on saturday morning i was up early to head down and watch beth and friends race Surf Monkey. it's a killer event with a bunch of different races. beth was racing in the stand alone 5k beach run for the Lululemon team. I got down there right as the sun came up and got in water for some super fun waves.... this session got be super stoked on surfing again. i had waist to chest perfect, clean, left wedges all to myself.
post surf love from the champ. i'm a lucky dude. thanks for the paparazzi photo kirsten.
pretty cold after getting out of the water and watching the 5k.
beth had a good race and finished 3rd overall and scored a bunch of good prizes. it was definitely one of the coolest events i have seen put on down here. i will definitely be participating next year... i just need to get me a paddleboard. after watching beth race i headed home and got on my bike to shake out the legs before sundays race. i kept it mellow on the coast with some race pace accellerations to get the blood flowing.
we were up early again sunday... this time we headed up to running springs for Rim Nordic XC#3. earlier in the week i convinced beth to race... and i was nervous. i knew she could handle it, especially after the way she was riding last weekend, but the course is pretty gnarly for a beginner.
beth pre-race. not stoked. she kept talking about how she would have rather slept in a bit rather than got up early to get there in time for the cat 3 races.
of course in true beth fashion she killed it and won the Cat 3 women's race by quite a bit. after the race we decided this was her last Cat 3/beginner race and she will be moving up to Cat 2 for her next race which will hopefully be on 8/30 at the final Rim Nordic Race.
the race director telling beth she was a sandbagger... not really. just giving her some course info.
i blew it with the camera. beth on her way to the finish.
I had a solid day on the bike too. another small field, but all fast dudes and fun guys to race against. the race went out really fast and was 3rd as we hit the single track climbing.
the start. trying not to end up DFL.
i was feeling good, a little flat, but i had plenty of juice in the legs. in the first two races up there this year i have just sat in on the intial climbs and waited to make my move on the fireroad climb. not this time. i took the lead in the race about 3/4's of the way up the single track. i got to fireroad and worked hard and got a pretty good gap.
i finished the frist lap in first place and then proceeded to have a horrible second lap. i nailed the single track climb again, but then kind of lost focus on the fireroad and wasn't pushing as hard as i should/could have. then to make it worse i was totally blowing the descents.
i finished the 2nd lap and still had a 1 minute lead over my teammate Griffith. I knew he would be coming for me and he definitely had the strength to catch me.
my hot water girl!
i got my act together and had a solid 3rd lap and nailed the descent to hold on for the win... barely. i was kind of shocked to see how close Griffith crossed the line behind me. maybe 30 seconds... maybe. i had no idea he was that close. it was a wake up call for sure.
the race.
21 miles, 3500+ ft of climbing
1:40
avg hr 178, max hr 198
it's hard to go off the front and hold it for 3 laps with out letting up and getting complacent. I am much better at chasing then I am at holding a lead. i also definitely lost focus on the second lap and nearly paid for it in the end. lesson learned. keep the hammer down.
so with one race left i have set myself for a chance to win the series. so with 2 wins and one 2nd place finish all I have to do is have solid final race on 8/30. anything can happen, but I would be stoked to win it!
i have a hard two weeks of training ahead including and epic weekend of riding on tap. i am really looking forward to hitting hard...
.jpg)
9 comments:
A WIN?!! Dude! Excellente! And this is a lower intensity year?!
Way to kill it. Keep up the great work.
great week for both of you..so here is the dare..come to CDA, we have some great trails, great races, great water, great people, Mike can out cook Beth any ol day, and he likes beer..and you would have free lodging..just thought i would put that lil ol bug in your ear.. and I take awesome pics :)
Dude youre just plain old way too fast now its getting ridiculous. And yeah i think beth could basically compete easy street in cat 1 so yeah, you guys dominate...instead of just joking maybe i really will put some stone 13th in your bottle at the next race!
DUDE! I'm speechless! go win the series and everything!
wow, sweet race james! you really killed it out there. good job.
Nice work. Sounds like a SOLID outing for the both of you. Impressive. Congrats.
Congrats on the win James! You climbed exceptionally well and totally earned it... just know that I'm coming for you at the finals! ha ha it should be good times.
Griffith :)
Naz job! You and Beth killing it all weekend long
Post a Comment