Bonelli & Sea Otter

muddybike

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Thanks everyone! Here we go:

Heading out on this trip was harder than in years past. I'm not sure if it was my daughter's big, slowly dripping alligator tears, my son hugging me 1 min for every day i'll be gone, or the chirps of our new puppy, but it was hard to pack up and head out. Everyone is old enough to fully take care of themselves (except Odin, the puppy), and I know it's good to have time away. At least, that's what i'm telling myself.

The flight out was pretty smooth. I"m impressed with Newark's terminal C - it's baller -everything is all shiny, clean and beautifully designed - like someone actually cared. And the food was solid (still price hiked, of course) - I had a beet, squash & greens over red quinoa salad, which i ordered off of a tablet, swiping the credit card at my table. Lots of 'work tables' at every gate with charging stations in the table tops.

I landed around 6pm LA time, had my first ever pleasant experience picking up a rental van ( chrysler) and enjoyed classic LA traffic on the drive out to San DImas. The car's gear shift is a dial. This does not compute with my brain. At all.

Sat: I worked in the morning, built up my bike, hit up trader joes and swung by Incycle bike shop to fill up my tires. The race course is 7 mins from my hotel. I headed over in the afternoon to get some pre-riding in and pick up my number plate (#57).

The terrain and trails are really fun here, super punchy, really hard packed - like asphalt in many sections - but also super bumpy and rutted/washed out with lots of off camber. If the trail isn't asphalt like, it's dusty and loose - and incredibly slippery. There is one super gnarly s-turn descent in the beginning that has a sweet inside, inside, inside line. With 50+ women in the field, it's going to be an absolute cluster trying to get into a decent spot before this section - hopefully this will be a section I can make passes - I also practiced the worst lines through the previous descent -that is smooth on one side and supper loose/rutty on the other -i expect everyone will be single file on that hard packed line, so hopefully this will be an opportunity too.

I can't believe how short the laps are. I stopped to assess sections & session lines and still finished laps in under 20mins. Ran into Nick Lando - he's doing 11:30ish hot laps. my group is doing 6 laps. Pro men - 7. Juniors are 5.

I'm worried that the short laps wont' give me very much time to work into the pack before the leaders come barreling through. Staging is by UCI points for the top 20ish and the remainder is selected randomly.

I was really feeling the bike on a third lap- it can rip on the descents and I pushed the envelope (working out some race nerves) and totally slid out on a dusty turn. Luckily no cacti involved, but the ground is like sliding out on asphalt. I've got some nasty road rash.

The heat is not something I used to - and it's dry. really dry. I expect hydration will be really important.

Riders meeting, then back to the hotel room to clean up the road rash, facetime my family, stuff food into my face, yoga and veg.

The XC race is tomorrow, Sat, at noon. Supposed to be hotter than today.

Only a few pics today, and they are on my phone, so i'll upload separately. Thanks for following along!
 
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muddybike

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
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muddybike

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The rainbow on my hotel room wall is from sunlight shining through the door peep hole.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Best of luck and get after it! And on the sections when you need to pass, just go heavy on the east-coast attitude - lots of threats and posturing. That should clear a path for you ... :D
 

Matt_

I Get Jokes
Anxiously awaiting the recap later today. Good luck!! (Not that you need the luck... go have fun and kick some butt :) )
 

seanrunnette

Brain Damaged Ray Romano
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Have a great ride today. Bravo you, for finding the bad lines and working them. I have no doubt you'll make those passes. Good luck with the heat. It's a kiln out there. Looking forward to hearing how it went.
 
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