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Thursday, March 23, 2006

Sea slOtter

Went out on a pre-ride of the mtb course with Sabine.

... that shit is crazy-hard.

We did 1 lap in 2.5 hours. Yeah, maybe we slowed down a bunch because we kept having to gander cross-eyed at the map squigglies and gawk at the fading sun ... but still, that is one hefty-bag of a course.

Anyone who finishes two laps out there = STUD.

me?

I'll be in the beer tent.

What I did figure out today is that I ride a single-speed ... like the roadie scum i deserve to be. talk about spreadin' suck all over the trails. jaysus.

20 comments:

Chico Cyclist said...

OMG - That is hilarious!

2.5 hours for 1 lap sounds like some serious hurt. But hey, it's all fun & games.

nicknameless said...

nice signage

Ron Castia said...

Single Speed = Kick Ass Fun

One gear, one speed...FAST.

I am so jonesing to get SS Chameleon built back up.

So how about a detailed report on the course? Technical, long, lots of climbing?

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

course is definitely not a roadie course. it has loads of wash-out sandy sections and a couple of climbs that last a few minutes where you have to pay attention and bump over gnarls and crevaces.

It's all up and down. there are only a couple of sections that are straight up fire-road flatty drives. But, there are a couple of longer climbs that are straight up freeways.

... and, when you pop up trail 10 (the first 'bitch?') you gotta throw down hard. that sumbitch is tough.

overall ~ my impression of this race is that the biggest factors will be nutrition and not going out too fast. Even if you're only doing 1 lap ~ you'll need to eat and drink tons. And, the finish of each lap is such a hard grind. It's long and if you're fatigued, huge gulps of time will be lost to the more conservative starters.

If you're doing 2 laps - it's ALL about nutrition and not going anaerobic in the first few miles. I'm telling you, this is one long, hard race. This is longer than most 'marathon' mtb races. And, the climbing is relentless and spread throughout the course.

The only real 'technical' parts of it are a few sandy descents and a couple kicker-climbs that you really have to concentrate to pop over. Again, i really think the best results (ie, happy finishers) will come from proper nutrition and pacing your efforts.

i'd love to do it ... but, santa cruz crit calls me in the AM, and then I've got to support my bella in her afternoon race. She's going to try 2 laps ... but, I may pull her butt out after 1 if she doesn't look fresh enough. She hasn't been back on the bike long enough to really do this race ... but, you can't stop a woman possessed.

damn that's hot.

Velo Bella said...

I almost talked him into racing my single.

But that was before we hit the steep climbs and he realized something roadieriffic was going on that same day.

I'm thinking that short track action might be right up his alley though....

Ron Castia said...

Pace oneself? Right, that is likely. I think I am going to find a huge rider to stick on to. The Thurmanator should do nicely. The one thing that really does help is all the super aggressive Masters 1/2/3 races. Thanks OV for keeping it fast.

Thanks for the details, it will definintely give us some stuff to look for on the pre-rides. This race always leaves me hacking with a nasty case of sports induced astham for a week.

Reed Maxwell said...

Thanks for the run-down; that does not really sound too much different from years past, actually. The "sisters" are always hard even though they flipped the course around, it actually sounds similar to the old course(s). It always kills me that the SO Expert/Pro/Semi course is basically harder than most marathon courses... I'm actually looking forward to it, provided I dust the cobwebs off my MTB before then.

Reed Maxwell said...

"Pace ones self" does that mean NOT trying to drop the entire field the first time up the track? :)

Barb said...

Um, "definitely not a roadie course?" because there were some places that you had to "pay attention and bump over gnarls and creviaces"? I'm sorry to say, although I haven't ridden the new course (sold my mtb a few weeks back...) I'm betting that all things considered, it's basically still a "roadie" course. Just maybe not a "vanderhoot course". Mike, so that you know, places like Snowshoe, WV and Mt.Snow, VT are "definitely not roadie courses". Anyway, who am I to talk, I wouldn't touch that race with a 10ft pole...

I'll see you at the crit which as we all know is a definite "vanderhoot course"- I'll be expecting to see you comin' across with both fists in the air this year!

ginmtb said...

Actually, a singlespeed has two gears - SIT and STAND.

Yeah, the grunt up the first (actually 3rd Sister) is tough. But the other two are easy.

Actually, the entire climb up to that 3rd sister is the one where I just about blew a gasket. Tough on a SS since it was sandy. I pushed the last 1/4 of it.

The grind out on Skyline Road will definitely be painful. Much more so than the Hill Home.

I'm wussing out and running a 32x18.

Velo Bella said...

Reed, the course is not like the old course. The old course was basically fast and featured lots of shallow climbing.

This course features lots of steep climbing. It ends up making a big difference by the end of the loop.

I could do the old course in just over 3 hours. I am guessing it will take me almost 4 hours for this new course.

I have a 32x18 on the ss that Michael rode. It almost wasn't wussy enough.

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

yeah, probably right ... i've done waay more techie courses than this one ... but still, in my estimation - this be a bit of a 'throwback' course. it's long enough and has so many ups and downs that roadies (c'est moi?) will have back lock and gasket blow more than mtb'ers with endurance.

and that's the key to this course ... endurance in the mtb position. i really do believe there are a number of spots that a mtb'er will make time on somebody without da skills.

as for the satan cruz crit - i don't know if i'll have time to do the p1/2 and get back to support Sabine in her mtb race. may have to just do the geezers. besides, if sayers ain't there ... who cares.

me = revenge.


...and i was using a 32x18?
geesus ~ i needed a pie plate back there. single-speeders are fukkin insano.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm a old mans classic crit or a dirty dirt race.

I'll do SC then hit the boardwalk for fried twinkies with my miniture sassys and LaFemme.

And, SS's are pure baby!

ms

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

yeah - pure sweet hell.

looks like the SC crit is too close to my woman's mtb race. I'll be skippin that one to make sure she eats a shyte-load on lap 1.

too much frickin' fun. can't believe i'm actually lookin' forward to sOtter.

it's the end, pho'sho.
~

Reed Maxwell said...

VB (oV)- Thanks for the advice! Sounds really hard, but fun. They always get lots of crap for a too roadie-freindly course, dunno if they are backlashing. How much fireroad and how much singletrack? The sisters are still in, do you loop back around the "goat trails" and Jack's hill? I probably just need to ride the sucker to see. Going out easy and eating mucho, mucho is going to be key. Probably take two evil flasks of 5 powergel shots, not one. Gawd, is a camelbak going to be a requirement?

Thanks for the advice, guys, oh and a single speed has THREE gears, Sit, Stand and WALK. :)

I just want a clean race, still seething over my battle for third place ending with a massive mechanical at the very end of lap 2...

Anonymous said...

Yer scaring me. 36 plus of steep ups and downs... fur shur that sounds plenty more painfill than prior years. Is it too late to change to sport? Fortunately just converted the 1x to a 9x, a la cross style, so the extra gears should help.

Special request OV; can you try not to beat up the field in the M/1/2/3 the day before? I'd like some juice left over for the XC. I'd also like to swing by for a super-burrito as long as your gorging yer VB-girlio anyway. I'll have pollo asada por favor.

Velo Bella said...

Same proportion of singletrack/fireroad

cept you go up all the singletrack and down all the fireroads.

There is a singletrack descent at the beginning thats sort of whoopie fun.

Once you hit the 3 bitches (backwards) you basically do a shortened version of the old sea otter course backwards.

I am going to unearth and dust off the camelback.

Reed Maxwell said...

Huh, so the sisters backwards, do you have to climb the waterbar hill (usually a downhill after the last sister) as the first sister? That will suck. Bummer there's not much good ST downhill.

I think I have more than 5 camelbaks lying around and that does not include the ones we call Jen's (possibly double-digits total). Can't recall when I last wore one though, at least 4 Sea Otter's ago.

Oh and for the record, Downieville is a really good, non roadie XC race.

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

super burritos for all!

Ron Castia said...

Sounds like I'll be needing the Holy Handgrenade for the last lap. Either that or Joey O's infamous A Bomb flask.

VB, what Cat are you running out there? Pro women?

SS: Walk? NOT! Run baby, call it CX.