Cactus Cup Recap

Stage 1: Uphill TT A short and violent effort up a super steep climb. The course was allegedly a mile long, but I think it was about 3/4 of a mile. The upper section was super loose and traction was hard to find. I pre-rode several times and watched others do so as well in an attempt to find a good line. I came to the conclusion there was no good line. I cleaned it 4 or 5 times and felt like I had it reasonably dialed. Apparently not dialed enough, because during the race I lost traction at a tricky little rock section, had to unclip, and run 50 yards to where the hill eased a bit and I could remount. My slow time made be a bit cranky.

Spectators had a good view of the Strip from the course. Competitors couldn't enjoy the view because they were staring just ahead of their front tires looking desperately for some areas of traction.


World Champs don't have a problem with loose climbs.


Wannabe Pros, on the other hand, had to run their bike.


My time was about the same as this guy who was spectating on the side of the course.


Stage 2: Super D
Saturday morning's stage brought an 11 mile somewhat downhill course through the desert from the Cottonwood trailhead to the old mining town of Blue Diamond with some short but stiff climbs thrown in for good measure. I went cross eyed for about 39 minutes or so. The course had some super swoopy turn sections that were fun if you got the cornering drift right and downright scary if you didn't and drifted off trail towards a cactus.

Semipro's lined up with the pros. You know you're skinny when you make Tinker look thick.


Rippin' in the desert.


Stage 3: Fatboy Criterium under the lights
A road crit with MTBs running slicks on a 3/8th of a mile loop and at night. Crazy fun! Again, semipros were run with the pros. Four current and former MTB Olympians were in the race. It was rad to rocket through the first corner on Sauser's wheel. My goal was to last as long as I could before getting pulled and not knock anybody over. Turns out I was pretty good at railing the 180 degree corners and I nearly went the distance, but got pulled on the penultimate lap.

A quick video of corner #1. I'm in there somewhere.


Stage 4: XC
30 miles of mostly desert 1track. I started strong and was holding the lead for the first 4 or 5 miles. I proceeded to overshoot a corner, which caused me to drop my chain and it wrapped around itself making for a time consuming repair. This left me in no-man's land off the lead pack of semipro riders and that is where I would spend most of the day. The heat cranked up and the trails got even more technical as fatigue set in. One one downhill section I drifted off the trail in a corner and pegged a Joshua Tree at speed. Ouch! On another stretch, I clipped a cactus with my right hand. Double Ouch! No serious injuries, but enough to rattle the confidence a bit, which caused me to slow it down some because there was nobody close to catching me from behind and it was clear I wasn't going to get back to the leaders.

I ended up 3rd Overall in the Semipro Stage Race.


A nice engraved cowbell (and some good prize $$$ too!)


Another fun and entertaining MTB race season comes to an end. I'm already anxious to see how next year's schedule will shape up.

Thanks for reading,
Blue Star

Some National Media Coverage

Check this link.

Full write up to follow.

Blue Star

SS World Photos, Cactus Cup, & Pro Upgrade

Well, I've totally slacked on giving a more thorough update on SS Worlds. I think the New York Times article did a really good job of describing the fun and semi-organized chaos that is SS Worlds, so I won't try and improve on that with my own yarn. A bit late, but here's some good photos from BMW, who made the trip out from Ohio (en route to Hawaii) to enjoy some wine country and observe the wild antics on one geared bikes. I'm definitely working SSWC09 in Durango, CO into the schedule for next year.

Pre-race warmup.


Descending, a bit off the line (eek, sorry trail police).


Feeling spry with a wheelie through the start/finish before heading out on Lap 2.


High fives from the fans out on course as I come through to finish.


Done, dusty, and happy to have a black bottle opener.

This weekend is my last mountain bike race of the season at the revived Cactus Cup stage race down in Las Vegas, NV. This race carries some personal significance, because my first ever MTB race was the Cactus Cup in Mansfield, Ohio back in 1992. I jumped head first into the junior sport category. It was a super muddy race and I loved every minute of it. I survived several tip overs because I was using clipless pedals for only the second ride. If I recall correctly, I was top 5 out of like 40 kids. I have been immersed in the cycling lifestyle ever since. Sport to Semi-pro. 16 years old to 32 years old. Same obsession with bicycles. It's funny how things come full circle over time.

USA Cycling announced a new category system for next year. The semi-pro category is gone. Existing semi-pros have been given a free pass to go pro or to go down to the newly created Category 1 that is comprised mostly of racers from the former expert category. I'm faced with the dilemma of whether to go up or down. SLR and my riding friends say go pro or I'm a sandbagger. I've read comments from USAC board members that the intent was for the top 1/3 of semi-pros should go pro and the bottom 2/3 go down. I'm ranked just inside the cusp of the top 1/3. I could go down and have a chance at getting some more podium time or I could go up for the opportunity to tell my future child that Dad was once a professional athlete and raced against Olympians. I have until December to decide. I may use my result from the race this weekend as the deciding factor. Do well, I go up. Suck wind, I go down. Then again, maybe I'll flip a coin. Feel free to weigh in.

Other things on the horizon: some riding on Orcas; if the good weather holds, attempting the Cascade Triple Crown (including 12k feet of climbing) on my SS; building up a project bike in the off season; learning to build wheels; exploring more Belgian beers; and maybe a few cyclocross races if I feel like going cross-eyed for an hour.

Thanks for reading,
Blue Star

NY Times Likes the SS

SS Worlds goes large with an article and picture spread in the NY Times!
Check it here.

A post with our pics coming soon.

Blue Star