Well done Santa Cruz - 650b video is awesome

I wish I was as fast...

as my bike looks.

The 2011 rig all cleaned up with a new saddle

Cable Classic

Cable was cold and muddy this year unlike last year's near perfect weather and conditions.  I was excited to see where my training to date had gotten me and how the new rig would respond to the rocky and bumpy trails this course is know for throwing out.

The start was mad fast as always but this time I was fairly easily able to hang with the top 10-15 almost all the way to the single track.  I was excited to actually be in good position and getting ready to settle in.  But then some overzealous bulls decided that the best place to pass was on a wet, slippery, rocky, loose and leave covered down hill at 20 mph.  We were still on a double track width trail with myself in the left rut and someone else in the right.  Two guys figured there would be plenty of room to simultaneously pass down the middle.  Never mind that the trail was barely three bikes wide let alone four.  So, with them forcing through from behind, I got a pretty hard shoulder and my bars caught.  Within 2 seconds I was down and tumbling on my new carbon bike.

Fortunetly there was a small break to the next group or I seriously would have been run over in this section.  Scrambling to the side I viewed the damage.

Broken seat, broken shoe clamp, both brake/shifters were twisted, bars backwards, nice chips in frame from bars twisting, chain off and bar end off.  The physiological damage of crashing the new carbon baby was hard to measure. 

Over 15 minutes of messing around later and I was dead last.  I spent the rest of the race using it as a long workout in the mud with my seat cocked to the side and a right shoes that was like a loafer .  My shin muscle was seriously spent by the end from trying to keep it on.  I still felt pretty good overall.  The legs aren't ready for the punchy hills yet this early in the season bu that will come.  

Oh well, I'm over it.  Rubb'in is rac'in I guess but being a jerky bull still ain't cool.

Race Day from ergon on Vimeo.

Cable Classic

Had a lot of fun this past weekend in Cable.  Eight of us rented a condo at Lakewoods and it worked out great. So nice to hang out on Friday night and still get a descent night sleep with time in the morning for breakfast and race prep.
This was my first race of the season AND first one on my single speed.

I love the bike.  Now I just need to teach my thighs to love a single speed.  I'm still used to dropping the hammer on the fire roads and flats with a big ring and spinning up hills.
The start was fast as always on the long fire road roll out.  I wish I'd had a cadence sensor--it would have said 32 x 17 wasn't enough.  By the end though my legs were cramping on several hard switchback climbs.  This bike will make me stronger but I still can't wait for my Jet to be done.
Speaking of, lil' Mikey got his last week so mine should be here any day now.  Hopefully before the first series race or I need to go find myself about a 40 tooth ring for up front.