Griz puts on one mean cross race. i mean, the man commands the weather, lays down 6 inches of fluff 5 days ahead of time, which settles into 4 inches of crust on dust and pock-marked gumbo frozen solid in the <30 degrees Fahrenheit morning temps.
The morn of said event, he’s up at O-dark thirty, running ribbons, staking out barriers, and fixing up the venue for the day’s events. I/we took a casual morn, sleeping in, sipping stupid-strong French Roast cafe, juicing carrots, frying bacon and eggs, rockin’ the Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot (it’s an Institution), and generally just lolly gagging. B’s go at 10:45, right? it’s 10:15, we should load up and get going. Dogs - bikes - woolies, check. 10:32 we offer I.O.U.’s to the good folks running registration and “hustle” to get our act together. we’re at the startline with about a minute to spare (gasp) and…. go. Ace and I are dead-last in about a field of 20(?) out of the gate and have no idea what the course does. we moved slow, didn’t pass much, tried not to crash in the packed snow, pow, and frozen mud on the first lap. i began to crack the throttle, pedal a bit harder, become a little uncomfortable, and get away from the cluster-F as i got the lay-o-the land. later in lap 2 i needed to chill a bit, bacon-carrot-coffee vurps have a special way of getting your undivided attention. laps 3 - 6 i just did my thing, steady and techy, i span the fixie through 180^o switchbacks, up hills, across-down sidehills, and firing down abusive bumpy snow covered stretches. it was fun! i mean, i had fun sketching out on my old old bike with one gear that doesn’t coast. skidding to scrub speed going into corners, timing dismounts with pedal strokes and barriers, remembering to drink. drink. Ace rocked her class too, scoring 3rd in womens’ B division. the other 2 women placed 1st and 2nd, respectively. I, on the other hand, placed 6th and had about as much fun as possible. the last lap i opened er up, hammered, and was nuked when i crossed the line the last time. i received a Blue Ribbon for my efforts, stumbled around hypoxic with a beer in my hand at 11:45 in the moring, and watched the Eh’s kill the course.
thanks Griz. that was fun!
today, Ace and I rode around Washoe Valley. i’d span around it about this time last year and really enjoyed it. she’d never been on a bike in old Washoe. lotsa history out there. lots of views. wind.
Sweet!
I was with the Captain showing off our junk.
Anyone up for some Dawn Patrols this week?
-M
Wolfman, I might be down for a dawn patrol… wed. or thur.
Just to warn you though, I’ve been skiing like a sketchy mofo! Kinda how I ride bikes!
Have you been up to Mt Rose b/c yet?
yeah. Reports are spotty and sketchy. If we get more than a foot that might work.
-M
Looks like Griz set up a killer race once again. Hats off to ya…those CX races are quite the fiasco to setup.Cheers and good job to all that raced!
Great race! I heard that Japhyrider was hunting a “onesie” on the last lap and the mother fuc#%^ caught me! Oh well, I had to settle for 7th. Still managed 3rd in the old guys (35 ). Griz really put together a great course…. just wish I would have given a hard elbow to Japhyrider’s mid section when he was passing me. There is always next time! Watch out Japhyrider…. the hunter may become the hunted on the next go around!
bring it
Thanks to everyone who showed to ride and watch. We’re busy this week getting ready for the party Sat.(for anybody I forgot to email-there’s a party Sat.) but as soon as we get the pics downloaded I’ll try to get ‘em up.
On a slightly differant note we really need to get together and try to put on some cool events this next summer. I’m pretty much sick of the Renowheelmen, they’ve run the Mtn. Bike race scene into the ground by letting the UNR folks run the Peavine Challenge and Sky Tavern races and they look at cyclocross as a nuisance. To them anything that’s not Cat.III road racing they approach half assed. They’re only bright spot is Pete Risler’s Thur. racing. I’m not saying take over they’re events but maybe an enduro similar to Ely’s, maybe a night race. A summer time cyclocross race or a long distance cross race. I’m going to start doing a little research on putting on the cross races and leaving the Wheelmen out of the equation.
Grumpy, Tired and slightly Pissed Off Griz,
We’re with you Griz!!!
Poedunks are with you, RBP is with you. I think we could find a lot of support for this. With your proven race directing skill and our proven trash talking abilities we could really slam it home.
Enduro, Night Race, and summer cross…
-M
I just talked to Dave Eastwood and we’re going to put the cross races on next year with GS Reno.
Griz,
Night races way cool! Summer cross YES! Enduro sounds painful! Let us know what we can do!
Onesie
Night races, summer cross, enduro and anti-wheelmen! I AM IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Suffer Solstice!!!
i’d be happy to conjure up an ultra-endurance dealeo. a few route options come to mind, but the basic premise would be a midnight to midnight time frame, with a few “aide stations” of volunteers, or not, and 120-150 miles. mostly trail.
most likely to go down on Summer Solstice Day, whenever that is, or the closest Saturday. oh yeah, it’d have to be free since i’m not in the know of what/how to get permits and stuff. still, i’ll need to look into legal stuff and logistics.
all praise clandestine bicycle race-like efforts!