M.F.G. #5/Woodland Park

 Woodland Park in Seattle has got to be one of the best locations, courses, and venues for a top level cyclo cross race.  This course in only 2 short years has become legendary.  It flows like an awesome carnival ride, and is just fun to pre-ride in itself.
  The day was a little crazy with Kristi fracturing her hand during her race as she clipped a corner stake while hugging the side of the course.  She went on to win by over a minute and won the M.F.G. Championship!  One tough chick.  She would spend the next 6 hours in the E.R. getting a cast.  She will receive surgery this week and more than likely be out the rest of the season.
  With having raced in Sedro Woolley the day before, I was unsure what I would have to give for this one.  The good thing was, is that neither I nor anyone of my teammates in the Masters class was up for the overall classification, so the pressure was off.  Teammate Steve Jensen and I lined up on the back row and off we went.  As always, the racing was furious, with great tight twisty turns on greasy mud, dirt, pavement, and grass as we chicaned throughout the gorgeous forests of maples and open meadows.  What a gorgeous course.  Being right in the city, seemed to draw out even more spectators than normal. and I even had a good buddy and his wife from work come to cheer on.  Thanks for coming Colby and Pam....that was cool!
  Other than a near miss with a tree after sliding it sideways with one foot out of the pedal, there wasn't much to draw on, other than I did my best, and left it all out on the course.  Unfortunatley in typical M.F.G. fashion, even 1 hour after my race, they didn't have any results posted for our class.  I'm guessing I was somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Regardless, I had a great day of racing.  Holden and I packed up and headed to U.W. hospital to pick up Kristi and get home and begin clean up.
  I'm looking forward to next Saturday....Washington State Championships in Steilacoom, and Sunday...SCX #7 in Sprinker Park.  Two great days that may go great together. 
Thanks for reading.

Woolley Cross

Today I headed up by myself to Sedro Woolley for the Woolley Cross race. This race course is one of my favorite to not only race on, but train on. It can be very tough and typically requires a fair amount of upper body strength, which is probably why its a good course for me. I like to consider it the "Paris Roubaix" of cyclocross courses in the Northwest.
Since the Belly Cross series doesn't recognize Masters until the age of 40, and I still have a few years to go, I had to race my Category 1 ranking with the Pro/Elite class. Fortunately, the fields in this series are much smaller, so anything is possible. So without much training lately with all of the time off of the bike, letting my foot heal, I was a little nervous with some tight legs warming up. Hey, at least the foot is feeling good.
I started on the second row, and had a good start making the selection group early with 7 of us. within the first half of lap, "Hot" Carl (Recycled Cycles) and a Western WA University rider, took off. The rest of us worked to maintain. At the half way point things began to split up, and I was losing some power secondary to my back getting a little sore and tired. Next thing I knew I was riding solo, and working to maintain my good placing. It worked, and I finished the day with a 6th Place in the "Elite/A" class. With a quick change of clothes and a chocolate milk down the gullet, I headed South to quickly wash the bikes/clothes and head to Holden's soccer game.
Tomorrow is the M.F.G. Series finals in Woodland Park of Seattle. Kristi has a good battle to win the series overall, and it should be exciting to watch. I will do what I can, but I may have left a bit out on the course in Sedro Woolley today. Either way, I'm looking forward to giving everything I got at Woodland Park.
Thanks for reading.

S.C.X./Maris Farms

Well even though, I was out of the racing for the weekend with tendonitis in my left foot, that wasn't gonna stop me from heading out to the races to support Holden and Kristi.
The morning started off with a bang, literally, when as we were headed South bound on I-405, after hitting a large bump, the trailer disconnected from the truck, and boy did the sparks fly. We quickly pulled over to the side and got the trailer jacked back up and remounted to the hitch. I'm still not sure how or why it became disconnected, but the rest of the trip down and back were without problems.
The racing was great with "tons" of mud on what is normally a brutal course regardless. Again, I wasn't racing, so I was able to commit 100% to Holden and then Kristi's race. Holden had a fantastic race in the deep mud (nearly knee deep in spots) and really pushed himself to his limits. He raced like a champ and really learned once again, what one can do when it comes to pushing your limits. Way to go Holden.
Kristi, was coming back from a week or so of fatigue and illness. She looked much better out on the course, with no bike troubles, only pitting once for a clean bike. She earned a strong 2nd place behind a Sunnyside Sports rider from Oregon. A good comeback race for her after last weekend.
Tomorrow will be my first day back on the bike in a week, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on. This weekend is one of my favorite courses, Sedro Woolley. Hopefully I have a chance to loosen up and get ready for another good result on one of the best courses for me.
Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted.

BAD NEWS - out with injury!

I just got home from the Doctors office with news that takes me off the bike for a week. Not good to hear, but it could always be worse.
Last week, at work, I took a ladder rung across the top of my foot with full body weith crushed onto it. It hurt a bit, but I thought it would subside in a few days, and kept it to myself.
After the double weekend, and hard days on the bike, I believe I aggrevated it even more, making it very uncomfortable at times just to stand. When I flexed my big toe downward a stretching vibration/sound emmitted from my foot. One of the creepiest things I have ever felt. The Dr. diagnosed it as Traumatic Induced Tendonitis. He requested that I take a full week off of any form of exercise to give the tendons rest and a chance to heal as well as prescribing anti-inflammatories for the time being. I guess next week at Maris Farms (SCX#5) I will just be there to assist my teammates, Kristi, and Holden! That's the good side of things I guess. I get a chance to focus on their day.
What a season so far, huh? What do you do?........Game on!

S.C.X. #4/Steliacoom

Halloween morning we pack up the True Northg O.S.V. and headed down to Steilacoom for by Northwest CX history, a classic Cyclo-cross venue. The sky's lifted and the sun shined on this Halloween day, and finally graced us with a race sans-mud!
The course was laid out in opposite fashion of the traditional course and Rad Racing Grand Prix. Very fast, twisty in the grass fields, fast pavement, and some moderate grade power climbs in wide trails to start all over again.
With a last row start due to not having much for series points, I had my work cut out for me. I made sure to race within a group the entire time, since with the speeds and openness of portions of the course, it would be suicidal to work alone. Most of the time I was in groups with the likes of great riders like Tim Ellis(Carbon Neutral Racing), and Randy Iddings (Redline), and we all worked good together. Unfortunately what felt like a good ride, only amounted to an 18th place. I was happy with the ride, but the result was again...dissapointing. Well, there is always next week.

M.F.G. #5 King County CX

Saturday brought a ton of rain to a grassy course which of course translates to a greasy, and slippery course when designed on a slope in an urban park setting. After warming up out on the course, I decided on running the Hutchinson Bulldog clinchers instead of the usuall tubulars. I wanted something with some corner bite on the off camber greasy grass and something that wouldn't pack up with thick mud on the climbs. Those tires are great for those conditions.
After a warm up and embrocation, we made our way to the start. The gun went off, and we headed out. Within the first 200 meters, approximately 8 other riders went down in front of me on an off camber grass section. I was able to clear them and the section which moved me up in the pack rather quickly. I continued to race the following hour in the 10'ish spot with nothing overly exciting and never needing to pit. I enjoyed racing on the tough course, with some climbing sections in these type of conditions. Pouring down rain the entire time. I finished in 10th place and was happy with my race.
The next day is SCX #4 at Steilacoom. Heading for home, to clean up and get the gear and bikes ready all over again.

M.F.G. #4/Pacific Raceway

Sunday was a great day at Pacific Raceways in Kent. Stop #4 on the M.F.G. circuit. With torrential rains, and a very wet, and muddy course before us, we toed the line.
I lined up on the 2nd row, and the gun went off. I got a good start sitting in 7th place for the first lap or so, and settled into 9th position. Though we were covered in splattery mud from head to toe from the get go, the bike continued to run smooth, since the the mud was thin. Either way, I had the confidense that Kristi working in the pits for me, would be able to hand me a clean running Specialized Crux should I have a problem. For the first time in nearly a month, I was firing on all cylinders and my legs and back were not giving me problems. The field separtated vastly with me and a few other riders including Tim Ellis, taking turns duking it out in the 10 spot.
On the last lap a couple of racers got by me, and I finished in 12th place. Considering my recent races over the last few weeks, I was happy and content to feel like myself. That was a good thing. I'm looking forward to the double weekend coming up where we race M.F.G. #5 at Evergreen on Saturday, and S.C.X. at Steilacoom on Sunday.
Wish me luck, and thanks for reading.