This has been my first real racing season, following a training plan based on Joe Friel’s training bible. At the beginning of the season I set my goals. These need to be measurable, within our control, must be somehow stretch you and should be stated  in the positive.
Season Goals
1. Complete Sea Otter Classic in less [...]

Last race of the CCCX series for me.

That was a fun and fast course: I had to keep Kris and Matt at bay to hold my 4th position overall. I had a pretty good start and half of the first lap I passed Matt and Mike on one of the grunts. After that I tried [...]

Some good improvements from the previous race, still dropped the chain 3 times, ending up 6th out of 9. Felt a lot stronger than last race but still felt the bike was holding me back.

Interesting race for me – Beg. 35-44 on my FrankenBike with 1×9 and 36T chainring and bashguard, assembled 2 days ago.
Still waiting on my new frame, so I rode a hardtail for the first time in many many years (my last full rigid was a Bianchi Volwerine circa 1993).
HT takes its toll on the body [...]

Definitely not the best race of the season. Since I sold my old FSR-XC I didn’t have an official racer, so I went with my 36# Nomad. Possibly not the best tool for Toro park, a gnarly fireroad climb followed by a fast singletrack downhill, with a total of 800ft elevation per lap.
To be honest [...]