Tripleshot Cycling

Well? How was it? Don't leave us hanging...

1st race of 2010. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the team, as Ian, Rita & Jen were nowhere to be seen. Katie & Glen were spotted wearing the colours of opposing teams. I'm the only one foolish enough to show up to a mountain bike race wearing baby blue.

On Saturday I did the Josh race training ride. Then I went mountain biking for 2 hours since I just bought a new mountain bike frame and I didn't want the race to be my first ride on it. This was my first mountain biking in 6 weeks.

On Sunday I taped my little finger to my ring finger so I wouldn't injure it again and set off to the race. I got a front row callup, which was based on order of registration. Things started out bad as I couldn't keep with the lead group on the first climb. Then I couldn't keep with the chase group and fell back to about mid pack. The decent went better and I managed to hold my ground and even make up a place or two.

Second lap I was feeling better on the climb, but once over the top I was starting to fade. In the last half of the lap I lost another 3 or 4 positions. I think I finished around 15th.

Tough race, I'm not in race shape. But I had fun and didn't re-injure myself which was my main goal. Pro City Racing did a great job putting on a fun event.

In the expert men category Craig Richey was amazing to watch as he rode away from the field did 3 laps of the course in the same time I did two. In the expert womens category Catherine Pendrel put on a similar show. Watching the pros is very inspiring as the make the course look effortless.

Next race: This Sunday in Port Alberni.

Stats: http://connect.garmin.com/player/27029196

This was my second mountain bike race ever, and like the first, this one began with a really big hill. As many of you might know, I'm not a fan of hills (unless I'm going down them), so my plan was basically to not get too excited about what the others were doing off the start, just put my head down, make my way to the top, then make up time on the technical and downhill parts.

As I got to the bottom of Pooh Corner (the first big climb), I was off the back. By the time I got to the top of Pooh Corner, I was in second. By the time I got to the top of the next climb (Little Face/Fire Drill intersection), I was off the back again. By the time got to the top of the top of the singletrack climb, I was in second again.

I stayed in second for more than half the race, pulling away on every technical or downhill section, then getting caught again on the flats & uphills. Eventually, on Crossover, I reached my limit and kinda blew up, and was passed on an incline. I held 3rd place until the fire road climb from Heads up to Two Trees, where I was passed again. I just didn't have the lungs for even short fire road climbs after 3 weeks of a chest cold. I forced myself to keep pushing to the finish, but ended up 4th.

Here is my elevation vs heartrate graph. I blew up just after the "3" point on the x axis. The heart rate dip near the 3.5 point was where I slowed for a few pedal strokes to accommodate the dry-heaving, while I tried to figure out if I could puke without stopping. I was still in 3rd at that point, and did not want to be passed. I managed to not puke, but lost time on the 2nd place that I was chasing.


The woman who won, basically flew up Pooh corner, then none of us ever saw her again. When we asked her after the race how she did that, she provided the following helpful climbing tip "Ya just gotta hunker down. Ya gotta hunker down like a dog f***ing a football!". Now I realize why I am not a good climber. My dogs do not have a football, so I have never witnessed this activity. Have I been approaching climbing all wrong?

The race was a lot of fun and really well organized. The experts were really impressive. Craig Richey went almost exactly twice as fast as I did, and did it for 2 laps more than me. I have no idea how that can be done without incurring catastrophic damage.

Puke and animals having sex with sports equipment...

BEST RACE REPORT EVER!!

Well done, Roland and Katie! Great race reports and honest effort! If I had been in Victoria, I would have worn baby blue and supported you, Roland!