Mountain Bike Racing

The Greenbrier Challenge is a respected and time-honored mountain bike race just outside of Frederick, MD that was held this past Sunday under skies that threatened rain and held steady around 60°. I pre-rode the course on Saturday in bright sun and very warm temps. There were 3 punchy climbs all followed by ripping descents that put a big smile on my face. It was fast, dry and FUN. That night the heaven's opened up and doused the course until morning, changing everything. I knew we were in for a proper suffer-fest when I saw fellow Bike Lane racer Ryan driving away after 3 laps of the marathon - "It was horrible. I couldn't imagine doing that course for 4 hours. The mud puddles were axel deep!" He drove off clearly unhappy and I started to worry. This was my first mt. bike race of the season and while I had done well at every road race so far, I knew this would be much, much harder. It was.

First off went fellow team mate Hamid who caned himself for 4 hours in the Marathon completing 6 laps. He's a bit crazy like that. Then went Ken's son Connor who sprinted in front of a final challenge for 2nd place.

Next the GFK ladies went out and all did very well. Then Ken paid his dues in the sport class. He keeps wishing they would have a "Business owner-Father-Vet" class but until they do, he'll stick with sport. He finished 14th and beat more than beat him so he seemed happy. Then it was my turn.

I lined up in front with the men's 30-40 experts and wondered if I deserved to be there. The gun went off and even tho I was 3rd or 4th into the woods and pushing hard up the first climb, I started going backwards like never before. Not so much because I couldn't keep up but because I had a game plan to ride smart instead of all-out. This was the wrong game plan. The leaders smashed through the first downhill and while I was still with the top 8 guys, they hit the first flat section and all blasted away out of the saddle. I settled in and tried to keep from going too hard but the climbs demanded massive efforts of concentration and bike control, leaving me little in the tank for the flats. The mud was unrelenting and other riders were everywhere. I hit the last downhill of the lap and unleashed some frustration, passing a few riders. I think I should probably just race downhill. Somehow I find it soothing to let the bike do it's thing as fast as it wants to roll. I was airing over logs and rocks feeling some redemption but at the bottom of that DH, all I could think about was having to do all those climbs 3 more times and I was really hurting. I came thru the start-finish wanting to puke and quit. I had slipped back to about 20th position. I knew I had to be top 15 to qualify for Nationals so I tried very hard to pick it back up but the only thing that went up was my heart rate and frustration level. My speed slowed and I found myself spinning out on the muddy climbs. This is when I stared to contemplate the word "Cracked." Had I cracked? I could still pedal but not as fast as I wanted to. I know a "Bonk" is total leg crampage or failure which wasn't the case. Maybe I was half-cracked?

It was during this contemplation that the leaders of the pro race passed me. I was on lap 3, they who stared 6 minutes in front of me were on lap 4. Wonderful. Fist Jeff Shalk, then Harlan Price, then a familiar voice, not even out of breath... "Hey Jason." I said without turning, "Chris, is that you?" He said "Yup. I flatted." I moved over and let him pass. "Go Chris!" and the E-Tuff train roared by. I tried to keep up for all of 50 yards but that was it. Another punchy mud-climb. I was patting myself on the back for staying on the bike until a guy blew past me running his bike. I really started to lose heart until I passed a couple other guys who had flatted or chain-sucked to a halt. This made me smile so I kept at it. Then I'd get to that final downhill and find my gameface - thankfully Jay D caught that here:



I'll spare you the sorted details of the rest of the race but I dragged myself back to 14th. I sat in the pond after the finish like a kid who's in Time-Out. I felt terrible, dejected, blown apart and cold. I was stoked to have some team mates there to encourage me out of the pond and on to a nearby mexican joint. Sigh. That's mountain bike racing.

Now the question is, do I head to Nationals to get even more spanked? Of course! That's what mountain bike racers do.

Fried.

Sometimes life moves slow. Sometimes it doesn't. Like now for instance. In the last 2 weeks I've been running non-stop. Can't complain tho, it's been some seriously fun stuff but I'm finding that travel can really screw up one's training. Not just from being off the bike but also the food, odd sleep, well - I'll stop for fear of sounding like a Sally.

First stop was Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I'd heard about this cool little town in the woods but didn't realize how cool, little or woodsy it would be! Big thanks to Rich Campbell who brought me down to introduce 24 Solo as part of the Banff World Tour. Before the show I gave a lecture on Adventure Film Making which went pretty well considering I yapped for almost 2 solid hours. I didn't catch anyone napping so I must have kept their attention with my antics. Then came the film screening and I gotta say - this blew me away. Just a shade under 2,000 people had packed into the massive auditorium and they were fired up!!! I have been to tons of film screenings but this one was, by far, the most rowdy and energized audience. I was a bit nervous when I was intro'd by Banff Tour Manager Shana Strain but once I walked out and grabbed the podium like a live raft I settled in a bit. I had the brilliant idea to throw schwagg at the audience while I spoke which took my mind off how many people were watching me and kept the people on their toes as well. Big shout out to PowerBar for hooking me up with TONS of samples to toss out (a quick and easy way to gain audience approval). The show went off without a hitch and I was stoked. I had been up since 4am so I was in bed soon after things wrapped up.

The next day was the warmest the town had seen in '08 and the sun was shinning. I had the told Rich that I'd come to town only if he rounded up some mt. bikers to take me on the famous trails of the Piscah National Forest. Shout out to Dave and Beth Frye, a guy named Tom and SM100 rock star Darryl Pearleman (sp?). They took me on some secret trails on the promise I didn't say where they were. I did get the ok to share the epic names - "Severed Armpit" and "21 Jumps" had me smiling like a kid who just farted. What a great way to see a place.

photos soon...

I had to leave shortly after the intro of the 2nd night of films to head back North to Harrisonburg where I crashed at Ken Bell's casa. Sunday brought a cold front with light rain, wind and 45° temps. - A PERFECT setting for the Harris-Rubaix, the local's tribute to the Paris-Rubaix. I was nervous about this race since it featured cat 1 and 2 pro's including Kelly Benefit rider Nick Waite as well as local legends Chris Scott and Thomas Jenkins. Ken sucked it up knowing he was climbing in the ring for a beating and with only a dozen or less training rides this year he was in for a pummeling. He popped off the group fairly quick and I wasn't far behind although I stayed within sight of them for most of the race. I was in no-mans land after a young guy I was working with bonked off the back of our 2-man train. Then it was pain management and mental caning to keep at it. The wind seemed to crush me but as it turned out I almost caught Chris Scott near the finish (he had a flat but I'd have taken pride in passing him anyway). I ended up 6th since a few pro's flatted and no one else caught me. I was stoked!

A quick few days home and I was off to New Hampshire to shoot college lumberjacks for ESPN. I got to pal around with my buddy Dave Jewett and the rest of the ESPN crew and considering the nice weather, amazingly beautiful location and the chance to cast some lines into the ocean while watching sick waves come in I was again stoked.

Now I'm back home putting in my time at InnoTech and preparing for the big race at Greenbrier this Sunday. I hope to qualify for US Nationals so I have my work cut out. Ok, time to ride my sore-ass home.

Thanks for tuning in, I'll try to get some photos up. OH - and Gripped Films got it's next big project!!! More in next blog, my fingers are tyrd!!!

The Consistency of Oil

There's a lot of talk about this Global Warming yet not many Americans seem to take it seriously. In fact, most Americans have taken the view of "Hey, it was cold this morning! What's this 'warming' nonsense..."

My Friday Rant will quickly address the issue:

Working from the least important to most important:

Most people wake up each day in the comfort of their home. They turn on the water. It works. They open the fridge, get food. Make coffee. They leave the comfort of their heated/cooled home, climb into their heated/cooled car and drive to work - a heated and cooled office or store. Then the process goes into reverse, they go home and enjoy entertainment that takes their mind off whatever problems they may have. Eat. Goto bed.

Repeat.

There is an endless supply of all things in this country. Water. Food. Tv's. Movies. Big cars. Big houses. There is no care for the temperature out the door if you are in a climate-controlled house, car or office for 99% of your existence. Why should you care? Live for the moment. Get educated from People Online - "BREAKING NEWS - PARIS HILTON FARTED AT FASION SHOW", DON'T MISS this week's episode of Lost, got your FANTASY TEAMS lined up cuz it's March Madness, and as soon as that's over we got Baseball games with all-you-can-eat buffets... DAMN. Life isn't good it's GREAT! Well, at least it is in my virtual world on Second Life. Huh? Are you kidding me? Aren't we smarter than all this? Or do we just not care about anything but our instant greed & gratification?

"But I work hard. I don't want to be told I can't drive my SUV or watch American Idol. That's what freedom is all about."

People are careful to protect this routine. People do not want their life disturbed. People think they work hard and deserve whatever creature-comforts they give themselves. Every day. A feeling of entitlement has crept into our American lifestyle and I think our forefathers would puke over it. Where did that come from? And is it really so hard to make small changes that will have a huge influence on everything around us? Everything we purchase is a chance to make a statement. For example if you shop at Walmart your statement is that you don't mind giving China your money for crap. The car you drive, how you drive it (slowing down just a wee bit will boost your mileage), all make a statement. So why are Americans so hell-bent on driving such massive cars and driving them like anyone else on the road is in their way? Why do Americans have to own such massive houses? And the real kicker is the idiots who are whining because they can't afford the mortgage rates on them now. Oh boo-hoo!!! If you ask me this is the most insecure country of out-of-shape pansies that hide behind the worlds largest war machine to feel tough. But since you didn't ask, I'll keep that nugget to myself.

If you are still reading, here's one to think about: imagine having your doctor tell you that you have cancer. Would you ask the doctor, "Exactly how will this 'cancer' affect me? At what date will I become so sick that I need to change my routine? When will I get so sick - and I want a date Mr. Doctor, that I have to stop smoking or eating poorly? Because if you can't answer these questions, I don't believe in this 'cancer' and will do nothing to address it."

Such a response is on par with the folks who laughed at the discovery of "germs" and those who poo-poo'd the notion that fleas could be the ones carrying the Plague.

"You mean to tell me there's these organisms that I cannot see, but they are strong enough to kill me? Yea, right."

Getting back to the point, shouldn't a species as evolved and educated as humans be more prudent in the face of such unknowns? What really is the smarter course of action?

1. Invade all oil-rich countries, oppress the people who live there and hope the rest of the world looks the other way? Reveling in our own self-importance until we realize our cancer is viral and we are about to perish as a country? Nuh-uh, that could never happen! (we're muuuch smarter than those Romans) How?? OH, we've funded a war on terrorism (CIA admits openly that Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda), or, uh, a war to ensure oil for our country... AND borrowed the money for it from CHINA? So now the rest of the world hates the US even more (if you don't acknowledge this you really don't travel much) and the other biggest super-power holds our cash reserves? And we teeter on recession yet dump billions per month into Iraq...

or a possibly more educated alternative:

2. Eliminate our use of oil. Since the current war has an estimated cost of about $25,000 per tax payer, could we take that money and provide each car owner with a hybrid vehicle? Thus saving the need for any new warships, fighter jets, costly wars, lost lives, et cetra ad infinitum... or is that just not cool enough? Just not "American" enough? Hmmmm...

Is there perhaps an ounce of prudence in thinking that if a few very small changes are made, our lifestyle can continue? Because the unpleasant truth is that if the planet's average temperature increases even 3,° every balance of life will be off balance. To what extent can never be known until it happens. Kinda like that pesky cancer.

Health of the planet we live on. Seems this should be at the top of the list of importance. It really won't matter who owns the oil reserves if we enter a 50-year drought. Or are such things just never going to happen to America because we're too powerful? What a conundrum...

Will there be any solace in the words, "Oh gosh. I didn't realize that could happen..."
Case in point: Honey Bees are dying at alarming rates. The same bees that pollinate our sources of fruit, vegetable and seed crops. Why? Hmmmmm.

It's time to wake up and look at the bigger picture folks.

A foolish consistency is the hob-goblin of little minds.

-Thoreau