Near the top of the climb at 11000 ft. Sucking oxygen!
Friday, August 19, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
Xterra Mountain Championship - Keystone
Conrad is a BULL ! Stoltz took 2nd in this race which is the first time in the whole season that he has been knocked off the top step... incredible consistency, the "caveman" lives on... Well done Conrad. Mike Vine took overall honours, he is coming back after a drug ban that he got a while back (as legend has it).
The bike course was the roughest course i have ridden in the USA and it wasn't even a mtb race! The mtbers need to harden up and take some lessons from Xterra. This course was sick. Hopefully we get some images from the official photographers that show the insanity, i will def post them here if i find some!
This is a pic of the sky on the way home... luckily the weather was good to us during the race. Water temp was great and there were sunny skies all morning.
"one minute!" ... the anxious pro field are lined up behind the start buoy and everyone sinks into the water. Suddenly i start feeling nauseous, what is happening? I feel like i am moving backwards and the gun hasn't even gone off. Then i cracked up laughing - everyone is doing doggy paddle trying to sneak in an extra few metres and get a good "line" for the first buoy. It was so pathetic seeing all of the "pro's" pushing the boundary. Only about 10 strokes and 5 kicks in the head later (from the swimmers ahead) did i stop laughing under the water! The swim was in a Square and was 2 laps of a tiny pond which was great for the spectators, especially when i swam into the quay in front of the restauarant. Yes, i have a natural tendency to wander, (not like dog, like Nemo with one eye). Speaking of dogs, check out the collar on this specimen I found in Steamworks, the local Durango hangout... I had to get my pic taken.
Please pay special attention to the hairstyle under her right arm.... PRICELESS ! I wonder if her dad has a mullet?
Sorry, i got sidetracked - it happens... back to the race. Ja, so the bike leg was awesome and I managed to muscle into 12th position by the end of the leg (and ahead of all 10 women who outswam me !).
Beginning the run, I was a bit overeager and passed another chap - 11th position wasn't to be... the 'flat' run course turned brutal. Horse kak on the trail and a couple of steep kicks in the terrain managed to put the hurt into this mtber and i limped home in 14th position. Outside the prize money this time, but just wait - one day i am gonna learn how to swim !
For the official results, go to http://www.xterraplanet.com/race/results_05/keystone_05overall.html
The bike course was the roughest course i have ridden in the USA and it wasn't even a mtb race! The mtbers need to harden up and take some lessons from Xterra. This course was sick. Hopefully we get some images from the official photographers that show the insanity, i will def post them here if i find some!
This is a pic of the sky on the way home... luckily the weather was good to us during the race. Water temp was great and there were sunny skies all morning.
"one minute!" ... the anxious pro field are lined up behind the start buoy and everyone sinks into the water. Suddenly i start feeling nauseous, what is happening? I feel like i am moving backwards and the gun hasn't even gone off. Then i cracked up laughing - everyone is doing doggy paddle trying to sneak in an extra few metres and get a good "line" for the first buoy. It was so pathetic seeing all of the "pro's" pushing the boundary. Only about 10 strokes and 5 kicks in the head later (from the swimmers ahead) did i stop laughing under the water! The swim was in a Square and was 2 laps of a tiny pond which was great for the spectators, especially when i swam into the quay in front of the restauarant. Yes, i have a natural tendency to wander, (not like dog, like Nemo with one eye). Speaking of dogs, check out the collar on this specimen I found in Steamworks, the local Durango hangout... I had to get my pic taken.
Please pay special attention to the hairstyle under her right arm.... PRICELESS ! I wonder if her dad has a mullet?
Sorry, i got sidetracked - it happens... back to the race. Ja, so the bike leg was awesome and I managed to muscle into 12th position by the end of the leg (and ahead of all 10 women who outswam me !).
Beginning the run, I was a bit overeager and passed another chap - 11th position wasn't to be... the 'flat' run course turned brutal. Horse kak on the trail and a couple of steep kicks in the terrain managed to put the hurt into this mtber and i limped home in 14th position. Outside the prize money this time, but just wait - one day i am gonna learn how to swim !
For the official results, go to http://www.xterraplanet.com/race/results_05/keystone_05overall.html
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Kabush or Kabush-abie ?
Here is the view from my rear wheel ... well for some of the race anyway! Is it a Kabush or is it a Kabush-abie? There have been several spottings of Geoff Kabush wannabe's on the NORBA circuit... we call them "Kabushabie's" They grow the burners, get the kit, the bike... its so confusing trying to tell them apart, but i think that this one is a genuine spotting, what do you think ?
Monday, August 08, 2005
NORBA Brian Head - OLD SCHOOL
Or as the locals say "owild schoowil". One big 26 mile loop. Classic.
Yet another oxygen scarce Ski Resort town greeted the athletes for the 7th leg of the NORBA series. A fierce tarmac pass shook the field up from the gun, a few mild attacks ensued and a selection group of about 20 riders formed. Tarmac faded into gravel road taking us up from 9500ft to over 11500ft. After 20 minutes of climbing, we hit the first singletack and it was well worth the wait. Now that all of the snow has melted the 'high country' is open for action.
Even at this altitude you get pretty big pine trees, its bizarre - in Lesotho or at the top of the Drakensberg, virtually nothing above knee height survives the climate but here the plants must just be tougher. The same goes for us humans! Some of the riders who usually blast their way around the top 10 positions at sea level NORBA races battle to make it into the top 20 up at altitude whilst some of the more mortal athletes just come into their own up at cloud base.
Trails criss cross the patches of woodland and open plains of the high country. Stream crossings and gnarly 'rock garden' sections of volcanic rock slashed tyres, weeding out some the less fortunate (or less technical !) riders. Four days of wet weather prior to the race had turned the lower forested sections of the course into muddy mushes of roots and rock, again challenging the technical abilities of the pack.
The last 5 miles of the course put the hurt back into the legs. Open forestry road allowed riders to regroup and chase each other down, fighting it out to the line.
Results...
Yet another oxygen scarce Ski Resort town greeted the athletes for the 7th leg of the NORBA series. A fierce tarmac pass shook the field up from the gun, a few mild attacks ensued and a selection group of about 20 riders formed. Tarmac faded into gravel road taking us up from 9500ft to over 11500ft. After 20 minutes of climbing, we hit the first singletack and it was well worth the wait. Now that all of the snow has melted the 'high country' is open for action.
Even at this altitude you get pretty big pine trees, its bizarre - in Lesotho or at the top of the Drakensberg, virtually nothing above knee height survives the climate but here the plants must just be tougher. The same goes for us humans! Some of the riders who usually blast their way around the top 10 positions at sea level NORBA races battle to make it into the top 20 up at altitude whilst some of the more mortal athletes just come into their own up at cloud base.
Trails criss cross the patches of woodland and open plains of the high country. Stream crossings and gnarly 'rock garden' sections of volcanic rock slashed tyres, weeding out some the less fortunate (or less technical !) riders. Four days of wet weather prior to the race had turned the lower forested sections of the course into muddy mushes of roots and rock, again challenging the technical abilities of the pack.
The last 5 miles of the course put the hurt back into the legs. Open forestry road allowed riders to regroup and chase each other down, fighting it out to the line.
Results...
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Xterra Crested Butte (offroad triathlon)
Swim: 1km
Ride: 20km
Run: 9km
Swimming at 9000ft above sea level is like trying to run on a treadmill with your mouth duct taped closed. You just simply don't get enough air! As we rounded the first buoy, i knew that it was going to be a tough day. I felt like i was a sardine in the sardine run and there were 50 sharks chasing us... and someone had cut my fins off. I was going backwards fast. The course designers clearly left their tape measures at home when they set up the course, so they just made it a bit longer to make sure we were not deprived of any water time!
Out of the water, the game was on... now it was my turn. (on the bike) Time to catch up to those sailfish. Well, it certainly was hard work trying to pass over half of the field in singletrack and not create any crashes or make too many enemies. The course was awesome, there were some seriously technical rocky climbs which were near impossible to ride. It was just as tough as the World Cup we did a few weeks back and a lot of people were forced to portage. Nearing 2/3 of the way round the course, i managed to get some sense out of one of the marshalls "Five men and one woman up ahead." Whoaaa, i really had to pin my ears back in order to get as much advantage as possible before the run.
Running out of the transition area, I felt pretty good - i was neck and neck with 5th and 6th position. (we had dropped the lady:) so the pace was hot between us. Heading straight down the tar road of the Crested Butte Mountain resort, Will started striding away and i had to slip back into a maintainable pace. The run course was pretty tough, mostly singletrack too with some rocky decents that kept you fighting to stay upright. The Lake was a welcome sight as we completed a lap on the shoreline to finish in front of the crowd in the entertainment area.
I really hope that Xterra grows and we see more than one event per year in RSA - by the end of the race, your whole body is in a state of severe pain... it doesn't get much better than this!
Results:
1st Mike Vine
2nd Josiah Middaugh
3rd Greg Krause
4th Jimmy Archer
5th Will Kelsay
6th Brian Smith
7th Roan Exelby (1st Ameteur... but way back !!)
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