Update and Refueling

Since Thursday the rides have gotten longer and keep getting better. Riding Hall Ranch is always awesome! That rock garden I just can't get enough of. Then afterwards making a stop at the Barking Dog Cafe in Lyons before heading home - it just fits perfect. I love Lyons, its such a cool little town! More tennis and even golf has come into the picture out here! Saturday's workout included a long steep rocky hike with Dad up a mountain in Rocky Mountain National park gaining 2200+ feet in 4.5 miles!

Sunday was a 70+ mile ride (~4hrs) from Boulder to Lyons to Allenspark and then back the same route...today was over 3 1/2 hours followed by a good 1hr 45min session of tennis with a new crosstrain partner. With all of this activity though, I've had to keep a close eye on refueling and hydration. So far so good...but its easy to lose track! Burning 5000+ calories per day sometimes can be hard to keep up with. Breakfast has become much more important and is finally becoming a regular daily occurrence (which I know it should be anyway) - beginning with a tall glass of water first thing after rolling out of bed.

More and more riding

Wow, the last couple days have been packed with some SERIOUS climbing...and some seriously rewarding descents too!! Approaching the upper 40's and perhaps lower 50's in mph is pretty exciting and at times white knucklish on a bike! Over 2 hours up and about 25 minutes down covering 18 miles each way yesterday on the road bike.

Today I did some cross-training before the ride. I bought a new tennis racket yesterday and played some tennis with my sister this morning. That was fun! Haven't played tennis in awhile! But soon after, it was mountain bike time - over 3 hours round trip on a ride people here call the "Super Walker". It was 'super' alright...was looking for some go-go-gadget legs on this one! Really, I even said it a couple times! ...but nothing happened. Instead of driving to the Walker Ranch trailhead, you ride from Boulder 8 miles up and over Flagstaff mountain on a twisty paved road with some steep grades (and awesome views). Walker Ranch is an awesome trail. Lots of everything including portaging the bike up some crazy amount of stairs at the bottom of the valley along the cliffs over looking a very rough and fast paced river. Crazy technical climbing, a water crossing, screaming technical downhill sections...this trail fits the perfect stereotpe of Rocky Mountain riding. ...and the descent back down to Boulder was fun...its always fun when you pass cars that are holding you up from going faster...especially if its a Corvette ;-)

Crested Butte

I'm back in the mountains! However, it was no easy task. Due to some plan changes...I ended up driving out here myself, and the drive was not fun...with tornado warnings and hail west of Grand Island, NE - I was stuck there for 3 or 4 extra hours arriving in Denver at 8am Friday morning. Four hours of sleep later I'm on the bike to trying to loosen up the legs before I hop in the car another 3 1/2 hrs to Crested Butte for the race Saturday morning. I was still pumped for my first mountain race of 2009 though! Driving up through the different mountain passes on the way there just takes my breath away every time. I was feeling relaxed when I got there - probably due to the lack of sleep - but things went 'smooth' from there.

Saturday morning comes and I'm still feeling the effects of the stressful sleepless drive of Thursday night, but it is what it is and focused on a good breakfast and a good warm up. Rolled up to the line at 10:03 and one minute later...we're off! Immediately into the long sustained climb to the top of Mt. Creste Butte. Now, even though I've raced the mountains many times before...the first lap of the first race is ALWAYS a shock to the system. Those climbs seem to go on FOREVER! Afton Alps has some really good climbing, but still doesn't have this long of a sustained climb at that kind of a grade (This is a reason I like to do a mountain race sooner in the season - it really puts the midwest climbs into perspective for me and I just seem to handle the midwest stuff better after that).

The first lap was tough - I just couldn't stick with the lead group up that mountain. So I was excited for the second half of the lap - the downhill back to the start/finish. I realized real quick that my back was not holding up to the strain I put it through on the climb an the fresh cut singletrack did not help the situation - I wanted to pin it so hard but just couldnt with the pain in my back. Actually considered pulling off it hurt so bad. I had no idea how was going to survive another lap with this pain...but I wanted to find out - passing through the start/finish though going into lap two there were so many people watching and cheering (heard Mom's words of encouragement from the chalet deck)...I kept going and decided to keep on keepin on.

Lap 2 - Suprisingly, I felt better by the minute...slammed a GU at the start of the climb and focused on riding posture more, and no back pain! I lost a lot of time on the first lap but the group that 'was' catching me at the end of the first lap, I dropped as I started up the climb to the summit - and the downhill I was able to hit 'almost' as hard as I could - railing turns left and right dodging trees and BIG rocks for miles with that sweet Crossmark on the front and wide open top gear descents on the fire roads brought nothing but smiles to my face as I caught and passed a few riders here and there. I found a groove with my body and the Orbea worked absolutely awesome!

Some know about my struggles with the back pain last year...I'm hoping I'm on to something between gear selections and riding position on climbing. I'm back in Thornton, CO now and have some sweet and tough climbing workouts coming up over the next two weeks. That should tell the tale. I will update probably a few times a week now until nationals.

Overcoming Adversity

Well Thursday night at Buck Hill was an interesting evening for sure. My bike wasnt shifting right and skipping when I started the warm up. I noticed the remote lockout for the fork was interfering with the shifter - fixed that. 50 feet up the trail the chain snap...uugghhh, I fix that link at my car...25 feet away from the car a different link snaps...fix THAT link, and I pull up to the line with 30 seconds to start and basically no warm up. Wonderful.

The first lap was a bust obviously. The course is completely different from the previous weeks. No more longer gradual climb, now a bunch of shorter but steep climbs to the top - seemed to really shake up the field. Laps 2, 3, and 4 felt pretty good. The new course seemed like it was a harder effort with the steeper climbs but laps were much shorter. The top guys dropped about 2 minutes off avg lap times over last week and I dropped about 3 1/2 minutes so that felt pretty good! Surprisingly everything on the bike held together for a great finish!

I used a Crossmark front tire...I LOVED the grip - less braking, definitely carried more speed through turns. I also borrowed an 11-32 cassette for the race - really nice - could stay in the middle ring easily the whole time.

This weekend. With the bigger picture in mind I agreed with TJ that longer training hours would benefit me more than gearing up and racing at Mont Du Lac. Yesterday I went out for 3 hours on the road bike and got in some real solid intervals. Today was 3 1/2 laps at Hillside before the heat in those woods started to get to me. Hydration or not...it felt really hot out there!

Now I'm watching Rocky II on TV...man those Rocky movies are absolutley awesome for training motivation haha! I can't WAIT for Colorado! 5 days!

Riding and riding

Last Thursday I raced at Buck Hill again - second crack in the 'Advanced Class'. I reduced my average lap times by a significant amount over just one week earlier and the course was in worse shape (ie. MORE sand and dust). The rain we've gotten over the last few days will hopefully help that aspect out - we all looked like coal miners after the race. I had about 10 mins to warm up thanks to the MN DOT and their road construction on 35W during rush hour, so it took until about middle of lap 2 to really start hammering the XTR cranks. Everybody was gone already again though. I was pumped to get some good long rides in this weekend.

Saturday I ended up on the trainer with the Bianchi for about 2 hours with some intervals mixed in. No outside riding for me at 44 degrees and rain. Then Sunday...for some good endurance miles I decided 4 laps at Hillside. Thats stretching the legs, but it felt great! I'm feeling that ride today a little but some recovery miles made it go away. Good stuff - good momentum for more training. I'm really excited for Thursday again and hopefully with a better start. I'm looking to destroy the times I put up last week. I'm unsure about Mont Du Lac (MNSCS #3) this Sunday. I may stay in town and get a couple long rides in instead and get packed for Colorado - the next weekend (June 20th) will be my first race in the mountains this year at Crested Butte. I dunno though...Mont Du is really fun.

So, I was very skeptical about spending the extra coin to get a road bike. I'm glad I did. It really helps make training more fun when you're not riding the same bike all the time. Plus on the road the Bianchi is so fast - and so much twitchier with that head tube angle. Makes me think of auto racing analogies again. Definitely feels like an F1 car vs. a dirt Late Model. Hmmmm...maybe I might have to try a road race...kind of have Xterra on the brain too.

MNSCS #2 Afton...

The day was really nice – not a cloud in the sky and ~80 degrees. But wow, this race in Comp class is COMPLETELY different from the Sport class. Last year I finished in 1 hr 13 mins in Sport…this year 2 hours and 9 mins. One more lap and a lot more climbing involved in each lap also.

All things considered I felt good with the race. Two issues plagued throughout: gearing and my thumb injury. The injury is what it is – nothing I could really do about that – shifted with my right hand on both sides of the bars…yes, very awkward at times…Afton’s a bit rough and rocky for that!

The gearing issue was just stupid on my part. I wanted to try and force myself to pull a bigger gear and used a road cassette. Yeah, legs are not ready for that kind of work yet! I got killed bad on the Manhandler climb. On the first lap, I was feeling good about my position in the field until I got to that climb, then everybody passed me. I got up it crawling at a snails pace with my cadence super low just to get up it without walking. My legs were pumped up – took some crazy spinning to get them loosened up again – then time to play catch up. I did a little but couldn’t make up enough in the technical downhill sections for fear my left hand would not be able to hold the bars. Ugh.

Overall, though, the event was awesome. I’m happy where I placed with what I had to work with, I feel good – and really motivated! The race was fun! I really love that course. It’s been fun hanging out and getting to know other racers also.

On another note…I’m a bit confused at what MNSCS is doing with the Sport class: 2 laps, 10 miles total, shorter course than last year? …and the alternative is 3 laps, 19 miles total, and around 2 hours? Kind of strange, I mean…top Sport riders finishing in less than an hour is no bueno at any course if they are to be considered Cat 2 by USA Cycling. Give’em something to ride!! They should be riding the same stuff we do, only with less laps.

Healing...

Well after my spill at the Spring Cup about 9 days ago my left thumb is still not feeling that great. I've been wrapping it and training soley on the road bike to keep my thumb away from the shifter and thats been feeling ok. I did not see a doctor but I feel like it is just spraine dreally bad. The discoloration is going away - still hurts under certain pressures though - but not as much. I did get some good longer road riding in last weekend though. I skipped the Buck Hill race last week because of my thumb and to get in another good day of consistent training and some testing. I'm most likely going to give it a go at Buck this Thursday to test it a little bit before MNSCS #2 at Afton this weekend.

In other big news...through an opportunity that the company has offered its employees, I'm going to Colorado for a month! Leaving June 18th and coming back after the USAC Nationals at Sol Vista in July! No work...just going to ride and train and do cool stuff in the mountains while I'm there to help prepare me for it. I can't wait! That means my racing schedule has some adjustments being made to it. After the Duluth race on the 13th, I will be racing in Crested Butte, CO on Saturday June 19th. I remember racing that course in 2006. Looking forward to going back. Hoping to keep heading west afterwards and own towards Telluride, Durango, or maybe into Utah or Arizona...we'll see what the funding is like for that. Should be awesome though.

MNSCS #1 - Eriks Spring Cup

Yesterday was the first MNSCS race of the year…Erik’s Spring Cup at Salem Hills park. This race has never been my best because it is flat and non technical. But, it was fun to be racing again! There was a HUGE turnout and all the organizers and volunteers did a tremendous job at this event. I love having the concessions, and suppliers tents set up. It really makes it feel like an event rather than just something going on that day to racers, spectators and people wandering or driving by.

This is the first year I’ve raced this in Comp, and they ran the course backward from previous years which made it better for me as it leveled out the field a bit. I had a somewhat problematic mechanical that I discovered just after registering – no middle ring. It wouldn’t hold the chain - just kept skipping on the cogs. I guess from two seasons worth of training/racing and this springs singelspeed/1x9 combinations it finally decided to give up the ghost…on opening race day…very nice.So I’m stuck with the big ring only and a road cassette gearing 11-26. The race was four laps long. The first two reminded me in every way that I had not done much over the winter – I managed to stay about mid pack or so trying to find a sustainable, but fast, rhythm. Lap 3 – water bottle hand off went perfect, I slam a GU and very slowly leading into the first singletrack sections of the lap I get passed by Bruce Klehr. I remember how smooth he was last year so decided to latch on to his rear wheel and try to keep up as best I could. This strategy worked perfect. We held a really good pace passing riders that were blowing up their legs or riding like I was the first two laps. I was feeling great going into lap 4 – still on his wheel.

Half a lap before the end he started to fall off the pace a bit and a group behind us had managed to pull within 100 yards of us. He told me to let him know when I wanted to pass and a few turns up heading into a sweeping right hand turn I yell "on your right" - he went slightly left to let me by and I tried to make it real clean by heading into the grass on the right, since I was the passing rider, except there were lots of loose rocks and a cupped inside corner. I should have waited for the straightway after the turn, but I was overzealous, and crashed…hard. I don’t know…must have been about 11 or 12 guys that passed me before I got going with my rhythm again. The chain had fallen off and gotten tangled the shifter and brake lever were pushed up and the handlebars twisted around. My right shin and forearm was bleeding, I still can’t move my left thumb today real well and I’ve got a raspberry the size of a grapefruit on my right thigh. Oh well. First big wreck of the year - racing or not, it had to happen sometime…and nothing is "broken". So smooth is fast…and patience is fast, well can be fast. That move was neither.

All in all though the day was really great! Its an awesome feeling to be racing again. One kind of cool thing...the Cannondale hauler was purchased from Transwest GMC in Commerce City Colorado...my Dad's dealership! Ha! He sent me pics of that rig just after they bought it - a few months back I believe.

Afton in two weeks and week 2 and 3 of the Buck Hill series the next two Thursdays.

Gears

I need'em. Singlespeed is really fun, but, my legs are just really NOT interested at this point though. Maybe later in the season I'll tackle the SS beast again but for now, especially with some mountain races in the making for my schedule, I'm gonna stick with 27 gears.

Rode a couple laps at Lebanon Hills tonight with Ben from the Freewheel team. They've added some sweet rocky stuff that I hadn't seen before. Pretty fun stuff! The semi-slick "Crow's" from Stan's No Tubes actually worked pretty well through that stuff. My technical skills are good...still feel like I'm waking up the legs though.

There's a local non-sanctioned race on Saturday morning at Hillside Park in Elk River - 10 bucks? I'm in! Thats a fun course and this is the first year that course will also be on the MNSCS schedule so that should be fun. Should have at least the 1x9 on my bike for that so I'll feel better about things.

Its been a very hectic week so this ride felt really awesome! I need to get out on the road and just ride. I do feel better than last year at this time - much better. I'm sooo psyched for this season!

Whats coming up...

Well here are some pictures of the nearly finished weapon for the 2009 season. I wasn't sure when I ordered them but I really like the white wheels on this bike...the colors all over the bike go good together...and they match my team kit!

Training is much more consistent since I got the official email from USA Cycling that I qualified to compete at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships a few weeks ago. Yep. I just got in touch with TJ again. I'm so pumped for this season now. Lots in order and less stress. Time to get out and log some miles! I've got the Orbea set up as a singlespeed and on certain courses (ahem...Hillside) is proving to me that maybe I need some extra workouts before I can be "fast" like that. Probably going to be racing as a 1x9 for the MNSCS season opener at Salem Hills. Two weeks!

Pre-season race at Hillside on Saturday and the Thursday night Buck Hill series starts on the 14th. The season is literally around the corner...race schedule updates now on the right margin.

\Oh...and I bought a little 1976 MG Midget to enjoy the summer...since neither of my hot rod projects will be done.