Monday, May 24, 2010

Soldier Hollow 2010

Third place!
Trying to keep away from the slick trail, also snow in the background.
Almost to the finish! And having a blast.
Soldier Hollow this year was different but always fun. This time it snowed and rained in the morning. I actually thought about not doing the race at and go straight to Park City with my mom like what we were planning to do afterwards so mom and my sister Becky can go shopping. I just wanted to go straight to the motel hot tub. When we got to Soldier Hollow, the rain and snow stopped around at 8:30. I thought for sure they were going to still have the race but shorten the course. But good news, they didn't shorten it that much, just maybe a couple miles or could be three. They took out the very the high altitude part of the course which was at the very top of the mountain above Soldier Hollow Resort. I guess because of the trail conditions, they wanted us to stay on the grass. It was still fun and there were some slick parts but most the trails were all tacky. At the start line, it's funny, I had to pee so bad but I couldn't go because we were starting all ready. I rode with having to go to the bathroom but I didn't survive, I gave up, stopped, and went about halfway of the course right at the side of the trail. It felt so much better and then I jumped on my bike and continued. While racing on the big climb, another guy on the side of me and said, "you're in beginner 30-39, aren't you?", then I said, "ya, guess I am." Later on I said, "I got to peeee!" He laughed and said, "then I will stay at your pace". I had a good time on this course and I felt great. There were a lot of steep uphills and mostly this trail was all up and down. I guess it's because it's actually a cross country ski course, well it's the 2002 winter olympics course.
I finished in 42 minutes and got 3rd place. I was excited about getting on the podium this time and got a gift certificate and a ribbon. It was a fun experience. Mostly I had a good race. This time I am not complaining because my knees didn't bother me anymore and my achilles tendons felt better. I have got brand new pedals 2 days before and that definitely fixed my problems with my feet and knees.
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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sundance Spin Bike Race 2010


Bad ass! The best scenic race of the year, I can't miss that!
The more, the merrier!
.....look how fat I am! I've got to seriously ride more!


This race turned out good except some old injury flared up again. There were a lot of people that showed up at the race and it was sponsored by Mad Dog Cycles so there were a lot of Mad Dog Racers and I myself am a Mad Dog Cycle Racer so I showed up too. There were a few snow banks in some areas but you can get around them all right, just had to get down through the mud. It was mostly tacky which made the trails perfect and made the race fun. I did ok, but surprisenly finished 4th place out of 8 in my class. I always end up at 5 minutes behind the first guy but in order for me to do better, I've got to lose some weight. I am about 30-40 pounds overweight and I've got to lose a little bit more now. I lost a lot last year, about 27 pounds then gained 10 in the winter. If I was maybe 175-180, I'd be a little faster, maybe be at front at least. That would be good, but at least being at 190-200 would be good too but now I am at 218, just 2 pounds under the clydesdale class. Just stay positive and have fun! Ride more and have fun doing it, then everything will turn out. Hopefully.
Speaking of the injury, as I was pedaling in this race, my left knee started to bother me, especially after the race and even more the day after. A few days ago, I did some adjustments on my cleats on my shoes because they were rubbing the chainstays and cranks too much. I adjusted them way outwards of the bike and now my knee is bothering me and I think my right knee is starting to feel a little bit of it too when I went on a walk today. So I changed the cleats back where they were before and see if that works, also I adjusted them forward more to keep the shoes from rubbing the stays and cranks. Reason why they were back too much because of achilles tendonitis I had in the past year and it was supposed to help that. So hopefully the achilles won't get too bad this time. If all this doesn't work, I might have to think about getting more stable pedals like Shimano. The Crank Bros. pedals I have has way too much play and my heels go all over the place. I guess I will have to do some rides this week and see what happens. I had a blast anyway at this race and the weather was perfect.


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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Showdown At 5 Mile Pass




As I was driving to the race, when it started raining(pouring hard) from Santaquinn through Lehi and Eagle Mountain to Fairfield, I thought this race wasn't going to be good, like last year when we just had to do the 12 and under loops because of the mud and rain. I was pretty upset because I wanted to the whole course but when I got to Fairfield(right next to 5 Mile Pass), I could see the sun shining down the race course(looked like heaven). So then I had a feeling this was going to be a good race. I was so excited and I felt good. Everybody were wearing their arm/leg/knee warmers to get the chill out during the race. At the starting line, I ate a half of Powerbar and was ready to go. I had a pretty good start but not the best but thank goodness this course had a lot of room for passing and I passed a few riders. I enjoyed the fast rolling hills and cleaned every climb. My legs felt great in this race and I was glad I was there in the race instead of home in a snow/rain storm. When I got to "the wall" (Yellow Page Hill), everybody got off their bikes and hiked up it, I got off as well, it was so steep that it made my calves hurt so bad hiking up it. My shoes kept slipping off at the hill and I strapped them down more. After that was the Middle Ring Hill and the Bob Sled Descent and I just gunned it. Then back to the finish line were some major set of hills and I got so tired and barely made it at the last climb. I finished at 6th place at exactly one hour and 24 seconds. Better position than the St. George race.

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