A lot has happened since the Ouachita Challenge. LOCO Fest was my next race. They got a LOT of rain two days before the race so the course was pretty muddy. They shortened the laps to remove the worst sections, which I was very thankful for. It turned out to be a 2+ hour race as it was so it would have been really long otherwise. It was only me and Bryan Fawley (Orbea/Tuff Shed Pro) in my age group so the results were a foregone conclusion there, but we did start with the 30-39 group so I tried to ride with some of those guys. I spent the day at the back, battling with my friend Lynn Gray over next to last place overall. He would pull away on the climbs and power sections, then I would pull him back on the flowy and downhill sections. We did this until we had about a half a lap to go, I let him get a little too big of a gap through one section and then I started to kind of fall apart and couldn't pull him back. It was fun while it lasted though.

Next up was a local race put on by GHORBA at the Cypresswood trails. The format was eliminator style, with an opening time trail to seed all the racers into categories and heats. The heats generally had 4 racers, and the top 2 advanced until there was a final heat in each category to determine the overall winners. I really like the trails at Cypresswood, they're all flow and the race course just had a little bit of power sections at the beginning where I could hang on until the singletrack. I wound up sweeping the day, winning the time trial, my first heat in cat. 1 and then the cat. 1 final. I did crash in the final and tweaked my front wheel pretty badly but was able to finish the race on it.

One week later Richard and I went up to Dallas to race the TMBRA race there. We drove up Friday afternoon, I didn't feel great on the way but attributed it to a random case of carsickness. During our preride it was really hot I still didn't feel great, but we were mostly taking it easy anyway. Then Richard's chain exploded and we had to call it quits, which I was mostly thankful for as bad as I felt. I had a pounding headache the rest of the evening and then that night I had awful nightsweats until about 2:30AM. I still tried to race the next day, pretty much all I did was ride around to finish. Turns out I was coming down with the flu. It took me out the whole next week, all I did was lay around with 102 fever until Thursday or so. I finally started coming around to go to work Friday for a while. I didn't really feel like riding until the next Wednesday. I was still suffering though with a super low energy level, but I needed to get back on the bike so I just tried not to overdo it.

Rocky Hill, the TMBRA finale' was 2 weeks after the Dallas race where I got the flu. I wanted to race, but I was still pretty down on energy, and my fitness was terrible from the lack of riding. I went out and finished, somehow managed to do so ahead of one person in my class. I felt like I was really only about 75% but it was nice to finish out the season.


The following weekend was another GHORBA race. This time at the Justin P. Brindley trail in Sugarland. I still didn't feel like I had all my energy back after the flu, and my fitness was even worse having not ridden at all the week leading up to it. This is a short race, lasting less than 7 minutes, with about 4 minutes of singletrack and a long finish stretch on a gravel/grass path. This always works against me as I'm just not a power guy and I always get beat on the finishing straight. I decided to ride my hardtail rather than the BMC, feeling like it would pay benefits on the finish stretch larger than the extra speed in the singletrack the BMC would give. I felt a bit squirrelly in the trail since I hadn't ridden that bike on anything other than road for a long time but I got through ok. I was 5th in the time trial which put me about the middle of the cat. 1 division. In the first heat I knew I needed to get a gap in the trail on a couple of the guys, so I made a sketchy pass in the first corner to lead us around and it went according to plan, but I had 2 able to stay with me. When we got to the path the strong roadie in the group, Don, immediately dropped me, and the other guy drafted me until about 100m and then went around. Luckily we went fast enough that I was granted an advance to the 2nd heat due to our finish times. This heat was with Nathan Winklemann (Pro racer) and Don from heat 1. I had kinda gotten an uncomfortable stomach between heats and basically counted myself out from the start. I followed Nathan through the twisty singletrack pretty easily until we got to the power section of the trail and he pulled away. Then Don dropped me hard on the path and I soft pedaled to the finish. I probably could have gotten into the final based on time if I'd gone hard so I have only myself to blame for that.

This brings us to this past weekend. My little brother got married up in Monroe, LA and we went up on Wednesday to hang out and help get ready for the wedding. Since Monroe is only 30 minutes away from Ruston we stayed with Raine's parents and I got to ride some laps out at Lincoln Parish Park. This is undoubtedly my favorite trail, I love riding there and this trip was no different. I had finally started feeling like my energy was coming back and I was able to turn some decently fast laps all weekend without feeling like I was at race pace. I got 2 on Thursday, 1.5 on Friday and another 1.5 on Sunday before we left. My fastest lap was on Sunday, and it included a 30 second stop to try to move a down tree. Got stronger in those few days! I even scored a few KOMs on Strava. I already held some of them, but it was good to see me going faster than I have before! Baby girl is due in just 7 weeks so that will probably be the last time I get to ride there before the race in the fall. It was good to get in some good laps and dial the trail back in.

Speaking of baby girl, she IS due in just 7 weeks! We're getting excited, and scared-er, but I know it'll all be good. We've got her room almost ready for her to come home, with just a little bit more to do. Then it will just be the waiting. Raine is still doing good, just tired a lot. Ben is still growing like a weed. He was the ring bearer in the wedding, and he was having a grouchy day so we couldn't get him to go down the aisle by himself. Raine was a bridesmaid and I was a groomsman and we got to walk down together, so he walked down holding my hand. It was very sweet us all getting to walk together. Raine looked beautiful as a pregnant lady in a black cocktail dress!

There is one more GHORBA short track race (I think) before the summer MTB break. Hopefully I can keep riding and build some good fitness for the fall season and cyclocross. I'm not sure how much I'll get to race with the newborn in the house, but I'll take whatever I can get and hopefully have a better season than I did this spring.

Post-OC Letdown

It's been 2 weeks now since the Ouachita Challenge. I'm still feeling disappointed I didn't get my goal time at the race, but I know I learned a lot and will go back and do better next year. My time wasn't bad, it's just not what I wanted so I'm not really satisfied. I'd been prepping all year for that one day, and to have it go so wrong and just be over with no "next race" to look forward to I've been in a bit of a slump.

Exhibit A, I've ridden my bike only 3 times in those 2 weeks. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that things haven't been working out for me to get out there. Like now, we got a good bit of rain in town yesterday so it'll be a while before we can get on the trails again.

Exhibit B: Saturday Richard and I went up to Huntsville to ride some trail. I was really excited and motivated to get some good riding in. Unfortunately there was a trail run that day we didn't know about so the trails were pretty crowded. After about 7 minutes I had a stupid crash over a 1" root drop. I have no idea what happened, I was in a gentle turn over a few small roots, just cruising, when suddenly with no warning my front end was pushing and then I was smashing myself to pieces on the ground. I got up after a minute of laying dazed and confused to find a bloody knee and a hurt thumb on one hand and a hurt pinky on the other. I rubbed some dirt on it and we got back underway. We were just cruising and having fun, enjoying some good weather and nice trail conditions. Then about mile 6 of 10, on the complete opposite side of the lake, Richard's chain fell off. We couldn't find his powerlink, my 10 speed link wouldn't work, and I'd left my chain tool in the car. So we were hosed. I pushed him most of the rest of the 4 miles around the trail. He would walk up the hills when they were really steep, sandy or rough and I couldn't push him. Then he would coast the downhills. But I pushed him a lot. When we got back to the car, he realized he'd lost his glasses somewhere on the trail. I got the chain fixed and we went out to look for the glasses on the last few miles of the trail. We had to ride slow looking for the glasses, and we were going against traffic so it wasn't much fun. We turned around and rode back, then found that someone had turned in his glasses at one of the trail run aid stations, that was pretty much the only positive point of the day. We got about 5 more minutes of singletrack then we had to leave. It was a pretty dismal day overall, but still was good to just get out in the woods for a while and we did get a little bit of good riding in so I'll take it.

In non-biking/racing news, after Easter I took a couple of days off and we went on a little family mini-vacation. Monday we went down to the Houston Zoo for a few hours, then we drove on to Galveston to stay a night. We found a good deal at the San Luis Resort right on the beach. This was Ben's first trip to the beach and he had a blast playing in the waves with me. We would wade out and I held his hand and jumped him over the waves. Then he got comfortable enough to squat down in the shallows and let the waves hit him. We had a nice dinner, then the next morning we played in the hotel pool for a while. He can't swim or even float by himself in his lifejacket yet, so it was mostly me holding him and walking around, but we did go down the waterslide a couple of times. He loved that. After we checked out we went to Moody Gardens to the aquarium. Ben just wanted to see the big sharks, of course they were at the very end of the walkthrough, but he did really like a lot of the other things. Raine was a real trooper walking around everywhere being pregnant. The idea was hers to go and it was a really good one, it was great to have a long weekend with them just hanging out.

Ben at the petting zoo

Enjoying the view off the hotel room balcony

Ben at the Moody Gardens Aquarium

My birthday was last Thursday, I turned 28. Getting old fast, I am. Friday night Raine organized a guys' night out for me and several friends. We went to Sky High, a trampoline place with trampoline dodgeball and foam pits and such. It was fun, and great to just hang out with the guys for an evening. Much love to Raine for the night of fun.

This weekend is LOCO Fest up in Shreveport. My old friends at LOCO (Louisiana Off-Road Cycling Organization) put this race on and I always try to make it up to support them. They do a good job with the race promotion and the trail is a blast so it's not really a burden to go to. My thumb and pinky from the crash last weekend are both pretty sore and purple, but maybe I can ride? I don't expect much from my fitness due to my not having any good riding lately, but hopefully I can just have a good fun day and enjoy the event.

2012 Ouachita Challenge Trip Report

As much as I love the Ouachita Challenge event, it's always a great trip overall up to Arkansas getting into a little bit of mountains and hanging out with great folks for a long weekend. Since Raine is 20+ weeks pregnant, a 7+ hour drive and chasing Ben around while I raced wasn't the best plan so they stayed home this year. I rode up with my friend John from work, and friend of his who also stayed with us last year, Marc. They picked me up about 7AM Saturday, and we rolled into Oden at about 2:30 or so. I got to see my little brother Luke finish the tour, then pick up our packets and head to the cabin. We had a great cabin at Riverview Cabins & Canoes, just a mile from the event area and start/finish line. The cabin was really nice and right on the river with a great view.

View from the cabin.

Chris from Shreveport and a friend of his were staying with us. We all settled in, then I went out for a little spin to loosen the legs up. I went up the finish road and did a little singletrack, then rolled back down to the cabin. When I got back Chris had been trying to work on his bike, and couldn't get his brakes to work right. I tried to check them out and wound up making them worse. We needed a bleed kit or a new brake at that point, neither of which we had on hand. We all went up to dinner and ate, then found Carl from Lafayette had a bleed kit with him and was good at bleeding brakes so he followed us back and fixed the brakes. He and his group left out and we all hung out for a while doing final prep, then went to bed.

Sunday after finishing my race I hung out to see other folks finish, Marc came in about half an hour after me then John about an hour later. Lisa came in for 5th place in the women's class, she did really great and we were all proud of her. We spun (raced) back up to the cabin to relax for the rest of the day. We went down to the river and soaked for a while in the cold water, it was good for the legs and to cool ourselves off after the hot day. Then we walked back up to the cabin and I sat in the hot tub for a while. We had cooked up a frozen lasagna so we ate that, then just chilled out for the rest of the evening. Spike was having a Star Wars marathon so we watched the second half of Empire Strikes Back and then Return of the Jedi. That was fun and brought back some memories. Then it was off to bed for the long drive home.

The drive home was pretty uneventful except for driving through a bunch of hard rain and my BMC almost getting rear-ended by a hummer in Lufkin. That was scary. It's good to be home to Raine and Ben, now it's time to start some intensity work to get faster in the XC races.

2012 Ouachita Challenge Race Report

2012 is my 4th consecutive year of doing the Ouachita Challenge race. After having a flat in 2009 that cost me 20 minutes and finishing in 6:26, I'd set a personal goal to finish the race in 6 hours or less. 2010 and 2011 both had their issues, mostly nutrition and lack of fitness, and I didn't get my goal those years either. Knowing next year we'll have an infant again, I resolved this year to get my goal. I rode consistently, trying to get at least 2 hours on the bike whenever possible.The last few weeks I've cleaned up my diet, trying to eat healthy and maybe lose a few pounds for the hills. Last weekend I did a 5+ hour ride at Huntsville and felt pretty good after three days of intervals that week. Last week I mostly stayed off the bike, just resting with a little spin on Thursday. Race day has now come and gone, and at the end of the day, this wasn't my year either. I had 2 flats and more nutrition issues, finishing with a 6:24:45. This was a personal best, but still unsatisfying not getting my goal. Here's how the day unfolded.

BMC ready to roll race morning.

Race morning I woke up after a half decent night's sleep and went up to the school where the start and event center were to have some breakfast; pancakes and oatmeal. We went back to the cabin and got kitted up, chilled out for a little bit, then rode the 1 mile up to the start. I lined up about halfway thorugh the pack with my shop owner Kyle and we chatted for a few minutes. When the gun sounded I rolled out easy and assessed the situation. My goal at the start had been to try to surf wheels at the back of the lead group until the hills started and it got too hard, then back it off. All systems seemed to be good to go, so I went with the plan. I found myself behind my friend from Chris from Shreveport. He's really strong on the road, so I knew he would be good to draft on. We got split from the lead group, and I saw Chris starting to make an effort to bridge. I jumped on his wheel and he took us across at 30+ mph. "Good grief," I was thinking, I probably didn't need to be going that fast but I wasn't doing much work and was feeling good so I just went with it. I stayed with the lead group for a while longer but eventually let myself fall off the back to ease my effort. A small group including Chris came off the back a few minutes later, and I found myself riding about 100 yards behind at their pace. I bridged myself up to work with them for the rest of the road section. Shortly after another friend from Shreveport, Adam, who I knew was going to be strong made contact with us. We rotated through a few times, then hit the last few big hills before turning into the singletrack. I'd dropped Chris, and Adam went into the singletrack just in front of me. When we turned in our average speed was 18+ mph. I'd be doing good to average this on paved roads in Houston for 9 miles, much less mostly gravel roads with big hills. It was a fast start, but I felt like I handled it well.

Big Brushy is the first mountain singletrack section, this went pretty well for me and I settled into a nice pace. Adam had blown up and I passed him somewhere along this stretch. I fell in behind a guy I know from Dallas, Michael, who is usually strong and I felt like this was a good place to be. I was feeling great and everything was going well. It'd been relatively easy up to this point, I was just hoping it would continue. We pulled into the first aid station at mile 15 at 1 hour and 15 minutes. I stopped for just a minute to get a bottle from my support crew and let them wipe my glasses that had gotten a little foggy and glary in the morning sun. Michael had rolled straight through so we got separated a little bit. Out of this aid station you go into a nice climb, and I caught back up to Michael before the top.

Next is Blowout Mountain, the rockiest section of the course. It starts with a rocky climb, then has some rolling sections with big rock gardens, marginal to un-rideable. I got stuck behind some people who weren't riding the rocks too well, Michael got a break and got around them but I missed the chance. I finally got around a couple of them and was making good time. We started the descent off the mountain and I was going pretty good, just bringing Michael back in sight when my rear tire started going soft. I think this was about mile 20. I'd apparently gotten too friendly with a sharp rock and cut the sidewall. I pulled off, and tried to get the cut to seal. I picked up the bike and turned it on its side, putting the cut at the low point, trying to let the Stan's settle in and seal it. I fussed with it for a few minutes and it stopped spewing, so I put some CO2 in and tried to get going. I guess when I started rolling and the sidewall got compressed it opened up the hole again, before I knew it I'd burped the tire and lost more air. I pulled over again, added more CO2, and tried to get it to seal. Again I had the same results, so I finally decided to just put a tube in. My friend Rob from Houston pulled over for a second while I was there to check on me, then rolled on ahead. This whole process cost me several minutes but I got going again eventually. I took off and was charging hard down the mountain trying to make up a little time and catch Rob. The last bit of the descent is super steep, and I was rallying it hard passing several people on the way down.

After getting off the mountain is about a mile of dirt road to the second aid station, then more singletrack that goes straight up Chalybeate Mountain. After the flat, the time off the bike, and the effort charging back afterwards, this was a tough climb. I walked some of it, eventually got to the rolling stuff on top and the sweet descent down the backside. I was flying down this, passing several people and having a blast. I caught Rob a few minutes before the end of this section, then we hit the road for the transit down towards the Womble trail. We came onto the road with a group of 4, and we worked together into Sims at mile 30 where the next rider support area was. I picked up 2 fresh bottles, another tube and some shot bloks. The road continues downhill to the river, then it's mostly uphill to where you meet the Womble Trail at the 298 trailhead. I paired up with a random rider named Terry, then caught back up to Rob a little bit later. We worked our way up to the aid station at the 298 trailhead, Rob cramped up a little before the aid station so I kept rolling kinda slow hoping he'd catch back up. I grabbed a banana at the aid station, then headed out on the dirt road to where we would pick up the Womble Trail. I thought Rob was still behind me, so I kept the pace a little lower for a few minutes but decided I needed to keep going. I finished the dirt road section, then got on the Womble where you pick up your first zip tie. When I put my foot down to stop I got my first cramp of the day. I knew this was a bad sign, so I tried to drink a whole bottle before I got back to the aid station and tried to stay at a cruising pace. The trail goes right back by the aid station, so I pulled back in and refilled a bottle then headed out. By this time it was getting pretty hot out, and having been in it all day was taking its toll.

From here we're in for more great riding on the Womble Trail. It rolls along for a while, and before long I saw Rob up ahead. I never saw him pass me, but I guess he got his cramps under control and went by while I was over at the aid station. Mauldin Mountain is the next big climb, and I was able to spin my way all the way up the first big section. It gets pretty steep, and has one tough switchback but I was able to clear it and get all the way to the top. Looking back I think this took a lot out of me and I might've been better off to walk some of it. The next big pitch was tough and I had to walk a lot of it. This is where my race really started falling apart, about mile 42-44 or so. My stomach was just badly uncomfortable, very similar to what I felt last year. My energy was just down to nothing and I started to bonk pretty hard: had to stop and rest for a couple of minutes, wanted to vomit, etc. Rob was riding with me and stopped with me once. I told him I felt like I needed to throw up, then that I wanted to throw up; but I never did. We got going again, he got a little bit ahead of me and then we rolled into the last aid station.

Rob was still at the aid station when I came in, and told me they had Cokes and that I should drink one. This is something I would never do otherwise, but I was desperate and I'd recently read something about Coke being a good mid-ride pickup. All they had was Dr. Pepper which I don't really like, but I drank one anyway. I think this saved my race from total meltdown. I also refilled my bottles with HEED while I was there. Rob had just rolled out and I was getting back on my bike to go with him when I realized my rear tire was going flat again, so I lost him there and wouldn't see him again. I guess I'd pinch-flatted it somewhere along the trail. Thankfully somebody at the aid station had a floor pump and I'd picked up that tube at the support area in Sims, so I was able to keep one tube and some CO2 in reserve. I changed the tube and rolled out.

I'd long ago realized I was going to miss the 6 hour mark, but when I rolled out of this aid station at about 5:40 I was pretty disheartened thinking I was going to be 6:40 or more at the finish. The Dr. Pepper had really picked my energy back up though, and I was just trying to stay steady. There is a good climb coming out of the aid station, and although I was feeling better I started to get a pretty bad cramp in my right hamstring. It got tighter and tighter with every pedal stroke, and since I was already going uphill in pretty much my granny gear I was unable to spin it out. I had to stop and stretch it out, and I slammed a bunch of HEED. I didn't have much trouble with it after that, but I had to back my pace down a little bit. I got off this singletrack, then it's some road down to North Fork Lake, where you pick up the Womble trail again. You also get another zip tie here, and again when I put my foot down to stop my leg cramped up. I caught a guy in this last section of singletrack, then we hit the road that would take us back to the finish. Looking at my time and distance at this point, I started to think that although I wouldn't get my 6 hour goal, I could possibly beat my previous best time of 6:26. The road rolls for a couple of miles, and he gapped me pretty good, then you hit a gravel road climb that's just over half a mile long and averages over 7%. This is the last big climb of the day and is a proverbial punch in the face after all you've been through! For some reason I really like it. I spun my way up nice and steady, and caught and passed the guy from the road before. You go back through the last aid station before rolling down the last 4 miles to the finish. As I rolled through the aid station a guy asked if I wanted a cup of water and I said "yes, on my head." He obliged and dumped a good portion of a gallon jug on the back of my neck. This was just what I needed to get to the finish. I checked my time and distance again and saw that a 6:26 was still within reach. Right after the aid station is a steep downhill plunge that launches you into the high 30 mph range down the gravel road. I tucked in and tried to keep my speed as best I could, then pedaled the rollers steadily to try to get to the finish line. I was counting down the minutes until 6:26, and my pedaling was getting more urgent with every passing minute. "4 minutes to get to the finish line," "you've got 3 minutes," I would say. The finish line is at the top of a grassy little hill, and when it came into view I knew I could beat my 6:26. I pushed with everything I had up the hill and across the line. I was disappointed to not get my goal of 6 hours, but glad I at least got a new personal best.

Looking back I don't know what I would do differently. I felt like I was drinking and eating decently at the beginning, but then when my stomach started feeling uneasy I stopped eating and didn't drink quite as much. This is something I always struggle with, I get this bad feeling in my gut and don't want to eat or drink anymore. Of course this is a downward spiral that I seem to fall into repeateadly. I might could've gone easier off the start, but I was feeling so good and it felt so easy at the time I don't know how much difference it would've made. I guess I'm just going to try some new nutrition, the Shot Bloks seem to make me feel bloated and uneasy. The tire thing definitely hurt me, this felt like where things really started coming apart. I'd heard good and bad things about the Racing Ralphs in the rocks, but hadn't had any trouble at Mellow Johnny's or Solavaca so I decided I could live with them. Rob, Lisa and Kyle were all running the same combo and had no trouble, so I guess sometimes things just happen. Next year I will use a snakeskin version that comes well recommended with more sidewall protection.

Overall I know I was pretty strong this year, definitely having the fitness to go under 6 hours. Without the 2 flats, or maybe with even just the first one, I think I still could've done it. What really did me in was that severely rough time I had from about mile 42-46 or so. Whether the flat ultimitely helped bring this on or not, I don't know. Even with the bonk, I still think I'd have gone under 6 without the flats. That's a good indicator for my fitness, but I can't try to justify my way into a sub-6 time. It is what it is, flats are part of the game. I can't wait to come back next year and give it another try.

I owe a big thanks to the folks who were at the support areas helping me out with bottles, water on my back, etc. My little brother Luke, Brian, Cody & Tiffany, Leigh and anybody else I didn't notice in my stupor. Chris, thanks for pulling me across to the group on the start road, I tried to do my part! Big thanks to Rob for riding with me some and waiting on me once or twice, and especially for telling me to drink that Coke. I'll say it again, that saved my race from a total meltdown. Another big thanks goes out to the organizers of the race and all their volunteers. The event is top notch with all the things they offer like the meals and the great aid stations. The volunteers at the aid stations are also amazing, ready to help with whatever you need with a great attitude. We'll see you again next year!

Ouachita Challenge, T-2 days

Tomorrow morning we're headed out to Oden, AR for the Ouachita Challenge. This will be my 5th time at this event since 2006, I have done the tour once and the race 3 times. (The tour is a non-competitive option on Saturday on a slightly easier course, the race is on Sunday) This is my big race every year, I really love the event. It's a ~60 mile course on the Ouachita and Womble trails in the Ouachita and Ozark mountain ranges. A fast 10 miles on dirt roads leads you to the Ouachita Trail, where you hit some nice sized climbs and rocky sections including Blowout Mountain. Next you transit a bit via another road section to the Womble trail. There are some nice climbs here too, but overall the trail is a bit more tame, flowy and fun. After finishing the Womble trail, there is a bit more road before the final climb that is a real kicker at over 7%. Once you pass this it's 5 miles to the finish, gravel/pavement and mostly downhill. The Ouachita Cycling Club does an awesome job putting it on, with dinners and breakfasts for the racers, nice shirts and great aid stations. I'm feeling ready, I've been training pretty well and consistently and I've got a great bike. I've been trying to break the 6hr mark for the last few years and have never been able to get it for various reasons, but I'm hoping this will be my year.

Last weekend I went out for one last big training ride. This was a great chance to check out my comfort on the bike, my nutrition strategy and my fitness. I'd done 3 hard days of intervals in the week leading up to it, but the ride went pretty well. I went to Huntsville State Park and did a 5hr ride, covering 57 miles. The ride was all trail. I felt ok most of the day, had a little downer at about the 3 hr mark but was able to keep a good pace and get back on top of it for the last hour or so. My body held up pretty well with the BMC keeping me comfortable and not getting too sore. The OC has a good bit of road mixed in, so this was a good test ride being all trail to really push myself where it's a bit flatter, since there will be bigger climbs at OC but the road sections will roll easier and be a chance for the body to recover a bit. The last time I did a ride this long was at the Miles of DisComfort marathon earlier this year, the duration was very similar. I fell apart a bit then, but last weekend I held together pretty well.

This week I've been getting the bike cleaned and tuned up well to be sure everything is ready for the race. I've only put 230 miles on it so far, but I feel pretty confident in the equipment. I've been using Stan's NoTubes rims for the last several years, and feel very confident in them, so much so that I broke the beads on both tires last night to check and add sealant. Previously I've been pretty hesitant on doing that within a week of a big race, but they seal so well and I've never had any trouble with tires blowing off so I don't really worry about it anymore. The drivetrain is all SRAM X.0, the 10 speed is new to me but it's been good so far. I've been using the 9 speed kit for 3 years and it's been perfect. I think I'm still getting used to the bike from a riding and handling perspective, though. I felt pretty good on it during the big ride last weekend, no fit issues came up so I feel like that will be fine.

Last night I went out for a little spin to keep the legs moving and make sure the bike was good to go. I played around a bit, doing jumps and wheelies and stuff just for fun. I felt good and fresh, with a few efforts just to test the legs. I'm excited about the weekend and the weather is looking great. I can't wait to line up Sunday morning with 250 others for a great day on the bike. I may get a post in this weekend, but look for the race report early next week. Wish me luck!

Solavaca Race Report

This past weekend was the Solavaca Cat Claw Classic, round 4 of the TMBRA spring series. I'd never been to this course, but heard good things about it so I was looking forward to the weekend. Raine was hostessing a baby shower for a friend Sunday so she and Ben stayed home. Raine's mom came down to stay for the weekend while I was gone, so that was helpful and I was thankful she wouldn't be home by herself. Richard and I pulled out Saturday morning headed to Glen Rose. We arrived about noon and kitted up, then headed out for a pre-ride with my teammates Adam & Clare. We did two laps, trying to learn the course well as we were both hoping for good results on Sunday. The course was really fun, mostly fast singletrack, some rocks, some really tight sections, and a mile or so of technical riding in and out of a creek. We finished up and headed back to town to our shady hotel, then grabbed some dinner and turned in relatively early. My race was at 8:30 so it was going to be an early morning.

I woke up and drove around to find some breakfast, I ended up at a little donut shop with some breakfast tacos and my usual orange juice. Decent breakfast, then it was off to the ranch. I warmed up a bit, then headed to the line. There were 13 of us this week, I got a call-up to the front row with the top 10 as I'm currently in 10th overall in the series. I tried to start more reasonably this week, hanging about 2/3rds of the way back through the group. I felt comfortable with the pace, but I eventually started to fade. This was disappointing, but thankfully it wasn't a huge blow-up like at Mellow Johnny's, just a more gradual fade. I fell back to nearly last place in my group through the rest of the lap. Normally my glasses are fine throughout the race, but about 2/3rds of the way through lap 1 they started getting sweat on the lenses and I couldn't see anything. I had to take them off and then every time I went through a creek or muddy spot I got something in my eye. This was pretty unfortunate and annoying, but I'm sure it didn't really cost me the race or anything. As the race went on I started feeling a little better and was able to pick the pace back up. Through the second half of the race I passed 3 or 4 guys in my class to make my way back up to 8th at the finish.

There was one big climb on the course with a few nice ledges at the top. I only cleared it on the second lap, I'm still figuring out steep, loose climbing on the BMC.

I ripped the big downhill on the last lap, nearly a minute faster than lap 1 when I was with a group.

The full lap segment times on Strava don't seem to correspond with what actually happened, could be due to the really twisty course and the fact that it passed very close to the start point a few minutes later. I made a segment of the last 1.3 miles through the technical section along the creek that gives a good indicator of how I was going at the end of each lap: 1. 8:17, 2. 8:20, 3. 8:04. On the last lap I was riding strong and that was my best effort on the day.

I was happy with the way I finished the race, but still have to get my starts figured out better. I think maybe I need more warm-up? I seem to roll pretty well once I get going, just takes me a while to get there and over that slump after the start. Like a big diesel. There is a positive side though, with my big race coming up in two weeks, the Ouachita Challenge, I'm feeling like my endurance is good as I seem to be riding strong through the race. Hopefully I can slow things down a little and stretch it out for 6 hours and have a good race.

17 days and counting

17 days until the Ouachita Challenge. It's getting down to crunch time, with only about a week and a half left to make any real fitness gains before a few days of rest to lead up to the race. I've been trying to stay diligent with my training, getting in long rides when possible and putting some structure to my weekday rides. I've been getting about 3 rides in per week, averaging about 80 miles and 5hr 45mins total per week. This isn't much, but at least I've been consistent. Since my last post, I've had some pretty decent rides. Last Thursday I got some trail time on the Anthills. I set 3 Strava KOMs (best overall times on a segment), one for a full out and back lap direction, the other 2 for each one way direction. I felt pretty good from both a fitness and trail riding perspective on the new BMC.

Saturday it was pretty rainy, but I tried to sneak in a road ride during a break in the weather in the afternoon. My plan was to ride towards the rain, and when it started getting wet I'd turn around. Things seemed to be going according to plan, I rode out with dry roads and no rain, it started sprinkling a little and the roads started getting wet, but when I turned around I wound up riding right into rain that was with me most all the way home. I pulled up soaking wet but still got a good couple of hours in.

Sunday morning we got some huge rain, and it hung around on and off the rest of the day. I convinced Richard to do a workout, and decided we'd do some trainer/roller work in the garage to stay dry. While we were trying to get set up, his bike wasn't fitting in the trainer very well and then the drive band on the rollers broke so that ruined our plans. It wasn't raining at the time so we decided to try to get some intervals done on the road. We weren't even out of the driveway and it started sprinkling. We kept riding for a couple of minutes and it kept sprinkling. We soon realized neither of us were dressed for this and would likely get sick, so we turned around back to the garage to give that a second try. I found the trainer skewer so he was set, then I had the great idea to cut up a road tube to use to drive the rollers. It worked perfectly so we were back on. We did some intervals out of The Time Crunched Cyclist, 3 x 8min steady state intervals with 5mins rest between intervals.

Tuesday after work, we hooked the trailer up to Raine's bike, Ben jumped in and we all rode down to the Y. I left Raine and Ben there to walk on the treadmill (Raine) and play (Ben) and I went out to do some intervals. The workout for the day was similar to Sunday, except I was doing 3 x 10min steady state intervals with 6mins rest between intervals. These were hard but I felt pretty good. The second was into a stiff headwind the WHOLE time so it was good climbing simulation. If I could have worked it out I would have set them all up to be headwind intervals but I had to manage my time so they were mixed.

Tonight I'll get another interval session, then this weekend we're headed up to Solavaca Ranch for the Cat Claw Classic, round 4 of the TMBRA TX XC Mountain Bike State Championship Series. I'm hoping to see the work on the bike pay off with continued improvement in my results. I'd like to get a solid top 10 finish after finishing 10th at the last race.

Last night Raine and I got to go on a date, that was very nice to have a quiet night out and just hang out together. We grabbed some yummy mexican food at Chuy's then capped off our night with a visit to Home Depot. Fun times!

Segment Analysis

I've mentioned before how cool Strava is, being able to compare historical times over segments you've ridden before. I found a new application for it after this weekends race. I picked out a couple of key sections of the trail (climbs and descents) and compared my time through those segments for each lap. The results are below, and matched my perception of the race. Segments in order through the trail are on the left, laps are across the top. Times highlighted in green were my best efforts of the day, yellow were 2nd, and red are worst.

2012 Mellow Johnny's Classic segment comparison

Just like I suspected, I went out too hard at the beginning, and accordingly set my best times on the segments early in the lap. I then blew up about halfway through, and the end of lap 1 was my worst of the day. This was also my worst full lap of the day. Early in lap 2 I was still recovering, and had my worst results of the day on the early segments. I started recovering about halfway through the race, the end of lap 2 was getting better and I set my fastest time on the last climb. Lap 3 I was much more consistent, not having my worst time on any segment and setting my personal best on 2 segments when I was really in chase mode picking off riders who'd passed me earlier. I got held up in a technical section on the final climb by a downed rider, I suspect without this I'd have closely matched or beaten my effort up the climb on the lap before. I certainly would've set my fastest lap of the day without the interruption.

This example serves as great reinforcement of the importance of pacing yourself. If I hadn't gone out so hard, I wouldn't have wasted so much time recovering from blowing up and would've undoubtedly had a better finishing time overall. It might seem important to stay with the leaders through the early part of the race and not be stuck in traffic, but whenever you blow up you will lose all the ground you earned and then some. Know how hard you can go for the duration of the race and stick to that pace, that will produce your best possible result.

Mellow Johnny's Classic 2012 Race Report

This past weekend was the Mellow Johnny's Classic race at Flat Creek Crossing Ranch. This was previously a regular TMBRA venue, but I never got a chance to race it as it was taken out of the schedule just a year or so before I arrived in TX. We went up Friday night and checked out the pre-race party at Mellow Johnny's bike shop where there were several pros doing a Q&A session. It's a cool scene but we didn't stay too long as we had Ben with us and it was nearly bedtime. We stayed at a hotel in Austin that night, then drove over Saturday morning to the race venue. We missed Richard's start but I did get to see him cross the line in a strong 5th place finish. Then Ben did the kids' cup. He had a great time, he's really learning to ride his bike a lot better. He coasted quite a long ways down a sloping downhill, then was able to ride all the way up the big hill to the finish. I was super proud.

Ben on the kids' cup course.

The UCI Pro races were up next, with the women having the first start. We watched them through the start/finish area, it was cool to see them going at it. The pro men were off next, this was the show I'd been waiting to see. One of my favorites Geoff Kabush took the holeshot with Specialized guys Max Plaxton and Todd Wells hot on his heels. They gapped the rest of the field pretty good, then Plaxton attacked on the 4th of 5 laps and got a gap on Kabush. Plaxton and Wells took 1st & 3rd, with Kabush having a very solid ride in 2nd place. Looks like he's loving riding the 29er.

After the pro races were over I took a preride of the course with my new teammate Chris and another friend Don. The course was a lot of fun, very rocky, lots of ledges, several drops and some steep climbing. I thought it'd be a decent course for me with the technical aspects but knew the climbing would give me trouble. I haven't been getting much hill training or intensity so far this year, just trying to get long rides and build a good base for Ouachita. Saturday night we stayed in Johnson City, about 20 minutes from the race venue. We had mexican for dinner with some friends then headed back to the hotel. I wound up sleeping in the bed with Ben, which ended up being him sleeping while punching and kicking me all night, and me not sleeping much.

Sunday morning we got to the race in plenty of time to take it easy getting ready to race. While hanging around before the race, I saw Chris who'd just taken the win in the Cat. 2/3 SS race. Looks like he was a good pickup for the team! I warmed up a little, some of which consisted of riding around with Ben, and then riding the start loop a few times.

Warming up with Ben.

I went and lined up with 18 in my class, being out of the top 10 I was on the 2nd row for the start. My plan was to go hard off the start and try to be with the lead group into the singletrack. When the gun went off the guy next to me stuck his bars into mine so we were tangled up for a second and I wasn't able to get a great start. I made a pass or two before the first singletrack, and then managed to pass two more on the gravel road section right before the end of the start loop. This probably put me about mid-pack. I was riding decently and staying with the group, but I was going pretty hard to do so. About halfway through the first lap I blew up pretty badly and faded hard all the way back to the tail end of the group. This wasn't completely unexpected, as I said before I haven't been doing any intensity so far this year, but I was still disappointed. I kept moving as best I could but the rest of this lap and the first half of lap 2 were pretty much a disaster. About halfway through lap 2 I started feeling better and ramping up the pace. I was able to push pretty hard from then to the finish, passing several guys in my category before the end. I got passed by a couple of the 30-39 front runners, but towards the end of the race I was able to match their pace pretty well and even drop some of them after they got close. This was a welcome indicator that I was riding strong. I managed to make my way back to 10th place only about 7 minutes behind the winner. This was an improvement over Warda, so hopefully we can keep this trend going. I have to give a special thanks to Raine for being in the feedzone for me every lap and the perfect handups, all while keeping up with Ben running around. I couldn't have done it without her.

The BMC was a great bike for this course with all the rocks and ledges, the suspension combined with the big wheels really kept me rolling smoothly. I found myself wishing for a lighter bike on the climbs, but overall I'm positive the bike has me going faster than I was on my hardtail. Perhaps most importantly, at the end of the race I didn't feel completely trashed. My legs were cooked but the rest of me was in much better shape which I think helped me go faster throughout the race. Can't say thanks enough to my guys at Sugar Cycles for this sweet ride.

A small ledge out on the course.

After my race we loaded up and drove next door to Pedernales Falls State Park. We hiked down to the falls and showed Ben the rocks and waterfalls. He had fun, but was more interested in throwing rocks in the water than anything else. Raine and I have been there once before, when Ben was just 3 months old, but he stayed home with grandma. Raine did pretty good hiking down to the falls, especially being 20 weeks pregnant! We changed our minds on hiking to the second set of falls and decided to head on home as we were all pretty tired. Overall it was a great weekend together with lots of fun stuff going on.

Ben checking out the falls.

Ben and Raine walking the rocks.

BMC Speedfox SF29: more feedback

I finally got the BMC on the scale yesterday, weight was 26lbs 7oz as pictured previously. This is about what I was expecting, but a bit more than I was hoping. Doing some looking around this morning I discovered that the bike isn't that far off on weight compared to others, even carbon frames. I found actual weights of Epic Expert Carbon 29er and Jet9 RDO, and when pedals and cages are added they would be 25lbs 15oz and 26lbs 5oz each. So the aluminum frame BMC isn't looking too bad after all. I know of at least a half pound I can take off without doing anything too extreme, so we'll see where it ends up. I would like to save some weight but I don't plan to use any super lightweight/fragile parts, and I probably won't upgrade the drivetrain much. Cassette and brake rotors are first items that I'm thinking about, just standard stuff but will save me a half pound combined, and rotational weight at that.

I had to switch to a setback seatpost and while I was at it I got to weigh a few parts which gave me some insight into the game of shaving grams and manufacturers "claimed" weights. The seatpost I took off was an Easton EC70 Zero, 31.6x400mm. The claimed weight is 225g, the actual weight was 236g. That's not a terrible overage, about 4.9%. There was also an Easton EC90 Zero, 31.6x400mm that I weighed, it came in at 234g vs. the claimed weight of 190g. This is a 23% overage! It's especially alarming that this post was only 2g lighter than the same sized EC70, when they carry pricetags of $210 and $140 each. The new seatpost is a Thomson Elite setback aluminum model. This is the only post I could find that would be long enough (410mm) with setback to get my saddle in the right spot. Thomson provides individual weights for all their different size stems and posts, so I suspected that the claimed weight would be much truer to actual. Sure enough, the claimed weight was 247g, and the actual weight on the scale was 242g. I doubt you'll find anybody complaining about a part being lighter than claimed! Also worth noting is that the post was only 6g heavier than the carbon post it replaced. Thomson makes good stuff, and this reinforces my opinion of them.

Last night I got a couple more hours of singletrack on the bike at the Anthills trails. It continues to impress. There are lots of really rooty sections out there where the hardtail would really get hung up and lose a lot of momentum, but the BMC carries through them much better. There are also some big drops and nasty steep downs that were doable on the ht but had to be given a lot more respect (line choice and braking). The suspension allowed me to carry much more speed down them. There are also some pretty steep short climbs out there to contend with, where traction is critical and proper weight distribution will determine whether you make it up or not. This is an area where I'm usually pretty good, having cleaned lots of climbs on my hardtail where others will bobble. I made it up most of the tough spots last night, but I still feel like I have a little more learning to do on figuring out how this bike responds and how the rear suspension affects things. This usually comes down to rider skill and their instinct for traction and weight distribution, but every bike is a little different and takes a little getting used to before you really feel it. Being a bit "disconnected" from the rear wheel is the biggest difference I'm feeling, where the feedback from the ht is instant and you have precise control, the full suspension is doing its own thing a bit more. This is usually a good thing as the rear wheel will follow the terrain much better and roll over obstacles on the climb, but I feel like it takes a little bit of control out of your hands when you're so accustomed to being very precise with your back wheel.

BMC Speedfox SF29: First Ride Report

A couple of weeks ago I took delivery of my 2012 race bike from my sponsor shop Sugar Cycles: a 2012 BMC Speedfox SF29.

BMC is new to the 29er market, and my sponsor Sugar Cycles is one of three dealers in TX (none in LA BTW) so we wanted to get the word out. They have this bike in two component levels, the X.0 shown here and then an SLX equipped version. They also have a great hardtail, the Teamelite TE29 in both versions as well. One of my teammates is riding the TE29, says it is a great riding frame, handles well and manuals easily with short stays. BMC has more information on their website about the SF29 and the TE29. I'll be up in a couple of weeks with the bike, if you'd like to check it out I'll probably be riding Ruston Friday and Saturday 24th & 25th. If you're interested in a BMC you can get in touch with my boys at Sugar Cycles and they can definitely hook you up.

Now a little more about the bike. The drivetrain is all stock, X.0 2x10. Brakes are the new model Elixir 7. The fork and shock are Fox, with 100mm travel both ends and a 15mm thru-axle up front which I'm very excited to try out. I changed the wheels out, it comes stock with Easton EA70 XCT, which are very nice wheels but I am a big fan of Stan's and I saved a bit of weight as well. The tires were spec, I just moved them over; they mounted up tubeless on the Crests with ZERO effort, one handed with the hand pump and showed no sealant seepage through the sidewalls. The Easton EC70 carbon seatpost is stock, I added the EA70 stem (will be upgraded once I get the fit dialed) and the EC70 XC Wide carbon bars. I also chose to go back with Ergon grips, these have made a great difference for my riding comfort especially having a nagging old wrist injury. A nice Fizik saddle was mounted up out of the box, but I changed it to my tried and true Specialized Phenom.

It's been raining a lot around here the last couple of weeks so I hadn't gotten to ride the bike at all. This weekend we were up in Ruston and I got to spend almost 6 1/2 hours on the trails with the bike.

First impressions are really positive, I really liked the bike but I'll try to stay away from all the "new bike" hype and superlatives and stick with some real observations. First, of course the full suspension is so much smoother than hardtail. I felt like I had it pretty dialed right out of the gate so I was happy. I set it up to be a bit firm in the full open position, about halfway between 0 and the recommended mark on the built-in sag-o-tron meter. I felt like it was soft at first, but of course it felt soft coming off a hardtail. I switched back and forth between open and ProPedal a few times, and once I kinda got used to the squish I decided I liked it open. With as firm as I've got the shock it gets REALLY firm in the ProPedal and I think open is better for trail riding. ProPedal will be for hammering and really smooth climbs. I was able to detect some bob while pedaling seated in the open position, but it didn't seam like much. I'll have to play with the settings a little to see if I can tune it out. The fork is 100mm and I've been riding rigid or 80mm for the last 3 years, I think I appreciated the extra 20mm up front almost as much as I did the rear suspension. Overall they combined for a really smooth ride, and I was able to ride some sections at Ruston like I've never ridden them on my hardtail, for instance the two big dips off the fence line by the front gate. No brakes, no line, just plow through.

I've had a 100mmx100mm full squish 29er before so I kinda knew what to expect there, but overall I was very impressed with the suspension. I think I was most impressed with the handling of the bike. The bike has a 70° head angle, wheelbase is very close to my hardtail, chainstays are 5mm longer. Based on these numbers and the ht having a 71° head angle, I expected the BMC to handle a little slower. I was pleasantly surprised to find the opposite. I think it handles with about the same quickness, but it's better. I sometimes feel like in tight corners the ht wants to tuck the front end a little, while the BMC was very solid. I think this is owed to the 15mm thru axle fork and tapered head tube. The front end is very stiff and the bike goes precisely where you point it. I was able to really whip it through some sections pretty hard, where on the ht I would feel sometimes like I was getting "behind" the bike. It seems to handle a lot like my Monocog which has a 72° head angle and a rigid steel fork which makes it similarly stiff and precise. Combined with the suspension I was able to really push through the rough corners. Another impressive trait was how easy it was to get the front end to come up, for example to manual the rollers. This probably has something to do with the shorter top tube and my cockpit setup as the chainstays are a bit longer than my ht as I said.

The bike has 180mm rotors and I was really happy with the brakes, very quiet (new Avid HS1 rotors) and strong. I may go to 160mm rotors though as I can lose 90g (0.2lbs), and 160s have always been plenty even in Colorado last fall.

This was my first ride on 10spd gear (X0), it seemed a bit more finicky than 9spd but very smooth when it was working well. I think the cable might have been stretching and maybe even slipping at the rear der. No unwanted ghost shifting from suspension action or frame flex though. I never had to get out of the 36t ring up front, of course with the 36t out back I could get the same ratio as 32x32 on the 9spd.

This was also my first ride on the Rocket Ron front tire, I was pretty impressed and it might have contributed to my liking the handling so much.

I still haven't gotten to weigh the bike, but I'm estimating it weighs a lb. or so more than my ht. Could I feel it? I don't know. Certainly not in general, on the climbs I really can't say as there was so much new going on. I think any weight penalty will be offset by the bike's willingness to roll over things so easily by the rear suspension. On really smooth climbs is the only place where I think it might be a penalty overall.

I'll have to get some more time on it and try a few things, but like I said, so far, so very good. I had my GPS on and was able to compare some previous segments on Strava to this weekend. Most segments I'd gone faster during races, but times from this weekend when I was "just riding" took the next top spots. There was one section though where I set 3 new best times, all this weekend, all better than any previous race effort (and another time from this weekend matched my previous best race effort). That is a pretty good indicator for me. I'm really looking forward to racing this bike this year, and especially doing the Ouachita Challenge on it. I think it will make a huge difference in a long race like that in reducing overall fatigue and keeping me feeling fresher.

Warda Race 2012

Last weekend was The Warda Race. There's really not much to write about, but I'll give it a go anyway. Saturday we went up to hang out and get in a preride. I did two laps by myself, the first I was just trying to get back into the groove of riding singletrack and check out the new stuff they'd added since I'd last ridden there at the 2011 race. The second lap I tried to pick it up a bit but just wasn't feeling it. My legs had felt a bit flat in my ride Thursday and they kinda felt the same way. I let it hang out just a little bit on Gas Pass to try to go for the Strava segment, it was a good run but not quite enough. I knew I had a little more to give, so I didn't worry too much. After my second lap Ben did the Kids' Cup race put on by our buddy Rick Wetherald. He had fun, he really liked lining up with the other kids and riding around on the course.  He's gonna be a bike racer for sure.

Lining up for the Kids' Cup

 After the Kids' Cup I went back out for another lap with Alan Johnson and a friend of his. We weren't going too fast, but mixing it up with Alan in the singletrack got me back in the groove a little which was good. When we got to Gas Pass I dove in wide open planning to let it all hang out and snag the segment KOM. About halfway down I ran into a junior racer and dad preriding so I had to abort the run, which was unfortunate as I'm pretty sure I would've gotten it done.

Sunday morning I drove up by myself to start my race at 11AM. My 19-29 Cat. 1 group started with the 30-39 group, so there were 46 people on the line, only 17 of them in my group. I don't mind racing a lot of people, except in this case I never had any clue where I was within my race and didn't know who I was racing against. So that was a bit weird, normally you can know whether you're doing well or not and work your race around that a bit, but this was just ride. I started about 2/3rds of the way through the pack, and fell back a little bit on the long, super fast start. I passed a few on the downhill to the pond, then lost a few more on the way back up the hill to the singletrack. I probably went into the woods near or at the back of the top 10 in my group, and maybe 35ish overall. I felt good through the first singletrack section, staying with the long train easily still connected to the leaders. When we popped out to the first pasture section I started going backwards a bit. That pretty much sums up my race: hold my own in the singletrack and then lose ground on the open sections and climbs. The first two laps I felt ok, like I was moving pretty decent on a personal basis. Early in the third lap the pro women's leader caught me in an open section, when we got back in the twisties I was holding her wheel easily. She made a little mistake going up a rooty climb and lost all her momentum, my momentum carried me into her back wheel and I highsided, falling down a steep section off the side of the trail. I was laying downhill pinned under my bike unable to clip out of my pedal. It took me a bit to wiggle out of the situation, then I had to get back up the hill and to the top with my bike before I could remount. Oh well, probably didn't make a big difference in my race the way it was going. But considering the fact that I only finished a minute behind the person in front of me, it might have cost me a place. Anyway, late on the third lap I bonked pretty hard. I hadn't eaten or drank enough during the race and it really caught up with me. The whole 1hr 50min all I had was a couple of shot bloks and maybe half a bottle of HEED. That was not smart. I struggled on to the finish for a 13th/17 finish in my class. I think I still looked pretty good even going slow.

I haven't bought this pic yet but I think this is legal, I didn't steal it and it's posted from the photog's site on a supplied link and it's still watermarked. If I'm in the wrong someone please tell me.

Richard drove over right after church to do the Cat. 3 race, his first in Texas/TMBRA. He did great and got 2nd in his class, without much of a warm-up and having never even seen the course. He is the first member of the Neilson Development Racing Team, I think we're going places.

Riding

I've been getting in a fair amount of riding the last few weeks. Last week was a good one at 114 miles and a bit over 7 hours. This week I've only done about 54 miles and 3 1/2 hours so far, but I'm racing this weekend so I backed it off just a little. Of course I don't have any weekend miles in that yet, either. The only downside is that both weeks have been mostly all riding on pavement. It's been pretty wet around here, and while I'm very thankful to be catching up on rainfall, it has kept me off the trails. We need rain worse than I need to ride trails though, so no complaining here. The Warda Race is this weekend, with a lot of twisty singletrack and short punchy climbs. That's quite a bit different than spinning along on the road, but is usually my strong point so that should help. I'm really quite out of shape these days, so I don't expect anything better than last place but if I can ride strong for the full race I'll be happy enough. I also have to reclaim my throne on Gas Pass from Payson McElveen.

Last Sunday was mine and Raine's seventh anniversary. Her mom and grandma came down for the weekend to watch Ben so we could relax a bit and go on a date. We went to Taste of Texas for dinner Saturday night. We've been going there for our anniversary for a few years now, and have made it a bit of a tradition. Their quail bites are one of the best things I've ever eaten, but everything is very good there. It's a long wait, but how often do you sit with your spouse for an hour with absolutely NOTHING else to do but spend time together? Looking at it in that light, it's a good thing. And we always have the Snickers pie with a sparkler (we don't eat the sparkler) for dessert. I'm very thankful and blessed to have married such a great girl. We've had a great go of it so far, with a lot of fun times, great stories, and an amazing son. I can't wait to see what the next 7 years and beyond will have in store for us.

Snickers pie!

Miles of DisComfort Marathon Report

As expected, this was a tough race. I finished the 52.5 miles in 5:09:36. I got 2nd in my age group, but would have been dead last in the Open. I guess that's why I didn't race the Open class.

After stopping to pick up some groceries and supplies Richard and I got on I-10 a little after noon on Friday. We were at Flat Rock Ranch by 3:30. The drive isn't really that bad, and the new sections of 75 mph on I-10 helped speed things along. We set up camp at the best spot on the ranch, on the edge of the campground, right by the creek and just across from the start line. 

Campsite.

We went out for a quick pre-ride to spin our legs, and to give Richard an idea of what kind of terrain to expect and at least see the first few miles of the course. We rode some of both the Upper and Lower loops.

After the ride, we went back and cooked a spaghetti dinner. We built a fire and got registered, then hung around the fire for a while before going to bed. 

Cool iPhone fire picture.

Saturday morning was a bit chaotic. The race started at 9 and I'd planned to get up at 6. I figured it'd be light by then so I could get up and start making breakfast. I kept waking up but it was never really light, so I'd just roll over. I finally checked my clock to find it was a little after 7. We were camped behind a big hill keeping us out of the sunshine, go figure. It was super cold and felt like it kept getting colder until the sun came all the way over the hill and into our campsite a bit. We cooked eggs, sausage and pancakes for breakfast. Then I mixed my bottles and got the bike ready. I finished kitting up at about 8:55 and went over to the start line and picked a midpack starting position. The starter was giving the last minute instructions and suddenly I realized I'd left my sunglasses in the car. I never ride without them and certainly didn't want to for 5 hours with all the sunshine so I dropped my bike and sprinted the 50 yards back to the car, dug them out of my bag and sprinted back. Less than a minute later we were off. The start was a long gravel road uphill, and after the sprinting to the car and no warmup my stomach immediately went into rebellion and I felt like I might vomit for about the first 20-30 minutes. I was taking it pretty easily, and was in a long line of riders so we had to nearly stop for every technical feature but I still felt bad. Eventually my stomach calmed down and the race strung out a bit so I could find some rhythm. Through the first half lap I just stayed steady and made a few passes on riders that'd started harder than me. I didn't stop at the feedzone and went straight out for the 2nd half lap. I got caught by the leaders of the half marathon somewhere early on this loop, and was still mixing it up with a few full marathon racers. I made a couple more passes towards the end of the lap and stopped at the feedzone. On the first full lap I'd ridden everything on the course except for the tops of Pipeline Climb and Mt. Park, which are very, very rocky climbing sections with some pretty sizeable ledges thrown in for good measure. I've ridden them both before, but didn't want to try too hard this day and waste too much energy. I stripped off my warmers, changed bottles and rolled back out for my 2nd lap.

I was feeling the effort from the first lap, and got hung up going up a big rock ledge a few miles in. I couldn't unclip and fell a few feet down off the ledge, but just had a few cuts, nothing serious luckily I didn't land on any large/sharp rocks. I tried to stay steady this lap and just ride efficiently. I made a few of the hard climbs again, but a few I had to walk this time. About halfway through the first half of the lap a woman I'd caught and passed earlier caught back up to me on a big climb. The rest of the loop was mostly flowy downhill so I stayed with her easily back to the feedzone. I needed to stop and get a new bottle but she went on so I lost her there. She turned out to be the Women's Open winner. At least I can almost compete with the ladies. Early in the last loop I was with a guy I'd been going back and forth with for a while, and I was feeling pretty done so I let him go. I'd see him every once in a while but it seemed like nothing was changing between us, besides I was just trying to keep the cranks turning up the big climb.  I felt like I was just surviving and he got out of sight. With 4 or 5 miles to go I got passed by a guy I hadn't been seeing before. He was riding an Epic 29er and I was quite jealous but I decided I would try to show him what the hardtail could do. I got back on his wheel and passed him when he bobbled a ledge around a blind corner. I started gapping him and didn't see him again. Then I saw the guy I'd let go at the beginning of the loop. I decided to try to chase him down, and started making up ground. I was in the fast section of the trail, and was pushing XC race pace now, after 5 hours of suffering, I just kept telling myself he's right there, he's right there. I caught him, rested on his wheel for a minute, then made the pass in the next open section. I dropped the hammer again and quickly dropped him. I stayed on the gas all the way to the finish and surged strong to the line. I think I put about 30 seconds on him in those last few minutes so that was nice.

Key takeaway from the weekend is that I have a lot of work to do before Ouachita Challenge, both on my fitness and on my nutrition. My intake was 2.5 bottles of HEED, 1.5 2-hour bottles of Perpetuem, and a couple of Shot Bloks. But the good news is I got a bunch more miles in my legs and proved that I can ride for at least 5 hours, even if the last 2 aren't so great. I feel like I paced pretty well early, ignoring the fact that I was getting smoked and just riding my own pace, ignoring the race for the most part. This was critical to not ride above my limits and make the rest of the race even worse.

Now I gotta keep doing work to prep for Ouachita, this will be the last week/weekend of trying to just get miles, next week I'll be starting up some intervals.

Peacocks

Earlier this week we went out to eat dinner with Adam & Clare at Clay's. The food is pretty good, but it's also a really neat place for kids. They have animals outside (penned away from the dining areas, yes) including horses, rabbits and chickens for the kids to see and pet. They also have a sandpit for the kids to play in and a place for pony rides. Unfortunately on this night it was dark and rainy so no playing, but we did get to see a few of the animals and Ben petted one of the horses. They also have a couple of peacocks that roam around, the place backs up to the woods so sometimes they're out there but sometimes they'll come inside the fence if there aren't too many people around. This night there was hardly anybody there, so one of  them was under the gazebo staying out of the rain. I took Ben out to see it, he thought it was really cool. He walked right over to it and it let him get pretty close.

There's the peacock.

Yesterday after work I'd hoped to spin the legs a little bit but it had been raining all day and it was pretty nasty outside, already being sick since last week I decided to stay out of the weather and start prepping the bike for the weekend. I gotta pay my guys at Sugar Cycles a quick visit this afternoon to get my wheel checked out after breaking a spoke this past weekend, then everything should be ready to go. We're pulling out mid-day tomorrow. I'm a bit worried about the distance of the full marathon, after my rides last weekend I was pretty beat and they were only 4 hours and 40 miles. The marathon is about 52 miles so I'm expecting to be out there at least 5 hours. I think I'd be happy with that time. Hopefully I can pace myself and manage my nutrition well, otherwise it's going to be a really tough day. I guess the last time I did a 5 hour day was last year at Ouachita. Probably not a good thing heading into this race, but we'll see what happens. I'm not really there to race it, just get time on the bike and have some fun while I'm at it. The trails at Flat Rock Ranch are really fun so hopefully I'll have an enjoyable day.

Almost Marathon Time

The Miles of DisComfort Marathon at Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, TX is this weekend. I got in my last big rides before the race this past weekend while we were in Ruston. Saturday I rode 4 hours at Lincoln Parish Park there in Ruston, and Sunday I got another 4 hours at Bodcau Recreation Area near Haughton.  I had 2 great rides with some friends and figured out a few things I need to work on.

A couple of things I learned:
1. I need to ride trail more. After both rides I felt pretty beat up, even though my legs weren't completely dead. Both trails are fairly rough, and 4 hours of that when I don't get much trail time will really take it out of you. Energy that could be used pedaling is taken away.
2. I need to go downhill faster. I am a pretty good, confident descender. I don't use the brakes much and carry my speed fairly well through rough stuff and corners. What I learned though is that I don't make a lot of speed to begin with. I'm not using the brakes so I think I'm going fast, but I was proven wrong. A couple of times this weekend, I would coast into a downhill at the same speed as someone else, and they would roll away from me on a section that was fairly straightforward with no cornering/braking needed. One guy termed the phenomenon as his "twinkie power," implying his weight was pulling him downhill faster than mine. I would buy that. Another factor could be that the others were riding full suspension bikes while I'm on a hardtail. As smooth as I can be, my rear tire is still going to bash into rocks and roots harder than theirs are going to roll over them as the suspension absorbs the impacts. I need to focus on being even smoother: absorbing roughness with my legs, hopping my wheels over anything I can, pumping whenever possible to gain speed, and even pedaling to keep my speed as high as I can control instead of just coasting down the hill. I already do these things, but when my competitors are riding full-suspension 29ers they're going to have the equipment advantage in these situations undoubtedly so I have to maximize what I'm working with.

I rode a lap at Bodcau with a friend who was wearing his GoPro, he got some pretty good footage so I can't wait to see it. I've never been filmed while riding, so I'm interested to see if it reveals any other lessons I can learn. I'll put it up when I get it.

These came in the mail last week, but I already have Ergons on all my bikes. What could they be for?

Why do I need another pair of Ergons?

No Riding

I started coming down with something last Saturday and haven't been able to shake it all week. I haven't ridden since Sunday. My plan of riding lots and getting all these base miles hasn't exactly shaped up like I'd hoped it would. I've gotten some good rides on the weekends, but only a couple of weekday rides. I'll do the best with whatever I can get though. I'll be on the bike lots this weekend, Raine has a wedding shower to go to in Ruston and I'll be cut loose to ride as much as I want. Planning on getting in a couple of 40-50 mile days on the trails at Lincoln Parish Park and elsewhere in north LA. There are some great trails up there. Most people would never think so, but they have a good amount of elevation, comparable to the hill country if you ask me. Most of the trails are all about fun, flowy singletrack. Hopefully I'll be able to ride well enough to have fun, sometimes riding when I'm sick helps me shake whatever it is off and start getting better. We'll see if that works or if I run myself further in the ground. The Miles of DisComfort marathon race is next weekend, this will be the last opportunity to get some long rides in before then. I'm just looking to use it as a fun ride and bit of a gut check for the Ouachita Challenge, so I'm not particularly worried about doing well or anything. It should be a fun weekend, we're going over Friday afternoon and going to camp out, some of my teammates are coming too so that's always a good time.

It was a little cool most of this week, so Ben got to play outside wearing his fun hat and mittens. He likes to make the mittens talk like puppets, it's super cute.

Riding Circles in the Dark

If that's what it takes, that's what I'll do. That's what I did last night at least. We had a good morning at church, then lunch with Kristen & Richard at Chuy's. We were both feeling crummy still so I figured I'd rest a bit in the afternoon instead of ride. I watched the Texans lose their playoff game and then went and raked the leaves in the front yard. I went to church to drop Ben off at AWANA but they were short on adults so I stayed and helped out for a while. When I got home I felt like riding my bike so I did. Mounted up the lights and did laps on the bayous behind the house. It's a pretty good little loop, all off road except for crossing a few streets that are usually pretty quiet. I'm supposed to be doing base right now but I felt like going hard so I did, guess that's good considering the limited time I had to ride. If you can't get the volume, make up for it in intensity. I plan to keep doing "base" rides for the next 2 weeks, wrapping that up with the Miles of DisComfort marathon at Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, TX. After that I'll start some structured interval training according to Chris Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist book to lead up to the Ouachita Challenge.