Peak 2 Peak

There's something about racing in the fall that just gets me fired up. Maybe it's the anticipation that there's only a few races left in the season, or maybe it's just that clean crisp air. Whatever it is, Peak 2 Peak at Crystal Mountain had it this past weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect and the fall colors were peaking. Endoman promotions did a fantastic job of setting up the venue, I was impressed. They went the extra mile to make the event feel like everyone racing was important. The trail was super fun and it was a great warm up for the Iceman. Drafting seemed effective on fast flatter sections of the trail, just like the beginning of Iceman.

The start of the race quickly thinned out to 3 of us which was me, Mike Anderson, and Derek Graham on the 1st lap. I had no idea how long the last climb was, so I attacked on the bottom slopes and severly paid for it at the top where Mike Anderson slipped away with a 5 second gap. Luckily Derek and I were able to close it at the bottom. 2nd lap we traded pulls back and forth until the big climb at the end. This time I waited until the top to put in an acceleration. I got a gap, which Mike Anderson closed by the top. We lost contact with Derek on the decent, and it was down to me and Mike Anderson for the win. I took a pretty hard pull to distance ourselves from Derek. Near the end of the lap, I asked Mike to come thru. I could sense he was tired and went around him. I quickly opened up the gap and held on for the win.

I'll definately be back next year. The course is great for attracting riders from all discilpines of the sport as it seems to have something for everyone. Plus I'm also a big fan of racing on SATURDAY because it gives us a chance to still have a weekend after the race.

Stoney Creek CX

The kick-off to Iceman training has officially begun. Cyclocross is great way to get in some lung seering efforts and bring out that final edge for the end of the MTB season. This year Stoney Creek was no exception. I decided to skip the UCI race this year since they won't let me ride my MTB, so I had no prior preperation for Stoney. I hopped the barriers a couple times in warm up and I was good to go. The pace of the race was instantly uncomfortable. We hit the beach and I decided to ride it. Big mistake. I totally redlined my heart rate and completely blew up trying to get to the other side. After a bit of recovery, I worked my way back up to Tim Saari and John Card. They kept working me over on the beach every lap, until I finally copied John's method to running with the bike. What a huge improvement! John ended up having some trouble in the end which left it down to me and Tim on the final lap. I bridged up to him on the run across the beach and got around him with a ginger elbow tap. Michael Wissink and Jeff Weinart were long gone off the front and I rolled in for 3rd. It was a fun race and I can't wait to get out there for some more racing. This weekend Michelle and I are headed off to Iron Cross in Southern PA. It's a 62 mile CX race up and down 6300ft of rolling mountains. Sounds brutal... I can't wait!

Addison Oaks Fall Classic

Addison Oaks is a very near and dear place to me. I got my first win there and it was also one of the first races I ever attempted in my sport level days. My wife and I also got married there! Entering the park and driving through the old weeping willows is so cool. So much work has gone into this trail in the past few years. They have done an exceptional job with the course.

I had been training pretty hard the past few weeks, so I wasn't real sure how the legs were going to feel. Joe Brzuchanski took the hole shot like he was shot out of a cannon, and I remember thinking, "this is way too fast for me today." Joe ended up with some mechanical troubles which left the pace making up to Christian and me and Kyle Stang followed. We were absolutely flying through that course and soon Christian and I were alone. Chrisitan never let up on the pace the entire race. He upped the pace at the end of the last lap and I was cooked by the time we got to line. He won the sprint and I ended up 2nd on the day. I felt pretty good about the result considering where I was in my training. No mechanicals, no crashes, and no mis-haps of any kind. In the end it was a good race.

I had a great time hanging out with Fraser Bikes guys after the race! Thanks for the beverages and brats! I'll definately be back for another race at Addison.

Chequame-crash out

11th Place... My excuse... the "random tandem" crashed me out in the neutral roll-out. I raced like a mad dog to get all the way back into the top ten. It was a good workout.

The start/roll-out is an absolute hazard. 2000 people all cramming to get to the front. After getting crashed out of contention for two years in a row, I'm officially done with this race. Every year there's 1 or 2 major crashes at the start. They're not little bobbles into the soft grass either. It's head over heels doing 25 mph into the pavement. Not sure how the problem gets solved, but I guess ignoring it has been working for the last 10 years.

Stoney XC

Thanks to the guys who came out and hung tough in the rain. Perfect prep for the next leg of the tripple crown... THE CHEQUAMEGON!

Results below:

http://www.tailwind.net/results/RESULTS-ALL-STONY%20XC-20080907.pdf

Shenandoah 100 Report

This has to be one of my favorite race courses in the country. It has it all. Knarley decents and killer climbs. The race went pretty well for me. I stayed with the leaders (Eatough, Schalk, Koerber, and Beck) after the first climb and downhill. Then about halfway up the 2nd climb, Chris Beck slowly pulled away from me. He was about 20 seconds up on me at the top and I thought for sure I could bridge on the decent. That was when the first flat happened. Dang! 5 or 6 guys passed. I chased on the decent and caught fellow Michigander Greg Kuhn. We road together all the way to the next big climb. We slowly brought back 3 guys on the climb which put us 6th and 7th. I pushed pretty hard on the climb and Greg lost contact, but came flying back at the bottom of the decent. We continued together on the pavement and up to the next climb. I pushed hard and kept it in the middle ring the whole way up and Greg again lost contact. After a quick decent...sure enough, Greg bridged back up. We continued to work together all the way to the "sole crusher." I distanced myself from Greg by the time I got to the top. At that point I was pretty sure it was going to be 6th place for me as 5th was over 10 minutes up. I continued to push all the way up and over the last climb. Then... dun dun dun. I got another flat. This time it was the front. I had an extra tube, but not enough air to fill the tire. That's when Greg came rolling up and saved the day. He gave me a C02 and I was back in business. We rode to the finish together and crossed the line 6th and 7th.

I was happy with 6th. I matched my time from last year with 2 flats, so that's a good sign things are going well. I also managed to finish without going into the bonk zone. I finally think I have my nutrition plan figured out for these 100 milers. I was really proud of Greg Kuhn (my training partner) for having such a good race and a big THANKS goes out to him for hooking me up with the C02 at the end. Next up is the Chequamegon. I've got two weeks to prepare. I should be fine if I can survive the insane rollout and avoid mechanicals.

Home Course Advantage

Made the big 30 minute drive yesterday out to one of favorite summer classics, Pontiac Lake XC. I consider it to be my home course. I've been riding there ever since I was 14 years old. I did my first XC race there. It was a Paul Bunyon in January I believe and it was extremely muddy. I DNF'd. A lot has changed since then. The course has undergone many changes and improvements. In my opinion, I think it's one of the most technically difficult courses in MI. It's 10 miles long and has about 760ft of climbing per lap. There's lots of fast challenging downhills and some tough steep climbs. I chose to ride the Trek Top Fuel and it proved to be the right choice because... I won! It's amazing how full suspension keeps ya so fresh on bumpy courses. Congrats to my good friend Joe Brzuchanski on the Bells MTB Team for sticking it to the end in 2nd place. He rode a good race.

This weekend is the Shenandoah 100 in Virginia. It's a beast of a course at 100 miles and 12,000ft of climbing! The first 25 will be fun, the last 25 will be grooling. It's good for me though. I gain a lot of experience and I learn a lot from riding with some the best riders in the country. After 100 miles you pretty much know what you're made of. You know your strengths, your weaknesses, and your limits as a cyclist. I recomomend everyone try one at least once.