MtnBikeRiders.com

A friend and I were discussing the recent changes that he had seen on the site. Changes not only in the site layout (rotating header, black design and etc) but also the focus and direction we’ve taken in the last few months.

You may have scene quite a bit of racing postings, events and team news. This friend found it rather interesting that in a few short months we’ve gone from recreational mountain biking and towards a sudden focus to racing.

Well, yes its true. Our focus since late 2008 has been on racing, that’s due to the fact that we found we had a pretty talented staff that liked to go fast. When we formed the MtnBikeRiders.com Racing Team, we wanted to to bring “recreational” mountain bikers to a new level of riding. Don’t get me wrong, none of us really dream of being a pro (well maybe one), but if you take away all the events and all of the jerseys, we’re still the same group of people…recreational mountain bikers…that race. Think of it as Vegetarians that eat Sea Food. Get it?

Every time we finish an event/race, we like to post our experiences so we can share and even relate to our readers. I have another friend that likes to comment on the site (dial tone), we were having a conversation about racing. I had encouraged him to at least try it, but he said no thanks because he was a recreational rider, but we had taken it to the next level. But what I want everyone to understand, sure we have a number of our staff that race, Moe and I just started racing but it doesn’t mean we’re “hardcore” or anything like that. Honestly, I raced DH because Priscilla thinks its hot…Moe races to achieve personal goals.

Our racing focus on the site is basically a grass roots effort to make mountain bike racing more appealing to those who consider themselves recreational riders. If you’re lucky enough to have a race series by your home, please take advantage of it. Some of the people we meet at Fontana come as far away as Colorado just to race…for us its just a 40 min drive. You never know, this racing thing might just be your thing…just look at Priscilla, a mom of 3, college student and wife…but she’s a champ! Or you can be like Moe and I, not really serious racers,(c’mon…its Moe and RL…)but we have fun when we’re out there.

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RL Policar-I had asked one of our friends, Quinton “Q” Spaulding on what he does to train for downhill racing. If some of you didn’t know, Q is the Team Director for the KHS Bicycles Factory Team as well as a Professional DH racer. Q races along side his team mates, Logan Binggeli, Melissa Buhl and (Priscilla’s favorite) Dale Holmes.

Q has some great tips on how he trains for his DH races. I’m telling you, he’s got some good advice and I’ll be making some changes to my daily routine just so I can incorporate what he’s doing.

Q and Dale Holmes.

I am going to give you an idea of what I do, but that is by no means what most pro’s do, they train harder and longer than me, I am old and lazy! ha ha.

I try to train 6 days a week, this is probably the most important thing for me to stay on top of my game, as well as motivated to to continually improve and increase my training “pain threshold”. Training can be boring and routine, so I try to change it up between XC, Road, DH, Slalom, Dirt Jumping and with some cross training… riding my moto either in the desert or on the track.

One days training should be (ha ha)

a) 1 hour cardio – either a hard climb on my XC bike at Bootleg Canyon or Cottonwood Trails in Vegas, or a road ride with the hammer down. On the road bike I will do intervals, stand up and sprint for a good 30 seconds then sit down and pedal for a couple minutes to recover, and repeat this for the entire ride.

b) 35 minutes anaerobic training, for this I use a Total Gym, the one that Chuck Norris always advertises, ha ha ha but that thing works, it is all cables so no heavy impact on the body. I try train most all muscle groups in a week.

c) Every other or every third day I will try to include a 1. Dual Slalom session, about 20 runs… 10 on each track or, 2. I will go do a dirt jumping session for about an hour or, 3. Do a desert or track ride on my dirt bike for a couple hours.

I have to manage the team which takes a lot of my time so this is about as aggressive of a training schedule that I can have, plus it is simply enough for my 40 year old ass.

Eating is very important, – NO JUNK FOOD – yeah right??? Lots of beer – Yeah!!!

Staying fully hydrated all the time is also very key, so that your body is always prepared for recovery and gives you the best every time you push it hard.

To hone your skills does take a lot of riding and practicing, but you can accelerate this process if you get some experienced tips. Turning and controlling a DH bike at speed is difficult, and takes a lot of mental strength and focus, but I think that the biggest keys are:

a) Look Ahead and control your breathing! Always look as far ahead on the track as possible, this allows you to make physical and mental corrections before it is too late. Always remember to breath, and breath consistently.

b) Breaking and Turns! Always try to do most of the hard breaking before the turn, and if you are looking far enough ahead in the turn you will be able to release your brakes sooner and exit the corner with more speed. Exit speed is so much more important than entry speed into, or out of turns. The more you can focus on what’s to come and not get caught up looking down at your wheel while in the moment, the more you will be able to control your lines and the less fatigued and under pressure you will feel, allowing yourself to ride more relaxed and confident. Relaxed and confident… sooo IMPORTANT!

The biggest bike setup tip I think I can offer is – suspension and tires, these are the two most key items. If you have good tire and suspension setup then you are halfway there. A balanced bike will always work well, and a semi low Tire Pressure will help the bike track better and bite the dirt harder, giving you more traction and control.

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This race was something the whole team was looking forward to. What made this event unique is the actual races being hosted that day. They had the XC race in which this was the last of the Triple Crown Series, Super D and Downhill.

Priscilla, Joe, Kim, and Eric as well as our friends Val and Ner were all racing in XC. Rather than me spoiling how everyone did on the race, I’ll let them post their own reports so you can find out. Let’s just say, the MtnBikeRiders.com Racing Team did REALLY well in XC.

Then there was Super D, both Kim and Moe raced in this event and again I’ll have to stand down from announcing how things went.

Waiting for the shuttle. Check out my new POC helmet and goggles.

So here’s where the Downhill Racer report comes in. I’m not so sure if I’ve really mentioned it, but I raced in the DH event on Sunday. Sport racer Tony Finch and Joe Solancho both raced DH as well. After the XC race on Saturday, Tony and I decided to get in a practice run. But since the line for the shuttle was super long, I was only able to get one run in.

The “Mountain”

During my practice session on Sunday morning, I managed to make it without any problems down the mountain but when I was coming through a technical rock garden, I totally munched it. I struck a large rock and OTB (over the bars) I went. Luckily I was wearing my Sette Impact Protective Suit and Knee/shin guards to keep me safe. As I flew in the air and eventually rolled on the ground, I saw my bike, the Ibex Ignition 3 flying in the air. After I bounced back up, I looked around to see if Priscilla and the kids were there since they were waiting for me to come down the mountain so they can take some shots of me. But instead I was greeted by 50 people laughing and cheering at me. Hey what can I say, I like to entertain! In all seriousness, I’m glad I wasn’t hurt.

After that crash, it really messed me up mentally. I knew that one section of the trail was going to be the thorn on my side. But fortunately, Joe told me that once I hit that rock, the officials decided to remove it since I dislodged it from the ground and was deemed unsafe.

nasty rock garden

As race time approached, we were shuttled up to the top. Since this was my first DH race, I didn’t know anyone there and tried to strike up conversations with other riders. Funny thing was, one rider says to me, “weren’t you the guy that crashed earlier?” I say yes, he responds, “THAT WAS AWESOME MAN!”…again, I like to entertain.

As they call out riders’ names, we all line up. Joe gives me a fist pump and wishes me luck. As I get up to the make shift starting line/gate, they count you down from 30 seconds, 15, 10, 5, 4,3,2,1…and I was off! everything seemed to have gone mute. The only thing I could hear was my breathing.

While I’m riding through the technical single track which was married with big boulders, rocks and ruts, I felt good, but suddenly I noticed something strange. My Marzocchi 66L fork wasn’t working properly, I look down, and I saw that I was fully compressed….LOCKED OUT! NO! Since I couldn’t really figit with the fork on my way down, I just rode the bike like my rigid SS.

In the video you’ll see me coming down the mountain and if you look closely, you’ll notice that the fork was compressed. Anyhow, on the last leg of the actual mountain, I come around the corner, and I see Tony Finch cheering me on, then further down the trial was Moe, and Kim. It really was encouraging to see them there, it gave me an extra push to work even harder than I already was.

Once I got down off the mountain and headed towards the rock garden, (where I had crashed and currently where over a hundred people were watching) I was able to mess with the ETA valve on the 66L. I turned the dial and POP, the fork bounced up from being locked. Now I felt even more confident in being able to ride through the garden.

Photo courtesy of Sharky

While maneuvering through the obstacles, I can start hearing cowbells and cheers from spectators, then pass my crash site, and then I hear the words, “Go Daddy!” and something along the lines of “babe.” That right there gave me my last burst of adrenaline and allowed me to sprint to the finish.

The end result, I cam in 15th out of 23 racers in the Beginner 27-34. I was hoping to do better, but then again this was my first race and I was going against some really good riders that rode on bikes that were at least 5 times more expensive than the Ibex Ignition 3.

Overall I was glad I made it through in one piece. My 3 goals for this race was to finish, catch the rider in front of me and not to let a rider catch me from behind. I recall right after I pass the finish, I quickly looked behind me to see if the dude after me was on his way. But fortunately he was quite a distance.

This really was a great experience for me. At first I wasn’t so sure how much I liked racing DH. I mean, I love riding technical stuff and enjoyed the trail. But the pressure of it wasn’t all that great for me. But the more I thought about it, the more I want to go back out there and do well. I know I could have done way better than I did. The Southridge Winter Series is coming up in January, so I may try my hand at it again and see how well I do.

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