Tuesday, March 4, 2008

St. George

Desert_rampage



Some observations from Saturday’s race in St. George:



  1. I like my new 180mm cranks.  I recommend them if you've been blessed with long femurs.  You wouldn’t think that an extra 5mm in crank length would amount to much, but I really felt a difference.  The downside of longer cranks is that your feet are 5mm closer to the ground at the bottom of the pedal stroke.  Mountain bikers are masters at calculating the exact location of their feet with respect to obstacles on the trail.  It’s a very complex calculation involving calculus, vectors and sinusoidal trajectories.  When we get it right it’s pure elegance. When we add 5mm to the radius of the circle, it can make for a bumpy ride.  I whacked my pedals on rocks at least five times. 


  2. I don’t pay enough attention to the national mountain biking scene.  During my pre-race warm-ups, Bob told me that he saw Travis Brown here and that he expected me to beat him.  I just nodded and pretended to know who he was talking about.  Turns out he’s a former Olympian and national champion.  I finished three minutes behind him (and 13 minutes behind the winner).


  3. Lots of people asked me how I liked the new geometry in my new Paragon.  I feel kind of dumb by saying this, but I haven't really noticed much of a difference.  I did feel faster on the descents, well, at least I did when I had the energy to ride aggressively, but the new geometry is meant to enhance control at low speeds, not high-speed descents. 


  4. Apparently a ‘training’ program of yoga, skate skiing and weekly bowling in a sanctioned league is a pretty good regime.  I finished 10th out of 24 pro men.  I felt strong for the first two laps, but my legs started to feel heavy in the third lap.  By the fourth lap I just wanted it to be over.  I wonder what will happen when I start adding a bit more cycling into the mix.  Incidentally, my bowling average is up 8 pins over last year. 


  5. You can read about the race and see the results here.


Oh, and thanks to Chris and KC for providing excellent support. 



4 comments:

  1. Congrats on the good finish.
    Being a fellow tall dude I have been considering 180mm cranks. I borrowed a friends 180mm cranks from an old GF Procaliber for a race (180 cranks actually came stock on is XL bike, go figure) and I really liked them, but did have more pedal strikes. I assume you adjust the precise calculation in your head.
    As for my race, I flatted in the first lap and had to walk back to my car. First lap took 55 minutes. I did my laps, but I had lost all motivation by the time you passed me on my third (your fourth) lap.
    Joel Z.

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  2. Yeah, Yeah, 180mm cranks, geometry, training, blah, blah, blah...You said nothing about the new COLOR of the bike. Definitely an upgrade. Very nice. I am sure that the paint must weigh less as well.....

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  3. nicely done, in pro style. Your legs look beefy (in a good way) in the photo...

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  4. Thanks Babers. That's why I shave 'em. Maybe you should give it a try.

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