A weekend of of surprises!

Going into the XC nationals I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning. Only to find out on my way to the race there were some ringers showing up so I decides to just go for a top 10 finish. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t going to give up on winning I was just trying to be a little more realistic. The course was pretty fun with some good technical sections and good climbs. There were a couple parts of the course that could have been better, the first was the start, about an 18% grade with no time to get momentum (this is also where the feed zone was). Second was the final descent, at least 2 miles of trail that was “built” in the week(s) leading up to the race by riders following flags through the woods. Needless to say every time you rode the “trail” it was different, and the holes and moon dust were deeper.

The race started off slower than I had expected, except for Jake and Dejay going off the front. I was able to get in the lead group and cruse with the four others all the way to the top of the first lap. From there things got spread out and I stayed in fourth or fifth place the rest of the day, finishing in 5^th. I missed out on the win by about 5 minutes but at least 3 of the 4 in front of me were Pros. So I feel pretty good with A 5^TH place finish.

After the race I turn my lack of focus to the short track race that will happen on Sunday(if they have a course ready). Nobody knew what the course would be when I asked around on Saturday. It turns out they had a 200 yard trail they were using then they taped off the rest of the course through the sage brush and a grassy ski slope.

I showed up at the start line 10 minutes before the 10:45 start time only to find out that my age group had been pushed back to 11:30. SO MUCH FOR WARMING UP… thanks USA Cycling. I sat around for a while and talked to some folks and watched a couple other races, then decided to head over to the course to try and do another lap before the race started only to hear over the loud speaker: “the course is closed until we say it is open!”. So I waited, watching the starting line. Then all of the sudden with no announcement that the “course was open” the start line was three deep and I was the only one not there. Well the plan for the day was to get a great fast workout, and I had my work cut out for me. Instead of trying to work my way into the group I decided to line up 15 feet behind the group and wait for a hole to open up.

The gun went off and I was already rolling, it took less than 50 meters for the hole to open. I had a clear shot up the grass next to the single track as all the people on 26” wheels were scared move off the groomed path. At the top of the climb I had moved from off the back to about 8^th position, and was feeling good. Each of the next three laps I picked off a couple people on the climb then recovered on the descent. Once I caught the leader I sat on his wheel for about a lap then made my move with two laps togo. He couldn’t respond to my pace up the hill and I never saw him again rolling across the finish line for and easy win and my third national title. So I have now won the 100 national series, the marathon and Short track. Kind of a weird combo, I always though it would be tough to win a XC championship. I never even thought I would be anywhere near the front of a short track race.

Where in the World

Brief run down of what has been going on and what is coming up.

The firecracker 50, Marathon Nationals, were a week and a half ago. it was an OK race but the altitude got the best of me. I didn't expect to win the Pro race as I am only an armature according to USA cycling, But I gave it my best shot. I ended up 17Th, which I guess is pretty good for the national championships. I can't wait until they move the Marathon Nationals to a manageable elevation(XC nationals too).

We took a week down in Fort Collins and Boulder to ride and check out the area as we think we are going to settle in CO sometime this winter. There is a ton of great riding in Fort Collins and housing costs are fairly reasonable right now. I hear there is good Sushi there too, I have to check that out next week.

Right now I am up in Granby, CO for the XC nationals. it should be an interesting race... It could go so many ways. the trails are pretty fun, at least the ones that are more than a couple weeks old! the "NEW!" descent at the end of the lap changes every few riders, we'll just say there will be a lot of moon dust and breaking holes on that "trail", on the bright side it almost has a flow... but not really. USA Cycling if you read this: Why in the world are the national championships being held on a trail that was built by people pre-riding(pre-building) the course in the weeks leading up to the event. Why not hold it on an established trail system, or build it far in advance. I really think it's unfair that we have to pay good money to race a trail we have to build...

So, there is my soap box, if you can't tell I'm a little burnt on the races I've done lately. At least let us make some money if we are riding "spectator friendly race courses" or why don't we make racer and spectator friendly courses...

I've decided not to do the rest of the NUE, to much driving for too little payback on OK race courses. Hopefully after racing in Canada for 5 days of sweet singletrack I will be re energized.

Picture of the sunsets we were treated to in Breckenridge.

Fire now ice

The Cowbell is over and the fire is out. I got off the bus in Breckenridge a few days ago, and with in an hour of riding I found myself in the snow. I almost went into shock, late June and I was cold going up a climb. It was nice.

I met up with Josh Tostado a couple days ago and he showed me around a little bit. He led me down some one of the best descents of my life! it seemed like it went on all day long ant it had everything from rocky rough terrain to as fast as you want to go flowing singletrack. It was so good I had to go back the next day and do it again.

Rebecca TomaWiki and I headed out first thing in the morning @ 12:45, for this second run. I wanted to skip the big climb that Josh and I did and just do the fast section. Unable to find the trail we climbed an extra 1000+ feet of fire road before we turned around and found the trail.

after some fun trail and another 20+ minute climb I crested the top and began to roll the descent. the first time I touched my brakes there was a terrible noise coming from my rear brake. Instantly I had a feeling what is was, and I was right. I folded the return spring on my rear brake pads and it was rubbing on the rotor.

With only a mini tool, I was worried that I would not be able to get the brake to work correctly and have to run the descent with only one brake. totally possible to do, but nowhere near as fun. I was once again blessed with good karma(thanks Eddie) and with in two minutes, the only mountain bikers we saw on the ride passed by and one of them had a Leatherman with pliers. I was able to bend it back into place. I was back and rolling in less than 6 minutes!!!

Some of the views and wiki wiki.

Race report for the Cowbell Challenge marathon.

Race # 5 of the USA Cycling ultra endurance series stayed true to form with it's more than uncomfortable weather. Though very different from the peanut butter mud and hiking of DSG we found the other extreme, HOT, HOT, HOT! I was woken up before 7:00 with sweat dripping down my face. know there were more than 3 hours before the race I knew it was going to be a tough day. You can see it in my eyes in the picture below...

The town of Davidson, NC was the host city providing the starting line for the days event. When the horn sounded the start was not much different than any other endurance race fairly mellow pace and one guy taking a flyer who stayed away for about 7 miles. By the time the chase group caught the leader it was a group of 4 going into the single track to race 5 eight mile laps of fun tight twisty root filled trail. Shortly after the single track started I began to get a pretty bad headache the roots of the trail jarred my brain and I was unable to keep my focus and dropped of the group. later in the lap the trail smoothed out and the headache subsided and I was able to push the pace a little more. Starting the second lap about an hour into the race it was close to 97 degrees with humidity nearing 90%. I felt like I would be able to work my way back to the group and still have a chance at the win. But before to long I was stricken with stomach issues and really had to back of my pace.

I settled into my pace and kept going the full time. Dumping ice water on my head through the lap only for the water dripping down my face to feel hot in a matter of seconds. the last three laps were all about survival. I was able to stay in fourth position and only loose about 14 minutes to Harlan Price who too the win.

Over all it was a great event, Tyler the promoter was awesome. He took great care of everyone and ran a fun event. All my equipment was great, especially my new wheels, the combo of DT Swiss 190 hubs and Stan's 29" race rims were super fast and light(1300 grams even!!!). the course was fun, and it had more technical features than most 100 mile courses.

Will I do it again? Yes, assuming the heat index is not 115 degrees.

Everyone should see this movie.

Another post coming later today.

Some reason it is cutting the side off... to see it all go here:

http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php

Mohican 100

Back in the groove(or is that a rut), We made it back from Italy without all the terrible thing that happened on the way there but it was not uneventful. While boarding the plane Kristina found that Ian had a temperature and felt very hot. not to long after take off I borrowed some Tylenol from another family as ours was checked, that kept his fever down but it kept coming back up when the medicine would wear off. When we landed in Atlanta and got to out thermometer he had a temperature of 104, we were in the emergency room in less than 20 minutes. Need less to say the doctor said to keep doing what we had been doing but to come back in 2 days if he isn't better. He was fine the next day.

I can't say that I was a little scared on the starting line, this field was stacked. If you are a fast ultra endurance singlespeeder from the east you were at this race, I couldn't think of anyone besides (Ohio)Rob that wasn't there. Going through what I had in the last week, it was hard to be confident. Since DSG I haven't really ridden my bike other than racing, the blisters on my heels were so bad that I couldn't wear shoes.  I had no idea what my legs were capable of, I hadn't ridden 100 miles in any 2 week period since April. 

I stayed with my usual tactic of starting fast, and was the lead singlespeeder going into the first singletrack. Shortly there after I knew I didn't have the legs for racing the top geared riders like I end up doing.  I backed off and decided to let the next singlespeeder catch me then I would just match him and hope that he would POP before I did. He was strong, attacking every steep hill, but he was never far in front at the top. and I was able to catch him on the descents. We exchanged the lead a few times on the singletrack, he would attack the climbs and I would pass him as he made wrong turns. 

After aid 2 we were caught be the first Pro men's chase group(they made a wrong turn) that had 6 riders. and this really put the hurt on me. it was a battle of wills to see which one could hold on the longest. Even with the geared riders he attacked the climbs trying to drop me, I managed to be in 3rd wheel going into the single track before aid three. after a few minutes I looked back and couldn't see him behind me, I figured he flatted or something. I knew he was strong, he couldn't have dropped off that far. by the time I got to aid 3 I knew I had at least 1/4 mile on him.  

The super high cadence needed to stay with the geared guys brought the cramps. there was a few time that I had to stop and stretch, or really slow down. I had about 40 miles to go after I got passed by josh Tostado(he got lost too), and from that point it was pretty lonely. long, Straight, boring, strait, flat roads then a couple big climbs to the finish. 

Walking across the finish line in first place. So glad to be done!

I finished in 7:39:@# about 20 minutes faster than second place Dejay Birtch(Niner/Ergon teammate). the guy I had been racing the first half of the race had broken his frame. In endurance racing it's not always the rider that makes the difference. Niner thanks for making such great bikes!