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DiabloDiaries 5.27.09
well the east coast mission comes to a close today. boarding a Boeing 737 in about five hours and headin back to cali. will be finalizing the finals vid in the air. haven't had time or desire to complete it amidst washing clothes, shipping bikes, and saying goodbyes to fam. still impressed with the U.S. Open experience. the folks at Diablo do an awesome job of turning it into a festival. above left i'm pictured with special guest DJ Sploogee, who they flew in from Germany to M.C. in the JBL rockgarden. Played more rock, metal, and horror punk than he did techno, but nobody was complaining. above right, me and the broken man, equipped with media passes and a mission to spectate like no others. would have been fun to be in the big game, but had a blast watching and filming. hope i can get to another event soon, keep the spring momentum rolling. could definitely handle doing this for a living. couldn't you? 5.25.09 it was crazy. let's leave it at that for now. moving pictures are worth a thousand words, and boy oh boy do i have some words for you... hunkered down to bring what, I thin, is going to be some of the best U.S. open Footage this year, to you. wasn't easy, but we do it all for the footy. And for two boys, and one outdated camera I think we did damn good. you can never get it all, but wait till you see what we saw. stay tuned, amidst packing, shipping bikes, and flying back to cali there will be a video up in the next 48 hours. cheers 5.24.09 well today was an interesting day on the hill. down on myself mostly. after years at this game i still can't pick a good line and stick to it. struggled in dh, put down a pretty embarassing time, and the worst part was it was about the best i had... loads of reasons why i didn't make the top 60 of 110, about 80th. but what it comes down to is i wasn't good enough today. so again diablo gets the better of me. started sandwiched between Rando and Carter, thank god eric didn't catch me. followed up the dissappointing dh quali with a turn in the slalom final. awesome feeling to be in the game with the big boys. was pretty pumped, and feeling fast come race run so i went for it. first time i had actually GONE for it in days. dabbed, then crashed. but felt sooooo good to actually hang it out, to feel some real speed and not just put down a cautious run. but by the time run two, best of format, came i was tired, arm was all bloody and i just wanted to get down without incident so i resorted to my brake dragging, cautious self. another emabarrassing time, but that is how the cookie crumbles out here and i deserve it. would like to think i will step it up a notch some day, we'll see. filled with vigor and vim right now if you mention the races, only consolation is at long last i am realizing my dream of pirate event coverage on demand. but it is pirate, shoty, and barely holds up to all that is out there now, so why do i stay up until two am to render it, guess i'm stubborn. looking forward to watching the runs tomorrow, but a bit bitter at all those bastards who mastered the rockes faster. sorry to seem grim, just being honest. need to get tough and ride for real, don't let isolation bring down my bar.... Video Day Two 5.23.09 day two is about to begin. late night after a long day on the mountain. day one was good. sunny hot, looks like it might stay dry this year. lots of world class company, gee atherton rode my ass and i didn't even know it... hill and faivlough are looking super human, and steve smith is taking the dh apart. after a hard day of dh practice on a very challenging course i went to the giant slalom, no expectations, but a quick quali run barely got me into the round of twenty pro final today. yeah, good feeling. so have to try to find more speed this morning, and then make up my mind about the many line gnarly line choices on the dh in practice from 10-12 and do my best to smoothly qualify right after. check out some sweet video shot by joel yesterday, very exclusive, very pirate, very prompt.
5.21.09 tomorrow's the big day. the U.S. Open begins. The trailer is packed, the bikes are tuned, and i am exhausted... felt fine this morning, but a week of touring etc feels like it is catching up with me. actually feel some sickness coming on. so not drinking much tonight, alcohol that is... eating some fruit and taking some vitamins hoping a good night sleep chases the lump out of my throat. spent the last two days in washington d.c. and wouldn't trade it. had to be done, and did it well. plus got two nice bike rides in, one in maryland, one in virginia. blah blah blah, saw much and had a great time, but i can't even write about it now, so foggy feeling. gotta be up and out the door around five am so i am off line and getting horizontal now. more soon. 5.18.09 expect the unexpected... Our trip started off with a bang, or perhaps a bust. Arrived at Mountain Creek Resort on Saturday, bikes tuned and anxious to ride. After sign up and the necessary b.s. we were up the hill and on the course. a 2-3 minute rocky bust, fun, some pretty flat sections requiring a lot of power, followed by a couple steeper tech chutes at the bottom, leading into some high speed grassy corners at the end with strategically placed water bars to add to the flavor. First run Joel flatted due to a single ply rear tire, no good. He got that fixed and swapped while I did another run and inspected things a bit. We got one smooth run in together checking lines. Then the next was a bit harder and Joel flatted again, 30 pounds in the rear wasn't enough for him... We took a break, got that fixed, ate a bit, and headed back up. Peeled off a pretty quick one with fresh arms (first big bike race in months I had some serious hand pump going on) then back up feeling pretty confident now. We headed down the linking trail to DH course. I stuck to the route we had been riding, Joel opted for a new line. I got to the bottom, and he wasn't there... waited for several minutes, no sign... hiked back up to find my worst fears realized... he was laid out on the side of the trail with another rider standing over him. Hoped it was just a bell ringer, but as soon as I got to him I knew it was much more. He was having trouble breathing, could barely move, and could barely speak. he had a look in his eyes I haven't seen before. I checked him out a bit, limbs were ok, but a blunt trauma to his side was the issue. Afer several minutes I got him up, and walked slowly back to the top while I pushed his bike. once there the pain intensified. soon became clear he wasn't getting back on his bike, and with the medics at the bottom he had no choice but to ride the gondola down solo while I rode down to meet him. took the emt a while to get there, decided it was worth the call and so the ambulance arrived to give him the first flashy coach ride of his career. The local hospital was about twenty minutes away, there were still two hours of practice left, and I literally had to tear myself away to do the right thing and pack up to head to the E.R. once there I was glad I did. always nice to have a friend around in these times. took awhile but they got him to x-ray and c.t. and confirmed three broken ribs in his right side with a partially collapsed lung. the head doc arrived at about 5pm to confirm he would have to stay the night to ensure his lung didn't worsen. bummed. so after we got him checked in, into his room, and situated I headed out to out hotel alone. needless to say this really broke my spirit about the weekend, the trip, and racing in general. had a hard time that night working on my bike in the room, wondering why why why. meanwhile it thundered and rained heavy outside. by morning the storm had passed, but my mud tires were on, and off I went to the resort. started peeling off runs and getting back in the swing. actually liking things wet more then I had the day before. practice closed at noon and my older brother showed up having just visited Joel in the hospital. brother Sean and his friend suited up and after my final practice run, hard and sloppy, we went up for a fun jump run before the race. this was a mistake, should have been resting, hands and legs were burnt from sprinting through the mud, but I wanted anything but to take the race seriously. didn't clean my bike either, whatever. the atmosphere was casual, and my heart was barely in it. the run rolled around, jabberd with some columbians while I was on the ramp, too distracted, good snap, but thought I jumped the light, and was suddenly everywhere but in my body. haven't been so distracted in a race run for a long time. guess it has been a long time since i've done a real dh run, but as soon as I hit the first rock section I was thinking about the guys behind me and what they would be doing, so on and so on. missed some key lines and speed up top, and then just tried to flow and ride the rest, not sure where i was going. by the steep chute at the end I felt extra cautious cause I had already made so many mistakes I didn't want to totally blow it, too much brake. no big dabs, but just not hitting my lines or finding the right gears.enjoyed the track, enjoyed the training, but hate getting beat. so i guess I need to make up my mind about doing this right or not. ended up 14th of 24 pros, ten seconds off the podium with a 2:24. bested by a couple am's and juniors to be 19th overall. not bad, not good. you get what you put in. plus most everybody who beat me are lokes and have this place down. did twice as much practice as the top four guys, and my hands paid the price. rode out the day with my older bro, his first day on the bike since major back surgery, stoked for him, and the many groms on the hill. but still crushed Joel wasn't with me, as his progression and experience wa the major motivator for this trip. happy with the bike and the new battle axe. now i gotta clean up, and refocus for the U.S. Open next weekend. It's what I came to do, so now I've just got to focus on my ride and try to not be bummed with the inevitable stomping that Sam Hill, Brendan Fairclough, The Athertons, and Loped will be handing out.
5.15.09
two days and roughly 3000 miles later we're here, my brother and i, in dirty jersey. luckily the place got a good wash last night, awesome lightning show as we flew into philadelphia and torrential downpour as we left airport. apparently it was nice last week, poured last night and 30 percent chance of showers this weekend. means it will probably be slippery, but hopefully not too saturated. we'll find out in less than 24 hours. Diablo Domination number 1 tomorrow, so gotta get the bikes built today, hopefully Joel's show up as scheduled, but if they do then i'm a dunce for paying the three day service. oh well it's never perfect, better safe then sorry... no smell like jersey after a thunder shower, surreal being back after over two years but loving it. woke up this morning to the whispers of me lil nephew and niece, how sweet it is. then of course they farted on joel's head to bring him around, hijinks. more tomorrow from diablo...
5.12.09 as i sit right now, eating ben and jerry's, enjoying my last karmac rewards for completing the T.U.C., ninety percent packed, leaving in less than twenty four hours, en route to air port, en route to north new jersey and diablo free ride park. weather is iffy. 40 percent chance of rain and thunder showers on saturday and sunday for the first race of the Diablo Domination Series. Then goof off and ride for a few days and go in on the U.S. Open the following weekend. I am going to make an attempt at posting some coverage here. we're dorks, dumb, and archaic. so enjoy it for what it is. alternative media. thinking about my bikes right about now. not dirt tested yet. dialed in the stand, bounced in the driveway, then in the box and across the country. let the thunder showers come, i'm ready, i've got pants. 5.10.09 after a bit the log becomes daunting, because there is so much to say and so little time. Trying to organize my thoughts here on this momentous morning... A proud witness to history today, o'er slept my 4 am alarm to catch the live world cup, but the ol' sixth sense woke me up just in time for the top thirty boys in La Breese. Steve "The G.O.A.T." Peat qualified fastest and backed it up in the final with a ridiculously aggresive and pinned run, banging poles like he was on a slalom. The rain came on for the top ten, and it came down light and steady during Peat's run, but he was still able to crush Hill and the rest of the boys by over a second. Fantastic to see, Thanks Freecaster. Other than that today marks the end of the T.U.C. 2009 so now can shift focus to the next challenge at hand, some east coast DH at Diablo Freeride Park. Will be ou there racing next weekend and the following for a local series race and the U.S. Open. To have the Tour past is a good feeling, especially since I rode my best Tour ever yesterday. Had no expectations as I haven't been doing any training rides over two hours... but mile after mile my confidence grew and felt like I might "be there" at "the wall", the turning point of the race each year... A big part of this I attribute to a better feed strategy. Ate more food and more diverse food then ever before. Of course there were lapses in the schedule, like when I lost my double mix cyto bottle amidst the vietnam potholes in the alby creek section. Thanks to diligent support vehicles it was returned to me later. At about mile 40 something we got to Panther Gap, everybody stopped to pee, and or poop, I rolled through and prepped for the climb. Up panther takes about forty five for me cruising quick. Went too hard there last year trying to bridge up to leaders, so this year focused on rythm and keeping my heart rate lower. Windbigler and I had a solid climb, about 40 pleasant minutes, less thn a minute off lead, then a bombing descent and caught the pack within a few minutes of honey dew. Stoked, my best position ever, knowing if I hung with those guys for a bit I would be ensured a personal best. At mile 63 I rear flatted. As the slow leak progressed, I bobbed to stop, watching the lead pack ride off over the hill. Accepted the obstacle, whatever, too good to be true... made a quick tube swap, but fumbled with my little hand pump. minutes later i was back on the road in no mans land. crested the hill and started ripping the descent making ground, when my shyly inflatted rear tube caught one of the roads many pock marks and pinched. This time the frustration of losing position hit me and the air was filled with colorful words and animalistic roaring. I Stopped. I walked. no one came, no support cars. Out of tubes. Started riding again. Rider passed. Riding slowly. Geoff Hales. Hales stopped and saved the rest of my Tour, gave me a tube, shot it up with the CO2 and we were rolling. Worked together to and through the beach picking up some folks as we went, including Matt Deshazo of Far north Climbing gym. By the end of the beach we were five. Slapped hands and headed up the Wall. started pulling away, almost cramped, kept crawling. passed Chris Johnson who was really crawling, side to side. Didn't feel good, but kept eating and felt bad instead of awful and that was good. Got a V8 from Rocky Brashear at the top of the wall that really hit the spot. Fifteen miles to go I realized I still had a shot at beating my time from last year (5:55) if I finished strong. So I gued up and kept her rollin. Good spirits, gorgeous day. no where else I wanted to be. One minute slower than last year. Stoked. So stoked I decided to ride home to Eureka. Forgot about the cruel north wind that was still whipping. avg speed over one hundred miles 16+ (very hilly). avg speed home (mostly flat) 11mph. 5.09.09 it's 4:17 am, just up, eating some eggs and toast, feeling chipper. The T.U.C. begins in two hours and twenty minutes. Gotta eat now so the food is available then. Pockets are stuffed with some where just under three thousand calories, everything from mom's oatmeal cookies to a flask of "espresso gel". Sounds like a party in the making. Not expectivng any grand performance, not much endurance base training, but the weather should be grand and hopefully the six hourish ride will be enjoyable. another entry awaits on the other side of self discovery, tally ho. 5.04.09 word from the king is there was a crew and they rode the range. his range that is, king's range. Words has it at least eleven folks rode on sunday. some were there saturday night, braving elements which threatned to flood their tents. rewarded sunday with a blessed break in the weather and sweet trail conditions. i was told on monday that the Paradise Royale is best in the wet, tacky, rippy, fun. sad i wasn't there, stoked some friends still rode. no times till next time. may the force be with you. 5.03.09 a bit frustrated with myself and the site and all right now. cased the king's range ride, false expectations of a falsified automobile and an over ambitous body both fell through and left me with no means to lead a ride. again my apologies, my eyes were bigger than my ability. The Pirate tradition is a decade old this year and trying to figure out where it is going to go. not going away, that is all that's clear. not sure quite what the site is offering, haven't been tending to race updates and logs like i should... can no longer over poignant event coverage outside of the area... are we growing, shrinking, dinking? yes yes and yes. i have lots of ideas, but a little less time, so must cut some of the ideas and focus on delivering. and still fit in training somehow... 5.02.09 Well a lot of work just culminated this weekend. A lot of it went great and I am straight up casing the rest. Simply an impossible to do list, eyes were bigger than my capabilities. But got a phat order of new pirate gear thursday, unveiled two sweet local films, and threw a good party all thursday night so that will be my consolation. After our show thursday night celebrated a bit, only to feel like doom the next day and even worse the following night. Missing out on obligtions to the Bike Gear Swap and Talib Kwali... but twenty hours of sleep and nutribiotic and lots of lemon 'n ginger juice has me climbing out of the crash. I won't be camping at King's Range tonight as I had hoped, though some should be. I'm just gonna try to roll out in the a.m. if such passage is possible. That's the thanks I get for keeping my body up late drinking coffee for two weeks. 4.28.09 sitting here, wasting away... least that's what it feels like this week, when i'd rather be actively recovering from and for some hard racing i sit sip coffee and stretch occasionally. for what? to splice down some footage of a tiny local race with like thirty people total in attendance. not a huge audience. but if all goes as planned and some or all of those thirty people get to watch their hohum attincs projected ten feet tall on a wall and smile for me on thursday night it will have been worth the sacrifice. are we there yet??? 4.25.09 been a busy couple of weeks with concern to riding. What with the Sea Slaughter Beaver Fest last week, followed by the Lemurian Shasta Classic today. Maybe it's the ass whooping competition or the fact that I missed a career altering junior x podium by two seconds on my first trip that has kept me going back to the sea otter for about eight years now... maybe it's the fact that my first shasta lemurian ended me up on a stretcher that has kept me going back for three xc years now... we may never know. no we do know. at sea otter it's the challenge of an un technical track made technical by the attendance of the best national and international athletes. And as for Lemurian, well it is a freakin man's track that makes me want to cry and whine every time and somewhere inside I seem to think it will get easier someday. Someday when I give up video editing and web blogging and start training like a man... but until then you should all come to our show thursday night to see why it is that I am off the back of the fast guys right now, rather then in their midst. Sea Otter was crazy, first year in Pro. Finally a big bike track, and me wih only 9" of travel between my two wheels. Blew my fork twice in three days of practice. My younger brother Joel had even worse luck, shredding four hangers and two derailleurs in three days, then snappin der cable and crashing in race. I didn't crash but was pretty cautious after getting the family jewels sucked into the rear wheel and the 'ol seat to the gut on my last practice run race day. Fork blew and I screamed like a ninny in right behind the prettiest girl in downhill. See I caught her, layed on the brakes to allow a gap, sprinted back up to an over ambitious speed, then hucked a lil drop to big and almost threw the whole thing away. Luckily was ok for one more, but played it safe and wound up buried deeper than a hatchet from the Simpson trial. Small consolation in that my time would have won my Cat 1 age group, but that's not where I am, I'm Pro so best start training like it. 4.03.09 the age of technology.. the age of viruses... technology is changing, the internet is changing... hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. it's all supposed to make things easier, which should've equated to more time... but sadly it seems to only equate to more time texting and facebooking. so watch out, the virus is spreading and it wants to get it's hands on you. enjoy the outdoors, you may catch a cold, but time will pass slower and you will be better for it. have had troubles with my system and therefore trouble keeping the page up, but we keep cracking. so relax, kick back, do some yoga, do some bike yoga, and maybe send a text message while your at it. 3.24.09 the end of it all... first i apologize for the stale state of this site lately. we are a small company and have been experiencing issues with time and infrastructure. steps are being taken and soon things should freshen up. with that said there are some exciting events on the local horizon. Sea Otter is right around the corner and drawing some serious focus, as I strive to get the legs ready to sprint against the worlds best and wealthiest. This weekend it started to happen, thanks to some fine weather, got in one hundred road miles and a first in the cruiser race at R.E.BMX (can't brag to much about that though as the class' average age was about 40 and I barely pulled it out... I blam the flat pedals) Then our shop is closing on April 25th as we all are headed to Whiskeytown Lake, near Redding, to race the epic Lemurian Shasta Classic. Up to 24 miles of rocky goodness, can't wait. The beginning of May is going to be high times for local Piracy. Friday evening May 1st will be the premiere of some HoHum local films at the North Coast Climbing Gym in Arcata. Documentation of this winters cyclo cross races coupled with a short shining documnet of last years T.U.C. titled "Event Support" will be shared, along with the world debue of DJ MickStickinChicks... Flyers out soon... then that weekend head on down to the Lost Coast west of Redway to rage the Paradise Royale trail with us. Pre riding Saturday the 2nd, camping that night, and riding again on the 3rd with optional check point timing for those studs who want to shralp the superbly sculpted gnar that has been laid out for us in the Kings Range Recreation area. This get together will be friendly, casual, free, and all are welcome. A lot to do between now and then... In the meantime there are insanely fun/fast road rides going out every Tuesday night at 6pm, at the Giuntoli side of West End Road. Made my first of the year tonight and had a blast. Hammered my guts to mush trying to keep up with the more conditioned roady contingent, threw up a little in my mouth, yelled encouragement, and loved it. A better high than those empathy exaserbating drugs so many love. By the end everyone were close comrades, all very supportive of everyone's effort, slapping fives, sharing our lives, and feeling very content. Looking forward to having more juice next week, but i'll need all six days to recover. Suppose I'll take adavantage of our local BMX races Friday night to mix it up. Suppose I'll Have one more P.B.R. to recover tonight cause they taste so good. The end of it all. You see there are two sides to the coin. Many people are ready for it all to come to a flaming end in three years when the Myan calendar runs out in 2012. For some this is an excuse for total apathy, I'm trying to look at it as an excuse for absolute urgency. To extract the best, brightest, and most positive results in the time we have left. We have the choice.
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