Sunday, September 21, 2008

It's finally over...

The 2008 XC season has finally come to a close. After 26 races I can say I'm happy to just ride some cool rides with some good friends. This season has been great, both results and friendships & cool rides.

The Bear Creek finals were today, and it seems like there was a great showing of all the teams out today. I think the intent with the double points was to increase attendance of this race, which some have regarded very technical. I think Chuck and the guys at Bear Creek did a great job on the trails, and organizing this event.

The race started with a short prologue lap to the start/finish area. Sport had 2 laps to complete at 7 miles a lap, while Expert/Elite had to do 3 laps. I can't imagine doing another lap, especially not at the pace those guys ride. My plan for the day was to ride smooth and stay with the leaders and try to make my move later in the race. That kinda worked, as I kept an eye on Nick Capriotti from Loweriders (season champion) I just didn't have it to make the move later on, and I finished a minute off the lead.

With the 2nd place today that was my 7th race for points and the double points allowed me to drop a 9th place at the first Fair Hill race. I was sitting 3rd in points and todays race bumped me to 2nd place Sport Senior II. And today was also my last sport race, there I said it. Look for me at the back of the Expert Vet 1 pack next year.

I'd like to give some props to the recently upgraded to sport from beginner rider (Dave I think) He rode a really strong race and was hanging with Nick, just ahead of me until he bobbled in one of the rock gardens. I later found out he then sliced a front tire in two spots, with no tube he dnf'd. That sucks for your first sport race, but great job on the upgrade!

Congratulations to all the riders/teams out there on the podium today. Hope to see you all out on the trails in the off-season.

Pics to follow tomorrow or the next day.

-matt

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Seasons...

Well, the XC season is just about over, and a lot of people are already racing cross. From what I know and have seen about cross, I'm not sure its for me since running just seems to defeat the purpose of riding :) But I'm sure I'll race it anyway just to stay fit, otherwise I'll take a big exhale and lose the "fitness" I've worked towards this season.

I need to continue preparing for next year, more distance and faster pace. I'm just about at my limit of time in a sport race, at least at race pace. Therefore I really need to work on my endurance this off-season.

Yesterday a friend and I went for what was supposed to be a short ride to grab some breakfast. We rode about 5 miles, grabbed some grub and headed back out on the road. After we crossed over rt 61 (where they are doing some construction) we couldn't get back to the road I wanted. So we went over Hawk Mountain, something I really didn't want to do. But, I really tried to pace myself of the climb - which I don't usually pace myself well.

Here is the elevation profile for the climb, I really thought it was longer than that. I need to find some local long steady climbs, so send me your recommendations of longer climbs.

Hope everyone is having fun at Nittany Cross today, seems like perfect racing weather this morning. And I'll see you all at Bear Creek tomorrow.

-matt

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Cross season..

Well it seems cross season is upon us, funny that XC isn't even over yet. I have a weeks vacation from work, so I actually had a Saturday off. This morning Mike Yozell put on a cross clinic for about 8 people at a park near SMC.

This was a really helpful session, with a lot of dismount, mount and bike lifting drills. I had some issues with my dismount before these exercises, and after it was a much smoother, more fluid movement. I'm still having some issues with the remount, doing a stutter step on my left side and kinda hopping on the bike. Mike showed us that it's more swinging your right leg onto the saddle mid-thigh while running rather than jumping/springing onto the saddle.

There is a cross race at Bear Creek put on by Ray Ignosh next weekend the 13th and 14th. Should be a fun event, and just a week before the MASS season finale. I've seen a lot of people out pre-riding Bear Creek and the conditions are amazing and the crew there has done a lot of work on the trails, great job!!

Hope to see everyone out the in 2 weeks to battle it out for the series.

-matt