Singletrack Cycles West Side Mt. Bike Series

Two races so far, nothing big but a little local series that puts you in the racing mood.
My first race was at soaring Eagle Park which is down the street from my house therefore my home turf. The trails were extremely wet and amazingly slippery. I started about 12 riders back because it was my first race of the season and I had only had the bike, my new Cannondale flash ultimate for 6 days. I quickly realized that I was in good shape and the pace was not to strong so I started to pass some riders, by the end of the first lap I was in front with Toby Swanson and Nolan Brady. Nolan took the lead right as we started the second lap and pretty quickly started to put a gap on Toby and I. I did not want to blow up and decided to keep the same pace Toby behind me assured me that we would see him again later, in the back of my head I thought “Ya, when he will lap us…” Laps two and three were pretty mellow a little bit of chatting with Toby a little bit of passing slower riders (single speed that started 5min ahead of us) At the start of lap four I caught a glimpse of Nolan up ahead on the trail and for the rest of the lap I put the pedal to the metal and slowly pulled him back. About a quarter mile to go, Nolan in front, me in second and Toby closing the rear, chatting time was over we were breathing hard and we all knew that now every little mistake we were going to make will cost us the race. Battling for first place, the pace was too high for me to pass, so I decided to stick to Nolan’s rear wheel until the straight away to the finish. When it came to the sprint men that kid is fast, Nolan who is I believe 16 years old, got a lilt head start on me coming off the single track trails, but I pushed as hard as I could go around his rear wheel we were neck and neck when we crossed the line, so close that we did not even know who won. It was not until the result came out that I found out I was in second by 0.4 of a second, Toby finished third a couple seconds behind. Great way to start the racing season, finishing right up there with the local heroes.

Results here

Cannondale Flash 29er carbon ultimate

Beautiful, dream like, amazing... There are no other words to describe it the new 2012 Cannondale flash 29er ultimate is the lightest, fastest, and a most aggressive bike I have ever ridden. The bike weights in at 18.5 pounds with Shimano XTR pedals, and carbon cages. The seat and post will soon be change to make the bike lighter and more comfortable. Once that is done I expect the bike to weight just over 18.2lbs about 3lbs lighter than my first road bike, back in 2006. The frame is very similar to last year’s so it feels very familiar and natural. The wheels are probably the biggest upgrade, ENVE carbon rims make the wheels so much stiffer than before, no flex in the turns, accelerating and stopping are a breeze because the lack of rotating mass, overall a very lightweight playful wheel set. The component also are making a big difference a full SRAM XX groupo, very crisp and accurate shifting. The brakes also SRAM XX noisy but work with no problem and plenty of stopping power to throw you over the bars.

I went to the trail system in black diamond, WA for my very first ride. I joined my friend and coworker Melanie and her husband Chris for a three hour ride, even though it has been raining like hell the trails were surprisingly dry and fast. The bike handle like I was expecting it to: absolutely no problems. It took me at least a good hour to get use to weight of the bike I would constantly over shoot a corner, or compensate too much in root sections. I quickly found the right balance and was able to have a lot of fun for the rest of the ride. This weekend there is a little local race at soaring Eagle Park in Sammamish,WA, I think it time to get the bike dirty and see what I can do with it!