Back to The Reality

Reality bites.    After a couple of "unusually" good races for this slow old guy,  started to think I was BACK.  You know,  able to race,  to get in there.  

And then came Flatirons.  Oh,  Yea.  NOW I remember.  I ain't much of a bike racer after all.

LONG,  sucking hills in velcro grass.   STEEP run ups (oh,  yea,  and TWO of them a lap....).  Yep,  everything I can't really do in a Cross race.   Nothing like that to put one back right in their place.

Really,  it was not THAT bad,  I had a crappy start,  and really could not move up too much because of  my inability to put out enough watts on the hills,  but all in all,  not a complete disaster.  27th place is not the end all of suckitude by any means,  but sure not where the last 2 weeks had left me.  

Outside of the 2 run ups and the seemingly endless climb up boggy grass,  the race was a full on hoot.  LOTS of off camber and twisty bits to make it a challenge.  Sweet drop off the start drag on the grass,  with a mildly scary looping drop to the bottom that seemed to give a lot of folks a hard time.  Killer hard uphill switchback,  and some ROUGH,  fast descents almost made up for the gagging,  tounge dragging climb.  All in all a good time.

The RaceRite lap timing is pretty cool,  besides being able to watch your friends & teammates times WHILE THEY RACE on your phone,  seeing each lap time on all the races lets you see when you had "problems" during the race.  Mine showed a solid,  consistent 3 laps while I struggled to stay on the back of a group.  After that group broke up,  and I sagged off the back,  I had 2 laps that were almost 20 seconds a lap slower,  before getting woken up on the last lap by a hard chase behind me.  Got back up to my first lap times on that last one.  Stupid lap times let you see when you "drift off" and start slacking a little bit.  It takes just a HINT of backing off to start loosing a LOT of time.

This weekend brings a return of the joy that is Frisco.  Cross at 9K.  Again,  not really my course,  but thinking I'll do the double this coming weekend,  since I have to miss the Boulder Cup/Colorado Cross classic weekend the next.  Have to skip 2 good races,  all for the joys of a visit to wonderful Los Angeles.  However,  Frisco might put enough hurt on me to last that 2 weeks.

This week My seat-cam is a bit short.  Some idiot forgot to clear the memory card prior to the race,  so he ended up with only about 4 minutes of the race.  At least it was not one to loose any sleep over.  Have at it.

Cyclo-X Flatirons - Men 45+ cat 4 - 9/28/13 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Back to the Bubble

Once again,  it was back to the stairs & berms at Valmont.  The First real Cyclo-X (renamed Boulder CX Series) race went down Saturday.  Surprisingly,  the fields were not HUGE,  but looks like still over 600 riders.   The Jr. Men 10-12 field had 39 riders,  one more than my 45+ 4 field.  GREAT to see all the kids,  and the level of skill,  aggression,  and bike handling of the kids is just off the charts.  Really fun to watch these days.  Women 4 is also pulling big numbers.  Looking good for another busy and packed cross season.

For the Morning races,  it was hero dirt,  milking the last of last week's "biblical" rainfall moisture out before it got dry and dusty later in the afternoon.  After coming off a VERY surprising result in last weeks "Grand Return" to racing after a year of health-driven sloth,  I was quite curious if the previous weeks result was a fluke,  or strictly driven by the muddy,  "driving" oriented course.  While I like the Valmont courses (Except for that F&*&%^ double set of stairs...),  It's never been the best course for me.  The vertical and stairs were never kind to my scrawny,  no power self.

In the end it seems that I have come back with more fitness than I ever expected.  Had a good race,  managing to move up into 4th place in the first lap after a second row call up (THANK you points from Zero Gravel Cross...) before fading back in the second lap,  then going back and forth in a HARD race to finish in 14th place.   Pretty good for me,  and FAR better than my last pre-Chemo season.  Good to see I can still get over the chemo nonsense and still be able to get back in shape.  

Right now I am pretty psyched about racing again.  I had a lot of trepidation going in,  which manifested as not much motivation.  That is changing quick.  Between the sudden and total demise of local mountain biking availability and decent results might well lead to a neurotic fixation on cross here.  Time will tell.

Did run the GoPro this week   and here is the first lap.  Lots of fun racing,  and was cool to be up front, even if just for that one lap.   Sadly will not make the John Hailey driven,  Without Limits production in Castle Rock next week,   I am planning on the grassy sidehills at Flatiron Cyclo-X.   Here we go.... 

Cyclo-X Valmont 2013 - 45+ cat 4 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

The Return

I managed my "triumphant" return to racing Cyclocross this last weekend.  Returning to the insanity that is cross after a long absence brought home a couple of points with startling clarity.

Racing Cross is a blast.

Racing Cross in the mud is even MORE of a blast.

Racing Cross still hurts.  

A Lot.

So after a week of virtual inactivity from the monsoonal rain we had,  and a pretty hit or miss ability to actually leave my neighborhood due to closed roads,

I was able to evacuate SouthWest "Not-Boulder" last Saturday on roads that JUST re-opened after the INSANE flooding up here in the north.  Pretty strange to weave thru closed roads,  hunting for bridges that remained intact,  looking at flooded fields and houses half underwater,  then heading off a few miles later into what seemed totally unaffected and normal.  Very strange,  to say the least.  Hooked up with a teammate & headed down to Littleton for the "Zero Gravel Cross",  which actually lived up to it's name.

Compact & twisty course around a big church.  Dry,  it might have been a bit on the short & boring side,  but racing in the muddy morning got us "Beer-Drinking-Grand-Dads"  (Not sure what to call a 45+ cat 4....) prime muddy-tacky-gloppy-slimy-rutted goodness.  My kind of course,  pretty flat and twisty,  and with the goo,  EXACTLY what I do well on.    Given all my recent issues,  not racing for a year,  and general aging,  I had no expectations or goals.  I did not even put the Go-Pro on,  thinking I might well be so far out of it as to be boring and/or embarrassing to have video of my "glorious return"

Turns out it went REALLY well,  the conditions playing well into my strengths,  the driving,  not power/go fast stuff.   Ended up FAR ahead of where I thought I might be,  in 6th place.  Keeping it steady and smooth,  I just seemed to wear people down,  and along with noticing and jumping on a less obvious line early in the race when you could pass a lot of people with less effort got me up there.  I did not even realize I was that far up,  spending the whole race thinking I was back in the teens.  Not racing and the effort to stay upright kept me from any awareness of where I was in the line.  Strange.

Good result or not,  I can tell you that after you have had one of your passions taken away from you,  when lousy diseases keep you from going out and doing what you love,  coming back to it is so very,  VERY sweet.  Hearing Larry G notice I was back out racing & welcome me back to the fold just about made me cry mid race.  The suffering was sweet,  the racing fun,  the atmosphere even better than I remembered.  

It's good to be back.  

These are not the droids you are looking for.....

I know it is cross season.  But it really is still mountain bike season,  maybe even the BEST part of that gig.  Having a bit of trouble switching modes just now.   It's just been SO.  DAMN.  GOOD. this year. The damp trails,  the long days.  Just plain off the hook.

Now,  if you DO ride mountain bikes,  I have to tell you that you need to add one thing to your list of things to do.  Even if it's just once,  or once a year.  Go over to the dark side.

Yep,  go rent a big ass,  slack-o-rama,  eight inches of squish mad max Downhill rig,  a Storm trooper suit,  full-face helmet

 

and a lift ticket.   Don't worry,  16,000 feet of downhilling will still leave you beat to a pulp.  It is FAR from "easy" and more fun than it should be.

Even an old geezer like me can learn to get (a little) air,  and come to love it.  Go do it.  You might like it.

As usual,  there is plenty of room for learning.  Always something to "try later" (Or never...)  This old dude is not really up for EVERYTHING on offer in this knuckle-dragger-huck-it world.  Sometimes a man has to know his limitations,  and just say no.

Get out there & Ride,  whatever it is.  We will return you to the normally scheduled Cyclocross obsession soon.          

Maybe.

Gravity Sucks

Crashing.  Falling off.  Sliding Out.  Biffing. Over the Bars.  How many ways can you think of to unexpectedly exit your Mountain Bike?

It all Hurts.  Some of those versions more than others.

For some reason,  it seems that gravity has been a bit on the "high" side in the last few weeks.     Well,  maybe just for me.  Your results may vary.  No warranty expressed or implied.   Nothing TOO serious for myself or the others around me who have been subject to "Gravity Gusts" lately.  Just the garden variety mountain bike fall down go boom kind of stuff.  (except maybe the example above....)

Dropping a front tire just a bit off a narrow,  soft,  pine-needle covered trail,  The uphill,  gravelly,  step-up,  spin out,  stall & tippy over,  or even the full blown over the bars tuck and roll.  SO many ways to get a bit dirty on the mountain bike,  maybe even a little bloody.  Usually these things just involve a bit of cursing,  spraying it down from your camelback hose,  and a bit of scrubby-scrubby in the shower.

Why the reflection on hitting the ground?  Managed to fall on the SAME spot on the SAME knee 2 weeks running.  Nothing like ripping the freshly formed scabs off your knee on a different rock in just a few days.  Nothing major,  but sure can make you say some bad words.   Especially after aborting what was looking like a nice,  easy,  controlled crash,  all just to avoid landing in a full patch of Prickly Pear.    I'll take the ungainly landing on the ragged,  pointy rocks over another cheek full of Cactus spines every time.

Then there are the "Maytag" kind of events.  You know,  those where you look at the dirt,  blood trails and where the bikes & bodies come to rest and go....  "HOW the HELL did I get here?"  and "how did THAT happen?"

At least pointy,  ragged rocks are softer than pavement.  I'll take that any day.  May you keep the shiny side up,  and watch out for those High Gravity days.

What happened?

Once upon a time,  in the deep,  dark past,  I was a bike racing fan.  A FAN,  not just a participant.  That seems to have changed in the last few years.    On a Lunch ride just the other day,  someone asked if I had watched some stage of the Giro.  My answer was "What's a Giro".    While I DO know what the Giro is,  I did not really know it was underway,  nor had ANY idea of what was going on in that race.  Apparently there was some big race out in California lately too.  Don't know what happened there,  either.  

What happened?  Road racing is still an amazing sport,  with great potential for drama & great stories.  Mountain Bike arcing is insanely hard and even photogenic.  I used to follow Pro road racing,  Pro Mountain Biking,  even a bit of Downhill.  In the last few years,  I really only "follow" Pro Cyclocross,  and think that is more driven by my obsessive participation than pure fandom.

The end of following Pro/World Cup XC Mountain bike racing came about after the Euro bunch and the UCI got ahold of the format,  changing it from big mountain,  big loop courses into the glorified,  many lapped,  extra bumpy manufactured for TV courses they run on now.  Way back,  courses were big loops,  big long climbs.  Courses like 1990 Durango and 1994 Vail world Championships appealed to me.  They were representative of what kind of mountain bike rides we really did.  While not that spectator or TV friendly,  they were MOUNTAIN BIKING.    It was also cool that worthless wanna-be racers like me got to ride the SAME courses as the Pros.   Now,  loops around some euro town or manufactured course (like the London Olympics...)  are the Euro-ized,  TV-friendly norm,  and it just don't resonate with me.

Downhill?  Pretty cool,  modern courses are just insane,  and the skill and athleticism needed to ride down one is unbelievable.  Makes for more entertainment than XC racing,  but gets a bit repetitive.  Gained a lot of interest and respect for the discipline after having the opportunity to get to know some of the best female downhillers in the world back in that early 90s era.  Without the "personal connection" I've drifted slowly away from "following" the riders & races there too.

Road Races - Not sure if it was the doping,  the mostly predictable domination that the Armstrong teams controlled the Tour De France with,  or what,  but I just can't get into watching road races anymore.  Even with the modern option of DVRs and Internet streaming to jump thru to the "good parts" (usually the last  10K of a pro tour race...)  I find myself deleting unwatched races off the box,  or falling asleep trolling thru the footage.  Just can't get excited about it anymore.  I do not think that it helps that for most of the years I watched and was "into it",  more riders than not were juiced to the hilt.  Kinda disappointing.

Not Sure why,  but when I was not able to participate myself last year,  I still had a lot of fun coming out & watching the local old guys race.  Is it more real?  More familiar,  knowing the "actors"?  The personal connection of participation?  Don't know,  but I do know that while I may not be a PRO Bike race fan anymore,  I am a HUGE fan of bike racing.  How does that work?  Not sure,  but I know It's what I want to be around,  see and do.

And with that,  I can report that my own journey back from a Cancer patient to being a bike racing PARTICIPANT again is going well.   After my Post-treatment Bone Marrow Biopsy,  There was NO detectable Hairy Cell Leukemia in my blood or Marrow.  The new Mutant Mouse Antibody treatments did what they were supposed to do.  Killed off ALL the little bastards.  Now it's just time to wait & see when the hairy little buggers build back up.  (IF they do...)   Feels good to have nuked their little asses.   That mess is over for now,  and now I'm riding hard,  putting in the work,  and hope to rejoin the sport as a participant soon.  A very long way to go to get back where I was,  but I'm motivated and on the path.  It feels good.

Quit watching races,  get out and go ride.  It's what a REAL fan would do.

Where the hell have you been?

Yes,  I've been very delinquent in my postings here.  Lots going on,  finished up my Post-Treatment Cancer stuff (more on that in a later post....),  and as expected it was all pretty good news,  so there was some Post-Treatment-celebrate-get-outta-town-vacation behavior as well.

My dear wife had planned a vacation for when we were "done" with the stupid Cancer thing again for this round.  We had a nice week in Puerto Rico to celebrate the end of that nonsense,  and in general get away from "real" life for a bit.

Puerto Rico turns out to be kind of strange place,  Very much "American",  but feels like Mexico at the same time.   Definitely has that "island Time" and Caribbean vibe,  VERY laid back.  Everything is in Spanish,  but most everyone speaks English,  and you use US Dollars.  One minute you feel like you are in a foreign country,  the next minute like you are in a Mexican Carnecheria here in Colorado.  Pretty strange contrast,  but all in all a cool and easy place to visit.

We spent a couple of days in Old San Juan,  a crazy old,  16th century walled city/fortress.  Neat old streets and buildings,  lots of cool dive bars and even a brewpub with kicking good beers.  Rest of our time was in Liquillo,  a VERY sleepy "surf" town on the N.E. coast.  Great beaches,  some wild and sparsely visited rain forest,  and by far the coolest and the strangest thing,  kayaking in some really cool glow in the dark water in a "Bio luminescent Lagoon" to round out the trip.


 Did note that bicycle culture is alive and thriving even in Puerto Rico.   Of all things,  they are having a full on boom in the urban,  Fixed Gear,  Hipster bike riding thing.  Lots of people skidding & fixed-gear humping their way around some crazy busy and narrow streets on brightly-painted,  matching aero rimed road & track bikes.

All of them acting like NYC messengers,  tweeting away on whistles clenched in their teeth while trying not to run into stuff with no brakes.  Course also see a lot of "cheaters" on single speeds with freewheels and the odd cheater brake.

It is so prevalent that you see people doing glamour photo shoots on the waterfront,  posing up their latest custom fixie.

While no big fan of riding around on converted road bikes with a fixed gear & no brakes in a traffic-filled city of 16th century cobblestones,  it is good to see that the "Bike Thing"  in one twisted form or another is taking off all over the world.  Urban Fixies may be a bit "out there",  but at least it's not Triathlon or Road Riding,  thank God.