TJ Woodruff ONLINE

I made it up to the top of Mount Lemmon today. Above 9,000 feet it was cool with temps in the upper 30s. Even with the right gear the first half of the descent was quite chilly. The sight of Tucson so far below begs daunting thoughts of how long the ride back down will be - I always hit E on the descent, never while climbing. This was the first time that I’ve been up past the ski area and these last couple miles of climbing really are the hardest since the grade is quite a bit steeper than on the Catalina Hwy. Door to door the ride was just over five hours with 6000 feet climbing or so - definitely enough to have me feeling spent! I’ll be back for more of this ride, but not any time too soon… I had planned to ride to Summerhaven initially, but I ran into Andy Schultz who was descending as I was mid way up the mountain. He asked if I was going to the top and I said that I was before we parted ways. Motivation can come from many sources, but I knew Summerhaven wasn’t ‘the top’ so I had to do it right this time.

Thanksgiving was quiet but nice as Chloe, Brian and I did the Big Square ride mid day and followed it up with a full on Thanksgiving spread for dinner. Since Brian is a vegetarian, the Turkey was substituted with Tofurky. It tasted pretty good, and my real favorites of stuffing, cranberries, and potatoes made up for any lacking tradition without real Turkey. After a long ride, anything tastes good I suppose.

No CX races over the weekend made for a relaxing occasion. Saturday was spent getting the apartment really dialed in. I bought my first ever power tool, a drill, along with some masonry bits so that I could get some stuff hung from the walls. I also solved the bike storage situation with some ceiling hooks. The BMC’s make for some artsy decor for sure! It turned out as a good way to clear up space and showcase the bikes all at the same time. Now just a few things and the basement will be set too. And I found the bedskirt that matches my comforter finally after many attempts. Maybe this will keep the dust bunnies out from under there?

This weekend will be a double header with a AZ Cross race in Phoenix on Saturday followed by a Tucson CX race on Sunday. This ought to be a good tune up weekend before the State Championship which will be next Saturday. Hopefully the turnout is good once again this weekend. Rumor has it that there’ll be a UCI Cross race in Phoenix for 2008. That’ll be awesome if it all comes together. That’s all for now,  -TJ

The second and third stops of the AZCross.com series was at Cactus Park in Phoenix. We were somewhere near Cave Creek I think… Once again the race promoters did an awesome job pulling off a top-notch event. These guys are setting the new standard for Arizona race promotion and others could tune in for a fine example. Example: I preregistered online for the two events, saving $5 per day. I was pleasantly surprised that this also saved me hassle. All of the waivers had been filled in with the information that I provided with my preregistration - all I had to do was sign the waiver. Don and the WORS crew are the only others to provide such top notch race service.

Saturday:

The course was challenging with three dismount sections and a long run up. The start was fast and I followed Ryan as he did some hard efforts. In the process we got a small gap on the field. I played the waiting game and pulled only on a few occasions. The gap continued to open as we were halfway through. I felt pretty good and was more or less waiting to make a move. Well, I got to save that move as Ryan flatted and I simply kept the tempo going for the final five laps around the course. Coming in for the win was pretty cool - making two for two on the new BMC. Justin was huge help out there providing me with some refreshing bottle feeds in the 80 degree heat.

Sunday:

A completely new course awaited us and this one was equally exciting, though it lacked some of the harder features that Saturday included. Gone was the tough climb out of the wash and the run up had been replaced with shorter version. This course was faster and kept us together riding in groups more. Early on it was Ryan and I riding with at least three Schampa guys. By mid race it was thinned down to just three - JR Grabinger, Ryan, and myself. Again Ryan was doing most of the pace making and JR was doing the best job of not working. I had the misfortune to shoot something up through my front wheel while riding across the wash and in the process the little spring clip of my front brake came off its post. This left me fumbling to fix my dragging brake while still trying to race. I wasn’t fixing the brake and I wasn’t hanging on too well so I stopped at a corner to fix the brake. It took just ten seconds but I had a lot of chasing to do if I had any chance of going for another win. The two had a sizable gap, but after 1.5 laps I had it all but closed down. JR looked back when I was about 3 seconds off and attacked pretty hard. I caught on to Ryan and immediately went around him in pursuit of JR. This gave Ryan a free ride on my wheel and after another entire lap of 100% effort I was popping a bit and the gap to JR wasn’t coming back. Ryan jumped around me and I was pretty spent after all the chasing, unable to hang on. I finished the day up in third. Perhaps with some different tactics I would have been 2nd, but I really wanted to race with JR as he was clearly riding strong. Bad luck happens on occasion, so I was still happy all things considered.

The double weekend made for a great racing and a good time. I’m really loving the cyclocross stuff this year. A big thanks to Tim for great accommodations Saturday night and for the authentic Mexican cuisine post-victory. Thanks to BMC for the super-fast Cross Machine and to N-Gear for making such a cool Jump Stop device that keeps my chain on the 42t and looks so nifty in the process.

Over and out, -TJ

The very first ride on the Cross Machine CX01 was the fastest at Tucson’s CX #2 event. Early in the race Evan, Jake and I got a bit of a gap on a hard chasing Kyle and others. On the third lap Evan eased up just a bit and went to the front to turn up the pace just a bit. It was enough to open a gap so I kept it pinned and tried to open it up a bit. Evan was the first to flat on the course that was sprinkled with goat head thorns. Going around corners I could see that the gap over Jake and Kyle was always growing or being maintained so I kept it smooth and didn’t risk much at the gnarly  concrete barriers.  After a slight downhill the course crossed these concrete paved walls that were about a foot and a half high and spaced by only four or five feet. It wasn’t so bad to run over them, but the dismount coming down the hill at them was a bit unnerving.

All was going well until 42 minutes in the 50 minute plus one lap race. I could tell that I was losing air in the front tire. Go figure, as I could see numerous thorns each time the tire rolled over. Finally with just two laps left to go it was flat and I had to run, but fortunately I was only a couple turns from the pit. Mel and Chloe found a wheel for me after a pretty quick change I was back in action and my gap over Jake was still intact. I made it in for the win after completing two final laps in approximately four minutes per lap. That was just fast enough as my replacement front wheel also was going flat and at a rate much faster than the previous.

The first ride on the bike and it lived up to its name: Cross Machine. With some refinements it’ll only get faster too, but the handling was spot on. The bike naturally carved the fastest lines out there.  Here’s the current setup and check out the Garage for complete specs.

Keeping it Real,  TJ

Clean bikes = Happy bikes

Sunday was the first of many rides to come one from a beautiful quiver of BMC bikes.  BMC is the bike of choice in 2008 and I’m fortunate enough to get things going early for the remainder of 2007. Check out the ‘Garage’ for further specs and  bike setup information.

Chloe and I got out for an epic MTB ride yesterday, going for over 40 miles of adventure. We first climbed eight miles up Mount Lemmon before descending back down to Molino Basin. From there we climbed over the ridge and took the Bellota Trail all the way out to Redington Road which brought us back to our origin. This area is known for its rugged terrain and unforgiving nature. Bodies and bikes came out unscathed, though all gel and bar wrappers were emptied and hydration packs drained.  The Fourstroke was up for every challenge on the day and its 100mm of front and rear travel proved to be a good balance of nimble and efficient. With a playground so grand, what’s not to like?

Trailside entertainment is cheap

Spending the weekend in Tucson meant for some nice R&R and the chance to take in the Arizona versus UCLA homecoming football game.  Tailgating was fun and the packed stadium was exciting. It was a great break from the norm and a good chance to see what normal people do outside of ‘bike world’.

More to come as I build up two more BMC’s and get ready for some more ‘cross racing action. Thanks for stopping in,

TJ