David Singlespeed Unrau

We rode a couple of loops of the Albion Summer Solstice 24hr race course on Saturday. The course is very similar to last year, with a couple of minor changes and some new links between sections that have been on before, but in different orders.  There are no big hills, and a number of flat open stretches - so slap a big gear on that singlespeed.  I was riding 34:18 and it was not too steep.

In spite of the hot weather, I just got in a great weekend of riding. It’s been in the low 30’s and very humid over the last couple of days, but I’ve been staying well hydrated and popping lots of Hammer Endurolite electrolytes while riding. I think I’m finally over whatever was dragging me down throughout the spring, and my chronic sore throat has finally gone away. It’s good to be getting lots of riding in, and to start catching up on my preparations for Crank the Shield this fall.

On Saturday, I got in a great 5 hour ride on my cyclocross bike. Right now it’s set up fixed (42:16) with Panaracer Pasela 700×32C tires. I rode down to Cambridge, where I met up with Dave Beer, then we headed south on the rail trail past Paris before looping back up on a mix of gravel and minor paved roads. The rail trail was pleasantly shady and cooler. The gravel roads were hot. The pavement sections were unbearably hot.

Sunday was the O-Cup at Kelso. I was not sure how this was going to go, given ~120km of gravel riding the day before and my less than stellar performance at the O-Cups so far. Well, things were grooving. Sunday was hotter I think, but at 9:30am it didn’t feel anything like the afternoon heat the day before. I took it easy on the big exposed climb then focused on turning the pedals over through the flats and technical sections. I ended up 8th, and only ~7min down from the leaders - by far my best result of the season. Kudos to Nick who ended up 2nd, and Dave Beer, who had a strong performance as well after braving the heat on Saturday with me.

The quote of the day goes to Dave Dermont, who raced to victory in Expert 45-49 in the 1:30pm heat:

Going up the climb, it felt like my head was going to explode like a piece of popcorn!

We finally made it out to 3 Stage for a ride yesterday. Well, it was worth the trip. Good technical trails, good descending, good climbing - all in one ride. We were out for around 3:30 hours and still left a lot of ground to cover on the next trip. Here is where we rode:

I was riding my True North Cycles custom 29er singlespeed, 34:18 gearing, with a WTB Weirwolf 2.55 on the front and a Geax Seguaro 2.2 on the rear. Tire pressures were 24psi front, 27psi rear. The tires were a good choice on the dry ground. A little more pressure might have been good - lots of rim contacting the ground, though no pinch flats!

We were up at Albion yesterday to pre-ride the course for next weekend’s 24 Hours of Summer Solstice organized by Chico Racing. The course is mainly open with sections of the easier, faster single track. There are no big climbs on the course, and the course length is around 16km. Here is my map:

The course is going to be fast, which will make it tough on the fast teams.  I think fast lap times will be around the 45-50 minute mark.  It is going to be a tough call picking gearing for the 29er singlespeed.  There are a lot of open sections, flat, uphill and downhill, and there are some sections of uphill singletrack.  I think geared riders are going to have a significant advantage.  We will see how the race unfolds!