Paynful

Back on the "Program" - Bloomer CX

2011-11-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

Since the USGP weekend, I have started to feel more like myself on the bike. I stayed with the “Program” and things are back to normal. The next race was Bloomer, which is a cool course. My plan was to stay towards the front at the start, be smooth in the corners and hit it hard on the hills and long straights. They decided to add a holeshot prime at this race, so the start was fast. I was about 5^th wheel as we hit the wood chip pile (Yes… wood chip pile), when the first incident happened. The 3^rd or 4^th wheel guy lost it as did the guy in front of me and as I tried to split the two of them, I got “hooked” by a saddle. As I was trying to pull it off, he was pulling it back. Eventually we broke free and I was somewhere around 8-10^th, but wasn’t 100% sure. I started to pick people off, then unclipped on a technical downhill and couldn’t get back in on the climb out, letting some people pass. Shortly after that, I hit an uneven patch on a climb and pull the bike over crashing on the hill and more people went by. I think I was 13^th as we finished the first lap. At this point I wanted to quit, but as I started the second lap things began to click. I started closing the gaps and just focused on each group that was ahead of me. With 2 laps to go a younger guy on a mountain bike passed me on the downhill, but I was quickly back around him on an uphill pavement section. I attacked a few times to try and drop him, but he was stuck on my wheel. I kept a steady hard pace on the last lap and punched it hard on the long flats and uphills. As we approached the last straight to the finish, I ramped it up and pegged it as we hit the pavement as I know he was going to try to beat me in the sprint. But it wasn’t going too happened today… I rolled in for 6^th on the day about a bike length ahead. Next up is the Tailwind Michigan CX Championships at Springfield Oaks on Dec 4^th and it is looking like a muddy one. Osgood is going to be excited!!

Louisville USGP CX

2011-11-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

Wow… what an awesome trip. Mary Ann and I had been looking forward to this trip for a while. It is nice to just get away for the weekend. We loaded up the Fit and headed out Friday morning to Louisville. The weather was great and we only had one traffic issue in Cincinnati on the way down. We headed straight to the venue and I geared up to take a few laps of the course. It is exciting to see the sport of cyclocross growing to the point that they are building dedicated venues like this one in Louisville. The course was challenging with a few 2-3’ rollers, some technical sections in the trees, a flyover (Permanently installed), a steep off camber section, a steep run up… and lots of bumps! We stayed with Mary Ann’s friend Laura and her family. It was nice, as breakfast was a non issue and they even cooked us a homemade meal that night. The next morning came quick. I was a little nervous as this is a big time event and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t register until the Monday before the race and since riders are called up based on when they registered, I was in the back of the 100+ field of CAT 2/3 riders. I could barely see my fellow Michigan riders Mark Caffyn or Ryan McKinnie who were towards the front. We didn’t move for a bit at the start being such a big group, but were soon under way. It was like a big slinky on the first lap as people slowed for the obstacles… first it was the couple roller bumps, then the barriers and lastly the flyover. Based on the data, I stood still for 20sec waiting to go over. After the flyover things were strung out. I passed a few people and soon could see Ryan Mckinnie and pushed to catch him but ran out of time. At the finish, I put it in my head to get around the 2 people in front of me and even thou it was for 90^th place… I sprinted and won. After a nice dinner with Laura and her husband Jesse at Mitchell’s, day two was upon us and I was warmed up and at the starting line. The course layout changed a little and they made us climb a hill after a 180 which separated a lot of people. I didn’t think this tight little turn they put right before it was the best idea as there was some yard saling going on as the not so skilled bike handlers tried to get through it. Some guys dismounted and ran up, but I stayed on the bike and rode to the top passing about 4-5 people. I must admit that this helped with the congestion at the flyover as there was a much shorter wait. I was feeling good and was leap frogging forward from group to group. I was feeling good and started to see Ryan Mckinnie, so I pushed harder. I caught him and passed him, but got behind a slower rider and he passed with a train of guys. I jumped on and got around the group and never looked back. With one lap to go, I also saw Mark Caffyn and pushed to catch him. I had a good racing going with another rider and had fun being aggressive on a pass and also attacking before the final technical section. I again sprinted to beat the guy ahead and ended up finishing right behind Mark in 79^th place. Watching the Pro’s race was really cool and educational. I learned a lot on how to attack different sections and recover. Major props go out to Mike Wissink from Michigan who won the Master’s 35+ class on day one with an incredible ride and placing 3^rd on day 2 when he could have gone for the win. I was amazed at the Michigan contingent at the race, it’s nice to see. I will definitely be back to another USGP and Mary Ann is starting to get the CX bug... she is a little crazy like that!!

Iceman

2011-11-17T11:16:00.001-08:00

Well another Iceman has cometh and wenteth. This year was a niceman year and the trail was fast… although I wasn’t. I finally snapped out of my funk the weekend before and got out on the bike which was nice. I car pooled up with Jason Weida from the team and we piled our stuff into his Subaru WRX and headed up Friday morning. Having a Subaru at this event has its advantages as it make parking easier because they are a major sponsor and give people with Subaru’s VIP parking. We headed straight to the finish to preride the end of the course. The weather was beautiful and we had a fun ride. We packed up, checked into the hotel, went to Ice Expo to get our numbers and then went to dinner at the Blue Tractor with some guys from the team and headed to bed. It was a little brisk in the AM but not too bad. After modifying my clothing choice a couple times, we headed to the start. It was hard to get the legs warmed up in 34 deg air, but I did my best and lined up at the start. My ass and arms were shaking so bad the guys next to me told me to stop shaking because it was making him cold!! The gun went off and I couldn’t get clipped in, so I had to hammer to catch the group just to have to slow down to make the first corner. It was a little bit of a mess going when we hit the dirt by the water tower, but everyone made it through cleanly. I tried to grab some wheels, but my legs were already feeling flat and heavy. I rode with Ray Dybowski for a while thinking that I could draft in the flats and be able to hang on the hills. It worked for a while, but soon I found myself in no man’s land. In a single track section about a third of the way through the race, I heard some noise behind me and was soon passed by the Tim Finkel/Simon Bailey freight train. Soon after, I was caught by Collin Snyder from my road team who harassed me and then motored by. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Some groups from later waves would catch me and I would grab a wheel where I could. I manage to pedal my way up all the hills at the end. Looking at the time, I started to worry that I wouldn’t make it under 2hrs. When I rolled through the campground the first time, I was at 1:52. I knew that the finish would be slow due to the singletrack and wood chip climb at the end, so I pushed a little harder and rolled through with about 30secs to spare. It wasn’t the Iceman that I wanted it to be earlier in the year, but a day in the woods on your bike is always a good day. We headed back to the start of the pro race, picked-up the car and returned to watch the Pro’s finish. It was good to see everyone at the finish. After the race, we went to the Mom and Pop Racing party and then to the Loading Dock for the Bell’s Party. I’d like to thank Jeff for the invite, the food was awesome. Somebody made some pumpkin cheesecake that was incredible… I had way too much. Looking back at this race… the thing that brings me back year after year is the atmosphere. It is the end of the year, everyone is relaxed and just has fun. It also helps that the race is very well organized. Thanks Steve!!

Congrats to Osgood, JMak, Joe Thomas, Adam Naish, Jay Click, Collin Snyder, Jim Bonnell, Jimmie Colflesh, Tony Bastuk, Mark Olin, Finkel, Dybo, Randy Rodd, and Tom Clark for some awesome results!

Being sick sucks…

2011-10-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

It’s that time of year and every one is getting sick. I usually can dodge it or just have a short stint… but not this year. Since just before Addison till about the end of last week, I have been up and down with something. Arianna was sick, Mary Ann was sick and Nathan has been up and down. It really zapped my legs and joints. I couldn’t get enough sleep… blah blah blah. I spent one whole weekend sleeping and watch football with Mary Ann. I even skipped my favorite CX race at Linden Park. The worst was just after the Mad Anthony CX race in Detroit. I thought I had recovered, but right from the start, my legs wanted nothing to do with it. I had a bad start and faded from there. It was still a good time as I was racing with my friend Patrick Robb which is always fun. After the race I felt ok, but the next day my legs were sore… and not in a good way. They hurt to even touch. With Iceman coming in less than 2 weeks, I was getting worried. I ended up taking more time off the bike and finally got out this weekend for some hammering and all systems are go! Definitely lost some power and fitness, but I am ready to try and hang on to the fast guys in wave 1 on Saturday!!

Sorry for the whining… I'll send you some cheese to go with it!!

Racing, Racing and more Racing!

2011-10-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Munson CX

Things have been going pretty good on the CX front and I was curious to see if it would continue. This was a night race with my race starting at 8:25pm. The day was pretty relaxing, but I lost track of time and we had to rush down to the race. I got warmed up and felt ok. I headed to the start line early only to find a lot of people already lined up. I found a spot in the second row and was ready to go. The gun went off and away we went. I had a good start and was in the top 5 or so. For some reason I thought that I forgot to start my Garmin and it was all downhill from there. I fiddled with it while we were racing only to find, in the end, that it had been started and I stopped it. The lack of focus caused me to fumble the barriers and lost a ton of positions. I tried to relax, but the damage had been done. Munson is always a power course and this year was no different. I struggled to keep pace with bigger guys on the death spiral. There was also a run up that seemed to zap me every lap also. I pushed through the race and finished 14th. Not what I was looking for, but it is what it is. One of these days, I will figure out this CX racing…

Brooksie 5K

The next day, Nathan and I ran the Brooksie 5K. We got up way too early and headed to the start. It wasn’t too cold, but after they delayed the start almost 30mins, we were getting chilly. Once we were off we settled into a rhythm. I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel after the CX race, but so far so good. We held a decent pace for the first half (Maybe too good) and Nathan had to walk the hill at the 2 mile mark. Once over the hill we settle back into a comfortable pace and finished it with a time of 30:39. Nathan is now running cross country at the middle school. I will be curious to see if I can keep up with him next year!

12hr Addison Oaks

I did this race last year and had a blast! I guess Jim Bonnell and Jay Click also had a blast, as they were asking me if we were going to do it again this year. My friend Chuck hasn’t been riding as much due to his current work schedule, so I talked Jarod Makowski into competing on our team this year. With all the big guns on the team, I was going to be the anchor! We were excited to hear that Ray Fulkerson, Joe Thomas and Nick Cisler were going to have a team, but at the last minute they had to back out. This was a downer, as we had a good race with them last year and were looking forward to going head to head again.
I hadn’t been feeling 100% coming into this race and was hoping it wouldn’t affect me too much. I seemed to feel ok the morning of, so Mary Ann and I headed to the Addison. My friends Chuck and Carl were there and were going to do the 6hr team race. We set-up camp next to them and were ready to go. Registration closed and we found out that we were the only Elite Team. So to keep motivated, the “fast guys” decided to see who could do the most sub 27 laps. I said “fast guys”, as I have never dipped into the 27 min range at Addison. Our secondary goal was to complete 26 total laps. The big guns went first and were all in the 27 range. I had a slight issue and dropped my chain finishing in 28:34. Brendan Benson showed up and wanted to follow for a lap, so I obliged and headed out for my second lap. I was close, but no cigar with a 28:10. The big guns started competing for the fastest lap and Jay came through with a 27:05 on his 4th lap and took the prize. Pete Favata rolled up and kept me company for my 3rd lap which was just under 29 min. We were easily on pace for 26 laps, but I was starting to not feel well and need to take break from the rotation especially after running subpar 30min 4th lap. We decided to finish it out be doing 2 laps apiece. This worked out well and we still had about 6mins to spare when it started to get dark. Jay and Jim put in some good night laps and handed it over to me with 36mins to go. I finished the 25th lap with 5 min to spare and then went out for an easy 26th lap. All of our goals were completed. Jim won the fastest average lap time. He was a machine! Can’t wait for next year!

Cyclocross has begun!

2011-09-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was unsure how I would perform in cross this year do to the inconsistency of my training most of the year. Last year I was finishing in the 10ish range in the B’s. This year I would like to win a B race. I started training about a month ago with the Tailwind Double X weekend on the 17^th and 18^th being my first race.

Double X Day 1

B Race

My legs felt pretty good going into Saturday’s race. I arrived early and rode a couple laps of the course. I was a little rusty at doing the flyover, but I figured I would get the hang of it again during the race. When I made it over to line up, the front row was full and I had to start in the second row. The whistle blew and we were off… well mostly, as I had trouble clipping in and ended up about 20^th. The first lap was congested, but I managed to work my way up through the field. I think I passed about 8 guys on the straight away. I felt pretty good the next couple of laps. I was with a group for a while and then worked to bridge up to a Rhino and rode with him for a couple laps. My biggest issue was the barriers as I suck at remounting my bike and guys would pull a gap that I would have to close every lap. Between having to pass people on the first lap and closing the barrier gap, I was slowing down and couldn’t keep pace with the Rhino and he ended up beating me by about 10s. I finished 5^th, which is a big improvement over last year and a great start!

Double X Day 2

B Race

I again arrived early and rode the course. My legs were still feeling good and this time I would get to start in the front row. I made sure I clipped in quick and sprinted to the start of the course and settled in at about 5^th wheel. At the end of the 1^st lap, I was sitting 4^th wheel and feeling great. I was riding behind a Greyhound and we had a pretty good gap on the 5^th place guy. He was slowing, so I made a pass and pushed the pace. Then… as I was making a fast left hand turn, my front wheel caught something wrong and dug in. This sent me over the bars head first into the ground. It took me a second to get up and take inventory. I seemed to be ok, but feeling banged up. The bike was fine outside of the chain was off. I quick put it back on and was riding again. At this point I wasn't sure where I was at in the field and just hung with the group that was near me. I figured I was still top 10 as I knew everyone in the group and they were decent riders. I just sat in for a couple of laps as I wasn't feeling 100% from the crash and my vision wasn't quite right. After a couple laps, I saw that we were catching Brad Lako. I went to the front of the group and started to push the pace. They ended up dropping off and I managed to bridge to Brad with a lap to go. I sat on his wheel till the end and managed to win the sprint for 7^th. Thinking that my contact wasn't in right, I stuck my finger in my eye to adjust it a little only to find it wasn't there. I then managed to dig it out of the corner of my eye and I could see again!

Masters 35+ Race

Being that I am a little crazy, I also entered the Masters 35+ race. I figured I would just hang on as long as I could and it is good practice as I don’t have a CX course set-up in my back yard. The start was fast and I was with a group for about a half a lap, then I just settled into my own pace. I didn’t get lapped, but did get passed by the lead Woman and most of the Master’s 45+. Kelly Patterson was also catching me which motivated me to finish strong. It was a fun 45 mins, but the legs were only good for one race.

Stomach of Anger – East Lansing

I entered this race because it is part of another series that I thought I would be able to race. I wasn’t sure what to expect for a course, but Joe Lekovich was excited about it as it is part of a series with his race called Mad Anthony which is down in Detroit. The course was long and bumpy, but had a lot of different style turns that I felt suited my strengths. The competition looked steep and I doubted myself a little. I secured a front spot, the whistle blew and we were off. I managed to fall in at about 5^th wheel and soon after 4^th wheel. One UofM guy was off the front and stayed there till the end. I was with a group of 3 giving chase that grew to 4 and then back to 3. The pace was near my limit, so I just sat in. My not so great barrier/remount skills caused me to have to bridge a gap every lap after the barriers. By the last lap, I was starting to feel it and the guys in front started to push the pace a little. About half way through the last lap, I started to crack and then found myself off the back of the group. I rode the rest of the lap in for 4^th with no one in sight behind.

Next race is the Tailwind Munson CX night race on October

Back to Blogging – New life/Coaching/Bike Racing

2011-09-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

OK… I am going to start getting back into this blogging thing. It has been a rough couple of years, but I am excited about my life and where it is going. I gave up women for about 9 months last year and spent time with my kids and raced my bike. We took a couple camping trips in the summer, one to Acadia National Park in Maine and another to Muskegon State Park in Michigan. We also made stops at Michigan Adventure and Cedar Point. It was an awesome summer!! The best part of 2010 came at the end when I met the most incredible woman… Mary Ann.

At the start of 2011, I was contracted out to Borg Warner to support calibration work on their active AWD systems. I then was offered a job at Borg Warner, which I took. It has taken me to proving grounds in the UP, Sweden and New Zealand. Mary Ann and I also took Nathan and Arianna out west to Yellowstone. While we were out there, we also visited the Corn Palace, Badlands, Wall Drug, Black Hills, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Grand Tetons and the Buffalo Bill dame and museum in Cody, Wyoming. It was a great trip and totaled 4200miles!! We drove the Fit out there with a Thule box on the back… it was a tight fit, but we survived!

On to the biking update which this blog is suppose to be about. CX finished up a little rough last year as I got busy with my kids activities and lost focus. The change in jobs had me running around last winter and traveling up to the UP, so I didn’t find much time to train and gained some weight. With all the rain early in the season it was hard to get out and ride as much as I did in 2010… so as the season started out I found myself feeling slow. Looking to improve, I bought a Powertap wheel for my road bike and worked with a coach to get an initial plan put together. The Powertap was later swapped out in favor of a Quarq, as swapping to race wheels meant no power reading! I wanted to focus a little more on the road and try and get upgraded to CAT3. I also upgraded my road bike to a Giant TCR, this was a huge gain (Outside of the motor). First race was an early season TT at Willow… not the best result, but I knew I was not at my peak. As the year went on my fitness improved and had some top ten finishes. Traveling the whole month of July put me a little behind fitness wise, but it was worth it. I didn’t race my mountain bike but a few times this year and with so-so results. I finally made it up to Ore to Shore this year and had mixed feelings about the race. I will probably go back to do it again as I feel that it defeated me this year and I want another go at it.

After working with the powermeter data for a while and doing some reading, I decided to hire a coach. A coach can really help to hold you accountable and work to make sure that you are not over doing it and put the proper rest periods in your schedule. I did some looking around and decided to hire Brian Matter at Momentum Endurance for coaching. Brian has had great success in both Mountain bike racing and CX. I look forward to seeing what he can do to help dial in my training and reach my cycling goals. So far, I have felt great at all my events with good results. This CX season and Iceman will be a good test for me as usually I fall flat in the fall. Wish me luck as the first CX race is coming up this weekend!!

Road Racing – A New Adventure

2010-09-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Since I have been having such a good time on the Birmingham road rides, I decided to try some road racing this year. I figured it would be a good change of pace and fun to trying doing a few road races.

Tour of Kensington

I figured that being a mountain biker and a reasonably good climber; Kensington would be a good race for me. I signed up early to make sure I got in under the cap of 50 racers. The weather was not looking to favorable leading up to the race. The morning of it was cold, windy and misting. I threw what appeared to be every combination of clothing I had to make sure I was covered. I checked in, pumped up my tires, pinned my number on my jacket and was ready to do battle… at this point I wasn’t sure if the battle was going to be the weather or the competition. I warmed up a little and ended up removing a layer of clothing. One thing that I noticed riding around were how much money people had in bikes and wheels in road racing. Some guys had multiple wheelsets worth more than my whole bike! I lined up my junk and was ready to go. On the first downhill my fear of being taken out almost became reality as a guy was all over his brakes on a corner, cut across the road and almost took a group of us out at near 40mph… not good. After that things weren’t too exciting as the race turned into basically a fast group ride. The only place guys would attack was out of the neutral zone as we entered the pavement. A couple attacks were hard to reel back in due to the windy conditions, but once a group was formed things would settle down. I attacked on an uphill to warm up and strung the group out, but they caught me as soon as we turned into the wind. The wind was so bad in some areas that the whole peloton had to lean their bikes almost 30degs to keep going straight. As we roll through at the start of the final lap, I noticed that our group was now down to 12 guys. Maybe we were going harder than I thought. At this point I was wondering how the finish was going to shake out. There was a long hill followed by a short down hill and then the climb to the finish line. I was thinking about waiting till the top of the first climb and then attack or just follow whatever anyone else did. As the first hill approached, a guy started to go for it and the rest of the group didn’t respond so I chased him down. It was a little sooner than I wanted to go but didn’t want to be in a position to be racing for second. I caught him at the start of the finishing climb, drafted for a little bit and then started to sprint around him. At this point another group of riders caught us and I was out sprinted by one of them. I was excited to finish 2nd place in my first road race experience and even one a $50 gift certificate!!

West Branch Classic

Saturday Road Race
I had another open weekend and decided to give another road race a try. I had wanted to West Branch as they talked about how it finishes on a “killer” climb and is a very hilly route. It was a 2 day event with a Criterium on Sunday, so I decided to drive up the morning of the race to minimize the cost. I warmed up, talked to a few guys and looked at all the bike bling. This race had a couple “teams” in the group with matching kits and bikes and I wondered if they would organize during the race. We rolled out easy and then guys immediately started attaching off the front, but were easily reeled back in by the peloton. The hills didn’t seem that bad, but it was interesting to me that on every turn the front guys would take off and then easy up. I quit chasing the corner surge to conserve energy and just rode at a hard pace to pull myself back to the group. There were some good hills but we seemed to keep the most of the guys in the group. As we got closer to the finish guys started to battle for position, but I just tried to maintain my position and not get caught up in a wreck. As we approached the base of the climb, I wasn’t in a great position and guys were all over the place. I worked my way toward the centerline to give myself an outlet and it was a good choice as a couple guys got together and went down right near me. All that I could hear was the cracking of carbon fiber. I powered my way around and up the hill leaving most of the peloton behind. There were a couple of guys ahead of me and I was closing on one of them when another guy rode around us. I gave it everything I had, but had to settle for 5th. The funny thing was that everyone that beat me was younger than 25 and went to Michigan State.

Sunday Criterium
I was a little nervous about racing a crit as it is where a lot of wrecks happen. After the wreck on Saturday, it was definitely on my mind. There was a smaller turnout for the crit, only 12 guys show up at the line. The pace was fast and furious. There were a couple of preems (prize points for being in the lead at certain points of the race) and I went for one of them. I was pretty sure I got it but they called it a tie as they weren’t using the camera to review. On the second preem, the 2 guys that went for it gapped the group and we couldn’t reel them back in by the finish. I rolled in for 5th place. The race weekend had an omnium (an overall for the weekend) and I finished second and won a Michelob Ultra jersey. Fun weekend of racing!

Le Tour de Mont Pleasant

After having a few good finishes in CAT5, I requested an upgrade to CAT4. It was approved, so I decide to challenge myself and enter the Tour de Mont Pleasant road race in the Master’s 35+ category. I had just finished the Mohican 100 mtb race the weekend before and wasn’t sure how my legs were going to be, but I knew this would probably be my last opportunity to do a road race so I took my chances. I drove up the morning of and walked over to pick up my packet. I was really impressed at how much the city of Mount Pleasant did for the race. Most of the store fronts had cycling related things in the window and shops and sponsors had booths set-up on the side streets. The people volunteering for the race were all really nice and seemed excited to be part of the event. I got my stuff together, did a quick warm-up and lined up for the race. There were some familiar faces in this group from the Tuesday Birmingham ride racing for MPI and Essex Brass. Once again I felt like the odd man out with a bike that probably cost less than most of their wheelsets, non shaved legs and mtb shoes. Right at the start Rich Stark took off and we were in full chase mode. I was already wondering how I was going to keep up at this pace! After a few miles, everyone relaxed and we settled into a pace. One thing I noticed with this group was that they weren’t afraid to go off the front. Sometimes the peloton would chase other times not. A couple times the group was split up and I found myself in the front of the chase group at 30+ mph bridging the gap. At one point I thought that my whole book of matches was going to go up in flames… but I held on. At one point in the race a couple guys got off the front and I didn’t realize it as I thought we had caught them. I must have not been seeing straight due to oxygen debt. Rob Selle was yelling about racing for 3rd and I didn’t realize what he was talking about till the finish!! Haha!! The Peloton was riding pretty slow for a while and then the Master 45+ guys caught us, which was a mess because then they slowed and we went around and then they went back around us. It was hard to maintain a lot of speed with our group as it was probably less then half the size of the 45+ group. As we approached the finish the group was at a group ride pace. I talked with a couple guys while warming up about where the sprint would start and they thought that it would happen at the railroad tracks. Well… they were wrong as it started immediately at the last turn which was about a ½ mile out and I was out of position for a good finish. I drafted as long as I could and passed a few near the finish rolling in for 14th place. I was happy to finish with the main group and had a great time! I will definitely do some more road racing next year.

Let the MTB racing begin!

2010-08-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yankee Springs TT

After finishing strong at the Barry Roubaix, I was excited to see how that would translate to my performance on the trails. The team went on a trip to Yankee a couple weeks before the race and outside of an early flat we had a good time and I put down a couple of respectable laps. I felt ready for the race, but didn’t have any expectations, as it always has a large turnout with a lot of fast locals. As we lined up I realized that I had a few carrots to chase (My teammate Scott Simpson and friend Dave Messing) and a fast guy (Gus Hemingway) lined up next to me. Dave left minutes ahead of me so it was more of a mental chase. I was a little nervous as 2 laps of Yankee can be tough. The start was fast… probably faster than I should have made it. I was out in front with Gus on my wheel for the first ½ mile or so, and then he went around me. I tried to stay with him, but his pace was too fast for me. I started to see Scott up ahead and was working hard to catch him, and then I saw Gus on the side of the trail. I found out later he broke his drivetrain and had to make it a SS. I caught Scott and he let me by and wished me luck. At this point I was grinding away on my own… I passed a few people and got passed a couple times. I then fell into a group of guys that were going at or slightly above my pace, so I pushed to stay on their wheel. We rode together for the rest of the first lap and most of the second lap. I was gapped a few times and would have to push to catch back up. We then caught a familiar rider in green, it was my buddy Dave. At this point I knew I must be doing pretty well as Dave is no slouch. Dave jumped into our group and we pushed towards the finish. One by one the group started to slow and I went around and hammered to the finish. To my surprise, I ended up in 4th place. I stood there thinking it was going to be a fun year of racing!

Fort Custer XC

Feeling good about my performance at Yankee Springs, I was excited to see how I would perform at Fort Custer. My son Nathan and I woke up early the morning of and head to the Fort. It was raining HARD on our drive to the race so much that it felt like driving on ice! The engine in my Fit would start to rev up while driving down the highway and it only has a 1.5L 4 cylinder engine!! I almost turned around and went home as to not get us killed driving to the race. Thankfully it cleared up before the start. I was little nervous about the mud, but figured it would be good bike handling practice. Last year I jumped the start and had to stop and then start again causing me to be at the back of the pack. This year I didn’t watch the clock, but listened to the starter, clipped in and was gone. I didn’t feel like I was hammering at the start, but didn’t seem to have anyone battling for the front. I lead for the first 3-4 miles and quickly found it was down to only 2 of us, Jeff Nixon and me. At the exit of grannies garden, the double drop offs caught me off guard and I ended up getting tossed. I quickly jumped back on my bike, but couldn’t catch Jeff. Shortly after Joe Thomas came storming (Yes Storming) by on the 2 track and I tried to hang on to his wheel, but couldn’t. The trail had some really slimy spots and the Raven I had on the back might as well been a slick. I did a lot of drifting; I was even complimented by a racer passing me as I was holding a 2 wheel drift while he went by on the inside! The race was also fun because I was able to ride with my friend Pete Favata for a while sliding around in the mud. I was passed by one guy at the start of the third lap, but didn’t realize he was in my class until later in the race. I realized it right at the end when I caught him and passed him just before the finish line taking 3rd place by 3 secs. I was happy with my finish and my lap times were consistent, I just need to figure out how to make up the 5 mins that the lead 2 guys put on me!

Early Season - Training/Barry Roubaix

2010-08-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

A few people have approached me and asked when I was going to update my blog, so I decided I needed to get my act together and get typing!

Training
I didn’t ride as much as I would have liked over the winter. I tried to ride outside once a week, but was lucking to get out every other week. I probably downhill skied more this winter than most, but didn’t get out on the XC skies as much as I liked due to the lack of snow in the area. Downhill and CX skiing seems to be a good cross training activity as they are both great workouts. I took a trip to Colorado for a long weekend to ski and had a great time. This winter, I think I am going to head up north specifically to XC ski, if you are interested let me know. I am also looking forward to skiing in CO again. Ok, backing to biking, I spent some time on the trainer at least once a week, but it was hard to stay motivated. About mid February, I started riding in the Fraser lab on the computrainers. It felt a little rough at the beginning, but I was feeling like my form was good by mid March. With the warm weather in March, I was able to put in a lot of miles which really helped to get things firing.

Barry Roubaix
Feeling good about where I was this early in the season, I decided to put it to the test at the Barry Roubaix (www.barry-roubaix.com). Armed with my Kuota Kross with a Revolution Wheel Works wheelset and Tufo tubular tires, I set out to do battle in the Expert 30-39 class. The 35 mile course is over 90% dirt and/or gravel roads and has some killer climbing. I arrived the night before to preride the start and scope out this nasty jeep road that we navigate early in the race as it could definitely be the decider in the race. The jeep road didn’t seem too bad, but definitely had a lot of packed sand that may not be so packed once the elite guys tear it up. Wayne Cook and David Toutant were nice enough to let me crash with them after a nice all you can eat fish dinner. We were up early and at the start with plenty of time, but it was cold. It was a mass start with everyone grouped by category. The neutral roll out slinkied its way out of the park and onto the road with a couple guys almost wrecking. It quickly smoothed out and we were on our way. The first climb came quickly shortly after the first turn. A couple guys went down in the loose dirt. I picked a line to the left and hammered up the climb passing a lot people. The Kross climbs very well and it put a huge smile on my face. Once at the top, I was by myself and saw the back of the elite group up ahead. I put my head down and pushed hard to bridge the gap and made it by the time we hit the Jeep road. The Jeep road was completely tore up and it quickly separated the roadies from the mountain bikers. I managed to make it through and only had to dismount a couple times due to traffic. Once back on the gravel roads I tried to stay with a group and jump onto faster groups or individuals as they went by. The climbs were brutal and wished I had lower gears many times during the race. The hardest part of the race was trying to hang on during the flatter sections with the roadies. The final stretch was pavement and as my group approached the end of the dirt and turned left on the pavement I was happy to know that the end was near. Although, the happiness ended as I realized how long the climb was to Yankee Springs road. A couple guys in our group were setting a pretty hard pace. I rotated through a couple times, but almost got dropped after taking my pulls at the front. The run in near the finish was fast and we were cruising near 30 mph through a couple sections. The amazing thing was seeing Michael Seaman hanging with us on his SS?! I wasn’t sure who in our group was with which group. One guy took off once we were in the park; I let him go and then went shortly after, but ran out of gas and was passed by a couple guys in the group I was with. All in all, I felt like I had a good race and felt strong on the hills. I finished 6th out of the 51 guys in my class (http://raceservices.com/10/br/032710_35.html).

Nice way to start my first year in the expert ranks. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28280163

2010… New Team, New Beginning, New Freedom and New Challenges!!

2010-02-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Team (www.precisionmtb.com)

I would like to announce my change to a new team for 2010. I am proud to be racing for PrecisionMTB in 2010 and am excited to be a part of such a fun group of racers… because the last I checked we do call this “fun” right?

Beginning

This year will be my first year racing expert, which will be a new challenge due to a longer racing distance and faster, more skilled group of guys. I am ready for the challenge and am coming into the year with humble expectations.

Freedom

My new single life has and will allow for more time to focus on training. I am already back in the lab at Fraser working on power as well as fitness by xc skiing and endurance riding on the weekend. Bring on the racing!!

Challenges

I have already entered 4 new (to me) races or 2010; The Barry-Roubaix (http://www.barry-roubaix.com), the Mohican 100 (http://www.mohican100.org ), The Lumberjack 100 (http://www.lumberjack100.com), and Ore to Shore (http://www.oretoshore.com). Each one poses a new challenge that I am excited to tackle!

Iceman and thoughts on Cyclocross Season

2010-02-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Cyclocross

After coming off a strong finish to my mountain bike season, I was looking forward to seeing how I would fair in cyclocross. Armed with my new Kuota Kross bike with some light Revolution Wheel Works and Tufo tubulars, I set out to battle in the killer B’s. I quickly found myself settling into the 10-12^th spot, which was good as the racing in that part of the pack was exciting. This is where things derailed causing training to stop and hence cycling to get put on the back burner. I was planning on going to Kentucky for the USGP of CX, but ended up staying home… which was a big disappointment. I finished the season in 15^th place with only 5 out of 6 races. I will be looking for a better result next season.

Iceman

I managed to get back on the bike enough to have some fitness for Iceman. I was very excited to race Iceman this year as it was going to be my first expert race and with the Finkelstein’s Ice Ice Baby training rides under my belt, I felt I was prepared. We drove up early and rode the last part of the course and the trail was very packed in. I was feeling good at the start of the race and the pack quickly accelerated to about 25mph… then disaster struck. One of the guys behind me lost control and drove into my rear wheel taking me out. I landed hard on the asphalt… everything seem to be enacted, so I got back on the bike and started riding. My head, ribs and hip were aching, but I figured I would just grit it out. The two of us were now way behind the 130 person field. I think the guy that took me out felt bad as he made a hard pull trying to catch the pack, but once I was back out in front I found myself riding alone. I learned a few things in the first 8-10 miles… when you have a sore rib cage, breathing hard to get up hills hurts. When you bruise your hip it never really “loosens” back up and when you hit your head hard enough, it causes blurred and discolored vision. As the race went on the vision became clearer, although I realized that my Oakleys were not on my head, so I was hoping that I wouldn’t get any sand in my eyes. I thought my bike made it through the wreck unharmed, but as I was climbing in the single track the chain started to jump between gears. Luckily I managed to be able to tune it out without stopping. I slowly picked people off one by one. The worst part was that there was a slight head wind for most of the race and I didn’t have anyone to draft off of for most of the race. The only help was when some of the faster old guys caught me, I could tag on to the back of there train for a while. One of my goals for this year was to not get off the bike on any of the climbs. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but there are a couple near 30 percent grades at iceman and they are near the end of the race when you are not feeling so strong. I was also a little worried, since I left my single ring on the front which didn’t leave a “granny” gear to fall back on. The hills seemed to be a non issue… which put a big smile on my face. As I neared the finish, I realized that we didn’t ride the finish correctly the day before as they routed us back down the hill through some nasty single track and then had us climb back up to get to the finish. I was very happy to be done… my body felt like I was hit by a Mack truck! When I inspected my equipment, I notice that I had cracked my new S-Works helmet… I guess it did it job!! I finished 28^th in a time of 1:56.24… which I am happy with as it was a minute faster than last year and according to last years times the course was about 6 min longer mainly due to that added mile at the start. Hopefully I can manage a sub 1:50 next year and place in the top 10.

Back in the saddle again...

2010-02-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Due to some unfortunate circumstances last fall, I lost focus. Good news is that I am now back focused and enjoying life. I will try and get an update up summarizing the fall cyclocross experience, Iceman and my training this winter.

Stay tuned... 2010 is going to be an awesome year!

Pando MMBA CPS XC

2009-10-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

With all of the racing the past couple of weeks, my motivation to drive across the state to do Pando was pretty low. I traveled down to Ohio the day before for an Antique tractor pull to spend some time with my Dad and Brother and for a couple of hooks of the sled. Antique tractor pulling is a different kind of fun as being on a 6000+ lb, 7” stroke, 300 cu in 2-cylinder tractor with the front wheels in the air and the engine lugging down to the point you can hear each cylinder fire is very cool… even if there is a 3mph speed limit!! Anyway… back to the mountain bike racing. I was pretty burnt out and wasn't looking forward to more driving, but knew that I only need to finish behind Mike to win the series. Rick Williams offered to car pool over to Pando and I accepted. Due to our schedules, we decided to get up at the crack of dawn and drive over the morning of. I was a little nervous as I have never ridden Pando and wasn’t excited about having my first race lap be my pre-ride. Lucky for me there was a large window between the Expert/Elite race and the Sport race, so I went out on course for my warm up and completed a lap. For those that haven’t experienced Pando, the race starts out riding up a ski hill. My original plan was to just sit on Mike’s wheel and see how the race played out, but when I looked back at the top of the hill I had a 5 bike lead, so I put the hammer down. Plan B was to get as far ahead as possible so that the rest of the guys can’t see me. By doing this I won’t be their carrot to chase. The plan worked well and I maintained a "steady hard" (A Robert Herriman Term) pace and just tried not to do anything stupid. Another motivation at this race was to pass my buddy Rick Doornbos who races in the 19-29 Sport class. He has been beating me up at the last couple of CX races, but I had a feeling that Pando was my kind of course. As I approached, he heard my free hub and looked back with a smile and a greeting. I debated riding his wheel but decided to push on. One thing I enjoyed about Pando was the group of people on the hill near the finish that would cheer every time someone came through for a lap, which motivated me to kick it up a notch as I climbed the hill. Finishing up my final lap, I sprinted up the hill to the finish shoot for the class win and the second fastest sport time. This win locked up the 1st place points in the Sport 35-39 class in the MMBA. It has been an amazing year for me.

Tufo Flexus Primus Tubular CX Tires

2009-09-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

After experiencing CX last year on my MTB with cx tires and having a great time, I decided to step it up this year. One of the major factors on a CX bike is being able to run low tire pressure to allow for better traction and added suspension to smooth out the rough spots. The down fall of running low tire pressures with standard tires/tubes is the possibility of pinch flatting or rolling the tire off of the bead on the rim. Pinch flatting is where the tire impacts an object hard enough that the rim slams down on the the tire "pinching" the tube between the tire and the rim causing a flat. Pulling the tire off the bead is exactly what is sounds like... the tire doesn't have enough pressure to keep the tire hook into the bead of the rim and it comes off. Either scenario will force you to either DNF or run for the pit to swap wheels or bikes. Either way you are going to loose a lot of time and cost you positions in the race. The solution is to run a tubular tire which is basically a heavy duty tube with tread attached that is glued to a special style of rim. This solves the issues described above and also reduces the rotating weight, lightening the bike and increasing acceleration.

After doing some research and talking with some racers, I decided to go with the Tufo Flexus Primus tubular (http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/tires/elite.php?seriesid=51). This tire is a little more expensive than some of the other brands out there but makes up for it by being more durable and easier to mount and true. This particular tire has been completely revamped for 2009 to improve suppleness (ride quality), decrease rolling resistance (By 10%), increase durability and improve wet traction. Tufo was very responsive to my questions and easy to deal with. Once the tires arrived, I had them mounted up to my Revolution Wheelworks REV-25X wheels (http://www.revolutionwheelworks.com/REV-25X.html) and ready to go for the Waterford Double Cross weekend.

After 3 races, I am thoroughly impressed with these tires. They roll with ease and smooth out the bumps, but what they do best is corner. Each race I have pushed them further than the race before. They have instilled confidence in my abilities and have allowed me to maintain speed in critical corners. One cool feature that I have noticed is that they have an audible growl in the corners that reminds me of being on my MTB!

CX is upon us!!

2009-09-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well… the season opener for CX has come and gone. It was a fun weekend of pain and reacclimation to one of the most exciting forms of bicycle racing. I have been pretty happy with my MTB performance the latter half of the year and was looking forward to seeing where I would stack up in the mix of MTB and Roadies in CX. All in all I am happy with the results. My times were competitive although not consistent and I am finishing in the top half of the field.

Saturday Race –
I lined up in the second row behind a couple fast guys and the starting sprint landed me at about 6th wheel. I held the wheel of the guy in front of me until a tight 180 about a 1/3rd of way through the lap. At that point, he parked it in the corner and my avoidance maneuver put me into the rope which somehow looped my bar and seat post. By the time my bike was free about 10+ guys went by and I had to start working my way back through the field. I drafted people as long as possible and then went by until I caught Adam Naish. We rode together for the last 2 laps or so swapping places… I was excited to have someone to race. I wanted to be in front coming into the finishing straight, so I pushed hard through the final barriers and just beat him out for the next corner. I attacked on last grass flat before the asphalt, but as we started the finishing sprint Adam rolled up next to me and won by a wheel. It was a good race but I learned some lessons and was looking forward to applying them on Sunday. Big thanks to Jeff Zimmerman for towing me around for a couple of laps!

Sunday Race –
Come Sunday morning my legs were feeling a little dead but not as bad as I thought. After warming up, I was feeling like all 8 cylinders were firing. Based on my start yesterday, I lined up in the front row and was in about the same position after the sprint. To add some excitement they changed some sections and ran others in reverse. One of the changes ran us down a sandy area that we were running up on Saturday. I decided to ride it on the first lap, which was a big mistake as I was bogged down coming out of it and allowed a group to pass me. Another lesson learned. I held a pretty good pace and stayed near the leaders until the end of the 2nd lap. As I fell off the pace I found myself on my own. The hard part about be on your own during a bike race is that you have no one to draft off of. My pace on the road sections dropped and I could tell that I was being caught by a group of guys working together. I held my own for a couple laps and then was passed by a couple guys. I grabbed a wheel and tried to recover a little. I noticed the guy ahead of me, who happened to be Chris Matthews, was running out of gas, so I went around on the second to last lap. Chris rode my wheel all the way to the final straight. Learning from yesterday’s race I took it easy until I hit the asphalt and then started my sprint. Chris was coming on strong, but I held off the attack finishing 12th of 28 guys.

Next race is this Sunday at Pando to finish up the MMBA CPS series. I need to finish one place behind the guy in third to win my class if he shows up. If I can finish well at this race, it will put the exclamation point on my MTB season winning both the Tailwind and MMBA CPS series.

Addison Oaks MMBA XC

2009-09-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Since finishing well at the Stony TT and Maybury MMBA events, I saw an opportunity to win my class in both the MMBA and the Tailwind series. In order to do this, I needed to race the remaining 2 races in order to have the minimum 5 races required to be considered for the year end awards. I also know that in order for me to win the series, I would have to win one of the next 2 races. Being that it has already been a long season and CX is starting soon, my motivation to race more MTB races has declined. Knowing that I need to win one race, I focused my efforts on Addison Oaks as I consider this trail to be my home court. I took a week off the bike at the end of August to try and regroup and then hit it hard. The 2 weeks before the race, I had completed 7 near race pace laps and formulated a plan of attack for the race.

With CX coming up and Kinetic Systems putting on a Clinic, which happened to be the day before Addison Oaks, I headed over to work on my skillz (Which need a lot of work!). Knowing that I didn’t want to completely wear myself out, I didn’t participate in the mock race and just focused on the clinic portion. Needless to say, I rode too hard and climbed the orange-crush (http://cowbell.cxmagazine.com/video/orange-crush-flyover) a few too many times and I was beat! The next morning I felt flat and still had to clean the bike and load all my stuff into the car… I was less than motivated to race.

Once at the race, I watched the Expert and Elite guys go by a few times, picked up my registration pack and got ready to warm up. After riding around a while I really wasn’t feeling it, but knew that once the race started I would get into my zone. Not having raced too many MMBA races, I didn’t know a lot of faces at the starting line which made me nervous. Although one face was very familiar and that was my buddy Mark Bourgeau, who I knew would love to take the win and was more than capable. I rolled to the front right at the start and I could see people shuffling for position out of the corner of my eye. We hit the first hill and I attacked to try and drop as many people as possible right at the start. Things quieted down pretty quick behind me, but I could hear someone there and didn’t want to look. About a mile or 2 in we caught a large group of guys in the single track. I debated trying to pick them off one by one, but decided that would be too risky and waited for the 2 track. I picked some of them off on a short open section helping to put a gap between myself and the rest of the field, but was starting to worry that the slower pace was allowing them to bridge back up. It seemed like forever and I was almost taken down by a mishap, but the 2 track came and I hit the gas. At this point I figured out that the guy on my tail was Mark which made me a little nervous. I debated taking turns pulling, but I was gapping him on the flats making him work to keep up. As we rolled through the start/finish, I had a small gap and pushed the first uphill to try and open things up and get some more riders between us. At this point I was feeling good and having fun… until I heard someone yell at me and when I looked it was Mark again!! It was at a point where the trails loops back, so I didn’t really know how far back he was… but I wasn’t going to hang around to find out. At the start of the third lap I looked back and didn’t see him. I proceeded to work my way through the last lap and even caught my wife in the last couple of miles. I rolled across the finish line only 50sec ahead of Mark. In the end, even though I didn’t feel 100%, I still managed to win and had the second fastest sport time. Next XC race is Pando… I need to finish no more than 1 place behind the second place guy in order to win the series. Hopefully my last sport race will be a good one!

Final Tailwind USAC Standings

2009-09-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

The year started a little rough, but I pulled it together to finish the year strong!! Expert will be a new learning curve, but should be a fun one!

Maybury TT

2009-08-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

After getting beat a month ago at the Stony TT, I was not sure how I would fair at Maybury. I have been a little off my game since the 12hr of Stony, but I figured that if I could pull off a win at Maybury I would still have a chance to win the MMBA CPS series in addition to the Tailwind series. I pre-rode the course on Tuesday and was feeling confident until the rain rolled in this week... especially the morning of. I preregistered, so I decided to make the drive and see how I would fair. I am not the best rider when it is wet and sloppy.

Usually in a TT they line up the preregistered racers by class and when you registered, for some reason they organized the start times by class, age and alphabetical order? This put me next to last in my class and behind 2 other age groups. The age groups weren't a big deal, but I knew I would be passing people. I rolled up to the line and was off! I knew I could catch the guy that left in front before the single track, so I hammered the first flat section and caught him by the first climb going into the single track. As I caught people, they would usually just move aside and let me by, which was very appreciated. Maybury has a lot of short climbs, so I tried to stand when ever possible to try and keep momentum. They added a lot of road and paved path sections to increase the mileage this year, so I tried to tap my inner roadie and hold a nice tempo when ever possible. Not wanting to lose by a small margin again, I stood up and sprint the section coming into the finish line. At the end of the day the effort was enough to hold on to the top spot in my age group. This is my first win of the MMBA series... next stop in this series is Addison Oaks.

Pontiac Lake XC - 1st Place

2009-08-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

I look at Pontiac as “the” race of the year. Pontiac is a great race course that has a little bit of everything… great climbs, technical down hills and fast flats. It is also at a time of the year that people are peaked fitness wise and usually not yet suffering from burn out. The Sport 35-39 class has been fast this year, as usual, and all of the top players were present. Shawn Schaffert, Tony Bastuk, Mark Bourgeau and I lined the front row. When the whistle blew, it was a 4 wide, bar to bar drag race for the first 100ft or so and I have to admit that I was a little nervous, as I didn’t want to start this race with a wreck! It was going to be a long race and I wasn’t going to win it in the first ¼ mile, so I eased up and let Mark and Tony go. I think Shawn had the same thought as he eased up and jumped on my wheel. Before the hump into the main trail I noticed that Tony faded a little so I surged around him to jump on Mark’s wheel. We had one close call right at the start as there was a guy that was late for his start time that left a few seconds before us and the group caught him just before we entered the woods. I think Mark scared him, as he started veering off the trail and then jumped back in just as I was coming by. I was able to avoid him and stay upright with out losing too much time to Mark. I heard Tony compliment me on my recovery, but I was sure that it was just one of many close calls that would happen during the next 19+ miles. The group of 4 stayed together until 2 mile hill when Mark and I split a slower rider on the climb and gapped Tony and Shawn. I rode Marks wheel for a while knowing that I could go a little faster, but I liked the pace and thought that it would allow me to have more energy later in the race. Mark was starting to slow a little on the climbs at around mile 5, so I went around him and immediately tried to break his will!! Thinking I put a reasonable gap on him, I settled into a comfortable pace. On the last climb near the end of the first lap, I looked back and saw that he was only about 10 sec behind… needless to say his will was still intacted and I was a little worried at this point. Once on the flat, I tucked into an aero position and tried to gain some time. Knowing my strength was on the climbs and his was on the descents with his full suspension bike, I pushed the pace on every climb and tried to be smooth on the descents. With about a half a lap to go, I started seeing a guy behind me that I though was Mark. It ended up being a Sport Clyde that was crazy fast with a similar jersey, althought it motivated me to go faster for a few miles! Once over the last climb, I tucked down and hammered to the finish and took the win by 40s over Mark. My first lap was 43:47, which is my best lap ever at Pontiac and over 2 mins faster than my first lap last year. The second lap was 4 min faster than the second lap last year. The hard work is paying off and hopefully I can make similar gains next year to allow me to be competitive in the expert class. This race solidifies my 1st place standing in my class, so I will be entering my first expert race at Stony in a couple of weeks to see where I currently stand amongst the big boys!

I would like to thank Chris, Tony, Ron and all of the guys at Fraser Bike for their support, my wife and kids for allowing me the time to train and race, Robert for running such a great series and Cannondale for producing such an awesome bike!

Cyclocross Season is almost here... Decisions!?

2009-08-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Red or Black?

6/12hrs of Stony – 2nd Place

2009-08-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was originally going to do this race as a 2-man team, but Jeremy’s move to NYC had me rethinking the race. I have been feeling pretty good and have never done a 6/12hr race solo, so I looked at this race as a way to test myself. I registered online earlier in the week and then proceeded to get sick the middle of the week!! I was feeling OK Friday evening and figured that I would still do the race. I set a couple of goals for myself… 1 - Finish at least 100 miles 2 - Not cramp 3 – Not have to hike-a-bike! I prepared 12 bottles, 2 flasks of goo, bananas, and a couple Cliff bars. With everything loaded up the night before, Nathan and I woke up early and headed to Stony. It was a little different for me at the start than a normal race as I looked at this as a race against myself. The team guys went out first and then at 8:01 the solo guys took off. I rolled out at a smooth pace and quickly noticed that my bars were not square with my bike, so I stopped about a ¼ mile out and found out it was loose… (Long story!). I tightened it up and was going again. I changed my Garmin to read HR at the top instead of speed. I tried to keep it around 150bpm, as that corresponds closely to my endurance power. The first lap or two was a challenge to not go too fast, I kept trying to take the “edge” off of the climbs. By lap four, I felt I had a good sustainable pace and my HR was where I wanted it to be. Mike and Evan came blowing by be in the roller coaster putting perspective on how slow I was really going!! By lap 7 or 8 I could see my primary goal in sight and my nutrient was working well as even though my legs had no power, I wasn’t cramping. As I finished my 10th lap, I asked where I was in the standings and they told me 3rd and on the same lap as the guy in second. I made my first goal of 100 miles and had a chance at 2nd place. As I rode to the scoring tent, the guy chuckled and said that my last 5 laps had each been quicker than the one before… interesting. I pushed on and soon had Jeff Socia on my wheel who was in first for the class. He complimented my riding which gave me a boost and we rode together for a couple of miles until we hit one of the steeper climbs and I fell back. At this point I was talking to my legs as if they were my car and I was running out of gas with a gas station coming up at the next exit. As I was finishing up my 12th lap, I saw Brent taking down markers and he said that they called the race due to a storm that was blowing in. I finished up my last lap (which was the fastest of the last 7!) with a total of 121 miles and 9,000 ft of climbing in 11hrs with out cramping or getting off the bike for a second place finish out of the 8 guys in my class! Mission accomplished… and then some!!

I would like to thanks Laura Riffe for all of her help during the race… I couldn’t have done it with out her!!

Thanks to the Cannondale/RBS/Sandbag/Soul Cycles/Signoutfitters guys for cheering, it helped to keep me going!!

A Weekend of Racing!!

2009-08-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

Tree Farm Relay – 1st Place Advanced Co-Ed

The Tree Farmers put on a relay race every year at Lakeshore Park in Novi. It is a fun race with a Le Mans start, leis, costumes and drinking. I’ve missed it the past 2 years due to other commitments and Laurie had a team together, so I talked to my buddy Jeremy and we started to pull something together. I recruited my friends Chuck Nicholson and Marne Smiley to complete our 4-person Co-Ed relay. There were 2 classes, sport (1 lap) and advanced (2 Laps), I would have been happy only doing sport, but Marne made the call to do advanced as she is a studette. As the race date closed in, Jeremy found out that he was going to be moving NYC in short order, so he had to back out of the race. I made some calls and twisted my friend Erik Koehler’s arm to come and join the fun. Chuck and I rode the trail a few weeks before and felt pretty confident that we could produce a fast time. The week before the race, it rained for multiple days but looked like it was going to be clear for the race. The morning of was overcast, but I was confident that it would clear up. Nathan and I jumped in the car, stopped at Starbucks for our pre-race Mocha (Me) and marble loaf (Nathan), and were off to the race. As we got closer, the rain came down… and didn’t let up until after the race had started. Marne called and said she would be late, but should make her start time. We decided to do the 2 laps back to back as we felt that it would be more efficient. The race was delayed a half hour hoping the rain would stop. Erik went out first and was the first advance rider to finish the first lap as well as the second. Everyone looked very dirty as they came around and after riding the first couple of miles during my warm-up, I found it to be very slick. Prior to Erik coming in, I listened to the promoters talk about delaying the Sport race start till after the advanced riders made it through… but they changed there minds and started the Sport race on time which happened to be right as Erik finished his second lap. I was a little discouraged as I now had to work my way around a lot of slower riders. Once I made it around I tried to get into a rhythm, but was having a hard time navigating the slick corners with my Stan’s Raven on the rear. A couple advanced guys went around me on the first lap and as I started my second lap I again had to get around slower riders that went out in the second wave of sports racers. The course was starting to dry out and I was able to drop over a min off of my first lap. As I finished I saw Marne in the ride exchange area ready to go. Marne put in a solid couple of laps, but we figured out we were about 16min behind the leading team with one rider to go. Their female rider was the last to go and Chuck was set to run her down. He made up a lot of time on the first lap and I updated him with the split as he came through for the second. In the end, we came up with the win as Chuck came in minutes ahead. The coolest part of the race was being able to race with your friends in a fun atmosphere, although I could have done without the rain!! Cleaning the bike was not what I was looking forward to when I got home…

Props to my wife Laurie!! It was a slick and technical course and she hammered out an awesome lap!!

Stony TT – 2nd Place

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel after racing the day before, but the legs seemed to feel good. Nathan and I once again jumped in the car, stopped at Starbucks to get our usual and drove to the race. One of these days I will talk Nathan into actually doing a race as Nolan Osgood has been competing on the “Big Boy course” for a couple of races and having fun!! I knew that I was going to have a good race as my legs felt really well during warm up. I usually don’t do as well during TT, as I need the motivation of other racers. As we lined up I noticed Shawn Schaffert in line a couple of rows up… I knew if I could catch him, that I would do well as Shawn has been fast all year. Once lined up, I narrowed my focus and was off. I knew from past races that the 2-track at Stony was a very important part of the race. I pushed hard on the 2 track trying to keep as low as possible as there was a strong headwind on the way out. I passed a couple of guys and tried to maintain as much speed as possible on the climbs. As I closed in on the entrance to the pines, I could see Shawn’s red Cannondale jersey. I knew I wasn’t going to catch him in the single track as he is as fast as or faster than I am in the single track, it also didn’t help that I was held up a little by a couple of riders. Once on the climbs before the snake, I could seem him and closed the gap a little yelling at him that he had better pick it up!! We rode together in the Roller Coaster and I would gain a little on every climb and as we hit that last 2 track climb, I finally caught and passed him. We rode to the second creek crossing together and then Shawn dropped his chain. I hammered the final flats and came in with a time of 54.37. At the end of the day I ended up 2nd by less than 2 sec!! I gave my all and was happy with my finish. Props to Shawn for his 3rd place finish… I am sure that I helped to motivate him as much as he motivated me!!

I want to also recognize my friend Chuck Nicholson for his win at the TT!! He had a great weekend with a win on Sat and Sun!!

Big 'M' XC Race - 1st

2009-07-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

The week before this race was pretty rough (Self induced) as I rode the Birmingham ‘A’ ride on Tuesday and then did my first workout in the lab at my new threshold # on Thursday. My sleep habits were also rough as I would sit down at night and start watching the Tour and then not get to bed until late. I made an attempt at getting some sleep on Friday and then ended up not sleeping long enough on Saturday night as I planned on driving up the morning of leaving at 6:00am. Having ridden Big M while on vacation a few weeks before, I had time to think about how to attack it. The first 2 miles were pretty flat with a long climb to follow which were both non technical. I figured I would get out in front and set the tempo high enough that people would just not want to stay with me and then push up the climb and try to maximize the recovery on the back side. There were a few new faces at the line, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get to the front right away. The whistle blew and we were off! The start was less aggressive than I thought, Shawn Schaffert and I were side by side and he decided to check up to get on my wheel. I pushed the pace on the flat section averaging 17mph to the climb, but still heard a group behind me. Once up the climb, I felt I had a gap and tried to recover but the hammering at the beginning pushed my HR and it took the rest of the lap to get into a more comfortable rhythm. The second lap was uneventful as I was just trying to make clean passes and keep the bike upright on the downhills. Towards the end of the second lap, my lack of sleep was really setting in as I felt fatigued. My legs were really starting to feel it the last lap, but I managed to push hard to the end. Since I had a reasonable gap, I took it easy on the last down hill as I didn’t need to finish my race with a wreck! As I rolled across the line, I noticed Shawn hammering away only a short distance behind for second. I am dreading moving up to expert as the extra lap is going to kill… I will probably stay in sport for Pontiac as it is a 30 mile race in expert and then make Stony my first attempt at an expert race.

Stony Marathon

2009-06-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

This race was pivotal for my series points finish as people typically need a good finish at one of the two double points races and my 5th place at Brighton wasn’t going to cut it. Having home course advantage, I knew my advantage would be in the single track sections. My plan was to pass as many people as possible before hitting the pines. Since this is a Marathon race, Tailwind group some classes together to minimize the number of start waves since everyone goes out at 10:00. My wave consisted of 3 classes that encompassed the ages 19-39, which I knew would be to my advantage as I could pass a bunch of people earlier than when we leave in waves 1min apart. I also liked the fact that my friend and teammate Jeremy Clark would be leaving at the same time with the hopes of working together on the flats. I noticed as we were lining up that Dave Krenk was at this race. He showed up for Brighton and dominated the race and I knew that he would be fast. When the whistle blew Dave went out hard, leading the pack, and I was about 6th wheel. At the first climb, I pushed hard and was now 2nd wheel behind Dave. We pushed hard on the 2-track to pass the Sport/Beg SS before the pines, I passed Dave on the back 2-track climb and pulled to the pines. At this point it was me, Dave and Jeremy in tow. Once through the single track I talked to Dave about working together to get a gap on the rest of the field since we dropped Jeremy. We then worked together to maintain a fast pace on the flats until he flatted on the down hill before the start/finish. I then caught Susan Stephens and rode with her as her pace seemed very sustainable and she was fast on the flats (Giving me someone to draft off of!!) I rode with her and a couple RBS guys for a while and then Susan and I gapped them on the start of the 3rd lap. I again kept pace with Susan until she had a horrible crash in the rollercoaster trying to go between the 2 tight trees in the new section. She said she was OK, so I kept going. At this point I was all alone until I caught my buddy John Osgood at on the climb up the backside of Sheldon hill on my 4th lap. John pulled me around the back 2-track before the pines and then I was off again. My left calf was starting to cramp, so I had to alter my pedal stroke and spin up some of the hills I powered up in prior laps. I was catching quite a few beginners at this point that held me up, but also allowed me to recover. As I finished the last 2-track climb, I saw Dave Messing who was starting his 5th lap and I was just thankful that I was almost done!! I rolled across the finish with probably the biggest win of the season!!

I would like to send out a big thanks to my wife Laurie for being my support person for this race, you did an awesome job!!

Back up to speed...

2009-06-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

With my knee issue at the start of the year, I felt like i've had a hard time getting back up to speed. Now that my “new” knee pain is out of the way, my knee feels more like I remembered it did last year! Hopefully someday, I will be able to say that I can ride with no pain. I am just thankful that I am able to do everything that I am doing right now. After surgery a few years back, I didn’t think that I was going to be able to do half of what I am doing now.

Fast forward to today, I feel that I have been lucky to finish as well as I have at this point. The down side to finishing well for me is that mentally I see that I have the potential to do well in the series and in turn I expect more from myself at each race. Each race has been a new challenge and has pointed out strengths/weaknesses in my riding/training. Bloomer showed that I hadn’t been riding my MTB enough and didn’t have the confidence to ride fast in the tight stuff. Brighton confirmed the same and showed that I really need to pre-ride prior to each race. Ruby proved that giving my MTB some single track love would help with my results, not to mention that I pre-rode the week prior. I have been really happy with my fitness as this point as my lap times remain pretty consistent from lap to lap.

This Saturday’s race at Stony Creek is probably going to make or break my season as it is a double points event and needless to say I had a less than stellar performance at the first double points race at Brighton. The series takes your best finish between the 2 double points events to count as your double points race for the series and the other one will count as single points. I’ve been pushing my recovery limits since the Ruby race, rode the Stony Marathon course on Monday, Intervals on Tuesday, lots of sleep from Wednesday on, eating the right foods (which surprisingly dropped 2 lbs off!!) and will do an easy pre-ride tomorrow... all in preparation for this race. Stony is a Marathon race that is 40 miles compared to our normal sport races that are around 20mile. Last year I had major cramping halfway through the race, so I am also putting together a plan for better nutrient/hydration. All and all I feel I am back on my game and am hoping to have a couple more decent finishes in the sport class before moving up to expert.

Ruby Race - 1st Place

2009-06-15T06:42:00.001-07:00

I felt good going into this race as I pre-rode the course with Chris and Greg the weekend before and had some strong feeling rides the week of the race. This race has a long straight before the first climb that allows people to sprint longer than normal. I went out at a good clip but 2 guys were ahead of me going into the first little climb. One guy was fast, so I didn’t want to let him get away, the other guy held me up on the climb as he was spent from the sprint. I was a little frustrated as this section is tight and doesn’t allow for passing. Thankfully the first two guys didn’t take the tight tree path allowing me to pass the guy in front of me and get right on the wheel of the lead guy. We rode like this for a while until we ran into traffic and were held up, almost wrecking me! That let a couple of guys around putting me 4th wheel. I worked hard to catch back up getting derailed on both big climbs on the first part of the course causing me to hike a bike on hills that I would otherwise ride. At this point I was pretty discouraged as the guys in front of me were all good riders and I would have to almost ride a perfect race to catch them, let along pass them! As we were finishing up the back half of the course I could just start to see the 3rd place guy, knowing that he is not fast on the flats I pushed hard through the start finish line to get around him before entering the single track for the second lap. I then slowly started to reel in the second place guy… during this process we were constantly separated during passing. I asked him where Jason (The other rider) was and he said he had flatted, I then knew that this was going to be a tough battle. I finally passed him at the water crossing calling on my cyclocross experience to dismount faster than he did getting around him at the waters edge, but we still had a lap and half to go. He then rode my wheel the whole race. I tried to gap him a couple times, but he held on. I was thinking that he was going to sprint around me at the finishing straight… Lucky for me, I finally put a gap on him at the downhill switch backs, but I could still see he wasn’t that far behind. I pushed to the finish running the water as fast as I could. I tucked in an aero position and pushed on the straight waiting for the sprint, but when I looked back he wasn’t there. I rolled through with my first XC race victory!!

I want to thank the Elite/Expert guys for hanging around to cheer us on… it meant a lot!!

Coming up to speed...

2009-06-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

Pontiac Lake TT –

Not having trained much this winter due to a knee issue, I wasn’t expecting much out of this race. I used to hate Pontiac, but as my cycling skills have matured, it has become one of my favorite placed to ride. I rode 4 laps the weekend before, so I felt like I knew the course pretty well. As we went off I focused on winning the first race with the guy that went out with me… mission accomplished. Once in the single track I tried to maintain a sustainable pace that would allow me to make it to the top of 2 mile hill without being on the limiter… step 2 complete. From here to about mile 9 I just tried to get around people as quick as possible and push on the flat sections. Coming into the last climb I felt pretty good and put the hammer down knowing it was all down hill after I reached the peak. Once on the 2-track, I put it in a big gear and didn’t let up until the finish. In the end, my plan worked as I won my first sport race by 10s over second and 20s over third!! Close race!!

Fort Custer –

Feeling good after my win at Pontiac, I decided to make the trip to the Fort. Fort Custer is a fun course as it has a lot of unique single track and some wide open 2 track to hammer on. When we arrive, they told us that they were running Granny’s Garden in reverse!! Now this worried me as anyone that has ridden Granny’s Garden knows that there are some drop offs that would be a bear to get up in reverse, but the expert guys said it wasn’t an issue. As we lined up it seemed as if there were 50 people in the class. Watching the clock, instead of listening to the start, I jumped the start by a spit second, then stopped and restarted. This error caused me to be running mid pack at the start and having to pass a lot of people to get towards the front. By the time we hit Cardiac climb I was sitting about 4th wheel when a couple of people failed to make the climb and we had to dismount… this also happened at the CPR climb. Granny’s Garden proved to be tough, but there always seem to be a path to get up the drop-offs. I then found myself riding Jason Dellinger’s wheel for a while until he let me around wanting to ride my wheel, which was fine. After the water crossing I looked back and he was no longer there. At this point I thought I was leading as Jason was the last rider in our train. I then caught and rode with the leader of the Sport/Beginner SS class for a while and noticed someone from my class closing in. I tried to push the pace a little but he kept coming. He eventually passed me just before the boat launch, so I jump his wheel and held on. I noticed that he was slowing on the climbs, so I just waited for the sprint to the finish. As we rounded the last corner before the trees, I stood on it and took him on the inside for what I thought was the win. After looking at the results, I found that Mike Stoliecki went off the front early on and took the win. I felt good the whole race and love the sprint finish… reminded me of CX!! Glen Moore caught some of the finish on film… Great shots Glen!

Bloomer –

Let me first state that Bloomer is not my favorite place to ride… very tight and technical low speed corning which is not what I excel at!! Before the race, I watched a few areas of the course as the expert and elite guys raced. I had a plan for the corner before the down hill at the sled hill… More to come on that!! This time I waited for the whistle and had a good start, I noticed a guy that I had an issue with getting around last year at this race trying to get out front, so I put the hammer down and lead the pack. As I approached the sled hill I put my plan in motion… although the turning patch that I was going to use was tore up from the expert/elite race and did not exist anymore!! As I when off course trying to maintain control, my bar clipped a small pine tree causing a spectacular dismount… Once back on the bike I was third wheel. At the bottom of the hill, I found that my controls on the right side were out of position, so I rotated them back around. I worked my way through the course trying to catch Mark Bourgeau who was running 2nd. I could see him in the single track but couldn’t catch him. My knee started to bother me towards the end of the last lap, so I eased up a little and finished P3. Good finish considering the start!

Brighton Stag Race –

Torn Shirt TT –
Being that tight and twisty is not my specialty; this race always puts me at a disadvantage. Also not riding all week due to my knee issue also didn’t help. I went out 30 sec ahead of Shawn Schaffert, so I used him as a gauge of my performance... which was not good. I fumbled on a couple of the climbs and he passed me in the last couple of miles. I almost made a wrong turn out to the road, but recovered and made up some time finishing on Shawn’s wheel finishing in 5th for the stage.

Short Track Race –
Having raced CX last fall, I was looking forward to the short track race, which was basically 1 ½ miles of riding on the grass around flags for 5 laps. I grabbed a front spot as did my teammate Jeremy Clark. I had an OK start and rode the wheels of a couple of CX bikes for a half a lap and then went around them. I was right on Jeremy’s wheel running P3 until I was gapped during passing. I kept pushing and then when I was passing a couple of slower riders near the end, a rider cut into me clipping my bar. I recovered and thought I was fine, when all of the sudden my bike stopped from the rider turning into my front wheel and sending me flying. I took a second to see if I was still in one piece and then ran back and got my bike. At this point the guys behind me had caught up and I now had to push hard to not lose any positions. Shawn went around me and I was challenged at the end by Jason Dellinger who I just edged out in the sprint placing me 3rd in this stage.

Murray Lake XC –
Still sore from the crash on Saturday, we had the XC race to complete to end the stage race. This is a fun course but is challenging due to the 2hr length. We again lined up and off we went and I ended up sitting 5th wheel. The front runners took off and I was held up by a couple of wrecks allowing a couple guys to get around me. After being passed a couple of times and then later by the leaders of the older age groups, I knew that this was not going to be a great race for me. I eventually picked off a guy from my class but just didn’t have enough to catch back up with the leaders. Laps were consistent and I felt good the whole race finishing 7th for the XC and 5th overall for the Stage Race. It’s looking like I have my work cut out for me this year.

Year End and CX Wrap-up

2009-01-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

Now that the cycling season is over, I figured that I would take the time to reflect on a very fun year of racing. I met a lot of new friends and I am looking forward to hanging out and racing in 2009!!

Lake Orion HS Series
The year started out with some fun Winter/Spring races at LOHS. Steve Kinley did a great job working with the school to put on these races as fund raisers for the Athletic Department at LOHS. We raced one winter race in about 6" of snow... it was brutal, but fun!! We were almost taken out by some snowmobiles at one point! LOHS put on 3 other races in the spring and Mark Terrian (Biscuit) and I battled it out in the sport 35+ class... unfortunate for me Biscuit took the series.

Fun Promotions Endurance Series - 6/12 Hours of Addison Oaks
My friend and teammate Jeremy Clark talked me into this one. He really wanted to do it and was having a hard time finding someone to do the 6hr 2-man with him in the open sport class. I was free that weekend so I volunteered. Laurie was at my parents in Ohio, so I drug the kids to the race and they played/assisted Jan Mack with the water bottles. This race had to be one of the highlights of the year for me as I went into the race with few expectations and left with my first MTB win!!

MMBA CPS Series
I had every intention to concentrate on this series, but as fate would have it... it started out bad! I had been sick the first part of April and ended up with a less than stellar performance at Yankee. This was followed up by a DNF at the Fort due to a guy cutting me off during a pass that ended up with me going over the bars and breaking my glasses. This ended up being expensive since I now concluded that I needed to have contacts in order to not have this issue again. I ended up with only 4 races due to conflicts during the year, which put me out of the points chase. I finished strong with a 3rd place finish at Addison Oaks.

Tailwind USAC MTB Series
I originally wasn't going to concentrate on this series (Read above), but after a couple decent finishes I had a chance to be top 3 in the sport 35-39 class. These races are close to home making it easy to show up and race and be home the same day, not to meantion that the races are held on trails that I am familiar with. Of the 6 races I completed in this series, the 2 that stand out for me was my 3rd overall at the Brighton stage race after a horrible Torn Shirt TT and my 3rd place finish at Stony. I ended up 3rd overall in my class in this series which I was very excited about since this is my first full year racing and only my 2nd year riding.

Cycling Saddleman Hines Drive TT
I really enjoy the speed of my road bike, so I decided to try one of these Hines TT races. I signed up my tank of a road bike in the Eddie Merckx class (No Aero bike class). I had one mechanical issue all year and this just happened to be the race that it happened at. My saddle was not level, so I adjusted it the night before the race. I also ride with my saddle all the way forward on the post (This is an important bit of info). After my warm-up and almost missing my start time, I was off. At first I didn't notice, but as the race went on, I felt like I was really reaching for the bars. I realized very quickly that my saddle had moved all the way back and was slightly loose. This really hindered my ability to put the power down and did not allow me to be able to reach the drops. I finished mid pack and still had fun. I am looking forward to tackling this race again next year!!

Tailwind Cyclocross Series
I went into cyclocross because it looked like a good time... and I was right! It can be very painful at the time, but the racing is awesome! You can usually see the guy ahead of you most of the race and finishing sprints are common. This type of racing really showed a weakness of mine... I have a hard time going hard for 30 min staight. I am much better at pacing myself for 1-2 hrs. I had a solid season racing on my MTB finishing 5th overall in the C-men class. I am looking forward to racing CX next year on a CX specific bike.

Iceman
At this point in the season I was starting to get worn down. After wrecking bad last year at Iceman, I was looking to redeem myself! After getting into the sand at the beginning and loosing track of the lead pack, I just raced my race. When it was all said and done... Iceman ended up being the highlight of the year. I finish under the elusive 2 hr mark with a 1:57:44 time and podiumed taking the 5th spot in the 34-36 Sport Men class!

With 23 races under my belt in 2008... I am very excited about get back at it for the 2009 Season!!

Happy New Year!!

Iceman... and the "plan"

2008-11-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

Iceman turned out to have near perfect conditions, all thing considered. The temps were around 40 and the rain for the most part held off, but the rain that we received the night before seemed to have really packed the sand in. I wasn't sure what to wear but figured that I have been warm enough at the CX races at similar temps so I went with what I have been racing cross in. I have never shivered soo bad in my life as I did at the starting line!! I was thinking that I made a big mistake and would be paying the price for the next 2 hrs!
Now as I said before... I had a plan. By riding the course in the lab earlier in the week, I had a general idea where the hills were and where the flats were. I had received a bike computer for my birthday and finally put it on the bike and had it working before we left. Part of the plan was to track where I was at to prepare for the hills... I couldn't get the computer to work during the warm-up!! When the starter said go, we were off... I don't remember ever feeling cold after that which made me very happy! Part 2 of the plan was to use my HR monitor to maintain a HR range that will keep me from blowing up... it worked up until the start and then freaked out and stopped reading. So much for the plan... I was letting the lead group of guys set the pace until we hit the first sand pit, which was called out, but I ended up taking the "bad line". This forced me off my bike and I was off and running. By the time I remounted the bike, at least 8-10 guys had passed me. I was thinking that it was only a mile (or less) into the race and I was already having issues, not a positive thing. I then just put my head down and ran my race. I was feeling pretty good and soon found myself riding with a guy for a while, so we talked a little. We found out that we were in the same class... and he told me that he ran 1:58 last year. I started thinking that I may be on pace for a sub 2 hr race. We passed a lot of people, I think I passed more people in this one race than I did in all the races this year. On one stretch, I put it in a big gear and attacked trying to gap him, but couldn't. Since he was in my class, I figured I would try and stay with him to the end and then race for the spot... this would have been a good plan until I caught one of the tandems. Now this wasn't the first tandem but it just so happens that I caught this particular one right before the final piece of single track and it took a long time before I could pass. By the time I got around them I was out of the hunt so I just hammered out the final miles. I figured that I had a decent time by the shear fact that I passed soo many people and had very little issues. I went over to the board and saw that not only did I break the 2 hr mark at 1:57:44 but I had also made the top 5 in my class!! WooHoo!!
Lastly, my favorite part of this race was that my wife also did the race and we got to hang out most of the weekend! This was her first Iceman and finished in a very solid time of 2:58!!

Next stop: Munson CX on Nov 16th in Monroe.

Time...

2008-11-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates... I have been getting harassed by a couple of friends. Time has been hard to come by with the kids in school. I have been spending time with Nathan in his Cub Scout en devours, we went to a trail blazer day and a camping weekend. We shot BB guns and bow and arrow... he is pretty good with the BB gun once we figured out to keep the barrel higher so the BB's wouldn't fall out!! Ash and James were both home for a few days. It was nice to spend time with them as they only make it home a couple of times a year. Another high point is that we are now back to one dog as Ash took Daisy with her back to NC. I am a little sad as Daisy and I had a bond, but she was high maintenance and Ash will give her the attention that she deserves.

Biking update - Massive fall out was fun, but I could have had a lot more fun with bigger tires. I have learned that skinny tires are good for grass and pavement, but are not good for much else. We are leaving for Iceman tomorrow... not sure how I feel about it as the weather is going to SUCK!! Cold and rainy is not my favorite riding weather, but it is a fun race with lots of people. I rode the complete course in the cycle lab at Fraser on Wednesday and I have a plan. CX racing has also consumed a lot of time. I will update more on that when I get back, but here are some pictures.

Start of Vets Park race

Barriers at Vets Park CX

STEEP run up at Lower Huron CX

Uphill barriers at Lower Huron CX

Skinny tires for the 29er!!

2008-10-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well they are on and the bike is now down to ~22lbs! We will see how much of a difference it makes at the next cross race. I am going to try them out on the Massive Fall Out Ride this Saturday... hopefully I don't land on the ground too many times!

www.massivefallout.org/2008/

On The Limiter!!

2008-10-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

As I woke up this morning, excited to try my first cyclocross race, I walked out the door to frost on the yard and on my windows. As I scraped my windows off, I contemplated what I was going to go do... Ride a bike in the cold on wet grass at max effort for 30 mins!? Sounds like fun right!? I arrived early and rode the course... the frost on the grass was collecting on my tires like I was riding in snow and I was having a hard time following the course. Once on the right track, I had it in my head what I needed to do to get through it in once piece. As I rolled up to the line it was somewhat what I expect, but not what I expected. Based on what I was told, I was expecting to see more than a couple of mountain bikes in the C-Men group. There were 2 or 3.... out of 27 in my class. I was feeling like I had brought a knife to a gun fight. Before I knew it we were off and I was struggling to keep up with the front pack. Once I settled in, we came up to the first set of barriers and I made it through. Now mind you that that I have only practiced a few times in my back yard... I was having a hard time committing as it is not natural to want to exit the bike while moving. As we worked our way through the course I buzz a few tires and drifted a few corner calling out my passes. I haven't used my HR monitor for most of the season as it is normally a distraction, but thought it might be useful during this race... every time I looked down at it, it was around 180-185 bpm. I wasn't going to ease up, so I quit looking. As I was finishing up my second lap I started to catch another group of riders which inspired me and I pushed as hard as I could to catch them. I worked my way through and gapped them by the time we made it to the beach. Due to my poor running ability, the next guy that I was chasing gapped me so I pedaled through to a 12 place finish. Hopefully with some barrier practice and some skinny tires, I can bridge the gap to the front of the field! What a great way to spend a beautiful fall day.

My race with Laurie to the Finish!

2008-09-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

I wasn't originally going to talk about this, but since there are pictures, I figured I would share. During the Elite/Expert race, I was going out and running along side my friend Mike Riffe to cheer him on. When Laurie was coming around to the finish line, I figured I would do the same thing... then I decided that I might as well "race" her to the finish.

The final surge!

The finish!!

I had a really good time at this race due in part by the fact that it was a family affair. Nathan and Arianna also both raced in the kids race and had a great time wearing there metals around. I am really excited about next year because Laurie is talking about racing more!!

Addison Oaks XC Race (3rd Place)

2008-09-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Since DNFing at Fort Custer (I was taken out by a guy that turned into me during a pass and broke my glasses) and getting off to a slow start this spring in the CPS due to being sick, this race was all about having fun. I think this trail is one of the best in the state as it is fast and flowing and just keeps getting better thanks to Pauly, Steve, and Chris. I have been feeling pretty good lately expecially after the Stony race as the pressure is off and I have had time to recover. I had thoughts of racing Expert at this event, but wanted to see how I would do against the riders in the CPS. When lining up, I looked around and noticed we had a big group and since the single track is fast and tight, I wanted to get out near the front early. My teammate Dave Messing had the same thoughts as we were leading the pack as we entered the trail. I stayed with Dave for about half of the first lap until Christian and MV went around me. I followed Christian for a while but we kept getting caught behind people. I passed Christian and headed out to see if I could reel in Dave and MV. I pushed on the hills and start passing people from the classes ahead... I think I took out one guy by accident (If you read this I am sorry!). If there is one thing that I need to work on, it is passing people! Later in the race I was almost taken out by a guy that crashed in front of me... it was a good thing that I gave him some room!!

One thing I enjoy more than anything is catching friends of mine and talking a little smack as I go by. Brian Brown is one of those guys that I seem to catch every race and he always lets me go by with little issue. I think I actually motivate Brian as he always comments on how long/short of a time/distance it takes me to catch him!! He along with the whole Precision Concrete Team have a great additude about racing! My friend Jeremy is another as we are on the same team and push each other on rides. I started to catch him in a spot where I could seem him early enough to tell him I was coming for him. Once I was behind him we rode together for a little while and talked... he then about took me out as he was "letting me by"... it pays to look ahead for trees!! We laughed about it and then hammered on. I was feeling really good towards the end and since I was passing SS guys, I was now on a mission to pass my friend Matthew Faraday. It was just my luck as we were on the grass going towards the finish line I saw him racing another guy, so I hammered to catch them. I caught them right at the finish line... mission complete!

My wife also did this race... as she did sooo well at Stony, I told he she had to race Sport at this race!! She was a trouper and made it around 3 laps with her last lap faster than her second. She finished next to last, but is now talking about racing next year!! She is very competitive and this will probably motivate her to ride even more.

I will probably do Grubers Grinder TT next, but the real focus for the end of the year is to finish Iceman in under 2 hrs.

Addison Oaks Chapter Benefit

2008-09-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

The Addison Oaks race was a big deal for me not just because it is my favorite trail in the area, but because I was part of the group that was promoting it. This was the first chapter benefit race for the Metro North Chapter of the MMBA. Nick and Marty Shue and I have been working on this on and off all spring/summer. Unfortunately, the summer went by very, very fast and we found ourselves with a little over 2 weeks to go and a lot to get done. Fortunately, Marty works very well under pressure (See her blog – Corporate Hippie) and pulled the awards and shirts together in short order (Thanks for the design Jeremy… glad we didn’t do light blue shirts!! LOL!!). Mike Moss along with other volunteers stepped up to fill in the gaps on race weekend. I was a little nervous when I showed up in the AM, but Anne and John Gualt were great to work with and registration happened without a hitch due in part that Robin and Shari have had a fair amount of experience with registration and did a great job. This race has pulled ~250 racers for the last few years and at the close of registration we had 333!! The weather was great and the trail was in great condition thanks to Pauly, Steve, and Chris who have spent countless hours working on it including the new section that was debuted at this race. At the end of the day, we had very few if any real dramas and everyone seemed to have a good time. Thanks to all of the racers that came out to support the event because we could do with out you!!

Choices...

2008-09-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

OK... so the dealer called today and they complained to Honda that they are not getting enough Fits and are now receiving a Silver one and a Black one. They also informed me that someone backed out of a red one and it is now available. The color I want is White, but I don't know when I will get that one as the Black and Silver cars will not arrive until mid October. Anyway, I put up a poll to the left to see what you guys think.

Goodbye my friend!

2008-09-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

OK... So I have this Ram3500 Diesel that I bought when I was hauling cars around and Laurie and I were looking at larger travel trailers. This has been my favorite vehicle of all time and I have had a lot of cars, including everything from a Camaro and Mustangs to Ford Lightning and a Chevy 454SS truck... probably around 20-25 in total. The funny thing is that now that my primary interest is biking, my 1-ton 4x4 Diesel truck has turned into a very nice bike hauler which is very amusing to people as well as my self! A bit over kill and not cost effective. So the truck is now sold and should be leaving me tomorrow. So what would someone that would drive a truck like this replace it with you ask. Well seeing that all that the replacement vehicle has to do is transport me to work, my kids to school and my bike to the trail, I decided that the most practical vehicle would be a Honda Fit (See picture below). It gets an easy 35+mpg, it has 4 doors, and my bike will fit in the back!! I know... its not as cool as the truck, but with the money I save on gas, insurance, and the cost of the car I could buy a very nice new bike every year (I've included a picture to the right of the one that I want... My birthday is only about a month away)!! Laurie, this is only a figure of speech as I know that you would kill me if I bought a new bike every year.

Stony XC Race

2008-09-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been looking forward to racing this race all year as it is my home course and I know it well. With the rain that we had earlier in the week, the course was shaping up to be very good come race day. I hadn’t been feeling that strong most of the summer and coming into this race was not different. Earlier in the week I felt like I didn’t have any legs left… so I took time off the bike and waited for the race. Sunday morning I woke to the sound of rain on the roof. I debated not going, but if I was to hold on to my position in the points I needed to show up. It rained all morning until just after the Elite and Expert guys went out. Soon the sun was out, I was warmed up, my legs felt great, and we were off. I used a little different strategy at this race. I decided to attack the 2 track climbs instead of conserve to try and get in front of the slower guys before the roller coaster. I started out easy filing in behind my teammate Mike Riffe and was mid pack by the first climb at which point I attacked passing 4-5 people putting me behind teammate Dave Messing who was following Paul Wood, the leader. Mike must have also liked my strategy as he caught up with us during the first climb after I went by him. I hung with the leaders for the first lap and part of the second lap until we caught the back of the SS class and were separated trying to pass in the single track. I then kept a steady pace for last portion of the race… UNTIL!! Chris Matthews, the point’s leader, flew around me in the last section of 2 track. I told him that I thought I was going to finally finish ahead of him for once!! I then got it in my head that I wasn’t going to let him beat me and hammered to get on his wheel. I drafted to the top of the hill by the team tent and then put the hammer down, went around him, and didn’t look back until the finish line. He later said that it was all he could do to catch me on the 2 track and when I passed him back, I stole his MOJO!! I finished 3rd at the race and also locked up 3rd in the series in the Sport 35-39 class. This turned out to be my best race of the year as I felt good the whole race, got to race with my teammates Dave and Mike, and had a finishing race with another competitor! My wife Laurie also raced her first XC race in the beginner woman 30 – death class and WON!! I am very proud of her!!

Start of the race!!

Dave Messing leading the train!

Mike and I... doesn't Mike look determined?

Waiting for the go!! Look at those legs!

Making it look easy!!