2015 Rocky Hill Roundup Race Report

This past weekend was the Rocky Hill Roundup, first race of the 2015 Texas State Championship Series. I went in to the race with high hopes, but could only manage 4th on the day. It was a bit disappointing, but I guess I came out ok and will move on to the next round. 

I got a decent start, going into the singletrack in 3rd. About a minute and a half into the race I took the lead at the top of the first climb when the guys in front of me seemed to slow a little bit. I ended up getting a decent gap after this, but I didn't push too hard trying to stay away as I knew it was too early.

Eventually we formed a group of 4 at the front which turned out to be the selection for the race. I led the first lap at a decent pace, but I just didn't seem to have gas in the tank to be able to do much more than ride around. That first acceleration, which wasn't even that hard, was seemingly the only match I had to burn.

At the beginning of the second lap the eventual winner rolled past me and away, and I could not respond at all. I faded back to 4th, then 5th for a while, but I was able to take one spot back going into the last lap for the 4th place finish. 

A nice overlook behind me, but no time for sight-seeing.

I'm looking forward to more racing and I now have some things I know I need to work on. Big thanks to Sugar Cycles, my BMC was fast out there I just didn't have the energy to push it. Also big thanks to Skratch Labs, it warmed up a good bit during our race but I stayed ok and cramp free the whole race. I know the lack of energy was due to some other factors and certainly not the tasty pineapples in my bottles!

Thanks Ed for the picture and videos.

Raine returned to the start line for the first time in a few years and came out with 2nd place. I was stoked for her, she's been training and it's great to see her back at it. She had a lot of fun so I think she'll be back for more. We borrowed a popup camper for the weekend and stayed out at the ranch. The kids had a blast camping out and playing with new friends all weekend. I suspect we will eventually get a camper of our own, we have many years of these fun adventures ahead and I remember fondly all my families' travels with our camper in my younger days.

Our first family camper adventure.

Bike Commuting

Over the last year or so I've started regularly commuting to work. I say regularly in the sense that I do it periodically; I was surprised to find I only commuted 36 days last year when I actually went back and counted. That probably accounts for about 75 of my training hours though, which is nearly 20% of my 403 total hours for 2014. When I put it in that perspective it is definitely a contributor to my fitness.

I thought I'd share a little bit of information on commuting that might help somebody get started on this great habit.

My typical car drive to work is about 8 miles straight down a 7 lane highway, so that's obviously not the best way to ride my bike in. I always say "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." On the bike I use a combination of neighborhoods and park paths for a pretty safe 20 mile route, sometimes I will shorten that to about 17 miles with a little bit of dam top gravel road. Luckily my commute is in a direction I ride a lot anyway, so I was already familiar with the area and able to easily piece together a good route. If you need to figure out a route to work, there are some good tools available. One is Google Maps; they have a biking tool that shows dedicated bike lanes, bike friendly roads and bike paths. Another good tool is Strava. You can view segments on the Segment Explore map to see where the popular roads are to ride. Their global heatmap is another great tool to see where people do and don't ride.

Generally speaking this would represent a map of the cycling population density of TX. Interesting that the MS-150 route between Houston and Austin is so apparent.

The most important bike commuting tool is, of course, the bike. I use a Specialized Crux Disc. This is billed as a cyclocross bike, but is super versatile and makes for a great commuter. It doesn't have fender mounts, which would probably disqualify it for some people, but I can't see myself riding with fenders or really commuting in weather that would require them so it's not a problem for me. I'm just not interested in arriving to work soaking wet with a nasty bike. I keep my bike inside at my desk so that would present a problem in itself.

The Crux super commuter, resting up for the ride home.

Plenty roadworthy, we had some great rides at RMNP last summer.

Most bike components are left to preference (SRAM vs. Shimano, disc vs. rim brakes, gearing, etc.) but one thing that does make a great commuter is tire choice. I use Continental Gatorskin 700x32's. These are high volume tires that make for a very comfortable ride over the rough side streets and bumpy, cracked walking paths I ride. They are also very flat resistant so that's one less thing to worry about while riding to work in the dark. Being so big they probably aren't the fastest tires, but comfort and versatility trump that for me. I can take them on gravel if I feel like taking a different route, and if I want to get even more adventurous I can really take them off-road. I've even ridden singletrack for fun! Of course it's not ideal at 50+ psi and with no tread, but it's doable and fun for some variety. It's by my own design that my cyclocross bike affords me plenty of tire clearance to use the 32's, but some people may be forced or prefer to use a smaller tire; I'm sure the 28 and 25 sizes of these tires are great, too. Some may say they would be a little faster in certain circumstances, but I won't get into the tire size vs. speed debate here. I used to ride Schwalbe 28s and those were pretty comfortable too so that's probably a good size choice.

Fun for doing some dirt surfing every once in a while.

A critical aspect of bike commuting for me is having lights. I work 7am to 4pm, so I leave at 5:30am in the dark year round and in the shortest days of winter I get home just before sunset. For a headlight I use a NiteRider MiNewt Mini 350 USB. It offers plenty of light for me even on its lowest setting, and has enough run time to commute all week on the low or medium settings. The light head mounts to the bar easily with a rubber grommet, and the battery goes on my toptube behind the stem with a velcro strap. The attachment has proven solid and trouble free. One definite advantage of this light for commuting is that it charges via USB. If I need to, I can just plug it in to my computer when I get to work for a charge before riding home. There are lots of light choices out there, and some much cheaper such as the MagicShine variety, but this is another place where I didn't want to risk being stranded in the dark at 6am. I feel that this is a full quality light that will give me years of good service at still a pretty good price.

NiteRider Minewt 350 Mini USB

Just as important as your headlight is the taillight. You want something to catch drivers' attention when approaching you from behind to see you from a good long way off. I use a Cygolite Hotshot 2W. This is a nice, bright light at a good price. It has several flashing modes with adjustable speeds so you can choose exactly which pattern you think will make you most visible or choose to have more battery life. I don't really use the flash speed adjustment, but I'll not complain about having more options. A very nice feature of this light is the rechargeable battery. Instead of worrying about when the AAA's in your blinky are going to die and leave you invisible in the dark, you can charge the battery regularly and put your mind at ease. I can commute and ride for several weeks before I get the indication that the battery is low, but I usually charge it once a week. This light is also USB chargeable so I can charge it at work if I need to. It's small and secure enough that it pretty much stays on my bike all the time unless I'm doing a 'cross race.

Cygolite Hotshot

The last thing (or maybe first thing depending on how you look at it) to consider is the work at either end to make the actual commute happen. The most common question concerns showering when I get to work. Yes, I am fortunate that my office has a nice locker room with a shower, so I can get all cleaned up and changed when I get there. Of course I have to have clothes to change into, this takes a little bit of preparation. I always drive on Monday, so I usually bring shoes, a towel, and 2 or 3 days of clothes to work in a bag that morning for the week. I also always drive on Friday, so I'll take the clothes home to wash and replenish for the next week. I leave soap/shampoo and deodorant in my desk. I also leave a jacket at work, the AC is usually too cold for me.

There are a few issues to solve from time to time, but you can usually figure out a way around them. For instance, if there's a 35° temperature change from your morning to afternoon commute, your clothing needs are going to be quite different. Since I don't ride with panniers or a backpack, getting the warm clothes home to use the next morning can be a bit of a challenge. The 2 options are to wear as little as you can in the morning and stuff all the extra in your jersey pocket for the afternoon, or just leave stuff at work every day. You have to have enough stuff to get through the week, or drive a day between rides to shuttle stuff back home, but you make it work.

Maybe your commute is really too long to be practical to keep the length of your day reasonable? One solution if you can get away without your car for an evening is to drive to work, ride home, ride in the next day, and then drive home. You get 2 long rides in and save 2 car trips, but you can limit the extra time spent each day.

Since I use my commute as training time, I try to be purposeful with my time on the bike. The morning commute is usually pretty easy, since it's dark and my body isn't usually ready for any efforts. This can be a recovery ride. In the afternoon I will try to do some intervals or go longer for base miles. There is a nice park on the way home I can do intervals in, if that's my plan I'll take the shortest route to allow me to spend some time there doing work.

Naturally, if you commute by bike an hour each way you will be hungry! I usually go by the grocery store on my way to work on Monday, so I'll grab a couple of frozen lunches if we don't have enough leftovers from the weekend for all the days I commute. I try not to eat out for lunch to save money, but I have to every once in a while and when you have your bike, it's nice to take a spin at lunch on a beautiful day.

Lunch ride.

GHORBA Bigger Ring Challenge Double Lake Marathon Race Report

Last weekend was my first race of the 2015 season, the GHORBA Bigger Ring Challenge at Double Lake. The was was 3 17 mile laps for 51 miles total that I anticipated would take a little under 4 hours. I went into this race with good confidence after my good results in the TX Cup series last year, but uncertain where my fitness would be as I haven't gotten too many long rides lately and I've just started moving out of working on base fitness. I knew though that this was a good course for me and I wanted to have a good race. I lined up near the front, but got swarmed a little bit on the start. I was rolling somewhere in the top 15-20 on the 1.5 mile road section to the singletrack. As we neared the singletrack entrance, a gap opened right behind the leader. I instinctively jumped in it and made a perfect move to go in 2nd place. The leader was none other than Nathan Winkelmann, one of the best riders in TX, multi-time Pro/cat. 1 race winner and a threat to win any race any day. I felt good and followed him most of the first lap, until he slowed and waved me around. I led for a couple of miles until we hit a long gravel road at the end of the lap, then I fell back into the paceline of the front group.

Leading the race ahead of Winkelmann.

We had made a selection of about 6 riders at that point, and I was surprising myself being there and feeling comfortable! Through the second lap I rode 3rd or 4th wheel as we swapped places a few times, but mostly stayed together while dropping a couple of riders out of our group. At the end of the second lap the lead group was whittled down to myself, Winkelmann, Scott Henry and Scott Minard. The Scotts are also super fast guys who race Pro/1 and can win any race at any time. Henry has multiple Pro race wins to his credit, finished 2nd in the 2014 State Championship series and has won it a few times before as well. He used to race for Trek/VW! Minard has been top 5 several years running in the Pro/1 overall as well.

Lead group coming through to start lap 3.

About halfway through the 3rd and final lap I was riding in 4th, feeling good and trying to think through how this race would end and how I could take a shot for the win. I didn't figure I could outsprint Minard or Henry, as they're both very strong guys. I thought I might could get a gap on them in the singletrack, but getting to the front and staying there on the long gravel road at the end would be tricky. There was a good section of singletrack between there and the finish line; that would be my best bet. About this time I was riding behind Nathan and he started slowing way down. The Scotts were riding away, and eventually he confessed that he was getting a flat tire. He asked if I had any air, I did but it was zipped in my pouch. He kept going but would not let me by, so the Scotts got a good gap on us. Eventually Nathan ran off trail in a corner trying not to roll his tire. I rode past but dropped him my pouch with CO2 in it. After this I struggled to get back up to speed though. I knew the Scotts were gone and there was a threat that Nathan would ride back up to me, but I just couldn't get going again. Sure enough with about 5 miles to go Nathan passed me on a short gravel road section and I couldn't respond. I rolled it in to the finish line to finish a few minutes behind the Scotts and less than a minute behind Nathan.

I finished first in my category of 30-39, and ended up 4th overall! This was a great result and will be a big confidence boost going into the State Championship series. Huge thanks as always to Skratch Labs, I truly could not be racing at this level without their product. I tried for many years but always had stomach issues that held me back. I also have to thank Sugar Cycles. They've been supporting me for many years and it's exciting to (finally) be putting up some good results for them. My BMC was super fast and smooth and I know it is the perfect bike to be competitive in all my races. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year!

Fall Series 2014 Wrap Up

After good races at Waco & Tyler I was ready to turn it up a notch for the last two races of the Fall series at courses I knew I could do well at.

First up was Ruston. This is where I started mountain biking and I have so many laps there I know the course as well as anyone. My in-laws also live in town so we go there a few times a year when I get to do some laps to keep things fresh. Going into the race I had my eyes on Bradyn and Neil, who had gotten 2nd at the opening round at Camp Eagle. Off the start I fell in behind Neil to keep my eye on him. I followed him until a Mississippi guy came around at the first fenceline. He led for a bit then Neil and I went back around and MS fell off the pace. I was feeling good and just sizing these guys up; I could tell Neil was strong but I was climbing easier than he was as he was attacking the climbs and I was able to keep right on his wheel without too much effort. Eventually we dropped MS but Bradyn had caught us. Neil bobbled a tight turn, and that put me in the front. This wasn't where I wanted to be going into a long fenceline section, so I just kept a steady effort. I led around to finish the lap, then we all went into the singletrack together to start lap 2. In the first singletrack section with them on my wheel I was taking every bad line I could, not wanting to give anything away and trying to make them work a little bit harder. I wasn't pushing hard just keeping a nice flow pace. When we hit the first small uphill fire road I took it up a notch and they came off my wheel. I kept the pace high through the rest of that section and I came out with a good gap. The rest of that lap I just stayed at a good strong pace and the gap kept growing. This was way sooner than I'd wanted to be off the front but I was feeling great. Coming into the last lap I had a really good gap, I couldn't see anybody behind me even on the longest straightaways so I knew I just had to keep it together and cruise to the finish. 

I got through the first singletrack section and then disaster struck. My rear shifter was starting to come apart, and every time I would try to upshift in the rear it would drop all the way down to the 11t cog. I could downshift back but then it would fall all the way back down to the 11t if I tried to upshift just once. Then it got so loose I couldn't downshift at all. I didn't panic, I decided I could just shift the front shifter and get through the rest of the race. I'd ride the 24x11 on most everything and just go to 38x11 for the downhills so the chain wouldn't be too loose. This was working ok and I was still making good time and not seeing anybody behind me. When I hit a long fenceline section I pulled my multi-tool out while riding and tried to fix my shifter on the fly. The bolt that was coming loose is designed to be tightened from the inside with the cover off, so the part on the bottom is a square. I couldn't tighten it so just had to keep going. About halfway through the lap on a short steep climb I got on the gas a little too hard and the chain snapped from being cross-chained so badly. This is when I panicked. I guess I was thinking that with my shifter screwed up and my derailleur stuck where it was, even if I fixed the chain I'd be right back in the same situation, so I just threw the chain off and started running. I just wanted to get to the finish line. Of course I figured out pretty quick this was a bad idea. I got about a mile up the trail before they started passing me, but I was totally done. I kept moving as fast as I could, but it was just wasted effort. I ran/walked/coasted the rest of the way until the trail passed the spot I'd thrown my chain. It took at least 5 minutes of looking, but I found it. I went back to the bike and of course fixed the chain in a minute or two with my spare link, then I ran my high limiter screw on the rear der all the way in to put the chain on the 3rd cog instead of the smallest. This helped and is what I should've done in the first place, I would've been in a better gear to pedal and the chain wouldn't have been so cross-chained and probably not have broken. I soft pedaled in to the finish, dejected about losing my favorite race in such disastrous fashion and my hopes of winning the fall series shattered.

After Ruston I went into Huntsville seeking some redemption. Afterwards I was satisfied that I'd gotten it. Man, what a race. Definitely one of my hardest, fastest and best races ever. The usual crew was on the line along with Shawn, a cat. 1 roadie from Dallas who had gotten 2nd at Tyler. I knew he was really fit from the way he smoked the finish climb there. Nathan Winkelmann also decided to race with us, not sure why or how; he was pre-registered in the Pro class, but of course it was a pretty good guess he'd be the main one to watch. Bradyn the 15yr old I've been dueling all series was there, along with Neil who I'd first raced at Ruston but knew he was strong. 

I was on the front row and got a really good start at the whistle, pulling out a bike length by the time we crossed the road. This let me sit up a little bit and go in the singletrack on my own terms. Neil was behind me so I let him slip through and went in right behind him. I think Bradyn was on my wheel. We got a small gap on the group and after about 5 minutes Neil let me by. I just tried to keep the pace, but got down the next downhill really fast and had a good climb on the other side of the bridge. I had opened a decent gap but knew it was way too soon to try to keep pushing solo so I just kept it steady, and then Neil and Bradyn came back. Neil took the lead on the fenceline road, and my teammate Michael had come across too so I was excited to have him and maybe we could work together somehow. I fell in behind Bradyn when I took a bad line on the first steep climb at hamburger hill, and we finished most of the rest of the lap like this, until Neil's tire was losing air and started rolling so he pulled off. Several guys had come across, then Michael crashed in the fast sandy sweeper on the homestretch section so me and Bradyn had a small gap until Wink caught us right before the second lap. 

Bradyn was leading into the second lap with me and Wink behind, when we hit the first open section Wink attacked around us and I told Bradyn he had to follow that. He did so we were on Wink's wheel and going hard. We hit a tricky left turn onto a rooty climb, I took the inside line and passed Bradyn onto Wink's wheel. We dropped Bradyn somewhere, and then I was off the front of a bike race with Nathan Winklemann. This was not lost on me, and was pretty cool. We rolled through the feedzone together, and then going down the descent after the nature center we caught another racer. Wink sat up and didn't pass him, then after the bridge when we hit the climb wink attacked me while squeezing around the backmarker. I thought this was kinda cheeky, but I was able to get by and up my pace to reel wink back in. I followed until we got to a sandy jeep road where he attacked me again. Again I didn't go all out to catch him, just upped my pace and was able to reel him back in. This is when I really started to think I could do this, as I felt like he had attacked pretty hard but I was able to bring him back. I think he put in one more dig on one of the small climbs before the jeep road, but I matched him and we hit the road together. He flicked his elbow for me to come around, but I knew this would be bad for us so I stayed back. He started slowing down and flicked again, so I had no choice but to go around. I pulled through the two corners, and I could see they were closing in on us from behind. I told wink if he didn't pull they were going to catch us. He didn't want to work so sure enough Shawn caught us before the big hill. He flew right by, and wink and I responded. I think wink got back ahead of me. They got a gap on me going over the climbs, but I pedaled the downhill afterwards and was able to reattach. We stayed together for a while, Shawn was hitting the climbs hard but wink and I were able to stay with him. Towards the end of the lap wink started letting a little gap open, but we started the third lap with Shawn just in sight. 

As we went into lap 3, wink had let the gap grow to maybe 20 seconds? I felt like he was setting me up for another attack. In hindsight I probably should have went around and set the pace, but I didn't know what to do at that point. Sure enough when we took the left off the road trail onto the rooty climb, he attacked to bridge to Shawn. I went hard to stay with, and went through the feedzone with them just out of reach. When we hit the next big climb I popped. Bradyn caught me and I let him by and encouraged him to go get them. I tried to keep moving after topping out on the climb, but Bradyn disappeared quickly. This was disheartening, but I just tried to keep moving. Soon I started to see him ahead again. I chased hard on the jeep road and big hill and reeled him back in. I rode behind him for a bit, and when we hit the next series of climbs one other guy came up to us out of nowhere. I was a little worried now, since that guy had come up so quick I figured he was riding strong. He stayed behind us, and when we got to the last climb I started to attack around Bradyn. As soon as I started going around he picked something up in his drivetrain and had to slow for a second and reach down to pull it out. I felt bad for seemingly attacking on a mechanical, so I pulled up and made sure we were all back together, but now I was leading the group and had to lead through the fast homestretch. I kept the pace up and neither of them tried anything. When we hit the last tiny length of singletrack before the uphill turn to the finish, I punched it with all I had, hoping to open the sprint a little earlier than they thought and catch them by surprise. I was able to keep them behind me to finish 3rd. This put me 3rd on the series as well, where I figured I would end up after the Ruston disaster. Paul, who had a pretty firm grip on the series finished 11th after too much partying the last few weeks he said and finished 2nd overall. Bradyn, with his consistent finishes and win at Ruston, took the series overall.

TX Cup overall podium

Huge thanks to Sugar Cycles and Skratch Labs for their support and keeping my bike and body running strong. Over the winter I hope to build on this good fitness, do a few marathon races and come into the Spring series hot.

Fall Series Waco & Tyler Race Reports 2014

The Cameron Park Blowout in Waco was the 2nd race of the TMBRA (TX MTB Racing Association) Texas Cup. This is the Fall series, a separate series from the state championship series held in the Spring. I hadn't planned on doing this race, but got the itch after I missed the first race of the series at Camp Eagle. We had a party to go to Saturday night so we couldn't go up that morning for a preride. Instead I had a nice 37 mile road/gravel ride with Lindsey & Dan from the Neilson Devo team. It may have been a little more than I should've done but I don't think it hurt me any for Sunday, and it was good to get some time with them for a little fitness coaching and do some work for myself also. We got up early Sunday morning for the drive to Waco, and arrived with about an hour until race time.

I got my number, kitted up, prepared my bike and nutrition, then went out for my warmup. I didn't do a whole lot, just a few hard sprints up some short steep hills. I might should have done more but I will take this lesson with me to the next race. I haven't XC raced or done any hard efforts in so long I wasn't sure exactly what my body needed to get going for it. We hit the start line, and I lined up on the front row. The start was about 200 yds of road, slightly uphill. I hit the singletrack in second, I wanted to try to stay with the leader and see what my fitness would do. I lasted about 14 minutes at his pace, then I blew up pretty good and started dropping places quickly. 6 minutes later I'd gone from 2nd to 7th! I kept pushing and eventually recovered and was able to get into a good groove. About mid-race I started bringing some of the guys back who'd passed me. One of them was a 15yr old named Bradyn racing up into our age group, he latched on my back wheel and stayed with me the rest of the race. We passed a few more guys, then when we got up to 3rd place he jumped in with us too so we were a group of three. He tried to get away late on the third lap, but I was able to stay with him on the twisties where he thought he could get a gap, then I passed him at the base of the finishing climb. I gapped him but Bradyn was able to stay close and was on my wheel at the top for the finish. There was a short section of road, some fast singletrack, then an open field for the finish. I sat up just a little in the woods to prepare for a sprint. I wasn't exactly sure where the line was, so when I came out of the woods I got on the gas and opened the sprint when I saw the timing lights. I was able to keep him behind me to finish 3rd.

This was a good, fun race and it was exciting to be in the mix. It definitely confirmed that I need to do some top end work for the hard efforts of the start and the short fast climbing in XC racing.

One week later was the Tyler Race at Tyler State Park. I was looking forward to this race because it's more my style, dirt singletrack with some good climbs but not quite as hard as at Waco. I had a fun preride with Raine on Saturday, then we hung out at John & Velda's RV that afternoon. We went into town to sleep at the hotel, while the kids got to sleep "in the bus". Unfortunately I didn't get a great night sleep so I was feeling a little tired Sunday morning. The legs felt a bit flat during warmup trying to sprint up some of the steep hills, but I decided to push on.

I had the same plan as before, go into the singletrack in 2nd and see how long I could hang on. Went into the singletrack 2nd behind the 2nd place rider from Waco, Paul. We started to open a bit of a gap on the field. Legs still didn't feel great but they were going ok and I didn't blow up after 14 minutes like last week so I figured I'd keep givin' it. I took the lead when we hit the paved road at mile 4, I didn't want to but the leader sat up so I cruised by him with just a little power on. I held it for a couple of miles but felt like we were going faster when I was chasing so I let him back by. I held his wheel for a little bit, but then he started to stretch it out a little in places. He'd get a gap, then I'd pull it back, repeat. He had about 10 seconds going into the finish climb, but I had been hearing riders behind us for a few minutes though I couldn't tell how close they were. I was gaining on the leader going up the climb, I caught him right near the top, but unfortunately I heard the 2 riders come flying up behind us and we all came together at the finish chute. Paul and one of the chasers took off into the singletrack, I couldn't chase but tried to keep the gap reasonable. The other chaser was the 15yr old I outsprinted for 3rd at Waco, looked like we were setting up for the exact same thing to happen again. The leaders got out of sight so I was focused on Bradyn behind me. I backed it off just a hair, still fast enough to keep him behind me but trying to save a little bit for the last lap. I gapped him a few times on flowy or descending sections, and he said once he stopped to tighten his skewer, but he was always able to bring me back. This was discouraging, but I stuck to the plan. He never tried to pass, despite the instructions and encouragement from his dad to do so, so I felt like I was making him work.

Leading Bradyn, the 15yr old who was on my wheel at every race. Luckily we will not be in the same age group again!

Late in the race I thought he was working harder to stay with me, but I was also starting to hurt. If I couldn't get a gap on him at the base of the climb I'd back off and leave it for the sprint since that had worked before. It didn't come down to that though, somewhere in those last few ups and downs before the big climb I got a gap on him and he didn't seem to be closing it. I decided this was the time to go, so I turned it up to what I thought I could hold to the finish. My legs were close to cramping when I hit it hard at the base of the last climb so I had to dial it back just a little bit but overall it worked, I was able to open up a 1:10 gap before the finish to take 3rd again. Paul took the win, I'm not sure who the second place rider was other than a cat. 2 roadie guy. Turns out I was less than a minute off the lead; if I hadn't slowed down to race Bradyn I might could've been up there with them but I was pretty cooked at the finish so not sure I could've gone much faster overall.

After this race I was looking pretty good in the points standings and feeling confident about my fitness and the way I'd been racing. The last two races could be considered home courses for me, Ruston where I went to college and really started mountain biking, and Huntsville which is close to home and I have lots of laps on.

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: 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.

2012 Kick-off

It's about time I get back to posting, it's been almost 2 years. I've got plans to return to racing more fervently this year, as well as big plans for life in general, so I'll try to keep them chronicled here. I've also done a little redesign on the blog, I like it, hopefully you do too. For now, here's a little catch-up.

I don't remember much about the rest of 2010. I did the Ouachita Challenge for the 3rd time (and 2nd in a row). I was shooting for 6 hrs but got sick about an hour in so I didn't come close to my goal. I'm sure I did a little more racing, but definitely not much. I did somehow finish a strong 2nd at the Huntsville race in the singlespeed open class, as well as 2nd at Ruston in the SS class again.

Huntsville trophy shot.

We went snowskiing last February with Adam & Clare, it was my first time in about 10 years. We went to Breckenridge, during the best snow season they'd ever had. I was back on blacks by day 2, and went to Vail to ski with Andrew I. on day 3. I got in way over my head with some powder skiing on some stuff that was way too steep or tight for me, but I figured it out before the end of the day. When I went back to Breck I went straight to the top and skied the big bowls the rest of the trip.



Top of Breckenridge.

In 2011 I did the OC again, again shooting for 6 hrs but again had stomach issues, this time about halfway through (while I was on pace to make my goal of course).

Ben turned 2 in August, he's getting so big it's amazing to watch him grow and learn.

At the Sugar Cycles cross race in October.

Fireman for Halloween.

Helping daddy trim the hedges.

Playing on the playground at a 'cross race in Austin.

Riding Ryan's tricycle.

We bought a new house late last year so we don't live where we used to anymore. I miss being able to ride out my front door to Bear Creek Park for all-weather traffic-free training, but other than that we love our new place and location. We are much closer to our church and all our friends so it has been a great move for us.

I didn't do a ton of racing last year, and definitely not much training. I got Richard back into biking in a big way last year, he rode my MTB for several months while I rode my singlespeed with him. It was just weekend riding, didn't do anything for my fitness but it was fun to take a break from "training" and we had a lot of fun just riding. He finally got his own MTB so I could get back on mine and we even built him a CX bike from the ground up after he got hooked on 'cross racing. We traveled to a few TXBRA races, neither one of us did any good but we had fun.

Sugar Cross Fest

We went back to Breck in October with Richard and Kristen. Richard and I took bikes, him on a borrowed Specialized Epic 29er demo from my guys at Sugar Cycles (before he got his bike). We had a blast in Breckenridge, the girls got to have some spa days, we got snowed on, and Richard and I got in about 10hrs of awesome riding.

Top of a big climb outside of Breck at an old mine.

I went offshore 5 times last year, the most I've been in a year so far, I don't mind it too much but I think that's enough. The last trip left a few days after Christmas and kept me out over New Year's eve which was a bummer.

That pretty much gets us to now. I'm trying to get some base miles in for the next few weeks, then ramp up to some interval training for a few weeks before the OC. TMBRA races will fall in there, and I'm going to try to make it out to some races in the fledgling LA XC Series, too. There's a great group of guys over there, I'm very glad to see them getting a series going so I plan to support them whenever I can. I did a couple of 3 hr rides this weekend, one with Richard, one solo. Then I was on the bike at 5:55 this morning to get a couple of hrs in mid-week. I think my Garmin has died so I missed the first few miles/minutes trying to get it working before I kicked off the iPhone logging. Oh well. It was about 40 degrees and the wind was blowing at 20+ gusting to 30 so it was a tough day on the bike. Looking to get some more solid long rides this weekend to keep building that base for the year.

Hello it's February

Well you wouldn't know it from my blogging (or lack thereof) but I did live over the flu. I got the flu back at the end of September. My fever got up to 102, but I don't think I suffered any more brain damage than I already had. The doctor called it Swine Flu, I missed a week of work, but I managed to not get Raine, Ben, or Velda sick in the process. So that was a blessing.

Since then a lot has happened of course. Ben had his first Halloween and was a Gingerbread man at the church Trunk-or-Treat along with Ryan (of http://www.themengersponge.blogspot.com/) and Caleb Greene. They were exhibited at Patrick's Pie Shop. (www.beckyandpatrickg.blogspot.com/)

I also got another MTB race under my belt at the Piney Hills Classic in Ruston, my home race. I decided to do something different since I hadn't been contesting any of the rest of the Fall series, so I turned the Stumpjumper singlespeed and jumped in for my first SS race. I'd raced the Monocog a couple of times, but that was in the Sport class. The race was a lot of fun, and it worked out pretty well for me as I finished 3rd, my best finish since I won the beginner class at Ruston several years ago. That was maybe 2006?
I did some cyclocross racing in the TXBRA series, scoring one top-5 finish in cat. 4 and an upgrade to a 3. Most of my racing was chronicled in my articles in The Racing Post, which you can find current and back-issues of at http://www.theracingpost.us/. And yes if you happen to notice I am in fact riding a cyclocross bike, Raine and I sold off our road bikes and picked up a matching pair last year before 'cross season started.
Christmas was somewhere in there, too. This was Ben's first Christmas so of course it was a big deal, even though he had no clue what was going on. We drove our circuit around LA (Louisiana not Los Angeles, which would be L.A.) to see all the family, from Houston to Alexandria to Ruston to Mansfield and finally back to Houston. Of course it was great to see everyone for a while, and the 2 weeks off work didn't hurt my feelings either. I intended to ride the Excruciation Exam (85 mile MTB race) to wrap up the break but that didn't happen due to several factors including weather, lack of motivation, and a lack of friends to ride with to make the miles more bearable. So yeah I skipped it. Bummer. Turned out it was kinda muddy so maybe I didn't miss it after all. Try again next year.

That brings us into 2010, and two months are almost past. Jan. 1st I got my first promotion since I entered the industry, I now hold the title of Sr. Engineer. I'm glad to be blessed with a good job at a good company and to do well at it. Ben is now past the 6-month mark with no signs of slowing down. He's growing big and getting to be a lot of fun. He loves to laugh and smile, getting more social all the time. He's nearing the crawling point, regularly pushing up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He has already learned to ride a trike, which I'm very proud of. He can't motivate himself yet, but we're getting there. Give it time.
Spring MTB season starts this weekend, and no I'm not at all ready. I've been riding about once a week lately, spending all my time with Ben and Raine and not regretting it one bit. I get to ride about once a week, usually on Saturdays, when I take the chance to do a long ride in preparation for the OC coming up at the end of March. That's my big focus for the Spring. I know I can just go finish it, but part of me wants to go burn it up and see how I can do. I need vindication after the flat took me out of contention last year. But, I'm traveling up and lodging with 3 friends, so part of me wants to group ride it with them and just have fun. We'll see how I feel the morning of, and what mood strikes me when the gun sounds. Hopefully I will do a better job of updating this instead of only giving updates every 6 or 7 months, of course I always say that so we'll see what happens.

I have finally got myself an iPhone, so maybe I'll use it for more frequent updates. It was definitely a significant day in my life.

Ouachita Challenge 2009

So here it is, finally, the post. Took a week but it's been a tough one. Here's how it went down...

The Brain and I pulled out of Houston last Saturday morning, I picked him up from his apartment at 6AM. Having forgotten the cycling GPS I borrowed to use during the race, I drove all the way back out to the house to get it. So we didn't actually leave here until about 6:45. We stopped for lunch in Dierks, AR. There wasn't much to the town, but we needed to eat, and I saw a sign for a deli/meat market place on Main Street. So thinking this would be an interesting experience, we pulled in.(thanks Google Street View, lol)
There were two rotund old dudes sitting near the counter who welcomed us in, and Brain and I milled around for a few minutes looking for some lunch. It was more a general store than a deli/meat market, or so it appeared, so we approached the guys about some lunch. Guy #2 recommended having guy #1(the owner, we guessed) make us some sandwiches. I picked a hot link BBQ sandwich, and Brain went with a standard turkey sandwich. So while guy #1 was in the back fixing sandwiches, we chatted with guy #2. This dude was as country hick as I am skinny, and I reverted pretty quickly back to my country roots during the course of our conversation. He claimed this was the best meat market in this part of the country, and people came from all around to buy their meat. His perspective may have been a little different than ours, but after my sandwich I believed him. Brain couldn't understand most of what was said, but he still got a good kick out of the whole thing. A couple bucks for the sandwiches, and we were on our way. When Brain opened his sandwich, it was huge! He was struggling to finish it! We switched drivers in NewHope, when I opened my BBQ sandwich. This was the greatest BBQ sandwich I'd ever laid eyes on, a huge hot link down the middle of a bun soaked in BBQ sauce with some sort of meat chunks on top. I plowed through it and didn't even think to take a picture. Nothing to do with the Ouachita Challenge, but worth writing about.

So we got to our cabin that afternoon, and went out for an easy ride on the Womble trail.

I led us to some ridiculous climbing, which was probably too hard for the day before the race, but it was some awesome trail. We went back down and went to another section of trail that was easier for a little while before heading back. After getting checked into the cabin and cleaned up, we headed up to the Oden school to register for the race and eat dinner. The spaghetti was good, and I visited with some friends who had done the Sat. tour. Back to the cabin where we went to sleep, prepared to wake up to 35 degree temps on Sunday morning.



When we woke up and went outside, it was actually nice and we were thankful it wasn't cold. We headed up to the school to get some breakfast and get ready to race. As the race got closer, the weather turned sour. The temperature was dropping, the wind was blowing, and it started to lightly rain. Luckily the rain passed before the start, but the wind and cold stayed. So with arm and leg warmers on and a cold/rain jacket in the back pocket, we headed off to the start. The start of the race was downhill on a highway for the first few hundred yards, after which we turned onto a more rural road. It was mostly coast/brake/coast down the highway, but on the rural road the pace picked up. We had started somewhere around mid-pack, but on the pavement, I drug me and Brain up to the back of the front group. The pavement turned to gravel, and then we hit the climbs. When the race turned onto a rocky jeep road, the flats started all over the place. Me and Brain settled into a pace, working together, as the race alternated from singletrack to gravel road. Brain started getting flats at about mile 9, and he told me to go on. So I went. I rode solid and steady, going fast on the roads and cruising the singletrack. I only stopped for a minute or two at each aid station, just long enough to refill the bottles and get going again. When we hit the Ouachita trail and the mountains started, I began to feel the tiredness. I stayed steady, and got over the first two mountains pretty well. I was in and out of the last aid station pretty quickly, and off to get over the last mountain, Big Brushy. At mile 48 or so, I hit a rock way too hard and flatted my back tire. Stan's sealed the puncture, but the bead wouldn't reseat so I had to put a tube in it. GPS shows I was sitting still for 20 minutes tending the flat, which was way too long. I was fatigued and not thinking straight I'm sure(hence crunching the rock in the first place) and I messed with it way too long instead of just getting it fixed. Just as I get everything fixed and back on the bike to roll off, here comes Brain down the hill. So reunited, we rode/walked the rest of the singletrack together and hit the road for the drag to the finish. I somehow had some strong power left, so I threw down the hammer and Brain tucked into the draft. Wherever it was flat or downhill, I was hammering, and when we hit a climb, Brain pulled up alongside to pace. We got to the finish line to finish with a time of 6:26, good enough for 49th place out of 159 finishers and a lot of DNFs.

In retrospect, it was just as hard as I remember it being from 3 years ago. I was a lot faster(almost 2 hours) and I rode a lot more of the climbs, but when you're suffering trying to go as fast as you can, it is still hard. Maybe even harder than not being that fit but riding it tour style, no rush, etc. I will definitely be back, as I had a goal of finishing in under 6 hours this year which I didn't quite make. The flat cost me 20 minutes, so that would have put me almost to my goal, but you can't argue on things like that. The time you finished in is the time you get. If somebody finished faster because they didn't flat, they were either better prepared or just lucky that day. If somebody flatted and still finished faster, then they definitely earned it and showed that I've got more work to do. It won't be next year, as I'll have a seven month old by then :), but maybe the year after.

Sorry this is so long, but I primarily write them for myself, anyway. If you read it, thanks! Stick around, lots more to come.

Cool pic from Warda

Not much to say today other than it's pouring rain outside and I need to walk the dog. Hmmm, those two things never get along. Anyways, here's a cool picture from Warda.

And in the time it took to upload that awesome picture the rain had stopped. Nice. So now it's off to work. This evening will find me getting all prepped for the OC, cleaning the bike, packing, etc. Then one last night of rest before heading out Sat. morning.

the Warda Race '09

Well yesterday was the Warda Race. After getting thoroughly beaten the first two races, my focus had changed to preparing for the Ouachita Challenge this coming weekend. I didn't expect much out of the race, but this is how it happened...

My week leading up to the race looked like this: Mon. and Tues. off after being destroyed at Waco, Wed. 10x1min, Thurs. 4x10min, and Fri. 4mi run with 4x1min sprints. Sat. morning I drove out to Warda with the intentions of riding for four hours. This was in prep for the OC, as I haven't done a ride over two hours in I don't know when. I wound up doing 6 laps, 2 including the field of despair, plus a trip around the start loop and a few minutes of the first woods section. Probably approaching 45 miles? Had a great time and really learned the trail and got some quality trail time on the new bike. After a week like that, I had no expectations for Sunday morning other than to get two more hard hours on the bike. The plan was to ride a steady, building pace throughout the laps, and not worry about the race itself.I went out for my new warm-up run, and the legs were definitely acting like they weren't going to be there today. I ran for about fifteen minutes getting all kind of stupid looks from the racers warming up on the road before returning to the pit and heading to the start. I started at the back of the pack, and entered the woods in last place. I had the woods dialed and was easily cruising behind two guys in my class for a while until I found a spot to pass. I just put it on low Z4 cruise control from there in hopes that I could hold that until the end. I was feeling great and started picking off a few guys in my class here and there. At the beginning of the second lap a group of five 30-39 guys were coming up behind me and took a huge chunk of time between the finish and the entrance to the woods, and then blew by me on the fence line straight where you pop out of the woods for a little bit. When we hit the singletrack again I was back on their wheel with my heartrate DROPPING. I was easily cruising right behind them through the rest of the woods until we hit the fence headed back towards gas pass, when I settled back into my cruise control and they dropped the hammer in the no skills required section to put me off the back. At the beginning of the 4th lap, I was going harder to finish strong and saw 2 guys in my class going around the pond as I was coming down the hill. I caught, passed, and pulled away from them in the woods, and I think I passed two others that lap as well. I was headed back to Gas Pass trying to keep them behind me when I saw Scott Schaefer(friend in the old expert class) up ahead. He dropped in 15-20 seconds or so ahead and I was on his wheel before the switchback. He made some room and I made a clean, but sketchy, pass and was on my way. I stayed steady for the rest of the lap and kept the chasers well behind, putting almost a minute on the guy behind in less than a lap. I sprinted to the finish right behind a guy from the pro class for a very satisfying finish.

(Thanks to Joel from www.bobcat13.smugmug.com for the pic)

I didn't know how my result had turned out, or even my time, but I was very happy with the way I'd ridden and felt. I felt strong to the end, my laps got faster as the race went on, and I rode very well on the new bike and through the twisties. Turns out I'd ridden from the back of our 16 man field to 6th place(there were two DNF's but I know I passed them before they pulled out).

So this coming weekend is the Ouachita Challenge. I'm pretty pumped about the ride, and especially after feeling the good fitness come around this weekend. This will be the most time I've spent on the bike in a LONG time, but I should be good to go. I'll update after that on how it went.

Meanwhile, Raine is really starting to show and it's so neat! We have our big ultrasound in three weeks, which will be the 20 week halfway point. I can't wait to see the baby and feel it move. That will be incredible!

Trivia: After it worked pretty well for my four hour preride on Sat., I had a deluxe breakfast from McDonald's of all places Sunday morning and for the first race this season I felt strong all the way and didn't puke or bonk. Who'da thunk?