Race Report: MNMBS #1 - Freewheel Frolic and Buck Hill

Last Wednesday night I packed up the car for a weekend of racing- attempting three races in four days! Thursday night Buck Hill, Saturday the MN series opener at Salem Hills, and possibly a Sunday Duathlon at Hillside Park in Elk River.

Thursday noon comes and I take off to Burnesville hoping to get there around 5:30...I roll in around 6:05 which gave me just enough time to register, change, pedal once around the parking lot and line up. These races are so fun though- and this gives me an opportunity to try out some new strategies that TJ has talked to me about. My start was not great (having to unclip and stop 20 yards off the start line) so I sort of just let the race unfold easy. Most of the field was ahead of me going into the first singletrack, but remained calm, over the four lap race I passed maybe 20-30 others and felt great at the end. Good enough run to have some motivation for Saturday!

Heavy rains arrived on Friday and didnt quit until Saturday afternoon. the mud tires go on and after a decent warm-up I line up with an unusually small wave- I guess the rain kept a lot of people away!

The start was a mad sprint around a grassy off camber prologue to the muddy singletrack. Looking at the tire choices of others I was not worried about having to be at the front as I knew my setup was going to be very predictable once in the mud and could catch others- and I was not wrong. The first lap felt good and the bike was handling great- no sliding through the greasiness or spinning out on the short power climb.

Problems came though at the end of the first lap and into the second. Mud had caked the rear derailleur and cassette and I could not get it to stay in gear! It jumped every other pedal stroke....until about 1/3 way into the 2nd lap I found one gear that would work and hold...unfortunately it was the 28 tooth rear and 32 front- not the best choice for this course! but better than a dnf since I'm already here!

Needless to say I got passed back by a lot of people as I was spinning as fast as possible and definitely as long and fast as I've ever done in a race situation ha! Oh well, finished a little better than mid pack overall which is better than I expected. Good times. Looking forward to seeing the pictures that Dana Shoppe has for this one!

Mechanical trouble (i.e. no brakes) and general bike and equipment cleansing and adjustments kept me from being able to make the duathlon in Elk River. I was a little bummed about missing that but, training-wise...the efforts on Saturday were enough for a stellar workout.

I got to spend some time with great friends as well that I don't get to see very often now that I live in Omaha- always great to see them and take shots at each other about trail riding (or lack thereof for some), our "Acquire" championships (which by the way I'm now in the lead for 2011), and other general topics worth trash talking about ;)

Thanks to John Reinan, and Lisa and Klaus Schneegans for their excellent hospitality! Bandit, Ajax, and I really appreciate it!

Race Report: Platte River Park - Psycowpath Series #3

Lack of pre-race prep = mediocre performance. Arrived at Platte River State Park later than I wanted and wasnt really able to get any pedaling in before the race. This was a problem when everyone sprinted from the start (which was also lemans style). A lot of people were in front of me when I got to the initial climb...I passed a bunch but had to put in lots of effort, and without a warm-up I also paid for about 10-15 mins later and had to back off...way off.

After backing off for 20 mins I finally got my rhythm and could pick up the pace, but many had passed me again and I realized I was already halfway through the race!! Going into lap 2 I felt decent and caught a few people particularly around the technical rock section- where I made up A LOT of time as I didn't need to dismount on either lap.

Came through the finish at 1hr 6mins...fun course and fun to be racing...but really? ...mediocre CAT 2 finishes with that time? We need to be racing for 90+ minutes at least. Looks like for the remainder of the season its going to be the marathon class for me! The 3 hour races will be just the ticket with how I like my races to progress.

Race Report: Kansas Fat Tire Festival...Top 3!

Wow what a weekend. Friday night after all packed and ready for a trip to Oklahoma I just happened to notice on USAC's website that the race is CANCELLED! Thought about Iola for WORS, but thats quite a jaunt for overnight. Then found the Kansas Fat Tire Festival...and it was only about 4 1/2 hours away! They claimed that this course at Lake Wilson, KS reminds people of riding in Colorado...seemed a bit of a stretch for Kansas?! However...the area of the state park we rode in was called the "Hell Creek" area.

They were not kidding. I did not get a pre-ride in so I found out as I went. For anybody thats ridden the loose sandy rocky stuff along the foothills in Colorado...this was identical...and played in my favor. Decided to drive down Sunday morning- arrived 10:45am with 1hr 15 mins to race time. Register, change, check the bike, organize the fuel, short warm-up and lined up. I was running my XR1/XR0 setup...I was the only one like that- everyone else was running XR2s or 3s, Rocket Rons, and other luggy stuff because of all the sand and rocks. They've ridden here, I hadn't so I was a little nervous but whatever.

About 40-45 line up for Cat 2 mass start and we were off. Good start around 7th going into the singletrack when those ahead of me really checked up on the pace. All CAT 1, 2, and SS were doing one full lap of 21 miles and I guess they were saving, but maybe a little too much?? Not really used to this, but I picked them all off within the first few miles and found myself leading the pack...which was good, because it was about that time when we hit the technical sections...and they were serious gnarly rocky uphill and downhill switchback loose and sandy stuff- I was in heaven because typically I can ride this stuff a little better than others in my class.

I heard lots of "RIDERS DOWN!"s yelled out behind me and could only imagine the bikes stacking up behind. I was AMAZED at the performance of my tire setup. These tires worked awesome, and hooked way better than I thought in this terrain. My legs felt great and was waiting to feel them start to fade from the pace I was trying to keep but it never really happened! The workouts from TJ really showed up here!!

However, one point I was one of the guys that somebody yelled rider down for...over the bars on a steep rock sort-of-drop that I was surprised with around a blind corner haha! Some good trail-cred on the left shin and right wris but nothing really worth bragging about. One other "incident" was me showing off a bit for some cameras and a crowd at a road crossing that had a nice high speed ramp built up to it...that went well...however, I had so much speed off the landing that I didn't see the next ramp about 100 yards further down the trail...this was definitely the longest air I've gotten on a mountain bike...I had enough time to think "This isn't gonna go well" before the landing...but somehow I landed it, not gracefully and hoping nobody saw it haha!

Around halfway I hit some more rocks that either made a pinhole leak or burped some air out of the rear tire. Either way the off camber hill climbs and turns had to be taken very slow and the chase group started to catch me. I held them for awhile, and realized the tire was not going all the way flat so around mile 15-16, hopped off and stuck some air in the tire. Five riders went by but I had only lost about a minute or so to the leaders.

I was able to catch and pass three of them but just couldn't ride that much faster than the other two to catch before the end. Came in third overall in CAT 2 with a great time at 2hrs 4mins. Turns out my tire did have a leak because the last mile the rear tire was a little squishy in the turns...finished on 12psi.

Awesome time racing though- super cool group of racers and the course was amazing. If you happen to be driving across Kansas and have your bikes stop off here (~40 miles west of Salina on I-70) - the whole trail is really sweet. I'd love to race there again!