Miscellaneous Fall Races + Ronde + Grampian Challenge

Sorry for slacking, it’s time I update this thing. I’ve done quite a bit of racing since I last posted, some I’m proud of, some not so much. I managed to finish out the NUE series placing in the top 10 for the points. A lot of fast guys came out of the woodwork and posted their 4^th races. The series has really grown and become very competitive. I've done quite a few of these races, all were very difficult, maybe too difficult, and some maybe just down right hazardous... which has me re-thinking my race schedule for next yr and maybe taking on a season that suites my styles a little better. Details to come on that later...

The last race of the year at Fool’s Gold wasn’t really anything to write home about. We drove 12hrs, it rained, I got lost a couple times, we drove 12hrs home. I did like the course however. A little heavy on the climbing, but the singletrack flowed awesome and it was a good mix of dirt rd/trail.

After Fool’s Gold, I got sick. I’m not surprised. Two tough NUE’s along with a couple big road trips less than a week apart is enough to take down even the healthiest individuals. So just coming off the cold, I decided to give the Ronde Von Stony a shot. Despite the rainy cold weather, I had an awesome time racing out near all the roads I train on. I didn’t quite have the punch at the end and finished 4^th. My team mate Ronnie was riding super strong on the day and took the win. It was great hanging out with all my riding buddies after a long season away from the scene.

After Ronde, I decided to try my luck at some Cyclocross racing. I was hoping for a top 10 and a good workout, but to my surprise, I rode with the leaders, Adam York and Sven Bauman, all the way to the sprint finish taking 3rd. The course was super choppy which made the mountain bike a good choice.

This set me up well for the past weekend at the Grampian Challenge. I didn’t quite know what to expect, because the CX race the past weekend could have very well been a fluke due to the choppy course. The Grampian Challenge is set on all my favorite local training roads. It starts at Addison Oaks, right where my wife and I got married. It then heads out to Markwood and Drahner Rds. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve ridden on these roads. Everytime I leave my house on a ride, I don’t feel warmed up till I get to the top of Drahner Rd. It’s where I’ve spent countless hrs in sub freezing temperatures, it’s where I developed myself into a national caliber rider, it's where I go to contemplate on many of my lifes toughest decisions, and most importantly, it’s where I got to know some of my closest friends. I’ve really started to fall in love with these types of races like Grampian and Ronde. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, be ready to roll next year because I think these races are really going to take off.

The action got started quickly and I could tell the legs were good. We snaked through the Addison Oaks 2 track and head out to Bald Mountain. I decided this was where I wanted to make my first attack. I went hard through the trail section and pulled out my team mate Ronnie, and Mark Parmelee. We were hauling out on the dirt rds as each of us took pulls in the cross winds trying to work each other over. As we made our way into Grampian Mt, I attacked as hard as I could up the hill, and only Ronnie held my wheel. I pulled us all the way to the finish inside Addison Oaks and very narrowly took the win ahead of my team mate Ronnie. It was an RBS 1-2! It meant a lot to me to win this race on my home turf and race on all the roads so near and dear to me. It also proved to me that my fitness has really started to come around. Sometimes all it takes is a little more rest, and some time off from the road trips to bring the fitness right back around. It’s in perfect timing for this weekends Peak to Peak. I’m looking forward to it.

With that being said, I hope to see you out there in the coming weeks as we all prepare for the season finale at Iceman. Thanks for reading.

The Shenandoah Saga - Final Chapter

I’m not going to lie. I was a bit nervous about heading back to this race again, and it looked like it was a sure bet that we were in for some muddy conditions too. If you weren’t already aware, I had a nasty crash at this race that netted me a 4 day vacation to the University of Virginia ICU last year, so surely that was going to be on my mind the entire race. My wife Michelle made the trip down with me again. Not sure who was more nervous, her or me.

With the wet conditions, I decided not to take any chances and I mounted up my trusty 2.4” Racing Ralph tires. Maybe a little overkill, but a little more control is always welcome. When I hit the pavement rollout at the start, I could feel the drag of the tires immediately and I thought, “this could be a long day.” I made it over the first climb in relatively decent position. I did the best I could on the descent and formed a little group out on the dirt rds with Zach Morey, and Evan Plews. We made our way out to the 2^nd climb. Normally I struggle on this one, but I was keeping Evan in site, and cleaning most everything all the way to the top thanks to the grip of the monster tires.

I took my time on the descent and carefully picked my way down the mountain. A few guys passed me, and I was losing quite a bit of time. When I got to the bottom, I heard someone yell that Evan and Rob Spreng were about 1min up. I threw it into the trucker gear (42-11) and went to work. By the time I reached aid 2, I had bridged back up to Rob and Evan. It was a pretty big effort. Heading up the 3^rd climb, Evan just had a little bit too much power and I popped off the back. I muscled my way through the rain to the top. I looked back, and no one was in site. The descent was a little tricky and before I reached the bottom, Rob Spreng had caught me, and just like that, he bridged what was probably more than a 2 minute gap.

We ripped through aid 3, and head out to the 4^th climb. I could see Christian up the road, but decided chasing him down was probably not worth the effort as the next climb was steep and techy and I was going to need to be recovered. We made our way up, and I was able to distance myself from Rob, but got passed by another rider. I tip toed down the descent, and like magic, Rob was right back on me at the bottom.  Heading out to the sole crusher, Rob let me go on the dirt rds. I got super close to bridging to the rider who passed me earlier on the climb, but once the road turned up, he was long gone. The fatigue was starting to creep in, and pushing those 2.4” tires up the soggy dirt roads was really starting to bog me down. Just as I reached the top, Bryan Astell caught and passed me. I hung for a few minutes, but the wheels were starting to fall off.

I got to the top and gathered myself for a moment. I dropped into the descent and prepared to clean the downhill that almost took my life exactly one year ago. This was the moment of the race for me. It was like challenging someone again who had stabbed me and left me for dead in an alley. But I faced the attacker and gingerly made my way down eagerly awaiting to pass the spot where I crashed last year… butt cheeks fully clenched. The descent was super rocky and sketchy and I was all over the brakes, using every square inch of those 2.4” tires to slow myself down. I even had a few close calls, but that’s probably because of the nerves and how tense I was. My triceps were burning and my hands were cramping from the death grip I had on the brake levers. I passed the crash site and felt a huge moment of relief. I made my down to the bottom and ironically enough, Kevin Carter passed me, just like last yr. My wife Michelle was there, and I could see that she was overly relieved.

We blew through aid 6, but I could tell the wheels were still falling off. One little push uphill from Kevin Carter, and I went into complete bonk mode. It didn’t matter how much coke I slugged down, pushing the big tires and the nerves had cooked me. I made my way up the last climb and several more riders passed me on the way to the finish. I got to the line and I was so happy it was over.

Doing this race again made me realize that at some of these courses, in order to do well, you have to be able to take some risks on the downhills to be competitive. Some of the guys passing me had full on slick tires and I don’t know how they were doing it. I used to approach a descent and just not think about anything other than staying off the brakes as much as possible. Now, so many things go through my head on a descent. I look at things a lot differently and I get easily spooked. I see a big tree, a steep gully, or a wet root and think of them as things that could send me careening head first into an early grave. Perhaps it’s just because I know what the consequences are. I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. 2 minutes of extra time on a descent can easily turn into 4 days in the ICU. But I suppose there’s always going to be risks associated with racing a mountain bike. It’s all about what you feel comfortable with. I’m not sure I’ll ever come back to this course (or ones like it) again. I kind of feel like I’m gambling with a little too much.

With that being said, I have one more NUE left for the season down in Georgia. I’ll be glad when it’s over. I could use the rest. That will be 8 NUE’s for me this year, and they’ve really taken a toll. The fitness seems OK, and I’m still getting in my training rides. This week will be all about recovery though as these two races are only 6 days apart. Wish me luck and let’s pray we don’t have any rain for the weekend down in Georgia.

2012 Hampshire 100

This past weekends adventure took us out East for the first 100 mile running of the Hampshire 100. It hadn’t been since the National Championships was held at Mt Snow, VT that I’d made it back into the area. The course was a little more challenging than I had thought. After reading the race route preview, it seemed like the course would be a lot of jeep roads and rail trails, boy was I wrong about that.

The first 20 miles of the race is relatively tame and a large group stayed together for the most part. It wasn’t until the steep jeep climb that things began to break up. I held it together though and cleaned it to the top. My memory of the climb and slightly after seems pretty foggy, perhaps that’s because I was breathing through my eye balls trying to keep up. Soon after, we hit the powerline climb. I managed to ride most of it, but there were a few sections I had to run. I was glad it was over. I was riding with Zach Morey and Kevin Carter when I crested the top. The pace seemed manageable. Zach was riding the trails a lot better than I was, but I could power out the flatter less techy sections, so we were working well together.

I managed to get away, and for a long time, I was by myself, battling it out with the demons on what seemed like an endless session of techy, rocky singletrack and rutted out ATV trails. It seemed like the trail would send you through a few hundred yards of slow twisty rocky singeltrack, then throw you up a super steep granny gear pitch. Just repeat that over and over. The trails were slow and wet, and it didn’t look they got much use. At one point I remember walking through waste deep water with my bike on my back thinking this was insane! I remember passing Jeremiah with a flat. He fixed it and passed me right back. He was gone in a flash, and I couldn’t even stay with him for a minute. It was then that I realized how terribly slow I was riding this techy terrain.

Later on near the end of the 1^st  lap, Zach caught back up along with a few others including a very young guy named Dylon. They passed me while I was in full on inner demon battle mode, and I had zero moral to chase, so I let them go. I almost wanted to quit at the lap point, but I knew there was a long stretch of rail trails that I had a chance bridge on, so I kept moving forward. I grabbed my bottles from Janet (thanks Janet), lubed my chain, and I was on my way. I was feeling 20 times better on the roads and trails and went from inner demon battle mode to full on trucker mode. I chase down Dylon, and later on during the cut-off route, I caught Zach. With John Schottler bridging up, we had a group of 3. I was feeling good, so at one the last aid stations, I powered through and went on alone in an attempt to grab the 7^th spot. The trails seemed to flow much better the 2^nd time through, and I felt like I was riding them a lot better, but not better than Schottler. He caught me near the end, and I narrowly pulled off 8^th overall. Congrats to Christian for the win, and everyone else who finished. It was a tough course.

I was happy with 8^th. No crashes, no mechanicals, and no wrong turns. It was a pretty clean race. I lost a lot of time fumbling around in the singletrack, but there’s not much I can do about that. The legs felt strong, and I had power all the way to the finish, so that gives me hope for the next race at… dun dun dun… Shanandoah. Wish me luck. Big thanks to my team mate Greg Witt for traveling with me. We had good times, and it made me realize how much fun I have just sharing the travels to these races with friends. And who couldn’t forget the folks at RBS. They’ve really been a god send this year helping me out with mechanic work and taking care of all the bike needs. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you at Shenandoah for the next one!

Training Block

So after the last 100 mile race in Pennsylvania my 2 weeks looked like this. I was getting dropped on the climbs, so I figured I needed to work out on some hillier routes, plus riding a single speed helps increase power. It's like lifting weights going uphill to build strength, and then spinning the cranks at a high cadence on the flats and downhills to develop the power. Each ride I worked on maintaining the highest average speed I could manage. The gear is a 34-14 (70 gear inches), so 19mph is about a cadence of 90rpm's. So going uphill I might be from 10-14mph, and on the downhills and flats, I'll be well over 20mph spinning like crazy trying to power up the average speed. It's a great bang for your training time buck.

Not to mention riding on the singlespeed is fun! There's nothing I love more than just hammering out long dirt rd rides on my singlespeed mountain bike. With all the new gadgets and training techniques, it's so easy to get carried away and lose sight of the fun factor. Plus I think I ride better when I'm having fun and feeling good.

Wed Aug 1st - 2-1/2hr hilly dirt rd loop on Singlespeed. Averaged 17.5mph

Fri Aug 3rd - 6hr 100 mile hilly dirt rd loop on Singlespeed. Bonked and overheated on the way out to Fox Lake. 93 miles. Averaged just over 17mph.

Sat Aug 4th - 3hr hilly dirt rd loop on Singlespeed.

Sun Aug 5th - 4hr ride on Singlespeed. 1/2 on pavement, 1/2 on hilly dirt rds.

Tues Aug 7th - 2-1/2hr ride on Singlespeed. Did 4 laps of Gen Squire/Bishop/Hough/Mill. Averaged 20.5 mph during the 4 laps.

Rest period.

Sat Aug 11th - 5hrs pavement on Singlespeed. 90 miles.

Sun Aug 12th - 5hr-40min ride on Singlespeed. 100 mile hilly dirt rd loop. 6000ft + of climbing. Averaged 18mph. Pushed hard at the end.

Tues Aug 14th - 1-1/2hr ride on poly-anne/dirt rds. Easy pace.

Rest period

Fri Aug 17th - 1hr easy

Sat Aug 18th - 1hr easy pre-ride course

Sun Aug 19th - RACE!
Hopefully it's enough to hang in there with the front runners. We'll see you out there this weekend.

NUE #7 Wilderness 101 2012

Wilderness 101... I kind of forgot how hard this course was. Just about every muscle in my body is sore today. It was a quick trip. We left Friday, drove 8hrs to State College, did the 100 mile MTB race on Saturday. Then hopped in the car, drove home 8hrs and crashed in bed at midnight. I told one of the young guys here at work what we did, and he was like "I'd be dead right now." No shit.

I thought the legs were feeling good, and coming off the win at Bloomer last weekend, I thought for sure I was in for a good performance. The temps were mild, and the course was a little moist, which I prefer. The race got off to a nice start up the first big climb. I really like that about this course. There's plenty of room and time to sort things out and move around safely without crashing into each other. It seems every year the group that makes it over the first climb gets bigger and bigger. We had a huge peloton. Things pretty much stayed together until we hit the next climb just after aid #1. Justin Lindine put in a dig and I latched onto Jeremiah Bishops wheel. Jeremiah said he was doing about 350 watts. With him at 64 kg, and me at 85 kg, a quick calculation (350/64 = 5.47watts/kg x 85kg = 465 watts!) proves I was well over 400 watts for a good 15 minutes up that climb. No wonder I had a hell of a time recovering.

The next climb comes quick, and Tanguy made sure the pace was hard. I dropped off the back and didn't have the legs to stay with the group. It took me quite a while to recover and I lost a few more spots in the ensuing singletrack. Coming into aid #2, I felt terrible, but I knew in the back of my mind that I could ralley and take back some spots. I just kept telling myself that it's a long race, and those guys were going to get tired at some point. I was with Garth Prosser and Matt Ferrari heading up the big climb after aid 2. I still wasn't feeling well and those two were putting the hurt on me. I dug in though and did my best to keep Garth in site. Coming into the next climb, I started feeling better and managed to bridge up to Brandon Draugelis, but he quickly dropped me in the singletrack. I was riding the trails terrible and I kept having flashbacks to the big crash last year. I had a death grip on the brakes and handlebars. Some of that stuff is like riding on cinder blocks. It's a full body effort just to stay upright!

Garth and I hooked up on the fire roads heading out to aid #4. We were trucking and working well together. I was feeling better and better and I decided to make a big push on the climb out of aid 4. Garth was right on my heels and he even helped me push the pace on the climb. Later Garth put it down and I found myself all alone again until I passed Rob Spreng on the next climb. We descended the "pulvorizer" together. It's a long straight descent over the most jagged rocks you can imagine. It's why I could barely turn the steering wheel of the car on my way to work this morning. It's that rough! The bike survived and I was finally feeling recovered. I took a huge dig on the flat fire roads with Rob Spreng in tow. I managed to catch Garth and Brandon right before the final climb.

Brandon pushed the pace and got away. Garth helped pull me to the top. I was cussing at each ramp as I was now paying the price for the big effort to bridge on the flats. Garth told me to stop being a baby and hammer it out, so I did. We caught Brandon on the descent, but he was too quick through the fisherman trail and got away for 8th. Garth and I rolled in together for 9th and 10th. Thanks Garth for not making me have to sprint for that spot.

So that was it. No flats, no mechanicals, no worng turns. It was a clean race and I did the best I could and I had a great time racing with such cool people. Seems everyone is getting so much faster and we are all upping our game, which is a good thing. Let's hope I can recover now and get ready for the next adventure. Thanks for reading.

Lumberjack 100 2012

I have to admit, I had my eye on this one since the beginning of the year. It’s sort of my home course on the NUE calendar, and its’ flatter profile and fast flow suits my style a little better then say some of the other courses with over 13,000 ft of climbing. I also look forward to this race every year because I get to see and hang out with a lot of my local riding buddies and the RBS team. I’d been on some heavy duty antibiotics for about 10 days before the race due to a tick bite, so I wasn’t sure how well I was going to ride. It felt like I was only digesting about ½ my food all week. The other ½ seemed to like to evacuate at about midnight, 2am, 3am, and 4am each night. I don’t recommend getting bit by a tick. It’s not very fun at all. I know… excuses excuses… blah blah blah…

The race start felt a little more mellow than last year. I stayed right on the front as all 400 of us dodged the van pulling into the parking lot. Barry Wicks took the holeshot into the shoot and I was right on his heels avoiding the crash mayhem which happened just behind us. I was lucky. Wicks pushed the race pretty hard up all the steep rolling climbs. At one point, I let him and Kevin Carter go off the front. I thought if Wicks was going to ride like that all day, there was no way I would survive. Fortunately he let up and a group of 6 formed.

It was Wicks, Tostado, Tanguy, Carter, and me for a while, until Edsall, Spreng, and others bridged up later in the lap. I got caught between groups for a few miles during lap 1 when my seat post slipped down. I fixed it quickly and chased back on.  I was feeling pretty good. The pace felt totally manageable and I was taking a few turns on the front trying to push the pace.

Lap 1, so far so good. During lap 2, Tanguy took a hard pull through Road Monkey until he developed a slow tire leak, then I took over for a while all the way up to the fire tower climb. Then on the ensuing rollers, Kevin Carter came to the front and took a blistering pull. I could tell he was feeling good. Wicks found the hot line and came around Kevin on the rocket launch. The rest of had to run as we slid out on the sandy terrain. At that point, I was really feeling it. The heat and humidity was climbing, and my body was shutting down.

I pulled into the pits and loaded up on ice and a fresh camelback of infinit and tried to recover. I was feeling better, but the group on the front was long gone. I’d try to just keep the pace up and limp in for 5^th. It just seemed to get hotter and hotter. The climb up the fire tower took the last bit of energy I had left. Soon later, with about 3 miles to go, Tostado rolled up. He passed me in slow motion and I had nothing left to stay with him. I would roll in for 6^th.

Not too bad. Could have been better, could have been worse. The heat really bothered me at this one and who knows what effect the tick infection had on my endurance. Big thanks goes out to my wife Mitch, and my in-laws Dan and Sandy for getting me through that 3^rd lap. It is what it is. It’s a points series, you have to roll with the punches and save the best placings you can at each race. And when a guy like Barry Wicks shows up, you know it’s going to be a hard day. I think it’s good for the sport though, and it brings up the pace and the level of competition. Congrats to Wicks for the win and a solid ride by Kevin Carter. I think I’m the first one of the top contenders to finish 4 races, so that’s a huge relief. Even if something bad happens in the 2^nd half of the season, I know I have my 4.

So here’s to a successful first portion of season! Now I’ll hunker back down for the next few weeks and see what kind of condition I can bring out for the summer run of hundies. Perhaps I can better a couple of those lower placings and come home with good series finish. Hope to you see you guys out there on the trails.

NUE #3 Mohican 100 2012

This weeks adventure brings us to middle Ohio for round 3 of the National Ultra Endurance Series. With fast singletrack and ample rolling dirt rds, this race is typically a good course for me. Throw in the cooler temps, and the conditions were perfect. The short 3-1/2 hr drive to the venue was a welcome change from the epic road trips of the first two rounds.

Thanks to Rochester Bike Shop, I decided to utilize my new Superfly hardtail for this race. I figured it would help with all the dirt rds and the agonizing “buggy trail”. It proved to be a good choice. No mechanicals to speak of, although my back is feeling it today. The race got off to a quick start with the hill climb prime just outside of town. Native Michigander Jordan Wakely lit up the sprint and took home the extra $200. I decided to lay low near the front and save my effort for the shoot. I managed to be first into the shoot. The trails were dialed. Not much mud to speak of, which was surprising with the rain the day before. The opening climbs strung things out nicely.

As we made our way into the Mohican Singletrack I found myself struggling a little to keep up with the pace. The hardtail had me bouncing all over the roots. I decided to lay low and let a few guys go. I figured I could catch up with all the dirt rds later on. Christian Tanguy turned on the afterburners in the remaining singletrack and built himself up a 12min lead. I found myself working with Kevin Carter, Chris Peariso, and Jordan Wakely. Kevin kept a nice smooth pace as we motored along. Sure enough, out on the dirt rds, we swept up Brandon Draugelis, and Rob Spring, but Tanguy was long gone.

We developed a pace line on the dirt rds out to Mohican Wilderness. I was feeling good, so I decided I would try and break away on the climb out of aid 3. I had a small gap near the top just as we made our way back out onto the dirt rds. I dug in hard and found myself alone, free to open up the motor on the remaining dirt rds.

I kept getting the time splits from people out on the trail. I’d hear 5min, then 4min, then at the end of the buggy trail in aid 4, my wife Michelle yelled 2min. There was a chance! It kept me motivated. But, it was too little, too late. Once I started hitting the steeper climbs near the end, I could feel myself slowing down a bit and paying for my efforts. Christian was going to win. Perhaps if one of the others had broken away and joined me, we would have had enough horsepower to pin it back.

Even though I was tiring, I managed to keep the motor running and held off the chase pack to finish in 2^nd. I was really happy with the performance. No crashes, no mechanicals, and no wrong turns. It was a clean race, and I felt good the whole way through. I managed to take about 30min off my time from last year, so that’s a good sign for the upcoming Lumberjack right here in my home state of Michigan.

We had a great time after the race chatting up and hanging with all the cool people this sport attracts. Big props to Ryan O'Dell for pulling off a great race. I was starting to get down on myself, and the sport, but it’s funny how one good race can turn that all around… something to remember when you find yourself struggling with the results. Congrats to Christian for soloing out a monster effort and the win. And as always, congrats to everyone who finished. 100 miles is never easy. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you at Lumberjack.