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Illinois State Championship - Montrose

Thank goodness the season is finally over. I've been going all out since I started the season in March and I am beat.

I didn't really want to do this race because I had a pretty good feeling where I would finish, I've lost the motivation to push through the pain in an hour race and it's friggin' cold outside. On the way home from Jingle Cross Tim convinced me to not punk out and finish what I started. So instead of taking a much needed break I pushed on for one more week.

I signed up hoping my form would magically turn around and my legs would feel less tight and fatigued. Unfortunately there were no Rocky Balboa-like finishes and I finished at the back of the pack in an uneventful finish to the season.

Oh well, at least the course had a lot of fun and challenging elements. I even had some fans out there encouraging me during the race. Brandon and Derrick didn't race but they braved the cold weather to come out and cheer. Derrick even brought a set of drums so he could bring the noise every time I rode by.

Tim had a great race in the 3's and he looks to have good form. He signed up for Nationals but unfortunately he's not taking his own advice and he's skipping it.

He earned an upgrade to 2 and it will be nice racing with a teammate in the 1/2 races next year. Given all the good guys in the 3's upgrade next year, the field for the 1/2's should be fairly large and really competitive. It will be fun next year.

I'm kind of down about my season right now just because I feel like crap but I had some success.

- competed in 20 races
- Victory at the Ithaca (MI) Grand Prix
- 13th in the 1/2/3 Chicago Cyclocross Cup Series
- 7th in the 2/3 Tailwind (MI) Series
- Upgrade to Cat. 1

Now I look forward to some time off and then some unstructured training before I ramp it up for the 2009 Xterra season.

Jingle Cross Video

Ted has been sending these all day, the only appropriate thing is to post them! Enjoy the laughter that others' pain can bring you during the holidays:



Ted, I didn't see the other guy wearing any red, is there a reason you turned into a bull and decided to ram him? Was it something personal?

So, did you like that little clip? How about seeing it from another angle:



When watching this, I can't help but to hear John Madden in my head shouting "BOOM" as Ted lowers his head....

Jingle Cross Rock 2

Day 2

I woke up Sunday morning and looked outside. The ground was covered in wet snow and snow was falling at a 60 degree angle. Normally I would be excited about racing in these conditions but I was actually scared to do the race because the course is so difficult that when you add in the element of zero traction some parts could be downright treacherous such as the descent down Mt Krumpit.

When I got to the race it seemed like there were half as many cars in the parking lot as the day before. A lot of people must have wimped out when they heard the weather report. I must admit, they were a lot smarter than me.

Tim and I preride the course and I was able to ease my fears when I was able to navigate the treacherous descent down Mt. Krumpit. I dial in my tire selection and air pressure and I'm ready to race.

My start puts me top 10 and I figure this could be a good day. Unfortunately my race unraveled on the first run up and the decent down the off camber side of the hill. I'm trying to run up the hill yet sliding backward. Once I got to the top people were falling down all around me trying to navigate down the side hill. I couldn't do any better and I fell about three or four time while trying to run/walk down the hill.

I ride around the course and make it to the base of the backside of the Mt Krumpit climb. I slide out at the base of the hill. Traction is terrible and I can't remount, forced to run up I lose a bunch more spots and am really doing a bad job of conserving any energy.

At the top I have confidence I can ride the down hill and start to make up some time on the leaders. All the fans are at the bottom cheering and taking pictures. I find a good line and let go of the brakes and let gravity take me down. Someone in front of me crashes and I'm able to steer around his carbon fiber bike. So far, so good.

However the rider gets up right in my line and we collide at full speed. I haven't hit anyone that hard since my days of playing linebacker back at the Academy. The fans were camped out there to see crashes and they got a good one. As I was laying in the mud I heard one spectator say "ewww, that was bad." I hope someone got that on video because I think that crash could make me a youtube star.

I'm dazed and confused and slightly bloody but my bike is OK and I keep going. I can't remember much else from the race except that I crashed and fell a lot.

Another back of the pack finish for me on day 2 but I still won some swag. At the end of the race Team Skin awarded me a pair of Oakly Flak Jackets for having the best crash of the 2/3 race. It almost makes the throbbing pain in my head and neck worth it.

The last race of the year is next week at Montrose Harbor. I hope I recover enough to toe the line. Hopefully we'll get a pretty good turnout from the rest of the team for one last race before the cold and dreary off season begins.

Jingle Cross Rock 1

Jingle Cross is the best race in the Midwest with a course that features tough climbs and scary descents, lots of fans, and a nice payout in all categories.

Day 1
I show up to the line and 1 minute before the start and notice the pressure in my tire has gone down to about 2 psi even though I filled it about an hour ago. I hate Michelin latex tubes. Every one I used this year has failed me. They are very expensive yet they are poorly constructed and they fail at the valve stem where the tube is connected together. I'll never use Michelin latex tubes again.

My goal was to focus on going hard off the line, making it to the pit, switching bikes and getting back in the race. With such low pressure in the tires, I nearly crashed through every turn and was in last by the time I switched bikes. Unfortunately I didn't have it in the legs to make up much ground on anyone, was over geared on my backup bike and had difficulty on the steep run up Mt Krumpit.

Oh well, I usually do much better on the second day.

That night the host hotel had a screening of a movie called Zero Traction. It was a documentary about the 2007 KC Nationals and how racers had to not only battle their fellow competitors, but also the harsh Midwest winter. It was pretty good and I liked how it focused on more than just the pro race and gave the amateur racers plenty of camera time as well.

I had heard on TV that there were winter storm warnings but little did I know that Zero Traction would foreshadow the conditions we would face the next day.

Lansing Cross

I was the only Get a Gripper to make the trek to the south side for the Lansing cross race this weekend. It was a pretty basic course with sweeping turns and 0 feet of elevation change per lap.

The best part of the course was the sandpit. The cuttin crew, half acre crew, and xxx crew were hanging out there acting loud and rowdy offering encouragement and mockery every time someone came through. Their mockery motivated me to ride the sand pit the second half of the race rather than run it. Once I found the line and the technique, it was the only part of the course where I felt like I did fairly well.

The 1/2 field would have been small but they added a collegiate field to the race. I also noticed a lot of the guys who did the masters race were lining up for this race to pull off a double.

I tried out a new strategy of going all out at the beginning of the race rather than my traditional way of racing by putting out even splits. The first lap turned out pretty good and the leaders were actually still in sight. On the second lap gaps were starting to grow but I was still going pretty fast but wondering if how long it would be before I blow. Third lap I crash and once I gathered myself I found out I had nothing left in the tank. I wish I had brought some Gu's and Gatorade with me. I shifted down to my small ring and did lap after lap wondering when I would finally recover. 3 or 4 laps to go and I am able to put in a few hard efforts but still not feeling great and finish mid pack.

Collegiates from Lindsey Wilson College came out to the race in full force today and took the overall in the men's race and the woman's race. It's a small college but they have a stacked cycling team.

Next week I'm considering racing Woodstock, or a double race weekend in eastern IA or a 2/3 race in Michigan. The season is getting short so I might as well take advantage of any opportunities left to race and start chasing upgrade points.

Save Farris

The last few weeks I have been really burned out on training. I can hardly muster the strength to do any hard intervals durring the week. On top of that the temperture has noticibly dropped to near freezing levels making training rides more painful than they should be. After Saturday's ride in driving wind, drizzle, and temps in the 30 - 35 degree range, I was ready to call it a season. Training is not fun anymore.

Then on Sunday I showed up to the Save Ferris cross race in Northbrook. After walking around the course and watching Tim's 3 race, I was excited about cyclocross again. The course had 2 difficult stair run ups, a fast and slippery ride down the sledding hill and plenty of off camber sections, muddy sections, roadie fast sections and tricky turns to keep it interesting throughout.

Once I got out there and raced, the course was as fun as it looked. I might hate training right now but I still love to suit up and race on the weekends. I might as well enjoy the last few weeks of the season, because once the races stop I know I will miss it.

Tired of getting my butt kicked at Chicross races and in search of a victory, I drove up to Ann Arbor for a weekend of cat 2/3 races.

Saturday I felt flat. The pace off the start line felt slow, but I just couldn’t dig deep enough to find the motivation to move up. A mediocre start and someone crashing in front of me just as he makes a pass puts me mid-pack halfway through the first lap. The rest of the race I watch the 2 leaders work together fairly well to put time on the field every lap. I eventually work my way up to fifth, and then with 2 laps to go move into 3^rd and that’s where I finished.

I usually feel much better on the second day of back to back races. Now that I knew who the contenders were, I knew who to watch and where I wanted to be positioned. Unfortunately I’m not that smart of a racer once the race starts. After the start I am way back in 7^th or 8^th and I watch the guy I wanted to draft roll off the front and immediately get a 10 second gap. After the first lap I move from 8^th to second and try to chase down the leader. Unfortunately only one guy jumps on my wheel, and he made me pull in all the hard sections. So while the leader was not building a huge gap on us, we were not working too well together to cut into his lead. The guy I was riding with was the Wisconsin state criterium champion, so I knew if I didn’t drop him before the last lap he would use all his roadie tricks on me and out-sprint me for second place. With one lap to go I started to push hard in sections I didn’t push hard in before. The plan worked and he started to fade back. Then I noticed that a lead I thought was once insurmountable now seemed possible to overcome. The lead riders lead shrank from 300 meters to 60 meters on the last lap. Unfortunately, I ran out of real estate and had to settle for second. One more lap and I think I could have taken him.

Thanks to the wonders of chip timing I was able to see that I was able to catch him not because he faded, but because I really stepped it up in that last lap. My last lap was the fastest lap of all the racers laps in the race. This is a good sign my training is paying off and that I have the ability to be more aggressive than I am right now, especially at the start.

Photo by Zach Maino

SpookyCross weekend in Iowa

First I would like to thank and commend ZoomPerformance and Elder Corp in Des Moines, IA for putting on a fun race at a great venue. I pre-reg'd for 4 races this last weekend, 2 Saturday and 2 Sunday. A 45min Cat3 race, a 1hr 15min break, and then head back out for another hour of racing against Cat1,2,3 racers. I thought this was a good idea at the time.

There is already a write up about the course and weather/wind. Here: http://cyclingupdate.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=403&Itemid=29

It wasn't long before we left the grass and took a hard right onto the edge of a real Iowa beanfield... and this was after about 3 days of rain! You can only imagine the type of mud the course quickly became...and it didn't get any better as the day wore on!

We had the same 40-50mph gusts in Iowa that you experienced in Chicago which made racing interesting.

I felt less than stellar during the first race and came in disappointed at 6th place for the Cat3 race on Saturday. 6th isn't bad, but I had higher expecations. I had no legs for some reason and people were just dropping me on any uphill sections. I would fight back to make contact and then I'd get dropped again. I knew that the Cat1,2,3 race an hour later was going to be brutal ... and I was right. I started in the 2nd row and was quickly dropped to DFL in the first 1/4 mile. I fought my way back up to 15th/18 and only got lapped once!!! :-) At :30 minutes when I was riding towards Nicole I was making the finger across the throat gesture signaling that I'm done and planned on pulling out after finishing the lap, but as I rolled through I just couldn't allow myself to quit in front of a group of people, so I continued out for one more. 8 minutes later I was back and fighting the same battle, finally convincing myself that I only have 2 more laps, I've already raced 50 minutes, might as well finish. I was worked over and discouraged about my prospects for tomorrow.

Sunday arrived to cooler temps and 50mph winds blowing us all over the place. I'm not sure what changed from Saturday, but somehow I found better legs and was able to snag 2nd place in the Cat3 race. I now have most of the points needed to upgrade to Cat 2. I decided that I had enough racing for the weekend and skipped the Cat 1,2,3 race, instead opting for a burger and beer instead.

Chicross race in St Charles on Sunday up next.

Tim

Regional Champions

I just received my XTERRA Regional Champion jersey. Pretty cool!!

Tim Yuska - M25-29 Regional Champion

Ted Ramos - M30-34 Regional Champion (His 5th regional championship)

Cheryl Stine - F40-44 Regional Champion (Her 2nd regional championship)

Now that's what I call a weekend!!!

With all the Chicago Marathon hoopla going on, I decided to create a Cyclocross marathon for myself. There was a 3 day UCI CX event (Fri, Sat, Sun) going on in the Cincinatti area that I decided to do. There was also a ChiCross race on Sunday, so I decided to come back early and do both the Cat3 and Cat1,2,3 races in Chicago on Sunday.

Results Recap:
KY Cat3 Day 1 45min - 18th (flat tire, switched to mountain bike)
OH Cat3 Day 2 45min - 7th
Chicross Cat 3 45 min - 5th
Chicross Cat 1,2,3 60 min - 10th

KY cross race 1
40ish line up for the 45 minutes Cat3 race in 80+ degree heat.
I'm second row and work to top 5 in the leadout before hitting the dirt. Not picking good lines, I slip to top 10 and holding. Super rutted and bumpy course and a couple nosedive ditch crossings (imagine riding down one side of a V and then up the other, impossible not to slam your wheel into the dirt) Blow my front tire half way through the race and need to run a 1/4 lap to the pit to grab my Orbea (thanks for fixing the brakes Jeff!! They work 100% better!) I'm able to catch about 5 guys who passed me during my mechanical issues and finish 18th on the day.

KY cross race 2
Another sunny, dry, 80+ degree day in OH
I'm second row again but have a worse start and fall to mid to low teens. This course was much more interesting, fun and looooong at almost 8 minutes per lap. I'm riding steady, reeling in riders ahead of me and shedding them. I finally settle into a group with two others who are also riding strong. I'm able to drop one rider in an offcamber Z turn section, but now fighting for position with the remaining rider. One the last lap we are even heading into and exiting the sand pit but I smoke the run and get a gap. Turning down the final straightaway I'm hammering a big gear to try to put it away but I couldn't raise my cadence and saw him closing the gap. I threw it at the line and held my spot for 7th on the day and another 45 minutes in the books.

Nicole and I pack up, say goodbye to her friends late in the day and start back for Chicago, not hitting the pillow until 1:00am

Chicross Cat3
Jeez, can we get some relief from the sun?!?! Another annoyingly beautiful day (I'll regret these words in February). This is probably one of the toughest courses I've seen created for the ChiCrossCup. There is a toboggan hill that we had to ride up and then shoot down into a 180 right turn just to suffer up the hill again. The course is pretty straight forward with some long power sections. The RDs do a call up for the Cat3 top ten men and then everyone else falls in behind. I'm second row but get another bad start and drop to the low teens heading into our first attempt at the hill. I find a good rythym and start reeling people in. I was able to apply a few lessons that I learned while watching the pros yesterday and rode a fairly clean race. I was able to work my way up to 5th and kept cutting the time gap to the leaders, but my start seriously handicapped me. I coast into the finish at 5th place and get ready for one last race.

Chicross Cat1,2,3
This is a horrible idea. I just tell myself it's training, but another hour climbing that Tobaggon hill is going to be miserable. I've accepted that my starts suck but no clue how my legs will react. I enter the first climb near the back of a pack of 30 riders. Many of them doing their first race of the day. I know the course well by now and I'm taking fast lines. That doesn't help the fact that I'm nearly cracked trying to stay on Brad Zoller's wheel (The Cat3 race winner). We try to help each other and work on reeling in a group of four about 15 seconds ahead of us. I lost Brad after the toboggan hill about 20minutes in and now I have to catch the group by solo. I shocked myself by catching them about 2 laps later and was encouraged by their comfortable pace. I sat in to recover for about half a lap and then attacked on a pavement section. I looked back and found no one, I've created a 10 second cushion. I hang on for the next 20 minutes and happily complete my final lap. I couldn't believe that I had worked my way into 10th place. Out of the money, but very encouraging for my 2nd race of the day and 4th on the weekend.

No one will mistake me for Barry Wicks or Ryan Trebon (and not just because I'm under 6'6"), but I feel good about my form at this point of the season.

Xterra Nationals - at beautiful Lake Tahoe

I've had a hamstring/glute/adductor issue, and had not trained for 8 days leading up to this race. I have no expectations for this race, as I just wanted to experience it and finish and see how I handled the altitude (in the past I've gotten altitude sickness on several occasions).

Friday I woke up at 4:30am, was at the airport by 7, paid $210 to take my bike and bag - uh $215! what! I thought about not paying and staying home, but plunked down the credit card and went through the gate (turns out United airlines overcharged me according to their website, so now I have to fight with them for a refund). My first flight was delayed 2 hours, and I missed my connection from Chicago to Reno, and had to get a 2 stop flight through Denver to Reno. My luggage didn't make it and I arrived in Reno to rain and 40 degree weather. We drove to Tahoe, it was snowing when we went over the Mt Rose mountain pass! Day 1 was not so great.

It rained all night Friday night, woke Saturday morning to much of the same. And my luggage arrived! My bike box (only used 3 times so far) was damaged, and they had taken apart my box and not reassembled the packing correctly so I feared for damaged or bent components - damn airlines/TSA! Fortunately, upon re-assembly, the bike worked normally.

Saturday's expected high 40, rain and wind advisory. The xterra Nevada swim was cancelled and turned into a duathlon. That evening was the pre-race dinner, where I received my regional points winner jersey - yeah!

I awoke Sunday morning to stars! yeah! Clear skies in the forecast. It was 35 degrees as I set up transition. Wetsuit on and headed down to the 59 degree crystal clear water. The race started, and the water temp didn't feel that bad. Sun was bright and directly to the left, so I just breathed right so I could see. For not swimming for 9 days, I didn't feel too bad. Getting out after the first lap and running across the beach I felt a bit woozy and a bunch of guys passed me as I stumbled back into the water. Another uneventful lap (for me at least - I still can't figure out why people get so worked up on a swim and try to bash all over other people fighting for space instead of just relaxing and letting things spread out for a few seconds). Anyways, out of the water and I fumbled with cold hands and feet to put on shoes for the 1/4 mile run to t1. I'm always amazed how fast many people run to t1, I just manage to get there without passing out, and spend what seems like 10 minutes trying to get my wetsuit off, then camelback on, socks on, shoes on, gloves on, glasses on. The hands just don't work so well when they are cold! As I was sitting there in the sun I felt so warm, I opted for no additional clothes for the ride. Maybe a mistake?

Out onto the bike, the climb starts right away, in a half mile it turns into a sand road, and it goes on for 3 miles. And its steeper than the mile long climb at my local trail - the whole 3 miles. I was in the granniest of granny gears I had - for the entire climb! I gasped for air, and stopped twice just to breathe. I thought I was the only person who got off my bike in the race (come to find out there were others!) . Had to push bike a long way to spots where I could get on again and resume riding each time. I was soooo happy to reach the top. I really did not manage the climb or the altitude well. It was difficult to eat and drink, I tried to get some down, but it was cool and the stomach was not entirely happy. The flume trail section was next and as beautiful as any trail can be. You ride along the edge of the mountain overlooking the lake - 2000 feet up! You can't really look down, or you'll ride right off the edge and down for a thousand feet or so - I think - I never looked over long enough to find out. After you round Marlot lake, another climb which forced me to dismount again to breathe, then some more rollers and climbing - ARGH! One last dismount to breathe - this was really killing me! But then a very cool section of downhill singletrack with rocks everywhere, switchbacks for a few miles. I actually rode this pretty well considering I was in oxygen debt, and my legs and arms were screaming with fatigue. A few dabs, no crashes, and I may have gotten off the bike once in this stretch for some rocks I couldn't navigate. The descent down Tunnel Rd (which took 45 minutes to climb), took just a few minutes to descend. It was a chilly downhill, and my quads were burning so whenever I could sit for a couple seconds on a smooth section, I'd sit for a second,and then get back up off the saddle. Into t1 2.5 hours later! sooooooooo glad that was over.


Fortunately the run is flat, just snaking around the woods near the transition area. Again I had no idea what to expect, since I had not tried to run in the past 8 days. Not the best way to prepare for a race! The leg actually held up well, I think the lack of O2 slowed me down more than the legs or any small loss of fitness I might have had from the training hiatus. I managed a slow run the whole 10k, and was just happy to be finished. 7th out of 12 in my age group.ugh.


I felt sick after the race - very bad headache and a bit of nausea. 8 advil and 6 hours later and I felt more human again. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to this race since I just seem to get sick every time I go to altitude. Its not really a very plesant way to spend time, or money... but sometimes you change your mind. I've learned to never say never... and it really sucks to be defeated by a course.

Now its time for a break and hopefully the injuries can heal up!

Happy October! my favorite month of the year.

Ithaca Grand Prix

This weekend there were a couple big UCI cyclocross races up in Madison. Disappointed that there wasn't a Cat 2 race, I sought out somewhere else to race. I found the Ithaca Grand Prix in MI as an alternative to the Madcross presents Jonathan Page's Planet Bike Cup in Madison.

I attended this race last year and it was a well organized race with a fun and challenging course and a generous post race raffle.

After another night of sleeping in my car, I got to the course early and scouted it out. I made a last minute decision to change my tires and as a result I got a second row start spot. There was a 200 meter hilltop prime right after the start and I figured I would rather start conservatively and ride steady. I missed the hilltop sprint and before I knew it I was at the back of the pack. It took one lap to pass the fast starters and catch the leaders.

I rode behind them for two laps studying their strengths and weaknesses. I didn't want to be a wheel sucker so I attacked after 3 laps. I had a decent gap until I had a mishap remounting my bike after a run up and crashed. Slightly dazed I got up and was passed by two riders. Luckily, neither the bike nor I were damaged in the crash. It took a while for me to get back in a rhythm and catch up to one of the 2 leaders while the other guy was starting to build a bigger lead.

I noticed that they were learning to take corners better and it would be harder to catch the leader. I also knew that attacking in the same place as last time would not have the same effect so I needed a new strategy. Three laps to go and I bridge the gap to the leader with power moves in the open sections. Unfortunately the third place guy was able to sit on my wheel so we were back to a group of three battling for the win.

I sit in and bid my time looking for an opportunity. 1 1/4 laps to go and I attack in the spot that I crashed. I figured they wouldn't expect it there. The remount is followed by a climb and an open section and I pour on the power. I create a nice gap and now I need to ride smart and smooth for one more lap.

1/2 a lap to go and I see one guy hasn't given up yet. I accelerate in all the open sections and go as fast as I can in all the running sections. I've done this in training and know I can hold on until the end. Everything goes perfectly and I come across the line for the win.

This win has been a long time coming. My last victory in a bike race came in '01 in the citizen class MTB race at Kickapoo.

Post race I got a cool 1 X 9 t-shirt that happens to match my Salsa Chili con Crosso.

Chicross - Jackson Park

The first local race of the year was a lot of fun. There was a good representation from the team in all race categories. Dean, Ken and I raced the Masters race, Tim raced the 3, potential new team member Jennifer raced the woman 4, I did the Elite race, and Brandon, Bill and Geoff from the shop raced the 4A.

For Brandon, Bill and Jennifer, this was their first race.

The teams top finisher on the day was Tim in 9th place.

The overall turnout for the race was great and Greg from triple xxx put together a fun and challenging course that was wide enough to handle the large fields.

Everyone is looking forward to the next race in DeKalb.

First cross race of the season

I wanted to get a jump start on the season and get a race in before the first Chicross race in Jackson park. So I left Friday, slept in my car and arrived in Davisburg MI on Saturday. Arriving early allowed for plenty of practice loops on the course to develop a race strategy. With many off camber 180 degree turns I wanted to make sure I had plenty of traction so I set my tire pressure low.

I line up for the start and get into the top five off the line. Then as we hit the first gravel section about 15 seconds into the race I hear a pop and the air burst from my tires. Dang, something similar happened to me at Jingle Cross last year. DNF? nah, I drove to far to get here, make it to the pit and swap bikes.

After spotting everyone a minute and a half lead I get on the gas and ride a steady TT attempting to catch as many riders as possible. At the end of the race I passed over 20 riders and ended up in 12th.

Disappointed, I'm going back to Chicago.

24 Hours of Seven Oaks

Derrick, Brian, Tim and I (Ted) drove out to Iowa for the 24 Hours of Seven Oaks race in Boone Iowa. This is probably the fastest growing segment of mountain bike racing but I have never tried one before so I figured I would try one out and see if it is as hard as it sounds.

The course was damaged in the recent Midwest floods so much of the trail system had to be re cut. On the preride lap this made the course really slow without much flow. It didn't seem like a fun course. Luckily, as the day went on, all the bikes broke in the course and made the course roll a little easier while still maintaining technical elements such as steep switchbacks both uphill and downhill, roots, and narrow bridges. Once I learned the nuances of the course after the second or third lap, I started to like the course and appreciate the challenges it presented. Each lap was 7.5 mile and had about 980 feet of climbing.

Derrick started the race with a LeMan's style run and got the hole shot just like we expected. He was able to ride strong and come in for the 1st lap in 5th place. On the next lap mechanicals set the team back a lap and put us in last place. With the bad luck out of the way, each racer focused on riding hard and staying within their limits as we chipped away at the deficit. Our consistency was our strength and we were able to move up nearly a place per lap by the time the night laps started.

By morning we were in second place. The first place team was nearly untouchable but the third place team was right behind us. Tim and Derrick rode some of their best laps in the final hours and we maintained second place by a comfortable margin.

Overall we rode a total of 27 laps. That is 204.5 miles (the first lap had an extra 2 miles) and 26,460 feet of climbing. Doing a 24 hour as a team was an incredible challenge and we all pushed ourselves to the limits.

Universal Sole Mizuno XC race #4

Last XC race of the year, nice weather. I figured I would try to break the PR I set on this course 2 weeks ago of 19:16. Started fast, faded in the middle and finished strong. 4 seconds off the PR.

Ted 19:20
Ken 23:38

Photo by Jason Knauff

Ted's Cross Practices

They are classic. From going to the park and just trying to knock each other off of the bike, to this new gem:


JapanProbe.com: Sand Biking - The funniest bloopers are right here

Saris PowerTap 2.4 MTB Disc Hub

Saj asked us to do some reviews, so why not review the most expensive single item I have outside of frames?

I'd been looking at getting a PowerTap for a while, but just wasn't pulling the trigger. It's a lot of money, and I wasn't sure I would use it enough to justify it.

Then again, I'd need to build a rear wheel anyway for my new Salsa Mamasita, so why not? Well, about 7 weeks ago or so I pulled the trigger. Built into a Stans ZTR 355 29er rim with DT Swiss Revolution spokes and green nipples, I now I have a rear wheel.



In case you are wondering, that's a Stans "The Crow" tire. I've been running them front and rear ever since Ted let me borrow his wheels for Torn Shirt. The tires are surprisingly grippy (I run them between 19psi and 26 psi depending on the course) even with such a small tread. Add to that their VERY light weight, and they have worked very well for me this year.

There was something I was very nervous about: reliability. I had heard a number of issues with signal dropout and water getting into the hub of road wheels, how would this do off-road?

The answer seems very clear to me: it works great! I haven't had a single drop or problem with the hub in the whole time I've had it. Now, I do have one complaint with it: weight. This thing is heavy. It easily adds a half-pound to my bike. But, I have decided the training value more than off-sets this minor weight gain (and let's be honest, I've got a lot more than a half-pound to lose on my body to make up for the hub weight!).

So far I've logged about 300 miles off-road on the hub in the 6 weeks I've had it built and on my bike. I am very impressed with the data tracking and I love playing with the files and analyzing rides. I've also been able to really set solid goals for training, especially in interval sessions, which has been interesting and made me work much harder.

I've noticed an increase in power, but haven't done direct comparisons yet to see exactly how much....that data will follow. I have been logging data from the PT head unit as well as my Garmin, and distance seems to be right on between the two, usually within 1-2%.



I'll follow-up with what I find, but for now this seems like a great training tool! It's utility WHILE riding is limited when on the trail. But it works well for training on fire roads and really anywhere other than single track. The data is most useful from this hub after the ride. Next up may be one for a road/TT/cross application....

Derrick Fluegge, Athlete of the Month

Congratulations to Derrick.

Derrick "Gunz" Fluegge, the elder statesman of Team Get a Grip Off Road Racing has been nominated Windy City Sports September Athlete of the Month.

Derrick attracted the attention of the publication with his dominating performance as the anchor leg at the Muddy Buddy Chicago, pacing his team to the top time overall. His win there marked his second Muddy Buddy victory in the last 3 years.

"I have recognized my own awesomeness for years now. It's about time someone else actually noticed," remarked Fluegge.*

"The guys a natural runner," remarked his teammate Ted Ramos. "I think it's about time he applied for his Muddy Buddy pro card and stopped sandbagging the age group ranks."

With a desire to go out on top, Fluegge announced his retirement from Muddy Buddy racing immediately after the awards ceremony.

Next up for Derrick is the final race of his multisport schedule the Accenture triathlon and then after that he plans to try out cyclocross racing in the Chicago Cyclocross Cup.

What's next for Derrick in 2009? "Next year I think I am going to do really well in Xterra racing."

As Wiindy City Sports Athlete of the Month, Derrick will receive a Subaru prize pack and will be entered in the sweepstakes for Windy City Athlete of the Year.




*not an actual quote, but it sounds like something he'd say.

Xterra Mountain Championship

Ogden, Utah. I felt like I did pretty well, just like at Tahoe last year. But when I looked at my result I didn't do too well overall. I guess altitude also affects your perception of reality.

I think my swim went really well, I saw some pro swim caps around me. On the bike I deviated from my stragtegy and went too hard too early on the climb when one of the top female pros (Shonny Vanlandinham) came by me. I stayed on her wheel for a while before I blew up so that was encouraging. Last year she passed me like I was standing still.

Despite that irrational exhuberance at the beginning of the bike, I never felt like I was in over my head. Every time I hit a wall I was able to recover and keep pushing. The bike was nearly all climbing, but on the downhills I could have descended more aggresively. However I felt I was in contention so I wanted to be conservative and not crash or flat on the rocks hidden under the dust.

The run could have been better if I had fueled more intelligently durring the bike, but I had my moments like running up the steepest part of the ski hill where everyone else I saw was reduced to walking.

I think the last 1/3 (last hour) of my race (at the highest altitude) is where my performance started to fall off. Probably both dehydration and altitude were the cause. I had a few problems on the run like falling and scraping up my knee and a really bad side stitch for the last 2 miles, but I kept going and missed my time goal by only 1:45. I was making up ground quickly on 6th and 5th in my AG before the cramping became debilitating. Oh well, my overall time was about 15 minutes better than last year.

Overall I finished 7th AG. I finished 7th at Richmond and sixth at Alabama. A pretty consistent season overall. I know where I need to improve to do better next year. I'm am encouarged because in the past any race at altitude and I would perform far below my capability, but now I think I am learning how to train and prepare for it.

Overall it was a good race and a good season. The regional point series title is now a sure thing. That's 5 time champ if you're counting.

I'm skipping Nationals this year so I can get some rest and start building a base for cyclocross.

I can't wait for the Temecula West Championship next year.

Muddy Buddy

Derrick and I headed out to a horse farm in Gilbert IL for the Muddy Buddy. For those who don't know what a Muddy Buddy is, it is kind of like a team duathlon where one person runs and the other person bikes to various checkpoints where they do an obstacle then switch sports. They leap frog each other like this for about a total of 10K.

Derrick won this event back in 06 so I knew we had a good chance. When we got to the event and I saw my Titus Fireline 29 was about 10 times more expensive than any other bike there, I knew we had a really good chance. Most of the people were wearing costumes and had reflectors and bike racks on their hybrids, so perhaps we came into this event a little too seriously. Still there were 2798 other competitors there and the key to this race is running, not biking, so you never know who the competition would be.

Waiting in really long lines for smelly outhouses with no toilet paper, I lost track of time. When I got out, we walked toward the starting line. When we got near then front we noticed a wave of riders had just left the start corral. "What wave is this?", I ask. A couple guys shout back, "your wave."

I run back to Derrick who's talking to the ladies, I grab my bike and make a bee line to the starting area. I stomp on the pedals with anger and chase down as many people as I can in the first mile.

The course had some hills and swampy grass to ride through but overall was nontechnical.
Our bike exchanges went off without a hitch and we kept making up time on the field throughout the course. All of our practice and planning paid off.

When it was all said and done we had come from behind to put down the best overall time (39:03) and win the title 2008 Muddy Buddy Chicago champions.

DINO Xterra New Castle 2peat

A large contingent of GetAGrip racers came to NewCastle for the xterra race Saturday – and I got to meet a few new faces from the team – Derrick even introduced himself with a handshake as he blew past me on the run! I had won the woman’s race here last year, so was hoping for a repeat. I had spoken with Bev earlier in the week and she had a calf muscle pull, so I knew she would just be managing herself on the run, and I had to wonder if any of the new faces at the race would be my competition. I exited the water same time as last, and heard them announcing the first woman was already heading out on her bike! I knew I had my work cut out. I did catch her within probably 3 miles on the bike, and I noticed her long skinny legs, and thought she must be one of those fast swimmer/runners! So I better get a good lead on the bike. I rode pretty well, nothing spectacular, I think with a couple of reroute they put on the course, it was a couple minutes faster than last years course. Heading out onto the run I heard Bev coming in from the bike –she out split me by 2 minutes – I better get working harder on the bike! I suffered on the run, my run has just abandoned me at every race this year. I’ve been working hard in training, but its just not showing on my run splits – 2 minutes slower run this year compared to last. But I did manage to hang on for the win by 4 minutes.

The team had a great showing! I admit its fun to have all you guys blast by me on the bike and run shouting encouragement – it gives me a lift each time someone goes by. Next up is Logansport Aug 16.

DINO New Castle XTERRA

I haven't been posting much, for no good reason. Well, other than being lazy I guess.

Ted did a nice job with the write-up for XTERRA ONE. Seems like whenever I make a decent trip with Ted the result is a good thing. Last year we went to Tennessee together and I got my first ever podium finish. Well, we made a trip to Ohio, and I once again came home with a 2nd place finish. I've decided that road trips racing with Ted are a good thing, even though the long drive sucks.

Coming off of my 2nd place in Ohio, Ted talked me into going to New Castle. I wasn't feeling it and was ready for a weekend off. Nisha made a good point though: once winter rolls around and 'cross season is over, I'll be kicking myself for not taking advantage of ever race I could. Sold.

Ted, Ken, and I made the drive down Friday night. We got a late start, we had planned on leaving around 1 pm to get a good pre-ride in. Arriving around 7:30 left us enough time to get in the first 3 miles of the course just in time to turn around and get stranded on the trails in the dark. We made it back safe and got ourselves a hotel.

The morning of the race, Tim showed up for the pre-ride early (he left later and slept in his car) while we set up in transition. With nearly the whole team assembled, we were ready to make an impact in New Castle. Tim, Ted, Ken, Cheryl, Derrick, and myself all showed up ready to race.

The gun went off and into the water we went. I haven't done any swim training this year (save for about 6,000m in 7 months...total), so I haven't seen Ted after the swim start since '07. I'll happily give up that minute or so in the water for my other gains, though.

The swim was uneventful through the swim out. At the first turn I took a foot to the face and incurred a rush of water into my goggles. I stopped for about 5 seconds to get them fixed and was back off. At the second turn I picked out some green sleeves and realized it was Tim. I latched onto his feet and made my way to shore.

Tim and I made our way into T1 right next to each other, and left in quick fashion together as well. That was all I saw of Tim's trail. I calmed my HR and got into a groove for about a mile, when I heard Tim yell to keep pushing. I looked up to see where he was and promptly lost my balance in a tight, uphill switchback. DOH!

Back onto the bike and I was off. About 6 miles in someone comes up behind me and tells me he lives across the street from the park and essentially gives me a guided tour for about 3 miles. The final mile I rode right behind him with Brian Hanson right behind me. I got a chance to meet Brian at Torn Shirt about a month back and knew if I was with him at this point I was happy with my positioning.

The final mile or so was pretty uneventful and I came into T2 easily in the top 20. I leave T2 with with Brian who wastes no time dropping me, but I also left T2 with Cheryl. We run together for about a quarter mile, and I was lucky enough to have the legs to pull ahead of her for the first time!

The remainder of the run went more or less as planned, and was very lonely. In 2007 I got used to being further back in the pack which meant a lot more people were around. I was passed by 2 people, passed 2 others, and finished all alone.

Once all is said and done, Ted won his AG, Tim took 2nd in ours, I took 3rd. Derrick 3rd in his AG, but none of this compares to Cheryl taking yet another overall female win!

Team Get a Grip Offroad left New Castle with 5 people in the top 10 overall, which seems pretty solid for a team if you ask me. Right now we are on pace to finish well in the overall standings in the North Central Region, but I'll bite my tongue until we can finish off with our best.

Xterra One

Brandon and I traveled to the greater Cleveland area for the inaugural Xterra O.N.E. at West Branch state park. I like racing in Ohio because one of my first Xterra's was at Paint Creek state park back in 2000, and in 2006 I won my only Xterra ever at the Mad Dog Triathlon.

After Brandon and I pre-rode the course on Saturday, I knew this would be a mountain bikers course. The track is scary fast with lots of tight turns between trees, and many roots and boulders to disrupt your momentum. This will be a fun race.

Race Day

At the gun I mark Cayo Ramirez, but I can't stay with him because he is drafting off Peter Hanson. At the turn around they have about 50 yards on me. I finally get past some dude who kept swimming into me and I get into a groove. I exit the water in 6th but my awesome transition skills get me to the single track in second place (I think).

Riding the middle ring, I feel good and quickly catch Hanson. After I pass him I lose control in a muddy section and crash into a tree and he catches up to me. Just as I build another lead a pedal catches a rock, nearly throwing me over my handlebars and derailing my chain off the crank. I get off the bike to fix it and Hanson catches me again. I take off riding a little more cautiously than before.

At about the halfway point I realize I'm in first because I surprise the spectators and course marshals as I ride by. At the only open section of the course I look back and see I have a big cushion because no one is in sight. The rest of the ride is lonely and I focus on riding smart to avoid any crashes or mechanicals. At T2 I confirm I'm in first because there are no other bikes in the rack.

I take off out of T2 like I stole something because I don't know if any of these local Ohio racers are good runners. I attack the boulder climb in the first mile and I feel good. About 3 miles in I get comfortable and put it on cruise control. All of a sudden someone sneaks up behind me and they are less than 30 seconds back. Fear and adrenalin kick in and I take off. I drill it to the end and end up taking the tape.

Mad props to Brandon for taking second in his age group. These points put us both in 1st in our respective age groups for the Xterra regional point series.

Next up Xterra DINO New Castle.

Doubling up on Superweek weekend

Superweek –

Blue Island Cat4/5 - 14th
Blue Island Cat4 – 14th
Olympia Fields Cat4/5 – 2nd
Olympia Fields Cat4 – 8th

I was only able to race these two Superweek events, so I decided to double up both days and do the 4/5 and 4 races back to back.

Blue Island Cat4/5 - 14th
The pace was pretty fast and there were several attacking attempts, including a couple myself. A Wild Card rider gets off the front and his teammates are blocking. Only 1 or 2 guys are working to reel him in. I help despite being outnumbered because I don't want to accept second place as the best possible scenario. I trade a few pulls with Loukas from XXX and we eventually retrieve the solo rider. I'm with the final group of 14 when the announcer calls the final lap. The pace slows to a crawl immediately, and a rider tried to squeeze through a quickly closing gap directly ahead of me. Of course the slight contact caused a meeting with the pavement for the poor fellow. I swerve to avoid and someone else rides into me from behind. My rear skids out a bit but I keep it upright and try to chase the pack who have now dropped the hammer. Frustratingly, the harder I pedal the more they pull away. I finally concede when I see no one else is chasing and I soft pedal through the line. Upon inspection I see my rear wheel was knocked out of true causing break rub. Damn. 14th place (They paid through 12)

Blue Island Cat4 – 14th
I rushed to my car and switched bib numbers to do the Cat4 race. I had just enough time to swap my wheel with neutral support and take a spot on the line. Compared to the 4/5 race, it seemed lethargic, which was fine for me because it allowed me some time to recover. Another hour of going around the rectangle and I stay with the lead pack of 20+ riders but get bad positioning and end up 14th in the group sprint. Not the results I had hoped for on the first day but a good 2hr training effort.

Day 2
Olympia Fields Cat4/5 – 2nd
I will let others disparage the course, I had my best road racing result yesterday so maybe the layout suited me. J The pace started out blazing fast with XXX intent on splitting the field early. I bridged a couple small gaps to hold onto the leaders (3 XXX riders, 1 VeePak, 1 Pegasus guy and some other dude) Outnumbered again, I still took a few pulls to help ensure we weren’t caught. We worked pretty well together, but I was always getting gapped on the 120 degree turn that had already claimed several other riders’ skin. I was able to sprint back on, but I didn’t have the nerve to lean in without scrubbing some speed first. With about 10 laps to go Loukas from XXX wrecked and took out another XXX teammate directly ahead of me on the 120degree turn. I had to swing wide and sprint even harder to make contact with the remaining 4 riders. The VeePak guy attacked immediately after the crash, so three of us worked together to reel him in. In the beautiful karmic justice, the solo VeePak rider took himself out of the race 5 laps later on the same 120degree. The remaining 3 of us shared 1 lap pulls and worked well together. At the start of the last lap the XXX rider jumped and managed to hold his lead. I was able to take second.

Olympia Fields Cat4 – 8th
Another quick change and I was back on the line. The pace started just as fast and I had to work even harder to keep from being gapped. I was using blockers on the back straightaway to bring me back to the pack. 7 riders got off the front and I was in the second group of about 6 with 3MetCycling riders. We were a bit disorganized, but everyone put in an effort. I took a lesson from the last race and attacked at the same spot as the winner from the previous race. Suprisingly only a 2CC rider was able to match and then pass me. He took the final turn quicker but I dug in and beat him to the line. The 2 man break was absolutely flying, almost lapping the entire field.

I wish I could continue with Superweek but work wouldn’t allow it. I had a great time and was able to meet some cool people from the local road scene. Part of the Criterium poker game is knowing who the real threats are. Tough luck to Loukas for the wreck, but thankfully his sweet powder blue Indy Fab bike is fine. Next up … Whitewater Rafting in Maine and then the Chicago Criterium

PALOS MELTDOWN 2008

Hey everyone the Palos Meltdown Registration is up. Last year was a mess if you tried to register late. I would suggest that if you plan to race you get on it. I pasted the link in to help out a bit.

http://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?action=irace

Just click on Registration at the top of the page and you should be all set.

Drilled

Hey Guys,
I've been feeling pretty motivated this week and I decided to jump in on the local group ride. I've known of the local Hammerheads' "Tuesday Night World Championship" for the past year, but never joined because of many different but equally weak excuses. I finally made a point to leave work early on Tuesdayy and jump in. I rode twenty minutes to the spot, introduced myself and asked if I would have enough gears on my cross bike (46-12). They said that I was more than welcome to join and try to hang on. As I was waiting the local strong dudes trickled in (TJ Tollackson - Pro long course triathlete, Stuart Hayes - UK ITU pro, Cam Kirkpatrick - 5th Elite at WORS Subaru cup, JJ Bailey - Elite national AG triathlete, and sevearl CAT1 fast cats that I couldn't identify). I was looking for a challenge and I was going to get my wish ... and then some.
The first 30 minutes were at a nice easy pace as we rode away from downtown Des Moines to the country roads. It is awesome to ride for just a few miles before your out on smooth country roads with minimal traffic and plenty of rolling hills. There were a few decent hills and a couple hard accelerations out of corners that got the heart pumping early. The next thing I know I had slipped near the back of the group and the front blew the doors off. Before I realized what happened I was already gapped. I turned myself inside out for 1 minute ... 2 minutes ... 3 minutes .... sit up and spin. Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast! It really jumped up a notch. I wish I could blame it on running out of gears, but unfortunately that was not the case. I formed a small group with a few other shredded riders and pacelined in the wake of the larger group up the road. I took a little pride in the fact that I had never been dropped in a race or by a group before. I guess my number was up.
I know that I've been coasting with my training this year, making small improvements on inconsistent training. These hard group efforts are exactly what I've needed to remind me of where I'm at (spit out the back of the pack) and where I'm trying to go (trading pulls at the front). I'm going to keep going back and getting knocked out until I run out of gear before I run out of leg.

Tim

Motivation check

Watching international pros at the top of their game is a guaranteed way to stoke the competitive fires and think about what we need to work on to keep improving. I have no delusions of racing ITU or as a pro, but I want to keep closing the time gap.

I am here in Des Moines and just watched the 2nd Annual HyVee Triathlon. The flooding forced them to move away from the downtown, but the RDs did a phenominal job of staging this race and maintaining the swim for both elites and Age Groupers. I can't complain about the Chicago Triathlon's early start anymore. The AG transition opened at 4:30 am and closed at 5:45 am with a 6:00 start. I wonder if they had to light the sighting bouys.

Congrats to Hunter Kemper on clinching the final USA Olympic team spot. These guys are amazing athletes, running sub 33:00 10K times. Rasmus Henning wins for the 2nd time, taking home a huge pro payday of $200K. Emma Snowsill won the women's event. I'm still hoping that I see her whenever the elevator doors open in the hotel. :-)

I'm not the only one ...

I saw this in O'Hare a while back and snapped a pic with my phone. Travelling for work everyweek does present some challenges. I've been creative with my workouts and I appreciate the Marriott staff's flexibility in allowing me to store a bike (among other things) year round. It has definitely been my home away from home over the past 20 months. If only the hotel pool was 25yds instead of 12. :-)

xterra richmond - way to go , grace!

Whenever I ride and do stupid things (which is quite often) I call myself grace, you know, way to go grace.Yesterday I did xterra richmond and I lost count of thenumber of times I said this to myself. Let's start at the beginning. The swim is in the James river, light current, shallow water - 1-6 feet deep. Check out the link above to see photos of the boulders that are strewn throughout the river (and hence the swim course), and even the 'Mayan' ruin like thing we had to climb on the run. Anyways, the swim was wave starts, which was awful for me! Pros first, 2 minutes later were men 15-35, 2 minutes later were men above 35, 2 minutes later were women and relays. So, not only did I have the pleasure of trying to navigate lots of slower men who had a head start, since I couldn't take decent lines, I was swimming into boulders all the time. Most of them would just brush right under me, one I swam right up onto. The orange cone sitting on it was not supposed to be a magnet attracting me to it, but rather a warning to stay away from it. But my mind was not thinking except to get around the men, and I beached myself on it. The kayakers must have had a good laugh at that! WAY TO GO GRACE! I finished the swim with lots of abrasions on my arms chest. Not pretty. Then the run to T1 was .25-.5 miles long. No big deal except for the rocks you have to run over. ANd I mean a good solid 50 feet of those big chunky 2inch gravel pieces laid down for pavement. Many people stashed shoes at the swim to wear, but not me. Oh no, I had to do it barefoot - WAY TO GO GRACE! Then onto my sweet little mountain bike for a pretty technical 18+ mile course. The biggest problem was since the men had a head start on the swim I had even less of a lead on them so the first hour of the bike was jam packed with people. I stopped counting the number of crashes I had. One time I wiped out, got up and thought my handlebars seemed weird, and the front wheel and bars were completely turned around and I was sitting on my bike with them backwards! WAY TO GO GRACE! So, like I said, many crashes, none of them bad. Lots of dabbing, and several places I had to get off the bike and walk - a couple of steep switchbacks I didn't make it down, 3 short steep uphills that were littered with people - many times it was people in front of you that prevented you from riding something, and unfortunately I probably kept a few people from riding things - but that's mountain biking - crazy, fun, stressful, tiring - just so different from riding on the road. I should also mention that there werethese small bridges that cross the river so people can ride and walk across. And they all had these ridiculous stairs to climb. So around mile 3 we climbed the first, carrying our bikes, up 10 flights of 10 stairs each. Then ride singletrack, techincal sections, fun sections, crowded sections. This trail had everything you can imagine - and its right in the middle of a city. I wish our trails around here offered more variety. The more I get to ride other trails, I see more things I'd like to see on our local trails. Oh well, we did get to carry our bikes down the stairs next. Then more riding, and back up one more time - yep! That was F.U.N. FInally into t2, and I saw a gal who I met form Purdue, she cheered me along. I fumbled with my race belt for some reason, and my socks were full of sand and I tried to decide if I should empty them or just run. I opted for just run, and have a few blisters to show for that. But the run was pretty flat, except for more climbing up stairs to cross a foot bridge. A climb up the mayan ruin like structure, which was a hand and foot climb up a 75 foot steep hill with railroad ties every couple of feet to grab onto. One very cool section of the huge boulders that you scamper across, then climb up a ladder bolted into a wall. Then some trails, one long climb on the trails, back up to the footbridge and the finish. I was 3rd in my AG. I won't do this race next year. The swim is too short and negates any lead I can get on my strength, and its too far to drive, and it was way to difficult to do two A races two weekends in a row (Pelham then Richmond). Difficult to recover from Pelham, and then figure how to train for Richmond. Too bad, because the Richmond bike course has tons of room for improvement for me!My running is pretty slow now. I'll be adding some speedwork next because I was just plodding along. My overall pace was 9min miles, which probably meant I was running 8:30 pace when I could actually run, and that just won't cut it.And my swimming sucks too. So, I have to bump the swimming up starting NOW.

I'm happy to be home.

Xterra Southeast Champs

I came back to Alabama again this year, because last year this race was such a challenge, I thought I had room to improve. For some reason, the xterra people like to start the regional championship races at 9:30am! In Alabama in June, at 9:30am its already 90 degrees! By race end this year it was 100. Challenge #1. So, this year, I was sporting a new GAG race kit! New shorts and tri-top. In knew the top had pockets in back, which is a big no-no for me in a swim. So I broke down and bought a Desoto speedsuit, knowing the speedsuit would eliminate that problem, and also might help compensate for my absolutely dismal swim training this year. My swim was still a little off last year, even with the speedsuit, but it serves me right. I have been swimming 30 minutes twice a week at absolutely pathetic paces. Such a waste for me to give up precious minutes on my best of the three legs, so its time to get back to normal swim workouts when I get home. Challenge #2, the water was a way too balmy 82 degrees. I swam the whole swim next to Melanie McQuaid, 3-time xterra world champion, so that's always fun. but of course she blew me away in T1 and everywhere else! In T1, there was one other age grouper just ahead of me. I started the bike knowing I should hydrate a lot, and I tried to ride smoothly. Challenge #3: In the first 10 minutes, tons of pro men, women and fast men age groupers need to get by. Its super stressful, because its all singletrack for the stretch, so I have to try to slow down which looses my rhythm, make room for them, try not to crash myself and not to take anyone else out. Its just not fun. One corner I tried to go too tight to give them room, and washed out. Lots of trail rash on the right leg (hard to see in the photo, but its really pretty!) , and I held up several people as I tried to pull my bike off the trail. Once I was going again, things were uneventful, the first AG woman passed me at the single track just before the doubletrack long uphill. She didn't pull away until I let some other guy go by near the top of the long hill, and I lost contact, because there's just inches of decent trail to ride on just on the side of the double track- the rest is rocks, gravel, and on the uphill its too easy to loose traction and then you can't get going again. So I watched her go. One more AG woman passed me just before blood rock, and the woman who was first in t1, was fixing a flat and I passed her. Of these 3, one was world champion last year, one was second at world championships last year (to a now first year pro), the other was just plain fast (20-24 ag, I'm guessing she will be pro one day soon). So I was not feeling too bad. Challenge #4: blood rock. I got to blood rock, rode half, then hopped off. I'm just not ready to tackle it yet. I've ridden the course 5 times now, and still do not have the confidence to ride the whole stretch. Lots of people stand there to cheer and watch people crash. I told them I was walking, and they cheered me anyways - all are so supportive. Its a nasty stretch of rocky trail. No more women passes before the end of the bike. My bike plus t2 was also a few minutes slower than last year. I'm not sure where Ilost the time, maybe just overall heat fatigue, and the little wipeout at the start, maybe I'm just getting slower as I get older! (I hope not). Challenge #5 - the run. The run scared me, as it is a beast. The first mile or two are relatively flat, and I ran the whole thing, moderately paced, taking gatorade and water twice. Then the run goes vertical on trail that is often loose, debris covered, and steep. And I mean steep. There is no hill in Bloomington that I can think of that compares - maybe that gravel road that Ange and I rode in January. Then back down. And the downs are steep, quad busting steep. I am slow on the steeps - down or up, doesn't matter. I had to walk a lot of the ups. I'd bargain with myself to run 40 more steps when I was ready to walk because my heart was ready to bust out of my chest. There are 5 or so big hills like this in 4 miles. It is an absolute beast. Did I mention its a beast? Well, it is. My run was 5 minutes slower than last year. The woman who I passed fixing her flat, passed me running, looking so strong. Then one more woman passed me on the run (she was world champ last year, and at this race I beat her by 10 seconds last year, this year, she beat me by about 30). This race I always am so happy to stop running at the finish. I hit the misting tent, which is just the most awesome thing at the end of a hot race. I need to set one of these up for my dogs. I finished 1st in my AG (there were only two of us), and I was 5th amateur woman overall. I got to meet Conrad Stoltz after the race. That was so very cool - he is an amazing athlete and mountain bike rider, and a super nice guy, and his blog/website is very entertaining.

So, I did qualify for the World Championships in Maui, so I'm thrilled about that. Not so thrilled that I was 7 minutes slower than last year. Next up is Richmond , now just 5 days away. In two days since Pelham, I'm not recovering well. Every muscle in my legs hurt. I hope that gets better as the days go by.

2008 XTERRA Southeast Championship

There haven't been many posts lately, but that doesn't mean that our crew hasn't been racing.
We had a great showing in XTERRA Last Stand in May. Netting 3rd, 6th and 10th overall. Winning the M25-29 and M30-34 age groups and 2nd in the M35-39 AG.

Dean flew to AZ to race in the Deuces Wild XTERRA and represented the Midwest well. He finished 3rd overall again, and 2nd in his AG AGAIN! Geez, tough AG, bud.

The next XTERRA on the radar was the XTERRA SE Championship near Birmingham, AL. 4 of us raced it in '07 and it was a well run event. The bike course is f-a-s-t and the run course wickedly steep, both up and down. I did ok in '07, but a mis-firing bike kept me from my best race possible.

Ted and Cheryl were both signed up for the '08 version and had their travel planned. After waffling for a few weeks then deciding not to race, I did a 180 and booked a last minute ticket. This was definitely a trip with a purpose, fly down Saturday, race Sunday morning, fly back Sunday night. I finally arrived on Saturday at noon, after a 2 hour flight delay. When we got to the race site I realized that it was going to be another brutally hot and muggy race, just like last year. We went for a swim but didn't find relief. It was actually worse in the bathwater warm lake.

We put our bikes together and waited a bit longer for the temps to drop a few degrees before pre-riding, finally heading out around 5:00pm. I vaguely remembered the course, but there were a lot of tricky root and rock sections. Bike handling, not cardio, would be the speed limiter in the first 1/3 of the course. The 2nd 1/3 was a series of rocky climbs and false flats leading up to Blood Rock and the 3rd section. A rocky, filling rattling downhill section where fearlessness would be rewarded. Wipe out here and you'll slide across large sharp rocks. Road rash would be a blessing compared to the aftermath of falling here.

Ted and I were riding the 1st section when I hear a large crack and my rear wheel grinds to a halt. Crap! I look down, expecting a minor mechanical problem but what I saw was worse. My rear derailluer hanger had snapped in two. This is very very bad and it was multiplied by the fact that I didn't have a replacement. I just flew to AL, registered for the race, and now I can't race?!?!?! We disassemble it so I can walk the bike out and Ted gets the car. It is now 6:00pm, the race village had vacated for the night., and Ted was talking about turning my beautiful Alma into a single speed. This can't be happening! I tried a last ditch effort and called Cahaba Cycles, which was near the park. They closed at 6:00pm, but after hearing my situation they offered to see what they could do for me. They were an Orbea dealer, but they only stocked Orca road bikes and the chance of having the part I needed was slim.

The shop owner took my bike into the back and I waited like a nervous father in a hospital waiting for a prognosis. They only had one bike that was available to rent, a full squish Gary Fisher High-Fi that was a size too big. Please, please, please let my bike pull through. I hear some rattling and wrenching in back but no indication of success. I'm pacing around shop when he finally comes out with the news. Miraculously the hanger from an Orca road bike fit on my Alma!!! I had to restrain myself from shouting my relief. Not only did he fix it, he re-tuned it and it ran like a fine swiss watch. If you're ever in the southeast Cahaba cycles is the place to go!

Fast forward to race day (this is taking way too long) :-) Roughly 200 people line up at the waters edge and the cannon sounds. We all head into the bathtub for our first of 2 laps. My first lap was about as fast (slow?) as I expected and I went out for lap two. I finish, transition and then hit the bike course at 32:51. Ouch. I get a bit anxious in the early sections, understeer a corner, ram my wheel into a tree stump step up, stop dead in my tracks and someone runs into me. Sorry bud! I get back on and try to settle in. The bike shifting is crisp and I pace with a couple other riders. As soon as we hit the climb my carbon hardtail Alma shines and I quickly drop everyone in sight and crack a smile. From here on out I'm flying blind, I rode here last year and that is the extent of my course knowledge. I'm forced to dismount and run down blood rock, but I ride the rest of the rocky downhill section aggressively and finally head back to transition. Bike: 1:19:04. A six minute improvement over '07.

I nailed the difficult run last year and was trying to match my time this year. Long story short (I ran up hill and I tried to keep my feet in front of me on the downhills)x6. The first 35 minutes of the run was tough, but the last 10 was real suffering. I alwasy know that I'm pushing my limits when the thoughts of "Why am I doing this!?! This isn't fun, this is torture!!" start creeping into my head and I decide to start playing video games instead of racing. Several time my eyes played tricks on me when I would see a 25 on another racers calf, which was motivating at first and then a relief to find it actually a 50 or 35. I exit the forest and head back to the race village. I'm glad that there are no threatening pursuers, but also I bit dejected that I only passed 1 25-29 racer. I finish and head for the rain tent. Run 46:30.

Total time: 2:38:25

After mustering the strength and nerve I get my 'stat' card to see how I stacked up. The top 2 guy in my AG qualify to race in Maui Hawaii at the XTERRA World Chamipionship. I find my AG results and see I finished 3rd. I had mixed emotions. Obviously I was disappointed to miss my qualifying spot by 1, but I had met another goal of finishing 3rd or higher to score 82 series points.

Congrats to Cheryl Stine, winner her AG and qualifying for Maui for her 2nd consecutive year!
Best of luck next weekend to Ted and Cheryl in Richmond at the XTERRA East Championship. Who knows, maybe I'll book another last minute ticket to race again this weekend :-)

Signing off.
Tim

Dirt Sweat and Gears - 12 Hour Solo

My excitement when registering must have prevented me from noticing how far away Fayetteville was (9 hours each way, $200 of gas and within 100 miles of Birmingham, AL). I planned on leaving at 11:00am on Friday, but work was a nightmare and I wasn't able to leave until 3:30, just in time to hit Chicago rush hour traffic. Nicole rode with and we finally arrived at our hotel at 1:00am. Thankfully Fayetteville was on CST, so I didn't lose an hour. There was a significant amount of rain that night and I got to talk with Mark Hendershot about how the course handles water at the hotel's b-fast bar in the morning. Mark said, "Not well."

There's no way I can detail everything, but I'll say it was a tale of two halves. The first 3 laps were a energy sapping, sticky muddy mess. There were several spots where there were 5-10 racers all on the side of the trail pulling large globs of mud from their forks, bottom bracket and stays near their tires. After cleaning the bike you push it through the un-rideable section, just to have it muck up again. I switched between carrying and dragging a 30+ pound brick for the first couple laps. After finishing lap #3 I was completely fried and lethargic. I ate and drank and ate some more trying to replenish energy and took a 30 minutes nap.

I finally mustered the energy to go out for lap 4. A combination of the course drying out, getting comfortable with the course, and possibly switching to Ted's full suspension bike helped a lot. After my legs warmed up I felt great, spinning the short steep hills and flowing on the downhills trying not to scrub speed and conserve energy. It worked and I posted my fastest lap time by 10+ minutes (1:13ish). I felt great, ate a bit, and then rushed back out for lap 5 with similar results. I had some crazy cramping issues that I think I understand now, but at the time were a mystery (hint: too much salt, not enough water). I fought through one last lap and ran to the tent to ask were I sat. She told me I was in 8th and 2 guys went out 10 minutes earlier. In hindsight maybe I could have caught them, but I decided that I had enough and my cramping was getting worse,

I finished 6 laps, 64 miles and finished as 8th solo amateur geared. Tinker finished 11 laps, that dude is amazing, killing guys half his age. Dave Norton, Team Pegasus rider who Ted and I edged out at Rock Cut by mere seconds is apparently an enduro-freak and did 9 laps. I congratulated him on a great race. He finished as the 7th pro.

There is too much that happened during those 12 hours to list everything, but my main takeaway from this race was 1) I love the atmosphere of these races, the people are all laid back and super cool. I got to see some legends of the sport up close and personal as they lapped me and everyone was supportive of each other. Over the course of 12 hours, you are fighting yourself more than any other race on the course. I'm not interested in doing a 24 solo (yet) but I will definitely look for more of these type of races soon. I definitely see myself doing this again next year. Next up: XTERRA LAST STAND

Gator Terra Xterra

I didn't quite know what to expect going into the weekend, but any expectations I could have set wouldn't have measured up to how well things turned out. The Gator Terra Xterra in Ruston, LA is the oldest Xterra branded event and has quite an illustrious past. The bike course is my favorite in the series. I'm not alone in that preference, none other than Ned Overend listed it as his favorite back when he was competing in Xterras. The famous camera-friendly "Tomac" hill is a close simile to a ski jump and always draws a crowd.

The Gator Terra is a tradition for me and my good friend Joey Guajardo, we've competed for the last four years with varying degrees of success. Last year neither of us were really in top form coming out of injuries and lags in training. This year we had no excuses. We'd done the training. We were injury-free. We were both sporting brand new no-expense-spared hardtails. Everything was lined up. This year was a chance to redeem ourselves.

There was some hard rain on Friday night, but the sandy course soaked it all up and on race morning the course was perfect. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70's. The water temp was 74 degrees, wetsuit legal. I put in some warm up strokes and my swim felt strong. All winter I'd worked on building up my shoulder strength. I been training to develop more of a "wetsuit" stroke (more glide, more upper body power, less kick) since almost all my races are wetsuit legal. It seemed to have paid off, I felt great about the day.

At the start I positioned in the middle of the pack right behind the course favorites. The race starts, I feel good, and about ten strokes in, my wetsuit pops open in the back. I'm cursing myself and giving it my all to stay with the group as I drag what feels like a parachute through the water. I'm debating whether to strip it or try to fix it on the beach. I opt to strip it and confuse quite a few spectators and competitors as I quickly strip the wetsuit on the beach run between swim laps. Back in the water and I'm on a mission. I come out of the second lap with Joey right on my tail. I know I've lost time because I always beat Joey out of the water, but I know I'm not too far down because he puts in a good split.

I'm quick out of transition and on to the bike course. About two miles in, Joey passes by me at a fast pace, and I know he's going to have a good day. He's found some serious mountain bike speed in the last couple years. In our history on this course, he is usually chasing me down on the run. If he passes me on the bike, I know that our mano-e-mano race is over. I've become a faster runner, but he's become a seriously fast runner. After that I reel a few bikers in and swap places with another in a black jersey, and feel great. The pace feels as fast as I've ever ridden, the legs are solid, and I only dab once. About 7 miles into the bike a volunteer yells out "You're only four and a half minutes back! You're in the top ten". I'm doing the math in my head, and realize I usually finish 15+ minutes back and place in the teens. This is going to be a good race! Me and the black jersey swap places a few more times. He beats me at the end, but I pass him in transition. I'm out on the run quick and the legs are solid. I'm keeping a pace that is fast enough to feel unfamiliar on dirt. Can I keep it up? My heart feels good, legs feel good. The black jersey is chasing me down. He's flying. I'll let him pass. He's a couple age groups up. Usually, I always get passed on the run. Running's never been my strength, so I'm running scared. I want to leave a little in the tank in case I have to turn it up when I hear footsteps, but I also want to keep those footsteps from coming. A mile left and no other runners in sight, I turn it up a little. I sprint to the finish in a time of 1:37 and change. I finish 8^th overall and 1^st in my age group. My time is ten minutes better than last year with most of that gain coming on the run. Joey had a phenomenal race. He placed 3^rd overall and had the fastest run split. Keep in mind that neither of us had ever placed better than 17^th before. This was a breakthrough year.

While the Xterra was the focus, we both did the Rustman triple which consisted of a 2 mile run on Saturday night and a Sprint triathlon on Sunday morning. I ran a 12:29 in the hilly 2 miler and placed second in my age group in the sprint tri. I ended up 5^th overall in the triple challenge. Joey won the 2 miler in 10:59, took 3^rd overall in the sprint with a smoking 17:39 5k to close it and won the Rustman triple overall. Go Joey! It's going to be a great year. I'm looking forward to the next race.

- Bill Driegert

My First Expert Race

So, I've only ever done two mountain bike races, and a handful of xterras, been riding mtb for two years now. The girls I train with upgraded to expert this year, and the Indiana series is not heavy on the women's side, so I decided to upgrade to expert also. My upgrade was approved a few weeks ago. We decided to venture down to one of the Kentucky Points Series races, at Younger's Creek. We prerode the 14 mile loop Saturday afternoon. And I was a bit worried for the 2 laps due the experts on Sunday. There are switchbacks, steep, and very loose, the likes of which I have never ridden before. A long set for 500 feet elevation up at the start, lots of fun stuff on top, more switchbacks in the middle, down and back up, more fun stuff, including the drop, what looked to me like straight down for 30 feet, off a completely horizontal lip. More hard stuff, and more awful switchbacks down. I seriously thought about dropping after one lap, but I thought if I could just pedal one more stroke, each pedal moved me past the half way point and toward the finish. The second lap was hard. I felt slow, and tired, and sloppy. But I managed a big smile going down the drop, as it was incredible fun, like an amusement park. I finished third. Out of only four women racing expert. Fourth dnf'd. One of my friends opted to not even start. ok, so I felt a little out of my league, but I'm happy that I did the race, and finished, and had a few smiles along the way. I think there were only 9 women total at all levels of the race, its a challenging course. Every ride is a new learning experience for me, since I've only been doing this for a short time. And this one was probably the hardest course I've ever ridden. And had things I don't get to ever practice, so maybe I'll get myself back down there some weekend just for some switchback practice.

First (and Last?) Race of the Year...

So I just finally got around to putting a post up for my first race of the year. I ended up getting dragged into racing the Rock Cut Race in Sport class. That means its almost a marathon length race 25 miles to be exact.

The race started out pretty good almost getting the hole shot and hitting the pavement at a good pace. That was until I hit the first patch of bog mud. I was trying to spin through a good 3-4 inches of mud. Looking back it would have been probably smarter to just run through it but inexperience told me otherwise.

As I got to the end of the first lap (out of two) at least two dozen comments in my mind told me to DNF. The joys of DNFing and just crying in my car from all the pains this race had given me was something to look forward to. By the time I got to the end of that loop I was looking forward to being that quitter. That was until I saw my gf just waiting there enthusiastically waiting to hand off the next water bottle. Little did she know I was running low on energy and ready to bonk any time.

During the second lap I was pretty much warmed up and ready for the nasties to come. I took the mud like a champ and was able to keep up with the pack that was miserably slower than me. I was feeling ok... not good but ok... Then came the second half of the lap, out of any drink and having used up almost all of my GU, I started feeling the typical muscle cramps. As I pedaled I felt my inner quads firing off. Imagine those good old oil cool Harley Davidsons on a hot day in traffic. One second they are running, the next - boom - engine seize. Yep that was what my quad's were heading straight into a slow but sure muscle failure.

I thought to myself if I can just keep the blood flowing I can get them slowly hydrated and just to keep the muscles moving they wont seize. All was good until I hit a hill I lost momentum on. I was forced to get off the bike. And when I did that... thats when it happened... my quads locked up and was a goner. Two thirds into the last lap and I just screwed myself by getting off my bike.

After 30 seconds of doing some basic quad stretches I decided to get on the bike and head backwards towards the last course marshal. I thought I had thrown in the towel and given up. On my way back to the marshal my legs gave a glimpse of hope. That had briefly settled into a rhythm again. There was a little pain but not the locking I felt before. And at that point I decided that I might as well turn around and finish this thing. Even if it takes me till dusk.

By this time about 5 more racers passed me up. I'd like to thank my fellow Get-A-Grip teammates for not pushing me over as they lapped me :) I was feeling good about getting my ass kicked because my legs gave up on me and all I was using were the stupid granny gears to wheelchair my way back to the finish line. At this point I was wishing that the whole way through would have been downhill.. unfortunately that was only about 20 percent of the trail. The rest was either flat or up hill.

I eventually made it to the end after sprinting out some rider from some Oshkosh/Fond du Lac team. But obviously there was a price. After my tag was pulled at the finish I sat down and locked up again.

And so today it took me about 3 days to get my legs back to where I can hit the gym again and not worry about feeling geriatric.

I can confidently say though that this has given me insight as to what will come in the up coming months. Because this will not be my last race. It was the first of many since my 9 year hiatus from mountain bike racing.

Dare I say comeback? We'll see...

The 2008 Rock Cut Race Results can be viewed here

Do The Rock

I was stoked to finally get on the trails and kick off the Midwest MTB season. Adam at the shop had recently changed my bike position and I've been feeling much more 1) powerful and 2) comfortable on my Alma. This is something I've had difficulty with in the past on my old Epic. My Orbea was also setup with a new front rim thanks to a last minute build by Matt.

Race Day: I was ready to race but I tried to stay relaxed. Unfortunately I was too relaxed which cost both Ted and me valuable starting line real estate and we were stuck near the back. I should have learned from my Chicross experience to sit on the start line for 15 minutes (note to self, look for LeMans start races)

Anyway, the director sends us of and Ted and I are trying to work our way up before entering the single-track, with little luck, and we’re still somewhere near the back 1/2 of the field. There were a few switchbacks and log crossings before we hit the first bog and the race blew apart. It was chaos with people slipping, sliding and falling in the muck.

Less than three miles into the race and I have lost any idea about where I sit overall. Do I sit up and soft pedal like a roadie because I lost my warm, sweet, nurturing draft or hope of an overall win? No, I turn it into a 2 person battle between the rider immediately ahead of me and myself. This is why I love MTBing and that was all that mattered for the ensuing laps. How much suffering can you take to bridge to the next rider?

My bike handling got a bit better with each lap I was slowly working my way through the field. By the end of the 2nd lap Ted had caught back up to me and we were able to work together. We both tried to help each other and push that pace when the other was lagging. It kept us honest for the final lap and we finished the race in succession. I think we went 16, 17 or something close. A good place to set the bar for the season.

I learned some valuable thinks to build on and I had a great time at the race. We’ve got a great group of guys and this should be a fun year. Next up: Dirt Sweat and Gears Solo 12 hour