Bear Springs "Race Report"

Um where do I start? From the top? Oh, ok I can do that I suppose....It all started off rather unassuming when Shane, Bob and I piled into the little subbie, and onwards towards Mt.Hood where the race is pretty close to. Of course we may have been running a little bit late because someone who is usually always running late...well...guess what? He was running late. We basically got to the race venue just in the nick of time for Shane, and Bob to get off to the Short Track race they had signed up for...

When I say nick of time I really, REALLY mean it...They quite possibly did he quickest unloading of bikes, and getting chamoied up that I have ever seen....After all they only had about 5 minutes to get it done. Of course going this quick does have its downfalls...Like Shane forgetting to put on his number plate, so I had to pull off a nascar style pit stop to get his number on and get him back out there to suffer some more. All in all they did well...Although I did lose a bet to Bob that I made to him while he was racing....So yeah...I owe ya a dollar now...

After that it was time to set up base camp, and make some delicious and easy chicken pasta...Yup the best pre-race meal we could come up with the tools we were given. Of course we made a journey around the campground, and visited one particular group that had managed to create FIRE.......Yup...What do they say? If you build it they will come? Well yeah that's exactly what happened. Of course we somehow managed to get challenged to a duel in tomorrows race, and that was interesting...A duel you say? You're on! Of course we had to be the lame ones, and drifted off back to our camp to get some sleep...After all we had to prepare for our "duel"....

Let me tell you one thing that's super nice about camping at the venue where the race is taking place. You roll out of bed at a decent time (Like around 8 A.M.) and then mosey around the campground, while you know everyon else had to wake up uber early to get there, while we got our beauty sleep..Of course being there early definitely helps when nature calls because there isn't a big back log of people waiting to use them.

So we mosied around for awhile, and then decided to get suited up, and if I could describe the way my legs felt when I started to warm up...It would be Turrrrrrible...Yeah note to self don't expect my legs to cooperate when I already put 19 hours on them during the week leading up to the race. But hey what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?

So about the race...It went...well....I finished, and that's all that's important right? I could write on and on about all the coulda, woulda, shoulda's but those are just excuses in the end. All in all there was just a bunch of people who performed better than I did, and that's the bottom line, but I do feel my legs are going to be stronger now after a week like that...22 Hours in the legs...Yup...I hope they get better...Next up: Chainbreaker!!! A race I absolutely love because it's a power course, and well I got the Powaaaaa!


Until next time,

-Austin Line
Trinity Bikes Cycling Team

MuddySlinger Racey Reporty

Like I said before I am going to catch up on these race reports before chainbreaker! So let's talk about perhaps the most well organized, insanely fun course, most slick conditions on the OBRA Calender..The day before we headed to corvallis to get our pre-registration done, and get a nice pre ride in. It ended up being one of the most fun warm up rides I've ever done with a nice climb followed by an amazing downhill that was a little slick to get ourselves prepared for the conditions we were set to take on in tommorows race.

Mandatory Post-Ride Picture

Perhaps what made it the most fun was we had our photographer, and good friend Fletcher Jackson out to join us on one of his first mountain bike rides ever! He was a trooper in the slick conditions, and well....I think he may be hooked on it....Especially seeing how he now has a shiny new Marin Bolinas Ridger 29er in his collection now.

After the warm up it was off to Shane's dads to wash off the bikes, and ourselves, and of course to visit. Of course he had some yummy cheese and crackers for us to have, and he's truly a great host letting 7 people take a shower at his house. After we said our good byes it was onto the next destination...

Shane's madres! You see one of the things I have grown in love with is how good we have it when there's a race in Corvallis. I mean she sets us up nice a bed to sleep in, home cooked meals that are conducive to our cycling, and pretty much anything else you would really want! Including some not so friendly treats to slow ya down that little bit more :).. So after a good nights sleep it was D-Day...Time for some Mudslinger Action

Coming into the race I had mix feelings of what was going to happen during the race. I didn't feel like I had been riding to great as of lare, and I was definitely not hitting my training hours like I was supposed to, but none the less I was ready for another race, and whatever happens was how it was going to be. I did make the conscious decision to run some well suited mud tired though, as I knew from experience it was going to be a slick one, and boy did that turn out to be a good decision!

Get Dirty....

Before I knew it we were in staging, and ready to get this race started. Then we were off, and it was go time, and instantly into the pain cave I went as it started on a gravel climb to separate the field before the singletrack, and it did exactly that! As it turned out Shane got a bit of a better start than I did, so I set my sights on him and got going. When we got the singletrack it was as slick as snot! But my tires were hooking up real good, and really making the slick downhills almost effortless...In fact I was gaining quite a bit of time on some of my competitors who didn't make the choice to go with some mud tires.

Basically for the rest of the race Shane, and I kept going back and forth, and let me tell you that made it one of the most fun races in a long long time! But through it all he even decided to help me out with some shot bloks! That helped me soooo much buddy, so on one of the last climbs I put in a dig and it was the last time I did see him until the finish. The climb leading back up to the finish was sooo painful yet so rewarding knowing I was just about done with the race, and as it turned out Shane rolled in only about a minute back so I was like perfect we finished right near each other, so let's hope we did alright against the rest of the field...As it turns out we did real good!

Did someone ask for a gunshow?

In fact we ended up finishing 2nd and 3rd! With Shane taking 3rd, and me taking 2nd. Needless to say this was my best mudslinger result to date, and I was extremely happy with how it ended up. I always struggled at this race, but not so this year! So those results made for a nice ride home, and of course a nice call to Eric who runs Trinity Bikes, which is the shop that makes this all possible! Now let's hope we can keep the momentum going for the rest of the season...

Echo Red to Red

Oh boy...Where do I even start? It seems so long ago...That's probably because it was, I may or may not have been slacking on this blog, but hey all that matters is I'm writing it right now right? This was the earliest mountain bike race I've done ever! Usually I wait until Hornings Hustle, which is usually a month later than this race, but it got cancelled this year. I decided to see where my form was for so early in the season, and in base mode. So we (Shane,Sean,Bob,Brian, and I) headed out for the first mountain bike race of the year on the OBRA calender.

After some long hours in the car, and some nap time for yours truly we were there in the dark, and a group of us saddled up for a little bit of pre riding during the night. It was the first time I've ever ridden during the night, so let's just say on unfamiliar trails I was often off the trail more than I was on it. By the time we got back it was time to get some shut eye for we had to race the next day!

Race Day! Um was I ready for it? Debatable...Was I going to give it all I had? Of course! It starts off with a neutral roll out of town and then becomes fierce once we hit the gravel road as it's no longer neutral. If there's one thing I noticed it was mountain bikers could use some lessons in pack riding from road racers...It was a bit sketchy...With all the slowing down, and speeding up...But everyone was able to survive the NEUTRAL roll out for the most part. Then it was on to the said gravel road where the pace ramped up to mach 10. Fortunately I was able to use my road racing experience to get myself in position in the lead group, but that didn't last long as soon as we hit some singletrack the field pretty much got obliterated.  I was still feeling good, and made quite a few passes to move up in the field. I knew I was doing pretty good in my category because I was up there with some uber fast guys for the first 1/2 of the race. There was one variable at this race though...The wind! It was insane if you didn't pedal on a downhill you would slow down. That's how strong it was out there.

So yeah about that first half of the race...It was fantastic! Then I decided it would be a fun time to bonk right about now. I mean who wants to end up on the podium anyways? So the last half of the race I just tried to survive with my energy supplies depleted. I didn't survive very well apparently as I slid from a definite podium to a mid pack result. Something I'm not to proud of since it was my fault for bonking. (Note to self, start eating more during races) When ya bonk super bad ya get the weirdest out of body feeling ever. You lose all motivation to pedal, and even on the downhill leading into the finish I had absolutely ntohing left to pedal. Luckily the wind was a tail wind at that section and let me coast into the finish quite nicely. Not exactly the finish I was looking for, but it's a start, and another learning experience...Something I always usually get a healthy doses of during the racing season.

So that was Echo....I promise I will do better there next season!

Next up: Mudslinger.....