be racing 4 laps, 30 miles. I'm happy with the change.

weather update

The weather is looking to make for some stellar race conditions this weekend (although, mud would be fine too!) Bellingham, and the rest of western Washington, lower BC, and Oregon getting all the rain, big surprise there.

The forcast for Truckee, CA


ka-pow!


The Polar Jet Stream, like so many animals (birds, whales, caribou, etc, etc) also migrates south for winter.


The most reliable forcast you can get... Go outside!

smacked in the nose, in a good way

I'm down in California right now, nestled in the Sierras. After 9 hours of driving yesterday we were treated to fresh - you smash them yourself with a hammer - walnuts at my Friend Alex's place in Ashland, OR. In the morning the WWU Cycling Mountain Bike team and WWU Cycling Alumni, Deanna, punched the last 6 hours down to Truckee, CA. We're here for 2009 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals. We've got a small but mighty crew. Casey is here representing the Gravity crew. Whitney and I will be competing in the short-track XC and Cross Country races.

For those of you who don't know, there are four events to be contested here. Two gravity events, Downhill and Mountain Cross. And two endurance events, Cross Country and Short-track Cross Country. The downhill is pretty self explanatory. It's a race downhill, against a clock. The person who gets from the start gate, down the hill, to the finish line fastest, wins. The bikes people use for these tend to be long-travel bikes that can sometimes look more motorcycle then bicycle. Mountain Cross is a pretty exciting event. You race in "heats", four people at a time. The course is usually filled with jumps, tight corners, small drops. It's a total head-game with yourself, every rider trying to be "king of the Mountain". The mountain cross race is on Saturday and the DH finals are on Sunday.

The cross country race is on Friday. This course offers up a 7.5 mile lap with around 800 feet of climbing... That means around 800 feet of descending as well! The ladies do 2 laps while the gents race for 3. Riders need to be fit, but also must have their wits about them, both down the hills, and up. The short-track race is pretty, um, short, typically around a 1/2 mile long and the race is usually ran for no longer then 45 minutes. They are pretty intense and as with any bike race, anything can happen. The short-track is going on Saturday morning.

So after two and a half days of driving we got to ride our bikes around and loosen up the body and mind. The area just received a ton of rain! The trails were in stellar shape and should only get better until race day on Friday. I've got to say that the trails are super fun and perfect for a 2-9er. The climbing is fairly rocky, with some really fun twisty rocky bumps to have a good time on the way down. This race will be super fun. Relating to the title of the post, when we rode into the forest today I was hit in the face by the fantastic smell. I don't know what it is. Sage?

While up on the hill today I stumbled upon, or rather, almost into, a porcupine! Pretty awesome animals.

check back here everyday for new happenings of our adventure. As usual, click on the photos to get a bigger view, and feel free to comment.

Methow Fall Bike Festival

Deanna and I headed over the North Cascades this last weekend to do some Mountain biking in one of our favorite areas of Washington State. Sunday there was an XC race that I participated in. Good friend Logan Wetzel smashed it! The course was different from years past, I'd say this year, a bit more challenging. I gotta say it felt super good to get some race pace in on the legs!

Here's a few photos of the weekend, Thanks to Deanna for taking the photos of the racing.

Click on the photos to make them bigger...

I didn't make the annotation to the sign, but, yeah...



I've been here a few times lately. Here, in the morning sun.


And here, in the evening sunset. Can anyone name the location of this view?


Today's breakfast


The pointy hill dead center is Mt. Erie, a bit o' rock climbing and a redica-steep climb on a bicycle. The Olympic Mountains shadow Island County nicely.


This spider had set up shop on my handlebar over a couple days. I was careful not to disturb him as I set out on my ride. He lasted over an hour of vibrating on the bike before he jumped ship!


sleeping kitty photo of the week

edging to the edgeless

Some photos from life. Deanna took all the Race photos of the Hill Climb. As usual, click the image to see a bigger version, or go here to see them and more.


View from the top


View from the top


Calm during the storm


Respect



Put out to put in



Can anyone name this temperate Northern hemisphere native?



Velcro's good for 6th


Last Supper


Beauty and Pain, yin and yang


Brother


Needs met