Club Info
Chain Divider Events
Chain Divider Links
Chain Divider Cyclephernalia
Chain Divider Members
Chain Divider
Main Page

























FLYERS CLUB INFORMATION
[Sponsors] [IMBA Info] [Meeting Minutes] [Membership Form] [Mudnews Newsletter]
Mountains & Rivers Flyers MTB Mudnews
Volume 3, Issue 2    May, 1999
MudNews Staff

  • Managing Editor: Turp (Greg Turpen)
  • Writer-At-Large: GrrRizly (Kevin Axt)


SEA OTTER CLASSIC TRIP REPORT by Brent Strecker

The Plan
For two years now, a group of local cycling enthusiasts have headed south for a big MTB season opener. Last year we went to Moab, Utah for a fun ride then on down to the Cactus Cup located just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. We had a great time, but decided to try the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA this year. With a couple of BS sessions at our normal meeting place (Starbucks) we ended up with 12 eager racers.

TRAILER
Sea Otter Racing Team Craig Fortner came up big when he found and purchased an old covered utility trailer that, in the end, held 10 bikes. Needless to say, the trailer needed some work (after all, it would be carrying our awesome poser bikes, some of which just arrived days before from the factory). Craig held a work party and we all helped him drink beer, eat pizza and take in the wonderful aroma of freshly mixed Bondo. The picture above shows the trailer supporting the seven of us that convoyed down together in two vehicles. In case you are wondering who these studs and studette are, from the left, Brent Strecker, Craig Fortner, Bill Worthen, Dan Tolley, Alison Haug, John Snell, and Robert Croft. The super fast guys chose to drive down by themselves.

Heading South
On the trip down it quickly became evident that the guys would not let me read the map, give directions or even take a turn at the wheel. I was reminded that this had something to do with last year's adventure. Worse yet they pretended the CB was not working when I tried to get both vehicles to take the same exit. Not a one thought a map was needed, we were to just arrive (no worries). And we in fact did arrive (the scenic way) too bad it was in the middle of the night and dark! Craig got a speeding ticket on the way down for driving a car that looked like a car that was speeding. The trooper was sure that I was talking to truckers on the CB and they had told us to slow down before he got behind us. Serves Craig right for not letting me drive.

The pre-ride
Once on site we found our way to the VP and Pro parking area were we proceeded to unload our really cool bikes. Note: The front of our trailer has in big letters "SPORT RIDER COMING THROUGH". I'll have to say, if there is anything that we know how to do, it is how to look good cruising around the parking lot on our latest equipment. After making sure everyone saw us we headed out onto the course. It consisted of 18 miles of cool single track across rolling green hills. Very pretty. When we stopped to take in the view along the way, a few people we knew (Annabella Stropparo, Jerome Chiotti, Tammy Jacques-Grewal, Susan DeMattei, and Davis Phinney) happily smiled and said hi as they effortlessly rode by. It was neato pre-riding with the big dogs. Dan even hung with one pro for an instant. We had to keep reminding Alison to go easy because the next day she had a road bike race. I suppose she was concerned with holding us up because she darn near had lung failure after falling over for the umteenth time on a hill climb. Not to worry though, John Snell had his inhaler. Although the inhaler was not needed we were concerned. We were 3/4's of the way and Miss Roadie looked like, and I quote (Craig),"someone beat her with a stick for 30 minutes". We all made it back to the cars, loaded up our bikes and tried to pre-drive the road course. It, however, was closed to cars so we decided that it must not have many hills in it because after riding the MTB course (as Bill put it) "they really did not know what hills were".

Road Race
I decided to participate in the road race, after all I thought I was a stud and could hang with the cat 4/5s, because they're equivalent to beginner MTBer's. I might even win the thing. I am a SPORT MTBer you know. Alison and I waited to the last minute to get to the staging area because it was raining and cold and I did not have rain gear. I figured we could get warmed up after the race started. I started with 100 in my class. Tightly packed we headed down hill for around 5 miles. It would have been nice to have a snorkel and underwater facemask for this sort of racing. At the bottom of the descent was a hill similar to Garfield Hill but 3 times as long. So this was my warm up. We all went up the hill in a nice controlled group then down some blind switch backs. It was here I found that the pack had put a gap on me. Myself and 3 others tried like hell to catch the main pack but failed. After that you would think that a person would be warmed up, but I was still very cold and could hardly feel my legs from the knees down. The numbness helped out when both my quads cramped hard on the 3rd lap. What I would have done for my MTB gearing. 6000 feet of climbing and almost 4 hours later I finished the torture test and was able to find the car. Once I sat down in the car I was unable to move or talk and don't remember much. I did hear that Alison was alive and did complete the woman's race, only having to push on the last set of hills. Boy was that fun! Maybe next year I'll just have someone beat my legs with a baseball bat for 4 hours and save on the entry fee and embarrassment to myself and the Flyers. Yes, I was wearing the Flyers jersey, but after being dropped I turned it inside out, so as to not embarrass the Flyers road team.

Day of FUN AND relaxation
We watched the pros do their stuff from the women's Dirt Crit to the men's dual slalom. Everywhere we walked there was a different competition to see. All the while, road crits were zooming around the Laguna Seca Raceway. We then set out to find Robert a new helmet because he reformed it on the furnace in the hotel room. After finding a helmet at a local bike shop we went down to the beach front in Monterrey where Dan kept yelling "PAPA" in a loud Italian accent because there was a foreign looking roadie window shopping with his bike and complete bright red Cannondale/Saeco lycra posing outfit. We then found a nice restaurant overlooking the ocean inlet before retiring to save our energy for the next day's grand finale, THE MTB RACE.

MTB Race
The day started early with Bill eating his race breakfast at 4am in the morning. He was wound up tighter than a kite and even passed out while taking a leak. Yep, you heard me right - passed out with the tally whacker out and run-in. Craig happened to be standing in eye's view of the bathroom when Bill started falling in the bowl and it freaked him out. I assured him, Bill was fine. I guess the water in the toilet broke his fall. I was more concerned with the way Bill came running out of the bathroom and flopped on the bed all covered in pee. We all had opinions on what caused Bill to faint, but I am fairly certain that he did not have the standard amounts of Copenhagen and Nose Spray to start his day. Incidentally, I'm surprised that Craig did not faint too. Bill managed to get him to start snorting the nose stuff.

We drove to the race and were forced to park with the amateur racers. This was okay because it was a nice day and there was a Port-O-Let that did not have a line. The tension started to build as we unloaded our bikes. I had to yell at Bill for wasting an air cartridge and he returned the yell right back. There was even a professional photographer there taking our pictures. She must have noticed how cool we looked and decided to do a biography on us. You can see the biography at Kennewick Schwinn. Anyway, I did not let a little stardom get in the way of my pre-race strategy. From previous experience I knew I needed to get good and warm, hot even. Dan and I rode around a portion of the raceway waiting until the last minutes before the start. They had us Sports staged in categories with about a 200 yard sprint uphill on pavement to a single track. First to go would be Andy Vosberg (junior expert). A couple of groups back were Dan, Craig and I, behind us was Bill and Robert, then Mike Henry Jr., and somewhere way in the back was Dick Beightol. Randy Vosberg was there to take any last minute things and give lots of encouragement and enthusiasm. This was great, you could feel the electricity in the air. We were looking good and ready to race. We moved to the line, our class 200 riders deep. Dan, Craig and I were in about the middle of our group on the start. The gun sounded, a gap opened up and I managed to move up significantly before wedging into the single track. Riders everywhere were jockeying back and forth through mud bogs and tight single track. What a rush. I was doing well, hammering hard, passing people and not letting anyone by. Then at the bottom of the first real hill Dan says "hey". He must have been hammering good to. We went over the hill and headed down some fast double track. Dan went by and we jockeyed back and forth with some other riders before hitting some really cool, tree covered, technical single track. We passed some more riders here. It leveled off as we passed the water station. Then we headed up some more where we started hitting lots of slower traffic and somewhere along the way I lost Dan. The course came back into Laguna Seca onto the Dirt Crit coarse (complete with a double jump) then onto the raceway for 3/4's of a lap. My legs never let me down and I felt good and raced hard the entire race. What more could a guy ask for? Robert did manage to break his chain but was able to fix it and continue the race. Other than his chain we had no other mechanical problems and everyone had a fun race.

The trip home
We drove straight through after the race and were back home by 7:00 AM the next day.

I'd like to thank our sponsors Kennewick Schwinn, Leo's Auto Express, Sigma, State Transmission, Paint and Equipment, Arnette, and most importantly my wife Karen for letting me go.

Ride on!

[View the Sea Otter Team Results]


COACHES CORNER by Randy Coleman
Log Book:

I am sure that we have all recorded in our logbooks the important races of the year and when we plan to peak.

Log book you say? Yea, that's where we record how many hours we ride each day/week/training cycle, the intensity zone of each ride, structured intervals completed, our success's or failures after each race, and the training periods that we plan to peak.

A good logbook will be the best coach that you have ever hired. When you look back through your log at successes and failures you'll be able to connect them to the weeks of training that preceded them. Take into account 3 to 4 weeks of training prior to the event for a complete picture.

Next month - Bike Fit Records


OVERWEIGHT & OVERBRAKED
(The Chubby Reports) #1 by Captain Parachute

I'll be the first to admit that over the winter I quickly became an honorary member of the "Old Men Who Get Fat In Winter" racing team. I want to do the Inland Empire Century this year so I figured I'd better put in some saddle time.

I thought that the best way to do that would be to show up at the Court Club Rides. After all - it's not quite as much fun to ride by yourself. Anyway, Friday (4/16) [Okay, Okay, I'm waaaay late as usual] I showed up on my multi-talented? mountain bike outfitted with some 1.4 slicks and put in some miles. It's been two weeks since I've done any kind of riding to speak of and I can really tell that I'm not used to this at all! Even with the slicks, I'm not able to hang with the Bullett Boys for more than 1.75 picoseconds. Ah, well. At least with the spreading waistline I ought to provide a pretty good windshadow for someone to slingshot around me. Still riding by myself but at least I start off with the group.

Need to do more of these suckers. Stay tuned for the further adventures of "Captain Parachute"!


WALLA WALLA ROAD RACE REPORT
Masters B
by Phil Smith

Well, Brent and I led out the Kennewick Schwinn Racing convoy after forming up at Starbucks for some coffee and storytelling. The road was a touch bumpy in spots, thought maybe the bikes would go flying off the rack after a few of the big bumps. About half way to Walla Walla, we noticed the wind had picked up somewhat. I figured this might prove important later. Sign-in went pretty smoothly, noticed that a few of the guys were using a kilt to change, it sure seemed to draw the women's attention.

For warm-up purposes, Dick Beightol, John Snell, Craig Fortner, a few other fellows and myself decided an impromptu parking lot crit was in order. This worked pretty well, I kept trying to initiate Craig's sweet new Cannondale R2000 by brushing his rear tire with my front, but Craig is a wily (and wise) fellow and avoided this maneuver. Got ready to stage for the start, and realized I had forgotten my lucky sweatband/bandanna, so I raced back and got it, hustled beck to the start in time to hear the seemingly endless warning about crossing the centerline.

Well, at long last, we're off and rolling. Road race starts are sure different than mountain bike race starts. For one thing, you don't go off in a dead sprint, also, everybody seems so happy and relaxed (probably bored to a stupor by the race officials and their pompous warnings and edicts). At any rate, things started out a lot like a Court Club ride, minus having to feel bad for breaking so many traffic laws. After a while I couldn't stand it any longer and buzzed Brent's rear tire. Brent is pretty accustomed to this sort of odd behavior by me (we ride together at lunchtime) and didn't seem too uptight. I really should have called it quits on tire buzzing at that point, but I am slow on the uptake at times, and learned the reason this is a bad thing to do about 3 miles down the road. We were headed up a roller and I was behind this guy that looked like a 55-year-old version of Marco Pantani. Well, Pantani senior stood up to go over the roller, his bike comes back about the time I am making a spastic lunge forward, and I buzzed his tire so hard I almost went down, and my handlebars were knocked about 15-20 degrees off center. Well, this was kind of an annoying development, but the bars didn't seem loose, only tweaked north-by-northeast, so onward we went.

The first lap went pretty smoothly, Big Dan the Schwinn Man (Dan Tolley) picked up the points for the 1st lap hot spot, with Brent "stop buzzing my tire" Strecker 3rd. At the second lap feed zone, somebody handed me a bottle, which I promptly dropped. Fortunately, another kind soul pressed a bottle into my hand and away we went. I was kind of lounging around in the tail end of the lead group and was amazed at the antics Randy Coleman put on. When someone took off on a break, Randy motored up to them and before long we were all one group again. Quite the tactical fellow. About ¾ of the way through the 2nd lap, Randy and a few other fellows took of as though they were handing out money up ahead, I had to put my head down and mash those pedals to get back on the group. Fortunately for me, about the time I was running out of gas someone up front decided to back it down a bit so I got a nice chance to recover. Now, I have not had much road racing experience, but I learned that the 1km line is not the same as the 200m line (where by official edict, the whole road was usable and that blasted centerline rule was waived until just past the start/finish line). Ted Hohl, of Tri-City Chinook fame, was kind enough to inform me that crossing the centerline at the 1km line in front of the official car was not a very good tactic. This meant I had to drop back in to my spot in the rear and watch Brent do a nice job winning the 2nd lap hot spot.

The 3rd lap was kind of an interesting lap, a fellow was able to get several hundred yards ahead of the group and stay there for some time. After talking this over with Ted Hohl and a couple of other fellows, I decide to go up a ways and see what would happen. Well, some fellow I didn't know came up with me, and we reeled in the guy up ahead. I then found out that another fellow was just up ahead so away we went. By this time we had about a 7-8 person group up ahead of the main pack. One great big guy was pulling like a locomotive up front, so we all stayed on the train and tried to keep the gap on the main pack. I didn't quite realize that they were actually running a sort of paceline (the big fellow and his teammate mainly) and expected me to take a pull, but pull I did. As I started running out of gas, these rascals decided I had been with them too long, and away they went. I figured, if these characters get away I'm pretty well screwed, so I put my head down and went like hell. Once again, about the time I was nearly all used up, the group slowed up and I was able to get back in the draft and sit on a wheel. By this time we were only a couple of miles from the finish, and I again got a nice little recovery period on the tail end of the group. I had the 1km and 200m thing figured out, so when the great big guy took off at the last turn before the 200m mark I got on his wheel and stayed stuck there like a tick. As we hit the 200m line I pulled even with my new best friend and spun it up. Apparently he cramped up, Ted Hohl was behind a fellow who cramped and this guy nearly took Ted out right there. Anyway, the big guy disappeared from my peripheral vision and I thought, "Holy smokes, I have a shot at this thing". About that time another fellow appeared on the right so I went for my tallest cog and pounded away like the IRS was after me. Turned out that was good enough. What a great feeling, winning the race.

I have to take this opportunity to thank Dan Tolley and Tony Tran for keeping me in good tires and other miscellaneous but vital parts (thanks for the pre-race tune-up Dr. Tony!), Randy Coleman, for controlling the field and letting me sit-in, Ted Hohl, for keeping me from getting DQ'd for flagrant and heinous centerline violations, and Brent Strecker for patiently towing me around at some very vital spots. Also, thanks to my wife and children for tolerating my obsession with all things bike-related.

Check out back issues of the Mudnews newsletter in the Mudnews Archives. See you all out in the mud! - GrrRiz