O.R. Day One in the Books!

Well, now that I am finishing this post, day two is actually in the books as well! It's been a little crazy but my feet are hanging in! We had a great time Wed. night. We went out as a group to the Red Iguana. There were about 20 of us so it was cool! Afterwards the group split and a few of us went to a place called Monk's. Kind of crazy when Raphael walked us into a hallway that led to a staircase that went underneath a 24 hour Kinkos? When we walked in everyone in the bar had a tattoo and looked like they were straight out of LA. It made me a little less homesick as most of the people at street level were pretty country bumpkin looking!
It was Kareoke night and their were a few in our group that were raring to sing. They ended up singing Bon Jovi? They somewhat forced me onto stage and I sang a 30 Seconds To Mars song. It was bad, but everyone kept screaming and clapping so I acted like a rock star and belted it out something awful!
Thursday morning came way to soon and we hit the ground running! Everything has gone very smoothly and I am having a blast. I have met some really cool people and seen some really sweet stuff. I am looking forward to Saturday and Sunday as I will have a larger amount of free time and will be able to check out a lot more! The big world championship climbing competition is Saturday night and I am looking really forward to that! I'll keep you updated!
Peace!

Off to Outdoor Retailer

Just a quick note that I am off to the big Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt lake City! I am sitting in the airport now waiting to take off and I will be there until next Monday. I have sent the Homewrecker out there and plan on doing some riding every morning! I can use the altitude training for the finals in Big Bear next month.
My friend Scott Davis who is an Iron Man athlete is training there right now and invited to take me for a ride or two! He is a freaking machine though! I have never ridden with him so I am a little worried about keeping up. He just got back last week from riding in, Italy, France, Switzerland, and anywhere else in Europe that has huge mountains! He caught a couple stages of the Tour while he was there and rode some of the mountain stages in the Pyranes. Tough life huh? The guy is crazy gifted though, he places top five in Iron Man events. Crazy!
Well, I will send pictures during the week and keep you all updated!
Peace,

32:35

Thirty-two minutes and thirty five seconds! That is the time I completed my first road race in! It was a time trial and I entered the 28+ public class on my new Madone 5.2! My friend Bill told me last night to shoot for 40 minutes so you can see my joy in the finish time I posted. 32:35 was good enough for second place in my class! I have to say, I am hooked. The course was on a country road out near Filmore. Just a little over 12 miles.
With the work week I had which included way to much Taco Bell and pizza, I did not expect to do all that great. The start was rough like most of my mountain bike races. No matter how much I warm up, I always start a little cold and it takes me a minute to warm up. Once I got going I felt pretty strong. The course rolled up and down for six miles and then you turned around and went back. When I hit the 10 mile mark I hit the wall! I was still traveling about 16 mph, but it felt like I was going 5 mph. When I saw the marker for 1km left I found the reserve tank and hit it hard!
The crew at the shop are have been instrumental in my progress so I just wanted to give a shout out to Westlake Cyclery and Team Fast Friday! Thanks guys!
Peace

Train, Work, Train, Train

I know it's been a few weeks but it has been so crazy at work, the last thing I want to do after 5 is turn on my computer! I even missed a race report( I DNF'd so there is not much to talk about! I'm still a little disappointed!) So sorry for the lapse of excitement! J/K.
I have been trying to put in the miles and the hours to get ready for September, October, and November. Unless something fun comes up, I will not be racing until September. A little premature fireworks....I believe I managed to win the Southern California points series! I will celebrate when the jersey is in my hands! I am really excited though!
I have been doing some really fun riding! On July 4th I went on a group road ride with Westlake Cyclery and some of the Fast Friday's race team! It was a really fun but very tough ride. We started at the shop at 7am to beat the heat. We left the shop and headed down Agoura Road towards the valley. We went out Las Virgenes and then headed up Topanga to old Topanga! We then dropped down into the canyon and made the turn up Fernwood. This is where it got tough! It was about 9 miles straight up at an average of 9% grade! It was really tough but we grinded up the hill and the descent made it all worth it! It was about 50 miles with 4800 feet of climbing. By the time we got back to Las Virgenes the temp was 103! The sad part was that we had another 30 minutes to get back to the shop. It was really fun riding with the race team and watching them! Those guys can accelerate like a ferrari on the open highway!
I have been riding a lot on the road! It has been really fun because the opportunity to ride with others on the road presents itself more often than on the dirt. It's also easier to get in more miles and more time on the bike as I can leave directly from work and head straight out on a ride. It has also helped that I finally got a new road bike! I had been saving since I purchased my mountain bike and a great deal presented itself! Being that Trek redesigned their Madone line for 2008 they were blowing out the rest of their 2007 line. I was able to get a Madone 5.2 fr a quarter of its retail price! This bike is freaking sweet! First, it's the right size for me! It's also a complete carbon frame and fork with the Bontrager race light wheels, stem, seatpost, and bars! It has a Shimano Ultegra set-up with a Dura-Ace rear derailler. This bike is almost 8 pounds lighter than the one I was riding! That tends to get me up the hill a little faster! I will try to post a picture this weekend!
September will bring the So-Cal series final in Big Bear. With the week I will be spending in Salt Lake City I hope to get some higher altitude training in! Then at the end of September I hope to be doing a two man 24 hour race with Rory. The very thought scares me to death but I would really like to make this happen. It also looks like the opportunity has arose to do another 24 hour race in October with a team of either 3 or 4 guys. These are guys that are out to win so it would be a blast to give it a shot! November will bring the fall classic at Southridge and the last 12 hours of Temecula. My goal is to do the 12 hour solo! That's right race fans, SOLO! These are my goals for the end of the year.
I think that next I will change up my racing completely. As it stands now, I want to do the Southridge winter series. Then instead of doing the Southern California XC series, I would like to concentrate on the endurance races. I would like to also participate in some road races. I want to do a couple century races as well as a couple stage races. We will see what happens.
Let me finsh this post by stating that DOPERS SUCK! I understand why, (money and fame) I just think it's lame!
Peace
Lucas

Scary Day on the Mountain

I went into the weekend a little freaked out about racing at altitude, I wish I could say that was the extent of my fear after the race was over! The fifth stop on the Southern California Race Series was in Big Bear California. Big Bear resigns about 8500-9000 feet above sea level. This was my first experience any where near that high and there was definately a learning curve. I had recieved tons of great advice from friends that had raced there before and after a very tough week I headed up the morning of.
After the 2+ hour drive I had enough time to relax and register. After registration they told us that we need to pedal "up" to the start line which is about 10-15 minutes(by bike)away. My legs felt really good pedaling for 20 minutes plus up the hill towards the funky start. I met up with some friends along the way and chatted about what the race may hold? When we arrived to the psuedo start line everyone seemed a little confused about how we were supposed to stage and Team Big Bear seemed the same way! Usaully they run things well, but this time there was not a lot of direction. Some racers even missed thier start times.
As soon as we took off we started to climb. The dirt was loose and the temps had hit high 80's maybe even 90's. I started well but quickly started to feel very fatigued in my legs. I was a little upset that I couldn't force anymore out of my lower body. Any flat areas that we hit I was able to take off like a roadie and pass those who sailed by me on the climbs. We finally hit a cool singletrack and I quickly caught up to some slow descenders. One goofball hit some sand and swerved right at me pushing me into some tree branches. I yelled out an expletive and he turned to apologize. I got back on course and tried to make up the lost few seconds. About 8-9 miles into the race we were flying down a fire road when the unexpected happened. A rider about 20 seconds ahead of me went down and went down hard!
Jim Garwood of the Platinum Racing Team out of Santa Barbara had pile drove himself over his bars and straight onto his head. The next 30 minutes was really scary. His head was bleeding and he was unconciouss. He had horrifically labored breathing and only came to maybe twice during that first 30 minutes. Finally a doctor who was racing stopped along with a local firefighter and an EMT. They took control of the situation much to our relief. When the race medic finally showed they were able to administer oxygen. That really started to help as the paramedics did not arrive for another 15 minutes. Once the medics arrived the 12-15 of us that were there decided to pedal out. They airlifted him out about 10 minutes later. When we finally came through the finish we were told that he was finally responsive as they flew him to the hospital. The only information that I have been able to find is that he had multiple facial fractures and had been in ICU for 2 days. It also said that he would recover but that it would be a long road. Please keep Jim and his family in your prayers in the coming weeks.
At the awards ceremony I found out that I was once again the only rider in my class and that I had won?! I am definatley looking forward to the end of the season and moving towards the next stage in my racing. As my desire for endurance racing continues to grow, it also reminds me how I am at the beginning.
I recieved some great advice from the Stephenson brothers of Team Sho-Air. They shared with me that the road to dominance is a long one. They warned me of over training and burnout, and shared stories to go along with that. All that they said made perfect sense and inspired me to be careful in the way that I train. There are days that I wish to do nothing but ride and days I get mad at myself for not getting out of bed early enough to train.
Well it's Friday and time for a ride so have a great weekend and watch for my post about our July fourth road ride!
Peace
Lucas

24 Hours of Amazingness

I was looking so forward to this race that I thought that it would never come! As it finally approached I had it in mind to have a very light week of training. When Monday came I felt as if I was coming down with a cold. I was so super bummed because a few people in my office had been sick the prior week and it seemed pretty bad. I laid into the vitamin-c and Zicam nasal spray. I was definately forced to take it easy for the rest of the week. Friday finally came and I was so ready. I worked a half day and headed off to the bike shop because I had trouble installing a new chain the night before.
The owner of the shop pointed out that my middle chain ring was bent and needed to be replaced. He was off to lunch and told me kind of half-assed how to change it. One of the guys helped me out and about 45 minutes later I was off to Rory and Jenn's. We had to wait for the rest of the team and Rory's brother to show up. As soon as we jumped on the freeway headed to Monterey, we stopped dead in our tracks....traffic. We were stuck in the nastiness all the way to Santa Barbara. Then it was a straight shot to Laguna Seca Raceway.
We arrived around 9:45 PM and got to start setting up camp in the dark. When we were about halfway through some jerk pointed out that we were setting up in the wrong place. Like it really mattered. We were only 3 spots off and it really made no difference at all. Soon we were set up and went across the way to HAMANA Saloon. There is a contest for whomever has the coolest pit area and Team HAMANA(a larg cycling club from Nor-Cal)wins every year! This year they built a real western saloon. It was really cool. The coolest thing was that they had these portable heaters that were VERY nice in the cold of night! We soon hit our tents and were out like lights!
Rory and I awoke to a foggy and FREEZING morning! We were up about 5:30 AM and ready to go. We pressed some Starbucks coffee and had some oatmeal. The wind was already picking up but managed to blow away the fog. Rory took a quick look at the bikes and did some repairs to Heathers trusty steed. Poor girl is racing in her first 24 hour event which is also her first mountain bike race and she is riding a bike that is at least one size to big for her and heavier than my car! There was race meeting at 9am which we all attended. They just went over the rules and the right way to do things. The Canadians that put these events on are super cool. They not only seem to have it down to a science but they also make it a point to walk around and ask how your doing and how your experience is going! Kudos to the team at 24 Hours of Adrenalin!


Well 10 AM was approaching and we picked the order of Heather first, me second than Rory followed up by Jen. Heather did the LeMans start which is about a 1/4 mile run than you jump on your bike and hit the course! She had a pretty good run and put down a decent first lap!
Then it was my turn! I took off like a maniac and hit the course for the first time. It was a pretty bumpy trail and a lot of fun! When I hit the first bit of steep climb I tried to drop my chain into the granny gear and it would not go. I tried and I tried all the while continuing to push the middle ring up the hill. When I realized that it would not go I just tried to maintain a pace. All of a sudden I hear my heart rate monitor making a crazy noise! When I look down I see that it was pinging around 200 BPM. That scared the living day lights out of me so I tried to slow down a bit. I finally spun my cable at the lever and at dropped down to the small ring! I was already 3.5 miles into the race! I flew around the super fun course and even climbed Hurl Hill with ease. About 7 miles in you start the long climb they call The Grind. I was really moving up the grind when I started to feel cramps on the top of my shins. I started to freak a little considering this was my first lap! I managed to spin through the discomfort. I quickly realized that the course was not the 10 miles in length that they stated it was. As I passed the 11 mile mark I started to wonder how long this thing was going to be!
As you came out of the mountains towards the race track, you had to crossover the bridge and ride down the stairs into the pit area. Once into the pit area you raced through all the campsites as the other teams cheered you on. It was really cool. I managed to finish my first lap in about 1:07. Now it was time to wait!

The adrenalin was still so high that when it was time for my next lap, I was ready to go. I loaded up on my Hammer Endurolytes and took off like a flash! The first 4-5 miles were the toughest for me. Even though the hills were short, they seemed to play with my mind and test my strength. Once I made it to hurl hill I felt as if I was home free, as long as I could keep from cramping up climbing the Grind. I felt as if I was 5 minutes faster on this lap but came in only a minute quicker than my last. This lap was way more spread out than my first. I went through sections of the course where I didn't see anyone for a few minutes. It was pretty surreal how quickly the course spread out the competitors.
I was able to eat a little between laps and this time I made the effort to stretch for a good 20-30 minutes. My next lap was just before 9:30 PM and I was feeling pretty good going into my first night lap. It had already started o get pretty cold so I layered up well. Once I got through that initial 3-4 miles I stepped up the pace. My battery pack for my headlight came undone from the velcro, so I had to stop and fasten it back to my bike. That ate up at least two minutes. I did not see many riders out until I got near the end of the lap and looked back into the valley. It was a sight to see all the lights in the pure black of night. The fog had also started to roll in at this point.
I tried to eat but had a very hard time getting down any solid food. After a banana I just decided to drink my meal. Rory and I were still downing Endurolytes like they were hot tamales. I then made the mistake of trying to lay down. My body was tired but I did not feel as if I could sleep. I just wanted to bundle up in my sleeping bag because the air had dropped to the low 50's. As my alarm went off for my 3 AM lap, I started to question if I could or should get up. I asked myself if my team would be mad if I said that I couldn't go on? But I pulled myself up and threw on my clothes. I stretched and warmed up in my tent and as I climbed outside I was taken back by the thickness of the fog. I couldn't see five feet in front of me and quickly wondered how my teammate Heather was doing on the course with her insufficient light. I walked over to the Hamana Saloon to sit in front of the heater and heard stories of how bad it was out on the course. As I waited for Heather I started to worry when the time continued to pass with no sight of her, and than finally she appeared out of the mist!
Before I took off I said a quick prayer for safety and strength and then hit it. About three miles into the course, the fog blew out and the wind came to a standstill! It was amazingly beautiful and I just tried to hammer as fast as I could. My battery pack came loose again and I had stop to fasten it back on. Once I got going again I seemed to find a cadence and flew though the night! On my way up the grind I did not see anyone until I heard someone moaning in agony. I asked the guy if he was OK and he said that he was cramping. I stopped to give him a handful of my magic pills!
By the end of lap I was super stoked that I got up! It was really fun riding in the middle of the night! That lap took me 1:16 minutes. I had already decided that I was not going to lay down and let my mind go through the questions again. I did a large amount of stretching and sat in the saloon warming up for the rest of the morning. Rory got the sunrise lap and said that it was beautiful. By the time he came through the finish the wind started to pick back up.
We had noticed in the middle of the night that we were now battling for 10th place with two other teams! We couldn't believe it. To make matters more stressful, they seemed to have their quickest on the course when we had our slowest. So we would jump from 14th to 10th and then fall back to 13th the next hour! The race was going to be decided on the last lap!
Before my last lap started at about 8:30 AM we realized that mine would be the last. I had a fear inside that my body had nothing left to give. As I took off I felt a surge but quickly ate that up during the tough beginning of the lap. Once I passed over hurl hill, I let it all hang out on the downhills. When I got to the bottom of the Grind I was feeling it in my lower back! I found a slow cadence and started pushing up the hill. I then decided that I was not going to leave anything or any part of me out on the course. I stood up and hammered my way to the top of the hill as fast and as hard as I could. When I came over the crest you could hear the crowd cheering everyone on! When I dropped down the stairs into the pit area, the crowd was going crazy as all the riders passed through. That seemed to help push me a little harder. As I hit the paved road I noticed to goofballs trying to draft each other and I told myself that I was going to pass them. It took everything I had as I sling-shotted around them and passed the finish line a few bike lengths ahead!
I was greeted by my teammates at the line and they all seemed to be as happy as I was! When we got back to camp I walked over to the lake and proceeded to dry heave salt crystals out of my tummy! I then walked over and checked the results and found that we locked in 10th place by 5/100ths of a second! I couldn't believe it! I felt as if we had won the race! What a way to finish!
When all was said and done, we had no real mechanical problems, no flats, no crashes, and we managed to keep someone on the course all 24 hours! This was one of the coolest things I had ever done! Rory and I have now decided that our next 24 Hour Race will be September 21st in Southern California and only me and him! That's right race fans, 2 man team! Start praying for us now! We are definetly going to need it!
Peace
Lucas

Racing Against Myself

Ready or not! I arrived at Ellings park in Santa Barbara ready to fight like a maniac! As we lined up for the race on the cool foggy morning I quickly realized that I was the only one in my class! Wow, all I needed to do was finish the race and I could capture the gold medal! The over 35 clydesdales that always start with us had a their quickest 9 guys so I figured I would have my eyes on them. The guys that have been winning this class have been 6-15 minutes faster than me in the prior races so I knew that I had a battle in store.
It's been two weeks since my last race and I put in some serious training. The week after the Castaic race I put in about 160 miles, 15 hours, and 18,000 feet of climbing on my road and mountain bikes combined! The following week I decided to take a new approach and take it easy. I did a couple days of riding around the lake on both my mountain bike and road bike. I also decided to eat something before the race this time but had to opt for only a protein bar as I was out of oatmeal!
Back to the starting line! As we took off I actually jumped out front much to my surprise. It was important to get ahead quickly as most of this course was single-track and there was very little room to pass. By the time we hit the hill I was already passed by a large part of the group. Just near the top of the hill, one of my Westlake Cyclery's Fast Friday team members busted his chain right in front of me. I thought of offering him my Quick Link(piece to fix your chain) but decided stopping was not an option.
I was hanging with the front half of the group for the whole first lap. I took a couple of crazy lines trough the bushes in order to pass some slower riders and got very lucky that I did not flat! I was not feeling 100% on the first lap, but I was holding on pretty well! As we started up the hill on our second lap I started to lose sight of the leaders but new I was around 4th place. As we reached the crest of the mountain my chain would not go into the big ring. It started to jump and skip as I hammered through the winding trail on top. I hoped that it would work itself out as I flew down the mountain side. Once I hit the flats it started to skip even worse. Then as I looked down I watched in slow motion as my chain broke. This was the first real mechanical issue in a race that I've had! My chain has fallen off and skipped before but nothing serious like this! I jumped off and hoped that I had that quick link in my bag! Sweet I found it! Now I just needed to know how to put it on! As I struggled for a little over 10 minutes I watched rider after rider pass me by. Once I finally got it on, I jumped back on and took off. Unfortunately I was at the bottom of the big climb and had to go straight uphill!
There was no real relief on this course like Castaic. The descents were hairpin soft turns and the stretches of single-track were super bumpy. So you were climbing or holding on for dear life! As I started my 3rd and final lap I felt really good. The sun had come out and was putting out some serious heat. I noticed some friends not to far ahead and used them for inspiration to hammer away. I passed a few riders but most of the faster guys were to far to catch. I finished feeling well yet disapointed! It's one thing to break down, but to break down when your feeling good sucks!
Next weekend is my first 24 hour team event! I will be racing on a co-ed team of 4, for 24 hours! The race is in Monterey. The course is a 10.5 mile course that takes approximately 1 hour to complete. The way it breaks down is I will be doing a lap about every three hours for a total of about 6 hours. The only variable is possibly doing two laps in a row if someone is hurting. I am super excited for this race as it is very much like a large festival with crazy ccontests like weirdest helmet and best theme for your pit area! We do not expect to win this race as it is an "Open" race meaning we will be racing against other co-ed teams made up of semi-pro and expert riders. We will give it our best and will attempt to complete 23 laps in the 24 hours. Wish us luck and safety!
Peace,
Lucas