The last race of NASRS season 16 was at Mount Panorama (aka Bathurst) for the season’s “hot” race. If you’re not familiar with Mount Panorama, it’s a really tough track that has a very sketchy mountain section that’s full of twists, turns, elevation changes, and, most importantly, walls. If you lose focus for a second or just make a simple error, your race will most likely be over. And if that wasn’t enough to worry about, the race organizers set the temps really high so worn out tires with little grip were on tap for this one.

I was able to put together a quick lap and qualified in P3. My main focus for the race was to just be clean and avoid any crashes. The race start was unremarkable, which was a good thing as I was able to hold my position and settle in to P3. The guys in P1 and P2 are really quick drivers so sticking with them wasn’t really an option and they were pretty far ahead after just a few laps. Around lap 8 I started getting a lot of pressure from P4. He was able to get along side of me on the first main straight and tried to make a pass into T2 on lap 10. It didn’t work and pretty much never will in that turn. All you have to do is cover the inside and the outside move will almost always fail. He tried the same thing again the next lap and, not surprisingly, lost a position himself since he was also under some pressure from behind.

On lap 13 I made a mistake and went a bit deep in the chicane on the back straight and lost a position. I pitted for the mandatory stop on lap 15 and even though I felt like I had done a good stop, I ended up losing a position. I think the guy behind in P5 pitted a lap earlier so the undercut on fresh tires worked.

So I entered the pits in P4, but after the dust settled and the front runners had all done their stops, I was in P5. On lap 20 the race leader had a game disconnect (argh!) so I was able to snag a freebie and get up into P4. However, I again found myself under a lot of pressure but was able to maintain my position.

The guy in P2 made a mistake and hit the wall on lap 24. He dropped back a bit and I was able to race him, but even with his damaged car I didn’t have the top end to make a safe pass. He was struggling, though, and I was hoping to get on the podium so I was pushing really hard to try to make something happen. And, I guess, something did happen, but not what I was hoping for. With only three laps left I lost traction on the mountain and hit the wall, losing two places in the process.

To be fair, the guy behind me in P5 was much quicker than I was at the end of the race and I was under a lot of pressure. Chances are I wasn’t going to be able to hold either him or P6 off much longer. And, I’m glad that I was being aggressive, trying to make something happen rather than just play it safe and try to hold onto P4. That said, I probably should have done that and tried to finish the race without making a big mistake like I did. But, that’s the way it goes sometimes.

My car had 25+ seconds of damage, but was still driveable. P5 made a mistake on the last lap and I had a glimmer of hope, but I was just too far back to make a move stick. So I ended up with another disappointing P6 finish.

So that’s it for NASRS season 16. I think this has been my fourth NASRS season (not counting rookies) and it was by far my worst one. I wasn’t crazy about the tracks and, probably more to the point, I just wasn’t clicking with the Lamborghini. I never really felt completely comfortable in the car where I could push hard and be aggressive. At times the single lap pace was there for sure, but race pace almost always suffered. In the Aston, for instance, I frequently qualified lower and finished the race higher. I think the opposite was true this season with the Lambo. Lastly, the car felt pretty horrible in rainy/wet conditions so the COTA race was a real nightmare.

The one good thing about the season, though, was that I got my first “real” league win at Valencia so I’m happy about that. But, I’m also happy the season is over so I can now look to the future and figure out what I’m going to drive next season.

Week 6 final results (Mount Panorama)

• Qualifying: P3/18
• Race: P6/18

Here are a few highlights from the race

Race five of NASRS season 16 was at Misasno for the night race. I was looking to get some confidence back after a pretty horrible race last week at COTA. I was able to spend a little time on the community practice server and was seeing that I was off the pace a bit from the top guys so figured a top five finish would probably be the best I could hope for.

I qualified in P5, but was just barely in front of P6, who’s undeniably a faster driver than me. So I was pretty sure I would be under a lot of pressure at the start and would most likely get overtaken. Which is pretty much exactly what happened. But, we had a nice wheel-to-wheel battle for the first few turns of the race so that was fun.

You can get a significant time advantage by using all of the track at Misano, but you need to watch out for track cuts. If you get more than 3 warnings, it’s a drive-through penalty, which is basically race over. Unfortunately, I got a warning in lap two and another in lap three. There was almost 60 minutes left in the race at that point so I really needed to get a bit more conservative on my driving.

I settled into P6 and basically just ran laps till I needed to take the mandatory pit stop about halfway through the race. I over-shot my pit box and had to reverse, which cost me a few seconds, but otherwise I had an OK stop. I came out of that about four seconds behind P5. I managed to whittle that down over the remaining laps and caught up to him with about five laps left in the race. We had a really nice battle, but I just didn’t have enough pace to make a clean overtake so I ended up in P6.

The five drivers who finished ahead of me are the fastest drivers in the Wednesday split so I again finished about where I should have. I sometimes get lucky with others having accidents and or making mistakes and can make up a few places that way. But when that doesn’t happen, I’m most likely going to end up around P6 or so.

All in all I was pretty happy with how I raced and how things ended up. Sure, I wish I had a bit more pace, but given how much practice I put in this week (not a lot) and how good the other drivers are (very), I’m OK with the result.

We’re at Mount Panorama next week for the last race of the season. It’s a very unique track that has an incredibly scary and dangerous middle sector that can end your race in a heartbeat. It’ll be a nice challenge to see if I can survive without putting the Lambo into the wall. I’m guessing I’ll be a bit off pace again, but am hoping consistent, clean laps will help out results-wise.

Week 5 final results (Misano)

• Qualifying: P5/16
• Race: P6/16

Here are a few highlights from the race

Earlier this week I decided to do another solo bike overnight on Shafer Butte. The best day based on other stuff I had going on was Thursday, which, coincidentally, was forecasted to be a good night to see the northern lights. Unfortunately that forecast changed and the lights weren’t viewable on Thursday, but I still had a nice night up on the mountain.

The mini-adventure was a little different this time not only because I rode my hardtail mountain bike, but also because I went up a different route. Instead of going up the pavement on Bogus Basin Road, which is my normal route, I went up the steeper and more rugged (i.e., gravel/dirt) Boise Ridge Road. I had ridden only about 5 miles of Boise Ridge Road prior to this trip so I wasn’t sure what the upper areas were like. I don’t know if it’s that I’m not in the best shape or that it’s just a steep road, but I was struggling a lot on the ride up.

I left around 11:30am because I wasn’t sure how long it would take me and, more importantly, I wanted to get up into a higher elevation before it got really hot. It was still pretty hot on the lower section, which was steep enough in a few sections to require me to hike-a-bike. I think the heat and the grade blew me up a bit and I ended up struggling most of the way up. There were a few pitches on the upper section that were really steep and, again, I had to hike-a-bike. But, the upper section was really nice as it was mostly in the trees and, consequently, was a lot cooler.

Boise Ridge Road

Boise Ridge Road (tree line)

Aside from kicking my ass a bit, the ride up was nice and uneventful. Around mile 20 the gravel road intersected the “Around the Mountain” singletrack trail so I hopped on that for the last five miles or so. Overall A.T.M. is a pretty easy trail so I didn’t have too many issues with the loaded bike, but compared to a naked bike I could definitely tell the difference in both handling and climbing. I just took it easy and plodded along, thinking about the dinner I was going to maul once I got to camp.

Around the Mountain MTB trail

View from Around the Mountain

After nearly five hours of riding I made it to the Shafer Butte Campground. It was way busier than two weeks ago, but I was able to snag the same site, which is nicely tucked away from some of the other sites.

There’s kind of a hidden spring behind one of the camp sites so I was able to rinse off a little and filter some amazingly cold water. I got a new water filter a few days ago and am happy to report it worked really well. I’m always a bit “water anxious” so having a solid filter – especially when you’re limited on how much water you can carry – is key.

New water filter

Camp

Sunset

After setting up my tent, etc. I had dinner and just kind of hung out, enjoying the cool evening and the beautiful sunset. I got up early in the morning, packed up camp, had some coffee and a granola bar and headed for home. The ride home was only 1 hour and 26 minutes (compared to 4 hours and 45 minutes going up the mountain).

Ride

Another awesome little trip. A bit grueling for me on the way up, but I like the challenge and is one of the reasons why I like bikepacking. I mean, I could easily drive up and spend the night on the mountain. But the challenge and reward of riding up, along with the richer travel experience afforded by slow travel, is really why I do this stuff.

So what’s next? I’m not sure, but will hopefully be planning something soon.

Ride stats

• Total bike weight (bike + gear): 54.4 pounds
• Ride up: 24.51 miles, 4 hrs 45 mins, 5732 feet climbed
• Ride down: 24.46 miles, 1 hr 26 mins, 691 feet climbed

The NASRS season 16 race 4 was at COTA for the season’s wet race and it was, well, not great (at least for me). I was on the back foot from the get-go since I really didn’t know COTA that well and was having a hard time getting a setup that worked for the Lambo in the wet. I was also focused on some other projects, etc. so didn’t put in as much practice time as I should have. And the results for the race reflected all of that.

I won’t go through a detailed play-by-play for the race because 1) not all that much happened and 2) it’s too painful to recall my mistakes (ha!). But, here’s a quick summary.

I did the best I could in qualifying, but ended up P9, which isn’t great. Qualifying was especially tricky because the track was “greasy” instead of wet so we all ended up having to run dry tires. I didn’t really have a good setup for these conditions so the car was sketchy AF.

I lost a couple places at the start of the race (I was being really cautious in the wet), but settled in and did my best to just keep pace. I made a huge mistake 1/3 into the race and caused an accident (and got a 10 sec penalty as a result). I was battling someone for quite a few laps before we passed two cars that had spun. The car in front had to slow a lot more than I did so I thought I had more speed and was going to easily pass him in the corner. But, that didn’t happen and as I went wide out of the turn I nailed him. I ended up spinning out and thankfully he was able to continue without any issue. I thought I was off the track after the spin and continued rolling backwards so I could get turned around. However, in doing that I hit someone who was trying to skirt around me. It’s a big no-no to not hold your brakes after an incident so I was penalized for that. In my defense, I felt like I was off-track enough, but that’s the way it played out so no complaints from me. I shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place so my stupid error definitely deserved some kind of penalty.

I had 12+ seconds of damage and just did my best to finish the race with the pace I had. I ended up in P10, which wasn’t a very good result given the numbers in the field (only 17). But, I was off-pace here for sure so in reality that’s the result I deserved. Plus, the top-end of the split is so quick and competitive that it just illustrates if you aren’t on your game, you’re gonna quickly be down in the results.

I’m looking forward to Misano next week for the season’s night race. I know that track better so will hopefully have a more fun and less destructive race than this one.

Week 4 final results (COTA)

• Qualifying: P9/17
• Race: P10/17

Here are a few highlights from the race

Weather permitting, I’m generally on a bike every few days, whether it’s a quick MTB or road ride or a trip on the greenbelt to get groceries. (Or even on the trainer three times a week in the winter, if that counts.) So even though I’m regularly on two wheels it’s been a while since I’ve done riding of any real substance. A month or more ago I started thinking about this a lot and realized I’m getting a bit complacent and really missed riding big, tough rides. I mean, I used to ride 100-150 miles a week and now 150 miles a month would be, well, a lot. I wanted to fix this and figured some bikepacking trips would be a good way to right the ship.

Consequently, I’ve been trying to get out a bit more recently and get back some sort of riding fitness. This has been a little tricky because my main (i.e., only) riding partner is my wife, Heidi, and she’s currently having some hip/back issues that are preventing her from riding anything that’s too intense and/or longer than an hour. So if I was going to start doing some bikepacking trips, I was on my own. Thankfully my wife is supportive of really any solo trips I want to take (she is probably looking forward to some time alone!).

I’ve done an exploratory ride on a potential local bikepacking route and did a couple training rides in the foothills. We were on a short camping trip last week and I was riffing with Heidi about some bikepacking trips I’d like to do. We both came to the conclusion that it was probably better to just dive in and start doing them rather than spend a bunch of time trying to get back into riding shape, which, truth be told, probably wouldn’t work anyway. So I decided to jump right in and head up to Shafer Butte on Thursday and spend the night.

We had done this same overnight trip in 2021 and it was kind of brutal. At a couple points near the start of the climb, I felt like my bike was too heavy and I just didn’t have the fitness to make it up the mountain. The ride up to the campground is 24.5 miles and has a little over 4800 feet of elevation gain. I am definitely in worse riding shape than I was in 2021 so I was steeling myself for another nightmarish slog. But, the nice thing about a solo ride is you can go your own pace without (much) guilt so I was just going to take it slow and grind it out.

My trusty Surly Long Haul Trucker weighs about 39 pounds without any bags/gear. There’s no water at the campground so I needed to bring all the water I needed. All loaded up my bike + gear weighed in at about 70 pounds. I’ll probably write more on this later because 30 pounds of stuff seems kind of ridiculous, but I don’t really feel like I brought more than a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, some food, and post-ride clothes. Anyway, the bike was heavy.

I left our house around 3:00pm and after three or so miles started the ascent up Bogus Basin Road. The temperature was high 80s/low 90s, which isn’t all that warm for Boise this time of year, but it was one of the hotter days we’ve had so far this spring/summer. As expected, I struggled a bit on the ride. A bit? Uh, more like “A lot.” But, I kept pedaling, telling myself it was going to be better once I got up into the trees and things cooled down.

1/3 of the way up

And it was better. I reached the main Bogus ski lodge area after about three hours of pretty steady suffering. If we’re ever up at Bogus in the summer it’s usually really early in the morning so I don’t know if it’s like this every weekday afternoon, but on Thursday there were a ton of people mountain biking and hanging out, enjoying food and drinks. Which was all a nice surprise since I was able to find a Gatorade and rest for a few minutes.

After Bogus the road turns into a sandy gravel mix for the last five miles up to the Shafer Butte campground. Another slog, but not quite as dire as the paved road below since I now had cooler mountain air, abundant trees, and a less-blazing sun that was making its way down toward the horizon.

Views

Almost there

A little more than an hour after leaving the main Bogus lodge I made it to the campground, which is a small, tent-only affair that has some stunning views of the mountains and valleys. There was only one other site occupied and I was able to find a site tucked away in the trees. It was nice and quiet and, most importantly, had a really nice view.

The author (and tent) :)

View from campsite

I got my tent set up and had my meal – thai noodles with tofu and peanut sauce, which I made at home before I left. I always find that it doesn’t really matter what you have to eat after a tough ride and you’re on the verge of bonking since everything will taste good. This must have been one of those instances because the food was delicious.

After dinner I hung out a bit and simply enjoyed the views and mountain air. I was able to sleep without a rainfly on the tent so I had a full view of the starry sky from my sleeping bag.

I was up a bit before the actual sunrise, enjoyed a cup of coffee and the beautiful morning views, and started working on getting things packed up. The ride back to town was much easier and faster at 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Sunrise

Riding home

So, yeah, mission accomplished with this first outing. I felt tired, yet recharged when I got home and am already starting to plan my next adventure. I’ll probably go back up the mountain, but will load up the mountain bike this time and take the dirt route. Can’t wait!

Ride stats

• Total bike weight (bike + gear): 66.2 pounds
• Ride up: 24.41 miles, 4 hrs 9 mins, 4836 feet climbed
• Ride down: 24.88 miles, 1 hr 33 mins, 727 feet climbed