Ohhh...I love Colorado!!

Colorado has everything I love to do during ANY season!! Its been about two years since the last time I went downhill skiing - and the last time was at Ande's Tower Hills - went once and the time before that was probably 7 years earlier when I was skiing a lot; so, I forgot how much I loved to ski!! I decided to hit Loveland Ski Area as it was big (1400+ acres), lots of fresh powder, moguls, no lift lines, 40 minutes up I-70 from my parents place where I was staying, and only 48 bucks!! Not to mention it is skiing at 12-13,000 feet and along the eastern slopes of the Continental Divide over the Eisenhower Tunnel - very cool. I only crashed hard twice so I was happy. My legs were burning though...lots of rust to clear out!! SO awesome though. Weaving and slaloming through the trees and powder....maybe slightly out of control at times...but I had my fingers crossed ;-) Unfortunately no good pics though, it was cloudy with fresh snow falling the whole time - which made for some interesting low visibility skiing above the tree line when the wind picked up.

I went skiing a few times during my stay last week and so now of course I'm obsessed with it. Hello Spirit Mountain season pass! Only 2 hours from my house and seems to have gotten a lot of snow this year...and probably the best within 2 hours of the cities?? Now movies like Aspen Extreme, Ski School (1 & 2), Ski Patrol, Warren Miller stuff, etc...oh yeah! all the skiing classics are raiding my DVD player. Renewed motivation. Might have to hit Spirit this weekend.

Most of the mountain bike racing series and "other" big races have now posted their 2009 schedules and dates so I will be updating that section soon. Lots of good stuff coming, and decisions to make.

Time to get back...

Well it’s been quite awhile now since my last posting. Lots of things happened in various areas of life and my stress management skills have been tested to the max, both professionally and personally, over the last few months. Unfortunately it meant training taking a back seat for a bit. I needed to regroup and figure myself out for awhile. I started building a hot rod, hung Christmas lights on the house (fell off the ladder twice), now in the middle of a full scale kitchen remodel, among other personal and professional 'issues'. I wasn't sure how, when, or if I was gonna get back to this. Well, I can't hold back any longer and its time. I miss it. My coach, TJ, spoke a lot about the different kinds of stresses involved in life over last season and the effects they have on...well, everything! I always have a sense of direction when I'm in a workout - making the daily and weekly goals that lead to the bigger picture of getting faster, and finishing toward the front! I need to get that back. I learned so much last year that I'm excited to put it to good use '09.

I need to get back in it. Weird...I miss the pain and suffering of the 5-6,000 feet of climbing out west and the rewards of the white knuckle descents weaving, jumping, and dodging trees and rocks...blasting through the streams of the Snowmass course that give the most refreshing feeling ever when the water splashes up all over you (and also gives some of the coolest photo opportunities). That 'tingling' feeling during the last lap after pushing as hard as I could for three hours in La Crosse, WI just gets me - love it! My first marathon event this past season, the strategy...when to push hard, when to take it easier and be smooth. Ultra-endurance in '09 maybe? 24hrs of ....?? hmmm... The MNSCS races...shorter faster paced, each event with its own flavor. Last year was my first time racing at Mankato and for some reason that course always sticks out in my mind as one I can't wait to get back to, and Duluth, and Afton, and Maplelag, ok well all of them I guess. I don’t know, glutton for punishment? …maybe, but the 40-50 mph speed crazed descents out west after the accomplishment of literally climbing that mountain just feel so awesome.

Five months until Sea Otter in Monterrey, CA; six until MNSCS; and nothing posted yet about the Mountain States Cup schedule out west or the WORS series. It’s still hard to tell which will be my first tests of the '09 season. Last year I didn't really get out much until April, and I'm hoping to get a head start this time around...like five or six months worth. However, initially my training will be in the form of a winter sport...I need to get some xc ski's yet.

My bike is more or less nonexistent. The Turner Nitrous frame is gone - loved the frame but the geometry just didn't fit and Turner has since axed production on the Nitrous. Gonna try a hardtail 'big wheel' bike I think...maybe...not sure which yet though. For now, I will be working on cleaning out some rust and heading to Colorado for Christmas and downhill skiing at Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, maybe Keystone. More updates wil be coming...

Ok, I can talk about it now...

St. Cloud. I don't know what it is. I love the course! It should really be one of my stronger races- especially with the sweet new singletrack for the Comp/Expert class. Its very tight, twisty, gnarly, rocky, and kinda slow in that section so balance and smooth was key. I really could've used the shorter travel (80mm) fork to steepen the head tube angle for quicker, more precise steering. Its amazing what 20mm can do to handling characteristics in these situations. Also, a preride, that I didn't get in, was definitely in order. It took me about half a lap to figure that out. On Saturday, I showed up later than I wanted, so I was little flustered in getting ready. I found out during my warm-up that my rear tire had a small tear (not a pinhole) leak so the Stan's would not seal it- had to convert the rear back to a tube just before the race. Ended up starting in the back. My head was just not in it, but figured I'd give it a go and just race and see what happens.

I was about mid pack or so through the prologue lap, not feeling a lot of power in the legs but started to at least find a groove once I got into the singletrack. Three or four of us got held up by a rider that was not so comfortable through the trees and the riders ahead gapped us pretty good. Finally made the comment that I'm going to pass no matter what coming up, and he pulled to the side and let us by. I was flying through the singletrack pushing hard to catch the next group, but, then caught another slower rider just before we entered the new technical stuff. Patience started growing thin. I spotted a wide left hand switchback coming up with about a foot and half tall rock the across the track to ride over- he went inside and I went to the outside to at least show him I wanted to pass. Well, the outside landing off that rock had a hole that my front tire landed in and I crashed pretty hard over the bars very awkwardly. Luckily I didn't take anyone else out. But that hurt. And that was it. I didn't break any bones, but, I took that as my warning that today was not my day and limped off the course before I did. I felt a badly twisted ankle, I still have three black and blue bruises the size of softballs or baseballs on my left foot, shin and quad, and just this morning (4 days later) can finally almost make a fist with all fingers in my left hand.

Sat at the team tent with ice on my leg and hand for the rest of the race and cheered when I could for my teamates and others as they raced by. I was dissapointed. Second DNF this year.

Needless to say I did not feel up to trying my first Cyclocross race on Sunday. Which, for those of you that don't know about Cyclocross, requires lots of jumping off your bike in motion, throwing it over your shoulder, and running over obstacles/up staircases/etc. Yeah, wasn't gonna work for me that day!

Right now, it looks like my next and last mountain bike race in '08 will be in Sheboygan, WI for the last WORS race on Oct 12th.

I Love Northern MN

Last week ended not so good for me- TOO BUSY with work so I was excited to get away a little for the weekend to do some riding- mountain bike and four-wheelin. Saturday morning I got up early- 7:30 to me is early- and drove to Duluth to ride a full loop at Spirit Mountain with Barry Buhr. I've only ridden the Sport course on race weekends so I was pretty excited to do the full course that Comp/Expert ride- plus this course reminds me of riding out west- not so well groomed like the trails around the cities. We started at the bottom of the hill and rode up the Comp/Expert course trail to the top and started back down. That portion of the trail, including the climb, has some real gnarly rock sections with plenty of exposed roots on some steeper climbs- so so so fun! Really appreciated the full suspension and tubeless tires there. Well, then not too far down the trail from the top, still not sure what I hit but it burped a lot of air out of my rear tire. Usually when trail riding I carry my Camelback with a pump and a tube just-in-case. Of course not this time and the tire had lost too much pressure to finish the rest of the trail. I was in sort of a time crunch so we ended up riding down the ski runs to the car and had to leave from there.

Saturday afternoon and evening, I had an awesome time riding four wheelers in Wahkon, MN. It was cold and raining, but with the rain gear on, the bigger, deeper puddles were that much more fun to blast through just fast enough to get a good tidal wave and huge splashes all over! Polished off the weekend today with a nice order of 'Tacklebox Hashbrowns' and two of the biggest thickest pancakes I think I've ever had at a local 'Wahkon' Cafe overlooking Mille Lacs Lake- I loooooove flapjacks :)

Congratulations to TJ Woodruff on his top three finish at the Chequamegon 40 this weekend! Fellow Summit Racer Luke Baker also got a top three overall finish in the 16 mile race! I would have loved to be racing there, but I missed the entry deadline in the spring. Each year there are so many entry's that they use a lottery system to choose the entry list. This year 1,665 riders overall finished the 40-mile race. Next year I will enter and hope to be racing the 40.

Looking forward to some good training this week before the final MNSCS race this Saturday in St. Cloud at the Jail Trail called the Singletrack Escape. I really want to finish strong there as the previous two years one thing or another beyond my control plagued the race (bent derailleur hanger during the rain/mud soaked '06 race and in '07 the race was my first competition after completely breaking my fibula only 2 1/2 months earlier). Anyways, also thinking about maybe hitting up the cyclocross race on Sunday.

Fun Rides

Last night went to Lebanon Hills for a good training ride. Met Ben there and the first lap we went fairly hard and for the second lap decided to switch bikes. Tried out his Chequamegon set up- carbon fork, full rigid, 22lb, 29'er. Forearms got quite the workout on that! I was surprised though- I felt good on it. I could tell that all the power was going directly to the ground. While the Turner has a spectacular pedaling platform, there is always going to be a little power soaked up in the front and rear suspension. The 29'er also felt near impossible in comparison to break the tires loose and could really rail through the turns more than my bike- especially if the turns were flat or a little off camber...the front tire really stuck to the ground. Pedaling the bigger, heavier 29 inch wheels also was not as tough as I thought. Coming out of tight turns and random acceleration points I could feel a little, but, could carry a lot more momentum throught the rest to make up for it. Getting back on my back afterward, as Ben said, felt like riding a chopper, haha. The suspension feels nice- especially on the rough stuff. I don't know. Right now though I need to find a cyclocross bike.

Also, yesterday I found an online document that Rick Ochs had told me about. It's an interesting read comparing tire pressuress, widths, etc. using some good scientific data. Check it out here.

What a Weekend

I arrived at Maplelag Saturday afternoon. Registered, and went out for a preride of the course with Ben Rogowski and Amy Sportel of Freewheel. Crazy course- I loved it! Some of the drops were kinda sketchy, but really fun! The lap worked out to be a good long warm-up for my first ever Short Track race at 5:00. Fast, fast race- much different than what I'm used to. ~1min 40sec laps for 18 minutes. I started well, but mechanical trouble came early. My big ring could not hold the torque because of some teeth that are too wore out. Each lap the chain would skip in some rough stuff and the short but steep power climb- where eventually in the 4th lap, the chain completely jumped off the ring and ended that. Got a taste of ST and it was cool- I'll definitely try it again.

Sunday, TJ and I went out for a warm-up before the race where I got some great coaching. With this, I was ready to rock at the line! This was good because from the word "go" it was a FAST ~1/4 mile dash on ski trail to the first singletrack section- I got there in about 13th and avoided the bottleneck going in. It was very hot (~85) and while the tree's shade was nice, they also cut out any breeze, which in the slow twisty singletrack would have helped- it was HOT! A few riders got by me in the first lap as I was just consentrating on being smooth and not overheating. Towards the end of the first lap, some very sketchy drops got the best of a few riders ahead of me. I stayed on the pedals, kept consistent and never saw them again. Coming through to start the second lap Amy Ochs gave me a perfect hand off of the bottle and came at the perfect time- I was completely out by that point! Thanks Amy!

Then going off towards the first singletrack section of the lap again, none other than Bryan Rhody of Peace Coffee comes up beside me- he decided to move up to Comp this week also since, like me, he is trying to qualify for the 2009 USAC Nationals in Sol Vista, CO. After getting taken out at the finish line the week before at the Border Battle he seemed to be recovering pretty well, he went by and held a pretty good pace. About halfway through the second lap Jim Jaglo of LCR, wwho also moved up to Comp this week goes by but at a pace I could hold onto. Jimmy is very good through the woods so I knew we were on a fast pace, but I was at about 90% effort and able to save some energy for the wide, 1/2 mile, ski trail dash to the finish. As soon as we ducked out of the woods, learing from last week, I stayed in the gear I was in instead of upshifting and realized Jimmy had been going 100% in the singletrack and couldn't counter the attack- I went by pretty fast and held it. I glanced back and saw that Jimmy let me go so I eased up just slightly, I was now 14th overall. Well, I glanced back again, just-in-case, and apparently a train of three racers were not too far behind in the trees- still not sure where they came from! They hooked up in a draft- yeah we were going that fast- went by Jim and I had a target on my back. I dropped the hammer, HARD- everything I had, legs burning like a nitro funny car engine and top speed, top gear drag raced it all the way to the line. They couldn't catch me...finished in 14th overall which is about where I was finishing overall in Sport! They finished 15, 16, and 17th all less than a second behind me, Jimmy was 4 seconds back in 18th. It was a great showing for my first Comp race! I'll be staying in this class. TJ took third in the Time Trial, second in the Short Track, and won the XC race on Sunday by a healthy margin- enough to vault over Doug Swanson and won the overall for all three stages in the Expert category, nice work TJ!

On another note, Jay Richards, his family and all the crew that put this show on did a TREMENDOUS job!! Everything was top notch here: the food, the course, the lodging, everything. An amazing event.

After this, I went up to visit some good friends in Solway, MN for the 24th annual "Pig Hill". Yep, a pig roast! I love goin up there! Camping, nice big bonfire, guitars and a fiddle; it was great to catch up with some people I don't get to see very often. Funny thing, it seems like everytime I go up there I leave with another nickname- and this time was no different- "Paco (and sometimes Milt) the Bartender". Basically it had something to do with about 12 or so Sombrero's, limes, a bottle of Tequila....and a conga line.

Made the long drive back today and finished the weekend off with a good two hour road ride this afternoon to keep things loose and ready to go. Still unsure about making the drive to Rhinelander this weekend for the WORS race. I need a big ring.

The Next Step

Confirmed now. This weekend at Maplelag Resort in Callaway, MN will be my first race in the Comp class- one above Sport which I've been racing all year, and I've been finishing pretty well, so, decided its time to move up. I'm pretty excited about it. Longer, more technical (sometimes) races with faster riders should help boost my fitness and riding skill levels to keep progressing as well as I have all season. Some fast riders in this class though.

This race is part of the MNSCS, but, it's also on the USA Cycling cross-country national calendar. For that reason, there should be some tough competition here. Its a tight, twisty course up there with sketchy drops along the lake where I've heard some riders unavoidably end up taking a dip during the race...so I'll be repeating in my head for about an hour and a half, "stay smooth, smooth is fast, stay smooth, smooth is fast." ;)

Us vs Them

Last week/weekend had some great racing. Last Thursday at the Hillside Park race my legs felt a little mushy yet from the long rides the weekend before. Thats what I love about the shorter local races during the week- they give a really great opportunity to assess my condition for the bigger races on the weekend. Pushed kind of harder in the first half of the race and was pretty comfortable in 5th place, probably could've pushed the whole way to catch 3rd or 4th, but wanted to stay fresh as possible for the Border Battle on Sunday, so backed off a bit and went just fast enough to hold 5th.

The Border Battle was great! Awesome course, event, people, team, finish- it was all great! 12th of 198 overall as it turns out (5th of 25 in age group). Thankfully, Adam Leiferman came up to say good luck and offered to pass off a water bottle after the first or second lap- I was completely out coming around to start the third lap- thanks Adam! From the start, though, I was starting to question how this race was gonna turn out. They called up the top 3 in each series...for some reason they omitted my name as I was in 3rd place- yes Bryan Rhody (Peace Coffee) has been finishing just ahead of me but he was still in 4th. I just got on the pedals and lined up behind Ben Rogowski (Freewheel Bikes); and in classic WORS form after the National Anthem "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" , we take off. I was in about 15th at the bottom of the initial climb as the outside (left) line seemed to be the fastest- we had the inside. Still, though, on Ben's wheel, we ducked further to the right, on a path less chosen, and went by most- at the top of the climb going into the field we were 4 and 5 (I think) right on the leaders. Halfway through the first lap I had an incident one WI rider. I was obviously faster- tried passing- he blocked- elbows out and swerving to the side, tried announcing the pass (some riders like that)- he blocked, WTF?? went to pass again, thought he was gonna finally let me by, nope! -elbows out and Captain America runs me off into the trees- UUGGGHH!!! Who races this hard HALF A LAP into the race?? Growing up in the world of auto racing I learned at a very young age that you go slower when you're racing the person behind you. My Dad taught me a lot about how to handle these kind of situations in racing: the leaders were already pulling away when I was stuck behind him, and now were completely gone. A few riders I passed earlier went by as I was riding in the deep grass dodging and jumping trees in the ravine trying not to crash or lose too much time. I reminded myself of past situations like this in auto racing- keep calm and stay smooth- you'll catch him and eventually everyone else. Stay smooth, stay smooth- kept saying to myself over and over. I caught and passed a few riders that got by earlier and lone behold, here comes Captain America dead ahead just as we crank out of the woods and up shift a few gears into some flat double track through a field. A high speed sweeping turn to the right, with somewhat of a pronounced apex, was coming so I started to pass him on the inside going in- maybe my tires just couldn't hold the speed, but, gee...I had to exit the turn REALLY wide (with him on my left) and he ended up WAY out in the weeds off the course ;) gee, so sorry about that :) He didn't get it as bad as he gave me but, thats ok, I was ahead. Back to "relax, stay smooth, stay smooth" :) Never saw him again for the rest of the race. He was racing by looking back over his shoulder and thats exactly the direction he ended up moving through the pack.

Anyway, from this point on the race really took off. The course is still fairly new so much of it was very rough and kinda sketchy- exactly how I like it! The Turner Nitrous frame soaked it all up nicely and the tubeless conversion made my bike feel like I've got an extra inch of suspension with twice the traction. I found a good fast rhythm and I was catching the leaders in laps two and three- my last lap (#3) was the fastest- but, ran out of time. However, I was really stoked over the great finish! This whole event will go down as a highlight of the season for me. Got to hang out and talk with my coach TJ for a bit and watch him race, which is always fun! He and Jesse Lalonde really dropped the hammer on the Pro field. Also, got a chance to meet and thank Kyia Anderson for the advice last fall.

...but in the end, WI dropped the hammer on MN- 94 to 112- lowest points wins. They get the traveling trophy. Well get'em next year...

First Elk River Race and my First "Time" race

August 14th – First Thursday night in Elk River (Hillside) I took 3rd, about half a front wheel behind 2nd- a sweet drag race to the finish. I was pulling on him and another 10 feet I would’ve had him. First place was about a minute ahead- and is the guy that builds and designs most of the course so was not surprised there. Now that I know the course a little better we’ll see how things go this Thursday.

August 16th – I found out about this race on Thursday afternoon- thought I was going to have a weekend off! "The Bluffland Epic Enduro", part of the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series (WEMS) I entered the 3 hour Solo Man race- my longest race effort ever. Should be a great way to really test my lungs and legs; and whatever is still closed or tight should open and loosen up by the end of this!
No age groups and all categories were combined- sport, comp, expert, etc, all racing against each other- given that and my longest race effort to date I was very happy with the result- 6th place! It was a great time and I felt great! I really like the ultra-endurance type racing! They had a Le mans start- 100 yd dash to the bikes, which I like. I was about 9th after the first lap- took a couple laps to get to know the course- surprisingly technical, mainly due to the number of super tight uphill/downhill switchbacks and some sweet, but, awkward gnarly rock "gardens". Good fun race.

Finished off the weekend yesterday with a nice long ~4hr training road ride…on the mountain bike of course…no road bike yet. Anyways, good stuff- pretty good weekend of racing/riding. Looking forward to the WORS/MNSCS Border Battle in River Falls. Whew, finally got this up to date.

I'm on a Team!...and not sick anymore!

August 4th I get the email from Adam Leiferman of Summit Racing welcoming me to their team. Eric Uschold and I have been discussing the possibility of my joining Summit Racing since Afton. Then during a training ride- must have been July 29 or 30- Eric called me and said he severely dislocated his shoulder, and officially asked me to join to help keep them team standings for the rest of the year. Now I can follow my own individual standings and the team standings also. This is going to be a huge…HUGE help in keeping my motivation and focus on training and much less stress on race day as I now will have great support during the races.

August 7th The initial race with the team. I come back for the last "Thursday night" Buck Hill race of the season to test the lungs being these races are so short (~28 minutes now). Everything felt tight coming off of being sick- I was definitely over the bronchitis but lungs and legs really need to get conditioned again. 4th of 54 though so not bad- only 7seconds out of the "medals" though. Nonetheless, a good soild test run to build off of.

August 10th – MNSCS#7 at Buck Hill. I felt like David Hasselhoff. I have never seen this course so sandy and loose. They cut the race from 5 laps to 4…which to be honest kind of annoyed me a little. I placed 4th…again…behind the 3 B’s –Bruce, Brian, and Ben as its been this way all season. However, this did erase the 19th place at the Spring Cup as this was the 7th race of the season. MNSCS takes the top 6 finishes to determine the series points results at the end of the season with 5 bonus points for each additional race. Overall in Sport I was 15th today. I took off from the start and could feel my legs dragging. I just couldn't stay with BBB like I could at Spirit- still some work to do- as the 4th lap was my fastest, finishing in 1:01:59. Thanks for the support Summit Racing!

'08 to date race report

Here is a...I wanted to say short but...long synopsis of the ‘08 season to date. Most of these race reports have come from bits and pieces of emails to TJ.

I really didn't get back to consistent training until about mid April. I guess thats what happens when you buy a house that needs work- and you have to live in it while you remodel everything :) It was about this time though, I had started to think about the race in Angel Fire on Memorial Day weekend, and I knew that if I set a goal to race and finish there, I would train hard for it...and in turn fall back into the rhythm and routine of consistent training from here on out. I can't even begin to explain or where to start about what I've learned from TJ throughout this season. There is a lot more to having a cycling coach than just having someone set up a training schedule.

The first test of my ’08 season came at a Buck Hill Thursday night event on May 8th – 22nd of 40 - about what I had expected given my lack of attention to training (see previous post). Then that weekend was the Spring Cup race at Salem Hills Park in Inver Grove Heights, which is a flat out drag race from start to finish. A basically flat non-technical course. Yeah, I had no horsepower to offer – 19th of 21 in my age group and 92nd of 133 overall in the Sport class. Looking forward to '09 for a much better finish there. The following Thursday, 23rd of 53 at Buck again.

May 25th - Angel Fire, New Mexico on Memorial Weekend. I drove to Denver, and my parents and I drove the rest of the way to AF where we stayed in a realy sweet condo at the base of the mountain. Mom and Dad have really helped support me in this- it makes such a big difference to have your family and friends in your corner cheering you on! Not just at AF but the whole season Mom and Dad following my progress and encouraging me to keep going when the chips were down a couple times. For the race, I did alright for my first mountain race in a couple years getting 12 of 17. I had stepped up training but only in the few weeks prior to get ready and took a lot of questions to the race with me. I came away with a lot of answers…and of course more questions. The next Buck race later that week was 8th of 27- using what I learned in AF, I beat a lot of riders I couldn’t before- sooo….I wasn’t riding 100% before AF??

June 8th MNSCS#2 at Afton Alps Ski Area. From email: The race today at Afton Alps was awesome! It rained all night Saturday so the course was really wet, slippery and soft. This course has some pretty decent climbing built into it for around here, and some of the rock sections riders were having a lot of trouble with- especially since they stayed wet the whole time. I finshed 37th of 118 overall in Sport and 7th of 22 in my age group- 4th thru 8th were all within 45 seconds of each other. I’m really happy with that (in hindsight I can think of ways I could’ve made up some of that 45 seconds during the race)- I don’t think I’ve had a top 10 in this class...well, never with more than 10 riders. I felt much, much stronger on the climbs- I even up shifted and passed a few people on the climbs! I’m not used to that! Maybe the track conditions played in my favor a little today being wet and all, but I gained 5 minutes on the rider that took second at the Spring Cup (he won today). My legs felt great during and after the race, no cramping, or lower back issues either. I can’t wait to do more training!!!

The next two races were at Buck Hill- 3rd of 37 (first top 3 at this venue), and 6th of 46 with probably my hardest crash ever- didn’t break, dislocate, or cut anything but slammed myself into the ground as hard as ever- felt that in my shoulder and neck for the next 6-7 days.

June 22nd – MNSCS#3 at Mont Du Lac Ski area by Duluth. From Email: The climbs are different at Mont Du than at Afton- Aftons were longer with an average grade and Mont Du’s climbs are shorter but much steeper- lots of quick, but very steep climbs, lots of riders in too high of a gear from the dh and stalling half way up. I finished better than I thought I was doing during the race- 5th in my age group, 5:35 back (finished couple minutes closer to the same guys that finished ahead of me at Afton) Overall I was 27th of 92 ~6 min back. With that, I learned something again about climbing, but too late in the race.

I got a decent start – maybe 10th in my wave at the top of the initial climb going into the singletrack, but I felt pretty blown up- after the race, talking to others I found out I wasn’t the only one though. The end of my second lap felt better than the end of my first, my warm-up could’ve been better, especially with the shorter race this year. Last year they raced 3 laps, and I didn’t see any reason for change. My lower back started to act up a little bit in the beginning of the second lap. I wasn’t real excited about the race until I saw the times, then I felt better- after the initial climb I just felt like I got passed by everyone for some reason, but I didn’t. Then, another 3rd place at Buck Hill the next Thursday.

June 29th – MNSCS#4 at Mankato Ski Area. This race was awesome. I took 4th in age and 11th of 82 overall. There was some good climbs, good technical stuff- a really swoopy section appropriately called "the Luge"- it was extremely slick from rain the previous day and proved to be very hard on some riders. I had some fun with it and practiced some smooth two wheel drifting en route to my best finish of the season in the MNSCS series.
July 6th – Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) in Eau Claire. Uggggghhhh. Frustrating. I was holding my own very well with the legs of the Wisconsin "roadie" mountain bikers. There’s drafting in mountain bike racing??? But in the two lap race about ½ way through the 2nd lap, POP goes the tube. AAAHHH!! I was 4th in age and around 15ish overall out of 298 riders!!! I was really hoping to get that good finish in my first time racing in cheeseland. UUgghh! Still frustrated as I write this in August. Fun course though, and WORS puts on a really spectacular event. Tons of riders, spectators, stuff for kids and familys- definitely a real "event".

July 12th – Snowmass Village, CO. Long, long drive to Denver, stay over night, then another 3 1/2 hours to Snowmass Village. Once again, Ugggggghhhh!! -except for other reasons- 2hrs and 43 minutes was my time with THE longest steepest climbs I’ve ever done. I’ve raced this course twice before but only the short loop once and then the Long loop once- this time one long and one short. My back was KILLING ME!! Five of us at the line, I lead everyone up the hill and into the singletrack for about 10-15 minutes. 2nd place and I got a decent gap over the others. I was pushing hard to stay in front, and started to feel it so I backed off just a little bit, he went by and just tried to keep him in range since it was going to be a long race- and then hopefully strike towards the end. Well, at the top of the short loop (~34 minutes in) I felt my lower back muscles tense up and start to ache- just like at Angel Fire. I let up and tried to relax them and go easy- still a lot of racing left, but then here comes the gnarly rough dh side of the course. That was it. Every single rock and root was absolutely horrible. The last part of the dh section is on the fire road- really smooth and my back felt a little better so I made up some good time there, and coming through the line to start the long loop up the hill I felt great again, and rode steady but pretty fast, trying not to aggravate it, but once I started the slower steeper climbing over roots and rocks in the singletrack again, the pain was back. I literally had to stop a couple times for about 30 sec each and stretch my lower back muscles-couldn’t bear to ride one foot further at times- then I felt good for about the next 5 minutes of rough trail but then it crept back up again. My throat was sore at the end from all the wincing and grunting noises. Coming thru the finish the announcer says "here comes Dave Slovick from Minnesota…real strong looks like he’s just starting the race!!" Because I was smiling once I got into the smooth stuff and my back pain toned down so I could really crank hard! Legs and lungs felt awesome!...even after 2hrs 43min of suffer…I mean riding! Then back to Minneapolis…long drive WAY late into the night and early morning.

Two days later, I go to New York/New Jersey for work. Fun time overall, but, 4-5 hours of sleep per night with too many adult beverages and throw in the already sleep deprived body- good recipe for illness. Started to feel it on the way home (after sitting in JFK airport for 6 ½ hours and then another 1 hour just for good measure on the plane- not a Delta fan- 5 of 6 flights delayed more than 2hrs or cancelled).

July 20th – MNSCS#5 at Red Wing. Just a day after getting back from the NY/NJ/Delta airline experiences, I decided to race anyway to keep the points coming. I started bad- did not get a good warm-up, and just got worse from there. Crashed a few times and even had to push my bike up a couple hills- hadn’t done that in awhile. 10th place and 34th of 94. YIKES!! ...‘nough said about that.

July 27th – MNSCS#6 at Spirit Mountain. Started to feel sick- really sick that week so skipped the Buck race again to try and get some good recovery. From Email: I was not at all 100% recovered from being sick, but I did feel well enough to give it a try. I got in probably my best warm up yet, but I could tell my power and focus was not quite there- so thought I’d just try to have fun with it stay hydrated and whatever happens. They started the entire Sport class in a mass start- which was awesome- about 5 or 6 of us took off from the start, I was 3rd, and we had no traffic to work through. I was pacing myself with Bruce Klehr, who’s won the last 4 races in 30-34 and finishes in the top 3 overall every week. I was surprised, it wasn’t taking a whole lot of extra effort to keep the pace but more just being as smooth as possible. For about half the first lap things were fine and then somehow- still not sure what happened- I whacked my knee cap into the shifter clamp on the bars around a turn really hard- got a nice gash- and my knee stiffened up pretty bad. Goodbye Bruce- he was gone. Took a few minutes for it to loosen up as I rode- in the meantime I got passed by a few riders and started to drift back a bit- my head was still stuffed up and could feel the fatigue set in more and more as the race went on, it was kinda hard to focus and stay smooth through the singletrack- in the last mile or two I got passed by a guy that know I’m faster and I just could NOT catch and pass him back before the end- he finished about 10 secs ahead. But anyway, I finished 13 of 82 overall and 5 of 11 in the age group- 5 minutes back in both. Not too bad- all things considered I felt pretty good about it- I needed a decent solid race finish again- and no crashes, so that’s good. I love that course and Duluth is just awesome anyway.

My back did act up again though in the 2nd and 3rd lap in the rough singletrack after the climb to the top. Today my lower back muscles are a little sore. Hoping with no race this weekend, my muscles/body will have some time to settle a little bit and I can completely get rid of this lingering cold or flu or whatever it is.

July 29th – Doc says "You have bronchitis." NOOOOOOO!!! I was still coughing a lot and stuffed up again so decided to go in. Kind of thought that’s what I’d let myself get to but was still hoping for better news. Done for at least a week- VERY light short one hour rides for training. Too much traveling, poor nutrition, and extreme lack of recovery/ sleep amounted to this.

Some Background up to the Spring Cup '08

Well, a little background. I bought my first mountain bike in the spring of 2002, rode it a few times and it sat in the corner until the spring of 2004. It was then that I decided to move to Denver, CO for the summer between semesters at Minnesota State University of Moorhead. Throughout the summer of 2004 I rode once or twice per week at Betasso Preserve- an easy 3 mile loop just a few miles up Canyon Blvd out of Boulder. This is where I really began to realize what mountain biking really had in for me...and I loved it.

I stayed in the Fargo-Moorhead area through the summer of 2005 but kept riding maybe a couple times per week but of course just out on the flat roads which was boring- basically no mountain biking anywhere near here- at the time I never knew about Maplelag (~45 mins away). I finally pulled the trigger on my entering my first mountain bike race ever in August 2005- the MNSCS Powder Monkey at Spirit Mountain. I entered the Citizen class- made it through one lap and pinch flatted- but still, I was hooked. That fall at school I got in touch with Brad Nordstrom at MSUM's Wellness Center. He helped me create an excellent base over winter 05-06 for competing in 2006, and I needed a lot of work. I had gone from a stable weight I've been most of my life of ~135 lbs in 2000 to a high of 187lbs in June of 2003 and back to 137lbs when I started with Brad. Yep 50+ lb swing!

In May of 2006 I again went to Denver, CO for the summer and raced the Mountain States Cup circuit. This is where I realized how good of a base was established working with Brad over that winter. Started in Beginner, and four races in after winning at Snowmass Village I moved up to Sport for the remainder of the season. I placed 4th at the NORBA Snowmass Village race- still the muddiest race I've ever done. I came back to MN in August for school and raced the MNSCS Powder Monkey and Singletrack Escape in St. Cloud.




I took basically all of the 06-07 fall/winter/spring off of training to concentrate on my last year of school and end that with a bang- which I did. Graduated with a degree in Economics and a few award winning research and written studys. June 2007, I started my current job as a Catastrophe Modeling Specialist at Willis Re in Edina and thats been going very well.

I started racing the Buck Hill races (3 of them) on Thursdays which are really fun low pressure race events. I finally felt ready to give it a go at an MNSCS event- the Dirt Spanker at Mont Du Lac at the end of June. Finished not quite mid pack but pretty decent considering I really hadn't been riding at all. The next day on an easy recovery ride at Theodore Wirth, a little slide out on a right turn and SNAP! As I was just explaining to my friend Mat on the way home from Mont Du the day before, I was having a little trouble clipping in and out of my pedals. My bike was going one way, my body the other, an old beat up faulty pedal and completely snapped right fibula. Thanks Tom Anderson and the other guy for stopping and carrying me out of the woods and placing me in Mats car en route to North Memorial- I knew I'd meet new people while mountain biking :)

Two months later I was back on the bike- on flat pedals. I raced the last Hillside race and the Singletrack Escape ni St. Cloud. The St. Cloud race has not been very good to me- last place in '06 due to a bent derailleur hanger and 28 of 33 in age/86 of 120 overall in '07- although, its hard to count this one- racing only 2 1/2 months off a broken leg, but STILL...looking for some redemption this year!

However, while at the St. Cloud race, I saw Kyia Anderson and Jenna Zander take off so fast from the start- I mean the Expert men were fast obviously but for some reason the way those two were so close and so far ahead, even laps later, I guess it made it that much more dramatic and inspiring. I emailed Kyia and told her how fast she was and asked her for some advice :) She gave me TJ Woodruff's contact information at CTS and was the best phone call I've made. (Thanks Kyia!) The first couple months were great and was exactly what I was looking for; however, due to the purchase of a house that needed a lot of work before I moved in, I didn't have time to train much Dec thru most of April and it showed at the Spring Cup.