Hurkey Creek Preview

The Mountain Bike Endurance season is about to kick off on April 26th with a race at Hurkey Creek in Idylwild, California. We are going to analyze one team every day until the season officially starts.

We covered "Stiff Cranks" yesterday and today we are going to be previewing the race team of "Chicken Shift".

Our guest author today is Henry McFlannagan from Mountain Bike Racing Magazine who has spent the last week in the Chicken Shift camp analyzing their training and race tactics.

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I will cut to the chase. Team Chicken Shift is no pro team. They are at best a collection of motley amateurs attempting their first 24 hour race. Most pro teams will complete 30+ laps in a 24 hour race and I will predict that Team Chicken Shift registers around 25 laps.

This is a young team without a proven leader and without big game experience. It will be interesting to see how they respond when put under pressure.

I spent some time with each member individually talking about their hopes, fears, strengths and weaknesses. They offered up their rotation (a sign of inexperience as other teams will use this to their advantage) and so I will analyze each rider briefly.

1. Andrew Winger

As I walked into Team Chicken Shift's camp I heard a strange noise and when I turned around a tall bearded rider skidded on his bike right next to me and then stared at me until the uncomfortable silence caused me to speak.

Me: "Uhm. Who are you?"
Bearded Man: "I am Andrew Winger and I am awesome."

That first exchange sums up Andrew Winger. Fast, reckless (he skidded and kicked up dust on my nice pants) and confident. Andrew trains in Santiago Oaks and is a master mechanic. His only weakness is large bags of trail mix (self confessed).

I predict he turns in average lap times of 54 minutes.


2. Matt Vaughan

After I finished talking and debating with Andrew I made my way over to the skinny chap sitting by himself on a log with three boxes of Kix next to him. I asked if the whole team had just eaten breakfast and to my surprise he informed me that three boxes was his standard morning meal.

Matt Vaughan is famous for being only one of eleven men in North America that own an actual Bianchi Rita singlespeed bike. It is generally seen as a bike that only women buy (hence the name "Rita"), but Matt has never played by the rules.

Matt is consistent on his bike and well known for his track standing ability. Too bad track stands won't win the race.

If Matt does not ride his feminine bike, he should turn in times under 55 minutes. (That's a big "if" ...)


3. Jason Rusnak

It is a strange feeling to meet someone and watch, as in the middle of the conversation, they pull all of their hair off of their head to reveal that they were actually wearing a wig. But this is the kind of relaxed and absurd air that permeates Team Chicken Shift.

Enter Jason Rusnak. Jason features a stupidly high saddle position on his bike and the ability to roll over any technical obstacle. He was drafted in the second round of 2007 and has proven to be a surprise pick up.

He confessed to me in a more candid moment that he actually cries for 30 minutes before every race. When I asked why he just smiled at me and put his wig back on - it was alarming to say the least.

If he can stay focused and not cry too much before his laps, then I predict lap times comparable to Andrew and Matt.


4. Ryan Meyer

Ryan is a head case. I introduced myself as Henry McFlannagan, writer for Mountain Bike Racing Magazine and he launched into this absurd story about Irish people and made endless puns on "Henry". It was annoying to be blunt.

Ryan rides a cheap bike that is on its last leg. I think it could actually fall apart during his second lap in a yard sale style explosion that would make an atom bomb look tame. He better rely heavily on Jake Ketterer the team mechanic.

If Ryan can avoid telling bad jokes during his laps and can focus on riding and conquer his fear of curbs and other obstacles (fear of curbs by a mountain biker is the single oddest thing I've come across in my 25 years of journalism), then he should be good for 55 to 58 minute laps.


5. Doug House

Mr. House, as he insisted I call him, is the dark horse of the team. A bit of an unknown, Mr. House rides constantly according to his teammates. It is not uncommon for him to ride twice a day and even sometimes ten times in one day. He is that dedicated.

He is a race tested veteran and imparts his knowledge to his teammates. Racing on an ultralight carbon Trek Mr. House should show well at Hurkey. When I asked him about race tactics he started to talk about their "two lap a piece" strategy but then began to discuss financial issues with me which was over my head.

I wish I could have received better information from Mr. House in regards to his own training and preparation but instead I think I signed up for a second mortgage on my house. Strange.

Mr. House is good for 55 minute laps, but could do better than that as the dark horse of the team.


To the finish ...

Team Chicken Shift should finish in the top 5 only because most other teams will pack it up halfway through the 24 hours and go home to watch American Idol. Their race will be a race of survival and instinct and to be honest, it will be a race of madness.

If a 40 year old Britney Spears married Tom Cruise and had quintuplets, that would be Team Chicken Shift. Crazy and yet able to pull off decent performances when motivated.

Selling Out

A "sell out" as defined by Urban Dictionary: One who betrays a cause for personal advancement.

They give an example ...

For instance, Green Day. They are considered sell-outs because they are a punk band who was popular on MTV. Green Day never stated that they would never be on MTV, thus they are not sell-outs in that sense. They never changed their musical style for monetary reasons, thus they are are not sell-outs in the more literal sense of the word. If Fugazi were to sign up with Sony records, they would be selling out because they preach against major labels.

All I can say is that Fugazi better NEVER sign with Sony. Green Day sold out a long time ago.

Anyways what does this have to do with biking?



I joined Team Velosport this week. I'm not sure yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm now obligated to wear the team jersey for races and to put them down as my team for any race I do.

Why did I do this? How did Ryan Meyer, who is famous for fighting against "the man" and is famous for inciting revolutions against the establishment join a team?

Team Velosport offers race fee reimbursement - even up to half of whatever was spent. Considering that I still have about five hundred dollars of racing fees still ahead of me this year, that makes selling out a no brainer.

Now I'm just a cog in the huge machine that is Team Velosport. Haha.

Learning Curve

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly the quickest learner. Sometimes it can take me quite a long time to fully understand and process a fact or an idea. Biking is no exception.

Recently I've been reading "Mastering Mountain Bike Skills" and "Mountain Bike Like a Champion" and I've been trying to incorporate a few things into my riding regimen.

The list:

1. Pedal in circles. I've known this is important for some time now, but I've really been trying to work on it lately. Trying hard to make sure I'm using all the muscles at my disposal and trying to get a fluid and consistent pedal stroke going.

I realized on a climb on Saturday that I never exert my calf muscles when climbing. I ended up trying to focus on using them more and I think it helped? I really want to refine my pedaling this year.


2. Look ahead. I can't believe how much of a difference this makes. I had made a habit of looking only 3-4 feet in front of my wheel no matter what. Brian Lopes recommends looking as far ahead as you can to process obstacles and to pick the best line. I've been looking up more and more and it does indeed build confidence.

I've also tried to stop looking directly down at things I'm nervous about riding over. The idea is to process potential trouble spots in advance and then let the bike do what it does best, which is roll.


3. Relax. I've spent a lot of time working on this, but I think I could stand to get better. The goal is to relax any muscle that isn't needed to climb or descend. Relax the jaw. Relax the shoulders. Relax the upper body. I've really tried to do this at work and just in general. I need to get used to relaxing parts of my body instead of straining and flexing when I get nervous.


4. Let go of the front brake. This is something I'm really trying to concentrate on. Much to my shame I will admit that I had developed the habit of using the front brake on turns. My braking over the past year or so could be described in two ways. I was either not braking at all, or I was grabbing both front and back at the same time to slow down.

Recently I've been trying to completely let go of the front brake on turns. I can't believe how much of a difference this makes. I have so much more control and can go faster through turns. I'm still in an infancy stage as far as getting through turns fast, but at least I know what to work on.


5. Dig in. I read about pushing down on your pedals in the Brian Lopes book and tried it out on Los Pinos. It really makes a difference! Lately I've been digging my heels in on any steep or technical descent and it makes the bike feel better underneath me.

I'm also trying to push the front wheel down on turns and dig in with the pedals on turns. Instead of just floating on the bike and reacting to what it is doing I want to try to force it down more and make it react to me instead.


Lots to improve upon and I'm hoping I can grow in these areas over the course of the year. Always feels good to get better and I know I'll never stop learning.

Fontana Race Report

I already wrote some lessons I learned from the Fontana race this Sunday, but I also wanted to attempt a brief ride report with some race details. Thought it might be fun. Fun for me to write, maybe not for anyone else to read. Ha.

Got to Fontana at about 5:50AM to meet Doug and Jason for a pre-ride. I've never been to Fontana and had no idea what the course would be like. We ended up taking our time on the course and I finished with maybe 10 minutes before race time.

The course was loose, sandy and rutted. It also had a lot of singletrack which meant a lot of traffic jams. Pros, semipros and expert class riders rode the course the day before and it showed.

I tried to pick out spots to attack and recover, but it was tough. I just couldn't get into a groove on the pre-lap at all.

I was in the first group to start Sunday morning at 8AM. They started all XC Sport Men 20-29 at the same time. Basically two separate groups at the same time. I was marked as being in group 219. So I wanted to stay with anyone with a giant "219" on their calf.

Probably had 15-18 riders start with me and I was literally the only one with baggy shorts and without a jersey. Yikes. I stood out because I wasn't wearing spandex.

Race started and it was the typical psycho-hammer-fest right out of the gate. I fell towards the back immediately but tried to push.

Did ok for a while at a hard pace and got stuck behind a few guys on the first singletrack. One guy was going so incredibly slow it was unreal. He was super scared of the technical spots even though they were nothing compared to the rest of the course.

I passed a few guys in the first mile or two and kept pushing and pushing, trying hard to maintain my spot in the pack. After the first couple of miles it was really obvious I was left behind by the leaders. It got to the point where I couldn't see them ahead on the course.

The first major singletrack descent of the first lap was kind of nasty. I saw literally not one rider go down at Bonelli, but at Fontana downed riders were common. Quite a few people ate it on the first singletrack due to the loose sand and ruts.

The second major climb of the first lap buried me. I had been pushing very hard and the second climb was the straw that broke my back so to speak. I got into a furious breathing rhythm that I was unable to break out of. Every breath was short and shallow - a sign of panic. I tried to relax and take deep breaths, but it wasn't working.

I finally crested the top of the second climbing section and I have to admit I felt like quitting. I was in bad shape physically and mentally. In the past part of my strategy has been to out suffer my opponents. Sunday showed me that maybe this isn't always a good idea.

The only interesting part of the second half of the first lap was being passed by Chris Messina. I met Chris a long time ago and I knew he was coming up from behind on a singletrack section. He wanted to pass, which is totally cool except he picked a bad place to do it. It was a technical section at the top of a narrow singletrack climb and I took the bad line on purpose to let him pass. He passed and it worked ok, but it ended up breaking my rhythm on the bike. I was forced into an awkward track stand instead of just flowing over the area.

Next time I'll wait for a better section even if the guy behind me is a little frustrated. When I get over for someone to pass it's their responsibility to pass and not take their time.

I did end up having a small crash on a banked turn, but it wasn't bad and I was up and back on the bike in maybe 10 seconds. My hip has been hurting a bit since Sunday, but it's nothing serious.

Jason caught me at about 75% of the way through the first lap and ended up staying ahead of me by maybe 30 seconds for the rest of the race.

Lap two I decided to go a bit easier. I rode in my small ring more and spun in a lot of the climbing sections. I'm kind of embarrassed in retrospect, but trust me ... at the time I didn't care.

I finished the second lap in about the same time as the first and felt just "ok" about my performance. I think I could have pushed harder, but my body was screaming for me to pardon it from more pain and I gave in.

BEGIN Opinionated Rant

During the race I found myself thinking, "I could move up in the standings if someone from my group would just crash or have a mechanical. Maybe I'll get lucky?" I quickly realized how stupid that thinking is. If I am going to beat another rider in a race I want the other rider to be racing at his peak. If he crashes, if he has a flat or something and I beat him, it means nothing. It just means on that particular day I was luckier than he was. So what. Also I can't bring myself to hope someone crashes so I can advance. This is just mountain bike racing after all right? I don't want to see people get hurt.

I mention this because some racers have the opposite mentality. They want people to go down so they can ride harder and faster. They treat the other racers like obstacles and not fellow enthusiasts. Screw that mentality.

I've done several races over the past two years and I have to say that overall my experience has been positive. If a faster guy is behind me I don't mind getting over. I'm not going to stop him.

If I need to pass someone I let them know and then do it. If they won't get over I'll wait until I can force my way by them. If I ever find myself yelling at someone during a race I think it's time to retire. Racers that feel the need to yell at other people out of frustration ought to do us all a favor and stop racing.

END Opinionated Rant

So that was Fontana. I had a TON of fun after the race watching other people ride.



I'm actually in that photo under the American Flag. You can barely see my hat. Haha.

It was just so awesome to watch the pro downhill riders and some short track racing (which I didn't even know existed). The whole vibe was cool and I'm anxious to keep racing and going to events and more importantly to keep the whole experience fun.