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.