Last weekend was the Great Hawk Chase at Lester Park in Duluth. This was an excellent venue for a mountain bike race! Nice river to cool/rinse off in, awesome views, close to downtown Duluth, it was an awesome event! The course was no different – perfect mix of ski trail and sweet Duluth singletrack. It did rain the few days leading up to the race so a few 100 yard off camber sections in the woods were fastest by using cyclocross type skills, but 100% rideable with the right tires.
I did not have the right tire combination for these conditions, but still rode a solid race coming in 4th out of 11. I’m very confident I could’ve been on the podium if I had a more aggressive tire. I could catch and work on passing other riders all the way up until the off-camber slick sloppy stuff, then I would lose them again. Couldn’t keep the max efforts long enough as the race went on to keep re-catching them hoping to stay on their wheels for the last ski trail to the finish were final passes could be made. Their pace was smooth, mine was hard pedal/slide out and almost hit trees/pedal hard again…and repeat! I was only 90 seconds behind third. Overall though I had a blast at this race and I can’t wait to ride and race here again! Very happy with the results while overcoming the lack of traction. It was definitely a solid run to build off of as the MN races haven’t been my strong points this year. Things seem to be dialed in though to finish the season strong!
On Duluth, I love that area – that’s definitely a home away from home, spent a good portion of my life there, and I have family in Duluth that I now don’t get to see very often, so it’s always nice to get back. I get some of the best pre and post-race meals when I’m there ;)
This weekend I’m opting NOT to drive 8 hours one way to WI for the WORS race. Instead, I’m gonna see what I can do at the Psycowpath Series race in Stanton, NE - the Maskenthine Classic. 90 miles will be plenty for me to drive on Saturday and get some R&R away from the road.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Update and Pics
Well things have been shaping up nicely after the disaster at the Border Battle. Some time off the bike can help sometimes. I wasn't completely off the bike, got some riding in at the BMX track and some shorter rides in also about every other day. Last night was the first longer ride since before the Border Battle. I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend. Lots of time around preparations this time. Didn't realize how much I was behind on my routines. My whole "smooth is fast" saying works in the prep times as well.
I'm going to toss up a few pics from previous races over the next couple entries.
I'm going to toss up a few pics from previous races over the next couple entries.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Race Report: Border Battle - Major bummer...
I am still getting over Sundays feelings. For how I felt at Buck Hill until the flat tire, and winning the race on Thursday, I was looking forward to a really strong race! I guess I know what happened but...its just never happened to me before! I DNF'd due to borderline heat stroke when I pulled off the course. It was mid 90's with heat indexes into the 100's.
I spent a lot of time thinking about other races and which tire combo to use (because of the heavy rains overnight)...so much time that I didn't not spend concentrating on hydration and nutrition...including the day before.
The warm up ride felt fine, seemed loose and ready. But, as soon as I made the first pedal stroke I could tell something wasn quite right. In the woods especially, I started seeing spots, knicked two trees with the bars, slid out on two corners...saw more spots and felt like I was going to faint. I rolled out of the woods, announced the DNF and barely made it to the tent with water and racer food before I dropped the bike and gear and fell/sat down under the tent. Steve Sturman and others rushed over and helped pour water over me as I drank bottle after bottle and ate some watermelon and cookies. I was very disoriented and questioned whether I needed medics involved - eventually I shrugged that idea off.
First time for everything? Could have done wihout it! But lesson learned I guess. I am very frustrated that this happened.
I spent a lot of time thinking about other races and which tire combo to use (because of the heavy rains overnight)...so much time that I didn't not spend concentrating on hydration and nutrition...including the day before.
The warm up ride felt fine, seemed loose and ready. But, as soon as I made the first pedal stroke I could tell something wasn quite right. In the woods especially, I started seeing spots, knicked two trees with the bars, slid out on two corners...saw more spots and felt like I was going to faint. I rolled out of the woods, announced the DNF and barely made it to the tent with water and racer food before I dropped the bike and gear and fell/sat down under the tent. Steve Sturman and others rushed over and helped pour water over me as I drank bottle after bottle and ate some watermelon and cookies. I was very disoriented and questioned whether I needed medics involved - eventually I shrugged that idea off.
First time for everything? Could have done wihout it! But lesson learned I guess. I am very frustrated that this happened.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Race Report: Branched Oak Lake - First 2010 Win!
Got my first win in 2010! ...and placed second overall beating out some CAT 1 guys. They set us off in the same wave with same number of laps. Branched Oak Lake State Rec area is north of Lincoln about 10 miles. The loop is ~5 miles and we did 3 laps. This was a very different race for me.
The race pace started much slower than I’m used to. Sitting in 5th place about a 1/3 way into the first lap, I saw the leader gapping my group pretty hard. The next doubletrack power climb that came up, I dropped the hammer and spun myself up to 2nd place overall. The gap grew to about one minute in front and one minute behind me and that’s where it stayed. I only had to put in a few max efforts to keep the gap the same behind me. Since this race is more for training, I want to be fresh for the MNMBS/WORS Border Battle coming up on Sunday. No need to push it and crash. I won the CAT 2 division by a few minutes and first prize was a sweet set of Eggbeater pedals from Bike Pedalers Bike Shop in Lincoln. Awesome! In fact, seems like half the riders there had the white/blue Bike Pedalers jerseys on.
Earlier this week I moved the one good Racing Ralph to the front and picked up a Bontrager XR0 for the rear. This combo seemed to work pretty well. The XR0 definitely doesn’t have as much traction as the Ralph but is lighter, rolls faster, and grips plenty from what I can tell so far.
...lookin’ forward to a big competitive field on Sunday...Minnesota vs Wisconsin
The race pace started much slower than I’m used to. Sitting in 5th place about a 1/3 way into the first lap, I saw the leader gapping my group pretty hard. The next doubletrack power climb that came up, I dropped the hammer and spun myself up to 2nd place overall. The gap grew to about one minute in front and one minute behind me and that’s where it stayed. I only had to put in a few max efforts to keep the gap the same behind me. Since this race is more for training, I want to be fresh for the MNMBS/WORS Border Battle coming up on Sunday. No need to push it and crash. I won the CAT 2 division by a few minutes and first prize was a sweet set of Eggbeater pedals from Bike Pedalers Bike Shop in Lincoln. Awesome! In fact, seems like half the riders there had the white/blue Bike Pedalers jerseys on.
Earlier this week I moved the one good Racing Ralph to the front and picked up a Bontrager XR0 for the rear. This combo seemed to work pretty well. The XR0 definitely doesn’t have as much traction as the Ralph but is lighter, rolls faster, and grips plenty from what I can tell so far.
...lookin’ forward to a big competitive field on Sunday...Minnesota vs Wisconsin
Race Report: MNMBS Buck Hill
Wednesday (July 28th) I drove to the Black Hills for a wedding. While I was out there I had some time to take out the Superlight. I found the Centennial trail close by; however, was not totally impressed by it. Maybe it’s better in other areas but it was definitely better suited to hiking where I was. I did get in some nice riding on some trails off the roads though – some really good rough rocky gnarly climbs and descents. Fun stuff!
That Saturday I drove from the Black Hills to Burnsville, MN for the Buck Hill race the following day. I’ve raced so many times here – it’s a really fun course! We did five laps on this ski area – I kind of like the races with lots of laps. More fun for spectators too! From the start I was feeling pretty good. Holding position well through the race and just being smooth – smooth is fast! The Schwalbe Racing Ralph’s were hooking up awesome and the legs feeling good.
Each lap started with a climb from the base of the hill weaving and winding its way to the top mostly on service roads/doubletrack which is perfect! There is a small singletrack section that has about a dozen of these little 2” round stumps sticking out where trail crews cut the path. They stick up about 4” and my front tire caught the rough edge of one and sliced the sidewall just enough for it to leak. I didn’t know this til I got into the singletrack past the top of the hill. Just after it happened though, I sat back in the saddle and rev’d up the legs to about 100 rpm and weaved though a small field of my competition and was gonna challenge for first place! I was feeling really fast!
Major bummer when my tire lost enough pressure and went around a turn and ripped it off the bead. I grabbed my pump from my Camelback and pumped up til I heard the bead snap back in then hopped on….about 300 yards further up the trail, same story…more air…had to do this 4 times total on the last lap. I went from challenging for first all the way back to 5th place and ~5 minutes back by the end. Found the slice the next day.
Back to Omaha that night…lots of driving!!
That Saturday I drove from the Black Hills to Burnsville, MN for the Buck Hill race the following day. I’ve raced so many times here – it’s a really fun course! We did five laps on this ski area – I kind of like the races with lots of laps. More fun for spectators too! From the start I was feeling pretty good. Holding position well through the race and just being smooth – smooth is fast! The Schwalbe Racing Ralph’s were hooking up awesome and the legs feeling good.
Each lap started with a climb from the base of the hill weaving and winding its way to the top mostly on service roads/doubletrack which is perfect! There is a small singletrack section that has about a dozen of these little 2” round stumps sticking out where trail crews cut the path. They stick up about 4” and my front tire caught the rough edge of one and sliced the sidewall just enough for it to leak. I didn’t know this til I got into the singletrack past the top of the hill. Just after it happened though, I sat back in the saddle and rev’d up the legs to about 100 rpm and weaved though a small field of my competition and was gonna challenge for first place! I was feeling really fast!
Major bummer when my tire lost enough pressure and went around a turn and ripped it off the bead. I grabbed my pump from my Camelback and pumped up til I heard the bead snap back in then hopped on….about 300 yards further up the trail, same story…more air…had to do this 4 times total on the last lap. I went from challenging for first all the way back to 5th place and ~5 minutes back by the end. Found the slice the next day.
Back to Omaha that night…lots of driving!!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Rest of Nationals Weekend
Awesome! The demo program was only $10 more which allowed John and I to use several different bikes on the mountain. I tried the Scott Gambler, Kona Stab Supreme, and the Specialized SX. I loved the SX! It was a bit lighter and more nimble – which for my size and riding style seemed to work the best. The others were sweet too but if I were in the market, I would choose the SX.
The trails at Winter Park of course are amazing! Fast flying over huge rocks, ramps, dirt jumps = good times. The bikes with the extra squishy 7-9.5 inches of travel are so fun to ride over that stuff. I only crashed once due to a mechanical problem - however it was another hard crash. Going into a high speed turn the chain somehow rattled up and off the cassette and wrapped itself in the rear wheel…which according to John riding behind me, all of a sudden turned into a cloud of dust mixed with me and the bike tumbling and sailing through the air, with the 40+ pound bike landing on top of me of course.
Didn’t feel too bad until later…and this, combined with the hard crash a day earlier in the nationals race, is what caused me to have to pull the plug on the Super D at nat’s the next day. My right shoulder and forearm were completely hashed and extremely sore and stiff. Thinking about my wreck last year that took me out for the season I decided it would be best to sit this one out and recover. Tough pill to swallow though…I was excited for it and now even hungrier for next year.
Turned the rest of the weekend into a nice vacation. We drove out to Aspen and Snowmass Village. Then of course, had to swing through Woody Creek to drive by the favorite local hang out (Woody Creek Tavern) and home of the late Hunter S Thompson and pay homage to the man who spent his life documenting his adventures in search of the American dream.
I came back with one medal and a great vacation. Can't wait for next year!
I was kind of beat physically and mentally after the nationals, so I trained a little lighter for a bit – including some cross training in the gym. I had such a good time watching the 4X and practicing on the dirt jumps at Winter Park I decided I needed to get into something like that to mess around on. The closest thing to it around here is BMX…soooo, yep I bought a race BMX bike to help hone some sprint/jump/hard cornering skills. Plus there’s a track to practice on about a mile from my apartment. Kind of doubt I’ll actually race it, just something different and fun to train on.
The trails at Winter Park of course are amazing! Fast flying over huge rocks, ramps, dirt jumps = good times. The bikes with the extra squishy 7-9.5 inches of travel are so fun to ride over that stuff. I only crashed once due to a mechanical problem - however it was another hard crash. Going into a high speed turn the chain somehow rattled up and off the cassette and wrapped itself in the rear wheel…which according to John riding behind me, all of a sudden turned into a cloud of dust mixed with me and the bike tumbling and sailing through the air, with the 40+ pound bike landing on top of me of course.
Didn’t feel too bad until later…and this, combined with the hard crash a day earlier in the nationals race, is what caused me to have to pull the plug on the Super D at nat’s the next day. My right shoulder and forearm were completely hashed and extremely sore and stiff. Thinking about my wreck last year that took me out for the season I decided it would be best to sit this one out and recover. Tough pill to swallow though…I was excited for it and now even hungrier for next year.
Turned the rest of the weekend into a nice vacation. We drove out to Aspen and Snowmass Village. Then of course, had to swing through Woody Creek to drive by the favorite local hang out (Woody Creek Tavern) and home of the late Hunter S Thompson and pay homage to the man who spent his life documenting his adventures in search of the American dream.
I came back with one medal and a great vacation. Can't wait for next year!
I was kind of beat physically and mentally after the nationals, so I trained a little lighter for a bit – including some cross training in the gym. I had such a good time watching the 4X and practicing on the dirt jumps at Winter Park I decided I needed to get into something like that to mess around on. The closest thing to it around here is BMX…soooo, yep I bought a race BMX bike to help hone some sprint/jump/hard cornering skills. Plus there’s a track to practice on about a mile from my apartment. Kind of doubt I’ll actually race it, just something different and fun to train on.
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