Pierre’s Hole Race Report from “The” Dave Saurman
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Hey Riders, So another session of self abuse at Pierre’s Hole this past Saturday. Tons of fun. A great turn out from the locals and others from all over the planet. And maybe a few from nearby planets? A leisurely start at 10:15 for the 50 milers. It was warm, dry and never got above 75 degrees. Perfect race conditions as the weeks rains made the course tacky. Some new trail( still a bit bumpy) but good to mix it up.
I had ridden some of the course last Wednesday and Mill Creek specifically was scary with a water runnel right down the middle of the trail. Thanks to Troy Barry and his crew for making it much more rid able.
The race was fun - though seemed to hurt more than usual. As the 40+ champ for the last two years, I had a lot to live up to…….or not. I knew going in there was some stiff competition this year. A lot of strong contenders not from here.
I had a good start, I had an awesome first decent of Mill creek. I hammered the road up to Bustle Creek decent. I was amazed how many I passed. at one point, like 15at once? The usually long hump up Dry Creek (really painful) and out into Ricks kind of by myself. Start/Finish and off for the second lap. Now the pain increasing. Even better descent down Mill Creek ( as there was no one in front of me) and another good road climb. An OK descent to the Dry Creek #2. Now the pain really begins. I was passed by a few not in my class, and maybe one in the 40 +? I did not care, I kept pushing forward, but not fast enough. Finally the top and slowly into Ricks again. Now I was home. 8 miles to go. Then I began to Cramp. The inner thighs. Damn I hate that. I popped my last 3 Ecaps and moved on. It helped for a while, but a mile from the end I started to cramp agian. Damn. Then I saw some dude, a 100 miler on his last lap and asked him if he had Ecaps? He looked, actually stopped in the middle of his race and found none. I found one last shot of my Egooo and I guess there was enough lytes in it to save me. I finished. Yeah. With no good training except racing, I felt good about my race. I had record time and ended up 4th in the 40+ and a podium as they went 5 deep!! Not bad for this fat out of shape geezer.
Just happy for another clean race, no crashes, no bonks, no flats and no mechanicals.
Oh, and congrats to all my buddies for there podiums. I think just about everyone got a spot.
Cheers, DS
Boise 9 to 5 Race Report from Hamilton Smith!
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La Niña - I suppose it is a theme we will all carry through 2011. Pushing 20 meters of snowpack in the Tetons, it has been a winter few of us will soon forget, though the extravagance of exceptional skiing wore thin on the minds of those planning ahead! Skinny tire ride after skinny tire ride, bedecked in every fathomable layer a cyclist would dare haul out of the winter gear closet; hat, balaclava and neck gator were not the exception, but the rule. All the while, I would do my best to turn my eyes and ears from the blogosphere, as car after car full of local cyclists packed up and rolled towards sandstone single track, and hey…50 degree temps, maybe? The disappointments would keep coming, as the ominous dark cloud of the Cascade Cream Puff 100 ebbs ever nearer. Cancelation of the Garden Creek Gap was just another notch in the imperfect spring of 2011, when plans and preparation were just not to be. Hence, having tossed planning for spontaneity, 8 hours in the saddle in any form was not a choice but a necessity. Enter Boise 9 to 5, single speed category.
Not one for the Groundhog day-like effect of repeated laps on “short” courses, this was not a natural choice for me. But with Mom living on the East side of town, I had logged a bunch of miles on the Boise foothills (proper) in the past, all gravelly smoothness; sliding fast, bermed corners, and generally loving the undemanding terrain, save spinning out on the kitty litter wherever the trails tipped up. Outfoxing myself once again, I carried this expectation into the 9 to 5 weekend, hurriedly scrambling to find a Chris King crown race in time to fit my rigid fork back onto my frame, where a perfectly good (spanking brand new) Fox RLC F29 was mounted. Rolling out midday Friday, feeling very satisfied with my accomplishment; the thought of a pre-ride of the course had not even dawned on me, nor had the wisdom of dropping the squishy fork in with the gear.
Following my first ever Le Mans start, which turned out to be a cordial prance around half of a soccer field amongst chuckling participants, I wound up in the front pack, amongst those champing at the bit to get onto the narrow single track ahead of the peloton. A flicker of white, black and red out of the saddle and pinning it, would become the unshaken visage etched into my lenses for the rest of the day, a speedy single speed rider out of Ketchum, Mike Shane, to whom I was an unsavory 0-2 against in past races.
The hamster wheel effect did not set in right away, only because the initial canyon ascent was flowing, with intermittent rocky attention-getters. You couldn’t totally check out, but rhythm could be found on the climb, and the light and responsive rigid fork still made sense. Descending, on the other hand was really fast, and put the full shimmy on bike and rider, early laps I think my joints were up for it. But these were not the Boise foothill trails I’ve been riding for more than 10 years, now. NO! This ride essentially epitomizes why suspension was invented in the first place…and yeah; arms, wrists, joints can absorb the shock…for a while. I was pinning it hard enough to keep up with the Ketchum carrot such that by lap three I started to feel the cross-eyed sensation of losing good control. One technical section I easily rolled over on Lap 1 and 2, turned into a front endo and a trip into the sumac on Lap 3. Now, getting yer butt hauled out of the creek bottom by a dude mid-pass, is humiliating enough, but in retrospect I should have thanked him on Lap 7 when I made back the position I lost there!
The race within the race is easy enough to define; a thoroughbred out front, one of the Cutters in 2nd(me) jersey splayed open, Hammer junk all over my face, wondering what grassy hummock was hiding my inevitable personal time bomb; and a clever teammate coming from behind with a Phd in race technique, carving away at a lead that I never once had an accurate accounting of. All I know is Mr. Byers had not made it into my over-the-left-shoulder status check; but I knew he was right there on the brink! Fortunately, the trip into the Sumac was the kind of wake-up call that demanded I start reigning in the risks and the output, and look for some consistency. I rode into first place, ever so briefly late in the race, hearing, “You’re not supposed to be here!” from Mike. Together, we took over the leading single speed racer at that point, Chris Pace of some other racing outfit from Jackson (heh, heh). It was a memorable racing moment; steepest climb of the course, a double pass with no looking back. Unfortunately, Mike could put a minute into me on each descent, without a thought. The rigid fork had taken its toll, as I nearly lost the bars all together through one section of brake bumps, and realized that there was no amount of lead I could take while climbing, that he would not easily overcome. To make matters worse it was all descent to the finish line. I focused on staying upright, and rolled into the finish 2nd - one minute behind Ketchum Mike, with Byers closing in for 3rd just moments later. So, the Spring of La Niña had an unusual silver lining, a rad race in Boise, more composure than I usually exhibit, commitment to fueling and drinking made easy by laps that pass right in front of your own personal aid station, and my very own niña (Aila) got to join daddy up on the podium, with a cuteness factor I can only hope begins to make up for my inability to gather enough strength to go find my dang team vest prior to the awards ceremony!!! (Mea Culpa) Huge shout outs go to all of the Fitzgerald’s Team there representing, always offering up tons of encouragement throughout the race. There were tons of Tetonians from both sides of the Pass that made this a home-away-from-home kind of a race. I highly recommend Boise 9 to 5 to anyone considering some early season racing fun.
Melissa Davidson Wins Rigby Tri!
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Team member Melissa Davidson slam dunks an early season Triathlon in Rigby - 1st place women’s category, 3rd place overall - nice work Melissa! Below is her race report:
It’s possible I have selective amnesia because every year I forget how f-ing cold the water is at good-old Rigby Lake. In case you didn’t know, there is a town called Rigby in Idaho (halfway between Rexburg and Idaho Falls). Perhaps known for its meat processing plant, Rigby is a tiny town with a fresh water lake dependent upon the level of the water table. But more obscure, there’s a triathlon held there every year on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
I dusted off my pointy, dorky aero helmet and put my sprint triathlon skills to the test. After a winter of swimming, cycling and running until I was literally blue in the face, I thought a little anaerobic test was in order. Especially since my big race, Ironman Boise 70.3, is coming at me faster than my first boyfriend at prom.
I’ve done the Rigby race at least a handful of times since its inception 6 years ago and always seem to forget that because it’s Memorial Day weekend it is either:
A.) Snowing
B.) Snowing/Raining
C.) Cold as balls or
D.) All of the Above
Nonetheless, I meandered my way down to the water and watched the men’s wave flap around like seals in their wetsuits in an attempt to ‘warm up’ in the frigid water. I refused to get in. The men were off. The ladies were already warming up and waiting for their turn. With the men’s 5-minute head start, I didn’t want to be in that water longer than I had to. But at the last minute I waded in. The gun went off. My face, hands and feet instantly froze - definitely the stuff hypothermic dreams are made of. I’d say low 40s for sure.
Now, this is where it pays to be a decent swimmer - you spend LESS time in the water. It’s a simple as that. Swim fast, get out! During the half-mile swim, I caught most of the men and posted the second fastest swim time overall. On to the bike.
I stripped off my wetsuit, piled on a million layers of clothes and spent what seemed like an eternity in the transition area as other less smart people took off in nothing but their skimpy one-piece tri suits. Eventually I exited the transition area with my better half screaming, “Where are your gloves?!” I forgot how fun it is to pedal a time trials bike in the aero position on a flat road. If my frozen hair could blow happily in the wind, it would have….
My transition from bike to run was less eventful. I stripped off some pants and decided to run in the layer underneath - my brand new Fitzy bike shorts. It wasn’t awful running a 5k in the soggy diaper but I definitely wouldn’t want to run a half marathon in them. I blew by a couple dudes on my way to the finish line yelling “eat my dust suckers.”
I ended up in 1st place for women by 11 minutes. And was 3rd overall - two men beat me. I guess I need to work on my biking skills so I can take it ALL next year. It’s a good thing I’m on a team now so I can start improving.
One final thought: Bring on Boise Biotches (BoBB)!!!!!
- Melissa
Team Newsletter - May 20
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| In This Issue |
| - Intermountain Cup |
| - Two Byers Solo |
| - AnthemX 29er Review |
| - Team Shared Calendar & Upcoming Races |
It is now time to start sending in your race reports! If I don’t hear from you, I don’t know that your raced. Pics are encouraged, seriously.
Intermountain Cup Sundance Spin, May 14 2011 (XC MTB)
Gabe headed south to blow out the cobwebs and get his race on at Inermountain Cup Race #5 (how can they be on race #5, we are still skiing?) at Soldier Hollow. Gabe sent in this report. Remember Gabe, that which does not kill you…
“In case anyone is thinking that the snowy Spring has been exclusive to JH I can tell you that you are wrong. Typically early season racing in the Park City area is clear of snow below 8,000′. This year is not the case. The Utards are only a few weeks ahead of us in melt out…”
Michelle sent in this report from here race:
Giant AnthemX 29er Short-Term Review
Fitzy’s has a lot of new mountain bike offerings this year but being a fan of the 29er, I thought I would post an initial review of my new ride; Giant’s AnthemX 29er
Team Newsletter - May 12
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The 2011 Team Kits are in!!! Woohoo!
REMINDER: Shop Groups Rides get Rollin’
Wednesday Night Lady’s Ride
Starting May 11th! Meet at 5:30 PM, departure time will be 5:45pm sharp! This way it will give people some more time to get there, or do whatever else they need. It’s gonna be a great season! - T-Race
Thursday Night Group Road Ride
Starting May 11th - Roll out at 5:30 PM. NOTE: Tony Labbe has committed as much time as possible but he isn’t always available. I would hope some other team members would be able to help cover certain dates and or when Tony is unavailable. Please email me if you are interested in helping to lead the Thurs Night Group Ride.
2011 Team Shared Race Calendar & Upcoming Races
Moab Gran Fondo - May 7th, 2011
12 Hours of Mesa Verde - May 7th, 2011
See more events at:
Fitzgerald’s Bicycles Team Shared Race Calendar - please log in and start adding your races! (If you don’t have editing rights, please email me)
Sincerely,
Dave Byers
Fitzgerald’s Bicycles Team & Cycling Junkie
Team Newsletter - May 5th
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2011 Fitzgerald’s Bicycles Team Newsletter - May 5th, 2011
| In This Issue |
| Collegiate Road Racing |
| Saurman hits the road |
| Team Agreement |
| Team Metrics |
| Shop Rides Get Rollin’ |
| Team Shared Calendar & Upcoming Races |
COLLEGIATE ROAD RACING
New Fitzy Team member Sinead O’Dwyer sent in an update from her road racing season so far. Thanks for the update SInead and we look forward to seeing you at the end of May.
The collegiate season has been going pretty well. I rode two non-collegiate USCF races, one in NYC around Grant’s tomb, I rode the women’s open race in the morning and then the collegiate race in the afternoon. We stayed on 72nd street in Manhattan and rode our bikes through Central Park to get there in the morning! It was pretty fun. The other USCF race was in Philly on Temple’s campus, about an hour after my collegiate race I rode the USCF men’s Cat 5 race and hung in there for the first 25 minutes before I got pulled. On Easter weekend, we had our conference champs, I got 5th in the East Coast Conference Road Race, but got taken out by my teammate in the crit and ended up with a badly swollen elbow that is still healing. Myself, and three of my teammates are headed to Nationals in Madison, WI on Thursday.
I’d like to especially to thank Fitzy for donating a trianing video and a nutrition video to the team. When he heard we were student run and didn’t have a coach, he gave my mom those videos to ship to the team! Goes to show his true enthusiasm for the sport and it’s growth.
See you guys at the end of May!
Sinead
SAURMAN HITS THE ROAD
Team Newsletter - May 2nd
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Has anyone been racing? If so, we want to hear about it. Please send me your race reports by the end of the day on Wednesday as our next Newsletter will go out Thursday morning.
Reminder: May kicks off our Carbo Rocket Rider Of The Month program. Nominate a teammate for rider of the month and the winner will receive a bag of Carbo Rocket at the end of May. The Carbo Rocket Rider of the Month will run through October 2011.
If you have’t done so already, please go to Fitzgerald’s Bicycles Facebook Page and “Like” it. The shop often uses their FB page to make announcements. If you’re not on Facebook, no worries.
Lastly, bundle up and get out on your bike!
Moab Gran Fondo - May 7th
Bear Lake Road Race - May 14th
Bear Lake Team Time Trial - May 15th
Boise 9 to 5 - June 11th
Boise 70.5 Ironman - June 11th
RAAM - Starts Jun 15th - Go JayP!
TEAM SHARED CALENDAR IS HERE (save it as an Internet Favorite)
Fitzgerald’s Bicycles awarded Top 100 Bike Retailer in the US!
Thanks for voting Fitzgerald’s “Best Bike Shop” 2009, 2010, 2011!
