Velophilia

This is my first year trying Mountain Bike Short Track Racing at Portland International Raceway (PIR).

http://www.portlandracing.com/

I’ve wanted to try the race for three years now but something always got in the way, like my lack of a mountain bike for over 2 years. Sure, I could have raced it with a touring bike, but that means taking off a lot of hardware then putting it back on for bike-camping.

However, this year I have Team Slow. They inspire me to go faster, have fun, and wave pom-poms at my team mates.

I checked in and got my series race plate.

I pre-rode the course on a warm and dusty Monday evening to see what I was getting myself into.  Dirt, gravel, grass, trees, and berms, it didn’t seem all that different thank a cyclocross course. I knew I wouldn’t be fast, but I would rock the turns and anything considered “technical”.

After lining up with the Category 3 (19+ ages), I traded words of encouragement with my mates Rob and John. Let’s do this!

We were off, dust clouds forming, and pedals churning. My warm up paid off. Immediate bottle-neck at the first and second turns but the pack quickly spread out.  I rode confidently through the corners and passed a lot of riders.

As I got into the motor-cross section, Rob and I played a bit of leap frog as he passed me in a quick section but I passed him again on some turns. Next thing I know, John comes FLYING by on his ‘cross bike leaving Rob and me in the dust.

As I got into the second lap, I was feeling pretty good despite the dust inhalation.

Lap 2 wore on and my body started feeling it. My right shoulder started to give me a lot of grief for not being in shape to handle bumpy terrain so it ached like crazy. I had to slow down considerably to get it to relax so I was passed one last time by Rob and MANY others.

I stilled rocked all the turns, especially the second to last turn that had a deep groove from the prior motorcross racing, it was like a bob-sled turn! Every time I took it, there were several riders on the outside of the turn where it was smooth but a longer turn, so naturally I passed them as I leaned into the turn and got a little bit of a speedy whip out of it. It felt so good to pass SIX racers on one turn. SMILES GALORE.

Laps 4 and 5 were just getting my groove on. I was keeping a decent pace, passing, being passed, trying to stay ahead of the woman’s field that started later in our race.

After 5 laps, our race was done. I had enough power to get up the last bump to the finish line and get airborne. It was a good finish.

Just as I was coming off the course, the Single Speed race was about to begin.

Ed, Kristin, Ryan, and Beth rocked the course with a single cog. Audrey and I wandered the course to take pictures and cheer them on the best we could.

Watching my friends tackle this course on single speed bikes really inspires me to give it a try myself. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a great buy on Craigslist.

We stuck around to watch another race that Ben would be in with the Category 2 Men. They would be considerably faster and race a couple more laps than we did. They even had some railroad ties to ride over that our race didn’t.

Ben stuck in there and gave it his all.

I’m definitely going back for the rest of the series!
PIR Short Track Series: http://www.portlandracing.com/

More of my pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomascosauce/sets/72157626962379130/

Audrey’s pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48407514@N03/sets/72157626960105814/

Team Slow in Action Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1692997@N23/

One of the most difficult and longest races has just begun!

The Tour Divide is 2,745 miles of self supported mountain bike racing.

I’ve been interested in the race for a couple of years now and really hope to participate in 2012 or 2013. But, this all depends on finances, the job situation, training and health. It’s easy to get into the race, but extremely difficult to simply finish.

Follow the Race online:

• Leader Board
• Discussion Group
• Official Site

My training plan for Randonnuering:

Ride fast, slow, long, short, hard, easy, ALL THE TIME.

Sleep plenty, not just “enough” to recovery and prevent over-training syndrome.

Eat plenty. Protein before and after. Fruits and Veg as much as possible.

Stay hydrated at ALL times, even off the bike as it will help with recovery.

Bike fit to keep from hurting after 8 hours in the saddle.

That’s it. Your mileage may vary.

Today, somebody at the office asked about my fitness plan.

Co-worker: “You look slim and have some muscle, which gym do you go to?”
Me: “Outside at Playgrounds, Trails, Biking, Climbing…that sort of thing.”

I’ve not at all been a fan of going to a gym to exercise.  It always has a odd funk in the air, music I don’t like, people that won’t look you in the eye, and a perpetual gaze of inattentiveness from the runners, walkers and pedallers on the stationary machines who care more about what’s on the overhead TVs than their workout. Staff that half-heartedly give advise and instruction or try to sell you on supplements and accessories.  Every gym I’ve ever checked out or had been a member felt like a fitness-based Best Buy but with contracts.  Pay a month at a time and get penalized for ended your contract early

SCREW THAT SHIT.  I’ve got better things to do than go out of my way to pay a facility to let me do something children can very well do on their own. Play.

So, I go out and play to get fit.

I run…

…climb…

…ride…

…hike…

…hard yard work…

…and just monkey around.

DOUBLE Thumbs-Up, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.

I am LOVING the mud in Cyclocross Racing.

BRING IT!

My friends and I have started an unofficial bicycle racing team called “Team Slow”.

We’ll start posting our races and pictures on our new blog: http://www.go-team-slow.com

-Tomas

Watermelon by Bike, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.

Enjoying some of Portland’s final warm days, I brought a watermelon to the party.

I HIGHLY recommend anyone with a bike use bungie nets for such cargo hauling. It worked AWESOME.

Now the I have a Droid X and have moved my blog over to WordPress, I can now more easily update and maintain my site whole out and about on the bike.

Yay technology!

Note: tandem in picture is not mine

Always blogging on the go, Tomas Quinones

In just a couple days over two full months,I have ridden my bike over 1,700 miles. That’s an average of over 27 miles per day. This daily riding haas really helped me feel pretty good mentally and physically.the two hour ride gives me a chance to wander in my own thoughts and ponder the events of the day, let me plan events of the future and to reach a form of meditation. I can’t say my job is especially stressful but this time alone is a welcome break l from the corporate life and constant stream of information and requests for action.

I predict this regular mileage will continue for the rest of the year even when the cold and rain start to cloud the sky. The weather, cold, wet or frozen won’t dampen my spirits our love of biking.