Sunday was a well-deserved day of rest. I had planned on sleeping in but as usual Sala jumped in to bed around six and after that I couldn't sleep. I rose about seven, made coffee and downloaded the podium images that Denise shot on Saturday. Of course, I had my eyes closed in nearly all the shots taken of me standing next to Tinker on the podium. Later that morning Denise and Sala got up and we sat around for most of morning before heading over to Chipotle for lunch. I’m getting over that place.
In the afternoon we went to Moore Middle School, where Jeannie, Chris and Cindy were working on getting ready for the upcoming school year. I laid around on the couch in Cindy's room and watched the Niners beat up on the Bears. It was a very uneventful afternoon and it was damn hot in those class rooms.
At about 4 we headed over to the pool and played a game of three flies up and dodge ball. I forgot how tiring treading water can be. I swam for over two hours. So much for a recovery day.
Earlier in the day Josh called see how the Epic went. He was planning on doing Onyx Summit. I told him to watch out for traffic since Hwy 330 and 18 were closed due to the fire. That meant a lot of traffic on the 8443 ft. climb to Onyx. Just the though of doing Onyx a day after doing Radford made me sick.
Monday was another recovery day but wasn’t supposed to be. I intended to ride in the evening, but we had to go sign our refi papers out in Rancho and by the time we got done it was late. Another rest day won’t hurt I guess. Instead Denise and I went and had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. She loves that place and I can’t figure out why. The selection is slim, the service is below par, the parking sucks and they serve their Caesar salad with way too much dressing. We at least had a good time making fun of the other patrons in the joint. What a society we live in.
Today’s Tuesday and you know what that means. I’ll have to make the best of it too because I leave tomorrow for Vegas and then Utah until next week and then I’ll be home for a couple days and then off to Alabama for the AMA Superbike finale. I’m about to get real familiar with my running shoes. Maybe I’ll be able to post from the road . . .
freemanrace@sbcglobal.net
Sep 9, 2003
Sep 7, 2003
The latest from the PR machine that is me . . .
FREEMAN FINISHES SECOND OVERALL AT BIG BEAR EPIC AND CLAIMS CALIFORNIA STATE ENDURANCE 30-39 CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
BIG BEAR, CA, SEPT. 6 – Ran on the new UCI World Endurance Championship standards, the 75 mile Big Bear Epic got underway at 7 a.m. and it didn’t take long for Canyon Velo’s Matt Freeman and two-time U.S. Olympian, three-time National XC Champion Tinker Juarez to drop the rest of the brave field. Nearly ten minutes into the race, Juarez, who recently earned a silver medal at the World 24-Hour Championship in Whistler, Canada, went off the front of the pack, taking Freeman with him.
The two racers rode together for a short time before Freeman gave up the chase, in order to save his energy for the long day ahead. Regardless, Freeman kept Juarez honest until about the midway point of the grueling race when the course headed up Radford Jeep Trail, an hour-long rocky climb that begins at approximately 5600 ft. in the Santa Ana River bottom and ends over 2000 ft. later on the east side of Big Bear’s Snow Summit.
“Tinker put a lot of time on me going up Radford, but I wasn’t worried so much about him as I was about my own legs,” said Freeman, who is fresh off his round seven California State XC win and plans to enter the Fall Classic on October 12 as a Semi-pro. “As if the climb isn’t bad enough, we had gnats swarming around our face for the first half of the climb. I probably wasted a lot of energy just waving them away.”
Freeman survived the bugs and the Radford climb, but lost valuable time to third place Cliff Clairmont, when confusing course markings toward the end of the race found him riding in circles. “I was comfortable with my lead over third place until I made a wrong turn and lost the course markings,” said Freeman. “I turned around and went back to where I’d made the wrong turn, but I still wasn’t sure I was in the right place. I think fatigue had a little bit to do with my confusion. When I finally figured out were to go, about five minutes had passed so it made me a little nervous.”
From there it was a big-ring sprint back to the Start/Finish, which took place at Big Bear Lake’s Whaler’s Pointe. Freeman crossed the finish line in six hours and 37 minutes, 32 minutes behind Juarez’s winning time. Third place Clairmont capitalized on Freeman’s late-race confusion to pull within a minute of the new 30-39 class champion.
“I wish I could have kept Tinker a little closer, but cramping a little bit around the five-hour mark forced me to spin in easier gears,” said Freeman. “Still, I’m honored just to be standing on the podium with him.
“Winning the California State Endurance Championship in my age division is a great way to end my career as an Expert racer,” continued Freeman. “Hopefully I can carry this momentum into the Fall Classic next month when I make my Semi-pro debut.”
For a complete list of results visit www.teambigbear.com
FREEMAN FINISHES SECOND OVERALL AT BIG BEAR EPIC AND CLAIMS CALIFORNIA STATE ENDURANCE 30-39 CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
BIG BEAR, CA, SEPT. 6 – Ran on the new UCI World Endurance Championship standards, the 75 mile Big Bear Epic got underway at 7 a.m. and it didn’t take long for Canyon Velo’s Matt Freeman and two-time U.S. Olympian, three-time National XC Champion Tinker Juarez to drop the rest of the brave field. Nearly ten minutes into the race, Juarez, who recently earned a silver medal at the World 24-Hour Championship in Whistler, Canada, went off the front of the pack, taking Freeman with him.
The two racers rode together for a short time before Freeman gave up the chase, in order to save his energy for the long day ahead. Regardless, Freeman kept Juarez honest until about the midway point of the grueling race when the course headed up Radford Jeep Trail, an hour-long rocky climb that begins at approximately 5600 ft. in the Santa Ana River bottom and ends over 2000 ft. later on the east side of Big Bear’s Snow Summit.
“Tinker put a lot of time on me going up Radford, but I wasn’t worried so much about him as I was about my own legs,” said Freeman, who is fresh off his round seven California State XC win and plans to enter the Fall Classic on October 12 as a Semi-pro. “As if the climb isn’t bad enough, we had gnats swarming around our face for the first half of the climb. I probably wasted a lot of energy just waving them away.”
Freeman survived the bugs and the Radford climb, but lost valuable time to third place Cliff Clairmont, when confusing course markings toward the end of the race found him riding in circles. “I was comfortable with my lead over third place until I made a wrong turn and lost the course markings,” said Freeman. “I turned around and went back to where I’d made the wrong turn, but I still wasn’t sure I was in the right place. I think fatigue had a little bit to do with my confusion. When I finally figured out were to go, about five minutes had passed so it made me a little nervous.”
From there it was a big-ring sprint back to the Start/Finish, which took place at Big Bear Lake’s Whaler’s Pointe. Freeman crossed the finish line in six hours and 37 minutes, 32 minutes behind Juarez’s winning time. Third place Clairmont capitalized on Freeman’s late-race confusion to pull within a minute of the new 30-39 class champion.
“I wish I could have kept Tinker a little closer, but cramping a little bit around the five-hour mark forced me to spin in easier gears,” said Freeman. “Still, I’m honored just to be standing on the podium with him.
“Winning the California State Endurance Championship in my age division is a great way to end my career as an Expert racer,” continued Freeman. “Hopefully I can carry this momentum into the Fall Classic next month when I make my Semi-pro debut.”
For a complete list of results visit www.teambigbear.com
Sep 4, 2003
Rember Me?
January 3rd? Is that the last day I had any free time? It feels like it. A lot has happened since then; mainly I changed jobs (again) and almost completed an entire mountain bike racing season. And then there’s day to day life, which just complicates work and racing. Take today for instance. After my morning ride I had to shower and groom, do the dishes and put in a load of laundry. All this before 8:30 a.m.! If only we had a maid, but that wouldn’t help with the shower and grooming part much.
So, what’s new? The new job is with Vreeke & Associates (V & A), Honda and Dunlop’s advertising and press relations agency. The sweet part is I work out of my house, which means no more commuting – at least not daily. Our office is in Simi Valley and I go there about once every two weeks. I also have to travel a little more than at Kawasaki, but it’s worth it since I don’t have to sit on the 91 and 55 freeways daily anymore. So basically I sit in the spare bedroom of our house everyday and write stuff for www.HondaRedRiders.com. We also publish a magazine titled Red Rider, which has a circulation of 600,000! It goes out to al the members in the Honda Riders Club of America. It’s a pretty good read and I’m proud to be a part of it. There’s a ton of other stuff V & A does; too many to list.
As far as racing goes, I had a pretty good season even though it started out with several mechanicals (all linked to the Cannondale Scalpel) and an unfortunate flat while leading in the last five miles of the opening California State XC Series. Once the guys at Mountain Bike magazine hooked me up with a 2003 Team Issue Orbea (only 21 lbs), my results started looking up and my fitness even improved. After a 6th place finish at the National Championship Series opener, I peaked late in the season and put together two seconds and race win in the state series. I also contested all but one of the NORBA NCS events (Mt. Snow, Vermont) and tied for tenth in the national standings. In addition to my round one sixth place performance at Big Bear, I took tenth on a very muddy Snowshoe, West Virginia course, a disappointing 13th on a very dusty and flat Sandpoint, Idaho course and 10th on a very short, but fun Durango, Colorado course. Missing Vermont obviously hurt me in the overall, as did my poor finish in Idaho.
Other summer highlights included teaming up Sean Donovan and Griffith and Garnet Vertican to race the 12 Hours of Snow Summit. We won the Pro/Semi-pro/Expert 4-man division by 33 minutes and handily took the overall. It was a long day, but rewarding.
And then there’s always the road bike on Tuesday nights, my favorite. I’m a little sad because they’re coming to an end due to the shorter days, but I’ll always have the memories. As usual there were about four to six of us three-lappers who regularly beat the hell out of each other on a weekly basis. Myself, the Brothers Vertican, Josh Underwood, Andy Padilla, Chris Trembly, Marine Tom and occasionally a kid named Michael would go off the front early and set the stage for a night of anaerobic bliss. With only a few long Tuesdays left this summer, those days are soon to end. And then there was Thursday night crit practice, which I still haven’t mastered . . .
So, this coming weekend is the Big Bear Epic and I’ve been giving my body a rest leading up to it. Marked for 75 miles and billed as the National Endurance Championship, I have no idea what kind of pace will be set. I’d imagine that Tinker and the likes will be there and since I’ve never competed in a race like this, I don’t know what to expect. I do expect to do well, at what cost I’m not sure of. I’ll let you know.
That’s it for now. I’m meeting Denise for dinner somewhere (undetermined as usual). I’m going to try and start posting regularly again and even plan to ad photos. Hopefully it will help in getting a decent sponsorship for next year. I downloaded my Semi-pro papers from the USA Cycling website yesterday. For the second year in a row my results were good enough for the semi-elite upgrade so I might as well give it a shot.
January 3rd? Is that the last day I had any free time? It feels like it. A lot has happened since then; mainly I changed jobs (again) and almost completed an entire mountain bike racing season. And then there’s day to day life, which just complicates work and racing. Take today for instance. After my morning ride I had to shower and groom, do the dishes and put in a load of laundry. All this before 8:30 a.m.! If only we had a maid, but that wouldn’t help with the shower and grooming part much.
So, what’s new? The new job is with Vreeke & Associates (V & A), Honda and Dunlop’s advertising and press relations agency. The sweet part is I work out of my house, which means no more commuting – at least not daily. Our office is in Simi Valley and I go there about once every two weeks. I also have to travel a little more than at Kawasaki, but it’s worth it since I don’t have to sit on the 91 and 55 freeways daily anymore. So basically I sit in the spare bedroom of our house everyday and write stuff for www.HondaRedRiders.com. We also publish a magazine titled Red Rider, which has a circulation of 600,000! It goes out to al the members in the Honda Riders Club of America. It’s a pretty good read and I’m proud to be a part of it. There’s a ton of other stuff V & A does; too many to list.
As far as racing goes, I had a pretty good season even though it started out with several mechanicals (all linked to the Cannondale Scalpel) and an unfortunate flat while leading in the last five miles of the opening California State XC Series. Once the guys at Mountain Bike magazine hooked me up with a 2003 Team Issue Orbea (only 21 lbs), my results started looking up and my fitness even improved. After a 6th place finish at the National Championship Series opener, I peaked late in the season and put together two seconds and race win in the state series. I also contested all but one of the NORBA NCS events (Mt. Snow, Vermont) and tied for tenth in the national standings. In addition to my round one sixth place performance at Big Bear, I took tenth on a very muddy Snowshoe, West Virginia course, a disappointing 13th on a very dusty and flat Sandpoint, Idaho course and 10th on a very short, but fun Durango, Colorado course. Missing Vermont obviously hurt me in the overall, as did my poor finish in Idaho.
Other summer highlights included teaming up Sean Donovan and Griffith and Garnet Vertican to race the 12 Hours of Snow Summit. We won the Pro/Semi-pro/Expert 4-man division by 33 minutes and handily took the overall. It was a long day, but rewarding.
And then there’s always the road bike on Tuesday nights, my favorite. I’m a little sad because they’re coming to an end due to the shorter days, but I’ll always have the memories. As usual there were about four to six of us three-lappers who regularly beat the hell out of each other on a weekly basis. Myself, the Brothers Vertican, Josh Underwood, Andy Padilla, Chris Trembly, Marine Tom and occasionally a kid named Michael would go off the front early and set the stage for a night of anaerobic bliss. With only a few long Tuesdays left this summer, those days are soon to end. And then there was Thursday night crit practice, which I still haven’t mastered . . .
So, this coming weekend is the Big Bear Epic and I’ve been giving my body a rest leading up to it. Marked for 75 miles and billed as the National Endurance Championship, I have no idea what kind of pace will be set. I’d imagine that Tinker and the likes will be there and since I’ve never competed in a race like this, I don’t know what to expect. I do expect to do well, at what cost I’m not sure of. I’ll let you know.
That’s it for now. I’m meeting Denise for dinner somewhere (undetermined as usual). I’m going to try and start posting regularly again and even plan to ad photos. Hopefully it will help in getting a decent sponsorship for next year. I downloaded my Semi-pro papers from the USA Cycling website yesterday. For the second year in a row my results were good enough for the semi-elite upgrade so I might as well give it a shot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)