Medals for Moons --- Emily & Arena Podium at LARPD

This was my first cross race ever and I wasn't dfl! It was a lot of fun. Thanks to May Woo for motivating and the photos!!

PISTADEX! PISTADEX! PISTADEX!

so it's not just an urban legend!

biksnob n.y.c. is always throwing the term 'Pistadex' around.

someone very clever made it into a reality, with hilarious results...

pistadex.com

it's even an iPhone ap.

words fail me.

I Podiumed!

Okay okay, there were only 5 people in the Masters 35+ B category at today's Livermore cross race, but I came in fourth and got to stand on the podium!  The course was non-technical, fun and pretty flat -- lots of twisty serpentines in the grass and plenty of deep mulch.  They got us on and off our bikes a couple of times with a pair of standard in and out barriers as well as a natural set of log barriers at the end of the far loop.  There was a decent sized crew out for the first cyclocross race of the season.  

Overheard at the start line of the Men's B, Master As and various and sundry other male categories just before the group took off:  9 year old little girl to her mother in a perfectly matter of fact manner, "Do people die doing this?" 

Come out and play next weekend!

Single Speed Worlds... WOW!

So... MASSIVE PROPS TO CURTIS INGLIS!!!

the event curtis inglis of retrotec bikes/inglis cycles put on, the SSWC'08 was FANTASTIC!

i took the team up for the day and i've got to tell you, it was one of the most well run, well planned events i've been to in a long time. way to go curtis!

the ever fabulous sheila moon rocked the whole event in the newest skinsuit design and it looked like it needed a battery pack to be that bright. it was so bright, that when she rode by, sunshine seemed to follow her. barb howe was hot on the men's leaders heels in her new kit too. way to go barb and sheila!

we had a couple of other racers entered- johnny b and jason. those guys crushed it too. great job. i had to sit on the sidelines and heckle due to a lingering injury, but not to be bummed out, we kept heckeling the racers in a difficut technical section. my cameras memory card went haywire, so sadly i don't have any video to show this time. i'll get that fixed ASAP.

Pine Mountain first impressions

We recently received our Marin Pine Mountain singlespeed 29ers. The main portion of mountain bike season is pretty much over, so it's kind of a little late, but there was an, um, unofficial race in one of the local parks last week, so I figured it would be a good chance to give the bike a try.


In the spirit of preparation, I got my hands on the bike for the first time ever at roughly
5:50 for a race that was supposed to start at 6. I threw on my Candys, got the seat pretty much right, and called it ready to go.

And waited around for half an hour or so.

Once the race got started, I paid for my (lack of) preparation. I managed to end the Le Mans start in the top third of riders, only to have the bars come loose within the first two minutes of hard riding. Once I fixed that problem (being extra careful not to over tighten the carbon bars), I spent the rest of the race riding around, picking off the stragglers and trying to get a feel for the bike.

Let me say that at 5'5", I think even the smallest Pine Mountain may be too big for me. Once I am on it and going, it rides pretty well (although it's maybe a bit horsey), but getting started on a bike with basically no standover clearance and a highish bottom bracket takes some doing.

The bike will ride over anything, though. I rode with the shock half locked out, and pretty much just rode over things. Big logs, steep banks, large steps: none of that fazed the bike much.

The jury, for me, is still pretty much out. I am excited, though, to do some more testing.

last night i was wandering around in thefog in golden gate park. i heard a terrible rukus and it sounded like it was coming my way! i whipped out my trusty pocket camera and took cover in the bush. what did i see?


soil saloon first lap - barrier from daten on Vimeo.

Good race, bad result

Howell Mountain's a well-run race on pretty good trails. It's well-supported and marked. I had a new bike that was pretty well-wired in.

None of those things helped me on Sunday.

I'd been feeling sick all week, and it turned out that any time I went over 80% I could not recover. Which makes it hard to race mountain bikes. I even managed to crash, and bruised my ribs pretty badly, which made it pretty hard to maneuver the bike through the twisties.

Once I resigned myself to not having any top end, I had some fun riding the course. I stopped and helped one guy whose pump was broken, I got out of the way of people who were trying to pass me, and generally acted like a good citizen.

I guess that everybody has a day like this--what they call "un jour sans" in the Tour--but I've never had one before. And I hope not to have one again.