Back 2 Back Peak 2 Peak

Back again for the Peak to Peak fall classic. This year the race grew with almost 500 racers in attendance. This race has a little bit for everyone. Fast technical downhills, long flat power sections, lung busting climbs, and not to mention a beer tent. Nice! Endoman promotions did a great job with the venue and with bringing in tough competition.

The first lap went out with a bang as Anderson attacked like a maniac about half way through which pulled out me and Derek Graham... very similar to last year. Derek pounded away at the pedals up the back side of the ski hill on lap one. We would trade pulls all the way to the middle of lap three where Derek and Anderson got tangled up with a lapped racer. I steered around the tangle and kept moving on. Anderson bridged shortly, which left just the two of us to duke it out on the last lap.

It came down to the final ascent up the ski hill on the final lap where I distanced myself from Anderson on the early slopes, and kept a little gap over the top. I kept the pressure on through the downhill and rolled in for the win!

Getting the win feels great coming into the final weeks of the Iceman preperations. It was a long race at just over 2-1/2 hrs, so I think that may have played to my benefit.

Thanks goes out to Endoman promotions for putting on another great event to add to the fall classics in Michigan. The legs are coming around and I'm feeling good for the final show down of the year at Iceman. I cant wait!

Countdown to P2P

Peak to Peak is this weekend! Been looking forward to this one. Rumor has it that Pro's are doing 4 loops for a ball busting 44 miles. Get yur camelbacks ready... it should be a fun one.

"The" Chequamegon

Made the voyage up to Northern Wisconson for round two of the Midwest Triple Crown last weekend. There's always that one race that just never seems to go your way, and for me, it's the Chequamegon. However this year, I cant complain. The weather was absolutely perfect, the course was dry and fast, and I finally made it thru the roll out in tact!

Things seemed to start off just as I would have liked as I sat 3rd wheel thru Rosies field. As soon as we hit the rollers on the birkie trail, I could feel myself struggling. I managed to hang onto the pace until it slowed down on the dirt roads where everyone took a breather. It wasn't long before we hit the birkie trail again, and the attacks came hard. I hung on till my head was spinning, but eventually lost contact before we crossed CR-00. From there on out, I went into survival mode to get to the finish. A group finally caught up with me including fellow Michigander Joe Brew-Champ-Ski as we turned up Seeley fire tower hill. We stayed together right until the end where I managed to save a final attack to the finish to end up 15th.

Not quite the finish I was looking for, but not too shabbly considering there were 9 former Chequamegon champions in attendance, as well as some other national and world caliber riders. No crashes, no mechanicals, and a solid start. Not sure what it is about this race that makes it so difficult for me. Perhaps it's the hills? the pace? I don't know. That's something I'll have to talk over with the old timer.

I do know I had a great time with these guys celebrating our survival of the rollout and sharing stories about our race. Congrats to Brian Matter who seems to be on track for completing the triple crown... however I've got 48 days to get myself into racing shape. Better start laying off those Ultimate Burgers and pints of Belgian Wheat!

Final NUE Points

Well... the NUE series is complete and if my calculations are correct, it looks like I'll be holding onto my 4th place! My goal was a top 5, so I'm pretty pleased. Congrats goes out to the other Michiganders Christian Tanguy and Greg Kuhn. Christian finished an amazing 2nd, and Greg is well within the top 10. Not bad for a group of privateers from Michigan getting out there and showing the USA we can hang.

Moto-vated

Secret Training. Chequamegon simulation program 1.0.

NUE Stop #5 Wilderness 101

Sometimes just getting to the finish line of a race is a challenge. I swear the Wilderness 101 had it out for me this year. Michelle and I headed down to State Colleg PA early Friday morning with high hopes of bettering my 6th place finish at Breck 100 for the NUE points series. W101 is one of the rockier more technical courses in the series. Add 2” of rain the day before, and you’ve got slippery rocks and nasty mud. The race started out at the typical 7AM. A neutral rollout till we get to the first climb, then the pace immediately went up. We blasted up the first climb, and low and behold, there was an entire peloton behind us of maybe 20 riders, including all of the favorites. It stayed like this for a while until we passed aid station 1. My legs were feeling great, so I decided to try a little attack up the rocky ascent. Soon before the top, we had it whittled down to the top contenders. We rounded the summit, and began the fast rocky descent. This is where the first mechanical happened. Flat tire. All my efforts were for nothing as I watched rider after rider fly by. I fixed the tire and I was off in pursuit of the leaders. I had worked myself all the way back up to 9th at aid 2 and as I was nearing aid station 4 I had 7th. Things were going good and I was getting myself back into the race. Then at the top of the singletrack climb, I broke my chain. It took me forever to fix it. I finally got it fixed, only to rip my derailleur hanger off on the following descent. At that point I figured my race was over. I was starting to lose motivation, but I quickly got to work on the single speed conversion. I had to stop a few times, and bum a spare link from Ron Sanborn, but eventually I got the chain line just right. Rolling into aid 4, I really thought long and hard about quitting as Michelle was there with the van ready to go. But a lingering motivation to finish kept me moving forward. I finished the last 25 miles on a converted single speed and even managed to pick off a few more spots. Overall I was happy I toughed it out and decided to finish the race. Goal #1 at every one of these 100 milers is to just finish, and I’m happy to at least have accomplished that goal. Next up is Ore to Shore… the first round of the Midwest Triple Crown. I’m PUMPED!

NUE Stop #4 Breck 100

Well... after a tough race at Boyne, I felt I was prepared to take on Breckenridge... at least I thought I was. This was my first trip ever to Colorado and the Breck 100 was the perfect way to experience a full sampling of what mountain biking in Colorado is all about. It was worth every penny Michelle and I spent to get out there, including the $175 fee (one way) to bring the bike on the airplane... ouch! Here we are on top of Loveland Pass.

There's no words to describe how beautiful Colorado is, you just have to experience it. The weather was perfect and the trails were dialed.

I was blown away by the scenary, as well as by how tough the mountain biking is. The Breck 100 is easily the hardest hundred on the circuit, and with no acclimation to the altitude, it was almost a suicide mission! I wasn't really sure what to expect with the altitude and all.

The start was a neutral roll out, but as soon as we hit the base of the mountain, Schalk and Tostado ramped it up and left a wake of gasping racers... including me. I quickly hunkered into a rythem and pushed my way up Wheeler Pass. As we near the top, the trail gets a little sketchy. One slip of your balance and you could go rolling head over heels 1000's of feet down the mountain! Comming down Wheeler is some of the knarliest mountain bike trail I've ever ridden. My brakes were squeeling! After we descended, we hit this slightly downhill paved bike path. I wound out my 38-11 and caught back up to 3rd place. I'd sit with a group until the end of the 1st loop.

2nd loop was a real lung buster. I distanced myself from the group and I was alone in 3rd all the way to the top of the first climb. Then... I flatted. Thought the Stans would seal it, but not luck. I stopped and threw in a tube, while I watched all my hard work on the climb dwindle as a few riders passed me. Soon after on the descent, I took a wrong turn losing 10 minutes. Loop 2 was the hardest with two tough steep climbs.

Going into the feed zone for the 3rd loop had me surprised. 4th and 5th were also in the feed zone. Michelle and I quickly traded camelbacks and I was out before the other two sitting in 4th. It wasn't long before the fatigue really began to set in and I couldn't hold the pace up the climb to Boreas Pass Rd. It was extremely steep in sections and I was starting to fall apart. The rest of the 3rd loop I spent alone except for the section of dirt rd before the final ascent up Boreas Pass were I rode with 5th for a short time, but eventually ended up finishing at 9hrs 49 min in 6th place. Apparently I won the 19-29 age group, but didn't realize this until we got home Sunday. Oh well.

Overall, it was a long tough day in the saddle. 10hrs and over 13,000ft of climbing, all over 9500ft of elevation maxing out at 12500ft. Not to mention the singletrack was pretty buff. I'm glad I did it though and it will help toughen me up for the rest of the NUE series races. Next on the schedule is Wilderness101 in Coburn Pennsylvania. I suffered pretty badly there last year. Hopefully this year I'll a little better prepared.