Monday, August 20, 2012
CTFU
I guess I just want to race Mtb really fast and really well. Those were the thoughts that made me CTFU to the 1's. 3 WORS races left on the season that I'll be doing. I can put the good fitness from this year to good use.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Subaru Cup (The relegated version)
I've sort of been looking forward to this race all season - I knew it was the midwest regional championship and I wanted to claim that title. Problem was it wasn't available to Cat 2 age groupers which I didn't find out until the day before. Ultimately it's pretty insignificant so whatever.
We arrived Friday afternoon and pre rode. The course is pretty good, plenty of technical stuff and enough climbing. Only problem is that it's pretty short, one lap hovers around 20 minutes and the cat 2 do only 3 laps. Usually they have the comp cat 2's separated from the sport cat 2's with the comp race doing more laps of the elite course - but because of the nature of this one race everything gets a bit messed up.
As far as race length, course options and starting waves, the normal WORS races are actually better for comp riders. Probably even the cat 1's as they would get more time on the course.
So I was feeling excellent, legs were in great shape, nothing left to do but race. We take off and I'm gone and out of sight in 2 minutes, I really wanted to push it hard because it was only 1 hour long. I'm passing dudes left and right. I'm near the end of the first lap and following a rider who I know from the wave in front of me, and we come upon a section where we need to make a hard right turn into some singletrack. The guy i'm following makes a shallow right turn and cuts through the course to the next climbing section. About 3 seconds after this happens I realize what we did. Ultimately we bypassed around a minutes worth of singletrack. The way the course winds on itself and the poor marking at that corner allowed it to happen. As a matter of fact, we weren't the only ones to do it. We weren't bushwacking to do this either, it was a wide dirt/grass path section. Anyway, I decide to just keep going at that point and figure it out later. When I go through the start finish I see the race director and yell to him to fix the marking, people are cutting trail. 2nd and 3rd time through they moved the arrow and added course tape to better direct you.
Second lap and I'm suffering a bit more and not riding as clean. By the 3rd lap I start to settle down a bit and ride cleaner. I finish alright. My finish time was just over 1:01. By the time I change and talk to a bunch of other riders about what happened I'm summoned to the timing trailer. The officials are aware of what happened and the guy I was talking to was recommending that we add time (about a minute) to those of us that cut that section as opposed to DQ'ing. Fine with me, that still leaves me 1st. Well, what ended up happening was moving me down to 3rd because the next 2 riders were within still within a close enough time that they felt it would be the fair thing to do. I'm not really arguing so that is fine too. The only thing that bugs me is the course marking, and the fact that I can't really know how I truly compare time wise with the other riders if this didn't happen. I think some of the times got screwed up a bit b/c I finished 1 minute up on riders the wave in front of me. Add a minute to my time for a penalty and we're even. But they started 1 minute earlier so I would have ended up being a minute faster still - somehow some people's times are wrong and it's too much to figure it out.
I did run into a few KC folks, namely those of the Ethos team. Maybe I should just take the advice of Garet and CTFU.
We arrived Friday afternoon and pre rode. The course is pretty good, plenty of technical stuff and enough climbing. Only problem is that it's pretty short, one lap hovers around 20 minutes and the cat 2 do only 3 laps. Usually they have the comp cat 2's separated from the sport cat 2's with the comp race doing more laps of the elite course - but because of the nature of this one race everything gets a bit messed up.
As far as race length, course options and starting waves, the normal WORS races are actually better for comp riders. Probably even the cat 1's as they would get more time on the course.
So I was feeling excellent, legs were in great shape, nothing left to do but race. We take off and I'm gone and out of sight in 2 minutes, I really wanted to push it hard because it was only 1 hour long. I'm passing dudes left and right. I'm near the end of the first lap and following a rider who I know from the wave in front of me, and we come upon a section where we need to make a hard right turn into some singletrack. The guy i'm following makes a shallow right turn and cuts through the course to the next climbing section. About 3 seconds after this happens I realize what we did. Ultimately we bypassed around a minutes worth of singletrack. The way the course winds on itself and the poor marking at that corner allowed it to happen. As a matter of fact, we weren't the only ones to do it. We weren't bushwacking to do this either, it was a wide dirt/grass path section. Anyway, I decide to just keep going at that point and figure it out later. When I go through the start finish I see the race director and yell to him to fix the marking, people are cutting trail. 2nd and 3rd time through they moved the arrow and added course tape to better direct you.
Second lap and I'm suffering a bit more and not riding as clean. By the 3rd lap I start to settle down a bit and ride cleaner. I finish alright. My finish time was just over 1:01. By the time I change and talk to a bunch of other riders about what happened I'm summoned to the timing trailer. The officials are aware of what happened and the guy I was talking to was recommending that we add time (about a minute) to those of us that cut that section as opposed to DQ'ing. Fine with me, that still leaves me 1st. Well, what ended up happening was moving me down to 3rd because the next 2 riders were within still within a close enough time that they felt it would be the fair thing to do. I'm not really arguing so that is fine too. The only thing that bugs me is the course marking, and the fact that I can't really know how I truly compare time wise with the other riders if this didn't happen. I think some of the times got screwed up a bit b/c I finished 1 minute up on riders the wave in front of me. Add a minute to my time for a penalty and we're even. But they started 1 minute earlier so I would have ended up being a minute faster still - somehow some people's times are wrong and it's too much to figure it out.
I did run into a few KC folks, namely those of the Ethos team. Maybe I should just take the advice of Garet and CTFU.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
olympics - vinokourov
Dopers shouldn't be allowed to compete in the olympics. End of story. It's a shame that a convicted doper won the gold - it's meaningless now. Probably half the field was doped anyway.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
WORS - Sunburst Showdown
What a crappy race. Thanks to all the volunteers and people who put it on, but that place had no business being a MTB race. Literally - what a shitty venue. It was wide open on the side of a ski hill. Almost no singletrack and most of it was created by a lawnmower through a grass field.
Hot and dusty, mid 90's. Took the lead into the singletrack, had another strong rider on my wheel. Halfway into the lap my chain bounced up and caused my front chain guide to rotate. With my front Q ring, every pedal stroke was grinding the chain into the chain guide. I heard it grinding but didn't think to get off and fix it. In hindsight, I should have, because for the next 1.5 laps I was going backwards in a hurry. I was blowing up trying to hold the leaders wheel and probably got passed by at least 15 people - people who I know I can beat any day. I thought I was just suffering from the heat - I wasn't sure but it sucked. Thought about pulling out after lap 2 but stayed in.
A short bit later and my chain guide shifted up a bit or enough metal ground out that all of a sudden I had 50 more watts and started moving again. I was pissed that I didn't fix it earlier and it made me realize that had to have been what was wrong. Sure enough I start passing back all those who passed me - maybe 5 on the 3rd lap and 5 on the 4th and I quickly dropped anyone on my wheel. It was a little too late though. I finished 8th overall and 3rd in the age group. 2:30 off the overall win. I looked at my lap times from the garmin and found that my last 2 laps were each 2 minutes faster than the first 2 not including the start loop. So maybe I lost 4 minutes total.
Whatever. The venue was a big let down - will never return again. 3 of our group pre rode on Saturday after driving 3 hours - and decided that paying to race there is a crime. They skipped the race and rode real singletrack 30 minutes away.
Hot and dusty, mid 90's. Took the lead into the singletrack, had another strong rider on my wheel. Halfway into the lap my chain bounced up and caused my front chain guide to rotate. With my front Q ring, every pedal stroke was grinding the chain into the chain guide. I heard it grinding but didn't think to get off and fix it. In hindsight, I should have, because for the next 1.5 laps I was going backwards in a hurry. I was blowing up trying to hold the leaders wheel and probably got passed by at least 15 people - people who I know I can beat any day. I thought I was just suffering from the heat - I wasn't sure but it sucked. Thought about pulling out after lap 2 but stayed in.
A short bit later and my chain guide shifted up a bit or enough metal ground out that all of a sudden I had 50 more watts and started moving again. I was pissed that I didn't fix it earlier and it made me realize that had to have been what was wrong. Sure enough I start passing back all those who passed me - maybe 5 on the 3rd lap and 5 on the 4th and I quickly dropped anyone on my wheel. It was a little too late though. I finished 8th overall and 3rd in the age group. 2:30 off the overall win. I looked at my lap times from the garmin and found that my last 2 laps were each 2 minutes faster than the first 2 not including the start loop. So maybe I lost 4 minutes total.
Whatever. The venue was a big let down - will never return again. 3 of our group pre rode on Saturday after driving 3 hours - and decided that paying to race there is a crime. They skipped the race and rode real singletrack 30 minutes away.
 |
| The front view of my chain guide. The inside lost a few mm's of metal and it took 0.5 mm off the top of my chain. |
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
WORS #5 - Red Flint Firecracker
WORS stop #5 in Eau Claire. This is close as the racing gets to us in La Crosse so it feels like a home course. Jane and I still opted to go up Saturday and pre-ride. She was going to race in the sport category and needed to check out the loop.
The course is flat, fast and flowing. The rain earlier in the week made it nice and not dusty or too dry. Only 300 feet of climbing or so per lap.
After last week taking 1st overall I knew I could repeat again. Although with not much climbing it would be tougher. The flatness of the course evens the playing field, also the less technical nature makes it harder to break things up (although there were some tricky sections). I sort of fell asleep during the call ups. I still don't have a call up which sucks, but I got swarmed from my 1st/2nd row and was starting from 4th row when they yelled GO.
Fortunately there was a longer than average lead out of double track and gravel. After a few turns the pace slowed and I was able to work my way up to the front. I took the lead and put my head down. Just before we hit the whoops, singlespeed teammate Erik P came around. It was us going 1 & 2 into the woods. We had a small gap and settled down a bit. We hit a passing section and a Bikes LTD rider came around and took the lead. I was still behind Erik but he soon let me around to give chase. Neil from Bikes LTD was riding good. I was sticking his wheel but he was quick and I was a bit concerned he would gap me. The last 2 WORS races I've been off the front or by myself and haven't really had someone to follow. It stayed like this for 2/3 through the first lap. He started to get a bit sloppy in the singletrack and I figured I would take over. I pulled though in a passing section and he held my wheel for awhile. By this point we were off the front together with one other guy chasing. I told him we should work together in the flats and open to keep our gap. Well that lasted all of a few minutes because I heard a crash like noise and he was 10 seconds off the back next time I saw him. We came though for the 2nd lap and he was still 10 seconds. I kept looking back to see if he was closing in the open parts but he was still back there. We popped out for another long open gravel section and the gap was slowly getting bigger. I wanted to get out of sight so the carrot could stop hanging in front of him. After awhile I saw no one and settled down but apparently too much. End of the 2nd lap I saw Neil and another rider closing in. I upped the pace again, sprinting out of corners and putting more power down on the climbs.
Came through for the 3rd and final lap and didn't see anyone behind. If I kept it upright and didn't flat I'd probably take the win. Entered the woods and a friend told me to keep the pace up. He was riding all around the course and appeared at the halfway point and told me what I translated as I had dropped them for good. Was passing the straggling elites at this point which is always a good feeling.
Rolled through for win in my age group and my wave. There was some waiting to see if I took the overall win again as the 40+ wave had started 3 minutes behind. At 3:04 the first place 40+ crossed the line. Took the overall by a small margin - he basically did what I did last week - worked his way through a ton of traffic for a good placing overall.
So 3 races and 1 4th overall and 2 first overall's. I'm pretty happy to say the least. People have been asking when I'm going to upgrade. I've decided to wait until after the Subaru Cup (pro XCT race). This also serves as the Midwest Regional Championship. Not sure if it's worth doing it that way or what that really means, but I'll try to be fast for that one. I've got a good plan and it starts with more miles and hours than I've done recently and ramping up to the middle of August. It's such mental sport - and I'm in a good place. I'm only getting faster and I'm confident that trend will continue both from a fitness standpoint and ninja singletrack standpoint.
The course is flat, fast and flowing. The rain earlier in the week made it nice and not dusty or too dry. Only 300 feet of climbing or so per lap.
After last week taking 1st overall I knew I could repeat again. Although with not much climbing it would be tougher. The flatness of the course evens the playing field, also the less technical nature makes it harder to break things up (although there were some tricky sections). I sort of fell asleep during the call ups. I still don't have a call up which sucks, but I got swarmed from my 1st/2nd row and was starting from 4th row when they yelled GO.
 |
| Erik P leading out |
 |
| navigating a tech descent - steeper than it looks |
Rolled through for win in my age group and my wave. There was some waiting to see if I took the overall win again as the 40+ wave had started 3 minutes behind. At 3:04 the first place 40+ crossed the line. Took the overall by a small margin - he basically did what I did last week - worked his way through a ton of traffic for a good placing overall.
Monday, June 18, 2012
WORS #4 Battle of Camrock
Good ride yesterday. WORS #4 outside of Madison. Excellent course, technical, bumpy, tons of singletrack - the way a MTB race should be. Probably the best course that WORS has, or at least the best course that I've been to. Limited passing in the first half of the course made it a bit difficult but I had the best race to date.
Everything leading up to the race went as planned. Got lots of good rest, ate well, legs felt great. Thanks for a heads up from Britton at Volker bikes in Kansas City, I made the skratch labs rice cakes. That stuff just became my new pre-race snack. I put some down on Saturday as an after dinner snack and then Sunday for a pre-race food after I ate breakfast. That is some clean burning energy. In combination with the skratch drink mix - you can't go wrong. Super fuel!!!
Back to the race, with the abundant tech sections on the course, I wanted the holeshot and be able to ride the singletrack at my pace, which is usually faster than my peers. Lined up 2nd row (still don't have a call up) and hammered the grassy uphill leadout that levels out for 200 meters before dumping into the woods. Took the lead and had a train of 3 on my wheel. Flossed the trails and kept the pressure on until about 2 minutes later when we hit the back of the 40-44 age group wave. This was very slow going trying to work through that mess. Not to mention that the open women who were clogging the flow. Last race we were the first wave of the comp's to go off - what a difference that makes.
Anyway, I had 1 guy on my tail - 10 seconds back for the first 1.5 lap - this slowly grew larger and larger. The first time through the start/finish Jane told me I was in 18th - she didn't know I was leading my wave and age group. So I had 18 40+, in front who started 2+ minutes before. I kept on the pressure and was pinning the climbs - lots of short, punchy singletrack. Was feeling good, took a gel and new bottle from Jane. Second time through she told me I was in 12th - still no one from my wave had passed. On the 3rd lap I caught a brief glimpse of the guy in the blue kit after I slowed it down a bit. I put a few more digs in and never saw him again. Meanwhile I was still passing people left and right, and starting to come up on the last of the elite field.
Right before I went out for my 4th lap, a stranger asked if I wanted a bottle - I was running low on my last one (my 3rd) and it was the best hand up ever - the most refreshing bottle of ice water I could ever imagine. I had just taken my 2nd gel and this was icing on the cake. Came through the start finish and Jane had me in 8th overall. I knew I was running good and with the starting time gaps had to be close to the overall win. I kept it upright and ended up passing 4-5 more from the 40+.
Crossed the line at 1:50:36. First in my age group, first in my wave, and first overall by 30 seconds. So yeah, I had a great race and have begun to do what I know I'm capable of - and I know I will only get faster. I'm no jedi knight in the singletrack yet, but I'm getting there. The good thing is that it's easier to become a true ninja in the singletrack than it is to add 50 watts of FTP. Maybe thats why I like MTB so much?
I will stay in the Cat 2 Comp category for the remainder of the year and with 5 top 10 overall's in one year will earn an automatic upgrade. So far in 2 races I'm 1st and 4th.
Next week is another good course in Eau Claire for WORS #5. I'm looking to do the exact same thing as I did yesterday, and will have the odds in my favor. Ninja studies continue....
Everything leading up to the race went as planned. Got lots of good rest, ate well, legs felt great. Thanks for a heads up from Britton at Volker bikes in Kansas City, I made the skratch labs rice cakes. That stuff just became my new pre-race snack. I put some down on Saturday as an after dinner snack and then Sunday for a pre-race food after I ate breakfast. That is some clean burning energy. In combination with the skratch drink mix - you can't go wrong. Super fuel!!!
Back to the race, with the abundant tech sections on the course, I wanted the holeshot and be able to ride the singletrack at my pace, which is usually faster than my peers. Lined up 2nd row (still don't have a call up) and hammered the grassy uphill leadout that levels out for 200 meters before dumping into the woods. Took the lead and had a train of 3 on my wheel. Flossed the trails and kept the pressure on until about 2 minutes later when we hit the back of the 40-44 age group wave. This was very slow going trying to work through that mess. Not to mention that the open women who were clogging the flow. Last race we were the first wave of the comp's to go off - what a difference that makes.
Anyway, I had 1 guy on my tail - 10 seconds back for the first 1.5 lap - this slowly grew larger and larger. The first time through the start/finish Jane told me I was in 18th - she didn't know I was leading my wave and age group. So I had 18 40+, in front who started 2+ minutes before. I kept on the pressure and was pinning the climbs - lots of short, punchy singletrack. Was feeling good, took a gel and new bottle from Jane. Second time through she told me I was in 12th - still no one from my wave had passed. On the 3rd lap I caught a brief glimpse of the guy in the blue kit after I slowed it down a bit. I put a few more digs in and never saw him again. Meanwhile I was still passing people left and right, and starting to come up on the last of the elite field.
Right before I went out for my 4th lap, a stranger asked if I wanted a bottle - I was running low on my last one (my 3rd) and it was the best hand up ever - the most refreshing bottle of ice water I could ever imagine. I had just taken my 2nd gel and this was icing on the cake. Came through the start finish and Jane had me in 8th overall. I knew I was running good and with the starting time gaps had to be close to the overall win. I kept it upright and ended up passing 4-5 more from the 40+.
Crossed the line at 1:50:36. First in my age group, first in my wave, and first overall by 30 seconds. So yeah, I had a great race and have begun to do what I know I'm capable of - and I know I will only get faster. I'm no jedi knight in the singletrack yet, but I'm getting there. The good thing is that it's easier to become a true ninja in the singletrack than it is to add 50 watts of FTP. Maybe thats why I like MTB so much?
I will stay in the Cat 2 Comp category for the remainder of the year and with 5 top 10 overall's in one year will earn an automatic upgrade. So far in 2 races I'm 1st and 4th.
Next week is another good course in Eau Claire for WORS #5. I'm looking to do the exact same thing as I did yesterday, and will have the odds in my favor. Ninja studies continue....
Monday, June 11, 2012
Levis Trow Endurance Race.
Saturday was the second stop on the WEMS (Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series) at my somewhat local Levis Mound. This was my third time racing here so I knew what to expect - although the course does change up every time.
After a good weekend of racing 1 week prior, I was confident that I could place well, possibly win depending on who shows up. Weather was hot, hovering around 90 with a big south wind. Legs didn't feel too good warming up. Were sluggish and didn't have too much top end. These races are pretty technical and really don't have any open sections so its more of a tempo race. 25 miles total, 2 laps of the 12.5 course.
Le Mans start - first time I have been forced to run on my leg - surprisingly felt great. Got to my bike and was off chasing 2 guys up a bit. Got up to 2nd place before the singletrack. Settled in and caught my breath, but was anxious to go. After a mile it opened up for 50 meters and I took over. Back into the woods we went. I upped the pace a bit and put in a few small digs and got a gap that kept growing. I stayed on the gas for the whole first lap. Struggled a bit in a few sections but was doing ok. Wiped out at mile 7 in a loose and sandy corner. I could see that I had a chaser that was about 30 seconds back and regained composure and kept it quick for the remaining of the lap. didn't really see anyone after that. Came through the start/finish 2:30 up on my follower. Grabbed another bottle and chugged half of a Coke. Was riding really fast for the first couple miles of lap 2. Passing a lot of the 50 and 100 milers, but never had any pressure from anyone behind. Once I started hitting the climbs and technical stuff I just put it into cruise control. Was taking in as much water as I could - tough to do in 100% singletrack. Made me wish I would have worn my camel back. Came though the finish 4 minutes slower than my first lap. 2nd place had actually closed the gap and was only a minute behind me. If he had put pressure on I had some power in the tank go grow the gap - or at least thats how I felt.
Wish I had my suspension set up softer. I was a bumpy race and I could have used the comfort - I think I def would have been faster on the 2nd lap if I wasn't getting so beat up.
Next week is WORS #4 at camrock.
After a good weekend of racing 1 week prior, I was confident that I could place well, possibly win depending on who shows up. Weather was hot, hovering around 90 with a big south wind. Legs didn't feel too good warming up. Were sluggish and didn't have too much top end. These races are pretty technical and really don't have any open sections so its more of a tempo race. 25 miles total, 2 laps of the 12.5 course.
Le Mans start - first time I have been forced to run on my leg - surprisingly felt great. Got to my bike and was off chasing 2 guys up a bit. Got up to 2nd place before the singletrack. Settled in and caught my breath, but was anxious to go. After a mile it opened up for 50 meters and I took over. Back into the woods we went. I upped the pace a bit and put in a few small digs and got a gap that kept growing. I stayed on the gas for the whole first lap. Struggled a bit in a few sections but was doing ok. Wiped out at mile 7 in a loose and sandy corner. I could see that I had a chaser that was about 30 seconds back and regained composure and kept it quick for the remaining of the lap. didn't really see anyone after that. Came through the start/finish 2:30 up on my follower. Grabbed another bottle and chugged half of a Coke. Was riding really fast for the first couple miles of lap 2. Passing a lot of the 50 and 100 milers, but never had any pressure from anyone behind. Once I started hitting the climbs and technical stuff I just put it into cruise control. Was taking in as much water as I could - tough to do in 100% singletrack. Made me wish I would have worn my camel back. Came though the finish 4 minutes slower than my first lap. 2nd place had actually closed the gap and was only a minute behind me. If he had put pressure on I had some power in the tank go grow the gap - or at least thats how I felt.
Wish I had my suspension set up softer. I was a bumpy race and I could have used the comfort - I think I def would have been faster on the 2nd lap if I wasn't getting so beat up.
Next week is WORS #4 at camrock.
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