CROSS BORDER CLASH PHOTOS - Day 2

A great weekend of Cascade Cross racing just outside of Ferndale. Here're pics from Sunday's Men's Master C race. I'm whooped! Looking forward to the Thanks Given'r in two weeks!

Mike Hammer hammers the Lake District. (Get it? 'Cause his last name is 'Hammer' and all.) 

Stole this pic from Debbie Gervais (thanks, Debbie!) of Mike Hammer just before he hammers past me. (Get it? 'Cause his last name is ... ) The day before, I'd snapped the rear shifter off my 'cross bike and was forced to ride my mountain bike. Which actually worked out fine.  

Speaking of my rear shifter, just moments before today's race, a really nice dude (whose name I sadly forget) presented me with a gift: my shifter, which he found in the grass whilst pre-riding the course. Thanks, nice dude!

Craig Eubank about to enter the Pump Track for the first time and look, already there're two folks out of commission from the race that started 30 seconds before ours.

Steve Work, Jacob and Glenn Gervais. Glenn went on to win, I believe. Way to go, dude! 

Rotating Surfboard of Death.

Craig on his way to winning the hole shot.

Mike Hammer about to hammer across the Skinny. (Get it? Cause his last name ...)

The Lake District. 

The Sand Pit.

Is this thing working? 

After the race, Mike Hammer is hammered. (Get it?)

CROSS BORDER CLASH PHOTOS - Day 1

Please enjoy some pics from the Men's Master C race on Day 1 of Cross Border Clash in Ferndale, WA. Tomorrow is Day 2! Same course, opposite direction.

(Just heard that Tyler Farrar showed up and raced in the afternoon ... and was out-sprinted by local mega-He-man Jeff Cummings!)

The flyover. 

The sandy pump track.

The evil sand. 

The rotating surfboard of death. 

The pump track redux.

The time I bit it on the sandy pump track. 

The Lake District.

Approaching the Lake District. 

Bryan Smith bites it on the sandy pump track. 

Before the start with Craig Eubank, Eric Strommerson, Charlie VanZandt, among others.  

Moments before the start. Notice presence of a rear shifter.

Midway through the race. Notice absence of rear shifter, which snapped off sometime during the second lap. Thus, I raced mostly single-speed. Albeit, against my wishes.

More pump track. 

Some fun single-track.

MORE 2011 MONTHLY BIKE PHOTS

Here's July through December. 

July. A lovely summer afternoon climbing the upward-tilted Burnout Road with terrific views overlooking Samish Bay. Samish Island is the foreground (ish) strip of dark forest with super-steep Mount Erie in the distance.

July (part 2). Mount Shuksan as seen through the spokes on one of my repeat rides up the ski area on the Mount Baker Highway. Because of 2011's mega-snowfall, this year the road never opened all the way to Artist Point.

  

August. Mount Shasta Summit Century. Ultra hard, ultra long ("That's what she said" joke goes here.)--130 miles with 14,750 feet or so of climbing, 10-plus hours on a bike. Glad I did it but it was the day I realized that anything longer than about 6 hours begins to enter the This-isn't-a-whole-lot-of-fun-anymore zone. Also in August, I turned 50.

September. Riding across the Skagit Flats on the way to La Conner and back with the Cowboys Titanium. Seventy-three miles, a stop for coffee in L-town, some hellatious town sign sprints thoughout--certainly one of the year's most enjoyable rides.

October. Crazy Jacob Stewart holds onto his bike for dear life after dropping down into a hole atop Anderson Mountain. This was on a cool MTB ride with Jacob, Ryan Rickerts and Scott Young. 

October (part 2). I just really like the colors on this helmet cam photo of Titanium Cancellara pedaling down the Interurban Trail. 

November. Another helmet cam shot, this one during a warm-up lap of the Cross-Border Clash CX race outside Ferndale. That's Glenn Gervais in blue; he won the men's master C race that day.. 

December. I've not taken many bike photos this month. (We've been running too damn much.) Here's a snapshot taken from a helmet cam video I shot of our Samish Loop ride 'n' bushwack. The reason I'm not wearing a helmet is that I'm pointing the camera at myself whilst riding.

Happy New Year, y'all!   

CROSS BORDER CLASH-PADDEN MUDFEST WEEKEND

Friday: bought a ‘cross bike, the lovely ‘n’ sexy Giant TCX 1. (See below.)

Saturday: rode my first ‘cross in three-plus years, Ryan Rickerts’ Cross Border Clash in the DeltaTech industrial park, just north of Ferndale. (See top pic.) Super fun time. Course featured a rotating surfboard of death, sand pit, pump track and more. Dead flat, thus lousy, stinky, terrible time trialists (such as me) were not among the swiftest on the course. I had to laugh, before the race, Charlie Heggem gave me a hard time for racing with the C’s. After my stellar 7th place finish (out of 17 racers), I don’t think he’ll be bugging me again. (Just found out that Glenn Gervais won it! Way to go, Glenn!)

Below is a short vid of the first lap:



Sunday: ran my first running race in almost 5 years, the 6-mile Padden Mudfest. Lots fun. Lots runners too, which was nice. Quite comforting to be able to turn around from time to time and see that I’m not last.

Sorta scary moment, coming down the last steep rooty, rocky hill, I came across an annoyed, limping and bleeding Dean Taylor. Apparently, he’d just tripped over a log, opening up a deep gaping laceration on his knee. (His shoulder and hand were pretty banged up as well.) Ever the resourceful one, he pulled the flap of skin back up over his kneecap, and with his shoelace, tied his headband around his knee to stop the bleeding.

I decided to stay with him for a bit and eventually we were able to walk the last mile back in together. (I’ve certainly appreciated the times when I’ve had misfortunes on the trail and folks have stayed with me; so I was more than eager to help someone else out for a change.)

I found out later he fractured his patella and needed 18 stitches. Yikes.