Coyote Hill

Vorige zondag was ik even langs het werk gegaan en besloot van de gelegenheid gebruik te maken om naar de top van de Coyote Hill te hiken. Coyote Hill intrigeert mij al een hele tijd: het is natuurlijk gewoon de heuvel aan de overkant van de straat ('Coyote Hill Road', jawel), maar het interessante is dat hij helemaal afgespannen is met prikkeldraad, op een paar poorten (die op slot zijn) na. Er staan doorgaans een hoop paarden te grazen, af en toe zie je er ruiters. Coyotes heb ik er nog niet gezien, slangen wel (onlangs nog een grote 'gopher snake'). Volgens mij was de top van de heuvel een geschikte plaats om een kunstzinnige foto van PARC te nemen - ik moest dus wel eerst over de hekken klauteren, maar dat bleek geen probleem. Ik was echter geen vijf minuten aan het rondlopen op de glooiende weiden achter de draad of een hoop ruiters hadden mij al in het vizier - ik vreesde het ergste, want in de US lachen ze niet met 'trespassing', maar gelukkig bleken het vriendelijke ruiters. De foto's dan - helaas bleken deze danig tegen te vallen: PARC was gedeeltelijk aan het zicht onttrokken door een hoop hinderlijke struikgewassen en tot overmaat van ramp raakte mijn lens vuil waardoor de helft van de foto's in het water vielen. Het onderstaande moet dan maar volstaan (het gebouw dichtst bij de weg, min of meer op de voorgrond, is PARC - daarachter, Palo Alto - Silicon Valley)...

Sea Otter roundup

All results have been published on the Sea Otter site - here's my race. In the Pro class, Filip Meirhaeghe won both the XC and the overall (they were doing three other stages, a time trial, a 'super XC' and a short track race).
Meanwhile, I've been starting a scientific study of road rash medication and supplies. Since I had three large areas of impact on me, I'm simultaneously evaluating the different products on the market and compare the progress they induce. The picture shows the assortment under scrutiny, currently sitting on my kitchen table. One preliminary conclusion is that the 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads are highly superior as wound dressing; on the second place we have the Johnson&Johnson Adaptic petroleum jelly coated dressings. The only drawback of the Moist Burn Pads is that they're a little small. And as an analgesic, some Advil with a shot of tequila usually does the job!

Procrastrination takes its toll

I was planning on going to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival to see ao the Pixies (I've been talking about their reunion for a while), but it turns out tickets are sold out. You can still get some on Ebay, but for like $300 a piece - goddamn ticket scalpers. I haven't been very pro-active on this, since many weeks ago I was looking at the site and almost bought tickets but then for some unknown reason procrastinated; bummer.
Fortunately it turns out that two Pixies-concerts have been scheduled in Berkeley in september. I have learned my lesson and just got the tickets!

Sea Otter Classic '04

It was all very exciting: at the start of my race, even though just an amateur race, I was feeling this great rush of adrenaline and that's one reason why many probably do these races. Sprinting up the steep 'corkscrew' of Laguna Seca right after the start I was actually in a pretty good position, within the first ten or so. A guy next to me got entangled with the rider in front of him and smacked into the asphalt - too bad, going down before even hitting the first dirt.
I was getting a little carried away due to my early succes - I sprinted up the first singletrack climb to improve my position even more - however, what goes up must go down... on one of the early technical downhill sections I lost it: carried too much speed and braked too late on an inappropriate spot and there I went, flying over the handlebars. Got myself together and after a quick inspection confirming that all bones were intact I kept going. But half of the field had passed by then and so I had to struggle back. My downhill confidence wasn't very inspired by the early crash so I was passed by many during the descents (amazing how fast some do go down) - but I smoked a lot of them on the climbs. A lot of congestion on the singletrack and sandy sections so I was losing lots of time. I could make some up during the second half of the race, with lots of climbing. Powering up the steeps and smoking four-five guys at a time has some gratifying feeling to it! At the end of the race my road rash plagued left arm and side started playing up so I was happy to see myself cross the finish line (see pic). The screams and yells of the audience were great and quite motivating. Then it was time for some hurt and suffering in the ER tent - they did a pretty decent job though in fixing me up, so I could enjoy later on a picnic with my friends (wine, cheese and champagne!). Even had a brief chat with Filip Meirhaeghe who showed up at the Specialized booth; here are more pics and stories about our Sea Otter adventures.



So what do I conclude out of this whole racing thing?
I signed up because of the 'something you have to try at least once' aspect of it; it's not for everyone, I didn't particularly like the congestion on the singletrack, the risks you're pressurized in taking on the downhills (no body armour) - saw lots of crashes or guys lying in ditches off the trail, the dreaded road rash I have to sit through now (as a side note: after seeing these Northshore freeride guys I have to agree we're all wussies!). But the competition aspect of it has also its attractive sides. And for some unexplainable reason I think I quite like racing up gruesome technical steeps. I ended 25th out of about 150 - not too bad, but still room for improvement. Do it again? Maybe.
At least if my car decides to start working again so I can drive to the venue - it died on me in the late afternoon yesterday, near the parking lot of the pharmacy in Monterey I visited. So I had to call AAA to drive me home (and tow the car) - 'AAA plus' is your friend.

Commentaar / comments

Ik heb wat liggen prullen met een commentaar service (extern gehost, omdat mijn huidige account geen cgi heeft - dat kost extra), en een en ander zou nu moeten werken. Zodus, bij deze een oproep aan mijn lezersbestand (waarschijnlijk bestaat dit uit mijn moeder en een enkele verloren gelopen Hombre, maar goed!) om te klikken op de commentaar-link onderaan de artikels en uw mening te ventileren!

I've been screwing around with a comment service (externally hosted, since I have no cgi or other scripting with my current account) and it should work now. So this is a call to my readership (most likely consisting of my mother and the occasional lost Hombre) to try and use the comment link underneath the posts and speak out!

More Sea Otter Classic news

MTB World Champion and fellow Belgian Filip Meirhaeghe is going to show up at the Sea Otter! Since the Pro/Elite race starts at 1pm, and I should have finished my race long before, I'll be there to cheer him (if I find time away from the bike manufacturers booths).
So how have I been preparing the past week? Well, I've been spending quite some time on 'race-ifying' my bike (see pic): replaced brake cables, derailleur cables and housing, put on a new chain, shaved off some excess weight, cleaned the crap out of it, and so forth. It is amazing but now it actually feels much faster; I've used my recently acquired motorcycle-maintenance experiences to good extent. Then, of course, I did a lot of riding. Last weekend saturday in Purisima (did the awesome Whittemore Gulch), and sunday at Skegg's Point together with the MTBSH-crew. Skegg's was fabulous as usual, however I did feel some lactic acid building up during the day, especially during my climbing attempts of the steep sections of the Giant Salamander. So I took it easy for some days, until today: I just finished a ride up Alpine Road in Palo Alto, through Russian Ridge and back to the car. The climb felt easy (and that has been quite different in the past), and the Alpine Road downhill is one of my favorites: it has a great rythm to it, it feels exactly like skiing a perfect run - and there is a fun technical section in the middle. So I should be more or less ready - on a less positive note, after a month of beautiful weather, the forecast says it might rain during the weekend!

R.I.P. Herman De Kesel

Ik heb hem slechts enkele malen gezien en misschien een enkele keer gesproken, maar hij leek mij een zeer sympathieke mens; hij was uiteraard zeer aktief in de BCNC en organiseerde tal van events. Maar ik kende hem voornamelijk van zijn voorname rol in het Silicon Valley boekje van Martin Hinoul (dat helaas op nogal schabouwelijke wijze geschreven is).

Los Hombres en Google

Loshombres.org stijgt in aanzien wat betreft Google-fahigheid: voer 'los hombres' in als zoekterm (toch vaag en algemeen) en we staan op nummer 10! Daarom is het tijd voor een prentje met daarop enige Hombre-emanaties, gegenereerd door de MMS ge-enablede telefoon van onze Secretaris-Generaal (dit is eigenlijk een overname van mijn berichtje op de Los Hombres nieuws site):

- de artistiek en getormenteerd voor zich uit starende Hombre (Peter in een van zijn Rimbaud-impressies)
- de dossiervretende 'nieuwe zakelijkheid' uitademende Hombre (Erwin, in politiek-correcte outfit)
- de 'far out awesome man!' trippende Hombre (Walter, geen commentaar nodig!)
- de 'wat zijn ze hier nu weer aan het lappen' nuchtere Hombre (Bart, een aantal existentiele twijfels aan het onderdrukken)

The Shrub

Voor zij die nog niet helemaal overtuigd zijn dat George W. Bush een volslagen bosmongool is, gelieve de transscript van zijn perskonferentie gisteren te raadplegen - registratie vereist, maar de beste bits zijn ook hassle-free op kwc.org te vinden. Negeer de toespraak in het begin (die een dik kwartier duurde), en zap rechtstreeks naar de vragen van de journalisten en Bush's antwoorden hierop. Hallucinant. Als de Leider van de Vrije Wereld zijn lesje niet kan opzeggen, vervalt hij ofwel in herhalingen van steeds dezelfde one- of two-liners, ofwel bralt hij onsamenhangende nonsens uit. In vergelijking hiermee is onze gouverneur, Arnold Schwarzenegger, een wonder van welsprekendheid. Merk op dat Bush blijkbaar wel een zeker besef heeft van zijn minkukeligheid en confrontaties met de pers waarop hij zich niet volledig kan voorbereiden mijdt als de pest: het is pas de vierde echte perskonferentie in zijn hele ambtsperiode (Clinton en diens voorgangers hielden er tientallen) - zoals gemeld op NPR.

Pasen

Er valt van Pasen hier in Californie doorgaans niet veel te merken. Om te beginnen valt er geen vrije dag - geen Goede Vrijdag of Paasmaandag - te versieren; bakkers doen niet veel moeite om chocolade paaseieren of soortgelijke delicatessen te produceren. Er vliegen geen paasklokken in het rond; zelfs van religieuze events of vieringen is niet veel sprake (en zeker geen ge-method-acteerde kruisingingen als in de Filippijnen - hoewel, we hebben wel Mel Gibson's vehikel in de bioscopen). Het enige teken van leven in deze paas-woestijn waren de Easter-bunnies die we afgelopen zaterdag te San Francisco in een bar ergens in Japantown hebben opgemerkt - maar toegegeven, deze waren zeer de moeite!

The Yeti

I've been known to drool over motorcycles, however, currently I'm lusting after the Yeti 575 - a beautiful, lightweight, large travel (5.75 inches - nomen est omen) mountain bike. Yeti is a high quality boutique brand of frames and bikes, known from their racing involvement and legacy (a bit like Ducati ;]). So since I'm racing next week, it's not inappropriate to want a Yeti. I'll be relying there on my faithful Giant NRS though. The Yeti would make a great 'trailbike': perfect for technical singletrack, long epic rides, trips to Downieville, Mammoth, Moab or Durango!

Ten years ago

I had bought a ticket for a Nirvana concert in Brussels late April or May, I don't remember. But there wasn't going to be a concert - that became soon obvious (after the Rome incident). So today I'm playing some songs on my PC and I do remember very well why I was so blown away when I heard them first. The intensity, raw energy, scorching guitar riffs, at times angelic and furious vocals and melodies, the incredible drums by Grohl formed a rare combination in rock or pop music that was to be cherised. I never expected them to become more successful (in a commercial sense) than, say, the Pixies, so I was quite surprised to see my college mates at the time (most of whom didn't think much of my musical preferences - a mutual feeling btw) stagedive on 'Nevermind' several months later. 'Bleach' and 'Nevermind' were the soundtrack of a significant part of our lives (does that make us Generation X?), therefore a tribute is in place on this sad anniversary - I'm currently doing my part by playing 'Lithium' and 'Lounge Act' on Anne's guitar.

Ronde

Briek Schotte's laatste dag, Museeuw's laatste Ronde en Wesemann die wint. Hier viel er niet veel van te merken maar aangezien koersen (wielertoerist-gewijs) in Silicon Valley vreemd genoeg heel populair is valt er in de Palo Alto Bicycles shop in University Avenue wel wat footage te krijgen - sommige wedstrijden worden er uitgezonden (satelliet of digitale kabel) en na een paar weken of maanden zijn DVD's te koop met de live-verslaggeving van de klassiekers.

Two reasons why the freeway is bad...

For the first reason, refer to the Matrix - too many Agents.
The second reason has been elaborated by Robert M. Pirsig. On a motorcycle the freeway feels to me at the same time boring and dangerous - no curves to take, speeds are high, no room for error, lots of cages all over the place. The twisty country road in the hills is the antithese of the freeway from a moto-perspective and trying to go fast on those is great fun (and usually, but not always, less dangerous). I'm sharing this since I'm currently drooling over some BMW's which are ideal backroad material: the Dakar, a good looking and performing dual sport, and Lars's friend's R100GS which will be for sale soon (has a lot of miles though).

Training

Another Sea Otter training session this morning. My average speed was about 17.6 km/h (11 mph) - this includes screwing around trying to locate the start and finish and a short but slow detour - when I was following the wrong trail, a sandy and steep section close to the Waterfall (check the pic that I included of this unclimbable piece of trail). Riding time was 1h27min for 16 miles; 2 less than the race course, the difference I believe is the lap on the Laguna Seca Raceway that we have to do in the beginning and partly at the end; this should be a fast section so the average should improve. And there needs to be some improvement - my goal is making 19 km/h (I'd rather get 20 km/h but that seems to get unreasonably hard to achieve). Saving a bit more energy for the last two serious climbs (a technical one and a fire road grinder) would be helpful since there a significant difference can be made.