Dietary Flavonoid Quercetin Increases VO2MAX and Endurance Capacity

Been a while since I posted here and  that’s mostly because I’ve been underground riding my rearend off for Leadville.  In any case, I’m a big believer in FRS (I start every morning with a smoothie made of 2-3oz FRS Concentrate, 3-4oz real oj, 1/2 frozen banana, 1/4 cup chopped frozen mango, same amnt. frozen pineapple, blend–that courtesy of Juan Pelota at Mellow Johnny’s in Austin.  They call it the Hella Yella.) and found this new study done at the University of South Carolina on the positive impact of Quercetin on endurance capacity and VO2 Max.  If it’s true, this is pretty big stuff.  I hope it’s not another goji berry or acai hype job (and for the record I believe in both of those berries for their benefits, but not to the extent the marketing departments of most company’s would have us believe).

I’m getting ready to pack up the house and head east for some altitude acclimation before Leadville.  After last week’s ride in Kernville (where I felt pretty good), I’ll be curious to see what my numbers look like versus sea level.

Back to the salt mines.

Ready to Traverse

It’s 5:30 and it’s quitin’ time at the Salt Mines. I’m taking tomorrow off to get rested and ready for Saturday’s ride across the Santa Ana Mountains.

Big thanks to the wrenches at Revo Cycles in Dana Point for putting my bike back in racing condition after its untimely wreck two weeks ago. (Hey my scabs are almost gone too.) I have a sixth sense for wrenches I can trust and those I should watch while they work (and I’m the worst wrench I know).  Mike and the guys at Revo are the kind you know are going to get it done right and without having to wonder why the hell this bolt or that skewer is loose.  

Tomorrow it’s clean and lube the bike, fill the BD1 (but first decide if I want backpack support on this race), fill the feedbag with a few goodies, throw the kit downstairs, load the bikes, check the equipment twice (Oakley Radar frames snapped in half and they aren’t willing to take them on exchange–guess which sunglasses I used to love that I won’t be buying any longer), double up on FRS and pretend to go to sleep until 4:30 Saturday morning.

Then it’s on!

The 2009 Traverse

Well. 3 weeks ago I was planning on being on the beach in Hawaii, but that “fell apart.” So now this week is all about hydrating, resting the legs and getting ready to spend them on a ride across the Santa Ana Mountain range. 40 miles and 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Should make for a fun day of suffering. Temperatures, currently projected to be about the mid-70s, should make for a pretty nice day in the saddle.

A little color from The Warrior’s Society:

The ride will begin from the end of Black Star Canyon Road at 7:00 AM. You will ride up Black Star Canyon Road to the
Main Divide Road and at this point you will traverse the Santa Ana Mountain range via the Main Divide Road hitting all
the peaks (including Modjeska and Santiago Peaks) until you intersect with the Trabuco Canyon Trail. You will then
descend down the Trabuco Canyon Trail to Trabuco Creek Road and out 4 miles to the finish line at Trabuco Canyon
Road. You must reach Aid Station 1 located at the intersection of Maple Springs Road and the Main Divide Road
(4 corners) by 11:00 a.m. to be allowed to finish the course. You must also reach the intersection of the Main Divide
and Lower Holy Jim by 12:30 p.m. to be allowed to finish the course. If you do not make the cutoff times and refuse
to return to the staging area you have violated the terms of your participation and the Warrior’s Society will no longer
responsible for your safety. Your emergency contact will be called and notified that they will be assuming all
responsibility your safety.

If I have to be here instead of HI, I’m up for the sufferfest. OK! Let’s do it! See you there.

Got Race Legs This Weekend?

So it’s on! If you’re in Texas and have legs of steel ready to take the GT Golden Bike off Vincent Lombardi (Sea Otter Classic winner), then saddle up and get yer race on. GT Bicycle’s Golden Bike series stops at the GHORBA Big Ring Challenge in Cold Spring Texas this May 3rd. Win the race, win the bike–till you lose it. Plus you get the hot Gold Diggers to give you some attention. I got to see this bike in Monterey and it’s pretty damn cool and worth a little extra push for the finish line. Get it!

Get rid of those free radicals, just like Lance Armstrong. For free!

Sea Otter 2009 Race Report

Sea Otter couldn’t have come at a better time for me. A little pick-me-up after what could only be described as a completely horrible week leading up to it (You know, the-wife-left-house-burned-down-to-the-ground-and-the-dog-hates-you country western song personal shit). So a gathering of The Tribe in Monterey was exactly what the Doctor ordered–and who am I to argue?

So the 6 1/2 hour drive north with an iPod full of 80s metal power ballads and a race in a couple of days was great medication. I left for Monterey on Wednesday morning and got in around 3. The wind was a definite problem and one that’d be with us for most of the week. Setting up camp was definitely made much easier by a few carabiners. Without them I think my tent would have been in the Pacific before I even noticed it’d blown away. Wicked wind. Anyway camp set up, I headed into town for some of my favorite childhood memories and Gianni’s Pizza and a cannoli. Delicious! And the last meal I’d have from an oven for a few days.

Thursday morning I woke up and had a can of Ensure and a banana, dropped 2 MotorTabs into my bottle and headed out for a pre-ride of the course. This was my first time on the Sea Otter XC course and it was great. As a kid growing up in the area I always had access to Laguna Seca Raceway, but I think much of the course we got to ride at Sea Otter was part of Fort Ord and off limits to civilians back in the day. Getting into the back country and seeing what I’d never seen as a kid was great. And the course, despite having only about 2,800 feet of climbing was one I knew I’d have a good race on after I finished my pre-ride. (Real good in this case, given the class and attraction of Sea Otter–and a few sandbaggers–was a top 40% place in my mind.) I’d describe the Sea Otter XC course as completely fair to any XC racer. Nothing overly technical. No harsh climbs. A couple of sand pits. A good mix of singletrack and fire road. The wind at the last meadow to crest climb was a real bitch and I thought this might be the only threat to my having a real good race. Plus it’s sort of deceptive but a 6% grade for a couple of miles, so the brain starts its little games with you. Pre-ride over I headed to the expo to see what was up and then back to camp for a couple of beers, resting the legs and watching part of The Italian Job (which I still have yet to finish).

I was racing Cat 3 on Friday, so the race was in the afternoon. We started late for some reason, but a few minutes after 2 we were rolling. I had a front row start and grabbed the “holeshot” and kept a good 10-15 seconds on the field for a ways. Until I got nervous as I heard less pedaling of others and more of mine. I started having visions of being the only idiot that kept going straight having missed a post while the rest of the field made a right a half a mile ago. So I sat up. In retrospect, a look behind would have made more sense, but WTF. Sitting up cost me a lot of places in the end because the field broke up pretty quickly once the singletrack started and I would have been in a lead group that would have given me a higher place at the end. You race, you learn.

Anyway, race went smooth for me except for an impromptu meeting with the dirt in the sand pit after I grabbed a rut that was beneath the sand. No biggie. I felt strong for 90% of the race and ended up with a 39th place out of 115 racers. I don’t think I left it all on the course and between that and some better race strategy/execution I’d have done better. But I went into Sea Otter with limited expectations due to the length of the course (my shortest race of the year) and left pleased with my result. Hopefully someone got a nice shot of a GT Bicycles Zaskar comfortably leading off the front of the pack for a bit.

After the race I stopped by GT’s pit and grabbed a beer and photo with the Gold Diggers (Double Yum!),

quick stop to the bike wash, pedaled over to Ergon to meet Mr 24 and Sonya Looney in person (and check out the very cool new GX3), hauled ass back to camp, broke down, showered, and drove home, arriving by 11:30. I’d say that’s a pretty busy day. I wish I could have stuck around for the night’s fun and the rest of the races, but with all the shit hitting the fan back at The Ranch, I had to get outta town. Next year fo’ sho!

All in all, I had a great time and it’s an event I’ll finally declare worthy of an annual pilgrimage. There’s something very exciting about knowing thousands of like-minded friends are heading to a single spot to do only that thing you like. It’s truly a gather of The Tribe and I dig it more than anything in life. Those of us the rest of the world thinks are freaks gather comfortably and just get on with it.

Garmin Edge 705 data from the race.

Sea Otter 2009 - Half Way

Half way to Sea Otter at the 5 & 46 and it’s a windy, cool (cold) halfway point. Hope the winds are calm and the weather a little warmer in Monterey.

Road food has included one Carl’s Jr side salad, crisscut fries and an orange cream shake. I disgust myself, but it’s the road. I get a pass.

Counting Coup 2009

Hey check it out! Yours truly is the key frame for this compilation of Counting Coup and Vision Question finisher photos. Ha! How random is that?

I missed registration for Vision Quest last year because, wait for it, I overslept. DOH! So I made the 44 mile, 8,400′ climb on the Counting Coup course. It was an absolutely perfect day. Weather was just slightly overcast to cool the entire day and I thoroughly enjoyed the event (it’s not a race ;-)). Big thanks to The Warrior’s Society and everyone that came out and supported the day. That’s pit support, food, water/drinks, moral support, photographers, course marshals and everyone else that made it a great event.

I ran my Pedal Force hardtail for what will likely be one of the last times for a few months. My new GT Zaskar is getting dialed in at Ladera Cyclery with some Ergon grips, Easton EC90 carbon bar, Thomson post and stem and some new wheels. After that it’s all GT for the rest of the season.

By the way, that Zaskar is one cushy hardtail. I think the rims were a little squishy, but I swear I was sitting on a suspended frame. Anyway, it should come out the other end of the sausage factory in a couple of days ready to roll.

Final note, buy some of this FRS please. They are threatening to give me the boot. It’s a free FRS trial. I highly recommend the energy chews. They taste excellent.

Chris Eatough on Nutrition and Training

I know what I’ll be doing after my training ride on the 29th.

Join Chris Eatough on March 29

INFINIT Nutrition, the worldwide leader in customized sports nutrition, is proud to present an exclusive video webinar featuring Chris Eatough, six time 24-hour solo MTB World Champion on March 29th @ 2:00 PM EST. Chris will be going over the training and nutrition that it takes to race 24 hours non stop. Chris has been the most dominant professional Mountain Biker for over a decade racing for Team Trek and brings a unique perspective to endurance racing and nutrition. This is a must see for anyone interested in the world of ultra-endurance racing and training. Click here to register for this FREE web-seminar.

Playin’ in the Dirt - GT Dirt Coalition

Little in the way of details just yet, but I wanted to announce that I’ve officially been named to the GT Bicycles Dirt Coalition for the 2009 racing season. I’m totally stoked as the GT lineup is really solid and I can’t wait to hop aboard my Marathon Carbon and hammer on it.

I’m also happy to announce sponsorship from Bejum Budder (which I unfortunately forgot to grab on my way out the door to last week’s Counting Coup–and paid dearly for it). I use BB because it works (most importantly) and it’s not a messy grease ball on your chamois. Oh yeah, and they don’t f’ with the animals when they test the products.

Finally, Motor Tabs has stepped up and agreed to sponsorship. I love (LOVE) Motor Tabs for a couple of reasons. I ride with a few different drinks depending on what I’m up to. This includes FRS, Infinit Nutrition and plain old H2O. Motor Tabs has the best flavor and convenience of them all. (Arguably each serves a different purpose and that’s why all 3 are in my cabinet.) You can’t beat the fruit punch flavored Motor Tabs. Just drop it in the bottle, wait a few seconds and it’s ready to drink. No messy powder all over the place. No big packaging. No inhaling maltodextrin dust.

So a big (BIG) thanks to everyone for making my 2009 a season where I can concentrate on being a good representative of the companies that have sponsored me and ride. I look forward to seeing them and anyone interested in hearing more on the trails.

Looking for 20% off at registration at the Sea Otter Classic? Use coupon code PACCYDIS through March 31st and race a little cheaper.

Mas o Menos 2009 Race Report

A little late on the race report here, but late pretty much describes my performance in the event nicely. But a little back story…

I took off from SNA to AUS to meet up with my friend Chris. I lucked out on my outbound trip since my ticketing agent at American Airlines probably didn’t pass high school math and flubbed the calculation. That was a $100 discount. Thanks for supporting American cycling American. (Unfortunately, I got a math teacher on the way back and she more than made up for any luck I had on the way out.) After a brief stop through Dallas (and a standing ovation from the boarding lounge for some brave soldiers just returning from Iraq…Cool!) I was wheels down and in Austin.

We had a lot of work to get done in less than 16 hours. That included picking up Basecamp 1,

rebuilding my bike (Hey! What’s this part go to?), packing up Basecamp 1 with alcohol for after the race (and a little before), filling in the leftover fridge and cabinet space with something other than alcohol to eat, and grab some chow before going to sleep. Pretty much knocked that out–the next day. Needless to say, with 9 hours more driving ahead of us, we didn’t do ourselves any favors by not meeting our objective the night before. I think we rolled out around 12.

So we’re late. And we’re learning how to drive a 30 foot RV that just screams get the hell out of the way. I think a few toes might have been clipped as we made some turns on the streets of Austin. Oh yeah. We’re late, but I had to check out Mellow Johnny’s. I wasn’t leaving town without checking it out. I’m glad we did. Even if we did get off to a later start. It’s a very cool shop and there’s some great stuff in there that I’m guessing your average non-millionaire bike shop owner just can’t afford to carry. Rapha. Swobo. Pinarello. Hincapie. Campy. You name it and if it doesn’t suck, it’s probably in this shop. Plus a cool spin studio and testing lab downstairs. Drool! Oh yeah. Lockers and bike storage and showers and oh my! So I got a t-shirt and a pint glass and kept my inner desire to go bankrupt and cash in all my chips right then and there holstered. A cool cafe called Juan Pelota is part of the shop. I had a salad and a smoothie called Mellow Yellow (I think). It was great and they used FRS as a base for the drink. Gave me the darkest piss I ever had in my life. Must be good for me.

I left Mellow Johnny’s happy and sad. I was happy to see such a cool concept in a cool location with a cool owner come together. I was sad for every other bike shop owner out there. I know how hard it is to make a living with these shops and I just left wondering if you aren’t a millionaire with a lot of money to throw at something like this, can the local bike shop survive? Lance has probably done a lot for the average LBS owner’s wealth just by being an American that wins in cycling and inspiring a lot of weekend warriors to spend on the hobby. On the other hand, a lot of shops are going out of business right now and seeing Mellow Johnny’s made me call into question the long term survivability of the LBS.

But enough with that. Let’s race!

So 9 hours somehow turned to 12. I’ll just say it now. Texas is a big damn state. How you can drive for nearly half a day from the center of a state and still not hit the border is beyond me. I thought California is big.

Fortunately we had our crew chief Apollo to keep us entertained (even if he did keep saying something about move your meat, loose your seat each time I got out of my chair). In the pitch black of the west Texas night we rolled into camp.
  

The stars at night, are big and bright,
deep in the heart of Texas.

Chris knew a few guys he rides with that were heading out from Austin to Mas o Menos as well. They were cool enough to wait up for us and share a beer before everyone turned in for the night. The next morning we had breakfast prepared by our camp chef. I kid you not. We had a chef the whole weekend. How cool is that? All we had to do was ride and have a good time and Brian would cook us up 3 squares each day. Deal! So around midday on Friday we headed out to pre-ride the course. The bikes were completely coated in powder sugar type dust. No sense in even trying to clean it up. Just put the chamois to the saddle, click in and pedal.

And unfortunately that’s what I did. Off the bike rack, under my ass and away we went. Till about mile 15 when my rear wheel fell out of the dropouts and I came to skidding halt. Lesson number one–and one I’m usually pretty good about adhering to–always check the bike before you get going. After having spent the better part of 12 hours on the back of a motorhome my skewers were completely loose and I’m lucky I didn’t get a good taste of pavement hauling ass down the road before we went off-road. Unfortunately, this wheel issue would come back to bite me again on race day as my brakes were never the same after we pried them open to reset the wheel.

Friday night we went in search of scenery and beer. We went to the border of Mexico and the US and stood on top of a rock called Dom Rock.

Apparently this was in some Costner film that I never saw. Anyway, it was cool to catch the sunset and get out over this pile of rocks that was probably a good 1,000 feet over the Rio Grande with nothing below. A few photos, a quick stop through Lajitas (cool resort) and back to camp to get some chow and to bed early.

Saturday morning (6:15) came and I was ready to go. The iPhone said the temperature was 35 degrees, but would be 80 for a high. Yeah right I thought. I can’t think of anything I hate more than being cold. But having been ’round the block in cold races, I know how quickly you heat up. I thought I’d put on the knee and arm warmers and then roll them off closer to 10–after the sun came up and heated the desert up a tad. Well, by 7:30 I was sweating already and the temperature had shot up to well over 60. It was going to be a hot race day for sure.

8:15 call ups. 8:30 we’re rolling. Dust and shit everywhere. A disposable particle mask might have made sense to get me through the psycho start that always seems to be part of a race. Once the lines formed and the crowds thinned out (read I dropped to the back of the pack–ok not really, but the open class definitely was gone) it was all good. The race course is an interesting one. I like love climbing, so flat single track isn’t where I make my times. Give me a hill and point it straight up and leave me alone for a few hours and I feel pretty confident I can do some damage. So the first 20 or so miles of the course are basically single track just outside the apron of an airport in town. It was cool. With the exception of one riverbed that seemed like it was where silt went to die, the course was enjoyable–but not my favorite. Then you cross over the highway and you get to Tres Cuevas. No clue what it means, but to me it meant I was going to get to do some climbing. I think it goes about 2,500 feet in a little under 3 miles. I enjoyed the climb thoroughly. It was just technical enough to keep it from being a fire road climb, but not so bad that you had to dismount–so long as you kept momentum. It was about at the top of this climb that things started to go shitty for me.

My rear brake pads were rubbing so bad I could feel them slowing me and they were squealing so loud riders were getting out of the way and course marshals were starting to ask if I was going to be ok to get it back to camp. No matter what I did to adjust, i couldn’t get the pads to give up the rotor. I thought about disconnecting the rear brake, but given the terrain, I didn’t think a front brake only was going to do anything but invite trouble. I probably could have made another lap with the sticking–though it would have been hard–but the noise coming from them really illustrated just how much of this sport is mental over physical. I was almost ready to toss the bike over the edge of the cliff just to get that noise out of my mind. My race was going to end half way short. I’d do 50k and call it a day.

This of course lead me into Basecamp 1 where Chris was hanging out (he did the kids race and bullied his way to a podium and free loot)

and I proceeded to have an existential crisis in front of Chris. This is always a good technique for figuring out who your good friends are and who just wants free beer. Chris gave me a beer and told me to shut the hell up and calm down. I immediately went back to Craigslist and took down all the adds for my bikes. Deciding I’d lived to race another day and that was reward enough. Time to eat, hula and party with some good friends.

I have to say I loved this race, but I don’t think I’ll ever be overly competitive in it. I might find my way to a 1st, 2nd or 3rd in an age group, but the course lends itself to those that race like they are on an XC course. I take a good half hour to really get ticking and even then, my results aren’t made up by quickness–but rather endurance. So maybe another season of working with Lynda and another season of CX might help this, but as is, it’s not going to be my best result. That said, it’s certainly going to be my best race for good friends. The group of guys I got to hang out with from Austin are a solid dudes and they know how to have a good time–and in the end that’s what it’s all about. So you bet I’ll be back next year.

Some news coming soon enough on a couple of new sponsors that I’m totally stoked about. As soon as I can say what’s up I will. And this weekend’s race is Counting Coup. 44 miles. 8,000 feet of climbing. Can’t wait. Special thanks to Jason over at The Soiled Chamois and XXC Mag for giving me the kick in the ass to get this done. Sometimes you chase the rabbit. Sometimes you are the rabbit.