Jungle Habitat race course?

IROnick said:
ji, i'm the guy who wiped out along side you on the road before the fallen tree. i'm sorry if me hitting you caused you to lose your rhythm leading up to the log. i'm glad that you placed so well. good job and congrats!
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thanks nick!

and no,you didn't caused me anything it's my own mistake and i'm glad you're ok. (i was right behind you,the first and second spill 🙂

see you in ringwood!!
 
It was a serious tough course today. Handling had to be on for sure. I had a decent start but at the top of the pavement I was sitting 4th after a hard effort to get to the st first. Through the grimy stuff that was likened to lithium grease on marbles, I just stayed consistent. Throwing a foot down when necessary I kept it upright except for one minor fall. Just kept on and three got through me - Mancuso, Shernce, and Mora - and I got one back when Allistair had some issues. So I ended up in 6th after a very sloppy and hard fought race. Not bad after a pretty big field start. There had to be 20 on the line. It was tough but it was nice to actually race considering that heinous michaux course I did last weekend. I actually felt like I put a decent effort out although not feeling that solid. It was cool to see everyone out there having a good time in the nasty conditions. Thanks go out to Town Cycle and all that put on the race as it was a good time.
 
liong71er said:
i was right behind you,the first and second spill 🙂
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Ha! so you saw my awesome trip over the bars! that happened so fast i had no time to react. the first crash hurt more though. major road rash! ringwood has some great technical trails, let's hope they are dry by the weekend! peace.
 
gtluke said:
Downhill isn't the same. It's more about balls than tech. Utah put 5 places on the roadie today, I'm sure it has a ton to do with tech vs fitness. That guy would cream Utah on an all fire road race.
A no fire road Mahlon race would be awesome.
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Just for the record: I'm not a roadie, I run a 15 year old full rigid steel hardtail. I know I am at a disadvantage at courses like this but part of the experience for me is running on the same bike I raced 'back in the day'. For never having ridden at jungle habitat and not knowing anything about the course I think I did ok, especially considering it was an off day for me.

If you think I lack technical chops I too have run the Portal Trail on a full rigid. Not that the Portal Trail is the be-all-end-all of technical riding but it seems to count for something.

gtluke said:
I have never been interested in fitness, I love riding to accomplish goals and ring bells. I think I represent most riders. Too bad there are no events for us
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There is, it's called a group ride...
 
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James,

Good to see you on the site. Had no idea you read/posted. Don't mind Luke. He just tries to tweak people for the sake of it. He's really not a bad guy. Just slow. 🙂
 
james said:
Just for the record: I'm not a roadie
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LOL, no shit to that buddy! 😀 I dont know a roadie who could have done that course on your bike.

Luke's mixed up because you are in road biker shape and your mountain bike looks alot like a road bike. 😀
 
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utah that was a sick write up I'd like to that Nick and Joe for the motivation to keep going and for the push the whole race ! and to the guy who took me out on the first paved downhilll corner please buy me some matte root beer colored gary fisher paint and learn not to full lock your brakes when you need to slow down thanks !
 
brybry57 said:
utah that was a sick write up I'd like to that Nick and Joe for the motivation to keep going and for the push the whole race ! and to the guy who took me out on the first paved downhilll corner please buy me some matte root beer colored gary fisher paint and learn not to full lock your brakes when you need to slow down thanks !
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Anytime man, that worked out real nice. I was getting a free trials show riding around with you. When we got to the famous jump spot from last year, I was ahead of you by maybe 20 sec or so...Those guys were all hanging out there egging people on to launch it. So I managed to remove both wheels from the ground, if only for a split second, then moved on. As im riding away I hear "WHOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA, F**KING AWESOME MAN!!!!" Then it hit me...."Punk kids back there making me look bad AGAIN!" hahahahaa Sure enough it was you. What did you do? backflip the thing? 😀
 
Utah Joe said:
LOL, I guess im starting to raise my hands? wtf? Looks like im about to start dancing.

Anyway, ya it was an awesome race. I did a good amount of pre-riding which I have found is what works for me. Im not in as good of shape as some of the guys I race with. For me, I need to be smooth and not make tons of mistakes. When I start f'ing up and getting sloppy, it wears me out fast. So I find knowing the course and the lines really well is what works for me. I did my usual and started way in the back. When we got to the river crossing is was the usual mass pile up. But I was far enough back that I basiclly closed the entire gap in 30seconds while everyone was fighting their way out of the dogpile. The mass then headed for the big log on the road. Another pile up ensued and I got there with enough space to stay mounted and hop over it. Going up the hill I passed a bunch of guys and got into the woods in about 5th. Luis let me by shortly after. Caught hazzy and Jim fox at the start of the tight tree section. They both dismounted in the rocks and I was able to get by. Poor Hazzy tumbling backwards down the hillside. I asked him if he was ok to which he answered "GOOOOO!!!!" Yes sir, moving out! Then I had some daylight. Took me to the very bottom but I finally caught up to Dan, who was ripping though there. We stayed together though the long climb next to the road. I passed him at the top of that and managed to get a little gap across the parking lot. Everything wa going awesome! Then in the middle of warthog I ran into BryBry and Ironick. I passed both of them and then Bryan latched onto my back wheel. We stayed right with each other for the rest of the race. BryBry never missing a chance to make me look bad and show off his amazing bike handling skills. He pretty much rode a wheelie from the end of warthog, up the parking lot, to the finish line. Dam kids! 😀 After bryan and I blasted thought the tunnel at max speed there was a hard right turn. I hit it about probably 15+mph, the bike bounced on a bump and right down I went. Criterium stye! Even better was that Coog was in that turn with his camera when my bike rocketed across the pavement. He was forced to dive for cover. I hopped up with a few scrapes and nice knot on my hand, but ok. Hope Coog got a shot of that! Pressed on with bryan still right behind me. We cleaned the river crossing nicely then proceeded to the big log. I thought to myself, "this kid will probably fly 10' over it, I better move" So I said "dude, you going to fly over this thing? go around me, im just going to hop it" He passed me at about mach 10 and just launched over it like it was a broom handle! I proceeded at my usual one wheel at a time. Bryan and I stayed together though the climb and downhill section. On the climb near the road he was right behind me and gave me some grim news. "dude, your tires hissing" I was like "SH*T!!!!!!!! NO!!" But it felt ok so I pressed onto the parking and took a look. Still inflated. I hammered into warthog again no longer worried about my tire. In the rocky stream crossing I felt it burp. I jumped off, and in about 10seconds, blasted it with my co2. I thought about it about said to myself "I dont care if the tire comes off and I have to finish this race with sparks flying, IM NOT STOPPING!" Thankfully it held. Bryan drag raced me to the finish and got there first, again riding wheelies. We had a nice pace going and I think we pushed each other along for a solid hour. Good job today punk 😉

I think my uncorrected time was 1:36.

Speaking of technical vs non technical riders...I brought my Full suspension stumpjumper 29er today over my Paragon. Worked out really nicely. Despite the extra 4 or so pounds, I was very comfortable though the technical stuff on it. One crash on the pavement, but I pretty much only had to jump off 1 or two other times quickly. I find I can manage the techy stuff better on my FS bike, which in turn causes me to get less sloppy and less tired. The mud did not bother me that much. It was worse on lap 2, but nothing like stewarts. The experts had it worse than us for sure.

Some of the other guys in my group have gotten vasty faster of the course of the year. Dan, Luis, and Lucky were all kicking ass today!

Oh and I might have beaten Jim today, but the guy is out there on a 26" rigid! I would probably still be out there walking if I had to ride his bike. 😀
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Nice write up Joe. You did your thing today bro...Here a better flick. See you next weekend at Ringwood.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37682389@N02/3961518048/
 
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Okay maybe I'm confused I thought James was an ex pro roadie. Am I thinking of another top guy in that class? I don't know who anyone is, but I thought there was some ex pro roadie contending with Utah and I thought it was James, my appologies. And props for doing so well on an old bike. I honestly appreciate that difficulty.
 
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