Jingle Cross

Jingle cross in Coralville Iowa features one of the toughest cross courses in the Midwest. White knuckle descents, slick, muddy run-ups, log jumps and a technical sand pit favor the mountain biker skill set yet the many wide open power sections and relentless hill climbs favor the roadie type that can churn out huge power.

Big payouts in all categories and UCI status ensured a big turn out for the weekend of racing.

On both days the 3/4 field was over 100 deep. In terms of field size, it was probably the biggest cross race I ever lined up for. There was no cat 2 race at jingle cross so the field was probably filled with a bunch of cat 2 sand baggers such as myself who did not have the required UCI license to do the elite race.

It was the first time I got to line up next to Tim all season, and he gave me a beat down on both days. Well done Tim. You're performance shows you are ready to bump it up a category and do well in the 3's next year.

One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to see the elites race. I learned a few things by watching their technique, how they ration out their effort, and studying their bike set up. I also learned that I have a long way to go if I plan on racing with them in the future.

It was a good weekend of training and even though I was disappointed in my results, I am glad I went to this race.

I would like to send a special thanks to Tim for getting us a nice hotel room with all the sweet hook ups for a pretty good price. I would also like to send a thanks out to the Coralville police department for having pity on a poor bike racer and not issuing him a ticket for speeding.

Happy Cranksgiving from Iowa

I'm back home in rural Iowa for Thanksgiving and we received a nice snow cover yesterday. I went for a short gravel grinder ride this morning (after throwing on several layers). Everyone talks about the new XTR's mud shedding ability, but i wanted to test their snow shedding ability. I might turn this morning workout into a 2-a-day with some Wii Sports this afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Tim

Asheville NC

Is it worth driving 10 hours to ride some sweet trails in the Appalacian mountains for just a few hours? Yes, it is, and that is what I did this past weekend.

Derrick, Eli and I went drove out to Asheville for a weekend of riding and partying. I was also able to fit in a cross race into the busy schedule.

On the drive there we stopped in Oak Ridge TN to ride at Haw Ridge Park.The trails were pretty good, but I didn't fully enjoy it because my brakes were not working. It felt good to break up the long drive and get the legs moving though. The trails were not too far out of the way located only about 10 miles off the interstate. We rode until sunset and continued on to Asheville.

When we got to Asheville we were hungry so we went to Limones, an upscale Mexican restaurant. Derrick's freind Amy owns the restauraunt and her husband Hugo is a really good cook. I had a lobster, crab and shrip quesadilla and it was awesome.

After that we explored the local bar scene looking for beer and women. What happens in Asheville stays in Asheville, but i can say that Eli made me an honorary member of Blue Racing for my exceptional wing man abilities.

The next morning I did a cat 2/3 cross race called the North Carolina Grand Prix. It was a really challenging course with lots of elevation changes, a steep hill called the wall and a sand pit. I had a last row call up so I spent the entire race trying to pick off the next person ahead of me.

My finish was middle of the pack, but I was happy with how I finished the race. With one and a half laps to go I caught three other riders. We rode together until I pushed it on barriers and the steep wall. After that it was just me and one other guy. We rode together until I attacked in the sand pit with about 1/4 mile to go. I got a gap, but when I tried to shift from my small ring to my big ring it kept misshifting and the gap I had was closed down.

The race finishes with 3/4 of a lap around a track. He was on my wheel and I couldn't shake him. Coming around the last turn he jumps with 50 meters to go. He moved ahead but I refused to give up. We came across the line in a photo finish and the officials gave it to me. The sprint was only for 24th place, but this finish means a lot to me because in most races this year when I'm in a group at the end of a race, I usually find some way to lose. It was a big race and the competition was tough so I think this was my best 24th place finish ever.

After the race Derrick was feeling sick and didn't want to ride so Eli and I went out for a 45 minute trail run along the Blueridge Parkway. I think running the undulating mountain terrain is going to help me next week at Jingle Cross when I'm running up Mount Krumpet.

The next day we went to DuPont state forest to ride the trails out there. These trails are nice. There are some long climbs but they are not too long. Once you get to the top the trails flows nicely and you bareley have to pedal to get back down the hill. Each trail connected to one or two other trails yet were connected to fireroads so you could ride all day and yet not get too far from where you parked. I've ridden a lot of nice trails in the western North Carolina area, but these are some of the best.

The next day I woke up early and did hill run repeats while carrying my bike. After that everyone else woke up and we drove home. It was a lot of fun and a great place to train.

Estabrook Park cross

I straightened my derailleur hanger and adjusted my brake which were both messed up from the crash yesterday, but I decided to skip today's race in Milwaukee.

I just finished up an intense training block and I need a recovery week RIGHT NOW. Yesterdays lackluster results could have been the result of cumulative fatige, so racing today won't help my training at all.

This will be the transition to the second half of the season. I have some big races coming up and I'll need to have fresh legs.

The remaining 6 races on the schedule looks like this:

North Carolina Grand Prix 2/3 race (2)
Iowa Jingle Cross 3/4 race (2)
Wisconsin State Championship master's race
Illinois State Championship 1/2 race

My goal for the remainder of the season is to start accumulating as many points as I can so I can upgrade to cat 1 next year.

Campton Cross

Today I figured I would try to do 2 races in one day and see how that goes. Looking at the results sheet I see that a lot of people do it. How hard could it be?

This will be the first time I am racing in the master category and the 1/2 category this year so I'll have a chance to race against different people.

1) Master's Race. This was the first race of the day and the course was very slippery from the morning dew. I crashed three times and lost a little skin, but my bike was fine. My goal was to start out slowly and build to a hard pace by the end of the race while saving something in tank for the afternoon race. My competitiveness got the best of me and I was quite spent by the end of the race with just a 9th place finish to show for it. The masters guys may be old, but they're still quite fast.

2) Cat 1/2 Race. I was in trouble from the beginning. I didn't have the gas in the tank to power the open sections and was dropped quickly. Welcome to the elite race. My legs were dead and I probably would have quit then, but my parents came to watch this race. I rode tempo and eventually caught one guy who also looked pretty tired from doing the earlier race. Half way through the race I had trouble dismounting coming into a downhill, high speed barrier. I barely clipped out before the barrier, but I couldn't get the footing to jump over and ran straight into the barrier and somehow landed on top of my bicycle. I was right by the pit, and I could have swapped bikes, but I was hurting pretty bad and figured it would be better to call it a day and recover.

My friend Kelsall said I took a chunk out of the barrier. I'm lucky I didn't break any bones and that I only did minimal damage to my bike.

I learned today that if I am going to race the 1/2's, I will have to focus all my energy on that. 2 races is too much for me at this point in the season. I give much respect to all those who do 2 races. Your endurance is impressive.

2007 Xterra World Championships Race Report

We arrived on the island of Maui on Wednesday before the Sunday race. I spent three days flipping between bouts of anxiety over the race, and being able to relax and enjoy some sightseeing around the island.

They have a practice course available to ride (no pre-riding of the actual race course at Maui). But it’s only about 4 miles, and gives you just a very small taste of the real deal. So, going into Sunday, I really felt like I had no idea what was in store for me.

On Friday I went to the xterra university mtb clinic, hosted by pros Jamie Whitmore and Mike Vine. They struck the fear of god into me, about being prepared for mechanicals, flats, and crashes. They both recommended 36-40psi, which threw me for a loop, because I practiced the course at 26psi! They also said don’t go out with spare tubes that don’t have slime, because if you flat once, a regular tube won’t hold up. So I panicked and bought 2 slime tubes – those are not light weight to carry! I was way over-prepared for flats and mechanicals, but better than being unprepared! After the session I inflated the tires to 40psi, but stewed over it. On Saturday I went to my second clinic, on the art of xterra, hosted by Conrad Stoltz and Melanie McQuaid. I asked for advice to Maui first timers. They both said ‘have fun!’ and ‘do whatever you have to do to finish!’. So, that was my mantra for race day. They also both recommended 29-32psi! Ack! Now what to do??? After the session I asked the Maui bike mechanic, and he said I should go with 30-35 when I’m on tubeless, and if I have to put a tube in, pump that up to 40 psi. So, I did that, pumped to just 32 and went with that. (and no flats!)

I organized myself Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning had my cheerios and poptart, and rode down the elevator to set up my transition area, talked with a few people I knew, and went back to the room and watched some football to escape the race craziness for a while.

Once it was time to really get ready, I headed down to the beach. I wanted to seed myself right behind the pro men, and get a nice clean start. They kept inching into the water, and everyone followed. Someone on a bullhorn called us out of the water, so I walked back out, and stood next to a pro woman, and she laughed that no one was getting out. She said this happens every year, and they just shoot the cannon anyways. And sure enough – they did just that – with me on the beach and about 100 people already in the water in front of me! I was so pissed! The first ten minutes were fighting a losing battle with a mass of people who were slower than me. I can’t even call what I was doing swimming. We were all fighting the 3 foot swells, and I was fighting to find a way through the pack, when some guy next to me hit my head with his arm. And again, 4 more times. The last time he just pulled my goggles right off! Uh-oh!!!! Somehow my hand found them, and I started swimming water polo head-up freestyle with goggles in one hand, eyes getting sprayed with salt water, and people all around me, I was looking to the right, I had to swim through maybe ten people to get clear of the mass. Finally clear, I got on my back, put my goggles on, and started swimming. I swam the rest of the lap and the entire second lap out to the right of the pack, no drafting. I just swam on my own. No doubt I gave up 3+ minutes on my swim time, with precious energy wasted fighting through all of that. This was a huge lesson learned!

Out of the water, with a less than stellar 25 min swim (for me), and running the path to transition, I was pushed out of the way by several men who didn’t seem to think there was enough room on the 5 foot wide path to get by big ole me, without throwing a few elbows!

Finally onto the bike, and now I was going to learn what this race is all about. The first mile or so takes you out of the hotel and up the street. Then you start climbing. First on a small golf cart path, then gravel road, then dirt and sand road, then red dirt/silt path, with lava rocks marbled throughout. It goes up. And up. And up. Sometimes its gradual, sometimes it jumps up steeply – steeply enough that sometimes you have to walk a section – and lots of people do. This first climb seems to go on for about 5-6 miles. It was a much longer initial climb than I expected, without any real flats to give you a break. Heartbreak hill comes in that section. I’m not even sure which steep section was heartbreak hill, because there were a few sections I thought were going to break my heart! My heartrate felt maxed out the whole race. A little respite now, and some rollers, some short and steep, some less so. Plenty of lava rock scattered about, but no stretches where you have lava rock covering a hill from top to bottom and side to side – that was to come later! I think Ned’s climb comes next. I swear you climb steeply most of that climb for several miles. It is a brutal climb, on sand and loose debris. By this point several women I knew had passed me, and I was trying to key off another woman with a 40 on her calf. We went back and forth, until after one stretch on Ned’s climb that we walked, I couldn’t get clipped back into one pedal, and had to stop and operate on my shoe and unwedge a rock from my cleat. I lost contact with her then. The plunge is next, and it’s steep, and sometimes not too steep, the top was not bad, if I stayed relaxed, and only used my rear brake. I made it through without any catastrophes, but I was cautious, and probably should have gone faster. Then a section with softball and larger and smaller sized lava rocks, covering an entire steep slope. It looked scary, and about half way down, I drifted too far left, and started to head off the trail, into grass and rocks (and possibly the dreaded kiave thorns). Somehow I managed to stop the bike without wiping out, let a couple of folks go by, and then got going again. You’d think you are done climbing by now, 16 miles into it, but somehow they manage to throw in a few more climbs, not long, but long enough that you have to really work each one for several minutes, putting in some real effort to make it up the rock strewn hills. About one mile out, you are at the top of a hill, that is now turning into sand/gravel, and runners are going up the same one. A little demoralizing to know they have close to 2 miles on you, but you keep going. I can’t count the number of people on the bike course I saw stopped fixing flats, and some riding home on flats. I felt so fortunate to have escaped without any problems – despite carrying my camelback with what must have been 10 extra pounds of spare tubes and tools, just in case!

Back toward t2, and I saw Todd and he had recruited some folks standing near him to cheer for me. At my rack, I wanted to sit down and stretch my back, but there was so much activity, I thought I better get my ass going, and stretch at the finish. So off I went. The first three miles are up hill. Yes, three miles. Up hill. Maybe a short flat section, or maybe it was just a false flat. But plenty of steep up hill. And it was not pavement, or hard packed dirt trails like we have. It was broken pavement, sand and gravel. I had to walk a few stretches, as I thought I might implode at any moment if I didn’t. There was no shade yet. Thankfully, mother nature found it in her heart to send cloud cover – 85 degrees and cloudy was better than 90 and sunny! I was so happy to hit the turn at mile three, because I knew I was going to head back down toward the beach now. But first the down hill was at least one mile of lava rock, and red dust. Jeez, that red dust is messy. Its so fine, and just rises up like a powdery cloud, and coats your skin, your nostrils. Ick. I was already covered in it from the bike – only the lead cyclist and runner don’t have to deal with that red dust! I was happy to enter spooky forest, some sand trails through the crazy Maui trees. Then the sand beach. This was energy sucking at its best, especially after what we’d already been through. Now it was maybe a little over a half mile on the sand beach. Just painfully slow. I was happy (yes I was happy at this point) to get off the beach, until my calf twinged and scared the crap out of me. I did not want to hobble the last mile to the finish. Just one step more, and it was ok. Now I was smiling (inside) again. Next surface was a rocky point of hardened black lava that you had to pick your way over. Its short, but jagged, and you don’t run this section. Another calf twinge! Ugh. Its walk and pick your way for 20 yards or so. Then the little salt and pepper rock beach, a little more sand, and then you see the resort – its right in front of you! And the twinges that kept coming to the calf through that last half mile, don’t matter now, because I run up the path and cross the line with a smile – I think I was smiling!

Wow!!! That was incredible. It is the hardest race I have ever done. I felt like I gave it everything I had on this day. I also learned what this course is about. And that my training next time must be better, and different. And I will work hard next year for another shot at this now not-so-mysterious-Maui course.

Finish time was 4:08. 8th out of 15 in my AG, 62 out of 131 for all women.