VeloSapiens MTBRacing

going the distance

September 1999

All Epic, All the Time

All the heck that I've done lately is ride my bike, all freakin' day, and drive all day and all night to get to more places to ride my bike all freakin' day. As you can see in the table of contents, there are three (!) fat writeups on fat rides. Since I've bought zero new equipment, there are no reviews this month. Sorry. All my old reviews still stand. My equipment has worked beautifully at a wide variety of bike-torturing events this summer, so you can take my word for it.

Cross Season Coming

Cyclocross is coming to town. Check out the  '99 NCNCA cyclocross schedule. Surf city is only on the sched for 4 races this year, but that's ok. The Central Coast series, East Bay series, Southern Mines series, and of course, National Championships, should pick up the slack. Team DFL will no doubt put on their outlaw series in the city. I'll email (but not post on the web) details when I get them to interested parties.

I've already started training on hill runs and dismounts/remounts at speed. '99 looks to be the most heinous year ever in masters competition in NorCal. The last 3 district chammpions (Larry Hibbard twice, me once) will be back, plus Mark "Howie" Howland, and Rex Boyes both turned 35 this year. Of course, the usual suspects will still be in evidence. Rob "buckwheat" Meighan has reportedly been training hard, and Kai Brown has finally learned how to get on and off quickly. Buckwheat reports that Casey Kunselman (former nat'l champ) is taking it seriously this year too. Maybe i'll drop down to the Seniors class.

24 Hours of Donner

No way I'll have time to  write a real report, but you should know that the mighty, mighty VeloSapiens team sent 4 of their finest to the 24 hours of Donner in August. SuperDan (Dan Garcia), RegularDan (Dan Sovereign), Keith Kuykendall and I went, saw, and pretty much kicked ass (almost). On the most technical 24 hour course in known space, we rode stuff that just about no one else could ride, stayed cool and consistent, and placed 2nd to a team of Kiwis from Truckee. We got better prizes though. If they'd announced the prizes beforehand, I'm sure those guys woulda magically "had a mechanical" or something so they could get cool Judy XC forks instead of absolutely useless Cane Creek wheelsets.
 

One Speedin'

Just so we're clear on this, I'm no sparky-come-lately to the 1speed thing. The mighty, mighty VeloSapiens team raced 1speed at the first 24 hrs of Moab too. But now that i'm not doing it for 24 freakin' hours, it's a lot more fun. Plus, the Billy Cross race series at Lake Sonoma only charges a six-pack of micro-brew for 1speed entry. Check out Team Wrongway for more info, but they still have at least 2 races left. Everyone can afford a 6-pack of beer, for chrissake. See you there.
 
 
 
Screaming Lemur Epic Ride Blow by blow of one of the hardest rides in the explored universe. (coming soon)
Leadville 100 Race Report I have the monster belt buckle, Mike Ferrentino doesn't. Read all about it.
Lake Sonoma 8 hr relay Two guys, one gear. Total victory for me and Peter Donohue at a race that should be a model for mtb races.
cxpro download New, free, and now including instructions, CxPro from Screaming Lemur software, the Java program to score cyclocross races. Download it today!
Archives The original homepage, with links to old results, old reviews (valuable) and lotsa epic rides
Back issues of the VeloSapiens E-zine, for your reading pleasure
July 99 Cow mountain epic, XTR 9speed review
May 99 Heckler Superlight review, How I deal with sucking.
March 99 Nothing really happened in march. sorry.
JanFeb 99 Solstice ride, Michelin cross tires
December 98 The MTB vs Cyclocross Rant, and Dan Norton's response
November 98 Review of Time ATAC pedals
October 98 Cross Season Begins
September 98 MTB Season Overview, with notes on equipment that really works for MTB racing
July 98 Why 9-speed is lame, Long-term SID review
June 98 Why Richard Cunningham is a dork, plus an 8 hr epic ride in Nevada City
 
VeloSapiens Links All the links I feel like printing
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