Sea Otter. The annual spring outdoor trade show of sorts. A good excuse to race and a great excuse to get everyone from the racing and bike industry world together after a long winter and before a long summer season. Held in Laguna Seca, the racing is neither here nor there, but the chance to catch up with folks while contrasting fog and sunburns. Race results were typical Otter…not terrible, but not quite what we wanted either. Sea Otter is about business. The business of bike racing – either you have a great result or it doesn’t matter.  Its about the business of being at the races.

Our house in Carmel would have the heat running while we were baking out at the race track. It was a weird one to wrap our head around.

The real gem of April, and for US racing, turned out to be the following weekend’s Whiskey 50. Initially an event we weren’t too committed to, slowly rider after rider started showing interest in the event, and once we saw how dedicated to the even the community and town of Prescott was, there was no way we would NOT support the race!

A rare opportunity to have the whole team together, we jumped at the chance to put us all under one roof for the long weekend. Thomas Turner started the trip off proper by taking his dXC 26′er hard tail (I know, right?!) and putting it on the podium in the downtown fat tire circuit race.

What made this race a for-sure-not-to-miss in 2013 is the vibe. A fun group of folks, all there to watch, participate, and support each other, in one place. This is the style of racing we often see around the world – not so much the type of courses that we had in Prescott, but the crowd support and community involvement.

Start in down town, head out through the city streets to the local trails, climb to the top of the mountain, loop around to the valley, head back up to the highest point in the area, then shred back to town on the area’s best trails, finishing back in the town square to a vocal and enthusiastic crowd.

The Whiskey 50 was a competitor’s event. The type of event where you’re excited to be on the bike, stoked to pre-ride the course, stoked to prepare for the next day, to see what you can do on race day, to relive the battles you had on the course, and to come back again to one-better your performance next year.

That’s what I’m talking about.

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

photo credit http://fredmarx.photoshelter.com/

And Thomas, who got into a fight with a mountain lion, I mean branch, out on the course:

If you’ve made it this far, two videos for your reward await, and don’t forget you can click them to view in full screen on vimeo:

Friday’s downtown fat tire crit

Flashbacks to Sea Otter

It’s about time for winter to pack its backpack (“nap-sack” for Canadians, as I have learned…) and
move to southern hemisphere. I have to say that the winter in Durango, Colorado is not too bad –
usually high of 40 F, maybe a 1-2 days of snowstorms every other week. If it gets too cold for a few
days and I feel bad about not riding my bike for more than 2-3 days, I usually Skype call my brother,
that lives in freezing Toronto, and after he tells me about the weather there and frozen pipes in the
buildings, I feel a bit warmer… maybe even “man-up” and go ride outside when it below freezing,
maybe not…

That is the 4th real winter that I’ve spent in Durango now, and with every one that goes by I
understand more and more how much of a hot weather person I am. I know I can do winter
activities, skiing, gym-ing, and I even play basketball during the winter, but you know what – I
would rather go on a mountain bike ride in short sleeve jersey. I even tried putting on a winter layer
to help with cold weather isolation. I enjoyed the process of eating more, but I don’t think it helped a
bit with acclimating. Anyway, it’s good that racing season is back here.

2012 season started with a spring break straight into U.S. Pro XCT cups – Mellow Johnny’s in Texas
and Bonelli Park in California. Coming from long base pace winter rides straight into racing full speed
with tanned cyclists from Tucson, Texas, California etc is no playground. That feeling of being “red-
lined” and pushing higher is addicting for sure, but it is also shocking. Coming into the first race every
year, it is still shocking. It’s pretty shocking how we, athletes, can push ourselves so much harder and
faster when we are put into race environment.

New course at Mellow Johnny’s Classic – just couldn’t get any better. I swear the course is SO
SWEET! What’s crazy about it is you can ride the course for your fun skill training loop, but racing it
is a totally different story. All racers said it was deceivingly hard – you’re not really climbing anything
significant, so it’s easy to be “pinned” but you just don’t get rest. It is just a feeling of accumulating
small punches to your face. The best way to describe it is as a 1.5 hour short track. Ouch! My race? I
hope I left all the mechanicals of the season there. Got a flat tire (a nail?!) on the start loop already,
rode the whole first lap on my rim, got a new wheel, started riding back up, and half way through
the race my rear brake totally lost all its oil. I had two options: call it a day and quit, or just keep
riding because the fat lady didn’t sing yet. I learned that in some way, brakes do help you ride faster.
boy, I lost so much time on the descents… hey, I got a good workout, finished mid-pack after all and I
learned how to corner better with no braking!

Next day I was already on y way to California. I chose to spend my time around Hermosa Beach and
Santa Monica, in order to get good training, relax (and work my tan?). The week flew by real fast
with great California food, ocean and mountain views and some crazy driving too… can’t avoid that
around LA. Bonelli Park race course is cool in the way that just outside the LA jungle you can ride
a world cup worthy course. Short and punchy course, just like the UCI likes. Almost the whole race
is on one hill. Some of the top U.S. guys were missing due to preparations for the first world cup
in South Africa, so I grabbed the first callup to the start line. Feels good I have to say. Good start
position, great start and I was off the front leading the first lap, but I have soon to realize my body is
not yet adapted to sea level intensity, especially on such a punchy course! I have gained myself back
and climbed into top 10 in both the XC and STXC the next day. The endurance is there, race intensity
will come along as the season comes along.

What now? Back to Durango, finish my senior research, race collegiate road races and get ready to
Sea Otter and some longer races this year – Whiskey 50, BCBR, Breckepic… I’m excited for this year!

Cheers and beers,

Rotem

Not your average race venue backdrop

Blake in Texas

Rotem

Bonelli

Its the season opener, the most complete field you can put together of North Americans, an amazing track unlike any of the others we race on, one of the most passionate fan bases you can tap into, perfect weather, and since the whole thing was based in Austin – there’s no shortage of good coffee and texmex.

For Blake and myself (sager) we’re racing in our home town. Blake grew up here and cut his teeth training on the roads that pass by the Flat Creek Ranch race course. I remember racing this course the last time it held an event, a cold and rainy March afternoon back in 2004. If ever there’s a race to really connect with, its this one, and the Mellow Johnny’s crew pulled out all of the stops in putting on a top-notch show for us.

Results wise…it was a battle, a fight, both figuratively and literally – and we came out on the bottom of the heap, which, heck ya’ll, happens sometimes. Not all bar-room brawls or playground fisticuffs end in story book happily ever after results.

Just like life.

Rotem picked up a nail in his rear tire on the first lap, falling to the back of the pack after stopping in the pits but chasing through the 70+ rider field to finish in the 30′s, just ahead of Blake who was battling his own war out there. Sager made the “best of the rest” group, racing in a 5 man group for 7th, and came out on the bottom of that heap when the dust settled, in 12th.

Nothing to write home about if you go off the results sheet, stacked field or not – but fortunately there are many truisms in racing – “there’s always next week”, “you’re only as good as your last race” (whoops), “its not about the destination, its about the journey” (kumbaya!)…but all of these are as true as the day is long (that was bad, I know).

Racing, battling, duking it out against course, self, and competitor is what its about, and its not often the courses and fields lend themselves to a proper head-to-head battle, group racing, using each other’s strengths and weaknesses against each other as the course and competitor combine…all the while being showcased against the backdrop of a properly fun mtb trail, with all of your friends and fans scream SAAAAGGEEEEEEEEEER the entire time.

Thanks Mellow Johnny’s, and Austin, for putting on the race that I’ll continue to measure all others against.

All races should have posters.

Rotem said that the Hill Country trails look a lot like the courses in Israel.

Blake. Sometimes ya just gotta give’R.

Gramps climbing the wall, slowly.

Q&A session at Mellow Johnny’s. There were more people at the press conference than many races see over the entire weekend.

Chef Rotem at Casa de Harlan

Blake and Sager wrapped up a great week here, with the courses and competitors much tougher than in 2011. Blake finished fourth overall and came terribly close to taking the win on stage 5, while sager won stages 2,3 and 6 to finish second on GC to an impressively strong Stefan Sahm, of Germany.

We’re about to jump on a plane….here’s a video to hold ya over, and keep your eyes peeled to cyclingnews.com’s blog features for Sager’s take on the rest of the race.

For now…we’re heading into stage 3. Harlan’s sitting in 4th, Sager’s in 2nd after winning yesterday’s stage. We’re both dragging from our great idea to race an “opener” marathon in Osorno, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. What would you do? You’re in Chile, its NOT SNOWING (like at home)?

You’d race your bike, that’s what you’d do.

As we speak, we’re on our way down to Osorno, Chile for the Conquista Volcan de Osorno, and then the Trans

It seemed that pushing CX nationals into January has misled the weather in Madison, WI. Almost a year ago when I found out that CX nationals will be held in January in Wisconsin, I was scared to imagine the weather that will torture all CX racers – way below freezing.

But it looked like fall weather has waited and waited until CX nationals weekend –

highs of 40′s and even 50′s, no snow on the ground or on the forecast, just blue bird dkies and chilly
mornings. That didn’t limit the course to be muddy at all times, since the soil is so wet and moist in
Madison.

Traveling with the Fort Lewis College Cycling Team is luxury – huge team trailer made it all the way
from Durango with all the bikes, equipment, coaches and mechanics. All team members took the
shorter trip via airplanes, and we all met at the Cambria Suites Hotel – which we stayed in a couple
of times prior for road collegiate nationals in past years.

One of my favorite things about cyclo-cross racing is that the course changes so much, day by day
and hour by hour. Every morning the course was totally frozen only to defrost slowly by noonish,
then it slowly became a mud festival – first the peanut butter kind and later the moist-runny mud.
And as the riders are finished making deep mud channels throughout the day, the night would fall
again and freeze the ground, so that the next day’s morning riders would ride solid-frozen mud
channels.

My goals for my race, the Collegiate Division 1 Men, were to finish on the “euro” podium (1-3
position) on a decent day and maybe hit the top step with a great ride. After a pretty lousy start with
great thanks to the official who called up the college start list from bottom to top, I settled in around
top 10 until someone decided to run into my gears and bend my derailleur. Two bike changes later,
I regained my race pace and started picking up racers, spot by spot. I improved my lap times with
every lap, with the last lap as the fastest just around 8 minutes. At the finish line, I came across at
the last spot of “American” podium in 5th place. My other Fort Lewis teammates, Skyler and Eric
finished 2nd and 3rd, plus we filled out the top 10 with 5 Fort Lewis College riders !

As a team, Fort Lewis College tied with Marian University for first place in the team omnium (men
and women), and we were just edged by them for second place by the tie breaker, since they had a
first place at the women’s race.

What now? Back to school, first day of winter semester, and getting a little closer to graduation.
Meantime, I will take a nice break to rejuvenate for 2012 season, which this year will also include
some mountain bike stage racing for me, in addition to the traditional US Pro XCT series.

I wish you all a great successful year and many awesome trails !

Finally. I say that as if we’re ready for it to end…and we are/were, yet it was our best season yet. Wins at Trans Andes and the defense of Rotem’s  national title, a dozen stage wins, top tens in every Pro XCT, a heap of back yard victories for all of the guys and gals in their respective regions – in everything from ‘cross to STXC, Marathon to good old fashioned point-to-point races. Heck, a few of us even hit Premier Elite flying status, and I’m only one trip short of 100k Club, but that’s not going to happen, unfortunately.

Last week at the Palo Duro Marathon, Sager took another V, then, after putting in almost 4hrs on the bike, tackled stage 1B of the day – another marathon of driving, 9 hours back to Durango to join Snyder for the local Durango world CX champs. Snoodles fought it out with the Bear at the back of the pack, and Sager battled the Captain (Ned Overend) for the top spot amongst the old guys (though Sager’s 37 to Ned’s 56 isn’t quite fair).

A few pics from the Utah – CO – TX trip

Quick dirt road ride in southern CO

Parking and racing inside a big hole in the ground, Palo Duro Canyon.

50 miles of this.

Pies for prizes.

Since we lost a camera on this trip (not from the housing, but somehow during the charging process) here’s a vid to get us through this tough transition into winter…its a fav, at least for me.

The last mountain bike race of 2011 season – The U.S. Collegiate National Championships.
It’s been a long season of racing mountain bikes, one to remember for the good for sure.

I’ve been on quite a few new race venues this year – Missoula, Armstrong’s ranch, Slovakia and a
few more. It’s always sweet to arrive at a new race venue and race course that you I have never
been on. It’s like a whole new world of opportunities.

Checking the race course for good new lines that other riders may have missed, “A-lining” a big jump line instead of a B line (Missoula !). Every course has it’s unique flow in the uphills and downhills, and so did the new course in U.S. Collegiate nationals at Angel Fire Resort, New Mexico.

It was a long, snow stormy drive to Angel Fire with the Fort Lewis College cycling team from Durango, a mere 200 miles away.

The closer we got to the resort, we all left our notebooks and reading aside and started wondering out
loud :”how the hell are we suppose to race in this weather?!”.

The first reaction was that we should just have Cyclo-Cross nationals at that weekend, since it’s already so brutal, and instead of having CX nationals in Madison, WI in January (who thought of that idea??), just reschedule it somewhere nice and warm like Arizona.

Knowing the course is covered with almost a foot of snow, I waited until almost all the college guys
and girls pre-ride the course before I did my pre-ride. I really didn’t feel like pedaling through snow…

Cross-Country was the first race day, so there wasn’t much time for traffic or drying out on the course. Our Fort Lewis girls killed it with a 9am start, and crowned Lauren Catlin as a national champ on a frozen course. The guys started at noon, so we had a totally different story – it was a mud-slop-fest. I will never forgot the long brutal climb we did three times, climbing from 8,500 to 10,000 feet, no rests in between, all just sloppy mud and puddles… climbing at about 5 miles an hour it took forever. If I thought that I’m better off running fast some sloppy parts, I realized after 30 feet that I’m totally out of breath because of the high altitude. It’s either riding super slow or walking at “push the grocery cart” pace.

The challenge of the climb was followed by the sweetest snow descending ever, it was somewhat packed, not too steep for the snow, just pure pleasure for your ride-buds ! I had a decent race dealing with a little after-sickness from the past week and finished a strong second place, while we, the Fort Lewis College team, swept away the whole podium taking the top three!

The short track the next day was a simple up and down 1 kilometer loop, ain’t nothing much to it.
Lots of places to pass, no technical elements. So simple make it so hard – because it’s just about
putting the power !

I did my thing and opened strong, fading a little midway my teammate Howard Grotts tagged along with me. The two of us kept a really strong pace, lapping almost the whole field (except places 3 and 4). With the last bits of power I kept my wheels at front and went in first for the last corner and keeping it safe for first place on the line. That’s a 3rd national championship title in a row for me in the last 3 years! In addition to that, Fort Lewis got the 1st place omnium for the championships, what can be a
better way to wrap up my mountain bike season !?

What do I do now?, well, after the hangover and sugar rush from nationals’ party and Halloween
went away, I’m taking some time off the bike completely, back on school work, relaxing and
being lazy for a while before I’m hitting the winter activities that are just on their way – skiing,
snowshoeing, intramural sports etc… some CX too for sure!

Thanks to Chad “Chainsaw” Cheeney for the awesome photos…

Local racing, resting, some training, then a really long and convoluted series of plane flights to get us to the Langkawi (Malaysia) International Mountain Bike Classic.

Results were mixed, Thomas Turner and Blake Harlan starting the week off strongly while Sager was sick, then as Sager came around, TT and Blake started feeling a little goofy themselves. In the end we ended up with top 20′s on the first day, a pair of top 10′s on the 2nd day, then a 5th, a 4th, and another 5th as Sager failed to close the deal on the podium each day. Nice one….

Ride reports can be found here (day 4 &5) and here (day 2&3) and here(day one ) and here…the videos are leaking out as we speak…