|   Steamboat Springs / Storm Peak Thunder race report | glenzx
Aug 4, 2003 8:02 AM | | This weekend had the 7th of 8 Mountain States Cup/Subaru races take place at beautiful Steamboat Springs ski area / town in Colorado. I seem to have caught the racing bug this year, as I did 2 of the previous events and swore it was the last time during the races, but I had suffered grave mechanical problems and was a little frustrated. This weekend I was better prepared physically and mechanically and thought I'd give it another shot and see how it might go WITHOUT problems. One note: Do not use non-tubeless tires on tubeless rims with Stans Goop while racing. Major let down is likely to occur (2 out of 2 previous races, tire un-sealing at the bead, letting lot's of air out. This time I got a pair of Conti Vertical Pro 2.3's UST and they worked great in out rocky mountain gravelly/rocky/dusty/loose trails.
Anyhow, on to the venue. The series has the benefit of hitting lot's of great venues in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. Steamboat was no exception. The ski area looks awesome, the mountains are beautiful, with a base elevation of about 7,000 feet and peaks up at around 10,200 feet. This is great, as it happens to be the same elevation range we ride in here in Santa Fe, with the town proper at about 7,000 feet and the surrounding peaks at about 12,200 feet. The downhill race was taking place on Saturday while I pre rode the course, and those guys looked like they were FLYING! Pro times on the course were in the neighborhood of ten and half minutes to drop 1,900 feet! Yow. The XC course had a nice mix of steady fire road climbs to spread out the pack and awesome rocky mountain single track. The race started at the ski hill base area and climbed initially about 4.6 miles of road with a neutral "feed" station near the top, just in time to grab a gatorade to wash down my Clif Shot. Just past there we turned onto the beginning of the single track and (finally!) into the cover of trees. Still climbing, we went up 2 1/2 miles or so of undulating up and down trail (more up though) until cresting the top, setting up for what was initially somewhat technical/rocky(!) trail heading DOWN. The trail wound it's way back and forth across high alpine meadows of tall grasses and flowers before dumping you onto a high-speed straight down 1/2 mile rocky descent. Passed a bunch of folks scattered about fixing there bikes along the way and was treated to cheering marshals (cute ladies at that!)for my maniacal descent at the bottom of this part. There was then a quick steep fire road climb up to a saddle, (another Clif Shot!) where there was another feed/water zone before the ripping last 6 1/2 miles or so of course (for us sport class folks)(the pro/expert groups had a second loop that bypassed the top 1/3rd on the second lap and picked up here). This last part of the course I was making up god time for my pathetically slow climbing abilities. In the last two miles I had passed a number of expert women and was passing some of my 30-34 sport class men now. Once 'dropping' in off the saddle, the course was a wild high speed technical singletrack trail that was FAST and loose. I continued passing a rider here and there, and ended up behind two guys that were in my group. The trail turned, heading across a lope, wrapping around to the face of the ski hill, and on these up and downs, I got by the 2 guys and quickly put some space between us. This next mile or so I was all alone and HAMMERING. Just before the last crazy 1 1/2 mile descent I came up on a pack of 4 or 5 guys (and one or two ladies) in my class and these dudes had NO interest in letting me by. It was a fast and hairy series of switchbacks that brought us to within sight of the finish line, and we kind of got in line. The ladies let us psychos by and the fella in front of me ALMOST lost it on a roller jump into a sweeping high speed corner but did a good job of throwing his leg out MX style and making the turn! YeeHaw! We all hammered to the end, and came flying across the line together and I did a big power slide on the grass trying to avoid other racers. The crew at the finish were great, we had some good cheering for our crazy group and the fellas I was with and myself all had a great time and we were stoked to have had so much fun! I did the 16.5 mile course in about 1:57 and realized I had taken almost 40 minutes off my (albeit slow and relaxing) course pre-ride time! Yow! The first few places were in the 1:42 bracket, in a place that at this point for me is totally untouchable, as you get there by being a cardiovascular ENGINE on the initial long climbs and putting plenty of buffer in. I'm learning that this is where races are won, on the long climbs where there is plenty of room to "breath" and where you can make serious time by being very fit. I'll be working on THAT for next season! It was awesome to be 'in it' the whole time and not have any mechanical issues. Now I might be really hooked.... :-P |
| congrats. | *rt*
Aug 4, 2003 8:11 AM | | nice job.
rt |
| What were you on? | NuMexJoe
Aug 4, 2003 10:06 AM | | Bike-wise, that is! I assume you were still w/o the Blur, so what'd you end up with that permitted the maniacal descent? Any thoughts on your time if you'd had your primary bike? Just curious.... Anyway, congrats! I'll never understand the racing mentality, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the work that goes into it. Good for you! What's the venue for #8?
- Joe |
| Aspirin the next day! | glenzx
Aug 4, 2003 11:48 AM | | The Blur was intact for the race, despite the bearing that is certain to die soon. My bike actually was in good shape for the race, although the night before I noticed that my rear XTR shifter pod was coming apart in pieces, but mechanically it seemed to be working OK. By the end of the last descent, however, I felt/heard a slight 'clunking' in the rear end and figured the bearing had blown up. But it was not the bearing (yet) but the shock mount bushings/hardware!!!! After the race I was able to find the looseness by holding a grip in one hand, the seat in the other and placing a toe on my rear rim to hold the rear end down, then lifting lightly on the back of the seat. There was a noticeable amount of movement, and it wasn't coming from the suspect bearing, but the mount that the shock is connected to the upper swing link by. I tightened up the bolts and the slop was gone, but I'll be adding a set of bushings and the associated hardware to my "Blur Emergency Rebuild every 6 weeks kit" in the very near future.
So indeed the Blur helped propel me down the maniacal descent quite well, so my time was probably 90%-95% as good as I could have gotten it, just need to be a stronger/fitter climber and push a little harder. Thanks though, it is growing on me, this racing thing. I feel like if I'm gonna spend so much time riding and so much time and money on bike crap, why not race? It's a great excuse to see new regions and test some homegrown northern NM trail skills at other places. Generally I'm finding if you can ride a lot of the terrain here, you can kick ass elsewhere. Combine the technical skills with some high altitude riding and one can do OK out there.
As for the whole racing thing in general, it was a blast that last few miles "duking" it out with other riders, the anticipation generated while riding right on someones wheel, waiting for them to make just enough of a hesitation or a mistake that will allow you to power by was intoxicating! There were 2 or 3 such instances this time, one was perfect in that I was back behind 2 guys (JUST enough to keep an eye out, but in striking range) approaching a technical section with a rocky/bouldery section with a loose approach. The first guy stumbled at the top of it, ALMOST cleaning it, the second guy (who was too close) avoided him by going off the trail to the left and I just pedaled by on the right, clearing the top and dropping off the back of this little drop and continuing down towards the finish. That made the whole thing worth it! I saw the guys at the finish and we all had a pretty similar account of that spot and we had a good laugh... I think the guy that first hit it was tired and was ready for one of us to go by. The second guy was a little fried too, which made me wonder if I was too conservative earlier in the race because I felt STRONG at the end. All that DH action gets my blood pumping I guess. Maybe next time I should do BOTH the XC and the DH. Some dude won his class in the DH on a HARDTAIL, btw!
The last event is at Keystone, CO at the ski area, at the end of the month. What's interesting is that it is a short 6 mile circuit type set-up which I have never tried.... we in the sport class have to do 3 of those laps! Yow. I think I might have to go, if my wife will let me and if I have any $$$ left in the biking budget! As now I need a set of shifters and possibly a rear dérailleur. We'll see. Aprx. 300 miles of driving to and from Santa Fe. Anyhow, I'll post more anout the Blur durability woes in the next day or two, as I find out more from SC. |
| Is it true that Steamboat has banned DH/FR riders on mtn?nm | Sloppy
Aug 4, 2003 11:13 AM | | |
| Not this past Saturday! There were 700+ DH'ers!!! (nm) | glenzx
Aug 4, 2003 11:50 AM | | |
| It is true... | lidarman
Aug 4, 2003 12:08 PM | | ...that Beaver Creek has banned DH but as far as I know, no one else has followed. Vail in the next in line in evaluating DH activities. |
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