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| Not really sure.....Bob what are you doing?! |
The weekend before last, was our first 'Home' race with the Cascade Chainbreaker XC taking place just West of Bend's Shevlin Park. The checkers were represented by three of the Race and two of the Club Team athletes out in the hot dust - Bob, Sam, Gary, Patti and I (Shane)! All I can say is whew!
After not having a proper warm-up at the Coast Hills race, we headed out nice and early from Redmond to make sure we could have a mellow morning, with plenty of time to warm-up. Bob found a sweet spot tucked away in the woods, away from the dusty main road where we setup shop! We did some last minute chain lubing, got the race plates on while we blasted our official team pump up track, Bulls on Parade! After the prepping and a nice solid warm-up, we headed to the start line, dropping off our extra bottles at the lap-point, along the way.
I was a bit late getting to the start, not getting to an optimal starting position, but after the gun went off, I began picking my way through the thick dust and riders. As the race progressed, I settled into my perfect pace, slowly snagging passes here and there. At the beginning of the second lap, I caught up with Dillon Caldwell, a super strong racer with Team Oregon. He and I rode together for the entire 2nd lap pushing a blistering pace. At the end of the lap, I stopped real quick for my 'NASCAR style' pit stop to switch out my bottles when I realized I hadn't taken in any calories during the whole previous lap. I attempted to begin eating as the third and final lap started, but unfortunately I was too far gone and my blood sugar dropped as quickly as Dillon pulled away.
I went into survival mode, as I knew I had to be in a good position and needed to hold my power up to salvage the race! My normal race pace HR is right around 179 BPM, but with minimal fuel in my system, I wasn't able to push as hard as I needed to. I gave myself pep talks, trying to keep my HR up, thankfully I was alone most of the time, so it was only the ground squirrels that thought I was crazy!
With all my self pep talks, I was able to hold my position to the finish line, taking 4th out of 16 finishers! A rather bittersweet finish, as 4th is good, but to have 3rd slip away (again) due to a glaring mistake made it rough! Bob and Sam had some tougher times on the bike. Sam, had to pull out of the race early as she was still suffering from the the nasty crash she had a week before, thankfully she is headed into Rebound Physical Therapy this week to get all fixed up. Bob, had three of my 3rd laps, struggling with the heat, humidity, dust and the rough course all taking their toll on him. He was able to stay strong and finish, happily downing the ice cold water bottle I handed to him as he crossed the finish line.
After our hard efforts, Sam and I hung out in Bend and refueled at the awards/after-party hosted by the fine folks at Webcyclery. They really put on a fantastic event, with live music, soda pop and beer and of course, hot off the grill burgers and dogs. We had a fantastic time, getting to enjoy a beautiful, warm evening with our racing family!
The following weekend had us travelling south to Ashland for the tough, yet fun Spring Thaw XC race. Our plan was to camp out at Emigrant Lake, just East of town, but when we arrived at midnight and saw a cost of $20.00 per night for a tent site, we decided that we'd rather give our hard earned money to Trinity Bikes for new bike parts then for a small piece of pavement. So, we headed all the way up to the Mt Ashland parking lot, where they were allowing campers to stay for free in their back lot! Talk about a win-win!
The view was wicked good, the stars were incredibly bright and Kai loved the fact she got to roam around, chasing poor little ground squirrels around!
After a solid night's sleep and some breakfast we drove the curvy road and freeway back to Ashland and out to Lithia Park where we snagged a lucky parking spot. The weather had begun with some broken clouds and sunshine, but as I picked up my number and got ready for the race, clouds began to roll in. Temps stayed comfy though, opting for a LS jersey but no warmers on the legs as I knew that hour long climb would warm me up. After a nice warm-up with Buzkirkleton, I lined up at the start and listened to the start instructions. Soon we were off as we furiously pedaled up and away on the start of the climb. The course was back to the original course, which I love! You climb for about 40 minutes, descend 3/4 of the way down (16 minutes), head back up to the top and descend again, all the way to the finish! I went out and settled into a solid pace which in retrospect could have been slightly harder, but nonetheless, it was still good! At the top, I pushed myself to my riding limit as well as my lips as my smile was stretched from ear to ear as I flew down the exciting trails! Going into the 2nd lap, I was refreshed and ready to push again, going with a slightly brisker pace. About halfway up, I began seeing flashes of a black and pink jersey....Switchblade, which meant only one thing: Gabe Linn. Gabe is my arch-nemesis/friend who has been crushing it this year and has been my 'target' to try and chase after. Seeing him, gave me some huge inspiration and I dug even deeper, knowing that there was a 99% chance that the order we start the descent would be the order we all finished. I gunned it at the top and was able to barely squeak by him as we began the flying downhill. The very first section is a pretty technical rock garden, so I flew through it as quickly as I could, to put a small gap on Gabe and the others I had just passed. Thank goodness I did, because immediately following that section, there was a flat right hand corner that I pushed a bit too hard on. Before I knew what was up, I was 'sliding into home' on my right side. Funny part was the order of thought processes that immediately went through my brain:
1. @#$#@%#! (Expletives)
Spectator: Dude are you ok?!
2. Crap, did I rip my bibs?! We can't order more, dang it. I hope it's not torn like Bob and Austin's are. CRAP! OK, it's all good.
Me: Yeah, I'm good, thanks! (Hadn't actually checked my body, just the bibs.)
3. GABE's coming.....GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Thankfully I got back on the bike and began hammering right as Gabe and my chasers cambe barreling up to me. At this point I began wondering about the wounds, but there really was not opportunity, with me pushing myself to the absolute limit on the descent so I wouldn't get caught! I did notice that my right sleeve was pushed halfway up my forearm, but that was about it. For the remaining descent, I kept pinning it, thankfully coming up to lapped riders in very opportune spots, one of my favorites being a switchback with two lines, I snuck the inside and flew by! As we hit the last, lower section, I knew there were some super fast guys with some full suspension bikes that would be faster than me on this very bumpy/jumpy section so I stayed off the brakes as much as possible. About 3/4 of the way down, I caught a singlespeed guy who thought I was also a singlespeeder so he began to 'chat' with me about how he thinks we got sent on an extra loop. It was quite hilarious, but then I explained I was a different category so he let me by as I charged towards the final section of gravel road. I knew that I could hold anyone off as soon as I hit that so as I flew onto it, I was super stoked! I locked out my fork and hammered away to home!
It was such a sweet feeling to be able to hold off some fast guys like that, the adrenaline was pumping and I was in a complete endorphin/sick trail high as caught my breath and congratulated Gabe on a hard fought race! After all the battling and feeling super solid, unfortunately I was only able to take 8th place on the day. There were some wicked fast riders out crushing it. A bit bummed about that, but I was happy with my efforts, so I proceeded to cool down in the rain and enjoy the great afterparty with Sam and Kai!
Another sweet race weekend in the books, Sister's Stampede is coming up and I am feeling strong and ready for the course that really suits my strengths! See ya then!!!
-Shane Johnson
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| Sam loving the Rage Against the Machine! |
I was a bit late getting to the start, not getting to an optimal starting position, but after the gun went off, I began picking my way through the thick dust and riders. As the race progressed, I settled into my perfect pace, slowly snagging passes here and there. At the beginning of the second lap, I caught up with Dillon Caldwell, a super strong racer with Team Oregon. He and I rode together for the entire 2nd lap pushing a blistering pace. At the end of the lap, I stopped real quick for my 'NASCAR style' pit stop to switch out my bottles when I realized I hadn't taken in any calories during the whole previous lap. I attempted to begin eating as the third and final lap started, but unfortunately I was too far gone and my blood sugar dropped as quickly as Dillon pulled away.
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| Two thumbs for dustyness! |
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| Bob crossing the Finish Line. |
With all my self pep talks, I was able to hold my position to the finish line, taking 4th out of 16 finishers! A rather bittersweet finish, as 4th is good, but to have 3rd slip away (again) due to a glaring mistake made it rough! Bob and Sam had some tougher times on the bike. Sam, had to pull out of the race early as she was still suffering from the the nasty crash she had a week before, thankfully she is headed into Rebound Physical Therapy this week to get all fixed up. Bob, had three of my 3rd laps, struggling with the heat, humidity, dust and the rough course all taking their toll on him. He was able to stay strong and finish, happily downing the ice cold water bottle I handed to him as he crossed the finish line.
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| Bob quite enjoyed his water, showing off his great tanlines! |
After our hard efforts, Sam and I hung out in Bend and refueled at the awards/after-party hosted by the fine folks at Webcyclery. They really put on a fantastic event, with live music, soda pop and beer and of course, hot off the grill burgers and dogs. We had a fantastic time, getting to enjoy a beautiful, warm evening with our racing family!
The following weekend had us travelling south to Ashland for the tough, yet fun Spring Thaw XC race. Our plan was to camp out at Emigrant Lake, just East of town, but when we arrived at midnight and saw a cost of $20.00 per night for a tent site, we decided that we'd rather give our hard earned money to Trinity Bikes for new bike parts then for a small piece of pavement. So, we headed all the way up to the Mt Ashland parking lot, where they were allowing campers to stay for free in their back lot! Talk about a win-win!
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| Awesome campsite, check out Kai's smile! |
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| The view after a two minute walk from our 'camp'. Wicked awesome! |
After a solid night's sleep and some breakfast we drove the curvy road and freeway back to Ashland and out to Lithia Park where we snagged a lucky parking spot. The weather had begun with some broken clouds and sunshine, but as I picked up my number and got ready for the race, clouds began to roll in. Temps stayed comfy though, opting for a LS jersey but no warmers on the legs as I knew that hour long climb would warm me up. After a nice warm-up with Buzkirkleton, I lined up at the start and listened to the start instructions. Soon we were off as we furiously pedaled up and away on the start of the climb. The course was back to the original course, which I love! You climb for about 40 minutes, descend 3/4 of the way down (16 minutes), head back up to the top and descend again, all the way to the finish! I went out and settled into a solid pace which in retrospect could have been slightly harder, but nonetheless, it was still good! At the top, I pushed myself to my riding limit as well as my lips as my smile was stretched from ear to ear as I flew down the exciting trails! Going into the 2nd lap, I was refreshed and ready to push again, going with a slightly brisker pace. About halfway up, I began seeing flashes of a black and pink jersey....Switchblade, which meant only one thing: Gabe Linn. Gabe is my arch-nemesis/friend who has been crushing it this year and has been my 'target' to try and chase after. Seeing him, gave me some huge inspiration and I dug even deeper, knowing that there was a 99% chance that the order we start the descent would be the order we all finished. I gunned it at the top and was able to barely squeak by him as we began the flying downhill. The very first section is a pretty technical rock garden, so I flew through it as quickly as I could, to put a small gap on Gabe and the others I had just passed. Thank goodness I did, because immediately following that section, there was a flat right hand corner that I pushed a bit too hard on. Before I knew what was up, I was 'sliding into home' on my right side. Funny part was the order of thought processes that immediately went through my brain:
1. @#$#@%#! (Expletives)
Spectator: Dude are you ok?!
2. Crap, did I rip my bibs?! We can't order more, dang it. I hope it's not torn like Bob and Austin's are. CRAP! OK, it's all good.
Me: Yeah, I'm good, thanks! (Hadn't actually checked my body, just the bibs.)
3. GABE's coming.....GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Thankfully I got back on the bike and began hammering right as Gabe and my chasers cambe barreling up to me. At this point I began wondering about the wounds, but there really was not opportunity, with me pushing myself to the absolute limit on the descent so I wouldn't get caught! I did notice that my right sleeve was pushed halfway up my forearm, but that was about it. For the remaining descent, I kept pinning it, thankfully coming up to lapped riders in very opportune spots, one of my favorites being a switchback with two lines, I snuck the inside and flew by! As we hit the last, lower section, I knew there were some super fast guys with some full suspension bikes that would be faster than me on this very bumpy/jumpy section so I stayed off the brakes as much as possible. About 3/4 of the way down, I caught a singlespeed guy who thought I was also a singlespeeder so he began to 'chat' with me about how he thinks we got sent on an extra loop. It was quite hilarious, but then I explained I was a different category so he let me by as I charged towards the final section of gravel road. I knew that I could hold anyone off as soon as I hit that so as I flew onto it, I was super stoked! I locked out my fork and hammered away to home!
It was such a sweet feeling to be able to hold off some fast guys like that, the adrenaline was pumping and I was in a complete endorphin/sick trail high as caught my breath and congratulated Gabe on a hard fought race! After all the battling and feeling super solid, unfortunately I was only able to take 8th place on the day. There were some wicked fast riders out crushing it. A bit bummed about that, but I was happy with my efforts, so I proceeded to cool down in the rain and enjoy the great afterparty with Sam and Kai!
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| Hanging out post-race. Aww! |
-Shane Johnson
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