Team Lost Coast Brewery

November 11....Matt, Anna, and I headed up to the Oregon State Championships in Salem Oregon this past weekend and had a blast. We had our brand new "fleet" of cross bikes in tow and arrived early to set up shop and watch some racing. The weather was perfect...cold and raining. We set things up and prepared for a wet day of racing. Matt brought his single speed and raced at 1:00. My hat is off to him because he was running a relatively low gear and did very well considering the length of the course and he was racing against guys who take cross VERY seriously. The course was fun and challenging. The race was held at the Salem Fairgrounds and the race promoters did a great job of integrating the course into the buildings and motocross track. There were several inside/outside sections that were tricky, and there was a lot of open and exposed areas that were tough because of the rain and strong winds.

Kona pro and National Champion Barry Wicks showed up and made things tough right away. There were 28 of us in the A race and Barry strung us out on the first lap. I had a decent start but man do I need to hit the intervals. I struggled with the pace at first but found my rhythm in the second half of the race and moved up a couple of spots. Even though my legs were not great...my Marin Cortina was AWESOME!!! I had a couple of days to get comfortable on the bike before the race and man does that thing rock. I felt very confident in the wet, mucky stuff and was able to make up ground in all the corners. My experience with cross bikes in the past is that they tend to handle a bit like road bikes with knobby tires. This is not the case with the Cortina. This bike makes you feel like you are perfectly balanced and is very inspiring to ride. The only change that I will make is changing the 50/34 chain rings to a more cross specific gearing like 48/36 or 46/36. My little legs had a hard time with the 50 tooth...and the 34 tooth put me down into too low of a gear unless I was down on the 11 tooth cog of the cassette. Just a small change...everything else is perfect.

We had a great time at the State Championships and the CX Worlds...(look for Matt's blog on that race). Next up is a local race down in Medford, Or. Matt and I will be looking to put the hurt on the local Southern Oregon boys, and we will be giving anyone and everyone a chance to get one of those brand new Marin Cortina's dirty. Happy trails....Geoff.

# posted by Team Lost Coast Brewery @ 11:32 PM