December updates

   December is an odd month for cycling, because unless you do cyclocross there is no racing. But there is a lot of base building kilometers. We are using some new stuff for the 2011 season, and is also the first time in years that I have been able to do any training this time of year. I do have some cool news.

    I just got the email from Powertap and I'm in the racer 2011 sponsored racer program. Is exiting for a racer to get any kind of sponsorship because it validates all your work , it means that someone else believes in you besides yourself. So the level of excitement went up even more, now if the wheel peeps sponsor me for the 2011 season is will be complete.

California States final 2010.

   So if I believe in myself and others believe in me,all I have to do is work hard and better things  will come. I would like to thank all the people that helped in 2010.

Cya
Ed
http://www.eellinracing.com/

Happy thanksgiving to all

  I would like to give thanks for my family, friends and girlfriend. Now as far as cycling, I'm very happy with the year after two terrible years this was great. Thank my sponsors Ron at Epic Cameras, Randy atH2ooverdrive hydration, and Steve at Cannondale. I hope that the few of you that are on the face for the 2011 season come on board, I promise you 100% effort everyday on and off the bike

I'm writing this before I go and do a 4hr training ride a lot of base miles left before any racing begins next year.

Best regards
ed

2010 haul

2010 haul
Originally uploaded by cis181ellin

Took a pic of some of the medals, jerseys and trophies that I won during the 2010 season.

Vuelta a Mexicali 2010

The team

Stage racing
         I'm not ready to do any real racing this time of year, and this time
is more poignant since I broke my collarbone about 6 weeks ago and I also have been diagnosed with EIA(exercise induced asthma).


        But some peeps I know down in Tijuana, Mexico are forming a team to race in the 2011 season down in Mexico, and they asked me if could come down and do the vuelta a Mexicali which is a 3 day 4 stage race. The thing been that I have to race open pro, because that's the team.  I expressed my doubts about my conditioning since I have only been riding for about a week and only base miles.

      The answer was don't worry be happy, everything is paid for, will pick you up and drop you off backhome. I asked my coach and he said sure a little quality training would be good for me. The other problem is that I was little under the weather and it was related to my EIA, 2 days before the first day I went to do easy night crit to test out the bike and to test the medicine I was given to help with the EIA(symbicort 320), the medicine test didn't go well, I had a bad allergic reaction. The chest pain was so great that I was sure I was going to die, Thursday morning I was feeling a little sick and my chest still hurt.

Friday came around and I went racing;
Friday morning a 7 kilometer ITT, I finished ok my I wasn't 100%
Friday afternoon a tough 75 kilometer circuit race, we went up an over pass over again and again I was in the main pack the whole time and with 2 laps to go a huge pull came as we were about to go up the ramp again I dropped a chain by the time I got it back on they were up the ramp and gone. I finished about a minute behind.

8 miles of climbing

        Saturday was a Real tough day, 100 kilometers with a 22 kilometer climb in the middle with an altitude gain of 1200 meters. The wind started to blow hard and steady, two of my teammates got dropped of the main pack as we got to the base of the mountain. I took the lead and we started to go up, the wind was brutal, gust around 30 miles per hour and then it got overcast and the temp started to drop first in the 60s, then high 50s. My teammates weren't helping and they guys we caught were dead too. So I just stayed up front, to be honest it was somewhat easy the temp dropped to 49 degrees and the drizzle I kept pulling the bunch.

4200', 13 miles in 56 minutes

       Finally we finished 3.5hr about 5 minutes from the winners, but one of my teammates was top 6 now. Next a killer 1 hr crit on Sunday. The Sunday crit was going to be late around noon, our plan now was to cover all the moves and to bring our guy to the front to see if  we could get him the 20 or so seconds he needed to get top 5.
 The only problem was that the course was pretty much like the Friday circuit two huge over passes and many sprinters, as well as two very organized teams. So we went to war the pace was nuts right from the go, a lead group try to break the  pack and each one of us covering all the attacks, about 35 minutes into it one of the teams got the break to stick, from there on it was chase to get back to them, I was spent my lack of training finally caught up with me.  With about 10 minutes to go I pulled off, the break stuck and our guy finished in 6th place and 2 other guys in the top 10. I think we did great because we came together like three days before and most were already in off season mode. So the plan is for the 2011 season to have a team to race in Mexico, at least 2 big sponsors are lined up.  I told them  that I will try to make as many races as I can but that I going after my mtb Pro upgrade in the states, including the California state championship and racing the mtb nationals in Indiana I think.

Cya next time Ed www.eellinracing.com

Well the past month has been filled with some unexpected happenings

 OK so a few days after getting second place at the California state championships, I broke my collarbone bad enough that it required surgery oh and a nice plate. This was what I would call my first real cycling injury, the good thing is that it was just a freak accident and nothing I did.  I usually pedal alone but that day I had two friends with me. 

So I been having some sinus issues all year and a few infections that we believed were sinus related. About 6 months ago I went to see a specialist about my sinus and it was so bad the he gave a treatment and told me to come back in a few weeks to see if he could see something without x rays or ct scans or a like. Well I didn't go back because I was chasing the southern Ca mtb cup and later the state championship, but now that I had some down time I went back. He scold me a little and then he asked me many questions about how I felt in the past few months, he listen did a checkup and he told me I was sick right know, I explained a couple a episodes  that I had throughout the year in which I couldn't breath at all. After I finished he told me that I have EIA(exercise induced asthma), and that would explain that lack of air feeling that I had during races only also a blood taste in my mouth.

I never ever heard of EIA neither had my dad, the good thing is that it would explain some (lack) of results I had during the year. The doc told me that is fairly easy to control ,so Im already taking some medication.

I already started to pedal again on the trainer and on saturday did a 80 mile ride, my god the neck and rarms were killing me. So after all this I feel that 2011 is going to be  great year, because I think I have all the nagging stuff out of the way.

Now I'm waiting on a couple of new sponsor for  2011 that might come on board.

So thats all for now, need to do a few thousand base miles before next season starts.

Ed.

Cali state championship 2010

    OK this was the race that I really wanted to win for obvious reasons. The September 12 race is to be the king of the hill in mtb in California. I was going to race the Cat 1 19-24 or something like that, I started the year as Cat 2 I won the southern Ca and kenda cup Cat 2 championships. So we get there midday Saturday to do some prerunning, I finally got my 2010 lefty suspension.

On the box

  It was hot in the 80s, first lap easy to learn the course, second lap faster to check lines and settings and the last half lap to cool down. The course is short but tough, the first steep hill had only one line the right side on the left was loose dirt. After that it was like most course downhill and back up. So if hard climbing is not your thing you were done by time you came back up.

   A nice downhill section a fire road and some pavement, you could pass anywhere, the way back was pavement and fire road, but the last hill to the finish was killer, steep and switchbacks. I did an easy 23 minute lap on Saturday, so I felt ok and rested, we left to have dinner and rest.

    Sunday morning had a good breakfast at a local restaurant in San Dimas, by the antique district. My race was late at 1:48pm so I had a light lunch and a lot of H2o overdrive drink, because it was going to be hot and 5 laps is a long time.

California and Kenda for 2010

   I think my wave was the 5th to take off, I tried to see who was in my group I seen at least three of them before, so when we got our start I took off behind the guys I knew, one was really strong we dropped everyone on the first climb, funny thing was that I felt like I still had a reserve so I sat on his wheel, for the whole first lap, as I go by the start finish line my dad yells you are flying, my first lap was like 16:30 we were passing pros and all the other Categories in front. About half way into the second lap I felt that the other guy was pulling away, and I just started to lose time. I cant explain it but I went into survival mode, as I went by all I said was something is wrong. The next 3 laps were a little better. As I finished I wasn't sure of my place, the 30 minutes were a long time. Eventually I got second by less than 2 minutes. So I came little short but all in all I had a great year, great things are going to come in 2011.

So by Monday I feeling a little sick, so I guess I had a head cold or something so on Tuesday I get a call from some friends telling me that they bought road bikes and that they wanted to go riding so I did about ten miles into the ride I crashed and broke my collarbone I needed surgery, somehow the front tire came partially off the rim and the wheel got stuck as it came around, I was going downhill on a curve so I hit the ground pretty hard.

So I been forced to take at least two weeks completely off the bike, will start to do some trainer work in a week or so.

I would like to thanks H2o overdrive, epic cameras and cannondale for the help in 2010 and we will have a much better 2011.

cya
Ed Ellin
http://www.eellinracing.com/

Baja racing

OK went to baja to race this Sunday, I entered U23. The pros and U23 race together and the same course. I was rested feeling ok after a few days off, but the fork and brakes were acting up and it was too late to do anything about it. The temp was just under 90 and about 1200 feet of climbing per lap, our race is 5 laps long about 5 miles each. The first lap was furious going way too fast plus the heat, a tough lap to survive.

After the first 24 minute lap I was 6 overall and 2nd U23, stayed like that for another two laps then I caught another pro which put me 5 overall and 2nd in class.
The heat was really intense I drank about 3 bottles of H2O overdrive drink, so as far as hydration was concerned I had it covered, about 10 pros quit. The bike worked great,I just need my new fork oh yeah a to put my old brakes back on.

By now I was feeling a little tired and the suspension and brakes weren't getting any better, I was making up ground on the 1st place guy but my gearing selection was not helping, so I just settle to finish the last two laps. That's how we ended up, it was a great training race, so the preparation for bonelli park looks great.

I was going to do some filming but I forgot my epic camera, I'll use it Sunday during my track race. I don't have any more races(mtb) until bonelli park, after that three long solo efforts, all endurance's .
thanks
ed ellin

Racers and chasers race

I went to do the race without pre running the course, by that I mean that I have never ever been there. But I was going to use it as a training ride, I wasn't to worried. The course was a 10 mile loop with some nice climbs, one really steep one all of them short and a couple of small water crossings.

The Pros and experts went out together, I went to the front with the pros and I stayed with them until that very steep climb right there is when I knew I was tired the legs burn a little too much, from there on I just rode trying to stay in front of as many guys as I could. I wasn't sure who was a cat 1 much less in my age group, my cannondaleFLASH flash was working great, I drank some h2odrink and rode.

My dad told me how far I was front the front every time I went by. I finished my 30 mile race got first place. The awards ceremony started and I got some cake Roberts mom(the organizer), his mom's birthday is Monday so they had cake. They had raffle my dad and I both got tickets and we both won, two t-shirts and to cannondale water bottles oh and some cannondale gloves. I got my cool trophy(I always stay for the trophy) out of respect to the organizer's and also 30 khs bucks, so I got all my entry fees back.
The cannondale rep was there and because I got my flash on the box, he gave me another t shirt.

To recap
I forgot my cool epiccamera
a nice 30 mile training race
2 water bottles(cannondale)
3 t shirts
1 pair of gloves
30 KHS bucks I not sure how to use them

The cannondale rep was there and because I got my flash on the box, he gave another t shirt.
Photos later

Next race in Baja next Sunday

Baja racing

Well to keep building my endurance, (after 2 years) of sickness, I decided to go down to Ensenada Mex. to do a mtb race. I race pro U23 down there, I forgot how tough and long a race there can be. The race is 5 laps long about 8 miles per lap, with about 1,000 of climbing per lap this is real XC racing no fire roads or anything like that.

I was coming of a volume week(getting ready) for the state championship, so I went there a little tired. The pros and the U23 go out together which makes for a fierce pace, red line from the word go with about 40 miles to race. I went with the lead group but I could tell the pace was just to fast for me, I wasn't fresh. So I let a few guys pass me, at the end of the 1st lap I was a couple minutes back, which is pretty good considering I was pretty beat. As the laps wore one I caught the guys that I let pass me, I was 1st U23 and 3rd overall going into the 4th lap.

By now I knew I was feeling all the riding from the previous week, and it hit pretty hard on the 4th lap, it was weird I wasn't feeling tired but I was losing time. Part of the problem was that my front fork is in need of a rebuild and it was beating me up really bad, from the 3rd lap on my neck, shoulders, wrist hurt a lot also my shoes got wet and the socks started to rub the outer part of my foot which hurt too. I drank 3 bottles of h2o overdrive drink, which I think is the best hydration drink out there, the heat was around 85 and no cramps or real crazy thirst just normal drinking. I love it.

At the end I won and finished 3rd overall, but I felt beat I forgot how long a 3 hrs race is. But I think it will help when the championship gets here.

Next race racers and chasers
Also there is a 100k race down there in Oct that I might do.

Back to big bear

OK so went back to big bear to race, a few things were different. I'm now cat 1 , the bike was a new cannondale flash and I actually rested for a few days. We(dad and me) got there Saturday so I could pre run the course it was longer and different layout. Felt flat , maybe the rest or something else, so far I had great luck racing at altitude. The course was about the same as far as climbing and style fire roads and some single track.

Dinner was spaghetti and pizza some H2O drink After that a good night sleep, got up early so I could have a nice breakfast at the only place up there that opens at 7am on Sunday, I don't remember the name but lumber jack something, had waffles with bananas, eggs, bacon and juices. After that went back to the hotel for a 2hr nap.
I wanted to be warming up about an hour before the 11:03 start time, we were running a few minutes behind but it was fine, so we get to the staging area which is a half mile from the start. Now things got a little complicated then, as I get ready including getting My epic camera on the helmet I came to realize that my shoes are back at the hotel, I knew my dad was going to get pissed off when I tell him, because according to him I have 24hrs to get ready to race so no last minute things. I tell him he gets mad and leaves for the hotel to get them and try my best to warm up while wearing vans. He gets back with less than 10 minutes to race start.

I get to the starting line 11:03 comes and we are off, a few minutes into the race I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't get air in me I just felt well like crap it was weird I can't even explain it, but I was getting passed and for the 15-20 minutes I was just dying, after a while I felt that I riding a little better but the damage was done, I just kept going until I finished, got 5th. But it was awful.

We hung around so I could get my official cat 2 championship trophy, also to get measured for the so cal champ jersey, and as my dad would that's how you pay your sponsors with pictures and jerseys.

Next I will continue training to get ready for the State championship at bonelli park in September, will do road racing, track and any mountain bike racing I can find. i want that jersey, because I want to get the pro upgrade.

Cya
ed

Ok endurance racing time

After some back problems during my last race we decided against going to the nationals in July. So we had a weekend open to do some racing and try to figure out the pain, got my new frame(cannondale flash 2010) so we were going to try new things out and a 12hr endurance mtb race is a great race to do it.

Some guys from Ensenada Mex, asked me to join the 4 guy pro team, and I said yes.

We got there around 9am setup camp tents, tables ect. Took my bike to the mechanic there because of some chain rub, when I was using the big chain ring. I have a 2 *9 setup on my bike with a road derailleur up front, also my SI crank was making some noise an hour later he had it all done 5 dollar.

I didn't prerun the course so my first lap was a recon lap as well bike adjustment. The course was a real mtb course, lots of steep climbs mostly sinlgletracks a couple of fire roads. Right from the go we took the lead, the other teams were a few minutes behind, after 8-9 laps we had an 8 minute lead and bam disaster struck one of the guys had a flat that he couldn't fixed and we lost all but one minute.

Ok so we started again, now we were still running the same lap times late in the afternoon we had a 9 minute lead again, this time it was me who got the flat now I was running a tubeless upfront, of course I got the flat at 9pm, I get the tube in but I couldn't inflate the tire the reason was silly the silly nut that holds the valve stem in place it was missing, and the pump I was using didn't have a lock. So after a long while of fighting this I decided to run to the check point to have them call in the team , to have another guy come a get the baton.

Well after that disaster we dropped to 3rd and there weren't enough laps left to over come my time lost. So we got on the box and I think I got the bike and back pain sorted out.I'm going to skip the nationals because we need to be 100% sure that the pain is gone and Colorado is far and expensive to go and have it act up again. So we are running the last race of the So cal cup on sunday, I upgraded to Cat 1 so it should be fun, and I also get to try my cat 2 champ jersey.

Hopefully my new 2010 lefty gets here before the race, is cooler and lighter. I had all the guys in the team try my h2o overdrive drink and they loved it. I personally think it works great no real sweat marks anymore.

Will do an update after the big bear race.

Big Bear shootout

OK I never been to big bear and a race seem like a great reason to go. Now the race had some real meaning, because any podium would assure me the kenda west cup championship and also the southern California cup series championship.

This race like the Santa Barbara race I was going to use as training races, because there is no reason to win by 20 minutes is not that I'm cocky but it had already happen in the previous races. So we decided to go and race with no rest.
If you don't know big bear mountain ,well is a real mountain around 8,000 feet or above sea level and altitude and cycling go well together, now San Diego is sea level so going that high could represent a problem but will see.
We got there mid day Saturday and waited for registration, because this was not your normal mtb race that you park where you race, for this race you park and then you ride to were the race is going to start about 3 miles away. Finally my dad and I figured it out, I found some people that knew the course I was going to race, started with a 5 mile climb and the some long fast and sketchy roads (access) not even a real fire road.

The prerun also gave me a chance to test my new camera from epiccameras, the model was an epic hd. Now the trick is to attach it(to your helmet) so you can ride and actually get some good video, the ride took about 2 hrs. I felt great no effects from the altitude but my sinus / allergies were looking a little iffy.

Got back to the hotel and started to download my video really easy, I found a couples of things out one is that if you use true hd 1 hour of video is about 4gigs of memory that's not a real problem but the camera shoots off after the first 4 gigs and you have to turn it back on if you remember, the placement on the helmet was great and you forget you are wearing it. So we decided to turn the quality down a little to see how much time would record, as a reference it recorded 1.5 hrs in a1.5 gigs, great quality still.

Now Sunday comes around had my breakfast waited for my 11:11 am start time, a few age cat 2 groups were started together. And we are off and guy from another age group and me took off, really hard all up hill after 20 minutes there was no one within 300 yards, but at the same my nose was so stuffed that I had been breathing through my mouth for a while, that cold and dry mountain air was killing me chest started to hurt so I slowed down just enough to get caught by one guy from my age group, we sated close to each other for 20 minutes or so and then bam and made one little mistake took the wrong turn, which cost me a bout 2 minutes and that was the race I lost buy about three minutes.

But with the second place podium I won both the kenda cup and the so cal cup, I also upgraded to cat 1. Now to keep the training going, the national are in one month in Colorado oh yes Wednesday I have a doctors appointment to see about the sinus thing which is becoming a concern now. Also my 2010 Flash should be ready in a week or so to test.

First cat 1 race in 2 weeks, this is the first time in 2 years that I feel I'm making progress.

Ellings Park race

OK after about a month without racing, the Santa Barbara race was here. Never seen the course so we went up on Saturday, to pre run it. We got there and as I got ready I saw Tinker Juarez, he was about to go out on the course so I decided to tag along. Let me tell you something he went full blast, we did one fast lap the guy can ride. After that I did a easy lap.

This race was going to be a little different than the other three, because I was coming into it after a lot of riding including a 5 day block. So my expectation were to finish top three and lock the points chase for the cup.

We had a great breakfast Sunday morning at a place called the Cajun kitchen I think that's the name. After that we went to the park, started talking with Ron the guy from Epic cameras after some talking I decided to test one during the race. Ron got it ready real easy and mounted it on the helmet equally easy. 11:am came around came about and we were off I started really hard after about 3/4 I got passed, I was finally feeling all that training, finished the 1 lap third but we were all really close.
The second lap was about the same, caught the guy who passed me but then I got passed again by another guy that was moving really fast, finished the second lap third.
Third and final lap I was feeling about the same during the whole race so I knew how the finish was going to be, I could see the guy in second so I decided to go after him to make sure I got max points. My third and second laps were almost identical, so I ended second a couple of minutes back from first place.

I got to the epic camera both were my dad was and he asked me for the camera I forgot I was wearing it, I think it weighs less than 3 ounces. Ron downloaded the first lap (I had the small) chip. I saw the whole first lap, I was narrating the lap as it played. The camera is a very cool toy.

After a couple of hours I got my trophy, and we started the drive to San Diego oh yes one stop at in and out burger a we were home.

I'm pleased with the result because it was expected all the other 1st place trophies were won by huge margins, so for these race we decided to stay training, to build up for the nationals in July. We some taper I could have won by 15-20 minutes but the points would have been about the same, so we went for the bigger picture lets see if it pays off later in the year..

Next stop Big Bear.

Santa Ynez mtb race

OK like before never been to Los Olivos which is where the Santa Ynez valley classic race is. The drive was going to be around 4:30 hours to get that's far for a 1:30hr long mtb race, but this was going to be my third race in the series and another podium would be great.
We got up there mid day and went to the motel, checked in then went to the race course to pre-run it, after all the racing was done the course was open. I did a easy first lap at around 50 minutes, well the course was long about 9.5 miles lots of hills and super bumpy. Oh and it was also pretty cool under 60 at 5pm, I went for my second lap a little faster 45 or so minutes the course easy to learn and the rest were hill so no need for any more laps.

Sunday morning it look like it was going to rain, had an early breakfast at paulas pancake house in Solvang. Got to the race at around 10am, same procedure pay and registration, Sunday was much colder around 45 or so and it didn't look like it was going to climb much also the rain was in the wings too. Also at around 10am the wind started to pickup and people left, by the time 11:30am came around it was a full Santa Ana, to say it suck, would be the understatement of the year. So happy to finish the race in one piece, the wind blew a couple of guys of their bikes and at least three tents.

11am came decision time what to wear, rain stuff, jacket all kind of warmers or risk it and see what happens. I went for the what happen, with arm warmers and leg warmers.
The race started and I just took off, since all the cat2 start almost together my goal was to finish in front of all of them. When the second big climb came my back started to get tight, and anyone that pedals will tell you that when the back goes the legs go. I still finished the first and my two laps in front of everyone, but I had a shadow(that's) what my dad calls anyone right behind you. I held the front all but the last 3 miles when my back just gave out so I lost 3 minutes on the back and came in second overall. I think it was all the bumps on the course and the big pushing that did it.
I won by 15 minutes or so, the cup is a lot closer three races and three first places. So if everything keeps going like it is the cup will be mine. I also got the invite to the mtb national championship in Colorado, in July. Yes we are going.

Next stop big bear may 16.

Fontana mtb race

Like all my other mtb races I never been to Fontana, so my dad and I drove there Friday afternoon to pre-run the course. We got there and it was packed, it was getting dark so I got ready and did my first lap, easy 29 minute lap, second lap a couple of minutes faster and the third and final lap about 24 minutes or so.

I felt like I was coming down with something, a head cold or a like. Drove back down to San Diego. Saturday I rested I'm trying different things out to see which works out better on race day.

Sunday we left at around 8am, got up there paid and got registered but I didn't feel 100%. Got some H2O drinks from my sponsor tent and waited for the 11:30am start time.
I stared to do my warm up at around 11am and saw some of the same guys from Sagebrush.

The start time came and we were off, I went to the front and that was pretty much it, except I was coughing up a lung, really bad loud and dry. Nobody was pushing me at all so I was a good day to be a little beat up. I won by like 9 minutes after the race I took advantage of the mavic truck, I took my bike in to get a busted spoke fixed, they fixed two free of charge, that's the cool about big races.

So that makes it two races and two first places, so now I start to think about the so cal cup and the kenda cup. I feel that I'm finally improving, even with the sinus problems an a cold here and there I'm 1000% better than last year.

Next stop Santa Ynez ca April 10-11.

San Dimas stage race 2010

The week before San dimas I felt a little weird like I got sick but I didn't, felt like a fever but it went away. The training had been going OK, but it was time to rest a little because I had never done a three day race, also the first stage was an uphill ITT(individual time trail). The ITT was tailor made for me all uphill. I have never been to San Dimas or course pre run it going in blind to a uphill ITT it can be tricky

During the warm up I felt OK but is hard to gauge a warm up, so 9:36 am I go off ITT are easy you go as hard as you can without blowing up. Well I felt OK I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, I could see I was gaining time on the guy in front of me, with a little more than a 1/2 of mile to go(marker), I started to feel bad and the last half mile took forever the guy behind me caught me.

I knew then is was going to be a long weekend, my time was 17.25 or a like a very bad time my time should have been a 1:30-2:00 minutes faster at least.

My nose was all stuffed, sinus pressure so I eat and rested for Saturdays race, we were paid and no refund. I was hoping to feel a little better, well as soon as we hit the first hill I knew I was in trouble, I don't get drop on hills and definitely not on the first one. I just rode for pride and training, I wasn't suffering or anything I just couldn't get any air in me. I didn't make the cut for Sundays race and that means my racing was over, the hotel was paid so we stayed until Sunday morning and drove back home all disappointed.

My coach(dad) said there will be other races. Monday went to the doc and he confirmed that I had a bad sinus infection and he told me that I might need sinus surgery. But that I wasn't allergic to 30 different things he tested me for.

Next race another mtb race in Fontana Ca march 27-28.

First mtb race of 2010

I had to sign-up for cat 2, long story but lets say I don't have any points or history of racing mountain bike's in USA. By my coach's account I would do fine.
Sagebrush is part of an area called Lake Morena in San Diego, I had never been there, so Friday before the race we went to pre-run the course, one long loop took it easy did it under 2 hours after a 3 hour road ride.

Rested Saturday got there early on Sunday, signed up and warm up and waited. At exactly 11:30am we were off I just took off passed all the guys in my class and kept on passing people. Finished in like and hour and half, won by 14 minutes.

First trophy of 2010, I felt strong nothing like the misery of 2009. Thinks are looking good.

Next race San dimas three day stage race.