Rampage in the Desert

Keeping with my goal of doing as many races as possible this year, I spent the weekend taking part in the first Intermountain Cup Bicycle race in St. George. Fellow Frozen Hog Trophy winners, Joe and Jason Gardner, Scott Wetzel, Scott Rice and myself all carpooled down to Hurricane Friday afternoon. After spending the good part of this never ending winter up in the cold temps of Salt Lake, it was nice to feel of the warmth down in SoUt. We spent Friday riding the Hurricane Rim Trail, eating at Ted and Allen's, and watching "The Flying Scotsman".

After sleeping in a little on Saturday, we made it over to Green Valley to pick up our race packets and warm up a little before race time. This gave us time to go get caught up with all the other race folk. Mountain biking/cyclocross culture sure is friendly and laid back. Roadies could learn a lot from them! From looking around, a lot of big names had joined the field, which was pretty cool. Since Brad Keyes and Kenny Jones had decided to not race single speed, I felt that I had a chance to possibly podium if I raced single. I also really wanted to try out my new Salsa Delgado Race rims too. They handled quite nicely!

The single speed field started out a lot faster than I'm comfortable with, but by the time we hit the first wash, I was second, and after the first major climb I had only dropped to third. I was feeling pretty good by now and I felt that I could possibly hold on to 3rd for the rest of the race. As lap 2 rolled around, I found myself in second place since the guy in front of me suffered a flat tire. First place was in my sights and I thought I might be able to squeak out a victory. That's when everything went wrong. As I was cruising down the first technical descent of lap #2, my chain popped off. I noticed before the race that the tension was a little slack but I didn't do anything about it. I also didn't bring any tool with me so all I could do was put my chain back on and hope for the best. By the time I was on my bike again, two single speed riders had already passed me and I went from 2nd to 5th that fast! I proceeded to ride light and conservatively so that I wouldn't pop my chain off again. No such luck. It ended popping off two more times and I lost at least 2 minutes total from messing with my chain. Lesson learned: Get everything on your bike ready before the race! Oh well! I felt pretty good for this early in the season. I feel I can get faster if I keep at it. I'm in awe of the sheer number of fast riders in this state. Wow!

Next month: Cholla Challenge! I'm excited!


I took a couple pics off the zazoosh site.