1-10 of 17 result(s)
I want to be Katy Perry when I grow up. What? It’s too late? Oh, alright, I’ll settle for wife, mother, and mountain bike racer. Or hill bike racer, given the dearth of mountains around here. How did I get to be this old and not ever read W. Somerset Maugham? "Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither." Or to Riverside County, unlikely site of yesterday’s round four in the Kenda Cup West series. Can anything good come out of ...
I'm sorry. Kind of. . If you were taking a high line around the ponds on Plantation, and two crazy single speeders splashed through the middle and drenched you, I do apologize. Mostly. . Because that was the most fun I had all day. . I've squeaked past Brian Itzaina in a couple of previous races, but he was having none of it at Big Bear on Sunday. He got past me at the top of the first long climb, and then nipped in ahead of me onto the Plantation single track. He has great bike handling skills, so it was all I could do to hold his wheel throu...
Racers and Chasers.com Black Mountain XC San Diego, CA Sunday, April 25 No, that's not my little sister. Put your hands together for Rachelle, who turned in an impressive 1:07 lap time at the Black Mountain XC race on Sunday. On a single speed. She demolished the entire field, men and women, in the beginner category. Oh, wait, she was the only entrant on a single speed bicycle in that class. I raced with the Sport men; we slogged two ten mile laps. Robert Herber, the race director, created a category for women's single speed, so Rachelle and I ...
It’s a myth that you don’t have gears on a single speed. And I’m not talking about the well-trodden joke about the choices being pedaling, standing, or pushing. You can have as many gears as you can afford. You can have a stack of cogs piled high on the shelves in your garage. But once you leave the starting line of a race, your options close out.So, the the day before I drove north for the Santa Ynez Classic, I indulged in the usual the neurotic perseveration about what to install on my back end.I pored over the course profil...
It's not really a race. It's more like a timed bike ride wrapped in a barbecue hidden in a vineyard underneath a festival. The cross country and downhill races provide an opportunity to qualify for Nationals, so you can still expect people to take their time on wheels pretty seriously, despite the distraction of vendors and bonfires. I have a reservation at a motel in Buellton, but I think I'm going to camp at the venue. Wedged in between the grape vines and the Chamberlain Ranch, the meadow next to the course will be colorfully filled with sev...
Hapless. Still. The strange gravitational forces in my van momentarily ate my sunglasses. Then, at the starting line of the Racers and Chasers series final, I snapped the arm off my cheapo aviators. One does not race in San Diego without shades, even in March. Full service race direction: I waved my broken glasses at the starter, and he walked over and handed me the Rudy Projects off his own head. And the promoter's mother, in between registering people, watched my three children so that my husband could race, too. The visionary behind the San...
Surprise! Friday night relationship thriller (don't try this at home): "Uh, honey? I sort of lost track of the race schedule, and I need to go up to LA on Sunday. Can you watch the kids all day? Oh, and I need to go to the bike shop on Saturday, too, to get some parts." Big race, all the pros, yadda yadda. Would you like me to leave you the zoo pass? I'd venture to guess that most people who show up at these races have to wheedle and trade their way there. Fifty-two bucks, and I didn't preregister, so I didn't get the In-N-Out coupon. Racing is...
I was at my bike shop when the rain started up again. It has stormed nearly every weekend since January. I am not making this up. I went back to work full time recently, and now have a vested interest in my San Diego sunshine tax. It poured again the Saturday before race day. I was in my bike shop when the water started whipping sideways. Safely behind the windows, the mechanics laughed at me. “Have fun tomorrow.” Bwaaa haaaaa haa. The tourist board must have bribed the heavens, because Sunday dawned crisp, clear and beautiful. A co...
If my brothers and I ever pony up for the DNA test, I could tell you which Ojibwa tribe my great-grandmother belonged to. The legend goes that the tribe honored my half-breed grandfather by attemping to burn down his house when he died. My Kumeyaay spirit sisters overlooked my unenrolled status and left me an arrow shaped gift out on the Sagebrush course last week. Granted, it was made of stiff plastic, but it did a marvelous job of clearing mud from my cleats. I'll take it as an auspicious omen for the Kenda Cup West opener tomorrow. The Sage...
Fontana, part two. My March race in Riverside County was so traumatic, I never wrote it up. A wild success for the promoters, and mountain bike racing in general, the teeming hordes on that course made for a long day. You can get a feel for it in this video: http://tinyurl.com/fontanahighlights Those are the pros, bless 'em. My Cat 1, formerly known as "expert", race wasn't quite as crowded, but the traffic still stalled and trail rage reared its ugly tread. I would pull over to let people pass, and after fifteen bikes went by, I still couldn't...
