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.