TMBRA Mid-season update

It's late March and I'm halfway through the 2015 Texas XC Mountain Bike State Championship Series. Three races done out of eight, but I won't be making the fourth, so this is my mid-season. It started at the Rocky Hill Roundup; I had a decent race but felt kinda flat and came out in 4th.

The next race was Mellow Johnny's. This was slated to be a mudder and it delivered. It had been raining quite a bit leading up to the race, so much that they floated the option of a modified rain course consisting of mostly fireroads. Saturday night before the race I drove over to Austin to stay with a friend, and it was non-stop rain once I got out of Houston. Sunday morning the rain had slowed to a drizzle, but temperatures were just rising above freezing on my way out to the ranch. This was looking like a repeat of last year when the temps fell rapidly on race morning and the rain came down.

After warming up on the rollers to keep myself dry and my bike clean, I rolled up to the start. The temperature was still well into the 30's, so I was pretty bundled up. Luckily I didn't overdress and stayed comfortable the whole race. I had worn my mud shoes, and the cleats are placed a little differently than my normal shoes, so I totally missed my pedal off the start, got hung up with the rider next to me and finally got going in the back of the group.

I'm near the back in the yellow jacket with black sleeves.

 After this terrible start we went straight up a hill, and I managed to pass a couple of guys on the way up. At the top we went through some tight singletrack that was super greasy, and there was no passing to be done there. After we got out of that I made my way to the front group and rode with them for a bit. Eventually it broke up and I was in 4th or 5th. Through the race I saw 2 guys walking out with flats, so I knew I had a chance at the podium. I went back and forth with another guy through the 2nd and 3rd laps, but I was able to come in ahead for a 2nd place finish. I was glad to be done and stoked for a good finish, but my bike was pretty trashed. I stopped on the way home at a carwash and spent $10 cleaning it up, then immediately lubed the chain and pivots to keep things moving.

Even looking like this, my drivetrain worked well throughout the race.

Next up was Comfort, one of my favorite races and courses. We took the kids over for this one, and after the Kids Cup and Raine's and my preride on Saturday we went to a hotel in Kerrville with an indoor pool to let them swim for a bit before bedtime.

Kid's Cup Swag

On Sunday Raine's race was first, so after getting her on course I started my race prep while taking care of the kids. I got an ok warmup, then it was off to the races. I started about 5th, but when the 4 guys ahead of me went the wrong way on the first turn, I found myself on the front. I settled into 3rd place for the long climb up onto the first loop, and was feeling ok. We got to a critical climb and the leader bobbled in front of me, holding me up and putting me at the back of the front group of 9 guys. Unfortunately I couldn't get around him and the front guys got away, and I was left to pick up the pieces. I made my way up to 6th by the end of the race. This is definitely not what I was hoping for, as my series hopes took a big blow. I've got a few weeks now before the next race, so I'll hopefully get some good training and come back stronger.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Comfort and Coldsprings Catch-up

I've been slacking a little bit, so I'll catch up on my last two races.

The first was the STORM Hill Country Challenge at Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, TX. This was the weekend of the massive rains that rolled through TX from San Antonio to Houston, causing day one of the BP MS-150 to be cancelled. As we were driving through the rain Friday afternoon, doing good to make 35mph on I-10, I was dreading what lay in store for us at the ranch.

When we woke up Saturday morning in Comfort to more rain, I was thinking even worse thoughts. We loaded up and headed out to the ranch, where we were surprised to find things in reasonably good condition. The creek was dry and the ground was only slightly soggy. This was an omnium weekend, so the short track and time trial were scheduled for that day. It turned out that the rain had been perfect. Other than a small mudhole in the short track course, the trails were absolutely incredible all weekend. My racing wasn’t much to speak of, as I’d been sick all week and hadn’t gone to the doctor until Thursday before the race. I held on to the leaders as long as I could in the short track and the XC, and tried to ride a steady time trial (until a cow blocking the trail on the fast downhill to the finish caused me to have to dismount and walk around!!!). Due to a low turnout, I came out 4th overall in the omnium and took home a little prize money. I guess I can’t complain.



The next race was the GHORBA Big Ring Challenge at Double Lake Recreation Area in Coldsprings, TX. After another round of torrential rain that caused a lot of flooding in Houston on Monday, the trails were in great shape Saturday for pre-riding. Sunday morning I was awoken by, you guessed it, rain. It started about 7:30 or so, and rained right up until the Cat. 2 start at 9:00. Just before my Cat. 1 start at 11:30, it started again. It had quit by the time we lined up, but the damage was done. Luckily, the Double Lake trail has a lot of sandy soil. It was still a muddy mess, but it handled the rain better than most any other trail could have.

From the start, my plan was to try to stay with the leaders. I wound up on the back row and the far right, which wasn’t a good starting position. When the whistle blew, I worked hard to move up, took the low line to the singletrack entrance, and went in 6/7th. The trail was super slick, with both wheels wandering aimlessly down the trail in only the general direction you pointed them in. Thankfully, it was totally rideable. I worked my way forward a little bit with a few passes to get up to 4th or 5th I think. I caught site of Kyle Johnson and thought I was doing well, but shortly after that my legs just went dead. I felt like I still had lungs and energy to go, but my legs just felt like logs. I got passed a few times through the rest of the lap, then a group of three that had been following me for a bit came by in the start/finish. One more pass in the second lap and I was back to dead last.

About halfway through the third lap my legs started to come back and I was picking up the pace. I passed one of the three who had passed me earlier, and then I caught and passed my teammate Brian McGrath and friend Geoff Mann. Brian was the second of the three, and Geoff had passed me somewhere earlier in the singletrack. I also caught back up to Kyle, who was obviously having a bad day as I put him behind me. I saw Dominic Adl (the third of the three!) up ahead about halfway through the final lap and set my sights on catching him.

I finally caught Dominic a few miles from the finish, and sat on his wheel for a while. We caught a lapper who let us through cleanly, and I was glad because I didn’t want Dominic to have a chance to get away. It was then that he realized it was me behind him. I asked him if he wanted to let me by or sprint for it, and he said we would sprint. The exit of the singletrack involves a slight right turn, a few roots to ride over, and then about 50 meters with a volleyball court sandpit leading to the line. Dominic came out of the woods and gunned it, putting up a strong sprint, but it wasn’t quite enough as I came around him through the sand. I wound up finishing 7th, not as good as I was hoping for but I was glad to put on a good comeback after a mid race collapse.


Next up is a Disney World trip with JT and Abby(I'm actually writing from Orlando, LOL), then the Houston Grand Crit, and then LOCO Fest.

Headed to Comfort

Here's a quick Friday morning post to keep the ball rolling, we're headed out to Comfort this afternoon. This is a course I really like, that has been good and bad to me. In 2007, my first year of racing in TX, it was a mudfest that turned out to be one of my better races that season. I was racing Sport, and finished 12th. I don't remember anything spectacular about the race, except battling with Hunter Grove to the finish, thinking he was in my class when he was actually a Jr. that started with us. And the mud of course. But thankfully, the mud there is more of a wet soupy mud that just splashes on you, not the nasty sticky mud that destroys your bike. It's looking a little wet this weekend, too, so we could see similar conditions. This is an omnium, too, with a Short Track and Time Trial on Sat., combined with the Cross-Country on Sunday.


Last year, it wasn't so good to me. I was still racing Sport, but doing much better as it was my second year and I had learned a lot and improved my fitness a lot. I started well, but flatted about five minutes into the race. So I was back to dead last, and after fixing the flat it took me a bit to get back into the groove. I finally got going and rode strong to the end up to 11th, which was not normal for me to finish outside the top 10 that season. So it was a good day for my fitness, but an unfortunate race.

This has been a tough week, I've been sick all week and finally got to the Dr. yesterday. Got a shot and some meds, so hopefully I'll be feeling ok for the race. He said it was ok to go and race, so go I will. Of course, the tough week started before that, when my car was broken into Friday night and my Zune, FM transmitter, work laptop, and team Oakleys were stolen. This pretty much ruined my birthday weekend, but I guess I survived. Raine and James took me out for Hibachi grill Sat. night, so that cheered me up, and then we had a great small group party Sunday night at Brandon and Jessica's. Mike's birthday was Sat., so we had a mutual birthday cake. With 15 candles, LOL. 40-25=15 was the logic. I love all those folks. It made my weekend better, for sure.

And then, I got a call yesterday that I might have to go offshore Sunday or Monday for 2-3 weeks. :( I want to go offshore, but that's a long time to be off the bike and away from Raine. And our 20-week ultrasound is Tuesday, it would really be a bummer to miss that. I hope I don't have to go, or it at least gets pushed back some. I will have to be back by May, because I will not miss the Lake Lake race and we're leaving on Vacation the 8th. We'll see what happens. Now I gotta walk the dog and head to work, more blogging after the race.

Baby Register

We took a trip to Babies-R(should be backwards)-Us today to start our baby registry. And let me tell ya, I didn't have a clue what I was looking at. All that stuff, I have no clue about. Glad I have a wife(else I wouldn't be having a baby of course) who knows something about kids, and thankfully there was also a handy dandy checklist clipboard the nice old lady at the registry counter gave us. The only valuable input I was able to provide was on the car seats, which I promptly began over-analyzing and reverse engineering to see which one I thought was safest and how all the gizmos and gadgets worked. Same thing for the baby monitors, too, I guess.

My main function was to handle the scanner gun. That's right, I was packin' the heat. The old lady at the counter looked at me very seriously and handed it directly to me, as it was obviously assumed that the man should handle the equipment. It was a task I took to immediately, never missing a scan and always avoiding the dreaded double scan. You have to be quick, yet precise. And of course, it's all in the wrist. I whipped around and scanned so fast, those nipples behind me didn't stand a chance.


As an example of my scanning superiority, I bagged a "If you think I'm cute, you should see my dad" bib from two aisles over, with Raine never having a clue. That's how I roll.

I promise, I am going to blog my OC race before the weekend is over. Of course, I may be 25 by then...

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?

Hello again

Inspired by my friend Brain, I'm gonna get back to making some blog posts. So I'll catch up since vacation. My little bro had a really bad motorcycle accident, but he's back up and walking now, trying to get back on his feet(figuratively speaking). Christmas and New Years were spent at our house for the first time ever, as Raine's family came through on the way to Austin for cousin Cliff's wedding, and my family came through on the way to S. TX and dropped Luke off to spend the week with me. That was fun, taking care of the cripple. He mostly took care of his self, not like I had to bathe him or anything, thank goodness.

Over New Years(New Years Eve to be exact) I found out some incredible news. I'm gonna be a daddy!!! We're so excited, it's just like the coolest thing in the whole world. Raine is 15 weeks along now, and finally has come out of the hard first trimester. It was hard on both of us, because I was having to do a lot of stuff around the house, keeping me tired and leaving no time for training. But that didn't even seem important at the time. I was trying my best to be a good husband/dad and take the best care of her I could. But now that she's feeling better I'm back to trying and trying to get at least 8 hrs a week.

I've taken up running a bit, as cross training for the bike. My best run so far has been a 5K at 7:07min/mile, which is decent I guess. Nothing spectacular but the gains have been awesome. Great to see times improving so fast when you first start training something like that. If only my biking would make a quantum leap....

But anyway, about biking. I have only done one race this Spring, at Bar-H in St. Jo, TX. It was 23 deg.(yes, deg. F) at the start and my results weren't any hotter, LOL. I started super slow, and mainly just rode around at my own pace. I picked off a few people in my class but finished pretty well at the BACK of the pack. While a guy I beat at Ruston last year won the race. Something's not right here, LOL. Guess we all have our good days and bad. The best part of the race was that it constituted my 2nd and 3rd hours of riding on my new bike. I was mostly just having fun getting used to my new bike, while trying not to turn too sharply and crash myself. New bike vs. old is like the handling of a Lotus vs. a Greyhound bus, but the ride of a Lotus vs. a Cadillac, and the weight of a Lotus vs. a Chevrolet. The weight difference is awesome. The handling difference is awesome but is going to take some getting used to before I can take full advantage of it. The ride is more punishing, but that is what I'll have to live with to get the other advantages. Definitely worth it, though.

So next up is a three-peat of hard racing weekends, starting at Waco. A very hilly course that is either up or down the whole time, with not much in between. So I better get my climbing pants on.
After that is Warda, a relatively tame course with not much climbing but lots of tight singletrack, which means lots of accelerations and you're going all out the whole time with no chances to rest.
The third weekend is the Ouachita Challenge. I did the ride in '06 with Luke, and it was definitely one of the coolest rides I've ever done. I'm looking forward to doing it again, and hope to improve on my previous ride. I'm not treating it as a race by any means, and definitely plan to enjoy myself and enjoy the ride. But I plan to carry some speed around the course as well. The previously mentioned Brain and Shaun are going up, too, so Sugar Cycles will be well represented. Shaun is going 80, I wish I were more in shape to have signed up for that. It includes my favorite section of the Womble while the 60 miler turns off right at the start of the good stuff. :( Regardless of that, it includes a LOT of super sweet singletrack that I can't wait to rip on.

So that's plenty for now I think. I will try to keep more regular with this thing again, as there will be lots to write about as we prepare for our baby! We still have lots to do, and coolly enough, Raine has lots of girls to go through this with. We know so many people pregnant right now it's CRAZY. God has been especially good to our small group at church, as we have a handful of babies on the way. Crazy times. I think the husbands are gonna form a support group, LOL.

I don't have a clever sign off that I know of, so this will have to do for now.

John Neilson, 1921-2008

My grandfather passed away today. He made it to his 87th birthday last Friday before losing his battle with cancer. I don't know how to feel, I don't know what to say or what to do. I can only hope that being there for my dad will be enough comfort for him. I will be a pallbearer in his funeral Thursday, that will be a first for me. We will have to go through Easter without him, only made worse by the fact that we have just begun to spend holidays with him over the last few years. I hardly knew him, but I will miss him dearly. I wish we'd spent more time together. I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet, even though I knew it was coming I still picture him lying there in his bed sleeping or maybe talking to me a little. The best memories I will keep were when he came to my parents house at Christmas less than three months ago. He drove himself there, opened gifts with us, and he was totally capable and able to stand outside and visit and take pictures with us. But now he's gone. Miss you Gran'daddy.

Catching up.

It's been a month since I posted last, sorry about that. It happens, though. I have been busy, and I have a lot to write about, so here goes. The weekend after my last post was the supercross race in Houston. My parents and little brother came down, and went with Raine, James, and me to the race. We had a great time, got to see Kevin Windham take the win for the first time. The next day, I finally got a chance to take John flying. We flew across town through the I-10 corridor, then down towards Galveston and around the Hobby class-B airspace and back up to IWS. That was his first flight in several years that I know of, he really enjoyed it and it was real special for me.
The next weekend, I got some good riding in with a trip to Rocky Hill Ranch and 3 hrs on the mtb on Sat. and an intense solo road ride on Sunday.
The next weekend was my first race of the season, Bar-H, which I'll write about in a different post.
Sorry this post is kinda sparse, I had to get it down as I have other things to write about by now.

LA Trip

We drove up to LA this weekend to spend some time with the family. Grandaddy wasn't doing well, and Raine had an aunt coming in from NC, so the weekend was to see them. We left Friday about noon and drove to Logansport to see Granddaddy. He was having a bad day, but we still got to visit with him for a while. Afterwards, we had dinner with John, Velda and James. Then we drove on to Ruston to Raine's parents house.

Saturday morning we got up early and got on the road bikes in the 35 deg. temps and damp roads. We rode around our old college campus for a bit, brought back the memories. Luke(little bro) met us in town and then we headed out for some hills. We rode a loop North of town and then back to the house to drop Raine off at the end of an hour and 13 miles or so. Luke and I rode to the other side of town and he headed back home as he had to work, and I took off alone. I rode a loop down to the South side of town and then back to the house. I finished up with 30 miles and 2 hours. Raine rode well on the hills, she's still getting her lungs back after being sick for a while and is learning how to deal with her asthma, too. See the whole ride here.











Saturday night I got drug to the Monroe Mardi Gras Parade, what fun that was. We visited with Raine's grandpa and his wife for a while, it was good to see them. Then off to suffer at the parade standing around in the cold. The highlight of my night was getting in a shouting match and almost coming to fists with a drunk kid who tripped over my feet. That was great. Unfortunately a policeman stepped in before I got to do the world a favor and ruin his night. Had a binge on some fried catfish at Scott's restaurant and then headed back to the house.

Sunday morning I woke up and headed out to Lincoln Parish Park for some mountain bike riding. It was 35 deg. and foggy. I did a pretty easy lap the first go round and finished in an hour. I headed out for my second lap and got almost four miles in when my chain exploded. :( Oh well, so much for my 20-mile day(and glad I didn't ride to the park like I'd planned). I hiked out and drove back to the house. I absolutely chowed down on some Johnny's Pizza then we packed up and hit the road back towards Houston.

We stopped to see Grandaddy again on the way back through. He's staying at my aunt Amy's house now, and when I first walked in I saw Amy in her recliner and I looked over at Granddaddy's hospital bed and it was empty. Gave me quite a shock, I feared the worst after seeing him Friday. Fortunately, he was asleep in the recliner right in front of me buried under the blankets and I just hadn't seen him! We had a good visit, he was much more talkative and I even got him laughing a few times, telling him we'd gone out and rode bicycles in the 35 deg. morning. It was good to get a good visit and see him in a little better spirits. James stopped in and visited for a while, then we all hit the road back to Houston. We stopped at Chili's in Lufkin for dinner, and then went our separate ways.

It was a good weekend with some riding and family visiting. And as an added bonus, even loaded down and with bikes hanging off the back, our new car got 26.67 mpg on the way home Sunday!! That's almost double what we would have gotten in the Xterra. It's already proving itself as the right way to go.

A different kind of hurting than I usually write about.

I don't really know what I'm saying here, I just needed to write about this.

As I sit here "working", my grandfather lay dying in LA. I never really knew my dad's dad. I remember my mom taking us to visit him occasionally when I was young, but I never really got to know him. Him and my dad never got along, so we weren't that close to him. In the past several years, they have made an effort to mend their relationship, and I've gotten to visit with Granddaddy a few times and see him at Christmas and Thanksgiving. But I don't really know him. What will I tell my kids about their great-grandfather? I know he liked to fish, he liked houseboats, he liked woodworking, and he drove Dodge trucks like their grandfather. But I don't really know any stories about him. Was he in the Army? I think so, that would be a good story to share, if I knew it to share.

My dad and I will do better. My children will know their grandparents and their family's history.

He will be my last grandparent to go. I'll soon be "one generation's length away from fighting life out on my own."-John Mayer