Tabor #2

I have totally fallen off the wagon as far as blog posts. I did actually do a bunch of cross races last year and didn't report on really any of them (with the exception of Alpenrose #1 as noted below). This year however has not been nearly as impressive thus far. The rainy weather paired with life being super busy has really put a damper on my racing and training.

Anyway, I did my first race of 2010 last night! I raced the 2nd Mt Tabor race. I did it as a Cat 4 and ended up in 10th place. Not bad for my first race of the season. It felt good to get the cobwebs out. I raced smart and did not try to lead out the entire race like I typically do. I ended up finishing in the lead group. I'm going to try to make it out again for next weeks race as well as Short track #1 on Monday.

Tabor #5

Surveying the course. (New Kit)


My posts are starting to bump into each other... I wait until my next race until I am forced to report on the last. Not very exciting reporting to say the least....

Tabor #5 was much like Tabor #3 (I missed #4 due to my wonderful wife's birthday). I raced fixed as usual and the field was a bit smaller, but all the leaders were there so I knew I would need to race smart again by not making a break
when the leaders were going slower than I wanted to. I stuck with
them and did my share of pulling until the final lap when the
lead guys attacked. I hung on for dear life and took home the
bronze. Hey, at least I paid for my race fees!

Best Part of the race was my cheering section:

"Go Daddy, Go!"

Lucky Tabor #3

June 18th
Mt Tabor
Portland, Oregon

I missed the previous weeks race due to travel issues, thus I was fired up to race this week again. I noticed in the last weeks race that the same kid won the 1st and 2nd race so I planned my strategy... At all costs stick with Walton...

Anyway, the fixed gear category had ~23 starters. One of the larger of the fixed gear races I've been to.

Back to race - race started as normal - quick as all hell sprinting up the hill and around the first corner to the downhill. I was hanging with lead group of about 5-6 guys going down the hill. As opposed to race #1, I opted to not try for a lead out and instead held back and let the other guys do the work. This paid off by allowing me to save energy - while at the same time tiring the guys leading out. By the end of the 2nd lap I was sitting in 3rd place in a group of 4 guys.

Going into the final stretch of the 4th lap I made my move and pulled to the front. The other 3 guys had the same idea, and 2 of them pulled in front of me. The 3rd tried and I held him off until the end. Ended up taking 3rd and bringing home the bacon. (Cash payout for the top 3!)

I'm missing the race on the 25th (tonight), but I should be back for #5 next week. Let's go for the win!

PS - first race in the new kit. Hotness!

Tabor #2

Didn't race. I got back home from Texas (work related) an hour later than I had hoped and didn't make it back to my house until after 4. I still planned to make it until I walked in the door and found that my daughter was feeling under the weather. I opted instead to go to the playground with the boy.

Anyway, I hope the race went well. I am looking forward to seeing the results.

Until next week.

PS - Driving in Dallas is awful. The city is like a spiderweb of freeways with the city like a cocooned fly with all of it's blood sucked out.

Mt Tabor #1

The first in this summers series of 6 races occurred on June 4th 2008 at Mount Tabor. For those of you that have not read my past years race reports, Mt Tabor is a dormant volcano in SE Portland. Each summer there is a mid week race series. It's basically a crit with multiple laps that are either climbing up or going down. All in all a pretty hard race.

I raced in the fixed category. There was a pretty sizeable group of 19 riders. The group basically stayed together vs. there being any major breakaway by any riders. I felt strong and pulled the group for the first and final lap. Unfortunately, I dug a bit to deep and couldn't maintain my pace for the final climb to the finish. I ended up in the lead group taking a solid 5th. Not great as I have a goal of a top 3, but acceptable especially after racing just 3 days ago.

I finished the race and tasted lunch (blech) before doing a recovery ride home.

Until next week!

Tabor #6

Mt Tabor Park
Portland, OR
July 11, 2007

It's funny writing race reports about a race that has the same course each week. I could really shorten the report by saying, that we went around and around a bunch of times, my heart and lungs almost exploded and I ended up in XYZ place... Thankfully, I hopefully can add a bit more spice to the report than that.

This was the last race of the series so I had a bit to prove. My previous results weren't as spectacular as I would have like, plus this race brought out the largest field of the series (22 freaks on fixed gear bikes!). As mentioned in previous reports, this is was the fixed gear category - We go around the circuit 4 times and the majority of the strategy surrounds the following elements:
1) Gearing choice (over the years I've settled on 42x15)
2) Strategy.

Like a normal crit, unless you are super strong, you don't want to totally take off from the gun. Instead, you want to go as fast as you can to tire out your opponents without totally blowing yourself up. There are always a few guys that try the break off the first lap and it is almost never successful - especially with a big field. I try to hang with the guys that I know will be tough to beat. In this particular race, there at least 2 guys that I knew I wouldn't be able to beat on a normal race (ie I've never beaten them before). When they took off I would chase, when they slowed down I'd slow down... In the end this strategy worked as well as I could have hoped. I took 4th - my best result of the series.

Now it's time to do some necessary maintenance on the bike.

Until next year.

Mount Tabor #5

Mount Tabor Park
Portland Oregon
June 27, 2007

By Daniel Porter

I missed Tabor 2,3 & 4 for a variety of reasons (injury, work, etc.), but was back in the saddle on June 27th for the 5th and second to last race in the 2007 'Velo on the Volcano' series.

Started out a bit nervous as I had basically been off the bike for 3-4 weeks. I rode hard on Monday and Tuesday (the 25th & 26th) to try to get back into shape.
The racers were basically the same cast of characters as previous weeks with only a couple notable exceptions (JV?, Jackson?). Still a good turn out of 15 riders (which is pretty high for a fixed gear ride.

The first lap was pretty mellow with no one wanting to attack to soon. The group stayed pretty much bunched up making it feel like a real race. SUbsequent laps got progressively faster and faster with different guys trading off at the front (me included) until the final lap where a few guys attacked and took off from the front. I tried to get on the wheel of the top guys and only remotely did so coming out of the flat (prior to the climbing finish) in 6th place. On the climb, I dug a little deeper and passed a guy resulting in a 5th place finish. Yippee, I'm number 5, I'm number 5...

Actually, it was a good race and it proved that I didn't 'fall out of shape' as fast or as hard as I had thought.

Next & final Tabor is on July 11th.

BTW: I absolutely love the Rush. It is a truly great bike with a really nice feel. Funny thing - there was another guy with an identical red frame as I in the race. (I beat him)

Taking a break is ok, right?

Mt Tabor #2 is happening tonight. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to make it.

I somehow hurt myself last Thursday while on a night mountain bike ride (at least that is where I noticed it). I won't go into the details, but the pain is in a sensitive 'guy' area. Although I have been trying to ride since the incident (still not sure what it is that I did), I don't think I can concentrate on both racing hard and on the weird way I need to sit to avoid the pain. I can see catastrophic results. I have an appt with a doc tomorrow to see what is going on.

I'm bummed. I love Tabor and I looked forward to improving my result this week. Also, next week is my anniversary (9 years!) of marriage to my wonderful wife thus I am unsure of whether I can race then or not and the following weekend I'll be in Lost Wages, NV for a conference at work.

I keep thinking that I should be able to just tough it out, but is it really worth the pain?

Mount Tabor #1: 2007 Mt Tabor Series

Shortest Race Report Ever...

Mt Tabor Park: Portland OR
May 30th 2007
Circuit Race
Category: Fixed Gear

The stats:
17 riders
Temp: about a gazillion degrees
4 laps
4th place!

First Tabor race of the year. Turnout in the fixed gear category (the sideshow) was the biggest ever. We took off, raced around the park multiple times and I was beat by a 15 year old... (he then raced again and one the men's cat 3 race, so I *think* he'll be someone to watch) Made me feel old.

This was my first race on the Soma Rush, though I have been riding it alot since I built it up. The ride performed as expected. I absolutely love the bike. I also received a few compliments on "my fancy new bike" from the usual suspects.

I am going to try to race again this wednesday, unfortunately I pulled something the next evening on a mountain bike ride and may be out of commission. :(

peace

Mt Tabor Race Series - Race #5

July 5, 2006
Mt Tabor Park
Portland, OR

A quick recap of last nights race as the race played out pretty much the same as my previous 2 reports.

The Race started and a few guys took off up the hill for the initial lap. At the top of the hill, we took a hairpin corner to the right and down, down, down, we go - this time reaching speeds of 36MPH+ (again, really, really fast when your legs are spinning as fast as your wheels). The first lap had a prime/preem of a Surly Jethro Tool. I unfortunately missed out on it by a hair, but oh well, I already have one (Ironically, the guy that won the preem/prime (and ultimately the race) does not use track bolts on his bike.

After the first lap, David & Dan (not me) started putting distance on the pack. JV, Jackson & I took the bait and tried to chase them down while leaving the rest of the field in our dust. We got closer, but alas, they were the stronger riders on Wednesday night. With them 'out of the picture' so to speak, the race became a battle for 3rd place (3rd place has a cash payout as well as 1st & 2nd). I'd lead up the hill, Jackson would pull in front of me on the downhill (he's heavier & running a bigger gear), I'd draft behind him and JV would draft behind me. On the straightaway prior to the start of the next climb, I'd pass and start my sprint to the top. This went on for 3 lapsÂ… Unfortunately, JV passed me on the final lap prior to the hill. I took off after him and started to close the distance.Unfortunatelyy, the old afterburners ran out of gas and I was not able to maintain the power up the second half of the hill. JV took 3rd & I cruised in a few bike lengths behind him at 4th place.

It looks like this will be may be my last Tabor race of the series due to family constraints next week (the final one is next Wednesday), so out of the 5 races (so far), I've done 3 with the respectable finishes of 6th place, 2nd place (!) and last nights 4th place.

Mt bike short track racing is up next, so stay tuned!

-Sprocket

Mt Tabor Series - Race #3

Going into the final lap

It was a beautiful Wednesday evening for racing at Portland's Mt Tabor. The format of the race and description is listed in my previous post (Fixed Gear, 4 laps, up and down the mountain). To spice my post up a bit, I wrote a little Haiku to try to describe what the race was all about...

Race Tabor Fixed

Mash up, spin down, can't shift

or breathe

The race itself went great. I tried out a new gear combination (42 x15 vs. 42 x17 from 2 weeks ago). I was a bit nervous about the bigger gear, but it paid off. The bigger gear was definately harder on the climbs, but allowed me to sail down the downhills with out nearly as much 'out of control' spinning. At one point I noted my speed on the computer at 36MPH (which is a pretty fast rate on a fixed gear). In addition, I have been working on my form a bit and decended in my drops (I am more comfortable on the hoods). This made me a bit more aero and seemed to give me more control and speed.

Going into the second lap

Anyway, the combo worked. I placed 2nd in the race tonight, a full 4 places better than I did last time. I lead or was in the lead for most of the race on both the climbs and the descents.

The guy that beat me was a fellow that consistently beat me last year (He didn't race 2 weeks ago). Fortunately, he only beat me by about 2 bike lengths. Last year he beat me by half a lap...

Oh - Top 3 fixed finishers win cash (so for second place, I brought home a bit of money!) Always appreciated!

The best part of Racing at Tabor is that the course goes right by a playground:

My kids - Future bike racers

Pain is weakness leaving the body...

The 2006 Mt. Tabor series began with an exciting start as the fixed gear field kicked the competition off. The Mt. Tabor race series is a Portland institution that goes back over 50 years. It is one of the best and most popular weekly series in the state. It consists of a 1.3 mile technical, hilly, rollercoaster like loop around the upper reservoir of Mt. Tabor Park in SE Portland.

USGS map of Mt. Tabor Park

This park is actually an extinct volcanic cinder cone, a small mountain in the city. Miles of trails and roadways wind through the tall trees and well-maintained landscape. The top of the park (where I proposed to my wife btw) rewards the biker/hiker/etc with breathtaking views of downtown and the West Hills from one side, Mount Hood and the outer Eastside from the other.

I left work at 5:15 and rode the 5 miles from downtown Portland to Mt Tabor arriving at around 5:45 (traffic). The ride there makes a good warmup for the race as most of the way there is uphill.

The course starts & finishes on a straight away that is mid way up the uphill portion of the course.

Just after the start of the race: The pact riding up the first hill

With a bang the fixed gear riders were off. A contingent of about 5-6 riders (including myself) sprinted off the front to get the first climb out of the way before hitting the long downhill with speeds of about 34MPH (really fast on a fixie). At the bottom of the hill the course takes a sharp right hand turn and the riders are 'treated' to about a 1/4 mile straight away that cruises between 2 of the reservoirs before starting the climb back up to the completion of the first lap. At this point I was hanging on to the lead group at about 6th place. The front 2 riders did a breakway and were not seen from again. The next 3 riders followed suite. I tried to hang on and bridge the gap as much as I could. I managed to close the gap in the 3rd lap. Unfortunately my 42 x 17 gearing wasn't enough to keep up on the downhill and straight away and I could not maintain my speed. I ended the 4th & final lap in the 6th place I had maintained the whole race. Not as spectacular as the 2nd and 3rd place finishes last season, however I'm not particularly upset as the field was larger and alot more competitive.

Trying to close the gap

As always, the race was a hoot, but hard as hell (I can't wait until the next 0ne). Unfortunately, I'll be missing next week, but fired up and ready to roll the following.

The start of the final lap... all alone on the climb