Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 21st, 2013.
This is the race start of the IndyCar race, as seen from grandstand 16.
Tag Archive for '#race'
Podium!! I got 3rd place today at the US Cup race #5 in Sycamore Canyon. It is my first ever Cat 2 podium so I’m feeling kinda stoked. But the day didn’t start so well for me with a major crash in practice session. I had to start the race bleeding which isn’t ideal. The heat was the big factor today. There was no shade at all, except for maybe 1 sec when a vulture would fly above your head waiting for you to bonk. I’ve heard a few racers got heatstroke/dehydrated and it was the first time I had to yield to an ambulance while racing. My strategy of preparing for dehydration by going to the desert at Coachella drinking a ton of beer worked perfectly!
Course Map: http://app.strava.com/segments/3935360
Here’s a full race lap of the US Cup race #4, the Santa Ynez Valley Classic in Los Olivos, California. It was a long race, nearly 2 hours race time (2 laps). There were 1500 feet of climbing per lap, 24.6 miles total. But it felt great, I managed my pace well and the course was great for this kind of endurance race. Not technical at all, but so fast! Like out-of-the-saddle-big-chainring-pedalling-on-flying-single-track fast. Average speed 13 mph. A crash would have resulted in a bad day.
Course Map:
http://app.strava.com/segments/3841069
This was race #3 of the US Cup 2013 mountain bike race series. I retired on lap 1 with a puncture (video here). So I thought I would make the most of my walk of shame back to the pits by shooting some track side footage of these guys & gals totally killing it on this technical course.
Course Map:
http://app.strava.com/segments/3672803
Song:
http://hypem.com/track/rppc/Metric+-+Help+I’m+Alive+(The+Twelves+Remix)
“Race control, #286 is out, mechanical – Copy that”
I did not finish, DNF, at the US Cup race #3 in Fontana. Two punctures on lap 1. That really sucks mechanical balls. The course was so awesome, with rocky downhill sections, technical climbs – I was so pumped to race on that track. Oh well. My mistakes. When I hit that first rock I thought “oops the tire won’t like that”. It when flat a few meters later. So I put a tube in immediately. Then, further, I caught some air over a small drop and, mid-air, realized “oops the tube won’t like that”. It pinched and it was over. Turns out the tubeless tire had no damage at all. It just burped. I could have just re-inflated it with the cartridge and keep going.
Lessons learned:
- Leave a fucking gap with the guy in front so you’re not blindly riding his line.
- Inspect the fucking tire before dismounting it.
- Those fucking CO2 cartridges are too small for big 29er wheels.
- Tubes can save the day but they still fucking suck so ride them gently.
Course Map:
app.strava.com/segments/3672803