All things rooted can stay

Amazing how roots on mountain bike trails can withstand years of pounding without budging. They simply brush aside the dirt and sand, stubbornly exposing more of themselves and just taking the bike whipping we give them. Poet Pablo Neruda asks, "Why do trees conceal/ the splendor of their roots?" and I would say to Pablo, you are looking at the wrong trees.

We live on the coastal plain of Virginia, so it is difficult to train here for technical limestone that we will encounter next weekend in the Shenandoah mountains. I have found a reasonable way to prepare for rocky climbs and descents is to train on Tidewater roots like many of those exposed on trails at York River State Park (left).

Volunteers have re-routed some of the rooty sections there lately, but frankly lots more needs to be done for the overall health of the trail. I am watching EVMA website for the next trail maintenace day at York River because I want to help out there. But until more re-routing, great rock training.



Dead wood on the other hand is a different story. Susan had not been to the park in 5 years, so today we rode to the site where she and I built a log jump 10 years ago. We were cleaning up that day with EVMA after a storm, and there were lots of fallen trees. Don Peterson assisted us with a chainsaw, and we completed a log jump about 3 feet high and 4 feet long.

At left, we are standing on the path with the log jump under our feet. It has been beaten and pushed back into the earth from which it came. It was solid as steel that first day, but I have watched it diminish back to smooth trail over the years. At left, Susan holds the only remaining log piece. Nothing gold can stay. . . .

The Grass Ceiling

(Deidre Winfied and Randall Root racing men's 1-3 race at VACX on Saturday. Photo by Wes Cheney.)

A woman in my view ascends to hero status when she can compete with the men. This can be seen as flawed thinking to many, but I really can’t help myself. I feel this way mostly because there are still so many inequities in the world of female racing. It starts with purse, of course. Yes, it is rare for the pro/elite women’s purse to equal or even be half of the pro men’s purse. We as promoters on Tripower bow to those unwritten rules that dictate the largest possible men’s pro purse, and when we consider the women’s purse, we are more about making sure elite women get paid more than the amateur men rather than making sure they are equal to the pro men.

I agree to this method mostly because of the numbers game—we just don’t get high numbers of pro-elite women who travel to Hampton Roads (aka The Island) to race, so in the past, we have paid some pretty big numbers to women with a low turnout. I also agree to it because, heck, the NRC and UCI races do not set a good example to lower tiered races like ours. NRC and UCI races are guaranteed the very best women in the country, but they still have purses that are half the payout of men. I think most are familiar with the payout vs. turnout debate, but the whole catch-22 of the situation stifles women’s cycling at all levels. It is an old debate but one I think we need to continue to revisit for solutions.

So the very best women enter the men’s races. I know enough about cycling to understand that purse is just one reason women enter men’s races. It has more to do with having stiffer competition so as to prepare them for the world class women’s events. What I love about Deidre is that she gave full honor to the women’s race that same day which she did 2 hours prior to the men’s race. You can tell by her lap times: she had an average time of 16.7 compared with 16.9 in the men’s race. It makes sense that her average pace in men’s race would be higher since she had more competition to push her and pace with, but it’s clear to me that she gave 100% to the women’s race even though she was riding with a significant gap over second place. That’s one more blade planted in the grass ceiling of cyclocross.

See Race Results

Cold Cross Coming

Virginia Beach Cyclocross Winter Endurance Challenge

Promoted by Kale Running and Team Tripower

Sponsored by City of Virginia Beach

Saturday, Jan 17, 2009

See RESULTS

Teeuwen Winner

Mike Hosang hits the thin bridge at Freedom Park.

I have made several false starts in the past to write about Mike. He is not someone you know or even talk to, Mike is someone you experience. I will work on explaining that in a future post.

He was awarded the annual Peter Teeuwen award today. Each year, Pam Zimmerman and the Teeuwens recognize racers who made significant contributions to local racing. Pam recognized Mike for his Cat 2 and 30+ placings as well as his work in promoting Trashmore Cross/ VA State Cross Championships. (photo by Jimmy D.)













No one wanted to cut into the cool cake at the Teeuwen dinner. This is the original Tidewater Bicycle Association racing jersey that Peter, his juniors and the rest of the team wore. (photo by Jimmy D.)

Jennifer made the cake. Her husband Tim was a junior on Peter's team. Read about it here.

Cross Training

I am holding cross training sessions over here if anyone is interested. That’s Robert Sawyer doing field squats with his new team, City De Norfolk 506 Wastewater Crew.










He is practicing the victory salute here. Not sure he'll ever need to use it, but it's good to be prepared.