Get a Grip Off Road Racing

Xterra World Championship - Rocking With The Best

2009-10-26T00:59:00.003-05:00

Xterra World Championship – the crowning achievement of my athletic career. It’s been a long hard journey to get here and I loved every moment of it.

Up until race morning I wasn’t nervous about this race. Quite unusual since I usually get sick to my stomach and have a sleepless night at least one day in advance of every race. But once I got in the car it hit me, this is the biggest Xterra event there is and I’ll be going up against 550 of the best Xterra athletes in the WORLD. Talk about pressure.

Ever since I played high school football I would always build up my opponents to mythical proportions in my mind and quite literally be scared, on the verge of hysteria , before every game. They are bigger than me, they are faster than me, and they are going to kick my ass are the kinds of thoughts that would go through my head. I kind of had that feeling again wondering if I am worthy of competing on such a grand stage but then I said to myself, “I bet they are intimidated of me just as much as I am of them.” Once I got to the race I saw Dean and his usual calm, Canadian demeanor helped settle me down and regain focus. I earned my spot to get here, dues have been paid, it’s time to go out and prove I belong.

Prerace Blessing

As they gave the traditional Hawaiian blessing and played the National Anthem, I looked around and saw the skin suits of all the athletes issued by their national federation, Italy, Germany, Czech, Japan, Austria, Brazil, France, Spain, Canada. Wow, I’m now rocking with the best, representing my country. I could feel I was fighting back tears thinking how far I’ve come since my first race over a decade ago and what an honor it is to be here.

Once the race started it felt like everything went in fast forward. I was focused and in the zone just like every other Xterra race I did this year. I found some feet to swim behind and stayed behind them. Swimming in perfectly clear water you could see tropical fish swimming in the reef below. The swim felt great, but it was over before I knew it. Looking at my split I certainly didn’t swim that fast, it was just that the moment was over so quickly.

Then it was on to the bike. I am climbing great and passing an endless train of people on the lower slopes of Haleakala. Hardly anyone passed me on the climbs, but once I got to the descents, caution got the better of me and people were flying past me. The course is almost all Jeep track but with all the lava rock and dust, these are far from easy trails to ride. One mistake or unlucky break and you are crashing on a cruel surface or stopping by the side of the trail to fix a flat tire.

You hear of all the difficult sections of the course in the Xterra videos. Heartbreak Hill, Ned’s Hill, the Plunge, trails of difficulty built up to mythical stature. Each time I got to a point I would ask someone a question like, “was that Heartbreak Hill?”, and if they spoke English they would respond, “no, that was a couple miles ago.” Same thing happened with the Plunge. Each time I was thinking I was so caught up in the moment I completely missed it. Again, for the bike, it was over before I knew it. I was so in the moment, it just passed me by so quickly. I was wishing the course was longer and this moment, this feeling, would last forever.

Onto the run the legs are moving slow. The bike took it’s toll and the hills, sun and heat weren’t helping matters. Everyone around me is moving slowly too. It’s kind of funny because it is like racing in slow motion now. After 4 miles I’m averaging about 8 minute miles then we hit the first beach and the pace gets really slow. The last 3 miles are on sand and on big lava rocks. This section can break your will or your bones. To get my mind off the difficulty of the race I would talk to the other competitors. They would respond at length in Japanesse or German. Somehow I felt like I understood them. Either suffering is universal or the early stages of delirium were starting to set in.

I got to the finish line in about the time I estimated I could get to the finish line if I had a great race. Even though I never did this race before I hit all my target splits based on others I competed against who did this race before me.

People ask me if I won, and when I say no, they look disappointed. I didn’t win or anything, but I proved I belonged with the best athletes in the world. That means something to me. All the tears, sweat, blood, disappointment, money and broken bones it took to get here was worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQwHb6K_n5Q

That's me at 10:10 in the video. :-)

I’ve competed in big races like National Championships before and nothing compares to this race. This race is special and an unforgettable experience. Everything from the difficulty of the course, to the high level of competitors, to the fact that everyone here loves racing Xterra, to the fact that it is located in a tropical paradise makes this race a unique event. I want to convince all my athletic friends to qualify for this race and do it with me next year. That would be so much fun and something to look forward to.

Xterra WC Countdown

2009-10-23T02:57:00.000-05:00

It’s intimidating to be in the presence of so many great athletes.
- Kingpin

Two days to go until the big day. 11 years racing Xterra and I’m finally about to reach a lifelong goal. At my first Xterra race in 1999 I was the slowest swimmer and one of the last finishers in the race. Who would have thought I could keep taking it to a higher level and make it to the biggest race in this sport of off road triathlon?

I’m not really nervous about this race like all my other races. I was put in my place at Nationals so I don’t have any aspirations or delusions about placing well at Worlds. My goal is just to take it all in and enjoy the experience. It is so cool to see all these athletes from around the world here for this race. These are the best athletes from each country and I finally proved that I am worthy of being here and competing with them. I wish the race was tomorrow. I can’t wait.

Trail Review – Poli Poli Springs State Park, HI

2009-10-21T02:53:00.002-05:00

I rode this trail when I visited Maui back in 2000. I rented a specialized Stumpjumper with flat pedals, had my parents drop me off at the start point and told them to pick me up in a couple hours. When I was finished riding, I remember thinking this was the steepest, hardest trail I had ever ridden. In hindsight I figured I was kind of heavy and out of shape back then so my memories of how hard it was were skewed toward the fact that I actually sucked at bike riding then.

Back in Maui in 2009 and like a dog that can always find his way home, I quickly find this trail and ride it again. I must admit my initial impressions from 2000 were dead on. This is no joke, it’s one of the steepest roads I’ve ever ridden. I think Greg LeMond said, “it doesn’t get easier, you just get faster.” Right on brother.

Waipoli road is the road you take to get to the trail and if you can’t wait to get to the dirt road, park your car on the side of the road and start riding. That’s what I did. Waipoli road is paved for 5.8 miles and ascends about 3500 feet. If you do the math, that is steep. Think switchback after switchback seeming to never end.

Eventually it does end and the paved road turns to a fire road. Here it levels off for several miles and you can shift it to the big ring, get your climbing muscles some recovery and cruise for 5 or 6 miles. Beautiful views of the ocean and the island are below as you ride along. This part of the ride is similar to the flume trail in Tahoe, but not quite as harrowing. At the end of this section you can choose to go right and descend a mile to the Poli Poli camp ground or you can go left and keep climbing.

If you go left you made the right choice. You are in for more epic climbing, the only difference is you are now doing it off road on loose gravel. After a couple miles you choose to go left or right. Right will take you to on Kahua road and you will top out at 7,126 feet. Go left and you will take the skyline trail to the peak of Haleakala. As far as I’m concerned, this is the only way to go.

I don’t know if it is cumulative fatigue that starts to set in, or if you start to feel the effect of elevation, but from here on out you are in your smallest chainring and largest cog. As you climb the terrain changes from forested area to barren, lava rock filled desert. You have clear sightlines when you look up and you keep thinking you’ve just about reached the top until you get to the top of that ridge and see you still have more work to do. You’ll keep getting tricked like this and now you will have to battle fierce winds in addition to the loose terrain, steep grades and elevation. You will hit some unridable switchbacks uphill that you will have to walk and the only thing that allows you to keep going is the determination to conquer the mountain.

Eventually you’ll come around a ridge and see a shiny silver dome at the peak of the mountain. This is the space station atop the peak of Haleakala, elevation 10,023 feet. Congratulations you made it. Now get ready for a white knuckle decent back to your car. No pedaling required.
I’ve never been to France but I think this is the mountain bikers version of Ventoux, a barren moonlike landscape with ridiculous elevation gains. Nothing scenic or remarkable about the trail, just a test of your will to keep going, God’s gift to the self loathing.

There are single track trails around these dirt roads, but not what I was looking for at this point in time. I rode the Waiakoa loop trail and it was pretty decent. Very technical - Steep switchbacks, loose dirt, off camber riding, lava rock. I would rate this more of an all mountain trail rather than a cross country trail. Very slow riding whether you are going up or down.
I also hiked the boundary trail. Even though the sign says mountain bikes are allowed on this trail I am glad I hiked it instead of riding it. Very steep, bumpy and doesn’t have much flow. If you try to ride this you will be pushing your bike a lot.

I recommend you stick to the jeep roads and work on your climbing.

There is no preriding the Xterra World Championship mountain bike course, and I never did it before, but I think this trail will prepare me both mentally and physically for the demands of the course.

Xterra National Championship

2009-10-04T22:08:00.003-05:00

I've been traveling to races at altitude for years. My first race was Xterra Keystone back in 2000. Each time I race I come back home with my ass kicked not just by my fellow competitors, but also by the relentless climbing and the lack of oxygen at altitude.

Each time I race, I learn a little bit more about planning, preparation and pacing at altitude. Nevertheless, I always get my ass kicked and feel I could have done better.

This year, like every year, I figured it would be different. I'm in the best shape of my life. I finally qualified for the World Championship, I won a few races, and I was undefeated in my age group this year. I lost a solid 10 pounds yet my power is at all time highs.

I had dreams that it is possible to get on the podium in my age group, so despite my history of racing at altitude, still I must travel out to Ogden UT and give it a shot.

Looking at the start list I knew that was a tall order because nearly everyone on that start list has beaten me at some point in my Xterra career. Still, on any given day you never know who will have a good day and who will have a bad day.

Xterra Ogden is a unique course because it has 2 transition areas spaced far apart. T1 is near Pineview reservoir at 4000-4500 feet. From there you climb up to Snow Basin ski resort where the course tops out at about 7500 feet before descending back to the resort and T2. This gives you a course that has disproportionally more climbing than descending. The course is fun, but it is not supertechnical, so power to weight ratio will be the key factor to determine who will shred the bike course.

Once you come out of T2 you run up some steep inclines, then it levels out a little before you do some more climbing. Then after that you do a little more climbing before you basically run straight down the mountain back to the finish line. I bet most people do about a 5 minute mile for the last mile of this race which will take in total about 3 hours. That's how steep it is.

Prerace, I notice the water is cold, but not numbingly cold like at Lake Tahoe. Once the gun goes off I try to find some feet but I am constantly getting dunked, punched and kicked. This was one of the toughest starts I have ever done, and that is completely understandable. This is the National Championship, no one is messing around.

Still getting pummeled, I get to the first buoy and I notice a decent number of pro caps around me. This is bad because that means I started way too hard. About 50 meters later people are still swimming on top of me and it hits me and I think, uh oh, I just bonked 4 minutes into a 3 hour race. In my past experience I found that when I go over my limit at altitude I don't recover and a bad day is in store. I tried not to panic and moved out of the aggressive pack. After a few easy strokes I recovered and felt fine. I didn't have any feet to follow, but I felt much more comfortable.

Onto the bike I felt great. I followed my strategy and only 2 people passed me on the bike, and that was because I got off and pushed my bike on the steepest climbs at Snow Basin while they rode. Lesson learned, when riding a single chain ring, you need a ring small enough to allow you to climb the steeps.

Most years I'm the one getting passed when the trail turns upwards. In hindsight, I realized no one passed me on the bike because all the good mountain bikers learned to swim this year and they were way ahead of me. Another lesson learned, Xterra athletes are becoming more well rounded athletes. Nevertheless, it was still a pretty good bike, and if I had swam a little faster I could have easily taken two minutes off my split without much effort by not getting stuck behind riders who were the world's slowest descenders.

Onto the run and I head straight up the ski hill. I felt alright but not great so I started at a very conservative pace. A guy in my age group and 2 pro women pass me in the first half mile. After that I started feeling better and I don't think anybody passed me for the rest of the race. I just focused on a good cadence and reeling in people ahead of me.

When it was all said and done, I had a great race. I beat my time on this course last year, and this years course was 1/2 mile longer on the bike and 1 mile longer on the run. In total I would say I am faster by about 10 minutes. I finished 56th overall, 32nd amateur, 11th in my age group. I think my swim split was ranked 102th, Bike 54th, and run 52nd. Not too bad, now I see what I have to work on in the off season.

I got my ass kicked in my age group, but it was super competitive. The guy who won my age group also won the amateur overall and he beat the reigning AG National champion by 10 minutes. Last years national champ beat this dude by over 15 minutes at last years national championship. Now that is stepping up your game. That is crazy improvement.

So that's it for me. Now I'm excited to compete in Hawaii for the World Championships, but I also have to find the motivation to keep on training. It has been such a long season. I must keep on training, it's what I do.

A new season

2009-09-17T00:13:00.000-05:00

The season kicked off a couple weeks ago with back to back 60+ mile epic rides on CX bikes with Tim, Derrick, Ryan Gingerich and Ryan Cooper. Since then I've been practicing every week twice a week with the Burnham guys. The practices get pretty competitive sometimes and a lot of people are starting to show up. That makes it a lot of fun and keeps you motivated for every interval.

Yesterday I rode with the XXX guys and got a chance to preview the Jackson Park course. It is similar but distictly different from the previous years and it will be a very challenging and fun course.

I can't wait to get the season started.

Xterra Blackhawk

2009-08-27T23:24:00.001-05:00

Xterra Blackhawk is the last Xterra race of the year in the region. That means all the point series races that are close will be more or less decided by this race. Derrick is in a close race in his age group and he'll need all the points he can get to beat Dean, Brian Parker and Peter Hanson for the 40-44 age group title.

I already locked up the 30-34 Midwest title so this race will be a warm up for the Xterra USA championship. The long-ish bike course and the long run will provide a good workout and the trails are fun.

Tim has been talking a lot lately of running a single chain ring up front for simplicity and decreassed weight. So I figured I'd modify an old XTR crank, take off my front shifter and derailleur and see how it works out in a race.

Here's how it looks:

The race went fairly well. I only swam twice in the last 2 months due to a shoulder injury, and it showed. I was about 3 minutes down on the leaders

I maintained my composure and came out hard on the bike. I didn't even miss my big ring or my granny ring and ended up with the top T1 and Bike split on the day. That includes taking 2 wrong turns on the bike course, so I guess that goes to show this single chainring set up just might work for racing.

I felt better on runs before, but this was a fairly decent effort. I ended up 3rd overall on the day.

Derrick had a pretty good race too. He nearly caught Eric Fernando on the bike but on the entire run he couldn't close the 20 second gap on him. Derrick ended up 2nd in his age group and capped a breakthrough Xterra season.

Comparing my race to the race I did here two years ago, I improved my bike time by about 6 minutes and my run by about 8 minutes. I feel pretty confident I'll do well going into the National Championship.

Podium:

South Shore Kids Tri

2009-08-05T23:37:00.009-05:00

This past weekend I was lucky enough to see the future of the sport. I went to the 63rd street beach to watch the South Shore Kids Tri / Sprint Tri. I've been getting my cousin's Mike (13) and Jon (11) ready for this race all summer. They never did a triathlon before but they are naturals for this sport because they are great swimmers and overall really good athletes. My Aunt was like, I just hope they finish, and I was like, Oh no, I think they can win this.

Thanks to Ken Dorado and his Brother Aric I had a couple really sweet bikes for Mike and Jon to ride in the race. Mike was on a Cannondale Get a Grip team frame and Jon was on a Schwinn Fastback with some 60 mm carbon tubulars that I threw on to make it a little faster.

Thanks to Derrick I have a bunch of pictures.

Setting up transition

race start
After Mike came out of the water in first place, Jon passes Mike on the bike.

Mike passes Jon and runs in for a 3rd place finish.

Jon finishes right behind his brother in 4th. Mike on the podium

Post race they said they had a lot of fun and would like to do this again. I'm really proud of them and look forward to when we are competing together head to head. :-)

Swim, Bike, Run... Skate?

2009-07-27T13:26:00.002-05:00

I showed up at the expo for the Alexian Brothers Fitness for America Sports Festival on Friday with a 1 year-old, a 2 year-old, a 5 year-old… and 8 year-old “fitness” skates, all of which elicited smiles from the vendors. “Can I race with these things?” I asked, trying to figure out why a few of the wheels wouldn’t spin too well. Thirty-five dollars later, I had new bearings in my beat-up blades, and I was off-to-the-races, so to speak.

I felt like a guy who brings his mountain bike to a triathlon, but takes the basket and bike-rack off the back for speed! I've never done anything like this before.

Saturday was the bike time-trial, which was a disaster as my training partner, Jerome, was misdirected and never did find the finish line. And I ended up riding one out-and-back section twice. Oh well. The guys from Floyd Landis’ “Team OUCH” would have to wait until next year for their schooling. (grin) I still ended up 6^th.

So now it’s Sunday, the inline half-marathon. And I’m nervous. The pro skaters at Friday’s expo sprint race were skating on the flats at over 35 mph! What have I gotten myself into? The gun goes off, and as expected, my tiny-wheeled fitness skates and I are quickly dropped. I’ll just skate at my own pace and see how things play out.

Then I feel something touch my butt. I quickly grab it, thinking my water flask is falling out… and I grab a woman’s hand. “Ahh! How’d that get there? Paula, I swear, I never even kissed her!”

“Sorry,” she says.

“No, I’m sorry.” I say, as I realize that’s what skaters, do. They’re always touching each other as they try to keep their distance in a pace line. I didn’t even realize I was leading a pace line. And I’m thinking I’ve really got to learn to skate backwards. (grin)

After a few minutes, someone in my pack decides to try to bridge up to the front group. I jump on and we leave most of pack 2 behind.

Drafting in pack 1 was like an Ironman start. Getting dragged along by the draft, I hardly had to skate. So I decide to take a turn at the front. Problem is, I don’t know how to end that turn. I ease up, thinking someone will come around me, but no one does. I move to the side. Everyone moves with me. “Go ahead,” I say. And I’m relegated to the back of this 9-person group.

I do most of the pulling for the first loop, so I’m starting to get the feeling like I’m either the strongest one here or the dumbest. And since I have no idea what I’m doing, I figure it’s the latter.

About 8-10 miles into it, I punch it up a hill, and get a 20 meter gap. Soon the group catches me again, but no one comes around. So I push it up the next hill, which dislodges a skater or two. I may be the dumbest, but I’m going to have some fun with this! I wait for one of the stronger guys to take a pull. Then I hammer up the next hill, and I’m gone. I find myself in a headwind on the long gradual hill. Over my shoulder, I can see the pack is splintering and chasing hard. This is so much fun! I feel like a break-away rider in the tour… waiting to see if Mark Cavendish is here to wind up his sprint.

My back is about to give out, and my quads are full of lactate, but I suck it up. Yes! I’m going to win this thing!

Then I make a wrong turn.

Of course I do. Second time in two days! It’s a good thing I’ve got a helmet on, or I’d bash myself in the head! Why have I been cursed with this pathetic sense of direction? And why don’t they have someone directing us at this intersection?

By the time I get back on the course, I don’t know where the group is. Skaters from three races are all mixed together. So I keep skating hard and have to wait until the awards ceremony to find out that triathlon, coupled with a decade of youth hockey, is a recipe for winning this kind of thing. Looks like this offseason, I’m going to have to get some racing skates.

Dean

Racing again

2009-07-23T14:34:00.002-05:00

It seems like I just unpacked from the OH trip and here I am heading off to another race this Saturday.

I have been looking forward to this race for a couple months now because I heard the course is fantastic and I think the competition at this race will be really good. It just might be tougher than the Xterra Midwest Cup.

On the start list I see Midwest Cup amateur champ Blake Vogues, Torn Shirt champion Kaleb VanOrt, and 35-39 midwest series champ Chris Scott will be there. I also have a feeling 35-39 national champ Tim Menoher will be there too. Who knows, if Jim James and Peter Hanson show up, it will no doubt be the race of the year in this region.

I almost conviced my teammates, elite triathletes Dean, Russ, and Matt Thibodeau to do this race. Too bad they couldn't make it, they are missing out.

Now that I clinched the point series title, this race will just be for fun. That and I will get an indication of what I need to improve before Xterra Nationals.

Xterra O.N.E.

2009-07-20T16:01:00.009-05:00

This past weekend, I returned to Ravenna OH for the Xterra O.N.E. With the race director giving me the #1 bib as returning champ from last year, the pressure was on for me to repeat.

The mountain bike course here is the highlight of the event. With narrow, rooty and rocky singletrack for 90% of the course, it rewards mountain bike skills over sheer cycling fitness. This is a tough course. I crashed on the preride the day before the race in a rock garden and landed on my road rash from 2 weeks ago. Then the morning of the race while I am warming up 30 minutes before the race, I flat when I hit a rock at a weird angle, lose control and crash into a tree shoulder first.

It seems I'm not the only one who has been having bad luck crashing lately. It seems like everyone has been crashing lately as if it is the new cool thing to do. Kind of strange.

Before the race I see Bruce Pisarek floating in the water and he announces I am the returning champ. I think that drew the attention of the swimmers to me like sharks and they marked me for the swim. That was good because my shoulder is still sore and I haven't swam in weeks so that probably just slowed them down as they stayed with me. Anyhow I come out of the water at the front of the pack with about 7 others within 8 seconds of me. It is very rare where I come so close to the #1 swim split.

I get to the singletrack in first place and notice the air in my tires is low. While it may have been a good pressure for riding around in the hotel parking lot, it is not a good pressure to ride at high speeds over roots and rocks. I can feel my back tire bottoming out on the rim and rolling over under hard cornering pressure. I decide I will not stop and refill with a CO2 and instead resign myself to riding more conservatively in the technical sections and riding hard on the hills and open sections.

I let Bruce, mountain bike extraordinaire, pass me and I try to keep him in sight so I can have a chance at reeling him in on the run. I get through the bike both crash free and flat free and feel warmed up and ready to run.

I felt great and caught Bruce about half way through the run. The run felt effortless and I am sure I could have gone much faster if I wanted. I guess toning down my effort on the bike translated into more energy available for the run.

I came across the line about 3 minutes faster than last year and repeat champ of the Xterra O.N.E. This victory was significant to me for many reasons. First, this locks up the Xterra point series for me so I am the Midwest champ for the sixth year in a row. Second, this is the first time I ever had a perfect score in the point series and as a result I am tied for first in the National ranking among my age group peers. That's quite an honor because there are a whole lot of superstars on that list. Third, this guarantees an invitation to the Xterra USA Championship, which I look forward to competing at in 2 months. Fourth, all my goals for the season have been met and it is only July. Now I need to formulate new ambitions for the USA and World Championships and see what I'm made of.

I'd like to offer congratulations to Derrick who had a breakthrough race today. He came in midpack on the swim and then proceeded to move up through the field with the 6th best bike split on the day and the 2nd best run. He finished right behind me in fourth place, his best Xterra finish ever.

Close Call

2009-07-14T16:00:00.002-05:00

I took the one (sidewalk) less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost

Yesterday, I left work early to ride my bike to the dentist in Arlington Heights. I stopped at a lamppost to pick up the bike lock that I left there in the morning, so I didn’t have to carry it downtown and back, and decided, since I was now on the sidewalk, I’d continue around the corner to the dentist.

A few pedal strokes on the sidewalk and I hear a screech of car tires from right behind me.
“Why do you always end up down at Nick’s Café?”
“I said, ‘I don’t know, the wind just kind of pushed me this way.’
She said, ‘Hang the rich.’” (--Robbie Robertson. I couldn’t resist another Candian quote.)

I turn to watch a big ol’ Oldsmobile veer left, across oncomming traffic, over the curb of the frontage road, and smack into a wide tree. CRASH! The sound was almost fake. Violent, horrible sound …like your wife telling you she’s pregnant with number four. (Paula, if you read this, I'm just joking!)

I call 911 as I approached the vehicle, its wheels still spinning at 40 mph. I’m thinking, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to get this woman out of the car. And what if it blows?” I know, too much TV. Then I turned into a green steroid user and, in a rage, lifted… No. Can you tell this experienced kinda messed with my head?

The tree is practically in her lap. Air bags, flying grass and dirt, smoke. And the 70-80 year-old woman conscious and looking at me in disbelief, as if to say, “I didn’t do anything. Get me out of here!”

Before I could even try the door handle, two fire fighters come running out of the building where I dropped my bike. “We got it.” Seems the fire department is directly across the street.

I tell the 911 dispatcher that the fire department is here and the ambulance arrives in less than 30 seconds. I hung out for a bit until it was clear that no one wanted me as an eye-witness, and sat in a dentist chair hoping the woman will be OK, wondering why they insist on “soft” toothbrush bristles but it’s OK to scrape at your enamel with a metal prong, and very thankful that, for whatever reason, the Oldsmobiel was more inclined to go left… instead of right.

Ride safely.
Dean

Whitewater Road Race

2009-07-05T13:42:00.003-05:00

Russ convinced me to do a bike race with him up in Whitewater. Generally I don't like to do bike races in the middle of tri season because i learned from experience that one crash can ruin a whole season. Since I did this race last year, I knew there were very few difficult turns and the course seemed reltively safe. This is Russ's first race so I figured I'd race with him and see what he got.

Russ, Derrick and I take the start and we manage to stay near the front and stay out of trouble for most of the race. I felt really good throughout the race working hard but never stuggling. Russ was awesome in his first race, he would often take pulls at the front pushing the pace, and on the climb, even when he got dropped he would catch back up to the pack without a problem.

Last lap, after the last climb I size up the field and there are only about 15 - 20 riders left in the field and Russ and I are well positioned in the front of the pack. I'm confident I can win, I haven't wasted a lot of energy and I still have one strong jump left in me. The long descent launches us toward the finish line at insane speeds. I spin out my gear and try to shift to a harder gear only to discover i'm already in the 53-12. 500 meters to go and people are starting to jump. It's too far for me to take a flyer. I have to decide, go on Russ's wheel on the right side or move to the middle for a better draft. I think Russ went to early and will soon blow so I move to the middle so I can go at 200.

We're riding over 35 mph and get to about 200 when everything falls apart horribly. The 2 guys right in front of me touch wheels and both go down. I have nowhere to go but to follow them, bouncing off the ground. For several minutes I'm laying on my back staring at the sky, nauscious and confused. Eventually the ref car drives up to me and tells me I have to get off the road before the next pack comes through. I get helped up and don't think anything is broken. The guy from Whitewater looks like he is in bad shape. I hope he's OK.

Derrick helps me back to the registration area and he and Russ help clean me up my wounds. You guys are awesome.

The guy who won the race came up to us and gave me and Russ props for pushing the pace and riding hard throughout the race. I guess if I got some props it's all worth it. Respect of my peers, that's what I race for.

I was watching the tour later in the day and thinking those guys have crashes and they have to get up and chase back on after a crash, then they have to ride the next day on a stage that is 3 times longer and the pace is much faster. Then they keep doing it day after day.

You gotta be tough and a little crazy to do this sport.

Xterra Torn Shirt

2009-06-29T14:11:00.004-05:00

Since Dean is too shy to do a write up on this race I'll do a write up for him.

Dean Hewson kicked some major ass at the Xterra Torn Shirt Triathlon last week. He came out of the swim in the front of the pack With Eric Fernando and Jeremy Hansen. Since neither of them finished the race Dean wins the award for best swim of the day.

With Dean in first place on the single track he did his best to hold off the fast riding Jim James, who had a killer bike split on his home town course, for as long as possible. Unfortunately, this wasn't very long.

On the run Dean was in second place battling the pain of a bruised toe from an earlier bike crash, trying to pull back Jim James until Kaleb "the galloping gazelle" Van Ort flew past him on his way to an eventual first place finish. Dean held off all other contenders to finish 3rd on the day and get a best in class age group award as well.

Although Dean probably doesn't remember, I remember meeting Dean at this Torn Shirt race many years ago. He had just destroyed 98% of the field, and most impressively, he did it on a cyclocross bike.

When they announced the awards I found out he was in the 35 - 39 age group and I was thinking, "there is no way that guy with the white santa claus beard is 35 years old." But I couldn't figure out the logic in why an old man would want to sand bag in the hardest age group.

Soon afterward the rule making curmudgeons at Xterra outlawed cyclocross bikes for Xterra competition. The no cyclocross bike rule is now known to some as "the Dean Hewson Rule."

Now Dean rides a mountain bike, but to this day he still can't be stopped, with podium places at nearly every event he enters.

The legend of Dean lives on.

Team Get a Grip - The Champs

2009-06-26T11:30:00.003-05:00

This year Xterra decided to incorporate a team challenge into their Xterra Cup events. Simply put, this makes a team competition within an individual sport where the top 4 finishers score points for the team.

Below is the message from the Kahuna Dave Nichols letting us know we won. We beat Melanie McQuaid's team, team Mel Rad.

--------------------------------------

You guys won. You figured your teams results correctly at 405. MelRad had 300something

GET A GRIP
100 + 16 = 116 for Dean Hewson
100 + 12 = 112 for Teodoro Ramos
100 + 2 = 102 for Cheryl Stine
63 + 12 = 75 for Bill Driegert
TOTAL = 405
Not used
41 + 16 = 57 for Derrick Fluegge
41 + 12 = 53 for Ken Dorado

DN

--------------------------------------

In addition to the team title Dean, Cheryl and Ted were crowned Xterra Midwest Cup Champions in their respective age groups.

Nice job team.

In other news, this weekend I'm going to Des Moines for the Hy Vee Olympic distance triathlon. I will be racing in the Elite division with a lot of other athletes from the Well Fit Elite team. I'm really excited and think this will be fun. But then again, I'm the type of person who thinks getting his ass kicked is fun. After beating each other up in practice every week since January, we finally get to see how we stack up against each other in a head to head match up.

Chicked

2009-06-23T15:39:00.003-05:00

This weekend was the Well Fit Steelhead 70.3 training weekend presented by Get a Grip. Since I coach the Well Fit Steelhead training group and am on the Well Fit Elite Triathlon team and the Get a Grip Cycling team I figured I better represent. Overall it was a pretty good weekend hanging out with everybody, teaching them triathlon stuff and getting to know them better. I also have a better understanding of the challenges my athletes will face on August 1st when many of them will be doing what will be for most of them their first 1/2 IM.

After a BBQ at the house we rented the drinking games began. I learned that to be on the Elite team you have to be a really good drinker. Long story short, at the prodding of elite teamers Kristen Wrede and Marc Robertson I drank more than I have in a long time, but I also discovered I am pretty good at drinking games.

The next morning the training group went out for their ride on schedule. At the time everyone else was leaving, I couldn't get my fellow elite teamers out of bed. We show up to the staging area long after everyone else was gone. The elite members (Marc, Kristen and me) set out on the ride finally and it seemed like they were hell bent on reeling everyone in.

The initial pace was aggresive and I'm thinking everyone is hung over and is just working out the cob webs. Marc qualified for the 70.3 Championship last weekend and Kristen says she has a stress fracture. They'll probably slow down once cumulative fatige catched up with them.

On we ride forward hammering away. OK, this pace can't be sustained for this long I think to myself after we make the first turn at mile 12. At mile 20 I think, alright, I'm taking soft pulls at the front and sitting on their wheels the rest of the time. At mile 21 I'm feeling ashamed of myself for drafting off a girl. At mile 22 I get over it and draft more. At mile 25 they drop me on a downhill and in retailiation I attack on the next hill and get a pretty good gap. I keep riding a solid tempo at 300 watts and before I know it Kristen has bridged back up to me and she doesn't even look tired. I can't believe it.

Mile 30 I'm feeling pretty gassed and notice my heart rate has been at about 90% of max for a while. So far we are averaging 23.6 mph and most of that was into a soft headwind. The only recovery I get is when we slow down for stop signs, but then we accelerate up to speed as fast as possible.

Kristen is taking the majority of the pulls but when Marc recovers he charges to the front and makes us chase him. At mile 40 I blow and let them pedal away. I soft pedal home battling cramps in my hams and take a short cut back to the cottage.

Postrace, they said they did the ride in 2:16 averaging 23.6 for the whole ride. They reeled in everyone who left a good 1/2 hour before us. I don't know much about IM bike splits but I just read that the winner of the Rockman did his ride in 2:10 and he set a course record. I would guess the profile of that course to be similar.

I have my excuses, but I could say that today without a doubt I got chicked. Kristen is a damn good rider and she needs to invest in a road bike. She could go far in this sport. Marc is pretty good rider too, and I will have to ride with these guys some more as I prepare for Nationals and Worlds.

Podium Girls

2009-06-18T21:29:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was riding along the lakefront riding tempo on the TT bike and catching and dropping people left and right. I catch one guy in a white assos jersey who looks like he is waiting for me. I put in a dig and turn around and he is still there. He looks like a pretty good athlete, I'll see long he can last. After that I put in a power move to drop him, he moves around me and takes a pull. WTF??? this never happens on the lakefront. This guy must have raced before. We keep testing each other out without exchanging words. I hit a bump and drop my water bottle. He waits ahead and we keep up the two man TT to the end of the path.

At the end of the path we ride easy before turning around. Finally we speak. I ask who he races for and he points at my jersey and says "your team."

No shit. I never knew. Nice to meet you David. Glad you're on our side.

We cruise north at a pace not as fast as the way south, but still pretty fast and stop at the Soldier Field Crit.

These are only training crits from what I understand, but the set up is really nice. There is a race announcer and they make a big deal out of the awards. There are even podium girls at this race that take a picture with all the top finishers.

Now that's what I'm talking about. More races should make a bigger deal out of the awards presentation. I mean, sure, our accomplishment of winning the local weekly crit is pretty small in the grand scheme of things but still we worked our ass off for that little piece of glory. The least a promoter can do is recognize that acheivement and have some podium girls to congratulate us and have the crowd cheer for us.

It's a lot better than annonomously picking up an envelope of cash that is basically a refund of your entry fee (if that) at the end of a race.

After that I finish up my ride and go for a run.

Oh yeah, last but not least, I would like to welcome the newest member of the team, Russ Kuryk, to the Get a Grip fraternity. He is new to bike racing but he is also a member of the Well Fit Elite team. He is a strong cyclist and he should move up through the ranks quickly. He plans to make his debut at the Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge this weekend.

David, Russ, I look forward to racing with you guys this year.

Greg Lemond

2009-06-17T12:31:00.003-05:00

The press portrays Greg Lemond as a bitter, incoherent rabble rouser. I disagree and find him to be someone who cares about the riders, a fair competitive landscape and the future of the sport of cycling.

I was alerted to this video via bikesnob NYC, where he ripped Lemond to shreds. After seeking out the video on youtube I would have to disagree with snobbie on this one.

See for yourself. I was only the 120th viewer of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDy5NLVkliU

Sincere Product Review - El Duke

2009-06-16T23:42:00.005-05:00

In order to support my bike buying habit and have the ability to afford some new cross bikes for the fall I need to part with some bikes from my stable. One of these bikes on the sales block has tar all over the frame from when I rode over a street that was being repaved. In order to make this bike look nice again I needed a product that will remove the gunk yet not ruin the paint job on the bike.

I found out about El Duke when I saw it on the jerseys of team Half Acre. Curious about what it was, I looked it up online. I found out it was an environmentally friendly non toxic degreaser.

http://web.mac.com/eldukedegreaser/El_Duke_Degreaser_/Home.html

Since I am always cleaning my bikes and testing out different degreasing products I stored this away in my mind so I would remember to buy some for my next big cleaning project.

I couldn't get the tar off the above mentioned bike with any other product so I went to Rapid Transit and picked up a bottle of El Duke. It's a good sign when the guy at the store who sold it to me seemed really enthusiastic about this product.

Well to cut to the chase, this stuff is great at getting off tar and it seems really good at degreasing too. It moved quickly to the front as my favorite bike cleaning product. It removes gooey substances better than goo gone, it doesn't have a noxious odor like simple green, it doesn't burn my hands or ruin metal finishes like some high power auto degreasers I use.

El Duke is all pros and no cons. Go out and buy this product.

Rainy Dayz

2009-06-13T13:43:00.003-05:00

Another day, another rain storm. Chicago is the new Seattle. People from Seattle actually tell me it is raining less there. The one good thing about living in Chicago is that you can complain about the weather year round.

I'm getting kind of tired about reading about biking. After years of reading these magazines the how to articles get so repetitive. It seems like I've already read every coaches theory on training while trying to sell his program, and every product review funded by advertising dollars. I want to read some innovative thinking in relation to bikes if there is such a thing. Give me something new.

With all this rain I have a lot of time to read these magazines that have been piling up. Random thoughts to follow....

I think I mostly just look at ads. I really want the XX. Dear SRAM, I am currently unsponsored by a component company. Perhaps we can work together and I can test out these XX products for you. I am a slightly above average off road triathlete who can test out your products on the Xterra circuit. I am very hard on equipment so your products will get a true stress test under my legs. If you are interested in this fantastic opportunity, leave a message in the comments stating you would like to work with me.

The Specialized ad "I gambled everything on the Muur" is really cool. The picture captures Stijn's gritty look of determination on his face as he powers away from the pack on the cobbled climb. The crowd looks happy as they cheer him over the top, Belgian lion flags waving. Anybody who can get me the poster of this ad, it would be greatly appreciated.

Awesome, Team Get a Grip is prominently featured in the full page ad for the Chicago Criterium.

According to Chicago Athlete Magazine, in a desperate money grab the Chicago Park District is going to start charging for parking soon. I like driving my car to the 31st street beach and then doing brick workouts with my car as a transition area. Now I'll have to pay $1 an hour to park. Jeers to the Chicago Park District, Jeers.

Give me a break, T3 is coming out with an Ironman branded bed that will supposedly help you recover better. It has a padding that has been "clinically proven" to do all kinds of wonders for your body. Whatever, you know what is good for recovery? Sleep, I don't think it matters what mattress you are on. I'm calling BS on this one... unless of course T3 wants to send me a queen size mattress to product test. Dear T3....

Who is this elite triathlete Jen Perez in these EAS ads? She's hot. I think I'll have to add her as my Facebook friend.

Mountain Bike has a 5 page article that is supposedly going to answer once and for all what is better, a 26 or a 29. After spending all the time reading this article, I learned nothing I didn't know before and it provides no definitive answer. Total time waster.

Until next time...

Finally got it off my conscience ...

2009-06-05T09:42:00.003-05:00

... just joined CAMBR. I've felt bad for not joining and kept saying I would. After reading about the IMBA and land manager meeting this coming weekend, I decided to pony up with my fiscal support. I wasn't able to join Derrick, Ted and the others last weekend for the trail workday, but I hope that this is just as meaningful in CAMBRs great efforts to improve local trail riding.

Reading a discussion in the CAMBR forum was a good reminder that membership money is only 1/2 of the story. A list of all the local riders who support CAMBRs cause is equally valuable. The more names they get, the more weight their land utilization suggestions carry to improve existing trails and building new ones.

I'm adjusting to life in the O.P. and joined a local ride this morning. Both the weather and the pace was brisk. It starts about 400M from my place, so waking up at 5:00am should be the only thing keeping me from joining regularly.

Ulysses

2009-06-03T22:44:00.004-05:00

I just got back from a ride and was thinking it's pretty cold out there for June. Shiiiit, it's pretty cold for March. I can't feel my fingers, or my hands... or even my arms. Damn, I was under dressed with a long sleeve jersey on. Oh well, at least it didn't rain today.

I'm from Chicago. You might be faster than me, but I'm tougher than you.

Spotted on the Lakefront path: Kangaroo toe, guy riding with his helmet on backward, little girl crying on the side of the path because she can't pedal her bike forward into the headwind. Suck it up Sally.

I'm increasing my run mileage and realizing, you can't be both a good runner and a good biker. It's a conundrum of my training.

From my last blog, I'm not hating on all dog walkers on bikes, just the dumb ones. I think riding your bike is a good thing, and spending quality time with your dog is a good thing. As the arbiter of common sense, here are a few rules: 1) if you can't ride a bike, don't try to ride a bike and walk a dog. There are some basic skills you gotta bring to the table, and if you don't, someone's going to get hurt. 2) don't yank on the dog's neck. This probably pisses them off as much as it pisses me off. 3) keep the dog on your right hand side. This keeps them on the right hand side of the path and out of the way of traffic. I had a few more rules, but I forgot them already.

I wonder what Hemme's doing now?

So THAT is what intervals feel like?!?

2009-06-02T16:50:00.008-05:00

Had a great weekend and netted a 3rd at the Wonder Lake Crit. Well run event on nice smooth roads that proved to be plenty wide despite many racers comments.

I did my first ever structered trainer interval workout this morning. Goal was 6 x 2min with 3 min rest. Wow, those suck! They will probably become "fun" in a sadistic kinda way as I see my power increase, but I had to bag the first one at 1:20. I was able to regroup and finish the other 5 once I knew what kind of suffering to expect.

I am humbled after reading about JPow doing 400watts for 5min just to "open up" the legs. I'll just have to keep chipping away at that rock.

J-Pow's Journal:

I was doing an opening-up work out for an upcoming 'cross weekend last November: five minute efforts at 400 watts and I noticed this young dude with a cut off t-shirt, Vans sneakers, Camelbak and a 1980’s Motobecane with down tube
shifters. I rode by and said ‘yoooo’, focusing on the task I had in front of me.
After five minutes I glanced back and I hadn’t lost my man with the Motobecane.
“WOAAAH. REALLY? Could that have just happened?” I thought to myself,"I need to get this guy's info because he’s talented — he just kept up with me on a
30-pound Motobecane and Vans sneakers.

I'm all moved into to the pad with Nicole. We're still trying to find a space for everything, but she's awesome and agreed to clear a space for my trainer. I also got a kick of having my own tifosi this morning too.

I'm sure I thoroughly confused her too. When I pedaled she watched me, when I stopped and the hub of my wheel started clicking she watched the wheel. I got a kick of pedaling, stopping, pedaling, stopping just to watch her.

Night Moves

2009-05-30T01:00:00.002-05:00

Friday I can't wait to go out for a ride after work. As I leave my house a creaky bottom bracket caused me to turn around and try to fix the problem. That's what I get for riding in the rain so much. I had to take apart everything and put it back together again. Determined to not be stopped, I turn my after work ride into a night ride.

I love riding at night. It's like I have the Lakefront path all to myself.

If these power meter readings are accurate, I'm getting pretty good at this bike riding thing. I'm not putting out Klug-like numbers yet, but still pretty good. I can see a lot of improvement since the end of cross season. I can cruise along at a pretty decent clip without getting the heart rate up too much.

I notice a new trend lately that kind of pisses me off. People are starting to walk their dogs while they ride along on their bikes. Way to take up the whole bike lane while you cruise along at a brisk 5 miles an hour. And the roller blading dog walker take up even more space. Ass holes all of you.

This trend is not just limited to the lakefront path. I saw one guy in Bucktown sketching off his dog while it pulls him along on his fixed gear. I can see that resulting in a tragic ending. What an ass hole. Then I saw a lady riding with her dog on the wrong side of the street as she approached the intersection of Milwaukee and North. With her horrible bike handling skills she's yanking on the dogs neck and barely avoiding crashing into both cars and pedestrians while fighting to stay upright. What an ass hole.

On my way home as I ride through downtown. A lot of people are out on Friday night. People notice me but generally I'm just an object of mockery. I'll occasionally see the couple and the boyfriend will point at me and they'll share a good laugh. He probably cracks a weak joke like, "look at the fruit in tights." The girl will laugh, but she probably notices my lean body, perfectly shaved legs, ripped muscles working in perfect synchronization with my bike and she secretly thinks, "he could ride me sometime." LOL, at least that's what I say to myself in my mind.

And when people yell, "hey it's Lance Armstrong," that's getting kind of old. It was cool when people would say that to me back when Armstrong was a champ, but now he is just an aging pro past his prime. I think I would prefer to be referred to as an old pro who's time is now. Next time someone sees me I want someone to say, "Hey it's Menchov." That would be cool.

Riding Kettle tomorrow with my peeps. I look forward to it and I should go to sleep now.

I wonder what Popper's doing...

Xterra Midwest Cup

2009-05-19T13:45:00.000-05:00

Never have your first race of the season be your A-race.

That’s what I was saying last week. An analysis of my training log seemed to point to an abundance of stress: training, work, and home-life stress. That’s why I was feeling so weak and flat, I determined.

So I did what I could to try to bounce back from it. Took another day off, walked to work instead of my usual run from the train. Even took the bus a couple times when I didn’t trust myself to walk. Compression socks, stretching, 10 minute swims. I even went to bed before the third period of the Blackhawks’ big win over Vancouver. Now that’s about as committed to recovery as this Canadian gets!

My own bid to qualify for the World Off-Road Triathlon Championships was only two days away, and I’d managed to ride my mountain bike for 30 minutes since last season. An unplanned stay in a hotel Friday night confirmed that things still did not seem to be falling into place. But don’t worry, I figured, you’re only going to be spending the night before the race in a small tent with three kids who never sleep under the best conditions.

The morning of the race saw frost on the grass. Apparently, the air temperature was 30-something. But for some reason, I couldn’t wait to go swimming in the lake! I don’t know if I was just excited about kicking off the triathlon season or if I just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

Then I hit the water for the “warm-up.”

I felt so much positive energy. I really didn’t care how I did against the others. I was just happy to be there. Jamie Whitmore, the World Champion who has been fighting cancer for over a year now (we met her in Lake Tahoe last October) was there announcing the race, and it’s ridiculous to worry about race performance where there’s someone there fighting for her life. Every time I see her, I want to give her a hug, but she doesn’t know who I am!

As the Pros made their way to the first buoy, they started the rest of us. Next thing I knew, I’m behind a wide row of age groupers but soon found some space, did a loop, ran across the beach, dove back in the water, and found someone to follow. We passed some green caps indicating pro women, and I returned to the beach in 5th. Wow. Where’d everybody go?

Soon on the bike, I heard the familiar, “When you get a chance…” which is what riders say when they want to pass me on the single-track. I move over, wish her a good race, and forge on. But soon I catch her again and sit back for a bit. She’s a Swiss rider trying to catch the American who we can see up ahead, but we’re not gaining. After my reprieve, I re-pass her and pull up to Shonny, the Luna-Chix rider, with the Swiss rider in tow. Eventually, I pass her too, and I realize I’m really feeling strong today.

Then the first climb. Those chicks drop me like I had asked them for a date.

Gone.

Gone – while I’m running up the sucker wondering what happened. I claw back to them before the next climb, just to have them remind me why they’re pros and I… well, I suck, I guess.

A few guys also pass me including my friend and Get-A-Gripper, Ted, who drops me on the same climb on the second loop. But this time, I know that no amount of clawing is going to bring me back to his wheel. He’s flying. I’m all alone, so I just keep at it and try to stay positive.

Jump off at the transition area looking forward to the run, and I almost fall flat on my face. My feet are like frozen blocks. I had no idea how cold they were. I change into my Sauconys, but have to look down to make sure my feet look like they are in there correctly, because I can’t feel a thing. It takes me a full 3 miles before they warm up, but they did, and I got one of two spots for the World Championships in Maui, won my age group by 8 minutes (second overall amateur) and even managed to give that hug. (see attached)
Dean

How soon is now? or Revenge of the Deaner

2009-05-18T22:08:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was the Xterra Midwest Cup at Fort Custer state park in Michigan. As long as I have been doing Xterra's (11 years), it has been my goal to finish on the podium in my age group at an Xterra Cup race and qualify for the Xterra World Championship. This goal has been elusive to say the least.

At first I wasn't very good at this triathlon stuff, so qualifying was just a pipe dream. But as I got better, it seemed like something would always happen at regional championship races that would take me out of contention. In Xterra so much can go wrong whether it is a bike mechanical, a flat tire, a crash, lack of altitude acclimatization, cramping, digestion issues, or dehydration. You name it, it has happened to me. People I race with would always say, "don't worry, you'll qualify this year." But every year the competition would get a little stronger, the game would be elevated a little higher, and the goal of qualifying would always be close but just out of reach. I figured I was cursed and destined to forever be the underdog.

Back to the Michigan race, I studied the start list and formulated my strategy for this race. Given the strengths and weaknesses of the other competitors I figured my best strategy would be to swim as hard as I can to minimize the number of people I have to pass on the single track, push hard early in the bike to get towards the front of the pack, then wait for fast bikers to pass me and get on their wheel and ride with them. Then hopefully I will have enough to get through a relatively flat run.

Everything about this course plays to my strengths and I have confidence that I just might be able to finish top 3 in my age group and possibly within top 20 amateur overall.

At the beach start I look for my friend Dean Hewson. I don't know if I can swim on his feet for very long, but if I can get out to the first buoy in a good position I might be able to find a good draft. Everything goes right and by the end of the 2nd lap I see the green and pink swim caps of a few pros just ahead of me. I am told by a spectator that I am 15th amateur out of the water.

Onto the bike I hammer to the first section of single track and pass a bunch of people. I know I can put out this effort because once I get to the single track, I'll get stuck behind some slower riders who are great swimmers and have plenty of time to recover. So far everything plays out perfectly and I'm moving to the front of the pack. Eventually Jim James catches me and I am able to stay on his wheel. This is a breakthrough moment because in all the years I have been racing Jim, anytime I came out of the swim ahead of him, he would promptly ride me off his wheel. Soon Scott Gall catches us and we are like a train. Jim drops his chain and falls off the pace but then we pick up Jenny Smith and keep on chugging along.

Onto lap 2 Jenny picks up a water bottle and she falls off the pace. Scott and I keep pushing each other and I feel I am near the front of the amateur field because I just passed a bunch of really good pro women. Now my goal is to put as much time on the field as I can before the run. I finally pass Dean and I know he is having a great bike ride. I expected to pass him much sooner. For all I know he could be first amateur.

I take some liquids and Scott promptly rides away from me. Lucky for me Jim catches back up to me and we take turns pulling all the way into transition. The race announcer says we are second and third amateurs into transition. I can't believe it, but now my goal is to hunt down the guy in first place.

The first lap of the run is lonely but I feel pretty good. As I exit the woods I see Dean about an eighth of a mile back. Eventually he passes me at about mile 4. Now self doubt starts to creep into my head. Who else is coming from behind? Turns out, it was no one. I cruise in behind Dean and finish 3rd amateur overall and first in my age group. I punch my ticket for the World Championships with the race of my life.

Never before has a race performance surpassed my expectations but this performance blew my mind. Everything went exactly as I planned and nothing went wrong. I was only 1 minute behind the first amateur Blake Vogues. At all my other Xterra cup races I never finished higher than 6th in my age group and I usually finish about top 50 overall or worse.

I'd like to give props to Dean for chasing me down and finishing second. He said he was having a great race too. I'd like to think we pushed each other to great performances.

Right now I'm riding high and feeling pretty good about achieving a goal I never thought I'd achieve. Now my ambitions for the 2009 Xterra USA Championship are much greater and I look forward to seeing how far I can take this.

ABD Team Time Trial

2009-05-14T10:14:00.002-05:00

Tim convinced me to do the 40 K team time trial out in some far western suburb this past Saturday. Dean was doing it too, so the chance for a little friendly competition drew me in.

We get a nice warm up in and show up to the line when we find out we missed our start. We had to re-sign up and wait around and go last. In Grand Tours it is an honor to go last but in this case it was kind of a hassle since we were all pumped up and ready to go at our original time.

I tell Tim that the wind is at our back on the way out and will be in our face on the way in. I want to start out conservatively so we have something left in the tank for the headwind. After Tim takes his first pull he is probably dropping 400 watts and that strategy flys out the window.

I was able to withstand the thrashing Tim gave me and we came in in 56:33 winning the cat 4 title. Dean was right behind us in 56:46.

Sunday I was really excited to head out to my cousins' house in New Lennox and go bike riding with them. They are way better athletes than I was at their age and I'm not just saying that to be nice to little kids. It's true. They are interested in doing a triathlon so I'm going to help show them the ropes and give them a little training advice.

They told their 500 times from the last swim meet they did and they are faster than me and only 1/3 my age. Dang, I think I'd smoke them on the bike though.

I helped fix up their bikes and then we went out for a ride. They have pretty solid basic skills on the bike. I think I can mold them into champions.

We might try out a relay together as Team Ramos and then they will do the Tri Masters South Shore Kids Triathlon in August.

Xterra Red River

2009-04-27T10:39:00.004-05:00

I went to Oklahoma this weekend to get in a practice race before the all important Xterra NC Cup at Fort Custer on May 17th. After a preride I could see this course will be good practice for the courses I will be racing later this year. The bike is very similar to courses like O.N.E. and Last Stand and the run is just as tough as the Torn Shirt trail.

The swim was shortened to just 500 meters due to strong winds creating pretty big waves in the small lake. I didn't like that but it is actually to my advantage since I am not the strongest swimmer. I sat in a draft to conserve energy and I get out of the water in 15th place but I stepped on something that cut my foot open underneath my big toe and my index toe.

Due to my awesome transition skills I get on the trail in 8 or 9th place. My foot really hurts and I can pedal my bike without any problem but I hope it won't affect my run. After saving my energy on the swim, I attack the bike course on my Titus Fireline 29er and get the lead within about 4 miles. From there I try to ride smooth pushing my limits on the climbs but otherwise trying to ride safe and maintain a comfortable lead. 3 miles to go and I notice my tire is folding over under cornering pressure. Either I burped some air or I have a slow leak. Now I am riding even more carefully in the corners and hoping to get to transition without stopping to fix it. I get caught by one rider as I come into transition.

I take the extra time to put on a sock on the cut foot. Just worried about getting a lead on the other guy, I don't even think about if my foot hurts. I go hard to build a lead so he is out of sight, but soon the paranoia of who else may be catching me from behind sets in. I am now the hunted and my biggest enemy is the heat. I am unaccustomed to sunny 85 degree days from training in the midwest. I put out my best TT effort but it doesn't feel that fast. If I see anyone behind me, it's over, I don't have an extra gear to shift into. I'm on the limit. My best strategy is to not blow up so I take it fairly easy on the hill climbs even walking up some of the steep ones.

I finally make it to the open road and I run in to take the tape in 1:49. First victory of 09, 3rd victory in my Xterra career. 15th fastest swim, 2nd fastest bike, 2nd fastest run.

Post race I really paid the price. Dean warned me not to wear racing flats, but I did for their light weight advantage and my feet took a pounding. The balls and heels of my feet feel bruised, blisters are everywhere, not to mention one big gash on my right foot. If you saw me limping around the airport later that day, you would have never guessed that I had just won a race.

This race was a good indicator of what I need to adjust in order to elevate my game for Fort Custer and I think I will be ready.

Sylvan Island Race Report

2009-04-21T13:48:00.004-05:00

I've been horribly inconsistent posting my own updates, but I enjoy reading other cyclists blogs. I guess I'll make an attempt to be more timely with my recaps for the 2009 season and hopefully someone enjoys tracking my season too.

Bill and I decided to race the Sylvan Island Stampede in Moline, IL. Early forecasts of rain wasn't what we were hoping for but we were committed. I checked the FORC (event organizer) website at 6:30am and they said that they hadn't received any rain and the race was still on. The entire drive was through spotty, and at times, heavy rain. When we arrived there were plenty of two wheeled MudMen rolling around. Crap. I don't mind racing in mud, but I don't consider it a strength, possibly because I don't own any "Mud" tires.

I line up with ~20 other people and the director allowed us to vote on cutting our race distance. We are a stubborn bunch and agree to keep it at 6 laps - 24 miles. I recognize some rabbits who are faster than me and line up behind them. I opted to go without sunglasses because of how difficult it would be to keep them clear. I had an equally difficult time seeing anything as the mud/water wake of riders ahead of me flew into my eyes and mouth. I hit the single track in the top 10 and just try to follow wheels. I didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course and this is a very twisty trail. My tire selection (Maxxis Crossmark) might as well have been racing slicks. I'm not sure how much more traction I would have gotten with a mud tire, but I had an incredibly tough time through corners (and even on some straight sections) on this tire created for fast dry terrain.

Lap 1 - Just learning the course. Ride into corners way too hot and in the wrong gear. I'm strong enough to hang with the riders around me but give up time in corners not riding efficiently
Lap 2 - The field is spreading out. I'm trying to calm down and stay in contact with the guys ahead of me. I still ride more aggressively around corners than my tires will allow and I pay for it with some wipeouts. I hear my rotors constantly grinding even when I'm not using them. I must have knocked something loose or splashed a bunch of muck between the pads.
Lap 3 - There are only a few people in sight ahead of me and but I'm settling in and have a better idea of where I need to be careful because of slick corners or peanut butter mud. I see a handful of guys pull off the course with mechanicals. I don't consider placing ahead of someone with a mechanical as a victory, but I keep telling myself that as long as my tires are inflated and my pedals turn, I'll keep pressing.
Lap 4 - More of the same. Anything mechanical on my bike is making it's displeasure known with loud grinding and horrible shifting. I'm riding the course with fewer dabs or stall outs, but that might because of fatigue and slowing down
Lap 5 - Only 2 more to go!! There was a rider behind me who seemed to be closing which helped me to keep on the gas. I had a GU packet under my short, but I was too afraid of wiping out trying to open it. A mouth full of mud before I got any gel wasn't too appealing either. I continued on with just a shot of water each lap but nothing to eat.
Lap 6 - I've put time into the chasing rider and I'm just riding to finish. I'm going slower and I'm not making the same mental mistakes from earlier laps, but the thick mud gives me trouble keeping my momentum

I finished ... and not last. I was 9th of 12 finishers but there were probably 10+ other DNFs. Mike Hemme from Killjoy was victim of a torn sidewall. The posted results are not complete and I'm not sure how many people pulled out.

I have some positives to take from the race and build on as I get back into a consistent training schedule. It will take a lot of TLC to get my beloved Alma back into proper working order. Hopefully it will not require too much credit card usage, but I think a new chain and brake pads will be necessary at a minimum. (Groans)

Sylvan Island Stampede

2009-04-20T09:17:00.008-05:00

Report to follow from the "Sylvan Island Slop Fest"

Tim during an early lap, riding into one of many puddles

Bill riding through the start finish area

Dirt eater

Palos Meltdown 2009

2009-04-15T17:40:00.003-05:00

According to the Cambr website, Sunday August 30th is the date of the 2009 Palos Meltdown. Registration will open on July 1st to non-Cambr members.

As far as I know, this will be the only mountain bike race in the Chicagoland area this year.

Mark your calenders.

6 races in 6 days

2009-03-30T14:41:00.003-05:00

Photo by Burnham Racing Support Team

I just completed my spring road racing campaign this weekend with 2 races at the Burnham Spring Super Crit. I am happy with two seventh place finishes on the day. Before the race I was pretty tired from Kevin's crits, but I was able to ride smart and stay in contention.

That is 6 races in 6 days and a total of 9 races this year. I saw a lot of improvement the more I raced and managed to finish top 10 in my last 3 races.

That's it for me. You won't see me out there on the road for the rest of the summer. Although I might do some local road races in August to start preparing for cross season.

Now I am focusing on the Xterra season with my first race April 25th somewhere in Oklahoma. The goal is the same as it is every year... Qualify for the World Championship and win the North Central Point Series Regional title.

Half Acre's Kevin's Crit Series

2009-03-27T21:36:00.004-05:00

Photo by Velogrrl

While I generally don't like to put road race reports on the off road blog, since the weather is downright cyclocross-like, this is the one time I'll make an exception.

Team Half Acre put on an excellent week long series of training criteriums for Cat 4/5 riders on the southside this week. These races came at the exact point in my training plan where I increase the intensity of my bike riding, so the timing of this event was perfect.

Since I am a lowly cat 4 scumbag, I figure I could use these races to get some experience and upgrade to cat 3. Even though I don't race road it has been a chip on my shoulder to upgrade to 3. It seems like whenever a roadie asks me what cat I am, I tell them I'm a 4 and then they turn away in disgust before I have a chance to explain that I am actually pretty good off road.

All week long I have had a chance to figure out who are the strong riders, who are the smart riders, and who are the riders with the explosive, bike race winning power. I also had a chance to learn how road racing differs from mountain bike racing. One thing I noticed is that in mtb the race is a steady grind of going as hard as you can for the duration of the race, whereas road racing comes down to decisive moments where huge power outputs decide the winning move or if you get dropped. I also leaned that with experience you can learn which moves are threatening and which moves will come back.

Monday I finish top 10 - 12. The pace was fast and I had to put out a lot of power to make up for my crappy drafting skills. I put out my highest 20 and 30 minute power outputs of the season so far.

Wednesday I finish top 12 again I think. Too many pulls at the front toward the end of the race and I don't have anything in the tank for the finish line sprint. Today I averaged about 30 watts less so my road skills must be improving.

Thursday I figure I would race smart and sit on the wheels of the guys who have been placing top 5 all week. Half way through the race I get bored and start taking pulls at the front. 1/2 a lap to go and I can't hit the accelerator anymore and finish mid pack fodder. It's not like I wasn't trying though. I was seeing stars trying to go with the move. Unfortunately I burned all my matches.

Friday I decide I want to finish top 10 and I tell myself I will not deviate from my strategy. My strategy is to sit on the wheel of Ernesto from Van Wagner. He's been winning races all week so he must know what he is doing.

First lap 2 Half Acre guys sprint off the line. I would not have thought it was dangerous until Adam from Team Beer'd went with them. Then Ernie from Van Wagner moved up as well along with a Pegasus guy. Even though it was only the first lap I sensed danger. 2 other guys and I bridge up through a vicious headwind and before you know it we made the decisive move. The pack nearly caught us on the second lap but I think the strong winds, cumulative fatigue from 5 days of racing and lack of a cohesive team presence foiled their attempt.

After that it was just a group of six out for steady ride around the park for 17 or so laps. Early on I was worried that I wasn't doing enough work, but then as the race wound down I found myself on the front for laps 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Damn, I got suckered again. These roadies are a crafty bunch. Two turns to go and I move onto Ernie's wheel. 1 turn to go he accelerates hard and I have no answer. I roll in 5 out of 6 and feel pretty good that I got in my very first breakaway.

Saturday I'm going out to Beloit for the Burnham crit as long as it doesn't snow and see if everything I learned so far works in races with larger fields. I'm not a roadie, but this is actually kind of fun.

Not much to say here

2009-03-24T20:06:00.002-05:00

Without much mountain bike racing action I have had time to indulge in other hobbies of mine such as watching youtube. In general I like watching music videos, downloaded movies or anime. However I came across this show from A & E and since it's bike related, and I don't have much else to say, I'll post the link to this. It's about a guy who used to bike race professionally but then became addicted to crack.

It's pretty interesting. This is 1 of 5 parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmpTHvz0bc&feature=PlayList&p=68AD077C279A0F66&index=0&playnext=1

Here is the follow up story to the A & E show:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/interviews.php?id=riders/2009/interviews/chad_gerlach_mar09

Trail Review - Sedona AZ

2009-02-22T18:40:00.003-06:00

As I was flying out to PHX I bought a Mountain Bike Action magazine to read on the plane. This magazine contained an article titled the Cyclist's Bucket List: 100 things you must do in your lifetime and these 100 things were all mountain bike related.

Number 26 on the list was to ride in Sedona Arizona. I thought, Sedona isn't too far away from Phoenix. I better ride there while I am on vacation because you never know when I may kick the bucket.

Armed with a road map and directions I weened from mtbr.com reviews (of which, their directions are almost always wrong) I ventured off on a 100 mile road trip from Phoenix to Sedona to ride what will undoubtedly be some of the greatest trails I will have ever ridden.

Driving in, the rock formations are quite scenic. They kind of remind me of Moab. Surprisingly I found the trails relatively easily and I park in Oak Creek near the Red Rock Pass trailhead. I see some some other people gearing up to ride as well and I am dismayed at their equipment choices. I see a few Trek 800's with reflectors and a bike with a kickstand and someone else with a big puffy seat as wide as my ass on their bike.

I did a MTB sport race in AZ a few years ago and I remember getting my ass kicked by guys and girls wearing baggy shorts so I know I can't question the equipment choice of these Arizona riders. They ride year round and they are fast. As a matter of fact, I am sure that guy in the parking lot with the Magma could probably kick my ass all the same.

I head out on the ride and the trails are crowded with hikers. The trails are wide double track with a tacky red dirt. There is a descent amount of elevation change but technical challenges are nowhere to be found. I keep taking offshoots of the main trail but they are mostly more of the same and not too long. Some trails are marked wilderness trails, and from what I understand you are not supposed to ride them. Finally I find an unmarked trail that looks like single track. Whatever trail this was, it was pretty good, a mixture of red clay dirt and slickrock with a few rock drops and other technical challenges. Unfortunately it was only about 2 miles long. I end up riding this section 3 or 4 more times.

I head down the Little Horse trail and it seems to come to an end. That's it, I think. There has to be more than this. I ride around the roads of Sedona and I find a jeep trail. After about a quarter mile I determine it is not fun and I head back to the road. Down the road a bit I find the Cathedral Rock trailhead. Heck yes I think, this must be where all singletrack lovers come to worship.

As I enter the trail I say hi to a few hikers and immediately descend a steep rock staircase and nearly endo and bust my head open. I'm hit with a shot of adrenalin. Finally, this is the technical challenge that I seek. Next up are a few hike a bike sections, that lead to the top of a rock formation with a trail you can ride around. The trail is filled with hikers and leashless dogs. Don't worry, they get out of the way is what most hikers say about their dogs, but as I approach the dogs they usually just stand in the middle of the trail and bark at me. I come to a track stand and nearly topple over and fall off a rock ledge as I wait for the dogs to get out of my way.

The more I ride this trail, the more it seems like a hiking trail rather than a bike trail. I nearly endo again because the trails are not really laid out to accomidate bikes. I come to a picturesque running river and head back.

Overall I would have to say the riding in Sedona isn't all that great. The pros are that yes, it is in the mountains, yes, I am riding a mountain bike in February, and yes it is really scenic, but the cons are that the riding itself isn't all that interesting and definitley not worth the long drive to get here.

Maybe I built it up too much in my mind after reading about it in Mountain Bike Action, but I would have to say if I was on my death bed and only had the strength for one more mountain bike ride, this would not be the trail system I would choose to ride.

If I had read the article more carefully I would have realized the article was a thinly veiled attempt at advertising. For example, other things you must do before you die, 14. ride Specialized's brand of tires, 30. wear a t-shirt from Fox Racing Shox's cool line of clothing, 36. visit Troy Lee Designs' amazing showroom, 51. Ride a Trek featuring ABP suspension.

The advertisement for Sedona Mountain Bike Adventures is on page 30. I guess I was conned into determining my bucket list based on the the advertising dollars of marketers. Oh well. Overall I guess I would give this place a 3 out of 5. It is OK, but nowhere near the level of Asheville or Fruita.

Trail Review - McDowell Mountain Competitive Track

2009-02-21T17:54:00.002-06:00

Located southeast of Phoenix, these trails are located near the suburb of Fountain Hills. McDowell Mountain is typical desert riding. These trails are dry, dusty, sandy and rocky. There are many mountain bike races held on the competitive track so these trails were designed for one thing, speed. With the trails running in one direction, you can let it rip and not worry about a head on collision.

Running a Stan's crow in back I didn't get too much braking traction and started to skid every time I needed to slow down quickly. Luckily I ran a Maxxis Crossmark on the front and that helped me maintain traction so I wouldn't crash into the cactuses along the trail.

The competitive track consists of 3 distinct sections of trails, the sport track, the long track, and the technical loop.

The sport track

The sport track is probably the easiest of the 3 loops but a good warm up for the terrain you will encounter on the other two loops. Although it may be the easiest, it still is fun. To make it more challenging, just ride it faster. I would guess this loop is about 3.5 miles long

The long track

This track is probably about 7 - 8 miles long I would guess. If you like to go fast, this is the trail for you. The trail starts with twisty singletrack with bermed corners. Then the next section is a rocky section, where no matter what line you take you can't avoid big rocks. Despite the rocks, you can still carry speed through this section. The final section is a series of small rolling hills where, if you can keep your momentum on the uphills, you are rewarded with a roller coaster-like ride back to the trailhead.

The tech loop

This trail is the shortest, but the 1st mile of this trail may be the best on the whole track. You start off with 2 consecutive drop offs that go straight down over the edge. The run out isn't too dangerous so the probability of going end over and busting your head are minimal. After that you face the longest climb on the course. It was a full body workout to pedal my singlespeed to the top of this climb. After that you are rewarded with a long, steep downhill and after that, more riding similar to the other two trails. The only downside of this loop is that it is only about 2 to 2.5 miles long.

The bottom line, if you want to ride lots of fast twisty single track in the Phoenix area, you should check this place out. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Trail Review - Arizona 100 Trail

2009-02-21T17:39:00.001-06:00

This trail is located in the North Mountain Preserve on the north side of Phoenix. This trail runs right through town and is easily accesible. I brought my single speed to Phoenix and having not yet ridden a single speed on any single track I thought this would be a good trail to try it out.

This trail isn't too technically challenging, but it can kick the crap out of any trail in Illinois. Terrain is dry and rocky, and there are a few short climbs/descents. I could climb almost everything in my 34 - 18 gear and had a blast railing my bike through rock gardens and rocky drop offs.

If you are in Phoenix and looking for a quick ride without traveling very far, check out this trail. Out of five stars I would give it a 3.

Arizona Training Camp

2009-02-20T17:29:00.000-06:00

I took a week off work and went down to Phoenix to stay with my Uncle and focus on getting a jump start to my 2009 season.

With weather in the 60's I have been getting 3 - 4 hour rides everyday. I also found a Y with an outdoor pool and some nearby trails to run on. Life is good. When I am not training, I'm just hanging out with my Uncle and relaxing.

Last Cyclocross Post of the Season

2009-02-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

Universal Sports Network posted the videos of the 2009 Cyclocross World Championship online. No play by play or color commentary, just bike racing.

Men's race:

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&_MODE_=ONDEMAND&CLIP_ID=367116&CLIP_FILE_ID=373213

Women's race:

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&_MODE_=ONDEMAND&CLIP_ID=367213&CLIP_FILE_ID=373021

Vision Quest, Week 3

2009-02-01T19:14:00.002-06:00

Now it's time to get to work. After about 40 minutes of warming up, it was time to ride. Once everyone had their Computrainers set up and recalibrated, we had a countdown to 40 minutes of hurt.

I think I started a little slow, because at about minute 20 I was feeling a little too good. It wasn't easy, but it didn't feel as bad as it should. I was holding about 220W, which is 10W ahead of where I was mid-December during the Indoor TT.

I decided to pick it up and at that point was sitting in 4th place of 16. Some new guy named Patrick (I think) took off like a bat out of hell right out of the gates, so no one was catching him, but 2nd and 3rd place weren't far ahead at all.

At that point I decided 240W-25W was a good goal and went to work. By minute 33 I had caught everyone but Patrick who still had nearly .5 mi on me and gaining.

Once minute 40 rolled around I had averaged 231W (Patrick was at 249W I believe) and was in 2nd place. I certainly can't complain with going from 210W for 30 minutes to 231W for 40 min in only 6 weeks, but it's still pretty depressing compared to mid- to late-summer last year when I would hold 270W-280W for my full 7 mile commute to work and it didn't seem as hard.

This just gives me something to shoot for. I told Nisha tonight: I want to be at 250W for 40 minute power by the end of the Taste of VQ, and 270W for 40 min by the time my first XTERRA rolls around. From there the goal is 300W 30 minute power by XTERRA Nationals. In the mean time while the wattage is rising, I still have about 10 lbs to peal off. If I can accomplish all of these goals I had better have my best season yet!

Here's to a bunch of hard work right around the corner....

Vision Quest, Week 2

2009-01-29T20:55:00.002-06:00

Two down, 8 to go. This week was based mostly on cadence work. Which, come to find out, was a great idea. I thought I'd just coast through the session, get a workout in, and leave happy. To the contrary, it opened my eyes to how much time I spend at a cadence that very well may be too low for me.

Normally during a trainer session I find myself between 80-85 RPM. In this session we did 3 min intervals of 80, 90, 100, 110, and max cadence. I found that my HR and RPE went down while maintaining the same power when I went from 80 to 90, and maybe even to 100 rpm. Good to know!

Next week is the big week, our first threshold test. I can't remember if they said we'd be doing a 30 min or 40 min test, but it's going to be a sufferfest to push myself to the limits I experience when trying my best to keep up with Ted and Tim during our little group rides. It ain't gonna feel good, but I have no desire to sandbag this test!

UCI Cyclocross World Championship

2009-01-28T17:04:00.000-06:00

This Sunday is the greatest day in sports... The Super Bowl? Heck no, I'm talking about the Cyclocross World Championships.

According to Chicagobikeracing.com the event will be on Universal Sports. I checked the schedule and they haven't posted the time it will be aired yet.

In the meantime, here is a video from the women's championship two years ago:

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?&_MODE_=ONDEMAND&DB_MENU_ID=&SPSID=105625&SPID=13044&DB_OEM_ID=23000&CLIP_ID=130182&CLIP_FILE_ID=134809

The video quality is pretty good. The announcers aren't the greatest, but at least it is in English.

Vision Quest, Week 1

2009-01-18T15:27:00.003-06:00

Well, it's actually week -2. I got a chance to start a couple weeks early, so I get 10 weeks for the price of 8.

Today was nothing more than a coaching class to teach everyone what power can do for us. Many of the people in the class had not only never used power, but didn't necessarily know what watts were.

Dave (the coach) had us do some 1 min intervals with 1 min rest first. Then we hit up some 3 min intervals, followed by 5 min intervals. Each one used to show us all how to use watts and give us a glimpse of our baselines. Luckily I have been using watts for some time, so it wasn't all new to me, but I got an idea of how I stacked up against the class and what riders I can use to push myself. There were 2 guys in particular that are roughly the same size as me, one slightly stronger, one only slightly weaker. This will allow me to judge my progress against the other participants to get an idea of how well I am progressing throughout the class.

We'll see how it all plays out, but worst case scenario VQ has a cool spot on Elston to ride on Sunday's and I get to have a good time riding with a group!

Time to get back to it....

2009-01-18T15:15:00.002-06:00

After some time (I won't say how long) of lack-luster training, it's time to get back moving. I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, at how out of shape I had become. An extra chunk of weight, paired with much lower power numbers than last year, has me realizing I have a long way to go before the XTERRA season starts this year.

I picked up a used Computrainer, an nice LCD and desktop PC off of Craigslist, and I now have a killer training room set up!

Monday started the training, 20 weeks based on the PIG workouts Tim sent out. With the first week down, I am thinking the numbers were a little low that I have been using, but I'm sure I'll be making up for that in the near future.

Day 1 was a 30 min effort to set up what the PIG program calls CP30 (Critical Power, 30 min). Entering that into the spreadsheet gives me all of the wattages for the weeks workouts.

Day 2 was an interval ride, Day 3 was a tempo ride, Day 4 was endurance, and Day 5 was another tempo ride.

My first week back also included a little sample session at Vision Quest, which I'll do another post of. All said I completed a hair over 7 hours on the bike which I am happy with. I'll do another 1-2 weeks like this before introducing more running into my program to get my weight down. My knees tend to be sensitive to the extra weight and the last thing I want to do is pound them into the ground in January!

The season is approaching quickly!

Tour de Groundhog

2009-01-17T15:40:00.003-06:00

Cyclocross season is not quite over. There is one more race in Illinois:

Sunday February 15th, 2009
21st Annual Bill Jensen Memorial Tour de Groundhog
New Salem State Park

For more information go to:

http://www.teammackracing.org/

Green Team

2009-01-15T15:18:00.000-06:00

There is not much to write about these days. The cold spell in Chicago has me thinking about moving down south. It is so friggin' cold I can't even go out there and snow shoe.

I'm looking at the 2009 race schedules and trying to put together a plan for the 09 season. Other than that I've been swimming endless laps in the pool and trying to stay sane while riding the rollers and running on the treadmill.

During the off season, instead of writing about races I'll periodically post pictures of my bikes (I have a lot) and write reviews of products I have tried this past season. My product reviews won't be biased by advertisers like they are in Bicycling magazine, so I'll give you the no B.S. report on what I really think about products.

In the meantime, team member Saj, has undertaken the Green initiative at Get a Grip. Read about the program below:

Green Statement

After seeing the documentary The 11th Hour, Get a Grip Cycles decided to step up our efforts with making the shop more green. We are in an industry where it only makes sense to care about the Earth. We are striving to make as little of an impact on the Earth as possible and plan to use our shop as an outlet to create awareness. It's great to see and hear the responses that we get from customers when this topic is discussed. More and more people are caring about the condition of the Earth these days.

How we are making a difference:

We now recycle everything we can, including paper, plastic, glass, metals and electronics. As a bike shop, recycling tires and tubes is probably how we will make the biggest difference in offsetting our footprint. We are currently taking in a large load of tires and tubes every few of weeks.

We have switched to Earth friendly lubes, bike cleaners and de-greasers from Pedro's and Phil Wood for use in our shop. We sell these products as well.

We use the Omega Ultrasonic parts cleaner for our drive train cleans. It works with an environmentally friendly solution and electronic charges dislodge unwanted grime.

We make a concentrated effort to encourage people to support Chicago's bicycle co-op Working Bikes. They are a non-profit shop that fixes junk bikes that are donated to them. They sell them for cheap or donate them locally and globally. Any time we have a customer wondering if their junk bike is worth fixing, we either give them a drop off location, or even take their bike to Working Bikes for them.

We have changed our shopping bags. No more poly bags! We now use 100% recycled paper bags with soy based ink.

From now on, all Get a Grip Cycles t-shirts will be made out of organic cotton and not manufactured in a sweat shop. Our latest run of shop tees is from American Apparel, made in California.

Conservation of our off-road trails. We plan to attend more trail work days.

Our future decisions will always be made will the Earth in mind.

We will choose companies to support that are eco-conscious. Some of our current brands that support are goals are: Independent Fabrications, Seven Cycles, Shimano, Quality Bicycle Products, Pedro's, Chris King, Nite Rider, Light & Motion, Keen, Reynolds, Schwalbe, Michelin, Continental, Nokian, Pro Bar, Steaz, Clif, Sharkies, Jittery Joes, Phil Wood, WTB, Finish Line and Resource Revival. These are the companies that we know of currently.

RECYCLE - REUSE - REDUCE

FACT: It takes approximately 1000 miles on a new bike to offset the carbon footprint that it took to make it.

CONTACTS: Chicago Recycling.org - Everything recycling Chicago.
Liberty Tire Recycling: 1323 W. Cortland St. Weekdays 7 - 3:30
Working Bikes.org - Bike Donation.
Resource Revival.com - Bike parts donation.
Electronicsrecycling.org - Solid waste doesn't degrade.

Get a Grip Off Road seeks new members

2008-12-12T14:34:00.001-06:00

If you are interested in racing with us next season in Mountain Biking, Off Road Triathlon or Cyclocross send your race resume with recent results and plans for 2009 to:

offroadcoach@gmail.com

Illinois State Championship - Montrose

2008-12-12T14:13:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-03T16:08:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-01T16:08:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-01T15:45:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-17T12:46:00.002-06:00

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

2008-11-12T15:17:00.001-06:00

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.

2008-11-05T16:46:00.002-06:00

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

2008-10-27T08:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-17T11:36:00.003-05:00

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!!!

2008-10-13T21:12:00.003-05:00

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

2008-10-07T16:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-29T15:54:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-26T14:08:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-23T13:48:00.000-05:00

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

2008-09-03T13:26:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-27T12:40:00.010-05:00

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

2008-08-24T15:55:00.005-05:00

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

2008-08-21T09:32:00.008-05:00

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

2008-08-18T16:36:00.005-05:00

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

2008-08-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

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

2008-08-04T10:53:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-28T08:10:00.000-05:00

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

2008-07-27T20:50:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-21T17:06:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-14T11:16:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-08T15:29:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-25T09:32:00.001-05:00

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

2008-06-22T20:48:00.004-05:00

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 ...

2008-06-20T10:31:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-06-16T09:58:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-10T17:57:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-09T21:16:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-17T09:53:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-07T20:33:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-27T18:27:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-04-24T09:25:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-21T23:06:00.004-05:00

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

Burnham Racing Spring Super Criterium

2008-04-18T08:18:00.006-05:00

My first crit of the year. Hell, my first crit EVER. My expectations? Don't crash (or cause a crash) and finish in one piece, walk away with some experience, and have a good time.

I was lucky enough to accomplish every one of those tasks.

My day started at 12:50 with the Men 4/5 race. Honestly, I should have done the Men 5 race, but it started too early. Either way, I was a little late to the line (still got there before the gun went off of course!) and was stuck at the back of the pack for the start. I thought this would be a bigger issue than it was, but I was able to get mid-pack within about 1/2 lap.

By the way, the best part about this race was the course! It was a 1.9 mi motorcycle course! I believe 8 turns, plenty of grip, and a great place to race.

Anyway, right off the bat we lost Brian. He dropped his chain, then when trying to fix it went down. It looked nasty, but he came out "ok" compared to how he went down.

Honestly, the race was semi-uneventful for me because I was just doing what I could to play it safe, have fun, and not get hurt. I did have one lap where I was leading, but Tim told me to back off since we had 4 or 5 laps left. Come to find out, that lap had a prime that he cost me. Luckily, I think it was for some Accelerade or something which I already have WAY too much of.

All in all, I finished 39th, Tim finished 33rd (he blew up about 400-ish meters from the end), and Ted finished 9th. Not bad for a group of guys who formed around off-road racing!

Check out some photos from the Burnham Racing website (www.burnhamracing.com):

Building and Prepping

2008-03-24T15:08:00.003-05:00

Coming into '08 without a road bike, and having my first race be a road race, meant one thing: a new bike!

It took me a while to pick the parts. I knew I'd go with SRAM (I loved Rival on my 'cross bike) and Force just looks so nice. Now, what to do about picking up the pieces? Well, retail is pretty high, so I went to eBay and the Slowtwitch.com classifieds. After weeks of searching and piecing this bike together, I'm finally almost done!

What's left? Obviously a seat and seatpost have to be put on. I also need a qualified mechanic to check the cables (I can get them to about 85% functionality, but a quick stop by GaG and Matt and they'll be working perfectly), both shifting and brakes.

Matt's also in the process of building my PowerTap wheels; a PT 2.4 SL rear hub and matching PT front hub, laced to DT Swiss 1.2 RR rims and Revolution spokes.

Here she is:

Once I can throw my new wheels on and a seat/seatpost, I'll get her weight. I'm not sure what to expect at the final weigh in, since she'll have the PT and is an all-aluminum CAAD 9 frame, but is loaded up with full SRAM Force.

Specs:

Frame: Cannondale CAAD 9 Get a Grip Team Frame, 56cm
Fork: Cannondale Premium all-carbon
Rims: DT Swiss 1.2 RR
Hubs: PowerTap 2.4 SL Wireless
Spokes: DT Swiss Revolution
Tires: Michelin Pro2 Race
Crankset: SRAM Force 53/39
Bottom Bracket: SRAM GXP
Front Derailleur: SRAM Force
Rear Derailleur: SRAM Force
Shifters: SRAM Force
Handlebars: Cannondale C3
Brakeset: SRAM Force
Saddle: ??
Seatpost: ??
Bar Tape: Fizik Silver

2008 Is On It's Way!

2008-02-13T14:54:00.002-06:00

As of today, we have 5 guys registered to race the Hillsboro Roubaix on 3/29. Get a Grip Off Road Racing is making it's true TEAM debut in about 6 weeks on the road circuit of all places. Racers in the 4/5 are as follows:

Tim Yuska
Ted Ramos
Brandon Elliott
Brian Hill
Derrick Fluegge

Being my first road race, I'm in it for the experience and to help pull whenever I can. We'll be working on our team tactics over the next few weeks, but I fully expect a powerful debut out of our team. I know everyone has been putting in a lot of trainer time (not much riding outdoors to be had when we are consistently getting hit with snow, ice, and -20 degree temps with windchill).

Here's to a strong 2008 out of our team.

Columbia Cyclocross

2008-01-18T15:58:00.000-06:00

Cyclocross season is not over... or maybe it's just begining. In any case, I am driving down to Tennessee this weekend to do a couple races at Chicksaw Trace Park. I'm in pretty good shape running and swimming wise, but I have hardly been riding at all. We'll see how it goes.

First (Virtual) Race of '08

2008-01-06T18:36:00.001-06:00

Today I logged the first official race result for "Get A Grip Off-Road," newly recognized by USA Cycling. The irony was that it was done indoors on a Computrainer. Another funny thing is that I placed 4th in CAT4, but my result would have won the Cat3 race and placed 4th for the Cat1/2 race. Oh well, I can only control my results, not who shows up.

ABD Mid-America Time Trial Series

Tim

40% and still moving!

2008-01-05T09:55:00.000-06:00

This challenge has been an interesting experience so far. It's gotten me out the door for a runs when I had absolutely no desire to do so. It's made me run more time and distance than I've ever done on a monthly basis. Luckily it's gone well, hasn't left me injured, and has me running faster than before.

Back in the day (before 12/1/07) when I went out for a 4-5 mile steady run, I'd pace myself around 8:45-9:00/mi to keep my HR around 155. If I wanted to go a little faster I could, but that'd leave me dogged. Yesterday I went out for one of those runs, 4.4 miles, and averaged 7:45/mi with an avg. HR of 156.

More really is MORE.

Now for the bad news:

My biggest month of running in history, and I'm only in 8th place in my AG! Now, 8th place isn't so bad, until you realize I only have 16 people to compete against...hmmm. What to do? Talk Tim into heading out to Palos with me today. He's a much better runner than I am, so hopefully he'll drag me along for 6-8 miles or so. That'll help me make up some time!

The thing that really kills me about this whole challenge is that I am averaging slightly over 40 minutes and 4.9 miles EVERY DAY for the last 36 days. That's a huge jump for me, and I'm still lagging behind!

Here is my AG standing as of this AM:

Here you can see the top ten overall (out of about 190) based on number of runs. I'm sitting at #9 on this chart, after this weekend I hope to jump up a spot or two:

Here's to finishing the first half of this challenge this week!

A Quick Congratulations!

2007-12-29T22:29:00.001-06:00

In our first formal season, we have to send a congratulations out to Cheryl! Having a great year capped off by a solid race in Maui has landed Cheryl on the 2007 XTERRA All Americans list!

From insidetri.com:

2007 XTERRA ALL-AMERICANS LIST

Wow! What a rockin' year of off-road action! Now that the dirt has settled, the mud has dried up and the lakes have frozen, we bring you the top XTERRA age-group athletes of the '07 season. We've listed the top five athletes in each category. Selections were based primarily on points scored during the 50+ race XTERRA America Tour season, taking into consideration national and world championship contests and head-to-head competition. An asterisk denotes the XTERRA world champion in each group.

You can check out the site here.

Congratulations Cheryl! It's great to have you on the team. Hopefully this gives you and the rest of us something to shoot for in 2008!

As 2007 came to a close, it found Ted as the 30-34 M XTERRA Points Series Champion in and Cheryl as the 40-44 F XTERRA Points Series Champion, both in the North Central Region.

Ted had two 1st place and one 2nd place finish to his credit in Points Series Races to give him 217 points total. Cheryl had two 1st place finishes at Points Series Races, and a 2nd in a Regional Championship Race to end 2007 with 240 points.

Tim finished in 3rd position, Brandon in 4th, both in the 25-29 M. Tim had a 2nd and 3rd in Points Series Races, and 6th in a Regional Championship to round out his best three finishes (191 total points). Brandon had a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in Points Series Races to leave him 7 points behind Tim (184 total points).

I fully expect Tim and I to both move up next year, and have my fingers crossed for each of us to work at least one Points Series win into our schedules.

Ted has already voiced his points series goals for 2008, if I remember correctly he is shooting for 232, which would be two Points Series wins and a 3rd place in a Regional Championship. I'd like to see at least 209 (one Points Series win and two 2nd place finishes), and I expect Tim to do just as well, and hopefully better.

As for Cheryl, well anything short of the 240 points she posted in 2007 just won't hold water with me! ;-)

Best of luck guys training through the winter. My running is going well so far, I hope you all can keep up come spring!

100/100 Challenge

2007-12-26T18:58:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow will bring me to 30% complete! I just realized tonight though, that I've been posting about this challenge for a couple of weeks and I've never added a link!

Click here to go to the Google Doc and check out the progress of all of the athletes.

Speaking of Google Docs, if you haven't used them and share any documents within a group, I highly recommend checking it out. It allows a group to keep a document posted online without having multiple versions of the document floating around via email. You can edit and save online, just like you would on your own computer, and publish safely for your group to see only, or invite others to check if out.

Here is a screen shot from my computer tonight looking at the docs I share:

That's it for now. 13.4 miles today and I am beat. I had to get the miles in though, how often is it nearly 50 degrees outside in late December in Chicago?!

More than 20%!

2007-12-20T11:27:00.000-06:00

The 100/100 challenge is well underway at this point. Yesterday was my 20th run, it turned out to be just short of 6 miles holding a steady 8:08/mi pace.

I'm seeing some improvements already, and I'm only 20 days in. I guess this "training" stuff really does work. I've heard "more is more" for quite some time, but never had the enthusiasm/work ethic/patience to test it out. With a summer PB 5k time of 20:40, I hope to see if all of this running actually pays off this winter.

Now, onto something new for me: RaceDay and TriUtilities software. I'm just in the free trial period right now trying to get the hang of it, but basically it's software that takes input from each of your training sessions, uses a training score for that workout, and logs net positive effect (fitness), negative effect (fatigue), and balances those out to predict future performance.

In the long run, it should aid in showing your fitness and fatigue, and could potentially be used to help with preparation, program design, and taper for a race. Will this work as advertised? We shall see!

Here are a few screen shots from Race Day. First is the basic home page:

Here is a shot of the "overview" page showing training effect (positive and negative) as well as performance prediction:

Next is a photo from the Training page, which is more or less a log of each days' activity level:

Where do each days "Training" numbers come from? For me, they come from TriUtilities. I have been using the TRIMP Calculator to find the net effect from each session. This is a simple plug of information and it spits out a number. That result gets plugged into the RaceDay software, and we're done!

Here is a screen shot from yesterdays run, slightly under 6 miles at an 8:08/mi pace:

That's it for now. The more I record, the more I tend to want to train the next day. Will all of this pay off in the long run? I sure hope so, but only time will tell!

Surviving (and Enjoying) the Snow!

2007-12-16T11:03:00.000-06:00

Well, Chicago was hit with 5-6" of snow last night. Many people will remain indoors and off the roads to avoid this mess. What does one do when trying to build their best triathlon off-season after getting hit with snow? They get creative.

Check out this blast from last night:

Running in snow can be fun for a little while, but when trying to log some miles I get tired of "dancing" around trying to stay upright. What makes it even worse is having a spastic dog pulling you around wanting nothing more than to sprint, leaving me flailing to keep from landing on my back.

In the true spirit of slowtwitch.com, I found I thread of a fellow "snow leopard" sharing his secret to winter running: sheet metal screws. With the correct placement you don't stab yourself in the foot and end up with great traction.

Thank you GregX for the recommendation, I'm going to be trying your method today! Here is a photo of GregX's shoes already done:

I only hope mine turn out well. Tonight I'm shooting for about 7 miles, and if these screws work it should save me 4-5 minutes on the round trip. Wish me luck!

What a Bunch of Idiots

2007-12-11T23:01:00.000-06:00

Today I overheard a conversation at work where one broker was asking the other guy from the office who rides his bike in to work, "Did you ride in today?"

The dude replied that it was too cold and icy today.

Then the broker said, "yeah, I still see guys out there on their bikes. What a bunch of f_ _ _in' idiots."

After work I felt like a champ riding home in the rain.

Only 10%?

2007-12-10T15:24:00.000-06:00

I am officially 10 days into my 100/100 challenge. So far I am running injury free (thanks in part to my Newtons, a b-day gift from Nisha) and feeling good.

Last week was just a hair over 30 miles, roughly 4.5 hours of running not including warm-ups. I'm shocked at how well my body seems to be doing with this, but I keep reminding myself I still have 90 more days and at least 340 more miles!

With that said, here is a link to the spreadsheet tracking the runs:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGfgkRUvLwmFwPN-1XWFWbQ&hl=en

Feel free to follow along! As you can see, we have about 180 people participating, I can be found on rows 117-119.

As of today, I am ranked 53rd in time, 49th in distance, 59th in speed, and 11th in total number of runs. As you can see, there is some room for improvement!!

Montrose Cross

2007-12-10T15:17:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks I have been questioning my effort in my races. I have moments where I'm at the limit, but at the end of the race I question whether or not I could have gone harder.

This being my last race of the season I decided I was not going to hold anything back. I'm going 100% from the gun and I'll have no regrets over the off season that I could have done better.

I had extra motivation too. This was my first big race in the 1/2 ranks. As an average cat 3 crosser, if I didn't want to get embarrassed by these guys I would have to really bring it so they don't drop me at the start. In addition to that I actually had a contingent of fans out along the course cheering for me. I have to have a good race and show them that I haven't been wasting my time training all year long.

I could tell this race was going to be different because I had butterflies in my stomach. Over the years I've become so numb to the excitement of racing that it has been a long time since i had the butterflies before the start of a race.

Tristan Schouten lines up next to me and I know I'm in trouble.

Off the line I went hard to the pavement section and surprisingly I was in fifth place. From that point on I was redlining it for the next hour just trying to hang with anybody who inevitably passed me. I would lose time on the run ups and the straightaways, but could catch back up in the slippery turns.

There wasn't anyplace on the course for me to recover. I blew up about halfway through the race for riding at a pace over my head, but since everyone came to watch I kept pushing through to the end battling to catch the guys ahead of me. I don't think I caught any, but I tried.

When it was all said and done I held on for 10th place.

Afterwards, my chakra was completely drained from my body and I was utterly exhausted for the next day and half. This is how racing used to feel like and even though my result wasn't so great, I was glad to see I could still push myself to the limit.

Chris from Turin designed a short but challenging course. I liked it a lot. Thanks to everyone who came out to the race and was cheering me on. I really needed it.

Illinois CX Championship and ’07 Season Sign-off

2007-12-10T12:18:00.000-06:00

I finally got the upgrade points I needed last weekend in WI to race as Cat3. I was in 3rd place for the Cat4 series, but out of striking distance to take the overall, so I decided to upgrade before the IL State Championship at Montrose Park. This was a no pressure race and a measuring stick before heading into the off-season.

I helped create the course for about 4 hours on Saturday. Thankfully my back and shoulder felt fine. I got a late start on Sunday and didn’t have a chance to pre-ride. I knew most of the course layout, but I never took the time to ride it Saturday.

20 people line up and I allow the CHICROSS Cat3 Series contenders to take the front row. The official sends us off 2 minutes after the Cat1/2s and I quickly find myself dropped to near the back of the pack.

It would take too long to describe the entire course, but it was my favorite of the year, even better than JingleCross in Iowa City, IA. It had everything from deep snow to slop, mud and long run-ups. I thought that I had an advantage with the long uphill runs and technical turns on slippery mud.

Back to the race … after a lap I was able to catch and pass 3-4 people on the uphill run.

Coming back down the hill we were sent underneath a soccer goal with the metal base exposed above ground. I misjudged my approach, leaning in too hard when riding over the metal base and I paid for it. My back tire slid out and I was thrown from the bike and skidded off-course across the snow. I smashed my knee against something and my shifters were bent in at a severe angle. Everyone I had passed on the hill, re-passed me as I ripped at my shifters trying to get them straight again.

The bike was fine and my knee seemed ok. I hopped back on and started my chase again. For the next several laps I held my position and was able to reel in everyone that I had lost position too. I got lapped by pro rider Tristan Schouten who fly past like he was riding a dirt bike. There were no other major mistakes and I finshed the race in the middle, 10 of 20.

I’m content with my finish (for now) and confident heading into the off-season. I have a marathon scheduled for Feb 2nd and I’ll start bike racing again in mid to late March. If I can handle freezing temps in December, March will feel balmy in comparison.

I want to thank Get a Grip for their support. Thanks Jason, Matt, Saj, Kevin and Geoff. Our team only worked with the shop for half the racing season, but they have been incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and accommodating. I’m really looking forward to doing it again in ’08.

I also want to thank Nicole for coming along for many of my races and cheering me on, including a very long day and night in Madison during the Ironman, and harrowing adventures to the far west suburbs where we nearly ran out of gas. You’re a trooper.

Best Regards to All,
Tim

Pop Quiz!

2007-12-10T11:10:00.000-06:00

What is Ted doing in this picture?

A) Making a landing strip for Santa’s sleigh.
B) Sulking about Illinois’ OT loss to Arizona
C) Helping to clear the CHICROSS course at Montrose Park

The answer is D) All of the above. We both showed up on Saturday and helped the Turin RD clear sections of the course, drive stakes (sometimes into frozen solid groud) and tape off. Part of the course was a blank canvas that we got to decide the layout. I can’t decide if we helped or hurt our own placing with the sections of course we created. I enjoyed helping and the race was top notch.

Hales Corner CX

2007-12-04T12:55:00.000-06:00

If I didn't crash so much and I could avoid bike malfunctions, I would be such an awesome racer.

Ha, just kidding. I might move up a spot or two but i'd still finish far from glory, fame and beautiful women.

Under dry conditions Hales corner would be a nice fast course, but the previous days snowfall added an additional challenge. The day went to those who could churn out the most power while grinding through snow and mud at 8 or 9 MPH. Guiding my bike through the worn in, muddy track was a constant challenge.

When it was all said and done I was exhauasted but i still questioned whether or not I left it all on the course. And if I did, did I expend my energy at the right times to my maximum advantage. I think the key to racing is knowing when are the right times to expend your energy and when to ease off the accelerator. After all these years of racing, I don't know if I figured it out yet.

One small rant, when a race goes off in waves everyone should start in the wave they registered for. Don't pimp everyone else you're competing against by jumping in a different wave. That's cheating and you might as well just cut the course or take EPO too. I guess the blame lies partially with the officials for not checking race numbers before each start.

WI State CX Championship

2007-12-04T10:48:00.000-06:00

The race that almost didn't happen (for me). Chicago got some nasty freezing rain on Saturday and I was questioning if I would be able to safely drive up to Milwaukee the next morning. Thankfully temps rose above 40 and the ice quickly thawed. Against better judgement, I left my warm bed and got ready to race.

As I was driving North I noticed that WI had received much more snow and much less ice. The course was under about 3 inches of snow with an icy crust on top, it was the consistency of a snow cone. I tried a test lap on my cross bike with comical results. My hubs, rims, brakes and bottom bracket were like magnets for this snow and it quickly built up, adding several pounds to the bike. I thought that the Orbea Alma would ride better in the snow. Wrong. It just spun and spun on top of the snow, never able to get purchase. I needed skinny tires that could cut through the snow down to the ground.

We lined up and the starters told us that we will only have 2 laps instead of a 30 minute race and then sends us off. Getting some momentum took a while and hammering didn't work because you would spin out if you applied too much torque.

The course would have been nice under ideal conditions. A couple switchbacks, a sand pit, a medium length climb and barrier sections with 3 barriers instead of just 2. During the climb on lap one I hopped off the bike and ran faster than the two guys ahead of my rode/spun it. A downhill left turn was interesting because my breaks were working at about 20% efficiency; it was more of a controlled skid.

After the first lap I was in 4th place between the usual CHICROSS suspects. Lap two was a bit easier to ride as the snow was displaced, lines were created and the tires could get to the dirt. I passed Aspen who was hindered by a slipping seat, and I overtook 2nd who broke a chain (Props to "Newt" for shouldering the bike and running the next 1.5 laps instead of DNFing).

I thought that the race was over when I came in after lap number two, but the RD decided to let us go for three. I tried to chase 1st down but I couldn't do it and the race finished in the same order as the Jackson Park Chicross (Zoller, Yuska, Gorry).

Thanks to Aspen for the encouragement during the race. Unfortunately I didn't have enough in the tank, but I got what I needed, 7 upgrade points so I can move up to Cat3. It is usually the races in these crazy conditions that you will remember the most. I will always remember the '06 Chicross Championship at Montrose Harbor and the insane iced over course and chilling winds. It will be interesting to see what Mother Nature has in store for us this Sunday.