Good Training Block

I'm glad to report that I've been getting in some great training lately. The week of the Rocky Hill Race was the first big week at almost 9 hours, followed by a week just over 9 hours and then 10 hours this past week. I dialed in a good route from home to the great trails at Cypress Creek and Cypresswood, and I did that once last weekend and twice this weekend. That gets me 40-50 miles depending on how much trail I ride before coming home. I've also commuted to work a few times, it's ~20 miles each way so it ends up being a 40 mile day when I get home. I'm definitely feeling great on the bike, strong on the road and putting in some fast times on the trail segments. Yesterday at Cypresswood at the mid-point of our 40 mile ride, I put in a good effort on one of my favorite segments, No Brakes. I was rolling fast, knowing I was on track for a great time, and calling "rider!" every few seconds hoping to alert anybody who might be coming backwards. I came around a blind corner and was face-to-face with a girl and her mom pushing their bikes. I came to a nearly complete stop and barely managed to avoid them. It was too close for comfort. I probably wasn't thinking straight because I just told them it was ok, warned them more riders were coming and kept going. But it all happened so fast. When I uploaded my ride I ended up 1 second slower than the KOM, which I currently share with another rider. I was bummed my run was interrupted and I barely missed the KOM, but mostly thankful that nobody was hurt. Putting down a fast run with an interruption like that is also a good sign for my fitness. Here's a video of my effort, the incident takes place at 0:57. I did come across 2 more riders at the end of the trail, but we were both able to make room for each other so I don't think they affected my time too much.

The next race on the schedule is the Mellow Johnny's Classic, this weekend in Dripping Springs. This is also the first round of the USA Cycling US Cup & a UCI C1 event, so lots of big name pros will be out racing on Saturday. Names like Emily Batty, Georgia Gould, Catharine Pendrel, Jeremiah Bishop, Geoff Kabush, Max Plaxton, Sam Schultz, Ryan Trebon & Todd Wells to name a few. We will be there in time to watch the Pro races and get in a preride that afternoon, then I will race on Sunday. This is a tough race, with lots of loose rock and some hard climbs and it usually draws a lot of competitors, but I'm really looking forward to the race and seeing how I can do. I think I will relax a little this week, reading Friel he recommends to take a rest week every 4th week or so. That doesn't mean stop riding, just back off a hair. Hopefully it'll set me up fresh for the race as well.

Rocky Hill Race Report

This weekend was the season opener of the TMBRA XC State Championship Series, held at Rocky Hill Ranch. As I turn 30 this year, this would be my first race in the Category 1 30-39 group: a fast, deep field often referred to as the Pro lite class. I have only really been doing base training up to this point, with my focus more on the Ouachita Challenge than on the XC series. I had a good couple of weeks riding leading up to the race, riding my SS exclusively as my BMC was down for a wheel repair. This was a lot of spinning, good for the aerobic fitness but I was worried it would leave me down on power for the climbs.

Saturday I got a ride in with Patrick and Richard, helped the Loucks move into their new house, then went to a Robbie Seay/Josh Garrels concert that evening with Raine. A busy day with lots of stairs and being on my feet, not the ideal lead up to a race but you can't put your life on hold and lay around all day either.

My race started at noon so I had a relaxing morning leaving home about 8:30. I grabbed the usual McDonald's breakfast on the way and got to the race at about 10:30. I got my number, kitted up and rode a lap of the course. We were doing 4 laps of a 4.5mi UCI style course, so it wasn't too hard to see the whole course. After a few clothing adjustments back at the car and hearing they'd delayed our start by 30 minutes, I took one more lap then started focusing on race time: eating a little bit, finishing off my first bottle of Skratch, and double checking everything.

I got called up in the first 15 riders probably, and took a spot on the 2nd row. At the gun I got off the line well and slotted in about 10th. Up the first few climbs the pace was lower than I thought, but I wasn't complaining as I was able to hold my place well and even pick up a spot or 2. I started battling with a small group, they would generally put time on me on the climbs but I would pull it back on the downhills and faster sections. I was having a hard time pushing a big gear up the steeps as I feared, but I was able to use my little ring to my advantage and simply spin up the climbs, keeping pace well enough without hurting my legs.

At the start of the 3rd lap I got together with 2 guys I know from Houston, we would stay together for most of the rest of the race. We rode that lap together, I never led but just followed to keep my pace on the climbs and catch back up on the descents while resting. At the start of the 4th lap I surprisingly gapped them a bit on the first climb, I knew better than to attack this early but I kept the pressure on to see if they would come back. They did about a quarter of the way through the lap, so I latched back onto their wheels. The lap ended with a long, mostly downhill section after a steep climb, and I knew I needed to be in front for this to pull away before the long flat finish. I managed to get around one at the top of the climb, but still had the other in front of me. I was on his wheel in the early part of the downhill, really needing to get by. I saw an opportunity after a fast down/up dip with a sweeping off camber turn afterwards, so I hugged the inside and made the pass. I put the hammer down on the downhill and managed to open a nice gap that kept me well clear to the finish.

When the results went up, I was surprised to see my name in 7th, but behind the 2 guys I knew I'd beaten. After they got that straightened out, it put me up to 5th! I was stoked to finish on the podium in my first race in this tough class, and have such a great race when not really expecting it.

Pretty sure I stood in the wrong place for 5th, I'm new to the podium thing!

Looking forward, I need to work on building some leg strength while maintaining the spin fitness the SS provides. My BMC was perfect, climbing well and ripping the downhills. I drank 1 bottle of Skratch during warmup, and 1 during the race: it was the warmest ride I'd done in a very long time and the hydration was perfect! Many thanks to Sugar Cycles for supporting me, I'm looking forward to seeing what else the season brings!

2013 Race Season Wrap-Up

2013 was a long season full of ups and downs. I started off a bit slow in the TMBRA series as I was focusing my training more on the Ouachita Challenge, finishing decently mid-pack at Waco, Comfort and Mellow Johnny's.

Mellow Johnny's Classic

Next up was Double Lake, my local race where I knew I could do very well. I had a great race, riding in 2nd early with the leader in sight. He got a small gap on a group of 4 of us, and we stayed together the rest of the race. I was feeling good and hoping to make a move on the last singletrack section, but an upset stomach just 2 miles from the finish took me out of the group. I was able to hang on for 5th place. I was happy with my race, and feeling good heading into the Ouachita Challenge.

Patrick and Richard went with me to OC this year, following the usual schedule of driving up Saturday for registration and a little spin, then race Sunday morning. My race went great, I finally broke the 6hr barrier which has been my goal for the past few years. My stomach stayed stable and I was strong throughout the race. I had a minor flat early on but it only cost me a few minutes as Stan's sealed up my Schwalbe Rocket Ron up quickly.

Unfortunately, later in April I broke my hand in a head-on collision at a local trail. I had to get a cast and all that, but thankfully no surgery. I was out of the cast in 4 weeks, but it took a good bit longer than that for it to get comfortable riding and gripping the bars for any length of time. I tried to stay on the bike a bit while in the cast, just doing some short road rides locally. The worst part was that I had to miss the last few spring races, just when I was coming into some good fitness. This was definitely a step back for my season but I had to take it in stride and keep going.

I still drove up to Dallas with Richard to support him racing there. Warda was next, and since Sugar Cycles was title sponsor I went to help out. We worked the feedzone and wherever needed. It was tough being there as that's usually another good course for me but I still enjoyed being out at the race.

Fall started back up with the Camp Eagle Classic. This is a HARD race and even harder when you don't have any fitness! It was a great family trip though, Tate went with us and we all hung out in the river Sunday afternoon after the race.

We took a vacation to Crested Butte in early September where I had a great week of riding. There are some fantastic MTB trails there and I feel like there were a lot more I didn't get to see. The biggest ride I did was up Gunsight Pass, to over 12,000 ft. The trip will require a separate post, I'll get that up soon.

Top of Gunsight Pass

Next up was Ruston, historically my best course as this is where I learned to MTB and I know the trail like few others. It rained Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I was a bit excited for a wet race as this would play well to my skills. I was leading the race early and pulling away, but I crashed on a wet bridge and hit my head pretty hard. I chased back to 2nd but eventually the headache got the best of me and I had to back off finishing in 3rd. I felt like I was getting some fitness from the trip to CO, but a small mistake eliminated my chance for a win.

The last race of the season was at Tyler, we drove up Saturday and arrived just in time for a massive thunderstorm that soaked the park. Looked like it was gonna be another wet race, but the course was actually about as perfect as it could have been Sunday morning. I had a decent race, and while I had the speed to run at the front, I just didn't have the top end fitness to sustain it and finished in 4th.

A little wet at Tyler

I feel like I was strong the whole race though, a good sign going into the marathon season which is going to be my real focus this next year. I'm signed up for the Breck Epic next August, a 6 day stage race in Breckenridge so long training will be my plan.

My BMC was flawless all year after the small incident at Comfort, and was the best bike I could've been on as it's fast, light, and fits my style well. I've learned a lot more about the different suspension settings and where/when to use them to go fast and smooth. The X0 components have been very solid, my favorite part has been the clutch derailleur and how quiet it keeps everything no matter how rough the trail is. As it proved at the OC it's going to be a great marathon bike for the upcoming season.

Wild Azalea 100k

Since the Miles of DisComfort race I've fallen off the training a little bit due to weather and busy-ness at home, but I still think I'm on a good track for the Ouachita Challenge. This past weekend I helped a friend of mine map a course for a marathon MTB race on the Wild Azalea Trail (hereafter referred to as WAT) near Alexandria, LA. The WAT is a designated National Recreation Trail that is 24 miles end-to-end. Being from LA it took me way too long to ride this trail, but I'm glad I finally did. It is very remote and full of amazing natural beauty the whole way. The course incorporates the full length of the trail(out and back on the first 7 miles), a couple of other trails that connect to it, and a few roads to break up the singletrack sections and tie the out and back loop together.

Early doubletrack climb on the WAT

Leafy trail, but easy to follow

 I had a great day on the bike and loved the loop. The LA woods are pretty special to me and this ride was full of them. It had everything from tough climbs, to fast downhills, flowy singletrack, doubletrack, rough sections and a few hike a bike climbs. My new BMC was great, climbing well and riding smooth. My stomach also held up very well for the whole ride. I ate a Skratch Labs rice cake every hour, a Clif Shot Blok or two between them, and a banana at about 3.5 hours. I drank mostly water from my Camelbak, but I did have one bottle of Skratch drink mix that I sipped throughout the day. I think I needed more Skratch mix but that's all I had, so next long ride I'll be better prepared. "Gut rot" has usually been my undoing on rides over about 3 hours, but I seem to be figuring it out, finally.

At the trailhead after the ride

Besides several stops to check the map and the wrong turns we took, Lynn was also having trouble with his chain coming off his chainring all day, so we had to stop a lot to fix that. I didn't mind, it's just worth noting in our elapsed time.

Here's a recap of the route, if you're interested and for my own reference:

We started at the Valentine Lake Recreation Area trailhead and rode east on the WAT. This section is generally fast & wide singletrack with a little doubletrack mixed in and a few rolling climbs. About 7 miles in we intercepted the Kincaid Loop trail that circles the Kincaid Lake Recreation Area and rode that loop clockwise. This loop follows the lake shore, and has some small ups and downs but is generally fast and smooth. We got a little mixed up at the end of this loop, but finally found our way onto the Lamotte Loop which took us east along the lake, then we made our way back down to the WAT away from the lake and continued east. There is a parking area on Messina Rd. where the trail crosses which will make a great aid-station/checkpoint for the race. We crossed Messina and continued east on the WAT until the next parking area at Messina Rd. and State Route 488/Twin Bridges Rd. Here we went east on 488 for a little under a mile and then turned right onto Forest Route 287/Castor Plunge Rd. I believe the race course will head south from this intersection down Messina Rd., take a left on Hamp Smith Rd. then continue south on 287 as we did (this will be a lot better as 488 has no shoulder and does have a bit of traffic). After about 4 miles on 287, we intersected the WAT and turned onto it headed southeast towards the Woodworth trailhead. This section was pretty fun with some nice flow and good climbs. The Woodworth trailhead is right on 287, which we took back to the north to intercept the trail again. We missed the intersection so we had to turn around to find it, adding about 3 miles to our ride. We turned off 287 and headed west on the WAT. This section started with a fast, really fun downhill, but then turned out to be the toughest section of the day. There was some slow going through here with lots of time spent in bottoms that were a bit wet, but still mostly rideable. There were also a few technical root sections that required finesse and crawling along. This section was 8 miles long and did have some really fun sections in addition to the tough stuff. This brought us back to the Messina/488 intersection and we headed north on Messina. This took us to the Kincaid Lake East Boat Launch, where there is a trailhead that heads south towards the WAT. This trail is about 6 miles long and is a LOT of fun and a great payoff for all the hard work to get there. It has some short, steep and tough climbs but flows very well overall. It ends at a big wooden bridge over the lake, which we crossed and then turned left to head south and intersect the WAT. When we got back to the WAT we turned right headed west and continued all the way back to the Valentine Lake Trailhead the way we had started.

Our total mileage was 64.9 miles, negating our extra mileage from missing turns would have been 60.75 miles. This will make a great marathon race course, I can't wait to see the event come together.

Having gotten some good long rides in now I feel like it's time to start some XC racing to start sharpening my top-end speed and fitness. I think that will start with Waco this weekend, back to Comfort next weekend, and then a full weekend of fun at Mellow Johnny's. Then I'll go back to a build phase getting a few more long rides in before the Double Lake race, and finally taper down to hopefully have a great Ouachita Challenge race!

Miles of DisComfort-1st race of 2013

This past weekend the Neilson DEVO team and I traveled to Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, TX for the Miles of DisComfort marathon race. We were rolling heavy Friday morning to get in a little preride and camp out that night.

Rolling 4 deep

This was to be my first race on my new BMC, and I was excited to get it into some tough trails with big climbs to see how it would do.

New bike, not at Comfort

We had a good preride, checking out the rocks and climbs that are completely foreign to us as Houstonians. It was Patrick and Justin's first experience riding this terrain, so it was great to let them get a taste of it before the race. We had a flat tire and a small issue with a brake line retainer coming off a fork, it was also good to get those sorted out the day before instead of during the race. Richard fell on a rock and hurt his hand, but was able to ride back. We had already set up camp so we got back and cooked up dinner. We ate very well by any standards and relaxed by the fire for the rest of the evening, except for Richard who drove in to the hospital to get his hand X-rayed. They said everything was ok so he went ahead and raced to a top five finish the next day with a bruised and swollen hand.

Friday camp dinner

 

Concerning the race, I had a good day with a bit of bad luck mixed in. There was a heavy mist in the air all morning, enough to get your bike wet sitting around and give concerns about the rocks being wet. I got to the line late like I always do so I was lined up in the very back. From the gun I went harder than I would've liked up the hill but I knew I had to get towards the middle of the group before the singletrack. I did but there was still a lot of stop and go for the first rocky sections. Once we got spread out I felt like I was riding well, making a few passes here and there. About an hour in I started hearing a clanking from the BB area and I thought it was chainsuck, which there was no reason for, but very quickly my cranks locked up and wouldn't turn at all. I pulled over and started trying to figure out the problem. It took me a few minutes to find it, but one of the pivot bolts near the BB had come loose and backed itself out into my crankset, and the head of the bolt was wedged in between 2 teeth of my small chainring! Luckily all the pieces were still there and appeared ok, I just had to figure out how to get them back together. I couldn't get to the bolt through the crankset, so I decided to take the cranks off. Luckily I had a large enough allen on my multitool and was able to get enough torque out of it to get them off. Then I tightened the pivot back up, put the cranks back on and was rolling again. I was stopped for 15mins, which was a bummer but I was glad I could continue. I got back on the gas pretty good for the rest of the first lap and rode well except for letting my front wheel get too low on the hilltop rock garden on the upper loop, my front end slipped down and my stem twisted so I had to stop and fix that also. The rest of the race I just tried to stay steady, I got a little slow at the beginning of the 2nd lap but a rice cake pepped me back up. I took it easy on the climbs, and then rallied the last downhill to finish in 4:58, which was 11 minutes faster than my time last year. I was very pleased with this considering the long (and short) stop I had to make. I had lots of PRs even better than the half-distance XC race I did there in 2011, and several 2nd and 3rd best efforts for the day.



Best part was that I didn't have any stomach issues, I think this is the first long race I've ever done that it wasn't a problem. I ate a few Clif shot bloks, 3 Skratch Labs bacon and egg rice cakes and drank Skratch Labs drink mix. I also didn't feel completely trashed at the end of the race. Considering this I might could've gone a little harder, but I did have some cramps towards the end that might've come on earlier if I'd done so. I had to keep pedaling or keep both legs straight to stop them, but they eventually went away when I got to the mostly downhill off the upper loop. The new bike RIPPED out there, climbed like a goat and gobbled the rocks going down. Zero trouble with my tires, I ran Schwalbe Rocket Ron/Racing Ralph Snakeskins and I threw myself into rock gardens with no concern for my own well being. The Roval carbon hoops took a beating but are still straight and true. Coming down Jimmy's Joy on lap 2 I messed up the entry and centerpunched one of the trees on the runout, HARD. It made a scary sound so I pulled over and checked everything out, it all looked good so I continued to thrash it and it held up just fine.

I'm excited to be way better off at this point than last year, looking forward to some TMBRA XC and the Ouachita Challenge coming up soon.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Post-OC Letdown

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

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

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

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

Ben at the petting zoo

Enjoying the view off the hotel room balcony

Ben at the Moody Gardens Aquarium

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

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

2012 Ouachita Challenge Trip Report

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

View from the cabin.

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

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

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

2012 Ouachita Challenge Race Report

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

BMC ready to roll race morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ouachita Challenge, T-2 days

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

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

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

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

Solavaca Race Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 days and counting

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

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

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

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

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

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

Segment Analysis

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

2012 Mellow Johnny's Classic segment comparison

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

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

Mellow Johnny's Classic 2012 Race Report

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

Ben on the kids' cup course.

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

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

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

Warming up with Ben.

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

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

A small ledge out on the course.

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

Ben checking out the falls.

Ben and Raine walking the rocks.

BMC Speedfox SF29: more feedback

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

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

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