New Belgium STXC Race

Last week was the first installment of the Spring '08 New Belgium Short Track Race Series. 25 minute races on a super loose, super tight course behind the packaging warehouse at the brewery. Missed last weeks thanks to academic requirements but showed up last night to throw down the hammer. Raced B's seeing as I haven't raced in over 5 years and even longer for the suffer fest known as short track.

Race started great. Easily got the hole shot and put a nice size gap on the rest of the field through the first lap. Coming through the start finish after the first lap the legs started feeling real heavy and I knew right away that I went way to hard out of the gate. I held off second place for another lap and then he was right on my tail halfway through the third. Passed me going into the fourth lap and I stayed right with him for the next couple laps until I washed out in a loose corner. This put me back about 15 seconds and I never caught him. Probably could have caught him if I would have given it the effort but the legs were still feeling heavy from the first couple laps so I took the next couple laps to recover a bit. During my recovery laps I was watching the third place rider starting to close the gap. By the time he caught me towards the end of the race I knew he was toast so I let him catch me and power by, looked behind me and couldn't see the rest of the field so I just stayed right on #2's wheel for the rest of the lap. Coming through the start/finish got the last lap annoucement. Stayed right behind him through the first part of the lap then on the last climb I turned on the heat and thanks to my recovery laps I had a ton of power left. He didn't even try to keep up. Hammered through the finsh for a solid second place.

Probably still going to race B's next week looking for the big W. I think I've got it as long as I keep the first lap under control and not go all out like last night. With a win or another second place next week I'll bump it up to the A's and see what it feels like to race with the big boys.

All in all I had a great time. It felt really good to get out there and have a little competition on the bike. Realized how much I missed racing last night and I will definitley be back next week.

Looking for some punishment?

"He Jump on my vagina because he gets so crazy!"

You gotta watch this.

Torque Master Flexx

Guess I need to lay off the juice...

+1 for Flared drops.

The more I ride the new drop bar setup, the more I notice and appreciate the differences. Riding flared drops makes riding so much more engaging. The multiple hand positions allow me to sit up and relax on the roads, and then i drop down to where my hands spend 80% of there time, in the drops, and its like somebody bumped the nitrous button.

Here are some of the benefits I've noticed since making the switch:

My wrists and arms are better positioned to absorb impacts.

Greater range of motion in the cockpit (i can move body around a lot more than with a standard setup, makes the bike feel more "flickable")

I feel like I am riding IN the bike rather than on top of it, especially with the big wheels.

Braking is much better due to the fact that i can very easily use one or two fingers to brake and not lose any sense of bike control.

I have multiple hand positions for climbing and cruising on the flats.

As most things in life, there are some drawbacks too:

A more forward hand position puts more weight on the front wheel and I can feel myself being pushed forward under heaving breaking on steep descents.

Your brake choices are limited to v-brakes or mechincal disks. I run avid bb7's with 7" rotors and I stop real quick. If anything I feel like the brakes have more power compared to a typical bar and lever setup so I don't see this has a disadvantage. If you are addicted to hydros though, you are out of luck without some major modding and fabrication.

Definitley not as light as a carbon bar but a few grams doesn't bother me too much.

Shifting gears is not as convenient with bar ends shifters. Not an issue with a SS setup or STI shifters. I kind of like this factor though because it reminds of riding single speed in that you have to pay more attention to the trail which increases the fluidity and quality of the ride.


The Latest Developments in the Grand Exploration

I am going to film the ride and edit the footage into a nice little documentary of my personal and natural explorations of the intermountain west.

Anybody want to buy me one of these?

Now if I can just graduate first.

Cheers,

WC

Terra Incognita: Into the Maze

The perfect description of my best memories.